USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume IV > Part 25
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("Gee"), who died in Parker County ; Wil- liam G .; Henry, a stock farmer in Hamilton County, Texas; Rufus, also in Hamilton County ; Clarissa, wife of Newton Adkinson, of Jacksboro, Texas; Mrs. Louisa Lane, of Parker County ; Richard, who died in Shackel- ford County; Columbus, who has his home in the far west; and Cam, the youngest.
William G. Evans, Jr., representing the second generation of the family in Texas, was born in Georgia, September 8, 1836, and was ten years of age when brought to Texas. He grew up in the frontier country of Palo Pinto County, living there until after the war. He had a real frontier training, and while the war was on, though he enlisted in the Con- federate army, his place was taken by an un- married brother, and he performed his duty in the Ranger service, fighting Indians, who at that time were a constant menace to life and property on the border. In 1869 William G. Evans moved to Denton County, and for many years was a stock farmer and rancher five miles northeast of Denton.
Joseph M. Evans, son of William G., and father of Joseph Inge Evans, was born in Palo Pinto County, September 17, 1859, and was just ten years of age when the family moved to Denton County. He grew up on the farm, and his early strength and industry contributed much to its improvement. The Evans family established its home in Denton County on raw prairie, and their work became a real contribution to the progress of the community. Joseph M. Evans at the age of twenty-five established a home of his own, and began farming ten miles north of Denton. He raised stock and also cotton, and showed his progressiveness by erecting a good house and barns, and lived in that community for seven- teen years. When he turned over the man- agement of the farm to others he moved to Denton for the purpose of educating his chil- dren. In Denton he was for a few years en- gaged in the feed business, and later resumed the active management of his farm. He is still a farm owner in Denton County, and for a year or so, when farming was the height of patriotism, he went back to the country and did all the work of a younger man. Since 1920 he has been largely engaged with his duties as secretary of the Dairy Farmers Co- operative Society at Denton. At the organiza- tion of the First Guaranty State Bank he became a stockholder, and has been continu- ously a director and was its first vice presi- VOL. IV-9
dent. He has also contributed to the im- provement of Denton by the erection of two good homes.
A man of thorough public spirit, he served six years as an alderman under the adminis- tration of Mayor Bates. The council of which he was a member installed the first sewer plant, and while a member he was chairman of the street committee and part of the time was mayor pro tem. Mr. Evans has always been a stanch democrat and an equally ardent prohibitionist. He cast his first presidential vote for Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, and has voted at all subsequent campaigns. He is active in the Baptist Church and was a mem- ber of the building committee when the present house of worship was erected at Denton, and contributed generally of his means to that cause. Mr. Evans has deserved well the esteem of his community. He has spent most of his life in Denton County, and got his early education in country schools.
He married in Denton County, March 4, 1885, the day President Cleveland was first inaugurated. His wife was Miss Nannie Johnson, who was born at Whiteville, Tennes- see, October 11, 1859, being the only child reared by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Johnson. The Johnson family moved to Texas about 1868 and settled three miles east of Denton, where Mrs. Evans was reared. She was educated in the country and public schools at Denton. Joseph M. Evans and wife had three children, William Nathan, who was married and died at the age of twenty-eight, leaving no children; Joseph Inge; and Mabel Ethel, wife of L. E. Cox, a farmer near Denton.
Joseph Inge Evans, who therefore repre- sents the fourth generation of this family in Texas, was born on his father's farm in Denton County, September 25, 1887. Up to the age of fifteen he lived on the farm, shared in its duties, and attended country schools. He then enrolled in the John B. Denton School, was a student there for two years before the name was changed to Christian College, and altogether spent four years in that excellent institution of learning. Later he completed a course in the Denton Business College, and began his business career as clerk in the Williams Store at Denton. He was with that house for six years, and for two and a half years was with the Jarrell-Evans Company, and for one year independently managed the grocery department of the busi-
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ness. After about ten years of steady and arduous application to commercial affairs Mr. Evans responded to the call for increased pro- duction of argicultural crops, and for two years was a practical farmer. In 1920 he was appointed deputy assessor under Assessor J. H. Cleveland, and in the primaries of that year won against one competitor for the nomi- nation, was elected without opposition, and in December, 1920, began his official duties. Besides his practical work as a farmer Mr. Evans also helped in the sale of bonds dur- ing the war and his wife was an active worker in the Red Cross. He is a democrat and cast his first vote for Mr. Bryan in 1908. He is a member of the Baptist Church and Mrs. Evans is secretary of the primary department of the Sabbath School.
