USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume IV > Part 59
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Jared Beard
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The Smoots have been in North Texas for over sixty years. While never a permanent resident of Texas, the first generation was represented by John Henry Smoot, who moved from Brandy Station, Virginia, to Missouri and became prominent as a farmer in Howard County, where all his children were born. John Henry Smoot came to Texas during the '50s and bought land near Plano. It was left to his sons to develop this land, and he fol- lowed them a number of years later to Texas and was living near Plano when he died. He had three children, William H. and H. Smoot and a daughter, Philo, who died at California, Missouri, where her husband, Edmund Burke, was a practicing lawyer.
H. Smoot was born in Howard County, Missouri, and acquired a common school edu- cation there. He was born in September, 1844, and in 1859 he and his brother William Henry came to Texas, bringing the family slaves. These brothers had lived in Texas only a short time when the war came on, and both joined the Confederate army. William H. was captain of a company and was killed in battle in Mississippi. H. Smoot went into the war the first year in the Fifth Texas Cav- alry, Governor Sul Ross' Regiment, and served throughout the struggle as a private in the Trans-Mississippi Department. He was deeply and affectionately interested in his comrades of the war and was largely responsible for the organization of the Confederate Veterans Camp at Denton and was instrumental in nam- ing it the Sul Ross Camp.
His years after the war were devoted to stock raising and farming. His ranch in Den- ton County was twelve miles south of the county seat. He should be remembered as one of the real pioneers in the raising of stand- ards of livestock breeding. He introduced Shorthorn cattle into this section of Texas, bringing them into Collin County in 1875 and also through Denton .. Until within a few' years of his death he was a breeder of Short- horns and exhibited this stock at shows and fairs, and in that way did much to advertise and encourage the breeding of good cattle. His ranch, while not one of the most extensive, was one of the most perfectly developed for its purpose and became widely known for the stock originated there. The business is still continued under the direction of his son, Walter Edmund. H. Smoot was properly con- sidered one of the best farmers of the county. His fields became noted for their abundant
and high grade yields of wheat. He was a scientific farmer, although he never claimed training in technical agricultural schools, and he possessed the genius and the iniative which made him a constant student and observer of the best agricultural methods.
He was never in politics, though a staunch democrat, and outspoken in his convictions on any public matter. He had no church mem- bership, though he believed in the divine origin of man and his home and family life was ex- ceedingly exemplary and at his own fireside and among his children and friends he satis- fied all the desires for social and fraternal ex- pression.
This splendid old-time citizen of Denton County passed away in 1919, having survived his wife just a year. He and Miss Sue Wil- kins were married in Collin County at the close of the war. She was born in Kentucky and was a child when her parents came to Texas and settled near Plano. Her father. Samuel L. Wilkins, was a Cumberland Pres- byterian minister and was active in that de- nominational work in Collin County for many years, where he died as an old man. All his children are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. H. Smoot were the parents of six children: Wil- liam Henry Smoot, Sam Houston Smoot; W. Edmund Smoot; Mrs. O. M. Curtis, of Den- ton ; Charles H. Smoot, of Denton ; and Philo, wife of T. C. Sample, of Denton.
Walter Edmund Smoot, who has much of his father's attitude and spirit as an agricul- tural leader, and has carried on his work and good influence in Denton County, was born in Collin County January 2, 1871. He was reared in Denton County, and the first school he attended was kept in a log house in the country. He was a member of the senior class of the Denton State Normal when he left that school to resume his place on the farm. Farming and stock raising have constituted the work of his life and the line in which he has found the greatest pleasure and profit. His individual farm was near the old home ranch. He began breeding purebred Short- horns in 1900, and has carried on the exhibi- tion of his breed even on a inore extensive scale than his father. For twenty years his stock has been exhibited at state fairs and stock shows, and as a breeder his reputation is widely extended. His stock has been sold over the adjoining states of Louisiana and Arkan- sas and has been selected for foreign export to Brazil, South America. Mr. Smoot has added to his herd some of the grand cham-
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pions bred in other herds, and his own prod- uct has stood up with the best.
