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CONTENTS. 
 
 STATE OF TEXAS. 
 
 General Political History : 
 
 The name "Texas" 9 
 
 Topography 9 
 
 1 )iscovery 13 
 
 Texas Comparativclv Liiknovvn till Recently. 13 
 
 Catholic Missions .: IT 
 
 The New Civilization. : 18 
 
 Philip Nolan 18 
 
 Political Chanties 21 
 
 The " Pirate of the Ciilf " 25 
 
 Political Chanties, continued 2(5 
 
 The Austins.: 29 
 
 The Austin's Colony 31 
 
 The Empresario System 34 
 
 Influence of the New Inimiscration 3.5 
 
 The Labor System '; 36 
 
 Political ana Kelisious InH.lerance 37 
 
 Education 37 
 
 Religion 38 
 
 Final Pvevolution 38 
 
 Separation of Texas from Coahuila 43 
 
 Battle of San Antonio 48 
 
 The Alamo -50 
 
 The Goliad Massacre 53 
 
 San Jacinto 55 
 
 The Independence Convention .59 
 
 The Declaration of Independence 60 
 
 Flag of the Lcme Star 63 
 
 Forei-ii Kclatinns at That Tune 63 
 
 Early l.e.i.slaiiwn 64 
 
 A Rebellion 69 
 
 -Indians 70 
 
 Santa Fe Expedition 71 
 
 Locationof the Capital ^. _~' 
 
 Recognition of Te>:as h\ i- ureii^n Powers. ... 73 
 
 Lamar's and llnii-;tiins A.lnunistrations 73 
 
 Mexican War 74 
 
 " Moderators "ami ■' RiL;iil,iti)rs" 75 
 
 The War Cloud 76 
 
 Texas Annexed to the United States. 78 
 
 To Arms 78 
 
 Events after the War 81 
 
 Indian Colonization 83 
 
 Current of E; vents 85 
 
 The " Cart War " 86 
 
 Political Parties 86 
 
 Signs of the (_ limine: Storm .... 87 
 
 The Storm llroken Forth 91 
 
 After the W.ir 94 
 
 Recon.struction Period 95 
 
 New Constitutions, etc 102 
 
 Greer County 103 
 
 General Reflections 104 
 
 Governors of Texas. List of 105 
 
 BloGKAPIIirAI N.>TIl i.,s 106 
 
 EureATU.N 129 
 
 (^TIIFK St.xti'. IxsiTirTinxs 142 
 
 Rki-K.i.in 146 
 
 TllK PRFSS 147 
 
 K.MLK^AO^ 147 
 
 MlNKKAI, Rksovkcks 149 
 
 A<.KirrLTlKi: 187 
 
 Climatf. 199 
 
 Priu.i. 1,.\M)S 201 
 
 TiiF CorMii s 206 
 
 Cfi II ^ AM. 1 kincipal Towns 210 
 
 Mr-< I 1 1 \M -I s : 
 
 "IncImu 1 leiiredations in Texas" — Wilbar- 
 ger s iHuik 222 
 
 The Fort Parker Massacre 222 
 
 Cynthia Ann Parker 2.31 
 
 A Comanche Princess 238 
 
 Game ."Vnimals 241 
 
 Fearful Encounter w^ith a Bear 241 
 
 Yellow Fever 242 
 
 Dawson and Sims 242 
 
 Te.\a§ Veteran Association 243 
 
 Suffrage 243 
 
 -~~~;g^rn^tions from Taxation 243 
 
 Exemptions from ■V^^'^-ed Sale m 
 
 Texas at the World's Fai. : ^44 
 
 Illustrations : 
 
 Austin, Stephen F 
 
 Church of the Alamo 50 
 
 Church of the Conception 17 
 
 Church of San Juan \j 
 
 Houston, Sam 55 
 
 Ruins Near San Jose, etc 17 
 
 Santa Anna Before General Houston 58 
 
 State Capitol 71 
 
 V 
 
/ 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS 
 
 SUPPLEMENTED WITH 
 
 Biographical Mention of Many Prominent Per- 
 sons and Families of the State. 
 
 A Concise History of the State from its Earliest Settlement to the Present 
 
 Date; Together with Biographical Sketches of Many of the 
 
 Leading F'amilies of 
 
 CENTRAL TEXAS, 
 
 BIOGRAPHY IS THE ONLY TRUE HISTORY."— Emei 
 
 CHICAGO : 
 The Lewis Publishing Company. 
 1896. * 
 
 -l^-7 
 
l(>25;i 
 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Addison, N. C 
 
 Ainswortli, Edward 
 Alexander. I. H.... 
 Allard.A. it 
 
 710 
 
 603 
 
 291 
 
 353 
 
 Anderson, A. B. , . . 
 Andrews \V A 
 
 ... 400 
 
 . 384 
 
 Arendell, T.J 
 
 Arrington, ]. E 
 
 491 
 
 816 
 
 B 
 
 813 
 
 Baird, C. P 
 
 Baldwin, X. C 
 
 Banowsky, G. F. L. . . . 
 
 Barbae, Elias 
 
 Barry, G. C, Sr 
 
 Bass, J. K 
 
 Beach, B. F 
 
 Belcher, James L . . . . 
 
 Bell, J. R 
 
 Berry, F. M 
 
 Berry, J. D ;S9U 
 
 Bertrand, Fritz (541 
 
 Biffle, H. P 595 
 
 Biggs, R. A 555 
 
 Birdwell, 1. M 427 
 
 Bishop, I.W 749 
 
 Bishop, W. C 362 
 
 Blair, I. R 433 
 
 Blankinship, |. B 540 
 
 Bnler, lohn.; 550 
 
 Boiton.'I. \V 619 
 
 Booker, G. L 316 
 
 Boynton, CM 816 
 
 Brannan, J. C 765 
 
 Briant, S. A 324 
 
 Brock, G.F 503 
 
 Brock, Lewis 620 
 
 Brooks, J. V 343 
 
 Broughton, N. W 594 
 
 Brown, Thomas 626 
 
 Bruington, J. M 460 
 
 Brumbelow, L 448 
 
 Bryan, Nick 412 
 
 
 .. 805 
 
 Bryson, J. H 
 
 .. 633 
 
 Bryson, J. R 
 
 . 691 
 
 Buchanan, P. C 
 
 .. 685 
 
 Bull, J. W 
 
 . 634 
 
 Bulman, H. J 
 
 .. 602 
 
 
 
 Burks, T. J 
 
 .. 345 
 
 Burks, W.C 
 
 .. 267 
 
 Burns, \Vm. C 
 
 
 Burroughs, C. S 
 
 ,. 341 
 
 BurniU'di'^ Win 
 
 342 
 
 Byrd Will r 
 
 . 750 
 
 C 
 
 
 Caraway, Jesse 
 
 .. 311 
 
 Caraway,L.J 
 
 .. 312 
 
 Carlton, F. M 
 
 .. 764 
 
 Carlton, S. L 
 
 .. 517 
 
 Carman, C. M 
 
 .. 508 
 
 Carnes, C. W 
 
 .. 754 
 
 Carter, H.J 
 
 .. 704 
 
 Chancellor, Frank 
 
 .. 830 
 
 Chandler, E.H 
 
 .. 712 
 
 Chandler, J. N 
 
 . . 305 
 
 Clark, J. A 
 
 .. 389 
 
 Cleveland, F. M 
 
 .. 493 
 
 Cobbs, Thomas 
 
 . 477 
 
 Collett, O. C 
 
 . 616 
 
 Condron, R. N 
 
 .. 351 
 
 Conlcv, F. M 
 
 . . 459 
 
 Conwav, |..hii 
 
 . 739 
 
 Oh.ihm-, AInn/n 
 
 .. 442 
 
 Cooper, X. L 
 
 .. 314 
 
 Courtney, T. | 
 
 .. 669 
 
 Cowan, Isaac F 
 
 .. 417 
 
 Cox, Alfred 
 
 .. 784 
 
 Cox, Jesse 
 
 .. 580 
 
 Cox, Wm. D 
 
 .. 355 
 
 Crawford, Wm. C 
 
 .. 650 
 
 Crews, Leonidas 
 
 .. 264 
 
 Cunningham, A 
 
 802 
 
 Cureton, R.A 
 
 .. 320 
 
 Cureton, J. J 
 
 .. 274 
 
 Cureton, W. E 
 
 .. 273 
 
 D 
 
 Dabney, E. T 611 
 
 Dabney, J. B 532 
 
 Dabney, J. W 506 
 
 Dahl, Peter 444 
 
 Daniel, D. F 637 
 
 Danley, Isaac 509 
 
 Daughtry, A. J 667 
 
 Davidson, J.J 636 
 
 Davis, L. M 667 
 
 Davis, N. ,S 488 
 
 Davis, Wm. H 558 
 
 Dawdy, J. S 638 
 
 Daws, William 678 
 
 Day, James 443 
 
 Deaton, E. L 767 
 
 Deals, Thomas A 563 
 
 Deaver, Wm. C 664 
 
 Deen, Thomas H 369 
 
 Denison, G. H 309 
 
 Dillard, H. S 504 
 
 Dockum, Charles 350 
 
 Duckworth, W. J 379 
 
 Dunlap, T. 1 656 
 
 Dunn, A. G.B 296 
 
 Dyer, John 623 
 
 E 
 
 Edwards, J. H 406 
 
 Eidson, I. A 271 
 
 Elam, T."L 497 
 
 Ellis, t. J. & Co 285 
 
 Emison. David 420 
 
 Ethridge, W. S 358 
 
 Ewell, Thomas T 552 
 
 F 
 
 Ferguson, James 823 
 
 Fielder, Wm. A 420 
 
 Flinn, Benj. H 601 
 
 Formwalt, 1. A 359 
 
 Foster, A. B 330 
 
 Foster, H. C 631 
 
 Francis, Clay 813 
 
 A 
 
 ^ 
 
 A 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Francis, Edward 
 Freeland, G. \V 
 
 Gaines, Joseph \\ 
 Garner, Claiborn. 
 
 Garrett, B.W 
 
 Gate wood, A. B.. 
 
 Gentry, F. B 
 
 Gentry, Jonathan. 
 
 Gentry, W. G 
 
 George, J. C...... 
 
 Gilbreath, A. J... 
 
 GiUett, L. E 
 
 Glenn, A. J 
 
 Glenn, W. B 
 
 Goodwin, E. T. . . 
 Goodwin, J. C.... 
 
 Gordon, J. B 
 
 Gordon, L. F. . . . 
 
 Grace, M. B 
 
 Green, A. E 
 
 Griffith, Hardin.. 
 
 Griffith, J. A 
 
 Guthrie, J. W..., 
 
 H 
 
 Hamick,T. J 
 
 Hanbv, S 
 
 Handy, D. S 
 
 Hanson, J. H 
 
 Hare, Benjamin 
 
 Harlow, J. S 
 
 Harris, B. F 
 
 Harris, G.W 
 
 Harris, LA 
 
 Hart, A. J 
 
 Harvev, lohn 
 
 Hatchett, W. P 
 
 Haves, |. L 
 
 Helm, W. S 
 
 Helton, J. K 
 
 Hensley, J. C 
 
 Hendrix, D. C 
 
 Henlev, R.I 
 
 Herring, Mark 
 
 Herrington, J. L 
 
 Hickey. W. W 
 
 Hicks, Wm.B.. ...._.. 
 
 Higginhotham, W. G.. 
 
 Hines, Wm. W 
 
 Hinkle, J.W 
 
 Hinkle, Win 
 
 Holder, L.E 
 
 Holland, R. M 
 
 Hnllis, B. L 
 
 Hollnwav, W. M 
 
 HolUnvood, L 
 
 Holmes, F. D 
 
 Holmes, \V. K 
 
 Holmsley, T. J 
 
 Holt, H. L 
 
 Hooker, Thomas 
 
 Howard, Philip 
 
 Howard, Mrs. Philip.. 
 
 Fidton, James M "^'^ 
 
 .. 743 
 .. 481 
 , . 729 
 .. 272 
 
 Howell, J. L 
 
 Hubbert, T. J. 
 HunilK-rson,W. 
 
 Hunt, John U.. 
 Hurk'V, Moses. 
 
 Jackson, Andrew. 
 
 Jackson, G. E 
 
 Jackson, J. C 
 
 Jackson, J. P 
 
 Jackson, Philip... 
 
 Jackson, S. A 
 
 Jackson, Wm. C. 
 
 James, J. T 
 
 Jaquess, J. A 
 
 Johnson, Bart 
 
 Johnson, J. H 
 
 Johnson, J.J 
 
 Johnson, W.M... 
 Johnston, C. N. . . 
 
 Jones, A. M 
 
 Jones, M. G 
 
 Jones, J. W 
 
 Tones, W. C 
 
 Jordan, J. P 
 
 Jordan, W. H . . . 
 Joyce, W.R 
 
 415 
 714 
 . 2.54 
 . 643 
 . 367 
 . 467 
 . 812 
 . 624 
 . ,52.5 
 . 472 
 . 642 
 . 42.5 
 . 476 
 . 4.51 
 . 578 
 . 576 
 .. 721 
 . . 392 
 .. 398 
 . . 249 
 .. 251 
 
 . 674 
 , . 395 
 , . 828 
 .. 676 
 .. 329 
 .. 654 
 . . 421 
 .. 402 
 . 292 
 .. 376 
 .. 465 
 .. 653 
 .. 7.53 
 .. 408 
 .. 737 
 .. 734 
 
 Luker, J.W 
 
 Lumpkin, James J., 
 
 M 
 
 .... 690 
 . ... 705 
 
 ... 810 
 . . . . 4.54 
 . . . 813 
 
 ... 699 
 . ... 560 
 . ..306 
 .... 807 
 
 604 
 630 
 
 777 
 748 
 544 
 
 Kav, H.P •"•,e 
 
 Keith, 1. H 2^' 
 
 Kellum, E.G. P f^ 
 
 Kennedy, A 646 
 
 Kiker,B. M 440 
 
 Kilgore, E. E S8.j 
 
 King, Henry ^t,9 
 
 King, Shelby. ^.2 
 
 King, Thomas B f- 
 
 Kooken,R.A ^^^ 
 
 Lacy,H.R 2iX 
 
 Lackey, A. A {°" 
 
 Laine D. B ^63 
 
 Landers,' Abel" 30J 
 
 Lanford,W.C 549 
 
 Larned,F.S f^ 
 
 Laughlin.B. F |27 
 
 Lewis, T.Y ^U 
 
 Lidia,G.W 
 
 Lockett, O. L 
 
 Lockhart, J. C. R 
 
 Logan, J. C 
 
 Lomax, S. S 
 
 Long, John S 
 
 Lonk.W.T.. .. 
 
 Loudermilk, H. (- 
 
 Loudermilk, R. C 
 
 Loutherhack, C 
 
 Loyd, Simpson 
 
 Ludwig, John 
 
 Luker, G.W 
 
 Main, John C 
 
 Major, J. F 
 
 Martin, J. P 
 
 Martin, H. R 
 
 Massey, N. A 
 
 Matthews, J. J.. • ■ 
 Matthews, Mack... 
 
 Maxwell, Wm 
 
 May, George W... 
 McAnelly,W. B... 
 
 McCamey, J. C 
 
 McCarty,J.F..... 
 McCarty,Wm. N., 
 McCarty, W. P... 
 McCulloch,W.H 
 McCuUum, J. W.. 
 McDermott, G. C. 
 McElhaney, C. L. 
 
 McGuire, J. A.. 
 
 McGuire, John E ojd 
 
 Mclnturff, J. W 443 
 
 \l,K,n.ie, J.W '60 
 
 Ai.Kn.l.v.C. M -'41 
 
 M,Kinu\ G.W 6«4 
 
 .MrNV.ll, W.W 2.5.5 
 
 McPherson, S. R ^^J 
 
 McPherson, W. L ^'» 
 
 McPherson, Wm JSx 
 
 Meek, John.. 'JA 
 
 Meeker, A. M ]1" 
 
 Mefferd.W.J 462 
 
 Milam, Scott 
 
 Miller, Andrew.. 
 
 Miller, J. D 
 
 Miller, J. P 
 
 Miller, R. A -^ 
 
 Mingus, William 5»1 
 
 Moodie, Peter «'" 
 
 Moore, Isaac if 
 
 Moore, J. H 'H^ 
 
 Morgan J. J... "' 
 
 Morris, Wm. J ^o^ 
 
 Morrison, Wm 
 
 Moss, J. M 
 
 ?*Ioss, J.W 
 
 Munn, John 
 
 Murray, J. A 
 
 Musick, Austin... 
 Musick, Henry.... 
 Myers, J. H 
 
 N 
 
 498 
 
 811 
 
 518 
 
 Nabers, Wm. J. 
 
 Neal, A.B 
 
 Neal, E. S 
 
 Neel, LA 
 
 New, E. S 
 
 Northcutt, J. R. 
 Nvitt Family. . . 
 
 567 
 337 
 794 
 665 
 477 
 
 Oakes, G. W. 
 Olson, Lars.. 
 
CONTEiXTS. 
 
 O'Neal, C. M 771 
 
 0'Xeal,\V. H 617 
 
 Oswald, M.J 490 
 
 Ownbey, J. L 572 
 
 Oxford, A. L 343 
 
 P 
 
 Palmer, Benjamin 346 
 
 Parker, James T 373 
 
 Parker, J. W 253 
 
 Parks, J. B 571 
 
 Parks, Leroy 438 
 
 Patton, M. L 322 
 
 Paulson, C. A 488 
 
 Pearce.J.A '. 683 
 
 Penington, T. R 632 
 
 Perkins, Simeon 348 
 
 Perry, George F 449 
 
 Peveler, J. M 523 
 
 Phillips, I. C 319 
 
 Phillii.s, k. N 817 
 
 Picklr, W. ]•:. AI 609 
 
 Picrson. luhn II 612 
 
 Piersc.n, Thomas C 609 
 
 Pint;rec, Daniel 299 
 
 Pinkanl, 1). P 788 
 
 Pioneer Exponent 830 
 
 I'oe, J.A 496 
 
 Poe, \Vm. C 671 
 
 Pool, Thomas iM 640 
 
 Powell, 1. R 439 
 
 Powell, J. R 335 
 
 Powell, \V. G. \V 334 
 
 Prather, B. T 376 
 
 Preacher, Philip ' 677 
 
 Prescher, Emil E . 614 
 
 Presley, T. E 520 
 
 Price, E. N 600 
 
 R 
 
 Reeder, A. H 407 
 
 R"-v'S j-s,,,l, 364 
 
 R'-.v.:,. W. I 703 
 
 Rli'"!.-. T. I 692 
 
 Richanls, H. 1. 625 
 
 R'^-'K^'"'. J- K 280 
 
 RolxTts, G. W" ... -763 
 
 R"h,-rts, I. c ;:::: 455 
 
 Rolxrt.snii. I.M 529 
 
 Kol>,ns,,n, 1: 1 ■;.•. 424 
 
 I^"l""-'n, W. I ,583 
 
 R"^-l>. .I"l'" 302 
 
 R"ss, X. 1; 245 
 
 R'iss, K. 1) 257 
 
 Ross, T. J 820 
 
 Rowland, J. A 763 
 
 Rucker, J. P 7'^9 
 
 Rundeii.s. I ; ;;■; 401 
 
 Rupe, D. M 
 
 ... 365 
 
 Russell, W. H 
 
 ... 268 
 
 s 
 
 
 Sadler, B.P 
 
 ... 522 
 
 Sanders, E.W 
 
 ... 757 
 
 Saxon, W.T 
 
 ... 697 
 
 Schenck, F. R 
 
 . .. 452 
 
 Scl,l,-cl, F 
 
 ... 488 
 
 Sch(i\\' () 1- 
 
 ... 326 
 
 Schnu-, Y. K.& Binthers... 
 
 ... 325 
 
 Scott, T. 1 
 
 . .. 615 
 
 Sea.cjo, T. K 
 
 ... .565 
 
 Selman, R. L 
 
 . .. 584 
 
 Shaw, D. B 
 
 . .. 535 
 
 Sheffield, T.J 
 
 Shelton, G. W 
 
 ... 726 
 
 ... 829 
 
 Sherrill, F. H 
 
 .. 514 
 
 Shipman, H. A 
 
 ... .533 
 
 Shirlrv, I. T 
 
 . . . 822 
 
 ■'■"■■1;"'-. .Inn.-s 
 
 .. 799 
 
 "l^i|M">. 1- H.F 
 
 ... 445 
 
 Siuitli, llrnlon 
 
 . . . 374 
 
 Snnth,F. P 
 
 . .. 689 
 
 Smith, Prank 
 
 . . 586 
 
 Smith, J. B 
 
 .. G27 
 
 Smith, I. E 
 
 
 Smith, Joseph B 
 
 Smith, L. C . .•* 
 
 .. 599 
 
 . . 738 
 
 Smith, L. M 
 
 .. 811 
 
 Spivev, Elias 
 
 .. 826 
 
 Spurlin, lohn L 
 
 .. 676 
 
 Stanley, Ed. R 
 
 
 Steplun, I. .M 
 
 . . 2.S9 
 
 Slephrns,' I. V 
 
 ... 518 
 
 Stew.irt, C. C 
 
 .. 740 
 
 Stii^lci-, T. L 
 
 .. 607 
 
 Stiles, Samuel 
 
 . . . 546 
 
 Stone, Harriette S 
 
 .. 333 
 
 Stone, William 
 
 .. 297 
 
 Sulhvan, John 
 
 .. 494 
 
 Switrer, B. W 
 
 .. 545 
 
 Swii/,-1-, S. R 
 
 
 S»-.l/,r, W.C 
 
 .. 391 
 
 ^uii.,.,-, Win. D 
 
 .. 515 
 
 T 
 
 
 Tabor, G.W 
 
 .. 7(!7 
 
 Tandy, John C 
 
 .. 471 
 
 Tate, J. W 
 
 .. 710 
 
 Terry, Elisha 
 
 .. 590 
 
 Thomas, L. B 
 
 .. 308 
 
 Thompson, |. B 
 
 .. 719 
 
 Thornton. D. R 
 
 576 
 
 Thornton, 1. H 
 
 .. 809 
 
 Tidwell, C.W 
 
 .. 282 
 
 Tudor, T.B 
 
 .. 478 
 
 Tuggle, T. H 
 
 .. 331 
 
 Tunnell,J. T 
 
 •. 52r, 
 
 u 
 
 Umphress, S. E 745 
 
 \' 
 
 Vaughn, T. S 294 
 
 Vernon, S. M ,586 
 
 j W 
 
 Wagner, S. W 797 
 
 Wagnon, R. M 616 
 
 Walker, A. 1 638 
 
 Walker, Alexander 647 
 
 Walker, G.B 747 
 
 Walker, G.W 797 
 
 Walker, |,,hn 787 
 
 Walton, A. I 445 
 
 , Weaver, Wm. C 806 
 
 Welch, J. E 766 
 
 Wells, J. M 492 
 
 Whitacre, E.J 589 
 
 ' Whitacre, W. B 569 
 
 \ White, T.C 663 
 
 White, L). A 416 
 
 Whitehead, R. S 741 
 
 Whitwoith, P. H 469 
 
 Williams, lames T 368 
 
 I Williams, John M 744 
 
 Williams. P. W., Sr 649 
 
 Williams, P.W.. Ir 650 
 
 Williams, W. t:.: 695 
 
 W,Unn,\-,,l .530 
 
 WiU...i, F. A 447 
 
 ! wlii'lJa-. l'''!!M|-.l...'. \\ ' 'i:,7 
 
 : w,.iiii,a-.l. I. (;:i5 
 
 Wc.iiiaLk. .\. (. 609 
 
 W..iiKu;k. |..\ 694 
 
 Wnnd, C.C 321 
 
 W.i.Ml, 1). M 825 
 
 Wood, L. 1) 824 
 
 Wood. T. A 498 
 
 Wo,,dlev. I. M 587 
 
 Woods, H: W 681 
 
 Woodward, J. F 411 
 
 Woollev, M. L 643 
 
 Word, I. P 292 
 
 Wright, H. B 730 
 
 Wri-ht, 1. (.: 728 
 
 Wvatt, \: \ 718 
 
 Wvli,-, J', .s 485 
 
 Wysong, lames H 260 
 
 Young, Lee. . . . 
 Young, Wm. R . 
 
""~ ^^^^ ^ 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS, 
 
 THE State of Texas has had a career so 
 remarkable that its study enchants the 
 reader like the bewitching stories and 
 legends of England, or of any great 
 European country. It is with pleasure, there- 
 fore, that the author compiles the following 
 brief account, giving the substance of the 
 best passages in the history of the Lone Star 
 State: 
 
 THE NAME "TEXAS." 
 
 According to the various authorities, there 
 are several origins to the name Texas. 1, 
 Spanish, tejas (roof-tiles), because the inhab- 
 itants had roofed houses; 2, old Spanish or 
 Celtiberian, denoting a plain; 3, an Indian 
 word signifying friend; 4, another Indian 
 word meaning paradise, or a beautiful land; 
 5, a common termination of several tribal 
 names in Indian, as Tlaxcaltecas, Chlolutecas, 
 Cuitlachtecas, Zacatecas, etc. 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 
 
 Texas has an area of 271,856 square miles 
 of land, and 2,510 square miles of water sur- 
 face, the latter consisting of lakes and bays, 
 making a total of 274,366 square miles, equal 
 to about 8.7 per cent, of the entire area of the 
 United States and Territories. It is much the 
 largest State in the Union, being six times 
 larger than New York and seven times as large 
 as Ohio, and 100,000 square miles larger than 
 all the Eastern and Middle States, including 
 Delaware and Maryland. Compared to the 
 
 countries of Europe, it has 34,000 square 
 miles more than the Austrian Empire, 62,000 
 more than the German Empire, and nearly 
 70,000 square miles more than France. 
 
 It is located in the extreme southern 
 part of the United States, between the 26tli 
 and 36th parallels of north latitude and the 
 94th and 106th meridians of longitude. The 
 distance between the extreme northern and 
 southern points is nearly 750 miles, and 
 about 800 miles from east to west. It is 
 bounded on the east by the State of Louisi- 
 ana, west by the Republic of Mexico and the 
 Territory of New Mexico, north by the States 
 of Colorado and Arkansas and the Indian 
 Territory, and on the south by the Gulf of 
 Mexico. General custom has divided the 
 State geographically into five parts, namely: 
 Central, northern, southern, eastern and west- 
 ern Texas, though the dividing lines are not 
 well defined. 
 
 The topography, like many other charac- 
 teristics of the State, is but little understood, 
 except in a general way. 
 
 The country lying east of the 96th degree 
 of longitude and north of the 30th parallel 
 of latitude, and known as "East Texas," is 
 characterized by a long range of hills running 
 in an irregular line from northeast to south- 
 west, and containing large deposits of brown 
 hematite iron ore. It is also marked by a 
 heavy growth of timber, consisting princi- 
 pally of forests of pine, oak and hickory. 
 
HISTUIiY OF TEX A3. 
 
 The Gulf Coast is tliiis desciilio.l l.y Prof. 
 I.ongliridge, of the United iStMtes Ceii.sus 
 I'.ureau: 
 
 "The coast of Texas presents features dif- 
 ferent from tliose of any other State, fur while 
 in many other States the mainland coast is 
 greatly cut up into large bays, extending 
 many miles inland, it is here bordered by an 
 almost continuous chain of islands and pin- 
 insuLis (the latter having the same trend as 
 the islands). The (iulf border of this chain 
 is a very rejrular line southwest from the 
 moulh of the S:ibine river or lake to near Cor- 
 ))ns Christi, which occupies the highest point 
 on tiie entire coast, and thence turns with a 
 regular curve south and slightly soutiieast to 
 Mexico." 
 
 The territory east of the timber region and 
 north of the Gulf Coast, as above outlined, is 
 a vast open pliin composed of gently rol ing 
 prairies and gradual elevations. It is cov- 
 en d with a luxuriant growth of native grasses 
 and dotted by an occasional mott of timber, 
 and extends to the lied river on the north 
 iirid the nionntain ranges of the west and 
 U'lithwcft. The WMterconrses an<l ravines 
 aie uMially fringed with a growth of hack- 
 berry, ash, elm, Cottonwood, pecan, wuhiut 
 iiiKJ ihe vaiious oaks. 
 
 AV^e-t and northwest lie the hills and moun- 
 tain ranges of the State, which are continna- 
 ti(me ol the mountains of Mexico. ISVw 
 Mexico and Colorado. In the extreme 
 northwest, bordering Kansas on the south 
 and New Mexico on the west, is the elevated 
 table land formerly known as the Llano Es- 
 tacado, or Staked I'lains. It is now desig- 
 nated as the Panhandle of Texas, and is 
 destined to be one of the beet agricultural 
 and stock-raising sections of the State. On 
 a line north of Austin and San Antonio, and 
 running in a. southwesterly direction, there is 
 
 alow range of hills that mark a change in the 
 topography of the country. Wesfwanl it is 
 more broken and the e'evations more abrupt. 
 Tiie valleys are biuad and the lands very 
 fertile. 
 
 The water surface of Texas is estimated at 
 2,510 square miles. Of this number, 800 
 square miles are accredited to the rivers and 
 smaller streams which drain the State. The 
 balance consists of bays which lie along the 
 coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and small iidand 
 lakes. 
 
 Chief among the rivers of the State is the 
 Brazos, which drains an aj-ea of about 35,000 
 square miles, and is navigable as far up as 
 Columbia (about forty miles) at all times. It 
 has its source in the noiUiwestern part of the 
 State, at the foot of the Staked Plains, and 
 flows in an easterly direction to Baylor county, 
 thence southeasterly to Brazoria county, where 
 it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Follow- 
 ing its bends it is about 900 miles long. The 
 Navasota river, which has its source in Lime- 
 stone county, is its princip.al tributary, and 
 drains portions of Leon, lioljcrtson, JIadison, 
 Brazos and Grimes counties. 
 
 The wes-tern most branch of the Brazos has 
 its source in an extensive salt region, — not 
 Mr. Jefferson's "Salt mountain,'' of which so 
 much was said nnd sung at the time of the 
 Louisiana purchase, — but a vast plain of 100 
 or 200 raiics in extent, charged with mineral 
 salt and covered in patches with nitre. The 
 salt is washed out of this basin only by fresh- 
 ets, through Salt branch, into the Brazos. 
 
 The shores of the Brazos are not flat, 
 though never bold, but undulating and grace- 
 ful. The trees of larger growth are some- 
 times covered with Spanish moss, as on the 
 shores of the Mississippi; but these bearded 
 nondescripts are not so frequent as to give the 
 sensation of gloom; nor is there any cypress 
 
HltiTOliT OF TEXAS. 
 
 to increase that effect on the mind. Where 
 the land is of comparatively recent formation, 
 the growth is of willow and cottonwood, with 
 occasional sycamores. 
 
 The Brazos never overflows its banks. The 
 water in primeval times was slightly redder 
 than was that of the Upper Mississippi, re- 
 sembling that of Red river. From the cen- 
 ter both shores show to advantage. There is 
 no caving-in or cut-offs, and in early days no 
 dead timber — scarcely a snag. The surface 
 of the gently-flowing water is generally calm 
 and beautiful, but in floods it is of course 
 violent and darkened with mud. 
 
 The Red river is next in importance and 
 forms the boundary line between Texas and 
 the Indian Territory and Arkansas. It has 
 its source in the Panhandle of Texas, formerly 
 known as the Llano Estacado, and flows east- 
 ward through Arkansas and Louisiana, empty- 
 ing into the Mississippi river. It drains 
 about 29,000 square miles in Texas. The 
 Big and Little Wichita rivers are among its 
 principal tributaries on the Texas side. 
 
 The Colorado river rises in Dawson connty, 
 the highest point reached by any of its 
 prongs, and flows in a southeasterly directionj 
 emptying into Matagorda Bay, on the Gulf 
 of Mexico. The Concho, San Saba, and Llano 
 rivers form its tributaries. It is over 900 
 miles long and drains a territory estimated 
 at 25,000 square miles. 
 
 The Trinity river has its source in Archer 
 and Denton counties, the two forks converg- 
 ing in Dallas county and flowing in a south- 
 easterly direction to Trinity bay, in Cham- 
 bers county. It is about 550 miles long and 
 drains an area of about 17,000 square miles. 
 
 The Sabine river forms the eastern boun- 
 dary of the State from the thirty-second 
 parallel of latitude to the Gulf of Mexico, 
 and is navigable for about 300 miles. It has 
 
 its source in Hunt county, in the northeast- 
 ern part of the State, and drains about 17,000 
 square miles in Texas, emptying into Sabine 
 lake near the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 The Nueces river has its starting point in 
 Edwards county and flows southeasterly into 
 La Salle county, thence east into Live Oak 
 county, and from thence south, emptying 
 into Corpus Christi bay on the Gulf of Mexico. 
 Together with its tributaries, the Leona, 
 Frio, and Atascosa rivers, it drains an area 
 estimated at about 16,000 square miles. 
 
 The San Antonio river has its source in 
 Bexar county and flows southeasterly to Re- 
 fugio county, where it unites with the Gua- 
 dalupe river about twelve miles north of San 
 Antonio bay, into which it empties. Its 
 principal tributariec are the Medina and 
 Salado rivers, in Bexar county, and the Ci- 
 bolo river, in Karnes county. 
 
 The Guadalupe river rises in Kerr county 
 and flows in an easterly direction to Gonzales 
 connty, thence in a southeasterly direction to 
 the point of junction with the San Antonio 
 river, about twelve miles from its mouth on 
 San Antonio bay. The San Marcos river, 
 which lias its source near San Marcos, in 
 Hays county, forms its principal tributary. 
 
 The Rio Grande forms the western boun- 
 dary line of Texas and also the boundary line 
 between the United States and Mexico. It 
 has its source in the southwestern part of 
 Colorado and flows generally in a southeast- 
 erly direction to Clarksville, in Cameron 
 county, where it empties into the Gulf of 
 Mexico. It is navigable for small steamers 
 for about 450 miles from the Gulf, and drains 
 an area on the Texas side estimated at abont 
 18,000 square miles. During the greater 
 part of the year it is fordable above the iu- 
 lluence of tide water. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 The Pecos river rises in New Mexico, on 
 tlie east slope of the lidcky mountains, flows 
 tiirough Texas in a southeasterly direction to 
 a point near Painted Cave Spring, in Crockett 
 county, where it empties into the Kio Grande. 
 It drains an area of about 6,000 square miles. 
 
 Tiie Neches river has its source in Van 
 Zaiidt county and runs in a southeasterly di- 
 rection parallel with the Trinity river, empty- 
 ing into Sabine lake on the Gulf of Mexico. 
 The Angelina river, which rises in Rusk 
 county, forms its principal tributary, and, to- 
 gether with the Neches, drains a large scope 
 of country between the Trinity and Sabine 
 rivers. 
 
 The Sulphur Fork runs nearly parallel with 
 Red river in an easterly direction, passing 
 out of the State at Sulphur Station and empty- 
 ing into the Red river at Dempsy, Louisiana, 
 it drains a large part of the northeastern 
 counties of tlie State. 
 
 On Caney creek there was originally an 
 immense cane-brake one to three miles wide 
 and seventy miles long. It was on both sides 
 of the creek, extending from near its source 
 to within twelve miles of its mouth, and 
 scarcely a tree was to be found within that 
 ocean of cane. It was called the Great Prai- 
 rie Canebrake, and the stream originally 
 Caiiebrake creek. 
 
 There are many unequivocal evidences that 
 this creek was once a branch of the Colorado, 
 constituting another mouth for that stream. 
 The bed of the creek is of equal depth and 
 width with the river, and the appearance of 
 the banks, the nature of the adjacent soil, 
 etc., are the same in both. A strongly con- 
 firmatory evidence is the abrupt termination 
 of the deep, wide bed of the Caney within 
 less than 200 yards of the river, in an allu- 
 vial bottom nearly ten miles in width. Thus 
 was an island formed with a coast line of 
 
 twenty-five miles. It is now called Bay prairie. 
 
 There are a large number of small inland 
 lakes scattered throughout the State. Sabine 
 lake, lying between Texas and Louisiana, is 
 the largest of these and is about- eigliteen 
 miles long by nine broad. It is fed by the 
 Neches and Sabine rivers and discharges into 
 the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 All of the principal rivers of the State flow 
 in a southeasterly direction and empty into 
 the Gulf of Mexico, except the Red river, 
 which flows east into the Mississippi river. 
 
 As a general rule the streams east of the 
 Brazos river are sluggish and muddy; those 
 on the west side clear and swift running. 
 Many of the streams in western and north- 
 ern Texas contain pure, clear water suitable 
 for domestic purposes, and abounding in tine 
 fish. Some of the streams, however, are de- 
 ceptive. The water is inviting to the eye, 
 but is strongly impregnated with minerals 
 and brackish to the taste. 
 
 The streams in eastern Texas also contain 
 large numbers of fish of the varieties com- 
 mon to sluggish waters. Some of the smaller 
 streams in that section, however, are fed from 
 the springs and lakes of pure, clear water 
 found among the sand hills. 
 
 The bays along and near the Gulf coast 
 are: Trinity, Lavaca, Matagorda, San Anto- 
 nio, Espiritu Santo, Copano, Aransas, Nue- 
 ces, Corpus Christi, Alazan, and Laguna del 
 Madre. 
 
 The soil of Texas and its products, timber 
 growth, mineral resources, etc., are treated 
 on subsequent pages. 
 
 The figures in the following table denote 
 tlie elevation above sea level, in feet, of points 
 named: 
 
 Galveston 40 
 
 Indianola 26 
 
 Brownsville 43 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Palestine 495 
 
 Coreicana 448 
 
 Denison ^BT 
 
 Austin 513 
 
 San Antonio 676 
 
 Fort Ewell 200 
 
 Fort Chadbourne 2,120 
 
 Jacksboro 1,133 
 
 Henrietta 915 
 
 Fort Concho 1,888 
 
 Fort Stockton 3,050 
 
 El Paso 3,370 
 
 Fort Davis 4,918 
 
 Eagle Pass 800 
 
 Fort Elliott 2,500 
 
 Silver Falls " 3,800 
 
 Midland 2,779 
 
 DISCOVERY OF THE REGION. 
 
 Kobert Cavalier de la Salle, the noted 
 French explorer of the Mississippi valley, 
 etc., came down the Mississippi river in 
 1683, and returned to France. In 1685, hav- 
 ing obtained royal letters patent, and pro- 
 vided with four vessels, he set sail to discover 
 the mouth of the great Father of "Waters, 
 but, drifting too far west, he landed in Texas, 
 supposing Matagorda bay to be the point he 
 was looking for. After exploring the country 
 he conceived the bold project of traversing 
 the country northward to the Illinois river, 
 a distance of 2,000 miles. Selecting a few 
 of his friends, he started, but on March 20, 
 1687, fell a victim to the treachery of his 
 own men. He was slain by a musket ball 
 fired by Duhaut, who had become jealous 
 and dissatisfied with him and others in the 
 party. This unjustifiable deed was com- 
 mitted somewhere in the region of the Bra- 
 zos river: it is impossible to identify the ex- 
 act point. It "was several days' journey 
 
 west of the Cenis Indians," whose dwellings 
 at that time were on the Trinity river. 
 
 La Salle was "saturnine in temperament, 
 reserved in his communications, asking coun- 
 sel of none. There was a certain hardness in 
 liis manners, a tone of lofty self-reliance, 
 which, though it commanded the obedience 
 of his followers, did not gain their good will. 
 On the other hand, his capacity for huge de- 
 signs has had few parallels. He has been 
 called tlie Columbus of his age; and had his 
 success been equal to his ability, this distinc- 
 tion might justly have been awarded him. 
 Cool and intrepid, never for a moment yield- 
 ing to despair, he bore the burden of his 
 calamities manfully, and his hopes expired 
 only with his latest breath." 
 
 TEXAS COMPAEATIVELT UNKNOWN UNTIL EE- 
 CENTLT. 
 
 Mary Austin Holley, a resident of Texas, 
 in 1833 penned the following, to the effect 
 that Texas, in its merits, was not really dis- 
 covered until a comparatively late date: 
 
 " Texas, until within the last few years, has 
 been literally a terra incognita. That such a 
 region existed has indeed been known, but in 
 respect to its geography and natural resources, 
 clouds and darkness have rested upon it. 
 This is the more remarkable, lying, as it does, 
 contiguous to two enlightened nations, — the 
 United States on the one side and Mexico ou 
 the other, both by land and sea. While 
 Britons, impelled by a daring spirit of enter- 
 prise, have penetrated to the ice-bound region 
 of Melville's Island, and our own New Eng- 
 landers have encountered all the hardships 
 and hazards of the western desert, the Rocky 
 mountains and hostile Indians, to find a home 
 at the mouth of the Columbia river, this mosi 
 inviting region, lying just at their doors, has 
 been altogether overlooked. 
 
UISTOliY OV TBX^IS. 
 
 "Quite niu^xpectcdly, as it were, a report 
 lias reached tlie public ear that the country 
 lying west of the Sabine river is a tract of 
 surpassing beauty, exceeding even our best 
 Western lands in productiveness, witii a cli- 
 mate perfectly salubrious and of a tempera- 
 ture at all seasons of the year most delightful. 
 The admirers of this now country, speaking 
 from actual knowledge and a personal in- 
 spection, are not content, in their descriptions 
 of it, to make use of ordinary terms of com- 
 mendation. They hesitate not to call it a 
 sjjlendid country, an enchanting spot. It 
 would seem as if enchantment had indeed 
 thrown its spell over their minds, for with 
 very few exceptions all who return from this 
 fairy land are perfect enthusiasts in their ad- 
 miration of it. Whatever qualifications to 
 its excellence the most cautious of them are 
 disposed to make, have reference to those in- 
 conveniences which unavoidably pertain to 
 every country in the incipient stage of its 
 settlement. 
 
 " So apparently extravagant have been the 
 representations of the natural beauty and 
 resources of this country, that many persons 
 are incredulous and attribute them to the 
 schemes of interested contractors, eager to 
 allure the unwary emigrant by deceptive 
 statements. Such a motive, if it really actu- 
 ates the conduct of any one, cannot be too 
 severely condemned. A design more crimi- 
 nal and disgraceful cannot be, and ought not 
 to be, lightly insinuated against respectable 
 men. What design more cruel than that of 
 deliberately seducing, not the confiding emi- 
 grant alone, but also with him his wife and 
 children, to become the certain victims of 
 privation, disappointment and ultimate ruin 
 in the wilderness! The character and re- 
 spectability of the witnesses above referred to 
 at once repel an insinuation so atrocious. 
 
 " While listening for the first time to the 
 favorable reports of Texas, it must be con- 
 fessed a suspicion is very apt to arise in the 
 mind that so much imputed excellence, if it 
 really existed, could not have so long been 
 concealed from the view of the world, and we 
 are prone to ask, how has it happened that a 
 territory, possessing such uncommon advan- 
 tage of climate and soil, has not been explored 
 and appropriated before? To this very natural 
 inquiry a satisfactory answer is at hand. 
 
 " Two causes seem to have operated to pre- 
 vent the earlier settlement of the province of 
 Texas and to retard the development of its 
 resources. In the first place the jealous pol- 
 icy of the old Spanish government uniformly 
 discouraged all attempts to penetrate into 
 the country. It was the policy of the gov- 
 ernment that completely locked up Texas and 
 all the Spanish-American possessions, and 
 excluded even visitors and travelers. It was 
 a favorite saying of the Spanish captain gen 
 eral of the internal provinces, Don Nemisio 
 Salcedo, that he would stop the birds from 
 flying over the boundary line between Texas 
 and the United States if it were in his power! 
 This rigid policy prevented any one from at- 
 tempting to explore the country by land, for 
 perpetual imprisonment was the inevitable 
 result of detection and capture. 
 
 " In the second place, the Carancahua In- 
 dians, who inhabited the coast, were repre- 
 sented to be of a character uncommonly 
 ferocious. They were popularly believed to 
 be cannibals; and many tales of most fright- 
 ful import were told of them, — such as, if 
 true, it must be acknowledged, were suf- 
 ficiently appalling to check the enterprise 
 and damp the ardor of the most eager adven- 
 turer. These representations of the character 
 of the Carancahuas, though in a measure true, 
 were greatly exaggerated; and it is believed 
 
U I STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 by many that they were either fabricated, or 
 at least countenanced, by the Spanisli aiithori- 
 ties, to prevent intercourse with the province, 
 which it was not easy to guard by a military 
 force. 
 
 " Tlius, ths whole of this country remained 
 for ages nnknown to the world ; and instead of 
 being converted into an abode of industrious 
 and happy freemen, as it might have been, 
 it was doomed by tlie selfishness of men to 
 continue a howling wilderness. No maps, 
 charts or geographical notices were ever al- 
 lowed by the Spaniards to be taken of it. The 
 map compiled by Colonel Austin and piib- 
 lished by Tanner, is the first and correct geo- 
 graphical information of the country that has 
 ever been published. The persons who were 
 engaged in the expeditions under Generals 
 Bernardo, Gutierrez and Toledo, in 1812-'13, 
 knew nothing of Texas except along and near 
 the road they traveled, for they were too much 
 occupied by the war, during the short time 
 they had possession, to explore the country. 
 It is uncertain how long this expensive and 
 valuable land would have remained unknown 
 and unsettled had not the hold enterprise and 
 perseverance of the Austins torn away the 
 veil that hid it from the view of the world 
 and redeemed it from the wilderness, by the 
 settlement of a flourishing colony of Nortli 
 Americans on the Brazos and Colorado rivers. 
 With the settlement of this colony a new era 
 has dawned upon Texas. The natural riches 
 of this beautifxil province have begun to be 
 unfolded, and its charms displayed to the 
 eyes of admiring adventurers. A new island, 
 as it were, has been discovered in these latter 
 days at our very doors, apparently fresh from 
 the hands Of its Maker, and adapted, beyond 
 most lands, both to delight the senses and 
 enrich the pockets of those who are disposed 
 to accept of its bounties. 
 
 " Without any assistance from the govern- 
 ment or fostering care of any sort, but simply 
 under a permission to enter, some thou^aixls 
 of industrious farmers and mechanics, with 
 their families, have already located them- 
 selves here. Their numbers are rapidly in- 
 creasing, and there cannot be a doubt tliat in 
 a few years Texas will become one of the most 
 populous of the Mexican States." 
 
 Said De Marbois early in the present cen- 
 tury: "Texas is one of the finest countries in 
 the world, and yet the Europeans, eager as 
 they have been to make conquests in America, 
 have seemed almost to the present day ignor- 
 ant of its existence. " 
 
 With reference to the political aspects of 
 the country in 1833, Mrs. Ilolley said: 
 
 " It is not ditKcult to determine what in all 
 likelihood will be the future destiny of Texas. 
 Should the Mexican government adopt a cor- 
 rect policy, it will form a valuable and efficient 
 State of the Mexican confederation; for under 
 a judicious system of administration it would 
 not be the interest of the inhabitants to dis- 
 solve the present connection, and they could 
 feel no motive to do so. 
 
 " It is very possible, however, that an un- 
 wise course of administration might provoke 
 a separation; and what might be the result 
 of such a separation I shall not attempt to 
 conjecture. 
 
 " All the attention and vigor of the settlers 
 appear to be now, as it ought to be, directed 
 to their own individual private concerns. If 
 unmolested in their lawful pursuits of indus- 
 try and protected by equal laws from the im- 
 position of the federal officers, they will be 
 satisfied; for 1 cannot conceive that they 
 should be so blind to their own interests a> 
 wantonly to resist the laws of the Republic. 
 One thing is certain, that no greater calamity 
 could befall them than the intrusion of parly 
 
BISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 politics among them. Nothing would more 
 inevitably retard the development of the re- 
 sources of the country, check immigration, 
 and in every way thwart the benevolent pur- 
 poses of heaven and blast the present sanguine 
 expectations of the friends of Texas, than 
 party jealousies and party intrigue. 
 
 " Tiie question of negro slavery in connec- 
 tion with the settlement of this country is one 
 of great importance, and perhaps may here- 
 after present a difficulty. The existing con- 
 stitution and laws totally pi'ohibit this worst 
 of evils. Should this wise policy be aban- 
 doned and Texas become what Louisiana now 
 is, — the receptacle of the redundant and jail- 
 delivered slaves of other countries, — all its 
 energies would be paralyzed, and whatever 
 oppressions may hereafter arise, either from 
 abroad or at home, must be endured, for the 
 country would require a prop to lean upon, 
 and from necessity would be forever depen- 
 dent. " 
 
 Until the beginning of the present century 
 Texas, as a part of Mexico, lay in compara- 
 tive stagnation and was but little known or 
 cared for, as it was mainly occupied by rov- 
 ing Indians. The population, other than In- 
 dian, at the opening of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, is variously estimated at 7,000 to 20,000. 
 The inhabitants were chiefly Spanish Creoles, 
 besides a few French, Americans and half- 
 breeds. 
 
 With regard to later developments, it is 
 interesting to read what Mrs. HoUey wrote 
 concerning the Comanche Indians, as follows: 
 
 " The Comanches are a noble race of In- 
 dians, inhabiting the country to the north 
 and northwest of San Antonio de Bejar. 
 They are a wandering race, do not cultivate 
 the earth for corn, but depend altogether 
 upon the chase for subsistence. They follow 
 the immense herds of buffalo which graze 
 
 the vast plains, often to the amount of tlion- 
 sands in one herd. These plains are also 
 stocked with wild horses, " mustangs, " which 
 run together in droves of many hundreds. 
 Tlie term mustang is therefore used figura- 
 tively to denote anything wild or unculti- 
 vated, as a < mustang girl. ' The horses are 
 not natives, but descended from the stock 
 brought over by the first Spaniards. Domes- 
 tic animals, and man himself, become rude 
 when removed from the associations of civil- 
 ized life. The Comanches catch and tame 
 these wild horses, and, when unsuccessful in 
 the chase, subsist upon them. 
 
 " The Indians always move on horseback. 
 Besides the bow and arrows, the usual arms 
 of the Indian warrior, they are armed with a 
 long spear, having a sword blade for a point. 
 A war party of these Indians is sufiiciently 
 formidable. They are headed by two squaws, 
 who by their shrill voices serve as trumpet- 
 ers, and have like them various tones, to de- 
 note the different evolutions and movements. 
 When they descry an object of attack or pur- 
 suit, they dart forward in a column like 
 lightning toward it. At a suitable distance 
 from their prey they divide into two squad- 
 rons, one-half taking to the right and the 
 other to the left, and thus surround it. Though 
 fierce in war they are civil in peace, and they 
 are remarkable for their sense of justice. 
 They call the people of the United States 
 their friends, and give them protection, while 
 they hate the Mexicans and murder them 
 without mercy. 
 
 "The Comanches have one head chief and 
 many subordinate ones. They hold regular 
 councils quarterly, and a grand council of the 
 whole tribe once a year. At these councils 
 all important matters are decided, and all 
 prisoners taken for offenses are tried. Their 
 discipline is rigid. If a hunting party takes 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 the life of a North American after making 
 him prisoner, wi_thout bringing him before 
 the council for trial, the offenders are pun- 
 ished with death. Not so with the Mexicans, 
 who are considered as enemies and treated 
 as such. This hatred is mutual, and fully- 
 reciprocated by the Mexicans. Hence the 
 origin of the epithet expresidng odium, so 
 general in all parts of Mexico; to denote the 
 greatest degree of degradation, they call a 
 person a ' Comanche.' " 
 
 The principal Anglo-Saxon settlements 
 at the beginning of the present century were 
 San Antonio de Bejar, with about 2,000 inhab- 
 itants ; La Bahiadel Espiritu Santo, now Goliad, 
 about 1,400; and Nacogdoches, with 500. 
 
 Nacogdoches was first settled by Anglo- 
 Americans in 1822-'23. when many of the 
 emigrants who left the United States with the 
 view of joining Austin's colony stopped at 
 tills place. Here and there in Texas a small 
 Catholic mission existed, around which were 
 a few miserable Indian proselytes. The little 
 trade carried on was effected with Mexico, by 
 way of Monterey and Monclova, and with 
 New Orleans through Natchitoches; the lat- 
 ter, however, was contraband. In 1806 
 Texas was allowed a port, namely, at Bahia 
 de San Bernardo. The exchange for merchan- 
 dise consisted in specie, horses and mules. 
 
 Most of the inhabitants were of a roving 
 disposition, cultivated to a still greater de- 
 gree by the nature of their calling, which was 
 the chase after horses and buffalo; but in 
 1806 the governor, Antonio Cordero, en- 
 deavored to check this thriftless and Indian- 
 like mode of life by encouraging agriculture, 
 and tliis he did by restricting buffalo hunts 
 to certain seasons and obliging every family 
 to cultivate a certain amount of land. There 
 were a few wealthy Spanish residents at the 
 centers of population, who exhibited some of 
 
 the refinements of modern life, as they had 
 come from the regal cities of Spain or from 
 the vice-regal court. Though most of the in- 
 habitants of San Antonio dwelt in miserable 
 houses, with mud walls and thatched roofs, 
 the upper class enlivened social intercourse 
 with dinner parties and dances, at which re- 
 finement of manners was noticeable. This 
 place, indeed, was probably the most pleasant 
 in Texas at that time. 
 
 OATHOLIO MISSIONS. 
 
 The early Spanish (Catholic) missions 
 within the present boundaries of Texas, were 
 established by Franciscan monks, under the 
 auspices of the Spanish government, and were 
 called presidios. They consisted of a chapel 
 for worship, the cells for the monks, the dwell- 
 ings for the inhabitants, and a fort for de- 
 fense. The mission was of course under the 
 control of the ecclesiastical power, and the 
 military force was under an oflicer of the 
 army, who in most matters was under the 
 control of the priest. A complete list of 
 these missions is as follows: 
 
 In 1690 the mission of San Francisco was 
 established on the Lavaca river at Fort St. 
 Louis, by the Spanish under Captain Alonzo 
 de Leon. In the same year the mission of 
 San Juan Bautista was founded on the Hio 
 Grande river. 
 
 In 1714 Captain Ramon established the 
 mission of San Bernard, also the mission of 
 Adaes, among the Indians of that name fifteen 
 miles wef-t of Natchitoches. 
 
 In 1715 was established the mission of 
 Dolores, west of the Sabine, among the Or- 
 quisaco Indians. In the same year, one 
 among the Nacogdoches Indians, near the 
 site of the present town of that name; also 
 
18 
 
 UlSTORY OF TEXAfi. 
 
 another among the Acs Indians, near tlie site 
 of tlie present town of San Augustine. The 
 mission and fortress of San Antonio do Valero 
 was soon after this established on the San 
 I'odro river, near the site of the present city 
 of San Antonio. 
 
 In 1721 a post and mission was located at 
 the crossing of the Neches, and another on 
 the bay of San Bernard, called Our Lady of the 
 Loretto. In the same year the mission of La 
 I5ahia(the bay) was established at the lower 
 'grossing of the San Antonio river. 
 
 In 1730 the church of San Fernando, in 
 the present city of San Antonio, was founded. 
 
 In 1731 was established, not far from the 
 same place, the mission La Purisima Con- 
 cepcion de Acuna. 
 
 All the buildings are yet standing. 
 
 Under the old Mexican regime Texas was 
 a province controlled by a "commandant," 
 who resided at Chihuahua, and whose powers 
 in this control were independent of the vice- 
 roy. Each province was ruled by a military 
 aiid political governor, who by his delegated 
 powers had cognizance of -^W causes, being 
 dependent as regards military matters upon 
 the commandant general. Ii> financial affairs 
 he was subject to the intcndant at San Luis 
 l^otosi, with recourse to the supreme council 
 of finance at the city of Mexico. Of course, 
 in those times of sparse settlement and poor 
 government, it was generally difficult, and 
 often almost impossible, for one to transact 
 any business with either the executive or ju- 
 dicial department of the government, so re- 
 mote were the seats of government and diffi- 
 cult and dangerous tlie methods of travel. 
 Tlie same difficulties were encountered in ec- 
 ciesiasticiil matters, under the Uomati Catho- 
 lic regime. 
 
 A NEW CIVILIZATION. 
 
 During the first decade of this century the 
 germs of another and a better civilization be- 
 gan to become manifest in the province of 
 Texas. The Anglo-American race was push- 
 ing westward and southward. Bold, restless 
 men, impelled by the fascination of wild ad- 
 venture, Boone-like made their way into new 
 regions, regardless of danger and hardships. 
 Rough, hardy men were indeed a necessity to 
 go in advance of a more settled and refined 
 community, and at this period the wave be- 
 gan to move, rough side foremost. The Mex- 
 ican government did not like the influx of 
 foreigners, especially of Americans, and 
 passed laws to imprison them if found on 
 their territory; but, while this law was in- 
 deed sometimes executed, it seemed to serve 
 only as an incentive to the daring spirits who 
 were on the crest of the west-bound wave. 
 Like large, rough boys at school, when the 
 master defied them or laid down any rule 
 which they thought unreasonable, they glo- 
 ried in taking advantage of such an oppor- 
 tunity to show how bravely and successfully 
 they could defy the unreasonable regulations. 
 Tiie contraband trade carried on with New 
 Orleans, and connived at by the Spanish au- 
 thorities, opened a gateway to these intruders. 
 
 PHILIP NULAN. 
 
 The most conspicuous of the adventurers 
 just referred to was Philip Nolan, engaged 
 in trade between Natchez and San Antonio 
 as early as 1785. In the Texas Almanac for 
 1868 is published the most extended account 
 of Philip Nolan that we have seen. We con- 
 dense from it as follows: 
 
 Philip Nolan, of Irish origin and a citizen 
 of the United States, residing in Natchez, Mis- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 eissippi, obtained a passport from the Baron 
 de Cai-oiidelet, governor of Louisiana, July 
 17, 1797, to go to Texas, for the purpose of 
 buyino; horses for the Louisiana regiment then 
 being organized at New Orleans. He repaired 
 to San Antonio de Bejar, where he made the 
 acquaintance of the governor of Texas, Don 
 Manuel Miinoz, and, through the kind offices 
 of the latter, entered into a correspondence 
 with General Pedro de Nava, then command- 
 ing the Spanish provinces, with headquarters 
 at the city of Chihuahua. 
 
 A permit was granted to Nolan to obtain 
 the horses desired, both in the province of 
 Texas and that of New Santander (now 
 Tamaulipas), Mexico; and about the end of 
 July, 1798, he took with him 1,297 head, 
 which he kept for a while on the pasture 
 grounds of the Trinity river. Soon afterward 
 he returned to Natchez. 
 
 The viceroy of Mexico, Marquis de Branci- 
 forte, February 12, 1798, transmitted a com- 
 munication from the governor of Louisiana, 
 Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, successor of 
 the Baron Carondelet, to General Nava, re- 
 questing him, as of great importance to the 
 service, to arrest any foreigners that might 
 go into the Spanish provinces, because he was 
 aware that some Americans intended to visit 
 the country for the purpose of becoming 
 friendly with the Indians and bringing about 
 a revolution. He desired Nolan to be closely 
 watched. At that time the movements of the 
 English and the Americans had created some 
 suspicions, and it was thought that even the 
 French designed to invade Louisiana. 
 
 On tiie first of June, 1799, the governor 
 of Louisiana reconi mended to Don Pedro 
 Nava that no American should be permitted 
 to reconnoitre the territory; that he knew 
 that some strangers had gone into Texas, and 
 that 'the most dangerous was Philip Nolan, 
 
 who, through deception, had obtained a pass- 
 port from his predecessor, Baron de Caron- 
 delet; that Nolan was a hypocrite and a sacri- 
 legious man ; that he professed to be a Catholic 
 among Spaniards, and laughed at this re- 
 ligion when he was among Americans; that 
 it would be important to secure him and dis- 
 pose of him in such a manner that he might 
 never be heard of; that Nolan was commis- 
 sioned by General Wilkerson — who had 
 raised and educated him — to reconnoitre the 
 country, draw tnaps and make offers to the 
 friendly Lidians to rebel against the Span- 
 iards. 
 
 August 8, 1800, the commanding general 
 ordered the governor of Texas to arrest 
 Nolan in case he returned to the province. 
 October 6 following, the commander of the 
 post at Concordia, Louisiana, informed the 
 commander at Nacogdoches that Nolan was, 
 under pretext of chasing wild horses, organ- 
 izing an expedition of thirty or forty armed 
 men to enter the territory of Texas; that he 
 had remonstrated with the authorities at 
 Natchez, Mississippi, but he was satisfied that 
 they would not discountenance the plans of 
 Nolan. 
 
 The commander at Concordia, December 
 13, 1800, forwarded a document from Mor- 
 decai Richards, who therein stated, before the 
 above mentioned military authority, that he 
 had left Natchez with Nolan and about 
 thirty-four armed Americans and six or seven 
 Spaniards; that at Nogales they crossed the 
 Mississippi, and that Nolan told him (Rich- 
 ards) that he relied on him to guide them, 
 which he promised; that thence they veered 
 northwest that during their march he was 
 obliged to hunt for the party; that about six 
 miles from Wachita post, Nolan was detained 
 by a party of militia-men, and Nolan sent a 
 letter to the commander of the said post by 
 
HI8T0RT OF TEXAS. 
 
 the officer in command of tlie party; that 
 after the militia-men left, Mordecai Richards 
 asked Nolan the reason why they had been 
 stopped, when he (Nolan) had assured them 
 tiiat he had a permit to go into Texas; that 
 Nolan then called him aside and said to him: 
 "You area man on whom I rely to carry out 
 my plans; and for that reason I have ap- 
 pointed you third in command. If we succeed, 
 you will make your fortune. My plan is to 
 travel northwest, and, passing the Caddo 
 settlements to a certain distance, to build a 
 fort, to protect us from any attack. Then we 
 will sally forth to explore the country and its 
 mines, and, after obtaining a sufficient num- 
 ber of horses, we will proceed to Islas Negras 
 and Kentucky without finding any obstacles. 
 There we will find many friends awaiting our 
 arrival, and by that time I will receive 
 authority to conquer the province of Texas 
 1 will be the general, Mr. Fero the second, 
 and yourself the third in command." 
 
 Mr. Kichards says that he became alarmed 
 at this and determined to desert, although 
 he had a son and a nephew in the party. He 
 finally escaped, with two others, and on his 
 return to Natchez made the statements above 
 recorded. 
 
 After the above events occurred, Lieuten- 
 ant Muzquiz was ordered to start in pursuit 
 of Nolan, and he left Nacogdoches with that 
 object in view, March 4, 1801. The following 
 is from Muzquiz' diary of the twenty-first of 
 that month: "At sunrise I marched on 
 Nolan's intrenchment. When about thirty 
 paces from it, ten men sallied from the en- 
 trenchment, unarmed. Among them was 
 Nolan, who said, in a loud voice, 'Do not 
 approach, because either the one or the other 
 will be killed.' Noticing that the men wlio 
 accompanied Nolan were foreigners, I or- 
 dered William Barr, an Irishman who had 
 
 joined my command as interpreter, to speak 
 to them in English, and say to theni that I 
 had cotije for the purpose of arresting them, 
 and that I expected them to surrender in the 
 name of the king. Nolan had a brief conver- 
 sation with Barr, and the latter informed me 
 that Nolan and his men were determined to 
 fight. 
 
 "Nolan immediately entered his entrench- 
 ment, followed by his men, and I observed 
 that two Mexicans escaped from the rear of 
 said entrenchment. Soon afterward they 
 joined us, stating that they had brought with 
 them Nolan's carbine, which has handed to 
 me. At daybreak Nolan and his men com- 
 menced firing, and continued until nine 
 o'clock, when Nolan was killed and his men 
 surrendered. They were out of ammunition. 
 His force was composed of fourteen Americans, 
 one Creole of Louisiana, seven Spaniards or 
 Mexicans, and two negro slaves. Nolan had 
 three men wounded and several horses killed. 
 His men had long beards. After the surrender I 
 learned that they had left Natchez with sup- 
 plies for two months, and had been in the 
 woods and prairies of Texas for over seven 
 months, living on horse-meat. Nolan's negroes 
 asked permission to bury their master, which 
 I granted, after causing his ears to be cut 
 off, in order to send them to the governor of 
 Texas." 
 
 Muzquiz started out on this expedition with 
 100 men, sixty-eight from the regular army 
 and the rest volunteers. 
 
 The precise spot where this little battle 
 took place has ever been a matter of contro- 
 versy, as the data are too indefinite to enable 
 one to bo certain. Local tradition in various 
 places is very positive that it was at this, that, 
 or the other place. The preponderance of 
 opinion is that it was in the vicinity of Spring- 
 field or Waco. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 A list of the names of Nolan's men taken 
 prisoners is published in the Texas Almanac 
 of 1868. These men were tried by the Span- 
 ish anthorities as invaders of the conntry. 
 The judge ordered their release; but as Gen- 
 eral Salcedo, commanding the provinces, ob- 
 jected, their case was refeiTed to the king of 
 Spain, who ordered one man out of every five 
 to be hung, and the remainder to serve in 
 prison at hard labor for ten years. As one 
 of the ten men convicted died, it was finally 
 determined by the local authorities that one 
 man from the nine remaining would answer 
 the royal requirement. After due ceremony 
 the men were required to throw dice, and the 
 lot fell upon Ephraim Blackburn. He was 
 accordingly hung at Chihuahua, November 
 11, 1807. The others were sent to different 
 penal settlements in the provinces, where they 
 remained until 1818. It is believed that 
 Ellis Bean (see sketch elsewhere) returned to 
 the United States, and that the others died in 
 prison. 
 
 Nolan was a scholar, especially in geogra- 
 phy and astronomy, and a gentleman in his 
 manners. He made the first map of Texas, 
 which he presented to the Baron deCaronde- 
 let on returning from his first trip to Texas. 
 Had he lived to see his plans carried out, 
 Texas, the land he loved, would have been 
 proud of him. 
 
 A river in north central Texas tributary to 
 the Brazos, is named in Nolan's honor. 
 
 POLITICAL CHANGES. 
 
 The events just referred to had no political 
 significance; but the time had now arrived — 
 the first decade of the present century — when 
 a political move began to inaugurate a dis- 
 turbing wave, involving the possibility of a 
 revolution at some future time, and this move 
 
 was the sale of Louisiana to the United States 
 in 1803, by the first Napoleon. When France, 
 in 1762, ceded this territory to Spain, in order 
 to prevent it falling into the hands of the 
 English, the western boundary line between 
 the Spanish and English possessions in North 
 America was clearly defined by the treaty 
 concluded in the following February, at Paris, 
 by the kings of France and Spain of one party, 
 and the king of England of the other party. 
 But in October, 1800, Spain ceded back the 
 territory to France in exchange for Tuscanj', 
 with the understanding that its extent should 
 be the same as it had been during the former 
 possession of it by that nation. 
 
 The boundary line, however, between Lou- 
 isiana and Texas had never been definitely 
 settled, though Spain had always claimed that 
 Red river, or rather its tributary Arroyo 
 Hondo, was the western limit of the French 
 possessions. This stream was about seven 
 miles west of Natchitoches; but for many 
 years a conventionalline had been recognized 
 by both nations, which ran between the rivers 
 Mermenteau and Calcasieu, along the Arroyo 
 Hondo, passing between Adaes and Natchi- 
 toches and terminating in Red river. This 
 line was violated by the French, who en- 
 croached toward the Sabine river. 
 
 Upon the cession of Louisiana to the United 
 States, the question of boundary line was 
 raised. Our Government, even at that early 
 date, began to claim all the country east of 
 the Rio Grande. Several propositions of 
 compromise were made and all rejected, and 
 Texas began to be considered disputed ground. 
 Meanwhile adventurous Americans continued 
 to push their way into this coveted region, 
 and Spain continued her old-time inhospitable 
 policy. By 1806 she had 1,500 soldiers in 
 Texas to withstand the American aggression. 
 The famous and infamous scheine of Aaron 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 niiiT at tliis time to set up an independent 
 government somewhere in tlie Southwest, 
 had also an aggravating tendency in the com- 
 plication of civil affairs between the two gov- 
 ernments, and served to impel Spain and 
 Mexico to adopt more stringent hostile meas- 
 ures by way of resistance. After some ex- 
 change of correspondence, General James 
 Wilkinson, on the part of the United States, 
 arrived at the Sabine river with a command 
 of soldiers, and succeeded by a short bloodless 
 campaign in establishing that river as the tem- 
 porary boundary line between the nations, 
 and soon returned to New Orleans to i*esume 
 operations against the contemplated move- 
 ments of Aaron Burr. 
 
 A period of calm followed the last trans- 
 action, more thoroughly established by the 
 diversion of public attention to war in 
 Europe. Agriculture would have made more 
 rapid progress in Texas had there not been 
 tlie suspicions of unwelcome that naturally 
 lingered in the minds of the immigrants. 
 An unforeseen evil, however, arose out of the 
 late compact. The neutral territory soon 
 became the asylum of a large number of des- 
 peradoes and marauders, who organized 
 themselves into a community under a system 
 similar to that of the old buccaneers, and 
 they preyed upon all who came in their way. 
 Their bravery and audacity were unsur- 
 passed, and their fidelity to each other was 
 inflexible. Traders were convoyed across the 
 territory of these outlaws by military escoi-ts, 
 which, however, were frequently attacked. The 
 Spanish authorities made every effort to eject 
 them, and twice the United States authorities 
 drove them off and burned their houses; but 
 these measures failed to suppress tliera. 
 
