USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume IV > Part 67
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FRANK M. OLDHAM, D.D.S. The dental profession has a worthy representative at Cisco in Dr. Frank M. Oldham, who for eighteen years has successfully practiced at this place, winning approval by reason of his skill and personality. He is one of the solid and substantial men of Cisco, and has been one of the potent factors in bringing about its really remarkable growth and material prosperity.
Doctor Oldham was born in what was then Abbeville County, but is now Greenwood County, South Carolina, in 1868, a son of John H. and Lorana ( Merriman) Oldham. The Oldhams are of English ancestry, but have been long established' in this country. The paternal grandfather, John Oldham, was a very prominent man, a merchant and man- ufacturer of large and varied interests. At one time he built a cotton mill near Knox- ville, Tennessee, and he spent a year at Port Lavaca, Texas, in the '50s, having made the trip there by boat from his home in Kentucky. He is buried in the cemetery at Lexington. Kentucky, where reposes the remains of that
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great statesman, Henry Clay. On the mater- nal side Doctor Oldham is descended from the well-known Merriman family of North Carolina to which the late Governor Merri- man of that state also belonged. The mater- nal grandfather, L. D. Merriman, was an extensive planter in South Carolina, and also acquired ownership of a large plantation in Fort Bend County, Texas, although he never lived in this state. Doctor Oldham's mother's mother was a Clinkscales, belonging to the old and aristocratic South Carolina family of that name.
John H. Oldham was born near Lexington, Kentucky, and as he grew to young manhood he was fired with the stories of the discovery of gold in the far West, and, leaving home, journeyed to California and later to Nevada and was engaged in gold-mining in the latter states when war was declared between the North and the South. An ardent supporter of state rights, he hurried back to Kentucky and enlisted in the First Kentucky Brigade of the Confederate army. He participated in the engagements at Fort Donaldson, was under General Bragg at the battle of Chickamauga and in all of the campaigns in Tennessee, in- cluding the engagements at Chattanooga, Mis- sionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. At the time of General Lee's surrender he was in South Carolina and was so pleased with that country that, after a year spent in Ken- tucky following the termination of the war, he returned to South Carolina and established himself as a merchant at Greenwood and became one of the prominent men of that place.
Doctor Oldham attended the local schools of Greenwood and then took up the study of dentistry at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, from which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1889. He began the practice of his profes- sion at Paris, Kentucky, from whence after about a vear he came to Texas. After stop- ping at Fort Worth and Haskell and Albany he located permanently at Cisco in 1902, since which time he has carried on a general prac- tice with unvarying success.
EDGAR L. BERRY, cashier of the First Na- tional Bank of Sanger, is a man whose suc- cessive rises in life have come through his own industry and ability, and he has become prominent in both commercial and financial circles in different cities of Texas where his interests have taken him. His connections
with Denton County date back to 1899, but he has been a resident of Texas for over forty years, all of which have been productive ones. He was born at 'Lynchburg, Tennessee, July 31, 1860, a son of William W. Berry, and grandson of Benjamin H. Berry, a native of Kentucky who came to Lynchburg, Tennessee, . at a very early day, acquiring large plantation holdings in its vicinity, which he operated with slave labor. He was an ardent Democrat, but never participated in politics aside from cast- ing his vote for his party candidates. In religious faith he espoused the creed of the Christian Church. An excellent man he set an example of probity and Christian living which his descendants have tried to follow.
William W. Berry was born in Tennessee and reared on his father's plantation. When the war broke out between the North and the South he hastened to offer his services to the Confederacy, and was placed in the wagon- train department, where his expert knowledge of horses, gained on the plantation, was put to practical use throughout the war. Following the termination of that conflict, he returned home to find the hard problems of the recon- struction period awaiting him, and he set him- self to solve them. His efforts finally met with success through farming, milling and dis- tilling, and he lived to be eighty years old, dying at Shelbyville, Tennessee, in 1917. His wife bore the maiden name of Adaline Hiles. and she was born in Tennessee and died in the same state in 1897, when sixty years old. Their children were as follows: Edgar L., who was the eldest; Thompson H., who is a merchant of Shelbyville, Tennessee ; William W., Jr., cashier of the Exchange National Bank of Rome, Georgia ; and Hugh L., who is a prac- ticing physician of Memphis, Tennessee.
