New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 103

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416

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Mr. Black was born in Neosho County, Kansas, in 1873. His father, George W. Black (deceased since 1918), was an extensive farmer in Kansas for many years. He came to Texas in 1913 and retired from active business pursuits. His mother was Miss Amanda Isenhour, a member of a well known Penn- sylvania family. Mr. Black's education was obtained in the public schools of Kansas.

Mr. Black started in the furniture business in Neodesha, Kansas, in 1897 and in 1908 opened another furniture establishment at Joplin, Missouri. These stores were conducted under the name of Black Bros., his brother, John B. Black, being a partner in the business. In 1913 they sold these stores and came to Texas and purchased a large tract of land in the Rio Grande Valley, and began to improve this body of land and to sell it off in small tracts. John B. Black remained in the Rio Grande Valley to look after their interests there while the subject of this sketch came to Houston and opened an office. A few months later Mr. Black opened the small furniture store that in a decade has grown into one of the greatest establishments of the kind in Houston. After disposing of the Rio Grande interests, John B. Black joined the fur- niture firm in Houston.

Mr. Black was married at Minerva, Kansas, in 1898 to Miss Ruby Long, a member of a prominent Kansas family. They have three children-J. Ray- mond, George Henry and Marion Elizabeth. Mr. and Mrs. Black reside at 1121 West Alabama Ave- nue. Mr. Black is interested in other local enter- prises, among them being the Public National Bank of which he is a director. He is a member of the A. F. and A. M. of the Consistory at Wichita, Kan- sas, a Shriner of Arabia Temple, of which he is a charter member, which membership he transferred from the Shrine in Pittsburg, Kansas. Mr. Black is identified with and takes an active interest in all agencies working for the greater development and civic improvement of Houston.

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NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

ILLIAM H. TENISON, for the past several years a resident of Houston, and a factor in the automobile business in this city, has developed one of the largest businesses specializing in used cars, here, and is regarded as one of the most progressive automobile men in this section of the State. Mr. Tenison is a member of the firm of the Tenison Motor Company, a partner- ship composed of himself, and his brother, Jack R. Tenison. This firm was established in 1919 and a distributorship for Maxwell and Chalmers cars, and for some time acted in this capacity, doing much to popularize these cars in Harris County. Later however, the firm decided to concentrate on used cars, buying and selling used cars of all makes, and giving special attention to the highest class cars, a business which has grown rapidly, and is now the largest in the city of an exclusively used car nature. A brokerage business is also handled, and in addi- tion to taking care of all their own paper the firm also handles paper for other local firms, and loans money on automobiles. There are always on display at the show rooms of the Tenison Motor Company, at 1116 Mckinney Avenue, many used cars of the highest class, and which are offered at prices that represent real value. The buyer of a used car from this firm eliminates much of the chance element that has been a disadvantage to the used car busi- ness, for the Tenison Motor Company refuses to misrepresent a car, and makes a point of putting all cars offered for sale in the best of condition. Mr. Tenison has given special attention to this branch of automobile merchandising, and is pro- gressive, an able sales organizer, and manager, and one of the most valued additions to the automobile business in the city.

William H. Tenison was born at Dallas, Texas, the third of January, 1895, son of the late J. R. Teni- son, of that city. J. R. Tenison, founder of the Tenison Brothers Saddlery, of Dallas, was brought to that city as a child of five by his parents, and reared and educated there. He, with his brothers, established the Tenison Brothers Saddlery in the early days, as a small industry, but which later became the largest saddlery manufacturing com- pany in the Southwest and one of the largest enter- prises in the city of Dallas. Mr. Tenison was mar- ried to Miss Maude Inskeep, a native of Ohio, and who still makes her home in Dallas. William H. Tenison was educated in the public schools of Dal- las, and after graduating from the high school there entered Princeton University, of which institution he is a graduate, class of '17. Immediately after graduating from Princeton Mr. Tenison enlisted in the navy, during the World War, and was stationed on the Pacific Coast, at San Francisco, California. After the armistice he was discharged and returned to his home for a short time, after which he went to Cisco, Texas, and spent ten months with the Texas Company there. He then came to Houston and took over the Chalmers-Maxwell Agency, which he operated for two and a half years. More recently he has been giving his time to the development of his extensive used car business, the firm of the Tenison Motor Company being the largest dealers of used cars in Houston, and one of the largest au- tomobile brokerage firms in the Gulf Coast district.

