New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 72

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

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was his headquarters for his varied business opera- tions.

A keen, far-sighted business man, he came soon to the realization of the great future of his adopted city, and so did not confine his energies and capital to the oil business alone. The following is a partial list of the business enterprises which Mr. Esperson organized, or in which he was a large stock holder: Blue Ridge Development Company, Gulf Coast Rice Mills, Moore's Bluff Corporation, Mid-Continent Clay Company, Rio Grande Gulf Corporation, Grant Lo- comotive Works, Reed Roller Bit Company and the Houston Mill and Elevator Company. He had faith in the future greatness of the Houston Ship Channel, and contributed materially to its development. This faith, he backed up with large investments in prop- erty along the channel. He made large investments in Houston business property. He acquired the corner at Rusk and Travis, upon which the beauti- ful million dollar Majestic Theatre was built, and he gave the lease and furnished the capital for its erection.

Mr. Esperson was married at El Reno, Oklahoma, on December 20th, 1893, to Miss Mellie Keenan, a native of Kansas, but reared and educated in Okla- homa. Mrs. Esperson, during her married life, was ever at the side of her husband, and much of his suc- cess may be attributed to her encouragement and help. Today, as far as possible, she is carrying out the business policies formulated by him and carrying on his many business enterprises. She has recently built the thirty-two story Esperson Building in Houston, the tallest building in Texas, and one of the finest.

In the passing of Niels Peter Esperson, Houston and Texas lost one of her foremost citizens. A man who lived a Christian life, whose charities were unostentatious, a truly self-made man, whose life should be an inspiration to the youths of other gen- erations.

REWER W. KEY was for twenty-five years a resident of Galveston, and was actively identified at the time of his death with lumber interests in that city, being presi- dent of the Gulf Lumber Company. Mr. Key was born at Montgomery, Alabama, in 1860, the son of a prominent family of that state. Prior to coming to Galveston he had entered the lumber business in Oklahoma and in which he had been more than us- ually successful. He came to Galveston in 1896 and organized the Gulf Lumber Company sometime thereafter, the success of which will always stand as a monument to his undoubted business ability. He was also actively identified with various finan- cial and business enterprises in the city. He was a man of sterling character and unfailing integrity and among his business associates his word was rec- ognized as being as good as his bond. His name in connection with any business enterprise was generally accepted as being a stamp of approval. Mr. Key was an unusual man, his only desire for business success was that he might use his means for the purpose of helping others who were less' fortunate. Possibly long after his success as a business man is forgotten his benefactions and gen- erosity will still endure.

He was married in Galveston to Miss Julia Vedder, member of a well known Galveston family and who

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died in that city September, 1920. As a memorial to his wife, Mr. Key donated $70,000.00 for the es- tablishment of a Young Women's Christian Associa- tion Home known as the Julia Key Memorial. The home was formally dedicated just a week prior to his death. Mr. Key was continually searching for some worthy enterprise to sponsor in his beloved Galveston and the two projects which possibly ap- pealed to him most were the memorial to his wife and the Cahill Cemetery. The improvements to the Cahill Cemetery were all sponsored by Mr. Key and his donations to this cause totalled thousands of dollars. Through his aid the cemetery was raised and inclosed with a wall making it one of the most beautiful in the state.

He was very fond of young people and took a particular delight in starting them off in the battle of life adequately prepared and was always ready to come to their aid with financial assistance or wise counsel that would guide them on the right road. At the time of his death he was supporting three students in various coleges in the state. In his business he surrounded himself with young men and then watched over their activities with a father- ly interest. He only interferred when particularly difficult problems arose that required his more ma- ture judgment and experience. Just prior to his passing on he donated three lots located on the corner of Eighth Street and Avenue D, across the street from St. Marys Infirmary conducted by the Sisters of Charity to be used for the construction of a nurses home. While Mr. Keys donations in Gal- veston were many he did not forget the state where he first made his success as is indicated by the build- ing of a schoolhouse and the donation of a park in Woodward, Oklahoma.

