USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume IV > Part 50
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Judge Poindexter abandoned the active practice of law about 1913. About that time he was one of the organizers of the Home National Bank of Cleburne, and served as its first president until 1917. The last few years his time has been chiefly taken up with his extensive ranch interests in Shackelford County. On one of his ranches oil has been discovered, a test well being opened February 8, 1921. The company developing this lease is the Ibex, a Colorado corporation with offices in Denver. Its lease covers more than seven thousand acres of the Poindexter holdings. The other property of the judge is leased to the Empire Gas and Fuel Company and to Cameron & Company. The Empire Com- pany's lease covers the Mountain ranch of the Poindexter lands, while the other ranch is known as the Creek ranch. While these lands have been a source of petroleum wealth only a brief time, they have been a productive proposition in the matter of beef for many years, and Judge Poindexter, but for his wider reputation as a lawyer and in politics, would rank as a noted stock raiser.
Politics made a strong appeal to him as a medium of constructive contribution to good government rather than as an arena in which to secure personal honors. He was never a candidate for an important office until he was chosen judge of the Eighteenth Judicial Dis- trict in 1900. to succeed Judge J. M. Hall. He presided over the court of this district. including Hill, Johnson and Bosque counties not quite one term, resigning after he had practically cleaned up the district docket. He
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took the office only at the urgent request of his fellow citizens.
Judge Poindexter was a member of the Na- tional democratic committee during the first administration of President Wilson. He raised more than a hundred thousand dollars for the second campaign in 1916. About that time began the historic drought in Texas, when he was forced to give his attention to his ranch interests in order to protect and pre- serve his stock. His personal losses due to that drought were upwards of a hundred thousand dollars.
Judge Poindexter has attended every state democratie convention in Texas since 1886. when Sul Ross was nominated for governor. up to very recent years. In 1910 he was a candidate for the nomination for governor. his distinguished opponents being Cone John- sone, R. V. Davidson and O. B. Colquitt. That was his final effort in his own behalf, and what politics he has played since then has been in the interests of able Texans for official service. Judge Poindexter now and always has represented the old school of democracy. He believes in local self-government, in the right of the state to be supreme in the exer- cise of its police powers and to regulate all its internal affairs.
Judge Poindexter is a member of all the York Rite bodies of Masonry at Cleburne, being past eminent commander of the Knights Templar Commandery. He is president of the Board of Directors of the Masonic Temple Corporation of Cleburne, and was grand orator of the Grand Lodge of Texas at one time. For many years he was a member of the Presbyterian Church, but when the churches felt impelled to engage in politics he withdrew, feeling that he could not consis- tently belong to more than one political party at a time.
The first wife of Judge Poindexter was Miss Mary T. Chambers. Her father, Colonel B. J. Chambers, is a well remembered pioneer of Johnson County, coming to this state from Kentucky in 1836, about the time Texas achieved its independence from Mexico. All his children were native Texans. Mrs. Poin-
dexter died in 1897, leaving a son, Joseph, who died at Austin in 1901, while a student at the University of Texas; and a daughter, Harriet, now the wife of E. V. Denton, of Dallas. She is the mother of two sons, Ed- ward and John Denton. The second wife of Judge Poindexter was Miss Lissa Smith, a native of Texas.
MRS. LISSA POINDEXTER. Only those who 1 were privileged to know intimately the beau- tiful, beneficent life of Mrs. Lissa Poindexter can appreciate the deep sense of personal loss which pervaded the community of Cleburne, Texas, and the entire county when it became known that her courageous spirit had passed into the great unknown. on the morning of December 16, 1918, another victim of the dread influenza epidemic. Within the shad- owed home a pall of grief hung heavier than the lowering clouds that darkened the wintry sky, for in the first shock of irreparable loss the stricken hearts of the husband and chil- dren could only know that the loyal helpmate. the loving mother, had passed from them for- ever; it remained for them, and for others who knew and loved her, to realize later what a lasting legacy of comfort had been left to them in the memory of her noble, self-sacri- ficing life, her devotion to her family, and her whole-hearted sympathy and helpfulness to her fellowmen.