Mr. Tenison was married at Dallas, the twenty- eighth day of August, 1920, to Miss Lucile Hughes,

sister of Maury Hughes, former District Attorney of Dallas, and a member of one of the most promi- nent Dallas families. Mr. and Mrs. Tenison have one of the most attractive homes in Houston, at 1406 Kipling Avenue, and have one child, a son, William H., Junior. Mr. Tenison is a member of the Prince- ton University Club and takes an active interest in the development of Houston and the advancement of the automobile industry. As a representative of one of the most prominent Texas families he has proven himself well worthy, and is one of the pro- gressive, well liked business men of Houston.

HARLES BRUCE FERGUSON, a native Houstonian and a man of broad business and public experience, for a number of years served Harris County in an important elective office, and won the highest esteem of his constituency. Mr. Ferguson was elected tax col- lector of Harris County the seventh of July, 1922, and re-elected in the fall of 1922, his term to expire the first of January, 1925. While in this office Mr. Ferguson at all times demonstrated his abil- ity to fill a position of public trust, and retained the highest confidence of the people. He organized his department on an efficient working basis, and rendered a real service to his county during his two terms of office.

Mr. Ferguson is now engaged in the insurance business, with offices on the third floor of the Gulf Building. He is meeting with marked success in this venture.

Charles Bruce Ferguson was born at Houston, the twenty-first of April, 1875. His father, James T. Ferguson, a native of Louisiana, came to Hous- ton as a young man and was one of the pioneers of this city. His death occurred in 1896. He was married to Miss Addie Kirby, a native of Mexico, who, with her family, came to Houston during the war with Mexico, and whose death occurred in 1918. Mr. Ferguson was educated in the public schools of Houston, and after leaving school went with the International and Great Northern Railway, remain- ing with them from 1896 until 1898. He then went with the Southern Pacific Railway and was in the local freight depot for a number of years. He entered the county tax office, under George Glass, in 1905, resigning in August, 1916, as deputy tax collector. He spent one year in Colorado, after which he returned to Houston and was with the Houston Oil Company for a short while. He then went back in the tax collector's office as deputy, resigning a short time before becoming a candidate for the office of county tax collector for Harris County.

Mr. Ferguson was married at Houston to Miss Ninne Yarrington, a native of Galveston and the daughter of F. A. Yarrington. Mr. and Mrs. Fer- guson make their home at 1903 Webster Avenue. They have a family of three children-Florence, wife of Lawrence J. Forney, of Houston; Mary Louise and Frances, at home. Mr. Ferguson is a Woodman of the World, and takes an active part in the affairs of this order. He is a man with a wide personal popularity, and has made many friends at Houston. His conscientious dispatching of his duties during the many years he held public office, and his strict adherence to the responsibil- ities involved have greatly increased this popu- larity.

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MEN OF TEXAS

S AMUEL POYNTZ COCHRAN, veteran in- surance man with nearly half a century of active, continuous work to his credit, mem- ber of the well known firm of Trezevant and Cochran, 1821 Young Street, with which he has been connected since July 1, 1883, has occupied a pictur- esque place in the history of the City of Dallas.

The firm was organized on March 1, 1876, by J. T. Dargan and J. T. Trezevant and operated under the name of Dargan and Trezevant. Mr. Dargan retired from the business in 1888 and the firm name was then changed to Trezevant and Cochran.

Mr. Cochran came to Dallas in 1881, having prior to that time been engaged in the fire insurance busi- ness with his uncle, James W. Cochran, at Lexing- ton, Kentucky, and in his own agency at Covington. The first work of Mr. Cochran in the insurance field was in 1873 and was with the surveying corps em- ployed by the National Board of Fire Underwriters. His work with the National Board was at Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton and Toledo, Ohio. In 1874 he entered the employment of the general agency of J. W. Cochran and Son at Lexington, this firm repre- senting the Franklin Fire Insurance Company of Philadelphia. This company was represented by some member of the Cochran family continuously since 1830 until 1910.

The territory embraced in the general agency of Trezevant and Cochran is Texas, Arkansas, Louis- iana, Oklahoma and New Mexico. When the office was opened in 1876 the firm represented only one company, "The Fire Association," of Philadelphia. In the years that have elapsed since that time, many companies have come and gone and at this time the firm represents, for direct and reinsurance fire business and allied lines, about one-half of the largest companies in the world, their combined re- sources, it is said, aggregating more than one hun- dred million dollars. The Fire Association is still represented by Trezevant and Cochran, their agency with this company now being in its forty-sixth year.

