USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume III > Part 63
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Fourth in the family of ten children, How- ard L. Agee grew up on his father's farm, acquired his education in the district schools of East Texas, and when he left home at his majority found an opening with a screen man- ufacturing concern in Dallas, where he re- mained and acquired much valuable experi- ence for three years.
It was in 1903 that Mr. Agee located in Fort Worth and began a modest enterprise for the manufacture of "made to order" screens. For three years he employed his limited facilities and equipment and then, in 1906, determined to broaden the business and organized the Agee Screen Company, his brother, S. A. Agee, being also connected as secretary and treasurer. Mr. Agee became president and general manager at the time of the organization, and has directed the affairs of the business ever since. It is an industry now requiring the service of about thirty-five people, and a large part of the business still consists of custom work. They also manu- facture standard screens for the wholesale trade, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the Agee screens are used in all the south- ern states.
Mr. Agee married in 1904 Nora Sisk, of Fort Worth. Their two children are Aileen and H. L., Jr. Mr. Agee is a member of the Rotary Club, the Glen Garden Club, the Ad Club, Chamber of Commerce and other pro- gressive organizations, and is active in the Broadway Baptist Church.
CAPT. JAMES W. SORRELLS was a captain in France with the victorious hosts of the American Expeditionary Forces. He had previously been identified with the oil and gas department of the Oklahoma state govern- ment. Returning from abroad with the ambi- tion for practical achievement which service in the army seems to have inspired in so many, he located at Breckenridge, and has been one of the most prominent of the young men asso-
ciated with the story of oil development in that section of West Texas.
Captain Sorrells was born at Mansfield, Arkansas, in 1883. His grandfather Sorrells was a native of Alabama and one of the earliest white settlers of the Choctaw Nation. The grandfather married the daughter of Rev. Joseph Smedley, a missionary who came to the Indian Territory from Philadelphia in 1834, being sent by the English Mission Board. Thus Sorrells is one of the oldest white fami- lies in what is now Eastern Oklahoma. Sugar Loaf County, where Captain Sorrells was raised, is in the eastern edge of the old Choc- taw Nation, in what is now Leflore and Lat- timer counties. The parents of Captain Sor- rels are Hon. E. T. and Rachel (Bloodworth) Sorrells. His father, for many years a suc- cessful farmer and stockman of Eastern Oklahoma, has for many years been a conspic- uous figure in the public life of the old terri- tory and state. He was sent from his district as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of Oklahoma. For several years he also served in the State Senate, and defeated for that office former Governor Duke of the Choctaw Nation. Politically he is a democrat.
James WV. Sorrells completed his literary ed- ucation in Epworth University at Oklahoma City. He spent five years in that school in both the literary and law departments and in 1910 was admitted to the bar. He practiced at Oklahoma City, but early in his promising career as a lawyer he was appointed deputy oil and gas commissioner of Oklahoma. and his experience in that office gave him an inti- mate knowledge of the oil and gas resources of his native state.
When this country engaged in war with Germany he promptly resigned his civil office and entered the Officers' Training Camp at Fort Logan H. Roots in Arkansas. He was commissioned a captain there, was soon put in command of the Headquarters Troop of the Eighty-seventh Division, and in November, 1917, went overseas with the First Army Headquarters, being among the first American contingents to reach France. There he was transferred to the Eighty-eighth Division, being put in command of Company M of the Three Hundred and Fifty-second Infantry. Still later he was in the operations before Metz, in command of Company B, Three Hundred and Fiftieth Infantry, First Bat- talion, of the same regiment. While in France he participated in the American Expeditionary Forces Rifle and Pistol Competition at
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LeMans, winning a gold medal in the rifle and a silver medal in the pistol competition. Both these decorations were conferred upon him by General Pershing himself.
Captain Sorrells has been a resident of Breckenridge, Texas, since December, 1919. A young man of unexampled energy and en- terprise, with a wide acquaintance, he has been one of the most active and successful operators in developing the oil resources on Breckenridge townsite and of Stephens County. His associations are entirely with the big men in this business. He and some of his former army associates financed the Sugar Loaf Oil & Gas Company, which has done some of the most distinctive development in the oil district of Breckenridge. Captain Sorrells has made money both for himself and associates, and is one of the citizens depended upon for leadership in everything affecting the welfare and progress of his home community.
