Jacob William "Will" Garner, born in Burleson Co., TX - Son of Jacob Harmon and Minerva Virginia Jackson.

Brother of Virginia M "Jennie" and Rachel Emma Garner.

Half-Brother of Andrew Houston, Arthur, Leonard Claiborne Isaac, Mary, Joseph Harmon "Joe", Boyd Edward "Edd", Annie Maud and Eva Lee Garner.

Will married, 15 May 1898, Fannie Lou Bonds, a daughter of John H Bonds and Lillian Clement.

Will and Fannie had no children.

Grandson of Isaac Garner Sr and Mary Ann Decker.

Will died in Rockdale, Milam Co., TX.
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The Rockdale Reporter and Messenger (Rockdale, Tex.)
Vol. 87, No. 44, Ed. 1
Thursday, November 12, 1959
Page: 1 of 15

J. W. GARNER . . .
Veteran Rockdale
Attorney, 89, Dies

J. W. Garner, 89, veteran Rockdale attorney, died Friday afternoon at Richards Clinic and Hospital here following a lengthy illness. He had practiced law for 57 years in Rockdale.

Mr. Garner, who would have celebrated his 90th birthday this Sunday, entered Scott and White Memorial Hospital in Temple for treatment in August. He returned to his home here before entering the local hospital for care on September 28.

Funeral services were held Sunday at 2 p. m. at the Phillips and Luckey chapel here, with the Rev. Robert A. Greaves pastor of St. John's Methodist Church officiating. Burial was held in Oak Lawn Cemetery. Assisting with the services was the Rev. M. M. Fulmer, pastor of the First Baptist Church here.

Bar Association
All members of the Milam County Bar Association were named honorary pall bearers. Acting pallbearers were Harold Luckey, L. D. Barnes, H. H. Coffield, Arthur T. McDaniel, H. D. Maxwell, T. B. Ryan, Conn R. Isaacs, and Preston H. Perry.

Mr. Garner was often described as a man of "boundless energy' and his numerous activities and interests throughout life included work as a city alderman, bank president, department store president, all in addition to his law practice.

He was born in Burleson County some 14 miles southeast of Rockdale on November 15, 1869, the son of Jacob H. and Minerva Jackson Garner. His father was a farmer.

To Milam
The family moved to Milam County, settling in the Salty community when J. W. Garner was three years old. There, he was raised, received his early schooling, and studied in area schools during the higher grades.

Friends recall that when in his teens, he helped drive 1500 sheep from Bartlett to Sonora by foot.

In 1890 he began teaching at the old Millerton school which was situated in the present location of Alcoa's Rockdale Works. The teaching position following study
See GARNER, page 6
GARNER--
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at Summer Normal in Giddings.

One-Teacher Schools
He also served as instructor at one-teacher schools at Hamilton Chapel and Watson Branch before enrolling at Southwestern University at Georgetown for a year of higher study. This was followed by two years of teaching at the Leechville school in the Tracy community.

During these years, Mr. Garner spent many hours each day reading law, and in the fall of 1896 he passed the oral bar examinations and came to Rockdale to begin practice as an attorney. He joined George C. Clement in partnership, and the firm added another partner. W. K. Clement, shortly after.

Practiced Alone
The Clement brothers died within a few years, and since 1907 Mr. Garner had practiced alone until his partial retirement six years ago, on December 21, 1953. Until his recent illness, however, he continued to keep a desk in his office building where he transacted private business and attended to matters for old clients who refused to give him up.

Other than his law practice, he served as president of the old First National Bank during it existence here, was president of Scarbrough and Hicks Company until it was destroyed by fire in 1933.

He became a director of the Thorndale State Bank in January of 1910, three years after it was founded, and was made president of the bank December 31, 1927. Until recently, he never missed a directors' meeting at the bank.

City Attorney
Mr. Garner served for two years as City Attorney here, was for six years a member of the city council. It was during his membership on the council that Rockdale got its paved streets and natural gas. He also served for some years on the Rockdale school board.

He had faith in Rockdale's vast lignite deposits and believed that some day this lignite would bring industry and growth to Rockdale. He saw his visions become a reality with the coming of Alcoa and Industrial Generating Company in 1952.

Mr. Garner had purchased lignite land for leasing during the days when cities and colleges were using it for fuel, and in 1934 he bought more of this land even though gas and oil had slowed the market for lignite as a fuel.

In recent years, he had buyers for all of his lignite holdings.

Mr. Garner was married to Miss Fannie Lou Bonds on May 15, 1898, a union that lasted for 56 1/2 years until her death December 8, 1954. During the years that followed, he continued to reside in the home where the couple had been since 1913.

Mr. Garner was a member of St. John's Methodist Church. He is survived by a sister, Mrs. Rachel Jennings of Abilene; a niece, Mrs. Willie Montgomery, also of Abilene; a sister-in-law, Mrs. Fulbright Mays of Goldwaithe; and a brother-in-law, Buck Bonds of Cameron.