USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume IV > Part 39
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After the war he returned to Grapevine and for thirty years was in business as a general merchant. For a number of years he was also associated in business transactions with Maj. K. M. Van Zandt, the prominent Fort Worth banker. For the past five years Mr. Lipscomb has served as Justice of the Peace. He is a Mason and a member of the Church of Christ.
In 1869 he married Frances Weatherly, of Tarrant County. Of their eight children four are still living : Joseph D .; Annie V., wife of C. E. Stewart : Priestley ; and Louisa, wife of F. S. Farrell.
DR. WILLIAM BURNET MCKNIGHT has prac- ticed medicine at Mansfield for over a quarter of a century, and has given generously of his
time and helpful influence in every phase of that community's growth and progress.
He was born in Wood County, Texas, April 18, 1859, fifth among the six children of J. D. and Susan E. (Wynne) McKnight. His par- ents were natives of Tennessee, settled in Texas in 1837, and his father took an active part in Americanizing Texas. He was a soldier of the Mexican war, in service from 1846 until 1848. Still later he joined the Confederate army as captain of a company, but was acci- dentally killed November 11, 1861, a few months after the war started. His widow sur- vived him until Deecmber 24, 1878. The old- est of the five sons is Frank McKnight, a banker at Arlington, Texas.
Dr. W. B. McKnight was only three years old when deprived of a father's care. He was reared and educated in Tarrant County and studied medicine under physicians at Arlington and at Sulphur Springs. He began his practice at Springtown, in Parker County, and since 1895 has carried a heavy share of professional work at Mansfield. He is a mem- ber of the County, State, North Texas and American Medical associations. Doctor Mc- Knight was one of the organizers of what is now the State Bank of Mansfield. He is a Royal Arch Mason and Knight of Pythias.
In 1889 he married Sallie Hodges, daughter of Dr. D. G. and H. A. House Hodges. Mrs. McKnight is a talented musician. She was born at Mansfield and completed her musical education in the New England Conservatory at Boston. Doctor and Mrs. McKnight have four children : Dr. William Hodges Mc- Knight, now at Boston, Massachusetts; Kate, wife of H. S. Lattimore, of Fort Worth; Dorothy, wife of D. A. Warner, of Mercedes, Texas; and James Stephens a student in the University of Texas.
HON. JOHN H. VEATCH. To the credit of John H. Veatch stands a residence of half a century in Johnson County. This has been a period of hard work and real attainments, giving him the competency he now enjoys in his home at Joshua. For many years he has been one of the most influential members of the democratic party in Johnson County, and is now in his fourth consecutive term as mem- ber of the State Legislature.
Mr. Veatch was born in Fulton County. Kentucky, January 22, 1854. His forefathers came to Kentucky when it was a wilderness. His grandfather, Jacob R. Veatch, was born near Lexington, Kentucky, and subsequently"
John 86 Neatch
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founded his family in Fulton County. His son, Jeremiah Veatch, was born near Lexing- ton and was twelve years of age when he moved to Fulton County, and he lived there the rest of his life, a farmer. He attempted to get into the war, did take part on the Con- federate side in the fight at Obion River, but becoming afflicted with boils was released from active duty. He was a man of consid- erable prominence in his home community, was a loyal democrat, although not a member he attended church and was a Bible reader, and his wife was a Methodist. Jeremiah Veatch married Martha Elizabeth Dudley, a daughter of Caleb 'Dudley, of the Hopkinsville section of Kentucky. Jeremiah Veatch died in May, 1886, at the age of sixty-three. His wife passed away in 1869, aged thirty-eight. The children of their union were: Miranda, who became the wife of R. M. Oliver, of Camp- bell, Missouri; John H .; Jacob, a farmer of Hickman County, Kentucky; Joseph D. and Thomas R., both of whom lived at Campbell, Missouri, the latter deceased ; Price Stonewall Jackson, who died in Fulton County, Ken- tucky ; Robert Lee, of Monroe, Louisiana ; and Mollie C., widow of Thomas Wadlington, of Hugo, Oklahoma. By his second marriage, Jeremiah Veatch had a daughter, Mattie E., wife of Jacob Grimes, of Campbell, Missouri.
