USA > Texas > The encyclopedia of Texas, V.1 > Part 112
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Mr. Beach is a native of Louisiana. He was born in that state on January 12, 1868. His father was J. L. Beach, a wealthy planter, and his mother, Harriet McLennon Beach. They came to Texas in 1872 and located in Grayson County. Mr. Beach has been active as a farmer; he came to Wichita County in 1911 and bought up land, and in 1914 he bought the land that now yields him over one hundred wells with more arriving. He moved into the city of Wichita Falls in 1918, after the oil de- velopment on his farm in 1917. Here he is engaged in large public service that has been characteristic of him wherever he has been; Mr. Beach has always aligned himself with the best interests of every com- munity he has lived in. This characteristic is now given larger possibilities and opportunities.
In Grayson County, Texas, in 1888, Miss Lulu Richardson became the bride of Mr. Beach. They have seven children, Roy, Jessie, Cecil, Ethel, Otto, Homer, Jr., and O. L. The family residence is at 1500 Austin Street. Mr. Beach is a Mason and a Baptist.
No man gets something for nothing .. The one hundred and twenty-three wells that Mr. Beach already has and the others that are arriving, were not brought by luck or by chance. When one sees a man in possession of a prosperous farm, he knows that the state did not give it to him, nor did he just happen upon it. With toil approaching sixteen hours a day, with perseverance and thrift, it was acquired. The big business Mr. Beach directs and enjoys today is but the reward of his toil, per- severance and thrift of yesterday.
EWIS CARL BROOKS, Texas manager for the Graton-Knight Manufacturing Co. of Texas, dealers in leather, 309 North Austin Street, has had a most rapid advancement and inside of five years rose to the managership of one of the largest leather distributing agencies in the South. His company's factory is located in Worcester, Mass., but the Dallas branch carries a complete line of goods and always has on hand here a year's supply of materials. Railroad strikes and the like do not bother the company for it does not have to depend on short notice shipments to take care of the demands of its customers.
The Dallas branch was opened in 1908 with a com- plete line of goods. Mr. Brooks became the manager in 1916. He has salesmen on the road covering all of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and part of Arizona. As soon as old Mexico becomes quiet, Mr. Brooks intends taking two men and covering the western part. Serving so many dealers and direct buyers as the company does necessitates a large force in the Dallas house. The business is showing a healthy increase yearly.
Mr. Brooks was born in that historic old town of Jefferson, November 21, 1887. His father, E. E. Brooks, was one of the early settlers in that coun- try, coming to Texas from Alabama shortly after the Civil War. He was a farmer, gin operator and owner of a general mercantile business and is still very active. Lewis Brooks was educated in the schools at his honie and at Jacksonville, Texas. On leaving school in 1906 he came to Dallas and went with the Eubank Machinery Company. After five
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years he entered the services of his present company as a salesman on the road. In 1916 he became the local manager.
His wife was Miss Bessie Kizer, daughter of M. D. Kizer, a prominent Irving farmer. They were mar- ried here January 4, 1912, and have two children, Doris Jean and Phylis.
Mr. Brooks is a Mason and takes a great deal of interest in all eivie matters in Dallas.
B. BURKS, manager of the Standard Sani- tary Manufacturing Co., a wholesale con- cern dealing in plumbing supplies, is located at 1200-6 Jackson Street.
Mr. Burks is head of the Dallas branch of the com- pany which has for wholesale territory all of North Texas. The Dallas branch occupies all five stories and the basement of the building at 1200-6 Jackson Street and a storage shed reaching to Wood Street. This company handles everything in the line of plumbing supplies. Under Mr. Burke's management the sales of the Dallas branch have leaped to $2,000,000, approximately, in annual sales.
Mr. Burks is from Kentucky, having been born there in 1890, in Breckenridge County, the son of John Burks and Nellie Bowmer. The family moved to Louisville when he was a small boy and he was educated in the Louisville publie schools. After his graduation from the Louisville high school, he began work with the home office of his present company which was located in Louisville. The home office is now located in Pittsburg. He has worked in every capacity up through this business with steady ad- vanee in responsibility and opportunity. In Louis- ville, after serving in the sales department, he was chosen as manager of the Houston branch and sent to Texas in 1916. After serving in Houston two years he was transferred to the larger Dallas branch where he has been manager since 1918.
In 1913 Mr. Burks was married in Louisville to Miss Margaret Baird. Mr. and Mrs. Burks have one child, a little girl, Alice Baird Burks. Their home is at 4224 Swiss Avenue.
