USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume IV > Part 55
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tier schools of that period. At the age of sixteen he started out for himself working by the month and later gathered together a few head of stock and began a business for himself at Comanche Postoffice. He went through all the experiences of a cowboy and cattle driver on the range and trail and was doing a regular business as a buyer and raiser of cattle from the age of twenty. Mr. Corn for many years has been one of the large land owners of North Texas and still has nearly 55,000 acres in Tarrant and other counties.
In 1872 he married Miss Esther Matthews. Eight children were born to them and seven are now living: Mrs. Pearl Littleton of Fort Worth; Frank and Virginia, twins; W. L .; Ruby, Charles and Opal. Mr. Corn has finan- cial interests in the cotton and seed oil industry and in a life insurance company. He is a Mason and Knight of Pythias.
ELMER GRAHAM. While comparatively one of the younger members of the bar of Young County, Elmer Graham's legal career has been one of distinction in the Texas Northwest. He is an able lawyer, and possesses moral and physical courage that has made him invalu- able as an investigator and prosecutor, and he earned a notable reputation in that respect as an assistant to the Department of Justice dur- ing the war period.
Mr. Graham was born in Parker County, Texas, November 14, 1890, a son of W. T. and Leona (Gilbert) Graham. His parents now live in Baylor County in West Texas. W. T. Graham is a native of Bosque County, son of J. A. Graham, a native of Tennessee, who came to Texas in the '50s. J. A. Graham was a pioneer of Coryell County, and during the war between the states was in the Confed- erate army under General Magruder. W. T. Graham left Parker County in 1891, and for nearly thirty years has been a resident of Bay- lor County. The Gilberts, on the mother's side, were Missourians and stanch Union people during the Civil war. They came to Texas in the '70s.
It was in Baylor County that Elmer Graham was reared, and he is thoroughly a West Texan, as he sometimes manifests in no uncer- tain manner when the rights of his part of the state are infringed upon. However, he loves Texas as a whole and its glorious history. He was educated in the schools of Seymour, the county seat of his home county, and also at Vernon ; spent one year in the University of Texas at Austin : and after a period of dili-
gent study in the law was admitted to the bar at Amarillo October 28, 1914. He at once began practice at Seymour, and was soon chosen county attorney.
It was during his term as county attorney that he unearthed the conspiracies and sedi- tious acts of persons connected with the organ- ization known as the Farmers and Laborers Protective Association and other disloyal ele- ments that broke out in some of the West Texas counties at the time of the entrance of the United States into the World war. He devoted much of his time to this special work, co-operating directly with the Federal district attorney; was prominent in the prosecution and aided in securing the conviction of a num- ber of men for resisting the draft act and lending aid and comfort to the enemy in war times. His fearless and relentless activities not only in Baylor but in other West Texas counties involved a large number of local cit- izens in the net of the Federal Government, and three of the leaders were subsequently sent to the Federal penitentiary.
As soon as these cases were cleared up Mr. Graham resigned as county attorney, in the summer of 1918, and volunteered for mili- tary service at Camp Bowie, Fort Worth, en- tering the Officers Training Camp. He was accepted for a commission in the army, but the armistice was signed before the commis- sion was issued.
At the close of the war Mr. Graham re- sumed practice in Young County and now resides at Graham, Texas. He and Hon. M. D. Brown formed a law partnership in 1921, and maintain offices at Graham under the firm name of Brown & Graham, with a growing clientage and practice.
On June 9, 1912, Mr. Graham married Miss Florence Busby, daughter of J. W. Busby, a prominent and wealthy Baylor County ranch- man and banker. They have a son and daugh- ter. Travis W., born in 1913, and Irma. born in 1917. Mr. Graham is affiliated with Young County Lodge No. 485. A. F. and A. M. He is a Presbyterian in religious belief. while Mrs. Graham is a member of the First Bap- tist Church. Mr. Graham is a democrat in politics-a firm and loyal believer in the party's traditions and principles as embodied in the American form of government.
CHARLES A. WALLING, while a resident of Gainesville. is a Texan whose life's interests and activities have been widely diversified and whose experiences and achievements have
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brought him a name favorably known and esteemed in many sections of the Southwest. Few men could advance more substantial claims to the credit of having earned every step of their prosperity than Mr. Walling. His early life was one of drudgery and viccissitudes. At times he was on the road to success, only to be diverted and compelled to start all over again. He has been a farmer, a cattle man, merchant, oil operator, and is one of the con- spicuous self-made men of his generation.