Edgar L. Berry decided to leave Tennessee late in 1881, and arrived at Fort Worth, Texas, December 23 of that year. He soon secured a position in the grocery of J. W. Spencer, later to become one of the prominent wholesale grocers and bankers of Texas, and president of the Farmers and Mechanics Na- tional Bank of Fort Worth. For his initial services as a clerk Mr. Berry received $4.00 per week, which, of course, in those days, had a much greater purchasing power than it has today. Although his remuneration was very small, he managed to get along with it and busied himself with learning the details of the position above him, and his efforts received due appreciation, as was shown by successive promotions, for when he left after eighteen
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years of service with the Fort Worth Grocery Company and the Waples-Platter Grocer Company he had an interest in the concerns.
Like Mr. Spencer, Mr. Berry branched out into the banking business and moving to Lewisville assisted in organizing the Citizens Bank of that city, of which he was made cashier, and he is still vice president of its successor, the First National Bank of Lewis- ville. In 1899 Mr. Berry came to Sanger, and he and B. L. and J. W. Spencer, bought the Farmers Bank of this city, changing its name to the Farmers and Merchants Bank, and this name was continued until the bank was na- tionalized in July, 1905, and chartered as the First National Bank of Sanger. The original capitalization was for $10,000, which was in- creased in 1905 to $25,000, and in 1907 to $30,000. The surplus is $30,000 and the undi- vided profits $15,000. The present officials of the bank are as follows: J. T. Chambers, president ; B. L. Spencer, vice president ; J. H. Hughes, vice president ; E. L. Berry, cashier ; and E. B. Brown, assistant cashier. The board of directors is composed of the follow- ing: J. T. Chambers, B. L. Spencer, J. H. Hughes, E. L. Berry, G. D. Lain, J .. C. Rice and J. M. Wilfong. Mr Berry has other inter- ests and is president of the Sanger Mill and Elevator Company, a director of the Sanger National Bank, and a stockholder of the Sanger Gin Company. He has never failed to give his advice and monied support to those enterprises which in his judgment would de- velop into growing business houses of worth to the community.
On December 23, 1908, Mr. Berry was married at Sanger, Texas, to Miss Irene Kibbe, who was born in Grayson County, Texas, a daughter of V. Kibbe, who was born at Van Buren, Arkansas, but reared in Louisiana. After coming to Texas he lived for a time at Jefferson, where he was a mer- chant and cotton buyer, but later moved to Clarksville and there carried on the same lines of business. Finally he located at Gainesville, Cooke County, where he was engaged in sell- ing merchandise. He is now living in retire- ment at Sanger, and is seventy-six years old. He married Cammie Henderson, a daughter of Colonel Henderson, of Red River County, and she died at Gainesville, leaving two sons and three daughters, namely: Henderson Kibbe, who is a resident of Seattle, Washington ; Imogene, who is the wife of W. A. Cornelius, of Clarksville, Texas ; Mrs. Vivian Jones, who
is a resident of Sherman, Texas; Mrs. Berry, who was the next in order of birth; and Ed- win T., who lives at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Edgar L. Berry maintains membership with the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is active in that fraternity. Both he and Mrs. Berry are members of the Christian Church and both are regarded as pillars of it. Like all the other members of his family he is a democrat. His first presi- dential vote was cast for Grover Cleveland and he has never missed a presidential elec- tion since then and he has always voted his straight party ticket. He has never sought to come before the public for political honors but is so deservedly popular that did he decide to do so without doubt he would poll a heavy vote. For many years he has concentrated upon his banking and has developed into one of the most astute financiers of this region. His long experience, sound judgment and broad vision make him one of the most de- pendable men in the financial field and his advice is sought and generally taken by those who seek to open up new business houses or expand those already established. While his civic service has not been spectacular, it has been all the more dependable just for that rea- son. He has been back of the solid and con- servative men of Sanger who have sought to keep down the taxes and prevent too heavy a bonded indebtedness. Too many small cities weigh themselves down with debts in order to put in improvements, which, while they may be desirable, are not absolutely necessary and their construction until fully justified by the population is apt to be a determent to progress because of the heavy taxes which have to be levied to provide the funds necessary. On the other hand Mr. Berry has proven himself the friend of the public schools, of the good roads movement, and the quiet, steady up- building along reasonable lines of business, the encouragement of the farmers and stockmen. and the gradual expansion of trade as the demand warrants.
