Benjamin Franklin Chambers II
Written by Justin D. Lamb
(Courtesy of Marshall County Archives)
The son of Enos Chambers and Mary Elizabeth Brown, Benjamin Franklin “Frank” Chambers II was born December 30, 1877 near Fairdealing and named after his grandfather, Benjamin Franklin Chambers, Sr. When Chambers was four years old, his father passed away and his mother remarried to Lorenzo D. Burpoe, but the marriage was cut short when Burpoe died in 1889. Chambers’ mother married for a third time to Samuel McKinney Watkins in the 1890s.
Chambers attended school in the rural Marshall County schools, and following completion, he spent his early career as a teacher throughout Marshall County. He moved to Benton in the 1890s and was hired by Benton Attorney W. Mike Oliver to serve as editor and publisher of the Benton Tribune. According to The History of the Tribune Courier written by S. Rayburn Watkins, Chambers had a “nose for news and a head for business” and the newspaper prospered under his direction eventually becoming a semi-weekly paper. The paper soon became the dominate newspaper in Benton. A few years later, the newspaper was acquired by former County Judge Elias Barry, who merged his paper, the Marshall County Democrat, with the Benton Tribune and formed the Tribune-Democrat. Chambers was hired by Barry to serve as editor and publisher of the Tribune-Democrat.
Chambers left Marshall County and the newspaper business in 1908 and relocated to Beaumont, Texas where he became engaged in a successful lumber and building materials business. Chambers’ eye was soon caught by the Texas Oil Boom of the early 20th century and he spent many hours in the Texas Oil Fields. Chambers eventually became very wealthy from his oil ventures and he became controller of the old Atlantic Pipeline Company.
Chambers never returned to Marshall County and died on March 26, 1946 in Grand Falls, Texas while on a trouble shooting expedition in the Texas oil fields. He was buried in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Beaumont, Texas.