USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume IV > Part 26
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Mr. Waide married at Athens, Tennessee, Miss Martha Bridges, who was born there and who died in 1891. he following her to the grave February 17. 1897. They became the parents of the following children: James M., Jr., who is a farmer on Clear Creek, some five miles from the old home; David H., who is a ranchman and farmer of Cooke County, Texas; Mary, who married Bow Deason, of El Paso, Texas; John B., a developer and ranchman of Denton County: Frank, who married T. C. Ruby. of Dallas; Emma, who married I. F. Miller and resides at McCloud. Oklahoma : Anna, who became Mrs. Marshall J. Nance, of Denton County ; Charley, who is a ranchman and farmer near the old home; E. Robert, whose home and active life have been maintained and spent in the community of his birth; and Joseph D., who occupies the old Chisholm ranch where the Waide home was established.
The education of E. Robert Waide came from the public schools of the neighborhood of his birth and Hill's Business College, Dallas. He was active in the affairs of the old home until the time of his marriage, when he estab- lished himself at his present location, and has been identified with farming and stock raising through the years of his life, with emphasis, lately, upon the sheep industry, which has proven in his case a profitable enterprise. The prices of wool, like those of other com- modities of the farm and field, slumped in 1920 until the growers' profits were greatly diminished, but Mr. Waide feels that there is still opportunity for the sheepman to make money in the business. Wool was worth in his neighborhood, at the high price, 60 cents a pound, and it sold at a profit in the early years of his connection with the business, when he secured 15 cents a pound. The substantial improvements on Mr. Waide's farm are of his own construction, his residence being one of the best farm houses of the county, con- sisting of two stories and eight rooms. This stands upon an eminence adjacent to the New Liberty schoolhouse, and his farm marks one of the conspicuous places along the Sanger- Era Highway. Mr. Waide's connection with public matters in his locality is represented by his service of eight years as a trustee of the New Liberty schools. His participation in politics is as a republican, he having been a supporter of every candidate of that party since casting his maiden presidential vote for Major Mckinley.
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On October 25, 1899, Mr. Waide was mar- ried in Collin County to Miss Lottie Stimson, a daughter of Joseph L. and Mary (Kirk- patrick) Stimson, the former of whom came to Texas from Pryorsburg, Kentucky, and the latter as a child from Tennessee. They were farming people in Denton and Collin counties, and Mr. Stimson died in the former in 1917, when seventy-five years of age. His widow is a resident of Mckinney. Mrs. Waide was born in Denton County, and of her parents' children the following survive: Mrs. O. L. Thompson, of Dublin, Texas; Lottie, who is now Mrs. Waide; Daniel E., of Sherman, Texas; Newton, also of that city; and Mrs. O. M. Ballard, of San Antonio. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Waide: Fay and Robbie May.
RAY WILLINGHAM, one of the prominent young bankers of Western Texas, has supplied much of the enterprise and ability in the growing commercial activities in the town of Caddo in Stephens County. He founded two banks here, is still the executive officer of one of them, and is also head of a thriving lumber business.
Mr. Willingham was born in Hill County, Texas, in 1895, and for a young man of twenty-six has more than ordinary business achievement to his credit. His parents were B. F. and Lillian (Brown) Willingham. His mother is now deceased. His father, who was born in Anderson County, Texas, in 1860, lived in Hill County from 1872 until 1899, when he removed with his family to Hamlin in Jones County. He has for the past twenty vears been a successful farmer and stockman in that locality.
Ray Willingham grew up on his father's ranch in Jones County. He attended school at Hamlin and later the University of Texas at Austin. After returning from university he entered the First National Bank at Hamlin, and while there acquired a thorough knowl- edge of banking. He was later connected with the Farmers State Bank at Rule, of which O. P. Harlan, of Stamford, is presi- dent.
Mr. Willingham moved to Caddo in Stephens County in 1918 and organized the first bank of the town, known as the First State Bank. When this bank opened for busi- ness November 19, 1918, he took the post of cashier. Early in 1920 he withdrew and or- ganized the First National Bank, beginning
business March 6, 1920. He is cashier and acting director of this institution, which has a capital of $25,000 and surplus of $25,000. His lumber business is conducted under the name of Ray Willingham Lumber Company, with yards both at Caddo and Ivan.