 In 1810 Cordero, the Governor of Texas, 
 was promoted to the governorship (.1' tliu 
 more populous province of Coahuiia, and in 
 
 his place as Governor of Texas Manuel de 
 Salcedo was appointed. In September ot 
 that year Hidalgo raised the standard of in- 
 dependence, and, during the long bloody 
 struggle which followed, the province of 
 Texas was made the scene of deeds as horri- 
 fying as Hidalgo's massacre of his prisoners 
 and Calleja's atrocities at Guanajuato. 
 
 In January, 1811, Juan Bautista Casas, a 
 captain of the militia, took forcil)le posses- 
 sion of the Texan government by seizing the 
 governor and other leading officers, and pro- 
 claiming himself governor, at the same time 
 publicly advocating the cause of Hidalgo; 
 but he soon disgusted many of the revolu- 
 tionary party (his own) by his despotic and 
 disorderly administration, and Juan Manuel 
 Zambrano conceived the idea of restoring 
 the old order of things. Concealing his real 
 intention, he hoodwinked those of the dis- 
 satisfied whom he approached on the matter, 
 by giving them to understand that his only 
 object was to depose Casas and correct the 
 disorders of government. He was, more- 
 over, favored in his designs by the opportune 
 arrival of the unfortunate Aldama, who, with 
 a large amount of bullion, was proceeding to 
 the United States as envoy of the Independ- 
 ents, there to solicit aid in arms and men. 
 Zambrano cunningly caused the report to be 
 spread among the lower orders that Aldama 
 was an emissary of Napoleon, — a statement 
 more readily believed on account of his uni- 
 form being similar to that of a French aid- 
 de-camp. Nothing aroused the indignation 
 of the common people more than the idea of 
 their being surrendered to the French. By 
 casting the gloomy shadow of that danger 
 over tiie minds of his Indians, Hidalgo liad 
 lately caused the Grito de Dolores to be 
 niiseil and rung througli the land; and now 
 this wily priest used llie same guile in Texas 
 
BISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 advance the roj'alist cause. Thus the 
 populace and many in the ranks of the i-evo- 
 lutionists in San Antonio, and many inside 
 the barracks, were unwittingly on his side. 
 
 During the night of March 1, with only 
 five of those comproini?ed to support him, 
 Zambrano sallied forth from his house and 
 raised the signal cry. Posses-ion was im- 
 mediately obtained of the barra^-ks, and be- 
 fore morning dawned Casas was a prisoner, 
 and Aldama confined under guard in his 
 lodging. Zambrano and his party now pro- 
 ceeded with caution; nor did they prema, 
 turely let their real design be known. A 
 governing council of eleven voting members, 
 with Zambrano as president, was elected by 
 the principal inhabitants of San Antonio 
 and vicinity, and measures adopted to s^ecnre 
 the province without creating alarm. A 
 force of 500 reliable men was placed in 
 marching order, to be ready for any emer- 
 gency, and commissioners were sent out to 
 lolicit aid. Success attended this intrigue, 
 and in a short time the viceregal government 
 was again firmly established in Texas. One 
 writer, in a private letter, mentions that two 
 commissioners were sent to the United States 
 Government to offer Texas to the Union, but 
 the commissioners failed to reach their desti- 
 nation. 
 
 During the very next year (1812), liow- 
 ever, an expedition organized by a young 
 officer in the United States Army, in con- 
 junction with a Mexican refugee, almost 
 succeeded in annihilating the royalist power 
 in Texas. This Mexican refugee, by the way, 
 was a great character. It was Bernardo 
 Gutierrez de Lara, a wealthy resident of 
 Mexico, who had joined himself to the cause 
 of the revolutionists, and was commissioned 
 by them to visit "Washington to obtain aid 
 and sympathy, but his credentials were not 
 
 recognized by our Government. Being a 
 fervent patriot, however, he went to New 
 Orleans and began to organize an expedition 
 for the invasion of Texas, which scheme was 
 facilitated by his former commercial relations 
 with that city. Augustus Magee, who had 
 been stationed on the Natchitoches to break 
 up gangs of outlaws on the neutral ground, 
 enlisted some of these same outlaws and pro- 
 ceeded to New Orleans, where he effected an 
 alliance with Gutierrez, giving hina the nomi- 
 nal command, so that the Mexicans would 
 believe the invasion was headed by one ol 
 their own countrymen. 
 
 During the summer the invasion actually 
 took place, with great success and little loss 
 of blood. By autumn there were 800 men, 
 with Magee as colonel, though actually the 
 commander-in-chief. Governor Salcedo of 
 course resisted them, and laid them siege at 
 one place for four months; but they suc- 
 ceeded in gaining other victories, and cap- 
 turing even San Antonio, the capital, on 
 April 1, 1813. A provisional government 
 was formed, consisting of a council of thir- 
 teen members elected by a popular vote, 
 Gutierrez being appointed generalissimo and 
 governor. Two of these members were 
 Americans. The prisoners, seventeen in 
 number, were all condemned to death; and, 
 as their public condemnation and execution 
 of sentence might be too exasperating to the 
 Americans, tliey were secretly butchered at 
 night, in the bed of a stream, April 5! The 
 matter, however, soon leaked out, and truly 
 enough the Americans on the neutral ground 
 lost their enthusiasm for the new govern- 
 ment, and Gutierrez was arraigned before a 
 tribunal and deposed. The Americans, be- 
 ing greatly reduced in numbers, abandoned 
 themselves to indolence, but were soon 
 aroused by the news of the approach of an- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 otlior army, under the command of Colonel 
 Ignacio Elizondo, the renegade who had be- 
 trayed Hidalgo. Gutierrez was reinstated in 
 command for the emergency, and the inva- 
 sion repulsed. Gutierrez was again deposed, 
 mainly by the influence of the American 
 element. Factions, attempts at revolution 
 and counter-revolution, and accompanying 
 skirmishes, etc., continued to be the order of 
 the day, Spaniard-like, or rather Mexican- 
 like, until by the spring of 1814 victory was 
 establislied l)y the royalists with some degree 
 of permanency, and another " lull " or period 
 of peace followed; but the condition of Texas 
 was deplorable, on account of the devastations 
 of the many little armies, and desperadoes,who 
 took unusual advantage of the unsettled state 
 of affairs in such times, and the general un- 
 certainty that always attends such a barbar- 
 ous state of public affairs. Many of the 
 inhabitants had fled and taken refuge in 
 other parts of the world, their crops were 
 destroyed, cattle carried off and their houses 
 burned. The spirit of insurrection was sup- 
 pressed, or perhaps more strictly expressed, 
 had " eaten up its own substance," so that for 
 years the public had the opportunity to settle 
 itself to more peaceable and profitable pur- 
 suits. But little, however, was done, or 
 would have been done, until a new •' race " 
 began again to take the field. 
 
 In addition to those already named, the 
 men who most prominently figured in the 
 public affairs of Texas during the above 
 period were Toledo, Arredondo, Ferry, Tay- 
 lor, Bullard, Cayetano Quintero, etc. 
 
 Sympathy for the oppressed in this region 
 spread meanwhile throughout the United 
 States, and attempts at further revolutionary 
 measures were made in various places within 
 our domain. Vigilance was exercised by our 
 
 government to prevent the organization of 
 armies against Mexico, and to maintain 
 neutral ground. 
 
 Conspicuous among these sympathizers 
 with the patriots in Mexico was Colonel 
 Ferry, who proclaimed in the New Orleans 
 papers in 1815 that an expedition was in 
 preparation to invade Texas; that 1,000 men 
 were ready to engage in the enterprise; and 
 that the undertaking was a worthy one, in 
 respect to both honor and profit. Fresident 
 Madison prohibited Ferry's movement, or 
 anything like it; and during the same year 
 several men were indicted in the United 
 States District Court for violating the neu- 
 trality laws. Ferry, h9wever, eluded the 
 vigilance of our Government, and succeeded 
 in making his way beyond the Sabine with a 
 small body of men. Jose Manuel de Herrera, 
 who had been appointed minister to the 
 United States by Morelos, and was at the 
 time residing in New Orleans, conceived the 
 idea of establishing, in connection with 
 Ferry's movements, a system of privateering 
 from Galveston harbor. He established a 
 complete system of State government, with 
 headquarters at Matagorda, in 1816, and was 
 supported with such a large force of revolu- 
 tionists as to again intimidate the Mexican 
 government. Frospect for a successful rev- 
 olution seemed brighter than ever; Aury, 
 who was commodore of the fleet, at length 
 began to differ from the policy of Ferry, of 
 the land forces, and amid other jealousies 
 the cause of the revolutionists was again 
 much weakened, and i'erry was soon com- 
 pelled to flee back toward the United States 
 with only about forty men, and, after several 
 repulses of the more numerous band of Mex- 
 icans, were finally compelled either to sur- 
 render or be put to death — which latter 
 
BISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 25 
 
 alternative they indeed chose, Perry blowing 
 out his own brains with a pistol! 
 
 Coniniodore Aury continued to prey upon 
 the Spanish trade, Mntli some success, making 
 his headquarters for about two months in 
 Matagorda bay, and then he went to Florida. 
 
 THE " PIRATE OF THE GULF." 
 
 At this time Jean Lafitte, a noted character 
 from France, was established at the little is- 
 land of Barrataria, about sixty miles west of 
 the delta of the Mississippi, engaged as a 
 smuggler and probably as pirate. He was 
 joined by a crowd of roughs, and the goods 
 tliey seized found ready sale in New Orleans. 
 Governor Claiborne, of Louisiana, seeing 
 the demoralizing effect of this "trade" upon 
 liis favorite city — for many large houses 
 there were in collusion with the marauders — 
 issued a proclamation ordering these free- 
 booters to disperse; but as this had no effect, 
 he placed a r ward of $500 on the head of 
 Lafitte, which the latter treated with such 
 contempt as to offer thirty times the amount 
 for the governor's head. Claiborne then 
 tried force, and again was unsuccessful. La- 
 fitte surrounded the troops sent against him, 
 and dismissed them loaded with presents. 
 
 This state of affairs being reported to Pres- 
 ident Madison, Commodore Patterson, of the 
 United States Navy, was ordered to destroy 
 this hornet's nest, and in June, 1814, he ar- 
 rived before Barrataria with gunboats and 
 the schooner Caroline. The pirates, in seven 
 fine armed cruisers and a felucca, manned 
 by nearly a thousand men, at first made a 
 show of resistance; but, finally abandoning 
 their vessels, they made for the land and dis- 
 persed among the swamps. Patterson then 
 took tJie surrendered vessels and all the spoils 
 of Barrataria to New Orleans. 
 
 Ladtte, the " Pirate of the Gulf," was still 
 at large, however, and the gradually return- 
 ing men again resumed their old nefarious 
 traffic. About this time, war existing be- 
 tween the United States and Great Britain, 
 the latter government approached Lafitte 
 with large offers of position and money if he 
 would assist in their cause; but he asked 
 time to consider, and in this time he entered 
 into correspondence with Governor Clai- 
 borne, by which it was finally agreed that 
 the governor would not further molest him 
 if he would espouse the cause of the United 
 States; and, sure enough, at the battle of 
 New Orleans, he rendered such signal service 
 that President Madison pardoned him of his 
 former offences against our government. 
 
 During the next two years Lafitte's move- 
 ments were not conspicuous; but his fol- 
 lowers, to the number of about 1,000, joined 
 a politico-piratical government at Galveston 
 island, who, for security, swore allegiance to 
 the Mexican government. In consequence 
 Galveston became naturally the asylum of 
 refugees from justice and desperadoes of 
 every nationality. Their depredations on the 
 gulf were carried on to such an extent tliat 
 Spanisli commerce was almost swept from 
 the sea, and even the vessels of other nations 
 suffered at their hands. The United States 
 would have broken up this nest also had it 
 not been for the opposition of the Spanish 
 minister, Onis. The boundary question had 
 not yet been settled, and it was feared that 
 if our government dispersed the buccaneers 
 from Galveston by armed force it would re- 
 tain possession of the island. Thus for years 
 the "Pirate of the Gulf" remained un- 
 molested. On the site where the city of 
 Galveston now stands he erected a fort and 
 built himself a house, around which numer- 
 ous other edifices sprung up, forming a 
 
UISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 hn&y settlement, whicli he named Campeachy. 
 
 October 9, 1819, this point was declared a 
 port of entry by the republic of Texas, wiiich 
 had lately been proclaimed as such by the 
 leaders of another expedition into the cotm- 
 try, and Lafitte was made governor of the 
 place. This curious man soon afterward 
 han^red a refugee from justice, in satisfaction 
 of tiie United States authorities, and soon 
 after that again indorsed another man — one 
 of his own party — for committing the crime 
 of seizing property from a subject of our 
 Government; and Cor the latter the Govern- 
 ment sent an expedition against him, to 
 break up tlie Galveston establishment, fear- 
 less of war with the Mexican government. 
 Aware of the determination of the Govern- 
 ment at Washington, Lafitte destroyed his 
 fortifications, paid off his men, and sailed 
 away forever from the shores of Texas. He 
 ever maintained that he made war only on 
 Spanish vessels. According to one account, 
 he gave a sketch of himself in the following 
 terms: 
 
 At eighteen years of age he was a merchant 
 at Santo Domingo. Having become rich, he 
 wound up his affairs, bought a ship and 
 freighted her with a valuable cargo, including 
 a large amount of specie. He set sail for 
 Europe, with his wife, was captured when a 
 week out at sea, by a Spanish man-of-war, 
 and robbed of everything he possessed. The 
 Spanish captain had the inhumanity to set 
 him and the crew ashore on a barren sand 
 key, with provisions for a few days only. 
 They were taken off by an American schooner 
 and landed at New Orleans, where his wife 
 died a few days afterward from fever, con- 
 tracted from hardship and exposure. In des- 
 peration, he joined some daring fellows, and 
 tiiey declared eternal vengeance against Spain. 
 "For lifteeu years," said he, "I have carried 
 
 on a war against Spain. So long as I live I 
 am at war against Spain, but with no other 
 nation. 1 am at peace with all the world ex- 
 cept Spain. Although they call me a pirate, 
 I am not guilty of attacking any vessel of the 
 English or French." 
 
 The above sounds very much like a piece 
 of liction, wiiich any pirate might conjure up 
 to justify his nefarious career. Latitte is de- 
 scribed as a stout, rather gentlemanly person- 
 age, about five feet and ten inches in height, 
 dressed very simply in a foraging cap and 
 blue frock of a most villainous fit; his com- 
 plexion, like that of most Creoles, olive; his 
 countenance full, mild and ratiier impressive; 
 his eyes small and black, which fiiished in 
 animated conversation like those of an ugly 
 customer. His demeanor was courteous. He 
 was educated and gifted with considerable 
 talent for conversation. He continued to 
 cruise on the Spanish main for several years. 
 Occasionally he visited Sisal and the island 
 of Margarita, near the mouth of the Orinoco, 
 and finally died at Dilam, in Yucatan, and 
 was buried there. 
 
 POLITICAL CHANGES CONTINUED. 
 
 After the fall of Naj)oleon, two refugees 
 from P" ranee, Generals Lallemand and Ri- 
 gault, concluded to try Texa;? as a place of 
 residence, although they received no reply 
 to their request for a permission to do so from 
 the Spanish court. In March, 1818, Lalle- 
 mand, with 120 settlers, sailed from New 
 Orleans, landed at Galveston bay and selected 
 a spot on the Trinity river about twelve miles 
 above its mouth, and began to fortify the 
 post. These colonists issued a proclamation 
 that they had settled there to remain, earn- 
 ing their livelihood by the peaceable pursuits 
 of agriculture and the chase, and would de- 
 
HISTOBT OF TEXAS. 
 
 fend themselves by force, if necessary, against 
 any invading party; but professional soldiers 
 make poor agriculturists. The first season 
 their crops were meager on account of the 
 drouth, and they maintained themselves for 
 a time by the pi'oducts of the chase. While 
 tlius weakened, a force was sent against them 
 Mexico, which they could not resist, and 
 i-.iilemand returned to the United States, 
 wiiile the rest of the colonists scattered, a 
 great part of thera probably to Barrataria, at 
 that time controlled by the notorious Lafitte. 
 
 Old international questions being now re- 
 vived as to the ownersiiip of theFloridas and 
 the boundaries of the Louisiana Territory, 
 many propositions and counter propositions 
 were made and refused, with the final resitlt, 
 February 22, 1819, in the form of a treaty 
 signed by the Spanish minister Onis, and the 
 American Secretary of State, by wliich the 
 Floridas were ceded to the United States and 
 Texas permitted to remain in tlie hands of 
 Spain. The boundary line between the 
 United States and the Spanish possessions 
 was defined as follows: Beginning at the 
 mouth of the Sabine river, continue north 
 along the western bank of that river to lati- 
 tude 32°; thence by a line due north to the 
 degree of latitude where it strikes Red river; 
 then following the course of that river, west- 
 ward to longitude 23° west from "Washing- 
 ton; crossing said river, run by a line due 
 north to the Arkansas, following the south- 
 ern bank of that river to its source in latitude 
 42° north, and thence by that parallel to the 
 Pacific. 
 
 The king of Spain, however, failed to ratify 
 the treaty witliin the six months prescribed, 
 and when he did ratify it, October 24, 1820, 
 the controversy was renewed, the United 
 States being strongly disinclined to recognize 
 the late convention. From the first the treaty 
 
 had caused wide-spread dissatisfaction, and a 
 strong party maintained that valuable terri- 
 tory had been given away by the American 
 government for a very inferior one, while a 
 fundamental principle of the United States 
 was violated in ceding away territory of any 
 kind under any circumstances; but after a 
 year or two of discussion the United States 
 Congress advised the President to ratify the 
 treaty, and accordingly, February 28, 1821, 
 John Quincy Adams informed the Spanish 
 envoy tliat President Monroe had accepted 
 the ratification. 
 
 In natural connection with the foregoing, 
 the angry feeling, aroused by the treaty, was 
 exhibited in a practical manner at Natchez, 
 Mississippi, by another attempt to organize 
 an expedition for the purpose of revolution- 
 izing Texas. James Long was appointed 
 leader of the enterprise, and in June he 
 started with great enthusiasm for Nacogdo- 
 ches, accompanied by about seventy-five men, 
 which number was rapidly increased. Soon 
 after arriving at that place he could muster 
 over 300 men, among them Bernardo Gutier- 
 rez and Samuel Davenport. He immedi- 
 ately proceeded to establish a civil govern- 
 ment, under the control of a supreme council, 
 of which he was chosen president. June 23 
 this council declared the province of Texas a 
 free and independent republic, and it pro- 
 ceeded to enact laws for the government of 
 the same and providing for revenue by the 
 sale of public lands. Various agencies were 
 established, at different points, for mercan- 
 tile and governmental business. 
 
 For aid. Long left Cook in command at 
 Nacogdoches while he hastened on to Gal- 
 veston to enlist the sympathy and assistance 
 of Lafitte, who at that time was in the heiglit 
 of his glory there; but the wily Frenchman 
 told ill in that it ever had been useless to re- 
 
uisTonr OF texas. 
 
 siat Mexico by land without a iniieli larger 
 force tliati had ever heeii collected for the 
 purpose. On the way to Galveston Long 
 heard through Indian channels that a Mexi- 
 can force, 70U strong, under Colonel Ignacio 
 Perez, was rapidly ou his track, at Cochattee, 
 and at once sent orders to Cook immediately 
 to concentrate his outlying detachments at 
 that place. Of all the expeditions to Texas, 
 not one experienced a more speedy collapse 
 or swifter ruin than that of Long's. The 
 posts or " agencies " spoken of were suddenly 
 destroyed and the occupants killed or dis- 
 persed. 
 
 Long retired to New Orleans, where he 
 male the ae(juaintance of the Mexican pa- 
 triots, Milain and Trespalacios. The next 
 spi'ing, 1821, still another ''expedition " was 
 formed against the Mexican government in 
 Texas, wiili tliese men as leaders; but they, 
 too, were so )n squelched. The next year, 
 1822, Long was killed in a private en- 
 counter. 
 
 Of course, at this time the condition was 
 deplorable, as the outlook for permanent 
 peace was absolutely forbidding. After the 
 
 l'x pulsion of L( 
 
 1819, 
 
 every 
 
 truder 
 
 who had settlei in the country was driven 
 off, hi:- buildings destrtiyed and his cattle 
 driven away. The populated districts alto- 
 gether contained no more than 4,000 civil- 
 ized beings. Agriculture was almost entirely 
 neglectel, and provisions were so scarce, even 
 in San Antonio, as to be a subject of fre- 
 (jiient report by Governor Martinez to the 
 commandant general at Saltillo. The north- 
 e'»!>tern borders became the asylum of crimi- 
 nals and the abode of bands of armed despe- 
 radoes engaged in smuggling. Lafitte's 
 j.iratical establishment had its emissaries 
 about the country, who drove Africans 
 through the land with impunity to New 
 
 Orleans, wiiere they were sold; and savage 
 Indians, like the (/Oinanches, were hovering 
 around almost every white settlement. Tiiis 
 was the darkest hour that Texas ever saw. 
 
 A panoramic review of the two decades 
 just treated is thus presented by 11. II. Can- 
 croft, the great Pacific coast historian: 
 
 "If the reader will glance back at the his- 
 tory of Texas, ho will lind that no advance 
 in the colonization of that fertile country 
 was made during the period of Spanish dom- 
 ination. The reason of this, apart from the 
 exclusion of foreigners, lay mainly in the 
 aversion of the Spanish Creoles to agriculture, 
 and the dangers to which settlers wore ex- 
 posed. Enterprise in ' New Spain ' was chiefly 
 directed to the development of mines, while 
 the cultivation of the soil was performed for 
 the most part by the passive Indians. In 
 Texas, an essentially agricultural province, 
 the conditions were reversed. There were 
 no mines to be developed, nor were there 
 peaceable natives who could be made to till 
 the groiind. It therefore offered no induce- 
 ments to Spanish-Americans to migrate from 
 safe and settled districts to a remote region, 
 where a few ill-garrisoned presidios could 
 offer little or no protection to the cultivator 
 against the stealthy attacks of hostile Indians. 
 Tims the colonization of Texas was confined ' 
 to the establishment of a few settlers in the 
 immediate vicinity of these military posts. 
 Only two of these, San Antonio de Bejar and 
 La Bahia del Espiritu Santo, developed into 
 towns of any considerable importance. Later 
 attempts of Spiin to colonize the country at 
 the beginning of the present century met 
 with no success. Tiie undertaking projected 
 by the Spanish government and placed under 
 the direction of General Grimarest failed of 
 accomplishment on account of the breaking 
 out of hostilities between Spain and England; 
 
n I STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 nor did otlier settlers who were introduced 
 into Texas about this time effect any expan- 
 sion of tlie community. It remained for 
 peaceable immigrants from the United States 
 to accomplish a work of pro<,n-ess which Spain 
 had proved herself incoinp-tent to perform, 
 and which liad been beyond achievement by 
 force of arms on the part of adventurers. 
 
 "I have already related how anxious Spain 
 was to people Texas immediately after the 
 purchase of Louisiana by the United States, 
 and so protect herself against encroachments 
 by occupancy of the country. Her inten- 
 tions, however, were frustrated by the dread- 
 ful wars, in which she soon became engaged, 
 and the revolutions which broke out in her 
 colonies. In the emergencies to which she 
 was reduced she relaxed her exclusive policy, 
 and official proclamations were published in- 
 viting colonists of all clashes and nationalities 
 to settle in her American dominions. The 
 tieaty of amity of February 22, 1819, having 
 confirmed her in the possession of Texas, 
 Spain felt herself in a position to remove the 
 exclusion of Anglo-Americans as colonists in 
 her territory, which hitherto liad been insisted 
 on in all colonization schemes. At the same 
 time the royalist power seemed to be firmly 
 1 established in Mexico, the revolution hav- 
 ing been well nigh suppressed and the pacif- 
 ication of the country almost cousummatud. 
 It was reasonable, therefore, to suppose that 
 the Spanish government would give satisfac- 
 tory assurances to Anglo-Americans who 
 might wish to obtain in a legal manner grants 
 of land in Texas." 
 
 THE AUSTINS. 
 
 The first American who availed himself of 
 this new opportunity was Moses Austin. This 
 man was born in Durham, Connecticut, about 
 
 1764. At the age of twenty he married 
 Maria Brown in Philadelphia, and soon after 
 ward established a commercial house in Rich 
 mond, Virginia, in partnership with his broth- 
 er, Stephen, who was at the head of a largo 
 importing business in Philadelphia. The two 
 brothers a few years later purchased conjointly 
 a lead mine in Virginia, and ran it for a time. 
 Adventurous speculation brought tiieni re- 
 verses, and Moses Austin, a man of persever- 
 ance and enterprise, obtained in 1797 a grant 
 from Baron de Carondeiet, governor-general 
 of Louisiana, conferring upon him a leao-ue 
 of land in eas-tern Missouri, where he m<ide 
 the first settleinent as the nucleus of Wash- 
 ington county, that State, and where he won 
 by his upright conduct the a l.uiration of all 
 the immigrants. But the very qualities 
 which gained for him the affection of ail who 
 knew him occasioned another reverse of fur- 
 tune. He had become a large stockholder in 
 the Bank of St. Louis, and when in 1818 ihat 
 institution went to ruin Austin surrendered 
 the whole of his property for the benefit of 
 his creditors. Although now in his fifty-til'tli 
 year, he conceived the bold idea of establish- 
 ing an extensive cohmy iu Texas. In this 
 he was not moved by the reckless spirit of 
 adventure that had characterized former 
 attempts of the kind. Ilis intention from 
 the first was to proceed legally. Accordingly 
 he made the long journey to San Antonio de 
 Bejar, arriving in the first part of Decern l,c.-, 
 1820, and made his application to the author- 
 ities. At first he met only with rebuff and 
 disappointment. Although iu 1799 he had 
 become a naturalized suitject of Mexico in 
 upper Louisiana, he had failed to provide 
 himself with a passport before starting on his 
 journey, and when he presented himself be- 
 fore the governor he was peremptorily ordered 
 to leave the province immo Jiately. In bitter- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 nes8 of heart he left tlie governor's house to 
 make preparatious for his departure; but on 
 crossing the phiza he met Baron de Bastrop, 
 an alealJe and a native of Prussia, whose 
 acquaintance he had made many years before. 
 In his younger days liastrop was a soldier of 
 fortune under Frederick tlie Grreat. lie after- 
 ward entered the service of the king of Spain, 
 wlio sent him on a special mission to Mexico. 
 While Louisiana was under the dominion of 
 Spain he obtained a grant of thirty miles 
 fijuare between the Mississippi and Red 
 rivers, 400,000 acres of which he ceded to 
 Aaron Burr, on which the latter intended to 
 plant a colony as a nucleus for his meditated 
 e.xpedition against Mexico. When Louisiana 
 was re ceded to France, Bastrop became a 
 citizen of San Antonio de Bejar, where he 
 was appointed alcalde and afterward land 
 commissioner, and in 1827 he represented 
 Texas in the legislature of Coahuila and Texas, 
 lie died in 1828 or 1829. 
 
 On meeting Austin, as before stated, he in- 
 terested himself in his undertaking, and by 
 his influence had a second interview with 
 Governor Martinez, who, after some delibera- 
 tion, forwarded Austin's memorial to Arre- 
 dondo, the commandant-general of the eastern 
 internal provinces, with a strong recommend- 
 ation in its favor from the local authorities of 
 the province. 
 
 While his case was pending, he started on 
 the long journey back to his Missouri home, 
 in January, 1821, and suffered untold hard- 
 ships, lie was frequently obliged to cross 
 swollen streams by either swimming or raft- 
 ing, and to suffer a great deal from hunger. 
 Indeed, the exposures of the journey broke 
 down his healtb, and he died at his home 
 June 10th following, in his fifty-seventh year. 
 
 On dying he left an arrangement with his 
 son, Stephen Fuller Austin, then in New Or- 
 
 leans, to prosecute the enterprise he had be- 
 gun in Texas. From 1821 to 1824 there 
 were no less than four different forms of gov- 
 ernment in Texas, and of course but little was 
 done by way of settlement. January 17, 
 1821, however, Austin's memorial was 
 granted, giving him permission to introduce 
 300 families into Texas. In energy and per- 
 severance the son was equal to his father, and 
 he arrived at San Antonio with seventeen 
 companions, and received pe.mission from 
 the government to ex'plore the country on the 
 Colorado river and select an advantageous po- 
 sition, lie also examined the country along 
 the Brazos river. Being convinced of the 
 fertility of the land and healthfulness of the 
 climate, he returned to Louisiana and pub- 
 lished the particulars of the scheme. Each 
 head of a family was to receive 640 acres, 
 320 acres in addition for the wife should there 
 be one, 100 acres additional for each child, 
 and eighty acres in addition for each slave. 
 Each single man also would receive a grant 
 of 640 acres. The conditions imposed upon 
 the settlers were that tiny should be Catho- 
 lics, or agree to become so, before entering 
 the territory; that they should be provided 
 with credentials of good character and habits; 
 should take the oath to be obedient in all 
 things to the government; to take up arms 
 in defense against all enemies; to be faithful 
 to the king; and to observe the political con- 
 stitution of the Spanish monarchy. On the 
 part of the colony itself, each settler whs to 
 pay 12A cents per acre for his land to defray 
 expenses, except that Austin took it upon 
 himself to pay for all the surveying, securing 
 of titles, etc. The money was to be paid in 
 instalments after receipt of title. A portion 
 of the fund was also designed for purposes of 
 government, defense against hostile Indian-, 
 and to furnish supplies to poor immigrants. 
 
uaiour Of TfXAJS. 
 
 . THE AUSTIN COLONY, 
 
 The first iin migrants of the Austin colony 
 arrivei^l in December, 1821, settling on tlie 
 IJrazos river at the I'aliia crossing, mainly in 
 what is now Austin county; but many diffi- 
 culties and hardships were encountered. 
 Shipments of supplies from Now Orleans 
 failed to reach them, and they had to subsist 
 too much on the products of the chase; and 
 this was dangerous on account of the hostile 
 Indians. 
 
 During the spring of 1822 Austin went to 
 San Antonio to report progress, and there 
 learned for the lirst time that under the 
 change in political affairs he would have to 
 obtain from the Mexican congress a confirm- 
 ation of the i^rant conceded to his father by 
 the Spanish government, and receive s|iecial 
 instructions relative to the distribution of land 
 and other details connected with the graiit. 
 This was a sore disapointnient. He would 
 have to travel 1,200 miles by land on roads 
 infusted by banditti and deserters, and he was 
 ill prepared for such a journey. Neverthe- 
 less, in ragged clothes and a blanket, he dis- 
 guised himself as a poor traveler going to 
 Aluxico to petition for compensation for serv- 
 ices in the revolution, and unflinchingly 
 started out on the long and perilous journey. 
 
 While on his way to the city of Mexico, 
 with but two persons in company, arriving 
 at San Antonio, he (Austin) was told that it 
 was dangerous to proceed without an escort, 
 for a war party of Coinanches was abroad, 
 killing every unprotected person who came 
 in their way; that some individuals had been 
 murdered by them the day before; and that 
 he, with so much baggage, being a valuable 
 prize, could not possibly hope to escape. 
 Finding, however, no opportunity of obtain- 
 ing an escort, and the business of the colony I 
 
 requiring his presence in the metropolis, he 
 resolved at all hazards to proceed on his 
 journey. 
 
 They traveled the first day unmolested, 
 but on the morning of the second day, feeling 
 somewhat indisposed, Mr. Austin undertook 
 to prepare some coffee. There were no ac- 
 commodations on the road, and it was neces^ 
 sary to carry provisions on a pack-horse, and 
 cook by the wayside. His companions warned 
 him that if Indians were near they would be 
 attracted by the smoke. He flattered him- 
 self, however, that by selecting a sheltere'l 
 place and making little smoke, it would be 
 impossible for them to discern it. Besides, 
 his craving for the coffee was so great, he 
 being afflicted with a bad headache, he in- 
 sisted that he must have it at all risks. They 
 were upon an open plain, and could see many 
 miles around. At the moment no living 
 creature was in view but themselves. 
 
 The men in company went to seek the 
 horses, which had bean hoppled the night be- 
 fore and let loose to feed. The colonel re- 
 tired to a little ravine to enjoy his coffee. It 
 was boiled, and in the act of putting the re- 
 freshing beverage to his anxious lips, he heard 
 a sound like the trampling of many horses, 
 liaising his head, with the coffee yet untasted, 
 he beheld in the distance tifty mounted Coni- 
 anches, with their spears glittering in the 
 morning sun, dashing toward him at full 
 speed. As the column advanced it divided, 
 according to the practice previously described, 
 into two semi-circles, and in an instant he 
 was surrounded. Quicker than thought he 
 sprang to his loadeJ rifle, but as his hand 
 grasped it he felt that resistance by one 
 against a host was vain. 
 
 The plunder commenced. Every article 
 of the little encampment, with the middle- 
 bags, which he stood upon to protect if possi- 
 
3i 
 
 UISrORT OF TJiXA.'i. 
 
 l)lc, \v;i.s ffreeJily seized. Austin's presence 
 uf mind, however, did not forsake liim. lie 
 calmly meditate I for a mo:ncnt wliat course 
 to pursue. A.-s; in i^' great composure, lie 
 wont up to the cliiei', and, addressing him in 
 Spanish and the few Indian words he knew, 
 dech\red himself to be an American, and de- 
 manded whether their nation was at war with 
 the Americans. "No," was the reply. "Do 
 you like tlie Americans?" "Yes; they are 
 our friends." " Where do you got yonr spear- 
 heads, your bhmkets," etc., naming all their 
 foreign articles one by one. "Get them from 
 our friends, tlie Americans." ""Well, do you 
 think if you were passing through their 
 nation, as I am passing through yours, they 
 would rob you as you have robbed me?" 
 The chief reflected a little and replied, " No; 
 it would not be right." The chief then com- 
 manded his men to restore all the articles 
 taken. Every article came back with the 
 sa'ue dispatch with which it had disappeared, 
 except the saddlebags. These, which con- 
 tained all his money, were indispensable to 
 the further prosecution of his journey. No 
 one could tell anything of the saddlebags. 
 Almost in despair of ever seeing them again, 
 he observel in a thicket, at a little distance, 
 a squaw, one of the trumpeter.^, kicking and 
 belaboring her horse to make him move off, 
 while the sagacious beast would not stir a 
 step from the troop. The colonel instantly 
 pursued the female robber, and found his 
 saddlebags neatly concealed under the saddle- 
 blanket and herself. The whole squadron 
 then moved off, and were seen no more. 
 
 A little circumstance connected with the 
 above affair is worth mentioning. A Spanish 
 grammar, which the colonel carried suspended 
 at the saddle-bow, that he might study it as 
 he rode along, was missing. This book was I 
 afterward found among the Indians by some | 
 
 traders, and as it had the owner's name on it 
 a report spread abroad that the colonel had 
 been killed by the Comanches. This report 
 reached the ears of his an.\ious mother and 
 sister in Missouri, and it was many months 
 before they learned that he had survived the 
 dreary pilgrimage. 
 
 Mr. Austin reached the capital in safety, 
 April 29, 1822, but on account of constant 
 changes in the government and the belief 
 that a new law would at length have to be 
 adopted, it was not until the next January 
 that his claim was recognized. But even 
 then, before he left the capital, another 
 change in the government was made, and he 
 had to wait about three months longer for 
 new arrangements. On bis return to Mon- 
 terey he had to get further instructions from 
 the commandant general and the provincial 
 "deputation." He was informed that he 
 had full powers for the administration of 
 justice in his colony, he, in the military 
 aspect, ranking as lieutenant-colonel. He 
 could make war on the Indian tribes in his 
 vicinity who molested his colony, could in- 
 troduce supplies by the harbor of Galveston, 
 etc. He was to render an account of his 
 acts to the governor of Texas, and be suliject 
 to him. Bastrop was empowered to survey 
 the lands and give title. The name San 
 Felipe de Austin was given to the capital of 
 the new colony. 
 
 When Austin arrived at the settlement he 
 found it almost abandoned, in consequence of 
 his long detention in Mexico, but the news of 
 his return and the success of his undertaking 
 attracted settlers in such numbers that by 
 1824 the stipulated 300 families had arrived, 
 and they then began a prosperous career. 
 Although, however, Austin was exact in his 
 administration of justice and extravagantly 
 benevolent to the needy, there were many in 
 
uisronr op texas. 
 
 the colony disposed to complain and make 
 trouble. la the United States and E 
 tl 
 
 pe 
 
 ipression began to prevail that Austin's 
 early colonists were in great part fuiritives 
 from justice; but lie niaint;iined, with every 
 show of fact and reason, that his colony was 
 as moral as any community in the States. 
 
 The limits of the county were undefined by 
 the law, and the immigrants were allowed to 
 settle at various distances from the center ac- 
 cording to their own free will. In response 
 to Austin's petition, the government al- 
 lowed him to introduce 500 more families to 
 locate upon the unoccupied lands lying be- 
 tween the tracts already occupied by his 
 colonists. 
 
 Mr. Austin at one time sent a newcomer 
 to Texas from San Felipe to the Colorado to 
 take the census of the families in that part of 
 his colony. The duty being performed, the 
 messenger returned, and the following con- 
 versation occurred: 
 
 Austin.—" Well, Mr. 
 
 like that part of the country? 
 
 Newcomer.— •' I like the country much 
 but I wouldn't live in such a community if 
 you would give it all to me." 
 
 Austin. — "Wlrv, didn't they treat 
 well?" 
 
 Newco!ner. — " Y 
 ter treated." 
 
 Austin. — "Tell me about it." 
 Newcomer. — "Well, general, to give you a 
 sample of the people living up there. I went 
 to a log cabin, where I found only a lady at 
 home. I asked her who lived there. She 
 said, 'Me and the old man.' 1 told her I had 
 come to take the census. She told me to take 
 it. I said to her, ' Have you any children?' 
 She replied, 'Yes; lots on 'era.' 'Please give 
 their names, madam.' ' Well, thar's Isaiah, 
 and Bill, and Tom, and Jake, and Ed, and John 
 
 how do you 
 inic 
 
 you 
 indeed; never was bet- 
 
 and Bud, and , oh, yes! I'd like to forgot 
 
 Joe, he's gone so miuh.' These being duly 
 noted, with ages, I asked, 'Have you no 
 girls?' ' No, sir,' replied she, emphatically; 
 'boys is trouble enough; but arter a while 
 they kin take care of themselves; but gals is 
 always trouble, and never kin take care of 
 themselves.' General, those puople are too 
 rough to live with." 
 
 Austin.—" Well, Mr. , those are ex- 
 actly the people we want for the pioneers on 
 our frontier. They are hardy, honest and 
 brave. They are not your kid-glove sort. As 
 the settlement becomes denser, they will strike 
 farther out upon the borders. I wish we had 
 more of them." 
 
 The following anecdote, in regard to mem- 
 bers of the colony, illustrates the universal 
 tendency of retaliatory measures to increase 
 in gravity far beyond reason. In February, 
 18-41, a pig belonging to Mr. Bullock, an 
 Austin landlord, found his way into the stable 
 of M. de Saligny, the French charge, and are 
 some of the corn. For this offense a servant 
 of the Frenchman slew the little animal, and 
 in return for this the irate landlord horse- 
 whipped the servant. Thereupon Saligiiy 
 complained, and Bullock was arrested and 
 bound over to the next term of court. After- 
 ward the landlord ordered the envoy off his 
 premises. These indignities to French honor 
 were not to be passed unnoticed by, and the 
 Texas government, failing to give satisfac- 
 tion, the French minister abandoned his post. 
 A conciliatory letter from President Houston 
 subsequently healed the breach and brought 
 the testy Frenchman back. Occasions as 
 trifling as this have, in the history of man, 
 been the initial point of a series of acts which 
 terminated in war. 
 
 " The character of ' Leather-stocking," " 
 
 Mrs. Holle 
 
 says 
 •is not uncommon in Texas. 
 
U J STORY OP TEX^IS. 
 
 Many persons employ an individual in the 
 business of liunting in all its brandies, and 
 thus are eonstantly supplied with provisions 
 uf evary description, even to eggs, which are 
 furnished by the immense numbers of wild 
 fowl. These hunters are very profitable to 
 their employers, and much cherished in the 
 family, and often become spoiled by famili- 
 arity and indulgence. A roughness of mari- 
 ners and a rudeness of speech are tolerated 
 in them which would not be brooked in other 
 servants. They are a sort of privileged char- 
 acter. Indians and Mexicans are considered 
 the best qualified for this important ofhce. 
 But it sometimes happens that a white man 
 from the States, who has become somewhat 
 decivilized (to coin a word), is substituted. 
 The dress of these hunters is usually of deer- 
 skin; hence the appropriate name 'Leather- 
 stocking.'" 
 
 TUE EMTRESARIO SYSTEM. 
 
 After the Mexican provinces had declared 
 themselves free and sovereign, and subjt^ct 
 only to federation, a national colonization law 
 was adopted August 18, 1824, one jirovisiou 
 of which authorized the legislatures of the 
 different States to form colonization laws for 
 the occupancy of the public domains within 
 their respective territories, on terms that 
 were not at variance with the federal consti- 
 tution. Accordingly, the newly-formed State 
 of Coahuila and Texas, having organized its 
 government, the legislature, on March 24, 
 1825, decreed such a law, one provision of 
 whii'h required, in order to people the land 
 by the colony system, a certain number of 
 families to be introduced within a given time, 
 at the expense of the immigrants themselves. 
 The particulars of the system were as follows, 
 in brief: The empresario first presented a 
 
 memorial to the State Government asking for 
 permission to colonize certain waste lands 
 which were designated, as well as the number 
 of families he proposed to introduce. To 
 atibrd ample choice to settlers, the tract 
 designated and usually conceded by the gov- 
 ernment was greatly in excess of the apjiro- 
 priation to be finally made-; biit after the 
 establishment of the settlement and the com- 
 pletion of the allotments of the colonist.^, ai d 
 the assignment of the "premium land" to 
 the empresario, all the surplus land ivveitid 
 to the State. The distribution of the allot- 
 ments was under the control of a commis- 
 sioner appointed by the State, but he had 
 power to make an assignment without 
 the approval of the contractor. If the 
 contractor failed to introduce the stipulated 
 number of familes within the ttriii of six 
 years, he lost his rights and privileges in pro- 
 portion to the deficiency, and the contract was 
 totally annulled if he had not succeeded in 
 settling 100 families. The premium granted 
 to a contractor was five square leagues of graz- 
 ing land and five labores of tillage land for 
 each hundred families; but he could not ac- 
 quire a premium on more than 800 families. 
 (A square league was a tract of 5,000 varas 
 square, and contained 4,428 acres. A labor 
 was 1,000 varas square, and contained 177 
 acres. Twenty -five labores were equal to one 
 sitio, and five sitios composed one hacienda) 
 Every family whose sole occupation was 
 farming received 177 acres (one labor) of ag- 
 ricultural land, and ;f it engaged in stock- 
 raising also a grazing tract sufficient to com 
 plete a square league was added. Those 
 families whose sole occupation was cattle- 
 raising received each a square league, less 
 one labor (177 acres). An unmarried man 
 received one-fourth of the above quantitv. 
 The State government alone could increase the 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 quantities in proportion to tlie size of a family 
 and the industry and activity of the colonists. 
 Eleven square leagues was the limit of land 
 tliat could be owned l>y the same hands as 
 prescribed by the national colonization law. 
 For each square k'a;^ue, or sitio, as it was 
 denominated, the colonist paid an emption 
 sum of $30 to the State, $2.50 for each labor 
 not irrigable, and $3.50 for each that was irri- 
 gable; but these payments were not deniatiderl 
 until after the expiration of six years from 
 tlie time of settlement, and then only in three 
 instalbnents at long intervals. Contractors 
 and the military were e.xempt from this tax. 
 Thus the terms offered settlers were very 
 liberal, except that they required them to be 
 of the Catholic faith and gave preference to 
 Mexicans. However, after the promulgation 
 of the above laws an increased tide of immi- 
 gration set in from the United States, and 
 little or no regard was paid to the religious 
 character of the law. In a few years* nearly 
 the whole of Texas was parceled out to em- 
 presarios, though none fulfilled their contracts 
 except Austin. Settlers, however, continued 
 to come in and improve the land, mainly 
 from the United States, with the inevitable 
 result, as almost any one might have seen, of 
 turning eventually the province of Texas into 
 a member of the American Union. The 
 population increased from 3,500 in 1821 to 
 about 20,000 in 1830. 
 
 EFFECT OF TUE NEW IMMIGRATION ON THE 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 By this time it began to become apparent 
 that the old regime of government to which 
 the Spaniards and Mexicans wei-e accustomed, 
 was obsolete, or -'behind the times." The 
 lew people in Texas were of broaiier <Taui^e 
 than the "old fogies" could imagine, and 
 
 would not brook the everlisting series of 
 revolutions and counter-revolutions in which 
 the Mexicans delighted. But before we pro- 
 ceed with the causes of the tinal revolution, 
 let us glance at further details in reference to 
 the condition of the people in Texas and 
 Coahnila. 
 
 Trior to 1824 Texas had no political con- 
 nection with Coahuila. The latter was a 
 richer and more populous country, and temp- 
 tations greater there to a corrupt ruler. Op- 
 pression was exercised thereon a much larger 
 scale than in Texas. The commandant gen- 
 eral ruled as it suiteii him, and while possess- 
 ing even superior power to the viceroy, there 
 was no check whatever upon his authority, 
 except the presence of bis legal adviser, the 
 auditor de guerra, who generally did nothing 
 more than approve and support his opinions. 
 Great distance from the seat of the general 
 government rendered local government more 
 independent and irresponsible, and corrupt 
 rulers an almost unlimiced opportunity to ex- 
 ploit tiie interests of the people. Every 
 enormity was practiced that enmity or covet- 
 ousiiess suggested. Under a less oppressive 
 government the province of Coahnila, with 
 its fertile soil, its genial climate and exhilar- 
 ating atmosphere, would iiave been all that 
 man could desire; but the incubus of com- 
 mercial and agricultural monopoly pressed 
 heavily on the land. The prince merchants 
 smothered development. No factories or 
 invention stimulated industry. Primitive 
 and crude methods continued their old and 
 monotonous way along with no hope of change. 
 Wine and brandy were about the only ex- 
 ports. But the inhabitants of Coahuila were 
 almost exclusively pastoral and agricultural. 
 Here were to be found simplicity and insensi- 
 bility to intrigue, untiring industry and pa- 
 tience under severe labor, the endurance of 
 
IIISTURY OF TEXAS. 
 
 privations witliont inuririiir, and a deep- rooted 
 love of liberty. Both the social and j)o!itieal 
 morals of this rural population wcro of a 
 higher standard than those of the iidiahitants 
 of the manufacturing and mining districts of 
 Now Spain. 
 
 "\Vo need not follow here the political 
 fortunes of Cuahuila, which were unimportant 
 compared with those of Texas. 
 
 TUE LABOK 8VSTEM. 
 
 Wliile the jealous fears of the State gov- 
 eminent that its liberal policy Iiad overshot 
 the mark became more and more confirmed, 
 certain legislative acts, which it was expected 
 would be corrective of past mistakes and pre- 
 ventive of foreshadowed trouble, irritated the 
 settlers. The slave laws of 1827 and the 
 prohibitory one of 1829 respecting foreign 
 merchants, caused great offense, ]^y decree 
 of Septetnber 15, 1827, the constituent con- 
 gress manifested its intention to acquire the 
 gradual emancipation of slaves already in- 
 troduced. Town councils were ordered to 
 keep a list of all slaves in their ret-pectivo 
 municipalities, designating name, age, sex, 
 etc. Slaves whose owners had no apparent 
 heirs were to become fi-ee immediately on the 
 decease of their masters; and on each clringe 
 of ownership, even in the case of heirs im- 
 mediately succeeding, one-tenth of the num- 
 ber of slaves inherited was to be manumitted, 
 the individuals being determined by lot. By 
 another decree it was provided that any slave 
 who wished to chmge his master could do 
 so, provided the new owner indemnified the 
 lormer one for the cost of the slave according 
 to the bill of sale. 
 
 Although the colonists kept themselves 
 aloof and were indifferent to Mexican legis- 
 lation so long as their own immediate inter- 
 ests were not attacked, their anger rose when 
 
 a direct blow was struck at their prosperity. 
 Without slave-labor the colonization of Te.\as 
 would have been retarded many years, as 
 nearly all the colonies were established by 
 men of ineans from the old South, and knew 
 no other way of managing business tlian by 
 slave labor. The immigrants would have 
 been limited exclusively to the class of labor- 
 ing farmers who, by their own hands, would 
 have reclaimed some small portions only of 
 uncultivated wastes. No capitalist of that 
 day, going to Texas, would have engaged in 
 a venture which would reduce him and his 
 family to the condition of laborers. But the 
 labor system of Mexico, long established, was 
 not affected by this legislation in regard to 
 African slaves. It was indeed far less ex- 
 pensive than that of African slavery. The 
 peon, or Mexican laborer, was in perpetual 
 servitude, practically, although he did not 
 bear the name of slave. lie bound himself 
 to his master by a written contract on enter- 
 ing his service, and immediately became his 
 debtor for money advanced, sometimes to the 
 anu)uut of a year's wages. The law did not 
 permit an advance of more money than that. 
 Ilarely did the account with his employer 
 lihow a balance in his favor. If he gave 
 offense, committed a fault or failed in the 
 fuUillmentof his duties, coutiuement, .shackles 
 or the lash could be meted out to him; and 
 should he desert his master's service he could 
 be reclaimed through the alcalde, who had 
 authority to compel him to return and punish 
 him; in .short, he was never out of debt, and 
 theref.ire ever a bondman, with but little 
 more liberty than a slave. His wages varied 
 from one to three reales per day, providing 
 for himself; and as his working days were 
 reduced by the numerous church holidays 
 observed in Mexico to about 200, the average 
 cost of a peon was about $50 a year. 
 
U I STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Under lliis system it was not difficult for 
 the Anglo-Americans to evade the law pro- 
 hibiting the further importation of slaves; 
 and under the appellation of indentured ser- 
 vants tliey continued to introduce them into 
 Texas. The negroes were apprenticed for a 
 term of ninety-nine years. Arguments were 
 brought to bear upon the Me.xican govern- 
 ment, inducing it to make an exception in 
 favor of Texas, under the law providing for 
 tlie immediate manumission of slaves. 
 
 KELIOIOUS AND POLITICAL INTOLIOUANCE. 
 
 In legislation, as might liave been expected, 
 there was a curious mixture of wise mi'asures 
 with unwise, the latter growing out of the 
 old prejudices, and but a dim foresight of 
 modern requirements. The restrictions on 
 the sovereignty of the people laid down in 
 the constitution, the intolerance of any re- 
 ligion but the Roman Catiiolic, and the ex- 
 cessive power vested in the chief of the de- 
 partment of Texas, were incompatible with 
 free republican institutions, lu strong con- 
 trast with the liberality manifested in the 
 State colonization law was the persecution to 
 which resident Spaniards were sul)jected. By 
 a law, passed June 23, 1827, tiiey were ex- 
 cluded from all civil and ecclesiastical ofKces 
 until Spain should acknowledge the inde- 
 pendence of Mexico; and, in November of the 
 same year, all Spaniards, except those domi- 
 ciled in the State thirty years, were banished- 
 travelers of that nationality could not remain 
 more than three days in any town, except in 
 case of sickness or other recognized impedi- 
 ment; those who remained' were required to 
 present themselves monthly to the local au- 
 thorities, and were furbidden to carry arms 
 except those customarily worn for personal 
 "a strict surveillance was kept 
 
 defense; 
 
 over their conduct. During the invasion of 
 Spanish forces in 1829, Coahuila and Texas 
 displayed its patriotism by exacting a heavy 
 forced loan from the resident Spaniards, while 
 the property still remaining in the State of 
 those who had fled to other countries was 
 confiscated. Unmarried Spaniards and wid- 
 owers without children were called upon for 
 one-third of their capital; those who were 
 married and without children, and widowers 
 with only one child, for one-fifth; and those 
 of both classes with more than one child, for 
 one eighth. 
 
 in Coahuila and Texas was at an extremely 
 low ebb. Only in the town of Saltillo was 
 there a fixed appropriation for the main- 
 tenance of a common schoolmaster, and that 
 was a scanty one. The education of the chil- 
 dren of servants to write was prevented, on 
 the fear that on growing up they would want 
 higher position than that of servitude. In 
 1820, the Congress endeavored to remedy 
 this evil by enacting a law to establish schools 
 of mutual instruction on the Lancasterian 
 system, but the law did not establish the 
 schools. In these schools were to be taught 
 reading, writing, arithmetic, the dogmas of 
 the Catholic religion and Ackerman's cat- 
 echisms of arts and sciences, the teachers' 
 salary being fixed at $800 a year. The next 
 year another law was adopted, to establish 
 primary schools on a similar plan, with a sim- 
 ilar result. The people were indifferent to 
 educational progress. Among the settlements 
 of Austin's colony a few private schools were 
 established, and, in 1829, the first Pii^:„stant 
 Sunday-school in Texas was opened, at ban 
 Felipe de Austin, by T. J. Pilgrim, of the 
 Baptist Church. It was soon interrupted, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 however, wlicMi fears were excited by a litiga- 
 tion that the public would recognize it as a 
 violation of the colonization law. 
 
 In regard to religion, the Texas colonists 
 at tliis early date had neither the opportunity 
 nor inclination to practice it. A traveler 
 there in 1831 says: "The people of this 
 country seem to have forgotten that there is 
 such a coniinandinent as ' Remember the Sab- 
 bath day to keep it holy.' This day is gen- 
 erally spent in visiting, driving stock and 
 breaking mustangs." Having furnished the 
 required certificate of his Catholic faith, the 
 Anglo-American eased his conscience by re- 
 fraining from any practical expression of it. 
 
 In other respects than these already men- 
 tioned, as causing dissatisfaction between the 
 State and the colonists, the government 
 showed itself otherwise favorably disposed to- 
 ward them. Ilitlierto they were left unmo- 
 lested in the management of their .internal 
 affairs. In 1827 and 1828 parties were au- 
 thorized to sink artesian wells, develop coal 
 mines, navigate the Rio Grande by steam, etc. 
 
 THE FINAL REVOLUTION. 
 
 The first indication of the approaching 
 crisis which resulted in the revolution for in- 
 dependence, was in 1826, when the Anglo- 
 American element of the population began to 
 resist oppression. The entering wedge is 
 thus very carefully described in Bancroft's 
 history. 
 
 *' Ilaydeu Edwards, in 1825, after much 
 trouble succeeded in obtaining from the Coa- 
 huila and Texas government a contract to 
 settle 800 families on lands surrounding 
 Nacogdoches. lieturning to the United 
 
 States ho spared no pnins in endeavoring to 
 fulfill his contract, at tiie same time inducing 
 his brother, Major Ijeiijamin W. Edwards, to 
 go to Texas and aid him in estal)lishing his 
 colony. Foote says that the latter visited 
 Austin and had a long conversation with hiin 
 on the subject of Texas colonization; that 
 these two agreed that 'the firm establishment 
 in this favored country of the institutions of 
 civil and religious freedom, and the redemp- 
 tion of a region from foreign rule which 
 rightfully belonged to the United States, and 
 of which tliey had been notoriously bereaved 
 by fraudulent negotiations, was desirable and 
 practicable; but that they also agreed that the 
 colonies would have yet to suffer a great deal 
 before they would be strong enough to throw 
 off the yoke.' It is difficult, however, to be- 
 lieve that Austin expressed any idea that 
 fraud had been practiced on the United 
 States. 
 
 " In October, 1825, Ilayden Edwards re- 
 turned to Texas and took up his residence at 
 Nacogdoches. He soon discovered that he 
 had ditficulties to contend with that had 
 never troubled Austin. Portions of the lands 
 conceded to him were already occupied by 
 Mexican settlers, some of whom had been 
 driven from their homes after the destruction 
 of Long's expedition, and had recently re- 
 turned. Nacogdoches had again about 100 
 inhabitants, and certain of the villainous class, 
 formerly of tlie 'neutral grounds,' had taken 
 up lantls. These latter, without regarding 
 Edwards witii any particular aversion, were 
 wholly averse to subordination; while the 
 Mexicans, jealous of his authority and angry 
 at an American being placed over them, 
 showed marked symptoms of unfriendliness. 
 There were, moreover, among them many 
 turbulent and bad characters, and not a few 
 fugitives from justice. The result was that, 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 as Edwards' immigrants an-ived, the colony 
 was quickly divided into two hostile factions. 
 Edwards did what he could to preserve order 
 and maintain his authority, but several meas- 
 ures adopted by him were far froni politic. 
 The second article of his contract provided 
 that all possessions found in Nacogdoches 
 and its vicinity, supported by the correspond- 
 ing titles, should be respected ; and that in 
 case any of the ancient possessors should 
 claim preservation of their rights, it was the 
 empresario's duty to comply therewith. This 
 afforded a wide loop-hole through which to 
 thrust in claims to the most valuable lands, 
 and old title-deeds were diligently searched 
 for or manufactured. 
 
 « In order to ascertain the extent of these 
 claims, Edwards, in November, 1825, called 
 upon all persons holding such land titles to 
 produce them, -in order that their legality 
 might be decided upon according to law. In 
 this there was no harm ; but he gave further 
 notice that the lands of those who failed to 
 present their titles would be sold, and that 
 claimants whose title were just would have 
 to pay for any improvements that had been 
 made on the lands by the present occupants. 
 This caused indignation to the Mexicans and 
 gave great offense to the authorities, who 
 could but regard his notitication in respect to 
 the sale of lands as an assumption of power 
 tliat had never been given him. 
 
 " By the sixth article of the contract Ed- 
 wards was authorized to raise the national 
 militia within his colony, and was appointed 
 its chief until further disposition should be 
 made. Accordingly he gave notice for the 
 election of militia officers to take place on 
 December 15 of the same year. At the same 
 time he proposed that the people should 
 elect an alcalde. With the election of this 
 the more serious troubles began, i 
 
 Each party had il, /mdidate for the office. 
 Chaplin, Edwardi (on-in-law, was put for- 
 ward by the American colonists, and Samuel 
 Norris, devoted to Mexican interests, by their 
 opponents. The election decided in favor of 
 the former, who took poss^ission of the 
 archives and entered upon the duties of the 
 ofhce. But Sepiilveda, the out-going alcalde, 
 and his party disputed many of the votes as 
 having been cast by settlers outside the limits 
 of Edwards' grant, though under the alcalde's 
 jurisdiction. Accordingly they represented 
 the matter to Saucedo, the political chief at 
 San Antonio. Already offended with Ed- 
 wards, by reason of a report sent in by the 
 latter giving an account of his official acts, 
 and which was not deemed sufficiently re- 
 spectful, Saucedo decided in favor of Norris, 
 and instructed Sepulveda to install him by 
 force of arms if any opposition was offered. 
 No resistance was made, however, and on the 
 exhibition of Norris' commission Chaplin 
 surrendered up the archives of the office to 
 him. 
 
 "And now commenced a system of petty 
 tyranny and invidious distinctions which ex- 
 asperated the colonists. Americans, who 
 had wrought improvements on their lands, 
 were ousted from them to give place to Mexi- 
 cans, the favorites of Sepulveda and the 
 alcalde. A band of ' regulators' was formed, 
 under the command of James Gaines, the 
 brother-in-law of Norris; and, backed by 
 these ruffians and the official support of 
 Saucedo, the Mexican party domineered as 
 they liked. Moreover, accusations against 
 Edwards were made to the political chief, 
 who did not conceal his hostility to the em- 
 presario." 
 
 Ilayden Edwards and his brother continued 
 their endeavors to save their fortunes and 
 people, but the Cherokee Indians, who liad 
 
40 
 
 DISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 Decoine their allies, . iloned them, the 
 Alexicun government o. iiioro violent, and 
 even Austin opposed a ly effort at revolution 
 at that time, and the Edwardses in a few 
 weeks altogether failed. 
 
 Austin's colony continued to prosper. 
 Austin liimself, making himself a favorite of 
 t.he government, was even promoted in his 
 political powers. Other colonies also pros- 
 pered to some extent. Ai'ter the annulment 
 of Edwards' contract, his territory was di- 
 vided between David G. Burnett and Jo^=eph 
 Vehlein, and iin migrants continued to flow 
 into tliat portion of Texas. Dewitt, although 
 his first settlers were tem])orarily driven ofl* 
 by luiiians, had laid out the town of Gonzat- 
 lez in 1825, naming it afier Rafael Gonzalez, 
 a temporary governor of the State, and dur- 
 ing 1827-'28 he succeeded in introducing 
 considerable numbers of colonists. In De 
 Leon's grant the town of Victoria was 
 founded, and La [Jahia del Espiritu Santo 
 had dovi loped into a town of such apprecia- 
 ble dinit'nsions that in 1829 it was raised to 
 the rank of a villa, and the high-sounding 
 title of Goliad given to it. Filisola, in an 
 endeavor to wrench an anagram out of Hi- 
 dalgo's name, spelled the name GoUiiad. On 
 the Brazos a flourishing settlement called 
 Brazoria had also sprung up. 
 
 However, the experience which the Mexi- 
 can government had with the Fredonians 
 (Kilwards' colonists) cancel them to be more 
 watchfid of the movements of American im- 
 migiaiits. Under the liberal and non-ag- 
 gressive policy of Guerrero the colonists 
 were left pretty much to themselves, and he 
 even aided them in the abolition of slavery. 
 But when he was overthrown, in December, 
 1829, and Bustamante seized the helm of 
 government, the sleeping tiger of Mexican 
 suspicion and belligerency arose and showed 
 
 his teeth. And at tliis time it required but 
 little foresight to see that the increasing 
 American element within the domain of 
 Texas would ere long attempt to " slip the 
 leash;" for even the government of the 
 United States, and more especially the ex- 
 pressions of many leading men within the 
 Union, were indicative of a general move on 
 our ])art to take a hand in the separation of 
 Texas from Mexico; but before the tinal storm 
 a preliminary gust made its appeai-ance in 
 the form of Texan independence as a sover 
 eign republic. As Bancroft says: 
 
 "It was therefore natural that Mexico 
 should entertain fears as to the future obedi- 
 ence of the Texan colonists, and it was equally 
 natural that the latter would not tamely sub- 
 mit to the imposition of fetters similar to 
 those which the fathers of most of them had 
 helped to break. Yet in its shortsightedness 
 the government, under the despotic adminis- 
 tration of Bustamante, thought to obviate a 
 probable but not unavoidable contingency by 
 adopting the very measures which were most 
 calculated to provoke a spirit of antagonism." 
 
 Lucas Alaman, the minister of relations 
 under the new government, has the credit 
 (discredit) of inspiring the Mexican legisla- 
 ture to make the fatal mistake of attempting 
 to curb the designs of the United States by 
 the exercise of oppressive measures against 
 the Texan colonists. On February 8, 1830, 
 he laid a memorial before Congress, in which 
 with just reason he calls attention to the 
 danger that Texas was exposed to of being 
 absorbed by the northern republic, and to 
 the carelessness which the government of the 
 State of Coahiiila and Texas had shown in its 
 neglect to see that the colonization laws wei'e 
 properly carried out. He said that the orders 
 providing that no more than the number of 
 families designated in a contract should settle 
 
BISTOHT OF TEXAS. 
 
 on the corresponding grant, and that colonies 
 near the boundary line should be composed 
 of settlers, not natives, of the United States, 
 had been without effect; and he expatiated 
 on the fact tliat a large number of intruders 
 had taken possession of lands, especially near 
 the frontier, without any pretension of satis- 
 fying the formalities of the colonization laws. 
 To preserve Texas to Mexico, he insisted that 
 the Mexican population in Texas should be 
 increased by making that country a penal 
 settlement, the criminals transported thither 
 to be employed in the cultivation of tlie soil; 
 that foreign colonists differing from Ameri- 
 can interests, habits and language should be 
 introduced; that a coasting trade be estab- 
 lished between Texas and other parts of the 
 republic, which would tend to nationalize the 
 department; that the colonization law of 
 August, 1824, be suspended as far as con- 
 cerns Texas, and the settlement of that de- 
 partment be placed under the direction of 
 the general government; and that a commis- 
 sioner be appointed to examine and report 
 upon the condition of affairs in the Texan 
 colonies, etc. 
 
 The congress sympathized with Alaman's 
 views so far as to prohibit the citizens of 
 nations bordering on Mexico from colonizing 
 any of her States or territories immediately 
 adjacent to them; to suspend forthwith all 
 colonization contracts not yet fulfilled, and 
 such as were in conflict with this law; to 
 allow no foreigner, under any pretext what- 
 ever, to enter the northern frontier unless 
 provided with a passport from the Mexican 
 consular agent at the place of his previous 
 residence; and to make no further change 
 with reference to slave laws. 
 
 Along with the immediate execution of 
 this law, passed with tlie special and exclu- 
 sive object of preventing the further immi- 
 
 gration of people from the United States, 
 was the annulment of the exemption of the 
 United States settlers already in Texas from 
 taxes, which had been promised for the first 
 six years of their residence there. But it 
 must be confessed that smuggling had been 
 practiced to some extent by some of the 
 colonists under that provision for exemption. 
 Also, along with the execution of this odious 
 law the government sent a large military 
 force into Texas, under the command of 
 Manuel Mier y Teran, commandant general 
 of the eastern provinces, and he was also 
 authorized to establish inland and maritime 
 custom-houses. A military despotism was 
 naturally inaugurated at an early period. 
 The only colonies recognized were those of 
 Austin, Dewitt and Martin de Leon; all 
 other concessions were suspended until their 
 contracts could be examined and their fulfill- 
 ment verified. Titles were denied to a great 
 number of settlers already domiciled, and in- 
 coming immigrants from the United States 
 were ordered to quit the country immediately 
 upon their arrival. A number of military 
 posts were established, manned by convicts 
 and other bad characters. A series of out- 
 rages was directly begun. Military juris- 
 diction was substituted for that of the local 
 authorities in many places; settlers were dis- 
 possessed of their lands and property, many 
 of them were imprisoned, and no redress 
 could be obtained for thefts and robberies 
 committed by the troops. 
 
 During the year 1831 the local authorities 
 and also the frequently changing administra- 
 tion were at odds with each other, one party 
 almost constantly colliding with another, and 
 these in so rapid succession that the true 
 interests of the masses were lost sight of. 
 Outrages increased as the military officers 
 were angered by resistance or lack of respect, 
 
HISTORY OP TEXAS. 
 
 until even the settlers in tlio Austin colony 
 began to arise in arms. A spirit of rebellion 
 began to spread like a prairie fire before a 
 wind. 
 
 One John Austin, not a relative of Stephen 
 F., was an alcalde at Brazoria and a brave and 
 influential citizen. On June 10, 1832, he 
 joined the insurgents, and with about a hun- 
 dred men demanded the release of certain 
 prisoners at Anahnac, was refused, and some 
 shots were tired. Bradburn, the Mexican offi 
 cer, agreed to release the men if Austin with 
 his force would retire six miles away. Austin 
 did this, but Bradburn broke faith, opened 
 lire upon the insurgents remaining in Ana- 
 hnac and drove them from the place. 
 
 In January, this year (1832), Santa Anna 
 at Vera Cruz pronounced against the govern- 
 ment of Bustamante, and the usual war 
 followed, a la Mexican. The colonists, being 
 enraged by the latter's administration, a 
 number of tliem met at Turtle bayou and drew 
 up a list of their grievances, June 13, and 
 passed resolutions adopting Santa Anna's 
 plan and pledged their support to the consti- 
 tution and the leaders who were then fighting 
 in defense of civil liberty. 
 
 The first skirmish, June 13, 1832, resulted 
 in the insurgents taking the fort at Yelasco 
 from the brave Ugartechea. Meanwhile, John 
 Austin's men around Anahuac successfully 
 cut off supplies and communication. Pied- 
 ras, commanding at Nacogdociies, hastened 
 hitherward to aid the Mexicans, but before 
 arriving fell into the hands of the insurgents, 
 and was coverted to their cause. By his as- 
 sistance Travis and other prisoners were re- 
 leased. Piedras appointed another man to 
 succeed Bradburn at Anahuac and started back 
 to Nacogdoches; hut as soon as he turned 
 his back the garrison at Anahuac mutinied 
 in favor of Santa Anna. Bradburn was per- 
 
 suaded by some of the otficers to rc-assume 
 command, but he immediately found so many 
 of the men committed to Santa Anna that he 
 quit in disgust and went to New Orleans, ac- 
 companied by only one man, asgiiide. On his 
 journey he escape 1 molestation by saying that 
 he was going to the United States to seek 
 for aid in driving the Mexicans out of Texas. 
 
 Considering Santa Anna's future care^jr, it 
 is interesting to notice the praise given that 
 treacherous Mexican by S. F. Austin at tiiis 
 time. Said he, in an address delivered on the 
 day of jubilee, July 25, 1832: 
 
 '■'■Fellow Citizens, and Soldiers of the San- 
 ta AanaVoluitteer Company: I have not the 
 words duly to express my grateful feelings 
 and unfeigned thanks for the kind welcome 
 with whicii you have lionore 1 n)y return to this 
 colony. In all my acts, as far as they hjive 
 been connected with tlu alvancetnentof Texas, 
 I have been governel by the most sincere de- 
 sire to promote its pro-ip9rity and tiie perman- 
 ent happiness of its citizens. My leading motto 
 has been and is. Fidelity to the constitutiun 
 of our adopted country. Tlie same lias been 
 and is the governing principle of the inhabit- 
 ants of this colony. I thank my fellow citi- 
 zens for their approbation; it is the iiighest 
 reward that cm be offered to me for my 
 humble services as their public agent. 
 