He is a native Texan, born in Rusk County. March 20, 1860. His father, Joe D. Walling, was born at Sparta, White County, Tennessee. left that state when a youth of nineteen and came to East Texas, and in Rusk County mar- ried Emily Rushing. Her father was Wil- liam Rushing, a Methodist minister who came to Texas from Mississippi. Joe D. Walling died in 1916, and his wife died in Hill County in 1907. They had four sons and three daughters: Alonzo D., of Malone, Texas; Charles A .; R. D., a farmer in Hill County ; Joe D., of Itasca, Texas; Mrs. Rose Elliott, of San Antonio; Tennie, wife of Dick Voss, of Fletcher, Oklahoma; and Mrs. Josie Hug- gins, of San Antonio.
Joe D. Walling served as a Confederate soldier and about 1864, when Charles was four years of age, the family moved to Hill County, Texas, and near Hillsboro Charles Walling grew to manhood amid rural and humble surroundings. His father's home was a log house, which for several years had only a dirt floor. His father was an industrious worker, made a good living after middle life, but never demonstrated any marked capacity for accumulation of this world's goods. Charles Walling therefore from an early age had duties to tax his strength, and endured the heavy toil of working in the cotton fields. He had a limited schooling in country dis- tricts, a few months each year until he was eighteen, and practical experience with the affairs of life has contributed to his educa- tion and reading has given him much knowl- edge and a wider grasp of the world's affairs.
A few days after his twenty-first birth- day Mr. Walling bought a yoke of steers on credit and set himself to the task of making a crop of cotton and corn on his own account. He also engaged in the cattle business on bor- rowed money, his partner furnishing the money while he furnished the "rustling" to make the business a success. During a num- ber of years he fed and fattened stock for the market, using oil mill products for the VOL. IV-19
finishing process, took all the chance the mar- ket afforded, and it was only after sixteen years of operations that his enterprise hit a panic and brought him near the rocks of disaster.
Mr. Walling participated in one of the early land openings in Oklahoma, taking up a claim in Comanche County. While proving up he bought some cattle and held them on the range. He also opened a stock of goods on his ranch, at a place subsequently known as Walling's Store, and was instrumental in building a long distance telephone line con- necting that locality with Henrietta, Texas. For about seven years he combined his varied interests in Oklahoma with success, and re- covered from most of his former losses. After selling his property at Walling's Store he went to the Osage Indian Nation to drill for oil. He was a new man at this game. but perfected the organization of the Hominy Oil and Gas Company, becoming its president. The company was operating in great oil ter- ritory but nearly all their drilling brought in dry holes and beyond experience practically none of Mr. Walling's success can be traced to that venture.
After selling this enterprise he returned to Texas and located at Burkburnett. He bought a thousand acres of land northwest of that town at $22.50 an acre, and from his home in Burkburnett supervises some extensive farm- ing operations. He also opened the Burkbur- nett Sand and Gravel Pit and sold thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of material from it. Subsequently much of his land was leased to refineries, pipeline and water right companies on royalties that are still paying revenue.
Living in such a district Mr. Walling could hardly refrain from engaging in active oil operations on his own account and therefore put some of his capital to work drilling and prospecting. His most profitable operations have been on his own land and his own leases. His first well made a showing of about 3,000 barrels a day. He drilled out his block and organized the Van Cleve Oil Company, which paid its stockholders $1,200 a share. He owns the controlling interest in this company and subsequently became interested in the Robin- son Petroleum Company. in which he is the controlling factor. More recently Mr. Wall- ing has greatly increased his land holdings by the purchase of the Emerson, Rogers and Grayson ranches, comprising some 900 acres. He also owns a part of the Love ranch. in -
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cluding the old Love homestead in Love County, Oklahoma. Much of it is employed for cotton and corn.
The activities of the past ten years have rewarded Mr. Walling with a phenomenal fortune, and as the evening of life approaches he is justified in regarding his efforts as hav- ing accumulated sufficient unto the day. This brief sketch hardly outlines the dramatic points of his remarkable career. Born poor and brought up in an environment of hard work with a taste of actual poverty. the lessons of his experience have been deeply impressed upon him. His advise to those struggling to get ahead is a persistent purpose to deal fairly and an inflexible performance of duty at all times.
