USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume IV > Part 34
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After Mr. Penry was admitted to the bar he moved to the historic town of Tascosa in Oldham County, and for two years was county and district clerk. At that time nine unorganized counties were attracted to Old- ham for judicial purposes. With a similar ex- tensive jurisdiction Mr. Penry was elected and served as county judge for six years. Soon after retiring from the county bench he moved his law offices to Amarillo, and in 1915 came to Fort Worth, where he makes a specialty of corporation law.
At Waco, Texas, Mr. Penry married Miss Katie Majors, a daughter of Rufus C. Majors, one of the pioneer merchants of that city,
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who had served as a soldier of the Confed- eracy under General Ross. Mrs. Penry was educated in a select academy at Millersburg, Kentucky, finishing her course at the Columbia Athenaeum, Columbia, Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Penry are the parents of eight children, all of whom are living. In religious faith Judge Penry is a member of the Christian Science Church. He is also a member of the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Elks.
JAMES M. OWENS now living retired at Denton, has been actively identified with this and other sections of North and West Texas for forty-five years. He had an experience that makes him an old-time cattleman of West Texas, and in connection with general farm- ing in Denton County he was interested in the pure-bred stock business for a number of years.
Mr. Owens is a native of Saline County, Arkansas. His grandfather was born in Ire- land, and married a Miss Gunther, of Scotch- Irish ancestry. They had two sons and seven daughters, the sons being William R. and John Owens. The latter lived out his life in Saline County, Arkansas.
William R. Owens, father of James M., was born in July, 1834, near Raleigh, North Carolina, was reared from early boyhood near Spartanburg. South Carolina. had a limited education, and as a young man moved to Georgia and married in Hall County of that state. He learned farming, and while in Georgia was a plantation overseer. In 1856 he took his family to Arkansas, and was a resident of Saline County for twenty years. In 1854 he married Miss Nancy Narcissa Wilson, a daughter of a Georgia farmer. There were three other Wilson children besides Mrs. Owens who came to Texas. She died near Denton February 28, 1882. Her children were : Melissa Jane, who became the wife of O. P. Poe and died at Denton ; James Madison; Nancy Ann, wife of John T. Poe, residing at Sweetwater, Texas; Ben- jamin T., of Sweetwater; Miss Martha, who died January 26, 1875: Mary, who also died unmarried ; Laura, wife of Miles E. Poe, of Denton, owner of the old Owens homestead ; and Sadie Belle, wife of L. Fulton, of Denton.
In 1876, when James Madison Owens was a boy, the family moved from Arkansas to Texas, traveling by railroad as far as Dallas and thence by freight wagons to Denton. One
member of the party was O. P. Poe, previously mentioned, who subsequently was mayor of Denton. The Owens family located about two miles northeast of the county seat, on land originally settled and slightly improved by Henderson Murphy. Here the first efforts of the Owens were put forth in Texas. Wil- lianı R. Owens remained a factor in the agri- cultural affairs of that community for about a quarter of a century, being a farmer and stockraiser. He was one of the first to become interested in the development of 'a school in that locality. He and his brother- in-law. W. A. Wilson, erected a schoolhouse on the Owens farm, and both were members of the school board. William R. Owens was a Confederate soldier with an Arkansas regi- ment, and while in the service became affected with blindness and was furloughed home. He was a company drummer. After living in Denton County for a quarter of a century he made another move to the west, spending a few years in Tom Green County and then in Concho County, for a brief time was in Coke County, and finally crossed the line into New Mexico, and though upwards of ninety years of age he is still interested in ranching at Cedarvale, New Mexico. He has always taken an interest in politics and civic affairs, is a democrat, and helped erect the Baptist Church at Denton.
James Madison Owens began attending school in Arkansas, also attended a school at Denton, and completed his education in Webb College at Culleoka, Tennessee. On returning to Texas he went out to Stephens County and was associated with J. T. Poe in the cattle industry. They grazed their stock over territory that now constitutes the greatest oil field of Texas. Mr. Owens was in that section of West Texas from 1880 until about 1887. He married while there, and also bought some of the land of that region, his name appearing in connection with titles to some of the tracts that have since yielded fabulous wealth in oil. However, when he sold his interest the price of land averaged about $3 an acre. The cattle from the Poe- Owens ranch were shipped to Kansas City. also sold on the range, and on one occasion Mr. Owens participated in one of the active experiences common to older cattlemen, taking a bunch of cattle over the Chisholm trail to Dodge City.