 "I accord with you in the opinion that the 
 present is an impjrtmt epojh in the political 
 march of our aJoptoJ and beloved country. 
 With institutions founded on the broad basis 
 of representative democracy, tlie general 
 government of Mexico has, for the last two 
 years, been administered, in many jiarticulars, 
 on principles which more properly belong to 
 a military despotism than to a free republic. 
 A great and glorious regeneration is takincr 
 place; the free dem'wraey of the nation, the 
 people, have asserted their rights under the 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 banner of that distinguished patriot and 
 leader, General Antonio Lopez de Santa 
 Anna. The cause of constitutional demo- 
 cratic liberty is about to triumph throughout 
 ^.he whole of this vast republic. 
 
 "Borne down, in this remote section of the 
 nation, by milifary oppression, and by the 
 most shameful violations of the rights of the 
 State of Coahuila and Texas, you believed 
 that all the guarantees of the constituti( n 
 and laws were disregarded and trample 1 upon. 
 Patience itself was exhausted, md you had 
 recourse to arms, thus espousing tiiat cause 
 of the constitution and of the people which 
 is 80 bravely advocated by General Santa 
 Anna. In doing this, you have not for one 
 moment lost sight of your duty as Mexican 
 citizens, but have defended the true dignity 
 of the national flag, which had been insulted 
 by the violators of the constitution. In the 
 course you have taken you will be sustained 
 by Colonel Mejia, who has come to Texas 
 with fleet and forces under the order of Gen- 
 eral Santa Anna, to protect the rights of the 
 nation and of the State; and you will receive 
 the support and approbation of General Santa 
 Anna himself, of General Montezuma and 
 of all liberal and enlightened Mexicans. In 
 such a cause you have nothing to fear. It is 
 Just, and I will give it my hearty co-operation 
 so far as ray feeble services can avail." 
 
 In the Southern United States the opinion 
 began to prevail that the colonists in Texas 
 were attempting to separate from Mexico 
 and annex themselves to the Union. On this 
 account, Montezuma, commanding at Tam- 
 pico, and having declared in favor of Santa 
 Anna, sent a force into Texas to reduce the 
 insurgents. His colonel, Mejia, on entering 
 Texas, first had an amicable conference witli 
 the leader of the Bustamante party, so as t,< 
 prevent interruption, and proceeded to the 
 
 mouth of the Brazos, taking with him Stephen 
 F. Austin, who was on his return from the 
 State legislature. Consulting John Austin, 
 the latter professed perfect loyalty and said 
 that the insurgents had no intention to sepa- 
 rate from Mexico; they were only rebelling 
 against certain tyrannical acts of some of the 
 ofiicers. Mejia went on to Galveston, where 
 he was similarly received, and he returned to 
 Tampico. He actually advocated the cause 
 of the insurgents, and the seed he had sown 
 in Texas, in so doing, bore rapidly. Piedras, 
 at Nacogdoches, being opposed to Santa 
 Anna, was ousted by the Mexicans. By tiie 
 end of August not a Mexican soldier remained 
 in the Texan colonies, the victory over the 
 Bradburn party was so complete. A troop 
 of about seventy men was stationed at San 
 Antonio, scarcely a sufficient number to keep 
 the Indians in check in that vicinity. Peaci; 
 was restored. This victory of the Texan 
 colonists would have been far more costly, if 
 not indeed impossible of attainment, had 
 there been no revolution going on beyond the 
 Rio Grande. 
 
 SEPARATION OF TEXAS FROM COAHUILA. 
 
 On the formation of these two districts 
 into one State, there was a proviso in the de- 
 cree that when Texas possessed the necessary 
 elements for a separate State, notice should 
 be given Congress for its resolution on the 
 matter. The Texans now (1832-'34) began 
 to consider that the time for the separation 
 had come, for their rapidly growing interests 
 were not sufficiently recognized by the gen- 
 eral government. Their representation in 
 Congress was proportionally in the minority, 
 and they were neglected in the more eager 
 efforts to conserve the interests of Coahuila. 
 Tlie geographical position of the latter ex- 
 cluded it from maritime trade, and its com- 
 
BISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 merce was altogether internal, while Texas 
 possessed great natural advantages for the 
 developuient of an extensive commercial busi- 
 ness with foreign countries. Also, in climate 
 and industrial pursuits, the contrast was 
 equally marked, and the productions were 
 dissimilar. Pastoral and mining occupations 
 prevailed in (Joahuila, while Texas was essen- 
 tially an agricultural country, and cotton, 
 sugar and the cereals were cultivated with 
 most flattering prospects. Texas also labored 
 under the disadvantage of being mucli more 
 remote from the higher courts, which gave 
 tlie wealtliier classes an undue advantage in 
 litigation; and even in criminal cases justice 
 was not so prompt or exact. 
 
 Directly after the Mexican troops were all 
 withdrawn from Texas in 1832, the colonists 
 began to take measures to address the na- 
 tional government on the subject of their as- 
 pirations, namely, a greater recognition of 
 their material interests and of more local 
 government. In October of this year a pre- 
 liminary convention of delegates from differ- 
 ent municipalities was held at San Felipe, 
 and some discussion took place concerning 
 the formation of a State constitution; but as 
 sutHciont notice had not been given and the 
 attendance was slim, the convention adjourned 
 without taking action. Their discussion, 
 however, brought the matter seriously before 
 the public, and when the second convention 
 asseuibled, April 1, 1833, it was prepared to 
 accomplish the work assigned to it. At 
 this convention were Stephen F. Austin, 
 Branch T. Archer, David G. Burnett, Sam 
 Houston, J. B. Miller and William II. Whar- 
 ton, the last mentioned being the president 
 of that body. A committee was appointed 
 to draft a form of State constitution, and an- 
 ntlier committee was appointed to draw up a 
 memorial petitioning the general government 
 
 to grant a separation of Texas from Coahuila. 
 Sam Houston was appointed chairman of the 
 first, and David G. Burnett of tiie second. 
 
 The constitution drafted was tlioroiiglily 
 republican in form, modeled on that of tiie 
 United States. After mucli discussion it 
 was concluded that banking should not bo 
 provided for by that constitution, and that 
 the document should maintain absolute si- 
 lence with reference to religious liberty, such 
 was the blighting power of Catholic influ- 
 ence. 
 
 The commissioners appointed to convey 
 the petition for separation to the city of 
 Mexico were Stephen F. Austin, William II. 
 Wharton and J. B. Miller; but Austin was 
 the only member who actually went there; 
 and on arrival he found that city the scene 
 of virulent party faction and political confu- 
 sion. Affairs in Mexico had been undergo- 
 ing the customary vicissitudes and revul- 
 sions. No more stability of principle was 
 observable in Santa Anna than in Busta- 
 mante. Both used the ci>nstitution of 1824 
 to push themselves into power, and then both 
 cast it to the winds. By the end of 1832 
 these two generals, after much bloodslied, 
 came to terms, and agreed to unite in sup- 
 port of the said constitution. 
 
 March 30, 1833, Santa Anna was declared 
 duly elected president of the Republic of 
 Mexico, and Gomez Farias, vice-president; 
 and from this time on Santa Anna's course 
 was remarkable for subtle intrigue for selflsh 
 purposes. He never appeared, however, as 
 the principal actor, but always used other 
 parties as cat's-paws for his own advance- 
 ment. Dictatorial power was his highest 
 ambition. Farias was the known clianipion 
 of reform, and Santa Anna absented hiniselt 
 from the capital to intrigue with bishops and 
 religious orders, leaving his colleague at the 
 
BISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 seat of power to iiianrTurate his new meas- 
 ures, which he (Santa Anna) knew would 
 foment discord and redound to the discomtit- 
 ure of the instigator and ultimately to his 
 own advancement. 
 
 lu less than three weeks after his inaugur- 
 ation as president, Santa Anna surrendered 
 the office in order to march with a military 
 force against an insurgent army near Tlal- 
 pam, under Duran. The petty complications 
 that were soon brought upon the scene are 
 too tedious to relate here, and it was during 
 this state of affairs that Austin visited the 
 capital, as mentioned above. The latter im- 
 mediately laid his petition before Cungress, 
 but its attention was not seriously directed to 
 it on account of the turbulent matters belore 
 them. Austin grew restless, and in October 
 began to hasten matters. Urging immediate 
 action before Farias, and saying that if some 
 answer was not soon given the Texans would 
 take their affairs into their own hands, the 
 vice-president took offense, considerino- that 
 Austin's expression was a threat. Austin, 
 seeing the prospective delay, wrote to the 
 city council of San Antonio, recommending 
 that it obtain the concurrence of all other 
 corporations in Texas in a scheme for separ- 
 ation from Coahuila, with the hope that, un- 
 der the provision of the general law of May 
 7, 1824, a local government could be success- 
 fully organized, even though the general gov- 
 ernment should refuse its consent. 
 
 The result of Austin's visit, after the war 
 had been closed, was a respectful and honest 
 effort to improve the legal facilities of the 
 Texans, but it was believed by the convention 
 assembled for the purpose that the time had 
 not yet arrived for the erection of Texas into 
 an independent State. But Atistiu, on his 
 return trip to San Antonio, was arrested at 
 Saltillo, by order of Farias, on account of the 
 
 letter he had written to the San Autuiiio 
 council, and on account of the hasty laiKriKi.re 
 used at the interview at the same time. lie 
 was sent back to Mexico, and was in prison 
 eight months, awaiting trial, with no oppor- 
 tunity, much of this time, of communicating 
 with the outside world. He was not finally 
 liberated until the expiration of nineteen 
 months. Much has been said pro et i^oatra 
 by Austin's friends and enemies coiicertiing 
 his actions at this period; but the Texans 
 generally believe him to have been sincere 
 and competent, and probably as Judicious as 
 any other man they could have commissioned 
 for that errand. Santa Anna seemed to be a 
 friend of Austin and the Texans, but those 
 knowing his character entertained doubts as 
 to his sincerity. 
 
 The legislature of January, 1834, passed 
 various measures beneficial to Texas. The 
 municipalities of Matagorda and San Augus- 
 tin were created; Texas was divided into 
 three departments, the new one of Brazos, 
 with San Felipe as its capital, being organ- 
 ized; the English language was permitted to 
 be used in public affairs, and an additional 
 representative at the State congress allowed; 
 the privilege of purchasing vacant lands was 
 granted to foreigners; laws were passed for 
 the protection of the persons and property of 
 all settlers whatever might be their reliirJou, 
 and freedom from molestation for political 
 and religious opinions was guaranteed pro- 
 vided public tranquillity was not disturbed; a 
 supreme court for Texas provided for, and a 
 system of trial by jury. 
 
 These liberal measures had great effect in 
 promoting temporary quiet in Texas, but 
 subsequent events rendered them nugatorv to 
 prevent the revolt of the colonists. The hesi- 
 tating and vacillating action of government 
 kept the people in a state of suopt-uou, and 
 
HIHTOUY OF TEX AH. 
 
 tliis indeed was about all t lie iinie!i;il)le Santa 
 Anna desired. It was a fact, however, that 
 Texas at that time had not the requisite popu- 
 lation (80,000), according to law, to justify 
 its erection into a sovereign State; but their 
 treatment by the general government was 
 such as to make them restless. 
 
 At the beginning of the revolutionary pe- 
 riod the colonists were in quite a prosperous 
 condition. They had found in their new 
 hemes just what they had sought. A steady 
 increase was going on in the population; 
 tlieir cattle and horses were multiplying; 
 cotton, corn, sugar and all that they needed 
 in Ihe way of produce were easily cultivated, 
 and in large quantities. They were con- 
 tented and happy, but the political sky was 
 beginning to be overcast with dark and por- 
 tentous clouds. Santa Anna, who had taken 
 tiie reins of government as a Republican, was 
 getting into full accord with the aristocratic 
 and church party, and was preparing to over- 
 tlirow the Republic. lie was ambitious, un- 
 principled, cruel and treacherous. He be- 
 trayed the party which had elevated him to 
 tlie highest position in Mexico. He still 
 lield Austin in confinement, who was igno- 
 rant of the charges against him. There 
 could be no justifiable accusation against the 
 Texan leader. A few concessions were made 
 to Texas, in order to cajole the settlers. An 
 additional delegate was allowed that State in 
 the general legislature. 
 
 In the fall elections of 1834, the Centralist 
 party, headed by Santa Anna, was victorious 
 everywhere except in Texas, Zacatecas and 
 Coahuila. In revenge for the action of Za- 
 catecas, that State was declared to be in 
 rebellion, and the number of militia was re- 
 duced to only one in every 500 persons, the 
 balance being disarmed. Many acts of usur- 
 pation were perpetrated upon the citizens of 
 
 thu three sections which had not endorsed 
 Santa Anna at the late election, and finally, 
 that general, at the head of about 5,000 men, 
 started for Zacatecas to reduce that Republi- 
 can State to submission. Tiie governor of 
 Zacatecas, Francisco Garcia, was a Republi- 
 can of high standing, but lacking military 
 experience and ability. lie had under him 
 fully as many soldiers as Santa Anna. He 
 evacuated the city and made a stand on 
 Guadalupe plains, and after a bloody l)attle 
 he was disastrously defeated, losing 2,000 
 killed or wounded, and the rest taken pris- 
 oners. This was a terrible blow to the Re- 
 publican cause, and in addition Santa Anna 
 was clothed with unlimited power. He soon 
 used this power by dissolving all State leg- 
 islatures. The people of Texas were thus 
 left without a civil government. True, the 
 political chiefs and alcaldes exercised their 
 functions, but the laws were all of Spanish 
 origin and distasteful to the Americans. Be- 
 ing mostly farmers, the Texans were averse 
 to any warlike measures, if they could honor- 
 ably be avoided. Some were for submission 
 to Santa Anna, but the slumbering lion in 
 the nature of these hardy border men fore- 
 boded a terrible storm when the lion should 
 be aroused by too much prodding from the 
 keeper. Santa Anna, in the meantime, was 
 preparing, under cover of collecting revenue 
 in Texas, for the military occupation of the 
 province. He landed 500 men at Lavaca 
 bay, and forwarded them ynder General 
 Ugartecliea to San Antonio. Tlie custom- 
 house at Anahuac was taken in charge and 
 enormons dues were demanded. So excessive 
 were they that W. B. Travis raised a com- 
 pany and captured Captain Tenorio and the 
 soldiers at the custom house. They were 
 shortly after released, as the act of Tra\is 
 was thought by his friends to be too hasty. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 When Tenorio reported these proccLHlin;Ts 
 to hib superior officer, he was sent on a still 
 more uncalled-for errand. 
 
 A Mexican Republican, Lorenzo do Zavala, 
 had taken refuge in Texas, and Santa Anna, 
 fearing his influence, ordered his arrest; but 
 no one would undertake the task. Another 
 order was sent from headquarters to arrest 
 R. M. Williamson, W. J3. Travis, Samuel M. 
 Williams, Moseley Baker, F. W. Johnson 
 and John H. Moore, and a subsequent order 
 included the names of J. M. Carravahal and 
 Juan Zambrano. The two last, being Mexi- 
 can citizens, were carried off; but the job 
 of arresting the first six persons was con- 
 sidered so dangerous that no officer had the 
 temerity to attempt it. In addition to these 
 Mexican outrages on the Texans, the Indians 
 were becoming troublesome. Mercliants and 
 traders were intercepted and killed, and their 
 goods carried off. But tliese Indian outrao-es 
 served one important purpose; tlicy gave the 
 Texans an excuse for forming companies, 
 procuring arms and drilling ostensibly for 
 operations against the savages, but really to 
 resist the encroachments of the despotic Mex- 
 ican government. The companies were called 
 "committees of safety," and their business 
 was to disseminate information, secure arms, 
 ammunition, etc. A central committee was 
 also formed, which met at San Felipe, and an 
 administrative council was organized. The 
 council sent Messrs. Barrett and Gritton to 
 San Antonio on a mission of peace to Gen- 
 eral Ugartechea, but nothing was accom- 
 plished. Stephen F. Austin, in the mean- 
 time, was returning, when he was made 
 chairman of the council at San Felipe. He 
 expressed regret at the action of his friends, 
 and stated that he had hoped to find every- 
 thing peaceful. 
 
 Santa Anna still professed to have the kind- 
 est feelings toward the Texans, and he autiior- 
 ized Austin to tell his people that he was 
 their friend, and that he desired tiieir pros- 
 perity; that lie would do all he could to pro- 
 mote it, and that in the new constitution he 
 would use his influence to have conditions 
 therein to give Texas a special organization, 
 suited to their education and habits. But 
 Santa Anna could l)e nothing but treacherous, 
 as the treatment of the people in that portion 
 of the State occupied by his troops but ill ac- 
 cord with his professions of good will. Citi- 
 zens were arrested, money forced from those 
 who fell into the hands of the despot's min- 
 ions, and communities strippeJ of their arm-, 
 the soldiers compelling families to support; 
 them, the attempt to disarm all citizens being 
 a principal feature of the plan of subjugation. 
 Captain Castenado was sent to Gonzales to 
 seize a small cannon which had been given to 
 the corporation for protection agai.ist Indians. 
 The citizens were unwilling to part with their 
 gun, and prepared to resist the demand of 
 Castenado, who had 150 soldiers to back him. 
 A company was organized, which charged tlie 
 Mexicans and put them to flight in disorder. 
 The news of this conflict roused a warlike 
 spirit in the Texans. A company was raitel 
 to capture the Mexican garrison at Goliad. 
 Captain George Collingsworth led the party, 
 and almost without tiring a gun the exultant 
 Texans made prisoners of tiie whole force, 
 about twenty-five, including Colonel Sandoval, 
 besides obtaining 300 stand of arms and mil- 
 itary stores to the amount of $10,000. The 
 Mexican fort at Lipantitlan was also captured 
 shortly after. 
 
 Not only had Austin returned, but the 
 noted Benjamin U. Milam had escape 1 from 
 Monterey and returned and joined the patriot 
 forces. Austin, who was a born commander. 
 
UISTOUT OF TEX AH. 
 
 was put in iinmc.liate coiuiiuind of the Texan 
 forces on liis arrival at Gonzales, which was 
 on tlie lltii of Oetober. 
 
 The consultation met October IG, 1835, 
 but tiiere being only thirty one nienibers 
 pro-ent an adjournment was made until Nov 
 ember 1. November 5 a preamble and set of 
 resolutions were adopted, in which the dec- 
 laration was made that althougli they repu- 
 diated Santa Anna and bis despotic govern- 
 ment, they yet clung to the Constitution of 
 Mexico of 1824. On November 12 an ordi- 
 nance was passed for the creation of a provis- 
 ional government, with an executive council, 
 to be composed of one member from eacli 
 municipality. Henry Smith was made Gov- 
 ernor, and James W. Robinson Lieutenant- 
 Governor. Sara Houston, who, it will be 
 noticed, had figured some little in Texas his- 
 tory since 1832, was selected to command the 
 army to be raised. 
 
 General Cos, with 500 soldiers, landed at 
 I'ass Cavallo,in September, 1835, and marched 
 immediately to San Antonio, when he super- 
 seded General Ugartechea. Austin, after 
 reaching Gonzales, and effecting a reorganiza- 
 tion of the volunteers, started for San An- 
 tonio. He reached the Mission La Espada, 
 nine miles below the city, on the 20th. On 
 the 27th, after resting his men, he detached 
 the companies of Fannin and Bowie, ninety- 
 two men, to ascend the river and if practic- 
 able select a more suitable camping ground. 
 Fannin spent that night in a bend of the San 
 Antonio river, near the Conception mission. 
 The point was well chosen, but the Mexicans 
 looked upon it as simply a trap to secure their 
 ga'ue from, wliich was all they had to do. 
 It was a natural fortification, but General Cos 
 thought he had a sure thing of it; so he 
 marched out in the morning and ma Ic a'l at- 
 tack. The Mexicans surrounded their sup- 
 
 posed prey, and the battle began. The Tex- 
 ans with their deadly rifles plucked off all the 
 gunners from the enemy's battery, as they 
 came within range. A charge was made, or 
 attempted, three separate times, but they 
 were hurled back in confusion by tlie Texans, 
 who remained masters of the field. Sixteen 
 dead bodies were found near the abandoned 
 cannon, which had been discharged but five 
 times; so true was the aim of the riflemen 
 that the Mexican gunners were shot before 
 they could Are, in most cases. Tiiis was the 
 first battle of the Revolution, and the loss of 
 the Texans was one man — Richard Andrews. 
 The Mexican loss was about sixty, as every 
 one of the patriots who fired took aim and 
 usually brought down his man. Austin, in 
 October, moved up about half a mile, on the 
 Alamo ditch, near the old mill, and next day 
 to within one mile east of the city. He had 
 nearly 1,000 men, but they were ill provided 
 with arms and ammunition of war, and with- 
 out cannon. He was poorly prepared to at- 
 tack a larger force than his own in a strongly 
 fortified city. He, however, sent to Gonzales 
 for the cannon at that place. Then came a 
 number of skirmishes witk the enemy and 
 tlie capture of 300 horses by Howie. The ex- 
 ecutive or general council, in view of the lack 
 of funds wherewith to provide the supplies, 
 etc., so much needed at that time, sent Messrs. 
 Austin, Archer and Wharton as Commission- 
 ers to the United States, in order to ne- 
 gotiate a loan of $1,000,000 in bonds of 
 ^1,000 each, and the commander-in-chief was 
 authorized to accept the services of 5,000 vol- 
 unteers and 1,200 regulars. Provision was 
 also made for a navy. 
 
 BA'ITLK OF SAN ANTONIO. 
 
 The army encamped before San Antonio 
 was under General Edward Burleson Many 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 of the iiieu Iiad gone lioiiie, allliuiigh others 
 were arriving daily; stiil, only about half 
 tlie original force re.n.tineJ. There had 
 lieen about 1,400 men in the camps at one 
 time; 600 was the mi m her on tlie 1st of De- 
 cember, while Cos had a much larger force in 
 the city, and was expecting 500 more. These 
 additional troups arrived in time to take part 
 in the defense of the city. The defenses had 
 been put in order and the old fortress of tiie 
 Alamo on the east side of the river had been 
 repaired and fortified with cannon. The 
 main plaza had been fortified and the streets 
 barricaded, while the adobe houses in tiie 
 narrow streets afforded shelter for tlie Mexi- 
 can soldiers. Many of Burleson's ofiicers, in 
 consideration of these facts, were in favor of 
 abandoning the siege. On the 2d of Decem- 
 ber it was decided to make the attack. The 
 force was paraded and a strong address was 
 made by Colonel William H. Jack. A call 
 was then made volunteers, and 450 men, in- 
 cluding the New Orleans Grays, responded, 
 the latter under the command of Major R..C. 
 Norris. It was decided to make the attack 
 next morning, although many considered the 
 project as a hopeless one. But three citizens 
 arrived in camp from the city and gave such 
 encouraging news that the next morning 
 Colonel Milam suggested to Burleson to make 
 the attempt while the enthusiasm was at its 
 lieight. He agreed, and Miiaiu stepped in 
 front of Burleson's tent and gave a loud and 
 ringing huzsah, which, together with his 
 magnetism, aroused the whole camp. He 
 said he was going into San Antonio, and 
 wanted volunteers to follow iiim. A ready 
 response was made, and the little band, form- 
 ing into two sections and accompanied by two 
 field pieces, entered the town by different 
 directions. A description of this famous 
 battle has so often been given that its details 
 
 are almost like household words to all Texans. 
 The result was sufficient almost to place it in 
 the category of one of the " decisive battles 
 of the wi.rld," for the result of a battle is 
 what makes it great. Hundreds of battles 
 have been fought where thousands on each 
 side have been slain, and yet the result has 
 been 7iil. This siege and capture of the 
 strongly protected city of San Antonio de 
 Bexar was all important to Texas. It gave 
 the Mexicans to understand that not in num- 
 bers alone consists the strength of an army. 
 Here was a force of undisciplined frontiers- 
 men, poorly armed and equipped, only a few 
 hundred in number, attacking a well organ- 
 ized army of regular soldiirs, advancing into 
 their very midst and forcing them to sur- 
 render. The difference in apparent strength 
 of the two forces and the result would appear 
 ridiculous were it not so serious a matter. 
 The spectacle of a general such as Cos seemed 
 to be, surrendering to a few Texans, was a 
 scene to be remembered by those who took 
 part in the siege. But it is the old story ot 
 the Anglo-Saxon against the field. He is 
 rarely ever the under dog in the fight at the 
 finish. 
 
 But, during the time the fighting men 
 were doing such splendid work, the poli- 
 ticians were quarreling; nor are we lacking 
 in a more " modern instance " or two, on both 
 sides of Mason and Dixon's line. Governor 
 Smith vetoed some matters that the council 
 had voted, and the council promptly deposed 
 him and placed Lieutenant-Governor Robin- 
 son in the executive chair. Smith held the 
 archives and claimed to be governor still, and 
 there were consequently two governors at 
 once; but that state of affairs is not uncom- 
 mon in these days. Much other legislative 
 matter of some interest at the time was trans- 
 acted, but it is not now of supreme import- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 aiicc. Tlie main liisturic facts is what tliu 
 compiler wishes to eiiipliasize in these pages. 
 Several decUirations of indepeiKleneo were 
 adopted in differeiit sections of the embryo 
 State, hut an election was Iield for dele<fate8 
 to a convention wliich met on the 1st of 
 A[arch, 1836, and on tlie second day a com- 
 mittee was appointed to draft a declaration 
 of independence, which was done, and it was 
 unanimously passed, Sam Houston offeriufr 
 the resolution that the report of the commit- 
 tee be adopted, llichard Ellis, for whom 
 Ellis county was named, was president of the 
 convention. A constitution was also framed 
 which was adopted March 17, and a govern- 
 ment ad interim inaugurated: David G. 
 Eurnett, President; Lorenzo de Zavala, Vice- 
 president, and Sam Houston, Commauder-in- 
 Chief of the army in the field. 
 
 Zacatecas, and the district over which Gov- 
 ernor Garcia still had nominal sway, the re- 
 maining portion of old Mexico wherein the 
 llepublicans held out the longest, at last fell. 
 Santa Anna having gained a complete vic- 
 tory over the forces of the governor. This 
 swept away the last vestige of the Republican 
 party in Mexico. Yet Texas was not only 
 holding her own, but gaining strength witii 
 every day; so Santa Anna determined to sub- 
 jugate this State. He proposed to send two 
 columns into the piovince, General Urrea be- 
 ing ordered to Maianioras to take one divi- 
 sion along the coast to Goliad and Victoria, 
 while the president himself, with the main 
 division, would take the province by way of 
 I'lL'sidio, thence to San Antonio and San Fe- 
 lipe. 
 
 TUE AI.AMO. 
 
 In Januarj', 1836, Santa Anna reached 
 Saltillo, and Guerrero by the 15th of Febru- 
 ary. From the latter place he wrote to 
 
 Sefior Tornel, Minister of War, 
 
 giving 
 
 that 
 
 official an outline of his plans in reference to 
 Texas, which were " to drive from the prov- 
 ince all who had taken part in the revolu- 
 tion, together with all the foreigners who 
 lived near the sea-coast, or the borders of the 
 United States; to remove far into the interior 
 those who had not taken part in the revolu- 
 tion; to vacate all lands and grants of lands 
 owned by non-residents; to remove from 
 Texas all who had come to the province and 
 were not entered as colonists under Mexican 
 rules; to divide among the officers and sol- 
 diers of the army the best lands, provided 
 they would occupy them; to permit no 
 Anglo-American to settle in Texas; to sell 
 the remaining vacant lands at $1 per acre, 
 allowing those speaking the French language 
 to purchase 5,000,000 acres, those speaking 
 English the same, and those speaking 
 Spanish without limit; to satisfy the claims 
 of civilized Indians; to make the Texans 
 pay the expense of the war; and to liberate 
 and to declare free the negroes introduced 
 into the colony." And further, to cut off 
 from Texas the hope of aid from the United 
 States, the Minister of War, Tornel, issued a 
 general order to all commanders to treat all 
 foreigners (volunteers from the United States) 
 as outlaws, to sliow no quarter, and slay 
 them when taken as prisoners, — in short, to 
 take no prisoners alive. Colonel Travis, with 
 145 men, who was in the vicinity of San An- 
 tonio, on the approach of the invading army, 
 retired to the fortress of the Alanio, on the 
 east side of the river. 
 
 And just here a description of this famous 
 fortre-s, the Alamo, and its armament, will be 
 in place; and although it has often been de- 
 scribed, yet the memories surrounding it, 
 glorious though sad, cannot be kept too fiesh 
 in the minds of all who love supreme hero- 
 
HI STOUT OF TEXAS. 
 
 ism, — tl.e Spartan Loruisin as sliown by 
 Travis and liis littlo hand. 'The main 
 chapel is 75x62 I'eet, walls of solid masonry, 
 four feet thick and twenty-two and a half 
 feut high, roofless at the time of the siege. 
 It fronts to the west toward tlie city, one- 
 iialf mile distant. From the northwest cor- 
 ner a wall extended fifty feet to the convent 
 building. The convent was a two-story 
 building, with a flat roof, 186x18 feet. 
 From the nortlieast coiner of the chapel a 
 wall extended 186 feet north, thence 102 feet 
 west to tlie convent, inclosing the convent 
 yard. From the southwest corner of the 
 chapel a strongly built stockade extended 75 
 feet to a building called the prison. The 
 prison was one-story, 115 x 17 feet, and 
 joined a part of the south wall of the main 
 Alamo plaza, of which the convent formed a 
 part of the east wall; and some low buildings, 
 used as a barracks, formed a part of the west 
 wall. The main plaza, inclosed with walls, 
 was 154x54 yards. The different enclos- 
 ures occupied between two and three acres, 
 — ample accomodations for 1,000 men. The 
 outer walls were two and a half feet thick 
 and eight feet high, though as they were 
 planned against the Indians the fortress was 
 destitute of salient and dominant points in 
 case of a bombardment. A ditch, used for 
 irrigation, passed immediately in the rear of 
 the church; another touched the northwest 
 angle of the main square. The armament 
 was as follows: three heavy guns, planted 
 upon the walls of the church, — one pointing 
 north, toward the old mill; one west, toward 
 the city; and one south, toward the village of 
 Lavalleta. Two guns protected the stockade 
 between the church, and the prison; two pro- 
 tected the prison, and an eighteen-pounder 
 was planted at the southwest angle of the 
 main square; a twelve-pound cannon pro- 
 
 tected the center of the west wall, and an 
 eight pounder was planted on the northwest 
 angle; two guns were planted on the north 
 wall of the plaza, — in all, fourteen iu posi- 
 tion. Over the church floated the flag of the 
 provisional government of Texas, the Mexi- 
 can tri-color, with the numerals 1824, in 
 place of the eagle in the white stripe." 
 
 The siege began on the 23d of February, 
 and so stubbornly did Travis and his ineu re- 
 sist the furious onslaughts of the Mexicans 
 that not until Sunday, March 6, did the fall 
 of the Alamo occur, an account of which, 
 briefly told, will here be given: The Mexi- 
 cans advanced to the attack at about four 
 o'clock in the morning, but the Texans were 
 ready, and poured upon the advancing col- 
 umns a shower of grape and musket a:id rifle 
 balls. Santa Anna was watching the opera- 
 tions from behind a building about 500 yards 
 south of the church. Twice the assailants 
 reeled and fell back in dismay. Kallied again 
 by the brave Costrellon (who fell at San Ja 
 cinto), according to Filisola, the columns of 
 the western and eastern attacks meeting with 
 some difliculty in reaching the tops of the 
 small houses forming the wall of the fort, 
 did, by a simultaneous movement to the right 
 and to the left, swing northward until the 
 three colums fornaed one dense mass, which 
 under the guidance of their oflicers Anally 
 succeeded in effecting an entrance into the 
 enclosed yard. About the same time the 
 column on the south made a breach in the 
 wall and captured one of the guns. This 
 gun, the eighteen-pounder, was immediately 
 turned upon the convent, to which some of 
 the Mexicans had retreated. The cannonade 
 on the center of the west wall was still manned 
 by the Texans, and did fearful execution 
 upon the Mexicans who had ventured into 
 the yard. 
 
HI STOUT OF TEXAS. 
 
 But the feeble garrison could not loiiji; hold 
 out aj^aiiist such overwheliniug uuiuhcrs. 
 Travis fell early in the action, shot with a rifle 
 ball in the head. After being shot he had 
 sufficient strength to kill a Mexican who at- 
 tempted to spear him. The bodies of most 
 uf the Texans were found in the buildings, 
 wlieie hand-to-hand figlits took place. The 
 body of Crockett, however, was in the yard, 
 with a number of dead Mexicans lying near 
 him. Bowie was slain in his bed, and it is 
 said that he killed three Me.\icans with his 
 pistols before they reached him after break- 
 ing in the door. The church was the last 
 place entered by the foe. It had been agreed 
 that when resistance seemed useless, and 
 suspecting their fate, any surviving Texan 
 should blow up the magazine. Major Evans, 
 it is said, was performing this sad duty when 
 he was killed in time to prevent the explo- 
 sion. Several Texans appealed to their in- 
 human captors for quarters, but they were 
 cut down without mercy. The butchery was 
 complete; not a Texan soldier was spared! 
 Two ladies and a negro servant wore the only 
 occupants who remained to tell the tale of the 
 Alamo. Lieutenant Dickinson attempted to 
 escape with a child on his back, but their 
 bodies fell, riddled with bullets. 180 bodies 
 of the Texans were collected together and 
 partially buried. The Mexicans lost twice 
 that number. 
 
 THE ALAMO MONUMENT. 
 
 At the entrance to the State house at Aus- 
 tin, aline moininient has been erected in 
 memory of the extraordinary heroism of the 
 Texans who fell in the battle and massacre of 
 March 6, 1836. On the four sides of the 
 pedestal are the names of Travis, Crockett, 
 Bowie and Bouham. On the north front of 
 
 the sliaft is the fullowing inscription: To the 
 God of the Fearless and Free is Dedicated 
 this Altar, made from the ruins of the Alamo; 
 on the west front, DIood of Heroes Hath 
 Stained me: Let the Stones of the Alamo 
 Speak, that their Immolation be not forgot- 
 ten; on the south front. Be They Enrolled 
 with Leonidas in the Host of the Mighty 
 Dead; and on the east. TheimopyiiB had her 
 Messenger of Defeat; but the Alamo had 
 None. 
 
 The following 
 
 names are inscribed upon 
 
 the north and south fronts: 
 
 M. Antry, 
 
 W. Cummings, 
 
 R. Allen, 
 
 R. Crossan, 
 
 M. Andress, 
 
 Cockran, 
 
 Ay res, 
 
 G. W. Cottle, 
 
 Andei-son, 
 
 J. Dust, 
 
 W. Blazeby, 
 
 J. Diilard, 
 
 J. B. Bowman, 
 
 A. Dickinson, 
 
 Baker, 
 
 C. Despalier, 
 
 S. C. Blair, 
 
 L. Davell, 
 
 Blair, 
 
 J. C. Day, 
 
 Brown, 
 
 J. Dickens, 
 
 Bowin, 
 
 Devault. 
 
 Balentine, 
 
 W. lAarduff, 
 
 J. J. Baugh, 
 
 J. Eviirig, 
 
 Burnell, 
 
 T. It. Evans, 
 
 Butler, 
 
 D. Fluyd, 
 
 J. Baker, 
 
 J. Flanders, 
 
 Burns, 
 
 W. Fishbaugh, 
 
 Bailey, 
 
 Forsyth, 
 
 J. Beard, 
 
 G. Fuga, 
 
 Bailess, 
 
 J. C. Goodrich, 
 
 Bourn, 
 
 C. Grimes, 
 
 R. Cunningham, 
 
 J. George, 
 
 J. Clark, 
 
 J. Gaston, 
 
 J. Cane, 
 
 J. C. Garrett, 
 
 Cloud, 
 
 Gwyn, 
 
 S. Crawford, 
 
 J. F. Garwin, 
 
 Gary, 
 
 Gillmore, 
 
n I STORY OF TBXAS. 
 
 Pelone, 
 
 Sewall, 
 
 Wm. Lightfoot, Wm. G. Nelson, 
 
 C. Parker, 
 
 A. Smith, 
 
 J. Loiily, C. Ostiner, 
 
 N. Pollard, 
 
 Simpson, 
 
 J. M. Thruston, L. J. Wilson, 
 
 G. Paggan, 
 
 R. Star, 
 
 Valentine, Warner, 
 
 S. Kobinson, 
 
 Starn, 
 
 Wil,ialn^on, D. Wilson, 
 
 Reddenson, 
 
 N. Sutherland, 
 
 Walsh, Washington, 
 
 N. Rough, 
 
 W. Summers, 
 
 W. Wells, C. Wright, 
 
 Rusk, 
 
 J. Summerline, 
 
 R. White, J. Washington, 
 
 Robbins, 
 
 Thompson, 
 Tomlinson, 
 
 T. Waters, Warnall, 
 
 W. Smith, 
 
 J. White, D. Wilson, 
 
 Sears, 
 
 E. Taylor, 
 
 J. Wilson, A. Wolf. 
 
 C. Smith, 
 Stockton, 
 
 G. Taylor, I Bros,, 
 J. Taylor, 
 W. Taylor, 
 
 It is greatly to be regretted that a com- 
 
 Stewart, 
 
 plete and correct list of the names of those 
 wlio fell at the Alamo, with some biographi- 
 cal account of each, is not at hand. Scanning 
 the above list of imperfect names will often 
 
 A. Smith, 
 J. C. Smith, 
 Ilutchason, 
 
 Thornton, 
 
 Thomas, 
 
 Lanio, 
 
 
 
 remind the reader that 
 
 S. Holloway, 
 
 W. Lightfoot, 
 
 
 Harrison, 
 
 G. W. Lynn, 
 
 "Full many a gem of purest ray serene, 
 
 Ilieskell, 
 
 Lewis, 
 
 The dark, unfatbomed caves of ocean bear; 
 
 J. Hayes, 
 
 W. Mills, 
 
 Full many a flower is born to blusb unseen 
 
 
 And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 
 
 Horrell, 
 
 Micheson, 
 
 
 Harris, 
 
 E. T. Mitchell, 
 
 OOLIAD MASSACEB. 
 
 Hawkins, 
 
 E. Melton, 
 
 
 J. Holland, 
 
 McGregor, 
 
 Santa Anna, in the meantime, had ordered 
 
 W. Hersie, 
 
 T. Miller, 
 
 Urrea to proceed along the Texan coast, and 
 
 Ingram, 
 
 J. Mc(Joy, 
 
 that general reached San Patricio on the 28th 
 
 John, 
 
 E. Morton, 
 
 of Febinary, entirely unknown to Texans. 
 
 J. Jones, 
 
 R. Mussulman, 
 
 Some narrow escapes were made by Colonel 
 
 L. Johnson, 
 
 Millsop, 
 
 F. W. Johnson and others, but a party under 
 
 C. B. Jamison, 
 
 R. B. Moore, 
 
 Major Morris and Dr. Grant were captured 
 
 "W. Johnson, 
 
 W. Marshall, 
 
 and they fell victims to the Mexican murder 
 
 T. Jackson, 
 
 Moore, 
 
 ers, — for they were nothing less. Colonel 
 
 D. Jackson, 
 
 R. McKenny, 
 
 Fannin had been ordered to prepare for a 
 
 Jackson, 
 
 McCaferty, 
 
 descent on Matamoras, but hearing of the ad- 
 
 G. Kemble, 
 
 J. McGee, 
 
 vance of Urrea, he re-entered Goliad, where 
 
 A. Kent, 
 
 G. W. Main, 
 
 he had been in command some time. Hav- 
 
 W. King, 
 
 M. Querry, 
 
 ing been requested to send some reinforce- 
 
 Kenney, 
 
 G. Nelson, 
 
 ments to Captain King, his force was thereby 
 
 J. Kenny, 
 
 Nelson, 
 
 depleted by 112 men. King and his men, 
 
 Lewis, 
 
 J. Noland, 
 
 after a skirmish or two, by some means got 
 
 W. Linn, 
 
 Nelson, 
 
 separated from another portion of his forc<j. 
 
BISTORT OF TBXA.S 
 
 !iiid were c.ijitiircd and killed. Fannin, in 
 (loliad, on the Kith of March, wab rein- 
 forced hy tlie Twenty-eighth Cavalry, lie 
 then pn^iared for a retreat; but just at 
 nightfall a large force of the enemy was dis- 
 covered in the neighborhood, when he re- 
 mounted his cannon and prepared for defense. 
 The following account of the disastrous battle 
 of Colita, which followed, is copied from an 
 able historian of Te.xas: "The morning of 
 the 17th was foggy, and as no enemy ap- 
 peared to be in sight Fannin concluded to 
 make good his retreat. After reaching a 
 ])oint aijout eight miles away from Goliad, 
 they halted to permit the oxen to graze. 
 They then resumed their mai'ch, and were 
 within two miles of Colita creek when a 
 company of Mexican cavalry was discovered 
 in front of them, issuing from a point of 
 timi)er. Urrea had taken advantage of the 
 fog to get around and in front of Fannin's 
 Ibrce. Ilorton's cavalry had gone in advance 
 to make arrangements for crossing the 
 Htream, and could not get back to their com- 
 panions. Two charges of Urrea's cavalry 
 were gallantly repulsed by Fannin's artillery, 
 which did great damage to the Mexicans. 
 The tight was kept up till nightfall, when 
 the enemy retired out of range and the Tex- 
 ans prepared for a renewal of the fight in the 
 Mioriiing. Their condition was indeed crit- 
 ical. Fourteen of their number had been 
 killed, and sixty others, including Fannin, 
 were wounded. Urrea received during the 
 night heavy reinforcements. With no ade- 
 (^uate protectioti, in an ojien prairie, without 
 Hater, surrounded by an enemy live times 
 ilieir number, what could they do but sur- 
 veiider as prisoners of war? A white Hag was 
 •aised and the following terms of surrender 
 a^^reed upon: That the Texans sliould be 
 treated as prisoners of war accoiding to the 
 
 usages of civilized nations; that private prop- 
 erty shoulil be respected and restored, but 
 tiide arms of the oIKcers should bo given up: 
 the men should be sent to Copano, and thence 
 in eight days to the United States, or as soon 
 as vessels could be procured to take them; 
 the otticers should i)e paroled and returned to 
 the United States in like manner. 
 
 After surrendering in good faith and rely- 
 ing upon the honor, in this case at least, of 
 the Mexican general, the prisoners were look- 
 ing forward to a speedy release, and on Falm 
 Sunday, the 27th, they were expecting to be 
 forwarded to their homes. But alas! vain 
 hope! the treacherous scoundrel to whom 
 they surrendered had broken his military 
 word and was about to place his name in the 
 same category as the Caligulas and Neros 
 and other fiends in human shape. Without 
 warning and uuder the pretense of starting 
 them homeward, the privates were marched 
 out in four companies, strongly guarded, 
 from the old mission at Goliad, where they 
 had been sent, and where the men of Ward's 
 force were also confined, and who, too, met 
 the same fate as Fannin's men. They were 
 taken in diffei-ent directions, and within 
 sound of the officers, whose fate had also 
 be n decided upon, they were brutally slaugh- 
 tered! A few, by feigning death and lying' 
 still till dark, escaped. The officei-s and the 
 wounded, who were still in the fort, were then 
 taken out, and all of them met the same fate 
 as the [)rivates, Fannin being the last to suf- 
 fer death. That Santa Anna, at the close of 
 the victt)rious revolution, should have been 
 permiltel tu escape the fate of those bra\e 
 patriots, has been a hard pill for most Tex- 
 ans to swallow. Ten years later, when he 
 wiis in command of the Mexican army op- 
 p,ir,ing (iencriil Scott, and when he was 
 ag.iiii cipiurod, it was difficult for the Amer- 
 
)am^ 
 
 I (^/^m/d^/an. 
 
EISTOIiT OF TEXAS. 
 
 ican soldiers to keep their liai.Js off the 
 bloodthirsty brute, and he had to be strongly 
 guarded to save hiiu from tiie vengeance of 
 many a grizzled Texan. Not content with 
 these butcheries, Santa Anna, thinldng tliat 
 the conquest of Texas was complete, gave or- 
 ders to his subordinates to shoot all prison- 
 ers, he himself making preparations to retire 
 to the capital. But wheu he heard that a 
 considerable army under Houston was still 
 in the field, he, at the solicitation of Almonte 
 and Filisola, concluded to remain and com- 
 plete his work. 
 
 SAN JACINTO. 
 
 General Houston had been re-elected com- 
 mander-in-chief of the army, and had gone 
 to Gonzales, with the intention of re-organiz- 
 ing the forces, in which he had great diffi- 
 culty, for the fate of Travis and Fannin and 
 their men caused a great panic when the 
 news became known. Besides, thirty-two of 
 the citizen soldiers of Gonzales, who had en- 
 tered the Alamo the night before the battle, 
 were slain, leaving a dozen or more families 
 of that town without a head. A number of 
 desertions also occurred, and the alarm was, 
 indeed, widespread. Then came some move- 
 ments on the part of General Houston that 
 caused great criticism of his actions. There 
 was not a very considerable cordiality between 
 the commander and the newly inaugurated 
 president, and in an order to the foi-mer from 
 the latter these words were added : " The 
 enemy are laughing you to scorn. You must 
 tight them. You must retreat no further- 
 The country expects you to fight. The salva- 
 tion of the country depends on your doing 
 80." The Confederate as well as the Feiloral 
 generals during the late war, had their critics 
 at their respective seats of government, yet ' 
 
 the names of Houston, Lee and Grant live on; 
 but wheie are they, who were they, who sought 
 to teach those great soldiers? The battle of 
 San Jacinto was the response of the great 
 Texan to his oHicial, not to say olUcious 
 superior. And the best report of that decisive 
 battle is contained in the official report of the 
 commander, who, by that one blow to Mexico, 
 secured the itidependence of Texas, the an- 
 nexation of our great State to the greatest 
 nation on earth, and finally led to the acqui- 
 sition of the vast interior region stretching 
 from the Bio Grande to the Pacific ocean: 
 " Headquartkrs of the Armv, ) 
 "San Jacinto, April 25, 183G. J 
 " To His Excellency, D. G. Burnett, 
 J'/esideni of the Reptihlic of Texas: 
 
 ^'' Sir: — I regret extremely that my situa- 
 tion since the battle of the 21st has been such 
 as to prevent my rendering you my official 
 report of the same previous to this time. 
 
 " I have the honor to inform you that on 
 the evening of the 18th instant, after a forced 
 march of fifty-five miles, which was effected 
 in two days and a half, the army arrived op- 
 posite Harrisburg. That evening a courier 
 of the enemy was taken, from whom I learned 
 that General Santa Anna, with one division 
 of his choice troops, had marched in the di- 
 rection of Lynch's Ferry, on the San Jacinto, 
 burning Harrisburg as he passed down. The 
 army was ordered to be in readiness to march 
 early on the next morning. The main body 
 effected a crossing over Buffalo bayou, below 
 Harrisburg, on the morning of the 19th, hav- 
 ing left the baggage, the sick, and a sufficient 
 camp guard in tlie rear. We continued the 
 march throughout the night, making but one 
 halt on the prairie for a short time, and with- 
 out refreshment. At daylight we resumed 
 the line of march, and in a short distancj our 
 scouts encountered those of the enemy, and 
 
in STOUT OF TEXAS. 
 
 we received iiiforin.'itioii that General Santa 
 Anna was at Now Wasliino-ton, and would 
 tliat day take up the line of mareh fur Ana- 
 linac, crossing at Lynch's Ferry. The Texan 
 army halted within a half mile of the ferry, 
 in some timber, and were engaged in slangh- 
 tering beeves, when the army of Santa Anna 
 was discovered to be in battle array, having 
 been encamped at Clopper's Point, eight 
 miles below. 
 
 "Disposition was immediately made of 
 our forces, and preparations for his recep- 
 tion. He took a position with his infantry 
 and artillery in the center, occupying an isl- 
 and of timber, his cavalry covei'ing the left 
 Ihink. The artillery, consisting of one double- 
 loitiHed medium brass twelve-pounder, then 
 opened on our encampment. Tlie infantry in 
 column advanced with the design of charging 
 our lines, but were repulsed with a discnarge 
 of grape and canister from our artillery, con- 
 sisting of two six-pounders. The enemy had 
 occupied a piece of timber within rifle shot 
 of the left wing of our army, from which an 
 ..ccasional interchange of small arms took 
 place between the troops, until the enemy 
 witiidrew to a position on the bank of the 
 Sati .laeinto, about three-quarters of a mile 
 from our encampment, and commenced forti. 
 tication. A short time before sunset our 
 mounted men, about eighty-tive in number, 
 under the special command of Colonel Sher- 
 man, m.irched out for the purpose of recoii- 
 noitering the enemy. Whilst advancing they 
 received a volley from the left of the enemy's 
 infantry, and after a short renconter with 
 ilieii- e.iviiiry, in which ours acted e.xtremely 
 ueil, and performed some feats of daring 
 chivalry, they retired in good order, having 
 had two men severely wounded and several 
 horses killed. In the meantime the infantry 
 under the command of Liuutenant-Colonel 
 
 Millard, and Colonel Ijurleson's regiment, 
 with the artillery, had marched out for the 
 purpose of covering the retreat of the cav- 
 alry, if necessary. 
 
 "All these fell back in good order to our 
 encampment about sunset, and remained with- 
 out any ostensible action until the 21st, at 
 half-past three o'clock, taking the first refresh- 
 ments which they had enjoyed for two days. 
 The enemy in the meantime extended the 
 right ilank of their infantry so as to occupy the 
 extreme point of a skirt of timber on the bank 
 of the San Jacinto, and secured their left by 
 a fortification about five feet high, constructed 
 of packs and baggage, leaving an opening in 
 the center of their breastwork, in which their 
 artillery was placed, their cavalry on their 
 left wing. About nine o'clock on the morn- 
 ing of the 21st, the enemy were reinforced by 
 500 choice troops, under the command of 
 General Cos, increasing their effective force 
 to upward of 1,500 men, wliilst our aggre- 
 gate force for the field numbered 783. At 
 balf-past three o'clock in the evening I or- 
 dered the officers of the Texan army to parade 
 their respective commands, having in the 
 meantime ordtred the bridge on the only road 
 communicating with Brazos, distant eight 
 miles from our encampment, to be destroyed, 
 thus cutting off any possibility of escape. 
 Our troops paraded with alacrity and spirit, 
 and were anxious for tlie contest. Their con- 
 scious disparity in number seemed only to 
 increase their enthusiasm and confidence, and 
 heightened their anxiety for the conflict. Our 
 situation afforded me an opportunity of mak- 
 ing the arrangements for the attack, without 
 exposing our designs to the enemy. 
 
 The flrst regiment, commanded by Colonel 
 Burleson, was assigned the center. The sec- 
 ipiid ie.^iinent, under the command of Colonel 
 Siierman, formed the left wing of the army. 
 
HI8T0B7 OF TEXAS. 
 
 The artillery, under special command of 
 Colonel George "W. Hockley, Inspector-Gen- 
 eral, was placed on the right of the first regi- 
 ment; and four companies of infantry, under 
 the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry 
 Millard, sustained the artillery upon the right. 
 Our cavalry, sixty-one in number, commanded 
 by Colonel Mirabeau B. Lamar (whose gallant 
 and daring conduct on the previous day had 
 attracted the admiration of his comrades, and 
 called him to the station), placed on our ex- 
 treme right, completed our line. Our cavalry 
 was despatched to the front of the enemy's 
 left, for the purpose of attracting their notice, 
 whilst an extensive island of timber afforded 
 us an opportunity of concentrating our forces 
 and displaying from that point, agreeably to 
 the previous design of the troops. Every 
 evolution was performed with alacrity, the 
 whole advancing rapidly in line, and through 
 an open prairie, without any protection what- 
 ever for our men. The artillery advanced and 
 took station within 200 yards of the enemy's 
 breastwork, and commenced an effective fire 
 with grape and canister. 
 
 "Colonel Sherman, with his regiment, hav- 
 ing commenced the action upon our left wing, 
 the whole line, at the center and on the right, 
 advancing in double-quick time, rung the war 
 cry,' Remember the Alamo!' received the ene- 
 my's fire, and advanced within point-blank shot 
 before a piece was discharged from our lines. 
 Our lines advanced without a halt until they 
 were in possession of the woodland and the 
 enemy's breastwork, the right wing of Burle- 
 son's and the left of Millard's taking posses- 
 sion of the breastwork, our artillery havincr 
 gallantly charged up within seventy yards of 
 the enemy's cannon, when it was taken by our 
 troops. The conflict lasted about eighteen 
 minutes from the time of close action until 
 we were in possession of the enemy's encamp- 
 
 ment, taking one piece of cannon (loaded), 
 four stand of colors, all their camp equipage, 
 stores and baggage. Our cavalry had charged 
 and routed that of the enemy upon the right, 
 and given pursuit to the fugitives, which did 
 not cease until they arrived at the bridge 
 which I have mentioned before. Captain 
 Karnes, always among the foremost in danger, 
 commanded the pursuers. The conflict in 
 the breastwork lasted but a few moments; 
 many of the troops encountered hand to hand, 
 and, not having the advantage of bayonets on 
 our side, our riflemen used their pieces as war 
 clubs, breaking many of them off at the breecli. 
 The rout commenced at half-past four, and 
 the pursuit by the main army continued until 
 twilight. A guard was then left in charge of 
 the enemy's encampment, and our army re- 
 turned with their killed and wounded. In the 
 battle our loss was two killed and twenty-three 
 wounded, six of whom mortally. The enemy's 
 loss was 630 killed, among whom were one 
 general ofiicer, four colonels, two lieutenant- 
 colonels, five captains, twelve lieutenants: 
 wounded, 208, of whom five were colonels, 
 three lieutenant-colonels, two second lieuten- 
 ant-colonels, seven captains, one cadet; pris- 
 oners, 730; President-General Santa Anna, 
 General Cos, four colonels (aids to General 
 Santa Anna), and the colonel of the Guerrero 
 battalion, are included in the number. General 
 Santa Anna was not taken until the 22d, and 
 General Cos on yesterday, very few having 
 escaped. About 600 muskets, 300 sabres and 
 200 pistols have been collected since the ac- 
 tion; several hundred mules and horses were 
 taken, and nearly $12,000 in specie. For sev- 
 eral days previous to the action our troops 
 were engaged in forced marches, exposed to 
 excessive rains, and the additional inconveni- 
 ence of extremely bad roads, ill supplied with 
 rations and clothing; yet, amid every ditfi- 
 
UISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 culty, tliey Loro up with cliecrfulness and forti- 
 tude and performed their marches witli spirit 
 and alacrity. There was no nuinnuring. 
 
 "Previous to and during the action my 
 staff evinced every disposition to be useful, 
 and were actively engaged in their duties. 
 In the conilict I am assured they demeaned 
 tiiemselves in such a manner as proved them 
 worthy members of the army of San Jacinto. 
 Colonel T. J. Rusk, Secretary of War, was 
 ' on the tield. For weeks his services had 
 been highly beneficial to the army, in battle 
 he was on the left wing, where Colonel Sher- 
 man's command first encountered and drove 
 the enemy; he bore himself gallantly, and 
 continued his efforts and activity, remaining 
 with the pursuers until resistance ceased. 
 
 '•I have the honor of transmitting here- 
 with a list of all the officers and men who 
 were en^aoed in the action, which I respect- 
 fully request may be published, as an act of 
 justice to the individuals. For the command- 
 ing general to attempt discrimination as to 
 the conduct of those who commanded in the 
 action, or those who were commanded, would 
 be impossible. Our success in the action is 
 conclusive proof of their daring intrepidity 
 and courage; every otheer and man proved 
 himself worthy of the cause in which he bat- 
 tled, while the triumph received a luster from 
 the humanity which characterized their con- 
 duct after victory, and richly entitles them to 
 the admiration and gratitude of their general. 
 Nor should we withhold the tribute of our 
 grateful thanks from that Being who rules 
 the destinies of nations, and has in the time 
 of greatest need enabled ns to arrest a power- 
 ful invader while devastating our country. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, with high con- 
 sideration, your obedient servant, 
 
 "Sam Houston, 
 " Coiiiviaiider-iii- Chief." 
 
 Tlie condition in wliich Santa Anna wai^ 
 when captured was in accordance with the 
 actions of all bloodthirsty cowards when en- 
 trapped by tiiose tliey have wronged. He 
 had torn from his body his gaudy unifoi'm 
 and donned the garb of a common country- 
 man, but he had forgotten to take from his 
 shirt-sleeves a pair of cuff-buttons, whicii 
 aroused the keen suspicions of James II. Syl 
 vester, a printer, the man who found the 
 sneaking despot hidden in the grass. The 
 capture, as told by a writer who liad knowl- 
 edge of the facts, are these: "Some of Burle- 
 son's men were out hunting for the fugitive, 
 when one of them saw a deer on tlic praino 
 looking intently at some object in the tall 
 grass. The man approached the fpot and 
 found lying upon the giass a Mexican in 
 common garb, l)ut, upon discovering a gold 
 button on his sleeve, took iiim back to his 
 companions, who comlucted him to camp, 
 havinc no idea of his rank. Santa Anna 
 offered his captors a gold watch to li^t 
 him off. As the company passed into the 
 camp, the Mexican prisoners e.\claimed, 
 ' El Presidente!' Inquiry was made of Gen- 
 eral Almonte, who announced that the one 
 just brougiit in was no less a personage than 
 Santa Anna himself! He was conducted to 
 Houston's camp, and his own officers alluwta 
 to remain with him, and his personal hag- 
 gao-e restored. Besides Sylvester, who foui^d 
 him and brought him to his companions, the 
 captors were Joel W. Robinson, A. H. Miles 
 and David Cole." 
 
 How that little force of 783 Texans, badly 
 equipped, poorly clothed, and half starved, 
 could march out and crush to atoms, as it 
 were, in less than half an hour (eighteen 
 minutes, says Houston in hisreport), an army 
 of 1,500 men, splendidly accoutered, ably 
 generaled, and comfortably clothed and fed, 
 
^■Q>=~\ gH.TO 
 
BISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 is nothing short of marvelous; and with a loss 
 of but two killed in battle and twenty-nine 
 wounded to the victors, against 630 killed 
 and 208 wounded of the enemy, to say noth- 
 ing of the prisoners; for all, or nearly all, 
 who were not killed or wounded, were cap- 
 tured, hardly a man escaping! But oh! the 
 Texans had the fate of those two brave mar- 
 tyrs, Travis and Fannin, in their minds, and 
 when the battle cry of " l^eraember the 
 Alamo!" rang out as they rushed to battle, 
 every man was a Hercules. Ten thousand 
 men could not have daunted their invincible 
 courage. They knew that defeat meant death 
 to every one of them, and it were better to 
 die in harness than to be led out like sheep to 
 the slaughter. They shot and struck to kill. 
 Death had no terror for those patriot?, and 
 woe betide the brutal Santa Anna had he been 
 caught in the action! He was so sure of vic- 
 tory that it is said that he contemplated with 
 pleasure the close of the tight that he might 
 show his power. Every man, Houston and 
 all, of those San Jacinto heroes, would have 
 been immediately shot if they would have 
 been so unfortunate as not to be killed in 
 battle. Knowing this, how those Texans 
 could luive refiained from killing this man 
 has always puzzled the friends of liberty. As 
 it was, it was the best. Ko stain rests upon 
 the escutcheon of the Lone Star State. 
 
 After much controversy, especially in re- 
 gard to the disposition of the captive Presi- 
 dent of Mexico, a treaty was entered into by 
 President Burnett and most of his cabinet and 
 Santa Anna; but the clause providing for the 
 release of the latter was bitterly objected to, 
 and at one time the matter bid fair to be the 
 cause of serious troubles and internal com- 
 plications. 
 
 During these exciting times a number of 
 captures of vessels on the coast near Cupano 
 
 were made, especially by Captain Burton, who 
 commanded a company of mounted rangers. 
 Cavalry does not seem to be the best arm of 
 the service in naval warfare, but this bold 
 captain used very Ingenious stratagems to in- 
 duce passing vessels to stop at Copano, when 
 his men would step aboard and take posses- 
 sion in the name of the Republic of Texas. 
 
 THE INDEPENDENCE CONVENTION. 
 
 Not to interrupt the crimson thi-ead of the 
 war history, we have run past a remarkable 
 event, which must now be related. 
 
 By authority of a resolution adopted De- 
 cember 10, 1835, by the provisional govern- 
 ment of Texas, which existed from November, 
 
 1835, to March, 1836, delegates, clotlied-with 
 plenary powers, were elected February 1, 
 
 1836, to meet in convention at Washington, 
 on the Brazos, March 1. The provisional 
 government was composed of Henry Smith, 
 governor; James W. Robinson, vice governor; 
 andacouncil. At the period of the meeting of 
 the convention, the council had quarreled with 
 and deposed the governor, and Mr. Robinson 
 was acting governor. 
 
 The convention assembled at the date above 
 mentioned. The official journal opens thus: 
 " Convention of all the People of Texas, 
 through their Delegates Elect. " George C. 
 Childress of the municipality (county) of Mi- 
 lam, moved that James Collingsworth, of 
 Brazoria, be called to the chair, which motion 
 prevailed; and Willis A. Farris was appointed 
 secretary pro tein. 
 
 After the roll of members was completed, 
 the convention proceeded to the election of 
 president, when Richard Ellis of Red river 
 (then Pecan Point) was elected unanimously. 
 H. S. Kimble was chosen permanent secre- 
 tary. 
 
GO 
 
 HIHTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 On the afternoon of the first day George C. 
 Cliildress offered the following resolution: 
 That the president appoint a committee of 
 five to draft a declaration of independence, 
 which was adopted, after an offered substi- 
 tute had been rejected. The president ap- 
 pointed on this committee, George C. Child- 
 ress, of Milam, James Gaines of Sabine, 
 Edward Conrad, of Eefugio, Collin Mc Kin- 
 ney, of Red river, and Bailey Hardeman, of 
 Matagorda. 
 
 Oil the second day, March 2, a committee 
 of one from each municipality was appointed 
 to draft a constitution for the (contemplated) 
 Republic of Texas, comprising Martin Palmer 
 (chairman), Robert Potter, Charles B. Stew- 
 art, Edwin "Waller, Jesse Grimes, Eobert M. 
 Coleman, John Fisher, John "W. Bunton, 
 James Gaines, Lorenzo de Zavala, Stephen 
 II. Everitt, Bailey Hardeman, Elijah Stapp, 
 William C. Crawford, Claiborne West, James 
 Power, Jose Antonio Navarro, Collin Mc- 
 Kinney, William Menefee, William Motley 
 and Michael B. Menard. 
 
 On the same day, March 2, Mr. Childress, 
 chairman of the committee, reported the draft 
 of a declaration of independence; Mr. Collings- 
 worth was called to the chair, while Mr. 
 Houston introduced the following resolution: 
 That the declaration of independence reported 
 by the committee be adopted, and that the 
 same be engrossed and signed by the delegates 
 of this convention. The question being put, 
 the resolution was unanimously adopted. 
 
 DECLAEATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 Wiien a government has ceased to protect 
 the lives, liberty and property of the people 
 from whom its legitimate powers are derived, 
 pnd for the advancement of whose interests 
 it was instituted; and, so far from being a 
 guarantee for their inestimable and inalienable 
 
 rights, becomes an instrument in the hands 
 of evil rulers for their oppression; wlicn ttie 
 federal republican constitution of their conn- 
 try, which they have sworn to support, no 
 longer has a substantial existence, and the 
 whole nature of their guvernment has been 
 forcibly changed, without their consent, from 
 a restricted federative republic composed of 
 sovereign States to a consolidated central 
 military despotism, in which every interest 
 is disregarded but that of the army and the 
 priesthood, both the etei-nal enemy of civil 
 liberty, the ever ready minions of power and 
 the usual instruments of tyrants; M'hen, hmg 
 after the spirit of the constitution has departed, 
 moderation is so far lost by those in power 
 that even the semblance of freedom is re- 
 moved, and theforms themselves of the consti- 
 tution discontinued; and, so far from the 
 petitions and remonstrances being disre- 
 garded, the agents who bear them are thrown 
 into dungeons, and mercenaries sent forth to 
 enforce a new government upon the point of 
 the bayonet; when, in consequence of such 
 acts of malfeasance and abduction on the part 
 of the government, anarchy prevails and civil 
 society is dissolve 1 into its original elements, 
 in such a crisis the first law of nature, the 
 right of self-preservation, the inherent and 
 inalienable light of the penp'e to appeal to the 
 first principles and take their political affairs 
 into their own hands, in extreme cases, en- 
 joins it as a right toward themselves and a 
 sacred ol)ligMtion to their prosperity, to abol- 
 ish such government and create another in 
 its stead, calculate 1 to rescue them from im- 
 pending dangers, and to secure their welfare 
 and ha|lpine^s. 
 
 Nations, as well as individuals, are amen- 
 able for their acts to the public opinion of 
 mankind. A statement of a part of our griev- 
 ances is therefore submitted to an inijiartial 
 world in justification of the hazardous but 
 unavoidable step now taken, of severing our 
 political connection with the Mexican people 
 and assuming an independent attitude among 
 the nations of the earth. 
 
 The Mexican government, by its coloniza- 
 tion laws, having invited and induced the 
 
HI STOUT OF TEXAS. 
 
 Anglo-American population of Texas to 
 colonize its wilderness, under the pledged 
 faith of a written constitution, they should 
 continue to enjoy that constitutiotial liberty 
 and republican government, to which they had 
 been habituated in the land of their birth, 
 the United States of America. In this ex- 
 pectation they have been cruelly disap- 
 pointed, inasniiieh as the Mexican nation has 
 acquiesced in the late changes made in the 
 government by General Antonio Lopez de 
 Santa Anna, who, having overturned the cou- 
 stitutiun of his country, now ofl'ers us the 
 cruel alternative either to abandon our homes, 
 acquired by so many privation*, or submit to 
 the most intolerable of all tyranny, tiie com- 
 bined despotism of the sword and the priest- 
 hood. 
 
 It has sacrificed our welfare to the State of 
 Coahuila, by which our interests have been 
 continually depressed, tiirough a ^'oalous and 
 partial course of legislation, carried on at a 
 far distant seat of government, by a hostile 
 majority, in an unknown tongue; and this, 
 too, notwithstanding we have petitioned in 
 humblest terms for the establishment of a 
 separate State government, and have, in ac- 
 cordance with the provisions of the national 
 constitution, presented to the general congress 
 a republican constitution, which was without 
 a just cause contemptuously rejected. 
 
 It incarcerated in a dungeon, for a long 
 time, one of our citizens for no other cause 
 but a zealous endeavor to procure the accept- 
 ance of our constitution and the establish- 
 ment of a State government. 
 
 It has failed and refused to secure on a firm 
 basis the right of trial by jury, the palla- 
 dium of civil liberty and the only safe guar- 
 antee for the life, liberty and property of the 
 citizen. 
 
 It lias failed to establish any public system 
 of education, although possessed of almost 
 boundless resources (the public domains), and 
 although it is an axiom in political science 
 that unless a people are educated and enlight- 
 ened, it is idle to expect the continuance of 
 civil liberty or the capacity for self-govern- 
 ment. 
 
 It has suflored the military commandants 
 stationed among us to exercise arbitrary acts 
 of oppression and tyranny, thus trampling 
 upon the most sacred rights of the citizen 
 and rendering the military superior to the 
 civil power. 
 
 It has dissolved, by force of arms, the State 
 Congress of Coahuila and Texas, and obliged 
 our representatives to fly for their lives from 
 the seat of government, thus depriving us of 
 the fundamental political right of represent- 
 ation. 
 
 It has demanded the surrender of a number 
 of our citizens, and ordered military detach- 
 ments to seize and carry them into the interior 
 for trial, in contempt of the civil authorities 
 and in defiance of the law and the constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 It has made piratical attacks on our com- 
 merce by commissioning foreign desperadoes 
 and authorizing them to seize their vessels, 
 and convey the property of our citizens to far 
 distant parts for confiscation. 
 
 It denies us the right of worshiping the 
 Almighty according to the dictates of our own 
 conscience, by the support of a national reli- 
 gion calculated to promote the tempuial inter- 
 ests of its human functionaries rather than 
 the glory of the true and living God. 
 
 It has demanded us to deliver up our arms, 
 which are essential to our defense, the right- 
 ful property of freemen, and formidable only 
 to tyrannical governnients. 
 
 It has invaded our country both by sea and 
 by land, with the intent to lay waste our 
 territory and drive us from our homes, ami 
 has now a large and mercenary army advanc- 
 ing to carry on against us a war of extermin- 
 ation. 
 
 It has through its emissaries incited the 
 merciless savage, with the tomahawk and 
 scalping knife, to massacre the inabitants of 
 our defenseless frontiers. 
 
 It has been, during the whole time of our 
 connection with it, the contemptible sport 
 and victim of successive military revolutions, 
 and has continually exhibited every character- 
 istic of a weak, corrupt and tyrannical goveru- 
 ment. 
 
niSTORF OF TEXAS. 
 
