USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume IV > Part 70
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fourths of the number as volunteers. At the same time the Indians at home doubled the yield of agricultural crops and live stock.
In recognition of his public service Mr. Sells was, in June, 1920, given the degree of Doctor of Laws by both Cornell College. Iowa, and Baylor University, Texas.
Mr. Sells while living in Iowa was a trus- tee of the Iowa State Agricultural College. and has been an interested student of agri- cultural problems for many years. He is a Presbyterian, a member of the Masonic Order, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Knights of Pythias, and Woodmen of the World. June 30, 1891, he married Miss Lola Abbott McDaniel, of Vinton, Iowa. They have two daughters and one son, Dorothy, Donald D. and Barbara L., now Mrs. H. C. Burke, Jr.
D. F. JOHNSON, secretary-treasurer of the Knox-Johnson Company, is one of the remark- able business men and excellent citizens who have accomplished so much toward making Brownwood one of the desirable communities of Texas. Like so many of the substantial men of this country Mr. Johnson was born on a farm, his birth occurring in Hancock County, Indiana, December 4, 1868, and he is a son of William WV. and Mary (Sheets) John- son, farming people. The paternal grand- father, Thomas Johnson, was a member of the well-known Johnson family of Iredell and Lincoln counties, North Carolina. The Sheets family migrated from Rockingham County, Virginia. to Indiana in 1840. William W. Johnson and his wife were married in 1855, in Indiana, and lived until about 1900. Of their seven sons and two daughters, one son died in infancy. Two of the children reside in Oklahoma, two in Indiana, one in Cali- fornia, one in Texas, and both of the daughters are deceased.
Until he was thirteen years old D. F. John- son lived in Indiana, but at that time was taken by his parents to Jackson County, Kan- sas, settlement being made on a farm the father purchased. The lad attended first the country schools and later the high school at Helton, Kansas, from which he was graduated in 1886. He then secured a position as clerk in the postoffice, but soon left it to enter, in 1887, the station service of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company, and was connected with this corporation for several years at various points in Kansas, Nebraska and Indian Territory. In 1894 he was made
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-agent for this road at Bowie, Texas, and re- mained there until 1898, when he came to Brownwood as agent for the Fort Worth & Rio Grande Railroad Company, serving here and at Brady until 1904. In the latter year he became agent for the Santa Fe Railroad, and remained with that service for two years. Mr. Johnson then left railroad work and formed connections with the hardware trade as an employe of the Jackson-Hughes Company, of Brownwood, and maintained them for two useful years, during which time he attracted the attention of the business men of the city and was made secretary of the Brownwood Chamber of Commerce, discharging the duties of that position until September 1, 1913. Dur- ing that period he came into close touch with all of the constructive work of the community.
Resigning from his secretaryship at the above date, Mr. Johnson, with Harry Knox, founded the Knox-Johnson Company, a cor- poration, and embarked in the wholesale fruit and vegetable business, in which he is still very profitably engaged. The firm ships and dis- tributes fruits and vegetables over about fif- teen counties, and does a very large business. They have a cold storage plant at Brownwood and maintain a branch house at Brady, al- though they have no cold storage facilities at the latter point. Employment is given to a large force, and a number of traveling men are kept on the road.
On March 20, 1895, Mr. Johnson was mar- ried at St. Louis, Missouri, to Miss Bessie Jeffrey, who was born at Canton, Mississippi, March 3, 1872, a daughter of Edward S. and Medora (Cadien) Jeffrey. of Scotch and English ancestry, respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have eight children, namely: Edward Jeffrey, who was born October 29, 1896, is in the employ of the Walker-Smith Company of Brownwood; Donald Franklin, who was born September 4, 1899, is a salesman for the Sweetwater, Texas, branch of the Walker- Smith Company; William Byron, who was born January 19, 1901, is a student of Colum- bia University of New York City; Tillman Stuart, who was born September 23, 1902, is in the medical department of the United States service at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, but is expecting to be appointed to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, in the near future ; Clarice Virginia, who was born May 31, 1905, is attending the Brownwood High School; John Cadien, who was born Decem- ber 20, 1907, is also a student of the Brown- wood High School; Austin McClelland, who
was born July 17, 1909, is attending the graded school; and Elizabeth Medora, who was born February 2, 1915, is the youngest.
