New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 2, Part 81

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

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1589

MEN OF TEXAS

L. KERR is prominently identified with the oil and refining industries of Texas and New Mexico, where for the past score of years he has been District Sales Manager for the Gulf Refining Company and Secretary- Treasurer of the United Oil and Natural Gas Pro- ducts Corporation and the Consolidated Carbon Cor- poration, all of which maintains offices in Houston. Mr. Kerr came to Houston in 1906 to become the District Sales Manager of the Gulf Refining Com- pany, the territory of which includes all of Texas and New Mexico. All business for this district is handled through the Houston offices, in which de- partment approximately 300 people are employed, and their sales forces under the Houston district office, include about one thousand people. The pro- ducts of the Gulf Refining Company are fuel oil, gasoline, gas, lubricating oil, and all petroleum pro- ducts. Mr. Kerr is Secretary-Treasurer of the United Oil and Gas Products Corporation, and is one of the organizers of this company. The plant of this industry is located at Monroe, Louisiana, but their offices are in Houston. The United Oil and Gas Products Corporation are capitalized for $2,000,000.00, and are manufacturers of Carbon Black, used in making printer's ink and in the manu- facture of rubber tires. This is the largest indi- vidual carbon black plant in the world, and manu- factures 6,000,000 pounds of carbon black per year. The two well known and popular brands of carbon black made by this company are "Dixie Brand" and "Ace of Spades." C. A. Barbour is President of the United Oil and Natural Gas Products Corporation.

Mr. Kerr was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1867. His father, J. C. Kerr, (now deceased) was well known in the business circles of Cincinnati, where he was engaged in the wholesale grocery business, under the name of the J. C. Kerr Company, which is still being operated by the Kerr family. His mother before her marriage was Miss Margaret McChesney, a member of a well known Ohio family. Mr. Kerr's education was obtained in the public schools of Cov- ington, Ky. In 1883, when sixteen years of age, Mr. Kerr entered the wholesale grocery establishment of his father in Cincinnati, and remained in that busi- ness until 1906, where he was in charge of sales. He left this position, and this line of work in order to come to Houston as District Sales Manager of the Gulf Refining Co., and where a short time later he became Secretary-Treasurer of the United Oil and Natural Gas Products Corporation, and shortly thereafter, in company with Captain Barbour, or- ganized the Consolidated Carbon Corporation.

Mr. Kerr was married in 1897 to Miss Carrie Davis, a member of a prominent Kentucky family. Mr. and Mrs. Kerr reside at 3416 Audubon Place, Houston. He has been connected closely with the commercial interests of the city for many years, and is interested in many enterprises. Mr. Kerr is a Director in the National Bank of Commerce and is President of the Thalian Realty Holding Com- pany, and Vice-President of the People's Finance and Thrift Company of Houston. In social organizations he is a member of the Houston Club, the Houston Country Club and the River Oaks Country Club. Mr. Kerr, in the midst of his private work, finds oppor- tunity to give his time and assistance to many movements of a public nature to assist in the pro- gress and advancement of Houston.

RTHUR H. KENNERLY, well known in oil circles of Texas, as an executive, is Secre- tary and Auditor of the Southwestern Set- tlement and Development Company and of the Houston Oil Company of Texas. Mr. Kennerly came to Houston from Central Texas in 1910, and has been associated with these companies in these positions since that time. The Southwestern Set- tlement and Development Company are the owners of 750,000 acres in fee of cut-over lands which are located in the vast yellow pine district of East Texas and Western Louisiana, which they sell di- rect to purchasers for farming purposes and dairy- ing. The sale of this land by the Southwestern Settlement and Development Company has as its object, primarily, and encouraging of home owner- ship and to assist in the settlement of this great State.

When Mr. Kennerly became associated with the Houston Oil Company of Texas in 1910, it had at that time only a small production at Corsicana, and today it is one of the leading oil companies of Texas and was active in the development of the following fields: Hull, Electra, Mexia, Smackover, Arkansas, Eldorado, Arkansas, Hainesville, Louisiana, and Cor- sicana, (shallow) and are operating in Live Oak and Jefferson Counties. The Houston Oil Company of Texas have a production of approximately 10,000 barrels per day, and have about two hundred and fifty people in their organization. The Houston Oil Company of Texas was organized in 1901 by John H. Kirby and Patrick Calhoun and is strictly a Texas organization, and has been doing a splendid work in developing the resources of the State. The Hous- ton Oil Company of Texas and its policies are di- rected from Houston. The two companies of which Mr. Kennerly is Secretary and Auditor have offices in the Scanlan Building and fifty people are in the office organization.