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John H. Veatch grew up in a humble farm home in Kentucky where the war and recon- struction further limited his opportunities. He attended the common schools, but left before mastering many of the principles of grammar, mathematics or other subjects. Those who know him best and esteem his qualities as a private citizen and public leader have never recognized any deficiencies in his abilities due to lack of early schooling. This is due to the fact that he has studied and read in after years, and has fully achieved the equivalent of the early education which he missed.
Mr. Veatch was a youth of seventeen when he started for Texas in company with his uncle, J. K. McClanahan. He drove a mule team through from Fulton County, Kentucky. His uncle settled in the old Caddo Grove com- munity of Johnson County, and spent the rest of his life there as a farmer. He had been a Confederate soldier in the Civil war, was an active member of the Methodist Church, and died at his old home in 1909. The McClana- hans on leaving Kentucky were accompanied by two other families, the Jesters and Archers, who also lived for a time in the Caddo Grove region. The little party crossed the Missis-
sippi River at New Madrid, Missouri, the Arkansas River at Little Rock, the Red River at Fulton, Arkansas. The chief incident of the journey was the encountering of the horde of yellow jackets practically throughout the stretch of corduroy road over the Nigger Wool swamp from New Madrid to Clarkston, Mis- souri. These attacked the teams, and led to much trouble for the drivers. Once young Veatch was nearly dumped over into the lagoon by the sudden uprearing of his mule team.
The party arrived at Caddo Grove October 28, 1871, and Mr. Veatch immediately hired out to do farm work, the training of his early youth fitting him for no other occupation. During the three years he labored thus he earned wages from twelve to twenty dollars a month. He then made two share crops, and following that for eight years was a tenant farmer. His early capital of teams and imple- ments was gained entirely through the pro- ceeds of hard manual toil. At the end of eight years as a renter he had accumulated little. and he then bought a farm of sixty-five acres, paying as cash down a hundred dollars. He took possession and housed his family in a two-room box house, and proceeded to pay out on his land by cultivating it. He met his pay- ments according to the agreement with his old employer and neighbor, and when his first tract was clear he continued to buy and clear land until he had 225 acres in cultivation. Mr. Veatch superintended and assisted in clearing 150 acres of blackjack and postoak land, work enough for one man over a life- time if he did nothing else. That alone is the supreme test of his industry, and none would begrudge him the good fortune he enjoys today when this record of toil is considered. On his farm Mr. Veatch remained for twenty years. During that time he operated every fall a wagon hauling sweet potatoes to Fort Worth. He had a regular route and customers for his vegetables, and he grew a large quan- tity of that crop. Cotton was also one of his chief crops. His soil wore down like his own strength through the years he farmed there. and when he disposed of his place he moved to Joshua, where his home is today. Here he improved a block of ground which once served as the home of his uncle McClanahan. On this small place he handles small fruit, and finds other physical exercise in keeping up the home and his livestock. Out of the profits of his strenuous labor he invested in lands further
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west in Texas, and gives some of his time to their supervision.
Mr. Veatch has been actively engaged in politics since 1886. He joined the populist party in 1892, and was one of its ablest and most influential leaders in Johnson County. He met and discussed public questions with leading men and political leaders of the demo- cratic party in this and other counties, and acquitted himself so well in these debates as to leave no question either as to his eloquence or his ready resourcefulness in ideas and logic. He was a member of the Farmers Alliance and of the Farmers Union, but declined to permit his name to be urged for president of the Alliance movement of Texas. With the dis- appearance of the people's party Mr. Veatch then went with the democrats, and that has been his political allegiance ever since. With- out his consent he was nominated for John- son's member in the Lower House of the Leg- islature. He was brought out by old-line dem- ocrats who had fought him in populist days and who insisted that he be their candidate. He finally yielded, and took his seat in the 34th Legislature as the successor of Fred Vickers. In that session he was under Speaker John W. Wood as a member of the committee on appropriations. agriculture, banks and banking. In that Legislature the rural school aid law was proposed and enacted. The sub- mission of the prohibition amendment was defeated by the Legislature. In the 35th Leg- islature, to which he was re-elected. Mr. Veatch was assigned to the committees on con- stitutional amendments, roads, bridges and ferries, on banks and banking. The speaker was F. A. Fuller. It was this body which preferred charges and brought impeachment against Governor Ferguson. Other important acts in which Mr. Veatch had an interested part were in behalf of education, and the state highway law creating the State Highway Com- mission preparatory to the good roads build- ing era of the state. Elected to the 36th Leg- islature, he served under Speaker R. E. Thom- ason and was chairman of the committee on agriculture and a member of the constitutional amendment, banks and banking, county and county boundaries. franchise, suffrage and elections. In this Legislature Texas ratified the amendments to the National Constitution providing for woman's suffrage and national prohibition, and Mr. Veatch was a hearty sup- porter of the entire constructive legislative program of that session. In 1920 he was re- turned to the House for the fourth consecu-
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tive term. Declining committee chairmanship. he was appointed by Speaker Charles E. Thomas a member of the agriculture, consti- tutional amendments, suffrage, franchise and elections committees. In this Legislature the University location question was settled by an appropriation to buy additional land. An appropriation for the West Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College, which the Governor vetoed, was opposed by Mr. Veatch primarily for lack of public funds, though he favored the location of such an institution at some time in the future in the Plains country.
