New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 69

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

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Mr. Neal was born at Fountain Run, Kentucky, on January 12th, 1865. His father, J. M. Neal, also a native of Kentucky, was an extensive farmer of the Blue Grass State and lived there all his life. His mother was Miss Margaret Dunn, a member of a prominent Kentucky family. His education was ob- tained in Glasgow, Kentucky and at the South Nor- mal University. Immediately after leaving school, Mr. Neal entered the wholesale grocery establish- ment of Cheek and Neal at Nashville, and a short time later this business was made into an exclusive coffee business and Mr. Neal remained with this firm in Nashville until coming to Houston in 1904, in order to organize this branch of the business here, which has grown rapidly.

Mr. Neal was married at Fulton, Kentucky, June 22nd, 1893, to Miss Elizabeth Mitchell, a native of Kentucky, and a daughter of Robert H. Mitchell, an extensive farmer of that State. They have one son, James Robert Neal, who is a vice president of the Cheek-Neal Coffee Company at Houston, and one daughter, Margaret (deceased). Mr. and Mrs. Neal reside at 301 Avondale Avenue. Mr. Neal's son, J. R., married Marion Seward, a daughter of Ingram Seward, of Houston, and they have two children- Marion and Robert. Mr. Neal is a member of the Houston Country Club, the Houston Club and the Rotary Club of which organization he is Past Di- rector. He is a consistent member of the First Baptist Church, of Houston. It is due in great meas- ure to J. W. Neal that the Cheek-Neal Coffee Com- pany has grown to be the largest roasters of fine coffee and tea in the country, and made the "Max- well House" brand the largest selling brand of coffee in the world.

366

Этановая

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

RNEST CARROLL, while still a young man, is one of the pioneer oil men of Texas with an experience dating from the Corsicana field in 1898, with continuous work in this industry to the present time. All of Mr. Carroll's oil experience has been from the office end, and this is regarded as being of great importance, as big organizations need big executives and execu- tives of experience and training. His first experi- ence was obtained in the fields of Corsicana, and that is considered the beginning point for oil in Texas, and J. S. Cullinan, from whom he received his early training, is the dean of the oil industry in this State, and probably has taught the rudiments of the business to more successful oil men than any other man. When Mr. Cullinan first organized his office force in Corsicana in 1898, Mr. Carroll was a member of this organization. In 1904 he went to Jennings, Louisiana, for The Texas Company and remained there until February, 1907. He then came to Beaumont, Texas, and remained there until March, 1908, when he moved to Houston, and was assistant treasurer of the Texas Company until 1914, when he was made assistant to the first vice president, Mr. T. J. Donoghue, and has many mat- ters from every department to take care of, which he has handled very satisfactorily for this big oil company.

A native Texan, Mr. Carroll was born at Bloom- ing Grove, Navarro County, February 14th, 1878. His father, J. D. Carroll (deceased since May, 1922), was for twenty-five years engaged in the lumber business with J. E. Whiteselle at Corsicana under the firm name of J. E. Whiteselle & Co., and later engaged in the drilling of oil wells in South Texas and was very successful in this work, having drilled many of the best producers in the South Texas area. His mother was Miss Gertrude Foote, a member of a well known family of Louisiana and died in No- vember, 1922. His education was obtained in the public and high schools of Corsicana, where he grad- uated from the latter in the class of 1897. Mr. Car- roll obtained his knowledge of oil accounting by close application and practical experience, and is regarded as an expert in this line of work. After leaving school, he was for one year with his father in the lumber business before entering the oil in- dustry, which he has continued through all his busi- ness life with the exception of the one year spent in the lumber business.

Mr. Carroll was married in Corsicana on October 25th, 1900, to Miss Hannah Bond, a native of Mis- souri and a daughter of M. M. Bond (deceased), who resided in Texas during the latter years of his life, and was a practicing physician both in Mis- souri and Texas. They have four children-B. E. Carroll, 22 years of age; Geraldine, aged 20 years; W. A., 18 years of age, and P. M. Carroll, aged 16 years. Mr. and Mrs. Carroll reside at 216 Stratford Street. Mr. Carroll is a member of the American Petroleum Institute. He is an enthusiastic Texas Company man, having been with this company since shortly after it was organized. The Texas Com- pany is one of the oldest oil companies in Texas, and with the home office in Houston, has a remark- able organization with a real spirit. Mr. Carroll has one hobby-hunting and fishing-and has made a practice each year for many years of hunting deer

in West Texas, besides various bird and duck shoot- ing expeditions on the Gulf Coast, and many fishing trips.