J. ALVIN GARDNER. Though only two or three years associated with the Wichita Falls oil district, J. Alvin Gardner is a veteran in experience in the various branches of petro- leum production and refining. a subject of which he has made a close study since boy- hood. He went to work in a refining plant at Beaumont when a boy and has been continui- ously in the service of the Gulf Production
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Company and Gulf Pipe Line Company ever since.
Mr. Gardner, who is a general agent for this world-famous petroleum organization at Wich- ita Falls, was born at Beaumont, Texas, in 1889, son of J. A. and Lou (Mullins) Gard- ner. His mother is still living at Beaumont. His father for many years was prominently identified with the lumber industry of East Texas. J. Alvin Gardner was educated at Beaumont, and in 1907, at the age of eighteen, was given his first opportunity to learn the oil business, with employment at only nominal responsibilities and wages in the plant at Beau- mont of the Gulf Refining Company and its auxiliary organizations, the Gulf Produc- tion Company and the Gulp Pipe Line Com- pany. In the aggregate these constitute one of the greatest oil-producing, oil refining and oil-selling organizations in the world. The sales branches cover practically every part of the United States and many foreign countries. The main plant at Port Arthur is one of the world's greatest refineries, with a daily capac- ity of 75,000 barrels.
After his apprenticeship in the plant at Beaumont Mr. Gardner was transferred to Houston and subsequent promotions took him to Shreveport and Fort Worth. From Fort Worth he came to Wichita Falls in the latter part of 1918 to become general agent for the Gulf Production Company and the Gulf Pipe Line Company. This office is executive head- quarters for the Gulf Company's oil produc- tion and pipe line interests in the North Texas oil field, and the position is therefore one of great responsibility. Mr. Gardner has both the training and the capabilities to fit him for an adequate and competent performance of all his duties.
He has also closely associated himself with that group of enterprising young citizens who have placed their enterprise and resources behind the welfare and progress of Wichita Falls. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Wichita Club, is a thirty-sec- ond degree Scottish Rite Mason and is a member of the new Maskat Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wichita Falls. He married Miss Frances Lynn of Shreveport. They have one daughter. Nell Gardner.
JOHN T. CHAMBERS, manager of the Sanger Mill and Elevator Company at Sanger, has been one of the forceful factors in the devel- opment of Denton County since he located in it during 1895, and he has brought to his work
an intelligent comprehension of the needs of his community which has enabled him to achieve constructive results. Mr. Chambers was born in Bumcombe County, North Caro- lina, eleven miles from Asheville, and was reared on his father's farm. His educational training was obtained in a school near Weaver- ville and in an academy of that same neigh- borhood.
Like so many other men who have reached distinction, Mr. Chambers began his independ- ent career as a school teacher and taught his first school in Pike County, Missouri, whither he had gone in search of broader opportuni- ties for usefulness than were offered in his mountain home. His first term was taught near Curryville and his second in the vicinity of Clarksville, both of which were in Pike County, and then he went to Chillicothe, Mis- souri, where for three years he was engaged in teaching. For the subsequent two years he was occupied in similar duties in the rural schools in the vicinity of Denver, Colorado.
In 1877 Mr. Chambers came to Texas and for seventeen years he rendered effective service as one of the pioneer school teachers of Collin County and for eleven years of that time had charge of the Walnut Grove School. When Mr. Chambers first came to Collin County no effort had yet been made to secure school organization and management through institute work and he was compelled to teach all grades from the first to the tenth. In those early days pupils were not graduated, nor were there any laws to compel their attendance. The first institute held in Collin County was the result of his earnest and intelligent efforts and he was one of the county board of exam- iners for the county under County Judge Goodner. The salary then paid ranged from $60 to $75 per month, including the fee for "overs and unders," and in three years Mr. Chambers, through rigid economy, managed to save his first $1,000. However, all this amount was not saved from his earnings as a school- teacher but some of it was earned as a farm- hand and cotton picker. As will be seen even in his youth, Mr. Chambers kept his time fully employed and was not ashamed to do any kind of honest work. Terminating his connection with the schools of Collin County, he went to Denton, where he lived for a year, and then, coming to Sanger for three years, he served as principal of the public schools of the city. This closed his career as an edu- cator, for he decided that in the fields of industry he could make more rapid progress
&T, Chambers
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and events have justified his choice, although the people of Sanger will always regret the loss to them and their children of so able, sympathetic and efficient an instructor.