For several years he has also been growing registered Shropshire sheep, and has given an impetus toward better wool production in Texas. Through these two lines he has un- doubtedly contributed much to the advance- ment of cattle and sheep raising in the state. He is secretary of the Denton County Sheep Breeders Association. He is chairman of the Agricultural Committee and Livestock Depart- ment of the Chamber of Commerce at Denton, an organization he was instrumental in pro- moting. From his semi-public position as a banker he has constantly advised the planting of the best seed for crops.
Mr. Smoot became associated with a group of public spirited citizens in organizing the First Guaranty State Bank of Denton, pri- marily for the purpose of financing and ad- vancing the interests of livestock and better farming in the county. For years he has preached the doctrine that that farming section reaches its highest state of development where livestock is an essential and constant part of the program. He assisted in organizing the First Guaranty State Bank in 1912, and has been cashier of that institution from the begin- ning. This bank has a capital of fifty thou- sand dollars, surplus and profits of twenty thousand dollars, and deposits aggregating half a million. The officers are Dr. M. L. Martin, president, W. C. Orr, active vice president, and Mr. Smoot, cashier, while the other direc- tors are John W. Stewart, C. H. Smoot, O. M. Curtis, W. D. Butler, P. E. McDonald, J. M. Evans.
While the bank as an institution has done much to make a stock farming community out of Denton County, Mr. Smoot points out still another institution which has already accom- plished much in the same line. This is the Dairy Products Company, of which Mr. Smoot is secretary and treasurer. This corporation was formed to increase the production of milk in the county and afford a steady market for the product at all seasons. The company is capitalized at twenty-five thousand dollars, and a thoroughly modern and efficient plant has been erected. At the present time this plant utilizes about twelve hundred gallons of milk daily, brought in from a radius of eight miles from Denton, representing the product of about fifteen hundred head of dairy cows, chiefly Jerseys and some Holsteins. Since the plant was established it has stimulated milk production fully eighty per cent over previous
figures. The company's secretary has com- piled some interesting comparative figures, showing that the plant has been paying out approximately $450 a day to the dairy farmers, or a total of $165,000 a year. This total is equal to the value of thirty-five hundred bales of cotton, and it is six times the capital stock of the Dairy Products Company. But in the minds of the promoters and officials of the company only a beginning has been made, since it is the aim to stimulate the industry to a production of at least thirty-five hundred gallons of milk daily.
To business and agriculture Mr. Smoot has given his time and energies, and consequently politics has not been a vital consideration with him. Mr. Smoot and Miss Mattie Boone were married at Denton in 1902. Mrs. Smoot, who was born at Denton, a daughter of E. Boone, died in April, 1920. She is survived by three children: Walter E., Jr., a graduate of the Denton High School; Elaine, who completed a course in the Denton Industrial Arts School in 1921; and Homer Boone, a pupil in the Denton grammar school.
DAVID BALL is a lawyer by profession, an active associate with the prominent law firm of Scott & Brelsford, of Eastland, and has enjoyed a busy practice and participation in oil operations in the Breckenridge field since his admission to the bar. Mr. Ball's law studies were interrupted by the war, when he volun- teered in the Marine Corps and was in active service until after the signing of the armistice.
He is the only son of the distinguished Texas lawyer, Thomas H. Ball, of Houston. Thomas H. Ball, long prominent in state and national politics, a candidate for the democratic nom- ination for governor in 1916. was born at Huntsville, Texas, in 1859, son of a Methodist minister who located at Huntsville about 1855 and was president of the Andrew Female Methodist College in that city until his death four years later. Thomas H. Ball was reared in Huntsville, attended .old Austin College there, was a farmer and merchant until 1884. studied law in the University of Virginia, and began practice in 1888. In 1902 he removed to Houston, and was a member of the promi- nent law firm of Andrews, Ball & Streetman until he retired after a quarter of a century of active work in his profession. Thomas H. Ball was a Texas representative in Congress from 1897 until 1905. He was a prominent member of the Texas delegation in several national democratic conventions: Thomas H.
David Back
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Ball married Minnie Fisher Thomason, whose father, Dr. J. A. Thomason, was a physician and planter at Huntsville, where she was born.