The building owned and occupied by the firm ex- clusively at 1821 Young Street, was erected in 1911 and represents the very latest ideas in the arrange- ment of its interior for the promotion of efficiency in the handling of insurance. The office employees of the firm number 119 and eighteen adjusters and special agents are employed. The firm is known only as a departmental office and does not write any business except through its representatives and agencies.

Mr. Cochran was born at Lexington, Kentucky, September 11, 1855, a son of Colonel John Carr and Samuella Tannehill (Dewees) Cochran. His father held a commission as colonel of the Fourteenth Ken- tucky Volunteer Infantry, United States Army. His ancestors were of sturdy, American stock and fought in the Revolutionary War and in the War of 1812 and his father served with distinction in the Civil War.

He was educated in the public schools of Cincin- nati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky, and graduated as valedictorian of his class at the Covington High School in 1873, entering the insurance field in July following his graduation. While conducting his local agency at Covington, Mr. Cochran was appointed deputy United States marshal and served for three years.

Mr. Cochran came to Texas in 1881 as special

agent for the Phoenix of Hartford, his territory em- bracing Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi. He traveled the territory for this company almost con- tinuously until he became connected with Dargan and Trezevant in 1883. From its small beginning with one company, the business of Trezevant and Cochran has increased until the annual volume of premiums aggregates over three million dollars.

On July 3, 1883, Mr. Cochran was married at Lex- ington, Kentucky, to Miss Sue Webb Higgins, mem- ber of a well known Kentucky family. They reside at 3720 Cedar Springs Road.

Mr. Cochran is one of the most prominent figures in Masonry in the Southwest and has filled perhaps more positions of trust and responsibility in the order than any other one man. In October, 1903, he was elected inspector general honorary and elevated to the rank of thirty-third degree. In October, 1911, he was crowned Sovereign Grand Inspector General and became the active member of the Supreme Coun- cil for Texas. He also is representative of the Supreme Council of France and past grand sovereign of the Grand Imperial Council of the Order of the Red Cross of Constantine. He is a member of the Masonic Veterans Association of Illinois.

Among the official positions held by Mr. Coch- ran are the following: past grand master of the Grand Lodge of Texas, A. F. and A. M .; past grand high priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Texas; past grand master of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of Texas; past grand com- mander of the Grand Commandery Knights Templar of Texas; past grand patron of the Grand Chapter of the Eastern Star of Texas; Past Potentate of Hella Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. of Dallas.

Mr. Cochran is a member of the Christian Science Church and for many years one of its board of trustees.

EORGE BANNERMAN DEALEY as vice president and general manager of the A. H. Belo and Company, publishers of the Dallas and the Galveston Morning News and The Dallas Evening Journal, is well known to the thou- sands of Texas and the Southwest as publisher and philanthropist.

He was born in England, September 18, 1859, at Manchester, the son of George and Mary A. Dealey. He was educated in the schools of Liverpool, Eng- land, and Galveston, Texas, having reached the Lone Star State in 1870. At the age of twenty-five, he married Olivia Allen of Missouri.

Mr. Dealey's career in the newspaper world be- gan on October 12, 1874, as office boy for the Gal- veston News. His promotion was rapid; from 1885 to 1906, he served as business manager for The Dallas News. Since 1906, Mr. Dealey has been vice president and general manager for A. H. Belo & Company. The Dallas News is one of the pioneer dailies of the State and enjoys one of the most extensive circulation lists of any paper in the South- west. Its editorials and opinions are frequently quoted over the nation.

Mr. Dealey is active in all progressive moves of his home city, Dallas, where he has attained leader- ship in organized charitable work and in efforts to better general conditions of living. He has served or is serving as president of the United Charities of Dallas, a director of the Chamber of Commerce, honorary vice president of the National

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NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

Housing Association, vice chairman of the Dallas Plan and Improvement League. He is an Independ- ent democrat, a thirty-third degree honorary Scottish Rite Free Mason and a member of the Red Cross of Constantine. He belongs to the Dallas Country Club and the Critics Club. Mr. Dealey is a member of the Presbyterian Church.