Mr. Willingham is deeply interested as a citizen in the welfare of his home community. He is a school trustee of Caddo, a member of the Elks and Masons and the Christian Church. He married Miss Minnie Barnett, of Hamlin, and they have a son, Ray Willing- ham, Jr.
WILLIAM T. GRACEY has been one of the men of enterprise and influence in the affairs of Caddo, Stephens County, more than twenty-five years. Going there when West Texas was still a practically unlimited cattle range, his energies were attracted to ranch- ing, and his chief interest in business even today is livestock.
Mr. Gracey was born at Lisbon in Dallas County, Texas, June 29, 1855. From the time Dallas County became an important center of colonization in North Texas the Graceys have been participants in changing developments and progress. They were a pioneer family of the highest type, and their activities have been largely represented in the field of farming and stockraising. The father of William T. Gracey was the late Marquis D. L. Gracey, who was born in Bond County, Illinois, Oc- tober 22, 1831, son of William and Martha (Harris) Gracey. His parents were natives of Tennessee, and both of them died in Illinois in the year 1840, before their son Marquis was seven years old. As an orphan boy he continued to live in Illinois until 1846, when, at the age of thirteen, he came to Texas with the family of W. M. Robinson. I was a long and difficult journey, and the party traversed the entire distance with wagons and teams, passing through Indian Territory. They located at what later became known as Lisbon, a few miles south of Dallas. Marquis Gracey was allowed to cast his vote in 1847 at the election of the first county officers of Dallas County. For more than forty years he was identified with the Lisbon community, and became a well known farmer and stockraiser there. During the war between the states he performed a valuable service to the Con- federate government as a stock buyer over Northern and Western Texas. He was fol- lowed to Texas after several years by his
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brothers, Casper G. and Emory A. Gracey, who also located at Lisbon. His brother Emory was a Texas Ranger, also a Confeder- ate soldier. The Gracey family is still repre- sented in Dallas County. Marquis D. L. Gracey moved from Dallas County in 1890 to Mineral Wells in Palo Pinto County, and served four years as county commissioner of that county. He died at Mineral Wells in 1918, when past the age of eighty. In 1854, at Lisbon, he married Amanda E. Harris, a native of Kentucky, whose parents moved to Dallas County about 1850. She died January 18, 1893, survived by seven children, the old- est of whom is William T. Gracey of Caddo.
William T. Gracey grew up in the Lisbon community, acquired his education there, and identified himself with the practical side of farming. In 1885, at the age of thirty, he came to Caddo, and gradually extended his holdings of land up and down Caddo Creek and until recently owned 3,200 acres, most of it ideally located and adapted for stock farm- ing. While he has diminished his holdings by recent sales, Mr. Gracey still retains enough to continue his lifelong occupation as a stock- man. At this writing he has about 500 three and four-year-old steers, 80 head of four-year- old mules and some stock cattle.
Mr. Gracey is also a leader among the sub- stantial citizens of Caddo and Stephens County, and was one of the organizers and is vice president and director of the First State Bank of Caddo.
He married Miss Ellen Goodnight, of Dallas County, daughter of J. P. Goodnight. She is a cousin of Col. Charles Goodnight, the famous Texas rancher. Mr. and Mrs. Gracey have eight children: Eula, wife of Dr. J. O. Brockman ; Lucy, wife of J. C. Cowart ; Myra, wife of W. J. Cowart; T. O. Gracey ; Ola, wife of J. M. Cook; Fern, wife of A. J. Wil- liams; W. T. Gracey, Jr .; and Miss Leo Gracey.
JESSE R. SMITH. In the rather brief inter- val of a decade Jesse R. Smith has found all the opportunities for action, achievement, and constructive business and civic endeavor that would satisfy the ambition of any normal individual. He is one of the men best known in the great oil town of Breckenridge. He is a former county judge of Stephens County, is a banker, oil operator, and one of the largest property owners in that section.
He was born in Wayne County, Tennessee, forty odd years ago, and was a boy when his
parents, James M. and Margaret ( McBride) Smith, moved to Texas in 1890, locating in Ellis County. From the public schools of that county he finished his education in the North Texas State Normal at Denton and the University of Texas. For several years Judge Smith taught school in Ellis County, his last school there being at Milford.
