USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume IV > Part 29
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Mr. Shofner is a democrat and cast his first vote for Mr. Cleveland in 1892. At Fort Worth, June 18, 1902, he married Miss Flora Spencer, a sister of the well-known Fort Worth business man, J. W. Spencer. Mr. and Mrs. Shofner have two daughters, Ruth and Faye.
MORRIS E. BERNEY has been a resident of Fort Worth thirty years, and for the greater part of that time has been an active factor in the success of one of the well known busi- ness organizations of the city, Neil P. Ander- son & Company, of which he is now senior partner.
Mr. Berney was born at Huntsville, Ala- bama, August 18, 1873, a son of Morris and Margaret (Cummings) Berney. His mother was born in Tennessee and his father in New York. Morris E. Berney was reared in Ala- bama, attended school there to the age of six- teen, receiving his education in private schools, and in March, 1891, arrived at Fort Worth, Texas. For several years he was connected with the local office of the Bradstreet Mer- cantile Agency, but in July, 1895, joined the firm of Neil P. Anderson & Company, and has been faithfully identified with that or- ganization for a quarter of a century, being senior partner.
Mr. Berney is member of the Fort Worth Club, is president of the River Crest Coun- try Club, is a Mason and Shriner and an Elk. In 1895 he married Miss Flora Anderson.
A. N. EVANS is an old time Texan, a resi- dent of Fort Worth thirty years, and through- out that time his time and activities have been prominently associated with the real estate affairs in the city.
Mr. Evans was born at Brookville, Noxu- bee County, Mississippi, November 2, 1857, a son of J. W. and Cordelia (Bell) Evans. His parents were natives of North Carolina but were reared and married in Mississippi. After his service as a Confederate soldier J. W. Evans in 1865 came to Texas and settled in Ellis County, where he spent the rest of his life. He died at Ennis in 1885.
A. N. Evans on account of the war and sub- sequent conditions had limited opportunities to acquire an education. At the age of fifteen he began an apprenticeship in a drug store. diligently mastered the details of the profes- sion, and afterward qualified by examination before the State Board of Pharmacists. As a druggist he began business at Ennis and was one of that city's successful merchants for a period of sixteen years. On leaving Ennis Mr. Evans moved to Corsicana, where he en- tered the real estate business in partnership with Judge Hightower and Hon. E. O. Call. The firm name was Hightower, Call & Evans, and Mr. Evans handled the real estate depart- ment while his partners looked after the law business.
In 1891 Mr. Evans removed to Fort Worth, where his first partner in the real estate busi- ness was Capt. W. G. Veal. After the death of Captain Veal he formed a partnership with Judge S. G. Tankersley, and the business is still continued as A. N. Evans & Company. with Mr. Evans the responsible head of the organization.
While Mr. Evans has served as secretary of the Texas Real Estate and Industrial Asso- ciation and as secretary of the Fort Worth Factory Club, he has never asked for nor sought any public office. On December 6, 1881, he married Miss Nannie Dixson, of Navarro County, Texas. They have a family of six children : Earl R., a traffic manager at Waco; Ruby, wife of C. L. Nolen, of Hous- ton ; Ethel, Mrs. C. C. Kinsey ; Lillian ; Alden A., managing editor of the El Paso Times ; and Frank G., a staff correspondent for the Star Telegram of Fort Worth.
WILL C. JONES, JR., went to work in a bank in Southern Texas as soon as he was out of school, and after a few years resigned as president to go into the navy at the time of the World war, subsequently was a state bank examiner, and is now active vice president of the Breckenridge State Bank. These are the achievements of a man still' in his twen-
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ties, but widely known in banking circles all over the state.
Mr. Jones was born in Harris County, Texas, son of W. C. and Mary ( Hill) Jones. the latter a native of Texas, while his father was born in Tennessee. His parents are resi- dents of Huntsville in Walker County, where W. C. Jones, Sr., is cashier of the Huntsville State Bank.
Will C. Jones, Jr., grew up in Walker County and acquired his education in the schools of New Waverly. He was only fifteen when he became office boy in the New Wav- erly State Bank at New Waverly, Walker County. He mastered his knowledge of bank- ing with that institution and advanced suc- cessively from office boy to president. Resign- ing his post as president in January, 1918, he enlisted for the United States Navy at Hous- ton, and was in the service ten months, on both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Mr. Jones in April, 1919, accepted appoint- ment as a state bank examiner, and for eight- een months was assigned to a circuit of duty that took him to nearly all parts of the state.
