A family recollection of E.A. Frantz, written by his children:
Ezra Allen Frantz, widely known Texas inventor and manufacturer, died in Abilene of a stroke on - Burial will be from the Cotten-Bratton Funeral Chapel in Weatherford at. Mr. Frantz would have been 89 this coming August 6. Mr. Frantz was chiefly known for his invention of the first wire buckle for tying compressed cotton bales. This invention made possible high density compressing, a necessary development for efficient supplying of American cotton to overseas textile manufacturing companies during the twentieth century. |
Its influence on the cotton economy throughout the South, Southwest, and northern Mexico is incalculable. certainly the invention had a profound influence on the development of extensive cotton growing in the vast expanses from West Texas to California which have turned so heavily to cotton culture in the past three decades.
At various times Mr. Frantz was associated with the American Manufacturing Company at Fort Worth, assisting in draftsmanship, design, and production problems for this international oil field supply company. When in the early days of World War II American Manufacturing ran into a stiff production problem in fulfilling its contracts for shells for the United States Navy, Mr. Frantz was brought in as general superintendent for almost two years. For the first four months of his superintendency he doubled shell production for each month over the previous month until an operating plateau was reached that met naval specifications.
A constant tinkerer, Mr. Frantz held many patents. In the early days of the automotive industry he perfected a piston ring which met with some commercial success. It was used exclusively, for instance, by the various taxi fleets of Fort Worth prior to the 1920s.
At various times Mr. Frantz was associated with the American Manufacturing Company at Fort Worth, assisting in draftsmanship, design, and production problems for this international oil field supply company. When in the early days of World War II American Manufacturing ran into a stiff production problem in fulfilling its contracts for shells for the United States Navy, Mr. Frantz was brought in as general superintendent for almost two years. For the first four months of his superintendency he doubled shell production for each month over the previous month until an operating plateau was reached that met naval specifications.
A constant tinkerer, Mr. Frantz held many patents. In the early days of the automotive industry he perfected a piston ring which met with some commercial success. It was used exclusively, for instance, by the various taxi fleets of Fort Worth prior to the 1920s.
Mr. Frantz was always extremely proud of the fact that he owned what was reputedly the first car in Texas, even though he bought it second-hand from the late Will K. Stripling of Fort Worth. Many of the early cars came to Texas knocked down, and Mr. Frantz, with a regional reputation as a master mechanic, assembled many of them. He was fond of recalling tales of adventure and misadventure with these cars, such as when the late Will Kuteman, Fort Worth and Weatherford banker and father-in-law of the artist Douglas Chandor, took a car on which Mr. Frantz had forgotten to connect the brakes.
In language unsuitable for a family newspaper Mr. Kuteman called Mr. Frantz some time later to tell him he had just finished dodging every tree in the hills south of Weatherford, only to halt the car permanently against a tree in his own front yard. Mr. Frantz, who was never known to use profanity, exploded, |
"Oh pshaw! I'll bet I forgot the brakes!"
After two decades of service in and around Weatherford, where among other activities he was a charter member of the RotaryClub, and the Live Oak Country Club and president of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Frantz sold his buckle company to a Georgia corporation in 1923 and moved toFort Worth.
For some years before moving to Fort Worth, he had been utilizing his spare time re-organizing Fort Worth businesses at the request of various Fort Worth banks, especially the Fort Worth National Bank. The idea was that he would make re-organization a full-time occupation.
However, Mr. Frantz became caught up in the Florida real estate boom of the middle 1920s, and most of his first three years of Fort Worth residence were actually spent in Miami, where he concentrated on developing the Florida Keys. However, except for seven months in 1924-1925, his family remained in Fort Worth.
On his return as a full-time Fort Worth resident Mr. Frantz joined American Manufacturing Company. The pump jack which American supplied to the petroleum trade throughout the remainder of the 1920's and in the 1930's was designed by him. In the older fields some are still in use.