Born in Cass County. Texas, the daughter of Doctor Smith and Mrs. Martha Purdom Smith, little Lissa, left motherless at the age of two years, was cared for by her grand- parents, Major and Mrs. J. M. Purdom, the family having moved from Cass County to Alvarado, Texas. Later her father married Miss Mattie Lightfoot, but lived only two months after this marriage. Several years passed, and her stepmother having married S. R. Coggin, a banker and ranchman of Brownwood, Texas, Mr. and Mrs. Coggin took into their home the orphaned child, then about twelve years old, and gave her every care and advantage that loving hearts and ample means could provide. Possessed of vig- orous health and a bright mind, the young girl progressed rapidly in her studies, which in- cluded a thorough training in music, both vocal and instrumental, and in painting. After her graduation from Daniel Baker College, at Brownwood, she attended Baylor University for one year, and later received a diploma from Kidd-Key College at Sherman, Texas.
In June, 1899, at the Coggin home in Brownwood, Miss Lissa M. Smith was mar- ried to Judge William Poindexter, of Cle- burne, Texas, and in this city was spent the nineteen and one-half years of her ideally happy wedded life. In this union was exem- plified the blending of two lives perfectly adapted to each other, naturally and tempera- mentally, and into the home, as the years passed by, came nine happy. intelligent chil-
Sissa Ponudiptes.
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dren, seven boys and two girls: Coggin, Martha, Curtis, Lewis, Gilbert, Helen, Nelson, Hugh and the baby. William, Jr., so named by his mother ere she passed away when he was two weeks old. An older sister, Harriet, now Mrs. E. V. Denton, the remaining child of Judge Poindexter's first marriage, was also a dearly loved member of the family and shared equally with the other children the bountiful mother-love that was more than suf- ficient for all.
Blessed with a naturally sunny disposition, Mrs. Poindexter had the happy faculty of cre- ating and maintaining within her home the atmosphere of joy and contentment. She loved her husband and her children, and her home, first of all, but her great heart and her broad-minded sympathies reached out and gathered into the charmed circle of friendship a multitude of others, from the humble tenant and toiler to those of highest social standing. Combined with her democratic, many-sided nature was a most wonderful versatility-the ability to adapt herself to any situation and to fit into any niche where she might be needed. A christian in the truest sense of the word, her light shone through deeds of kindness rather than through wordy professions, and the Christ-life was exemplified in her every- day attitude toward her fellowman. She was a leader in church, in charitable organizations, and in musical circles ; almost up to the time of her last illness she was active in war work of various kinds, and it is thought that over- exertion in these activities in 1916 and 1917 had much to do with bringing on an attack of inflammatory rheumatism from which she never fully recovered.
Though she has passed beyond our mortal vision, long will the memory of the beautiful life of Mrs. Lissa Poindexter remain in the hearts of those with whom she was associated ; the husband to whom she was so true and loyal a helpmate; the children to whom she was a loving companion and tender guide ; the friends who shared her hospitality and the pleasure of her manifold accomplishments ; the recipients of her wide-reaching sympathy and benefactions ; the humble servant, too, who found kindness and consideration always at her hands. Truly her passing has left a blank not only in her home but in the life of the entire community where her name was known in every household as a synonym for good- fellowship and cheer, for comfort and aid in time of trouble.
The final struggle for life was a brave one, but against overwhelming odds, and even as with courage and willingness she had re- sponded to every call of duty, so in her hour of supreme surrender her last words were: "I have asked God to spare me to my chil- dren, but He knows I have done my duty, and I am ready to go." A FRIEND.
GUY R. HOLCOMB is a young business man widely known as an expert in abstracting, and is giving Wichita Falls an ideally perfect serv- ice in the Bonded Abstract Company and a general land title. business. This is a business . of inestimable value to a city and district of such rapidly growing population and wealth as Wichita County.
Mr. Holcomb is a Texan, born in Fannin County in 1890. From early childhood he was reared in Collin County, was educated there and also in the Decatur Baptist College at Decatur, Texas.
He began his business career very early, and located at Anson, the county seat of Jones County, in 1909. He remained there eight years, and in that time perfected an abstract business. He also studied law and was ad- mitted to the bar, but his legal knowledge he has employed entirely in his own special line of business. He extended his work and estab- lished other abstract offices in Texas.
