New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 82

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

USA > Texas > New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1 > Part 82

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

A native Texan, Mr. Hail was born in Houston October 25th, 1888. His father, Alex Hail, was a well known hardware merchant of Houston, where, with Mr. Hail's grandfather, he was engaged in this line of business prior to 1891. His mother was Miss Mary Weems, a member of an old and well known Texas family. His education was obtained in the public and high schools of Houston.

Mr. Hail started his business career when four- teen years of age in a railroad office, where he re- mained from 1902 to 1904. From that time until 1921, he followed the electric line. In 1921, with his associates, he organized the company with which he is now identified.

Mr. Hail was married in Houston in 1916 to Miss Caroline Virginia Gray, a native Texan and a daughter of J. W. Gray and Jennie W. Gray, well known citizens of Burleson County, where for many years Mr. Gray was engaged in the drug business at Caldwell, Texas. They have two children, Mary Virginia, five years of age, and Iona Frances, aged two years. Mr. and Mrs. Hail reside at 4407 Wood- side Avenue. Mr. Hail is a member of both the York and Scottish Rite bodies of the Masonic fra- ternity and is a Shriner of Arabia Temple. He also holds membership in the following organizations: Salesmanship Club, Purchasing Agents Association, Civitan Club, Builders Exchange and the Y. M. C. A. Mr. Hail has great faith in the future of Houston, which he believes will continue her steady, con- sistent growth, and will soon take her place as the leading city in the Southwest. Mr. Hail is inter- ested in all matters having to do with the progress and advancement of Houston, and has always been active in the civic, social and business life of the city.

469

MEN OF TEXAS

A MBROSE MERCHANT, oil operator, has for almost a quarter of a century been active in the South Texas field, where he has aided in the development of this area and has been unusually successful in his operations. Mr. Merchant came to Houston in 1918, at which time he had expected to in a measure retire from active business, but has found it very difficult to give up the active life which he has always led. He began oil operations at Sour Lake in 1903 and has been continuously engaged in this line since that time. His grandfather, Stephen Jackson, owned a league of land granted from the Spanish gov- ernment, on which the town and oil field of Sour Lake is now located. This grant of land bears the date of 1835, and one thousand acres of it was sold to the Sour Lake Springs Company for the purpose of building up and maintaining a health resort. The Texas Company, after the beginning of activities in regard to drilling for oil began in South Texas, purchased eight hundred acres of this grant and drilled on same and brought in a gusher oil well in 1902 or 1903. Oil was developed on land sur- rounding the original grant acreage and which was still owned in fee by the Jackson heirs. About the same time, Shoe String tract, north of the Sour Springs Company tract, was the next to be devel- oped, after which twenty acres, called the Canon tract, and the fourth tract to be developed, was the Merchant addition in 1907, all of which is consid- ered caprock territory, and some of the pumpers on the Merchant tract are still producing.

During his residence in Sour Lake, Mr. Merchant was active in the affairs of that section and was one of the organizers and vice presidents of the first bank in Sour Lake and was also a director of the Citizens' National Bank of that place. A native Texan, Mr. Merchant was born in Hardin County on December 18th, 1870. His father, James A. Mer- chant (deceased since 1880), began the operation of the Sour Springs property directly following the Civil War and continued in this line until his death. His mother was Miss Minerva Jackson, and her father, Stephen Jackson, was a relative of Gen- eral Stonewall Jackson. His education was ob- tained in the public schools of Hardin County. At ten years of age, Mr. Merchant's father died and he was left the responsibility of the care of the family, and in this undertaking, at the tender age of ten years, he was entirely successful and has spent his life in this care and in seeing that the younger children had the proper opportunities of education and the many things that are necessary in the life of the youth of the country. All of this family were reared properly and educated and owe their present splendid condition to the efforts put forth by this youth. His first work consisted of that in which nearly all country boys engage-that of farm work and tending cattle. He is considered an expert horseman, having ridden a horse since his boyhood days, and his interests in the cattle business, up to a few years ago, gave him plenty of saddle practice. The testing at Hull began in 1905 and the Sun Company drilled two wells there and obtained nothing more than salt water and re- turned the leases. After this transaction, Mr. Mer- chant bought the land in fee and the royalties that went with it on the strengh of what he had noticed