Well known in Masonry, Mr. Johnson has been raised to the thirty-second degree in his order, is past worshipful master, and past high priest of the local Blue Lodge and Chapter, past eminent commander of the Knights Templar, and is now deputy grand master of the Grand Lodge of the state of Texas, which places him in line for the office of grand master of the Grand Lodge in December, 1921. He also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Practitioners. Socially he maintains membership with the Lions Club and the Country Club. In politics he is a strong republican, and has always been very active locally, at present being chairman of the County Central Committee of Brown County. He has no church affiliations. Ever since he came to Brownwood Mr. Johnson has taken an interested part in civic matters. and has accomplished much in the way of en- couraging local enterprises and promoting the development of natural resources and ad- vantages. A sound and reliable business man. he has not only known how to develop his own concern but also to assist others in placing their houses upon a firm basis, and bringing them into a profitable condition. Such men as he are a decided asset to any community, and his present high standing has been honorably earned and is certainly well merited.
M. P. BEWLEY was a Fort Worth pioneer. and to his enterprise that city is in an im- portant degree indebted for its prestige as a grain and milling center.
He was born and reared in Kentucky and established his home at Fort Worth in 1876. practically at the beginning of the railroad era of the city. He was a grain dealer from the beginning, and as the great country be- hind Fort Worth was developed by farming and as the transportation facilities improved he increased and extended his own business, and in 1882 founded what has long been one of Fort Worth's primary industrial institu- tions, the Bewley Mills. He equipped his mills with the most improved machinery and accessories. He was actively identified with this business for over twenty years until his death in 1906. He was a leader in business and likewise a generous and public spirited citizen and his name is still spoken with the
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respect it deserves in the great city of Fort Worth.
M. P. Bewley married Miss Hallie C. Sam- uel who survives him and resides on Elizabeth Avenue in one of the most modern homes in Fort Worth. She is the mother of three chil- dren : Mazie, wife of Bert K. Smith; Edwin E., who succeeded his father as president and manager of the Bewley Mills; and Murray Percival, an artist in New York City.
BENJAMIN RICHARD WALL. A business man and citizen whose career has been identi- fied with the town of Grapevine in Tarrant County and has been attended with such enter- prise and energy as to give him more than local prominence and success, Benjamin Richard Wall is former mayor of Grapevine and for many years has been in the real estate business.
He was born at Grapevine, May 7, 1876, son of Zach T. and Virginia Wall. He was reared and educated in his native town, attend- ing high school there, and finishing his literary course in Baylor University at Waco. While he has had other business interests, Mr. Wall for many years has been one of the leading real estate operators at Grapevine and in Tar- rant County. He has handled many of the large deals involving farm lands and has also managed many valuable properties.
Mr. Wall served as mayor of Grapevine from 1911 to 1921 and whether in office or as a private citizen he has always been ready to give his time to public movements. During the World war he was chairman of the Tar- rant County Exemption Board and while on that board he practically sacrificed his busi- ness affairs to patriotic duty. Mr. Wall is a past grand in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a past grand sachem and past national .representative of the Improved Order of Red Men. He is a member of the law firm of Mercer, Wall, Rouer & Johnson of Fort Worth. May 16, 1897, he married Miss Ida May Stults. They have five daughters named Acie, Mozelle, Oneta, Zeta and Dixie.
FRANK ORVAL STEVENSON is one of Fort Worth's growing list of professional men, particularly those who supply the trained technical skill required in the industrial devel- opment of the Southwest. Mr. Stevenson is a graduate civil, mechanical and electrical engineer.
He was born at Atlanta, Butler County, Kansas, April 29, 1889, son of Frank R. and Mary E. Stevenson. His parents for several
years have lived in Fort Worth. His father has had a long and active career as an engi- neer and in early life was connected with the construction of a number of pioneer railroad lines. He is still practicing his profession.
Frank Orval Stevenson is the oldest of four children, all living, and was reared and educated in the public schools of Wichita, Kansas. He took his technical course in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he graduated in 1917 with the degrees bach- elor of civil, mechanical and electrical engi- neering. Throughout the past four or five years he has been identified with construction work of magnitude at different times in the Southwest, and his headquarters are in the First National Bank Building of Fort Worth. Mr. Stevenson is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, is an ex-service man and a member of the American Legion and in politics is independent.
