USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume IV > Part 72
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
.
JOHN M. WHITLEY. Whitley is one of the old and honored names of Denton County. John Moore Whitley is a merchant of Pilot Point, a locality where the family has been active in business affairs for many years.
He was born on a farm between Pilot Point and Sanger, October 17, 1888. His father, the late John T. Whitley, a well remembered merchant of this community, was born in Mis- sissippi, and grew up near Boonville not far from Corinth in that state, where his father had founded the family. The Whitleys moved from Mississippi to Alabama, and some of
them subsequently came to Texas. The father of John T. Whitley was a Confederate soldier. The Whitley home in Mississippi was on the route of the Federal army and some of the soldiers searched the home while passing through. Noticing an uncompleted quilt of gay colors they at first thought it an unfin- ished Confederate flag and were about to con- fiscate it when the mother came to the rescue and after explaining what the work was saved it as an heirloom, and it is now the property of her grandson, John M. Whitley, and is greatly prized by all the family.
Soon after reaching his majority, John T. Whitley came to Texas and settled among his relatives, the Bryans, who owned a large body of land between Pilot Point and Sanger. He came west alone and the first few years lived on the Bryan ranch and farm. He was finally induced to come to Pilot Point and take a clerkship in the store of Mr. Bryan. Then when he married he returned to the farm, but again resumed merchandising when his son John M. was about five years of age and was active in business at Pilot Point until his death in January, 1908, when about fifty-five years of age. John T. Whitley had a brother who spent his life in Mississippi and his only sis- ter married a Mr. Nichols, a resident of Ellis County, Texas. The wife of John T. Whitley was Lizzie Sullivan, daughter of John R. Sul- livan, one of the pioneers of North Texas. Her mother was a daughter of that famous pioneer character, Reason Jones, who came to Texas with his family in 1851, and for up- wards of half a century was one of the largest land owners and farmers in Cooke and Den- ton counties. Mrs. John T. Whitley was born east of Sanger in Denton County in 1864 and is now living at Pilot Point. She was one of a family of three sons and eight daughters, and those surviving besides herself are Mrs. Nannie Partlow of Sanger; Ella. wife of WV. H. Batis of Ardmore. Oklahoma: Willie,
745
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
wife of Dr. Sam Gocher of Chicago; Sam H. of Sanger; Walter of Denton, and Benja- min Sullivan of Sanger.
John T. Whitley and wife had seven sons : John Moore; Ben S., a merchant at Pilot Point ; Harry B. of Dalhart, Texas; Virgil of Hereford, Texas; Lamar, business partner with his brother Ben S. at Pilot Point; Eu- gene and Thomas E.
John Moore Whitley was reared and edu- cated in the public schools of Pilot Point, and like his brothers grew up in the atmosphere of his father's store and for the past ten or fifteen years has been independently active in the business affairs of that community. He has also served as secretary of the Pilot Point Commercial Club and for four years was a member of the City Council. During the World war he entered actively in the bond drives and continues his leadership and activ- ity in behalf of the Red Cross. He is inter- ested in good government, has voted for men and measures which he thought would con- tribute to that end, and cast his first presiden- tial ballot for Wilson in 1912. Mr. Whitley is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World.
In Fannin County, Texas, June 10, 1915, he married Miss Vera M. Agnew. Her father, William Agnew, was born and reared and spent his life in Fannin County and is still an active merchant at Bonham, being member of a family of pioneers in that region. The mother of Mrs. Whitley was Dora Clymer. Mrs. Whitley is the oldest of seven children, the others being : Allen of Bonham. Mrs. Lucy May Dood of Palestine, Edwin of Bon- ham, Miss Louie D., a student in Baylor Col- lege at Belton, Grace Belle and Tennie Laura attending the Bonham schools. Mrs. Whitley is a cultured and well educated woman. a grad- uate of the high school at Ravenna, later at- tended Whitewright College and finished her training in instrumental music at Chicago in 1914. The following year she was a teacher of music at Pilot Point and thus met her hus- band.
THOMAS. J. CALDWELL, a lawyer by profes- sion, but better known as a banker, was formerly connected with the Federal Land Bank at Houston and until recently was vice president of the Fort Worth National Bank.
