New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 2, Part 33

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

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Mrs. Broussard was born at New Orleans, daugh- ter of Judge John H. Ilsley, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court of Louisiana for many years, and Mrs. R. M. Cure Ilsley. Mrs. Broussard was educated in the public schools of New Orleans, graduating from the high school in that city, and also attending a convent there.

Mrs. Broussard was married at New Orleans, in 1900 to Joseph Broussard, well known cattle and stock man. They have four children, Leola, Antoin- ette, Mae and Joseph. The family make their home at 2523 Washington Avenue.

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RS. JOHN WESLEY GRAHAM is recog- nized as one of the leading music instruc- tors in the South and has the largest music class of any teacher in the State. Mrs. Gra- ham came to Houston in 1910 and established her first class in music, which has grown steadily, as has her reputation as a finished artist and instruct- or. She teaches piano and voice in her splendidly appointed studio in her home at 703 Dallas Avenue, where she has two assistants and a private secre- tary. In addition to her classes in voice and piano, Mrs. Graham is a Director in many of the leading music organization of Houston. Numbered among these organizations is the Imperial D. O. K. K. Glee Club, and is the only woman director in the United States; she is the Director of Community Music in Houston and is the Director of the choir of the First Methodist Church, which is the largest choir in Houston, numbering almost three hundred people. She is chairman of the Music Department of the Houston State Fair, rendering three daily musical programs, and is one of the two women in Houston on the Board for the Salvation Army. In her teaching, Mrs. Graham has seen tangible evi- dence of her success in the work accomplished by hundreds of students who obtained their musical education under her able guidance and supervision. She has turned out some very noted artists, one pupil is now with the Metropolitan Opera Company of New York City; another pupil is engaged at the La Scala Theater in Milan, Italy, and "The Conner Twins," former pupils of Mrs. Graham, are in the Follies in New York City. One of her pupils won the scholarship to the Sherwood School of Music, and he is now touring the United States with the Chi- cago Glee Club; this pupil was a contestant with one hundred others from various conservatories in the United States.

Mrs. Graham was born at Dahlgren, Illinois. Her father, S. N. Hallowell, was a well known merchant of Illinois. Her mother was Miss Elizabeth Brum- baugh, a member of a prominent Illinois family. Mrs. Graham has had unusual and exceptional educational advantages. Her literary and acdemic education was obtained in the public and high schools of Mount Vernon, Illinois, private schools of Saint Louis, Bos- cobel Seminary of Nashville, Tennessee, and Leban- non College for Young Ladies, from which she grad- uated and then took up her study of music in ear- nest in New York City, where for two years she studied under Buggi Pecia. She then went to Boston and studied for two years under Madam MacLure, following which she went to Paris, France, and studied for one year under Foresta. She then went to Milan, Italy,. and was under Giordanna for one season; she then went to Nice, France, where she was for one season a pupil of Jean De Reski. Mrs. Graham then went to South America, for the study of Spanish music, and while there was a pupil of many noted artists. Following this, she went to Berlin, and then to New York again, where she studied under Stark, and had lessons in the Radio System of teaching voice.

Mrs. Graham was married in Illinois in 1909 to John Wesley Graham, President of the Graham Hat Company of Houston, the only wholesale hat com- pany in the city, and the largest establishment of the kind in Texas. The Graham home is at 703 Dallas Avenue and is one of the most attractive in the city.

Mrs. Graham is a member of the Music Teachers Association of Texas and is a loyal member of the Methodist Church. Mrs. Graham has traveled ex- tensively, and goes abroad each year. Last year she went to South America and during the coming sum- mer she is going to China and Japan. She has a wonderful collection of diamonds, which have been collected from all portions of the world, among this collection are four stones which weigh more than twenty carats. Mrs. Graham is not only very popular in the music circles of Houston, but with all classes, and is held in the highest regard by all who are fortunate in knowing her, and is known as a woman with unusual talent and accomplishments, and a valuable addition to the music circles of the Lone Star State.

LLISON VAN HOOSE, 3617 Main Street, has been a resident of the city of Houston since 1915. During this period he has de- voted his time and attention to the teach- ing of voice and his studio has been the training place for some of the South's best singers.

