FLORENCE J. HALL, filling the office of chief of police of El Paso and well known as a representative of the cattle industry of Texas, is descended from an old southern family, and was born in Elbert county, Georgia, April 15, 1850, his parents being Asa and Martha (Adams) Hall. The father was born in South Carolina but spent the greater part of his life in Georgia, where both he and his wife died.
In his youth Florence J. Hall came to Texas, arriving in the fall of 1866. He located first at Marshall, where he lived for a year, and then went to Gainesville, where he made his home and headquarters for about thirty-seven years. During all this period he was connected with the cattle interests of the state, and for many years has been one of the prominent, successful and well known cattlemen of Texas. He began as a cowboy in the early days of the industry in this state and worked with many of the old-time cattlemen whose names are familiar in connection with the cattle industry of Texas, including the Gunters, Waggoners, Burk Burnett, E. B. Harrold and many others. As time passed Mr. Hall gradually collected a herd of his own and eventually became an extensive cattle owner, conducting his operations from his Gainesville headquarters until the early part of 1900, when he came to the west and established his headquarters at El Paso. The ranch which he leases and operates with the assistance of his son, F. N. Hall, is a property of many thousand acres, lying in Donna Ana county, and one of the adjoining counties of New Mexico. They have about eight thousand head of cattle. He is thoroughly familiar with the cattle interests and has kept in touch with the progress that has been made as the breeds of cattle have been improved, as the open range has given way before the ranches with their modern equipments, and as a transformation has been wrought in the methods of the cattleman until to-day Texas stands foremost among the stock-raising states of the country.
Mr. Hall was united in marriage to Miss Agnes E. Norwood, of Sherman, Texas, a daughter of Dr. A. T. Norwood, of that city, and they have four children: Mrs. Stella Edwards, the wife of B. B. Edwards, of El Paso; F. N. Hall, who is associated with his father in business; and two children, Florence Bell and Asa Dougherty at home.
In the fall of 1904 Mr. Hall was appointed chief of police under the administration of Mayor Morehead, and was re-appointed in the spring of 1905 when the present Mayor Davis administration was inaugurated. He has made a fine record as a police official and is an unusually popular man. It has been under his guidance that the closing up gambling houses has been accomplished—a fact that has brought pleasant fame to El Paso. He is prompt and fearless in the discharge of his duties and it is such men who, conserving the interests of law and order, make a community which, as an attractive place of residence, is unsurpassed.
Source: B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. I, p. 457.