On May 1, 1919, having removed to Wichita Falls, the oil metropolis, he established the Bonded Abstract Company and specializes in land titles. The company is a first class ab- stract firm fully equipped for the most detailed and efficient transactions of an important line of business. Here he has repeated the suc- cesses of his former ventures, and within a brief time has achieved a successful business for himself and has also proved an enterprising factor among the public spirited business ele- ment of the city. He is a member of the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Holcomb married Miss Ruth Cleveland, of Gainesville. Texas. Their two children are Guy, Jr., and Ruth Marie.
JOHN PYEATT MARRS. The very best men in the state have come to Wichita Falls, for ' the important interests centered here demand a service which is of a superior quality, and those able to measure up to somewhat exacting standards find in this city ample opportunity for acquiring wealth and distinction. Espe- cially is the opening superior for dependable and experienced attorneys, and one of them
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who is making his name well known through- out the Southwest is John Pyeatt Marrs.
Mr. Marrs was born in McLennan County. Texas, in 1877, a son of David F. and Myra (Pyeatt) Marrs. David F. Marrs, who is still living in McLennan County, was born in Arkansas and came to his present locality with his father in 1874, the latter being Alex- ander Marrs, a well-known man in Arkansas, who during the war between the two sections of the country fought in the Confederate army under General Price. After the close of the war he returned home, but not being able to shape his affairs to suit himself, sought other fields in Texas.
Growing up in his native county, John P. Marrs took a two years' academic course in the University of Texas and was gradu- ated from its law department in 1906, with the degree of bachelor of laws. For some- thing over a year thereafter he was engaged in the practice of his profession at Colorado City in West Texas, and at the same time served as city attorney. From there he went to Post City, Texas, resided there for two and one-half years, serving during that time as attorney for the C. W. Post interests, which have made that locality famous and embrace large tracts of ranch and farm lands adjacent to the city, which is named for Mr. Post, all of which are highly improved, as well as the various business interests and in- dustries of the city itself, chief among which are the cotton mills, the finest and most ex- tensive in Texas.
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In 1914 Mr. Marrs came to Wichita Falls and was engaged in a general practice of his profession when he, in 1917, went to Quanah, Texas, where he served as general attorney for the Quanah, Acme & Pacific Railroad Company, a position he still retains. After a temporary absence from Wichita Falls Mr. Marrs returned to it in August, 1919, and is now located here permanently. His profes- sional connections are very valuable, and he is carrying on a general law practice, although he is a recognized authority on corporation law. Deeply interested in the expansion of the "Wonder City," he is aiding in the movement through the medium of the Chamber of Com- merce, to which he belongs.
Mr. Marrs was united in marriage with Miss Lillian Lorraine Hoge, of Austin, Texas, a daughter of Hon. L. L. Hoge, a prominent attorney of the capital city. Mr. and Mrs. Marrs have one daughter. Alice Lorraine Marrs. A man of scholarly attainments, Mr.
Marrs is never content with the knowledge he has acquired, but is always seeking to acquire more. His cases are prepared with care and due consideration of the law bearing upon them and are presented to the jury with masterly precision. His ability to handle the intricate problems which arise in every cor- poration have brought into his hands some very important jurisprudence with reference to them, but he is equally well versed in all branches of his calling. Personally he pre- fers a general practice, and so has refused some very flattering offers which, if accepted, would confine him to corporation law. As an experienced professional man and citizen he stands extremely high in his community and is justly accorded a foremost place among the worth-while products of the Lone Star State.
EARL E. WIDNER. Visitors to Wichita Falls are struck with the beauty and artistic arrangement of Rosemont Burial Park, which lies just south of Call Field, one and one- half miles from the city, and which is the work of Earl E. Widner, one of the experts in the promotion, management and develop- ment of cemeteries of the country. This lovely City of the Dead is owned by Messrs. W. W. Silk, P. P. Langford, N. H. Martin, R. E. Shepherd and E. E. Widner, and is the most pretentious of all of Mr. Widner's work.