On October 5, 1915, in Denton County, he married Miss Maude Brownlow. She was born in the same county, daughter of W. M. and Letitia (Wood) Brownlow. Her father came to Texas from Tennessee after the war between the states. He was the son of a Con- federate soldier. Mrs. Evans has a {twin sister, Mrs. Mode E. Taylor, of Denton. Mrs. Evans was educated in the Denton public schools, and for several years was a valued employe of Julian Scruggs at Denton and for two years in the Williams store. Mr. and Mrs. Evans have one son, Joe Brownlow Evans.
WARREN E. DURBIN, present county auditor of Denton County, has lived in that section of Texas for over a quarter of a century, and. while he has had other business interests, a large part of his time and abilities have been given to the official affairs of the county.
Mr. Durbin was born in Carroll County, Mississippi, January 20, 1862. His grand- father. William Durbin, moved to Mississippi from Louisiana and was a planter and farmer though not a slaveholder, and enjoyed inde- pendent means. In his large family of chil- dren the youngest was Warren Durbin, who was a child when William Durbin died. Warren Durbin took up farming, and largely as a result of the war was reduced to humble circumstances. His small farm was outside the line of march of Federal armies, but he was himself a soldier in General Forrest's command, and went through many campaigns without wounds or being taken prisoner. He was a stanch southern man, but became recon- ciled to the results of the war. He finally came
to Texas, many years after his son, and estab- lished his home at Lewisville in Denton County, where he died in January, 1909, at the age of seventy-six. He married Narcissus Cryer, a native of Carroll County, Mississippi. Her father was a farmer who worked his place without slaves. Mrs. Warren Durbin died in Lewisville in 1907, at the age of sixty- six. She was the mother of Walter J., War- ren Elisha, William J., who died at Lewis- ville, and Miss May, a resident of Reno, Nevada.
Warren E. Durbin spent his early life on a farm in Mississippi, and acquired a good common school education. Finding that the environment of his native locality offered no opportunities and, in fact, disappointments to a young man of spirit, at the age of twenty- one he left home and traveled by railroad from Grenada, Mississippi, to Texas. He arrived in Denton County in 1883, and the first dollar he earned in the state was as a farmhand in the county near Lewisville, at the wage of $18 a month, then above the average wage for farm labor. Leaving Denton County, he went to Wichita Falls, where he was employed as a driver for a stage line run- ning from Wichita Falls to old Clarendon and on to Caldwell, Kansas. This work, con- tinued for eight months, gave him a fund of experience and considerable adventure. He then went back to Mississippi and worked the home farm for five years. He then answered the call to Texas, and has since been a per- manent resident of Denton County. Soon after his return he became a deputy for Sheriff J. G. Mars, with whom he remained four years. For two years he was deputy under Sam Hawkins, the next sheriff, and one of the best known men of the county. He was then elected constable, a post he filled four years, and then was chosen sheriff as suc- cessor to Mr. Hawkins. After serving out his term of four years he engaged in business as proprietor of a job printing office and of the Denton County News, and made the News a highly successful organ of publicity and in- fluence during his administration. He left newspaper work to go back to the Court House as district clerk. He was elected to that office in 1908 to succeed M. P. Kelley. Mr. Durbin was district clerk for eight years, finally resigning to accept appointment as county auditor from Judge Spencer. He was the first auditor under the new law, and has since been twice reappointed, once by Judge
OP. Barker and family
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Speer and once by Judge Pearman. The county auditor has very important responsi- bilities. He audits the books of all the county offices once a year and reports the results of his examination to the Commissioner's Court. He also has the custody of all county teachers' school reports and from them makes a digest of an annual report to the state superinten- dent of public instruction. He keeps a finan- cial record of all monies collected and dis- bursed by the county, and checks all claims filed with the Board of Commissioners for payment. Mr. Durbin has always been an active democrat and attended several state conventions. He is affiliated with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias.
