William Graham Barron (1858-1937) was born in Arkansas and lived in Timpson and Nacogdoches, Texas. He had a wife named Cordelia and five children. Various census records list his occupation as a mechanical engineer, plumber, and carpenter. He built the first windmill and water tower located just east of the historic Redland Hotel in 1898; a photograph in the collection shows Barron at the top of the windmill. Another photograph in the collection shows Barron and his children in a wagon with an advertisement for his plumbing services; he also sold bathroom fixtures. Barron and another Nacogdoches man, Alexander F. Demory, applied for and received a U.S. patent in 1903 for a petroleum-oil-burner. Barron died in 1937 and was buried at the Caledonia Cemetery in Rusk, Texas.

Source Information:

Davis, Kathryn Hooper. 1910 Census, Nacogdoches County, Texas. Nacogdoches: Ericson Books, 2018.

“Petroleum-Oil-Burner.” The Portal to Texas History. Online at https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth509034/ (accessed 8 March 2018).

“William Graham Barron.” Find A Grave. Online at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25983914/william-graham-barron (accessed 8 March 2018).