USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume IV > Part 40
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
In 1906 Mr. Judd was married in Mont- eagle, Tennessee, to Miss Carrie Knowles, who was born in Vineland, New Jersey. To this VOL. IV-14
union was born a son, Robert C. Judd. The cheerfulness under adversity, the willingness to work in spite of disability, and the ability to succeed in spite of a crushing handicap placed Mr. Judd in the front rank of worth while persons.
That his success "points a moral and adorns a tale" is very true, and there is no one in Eastland County who cannot learn a valuable lesson from him and his praise-worthy endeav- ors. Through misfortune he had learned to be very charitable in his judgment of others, preferring to be imposed upon rather than do an injustice. He loved to give to charity, to be in the forerank of those who accomplish much for their communities, and could always be depended upon to give an earnest, purposeful and effective support to all measures looking toward a further advancement of Ranger and Eastland County and the raising of the moral standards of living. As a business men he displayed an unusual knowledge of the laws of supply and demand, and a realization that nothing pays so large a dividend as honesty and willingness to serve.
CARL WILSON, M. D. After an unusually brief apprenticeship and service as a physician and surgeon, Dr. Wilson's abilities have brought him a very successful position among the medical men of Ranger, where, the better to care for his private practice, he has out- fitted and is proprietor of a high class private hospital.
Doctor Wilson was born at Corsicana, Texas, in 1896, son of H. B. and Ida C. (Larrison) Wilson, the former a native of Alabama and the latter of Tennessee. Mrs. Ida Wilson, a lady of education and broad culture, lives with her son at Ranger and lends valuable aid in the management of his hospital.
Doctor Wilson was educated in the gram- mar and high schools of Corsicana and had a very thorough preparation for his chosen vocation. He attended four colleges. Vander- bilt University, Tulane University at New Orleans, St. Louis University Medical School and the medical department of Baylor Uni- versity at Dallas. At Dallas he received his medical degree in 1918. During the World war for twelve months he was under orders in the United States Surgeon General's De- partment, attached to St. Paul's Sanitarium at Dallas.
Doctor Wilson located permanently at Ranger in January, 1919, and in the metrop- olis of the Central West Texas oil fields soon
-
576
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
came into the enjoyment of a splendid private practice. It was early in March, 1921, that he opened his hospital exclusively for his own private practice. This hospital occupies the second and third floors of the Bobo Building on Main Street. This building is thoroughly fireproof, of brick and concrete construction. His hospital is handsomely and expensively fitted with modern equipment for medical and surgical uses, including operating room, recov- ery room, several private rooms for patients, and complete dietetic and culinary arrange- ment. Doctor Wilson now handles only his office and hospital practice.
He is a member of the Pi Mu Medi- cal fraternity and of the City, County, State, Southern and American Medical Associations, is a member of the Scottish Rite Consistory of Masons at Dallas. and Moslah Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Fort Worth.
CLAUD L. YOUNG. Oil man all over the country recognize the name Eliasville as one of the new centers of extensive petroleum pro- duction in the Southwest. The first well was brought in about the end of the year 1919, and less than two months later Claud L. Young determined that Eliasville should be his home and the scene of his business enterprise, and he has shared to a remarkable degree in the phenomenal development of that community, where he is one of the successful merchants, property owners, bankers and developers.
Mr. Young was born at Tom Bean, in Gray- son County. Texas, in 1893. His father, J. C. Young, is now a resident of Wichita Falls. Claud Young was well educated. completing the course at the East Texas Normal at Com- merce. He first learned the tailor's trade, and for five years was in the tailoring business at Weatherford. Then for a brief time he was a druggist at Caddo, Stephens County.
In February. 1920, he moved to Eliasville. He has been a business associate of W. T. Donnell, the Eliasville banker. in planning and carrying out projects for the permanent de- velopment of Eliasville as a town and city. He proved his faith in the future when he first came to Eliasville by buying a large amount of property which could then be secured at only a little advance on values when Elias- ville was a country community. Mr. Young promoted the organization of the First State Bank, of which W. T. Donnell is president. He is also a member of the firm of Lothlin & Young, clothing and furnishing goods ; Sharp & Young. druggists, and Jordan & Young, a
firm of property owners and real estate men who after the building of a railroad was assured laid out and put on the market what is known as Terminal Addition, situated on both sides of the right of way of the Wichita Falls & Southern Railroad. Mr. Young is also interested in some of the valuable oil leases in this territory.