 Tlicfo and other grievances were patiently 
 home by the pco])ie of Texas until tliey 
 reached that point at which forbearance 
 ceases to be a virtue. We then took up arms 
 iii defense of the national constitution. We 
 appealed to our Mexican brethren for assist- 
 ance; our appeal has lieen made in vain; 
 thouu;h months have elapsed no sympathetic 
 response has yet been made from the interior. 
 We are therefore forced to the melancholy 
 conclusion that the Mexican people have 
 acquiesced in the destruction of their liberty, 
 and the substitution therefor of a military 
 government; that they are unfit to be free 
 and incapable of self-government. 
 
 The necessity of self-preservation, there- 
 fore, now decrees our eternal political separ- 
 ation. 
 
 We, therefore, the delegates, with plenary 
 powers, of the people of Texas, in solemn con- 
 vention assembled, appealing to a candid world 
 for tiie necessities of our condition, do hereby 
 resolve and declare that our political connec- 
 tion with the Mexican nation has forever 
 elided, and that the people of Texas do now 
 constitute a free, sovereign and independent 
 republic, and are fully invested with all the 
 rights and attributes Avhich pi-operly belong 
 to independent nations; and, conscious of the 
 rectitude of our intentions, we fearlessly and 
 confidently commit the issue to the Supreme 
 Arbiter of the destinies of nations. 
 
 Ill witness whcr^yf we have hereunto sub- 
 scribed our names. 
 
 RiniAED Ellis, 
 President and Delegate from Red^ River. 
 
 H. S. Kimble, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 Following is a table of the names, age, 
 place of birth and former residence of the 
 signers of the above Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence: 
 
 Name. Age. 
 
 Richard Ellis. 54 
 
 C. B. Stewart. 30 
 
 .lames Colliugsworth. 30 
 Kilwin Waller. 35 
 
 Born i 
 Virgin 
 
 nigrfttod from. 
 
 Alabama. 
 
 South Carolina. Louisiana. 
 
 Tennessee. Tennessee. 
 
 Virginia. Missouri. 
 
 Asa Briirham. 
 .1. S. D. Eyroin. 
 Fras. lUiis. 
 J. Anto. Navarro. 
 J. B. Badgett. 
 \Y. D. Lacy. 
 William Menefee. 
 .rolin Fisher. 
 M. ColdH-ell. 
 \\. Motley. 
 L. de Zavala. 
 George W. Smyth. 
 S. H. Everitt. 
 E. Siapp. 
 Clae. West. 
 W. n. Scales. 
 M. B. Menard. 
 
 A. B. Hardin. 
 J. W. BuDton. 
 Thomas G. Gazeley. 
 R. M. Coleman. 
 
 S. 0. Robertson. 
 George C. CWUlress. 
 
 B. Hardiman. 
 R. Potter. 
 Thomas .J. Rusk. 
 Charles S. Taylor. 
 John S. Roberts. 
 R. Hamilton. 
 
 C. McKinney. 
 
 A. H. Lattimer. 
 James Power. 
 Sam Houston. 
 David Thomas. 
 E. Conrad. 
 Martin Parmer. 
 E. O. Legrand. 
 S W. Blount. 
 James Gaines. 
 W. Clark, Jr. 
 
 S. O. Pennington. 
 W. C. Crawford. 
 John Turner. 
 
 B. B. Goodrich. 
 G. W. Baruett. 
 J. G. Swisher. 
 Jesse Grimes. 
 
 S. Rhoads Fisher. 
 Samuel A. Maverick. 
 John White Bower 
 James B. Woods. 
 Andrew Briscoe. 
 John W. Moore. 
 Thomas BarnetL 
 
 Miissacbusetts. Louisiana 
 Georgia. Florida. 
 
 Texas. 
 
 Texas. 
 
 North Carolina. Arkansas 
 Kentucky. Tennessee. 
 Tennessee. Alabama 
 
 Virginia. 
 Kentucky. 
 Virginia. 
 Yucatan. 
 North Carolina. 
 
 Virginia 
 Missouri. 
 Kentucky. 
 Mexico. 
 Alabama. 
 
 New York. 
 Missouri. 
 Louisiana. 
 Kentucky 
 Hlinoia 
 Tennessee. 
 Tennessee. 
 Louisiana 
 Kentucky. 
 
 New York. 
 
 Virginia. 
 
 Tennessee. 
 
 Virginia. 
 Canada. 
 
 Georgia. 
 
 Tennessee. 
 
 New York. 
 
 Kentucky. 
 North Carolina. Tennessee. 
 
 Tennessee. Tennessee. 
 
 Tennessee. Tennessee- 
 N. Carolina. N. Carolina. 
 S. Carolina. Georgia. 
 
 England. New York 
 
 Virginia. Louisiana 
 
 Scotland. 
 New Jersey. 
 Tennessee. 
 
 Ireland. 
 
 Virginia. 
 Tennessee. 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 Virginia. 
 
 N. Carolina. 
 
 Georgia. 
 
 Virginia. 
 N. Carolina, 
 
 Kentucky. 
 N. Carolina. 
 N. Carolina. 
 
 Virginia. 
 S. Carolina. 
 Tennessee. 
 N. Carolina. 
 Pennsylvania 
 S. Carolina. 
 
 Georgia. 
 
 Kentucky. 
 
 N. Carolina. 
 
 Kentucky. 
 
 Tennessee. 
 
 Louisiana. 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 Tennessee. 
 
 Penn. 
 
 Missouri 
 
 Alabama. 
 
 Georgia. 
 
 Louisiana. 
 
 Georgia. 
 
 Arkansas. 
 
 Alabama. 
 
 Tennessee. 
 
 Alabama. 
 
 Mississippi. 
 
 Tennessee. 
 
 Alabama. 
 
 Penn. 
 
 S. Carolina. 
 
 Arkansas. 
 
 Kentucky. 
 
UltiTOUr OF TEXAS. 
 
 Besides the above, the following were del- 
 egates who failed to reach the convention in 
 time to sign tiie Declaration of Independence: 
 John J. Linn, from Victoria, born in Ireland 
 in 1802, and came to Texas in 1830; James 
 Kerr, from Jackson, born in Kentucky in 
 1790, and came to Texas in 1825; and Juan 
 Antonio Padilla, a Mexican from Victyria. 
 Also a few of those whose names are given 
 in the table were not present at the signing. 
 
 On March 16 the convention adopted the 
 executive ordinance by which was constituted 
 the government ad interim of the Kepublic 
 of Texas. 
 
 The constitution of the Republic of Texas 
 was adopted at a late hour on the night of 
 the 17th, but was neither engrossed nor en- 
 rolled for the signature of the members prior 
 to the adjournment next day. The secretary 
 was instructed to enroll it for presentation. 
 He took it to Nashville, Tennessee, where it 
 was published in one of the papers, from 
 which it was republished in a Cincinnati 
 paper, and from the latter copied into the 
 Texas Telegraph of August, that year, 1830, 
 this being its first publication in Texas. JS'o 
 enrolled copy having been preserved, this 
 printed copy was recognized and adopted as 
 authentic, and became the "Constitution." 
 
 During the sitting of the convention Gen- 
 eral Sam Houston took leave of the body in 
 order to take command of the army, then con- 
 centrating at Gonzalez. 
 
 At eight o'clock on the evening of the 18th 
 of March, the convention assembled for the 
 last time, and elected David G. Burnett Pres- 
 ident at^ interim of the Kepublic, and Lorenzo 
 de Zavala, a patriot Mexican exile, vice-Pres- 
 ident. Tliey also elected the members of the 
 cabinet, namely: Samuel P.Carson, Secretary 
 of State; Bailey Hardeman, Secretary of the 
 Treasury; Thomas J. Eusk, Secretary of 
 
 War; Robert Potter, Secretary of the Navy; 
 and David Thomas, Attorney-General. 
 
 At eleven o'clock the convention adjourned 
 sine die. 
 
 THE FLAG OF THE LONE STAR. ; 
 
 It was once generally lii^lieved in Georgia, 
 that the Lone Star Aug was the workmanship 
 of a Miss Trontman,of Crawford county, that 
 State, who afterward married a Mr. Pope of 
 Alabama; and that she presented the same to 
 a Georgia battalion commanded by Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel AVard. It was of plain white silk, 
 bearing an azure star of five points on either 
 side. On one side was the in-cription Liberty 
 or Death, and on the other side the appropri- 
 ate Latin motto, Ubi Lihertas Ilnbitat, ibi 
 Nostra Fatria est. 
 
 This flag was unfurled at Velasco January 
 8, 1836, and proudly floated on the breeze 
 from the same liberty pole with the first flag 
 of independence, which had just been brought 
 from Goliad by the valiant Captain William 
 Brown, who subsequently did such daring 
 service in the Texas navy. On the meeting 
 of the first Congress, the flag of the Lone 
 Star was adopted as the national flag of tlje 
 young republic. 
 
 But another authority denies the Georgia!) 
 belief, and insists that the first Lone Starflag 
 ever unfurled in Texas was presented by Mrs. 
 Sarah E. Dawson to a company of volunteers 
 raised in Harrisburg, Texas, in 1835, and 
 commanded by Captain Andrew Robinson. 
 The tiag was a tri-colorof red, white and blue, 
 the star being white, five-pointed and fot in a 
 ground of red, 
 
 FOREIGN RELATIONS. 
 
 The people of the Unitud States now f>lt 
 more free to assist, both niorwlly and materi- 
 ally, the young and struggling Republic o! 
 
niblORr OF TEXAJS. 
 
 Texas. Tliis increased sympatliy iminediatoly 
 licgati to find expression in public ntteranco8, 
 ami naturally the Toxans, by way of synipa- 
 tlit'tic response, began to talk np annexation 
 to our Union. In view of this general syni- 
 patliy, President Burnett, May 30, 1830, ap- 
 pointed James Collingsworth and Peter W. 
 (irayson as commissioners to proceed to 
 WHshington and ask the friendly aid of our 
 Government in procuring from Mexico the 
 recognition of indei)endence, and to endeavor 
 to obtain a like reeognitirr. from the United 
 States Govarnment itself, and also to state that 
 annexation to this Government would be ac- 
 ceptaljle. The commissioners accordingly 
 presented these matters at Washington, but 
 as Congress liad just adjourned, no action was 
 taken. President Jackson sent Henry M. 
 Mortit to Texas to inform himself and report 
 as to the military, political and civil condition 
 of the people there. He accordingly made 
 his report, stating that Texas had a popula- 
 tion of 58,500 souls, and expressing surprise 
 that that country had carried on a successful 
 war so long, against so great odds, at so little 
 expense. He estimated that the probable 
 total amount of her outstanding debts did not 
 exceed $1,250,000. 
 
 Gorostiza, the Mexican minister at "Wash- 
 ington, representing a displeased government, 
 maintained tiiat the United States had vio- 
 lated neutrality during the preceding struggle, 
 naming the instance of United States soldiers 
 lighting on Texas ground, etc.; but this was 
 explained by the United States officers on the 
 gionnd that they were only fighting hostile 
 Indians, who had invaded our territory, ex- 
 cepting that Genei'al Gaines at one time oc- 
 cupied Nacogdoches, and at another took Fort 
 I'arker, on the head-waters of the Navasotii. 
 
 The admissions at the conclusion of the 
 above statement were enough for Gorostiza. 
 
 He repeated his representations, and, notsatis- 
 fied with the assurance of our Government, 
 — that the measures adopted were of a tem- 
 porary and purely defensive character, — de- 
 clared his mission at an end, October 15, and 
 left for homo. Thus ended diplomatic rela- 
 tions between the two countries. 
 
 I'y July the Texan army had increased to 
 2,300 men, and the commissioners — Austin, 
 Archer and Wharton — returned from Wash- 
 ington, reporting that tliey had aroused much 
 sympathy in the United States. On the 23d 
 of this month, assured of tranquillity for a 
 time by internal dissensions in Mexico, Presi- 
 dent Burnett issued a proclamation for the 
 election of president, vice-president and sen- 
 ators and representatives in Congress, on the 
 first Monday in October. The election offi- 
 cers were also requested to obtain from each 
 voter his sentiment as to constitutional 
 amendments and annexation to the United 
 States. 
 
 For the presidency three candidates were 
 nominated, — Stephen F. Austin, Sam Hous- 
 ton and Henry Smith, late governor. Hous- 
 ton at first declined, but as the other two can- 
 didates represented factions, it was finally 
 decided that he, being neutral as to them, 
 should be retained as a candidate; and be was 
 elected by a large majority. Mirabeau B. 
 Lamar was elected vice-pi-esident. The con- 
 stitution already drafted was adopted almost 
 unanimously, as also the proposition of annex- 
 ation. 
 
 BAELT LEGISLATION. 
 
 The first Texan Congress met at Columbia 
 October 3, and the following day President 
 Burnett delivered his message, a long docu- 
 ment, describing particularly the deficiency 
 of their army and navy, ihe judicial system, 
 etc. After endeavoring to his utmost to con- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ciliate tlio Indians, Houston left Nacogdoches 
 for Columbia, arriving October 9; but ac- 
 cording to the constitution he could not 
 coninicnce the duties of his oiHce until the 
 second Monday in December. However, as 
 both President Enrnett and Vice-President 
 Zavala were both equally willing to retire 
 from office, and sent in their resignations. 
 Congress considered it judicious to inaugurate 
 the new president immediately. 
 
 In his inaugural address Houston insisted 
 upon harmony between the legislative and 
 executive departments of the government, as 
 the situation was peculiarly a delicate one; 
 recommended that the friendship of the In- 
 dians he obtained by treaty and a strict main- 
 tenance of good faith with tliem; urged ab 
 stinence from all acts of aggression, and the 
 establishment of commerce with the different 
 tribes; contrasted the barbarous mode of war- 
 fare practiced by the enemy with the human- 
 ity and forbearance displayed by the Texans 
 in the hour of victory, citing the fact that the 
 moral effect of such conduct had done more 
 toward the liberation of Texas than the defeat 
 of the army of veterans, and dwelt upon the 
 question of annexation to the United States, 
 — a consummation unanimously wished for 
 by the Texan people, who were cheered by 
 the hope that they would be welcomed into the 
 great family of freemen. General Lamar, as 
 president of the Senate, delivered an address 
 breathing ;he same spirit and deprecating 
 party antagonism. 
 
 According to the spirit of the above 
 speeches, President Houston appointed as 
 members of his cabinet eminent men from 
 the principal parties. Stephen F. Austin 
 was made secretary of State; Henry Smith, 
 secretary of tlie treasury; Thomas J. Husk, 
 of war; S. Rhodes Fislier, of the navy; liob- 
 ert Burr, postmaster general, and J. Pinckney 
 
 Henderson, attorney general. General Felir 
 Houston was given command of the army. 
 
 On November 16 Congress empowered the 
 president to appoint a minister to the United 
 States, to negotiate with this government 
 for the recognition of the independence of 
 Texas and her annexation to this republic. 
 The president accordingly appointed William 
 H. Wharton to that position. 
 
 A writer relates an interesting anecdote in 
 this connection. It seems that Wharton, by 
 being tendered this appointment, felt that 
 the president was endeavoring to send him 
 into honorable exile, to get him out of some 
 one's else way. Houston did not hear of this 
 till some months afterward, when three com- 
 missioners were to be appointed to purchase 
 a navy. John A. Wharton, brother of Will- 
 iam H., was one of the candidates, and, to 
 the surprise of many, was not appointed. 
 Meeting the latter after his return from the 
 United States, the president could not refrain 
 from delivering a home thrust, saying, "I 
 did not appoint John A. Wharton one of the 
 three naval commissioners, because I did not 
 wish to drive any more of the Wharton faujily 
 into exile!" 
 
 This Congress also ordered the issue of 
 bonds to the extent of $5,000,000, to bear in- 
 terest at ten per cent, and be redeemable in 
 thirty years. Two commissioners were ap- 
 pointed to negotiate these bonds, $1,000 
 each, either in the United States or Europe, 
 and holders were to be allowed the privilege 
 of purchasing public lands of the Kepublic 
 at the lowest government price, payable in 
 bonds. 
 
 This Congress continued in session until 
 the close of December, passing many bene- 
 ficial laws and performing many embarrassing 
 duties. Provisions were made for the in- 
 crease of the navy, by the purchase of a twenty- 
 
66 
 
 UlbTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 four gun sloop of war, two armed steam ves- 
 sels and two eleven-gun schooners. liiilrs 
 and articles were establislied for the govern- 
 ment of the army and navy, the army to he 
 reorganized by the president; measnres were 
 adopted for the protection of tlie frontier and 
 for tlie national defense by tlie organization 
 of militia; courts were also established, and 
 their powers defined; revenue provided for 
 by import duties; salaries of the government 
 oHicers established, and a general post office 
 atid land office created. A national seal and 
 standard for tlie Repnblic were adopted. Tiie 
 seal consisted of a single star, with tlie letters 
 IvEPUBLio OF Texas in a circular line on the 
 seal, which also was circular. The national 
 flag was to have an azure ground, with a large 
 golden star central. 
 
 This first congress also chartered a gigantic 
 ctjmpany, called the Texas Ilailroad, Naviga- 
 tion & Banking Company, with a capital 
 stock of $5,000,000, etc.; but this met with 
 considerable opposition, and the company, 
 not being able to raise the million dollars re- 
 quired for their bank, went down. 
 
 The boundary line of the young repuKlic 
 was thus defined by this congress: From the 
 mouth of the Sabine to the mouth of the liio 
 Grande, thence up the principal stream of 
 the latter to its source, thence due north to 
 the forty-second degree of latitude, and thence 
 along the boundary line as defined in the 
 treaty between the United States and Spain, 
 to the beginning. But this line included the 
 gieater and best portion of New Mexico, to 
 which Texas had no right, and she had after- 
 ward to recede from it. 
 
 At the opening of the new year the pe- 
 cuniary situation of Texas was very gloomy. 
 Although the country was temporarily re- 
 lii'ved fiuni invasion, it was still tlireatened 
 by tlie old enemy. In respect to agriculture 
 
 it Iiad somewhat recovered from the Avi'le- 
 spread desolation brought upon it by the 
 wars and unfriendly legislation of the old 
 government, but still much land remained 
 aliandoncd, and the people were all poor. 
 The army was in good condition, but not the 
 navy. Outside encouragement, however, be- 
 gan to be manifest. It was morally certain 
 not otdy that the struggling republic would 
 soon be recognized as a nation by the United 
 States, but that also from this country there 
 would pour forth a stronger emigration to 
 the new-born land. Of course, no public 
 measure can be adopted witliout its bearing 
 hard on some parties, but these hardships are 
 seldom as great as feared. Some Northern- 
 ers objected to the annexation of Texas to the 
 old Union because it was spreading slave 
 territory; others, because their trade would 
 be inteifered with by a new application of the 
 tariir laws, etc. President Jackson himself 
 was personally in favor of recognizing Texan 
 independence, but as president he made the 
 following statement: *' Prudence therefore 
 seems to dictate that we should still stand 
 aloof and maintain our present attitude, if 
 not until Mexico itself or one of the great 
 foreign powers shall recognize the independ- 
 ence of the new government, at least until 
 the lapse of time or the course of human 
 events shall have jirovud, beyond cavil or 
 dispute, the ability of the people of that 
 country to maintain their separate sovereignty 
 and to uphold the government constituted by 
 them." The senate of the United States, on 
 March 1, 1837, passed a resolution recogniz- 
 ing the independence of Texas, but negotia- 
 tions for annexation were not listened to by 
 tlie government. But soon afterward the Texan 
 minister was recognized at Washington, and 
 Alcec Labranche was appointed by the presi 
 dent as charge d'affaires to the new repnblic, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 67 
 
 and the house of representatives made an ap- 
 propriation for a diplomatic agent to the 
 same. 
 
 William H. Wliarton, on his return from 
 Washington on the ship Independence, was 
 captured by the Mexicans, conveyed to Mata- 
 moras, with others, and cast into prison. His 
 brother, John H. Wharton, having obtained 
 permission and a flag, proceeded thither with 
 thirty Mexican prisoners, hoping to effect his 
 release; but on arrival he was seized and 
 thrown into a dungeon. William II. Whar- 
 ton, with the aid of Captain Thompson, of 
 the Mexican navy, escaped and reached home; 
 and John H. also escaped after an imprison- 
 ment of six days. Thompson, who had agreed 
 to desert the enemy's service, had previously 
 left Matamoras, his departure being hastened 
 by information given against him to the au- 
 thorities. 
 
 May 1, 1837, the congress reassembled at 
 the town of Honston, and the president on 
 the 5th read his message, wiierein he referred 
 to the recognition of the independence of 
 Texas by the United States with an eminent 
 degree of satisfaction, and said that the re- 
 public was now unwilling to invoke the me- 
 diation of other powers; but with regard to 
 the financial position of the government it 
 could hardly have assumed a much worse 
 state. On account of the unfavorable con- 
 dition of the money market in the United 
 States, no portion of the 15,000,000 loan had 
 been realized, and the land scrip (for which 
 the sale of 500,000 acres had been author- 
 ized) had produced nothing, owing to the 
 questionable action of the agents at New Or- 
 leans, who would render no account of their 
 transactions to the executive, and dishonored 
 drafts drawn upon them by the latter. 
 
 Sectionizing the public domain met with a 
 difficulty, the old settlers preferring their old 
 
 "leagues" and 'labores." At this time tlie 
 Caddo Indians on the northeastern frontier 
 were under treaty with the United States. 
 They had been very troublesome, showing a 
 disposition to unite and amalgamate with the 
 wilder tribes. 
 
 The most important qiiestion which occu- 
 pied the attention of the congress of 1837 
 was that of the land bill. During this and 
 the called session in the fall the matter was 
 repeatedly brought up, and several acts 
 amendatory to the original one were passed. 
 Besides the problem of surveying the public 
 land into sections, there were many other 
 knotty difficulties as to the disposition of the 
 lands, to titles, grants, etc. Since the closing 
 of the land offices in November, 1836, ques- 
 tions concerning imperfect titles had in- 
 creased in the commissioners' offices, and the 
 grants to empresarios and titles depending 
 thereon had to be considered. To distingnisJi 
 legitimate claims and guard against fraud 
 was a most difficult matter, and to frame a 
 bill that .vould defeat the ingenuity of land 
 stealers without violating the rights of citi- 
 zens of Texas, justly acquired under the oM 
 Mexican legislation, and even under old 
 Texan legislation itself, was almost an im- 
 possibility. Moreover, land bounties had 
 been granted to the volunteers who had so 
 valiantly stepped forward to aid Texas in her 
 direst need, and land scrip had been sold in 
 the United States. To protect the soldier 
 and colonist in the priority of choice of loca- 
 tion, against unprincipled speculators who 
 supported their prior claims by perjury, was 
 no easy matter. Head-rights of individuals 
 were purchased by numbers of persons who 
 never intended to make Texas their home. 
 Names of natives, to whom exceptional 
 j-yrivileges as to the area of grants were ex- 
 tended, were used to substantiate claims, and 
 
HI STORY OF TEXAJS. 
 
 in default of this recouree fictitious names 
 were eapplied, and head-ric^iits ol>taine<l 
 under them. No legislature has ever had 
 the task of unraveling a more coniplicate<l 
 entanglement of just with unjust claims, or 
 has been called upon to devise a law that 
 could discriminate between rights almost 
 u|uipoise<l iu the scale of justice. After 
 some temporary legislation a general land 
 law was at length adopted, with the following 
 provisions: For each county a surveyor was 
 to l>e appointed, and a board of commis- 
 sioners whose duty it was to investigate 
 claims for head-rights, and grant certificates 
 upon proof of right being established. Per- 
 sons advancing claims under the old colon- 
 ization laws were required to take oath that 
 they were resident iu Texas at the time of the 
 declaration of independence, that. they had 
 nut left the country during the campaign of 
 the spring of 1836, and prove by two or 
 more creditable witnesses that they were 
 actually citizens of Te.xas at the date of that 
 declaration. Iu this provision widows and 
 orphans were excepted. Conflicting claims 
 were to be tried liefore the nearest justice of 
 the peace and six disinterested jurors. Em- 
 presario contracts having ceaseil with Mexi- 
 can domination, all vacant lands within such 
 grants were declared the properly of the Re- 
 public. On the whole this law was a very 
 good one, though somewhat imperfect. 
 
 Among the acts of this congress, one was 
 for the sale of Galveston and other islands in 
 lots of ten to forty acres, and the result was 
 an impetus to the growth of Galveston, soon 
 making it the most important seaport in 
 Texas. 
 
 During the last session of this ongre^s, 
 this year (lS37j much attention was paid to 
 the incorporation of towns and to the boun- 
 daries of old counties and the creation of new 
 
 counties. The towns of Shelbyville, Bra- 
 zoria, Richmond, Sm Felipe de Austin, La- 
 grange, San A'ltonio, Victoria, Gonzalez, 
 Matagorda, Mina, Houston, Washington. 
 Crockett, Refugio. Columbia, Clarksville, 
 Lexington, Milam, Goliad, San Patricio and 
 Joieshorough were all incorporated during 
 this session; and the new counties of Mont- 
 gumery, Fayette, Fannin, Robertson and 
 Fort Bender were treated. Some of the 
 above mentioned towns, however, had been 
 incorporated once before. 
 
 As to the general condition of Texas at 
 this time, and the outlook, it may be said 
 that there was a promise of permanency and 
 success; the crops had been unexpectedly 
 gooi^l; immigrants were flocking into the 
 cjuntry, and the revenue from tariff duties 
 proportionately increased; lands were rising 
 in price; commerce was assuming a prosper- 
 ous condition; nothing was to be feared from 
 Mexico for the present, as that nation was in 
 a difficulty with bra'ice; and the western 
 frontier was enjoying a rest from war, al- 
 though Indians kept up their usual depreda- 
 tions. (See a subsequent section, to be fuund 
 by tiie index.) 
 
 From the reports of the State officers, it is 
 seen that 10,890 certificates of land title had 
 been issued by the different county boards 
 up to November 1, 1838, representing 26, 
 242.19'J acres; that up to October 15, 2,990,- 
 000 acres hal been distributed to soldiers as 
 land bounties; that the issues of land scrip 
 amounted to 2,193,000 acres, of which scrip 
 to the amount of 870,000 acres had beju re- 
 turned by the agents, and a portion, repre- 
 senting 60,800 acres, had been funded. But 
 financially, the outlook was bad. The public 
 debt had been increased, and tlie credit of the 
 Ropublic was nearly exhausted. Consider- 
 able legislation was enacted with reference to 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 the public finances, with the prospect that 
 immigration anJ the increased interest taken 
 in Texan securities by persons in tlie United 
 States, the wav out of their ditficulties would 
 be found in due time. 
 
 By the constitution the term of office of 
 the president was limited to two years, with- 
 out his being eligible for re-election; suc- 
 ceeding presidents were to hnhl their oiiice 
 for three years. Consequently Iloiiston's 
 term expired on the first Monday in Dtce:n- 
 ber, 1838. The election was held in Sep- 
 tember, the candidates being Mirabean B. 
 Lamar, Peter W. Grayson, James Col- 
 lingsworth and Robert Wilson; but before 
 the election Grayson and Collingsworth both 
 committed suicide! Lamar was chosen pres- 
 ident almost unanimously, and David G. 
 Burnett, vice-president. 
 
 In his inaugural address Lamar opposed 
 annexation to the United States very decid- 
 edly, claiming that such an act would be " the 
 grave of all her hopes of happiness and great 
 nees." In his message, which was a loner 
 one, he urged the speedy adoption of a sys- 
 tem of public education, the promotion of a 
 general diffusion of knowledge and industry 
 by the appropriation of lands for educational 
 purposes and the establishment of a univer- 
 sity; and he also recommended reform in the 
 municipal code. He advocated severe meas- 
 ures against the hostile Indians, considering 
 that they had broken their treaties, and that 
 the whites were therefore under no further 
 obligation to observe them. AVith reoard to 
 the savages, " extinction or expulsion " was 
 his policy. For the protection of the fron- 
 tier lie proposed the establishment of a line 
 of military posts, and, as a general protec- 
 tion against Mexico, the organization of a 
 militia and the encouragement of volunteer 
 associations. While he was a free-tracler in 
 
 the abstract, in view of the financial distress 
 of the Eepublic, he recommended a continu- 
 ance of the tariff system then in vogue for a 
 short time longer, in order to maintain the 
 good credit of the country. 
 
 But with all that Texas could do, her debt 
 frightfully increased. One historian says 
 that during the three years of Lamar's ad- 
 ministration the public debt increased from 
 §1,887,52(5 to $7,300,000, and that the se- 
 curities decreased from 65 and 85 to 15 and 
 20 cents; but, according to ex-President 
 Ilouston's subsequent report, matters were 
 not quite so bad as that. Great allowance 
 had to be made for the peculiarity of the sit- 
 uation. 
 
 A REBELLION. 
 
 During the latter part of 1838 the Nacog- 
 doches rebellion occurred, when a consider- 
 able number of Mexican settlers assembled 
 on the banks of the Angelina, with 800 In- 
 dians, under the leadership of Nathaniel 
 Norris, Vicente Cordova, and others. Their 
 numbers soon increased. President Hous- 
 ton, who was then at Nacogdoches, received 
 a communication from these leaders, dis- 
 claiming alle^rjance to Texas. The malcon- 
 tents then directed their march to the Chero- 
 kee nation. President Houston sent out 
 General Rusk, with the main body of the 
 army, to the headquarters of Bowles, the 
 Cherokee chief, while Major Angustin, with 
 150 men, followed the trail of the malcon- 
 tents. Rusk presently discovered that the 
 Mexican leaders had gone to the head waters 
 of the Trinity river, his followers had dis- 
 persed and many of them returned to their 
 homes without any blood being shed. Tlie 
 precise object of this attempt at revolution 
 has never been fully explained. Cordova 
 
niSTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 had been in corrcspoiidcnce with tlie enemy 
 iit Matiimoras, and apptars to have held a 
 cninniission from Filisola to raise the Ind'ans 
 as auxiliaries to the Mexican army. Early 
 in 1839, Filisola was succeeded by General 
 Canalizo, who, February 27, issued instruc- 
 tions to tlie captains and chiefs of the friendly 
 nations, inciting then to wage incessant war 
 against Texas, and laying down a plan of 
 campaign for their guidance. He said that 
 Mexico was engaged in a war with France, 
 and could not at the time resume operations 
 aiJ-ainst the revolted province; but the 
 friendly tribes had it in their power to pre- 
 vent the enemy from taking advantage of 
 fortunate circumstances. They were, how- 
 ever, cautlont'd not to advance too near the 
 frontier of the United States, but should oc- 
 cupy the lines of ISan Antonio de Bejar 
 about the Guadalupe, and from the heads of 
 the San Marcos to its mouth. This po- 
 sition would have the advantage of keeping 
 the enemy in front and a friendly nation in 
 the rear, besides cutting off the enemy's 
 commerce with the interior of Mexico, and 
 furnishing abundant spoil. They were "not 
 to cease " to harass the enemy for a single 
 day, to burn their habitations, lay waste their 
 lields and prevent them from assembling in 
 great numbers, by rapid and well concerted 
 efforts. In case they should succeed in unit- 
 ing in a considerable numlier, they were to 
 be harassed day and night, and operations to 
 he directed with the greatest vigor against 
 liistant points. Mmuei Flores was appointed 
 (OinmisRioner to the Indians, to operate with 
 tiiem as allies, and also to enlist the services 
 of C'ordova. 
 
 liut the best-laid scheme of this man went 
 " agley ;" for as Flores was parsing through 
 Texas with about twenty-five Mexicans and 
 Indians, he was taken by a Texan force nnder 
 
 Jamas O. Tlice and killed. Flores' men had 
 committed several murders; and in the en- 
 gagement, which occurred about fifteen miles 
 from Austin, the men were put to flight. 
 The corrcsjion ience with reference to the en- 
 listment of the Indians and Cordova thus fell 
 into the hands of the Texans and the plot 
 was made known. 
 
 THE INDIANS. 
 
 The Texan government then resolved to 
 remove the Cherokces, uj)on whose rich and 
 beautiful lands the whites were constantly 
 encroaching. Accordingly, Colonel Durle- 
 son, from the Colorado, Colonel Landrum, 
 with his regiment from eastern Texas, and 
 General Husk, with the Nacogdoches regi- 
 ment, were ordered to invade the territory. 
 The whole force, about 500 men, was placed 
 under the command of General Douglass. 
 Negotiations for the peaceable removal of 
 the tribe to Arkansas having failed, on July 
 15, Dontflass advanced against the Indian 
 camp, on arriving at which he found that the 
 Indians had retreated higher up the river. 
 lie found them, about 800 strong, and a run- 
 ning ticfht with them for several days drove 
 them from tlieir lands. Their crops were 
 also destroyed, with the idea that they were 
 being raised in order to co-operate with the 
 Mexic.ms. A few of the expelled owners, 
 however, diil not leave the country, but re- 
 mained along the Colorado and continued to 
 harass the settlers. 
 
 But the most hostile and troublesome In- 
 dians were the Comanches. In February, 
 18-10, showing a disposition to enter into a 
 treaty of peace, twelve of their principal 
 chiefs met, March 19, the Texan commission- 
 ers at Bejar, where General 11. D. McLeod 
 was in command. It was known that the 
 Comanches had thirteen white captives iu 
 
J 
 
BISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 their power, and the release of those was de- 
 luaiKlt'd. The Indians broiiglit t'orwjird only 
 one, a little girl. After a brief discussion, 
 in which the Indians exhibited delianee, an 
 order was sent to Captain Howard, to bring 
 liis companj' into the council room; and as 
 soon as the men liad taken their position the 
 cliiefs were informed that they would be de- 
 tained as prisoners until the captives were 
 surrendered. A terrible conflict ensued; tlie 
 twelve chiefs, armed, were all killed in the 
 council room, while the warriors in the yard 
 ontside maintained a desperate flglit. All 
 were finally slain, thirty-two in number, 
 while seven women and children were made 
 prisoners. 
 
 Naturally the Comanches in general were 
 resolved, on revenge for what they considered 
 treachery, and in return for the destruction 
 of so many of their chiefs. With a band of 
 600 they raided Linnville and the vicinity of 
 Victoria, which latter place they made two 
 efforts to capture, and oari'ied off to their 
 homes immense numbers of live stock and 
 large amounts of other property. During 
 Augujit (1840) the whites had several skir- 
 mishes with them, under command of General 
 Felix Houston, and drove them away, with 
 considerable loss. Furthermore, on October 
 5th following, Col. John H. Moore, with 
 ninety Texans and twelve Lipan Indians, was 
 sent up the Colorado in pnrsuitof the escaped 
 Comanches, and on reaching them he des- 
 troyed their village and killed many of the 
 escaping Indians. The rout was complete, 
 and Lamar's system of extermination or ex- 
 tinction was for once thoroughly carried out. 
 
 SANTA FE EXPEDITION. 
 
 A comparatively long interval of peace 
 with Mexico was occasioned by internal strifes 
 in the latter country. The northern " Fed- 
 
 eralists" failed to establish their "Republic 
 of the llio Grande," a scheme wholly ignored 
 by the Texans. The latter, however, as Ins 
 already lieen remarked, claimed all the terri- 
 tory east of the Rio Grande to its source, 
 which was indeed much farther into the in- 
 terior than they were warranted in going. 
 Accordingly, in 1841, they sent out an expe- 
 dition toward Santa Fe, in order more per- 
 fectly to establish their possession to that 
 section of the country. This scheme was a 
 wild one, from the fact that the population 
 of Santa Fe was thoroughly Mexican, and 
 separated from the Texas settlements by an 
 Indian country fully 600 miles in width. 
 Indeed it was not sanctioned by the Texan 
 congress, and the scheme was wholly Lamar's. 
 He procl. limed in advance to the authorities 
 at Santa Fe the object of the expedition. If 
 they in that section were unwilling to submit 
 to Texas, said he, then he wished to establish 
 friendly commercial relations with New Mex- 
 ico. He instructed his commander not to 
 sulijugate the country if the people were un- 
 willing to submit; the military organization 
 of the expedition was only for protection 
 against the savages. The expedition, con- 
 sisting of 270 soldiers, left Austin June 20, 
 1841, and met with many disasters, and, after 
 some loss of men, was captured before it 
 reached Santa Fe, and most of the men sent 
 to the City of Mexico, where they were kept 
 in prison for a time. Among them was the 
 commissioner, J. A. Navarro, who, after 
 languishing in prison for fourteen months, 
 finally escaped at Vera Cruz, in January, 1845. 
 
 LOCATION OF THE CAPITAL 
 
 January, 14, 1839, Congress appointed 
 five commissioners to select a site for the 
 capital of the republic. The commissioners 
 were Albert C. Horton, Lewis P. Cook, Isaac 
 
HI STOUT OF TEXAS. 
 
 W. Burton, William l[enifee and J. Camp- 
 l>ell, wlio made choice ol' the location where 
 Austin now stands. ALliough at that date 
 the new town, which was immediately laid 
 out, was situated on the extreme frontier of 
 the settlements, tlie commissioners showed 
 their wisdom in their selection. Thoy aimed 
 at establisliing a permanent capital, which 
 would occupy a central position when Texas 
 had become a thickly populated country; and 
 though the government would be near the 
 Indians, Austin as tiio seat would draw set- 
 tlers more rapidly westward. 
 
 During the month of November, 1840, tlie 
 congress assembled there, surrounded by the 
 wilderness. The seat of government lor the 
 Republic of Texas, like that of most other 
 new governmetits, was subject to frequent 
 change. The following is the order, with the 
 dates: 
 
 1. San Felipe, November, 1835. 
 
 2. Washington, March, 1830. 
 
 3. Ilarrisburg, same month. 
 
 4. (lalveston, April 16, 1830. 
 
 5. Velasco, May, 1836. 
 
 6. Columbia, October, 1836. 
 
 7. Houston, May, 1837. 
 
 8. Austin, October, 1839. 
 
 9. Houston, in 1842 a short time. 
 
 10. Washington, November, 1842. 
 
 11. Austin, 1845 to tlie |)iesent time. 
 The new State cafiUol has a length of 560 
 
 feet 6 inciies, inclusive of porticos; widtii, 
 288 feet 10 inches at widest point; height, 
 311 feet from grade line to top of statute on 
 dome. It contains 258 rooms, ami is second 
 only in si/.e to the capitol at Washington, 
 and is the seventh largest buihling in the 
 world. 
 
 The St:ife executive offices are locattd on 
 tlie first thjor, as follows: Governor, sec- 
 retary 1)1 State, comptroller, treasurer, supo.- 
 
 int.iiidcnt of public instruction, adjutant- 
 general, attorney general, commissiL>ner of 
 agriculture, insurance, stiitistics and history, 
 snperintendoiit of public buildings and 
 grounds and State grologist; also the police 
 department and oflices of the electrician and 
 janitor. 
 
 The senate chamber and hall of house of 
 representatives. State library and reading- 
 rooms, reception and consultation rooms of 
 the governor, president of the senate, speaker 
 of the honse and the legislative committee 
 rooms are located on the second floor. 
 
 The supreme court, court of a])peals, law 
 libiMry, galleries of the house of reprcrenta- 
 tives and senate chamber, and reporters' gal- 
 leries, and marshal's, clerks' and other offices 
 of the judicial department are located on the 
 tiiird floor. 
 
 The fourth floor consists of twenty three 
 unassigned rooms. 
 
 All the conveniences necessary to a com- 
 plete modern structure have been incorpor- 
 ate i in the building. 
 
 The following brief description of the 
 capitol is copied from the ''Official Guide to 
 the Texas Capitol," by Charles N. McLaugh- 
 lin: 
 
 " The building is located on a command- 
 ing elevation, near the center of the city of 
 Austin, in the square originally selected for 
 the capitol of the Republic of Texas. It is 
 shaped like a Greek cross, with projecting 
 center and Hanks, having a rotunda and 
 dome at the intersection of the main corri- 
 dors. The exterior walls are built of Texas 
 red granite, from the inexhaustible quarries 
 of Bnrnet county. This granite is pro- 
 nounced by experts to be equal to any iu the 
 world, both in beauty and imperishability. 
 The stately ideas of ancient builders have 
 been blended with the useful of the modern, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 and the whole conception and aim seems to 
 have been to meet tlie practical demands of a 
 progressive and cultured people. "Wherever 
 it was practicable Texas material has been 
 nsed in the building, and the fact tliat nearly 
 ail the material used is native, is an illustra- 
 tion of the wonderful and varied resources of 
 Texas. Besides the granite a vast amount 
 of other material, including stone, lime, wood, 
 brick, etc., and many otiinr articles, were 
 secured in Texas, so that it may he said tlie 
 State house is built for Texas land, out of 
 Texas material." 
 
 KEOOGNITION BY FOREIGN POWERS. 
 
 During the first presidency of Mr. Hous- 
 ton, General J. P. Henderson was sent to 
 London and Paris to obtain an acknowl- 
 edgment from those countries of Texan inde- 
 pendence; and from the first the British 
 government was favorably disposed, on ac- 
 count of Texas being an agricultural country 
 and the people inclined to free trade, thus 
 opening new channels for English commerce. 
 France, indeed, recognized the independence 
 of Texas in 1839, but this friendly relation 
 was soon interrupted by a ridiculous affair 
 until some time in 1842. Holland and Bel- 
 gium recognized it in 1840, and England in 
 1841. But all the efforts made to obtain a 
 like recognition from Mexico failed. In this 
 connection the following passage from Ban- 
 croft's history will be appropriate: 
 
 "In 1839 the Texan government, enter- 
 taining some expectation that Mexico would 
 be inclined to listen to proposals for 
 peace, sent Bernard E. Bee as diplomatic 
 agent to that government. Bee arrived at 
 Vera Cruz in May, where he remained ten 
 days, pending the decision of the government 
 with regard to his reception. He was court- 
 
 eously treated by General Victoria, Governor 
 of Vera Cruz, during his stay in that city. 
 Tite Mexican authorities finally decided not 
 to receive him, ami he embarked for Havana. 
 Texas, however, had a secret agent in the 
 Mexican capital, who, in 1840, under the 
 auspices of Packenhara, the English minister 
 in that city, succeeded in submittiiig to the 
 government the basis of a treaty of peace. 
 Packenham, moreover, offered to act as me- 
 diator. The treaty and the offer were alike 
 rejected by Mexico. In 1841 the British 
 government, without waiting for the ex- 
 change of ratifications of the mediation con- 
 vention, officially instructed Packenhara to 
 bring before the Mexican authorities the 
 proffer of Great Britain to mediate between 
 that power and Texas; and Mr. Burnley, 
 provided with a letter of introduction to him 
 from Lord Paimerston, proceeded to Mexico 
 as negotiator on the part of Texas. James 
 Webb also was sent from Texas as commis- 
 sioner to open and conduct the negotiations, 
 but he was not received, and immediately 
 returned. Mexico paid no more heed to the 
 British nation than she had done to her 
 diplomatic agent. She unhesitatingly de- 
 clined any such mediation, refused to enter- 
 tain the question of peace unless Texas re 
 signed her claim to independent sovereignty, 
 and prepared for war." 
 
 PRESIDENTS LAMAr's AND HOUSTON'S ADMINIS- 
 TRATIONS. 
 
 The presidential election of September, 
 1841, resulted in the choice of Sam Houston 
 agai") 'jy a ^ote of 7,915 votes against 3,61(3 
 for David G. Burnett. Edward Burle.=on 
 was elected vice-president, against Mennican 
 Hunt, with a much smaller majority. 
 
 When congress met in November, Lamar 
 
HI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 
 
 opened his message witli congratulations upon 
 the prosperity of tlie country, but advised 
 hostilities with Mexico, stating that he had' 
 already sent the .Texan navy to co-operate 
 witii the government of Yucatan, whicli had 
 lately declared her independence of Mexico. 
 Lamar's administration was a bad one. He 
 was too military and sanguine. During his 
 administration the question of annexation to 
 the United States lay quiescent. The Gov- 
 ernment at Washington consistently main- 
 tained that so long as Texas was at war with 
 Mexico and the United States at peace with 
 her, annexation would be a breach of treaty 
 with her and involve our Government in war 
 with her; and, on account of public criticism 
 and the labors of his office, he obtained per- 
 mission for absence from his office during 
 the last year of the term, while the govern- 
 ment was administered by the vice-president, 
 David G. Burnett. 
 
 President Houston, on the opening of his 
 second term, did not hesitate to announce 
 tiiat his administration would be guided by 
 a policy directly opposite to that of his pred- 
 ecessor, advocating a kinder and more patient 
 course with regard both to Mexico and the 
 Indians. Financially, he made a number of 
 recommendations to improve the treasury 
 and the credit of the Kepublic. As long as 
 Texas was able to borrow she had been bor- 
 rowing, and as long as her paper was of any 
 value at all she issued it and lived on the 
 proceeds, no matter how ruinous the rate. 
 On the recommendation of President Hous- 
 ton congress adopted a policy of retrench- 
 ment, abolishing many unimportant offices 
 and cutting down the salaries of the govern- 
 ment oflicers to less than half. A system of 
 economy was likewise practiced in all the 
 departments of the government. During the 
 adnMnistration of Lamar tlie treasurer paid 
 
 out $4,855,215, while during a like term, 
 Houston's second, only ^493, 175, the prin- 
 cipal difference being caused by the infla- 
 tion of low credit. 
 
 MEXICAN WAE. 
 
 As an argument for annexation to the 
 United States, it was stated that Mexico had 
 for six years failed to reconquer Texas or 
 even sent an army within her borders, and 
 that the war therefore might be considered 
 ended, altliougli no formal recognition of the 
 independence of Texas had been made by the 
 mother country. Her prolonged inactivity 
 might be considered an acknowledgment that 
 reconquest was impossible. 
 
 Mexico, however, in order to make good 
 her claim, prepared at the close of 1841 to 
 invade Texas. On January 9, 1842, General 
 Arista issued a proclamation from his head- 
 quarters at Monterey that the Mexican nation 
 would never consent to the separation of the 
 territory, and that it was owing only to the 
 civil wars in Mexico that no effort had re- 
 cently been made to subjugate Te.\as. He 
 declared that iiis country was determined to 
 recover her rights through the only means 
 left her, namely, persuasion or war; that hos- 
 tilities would be directed against only those 
 who sustained and fought to maintain the 
 Texan nationality; and he called upon the 
 people to reflect and consider their own in- 
 terests, and return to tiieir allegiance. 
 
 On March 5, General Rafael Yasquez ap 
 peared before San Antonio de Bejar at thfc 
 head of 500 men. The Texan force there, 
 being small, evacuated when the surrender 
 of tlie town was demanded. Vasquez en- 
 tered the place, hoisted tlie ]\[exican flag and 
 depai'ted. About the same time small forces 
 of Mexicans occupied Refugio and Goliad, 
 
HI STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 and also soon retired. Aroused, the Texans 
 bristled up for auotlier engagement, and 
 Houston, on tlie 10th of Mai'ch, issued a 
 proclamation calling upon all citizens sub- 
 ject to military duty to hold themselves in 
 readiness to repair to the scene of action in 
 the event of a formidable inv.ision. On the 
 21st he addressed a letter to Santa Anna, 
 again in power, which was published far and 
 wide. In it were criticisms incited by inju- 
 dicious correspondence between him (Santa 
 Anna) and Bernard E. Eee and General 
 Hamilton. Santa Anna declared that Mex- 
 i'co would not cease her efforts until sLe had 
 planted her standard upon the Sabine. Hous- 
 ton replied promptly and boldly, that Texas 
 would never yield, writing a very eloquent 
 letter to the old treacherous Mexican. He 
 declared blockaded all the Mexican ports on 
 the eastern coast from Tabasco, including 
 the mouth of the Rio Grande and the Brazos 
 Santiago. The Texan navy at this time con- 
 sisted of four vessels, the other vessels that 
 had been purchased by authority of the con- 
 gress having been wrecked. Tliese vessels 
 wei'e transferred to the United States the 
 next year, upon annexation. 
 
 By the way, it may be observed that when 
 Vasquez occupied San Antonio much alarm 
 was felt for the safety of Austin and the gov- 
 ernment archives. The president removed 
 his cabinet to Houston, where congress held 
 its special session of June 27, 1842, and this 
 aggravated the indignation of the people of 
 Austin. A vigilance committee was formed, 
 the records were packed in boxes and a guard 
 placed over them. Besides, a force was sent 
 out to guard the roads, to see that no wagon 
 passed with the archives. December 10, 
 1842, Houston instructed Captain Thomas I. 
 Smith to raise a company secretly and bring 
 the most necessary books and documents to 
 
 "Washington, where congress was to convene 
 in regular session that month. Smith avoided 
 the regular patrols by a circuitous route, en- 
 tered Austin December 30, at night, and suc- 
 ceeded in loading three wagons with records. 
 This act was a surprise to the inhabitants of 
 Au.-tin. Smith hastened back, after having 
 been fired upon without effect by Captain 
 Mark B. Lewis, who, having rallied a volun- 
 teer company and procured a cannon from 
 the arsenal, tired at the intruders. Smith en- 
 campe.l at Kinney's fort on Brushy creek, 
 and on the following morning discovered 
 that Lewis, with his cannon pointed, had 
 taken a position in front. After some par- 
 ley, Smith agreed to take the wagons back 
 to Austin. This affair has been called the 
 Archive war. No further attempt was made 
 to remove the records. The Austin people 
 retained them until 1845, when, on occasion 
 of the annexation convention being sum- 
 moned to meet in July, they delivered them 
 over to the administration of Anson Jones, 
 on condition that the convention should 
 assemble at Austin. 
 
 THE WAE OF TUE "MODERATORS" AND "KEG- 
 CLATOKS." 
 
 This breeze took place during the second 
 administration of President Houston, in 
 1842. Early in this century the " neutral 
 ground" became the asylum of adventurers 
 and desperate men. Land commissioners, 
 especially in Shelby county, found a profit- 
 able business in issuing "headright" certifi- 
 cates. During this year one Cliarles W. 
 Jackson, a fugitive from justice, arrived in 
 Shelbv county from Louisiana, and offered 
 himself as a candidate for the Texan con- 
 gress. Being defeated, he undertook to ex- 
 pose the land frauds, declaring that his de 
 
UISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 feat was owing to the opposition of the party 
 connected with tliem. He notified the gen- 
 eral land office of the illegal proceedings had 
 there, and a man named Joseph Goodbread 
 intimated that his life was in danger if he 
 did not desist. Jackson shot him dead on the 
 spot. He was called to trial, the court was 
 tlironged by armed men, and the judge failed 
 to appear. The Louisianian then organized 
 ills party, under the name of "Regulators." 
 Their operations were somewhat irregular, 
 and doubtless many honest men lost their 
 lands, etc., by their work. The " Modera- 
 tors" were therefore organized in opposi- 
 tion, and a kind of warfare was carried on for 
 three years, when the two factions drew up 
 in actual battle array in front of each other; 
 but the President had General Smith, with a 
 force of about 500 men, put a stop to the 
 threatening strife. However, many a mur- 
 der was afterward committed in quarrels 
 growing out of the issues. 
 
 THE GREAT WAR CLOUD AGAIN. 
 
 In 1842 the Te.xan congress resolved on 
 war with Me.\ico, but President Houston ve- 
 toed the bill authorizing the undertaking, as 
 it was then beyond their means. Violent 
 men were angered by the president's action. 
 Directly, in July, General Davis on the 
 Nueces was attacked by Canales with 700 
 men, 500 of whom were cavalry; but with 
 only 192 men he repulsed them. Two 
 months later General WoU took possession 
 of Antonio, after some resistance on the part 
 of the Anglo-Texans. After some discussion 
 the Texans, fifty-two in number, surrendered 
 on condition that they should be treated as 
 prisoners of war. 
 
 When it became known in Gonzales that 
 Bejar was again occupied by the Mexicans, 
 
 a force of about 220 men, under Col mel 
 Matthew Caldwell, assembled in the Salado 
 bottom, about six miles east of town, and 
 they sent Captain John C. Hayes forward to 
 draw out the enemy, and was successful. 
 Woll came up with the renuiinder of his 
 forces, and maintained a light for an hour. 
 Meantime a company of fifty-three Texans, 
 from Fayette county, under the command of 
 Nicholas Dawson, hastened to tlie assistance 
 of Caldwell; but the enemy proved too 
 strong, putting most of the Texans to death, 
 only two making their escape; lifteen were 
 taken prisoneis, and started on foot toward 
 the city of Mexico. 
 
 Then, Sjpteml*er 16, Houston called for 
 volunteers to cross the Rio Grande. About 
 1,200 men were soon collected in the vicinity 
 of Bejar, but poorly equipped and provisioned, 
 and there was also considerable discontent as 
 to choice of officers, many preferring General 
 Burleson to Somerville, whom Houston lutd 
 appointed. The latter indeed proved to be a 
 poor general, and soon returned to Bejar, 
 while the most of his men, about 550 in num- 
 ber, determined to do something to redeem 
 the expedition from disgrace, choosing Colonel 
 William S. Fisher as their commander. Put 
 after a tight of a day or so in the vicinity of 
 Mier, they had to surrender to the Mexican 
 General Ampudia and Colonel Canales. The 
 Texan prisoners, about 260 in number, suc- 
 ceeded at the hacienda del Salado in making 
 their escape, witli some loss of life, and after 
 seizing some ammunition, gnus, etc., started 
 on their way home, but made the mistake of 
 changing their route to that through the 
 mountainous region, which proved disastrous, 
 and, weakened by hunger and exposure, they 
 were easily re-captured. Seventeen of these 
 were massacred at Salado by order of Santa 
 Ainal One of these, James L. Shepherd by 
 
U I STOUT OF TEXAS. 
 
 name, was at the first shot struck in the face 
 by the liall, but not seriov.sly wounded, and 
 ho fell forward and feigned deaUi. At night 
 he crawled to the mountains, but compelled 
 by hunger, after wandering for several weeks, 
 surrendered himself and was taken to Sal- 
 tillo, recognized and shot in the public square! 
 Much important matter is condensed in the 
 following paragraphs, from H. H. Bancroft, 
 quoted before: 
 
 "On the subject of the release of these 
 prisoners, much correspondence was carried 
 on between the governments of Texas and 
 those of tlie United States and Great Britain, 
 through their representatives. The expedi- 
 tion under Fisher was conducted without the 
 sanction of the Texan government, and in di- 
 rect defiance of General Somerville's order to 
 march home. By the United States and 
 Great Britain it was regarded as a maraud- 
 ing incursion, and those powers remonstrated 
 with Texas when it sought tlieir interposition 
 in behalf of the prisoners. The defense of 
 the Texan government, however, was based 
 on reasonable grounds. Admitting, said the 
 executive, that they went without orders and 
 were thereby placed beyond the protection of 
 the rules of war, yet the Mexican officers, by 
 proposing terms of capitulation to the men 
 relieved them from the responsibility which 
 they had incurred. 
 
 " The opposition papers of the time charged 
 the president with endeavoring to prejudice 
 Santa Anna against the prisoners by admittino- 
 that the movement across the Rio Grande had 
 been made on their own responsibility. On 
 January 10, 1846, General Green published 
 an address to the people of Texas, in which 
 he holds Houston responsible for the decima- 
 tion of the prisoners, on tlie ground that he 
 begged the mercy of the Mexican government 
 for them, ' though they had entered Mexico 
 
 contrary to law and authority.' Green, in 
 his journal, expressed himself very bitterly 
 against Houston, and brought forward charges 
 against him which the latter considered so 
 serious that he denounced them as calumnies 
 before the United States Senate, in 1854, 
 when he was a member of that body. Hous 
 ton dealt as severely with Green, and consid- 
 ered that his book should receive the attention 
 of the chairman of the couimittee of the 
 library of Congress, and be condemned. Hous- 
 ton's speech elicited a reply from Grein, 
 who, in scathing terms, assailed his opponent." 
 
 In all probability Houston, in the first 
 place, unwittingly admitted that the Mier ex- 
 pedition was unauthorized, not thinking that 
 any serious consequences could come from it, 
 but that the statement would indeed elicit 
 greater consideration for the honor of the 
 Texan government. At the same time the 
 Texan soldiery were too zealous, and rushed 
 forward with too small numbers and too little 
 equipment for so formidable an undertaking 
 as a war with Mexico. On this subject, we 
 think that neither Houston nor the soldiery 
 were criminal, but made mistakes. 
 
 What were left of the Texan prisoners, 107 
 in number, were finally liberated by Santa 
 Anna, September 16, 1844, in commemora- 
 tion of Mexico's national day. 
 
 In 1842, another unsuccessful expedition 
 was made by 180 Texans, under Colonel 
 Jacob Snively, and authorized by the presi- 
 dent, against a Mexican caravan cro.-sing 
 territory far to the north claimed by Texas. 
 
 During the year 1843, and the most part 
 of 1844, Texas enjoyed an armistice from 
 Mexican hostilities, pending consultation with 
 the great powers, concerning a final settle- 
 ment of ditticulties, and the slavery question, 
 to a slight degree, entered into the centre 
 versy. England was willing to mediate alone. 
 
UlSTOliY OF TUX AH. 
 
 ratlier than with the aid of tlio United Status 
 and Fiance, and her motives wore supposed 
 to be sollish. 
 
 TKXAS ANNEXED TO TUE UNITED STATICS. 
 
 Tiie Texas presidential election of Septem- 
 her, 184-i, resulted in a victory for the anti- 
 antiexutionists, being a choice of Anson Jones 
 lor president, who was known to be opposed 
 to annexation. Kenneth L. Anderson was 
 chosen vice-president. Edward Burleson was 
 the defeated candidate for the presidency. 
 Houston, in his farewell message, gave a very 
 cheerful view of political affairs. But, being 
 yet weak, Texas was in fact only a shuttle- 
 cock for the stronger powers. Houston, by 
 ids pacitic policy, had brought the Indians to 
 terms of peace, and by his economical ad- 
 ministration had improved the financial con- 
 dition of the republic, while in agricultural 
 and commercial respects Texas began to 
 thrive. In his inaugural address President 
 Jones said that his policy would be the main- 
 tenance of the public credit; the reduction of 
 the expenses of government; the abolishment 
 of paper issues; the revision of the tariff law; 
 tlie establishment of public schools; the 
 speedy attainment of peace with Mexico, and 
 just and friendly relations with the Indians; 
 the introduction of the penitentiary system; 
 and the encouragement of internal improve- 
 ment. Not a word did he say with reference 
 to annexation. 
 
 But annexation loomed up so rapidly that 
 Jones' administration was destined to be 
 short. February 28, 1845, only three nmnths 
 after his inauguration, the United States 
 Congress passed a joint resolution in favor 
 of incorporating Texas into the Union. May 
 5th, President Jonco proclaimed an election of 
 delegates to a convention to consider the adop- 
 
 tion of the proposition of the United States, 
 and, meeting at Austin, July 4, they recom- 
 mended annexation, and submitted to a pop- 
 ular vote the proposition of the United States 
 Congress, along with a proposed State con- 
 stitution, which, on October 13, were ratified 
 by a vote almost unanimous! February 19, 
 1846, Pi'esident Jones surrendered the ex- 
 ecutive authority to the newly elected Gov- 
 ernor, J. Pinckney Henderson, wiio was in- 
 augurated February IG, 184G. Thus the lone 
 star of Texas became one of a glorious con- 
 stellation. 
 
 TO AEMS. 
 
 Of course, this act of annexation meant 
 war with Mexico on a larger scale than ever. 
 In Texas, at this time, there were probably 
 about 75,000 inhabitants, about 4,000 of 
 whom were Mexicans. Tiie nationality of 
 the new State was very composite. As to the 
 criminal element, there was no more of that 
 than in any frontier settlements, which gen- 
 erally have a class of ruffians that disappear 
 on the approach of more settled civilization. 
 
 When the resolution of Congress in favor 
 of annexation was published, March 7, 1845, 
 General Almonte, the Mexican minister at 
 Washington, demanded his passports. War 
 with Mexico, indeed, the Government had 
 been pre[)aring for, and General Zachary 
 Taylor was ordered to move from the Sabine 
 with a strong force to Corpus Christi, at the 
 mouth of the Nueces, at the end of June, 
 1845. In the meantime the Mexicans, too, 
 had been preparing for the contest, establish- 
 ing their first base at Matamoras. We have 
 not space here to give a full account of the 
 "Mexican war," but let us be content with a 
 tabular view of the principal battles, etc., 
 which, in general, is more satisfactory for 
 reference than an extended account: 
 
Ul STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 At the battle on the Rio Grande, above 
 Matamoras, April 26, 1846, Captain Thorn- 
 ton, with sixty-three men, was captured by 
 General Ampudia, after a loss of sixteen 
 lives. 
 
 Palo Alto, May 8, General Taylor and 
 Major Ringgold, with 2,300 men, were en- 
 gaged with Arista, who had about 6,000. 
 American loss, 4 killed and 40 wounded; 
 Mexican, 100 killed and wounded. 
 
 Re.«aca de la Palina, May 9, General Taylor 
 and Captain May, with 2,000, were engaged 
 with General La Vega, who had aViont 5,000. 
 American loss, 120 killed and wounded; 
 Mexican, 500 killed and wounded. 
 
 Monterey, September 21 to 24, Generals 
 Worth, Quitman and Taylor, with a force of 
 6,600, opposed Genera] Ampudia, with 10,000. 
 American loss, 120 killed and 368 wounded; 
 Mexican, the city of Monterey itself. 
 
 Bracito, east of the Rio Grande, December 
 25, Doniphan, with 500 men, was engaged 
 with Ponce de Leon, who had 1,200. 
 
 Buena Vista, February 23, 1847, General 
 Taylor, with 4,750 men, was engaged with 
 General Santa Anna, who had 17,000. Tay- 
 lor's loss, 746 killed, wounded and missing; 
 Mexican, 1,500 killed and wounded. 
 
 Sacramento, DoTiiphan, with 900 men, 
 secured the surrender of Chihuahua, defended 
 by Trias with 4,000 men. 
 
 Vera Cruz, March 12 to 27, General Win- 
 field Scott and Commodore Connor, with 
 12,000 men, engaged with General Morales, 
 who had 6,000, and secured the surrender of 
 the city, with only a loss of 19 killed and 
 wounded. 
 
 Cerro Gordo, April 18, Generals Scott 
 and Twiggs, with 8,500, were engaged with 
 Santa Anna, who had 15,000. American 
 loss, 500 killed and wounded; Mexican, 3,000 
 prisoners and 43 guns. 
 
 Contreras, August 20, General Scott, with 
 4,000 men, engaged by Valencia, with 7,000. 
 American loss, light; Mexican, the batteries. 
 
 Churubusco, August 20, General Scott, 
 with 8,000 men, against Santa Anna with 
 25,000; 700 killed and wounded on each side. 
 
 Molino del Rey, September 8, General 
 Worth, with 7,500, against Alvarez with 
 14,000. American loss, 787 killed and 
 wounded; Mexican, 230 killed and wounded. 
 
 Chapultepec, September 13, General Scott, 
 with 7,200, against Santa Anna and Bravo, 
 with 25,000. American loss, 863 killed and 
 wounded; Mexican, citadel and outworks. 
 
 Mexico city, September 14, General Scott, 
 with 6,000 men, against Santa Anna. Mex- 
 ican loss, the city. 
 
 Huamantha, October 9, General Lane, with 
 500 men, against Santa Anna, with 1,000. 
 American loss, 34 killed and wounded; Mex- 
 ican, not known. 
 
 In this general war the Texans took the 
 following part: The Texas legislature ap- 
 pointed Governor Henderson to take com- 
 mand of the Texans who might be mustered 
 into the service of the United States. On 
 May 2, 1846, a requisition for two regiments 
 of infantry and two of cavalry was njade on 
 Texas. Henderson reached the army of Gen- 
 eral Taylor at Comargo, after the war had 
 begun. The limitedmeans of transportation, 
 and uncertainty with regard to supplies, 
 induced Taylor, while on his march against 
 Monterey, to leave a large number of volun- 
 teers on garrison duty in towns on the Rio 
 Grande, and only the first and second regi- 
 ments of the Texan division accompanied the 
 main army on that memorable campaign. 
 In the attack upon Monterey, the first regi- 
 ment of mounted volunteers under Colonel 
 John C. Hays, familiarly known as "Jack" 
 
HISTOnr OF TEXAS. 
 
 Hays, the celebrated ranker, was detached 
 and sent with General AVorth to make a 
 demonstration on the western side of tlie 
 town, while Taylor assaulted the east side. 
 The city, which was strongly fortified and 
 garrisoned, was assailed by Taylor September 
 21, and the attack lasted three days, on the 
 last of which Henderson led in person the 
 second regiment of Texans, who, dismount- 
 ing, acted as infantry. Being cut off from 
 his command by amiirderous fire, he narrow- 
 ly escaped death. 
 
 In the meantime Worth, making a detour, 
 had gained the other side of the town. On 
 the 21st he engaged a body of Mexicans 1,500 
 strong; and it was mainly owing to the 
 strategy of Hays and the deadly fire of the 
 Tfxan rangers, who were in advance, that a 
 furions cavalry charge was repulsed and a 
 victory gained. 
 
 To the west of Monterey were two fortified 
 heights, one on each side of the river, known 
 by the names of La Federacion and Cerro del 
 Obispado, and commanding the approach to 
 the place. On the afternoon of the 2l8t a 
 force of 300 men, half of them Texans, 
 stormed and occupied La Federacion on the 
 south side, and before daylight on the follow- 
 ing morning 200 Texans, led by Hays and 
 "Walker, with three companies of the artillery 
 Itattalion and three companies of the Eighth 
 Infantry, scaled in two columns, under cover 
 of a mist, the almost perpendicular height of 
 El Obispado, and nearly reached the summit 
 before the alarm was given. Then a volley 
 was poured down upon them; but the work 
 was soon taken, and as fresh troops ar- 
 rived in support, the strong fort of El Obis- 
 pado was assaulted and taken. The Texans, 
 however, had to mourn the death of Captain 
 Gillispie. 
 
 Thus the investment of the city on the 
 west side was complete; and during the next 
 two days the Americans so successfully pushed 
 their way into the city that on the 24rth Am- 
 pndia capitulated. The Texans bore a promi- 
 nent part in the above engagement. 
 
 Indeed, all through the war the Texaiu 
 characteristically exhibited their valor, inain 
 taining the extraordinarily high reputation 
 they had gained in former years. Hays' 
 regiment, for example, of which the rangers 
 formed the nucleus, was transferred to Scott's 
 command, after serving in Taylor's campaign 
 on the Rio Grande, and the etfieieucy of these 
 men was marked wherever the army went. 
 Serving equally well on foot or on horseback, 
 they would storm a height or charge the 
 enemy's cavalry with the same indifference, 
 intrepidity and success. On the road they 
 were the terror of the guerrilla bands, and in 
 the town they were objects of dread to antag- 
 onists and of awe to non-combatants. As 
 Bancroft says, " their uncouth, wild, and fierce 
 appearance, their strange garb and their 
 reputation for contempt of every form of 
 danger, gained for tliem in Mexico the belief 
 that they were more than human, — that they 
 were beings intermediate between man and 
 devill In the city of Mexico, some of these 
 brave, single-hearted and patriotic men fell 
 beneath the knives of assassins, and the re- 
 mains of many others lie buried in Mexican 
 soil all the way from Vera Cruz to the city of 
 Mexico." 
 
 Mexico was forced to the terms dictated 
 by the United States, and in the treaty of 
 peace, signed at Guadalupe Hidalgo, Febru- 
 ary 22, 1848, not only Texas was given up, 
 but also what is now New Mexico, Utali, 
 Nevada, Arizona and California were ceded 
 to the United States. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 EVENTS AFTER THE WAR. 
 
 While Govornor Henderson was absent in 
 command of the Texan vohmtecrs, his place 
 was filled by Lieutenant-Governor Uorton. 
 December 21, 1847, George T. Wood was 
 inaugurated as the second governor of the 
 State, and John A. Greer as lieutenant- 
 governor. 
 
 During Wood's administration a dispute 
 arose which made many a Texan sorry he 
 voted for annexation. When war was de- 
 clared between the United States and Mexico, 
 General S. W. Kearny took possession of 
 Santa Fe in the name of the latter govern- 
 ment; and when, by the treaty of Guadalupe 
 Hidalgo, New Mexico was ceded to the 
 United States, Colonel Munroe was placed in 
 command there. In 1848 the Texan legisla- 
 ture sent a judge (Beard) to hold court there, 
 still maintaining that that part of the coun- 
 try was a portion of Texas, as at first de- 
 cided by them. Colonel Munroe, however, 
 ignored the Texan judge, and ordered the 
 election of a Territorial delegate to the gov- 
 crnment at Washington. The controversy 
 grew violent, and Governor Wood threatened 
 force. The Washington government an- 
 nounced that it would resist it. The matter 
 entered into national politics as a new side 
 issue between the North and the South, the 
 latter sympathizing with the claims of Texas. 
 This matter was at length "settled" by ab- 
 sorption into another question, namely, that 
 of the public debt of Texas, soon to be men- 
 tioned. 
 
 The election of 1849 resulted in the choice 
 of P. Hansborough Bell for governor, while 
 John A. Greer was re-elected lieutenant- 
 governor. For the next presidential term 
 Governor Bell was re-elected. During bis 
 administration two absorbing questions were 
 
 settled, — the boundary line and the public 
 debt. The particulars in regard to these 
 delicate and complicated matters are thus 
 carefully worded in H. H. Bancroft's His- 
 tory: 
 
 "On the incorporation of Texas into the 
 Union, the United States Government, of 
 course, acquired the revenue derived from 
 the customs. These receipts, however, had 
 been pledged by the late Republic as security 
 for the payment of a certain portion of her 
 debt; and when they were passed over to the 
 Federal Government the bondholders clamor- 
 ously maintained that the United States had 
 become responsible for the liabilities of Texas, 
 and pressed for a speedy settlement. That 
 portion of the debt, however, for which the 
 revenue from customs was specially pledged, 
 amounted to only $868,000 ostensible value, 
 or $611,784.50 par value. This matter, as 
 well as the boundary question, was discussed 
 at great length in both houses, and January 
 29, 1850, Henry Clay introduced, among 
 other 'compromise resolutions,' one designed 
 to solve the perplexing questions of dispute 
 with Texas. 
 
