USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume IV > Part 64
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One of the great achievements of Mr. Hast- ings is the bringing to near perfection of the Swenson herd. For nearly twenty years it has been the object of his daily care and thought and pride. Coming to its management with a deep knowledge of Hereford breeding, he has worked incessantly to expand and apply this knowledge to get best results on the big ranges. Intense observation and systematic breeding. intermingling an undercurrent of Shorthorn blood to increase bone and size, has rewarded the S. M. S. brand with a uniformity of color. size and conformation which makes it recog- nized as appearing upon one of the very best of the many splendid large Hereford herds of Texas. After these years of persistent and painstaking work it was a justifiably proud day when at the Chicago International Show S. M. S. commercial fat yearlings, bred on the Spur Ranch Division, won the car lot Sweep- stakes Championship over all ages and breeds, establishing new world records as to prices (50c a lb. on the hoof ) and as to dressing record (66.4% ). This greatest of all honors in the cattle world can be credited to the sub- ject of this sketch, and if he never did further work for the benefit of the Hereford breed he could rest happily and content upon this record.
No man has left a greater impress on the cattle activities of this country. He has been a direct inspiration and a helpful guide to hundreds of associates. In the light of con-
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structive results of lasting value to his chosen field no man has more to his credit. His energy, concentration and ability would have brought unusual success in any field. The cowmen of the West may well be congratu- lated that the fates guided him to the range country. Mr. Hastings has done a great and permanent good of incalculable value to the live stock industry of Texas in pioneering the plan of transferring Texas range cattle direct to the feed lots of the corn belt. There- tofore the raiser had shipped his range stuff direct to the stockyards of the market of his choice, and sold through his commission firm to the packer or an occasional feeder, who in his rounds through the stockyards accumulated a miscellaneous lot of cattle for feeding and finishing. The Hastings vision has populated the corn belt with bunches of well-bred Texas cattle of uniform selection as to lots and ages, chiefly shipped as calves, bought direct of the breeder, loaded on the ranch and unloaded adjacent to the pasture of the corn belt feeder. Originally there was much skepticism as to results, but it has been replaced by broad and general optimism and fattened bank accounts, as the demonstrations of years accumulated. Nowadays the corn belt feeder reaches out eagerly and confidently for well-bred Texas stuff, and it is not too much to say that every ranchman in Texas is profiting directly or in- directly by the painstaking pioneering referred to. While the influence of Mr. Hasting's work has extended to all breeds, it is chiefly focused to Herefords, as that breed is unquestionably the "redeemer of the range." No man was ever so broad and generous in supplying help- ful information and marketing possibilities to other breeders. He will often spend hours dictating letters in the interest of others in a way which men with narrower vision would consider as helping a competitor. The net re- sult of his efforts is a vast general good to the cattle interests of the nation and is a monu- ment to his energetic, sustained and farsighted policies, the successful culmination of a hope of long standing.
Contributed by C. A. JONES.
J. BEN Ross. Born in Silverton, Colorado. 1878. Operated extensively in mining and smelting of minerals in Silverton, Telluride, Leadville and Cripple Creek from 1898 to 1908.
Became interested in oil fields of Wyoming in 1908, since which time he has operated extensively in all the principal oil fields of
the Mid-Continent as well as Columbia and Mexico.
Came to Texas in 1919 and commenced op- erations in Eastland and Stephens counties as Ross-Goss & Fletcher. Later organized the Plateau Oil Company, of which he was vice president and general manager. This com- pany had remarkable success, and in 1920 was fifth in total production in Texas. He has also operated extensively in all oil fields as an indi- vidual, and has recently organized the Rosell Petroleum Company, of which he is president. This company has large holdings and produc- tion in the Bunger Field, Young County. Texas. He is also operating in the Mexia Field, Limestone County, Texas.
In 1909 Mr. Ross was married to Miss Helene Harry, of Atlanta, Illinois. Lived in Denver, Colorado, until 1919, since which time he has lived in Fort Worth, Texas. He a member of the Fort Worth Club, the River- side Club, Pittsburgh Athletic Club and also a member of the Masonic fraternity.
