The encyclopedia of Texas, V.2, Part 9

Author: Davis, Ellis Arthur, ed; Grobe, Edwin H., ed
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Dallas, Texas Development Bureau
Number of Pages: 1328

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Mr. Calvert was born at Rochester, N. Y., in 1888. His father was Henry W. Calvert. Young Calvert was educated along engineering lines, re- ceiving the best schooling available for a young man in this realm. From the Virginia Polytechnic Institute he received both the degree of electrical engineer and mechanical engineers. He began his business career as a mechanical engineer in Pough- keepsie and later with the Rock Island R. R. at Horton, Kansas, for two years with the Empire Gas & Fuel Company at Eldorado, Kansas. He then came to the northwest fields of Texas, in March. 1919, with a rod and pulling gang until November of 1920 when he organized his present-day business with two branch offices. He holds oil leases in the northwest fields and also has interests in production in the same territory. Since coming to Wichita Falls Mr. Calvert has become interested also in developed and undeveloped realty in this city.

In 1915, at Horton, Kansas, Mr. Calvert married Miss Catherine Duff, whose father, O. G. Duff. farmer, is a retired capitalist with large stock and bond interests in Topeka, Kansas. They have three children: Julia Mae, Virginia Lee, and Helen Louise. The famliy reside at 1303 Monroe Street.

Mr. Calvert is a member of the University Club. Chamber of Commerce and is thoroughly possesso with that enthusiasm which characterizes youth and success. Though in Texas but a short time, he. is already a thoroughbred and he and his interests wil: have an attractive part in the bigger future of their industry as they do in its present of today.

H. PARKER. A history of the big men in the oil business in Texas would be very incomplete unless it included the name of J. H. Parker, general manager in charge of the refining operations of the General Oil and Refining Company, Alaska Building.

He began his career as an oil operator in 1890, and during the thirty years he has been engaged in the business he has operated in Sumatra, Burma. India, Japan, Russia, South America, Mexico, and in the California and Texas fields in the United States.

He became interested in the Burkburnett and

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Ranger fields in 1918 and has extensive holdings and production of his own in the Breckenridge field.

He is also president of the United Mexican Petrol- «um Corporation of Tampico, a $10,000,000 company with 102,000 acres in the proven territory of the Tampico district, with many producing wells.

He lives at the Lucerne Apartments, is a promi- rent Mason and member of the Chambers of Com- merce at Fort Worth, Abilene and Wichita Falls.

His Fort Worth company has refineries at Abilene, Eastland and Oil City, La., and pipe lines and load- ing racks at Burkburnett with a capacity of 5,000 barrels. Fifty-five hundred barrels of crude oil are refined every day at the three refineries; 1,000 bar- rels at Abilene, 1,500 barrels at Eastland, and 3,000 barrels at Oil City, La.

Mr. Parker is one of the real big oil men of the state, conservative and wealthy. He believes that oil development in Texas is in its infancy, and ex- presses the opinion that Texas will eventually be- come the largest producing oil territory in the United States.

Naturally he is a booster for Fort Worth and Texas.

LAUDE HUGHES HARTMAN, president and manager of the Southwestern Flooring and Sales Company Inc., 408 Slaughter Building, Dallas, has, by his energy, initia- tive and business ability built a stable business for his company in a few years time.

The Southwestern Flooring and Sales Co., Inc., of Dallas, are contracting floor specialists and sales agents, installing Kellastone Sanitary Composition Floors in troweled and terrazzo finishes, Insulite Mastic Flooring (cold process), Asphalt Mastic (hot process), Terrazzo, "Sowesco" Ornamental Cement Floors, Cement Floors Monolithic or Top Finish, with or without hardening treatment, Beaver Cork and Composition Cork Tile. The company also con- tract water-proofing and oil-proofing, and act as southwestern selling agents for the National Kella- stone Company of Chicago. The American Bar Lock Co., of New York, the Beaver Tile and Specialty Co., of New York, the Goheen Corporation of New York, the Insulite Chemical Company of Aurora, Ill., and the Warren Chemical Division of the Barrett Co., New York. The contract department sells and in- stalls in addition to the floorings and floors men- tioned above: Vault lights, roof and floor lights.

The territory covered by the company includes Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. Since their organization the company has met with well- merited success and in their field of specialization, their installations including work for the Bureau of Yards and Docks, U. S. N., The Texas Company, The Southern Equipment Co., The Dallas School Board, and numerous other industrials and institutions.