in the drilling of the Sun wells, which consisted of many indications that he had learned in the coastal fields by experience and observation. There are now twelve producing wells on his tracts, most of the work on which is being done by the Yount Lee Oil Company, who drilled the discovery well, and the Higgins Oil and Fuel Company. The Merchant No. 1, brought in by the former, flowed 250,000 barrels of oil before slowing down and the Merchant No. 5 also drilled by this company in December, 1922, main- tained a flow of 10,000 barrels per day for thirty consecutive days. The Gulf Company now has the most production at Hull and this field has been drilled very conservatively, as there is no wild cat- ting there.

Mr. Merchant was married in October, 1919, to Miss Thelma Bradley, a native Texan and a daugh- ter of Jack Bradley, a well known ranchman of West Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Merchant recently built a new residence on West Alabama. Mr. Merchant is a member of the B. P. O. E., with membership in the Beaumont Lodge of this organization, and of the new Houston Polo Club. The Merchant family are of the Methodist and Baptist faiths. Mr. Merchant has many friends in the South Texas territory, where he has resided practically all his life, and is regarded as one of the most conservative and best posted oil operators in the coastal fields, which his success plainly indicates.

R. DEAN has since coming to Houston been an active figure in the financial, industrial and manufacturing circles of the city, and as Manager of the Independent Electric Ice Company, has been a factor in building up a large and profitable business. The Independent Electric Ice Company with office at 2002 Capitol Avenue, was organized and incorporated in 1918, and their business has grown steadily since that time. The Independent Electric Ice Company's plant has a daily capacity of sixty tons, and sell to both the whole- sale and retail trade. This company are the pro- ducers of the only electrified water in Houston, and sell many hundreds of bottles of their product daily. They sell water for drinking purposes in five-gallon bottles, and furnish coolers for same. All ice made by this company is made from electrically treated water and their plant is the last word in sanitation and cleanliness. Their plant covers an area of one- fourth of a city block, and have good, substantial buildings, and their machinery is all of modern type. They employ fifteen people in their plant. Other officers of the Independent Electric Ice Company are H. S. Filson, President, J. D. Butler, Treasurer, and Benten McMillan, Secretary.

Mr. Dean was born in Peru, Indiana, in 1883. His father, A. J. Dean, was a well known citizen of that State, where he had lived practically all his life. Mr. Dean came to Texas in 1903 and to Houston in 1918 and organized the Independent Electric Ice Com- pany. He has been engaged in the ice business all his life, and knows every phase of the business.

Mr. Dean is a member of both York and Scottish Rite bodies of the Masonic order and is a Shriner of Arabia Temple. He has a genius for management, and has made a name among his business associates for his straight-forward methods and keenness of judgment. Mr. Dean is an advocate of efficiency, promptness and punctuality; all of which he carries out in his daily life.

470

ambrose Merchant

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

B A. KILLSON, well known insurance man of Houston and South Texas, has been a factor in the business circles of this city for the past thirteen years, having prior to en- gaging in the insurance business been for several years active in the cotton circles of Houston. Mr. Killson is the sole owner of the insurance business conducted under the name of B. A. Killson and Com- pany with office at 422-423 Houston Cotton Ex- change Building and is one of the largest concerns of its kind in the city, writing a general line of insurance, including life. B. A. Killson and Com- pany are general agents for the automobile depart- ment of the Allied Underwriters of the Union Insur- ance Society of Canton. They are also general agents for both the Continental Casualty Company and the Continental Assurance Company and local agents for three of the leading fire insurance companies of the country, and are managers of the southern department of the National Casualty Company, trav- eling accident division. Mr. Killson has been a resi- dent of Houston for thirteen years and has been en- gaged in the insurance business since 1916, having met with unusual success in this line of endeavor. He was for a number of years, prior to coming to Texas, engaged as a traveling salesman and trav- eled for various firms throughout the United States. After coming here he was for several years asso- ciated with a leading cotton firm and continued in this line of activity until he engaged in the insurance business.