A native Texan, Mr. Kennerly was born at Gid- dings, Lee County, January 10, 1882. His father, Joshua H. Kennerly, also a native of the Lone Star State, was born in Washington County in 1831, when Texas was a vast expanse of cattle ranges dotted with an occasional white settlement, and Indian at- tacks on these early settlers, who blazed the path for today's citizenship, were frequent and ofttimes left the dead as a cruel memento of their visit. His grandfather, Everton Kennerly, was truly one of the very early pioneers of the State, having migrated to Texas from Tennessee in 1829. His mother, prior to her marriage, was Miss Hannah Huntun, a mem- ber of a well known Arkansas family. The public schools of Giddings supplied the foundation for Mr. Kennerly's education, and two years study in busi- ness law and accounting provided him with his early business training. Immediately following his train- ing, Mr. Kennerly, in 1907, was appointed Deputy Clerk in the United States Federal Court at Hous- ton, which was the beginning of his business career. In the latter part of 1907 Mr. Kennerly became Di- vision Accountant for the Southern Pacific Lines and remained with this corporation until 1910. Prior to 1907, Mr. Kennerly had been with the Post Office Department in his home town of Giddings, since he was sixteen years of age. In 1902, while serving as Assistant Postmaster at Guffy, Texas, was when Mr. Kennerly became interested in oil. Mr. Kennerly is a Director of the Higgins Oil and Fuel Company,

1590

OfKent

M. H. Perry

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

which has about fifteen hundred barrels per day production. This company has a capital stock of $500,000.00.

Mr. Kennerly was married in Beaumont in 1903 to Miss Margaret Gibson, a native of Austin County, Texas, and a daughter of A. L. Gibson (deceased), a well known merchant and prominent citizen of Wallace, Texas. They have five children, Burnett, Alice, Margaret, Thomas and Elsie Jewel. In fra- ternal organizations, Mr. Kennerly holds member- ship in the A. F. and A. M. and the I. O. O. F. He is a loyal member of the Baptist Church. Mr. Kennerly has always been active in the business, social and general community life of Houston and is deeply interested in all matters having to do with the progress and advancement of this city.

ORMAN H. PERRY entered the oil business when seventeen years of age, and the thor- ough training which he has received in the different branches of this industry has proved a valuable asset to him as an executive. Mr. Perry came to Houston in July, 1919, from Tam- pico, Mexico, and is General Superintendent of Pipe Lines for the Gulf Pipe Line Company. He super- vises the pipe lines in Texas, Arkansas and Louis- iana, which contains over two thousand lineal miles of pipe line. From 1904 to 1907, Mr. Perry was in the oil fields at Batson with various companies and was engaged in engineering and field work. From 1907 to 1913 he was Chief Engineer at Lufkin- Tex- as, for the Gulf Pipe Line Company, and from 1913 to 1919 was in Mexico with the Mexican Gulf Com- pany as their Mexican Pipe Line Superintendent. While located in Mexico, Mr. Perry helped build the Gulf Pipe Line there, which consists of about sixty-five miles through the roughest and wildest section of country that can be found in the Republic, and had many difficult problems to overcome, in engineering and political as well, as that country has much "red tape" which a foreigner finds very difficult to overcome, particularly if the population is not friendly towards the builders. Mr. Perry's office is located at 512 Gulf Building and Mr. E. C. Kincaid, Assistant to the Vice-President of the Gulf Pipe Line Company, is head of this department.

Mr. Perry was born in North Carolina, August 1, 1885. His father, J. R. Perry, was a well known lumber man of North Carolina. His mother was Miss Fannie E. Bailey, a member of a prominent Virginia family. His literary education was ob- tained in the public and high schools of North Caro- lina, Georgia and Florida; his engineering education was obtained by practical application in the field, where he received a thorough training.

Mr. Perry was married in North Carolina on May 5, 1909, to Miss Pearl Cottrell, a native of North Carolina, and a daughter of Dr. W. L. Cottrell, a well known Methodist Minister of that State. They have one child, Cecil. Mr. Perry is a member f the A. F. and A. M., with membership in the lodge at Lufkin, Texas. He is a member of the Baptist Church. Mr. Perry is well known in all parts of the Mid-Continent and Mexican territory, where oil is transported and is popular in oil circles, and is a hard worker in the interest of the company which he represents, which is noted for its organization and co-operation of its forces. While yet a young man, Mr. Perry is a pioneer of the Texas oil indus- try, having spent a score of years in this business in Texas and Mexico.

