New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 2, Part 28

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

USA > Texas > New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 2 > Part 28

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).

E. DIONNE, veteran old timer in the tim- ber business, has for half a century been active in this industry, operating in every branch of the business and for almost two decades has been at Houston, where he is well and favorably known as a timber estimator. Mr. Dionne is the only professional timber estimator at Hous- ton and is employed by most of the larger lumber companies, banks and individuals. He is considered a leading authority on estimating the quantity, value, grade, etc. of lumber standing in the forests. He came to Houston in 1908 and opened his offices and headquarters as a timber estimator and has so continued, his office now being at 231 West Twenty- first Avenue, in Houston Heights.

Mr. Dionne has been in the timber business for more than half a century and during the course of his career has managed and operated every branch of the timber business in the forests and through the sawmills and also transportation by boat or rail. His first experience was gained in the forests of northern Michigan, where he spent more than a quarter of a century. He came to Texas in 1905 and for three years had charge of logging opera- tions for the Trinity Lumber Company, at Grove- ton, after which he came to Houston.

Mr. Dionne was born in Montreal, Canada, the twenty-first of July, 1858, son of Francis X. and Mary Dionne, old settlers of Canada, who moved to the state of Maine sixty years ago, a little later re- moving to Michigan. Mr. Dionne was educated in the schools of Michigan, attending school only a brief period and early beginning his career as a tim- berman.

Mr. Dionne was married the first time at Man. istee, Michigan, in 1878 to Miss Elizabeth McGinley, by whom he had a family of four children, two daughters, Mrs. Lomie Hury and Mrs. Marie C. Green, and two sons, Joseph C. Dionne, publisher of the Gulf Coast Lumberman, one of the leading trade journals of the lumber industry, and F. Earle Dionne. Mr. Dionne's first wife died in 1893 and in 1905 he married Miss Leah Briggs, daughter of Billings M. and Maude A. Briggs, her father a well known con- tractor and builder. By his last marriage he had a family of two children, Mary Alice and Thomas G. Dionne. Mr. and Mrs. Dionne reside at 231 West Twenty-first Avenue in Houston Heights. Mr. Dionne is a member of the Lumberman's Club.

1238

Q. S. Van Der Kach

Jos. W. Wouting Jr.

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

OSEPH WALTER NORTHROP, JR., archi- tect, came to Houston in May, 1911, from Boston, as supervising architect on the Rice Institute building, eight years later opening his present office in the West Building for general architectural practice. Mr. Northrop has designed several hundred buildings in Houston, and some of the most beautiful homes in the City stand as monuments to his skill as an architect. His contributions are sought by the leading archi- tectural magazines of the country, his work having been published by such magazines as the Archi- tectural Forum, of Boston; the American Architect and Country Life, of New York, and the National Builder, of Chicago.

Among the local residences designed by Mr. North- rop might be mentioned the John H. Crooker and Mrs. T. A. Johnson residences, in "Shadowlawn"; the Geo. Dorrance residence in "Edgemont"; the H. M. Holden residence in "Colby Court"; and the Paul B. Miller residence in "Almeda Place." The Holden residence was one of the eleven houses selected for "Honorable Mention" by a jury of dis- tinguishd architects in an exhibition of the do- mestic architecture of the entire country, held un- der the auspices of the American Architect in New York City, in 1924.

Mr. Northrop has also to his credit other work throughout the State, such as Trinity Episcopal Church and the Public Library at Marshall, and the Alexander Deussen country residence, near Fort Worth; and such commercial buildings as the Bon- ner Motor Company building and the two J. L. Jones buildings. The drawings for the base and plinth of the Sam Houston Monument, at the entrance to Hermann Park were also made in his office.

Mr. Northrop was born in Bridgeport, Connecti- cut, on July 21st, 1886. His father, Joseph Walter Northrop, Sr., is one of the best known architects of that city. His mother was Miss Mary Ogden, a member of a well-known Connecticut family. His early education was obtained in the public and high schools of Bridgeport, after which he entered the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Connecticut, where he remained four years and graduated in the class of 1907, with the degree of A. D. He then became a student of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he remained for three years and graduated from this Institution in 1910 with the degree of B. S. in Architecture. While attending Wesleyan University he was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Honorary Fraternity. He is a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. After leaving college, Mr. Northrop became associated with the architec- tural firm of Cram and Ferguson, of Boston, and was with this firm for one year when he was sent to Houston to supervise the erection of the Rice Institute buildings, where he remained for a period of eight years.

