One of the alert and enterprising business men of Nowata is Fred C. Hall, secretary and manager of the Henderson Gasoline Company, with offices in the First National Bank building. He was born in Galt, Illinois, on the 15th of October, 1883. His father, William Boyd Hall, was a native of New York and removed to Illinois at an early day, where he followed farming. His death occurred in 1885. William B. Hall married Miss Alice Buck, a native of Illinois. Her death occurred in Nowata in 1919.
In the acquirement of an education Fred C. Hall attended the schools of St. Joseph, Missouri, until he completed the eighth grade, after which he went to work, furthering his education by attending night school. In that way he contributed to the support of his mother, while he was getting an education, and in 1894 he went with her to Coffeyville, Kansas. At that place he conducted a shop where he sold all Kansas City papers and he likewise operated pop corn wagons, achieving substantial success in both connections. In 1900 he entered railroad service, becoming an employee in the clerical department of the Missouri Pacific road, and his conscientious performance of every duty assigned him won him constant promotion from one position to another, until he had been active in every position from yard clerk to chief clerk in both freight and passenger departments. In 1906 he was appointed chief clerk of freight and passenger service and he held that office until the 12th of August, 1913, when he was transferred to Nowata as passenger and freight agent. He was active in that capacity here until the 15th of June, 1918, when he resigned his position with the Missouri Pacific and accepted his present position as secretary of the Henderson Gasoline Company, at their head office in the First National Bank Building here. The Henderson Gasoline Company is one of the largest concerns of its kind in the state and maintains other offices in New York, Fort Worth, Texas, and El Dorado, Arkansas. They ship from ninety to one hundred cars of gasoline per month and they are also crude oil producers, having approximately twenty-two wells in Arkansas, eighteen in Oklahoma, ten in Louisiana, and four in Texas. Some time ago Mr. Hall and a friend installed an oil and gasoline filling station and this business venture has proved a splendid investment. Mr. Hall is a versatile young man, and has also achieved substantial success in the life insurance business, writing some three hundred thousand dollars worth in Nowata County. He is always ready to take advantage of every opportunity to advance himself.
On the 3d of March, 1903, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Hall to Miss Bessie Edith Ayer, a daughter of O. P. and Anna C. Ayer, and a native of New York state. To their union five children have been born: Wallace, ten years of age who is attending school and is a member of the Boys Band; Bernice Enola; Anna Lynn; Razzela; and Helen Lois. Mr. and Mrs. Hall were baptized into the Christian Church at Coffeyville, Kansas, on the 8th of February, 1909, and are now members of the Church of that denomination at Nowata, Oklahoma.
Mr. Hall is one of the five commissioners of Nowata and also acts as city Treasurer. Under the commission form of government the city is advancing rapidly and the commissioners are contemplating the erection of an electric light plant. The water service alone is netting the city from fifteen hundred to two thou-sand dollars per month. Fraternally Mr. Hall is identified with the Masons and he has had the honor of being one of the first railroad agents invited to join the Missouri Pacific Club, a well known railroad organization. The progressive steps in the life of Mr. Hall are easily discernible and each forward move has brought him a broader outlook and wider opportunities. He has never left anything to chance but has labored to acquaint himself with every phase of business with which he has been connected and thus has gradually advanced to the prominent position he occupies in Nowata and throughout the County.