ANIEL J. MORAN, Vice-President of the Texas Company, in charge of production, has spent a life time in the oil business, having started his career as an office boy for a pipe line company when he was ten years of age. At first Mr. Moran worked only during the summer vacations between schools sessions, but since the completion of his studies has devoted his entire time to the business in its various branches and has had a practical experience, which, com- bined with his technical knowledge, has enabled him to forge to the very front rank.

The connection of Mr. Moran with the Texas Com- pany dates from May, 1907, when he entered the company's service at Tulsa, Oklahoma. He has served in various departments and in 1909 was transferred to the home office at Houston. He spent six years in foreign countries for the Texas Com- pany, including Mexico, South and Central America where he was engaged in prospecting, and in Mex- ico in the shipping, refining and producing depart- ments.

On July 1, 1922, he was promoted to the position of Manager of the producing department, which in- cludes drilling and the work of saving and storing the crude oil and also the operation of the various refineries and gasoline plants. The personnel under the jurisdiction of Mr. Moran includes about three thousand men. In March, 1924, he became Vice- President of the Texas Company. He is also a Di- rector of the Texas Company of Mexico.

Mr. Moran is a native of Ohio and was born in Wood County. He is a son of M. and Helen (Cu- sack) Moran, both natives of New York State. His father is now located at Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he is President of the Texas Pipe Line Company of Oklahoma. The elder Moran is the oldest pipe line man in the business today and has charge of some of the most important gathering and distributing lines operated by the Texas Pipe Line Company.

After receiving his preliminary education in a preparatory school at Dayton, Ohio, Mr. Moran en- tered the University of Dayton and graduated there with the class of 1905, receiving the degree of Bach- elor of Science. He then did post graduate work at the Case School of Applied Science for two years and received his degree of Bachelor of Science from this institution as well.

Every summer for ten years during vacation pe- riods he worked in various departments for the Buckeye Pipe Line Company at Lima, Ohio, a por- tion of this time serving as telegraph operator. He began the study of telegraphy when eight years of age and at fourteen was a proficient operator.

On May 28, 1921, Mr. Moran was married at Cleveland, Ohio, to Miss Marie Farasey, a native of Cleveland. They have one child, Frances.

Mr. Moran has been an exceptionally close stu- dent of the oil industry and by reason of his techni- cal training and life long experience has come to be regarded as one of the most expert men in the busi- ness today. He has accomplished many very un- usual things for his company and has the unbounded respect, confidence and co-operation of his associates and the men who work under him as well. He is a member of the American Petroleum Institute and of the Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association. His college fraternity at the Case School was the Beta Theta Pi. Mr. Moran is a member of the Houston Club and the Houston Country Club.

1593

MEN OF TEXAS

OHN H. TUCKER, of Houston, has spent practically his entire life time in the oil business. His boyhood was spent among the oil fields of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, and Mr. Tucker has come up from the ranks to his present position as Superintendent of the Gulf Production Company in the Gulf Coast District. The territory under his supervision in- cludes not only the various Coastal fields of West Columbia, Goose Creek and Damon Mound, but the Mexia and Corsicana fields as well. Some of the best wells in these fields are owned by the Gulf Production Company and it is estimated that this company owns more substantial, settled production in this territory than any other company operating in Texas. More than nine hundred people work in the various departments controlled by Mr. Tucker.

Coming to Texas in 1904 and going first to the famous Batson field, Hardin County, and Beau- mont, Mr. Tucker has been connected with the Gulf Production Company in various capacities for more than a score of years. His first work for the com- pany was as a roughneck and from time to time he was promoted until 1914, when he was made Gen- eral Superintendent of the Production Department, a position he was peculiarly fitted by his intensive training and experience to fill. His first experience in the oil business was a boy in Pennsylvania, when he worked around the oil fields during vacation pe- riods. He was born near Butler, Pennsylvania, on February 3, 1884. His parents were T. J. and Ratch- el (Supplee) Tucker. His father was for many years a well known oil man operating in Pennsyl- vania, Ohio, and other sections of the East. He is now deceased.