Mr. Veatch believes in churches and church work, encourages them with his means, but has no membership. In Johnson County. July 22, 1875, he married Miss Hester Ann Foster. a native of Tarrant County, Texas, daughter of Zopher and Nancy B. Foster, who came to this state from Illinois before the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Veatch have three children. The oldest, Alvin R., of Joshua, is a member of the firm Foster-Fain Drug Company of John- son County. The second. Dr. Oscar E., is a specialist in eye, ear, nose and throat diseases at Fort Worth. Ara Berta Lawson, the only daughter. is a resident of Joshua and the mother of Irene Lawson.
THOMAS F. MOODY. One of the most impor- tant industries in Texas today is the develop- ment of oil, the demand for this product being greatly intensifiel by the coal shortage, and the successful opening up and operation of oil fields naturally afford unlimited oppor- tunities for the establishment and maintenance of countless lines of business connected with the refining. marketing and utilization of the by-products of this commodity. Some of the most forceful and energetic men of the country are directing these various operations. finding it well worth their while to concentrate in these fields. One of the men who is known the country over as an oil magnate, banker, cattleman and citizen of unblemished reputa- tion is Thomas F. Moody, president of the Moody Oil & Refining Company of Wichita Falls, whose interests are of such magnitude as to command attention all over the United States and Canada.
Thomas F. Moody was born in Colorado in 1876, a son of Robert and Mary C. (Allen) Moody. Robert Moody was born in England, but came to the United States many years ago and located in Colorado, where he became a partner of the late P. T. Barnum in the ownership of a ranch, and was one of the
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pioneer cattlemen of that state, one of his asso- ciates being the late Charles Goodnight. In 1887 he came into the Panhandle of Texas, located on the Canadian River, in Hemphill County, and built up a very extensive cattle business and owned several large ranches in that county, where he died a few years ago.
Thomas F. Moody was but a lad when he was brought into the Panhandle, and in and about here all of his interests have been cen- tered. Growing up on the great ranges of the cattle country, he early learned to do things upon an extensive scale. Small things do not appeal to him, and whatever he goes into must be of some magnitude to hold him. He is one of the men who early recognized the future of Texas oil, having had a wide ex- perience in the oil fields of Kansas and Okla- homa, and after acting in an advisory capacity for numerous companies in those regions he aided in organizing the Empire Company and secured for it large areas in the Panhandle. He has been manifestly successful in the Burk- burnett fields, the Desdemona districts of Texas, and also had large interests in the Pea- body field of Marion County, Kansas. The Moody Oil & Refining Company, which he recently organized, has assets of $3,000,000, which include 120,000 acres, principally in the Panhandle district; 400 acres of proven territory in the Burkburnett and Desdemona districts of Texas and in the Peabody field ; and an interest in twelve producing wells, which already gives the company a daily income of $1,000, which will be shortly ex- panded to much greater proportions. The headquarters of the company are at Wichita Falls, and branches are maintained at Amarillo and Canadian, Texas, Mr. Moody continuing to reside at the last named place.