W J. BINYON is performing for the wholesale interests of Houston a service that is second in importance to none and one that is filling a distinctly felt want among all business interests of the city engaged in either import or export trade. Mr. Binyon is President and General Manager of the Binyon Ship Side Warehouse Com- pany, with city offices at Pine and Allen Streets, and plant and warehouse located on the Ship Chan- nel.

This company was organized early in 1923 for the purpose of operating a chain of warehouses on the Ship Channel. The first unit of this proposed chain is already in operation and has a floor space totalling one hundred and thirty thousand square feet with two hundred employees. The company receives and forwards merchandise of every class and description and is doing an especially large business in sugar and coffee, handling practically all of the coffee received at Houston and a consid- erable quantity of import sugar. This is the largest company of its kind in South Texas and has expe- rienced a steady and rapid growth since its organi- zation. Officers of the company are W. J. Binyon, President and Manager; W. J. Binyon, III, Vice President; C. L. Byrne, Secretary, and E. O. Binyon, Treasurer.

Mr. Binyon is a native of Texas and was born in Fort Worth on October 23, 1875. He is a son of W. J. and Lelia (Howard) Binyon and received his edu- cation in the public and high schools of Fort Worth. His father came to Fort Worth in 1874 and operated an overland freight service by wagon from Fort Worth to other Texas points not served by railway lines.

After leaving school Mr. Binyon engaged in various lines of activity until 1900, when he went into the transportation business in Fort Worth. He continued in this utnil 1915, when he organized the Binyon-O'Keefe Storage Company, which operated a chain of storage and warehouses and a transfer service in Fort Worth and Houston. In 1923 he dis- posed of his interests in this company and perfected his present organization, which bids fair to become not only the largest organization of its kind in Houston, but the entire Southwest as well.

Mr. Binyon was married in Fort Worth in 1899 to Miss Mary Louise Orrick, daughter of N. C. Orrick, formerly of Mississippi. Mr. and Mrs. Binyon are the parents of seven children, E. O., W. J. III, Mary Semmes, Lucy, Martha, Lelia and Nicholas. The family home is at 3618 San Jacinto Street.

The years of experience which Mr. Binyon has had in the transfer and storage of merchandise enables him to give a real service to the wholesalers and jobbers of Houston. The loading and unloading facilities at his channel warehouses are of the most modern and efficient type, enabling merchants to receive their goods with a minimum loss of time after their arrival in port.

A well organized traffic department is maintained by the Binyon Company and goods consigned by them dealers at interior points are traced to destination and every assistance given clients in obtaining prompt movements. Mr. Binyon is a member of the Houston Traffic Club and the Knights of Columbus.

369

MEN OF TEXAS

OHN ASA WILKINS. Twenty-five years of business experience in Houston, most of it in an executive capacity in connection with banks, has brought to John Asa Wilkins and to the State National Bank, of which he is pres- ident, definite recognition as potent factors in the city's development.

Mr. Wilkins came to Houston in 1897, when he be- came connected with the Commercial National Bank. In 1904 he went to Lane City and for two years was interested in the rice milling industry, but returned to Houston in 1906 and for the next five years en- gaged in a wholesale commission business, handling an extensive trade in rice, sugar and molasses.

He was then called upon to liquidate the Harris County Bank and Trust Company for the commis- sioner of insurance and banking of Texas, and was engaged in this task until 1914, during which year he was also secretary of the National Currency As- sociation of Houston, under the supervision of the secretary of the treasury.

These various business experiences, especially the opportunity to study banking methods, were valuable preparations for the development of his own banking business when, in 1915, Mr. Wilkins joined his broth- er, H. M. Wilkins, and a group of Houston busi- ness men, in organizing the State Bank and Trust Company.

The success of this bank led to its being char- tered as the State National Bank, in 1921, and it now operates under the national charter.

The State National Bank is capitalized at $500,- 000 and has about $5,000,000 in deposits, with total resources of more than $5,750,000. The bank occu- pies the main floor, basement and mezzanine of the twelve-story State National Bank Building, at 412 Main Street, one of Houston's most modernly equipped office and bank buildings.