JOHN B. BLITCH. The son of a Baptist minister and missionary, John B. Blitch in early youth and mature manhood has lived in many widely scattered localities, from the Southeastern states to the great Northwest. In 1892, thirty years ago, he encountered on the streets of Spokane, Washington, an itiner- ant palmist who, after a reading of hands, assured him that he would make a fortune in oil after he was fifty years of age. It was a long time to wait, as Mr. Blitch was then about twenty-seven, and the circumstances might have passed out of his recollection altogether had it not come true.
Mr. Blitch, whose experiences in the Ranger oil field provided him with a fortune, has for many years been a resident of Cisco, and is one of the city commission of that community. He was born near Atlanta, Georgia, August 20, 1865. His father, Rev. J. L. Blitch, D. D., was the son of a Baptist minister and was born in Florida and devoted his life to pastoral and missionary duties of his church. The mother of John B. Blitch was Mattie V. Beazley, a Virginian, whose father, Maj. John G. Beaz- ley, was a large slave owner and planter of that state. Rev. J. L. Blitch and Miss Beazley first met at Mercer University at Penfield, Georgia, and the acquaintance thus begun re- sulted in their marriage a few years later. They came to Texas when Marshall was the terminus of the Texas & Pacific Railroad, but after a year returned to Georgia, and the sub- sequent duties of Rev. Mr. Blitch called him to Missouri, where he lived and preached at
Lee's Summit, Boonville, Independence and Kansas City, and some of the oldest children had their first touch of frontier life in West- ern Missouri. Still later the family moved to California, where Rev. Mr. Blitch filled pul- pits at Dixon, Sacramento and San Francisco. He was president of the State Baptist College at Vacaville. From there he answered calls from Pendleton, Oregon, Walla Walla, Wash- ington, and other places in the Northwest. John B. Blitch was with the family in these itinerant days of his father's career, was getting his education from local schools, and acquiring much knowledge on the side by his contact with the wild west. From the North- west the family returned to California where Rev. J. L. Blitch died. The widow and her six children then went back to Georgia and settled near the old home of her parents. This was at Sugar Valley in Gordon County. Here John B. Blitch was one of the incor- porators of the town of Sugar Valley in Gor- don County, and served as its second mayor.
In Georgia John B. Blitch took up railroad- ing as a career, and during the many years he was in that business he filled all positions from construction work to assistant manager. He was an operator, dispatcher, agent, freight and passenger conductor, passenger agent and assistant manager and auditor. His educa- tion was finished with graduation from the Commercial College of Kentucky University at Lexington, where he completed his course with honors.
A man of action and progress, he found the eastern localities somewhat humdrum and slow, and in 1901 he came to Texas and en- tered the service of the Texas Pacific Rail- way. He was in the service of that company until a few years ago, though for six years his duties were at Thurber as manager of the Western Union Telegraph Company, as cashier for the Texas & Pacific Coal Com- pany, and manager of the hardware depart- ment. While at Thurber he enjoyed the com- plete confidence of Edgar L Marston, W. K. Gordon and other members of the official staff there.
Since 1908 Mr. Blitch has been a resident of Cisco. Anticipating a point in his career when he might retire from railroading, he bought a small farm near Ranger in March, 1917. This farm was three miles south of Ranger in Eastland County. It was a small place of only forty acres, and the contract price he agreed to pay was twenty-five dollars an acre. He secured possession by an initial payment
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of fifty dollars, and secured the rest of the money by some successful ventures in buying cotton. Then, on October 20, 1917, occurred the stroke of destiny that was to completely change his fortunes. This was the bringing in of the famous McClesky oil well. Land that he contemplated using for agricultural purposes acquired remarkable wealth through the underlying oil strata, and the following year he sold out for a neat fortune, and soon afterward returned to Cisco and began im- proving city property. He has since given his time and attention to the upbuilding of the town, and is owner of two and a half acres on Main Street with three dwelling houses. He was also appointed one of the five members of the City Commission, and has been unspar- ing of his time and energy in prosecuting the work under him, the street department.
