USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume IV > Part 51
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Lester Jones was born at Allendale, Wich- ita County, Texas, in 1894, a son of Dr. A. A. and Lucy (Cleveland) .Jones, both of whom are deceased. Doctor Jones was born in Ten- nessee, but came to Texas in 1892 and located at Allendale, Wichita County, where he con- tinued in the practice of his profession almost until the day of his death. He was a man of the highest standing both as a physician and
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citizen and his loss was deeply felt in this section.
Growing up in his native county, Lester Jones attended the public schools of Wichita Falls. and in 1910 entered the employ of the Wichita State Bank and Trust Company as a collector and since then has passed through well-merited promotions to his present respon- sible position. He has been with this bank for a longer period than any other officer or employe. Growing up in the city, Wichita Falls is proud of him and his success, and he enjoys a very wide acquaintance. In his work with the bank he has shown executive ability of a high order and is being looked up to as one of the future leaders of the financial interests of this locality. The bank opened its new quarters for business in the Bob Waggoner Building in August, 1920. The new home is one of the most elegant and spacious in the Southwest, and Wichita Falls is very proud of it and the enterprise which brought it forth. It is elegantly finished in marble and black walnut, lighted from a dome of art glass and arranged with a symmetry of design which is very pleasing. This insti- tution was organized in 1909 and its deposits during the first year averaged something over $75,000. Today they average over three and three-quarter millions, so from that some idea may be gathered of the remarkable expansion which has been effected in a little over a decade. The safe deposits department and vaults, which are in the basement, are special features of the bank and every modern pre- caution has been taken to render them abso- lutely burglar-proof and fire-proof.
Associated with Mr. Jones in this bank are some of the most conservative men of the community, whose sagacity and acumen have been felt along other lines and are exerted to the full in behalf of the banking institution with which they are connected.
Mr. Jones was married to Miss Alleen Wag- goner, a daughter of T. J. Waggoner, one of the wealthiest and most prominent men of Wichita County. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have two children, namely. Paul and Gordon. Mr. Jones is a Knight Templar Mason and was the first applicant for membership in the new Maskat Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, which was instituted in Wichita Falls August 30, 1920.
RALPH P. MATHIS. The name Mathis has been a prominent one in the history of the Wichita Falls bar for more than a quar-
ter of a century, though Ralph P. Mathis is one of the younger lawyers of the city, his record supplementing the long and honorable career of his late father as a Texas attorney.
Ralph P. Mathis was born at Dallas in 1893. but soon afterward his parents, L. H. and Dixie (Potter ) Mathis, moved to Wichita Falls. The mother is still living. His father was also a native Texan, and while a lawyer at Dallas gained a large practice and a large and important following in his profession. In 1893 he moved to Wichita Falls and for a number of years handled not only a goodly share of the business of the local courts but represented interests all over Northwest Texas.
Ralph P. Mathis was reared and educated in Wichita Falls in the public schools, spent one year in the famous Bingham Military School at Asheville, North Carolina, and took both his academic and part of his law course in the University of Texas. He was a stu- dent at Austin four years, receiving his B. A. degree in 1915. Soon after leaving the uni- versity he took the bar examination at Ama- rillo, and in the same year entered practice in his home city of Wichita Falls. Mr. Mathis has built up a profitable clientage, is one of the busy lawyers of the city and is senior member of the firm Mathis & Caldwell. He has also served as city attorney.
In the fall of 1918 Mr. Mathis volunteered in the Infantry Officers Training School at Camp Pike, Arkansas. He was in training when the armistice was signed and received his honorable discharge in December, 1918. Mr. Mathis is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America.
BRECKENRIDGE STEPHENS WALKER. His friends and associates have many interesting things to say of "Breck" Walker. He was the first white child born at Breckenridge. While that circumstance fits in well with his pride and love of the community, there are many other things of greater importance in which Mr. Walker has exercised a direct re- sponsibility. From a youth of limited means he achieved high financial and business suc- cess in his mature life. Few wealthy men bestow their influence and means with greater direct benefit to the city than Mr. Walker. In the development of the Breckenridge and Stephens County oil field his name stands first, not only in a financial way but also as a
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personal leader in a movement which has brought wealth and fame to this locality.
