USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume IV > Part 7
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work by helping establish the Arlington Com- inercial Club, of which he was the first presi- (lent and later the secretary and he made the club an instrument for the promotion of good roads and in bringing other facilities of mod- ern life to Arlington.
For four years Dr. Harkey was engaged in the extension work of the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Bryan. He served as manager of the Chamber of Commerce at Longview, Texas, and filled similar positions at Midland, Pecos, and other points in West Texas. At Pecos he was a real leader in the development of a semi-arid region. Through the financial backing he secured and his personal initiative seventy-five pump wells were put in operation in the Pecos country, and in giving credit for the present high stage of agricultural progress in that district Dr. Harkey's service should not be overlooked. For this and other work he became a widely known authority on irrigation in that region.
His chief hobby is agriculture and he has identified himself with every promising agri- cultural movement, not merely for the sake of personal profit but as a means of bringing a little closer the realization of that era when Texas' marvelous resources as an agricultural state will be known throughout the world. After coming to De Leon Dr. Harkey ex- tended organization work throughout the rich agricultural region around that city, and pro- moted clubs and associations for perfecting a program of diversified farming including the production of corn, watermelons, peanuts, sweet potatoes, dairy products, hogs and all other products for which this region is so peculiarly adapted.
Dr. Harkey came to De Leon in the spring of 1919 to become city manager under the commission government. Coincidentally he was manager of the De Leon Chamber of Commerce and co-ordinated into dual instru- ments of effectiveness the local government and the Chamber of Commerce. During his administration approximately $300,000 were spent for waterworks, sewerage system. streets and sidewalks. De Leon has one of the best water supplies in Texas. The source is seven wells, the water being raised by air compressors. A six-inch triplex pump has a capacity of 20.000 gallons an hour. The water flows into the mains from a half million un- derground concrete reservoir, with a steel tank above of 100,000 gallons capacity.
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Dr. Harkey is a director of the West Texas Chamber of Commerce. Since he was ten years of age he has been a member of the Christian Church and in different localities has served as an elder and as superintendent of Sunday schools. He has sat in the Grand Lodge of Texas for both the Knights of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows.
Dr. Harkey's first wife was Miss Hattie Carlisle of Kaufman. She died December 26, 1896. In 1898 he married Miss Hattie Bris- coe, daughter of John Briscoe of Hunt Coun- ty, Texas. His present wife is DeFay Trapp of Bryan, Texas. Dr. Harkey has five children : Mrs. Inez Hillman, Roy, Roland, Homer and Eugene Whaley Harkey.
L. Dow HARBIN, vice president of the Con- tinental State Bank of Burleson, is a banker of wide and successful experience, and in an executive capacity has contributed much to the success of the Burleson institution during the past decade. He is also numbered among Burleson's most progressive citizens.
Mr. Harbin was born near Calhoun, Georgia, December 25, 1882, and was eight months old when his parents came to Texas. His grandfather, Jesse W. Harbin, was a native of Georgia of English descent, and was a planter and slaveholder in that state. He served as a soldier in the Mexican war, being with General Scott's army and was at Mexico City when that stronghold fell. Though well advanced in years he volunteered in the Con- federate army and fought throughout that conflict. Aside from his military experience his time and energies were devoted to his farm and he eventually followed his son to Texas and spent his last years in Eastland County, where he died in 1903 at the age of eighty- six. "Jesse W. Harbin married Kittie Strain, who died in Eastland County in 1896. Their family consisted of seven sons and two daugh- ters: Jesse, James F., both retired farmers, the former at Eastland and the latter at Cuervo, New Mexico; Belle, wife of Henry Addington of New Mexico; Warren A. Dora, wife of Jules Daniels, of Eastland ; Jasper, deceased; Fred of Byers, Texas ; David, deceased ; and Nat P.
Warren A. Harbin was born in Cherokee County, Georgia, in 1854, and grew up on his father's farm there. He married Annie Cur- tis, daughter of Thomas Curtis, and the youngest of three children, the other two
being Bud Curtis of Eastland and Miss Vick Curtis of Calhoun, Georgia. Warren A. Harbin, who is now a retired farmer, with summer home at Petrolia and winter home at Harlingen, Texas had the following chil- dren; Lewis of Petrolia; Oliver of Arling- ton ; Lena, Mrs. Charles Stephens of Petrolia ; Lorenzo Dow; Sola, wife of Henry Byrom of New Castle; and Dollie, wife of Joseph Chapin of Electra.