Mr. Key died at the age of sixty-one years at St. Marys Infirmary, January 5th, 1922, after a brief illness. That he was ever solicitous for the wel- fare of those with whom he was associated is in- dicated by the fact that he left substantial sums to many of his employees, even to his colored servant who as he said had served him faithfully and well. His going took from Galveston a citizen who was loved and honored by all and who spared neither himself or his means in furthering the welfare of Galveston. He died as he lived, one of nature's gen- tlemen with a love and faith in his fellow men seen only too rarely in this age. Truly it could be said of Brewer W. Key, "By his deeds ye shall know him."

OHN DUNNOCK WOOLFORD. A familiar figure in the early days at Houston was John Dunnock Woolford, veteran cotton weigher, and identified with many of the important events of his time. Mr. Woolford also did his share of public duties, as a public official, serving as alderman and mayor, where he demon- strated his devotion to the best interests of his com- munity. He was that sturdy type of real pioneer who saw not only his duty to his own interests but to his fellowmen, and gave freely of his time and means to further community progress. Mr. Wool- ford came to Houston in the early seventies, and seeing the need of a public cotton weigher, took upon himself this important office, for many years serving his district in this capacity. While follow- ing this line Mr. Woolford acquired an accurate

knowledge of every phase of this great industry, and was one of the leading cotton experts in the state. He served three terms as alderman, while in this office working with indefatigable energy for the progress and welfare of his community. In 1891 he was elected mayor of Houston, and with characteristic energy directed the affairs of the rapidly growing city, his administration being marked with a wonderful advancement in public improvements favorable to further growth and prog- ress. Mr. Woolford had the foresight to see in Houston a great city, and wisely brought his in- fluence to bear on those things that would best contribute to the realization of this future. When his term ended his many friends urged him to take a second term, but he declined.

John Dunnock Woolford was born the twenty-sixth of January, 1855, at the old Woolford country home in Cambridge, Dorchester County, Maryland. His father, Joseph Brooks Woolford, a native of Mary- land, and one of the prominent men of his time, moved to Mississippi in 1857, and in January, 1862, came to Texas, locating in Grimes County, where he soon became associated with those men who were taking part in the colonization of this county. The latter part of his life he spent in Lynchberg, Texas, where his death occurred. Mr. Woolford's mother, before her marriage Miss Susan Emily Dunnock, came to Houston with her son and her death occurred in this city in 1875.

Mr. Woolford was reared to agricutural pursuits, in the meantime attending the country schools, securing a good education. He began his business career at an early age, as was the custom in those days, and made rapid progress along the road to suc- cess. His name was found on the rolls of the Masonic Lodge and of the Cotton Exchange.

Mr. Woolford was married at Houston, the twelfth of November, 1879, to Miss Ianthe Dealy. She was born in Montgomery County, Texas, her parents being Edward Clarke and Lucretia (Valentine) Dealy, one of the fine old pioneer families of the state. They later came to Houston, where her father was prominently associated with the devel- opment of this city.

In 1893 Mr. Woolford built the old Woolford home- stead in Houston, at 1202 Lamar Avenue, at that time one of the finest houses in the city. This con- tinued to be the family home, and Mrs. Woolford now resides there. Mr. and Mrs. Woolford had a family of six children, one of whom, Wallace, died as an infant. The five surviving children are Mrs. Edna Woolford Saunders, concert manager, of Hous- ton; John Dunnock Woolford, Jr., cotton weigher, of Houston; Ina, wife of Robert Hinton, professor of Georgetown College, Kentucky; Mary Emily, wife of James Craig Bradley, an attorney of Georgetown, Kentucky, and Brooks Ross Woolford, a cotton man of Houston.

Mr. Woolford died at Houston, the twenty-sev- enth of October, 1918. He had been active in the business life of the city until his death, gaining a wide personal esteem by his conscientious service as a public official and his capability as a business man. Mr. Woolford was a man of true Christian char- acter, benevolent, kindly and beloved by all who knew him, and his memory is honored as one of Houston's most respected and admired citizens.

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ALTER B. SHARP. In any history of the oil industry of the Southwest, or of the United States, the name of Walter Benona Sharp would be given an important and leading place. His life was devoted to the de- velopment of a product that has revolutionized trans- portation, and although he was called at an early age, he had to his credit nearly twenty-five years of constructive pioneering, and lived to see many of his early dreams realized.

