USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume IV > Part 6
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John W. Stuart had a few short terms of country school in his native state, his father being one of his instructors, and he gives his father and other teachers much credit for the efficiency and the good training he received at their hands. He was occupied with the duties and responsibilities of a Tennessee farm and had a knowledge of agriculture as practiced in that state when he came to Texas. He was a young man of twenty-four when he left Hardeman County, Tennessee, and arrived in Denton County in January, 1877. At that time he possessed only $20 in cash. He was influenced to come to Texas by the belief that better opportunities existed in this state than in the east. The journey was made by rail- road as far as Dallas, and thence to Denton he traveled by the popular conveyance of freight wagon. He was almost a stranger when he arrived, though he knew of several families who had come to this part of the state. His first move was to arrange to make a crop that year. He agreed to give half the crop to the owner of the land who furnished the seed and implements, and such time as Mr. Stuart could spare from the labor of the field he gave to the further service of his emplover. He made a little money that year. The following year he worked a few months in the brickyard at Denton. He then returned to the farm and in the fall became a cotton picker. Walking on his knees and picking cotton he felt was worth 75 cents a 100 and board, and he continued this arduous labor throughout the season. The next year he rented land, furnished the implements and seed, boarded himself, and had an increased margin of profit to show for his exertions. The following year he continued his cotton experiment, and boarded until July, when he married and established his first home ten miles south of Denton. He continued to rent for about four years, and then moved nearer
the county seat and bought sixty-five acres of unimproved land.
This was the first farm Mr. Stuart owned. His first improvement was a box house of two rooms, which he enlarged later. After five years he sold that place at some profit. He and Mrs. Stuart began their housekeeping with furniture and equipment valued at less than $100. On selling the first home they bought a quarter section nearby, with some improvements. This was later exchanged for a still larger farm in three years, and a couple of years later they sold and came to the place Mr. Stuart now owns, four miles south of Denton. Here he acquired at the beginning 294 acres, and two years later bought 214 acres adjoining. This was rather substan- tially improved, but Mr. Stuart kept adding facilities from time to time and altogether in- vested about $3,000 besides his own labor. Other purchases, one of a 155 and another of 85 acres, brought his total acreage to 750, and of this body he has half under cultivation. It is a farm and ranch long well known for its improvements and for its production of crops and livestock. Many years ago Mr. Stuart took up the advanced program of stock farming, introducing registered Shorthorns. For about two years before he came to Denton a source of considerable profit was a modest butter- making establishment.
Mr. Stuart while in the country proved true to the American ideals in his attitude toward public education. He was deeply interested in the welfare of the schools, not only for the sake of his own children but for those of his neighbors. He served as trustee of Sunny- dale District No. 43, and he donated land for the erection of a new schoolhouse on his farm. He and Mrs. Stuart were largely responsible for the organization of a Baptist Church and the erection of the Alton Baptist Church in that country community. Mr. Stuart moved to Denton largely for the purpose of giving his younger children the advantages of the superior schools of the city, and one daughter is now attending the Normal School and an- other the High School. Mr. Stuart has always supported the democratic party, having cast his first presidential vote for Samuel J. Til- den in 1876. He was one of the original stock- holders and is a director of the First Guaranty State Bank of Denton, and two of his sons own stock in that institution.
Mr. Stuart married Miss Emma Whyburn in Denton County July 18, 1880. The Why-
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burn family had arrived in Denton County only a short time before Mr. Stuart reached there. Mrs. Stuart was born at Tiverton, Devonshire, England, daughter of John and Emma (Norrish) Whyburn. The Whyburns were not a numerous family in Devonshire, her father and her grandfather being the only sons in their respective families. The Nor- rishes were more numerous. William Norrish, father of Emma, had a son William and five daughters, all of whom spent their lives in England except Emma. The Whyburn family came to America in August, 1867, when Mrs. Stuart was nine years of age. For three years they lived at Frankfort, Kentucky, then went to Chickasaw County, Mississippi, and in the fall of 1876 came to Dallas by railroad, and from that city a wagon conveyed them to Denton County. They settled at Chinn Chapel, ten miles south of Denton, in the same locality with which Mr. Stuart soon afterward identified himself. John Whyburn was a steam engineer by trade, and while at Frankfort, Kentucky, was a stationary engineer in distil- leries and also operated engines for gins and sawmills. In later years he bought a farm and finished his life as a farmer. He died February 26, 1886, and his wife on March 20, 1890. Their children were: Mrs. Emma Stuart ; her twin brother John, now deceased ; William and Thomas Whyburn, both of Lewisville, Texas.