As the son of a Confederate soldier, Mr. Walling has been naturally identified with the democratic party. He was chosen a com- mitteeman of his county while a resident of Comanche County, and as such paid a visit to the governor of the State on a special mis- sion. In Texas of recent years he was one of a committee from Wichita County to visit Governor Ferguson in the interest of the ap- pointment of a special district judge. His first presidential vote went to Grover Cleve- land and he never missed voting his party ticket at a national election until 1920. He believes in state's rights in the matter of pro- hibition, is opposed to the question of woman suffrage, but he also believes in majority rule, and no matter what question is submitted to the people for their decision if they declare in favor at a fair election, he abides by that decision. Mr. Walling gave his influence to the success of the Government at the time of the World war, and was one of the large purchasers of Government securities at the time and still holds much of this unimpeach- able form of wealth. He is a Master Mason and a member of the Knights of Pythias.
The Walling home in Gainesville is one of the conspicuous mansions in the city. It was finished in 1920 and its stately architecture is to a happy degree the expression of the ideas and plans of its owners and is regarded as one of the best equipped and best appointed homes in Cooke County. It is situated on Grand Avenue and California Street and its grounds show the care and attention displayed in the creation of an ideal home.
Early in his struggling career Mr. Walling married Miss Annie L. Jones. They were married in Hill County January 3, 1881. She was born in Mississippi July 25, 1864, acquired
a good education and was one of the large family of children born to Marcellus H. and Celestia (Moreman) Jones, who came to Texas from Mississippi. Her father was a farmer and at one time postmaster of Bran- don, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Walling have made many friends both in Texas and Okla- homa but they have also been exceedingly fortunate in rearing a large family of children and now have a large number of grandchil- dren, and their descendants of two genera- tions would fill to overflowing even the com- miodious home at Gainesville. Their oldest child is John P., interested in oil operations and a well known citizen of Gainesville. He married Emily Seeds and his children are Clyde, J. P., Floyd, Cooter and Emily. Charles O., the second son, lives at Burkbur- nett, and by his marriage to Mona Hullum has children named Clara, Goldy, Charles and Lewis. The third son, Jay, is a resident of Los Angeles. He married Ethel Hobbs, and has a daughter, Vivian. Joe B. lives at Tioga, Texas, and his wife is Ola Walling. Roy Walling and his wife, Evelyn, are residents of Gainesville. Jones is a resident of Fort Worth, married Grace Cannon, and their son is named "Sonny." Ben F., of Los Angeles, California, and his wife, Verda, have a daugh- ter, Yvon. Eva is Mrs. J. D. Gordon, of Tioga, Texas, and their children are Lorena, Bernice, Gladys, Nellie, J. D., Roy and Clois. Annie May is the wife of Adam Elrod, of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, and has two chil- dren, A. T. and Chlo T. Edna is the wife of A. J. Van Cleve, of Clinton, Missouri, and the mother of Edna Athalie and Peggie Vir- ginia. The youngest of the family is Miss Odessa Walling.
ARCHIBALD L. WARREN, a resident of Wichita Falls for ten years, represents the great cotton interests of this section as man- ager of the Northwestern Compress Company. He went into the cotton business when a young man, and that has been his chief occu- pation ever since.
Mr. Warren was born in Fayette County, Tennessee, in 1873, and in 1881, when he was eight years of age, was brought by his par- ents to Lamar County, Texas. His father, Dr. P. H. Warren, devoted all the active years of his life to his profession as a physician. Archibald L. Warren acquired most of his education in the schools of Paris, Texas. From school he went to work in the railroad offices of the Frisco and Santa Fe Railroads,
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and was thus employed for about seven years and since then has been in the cotton compress business. He acquired his early experience in that line at Paris, but in 1910 was sent to Wichita Falls to take charge of the plant of the Northwestern Compress Company. This company has at Wichita Falls one of the larg- est and best equipped compresses in the South, and it handles a large volume of the cotton staple raised in Wichita County and surround- ing territory. The president of the company is B. L. Anderson, of Fort Worth.