On October 16, 1888, Mr. Blitch married Miss Eugenia M. Everett, of Floyd Springs, Georgia, where her father was a merchant. Six children have been born to their marriage, three sons and three daughters, all still living, named Maud, Joe, Mary, Moses, John and Lucile. Maud is the wife of George W. Reynolds, a telephone man of Stephenville, Texas. Mary married J. R. Holt, who is an employe of the United States Postal Service, stationed in the postoffice at Parks, Texas. The sons are all in the railway service.
WILLIAM NEWTON MOORE. Perhaps no man has a better opportunity of making friends and acquiring a close and intimate acquaint- ance with human nature than he who is at the head of a large hotel. In catering to the patrons of his establishment, such a man not only comes to know them well, but through his accommodating spirit and ability to pro- vide for their comfort and well-being he wins an appreciation which never dies out. The traveling public has long recognized the fact that the Metropolitan Hotel of Fort Worth, Texas, is one of the leading hostelries of the state, and within late years all who have visited it recognize the fact that the home-like atmos- phere, excellent cuisine, and many conveni- ences of equipment and service are all directed by the proprietor, William Newton Moore. Mr. Moore is an unusual man and has risen to his present position as proprietor of the hotel and general manager of the Metropolitan Hotel Company from the kitchen of his pres- ent hotel, and is proud of the fact, as he has every reason to be.
William Newton Moore was born at Indi- anapolis, Indiana, April 6, 1881, a son of A. W. and Mary ( Hendricks) Moore, natives of Ohio and Indiana, respectively. After a boy- hood and youth spent in his native city, dur- ing which period he learned the fundamentals of an education in its public schools, Mr. Moore left home at the age of twenty years and, starting out in search of fortune, came direct to Fort Worth. While he was ambi- tious, he did not despise lowly beginnings and took a job in the kitchen of the Metropolitan Hotel. It did not take him long to rise, for he had ability, and he served successively as steward, clerk, assistant manager and manager. Still later he bought a half interest in the busi- ness, and subsequently purchasing the interest of his partner, formed a stock company of which he is now general manager. The hotel contains 200 rooms and is located in the heart of Fort Worth. During the twenty years Mr. Moore has been connected with this hotel he has bent every energy to place it among the leading establishments in the state, and has succeeded in carrying out his plans.
In 1908 he was married to Katherine Jane Moore, who died July 9, 1918, leaving no chil- dren. Mr. Moore belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Fort Worth and Glen Garden Clubs, and is one of the most popular men in Fort Worth, as well as one of the most highly respected.
WILLIAM E. BURKE began his career as a railroad man, chiefly in construction work, had some important responsibilities in developing the extensive coal and manufacturing facilities at Thurber, but for three years past has been a resident of Ranger, where he is manager of the Norville-Wilder Company, a prominent oil well supply house.
Mr. Burke was born at Blossom in Lamar County, Texas, a son of J. Y. and Emma (Eads) Burke. His mother is still living at Fort Worth. His father, a native of Missis- sippi, was for many years prominent in Texas railroad circles. He was for about thirty years division roadmaster for the Texas & Pacific Railway, and at the time of his death, which occurred at Fort Worth in 1916, had charge of the Fort Worth terminals of that railroad.
William E. Burke as soon as he completed his education found opportunity to identify himself with railroad construction. Before he reached his majority he was a railroad contrac-
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tor. In 1905, going to Thurber, he built some of the railroad tracks to the mines of the Texas & Pacific Coal Company, a subsid- iary of the Texas & Pacific Railway Com- pany. Following this he was actively identi- fied with the Thurber interests of the Texas & Pacific Coal Company, both in the office and as an engineer around the mines and other properties at Thurber. Still later he had charge of the brick plant of this company at Thurber. His business interests and duties kept him at Thurber continuously for thirteen or fourteen years.
Then, in 1918, he joined the Norville- Wilder Company as manager of its business at Ranger. The home offices of this well known hardware and oil well supply house are at Beaumont. Branch houses are main- tained at Fort Worth and Ranger. Since com- ing to the latter marvelous city Mr. Burke has exerted himself outside the strict limits of business to forward every project and move- ment for the civic welfare of the community. He shares in the credit for many of the strik- ing achievements belonging to the community as a whole. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club, and is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity.
