New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 143

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

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Subsidiary to the Model Laundry and Dye Works is the Ideal Dry Cleaning and Dyeing Company, which was built to care for the expansion of the cleaning business formerly handled by the laundry. The "Ideal" is confined exclusively to cleaning, pressing and dyeing. The same general plan of operation is maintained in the cleaning plant as in the laundry and it bears the same relation to the cleaning industry that the laundry does to the laun-

dry industry.

W. A. Johnson was born at Prairie Lea, Caldwell County, August 12, 1876. His father, Albert C. Johnson, was a native of Indiana who came to Texas and was well known as a blacksmith and wheel- wright. His mother, Sarah Johnson, was a daughter of Anthony Cardwell, an honored pioneer of Texas and who at one time owned most of the country where Lockhart now stands. He lived to the ad- vanced age of ninety-six years, and was active until his death. W. A. Johnson spent his youth in Cald- well County, attending the public schools there, later entering Coronel Institution at San Marcos. Mr. Johnson has always had an inclination for organiza- tion and management and realizing, when a very young man, that the laundry business was in its infancy, decided to enter that industry and grow with it.

He began in the laundry business at Beaumont, in the office of a laundry plant there, and took the opportunity to become familiar with its various branches. His activity attracted favorable atten- tion and he was selected to take charge of the sales force of the Ineeda Laundry at Houston. Shortly afterwards, his native ability being recognized, he was elected vice president of this plant. He later came to Galveston and reorganized the present plant, of which he is executive head.

Mr. Johnson was married at Houston, Texas, Jan- uary 30th, 1904, to Miss Beulah Smith. They have three children, Lois, born at Houston, and the wife of Wendell S. Dove; Melba and W. A., Jr., both born in Galveston, and whose birthdays fall in the same month and on the same day of the month, October 28th. Mr. Johnson is nationally known for his work in furthering the laundry industry. He was one of the organizers and served as president of the Texas Laundry Owners Association, and has been secretary and treasurer of the organizations since 1912. He has been active in introducing to Texas laundries the cost accounting system of the Laundry Owners National Association. He is on the executive committee of this association repre- senting the third district, which comprises the states of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. He is chairman of the regional board and active in support of the work done in the Mellon Institute at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where experi- ments and scientific research work pertaining to the industry is carried out. Mr. Johnson is a member of the national council, American Institute of Laun- dering, at Joliet, Illinois, a national organization acting in an advisory capacity to the board of direc- tors, on matters relating to the financing, building and equipping of the Institute. On October fourth, 1924, he was unanimously elected president of the Laundry Owners National Association at their for- ty-first annual convention at Atlantic City in recog- nition of his services to the industry. Mr. John- son has been active in civic affairs and has given largely of his time to the furthering of the best in- terests of Galveston. Fraternally he is a Mason, Holland Lodge No. 1 at Houston, Consistory No. 1 at Galveston, Chapter No. 1, Commandery No. 1 and Council No. 1 at Galveston. He is also a member of El Mina Temple Shrine at Galveston, Mr. John- son is held in the highest esteem by all who know him as a citizen of sterling character.

959

MEN OF TEXAS

APT. WILLIAM D. HADEN, native Texan, and one of the outstanding business men of Galveston and Houston, has attained a place of leadership in the various fields in which he operates. It is probably in the shell busi- ness that he is best known and in this line he is probably without a peer in this country. The mag- nitude of his dealings in this material may be gleaned from the fact that he sold and delivered over 1,000,000 yards of shell during the past year. His executive offices are maintained in the Ameri- can National Life Insurance Building, Galveston.

Capt. Haden began in the shell business in 1904 and four years later removed to Galveston, where he has developed the business until it is now prob- ably the largest institution of its kind anywhere. Shell is obtained from Galveston Bay by hydraulic dredge, loaded directly on barges and towed by tugs to delivery points at Galveston, Houston and other places along the coast. One of the largest custom- ers is the Portland Cement Company at Houston. He has been furnishing this concern with shell for making cement for more than eight years.

Besides the business at Galveston Capt. Haden also has a plant at Port Arthur taking shell from Sabine Lake. This branch has been in operation for twelve years. At Galveston, he operates twenty barges, four tugboats and one dredge, and at Port Arthur seven barges, two tugs and one dredge. The payroll numbers approximately one hundred em- ployees.

Besides the shell business Capt. Haden is presi- dent of the Bay Towing Company, organized Jan- uary, 1921. This concern owns and operates six ocean-going tugs and is engaged in docking and un- docking ships at Galveston, Texas City, Baytown and Houston. A total of fifty people are employed by this concern.

Capt. Haden is also president of the Galveston Island Transfer Company, established in 1915. This concern operates specially designed trucks and hauls cotton from the compresses to shipside and other points as it is needed. Sixteen of these trucks are operated during the busy season, comprising about four months, and each truck has a crew of five men.

At Houston he is a partner in the road contract- ing firm of Haden and Austin, the business being actively in charge of his partner, Mr. D. T. Austin. He organized the Houston Tow Boat Company, of which he is president. This company operates along the Houston Ship Channel with four tugs. Iu Au- gust, 1925, he established on a half of block of land on Polk Avenue, Houston, a large retail plant to handle sand, gravel, rock and shell. Ten men are employed here. Another retail plant handling the same materials was located on Bissonett Street, Houston, in 1924. Capt. Haden has various other interests in Galveston and Houston and is a direc- tor of the American National Insurance Company, the largest life company in the South.

A native Texan, W. D. Haden was born at Cedar Bayou, Harris County, August 31st, 1866, a son of Dr. R. D. and Eliza (Woodall) Haden. His father came to Texas from Mississippi before the outbreak of the Civil War and served throughout the war in the forces of the Confederacy.

Capt. Haden studied in the public schools of Har- ris County and his first business venture was oper-

ating a small schooner. After four years he pur- chased a small tugboat and ran this for twelve years before engaging in the brick business at Cedar Bayou with Galveston as his principal market. He continued in the brick business for eight years and in 1904 established his shell business, which has been highly successful.

On January 3rd, 1896, Capt. Haden was married at Cedar Bayou to Miss Lucy Lawrence, daughter of S. F. Lawrence, well known Harris County citi- zen. They have seven children, Edgar, in charge of his father's business at Port Arthur; Edna, Cecil, in the office at Galveston; Leila, Violet, Lucy Dean and Joey. The family home is at 3028 Avenue O.

Mr. Haden is a progressive, energetic type of citizen and optimistic over future business condi- tions of Southeast Texas. He takes an active in- terest in civic affairs and is a member of Galveston Chamber of Commerce, the Galveston Country Club, Masonic Lodge, including membership in Texas Con- sistory No. 1 and El Mina Temple Shrine.

JAMUEL E. MONROE, for upwards of three decades associated with the petroleum in- dustry in the Lone Star State, is superin- tendent of the Houston sales district for the Texas Company. He maintains his headquarters at Houston, in the Texas Company building. Mr. Mon- roe has been with the Texas Company since May, 1911, when he began as general salesman, repre- senting the company all over Texas, until Janu- ary, 1918, when he was made superintendent of the Houston sales department.

Mr. Monroe was born at Thompsonville, Georgia, the ninth of March, 1870. His father, the late Daniel S. Monroe, a native of Georgia, came to Texas in 1872, going first to Lampasas, and later to Llano, which was his home for a quarter of a century prior to his death. His mother, who was, prior to her marriage, Miss Amma Teat, of Florida, is also de- ceased. Mr. Monroe was educated in the public schools of Lampasas, Texas, and as a young man began his career in the business world as telegraph operator at various Texas towns. Later he became manager of the Western Union at Lampasas, and still later was manager of this company at San Angelo, Temple and Columbus Texas. In 1888 he began with the Waters-Pierce Oil Company, as agent at Columbus, and later, in 1897, became gen- eral salesman for that company, remaining with them until coming with the Texas Company, with which company he is now associated.

Mr. Monroe was married at Columbus, Texas, the twenty-second of November, 1893, to Miss Nettie Little, a native of that city, and the daughter of George H. Little, a native of Texas, and for many years a resident of Columbus, and Mary Jarmon Lit- tle, also a Texan. Mr. and Mrs. Monroe make their home in Houston, at 3016 Crawford Street, and have one son, Douglas Durrell Monroe, a gradu- ate of the Virginia Military College, who later took post-graduate work in business administration at the University of Texas, and is now a member of the firm of Monroe-Josey Company, of Beaumont. He was married to Miss Margaret Norvell, daughter of the late Lipscomb Norvell, formerly a prominent. hardware man of Beaumont, and a member of a prominent Beaumont family. Mr. Monroe is strictly a family man, belonging to no clubs or like or- ganizations.