Mr. Northrop was married in Houston in 1915 to Miss Mary Harris, a native Texan, and a daugh- ter of Page Harris, Vice-President of the National Lumber and Creosoting Company. Her mother was Miss Sarah Binkley, a member of a well-known Texas family. They have two children, Joseph Wal- ter Northrop the 3rd, nine years of age, and Page Harris Northrop, aged eight years. Mr. and Mrs. Northrop reside at 5120 Sycamore Street. Mr. Northrop is a member of the University Club, the

River Oaks Country Club, and the Texas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Mr. North- rop is well-known in the business and social circles of Houston. His work has done much to raise the standard of local residential architecture, as he has combined in this work an harmony of constructive beauty and artistic design that has been given na- tional recognition.

OBERT D. RANDOLPH, who is well known at Houston for his numerous activities of financial and commercial importance inci- dent to the prosperity of the city, has been a resident of Houston for a decade and takes an active interest in civic development. Mr. Randolph is vice president and general manager of the Car- ter Investment Company, Incorporated, a firm mak- ing a large volume of real estate loans on city prop- erty in Houston, and also Harris and Jefferson counties. Their investments are located principally in Houston and Beaumont. The Carter Investment Company of which W. T. Carter, Jr., is president, and F. H. Nelms, secretary and treasurer, was in- corporated in 1923. Offices are maintained at the corner of Capitol and San Jacinto. Mr. Randolph is a director of the Union National Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in the city.

Robert D. Randolph was born in Washington, D. C., the twentieth of March, 1891, son of the late Thomas P. Randolph, a native of Virginia, and Jane (De Can) Randolph, who now resides in Wash- ington, D. C. Until he was ten years of age, Mr. Randolph attended the public schools of Washing- ton, D. C. In that year however, the family re- moved to England, and for the next four years he attended the schools of that country. Returning to the United States he was in various schools until his entrance in the University of Virginia, in the engineering department. During his last year in college he visited Houston, and liked the city so well that he decided to forego college and remain here. For three months he worked for a construc- tion company, after which he organized the J. H. Richardson Construction Company, handling con- crete bridge construction work until 1915. He then sold his interest in this business, a partnership, and went with the W. T. Carter and Brother, remaining in Houston until the first of January, 1917, when he went to Beaumont to open the office there. In June of the same year he enlisted in Naval Air Service, and was sent to the Ground School in Cana- da, and later stationed in Washington, D. C., as Lieutenant Naval Air Service. Returning to Hous- ton he was for one year with Neuhaus and Co., after which he returned to the W. T. Carter Lumber Com- pany, and went to the mill at Camden, Texas. He re- signed this position the first of January, 1923, and returned to Houston, where he took an active part in the organization of the Carter Investment Com- pany, Incorporated, of which he has since been vice president and general manager.

Mr. Randolph was married at Houston, the fourteenth of June, 1918, to Miss Frankie Carter, daughter of W. T. Carter, Sr., the founder of the W. T. Carter and Brother, and a pioneer lumberman of the Lone Star State. Mr. and Mrs. Randolph have a beautiful home at 14 Courtland Place, Hous- ton, and are among the most popular members of their social set. They have two children, Aubrey and Jean.

1241

MEN OF TEXAS

OHN A. HARVIN is well known in the busi- ness circles of Houston, where for almost thirty years he has been connected with the Peden Iron and Steel Company. Begin- ning in a modest position with this company in 1895, Mr. Harvin has, through industry and close attention to the details of the business, been steadily advanced until now he is vice president and manager of the great establishment of the Peden Iron and Steel Company. It is through the efforts of such em- ployees as Mr. Harvin that the company's slogan, "The Largest Supply House of the Southwest," has become a reality. The Peden Iron and Steel Com- pany has a capital stock of $2,500,000.00 and an annual volume of sales aggregating more than $11,- 000,000.00. In addition to the immense establish- ment of the Peden Iron and Steel Company in Hous- ton, they have branch houses in San Antonio, Fort Worth and Shreveport, Louisiana. They employ four hundred people and have forty men on the road, and ship their goods into New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Republic of Mexico and to all points in Texas. Other officers of the Peden Iron and Steel Company are E. A. Peden, president; D. D. Peden, vice president; Charles Golding, vice presi- dent, and R. C. Terrell, secretary.