Born in the state of Arkansas, Mr. Hartman is the son of Theo. Hartman, a well known civil engi- neer of Little Rock, whose practice lay in the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri and Arkansas, and it was in the metropolitan schools of these states that the younger Mr. Hartman re- ceived his education. After having been in his father's employ for a number of years, Mr. Hartman was attracted to the selling field in 1911, traveling the states of Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana and later Oklahoma for the Atlas Paint Company. In 1914 he came to Texas, accepting position with the Trus-Con Laboratories, initiating their line to

the Texas trade. After a year he was made district manager relinquishing this post in 1917 to become manager of the water-proofing and floor department for the then Builders' Metal Products Company, now merged with the Southwestern Flooring and Sales Company.

On December 11th, 1911, Mr. Hartman married Miss Katheryn Douglas Lee, of Searcy, Arkansas, daughter of Emmett Lee, a large Arkansas planter. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hart- man, Claude Lee and Merrill Fletcher Hartman.

Confronted with the problems of life at an early age, Mr. Hartman is another example of man who has won by pluck and application, and who today is adjudged successful by his contemporary business associates. 1755093

GEORGE MYERS, sales agent for the Miehle Printing Press and Manufacturing Company and the Dexter Folder Company, Dallas, is one of the veteran printers of Dallas. His experience in the printing business dates back over a third of a century.

The Miehle Printing Press and Manufacturing Company has its factory and main offices at Chicago, Illinois. It is engaged in the manufacture of print- ing presses and is well known among printers for its reliability and high standard of workmanship. The Dexter Folder Company has its main off.ces and factory in New York with agencies scattered throughout the country. It manufactures paper handling machinery, such as cutters, folders, etc. It deals directly with printers supplying them with all of the machinery needed in the handling of their paper. Mr. Myers is the Southwestern sales man- ager for this concern and has six states, Texas, Okla- homa, Louisiana, Arkansas, Arizona and New Mex- ico in his territory.

E. George Myers was born at Baraboo, Wisconsin. the son of J. F. and Catherine G. Myers, both of whom were pioneers in that part of the country. The elder Mr. Myers was a contractor of Wisconsin and later of Dallas. The Baraboo public schools af- forded the younger Mr. Myers his elementary educa- tion. In 1881 he took the examination for entrance into the United States Military Academy and easily passed it but was unable to accept the appointment. In. 1879 Mr. Myers came to Texas and in the follow- ing year began work for the Dallas Morning Herald. After four years service with that company he gave up his position and began work for the Ready Print House. Two years later he returned to the Morning Herald. As foreman of the Dallas News printing shop Mr. Myers has the honor of having made up the first issue of the News that was ever printed. In 1888 he became business manager of the Times- Herald, which position he held for one year. He then becanie manager of the Houston-Galveston House of the Western Newspaper Union. After con- tinuing with this firm, of which he owned one-third interest, for four years Mr. Myers then bought the Dallas Times-Herald. He printed the Herald for one year and then became connected with Barnhart Bros. and Spindler of Chicago. He was made man- ager of the Mexican branch which included Mexico. South America and Cuba. In 1910 the firm estab- lished a Dallas branch but in the same year Mr. Myers resigned and formed his present connections with the Miehle and Dexter companies.

On August 23, 1893, Mr. Myers married Miss Louise Holland, of Austin, Texas. Miss Holland

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was the daughter of Colonel J. K. Holland, a Mexi- can war veteran and one of Texas' most loyal sons. He served as a member in the first legislature of Texas and was one of the most active members of that body. By occupation the Colonel was a planter, whose farm was located near Austin, Texas.

In club affiliations Mr. Myers is a member of the Ad Club, Dallas Athletic Club and the Chamber of Commerce. Being one of Dallas' oldest citizens who is engaged in the printing business, Mr. Myers has watched that city grow from a crossroads village to a thriving metropolis. The business connections of Mr. Myers have been various, but at all times he has been connected with the printing business in its many phases and is one of the best authorities in that line.

HOMAS R. T. ORTH, vice-president of the Placid Petroleum Company and manager of the Burknett VanCleve Oil Company, 904-6 American National Bank Building, is one of the best known oil men in Wichita Falls. He has resided here for a number of years and has been active in commercial, railroad and oil circles all this time. His oil activities include leasing, developing and producing and a great deal of valuable produe- tion in Block 87 of the Burkburnett district is con- trolled by his companies. Production is owned also in other parts of the Burkburnett field. About thirty employees comprise the field forces and Mr. Orth is actively engaged in directing the various operations, spending most of his time in the field.