At Denton, May 17, 1905, Mr. Durbin mar- ried Miss Hazel Lacy. She was born October 23, 1882, and was reared in the house where she and Mr. Durbin were married, that house standing in the same block with their home today. Mrs. Durbin is a daughter of W. J. and Allie (Cline) Lacy. Her father was a native of Kentucky, came to Texas and served from this state as a Confederate soldier, was a blacksmith by trade, and died at Denton in 1910, at the age of sixty-seven. Mrs. Durbin is the third in a family of four children : Walter J., of Dallas; Mrs. C. R. Gatewood, of Denton ; and William D., of Fort Worth. After the death of Mrs. Durbin's mother Mr. Lacy married a Miss Lapore, of Pennsylvania, and of their three children Sidney A. lives in Dallas, George C., at Paris, Texas, and Lillian died as a young woman.
HON. J. D. BARKER. For over twenty years J. D. Barker has been identified with the affairs of Western Texas as a business man. county official, lawyer, and since 1918 his home has been at Cisco. While West Texas has been the arena for his professional career. Judge Barker is widely known in Texas and elsewhere as an exceptionally able and effec- tive orator and debater.
He was born at Farmersville in Collin County, Texas. January 26, 1877, a son of J. H. and Mary (Langham) Barker. His father, who was born near Paris in Lamar County, Texas, in 1856, was for several years a farmer at Farmersville in Collin County, and in 1890 removed with his family to New- port in Jack County, and is now living at Rotan, Texas. He and Judge Barker and the latter's son constitute three active generations of the family in Texas.
J. D. Barker grew up on a farm, and from the age of thirteen completed his education at Jacksboro. The early training which he feels had the greatest influence in maturing his character and abilities was that received from the North Texas Baptist College at Jacksboro. Judge Barker is especially appre- ciative of the influence of Professor Bryant. then at the head of that school, and one of the best educators of his day. He especially excelled in mathematics, and Judge Barker acquired his training in mathematics and logic from Professor Bryant.
In 1898 J. D. Barker removed to Roby. county seat of Fisher County, and lived in that section of Western Texas for twenty years. While there he was elected and served six years as county judge. While in that office he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1910, and had a busy practice at Roby until 1918, when he removed to Cisco. Here he has been engaged as a counsellor and advo- cate with a practice that takes him to all the courts. He is thorough, efficient, quick to grasp the details of a case, especially effective in oral argument, and has the gift of clear elucidation of the points of a controversy be- fore judge and jury. He has an enviable record of winning judgments for his clients. He is now associated in practice with his son Owen D. Barker, the firm being Barker & Barker.
For many years Judge Barker has been widely known as a platform orator and de- bater. At the age of eighteen he was ordained a minister of the Universalist Church. Dur- ing his boyhood the family were Baptists, but his parents and himself became attracted to the Universalist Church through the influence of his uncle, John M. Wright, whose religious beliefs were associated with that church. Judge Barker has held thirty-three oral de- bates, upholding the doctrines of his church in different cities of the South, with J. W. Chism, Joe L. Warlick, Perry B. Johnson and a number of other well known representa- tives of orthodox Protestant belief.
Judge Barker married Miss Lizzie E. Gar- lington, of Bowie, Texas. They have five children, Owen D., Orena, Pearl, Conway and Marguerite.
Owen D. Barker was educated in the Uni- versity of Texas in the literary and law departments. He received the LL. B. degree in 1920. He has his father's gifts of oratory. For the university he won the inter-collegiate debate in 1918, and in 1919 won the interstate
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honors in the debate with the University of Oklahoma.
ROGER O. MOORE has his business headquar- ters at Breckenridge. The home of the Moore family for many years has been at Abilene. Roger O. Moore and his father, J. W. Moore, have for many years been outstanding figures in the successful work of handling irrigation and all problems of hydraulic construction, and in that line of business they now have extensive contracts over the oil regions around Breckenridge.
J. W. Moore, a native Texan, has had a notably successful career in the designing and construction of municipal waterworks sys- tems, irrigation projects and water power plants. He had scarcely any school educa- tion, but seemed to have a natural talent of a constructive order, and his achievements serve to rank him as the equal or superior to the best educated and technically trained hydraulic engineer. He began his career working in the ditch at a small wage. Later he developed into a contractor, and has built lakes, dams and water supply systems at Abi- lene, Sweetwater, Lubbock and Lorain, and is a recognized authority in working out the problems peculiar to such projects in West- ern Texas.