A noted musician and singer himself, Mr. Van Hoose has an international reputation and is in such demand as a teacher that he has frequently found it necessary to restrict his classes in order to give to his pupils the personal attention he feels is neces- sary for their proper training. The possessor of a beautiful, remarkably cultivated voice, he is in equal demand for concert and solo work and is always booked many months in advance. His voice is lyric- dramatic and of never failing sweetness and power. He is unquestionably the greatest and best known figure in the musical circles of the South.

Mr. Van Hoose is a native of Tennessee and was born at Murfreesboro in 1869, a son of Azor and Mis- souri Frances (Daniel) Van Hoose. He obtained his literary education in the public and high schools of Gainesville, Georgia, and his early musical training under his mother, who was a well known piano teacher. After completing high school he attended Howard College at Marion, Alabama, and then took up engineering work, continuing in this line of effort until he was twenty-six years of age. At that time he determined to realize a life time ambition to be- come a singer and went to New York, where he studied earnestly under Perry Avrill and Isadore Luckston. He went to Europe and continued his studies in Rome with Antonio Cortoni, in Paris under Fidele Koenig and Jean de Reska, and in London under Sir Henry Wood. He appeared with the Queens Hall Orchestra at London but before that time had sung the title roles in Tannhauser with the Dam- rosch-Ellis Opera Company.

He soon became famous as an opera singer and appeared in grand opera in England, Norway, Ger- many, Denmark, Sweden and Italy. In 1911 he was made a member of the Legion of Honor for his work in benefit performances for the flood sufferers of Paris.

Queen Victoria summoned him to Windsor Castle on three separate occasions to sing privately and he is the possessor of a beautiful ring tendered him by her in recognition of his work as a musician. He also was presented a ring by the present Dowager Queen of Italy, Marguerite, mother of the present King of Italy.

After returning to America, Mr. Van Hoose ap- peared for three years in important roles with the

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Metropolitan Opera Company and was also with the Chicago Opera Company the same length of time. He sang for four years with the famous Melba and for two years with Madame Sembrich. He is widely known as a Victor artist and a number of his Red Seal records have had a phenomenal sale.

During his residence in London Mr. Van Hoose was married at Westminster Abbey to Miss Marie Pearce, deceased since 1916. Besides his studio home at 3617 Main Street, Mr. Van Hoose has a lovely summer home on the sea shore where he spends the heated term each year.

Mr. Van Hoose has sung before nearly all the lead- ing clubs of the United States and is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Houston and is director of the Kiwanis Glee Club. He is a member of and director of the music for the First Presbyterian Church of Houston and is director of the Mendelssohn Club at Beaumont.

Intensely interested in development of the musical life of Houston and of the South, Mr. Van Hoose is ever ready to lend his aid to any worthy musical movement. He is absolutely unselfish with both his time and talents and has done much to bring the city of Houston to its present high standing in the musical world.

ARY ELIZABETH LE CAND, an estab- lished teacher of dancing in Houston, de- votes her talents to the training of a large class in the terpsichorean art. Miss Le Cand is a conscientious, as well as highly talented artist, and her work as a teacher, has met with marked suc- cess. Her pupils respond to her talent and enthu- siasm. The course of study comprises ballet and classic dancing, instruction in bar work, technique and plastique movements, Greek Interpretive, nature dancing, national and folk character, toe, tap and stage dancing, modern ballroom and baby work, giv- ing special attention to physical education and physi- cal expression. Miss Le Cand is thoroughly equipped for her work, as she received her training under the best known dancers in the country. Her work is colorful and finished and shows a rare grace and talent which has many times delighted large audiences. Miss Le Cand is a distinct asset to artist circles in Houston, which is fortunate in having so talented an artist, and so thorough a teacher.

Mary Elizabeth Le Cand is a native of the Lone Star State, her birthplace being the City of Gal- veston. Her father, Frederick Eugene Le Cand, was born in Natchez, Mississippi. For many years he was a resident of the State of Texas, engaged in the cotton business, spending the latter part of his life in Galveston where he died in 1905. He was a 32nd Degree Mason, and a factor in the commercial and civic activities of the city. In 1896 he married Miss Sue Menard, a descendant of two prominent Galveston families, being a grand-niece of Michel B. Menard, the founder of Galveston, and a grand daughter of Gen. Sidney Sherman of San Jacinto fame. Miss Le Cand was educated in the cities of Galveston and Houston, after which she decided upon a career of dancing as a profession. She is a graduate of the Vestoff-Serova school in New York City, and has also studied under Fokine, Moscagno and Ned Wayburn of New York, and also teaches the methods of Ruth St. Denis and Chalif. Miss Le Cand is a member of the Houston Music Council and

the Woman's Advertising Association. She is in- terested in both social and civic activities and takes an active part in many public entertainments, her dancing being a feature on various occasions. Her work as a dancing teacher has been given much enthusiastic approval and she is recognized as one of the leaders in the terpsichorean art in Houston.