On leaving Stephens County in 1887 he moved to Johnson County and was in the
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grocery business at Alvarado. Selling out, he went back to Stephens County, but event- ually located in Denton County, and still owns a farm seven miles north of the county seat, on Clear Creek. He made this a grain and stock farm, and lived there until he retired to his city home in Denton. His labors and management were largely responsible for the splendid condition of this farm today. While there he introduced the Shorthorns into his cattle herds, and proved to his satisfaction the value of pure-bred stock. One improvement on his farm was the drilling of a deep well, a flowing well which originally flowed twelve gallons a minute, and has continuously pro- duced a reliable water supply since 1904.
His public-spirited interest led him to par- ticipate in the opening of new roads in his locality and in securing the subdivision of the school precinct and the building of the Milam Schoolhouse. For a time he was one of the trustees of this school. He was reared a Baptist, and has been a member of that church for many years. His first presidential ballot went to General Hancock and he has voted steadily at the quadrennial elections ever since.
December 12, 1883, Mr. Owens married Miss Jessie T. Mccutcheon. She was born in Dunklin County, Missouri, November 25, 1869, and came to Texas the same year as her husband. Her parents were Charles H. and Nancy E. (Taylor) Mccutcheon. Her father was born at Larkinsville, Jackson County, Alabama. a son of William Walker Mccutcheon and grandson of William Walker Mccutcheon, Sr. Both the father and grand- father were Revolutionary soldiers. Charles H. Mccutcheon moved to Stephens County, Texas, in 1877, and for thirteen years was identified with farming and stock raising in that region, after which he returned to Duncan County, Missouri, and is now living at Camp- bell, that state, at the age of seventy-five. He was a Confederate soldier with an Ala- bama regiment. Mrs. Owens' mother was the daughter of a Confederate soldier from Missouri, and he and his daughter were both born at Union City, Tennessee. The children of Charles H. Mccutcheon were : Mrs. Owens; Norman Walker, who died unmar- ried; Mary E., who died at Campbell, Mis- souri, wife of Boyd Walters; Miss Verd. Van Taylor and Grover C., all living at Campbell.
A brief record of the children of Mr. and 'Mrs. Owens is as follows: Annie, wife of L. A. Utley, of Oklahoma City ; Edith Belle. who died unmarried; James M .. Jr., of Muskogee, Oklahoma ; William H., of Musko- gee, who married Lorene Russell; Ben Inge, who was in readiness to enter the National army when the armistice was signed and died in young manhood, he and his brother, James M., Jr., having responded to the call at the time ; and Harry Whitney, the youngest of the family, a junior in the Denton High School.
WALTER L. MORRIS. When Mr. Morris moved to Fort Worth in March, 1919, and became a member of the law firm of Slay. Simon, Smith & Morris, it brought to that old established law partnership the experience and connections of an able attorney who had practiced law and figured in public affairs in the district around Albany. Texas, for nearly twenty years.
Mr. Morris is a native of Northwest Texas and the third son of Hon. B. W. Morris of Granbury. His father has been an honored resident of Granbury in Hood County since pioneer times. He was born in Texas. served with a Texas regiment in the Confed- erate army, and practically all the important offices within the gift of the people have been bestowed on him. He was four years tax assessor, ten continuous years sheriff, and for four years a member of the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Legislatures, representing the then Flotorial district, comprising Tarrant and Hood counties.
Walter L. Morris was born in Erath County March 12, 1877, but spent his early life of his father's farm two miles west of Granbury. He was educated in public schools and at the age of twenty-three was admitted and began the practice of law. He soon moved to Albany, and at the age of twenty-five was elected county attorney of Shackelford County, serving two full terms. at the age of twenty-nine was elected county judge of Shackelford County, an office he filled for two terms, and was then chosen dis- trict attorney for the Forty-second Judicial District, comprising Taylor. Shackelford. East- land, Callahan and Stephens counties, known as the Abilene District. Judge Morris left the office of district attorney in 1914, but con- tinued his work as a lawyer at Albany until March, 1919, when he removed to Fort Worth.
