The Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, Volume 20, Number 1, November 1984 Page: 71
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RECORDS OF THE NONA MILLS COMPANY, INC. (1884-1968)
Pipkin, an early secretary-treasurer; Charles Butler, Jr., and W. C. Gilbert,
Jr., of Mr. John N. Gilbert, an early president. The donors were likewise
administrators of the Company. Wilbur Carroll Gilbert, Jr., succeeding his
father, bears the Carroll name as a namesake of George W. Carroll, son
of the founder, F. L. Carroll, and an original stockholder in the company.
History of the Nona Mills Company
Of the roster of flourishing pioneer lumber companies of East Texas,
the Nona Mills Company of Southeast Texas and Northwest Louisiana sur-
passed them all in vigorous longevity, the life-span of the company having
extended to 84 years (1884-1968). From the charter and the initial certificates
of capital stock, dated October 21, 1884, we learn that the date of found-
ing was 1884 and the founder was F. L. Carroll (Francis Lafayette Carroll,
1831-1906), whose name is inscribed on the first forty-nine certificates. The
sequence is then interrupted by a gap of lost certificates before it is re-
sumed. Frank Carroll was a thoroughly experienced lumberman, and the
company could count also among its first stockholders and able directors
such stalwart citizens and experienced businessmen as John N. Gilbert, L.
B. Pipkin, George W. Carroll, M. W. Carroll, John C. Ward, and G. R.
Ferguson of Leesville, Louisiana.
Of the two related companies, the Nona Mills Company, Inc., of Texas
was the parent organization and one of the pioneer lumber manufacturing
businesses in the state of Texas. It had its headquarters at Beaumont, but
a plant of the company was located at Odelia, Texas. At Nona, Texas
(formerly Carroll Station), in Hardin County, a flag stop on the Texas and
New Orleans Railroad, another mill of the company was established in 1884.
According to the Handbook of Texas, the date of the "establishment" of
this mill "by the Nona Mills Company of Beaumont" was the year 1879,
but this would pre-date the founding of the Beaumont-based company, for
whom the year 1884 is documented by the charter and the official stock
certificates.1 There is evidence, however, that a mill at this location was
1Walter Prescott Webb, ed., The Handbook of Texas, Vol. II (Austin: The Texas State
Historical Association, 1952), 283.Nov. 1984]
71
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Texas Gulf Historical Society. The Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, Volume 20, Number 1, November 1984, periodical, November 1984; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1433655/m1/73/?rotate=90: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Gulf Historical Society.