When he came to Breckenridge in 1909 it was to assume the duties of superintendent of the Breckenridge schools, and both he and Mrs. Smith have always been deeply inter- ested in matters of education in their com- munity. He left the post of school superin- tendent when he was elected county judge, and for a little more than four years admin- istered the fiscal and business affairs of the county. Regarding himself as a permanent resident of the county, Judge Smith wisely invested in town property and nearby farming lands. With the discovery of oil in Stephens County these lands lay in the path of petro- leum production, and the oil resources have yielded rich returns in royalties. Most of his holdings are south and east of Breckenridge, and some of the most notable wells of the ter- ritory have been brought in on his land.
Judge Smith in July, 1918, organized the Guaranty State Bank of Breckenridge. He was its first president, but subsequently on account of numerous other important inter- ests, voluntarily retired from that office and sold all his interests in the bank in November. 1920. He was succeeded as president by Texas' great lumberman, John H. Kirby, of Houston. While the bank was organized with a capital of fifty thousand dollars, that capital has been increased to three hundred thousand dollars, that in itself being an index of the great expansion of wealth and industry in the locality. Other banking interests of Judge Smith are as a director of the National Bank of Commerce of Fort Worth and as one of the organizers, the president and a director of the Security State Bank at Mineral Wells. In Breckenridge itself he is owner of consider- able business property and buildings, and is a stockholder in the Breckenridge State Bank. He has considerable farm land in Denison County, also a 10,000 acre ranch in Palo Pinto County, and the ranch formerly owned by Frank Corn.
Judge Smith is a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Mason and a member of Moslah Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Fort Worth. He married Miss Bettie Parkes, a native of Red River County, Texas. Mrs.
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Smith is a graduate of the University of Texas, for several years was a greatly es- teemed teacher in Red River and Ellis coun- ties, and teaching is a profession to which she has always been greatly attached. Judge and Mrs. Smith have one son, Dick Smith.
ROBERT H. HOPKINS, a former district judge and county attorney of Denton County, was admitted to the bar in 1896 and has been in practice nearly a quarter of a century. His character as well as his legal proficiency have made him one of Denton County's most esteemed and useful citizens.
Hopkins is one of the oldest family names in Denton County. It was founded by Capt. Robert H. Hopkins, father of Judge Hopkins. Captains Hopkins was a son of Henry Hop- kins, a native of Delaware, son of a farmer, and descended from Welsh ancestors) who went to Delaware in the early Colonial period. Henry Hopkins moved from Delaware to Maryland, thence to Kentucky and in 1827 moved to Cass County in Southern Illinois, where he continued his career as a farmer. Henry Hopkins married Elizabeth Beggs. Her father, Charles Beggs, was a pioneer of Southern Indiana and commanded a company in the battle of Tippecanoe at the beginning of the War of 1812. Later he moved to Cass County, Illinois, and died there about the beginning of the Civil war.
Capt. Robert H. Hopkins was born in Cass County, Illinois, and acquired a liberal educa- tion for his time. He was twenty-two years old when he came to Texas in 1854, and one of his first occupations was teaching a term of school in Denton County. He soon became allied with the great Texas industry of that time, running cattle on the range, and at dif- ferent times was associated with such famous characters as John Chisholm, Felix McKit- trick, Toe Payne and E. B. Peter. At one time he was in partnership with Payne and Mc- Kittrick. When the war came on, though of northern birth and three of his brothers Union soldiers, he went with his state and entered the Confederate army in General Granbury's brigade, Pat Cleburne's division. During his campaigns east of the Mississippi River he was at Lookout Mountain, and during the Georgia campaign was captured and was held a prisoner at Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio, until the end of the war. He became captain of Company G of the Eighteenth Texas Cavalry, though during its
service east of the Mississippi River the reg- iment was dismounted.
As soon as possible after the war Captain Hopkins re-established himself in the cattle industry. Denton County was then on the frontier, and for the protection of its resi- dents and its property Captain Hopkins ac- cepted election as captain of a Ranger Com- pany organized in Denton. For one winter this company guarded the frontier, with headquarters on the present site of Wichita Falls. For several months he did duty guard- ing against the raids of the Kiowas. For sev- eral years he was prospered in the cattle in- dustry, but remained long enough to be over- taken by the periodic misfortunes that assailed Texas cattlemen, and with most of his prop- erty swept away began all over again as a farmer. In 1878 he was called to the public office of sheriff of Denton County, serving four years. At the end of the term he went back to the farm. He was also elected justice of the peace for Precinct No. 1, and for ten years, from 1894 to 1904, presided over the sessions of this court. He then practically retired, and in 1910 removed to Denton, where he died in November, 1911. His life covered an active and eventful period in the story of North Texas. While he was sheriff he car- ried out the first legal execution of men for a capital crime, the victims being Brown brothers, who were tried in Denton on change of venue from Montague County. While his father was a whig, he was a stanch democrat and had much to do with party affairs, though he was never known to make a public speech. He was not a church member, though ortho- dox in belief.
