USA > Texas > The encyclopedia of Texas, V.1 > Part 77
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B. SLOAN, 201 West Railroad Avenue, pres- ident and manager of the Sloan Lumber Company, successors to Farrar Lumber Co., which does both retail and wholesale lum- ber business, is among the most aggressive of Texas lumbermen. His company's plant has a ground space of 50,000 feet, which is one of the best located yards in the city of Fort Worth. Everything that is required in the list of building materials is handled by the Sloan Lumber Co. The business of this estab- lishment is conducted along conservative lines, sup- plying not only a large part of the demand of the public in Fort Worth, but is shipping building sup- plies to out of town trade. Mr. Sloan, as a business man, is known over the state. He is connected with many business interests over Texas, a few of which are the Williford Lumber Co. at Athens, Texas, the Williford Lumber Co. at Eustace, Texas, the Williford Lumber Co. at Murcheson, Texas, the Elliott Lumber Co. at Eastland, the Midland Brass
Works at Fort Worth, the Fishburn Cleaning Co. of Fort Worth, the Vernon Parish Lumber Co. at Kurthwood, La., the National Bank of Commerce, Fort Worth-and other interests.
Mr. Sloan was born near Salisbury, N. C., on July 3, 1879. His parents are John L. and Salina Crowell Sloan. His father was a man of the old school in North Carolina. He operated a flour mill, cotton gin and saw mill in his earlier days. His native state gave him his education. As a youth, Mr. Sloan came from his home state to Texas and first entered the employ of Wm. Cameron & Co. (Inc.). and was with them for twenty years, until leaving to found the business he manages today. At the time he severed his association with the Wm. Cam- eron & Co. he was manager of the Fort Worth plant of that corporation.
In 1901, at Salisbury, N. C., Miss Emma Shulen- berger was married to Mr. Sloan. Their residence is now in Fort Worth, Texas, at 818 Bois d'Arc -- a proper street for a lumberman.
Mr. Sloan is a Knight Templar and a Shriner. His membership is with the South Side Blue Lodge No. 1114. He belongs to the Elks Lodge No. 124; he is a member of the Fort Worth Club, the Glen Garden Country Club, the Rotary Club and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. He is a worker in the Fort Worth Welfare Association and the Boy Scouts organization of his city. In fact Mr. Sloan is not only a worker of first rank in his own busi- ness, and connected with other business interests over the state, but he identifies himself with his home city socially and in everything that makes for its civic betterment.
C. BARBER, owner of the Barber Lumber & Mill Company, 411 East Magnolia St., Ft. Worth, Texas, is among the men of larger business in his city. The Ft. Worth yard has an area of 120,000 square feet and enjoys an ex- tensive business in retail trade as a retail yard only. This business was started in 1909, when Mr. Barber came to Ft. Worth from Cleburne, Texas, where he had been engaged in the lumber business. The build- ing activity of a city is dependent upon the growing condition of that city; Ft. Worth has developed along with the most fastly growing cities of the South- west and has before her one of the most attractive and expanding futures.
Mr. Barber is a native of Mississippi, born in the city of Vicksburg, on February 29, 1868. His parents were John C. and Eunice (Satcher) Barber. The public schools of his native state started the educa- tion that was completed in Mississippi College and Poughkeepsie University of New York.
In 1898, Mr. Barber yielded to the call of the West and came to Texas, locating in Cleburne. His activity was first given to the Life Insurance and Loan business. In 1902, he began the lumber busi- ness at Cleburne; later he opened a mill in Beaumont where he manufactured lumber for his own use as well as for other lumber establishments. In 1908, the business was founded in Ft. Worth which today is among the leaders of that city.
At Forest, Mississippi, in 1892, Miss Lottie Lowry became the bride of Mr. Barber. The have residence at 2228 Weatherby St., Ft. Worth.
Mr. Barber is a member of the Chamber of Com- merce of his eity, and of the Woodmen of the World. Church affiliation of the family is Baptist.
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Bu. Quienes
MEN OF TEXAS
A. PENRY, manager of the City Store of Wm. Cameron & Company (Inc.), is a di- recting official for one of the largest outlets of one of the biggest lumber concerns in r ... Southwest. The Fort Worth business was estab- ished in 1890, the home office at Waco, Texas, and today there are thirty-nine plants of this corpora- tion in the state of Texas and twenty-six in Okla- homa. The main Fort Worth office is at Thirteenth Street and Jennings Avenue, and covers a 200 foot city block; sixty employees are maintained in this one establishment which is housed in a beautiful two-story structure equipped with oak fixtures and furniture. Eighteen trucks are kept busy in the transfer of building materials of every type. Mr. Penry deals only with the retail trade of his city; his firm does both retail and wholesale business throughout Texas and Oklahoma; a number of sales- men are kept on the road by the Cameron interests.