In the meantime Breckenridge as a rapidly developing financial center made a call for his service, talent and experience and on Sep- tember 15, 1920, he became active vice presi- dent of the Breckenridge State Bank. This is an institution with a capital stock of nearly $250,000.00 and deposits aggregating nearly $1,350,000.00. Mr. Jones has taken an active part in civic and social affairs since locating at Breckenridge. He is active in Masonry. is a member of Arabia Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Houston, and took an active part in the organization of the Breckenridge Shrine Club in January, 1921. and has the honor of being its president.
CHARLES M. BUTCHER is senior partner of the well known general contracting firm of Butcher & Sweeney of Fort Worth, an organ- ization that has gained a wide and favorable reputation for the prompt and skilled fulfill- ment of many large contracts involving com- mercial and residence building.
As the basis of his qualifications for mem- bership in this firm Mr. Butcher had an ac- tive experience for some years as a journey- man carpenter. He was a native of Texas, born in Ellis County, January 16, 1875. His father, Lewis M. Butcher, was a native of Indiana, but grew up in Ellis County, Texas, and was engaged in farming there until 1910.
After that he led a retired life at Fort Worth. until his death in 1921.
Charles M. Butcher is the second in a fam- ily of six sons, all living. With an early life on the farm, acquiring his education in the public schools of Waxahachie, at the age of eighteen he took up the carpenter's trade, and his long working experience in the ranks of that trade has given him an intimate familiarity with every detail of building construction. About 1900 he became a contractor, and con- tinued handling contracts alone until 1912, when he formed a partnership with R. C. Sweeney under the name of Butcher & Sweeney, and still later Butcher, Sweeney & Friedman. Many of the notable residences and business structures in Fort Worth attest the thorough and substantial workmanship of this firm.
Mr. Butcher is a Knight Templar Mason, a member of the Glen Garden Country Club, belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the Central Methodist Church. He is a democrat in politics. On October 28, 1906, he married Miss Josie V. Carr, who completed her education in the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Butcher have three children : Mrs. J. K. Fisher, of East Orange, New Jer- sey; Hershell J., who was educated at Fort Worth and is now in the hardwood floor busi- ness in that city ; and Leslie W., still at home.
JAMES W. GRAY, president of the Denton Chamber of Commerce for 1921, is well known over the county as one of the leading mer- chants, active both at Pilot Point and at Denton.
He is a native Texan, and the family has been in this state for seventy years or more. His grandfather, John Robert Gray, was a native of Georgia and lived for a time in Ala- bama before settling in Eastern Texas, near Jefferson in Cass County, about 1850. He joined in the rush to California in 1849, going overland. After a brief stay he was taken ill, and came back over the plains with only his experience to his credit. At the beginning of the war between the states he enlisted and served as a Confederate soldier until his dis- charge. He started home, but was never seen again by his comrades or family, and it is thought that he was slain by some Union sol- diers. His widow subsequently came out to Denton County and lived with her son, Charles B., until her marriage to S. J. Deets, a farmer nearby. On the death of Mr. Deets she re- turned to Alabama, and is now living at Hurts-
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boro, at the age of ninety-one, preserving her mental and physical faculties to a remarkable degree, and it is said that she is able to crochet and embroider as well as a maiden of sixteen. Of her five children only two grew up, Charles Berry Gray and Pony Gray, the latter the wife of Billie Hobuck, of Hurtsboro, Alabama.
Charles Berry Gray was born near Jefferson. Texas, and came to Denton County in 1877. settling four and a half miles southeast of Pilot Point. There he undertook the work of developing a new farm, and farming and stock raising always constituted the essentials of his business. In the early days his markets were at Sherman, the nearest railroad point. Charles B. Gray selected land in the Cross Timbers district because he could make rails for fence. He paid ten or twelve dollars an acre, whereas he could have obtained any quantity of the fine black land on the prairies for three dollars an acre. The matter of fenc- ing was the point on which his choice turned. He remained in that community the rest of his life, though he shifted his residence half a mile from his first location. He was successful in making a living and providing for his family, and was satisfied with the role of a modest farmer, stayed out of politics and public office. and was sixty-two years of age when he died. October 11, 1916.
