New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 2, Part 135

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1262

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Mr. Tanner was married at Austin, Texas, in 1904, to Miss Phyrne Claiborne, a member of a prominent Indiana family. They have two children-Cynthia and Phyrne. Mr. Tanner is considered one of the

leading gravel men of Texas, and is an authority on the various branches of this business. He says that it costs a great deal to establish and equip a gravel plant, and the reason of so many failures in this business is because of the expense of heavy overhead stripping in shallow gravel and lack of water. In their pits in Colorado County, they have deep gravel and plenty of water, and he says there is enough of this product here to last for a period of at least one-half century. They expect soon to begin pro- ducing one hundred cars per day, for which they have a ready market, and this industry is growing rapidly on account of good gravel being used for building purposes and in the vast amount of road work being done in Texas.

AMES H. HERRING, mayor of Wharton, brings to bear in the directing of munici- pal affairs the same sound and constructive policies which have made him one of the most successful farmers of this section, and under his administration many public improvements have been made. Wharton has a council form of gov- ernment, the mayor and a council composed of five members directing municipal affairs. The city owns the waterworks system, the sewer plant and has an excellent public school system providing facilities for teaching one thousand pupils. More than twenty- five miles of concrete sidewalks have been laid and streets are in excellent condition. The city is on a cash basis and has a sinking fund to care for the bonded indebtedness. All departments of the city government are systematized. The city has recently voted a bond issue of $65,000.00 for paving in the city; the bonds were sold on March 25, 1925, and Wharton is enjoying one of the most prosperous per- iods in its history.

James H. Herring was born in Leon County, Texas, the twelfth of June, 1867, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Herring. He is a grandson of the late J. O. Anders, who came to Leon County before the Civil War, from Carolina, and was one of the large planters and slave owners of this section. Thomas Herring died when his son, James H. Herring, the subject of this sketch, was a young boy, and he was reared in Georgia, attending the schools of that state and securing an excellent technical education. He worked for some years as a surveyor, coming to Texas during this period and helping lay out Hous- ton Heights. He also helped build the Missouri, Kan- sas and Texas Railroad into Houston, working under A. V. Kellogg. Mr. Herring came to Wharton in 1892, and worked for a time in his uncle's store, spending twenty-five years in the wholesale ice and beer business. He has also acquired farming inter- ests in this section, keeping a small herd of cattle to graze on his pasture and woodland, of which he owns upward of two hundred acres. A farm of one hundred acres is under cultivation, tenant families being on the place, engaged in cotton raising.

Mr. Herring was married at Wharton, in 1897, to Miss Mary E. Clapp, a native of Texas, her fam- ily coming here from Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Herring reside at Wharton, and have one son, James H. Herring, Jr., who is traveling salesman for Leg- gett and Myers. Mr. Herring has been active in civic work for many years, and has served on the school board for ten years, and one term as alderman and one term as county commissioner, prior to his elec- County, which office he held until 1924, not stand- tion as mayor.

1965

MEN OF TEXAS

OHN N. LEE, pioneer of Wharton County, and for more than a quarter of a century active in developing this section, has given his attention chiefly to cattle raising and rice growing, and is one of the best informed men in this locality as to progressive methods in either of these industries. Mr. Lee has one of the largest rice plantations in Wharton County, comprising around twenty-four hundred acres which he has under irrigation, and he also has large cattle inter- ests, his herd of Hereford grade cattle numbering upwards of a thousand head. He also owns large tracts of land in Wharton and Colorado Counties, most of which is irrigated from the canal of the Lakeside Irrigation Company of Eagle Lake. Mr. Lee came to Lissie from Austin, and Travis County, in 1897, and since that time has gradually built up and added to his interests in this section until he is one of the large land owners here, and a man who has attained an enviable reputation in the community as a rice farmer and cattleman who has made a success through the application of modern and businesslike methods to these industries.

John N. Lee was born in Tennessee, the twenty- second of March, 1862, the son of Sam Lee, of that state. He attended the schools there, his education however being largely in the school of experience and along practical lines. Mr. Lee first came to Texas in 1883, after a short time returning to Ten- nessee, and again coming to this state in 1893. After several years spent in Travis County, he came to Wharton County, in 1897, buying his first land, a state section, at that time.