Mr. Walker was born at Breckenridge in 1876. He is a son of Judge E. L. and Malena (Yancey) Walker, both now deceased. The late Judge Walker, who died in January, 1919, was a prominent character in West Texas. A native of Kentucky, he was a boy when he accompanied his mother to Texas in 1858, and in spite of his youthful years he did a work- ing part in the cattle industry from that time. He rode the range in Palo Pinto and Stephens counties, and was associated with some of the most distinguished of the pioneer cattlemen of that section. He lived for a long period of years on the isolated frontier and had more than one adventure with marauding Indians. After getting into the cattle business on his own account he made his permanent head- quarters at an outpost known as Pickettville, the site of the present town of Breckenridge. When Stephens County was organized and the first election held in 1876 he was chosen county judge, and filled that office twelve years. He owned a great amount of land, ranged large herds of cattle, and for a number of years was also a merchant at Breckenridge.
The county was named for Alexander Stephens of Georgia, while the town was named for John C. Breckenridge of Ken- tucky, and as the first white child born therein it is fitting that the name of both county seat and county should have been bestowed upon Mr. Walker. The Tonkawa Indians formerly occupied this region, later being removed by the Government to Fort Griffin. However, they made annual pilgrimages back to Breck- enridge, and young Walker's earliest recollec- tions were of those Indians. Although told they were peaceful, he always had a childish fear of them, since all Indians, good or bad, looked alike to him.
With the present great wealth, expansion and prosperity of Breckenridge, it is difficult to realize that for many years prior to 1919 the town was a small, quiet county seat, many miles from the nearest railroad, it and the surrounding district suffering periodically from the familiar western afflictions of drought, hard times, low prices for cattle. and agricultural products. It was in such an en- vironment that Breckenridge S. Walker grew up. In spite of lack of opportunities he con- trived means of satisfying his desire for busi- ness life and achievement. For a time he was a mail carrier over the rough and almost im- passable roads. He was still a youth when he
entered business in a small way, being asso- ciated with his brother in operating a livery stable. Later he had a hardware store at Breckenridge. A leading ambition of those years was to be president of a country bank. Without leaving his home environment he sat- isfied that as well as many other ambitions. In 1904 he joined the First National Bank of Breckenridge as cashier, and two years later was made president, and still continues to guide an institution whose assets now make it one of the large banks of West Texas. Prior to the oil boom the bank at the high tide of business had deposits of a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The bank now has more than seven millions in deposits. Those who know something of Mr. Walker's individual wealth say that it is fully twice as much as the total resources of his bank.
His foresight and vision have been dominant factors in making Breckenridge and Stephens County the richest and most remarkable oil field of its area perhaps in the world. He was a large owner of land when oil was first dis- covered. He at once began development on his own property and acquired large addi- tional acreage in leases, holding them for de- velopment and encouraging others to do the same. At every opportunity he turned over leases and acreage upon the most generous terms to capable and ambitious promoters who had no capital but possessed that necessary en- thusiasm and spirit of vision required in the development of a new industry. In this way Mr. Walker not only built up great wealth for himself but put others in the way of mak- ing fortunes. A number of the greatest oil producers in the Breckenridge district owe their start and their subsequent success to his generous attitude towards them and his broad- mindedness. Of the organizations for financ- ing and carrying out drilling and development in the Texas oil fields, one of the very first and one of the most successful is the Walker- Caldwell Syndicate, of which Mr. Walker is the active head.
A close friend says that "Breck," as he is familiarly known, even since he has become a rich man appears to be hungrier now than ever before for the esteem and affection of his friends. He does not share the characteristic fear of many wealthy men that advantage will be taken of their friendship. Wealth has not spoiled him in any sense of the term, nor effected any change in his character or tem- perament. Although he has a magnificent hun- dred thousand dollar home in Fort Worth, for
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the benefit of his family, the town of Breck- enridge is still his home in the truest sense of the term, and he says he never wants to have another and wants to be buried there.