Mr. Burks is a 32d degree Mason, member of Dallas Consistory No. 2 and of Hella Temple Shrine. He is also a member of the City Club and the Cham+ ber of Commerce. A wide-awake, progressive young business man, Mr. Burks is a worthwhile addition to the citizenship of Dallas.
HARLES S. BARRY, secretary and treasurer of the Murray Company, manufacturers of cotton gin, and oil mill machinery, and mill supplies, at William and Murray Streets, is one of the most prominent business men of Dallas and an authority in the manufacturing industry. Other officials of this huge concern are: J. H. Mc- Donough, president; J. Kirby McDonough, vice- president, and H. N. Mitchell, assistant secretary and treasurer, all of whom are leaders in financial circles.
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The Murray Company has been one of the largest manufacturing concerns in Dallas for twenty years, having been established in 1900. They are manu- facturers of cotton gins, cottonseed oil mill machinery, and mill supplies, turning out an enormous amount of business. Besides the Dallas factory, the corporation owns a second factory in Atlanta, Georgia, with branch offices in Memphis and Little Rock. The factories in Dallas and At- lanta cover fifteen acres of land each with approxi- mately 400 employees at work in each place. The
Murray Company handles business amounting to from three to four million dollars annually, being one of the wealthiest and largest manufacturing concerns of its kind in the world.
Born in Corsieana, Texas in 1875, Mr. Barry came to Dallas while yet a young boy. He began his edu- cation in the Corsicana public schools, completing it in the Dallas schools. He became associated with the Murray Company at its establishment in 1900, gradually working his way up until he reached his present responsible position. The firm owes much to his marked business ability, his capacity for work, his enthusiasm and energy.
In 1900 he was married to Miss Carrie Padgitt, daughter of J. D. Padgitt who, for many many years, has conducted a large saddlery business in Dallas. Mr. and Mrs Barry have three children, Jessie Bell, Frances, and Charles S. Jr., and own a home at 4933 Swiss Avenue, Munger Place.
Mr. Barry is a member of the Dallas Country Club, the City Club, and the Athletic Club.
ARSHALL R. DIGGS, Secretary of the A. T. Walraven Book Cover Company, 209 Lane- St., Dallas, eame to this eity at the close of the world war and has been active in busi- ness and social cireles since that time, becoming identified with the above company in July 1921.
The A. T. Walraven Book Cover Co., are manu- facturers of Walraven school book covers used throughout the U. S. This eover is already eon- sidered the best on the market, due to the high quali- ty of Kraft paper used in their manufacture and the adjustability of the covers which enables the users to meet all cover demands with only two sizes.
Mr. Diggs is the son of Robert A. and Annie (Sauls) Diggs who were living in Paris, Tennessee. at the time of his birth, November 7th, 1889. In 1891 the family moved to Texas and located at Mer- kel, near Abilene. Four years later, however, they moved to Ardmore, Oklahoma, and here the younger Diggs received his first schooling in the public schools. After finishing high school he attended the Oklahoma Methodist University at Oklahoma City and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1910. He then attended the Law School at Yale University, and received the degree, Bachelor of Laws in 1913. From 1913 to 1916 he practiced law in Chicago and for one year, 1917, in Minneapo- lis.
In August of that year he entered the second of- ficers training camp at Leon Springs, Texas. On November 27th he was commissioned First Lieuten- ant and asigned to the 90th Division, U. S. A. In January 1918 he was sent to Leon Springs as in- structor and in the spring was sent to Camp Sheri- dan, receiving his Captain's commission the follow- ing June. Ilis discharge came March 19, 1919 at which time he came to Dallas, entering the Automo- bile business in association with Captains E. B. Stansbury and Coke Johnson.
Mr. Diggs was married in November 1919 in At- lanta, Georgia to Miss Alice Muse of that eity and resides at 3510 Drexel Drive, Dallas.
Mr. Diggs is a York Rite Mason and a member of Zurat Temple Shrine of Minneapolis, the Dallas Country Club and the American Legion. Ever since coming to Dallas, Mr. Diggs has taken a keen inter- est in all betterment projects launched for the ad- vancement of his adopted eity.
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J. GREEN, manager and majority owner of the Porter Oil Association, 825 Amer- ican National Bank Building, is one of the best known of the younger oil men in Wichita Falls and has been very successful since coming to this city in 1919. The Porter Oil Asso- ciation under his management has acquired and de- veloped some very valuable holdings in the North- west Extension field at Burkburnett and has some splendid production. The company has ten em- ployees in the field. The company has valuable properties in Arkansas, Louisiana and in the Gulf Coast region of Texas. The trustees of the Asso- ciation besides Mr. Green are: A. A. Sterling, of Houston; G. W. Cooper, of Wichita Falls, and J. D. Long, of El Dorado, Arkansas. The Association was organized in March, 1921.