The Sanger Mill and Elevator Company was established in 1897 by A. D. Miller, who organized a stock company, and a frame structure was put up which had a capacity of seventy-five barrels. The capacity of the plant has since been increased to 125 barrels daily. In 1898 Mr. Chambers was made man- ager of this company, and almost at once he increased the storage capacity to 28,000 bush- els, and since then there has been a further increase, which brings it up to 60,000 bushels. The mill has been operated continuously since 1897 and the company is in prime condition. The officials of the company are as follows: E. L. Berry, president ; J. T. Chambers, man- ager and treasurer; W. B. Chambers, secre- tary ; and J. H. Hughes, vice president.
When Mr Chambers came to Sanger there were only about 300 people here and only two of the original settlers remain and with the exception of them Mr. Chambers is the old- est resident. He had been a living force in the development of the city, and has backed with his money many enterprises and at pres- ent is a stockholder of the First National Bank of Sanger, of which he is president and director as well. He is also a stockholder and director of the Sanger National Bank. His aid in the erection of church edifices has been freely given to all denominations, but 'he has been especially generous to the Chris- tian Church, of which he has been an earnest member since he was twenty-two years old. For several years he has been a member of the Sanger City Council, and for ten years has been a member of the school board and in the latter office has been particularly useful, his long 'experience in educational matters rendering his aid of great value. He helped to erect the Masonic Temple and Odd Fellows Hall and belongs to both fraternities, as well as to the Woodmen of the World. As a past noble grand of the local lodge of Odd Fellows and a representative of it in the Grand Lodge of Texas he has acquired distinction among Odd Fellows.
Mr. Chambers was married in Collin County, Texas, October 12, 1881, when he was united with Miss Annie Griffin, a daugh- ter of Hiram Griffin. She was born in Adair County, Kentucky, in December, 1862. Her parents were also natives of Kentucky, where her father was engaged in farming until he
moved to Pleasant Hill, Missouri, and there died. Mrs. Chambers was one of four chil- dren and her three brothers are still living. Her mother brought her family to Collin County, Texas, after the death of her hus- band, in 1878, and was later married to a Mr. Wainscott, and both passed away in Texas, leaving a daughter, who is now Mrs. Pearl Pitman, of Childress, Texas. Mrs. Cham- bers was educated by an uncle, who was prin- cipal of a high school at Bethel, Collin County, Texas, and she subsequently engaged in teach- ing school for a year under him, and also for another year taught in the rural schools of Collin County before she was married. She died June 3, 1900, having borne her husband the following children: Mazie, who married Doctor Rice, and died at Sanger ; Addie, who died when seventeen years old; William B., who is secretary of the Sanger Mill and Ele- vator Company, married Alma Lane, a daugh- ter of Doctor Lane, and they have a son, Rob William; and Alma Gwendolyn, who married Fay Huey, of Sanger, and they have one son, Charles Fay Huey.
Mr. Chambers has erected three business houses and a number of dwellings and has displayed in every way' his interest in the growth of Sanger. Owing to reverses, when he reached Texas he had only $70 as his capital. However, he had experience, capa- bility, and was willing to continue exerting himself to the utmost and it was not long before he took the place in his community to which his talents entitled him. His suc- cess has not come to him along any royal road of fortune, but is the legitimate outcome of honest endeavor in congenial lines of work. While he has become one of the prominent and wealthy men of Sanger, Mr. Chambers has acquired that which, after all, is of much more value than the mere accumulation of worldly possessions, the confidence and re- spect of his fellow citizens.
BRUCE D. PELTON began railroading when a youth, was for many years in the traffic de- partments of the Texas railroads, and out of this long experience have come his undoubted qualifications and expert skill as a traffic man- ager and shipping adviser. For several years he has practiced his business or profession independently at Fort Worth.