In the creation and establishment of the Federal International Banking Company, or- ganized in the fall of 1920 for the express pur- pose of furthering the export trade of the
country through the establishment of credit facilities which would enable the war devas- tated countries of Europe to obtain raw material from America, especially the cotton and other products of the South, Mr. Cald- well took an active and prominent part. He was chosen chairman of the committee having in charge the promulgation of the plan among the bankers of Texas, and to his personal work and efforts is largely due the success achieved. Upon the organization of the Fed- eral International Banking Company at New Orleans, December 17, 1920, he was elected vice president, and in performing his official duties he has removed to New Orleans.
He is a lineal descendant of a pre-revolu- tionary Texas family. His grandfather, John Caldwell, was a distinguished Texas patriot and at the time of his death was accounted one of the richest men in the state. John Caldwell was born at Frankfort, Kentucky, December 10, 1802. His father had come from Ireland in 1784, and was identified with the early states of Kentucky and Tennessee, dying at Nashville in 1819. John Caldwell came from Alabama to the Mexican province of Texas, first locating at Navidad, and in 1834 moving into Bastrop County. He was a man of learn- ing, a lawyer by profession, but on coming to Texas put his last resources to use as a farmer. and at one time owned thirty thousand acres in Travis and Bastrop counties. He was also prominent in the affairs of the early Texas Republic, being elected to the Senate in Sep- tember, 1838, and later was a member of the State Senate in 1857-58. He was an intimate friend of General Houston, ardently espoused the cause of the Confederacy and four of his sons served as soldiers in the war. John Cald- well died October 22, 1870. His wife was Lucinda W. Haynie of Knoxville, Tennessee. Their four soldier sons were Walter H., John A., Charles G. and Oliver B. They also had five daughters.
The late Walter H. Caldwell, father of the Fort Worth banker, was born in Bastrop County, January 1, 1842, and died at his home in Austin, March 5, 1910. He was educated in the Bastrop Military Academy, and left that school to volunteer in the famous Terry's Rangers, the Eighth Texas Cavalry. He was in the first battle of his command in Kentucky, where Colonel Terry fell, was seriously wounded in Northern Alabama in September, 1864, from which he never fully recovered. The years following the war he gave his energies to farming and stock raising on a
746
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
large scale. For his bravery and faithfulness to duty he always commanded the highest esteem of his soldier comrades, and in civil life he had a record no less meritorious, and was one of the state's most helpful and useful men.
Walter H. Caldwell married in 1881 Miss Lou Jones, daughter of Thomas H. Jones, who was also one of the early settlers of Texas. Colonel Jones moved to Texas from Coffeeville, Mississippi, in the late forties, settling on the Colorado River, near Austin. and later moving to Salado, Bell County. where he lived for a great many years, a promi- nent and highly respected citizen. His wife was Maria L. Van Zandt, a sister of Isaac Van Zandt, who was prominent in early Texas history. Mrs. Caldwell is still living in Aus- tin. She is the mother of three children. Thomas J., Senator Walter D., who was born in 1884 and is a prominent lawyer of Fort Worth, and Emma Lee, wife of Jay Knox of Plainfield, New Jersey.
Thomas Jones Caldwell was born at Austin. October 10, 1882, and was well trained and educated for the responsibilities of an active professional and business career. He gradu- ated A. B. from the University of Texas in 1905, and in 1909 received his law degree from the same institution. He at once began prac- tice at Austin, and in 1910 was appointed United States Commissioner. From his law practice he was called to the duties of director and treasurer of the Federal Land Bank of Houston, serving from 1917 to 1919, and in the latter year moved to Fort Worth as a director and vice president of the Fort Worth National Bank. Mr. Caldwell was married in February, 1921, to Mrs. Ethel Lee Chambers of San Angelo, Texas. He has many friends at Fort Worth, is a member of the Fort Worth Club, River Crest Country Club, the Houston Club and is a Beta Theta Pi and Phi Delta Phi.
WV. STORER. Since completing his educa- tion and his admission to the bar. W. Storer has had his home and professional headquar- ters in Fort Worth, though his extensive con- nections with the law and with business inter- ests made him widely known throughout this part of the state.
Mr. Storer is a native of Wisconsin. born in Trempealeau County, July 7. 1868. His paternal ancestry is Welsh. His parents, now deceased, moved to Butler County, Kansas, when W. Storer was a boy and lived out their
lives there, the father successfully following farming and the livestock business. Of his seven children, five are living. W. Storer be- ing the fourth in age.
