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Mayor J. H. Omohundro  Whitesboro News-Record
January 15, 1932 46th ANNIVERSARY SALE IN PROGRESS AT OMOHUNDRO'S The 46th Anniversary Sale opened at Omohundro's Hardware and Furniture Co. Wednesday and is attracting large crowds daily. For 46 years this establishment has maintained its reputation for integrity in business - for genuine price saving opportunities. At the height of the winter season, as has been the custom during preceding years, the public will be offered super-values in all the lines of merchandise carried in the enormous stock at prices very substantially lowered. The store was closed all day Tuesdayin preparation for this selling event. Beginning Wednesday and continuing through the final day of the sale, daily specials will be offered at 9 o'clock each morning. Thirfty buyers will do well to see these bargains. Whitesboro News-Record Friday, August 19, 1938 pg. 1 J.H. Omohundro, Pioneer Citizen, Mourned by City Death Takes Former Mayor Who Helped Build Whitesboro Succumbs Friday in Long Beach Services Held Satruday for Civic and Business Leader John Hardwicke Omohundro, 74, war time mayor of Whitesboro and for many years a civic and business leader here and in North Texas, died in a Long Beach Calif. hospital following a lingering illness according to information received by the News-Record and his many friends here. Funeral services were held in Long Beach last Saturday. Until he moved to Long Beach in 1918 Mr. Omohundro was one of Whitesboro's outstanding business men. In 1888 when he moved here from Sherman he established the Omohundro Hardware and Furniture Company, the establishment now owned by Bilil Waldrop. During his residence here he was mayor for several terms and was responsible for introducing the present municipal electric light and power system. During the war he was one of the city's three "minute men" and patriotically made speeches and assisted in selling Liberty bonds and co-operated in every way in war activities. Mr. Omohundro was instrumental in converting "The Old Avenue" here into a public park, now commonly called City Park, while he was mayor. The bandstand was built and the ornamental fountain was given in memory of his son, the late John Woods Omohundro. The park was appropriately named in honor of Dr. Trollinger, who donated the land to the city many years before it was improved and planted. Mr. Omohundro was one of those who aided in establishing what at that time was a civic asset, the old cotton warehouse, which is still being used. The water works was modernized and a new well drilled during his term as mayor. He first started the detailed mayor's annual report, which is published in full each year. He always signed his reports "your obedient servant." Mr. Omohundro was a former chairman of the Grayson County Democratic Committee, honorary Texas judge and a member of the original committee which launched and completed the county's first good roads program in 1914. He was "boomed" for the State Legislature at the time of his breakdown in 1918 which resulted in his moving to California. John Omohundro was a promoter in his younger days and as landlord of the old El Paso Hotel in Whitesboro in the early '90s, he decided his business would be increased by the erection of a street car line from the railroad depot to his hotel. He immediately purchased several miles and bought rails and a street car for the venture. He later decided not to build the line and sold the street car for a chicken house. The street rails, however, served a more useful purpose. He sold them to a mine in Oklahoma. The Omohundro family burial ground is located at the Oakwood cemetery west of Whitesboro. In this plot of ground, purchased and beautified by John Omohundro, lie the bodies of his father, John Baxter Omohundro; his brothers, George and Frank; his son, John; his daughter, Sarah; and his sister, Anna. Nellie is buried at Sherman. Paul Omohundro, who was killed in an automobile accident in 1927, is buried in Sunnyside Cemetery in Long Beach, California. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Minnie Omohundro and three sons, Thomas and Thad Omohundro, of Long Beach, and Sam Omohundro, of El Paso. Five grandchildren and one great-grandchild also survive him. John Hardwicke Omohundro was born April 14, 1864, at Mooseburg, East Tennessee. He was the son of John Baxter Omohundro and Mary Ann Hardwicke. John was born in a log cabin while his father was serving in the CIvil War with General Lee. John was approximately a year old when his father returned from the war to greet his first born at Lynchburg, Virginia, where the mother had taken up her new abode. John spent seventeen years in the state of Virginia during which time he was the mainstay of his family. He began work in a saw mill and brick yard at Lynch's Station when he was nine years old. Three years later he began work in a store at Lynch's Station where he remained as a clerk and assistant manager until he was seventeen years old. He worked for the firm of James Traylor & Co. Heeding the call of his uncle, Gabriel Etter, in Sherman, Texas, John left his father, mother, brothers and sisters to make the trip to Texas by the crude railroad afforded in the year of 1881. He settled in Sherman where he became a clerk in his uncle's hardware store. He endured numerous hardships. Late hours and lack of accomodations forced him oftimes to sleep under the desk in his office. He often worked eighteen hours a day. During this clerkship he sent money to his father and mother in Virginia. He provided his father with $1,000 at one time with which his father purchased an interest in the business of Anthony Omohundro Mooreman at Lynch's Station. John continued to live