Mr. Harvin was born in Calhoun County, Geor- gia, September 8th, 1860. His father, William E. Harvin, born in South Carolina but raised in Geor- gia, was a captain in the Confederate Army and was severely wounded in the battle of Gettysburg. He was taken a prisoner to Johnson Island, Lake Erie, and while confined a prisoner, died in 1863. His mother was Miss Frances Eudora Davis, a native of South Carolina, but lived for many years in Georgia and died there. Mr. Harvin's early education was obtained in the rural schools of Georgia, after which he was a student for two years at Davidson Col- lege, North Carolina. He was born on a farm, and as a youth was content to work on the farm like his pioneer ancestors, but a new age was taking shape during his boyhood, the age of commercial achievement. In looking about for a possible career, the law and the ministry were suggested to him, but he had determined to leave the farm for commercial pursuits, and decided on the state of Texas as the place, and set out on his great adventure. He arrived in Houston in January, 1895, and imme- diately began work with the Peden Iron and Steel Company. His first duties with the company were those of a general "handy man," and his first work was that of building some much needed shelving. After a few months of work around the store, he was sent out on the road as a traveling salesman. This did not appeal to Mr. Harvin, and convincing the heads of the company that he could be of more value to them in the store, he left the road after a period of three months as a "drummer" and was placed in charge of the warehouse and shipping, which position he held with satisfaction to his em- ployers for seven years. At the end of this period, he was made assistant manager, and later elected a director and appointed vice president and manager, which position he has since held.

Mr. Harvin was married in Georgia in 1884 to Miss Mary B. Harvin, a native Georgian. They have one son, Harry Harvin, of Frankfort, Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Harvin reside at 2510 Travis Street. Mr. Harvin has always been active in all projects hav-

ing to do with the progress, advancement and civic improvement of Houston, and believes that with thirty feet of water in the channel, Houston will be- come a great harbor, and the metropolis of the Southwest.

HOMAS C. WHITE has for almost fifteen years been identified with the manufactur- ing interests of Houston, where he is Pres- ident and Manager of the Southern Brass Manufacturing and Plating Company. This com- pany are manufacturers of oil field supplies in brass, including valves, pump parts, etc. The South- ern Brass Manufacturing and Plating Company have the largest plant in the South making bank fixtures, ornamental fixtures, memorial tablets, fancy metal designs and plates, and is the only plant of its kind south of St. Louis. The Southern Brass Manufacturing and Plating Company, located at 1208 Washington Street, was established in 1910. At the beginning, this company had only two thous- and square feet of floor space and five employees. They now have ten thousand square feet of floor space and employ twenty-five people. The trade territory of this company embraces all of the South- ern States. The plant is equipped with the very best machinery, and all is of the latest type. They also maintain a special drafting department. Other officers of the company are: W. S. Farish and W. W. Fondren, Vice-Presidents, both of whom are associated with the Humble Oil Company. The company contemplates adding to their plant, and for this purpose they have already purchased the neces- sary property. The addition is made necessary by their rapidly increasing business.

Mr. White was born at Quincy, Illinois, in 1863. His education was obtained at the public and high schools of his native town. When sixteen years of age he was employed in a foundry and stove making plant, and has been engaged in this work practically all his life. He came to Texas in 1909.

Mr. White was married in Houston in 1921 to Miss Minnie Perkins, a daughter of David Perkins, for many years a railroad conductor, residing in Hous- ton. They have one son, Thomas C. White, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. White reside at 802 Holman Avenue. Mr. White is a member of the Rotarians and the Pur- chasing Agents Association. He has always been active in the business, social and general community life of Houston and gives liberally of his time to all projects for the welfare, progress and advancement of this city.