 " Meantime the excitement with regard to 
 the question of ownership of that part of 
 New Mexico lying east of the Eio Grande, 
 increased both in Texas and the United 
 States. To show her serious determination 
 not to yield her claim, a joint resolution was 
 passed, February 11, 1850, by the legislature 
 of the new State, asserting not only her right 
 to the disputed ground, but declaring her in- 
 tention to maintain the integrity of her ter- 
 ritory. The several resolutions of Clay's bill 
 were slowly discussed, and August 5, 1850, 
 James A. Pearce, senator from Maryland, in- 
 troduced a bill making definite propositions 
 to the State of Texas relative to her bound- 
 ary and the payment of her public debt. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAIS. 
 
 Tl;ey wore to this t'lTect: Texas was to agree 
 tliat her boundary on tlie north should coni- 
 nieiieo at tlie point at which tlie meridian of 
 100° west from Greenwicli is intersected by 
 the parrllel of 36° 30' north latitude, and 
 should run from that point due west to the 
 meridian of 103° west from Greenwich; 
 tlionce the boundary line should run due 
 south to tlie 32° of north latitude, thence on 
 
 ])ar; 
 
 to the Rio Grande, and thence 
 
 with tlie channel of that river to the gulf of 
 .Mexiio. Texas was to cede to the United 
 States all her claim to territory outside of 
 those limits, and to relinquish all claim on 
 the United States for liability for her debts, 
 or compensation for the surrender of her 
 siiips, forts, customhouses, custoinhouse reve- 
 nue, public buildings, etc. The United States, 
 in consideration of the establishment of said 
 boundary and relinquishment of claims, would 
 pay to Texas $10,000,000, in stock bearing 
 live per cent, and redeemable at the end of 
 fourteen years. No more than $5,000,000 of 
 said stock was to be issued until the creditors 
 of the State of Texas had tiled at the treas- 
 ury of tlie United States releases of all claims 
 against the United States on account of Texan 
 bonds. 
 
 "This bill passed the senate August 7, by 
 a vote of 30 yeas and 20 nays, and on Sep- 
 teniljer 4 following passed the house by a 
 vote of 108 against 97. A copy of the bill, 
 called the Boundary Act, was forwarded to 
 Governor Bell, who forthwith called an extra 
 session of tiie legislature. In his message 
 Bell advised the occupancy of Santa Fe with 
 a military force, suggesting, however, that the 
 vacant lands of that district might be sold to 
 the United States provided that Texas re- 
 tained jurisdiction over it. Apart from the 
 unwillingness to yield territory on a general 
 principle, there was one feature in the bill 
 
 especially repulsive to the Texans, and that 
 was tiie retaining of half of the $10,000,000 
 in the United States treasury until the cred- 
 itors of Texas were paid. This self-protective 
 condition imposed by the United State? was 
 regarded as a reflection on Texas, since it 
 seemed to insinuate that she would not be 
 disposed to meet her liabilities promptly if 
 she obtained possession of the whole amount. 
 Then again, agreement to the propositions 
 was required to be given on or bel'ore De- 
 cember 1, 1850, — a proviso which, taken 
 with the general tone of the document and 
 the unconditional assent expected, was re- 
 garded as a symptom of domination to which 
 a sovereign ought not to be subject. The 
 question having been discussed with much 
 warmth and at great length, the propositions 
 of the United States were finally accepted, 
 November 25, 1850, and a law passed to that 
 effect. By this act Texas waived her fictitious 
 claim to about 98,380 square miles of the 
 territory of New Mexico;" and thus it seems 
 that all the important questions were settled 
 regarding the evolution of Texas from an 
 unprogressive province of Mexico to a com- 
 plete membership in the American Union, 
 with every prospect of prosperity and peace. 
 " This matter having been settled, " con- 
 tinues Bancroft, " the $5,000,000 was paid 
 into the State treasury in February, 1852. 
 The amount of the indebtedness of the late 
 republic had been determined previously by 
 the State. According to the report of the 
 auditor and comptroller, dated November 12, 
 1851, the ostensible indebtedness of Texa< 
 was $12,43R,991, including interest; but the 
 State, in view of the low price at which a 
 large portion of the bonds issued by the re- 
 publican government had been sold, did not 
 consider itself bound to pay their full face 
 value, and in January, 1852, the legislature 
 
IIIHTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 reJucL-d the amount of her apparent obliga- 
 tions (S12,4B6,9yi)to nearly half (?6,S27,278), 
 over tlie president's veto, by a strong vote." 
 As soon as Texas was annexe,] to the United 
 States, iinini<^ration began to increase, and in- 
 crease more and more rapidly after peace was 
 established. The oidy drawback to uninter- 
 rupted prosperity was Indian depredations. 
 Though the main body of each border tribe 
 professed friendship, the outlying settlements 
 sui?ered considerable damage, especially on the 
 western frontier. These depredations for the 
 most part were committed by theComanches, 
 who generally did their mischief on return- 
 ing from raids into Mexico. On several oc- 
 casions white men were killed and captives 
 taken. Also the Choctaws, Chickas."\ws and 
 Kickapoos made raids from the north. In 
 the spring of 1854 a band of Kickapoos killed 
 the special aj^ent. Stein, and a Mr. Lepper- 
 man from Ohio, near Fort Belknap. The 
 affair was reported to the Government at 
 Washington, and aid invoked. 
 
 INDIAN COLONIZATION, ETC. 
 
 The Indians were the more incited to pred- 
 atory raids on acconnt of the diminution of 
 wild game on the approach of the white race, 
 and they were in danger of being reduced to 
 destitution, since their manner of living made 
 tliem dependent npou flesh food; and they 
 were unwilling to adopt the white man's 
 method of raising domestic animals for a sub- 
 sistence. 
 
 As a remedy for the evil, a system of col- 
 onization was applied, but this system, too, 
 was quite unwelcome, being more a white 
 man's method of managing affairs than the 
 Indians'. Means were to be provided by the 
 United States Government to aid and instruct 
 Indian settlers in the cultivation of land. In 
 
 carrying out this policy two Indian colonies 
 were established in Texas in the spring of 
 1855, on reservations granted by the State in 
 Young county, one of which, consisting of 
 eight leagues of land, was located on the 
 Crazos river, below the junction of Clea*- 
 Fork, and fifteen miles from Fort Belknap. 
 This reservation was called the Brazos agency. 
 The other, comprising four leagues, was sit- 
 uated on Clear fork about forty-live miles 
 above its confluence with the main river. In 
 the first colony were placed Anadarcoes, Cad- 
 does, Tahwacorroes, Wacoes and Tonkawas, 
 numbering in all 794 souls. At the other 
 reservation were 277 northern Comanches. 
 
 At first the reports of the agents at these 
 points held out every prospect of success. 
 The Indians of the Brazos settlement, in good 
 behavior, morality and industry, surpassed 
 the most sanguine expectations. They vol- 
 untarily abstained from the use of ardent 
 spirits. By the end of August, public build- 
 ings had been erected, — store I'oonis, houses 
 for agents and employees, and a blacksmith's 
 shop. Two farmers, with assistant laborers, 
 were employed to instruct the Indians, and 
 295 acres of land had been plowed and planted 
 with corn. At the other reservation the 
 Comanches were too late in arriving for corn- 
 planting, but from the disposition evinced by 
 them the agents looked forward to the suc- 
 cess of the settlement. "Within three years 
 these settlements attained a high degree of 
 prosperity. The Brazos Indians, however, 
 on account of their always having had more 
 familiar and friendly intercourse with the 
 whites, were more apt in the new arts, and 
 their settlement accordingly made more rapid 
 progress in the arts of civilization. They 
 erected comfortable dwellings, had school 
 houses, and were accumulating a goodly num- 
 ber of live stock by honest methods. Besides, 
 
84 
 
 HISTOnr OF TEXAS. 
 
 tliey lieljiel ill the protection of the white 
 tVoiitier, as they furiiithud from tifty to a 
 hundred warriors for ranging service. For 
 exatnple, in the spring of lb58, a hand of 
 those went out with the Texan rangers on an 
 expedition against the Cotnanches, and foiiglit 
 gallantly. 
 
 Hut alas! this tender bud of civilization 
 was nipped by wliite people! Tlie rougher 
 0!:es, inconsiderate and over-zealous, continued 
 to encroacli upon them, until they were driven 
 entirely away. In 1858 the number of 
 these natives thus reclaimed from barbaric 
 life was 1,483; and among this number, es- 
 pecially of the Comanches, some were ad- 
 dieted to horse-stealing, and sometimes would 
 |)articipate with the wilder tribes in general 
 jircdatory incursions. Some white men even 
 assisted them in these nefarious trans- 
 MCtions. The crimes of the few had to 
 lie visited on all, such is the inconsid- 
 eiateness and haste of human nature 
 gi^nerally. In the counties adjoining the 
 reservations many of the whites were so 
 ha-ty as to believe that all, or nearly all, the 
 depredations in their neighborhood were com- 
 mitted by the Indians at these reservations, 
 ami ihey accordingly determined to get rid 
 of ihem some way. In 1858 several parties 
 of these innocent Indians went hunting out- 
 side of their reservations, as thoy had often 
 been permitted to do by the agents on 
 former occasions, and a number of rouglis 
 among the whites determined on a cruel 
 massacre. In a bend of the Brazos, just above 
 the Jiiouth of Keochi creek, a party of In- 
 (.iaiis, — men, women and children, — en- 
 eainpel, for several weeks, peaceably engaged 
 in luintiiig. On December 21, between forty 
 and lifty men, mostly of P]rath county, as- 
 sotnbled in conclave on Bosque river to con- 
 sult upon a general extermination policy. 
 
 They appointed a committee to organize a 
 company, the command of which was given 
 to Peter (4arland. Then the order was given 
 to kill any Indians found south of Cedar 
 creek. The company proceeded to the Indian 
 camp on the Brazos, which at the time con- 
 tained eight men, eight women and eleven 
 children. Approaching stealthily early in 
 the morning in December, while their victims 
 were sound asleep, they poured into them a 
 volley of buckshot and rifle-balls. Seven 
 were killed outright, of whom three were 
 women! Three men, two women and three 
 children were severely wounded, and nearly 
 all the rest moreor less injured. The wounded 
 succeeded in escaping to the reservation. 
 
 This atrocity naturally caused great excite- 
 ment. A proclamation issued by the gover- 
 nor, denouncing the act and warning all per- 
 sons against joining organizations fur hostil- 
 ities against the friendly Indians, had no ef- 
 fect. The newspapers published prejudicial 
 stories and inflammatory philippics on the 
 subject, and the citizens at various points 
 held meetings and resolved that the Indians 
 should be removed. In the adjoining coun- 
 ties bands of armed citizens were organized, 
 who spent much time scouting around the 
 reservations. Civilized Indians found outside 
 the reservation limits, it was said, could not 
 be distinguished from the savage ones, and 
 would therefore have to suffer their fate. The 
 removal of the reservation Indians was per- 
 emptorily demanded, under threats of ex- 
 termination. In vain did the agents ende ivor 
 to avert the coming blow, and their efforts in 
 this direction even gave offense to the citi- 
 zens of the frontier, who, on April 25, 1859, 
 boldly demanded their immediate resignation. 
 All the agents could do then was to acqui- 
 esce as soon as they could safely remove the 
 Indians to a better place; but before they had 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 reasonable tiino for this, May 23, Captain 
 Ijaylor, an ex-agent, at the Iiead of 250 armed 
 men, marched to tlie Brazos resei-vation, with 
 the avowed intention of attacking; tlie Indians. 
 Captain rinmmer, of the First Inlantiy, 
 warned him to leave the leservation, and he 
 did so, but a skirmish occurred with the In- 
 dians, and several on both sides were killed 
 and wounded. 
 
 It was now, tiierefore, certain that the In- 
 dians could not remain on the reservation 
 they were then occnpying. On the represent- 
 ations of the agents, the government urJered 
 the removal of the Indians as soon as the 
 crops could be matured and gathered, but tliis 
 did not satisfy the hasty frontiersmen, who 
 demanded immediate action, and at the ur- 
 gent request of the snjjervi^ing agent, R. S. 
 Neighbors, permi^sion was given him to con- 
 duct them at once beyond Red river. The 
 evil passions of the border whites were so 
 greatly aroused that the government had to 
 send troops to guard the imprisoned Ind'ans 
 on their march to prevent massacre! Tiius 
 guarded, these unfortunate Indians were es- 
 corted, July 30 and August 1, to a reserva- 
 tion on the Washita river, beyond the juris- 
 diction of the State of Texas. The numlier 
 of Indians in this exodus was 1,415, of whom 
 380 were Comanches. Owing to the persist- 
 ent persecution kept up by the whites, it was 
 found impossible even to collect the cattle 
 which belonged to these Indians, and they 
 were therefore obliged to leave their stock be- 
 iiind! As a climax to this practical illustra- 
 tion of Lamar's principle of expulsion or ex- 
 termination. Superintendent Neighbors, hav- 
 mct returned to Texas in September, was way- 
 laid on the 14th near Fort Uulknap by a man 
 unknown to him and shot! He died in twenty 
 minutes. It was believed that this crime was 
 committed on account of the fiee opinion ex- I 
 
 p.csscd by Ne'glibors rel.itivo to the killing 
 
 of a reserve Indian some time 
 
 prev 
 
 .sly. 
 
 Tlie last of the Alabiiiia Indians were re- 
 ported in existence on the Trinity river, a few 
 miles east of the town of Livingston in 18G'J, 
 then about 200 or 300 in number, and half 
 civilized. 
 
 CURRENT OF EVENTS. 
 
 While Elisha M. Pease was governor the 
 financial questions between the State and tiie 
 general Government were finally adjusted, and 
 a settlement made with the creditors of the 
 eld Republic. Bnt many new claimants arose 
 demaiuHng indemnity from the United States 
 Government for loans and losses incurred dur- 
 ing the days of the Republic in defending 
 the country against Indians from United 
 States territory. The general Government 
 offered a compromise, which was at tir.-t 
 treated very indignantly by the creditors, and 
 even by a majority of the citizens in a popu- 
 lar vote on the subject. The legislature, 
 iiowever, in later and cooler moments, agr- e i 
 to the compromise, and the creditors received 
 a pro rata, which was about 78 per cent. The 
 amount thus paid was $2,750,000. 
 
 From 1852 to 1858 nine-tenths of the 
 taxes collected were remitted to the several 
 counties to enable them to build courthouses 
 and jails, the remaining tenth being set apart 
 by the constitution for the support of schools, 
 was paid into the treasury. During this 
 period very rapid progress was made, both in 
 immigration and assessable wealth. 
 
 Rut Texan animosity toward the Mexican 
 population did not abate. The Mexican in- 
 habitants were mostly of the lower orders, 
 and were charged with associating with " nig- 
 gers," and frequently of stealing horses and 
 negro girls, whom they would take to Mexico. 
 In the fall of 1850 a formidable negro con- 
 
HISTORY OP TEXAS. 
 
 spiraey was discovcrou in Colorado conntj', 
 which coutemplated a siinultaneous insnirec- 
 tion and the massacre of the wiiite jwpula- 
 tion, with the exception of tlioir young 
 women, who were to he made captives. Tlie 
 i-laves had systematically organized, with 
 secret signs and pass-words, and provided 
 tlieinsclves with bowie-knives and a few tire- 
 arms. Their intention seemed to be to fight 
 tlieir way into Mexico, which they called a 
 " free State." On the detection of the con- 
 spiracy, more than 200 negroes were severely 
 punished with the lash, two being whipped 
 to death, and tiiree prominent leaders were 
 hanged Seiitemher 5. It was asserted that 
 every Mexican in the county was implicated 
 in this intended uprising, and they were or- 
 dered to le.ive and never return, under |)en- 
 alty of death. Similar measures were adopted 
 in Mat agon la county. 
 
 TUE CART WAR. 
 
 In 1857 Texan wagoners committed many 
 acts of violence upon Mexican cartmen in 
 the transportation of goods from San Anto- 
 nio. The fi-eight rates were so low as to 
 dri\'e the Texan wagoners from the field. 
 The latter, moreover, were'not quite so faith- 
 ful as the Mexicans. Outrages became so 
 numerous and high-handed that General 
 Twiggs, the United States commander at San 
 Aiitonio, was compelled to furnish a military 
 ocortto trains tran;iporting Government sup- 
 plie.*. In October, the Mexican minister at 
 Washington addressed the United Sates Gov- 
 ernment on the matter, stating that he had 
 lieeu assured that the number of men thus 
 murdered was no less than seventy-live, and 
 that many Mexicans had been compelled to 
 lly to Mexico, in a state of destitution. In 
 November, Governor Tease addressed special 
 
 messages to the legislature on the matter, 
 stating that Mexican citizens engaged in the 
 business of teaming were not safe without a 
 military escort. As the counties in which 
 the deeds of violence were committed did 
 nothing to stop them, he suggested the pro- 
 priety of legislative interference. The senate 
 referred the matter to a committee, who re- 
 ported in favor of inflicting a penalty upon 
 those counties, but introduced no bill to that 
 etlect, and so the matter ended. The legis- 
 lature, however, ajjproved the action of the 
 governor in calling out a company of troops, 
 wiiich, by the way, was ineffectual in regu- 
 lating a large section of country with the 
 criminals scattered over it. When the road 
 was abandoned bj' the Mexican cartmen and 
 booty became scarce, they began to commit 
 depredations on the propu'rty of the citizens. 
 The latter, though so indifferent to the rights 
 of the MexicaTis previously, were now enraged 
 and reported to lynching; ami in the neigh- 
 borhood of Goliad the traveler would eee 
 many a corpse suspended from tiie boughs of 
 the black oaks. The " Cart War" was thus 
 brought to an end. 
 
 POLITICAL PARTIES. 
 
 The general political parties were not defi- 
 nitely organized in Texas until during Pease's 
 adniinisti-ation. The party factious opposed 
 to each other previous to this differed only on 
 personal or local matters. After the annex- 
 ation the people naturally allied themselves 
 gradually with either theWiiigor the Demo- 
 cratic party, but took no zealous part in their 
 issues for eight or ten yeais, on account of the 
 greater importance of local questions; these 
 settled, they began to become more decidedly 
 Whig or I)em.)cratic, with a far greater pre- 
 ponderance on tho Demociutic side. Between 
 
HISTOliY OF TEXAS. 
 
 1854 and 1857, " Know-notl)iii.i<lriiu" liad 
 considerable influence. By tlie laitur patty, 
 in 1855, L. D. Evans was elected to Gongivrfs 
 from the Eastern District of Te.uis, and the 
 same year Dickson, for (Governor, received 
 17,968 votes, against Tea^e, who was then 
 re-elected. 
 
 In 1857 tlie death of two eminent Texas 
 statesmen took place, — Thomas J. Jinsk and 
 James Uamilton, of South Carolina. Tneir 
 sketches may be found on a subsecjuont page, 
 by the index. 
 
 SIGNS OF TUE COMING STORM. 
 
 December 21, 1857, Hardin 11 Pvunnels, 
 the successful Democratic candidate, was in- 
 augurated governor, lie had be u elected by 
 a vote of 32,552 against 2'6,Cr2S for Sa n 
 Houston. 
 
 By this time the old slavery question be^an 
 to loom up in its various relatious to passing 
 political events, and nothing so exasperating 
 could happen to the American public, both 
 North and South, liunuels addressed a mes- 
 sage, in January, 185S, to the legislature, 
 calling attention to the aspect of ati'iiirs in 
 Kansas, and clearly advocating the doctrine 
 of secession. During the same month a 
 Democratic State convention at Austin le- 
 solved that it suspected the United States 
 Government of abandoning the principle of 
 "non-intervention" in respect to the slavery 
 question, in its dealings with Kansas and 
 Nebraska. T. J. Chambers offered resolu- 
 tions to the effect that any act on the part of 
 Congress tending to embarrass the admission 
 of Kansas as a member of the Union woul.i 
 be a usurpation of power, etc., and that in 
 case Congress should do such a thing Texas 
 should again declare independence. In le- 
 sponse to the governor's message the legi^la- 
 
 tiire adopted a resolution to appoint delegates 
 to a genei al convention of the Southern States, 
 to act in self-defense and in protection of 
 immigrants in Kansas from the South, who 
 were denied the rights of citizenship there. 
 
 Ivunnels, at the close of his term, again 
 ran as a candidate for governor, on the Demo- 
 cratic ticket, but was defeated by Safn Hous- 
 ton, indepL-ndent, by a majority in favor of 
 the latter of 8,757 votes, the latter being 
 known as opposed to scces.sion. In 1858, a 
 vacancy occurred on the supreme bench, and 
 the Democrats nominated for it a Mr. Buck- 
 Icy, whose reputation was not the best, and 
 was of well-known disunion proclivities; and 
 he was defeated by an overwhelming ma- 
 jority, by Bell, an avowed Unionist. 
 
 During the canvass of 1859, the Demo- 
 cratic convention at Houston contained mem- 
 bers who spoke publicly and vehemently in 
 favor of secession, and even upheld the Afri- 
 can slave trade. Indeed, so much sympathy 
 for Southern independence was manifest at 
 that convention that the Democratic party of 
 Texas was clearly known as committiHl in fa- 
 vor of secession, if the Federal Government 
 did not receJe from its intervention policy 
 with the great Southern institution. 
 
 Houston, therefore, took his seat as gover- 
 nor at a time when intense political excite- 
 ment prevailed througliout the United States, 
 as well as in Texas. By tlie close of 1859 
 the apposing parties were uncompromisingly 
 arrayed against each other on the slavery 
 question, and the fire of disruption was be- 
 ing kindled. The victory of the Abolition 
 party in Kansas and the John Brown raid at 
 Harper's Ferry aggravated the feeling of dis 
 ap2)ointmenl throughout the South. Accord- 
 ingly, in December, this year, the legisla- 
 ture of South Carolina, famous for taking the 
 load for the South, passed resolutions in favor 
 
HISTORY OP TEXAS. 
 
 of secession, ami appri>priated a contingent 
 uf $100,000 for nnlitaiy purposes, sliould it 
 lie rer^nired. These ruaolutions were ad- 
 dressed to the governors of all the Soutiiorn 
 Slates. On the receipt of them, Houston 
 addressed a lonw message to the Texas legis- 
 lature, opposing secession. It liad a great 
 influence, upon that body, for the ineuibers 
 very temperately passed resolutions favoring 
 union, except that they held that a State had 
 the right to secede, etc. There were majority 
 and minority reports of the committees of 
 Ijnth liranclies of the legislature, the minority 
 iiolding that a State did 'not have the rij;ht 
 to secede. 
 
 Many years previously, a secret order was 
 foi-med for tlie purpose of establishing a 
 Soutliern empire, with slavery, and known as 
 the Knights of the Golden Circle. Its em- 
 pire was to have Havana, Cuba, as its center 
 and extend in every direction from that six- 
 teen geographical degnes. It is said that 
 the filibustering expeditions of 1850 and 
 1857 were undertaken under the auspices of 
 'ills organization, and tliat now, in the anti- 
 slavery agitation at the North, the disip- 
 ].uinted Democrats began to turn to it for 
 uid. "In 18G0," says Bancroft, "two mem- 
 bers of the order, George W. Bickley and liis 
 nephew, were employed to orj;anizti 'ca ties' 
 <jr lodges, in Texas, receiving as reinnneration 
 for their w^rk the initiation lees paid by in- 
 <'oming members. Such castles were soon 
 t'stiibliflu'd in every principal town and vil 
 bigi- in the State, and they ln'c,iiiii> a power 
 ill the 1 •lid. In it were many lucmbcis of 
 the h gi^l.ltllre and piomiiKut |MilitH-i;ins. 
 I!y its inlhience the sentiments oC the people 
 
 were revolutiniiizi'd; from its t'tild WiTediawn 
 the first armed rebels in Texas under the fa- 
 iiiiuis rangiM', Benjamin M(!(!nlloii4li ; it fiir- 
 niffbed the vigilance commitle. n; and to its 
 
 members were charged murders and incendi- 
 ary acts comm'tted during the war." 
 
 Even after South Carolina had positively 
 declared secession from the Union, in De- 
 cember, 1860, Houston stood true to his prin- 
 ciples of Unionism, though it must be 
 confessed tiiat many Union men in the State 
 were suspected of too great sympathy with 
 the Abolitionism of the North, and were 
 bunged by vigilance committees, and that 
 most otliers were terrorized into silence. So 
 said Senator CI ingman, of North Carolina, at 
 the time. Remember, it is not understood 
 that such outrages are chargeable to the 
 Democrats as such, but to " mobocrats," of 
 whatever party. Sixty of these Knights, says 
 Bancroft, issued a call for a State convention 
 at Austin, to meet January 28, 1861. Tlie 
 mass of the people considered the proceeding 
 as irregular, as the Knights took pains to put 
 in their own men as judges at the primary 
 elections wherever practicable, and barely 
 half of the counties were represented at the 
 convention by the people. The legislature, 
 by a joint resolution, recognized the infor- 
 mally elected delegates and declared the con- 
 vention a legally constituted assenably. Hous- 
 ton's veto was overruled, and on the appointed 
 day the Convention met. February 1, it passed 
 the ordinance of secession, by a vote of 167 
 to 7, subject to a vote of the people on 
 the 23d. This body, also, without waiting to 
 hear what the residt of the popular vote 
 mi^lit be, appointed a " committee of public 
 salety,'' with secret instructions, and ap- 
 jiointei also delegates to the Confederate 
 convention at Montgomery, Alabama. This 
 committee of safety usurped the powers of 
 tl'.e execntive, and appointed three commis- 
 sioners to treat with General Twiggs, in com- 
 m;ind of the United States forces in Texas, 
 lor the surrender of his army and the na- 
 
HISTOBr OF TEXAS. 
 
 tional posts and property. February 16th 
 he complied, surrendering 2,500 men, and 
 all the forts, arsenals, military posts, public 
 stores and munitions of war, all the property 
 being valued at $1,200,000 cost price. 
 
 A few days before the popular vote was 
 taken, as above noted, Houston delivered a 
 speech from the balcony of the Tremont 
 House in Galveston, to the excited public, on 
 the question of secession. His personal 
 friends, fearing that violence wonld be offered, 
 entreated him to remain quiet; but he was 
 not to be stopped by any apprehension of 
 danger. He stood erect before the people, 
 and in prophetic language pictured to them 
 the dark future. " Some of you," he said, 
 " langli to scorn the idea of bloodshed as a 
 result of secession, and jocularly propose to 
 drink all the blood that will ever ilow in con- 
 sequence of it. But let me tell you what is 
 coming on the heels of secession: the time 
 will come when your fathers and husbands, 
 your sons and brothers, will be herded to- 
 gether like sheep and cattle at the point of 
 the bayonet, and your mothers and wives, 
 sisters and daughters, will ask: Where are 
 they? You may, after the sacrifice of count- 
 less millions of treasure and hundreds of 
 thousands of precious lives, as a bare possi- 
 bility, win Southern independence, if God 
 be not against you; but I doubt it. I tell you 
 that, while I believe with you in the doctrine 
 of State rights, the North is determined to 
 preserve this Union. They are not a fiery, 
 impulsive people as you are, for they live in 
 cooler climates; but when they begin to 
 move in a given direction, where great in- 
 terests are involved, such as the present 
 issues before the country, they move with 
 the steady momentum and perseverance of a 
 mighty avalanche; and what I fear is, they 
 will overwhelm the South with ignoble de- 
 
 feat." Before the close of his speech, how- 
 ever, he said, " Better die freemen than live 
 slaves. Whatever course Te.xas may pursue, 
 my faith in State supremacy and State rights 
 will carry my sympathies with her. As 
 Henry Clay had said, ' My country, right or 
 wrong,' so say I, My State, right or wrong." 
 
 It seems from the above that Houston was 
 a shrewd reader of human nature, as also 
 from the following remarks in his message to 
 the legislature a year previously: " To nul- 
 lify constitutional laws will not allay the 
 existing discord. Separation from the Union 
 will not remove the unjust assaults made by 
 a class in the North upon the institutions in 
 the South. They would exist from like pas- 
 sions and like feelings under any govern- 
 ment. The Union was intended as a per- 
 petuity. In accepting the conditions imposed 
 prior to becoming a part of the Confederacy, 
 the States became a part of the Union. In 
 becoming a State of the Union, Texas agreed 
 ' not to enter into any treaty, alliance or con- 
 federation, and not, without the consent of 
 Congress, to keep troops or ships of war, 
 enter into any agreement or compact with 
 any other State or foreign power.' " 
 
 The result of the vote of February 23 for 
 delegates to the State convention to consider 
 the propriety of secessien, was in substance 
 as follows: Austin, the capital, San Antonio, 
 and other western towns, as well as counties, 
 gave Union majorities; the German colon- 
 ists, too, were for the Union, while the rest 
 of the State gave large Confederate majori- 
 ties. Out of about 70,000 voters in the 
 State, 53,256 cast their votes; and of this 
 number 39,415 were in favor of secession, 
 and 13,84:1 against it. 
 
 To lose no time, the State convention as- 
 sembled on March 2, in order to be ready for 
 immediate action as soon as the result of the 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 vote was known, which proved to be on the 
 5th. They, therefore, immediately assumed 
 the powers of government. It instructed its 
 delegates at Montgomery to ask for the ad- 
 mission of Texas into the Southern Confed- 
 eracy that had just been formed; it. sent a 
 committee to Governor Houston to inform 
 him of the change in the political position of 
 the State; it adopted the Confederate con- 
 stitution, and appointed representatives to 
 the Confederate congress. During the Con- 
 federacy, Lewis T. Wigfall and William S. 
 Oldham represented Texas in the senate, and 
 John A. Wilcox, C. C. Herbert, Peter W. 
 Gray, B. F. Sexton, M. D. Graham, William 
 B. Wright, A. M. Branch, John K. Baylor, 
 S. H. iforgan, Stephen H. Derden and A. 
 P. Wiley in the house. 
 
 In his reply to the above convention Hous- 
 ton said that that body had transcended its 
 powers, and that he would lay the whole 
 matter before the legislature, which was to 
 assemble on the 18th; whereupon the con- 
 vention defied his authority and passed an 
 ordinance requiring all State officers to take 
 the oath of allegiance to the new govern- 
 ment. Houston and E. W. Cave, secretary 
 of State, refused to take the oath, and they 
 were deposed by a decree of the convention, 
 and Edward Clark, lieutenant governor, was 
 installed as the executive. Houston then 
 appealed to the people, and when the legisla- 
 ture met, sent to it a uaessage protesting 
 against his removal, stating at the same time 
 that he could but await their action and that 
 of the people. He argued his case ably and 
 well before both the legislature and the peo- 
 ple, but the legislature sanctioned the acts of 
 the convention. Houston then retired to 
 private life. 
 
 Duringthese years Indian depredations con- 
 tinued, and were more frequent and daring after 
 
 Twiggs had surrendered all the Unitotl States 
 forces on the frontier to the Texans; and also 
 after the removal of the Indians from the 
 reservations in Young county the hostility of 
 the red savages was intensified. The more 
 peaceable Indians had been removed to a 
 great distance, while the more hostile were 
 next in proximity. There was one remarka- 
 ble exception, however, to the above observa- 
 tion: A band of emigrants from the Creek 
 nation, consisting of Alabamas, Coshattas 
 and a few Muscogees, persevered in their 
 peaceful pursuits on Alabama creek, on the 
 side toward Trinity river, despite the frequent 
 depredations committed upon them by "mean 
 whites." As a community they set a model 
 example of industry, honesty, patience and 
 peaceableness. 
 
 While the northern and western frontier 
 was subjected to slily conducted forays by 
 the untutored savages, the southern borders 
 on the Rio Grande were afflicted with a more 
 open and formidable invasion by a Me.xican 
 desperado namad Cortina. He and his gang 
 had long been known for their frequent thefts 
 of cattle and other depredations. He and his 
 followers, by professing sympathy with the 
 persecuted Mexicans living in Texas, added 
 to their numbers until they had nearly 500, 
 and, like the old Mexican i-egime, began to 
 inaugurate a little rebellion against the gov- 
 ernment. But booty was their principal ob- 
 ject, and they made their escapes the easier 
 by alternating in their operations between 
 Texas and Mexico, claiming while followed 
 in one country to be citizens of the other. 
 The gang sometimes committed murder, as 
 for example in Brownsville, in September, 
 1859. On the 29th of that month he issued 
 a "proclamation" professing that his object 
 only was to protect persecuted Mexicans in 
 Texas, and that an organization had been 
 
HISTOBT OF TEXA8. 
 
 formed for the pnrpose of chastising their 
 enemies. It is claimed that he was assisted 
 secretly by Mexican money and arms. Dur- 
 ing October and November there were several 
 collisions of Cortina and his men with the 
 Government military forces, with loss on 
 Doth sides. He devastated the country along 
 the Eio Grande for over 120 miles, and back 
 to the arroyo Colorado. This unprincipled 
 desperado was finally defeated in May, 1861, 
 when he burned a village named Rome. But 
 he afterward revolutionized Tamaulipas, be- 
 came governor, and intrigued both with the 
 Confederates and the United States officials. 
 In 1871 he was a general under Juarez, and 
 in 1875 mayor of Matamoras and general in 
 the Mexican army. 
 
 During the great civil war it was fortunate 
 for Texas that she was geographically situated 
 at a distance from the seat of the main con- 
 flict. The patriotism of her sons caused all 
 of them to lose much in property, but no 
 battle took place in, or destructive army 
 marched through, her territory. Although 
 her commerce suffered considerably, she found 
 in Mexico a fair market for her cotton, her 
 main staple, and her numerous ports on the 
 gulf enal)led her more easily to run the 
 blockade. 
 
 THE 8T0EM 
 
 Within a month after the installation of 
 Clark as governor, hostilities broke out. On 
 April 14, 1861, Fort Sumter, at Charleston, 
 South Carolina, was evacuated by Major 
 Robert Anderson, and on the following day 
 President Lincoln issued his proclamation for 
 75,000 volunteers. Enlistment for the South- 
 ern cause was begun in Texas at once, and 
 early in May Colonel W. C. Young crossed 
 Red river and captured Fort Arbuckle and 
 other military posts of the United States in liie 
 
 Indian Territory, the Federal soldiers retreat- 
 ing to Kansas. Colonel Ford also, assisted 
 by an expedition from Galveston, took pos- 
 session of Fort Brown, opposite Matamoras, 
 meetiiig no resistance. Captain Ilill, in com- 
 mand there, was still holding it for the 
 United States, having disobeyed the order of 
 General Twiggs to evacuate it, but he had too 
 small a force to hold it against assault. 
 
 Governor Clark issued a proclamation 
 June 8 that a state of war existed, and shortly 
 afterward the ports of Texas were blockaded. 
 By November 15,000 Texans were enlisted 
 for the Southern cause. 
 
 The election of 1861 showed the small 
 majority of only 124 votes in favor of Fran- 
 cis R. Lubbock for governor, over Clark, can- 
 didate for re-election, and he was inaugurated 
 November 7, 1861. 
 
 Going back a little, we should state that in 
 July of this year Lieutenant-Colonel John R. 
 Baylor had occupied Fort Bliss, on the Rio 
 Grande, and on the 25th Mesilla, across the 
 Rio Grande, Major Lynde, commanding the 
 United States fort, Fillmore, near by, having 
 failed to dislodge Baylor, surrendered his 
 whole command of about 700 men. Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Canby was at this time in 
 command of the department of New Mexico, 
 and made preparations to meet the invasion, 
 while Major Sibley, of the United States 
 Army, had joined the Confederates, and with 
 the rank of brigadier general was ordered in 
 July to proceed to Texas and organize an ex- 
 pedition for the purpose of driving Federal 
 troops out of New Mexico. Sibley reached 
 El Paso with his force about the middle of 
 December, and issued a proclamation inviting 
 his old comrades to join the Confederate 
 army, but met with no response. 
 
 Early in 1862 Colonel Canby made Fort 
 Craig, on the Rio Grande, his headquarters. 
 
UlUTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 February 21 he crossed tlie river and en- 
 gaged the Texaiis, but was repulsed. This 
 was the battle of V.alverde, in which General 
 Sibley had 1,750 men to 3,810 on Canby's 
 side; but only 900 of Canby's men were reg- 
 ulars, and the others were of but little serv- 
 ice. Encouraged by success so signal, Sibley 
 immediately marched on to Albuquerque, 
 sending a -detachment on to Santa F^, and 
 easily took those places, but, a part of his 
 army meeting with defeat by Colonel Slough, 
 he bad to begin a retreat which did not end 
 until he reached Texas. In this bootless cam- 
 paign the Texans lost 500 men; and even 
 General Can by afterward reported that that 
 portion of the country was too unimportant 
 to hold by the expenditure of blood and 
 treasure. 
 
 In May, 1862, Commodore Eagle, of the 
 United States Navy, demanded the surrender 
 of the city of Galveston, but could not en- 
 force bis demand. October 4: following he 
 was re-inforced and easily took the place 
 without much resistance. The Texans criti- 
 cised General Hebert for giving up that city, 
 and he was superseded during the next 
 month by General Magruder, who forthwith 
 made preparations to recapture the island. 
 He made good preparation, with great se- 
 crecy, to attack the island by both land and 
 water, and he was successful in regaining the 
 point, after an engagement that cost the 
 Federals great loss. But the port continued 
 to be blockaded. 
 
 At first, and during the earlier part of 
 Governor Lubbock's administration, the Tex- 
 ans enlisted freely and cheerfully, believing 
 that the contest would soon end in victory 
 for them, but ere long they began to feel 
 the tedious burden of war in many ways. 
 Trade was interfered with, military law pro- 
 claimed, conscription resorted to, etc. All 
 
 males from eigliteen years of ago to forty-five 
 were made liable to service in the Confed- 
 erate army, with the exception of ministers 
 of religion, State and county officers and 
 slave-holders, the possession of fifteen slaves 
 being the minimum number entitling to ex- 
 emption. Governor Lubbock was an ex- 
 tremist in regard to this system. In his 
 message to the Legislature in November, 
 1863, he suggested that every male person 
 from sixteen years old and upward should be 
 declared in the military service of the State; 
 that no one should be permitted to furnish a 
 substitute, and in the same message informed 
 the Legislature that 90,000 Texans were 
 already in the field. When one calls to mind 
 that the greatest number of votes ever polled 
 in the State was but little over 64,000, it 
 will be seen what a tremendous drain had 
 been made on the strength of the country! 
 
 August 31, 1861, the Confederate congress 
 passed a law confiscating all the property of 
 Union men, and banishing the men them- 
 selves. Many persons who had spent their 
 lives in Texas ihus lost their property, and 
 even temjiorary absentees in the North, who 
 would have found it difficult, if not impossi- 
 ble, to return, were likewise deprived of their 
 possessions. Many Unionists, in their at- 
 tempts to escape to Mexico, were canglit and 
 put to death. Says the San Antonio IJerald, 
 a paper loyal to the Confederacy: ''Their 
 bones are bleaching on the soil of every 
 county from lied river to the Rio Grande, 
 and in the counties of Wise and Denton their 
 bodies are suspended by scores from the 
 black-jacks." 
 
 By the close of Lubbock's administration, 
 in 1863, the tide of public opinion and feel- 
 ing began to ebb, as the Confederate arms 
 bad met with serious reverses, and the dark 
 
EiaronT of tbxas. 
 
 shadow of the impossibility of an indepeudent 
 confederacy was casting a gloomy sky over 
 tlie sunny South. 
 
 After the recovery of Galveston island, no 
 other opei-ation of importance occurred until 
 September, 1863, when the Federals at- 
 tempted to effect a lodgment at Sabine City, 
 the terminus of a railroad. The blockade of 
 Sabine Pass was temporarily broken by the 
 capture of two United States gunboats, out- 
 side the bar. Afterward the Confederates 
 erected a fort at Sabine City, defended by a 
 formidable battery of eight heavy guns, three 
 of which were rifled. A detacliment of 4,000 
 men, with gunboats, from Banks' army, made 
 an attempt in September, 1863, to take Sa- 
 bine City, but met with ignominious defeat, 
 losing two gunboats, 100 men killed and 
 wounded, and 250 as prisoners. The garri- 
 son of the fort consisted of only 200 Texans, 
 of whom only forty-two took part in the ac- 
 tion. These were presented by President 
 Davis with a silver medal, the only honor of 
 the kind known to have been bestowed by 
 the Confederate government.* 
 
 On the 26th of July this year General 
 Houston died. See his biography on another 
 page, to be found by the index. 
 
 The Rio Grande being a national boundary 
 line, it could not be blockaded by the United 
 States; but General Banks, after his failure 
 to capture Sabine City, endeavored to take 
 Brownsville, and thus at least cripple the trade 
 between Texas and Mexico. Late in Octo- 
 ber, 1863, supported by a naval squadron 
 under Commander Strong, Banks sailed with 
 6,000 troops from New Orleans for the Rio 
 Grande. The immediate command, however, 
 was given to General Napoleon Dana. By 
 November 2 the force reached Brazos Santi- 
 ago, and on the 6th took Brownsville, and 
 soon afterward Corpus Christi, Aransas Pass, 
 
 Cavillo Pass and Fort Esperanza at the 
 mouth of Matagorda bay. By the close of 
 the year Indianola and the Matagorda penin- 
 sula were also in the hands of the Federals. 
 The Texans made but a show of resistance, 
 withdrawing from the coast defenses west of 
 the Colorado. But this possession of Texan 
 forts was of short duration. After a few 
 months the Federals withdrew from all except 
 Brazos Santiago, leaving the duty of guard- 
 ing the coast to the navy, wiiich soon after- 
 ward captured several Confederate vessels. 
 
 Banks' next scheme to obtain possession of 
 Texas was by an entrance from the northeast, 
 from Red river; but this famous " Red river 
 expedition " also ignominiously failed. The 
 Texans were too much for that Yankee army. 
 At the battle of Pleasant Hill, however, the 
 Texans suffered a serious defeat; Sweitzer's 
 regiment of cavalry, about 400 strong, was 
 almost annihilated by the Federals; and they 
 also lost the battle at Pleasant Grove; but 
 in the great battle of Sabine Cross Roads the 
 Texans gained a great victory. 
 
 During the month of September Browns- 
 ville was captured by her old enemy, Cortina, 
 under peculiar circumstances. A French 
 force of about 5,000 took Bagdad, at the 
 mouth of the Rio Grande, with the object of 
 taking possession of Matamoras, where Cor- 
 tina was then in command. Brownsville was 
 at that time occupied by Colonel Ford with a 
 considerable force of Texan cavalry, and Bra- 
 zos Santiago was still held by the Federals. 
 On the 6th the French began to move up the 
 right bank of the river, and their advance be- 
 came engaged with Cortina, who had naarched 
 with 3,000 Mexicans and sixteen pieces of 
 artillery from Matamoras to meet them. 
 There seems to have been some understand- 
 ing between Ford and the French commander, 
 for during the engagement the former ap- 
 
UlUTORY OF IJiX.lS. 
 
 peared on the other side of the liio Grande 
 with a large lierd of cattle for the use of the 
 invading army, and, immediately crossing the 
 river, took part in the contlict by attacking 
 the rear of Cortina's army. The Mexican 
 commander, however, succeeded in repulsing 
 l)Otli Ford and the Frencli, who retreated to 
 Uagdad. Cortina next turned his attention 
 to Ford. On the 9th he passed with his whole 
 force and drove the Texans from IJrownsville, 
 and took possession of the town for the 
 United States. 
 
 Governor Pendleton Murrah, of Texas, on 
 liis accession to the executive chair, found 
 many unusual perplexities, the State being 
 harassed, and currency down to 3 or 4 cents 
 on the dollar, and all three branches of the 
 s^overnment usurped by military proclama- 
 tion, etc. He therefore convened the legisla- 
 ture in extra session, to meet May 11, 1864. 
 But the terrible evils under which Texas was 
 laboring could not be remedied in a short 
 time, and before any measure of relief could 
 take signal effect, the end of the great war 
 came. Kirby Smith, however, had the hardi- 
 hood of protracting the war in Texas some 
 weeks after the surrender of Lee at Appo- 
 mattox, but finally surrendered to General 
 C'a?iby, May 26. But the last engagement in 
 the great war took place May 13, near the old 
 i)attle-lield of Palo Alto, the scene of Taylor's 
 victory over Arista. 
 
 AFTER THE WAE. 
 
 After the formal surrender of Smith and 
 Magruder, Governor Murrah reti red to Mexico, 
 and June 19, General Granger, of the United 
 States Army, assumed temporary command. 
 On the 17th President Johnson, in pursuance 
 of his plan of reconstruction, appointed An- 
 <lrew J. Hamilton provisional governor of 
 
 Texas. May 29, the president issued a 
 proclamation granting an amnesty, with cer- 
 tain exceptions, to persons who had been en- 
 gaged in the rebellion, on condition of their 
 taking an oath of allegiance. Governor Ham- 
 ilton arrived at Galveston near the close of 
 July, and began the reorganization of the 
 State government, under the old regime, by 
 proclaiming an election, where loyal persons 
 may vote for State and all other necessary 
 officers. Both President Johnson and Gov- 
 ernor Hamilton were so liberal that the anti. 
 Union men of Texas had hopes of gaining 
 control of the government. 
 
 But the greatest practical question now 
 coming up was the disposition of the freed 
 blacks. The course of Congress soon assured 
 the public that the negroes would have all the 
 rights of citizenship, so far as national legis- 
 tion could make them. President Johnson 
 seemed to be in haste to re-install the old 
 Confederates in power under the Federal 
 Government. During the years 1865-'66 he 
 pardoned over 600 persons in Texas alone 
 who were not included in the amnesty procla- 
 mation he had issued. He "soured" on cer- 
 tain prominent liepublicans in Congress, and 
 seemed to desire to obtain a preponderance 
 of Southern or Democratic element in that 
 body as soon as possible. 
 
 After the final victory of Northern arms, 
 the Unionists in Texas, and especially the 
 Federal soldiers, were peculiarly exposed to 
 the vengeance of the more riotous element of 
 the vanquished Confederates, and considerable 
 persecution and some murders were indulged 
 in. Only in the vicinity of the garrisoned 
 towns and posts was security of person and 
 property maintained. Even the courts were 
 warped, according to General Custer's (Fed- 
 eral) testimony. Said he: "Since the estab- 
 lishment of the provisional government in 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 95 
 
 Texas the grand juries throughout the State 
 have found upward of 500 indictments for 
 murder against disloyal men, and yet not in 
 a single case has tliere been a conviction." 
 
 The negro population of Texas at the close 
 of the war was about 400,000. Great num- 
 bers had been sent hither during tliat struggle 
 to get them away from Federal interference. 
 Now, since they had been freed, they all be- 
 gan to move for employment, and before they 
 attained it many of them suffered much, and 
 some even killed. One man testifies that he 
 collected accounts, showing that 260 dead 
 bodies of negroes had been found throughout 
 the State up to the middle of January, 1866, 
 — some in the creeks, some floating down 
 stream, and some by the roadside. But soon 
 the excitement died down somewhat, and the 
 negroes began to find work. Plantation own- 
 ers were compelled to yield to necessity and 
 offered tiiem terms which promised to insure 
 steady labor. Wages, $20 a month, or two- 
 thirds of the cotton crop and one-half the 
 corn crops. And many testified that they 
 could net as much from their business under 
 the new order of things as under the old. 
 
 THE KECONSTEUCTION PEKIOD. 
 
 January 8, 1866, an election was held for 
 delegates to a State convention to form a new 
 constitution. There was no excitement, and 
 little interest was shown, probably not half 
 the voters taking part. This created some 
 alarm in the minds of the philanthropists, but 
 an occasion of that kind seldom draws out a 
 large vote, because there is no particular issue 
 in question, and no great hero up for office, 
 whose followers take zealous hold. 
 
 On the meeting of the convention J. W. 
 Throckmorton was elected its president, and 
 they proceeded to adopt every measure neces- 
 
 sary for re-admission into the old Union. 
 This constitution was submitted to the people 
 June 25, who that day gave 28,119 votes for 
 it and 23,100 against it. Of course there was 
 many a bitter pill in the new document for 
 the old pro- slavery element to swallow, but 
 they could not help themselves. 
 
 On the same day of the ratification of the 
 constitution, Mr. Throckmorton was elected 
 governor, and G. W. Jones, lieutenant-gov- 
 ernor. In his message to the legislature 
 the new governor said it was desirable 
 that all military force, and the agents of 
 the freedmen's bureau, should be with- 
 drawn from the interior of the State, 
 and that the most certain way to effect 
 this object would be the enactment of just 
 laws for the protection of the blacks, and their 
 rigid enforcement. He added that every ef- 
 fort should be made to impress upon the 
 freedmen that their labor was desirable, and 
 that laws should be passed carrying out the 
 intention of that article in the constitution 
 securing to them protection of person and 
 property. He also called the attention of the 
 legislature to the numerous outrages recently 
 committed by Indians on the frontier. Upon 
 his recommendation the legislature paid no 
 attention to the question of ratifying the new 
 clause of the Federal constitution abolishing 
 slavery, and rejected by sixty-seven nays to 
 five yeas the disfranchisement of the late 
 Confederates imposed by the fourteenth ar- 
 ticle of the same constitution, which reads: 
 " No person shall be a senator or representative 
 in Congress, or elector of president or vice- 
 president, or hold any office, civil or military, 
 under the United States, or under any State, 
 who, having previously taken an oath as a 
 member of Congress, or as an officer of the 
 United States, or as a member of any State ^ 
 legislature, or as an executive or judicial offi- 
 
UlSTOUr OF TEXAS. 
 
 ccr of any State, to support the constitution of 
 the United States, shall have engaged in insur- 
 rection or rebellion against the same, or given 
 aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But 
 Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each 
 house, remove sucli disability." The governor 
 maintained that the adoption of such an ar- 
 ticle would deprive the State, for nearly a 
 quarter of a century, of the services of her 
 ablest and best men, at a time, too, when such 
 services are peculiarly important. 
 
 This legislature passed numerous laws for 
 internal improvement, and one providing an 
 efficient military force for the protection of 
 the frontier, besides many other useful laws. 
 
 Under the plan pursued by President 
 Johnson, State governments had by this time 
 been established in all the Confederate 
 States. But Congress considered that the 
 president had been going too fast, and estab- 
 lished military rule throughout the South, of 
 course over the veto of the president. Gen- 
 eral Phil Sheridan was given the command 
 of the district including Louisiana and Texas, 
 and he appointed General Grifiin to super- 
 vise the latter State, with headquarters at 
 Galveston. To him was entrusted the reor- 
 ganization of the State, and he proceeded ac- 
 cording to the more stringent measures re- 
 quired by the " Eadical " Congress. He 
 found Governor Throckmorton in his way, 
 and advised his removal, which was done by 
 General Sheridan. Griffin added: "I can- 
 not lind an officer holding position under the 
 State laws whose antecedents will justify me 
 in reposing trust in him in assisting in the 
 registration." lie further stated that he had 
 again and again called the attention of the 
 governor to outrages perpetrated on Union 
 men, but knew of no instance in which the 
 offender had been punished. At a later date 
 he explains that efforts were made to exclude 
 
 Union men from the jury boxes, to prevent 
 which he issued a circular order, prescribing 
 a form of oath which virtually excluded every 
 person that had been connected with the Con- 
 federacy from serving as a juror. This order 
 was seized upon by some State officials, who 
 attempted to make it appear that the courts 
 were closed by the enforcement of it. 
 
 Governor Throckmorton, of course, denied 
 the many slanderous attacks that had been 
 made upon him, and it seems that he was 
 really desirous of adjusting himself and the 
 State to the new system of reconstruction 
 adopted by Congress in opposition to Presi- 
 dent Johnson's views. 
 
 Says Bancroft: "Early in August the 
 deposed governor sent in his iinal report of 
 his administration. It contains the Treas- 
 urer's report, showing the receipts to have 
 been $626,518, and the expenses $625,192; 
 a statement of Indian depredations from 1865 
 to 1867, from which it appears that during 
 the two years 162 persons were killed, 48 
 carried into captivity and 24 wounded; and 
 he gave in addition a copy of his address and 
 the official correspondence explanatory of his 
 conduct. In reviewing this correspondence 
 Throckmorton remarks that every fair-mind- 
 ed person will be satisfied that the reports of 
 General Griffin were made without any foun- 
 dation in fact, and were not supported by 
 any public or private act of his ; and that the 
 imputation that he (Throckmorton) was an 
 impediment to the reconstruction of the 
 State showed the sinister influences which 
 surrounded Griffin and his proclivity to 
 error. 
 
 " In examining the facts Throckmorton 
 calls attention to the fact that he tendered 
 the cordial co-operation of the State authori- 
 ties to aid in the execution of the laws of 
 Congress; that he called upon the civil au- 
 
EISTOBT OF TEXAS. 
 
 thorities for such inforroation as would con- 
 duce to that end; and that be advised the 
 people to a cheerful and prompt compliance 
 with the terms. But extraordinary impedi- 
 ments to the proper execution of the acts of 
 Congress had been thrown in the way. First, 
 the circular order relative to jurymen's quali- 
 fications filled the country with consternation, 
 impressing the minds of the people that they 
 were not to have the benefit of the laws; the 
 oath prescribed would in fact exclude the 
 majority of the people, except the freedmen, 
 from serving as jurors; secondly, by refusing 
 to fill vacancies in State oflices except by such 
 persons as could take the test oath; and 
 thirdly, by delay in appointing boards of 
 registration in many counties. Again, no 
 persons except those of one political party 
 were selected as registrars, while negroes no- 
 toriously incompetent were appointed to act 
 on such boards; such persons as sextons of 
 cemeteries, auctioneers, members of police, 
 under- wardens of workhouses, school direc- 
 tors, jurymen, overseers of the roads and 
 many other classes had been excluded from 
 registration; and finally a manifest disinclin- 
 ation had been shown by the military authori- 
 ties to believe in the sincerity of the State 
 ofiicials, and in the people when declaring 
 their desire to comply with the acts of Con- 
 
 Besides the above, Mr. Throckmorton pi y- 
 ceeds to enumerate many acts of lawlessness 
 and oppression on the part of the United 
 States agents and the military. 
 
 Elisha M. Pease became governor for the 
 third time in August, 1867. Public affairs, 
 however, had sadly changed since the happy 
 period of his first administration. Partisan 
 feeling was now bitter, and in no other of the 
 Confederate States did the work of recon- 
 
 struction prove more difficult. Texas was 
 the last to be readmitted into the Union. 
 
 General Sheridan's military administra- 
 tion gave great dissatisfaction to President 
 Johnson, and on August 26, 1867, he was re- 
 placed by the appointment of General Win- 
 field S. Huicock, whose views were very dif- 
 ferent from those of his predecessor. He 
 was unwilling to submit civil offenders to 
 military tribunals. He annulled the rigid 
 rules laid down by Griflin with regard to 
 registration of voters, instructing the local 
 boards to proceed according to the statutes. 
 But Hancock gave as little satisfaction to 
 Congress as his predecessor had to the presi- 
 dent, and the want of harmony at Washing- 
 ton between the legislative and executive de- 
 partments was the occasion of frequent 
 change in policy with regard to Texas, and 
 corresponding change of officers, and such a 
 state of national affairs would naturally keep 
 the people of Texas in an unsettled condi- 
 tion. Hancock was succeeded by General 
 Keynolds. 
 
 An election was held in February, 1868, 
 which continued four days, for the choice of 
 delegates to a State constitutional convention. 
 
 At the same time 44,689 votes were cast 
 in favor of the convention being held, and 
 11,440 against it. According to the historian 
 Thrall, 56,678 white voters were registered 
 and 47,581 black ones. 
 
 June 1 following, the convention, compris- 
 ing sixty-three delegates, was held at Austin, 
 and organized by electing Edmund J. Davis 
 president, and "W. V. Tuustall secretary. Al- 
 though the convention was composed of loyal 
 Repuldicans, they were divided into two fac- 
 tions. General Griffin had some time before 
 that been petitioned to declare by military 
 order all acts of the Texas legislature passed 
 after secession null ab initio; but he died 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 lief ore issuing ti)o order. Tiie members of 
 the convention who believed in having a 
 forma! order issued annulling all acts during 
 the period of secession, were called by nick- 
 name "Ab Initios." Another difference con- 
 cerned the question of suffrage, a portion of 
 the convention being inclined to be more in- 
 tolerant toward the ex-Confederates than the 
 otiier party. For three months these oppos- 
 ing factions argued these matters and made 
 but little progress in framing a constitution. 
 August 31 they adjourned to reassemble 
 December 7, and when they did meet again, 
 the ilifferences appeared to be more irrecon- 
 cilable than ever; but finally the more lib- 
 eral party prevailed by a vote of thirty-seven 
 yeas against twenty-six nays, on February 3, 
 1869. The article concerning the franchise, 
 which was finally adopted, was drafted by 
 Governor Hamilton, and reads as follows: 
 
 "Every male citizen of the United States, 
 of the age of twenty-one years and upward, 
 not laboring under the disabilities named in 
 this constitution, without distinction of race, 
 color or former condition, who shall be a res- 
 ident of this State at the time of the adop- 
 tion of this constitution, or who shall there- 
 after reside in this State one year, and in the 
 county in which lie offers to vote sixty days 
 next preceding any election, shall be entitled 
 CO vote fur all officers that are now, or here- 
 after may be, elected by the people, and upon 
 ^ll (juestions submitted to the electors at any 
 .'K'ctiun; provided, that no person shall l)e 
 nlliiwed to vote or hold ottice who is now or 
 liei-eafter may be disqualified therefor by the 
 i'onstitution of the United States, until such 
 Jitqualification shall be removed by the Con- 
 gress of the United States: provided further, 
 that no person, while kept in any asy- 
 lum or confined in prison, or who has been 
 (■(invicted of a felony, or is of unsound mind, 
 ^ilall be allowed to vote or hold office." 
 
 But the very next day after the adoption 
 of the form of constitution to be submitted, 
 
 namely, on February -Ith, twenty-two of the 
 minority members signed a protest, the pres- 
 ident, E. J. Davis, being one of them. In 
 substance the objections they raised were: 
 That it was based on the assumption that the 
 constitution of the United States and the 
 accepted constitution of Texas of 1845 had 
 not been continuously the supreme law of 
 the land; tliat the article on the right of 
 suffrage enfranchised all those who volunta- 
 rily became the public enemy of the United 
 States; that the majority of the convention 
 had deliberately removed from the constitu- 
 tion every safeguard for the protection of the 
 loyal voter, white or black; had stricken from 
 it the whole system of registry; had repudi- 
 ated the oath of loyalty contained in the 
 reconstruction laws; had spurned the test of 
 equal civil and political rights, etc. 
 
 The convention was so disorderly as to not 
 adjourn in a formal and decent manner, and 
 the members left for their homes before the 
 joTinial of the proceedings was made up anil 
 approved. General (^anby reported the trouble 
 to Washington, and on instruction proceeded 
 to gather together the records as well as he 
 could and compile them in an orderly 
 shape. 
 
 The popular vote on the constitution, taken 
 November 30 following, resulted in 72,3GG 
 in favor of it, to 4,U28 against it. At the 
 saine election Edmund J. Davis was chosen 
 governor, and J. W. Flanagan lieutenant 
 governor. Members of the legislature were 
 also appointed, and an order was issued by 
 the military commander, summoning the leg- 
 islature to assemble at Austin February 8, 
 following. 
 
 Governor Pease, finding his position an 
 embarrassing one, the military rule being so 
 awkwardly mixed in with civil affairs, that 
 he resigned September 30, 1869, and ai> in- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 terval of over three inonths occurred, in 
 which the adjutant in cliarge acted a kind of 
 provisional governor, before Davis was in- 
 augurated. 
 
 The legislature, meeting as ordered, 
 promptly ratified the proposed amendments 
 to the United States constitution (enfran- 
 chising negroes, etc.), appointed senators to 
 Congress, and did other necessary business 
 imposed upon it by the reconstruction laws 
 as a provisional body, and adjourned. 
 
 March 30, 1870, the president of the 
 United States, Grant, approved the Con- 
 gressional act readmitting Texas "into the 
 Union." 
 
 The reconstruction period of Texas ex- 
 tended over five years, during which time 
 lawlessness prevailed as it never did before. 
 On this subject General Keynolds, in a letter 
 to the War Department, dated October 21, 
 1869, says: "The number of murders in the 
 State during the nine months from January 
 1, 1869, to September 30, same year, accord- 
 ing to the official records, necessarily imper- 
 fect, is 384, being an average of about one 
 and a half per day! From this statement it 
 appears that with the partial breaking up of 
 bands of desperadoes by military aid the 
 number of murders is diminishing from 
 month to month." 
 
 Although the re-admission of Texas into 
 the Union was technically the end of the 
 " reconstruction period," full re-adjustment 
 was not attained for some years afterward. 
 
 On the recognition of Texas as a State, 
 Governor Davis passed from the relation of 
 provisional to permanent governor, and soon 
 afterward the military gave up its special 
 civil jurisdiction to the new order of tilings. 
 The governor, in his message, called atten- 
 tion to the necessity of providing measures 
 for the suppression of crime, and recom- 
 
 mended the enactment of a law for the effi- 
 cient organization of the militia, and the es- 
 tablishment of a police system, which would 
 embrace the whole State under one head, so 
 that the police, sheriffs and constables of the 
 different cities should be made a part of the 
 general police, act in concert with it and be 
 subject to the orders of the chief. He made 
 mention of a class of criminals which con- 
 sisted of mobs of lawless men, who assem- 
 bled and operated in disguise in carrying out 
 some unlawful purpose, generally directed 
 against the freedmen. The immunity from 
 arrest of such offenders gave reason to sup- 
 pose that they were protected or encouraged 
 by the majority of the people. To repress 
 this evil he suggested that the executive be 
 given power to establislj temporarily, under 
 certain contingencies, martial law. Also he 
 considered that the frequency of homicides 
 was attributable to the habit of carrying 
 arms, and recommended that the legislature 
 restrict that privilege, which it would be able 
 to do under the amended constitution. Fur- 
 thermore, believing that education would 
 limit crime, he recommended improvement 
 in the school system. Many other good 
 things he also recommended. 
 
 The legislature, politically, stood: Senate, 
 17 Eepublicans, two of tliem Africans, 7 
 conservatives and 6 Democrats; house, 50 
 Republicans, 8 being Africans, 19 conserva- 
 tives and 21 Democrats. This body was in 
 accord with the governor. Its session was a 
 long one, not adjourning until August 15, 
 and it passed many acts, in accordance with 
 the recommendations of the governor. The 
 military and the police were authorized to be 
 organized, and the result of the organizations 
 brought many a collision between the whites 
 and the blacks. The latter, sometimes being 
 on the police force and otherwise in command. 
 
100 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 found a bitter time in endeavoring to execute 
 the law over his wliite neighbors. Mistakes 
 were made and vengeance resorted to, and 
 the tire of party passion was raised to a greater 
 height than ever before. In January, 1871, 
 there was a serious affair at lluntsville. A 
 negro, an important witness in a criminal 
 c:ise, was killed, and persons implicated in 
 tlie murder were arrested. Friends aided 
 them to escape, and the captain of the police 
 who held them in charge was wounded in the 
 scrimmage. Martial law was proclaimed by 
 the governor and a military company sent 
 from an adjoining county to enforce the law. 
 Soon all was quiet. Another difficulty oc- 
 curred atGroesbeck, in September, one Apple- 
 white beirig killed in the streets by three 
 colored policemen. A serious disturbance 
 took place, the whites and negroes Ijeing ar- 
 rayed against each other. On October 10 
 Governor Davis, on account of the above fra- 
 cas, proclaimed martial law in Limestone and 
 Freestone counties. The order was revoked 
 November 11, but the people were assessed 
 for a considerable sum to defray expenses. 
 Godley, lloufe and Mitchell were also mur- 
 dered in a similar manner. In Hill county, 
 also, in the fall of 1870, martial law was en- 
 forced for a short time. The particulars in 
 the last mentioned case were these: 
 
 One James Gathings and " Slol " Nichol- 
 son killed a negro man and woman in Bosque 
 county, and fled, it was supposed, to Hill 
 county. Soon afterward, one morning before 
 sunrise. Lieutenant Pritchett and two other 
 officers and four negroes, under the special 
 authority of Governor Davis, went to the re- 
 sidence of Colonel J. J. Gathings in Hill 
 county, and demanded opportunity to search 
 his house for " little Jim " Gathings. The 
 Ciilonel met them at the door and told them 
 he was not there. They insisted, and he 
 
 asked them for their authority, and they said 
 they had it. He demanded that it be shown 
 him. They then replied that they had left it 
 in Waco; and he then told them that they 
 could not search his house except by force of 
 arms. Two of tlie men then drew out their 
 pistols and said that they intended to do that 
 very thing. Next, Pritchett told the negroes 
 to go in and search. Gathings then seized 
 a shotgun and declared that he would shoot 
 the first negro that came in: a while man 
 could go in, said he, but no " niirger;" and 
 he cursed them in the severest terms iinairin- 
 able. The search was made, but no boy 
 found. 
 
 The officers and negroes then started toward 
 Covington, a village near by. Gaihings had 
 them arrested before night, for searching his 
 house without legal authority. They gave 
 bonds for their appearance at court, but sent 
 word that they were going to mob Gathings, 
 and the citizens stood guard at his house for 
 eight nights. The mob, however, did not 
 appear; nor did they appear at court, although 
 Gathings and his friends were on hand. 
 
 In the meantime Governor Davis issued 
 writs for the arrest of Gathings and his 
 friends, to be served by Sheriff Grace; but 
 when the matter came up again the author- 
 ities said they wanted only an amicable ad- 
 justment, and proposed to release Gathings 
 and his friends if he would pay the cost of 
 the proceedings thus far, which amounted to 
 nearly $3,000, and which was readily fur- 
 nished. Afterward when liichard Coke was 
 governor the State reimbursed Gathings. 
 
 During Davis' administration as governor, 
 the State treasurer, Davidson, embezzled 
 $.50,000 or over and ran away, and was never 
 cauo-ht, although Davis seemed to make all 
 possible effort to capture him. The bouds- 
 men were sued. 
 
HISTORY OF TEX.' 
 
 In November, as shown by tlie gonoral 
 election, the Democrats came ont in full force 
 and elected a full set of State otiicers, a ma- 
 jority of the State legislature, and the full 
 Congressional delegation. At the same elec- 
 tion Austin was chosen as the permanent seat 
 of the State government, by a lari^e major- 
 ity. The new legislature met January 1-i, 
 1873, and the Democrats at one proceeded to 
 repeal all obnoxious laws; the militia bill 
 passed by the preceding legislature was so 
 modiiied as to dejirive the governor of the 
 power to declare martial law; the objectional)le 
 State police force was disbanded, and material 
 changes were effected in the election laws. 
 
 Now for a coup d'etat. The Democrats, 
 after reforming the law, determined next to 
 reform the perso?inel of the government, and 
 this had to be done by stratagem. The gov- 
 ernor was a stanch Eepublican, and the senate 
 still contained a Republican majority. Seeing 
 that a scheme of obstruction would imme- 
 diately stop the wheels of the government, 
 the Democrats voted no appropriations with 
 which to carry on the government until they 
 could have a new election. So, being confi- 
 dent that at the polls they would be sus- 
 tained, they boldly ordered a new election of 
 State officers, members of the legislature, etc. 
 Their party, of course, was triumphant, but, 
 the election being unconstitutional, as de- 
 cided by the supreme court, Davis officially 
 announced the fact, and prohibited the new 
 legislature from assembling. The new legis- 
 lature met, however, in the upper story of 
 the capitol, while the old Republican body 
 met in the lower story, guarded by negroes. 
 The immediate outlook appeared frightful. 
 President Grant was appealed to, but refused 
 to sustain Davis, and this was the cause of the 
 moderation, which finally resulted favorably. 
 Richard Coke was elected governor, and 
 
 Richard B. Hubbard lieutenant governor, 
 they being clecte:l by a majority of 50.000. 
 On the lyth of January, Governor Davis 
 vacated tlie executive chair withont a foru)al 
 surrender. This was an exceedingly narrow 
 escape from bloodshed. In a public speech, 
 in 18S0, Davis referred to this affair, and 
 said the Desnocrats seized the State govern- 
 ment; but Governor Coke, in his message, 
 referred to the matter in the following terms: 
 " Forebodings of danger to popular liberty 
 and representative government caused the 
 stoutest and most patriotic among us to 
 tremble for the result. A conspiracy, bolder 
 and more wicked than that of Cataline against 
 the liberties of Rome, had planned to over- 
 throw of free government in Texas. The 
 capitol and its purlieus were lield by armed 
 men under command of the conspirators, and 
 the treasury and department offices, with all 
 the archives of the government, were in their 
 possession. Your right to assemble in the 
 capitol as chosen representatives of the people 
 was denied, and the will of the people of 
 Texas was scoffed at and defied * * * 
 The president of the United States was beino- 
 implored to send troops to aid in overthrow- 
 ing the government of Texas, chosen by her 
 people by a majority of 50,000. The local 
 and municipal officers throughout the State, 
 in sympathy with the infamous designs of 
 these desperate and unscrupulous revolution- 
 ists, taking courage from the boldness of the 
 leaders at the capital, were refusing to deliver 
 over to their lawfully elected successors the 
 offices in their possession. A universal con- 
 flict of jurisdiction and authority, extending 
 through all the departments of the govern- 
 ment, embracing in its sweep all the territory 
 and inhabitants of the State, and every ques- 
 tion upon which legitimate government is 
 called to act, was imminent and impending." 
 