Charles B. Gray married Celeste Bonds, who is now living at Denton. Their children were: Susie, wife of H. T. Auston of Rolls, Texas : James W. ; Charles Berry who died as a youth of seventeen ; Walter Cleveland, a farmer at Rolls; Lydia, who died at Pilot Point, sur- vived by her husband, Sylvester Beck. and a son ; John Robert, of Rolls; Ruth and Ruby. the former a teacher at Rolls and Ruby on the home farm in that community.
James W. Gray lived with his parents until he was seventeen years of age and acquired a country school education. His schooling was limited to some three or four months each year, and the rest of the seasons he did all the varied labor of plowing corn and picking cotton. He left the farm to accept the offer of his uncle, J. C. Selman, to go to work in his grocery store at Pilot Point. His wages were eight dollars a month. During the next two years besides earning his wage he gained a large amount of knowledge concerning the fundamentals of merchandising. He next joined the R. T. Evans Dry Goods Company. with whom he remained two years. He then became associated with the Russell-Cooper Company, a dry goods and clothing house.
With the death of Mr. Cooper he bought an interest in the stock and has since been a mem- ber of the well known firm of H. M. Russell & Company at Pilot Point. He and his asso- ciates in July, 1919, bought the Denton busi- ness of the Wilson-Hann Company, and Mr. Gray removed to Denton to take charge of that store, which is now conducted as the Russell- Gray-Jones Company, though he still retains some interest in H. M. Russell & Company of Pilot Point.
While at Pilot Point Mr. Gray was active in the Young Men's Business League. He has been a very useful member of the chamber of Commerce since coming to Denton, was elected a director the first year and at the beginning of 1921 was chosen president to direct the Chamber during the year. He also represents the clothing business as a member of the Rotary Club of Denton. Mr. Gray is a York Rite Mason, being affiliated with the Lodge, Royal Arch Chapter and Knight Templar Commandery, and has filled all the chairs in the Knights of Pythias.
At Pilot Point January 10, 1909, he mar- ried Miss Bertie Rachel Silver, daughter of Sidney and Cynthia (Brown) Silver. Her father is a native of Missouri and is still liv- ing at Mexico in that state. Mrs. Gray has a sister, Mrs. Virgie Sallee, and a brother. Arthur Silver. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Gray are Silver Gray Gray. Pauline Ruth and Dorothy Jane. The family are members of the Baptist Church, and Mrs. Gray takes a prominent part in her church and in various civic movements in Denton.
JOSEPH B. BURKS. Any community could consider itself fortunate in the possession of such good citizenship timber as that supplied by the Burks family to the Pilot Point com- munity during a period of more than half a century and ever since the close of the war be- tween the states.
Joseph B. Burks, banker, former merchant and otherwise well known in Pilot Point, is a son of the late Dr. Doric B. Burks, who moved to Denton County in 1866, and was one of the conspicuous citizens and useful professional men until his death some ten years later. Further reference to his career and family need not be repeated here, since it is contained on other pages of this publication.
His son, Joseph B. Burks, was born on the street on which he now resides at Pilot Point. March 17, 1870. The fifty-one years of his life have been spent altogether in Pilot Point.
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He attended public schools and also old Frank- lin College, and left school to begin his serious career when he was sixteen years of age. In the meantime he had been getting a training for business, and at intervals clerked in local stores from the time he was ten years old. At sixteen he entered the employ of T. P. Burke, still an active citizen of Pilot Point. The sev- eral years he spent with him gave him a good apprenticeship in business. His next employer was R. U. Johnson, a dry goods merchant, but after a few years he returned to Mr. Burke and they were partners under the name Burke & Burks. When the firm dissolved Mr. Burks was for a short time representative of the great hardware and implement house at Dallas, the Parkin & Orndorff firm.
At this stage in his commercial career Mr. Burks changed his interests to banking, and in September, 1899, went on duty as book- keeper for the Farmers and Merchants Bank at Pilot Point. Four years later he was made cashier, and continued in that capacity until June, 1920, when a change of ownership oc- curred in the bank and Mr. Burks was elected vice president and has since been the active directing head of the bank.
The Farmers & Merchants Bank of Pilot Point was established in 1896, being started with a capital of $50,000. It now has a sur- plus of $25,000. The organizers of the bank were George E. and D. W. Light, and the former was president and the latter vice presi- dent until June, 1920, when John W. Gilliland of Tulsa, Oklahoma, acquired their interests and became president of the bank. The pres- ent cashier is Mr. Elmore and the assistant cashier Mr. Reed.