DRIAN B. GOODMAN, although a recent addition to the business fraternity of Hous- ton, is well known in the financial and grain circles of the State. Mr. Goodman is President of the Goodman Grain and Elevator Com- pany, wholesale dealers in all kinds of grain and manufacturers of molasses mixed feeds, feed meal, chops, rolled oats, etc. This company, established and incorporated in 1923, is located on the Houston Belt and Terminal Railroad. The plant has a bulk storage capacity of fifty thousand bushels and em- ploys forty people. The plant of the Goodman Grain and Elevator Company, including a grinding mill, is complete and modern in every detail, and is in every way a splendid plant. The trade territory of the Goodman Grain and Elevator Company includes all of South Texas. Mr. M. E. Goodman is Vice- President of the Goodman Grain and Elevator Com-

1242

John W Lelland.

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

pany.

A native Texan, Mr. Goodman was born at Nava- sota in 1885. His parents, Benjamin Goodman and Ernistine Goodman, were well known citizens of Navasota, where his father was for many years engaged in the grain business. Mr. Goodman's education was obtained in the public and high schools of Navasota.

Mr. Goodman was raised in an atmosphere of the grain business, and after leaving school became as- sociated with the grain establishment of the Josey- Miller Company in Beaumont, where he remained for nineteen years. During this period, Mr. Good- man had complete charge of all buying and selling for this large company, from whom he severed his association in order to enter his present business, which has been a success from the beginning. Mr. Goodman has interests in many of the grain com- panies of the State. He is past President of the Lake Charles Grain Company and is a past Director in the Hesig-Norvell Company, wholesale grocers of Beaumont. Mr. Goodman was married in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 1916, to Miss Elyse Bendel, a daughter of Sam Bendel, well known as a manufac- turer of Lake Charles. They have two children, Mary, five years of age, and Junior, aged two years. Mr. and Mrs. Goodman reside at 3421 Yupon Drive. In fraternal organizations, Mr. Goodman is a mem- ber of the B. P. O. E., in which organization he holds a life membership. He has faith in the future of Houston, and believes he chose the right city in which to establish his business, and make his home and rear his children.

OHN McLELLAND, architect, has combined in his work a complete harmony of con- structive beauty and artistic arrangement that distinguishes his work from that of other architects. Mr. McLelland studied his pro- fession extensively in Europe, and has brought the best of old world architectural beauty to America, and by practical application has united it with mod- ern ideas. The result classifies him as an excep- tionally gifted Master Builder. Mr. McLelland came to Houston in 1911. Among the buildings that he has erected in the city may be mentioned Magnolia Park Junior High School, Pasadena High School, Crosby High School, Park Place Grade School, the Montrose School, Southmore School, Eastwood Epis- copal Church, Harrisburg Episcopal Church, and was Supervising Architect of the South End Junior High School and the Houston Heights High School, and built the residences of A. W. Crausbay and E. C. Wilson, which are numbered among the hand- somest in the city. Mr. McLelland also built the Court House at Livingston, Polk County, at a cost of $200,000.00, and various other structures there. At this time he has plans for many new buildings, among which is the Golfcrest Country Club club- house.

Mr. McLelland was born in Greenock, Scotland, in 1877. His father, James McLelland, was for many years a business man of Greenock, Scotland. His mother was Miss Jessie Baird, a member of a prominent Scotch family. The public schools of Scotland supplied the foundation for Mr. McLel- land's education, after which he attended the Green- ock Academy and the Glasgow and W. S. Technical College, where he was a student of Architecture, and graduated from this Institution in 1898. Dur-

ing the same year in which he graduated, Mr. Mc- Lelland began work as an architect in Greenock, Scotland, where he remained until 1906, when he came to Chicago and was sent from there to San Francisco by the Thompson Starrett Company, Con- tractors, as an estimator. He remained in San Fran- cisco during the rebuilding period of the city, fol- lowing the great fire in 1906, and in 1908 he went to Portland, Oregon, where he remained one year, after which he was in Los Angeles for one year.

Mr. McLelland was married in Houston, in 1916, to Miss Bertha Diederich, a native of Indiana, and a member of a well-known family of that State. They have three children-Calvin, John M. and Douglas Haig. Mr. McLelland is a member of the A. F. and A. M., being a life member of Mother Kilwinning Blue Lodge, of Scotland, one of the oldest Masonic Lodges in existence. He is also Past Master of a Masonic Lodge of Scotland. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects, Texas Chapter American Institute of Architects and the Civitan and Golfcrest Country Clubs, of Hous- ton. Mr. McLelland served the City of Houston for two years, 1919 and 1920, as Architect. His offices are conveniently located at 309 Woolworth Build- ing. Mr. McLelland personally supervises all his work, and the number of his friends and clients has grown in proportion to the growth and progress of Houston.