He is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner, affiliated with Moslah Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Fort Worth. Mr. Young married Miss Pearl Ham, of Weatherford, Texas, and they have one son, Claud L. Young, Jr.
THOMAS BENTON KING, former county judge of Erath County, is one of the old settlers of this county, and one of the most highly respected residents of Stephenville, hav- ing located here in September, 1873, and from then on has been connected with all of the ad- vancement in this region. Ile was born in Ray County, Missouri. April 12, 1838, a son of Judge Austin A. and Nancy ( Harris) King. On the paternal side he is a great-grandson of John Sevier, seven times governor of Ten- nessee. Nancy Harris was born in Albemarle County, Virginia. and after their marriage she and her husband. in 1836, migrated west to Missouri, and located in Ray County. Judge Austin A. King was circuit judge of what was known as the Platte Purchase District, including all of Northwestern Missouri, and when he left the bench he was elected Gov- ernor of Missouri, taking office in 1849. With the expiration of his term as governor he resumed the practice of law and was elected to congress. Although he and his forefathers were and had been slaveholders, he was one of the four democratic members of Congress owning slaves who voted for the amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery. and this action cost him further political preferment, for his district was overwhelmingly pro- slavery. However, as he had voted according to his conscience and upon the highest of principles, he did not regret his action. All his life he held to the principles of the Jeffer- sonian wing of the democratic party, and held that the negro should be gradually emanci- pated and colonized, and the former owners recompensed by the Federal Government. His death occurred at Richmond. Missouri, in 1867 when he was about sixty-eight years old. His wife passed away just before the out- break of the war between the North and the South.' Of their family of six sons and two daughters. Judge Thomas Benton King is the
577
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
only survivor. One of the sons, Walter, be- came judge, following the close of the war. and while on the bench declared the bill passed by the radical Legislature disbarring all law- yers who had taken part in the Confederacy. unconstitutional and against the bill of rights, and permitted them all to return to their pro- fession. For this act the radical Legislature impeached him. Later on his constituents offered him the nomination to Congress on the democratic ticket, but he refused the honor, thinking that such honor might be deemed a reward for his decision that unlocked the doors of the professional bastile in which his brother lawyers had been incarcerated. Whilst a member of the 36th Texas Legislature, Judge King voted to open the doors of all political bastiles. Such action was an heirloom in the King family.
Thomas Benton King entered his father's profession, and was engaged in the practice of the law, having been graduated from the University of Missouri in 1858 under the pre- ceptorship of Presidents Shanon and Hudson, and although the youngest member of his class he was its valedictorian. Following the com- pletion of his college days he studied law in the office of Attorney-General Gardenhire of Jefferson City, Missouri, and located at Lib- erty City. Clay County, Missouri, after he was admitted to the bar. His first fee before the Probate Judge of the county for doing the clerical work for an administrator, was $25. The judge inquired of the young man where he had been reared, and when he answered that he had grown up among some of the ablest men of the state, one of whom was his father, the judge replied: "You were not very well raised as to charging fees or you would have charged $250 instead of $25 for making out that report." Judge King's dis- position was to find blessing IN the deed rather than FOR it. and he always practiced on this line.
With the outbreak of the war between the two sections of the country Judge King took his wife to Jefferson City to be near her mother, who was then in poor health, and while there Governor Jackson and other state officials in sympathy with the Confederacy, left the capital, and went to Neosho, Missouri, and a new force of officials was installed. Major Oliver, congressman for the Platte County district, was appointed secretary of state, and he offered young King the office of assistant secretary, which he accepted, and held during the succeeding four years. He
was offered the same place by Mr. Oliver's successor, but declined it on account of the latter's radicalism, and began to teach school and discharge ministerial duties.