Mr. Burke married Miss Ina Young. Her father was the late Judge Lee Young of Stephenville, a prominent pioneer and man of affairs in Erath County.
FREDERICK LEE McCOY is one of the young- est bankers in Texas, being active vice presi- dent of the American National Bank of Wich- ita Falls, an institution with two and a half millions of dollars of resources. Mr. McCoy, while barely thirty years of age, has had a continuous experience in banking practically ever since he left high school, and his enthu- siasm and natural qualifications enabled him to advance rapidly in his chosen career.
He was born at Ferris in Ellis County, Texas, in 1891, son of George W. and Cath- arine (Deel) McCoy. His father was born near Fort Smith, Arkansas, located at Ferris in the extreme northern part of Ellis County in 1890, and for many years was an extensive farmer and land owner in that vicinity. He died in 1912.
Frederick Lee McCoy completed his early education in a very fine school that for years made Ferris an important educational center. Later he was a student in the Dallas High School, and in 1910 became a runner, at the salary of twenty-five dollars a month, in the
First State Bank of Dallas. He was promoted to savings teller and other responsibilities with that institution, and finally, with a reputation for banking knowledge and management, he left Dallas in 1918 to become cashier in the Farmers State Bank of Burkburnett in the oil fields of Wichita County. He lived there seven months, and in March, 1919, soon after its organization, came to Wichita Falls to be- come one of the vice presidents of the Ameri- can National Bank. This bank was founded and began business February 10, 1919, with a capital stock of $100,000, which has since been doubled, and when the bank moved to its splendid new home in June, 1920, the total resources aggregated two and a half million dollars. Mr. McCoy is now the first vice president, active, of the bank.
He has also acquired considerable private oil interests in Northern Texas, and is a young man of affairs whose support is readily en- listed in behalf of all progressive movements in his home city. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Wichita Club, Elks, and a deacon in the First Presbyterian Church. . Mr. McCoy married Miss Theresa Mantooth, of Dallas, and they have two children.
CLARENCE E. MAY. More than nine-tenths of the population of Ranger are newcomers within the last two or three years. It is an interesting and significant fact that much of the progressive enterprise and public spirit of the community proceeds from the older group of citizens. Among these Clarence E. May might be considered a pioneer, since he practically grew up at Ranger, and has been in business there for over twenty years.
Mr. May, who is secretary and treasurer of the Guaranty Building Company, was born at Desdemona in Eastland County in 1879. His grandfather May was a prosperous planter and slave owner in Alabama before the war. His father was the late Dr. T. W. May, a native of Alabama, who was attending military school when the war between the states broke out, and went direct from school into the Confed- erate army and served all the four years of the struggle. Later he studied medicine in Tulane University of New Orleans and grad- uated, and did post-graduate study in Mem- phis. He came as a pioneer to Eastland County, Texas, in the early '70s, and as a pre- liminary to the practice of medicine helped run the Indians out of that frontier section. He established a home at Desdemona, and de- voted the best years of his life to his profes-
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sional service in that community. He was a greatly admired and esteemed citizen.
Clarence E. May attended school at Des- demona and Ranger. As a boy he went to work in the drug store of Dr. C. E. Terrell at Ranger, being associated with Doctor Terrell for eight years. In the meantime he became a registered pharmacist, and subsequently en- gaged in the drug business for himself. Mr. May was the leading druggist of Ranger for about twelve years, until the beginning of the oil boom in the spring of 1917. He then dis- posed of his business and forthwith took an active part in oil development and in real estate management. He had acquired con- siderable property in Ranger and naturally profited by the sale of this real estate, property values going into fabulous figures as a result of the oil boom. Mr. May has also handled many leases and has acquired much valuable territory in the oil district, and is one of Ranger's successful oil men.
Mr. May was actively associated with the Guaranty Building Company, Incorporated, an organization capitalized at $200,000, with R. A. Hodges as president, A. H. Bowers, vice president, and C. E. May, secretary and treas- urer. This company supplied the capital and enterprise for the construction of the Guaranty State Bank Building, on Austin Street, a hand- some fireproof brick structure with stone trim- mings, five stories and basement, located on ground 40 by 140 feet. The foundation was laid in June, 1919, and the Guaranty State Bank entered its quarters May 24, 1920. It is the largest and finest business structure in Ranger, and besides the banking rooms on the ground floor, furnished and equipped with all the facilities found in metropolitan banks, there are three store rooms and ninety-two offices.