Walter B. Sharp was born in Tipton County, Ten- nessee, December 12th, 1870. His parents were James R. and Amanda Forrest Sharp. His father was a Tipton County planter. His mother was a niece of the dashing Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. At the age of eight he came with his father to Texas, his mother having died a short time before, where he was educated in the public schools, and at the age of sixteen he became self-supporting. When he was eighteen years old he became interested in well drilling, which business he learned by watching the operations of a well be- ing drilled in the city of Dallas, and later began contracting wells in and around this city. The rig he used was a crude rotary, one of the early models, and what was lacking in mechanical features was supplied by muscle and ingenuity. He never failed to drill the wells and get the desired water. In the year 1893, having saved $3,000.00, he went to Beaumont and drilled a test for oil on the identical structure known as the Spindle Top Hill, where eight years later the Lucas gusher was brought in about thirty yards from where he had made his early attempt. Extreme youth made it impossible for him to convince older men of the wisdom of his venture, and on account of lack of funds it was impossible for him to go deeper, although he was at the time within two hundred feet of the pay cap rock. To use the vernacular of the oil fields, he went broke in this venture, but was not discour- aged. He could have easily written to his brother, John, for funds on which to return home, but with his usual spirit of independence he walked the entire distance from Beaumont to Dallas. In 1895 he drilled some shallow oil wells at Sour Lake, and was one of the pioneer drillers at Corsicana in 1896 when shallow oil was discovered there. The Cor- sicana field is considered the first commercial oil field in Texas, and many of the outstanding oil men of the Southwest began their careers here. Mr. Sharp had one brother, James R., and one sister, Lillian Forrest, and a half-brother, John S., who, being much older, was the stay of the family for many years when after the struggles following the Civil War they decided to settle in Texas. Early in his career Mr. Sharp took his younger brother James into business with him. The first rig of Sharp Brothers to be built in Corsicana was erected by Ben Harper, a boyhood friend who was born within a few miles of the Sharp homestead in Ten- nessee. The financial arrangement of this opera- tion was not of the best at this time, which may be illustrated by the following incident. It was Christmas Eve, and he gave his brother $10.00, saying, "It's all the money I have." His brother in turn divided it with Ben Harper. They had dif- ficulty in scraping together money enough to pay fuel bills, and instead of having pipe threaded at the machine shop, they carried it one-half mile to

an adjoining lease where they were gratuitously given the privilege of using a threading machine. It was in Corsicana that Mr. Sharp met Mr. J. S. Cullinan, with whom he later became associated. Out of this acquaintance grew a lifelong friendship between these two men, who were later destined to become the outstanding figures of the oil industry of this country. The water wells which Mr. Sharp drilled at various points in the South, including Montgomery, Alabama; Holly Springs, Mississippi, and Pine Bluff, Arkansas, were pot-boilers, so to. speak, to defray the expenses of his family and to make further prospecting for oil possible. His venturesome spirit combined with good judgment naturally fitted him for this particular field of activity. When the Kern River development was in its earliest stages he was on his way to Bakers- field, California, in 1900. Together with his brother he tested the rotary there, and when Spindle Top came in during January, 1901, J. R. Sharp was still in Bakersfield, and he was in New Orleans. Anticipating the Beaumont field, it was only on account of a short illness that his arrival there was not previous to rather than a few hours after the Lucas gusher was brought in. Having available only his small capital of a few thousand dollars, he wired his friend, Ed Prather, to come with all the cash he had or could borrow. This was the turning point in his business career and from this time on his success was assured. He began trad- ing in leases, and did a large contracting business. When compressed air was introduced to aid pro- duction in 1902 he formed a partnership with Ed Prather, then of Dallas, now of Houston, and in- stalled a power plant. From this time on his in- terests became manifold. He organized the Pro- ducers Company in 1905, of which he was President and later this company became the production sub- sidiary of the Texas Company. When the Texas Company obtained an option on the Sour Lake Springs properties, to Mr. Sharp was assigned the important task of making the necessary tests for oil. The outcome was a ten thousand barrel gush- er, and the resultant development on this property made millions of dollars for the Texas Company, giving it the impetus that has made it one of the leaders in the petroleum world. He was the fore- most individual figure in all of the subsequent dis- coveries of oil polls in Texas and Louisiana. De- tails were abhorrent to him, but he was ever looking after the bigger things. He had a system of op- erations entirely peculiar to himself, and his ability to ferret out oil producing land was uncanny. When he passed away he left his company with twenty thousand barrels of daily production, and thousands of acres of oil bearing leases undevelop- ed. Shortly before his death he stated to friends that he had satisfied his business ambition in gath- ering together these lands and securing the desired production, referring especially to his company's production of seven thousand barrels daily in the Wichita County territory.