Judge King carried on the work of educa- tion and the ministry in Missouri until 1873 when he left Missouri, and came to Texas. Having written ahead of the county superin- tendent of schools regarding the probability of his securing a school, he found upon his arrival at Stephenville that the superintendent was holding a school for him, and as the teacher of this school he earned his first money in Texas. He instructed his pupils largely by means of the blackboard as the textbooks were of various kinds and makes, and he found he could awaken more interest by mak- ing his own program and lessons. His meth- ods were original and practical, and his classes from the youngest to the eldest pupils. made rapid progress, especially in languages and numbers. When he took the school he asked the superintendent if he thought a man could support his family on the $75 a month salary paid the teacher, and was told that he could live on fifteen cents a week in Texas. The superintendent told him that he could buy a soup bone with five or six pounds of meat on it for five cents, and a peck of meal for a dime. Water and wood were free as the air, and so the family lived in comfort on fifteen cents per week. His slogan was that the way to meet hard times was to live hard-and hence, as a member of the Legislature he voted against every increase of salary on account of hard times.
Judge King remembers many incidents of the journey the family took to reach their new home. It was a year of drought and getting along toward the fall of the year when the wagon which bore Judge King, his wife and four children, crossed the Red River in the vicinity of Denison, and meandered across the wilderness of country through Pilot Point and Denton to Fort Worth. At the latter point he availed himself of his last opportunity to secure a Texas newspaper, and stepping into the office of the oldest paper published there. subscribed for it for one year from the pro- prietor, Capt. B. B. Paddock. The Kings con- tinued their journey to Stephenville, then a village of less than 500 people. A large tract of land was given to him because of his settle- ment, but after five years of hopeless endeavor to make the roots of dead languages stored up in his mind at the State University take root in Texas soil, he abandoned his ranch and iden-
578
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
tified himself with the county seat, and en- gaged in the law and land business.
Although he was a capable and resourceful lawyer the fact that he was expected to defend a man even when he was guilty led him to abandon the law, and act as counsellor for prospective buyers of land, and he is still en- gaged in this line of work.
Always interested in politics, he became prominent after coming to Erath County, and was elected county judge and served for four years. He was elected to the office on a reform wave and to show his good faith and sincerity he reduced his own salary one-fourth of that allowed by the law, and in its entirety it was but one-fourth of the amount now received by the incumbents in office. Like his father he is a Jeffersonian democrat, and has always re- garded the farmers' movement of recent years as more democratic than modern-day democ- racy, and he joined hands with it while it lived. Judge King was elected as a "floater" to the lower house of the Texas Legislature, serving in the Thirty-sixth Assembly under Speaker Thomason, whom he subsequently supported for governor at the primaries of 1920. In that body he introduced a measure which provided for the setting aside by the state of at least ten acres of land for a school farm for each of the 14,000 schools of the state, advocating in its behalf that the farms would yield enough revenue to do away in part. if not altogether, with the taxation necessary to carry on these schools, the students of the schools to be required to cultivate these farms, and the proceeds of their labor going to the support of the schools they attended. In this way a double purpose would be served, the pupils being given a practical knowledge of agriculture, and the public schools receiving an adequate support.
During the early years of the present cen- tury Judge King lived out of Texas for four years, and tried the climate, the scenery and business of Southern California. He was lo- cated at San Diego, and carried on there his work of counselling buyers of homes and lands in that region, but when the climate be- gan to tell upon him to such an extent that his health failed, he decided that California was not a paradise for him and returned to Texas which had always agreed with him, and here regained his strength and energy.
Judge King has been three times married. His first wife was Miss Emma Chiles, a niece of Gen. Sterling Price, and she died in Mis- souri without issne. Subsequently Judge
King was married to Miss Clara Bingham, a daughter of George C. Bingham, the cele- brated Missouri artist. Mrs. King accom- panied her husband to Texas and survived the rigors of frontier life until 1901, when she passed away, having been the mother of eight children, seven of whom reached maturity. The surviving children are : Allie, who mar- ried E. S. Newton, of Cleburne, Texas, an employe of the Santa Fe Railroad; Emma. who married Emmet Turner of Washington, District of Columbia : Bingham, who with his brother Don, is in an abstract business at Stephenville ; Clara, who is the wife of W. P. Bowdry, a foundryman of Fort Worth, Texas : Laura, who is chief stenographer for Armour & Company of Fort Worth; and Fannie, who married Joseph Burt, an oil expert. Horace died recently at Stephenville. In 1906 Judge King was married to Miss Maud Merrill of Mount Vernon, Illinois. Judge and Mrs. King are residing in their beautiful vine-clad cot- tage at Stephenville, enjoying their simple life and setting an example for others to follow of a God-fearing, neighbor-loving existence, and it would be difficult to find people more universally respected and esteemed than they.