JOHN M. BLAND represents the older group of Wichita Falls' citizens and business men. He came to the town eighteen years ago, when its chief prospects were based upon a growing commerce as the center of a rich agricultural district. He became one of the merchants of the city, but for a number of years past has been in the real estate business, and his expert knowledge of real estate gave him an obvious advantage when the oil boom started, and he has handled many important trans- actions in the leasing and transfer of oil properties.
Mr. Bland was born in Izard County, Arkansas, in 1879, a son of Rev. R. C. and Ellen (Black) Bland. He was only a child when his mother died. His father, who is also deceased, was for many years a prominent Methodist minister in Northern Arkansas, but finally came to Texas and lived out his life at Waco.
Reared and educated at Salem in Fulton County, Arkansas, John M. Bland was a young man of twenty-three when he came to Wichita Falls in 1903. This city has been his home ever since with the exception of one year spent in New Mexico. For about eight years he was a local grocery merchant, and for one year was cashier of the Wichita State Bank. Gradually his real estate operations took all his time, and since the beginning of the oil boom in 1918 his firm, Thomas & Bland, have transacted a tremendous volume of the busi-
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ness in oil leases. To some extent he has been interested in oil production in connection with some companies he helped organize.
Mr. Bland regards Wichita Falls as his home city, his interests are concentrated here, and in all the years of his residence he has sought to contribute something from his own enterprise and influence for the good of the community. He was one of the organizers of the first Chamber of Commerce of the city and for a number of years a member of its board of directors. He is a director of the First National Bank, the oldest bank in the city. He has also served as an alderman, as a member of the city School Board and is one of the trustees of the Floral Heights Methodist Church. He is chairman of the building committee which had in charge the financing and construction of a church edifice built in 1920 at a cost of nearly two hundred thousand dollars, and regarded as one of the finest churches of the state. Mr. Bland is a Knight Templar Mason and a Shriner, a mem- ber of Maskat Temple of Wichita Falls.
He married Miss Della Trevathan, of Ful- ton County, Arkansas. The Trevathans are an old and prominent family of Arkansas. Her brother, George Trevathan, was a suc- cessful newspaper man, connected at various times with the Little Rock Gazette and other journals. He was a man of influence in pub- lic affairs as well, serving as secretary of the State Senate and in other official positions. Mr. and Mrs. Bland have two children, Ray and Lloyd.
JOE H. DAVIS is a merchant and business man, and came from West Texas to locate at Burkburnett three or four years ago, and be- sides building up and attending to a large and prosperous mercantile business in that city has taken a deep interest in local affairs, partic- ularly those affecting the welfare of the local schools.
Mr. Davis was born at Dandridge, Jeffer- son County, Tennessee, in 1870, and was nine years of age when his parents came to Texas. He is a son of John E. and Rebecca ( Hickey) Davis. His father died in February. 1920. at his home in Fort Worth, where the mother is still living. John E. Davis was a Confed- erate soldier, and for four years followed the great cavalry leader Nathan Bedford Forrest. At his death he was buried in his old Con- federate uniform.
Joe H. Davis grew up in Texas, and spent his youth and early manhood on a farm in Hill VOL. IV-22
County, remaining there until after his mar- riage. Subsequently he was in Hillsboro, and in 1906 left that town and went to Roscoe in West Texas, where he entered merchandising. In December, 1917, he came to Burkburnett, in Wichita County, and established himself as a grocery merchant. The great oil boom started in July, 1918, and, like other local merchants, he handled a tremendous volume of business and shared in all the experiences of the boom town.
For many years he has been keenly inter- ested in educational matters, not only for the sake of his own children but on general prin- ciples. He therefore takes a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction in his connection as a member of the Board of Education of Burk- burnett. The city is noted for the excellence and the high character of its schools, consist- ing of two grade schools and a modern high school. Mr. Davis besides his work with the board has donated a medal for scholarship each school year.
Mr. Davis married Miss Alice McGinnis, of Belton, Texas. They have three children, Mary Louise, who is a member of the class of 1921 at the Burkburnett High School, Benjamin and Victor Davis.
