Grayson County TXGenWeb
 


John Marion Nall, a child from Rev. Berry Nall's first marriage, was born 4 April 1830 in Yazoo Co., MS.  Census records beginning in 1850 show John to be living with his family in Holmes Co., Mississippi until his death in 1882, where he is buried in the Nall Cemetery.
Two of his sons migrated to Sherman, Grayson Co., Texas and their families became prominent citizens of Sherman.



Dr. Robert Berry Nall
Robert Berry Nall, born 10 Oct 1867 in Holmes Co., Mississippi just after the Civil War, settled in Sherman about 1888.  The 1900 Grayson Co., Texas census reveals that he and his 2nd wife, Nannie L. Bell Nall were living in his father-in-law's household, Thomas Bell, along with the family of his younger brother John T. Nall.  His occupation is listed as Optician and his obituary states that he was an optometrist in Sherman for 42 years.  In 1913 Dr. Nall began operating his manufacturing enterprise in Sherman - manufacturing plant for eye glasses, located on the 2nd floor of the Commercial State Bank building, on the northeast corner of the court house square.  Previously people had to have their eyes examined and then the prescription of the oculist was sent either to Dallas or Kansas City to be filled, causing a wait of several days.  This new business meant that Dr. Nall could grind a lens to the exact measurement of anyone's eye; Dr. Nall had worked many times in the factories to learn the business of taking the plain glass and turning out the most complicated lenses.  (The Whitewright Sun, Friday, May 16, 1913, pg.6)

R.B. & Nannie Nall raised younger brother Carl Richard Nall, Sr. when he moved to Sherman in 1891; they later adopted and raised Carl Sr.'s daughter after her mother died.  Nannie was listed in the 1940 Sherman Directory as the widow of Dr. Robert B. Nall and living at 212 N. Cleveland Ave.
"Mrs. Fannie Nall, Miss Lillye Mae and Henry Nall spent Tuesday in Sherman, Texas where their brother-in-law and uncle, Dr. R.B. Nall, died. Dr. Nall was 69 years and died as a result of a paralytic stroke after 10 days. Funeral services were held Tuesday, for the man who had lived in Sherman 47 years.  Dr. Nall is survived by Mrs. Nall and a little six year old adopted daughter. They had reared the child's father after his parents had died, and when he lost his wife, the little baby was left and they adopted her. She and her father are part of many children who have known Dr. and Mrs. Nall as their only parents. .. The Waurika News Democrat, Waurika, Jefferson County, Oklahoma, Friday, January 14, 1938

OBITUARY: Dr. R.B. Nall, 70, optometrist 42 years and resident of Sherman 49 years, died in a local hospital at 2:45 p.m. Monday after 10 days illness following a stroke a week ago Friday. He had been in the hospital three days. Funeral arrangements are to be made by Dannel-Scott Funeral home. Dr. Nall was born in Durant, Mississippi, October 10, 1867. He arrived in Sherman on his twenty-first birthday. He received his primary education in the public school of Durant, and then took employment with the Southern Express company office in that city. He took up the study of optometry shortly after coming to Sherman. A professional in that line came here as special instructor to Dr. Nall and his brother, the late Dr. John Nall Sr, father of the present Dr. John Nall. After this Dr. Nall attended a school of optometry in Dallas, taking a graduate course, he was licensed to practice in 1893. In 1884 Dr. Nall returned to Mississippi and there married Miss Nannie Bell at the home of her parents in Goodman, Mississippi, who survives him. Dr. Nall had been a member of the Baptist church since he was 15 years of age and at the time of his death was a member of the First Baptist Church. Robert married Mrs. Nannie L. Bell on 28 Nov 1894 in Goodman, Holmes Co., MS. Nannie was born November 1875 in Mississippi.-----Sherman Democrat
R.B. Nall died from complications of a stroke in 1938. He is buried in the West Hill Cemetery in Sherman, Texas.


Whitewright Sun
Friday, January 2,  1914




 Dr. John Thomas Nall Sr.
Dr. John Thomas Nall, Sr., younger brother of Dr. R. B. Nall, was born July 10, 1870 in Holmes Co., Mississippi.  He, too, settled in Grayson Co., Texas by 1900.  He married the sister of Nannie L. Bell, Eliza Lida Bell, on January 10, 1894 in Mississippi.  In the 1900 census John T. Nall, Sr. is living in his father-in-law's household along with Robert Berry Nall's family and his wife and son, Louis.
Dr. John T. Nall was an Optician as well in Sherman.  The 1940 Sherman Directory details his occupation as "Doctor of Optometry, Exclusive Practitioner, Broken Lenses Duplicate, Hours 8:30am - 5:30pm, Sunday by Appt, 206 Commercial Bldg (above Skillerns)" and as living at 410 North Grand Ave.




Carl Richard Nall Sr.
A third brother and son of John Marion Nall's, Carl Richard Nall, Sr., was born in Holmes Co., Mississippi on 4 May 1879. His parents died when he was a small child and he was brought up in the home of his grandparents and later in that of an uncle, Judge W.D. Campbell of Greenwood, Ark. In 1893 Carl Richard, at the age of 14, came to Sherman to make his home with his older brother, Dr. R.B. Nall.  In 1900 as a single man and drug salesman, he was living in Sherman, Grayson Co., Texas.  By 1920, Carl Richard was married and living in a mortgaged home with his wife, his 2 year old son and a private family cook.  The 1940 Sherman Directory lists him as the US Post Master and living at 506 Alexander in Sherman.

Whitewright Sun
Thursday, August 24, 1933
Carl R. Nall, for many years a druggist in Sherman, has been appointed acting postmaster of Sherman, succeeding E.N. Mulky, whose term would have expired in February, 1935.

While the young Mississippian attended Sherman public schools, he worked at Bitting Drug Co., for two years and later with Lankford and Batsell druggists. He was in the employ of this firm when he passed the Texas Pharmaceutical Board Examination in 1900.  In 1907, Mr. Nall became a member of the firm and the name was changed to Lankford, Keith and Nall. In the same year he married Mary Myrtle Lollar on 1 January 1907.  Three years later in 1910 he sold his interest to the late P.C. Keith and established the Nall Drug Co. He operated this store until 1933.  Upon his appointment as postmaster in 1933, he sold the business to William Keith, son of his former partner.
Some of his civic responsibilities were:
  • Sherman postmaster since 1933 and druggist for many years previous
  • Identified with Sherman business and civic life since early youth
  • Past president of the Club and of the Texas Postmasters Association
  • Member of the First Presbyterian Church (Mr. Nall had held several church offices and committee chairmanships)
  • Charter member of Sherman Rotary Club
  • Director of Sherman Chamber of Commerce and the Merchants and Planters National Bank
Carl Richard, Sr. and Mary Myrtle Lollar had children:
  • Carl Richard Nall, Jr.
  • John Thomas Nall
  • Rayburn Marion Nall
  • Mary Asenath Nall


Biography Index
Susan Hawkins
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