The deposits of the State National Bank have in- creased from $400,000, in 1915, to about $5,000,000, in 1925. This steady advancement is attributed by Houston business leaders to the conservative policy of the president and the other officers, and to the confidence felt by the general public in the integ- rity of these men.

Although a quiet man, not given to courting pub- lic notice, Mr. Wilkins has not shunned civic re- sponsibilities and patriotic duties. During the war, he took an active part in the various philanthropic and patriotic "drives" instituted for the purpose of bringing the war to a speedier close or of mitigating the suffering caused by the operations of war. He continued these activities through the readjustment period following the war, and in 1921 was one of a commission of ten appointed by the commissioner of insurance and banking for the state of Texas to assist in handling banking difficulties experienced in the oil fields of West Texas.

Mr. Wilkins is a native Texan, his family on both sides having been identified with prominent business and professional pursuits in the older states of the Union, before coming to Texas. He was born at Brenham, Texas, on February 6th, 1871, the son of William Gaston Wilkins and Eunice Lewis Wilkins. His father, now deceased, was for many years a mer .. chant of Brenham, to which place he came in 1845. He was married there on January 16th, 1866.

William Gaston Wilkins was the son of John B.

Wilkins of North Carolina and Elizabeth Allen Wil- kins of South Carolina, who were married at Benton, Alabama, where John B. Wilkins was a commission merchant and owner of a steamboat landing. Wil- liam Gaston Wilkins was an officer on General Tom Green's staff, in the famous Green's Brigade of the Army of the Confederacy, and was among the first to go aboard the federal warship Harriet Lane, when she was captured by Confederate soldiers who had gone down by river boats from Harrisburg to Gal- veston Bay.

Eunice Lewis Wilkins, the mother of John Asa Wilkins, was the daughter of Colonel Asa Miles Lewis, who came to Texas in 1838, immediately after his marriage to Ann M. Browning, in Georgia. The couple settled at Matagorda, Texas, then a flourish- ing port and cotton market, but soon afterwards moved to Columbus, Texas, where their eldest daugh- ter, Eunice, was born.

While living in Columbus, Colonel Lewis was representative from Colorado County at the Con- gress of the Republic of Texas, when Washington, Texas, was the capitol. Colonel Lewis was one of the leading lawyers of the day and was prom- inent in building the new country. He was one of the commissioners who laid out the town of Brenham.

John Asa Wilkins was married in Lockland, Ohio, on April 18th, 1899, to Miss Margaret Bierbower, daughter of Frank Bierbower of Cincinnati, Ohio. Her grandfather, Thomas Fox, established the Fox Paper Company at Lockland, before the war between the states, and her uncle, Major George B. Fox, manager of the company, was an officer in the Army of the Republic, a state senator and a close friend of President Mckinley.

Mr. and Mrs. Wilkins live at 2915 Caroline Street, Houston. They have four children, Mrs. Sam Par- ker, of Bryan, Texas, and Mary Edna, Elizabeth and Virginia, at home.

Descended from men and women whose lives are impressed upon the records of the state in which he was born, Mr. Wilkins reflects in his business activi- ties the persistence, integrity, conservatism and trustworthiness that distinguished the pioneers. He early saw opportunities for advancement in Hous- ton and identified himself and his business ambitions with the future of the city. He has seen and been a part of Houston's development to her present proud positions as a port, a commercial metropolis, and an educational center, and he believes profoundly in her greater future.

P. PRIDDIE, Jr., vice president and cashier of the Marine Bank and Trust Company, has been with this institution since its or- ganization, February 24th, 1925. The Ma- rine Bank and Trust Company took over the assets, good will and stock of the Peoples State Bank, of which Mr. Priddie was serving as first vice presi- dent at the time of the merger. The bank was or- ganized with a capital stock of three hundred thou- sand dollars, and a surplus of seventy-five thousand fully paid in. Other officers of the bank are, Den- ton W. Cooley, president; Ike L. Freed, vice presi- dent; H. H. Gieseke, vice president; Stuart A. Gi- raud, vice president. Other officers and directors consist of many of the most substantial and pro- gressive business men of Houston.