Oklahoma is the native state of this Texas busi- ness man; he was born at Chickasha, on April 16, 1896. His parents are J. E. Penry, a native of Okla- homa and a business man there, and Lauretta (Fincher) Penry, a l'exan until her marriage. The public schools of Oklahoma have given Mr. Penry their best. For a business career, he started with the M. K. & T. and was active with them until his coming to Fort Worth with the Cameron interests in 1910. For the cleven years since Mr. Penry has identified himself with every good interest of Fort Worth and is a leader among the men of business of that city. Associated with him in an official capacity are W. W. Cameron, president; E. P. Hunter, vice- president and general manager; E. R. Bolton, vice- president; G. A. Zimmerman (of Waco), as secre- tary, and Douglas Wolseley, general manager of the Fort Worth yards.
In 1916, at Fort Worth, Texas, Mr. Penry married Miss Annie Ferrell. Elizabeth Ann Penry is their daughter. The family reside at 2208 Vickery Boule- vard.
Mr. Penry is a Knight Templar of the Julian Field Blue Lodge No. 908, Masons, and a Shriner of Moslah Temple. He is also a member of the Lions Club and of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. As one of the leading retail lumbermen of his city, as one active in affairs not only commercial but in things that make for the civic beauty and welfare of his city, Mr. Penry is a first rank citizen.
LVA R. ELDREDGE, former railroad man and now manager of the Fort Worth Trans- fer Company and the Union Transfer Com- pany, 1704 Jones Street, is one of the best known railroad men in Texas, having worked for the Texas and Pacific Railway Company for 22 years before coming to his present position as manager for the two leadirg transfer companies of Fort Worth. He worked in various capacities for the Texas & Pacific from telegraph operator to freight agent and was. stationed at various points on the company's lines between Texarkana and El Paso.
Mr. Eldredge came to Texas in 1886, having se- cured his position with the Texas & Pacific Railway through the kindly offices of a friend who had al- ready located in Texas. He continued with the road for 22 years and in 1908 came to Fort Worth and was later appointed general manager of the two transfer companies. He has fifty employees under his supervision and the two companies operate
ten baggage trucks, six transfer busses, one tallyhoe and ten wagons,
Mr. Eldredge is secretary-treasurer of the Inter- urban Land Company, owners of the South Fort Worth addition to Fort Worth.
Mr. Eldredge was born in Shelby County, Ohio, in 1865 and attended the public schools of that state. He began work as a messenger boy for the Western Union Telegraph Company at Troy, Ohio, continuing in that capacity for three years before removing to Texas.
In 1834 he was married at Arlington to Miss Maude Capps, member of one of the best known Texas families. They have three children, Lois, now Mrs. C. C. Griffin, Ward a student at Princeton College and one of 22 selected to attend from Fort Sheridan, and Frank, now in his freshman year at the University of Texas.
Mr. Eldredge is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of Moslah Temple Shrine, the Knights of Pythias, Rotary Club, Temple Club, Chamber of Commerce and Fort Worth Club. He is a strong believer in the commercial and industrial future of Fort Worth and predicts that the city will become eventually the strongest in the state by reason of its superior railroad advantages and the unlimited natural resources of its trade territory.
HARVESON, 115 South Jennings Street, Fort Worth, of the firm of Sloan-Harveson, has one of the largest and best equipped undertaking establishments in Texas. Auto- mobile service, a set of the most expensive parlors in North Texas and a warehouse 50x50 feet, together with a full line of materials are some of the char- acteristics of the Sloan Harveson establishment. Mr. Harveson came to Fort Worth from Ennis, Texas, in 1914. During the seven years following his arrival, he has identified himself with every interest that makes for the development of his city. In the immense development that the west is coming into Mr. Harveson is having a part for he is president of the Pittsburg-Texas Oil Company and is asso. ciated with a number of other oil organizations. He has large private holdings in Erath County Mr. Harveson is active not only with the company he directs as president, but he is also busy at de- veloping the plans for the future of his private holdings.
