“Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County,” published:  
Chicago;  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892.

W. A. GARY, brick contractor and builder, of Dallas, came to this city in 
1886, engaging at his trade, and afterward formed a partnership with Mr. 
Abbott, under the firm name of Abbott & Gary.  Among the principal 
buildings they erected are the Leachman building on Live Oak street, 
Central National Bank, police headquarters on Commerce street, a wholesale 
building on Main street, etc.  The partnership was dissolved in July, 1890, 
and since then Mr. Gary has put up a three-story and basement building on 
the corner of Ervay and Marillo streets, a three-story building opposite the 
city park, a three-story building at the crossing of Ervay street and the Santa 
Fe railroad, etc.  On an average he employs seven skilled masons, besides 
the attendants.

Mr. Gary was born in West Virginia in 1846, the sixth of the thirteen 
children of D. R. and C. O. (Everhart) Gary, natives of the Old Dominion.  
His father was born in Richmond and mother at Harper’s Ferry.  Mr. D. R. 
Gary moved to West Virginia, commencing in life as a carpenter.  For thirty 
years he was superintendent of construction of bridges and tunnels on the 
Baltimore & Ohio railroad from Wheeling to Cumberland and from Grafton 
to Parkersburg, having 300 miles under his supervision.  At length he retired 
from active business life, and he now lives in Columbus, Ohio; his wife also 
is still living.  The subject of this sketch was reared in West Virginia, 
learned his trade in Bloomington, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri, serving 
an apprenticeship of four years.  Next he followed his trade awhile at St. 
Paul and subsequently returned to Columbus, whence he came to Dallas.

He was first married in Wheeling, West Virginia, March 19, 1882, to Amelia 
Hankey, a native of Virginia and a daughter of Charles and Amelia 
(Crumbacker) Hankey.  Her father was born in Germany and her mother in 
Virginia, and they reside in Wheeling, where Mr. Hankey is a cigar 
manufacturer.  Mrs. Gary died in Wheeling, in 1883, and Mr. Gary was 
again married, in Dallas, in 1889, to Clara Hilliard, a native of London, 
England, and a daughter of Edward Hilliard, now of Shreveport, Louisiana, 
and by this marriage there is one child, by name Nelie May.

r. Hilliard married Mrs. C. M. Packinham, who was born in England in 1841 
and died in Dallas December 23, 1886, leaving ten children—seven sons and 
three daughters.

Mr. Gary is zealously interested in the welfare of his country, voting the 
Democratic ticket.  As to the societies, he is a member of Joseph Dowdell 
Lodge, No. 144, K. of P., at Columbus, Ohio, and of Cozor de Lion Lodge, 
Uniformed Rank, K. of P., of Dallas.

Submitted by: Justina Cook