USA > Texas > The encyclopedia of Texas, V.1 > Part 76
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Young Keith was educated in the public schools of his native city and at an early age entered the business world where he added to his store of knowledge that education that comes only fron actual contact and experience with the duties and problems of life.
The first venture of Mr. Keith was in the fuel business in which he was engaged for a year and then for ten years he was with the Fort Worth Fuel Company and the Stewart Coal and Fuel Company, becoming manager of their yards. In 1905 he
entered the produce business with the predecessor of his present company and has been with this sam- concern ever since. The company was organized in 1904 and reorganized in 1912. In 1917 Mr. Keith was made president and so rapidly has the business grown that 175 people are employed in the organization. Branch houses are maintained at Abilene and Wichita Falls and the Fort Worth plant is the largest of its kind in the South.
In addition to his fruit and produce business Mr. Keith is interested in several other lines of activity, including manufacturing and jobbing and the oi! industry. He is a member of the Rivercrest Coun- try Club, Glen Garden Country Club and the Fort Worth Club, a York and Scottish Rite Mason and a member of Moslalı Temple Shrine. He is Past Ex- alted Ruler of the Elks, ex-president of the Chamber of Commerce and at present a director. He also is a member of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association, Credit Men's Association and Ad Club. RTHUR SEELEY DINGEE, senior partner in the firm of Turner & Dingee, 502 Houston Street, Fort Worth, has watched for many years the growth of the Panther City, for he arrived there in 1886 from New Brunswick, Canada. Starting in as clerk in a store at $50 per month, Mr. Dingee is today senior partner in a business maintaining twenty chain stores in Fort Worth, doing a cash business only. This business was established in 1878 by Mr. J. K. Turner under the name of Turner & McClure. In 1886 Mr. Dingee was employed by Mr. Turner and in the short space of three years so demonstrated his ability that he was made a full partner and the firm name was changed to Turner & Dingen. In 1898 Mr. Dingee took over the entire business and now has asso- ciated with him his two sons and one son-in-law, H. L. and Geo. F. Dingee and W. B. King, Jr. The Turner & Dingee stores are favorably known and well patronized by the people of Fort Worth and the success of the business speaks well for the members composing the firm.
Born in New Brunswick, Canada, May 6, 1862, Mr. Dingee spent his youth in the town of his birth and received his education in the New Bruns- wick grammar schools. His father, L. C. Dingee, a farmer of New Brunswick and his mother, Rebecca Smith Dingee, are both deceased. In 1888, two years after coming to Texas, Mr. Dingee was married to Miss Pink Holloway of Fort Worth. Mrs. Dingee is the daughter of H. C. Holloway who came to Fort Worth in 1851. Mr. Holloway was the builder of Tarrant county court house. Mrs. H. C. Holloway came to Texas the year it became a part of the United States and has lived in Fort Worth since 1849. Mr. Dingee's only daughter, Mary, is now the wife of W. B. King, Jr. He has two sons. Henry L. Dingee who is also married and George F. Dingee. Both of Mr. Dingee's sons are actively engaged in business. The family residence is 112 Prosser Street.
During the world war Mr. Dingee took an active part in Liberty Loan and War Savings campaigns and was inspector of meats for Swift and Armour for the English government, inspecting meat to be sent overseas.
Mr. Dingee has been a member of the Elks Lodge for many years and is an active member of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.
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MEN OF TEXAS
B. GEORGE, owner of the T. B. George Furniture and Carpet Company, 410-12 Houston Street. belongs to that type of business men who make true the old saying that "large oaks from little acorns grow." Directly after quitting the public schools, he went to work for a Dallas, Texas, furniture concern at $4.50 a week, collecting and driving. One year later he was earn- ing $10 a week as a salesman. In 1900 he came to Fort Worth and worked for a short time for J. W. Childress Furniture Co., refinishing furniture. He then went with the Rosenthal Furniture Co. as an "all-round" man and worked for that company three years, leaving them to go with the Durett-Gorman Furniture Company as salesman. His next connec- tion was with the Ellison Furniture Company as traveling salesman, covering West Texas. He spent several years with this company then went with an Oklahoma City furniture concern for a short while; then became traveling salesman for Foster Bros. Manufacturing Company of St. Louis. With a big lot of experience and some little money he had saved, he bought out a furniture business in Temple, Texas, operated it for one year there and then moved to Fort Worth, where he has one of the leading furni- ture stores in Fort Worth, the salesroom and offices occupying three floors 50x100 feet, with a three- story warehouse 50x200 feet located on the railroad tracks.
