USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume IV > Part 53
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When he disposed of his farm Mr. Vaughn moved to Sanger and commenced his resi- dence in the little town. There were not more than three stores in the hamlet then, no bank, one cotton gin and one gristmill. He went to work for the Sanger Mill and Elevator Company as engineer, and remained with the concern three years. The capital he brought with him to Sanger he invested in other land. and later in town property, and while he was employed he also spent some time in devel- oping the townsite. He moved houses which he purchased to vacant lots and sold them. and in this way became one of the conspicu- ous builders of the town. When he separated from the mill and elevator company he en- barked in the grocery business, and at the same time became a cotton buyer. After three years he disposed of his grocery stock but re- tained his feed department, which he con- ducted for some time, subsequently purchasing a drug stock, which he handled for about a year before disposing of it. During all this time he had continued to operate as a cotton buyer, and for seventeen years he has been interesed in this line of activity. When he began to buy cotton he bought an interest in a gin, and later he purchased the gin plant of Shirley & Maupin, the second gin built at Sanger, and this he owns and manages at this time, the capaciy being forty bales daily. In 1920 he erected another gin plant here, in preparation for the expected big cotton crop of that year, but the weevil damaged the crop to such an extent that the new gin has not had a chance to gin a boll of cotton.
In addition to his connection with the gin industry, Mr. Vaughn's experience with ma- chinery has carried him into the business of threshing grain. He engaged in that business when he first moved to Denton County, buy- ing an Advance separator and a twenty horse power engine, a machine that threshed on an average of 2,000 bushels of grain daily. This activity he has continued through the years, and he is still in the front of the threshing industry in the locality. In this time he has owned and worn out a dozen different thresh- ing outfits, and notwithstanding the adage that a thresherman is always a failure, Mr. Vaughn avers that if it had not been for his connection with the business on occasions he would have starved. His management of the business has been along business lines, and in no year when there has been a grain crop has he failed to make from $1,000 to $2,000. Being so closely associated with the grain business, he, in asso-
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ciation with J. B. Wiley, built a grain ele- vator at Sanger the third one of the town, and this they operated with success for seven years and finally sold out to the Alliance Mill at Denton.
On December 19, 1888, Mr. Vaughn was married in Collin County to Miss Etta Stacy, who was born in Collin County, a daughter of John and Etta (Hedgecoxe) Stacy, who came to Texas from Indiana some years after the close of the war between the states. Mrs. Vaughn died March 29, 1916, when forty- seven years of age. The children born to this union were: Ethel, who is the wife of Jeff Cornett, of Sanger : Ella, who married C. P. Warren, of Sanger; Johnny, who is the wife of William Davenport, of Paul's Valley, Okla- homa, with two children-Beatrice and Benja- min Garrett ; and Waldine, who is the wife of U. A. Burkholder, of Sanger, with two chil- dren-Allen and Jack Stacy. Mr. Vaughn's first home in Collin County, where he assumed the responsibilities of the head of a household, was notable principally for its plainness and primitive character, it being wholly without foil or tinsel, but within its rude and homely walls domestic peace and happiness held full sway. One of the tenant houses which he occupied was without other floor in the kitchen than mother earth, and the little prattlers who played about the hearthstone brought their parents their greatest responsibilities and drew their attention from the hard struggles which the battle of life imposed upon them. In these humble homes and surrounded by such an en- vironment the happiest days of Mr. Vaughn's industrious life were spent. There was no fear that someone would carry off his few belongings, as there is today, and there was no jealousy directed toward a neighbor be- cause of his material success. Everybody hoped for the welfare of everyone else and everybody helped instead of hindered in the development work of the growing community.
Mr. Vaughn was married May 1, 1919, at Sanger, to Miss Nora Echols, a daughter of Sam P. Echols. Mrs. Vaughn was born in Denton County, Texas, was educated at San- ger and Gainesville, and is one of the five sur- viving children of her parents: Mrs. Nannie Gilmor, of Sanger ; Lee, of Valley View ; Mrs. Jacob King, of Tahoka, this state; Mrs. Jo Clark, of Dallas; and Mrs. Vaughn. Mr. Echols served through the war between the states as a Confederate volunteer from Ten- nessee, and after the close of that struggle came to Texas, settling in Denton County. He
spent his life in agricultural pursuits, proved his worth as a citizen, and none stood higher in the community than did this worthy man, whose absolute integrity and straightforward dealing won him the confidence of those who were associated with him in matters of a busi- ness character, and whose public spirit and loyalty served to make him a valuable factor in movements tending to the welfare and bet- terment of the locality in which his life was passed. His death occurred Thanksgiving Day, 1920, when he was seventy-eight years of age.