He attended public school in Kansas and afterwards entered the law department of Fort Worth University, where he graduated LL. B. in 1899. He was admitted to the Fort Worth bar in January, 1899, and on March 1, 1900, formed a partnership with R. W. Flourney, and for about twenty years was a member of the well known firm of Flourney, Smith & Storer. He handled a growing share of the important practice of this firm and on leaving it he was until June 1, 1921, a member of the legal department and its expert on land titles for the Southwestern Oil and Gas Company. Since the 1st of June. 1921. Mr. Storer has been associated in practice with Judge J. C. Smith, their offices being in the Fort Worth National Bank Building. They handle a gen- eral practice.
Mr. Storer is Past Chancellor Commander of Queen City Lodge No. 21, Knights of Pythias, is a council degree Mason, a republi- can in national politics, though confining his interest to voting. He recently assisted in or- ganizing the Tarrant County Building & Loan Association, of which he is a director and general attorney.
Mr. Storer married at Weatherford, Texas. Miss Rosa Lee Stubbs, who was reared and educated in the public schools of that city. They are the parents of two children, both attending public school at Fort Worth, Vir- ginia Lee, born April 6, 1905. and Webster Curtis, born June 26. 1907.
LAIRD E. SODERMAN, proprietor of the Terminal Hotel at Fort Worth, has been in the hotel and restaurant business practically ever since he left school; it is his profession, and he has personal talents and qualifications that fit in well with his ample experience.
Mr. Soderman was born at Troy, New York. December 20, 1889. His father, Carl Soderman, now sixty-nine years of age and a resident of Washington, Illinois, has for forty years been in the iron and steel industry and connected with what is known as the steel trust. All his six children are still living, Laird being the third in age.
Mr. Soderman received his grammar and high school education at Waukegan, Illinois. At the age of sixteen he went to Chicago and for several years his employment constituted a real apprenticeship in the hotel and restau-
747
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
rant business. After leaving that city he was a cafe proprietor at Casper, Wyoming, and in July, 1920, came to Fort Worth and bought the Terminal Hotel. Under his management he has made this one of the high-class hos- telries of Texas. The Terminal House is near the Union Depot, has two hundred rooms, eighty-six with baths, and enjoys an excep- tionally large patronage and favor with the traveling public.
Mr. Soderman is a member of the Elks Lodge. In Kansas City he married Miss Ethel Miller, who was reared and educated at Neoga. Illinois.
JOHN W. BAKER, former treasurer of the State of Texas, resigned that office during his second term to become first active vice presi- dent of the Breckenridge State Bank. Mr. Baker has for several years been a prominent factor in commercial and banking circles in West Texas, is a native of the state and mem- ber of a family that settled in Bastrop County seventy years ago.
Mr. Baker was born in Bastrop County, May 27. 1871, son of Robert and Mary Nancy (Woods) Baker. His grandfather, Obed Baker, represented one of the oldest families in Alabama. He married a Miss Fore, de- scended from one of four brothers who settled in the South and one of whom was a former captain in the British army. The Baker family is of Irish ancestry. Obed Baker moved with his family to Texas in 1851, and built a log cabin and inured himself to the frontier con- ditions of Bastrop County.
Robert Baker was born near Tuscaloosa, Fayette County, Alabama, February 5, 1839, and was about twelve years of age when he moved to Texas. In 1862 he entered the Con- federate army, most of his service being in Texas and under such leaders as General Kirby Smith and General Magruder. He was on duty for a considerable time in and around the City of Galveston. Following the war he resumed farming in Bastrop County, and in 1882 moved to near Georgetown, in William- son County, and in December, 1896, went out to West Texas, locating in the Jim Ned Val- ley of Taylor County. That was his come for nearly ten years, until his death in Febru- ary, 1905. He was a man of great industry. looked after his business affairs successfully. and he also for a period of thirty-five years performed the duties of a minister of the Primitive Baptist Church, and was a leader in the religious life of the several communities
where he lived. In 1861 he married Mary Nancy Woods, a native of Mississippi, who was brought to Texas with her parents during the fifties. She was born November 30, 1843. To their marriage were born eight sons and four daughters.