Mr. Harveson is a native of Alabama; he was born at Whistler, of that state, on February 18, 1865 His parents were W. F. and Annie (Lowry) Harve- son. His father was a railroad man, with the M & O. Railroad for many years. His native state gave him his education and then the railroad world, the business of his father, claimed his attention. In 1885 he surrendered to the pull of the Lone Star State and came to Texas. For the twenty-five years prior to his present location and business he was with the H. & T. C. Ry.
At Lake Charles, La., Mr. Harveson married Miss Lizzie Powell, deceased. Miss Ruby Asberry, at Houston, Texas, became his bride. They reside at 1107 Travis Street. Mrs. Ora (Harveson) Dietrich is his daughter. Mr. Harveson is a Mason and a Methodist.
As a business man, Mr. Harveson has well been known to his city for seven years. He has been active not only in things commercial but is zealous in everything that pertains to the civic welfare of his city.
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS
RANK H. SPARROW, president and treas- urer of the Reliable Steam Laundry Com- pany, 1119 West Weatherford Street, pioneer laundryman and prominent Mason, is one of the best known business men in Fort Worth, having been actively engaged in business here for 34 years. His company is now one of the largest in the city and is doing a monthly business of upwards of $10,000, all of it being obtained in Fort Worth and suburbs of the city.
Mr. Sparrow came to Fort Worth in 1887 and for a short time worked for the Troy Laundry Com- pany. He then managed to secure one thousand dollars of borrowed capital and went into the laun- dry business for himself, repaying his loan at the rate of fifty dollars per month. He had only three employes at first and he and his wife worked from 16 to 18 hours a day. In spite of discouragements and the prediction of friends that he could not make the venture a success, Mr. Sparrow continued his efforts until now he is the head of one of the most modern laundry plants in the state. The business was incorporated in 1900, the other officers of the concern now being C. W. Connery, vice-president; J. W. Hoover, secretary, and Jack E. Davis, man- ager.
Mr. Sparrow is a native of England and was born in 1853. He came to the United States in 1884 and three years later settled in Fort Worth. He was married in 1881 to Miss Julia Daniel. They have one daughter, Gladys, now Mrs. Jack E. Davis. Mr. Sparrow does not devote all his time to the business now, leaving many of the executive details which he formerly supervised to the direction of his son- in-law and other officers of the company.
Mr. Sparrow has been prominently identified with Masonry. in Fort Worth for many years, being a 33rd degree Mason and a member of Moslah Temple Shrine. He also is an officer of the Grand Com- mandery and has held many other positions in Masonry, and is grand junior warden of the Grand Commandery of Texas. He resides in Arlington Heights.
E. CLAYPOOL, owner and manager of the Claypool Machine Company, 1711 Calhoun Street, Fort Worth, has been established in that city for over twenty years and is a recognized expert on all classes of machine work and big jobs of repairing and overhauling oil mills, gins, light plants, water works and industrial plants throughout Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The present company is a continuation of the Van Zandt- Claypool Machine Company which was reorganized under the present name, with Mr. Claypool at . its head, in 1906. The plant, located at the above address, has floor space of 25 by 100 feet and at the present time employs eight mechanics.
Mr. Claypool is a native of Kentucky, and his parents, J. M. Claypool and Mrs. May (Kirby) Clay- pool, were living, at the time of his birth, 1866, in Warren County. In 1886 they removed to Johnson County, Texas, later living in Putnam and Ballinger counties, and finally in Marble Falls where the father died in 1917. The younger Claypool worked on the farm until he became of age and then he came to Fort Worth to learn his trade in the en- ploy of the Fort Worth Iron Works. Here he worked on a salary until 1898 when, fired by the
spirit of adventure, he set forth to Alaska to seek his fortune in the rush for gold. However this so- journ only lasted nine months and upon his return to Fort Worth started in business for himself by or- ganizing, in February, 1899, the Van Zandt-Clay- pool Machine Company. This proved to be a profit- able venture and as a foundation of the present business, was responsible, in no small measure, to the success of the present company.
In November of 1891, Mr. Claypool was married to Miss Ida Belle Tanner in Fort Worth. She was a daughter of H. Tanner, a native of Delaware, who had come to Texas in 1876. Mr. and Mrs. Claypool have five children, Ruth, deceased, Henry, West. Mary and Ida Bell. The family resides at 200 Rose- dale Avenue.
Mr. Claypool's long association with Fort Worth affairs has made that city's development a matter of vital interest to him and he is unquestionably a booster for its future. In addition to the wide social connections which he enjoys, he is a loyal member of the Modern Woodmen and the Woodmen of the World fraternities.