MAJOR HOWARD S. COLE is a contribution to the magic city of Ranger from the great southern metropolis, Atlanta, where he was an active business man many years. Major Cole after coming home from France was attracted to the Texas town which before he entered the army was practically an unknown spot on the map. His leadership and enter- prise have brought many values to this rap- idly growing community, whose citizens in turn have marked him with every honor in their power to bestow.
Major Cole was born in New York City, lived there and attended school to the age of fourteen and then went South to Atlanta, where he had his home for thirty years. For a quarter of a century he was in the book, stationery and art business, his establishment, known as the Cole Book & Art Company, being located on Whitehall Street, in the heart of the business district of that great Southern City. It was a prosperous and high class con- cern, widely known and patronized.
War had hardly been declared on Germany when Mr. Cole, though past draft age, joined the Officers Training Camp at Fort McPher- son, was commissioned a captain, and by suc- ceeding promotions was advanced to major. His regiment was with the Eighty-second Division. He was on duty at Fort McPher- son at Atlanta until he went overseas in August, 1918. While in camp he was adju- tant of the 328th Regiment, with the rank of captain. In France was attended the Staff
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College and was assigned to duty with the general staff of the Ninth Corps, whose head- quarters were at St. Mihiel. Major Cole re- turned to America in July, 1919, and after a service of two years and four months re- ceived his honorable discharge.
It was in the fall of 1919 that Major Cole came to Ranger, the oil metropolis of the Central West Texas oil fields. Since then, in association with his brother, H. A. Cole, he has taken an exceedingly active part in the upbuilding of the city. They built the H. A. Cole business block, a modern and handsome two-story structure containing the Cole Cafe- teria and the Lone Star Theater. Major Cole himself established the Lamb Theater, the leading picture show house of the city, and this is now his principal enterprise.
Recently a publication in his former home city. The City Builder, of Atlanta, referring to Major Cole and the town of Ranger, said : "Not the least potent factor in Ranger's re- markable growth and its plans for the future is a Chamber of Commerce of over two thousand members, and Major Cole, a ten months' resident, is the president of that organization. Major Cole made a splendid reputation for himself in the army and his work as a constructive citizen builder has been quickly recognized in a boom city where more than anywhere else a man is accurately ap- praised at his real value."
Major Cole was elected president of the Chamber of Commerce in 1920. The annual income from dues in this organization is about $55,000 and it is one of the largest bodies of its kind in the South and is doing a great work for Ranger. Major Cole also has the honor of being president of the Ranger Rotary Club. He is a past master of his Masonic lodge in Atlanta, is a member of the Mystic Shrine in that city, and is a thirty-second degree Mason.
Major Cole married Miss Katrina Brant- ley, of Atlanta. Their four children are How- ard S .. Barton, Dora Mayne and Brantley. The oldest son, Howard S., though under draft age, enlisted as a private at Atlanta, and served with gallantry at the front in France in his father's division, the Eighty- second, as a member of the 307th Field Signal Battalion. He was at the front at St. Mihiel and in other operations of the Eighty-second.
CHARLES I. DICKINSON has long been re- garded as one of the expert authorities on real estate values both in Fort Worth and sur-
rounding districts. He is an alert business man and has thoroughly identified himself with the progress and welfare of his home city.
He was born at Elkhart, Indiana, January 23, 1867, son of John W. and Isadora Dick- inson. His father was a prominent railroad man and at different times served as super- intendent for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, the Cotton Belt and Santa Fe railroads. Charles I. Dickinson as a boy was sent to New York under the care of a physician and while there supported himself by selling papers and doing other work. He acquired a public school education and closed his stu- dent career in Peabody College at Little Rock, Arkansas.
Mr. Dickinson came to Texas many years ago and for a quarter of a century has been active in the real estate business. That busi- ness he has made a source of success not only to himself but a means of helpfulness to his community. He was very active in the work of locating the Texas Christian University at Fort Worth.