Mr. Tucker received his education in the schools at Butler, Pa., and at various places in Pennsyl- vania and Ohio, where his father was engaged in the oil business, but states that most of his schooling was of a practical kind and received in the oil fields where the derrick floor was the school room. He is conceded to be a master of production detail and his associates in the oil fraternity look upon him as an expert in his particular line.

On May 24, 1905, Mr. Tucker was married at Parkersburg, West Virginia, to Miss Rose Murphy, a native of West Virginia. They have five children, Frank, J. H., Jr., Ruth, Mary Jane and Bill.

Mr. Tucker is a member of the American Petro- leum Institute and for several years has served on the pipe committee and other standardization com- mittees of the Institute. These committees have done a great deal of constructive work in bringing about a standardization of pipe sizes, rig irons, and creating uniformity in nearly all supplies used in the industry.

While devoting practically his entire time to the interests of his company, Mr. Tucker finds some time for recreation and is a member of the Houston Club, Houston Country Club, River Oaks Country Club, and of the Lumberman's Club. He also is a member of the Knights of Pythias.

DRIAN T. MOORE, although a comparative- ly recent addition to the oil fraternity of Houston, is well known in the oil and finan- cial circles of North Texas and Louisiana. Mr. Moore is Division Manager of the Southern Di- vision for the Amerada Petroleum Corporation and the Rycade Oil Corporation, with the division office

located at 226 Humble Building. The home office of this corporation is in New York City. The Amerada Petroleum Corporation operates in Arkansas and Louisiana, and are engaged in producing only, their wells being located at Haynesville, Louisiana, and at El Dorado and Smackover, Arkansas. This cor- poration has been operating in the South for about three years, and Houston is the headquarters for the Arkansas and Louisiana fields. The Rycade Oil Corporation was organized in 1923 and bought the Amerada interests in Texas. This is also a produc- ing company, and is active in developing the several fields of Texas. Most of their drilling activity is in South Texas. Approximately two hundred people are in Mr. Moore's organization.

A native Texan, Mr. Moore was born at Waco January 24, 1885, and came of an old Texas family. His father, Bart Moore, also a native of the Lone Star State, was for many years prominent in the real estate and insurance circles of Waco; his grand- father, Dr. Thomas Moore, and his grandmother came to Texas in 1855. Mr. Moore's mother was Miss Nettie Rose, a native Texan, whose family came to Texas in the pioneer days. Mr. Moore's education was obtained in the public and high schools of Waco, graduating from the latter in the class of 1901. He later was a student of the University of Texas. After leaving school, Mr. Moore entered business with his father, and was for many years indirectly interested in the oil business at Waco. In 1916, he entered actively into the oil business in North Texas, where his activities in contracting and operating were confined mostly to Burkburnett. In 1920 he went with the Amerada Petroleum Corpo- ration at Shreveport, Louisiana, as Division Mana- ger there, and when the Houston and Shreveport offices were consolidated, he removed to Houston and is in charge of Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas from the Houston office. Mr. Moore was married at Elkton, Kentucky, in 1909, to Miss Rob Williams, a member of a well known family of Kentucky, where her father, Dr. Robert Williams, was a prom- inent physician. They have one daughter, Mary Louise. Mr. and Mrs. Moore reside at 612 Branard Avenue. Mr. Moore is a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon College fraternity; the Houston Club; the University Club, River Oaks Country Club, Mid- Continent Oil and Gas Association, and the Amer- ican Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engi- neers. He is active in the business, social and gen- eral community life of Houston, and is interested in all projects tending to the welfare and advancement of this city.

F. HENNIGER, for ten years and more connected with the Gulf Production Com- pany, and an oil geologist who is recog- nized as an authority in his definite field, has occupied a high place in the esteem of the oil fraternity at Houston since coming here several years ago. Mr. Henniger is chief of surface and geophysical investigations for the Gulf Production Company in the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana, having been stationed at Houston in this capacity since 1922.

Mr. Henniger was born in Fayette County, Texas, the twenty-third of February, 1883, the son of Frank Henniger, a native of Texas. He received his early education at Blinn College, Brenham, Texas; later attending the University of Texas from

1594

Dilworth S. Hager.

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

1913 to 1916. During the summers of 1914 and 1915 he did geological work for the Gulf Produc- tion Company in Wichita, Throckmorton, Shackel- ford, Brown and Stephens Counties, Texas. In June, 1916, he left the University and came to Houston, entering the regular service of the Gulf Produc- tion Company. In November, 1916, he was trans- ferred to Mexico, and worked out of Tampico for the Mexican Gulf Company until January, 1918, when he was returned to Northwest Texas with head- quarters at Fort Worth.