Mr. Green is a native of Georgia and was born at Rayburn Gap on September 12, 1887. He is a son of D. M. Green. After attending the public schools of his native county Mr. Green entered Pied- mont College at Demorest, Georgia.
After completing his studies Mr. Green engaged in the insurance business until 1911 when he became identified with the Sun Company in the South Texas fields. For about three years he was identified with the San Jacinto Life Insurance Company of Beau- mont, at the time the company was organized. He progressed rapidly in the oil business and when he resigned his position with the Sun Company in 1917 had been made district manager. After leaving the Sun Company he went with the Gulf Pipe Line Com- pany and was sent to Wichita Falls. He remained with the Gulf for a year and then began operating independently. He continued as an independent operator until he became identified with the Porter Oil Association and still owns several leases and has some production of his own.
Mr. Green has taken work in Masonry and is also a member of the Kiwanis Club and the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce. He is active and energetic and a consistent booster for Wichita Falls. Mr. Green is unmarried and resides at the Kemp Hotel.
HAS. H. TABER, well known engineer, auto- mobile man and independent oil operator, came to Dallas in 1910 in the employ of the United States Engineering Department and was government supervising engineer in charge of construction of the Oak Cliff Viaduct. Prior to that he had gained much valuable experience in bridge building while connected with the Pennsyl- vania Highway Department. Following the com- pletion of the viaduct he made a survey of Trinity river for the government from Dallas to the Gulf of Mexico and later was engineer in charge of con- struction of the big concrete dam at the foot of Caddo Lake, at Mooringsport, Louisiana. After leaving the government service he returned to Dal- las and entered the automobile business, handling the Hudson car in the North Texas district. In 1917 he removed to East Texas where. he handled the Hudson and Oldsmobile until the outbreak of the war. After six unsuccessful attempts he enlisted in the army, assigned to the artillery division and ordered to report to Camp Zachary Taylor three days after the signing of the armistice.
Upon receiving his discharge Mr. Taber engaged in the oil business at Burkburnett and witnessed the bringing in of the second well there. His oil enter-
prises have been successful and he still has holdings in the West and North Texas fields. Leaving Dallas, Mr. Taber became identified with the Hudson & Essex agency at Shreveport, La.
Mr. Taber was born at Union City, Pennsylvania, April 5, 1888, a son of A. M. and Nina (Smiley) Taber. His father was a well known manufacturer of Union City and his maternal grandfather, A. W. Smiley, one of the drillers of the Drake well at Titusville, the first oil well ever drilled in the United States. He studied in the public schools and gradu- ated at the Union City high school in 1907, later taking a special course in civil engineering at the Pennsylvania State College.
While in Dallas he was a member of the Dallas Automobile Country Club and is a member of the International Travelers Association and Travelers Protective Association. His college fraternity is the Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
WATT DAVIS, president and manager of the Dallas Brass Manufacturing Company, Incorporated, 4015-17 Main Street, a busi- ness established in Dallas in 1906 by Geo. Soutter, Sr., is one of the factors contributing to the industrial expansion of the city and since his connection with this business has increased its volume fifty per cent. The business is the largest of its kind in the state, occupying a building 50x150 feet, employs fifteen people and keeps one repre- sentative on the road. The company manufactures bearings for street cars and makes heavy castings of all kinds, does a general line of machine work and markets its products mostly through jobbers. Geo. Soutter, Jr., is vice-president and assistant manager of the company. Prior to entering the business Mr. Davis was city and road salesman for the Har- greaves Printing Co., for five years, and prior to that he was in the awning business for six years.
Mr. Davis was born in Lake City, Craighead coun- ty, Ark., and was educated in the public schools, tak- ing a business course in Harrell and Draughon Busi- ness College after coming to Dallas. His father, D. C. Davis, deceased. was a native of New York and moved to Arkansas in 1882 and was engaged in farm- ing. His mother's maiden name was Cornelia Douglas.
He was married in Dallas in 1912 to Miss Lillian Soutter, daughter of Geo. Soutter, Sr., founder of this business, now retired and living in Dallas, and they have one son, J. Watt, Jr., and live at 1119 Bishop Avenue, Oak Cliff.
He is thoroughly interested in his business and is determined to make it one of the big industrial con- cerns of the city, therefore devotes himself very energetically to the task he has set for himself. He came to Dallas in 1904, is well acquainted and has many friends who are confident that he will reach the goal he is striving for.