A big hobby and enterprise with Mr. Walker is to build a railroad from Breckenridge to Fort Worth, a project that seems necessary to the continued prosperity of both cities. Plans have now reached a point where they promise successful fulfillment, and Mr. Walker's friends and the public generally be- lieve that he will be successful in this as he has been in so many other undertakings.
Mrs. Walker, who presides over the mag- nificent home in Fort Worth, was, prior to her marriage, Miss Alice Davis. She was born at Kaufman, Texas, and is a charming and ac- complished lady, and has furnished much of the inspiration for Mr. Walker's success. She was his boyhood sweetheart, and they grew up together at Breckenridge. Their three daugh- ters are Gladys, Pansy and Joe Alice.
JOHN CLARK JOPLING. While not yet forty years of age John Clark Jopling has had an active and continuous experience in building construction for nearly a quarter of a cen- tury and while his home and headquarters for the last two or three years have been in Wichita Falls, it would be possible to point out important contracts fulfilled by him in nearly all sections of Texas.
Mr. 'Jopling was born in the State of Mis- sissippi. His father was born in Southwest Missouri and was a son of a physician for whom the industrial city of Joplin, Missouri was named. The Tennessee branch of the family spelled its name Joplin instead of Jop- ling. John C. Jopling's father moved to Mis- sissippi, lived in that State for several years and when John C. Jopling was a boy the family came to Texas and located at Trinity in Trinity County. John Clark Jopling was reared and attended school at Trinity. He was hardly in his teens when he learned the bricklayer's trade. Probably the unique honor belongs to him of being the youngest foreman of brick construction in the United States. He was only fifteen when he was appointed fore- man on quite an important piece of construc- tion. Since then continuously he has been a ceaseless worker and has acquired skill and knowledge in all branches of the building trades. His early construction work was done chiefly in Houston County and later he car- ried out contracts in many other sections of
Texas, his broadening program eventually covering the entire State.
Removing to Wichita Falls in the latter part of 1918, Mr. Jopling has been busy in the building work and also as a dealer in property as an investment. He has, in fact, through his enterprise and resources contributed a prominent share to the remarkable upbuilding of Wichita Falls since the beginning of the oil boom in July, 1918.
Some examples of his more recent work. completed during the last half of 1920, in- clude the Telephone Building, the Alamo School, the Floral Heights Methodist Church, and other prominent structures in the city. The business is carried on under the name of J. C. Jopling & Company, a firm with com- plete facilities for all branches of its work, and the activities of the organization are fre- quently in evidence in other cities outside of Wichita Falls. Mr. Jopling is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and was one of the prime movers in the organization of the Open Shop Association.
JOSEPH L. ART. Some of the achievements most widely heralded among the oil men of North Texas concerned the enterprise and name of a Wichita Falls business man, a jewelry merchant, Joseph L. Art. Mr. Art had developed a high class business in his line at Wichita Falls long before he evinced any interest in the oil industry. When he did become an oil operator he put into the industry a remarkable degree of energy and business acumen, and his success has been nothing less than remarkable.
Mr. Art was born at Detroit, Michigan. where his father was a jewelry merchant for many years. The son was reared and edu- cated in that city, learned the jewelry business under his father and in 1910 sought a new location in the Southwest, at Wichita Falls. He arrived in the city with a capital of only $750. His references and his character brought and earned him the confidence of one of the leading bankers of the city, and through credit granted at the bank he was able to found the large jewelry company, beginning with a small store on Ohio Avenue. His busi- ness prospered and expanded, and is now located in spacious and attractive quarters at the corner of Eighth Street and Indiana Ave- nue, in the heart of the city's business section. Mr. Art was achieving success through the sound and sure methods of good merchandis- ing, and his fortunate operations in oil have
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not made him less a good merchant and busi- ness man. His jewelry store naturally bene- fited from the great growth and expansion beginning with the oil boom of 1918, and it is today one of the finest jewelry houses in the Southwest.