Mr. Lee was married at Wharton, Texas, the twenty-seventh of August, 1898, to Miss Rachel L. Garrett, a native of Tennessee, and whom Mr. Lee met in that state. Mr. and Mrs. Lee have one child, Charles Otis Lee, who is associated with his father in the rice and cattle business. Mr. and Mrs. Lee reside on the ranch, just out of Lissie, and six miles from Eagle Lake, on the Old Spanish Trail. Mr. Lee, although primarily a rice grower and cattle man, is also a man of discrimination in the business world, and is a director of the State Bank at Eagle Lake, a director of the Wharton Motor Company at Dallas, and local director of the Federal Land Bank for this section. He has also at various times operated general mercantile stores. Mr. Lee, Walt Poole, Sinclair, Hays and Cook put down an oil well on the Pool section No. 16 in 1919. Mr. Lee, Herder, Winterman, McClanahan and others are now put- ting down an oil well ten miles north of Eagle Lake, and have a showing of oil. Mr. Lee is a Woodman of the World, and a member of the Texas Rice Growers Association. He is the typical out-of-doors man, his chief interest lying in the management of his extensive properties, and a man qualified by nature and experience for the handling of large undertakings.

LEXANDER G. HUDGINS, a representative of one of the real pioneer families of Whar- ton County, is one of the leading planters, cattlemen and merchants of this county, and has taken an active part in its development. Mr. Hudgins has extensive land interests in this section, including five hundred acres in cultivation, and de- voted to the raising of cotton and corn, with a small amount of sorghum for feed, and one thousand acres of pasture and woodland. Mr. Hudgins has

around three hundred head of cattle, of which two hundred are bred up to three quarters Brahma from Texas range cattle. Mr. Hudgins operates a large general mercantile store at Hungerford, where he makes his home, all work on the farm and ranch being carried on under his direction by tenant far- mers, of whom he employs ten families, negroes and Mexicans.

The Hudgins family dates back to the coming of Joel Hudgins' grandfather of Alexander Hudgins, the subject of this sketch, to Wharton County, where he established the first saw mill and became in- terested in the cattle industry. He acquired land in- terests here, cultivating around sixty acres, and us- ing the rest for pasturage for his herds. Later Joel Hudgins moved to Chapel Hill in order that his children would have better educational advantages. After his death, which occurred in 1873, the family returned to Wharton County, to the ranch here, the eldest son having been in charge of this interest dur- ing their absence. Later, after the death of Mrs. Rachael Ann Northington Hudgins, grandmother of the subject of this sketch, which occurred in 1903, the estate was divided, Alexander Richey Hudgins, father of the present owner of the estate, carrying on his share, and adding to it and extending agri- cultural development. He also established the store now operated by Alexander G. Hudgins, his son and the subject of this sketch, who after his father's death in 1918 has been in charge of the estate.

Alexander G. Hudgins was born in Wharton Coun- ty, Texas, the twenty-sixth of December, 1884, the son of Alexander Richey Hudgins and Julia Compton Hudgins. His grandfather, Joel Hudgins, was a native of North Carolina, where he was born the seventh of November, 1800, later coming to Texas, as mentioned in the preceding paragraph. His grandmother, Rachel Ann Northington Hudgins, was born in Kentucky in 1821, the daughter of Major Andrew Northington, who had charge of the women and children who were leaving the country ahead of Santa Anna, at the time the battle of San Jacinto was fought Mrs. Hudgins was first married to a Mr. Mckenzie, by whom she had three children. After his death she married Joel Hudgins, the founder of the Hudgins family in Wharton County, Alexander Richey Hudgins, father of the subject of this sketch being one of the children of this union. He was married to Miss Julia Compton, three chil- dren being born of this union, Alexander G. Hudgins, Joel Hudgins and Jennie Hudgins Border. The Hudgins family had its origin in the United States in the early part of the nineteenth century when five brothers came here from Holland, one of these, Humphrey Hudgins, the great-great-grandfather of Alexander G. Hudgins, having eleven sons, of whom Joel Hudgins was one.

Alexander G. Hudgins received his early educa- tion in the country school near Hungerford which had been established by the Hudgins family. After finishing there he went to Houston where he took a commercial course at the Massey Business College. Finishing there he returned to his home and began working for his father, after his death, in 1918, taking over the management of the estate, and in 1920, when the estate was divided, taking the mer- cantile store and land interests, which he has since managed, as his share.

1966

John N. Lee

Wall Pool

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

Mr. Hudgins was married at Nacogdoches, Texas, the tenth of August, 1910, to Miss Lora Hardeman, daughter of Peter Hardeman, a native of Georgia. Mr. and Mrs. Hudgins have two children, Leonora and Donald Green Hudgins. They reside at Hunger- ford. Mr. Hudgins is a Mason, Wharton No. 621, eighteenth degree Scottish Rite at Houston. He is active in all that concerns the development of Wharton County and held in high esteem by all who know him.