U T. HUFFMASTER, well known musician and teacher of voice, piano and pipe organ, has been closely connected with the musical life of Houston for the past fifteen years, having come to this city and established his studio in 1908. He has a lovely studio-home at 709 Mar- shall Street, where he conducts classes of select pupils in piano and voice. Numbers of prominent musicians of Southern Texas have been trained under his direction.

Mr. Huffmaster is a native of Texas and was born in Galveston in 1880, a son of James Taylor and Allen Augusta (Hapgood) Huffmaster. The elder Huffmaster was engaged in the banking business in Galveston for nearly fifty years.

After attending the public and high schools of Galveston Mr. Huffmaster entered the New England Conservatory of Music at Boston, where he studied for two years. He then had three years study in the Faelten Piano Forte School and after that was a member of the faculty there for seven years. He studied voice under William W. Whitney for four years and had pipe organ training under the noted George E. Whiting of Boston for five years.

Oratorio and operatic studies were with Emil Mollenhauer for two years and George Henschel for one year. Mr. Huffmaster was organist at Saint James Episcopal Church in Boston for five years and served the church of Saint John in that city in the same capacity for six years. As a concert singer and organist he was in great demand in Boston and throughout the East, where he made many public appearances before large and enthusiastic audiences.

In 1916 Mr. Huffmaster was married at Galves- ton to Miss Elizabeth Thompson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. V. D. Thompson. Mr. Thompson is repre- sentative of the telegraph company at the Cotton Exchange at Galveston.

Mr. and Mrs. Huffmaster have two lovely daugh- ters, Drusilla Virginia, six, and Ellen Catherine, three.

For two years Mr. Huffmaster was organist and choir director at Saint Paul's Methodist Church at Houston, and is also conductor of the Woman's Choral Club, now in its thirteenth year. For seven years he conducted the Houston Quartette Society and is a past Director of the Houston Festival Asso- ciation and had 250 voices appearing in conjunction with the New York Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Walter Damrosch, Conductor. For the past thirteen years he has been Organist and Choir Master at Trinity Episcopal Church in Galveston and conducted the Young Women's Christian Asso- ciation Glee Club there for eight years. For five years he was Director of the Galveston Quartette Society and still gives special teaching lessons in the Island City.

Mr. Huffmaster is a real artist, a charming and cultured gentleman, affable and of pleasing person- ality and has contributed in no small degree to the development of the musical and cultural life of Houston and Galveston. He is a member of the Rotary Club and of Trinity Episcopal Church.

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M RS. C. A. BUJAC (Emma J.) was one of the leading Pianists and Piano Teachers in Houston, Texas, where she had lived since 1873, during which period, by her conscien- tious efforts, she won the respect and esteem of her many pupils and friends. She was also favorably known as a composer. One of her compositions, "Merci," (Thank You), dedicated to Mrs. C. Lom- bardi of Houston, Texas, has been played by John Philip Sousa at Houston and at Atlanta, Georgia, as well as by the "Fourth Mexican Cavalry Band" at Houston. On these and other occasions when it has been rendered, it has met with an enthusiastic re- ception. "Les Avants Coureurs" (The Drummers), dedicated to Mr. C. A. Bujac, and the "Commercial Travelling Fraternity," is another of her composi- tions which has been well received.

Mrs. Bujac received her early education, both gen- eral and along musical lines, in New Orleans, Louis- iana, her native city. Later she studied piano under Dr. William Mason, Miss K. C. Linn, Messrs. Ernest Hutcheson and Conradi, and theory and harmony under Messrs. Edgar Robbins and Howard Thatcher. Mason's Technique, Hutcheson's Technique and the Progressive Series were used in her piano teaching.

Her scrapbook, covering the years she was before the public, contains a most interesting collection of programs, press notices and the like, giving evi- dence of much earnest work in public musical af- fairs. Particularly noticeable was the attention she had given to piano ensemble work. She was a pop- ular organist, and had served terms as organist for the First Presbyterian Church and the Shearn Meth- odist Church.