LAUDE S. DAWLEY, Vice President and General Manager of the Southern Ice and Utilities Company, 709 Sumpter building. is a well known business man of Dallas and identified with one of the largest corporations in the state. Mr. Dawley's father, C. W. Dawley, is president of the company with W. L. Martin of Mar- shall, Texas, secretary and treasurer.
This large business had its beginning when Mr. Dawley's father built and operated an ice plant twenty years ago, for the purpose of furnishing ice for transporting crops and fruits to Northern and
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Eastern markets. The business grew to such an extent that in 1916 a large corporation was estab- iished with headquarters at Dallas, while sixteen ice plants were built at various distributing points in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The largest of these plants will store 15,000 tons of ice and will manufac- ture 300 tons a day. The combined daily output of the sixteen plants is 12,000 tons, with a storage ca- pacity of 40,000 tons. Eight persons are employed in the Dallas general offices and about 350 employ- ces in the state of Texas.
Mr. Dawley was born in Springfield, Missouri, on September 19, 1883. His father is C. W. Dawley, now of Dallas and president of the company, and his mother was Miss Lula S. Boyer, of an Ohio fam- ily. Mr. Dawley received his education at the Vir- ginia Military Institute at Lexington, Virginia, from which institution he was graduated in 1904. For sometimes afterwards he was engaged in business with his father, but later became interested in de- velopment of Oklahoma oil fields, and associated with oil companies of Oklahoma for five years. In 1916, following the organization of the Southern Ice and utilities Company, he relinquished his oil .in- terests and returned to Texas as vice president and general manager of the company.
His marriage to Miss Barbara Allen, daughter of Dr. E. N. Allen, for many years surgeon for the Rock Island Railroad Company, was celebrated in 1909 at the brides home in McAlister Oklahoma. Mr. and Mrs. Dawley have one daughter, Teresa Sue, and make their home at 381812 Cedar Springs road.
Mr. Dawley is a Mason, a Shriner of Hella Temple, and a member of Consistory No. 2, Dallas Country Club, City Club, Cedar Crest Country Club, Athletic Club, Kiwanis Club, and the Episcopal Church. He is identified with the leading interests of Dallas and holds a high place in the esteem of the community. W. ESLINGER, senior member of the firm of Eslinger & Sons, manufacturer's agents for the Gates Manufacturing Co .. with head- quarters at 210 Browder Street, established this business in 1918 with his sons, Everett A. and Gordon W. Eslinger, as co-partners.
In May, 1920, they bought the Gates Manufactur- ing Co.'s Dallas branch and have adopted the above as their trade name. This concern is manufacturing for the dealers auto top covers, side curtains and seat covers for all model cars, they also job auto trimmers' supplies and upholstery.
They employ a number of salesmen who cover the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas, in addition to a large mail order business secured from New Mexico, Arizona and California.
After spending the first 18 years of his life on a farm in Indiana, Mr. Eslinger followed the shoe business for a number of years, being employed by the Famous Shoe & Clothing Company of St. Louis. Leaving that company to engage in the retail drug business, later traveling for a well known patent. medicine house, covering the states of Indiana. Illinois and Mississippi.
Returning to St. Louis after a lapse of a few years, he joined the traveling force of the St. Louis Dressed Beef and Prov. Co., remaining with that firm until it was absorbed by the "Big Four," known as the beef trust, when he again entered the retail drug business, this time in Springfield, Mo. He found the call for the commercial life so strong, selling his drug store to one Dr. Blackwell. He
became connected with the Springfield Seed Co., with whom he remained for fourteen years visiting nearly every state in the Union as seed buyer and special salesman for that company.
February, 1917, he engaged with Gates Mfg. Co., of Indianapolis, Ind., manufacturers of automobile upholstery, as their special eastern traveling repre- sentative, covering all the New England and soutlı- eastern states up to July, 1918, at which time their branch house in this city became in want of a new manager. The position was offered him which he accepted, coming to his new post in July, 1918. He had full charge of the branch as manager and sales- man up to May 10th, 1920, when he, with his son, Everett A. (who had recently returned from the World's War after spending thirteen months on the battle fields of France), and Gordon W., bought out the Gates Dallas branch, and are now manufacturing seventy-five per cent of their own goods, such as auto top covers, seat covers and side curtains, job- bing same throughout the entire southwest.
HAS. O. GILLMAN, 1101 Ross Avenue, Man- ufacturer of the Gilco Plunger, oil well plunger, with floor space 45x80 feet. Mr. Gillman employs two traveling salesmen who cover North West Texas.