Mr. Killson was born in Harvard, Illinois, on May 23rd, 1889. His father, A. J. Killson, also a native of Illinois, was well known in the business circles of his native state. He is now retired from active business pursuits and is making his home in Hous- ton. His mother was Miss Minerva Arner, a member of a prominent Ohio family. His education was ob- tained in the public schools of his native state.

Mr. Killson was married in Houston in 1913 to Miss Winifred Brown, a native of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Killson reside at 1019 California Avenue. In fraternal and social organizations, Mr. Killson is a member of the York Rite body of the Masonic fra- ternity and is a member of Arabia Temple Shrine of Houston. He is a director of the Glenbrook Coun- try Club and a member of the River Oaks Country Club, the B. P. O. E., the Kiwanis Club, the Hous- ton Launch Club and the Salesmanship Club. He is very active in the business and social circles of Hous- ton, and is greatly interested in all civic matters. He is a golf and sailing enthusiast and is very pop- ular with all classes, and has built up a splendid business. Mr. Killson is optimistic as to the future of South Texas and believes that this portion of the country is entering into an era of great business prosperity in all lines.

OWARD KENYON, president and general manager of the Howard Kenyon Dredging Company, came to Houston in 1914 and since that time has been identified with much of the important work in this line that has been done, not only in Texas, but in the states of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Missisisppi. The Kenyon Dredging Company, which is the largest of its kind in the South, are engaged in a general dredging business. This company has four large floating dredges, and dredges of the different kinds to the number of twenty-one for any and all kinds of

dredging work. They are doing a vast amount of work, and have contracts amounting to more than two millions of dollars. In 1923, this company was engaged in the following work: In Jefferson Coun- ty to the amount of $750,000.00; in Harris County to the amount of $400,000.00, this work being on Bray's Bayou, and in Louisiana a levy seventeen miles in length. They have a contract to move more than two million cubic yards of dirt on one levy. During the past few years they have completed or have under construction work to the value of about $5,000,000.00. From two hundred to two hundred and fifty people are employed by this company, who have more than $500,000.00 invested in equipment. Other officers of the Howard Kenyon Dredging Company are J. A. Pondron, vice president, who is also president of the City National Bank of Dallas; J. E. Broussard, of Beaumont, vice president; W. L. Penny, vice president (active) and Sam Pondron, secretary and treasurer. The office of the How- ard Kenyon Dredging Company is located at 3603 Mckinney Avenue.

Mr. Kenyon was born at Kingston, Missouri, on July 30, 1868. His father, P. D. Kenyon, was a well known business man of Missouri. His mother was Miss Sarah Bowman, a member of a prominent Pennsylvania family. His early education was ob- tained in the public and high schools of Missouri. Later he entered Park College at Kansas City, Mis- souri, where he remained for three years, a student of structural engineering and completed this course. After leaving college, Mr. Kenyon entered the gen- eral contracting and construction business, and in 1888, when twenty years of age, he supervised the setting of the compressors which drove the Eighth Street tunnel in Kansas City, Missouri, and he re- mained there for one year. He then came to Dallas, Texas, and engaged in the general construction busi- ness under the name of Knight and Kenyon, and this firm was for many years among the leading con- tractors in Dallas, and built the following buildings there: Dallas University, Murray Gin Plant, Harry Lipsitz Building, John Deere Plow Company Build- ing, the principle State Fair Buildings, National Harvester Company Building, Southland Hotel, Old Federal Reserve Bank Building, and many other leading structures of the city. He also built court houses, hospitals and postoffice buildings, schools, churches and residences, both in Dallas and in all portions of the state. He did considerable dredging and excavating in different parts of Texas before he came to Houston.

Mr. Kenyon was married in Rock Island, Illinois, in 1904, to Miss Wilhelmina Blackburn, a daughter of Captain William Blackburn of Kentucky, who was a leading lawyer of the Blue Grass State and was for many years general attorney for, and one of the builders of the Rock Island Railroad. They have four children, Mary Louise Blackburn Kenyon, seventeen years of age; Wilhelmina Blackburn Ken- yon, aged fifteen years; Howard Blackburn Ken- yon, eleven years of age, and Dorothy Blackburn Kenyon, aged nine years. The Kenyon home in Hous- ton is at 4520 Caroline Boulevard. Mr. Kenyon is a member of the Houston Club, Medina Lake Hunting and Fishing Club, Camp Sterrett Hunting and Fish- ing Club and the River Oaks Country Club. Mr. Kenyon has made many friends in Houston and throughout the state.