July 15, 1895, Mr. Dickinson married Mary Elizabeth Brown. They have one daughter, Mary Elizabeth, an accomplished musician and prominent in Fort Worth musical circles. Mr. Dickinson is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, is a member of the Fort Worth and River Crest Country Clubs, and has his offices in the Wheat Building.
ALEXANDER JULIUS SANDEGARD in his career and achievements is a sterling representative of both the old and new city of Fort Worth. He was identified with some of the old timers who gave the best of their efforts and enthu- siasm to the community when the future was by no means unclouded and his fortunes and character has been accounted no unimportant asset in the city's great progress and prosperity of the last thirty years.
Mr. Sandegard is a native of Sweden. He came to America when a youth in 1881 and finished his education in the schooles of Gal- veston. It was in 1887 that he first made the acquaintance of Fort Worth. After a brief course in the Fort Worth Business College he accepted, in the fall of 1887, a position as bookkeeper and cashier of the old Evening Mail. That was the beginning of a long ex- perience in Fort Worth journalism. After three months he was elected secretary and treasurer of the Mail, continued in that capac- ity for several years, and later was manager
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of the Texas Stock and Farm Journal until about the spring of 1896. After nine years of hard work in behalf of these Fort Worth publications he took his first long vacation, consisting of a trip to Europe. He was away six months and on returning took charge of the Fort Worth Register. He had charge of both the editorial and business management of the Register until 1903, in which year the paper was sold to a new company which changed the name of the paper to the Fort Worth Record. Through the process of reor- ganization Mr. Sandegard took another vaca- tion, with an extended trip to the Pacific coast. but in the fall returned and joined the Record as foreign and local advertising manager. In 1906 he was elected secretary, treasurer and general manager and had seen the Fort Worth Record built up to an enviable place in south- western journalism before he relinquished his official responsibilities in the fall of 1912. Thus his name belongs in the history of Fort Worth journalism by reason of many years of active associations.
Many other affairs have engaged his time and resources since he left the Record. He has been in the building and loan business, is vice president of the Sandegard Grocery Com- pany now operating seventeen stores in Fort Worth, and is also vice president of the Ross- Heyer Piano Company.
Mr. Sandegard is a charter member of the River Crest Country Club and is also a mem- ber of the Fort Worth Club and for many years has been one of its board of governors and chairman of the house committee. Many movements in the past thirty years that has meant some distinctive benefit to Fort Worth has enlisted the support and co-operation of Mr. Sandegard. He is one of the original members of the Fort Worth Lodge of Elks. He also took a leading part in reviving the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. During the war he had charge of one of the Liberty Loan banks during which more than $6,000,- 000 were secured in subscriptions from the people of the city. He was also chairman of the Conservation Committe of the Red Cross and in that capacity directed the collection of many carloads of clothing and other material.
Mr. Sandegard has always been a democrat and cast his first vote after he came to Fort Worth.
E. E. CHURCHILL has been a building con- tractor with home at Fort Worth for thirty years, is also an architect, and while much VOL. IV-24
of his work is exemplified in his home city. his contracts have also extended nearly as far west as El Paso and south to the Gulf.
Mr. Churchill was born at Murray, Ken- tucky, December 9, 1863, son of John E. and Fannie (Ollive) Churchill, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Ten- nessee. Second in a family of six children, E. E. Churchill grew up in Kentucky, acquired his public school education at Murray, and as a youth began learning the carpenter's trade. He came to Texas in the winter of 1889, and in 1891 established his home in Fort Worth. Since then he has been continuously in the contracting business and with passing years his facilities have been enlarged to enable him to handle any of the largest building construc- tion. Mr. Churchill was the contractor for the building of the Central Fire Hall at Fort Worth, one of the landmarks of the city, erected while Captain Paddock was mayor. Some years ago he designed and built the courthouse in Western Texas at Van Horn, a fire-proof building costing $75,000. He also erected the King County courthouse in South- ern Texas. The range of his business is further indicated by much constructive work at Waurika, Oklahoma.
Mr. Churchill married Miss Willie Mae Bledsoe of Tennessee.