ALT POOLE, for around two decades has been a factor in the agricultural develop- ment of Wharton County, taking a deep interest in furthering the growing of rice in this section, and has been active in encouraging progressive rice growing methods. Mr. Poole has a large rice plantation near Lissie, and around six miles from Eagle Lake, growing annually around six hundred acres of rice, and averaging better than twenty barrels to the acre. He makes a spe- cialty of growing rice seed, and supplies a large part of the seed rice used for planting in this sec- tion. Mr. Poole also has a herd of around three hundred head of cattle, including a number of reg- istered bulls, and is breeding up his herd toward Hereford strain. He has seven hundred acres in pasture where he grazes his herd, and as a cattle man is no less progressive than he is as a rice grower, giving attention to modern and scientific stock raising methods. All buildings on the Poole plantation are modern and all equipment used is of the most approved type and well cared for.

Walt Poole was born in Iowa, in November, 1856, spending his boyhood at St. Joseph, during the Civil War period. On account of the unsettled conditions prevalent at this time his educational opportunities were few, and his education was largely obtained in the school of experience. Later Mr. Poole's father went to Kansas, and he was at Abilene when the first trail herd came up to that point. Later Mr. Poole homesteaded in Kansas, and still later went to Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, where he was a cattleman and horse raiser. He had a large horse ranch in Montana, around fourteen miles from the Custer Battle Ground, and at one time had more than fifteen thousand head of cattle on the Tongue River. Mr. Poole was at the first round-up ever held on the Cheyenne and Upper Missouri Rivers, and was also at the biggest round-up ever held, that held by Bill Cody and Major North at Forks Platte, where there were one thousand riders and three hundred grub wagons. Mr. Poole came to Texas in 1890, going first to San Antonio, before the Southern Pacific Line was built to that point, and for the following three years he bought horses which he shipped north. He then returned to Kan- sas where he spent several years raising alfalfa-fed cattle which he shipped to market, doing a fine business. Later his health failed and he sold his Kansas land, returning to Texas, where he bought land, coming to Lissie in 1907. Mr. Poole has since made this his home, and has become well known for his progressive rice growing and stock raising methods.

Mr. Poole was married at White Rock, Kansas, in 1889, to Miss Josephine L. Lovewell, the daugh- ter of Thomas Lovewell, a prominent cattleman and farmer on an extensive scale. Mr. Lovewell, who was a scout in the Union Army during the Civil

War, is the typical western frontiersman, and at one time owned the entire frontier town of White Rock, Kansas. Later he moved away, at the time the railroad came in, and built the town of Lovewell on his farm. Mr. and Mrs. Poole have three chil- dren, Mrs. Lunita Evans, of Boulder, Colorado; Win- nie Poole, a rice farmer and cattleman residing near Lissie, and Earl V. Poole, who is associated with his father, and who served during the World War in the marine corps. Mr. Poole is a director and vice president of the Texas Rice Growers Associa- tion, and was one of the organizers of this associa- tion at Eagle Lake.

F. SCHNEIDER, JR., one of the younger element of progressive business men at Victoria, is manager of the firm of C. F. Schneider & Sons, and has been active in building up this large furniture business. The firm of C. F. Schneider was established at Victoria in 1887, and was made C. F. Schneider and Son in 1915 by C. F. Schneider, Sr., and has been in con- tinuous operation since that time, growing and ex- panding as Victoria has grown and developed, and is now the largest furniture house in this section. A complete line of house furnishings is carried, in- cluding rugs, floor coverings, ranges and allied goods. The house draws trade from a territory in- cluding Port Lavaca, Goliad, Calhoun County, Jack- son County and Victoria County, and does a re- tail business exclusively. Four people are employed in the house in addition to Mr. Schneider, who is manager.

C. F. Schneider, Jr., was born at Victoria, Texas, the twenty-seventh of August, 1891, son of Mr. and Mrs. C. F. Schneider, Sr. C. F. Schneider, Sr., like his son, a native of Victoria, spent his entire life here, his death occurring in a house just across the street from his birthplace. As a young man he worked for Jatho, who was at that time also in the furniture business at Victoria, and several years later started in business for himself, building up a large and profitable business. He had three chil- dren, C. F. Schneider, Jr., E. H. Schneider, with Victoria National Bank, and Georgia, now Mrs. E. W. Jones. He was a son of Henry Schneider, a na- tive of Switzerland, who came to Victoria many years before the railroad came here and was a hauling contractor, hauling from Old Indianola, and also engaged in the cattle business. In later years he spent his time at Victoria and was very active in city affairs, serving several terms as Alder- man. Another son, Henry, Jr., now deceased, was Mayor of Victoria, and also Albert Schneider who lives at Port O'Connor. C. F. Schneider, Jr., the sub- ject of this sketch, was educated in the public schools of Victoria, and later entered the furniture business with his father which is now the firm of C. F. Schneider & Sons, of which he is now manager.