During 1920-21 J. W. Moore has been chiefly engaged in building water supply sys- tems for oil corporations in Stephens, Young and Eastland counties. He now has a resi- dence at Eastland. He married Virginia King, and their son, Roger O. Moore, was born at Abilene in 1890. After acquiring his educa- tion and while still a youth he became associ- ated with his father in public works. From his headquarters at Breckenridge he is giving his immediate supervision to the construction enterprises in the oil fields of Stephens and Young counties. He is also personally inter- ested in oil development at Ivan in Stephens County. During the spring of 1921 J. W. Moore and son have been constructing a dam for a municipal water system at Graham, where Roger O. Moore also has a home. Mr. Roger Moore married Miss Bettie Parker, of Texas.
JOHN EDWARD HICKMAN. The old town of Dublin in Erath County has for a number of years recognized in John Edward Hickman one of its ablest and most influential citizens, a man of high ability as a lawyer and with a public spirit that has moved him to participate
in every enterprise designed to elevate the civic, business, social and moral conditions of the community.
Mr. Hickman was born at Liberty Hill in Williamson County, Texas, in 1883, a son of N. F. and Mary ( Porterfield) Hickman. His father was a native of Georgia, but was brought to Texas by his parents when six years of age, and for many years had a lead- ing part in the business affairs of Liberty Hill. Mary Porterfield was born on the Sabine River in extreme East Texas, her parents having come from Mississippi.
John E. Hickman while growing up at . Liberty Hill attended the local schools, in- cluding the college there, and spent five years in both the academic and law departments of the University of Texas. He graduated with the degree in law in 1910, and remained another year at Austin, acquiring experience before launching himself in practice as a lawyer at Dublin in Erath County. During the past ten years he has built up a large and varied general practice in all the courts, being attorney for the local banks and other leading business and industrial concerns. .
Aside from his well earned reputation as a lawyer he has so far as time permitted from his busy professional work taken part in all civic affairs in matters of municipal advance- ment. He is president of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce. A member of the Methodist Church, his men's class in Sunday school is one of the most vigorous influences in Dublin church life During the past two or three years he has also been a leader in developing the oil industry in Central West Texas. Mr. Hickman is a Royal Arch Mason.
He married Miss Ethel Markward, whose death in January, 1921, was an occasion of profound sorrow and sense of loss to the entire community of Dublin. She was born at Lampasas, Texas, in 1886, was a graduate of the music department of Polytechnic Col- lege, and was a leader in the church and social life of Dublin.
WALTER WORD PRICE. While a native of Mississippi, practically the entire career of Walter Word Price has been in Texas and in the western and northwestern districts of the great state. He is an able lawyer and has a prominent part in the professional and civic affairs of Eliasville in Young County.
Mr. Price was born in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, in 1886, and four years later his parents. Tom and Sallie D. (Crawford)
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Price, moved to Texas. They located at Eliasville in Young County, then an incon- spicuous hamlet with a mill and store, but no other business of consequence. Walter W. Price grew up on his father's ranch near Eliasville, attended local schools, and when he was seventeen he accompanied the family on their removal to Terry County in the Pan- handle, where his parents still reside. His father is still active as a Texas cattleman.
Walter Word Price besides the common schools had the opportunity to attend Baylor University at Wacd for a period of five years. For seven years while deputy district clerk of Terry County he made use of his spare time for the study of law, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1914. He gained an ex- tensive practice in Terry County, and was elected and served four years as county judge.
Mr. Price returned to the old home of his boyhood, Eliasville, in 1920. This is a very different town in character, population and industry from what he knew it as a boy. Lying in the pathway of the oil development in the southern part of Young County and the northern part of Stephens County, it was transformed almost over night from a country village to a bustling and expanding oil center. Here Judge Price has found an extensive law practice, and has proved the qualities of civic leadership. He has the honor and responsibility of being president of the Elias- ville Chamber of Commerce, a live working organization with a paid secretary. Judge Price married Miss Zellica Knox, a native of Texas. They are members of the Baptist Church and their family consists of two chil- dren, Mary D. and Marner.
LON D. HEAD. Some unusual qualities of character and rugged experience in the dis- trict of Western Texas account to some de- gree for the very able administration Lon D. Head is giving in the office of sheriff of Stephens County.