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L. M. FORCIER. A record of splendid achievement has been that of Mr. Forcier since he established his residence in Wichita Falls, the vital "oil metropolis" of Northwest Texas. His capitalistic resources were summed up in $250 at the time of his arrival in this city, in 1917, and in this thriving and progressive community he found and availed himself re- sourcefully of opportunities that have enabled him to gain a commanding position in connec- tion with the business life of the community. In initiating business here he found it impos- sible to negotiate loans at the banks unless his notes had endorsement of the names of two approved securities, but his ambition was one of courage and determination; he overcame the various obstacles that faced him and pressed earnestly forward to the goal of busi- ness success and financial independence, his business inventories at the present time, as based on actual valuations, showing a total of more than $20,000, while the good will and high reputation involved in his conducting of his business enterprise place its value far in excess of the amount mentioned.
Upon coming to Wichita Falls Mr. Forcier established a modest electric battery service in connection with the Standard Garage. About six months later he removed to more eligible quarters, at 814 Scott Avenue, where he re- mained about one year. He then moved his equipment into the Willard plant, at 812 Scott Avenue, and about a year later, in the latter part of April, 1920, he took possession of the fine modern building specially erected for his use, at the corner of Eleventh Street and Scott Avenue, where he has an electric-service station that undoubtedly is not excelled in the entire state of Texas. The building affords an aggre- gate floor space of 7,500 square feet, and its high-grade equipment includes the provision of an attractive reading room and also shower baths for employes. At the time of the open- ing of the new establishment the following statements appeared in one of the Wichita Falls daily papers: "The equipment for the handling and repairing of batteries is probably the most elaborate in Texas. Mr. Forcier is an old hand at the business, and has spent months in choosing the most modern equip- ment, having visited the factories and inves- tigated the merits of the latest inventions be- fore making a choice of equipment. The result is a finished plant, ready to give a service equal to any similar establishment in the world. Mr. Forcier will be in charge of the electric service department."
In giving to Wichita Falls this admirable and important enterprise Mr. Forcier has made a distinct contribution to the metropolitan prestige of the city, and he has won for him- self an established place as one of the most progressive, loyal and public-spirited citizens of the city and county of his adoption. He is appreciative of the opportunities which have here been afforded him, and shows this in his earnest support of the various agencies that tend to conserve the advancement and pros- perity of Wichita Falls. He is a valued mem- ber of the local Chamber of Commerce. is affiliated with Wichita Falls Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is actively affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. in which he is a charter member of Maskat Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, which was instituted at Wich- ita Falls in June, 1920.
Mr. Forcier was born in the city of Port- land. Oregon, on the fifteenth of July, 1881. and was a child when his parents moved to Bay City, Michigan. where he secured his early education. As a youth he entered the employ of the National Bicycle Company of Bay City, and in this connection he gained his initial experience as a mechanical and elec- trical engineer. He soon became identified with work in automobile factories, and for several years was receiving valuable experi- ence as a mechanician and engineer in the great Ford automobile factory in the city of Detroit. Later he was associated for five years with the fine Buick automobile manu- factory at Flint, Michigan, and it was here that he laid the secure foundation for his suc- cessful career in connection with the automo- bile industry.
Upon coming to Texas Mr. Forcier was for a few years connected with the Ford automo- bile assembling plant in the city of Dallas. where he remained until 1917. when he came to Wichita Falls and initiated the enterprise of which adequate record has been made in preceding paragraphs. He and his wife are popular factors in the representative social life of their home city. Mrs. Forcier, whose maiden name was Marietta Matherly, was born and reared at Springfield. Missouri. They have an adopted daughter. Hazel. now eight months old.
CHARLES MCCLOUD HALL. While now a retired resident of Denton, Charles McCloud Hall was for a third of a century one of the prosperous representatives of the modern
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farming era in Denton County. He came here after the real pioneers had done their work, though his career covers the era of greatest progress and development.