HISTORY OF T£!XAiS. 
 
 NEW CON:vnTUTIONS AND TIIK ADMINISTRATIONS. 
 
 Now, in January, 1875, all the most irri- 
 tatinif partisan questions being out of the way 
 and the minds of tlie people in comparative 
 rest, Governor Coke reconiniended the adop- 
 tion of a new State constitution, as many 
 clauses in the one then existing were cum- 
 bersome or obstructive, and becoming more 
 so with the advance of events. In his mes- 
 sacfe to the legislature meeting that winter, 
 which was a long document of ninety-two 
 octavo pages, he recounts in detail all the 
 small necessities and desireil improvements 
 in tlie government, as well as the large ones, 
 discussing them at length. Among many 
 other statements was one to the effect that 
 Mexican marauders were doing more mischief 
 on this side of the Kio Grande than they had 
 done before for a number of years. Federal 
 aid was asked for protection against them. 
 
 l'>3' an act of August 13, 1870, veterans of 
 the revolution which separated Texas from 
 Mexico, including the Mier prisoners, were 
 ho receive pensions. Comptroller Bledsoe, 
 liy mistake, extended the provisions of tliis 
 law to persons not properly entitled to the 
 benefit of it. At any rate this was the rea- 
 son given by Governor Davis on the occasion 
 of his vetoing two items of appropriation to 
 |>iiy claims of veterans. By this act the gov- 
 enioi- exposed himself to the attack of his 
 Uemocratic enemies, who charged him with 
 entertaining hostile feelings toward the vet- 
 erans. \jy a subsequent act of the legisla- 
 ture, however, the list of pensioners was 
 ncrcased, and by the end of the year the gov- 
 ernor became alarmed at the rapidly increas- 
 ing number of claims. lie said that Darden 
 and Cuke, in the course of a year or so, issued 
 $1,115,000 worth of bonds in pension. About 
 
 1,100 persons came up as " veterans " in 
 struggles between Texas and Mexico. Tlie 
 law was soon repealed. 
 
 In March, 1875, another constitutional 
 convention was provided for. August 2d the 
 people cast 69,583 votes for the convention, 
 electing delegates, and 30,549 against it. 
 The convention assembled at Austin, Sep- 
 tember 6, following, and completed its labors 
 November 24. The new constitution was 
 ratified by the popular vote February 17, 
 1876, when 136,606 votes were cast in its 
 favor and 56,652 against it. On the same 
 day a general election was held, when tlie 
 regular Democratic State ticket prevailed. 
 Coke was re-elected governor, by a majority 
 of over 102,000 votes, over William Cham- 
 bers, who received 47,719 votes. 
 
 In this new constitution the following are 
 some of the more noticeable features: In the 
 bill of rights the provisions of the constitu- 
 tion of 1809, which declared secession a her- 
 esy, and the constitution and laws of the 
 United States the supreme law of the land, 
 are omitted. Provision was made to increase 
 the number of members of the house of rep- 
 resentatives to 150, at the rate of one addi- 
 tional member for each 15,000 inhabitants at 
 each fresh apportionment. The number of 
 senators was permanently fixed at thirty-one. 
 The legislature was to meet every two years, 
 the governor's term of ofiice reduced to two 
 years, and his salary from $5,000 to $4,000. 
 The article of the old constitution respecting 
 suffrage was so changed as to make no refer- 
 ence to "race, color or former condition." 
 Foreign immigration was discountenanced. 
 
 As soon as the legislature met, the gover- 
 nor pointed out defects in the constitution, 
 recommending amendments, especially with 
 reference to the judicial system. The gov- 
 ernor also stated, in his message to the legis- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 latiire, that while Indian tronbles were less, 
 the Mexican border troubles continued nn- 
 abated. 
 
 On May 5, this year, Governor Coke was 
 elected United States Senator, but continued 
 to exercise the functions of executive until 
 December 1, when he resigned, and Lieuten- 
 ant Governor Hubbard succeeded to the of- 
 fice. 
 
 During Governor Hubbard's administra- 
 tion a serious trouble arose between Texan 
 and Mexican citizens in El Paso county, 
 which resulted in some bloodshed among the 
 bad characters, and probably even among 
 some of the good people. It originated in a 
 personal quarrel between Charles H. Howard 
 and Louis Cardis, concerning some salt de- 
 posits. The United States military was 
 called into requisition before the fracas was 
 finally quelled. 
 
 Oran M. Koberts was governor of Texas 
 during the years 1879-'80, during which 
 period nothing very exciting occurred. 
 
 By this time it seems that the famous old 
 Indian question was about out of the way. 
 The reds were nearly all gone. The Co- 
 manches and Kickapoos had proved to be the 
 most troublesome, the former claiming the 
 country as their own, while the latter pro- 
 claimed that they were at war only with 
 Texas, and not with the United States. In 
 1870 there were only 500 Tonkawas and 
 Lipans, and a few years later Texas was re- 
 lieved from the hostile incursions of the 
 Kickapoos, who were removed to a reserva- 
 tion in the Indian Territory, and since that 
 time all hostile Indians have been subdued. 
 By 1882 the remnant of harmless natives 
 within the borders of the State have been re- 
 duced to 108 souls, and these were located 
 in the vicinity of Fort Griffin, in Shackelford 
 county. They had no reservation, and were 
 
 dependent to a great extent upon the whims 
 of their white neighbors. They had no live 
 stock, and lived in brush houses and tepees. 
 They had all been friendly to the whites and 
 were well contented. An insufficient appro- 
 priation for their support was annually made 
 by the Government, and the citizens of Texas 
 assisted them from time to time. 
 
 A little further on will be given a list of 
 all the governors of Texas to date. As this 
 work goes to press J. S. Hogg is re-elected 
 governor, after an exciting contest occasioned 
 by his antagonism to certain classes of mo- 
 nopolistic corporations, etc. 
 
 GREER COUNTV. 
 
 « Under the terms of the annexation treaty 
 of 1845 Texas retained possession of all 
 vacant and unappropriated lands within her 
 boundaries; but from that time to the pres- 
 ent the boundary has not been definitely set- 
 tled. A dispute has occurred, arising out of 
 the old treaty with Spain of February 22, 
 1819, in which the Eed river is made the 
 boundary between the 94th and 100th degree 
 west longitude from Greenwich. At the date 
 when this treaty was made but little infor- 
 mation had been obtained respecting the 
 region extending along the upper portion of 
 Red river, nor was it known that the river 
 was divided into two branches — now called 
 the north and west forks — between the 99tii 
 and 100th meridians. As late as 1848 all 
 maps described Red river as a continuous 
 stream, the north fork not being laid down 
 upon them. By an exploration, however, 
 made in 1852, by Captains Marcy and Mc- 
 Clellan, under the direction of the War De- 
 partment, it was discovered that there were 
 two main branches to the river proper; but, 
 probably owing to the inaccuracy of tiieir 
 
UIHTOBY OF TEXAS. 
 
 instruments, the explorers located the 100th 
 meridian below the junction. In 1857 the 
 Commissioner of Indian Affairs, who wished 
 to know the boundary between the Choctaw 
 and Chickasaw countries, caused an astro- 
 nomical survey to be made for the purpose 
 of ascertainin<r the true meridian, which was 
 found to 1)6 eighty miles west of the junction 
 of the two forks, the surveyors designating 
 the soutii fork — " Prairie Dog Fork " — as 
 tiie main branch. 
 
 "Texas at once questioned this designa- 
 tion, and Congress passed an act, approved 
 June 5, 1858, autiiorizin<!f the president, in 
 conjunction with the State of Te.xas, to mark 
 out the boundary line. Commissioners on 
 both sides were appointed, who proceeded to 
 do their work in 1800. No agreement, how- 
 ever, could be arrived at, and Texas, adopt- 
 ing the report of her commissioner, estab- 
 lished the Territory in dispute— about 2,000 
 square miles in area — as a county under the 
 name of Greer. In an act of Congress of 
 February 24, 1879, to create the Northern 
 Judicial District of Texas, etc., Greer county 
 i.s included in the district. 
 
 "In 1882 a bill was before Congress seek- 
 ing to establish the north fork as the true 
 boundary, but hitherto no settlement of the 
 question has been attained. Meantime com- 
 l-lications have arisen, through persons claim- 
 ing to exercise rights on the disputed land 
 under the jurisdiction of Texas, conflicts 
 1 ave taken place and blood has been shed, 
 owing to procrastination in the adjustment 
 of the disputed claim."—//. //. Bancroft, 
 Uhlonj of the Pacific States. 
 
 GENERAL EKFLECTFONS. 
 
 In tiie language of Mr. IJ. H. liancroft: 
 " No State in the Lfnion has passed through 
 more political vicissitudes than Texas. Dur- 
 
 ing the present century her people have 
 fought and IJed under no le.ss than five dif- 
 ferent national flags, representing as many 
 different governments. First we find her 
 with a sparse population, among which might 
 be found some few individuals of the Anglo- 
 American race, under the royal standard of 
 Spain, ruled by monarchial laws; next, the 
 eagle of the Mexican republic dictates the 
 form of governtnent and exasperates by op- 
 pression the free-spirited settlers from the 
 United States; then follow revolt and a short 
 but sanguinary struggle for independence, 
 terminating in the establishment of the 
 Texan republic, with its emblematic lone- 
 star flag. After a brief existence, however, 
 as a sovereign nation, Texas was content to 
 repose beneath the standard of the stars and 
 stripes, which in turn she threw aside to 
 fight under the Confederate banner. The 
 land which was once the abode of savages 
 has been converted into a civilized country, 
 which will prove a center of human develop- 
 ment. 
 
 " Short as has been her life, the common- 
 wealth of Texas has had a varied experience, 
 — first as the borderland of contending col- 
 onies, then a lone republic, as a member of 
 the great federation, member of the Southern 
 Confederacy, and flnaily reinstated as one of 
 the still unbroken [Jnion. The annals of her 
 past career, as we have seen, are replete with 
 stories of romantic events, and persevering 
 struggles to shake off the leaden weight of 
 impeding influences and elevate herself to 
 the proud level of advancing civilization. 
 Iler future is bright; she has entered the 
 broad highway of universal progress, and 
 henceforth her march will be one of unprcc- 
 cdenti'd prosperity. A marvelous rapidity 
 has already marked her onward course to 
 wealth and happiness. Trobably there uever 
 
HI STOUT OF TEX^IS. 
 
 was a country wliicli entered upon the long 
 and brilliant career of progress that we may 
 look forward to in this instance, under more 
 favorable auspices than this State. Although 
 older than any of the more northern Pacific 
 States, it has developed more slowly, and has 
 avoided many of their mistakes. The great 
 curse of California is not here entailed. The 
 people are still freemen, and the law-makers 
 and the public officials are their servants. 
 There is little or no public debt; their pub- 
 lic lands are their own, and they have not all 
 fallen into the hands of sharpers and specu- 
 tors; they rule the railroad companies in- 
 stead of being ruled by them; unjust and 
 oppressive monopolies are not permitted. 
 Here are the seeds of life instead of the ele- 
 ments of disease and death. "With her vast 
 area of tillable and grazing lands, a people 
 rapidly increasing in numbers, wealth and 
 refinement; with young and healthy institu- 
 tions resting on honest republican founda- 
 tions; with a determination on the part of 
 tiie people to admit within their borders no 
 species of despotism, no form of tyranny, 
 there is no height of grandeur to which this 
 commonwealth may not reasonably aspire. 
 
 " Indian depredations on the frontier have 
 ceased, and cattle-raiding on the Hio Grande 
 borderland will soon be a trouble of the past; 
 lawlessness and crime are yielding to fearless 
 administration of justice and application of 
 the laws, and order is sweeping from her 
 path the refuse that for decades obstructed 
 tiie progress of large portions of the State. 
 The advancing strides made by Texas since 
 the civil war toward the goal where lofty 
 aspirations will win the prize of unalloyed 
 prosperity, are strikingly exhibited by offi- 
 cial statistics on population, agriculture, 
 commerce, industries and developing enter- 
 prises." 
 
 Indeed, many men who have no pecuniary 
 interests in Texas have been heard to say 
 that that State is destined to be the greatest 
 in the Union. 
 
 In their social character the people of 
 Texas are still hospitable, with better oppor- 
 tunities than ever to exhibit that pleasurable 
 trait. General intelligence, and its concom- 
 itant, the establishment of educational insti- 
 tutions, also characterize the sons of the 
 South who emigrated to that great, free 
 State in the first place for greater opportu- 
 nity for education, hospitality and comfort- 
 able homes in a comfortable climate. 
 
 CHIEF EXEOOTIVES OF TEXAS FROM 1691 TO 
 1891—200 YEARS. 
 
 SPANISH— 1691 TO 1822—131 teaes. 
 
 Domingo Teran. 
 
 Don Gaspardo de Anaya. 
 
 Don Martin de Alarconne. 
 
 Marquis de Aguayo. 
 
 Fernando de Almazan. 
 
 Melchoir de Madiavilia. 
 
 Juan Antonia Bustillos. 
 
 Manuel de Sandoval. 
 
 Carlos de Franquis. 
 
 Prudencia Basterra. 
 
 Justo Boneo. 
 
 Jacinto de Barrios. 
 
 Antonio de Martos. 
 
 Juan Maria, Baron de Riperda. 
 
 Domingo Cabello. 
 
 Rafael Pacheco. 
 
 Manuel Mniioz. 
 
 Juan Bautista el GuazabeL 
 
 Antonio Cordero. 
 
 Manuel de Salcedo. 
 
 Christoval Dominguez. 
 
 Antonio Martinez. 
 
U I STOUT OF TEXAS. 
 
 MEXICAN — 1822 TO 1835 — 13 years. 
 
 Trespalacios 1822 
 
 Don Luciana le Garcia 1823 
 
 Rafael Gonzales (Coahuila and Texas) . . 1825 
 
 Victor Blanco 182G 
 
 Jose Maria Viesca 1828 
 
 Jose Maria Letona 1831 
 
 Francisco Vidauri 1834 
 
 TEXAN 1835 TO 1846 11 TEARS. 
 
 Henry Smith, Provisional Governor . 1835-'36 
 David G. Burnett, President ad interhn . 1836 
 Sam Honston, Constitutional President. 1836 
 
 Mirabeau B. Lamar, Presideut 1838 
 
 Sam Houston, President 1841 
 
 Anson Jones, President 1844 
 
 STATE GOVERNMENT SINCE ANNEXATION 1846 
 
 TO 1893—47 TEAKS. 
 
 J. Pinckney Henderson 1846 
 
 George T. Wood 1847 
 
 P. H. Bell 1849-'51 
 
 P. n. Bell 1851-'53 
 
 E. M. Pease 1853-'55 
 
 E. M. Pease 1855-'57 
 
 H. R. Runnels 1857-'59 
 
 Sam Houston 1859-'61 
 
 Edward Clark 1861 
 
 F. R. Lubbock 1861-'63 
 
 Pendleton Murrah 1863-'65 
 
 A. J. Hamilton (provisional) 1865-'66 
 
 James "W. Throckmorton 1866-'67 
 
 E. M. Pease (provisional) 1867-'70 
 
 E. J. Davis 1870-'74 
 
 Richard Coke 1874-'76 
 
 R. B. Hubbard 1876-'79 
 
 O. M. Roberts 1879-'83 
 
 John Ireland 1883-87 
 
 L. S. Ross 1887-91 
 
 J. S. Hogg 1891-'93 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 
 
 Some of the more prominent characters in 
 the early history of Texas are further sketched 
 in the following list: 
 
 Ellis P. Bean, the successor of Philip No- 
 lan, in the command of his company, was a 
 marked character. In 1800, when he was but 
 eighteen years of age and possessing a spirit 
 of adventure, he left his father's home at 
 Bean's Station, Tennessee, went to Natchez 
 and enlisted in Nolan's trading company, 
 then consisting of twenty-two men. Reach- 
 ing Texas, and while at a point between tiie 
 Trinity and Brazos rivers, they were attacked 
 and beaten by a body of Spanish troops. 
 Bean, with eight others, was taken as a pris- 
 oner to San Antonio, and thence to Chihua- 
 hua, being kept at the latter place three years, 
 when they began to be allowed some liberty and 
 to labor for themselves. Bean had learned 
 the hatting business, and he followed it for a 
 year in Chihuahua, when his longing to see 
 his native land induced him, \<Tth two com- 
 rades, to run away and endeavor to reach the 
 United States. The three were arrested near 
 El Paso, severely lashed, and again ironed 
 and imprisoned. 
 
 Bean's many friends in Chihuahua soon 
 obtained for him again the freedom of 
 the city, and he made a second effort 
 to escape, but was again taken. He was 
 this time sent under a strong guard tt> 
 the south of the city of Mexico. On their 
 way they came to the city of Guanajuato, 
 where they remained several days; and while 
 there, Bean's noble and manly bearing won 
 the heart of a beautiful Mexican sefiorita of 
 rank, who wrote a letter to him avowing her 
 passion, and promising her influence to ob- 
 tain his liberation, when she would marry 
 him; but he was hurried away and never per- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 mitted again to see her. Poor Bean was next 
 conveyed to Acapulco, one of the most sickly- 
 places on the Pacific, and thrown into a filthy 
 dungeon, where no ray of the light of heaveu 
 penetrated, and the only air admitted was 
 through an aperture in the base of the mas- 
 sive wall, which was six feet thick I In this 
 foul abode his body was covered with vermin ; 
 no one was allowed to see him, and his food 
 was of the coarsest and most unhealthy kind. 
 In his confinement his only companion was a 
 white lizard, which he succeeded in taming, 
 and which became very fond of him. The 
 only air hole had to be closed at night, to 
 prevent ingress of serpents. One night, having 
 neglected to close it, he was awakened by 
 the crawling of a monstrous serpent over his 
 body. His presence of mind enabled him to 
 lie perfectly still, until, getting hold of a 
 pocket-knife which he had been able to keep 
 concealed upon his person, he pierced the 
 monster in the head and escaped his fangs. 
 This exploit so astonished the keeper of the 
 prison that by his influence a petition was 
 sent to the governor for a mitigation of his 
 confinement; and that dignitary graciously 
 decreed that he might work in chains, and 
 under a guard of soldiers. Even this was a 
 relief. 
 
 While thus engaged his desire for freedom 
 again overcame his prudence. He succeeded 
 in freeing himself from his shackles, and with 
 a piece of iron killed three of the guard and 
 fled to the mountains. Again he was hunted 
 down and recaptured, nearly starved. His 
 cell now became his only abode, and flogging 
 and other indignities were heaped upon him. 
 Another year passed and be was again al- 
 lowed the liberty of the prison yard, under 
 strict surveillance. 
 
 Once more he made a desperate attempt to 
 escape, killing several soldiers and taking the 
 
 road to California. This time he had traveled 
 300 miles, when he was once more recaptured 
 and carried back. He was now confined upon 
 his back, and for weeks was almost devoured 
 by vermin! His appeals for mercy were 
 treated with mockery. But his freedom drew 
 nigh. The Mexican revolution of 1810 broke 
 out. The royalists became alarmed. They 
 had learned to look upon Bean as a chained 
 lion, and now, in the hour of their trouble, 
 they offered him liberty if he would join their 
 standard. He promised, secretly determin- 
 ing that he would desert the first opportunity. 
 In a few days he was sent out with a scout 
 to reconnoitre the position of General More- 
 los, the chief of the republicans. When near 
 the camp of that officer. Bean proposed to his 
 comrades that they should all join the pa- 
 triots. His persuavive eloquence was so 
 successful that they all agreed, and at once 
 reported to Morelos. 
 
 Upon the information Bean was able to 
 give, an attack was planned and executed 
 against the royalists, resulting in a complete 
 victory. For this Bean received a captain's 
 commission, and his fame spread like a prairie 
 fire throughout Mexico. For three years he 
 was the chief reliance of Morelos, and when 
 he fought victory followed. He was soon 
 conducted, with flying banners, into the town 
 of Acapulco, the scene of his sufferings. 
 The wretches who had persecuted him now 
 on bended knees begged for mercy, expecting 
 nothing but instant death. But Bean scorned 
 to avenge his wrongs upon them, and dis- 
 missed them with warnings as to their future 
 conduct. 
 
 Three years later it was agreed that he 
 should go to New Orleans and obtain aid for 
 the republicans of Mexico. With two com- 
 panions, he made his way across the country. 
 On the route, while stopping a few days at 
 
niSTOBT OF TEXAS. 
 
 Jalapa, Mexico, be hecanie s\i<Menly and vio- 
 lently enamored of a beautiful lady and mar- 
 ried her, promising that he would return to 
 her after accomplishing his mission. After 
 various adventures he reached New Orleans, 
 two days before the memorable battle of Jan- 
 uary 8, 1815. He at once volunteered as aid 
 to General Jackson, whom he had known 
 when a boy, and he fought bravely in that 
 decisive action. 
 
 He afterward returned to Mexico and joined 
 iiis wife, with whom he lived happily many 
 years. In 1827, when the Fredonia war 
 broke out at Nacogdoches, Texas, he was 
 colonel commanding the Mexican garrison at 
 that place. In 1835 he returned to Jalapa, 
 Mexico. In 1843 he was still living in Mex- 
 ico, as an officer on the retired list of the 
 army of that nation. A volume containing 
 an account of his almost fabulous adventures 
 was written by himself in 1817, and pub- 
 lished soon afterward. 
 
 Stephen Fuller Austin, who carried out 
 the scheme of his father, Moses Austin, in 
 the founding of what was known as tlie Aus- 
 tin colony, was born November 3, 1793, at 
 Austinville, Wythe county, Virginia, while 
 his father was interested in lead mines there. 
 In 1804 he was sent to Colchester Academy, 
 in Connecticut, and a year afterward to an 
 academy at New London, same State. At 
 the age of fifteen he became a student at 
 Transylvania University, in Kentucky, where 
 he completed his education. When twenty 
 years of age he was elected a member of the 
 Territorial Legislature of Missouri, and was 
 regularly re-elected until 1819, in which year 
 he went to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he 
 was made Circuit Judge of that Territory. 
 From there he removed to New Orleans, in 
 order to co-operate with his father in the 
 projected colonization scheme. On the death 
 
 of his fatlier he determined to carry out the 
 enterprise himself, in deference to the wishes 
 of his deceased parent. 
 
 Stephen F. Austin was well adapted as a 
 leader of settlers in an unknown country. In 
 his childhood he had been inured to a front- 
 ier life, and his broad intellectual capacity 
 enabled him to utilize many lessons to be 
 learned from the wild West. This, together 
 with his legislative experience in Missouri, 
 and experience as an executive of Territorial 
 laws, enabled him to be a good ruler, diplo- 
 matist or commissioner. But as a military 
 commander he had no ambition. As to his 
 temper, he himself published that he was 
 hasty and impetuous, and that he had forced 
 upon himself a stringent discipline to pre- 
 vent a fit of passion that might destroy his 
 influence. In his disposition he was open- 
 hearted, unsuspecting and accommodating 
 almost to a fault. He was therefore often 
 imposed upon, especially in the minor de- 
 mands of benevolence and justice in social 
 life. lie excelled in a sense of equity, con- 
 stancy, perseverance, fortitude, sagacity, pru- 
 dence, patience under persecution, benevo- 
 lence, forgi%'eness, etc. 
 
 He was never married. During the first 
 years of his residence in Texas, his home 
 was at the house of S. Castleman, on the 
 Colorado. Later, when his brother-in-law, 
 James F. Perry, removed to the colony, be 
 lived, when in Texas, with his sister at Peach 
 Point plantation, in Brazoria county. Besides 
 this sister he had a younger brother, named 
 James Brown Austin, who was well known 
 in Texas. 
 
 Colonel David Crockett, one of the most 
 orio-inal, typical Western characters that ever 
 lived, and the bravest hero of the Alamo, 
 was born in east Tennessee, on the Nola 
 Chucky river, at the mouth of Limestone 
 
UI8T0RT OF TEXAS. 
 
 creek, August 17, 1786, the son of John 
 Crockett, of Irish descent, wlio participated 
 in the American revolution for independence. 
 David's grandparents were murdered by In- 
 dians, one uncle wounded by them, and 
 another captured. When about twelve years 
 of age his father hired him out to a kind- 
 hearted Dutchman in Virginia, several hun- 
 dred miles distant, but ho soon became home- 
 sick, ran away, and, availing himself of the 
 services of a man he knew, and who was 
 passing through tiiat section of the country 
 with a wagon, started home with him, but 
 the wagon proved to be too slow in its progress 
 for his eagerness to reach home, and he left 
 it and hastened along on foot. 
 
 But he was not home very long until he 
 ran away from that, and after a time went to 
 Baltimore to embark in a seafaring life, but 
 the man who conveyed him to Baltimore in 
 his wagon, concluding that the boy was too 
 hasty, prevented him, by liolding his cloth- 
 ing and money, about $7; and the wagoner 
 started back with him in a homeward direc- 
 tion, and young Crockett had to complete 
 his journey home for the want of funds to 
 go elsewhere. He remained with his father 
 for some years, working on the farm and 
 hunting, for he finally became as great a 
 hunter as Daniel Boone himself. During 
 this period, when about seventeen years of 
 age, he " fell in love " with a young Quaker- 
 ess and proposed marriage, but was refused, 
 which event preyed upon his spirits. When 
 about eighteen he was "smitten" by another 
 girl, who at first agreed to marry him, and 
 then jilted him; and this was worse than 
 ever; he felt like committing suicide. 
 Within a year or so, however, after this, he 
 found still another young lady who agreed 
 to marry him, and "stuck" to her bargain. 
 Up to the time of his second proposal of 
 
 marriage he had had but four days' school- 
 ing, and he sometimes thought that it was 
 his lack of education that caused the girls to 
 despise liim, and he managed to get a few 
 months' schooling, and that was all he ever 
 obtained in his life. After marriage he 
 moved to Lincoln county, and then to Frank- 
 lin county, Tennessee. 
 
 The Creek war coming on, in 1813, Mr. 
 Crockett enlisted in Captain Jones' company 
 of mounted volunteers, and was engaged as a 
 scout. Afterward, while a member of the 
 main army, he participated in several engage- 
 ments, and subsequently, under General Jack- 
 son in the Florida campaign, he was commis- 
 sioned colonel. 
 
 About the close of the Florida war his wife 
 died ; but he soon married a soldier's widow 
 and emigrated to Shoal creek, where he had 
 an amusing time endeavoring to serve as a 
 justice of the peace. He was subsequently 
 elected a member of the State legislature, 
 despite his backwoods character, as he was a 
 witty humorist. He made the campaign a 
 characteristic one as a humorous, typically 
 Western-pioneer electioneeringcanvass, which 
 suited the tastes of the people of the time and 
 place. 
 
 His next removal was to Obion, Tennessee, 
 to a point seven miles distant from the near 
 est house, fifteen from the next, twenty from 
 the next, and so on; but, heing a passionate 
 hunter, and living in a forest noisy with 
 abundant game, he found it easy, the heiglit 
 of his life's pleasure, to keep his family sup- 
 plied with fresh meat of the highest order, 
 besides obtaining many luxuries from a dis- 
 tant market in exchange for peltry. lie, 
 killed many a bear, one specimen weighing 
 600 pounds, and of course he had many hair- 
 raising adventures and hairbreadth escapes 
 with his life. 
 
HI STOUT OF TEXAS. 
 
 Being again elected to the State legislature, 
 as a Wliig, he voted against General Jackson 
 for United States senator, becoming a candi- 
 date for the office himself. After the ad- 
 journment of this legislature he engaged in 
 lumber speculation. Making a trip down the 
 Mississippi with a splendid cargo of lumber, 
 he was wrecked and lost all. In 1827 he was 
 elected to Congress, and in 1829 reelected; 
 l)ut, running the third time, he was defeated, 
 liis district having been gerrymandered to 
 keep him out; and the foiirth time a candi- 
 date, he was again triumphant, but the fifth 
 time he was beaten. 
 
 The last disapointment disgusted him, es- 
 pecially after he had so great an ovation in 
 northern cities, wliere everybody was running 
 after him, more for his humor than learned 
 statesmanship. This disgust with his fellow- 
 citizens in Tennessee was the spur that incited 
 him to think of a distant pioneer tield, and 
 he decided upon Texas, then a part of Mexico, 
 struggling for independence. At Little Rock, 
 Arkansas, on his way, he endeavored to enlist 
 a number of assistants, but failed to obtain 
 any volunteers. On arriving in Texas, how- 
 ever, he succeeded in picking up four or five 
 attaches, and soon had a scrimmage with some 
 fifteen Mexicans, and of course whipped them 
 out completely. Giving the fugitives chase 
 they soon arrived at the fortress Alamo, com- 
 manded by Colonel William B. Travis. This 
 rt as situated at the town of Bejar (now San 
 Antonio), on the San Antonio river, about 140 
 miles from its mouth. At that time it had 
 about 1,200 inhabitants, nearly all native 
 Mexicans, but was afterward greatly reduced 
 by Indian depredations. It was started by 
 the Spaniards establishing a military post at 
 that point in 1718, the village actually start- 
 ing three years later, by emigrants sent out 
 from the Canary islands by the king of Spain. 
 
 Colonel " Davy " Crockett kept notes, as a 
 fouiidation for an autobiography, and they 
 end with his death in the Alamo fortress, 
 March 5, 1836. 
 
 General Castrillon, commanding under 
 Santa Anna, as a besieger of the fort, was a 
 brave man, but not cruel toward prisoners. 
 Crockett's life had just been spared from the 
 first massacre, with live others; and Castrillon 
 marched these fated six patriots up to that 
 part of the fort where stood Santa Anna and 
 his murderous crew. The steady, fearless 
 step and undaunted tread of Colonel Crockett 
 on this occasion, together with the bold de- 
 meanor of the hardy veteran, had a powerful 
 effect upon all present. Nothing daunted, 
 he marched up boldly in front of Santa An- 
 na and looked him sternly in the face, while 
 Castrillon addressed "his excellency," "Sir, 
 here are six prisoners I have taken alive: how 
 shall I dispose of them?" Santa Anna looked 
 at Castrillon fiercely, flew into a violent rage 
 and replied, " Have I not told you before how 
 to dispose of themi Why do you bring them 
 to me?" At the same time his hard-hearted 
 officers plunged their swords into the bosoms 
 of the defenceless prisoners ! Crockett, seeing 
 the act of treachery, instantly sprang like a 
 tiger at the ruffian chief, but before he could 
 reach him a dozen swords were sheathed in his 
 indomitable heart, and he fell and died with- 
 out a groan, with a frown on his brow and a 
 smile of scorn and defiance on his lips! 
 
 General Sam Houston, the father of 
 Texas, was born in Rockbridge county, Vir- 
 ginia, March 2, 1793. Left an orphan in 
 early life by the death of his father, he went 
 with his mother, in destitute circumstances, 
 to Tennessee, then the verge of civilization. 
 There he received a scanty education, spend- 
 ing most of his youthful years among the 
 Cherokee Indians. During a portion of this 
 
HISTOBT OF TEXAS. 
 
 period he served as clerk for one of the trad- 
 ers, and also taught a country school. 
 
 In 1813 he enlisted as a private in the 
 United States Army, and served under Gen- 
 eral Jackson in his famous campaij^n against 
 the Creek Indians. He had so distinguished 
 himself on several occasions that at the con- 
 clusion of the war he had risen to the rank of 
 lieutenant, but on the return of peace he re- 
 signed his commission in the army and be- 
 gan the study of law at Nashville. His po- 
 litical career now commenced. After hold- 
 ing several minor offices he was sent to Con- 
 gress from Tennessee in 1823, and continued 
 a member of the House until 1827, when 
 he was elected governor of the State, but 
 before the expiration of his term he resigned 
 that office, in 1829, and went to Arkansas 
 and took up his abode among the Cherokees. 
 Soon he became tlie agent of the tribe, to 
 represent their interests at Washington. 
 
 On a first visit to Texas, just before the 
 election of delegates called here to form a 
 constitution preparatory to the admission 
 of Texas into the Mexican Union, he was 
 unanimously chosen a delegate to that body. 
 The constitution framed by that convention 
 was rejected by the Mexican government. 
 Santa Anna, president of the Mexican Con- 
 federated Republic, demanded of Texas a 
 surrender of their arms. Resistance to this 
 demand was determined upon. A military 
 force was organized, and Houston, under the 
 title of general, was soon appointed com- 
 mander-in-chief. He conducted the war 
 with great vigor, and brought it to a suc- 
 cessful termination by the battle of San Ja- 
 cinto. His enemies had accused him of 
 cowardice, because he had the firmness not 
 to yield to hot-headed individuals, who would 
 liave driven him, if they could, to engage 
 Santa Anna prematurely, and thereby have 
 
 placed in jeopardy the independence of Texas, 
 and because he scorned to resent with brute 
 force the abuse that was heaped upon him 
 by political and personal enemies seeking 
 his blood. 
 
 In October, 1836, our hero was inaugu- 
 rated the first president of the new Repub- 
 lic of Texas, and afterward served as the 
 chief executive in this realm twice, besides 
 acting in many other capacities. On the 
 breaking out of the great Civil war he was a 
 strong Union man, but the excited Texans 
 had nearly all espoused disunion principles, 
 and Houston was forced to retire from public 
 life. He died July 25, 1863, at Huntsville, 
 Walker county, Texas, after having witnessed 
 for some years, with a broken spirit, the wild 
 rush of the South for a goal that she could 
 not obtain, and suffering in his own person 
 physical ailments and general declining 
 health. His last days were embittered by 
 the fact that even his own son, Sam, had en- 
 listed early in the Confederate ranks, and had 
 been wounded and was a prisoner. 
 
 Houston was a remarkable man. This fact 
 has frequently been illustrated in the forego- 
 ing pages. He was a better and a more ca- 
 pable man than George Washington. His 
 greatest failings were vanity and its com- 
 panion, jealousy. He also caused some en- 
 mity by his inclination to clothe himself and 
 his movements in a robe of mystery, but 
 whether this was a natural trait involuntarily 
 exhibited or a habit intentionally exercised, 
 is itself a problem. Mistakes, of course, he 
 made. The sun has its spots. But these 
 mistakes were more in the direction of giv- 
 ing offense to his opponents than in the ad- 
 ministration of public affairs. All person- 
 ality was merged into altruistic patriotism. 
 
 He had hard men to deal with, and these 
 men, of course, "knew" they could do bet- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ter tlian he. His military strategy was ex- 
 traordinary. The instances are too nutnerons 
 to mention here. The reader will have to 
 consult nearly half tlie pages of Texas history 
 to discover them all. Ilia intuitive quick- 
 ness of perception, his foresight and far- 
 reaching mental grasp, his penetration and 
 ready comprehension of the drift of parties, 
 and his sagacity and tact in devising means 
 for the attainment of specific ends, were in- 
 deed exceptional. In self-possession and con- 
 fidence in his own resources he was unrivaled ; 
 his influence among the masses was extraor- 
 dinary, and as a speaker his power over a 
 Texan audience was magical. 
 
 As president of the Republic his adminis- 
 tration was marked by economy, by a pacific 
 policy toward the Indians, and by a defensive 
 attitude toward Mexico. He would rather 
 feed Indians than kill them; he was ever 
 ready to ward off threatened invasion aod 
 adopt protective measures against predatory 
 incursions on the frontier, but not organize 
 such undertakings as the Santa Fe expedition ; 
 and such an enterprise as the one attempted 
 by Colonel Fisher and his followers in their 
 attack on Mier was never contemplated by 
 him. 
 
 In the Senate of the United States, where 
 he represented Texas for nearly fourteen 
 years, he was persistently conservative and 
 democratic. He voted against the extension 
 of the Missouri compromise line to the Pa- 
 cific coast, and thereby favored free territory 
 south of that parallel ; he voted for the Ore- 
 gon Territorial bill with the slavery exclusion 
 clause, and he voted against the Kansas-Ne- 
 braska bill of Stephen A. Douglas, thereby 
 favoring free territory where the Missouri 
 compromise had fixed it, and by this last act 
 he incurred the displeasure of his Southern 
 adherents more than bj anything else he had 
 
 ever done. He also became identified with 
 the " Know-Nothing " party, and by this 
 means also alienated many of his old Demo- 
 cratic friends. But who can guard the rights- 
 of the righteous without incurring the dis- 
 pleasure of the unrighteous? For the ignor- 
 ant, the hasty and the iniquitous will not 
 only promulgate falsehoods, but even truths 
 in sucii a way as to turn friends into enemies. 
 Gossip, especially in haste, will unavoidably 
 distort everything. 
 
 The following is one of the numerous in- 
 stances illustrating the humor as well as the 
 sternness of character of that eminent states- 
 man: 
 
 In 1860, while Houston was governor of 
 Texas, an expedition was fitted out for frontier 
 protection. In the purchase of medical sup- 
 plies, the governor gave strict orders that no 
 liquor should be included, under penalty of 
 his serious displeasure. In the requisition for 
 
 medical stores made by Dr. T , surgeon 
 
 of the regiment, were included, "Spts. Vini 
 Gallici, bottles 24. " This was duly furnished 
 with the other articles, and the bill was taken 
 to General Houston for his approval. The 
 old gentleman settled his spectacles upon his 
 nose, and, gravely putting his eagle quill be- 
 hind his ear, read the bill through slowly and 
 carefully until he came to the item in ques- 
 tion, when he turned to the druggist and 
 said: " Mr. B — , what is this, — Spts. Vini 
 Gallici?" " That, General, is brandy. " "Ah, 
 yes! and do you know that I have given posi- 
 tive orders that no liquor should be furnished 
 for this expedition?" "No, General; I was 
 not aware of it. " 
 
 The general rang his bell. " Call Dr. T — . " 
 The doctor was summoned. "Dr. T — , what 
 is this 'Spts. Vini Gallici' for?" "That. 
 Governor, is for snake-bites." Appealing to 
 the druggist the governor continued, "Mr. 
 
HIHT0K7 OF TEXAS. 
 
 113 
 
 B — , is Spts. Villi Gallici good for snake- 
 bites?" "Yes, sir; it is so considered." "Yes", 
 replied General Houston, in slow and meas- 
 ured tones; " and there is Dr. T — , wiio would 
 cheerfully consent to be bitten by a rattle- 
 snake every mornincr before breakfast in order 
 to obtain a drink of this Spts. Vini Gallici!" 
 Having thus delivered himself, he approved 
 the account. 
 
 In private life Mr. Houston was affable 
 and courteous, kind and generous. When 
 thwarted, however, he became harsh and 
 sometimes vindictive. He never failed to 
 repay with compound interest, sooner or later, 
 any insinuation or coarse attack; and those 
 who crossed his political pathway were chas- 
 tised with a scathing invective which they 
 never forgot. Acts of friendship and enmity 
 were equally retained in his memory, and 
 met with corresponding return. Majestic in 
 person, of commanding presence and noble 
 countenance, he was a striking figure. Sorrow 
 for the miseries of his country, poverty in 
 his household and a broken-down constitu- 
 tion, saddened his later days. So straitened 
 were his means that his family were often 
 stinted for the necessaries of life! He was 
 married the second time, and at his death left 
 a widow and seven children, all under age. 
 
 Lorenzo de Zavala, a prominent champion 
 of Texan freedom, was born in Merida, Yuca- 
 tan, in 1781, where he was educated and 
 practiced as a physician till 1820, when he 
 was elected deputy to the Spanish Cortes. On 
 his return he was first made deputy and then 
 senator in the Mexican congress. In March, 
 1827, he was governor of the State of Mexico, 
 wiiicli office he held until tlie revolution of 
 Jalapa in 1830, which forced him to leave 
 the country. In 1833 he was again elected 
 to congress, and also governor of the State 
 of Mexico, the house passing a unanimous 
 
 resolution permitting him to hold both posi- 
 tions. During the following year he was ap- 
 pointed minister to France, but as soon as he 
 saw the direction toward centralism which 
 the party in power was taking he resigned 
 that position. He was too liberal a republi- 
 can and too honest in his principles to take 
 part in the overthrow of the federal constitu- 
 tion. He served his country faithfully, but on 
 his retirement to Texas he was stigmatized as 
 a traitor and vagabond. March 6, 1829, he 
 acquired a grant in Texas, contracting to colo- 
 nize it with 500 families. He was one of 
 three commissioners to represent Texas and 
 Coahuila at the Mexican government in 1834; 
 signed the declaration of independence; was 
 the second vice president of the Texan He- 
 public; and was entrusted with many other 
 important public matters. He died atLyncli- 
 burg, Texas, November 15, 1836. 
 
 Of William B. Teavis, a Texan patriot 
 in tile early times of strife and feud, compara- 
 tively little is known. His name figures oc- 
 casionally in the previous history in this 
 volume, his career winding up at the terrible 
 battle of the Alamo, where he was killed 
 early in that short fight. The capital county 
 of Texas is named in his honor. 
 
 RicuAKD B. Ellis, after whom Ellis county 
 is named, lived in one of the disputed set- 
 tlements in the Eed river country. He was 
 a prominent citizen and represented his 
 municipality in the convention of 1836, being 
 president of that body. He died in 1810. 
 Doubt existing as to which government his 
 section belonged, to be certain of representa- 
 tion somewhere, his son, who lived in the 
 same house with him, was elected to the leg- 
 islature of Arkansas as a citizen of Miller 
 county, of that State, and accepted. 
 
 James Bowie, brother of the gentleman 
 who invented the " bowie knife, " was a na- 
 
n I STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 tive of Georgia. While Latitte occupieJ 
 Galveston, tlie three brothers, James, Keziii 
 P. and John, engaged in buying negroes of 
 Latitte's men, conducting them through the 
 swamps of Louisiana for sale. They are said 
 to ha\e made $05,000 by this traffic. James 
 Bowie was connected with Long's expedition 
 in 1819. In October, 1830, he became a 
 naturalized citizen of Saltillo, and soon after 
 married a daughter of Vice Governor Vera- 
 mendi, of San Antonio de Bejar. November 
 2, 1831, he fought a remarkable battle with 
 Indians on the San Saba river, in which, with 
 his brother Rezin, nine other Americans and 
 two negroes, he defeated 164 Tehuacanas and 
 Caddoes, the Indians losing nearly half their 
 number, while the Anglo-Texans had only 
 one man killed and three wounded! When 
 hostilities broke out he attached himself to 
 the Texan cause. A county in this State is 
 named in his honor. 
 
 Rkzin (or Razin) P. Bowie, first made a 
 new style of knife, which was used in com- 
 bat by his brother, Colonel James Bowie, 
 and it has since been improved upon from 
 time to time by cutlers and dealers. 
 
 Steimien M. Blount, who was in 1888 the 
 oldest living survivor of the signers of the 
 declaration of Texan independence, was a na- 
 tive of Georgia, born February 13, 1808, and 
 moved to Texas in July, 1835, settling at 
 San Augustine. In 1836 he was elected a 
 member of the convention that declared the 
 independence of Texas, and nominated Gen- 
 eral Houston for commander-in-chief of the 
 Texan forces. Blount was a close personal 
 friend of Houston, whom he always after- 
 ward regarded as a grand man. In 1837 
 Blount was elected clerk of San Augustine 
 county, and iield that position four years. 
 His whole life lias been one of activity. 
 Prior to bis emigration to Texas he served in 
 
 several official capacities in his native State, 
 lie was colonel. of the Eighth Hegiment of 
 Georgia militia, and was aide-de-camp to 
 military generals in 1832-'34:. 
 
 Colonel James W. Fannin particij)ated in 
 the battle of Conception in October, 1835; 
 was stationed in command at Velasco directly 
 afterward; appointed military agent early in 
 1846 to raise and concentrate all volunteers 
 who were willing to take part in an expedi- 
 tion against Matamoras; a.ssisted in the de- 
 fence of Goliad early in 1837, but made a 
 fatal mistake and was defeated. He was a 
 brave and intrepid officer, but somewhat 
 deiicient in caution. He was inclined to 
 underestimate the force of the Mexicans, 
 was with his men taken prisoners, and as 
 such massacred, with over 300 others 1 
 
 MiRABEAU B. Lamar was appointed secre- 
 tary of war in 1836 for the new republic, and 
 as such was strongly opposed to entering 
 into negotiations with Santa Anna; was ap- 
 pointed major general of the Texan army, in 
 1836, but his hasty advice caused him to be 
 unpopular among his men, and he was in- 
 duced to retire; was the same year elected 
 vice president of tiie republic; was left in 
 COTumand of the general government by 
 President Houston, who left the executive 
 office for the seat of war; elected president 
 in 1838; advised in his inaugural address 
 "extermination or extinction" of the Indians; 
 encouraged the Santa Fe expedition, which 
 proved so disastrous; and on the whole he was 
 a rather unfortunate "statesman." His ad- 
 ministration as governor, etc., was extrav- 
 agant financially, and many of his measures 
 demoralizing. 
 
 JosE Antonio Navarro, in whose honor 
 Navarro county was named, was born in San 
 Antonio de Bejar, February 37, 1705, his 
 father being a native of Corsica aud an offi- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 cer in tlie Spanish army. He was a stanch 
 Federalist and a foe to military depotism. In 
 1834-'35 Navarro was a laud commissioner 
 for Bejar district; a member of the conven- 
 tion in 1836; and a member of the congress 
 in 183S-'39. He was condemned by Santa 
 Anna to imprisonment for life, tliough daring 
 liis captivity he was several times offered 
 pardon, liberty and high office if he would 
 abjure his native country, Texas, forever. 
 These propositions were rejected with scorn. 
 
 In December, 1844, just before the fall of 
 Santa Anna, he was removed from San Juan 
 de TJlua and allowed to remain a prisoner at 
 large in Vera Cruz, whence he escaped Janu- 
 ary 2, arriving at Galveston February 3, 1845, 
 after an absence of more than three years and 
 a half. On his return he was elected delegate 
 to the convention held that year to decide 
 upon the question of annexation, and was 
 afterward senator from Bejar district in the 
 State congress. He died in his native city in 
 1870. 
 
 General T. J. EtrsK was born December 
 5, 1808, in South Carolina, his father being 
 an immigrant from Ireland and a stone mason 
 by occupation. Through the influence of John 
 C. Calhoun, on whose land the family lived, 
 young Rusk was placed in the office of 
 William Grisham, clerk for Pendleton dis- 
 trict, where he made himself familiar with 
 the law, and was soon admitted to the bar. 
 He afterward removed to Clarksville, Georgia, 
 where he married the daughter of General 
 Cleveland. At that place he acquired a 
 lucrative practice, but unfortunately engaged 
 in mining speculations and was swindled 
 out of nearly all his earnings. He pursued 
 some of the rascals to Texas, and found them 
 ill this State, but they had spent or concealed 
 all his money. Going to Nacogdoches, he 
 located himself, and was afterward conspicuous 
 
 as a Texan patriot. He distinguished himself 
 in the war of independence, and subsequently 
 commanded various expeditions against the In- 
 dians. In 1839 he was appointed chief justice 
 of the Eepublic, but soon resigned and retired 
 into law practice at Nacogdoches. In 1845, 
 he was president of the annexation conven- 
 tion, and was one of the first two senators to 
 the United States Congress, and this position 
 he held until his death in 1857, brought 
 about by his own hand, probably in a flt of 
 mental aberration induced by a malignant 
 disease and the loss of his wife. He was a 
 man of rare qualities, and is held in the high- 
 est esteem by all who knew him. On account 
 of his death Congress wore the usual badge 
 of mourning for thirty days. 
 
 Elisha Anglin, a prominent early settler 
 of central Texas, was born in Powell Valley, 
 Virginia, where he was raised and married; 
 moved thence to Kentucky, afterward to Clay, 
 Edgar and Cole counties, Illinois, and iinaliy, 
 in 1833, to Texas. He reached what is now 
 Grimes Prairie, Grimes county, in the fall of 
 1833, where Austin's colony still remained. 
 In the summer of 1834, in company with 
 James and Silas Parker, he visited Limestone 
 county in Eobertson's colony, and located a 
 claim where the present town of Groesbeck is 
 situated. Silas Parker located his claim north 
 of Anglin's, and James Parker went still 
 further north. They then returned to Grimes 
 Prairie, each buying a load of corn prepara- 
 tory to bringing their families, which they 
 did in the summer of 1834. Mr. Anglin set- 
 tled on his claim February 1, 1835, and Fort 
 Parker was built in the sumnier of the same 
 year. 
 
 When the Parkers and Mr. Anglin settled 
 in the county the Indians were friendly and 
 peaceable, those then in the locality being the 
 Tehuacanas, at Tehuacana Hills; the Kee- 
 
tl6 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 cliies, on Kcecliie creek, and tlie Wacoes, who 
 were then occupying their village at Waco. 
 The first trouble was brought about by raids 
 being made on them by bands of white men. 
 Tlie raids were made in the summer of 1835, 
 and tlie following sprint news reached the 
 fort of tlie advance of the Mexicans under 
 Santa Anna. Mr. Anglin, believing that the 
 fort and all the inmates would fall victims to 
 Mexican foes and hostile Indians, tried to in- 
 duce the Parkers to abandon it and retire to 
 the settlements beyond the Trinity. But this 
 they refused to do. Taking his family, Mr. 
 Anglin, in company with Mr. Faulkenberry 
 and family and Mr. Bates and family, sought 
 safety at old Fort Houston, near Palestine. 
 He did not return to Limestone county until 
 tlie spring of 1838, when Springtield, after- 
 ward the county seat, was laid out, he being 
 present and assisting in this labor. For four 
 or five years following this date he resided 
 principally in the setteinents in Grimes coun- 
 ty, but in January, 1844, took up his perma- 
 nent residence on his claim, where he lived 
 until his last marriage, and until his death, 
 near Mount Calm, in January, 1874, aged 
 Feventy-six years. He assisted in the organi- 
 zation of the county, held a number of minor 
 local positions at an earlier day, was an un- 
 lettered man, but possessed considerable force 
 of character, the elements of the pioneer 
 strongly predominating. 
 
 Mr. Anglin was five times married, and 
 the father of a number of children. His first 
 wife was Kachel Wilson, a native of Virginia, 
 who died in Edgar county, Illinois, leaving 
 five children: A brain; William; John; Mary, 
 afterward the wife of Silas II. Bates; and 
 Margaret, now Mr.'?. John Moody. He was 
 then married, in Coles county, Illinois, to 
 Catherine Duty, who bore him three children, 
 • >nlyone of whom reached maturity: Rebecca 
 
 Catherine, now the wife of Tra iklin Coates, 
 of Utah Territory. His second wife died at 
 old Fort Houston, near Palestine, this State, 
 and he married the third time, at Tinnan's 
 Fort, Robertson county, Mrs. Orpha James. 
 They had eight children, only one of whom 
 is now living: Adeline, wife of Daniel Par- 
 ker, of Anderson county, Texas. His fourth 
 marriage occurred in Limestone county, to 
 Mrs. Nancy Faulkenberry, widow of David 
 Faulkenberry. His fifth wife was Mrs. Sarah 
 Chafiin, nee Crist, but by the last two unions 
 there were no children. 
 
 Neill McLennan, in honor of wlnmi Mc- 
 Lennan county is named, was born in the 
 highlands of Scotland, in 1777, and emigrated 
 with two brothers and other relatives to the 
 State of North Carolina in 1801, where he 
 resided as a fanner until 1816. With a brave 
 and adventurous spirit, and with one com- 
 panion, he explored the wilds of Florida, and, 
 becoming satisfied with the country, remained 
 there until 1834. He had heard of Texas, 
 and with his two brothers and a few other 
 friends purchased a schooner at Pensacola, 
 loaded her with their goods and fam- 
 ilies, navigated her themselves, and landed 
 safely at the mouth of the Brazos river 
 early in 1835. They proceeded up the 
 river and settled on Pond creek, near its 
 mouth, in what is now Falls county. While 
 there his two brothers were killed by the In- 
 dians, Laughlin, one of the brothers, being 
 shot full of arrows. The family of the lat- 
 ter, consisting of a wife and three small boys, 
 were captured and taken away. The mother, 
 who was living with him, was also killed, the 
 house was burned, and the wife and youngest 
 child died in captivity. The next boy was 
 bought, and the eldest remained with the 
 Indians until grown, when, by a treaty, his 
 uncle, Neil (not JS'oill) McLennan, brought 
 
HISTORT OP TEXAS. 
 
 him to McLennan county. It was difficult 
 to reconcile him to staying away from his 
 tribe. He finally married and raised six 
 children. His death occurred in 1866. John, 
 the other brother, was ambushed and shot 
 near Nashville. 
 
 During the winter of 1839 and spring of 
 1840 Neill McLennan accompanied Captain 
 George B. Erath on a surveying tour to tlie 
 Bosque country, and being impressed with 
 the advantages tliere for farming and grazing, 
 determined to locate there. Accordingly he 
 commenced improvements there in 1845, and 
 made it his home during tiie remainder of 
 his life. At the old homestead still stands 
 the old double log house, where many a way- 
 faring man has received refreshments and 
 rest without money or charge. 
 
 Mr. McLennan had six children, namely: 
 John, who died in Milam county, in 1887; 
 Christina, wife of Eli Jones, of McLennan 
 county; Catherine, wife of L. E. R. Davib; 
 Neil (one 1), a resident of McLennan county; 
 Duncan, also of McLennan county; Laughlin, 
 deceased in 1860. Mr. McLe.inan died in 
 the month of November, 1867, aged eighty- 
 one years. 
 
 Colonel Steeling C. Roberston, em- 
 presario of Robertson's colony, was born in 
 Nashville, Tennessee, about 1785. He served 
 as major of the Tennessee troops in the war 
 of 1812, received a good education, and was 
 trained up as a planter, and engaged in agri- 
 cultural pursuits in Giles county, that State. 
 Enterprising and adventurous, and having 
 considerable means, he formed a company 
 in Nashville, in 1823, to explore the wild 
 "province" of Texas. Coming as' far as the 
 Brazos, he formed a permanent camp at 
 the mouth of Little river. Ail the party re- 
 turned to Tennessee, however, except Robert- 
 son. He visited the settlements that had 
 
 been made, and while there conceived tlie 
 idea of planting a colony in Texas. Filled 
 with enthusiasm over this plan, he went to 
 his home in Tennessee, where he purchased h 
 contract which the Mexican government had 
 made with Robert Leftwick for the eettle- 
 ment of 800 families. The colony embraced 
 a large tract of land, and Robertson was to 
 receive forty leagues and forty labors for his 
 services. 
 
 L) 1829, at his own expense, he introduced 
 100 families, who were driven out by the 
 military in consequence of false representa- 
 tions made to the government. The matter 
 was finally adjusted, and in the spring of 
 1834 the colony was restored. In the sum- 
 mer of the same year he laid out the town of 
 Sarahville de Viesca. A land office was 0(>er)ed 
 about October 1, and the settlements were 
 rapidly made. In the summer of 1835 he 
 made a tour of Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisi- 
 ana and Kentucky, makingknown the induce- 
 ments to immigration. lie had been authorizf d 
 by the Mexican government to offer to settlers 
 who were heads of families one league and 
 one labor of land, and lesser proportions to 
 others. 
 
 Colonel Robertson was a delegate to the 
 general convention of 1836, was one of the 
 signers of the declaration of independence 
 and of the constitution of the Republic of 
 Texas. In the spring of 1836 he commanded 
 a military company, and received therefor a 
 donation of 640 acres of land, having partici- 
 pated in the battle of San Jacinto. He was 
 a member of the Senate of the first congress 
 of the Republic of Texas. 
 
 He died in Robertson county, March 4, 
 1842, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. 
 Bold, daring and patriotic, he had many op- 
 portunities for the exhibition of these traits. 
 From the campaigns of the war of 1812 dowu 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 to 1842, he was a participant in every struggle 
 of liis countrymen. When tlio revolution 
 I'roke out in 1835, he had introduced more 
 tlian 600 families into the colonies, fully 
 one- half of the whole number at his own 
 expense. 
 
 Davio G. Burnett, according to the fore- 
 going history of Texas, is first known in this 
 State as an " empresario," who, December 
 22, 1826, contracted to colonize 300 families 
 in Te.xas. After the annulment of Edwards' 
 contract, his »rant was divided between Bur- 
 nett and Joseph Vehlein. lie was a mem- 
 ber of the second State convention, which 
 met April 1, 1833, at San Felipe; was elected 
 the first President of the Republic of Texas 
 in 1836; had a stormy time during an en- 
 gagement with the Mexicans, being accused 
 of treason; resigned his presidency October 
 22, 1836; was elected vice-president in 1838, 
 but in 1841, as a candidate for the presi- 
 dency, was defeated by General Houston. 
 
 M.v.'OR George B. Erath, after whom 
 Kiath county is named, was born at Vienna, 
 Austria, January 1, 1813. His mother was 
 siipj)08cd to l)e of Greek origin. At Santa 
 .\niia College, Vienna, he studied Spanish, 
 French, Italian and English, besides other 
 blanche-.. lie also spent two years at a poly- 
 lichnic institute. When fifteen years of age 
 Ills father died, and he was taken in charge 
 by relatives in Germany, who, at the request 
 (if his mother, managed, by a ruse, to keep 
 him from conscription by the Austrian gov- 
 ernment. By the connivance of the German 
 and French governments he managed to get 
 a start to America, and in due time landed 
 at New Orleans with no money. After 
 traveling and working his way along to sev- 
 eral points, he came to Texas in l''S33, first 
 stopping at Brazoria. He visited several 
 points in the eoutliern central portion of the 
 
 State, and at length eiigaged in war with the 
 Indians, in which he distinguished himself 
 for bravery and fidelity, lie also was in 
 Captain Billingsley's company at the battle 
 of San Jacinto. Moreover, he at several 
 times engaged as an assistant in land survey- 
 ing. 
 
 In 1839 he was a member of a company of 
 rangers, l)y which he was elected captain, and 
 again he was active in repelling Indian inva- 
 sions. He was also in the noted " Mier ex- 
 pedition," but, not crossing the Rio Grande 
 with the headlong faction, he escaped the 
 horrible experiences of the Mier prisoners. 
 
 From 1843-'46 he was. a member of the 
 Texas congress, and in the latter year he was 
 elected a member of the legislature of the 
 State of Texas. In 1848 he was elected by 
 an overwhelming majority to the State sen- 
 ate, from the district of McLennan county, 
 his home; and in 1861 he was a^ain elected 
 to the same body, and after the legislature 
 a<ljourned raised a company of infantry and 
 fought under the command of Colonel 
 Speight. Ill health not permitting him to 
 remain in the service, he returned home, but 
 was appointed major of the frontier forces of 
 Texas, in which capacity he won the grati- 
 tude of the State. 
 
 After tiie war he settled down upon his 
 farm on the South Bosque, eight miles from 
 Waco, and endeavored to confine himself to 
 the quiet pursuits of agriculture; but his ex- 
 tended knowledge of land and surveying in 
 that part of Texas led others to persuade 
 him to engage again as a surveyor. He was 
 called the " walking dictionary of the land 
 office." In 1873 he was again elected to the 
 State senate, ami was an infiuential member of 
 that body. 11 is intelligence and integrity were 
 so great that in many instances he was se- 
 lected as sole arbitrator in preference to a 
 
BISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 suit at law. He died in Waco, May 13, 
 1891, and his wife five months afterward. 
 He lost one son in tlie last war, and died 
 leaving one son and three daughters. 
 
 General James Hamilton was a native of 
 South Carolina, of which State he was gov- 
 ernor. Coming to Texas he boldly advo- 
 cated her independence, and contributed both 
 time and means to the cause. Even in South 
 Carolina, as a member of her senate, he up- 
 held in eloquent phrase the purity of tlie 
 motives of the revolutionists of Texas, and 
 actively devoted himself to the interests of 
 the new republic. He secured the treaty 
 with Great Britain, and negotiated one with 
 the kingdom of the Netherlands. ]n recog- 
 nition of his services he was invested with 
 the rights of Te.xas citizenship by a special 
 act of its congress. But while he was a dip- 
 lomatic agent for Texas in Europe he became 
 involved in embarrassments which eventually 
 ruined him. In 1S57 he sailed from New 
 Orleans for Galveston in the steamship Ope- 
 Ifausas, with the hope of obtaining an indem- 
 nification for his losses and of retrieving his 
 fortune in the country for which he had done 
 so m\icb. The vessel was wreckeu on her 
 passage by a collision with the steamer Gal- 
 veston, and Hamilton was one of the victims 
 of tlie disaster. Tlie State congress went 
 into mourning out of respect to his memory. 
 
 James W. TirEocKMOETON, governor of 
 Texas in 1866-'67, was born in Tennessee 
 in 1825, and began life as a physician, in 
 which calling he won a high reputation until 
 he decided to adopt the profession of law. 
 Removing to what is now Collin county, 
 Texas, in 1841, he was elected ten years later 
 to the State legislature, and was re-elected in 
 1853 and 1855, and in 1857 he was chosen 
 •State senator. During all tiiese years the 
 legislation of the State bears the impress of 
 
 his tireless efforts, and to no one else are tl;o 
 people more indebted for the development 
 of tiieir resources. Though a Democrat in 
 politics, he was opposed to secession, and as 
 a member of the first secession convention 
 he voted against secession; but, being true to 
 his State, after the Confederate movement 
 was fully inaugurated he raised a company 
 of soldiers and joined the Southern cause, 
 and remained till the close of the struggle, 
 though at intervals he was disabled from 
 active service by sickness. Among the en- 
 gagetnents in which he participated was the 
 battle of Elkhorn. Afterward he served 
 under General Dick Taylor. In 1864 Gov- 
 ernor Murrah assigned him the command of 
 the northern frontier, with the rank of briga- 
 dier general. In 1865 General Kirby Smitli 
 appointed him general Indian agent, and he 
 made treaties with numerous Indian tribes 
 favorable to Texas. In 1866 he was elected 
 a member of the first reconstruction conven- 
 tion, aiid was chosen president of that body: 
 the same year he was elected governor, under 
 the new constitution, by a vote of nearly four 
 to one; but, though his administration was 
 most satisfactory to the people of the State, 
 he was deposed in the following year, umler 
 reconstruction measures executed by "Radi- 
 cals." In 1874, and again in 1876, he was 
 chosen for Congress, where he sei'ved with 
 distinction until March, 1879, when he re- 
 tired to private life. 
 
 Early in his professional career he was 
 married to Miss Ann Ratten, a native of Illi- 
 nois, and of their nine children seven still 
 survive. 
 
 Geni5RAL Thomas Neville Waul, whose 
 ancestors on both sides took part in the 
 Revolutionary struggle, was born in South 
 Carolina, in 1813. After recoi.'ing his edu- 
 cation at one of the best colleges in that 
 
Ul STORY OF TKXAa. 
 
 State, he studied law at Vicksbnrg, Missis- 
 pipj.i, and was admitleil to practice in tlie 
 snpi-cme court of that State in 1835, and was 
 soon afterward appointed district attorney. 
 Itenioving later to New Orleans, lie took an 
 active part in politics, being a thorough 
 Democrat of the State-rights school, and he 
 won a high reputation. After the war broke 
 out he organized what was known as Waul's 
 I-egion, which he commanded ir many hotly 
 contested engagements. At its close he set- 
 tled in Galveston, where he resumed his pro- 
 fession, and was elected president of the bar 
 association. 
 
 In 1837 the General married Miss Mary 
 Simmons, a native of Georgia, and in No- 
 vember, 1887, celebrated his golden wedding, 
 
 Ben AIcCdllodgh, prominent in the last 
 war, was a native of Tennessee, came to Texas 
 during revolutionary tinies, and commanded 
 a cannon in the battle of San Jacinto. After 
 the independence of Texas he was captain of 
 a company of rangers. During the last war 
 he was appointed brigadier general in the 
 Confederate army, and was killed in the 
 Reeorid day's tight at Pea liidgo, Arkansas, 
 March 24, 18G2. 
 
 GicNKRAL Henkt Eustace McCdllooh was 
 liorn in Rutherford county, Tennessee, De- 
 cember 0, 1816, and first came to Texas in 
 the antunm of 1835, accompanied by his 
 lirotlier, Ben McCnIloch, five years older. 
 Arriving at Nacogdoches, they had an ar- 
 gument as to the propriety of Henry's coming 
 DM. J!en tried almost every way to per.-uade 
 iiim to return home, but in vain, until he hit 
 upon the argument that he should take care 
 of his parents in their old age. Selling their 
 iiorses, fine pad<ile animals, they separated, 
 starting off on foot, one east and the other 
 west. 
 
 In the fall of 1837 Henry came again to 
 Texas and stopped at Washington, then the 
 capital of the State, and passed the winter 
 there hewing house logs, splitting red-oak 
 boards and building board houses. In the 
 spring he joined a party in the exploration of 
 the upper Brazos. While out hunting one 
 day, in company with another member of the 
 party, they chanced upon a company of five 
 Indians, whom they attacked, killed two ami 
 chased the other three away! In the summer 
 of 1838 he joined his brother, Ben, at Gon- 
 zales and formed a partnership with him in 
 surveying and locating lands, and this 
 partnership lasted until the death of the 
 brother in 1862. 
 
 During pioneer times both the brothers 
 engaged in much ranger service, witli skill 
 and good fortune, the particulars of which we 
 have not space for here. 
 
 During a battle with the Comanches in 
 1840, Henry saved the life of Dr. Sweitzer, a 
 bitter enemy of his brother, by driving away 
 the Indians who where about to take the life 
 of the doctor. Henry had dismounted and 
 taken his position behind a small sapling in 
 advance of the main Texan force and was 
 pouring hot shot into the ranks of the enemy, 
 who, in return, had completely scaled the 
 bark of the little tree behind which he stood. 
 Arch. Gipson and Alsey Miller had come up 
 and wore sitting on their horses near Henry, 
 who was standing on the ground beside his 
 hor.'ie, when suddeidy Gipson or Miller cried 
 out, "They'll catch him; they'll catch him!" 
 McCnIloch asked, "Catch who?" The reply 
 was, "Sweitzer." 
 
 Glancing over his horse's neck the gallant 
 young McCullocli saw a party of eight or ten 
 Indians closely pursuing the bitterest enemy 
 of his brother; but the life of a human being 
 was involved, and,^prompted by that magna- 
 
HISTORY OP TEXAS. 
 
 nimity of heart which ever characterized his 
 life, he did not stop to calculate the conse- 
 quences, but in a second was in his saddle 
 going at full speed at the risk of his own life 
 to save that of Sweitzer. Ilis companions 
 followed, and they reached Sweitzer just in 
 time to save his life. 
 
 August 20, 1840, soon after the above 
 occurrence, Mr. McGulIoch married Miss 
 Jane Isabella Ashby, and directly settled on 
 the place improved by his brother Een, four 
 miles from Gonzales. 
 
 In September, 1842, General "Woll, at the 
 liead of a thousand Mexican infantry and 
 500 or 600 cavalry, captured San Antonio; 
 but just before the retreat of the Mexican 
 forces Captain Matthew Caldwell, with 200 
 men, engaged the enemy about five or six 
 miles from town and defeated them. While 
 this fight was progressing Dawson's men were 
 massacred in the rear of the Mexican array 
 while trying to make their way to Caldwell, 
 and in this engagement McCuUoch was a 
 lieutenant under Colonel Jack Hays. He was 
 also in Somervell's expedition so far as it 
 remained in Texas. 
 
 Becoming a resident of Gonzales county 
 in 1844, he entered mercantile business there. 
 In 1846 he was elected captain of a volunteer 
 company for the Mexican war, and the next 
 year was elected sheriff of that county. 
 Occasionally he was engaged in an expedition 
 against the Indians, witli success. In 1853, 
 on the Democratic ticket for the legislature, 
 he was elected, over Colonel French Smitli, a 
 Whig, and in 1855 he was again elected, 
 defeating Thomas H. Duggan. In 1858 he 
 was appointed United States marshal for the 
 Eastern District of Texas, which position ho 
 held until the breaking out of the Civil war, 
 iud in this mighty struggle he had a brilliant 
 career. He was promoted from tlie position 
 
 of colonel to that of brigadier-general. March 
 1, 1876, Governor Coke appointed him 
 superintendent of the Deaf and Dumb 
 Asylum, which place he held until dismissed 
 by Governor Roberts, September 1, 1879. In 
 1885 he was employed by the State Land 
 Board as an agent to manage the public- 
 school, university and asylum lands. 
 
 Elisha M. Pease, twice governor of Texas, 
 was born in Connecticut, in 1812, and be- 
 came a lawyer. In 1835 he came to Texas 
 and was appointed secretary of the executive 
 council at San Felipe. During 1836-'37 he 
 held several positions under the government. 
 Resigning the comptrollership of public ac- 
 counts in the latter year, he began to prac- 
 tice his profession in Brazoria county. He 
 was a men^ber of the house of representatives 
 of the first and second legislatures, and of the 
 senate of the third legislature. He was gov- 
 ernor of Texas from 1853 to 1857, and from 
 1867 to 1869, in the latter case being ap- 
 pointed by General Sheridan, under recon- 
 struction regime, to succeed Throckmorton. 
 In 1874 he was appointed collector of cus- 
 totns for Galveston, which office he did not 
 accept. In 1879 he was reappointed to the 
 same position, and took charge of the custom- 
 house February 1 of that jear. 
 