L. Dow Harbin grew up on a farm near Eastland in Eastland County and attended country schools there and the Eastland High School He assisted in the work of the farm until he was nineteen and then for two years taught school in Eastland County. He left the schoolroom to go to Fort Worth and attend Draughan's Business College, and on finishing his commercial course became a train news agent for Fred Harvey, having a run over the Santa Fe both ways out of Fort Worth for about a year. He then continued with the Harvey system as cashier of the Somerville eating house for three months, and resigned to enter banking.
Mr. Harbin acquired his training as a banker at Petrolia, Texas, with the Continen- tal Bank & Trust Company. He was there twelve months as bookkeeper and was then sent to Burleson to take charge of the Con- tinental State Bank as assistant cashier. Two years later upon the reorganization of the bank he was promoted to cashier and also a director, and since December, 1920, has been vice president and active head.
The Continental State Bank of Burleson was established in 1904 as a branch of the Continental Bank & Trust Company of Pe- trolia. Its capital has always been $10,000, and in 1921 the surplus and undivided profits totaled $12,500. The bank was reorganized in 1909 and the executive officers are: J. G. Wilkinson of Fort Worth, president; Mr. Harbin, vice president and active manager ; E. J. Thompson, cashier ; while the other di- rectors are Dr. S. P. McNairn, L. P. Wynne and O. R. Smith.
Mr. Hardin has some congenial associations as a citizen and social factor in his commu- nity. He has served as treasurer of the school board and is one of the city aldermen. During the World war he tried three times to get into active service but was rejected for physical reasons. As a civilian he was chairman of the Third Liberty Loan drive for Burleson, while Mrs. Harbin was secre-
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tary of the Cleburne Branch of the Red Cross and was one of three to receive the medal granted by the society for extraordinary serv- ice. Fraternally Mr. Harbin is affiliated with the Lodge, Royal Arch Chapter and Com- mandery of York Rite and with the Scottish Rite bodies of Masonry, and also the Shrine. He has served four times as master of Bur- leson Lodge, has attended three sessions of the grand lodge, and is a past noble grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has represented the Burleson Lodge in the Texas Grand Lodge.
At Burleson October 9, 1910, Mr. Harbin married Miss Mabel Lawson, who was born in Johnson County, daughter of Samuel and Carrie (Griffin ) Lawson. Her father was a farmer and died in Johnson County in 1910 at the age of forty-three. Mrs. Harbin is the oldest of his children, the others being Roy, Easton, Wilber and Ben Lawson. Mr. and Mrs. Harbin have one daughter, Madeline.
AXEL ARNESON has been a resident of Fort Worth over thirty-four years, and the achieve- ments which give him a conspicuous place in the city's life and affairs are reflected in the history of the Mutual Home Association, which he helped organize, and which for more than a quarter of a century has been one of the quietly working but efficient factors in the promotion of thrift and home building in the metropolis of northwest Texas.
Mr. Arneson, who is secretary and manager of the association, was born in Norway, No- vember 17, 1862, but has spent all his life since boyhood in Texas. Coming to Texas in 1872, his parents located in a pioneer settlement in Bosque County. Western Bosque was then on the fringe of settlements, with the Indian fron- tier not far removed.
The hardships of pioneer life and sparsity of population provided little opportunity for education, but a thirst for knowledge, encour- aged by some good Norse literature in the home, craved means for learning not obtain- able in a pioneer settlement. Being an only child with neighbors few and far between, he came to find his companionship in books, mak- ing of him a life-long student. Reminiscent of conditions be it told that he once rode his pony seventy miles for a school book-while going to market was an event of the year.
Arriving at voung manhood he spent nearly two years in Galveston, attending school part of the time. In the early spring of 1887 he came to Fort Worth, and for over six years
was bookkeeper and city credit man for the Fort Worth Grocer Company, then operated by J. W. Spencer and E. H. Carter, until it was consolidated with the Waples-Platter Company.
He then engaged in business for himself. About this time he was called upon to close up the affairs of a local building and loan association and becoming interested in the work. he, in conjunction with W. S. Essex and Judge Nugent, organized the Mutual Home Association, incorporated in 1894. Mr. Arneson is therefore one of the oldest building and loan men in Texas. For a number of years, however, he was not directly connected with its management, being for six years en- gaged as chief clerk for Anchor Mills.