John W. Baker had his early experience in the several homes of his father above noted. He was about eleven years of age when the family moved from Bastrop to Williamson County and he grew to manhood there on his father's farm. He made good use of his ad- vantages in the local schools and for two years was a teacher in Williamson County. On go- ing to Taylor County in 1896 Mr. Baker served for several years as bookkeeper for the Clay- ton Brothers Company : in January, 1900, be- came bookkeeper for the Ed S. Hughes Hard- ware Company. and in the spring of 1904 removed to Lawn, in the southern part of Taylor County, and opened a stock of general merchandise on his own account. He was soon proprietor of a prosperous and widely ex- tended business. and from merchandising he entered banking. Mr. Baker was cashier of the Citizens National Bank of Crosbyton when in 1918 he was elected State Treasurer. He was also president of the First National Bank of Lubbock. Mr. Baker in 1920 was re-elected State Treasurer, having no opposition on the ticket, but he resigned that office July 16, 1921. to take the active management of the Brecken- ridge State Bank, one of the large and power- ful financial institutions in the oil district.
During the World war Mr. Baker was chair- man of the Council of Defense of Crosby County, chairman of the War Savings Cam- paign for two years, and vice president and treasurer of the Crosby County Red Cross. It was his distinction that he was awarded the first thousand dollar war savings certificate not only in the State of Texas, but in the United States. Otherwise he took a prominent part in the Liberty Bond drives in his own and adjoining counties, and was one of the four-minute speakers. Mr. Baker is a thirty- second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a member of Moslah Temple of the Mystic Shrine, at Fort Worth, and a Knight Templar. He has long been prominent in Odd Fellowship, occu- pying all the chairs in the Lodge and Encamp- ment, and has served as District Deputy Grand for a number of years. and at one time held a special dispensation covering the entire state. He is a member of the Eastern Star and Rebekahs and is a Past Noble Grand of the latter. Other fraternities with which he is
748
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
affiliated are the Woodmen of the World and Knights of Pythias. He is a member of the Baptist Church and active in its affairs.
November 23, 1893, he married Miss Lora Shaw, a native of Williamson County, Texas. To their marriage were born three sons and one daughter. His oldest son. W. L. Baker, was with the 509th Engineers during the World war, a non-commissioned officer, and was on active duty overseas for fifteen months. He is now receiving teller of the American National Bank at Austin, and is also a director of Travis Post of the American Legion.
EPHRAIM BECK DAGGETT was a son of Capt. Ephraim M. Daggett, "father of Fort Worth," and he spent most of his life in this city, was aligned with the men of action and progress who carried the burdens of the city's growth in discouraging times, and his name belongs on the city's roll of honor.
He was born at Independence, Missouri, in 1838, son of E. M. and Pheniba (Strauss) Daggett. His father brought his family from Eastern Texas to Fort Worth in 1849, a year after the military post was established, and the son attended school in Fort Worth when the village was clustered around the old fort on the hill.
In 1861 Mr. Daggett volunteered for service in the Confederate army, becoming a first lieu- tenant under Capt. Thomas Moody in Sibley's Brigade. He participated in the historic ex- ploit in Galveston harbor when the "Harriet Lane," a Federal gunboat, was captured, and the subsequent recapture of the City of Gal- veston by the Confederates. Lieutenant Dag- gett subsequently served with his command in Louisiana, took part in the battle of Yellow Bayou and the battle of Mansfield and several times was cited for individual bravery.
At the close of the war he returned to Fort Worth, and for many years devoted himself to his farm and property interests. He had three hundred and twenty acres, much of it included within the main section of Fort Worth, and he raised many crops where promi- nent business houses and residences now stand. He had other real estate interests over Tarrant and Jack counties and also owned mining interests in Mexico. His farm subse- quently was cut up into town lots as Daggett's Addition and comprised that portion of the city within the limits of Ninth Street, where it crosses Throckmorton, extending across Hous- ton, Main, Commerce, Jones, Grove to Cham- bers Hill, and south from Ninth to Elizabeth
Street, which was named in honor of his wife. He and other members of the family gener- ously donated lands for right of way or depot purposes to the Texas & Pacific and the Hous- ton & Texas Central, the Fort Worth & Rio Grande and the Santa Fe railways.
E. B. Daggett married Miss Elizabeth Marsh of Farmers' Branch, Dallas County. Mrs. Daggett died in September. 1921. She was the mother of five children: Frank Beck, Harri- son Marsh, Mrs. Helen Daggett Bryan, Thomas Corbin and Ephraim Merrell Daggett.
GEORGE EMMANUEL BUSHONG (1836-1905). banker, philanthropist, merchant and farmer. born at Vance, near Bristol, Sullivan County, Tennessee, March 26, 1836. He was the son of David and Dorcas Eliza (Stoffel) Bushong. He was of German descent, both his paternal and maternal grandparents having come to this country from Alsace, Germany, during the latter part of the eighteenth century. He lived on a farm in Tennessee until he was twenty-two years of age. He was well edu- cated, attending school at Bristol, Tennessee, and Emory and Henry College of that town.