He was born at Mattoon, Illinois, January 17, 1872, but the following year his parents, David C. and Eliza J. (Cannon) Pelton re- moved to Texas, locating at Corsicana. His
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father was a native of New Hampshire and his mother of Ohio. David C. Pelton at Cor- sicana became one of the earliest train dis- patchers with the Houston & Texas Central Railway, which had been completed to Cor- sicana only a year or so. He continued in the railway service for many years, but is now living retired at the age of nearly eighty in Fort Worth.
Bruce D. Pelton acquired a public school education and was sixteen years of age when he left home and began his railroad experience at Lordsburg, New Mexico, as a clerk in the employ of the Southern Pacific. In Septem- ber, 1891, Mr. Pelton entered the service of the Santa Fe Company, with which he re- mained until 1907. In that year he estab- lished his home at Fort Worth and was with the Rock Island Company until 1911. At that date Mr. Pelton gave up his formal and routine connections with railroads to extend the scope of his service as. a traffic expert, and for several years was associated as traffic manager with several grain companies. In 1914 he established Fort Worth offices as public traffic manager and shipping advisor and in October, 1916, he was appointed traffic manager of the Texas Livestock Shippers Pro- tective League. His headquarters are in the Reynolds Building.
Mr. Pelton is a member of the Fort Worth Traffic Club and of the Texas Industrial Traf- fic League. He is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias Lodge and is the present grand emir of the D. O. K. K.
Mr. Pelton married in Ohio, in 1896, Ber- tha Snow Dern of Pickaway County, that state. Five children constitute their family : Hazel, Jesse, Goldie, Bruce, Jr., and Lucille.
CLAUDE C. WILD is one of the leading law- yers of Cisco, a bank director, an ex-service man and has shown qualities of leadership at every point of contact with the world and its affairs.
He was born in Macon County, North Caro- lina, in 1891, and in the following year his parents moved to Texas and located at Moran in Shackelford County. He grew up there but completed his literary and technical edu- cation in the University of Colorado. He spent five years in that institution, graduating from the academic department in 1916 and from the law department in 1917.
Before he began his professional career he determined to do his part in the World war and in the fall of 1917 enlisted at Camp
Travis, San Antonio. He held all non-com- missioned ranks, including sergeant-major of the 180th Infantry Brigade, but later was com- missioned and for several months served as infantry instructor in the Motor Transport Corps at Camp Meigs, Washington, D. C. He received his honorable discharge in No- vember, 1918.
Mr. Wild located at Cisco in August, 1919, and has enjoyed a most gratifying success in his professional work. At the same time he has made his influence felt in civic affairs and lends his enthusiasm and talents to fur- ther all local movements. He was the first president of the Young Men's Business League in Cisco and was one of the leaders and speakers in the reorganization of the Cisco Chamber of Commerce in November, 1920, while in December, 1920, he was elected president. The organization has had a re- markable constructive record since his inaugu- ration.
He was married in 1918 to Miss Leona Peters, a talented and accomplished young lady of Longmont, Colorado, also a graduate of the University of Colorado.
Mr. Wild is a member of the Cisco Bar Association and Eastland County Bar Associ- ation. He belongs to the Cisco Rotary Club, of which he was one of the active organizers. He is advance agent for Rotary clubs in sev- eral West Texas cities. Fraternally he is a Knights Templar Mason; a Shriner, being a member of Moslah Temple, Fort Worth; and also an Elk, belonging to Cisco Lodge No. 1379, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
ALBERT M. BELL is one of the representa- tive citizens of Cooke County by reason of a quarter of a century of residence, his activ- ities as a farmer and farm developer, and his later career in business and public affairs in the City of Gainesville.
Mr. Bell was born eighteen miles east of Athens in Walton County, Georgia, on the Appalachee River, April 14, 1856. His grand- father, Jarrad Bell, moved to Georgia from South Carolina, and died soon after making settlement in that state. His son Reuben was born in South Carolina March 16, 1823, and was only a child at the death of his father. He secured a limited education in a period of pioneer schools, and spent his mature life as a mechanic. He had a custom shop in the country near Monroe and sold his interests there and moved to Milton County in 1869. living there until his death on November 28.
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