A brief record of Mr. and Mrs. Stuart's children and grandchildren is as follows : John Williams, a farmer in the old home com- munity, and by his marriage to Addie Vaughan has three children, John William, Herman and Margaret ; Benjamin Franklin Stuart, a farmer in the same neighborhood, married Pearl Bryan; Minnie Belle is the wife of Lon F. Rowlett of Denton and their children are Lon F., Jr., Jesse C. and Curtis ; Jesse T. Stuart is likewise one of the progressive men in the farming community of Sunnydale and married Lizzie Fralin: Mary Stuart is the wife of Earl Ryan of the Sunnydale locality and their children are Earl Shelton and Varannah Phebe ; Grover C. is unmarried and is a farmer at Sunnydale ; Allene is a teacher in Texhoma, Texas ; Mack, unmarried, is also accumulating experience and interests as a farmer at Sunnydale; Ida Stuart is a student in the Denton Normal; and Viola, the young- est of the family, is in the Denton High School.
Two sons of the family helped the govern- ment win the war. Jesse T. was trained in the artillery branch at Camp Travis, went overseas with the Ninetieth Division, and while abroad was detailed to the Army Post- office service, going with the Army of Occu- pation to Germany and returning home in June, 1919. The son Grover C. joined the navy in January, 1918, was trained in Rhode Island and finished his service in the Navy Yard at Boston.
FRED A. MARTIN is manager of Fakes & Company, a Fort Worth business house with a long and honorable record that is one of the essential features of Fort Worth's growing commercial supremacy. The office held by Mr. Martin is in itself the highest tribute to his business abilities, a post of responsibility and denoting in itself the best essentials of business succes.
Mr. Martin was born at Shiloh, Louisiana, October 3, 1878. His parents, W. H. and Molly C. (Moore) Martin, were also born in Louisiana, and are now living in Oklahoma at the respective ages of sixty-three and sixty- one.
Fred A. Martin, oldest of four children. all of whom are living, finished his education in the Louisiana State University. Up to the age of eighteen his principal work was on the farm. Leaving home, he then came to Texas, and in Fort Worth began his career as assistant office boy with the Carter Grocery Company. He was promoted to bookkeeper and from that to cashier, and left the Carter Company to join the Fakes & Company organ- ization. He was credit man and assistant manager and then promoted to the full re- sponsibilities of manager.
Fakes & Company is the oldest furniture and furnishing house goods establishment in the southwest, and its history begins in the same year that Fort Worth was first con- nected with the outside world by railroad. The business was organized by W. G. Turner and W. T. Fakes in 1876. The outstanding figure in the management and development of this business for many years was Mr. Turner. who was president of the company, and on the bedrock principles of sound merchandis- ing gave the house much of the prestige which it still enjoys. He was active head until 1912, and was then succeeded by another real busi- ness builder, E. L. White, who was president "of the company until March, 1918. When Mr.
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White retired from business he was succeeded as president by George E. Cowden, well known throughout the state as a cattleman and capitalist, while F. A. Martin became treasurer and general manager.
This company deals in wholesale and re- tail house furnishings, including floor cover- ings and office furniture. In the forty-five years of its history the company has increased its capital from $10,000 to $500,000, and it is claimed that the company's store has fur- nished more homes than any similar enter- prise in the state. The retail and showrooms are at 510-14 Houston Street, while the ware- rooms are at 16-19-21 Commerce Street. The retail department occupies four floors, over a space 125x200 feet, while the wholesale de- partment covers three floors, over a space 115x200 feet. On the average about fifty people are employed in this business. As a wholesale concern its business is drawn from Texas and Oklahoma.
Mr. Martin is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and is a member of the College Avenue Baptist Church.
CLAUDE WHITE. In the public service of Johnson County no name stands higher in appreciation of all the citizens than that of Claude White, who is looked upon as a past master and authority upon all county records. He was in the general and detail work of the Court House for many years and for four years served as county auditor.