In many ways always a master mechanic at heart, a man who liked to work with his hands, he seemed to derive more pleasure from superintending installation of the jacks than from the creation of them. If he had a real weakness as an adm nistrator, it was the fact that he could never stand by when some less capable man was handling a tool. American and other companies with which he was associated are replete with tales of some man working quietly at the lathe, only to feel a bump as Mr. Frantz moved him aside to take over. A picture that occurred more than once concerns his wrestling 250-pound sacks of buckles onto freight cars while a group of less efficient day workers sat watching, partly in awe and partly with amusement as their per-hour wages mounted.
He often spoke of a not-so-secret desire to have been a teacher, but the consensus is that he would have made a miserable one. He would have wanted to answer all the questions and written all the term papers himself.
When Mr. Frantz sold out of the buckle business, he signed an agreement not to re-enter for ten years. Ten years later, almost to the day, the succeeding firm was nearly bankrupt like so many other firms in the depression, and so its owners approached him to re-purchase the firm at approximately one-tenth his selling price a decade earlier. The result was that Mr. Frantz became more sole owner of the Frantz Buckle Company, and returned to Weatherford to resume manufacturing. He remained in Weatherford for the remainder of his life, except for the last few months, when he removed to Abilene to be near a daughter.
While Mr. Frantz was manufacturing buckles in Weatherford and Memphis, Tennessee, and commuting daily to Fort Worth to be general superintendent of American Manufacturing Company, a veteran oil tool man, Jess E. Hall of Weatherford and California, approached Mr. Frantz with an idea for a scratcher that would remove mud from sides of casings before oil wells were cemented, eliminating the need for removing the casing for cleaning theretofore a time-consuming and expensive process before oil production could begin. In a few nights Mr. Frantz had made patterns - and shortly after, made machines - to produce the scratchers. He and Mr. Hall then formed a partnership known as the Weatherford Spring Company, with Mr. Frantz providing financial leadership and mechanical understanding and Mr. Hall providing knowledge of oil field needs and industry-wide contacts.
In addition to the scratchers, Weatherford Spring Company manufactured oil well contralisers and cement baskets, as well as providing Halliburton Oil Company with its springs. Its range soon became nationwide, and since has expanded to include plants in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. After four years Mr. Frantz, now in his 70s, retired from the partnership. The company has since been re-organized as the Weatherford Oil Tool Company.
Except for a year in the insurance business Mr. Frantz has since been officially retired, devoting his time to managing property and occasional consultanships. He remained in good health until about a year ago [the date for this document is unknown].
Religious and philanthropic work also occupied considerable of Mr. Frantz's time. A member for three quarters of a century of the CHurch of theBrethren, he lived most of his life in communities which had no church of that persuasion. Consequently he tended to be ecumenical in his religious concerns, and was particularly closely associated with Baptist and Presbyterian causes, even to teaching the men's Bible class at the Grace-First Presbyterian Church in Weatherford for a number of years. Meanwhile he remained in close touch with the Church of the Brethren, attended regional and national meetings with frequency, and for a period was a trustee of McPerson College in McPherson, Kansas. His charitable work tended to be private, and the number of your men whom he helped get through school or helped get started in business is indeterminable. About the only criteria he demanded of his beneficiaries was that they [page ten is lost]...investor had received his full return [this is a carry over from page ten, which is missing].
In 1924 in Fort Worth Mr. Frantz was the victim of a forger, who cashed two checks against him for $1,500. The man was apprehended, escaped from the Fort Worth jail, and was next heard of by Mr. Frantz when he read in the Miami Herald of the man's arrest on a similar charge. Since it was near Christmas, Mr. Frantz went to the Miami jail to give him Christmas greetings. "Why, Mr. Frantz, how nice of you to come," the forger told him. The two became friends of a sort, and for a number of years corresponded. When the forger escape from the Miami jail a few days later, Mr. Frantz's friends always suspected he was a little proud of the man for his artistry.
Mr. Frantz is survived by his six children as follows: Dr. Ray W. Frantz, Lincoln Nebraska; Mrs. A.L. Spain, Weatherford; Mrs. Escal F. Duke, Abilene; Mrs. S. John Wylie, Denison; and Dr. Joe B. Frantz, Austin, plus a niece, Mrs. Will Buckley, Weatherford, who was reared as a daughter. In addition, he has five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. His wife preceded him in death in 1951.