Knowing the needs of the oil fields as he did, he was quick to adopt any new or improved device for drilling. He invented a new rotary for drilling through hard formation, and took his friend, the late Howard R. Hughes, into partnership to work out the details. He furnished the capital and to-

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gether they worked out the development of this bit, and formed the Sharp-Hughes Tool Company and built a factory in Houston, which was the be- ginning of the great Hughes Tool Company of to- day.

During the lifetime of Mr. Sharp he made friends wherever he happened to be, and his choice of close associates was significant all through his life. In boyhood his intimate friends were youths of sterling character, and later he gathered into the circle, men of such charm, integrity and dynamic purpose as the late Governor Hogg, J. S. Cullinan, John W. Gates, a picturesque and powerful character in the business world of Chicago and New York; Dudley Crawford of Marshall, Texas, for whom he named his second son; W. T. Campbell, and the splendid lawyer and great souled man, James L. Autry, so long the attorney for the Texas Company; W. C. Hogg, oldest son of Governor Hogg, whose devotion to the memory of his friend is attested to by his never failing service to the wife and sons. Add to these, men of such unquestionable attainments as Ed Prather, R. L. Blaffer and W. S. Farish and the business world presents a group which for force, originality and congeniality thrills the imagination as does the literateurs gathered around the great Ben Jonson. At the time of his death a wide circle of friends in every walk of life mourned. From the expressions of some of these friends an insight into a few of his characteristics may be gleaned. John H. Wharton, his attorney from early youth, long since dead, said of him, "I found him then, and ever after, a clean, broad-minded gentleman, big hearted and true. He was always rather impatient with details, but was able to see through and be- yond to the conclusion. I knew he had a brilliant future. He had a sense of humor purely his own. Once in Dallas he was walking from his home along the H. & T. C. tracks after dark, when a couple of footpads demanded his money. He fortunately had but half a dollar and handing it over told them he was ashamed to be caught with so little." Mike H. Thomas of Dallas said of him: "For thirty years I was honored by having him for one of my warmest friends. When he was a boy he played a good game of marbles, always proving himself able to take care of Walter, but never did he fudge or take any undue advantage and all who played with him had a fair and square show. He always treated his opponent with respect, and if he met with defeat he was the first to congratulate the victor. In our ball games he proved himself one of the best players, ever reliable, with a keen eye, active brain, always in the game. Here also he was always guided by fairness. Tomorrow was al- ways going to be brighter than today. He was a deep thinker; he slept but little when engaged in any great undertaking. He was a self-made man, and is indebted to no one for this great success." In the appreciation written by his associates at the time of his death, and personally signed by hun- dreds, this paragraph perhaps is all-inclusive: "That by his death we are brought to an even greater realization of his high attainments, his stainless honor, his strength, and power, and cour- age, and resourcefulness for conquering difficulties; his gentleness and consideration for all his fellow workers; his genial and never-failing spirit of char- ity towards all men-all as attributes of a lofty

character so fully possessed by him and so rarely encountered in such high degree in human experi- ence." Unselfishness was one of his outstanding qualities, and as he lay dying he thought not of himself, but of a driller who was burned and crip- pled in the Caddo oil fire of May, 1911. Among the last words he ever spoke were, "Take care of Ran Hewitt."