Mr. White was born in Sumter County, Alabama, December 16, 1873, son of George Sidney and Susan Elizabeth (Ezell) White. also natives of Sumter County. He was not two years old when his father died, and his widowed mother is now living at Cleburne. Of four children only three reached mature years, George S., Claude and W. B. George S. was a merchant at York, Alabama, where he died a few years ago leaving a family. W. B. White lives at Grandview, Texas.
Claude White attended the public schools of Alabama until he was seventeen and later had superior instruction as student in a board- ing school at Cuba in that state. The best features of his education have been of a prac- tical nature, gained through his long service in public office in Texas.
When he left Alabama and came to Texas in the early nineties Mr. White located at Grandview. He was then about eighteen years of age, and his first employment was
as a farmhand for Mrs. S. F. Laird. He made two crops on her farm, then became a tenant, and from the savings he laid away he married "the best looking girl in Grandview." With a family of his own to look after Mr. White worked at the carpenter's trade for several years, also did plumbing, and was elected and served three years as constable. He resigned as constable and moved to Cleburne in Janu- ary, 1902, to become deputy under W. Sam Johnson, then county tax collector. He re- mained in office during the term of Mr. John- son and in that time demonstrated an efficiency that was the chief qualification presented the voters when he became a candidate for col- lector. In a field of numerous candidates he won in the primaries, was elected and when nominated as collector for a second term had no opposition. After four years as county collector he turned over the office to R. A. J. Keel, present county assessor. This did not release him from the Court House since he remained four years under Tax Assessor N. H. Wells, and then became a candidate for this office himself. He was defeated for the nomination in the second primary.
For eleven years Mr. White had been dili- gently employed on the county records and when he retired from the Court House he turned his attention to farming, merchandis- ing and trading, and was also engaged in farm loan inspection for the Ward Harrison Mort- gage Company at Fort Worth. In July, 1917, District Judge Lockett appointed him county auditor, and he was reappointed in 1919 for another term of two years. On the expira- tion of his term of office, September, 1921, he became cashier of the Farmers and Traders Bank of Rio Vista. His politics have always been identified with the prevailing party of the South. He cast his first presidential vote for Bryan and two other ballots for that states- man, and was an original Wilson man and a strenuous admirer of Wilson throughout both his terms as President. Mr. White joined the Chamber of Commerce of Cleburne when it was organized, and has accepted the various duties of good citizenship in the town. He bought the bonds offered during the World war and took everything the government pre- scribed according to directions "even to eating bran and shorts and other doubtful food products to save for the hard-pressed friends across the sea." Mr. White's home is on South Walnut Street, a residence he built himself.
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At Grandview December 18, 1894, Mr. White married Miss Oma Pitts, who was born in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, in 1871. Her mother was Mattie Pegues. The Pitts family came to Texas some thirty years ago, and others of their children were Charles, Nan- nie, who died as Mrs. J. W. Ross, D. D., of Grandview ; Oliver A .. deceased ; R. Edward, of Cleburne : Leonara, wife of A. E. Kerr, of Houston, Texas; Mark who died at Grand- view, and Amanda, wife of J. A. Ingle of Cleburne. Mrs. White finished her education in the Grandview High School and was a teacher several years before her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. White have four children, Leown, Irene, Claude L. and Mark Pitts.
SUMPTER TURNER BIBB. To get ahead where his income exceeds his demand, where his ability exceeds his tasks, where he can do the work he likes best, is possible to any man if he will learn how to bend his energies in the right direction. To do so it is necessary for him to know thoroughly whatever he undertakes, instead of merely assuming to know, for, important as they are in their place, energy and effort can never be effective sub- stitutes for intelligent direction. Sumpter Turner Bibb, one of the leading dealers in grain and coal at Fort Worth, early recognized these facts and has governed his life accord- ingly, with very gratifying results both to him- self and his community.