At Fort Smith, Arkansas, Captain Hopkins married Miss Sue Stemmler, who died in April, 1889. She was reared at Fort Smith and was one of a family of four daughters and one son. Her father, John Stemmler, was a native of Bavaria, while her mother was a native of France. John Stemmler was' a soldier in the Mexican war, lost a leg and died from the wounds about the time his daughter Sue was born. Captain and Mrs. Hopkins had four children: Robert H .; John S., who died in Denton County when a young man; George M., a well known lawyer of Denton; and Susie E., wife of L. A. Mc- Donald, of Denton.
Robert H. Hopkins was born in Denton County March 2, 1874, and until he was sev- enteen his environment was his father's farm.
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In the meantime he acquired a common school education. On leaving home he went to Ari- zona, and had some interesting experience for eighteen months as a miner in the copper dis- tricts around Globe. With his return to Denton he continued an active outdoor occu- pation for a year and a half, freighting goods for one of the pottery works of Denton over the adjacent counties and into Indian Terri- tory. In the meantime he had decided that his real vocation was the law, and in prepara- tion for his profession he studied in the office of Judge J. T. Bottorff and in 1896 was ad- mitted to the bar before Judge D. E. Barrett. Before he had settled down to serious practice America declared war against Spain, and he enlisted in Company G, Second Texas Volun- teers, under Capt. G. R. Fowler and Colonel Oppenheimer. Judge Hopkins was trained with his company at Camp Mabry, and was on duty at Mobile, Miami and Jacksonville. He was discharged as a corporal at Dallas in the fall of 1898.
Since then he has been steadily building up a substantial reputation as a lawyer, with a large practice at Denton. He tried his first suit at Denton, and continued in general prac- tice except for the time he was on the bench of the Sixteenth Judicial District. Judge Hop- kins served as county attorney from July 17, 1917, to December 1, 1920.
When he cast his first presidential vote in 1896 it was for the gold standard democrats, but since then his affiliation has been regular. He has had a great deal of experience in political campaigns. For three terms he was Denton County campaign manager for O. B. Colquitt, candidate for governor, and also Mr. Colquitt's manager in his race for United States senator.
In Denton County, November 17, 1904, Judge Hopkins married Miss Maude M. Stringer, a native of Springfield, Missouri, but brought to Texas in childhood by her parents. Her father, James E. Stringer was born in Indiana, served with an Indiana regiment in the Union army during the Civil war, and for a number of years was in the abstract and loan business at Denton. Mrs. Hopkins, who is one of a family of two sons and three daugh- ters, has one son, Robert H. Hopkins, Jr.
JAMES L. WRIGHT, who has been a man of push and enterprise in the business affairs of Denton, for the past seven years, is one of the city commissioners and in his public office has been influential in the modern movement to
make Denton one of the best improved munici- palities in North Texas.
Mr. Wright was born near Mexia, Lime- stone County, Texas, April 7, 1886. His father is Capt. James A. Wright, one of the honored old-time citizens of Limestone County. Born at Oxford, Alabama, in July, 1844, he had a common school education. He went direct from school into the Confederate army, expecting to return after a brief four weeks' campaign. The four weeks lengthened into a great struggle of four years between the North and the South, and all that time he wore the uniform of the Confederate gray. He became captain of an infantry company of Alabama troops. His was some of the hardest service to which a soldier was exposed. He was at Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, and was once struck, but not seri- ously injured, by a rifle ball. The last year of the war he was a prisoner at Johnson Island, in Lake Erie. In subsequent years he has manifested a warm interest in Confederate re- unions and has helped to keep the memory of their service fresh in the minds of the pres- ent generation. For many years he has been affiliated with Joe Johnston Camp No. 94, United Confederate Veterans.