Mr. Hall was a prosperous farmer in Northern Alabama before he came to Texas, and he made his move to the West to acquire more room and more land, and has been well satisfied with his achievements and experiences in the Lone Star State. He was born in Jef- ferson County, Alabama, not far from the modern city of Birmingham, January 15, 1843. His grandfather, John Hall, with his family moved out of Tennessee and settled in Jef- ferson County, Alabama, while two of John's brothers settled in Marion County of the same state. John Hall lived out his life in Jefferson County as a farmer. Thomas Hall was born in Lincoln County, Tennessee, in 1810, and was a small boy when the family went to Alabama. He died in 1885. He mar- ried in Pickens County, Alabama, Lydia Brown, whose parents were natives of Ire- land. She passed away February 6, 1868. The children of this family were: John, a Confederate soldier, who spent his civil life as a farmer in Alabama; Martin, who also wore the gray uniform and later came to Texas and died in Denton County; Mary, who was married to Will Daniels and died in Ellis County, Texas; Narcissa, who married B. McMurrey and died in Alabama ; Sylvester, also a Confederate soldier, who died in Ala- bama; Charles McCloud, who has always been known to his friends and relatives as "Mack"; David, who entered the Confederate army and the rest of his life lived in Alabama ; James, a resident of Hale County, Texas ; Amos, a farmer in Brown County, Texas; Laura, wife of Tom Willett and living in Alabama; Robert, who died unmarried; and William, a farmer in Eastland County, Texas.
Charles McCloud Hall grew up in a coun- try farm home in Northern Alabama and se- cured his early education in the rural schools. He had a natural bent for arithmetic and became proficient in that subject, reading and writing constituting the principal other branches of instruction in school. In Octo- ber, 1862, he entered the Southern army. joining Capt. P. D. Roddy's company of independent cavalry, the operations of which were chiefly in Northern Alabama, Northern Mississippi, Southern Tennessee and in Georgia. It was attached to General For- rest's Brigade and Wheeler's Corps, orders from that famous leader being read to the
company once a week. Mr. Hall was in the raid when Colonel Straight, the Federal com- mander leading his men through from Corinth to Rome, Georgia, for the purpose of taking the arsenal at the latter point, was captured. He was in many minor engagements and was detailed as a guard for General Hood's ammu- nition wagons when that part of the army turned back from Atlanta toward Nashville. He was with Hood's forces as far as Colum- bia, Tennessee, and then went back with Fed- eral prisoners to the Tennessee River. The close of the war found him at Iuka, Missis- sippi, where he surrendered and where he was paroled. Mr. Hall had no serious injuries during the war, although he was in many places of danger and saw many slain on both sides.
He returned home soon enough to help make the crop of 1865, and then completed his education by ten months in rural schools. Following that, he resumed farming, and thus partly reared his family and provided for them during the twenty years he remained in Ala- bama.
In January, 1885, he reached Texas, trav- eling by train from Lauderdale County, Ala- bama, to Roanoke, and at once established himself south of Argyle, where for thirty- five years he was identified with farm activ- ities. In Alabama he was well trained as a grower of corn and cotton, and in Texas his agricultural efforts were diversified with small grain. He bought land from Henry Cook, first settled by Mr. Marsh, including a little box house that protected his family from the elements until he could provide something better. Later he erected a six-room frame house and this, with splendid barn and other improvements, formed a cluster of buildings that made his place somewhat conspicuous and marked it as the home of a thrifty and pro- gressive citizen. Much of the land on his farm he used for pasture for his Shorthorn cattle, and for many years he was one of the modest but successful growers in that com- munity. For his first farm of 175 acres he paid $2,050, including the crops then growing on it. That was regarded as a good price for similar land in this section. Later he bought 160 acres for $15 an acre. When in 1919 he sold his farm of 331 acres the price realized was $70 an acre. At that time he abandoned active business and removed to Denton. During his residence in the Argyle community Mr. Hall took part in the various movements for the welfare of the community,
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assisted in providing and maintaining places of worship and was trustee of the Litsey School fourteen years, part of the time being chairman of the board. Mr. and Mrs. Hall were active members and he was steward and a trustee of the Prairie Mound Church. In politics he has voted as a democrat and as a prohibitionist.
During his residence in Denton county Mr. Hall has been a witness of many changes. Changes have been especially marked in trans- portation facilities. When he settled there the entire neighborhood possessed only two buggies and three hacks, people resorting to the farm wagon or traveling on horseback when they moved about. There was not a single artesian well, whereas now nearly every improved farm has one. People were almost altogether dependent upon local stores for their merchandise, whereas now convenience to large cities and to mail order houses places the world's best goods within easy reach.