frugally, soberly and practically. Eventually he determined that it would be to the best interests of his father and mother to bring their family to Texas. Accordingly in 1886 he provided funds for his parents to come to the Lone Star State where he arranged for them to settle in the little town of Whitesboro, eighteen miles west of Sherman. He set his father up in business, establishing the firm of Omohundro Hardware and Furniture company, which remained in business from 1886 until January, 1933. There were born to the parents of John H. Omohundro sixteen children whose names as nearly as possible in the order of their birth were: John Hardewicke, James Harry, Carrie Etta, William, Mary, Warren, Blanche, George, Frank T., Watts, Minnie Lou, Bernard and Annie. By a second marriage the father of John Hardwicke Omohundro had two children, Baxter and Randolph. John Hardwicke Omohundro in 1882 became a traveling salesman for the firm of his great-uncle, George Hardwicke, under the firm name of Roberts, Hardwicke, and Taylor. He traveled the famous Indian Territory and the wild parts of Northern Texas for seven years. During this time he became acquainted with another salesman for a grocery concern. From their travelings together, they developed a close friendship and they decided to settle in the little town of Whitesboro where he lived one of the most useful lives of any American citizen until 1918. Because of poor health induced by strain of business and responsibilities assumed during the World war, he decided to go to California for his health which was greatly impaired. To John Omohundro and Minnie Woods there were born the following children: Nellie, John, Paul, Sam, Sarah and Thad. John engaged in the hardware and furniture business in Whitesboro during which time he was actively associated in the Presbyterian church being named Moderator of the Presbytery, a signal honor for a layman to receive. He was mayor of the city from 1912 to 1916. He was vice president and a director of one of the most stable banks from 1900 until the present day. John Omohundro knew the bitterness of business reverses and also tasted of the cup of prosperity. His first major depression as a business man on his own inventment occured in 1893. During that period which lasted three or four years he held his little business together and upon the advent of the twentieth century he had stablized it to the point where it was one of the community's leading enterprises. In 1907 the pinch of hard times struck the business and while thousands of other firms and financial institutions foundered on the reefs of skript and lack of money, the Omohundro business business remained on an even keel. Then came 1914, the beginning of the World war, bringing on another time of stress. In 1917 when the United States entered the war, economic conditions in Texas began to pick up and the store earnings increased along with the jump in prices of commodities raised by the farmers and customers of the store. It was during this time after raising five children that he began to assume tasks outside his regular business and for which he received no remuneration. Previously he had seved as mayor and chairman of the good roads committee, which made automobile traffic more practical. In 1917, he led the drive in the county for the Democratic Party, for the Liberty Loan Bonds, War Saving Stamps, Red Cross, and other war emergency activities. At this point he developed a case of nervous exhaustion which virtually forced him to relinquich control of his business which he had established and nourished. With his son, Thomas, in control of affairs, John sought recovery of his health at a number of Texas resorts, but to no avail. The ailment was never satisfactorily diagnosed by any doctor. Believing that life held but only a few more years for him, he took his wife and young son, Thad, then 12 years old, to California in October of 1918. They settled in the little town of Colton. They later moved to Long Beach where they established their home in November of the same year. John immediately identified himself with church activities in Long Beach. His character and sterling worth were immediately recognized by his associates in the First Presbyterian Church who thereupon elevated him to the office of Elder. He had already held this distinction in Whitesboro where he was a pillar of the Presbyterian Church for thirty years. The biographical outline of the life of John Hardwicke Omohundro truthfully protrays him as a leader and a respected citizen among his associates. Although without the aid of a liberal education he studied subjects and problems which marked him plainly with the distinction of a scholar. His appearance greatly resembled that of the late Woodrow Wilson who was one of the greatest presidents in the opinion of John Omohundro. Many people have mistaken John for being a preacher because of his kindly attitude, straightforward appearance and general conduct toward others. He lived a frugal life, being economical by nature. He attributes his longevity to the fact that as a young man he was regular in his habits, industrious and clean in his living. He refused to permit himself to be idle and worked at some occupation as long as his mind would function and his legs would carry him. He chafed at inactivity and inability to bring in an income sufficient to meet current expenses of his family. He was liberal to his children, providing them with adequate education and presenting each boy with $1,000 upon reaching their maturity of twenty-one years of age. He gave freely to the unfortunate and to religious and charitable organizations. He was a consistent tither of his money.  Biography Index Whitesboro History Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |