New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 53

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

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HOMAS W. BLAKE, while yet a young man, has had an interesting and eventfu. career in the lumber business which has extended over a period of almost a score of years. Mr. Blake is the organizer and president of the Thomas W. Blake Lumber Company with office at 1518 Second National Bank Building, Houston. This company was organized in February, 1922, and are wholesalers of yellow pine and West Coast pro- ducts, railroad ties and piling, and is interested in a large sawmill in South Texas and handle all the products from this mill. In 1922, the same year of organizatioin, the Thomas W. Blake Lumber Com- pany did business to the amount of $787,000.00, which is considered a remarkable record. They sell lumber and all the commodities which they handle all over the country and do a considerable volume of export business as well. They are now operating re- tail lumber yards at Mission, Francitas and Hearne, all in Texas, and all business of this company is transacted from the Houston office. Through his long experience in various parts of the United States, Mr. Blake has been shown conclusively that there is more lumber sold in Houston than any city in the South. S. W. Jones is secretary and treasurer of the Thomas W. Blake Lumber Company.

A native Texan, Mr. Blake was born at Mexia on July 8th, 1882. His father, J. W. Blake, also a native of the Lone Star State, is well known in banking circles where he had banks in Sherman, Dallas and Mexia; he is now residing in Houston. His mother was Miss Flora Ella Yelverton, a native of Calvert, Texas, and a member of a well known Central Texas family. His early education was ob- tained in the public schools of Mexia, Texas, and he later attended Austin College, Sherman, Texas, and graduated from this institution in the class of 1900. He then became a student at the A. & M. College and graduated from this college in the class of 1904 with the B. S. degree.

During the same year of his graduation from col- lege, Mr. Blake became assistant to the financial agent of the state penitentiary and remained in this position for one year. He then entered the lumber business with the West Lumber Company as assist- ant mill superintendent, and later became super- intendent of the mills owned by this company at Potomac and Benford, Texas respectively. From 1907 to 1911 he was northern sales agent for the West Lumber Company at Chicago. In 1911 he came to Houston as assistant sales manager for the same company in this territory and during that same year was made manager of the retail yards and man- ager of mill production. He remained in this posi- tion until January, 1922, when he organized his own company, which has met with wonderful success. Since coming to Houston in 1911, Mr. Blake has been closely connected with the commercial interests of the city and is vice president of the South Texas Hardwood Lumber Company and a director in many local enterprises. He is interested in educational matters, both in Houston and the state, and is chair- man of the legislative committee of the A. & M. College. Mr. Blake was married at Amarillo, Texas, September 12th, 1910, to Miss Ellen Douglas Mose- ley, a native Texan and a daughter of Judge A. G. Moseley, a prominent lawyer of Denison, Texas, who formerly resided in St. Louis. They have one son,

Thomas W. Blake, Jr., twelve years of age. Mr. Blake is a member of the A. F. & A. M. with mem- bership in Huntsville Blue Lodge No. 7, and is a Knight Templar of this order, also with Huntsville membership. He is a member of the University Club, the Lumbermans Club and is treasurer of the Lumberman's Association of Texas. He is a loyal member of St. Paul's Methodist Church. Mr. Blake is active in the business, social and general com- munity life of Houston, and is interested in all mat- ters having to do with the progress and advancement of his adopted city.

ARRY H. HEDGES, who came to Houston about fifteen years ago and established the roofing company which bears his name, has been a factor in the construction world here since that time, and has also been active in civic work, taking a leading part in many civic move- ments. Mr. Hedges is president and general man- ager of the Hedges Roofing Company, general roof- ing contractors, specializing in tar and gravel roofs, waterproofing, asphalt shingles and composition floors. The company has the exclusive sale rights in twenty-six Gulf Coast counties for the asphalt floor material produced by the Uvalde Rock As- phalt Company. The company has offices and plant at 1910 Runnells, and the officers are Harry H. Hedges, president; Sam R. Merrill, vice president; and C. H. Neblett, secretary and treasurer. The plant covers about 10,000 square feet of floor space, with some 6,000 square feet of open yard. Fifty experienced people are employed in the various de- partments. Since the establishment of this business, Mr. Hedges has roofed many buildings in Houston, including the First National and the State National Bank Buildings, the Scottish Rite Cathedral, the Bankers Mortgage, the Keystone, the Chamber of Commerce, the Houston Compress, the Majestic Theater, and the Houston Mill and Elevator Build- ings, and a large number of other business build- ings, and hundreds of homes, located in all parts of the city.

Harry H. Hedges was born at Lexington, Ohio, the twenty-first of February, 1884, the son of Moses B. Hedges, a native of Virginia, but who lived in various states during his lifetime. His death occurred in 1923. Mr. Hedges was educated in the schools of Ohio, beginning his business career in that state, in Marion, Ohio, where he was with a sheet metal manufacturing concern for several years. He then went with the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company of Youngstown, Ohio, spending eight years with that company, and in May, 1914, came to Hous- ton, beginning in the roofing contracting busi- ness, and has so continued to the present time.

Mr. Hedges was married in Houston, Texas, in 1916, to Miss Queen Mae Hawes, a native of Ohio. They have two children, Harry H. Hedges, Jr., and Charles Frederick Hedges. Mr. Hedges is a Mason, member of Gray Lodge, and belongs to the Sales- manship Club, the River Oaks Country Club, and is past president of the Rotary Club. He has been a very active member of the Rotary Club since com- ing to Houston, and served as vice president for some years before his election to the office of pres- ident. Mr. Hedges has sponsored various movements for the growth and development of Houston, and has contributed liberally toward the advancement of the city.

245

MEN OF TEXAS

UDGE H. M. GARWOOD, attorney at law, has for almost two score of years prac- ticed before the Texas bar and is a recog- nized leader of the legal fraternity. Judge Garwood is a member of the firm of Baker, Botts, Parker and Garwood, one of the leading law firms of the South, with twenty-three lawyers in their organ- ization. Judge Garwood came to Houston in 1902 from La Grange, Texas, but had spent the greater part of his life in Bastrop, Texas, before coming to Houston. For many years, he has looked after rail- road practice personally, and the firm are attorneys for the Stone and Webster interests in Texas, all of the Southern Pacific Railway lines in Texas, sev- eral gas and electric companies, South Texas Com- mercial National Bank, Second National Bank, Sin- clair Companies and many manufacturing and mer- cantile establishments. Judge Garwood has been identified with many of the most prominent cases that have come before the courts of the country. Numbered among these is the Houston East and West Texas Railway Company vs. United States, and was known as the Shreveport case. Judge Gar- wood represented the plaintiff, and it was decided that the Interstate Commerce Commission has the power to control purely intrastate rates made by a State Railroad Commission only when they effected a discrimination against interstate commerce. He also represented the plaintiff in Galveston, Houston and San Antonio Railroad vs. State of Texas, which the Supreme Court of the United States held that tax on gross receipts of a railroad was invalid as imposing a burden on interstate commerce. These cases attracted attention throughout the country, and the decisions rendered was of much importance to the railroads of the country.

A native Texan, Judge Garwood was born at Bastrop, Bastrop County, January 11th, 1864. His father, Calvin B. Garwood, a native of Ohio, came to Texas about 1845, and was among the pioneer set- tlers of the Lone Star State. He was for many years engaged in the mercantile business on a large scale in Bastrop and served several terms as district clerk. His mother was Miss Frances B. Walker, a member of a well known family of Tennessee. Judge Gar- wood's early education was obtained in the private schools of Bastrop, Texas, and later he entered the University of the South, at Sewanee, and graduated from that institution with the B. S. degree. He has also had conferred the D. C. L. honorary degree from the University of the South. Judge Garwood studied law in the office of Governor Joseph D. Sayers, and in November, 1885, was admitted to the bar by examination, when he immediately established his office in Bastrop, Texas, and continued the practice of his profession there for a period of fifteen years. He then removed to La Grange, Texas, and practiced law there for two years, and came to Houston in 1902, where for two years he practiced his profes- sion alone. In 1904, he came into the law firm known as Baker, Botts, Baker and Lovett, which was changed at that time to Baker, Botts, Parker and Garwood. Judge Garwood has been the recipient of many positions of honor and trust at the hands of his fellow men. He has served in both houses of the Legislature, being a member of the House from 1886 to 1888 and a member of the Senate from 1890 to 1892. During the period he served his people in the Legislature, he fathered many measures that

stand as a monument to his service for the good of the people of the Lone Star State. Judge Garwood served with distinction as county judge of Bastrop County from 1888 to 1890, and served as regent of the State University for several years. He has been closely connected with the commercial inter- ests of the city for many years and is vice pres- ident of the Second National Bank. He was per- sonally active in all government campaigns during the World War. Judge Garwood has been twice married. His first marriage was in 1890 to Miss Hettie Page (deceased since 1917) a native of Ala- bama. Of this union, three children were born, Cal- vin B., attorney, a graduate of the law department at the University of Texas, and now practicing with his father's firm; St. John, a graduate of the Harvard law school, and also practicing with the firm, and Louise, at home. His second marriage was in Hous- ton, March 24th, 1921, to Miss Huberta Nunn, a na- tive of Corsicana, Texas, and a member of a well known Navarro County family. Judge Garwood is a member of the A. F. and A. F. and is a Knight Templar of that Order. He also holds membership in the college fraternity, Alpha Tau Omega, the Texas Bar Association, of which organization he is a past president; Local Bar Association; a life member of the American Law Institute, and a member of the council of that organization; Houston Country Club; and the Houston Club. He is a consistent member of the Episcopal Church. Judge Garwood takes an active interest in all matters having to do with the progress and advancement of Houston, and takes much pride in the civic activities of his adopted city.

UDGE SAM STREETMAN, Attorney at Law, has practiced before the Bar of Texas for more than thirty years, and has at- tained marked distinction in the legal pro- fession. Judge Streetman is a member of the law firm of Andrews, Streetman, Logue and Mobley, which is recognized as one of the strongest law firms in the State, with nineteen well-known law- yers in the organization. This firm are Attorneys for the Kirby Lumber Company, the Gulf Coast Lines, Houston Belt and Terminal Railway Company, Union National Bank, Bankers Mortgage Company, Humble Oil and Refining Company, and many other large corporations in the State. The office of this law firm is located on the 11th and 12th floors of the Union National Bank Building.

A native Texan, Judge Streetman was born at Cameron January 14th, 1870. His father, W. B. Streetman (deceased) was among the pioneer set- tlers of Texas, having removed to this State in 1852, and was, for many years, engaged in the merchandising business at Cameron. His mother was Miss Louisa Greer, a native of the Lone Star State and a daughter of George Greer, who came to Texas in 1836, and was in the historic battle of San Jacinto. His early education was obtained in the common schools of Cameron, and he later at- tended the Southwestern University at Georgetown, graduating from that institution in the class of 1888, with the M. A. Degree. After leaving school, Judge Streetman read law in the office of Judge T. S. Henderson at Cameron, and was admitted to the Bar in April, 1889, and immediately established his office in Cameron, and began the practice of his profession, which he continued until 1902, with

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NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

the exception of two years, when he served as County Judge of Milam County, from 1894 to 1896. From 1902 to 1904 Judge Streetman served as Associate Justice of the Court of Civil Appeals at Austin. In 1904 he came to Houston, and has continued the practice of his profession here since that time. He was first associated with Hon. Thomas H. Ball and Frank Andrews, and the firm was known as An- drews, Ball and Streetman. This firm was the be- ginning of the present firm, which is among the best known law firms in the State. Judge Street- man has been prominently identified with many of the most important cases that have come before the Courts of Texas during the past thirty years. Numbered among the recent important cases which was handled by this firm was: James A. Baker, Receiver of the International and Great Northern Railroad Company, vs. Pierce Oil Corporation. Judg- ment for Plaintiff was rendered for more than $2,- 000,000.00. Judge Streetman's firm represented the Plaintiff and won this judgment, which is prob- ably one of the largest judgments ever rendered in Texas.

Judge Streetman was married in Cameron, Decem- ber 8th, 1892, to Miss Flora MeIver, a daughter of Col. E. J. McIver, who was a prominent educator of Alabama, and came to Texas in 1883. He served in the Confederate Army from Alabama. They have four children-Mrs. H. A. Clarke; Sam Streetman, Jr., who is a well-known Accountant of Houston, a graduate of Princton, and who served two years in the service during the World War; Estelle, a grad- uate of the Rice Institute, Houston, and W. M. Streetman, who is a graduate of Princeton and Har- vard Law school, and now associated with the firm. Judge Streetman has two grand-daughters, Flora McIver Clarke and Estelle Lindsey. Judge Street- man is connected with many of the commercial en- terprises of the city, and is a director of the Bank- ers Mortgage Company. He takes a keen interest in all matters pertaining to the good of Houston and is chairman of the County-City Hospital Board, and a member of the Houston Foundation. Judge Streetman is a member of the A. F. and A. M., is a Knight Templar of that Order and a Shriner of Arabia Temple. He is also a member of the Uni- versity Club, Houston Launch Club, Houston Coun- try Club and the Houston Club. He is a consist- ent member of the Presbyterian Church. The Street- man summer residence is located on Galveston Bay, where he takes a keen interest in hunting, boating and fishing; devoting all his spare time to these pleasures. Judge Streetman is optimistic as to the future of Houston, and believes that the time is not far distant when she will be the leading city of the Southwest, and states that there are now more office buildings under contract than have been built in ten years. Judge Streetman has been the recipient of many positions of honor and trust at the hands of his fellow men, which he filled to the satisfaction of the people, and his career as a lawyer has been uniformly successful, and, be- sides being one of the country's leading attorneys, he is one of the ranking orators. ID WESTHEIMER, pioneer resident of Houston and veteran funeral director, has been for almost half a century identified with business activities in this city, pros-

pering as the city has prospered and taking an ac- tive part in every movement for civic development. Mr. Westheimer owns the Sid Westheimer Funeral Home, the largest and finest establishment in Hous- ton, which he established in 1894 and has operated continuously since. Mr. Westheimer has recently completed a new funeral home, a fine building of concrete construction, with three floors and pro- vision for the addition of six or seven floors should business conditions call for further expansion. The Westheimer home is perfectly equipped and ap- pointed, every provision being made for the con- duction of funerals of the highest class, and catering to those who appreciate refinement of service and courteousness.

Mr. Westheimer also operates one of the finest stock farms in Texas, located on the H. E. and W. T. railroad tracks and comprising six hundred acres of fenced farming land. This stock farm is stocked with the highest bred Jersey cattle, a herd of two hundred, all registered, and including many prize winners. A hundred and eighty acres of the land is under cultivation. This farm, which Mr. West- heimer has operated since 1905, is one of the beauty spots of Harris County and South Texas. Every modern equipment has been provided, with fine con- crete farm houses and barns, elevators, electric lighting plant, and other special equipment. A half a mile of shell road has been built on the farm.

Mr. Westheimer is one of the largest tax payers in Houston and owns much city business and residence property, in addition to his fine business establish- ment and the stock farm just out of the city. The Westheimer Building, which he built in 1912, is a four story concrete building, fifty-one by one hun- dred and four feet, with four floors, and provision for adding several more.

Mr. Westheimer was born in Germany, the fourth of March, 1860, and studied in the schools of his na- tive country and later, alone, after coming to the United States. He came to Houston from Germany at the age of fourteen years to join his uncle, M. L. Westheimer, who had come here in 1859 and was one of the oldest settlers of the city and for whom Westheimer Road is named. Mr. Westheimer went to work in a flour mill, shortly after his arrival in 1874, and was injured some six months later, an acci- dent which still leaves him with a slight limp. After his recovery, he went in a grocery store, as clerk, following this work until 1880. In that year, he began buying cattle and cotton, shipping seven cars of cattle and cotton to Houston on the first train that went out of Nacogdoches, Texas, for Hous- ton. On September 1st, 1883, he went in the trans- fer and livery business, later turning his interest in this business over to his brother who operated it until his retirement in 1923. Mr. Westheimer es- tablished the Sid Westheimer Undertaking and Em- balming Establishment in 1894, and has since been active in the operation of this business.

Mr. Westheimer was married at Martin, Texas, the nineteenth of May, 1902, to Miss Lola Spiers, a na- tive of Bandera County. Their home, at 3704 Mont- rose, at the corner of Oxford Avenue, was recently built at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars and is one of the finest residences in Houston. Mr. Westheimer belongs to many of the clubs and civic organizations of the city, and is a highly honored and respected citizen.

249

MEN OF TEXAS

YNCH DAVIDSON, retired Lieutenant Gov- ernor of Texas, and author of the widely known "Lynch Davidson Plan" for the per- manent rehabilitation of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railroad, chairman of the Board of Managers of the State Railroad, former member of both Houses of the Texas Legislature, and one of the largest lumber manufacturers and retailers of the Southwest, is truly one of the most widely known, progressive and helpful citizens of the Lone Star State. In 1897 he moved to Houston and or- ganized the Continental Lumber Company. Later he also organized the Mardex Lumber Company, a lumber manufacturing concern owning large timber land properties, sawmills and railroad in Polk Coun- ty, Texas, and the Southland Lumber Company, a retail yard business operating twenty-five lumber yards in Texas and Oklahoma. In 1921 all of these companies representing the interests of Mr. David- son, were consolidated in one corporation, Lynch Davidson and Company, with an investment of more than $2,000,000.00. During the World War Governor Davidson was very active in war work, and it was during these activities that he became impressed with the need of business men of ability and vision in affairs of government, and his election to the State Legislature in 1918 marked the beginning of a meteoric rise in public life and affairs. Before the expiration of his term, he was elected to the State Senate; and then as Lieutenant Governor, de- feating the incumbent for his second term, a thing unprecedented in Texas politics. He retired volun- tarily in January, 1923, with a record of never hav- ing been defeated for office. During the period he served in the House and Senate, he championed many measures for the good of the people and the State, among them being a vast amount of constructive work done; the salvaging and saving for Texas of more than $1,000,000.00 on its erstwhile dilapidated State Railroad; the treating of the drainage prob- lem intelligently; the appropriation to rural schools, which was to the limit of the State's financial abil- ity and the helping hand reached out to the farmer in an effort to eradicate the pink boll worm by legis- lation and appropriation. During this period, a peni- tentiary program was outlined, that had it been fol- lowed would have been helpful in the solution of problems with which Texas has been afflicted for many years. As Lieutenant Governor, he served with uniform courtesy, impartiality, general good humor and fairness combined with wide comprehen- sion of the business and proceedings of the legis- lative department of the government and the prob- lems affecting the general welfare of the people. One of his last acts in the office of Lieutenant Gov- ernor was to refer the Senate to the question of saving the State from losses in the penitentiary system and to give their attention to practical mat- ters. His work to rehabilitate the "Orient" Railroad was done in behalf of the people of Texas, and im- mediately in behalf of those along the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railroad, and ultimately in behalf of the people of the whole United States in the con- tinuance of the operation of this line of railroad.

A native of Louisiana, Governor Davidson was born at Boyce January 3, 1873. His parents removed to Groesbeck, Texas, when Governor Davidson was an infant and his father, Lieutenant Neal David- son, died there when Governor Davidson was five

years of age. His mother (deceased since January, 1923), was Miss Laura Cecelia Lynch. She was born in Washington County, Texas, in 1847. Her father, Capt. Joseph Penn Lynch, came to Texas from Kentucky in 1810 when he was seventeen years of age, and was one of the Texas patriots, having en- gaged in the fight for the independence of Texas at San Jacinto April 21, 1836. Her two brothers, William and Joseph Lynch, enlisted in the Confed- erate Army in Terry's State Rangers in April, 1861. Both fought throughout the four years of the war between the States with excellent records. She was educated at Fairfield Seminary, in Freestone County, . one of the oldest institutions of the kind in the South. Mrs. Davidson resided up to a few years prior to her death at Groesbeck, where she always maintained her home. In the success of her son, Lynch Davidson, she enjoyed the pleasure and sat- isfaction which can come only to a mother. Gov- ernor Davidson's maternal and paternal grandpar- ents were among the very early settlers in Texas and endured all the privations and hardships of the pioneers. Governor Davidson spent his childhood and early school days at Groesbeck, where he fin- ished high school when fifteen years of age.

After finishing high school, Governor Davidson immediately embarked on his career as a lumberman by securing a place as a "roustabout" in a sawmill at Groveton to aid in the support of his widowed mother. After having learned the fundamentals, he graduated into the selling end of the lumber trade, and when twenty-three years of age he opened his own business at Laredo, which was the begin- ning of the great lumber director, known through- out the ends of this State.

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 53

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