On February 6, 1868, in Colbert County, Alabama, Mr. Hall married Harriet E. Ross. She was born and reared in that county, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Woodin) Ross, also natives of Alabama, and farming people. Two of her brothers were Confed- erate soldiers, one of them being a chief bugler for General Forrest. Of the eight children of Daniel Ross, only one survives, Boone Ross, of Harrison County, Texas. Mrs. Hall was born June 13, 1846, and died Sep- tember 28, 1920. A brief record of her chil- dren and grandchildren is as follows: Edna, wife of A. B. Fincher, of Sherman County, Texas, the mother of Roy, Fitzhugh, Ophelia, Edrana. A. B., Jr., and Cecelia ; Miss Mary, living with her father at Denton; Lula wife of H. B. Fincher, of Denton County, has three children, named Marvin, Claude and Howard ; James, of Iowa Park, Texas, married Ida Roderick, and their children are Irene Wal- lace, Comer, Ross and Ellen; W. Sylvester lives at Hendricks, Oklahoma ; Elbert, of Min- eral Wells, Texas, married Mabel Steward; Miss Ethel the youngest, is at home at Den- ton. Eula Elizabeth, who was born Septem- ber 25, 1892, died April 9, 1915, at the age of twenty-two years.
ANDREW JACKSON FOUTS is one of the most interesting of the old-time citizens of Denton County. His home has been in that county for over sixty years, but he is also widely traveled and has that substantial culture that comes from contact with distant scenes and
has always been a student- and close observer of American life and institutions. A hard and constant worker until he was threescore and ten, he has been identified with almost every phase of economic progress in this section of North Texas, and his record is one that re- flects the historical progress and development of the community.
Mr. Fouts was born in Clark County, Indiana, September 2, 1845, and his father, Thomas Dugan Fouts, was born in the same section of Indiana in 1818. He acquired a good education from some of the old-time Hoosier schools of Southern Indiana, and at one time was a teacher. He was a carpenter by trade, and after bringing his family to Texas in 1858 he was employed in this occu- pation and did much of the pioneer home building around Lewisville. He was a member of the same company of Home Guards as his son Andrew. He was a stanch democrat in politics. Thomas D. Fouts, who died about thirty years ago, married Sidney Jane Fisher, whose father, Jacob Fisher, lived in Clark County, Indiana, and was of Pennsylvania German stock. Mrs. Thomas D. Fouts died in 1868. Her children were: Jacob, who died in Indiana; Andrew J .; Mary, who became the wife of Jack Simpson and died in Denton County; Fred, of Trinity Mills, Texas; William, of Denton; Cicero, of Roansboro, Texas; and Kate, who married J. T. Timberlake, of Oxnard, California.
Andrew Jackson Fouts attended school for a few brief terms in Southern Indiana. He was a boy of thirteen when the family got together their possessions and started for Texas. While it is now a rail journey of little more than twenty-four hours, the Fouts family were on the road and trail just two months. In that year, 1858, they could not. had they desired, have traveled more than a few miles by railroad. The party consisted of Thomas Dugan Fouts, his wife, and six children, and they left New Washington, Indiana, with two wagons and teams and a buggy, Andrew J. Fouts being driver of one of the teams. Reaching Denton County they settled near where Lewisville now stands. A tent was pitched near Barksdale Creek, and thus they were sheltered during the two months while their pioneer house was being framed and made habitable. The frames were of hewed timbers, and the roof was made of boards rived from the trees with a froe. The weatherboards were hauled more than 140
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miles by ox teams from East Texas. The family went into the house and lived for some months before the floor was laid.
Practically the first experience of Andrew J. Fouts in Texas was as a freighter with ox teams, first hauling lumber and supplies for the family from Jefferson and Shreveport and later engaging regularly in overland trans- portation. Then and for some years to follow all goods for these Northern Texas counties were hauled by wagon from towns established on navigable rivers, while the nearest railroad was hundreds of miles to the south. In 1863 Mr. Fouts joined Captain Dallas' Company of Denton County boys in the State Troops, and saw service within the state, but no actual fighting. He was sworn in at Bonham, and his company was stationed there, at Paris, Mckinney and Dallas and elsewhere. The final surrender came while Mr. Fouts was at home sick, and he was never paroled. After coming to Texas he attended school just three months, as a pupil in a log cabin sixteen feet square, with a dirt floor and named the "Bark Log College." The teacher was Mr. Vivian, who was arrested by the Federal authorities after the war and while on the way to Dallas was shot and killed because, as the authori- ties claimed, he tried to escape.
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