ROBERT DOUGLASS. In the years when Breckenridge was performing its functions as the county seat and trade center of a farming and stock raising community, the Douglass family were prominently represented in the citizenship, and in the era of unprece- dented growth resulting from oil development the name still remains identified with the leadership and enterprise of the city and of Stephens County.
Robert Douglass, who has lived at Brecken- ridge nearly all his life and from a date prior to the organization of Stephens County, was born in Marshall County, Mississippi, in 1873 and three years later in the Centennial Year was brought by his parents, J. J. and Lizzie (Raiford) Douglass to Stephens County. This county was then on the real Texas frontier. The country was almost entirely devoted to stock raising on the open range. J. J. Douglass established his home at Breckenridge and later when the county was organized Breckenridge became the county seat. He was prominent in local affairs and for several years served as sheriff. He knew and was known by everybody and is one of the highly esteemed pioneer citizens. He and his wife are now living retired at Fort Worth.
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Robert Douglass acquired his education in the local schools of Breckenridge. As a young man he served as deputy sheriff under his father and then took up banking, a business he followed until the summer of 1920, when he resigned as cashier of the Breckenridge State Bank in order to devote his attention to his extensive private interests. Mr. Doug- lass owns much valuable property in Brecken- ridge and over the county, including interests in the oil fields. He has a beautiful home at 205 Miller Street.
Mr. Douglass is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Pearl Ad- dington, whose father, the late Jesse Adding- ton, was also prominent in the pioneer history of Stephens County. Mr. and Mrs. Douglass have two sons, Dr. R. A. Douglass, who is a graduate of Baylor University Dental School and is practicing his profession at Breckenridge : and John Ed Douglass.
CHARLES RICHARD VICKERY. It is more than a strictly business achievement that the name Vickery through a period of forty years has borne an unsullied reputation at Fort Worth as a synonym of strict integrity and fair dealing in everything connected with real estate.
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Charles Richard Vickery, who is the active representative of the business today, has con- tinued the reputation made by his father in the same line.
His father. Richard Vickery, was born and reared in Devonshire, England, came to America about 1870, first locating in Michi- gan, and after a period of employment in the lumber camps of Wisconsin came to Texas. He established his first home at Ennis, then at Waxahachie, where he kept his home for a quarter of a century, and in 1901 removed to Fort Worth. His activities in real estate had brought him into prominence at Fort Worth from about 1880. He gave his time and attention to this business until his death on January 14. 1914. Of his eight children, six are still living. Charles Richard being the fifth in age.
Charles Richard Vickery was born on Easter Sunday, April 13, 1884, at Waxa- hachie in Ellis County and received his early education in the public schools of Waxahachie and Fort Worth. He also spent a year in Racine College at Racine, Wisconsin, and earned a diploma in the Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York.
After school hours and during vacations he worked in his father's office at Fort Worth from the age of seventeen until he was twenty, and while there gained not only a great deal of practical knowledge but also sensed the high ideals involved in his father's business transactions. From the age of twenty for a year he was employed as a run- ner or collector with the Traders National Bank. In 1905 Mr. Vickery entered the real estate business for himself. His offices are now on the eighth floor of the F. and M. Bank building. The first' five years he 'handled general real estate transactions. He then or- ganized the Hyde Park Land Company, owners of the Southland Addition, the Mu- tual Land Company, owners of the Highland Park Addition, the College Heights Land Company, owners of the College Heights Addi- tion, and began selling lots on the installment plan. He developed these three additions, and after a few years in that work decided that the field was a large one and with con- tinued growth and development of Fort Worth would prove still larger and that the greatest opportunity for success lay in special- ization, a policy that his father had adopted before him. Mr. Vickery therefore no longer caters to the general business of real estate. but consecrates his time and efforts upon pro- moting and developing suburban additions in either lots or acreage. During the dull years in Fort Worth from 1914 to 1918 he saw his accumulations almost vanish, but with the boom of 1919-20, he realized the benefit of his foresight and his specialized methods. In those two years he sold over 1,600 lots in eight different additions, and five of these additions were completely sold during these two years. A significant fact indicating the solid basis on which his business is conducted was the practically undiminished volume of his transactions during the general stagnation affecting business in all lines during 1921. Mr. Vickery still has nominally on the market fifteen divisions, though eight have been com- pletely sold.