960

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NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

EON SETTEGAST, for a decade identified with the lumber industry at Houston, has attained the reputation of a progressive merchant who takes an interest in the de- velopment of his community and the relation of his business to that development. The W. S. Lumber Company, Incorporated, of which Mr. Settegast is Secretary, Treasurer and Manager, was established and incorporated in 1913, Mr. Settegast having been one of the organizers of the company. The yard occupies an entire city block at 2500 Preston Avenue. where is also located the office of the company. The W. S. Lumber Company does a general retail lumber business, supplying any and all kinds of lumber and building material, and specializing in yellow pine. A finance department makes it pos- sible for the firm to make building loans, and to build and sell houses on long time payments. A force of ten men are employed in the yards and offices. The officers of the W. S. Lumber Cmpany are J. J. Settegast, President, Julius Settegast, Vice- President, and Leon Settegast, the subject of our sketch, Secretary, Treasurer and Manager.

Mr. Settegast was born at Houston in 1886, son of J. J. and Kate (Flaeck) Settegast, well known Houston residents, who came to this city from Ger- many. In the early days of Houston's history the elder Mr. Settegast was in the cattle business, and for many years was one of the best known cattle- men in this part of the State. He is now in the real estate business, and owns much Houston prop- erty, taking an active part in civic improvement. Mr. Settegast was educated in the public schools of Houston, and after finishing his education he went in the cattle business with his father, after three and a half years going into the lumber business, in 1913, establishing the present W. S. Lumber Company, with which he has since been connected.

Mr. Settegast was married at Houston, in 1907, to Miss Barbara Walker, daughter of J. G. Walker, who has been in the cigar business at Houston for many years. Her mother, prior to her marriage, was Miss Mollie Daniels. Mr. and Mrs. Settegast make their home at 2902 Congress Avenue, and have two children, Leon J. and Mary Kathryn.

HE N. O. NELSON MANUFACTURING COMPANY, of which Mr. B. O. Smiley is the Houston Manager, represents in South Texas, one of the largest manufacturers and jobbers of high grade plumbing fixtures, heating materials and hot water heaters in the United States. Established in Houston in 1912, the Nelson Company has made a record for growth and progress, the present plant and stock representing an investment of better than a quarter of a million dollars. They occupy a new brick building, with two stories and a basement, sixty by one hundred and twenty-five feet, and a warehouse seventy by one hundred and ninety feet. The N. O. Nelson Manufacturing Company owns this property, covering one-half of a city block, at the corner of Franklin and Jackson Streets. They have a force of thirty employees and seven salesmen on the road. The sales territory of the Houston branch covers the southern part of the State, south of Waco, and the southern half of Louisiana. L. D. Lawnin is President of the N. O. Nelson Manufactur- ing Company, A. B. Pierce, Vice-President, W. H. Baker, Secretary, and J. A. Senkosky, Treasurer. The officers are all in the St. Louis headquarters,

Mr. B. O. Smiley having charge of the Houston branch.

Mr. Smiley was born near Versailles, Missouri, in 1881, where he was educated in the public schools, graduating from the high school there, after which he attended a teachers' normal. He then engaged in farming and teaching until he was twenty-three years old, at which time he took a complete business course and during the ensuing eight years, and up to the time of his employment with the Nelson Com- pany, he was engaged in accounting, traffic and sales department work with various railroads and commercial houses.

Mr. Smiley has been associated with the N. O. Nelson Manufacturing Company since 1912, serving in various departments until 1918, when he was made Manager of the Houston branch, which position he now holds.

A. LEE is a member of the Lee Realty Company, which is composed of W. A. Lee and T. J. Lee, and are engaged in a general real estate business, are members of Hous- ton Real Estate Board and own valuable property. They specialize in apartment houses, hotels, etc., and Mr. Lee is always on the lookout for oppor- tunities for investments, and is interested in the fig industry of South Texas. The Lee Realty Com- pany have their office at 339 Kress Building. Mr. Lee has been a resident of Houston for twenty years, and is interested in anything pertaining to agriculture and says that he is a farmer. Mr. Lee, with his brother, H. C. Lee, are engaged in truck farming on a large scale, and most of their acreage is devoted to watermelon growing; they have four- teen hundred acres planted to watermelons. Eight years ago they started to raise watermelons on a small scale, and this business has grown until now they ship eight hundred car loads with an average of one thousand melons to the car, to the Northern and Eastern markets annually. They sell to buyers right on the ground where the melons are raised, in Austin County. H. C. Lee spends practically all his time on the farm and is not interested in the Lee Realty Company with W. A. and T. J. Lee, and has built up one of the largest industries of its kind in the state, and has been a success from a monetary standpoint.