Mr. Moody's connection with the banking interests of this part of the state has been an important one and he at one time capitalized a string of banks at Woodward, Shattuck, Hig- gins, Glazier, Pampa, Miami and Canadian. He is now vice president of the First National Bank of Canadian and a director of the Ger- lack Bank of Woodward, Oklahoma, and of the Security National Bank of Wichita Falls. At one time he was vice president of the Pan- handle & Southern Cattle Raisers' Associa- tion, and is still a member of its executive committee ; is a member of the executive com- mittee of the Texas Cattle Raisers' Associa- tion, and was appointed to serve in outlining a plan of co-operation for producers and dis-
tributors while a member of the committee appointed to act in Chicago, Illinois.
Mr. Moody has not only been fortunate in his enterprises, but he has been able to asso- ciate with him in his operations some of the leading magnates of the state, and with him in the Moody Oil & Refining Company are O. W. Cox, vice president ; Ed S. Mckinney, sec- retary. The Wichita Falls Chamber of Com- merce has in Mr. Moody one of its most active members, and he is enthusiastic as to the future of all this region, and is a man who under- stands what he is talking about, for he knows the oil business from start to finish. Extensive plans have been -made for the opening up of the large areas controlled by his company and the bringing in of new wells will add further prosperity to this already flourishing district.
Mr. Moody was married to Miss Jem Hib- bard, who was born in Missouri, and they have one daughter, Mary Cathryn Moody. Mr. Moody is a member of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, South, and one of the most liberal contributors to the local congregation. Although in the very prime of vigorous man- hood, he has traveled far on the road to suc- cess. A man of stupendous energy, he pos- sesses the power to energize others and get from them the maximum of effort. While his personal ambitions are towering, as is but nat- ural, he has the good of his state at heart, and takes great pride in the fact that his remark- able operations have played a very important part in developing it and bringing into the Panhandle district a prosperity which seems almost increditable. The whole country is bound to profit from the operation of such men as Mr. Moody, for the products he places on the market are much needed, and the expan- sion which is planned will afford safe and re- munerative investments and give employment for thousands. Mr. Moody is a product of his times and locality, and stands as one of the best types of the self-reliant and magnificently enterprising men this country has ever known.
RABBI GEORGE Fox has been a resident of Fort Worth about twelve years, and during that time has become widely known outside of the religious sphere on account of his whole- souled and energetic interest and participation in affairs of a broad civic and benevolent nature.
Rabbi Fox, who is thirty-eight years of age, came to Fort Worth from Bloomington, Illi- nois. He acquired his preliminary education in the small town of Greenview. Illinois, later
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accompanied the family to Springfield and then to Chicago. He is a graduate of a Chicago high school and completed his literary educa- tion in the University of Chicago. He holds the degrees of Ph.B. and A.M. from that insti- tution. He also attended the University of Chicago Divinity School and received his Doc- tor of Philosophy degree from the Illinois Wesleyan University. He was a member of the faculty of Illinois Wesleyan for two years, and is one of the few Jews who enjoy the dis- tinction of having taught in a Christian sec- tarian university.
Rabbi Fox began his duties with the Jewish Church at Fort Worth in 1909. As soon as he became acquainted with local conditions he took an active interest in civic affairs. For four terms he has been chairman of the City Charity Commission. He was one of the or- ganizers and a former president of the State Welfare Association and one of the organizers of what is now the Fort Worth Welfare Asso- ciation. He is an associate director of the Red Cross.
During the World war Rabbi Fox was given a leave of absence and for eight months was away from Fort Worth establishing Jewish Welfare huts in a number of the central and southern cantonments. Following his return he had charge of this branch of religious and welfare work at Camp Bowie and the North Texas aviation fields.
Rabbi Fox has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Conference of American Rabbis, the most important and larg- est rabbinical association in the world. He is a member of the executive committee of the American Jewish War Relief Committee, which had charge of collecting funds for the European war sufferers, and was on the execu- tive committee of the Near East drive. Dur- ing the past seven years he has taken an active part in every drive both for war and peace purposes. Rabbi Fox is a Mason and Shriner, member of the Order of Elks, the B'nai B'rith and is well known among Fort Worth citizens and business men as member of the Kiwanis, Temple, Glen Garden, Advertising and Salesmanship Clubs. He is on the Board of the Junior Chamber Directorate. He is state chaplain of the Texas Association of Salesmanship Clubs and the local chaplain of the Ad Club. He is the author of "Why the State and Church Should Require Health Certificates Before Marriage," in the work "The New Chivalry-Health"; and is also the author of "Judaism. Christianity and the
Modern Social Ideals." He is also one of the founders and the first editor of the Jewish Monitor, the most influential Jewish paper in the South.