Mr. Vaughn is a Master Mason and a mem- ber of the Subordinate Lodge and Encamp- ment of Oddfellowship. He has filled all the chairs of the Sanger Lodge of the latter or- der, and has been a member of the Grand Lodge. He became a charter member of the Knights of Pythias when the Sanger Lodge was instituted.
ELMER RENFRO is a native Texan who has won for himself a post of importance and responsibility in connection with financial ac- tivities in this great commonwealth, and this will be understood when it is stated that he is cashier of the Farmers and Mechanics Na- tional Bank in the city of Fort Worth. He was born in Rockwell County, Texas, on the 28th of January, 1874, and is a son of William C. and Emma I. (Hicks) Renfro, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Georgia. William C. Renfro was but five years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Texas, and his father, Robert A. Renfro, became a pioneer settler in Smith County. The son was reared and educated under the conditions and influences of that early period in the history of Texas, and the major part of his active career was devoted to the mercantile business. He was a resident of Hillsboro, this state, at the time of his death, when sixty-seven years of age, and his widow now resides in Fort Worth. Of the family of five sons and one daughter Elmer, subject of this review, is the eldest.
The boyhood of Elmer Renfro was passed at Terrell, Kaufman County, and there he attended the public schools until he was four- teen years of age. He continued his educa- tional discipline for some time thereafter, and in 1893, when nineteen years of age, he came to Fort Worth and assumed the position of assistant bookkeeper in the office of the old Fort Worth Gazette. With this paper he con-
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tinued his association about two years, and from 1896 to 1898 he held a position in the office of the Fort Worth Evening Mail, the successor of which is the present Star-Tele- gram. Few who come into the thrall of news- paper affairs emerge to achieve prominence and influence in connection with banking oper- ations, but this good fortune attended Mr. Renfro. In January, 1898, he assumed the position of messenger and general clerk in the American National Bank, and he remained with this institution for twenty-one years, within which he won advancement to the position of cashier. He retained this incum- bency until the institution was consolidated with the Farmers and Mechanics National Bank, since which time he has continued his service as cashier of this strong and important financial institution.
Mr. Renfro is not only one of the repre- sentative business men of Fort Worth but is also one of the city's loyal, progressive and public-spirited citizens. He holds membership in the Fort Worth Club and the River Crest Country Club, and he is one of the few men in Texas who have received the thirty-third degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Masonry. He was but thirty-seven years of age when, in 1911, this significant fraternal preferment came to him, and he is an earnest and appreciative member of the time-honored Masonic fraternity, in which he has passed the official chairs in the York and Scottish Rite bodies in his home city, besides being affiliated with the adjunct organization, the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Mr. Renfro is now serving his third consecutive term-of five years each-as a director of the Masonic Orphans' Home at Fort Worth, and has the distinction of being the only local director of this noble institution maintained by the Masonic fraternity of Texas. He and his wife are earnest members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Fort Worth, and he is serving as a member of its board of trustees. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party, whose cause receives his loyal support, though he has had no desire for political preferment of any kind. Mr. Renfro's venerable mother still resides in Fort Worth, she having been left an orphan in her girlhood and having come to Texas with an older sister.
In February, 1899, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Renfro to Miss Blanche E. Woods, daughter of John P. and Sophia
( Alford) Woods, of Fort Worth. Mr. and Mrs. Renfro have two sons-Calvin Woods and James William.
JOHN FRANCIS FOSTER came to Fort Worth a dozen years ago as auditor for the then new industrial plant of the Texas Rolling Mill Company. He has been with that organiza- tion through its great growth and prosperity, and is now vice president and general manager of the institution, known as the George W. Armstrong Company, Incorporated.