As the responsible head of one of the big local industries Mr. Warren has at the same time allied himself with all the movements promoting the great growth and expansion of Wichita Falls during the past ten years. He is a member of the Rotary Club and the Chamber of Commerce, and is an elder in the First Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Warren married Miss Elma Clements, of Lamar County, where her father was a widely known and successful physician. Mr. and Mrs. Warren have four children: Dor- othy, graduated from the Wichita Falls High School in 1920 and is now a student in Trin- ity College, Mary Louise, William and Archi- bald L., Jr.
GIDEON H. KIMBROUGH, who has been a resident of Denton County nearly thirty years, has spent just about a third of his long life in this State, and the trail of his experiences leads back to Alabama and still further to Tennessee, where the events of his youth and early manhood occurred.
He was born in Roane County, Tennessee, December 12, 1833. His grandfather, Rob- ert Kimbrough, was a native of Virginia and descended from an Englishman who with several brothers sought refuge in the Colony of Virginia to escape, as the family tradition goes, the wrath of the English king. Robert Kimbrough moved from Virginia to Roane County, Tennessee. He married a Miss Smith, and his only son was Joseph Kim- brough, while his two daughters were Sarah, who became the wife of William Brown, and Patsy, who married Captain Waddy. All these children spent their lives in Tennessee.
Joseph Kimbrough was born in Louisa County, Virginia, and was four years of age when taken to Roane County. He died in that State toward the end of the year 1862, when about sixty-four years of age. His wife was Mary Morgan Hazen. Her grandfather
Morgan represented one of the old families of Connecticut, and from that state he moved to Virginia, was a merchant in Louisa County for several years, then moved to Roane County, Tennessee, and he died at Kingston in that state. Among his sons were Luther, George, Gideon and Rufus Morgan. One of his daughters became Mrs. Hazen. The Hazens also originated in Connecticut. Mary Morgan Hazen had two brothers, Gideon Morgan and William, both of whom were Tennessee merchants, the former at Knox- ville and the latter at Covington. Mrs. Mary Kimbrough died about 1893. Her children were: William,- who died in Dallas, Texas ; Robert, who also died in Texas; Joseph, who died in Tennessee; Sarah, who became the wife of L. L. Thomasson and died in Tennes- see ; Gideon H., of Denton ; Rufus, a surgeon in the Confederate army, who died in Tennes- see; Calvin M., who was killed under a flag of truce in Tennessee while a soldier; Mary, who died unmarried in Tennessee : Asa, while a soldier of Gen. John H. Morgan, was killed near Rogersville in Tennessee; George W., who became a resident of Bell Station; and Mattie, who married Wright Roddy and died at Bell Station, Texas.
Gideon H. Kimbrough grew up on a Ten- nessee farm, acquired a country school edu- cation and for two years attended Hiawassee College in Monroe County. For a few months he taught a small country school, one of the old landmarks of pioneer educational institu- tions, a log cabin, with a few benches for seats, no desks, no blackboards, no maps or globes, and the chief book was the old Web- ster blue-back speller. Mr. Kimbrough was not an applicant for this school, but his neigh- bors insisted that he take it and teach a term and was paid about $20 a month for his serv- ices. Having no inclination to continue the profession, for the following three years he operated an iron forge, and this was quite a profitable business. The profits gave him the capital to set up as a merchant at Bellville, a country community of Tennessee, where he continued to sell goods until the outbreak of the Civil war. Mr. Kimbrough was not in the service long. He was not physically fitted to stand the hardships of army life and after several periods of illness his commanding offi- cer recommended his discharge after about a year. He was in a company commanded by Captain Branner, part of Ashby's regiment. The nearest actual fighting he saw was in an engagement at Fishing Creek, near Mill
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Spring, Kentucky, where General Zollicoffer was killed.
After leaving the army he had to begin life all over again. The few thousand dollars he had accumulated as a merchant were swept away in the general devastation of war times. For a few years he lived on and worked a farm and then moved to Jackson County. Alabama, where he resumed farming near Stephenson. Later he was able to engage in business as a merchant and continued the man- agement of his store and the farm until he came to Texas.
