In the vocabulary of this gentleman there is no such word as "fail." Notwithstanding the fact that he has met with many and heavy financial reverses, he has always been found to "bob up serenely" and once more plunge into business life with renewed zeal, determination and earnestness. He has for years been prominently connected with the lumber manufacturing interests of Texas, and at the present time is the very efficient general manager of the Crystal Springs Lumber Company at Stryker, Texas, the main office being 118 Main street, Houston, Texas.

Mr. Angle is a native of New Jersey, born January 18, 1845, a son of Abram and Mary (Stryker) Angle, the former of whom was born in Warren county, New Jersey, grandson of David Angle and John Stryker, and great-grandson of Paul Angle, who was one of the first settlers on the upper Delaware, purchasing under King George. D. M. Angle is the eldest of four children born to his parents, the other members of the family being: George W., of Velasco, Texas; Samantha, deceased; and Sarah, wife of Henry Farker. The father of the subject of this sketch died when the latter was about eleven years of age, and he was the eldest of the family, and was compelled to begin the battle of life when young. He received only a common-school education, finishing with a term or two at the Lenni Lenape Institute, of New Jersey. At about the age of twenty years he secured employment on the old New Jersey Central Railroad, was later with the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, in the freight department at Hoboken, New Jersey, and finally abandoned this life to open a clothing establishment at Easton, Pennsylvania, which he sold at the end of five years to come to Houston, in 1874, for the benefit of his health.

The climate in this section agreed with him, the country pleased him, and he soon decided to enter business here, opening a commission house in Houston, but closed it soon after to organize the Willis Manufacturing Company, at Willis, Texas, the incorporators being himself, W. D. Cleveland, and B. A. Botts. They also conducted a general store at that place and did a very prosperous business, but eventually Mr. Angle became the sole proprietor by lease for a time, soon after which he constructed a sawmill plant in Walker county, at Angle Station, and did a remarkably large and profitable business for about three years. The entire plant was then consumed by fire, without a dollar of insurance on it, and the loss was estimated to reach $25,000, including a large stock of lumber and machinery. Nothing daunted, he moved what available machinery there was to Polk county, Texas, and organized the Angle Lumber Company, which did a large business for about two years, when this plant also caught fire and burned to the ground, together with about 3,000,000 feet of lumber, the total loss being some $35,000. On the same ground Mr. Angle at once began the work of rebuilding, and after the plant was completed successfully operated it for two years, when the "fire fiend" once more swept away his possessions, the planing mill and lumber alone being saved on this occasion. This loss reached the $18,000 mark, but Mr. Angle was not one of the kind to give way to despair, for on a still more elaborate scale he rebuilt the mill; but, owing to the numerous heavy losses which he had sustained, it went into the hands of a receiver in 1892. However, for one year thereafter he managed the business for J. W. Roberts, the receiver, and then the plant was disposed of. Soon after this Mr. Angle organized the Crystal Springs Lumber Company, "of which J. W. Roberts was made superintendent and Mr. Angle general manager, and a business of large proportions has since been done, both the sawmill and planing mill averaging 75,000 feet daily. Mr. Angle deserves much credit for the manly and courageous way in which he met and surmounted the numerous financial difficulties which have strewn his pathway, and his career should be emulated by those who are but too ready to succumb when reverses overtake them. He is a prominent and successful millman, and one whose business ability is recognized throughout the State.

While he has been wholly devoted to business pursuits and chiefly to those of a private nature, he has nevertheless found time to take some interest in local enterprises of a general nature, and has always stood ready to give his support to any movement looking to the advancement of the welfare of the community in which he has resided. He, associated with others, organized the Houston Printing Company, for some time publishers of the Daily Tribune, and he was also the chief promoter of the Texas Building and Manufacturing Company, of Houston, the object of which was the manufacture of portable houses, this enterprise, however, never having been fully carried out on account of the heavy losses sustained by Mr. Angle by fire about the time it was set on foot.

On the 19th of April, 1869, he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Lommasson, daughter of Lawrence Lommasson, of New Jersey, to which union four children have been given: W. Verner, George B., Mala, and Marshall. Mr., and Mrs. Angle are members of the Presbyterian Church, and are highly regarded in the social circles of Houston.