David Ball was born in 1895, at Huntsville, Texas, but was reared in Houston. He con- tinued his education in the University of Texas and in Rice Institute in Houston, from which he graduated in 1916. He then entered the law department of the University of Texas, but in the spring of 1917 volunteered as a private in the United States Marine Corps at Houston. He was assigned to naval duty in the corps and served as gunner on the battleship Wyoming, one of the six capital ships that comprised the American Division of the Grand Fleet on duty in the North Sea. He went overseas to this service in September, 1917, and was with the fleet in those waters until the winter of 1918. He returned to America in December of that year and received a commis- sion as second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. He received his honorable discharge in Nor- folk, Virginia, in that month.
On returning to Houston, Mr. Ball entered his father's law office, under the firm name of Thomas H. & David Ball, and remained there until September, 1919, when he came to Breck- enridge, the famous oil city of the Texas field. Since then he has handled a general practice and is the Breckenridge representative of the law firm of Scott & Brelsford, of Eastland and Cisco.
Mr. Ball's name is prominently associated with oil production in this field. He organized and is secretary-treasurer of the Gonzolus Creek Oil Company. On August 2, 1920, this company brought in the No. 1 well, the largest producer on the Breckenridge town site up to that time, having an initial production of eight thousand barrels daily. This is one of the most successful companies in Texas and has paid its owners fifteen for one since the bringing in of the first well. Mr. Ball is a director of the Cedar Creek Oil Company and has other important oil interests in that terri- tory, and is a director of the Breckenridge State Bank.
He married Miss Gladys Martin, of Minne- apolis, Minnesota. They have a daughter, Mary Elizabeth, born in October, 1920.
BERRY HERBERT DEAVENPORT. To con- structive business, to the maintenance of church and good social standards, and to all the interests that elevate a community the life of Berry Herbert Deavenport at Denton represented a contribution that should not be
forgotten with the passing years. His chil- dren are useful in the same community and his father furnished some of the early impetus to Denton's progress and growth, so that this family name through three generations has enjoyed a peculiar and high esteem in that section of North Texas.
The father of the late Berry H. Deaven- port was Major M. W. Deavenport, who came . to Texas from Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, where his forefathers had settled on coming from Virginia. His people were men of busi- ness, like himself, and that accounts for the strenuous character of Major Deavenport and Berry, his son. There were among the early members of the family men of the professions and of politics, one of them having served our country as Minister to Mexico. In the various generations education was regarded as a primary essential, and Major Deavenport had a liberal training. He had settled in Tar- rant County, near old Elizabethtown, several years before the Civil war, and in 1878 moved to Denton, and for several years was one of the active factors in improving the village into a commercial and permanent town. One debt the community owes him was for his efforts and his capital toward giving Denton the North Texas Normal School. He was one of ten men to donate the land for the benefit of the school. During the contest between the North and the South Major Deavenport en- tered the Confederate service as a member of Hood's Brigade, and was all through the war, coming out with the rank of major. While at Denton he was chiefly engaged in the milling business, and was also a director of the First National Bank.
On leaving Denton in 1892 Major Deaven- port built a flouring mill at Quanah, where he lived a few years, and then went further into Northwest Texas, eventually establishing himself at Wellington, and for many years was a leading rancher of Collingsworth County, also a merchant and banker, and helped bring the railroad to that region. A large amount of property was acquired by him at Wellington, and he was one of the commu- nity's real builders and public leaders. He proved his worth to his locality wherever he lived by his deeds, and his means were readily available for the promotion of substantial in- terests. He really made a state reputation as a citizen. On the religious side he was most attentive to his duties in the Baptist Church, and set a good exemple to the younger genera-
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tion. He possessed a happy nature and was always cordial to all.
Major Deavenport married Miss Jennie Louise Evans when she was about sixteen years of age. She died at Denton May 9, 1892. She was born in North Carolina, and her parents moved to Tennessee when she was a young girl. Of her twelve children the fol- lowing reached mature years: Mrs. Bettie Wiley, who died in Tarrant County ; Berry H .; Mrs. Mary E. Green, of Wichita Falls ; Mrs. J. M. Strong, of Wellington, Texas; and James H., of Louisville, Kentucky.