Mr. Bibb was born in Virginia, May 30, 1853, a son of Richard G. and Mary E. (Turner) Bibb, natives of Virginia and Lou- isiana. He was reared in Virginia, and was the fourth child and second son in the family of nine children born to his parents. His edu- cational training was received in the local schools and in Washington and Lee Univer- sity. He remained at home until he reached his majority, when he came to Texas, and in 1875 located at Fort Worth. At first he was engaged in a grocery business, and then secur- ing possession of the El Paso Hotel, conducted it for about five years. Subsequently he went into the business of manufacturing ice, and, making a success of this line, incorporated it under the name of the Fort Worth Ice Man- ufacturing Company, of which he was man- ager. In 1890 he became secretary and treas- urer of the Fort Worth Iron Works Company, and carried a large amount of its stock. In partnership with a Mr. Lilly, Mr. Bibb in 1888 established the business he is now operating. under the name of Lilly & Bibb. but in 1904
he bought his partner's interests, and since then has operated under the name of S. T. Bibb & Company, his sons, R. T., and S. T. Bibb, Jr., being his partners. From 1900 to 1914 Mr. Bibb was also in a wholesale and retail ice business, and he served as vice pres- ident of the State National Bank for a number of years, in which he is a stockholder, but retired from office in 1914. He is a stock- holder in the Star Refining and Producing Company, and also in the Hibbs Rubber Com- pany, the Walker Caldwell Oil Company and other local concerns.
On August 27, 1878, Mr. Bibb was united in marriage with Ella Miller, of Tennessee. and they became the parents of five children, two of whom died in infancy, the others being : Mrs. Bessie Mitchell, wife of A. P. Mitchell, of Fort Worth; Richard T. and S. T., Jr .. are his partners, the latter also being engaged actively in the automobile business of the A. P. Mitchell Company. At one time Mr. Bibb was very active in politics, but is not at pres- ent. He has always had the good of his com- munity close at heart, and not only has aided in the development of many of the leading industries of the city, but has always been will- ing to bear his part in securing necessary public improvements and the bringing to local men outside trade.
THOMAS LEE GASTON. There is hardly a busier citizen and a man of more varied en- terprise in Cooke County than Thomas Lee Gaston. He has lived here nearly all his life, has been a farmer, stockman, banker, has pro- moted several local industries, and in addition to his extensive farm at Myra he is now pro- prietor of a garage at Gainesville.
He was born at Greenville, South Carolina. October 21, 1870. His grandfather, Thomas Gaston, was born in North Carolina and after reaching manhood moved to South Carolina and built a habitation in the new country of Greenville County. He was a planter, an in- fluential factor in local affairs, and for many years held the office of justice of the peace. He married a Miss Anderson and they were the parents of five sons and two daughters. Thomas Gaston and three of his sons were Confederate soldiers, and all escaped injury except Edward Baxter, father of the Gaines- ville business man. One of these sons is Oliver L. Gaston, now living at Fort Worth, Texas. A daughter, Miss Addie S., is a resi- dent of Greenville County, South Carolina.
Edward Baxter Gaston, who brought the
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family to Texas from South Carolina, was born in Greenville County, acquired a fair education, and was eighteen years of age when he enrolled as a Confederate soldier. He was in the army of Northern Virginia under General Lee, and at the battle of Chickamauga was wounded and his injuries had not healed in time to allow him to rejoin his command before the close of hostilities. He was a sergeant of his company. In after years he was identified with the Confederate Veterans Association at Gainesville and at- tended some of the national reunions.
In 1873 he started with his family for the west, traveling by railroad to the Mississippi and the Red River, thence by boat to Jefferson, Texas, and from there overland to Cooke County. He settled east of Gainesville, where he improved some farms in the woods, build- ing houses and clearing land and making a showing of his enterprise as a cotton grower and stockman. He lived in that locality until 1889, when he located six miles southwest of Gainesville on the black land prairie and con- tinued the work of improvement of the old G. Dye farm. He remained one of the useful members of that community until his death on September 10, 1915, at the age of seventy- three. He was a democrat in politics and helped organize the Presbyterian Church at Gainesville and was an elder of the congrega- tion.
Edward B. Gaston married Amanda Wynne, who died in Cooke County in 1882 at the age of thirty-three. Her children were : Thomas L .; Nettie, wife of W. I. Gilliland, of Fort Worth ; Corrie, wife of R. E. McBee, of Gainesville; Anna, wife of O. I. Sellers, of Texhoma, Oklahoma ; and Edward N., who lives near Myra in Cooke County. Edward B. Gaston married for his second wife Abbie S. Dye, a native of Kentucky and a daughter of Green Dye, one of the pioneers of Cooke County. By this marriage there were three children: Lawrence D., of Cooke County ; Josie, of Sherman, Texas, wife of William Frasier ; and Roy B., of Amarillo.