Captain Wright was reared a farmer, and that has been his main business through life. In 1866 he settled in Limestone County, mar- ried three years later, and for more than fifty years has lived on the same farm and in the same house near Mexia. He has been a stanch democrat and has always had convic- tions and opinions on public matters, and has been earnest and sincere in their expression. For a number of years he was a county com- missioner, and for one term county clerk. For a long time he served as clerk of his Baptist Church, and his only fraternity was the old Knights of Honor.
In Limestone County, December 23, 1869, Captain Wright married Mattie L. Waller, who was born in Mississippi and was a small girl when brought to Texas. She grew up in Limestone County. Her father, Thomas F. Waller, was one of the first settlers there. He was too old to be a Confederate soldier. He maintained a farm and home on Waller's Prairie and gave aid to soldiers' widows and orphans and furnished two sons for the army, one of whom gave up his life for the cause of the South.
Twelve children were born to Captain and Mrs. Wright. Ten grew to mature years and eight are still living : Thomas E. and Howard,
John & Chesley
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both of Mexia ; G. Dana, an automobile man of Fort Worth; Herbert and Helen, of Fort Worth; James Lilburn, of Denton; Earl F., also associated with his brother at Denton ; and Mrs. T. J. Moody, of Fort Worth. The old- est son was William W., who died just before assuming his elective duties as county clerk of Limestone County, his father filling out his term. Another son, now deceased, Oscar C., was a teacher in the public schools. These sons were unmarried.
James L. Wright grew up at the Wright homestead near Mexia and is a graduate of the Mexia High School. From school he returned to the farm for a few years, and on leaving home he went to Fort Worth and took up the automobile business, associated with his brother in the Ford agency there. In 1914 he came to Denton and became Ford agent of the county as successor to Fox Brothers & Company. For three years he gave all his time to the sales and distribution of Ford cars over the county.
Mr. Wright has always regarded as one of his first responsibilities the privilege of voting, and has been a stanch democrat. His first presidential vote went to William J. Bryan in 1908. He was president of the Young Men's Business League at Denton when America entered the World war, and for two years was a director of the Chamber of Commerce. He was elected for his first term as city commis- sioner in April, 1918, and re-elected in April, 1920, for the purpose of carrying out the large constructive and progressive policies of which he has always been an advocate. While he has been on the board a hundred thousand dol- lar bond issue has been made for street im- provements and ten thousand dollars for sewer extension, and these improvements go far toward realizing the ardent desires of Den- ton's progressive boosters. During his first term he was chairman of the street and bridge committee, and in his second term was chair- man of the water and light committee. He has also served as chairman of the City Com- mission and is now vice chairman. Mr. Wright is chairman of the Board of Deacons of the First Baptist Church of Denton. He has also taken his first work in the Masonic order.
At Houston, Texas, November 22, 1916, he married Delma Squyres, who was born at Cle- burne, Texas, January 6, 1895, oldest daugh- ter of J. W. and Betty (Ross) Squyres. Her mother comes of one of the old families of Cleburne Texas. Her father is an engineer with the Southern Pacific Railway. Mr. and
Mrs. Wright have three children : J. L., Jr .. Phil and Mattie Elizabeth.
GROVER C. MAYNE, a native Texan, has given twelve years of consecutive service to the Burroughs Adding Machine Company, a great American industry of international fame, manufacturers of a line of machines that have done more than any invention since the type- writer to lighten the burden of office routine.
Mr. Mayne, who is manager for the Bur- roughs Company at Fort Worth, was born at Austin, February 4, 1885, a son of W. A. and Sallie P. (Cavitt) Mayne. His father, a native of Alabama, canie to Texas about 1880, first locating at Calvert. He served as collector of internal revenue under President Cleveland, and for many years lived at Austin, where he died and where his wife is still living.
Grover C. Mayne, the fourth of six children, was reared and educated in Austin. As a youth he clerked in the old Capital Bank & Trust Company, and from 1903 to 1909 was in the real estate business at San Antonio. Mr. Mayne first became identified with the Burroughs Adding Machine Company in 1909, spending about one year at Oshkosh, Wiscon- sin, then a short time at Pittsburgh, after which he returned to Texas to represent the company at San Antonio. For about nine months he was the Burroughs representative in Old Mex- ico. Another year was spent at San Antonio, and from 1914 he promoted the sale and dis- tribution of the Burroughs machine from Amarillo as his headquarters. Since the first of 1916 he has been manager for the company at Fort Worth.
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