 Benjamin R. Milam was a native of Ken- 
 tucky, born of humble parents and iiaving 
 but little education. He distinguished him- 
 self in the war of 1812, and afterward en- 
 gaged in trade with the Indians at the liead- 
 waters of Texan rivers. Later he joined 
 Mina in his disastrous expedition in aid of 
 the revolutionary cause in Mexico, and, being 
 one of those who escaped death, rendered 
 valuable services. When Iturbide proclaimed 
 himself emperor, Milam was among the first 
 to join the party that opposed him. For 
 this he was cast into prison, where he 
 
Ul STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 languished until Iturbide's dethronement, 
 when he was released. For his services in 
 the republican cause he received in 1828 a 
 grant of eleven square leagues of land in 
 Texas, but he located it by mistake in Ar- 
 kansas, and obtained from the government of 
 tiie State of Coahuila and Texas an em- 
 presario grant. He was in Monclova at the 
 time of Viesca's deposal, and was captured 
 in company with him. Milam escaped from 
 prison at Monterey by winning the confi- 
 dence of the jailer, and, being supplied with 
 a fleet horse and a little food by a friend, he 
 traveled alone for 600 miles, journeying by 
 night and concealing himself by day, till he 
 reached the vicinity of Goliad, almost ex- 
 hausted. After the capture of that place he 
 enlisted in the ranks, and was soon afterward 
 killed by a rifle ball from the enemy, when 
 he was about forty-five years of age. 
 
 Erastl-8 Smith, who, on account of his 
 being "hard of hearing," was generally 
 known as "Deaf Smith," was born in New 
 York in 1787, moved to Mississippi in 1798, 
 and to Texas in 1817. He was a most inde- 
 fatigable observer of the movements of the 
 Mexican army daring the war; and his per- 
 fect knowledge of the country and astonish- 
 ing coolness and bravery made him an inval- 
 uable scout for the Texan army. He married 
 a Mexican lady in San Antonio, and had 
 several children. He died at Fort Bend in 
 1839, and is buried at Eichmond. A county 
 is named in his honor, " Deaf Smith." 
 
 JosiAH WiLBAROEE, brother of the author 
 of the work entitled "Indian Depredations 
 in Texas," was one of the earliest settlers in 
 this State, coming here from Missouri in 
 1828, locating first in Matagorda county for 
 a year. Early in the spring of 1830 he re- 
 moved to a beautiful location he had selected 
 at the mouth of the creek named in bis honor, 
 
 ten miles above the point now occupied by 
 the town of Bastrop. At that time his near- 
 est neighbor was about seventy-five miles 
 down the Colorado, and he was not only the 
 first but also the outside settler of Austin's 
 colony until July, 1832, when Reuben Horns- 
 by went up from Bastrop, where he had lieen 
 living a year or two. He located about nine 
 miles below the present city of Austin. 
 
 Early in August, 1833, Mr. "Wilbarger 
 went to Hornsby's, and, in company with 
 Messrs. Christian, Strother, Standifer and 
 Ilaynie, rode out in a northwest direction to 
 look at the country. On Walnut creek, five 
 or six miles above Austin, they discovered an 
 Indian, who ran away and disappeared. The 
 white party gave chase but after a time aban- 
 doned it. While eating their dinner, however, 
 after returning from the chase, they were sud- 
 denly fired upon by Indians. Strother was 
 mortally wounded, Christian's thigh bone was 
 broken, and Wilbarger sprang to the side of 
 the latter to set him up against a tree, when 
 the latter received an arrow in the leg and 
 another in his hip. Soon he was wounded 
 in the other leg also. Three of the Wilbar- 
 ger party then ran to their liorses, which had 
 been been tied out for feeding, and began to 
 flee. Wilbarger, though wounded as he was, 
 ran after them, begging for an opportunity 
 to ride behind one of them, but before 
 reaching them he was wounded in the neck 
 by a ball. He fell apparently dead, but 
 though unable to move or speak be remained 
 conscious. He knew when the Indians came 
 around him, stripped him naked and tore the 
 scalp from his head. The character of the 
 wound in the neck probably made the In- 
 dians believe that it was broken, and that 
 Wilbarger was dead, or at least could not sur- 
 vive, and they left him. They cut the throats 
 of Strother and Christian. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Late in the evening Mr. Wilbarger so far 
 recovered as to drag himself to a pool of 
 water, lay in it for an hour, and then, be- 
 numbed with cold, he crawled upon dry 
 ground and fell into a profound sleep. When 
 awakened the blood had ceased to flow from 
 his wounds, but he was still consumed with 
 hunger and again sufl'ering intensely from 
 thirst. Green flies had "blown" his scalp 
 while asleep and the larves began to work, 
 which created a new alarm. Undertaking to 
 go to Mr. Ilornsby's, about six miles distant, 
 he had only proceeded about 600 yards when 
 he sank e.xluiusted ! Remaining all night upon 
 the ground, he suffered intensely from cold; 
 but during the next day he was found by his 
 friends, who had been urged to hunt for him 
 by Mrs. Hornsby, despite the report by Hay- 
 nie and Standifer that he was dead. She was 
 influenced by a dream, so the story goes, to 
 say that Wilbarger was still alive, and con- 
 sequently urged the men to go and hunt for 
 him. It is stated also that Wilbarger had a 
 dream or vision of the spirit of a sister, who 
 had died only the day before in Missouri, 
 which said that help would come that day! 
 The relief party consisted of Joseph Rogers, 
 Reuben Hornsby, Webber, John AValters and 
 others. As they approached the tree under 
 which Wilbarger was lying and had passed 
 the night, they saw first the blood-red scalp 
 and thought they had come upon an Indian. 
 Even his body was red almost all over with 
 blood, and he presented a ghastly sight. 
 Rogers, mistaking him for an Indian, ex- 
 claimed, "Here they are, boys!" Wilbarger 
 arose and said, " Don't shoot! it is Wilbarger! 
 The poor sufferer was taken to Ilornsby's 
 residence, where he was cared for. When he 
 had somewhat recruited he was placed in a 
 sled, as he could not endure the jolts of a 
 wagon, and taken down the river to his own 
 
 cabin. He lived eleven years afterward, but 
 the scalp never gi-ew to entirely cover the 
 bone. The latter, where most exposed, be- 
 came diseased and exfoliated, finally exposing 
 the brain. 
 
 By his death he left a wife and five chil- 
 dren. The eldest son, John, was killed many 
 years afterward by the Indians in west Texas. 
 Harvey, another son, lived to raise a number 
 of children. 
 
 Tlie circumstance above related is the first 
 instance of wiiite blood shed at the bands of 
 the red savage within the present limits of 
 Travis county. 
 
 General Edward Burleson was born in 
 Buncombe county, North Carolina, in 1798. 
 We quote the following sketch of his life 
 from J. W. Wilbarger's work, before re- 
 ferred to: 
 
 "When but a lad, young Edward served 
 in a company commanded by his father un- 
 der General Jackson, in the Creek war. In 
 March, 1831, he emigrated to Texas and set- 
 tled eleven miles below the town of Bastrop, 
 where he soon rendered himself conspicuous 
 by his readiness when called on to repel the 
 savages, then of frequent occurrence. His 
 unflinching courage and perseverance on such 
 occasions brought him into favorable notice, 
 and in 1832 he was elected lieutenant colonel 
 of the principality of Austin. By his activ- 
 ity, promptness and courage, he soon rose to 
 be an acknowledged leader, while his plain 
 and unpretending deportment and natural 
 dignity won friends as fast as he made ac- 
 quaintances. 
 
 "In the battle with the Mexicans under 
 General Cos at San Antonio he was conspicu- 
 ous for his gallantry and rendered important 
 services. As colonel of a regiment he par- 
 ticipated in the final battle at San Jacinto, 
 which secured the independence of Texas. 
 
HISTORY OF 'JKXAS. 
 
 On that bloody field Burleson added new 
 honors to his fame as a brave soldier and 
 tried ofiicer. His regiment stormed the 
 breastwork and captured the artillery, and 
 contributed its honorable share to tiie victory. 
 The morning of the day on which the battle 
 was fought, General Houston ordered Burle- 
 son to detail 100 men from his regiment to 
 build a bridge across the bayou in case a re- 
 treat should be necessary. Burleson replied 
 that he could make the detail, but he had no 
 idea the bridge could be built; that they had 
 no axes or tools of any description whatever, 
 or teams to haul the timber. Houston asked 
 him whether he intended to disobey orders. 
 Burleson replied that he was not disposed to 
 disobey orders, but that his men would much 
 rather fight than work. 'Then,' said Hous- 
 ton, 'if yon are so anxious to fight you shall 
 have your fill before night," and immediately 
 made out his plan of battle. 
 
 "After the battle of San Jacinto General 
 Burleson returned to his home and was 
 elected to the senate of the first congi-ess 
 of the republic. In the Cherokee war he 
 moved against the Indians at the head of 
 500 men, defeated them in a hard-fought 
 battle, killing many (among them their head 
 chief, Bowles) and drove the remainder be- 
 yond the limits of the republic. In the great 
 Indian raid of 1840 General Burleson was 
 second in command of the forces that met 
 the Indians on Plum creek, which defeated 
 them with great slaughter and recaptured a 
 vast amount of plunder. He was in a num- 
 ber of hotly contested fights with the Indians, 
 in one of which, the battle of Brushy, he 
 lost his brother, Jacob Burleson, who had 
 engaged the enemy before the general arrived. 
 
 " On one occasion a party of forty-five or 
 fifty Indians came into the settlements below 
 the town of Bastrop and stole a lot of horses 
 
 while the people were at church. A man 
 who had remained at home discovered them, 
 ran to church and gave the alarm. Burleson, 
 with only ten men, started in immediate pur- 
 suit and followed the trail that evening to 
 Piny creek near town. Next morning he 
 was reinforced by eight men, the pursuit was 
 continued and the enemy overtaken near the 
 Yegua, a small sluggish stream now in Lee 
 county. "When within about 200 yards of 
 them, Burleson called out to the Indians to 
 halt; they immediately did so, and, forming 
 themselves in regular order, like disciplined 
 troops, commenced firing by squads or plat- 
 oons. "When within sixty yards the battle 
 was opened by the Texans by the discharge 
 of Burleson's double-barreled shot-gun. The 
 conflict was of short duration. Six Indians 
 were killed, and the remainder fled into a 
 deep ravine enveloped in thickets and made 
 their escape. 
 
 " In 1841 General Burleson was elected 
 vice president of the Bepnblic, by a consid- 
 erable majority over Gent^ral Memucan Hunt. 
 At Monterey he was appointed by Governor 
 Henderson, then in personal command of the 
 Texas division, one of his aides-de-camp, and 
 in that capacity bore a distinguished and hon- 
 ored part in the fierce conflicts before that city. 
 
 "He died September 26, 1851, at the 
 capital of the State, while a member of the 
 senate then in session, and his death produced 
 a profound sensation throughout the country, 
 where his name had become as familiar as a 
 household word. Eloquent eulogies were 
 pronounced in both houses of the legislature 
 at his death." 
 
 An ambitious young village in Johnson 
 county, this State, a few miles north of Al- 
 varado and on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas 
 Railroad, is named in honor of the hero of 
 the foregoing memoir. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 John C. Hays, generally known as Colonel 
 " Jack " Hays, was a native, it is believed, 
 of Tennessee, and came to Texas when a 
 young man, bringing with him letters of 
 recommendation from prominent people to 
 President Houston. The latter soon gave 
 him a commission to raise a ranging cora- 
 |)any for the protection of the western frontier. 
 This company is supposed to be the first 
 regularly organized one in the service so far 
 in tin West. With this small company — 
 for it never numbered more than threescore 
 men — Colonel Hays effectually protected a 
 vast scope of the frontier reaching from 
 Corpus Christi on the gulf to the headwaters 
 of the Frio and Nueces rivers. With the 
 newly introduced five-shooting revolvers each 
 of his men was equal to about five or six 
 Mexicans or Indians. Although the colonel 
 was rather under the medium size, he was 
 wiry and active, well calculated to withstand 
 the hardships of frontier life. He was fre- 
 quently seen sitting before his camp fire in 
 a cold storm, apparently as unconcerned as if 
 in a hotel, and that, too, when perhaps he 
 had nothing for supper but a piece of hard- 
 tack or a few pecans. Although he was ex- 
 tremely cautious when the safety of his men 
 was concerned, he was extremely careless 
 when only his own welfare was in jeopardy. 
 
 He was elected colonel of a regiment of 
 mounted volunteers at the breaking out of 
 the Mexican war, and they did valiant service 
 at the storming of Monterey. Some time 
 after the war he moved to California, where 
 he finally died, a number of years ago. 
 
 As an example of Hays' heroism we cite 
 the following anecdote from Mr. Wilbarger's 
 work: In the fall of 1840 a party of Comanche 
 Indians numbering about 200 came into the 
 vicinity of San Antonio, stole a great many 
 horses and started off in the direction of the 
 
 Guadalupe river. Hays, with about twenty 
 of his men, followed in pursuit, overtaking 
 them at that river. Hiding in front, as was 
 his custom, the colonel was the first to dis- 
 cover the red rascals, and, riding back to his 
 men, he said, "Yonder are the Indians, boys, 
 and yonder are our horses. The Indians 
 are pretty strong, but we can whip them and 
 recapture the horses. What do you say?" 
 " Go ahead," the boys replied, " and we'll 
 follow if there's a thousand of them."" Come 
 on, then, boys," said Hays: and, putting 
 spurs to their horses, this little band of only 
 twenty men boldly charged upon the 200 
 wan-iors who M'ere waiting for them drawn 
 up in battle array. i 
 
 Seeing the small number of their assailants 
 the Indians were sure of victory, but Hays' 
 men poured shot among them so directly and 
 rapidly as to ciit down their ranks at a fear- 
 ful rate, killing even their chief, and the 
 Indians, frightened at what appeared to them 
 a power superior to man, fled in confusion. 
 Hays and his men followed for several miles, 
 killing even more of them and recovering 
 most of the stolen horses. 
 
 About a year afterward he was one of a 
 party of fifteen or twenty men employed to 
 survey land near what the Indians called 
 " The Enchanted Eock," in which, high up, 
 was a cavity large enough to contain several 
 men. Being attacked by Indians in this 
 vicinity, Colonel Hays, who was at some 
 distance from his party, ran up the hill and 
 took a position in this little hollow place, 
 determined to "sell his life at the dearest 
 price." He was well known to the Indians, 
 and they were anxious if possible to get his 
 scalp. Mounting the hill, they surrounded 
 the rock and prepared to charge upon him. 
 Hays was aware that his life depended more 
 upon strategy than courage, and reserved 
 
HISTORY OF TEXM. 
 
 his fire until it could do the most good. lie 
 lay behind a projection of the rock, with the 
 muzzle of his gun exposed to their vision, 
 and awaited the most opportune moment. 
 The savages meanwhile suspected that the 
 noted white warrior had a revolver besides, 
 and indeed he had two. The Indians yelled 
 with all their might, but our hero was too 
 well acquainted with that style of warfare to 
 be very badly frightened by it. 
 
 The red men, being ashamed of permitting 
 themselves to be beaten by one man, made a 
 desperate assault, and when the chief in 
 front approached sufficiently near the colonel 
 downed him with the first shot of his rifle. 
 In the next charge he did effective work with 
 a revolver, and soon the remainder of his own 
 men, who had been engaging the main body 
 of Indians, suspected that their commander 
 was hemmed in there, and turned upon the 
 Indians near by, immediately routing them. 
 A remarkable example of Colonel Hays' 
 generalship was exhibited in a little skirmish 
 in 1844, when, with fifteen of his company, 
 on a scouting expedition about eighty miles 
 from 8an Antonio, he came in sight of fifteen 
 Comanciies, who were mounted on good horses 
 and apparently eager for battle. As the 
 colonel and his men approached, the Indians 
 slowly retreated in the direction of an im 
 mense thicket, which convinced Hays that the 
 Indians they saw were but a part of a larger 
 number. He therefore restrained the ardor 
 of his men, who were anxious to charge upon 
 the Indians they saw, and took a circuitous 
 route around the thicket and drew up his 
 little force upon a ridge beyond a deep ra- 
 vine, in order to take advantage of some 
 position not looked for by the Indians. The 
 latter, seeing that they had failed to draw 
 the white party into the trap they had lai<l 
 for them, showed themselves, to the number 
 
 of seventy-five. Directly the rangers assailed 
 them on an unexpected side, made a furious 
 charge, with revolvers, etc. The battle lasted 
 nearly an hour, exhausting the ammunition 
 of the whites. The Comanche chief, perceiv- 
 ing this, rallied his warriors for a final eflbrt. 
 As they were advancing. Colonel Hays dis- 
 covered that the rifle of one of the rangers 
 was still loaded. He ordered him to dis- 
 mount at once and shoot the chief, and the 
 man did so, successfully. This so discour- 
 aged the Indians that they gave up the day. 
 In the battle above referred to, with the 
 main body of the Indians, the rangers lost 
 only two killed and five wounded, while 
 thirty Indians were left dead on the field. 
 For good generalship, as well as cool, un- 
 flinching bravery. Colonel Hays and his men 
 deserve the highest credit. The above fight 
 is certainly one of the most remarkable in 
 all Indian warfare. 
 
 In 1845, in encountering a large party of 
 Indians, Colonel Hays mounted a horse which 
 had more "heroism" or "foolhardiness" than 
 he anticipated, as it carried him, in spite of 
 all the rider could do, right through the 
 enemy, the main body of the Comanches. 
 This 80 astounded the Indians that they 
 actually gave way for him and another man 
 accompanying him, and the rest of the white 
 party rallied forward with a yell and with 
 their revolvers actually put the savages to 
 flightl 
 
 Not long after the above occurrence Hays, 
 with only fifteen men, encountered and 
 totally defeated the famous Comanche chief, 
 Yellow Wolf, who was at the head of eighty 
 warriors: the chief himself was slain. This 
 battle occurred at the Pinta crossing of the 
 Guadalupe river, between San Antonio and 
 Fredericksburg. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Captain James G. Swisiiee, in whose 
 lionor a county in this State is named, was 
 born in Knoxville, Tennessee, November 6, 
 1794. Joining John Donelson's company, 
 under General Jackson, he participated in tlie 
 battles of New Orleans on the night of Decem- 
 ber 23, 1814, and on January 8, 1815. He 
 came from near Franklin, Williamson county, 
 Tennessee, to Texas in 1838, and during the 
 following January he settled at the town of 
 Teiwxtitlan on the Brazos river, not now in 
 existence, but which up to tlie year 1832 
 had been garrisoned by 200 Mexican troops. 
 Swisher commenced life here with his family 
 apparently under the finest auspices, but in 
 a few months two Comanche Indians stole 
 most of his horses, which, however, he recov- 
 ered after a long journey in pursuit. 
 
 Captain Swisher was the father of James 
 M. Swisher and John M. Swisher, of Travis 
 county. The latter, known as Colonel " Milt." 
 Swislier, was in the employ of the Republic 
 from 1839 up to the time of annexation, and 
 from that time to 1856 in the employ of the 
 State. In 1841 he was chief clerk and acting 
 secretary of the treasury of the Eepublic, 
 and in 1847 was appointed auditor to settle 
 up the debts of the late Eepublic. 
 
 John L. "Wilbakgee, brother of the author 
 of "Indian Depredations in Texas," was born 
 in Matagorda county, Texas, November 29, 
 1829, and grew up in his parents' family in 
 Austin colony, inured to the roughness of 
 pioneer life. Having considerable talent he 
 became well qualified to manage the interests 
 of those exposed on the frontier; but before 
 he had opporttmity to exercise his talent to 
 a considerable degree he joined an expedi- 
 tion which eventually proved disastrous to 
 him. August 20, 1850, he and two other 
 young men were quietly pursuing their jour- 
 ney back to the command in Bastrop county 
 
 which they had left, when Indians attacked 
 them, shooting down the two other young 
 men at the first fire, and then Wilbarger, 
 after a chase of about two miles. One of 
 the young men (Neal), however, was not 
 killed, and succeeded in getting back home, ' 
 to tell the news. i 
 
 Colonel Geoeoe G. Aifoed, prominent in 
 the early history of the State, was born in 
 Cayuga, Seneca county, New York, June 19, 
 1793, reared on lakes Champlain and Cayuga, 
 that State, and served as lieutenant of artil- 
 lery under General Winfield Scott during 
 the second war with Great Britian, in 1811- 
 '13, participating in the battles of Queens- 
 town Heiglits, Lundy's Lane, etc. His 
 father, who was a cousin of General Ethan 
 Allen, of Revolutionary fame, had twelve 
 children. In 1815 the family removed to 
 Detroit, Michigan, then an obscure and 
 remote frontier Indian village, making the 
 trip in a small sail vessel, which was wrecked 
 at what is now the great city of Cleveland. 
 In 1819 he moved to New Madrid, Missouri, 
 the former capital of the Spanish province of 
 Louisiana, and there engaged in mercantile 
 pursuits. In 1821 he married Miss Jeannette 
 Lesieur, a sister of Hon. Godfrey Lesieur, 
 one of the oldest and wealthiest French set- 
 tlers of that section: she died, leaving liim 
 one daughter, Jeannette. About 1829 Col- 
 onel Alford married Miss Ann Bartield, of 
 Murfreesborough, Tennessee, born May 9, 
 1807, a descendant of Governor Badger, of 
 North Carolina. By this marriage there was 
 born Judge George Frederick Alford, now of 
 Dallas. 
 
 Wliile a resident of Missouri the Colonel 
 prospered and became wealthy, and served 
 with satisfaction to his constituents a term 
 in the State legislature. 
 
UIHTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 He came to Texas during the excitino; 
 titnes of the revolution, in 1835, and, still 
 inspired with the martial spirit of 1812, lie 
 entered zealously into the cause of Texan 
 independence. He joined the immortal band 
 under General Houston and participated in 
 the heroic struggles which culminated in the 
 battle of San Jacinto, which was so glorious 
 a victory for the Texans, securing for them 
 what they had unanimously so long sought 
 for, — independence. Soon after this battle 
 Colonel Alf'ord was sent by the provisional 
 government of the embryo republic to New 
 Orleans, for military supplies for the famish- 
 ing soldiery of Texas. Here he loaded two 
 vessels, and, returning on one of them, tlie 
 brig Julins CiEsar, he was captured by the 
 Mexican blockading fleet, under command of 
 Captain Jose V. Matios of the Mexican brig 
 of war General Teran, off Galveston harbor; 
 tl)e two vessels and cargoes were confiscated, 
 and tlie captives incarcerated in a loathsome 
 dungeon in Matamoras, Mexico; and Colonel 
 Alford and his brother. Major Johnson II. 
 Alford (who was returning to Texas with 
 liim), were condemmed to be shot; but they 
 were liberated, through the intercession of 
 Andrew Jackson, president of the United 
 States. 
 
 Colonel Alford returned to Missouri, set- 
 tled up his business, and in April, 1837, 
 moved his family and slaves to Texas, first 
 settling in the old Spanish pueblo of Nacog- 
 doches, and later in Crockett, the capital of 
 Houston county, and there he engaged in 
 planting, in mercantile pursuits and as judge, 
 until his death, April 1, 1847, his wife 
 having preceded him February 10, same 
 year. His death was deplored throughout 
 the young State, which he had served with 
 Spartan heroism. 
 
 John Henky Brown, a well informed his- 
 torian of Dallas and prominent in the annals 
 of Texas as a pioneer, legislator, soldier and 
 citizen, was born in Tike, county, Missouri, 
 October 29, 1820, five months before that 
 Territory became a State. Both his parents 
 were natives of Kentucky, and in favorable 
 financial circumstances. The family is and 
 has been for many generations famous for 
 patriotism and historical worth. The origin- 
 ator of the family in this country came across 
 the ocean in the time of Lord Baltimore. 
 
 John Henry was but four years old when 
 he heard, with all the intensity of earnest 
 childhood, of the charms of Texas. As he 
 grew up he learned the art of printing. His 
 first residence in Texas was with his uncle, 
 Major James Kerr, on the Lavaca river. 
 When Austin was laid out, in 1839, he 
 repaired thither in search of employment as 
 a printer, and obtained a favorable introduc- 
 tion to the principal statesmen of the place, 
 who used their influence in his favor, and he 
 obtained a good situation. The next year or 
 two he engaged in several expeditions against 
 raiding Indians. In 1813 he returned to 
 Missouri and married Miss Mary Mitchel, of 
 Groton, Connecticut. The following winter 
 he suffered with "black-tongue," a fever 
 that brought him to death's door. Recover- 
 ing and returning to Texas, he was engaged 
 on the Victoria Advocate. When the militia 
 of the new State was organized, in 18-16, he 
 was appointed brigade major of the South- 
 west, with the rank of colonel, which position 
 he held four years. In February, 1848, he 
 removed to the new town of Indianola, and 
 until 1854 was a zealous worker in various 
 positions of trust, and also edited the In- 
 dianola Bulletin. During this time he was 
 a contributor to De Bow's Review, on the 
 subject of "Early Life in the Southwest." 
 
n I STORY OP TEXAS. 
 
 In 1854 he purchased an interest in and 
 became co-editor of the Galveston Civilian, 
 where he did most of the responsible work, 
 on account of the absence of the principal 
 editor. He exhibited such ability that he 
 was at length elected to the legislature. He 
 was a talented speaker on the political ros- 
 trum, but in the legislature his speeches were 
 never over five minutes in length. Next he 
 was elected mayor of Galveston, where he 
 gave eminent satisfaction, for two terms, and 
 again he was returned to the legislature. 
 
 Receiving an injury by a fall his health 
 began to decline, and he changed his occupa- 
 tion to that of stock-raising, but at length he 
 again became editor, this time of the Belton 
 Democrat, and in 1861 he was elected a mem- 
 ber of the secession convention, without a 
 single vote being cast in opposition. During 
 the war he served on General Ben McCul- 
 loch's staff', and on that of General H. E. 
 McCulloch, and on account of failing health 
 he returned home. During these years he 
 had two surgical operations performed upon 
 himself. 
 
 Next he moved to Mexico, where he was 
 appointed commissioner of immigration by the 
 imperial government; in 1866 he received a 
 commission to explore the country along the 
 Panuco river; in the spring of 1869 he vis- 
 ited Texas and the East in relation to the 
 purchase of improved arms for the Mexican 
 government; and in 1870 he delivered a 
 hundred addresses in the Northern States in 
 aid of a reform society in Mexico. He re- 
 joined his family in Indianola, in January, 
 1871, and July following he moved to Dal- 
 las, where he has since resided. Here in 
 1872 he was elected once more to the State 
 legislature; in 1875 a member of the State 
 constitutional convention; in 1880-'81 he 
 was revising editor of the " Encyclopedia of I 
 
 the New West;" and the three following 
 years he was alderman, mayor or local judge 
 in Dallas. 
 
 During all this time he" has been industri- 
 ously writing as an author or compiler. He 
 now has prepared two large works for publi- 
 cation : History of Texas from 1685 to 1892, 
 in two large volumes, and "The Indian Wars 
 and Pioneers of Texas." In the latter at 
 least 3,000 names of early pioneers, Avho 
 largely clothed, fed and in war mounted 
 themselves for their unpaid services, will ap- 
 pear to prove that no country was ever set- 
 tled, reclaimed, populated and defended by a 
 braver, more unselfish and patriotic people. 
 
 EDUCATIONAL. 
 
 Previous to independence Texas had scarcely 
 any schools worth mentioning. The munici- 
 pality of Bejar had supported a school for a 
 short time, and there had been a private 
 school near Brazoria, with thirty or forty 
 pupils, supported by subscription, and pri- 
 mary schools at Nacogdoches, San Augustine 
 and Jonesburg. Those colonists who conld 
 afford the expense sent their children abroad 
 for education, while the rest, the masses, did 
 not care for education. 
 
 As soon as Texas declared her independ- 
 ence of Mexico, she declared in her constitu- 
 tion the necessity of a school system. In 
 1839 the congress of the new republic as- 
 signed three leagues of land to each organ- 
 ized county, and in the following year an 
 additional league, for the purpose of estab- 
 lishing primary schools. At the same time 
 fifty leagues were devoted to the establish- 
 ment of two colleges or universities, to be 
 thereafter created. In February, 1840, a 
 law was passed making the chief justice of 
 each county, with the two associate justices, 
 
UI8T0RT OF TEXAS. 
 
 a Iioanl of scliooi commissioners, as an ex- 
 I'ciitive body, and under tlioir supervision 
 iniiny tcliools wore organized and conducted. 
 In 1850 there were 349 public schools, with 
 ;J00 teachers and 7,746 pupils. By 1860 
 there wei'e 1,218 schools, with a correspond- 
 ing increase of teachers and pupils. But 
 I'ven yet the schools were not entirely sup- 
 ported hy public ta.\. Considering the many 
 pclilical revulsions, Indian depreciations, etc., 
 to which the State of Texas has been subject, 
 it is remarkable to observe the advance she 
 has n)ade in education and the refinements 
 of modern civilized life. The last civil war 
 was, of course, the greatest interruption to 
 her progress in all directions. Under the 
 constitution of 1866, all funds, lands and 
 other property previously set apart for the 
 support of the free-school system were re- 
 dedicated as a perpetual fund. It further- 
 more devoted to that fund all the alternate 
 sections of land reserved out of grants to 
 railroad companies and other corporations, 
 together with one-half of the proceeds of all 
 future sales of public lands. The legislature 
 was deprived of the power to loan any por- 
 tion of the school fund, and required to in- 
 vest the specie principal in United States 
 bonds, or such bonds as the State might 
 guarantee; and it was authorized to levy a 
 tax for educational purposes, special provision 
 being made that all sums arising from taxes 
 collected from Africans, or persons of Afri- 
 can descent, should be exclusively appropri- 
 at.ed to the maintenance of a system of public 
 schools for the black race. Provision for the 
 university was renewed; a superintendent of 
 pniilic instruction was directed to be ap- 
 pointed by the governor, who, with himself 
 and comptroller, should constitute a board of 
 education and have the general management 
 of the perpetual fund and common schools. 
 
 The constitution of 1868 did not materially 
 alter these provisions, excei)t in one marked 
 j)articular, namely, the sigiiiticant omission 
 of the provision appropriating the taxes paid 
 by colored persons for the support of schools 
 for their children. The schools were made 
 free to all. The article in the constitution 
 reads: "It shall be the duty of the legisla- 
 ture of this State to make suitable provisions 
 for the support and maintenance of a system 
 of public free schools, for the gratuitous in- 
 struction of all the inhabitaiits of this State 
 between the ages of six and eighteen." 
 
 Since the adoption of the constitution of 
 1808, improvements have been constantly 
 made, either by constitutional provision or 
 legislation, until now, when the State has as 
 good a school system as any in the (Jnion. 
 
 Under the topic of public education are 
 included: 
 
 1. The Common-School System. 
 
 2. The Normal Schools. 
 
 3. The University of Texas. 
 
 The Common-School System embraces: 
 
 1. Eural Schools. 
 
 2. Independent School Districts (cities and 
 towns). 
 
 The Rural Schools are organized in two 
 ways: 
 
 (A) Districts. 
 
 (B) Communities. 
 
 The districts are formed by the commis- 
 sioners' courts, have geographical boundaries, 
 and may vote a levy of local school tax not 
 exceeding two mills. One hundred and thirty 
 counties are thus districted, and about three 
 per cent, of the districts levy local taxes. 
 The average school term for the year 18y0-'yi 
 was 5.25 months in the districts; the average 
 salary paid teachers was $228.05, and 90 per 
 cent, of the children within scholastic age were 
 enrolled in school some tim» during the year. 
 
BISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 181 
 
 In sevonty-five counties the schools are 
 operated on a peculiar plan called the coui- 
 ninnity system. Tiie community has no 
 geographical boundaries, and enrollment on 
 the community list is a matter of local enter- 
 prise. Local taxes can be levied in commu- 
 nity counties, but the plan is cumbrous and 
 rather inefficient. The average school term 
 in these counties for 1890-'91 was 4.71 
 months; the average salary of teachers was 
 1202.76, and the percentage of enrollment 
 on the scholastic population 88. 
 
 The cities and towns of the State may be 
 constituted independent districts on a ma- 
 jority vote of the people of the municipality. 
 Independent districts may vote a levy of local 
 school tax not exceeding five mills. There 
 are 127 of these districts in the State, includ- 
 ing all of the larger and many of the smaller 
 towns. The average school terra in these 
 districts in 1890-'91 was 7.48 months, the 
 average annual salary of teachers $447.97, 
 and the per centage of enrollment 81.3. 
 These districts are independent of the county 
 school officers, and receive the State appor- 
 tionment direct from the State Treasurer. 
 
 The State endowment of the common 
 schools is large. About 17,427,808.75 in 
 interest-bearing bonds, more than $14,380,- 
 906.37 in interest-bearing land notes, and 
 about 20,000,000 acres of unsold lands con- 
 stitute the State endowment. Of the unsold 
 school lands a large amount is leased at 4 
 cents per acre, and the funds thus derived 
 added to the annual available school fund. 
 
 Besides the State endowment fund, each 
 county has been granted by the State four 
 leagues of land, which constitute county en- 
 dowment. As these lands are sold the funds 
 received are invested under the authority of 
 the county commissioners' court, and the in- 
 terest on the investment is annually applied 
 
 to the support of the schools. A consider- 
 able portion of these lands is leased for vary- 
 ing terms of years, and the rental applied as 
 the rental of the State school lands. These 
 lands are under the exclusive control of the 
 county authorities; 3,896,640 acres have 
 been thus granted to counties, and a reserva- 
 tion has been made from the public domain 
 for the unorganized counties. 
 
 In addition to the interest on bonds and 
 land notes and rental from leases, the State 
 levies an annual ad-valorem school tax of one 
 and one-quarter mills, devotes one-fourth of 
 the occupation taxes, and an annual poll tax 
 of $1 to the available school fund. The en- 
 tire amount of available apportioned school 
 fund for the year 1890-'91 was $2,545,524, 
 and the total receipts by local treasurers, in- 
 cluding balances from the previous jear, were 
 ^■3,958,316.07. The disbursements for the 
 same year amounted to $3,551,442.53. 
 
 AVAILABLE SCHOOL POND ACCOUNT. 
 RECEIPTS. 
 
 Amount brought forward from previous 
 
 year $ 357,69176 
 
 Amount from State apportionment 2,538,707 05 
 
 Amount from county scliool (available) 
 
 fund 375,806 15 
 
 Amount from local school taxes 469,393 23 
 
 Amount from all other sources 215,257 64 
 
 Amount paid in excess of receipts 49,367 09 
 
 Total receipts $4,006,231 92 
 
 DISBURSEMENTS. 
 
 Cash paid to teachers $2,878,027 79 
 
 Cash paid for supervision of schools 100,609 88 
 
 Cash paid for building schoolhouses 153,417 89 
 
 Cash paid for rent of schoolhouses 33,726 65 
 
 C'asli paid lor repair on schoolhouses . . . 63,456 0> 
 Cash paid for furniture for use of school- 
 houses 61,6.37 59 
 
 Cash paid for all other purposes 277,807 18 
 
132 HISTORY 
 
 Casli paid treasurer for commissions 28,376 09 
 
 Total amount of expenditures |;3,.J9G,059 15 
 
 Balance on iiand 410,102 77 
 
 Total $1,000,221 92 
 
 AVEllAQB SALARY PAID TEACHEUB. 
 
 Gcneml 
 White. Colored. Average. 
 
 Average salary per month for 
 male teachers iu community 
 counties ^jO 34 |10 17 $49 35 
 
 Average salary per month of 
 lemale teachers in commun- 
 ity counties 40 00 34 55 39 65 
 
 General average salary per 
 month of all teachers in dis- 
 trict counties 45 52 
 
 Average salary per month of 
 teachers in community coun- 
 ties— males 47 61 48 57 46 75 
 
 Average salary per month of 
 teachers in community coun- 
 ties—females 36 35 34 13 37 16 
 
 General average salary per 
 month of teachers in com- 
 munity counties 43 05 
 
 Average salary per month of 
 teachers in cities and towns 
 -males 81 27 53 93 71 08 
 
 Average salary per month of 
 teachers in cities and towns 
 —females 48 30 38 33 45 51 
 
 General monthly average salary of all teachers 
 
 iu cities and iudependent districts $ 59 02 
 
 General annual average salary of teachers in 
 cities and iudependent districts 447 86 
 
 SCHOLASTIC POPULATION AND STATE APPORTIONMENT. 
 
 Total. AppropriHtioDB. 
 
 White males 225,017 ) 4.^0 341 $1 06^,534 50 
 
 While lemales 211,334) ' ■• > • 
 
 Colored ijialcs 74,262 i j^, ^g^ gg^ 733 ^ 
 
 Colored lemales... 73,342) 
 
 Grand total 583,835 $2,627,257 50 
 
 Total population of counties out- 
 side of cities 472,773 2,127,478 50 
 
 To al population of cities and in- 
 dependent districts 111,062 499,779 00 
 
 Grand total 583,835 $2,627,257 50 
 
 149 district counties without 
 ciiie. 282,049 $1,269,220 50 
 
 74 community counties without 
 cities 190,734 858,258 00 
 
 140 cities and independent dis- 
 tricts 111,002 499,779 00 
 
 Grand total , 
 
 ..583,835 $2,027,257 50 
 
 SAM HOUSTON STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 
 
 In 1879 the Normal Scliool was estab- 
 lished by the State of Te.xas for the purpose 
 of training competent teachers for the public 
 schools. Regarding the Normal School as 
 the heart of the public-school system, it was 
 decided to name the proposed institution the 
 " Sam Houston Normal Institute," in honor 
 of the hero of Texas independence. Houston 
 had spent the evening of his eventful life in 
 Iluntsville. Here was his neglected grave. 
 As an everlasting monument to the honored 
 dead the Normal School was located at 
 Huntsvillc. On the Ist of October, 1879, 
 the institute opened, with Bernard Mallon 
 as principal. Coming here, he had said that 
 he would make this his last and best work. 
 But the life of this great man, so much loved 
 and so much honored, was near its close. 
 On the 21st of the same month in which the 
 school opened he entered upon his rest. II. 
 II. Smith succeeded Professor Mallon, and 
 continued in charge of the school to the close 
 of the second session. The third annual ses- 
 sion opened on the 2Gth of September, 1881, 
 with J. Baldwin as principal. The school 
 has generally prospered, and is in the high- 
 est sense a State school for educating teach- 
 ers. The school is greatly indebted for its 
 establisliment and success to the liberality of 
 the trustees of the Feabody education fund. 
 The general agents, Dr. B. Sears and Dr. J. 
 L. M. Curry, have done everything possible 
 to foster and build up a normal school 
 worthy of the great State of Texas. 
 
UI STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 133 
 
 The school is strictly professional, and its 
 aim is to qualify teachers in the Lest possible 
 manner for the work of tlie schuol-rooiu. 
 
 FIKST DECAUK. 
 
 Enn.llpd. GMKlniitP<l. 
 
 1879-'80 110 ... iir 
 
 1880-'81 144 ... uo 
 
 1881-'82 Ki". ... 73 
 
 1882-'83 I'JO ... 77 
 
 1883-84 .* 200 ... 101 
 
 1884-'85 20)*, ... lis 
 
 1885-'86 215 ... 138 
 
 1886-'87 212 ... 13(> 
 
 1887-'88 2^4 ... 147 
 
 1888-'89 2il7 ... 1G8 
 
 1890-'91 320 ... 78 
 
 No effort has been made to secure large 
 numbers, but rather the best material for 
 making efHcient teachers. None are admitted 
 under seventeen years of age, or who do not 
 possess a good knowledge of the common 
 branches. All students sign a pledge to 
 teach in the public schools of the State. 
 
 The standard for aditiission has been 
 steadily raised as the educational agencies of 
 the State have become more etticient. The 
 aim is to make this strictly a jirofessional 
 school for preparing trained teachers for the 
 public schools of Texas. Academic instruc- 
 tion is given only so far as they find it a])so- 
 lutely necessary; and this necessity, we are 
 pleased to say, steadily diminishes from year 
 to year, as the public schools, high schools 
 and colleges of the State become more thor- 
 ough in their instruction. 
 
 "With the session beginning September 17, 
 1889, the school entered upon its second dec- 
 ade, with an enrollment of over 300 stu- 
 dents. The school having outgrown its ac- 
 commodations, the twenty-iirst legislature, 
 
 with wise liberality, appropriated $40,000 to 
 erect an additional building. The new build- 
 ing has been erected and is now occupied. It 
 is a model school building, with all the mod- 
 em appliances, and furnishes ample accom- 
 modations for 500 students. 
 
 Tliis institution is under control of the 
 State Hiiard of Education, composed of the 
 Governor, Comptroller of Public Accounts 
 and Secretary of State, who will appoint a 
 local board for its immediate supervision. 
 Value of buildings and grounds. . .$105,000 
 Value of library and apparatus... 15,000 
 
 Total . 
 
 , 1120,000 
 
 Total appropriations for support 
 
 from organization to date $236,000 
 
 Donations from Feabody fund .... 50,000 
 
 PRAIRIE VIEW STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 
 
 This institution is located six miles east of 
 Hempstead, in AValler county. It is a branch 
 of the Agricultural and Mechanical College 
 of Texas, and under the government of the 
 Board of Directors of that school. Orig- 
 inally it was designed for an industrial school, 
 but the lack of education among the colored 
 people of the State, and the pressing need of 
 trained teachers for the colored schools, led 
 to a change of objects, and it was therefore 
 converted into a normal school for training 
 colored teachers. The constant and steadily 
 increasing patronage it has since received is 
 the best evidence of the wisdom of the 
 change— the session of 1888-'89 having the 
 largest attendance and being the most pros- 
 perous in the history of the institution. 
 Since its establishment 757 teachers have 
 received more or less professional training, 
 and a large number of them are occupying 
 influential and profitable positions in the 
 
n I STORY OP TEXAS. 
 
 |)nblic free schools of the State. Tlie teacli- 
 f^rs are all colored people, wlio have thns far 
 governed the school with credit to themselves 
 and the entire satisfaction of the Board of 
 Directors. The institution is supported by 
 direct appropriations from the general rev- 
 enues of tlie State, and one State student 
 from each senatorial district and fifteen from 
 the State at large are admitted and taught 
 free of charge. A limited number of pay 
 students are admitted, and receive books and 
 tuition free. Pay students are charged $10 
 per month for board. All students are re- 
 required to pay a matriculation fee of 555, and 
 a fee of $2 for medical attention. 
 
 Tiie regular course of study covers a 
 period of three years, and leads to a diploma 
 which, in addition to evidencing the holder's 
 literary attainments, has the value of a teach- 
 er's certificate of the first grade. Certificates 
 of competency are issued to such students as 
 do satisfactory work in the middle classes, 
 entitling tiiem to the compensation of sec- 
 ond grade teachers in the public schools. 
 
 Tiie continued growth of this school, and 
 demand of the colored people of the State 
 for opportunity to secure agricultural and 
 mechanical education, induced the twentieth 
 legislature to make an appropriation of SIO,- 
 (tOO to enable the Board of Directors to in- 
 augurate the industrial features of the school. 
 A<-comnK>dation8 have recently been pro- 
 vided fur thirty-eight students to receive 
 instruction in carpentry under a practical 
 teacher. Theoretical and practical agricul- 
 ture form an important branch of study, and 
 the farm and garden worked by the students 
 in this department contribute largely to the 
 iiL'i'ds of the mess hall. A sewing-room, 
 provided with the latest improved sewing 
 niacliines and other equipments, has been 
 placed in charge of a competent instructress 
 
 in the art of cutting, sewing and fitting, and 
 such of the young ladies as desire a practical 
 knowledge of this art have an ojjportunity to 
 acquire it during their course of study. 
 
 The institution is open to both sexes. 
 
 Applicants must be sixteen years old and 
 residents of the State, and are required to 
 sign a pledge to teach as many sessions in 
 the free schools as they may attend the Nor- 
 mal School. 
 
 State students must sustain a satisfactory 
 examination in arithmetic as far as decimal 
 fractions, orthography, English grammar, En- 
 glish composition and history of the United 
 States. 
 
 Students furnish their own bedding, except 
 mattresses and pillows. 
 
 Value of buildings and grounds. . .$100,000 
 Yalue of library and apparatus .... 7,000 
 
 AGKICOLTUEAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE OF 
 
 TEXAS. 
 
 This institution owes its foundation and 
 endowment to the act of the United States 
 Congress, approved July 2, 1862, amended 
 July 23, 18G5, and to a joint resolution of 
 the legislature of Texas, approved November 
 1, 1806, and an act of the same body ap- 
 proved April 17, 1871. Under these acts 
 and the special laws of the legislature grow- 
 incr out of them, the first board of directors 
 met at Austin, July 16, 1875, and proceeded 
 to organize the college. Finally the consti- 
 tution of 1876, article VII, provided that 
 the Agricultural and Mechanical College of 
 Texas, established by the act of the legisla- 
 ture passed April 17, 1871, located in the 
 county of Brazos, is "hereby made and con- 
 stituted a branch of the University of Texas, 
 for the instruction in agriculture, the me- 
 chanic arts, and the natural sciences con- 
 nected therewith." 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 The college was formally opened for the 
 reception of students October 4, 1870. 
 
 The constitution of Texas provides that 
 taxes may be raised for the maintenance and 
 support of the college. 
 
 The college is situated at College Station, 
 in the county of Brazos, five miles south of 
 Bryan and ninety-five miles northwest of 
 Houston. The Houston & Texas Central 
 railroad runs through the grounds, daily trains 
 stopping at the station about 800 yards from 
 the main building. 
 
 The government of the college is vested in 
 a board of directors, consisting of live mem- 
 bers, appointed by the governor of the State. 
 They are " selected from different sections of 
 the State, and hold ofHce for six years, or dur- 
 ing good behavior, and until their successors 
 are qualified." 
 
 In November, 1866, the legislature for- 
 mally accepted from Congress thegiftof 180,- 
 000 acres of public land for the endowment 
 of an agricultural and meclianieal college. 
 This land was sold for §174,000, which sum 
 was invested in 7 per cent. State bonds. As 
 under the act of congress neither principal 
 nor interest of this money could be used for 
 otlior purposes than the payment of officers' 
 salaries, at the time of the opening of the 
 college there was an addition to tiie fund, 
 from accumulated interest, of $35,000. This 
 was invested in 6 percent, bonds of the State, 
 thus furnishing an annual income of$14, 280. 
 
 The county of Brazos donated to the col- 
 lege 2,416 acres of land lying on each side of 
 the Houston & Texas Central railroad. 
 
 The act of Congress which established the 
 State agricultural and mechanical colleges 
 defines their objects. But under that act 
 there have been founded as many different 
 schools as there are States. These institutions 
 have presented a variety of educational 
 
 schemes which have embraced nearly all gra- 
 dations from the classical and mathematical 
 col'ege to the manual labor industrial school. 
 In view of this fact it is proper to state, as 
 definitely as possible, the interpretation given 
 to the act of Congress by the authorities of 
 this college, and the manner in which they 
 are endeavoring to carry out its provisions. 
 
 The general object of this college is to ex- 
 cite and foster in the minds of our people an 
 enthusiastic appreciation of the attractiveness 
 and value of those pursuits by which the ma- 
 terial development of the country is advanced. 
 
 It is the business of this college to turn 
 the attention of our young men from the 
 overcrowded " learned professions " to those 
 occupations which have brought abundant 
 wealth and power to other States, and which 
 are beginning now to attract and well repay 
 the services of trained young men in Texas. 
 
 These objects are sought to be attained 
 by a thorough course of instruction in math- 
 ematics and natural science, with continual 
 application of principles to work in the shops, 
 fields, gardens, vineyards, orchards, pastures, 
 dairies, and other laboratories; by relying 
 upon text-books as little as possible, and 
 leading the students to seek information di- 
 rectly from observation and experiment; by 
 inculcating the dignity of intelligent labor — 
 banishing the idea that the farmer or mechanic 
 who is worthy of the name need be any less 
 learned than the professional man; and by 
 inducing in the mind of the student an en- 
 thusiastic love of nature and the study of 
 natural laws, whereby agricultural and me- 
 chanical processes become invested with ab- 
 sorbing interest, and are pursued in a spirit 
 which leads to progress and success. 
 
 To enter the college an applicant must be 
 in his sixteenth year, or at least must have 
 attained a degree of physical and mental ad- 
 
HIBTURT OF TEX AH. 
 
 vaiiceinoiit correspondinf? to that age. He 
 in list be free from contagious or infections 
 iliseases or any deformity that would unfit 
 liiin for tlie performance of his duties as a 
 student of this college. He maybe required 
 to furnish evidence that he has not been dis- 
 missed from another institution of learning, 
 and that his moral character is good. The 
 mental attainments necessary for entering 
 upon the courses of study comprise a fair 
 knowledge of arithmetic as far as proportion, 
 of descriptive geography, and of elementary 
 English grammar and composition. 
 
 The regular courses of study lead to the 
 ijejijrees of bachelor of scientific agriculture, 
 buchelor of mechanical engineering, bache- 
 lor of civil engineering, and bachelor of 
 scientific horticulture. Thorough instruc- 
 tion, theoretical and practical, is given in the 
 departments of mathematics, agriculture, 
 mechanics, civil engineering, horticuUiire, 
 chemistry, English, veterinary science and 
 drawing; courses in modern languages; 
 ppocial short courses in agriculture, horticul- 
 ture, dairying, carpentry, blacksmithing, ma- 
 chitier^', chemistry, drawing and surveying. 
 
 Total expenses for session (exclusive of 
 books and clothing), $140. 
 
 There are in the agricultural museum 419 
 
 'US of Texas wood, all numbered and 
 
 lalx'led, also 208 jars of soil from the different 
 enmities of the State, all of which are properly 
 arraiif^ed in cases. 
 
 Grounds and buildings are valued at $2(50,- 
 000; equipment, including stock, machinery, 
 apparatus, library, etc., $75,000. 
 
 AOUn-UI.TL'RAL EXPEKIMENT STATION OF TlIE 
 
 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE 
 
 OF TEXAS, COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS. 
 
 In 1887 Congress made provision for es- 
 tablishing, equipping and supporting agri- 
 
 cultural experimental stations in the several 
 States, the stations to be placed under the 
 supervision of the boards of directors of the 
 State agricultural and mechanical colleges, 
 where such colleges have been established. 
 
 The act of Congress appropriates $15,000 
 per annum from the United States treasury, 
 to each State, to equip and support the sta- 
 tions. Owing to some technical defect in the 
 bill as passed, additional legislation was re- 
 quired to make the fund available. By recent 
 enactment the appropriation is placed at the 
 disposal of the several States, and the stations 
 are being organized. 
 
 The purposes for which the Agricultural 
 Experimental Station bill was passed is clearly 
 set forth in section 2 of the act, which reads 
 as follows: 
 
 " It shall be the object and duty of said 
 experiment stations to conduct original re- 
 searches or verify experiments on the phys- 
 iology of plants and animals; the diseases to 
 which they are severally subject, with tlie 
 remedies for the same; the chemical compo- 
 sition of useful plants at their different stages 
 of growth; the comparative advantages of 
 rotative cropping as furnished under a vary- 
 ing series of crops; the capacity of new plants 
 or trees for acclimation; the analysis of soils 
 and water; the chemical composition of ma- 
 nures, natural or artificial, with experiments 
 designed to test their comparative effect on 
 crops of different kinds; the adaptation and 
 value of grasses and forage plants; the com- 
 position and digestibility of the different 
 kinds of food for domestic animals; the scien- 
 tific and economic questions involved in tlie 
 production of butter and cheese; and such 
 other researches or experiments bearing di- 
 rectly on the agricultural industry of the 
 United States as may in each case he deemed 
 advisable. " 
 
HISTORY OF TEXA8. 
 
 The bill further provides that reports of 
 the progress made in experiments shall he 
 published from time to time, one copy of 
 which shall be sent to each newspaper pub- 
 lished in the State where snch station is lo- 
 cated, and one to each individual actually- 
 engaged in farming who may request the 
 same, as far as the means of the station will 
 permit; all such reports to be carried in the 
 mails free. 
 
 The experiment stations were placed under 
 the supervision of the boards of directors of 
 the agricultural and mechanical eolleo-es, 
 not for the purpose of assisting the colleges, 
 but because it was thought the fund would 
 be most judiciously expended under such 
 control, and it was believed that a portion of 
 the equipment of said colleges, in the way of 
 land, stock, implements, etc., might, withoiit 
 detriment to the work of the colleges, be used 
 to some extent in experimental work. It 
 was thought also that men employed at the 
 colleges, many of whom have become skilled 
 in experimental work, would be able to give 
 part of their time to the station. 
 
 The bill expressly provides that no part of 
 the fund appropriated shall be nsed for any 
 purpose other than equipping and supporting 
 an establishment for carrying on experi- 
 mental work. While the stations may be 
 attached to the agricultural colleges and be 
 made departments of the same, no part of 
 this fund may be used in support of the col- 
 leges except in experimental work. 
 
 The Texas Experiment Station. — In ac- 
 cordance with the act of Congress, the board 
 of directors of the Agricultural and Mechan- 
 ical College of Texas have established this 
 station, and have made provision for be- 
 ginning the work. Tlie station is located at 
 the college, and is made a department of the 
 college. Such part of the college farm, build- j 
 
 ings and other equipments as may be deemed 
 necessary for experimental work will be as- 
 signed to the station department by the board 
 of directors. In addition to the equipment 
 assigned, whatever buildings, apparatus or 
 other materials are found necessary to carry 
 out the provisions of the law will be provided 
 from the experiment station fund. 
 
 Tlie board of directors of the college have 
 placed the station department under the im- 
 mediate control of the Agricultural Experi- 
 ment Station Council, consisting of the chair- 
 man of the faculty, the agent of the board 
 and the director of the station. The depart- 
 ments of agriculture, horticulture, cheraisti-y 
 and veterinary science will aid in the experi- 
 mental work, the heads of the departments to 
 superintend the details in their several de- 
 partments. 
 
 The board of directors of the college desire 
 to make the work of the station of as much 
 value to the agricultural interests of the State 
 as may be possible. The work will be con- 
 ducted at all times with special reference to 
 giving information of value that may be of 
 some practical use to the farmer. To enable 
 them to carry out this policy, all associations 
 having the advancement of agriculture in 
 view — the Grange, Alliance, stock-breeders', 
 fruit-growers', and other organizations — will 
 be invited from time to time to appoint dele- 
 gates to meet with the board of directors and 
 the council, and consult and advise with them 
 in regard to the work of the station. Sug- 
 gestions will be gladly received at all times 
 from any one who is interested in advancing 
 the agricultural interests of the State. 
 
 Through the courtesy of the State Peni- 
 tentiary board, branch stations have been 
 established on the State farms for making 
 experiments of interest to the particular 
 localities where the farms are situated. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Following is a list of the most important 
 investigations so far as undertaken by the 
 station: 
 
 A study of the disease of the cotton plant 
 known as "blight," or "root rot," and experi- 
 ments to find a preventive for the same; 
 jointly with the Missouri Agricultural Ex- 
 periment Station, a study of the cattle disease 
 — Texas fever — to determine how the disease 
 is transmitted, what parts of the State are 
 free from it, and experiments in disinfecting 
 to prevent cattle from spreading the disease 
 when Texas cattle are shipped north, and 
 inoculating cattle to protect from the disease 
 when brought into the State; testing differ- 
 ent fertilizers; growing a variety of forage 
 plants, including silage crops; fattening cattle 
 on different rations to determine the most 
 economical method of feeding; testing a 
 variety of food stuffs for the production of 
 butter; testing tile drains on laud used for 
 growing farm, fruit and vegetable crops; 
 testing a variety of grasses, fruits and vege- 
 tables; operating a creamery for investiga- 
 tion in dairy work. 
 
 Bulletins are published from time to time, 
 giving in detail the work of the station, and 
 sent free to any applicant in the State. 
 
 Information in regard to construction of 
 silos, farm buildings, creameries, with plans 
 for the same, and list of machinery and esti- 
 mate as to the cost, will be supplied upon 
 request. 
 
 STATE TJNITEESITT. 
 
 The University of Texas owes its existence 
 to the wisdom, foresight and statesmanship 
 of the founders of the Republic of Texas, 
 who made the most ample provision for its 
 establishment and maintenance in the legis- 
 lation of that period. By an act of the Third 
 
 Congress fifty leagues of land were set apai-t 
 as an endowment to the university. The 
 legislature of Texas, by an act approved Feb- 
 ruary 11, 1858, added to this $100,000 in 
 United States bonds then in the State treas- 
 ury, and every tenth section of land granted 
 or that migiit be thereafter granted to rail- 
 roads or the Brazos and Galveston Naviga- 
 tion Company, which was to be used as an 
 endowment and for the purpose of putting 
 the university into operation. This act was, 
 however, never carried out, doubtless on ac- 
 count of the intervention of the civil war. 
 The constitution of 1876 re-appropriated all 
 grants before made except the one-tenth 
 section, and in lieu thereof set apart 1,000,- 
 000 acres of the unappropriated public do- 
 main for the university. 
 
 The legislature, by an act approved March 
 30, 1881, provided for the location, organ- 
 ization and government of the University of 
 Texas, and in obedience to that act an elec- 
 tion was held the first Tuesday in Septem- 
 ber, 188^, to determine where the institution 
 should be located, resulting in favor of Aus- 
 tin, the capital of the State. 
 
 The buildings are situated about three- 
 quarters of a mile north of the State capitol, 
 on an imposing site in the center of a forty- 
 acre tract of land set apart by the Third 
 Congress of the Republic of Texas for that 
 purpose, and were opened for the reception 
 of students September 15, 1883. Thus was 
 the long cherished desire of the fathei-s of 
 Texas, and the wishes of the people so often 
 expressed in the various State constitutions, 
 at last attained. 
 
 The university is governed by a board or 
 regents composed of eight citizens, residents 
 of different sections of the State, who are ap- 
 pointed by the governor and confirmed by 
 the senate. By an act of the legislature ap- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 proved April 10, 1883, 1,000,000 acres of the 
 public debt land were added to tlie permanent 
 university fund. 
 
 Of the various land grants made to the 
 university, there remained unsold 2,020,049 
 acres on December 31, 1891. The perma- 
 nent fund consists of : State bonds, |571,- 
 240; cash, $24.01. Total, $571,2fi4.01; avail- 
 able fund (cash), $19,548.85. Grand total, 
 $590,812.86. 
 
 The interest on the above sum, rental on 
 leased lands, and matriculation fees, amount- 
 ing to $45,100.78 per annum, constitute the 
 available university fund. 
 
 The system of instruction adopted by tbe 
 university is a combination of what is known 
 as the elective system and what is known as 
 the class system. The four classes — fresh- 
 man, sophomore, junior and senior — are re- 
 tained, and serve to articulate the four years 
 devoted to the completion of any full course 
 in the academic department. The studies, 
 however, are grouped into three general 
 courses, designated, respectively, the course 
 in arts, the course in letters, and the course 
 in science. A student upon matriculation is 
 allowed to elect any one of these courses, 
 and upon its completion he is entitled to a 
 diploma of the university. 
 
 The three general courses of arts, letters 
 and science lead respectively to the three fol- 
 lowing degrees: Bachelor of arts (B. A.); 
 bachelor of letters (B. Lit.); bachelor of 
 science (B. Sc). Each special course leads 
 to the same degree as the general course to 
 which it is related. 
 
 Every candidate for admission must be 
 sixteen years of age and of good moral char- 
 acter. Candidates (except a graduate from 
 an approved high school) are required to pass 
 an entrance examination in English and 
 mathematics as follows: English — English 
 
 grammar, etymology, elementary principles 
 of syntax and rhetoric. The main test con- 
 sists in writing upon a given subject a com- 
 position correct in spelling, punctuation, 
 capital letters and grammar. Mathematics 
 — Arithmetic, including proportion, decimals, 
 interest, discount and the metric system; 
 algebra, including theory of exponents, radi- 
 cals, simple and quadratic equations; and the 
 elements of plain geometry (corresponding 
 to the first six books of Ilalsted's geometry). 
 Passing these examinations, a student will 
 be admitted to the freshman class in the 
 course of science, or the junior class of the 
 law department. The graduates of approved 
 high schools will be admitted to the univer- 
 sity without examination, provided they have 
 reached the required age, and provided they 
 present themselves for admission at the be 
 ginning of the scholastic year next succeed- 
 ing their graduation from the high school. 
 If, however, a graduate of an approved high 
 school is not sixteen at this time, he will be 
 allowed to enter when he attains this age. 
 
 The following high schools have already 
 been approved, and are now auxiliary to the 
 university: 
 
 Austin, Mexia, 
 
 Houston, Blanco, 
 
 Galveston (Ball), Taylor, 
 
 Belton, Mineola, 
 
 Bryan, Eound Rock Institute, 
 
 Corsicana, Fort Worth, 
 
 San Antonio, Abilene, 
 
 Waco,- Temple, 
 
 Brenham, Weatherford, 
 
 Tyler, Cleburne, 
 
 Rockdale, Terrell, 
 
 El Paso, Waxahachie, 
 
 Dallas, Gonzales. 
 
 La Grange. 
 
UlSTOUr OF TEXAS. 
 
 "When gradnates from the above schools 
 present their diplomas or certificates to the 
 ciiairman of the faculty, they will be ad- 
 mitted to the freslunan class in English, his- 
 tory and mathematics and to junior law. In 
 case Latin and Greek were requisite for 
 graduation from any high school, the grad- 
 uates of that school will be admitted to fresh- 
 man Greek and freshman Latin also. 
 
 The session begins the fourth Wednesday 
 in September and closes on the third "Wednes- 
 day in June, and is divided into two terms. 
 
 Co-education is a feature of the institution. 
 Young women have equal advantages with 
 the young men, and the course of study is 
 the same for both. Tuition in the university 
 is free to all residents of the State. 
 
 Each student is required to pay a matricu- 
 lation fee, as follows: Academic department, 
 §10; law department, $20. Non-resident 
 students are also required to pay that amount 
 as a tuition fee. Students who work in the 
 laboratory pay for the materials they use. 
 
 "Value of buildings and grounds, $240,000; 
 value of library, §15,573.99; value of chemical 
 and physical apparatus, $30,945; total, $296,- 
 518.99. 
 
 BLIND ASYLUM. 
 
 The State Asylum for the Blind was estab- 
 lished September 2, 1856, and has for its 
 object the education of blind persons. It is 
 not an asylum -where the indigent and help- 
 less are cared for at the public expense, but 
 a school in which the blind receive such gen- 
 eral education and training in industrial pur- 
 suits as will aid them to become self-sup- 
 porting as other classes. "When the course 
 of study prescribed has been completed the 
 pupils return to their homes, as do the stu- 
 dents of other schools, and like them are no 
 longer a charge upon the State. In short, 
 
 the only difference between the school for the 
 blind and a public school is in flie amount of 
 money the State expends on them. Sighted 
 persons only receive free tuition, while the 
 blind are fed, clothed and transported to and 
 from school at public expense. 
 
 The course of study is as follows: 
 
 Heading by touch in point and line print, 
 writing in New York point, arithmetic, 
 mathematical and physical geography, Eng- 
 lish grammar, etymology, elements of ancient 
 and modern history, natural philosophy, Eng- 
 lish literature, elements of chemistry, phys- 
 iology and hygiene. 
 
 Of the trades, piano-forte tuning, broom- 
 making and upholstering are tauglit to the 
 young men. The young ladies receive in- 
 struction in crocheting and bead work, and 
 learn to sew by hand and by machine. The 
 young men excel sighted persons as piano- 
 tuners, and become very proficient at making 
 brooms, mattresses, pillows, and bottoming 
 chairs with cane and rattan. The bead work 
 and crocheting done by the young ladies 
 would reflect credit on sighted persons. The 
 physical development of pupils is promoted 
 by regular daily exercises in calisthenics, 
 with dumb-liells, Indian clubs and rings. 
 
 Pupils whose sight can be benefited by 
 operating on their eyes receive treatment 
 from a skilled oculist connected with the in- 
 stitution. About twenty-three persons have 
 in this way been restored to sight within the 
 last twelve years. 
 
 All blind persons, or persons who cannot 
 see to read ordinary newspaper print, between 
 eight and tw-enty years of age, will be ad- 
 mitted to the institution. 
 
 The school is located in Austin, and in 
 number of teachers, size of the buildings, the 
 amount of philosophical, chemical and astro- 
 nomical apparatus, maps, globes and appli- 
 
BISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 ances for the school-room, variety of musical 
 instruments, etc., is the largest in the Soutli. 
 
 N amber of pupils enrolled during 1891, 
 164. The average cost per capita of feeding 
 them was about $5.30 per month. 
 
 Number of officers and teachers, 19; num- 
 ber of employes, 14. 
 
 Value of buildings and grounds, $115,000; 
 value of scientific apparatus, $1,250; value of 
 school and musical apparatus, $7,000; total, 
 $123,250. 
 
 DEAF AND DUMB ASVLUM. 
 
 The State Deaf and Dumb Asylum is sit- 
 uated at the State capital, on a commanding 
 height south of the Colorado river, and is 
 justly regarded as one of tlie most beautiful 
 and healthful locations in the city. 
 
 During the session of 1891, 233 pupils were 
 enrolled up to October 31, and 195 were in 
 actual attendance. 
 
 The health of the institution has not been 
 good, three deaths having occurred during 
 the year from la grippe, dysentery and dropsy 
 of the heart. 
 
 The total expense of maintaining the insti- 
 tution from March 1, 1891, to November 1, 
 1891, was $75,816, which includes $30,- 
 000 for additional story and repairs. This 
 includes all ordinary expenses, such as board, 
 fuel, light, medicine, salaries of officers, teach- 
 ers and employes, and so much of clothing 
 and transportation as was paid by the State. 
 
 There are fourteen officers and teachers, 
 five experts and twelve employes connected 
 with the institution. 
 
 It is the purpose of the State in establish- 
 ing snch institutions to give the students a 
 practical education, and as far as posiible 
 rescue this unfortunate class from helpless- 
 ness and dependence. In addition, therefore, 
 
 to the instruction usual in such schools, a 
 printing office, book bindery and shoe shop 
 have been established for the purpose of teach- 
 ing those trades to such of the pupils as have 
 the ability and inclination to learn them. 
 Skilled workmen, experts in their business, 
 are in charge of each of these departments, 
 and the progress made by the students under 
 them has thus far been very encouraging. 
 
 An art department was inaugurated Octo- 
 ber 5, 1887, and is now one of the most in- 
 teresting and attractive features of the school. 
 Some of the pupils acquired such skill in 
 crayon work before the end of the session that 
 they were offered profitable employment at 
 work of that kind during vacation. 
 
 The conditions of admission to the insti- 
 tution are few and simple. The age at which 
 pupils are received and the length of time 
 they are kept are matters left to the discre- 
 tion of the superintendent. Persons not 
 susceptible of receiving instruction will not 
 be received at all. Parents are required to 
 furnish transportation, if able to do so; other- 
 wise it will be provided by the State. 
 
 The school opens the first "Wednesday in 
 Septem'ber and closes the first "Wednesday in 
 June of each year. 
 
 Pupils are required to return to their 
 homes during vacation to give opportunity to 
 renovate and repair the buildings. 
 
 "Value of buildings and grounds, $125,000; 
 value of library, $500; total, $125,500. 
 
 DEAF AND DUMB AND BLIND INSTITUTE FOR 
 THE COLORED YOUTH. 
 
 The Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum 
 for colored youth was established by an act 
 of the Twentieth Legislature, which provided 
 for the appointment of a board to select a 
 site near the city of Austin, and appropriated 
 
U I STOUT OF TEXAS. 
 
 §50,000 for the erectiou of buildings and tlie 
 jMirchase of furniture. An admirable loca- 
 tion, about two and a quarter miles northwest 
 of Austin, was selected for the buildings, and 
 tlie institution first opened for the reception 
 of students October 1, 1887. On November 
 1, 1891, there had been 73 pupils enrolled 
 and in actual attendance. Of this number 
 '61 were deaf mutes and 36 blind persons. 
 
 The same general rules of government and 
 conditions of admission in force at the insti- 
 tutions for the blind and deaf and dumb for 
 the whites, obtain in this institution. The 
 text-books and system of instruction are also 
 the same. 
 
 Including the superintendent, there are 
 three otficers and four teachers and four em- 
 ployes connected with the institution, all of 
 whom are colored people. 
 
 Value of buildings and grounds, $34,000; 
 total disbursements from March 1, 1889, to 
 October 1, 1890, $24,553.48. 
 
 OTHER STATE INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 STATE LUNATIC ASYLUM. 
 
 The State Lunatic Asylum is situated about 
 two miles north of Austin, on a beautiful 
 plateau of ground adorned and beautified by 
 dowers, plants, summer-houses and forest 
 trees, the latter constituting a splendid park, 
 upon whose grassy lawn the patients are per- 
 mitted to take exercise and get fresh air and 
 sunshine. The buildings are capacious and 
 elegant, though somewhat crowded owing to 
 the rapidity with which the insane popula- 
 tion increases. 
 
 There are ninety-five employes in the in- 
 stitution. 
 
 The estimated value of the buildings and 
 grounds is $505,000, that of all other prop- 
 
 erty belonging to the institution ^35,419.83. 
 