Berry Herbert Deavenport was born near old Elizabethtown in Tarrant County Febru- rary 2, 1858, and spent his early life around his father's store and mill in that rural com- munity. He was a pupil at Grapevine under Professor Chapman, and reached manhood with a good business education. In 1878, at the age of twenty, he moved to Denton, where all his mature activities were pursued. For a number of years he was a merchant, and he entered the First National Bank in the capacity of a clerk. With the organization of the Denton County Bank he became its assistant cashier, and the following year was chosen cashier, a post of duty which he held until his death, when he had given twenty-nine years of faithful service to the institution.
During this time he impressed his influence in many ways upon the community. He was city treasurer twenty-six years, treasurer of the school board twelve years, and was a member of the committee which secured the College of Industrial Arts for Denton and also rendered valuable aid in securing the Metho- dist dormitory for that institution, guaran- teeing the funds required for the erection of the building. During the World war he took an active part in the Y. M. C. A. work. For many, many years he was a steward of the Denton Methodist Church. He voted as a democrat and was a member of the Masonic order. However, he cared little for other societies than his church, and the climax of his happiness and satisfaction was reached in the home circle.
The life of this useful citizen came to a close November 14, 1918, when he was just sixty years of age. Forty of these years were spent in Denton, and they were marked by deeds of honor, while his entire life was an inspiration to his family and friends.
At Denton November 26, 1879, Mr. Deavenport married Miss Mary E. Bell. She
was born at Bellville, Illinois, and came with her parents to Texas from Carrolton, Mis- souri, in 1878. Her father, Joseph Bell, who for several years was associated in business with Major Deavenport at Denton, was born in Carlisle, England, of a prominent English family. One of his uncles was cornetist in Queen Victoria's band. His mother lived to the ripe age of 100 years, and was of Polish stock, from which strain the family inherit a musical turn. Joseph Bell came to the United States at the age of twenty-one years, and died in 1882. He married in Michigan Miss Fannie Swick. She was a native of Little Falls, New York. Her father was a major fifer in the War of 1812. By trade he was a tailor, and Mrs. Deavenport still keeps his old tailor's goose as well as his whiskey glass. Mrs. Deavenport is the only survivor of seven chil- dren. There is a daughter by her brother Joseph, who died at Carrollton, Missouri.
Of the children of Berry H. Deavenport, Thomas died unmarried when a young man. Luther died August 15, 1921, at Denton. Matthew W. is cashier of the Denton County National Bank. Linda, wife of Gober Wright, of Denton, has children, named Gober, Jr., Berry Bell, Linda May, Whitney Crow, Mary Myrtle, Dorothy Louise, Matthew Watson and Julia Ann. James Monroe Deavenport, the youngest, who married Irene Smith, occu- pied the chair of history and had charge of the athletic department and was assistant sec- retary of the high school at Pecos, Texas, and is now traveling for the A. Zeese Engineering Company of Dallas, Texas.
Matthew W. Deavenport, successor of his father in the Denton County National Bank, was born at Denton September 28, 1886, and finished his education in his native city when he graduated from high school. The follow- ing five years he was connected with the L. T. Millican Lumber Company of Denton as book- keeper and utility man. He then took up in- surance as a member of the firm B. H. Deav- enport & Company, a business founded by his father in 1893. He is still active in this work and is owner of the well established agency. In August, 1921, he was elected chairman of the executive State Board of Fire Insurance. On November, 1918, he entered the Denton County National Bank, being elected cashier to succeed his father.
The Denton County National Bank was organized in 1892 and opened for business in May of the same year. Besides Berry H.
R. L. Rust ist
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Deavenport its active promoters were A. E. Graham, L. S. Forester, I. B. Walker and Dr. J. P. Blount. Dr. Blount was the first president and was succeeded by W. B. Mc- Clurkan, who is still the active executive. Mr. Walker was the first cashier, being succeeded by B. H. Deavenport. J. F. Raley and R. M. Barns are vice presidents. This bank has always operated on a capital of $50,000 and has surplus and undivided profits of $60,000 and deposits aggregating nearly two millions.