Mr. Schneider was married at Victoria, the twenty-fourth of March, 1920, to Miss Aline Holz- heuser, a member of a well known family of Vic- toria. They have two children, Fredaline and Maxine, and reside in Victoria. Mr. Schneider is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club, the Retail Credit Association, and the Presby- terian Church, in which all the Schneider family are communicants. He is very active among the younger business men, working for the commercial develop- ment of Victoria.

1969

MEN OF TEXAS

M. FLY, of Gonzales, Texas, has during the greater part of his business career been identified with the banking interests of this city. As president of the Gonzales State Bank and Trust Company, he has had an important part in shaping the destinies of that institution. The Gonzales State Bank and Trust Company was established here in 1907, succeeding the old private banking firm of Miller and Sayers which was organ- ized in 1866, making it one of the oldest financial institutions in this portion of Texas. The deposits of the Gonzales State Bank and Trust Company are $450,000.00, with a capital and surplus of $100,000.00. The building in which this bank is located is owned personally by the subject of this sketch and Mr. J. C. Bright. Other officers of this bank are J. C. Bright, son of W. J. Bright, ex-president, cashier, and E. V. Kopecky and H. W. Robertson, assistant cashiers. Besides his banking interests, Mr. Fly is interested in practically every worth-while industry of Gon- zales, being president of the Gonzales Ice and Re- frigerating Company, director in the Gonzales Cotton Warehouse Company, director in the Gonzales Water Power Company and a stockholder in many other of this city's enterprises.

Mr. Fly was engaged in various lines of busi- ness before entering the banking business. He was for some time sheriff of Gonzales County, succeed- ing the famous Sheriff Glover, whose reputation for bravery was known throughout the country, and who was killed by a notorious gang. Mr. Fly was associated for a number of years with the Gonzales Cotton Oil and Manufacturing Company, and was interested in other enterprises.

A native Texan, Mr. Fly was born in Gonzales County on June 12th, 1866, and was brought to the town of Gonzales by his parents when six years of age. His father, G. W. L. Fly, came to Texas from Mississippi in the early 50's, and settled about four- teen miles from Gonzales, where he engaged in farm- ing. At the beginning of the Civil War, he en- listed and served throughout this conflict. After the close of the war, he returned to Gonzales and, like the remainder of the Southern soldiers, he was without money, and property either rundown or de- stroyed entirely. He came to Gonzales and prac- ticed law, being for some years associated with W. L. Davidson, who was judge of the Court of Crimi- nal Appeals at his death. G. W. L. Fly later was associated in the practice of law with A. B. David- son, at one time lieutenant governor of Texas. He continued to practice his profession up to the time of his death, in Victoria, on January 27th, 1907, and was one of the leaders of the legal fraternity in the Southwest in his day. Mr. Fly's education was ob- tained in the public and high schools of Gonzales.

Mr. Fly was married, at Waelder, Texas, in 1908, to Miss Stella Miller, a native of the Lone Star State and a daughter of R. L. Miller, a pioneer mer- chant of Waelder, Texas. They have five children- Callie, Frank, Lamar, Francis and Madden. Mr. Fly is a member of the Gonzales Chamber of Com- merce, the State Bankers' Association and many other business and social organizations. He is inter- ested in every project for the betterment of Gonzales and Gonzales County, to which he gives liberally of his time and means. He is interested in farming here, owning and operating a farm of two hundred and twenty-seven acres, on which he has white ten-

ants. He is an advocate of better farming methods and has done much to awaken interest along this line of activity in his community. Mr. Fly's name has been linked with every laudable enterprise here for many years, where he is known as one of Gon- zales County's most progressive citizens.

OHN C. HUBBARD has for more than thirty years been engaged in the lumber indus- try at Weimar, Texas, where he owns and operates a large lumber business. The lum- ber business which is now conducted under the name of Mr. Hubbard, was established about 1876, by W. B. McCormick, one of the pioneer lumber men of Colorado County. Mr. Hubbard began work for this lumber yard here in 1893 and continued with it in various capacities until 1905 when he bought all interests in same and since that time has been the sole owner. Mr. Hubbard carries a large and complete stock of all kinds of builders supplies, furniture, undertaker's supplies and water supply goods of all kinds. Four experienced people are employed in the operation of the business, which is one of the largest of its kind in Colorado County. In addition to his lumber interests, Mr. Hubbard is identified with the business life of Weimar, and has an interest in practically all the enterprises of this city, and is a director of the Hill State Bank of Weimar, being chairman of the board.