As a romance of the petroleum district Mr. Art's career as an oil producer rivals that of any which have been exploited in the pop- ular magazines. In association with J. C. Strauss he developed in 1916 the Panther field near Holliday in Archer County, about twelve miles south of Wichita Falls. He con- tinued his oil operations in that vicinity and in Wichita County until the notable discovery at Burkburnett in July, 1918. From that dis- covery really dates Wichita County's great oil boom. Mr. Art immediately transferred his operations to the Burkburnett field. The most notable of his early successes was the drilling of the well of the Texas Chief Oil Company. It is a justly famous well, having started with an initial production of 3,500 barrels, and is still a large producer, and the Texas Chief Oil Company is still paying dividends of 75 per cent. Mr. Art drilled this famous well in association with James C. Haynes and A. R. Cannon. Mr. Haynes has been closely associated with him throughout his experi- ences as an oil man. Prior to the bringing in of the Texas Chief well Mr. Art. in part- nership with L. P. Hammond, had drilled a number of the early successful wells on the Burkburnett townsite. Some of these wells are also among the producers of 1920.
The fields of his successful operations dur- ing 1920 were chiefly on the east and west sides of the Kemp-Munger-Allen field in Wichita County. The association of Boger. Art, Haynes and Ard brought in the No. 1 well of that quartet of partners in 1919. It is a large producer located on the west side of the K M A field. Since then they have brought in ten wells on the west side of the K M A. With his associates, principally Mr. Haynes, Mr. Art has since developed the east side of the K M A where in September. 1920, they had six producing wells.
Statistics published and acknowledged as accurate prove that in the month of August, 1920, the firm of Haynes & Art were the largest producers of oil in Wichita County. Besides their wells in the K M A district they have a number of producing wells in the county, principally at Burkburnett. They em- ploy a large amount of capital in their opera-
tions and own their drilling outfit, including five rotary rigs.
RISTA HAYDEN FRIZZELL. A native of Texas, Mr. Frizzell was a Quanah business man and a few years ago headed a syndicate of Quanah capital and enterprise to take a share in the oil production of Wichita County. He has since been closely identified with oil development in numerous fields and is widely known for his success here and elsewhere in the Red River Valley.
Mr. Frizzell was born at Pine Grove in Henderson County, Texas, in 1882 a son of P. F. and Nettie (Thompson) Frizzell. His parents are now deceased. His father was a native Kentuckian and came to Texas in 1861. settling at Pine Grove, six miles south of Athens, the county seat of Henderson County. Rista H. Frizzell grew up on the East Texas farm, was educated in local schools, and his environment to the age of eighteen was a rural district. Then for a few years he clerked in a store and subsequently was in the real estate business at Athens.
Mr. Frizzell had passed his thirtieth birth- day without any important achievement or without accumulating any prosperity against future needs. In November, 1915, with only a cash capital of $35, he and his family left Athens in a Ford car and traveled over the roads to Quanah in Hardeman County. At Quanah he accepted the post of immigration agent for the Quanah, Acme & Pacific Rail- way. In the next year or so he was able to show some important results following his efforts as immigration agent. He induced a large number of thrifty settlers to locate on the lands adjacent to the railroad. Through his influence in getting these settlers about 40,000 acres of land were developed and brought into cultivation. For years this land had produced nothing but grass for grazing cattle. Moreover, the colony had substance and permanence to it and practically all those who settled there through the influence of Mr. Frizzell prospered and made money and some of them developed farms and stock ranches that were as good as any in North- west Texas.
Attracted by the rapid developments in the oil fields of Wichita County, Mr. Frizzell or- ganized the Quanah Oil Company, composed for the most part of Quanah citizens. As field manager for this company he came to Wichita Falls in January, 1918, and began operations as an oil producer. drilling a num-
C. El. Comnellae
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ber of wells in what is now known as the Tex- homa field in the northern part of the county. Through him the company brought in thirty shallow wells and three deep wells, producing in profitable quantities, and many of them are still productive. Later Mr. Frizzell sold his interests in the Quanah Oil Company.