Characteristically Mr. Frantz remained on the trail of the financial leak for two decades until by 1945 he uncovered the embezzling employee. Equally characteristically having once satisfied himself as to the source of his leak, he declined to follow up his information, believing that by now the presumed thief had lived with his conscience for twenty years and would undoubtedly be embarrassed by such a late disclosure.
The list of survivors doesn't quite tell the story of the man. Having gone through only the eighth grade of the Pleasant Hill country school in central Illinois, he had an inordinate belief in the value of higher education. He himself did take correspondence courses as an adult in everything from phrenology to draftsmanship, and was an omnivorous and indiscriminate reader. But because of his belief in formal education he failed to turn out any business successors in his own family. One son had been the long-time chairman of the Department ofEnglish at the University of Nebraska, another is chairman of the Department of History at the University of Texas, a son-in-law is Dean of the Graduate Division at Hardin-Simmons University, and a grandson - the fourth Ph.D. in the family (in English) - is librarian at the University of Wyoming. Only one son-in-law, A.L. Spain, a Weatherford hardwareman, took the business route.
Dr. William M. Elliot, pastor of Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, will officiate at the services. Interment will be at Greenwood Cemetery.
Pallbearers will be of his nephews, as follows: -- plus -- Honorary pallbearers will be his long-time business colleagues and friends of Weatherford.
After two decades of service in and around Weatherford, where among other activities he was a charter member of the RotaryClub, and the Live Oak Country Club and president of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Frantz sold his buckle company to a Georgia corporation in 1923 and moved toFort Worth.
For some years before moving to Fort Worth, he had been utilizing his spare time re-organizing Fort Worth businesses at the request of various Fort Worth banks, especially the Fort Worth National Bank. The idea was that he would make re-organization a full-time occupation.
However, Mr. Frantz became caught up in the Florida real estate boom of the middle 1920s, and most of his first three years of Fort Worth residence were actually spent in Miami, where he concentrated on developing the Florida Keys. However, except for seven months in 1924-1925, his family remained in Fort Worth.
On his return as a full-time Fort Worth resident Mr. Frantz joined American Manufacturing Company. The pump jack which American supplied to the petroleum trade throughout the remainder of the 1920's and in the 1930's was designed by him. In the older fields some are still in use.
In many ways always a master mechanic at heart, a man who liked to work with his hands, he seemed to derive more pleasure from superintending installation of the jacks than from the creation of them. If he had a real weakness as an adm nistrator, it was the fact that he could never stand by when some less capable man was handling a tool. American and other companies with which he was associated are replete with tales of some man working quietly at the lathe, only to feel a bump as Mr. Frantz moved him aside to take over. A picture that occurred more than once concerns his wrestling 250-pound sacks of buckles onto freight cars while a group of less efficient day workers sat watching, partly in awe and partly with amusement as their per-hour wages mounted.
He often spoke of a not-so-secret desire to have been a teacher, but the consensus is that he would have made a miserable one. He would have wanted to answer all the questions and written all the term papers himself.
When Mr. Frantz sold out of the buckle business, he signed an agreement not to re-enter for ten years. Ten years later, almost to the day, the succeeding firm was nearly bankrupt like so many other firms in the depression, and so its owners approached him to re-purchase the firm at approximately one-tenth his selling price a decade earlier. The result was that Mr. Frantz became more sole owner of the Frantz Buckle Company, and returned to Weatherford to resume manufacturing. He remained in Weatherford for the remainder of his life, except for the last few months, when he removed to Abilene to be near a daughter.
While Mr. Frantz was manufacturing buckles in Weatherford and Memphis, Tennessee, and commuting daily to Fort Worth to be general superintendent of American Manufacturing Company, a veteran oil tool man, Jess E. Hall of Weatherford and California, approached Mr. Frantz with an idea for a scratcher that would remove mud from sides of casings before oil wells were cemented, eliminating the need for removing the casing for cleaning theretofore a time-consuming and expensive process before oil production could begin. In a few nights Mr. Frantz had made patterns - and shortly after, made machines - to produce the scratchers. He and Mr. Hall then formed a partnership known as the Weatherford Spring Company, with Mr. Frantz providing financial leadership and mechanical understanding and Mr. Hall providing knowledge of oil field needs and industry-wide contacts.