Mr. Foster was born at Plainview, Illinois, November 18, 1887, son of J. F. and Josephine (Wyram) Foster. His parents were also native Illinoisans. J. F. Foster was reared and educated in his native town and at the age of sixteen began railroading. For a time he was assistant agent at East St. Louis for the Merchants Bridge Terminal Company. Later he was in the auditing department of the American Car and Foundry Company at Madison, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri.
It was his experience with this industry that opened the way for him to come to Fort Worth in 1909 as auditor of the Texas Rolling Mill Company. He was promoted to secre- tary and treasurer in 1914 and at the reorgan- ization under the name of the George W. Armstrong Company, Incorporated, became second vice president.
Mr. Foster is prominent among Fort Worth business men, being a member of the Fort Worth Club, the River Crest Country Club, Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce. He is a Royal Arch Mason. In 1910 he married Miss Sadie M. Doolin. Five children were born to their marriage: John F., Jr., George Edward, Margaret Elizabeth, William Charles, deceased, and Fred Monroe.
ROBERT DRUMM, secretary and general man- ager of the Drumm Seed & Floral Company of Fort Worth, is one of the veteran nursery- men and seedmen of the state, and has been identified with that business in Texas for nearly forty years.
He was born in Warren County, New Jersey, near Blairstown, February 21, 1853, a son of Thomas and Sarah (Butler) Drumm. His father was a native of County Sligo, Ire- land, and his mother of New Brunswick, New Jersey. Thomas Drumm died at the old home- stead in New Jersey when about sixty-eight years of age, and the mother passed away at Danberry, Connecticut, at the age of seventy-
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three. All of their nine children reached ma- ture years and seven are still living. Robert being the second in age.
Robert Drumm grew up on a New Jersey farm, was educated in district schools, spend- ing a year in the grade schools of Blairstown. At the age of twenty-one he went to New York, and for a year was employed by the Chase Company, a well known nursery firm of Rochester. He then entered the service of the George Acciles Company of Westchester, Pennsylvania, and it was to represent the in- terests of this house that he first came to Texas. He continued with them two years longer, and in 1883 set up in business for himself at Fort Worth. He organized the Drumm Seed & Floral Company in 1889, and the active management of that firm has always been in his hands. He is the largest stock- holder in the business. This firm does a busi- ness all over the Southwest in handling and distributing seeds, and a large retail store is maintained at 507 Houston Street in Fort Worth.
Mr. Drumm married Mrs. Nannie G. (Cross) James, widow of Thomas B. James. Mr. Drumm is a Catholic and a member of the Knights of Columbus and Elks and the Knights and Ladies of Honor.
JOHN F. MORGAN. Because of his promi- nence in public affairs and many years of valu- able service as a county commissioner John F. Morgan is without doubt one of the best known citizens of Denton County. He has lived here nearly fifty years, and his home and business activities throughout that time have been centered in the little community of Aubrey, where he performed some of the pioneer work of farm development and is still a factor in the rural activities.
Mr. Morgan was born in McDowell County, North Carolina, August 27, 1852. His great- grandfather Morgan was of Welsh ancestry and perhaps a native of Wales. He early settled in North Carolina and was a noted Baptist preacher and organized Bethel Church in McDowell County and was laid to rest in Bethel churchyard in 1824. The parents of John F. Morgan were Stephen and Caroline (Haren) Morgan, the latter a daughter of Joshua Haren, the latter also of an old North Carolina family. Stephen Morgan was farmer, and died when his son John was three years of age. Besides John the other children were: Laura T., who became the wife of James Hughey, of Buncombe County, North
Carolina ; Columbus W., who died in Denton County, Texas, leaving a son, Fred; William S., who died in childhood. The widowed mother continued to live in North Carolina until her death, in venerable years, on January 15, 1917. Her second husband was John Bright, and by that union she had the follow- ing children : Mills, Mrs. Ella Boozer, Reagan, who died in young manhood, and Erastus, living in North Carolina.