Mr. May is an active member of the Cham- ber of Commerce, is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and is sec- retary of the Shriners Club in Ranger. He married Miss Victoria Harrison, who was reared in Eastland County and some years ago was a teacher in the Ranger public schools. They have two children, Kathryn and Clar- ence E., Jr.
LOUIS P. ROBERTSON, who came to Fort Worth nearly forty years ago and entered business, has the largest and best equipped undertaking establishment in the city, a line of work he has followed practically ever since coming to Texas.
Mr. Robertson was born in Meriwether County, Georgia, September 29, 1858, a son of Thomas J. and Sarah ( Pyron) Robertson, the former a native of South Carolina and the latter of Georgia. The grandfather, John WV. Robertson, was a native of Virginia, but moved to South Carolina, and Thomas J. Rob- ertson subsequently moved to Georgia, where he became an extensive cotton planter, owning about 3,600 acres on Flint River in Meri- wether County. He died when about sixty years of age and his widow when about fifty. Ten of their children grew to mature years, L. P. Robertson being the oldest.
The latter grew up on his father's planta- tion, had a high school education and was twenty-five years of age when he came to Texas in 1883. He reached Fort Worth with only fifty dollars and soon entered the employ of Fakes & Company, continuing with that well known mercantile establishment for about nine years, in various departments, but chiefly in the undertaking department. He finally bought out the undertaking business of Fakes & Company, and since then has kept his facil- ities increasing with the growth of the city, and competent judges pronounce his establish- ment one of the best equipped in the United States. The business is conducted in a two- story and basement building, a hundred feet square, containing a chapel and with every- thing for a thoroughly appointed funeral serv- ice.
Mr. Robertson has acquired other business interests, and is a director and vice president of the Exchange State Bank and a stockholder in the Hub Furniture Company. In March, 1890, he married Miss Susan Long, daughter of Dr. James Long of LaGrange, Georgia. While he has no children of his own, he reared a stepson and a half-sister. Mr. Robertson is a member of the Fort Worth and River Crest Country Clubs, is a Thirty-second De- gree Scottish Rite Mason and affiliated with the Royal Arch Chapter, the Knights Templars and the Mystic Shrine, and is a member of the Knights of Pythias.
HON. DALLAS K. SCOTT was one of the first settlers of the town of Eastland, has been a leading lawyer of the county of that name for over thirty years, is a former county judge, and the people of his section have given him many well merited marks of esteem and affection.
Judge Scott was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, in 1855, a son of Henry and Margaret
S.Robertson
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(Scott) Scott. He was reared and educated in the North and was only seventeen years of age when he came to Texas in 1872. That was a pioneer time in North Texas, and his first location was in Dallas County. Three years later he came to Eastland, the same year the town was laid out and made the county seat of Eastland County.
Mr. Scott for several years was employed at the courthouse, and this connection with public business and the courts led him to take up the study of law. He carried on his studies diligently and was admitted to the bar in 1888. In 1892 he formed a law partnership with Judge H. P. Brelsford, under the firm name of Scott & Brelsford. This firm has existed ever since and is one of the oldest as well as one of the most successful law firms in Central West Texas. Later Judge E. W. Smith came into the firm, and it is now Scott, Brelsford & Smith.
Judge Scott represents the firm as head of its Cisco office, and has practiced in that town and been a resident of Cisco since 1900. He is president of the Guaranty State Bank & Trust Company of Cisco. Judge Scott was elected county judge of Eastland County in 1888, the same year he was admitted to the bar, and gave the county two very creditable terms, a period of four years.
Judge Scott first married Rachel Freeman. By this union he has two children, Leona and Charles Scott. For his present wife he mar- ried Miss Etta Roquemore. Their three chil- dren are Elsie, Grace and Harry. Judge Scott is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner and a member of Moslah Temple of Fort Worth. He was made the first Master Mason in Eastland County.
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