About twenty years ago he took over the active management of the Association, giving his whole time to it, and he has the satisfaction of seeing his work so thrive that it has come to be regarded a model of its kind, never hav- ing incurred a single loss for the Association.
Truly a public institution, it has grown into the greatest factor in this city for owning house and home for ever increasing numbers, at the same time conserving a multitude of modest savings for constructive work.
As service and usefulness is the measure of worth to community and state so the Mutual Home during its twenty-seven years of opera- tion has earned the esteem and confidence of its host of friends, doing its share many times over in the upbuilding of Fort Worth into a city of homes. Its officials continue unchanged. namely: William Monnig, president; S. M. Furman, vice-president ; Ben H. Martin, treas- urer ; and A. Arneson, secretary and manager.
In 1887, soon after coming to Fort Worth, Mr. Arneson married Miss Emma Grimland. who died in 1900, the mother of two children. Edwin and Judith. Some years later Mr. Arneson married his present wife, Leonora Keeble. and they have one son, Norman, born in 1905. He graduated from the City High School, term of 1920-21. Mr. Arneson's son Edwin completed a technical education as civil engineer. For sometime he was in charge of the field office on the Medina project for the Pearson Engineering Corporation. Later the company sent him to Spain on a project in the Pyrenees. At the outbreak of the World war the construction work stopped and Edwin Arneson returned to America and served his home government in the department of wharves and docks. He is now a resident of
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San Antonio, where he is in professional prac- tice, specializing in irrigation engineering.
C. E. WAINSCOTT, now an active figure in the oil industry with headquarters at Fort Worth, is a veteran livestock dealer, was for years connected with the livestock markets at Kansas City, and later did business in the Fort Worth yards.
Mr. Wainscott was born June 29, 1863, in Cooper County, Missouri. His father, W. T. Wainscott, was a native of Kentucky and was a man of great industry who pursued his trade as a mechanic until almost the end of his life. He came to Texas in 1880 and died at Archer City in this state in 1910. He was a consist- ent Christian and a good citizen at all times.
C. E. Wainscott is the third among four children, all living, and as a boy he had the advantage of a good school at Pleasant Hill, Missouri. When he left school he took up the livestock business and for twenty-seven years was at the Kansas City Stockyards and in that time became widely and favorably known to shippers all over the southwest. On leaving Kansas City and coming to Fort Worth he continued in the same line of busi- ness at the local stockyards for four years.
Mr. Wainscott has given his time and energy and capital to the oil industry for the past three years, and is now general manager of the Pioneer Oil & Gas Company, which was organized in 1919. This company is one of the most promising organizations in the great petroleum district of North and West Texas.
Mr. Wainscott has never affiliated with any secret organization. He was an active mem- ber and for the past six years has been an elder in the Chestnut Avenue Christian Church, while in politics he gives his in- fluence to the democratic party. He was married May 28, 1884, and is the father of two children. His son, W. C. Wainscott, lives at Wichita, Kansas. His married daughter lives in Missouri.
SPENCER P. McNAIRN, M. D. Throughout a period of over twenty years Dr. McNairn has been the physician and surgeon depended upon for the professional care of the Burleson community of Johnson County. He is a highly qualified physician, a citizen of public spirit, and altogether a man who has earned an enviable place in community esteem.
Dr. McNairn was born on a farm near
Canton, Georgia, August 2, 1869, and is of Scotch ancestry. His grandparents were Alfred and Elizabeth (Horton) McNairn. Alfred McNairn came to this country from Scotland and he and his wife had children named Larkin, Newton, Edwin B., Cicero, Joseph, William, Spencer, Jane and Eliza- beth. All the sons became Confederate sol- diers and returned home after the war. Two of them were in Gen. Wade Hampton's com- mand, one was with General Forrest, while Edwin B. served under General Hood and took part in the battles of Corinth, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Tupelo, was wounded at Mission- ary Ridge, was at Chickamauga and served throughout the Atlanta campaign, and surren- dered with his command at the end of the struggle. Edwin B. McNairn was born in Habersham County, Georgia, and came from that state to Texas in 1878. His active life was that of a farmer and he died January 13, 1919, at the age of eighty-one at Burleson. In Pickens County, Georgia, he married Miss Elizabeth Jane Henry, daughter of Albert and Elizabeth (Cantrell) Henry. Albert Henry was a native of Ireland and on coming to the United States settled on French Broad River in North Carolina, where his daughter, Elizabeth Jane, was born August 2, 1843. She died in August, 1900. Her children were : Dr. S. P .; Mrs. Alice Anderson of Bell County ; Mrs. Fairlenia Hargrove, who died at Electra, Texas, December 24, 1920; Miss Arlevia, who died at Milford in 1900; and Stafford, who died as a young man.