As noted above he attributes his success largely to the good name and reputation his father had acquired during his long identi- fication with Fort Worth business. Mr Vickery has measured all his plans and efforts by the high standard of his father, and some- thing immeasurably better than financial re- ward has been the confidence that has acconi- plished all the patronage of his real estate
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service and the sound policy he has so care- fully cultivated has indeed been its own reward, since it has made for greatly sim- plified transactions, people coming to him to buy lots or acreage with the same general attitude that people buy other lines of mer- chandise. Mr. Vickery is a member of the Fort Worth Club, the Chamber of Commerce, and is affiliated with the Elks order.
ZANE-CETTI. A quiet, diffident man in per- sonal character, Zane-Cetti nevertheless helped make history in the upbuilding of Fort Worth as a city and all the old timers still remaining and those who know something of the trials and vicissitudes which beset the group of en- terprising men determined upon making a city of Forth Worth appreciate and genuinely admire this retired business man who arrived at Fort Worth a day in September, 1873.
His name is Jesse Shenton Zane-Cetti. He was born in the City of Philadelphia January 21. 1844. His father, William B. Zane, was a native of Philadelphia and of Quaker stock. His step-father, Andrew Christian Cetti, was also a native of Philadelphia. His mother. Harriet Emily Adams, was born in Bristol. England. Zane-Cetti is the only survivor of three children. He grew up in Philadelphia but in 1859, at the age of fifteen, was sent to Germany and lived there until 1870. He acquired a thorough technical education, both in German and French universities, and re- turned to America well trained for the pro- fession of civil engineering. He became con- nected with some of the pioneer railroad build- ing projects of the South under Gen. G. M. Dodge, and General Dodge sent him to Texas to assist in surveying the original line of the Texas & Pacific across the country to El Paso. Railroad building stopped with the panic of 1873 and as a young man of exceptional tal- ents and resources but with no immediate pros- pect before him Zane-Cetti left the stage coach at Fort Worth and was soon accepted as a congenial member of a little group of Fort Worth men who were responsible for all the forward progress of the community during the next quarter of a century. Zane-Cetti became secretary of the Tarrant County Con- struction Company, which was organized in 1875 to complete the Texas & Pacific Rail- way from a point a little west of Dallas to Fort Worth. He is one of the few original members of that historic organization still remaining. Later he had a prominent part in raising the money to bring the Santa Fe
into Fort Worth. For a number of years he was actively engaged in the real estate busi- ness, retiring from that in 1902 to give all his attention to the management of the Texas Brewing Company of Fort Worth. He was one of the incorporators of that enterprise in 1890 and for many years was its president and active head until the industry was shut down in 1918.
In October, 1874, Zane-Cetti married Emma A. Hoeflein. They have four living children. all of whom have retained the family name, Zane-Cetti. Their Christian names are Carl H., Emma Helen, wife of W. H. Irwin, Lou- ise M. and Marion E. Mr. Zane-Cetti now lives on the same property which he rented when he first came to Fort Worth nearly half a century ago and which he acquired by pur- chase three years later. He is a past master of Lodge No. 148 of the Masonic Order, is past high priest of the Royal Arch Chapter. is a Shriner and Elk, but his chief distinction is that of a Fort Worth pioneer.
O. F. HALEY, a resident of North Texas for many years, was in business as a merchant both at Gainesville and Fort Worth, but in later years devoted his energies to real estate and oil activities, and was secretary and treasurer of the Texas Oil Land and Invest- ment Company at Fort Worth.
Mr. Haley was born at Decaturville, Ten- nessee, October 3, 1867, son of Coleman E. and Salley (Carin) Haley. His birthplace was also the house in which his father was born, and his mother was born in the same locality. His grandfather was a native of North Carolina, and one of the early settlers in Decatur County, Tennessee, where he ac- quired a large body of land and established a water mill and tan yard. The Haleys are of English and Irish extraction. Coleman E. Haley owned a large Tennessee plantation and also continued the operation of the old mill. He died when his four sons were young and the mother married again.