Mr. Kimbrough came to Denton County. Texas, in the month of May, 1892. Some years previously he had bought land on Hick- ory Creek in the northwest part of the county. He has always had farming interests, though little of his personal time has been given to the work of cultivation. but he has super- vised the investment of much capital in im- provement. clearing and the construction of comfortable buildings. For a number of years he was engaged in merchandising. being a grocer at Denton and also at the town of Krum. When he began selling goods at Krum it was merely a hamlet, but is now one of the busy commercial centers of Denton County. admitted to be the best and largest wheat mar- ket in that region. After some seven years he retired from merchandising, and since then his attention has been confined to the affairs of his farm.
Mr. Kimbrough has always taken enough interest in politics to vote as a democrat, but has been well satisfied that his life record contains no service in political office. He is a Presbyterian and was formerly affiliated with the Masonic Order.
On November 14. 1866, Mr. Kimbrough married Miss Mary McMahan, who was born in Jackson County. Alabama, daughter of William and Polly ( Tally) McMahan, the former a native of North Carolina and the latter of Jackson County, Alabama. Mrs. Kimbrough was one of a large family. Three of her brothers, Houston, John and Jacob, were Confederate soldiers. The death of Mrs. Kimbrough at Denton March 11, 1920, at the age of seventy-six terminated a married com- panionship of more than half a century. The children of Mr. Kimbrough are: Dr. Walter. of Denton,; Alice, who is the mother of James. Mary Pearl and Hazen Armstrong by her first husband, Percy Armstrong, and is now the wife of J. E. Kimbrough, of Den- ton, and has two children by that marriage.
Joe and Helen; Dr. Wallace Kimbrough, of Denton : Daisy, who maried W. O. Taylor and died, leaving two children, William and Charles ; and Charles Kimbrough, who holds the chair of English in a college at Tulsa, Oklahoma.
GEORGE E. FRIBERG. A few miles northeast of Wichita Falls is a locality in which the dis- tinguished and vital influences for many years have proceeded from the Friberg family. so that is is well known as the Friberg com- munity. The Fribergs have been pioneers in Wichita County not only in point of time but also in point of enterprise in developing its agricultural interests. George E. Friberg, who with his family now lives in Wichita Falls, is still one of the most extensive farmers in the county, and has also invested capital in pro- moting the upbuilding of the oil metropolis.
Mr. Friberg was born in Iroquois County, Illinois, in 1864, a son of John and Mary (Anderson) Friberg. His parents were natives of Sweden, came to the United States in the early fifties, and lived in Northwestern Indiana until a short time before the Civil War, when they moved to a farm in Irequois County, Illi- nois. John Friberg enlisted as a Union soldier in 1861 and served all through the war under General Sherman. He improved some land in Northern Illinois, which he by virtue of his early settlement was able to buy for a dollar and a quarter an acre. In January, 1882, he came to Texas in search of a new location in the Southwest, and soon afterward was joined by his family in Wichita County and developed a fine farm, his home being about a mile north of Wichita Falls.
George E. Friberg was nineteen years of age when he came to Texas. He had beer, reared and educated in Illinois. Wichita Falls at that time was a country town, chiefly known as the market place and headquarters for the cattle ranchers in Northwest Texas. As pio- neers in the new country the Fribergs bought land as low as fifty cents an acre. It is not an exaggeration to attribute to the Fribergs' credit for originating grain farming in their locality. In a region theretofore devoted almost entirely to the raising of live stock they broke the virgin soil, planted crops and by their example gave an impetus to practical agriculture that in many ways has subsequently included the entire county. Wichita County is a justly famous farming center, notable par- ticularly for its great production of wheat and small grains. It is a satisfaction that cannot
& E. Freiburg
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be discounted that Mr. Friberg can be con- sidered a pioneer in this splendid work. For many years his energies were devoted to his agricultural affairs, and his landed interests have increased until in that one vicinity he owns about eleven hundred acres.
Mr. Friberg was never satisfied merely to see his own affairs prosper, and for years took the lead in promoting the common welfare of the Friberg community. He was instrumental in building the Friberg Church and the Friberg School House, both splendid institutions. Then when he removed with his family to Wichita Falls in 1913 he was actuated by the same spirit of public enterprise and became a leader in the building of the First Methodist Church, and through his efforts and financial assist- ance the church edifice was made possible. He is a member of its board of trustees. Mr. Friberg's home on Tenth Street is one of the finest in the city.
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