W.A. Oatman
Master Craftsman
~
by W.S. (Bill) Smith ~ photos courtesy W. S. (Bill) Smith
W
Arthur
Oatman,
carpenter, c.
1911-1912
taken shortly
before he
moved to
Marfa
Arthur Oatman designer, c. 1913, after arriving in Marfa
hen young Art Oatman was
growing up along the banks of
Cherry Creek in Kerr
County, Texas, amidst the lush oak,
mesquite and juniper forests of the
Texas Hill Country, it never occurred to
him that he might spend the rest of his
life in the arid desert of West Texas. His
father, Sheppard Oatman, was an itiner-
ant school teacher who taught one-room
schools all over the Hill Country and
whose family had immigrated to
Bastrop, Texas, from Indiana and
Missouri in 1850. His mother, Clara
Banta Oatman, came from pioneer
stock and was used to the rigors of fron-
tier life. Her family came to Texas from
Indiana in 1837.
Art and his nine brothers and sisters
lived an idyllic life on the banks of the
Cherry, born into an extended family of
scholars, physicians, diarists and devout
Christadelphians who delighted in
spending family reunion time holding
debates, reciting poetry and staging
impromptu plays.
But that sweet time of youth all too
soon turned sour when, in 1899, on his
12th birthday, Art’s mother collapsed
and died from childbirth complications.
Art’s family disintegrated a week later
when the youngest children were
farmed out to Banta aunts and uncles,
and the older children stayed with their
father. Art left home at 13 and drifted for
several years. Eventually opportunity
arose, and he apprenticed to a building
contractor in San Antonio who was con-
structing fine Victorian homes in the
King William district.
Over the next few years, he taught
himself geometry, trigonometry and
drafting from books in the library and
practiced his manual skills on the job, all
to perfect his craft. But he yearned to go
into business for himself. So, early in
1913, Art reduced his belongings to a
few handbags, hopped the first west-
bound train and soon landed in Marfa,
where building was booming.
It didn’t take long for an experienced
cabinetmaker to land a job at the con-
struction site for the palacial Brite
Home, which was being built on the
west side of Marfa for prominent
Presidio County ranchers. His skill soon
became known, and he hired on for
other jobs, but he wanted to be his own
D AVIS M OUNTAINS
N UT C OMPANY
boss. When he was awarded the con-
tract for the Anderson Gift Store in
downtown Marfa, his career was off and
running.
Art worked on many Big Bend
homes and buildings that were con-
structed in the early teens and 20s. He
was a gifted craftsman and an able
supervisor, and people quickly learned
to appreciate his abilities and his quick
wit. But he was a tad wild and especial-
ly loved to play practical jokes, so his
workers had to be vigilant.
In mid-1913 he was hired to work on
the new Limpia Hotel annex being built
in Fort Davis, so he moved his operations
to that city. Fort Davis was a smaller
community than Marfa (and to his con-
sternation, dry!), so he found himself
attending the Baptist Church on
Sundays, probably more to check out
the local young ladies than to replenish
his spirit.
Though raised a Christadelphian, a
small sect centered in Central Texas
and whose most famous adherents were
Sam Johnson and his son Lyndon
Baines and family, Art had led a contro-
versial life in his church. A church tenet
required total immersion baptism for
salvation, and young Art caused a stir at
his baptism when one arm stubbornly
refused to go under the baptismal
waters, remaining high and dry. Church
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8
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Cenizo
First Quarter 2010
WEST TEXAS WEEKLY
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