F. D. KEIM, who was born, reared and edu- cated at Oil City in the heart of the original oil district of Venango and other sections of Western Pennsylvania, was attracted to Wich- ita Falls primarily as an oil man, and his knowledge of every phase of practical pro- duction has brough him many important inter- ests in this section of Texas. More recently he has engaged in the automobile business, and handles one of the leading distributing agencies in the city.
Mr. Keim is a son of Charles Keim. and it was as natural for him to go into the oil indus- try as a result of his environment as it is for a boy on the seacoast to go to sea. His father was a pioneer oil operator in western Penn- sylvania, so that F. D. Keim practically grew up in the business.
Coming to Wichita Falls in 1916. he has lived here through the boom days of petroleum in northern Texas, and still has some impor- tant oil production. Seeking further outlet for his capital and energies, he engaged in the automobile business and is owner of the Ex- celsior Motor Company, distributors for the Studebaker and Marmon cars. His standing as an automobile man is shown by the fact that he has the honor of being president of
F. S. Kim
579 .
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
the Wichita Falls Automobile Dealers Asso- ciation.
His public spirit has been readily enlisted in behalf of all movements for the growth and progress of Wichita Falls, and he is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club. Fraternally he is an Elk and Knight of Columbus.
JULIUS A. GERMANY. While a resident of Dallas, where for some twenty years he con- ducted a very extensive law practice, largely in corporation matters, Julius A. Germany grew up in West Texas, and for several years has been one of the leading executive officers of the Panhandle Refining Company of Dallas and Wichita Falls. This company established the first oil refinery at Wichita Falls, and its capital and equipment have done much to make this city a metropolis of the southwestern petroleum industry.
Mr. Germany was born in Van Zandt County, Texas, son of J. W. and Kate (Tum- linson ) Germany. His maternal grandfather was David Tumlinson who was born in Ten- nessee, came to Texas when it was beginning its struggle to overthrow the dominion of Mexico, and fought in the battle of San Ja- cinto in 1836. J. W. Germany was a native of Mississippi and enlisted with the state troops in Company I of the 40th Mississippi Regiment, serving as a Confederate soldier. After the war he moved to Texas and located in Van Zandt County, and is still living at Grand Saline.
Julius A. Germany was a small boy when his parents moved to Texas and located at Sweetwater. His father became prominent in that section, helping organize Fisher County, and served as county judge of Nolan County. Julius A. Germany grew up, therefore, in a frontier locality. When he first knew Sweet- water it was a town of tents. He was edu- cated and studied law in Sweet.vater, was admitted to the bar there in 1893, but a few years later moved to Dallas, the city that has been his home ever since. While in the pri- vate practice of law at Dallas Mr. Germany had a large and almost exclusive practice in- volving corporation organization and manage- ment. It might be said that he was a lawyer's lawyer, since many of his clients were lawyers who went to him for special counsel on cor- poration and business problems, wherein his abilities made him a recognized authority.
Mr. Germany discontinued the general prac- tice of law in 1917, when he became asso-
ciated with the Panhandle Refining Company in the building of a refinery at Wichita Falls. His interests have since been exclusively with this company, and he is one of its chief execu- tives with the title of vice president. The building of the plant was started in 1915, but the original refinery has grown in capacity and business until it now has facilities for refining five thousand barrels per day. The company also owns valuable production in Wichita County and Southern Oklahoma. The com- pany's wells are connected with the refinery by a gathering system of pipe lines about a hundred miles in length. The company also has about three hundred tank cars for ship- ping its products, and from the shipping tracks at the refinery from three hundred to five hun- dred cars of product are sent to market each month. The corporation's sales for 1920 reached a figure of about $7,000,000. The company also owns and operates two casing- head gasoline plants, has storage facilities for about 600,000 gallons of oil, and these brief statements indicate how large and important an industry it is in North Texas.