John F. Morgan grew up on a farm in McDowell and Buncombe counties, North Carolina, and a portion of his boyhood fell within the time of the struggle between the states and the reconstruction period, so that his opportunities for an education and in a business way were decidedly limited. He left North Carolina when he was twenty years of age, but revisited the state many times to see his mother. On going west from North Carolina he spent a year in Missouri, a time in St. Louis and later in Chillicothe. He came south to Texas in the year 1873, when he was twenty-one years of age, by wagon, driving a team for his uncle, J. A. Haren, who spent many years near Aubrey and died at Denton, where he was sunrvived by several children. Mr. Morgan drove one of the wagons in a party of three, and the route taken was through Lexington and Neosho, Missouri, Bentonville, Arkansas, Tahlequah and Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, and crossed the Red River north of Sherman, thence proceeding together as far as Pilot Point. Here the three wagons separated, and Mr. Morgan never heard of his traveling companions again.
The first two years he spent in Denton County Mr. Morgan worked for wages on farms. He then began farming for himself within two miles of the present site of Aubrey. The land he bought there he im- proved from the stump, occupied it eleven years, and then for three years lived in the village of Aubrey, where he bought cotton. He resumed farming on land west of Aubrey, and is still active in the management of his farming interests and land, though his home has been in Aubrey for twenty-eight years.
His is a most unusual record of public service and public-spirited activity in the county. He was elected county commissioner in 1896, as successor of Hoard Smith. He filled the office four terms, eight years, and while he was on the board the Court House was completed and occupied. During his first term his colleagues on the board were Wil-
I.m. Buccioau MN.
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liam Jackson, C. W. Bates, Jonah Miller and County Judge I. D. Ferguson. The second term his associates were John D. Thomasson, William Jackson and T. S. Atchison, and Jackson, Atchison and S. J. McGinnis were with him in the third term, and in the fourth term Dickson and Atchison were colleagues. He retired from the board in 1904, and during most of the eight years that followed he was deputy tax assessor under Assessor Elisha Miller. In 1912 he was again called to the duties of a county commissioner, and again he served four consecutive terms. The first term his colleagues were Scott Ready, Mr. Foster and Fred Cunningham. The following two years he was with Cunningham and Walker Riley. The third and fourth terms his col- leagues were Mr. Riley, Mr. Crawford and Noah Batis. Mr. Morgan during the second period of his service was concerned, be- sides handling the general routine of the county affairs, in providing and ordering the highway bond issues, enabling Denton County to put itself in the front rank as a good roads community. The board ordered one issue of a million and a half dollars for one district, forty-five thousand dollars for another dis- trict, and twenty-five thousand dollars for a third. While he was on the board highway work to the amount of $295,000 was con- tracted, and the program is being carried out since Mr. . Morgan retired. On leaving the county board he resumed his old place on the board of tax assessors, and is responsible for the assessment of Precinct No. 7.
Farming, business, politics and home have furnished Mr. Morgan all the interests of a busy life, to the exclusion of fraternal and social participation. He voted for Samuel J. Tilden in 1876, and has not missed voting at a presidential election since that time. He was a delegate to the State Convention at San Antonio in 1890, when Governor Hogg was nominated the first time, and he supported Mr. Hogg against George Clark in the cam- paign of 1892.
Near Aubrey, Texas, December 24, 1877, Mr. Morgan married Miss Lizzie Henderson. She was born within three miles of Aubrey, December 24, 1861, and is a daughter of the pioneer Parman Henderson, who came from Tennessee to Texas when a boy, grew up in Denton County, and enlisted from that locality for service in the Confederate Army. He was a lieutenant. He married a native of Alabama. Mrs. Morgan has a sister, Mrs. Mullins, and
two brothers, Cad and John Henderson, of Denton County. The only child born to Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, a daughter, died in infancy.
JOHN M. SULLIVAN, M. D., city health offi- cer of Sanger, is one of the leading physi- cians and surgeons of Denton County, and a man of high repute, skilled in his profession. and devoted in his service to his community. He belongs to one of the oldest families of the county and his name is associated with much of the early history of the region as well as with the progressive events of the present day.