Mr. Sharp made a deep and lasting impression on his many associates in the oil fraternity. His lifelong friend, Mr. Ed Prather, said of him: "He was a man of outstanding genius; he was a man of great individual initiative, always thought for himself and had the courage to act upon his own judgment, seldom if ever failing to accomplish what he set out to do. He was the pioneer of pioneers in the oil world, and although nearly fifteen years have elapsed since his passing, his memory is rever- ed by practically all of the old-time oil men where he was known and loved so well, and there is scarce- ly a week passes where prominent oil men are in conference that his name is not mentioned by those who knew him."

Mr. Sharp had an unusual talent for solving and mastering difficulties. At Shreveport when a big gusher caught on fire every known means was tried to extinguish the blaze. At this time he in- vented a new device for mastering the situation, for which the Scientific American Magazine gave him credit, and with his friend, Howard Hughes, built a machine with which they dug diagonally from a safe distance from the blaze, connecting with the hole, leading the oil in a different direction, thus extinguishing one of the largest oil fires in history. It was largely the result of overtaxing his strength on this occasion that resulted in his death. Mr. Sharp was of a sympathetic nature, con- siderate of his men, never sending them into danger where he was not ready to lead them. He had an extremely buoyant sense of humor, and in his early business career, before the well known days of the Sour Lake field, when a disastrous fire burned his little refinery, which, with H. H. Jones, was all he possessed, his first remark upon reaching his home was that he had just returned from one of the most magnificent bonfires that he had ever seen. Something of his philosophy of life may be under- stood by his statement during a period of depres- sion, "That no one can make it so hard for me that I will not get some happiness out of every day of my life." His generosity was of the mag- nificent kind that made every excuse for others, while holding himself strictly to account. He was a man of intense passions, which were kept under perfect control. In stature he was of a tall angular type, six feet, two and three-fourths inches in height and was said by his friends to resemble Abra- ham Lincoln both in physique and spirit. With a perfect appreciation of money as a means to an end, material possessions did not obscure his vision or alter his values of life, and on his death bed he remarked, "That what you can buy with money is not worth a dam," this being the second time only that his family ever heard him use a profane word in the presence of ladies. Although his char- ities were extensive, they were entirely unostenta- tious, being even unknown to his immediate family.

Walter B. Sharp was united in marriage on Jan- uary 28th, 1897, with Miss Estelle L. Boughton, of

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an old colonial family. To this union were born three children-Walter Bedford Sharp, Kathleen, who died at the age of five, and Dudley Crawford Sharp. Mr. Sharp was a member of most of the civic, fraternal and social organizations of Houston.

With the passing of Walter B. Sharp in his forty- third year, November 28th, 1912, in the very prime of life, Texas and the oil fraternity lost a great citizen and member. Many men, some in high places, but more in the humbler walks of life, lost a real friend. The oil industry lost its greatest genius, and the country lost a patriotic citizen, pos- sessed of high ideals, optimism and imagination that together accomplished big things. No demon- stration of love and respect has ever surpassed that which sprang forth at his death. Grief was not confined to the immediate circle of friends and family, but it was shared by the men in the fields, and by those who daily came in contact with him, and by those hundreds who had known his gen- erosity and his gentle ways.

G EORGE FREDERICK ARNOLD. On De- cember 29th, 1923 there was executed at Houston, Texas, an instrument that launched a distinctive and unique educa- tional project. It consisted of a deed of gift from Mrs. George F. Arnold conveying securities of the value of $120,000.00 to establish the George F. and Ora Nixon Arnold chair of American Statesmanship at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. "In making this gift," Mrs. Arnold said, "it is my desire to perpetuate the lofty ideals of American statesmanship entertained by my husband, George F. Arnold, and in some measure to be instrumental in fostering such nobility of character as he pos- sessed, in young men who may become leaders and statesmen of the future. I am in full sympathy with his view that the future of America is dependent upon a proper conception of and adherence to the fundamental principles of our government as em- bodied in our constitution and transmitted by the fathers of our Republic to us. There are forces con- stantly at work that tend to bring about a departure from these ideals and principles, and these harmful tendencies should be resisted by educational pro- cesses whereby the true spirit of our free institu- tions may become fixed in the minds and hearts of the youth of our country." Surely the life and career of the man who inspired this gift can not fail to be of interest and value to all patriotic Americans.

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 72

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