Mr. Germany married Miss Lulu Black and they are the parents of six children.
THEO G. DAVIS is cashier of the State Bank of Mansfield. He was born and reared at Mansfield and his whole time and interests have been devoted to this bank for over twenty years.
Mr. Davis was born January 13, 1873, son of P. G. and Sarah (Cresswell) Davis. His parents were both born in Blount County. Tennessee, representing old families of that state. P. G. Davis moved to Fort Worth in 1858 and was one of the pioneer wagonmakers of that town. He continued working at his trade until after the beginning of the war and then enlisted in Parson's Brigade, but was detailed for special service at Dallas in mak- ing wagons for the Confederate army. In 1865 he moved to Mansfield where he con- tinued his wagon making plant until about 1878. After that he was a farmer and finally retired from all active business in 1908. He was an honored old timer of Mansfield and Tarrant County, and died March 1, 1916. Of the seven children in his family all are living but one, Theo G. being fifth in age among them ; Sarah Kate is the wife of Ben Brans- ton; Minnie E. is the wife of S. N. Wilson, of Mansfield ; S. W. lives at Mansfield ; W. C. resides at Godley, Texas ; and A. E. is a resi- dent of Fort Worth.
580
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
Theo G. Davis attended the public schools of Mansfield and his early associations were with the tasks of his father's farm. By exper- ience he acquired a practical commercial train- ing and in 1898 he became a bookkeeper in the private bank which had been organized by J. H. Wright and associates. He was soon made assistant cashier and continued with the institution when it was incorporated as a state bank in 1906. Mr. Davis has been cashier of the bank since 1911.
EDWARD MCSHANE WAITS. Texas Chris- tian University at Fort Worth is an institu- tion that has made educational history in Texas for several generations, and since its removal to Fort Worth has attained rank with the leading schools of higher Christian educa- tion in the South. Its able president since September, 1916, has been Edward McShane Waits, who have given new impetus and in- spiration to its activities and influence.
Doctor Waits has been a minister and edu- cator for a quarter of a century. He was born at Cynthiana, Kentucky. April 29, 1871, son of Charles Martel and Mary Ellen (Moore) Waits. His maternal ancestors were a prom- inent Kentucky and still earlier Virginia fam- ily. The Waits family has been in Kentucky since the beginning of white civilization there. The old homestead at Cynthiana has been in the continuous possession of the family for 135 years and is still occupied by a brother of Doctor Waits.
Edward McShane Waits grew up on that homestead, acquired a good education, attend- ing the Kentucky Wesleyan College at Millers- burg, following which he was principal of the public schools at Ellisville, Kentucky. This was before he reached his majority. In 1896 he graduated A. B. from Transylvania Uni- versity at Lexington, and graduated from the College of Bible of the same university in the same year. Transylvania is one of the cele- brated institutions of higher learning in the South, with many honorable traditions. One of its teachers in former years was Henry Clay, and among its students were Jefferson Davis, James Lane Allen, and in fact many of the great men of Kentucky.
Ordained a minister of the Disciples of Christ in 1896 Doctor Waits was pastor at Fulton, Kentucky, five and a half years. He removed to Texas in 1901, for a time was pas- tor of the church at Ladonia, where he erected a new church building. From 1902 to 1906 he was pastor at El Paso and his activity there
resulted in the erection of a handsome.church at a cost of $50,000. In 1906 Doctor Waits came to Fort Worth to succeed Dr. Homer T. Wilson as pastor of the Christian Taber- nacle. His ministry has always been noted for constructive and strengthening influences in his church, and an important feature of his pastoral activities at Fort Worth was the con- solidation of the Christian Tabernacle with the Magnolia Avenue Church, followed by the construction of a new edifice at a cost of $50,- 000. While he was pastor this became one of the largest congregations in the city, and the membership of the Sunday School reached a thousand.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.