Matthew Deavenport was president of the Chamber of Commerce in 1916, and has been a member of its board of directors. In politics he cast his first presidential vote for Mr. Bryan in 1908. He is a Master Mason and Odd Fellow and one of the charter members of the Rotary Club. Outside of banking one of the chief objects to which he has given his public influence has been to promote the good roads movement in his town and county. During the World war he was active in working for the sale of bonds and stamps and raising funds for auxiliary work. He was chairman of the second Red Cross drive in 1918, and was county chairman when the county exceeded its quota by 60 per cent.
At Denton October 19, 1910, he married Miss Jessie McClurkan. Her father is W. B. McClurkan, a banker and an active business man of Denton for over thirty years. He came to Denton from Tennessee. Mrs. Deavenport was born in Denton County Feb- ruary 19, 1891, and was educated in the public schools and the John B. Denton College. Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Deavenport have three children, Frances May, born September 17, 1911, Jessie Loraine, born May 16, 1913, and Louise. The wife and mother died July 22, 1921. -
JUDGE ROBERT LEE RUST is a prominent lawyer, citizen and business man of Eastland. Up to the age of thirty and until after he was admitted to the bar he had to practice rigid self-denial and cope with self-respecting pov- erty to achieve an education, and with all his present prosperity he understands and sym- pathizes with the man who must make his way by earnest toil and application. His personal abilities and character have been the all-impor- tant factor in his success.
Judge Rust was born near Joshua, in John- son County, Texas, in 1877, a son of J. C. and Maggie Jane (Harrison) Rust. His father was a native of Tennessee, and as a child accom-
panied his parents to Missouri. From that state he joined the Confederate army, and was a soldier in the ranks throughout the four years of the long struggle. In 1866 he came to Texas, locating at Cedar Hill, in the south- western part of Dallas County. About 1871 he removed to a farm near Joshua, in Johnson County, where the family had their home many years. In 1906 J. C. Rust left Johnson County and established a home at Ranger, in the north- east part of Eastland County. Here he acquired a large tract of land. The oil discov- eries at Ranger, beginning in the fall of 1917, were partly developed on the Rust farm, some of the richest strikes in that famous field being brought in there. These oil discoveries have brought good fortune to J. C. Rust after many years of contest with adversity, and since then he has lived retired, and with his wife and some of his family has a comfortable home in Weatherford.
Robert Lee Rust came to manhood long before oil wells were remotely considered as a possibility of wealth to the family. He grew up on a farm in the period of low prices for cotton and poor rewards for farming industry. He was working in the fields as soon as his strength permitted, and the circumstances of the family were such that he had to work even when school was in session. He therefore acquired only the barest fundamentals of an education until after his majority, and all his academic training came after he was grown. He made the best possible use of such advan- tages as he had, and as a young man he taught school in Johnson County. His pay as a teacher furnished him some of the means to meet the expenses of his study in the law department of the University of Texas at Aus- tin. He passed the final examination for admission to the bar in 1906. During the thir- teenth session of the Legislature in 1907 he served as assistant doorkeeper, and at the close of the session he came to Eastland, in the latter part of 1907, and began the practice of law. Eastland has since been his home, and his work as a lawyer has been attended with conspicu- ous success. He is accounted one of the ablest members of the bar in this section of the state and has a large general practice.
In 1918, without solicitation on his part, he received the democratic nomination for county judge. He filled that office until August, 1919, when the Legislature created for Eastland County an additional court known as the County Court at Law, the Legislative act pro- viding that Judge Rust should assume the
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judgeship of the new court. He handled the duties of that office until the expiration of the term on December 1, 1920, when he volun- tarily retired, declining to be a candidate for re-election. Judge Rust also served one term as mayor of Eastland.
His career as a lawyer has been attended by equally successful handling of business affairs, particularly in land and property mat- ters. He built and is owner of the R. L. Rust Building, a substantial two-story brick business structure at the corner of Lamar and Com- merce streets. Among other properties, he owns a farm two and a half miles west of Eastland. On this farm in October, 1920, was brought in an oil well that created a great deal of interest not only through its volume of pro- duction, but because it opened a new field in Eastland County and has already stimulated a great deal of development work in this section.
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