473

MEN OF TEXAS

HARLES K. HORTON came to Houston in 1909, and since that time has engaged ex- tensively in contracting enterprises, attain- ing a high reputation as general contractor in his special fields, and winning the esteem of his fellow citizens. Mr. Horton specializes in sewer and paving contracts, wharf and dock construction, foundation work and excavating. He is the largest contractor in Houston handling these lines, and has complete equipment for handling any size contract. Mr. Horton has his own material yards, shops, and other buildings, owning a block of ground with rail- road frontage, and with his own trackage. He has a complete truck equipment, operating a fleet of heavy trucks and uses his own automatic dumps. Mr. Horton has had the contract for constructing many of the wharfs and docks at Houston, has handled many important paving contracts, and in- stalled a large part of the new sewer extensions to the city. He has his own labor, employing around one hundred and seventy-five operatives, keeping them on his payroll all the time. While most of his work is centered in Houston, he also has a number of contracts from adjoining points, and is favorably known throughout this section.

Mr. Horton was born in Edna, Texas, February 4, 1887, son of George Horton, formerly a general merchant of that city, but now retired, and Alberta Kaapke Horton. He attended the public schools of Edna, graduating from the high school there, after which he entered Texas A. and M. College, where he took his B. S. degree after three years. He then came to Houston and associated with the firm of Horton and Horton, resigning as General Manager of that firm in 1920 to establish his present busi- ness.

Mr. Horton served his country during the recent war, enlisting in military service in May, 1917. He trained at Leon Springs, after which he was sent to the Officer's Training Camp at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he was commissioned Captain of the Hundred and Eleventh Engineering Corps and went overseas, in June, 1918. He saw active fighting at St. Mihiel, in the Argonne, and was returned to America in July, 1919.

Mr. Horton was married at Houston, in 1921, to Miss Glenn Errel Harbert, daughter of Glenn and Love Collison Harbert, pioneer residents of Colum- bus, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Horton have one daugh- ter, Glenn Errol, born November 29, 1923, and reside at the Garden Court Apartments. Mr. Horton is a member of the University Club, and is a York Rite Mason, and a member of Arabia Temple Shrine. Mr. Horton is a business man of unusual success in his particular line of endeavor, and his future in Hous- ton is assured.

AMES CHARLTON, a resident of Houston for almost half a century, and one of the most honored pioneers of this city, has for almost two decades served as County Treas- urer of Harris County, and in few counties has this office been retained for a longer consecutive period. Mr. Charlton is a man of broad business and public experience, and has always occupied a high place in the confidence of the people, and dem- onstrated an unusual capability to hold his present office. Few men have taken a greater part in the development than he, and especially in the securing of the ship channel is Houston indebted to him. He

worked indefatigably to secure this advantage for his city, because having spent many years of his boyhood life in the territory of the Manchester Ship Channel in England, he had a store of useful in- formation of service to the Houston project. In other civic activities Mr. Charlton has also taken the lead, and Houston can point with pride to many advantages that have been secured by him.

James Charlton was born at Manchester, Eng- land, the twenty-fourth of April, 1847, the son of George Charlton, who lived and died in his native country, and Hannah Crowder Charlton, also a na- tive of England, who, after being widowed, joined her son in Houston, and made this city her home until her death.

Mr. Charlton was educated in the schools of Eng- land, and as a youth of eighteen came to the United States, landing in New York City the first of Au- gust, 1865. He traveled through the Northern States until 1869, when he went to New Orleans, where he remained until 1872, when he came to Texas for the first time, going to Jefferson, Texas, where he remained for a short time, after which he returned to New Orleans. Four years later, in 1876, he came to Houston, in which city he has since made his home. He went to work in one of the railroad shops, doing blacksmith and machine work, and later opened a general blacksmith shop for himself, re- maining in that business until he lost his right arm in an accident, and from 1898 to 1902 he was a mem- ber of the school board and president of the board three years, during which time the board introduced free text books in the Houston public schools, since adopted and continued by the State at large. After recovering he was elected to the office of County Treasurer in 1906, and has held that office con- tinuously ever since.