Rabbi Fox married Miss Hortense Lewis, of Fort Worth, and they are the parents of one daughter.
L. J. WARDLAW, while well acquainted with and prominent among the members of the Fort Worth bar, has during the greater part of the period of twenty years of his member- ship as a Texas lawyer done his professional work in the western part of the state, where he still has an extensive general practice.
Mr. Wardlaw was born in Falls County. Texas, March 10, 1880, and is a typical West- ern Texas man. His father, N. J. Wardlaw. who married a Miss Cody, is still living at Ballinger, in Runnels County, having devoted his active life to farming. L. J. Wardlaw is the oldest of nine children, six sons and three daughters, and he grew up on his father's farm, attending public school, and began the study of law in 1901. He was licensed to practice in December, 1902, and in March. 1903, located at Sonora, in Sutton County. where for two years he practiced alone, and then became junior member of the law firm of Cornell & Wardlaw. This firm continued at Sonora until the spring of 1918, when James Cornell was appointed district judge of the Eighty-third Judicial District. Since then Mr. Wardlaw has been senior member of the law firm of Wardlaw & Elliott at Sonora, but for the past two years has also lived and practiced in Fort Worth, his offices being in the F. & M. Bank Building.
Mr. Wardlaw has been affiliated with the Masonic order since 1901, being a Royal Arch Mason. January 12, 1901, he married Mira Gregory. They have four sons, Ariel, a stu- dent of the Texas Christian University ; N. J. and Roswell, who are students in the South- western Military School of Dallas, and Jack, a student of the Bryant School of Fort Worth.
BURT A. JUDD. The development of the oil industry in Eastland County has brought to this region not only those who came here with the intention of speculating, but also solid business men who sought here opportunities to carry on their legitimate lines of endeavor, and have been rewarded for their confidence and enterprise with a success that in many cases is phenomenal. One of these represen- tative business men of Ranger was Burt .1.
B. a Gunda
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Judd, popcorn dealer and owner of consider- able city property, who died June 27, 1921.
Burt A. Judd was born at Columbia, Mur- ray County, Tennessee, in 1876, a son of C. S. and Helen (Crane) Judd, natives of Tennes- see and Binghamton, New York, respectively. Growing up at Columbia, Burt A. Judd was accorded the educational advantages offered by the public schools, but abandoned his studies at an early age to enter the railroad service. It was while engaged in this work, in 1902, that he met with the serious accident in Colorado which resulted in the loss of both his feet. The majority would have been utterly discouraged and ceased to make an effort, but Mr. Judd was not of that caliber. In spite of what was a serious handicap, he has gone ahead, and occupied a position the most able- bodied might have envied. Following his acci- dent he moved to Roswell, New Mexico, in 1907, a few years later to Corpus Christi, Texas, and from there to San Angelo. In April, 1918, perceiving the advantages of a residence at Ranger, he came here in the midst of the great oil boom and shared in the gen- eral prosperity which resulted from it, and was one of the business men of substantial means in a city of 16,000 people. Looking into the future with a keen perception of values, Mr. Judd invested his savings in city realty, and at the time of death owned the block of ground on the southwest corner of Rusk and Pine streets, nearly a quarter of a block in the heart of the best business section of the city, and 140x75 feet on Rusk Street, running back on Pine. In 1919 Mr. Judd was offered $75,000 for this last named property, but was holding it as a permanent investment. This entire plot will be finally improved with a modern busi- ness block, the first unit of which, a modern two-story business building 20x69 feet, having been erected in the winter of 1920-21. He had continuously sold popcorn, with the aid of an assistant, from his modern popcorn wagon on Rusk Street between Pine and Elm Streets, near the entrance of the Liberty Theatre. and during the boom period his business was especially large and profitable. As a member of the Ranger Chamber of Commerce Mr. Judd gave the city the benefit of his sane and reasonable outlook on business, and was recognized as one of the most public-spirited men of this section.
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