Mr. Gillman was born at Brooklyn, New York, February 11, 1885, a son of C. and Christina (Hag- land) Gillman. He was educated in the Brooklyn public schools and after a course in a commercial college entered the National City Bank of Brooklyn, remaining with that institution fifteen years and re- signing in 1917 his position as teller and chief clerk. After leaving the services of the bank, Mr. Gillnian became identified with the Interstate Pipe Company at Tulsa, Oklahoma. After remaining in Tulsa for thirteen months, intensive development of the North Texas fields brought about the establishment of the Dallas office and he was transferred here as District manager of Texas and Louisiana.
Mr. Gillman was married February 6, 1907, at Brooklyn to Miss Esther Swanson of Lincoln, Neb., a daughter of Rev. Olin Swanson, a retired Meth- odist minister. They have one child, Margery. From 1901 to 1908 Mr. Gillman was a member of the 13th Coast Artillery of New York.
A man of pleasant personality and splendid execu- tive ability, Mr. Gillman is expected to become one of the strong business men of Dallas and make his mark in the commercial world in the Southwest. He believes the possibilities of Dallas are very great and expects the city to become one of the leading jobbing centers of the country. He is a member of the Elks, the Dallas Country and City Clubs and Chamber of Commerce and the Mid. Cont. Oil and Gas Association.
B ALL BROTHERS GLASS COMPANY. TIR Product of the Ball Brothers Glass Com- pany, the famed Ball Fruit Jars, known to every house wife in nearly every section of the United States, is, for Texas and the Southwestern States, manufactured at Wichita Falls. The manu- facture of this household equipment is a business in itself that has reached gigantic proportions. Wichita Falls, a city of big men and big business, has be- come and is becoming the site of some of Texas lead- ing industries. She is important as a distributing center, being at the heart of a great empire un- touched by any other large city and having good
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transportation facilities. Furthermore, she is a city possessed of a capital and her men are not reticent when it comes to backing and managing good busi- ness enterprises. The plant of the Ball Brothers Glass Company covers fifty acres in the manufactur- ing district. There are 155,000 square feet of floor space in nine principal buildings and several smaller ones. One hundred men are employed in the various departments and the plant has a capacity of seven hundred gross of jars a day-the enormous daily output of 100,800 jars. Texas is proud of her young giants of industry and the Ball Brothers Glass Com- pany is one of them. The product of the company is disposed of in the territory principally west of the Mississippi River.
NEWTON MAER, capitalist and oil operator City National Bank Building, Wichita Falls, is building a present day city from the pavements of its walks and streets to its skyscraper office buildings and biggest apartments. He is president of the W. Newton Maer Building Company, which erects residences; president of the Maer-Heydrick Building Company, which has con- structed three great business buildings; president of the Wichita Falls Paving Company, which is now paving Wichita streets; a director of and chairman of the Chamber of Commerce committee which is installing a new street lighting system and making possible a real white way for this Texas young giant. Also vice president Wichita Falls Lumber and Build- ing Company, director in the Morgan Feed and Fuel Company. Thus there is hardly a thing that is built in his city that does not have the stamp of the Maer genius on it or in it. Besides his building projects Mr. Maer is vice-president of the City Na- tional Bank of Commerce, is one-half the firm of Maer & Shappell, which drills oils wells, is one-half owner of the Kemp Kourt Apartment House, the biggest in Wichita Falls, and part owner of the City Laundry as well as vice-president of the Southern Tire and Tube Company.
Mr. Maer was born in Columbus, Mississippi, on November 15, 1883. His father, O. O. Maer, is superintendent of the Wichita Valley Ry. Co. and resides at Wichita Falls. While W. Newton Maer was still a lad, his parents came to Texas and settled at Smithville. Here their son completed high school in 1899 and at once became telegraph operator with the Cotton Belt. In a short time he was made chief clerk of the Cotton Belt at Pine Bluff, Ark. But in 1908, as he became ill, he came to Wichita Falls where he has since remained. Here he became chief clerk for the Fort Worth and Denver Ry., then went with the Katy as dispatcher. He next organized the fire insurance company of Cravens, Maer & Walker, with which he was identi- fied for two years. He then became distributor for the Overland car, having territory covering 18 counties in this section of Texas, doing a million dollar business per year. In 1912 he entered the oil business with which he has been ever since, in the Burkburnett and Petrolia fields. He recently put down eight wells, one at a time, which are yielding . among the oil men of his section for years to come. him an enormous output, in the K. M. A. district.
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