370

J.a. boiling

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

A native Texan, Mr. Priddie was born in Mont- gomery County, April 1st, 1890. His father, T. P. Priddie, a native of Virginia, came to Texas as a young man, and for many years has been a promi- nent merchant of Gatesville, where he is still active in the business circles. His mother was formerly Miss Annie Simonton, a member of a well known pioneer Texas family. His education was obtained in the public schools of Montgomery County, and the Gatesville High school, from which he graduated. He also attended the public schools of Huntington, West Virginia, and later the Allen Academy at Bry- an, Texas, followed by a period as a student of the University of Texas. After leaving the latter in- stitution, Mr. Priddie came to Houston and en- tered the employ of the old Central Bank and Trust Company, where he remained for six months and then became associated with the Lumbermans Na- tion Bank. Remaining only a short time with this institution he went to Waco, Texas, with the First State Bank and Trust Company. He was con- nected with several banks in Waco over a period of five years, and was again associated with the First State Bank and Trust Company at the time he en- tered the World War. Mr. Priddie enlisted in the naval air service in 1918 and was stationed at Seattle, Washington, as Naval Air Cadet until the end of the war, when he returned to Texas and was made State Bank Examiner for the northern portion of Texas, and was later in the office which con- ducted this work. He spent about one and a half years in this work, after which he became State Bank Commissioner, a position he held for two years. At this time he became associated with the Peoples State Bank as First Vice President, holding this position until the merger with the Marine Bank and Trust Company.

Mr. Priddie was married at Rogers, Texas, on November 20th, 1917, to Miss Marian Baugh, a na- tive of the Lone Star State and a daughter of M. V. Baugh, well known in the business circles of Rogers and the surrounding territory. They have one daughter, Patricia. Mr. and Mrs. Priddie reside at 1501 Elgin Avenue. Mr. Priddie is a member of the A. F. and A. M. with membership in the Waco Lodge, where he has attained to the thirty- second degree in the Scottish Rite body of this order, and is also a member of Karem Temple, Waco, Texas. He is treasurer of the Glenbrook Country Club, and a member of the board of directors of the Guaranty Fund Association. Mr. Priddie is re- garded as one of the leaders in the banking circles of South Texas, where he has a host of friends in the social and business circles.

LBERT TRAYLOR, well known Houston business man, has been connected with various business enterprises of the city for the past seventeen years and is one of the best known of the younger business men of the city. Practically his entire business career has been spent in the shoe business, in which he is now engaged.

Mr. Traylor is manager of the Fannin Shoe Store, 422 Fannin Street, at the corner of Prairie Avenue. The firm has enjoyed an increasing business since it was established, and is growing in popularity. The officers are, S. A. Starkey, president; James G. Donavan, vice president and treasurer, and Albert Trayler, manager.

The Fannin Shoe Store carries the nationally known Conrad shoes, and while not a large estab- lishment caters to the very best trade and carries a splendid line of high grade merchandise. It is housed in an attractive store with modern fixtures and the sales people here are courteous and trained in giving service to the patrons.

Mr. Traylor, who is a native of Texas, was born in Montgomery County on July 20th, 1889. He is a son of W. A. Traylor, now deceased. He attended the public schools of Montgomery County and Massey Business Colege and saw his first business experi- ence as a shoe salesman. He was connected with various shoe concerns in Houston for seventeen years. During the past seven years before estab- lishing his own business he was the local manager of the Houston store of the Douglas Shoe Company. He knows every angle of the shoe business and is a firm believer in giving to his customers the very best in service and the greatest values obtainable.

Mr. Traylor was married at Houston on Septem- ber 16, 1915, to Miss Pearl Elizabeth Dunnam. They have two children, Albert Emery and Annah Vir- ginia. The family home is at 2117 Decatur Street.

Apart from his interest in commercial affairs, Mr. Traylor is actively interested in various movements in Houston that have for their object the better- ment of the city as a whole. He is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a member of Arabia Temple Shrine, the Waverly Blue Lodge and the Civitan Club.

L. GOHLMAN, lifelong resident of Houston, and member of the firm of Gohlman, Lester and Company, cotton merchants and export- ers, was one of the best known cotton men in the state. Mr. Gohlman was reared in an atmos- phere of this great industry, his father having or- ganized the company in 1867, which since that time has been one of the leading cotton firms of the South.

A native Texan, Mr. Gohlman was born in Hous- ton, May 7th, 1870. His father, S. L. Gohlman (de- ceased since 1914), came to Texas from Germany in 1848, and settled near Cameron, where he remained until coming to Houston, in 1860. He continued to reside here, and was engaged in the cotton business during all of this time, and was known as one of the largest domestic dealers and exporters of his time. His mother was Miss Sarah Streetman, who was well known in Houston for her many acts of charity. His early education was obtained in the public schools of Houston, later attending Dean College, of Franklin, Massachusetts. Soon after leaving col- lege he entered the cotton business with his father and continued in this great industry until his death.