The business, when acquired by Mr. George in 1914, was located in a two-story building, 50x60 feet, and its growth since that time reflects great credit upon his knowledge of the business and his efficiency as a furniture man. During his first year in Temple he did a business of about $33,000; the first year's business in Fort Worth approximated $135,000, and in 1920 it went over $200,000.
Mr. George is also one of the organizers and now is secretary and treasurer of the Coffman-Erwin Company, manufacturing stationers and ofce out- fitters.
Mr. George is a native of Greenville, Texas, born in 1881, and educated in the public schools at Camp- bell. His father, L. T. George, has been a con- tractor in Greenville for many years, coming to Texas when he was 20 years old. He is now 70 years of age and is still actively engaged in his business.
Mr. George was married in Oklahoma City, Okla., in 1913, and he and Mrs. George live at 1212 Carson Avenue. He is an Elk and enjoys the social pleas- ures afforded by the Glen Garden Country Club and the Kiwanis Club and the Chamber of Com- merce. He has been a resident of Fort Worth since 1900, has a large acquaintance here and believes it is the best city in Texas, and getting better all the time.
OUIS J. LANERI, vice president of the Fort Worth Macaroni Company, Park and Dagget Streets, is one of the leading figures in the Italian colony in Fort Worth as well as one of the city's most enterprising and progressive busi- ness men. He came to Fort Worth in 1906 from New York City and became identified with the Macaroni . Company, starting in at the very bottom round of the ladder in order to thoroughly master every detail of the business. After two years' service he was made a director of the company and in 1919 became vice president. Other officers of the company are John B. Laneri, president, W. J. Boesch, secretary and N. T. Mazza, treasurer.
The Fort Worth Macaroni Company is one of the largest and best equipped establishments of this kind in Texas and manufactures a high grade pro- duet which is distributed throughout Texas, Okla- homa, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, Ari- zona and New Mexico. With the establishment of peace in Mexico the company is also doing an exten- sive business in the Southern Republic. Forty-five people are employed in the plant and office.
Mr. Laneri was born at Geneva, Italy, in 1886 and is a son of A. Laneri who came to America in the early eighties. He was educated in the New York Public Schools and was employed as shipping clerk by the Wolf Bindery Company for eight years prior to coming to Fort Worth. He was reared by his uncle, John B. Laneri.
In 1909 Mr. Laneri was married in Fort Worth to Miss Mary Barbuzza, member of a well-known Italian family of that city. They have two children, John Phillip and Louis Carl. Mr. Laneri was attracted to Texas by the wonderful possibilities of the state from a commercial and industrial standpoint and states he will educate his children here.
OBERT DRUMM, secretary and treasurer of one of the most successful seed and floral companies in the state of Texas, the Drumm Seed and Floral Company of Fort Worth. having their retail store at 507 Houston Street and their large magnificent greenhouse at Riverside, is directing an organization that has the largest and most complete line of seeds and plants in the state, and ship their line over North and West Texas and Oklahoma in large quantities. The company was established in 1889 by Mr. Drumm and has 18 acres at plant and 15 acres at the river, which requires the service of 35 employees along with the retail and wholesale stores.
He was born in New Jersey in 1853; his father, Thomas Drumm, was a native of Ireland and came to the United States when he was 17 years old and settled on a farm in Warren County, New Jersey. His schooling was had in the public schools of his native state, and one year was spent in a private school, after which it was necessary for him to enter the business world and seek the top of the mountain called success.
After being raised on a farm, Robert Drumm became interested in the florist business and worked for Gto. Acules at New York City for two years and later accepted a position with a firm that sent him to Texas to organize a crew to sell their line in that state and was given an interest in the firm one year later for looking out for their interests in Texas. He broke off his relations with that firm in 1889 and entered into the floral business for himself at Fort Worth, which has now grown to be one of the foremost retail and wholesale houses in the Southwest.
He was married to Mrs. Nannie Cross (James), widow of Thomas James, at Fort Worth on August 13, 1891, and resides with his wife at 1010 Fifth Avenue, Fort Worth. Six clubs and fraternal or- ganizations of Fort Worth claim Robert Drumm as their brother and member, the Kiwanis Club, Knights of Columbus, Ad League, Lions and the Woodmen of the World. A farm in Tarrant County owned by him bring back the memories of the tilling of the soil by the son of Thomas Drumm on a picturesque farm of New Jersey.