In 1852 James H. Sullivan, grandfather of Doctor Sullivan, came into what was then practically a wilderness, bringing with him a band of settlers from Missouri, among whom were numbered his father and his family. James H. Sullivan was born in Cooper County. Missouri, and was there engaged in farming before he migrated to Texas. For a time after their arrival in the state the Sullivans lived at Grapevine, Tarrant County, but sub- sequently moved to Mckinney, and then, after a short period, located in Denton County es- tablishing his homestead on the Elm, east of Sanger, and here for years he was engaged in farming and fruit raising. He was one of the pioneers in this industry, and his orchard was pointed out with pride by the whole countryside. For many years the family lived in the primitive log cabin he erected, but later this was replaced by a much more modern home. In his old age this veteran of many conflicts moved to Sanger, and there he died, May 18, 1916, when seventy-eight years old. When the North and South were at war he espoused the side of the latter section, and served for eighteen months in the Confeder- ate army, being connected with the Trans- Mississippi department, and came out without injury. The military training he received made him an effective Indian fighter during the reconstruction period, when the settlers of the Southwest were harassed by Indian raids. Associated with him in this determined stand against the red men were Turner Forrester, Squire Jack Nance and many others of equal courage, and to these stalwart pioneers is due the credit for the early settlement of those difficulties and the consequent influx of people and capital from the older portions of the country. James H. Sullivan was a strong democrat, always participated in elections as a voter, and served several times as justice of the peace of precinct 4. during the earlier
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years of his residence in Denton County. He was married to Miss Mary Strickland, a daughter of John Strickland, who moved to Texas in 1848 from his native state of Vir- ginia and settled on the Elm, which homestead later become the property of James H. Sulli- van. Mrs. James H. Sullivan was three years younger than her husband, and was born in Virginia. She is still living, and is the sole survivor of the family of her parents. She and her husband had the following children : John J., who is the father of Doctor Sullivan ; Charles, who was a Wise County farmer, died at Sanger, leaving a family; James, who is a farmer and oil promoter of Burkburnett, Texas; Sallie, who married C. C. West of Floydada, Texas: Jesse D., who is a resident of Oklahoma ; Thomas H., who is engaged in farming in the vicinity of Sanger; Sam- uel T., who is a farmer near Bowie, Texas; and Mrs. Ola Burris, who lives near Deming. New Mexico.
John J. Sullivan, father of Doctor Sullivan, was born in Denton County, February 23, 1861, and has spent his life in this region. His educational training was gained in the country schools, and he acquired a practical knowledge of farming under his father's watchful supervision. Reaching manhood's estate, he decided to adopt that calling for his own, and has since then devoted himself to agricultural pursuits. Within recent years he has identified himself with the Wise County locality, and owns a fine ranch on the West Fork of Trinity River, but still maintains his residence at Sanger. His service to his com- munity has been chiefly as a private citizen, although he has served as a deputy sheriff of Denton County. In politics he is a democrat. Reared in a religious home. he has always been a churchman.
County; Dr. John M., who was second in order of birth; Arch E .; Mary, who died as Mrs. G. A. Newman ; Frank, of Dallas, Texas ; Mrs. Virgie Overcash, who lives at Gates- ville, Texas ; Dennie R., who is cashier of the Sanger National Bank : and Rosie, who is the youngest of the family.
Doctor Sullivan was born in Denton County. February 7, 1885, and spent his boyhood days in the vicinity of Sanger, attending its grade and high schools. In 1906 he was graduated from the Sanger High School. and then en- tered the medical department of the For! Worth University, from which he was grad- uated in 1910 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He then took a post-graduate course in the Chicago Polyclinic. Return- ing to Sanger, Doctor Sullivan established himself in a general medical and surgical practice and has built up a large and valu- able connection. For the past six years he has held the position of city health officer, and has introduced some very wise sanitary measures. The worst epidemic with which he has had to contend was that of influenza, which lasted from October, 1918, until March of the following year. During that period all of the physicians were kept fully occupied, but Doctor Sullivan made such a campaign of education that in 1919 the disease was much milder, commenced as an epidemic later in the season, and there were few casualties.
On June 14, 1916, Doctor Sullivan was mar- ried to Miss Charlotte Gambill, a native of Denton County, where she was born October 22, 1887, a daughter of William F. Gambill, a farmer living three miles west of Sanger, and belonging to one of the old families of this region. Mrs. Sullivan was graduated from the Sanger High School and the Denton State Normal School, and for several years prior to her marriage was engaged in teaching school. Doctor and Mrs. Sullivan have two sons, namely : Nelson Gambill and John Riley Lewis.
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