He is still operating in Wichita County, but his business is now carried on as the Frizzell Oil Company, a corporation he organized at Quanah. As head of this company he has drilled a number of wells on the Marathon fold of the Red River Uplift in the northern part of Hardeman County. This land is located 4,200 feet from Red River.
Mr. Frizzell still owns his home in Quanah, but has a residence at 1617 Tenth Street in Wichita Falls, and his family reside most of the time in the oil metropolis of Wichita County. He married Miss Catherine Hawn, and they are parents of two children, Rista Hayden, Jr., and Catharine Hawn. Mr. Friz- zell is affiliated with the Masonic Order and is a member of the Christian Church.
CHARLES U. CONNELLEE. To found a town, work to make it grow and prosper, and live to see the community flourish and take its place among the cities of the state, is an honor and distinction accorded to few men, one of whom is Charles U. Connellee, who helped lay out the town of Eastland and continuously and public spiritedly for forty-five years has been identified with it as a resident and promoter of its welfare.
Mr. Connellee was a very young man when he came to Texas and helped make history in Eastland County, then out on the frontier. He was born in Scott County. Kentucky, in 1851, a son of Sadosa and Lucy A. (Wood) Con- nellee. His mother was a native of Kentucky, while his father was a Virginian who settled in Scott County, Kentucky, prior to 1850. Charles U. Connellee was reared and educated in his native county, and is a graduate of the Kentucky University at Lexington, Kentucky.
It was in the spring of 1875 that he identi- fied his fortunes and enterprise with Eastland County. This county had been organized in December, 1873, but for several years the Indians were hostile and the last Indian raid in that section of the state occurred in 1875, about the time Mr. Connellee arrived. The first seat of government for the new county was at the small community known as Merri- mon. The final decision of the citizens re- specting the location of the county seat was
effected August 2, 1875. In the meantime Mr. Connellee and his associate, the late J. S. Daugherty, had acquired land near the center of the new county, and on this land they busied themselves with laying out and establishing the town of Eastland. The location of the town and the enterprise of Mr. Connellee and his associate appealed to the good judgment of the voters, who in August, 1875, selected East- land as the permanent county seat. The town was laid out with a public square, and in the center of that square the County Court House was built.
Such in brief was the beginning of the pres- ent wealthy and rapidly growing city of East- land. Mr. Connellee has lived there contin- uously and has impressed his individual initia- tive and influence upon every successive phase of town history. He has always been a large owner of real estate in the town and of land in Eastland County. Surrounding Eastland he owns about four thousand acres, and it was almost inevitably that some of his land should be the scene of important discoveries in the great oil boom which struck Eastland in 1917. Mr. Connellee was a man of substantial re- sources long before the oil era, and since then a great increment to his wealth has been made. A well informed public official states that Mr. Connellee is the largest indivdual tax payer in the county, and is one of the men of wealth who are accorded the highest esteem for public spirit and character. He is thoroughly loyal to his home city and all his interests have been identified with that community.
In the city of Eastland one of his largest building enterprises has been a modern hotel and the Connellee Theater on Lamar Street near the Public Square. This theater struc- ture has some specially interesting associations for Mr. Connellee, since it occupies the site of his original home, a log cabin he built soon after coming to the town. Mr. Connellee rep- resented Eastland County in the twenty-first and twenty-second Legislatures in 1888 and 1890. He also served by appointment of the governor as member of the commission which built the State Sanitarium for tuberculosis pa- tients at Carlsbad in West Texas.
Mr. Connellee married Miss Tully Folts Hardeman, youngest doughter of the late Gen- eral W. P. Hardeman, the distinguished Texan for whom Hardeman County was named. She was born on the San Marcus River, near where the city of Tuling now stands, in Cald- well County, and was reared and educated in Galveston and Austin.
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JEROME S. STONE was the first citizen of Wichita Falls to volunteer in the army at the beginning of the war with Germany, saw service in the famous Rainbow Division, and since his return and discharge has enjoyed an exceptional degree of success and prominence as a business man of his home city.
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