Mrs. Bujac was the daughter of Peter Lott and Emilia Catherine Preusch Lott, and a descendent of Peter Lott, who came from New Netherlands in 1653, of Capt. Cornelius Lott, who served in the Revolutionary War, and Col. John Cannon of Penn- sylvania.

Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Bujac were married in 1875, to whom were given two children, Mathieu Jules Bujac, and Emilia Celeste Bujac, now the wife of Jesse Andrews, a member of the law firm of Baker, Botts, Parker and Garwood, with offices in Houston and in Kansas City, Missouri.

With the passing of Mrs. Emma J. Bujac on Sat- urday, June 14th, 1924, not only the musical circles of Houston, but the entire community lost a valued and beloved member. Mrs. Bujac was loved by hun- dreds of friends here and it was always said of her that she was ever loyal toward those whom she counted among her long list of friends and ac- quaintances. Her lovable disposition, cultured mu- sicianship and fine generosity will long be remem- bered by all who knew her.

RS. GUSTAV STOLZ, one of the most ca- pable of Houston's business women, has achieved a foremost place in the industrial world of her city, and has won distinction in the manufacturing field. Mrs. Stolz owns and operates the Houston Monument Company, a com- pany established in 1922, and which has since built up a large and profitable business in Houston. She is one of the few women operators of such an indus- try in the state, and displays a real executive ca- pacity and ability to conduct her business along suc- cessful lines.

Mrs. Stolz owns the property on

which the plant is located, at 2702 Washington Ave- nue, and is making plans for a new building, af- fording larger space and better facilities, to re- place the old building, which the business is rapidly outgrowing. She employs eight operatives, engag- ing in monumental work principally, but also does some building construction. Most of the work done by the plant is in marble and granite, and many very superior pieces of work have been turned out under the supervision of Mrs. Stolz. She is thor- oughly conversant with every phase of her business, takes a keen delight in her work, and the future promises her a continued prosperity. She is owner and manager of the business, and her daughter, Miss Elsie Stolz, is treasurer.

Mrs. Stolz was born in Germany, and, after re- ceiving her education in that country, came to America, at the age of fifteen years. She was married at Victoria, Texas, in 1884, to Gustav Stolz, whose death occurred in Victoria, in 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Stolz had a family of five children, Charles W. Stolz, Mrs. L. C. Brady, Mrs. P. W. Seffell, Gus- tav Stolz, Jr., and Miss Elsie Stolz, who is treasurer of the Houston Monument Company.

Mr. Stolz first began in the monument business more than four decades ago, at Victoria, in a plant he had been forced to take over in settlement of a debt. He built up a successful business, and at the time of his death, in 1916, Mrs. Stolz, who had always been interested in the work, decided to op- erate the business herself. She gave the undertak- ing the enthusiasm and attention that has marked her career in the business world, and not only ran the plant, but did a constantly increasing business. In 1922 she decided to remove to Houston, a city offering a greater opportunity for expansion and growth, and the plant in this city is the outgrowth of that decision. Since coming here she has had a most prosperous business, and the future looks especially promising. Her daughter, Miss Elsie, is her most able assistant, and, like her mother, dis- plays a remarkable business talent.

ORACE CLARK, musician, composer and teacher, is one of the pioneer musicians of the City of Houston and has been identified with the musical, social and civic life of this city for a number of years. Mr. Clark is a teacher of piano, harmony, theory and composition and his classes are among the largest and most se- lect in the city.

Mr. Clark was born at Independence, Texas, and is a son of Rev. Horace and Martha (Davis) Clark. His father, a well known Baptist minister in the early days of Texas, was president of Baylor Female Col- lege for twenty-one years, serving this institution from 1851 until 1871. It was at this institution that Mr. Clark largely received his literary education, be- ing the only boy permitted to attend the school.

After completing his literary studies, Mr. Clark began the study of music in Houston under Mrs. L. P. Grunewald. Later he went to Boston where he was a student at the New England Conservatory of Music for two years and was one of four honor students out of a class of 104. The conservatory of- fered to pay his expenses for an extended course of musical instruction under the best masters of Europe at the close of studies there, but he decided to remain with the conservatory and become one of its teach- ers. He returned to Texas and began teaching

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there and in 1902 went to Europe where he studied successively under Varetta Stepanoff and the Stern Conservatory in Berlin and the famous Lovengard. Returning to America he was a student of A. K. Virgil in New York for one season and for a similar period under Alvin Cady of Chicago. He also studied in Vermont under Wm. H. Sherwood for a year and was a pupil of Dr. Eugene Thayer, a noted organist.