A native Texan, Mr. Hubbard was born at La Grange on November 21st, 1871, and belongs to one of the oldest families of the United States, dat- ing back to early colonial times. His father, Thomas P. Hubbard, came to Texas from Mississippi in 1851, and located in Colorado County near where the town of Weimar was later built. He was engaged in farming and cattle raising here throughout his life. One of Mr. Hubbard's forefathers was a general at Valley Forge with George Washington, and was identified with the early government of the United States. Mr. Hubbard has a collection of interest- ing relics and documents from early United States and early Texas days, which he naturally prizes very highly. His mother, Mrs. Palmire (Hunt) Hubbard, was also a member of a pioneer family of Texas. His education was obtained in the country schools of South Texas and the University of Tex- as. He was reared on the farm and later worked at various occupations, until he entered the lum- ber business, where he has met with success.

Mr. Hubbard was married at Weimar, Texas, on December 12th, 1894, to Miss Willie McCormick, a native of the Lone Star State and a daughter of Stephen McCormick, one of the best known men of his day in Colorado County. They have two chil- dren, Mrs. Virginia Hudson of Dallas, Texas, and E. M. Hubbard, associated with his father as an employee in the lumber business at Weimar. Mr. Hubbard is a member of the A. F. and A. M. with membership in Weimar Blue Lodge, where he also belongs to the chapter of this order, and is a mem- ber of the Knights of Pythias, in which organization he is active. He is a member of the Texas Lum- berman's Association and is a director in this body, and holds membership in the local Retail Merchant's Association. Mr. Hubbard has always taken a keen interest in the civic matters of his town, and is a leader in every project launched for the progress and advancement of Weimar.

1970

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

UDGE W. S. STRICKLAND, for two score years and more one of the residents of Eagle Lake and Colorado County, has been actively identified with banking affairs for the last twenty years, and while perhaps best known as a banker he is also a practical farmer, owning exten- sive farming interests in this section, and is well known as a lawyer, althought it has been some years since he was active in this profession. Judge Strick- land is president of the First National Bank at Eagle Lake, an institution established in 1906, at which time he became attorney for the bank, a year late, in 1907, becoming a stockholder and director, and in January, 1921, was made president of the institution. Judge Strickland is a banker of sound and construc- tive policies, and since he has become president of the bank has directed its destinies along conservative lines and has materially strengthened and built up the institution.

The First National Bank, capitalized at seventy- five thousand dollars, and with a surplus of twenty- five thousand dollars, is regarded as one of the soundest banking houses here, and has among its depositors an unusually high class of substantial customers.

Judge W. S. Strickland was born near Shreveport, but in the State of Texas, the sixth day of July, 1864. His father, M. K. Strickland, a native of Mis- sissippi, served during the Civil War as a colonel in the Confederate Army, later coming to Texas, where he engaged in the practice of law at Huntsville, and in Navasota, Bryan and Galveston. Later he came to Eagle Lake, where he had farming interests, in- tending to locate at Columbus, but his death occurred in 1880, before his arrangements were completed. Judge Strickland's mother, before her marriage Miss Orlena Paul, was a native Texan and the daughter of Dr. Andrew Paul, prominent physician at Hunts- ville. Judge Strickland attended primary school at Galveston for a period of six years, later spending six months at Soules University, at Chapel Hill, Texas, but with these exceptions was self-educated, studying law at night, and with the help of the fine law and literary library which his father had left him at his death, he became one of the leading lawyers of his community. Judge Strickland, at his father's death, became the head of the family. Judge Strick- land was then ten years of age, and the support of his mother and his two sisters devolved upon him. To this end he worked on a farm, punched cattle, and not only paid off an indebtedness of around five thousand dollars, but educated the two sisters and bought a home while studying law at night and equipping himself for a professional career. He ob- tained some legal experience in the law office of Kennon & Adkins, at Columbus, and later served as assistant deputy district clerk for three years, from 1895 until 1898, an office he took to learn actual court procedure. Later he began his active prac- tice, opening an office in Eagle Lake, which had been his home since 1879. An attorney of brilliant attainments, with a natural aptitude for his profes- sion, Judge Strickland early attracted attention to himself, and his ability as a lawyer won his appoint- ment as city attorney, an office he held for eight years. Later he became mayor of Eagle Lake, and also served for many years as president of the School Board. In 1906 he became attorney for the newly organized First National Bank of Eagle Lake, a

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 2, Part 135

Author: Davis, Ellis A. Publication date: 1926 Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?] Number of Pages: 1262

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1262