O. F. Haley, the oldest of the family, was thirteen years of age before he left his birth- place and before he saw a railroad. At that time he and his three brothers accompanied their stepfather to Rockdale, Texas, and he lived on a farm in that locality for about four years. For another two years his home was at Whitesboro, and he then took up his busi- ness at Gainesville, Texas, where for twenty years or more he was successfully identified with merchandising.
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Mr. Haley came to Fort Worth July 4, 1910, and was a member of the mercantile firm of O. F. Haley & Company of that city for seven years. In 1917 he became secre- tary and treasurer of the Texas Oil Land & Investment Company and was the largest owner of the stock of this well known cor- poration. Mr. Haley also had some valuable real estate holdings in Fort Worth and owned a large body of land in West Texas.
He was a member of the Elks Lodge. On November 18, 1897, he married Mrs. Cornia Morris, of Gainesville. Mr. Haley died in Fort Worth, March 9, 1921.
JAMES MACOM SENTER, one of the promi- nent oil operators whose business interests have given them Fort Worth as headquarters, was in early life a rancher and farmer in Northwest Texas, and his associates have always known him as a young business man whose foreceful energy could be depended upon to get a successful issue in any proposi- tion with which he was identified.
Mr. Senter was born at Tyler, Smith County, Texas, September 28, 1883, son of Thomas J. and Anna (Martin) Senter. In the paternal line he is a descendant of Gen. Andrew Jackson, and his father's cousin, De Witt Senter, was the first governor of Ten- nessee after the Civil war and a man of great prominence in that state for years. Mr. Senter's grandfather, Patrick Senter, was a planter and slaveowner in Tennessee. Thomas J. Senter was born in Tennessee, and in Alabama he spent his early life on a plan- tation, and after coming to Texas followed farming until his death in Ellis County in 1895. His widow is still living. Patrick Senter was a captain in the Confederate army and was killed in battle.
James M. Senter was the fourth in a family of nine children, seven of whom are still living. He grew up in Ellis County. attended public schools there and was only twelve vears of age when his father died, after which he was thrown on his own responsibilities. and for five years did practically all the varied labor in the routine of a farm. It was about 1898 that the postoffice department in- augurated its first rural delivery service, and Mr. Senter has the distinction of having carried one of the first rural routes in the state. This route was from the Alvarado postoffice, and for ten years he was rural mail carrier and at the same time was accu-
mulating some modest interests as a farmer. After leaving the postal service he engaged in farming and ranching in Johnson and Archer counties, and still owns land in both counties.
Mr. Senter turned his capital and energies into the oil business in 1918, and as an in- dividual operator has been one of the most successful in North Texas. Since September, 1920, his home and business headquarters have been at Fort Worth, with offices in the F. and M. building. He and his associates have developed several practical leases in Eastland, Coleman, Wichita and Archer counties, and during the dull vear of 1921 they had five wells operating or drilling. Recently Mr. Senter became associated with B. J. Johnson of Cleburne, organizer of the famous Hogg Creek Oil Company, the sale of whose property to the Magnolia Company was one of the biggest transactions in petroleum circles in the Southwest. Mr. Senter and Mr. John- son and others are developing an important field near Maxia, Texas. Mr. Senter was also interested in the Northwest Extension to Burkburnett, being one of the first to acquire leases in that part of the field.
Outside of ranching and the oil industry Mr. Senter was for two years in the flour milling business at Burleson. He is a demo- crat, but has never found time to devote to practical politics. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and Woodmen of the World, of the Glen Garden Club of Fort Worth, and a member of the Baptist Church.
At Alvarado March 12, 1905, he married Miss Laura Thompson, whose parents were natives of Georgia. She was reared and edu- cated in Johnson County and attended the School of Industrial Arts at Denton and with Mr. Senter has been actively interested in the social and civic life of the several communi- ties where they have lived. Mrs. Senter is a niece of Marcellis Hallman, who originated the famous beverage Coca Cola at Atlanta. Georgia, while associated with the Atlanta capitalist, A. C. Candler, and as a member of the firm of Candler & Hallman organized the Coca Cola Company, one of the largest or- ganizations of capital in the country.
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