Spencer P. McNairn was nine years of age when his parents left Georgia and settled in Caldwell County, Texas. He received most of his education in that county. The family made the journey from Georgia to Austin by railroad and thence by wagon to Caldwell County, which then had no railroad communi- cation. Spencer McNairn attended country schools, and as a young man followed farm- ing and had some experience as a wage worker on a ranch. Without a decided taste for ranching or farming and seeing no future in his immediate prospects he determined to qualify for the medical profession as a voca- tion in which he could render the greatest possible service to himself and to the world. He began his study in the medical department of Fort Worth University in 1895. After one term he practiced medicine on a license as an undergraduate at Rendon in Tarrant County. During 1897-98 he took his second
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course at Fort Worth, and in 1898-99 at- tended the Memphis Hospital Medical Col- lege, where he was graduated in April, 1899. During 1903 he took post-graduate work in Rush Medical College at Chicago. Immedi- ately after graduating in August, 1899, Dr. McNairn located at Burleson in Johnson County, where he has won a host of friends as well as professional prestige. In the score of years he has practiced he has had to con- tend with only one epidemic, that of the in- fluenza during the years 1918-19.
Outside of his profession Dr. McNairn has been identified with the progressive element in securing new advantages for his home town. He helped organize and is one of the direc- tors of the Continental Bank of Burleson. He was a member of the board of education which built the new $25,000 schoolhouse. He was a member of the committee appointed to secure the right of way for the Fort Worth- Cleburne interurban railroad. Since 1912 he has been local surgeon for the Missouri, Kan- sas & Texas Railway Company, and during the World war he was a member of the Medi- cal Reserve Corps and was active in all the auxiliary war work. Mrs. McNairn contrib- uted much to the success of the Burleson branch of the Cleburne Chapter of the Red Cross. Fraternally Dr. McNairn has for a number of years been special examiner for the Woodmen of the World, and is affiliated with the Lodge of Masons at Burleson, the Royal Arch Chapter, Knight Templar Com- mandery, and Moslah Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Fort Worth. As a democrat he supported Governor Hogg in 1892 and voted for Joseph W. Bailey for governor in the pri- maries of 1920. Mrs. McNairn is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, is a Lady Maccabee, and Past Matron of Burleson Chapter of the Eastern Star.
At Rendon, Tarrant County, December 25, 1900, Dr. McNairn married Miss Susan Ellen Norwood. She was eleven years of age when brought to Texas from Pontotoc, Mississippi. Her father, James P. Norwood, became a farmer in Tarrant County. He had a brief record of service in the Confederate Army. He married Miss Robbins and their surviving children are: Charles, Washington, Mrs. Mc- Nairn, Jinks, Mrs. Rilla Adams of Capitan, New Mexico; Mrs. Dollie Warren of Ever- man, Texas; Mrs. Dovie Story of Retta, Texas, and Mrs. Lela Hainey of Fort Worth. Dr. and Mrs. McNairn had two daughters :
Thelma, who died April 6, 1909, at the age of eight; and Beatrice Helen, who died De- cember 24, 1913, at the age of thirteen.
LESLIE MAYS COBB, whose home is at Pon- der in Denton County, is a native Texan, and is a member of one of the families of the northwestern part of the state established here at the close of the Civil war.
His father was the late and well remem- bered Rev. Samuel S. Cobb, who was born" and reared near Knoxville in Eastern Tennes- see. He acquired a liberal education, was early converted and determined to become a preacher. In that ambition he was discour- aged by his father, but he persisted, and his earnestness and the efficiency with which he did his work well justified his choice of a vo- cation. For four years he was a private in the ranks as a Confederate soldier, and was twice wounded. When the war ended he came to Texas and began his ministry in the Lone Star State at Jefferson. Later he lo- cated at Decatur in Wise County, being pastor of the Methodist Church there during the limited time he was permitted to remain with one church. After an interval he returned to Decatur and for some twenty years was pastor there. His last pastorate was at Col- linsville, Texas. He was finally superannu- ated on account of ill health, and died at Denison at the age of sixty-seven. Though a minister of the Gospel he took an active in- terest in local politics, and for several years was justice of the peace at Decatur.