A native of Pennsylvania Mr. Orth was born in 1865, a son of C. H. Orth, a native of Ohio, and re- moved with his parents to Kansas when seven years of age. His education was received in the public schools of Kansas and when sixteen years of age he came to Texas and began working in Live Oak County. Later he was employed on various ranches, including the Mullin, McCowan, Tom's, Jacob's and others whose names are familiar to the old time riders of the range. He was an expert horseman and was always in great demand at the annual roundups or rodeos.

When about 22 or 23 years of age he deserted the ranch life for the stronger lure of the railroads and began work for the Nelson Construction Company, railroad builders, in Bexar county. He helped to construct the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Rail- way and then was called back to Pennsylvania to settle a family estate and remained there for five years. After returning to Texas he purchased a ranch in Live Oak county, remained on it for five years, sold it and returned to railroad building. He was located at Summerville with the Santa Fe for one year and then came to Wichita Falls to help build the Wichita Valley Railroad and later the Wichita Falls and Northwestern running from Wichita Falls to Grandfield, and later Forgan, Oklahoma. He then took charge of the Kemp and Kell interests and was with them for ten or twelve years. He owned a half interest in the automobile business of McFall and Orth for a while, selling this in 1917. During the war he was a member of the Wichita Counsel of Defense and gave up most of his private interests to devote his services, without pay, to the government. He has been very active in the pro- motion of the irrigation project and his many years experience as a builder of huge projects has made his services highly valuable in connection with this enterprise.

Mr. Orth was married at Mexia in 1892 to M Eliza McGuire, native of Texas. They have the. children, Lutie, now Mrs. Frank Terry of San A. tonio; Gertrude, now Mrs. F. D. Woodruff of Wie !. . Falls; and Mary, now Mrs. G. C. Woodruff of Wich . Falls. Each of the three daughters is married : oil men.

Mr. Orth is active and enterprising, deep interested in the development of Wichita Falls ... its surrounding country and ever ready to give r. his time or money to any movement tending to ani that development. He is a member of the Benevol - and Protective Order of Elks and the Chamber Commerce.

S IDNEY A. STEMMONS has been a reside .. of Dallas since 1912. He has handled o properties and leases in the various fict of Texas. He started the first well drils in Comanche County, having financed the expens. . of the drilling. In 1915-16 he drilled two wells Humble District. Mr. Stemmons has had extensiv. railroading experience. He was with The Texas & Pacific Railroad for two years and later for a peri .. of two years he was connected with the Frisco H. .. T. C. in Denison. He became assistant ctiy pas. enger agent for The Rock Island Co. For one year he was traveling passenger agent for The Trinity a. Brazos Valley Railroad Co. until 1913 when he wer .: into the oil business. In 1917 Mr. Stemmion- established the "Texas Mineral Resources," a magui- zine devoted to the discussion of oil and other minerals. It later became "The Southwestern Oil."

Sidney A. Stemmons is a native of Texas, born i: Dallas December 19, 1879. His father, John Mi Stemmons, came to Dallas in the early sixties ant died in 1868. His mother is Rebecca S. Stemmons

Mr. Stemmons received his education in the publ: schools of Dallas and began his business career at al. early age.

He is one of the charter members of the Shrine Patrol and a member of the Masonic Lodge. He is an ex-member of the Press Club and supports every movement pertaining to the advancement of Dallas He believes that Texas affords many opportunities for development.

EN HARLAN, president of the Sterling O. Company, 217 Southwestern Life Building. is the organizer of this promising oil com. pany which Mr. Harlan expects to develo: into one of the largest companies in the state. Il. has had considerable experience in the oil busine. having previously organized successful companies #: Texas and Oklahoma, the prosperity of which has enabled him to undertake the organization of !. . present business which will be on a large scale.

The Sterling Oil Company was established in July 1919 and reorganized in March of 1920, with a capit ... stock of $1,000,000 and $400,000 assets. Only $60,001 worth of stock will be offered for sale before actu ... developments begin, on the 35,000 acres of prove and semi-proven fields which M. Harlan has secured His property lies in Sterling, Stephens, Erath, Pero- Loving, Jack, Mills, Palo Pinto, and Reeves County. Of this Reeves, Loving, and Erath Counties art proven fields, Mr. Harlan having an offset to th. Laura well which has just come in, and other acreas near the Ira Bell well, besides semi-proven acreare .. Jack County. A derrick has already gone up ::: Sterling County and operations will be under way i.