R. W. E. SATTERWHITE is connected with the Vaughan Lumber Company in the tie and timber department, as purchasing agent, coming with this company on Jan- uary 1st, 1925. He has a long experience and a wide acquaintance in the lumber trade.

Born at Crockett, Texas, in 1887, a son of M. W. and Mary (Brashear) Satterwhite, he received his education in the public schools and the Crockett School and later attended a commercial college. He first engaged in the lumber business at Groveton, Texas, in 1909 and was there for eight years, during which time he mastered every detail of the manu- facture end of the business. He is thoroughly at home in a lumber mill and knows how to keep a plant running at the height of its productive capacity. After becoming thoroughly acquainted with the de- tails of the manufacture of lumber, Mr. Satterwhite turned his attention to its distribution and became connected with the Saner-Ragley Lumber Company and remained with this concern for three years as sales manager.

In 1920 he was elected vice president of the Ragley Lumber Company and removed to Houston to as- sume charge of the company's affairs in this city. In the early part of 1923 he severed his connection with the Ragley interests and established his own business.

Mr. Satterwhite was married at Groveton in 1912 to Miss Edna Magee. They reside at 602 Anita.

A man of pleasing personality and affable dispo- sition, Mr. Satterwhite is easily counted as one of Houston's exceptionally popular business men. He is known as a man of untiring energy and one who never fails to make good. He regards a contract to deliver a car load of lumber at a certain time as a solemn bond foundation of a square deal to every one.

Mr. Satterwhite is a York Rite Mason and also a member of Arabia Temple Shrine.

1245

MEN OF TEXAS

HE HOUSTON ARMATURE WORKS is one of Houston's most thriving business en- terprises doing work of a very special and highly technical nature. The firm repairs and rebuilds electric motors and generators of all kinds and rewinds and repairs armatures for same. The plant is located at Washington and Preston Avenues, and covers an area of 8,000 square feet. It has had a steady growth since it was first organ- ized in 1906.

The Houston Armature Works was first organized by the late Fred E. Ward, who was considered one of the foremost armature winders in the United States, and an expert in the repair and rewinding of electrical equipment. His plant was the first in Houston to do winding by factory methods. Mr. Ward adopted the policy of doing the very highest class of workmanship and using nothing but the best material with an absolute guarantee. In 1920, Mr. Ward sold his interest to Mr. A. C. Kater, and Mr. Hal Willson, who have continued strictly adher- ing to the policies of Mr. Ward. The Houston Arma- ture Works stands today as a fitting monument to the character of its founder, who died in Los An- geles, California, September 16, 1923. Under the di- rection and management of Messrs. Kater and Will- son, the business has shown approximately a four hundred per cent increase. The capital of the corpo- ration has recently been increased to $26,000.00, and the plant is the largest of its kind in the State in point of invested capital, doing repair work exclus- ively. The most modern equipment only is used throughout. The latest type of machines used in forming armature coils, have recently been installed, which enables them to do this work efficiently and with dispatch. Special varnishing and impregnating equipment, electrically operated and equal to, if not superior to any in the most modern factories, is part of the installation. The very latest type of electri- cally heated and mechanically ventilated ovens for drying armature coils and other electrical apparatus are in use. The entire shops are laid out in a thor- oughly systematic manner so that the work pro- gresses step by step from the time it enters the factory to be uncrated and examined until it reaches the exit for final inspection, ready to be shipped back to the customer. The principles of scientific management are practiced not only in the shops themselves but in the office. Complete records and wiring diagrams of every individual job are on file in the office so that quick reference may be had when required by a customer. The Houston Arma- ture Works do much special work for the large oil companies, such as the Humble Oil and Refining Company, the Texas Company and the Gulf Produc- tion Company. They also give official service on General Electric, Westinghouse, Wagner, Century, Champion and U. S. Motors. All of the work done by this plant is of the highest grade and finish, and is equal to any done by any factory anywhere.

In addition to the repair work, they carry in stock for sale a complete line of electrical equipment, especially bearings and pulleys for standard motors. They also have for sale, at all times, a high grade line of used electrical equipment.

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 2, Part 28

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