At Gainesville, Texas, Rev. Mr. Cobb met Miss Laura Smith, who was also born near Knoxville, Tennessee, though she was reared in Missouri and her family came to Texas during the Civil war, locating in Cooke County. She is now seventy years of age and makes her home among her children. These children are: Dixie, wife of J. D. Hapgood of Dallas; Twitt C. of Brownwood, Texas ; Beulah, wife of Hugh B. Libe of Camden, Arkansas; Elizabeth of Dallas; Myrtle, Mrs. R. E. Collins of Decatur ; and Leslie M., the youngest.
Leslie Mays Cobb was born at Decatur, Texas, June 6, 1886. He acquired a good com- mon school education at Ardmore, Oklahoma, and Denison, Texas, and from school he found his first regular employment with the Mis- souri, Kansas & Texas Railway at Denison, for a time being a train crew caller, and later in the freight department. Before reaching
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his majority he moved to Dallas, and was clerk for the Live Oak Grocery Company and later for James A. McNabb. For one year he was on the road as a commercial sales- man, and when he left the road he established his home at Ponder, and has been a resident of that community since 1915. In the fall of 1920 Mr. Cobb resumed his duties as a com- mercial salesman, representing the Forest City Overall Company of Rockford, Illinois, and the Margulies Manufacturing Company of New York City. His territory is an extensive one in West Texas along the line of the Texas & Pacific from Fort Worth to El Paso, over the Panhandle country tributary to the Fort Worth & Denver, and also the region about San Angelo. It takes about three months to cover this territory, and. he appears among his customers four times a year.
In July, 1907, at Ponder Mr. Cobb married Miss Bessie Wakefield. She is a member of one of the most prominent families of this section of Denton County, her father being Frank Wakefield, now living retired at Min- eral Wells, Texas. Mrs. Cobb was educated in the public schools and the Ursuline Acad- emy at Dallas, and was married soon after leaving school. They have two children, Mary Lou and Shelly.
EMMETT BROWN. Of all Texas cities none can claim a more glorious crown in connection with educational work in the public schools than Cleburne, the vital metropolis and judi- cial center of Johnson County. In fact, the public schools of Cleburne have gained stand- ing that places them among the most efficient and most perfectly organized and co-ordinated in the entire United States. In formulating and carrying forward this great work Pro- fessor Emmett Brown, the present superin- tendent of the city schools, has played a large and benign part, and it's a matter of con- sistency as well as of gratification to offer in this history a brief review of his career and of the splendid advancement made by the pub- lic schools over which he maintains charge as chief executive.
Mr. Brown initiated his connection with the Cleburne schools in the year 1897, in the sum- mer of which year hc became a teacher in the high school. He continued his effective service in this capacity until 1907, when he was advanced to the office of principal of the high school. Further appreciation of his executive and pedagogic ability came in 1913, when he was elected superintendent of the city schools,
an office of which he has since been the valued and honored incumbent. When Mr. Brown began his enthusiastic work as a teacher in the Cleburne high school the building utilized for the school was a frame structure of unpreten- tious order, as were also the three buildings of the ward schools, each of which had four rooms. In 1907 a new high school building was erected, the same being now known as the "Junior High." In 1915 three modern ward school buildings were erected, with facil- ities such as to require the employment of forty-six teachers, and the year 1917 recorded the completion of the new central high school building and another ward building, as well as a building for negro pupils. All of these buildings are of the best modern type, con- structed of brick and cement, and all fireproof. Significance attaches to the mere statement that the city's investment for school facilities now represents an investment of $1,240,000- an investment which, in proportion to the ma- terial wealth of the community, is the largest directed to such purpose in the entire United States. The general equipment and facilities of the Cleburne schools is not excelled in the entire country, and in proportion to population the attendance in the schools is the largest in the Union. These are conditions of which Cleburne and its citizens may well be proud, for in no other medium is the progressiveness and the value-appreciation of a community so effectively demonstrated. The board of edu- cation, the superintendent and the entire corps of teachers keep in touch with advances made in school work, and this is shown in the definite leadership which is legitimately claimed for the public schools of the Johnson County capital.
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