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a short time. Mr. Harlan expects to make a merger with a Dallas oil company that has $300,000 assets and production.

Alexander City, Alabama is the birthplace of Mr. Harlan. He was born January 6, 1892. His father, F .. W. Harlan, was a plantation owner of Alabama, coming to Texas in 1908 to continue the farming industry in this state. His mother was Elizabeth Ive, grandaughter of General Robert E. Lee, and a native of Alabama. He was educated in the public schools of Texas, and Jacksonville College at Jack- ,unville, Texas, later attending Baylor University at Waco. After leaving college in 1914 he took up newspaper work and was assigned to the advertising department of the Waco Morning News. A year later he joined the rush to the oil fields of Oklahoma, and organized two oil companies in Oklahoma City, both of which are still going. In February of 1919 he came to Dallas and organized the Ranger-Wichita Oil and Refining Company which is now operating a refining business in Wichita Falls. The Sterling Company was his next project and Mr. Harlan has wonderful plans for its future.

Mr. Harlan makes his home at the Jefferson Hotel. Besides his oil interests he owns several farms in Oklahoma and Texas but devotes his entire time to the oil business. He believes that Dallas is the future city of the Southwest, and that the oil industry in Texas is just getting started. Among his friends and business associates Mr. Harlan is known as an enthusiastic and earnest worker, with every requisite of a business executive and a financier.

H. HAGGARD, Wichita Falls, oil operator, has varied and large connections in Texas' newest and biggest industry. Though he is the general manager for three syndicates and one company, and partner in another, H. H. Haggard transacts all his business in his own name. He puts down wells on property anywhere and then serves the owners as selling agent. He personally holds 3,000 acres in fee in the K. M. A. field and has leases of 1,000 acres in the Northwest Extension. He is general manager for the L. L. Syndicate, for the H. H. Syndicate, for the Twister of Texas Syndi- vate, of Illinois, and for the Fidelity Producing & Refining Company. He is also associated with W. HI. Chilson as Chilson & Conipany.

He also is interested in a 3,000 acres ranch where he has about 350 head of Hereford cattle. It is in- teresting to know that Mr. Haggard's company let - the contract for the first well north of Corsicana; that was in 1901.

Mr. Haggard is a Georgian by birth. He was born in Murray County of that state, on December 8. 1885. His parents are J. C. Haggard and Nancy Jane Henry Haggard, who came to Texas in 1894 and located near Waco. In 1904 H. H. Haggard began his business career by starting with Swift & Company at Fort Worth. He severed this associa - tion in one year to go to Henrietta, Texas, in 1906. to unter the real estate, loan and oil business. He re- mained here until 1918 when he came to Wichita Falls.

In 1907 at Henrietta, Texas, Mr. Haggard married Miss Blanche Chilson, a native of Des Moines, Iowa, daughter of W. H. Chilson, Mr. Haggard's business partner. They have three children: Wm. Howard, John and Nancy Katherine. The family residence is at 1106 Austin Street.

Mr. Haggard has other than business interests.

He is a Mason, a member of the M. W. A., of the Chamber of Commerce of his city, and of the Wichita Club. Youthful, talented and very pro- gressive, H. H. Haggard is successful to a very attractive degree.

RCH MUNN, in the Southwestern Life Building, is the head and front of the Munn Construction Company. He came to Dallas in 1913 from Oklahoma City, where he had for some time been engaged in the same line. Okla- homa City can boast of many elegant buildings, of- fices, business and residence, and Arch Munn, during his business career there did a large share of that work. To his credit may be added in Dallas, the Southern Methodist University Buildings which are handsome and growing in numbers yearly, the Oak Cliff high school, which is an ornament to its local- ity, the Woodlawn Tubercular Hospital for the County and City of Dallas, the Adolphus Garage, school buildings in many places, the City National Bank of Eastland and most of the buildings at Gatesville for the State Juvenile Corrective and Training Schools. At the present time the Munn Construction Company has over a half million dol- lars' worth of work under construction. The old saying that "nothing succeeds like success" is ex- omplified in the orders which come to the Munn Com- pany. This is due, of course, to the satisfaction they give as well as to the personality of its head.

For his own home Mr. Munn chose a pretty part of Dallas, Number 6023 Lindell Street, one of the most popular residence streets of the city.