F. McCORMICK, manager of the Pember- ton Furniture Company, Incorporated, of Fort Worth, with offices and sales rooms at 800 Houston Street, manages one of the biggest and best retail furniture houses in the state of Texas. The company, which has grown immensely since 1914, when it was first organized, had an asset of only $98,000 in 1914, while the unceasing efforts of the organization has brought it up to $300,000 in 1920. Five floors, fifty by one hundred feet at 800 Houston Street, with fifteen retail salesmen. under the direction of Mr. McCormick, giving the best pos- sible service, gives proof that the work of Mr. Mc- Cormick and J. T. Pemberton, owner of the concern, has produced one of the most successful enterprises ever established in the Southwest. Each of these five individual floors has its separate show room and display.
In 1873 in Jasper, Mississippi, a baby boy was born to P. F. and Rebecca (Morris) McCormick which was given the name of G. F. McCormick and when about seven years old was brought with his parents to Bowie County, where he attended the public and high schools of Texas.
He worked in a furniture factory at Texarkana, where his parents had made their home, for eight years, learning one of the most needed things in salesmanship, which was "know your goods." He became thoroughly familiar in the manufacture of furniture and the different grades which made him a valuable addition to any sales force of a furniture company. Mr. McCormick was a shipping clerk and later a salesman for a furniture organization at Texarkana.
Previous to his association with Pemberton Furni- ture Company of Fort Worth, he was a salesman for the Fake Furniture Company of the same city. for six years.
He was married to Miss Nora Huffman, the daughter of John Huffman, in Texarkana, and is the father of Christine, his fourteen year old daughter.
Mr. McCormick is a member of the Woodmen of the World and the Fort Worth Chamber of Com- merce and predicts a bright future for the ever growing city of the Southwest-Fort Worth.
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3.
م
MEN OF TEXAS
ILLIAM ROSCOE KYSER, progressive cot- ton merchant of Fort Worth, controlling member of the firm of W. R. Kyser & Com- pany; came to Fort Worth in 1903 from Chicago, Ill. Before entering his present field, Mr. Kyser was associated with Clay Robinson & Co. Chi- cago in the livestock business and before leaving the Windy City for the Lone Star State was connected with the Rock Island Railroad for about nine years. the firm of W. R. Kyser & Company does an exten- sive export business, handling approximately 75,000 to 100,000 bales of cotton a year, shipping to all European countries, the greatest volume of business, however, being done with Spain. In addition to maintaining agencies throughout Texas and the East, the local office has ten employees.
Mr. Kyser has been actively interested in educat- ing the farmers of Texas to use good cotton seed. Experimenting, Lone Star cotton was planted on 2,000 acres in South Texas, the astonishing result being 50,000 tons of Lone Star Cotton Seed to be sold to the farmers at cost, twenty salesmen being placed on the road for this purpose and a warehouse . 50x150 feet maintained in Fort Worth, in order that seed may be stored for the farmers until planting time.
A native of New York, Mr. Kyser was born August 14th, 1873, at Van Etten. He is the son of C. W. Kyser and Henrietta (Hyers) Kyser, both of New York, the former being engaged in the railroad busi- ness there. Like many others of our most successful men, Mr. Kyser received his education in the public schools.
On March 3rd, 1895, Mr. Kyser married Miss Mat- tie Morris. They have one child, Charles Morris Kyser, who married Miss Pauline LaVerne Martin, daughter of F. D. Martin, of Fort Worth, and now reside at 1321 Henderson Avenue. Charles Morris Kyser has had all the advantages of a military edu- cation, having attended Castle Heights Military Academy, Labannon, Tenn., Terrell School of Dallas and Bryant School of Fort Worth, and is now asso- ciated with his father in business.
Although a very busy man, William Roscoe Kyser finds time for many fraternal and social pleasures and duties. He is a Mason-Patmos No. 97, El Dorado, Kansas, a member of the Glen Garden Coun- try Club, (as is his son, Charles Morris Kyser) Kiwanis Club, Chamber of Commerce of Fort Worth Cotton Exchange. Texas Cotton Association, Okla- homa State Cotton Exchange.
HARLES T. BURNS, president of the Reynolds Mortgage Company, 804 Texas State Bank Building, came to Fort Worth in 1908 from New York City, where he was born November 2, 1877, and where for a number of years he was engaged in the grain and milling business.