Other relations with the business and civic affairs of this community sustained by Mr. Burks are treasurer of the Pilot Point Roller Mills and secretary of the Pilot Point Cotton Oil Company. For several years he was a member of the city council and chairman of the finance board. He owns farms, has im- proved and developed some agricultural prop- erty, and has a more than passing interest in connection with livestock and stock raising.
On January 5, 1896, at Pilot Point, and just across the street from the present Burks home, Mr. Burks married Miss Connie Cooper. She was born September 10, 1874, in Grayson County, Texas, daughter of James P. and Amanda J. (Davis) Cooper. Her maternal grandfather, Frank Davis, brought his family to Texas about 1856 from Fulton, Missouri, where Amanda Davis was born September 2,
1849. James P. Cooper was born at Tusca- loosa, Alabama, September 19, 1844, and the following year came to Texas with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Cooper, who first set- tled in Clarksville and in 1859 moved to Den- ton County as pioneers of this region. James P. Cooper spent his business life as a farmer and stockman, was for thirty years in the lum- ber business, and assisted in promoting the Cooper, Selz & Company's cotton gin and the roller mills at Pilot Point. He was a Confed- erate soldier in Captain Fowler's company, raised at Paris, Texas. Mrs. Burks was one of eight children, and those to grow up besides herself were Orley E., Mrs. Mamie Parker, of Denton, Miss Kate, Miss Jimmie and Miss Helen. The only survivors now are Mrs. Burks and Mrs. Parker. Her father died December 24, 1910. Mrs. Burks is a graduate of historic old Franklin College of Pilot Point.
Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Burks the oldest is Cooper, now in the lumber business at Trenton, Texas, who married Grace Skaggs and has a son, Joe Cooper, Jr. The second child, Doric Burks, married Leta Davis and is connected with the Drumwright State Bank at Drumwright, Oklahoma. Frank S. is a member of the class of 1924 at Austin College. Sherman. Tott Evelyn graduated from the Pilot Point High School in 1921. The two younger children are Grace and Orley. The family are active members and workers in the Central Christian Church, of which Mr. Burks is a member. He is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason.
SAM A. JOSEPH is proprietor of the famous "Joseph Cafe," an institution that contributes not a little of the fame to the City of Fort Worth. It became famous through its un- rivaled cuisine and service, and for a number of years it has been one of the real social cen- ters of the city and a place where many im- portant business transactions have been nego- tiated.
Mr. Joseph was born in Libau, Karland. Russia, in 1863, but has lived in Texas for over forty years and is a naturalized American and thoroughly loyal to America and its insti- tutions. In 1882 he located at Kilgore in Gregg County, where he went to work in a general store, and subsequently moved to Mineola. After about two years as a salaried worker he opened a grocery store in 1887 and was one of the leading merchants of that little city for a number of years.
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Mr. Joseph married in 1894 Miss Minnie Joseph, of Tyler, Texas. They are people of very congenial temperament, have been com- panions in business as well as in their home life, and both have earned the prosperity they enjoy. In 1904 Mr. Joseph removed to Fort Worth and opened a new cafe which was soon known to possess a certain distinction of style and service all its own. It attracted business men, its facilities soon became taxed, and there have been frequent enlargements of quarters to accommodate the increased volume of trade. Out of some fourteen or fifteen years of growth and development has evolved the present Joseph Cafe, the unique restau- rant, known from coast to coast and from lake to gulf for its wonderful cuisine and gen- eral excellence.
Many prominent leaders in politics as well as in business have assembled at Joseph's for their feasts, and nearly every governor of Texas in recent years has been entertained there. Some of the more exclusive functions of the city are also conducted at Joseph's. Mr. Joseph has accumulated a modest fortune from his enterprise, but the greater part of it has been distributed in acts of charity. He is generous to a fault, and has divided his prosperity with those less fortunate. He is a prominent member of the local order of Elks. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph have three children : May, Herbert and Sylvia.
JOHN E. HOMAN. One of the older or- ganizations at Fort Worth in the automobile business is the Homan Auto Company, which was established in 1910, and of which from the beginning John E. Homan has been pro- prietor and active manager.
Mr. Homan has been well and favorably known in the citizenship of Fort Worth for a quarter of a century. He was born in Spring- field, Missouri, October 10, 1879, a son of Jesse and Ruth (Parrott) Homan. His par- ents were also native Missourians, his father having been born in 1841 and died in 1899. The mother is still living. Of their ten chil- dren eight are living, John E. being the fifth child and third son.
ond Texas Volunteers, and was with his com- mand until honorably discharged.