A native Texan, Mr. Lee was born in Lavaca County, February 25th, 1893. His father, T. Jef- ferson Lee, was also born in Lavaca County; his grandfather, Robert Lee, came to Texas from Mis- souri in the pioneer days of Texas. Mr. Lee's education was obtained in the public schools of Lavaca County and the public and high schools of Houston. Immediately after leaving school Mr. Lee engaged in his present line of work, and is regarded as one of the most successful young bus- iness men of the city.

Mr. Lee was married in Houston in 1913, to Miss Alice Helen Johnson, a member of a well known Texas family. They have one daughter-Mary Alice Lee. Mr. and Mrs. Lee reside at 4306 Garrow Street. Mr. Lee is a member of the B. P. O. E., and takes an active interest in this organization. He is a member of the Baptist Church. Mr. Lee is optimistic as to the future of Houston, and is active in all agencies working for the greater development and civic improvement of the city of his adoption.

963

MEN OF TEXAS

OHN L. STERLING, pioneer of Galveston and Southwest Texas, who has taken a con- structive interest in the development of this section, has been identified with financial, commercial and industrial affairs here for many years, and few men have been more energetic in the work for the development of a greater Galveston. Mr. Sterling was one of the organizers of the Hum- ble Oil and Refining Company and one of the original stock holders in this company, and since April, 1919, has been manager of the company at Galveston, in charge of the distribution of gaso- line and other refined products and the fuel oil department bunkers ships coming into Galveston. Mr. Sterling is also a director of the Guarantee Building and Loan Association, a five hundred thousand dollar corporation, and a director of the Joyland Park Association, and one of the directors of the First National Bank at Texas City, owns a one-third interest in the Wiley Nichols Company, and also has real estate holdings and various small holdings at Galveston and in this section. He is also president of the Sterling Press, manufacturing printers; president of the San Leon Fig Company, owners of six hundred and eighty acres of fig land in Galveston County. The company has already two hundred and fifty acres in bearing fig trees. He recently organized the Galveston Fig Company, of which he is president. This company is to build a fig preserving plant in Galveston County. Mr. Sterling is also interested in the new Galvez Mills Company that is building a plant in Galveston to manufacture cotton goods.

John L. Sterling was born in Chambers County the tenth of May, 1873, the son of B. F. Sterling, who came to Texas before the Civil War and was a personal friend of Sam Houston, traveling with him in Texas and lecturing against secession. In as- sociation with Col. Wrigly, he built the first rail- road in this section, now the Southern Pacific, the road running from Houston to Liberty. On account of ill health he had to abandon the project, selling to people who finally built the line to New Orleans. John L. Sterling grew up on a farm in Chambers County in a day when public schools were available for only a few months of the year, and with the result that he had few educational opportunities. When he was fifteen years old he was running a boat from Chambers County to Galveston, his brother, R. S. Sterling at that time having a store on Double Bayou, where he gathered produce, John L. Sterling taking this by boat to Galveston where he traded it for general merchandise, returning with this to the store. This business was operated from 1888 until 1899, in which year a crop failure left many of the farmers in Chambers County in their debt, and Mr. Sterling as the result owed some three thousand dollars to merchants at Galveston. He came to Galveston to live permanently, with ten dollars in his pocket. He began work on the docks, handling cotton, and made around fifty-six dollars per week, and by 1902 had saved enough money to pay all his debts and had educated his sister, Miss Florence Sterling, at Draughons Business College at Galveston. Miss Sterling served several years as secretary of the Humble Oil and Refining Company and is one of the best known business women in the United States. In the interval between the storm of 1900 and the reopening of the produce business,

Mr. Sterling worked as a carpenter and mechanic. With the reopening of business he became a silent partner in the W. J. Hughes and Company, and had charge of produce and shipping in car load lots. After a year Mr. Hughes sold this interest to Will- iamson, Desel and Gardner, a year later Mr. Gard- ner selling his interest to Mr. Sterling, who con- ducted the business the ensuing year, with his sis- ter, Miss Florence Sterling, as bookkeeper and stenographer. A year later he bought the entire firm, reorganizing it as the John L. Sterling Pro- duce Company, which he operated until 1907. In that year he disposed of the produce business and bought an interest in the Wiley & Nichols Company, of which he was vice president. This company was and still is the largest transfer and warehouse com- pany in the entire South.