He was born near Marietta, Georgia, in 1883, and eighteen months later his parents came to Texas, locating on a farm in Smith County. When he was four years old his mother died. He continued to live in that section of Eastern Texas until he was sixteen, and acquired all his education there.
Leaving home, he sought the adventure and enterprise of West Texas, and was soon given a position with full pay and responsibilities as a cowboy on the famous Dawson Ranch at
Odessa. He remained there steadily without a single vacation for seven years, and when he left there he went to Fort Worth and spent several years in the metropolis of Northwest Texas.
In 1909 Mr. Head moved to the southeast part of Stephens County, near the present town of Necessity, and has since been carry- ing on extensive operations as a farmer and cattle man. In the July democratic primaries of 1920 he received the nomination for sher- iff, was elected in November and took the office on December 1st. Consequent upon the oil boom Stephens County has filled up with a varied population comprising all classes and characters, and with this mixture of elements there has appeared an outstanding need for an executive administration of the law and order authority that concentrates in Mr. Head peculiar and important responsibilities. The good citizenship of the county a few months after he took office recognized that their con- fidence had not been misplaced, since Mr. Head has proved at all times and occasions master of every emergency.
He married Miss Lilly May Williamson, of Stephens County. They have a family of three children: Dorothy May, Aline and Marybell.
E. ROBERT WAIDE. A long and honorable connection with the livestock industry in Denton, and particularly in recent years with the sheep growing business, has made E. Robert Waide one of the well-known residents of the Sanger community, where he is the owner of a large and valuable property. His entire career has been passed in this region, and the success which he has gained has come through the medium of practical and well- directed industry, backed by high principles and a straightforward code of business policy.
Mr. Waide was born on the old Chisholm ranch on Clear Creek, Denton County, Texas, February 23, 1872, a son of James M. Waide. His father, an only child, came of a pioneer Tennessee family, and was born at Knoxville February 23, 1825, coming to Rusk County, Texas, as a young man of twenty-four years. Possessed of a good education, he not only proved himself well equipped to carry on his business affairs, but kept a record of the mat- ters of history connected with the early in- cidents of the region, particularly in regard to Indian raids, annotating the people killed or carried off, and the value of the stock which he lost in these raids. In 1861 he came
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to Denton County and engaged in the horse and cattle business, and save for three years when he was at Stephenville, Erath County, continued to be a resident of the Chisholm ranch on Clear Creek during the remainder of his life. In Erath County he was captain of a company of Minute Men for defense against the Indians, and maintained his family on that frontier during those perilous times. He was against the separation of the states from the Union, and spoke his mind freely upon the subject, but was never personally interfered with, although other men less out- spoken than he paid for their indiscretion with their lives at the hands of Confederate sym- pathizers. According to the records kept by Mr. Waide, the Indian raids began in his locality in August, 1866, when the Comanches killed Mr. McDonald and a child. In Oc- tober, 1867, they carried off Dick Freeman, who was recovered by ransom made by some friends of the family. On January 5, 1878, they killed one Fitzpatrick and his wife, as well as four others, and carried away four children. On August 27, 1878, they killed Sol Forrester and shot Jeff Chisholm, a brother of John Chisholm. On October 30, 1878, they killed Sevier Fortenberry. The day the Fitzpatricks were killed the Indians stole horses from Mr. Waide to the value of $600, and later in the month drove off another bunch valued at $500, and in pursuit of the band a stallion valued at $500 was killed by them. On October 23, 1878, they killed horses valued at $500, and a little later drove off others to the value of $750. On the 28th they killed five head of his horses near Dillon's, and drove off others to the value of $150. On December 31, 1871, they stole sixty-five head more of his horses, valued at $3.250. He followed his stock to Fort Sill, Indian Territory, and saw the government sell it, and made a demand on the authorities for its value, but it was refused and he was com- pelled to institute a suit for the money. Then only a part of it was recovered, his claims for the year 1868 being defeated. As already noted, Mr. Waide possessed excellent business qualifications. He wrote a splendid hand, was a good conversationalist and was capable of making a forceful speech or address. He had strong political convictions and voted the re- publican ticket in national elections, and while he was not a member of any church he was choice in his conversation, avoiding profanity, and temperate in his habits.
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