He was born in Putnam County, Missouri, in 1889, and was educated in the William Jewell College at Liberty, Missouri, from which he was graduated in 1912. Since leav- ing college he has devoted all of his time to cemetery work, promotion and manage- ment, and is entirely qualified as an expert on all matters pertaining thereto. In 1912 he went to Saint Louis, Missouri, where he en- tered the employ of one of the most beautiful cemeteries of the city, long famous for its lovely burial parks, and spent four years there working through the various depart- ments. From Saint Louis he went to Spring- field, Missouri, where he established East Lawn Cemetery, which is today Springfield's leading burial park. After completing his work in that connection he developed Fair- lawn Burial Park at Hutchinson, Kansas, and was then recalled to Springfield, Missouri, to take charge of the work of developing Green Lawn Memorial Park in that city. His next contract was founding Collegehill Me- morial Lawns of Wichita, Kansas, in all of this work displaying great artistic ability and intimate knowledge of and love for his calling.
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On January 1, 1920, he came to Wichita Falls, Texas, and here organized and began the development of what is to prove to be not only his most pretentious work, but the most beautiful cemetery park in the South- west. The tract of forty acres is to be developed in units of ten acres each, the first of which has been completed. The entire development is to be carried out, as has this one unit, on a plan of the best modern land- scape gardening, the most notable feature of which is a consistently carried out scheme of a cheerful and happy aspect as distinguished from the sombreness of the usual burial ground. Another important plan is to so pro- vide for the care of the park as a whole and the individual burial plots so as to maintain them without additional expense to the owners of the plots. The plan of financiering the park has been carried out in such a scientific manner, similar to that pursued in figuring rates in life insurance, that all contingencies are provided for in perpetuity. A huge irri- gation tank, which is kept supplied with water from a lake, a mile and a half away, provides the necessary moisture to keep this park green. If Mr. WVidner rests upon his laurels after completing Rosemont Burial Park he will have already rendered mankind a val- uable service, but a man of his talents and energies is not likely to stop, but will go on to further honors and distinctions, but no matter where he may reside in the future he has left behind him a monument more endur- ing than any which may be erected within the confines of the park itself that will per- petuate his memory to generations yet unborn.
Mr. Widner was married to Miss Lelah Barnes of Nevada, Missouri, and they have four children, namely : Elizabeth and Kathryn, twins, Jerre Ellen and William Earl. Fra- ternally Mr. Widner is a Scottish Rite Mason and belongs to the Mystic Shrine. As a mem- ber of the Wichita Falls Chamber of Com- merce and Rotary Club he is rendering val- uable assistance to the city in developing its various interests and is accounted, and justly so, one of the leading men of this locality. He is a member of the City Park Board of Wichita Falls, for which he drew the land- scape plans of the city parks.
W. R. FERGUSON. While it is true that newly developed fields like those of the Wich- ita Falls district afford wonderful opportuni- ties for the acquiring of wealth and prestige, everyone is not capable of taking advantage of
them. The ordinary man will not succeed any better where there are many openings than he will in a locality where there are but few. It takes unusual qualities to advance a man beyond the level of his associates so that when one is found who has reached a position of trust and responsibility and ac- quired a fair measure of this world's goods it is proof positive that he was naturally a more able man than his fellow citizens, or he would not have been so pushed ahead of them. W. R. Ferguson, president of the Wichita State Bank and Trust Company of Wichita Falls belongs to this class of men who rise through sheer ability and carry with them the full confidence and respect of all with whom they are associated.
W. R. Ferguson was born at Waco, Texas, in 1875, a son of B. N. and Elizabeth (Myers) Ferguson, both of whom survive and live in Wichita County. B. N. Ferguson is one of the old and substantial men of this locality, who is now living on a fine cattle ranch in Wichita County. He was born in Arkansas but soon after the termination of the war of the '60s he came to Texas and settled in McLennan County. Until 1875 the Ferguson family home was at Waco and was then re- moved to a farm in Bell County, where they remained until 1888. In that year removal was made to Wichita County and B. N. Fer- guson bought his ranch, which is about twenty miles out of Wichita Falls. In addition to his ranch and cattle interests he, together with his son, is connected with various banking institutions and is a director of the Bank of Iowa Park.