E. HAWKINS, well known in business cir- cles of Texas, is credit manager for the Investment Finance Corporation of Dallas. The Investment Finance Corporation is probably the leading company of its kind in Texas. In addition to financing automobile dealers, it does a general real estate mortgage business. Mr. E. Gordon Perry is president, and Frank Wozencraft, ex-mayor of Dallas, is vice president.

Mr. Hawkins is a native of Texas and was born at Berclair, in Bell County, on September 25th, 1893. His father, W. P. Hawkins, has been engaged in the mercantile and cotton business at Winters and other points in Bee and Bell counties for many years. He came to Texas at the age of sixteen following the close of the Civil War. The younger Mr. Hawkins attended the public schools at Winters and the high school at Ballinger and was a student at the Univer- sity of Texas for three years. After leaving the university he entered the banking business with the First National Bank at Winters, remaining there for seven years when he accepted a position with the American National Bank at Austin. He resigned his position with the Austin bank to engage in business with his father and from 1911 until 1913 was in the cotton business at Winters, where he studied every phase of the handling of cotton.

On October 12th, 1916, Mr. Hawkins was married at Winters to Miss Loretta J. Reilly, daughter of T. J. Reilly, member of an old West Texas family. Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins have one child. Wallace Haw- kins of Dallas, brother of D. E. Hawkins, occupied the position as assistant attorney general of Texas, and was a member of the Thirty-fifth Texas Legisla- ture, resigning to enter the United States Army in 1917. He was commissioned second lieutenant at the First Officers Training Camp at Leon Springs, and served in various camps during the war, re- ceiving his discharge with the rank of captain in December, 1918. Mr. D. E. Hawkins takes an active interest in the civic life of Dallas, and is identifed with the varied activities seeking to foster the city's growth and development. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Masonic Blue Lodge No. 2 at Austin, the Scottish Rite and Ben Hur Shrine at Austin. He is also a member of the Lions Club there. He is affiliated with the Methodist Church.

ALLACE MOORE, well known and popular in sporting goods circles of Houston, at- tained a commendable reputation during his residence here. Mr. Moore came to Houston as manager of the Houston Sporting Goods Com- pany when Cullum and Boren of Dallas took over the store. He was active in the management until his removal to Dallas, where he is connected with Cullum and Boren in their Dallas store.

A native Texan, Mr. Moore was born in Sherman, July 7th, 1890. His father, also a native of the Lone Star State, has been a resident of Dallas for thirty-five years, where he is well known in the

business circles. Mr. Moore's early education was obtained in the public schools of Dallas, and later he was a student of Austin College at Sherman, Texas. After leaving school Mr. Moore started his business career in a retail drug store, first at Amarillo, Texas, and then at Denison, Texas, the employment at these two places covered a period of three years. He then returned to Dallas and en- tered the employ of Cullum and Boren, dealers in sporting goods, as a salesman, where he remained for eight years, from 1910 to 1918, leaving the com- pany in order to enlist in the World War. Mr. Moore was sent to Camp McArthur, at Waco, Texas, where he was assigned to the 8th Field Artillery, 7th Division of the Regular Army as a private. He re- mained at Camp McArthur only four weeks before sailing for France. He afterward entered an officer's training school, but the Armistice was signed, and he was sent back to the 7th Division, returned to the United States, and discharged on July 4th, 1919, with the rank of corporal. After receiving his dis- charge from the army, he again entered the employ of Cullum and Boren at Dallas, where he remained until June, 1921, when he was selected by them to manage the Houston Sporting Goods Company, in which he was very successful.

Mr. Moore was married in Houston in May, 1922, to Miss Helen Minor, a native of Houston, and a member of a pioneer Texas family. Mr. Moore is a member of the A. F. and A. M., with membership in Lodge No. 1129 of Dallas, the American Legion, Red Roosters and the Houston Athletic Club.

0. CONNOR, president of the Guaranty Bank and Trust Company, has been for a number of years, through his connection with one of her leading mercantile estab- lishments, on the inside of Dallas' financial affairs and although he has been actively engaged in bank- ing for only a short time, he brought to the responsi- ble position which he holds a store of valuable knowl- edge and an unusually wide experience.