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS
LOYD HAWLEY McKEE, vice-president and general manager Waples-Platter Gro- cery Company, wholesale grocers, 1819 Jones Street, came to Fort Worth from Louisiana in 1906 and since 1907 has been identified with the Waples-Platter Company.
A native of the "show me" state, Mr. McKee was born at Macon, Missouri, October 15, 1875. His father was Edwin McKee, a well known merchant of Macon and formerly of New York State, but who is now retired and living in Fort Worth. IIis mother was formerly Miss Frances Hawley, member of a well known New York family.
Young McKee was given a good education in the best private schools of Macon and early in life began an active merchandising career which he has con- sistently and steadily followed. He was first en- gaged in business with his father at Macon from 1892 to 1900 and then started in the coal business in North, Missouri. From 1902 until 1904 he was in the lumber business in Louisiana. In 1906 he came to Fort Worth and for two years was engaged in the manufacture and sale of windmills. In 1907 he went with the Waples-Platter Grocery Company as assistant cashier and in 1909 was made manager of the Fort Worth house, later becoming also vice- president of the company. The business of the Fort Worth house and its branches has increased until the sales total 15 million dollars a year and a total of three hundred people are employed.
On April 19, 1907, Mr. McKee was married at Fort Worth to Miss Helen Waples, daughter of the late John G. Waples, well known wholesale grocery merchant of Fort Worth. They have three children, Edward, Helen and John Paul.
Mr. McKee is a director in the National Bank of Commerce, Burton-Lingo Lumber Co., of Fort Worth and the Burton Lumber Company of Dallas and Houston; the Waples-Painter Lumber Company of Gainesville, Strawn Mining Company of Strawn and the Waples Lumber Company of Galveston. He is a member of the Rivercrest Country and Fort Worth Clubs, Chamber of Commerce, Merchants and Manufacturers Association and Credit Men's Asso- ciation. He is a consistent Fort Worth booster and declares this is the logical distributing point for this part of Texas because of its unequaled railroad facilities.
JOSEPH W. SANGER, general manager of Sanger Brothers, retail store at Main, Houston and Second Streets, came to Fort Worth from Waco when the Sanger Brothers' establishment was opened in 1918. Prior to that time he had been with the firm which his father organized in Waco.
A native of Waco, Mr. Sanger was born January 26, 1884, the son of Lehman and Isabella (Wenk) Sanger, pioneer residents of Waco. Mr. Lehman Sanger was one of the original organizers of the firm of Sanger Brothers which in recent years has been merged into a corporation owning large whole- sale and retail stores at Dallas and Waco and a retail establishment at Fort Worth.
The business of the company in Fort Worth has grown materially and it is planned to establish here a thoroughly modern department store. The present building has 25,000 square feet of floor space and 275 people are employed in the organiza- tion. The annual sales aggregate two and a half million dollars.
Mr. Sanger was educated in the public schools and the Waco high school and he later attended the Philadelphia Textile School where he graduated in 1903.
The first business engaged in by Mr. Sanger was a brokerage business which he conducted in Waco from 1907 to 1909. He then entered the Sanger Brothers organization and was connected with the wholesale department in Waco until 1912. From 1913 to 1918 he had charge of Sanger Brothers' Waco store, known as the Famous, and then came to Fort Worth as co-manager with Mr. C. L. Ettelson of the local establishment.
Mr. Sanger is optimistic over the company's pros- pects in Fort Worth and believes the splendid sur- rounding territory and trade facilities make this the logical point for extensive development of their present retail business.
On April 14, 1913, Mr. Sanger was married to Miss Elsa Liebman, daughter of N. Liebman of Dallas, vice-president of the Texas Paper Company and one of Dallas' most prominent business men. They have two children, Elsa and Joseph L.
Mr. Sanger is a Scottish Rite thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Dallas Scottish Rite Organi- zation, and a member of Moslah Temple Shrine at Fort Worth. He is a director of the Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Rivercrest Country Club, Fort Worth Club and the Kiwanis Club. He is a communicant of Beth-el Temple and a member of the Welfare Association.
M. PRALL, president and manager of the Prall-Huff Company, Inc., 411-17 West Railroad Avenue, Fort Worth, is widely known in the bottling trade throughout Texas and Southern Oklahoma, and although he has had his present connection only since April, 1920 the success of his efforts in this business is most gratifying if one may judge by the figures showing their growth in volume. The business was started in January, 1919, and the first year's volume was $72,000, while for 1920 this approximates $200,000. Associated with Mr. Prall are J. B. Huff, vice-presi- dent, and J. H. Watkins, secretary.