Mr. Charlton was married at Neches, in Ander- son County, Texas, Christmas week, 1876, to Miss Lucy Alice Lester, who has been his constant com- panion and inspiration for almost half a century. Mr. and Mrs. Charlton have four children, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The chil- dren are George Charlton, an attorney of Houston, who is married and has one child; James A. Charl- ton, an oil driller, formerly of Texas, and now of California; Miss Alice Charlton, a teacher in the Houston High School, and Mamie Charlton Sette- gast, who is with her father in the County Treas- urer's office. The family make their home at 2102 Bagby Street, which has been the family residence for many years. Mr. Charlton has been a Mason for many years, joining this lodge when he made his home in New Orleans, St. John No. 153, and was later transferred to Anderson County Lodge, and still later to Gray Lodge No. 329, Houston. As a Mason of more than fifty years standing he is wide- ly known to Masonic circles. As a citizen of Hous- ton he has always been active in civic work, and interested in the advancement of his city. One of the oldest county officials of Harris County, he has served well and faithfully, doing his full duty and more, and has demonstrated many times his ability and devotion to the best interests of the community. A man of great foresight, a great thinker, and a man of broad experience, his opinion is highly valued, and he is honored as one of the real pioneers and builders of Houston.

474

Chas. 1! Hasta

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

HARLES STANLEY ANDRES, Superinten- dent of the Houston plant of the Texas Portland Cement Company, is one of the best posted men in Texas on the cement industry and has been in charge of the local plant since 1922. General offices of the Texas Portland Cement Company are maintained at Houston and Dallas and the Houston plant is located on the bayou front at Manchester, approximately seven miles from the city of Houston.

The plant was built in 1915-16 and commenced ac- tual operations May 26, 1916. Only one unit was installed at that time, giving a capacity of one thousand barrels per day average. During the first part of 1920 a second unit was installed, thus doubling the capacity of the plant. Operation of the second unit was started in July, 1920, the present capacity of the plant being two thousand barrels per day average.

At the Houston plant the wet process is used; the raw materials available for the manufacture of ce- ment are oyster shells, used for the lime consti- tuent, and high siliceous clay for the clay consti- tuent. The oyster shells are hydraulically dredged at the Red Fish Reef in Galveston Bay and deliv- ered in barges to the plant wharf. The clay is se- cured from a clay pit at Pasadena, approximately three miles distant, and delivered to the plant in railroad cars.

The unloading of the shells is done by means of a monorail crane delivering the shells to a receiving hopper, and by means of a belt conveyor, taken to a pit and by a second monorail crane delivered to the raw mill or to the shell storage. The clay is un- loaded with a locomotive crane and discharged into a wash mill and, after being crushed in the wash mill, stored in the form of slurry containing about 66 per cent. moisture.

The raw grinding machinery consists of two No. 85 F. L. Smidth wet kominuters; two No. 10 Trix separators; two No. 20 F. L. Smidth tube mills and two slurry pumps for taking the finished raw mate- rial from the raw mill to four storage basins, each of 1,000 barrels capacity. The finished slurry con- tains approximately 42 to 43 per cent. moisture and is ground to a fineness of 92 per cent. through a 200-mesh sieve.

The finishing mill grinding machinery consists of two No. 85 F. L. Smidth kominuters and two No. 18 F. L. Smidth "Danula" tube mills. From the fin- ishing mill the finished cement is, by means of con- veyors, taken to the stock house.

The stock house is a reinforced concrete silo ware- house consisting of six circular tanks 32 feet in diameter and 60 feet high; the space between the tanks also being used for cement storage, having a capacity of approximately 80,000 barrels. From the storehouse the cement is, by means of a conveying system in the basement and elevators, taken to three automatic packing machines, each having a capacity of approximately 1,400 barrels per day. In 1920 additional equipment was installed to take care of loading by boat or barge.

The plant is electrically driven throughout and is equipped with two 530 horse power Fulton Tosi oil engines, each having a 360 K. W. G. E. generator attached with direct connected exciter. All plant machinery is electrically driven with practically in- dividual drive for each machine, the plant being

equipped with approximately eighty motors.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 82

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