Not long after returning to Fort Worth he married, in 1899, Miss Pearl Spencer, daugh- ter of J. W. Spencer of that city. For twenty years he has been one of the active young business men of the city. and the Homan Automobile Company now has the agency for the distribution of the Nash cars and trucks over this section of the state. Mr. Homan is also a stockholder in other local enterprises, is a member of the Fort Worth Club and the Broadway Baptist Church.
H. K. McCOLLUM, paving contractor, has been more or less actively identified in a busi ness way with Fort Worth for eighteen years. He has handled many of the largest jobs of street paving in this city and also at other points in Texas and Oklahoma, and as a con- tractor he has a complete organization and all the facilities for expert and thorough work in his line.
Mr. McCollum, who maintains his office headquarters in the Farmers and Merchants Bank Building and residence at 1411 Summit Avenue, was born March 21, 1878, at Win- chester, Frederick County, Virginia. His father, Charles L. McCollum, was a native of Maryland, and died in 1885. The older of his two sons, H. K. McCollum, was reared and educated in Virginia, attending the public schools of Winchester and the Shenandoah Valley Academy. Coming West in 1898, he was located at Kansas City until 1901, and while there gained considerable experience in street paving as an employe of the Parker- Washington Company. On leaving Kansas City he superintended a number of paving jobs at different points, and in 1903 came to Fort Worth, where he superintended one of the largest paving contracts let up to that time. Twenty years ago Fort Worth had only a few miles of modern paved streets, and Mr. McCol- lum has been an interested witness and an ac- tive participant in nearly all the great exten- sions of municipal improvements in this line. In 1906 he became associated with the McQuatters Company. and handled a large job of street paving for that concern at Ard- more, Oklahoma. In 1910 he became asso- ciated with the Roach-Manigan Company, and, as manager, had charge of paving contract in Fort Worth that amounted to more than $1,000,000. Mr. McCollum has been engaged
John E. Homan lived on a farm in South- eastern Missouri until he was fifteen years of age and acquired a public school education. Coming to Fort Worth in 1894, he made his services useful as clerk in a hardware store until the outbreak of the Spanish-American war. He then volunteered and was elected second lieutenant of Company H of the Sec- , in business for himself as a paving contractor
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since 1914. In 1921 he completed a $350,000 contract at Vernon, Texas.
He is affiliated with the Elks Lodge, is a vestryman in the Episcopal Church, is a mem- ber of the Fort Worth and River Crest Coun- ties Clubs, and a democrat in politics. On March 29, 1905, at Fort Worth, he married Miss Meredith Elizabeth Ellis.
TEMPLE HARRIS has been as unusually suc- cessful in his commercial career as his father was in law and politics. He has spent most of his life in Fort Worth, contributed his younger energies to several of the city's well known business houses, was one of the found- ers of the Fort Worth Warehouse & Transfer Company, and more recently has been the Texas distributor of the famous Diamond T trucks.
His father was the late Judge W. D. Harris, who died in 1916, after a distinguished career. Judge Harris was born in Georgia, April 2, 1852, a son of M. W. and Martha M. (Hol- land) Harris. He was educated in the Uni- versity of Georgia, the North Georgia Agri- cultural College, in 1877 was admitted to the bar as a result of his private studies, and prac- ticed four and a half years in Georgia. He came to Texas in 1883 and in 1888 was elected county judge of Tarrant County, serving four years, and was then elected district judge, an office he filled eight years. In 1906 he was chosen mayor of Fort Worth, and two years later Fort Worth adopted the commission form of government and he was the first mayor under that charter. During all these years he also carried on a very extensive private prac- tice as a lawyer. Judge Harris married, July 19, 1879, Mary Rush Temple, daughter of James D. Temple. She resides at 1026 Jen- nings Avenue in Fort Worth. Her children comprise her son Temple and three daughters.
Temple Harris was born in Spring Place. Georgia, his mother's old home, on February 26, 1882, and was about two years of age when the family moved to Fort Worth. He ac- quired his education in this city and after school his first regular employment was in the shipping department of the Carter Grocery Company. Later he was bookkeeper for Stonestreet & Davis and the Nash Hardware Company, and for seven years was a traveling salesman for Swift & Company.
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