Mr. Prall's company is engaged in manufacturing bottled goods, extracts and a full line of restaurant, hotel and soda fountain supplies. At their plant in Fort Worth they have 6,500 square feet of floor space and here five men are employed while they have four salesmen outside-two city salesmen and two traveling in the territory served.
Mr. Prall is a native of Kentucky and at the time of his birth, 1889, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. D. M. Prall, were living in Fairview. At the present time his father is retired and living in Longview, Texas. Mr. C. M. Prall came to Texas in 1912 and during the same year was married to Miss Mary Null, daughter of R. L. Null, at Wichita, Kansas. At the present time they reside at 318 Broadway.
Although he has been a resident of Fort Worth for only a short time, Mr. Prall has a wide circle of friends and is well connected socially. In Masonry he has reached the 32d degree of the Scottish Rite. has been made a Knight Templar and is a Shriner with membership in Hella Temple, Dallas. In Fort Worth he is numbered in the membership of the Fort Worth Club, and other organizations. He is an enthusiastic Fort Worth citizen and feels that the local developments of recent years are full of promise for the future.
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MEN OF TEXAS
EWIS D. FOX, president of the Home Ab- stract Company, 105 West Sixth Street, Fort Worth, has been engaged in the land title business in Texas for an even score of years. He is a native of Kentucky but has been a Texan for over a quarter of a century, coming to Fort Worth in 1895, where he attended the public schools for six years.
In 1901 Mr. Fox went to San Antonio, Texas. where he entered the abstract business, remaining at that place for some time, later spending three years in Houston where he installed and operated a complete abstract plant. He returned to Fort Worth in the year 1907 and shortly afterward ac- quired the Home Abstract Company which he has continued to operate ever since. This company was incorporated in 1907 and during the thirteen years of its existence has prepared approximately 25,000 abstracts of land titles in Tarrant County.
Associated with Mr. Fox in the Home Abstract Company are R. L. Tillery, as secretary; Nolty Cox and W. G. Howeth, as assistant managers. The combined experience of these four gentlemen in the land title business in Texas is forty-three years and this experience together with the fact that these gentlemen devote their entire time to the active conduct of its business assures the public of a highly efficient abstract service. As their slogan reads "The Title Tells the Tale" they search the title not the man.
It may be remarked in passing that Fort Worth is indeed fortunate in having four of the best equipped abstract plants in the state which enabled the public to secure highly satisfactory title service during the period of abnormal real estate activity which the city has enjoyed for the past two years.
Samuel T. and Victoria (Dryden) Fox, both natives of the Blue Grass State, were the parents of Lewis D. Fox who was born just the day before Christmas in the year 1882, at Hopkinsville, Chris- tian County, Kentucky.
In 1906 while a resident of Houston, Mr. Fox married Miss Mary Downs, of Cleveland, Ohio. They have two children, Katherine Cecil, aged thirteen, and Downs D., nearly twelve years of age.
The family home, at 528 Henderson Street, corner of Pennsylvania Avenue, is considered one of the most beautiful in the city. The house is of the typical southern colonial style set in a grove of very fine old trees and is one of the land marks of early Fort Worth.
Men who make a success of any business or pro- fession are usually found at the helm of organiza- tions representing that calling. Mr. Fox is president of the Texas Abstractors Association, which is com- posed of about 140 of the leading abstract companies of the State. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Rotary Club and the First Christian Church.
RUMAN EARL FERGUSON, Texas man. ager of the Moore-Seaver Grain Company Grain and Cotton Building, Fort Worth Texas, has for nearly ten years been ar active figure in the grain business of Fort Worth. The Moore-Seaver Grain Company, with which Mr. Ferguson has been connected since 1913, the year of his arrival in Fort Worth, was organized in 1908 and maintains its home office at Kansas City, in Missouri the land of waving wheat fields. This com-
pany handles corn, oats, wheat and barley. The Fort Worth branch is a sales office for the Kansas City office and was opened in 1909. The Moore-Seaver Grain Company does an extensive business-in fact ranks high among the largest shippers of corn and oats in the Middle West. They do not exclude ex- porters from their list of buyers but most of their trade is domestic.
Before making his home in Fort Worth, Mr. Ferguson was a resident of Cameron, Milan County, Texas. He is a native of the Lone Star State, born in . Gause, Texas, November 6, 1895. His father, W. G. Ferguson, and his mother, Mattie (Raines) Ferguson, were also native Texans. Mr. Ferguson attended the public schools of Milam, after which he completed a commercial course at the Tyler Business College. He was united in marriage to Miss Addie Largent in 1915, the wedding taking place in Fort Worth, and their home at 720 Penn Avenue is now made merry by the laughter of two boys, Ben Moore and Largent Ferguson.