In addition to the scratchers, Weatherford Spring Company manufactured oil well contralisers and cement baskets, as well as providing Halliburton Oil Company with its springs. Its range soon became nationwide, and since has expanded to include plants in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. After four years Mr. Frantz, now in his 70s, retired from the partnership. The company has since been re-organized as the Weatherford Oil Tool Company.
Except for a year in the insurance business Mr. Frantz has since been officially retired, devoting his time to managing property and occasional consultanships. He remained in good health until about a year ago [the date for this document is unknown].
Religious and philanthropic work also occupied considerable of Mr. Frantz's time. A member for three quarters of a century of the CHurch of theBrethren, he lived most of his life in communities which had no church of that persuasion. Consequently he tended to be ecumenical in his religious concerns, and was particularly closely associated with Baptist and Presbyterian causes, even to teaching the men's Bible class at the Grace-First Presbyterian Church in Weatherford for a number of years. Meanwhile he remained in close touch with the Church of the Brethren, attended regional and national meetings with frequency, and for a period was a trustee of McPerson College in McPherson, Kansas. His charitable work tended to be private, and the number of your men whom he helped get through school or helped get started in business is indeterminable. About the only criteria he demanded of his beneficiaries was that they [page ten is lost]...investor had received his full return [this is a carry over from page ten, which is missing].
In 1924 in Fort Worth Mr. Frantz was the victim of a forger, who cashed two checks against him for $1,500. The man was apprehended, escaped from the Fort Worth jail, and was next heard of by Mr. Frantz when he read in the Miami Herald of the man's arrest on a similar charge. Since it was near Christmas, Mr. Frantz went to the Miami jail to give him Christmas greetings. "Why, Mr. Frantz, how nice of you to come," the forger told him. The two became friends of a sort, and for a number of years corresponded. When the forger escape from the Miami jail a few days later, Mr. Frantz's friends always suspected he was a little proud of the man for his artistry.
Mr. Frantz is survived by his six children as follows: Dr. Ray W. Frantz, Lincoln Nebraska; Mrs. A.L. Spain, Weatherford; Mrs. Escal F. Duke, Abilene; Mrs. S. John Wylie, Denison; and Dr. Joe B. Frantz, Austin, plus a niece, Mrs. Will Buckley, Weatherford, who was reared as a daughter. In addition, he has five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. His wife preceded him in death in 1951.
Characteristically Mr. Frantz remained on the trail of the financial leak for two decades until by 1945 he uncovered the embezzling employee. Equally characteristically having once satisfied himself as to the source of his leak, he declined to follow up his information, believing that by now the presumed thief had lived with his conscience for twenty years and would undoubtedly be embarrassed by such a late disclosure.
The list of survivors doesn't quite tell the story of the man. Having gone through only the eighth grade of the Pleasant Hill country school in central Illinois, he had an inordinate belief in the value of higher education. He himself did take correspondence courses as an adult in everything from phrenology to draftsmanship, and was an omnivorous and indiscriminate reader. But because of his belief in formal education he failed to turn out any business successors in his own family. One son had been the long-time chairman of the Department ofEnglish at the University of Nebraska, another is chairman of the Department of History at the University of Texas, a son-in-law is Dean of the Graduate Division at Hardin-Simmons University, and a grandson - the fourth Ph.D. in the family (in English) - is librarian at the University of Wyoming. Only one son-in-law, A.L. Spain, a Weatherford hardwareman, took the business route.
Dr. William M. Elliot, pastor of Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, will officiate at the services. Interment will be at Greenwood Cemetery.
Pallbearers will be of his nephews, as follows: -- plus -- Honorary pallbearers will be his long-time business colleagues and friends of Weatherford.
Sources
Fig. 1 - "E.A. Frantz" - given to Heather Wylie by M.E. Duke Astudillo.
Fig. 2 - "Ezra and Mary Frantz" - given to Heather Wylie by M.E. Duke Astudillo.
The information on this page is based upon an obituary written by the children of E.A. Frantz.
Fig. 2 - "Ezra and Mary Frantz" - given to Heather Wylie by M.E. Duke Astudillo.
The information on this page is based upon an obituary written by the children of E.A. Frantz.