LUTHER WEBB. Oil well machinery and supplies figure as prominently and as famil- iarly in the commercial trade of Wichita Falls as plows and other implements do in some of the typically agricultural communities. One of the largest organizations in America han- dling oil well supplies in the Producers Supply and Tool Company, whose headquarters are at Marietta, Ohio. This is a firm of the high- est standing, and in addition to the home establishment it maintains branch houses at St. Mary's, West Virginia, one at Fort Worth, Texas, and one at Wichita Falls.
The manager of the business at Wichita Falls is Luther Webb, a man of broad and successful training and experience in com- mercial lines and a native of Texas.
He was born at Oakwood in Leon County about forty-five years ago, a son of Rufus and Margaret (Webb) Webb. This is a his- toric family of Texas. Grandfather Captain Anderson Webb was a resident of Nacog- doches, and served on the staff of Gen. Sam Houston in the Texas war of independence. Rufus Webb was born at Nacogdoches and was a Confederate soldier under Capt. Sani
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Tobin, the father of Sheriff John Tobin of San Antonio.
Luther Webb was reared in Central Texas. studied in country schools and finally in Hill's Business College at Waco. He acquired his early commercial training in a hardware house at Brownwood and then went on the road as a traveling representative for the Simmons Hardware Company of St. Louis. He was with that great house for several years and then for eight years represented the well known machinery firm of F. W. Axtell Com- pany of Fort Worth. All his business train- ing and experience has been acquired with firms of the highest standing. January, 1919, he came to Wichita Falls to establish the local branch of the Producers Supply & Tool Company and this branch under his manage- ment has contributed an imposing volume to the great aggregate of business handled by the company.
Mr. Webb has the honor of representing his special branch of business in the member- ship of the Wichita Falls Rotary Club. He is also prominent in the Chamber of Con- merce and has been quickly accepted into the lists of progressive citizens of Wichita Falls.
Mr. Webb married Miss Bertha Vezey, a native of Kansas. Their four children are Ethel. Annina, Billie and Paul Edward. The daughter Annina is the wife of M. C. Dalby.
LOWMAN LOCKE HAWES was an active business man of Fort Worth just thirty years before he retired, and as a wholesale lumber merchant his operations covered all the coun- ties comprised in the Texas Northwest. At the same time he has been devoted to the wel- fare and progress of his home city and has taken a great deal of pride in the growth and development of Fort Worth since he came here.
Mr. Hawes was born at Minerva. Mason County. Kentucky. August 18. 1866. His father. John Brown Hawes, was a native of Erie. New York, but settled in Kentucky in pioneer times, in 1840. He conducted a general store for many years in Mason County, and died at the age of seventy-nine. He was of Irish descent and married Mary Haley. a native of Mason County, Kentucky, and of English origin. She died at the age of sixty.
L. L. Hawes is the second of ten children, and the family vitality is represented in the fact that all of these are still living. He was reared in his home community of Eastern
Kentucky, acquired a public school education, and afterward attended the State University at Lexington. In 1889. at the age of twenty- three, with some knowledge of business ac- quired in his native state, he arrived in Fort Worth, and from that time for thirty years was prominently identified with the wholesale lumber business. He finally sold his interests and retired in May, 1919.
Mr. Hawes married in 1901 Miss Myrtle Manning, of Chillicothe, Missouri. She died about a year later, the mother of one son, Morgan Jones Hawes, who died when five years of age. In 1904 Mr. Hawes married Laura Blair, a native of Fort Worth. They have three children: Lowman L .. Jr., David B. and Charlotte Lee. Mr. Hawes is a mem- ber of the Fort Worth Club, is a Knight of Pythias. a member of the Ancient Order of United, Workmen and the Elks, and belongs to the Hurst Lake Art Chib.
The story of the success achieved by Mr. Hawes constitutes a human interest story illustrative of what may be accomplished when pluck, determination and energy are utilized as factors of advancement. When he arrived in Fort Worth his cash capital was exceed- ingly limited, but he had more than money : He had health and ambition, supplemented by an unswerving faith in the future of the city and the marvelous resources of the state. He entered at once into the work of making both greater, and as he prospered personally he aided in the upbuilding and the advancement of the community. He became prominently identified with enterprises which materially added to the welfare of the city, and he may fittingly be regarded as one of the real build- ers of Fort Worth.
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