Thomas Lee Gaston was only an infant when brought to Texas and lived on the farm east of Gainesville until he was about nine- teen. He acquired his education in the coun- try schools, attended a business college in Fort Worth, and his active efforts as a farmer were begun in the Myra community. After a few years as a renter he bought land, and has been concentrating his efforts on his pres- VOL. IV-3
ent farm since 1900. This farm comprises 368 acres, adjoins the village of Myra and is the old Herman Luttmer place. Practically all the land is being used for the growing of grain and cotton and livestock. During the past twenty years Mr. Gaston has invested about $9,000 in permanent improvements, in- cluding a substantial country home, a well, outbuildings and other facilities. Mr. Gaston is one of the men in North Texas who have prospered as farmers in spite of low prices for products. He has sold middling cotton for 31/2 cents a pound, wheat at 45 cents a bushel, hogs for 21/2 cents and cattle for 3 cents a pound. Mr. Gaston is a good business man, plans his work, but believes in making the best of circumstances at all times, and his constant industry has been perhaps the chief factor in reaching his present prosperous con- dition.
He has usually supplemented his farming efforts by outside enterprises. He built and operated for five years the cotton gin at Hood, Texas. For two years he owned and oper- ated the Myra Telephone Exchange, for ten years he was operator of a threshing machine outfit. For five years he was rather exten- sively engaged in cattle ranching, feeding cattle for the market. For a dozen years he has furnished a market for local cotton, buy- ing much of that raised by his neighbors. He helped organize the First Guaranty State Bank of Myra and is still a stockholder. In November, 1920, Mr. Gaston engaged in the garage and accessory business at Gainesville, where he is proprietor of the New Highway Garage.
He has been an interested citizen only in politics, voting as a democrat, beginning with Mr. Cleveland. He has served as a school trustee of the Myra district. He has for twenty-two years had a membership in the Woodmen of the World, and for ten years in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to the order at Hood. He has also taken the first degree in Masonry.
In Cooke County at Hood December 11, 1895, Mr. Gaston married Miss Imo C. Hood, who was born in Cherokee County, Texas, July 18, 1870. Her father was a pioneer of Cherokee County and lived out his life there as a farmer. Mrs. Gaston is a sister of A. P. Hood, founder of the town of Hood in Cooke County. One of eight children, she was edu- cated in country schools and in the high school at Greenville. The children of Mr. and Mrs.
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Gaston are: Frank N., who died at the age of eighteen; Edward Baxter, assisting his father on the home farm; Thomas Lee, Jr., a student in the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Bryan, Texas; while the younger children are Oran T., Mary, Paul and Ruth.
REUBEN MORTON HARKEY. A physician by training and for ten years in active practice in Northeastern Texas, Dr. Harkey for nearly twenty years has made his influence and ac- tivity more strikingly manifest in the com- mercial field, particularly as an organizer and director of public and semi-public movements that have had a vital bearing on the welfare and prosperity of West Texas. Dr. Harkey is an enthusiast on Texas soil and climate and agricultural possibilities, and one of the big things to his credit is the work he did in the Pecos Valley of West Texas in stimulating agriculture by means of irrigation.
Dr. Harkey for several years was a resident of De Leon, Texas, where he was engaged in a congenial and highly useful work as city manager and manager of the Chamber of Commerce. He has moved to Abilene and leased a farm and intends to devote his time to agriculture and raising registered livestock.
Dr. Harkey was born at Russellville, Ar- kansas, March 8, 1871, son of James Madison and Elizabeth (Walker) Harkey. His mother was a native of Tennessee and had some Cherokee Indian blood in her veins. James Madison Harkey was a native of North Caro- lina, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and was both a physician and druggist.
Reuben M. Harkey was educated in the public schools of his native town, is a gradu- ate of the Northwestern Christian College at Bentonville, Arkansas, and in 1892 received his M. D. degree from the University of Arkansas Medical School at Little Rock. Still later he was a polyclinic student in New Or- leans. From 1892 to 1902 Dr. Harkey had a busy professional career in Kaufman Coun- ty, Texas. When he abandoned his profes- sion he went on the road as a traveling repre- sentative of the Tilden & Company drug and medicine house of St. Louis, and for three years traveled for the Parke-Davis Company of Detroit. His territory was North Texas. For several years Dr. Harkey had his home at Arlington, beginning in 1904, and in 1907 he made that city his headquarters for a real estate and loan business. While at Arlington he followed his inclination for organization
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