Mr. Connor was born at Hamburg, Hardin County, Tennessee, and at an early age came with his par- ents, William J. and Julia (Hynes) Connor, to Jef- ferson, Texas, where the family was located in 1863. When he was still small his father died and as a result his education was limited to that offered by the schools of Jefferson. In 1868 he came to Dallas where he has since remained. In 1880 he be- came associated with Sanger Brothers and after be- ing on the road as a salesman for a year, he took charge of their credit department. Not the least factor in the development of this well known firm was the enterprising genius and industry of Mr. Connor. After forty years of continuous service in this credit department it is not surprising that Mr. Connor has the reputation of being the best posted man on credit rating in Dallas. He is still one of the directors of the Sanger Bros. Corporation and holds several other minor directorates. In 1920, when a man was needed for the presidency of the Guaran- ty Bank & Trust Company, after looking over the entire field, no man could be found who, on ac- count of his varied experience and long association with financial affairs, quite so completely met the demand as did Mr. Connor.

To Mr. and Mrs. Connor, who was formerly Miss Lulu J. Mays of Dallas, three children were born, Eugene C., Brevard M., and Dorothy Jane.

637

MEN OF TEXAS

M AJOR K. M. VAN ZANDT, president of the Fort Worth National Bank, Fort Worth, is a pioneer banker of Texas and one of the best known of his profession as well as honored and revered. Coming to Fort Worth in 1865, he has a career interwoven with the history of Fort Worth in its growth from a hamlet to the metropolis that it is today. He is the founder and director of some of its greatest financial institutions. Mr. Van Zandt was born in Franklin County, Ten- nessee, on November 7, 1836. His father was Isaac Van Zandt, the United States minister that ne- gotiated the treaty of annexation that annexed Texas to the United States. He died at the age of thirty-four. His mother, Frances Cooke Lips- comb Van Zandt, came to Texas in the spring of 1839. Her son was schooled in the public schools of Texas and then for two years in Franklin Col- lege at Nashville, Tenn., which was burned by the Federals in the Civil War. In 1865, K. M. Van Zandt came to Fort Worth where he began his career as a merchant with a small stock of goods purchased on creidt. He followed this work for eight years when, in 1874, he with Thomas A. Tidball, J. P. Smith and J. J. Jarvis each put in $5,000 and started the bank Mr. Van Zandt today is president of, but which at that time bore the name of Tidball, Van Zandt & Company. Today the bank's capitalization is $600,000, with a surplus of $1,000,000, and $500,- 000 undivided profits. It was in January of 1884, that the former name was changed and the present organization launched with Mr. Van Zandt as presi- dent, Mr. Tidball, vice president, and N. Harding as cashier. Upon the resignation of Mr. Tidball, Major Jarvis was elected vice president and later Colonel R. L. Ellison became vice president. Mr. Van Zandt has also received note as a lawyer. He studied law in Marshall, Texas, where in 1859 he was admitted to the bar. He was a member of the Thirteenth State Legislature, of 1872-73. As a soldier, he has proven himself a leader in a third realm. He was in the entire four years' struggle of the Civil War, entering as a 2nd lieutenant, a prisoner for seven months, then fighting under General Johnston who promoted him to the rank of major, later in Briggs' Army, and then, due to failing health, he was sent back in post duty. Few men of today, if any, have proven themselves of first rate value in so many callings-banker, legislator and soldier.

Mr. Van Zandt was married to Minerva Peete; upon her death, he married Miss Martha Peete, and after her decease he married Miss Octavia Pendle- ton in 1885. He has thirteen children: K. M., J., a banker in Mexico City; Richard, Mary L., now Mrs. Geo. B. Hendricks of San Angelo, Texas; Florence Jennings, the widow of Hyde Jennings, Fort Worth; Ida, now Mrs. Leroy A. Smith; Isaac, in the real estate business at Fort Worth; Annie, now Mrs. L. H. Atwell of Houston; Virginia, who is Mrs. W. A. Diboll of Fort Worth; Edwin P., in the cattle commission business of Fort Worth; Alice, now Mrs. A. C. Williams; Frances, now Mrs. Clar- ence Sloan of Fort Worth; Margaret, who is Mrs. O. Y. Miller of Gorman, Texas; and Sidney, who is in school.

As banker and capitalist, Mr. Van Zandt is one of the most honored of his profession in the Lone Star State. He has had much to do in the past history of his city and will continue yet a leading factor in its future.

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 103

Author: Davis, Ellis A. Publication date: 1926 Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?] Number of Pages: 1416

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416