Mr. Gohlman was married at Dallas, in 1890, to Miss Elizabeth McGuire, a member of a prominent North Texas family. Mr. and Mrs. Gohlman had two children, Itaska, wife of Wm. H. S. Vidor, and Miss Evelyn Corrinne Gohlman.

Mr. Gohlman died at his home, in Houston, May 10th, 1924. During his lifetime he exerted a vital influence over the life of the day, not only in cotton circles, but in all affairs pertaining to the public growth and upbuilding of his beloved city. He was a director in the Houston Cotton Exchange, and a member of the Houston Club and the Houston Coun- try Club.

373

MEN OF TEXAS

T. STAITI, pioneer oil man and capitalist, is accredited with having contributed much to the oil industry in Southern Texas, and probably has been engaged in the business longer than any other man now operating in this section. Mr. Staiti has been a resident of Hous- ton since 1903, coming from Beaumont, where he was one of the pioneers in the development of the famous Spindle Top field. A close student of geol- ogy and of all matters pertaining to the oil in- dustry, as early as 1896, Mr. Staiti prepared a re- port on the Spindle Top field, pointing out the conditions that indicated this as an oil center, the details of which were published by the Associated Press at that time. When the famous Lucas gush- er was brought in in 1901, thus definitely estab- lishing Texas' first great gusher field, the press of Beaumont and other cities republished Mr. Staiti's early report on this field, thereby perpet- uating to him some of the well deserved credit for the discovery of the field that marked the beginning of a new era in oil development work in the United States.

Removing to Beaumont in 1901 from his former home at Waco, Mr. Staiti operated in the Spindle Top field. He and his firm, known at that time as Granbury, Staiti & Smith, drilled the first oil well at Humble. Practically his entire life has been spent in the oil industry and at an early age he was doing prospecting work in McLennan and other counties of Texas. His removal to Hous- ton in 1903 marked the beginning of this city as a real oil center. Other oil operators followed and as new fields were opened and the shipping and other distributing facilities were improved, Hous- ton began to assume its present day leadership in the oil industry. Quiet and unostentatious, Mr. Staiti has never courted publicity for his achieve- ments, but is the real dean of the oil fraternity in Texas and has the unbounded respect and confi- dence of other operators. During his many years in the industry he has been associated with many oil men who are leaders today in this field. Op- portunities came to him whereby he could have been identified with the larger companies and with groups organizing large companies, but he has pre- ferred to remain with his own organizations.

Mr. Staiti has maintained offices in the Chronicle building since its erection, and is President of the Houston-Oklahoma Oil Company, American Sulphur Royalty Company, Valley Oil Corporation and is Vice President and General Manager of the Texas Exploration Company, Vice President of the Uni- versal Sulphur Products Company, and Vice Presi- dent of the Pathfinder Oil Corporation. The Texas Exploration Company discovered and brought in the first well at Damon Mound, later selling the prop- erty to the Sinclair interests, but retaining a par- ticipating interest. It still has a working interest in valuable property at Damon and Pierce Junction and owns extensive sulphur bearing properties at Damon. It also has large interests at Big Hill, Jefferson County.

The Houston-Oklahoma Oil Company has consid- erable holdings in the proven area of the Healdton, Oklahoma, fields and also valuable oil properties in Kansas.

Mr. Staiti and associates developed the sulphur

mines at Freeport and the American Sulphur Royal- ty Company, of which he is President and General Manager, owns the royalty interests on the prop- erty being operated by the Freeport Texas Com- pany. Most of the prospecting and research work, as well as the details of acquiring the land hold- ings, was done under Mr. Staiti's supervision.

Primarily, Mr. Staiti is an independent operator and is interested in the following fields: West Columbia, Damon Mound, Pierce Junction, Humble, Orange, South Liberty, Markham, Hutchinson, Car- son and Gray counties in the Panhandle region; Healdton, Oklahoma; Virgil, Greenwood County, Kansas, and various points in Louisiana. He has also acquired interests in the following domes re- cently discovered: Long Point, Fort Bend County; Hawkinsville, Matagorda County; Fannette, Jeffer- son County; Hinkel Ferry, Brazoria County; Hock- ley, Harris County, and Big Hill, Matagorda Coun- ty.

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 69

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