In 1909 Mr. Burns saw the need of some agency that would enable the progressive farmers of Texas to improve their farms to a higher stage of pro- ductiveness and thereby increase the farm wealth of the state. Accordingly he organized the Reynolds Mortgage Company for the purpose of handling farm and ranch loans in North Central Texas, and by the progressive and conservative methods employed by his company it has become one of the largest and most important of its kind in the state. ' An office force of fifteen capable people are necessary to
handle the large business of the company, and three men are kept on the road. The company handles nothing but loans on improved farms.
Associated with Mr. Burns in the Reynolds Mort- gage Company are Sidney L. Samuels, vice-presi- dent; E. T. Ambler, vice-president; J. S. Manning, secretary, and R. A. Pampell, treasurer, all pro- gressive business men of large experience, and through their agency farm wealth in the sections in which they have made loans has been greatly enhanced.
Mr. Burns is a graduate of the Dennison Univer- sity of Ohio, is married and lives at 601 West Fifth Street.
He is a Mason and an active worker in the Knights of Pythias Lodge.
Being an enthusiastic booster for Fort Worth he is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, to which body he lends his best efforts to every movement making for his city's good.
He is also identified with the social life of the city and holds membership in the Fort Worth Club and the Rivercrest Country Club.
Y. WILLIAMS COMPANY, cotton buyers and exporters with home office in Liverpool, England, and Fort Worth office on the 9th floor of the Neil P. Anderson Bldg., of which H. Lampe is local manager is numbered among the leading companies in this line in Texas.
B. WARD, JR. Among the leading busi- ness men of Fort Worth Wm. B. Ward, Jr., president of the Ward-Harrison Mortgage Company, handling farm and ranch loans throughout the northern, southern and central parts of the state. The company places loans on improved property and sells its securities to trust and life insurance companies seeking safe investment for their funds. Four people are employed in the office of the company. Associated with Mr. Ward are J. C. Smyth, vice-president; Charles F. Smith, vice-pres- ident and secretary, and Paul Crusemann, director.
Prior to the organization of the Ward-Harrison Company, which was effected in 1913, Mr. Ward was president of the Ward-Isbell Company, manu- facturers and wholesalers of lumber. He was con- nected with this company for seven years before selling out. He is vice-president of the Hamilton Cotton Company and served as director in the Cham- ber of Commerce.
Mr. Ward was born at Jefferson, Texas, and came to Fort Worth in 1895. He is a graduate of the Vanderbilt University of Nashville, class of 1893, receiving the B. A. degree. He is a member of the Beta Theta Pi Chapter at Vanderbilt.
He was married in Fort Worth, August 17, 1914, to Edna Sanquinet, daughter of M. R. Sanquinet of the firm of Sanquinet & Staats, one of the lead- ing architectural organizations of Texas and the Southwest. The family home is located in Arling- ton Heights, one of the pretty residence sections of the city.
Being a Fort Worth booster, Mr. Ward is active in the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce and the Fort Worth Club. In the city's social life he en- joys the pleasures afforded by the Rivercrest Coun- try Club.
The family church affiliation is with the Presby- terian faith.
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS
UDGE SAM J. HUNTER. More than half a century has passed since Judge Hunter of Fort Worth prepared his first brief as a lawyer. He came to Texas about the close of the period of reconstruction from Louisville, Kentucky, and is one of the comparatively few men still living who personally participated in the work which restored democratic rule in the State. He has been honored with some of the highest judicial offices, and is one of the oldest members of the Fort Worth bar.
He was born in Cumberland County, Kentucky, October 31, 1845. His father was the first cousin of R. M. T. Hunter, who served as secretary of state in the Confederate Government. His father, Dr. Andrew Jackson Hunter, was born in Virginia in 1816, but was reared in Kentucky and educated as a physician in that state. He was a man of adventur- ous impulse, and while he made a great deal of money he was never satisfied with a long residence in one locality until he reached the frontier country of the Northwest. For a time he was a railroad physician in Illinois, also practiced in Missouri, but in 1864 started for Montana territory and was one of the first settlers in the Yellowstone Valley. While in this Valley he discovered the famous Hot Springs, still a prominent resort and knows as Hunter's Hot Springs. However, he could not occupy that loca- tion on account of Indian hostilities for a number of years. He engaged in mining, in the practice of medicine, was a Government physician at Fort and Indian Reservations, also served as probate judge and spent his last years at Bozeman, Montana, where he died April 18, 1894. His career is claimed as conspiciously belonging to the history of Montana.
Judge Hunter was the oldest of his father's chil- dren by his marriage to Lucy Ann Philpott, a native of Kentucky. Her mother, Sidney B. Monroe, was a niece of President Monroe.
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