Mr. Ferguson's organization affiliations are varied. He is a member of the Kiwanis Club, Y. M. C. A., Forth Worth Grain & Cotton Exchange, the firm holding membership in National Association of Grain Dealers and all leading exchanges of Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago. He is a member of the Christian Church, being president of the Men's Bible Class of Magnolia Avenue Christian Church.
OY BINYON, well known progressive busi- ness man, secretary-treasurer and general manager of the Binyon-O'Keefe Fireproof Storage Company, is a native of Fort Worth and proud of it. He was educated here and has spent his entire business career in this city, entering the business established by his father upon completing his high school studies. He started as collector and then was made bookkeeper and assist- ant manager and in 1916 became general manager, later being given the position of secretary-treasurer also.
The Binyon-O'Keefe Company are forwarders of merchandise and maintain one of the largest fire- proof warehouses in Texas at Seventh and Calhoun Streets, the building covering a total of 90,000 square feet. Two other warehouses are maintained having ninety and thirty-five thousand square feet of space. The company has a total of 115 employees and twenty trucks and twelve teams are engaged in handling freight. Branch houses are operated at Houston and Galveston where W. J. Binyon, Jr., brother of Mr. Roy Binyon, is in charge.
Mr. Binyon was born in Fort Worth in 1886, a son of W. J. and Leila (Howard) Binyon. His father came to Texas in 1374 and was the first man in Texas to establish a freight forwarding business, operating a line between Dallas and Fort Worth. The younger Mr. Binyon attended the public and high schools of Fort Worth and then entered busi- ness with his father.
In 1912 Mr. Binyon was married at Sherman to Miss Ethel Handy, daughter of Dr. H. L. Handy, .well known Sherman dentist. They have three chil- dren, Elizabeth, Ethel Louise and Lyman.
Mr. Binyon is a thirty-second degree Mason, mem- ber of Moslah Temple Shrine and is a member of the Lions, Kiwanis Clubs and the Chamber of Com- merce. He is an enthusiastic Fort Worth Booster and actively interested in many enterprises and civic projects,
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS
B RYANT W. OWENS, 2721 Lipscomb Street, Fort Worth, owner of the B. W. Owens Lumber Company, is one of the leading lumbermen of North Texas and with a yard space of 96,000 square feet, his is one of Fort Worth's biggest lumber concerns. With a city, the lumber industry is a vital issue; as the city is ag- gressive and growing or dull and small so is its lumber business. Fort Worth, Texas, is unsur- passed in the rapid development and growth that has characterized it for more than twenty years; a village of a few years back, she is today a leading metropolis of Texas-and her development is just beginning. In this increase of the last twenty years the B. W. Owens Lumber Company has had a big part and in the immensity of tomorrow's develop- ment this company will be at the forefront. Other yards of the organization are at 2000 Ellis Avenue, in North Fort Worth, and at Vernon, Texas, and Mr. Owens is president of the yard at Wichita Falls, but 2721 Lipscomb is the main office and yard. They do both retail and wholesale business, and especially in the wholesale of sash and doors the business is immense. Salesmen are kept on the road continu- ously in south, west and north Texas. Mr. Owens is sole owner of the entire Owens Lumber Com- pany.
Monroe County, Alabama, was the birthplace of Mr. Owens. His parents were J. S. and Martha (Jordan) Owens. In his early boyhood his parents came to Texas and here B. W. Owens has resided for over half a century. He began the lumber business in 1880 at Lancaster, Texas, where he con- tinued for twenty years before coming to Fort Worth. The Fort Worth yard was established in 1902 and has from its opening been his headquarters.
Mr. Owens was married January 22, 1911, to Miss Nannie Trigg, daughter of Frank J. Trigg, farmer and stockman of West Texas. Mr. Owens has eight children, George H., Bryant W., Jr., Shelby, Phil, Richard, Bessie Mae who is now Mrs. Rev. W. Angel Smith of Kerrville, Texas, Wm. Howard and Mary Elizabeth. The six oldest are children by a former marriage. The family residence is at 1300 Lipscomb; the church affiliation is with the Central Methodist. Mr. Owens is a Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the South Side Blue Lodge No. 1114. He is a Shriner of Moslah Temple. As a leading lumberman in one of Texas' chief cities, Mr. Owens and his company are leaders.
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