In October, 1916, Mr. Henniger enlisted in the Students' Army Training Corps of the Howard Payne College at Brownwood, Texas. When the armistice was signed, he had an appointment to the Officers' Training Camp, Signal Corps Division, but was discharged on December 7th, 1918.

After his discharge, Mr. Henniger returned to the Gulf Production Company, doing geological work in the fields of North and West Texas until Aug- ust, 1919, when he was put in charge of the San Antonio district, with headquarters in San Antonio. In 1920 he returned to Houston for a short time and was then sent to the fields of Northern Louis- iana, Southern Arkansas and the Mexia and Powell fields, working there until December, 1920. After a short time in the Laredo field, he was again returned to Houston to take charge of the Gulf Coast field for the Gulf Production Company, and has since main- tained his headquarters there.

Mr. Henniger was married at Brownwood, Texas, the twenty-fourth of August, 1918, to Miss Frances Snyder, a native of Texas. They have one son, Wal- demar Frederick, Junior, born November 2nd, 1922. Mr. and Mrs. Henniger reside in Houston at 1109 California Avenue.

ILWORTH SCOTT HAGER was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1888. His family moved to St. Louis, and he was educated in the public schools and in Washington University. In 1911 he went to Harvard Univer- sity, and received his B. S. degree there in 1912. Next he spent fifteen months in the steel mills at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1913 he came to Texas and worked in the Burkburnett and Electra oil fields. In 1914 he moved to Oklahoma, and worked in the Healdton and Cushing fields. In 1915-1917 he did geological work under his brother, Dorsey Hager, in Oklahoma and Kansas. In 1917, after the war was declared, he volunteered for the Second Officers' Training School, but was not ac- cepted. He then came to Brownwood, Texas, as geologist for the Janeellen Oil Company of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and there located the gas field which now supplies the town of Brownwood. In 1918 he was inducted into the service, and spent five months at Camp Travis, San Antonio, and the Field Ar- tillery Officers' Training School at Louisville, Ken- tucky.

In 1919 Mr. Hager did geological work in North Texas, Kentucky and Ohio. In 1920 he returned to Harvard University and in 1921 took his A. M. degree in geology there, rounding out his experience, meanwhile, by doing some geological work in Wyo- ming and Idaho for the National Exploration Com- pany.

In 1921 Mr. Hager came back to Texas to stay. He opened an office in Mexia, where he did con- sulting work until employed by the Gulf Production

Company in 1921, to take charge of all their surface work in Northeast and Southwest Texas, with head- quarters at Houston.

Mr. Hager is considered an authority on the oil and gas geology of Texas, and is very much inter- ested in the development of the natural resources of the state.

During the convention of the American Associa- tion of Petroleum Geologists in Houston, in 1924, he was chairman of the reception committee. He is a member of the above mentioned association, the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, University Club of Houston and Dallas, and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Mr. Hager is now president of the Houston Geological Society.

Mr. Hager's father, F. D. Hager, was born in Washington County, Maryland, and his mother, Sarah D. Hager, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

OHN W. LAWSON, for several years a fac- tor in the iron foundering industry at San Antonio, has recently established his head- quarters in Houston, and since his arrival in this city has assumed a place of importance in the steel and supply business. The Alamo Steel and Supply Company, of which Mr. Lawson is general manager, was established and incorporated in 1922, with a capital of $100,000.00, and is operated under the control of the Alamo Iron Works of San An- tonio. Mr. George C. Holmgreen (deceased) was president; Melrose Holmgreen, secretary and treas- urer; E. A. Holmgreen, and J. H. Holmgreen, vice presidents of the corporation. The Alamo Steel and Supply Company are fabricators of re-inforceing steel for concrete construction, steel construction hoists, concrete mixers, and all contractors supplies. While only in business but a comparatively short time in Houston, they have made rapid strides and have a number of large contracts for construction steel to be used in buildings under course of con- struction in Houston. The Alamo Steel and Supply Company has an acreage tract, comprising eight acres, at Spring and Taylor Streets. The buildings housing the industry have a floor space of one hun- dred thousand square feet, and they recently added a structural steel shop which materially increases the facilities of the company. They have at all times a large and adequate stock of steel, and employ some forty people.

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 2, Part 81

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