In 1903, R. S. Sterling, who had been working for John L. Sterling in the produce business at Gal- veston, went to Sour Lake and came back to Gal- veston feeling that a wonderful opportunity lay there. The two borrowed three thousand dollars from L. W. Levy to start a feed business at Sour Lake. A little later this venture had proven so successful that they broadened the scope of the business and established branches at Saratoga, Bat- son, and Humble. In 1908 R. S. Sterling started the Humble Oil and Refining Company, with John L. Sterling as one of the original stockholders, and he has been actively in the oil business since that time, becoming one of the leading oil men of the country.

Mr. Sterling was married the sixth of June, 1906, at Galveston, to Miss Ethel Adel Chase, a native of Maine. They reside at Galveston, where they have one of the fine homes of the city, and have five chil- dren: Asenath, Fred B., Ethel Adel, Bernice Love and Florence Mary, who is named for Mr. Sterling's sister. Mr. Sterling belongs to various social and civic organizations, and is a Mason, Tucker Lodge, Number 297, Galveston, Texas Consistory No. 1, at Galveston; K. C. C. H., Knight Templar at San Felipe de Austin, Chapter 1, Galveston. Mr. Sterling is one of the leading business men of South Texas, interested in every progressive movement, whether it is of civic or commercial significance.

OHN N. CHRISTENSEN, for upwards of three decades has been known at Galveston as one of the most progressive and enter- prising business men here, and enjoys the distinction of having been the first man in Galves- ton to acquire an automobile agency. He has con- tinued to the present day as one of the leading auto- mobile dealers here. Mr. Christensen is one of the owners of John Christensen and Company, operat- ing a complete Ford agency, selling Fords, Lincolns and Fordsons in Galveston, and also handling plows and implements for use with the Fordson tractor. His business has increased year by year. The first year the Fordson was placed on the market Mr. Christensen delivered seventy-five of these sturdy and dependable tractors in six months.

The development of the firm of John Christensen and Company makes one of the most interesting ac- counts in the history of the business development of Galveston. Starting in 1897 with a small bicycle and repair shop in a little building opposite the Young Men's Christian Association, with a work- bench and a stock valued at less than seventy-five

964

John L'Sterling

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NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

dollars, but with an enthusiasm and determination to succeed, John Christensen and his partner, A. J. Rasmussen, have built up a business handling bi- cycles, auto accessories, sporting goods and automo- biles which is one of the largest firms in Galveston.

In 1904 the company acquired the agency for the first automobile that was put out, the Oldsmobile, and in 1905 took the Ford agency, having the exclu- sive agency for the territory of Galveston and Bra- zoria Counties for a number of years. In 1910 the John Christensen Company added the Marmon and in 1911 the Mitchell became their best seller. In 1912 they dropped the Mitchell, taking over the Cole, and later dropping that for the Cadillac, keeping that car until 1915, when they gave it up to take the Buick, which they kept until 1917, since which time they have been handling Ford products exclusively. The John Christensen Company recently moved into their new building, on the corner of Twenty-third Street and Avenue F, where they have modern and handsome show rooms and one of the finest auto- mobile buildings in Galveston, including complete service and parts departments. They also have a large warehouse at Forty-sixth Street and Avenue J. The company, beginning with a capital of sev- enty-five dollars, has thus grown until the annual volume of business averages seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars and is growing.

John C. Christensen was born at Lemwig, Den- mark, the first of June, 1871, and spent his boyhood there, attending the schools of that country. As a young man of twenty years Mr. Christensen came to the United States alone, at which time he could speak no English and had no money. He made his way to Nebraska, working on a farm there and carrying scraps of newspapers in his pocket so that in his few leisure moments he could be studying English. In three months time he had learned to read English fairly well, and in two years was able to speak the language fluently, largely through lis- tening to others speak and later practicing the words by himself, although he had no direct teach- ing. Today he has no trace of a foreign accent and speaks unusually correct English. After some years in Nebraska, Mr. Christensen came to Texas, coming first to Granada, and later going to Edna. His first trip to Galveston was on a Sunday excur- sion, and the glimpse of the sea made him so home- sick that he decided to leave the inland city and come here. His first work was on the wharf, where he worked as a laborer to secure the money to start the bicycle venture.

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 143

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