He came to Texas in the fall of 1858 and settled at Grapevine, where he made his home until his death. He taught a small country school for a number of years. He served as captain of Company H, 1st Texas Cavalry, Buchel's Brigade, when fighting the Indians, and later he served as a Confederate soldier during the war between the states. Mr. Bush- ong until his death was a citizen who carried a heavy burden of business and other affairs at Grapevine. He had long been known in his community as a man of sound judgment and philanthropic disposition. He was a bene- factor to the poor and a leader in most ques- tions of enterprise. He helped to organize the Grapevine National Bank and was elected president, which place he held up to the time of his death, which occurred December 3, 1905. He was one of the large property owners in. that section of Tarrant County. He also estab- lished the first cotton gin, an industry he con- tinued until it burned. He was an active member in the Babtist Church.
September 18, 1866, Mr. Bushong married Miss Elizabeth Ann Jenkins of Grapevine, Texas, who was born March 4, 1848. She is still living and resides at Grapevine. Mrs. Bushong is a daughter of E. M. and Ellen (Dunn) Jenkins. The town of Grapevine was first known as Dunnville in honor of her maternal grandfather. Her father, E. M.
749
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
Jenkins, was the first merchant of Grape- vine. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. G. E. Bushong were born thirteen children, six of whom still live: Mrs. R. B. Morgan of Memphis, Texas; Mrs. Anna E. Burgoon of Denton, Texas; Mrs. J. W. Brock, George L. Bushong, Mrs. Kate Turnage, Clinton A. Bushong, all living at Grapevine, Texas.
James Henry Allison was reared and president and publisher of the Fort Worth Record, has never had an important interest or vocation outside of journalism.
He was born at Mount Vernon, Knox County, Ohio. August 4, 1879, son of J. M. and Julia M. (Newby Allison, his father of Scotch ancestry. His mother, a native of Bir- mingham, England, was a daubter of James Newby, who while a merchant was also greatly interested in moral and religious philosophy and wrote a great deal on these subjects. Julia Newby's uncles were publishers in Eng- land, one being telegraph editor for the London Daily Times and another owned a string of newspapers.
James Henry Allison was reared and educated at Columbus, Ohio, graduating from high school in 1898. In the meantime for several years he had worked at nights and Sundays in the business and circulation depart- ments of the Columbus Dispatch, and after leaving high school he became a whole-time employee of the Dispatch, which he served altogether for fourteen years. Later he was with the National Stockman and Farmer of Pittsburgh, and in November, 1911, became business manager and subsequently general manager of the Nashville Tennessean. Mr. Allison was connected with this old and respected journal for about eight years. As vice president and general manager of the Tennessean he was brought into close associa- tion with the owner of the Tennessean, United States Senator Luke Lea. During the World war Mr. Allison was chief of the American Protective League for Middle Tennessee.
On June 8, 1919, he came to Fort Worth as general manager and vice president of the Fort Worth Record and has been president, publisher and principal owner since July 1, 1921. Mr. Allison was first president of the Rotary Club of Nashville in 1913, District Governor of the Sixth District Rotary Club in 1914, served as president of the Fort Worth Rotary Club in 1921. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of Moslah Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Fort Worth, is a Knight
of Pythias, an Elk and a member of the Fort Worth Club and River Crest Country Club. He is a senior warden in St. Andrew Episcopal Church.
July 28, 1900, at Columbus, Ohio, he married Miss Mary Frances Abbott. Her father, George Abbott, was of the distin- guished New England family of Abbotts, and a relative of Dr. Lyman Abbott. The six children of Mr. and Mrs. Allison bear the names . of James Newby. Mary Helen, Marguerite Louise, Robert Donald, Dorothy Katherine and George Abbott Allison.
JOHN PURVIS DAGGETT. John Purvis Dag- gett who died February 25, 1919, was one of the strong and able men who had brought the name Daggett memorable distinction in the history of North Texas. He was a son of Charles B. Daggett, Sr., and a nephew of E. M. Daggett, who were soldiers in the bat- tle of San Jacinto and both of whom became conspicuous as founders and builders of the modern city of Fort Worth. These services, particularly those of E. M. Daggett, have been fully treated by Capt. Paddock in the general history of Fort Worth.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.