W. R. Ferguson was reared and received his early schooling in Bell and Wichita coun- ties and attended the famous Add-Ran Col- lege at Thorp Spring, Texas, the predecessor of the present Texas Christian University at Fort Worth, from which he was graduated in 1895. Following the completion of his col- legiate career he embarked in the grain and lumber business at Iowa Park, with which he was connected until 1900, when he assisted in organizing the First National Bank of Iowa Park, of which he was cashier for several years. Subsequently he disposed of his inter- est in that bank and went to the North Texas State Bank of Fort Worth and acted as its cashier until he came to Wichita Falls to be- come president of the Wichita State Bank and Trust Company. This institution was organ- ized in 1909 and in 1920 its statement showed its resources to be $4,776,860.76, with depos-
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its of $3,704,911.84. When the present depos- its are compared to the initial ones of $75,- 274.79 for the first year, some idea of the remarkable advance made by the bank may be gained. On August 1, 1920, this bank was transferred to its new, palatial quarters in the Bob Waggoner Building, which are among the most elegant and spacious in the state. The bank is finished throughout with Tavernelle Claire marble and genuine black walnut, lighted from a dome of art glass with mural decorations at either end and a symmetry of design has been obtained which presents a most inviting interior. The entrance to the main lobby of the bank is obtained from the marble vestibule opening on Eighth Street, the main lobby of the office building. The offices of the president, the active vice presidents and the cashier are on either side of the main en- trance. On the right a marble stairway leads to a mezzanine floor, where the offices of the other officers of the bank and the directors' room are located. Back of the officers' quar- ters is the working space of the bank. On the right are the tellers' cages, extending the length of the lobby, and on the left are the cages of the savings department. At the end of the main lobby are customers' rooms, which are spacious and provide every accommodation for the transaction of private business. The safe deposit departments and the vaults in the basement are reached by a marble stairway on the left of the main entrance in the main lobby. The safe deposit department is one of the features of the bank's arrangements. The walls of the vault are three feet thick and lined with high grade steel.
In the eleven officers and twenty directors of this bank every phase of the business life of Wichita Falls and its vicinity is repre- sented. Among those directly connected with its management are included several new- comers in the business life of the city as well as those whose leadership in financial circles covers a period of years. Starting at a time when the western spirit was common in business life, it has been the policy of the officials and directors to maintain that same spirit in the metropolitan activities of their institution.
For eight years Mr. Ferguson has been at the head of this bank and has guided its course with a steady hand. To him in no small degree is due the credit for the prestige of the bank today. When he assumed the duties pertaining to its presidency the bank was a small and comparatively unimportant
institution. But instantly he inspired con- fidence which has been the foundation of much of the later growth and prosperity. Since his arival at Wichita Falls Mr. Fer- guson has been a leader in the development of its civic interests. He is a director of the Chamber of Commerce, a member of the School Board, the Wichita Club, and is a member of the Golf and Country clubs. Fra- ternally he belongs to the Masons, Odd Fel- lows and Elks.
Mr. Ferguson was married to Miss Elma Chiles, who was born and reared at Fairfield, Freestone County. Texas, and, like her hus- band educated at Add-Ran College. They have five children, namely: Robert Audrey, J. B., Mary and Ruth.
In addition to his banking interests Mr. Ferguson owns a large ranch in New Mexico and oil lands of great value. His astuteness has enabled him to take a ranking place among the solid men of the Southwest and every enterprise with which he is, or has been, con- nected is in a prosperous condition as a result of his good judgment and broad vision. Such men as Mr. Ferguson have been instrumental in attracting permanent attention to this sec- tion of the country and building up interests which are not only reared upon deep seated foundations but are built for all time and backed by unlimited capital and real merit.
LESTER JONES. The Wichita State Bank and Trust Company is one of the largest state financial institutions in Northwestern Texas, and has been fortunate in having with it practically since its inception some of the most experienced men in the banking busi- ness. These men, who have thus grown in importance with the bank, naturally are deeply interested in its growth and prosperity, and are fully conversant with all of the details of its daily operation, so that they are able to render an unsurpassed service to the customers and safeguard the interests of the stockholders. One of these men is Lester Jones, cashier, whose dependability and soundness of judg- ment is unquestioned.
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