Mr. Clark is now devoting much of his time to the lecture platform and his lectures on music are in great demand in many of the cities of Texas. He also is selected as judge in many of the musical con- tests held by universities and colleges of Texas.

Apart from his work as a teacher, Mr. Clark is nationally known as an author and has to his credit many compositions that have attained wide popular- ity. He has won three medals for compositions, two in Texas and one in Philadelphia. Hynes, Haden and Eldridge, music publishers of New York City, select- ed Mr. Clark as one of two Texas composers to con- tribute to their course of music to be used in public education. The course comprises from four to eight years work and is declared by able musicians to be one of the most comprehensive works of its kind ever published.

Mr. Clark is very active in the State Music Teach- ers' Association of Texas, and is a member of the board of examiners for the standardization of teach- ers, a movement recently adopted and being carried out by the State Teachers' Association, in the cause of music education.

Mr. Clark maintains his studio at 809 Dennis Avenue which is recognized as one of the musical centers of Houston. A man of marked versatility and magnetic personality, Mr. Clark takes an active interest in the musical life of Houston and has been identified with many of the more important musical orgaizations and movements here.

RS. C. SHEPHERD, President of Mrs. C. Shepherd, Inc., exclusive ladies' ready-to- wear house of Houston, is well known in the business world at Houston as one of the most successful merchants, as well as success- ful business women here. Mrs. Shepherd began her business career at Palestine, establishing a ladies' ready-to-wear in her home there in 1916, and shortly afterward moving her business to Hous- ton. Beginning with small capital, Mrs. Shepherd gradually expanded, and now her business ranks as one of the finest and most exclusive ladies' ready-to-wear shops in Houston, with the most mod- ern fixtures, and an attractive shop, at 921 Main Street. The business was incorporated in 1921, with Mrs. Shepherd as President, Mrs. Thomas Irby, Vice President, and Eugene J. P. Shepherd, Secretary-Treasurer. Mrs. Shepherd draws her pa- tronage from Houston's most discriminating women, and has one of the finest showings of women's gar- ments in the city, including complete lines of all ladies' wearing apparel.

Mrs. Shepherd is a native Texan, her birthplace having been the city of Palestine, where she gained her first business experience. Her father, the late J. A. Roussel, a native of Louisiana, was a business man of Temple for many years. Mrs. Roussel, whose maiden name was Eugenia Pool, was a native of Marian, Alabama. Mrs. Shepherd attended the schools of Texas.

Mrs. Shepherd was married at Waco, Texas, the

twenty-third of October, 1901, to Mr. C. M. Shep- herd, son of the late J. Gordon Shepherd and An- gelina (Foster) Shepherd, both natives of Mobile, Alabama. Mrs. Shepherd resides at 1210 Colquitt Street, and has three children-Eugene James Pool Shepherd, Cora Foster Shepherd and George Mc- Niel Shepherd. Mrs. Shepherd belongs to the Hous- ton Chamber of Commerce, the Altrusa Club and the Episcopal Church, and is a leader among busi- ness women of the city.

ALLIE R. PRITCHARD, one of the most discriminating artists and enthusiastic rep- resentatives of the terpsichorean art at Houston, has in the several years that she has engaged in the teaching of dancing, built up a large and successful school. Miss Pritchard teaches dancing in all departments, giving special attention to classic dancing, physical culture and physical expression. She has a class of around two hundred pupils, each of whom she makes a special problem, giving attention to his individual needs. Miss Pritchard enters into the spirit of her work as a dancing teacher and inspires her pupils to seek the highest skill. She has received the best professional advantages, and from child- hood has displayed a marked talent in her chosen domain of art, her dancing showing a natural grace of interpretation, which is distinctive. In addition to her work as a teacher, Miss Pritchard is in de- mand for all public entertainments, and has shown herself very generous in contributing to various pro- grams. Her dancing has been for a number of years a feature at Shrine entertainments, as well as on other occasions.

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 2, Part 33

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