D. HARRIS, contracting plumber, 109 West Jefferson Street, and 1704 Commerce Street, came to Dallas in 1910 and worked as a journeyman plumber until 1914, when he engaged in business on his own account, special- izing in residence work. He employs twelve men in addition to a full office staff, and is kept busy prac- tically all of the time. He belongs to that type of self-made men who have found themselves and made a success.

In his youth he started out to learn the printer's trade and worked at it for about five years. He then engaged in farming with his uncle until 1907, when he decided that he was not cut out for a farmer. For the next three and a half years he worked for a salary for a West Texas corporation, and while with this corporation he learned the tinner's and plumb- er's trade, determined to stick to it and has done so.

Mr. Harris was born at Waco, Texas, August 18, 1876, son of H. L. and Minnie C. (Smith) Harris, and attended the public schools until his father's death, which necessitated his going to work to sup- port a widowed mother. He married a Texas girl, Miss Annie V. Stone, and they have six interesting children, Menloe, Earl, Myrtle, Myra, Richard and Stone, and the family home is at 312 Sunset Avenue. Oak Cliff.

Mr. Harris is proud of Texas, declares it is the best state in the Union for the poor man and the rich man, offering greater opportunities to both than any other section of the country. He is likewise proud of Dallas and its splendid institutions and ad- vantages, offering, as it does, every opportunity that man could wish for in the way of business, civic pride, educational advantages, social and religious intercourse. "Come to Texas and to Dallas" is his advice to all those seeking the best state and the best city in which to locate.

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M ATTHEW IL HAGAMAN, citizen of Ranger, Texas, for thirty-four years, has a life history inseparably interwoven with the life of his village in the pioneer days of school- man, merchant and ranchman; and with the life of his metropolis of the present as recent Mayor and present capitalist and financier. Of the fifteen thousand citizens Ranger has today, very few are the original settlers. Mr. Hagaman is one of the few and he has retained the leadership enjoyed by him in the day of beginnings; and, though the city has grown prodigiously, he has kept pace with it and now holds the esteem of thousands who made him their mayor during the times of stress in the early days of development.

Matthew H. Hagaman was born in Johnson County, Tennessee, October 11, 1861. His mother, Mary Katherine Shoun, was grand-daughter of the sturdy pioneer, Leonard Shoun, who defying the dangers of Indian attacks and other dangers, pushed westward through the mountain pass and opened up to settle- ment the beautiful and valuable country of North- eastern Tennessee. His father, John A. Hagaman, was a native of Watauga County, Western N. C., famous for its beautiful mountains, beautiful rivers, rich farms, and fine cattle; its wonderful climate and popular summer resorts. The Hagaman family was indeed a pioneer family of this country, having come from New Jersey and settled here in pre-Revolu- tionary days, and have had much to do with the development of this region.

Mr. Hagaman's father served as chaplain in the Confederate Army. In April, 1867, he died at his home near Ashville N. C. The young widow, forced by the perils of the reconstruction period to abandon her home, with her two young children returned to her people in Tennessee, leaving the older son, Matthew, with his uncle in North Carolina. Here he attended his first school. After a few years his mother was married to Mr. W. K. Goodwin, and brought her son home to Tennessee. In this house- hold the order of the day was "early to bed and early to rise" and hard work from dawn until twilight every working day. Here Mr. Hagaman's chance at education was a negative quantity and at the age of sixteen, he returned to his Uncle in North Carolina and began his education again. By using all his time for work or study, or both, and saving his earnings, he was able, in a few years, to enter Globe Academy and finance his way and that of a younger brother with very little assistance. From this time on the brothers worked together throughout the sum- mer and attended school through the winter. After leaving Globe Academy, they finished a preparatory school in Virginia, and later attended Grant Memorial University at Chattanooga, Tennesee.

In 1887, Mr. Hagaman came to Texas, as a teacher and sent his brother to Carson and Newman College, where he graduated. Thus, at an early age, he developed a characteristic that has remained with him throughout his life, there having been but very few years when he has not been helping some boy or girl through school.

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The encyclopedia of Texas, V.2, Part 9

Author: Davis, Ellis Arthur, ed; Grobe, Edwin H., ed Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Dallas, Texas Development Bureau Number of Pages: 1328

Author: Davis, Ellis Arthur, ed; Grobe, Edwin H., ed
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Dallas, Texas Development Bureau
Number of Pages: 1328