 In connection with the institution there is 
 a large farm and garden where patients are 
 permitted to work with a view of diverting 
 the mind and affording exercise for the body. 
 For the same purpose concerts, music, danc- 
 ing and other amusements are indulged in 
 once each week. Most of the patients enjoy 
 the farm work very much, and look forward 
 with great interest for the return of the day 
 appointed for the weekly entertainment. In 
 this way their minds are pleasantly occupied 
 with the new subjects, and in many cases ul- 
 timate recovery thereby made possible. 
 
 From the report of the superintendent for 
 the year ending October 31, 1890, the follow- 
 ing data have been obtained: 
 
 Number patients admitted during the year, 
 106; discharged restored, 27; discharged im- 
 proved, 37; discharged unimproved, 1; total 
 discharged, 65; furlouglied,36; returned from 
 furlough, 33; died, 33; escaped, 19; returned 
 from escape, 17. Total treated during the 
 year, 745; number in asylum October 31, 
 1891, 629. 
 
 The daily average nunaber present during 
 the year was 621, and the cost per annun of 
 keeping each patient, $149.71, or $2.87 per 
 week. Total expenditures for the year, $130,- 
 326.54, of which $5,000 was for permanent 
 improvements. 
 
 The total number of patients admitted from 
 the beginning of the hospital is 3,678, of 
 which number 667 died, 66 escaped, 1,798 
 were discharged, 58 furloughed. 
 
 NOKTH TEXAS HOSPITAL FOE THE INSANE. 
 
 This institution is located at Terrell, in 
 Kaufman county, and was first opened for the 
 reception of patients July 15, 1885. It was 
 established in obedience to a general demand 
 
HI8T0BT 0]<' TEXAS. 
 
 for additional asylum room for the accommo- 
 dation of the hundreds of insane persons then 
 confined in jails and on poor farms through- 
 out the State. 
 
 The buildings are constructed on the latest 
 and most improved plan of hospitals for the 
 insane, and contain all modern conveniences 
 for the treatment of the insane. 
 
 The actual running expenses for the year 
 were $95,226.04; cost of maintaining in- 
 mates, per capita per year, $170; per week, 
 $3.26. The estimated value of the biiildings, 
 grounds, furniture and other appurtenances, 
 is $261,765. Number of officers connected 
 with the institution, 5; employes, 42. 
 
 STATE ORPHAN ASYLUM. 
 
 The creation of an orphan asylum was 
 contemplated and provided for by the found- 
 ers of our State government, who gave it the 
 same land endowments bestowed on other 
 charitable institutions. This institution was 
 required to be established by an act of the 
 Twentieth Legislature, approved April 4, 
 1887. The governor was required to appoint 
 three commissioners to select a site for the 
 asylum. Competition between the various 
 towns in the State for the location of the in- 
 stitution was invited, which resulted in the 
 selection of Corsicana, in Navarro countv. 
 The sum of $5,700 was appropriated out of 
 the available Orphan Asylum fund for the 
 establishment of the institution. Subse- 
 quently, at the special session of the Twen- 
 tieth Legislature, $15,000 and the available 
 fund to the credit of the asylum in the State 
 treasury was appropriated for the erection of 
 buildings and other improvements. 
 
 The site on wliich the asylum is located 
 and the surrounding scenery are unsurpassed 
 by any place in the State for their beauty and 
 
 adaptability for such an institution. The 
 buildings, which are constructed on the cot- 
 tage plan, and have a capacity of about 200 
 inmates, were completed and the institution 
 formally opened July 15, 1889. 
 
 From the date of the opening of the in- 
 stitution, November 1, 1890, 60 children — 
 23 girls and 31 boys — had been received into 
 the home. Of those two ran away and four 
 were returned to friends, leaving 54 in the 
 institution. 
 
 The expenses of the asylum for the seven- 
 teen months ending October 31, 1890, 
 amounted to $13,993.63. 
 
 The asylum is governed by a board of 
 managers who are appointed by the governor, 
 and have power to prescribe rules and regu- 
 lations for the admission of inmates and con- 
 trol of the institution. 
 
 All orphan children under the age of four- 
 teen years shall be admitted, subject only to 
 such restrictions as the board deem necessary 
 to the welfare and good government of the 
 asylum. 
 
 The superintendent is required to keep a 
 list of the names and ages of all children, 
 with such data as may be obtainable con- 
 cerning their history, subject at all times to 
 public inspection. He is also required to 
 see that their pro rata of the public school 
 fund is set aside, and to provide them with 
 proper educational facilities. 
 
 STATE HOUSE OF COKEEOTION AND EEFOEMATORY. 
 
 By act of the Twentieth Legislature, ap- 
 proved March 29, 1887, a State house of 
 correction and reformatory for youthful 
 convicts was provided for, and the governor 
 required to appoint a commission to locate 
 the same. The institution was located two 
 and one-fourth miles northeast of Gatesville, 
 
HISTORY OF TKXAS. 
 
 Coryell county, and the necessary buildings 
 erected there during the summer of 1888. 
 Up to date of the last report of the superin- 
 tendent §!75.890 had been expended in the 
 purchase of land, erection of buildings, and 
 equipping the institution. 
 
 The institution has a capacity of about 
 100, and was opened January 3, 1889. Up 
 to October 31, 1890, 111 persons had been 
 received at the institution. 
 
 All persons under sixteen years of age 
 convicted of any felony, the punishment for 
 which does not exceed five years' confinement, 
 are sentenced to the Reformatory. 
 
 The trustees are required to "see that the 
 inmates are taught habits of industry and 
 sobriety, some useful trade, and to read and 
 write, and also supplied with suitable books." 
 The white and colored inmates of the insti- 
 tution are required to be kept, worked and 
 educated separately. 
 
 The institution is conducted on the "cot- 
 tage" or family plan. The buildings are 
 heated by steam and lighted by electricity. 
 Since the institution was opened a farm of 
 200 acres and a garden and orchard — about 
 600 acres — have been put in cultivation. 
 
 There are six officers and three guards at 
 the institution. Expense of the institution 
 from March 1 to November 30, 1891, $25,- 
 295.48. 
 
 THE PENITENTIAEY SYSTEM. 
 
 The law of 1881 for organizing the State 
 penitentiaries provided that the system of 
 labor in the State penitentiaries should be by 
 lease, by contract, by the State, or partly by 
 one system and partly by the other, as shall 
 be in the discretion of the penitentiary board 
 deemed for the best interests of the State. 
 The Eighteenth Legislature in 1883 repealed 
 
 that portion of the law of 1881 authorizing 
 the lease of the penitentiaries, and conse- 
 quently the contract and State account sys- 
 tems only are allowed. 
 
 At this time all of the industriesat both the 
 prisons, Huntsville and Rusk, are operated 
 on the Slate account system. Between 800 
 and 900 convicts are worked on farms, and 
 about 463 on railroads, under the contract 
 system. Nearly 200 convicts are worked on 
 farms on shares, and about 200 on farms 
 OM-ned by the State, on State account. 
 
 The organization of the penitentiaries con- 
 sists of a penitentiary board composed of 
 three commissioners appointed by the gov- 
 ernor, a superintendent of penitentiaries, a 
 financial agent of penitentiaries, two assistant 
 superintendents of penitentiaries, and two in- 
 spectors of outside convict camps, all ap- 
 pointed by the governor. For each peniten- 
 tiary a pliysician and a chaplain are appointed 
 by the penitentiary board. The assistant 
 superintendent of each penitentiary appoints, 
 with the approval of the superintendent, such 
 number of under officers as may be necessary 
 to preserve discipline and preveut escapes. 
 And the superintendent of penitentiaries, 
 when the penitentiaries are being operated 
 on State account, may, under the direction of 
 the State board, employ such number of 
 skilled workmen or other employes as may 
 be deemed essential to the successful opera- 
 tion of the penitentiaries. 
 
 The gangs or forces of convicts worked on 
 farms and railroads, whether worked under 
 contract or on State account, are each under 
 the control of an officer designated as a ser- 
 geant, who is appointed by the superintend- 
 ent of penitentiaries, and, under the direction 
 of tlie said superintendent and inspector of 
 outside forces, has charge and control of tlie 
 management and discipline of the convict 
 
UISrOBT OF TEXAS. 
 
 force for which he may have been appointed. 
 This sergeant, nnder the direction of said 
 otiicers, has the appointing and control of the 
 guards necessary to control such force. The 
 cntractor has nothing whatever to do with 
 the discipline of the convicts. He is only 
 entitled to a reasonable amount of labor 
 within hours, etc., prescribed by contract and 
 provided for in the penitentiary rules and 
 regulations. On the contract farms the con- 
 tractors feed the convicts as prescribed by the 
 rules. At all otiier places the State feeds, 
 clothes and furnishes bedding and all medi- 
 cines and medical attendance, and pays all 
 sergeants and guards. The law provides that 
 no contract shall be made by which the con- 
 trol of the convicts, e-xcept as to a reasonable 
 amount of labor, shall pass from the State or 
 its officers, and the management of convicts 
 shall, in all cases and under all circumstances, 
 remain under control of the State and its 
 officers. 
 
 PENITENTIARY INDUSTRIES. 
 
 At the Iluntsville penitentiary there is the 
 wagon department, in which are built wagons, 
 drays, cane and log wagons, buggies, hacks, 
 etc. In the cabinet department are made 
 chairs and furniture, mostly of a cheap class. 
 
 In the machine rooms are made engines, 
 boilers, hydrants, etc. ; in the foundry vari- 
 ous kinds of castings. There is a factory in 
 which is manufactured mostly tiie stripes for 
 all the clothing for the convicts. In the shoe 
 and tailor shops are made convict shoes and 
 clothes, and there is also done on order some 
 citizens' work. 
 
 Tlie State owns and works on State account 
 witli convicts a farm about two miles from 
 the Huntsville penitentiary, on which is raised 
 cotton for the factory, corn for farm and prison 
 
 consumption, and vegetables for tlie prison. 
 
 At the Rusk penitentiary the principal in- 
 dustries are the making of pig iron, manu- 
 facture of castings of various kinds, and 
 making of cast-iron water and gas pipe. A 
 large number of convicts are engaged in 
 making charcoal and digging iron ore for tiie 
 smelting furnace. 
 
 In connection with the Rusk penitentiary 
 some of the land belonging to the State is 
 used for raising fruit and vegetables for the 
 convicts, and otlier lands have been rented 
 contiguous to the prison, on which has been 
 raised corn, peas, etc., for prison use. 
 
 Another farm belonging to the State, in 
 Fort Bend county, on Oyster creek, and 
 known as Harlem, is worked on State account, 
 and raises cotton, corn and sugar for the gen- 
 eral market. All of these farms are operated 
 with second and third class convict labor — 
 convicts not fit for much other kind of labor. 
 
 There are two farms worked on the share 
 system, by which the State furnishes the 
 labor and the owners of the farms the land 
 and teams, and crop divided. One of these 
 belongs to the estate of J. G. Johnson, about 
 seven miles from Huntsville, and employs 
 about forty convicts, and the other belongs 
 to Colonel John D. Rogers, in Brazos county, 
 on which are employed about 160 convicts. 
 There is the same class of convicts on these 
 share farms as on the State farms. 
 
 The officers of the penitentiaries appointed 
 by the governor are: three commissioners, 
 constituting the penitentiary board, one su- 
 perintendent of penitentiaries, one financial 
 agent of penitentiaries, two assistant superin- 
 tendents of penitentiaries, two inspectors of 
 outside camps. 
 
 The officers appointed by the penitentiary 
 board are: two penitentiary physicians, two 
 chaplains. 
 
UIHTOUY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Tlie iiiulor officers appointed by superin- 
 tetuleiit of ])onitentiaiios are: tweiity-tive 
 t'crpioants of outside forces, six assistant ser- 
 geants of outside forces, two stewards of out- 
 side forces. 
 
 The under officers appointed by assistant 
 iiuperintendents are: two under keepers, 
 two night sergeants, two stewards, seven ser- 
 geants, two assistant sergeants, eighty-tivo 
 guards, etc. 
 
 Tiie under officers or guards appointed by 
 sergeants are: 300 guards. 
 
 The foremen and other citizen employes 
 employed by superintendents are: seven at 
 Uuntsville penitentiary, eight at Rusk ])eui- 
 tentiary. 
 
 The clerks employed by financial agents 
 are: seven at Huntsville penitentiary, two 
 at Rusk penitentiary. 
 
 The outside physicians appointed by super- 
 intendents are seven in number. 
 
 Total number paid monthly by the finan- 
 cial agent — officers, guards, foremen, and 
 other employes — 470. 
 
 The value of State property belonging to 
 the penitentiaries is fully set forth in the re- 
 port of the superintendent, up to November 
 1, 1890, as follows: 
 
 Huutsville penitenliaiy |;7G9,09G.73 
 
 Husk penitenliaiy 720,245.03 
 
 8tate farm, Harlem 200,074.83 
 
 Kogers' sbaie farm 21,002.48 
 
 CoDlract farms 9,702.32 
 
 Railroad trains 10,15-'.27 
 
 State penitentiaries, cash on hand, etc. .. 43,021.28 
 
 Total valuation of penitentiary properly, 
 
 November 1, 1890 .| 1,8 10,955.53 
 
 Total valuation of jienitentiary properly, 
 
 • May 16, 1883 931,140.83 
 
 RELIGIOUS. 
 As one might guess from the early history 
 of Texas iu a political point of view, the 
 Mexicans and pioneers of this region were 
 
 not demonstrative in their l>iety. Down to 
 the time of independence Catholic intoler- 
 ance prevailed, and the Catholics themselves, 
 in Spanish America, were not zealous in 
 eeciilar education. 
 
 Prior to the era of independence about 
 the only efforts, of which we have record, to 
 establish Protestantism in Texae were those 
 of the Baptists, who failed to make their in- 
 stitutions permanent. In 1837 a Baptist 
 church was organized at Washington, Z. N. 
 Morrell being chosen pastor, and money was 
 subscribed to build a house of worship. The 
 first Protestant Episcopal church was estab- 
 lished in 1838, at Matagorda, by Caleb S. 
 Ives, who collected a congregation, estab- 
 lished a school and built a church. During 
 the same year R. M. Chapman organized a 
 parish in Houston. 
 
 For the purpose of this volume, with refer- 
 ence to church statistics, probably the only 
 feature that would be of general interest to 
 the general public will be the total member- 
 ship; for all other statistical matter in regard 
 to religious institutions is about in a certain 
 proportion to this. Tlie following taljle, 
 therefore, gives only the total membership: 
 
 DENOMINATION. MKMBEUSllIP. 
 
 Methodist Episcopal, South 151,533 
 
 Baptist... 127,377 
 
 Episcopal •J,H82 
 
 Methodist Episcopal (North) 25,739 
 
 German Lutheran (1877) 2.270 
 
 Presbyterian 2,414 
 
 Southern Presliytorian (1877) 13,555 
 
 Cumberland rresbyierian 24,257 
 
 Christian 55,000 
 
 Primitive Baptist 1,000 
 
 Seventh- Day Adventists 300 
 
 Universalists 95 
 
 Brethren (Dunkards) 125 
 
HI8T0R7 OF TEXAS. 
 
 Free Methodists 100 
 
 Catholic 157,000 
 
 Hebrew 300 
 
 Methodist Protestant 6,300 
 
 Colored M. E. Church in America. . 12,162 
 
 African Methodist Episcopal 12,900 
 
 Colored Baptist 100,681 
 
 It must be borne in mind that it has been 
 impossible to obtain exact data with ref- 
 erence to a few of the above named churches. 
 
 THE PRESS. 
 
 The first printing-press in Texas was put 
 into operation at Nacogdoches in 1819, and 
 was brought to that place by General Long, 
 who established a provisional government 
 and a supreme council, which issued a decla- 
 ration proclaiming Texas an independent 
 republic. The office was placed under the 
 management of Horatio Biglow, and was 
 used for the publication of various laws en- 
 acted and proclamations issued by that short- 
 lived government. 
 
 Tlie iirst regular newspaper, however, made 
 its initial appearance about 1829, at San 
 Felipe, bearing the name, The Cotton 
 Plant. Godwin B. Gotten was editor and 
 proprietor. In 1832 its name was changed 
 to The Texas Republican. 
 
 The second paper was the Texas Gazette 
 and Brazoria Advertiser, published in Bra- 
 zoria in 1830. In September, 1832, it was 
 merged into the Constitutional Advocate and 
 Texas Public Advertiser, with D. W. An- 
 thony as owner and editor, who died in 
 1833, and the paper ceased. 
 
 Next was the Texas Republican, at Bra- 
 zoria, by F. C. Gray, in December, 1834. 
 This was printed on the old press brought 
 into the realm by Gotten, before mentioned. 
 
 In January, 1835, this was the only paper 
 published in Texas, and in August, 1836, it 
 was discontinued. 
 
 The fourth newspaper was the Telegraph, 
 started in August 1835, at San Felipe, by 
 Gail and Thomas H. Borden and Joseph 
 Baker. A Mexican force seized this in April, 
 1836, and threw the material of the office 
 into a bayou at Harrisburg, to which place 
 it had been moved after the abandonment of 
 San Felipe by the Americans. In August, 
 that year, the Bordens bought new press and 
 material and revived the Telegraph at Co- 
 lumbia, and subsequently moved to Houston, 
 where the paper was published for many 
 years, under the name of the Houston Tele- 
 graph. 
 
 After the establishment of Texan inde- 
 pendence the number of newspapers in- 
 increased rapidly, until now the State has as 
 many newspapers as any other in proportion 
 to population. 
 
 The first daily paper established in Texas 
 was the Morning Star, by Cruger & Moore 
 of the Telegraph, between 1840 and 1844. 
 
 The Texas Editorial and Press Association 
 was organized September 10, 1873, and after- 
 ward incorporated. 
 
 RAILROADS. 
 
 During the last fifteen years railroad sys- 
 tems have been established at a compara- 
 tively rapid rate. In 1870 there was less 
 than 300 miles in operation; in 1876, 1,600 
 miles; in 1885, over 7,000 miles; and in 
 1890, according to the last census, 8,914. 
 
 In the time of the republic numerous 
 ciiarters for railroads were granted, but no 
 road was built. It was not till 1852 that the 
 first road was commented. That year a pre- 
 
EISrOUT OF TEXAS. 
 
 lirniiiarj survey was made and some work 
 done on what was then called the Buffalo 
 Bayou, Brazos & Colorado Railroad, starting 
 from Ilarrisbnrg and going westerly; and 
 within the same year the first locomotive was 
 set to work at Ilarrisburg, the first in Texas 
 and the second west of the Mississippi. The 
 company was organized June 1, 1850, at 
 Ijoston, Massachusetts, by General Sidney 
 Sherman, Who may be regarded as the father 
 of railroads in Texas. The work progressed 
 slowly, and the Colorado was not reached till 
 1859, when tlie line was opened to Eagle 
 lake, sixty- five miles from the place of be- 
 ginning. By 1866 the line had reached 
 Columbus, tlie river being bridged at Alley- 
 ton. A change in the charter made in 1870 
 fixed upon San Antonio as the objective 
 point, and since that time it has been known 
 as the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio 
 Railway, or" SuBset route," but is now in- 
 corporated in the great Southern Pacific 
 system. January 15, 1877, the road reached 
 San Antonio, the citizens of Bexar county 
 iiaving voted, in January, 1876, $300,000 in 
 county bonds to secure the speedy comple- 
 tion of the line. In the same month the 
 passenger terminus was changed from Har- 
 risburg to Houston by a line from Pierce 
 Junction. The line has since been extended 
 to El Paso, to connect there with the South- 
 ern Pacific, going on to the Pacific coast. 
 At that point it also connects with the Mex- 
 ican Central. The length of the main line 
 is 848 miles, and no railroad in Texas has 
 had more influence in the settlement and 
 development of the country. 
 
 The next railro:.d commenced in Texas was 
 the Houston & Texas Central. The original 
 charter was granted in 18-48, by which the 
 company was incorporated under the title of 
 the Galveston & Red River Railroad Com- 
 
 pany. Their line was to extend from Gal- 
 veston to the northern boundary of the State. 
 Work was begun in 1853, at Houston, by the 
 first incorporator, Ebenezer Allen, and at that 
 time the name was changed to its present 
 form. The rivalry between Galveston and 
 Houston was satisfied by a compromise, under 
 which arrangement the two cities were con- 
 nected by the Galveston, Houston & Hen- 
 derson Road, which was begun at Virginia 
 Point, and completed in 1865, and a junction 
 was made with the Houston & Texas Central. 
 In 1859 a bridge was constructed across the 
 bay by the city of Galveston. 
 
 Construction proceeded slowly, only eighty 
 miles having been made by the time of the 
 breaking out of the Civil war, which com- 
 pletely interrupted further building. In 
 March, 1873, it reached Denison, forming 
 there a junction with the Missouri, Kansas 
 & Texas Road, chus opening rail communica- 
 tion with St. Louis. 
 
 Houston has become the railroad center of 
 the State, having at least ten trunk lines. 
 
 The Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe line was 
 chartered in May, 1873, as a Galveston en- 
 terprise. Construction was commenced at 
 Virginia Point in May, 1875, and the road 
 opened for traflic as far as Richmond in 
 1878. 
 
 Other important systems of late introduc- 
 tion are the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, Atchi- 
 son, Topeka & Santa Fe, San Antonio & 
 Aransas Pass, St. Louis, Arkansas & Texas 
 ("Cotton Belt"), International & Great 
 Northern, Texas & Pacific, etc. 
 
 All the above mentioned trunk lines liave 
 of course several branches, so that it can now 
 be said in familiar parlance that the State of 
 Texas is "gridironed" with railroads, and 
 still construction is going on, and many more 
 lines are projected. 
 
niSTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 149 
 
 The following table shows the number of 
 miles of railroad in the State: 
 
 Names of Companios. Mil( 
 
 Austin & Northwestern 
 
 East Line & Red Iliver 
 
 Fort Worth & Denver City 
 
 Fort Worth & New Orleans 
 
 Fort Worth & Rio Grande . . 
 
 Galveston, liarrisbnrg & San An- 
 tonio 
 
 Galveston, Houston & Henderson . . 
 
 Houston & Texas Central 
 
 Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe 
 
 Gulf, West Texas & Pacific 
 
 Houston East & West Texas 
 
 International & Great Northern. . . . 
 
 New York, Texas & Mexican 
 
 Missouri, Kansas & Texas 
 
 *Sherman, Dcnison & Dallas 
 
 *Dallas & Greenville 
 
 *East Line & Red River 
 
 *Gainesville, Henrietta & Western . 
 
 *Dallas & AVichita 
 
 *Dallas & Waco 
 
 *Trinity & Sabine 
 
 *Taylor, Bastrop & Houston 
 
 San Antonio & Aransas Pass 
 
 St. Louis, Arkansas & Texas 
 
 Southern Kansas & Texas 
 
 Sabine & East Texas 
 
 Texas Central 
 
 Texas Mexican 
 
 Texas, Sabine Valley & Northwestern. 
 
 Texas Trunk 
 
 Texas & Pacific 
 
 Tyler Southeastern 
 
 Texas Western 
 
 Texas & New Orleans 
 
 70.U0 
 121.85 
 407.34 
 
 40.50 
 112.54 
 
 926 30 
 
 50.00 
 
 510.00 
 
 958.25 
 
 111.10 
 
 101.38 
 
 •f647.00 
 
 91.00 
 
 389.39 
 
 9.53 
 
 52.43 
 
 31.76 
 
 70.57 
 
 37.62 
 
 65.57 
 
 66.55 
 
 105.89 
 
 037.20 
 
 554.05 
 
 100.41 
 
 103.47 
 
 288. SO 
 
 178.61 
 
 38.00 
 
 51.00 
 
 1,125.95 
 
 89.08 
 
 52 25 
 
 105.10 
 
 fOnly 250 80 miles are taxed 
 
 ♦Operated by the Missouri, Kansas & Texas. 
 
 Weatherford, Mineral Wells & North- 
 western 20.05 
 
 Central Texas & Northwestern 12.00 
 
 AVichita Valley 51.36 
 
 Totals 8,914.13 
 
 MINERAL RESOURCES OF TEXAS. 
 
 The mineral resources of Texas are too 
 varied in their character and too widespread 
 in their occurrence to permit more than a 
 brief review of the results obtained by the 
 investio-ations of the geological survey dur- 
 ing the past two years. Previous to the 
 organization of the present survey little sys- 
 tematic work had been done toward securing 
 definite and accurate information of the vari- 
 ous economic products of the geology of the 
 State. Many mineral localities were known, 
 and the qualities of many ores, soils and 
 other materials had been tested by analyses. 
 A few mines and manufactories scattered 
 liere and there over the State had tested some 
 of these deposits practically, but there was 
 nowhere a statement of such facts concern- 
 ing them as would enable the owner or pros- 
 pector to form any definite idea of their 
 relations or probable values. 
 
 The following statements are based for the 
 greater part on the work of Hon. E. T. 
 Dumble, State Geologist, and his associates 
 of the present survey (although all reliable 
 sources of information accessible to them at 
 present have been examined), and many of 
 the facts will be found stated in much 
 greater detail in the various papers accom- 
 panying the annual reports of the survey. 
 
 FUEL AND OILS. 
 
 Wood.—Ower eastern Texas the amount ot 
 wood suitable for fuel purpo.ses is seemingly 
 inexhaustible; but westward it grows less 
 
U I STORY OP TBXAJS. 
 
 and less, until in many places mesquite roots 
 or even tlie " Mexican dagger" are the prin- 
 cipal source of supply. The investigations 
 of the survey up to the present have been 
 confined to an examination of the wood sup- 
 • ply of certain counties with reference to the 
 manufacture of charcoal for iron sineltincr. 
 
 Lujmte. — Intermediate between peat and 
 bituminous coal we tind a fossil fuel known 
 as lignite or brown coal. It contains less 
 water and more carbon than peat, but has 
 more water and less carbon then bituminous 
 coal. Lignites are the product of a later 
 geologic age than bituminous coal, and the 
 bituminous matter has not been so fully 
 developed as in the true bituminous coal. 
 
 Lignite varies in color from a brown to a 
 brilliant jet black, and occurs in all degrees 
 of purity, from a ligiiitic clay to a glossy 
 coal of cubical fracture. The greatest amount 
 of our lignites, however, are of black color, 
 i-lianging to brownish black on exposure, 
 (pften with somewhat of a coiichoidal fracture 
 and a specific gravity of about 1.22. Lignite 
 occurs in beds similar to those of bituminous 
 coal, although they are not always as regular 
 and continuous. 
 
 The lignite field is by far the largest field 
 we have, and the coal sti-ata it contains are 
 of much greater thickness than those of 
 either of the others. As nearly as we can 
 at present mark its boundaries they are as 
 f.illows: Beginning on the Sabine river, in 
 Sal)ine county, the boundary line runs west 
 and southwest near Crockett, Navasota, Led- 
 better, Weimar, and on to Helena and the 
 iiio Grande, tiience b-ick by rear.-^all, Elgin, 
 Marlin, liichland, Salem, and Clarksville to 
 la:d river. 
 
 It includes fifty-four counties in whole or 
 [.'art, and wliilo we do not know of tlic occur- 
 
 rence of lignite in every one of these, it will 
 in all probability be found in all of them 
 sooner or later. 
 
 Within the area thus defined lignite has 
 been observed at hundreds of localities. The 
 beds vary from a few inches to as much as 
 twelve feet, which thickness has been ob- 
 served and measured in numerous places. 
 
 The lignites have been mined in greater or 
 less quantities in several places, among 
 which may be mentioned: Athens, Hender- 
 son county; seven miles east of Emory, Rains 
 county; Alamo, Cass county; Head's Prairie, 
 Robertson county; Calvert Bluff, Robertson 
 county; Rockdale, Milam county; Bastrop, 
 Bastrop county; Lytle Mine, Atascosa county; 
 San Tomas, Webb county, and othei-s. 
 
 Of these localities the Laredo "San Tomas" 
 coal stands out sharply above the rest. Al- 
 though it is classed as a lignite on the 
 ground of its geologic occurrence, it is much 
 superior to any of the ordinary lignites, ae is 
 shown by its analysis. 
 
 The real value of this material as fuel is 
 not at all appreciated. Lignite, up to the 
 present time, has been regarded as of very 
 little value. Two causes have been instru- 
 mental in creating this impression; first, the 
 quality it possesses of rapidly slacking and 
 crumbling when exposed to the air; and sec- 
 ond (and perhaps this is the principal cause), 
 all who have attempted to use it have done 
 so without first studying its character and 
 the best methods of burning it, as they have 
 in most cases endeavored to use it under the 
 same conditions which apply to a bituminous 
 coal containing a little water. While lignite 
 may not differ materially from bituminous 
 coal in weight, its physical properties are 
 entirely different. This is due not only to 
 tlie amount of water contained in the lignite, 
 amounting to from 10 to 20 per cent, of its 
 
nisTonr of tbxas. 
 
 151 
 
 weight, but also to the fact that itis'tlio prod- 
 uct of a diiTerent period of geologic time, 
 and it may be that tlie development of the 
 bituminous matter differs in some way in 
 the two. Therefore, in any intelligent effort 
 to make it available for fuel, these considera- 
 tions must be taken into account and proper 
 allowances made for them. In Europe, 
 where fuel is scarcer than here, lignites of 
 much poorer quality than our average de- 
 posits are successfully used, not only as fuel 
 and domestic purposes, but also for smelting. 
 The fact that lignites have not been used 
 in the United States is taken by some as an 
 evidence of their worthlessness, but if we 
 turn to Europe we find that their usefulness 
 is of the liighest character. Although tlie 
 German lignites are inferior to those of 
 Texas, as proved by numerous chemical 
 analyses, they are in use for every purpose 
 for which bituminous coal is available, aiid 
 for some to which such coal is not suited. 
 Their principal use is, naturally, as fuel. 
 They are used in the natural state, or " raw," 
 in places for household purposes, and also to 
 a very large extent in Siemens' regenerator 
 furnaces; and, even in connection with coke 
 made from the lignites themselves, as much 
 as 40 to 70 per cent, of raw lignite is used 
 in the smelting of iron ores in furnaces of 
 suitable construction. Kaw lignites are also 
 used in the conversion of iron into steel by 
 the Bessemer process, but require a small 
 * addition of coke for this purpose. 
 
 For general fuel purposes, however, the 
 lignites are manufactured into briquettes, or 
 coal bricks, of different sizes, by pulverizing 
 them, evaporating the surplus water and 
 compressing them under presses similar to 
 those used in the manufacture of pressed 
 brick. Many of the German lignites contain 
 as much as 80 to 40 per cent, of water, and 
 
 the heat which is necc-sary to drive this off 
 acts on the chemical elements of the lignite 
 and develops the bituminous matter suffi- 
 ciently for it to serve as a bond or cement 
 under the semi-fusion caused by the heavy 
 pressure which is applied to make it cohere. 
 Such coals as do not form their own cement 
 in this way are made to cohere by the addi- 
 tion of various cementing materials, such as 
 bitumen, coal tar, pitch, starch, potatoes, 
 clay, etc. 
 
 Lignites prepared in this way are fully 
 equal to ordinary bituminous coal as fuel fur 
 all purposes, and possess, in addition, several 
 important advantages. They are more com- 
 pact, and are in the regular form of blocks 
 which can be stored in four-fifths the amount 
 of space occupied by the same weight of coa'. 
 They are much cleaner to handle, and tlu 
 waste in handling, which in the case of bitu 
 minous coal is often as ranch as twenty pei 
 cent., is very little. Owing to its physical 
 structure it burns with great regularity ann 
 without clinkers, making it a very desirabU' 
 steam fuel. For these reasons it is ofter 
 preferred to bituminous coal. 
 
 Coke of excellent quality is made from 
 lignites in ovens properly constructed for tin 
 purpose. These ovens are of various designs 
 suited to different characters of lignite, but 
 all accomplish similar results, and the coke- 
 thus produced is used for all purposes foi 
 which other cokes are adapted. 
 
 Illuminating gas of very superior quality 
 is manufactured from lignites, and is in use 
 in many German manufactories. 
 
 Lignite also forms the base of many other 
 important industries. Up to the time of the 
 discovery of the oil fields of America and the 
 great deposits of mineral wax, or ozocerite, 
 tiie lignite was the principal source of supply 
 of parafline and illuminating oil 
 
 jd even 
 
1S9 
 
 U I STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 now, although comparatively few factories 
 are run solely for their production, as was 
 formerly so largely the case, the amount 
 niatiufactured as by-products is very large. 
 Tliese substances are the results of distilling 
 the lignites in the same manner in which gas 
 is produced from bituminous coal, and the 
 product consists of gas, water, tar, ammonia, 
 coke and ash. The tar contains paralfine and 
 mineral oils, as well as being the basis for 
 the aniline dyes for the production of which 
 great quantities are used. 
 
 Powdered coke from lignites is used in the 
 manufacture of gunpowder, of blacking and 
 for filters, and is substituted in many places 
 for the more costly boneblack. 
 
 Finally, lignite is used very successfully in 
 the place of boneblack in clarifying sugar. 
 In this, as in all uses of lignite, reference 
 must be had to the particular kind of lignite 
 to be employed. 
 
 Just as bituminous coals vary, and that 
 from one locality proves more suitable for 
 certain j)urposes than that of another seam at 
 nu great distance, so the lignites differ and 
 ibe ciiaracteristics of each must be studied 
 in order to ascertain for which of these many 
 uses it is best adapted. 
 
 With such evidence as this before us— the 
 ri-sults of fifty years of experiments and trial 
 emling in successful operation in all these 
 various uses of lignites — there can remain no 
 ^lludow of doubt of the adaptability of the 
 great lignite fields of Texas, and otiier parts 
 • if America as well, to meet the wants of the 
 jjci'pie for cheap fuel. 
 
 Tiie ease and cheapness of mining, the 
 small cost of preparation, and its value when 
 prepared, will enable it to compete with wood 
 ill the l)C8t wooded portions of tlie State, with 
 cvwii in close proximity to the coal mine, and 
 
 it will prove of inestimable value in tbosp 
 localities in which it is the only fuel. 
 
 Bituminous Coal. — The work of the sur- 
 vey during the past two years has resulted in 
 fully determining the limits of the central 
 coal fields, in ascertaining the number, thick- 
 ness and dips of the workable seams of coal, 
 and in approximately mapping their lines of 
 outcrop. 
 
 The coal measures consist of beds of lime- 
 stones, sandstones, shales and clays, having 
 an aggregate thickness of some 6,000 feet. 
 The dip of these beds is very gentle, averag- 
 ing less than forty feet to the mile in one 
 seam and about sixty-five in another, and Ib 
 toward the northwest or west. Very little 
 disturbance has been noted in it beyond a 
 few slight folds and small faults. These two 
 facts — slightdip and undisturbed condition — 
 are of great importance in the mining of the 
 coal. Two seams of workable coal have been 
 found. None of the other seven seams ob- 
 served are of sufficient thickness to be of 
 economic value. 
 
 The central coal field is divided by a strip 
 of Cretaceous south of the line of the Texas 
 & Pacific Railway. The two divisions thus 
 formed have been named after the principal 
 rivers which cross them — the Brazos coal 
 field, or Northern, and the Colorado coal 
 field, or Southern. In the Brazos coal field 
 both of the workable seams of coal are found. 
 
 Coal seam "No 1" first appears at the 
 surface in Wise county, some eight miles 
 southwest of Decatur. It outcrops in a 
 southwestern direction nearly to the south- 
 west corner of the county, when it turns 
 more sharply west and appears in the south- 
 eastern portion of Jack county. It crosses 
 into Palo Pinto county near its northeastern 
 corner and its outcrops appear in a south- 
 southwest direction entirely across this county 
 
HI 8 TOUT OF TEXAS. 
 
 and down into Erath, until it disappears be- 
 neath the Cretaceous hills and is found no 
 more. On this seam are located several 
 mines and prospects, among which may be 
 mentioned those of the Wise County Ccal 
 Company, Mineral Wells Coal Company, 
 Lal<e Mine, Carson and Lewis, Gordon, 
 Johnson, Palo Pinto, and Adair. The out- 
 put from these mines is gradually increasing. 
 
 Coal seam "Wo. 7" is first observed out- 
 cropping near Bowie, in Montague county. 
 From this point it bends southwestward, 
 passing north of Jacksboro, between Graham 
 and Belknap, when it turns south, running 
 just west of Eliasville, by Crystal Falls and 
 Breckenridge, to and below Cisco, when it, 
 too, passes under the Cretaceous ridge. South 
 of this ridge we find it again on Pecan bayou, 
 in Coleman county, and from here the out- 
 crops extend in a southerly direction, near 
 Santa Anna mountain, to Waldrip in Mc- 
 CuUoch county. 
 
 On this seam we have the Stephens mine, 
 in Montague county, and various prospects 
 in Jack county. Considerable work has been 
 done in Young and Stephens counties, and 
 coal of fair quality mined, but lack of rail- 
 way facilities prevents anything like system- 
 atic mining. The seam becomes thinner and 
 much poorer toward Cisco, graduating into a 
 material little better than a bituminous shale. 
 Probably the largest amount of work ever 
 put on a coal seam in Texas was expended in 
 this county, but the whole thing was given 
 up at last as impracticable. 
 
 On the southern portion of this seam, or 
 that within the Colorado coal field, there 
 have been numerous prospecting shafts sunk, 
 but no coal of any consequence has been mined 
 except for local consumption. The principal 
 ones are located north of Santa Anna, on Bull 
 creek, Home creek, and at and near Waldrip. 
 
 The thickness of these two seams is about 
 equal, each averaging about thirty inches of 
 clean coal. They are similar also in having 
 at most places a parting of clay, or "slate," 
 of a few inches in thickness. While the out- 
 crops of the two seams are parallel to each 
 other in a general way, they vary from twenty- 
 five to forty miles apart. 
 
 In the northern portion the seams are 
 separated by some 1,200 feet vertical thick- 
 ness of limestones, clays and shales. This 
 thickness, however, increases rapidly toward 
 the south. 
 
 As has been stated, the dip is gentle; that 
 of seam No. 1 will not average over sixty- 
 five feet, and that of No. 7 is less than forty 
 feet. The average increase of elevation of 
 the surface of the country toward the west is 
 only a few feet per mile (not exceeding ten), 
 and in consequence the extension of these 
 beds can he fonnd anywhere within eight to 
 ten miles west of their outcrops at less than 
 600 feet in depth. 
 
 The linear extent of the outcrops of these 
 two seams is fully 250 miles. They are 
 probably workable for at least ten miles west 
 of their line of outcrops, giving us an area ot 
 2,500 square miles of coal lands. Even if 
 only two-fifths of this area prove to be fully 
 adapted to coal mining, we have 1,000 square 
 miles, each of which contains nearly 3,000,- 
 000 tons of coal. The roof of these coal 
 seams is sandstone, limestone, or a hard clay, 
 which makes a good roof. The mines are 
 generally dry. 
 
 The quality of the coal varies considerably. 
 In some few places it is high in sulphur, in 
 others very little is found. It also varies 
 greatly in the amounts of ash and moisture 
 contained in it, as well as in its fuel constitu- 
 ents, but careful selection will result in a fuel 
 that will give perfectly satisfactory results. 
 
niHTOBT OF TEXAS. 
 
 Of its value as a steam coal there can be 
 no doubt, for it has been fully tested for rail- 
 road and other uses, and is taken as fast as it 
 can be mined, leaving practically none to be 
 sold for ordinary purposes. 
 
 The quality of coke produced gives every 
 promise that, with proper care in selecting 
 material and attention to burning, it will pro- 
 duce a coke fully adapted for the best metal- 
 lurgical uses. 
 
 In addition to this central coal field there 
 are others on the western borders of the 
 State. A boring made at Eagle Pass, four 
 miles from the outcrop on which the Hartz 
 mine is situated, reached the Nueces coal at 
 531 feet. This coal cokes in the crucible, 
 and there is no doubt but that an excellent 
 coke can be made from it, if ovens of suit- 
 able construction are used. This seam is the 
 thickest in the State, averaging nearly five 
 feet, and must prove of very great economic 
 value. 
 
 A second coal field is that containing the 
 deposits in Presidio county between the 
 Capote mountain and the Rio Grande. The 
 specimens of this coal which have been fur- 
 nished for analysis show it to be very high in 
 sulphur, but no detailed examination of it 
 has yet been made. 
 
 Bitumen or Asphaltum. — This valuable 
 material exists in Texas under several con- 
 ditions. Its most frequent occurrence is 
 probably in tar springs. These are found in 
 many places in the Tertiary and Cretaceous 
 formations, and occasionally among those 
 tliat are older. It is in these cases the seep- 
 age from the beds which contain it. So far 
 few, if any, of these beds have been exam- 
 ined to ascertain their extent or quality, for 
 there has been little or no demand for the 
 material. Among these may also be in- 
 cluded the Sour lakes of llardin and Liberty 
 
 counties, at which both bitumen and gas 
 occur in large quantities. In olher places it 
 is found as deposits of greater or less extent, 
 impregnating the accompanying sands, sand- 
 stone and limestone. These have not been 
 given much more attention than the springs, 
 but some of the localities have been exam- 
 ined and specimens of the material analyzed. 
 
 The tar springs are of frequent occurrence 
 in certain beds of the timber belt series, 
 which stretch across the State in a belt ap- 
 proximately parallel to the Gulf coast and 
 from 100 to 150 miles inland, and are at 
 places connected more or less with deposits 
 of oil. They are also found along the belt 
 of country underlaid by the Fish beds, or 
 Eagle Ford shales, of the Cretaceous, as may 
 be seen in the vicinity of Fiskville and other 
 localities in Travis county, and still others 
 southwest of the Colorado. Similar springs 
 are found in Burnet and other counties in 
 the older rocks. 
 
 The deposits which have been examined 
 most fully are those of Andei-son county east 
 of Palestine, where there is an asphalt bear- 
 ing sand. This appears to be due to the 
 oxidation of the residuum of oil left in the 
 sand. Here they are of unknown and some- 
 what uncertain extent, as they are apt to run 
 into an oil bearing sand. Tiiis is possibly 
 the case with many of the deposits of east 
 Texas. 
 
 In Uvalde county there are several out- 
 crops of bitumen impregnating both sand- 
 stone and limestone. The sandstone oyster bed 
 is underlaid by eight feet of black asphaltum 
 sandstone, from which in warm weather the 
 asphaltum exudes and forms small pools. 
 This is on the Nueces river fourteen miles 
 southwest of Uvalde. The stratum here de- 
 scribed is continuous. The stratigraphical 
 position is some thirty feet below the San 
 
BISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 Tomas coal vein (that which is worked above 
 Laredo), and Mr. Owen states that the sand- 
 stone occurs at nearly every locality where 
 its stratigrapliical position was exposed. The 
 connection of this asplialtic material and the 
 coal seam mentioned over an area exceeding 
 1,000 square miles opens one of the most 
 profitable fields of fuel industry in Texas. 
 
 Analyses of these asphaltum sands give an 
 average of 14 per cent, asphaltum. Beds of 
 similar sands are known in Jack, Montague, 
 Martin and other counties. Analyses gave 
 the following percentages of bitumen: Mon- 
 tague county, 8.90 to 10.20; Martin county, 
 10.72. Tlie asphaltie limestone found in 
 Uvalde county, specimens of wiiich are in 
 the State museum, is richer in asphaltum 
 than any of the sandstones, the average of 
 three analyses giving 20.35 per cent, of bitu- 
 men. This gives it the same composition as 
 the best grade of asphaltie limestone gotten 
 in the Val-de-Travers, Switzerland, of which 
 the famous asphalt streets of Paris are made. 
 It is a natural mixture of asphaltum and 
 limestone in the best proportion for good 
 road making. 
 
 Oil is often an accompanying material 
 when the tar springs and deposits of bitumen 
 are found in the timber belt and Eagle Ford 
 beds. Thus, in the counties of Sabine, Shel- 
 by, Nacogdoches, San Augustine, Ander- 
 son, Grimes, Travis, Bexar and others, oil in 
 small quantity has been found. Most often, 
 it is true, the quantity has been too small to 
 be of much economic importance, but in 
 Nacogdoches county one of the fields has had 
 considerable development and the results are 
 satisfactory. Besides these deposits there 
 are others in the Carboniferous region, where 
 small quantities of oil are secured in wells and 
 springs which appear to have a larger quan- 
 tity of the higher oils connected with them. 
 
 The only places at which oil is at present 
 produced are Nacogdoches and San Antonio. 
 
 In the vicinity of Chireno, Nacogdoches 
 county, a number of oil wells have been 
 bored, many of which became producers. A 
 pipe line was run connecting the wells with 
 the railroad at Nacogdoches, and shipments 
 of oil have been made from time to time. 
 This locality produces only a lubricating oil, 
 but it has the property (through absence of 
 parafiine) of withstanding very severe cold, 
 and is therefore of high market value for 
 railroad use where such oils are needed. 
 
 Mr. George Dulnig, when boring on his 
 place for water, at a depth of 300 feet struck 
 petroleum, and subsequently, in another 
 boring at some distance from the first, came 
 upon it at 270 feet. The flow is only about 
 twenty gallons a day, but is continuous and 
 regular. The oil is a superior article for 
 lubricating purposes. 
 
 Gas, another economic product accom- 
 panying these beds of bitumen and oil, has 
 long been known in Shelby, Sabine and 
 adjoining counties, and it was found in well- 
 boring in "Washington county and elsewhere 
 many years ago. Within the last few years 
 fresh borings have been made in the vicinity 
 of Greenvine, in Washington county, and 
 the flow of gas found to be of considerable 
 amount. It has been found near San An- 
 tonio at depths of from 400 to 800 feet, 
 and also at Gordon and other places in 
 the Carboniferous area. No attempt has yet 
 been made to bring it into use, or even to 
 fully test the character or extent of the fields 
 thus far determined. 
 
 FERTILIZERS. 
 
 Under this heading might be included 
 everything that can be applied to a soil for 
 its amelioration or the increase of its fertility. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Tliis would, therefore, in its widest applica- 
 tion, embrace even the addition of sands to 
 clay soils of such sticky character as our 
 famous black waxy. The deposits, however, 
 which will be mentioned here are apatite, 
 bat guano, gypsum, glauconite (or greensand 
 marl), chalk marl, limes and clays. 
 
 Apatite, which is a phosphate of lime, has 
 as yet been found only in very §mall quanti- 
 ties in Texas. Its value as a fertilizer is due 
 to its contents of phosphoric acid, and if it 
 can be discovered in any quantity will be of 
 very considerable value in connection with 
 the greensand and other marls in sandy 
 lands low in that essential element. Phos- 
 phate of lime is also the chief constituent of 
 bone, and any deposits of this character will 
 also prove of value. As yet known, no de- 
 posits rich in phosphatic material have been 
 found in Texas. 
 
 Bat guano, as a fertilizer, occupies a place 
 second to notiiiug, except it be the Peruvian 
 guano. Its great value as a fertilizer is due 
 to its salts of ammonia, potash and phos- 
 phorus. It is found in caves in Williamson, 
 Tlurnet, Lampasas, Llano, Gillespie, Blanco, 
 I'exar and other counties of Texas in great 
 quantities. It varies greatly in quality. 
 Many of the caves are so situated that water 
 has access to the beds, and parts of the 
 valuable salts of ammonia are dissolved and 
 carried off. In others, fires have by some 
 means got started and immense bodies of the 
 guano burned. Many analyses have been 
 made from different caves, and large quan- 
 tities of it have been shipped, but the pres- 
 ent lack of railroad facilities in the vicinity 
 of the deposits has prevented their successful 
 working. 
 
 Analyses of guano from Burnet and Gil- 
 lespie counties gave a value of over $50 per 
 ton. 
 
 Gypsum, as a top dressing for many crops, 
 is of great use, and when ground for this 
 purpose is known as land plaster. Ground 
 gypsum is also an excellent deodorizer. 
 
 Texas is abundantly supplied with this 
 material. Not only does it occur in immense 
 deposits in the Permian beds west of the 
 the Abilene-Witchita country, but all through 
 the timber belt beds it is found along the 
 streams and scattered through the clays as 
 crystals of clear selenite, often miscalled 
 '• mica " or " isinglass." It is of all degrees 
 of purity, from the pure selenite to an im- 
 pure gypseous clay. So far it has been little 
 used for this purpose in Texas. 
 
 Greensand marl is a mixture of sand and 
 clay with greensand, and often contains 
 quantities of shells. Greensand, or glaucoTi- 
 ite, as it is often called, is a mineral of green 
 color composed of silica (sand) in chemical 
 combination with iron and potash, and usu- 
 ally contains more or less phosphoric acid, 
 and the shells furnish lime. Where it occurs 
 in its original and unaltered condition it is 
 is of a more or less pronounced green color, 
 due to the color of the greensand in it. 
 Where it has been snlgected to chemical 
 action the greensand is gradually decom- 
 posed and the iron unites and forms hydrous 
 oxide of iron, or iron rust. This alteration 
 gives rise to a great variety of color in the 
 different beds of the material. When it is 
 fully altered in this way it forms the red or 
 yellow sandstone so much used in east Texas. 
 
 Numerous analyses have been made of 
 these marls, both in their original and 
 altered conditions. They contain, in all the 
 samples tested at least, lime, potash and 
 phosphoric acid, just the elements that are 
 required to fertilize the sandy soils and to 
 renew and increase the fertility of thoae that 
 have been worn ont. Tbeee elemeots oeenr 
 
HItiTOBY OF TEXAS. 
 
 in the marl in variable amounts, and less in 
 the altered than in the unaltered material. 
 In nearly every instance, however, the 
 amounts were sufficient to be of great agri- 
 cultural value to every field within hauling 
 distance of such a deposit. It often hap- 
 pens, too, that these beds of marl lie in 
 closest proximity to the very soils on which 
 they are most needed, and all the farmer has 
 to do to secure the desired results is to apply 
 it as a fertilizer. 
 
 If any proof is wanted of the adaptability 
 of these marls, and of tlieir great value on 
 just this character of soil, it is shown in New 
 Jersey, where exactly similar conditions ex- 
 ist. In that State there were large areas of 
 pine-land soils which were, like ours, of little 
 agricultural value, because of tlie small 
 amounts of potash, phosphoric acid and lime 
 contained in them. There were, however, 
 large deposits of greensand marl adjacent to 
 them, and its use has been of the highest 
 benefit. This is fully attested both by the 
 agricultural and the geological reports of the 
 State. It gives lasting fertility to the soils. 
 No field that has once been marled is now 
 poor. One instance was found where poor 
 and sandy land was marled more tlian thirty 
 years ago and has ever since been tilled 
 without manure, and not well managed, 
 wliich is still in good condition. Fruit trees 
 and vines make a remarkable growth and 
 produce fruit of high flavor when liberally 
 dressed with this marl. Although the green- 
 sand marls of east Texas are not as rich as 
 those of New Jersey, they are nevertheless 
 rich enough to be of the same use to our 
 lands. Nearly 200,000 tons of greensand 
 marls are used yearly in New Jersey. 
 
 The first requisite to the best results is 
 that the marl should be powdered as finely 
 as possible before spreading it on the land. 
 
 The greensand decomposes and is dissolved 
 very slowly, and the finer it is powdered the 
 more rapid will be its action. It should also 
 be spread evenly and uniformly over tlie 
 ground. It is ordinarily wet when first dug, 
 but after a certain amount of drying it can 
 be easily pulverized, or it can be dried more 
 rapidly and rendered more friable by the 
 mixture of a small amount of quicklime with 
 it. It could also be improved by composting 
 it with barnyard .manure or guano. Owing 
 to the difilculty with whicli the greensand is 
 dissolved, the effects are not always so ap- 
 parent the fii'st year, but it is a lasting ferti- 
 lizer, as is shown by the quotations given 
 above. 
 
 The amount required will of course vary 
 with the composition of the soil and the 
 quality of the greensand. From three to ten 
 wagon loads per acre would, perhaps, be the 
 usual amount required, although some soils 
 might need even more. 
 
 Calcareous Marls. — Lime is already used 
 to a large extent in agriculture, and will be 
 used more largely still. Its uses are to 
 lighten clay soils and to make sandy soils 
 more firm, while sour soils or swamp lands 
 are sweetened by its application. In addi- 
 tion to this the chemical action brouglit 
 about by its presence in the decomposition 
 and rendering soluble of other constituents 
 of the soil is very great, so that its action is 
 both chemical and physical. Its use is per- 
 haps most beneficial when composted with 
 organic manures or the greensand marls. 
 
 WJien the calcareous marls are soft enough 
 to be easily powdered they may be applied a^ 
 they are, and in this condition the action of 
 the lime is much more gradual and of longer 
 continuance. When they exist as harder 
 rocks they will have to be burned before ap- 
 plying them. 
 
158 
 
 UliiTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 Among the rocks of the Cretaceous 
 are many deposits which are especially adapted 
 for use in this way. Localities are nuuierous 
 in the divisions known as the Austin chalk 
 and the Washita limestone which will ail'ord 
 a soft material well suited for the purpose. 
 
 It often happens that in the greensand 
 beds themselves there are large deposits of 
 fossil shells still in their original form as 
 carbonate of lime. Where these occur the 
 marl is of great value, as it contains that 
 whicli will render it most valuable on such 
 sandy lands as ueed it. 
 
 Clays. — Some of the clays of east Te.xas 
 will prove of value as fertilizers on account 
 of the large amount of potash they contain 
 — as high as live and six per cent, in certain 
 cases. While it is true that much of the 
 potash is in chemical combination with silica, 
 and therefore soluble only with difiiculty, if 
 composted with quicklime this substance 
 will be rendered more soluble and prepared 
 for plant food. 
 
 FICTILE MATERIALS. 
 
 Texas has not yet begun to take that place 
 among the manufacturers of pottery and 
 glassware which the character, quality and 
 extent of the materials found within her bor- 
 ders render possible. For pottery -making 
 there exist clays adapted to every grade, from 
 common jug ware and tiling through yellow, 
 Rockingham, C. C, white granite or iron- 
 stone china, to china or porcelain of tie 
 finest quality. Glass sands are also found of 
 a liigh degree of purity, and many other 
 materials of use or necessity in the manu- 
 facture of these various grades of goods are 
 found here. 
 
 While the subject of clays has not yet re- 
 ceived the attention that it is proposed to | 
 
 give it, numerous specimens have been 
 secured and analyzed, with the result of 
 proving the facts as stated above. 
 
 Among the clays of the division known as 
 coast clays are some that will answer for the 
 coarser stoneware, such as jugs, flower pots, 
 drain tile, etc., and others which from their 
 refractory character are well adapted for the 
 matiufacture of charcoal furnaces, and possi- 
 bly of sewer pipe. 
 
 The coast region contains beds of light 
 colored clays, many of which are pure white. 
 These beds of clay not only underlie and 
 overlie the middle beds of Fayette sands, 
 but are also found interbedded with that 
 series. The excellent qualities of these clays 
 were first stated by Dr. W. P. Riddell, of the 
 first geological survey of Texas under Dr. 
 Shumard. His specimens were obtained from 
 the Yegua, in Washington county, and in tiie 
 vicinity of Hempstead. Since that time many 
 analyses have been made of clays of various 
 portions of these beds, and while some of them 
 are too higli in alkalies or fusible constitu- 
 ents, others are well suited to the manufac- 
 ture of all grades of earthen ware below that 
 of porcelain, or French china as it is called. 
 Clays of this character have been secured in 
 various localities from Angelina to and below 
 Fayette county. There are beds in the Fay- 
 ette sands that will be of value in glass- 
 making. Some of the beds are composed of 
 clear angular quartz grains without tinge of 
 iron, having only an occasional grain of 
 rounded red or black quartz. 
 
 In the timber-belt beds there are other 
 clays and sands well suited to the manufac- 
 ture of earthenware and glass. Most of the 
 beds of pottery clays of this division ex- 
 amiiieil so far in eastern Texas are, however, 
 only suited for the coarser grades of earthen- 
 
HI STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ware, bnt in Grimes and Eobertson counties 
 (and possibly in others as well) clays of higlier 
 grade are fonnd. 
 
 Kaolin. — In Robertson county, not far 
 from the town of Mexia, there is a deposit 
 of sandy clay which is readily separated by 
 washing into a kaolin of excellent quality 
 and a perfectly pure quartz sand. This 
 kaolin has been tested practically and pro- 
 duces a good porcelain. 
 
 Potteries have been erected in various 
 parts of the State within the limits of the 
 Fayette and timber-belt beds for the manu- 
 facture of common earthenware, flower pots, 
 etc., and several are now in successful opera- 
 tion. Among localities of potteries may be 
 mentioned Lavernia, Wilson county; Athens, 
 Henderson county; Kosse, Limestone county; 
 Burton, Washington county, and others. 
 
 In addition to the kaolin already men- 
 tioned in Robertson county, kaolins of excel- 
 lent quality are found in Edwards and 
 Uvalde counties. These are pure white in 
 color, somewhat greasy to the touch, and are 
 infusible in the hottest blow-pipe Hame. 
 Being practically free from iron, they are 
 adapted to the making of the best grades 
 of china. They are free from grit and 
 every other objectionable impurity. A com- 
 parison of the analyses of these kaolins with 
 those of established reputation more fully 
 show their value. 
 
 Of the other materials needed in the manu- 
 facture of pottery, we have deposits of feld- 
 spar well suited for glazing; gypsum for the 
 manufacture of plaster of paris for molds; 
 clays suitable for the saggers, and cheap fuel 
 in abundance. 
 
 BUILDING MATERIALS. 
 
 The variety and widespread occurrence of 
 the rocks of Texas suitable for construction 
 
 is 60 great that it will be impracticable to 
 allude to them in any other than general 
 terms. They will therefore be grouped under 
 general headings. 
 
 Granites occur in widely separated por- 
 tions of the State. The first locality is wl-.at 
 has been termed in the reports the central 
 mineral region, the second is in the extreme 
 west, or trans-Pecos Texas. Tlie granites of 
 the first or central region are of different 
 colors. The best known is the red granite, 
 such as was used in the construction of the 
 capitol building. The color is red to dark 
 reddish-gray, varying from fine to rather 
 coarse grain in structure, and susceptible of 
 high polish. The outcrop of the granite, 
 which can be quarried to any desired dimen- 
 sions, covers an area of over 100 square 
 miles. 
 
 There is a quarry now in operation on the 
 portion from which the granite was taken for 
 the building of the capitol, on account of 
 which it was originally opened, the material 
 used having been donated by the owners, 
 Colonel Norton, Dr. Westfall and George 
 W. Lacy. 
 
 Besides this particular granite there are 
 many others in this region which will prove 
 as useful. In the northern part of Gillespie 
 county there is a brownish granite of very 
 grain which takes a beautiful polish; and in 
 addition there are found in various portions 
 of the region granites varying in color from 
 light to dark gray, which are well adapted 
 for building purposes, and in some instances 
 will prove of decided value for ornamental 
 and monumental purposes. 
 
 The granites of trans-Pecos Texas, like 
 those of the central mineral region, are well 
 suited both for building and ornamental pur- 
 pofes. The western granites, however, lack 
 the variety of color which is found in those 
 
160 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 of the central region, being for tlie most part 
 a lighter or darker gray, the feldspar being 
 very ligiit-colored in all of them. Tliey are 
 adjiicent to railway transportation, however, 
 as the Southern Pacilic Kaihvay passes very 
 near their outcrop in tiie Quitman mountains 
 and directly by them in the Franklin mount- 
 ains, near El Paso, and will sooner or later 
 come into market. 
 
 Porj)hyries. — Among the most beautiful 
 and indestructible of our building stones we 
 must place the porphyries. Their hardness, 
 however, and the difficulty of quarrying and 
 dressing them, often prevent their taking the 
 place in actual use that their good qualities 
 would otherwise secure for them; but where 
 the elements of durability and beauty are 
 sought their worth must be properly recog- 
 nized. 
 
 Porphyries of almost every shade and color 
 abound in trans-Pecos Texas. There are in 
 the State museum specimens taken from the 
 outcrops in the Quitman Mountains alone, 
 which are readily divisible into twenty or 
 more shades. These vary through light 
 grays, yellows, reds, purples and greens to 
 black, and their polished surfaces are espe- 
 cially rich. The quantity and accessibility 
 to railroad transportation must prove suffi- 
 cient inducement for their development. 
 
 Marbles. — The deposits of the marbles, 
 like those of the granites, are found both in 
 the central mineral region and in trans-Pecos 
 Texas. In addition to these deposits there 
 occur in numerous places limestones more or 
 less altered from various causes which are 
 locally called marbles, and are sometimes 
 both beautiful and useful when properly 
 drocised. Among such deposits may be 
 noticed what is known as the Austin marble, 
 a stratum of the Cretaceous which has been 
 altered until its fossils have been chanced to 
 
 calcite. The body of the stone is, when pol- 
 ished, of a light yellow color, and the trac- 
 ings of the contained shells in pure calcite, 
 which gives a very pretty effect, although 
 their fragile character detracts greatly from 
 the usefulness of the stone. Other deposits 
 of similar semi-marbles of various colors are 
 found among the Carboniferous limestones of 
 the northern portion of the State. The 
 marbles and semi-marbles of the central 
 mineral region are the altered limestones of 
 the Silurian and older beds, some of which 
 are of fine texture and capable of receiving 
 an excellent polish. The marbles of the 
 Silurian beds found in San Saba, Burnet, 
 Gillespie and other counties, which are 
 known as " Burnet marbles," are both of 
 solid color and variegated. They are found 
 in beautiful pink, white, buff, blue and gray 
 shades, and although not true marbles, are 
 well adapted for many uses. 
 
 The marbles belonging to what are called 
 the Texan beds, a formation older than the 
 Silurian, are, however, real marbles. They 
 are found near Packsaddle mountain. En- 
 chanted Peak, and in the Comanche creek 
 region of Mason county. They are often 
 snowy white in color, of even grain, and 
 among the deposits are found strata of me- 
 dium thickness. They are not, however, as 
 extensive as the deposits of the semi-marbles. 
 
 In trans-Pecos Texas marbles belonging, 
 as is supposed, to the same geologic age, 
 exist in great abundance, and for beauty in 
 color can not be surpassed. 
 
 From the Carrizos to the Quitman mount- 
 ains outcrops occur in the vicinity of the 
 railroad of marbles which are certain at no 
 distant day to become the basis for great 
 commercial industry. They are found banded 
 or striped and clouded, as well as pure white. 
 They are fine grained, and can be quarried 
 
UI8T0RT OP TEXAS. 
 
 in stone of almost any dimensions. Some 
 of tlieni when polished will rival the Aragon- 
 ite or Mexican onyx in delicacy of coloring. 
 
 The limestones of Texas which are suited 
 for building purposes are abuTidant and 
 widespread in their occurrence. The Cre- 
 taceous formation which covers fully one- 
 fourth of the entire area of the State abounds 
 in limestone well adapted for structural pur- 
 poses. In addition to this we have the lime- 
 stones of the Carboniferous, Permian and 
 Silurian systems, so that the total area is 
 largely increased. 
 
 The limestones of the Cretaceous occur 
 both in its upper and lower divisions. In 
 the Austin chalk there are beds which fur- 
 nish excellent stone which is quarried for 
 use in many places, but a large portion of 
 it is too chalky and not firm enough for gen- 
 eral use. The best limestone of this forma- 
 tion is that contained in the Fredericksburg 
 and Washita divisions of tlie Lower Cre- 
 taceous. These limestones are of color vary- 
 ing from white to yellow, very rarely darker, 
 and are often somewhat soft when first quar- 
 ried, becoming harder on exposure. 
 
 Among the materials of the Clear Fork 
 division of the Permian formation are some 
 even-bedded limestones of square fracture, 
 tine, even grain and good color, that will 
 prove valuable as building material. These 
 were observed in the northwestern part of 
 Shackelford county, and will also be found 
 north and south of that locality along the 
 outcrop of these beds. Seymour and Bal- 
 linger show buildings constructed of these 
 limestones. 
 
 Sandstones and Quartzites. — The sand- 
 stones are fully as widely distributed as the 
 limestones, being found in nearly all dis- 
 tricts in greater or less quantity. In the 
 Fayette sands are found beds of indurated 
 
 sands of light color which have bten used in 
 various localities along their line of outcrop 
 for building purposes. Kock has been quar- 
 ried from these deposits for many localities, 
 principally at Rockland, Tyler county; 
 Quarry Station, on the Gulf, Colorado & 
 Santa Fe Railroad; Rock Quarry, on the 
 Houston & Texas Central Railway, in Wash- 
 ington county, and in various parts of Fay- 
 ette, Lavaca and other counties to the soutli- 
 west. 
 
 In the timber-belt beds the altered (and 
 even the unaltered) greonsand marls are 
 sometimes so indurated as to be used for 
 building purposes. In addition to this 
 many of the hill-cappings of sandstone, 
 which at times replace the iron ore, are valu- 
 able building stones. 
 
 In the Cretaceous area north of the Colo- 
 rado river there are no sandstones of any 
 particular value so far as our examinations 
 have extended. 
 
 The area of the central coal field abounds 
 in excellent sandstone for building purposes, 
 some of which has been extensively quarried 
 and used in the construction of buildings 
 from Dallas west to Cisco. It is of good 
 color, quarries well, and presents a handsome 
 appearance in* the wall. It is so generally 
 found in this district that it is impossible to 
 name the localities. 
 
 In the Permian there are some sandstones 
 which will be of wide application in the 
 buildings of the State. East of Pecos City, 
 at Quito, on the Texas & Pacific Railway, a 
 company has recently opened a quarry in a 
 compact, well jointed red sandstone which 
 is probably of Permian age. It is of a beau- 
 tiful red color, uniform in texture and color, 
 easily worked yet durable, and in every way 
 adapted to the best uses in building. The 
 company in boring a well at tlie place 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 lifive passed through more tlian 100 feet of 
 this reel sandstone, tlius proving its unlim- 
 ited quantity. It will compare favorably in 
 every way with the sandstones formerly im- 
 ported into the State for the fronts and 
 trimmings of buildings. 
 
 Dcyond the Carrizo and Diaholo mountains 
 there is a line-grained red sandstone which is 
 destined to be one of the finest building 
 stones of the State. It is a little darker in 
 color than the Quito stone, finer-grained, 
 firmer, of even texture, and will lend itself 
 to almost any character of decoration. 
 
 In this trans-Pecos region there are many 
 other sandstones and quartzites which will in 
 time come into use for structural purposes. 
 
 Slate. — The two areas in which the older 
 recks are found both give promise of fur- 
 nishing slate suitable for roofing. In the 
 central mineral district several localities have 
 t>fen examined which on the surface give in- 
 dication of furnisiiing good roofing slate, and 
 in the vicinity of the Carrizo mountains. El 
 Paso county, similar indications are found. 
 
 It will of course require some actual work 
 in opening the quarry sntticiently to ascer- 
 tain the condition of the material below the 
 surface to fully decide the value of the de- 
 posits, but the indications are very favorable 
 and warrant such an attempt at development. 
 
 Thus it is readily apparent that in build- 
 ing stone there is no lack of variety, as well 
 as an ample supply of all that can be made 
 useful. 
 
 Clays suitable for brickmaking, terracotta 
 and drain tile are found in all the different 
 formations occurring in the State. All are 
 not of equal value, and indeed the brick 
 itiadc from some few are quite inferior, but 
 the majority produce good, serviceal)le brick. 
 The colors of the brick vary from yellow or 
 cream color, such as are made at Austin, 
 
 through various shades of browns and reds, 
 according to the character of the clay. In 
 eastern Texas, as well as in the carboniferous 
 area, the brick are usually mottled from the 
 amount of iron in the clays. Selected clays, 
 however, in these localities produce brick of 
 excellent color. The importance of this in- 
 dustry will bo seen by the following state- 
 ment of the aggregate of brick production 
 for the" year 1889, which was received from 
 the operators of the brick kilns in answer to 
 inquiries, namely, 95,000,000. 
 
 Many of the clays of the Tertiary ex- 
 amined during the past year are well suitid 
 to the manufacture of terra cotta and drain 
 tile. These are found in the region covered 
 by the timber-belt beds, as well as among 
 the Fayette clays. Those of the other areas 
 have not yet been examined fully enough to 
 determine their availability for these ])ur- 
 poses, but it is probable that many carbun- 
 iferous clays will prove well adaj)t(jd fi^r 
 them. 
 
 LithtHjrapliic stone is found in several 
 places in Texas, but it is too much fractured 
 for use. 
 
 L'uno. — As is well known, the lime ma<ie 
 from the rocks of that horizon of the Cretace- 
 ous formation known as the Caprina lime- 
 stones (which is the most persistent bed ot 
 all the formation) is unsurpa-sed for quality. 
 The fame of the Austin lime is well estab- 
 lished. Other beds of the cretaceous will 
 answer well in lime-making, although some 
 of them contain too much clayey matter, or 
 are otherwise unfitted for this use. Lime is 
 also made from the limestone of the other 
 deposits, but none of these have been so suc- 
 cessfully operated as those above mentioned. 
 The reports received for 1889 gave a total 
 production of 190,000 barrels. 
 
HlsrOUY UF TEXAS. 
 
 Cement Materials. — Cements are of two 
 kinds, — natural, or liydraulic, and artilicialj 
 or Portland. 
 
 Natural, or hydraulic, cement is made from 
 certain clayey limestones, which, when burned 
 and ground, have the property of setting or 
 becoming hard under water. Portland cem- 
 ents are of similar character, but are made 
 by artificially mixing the limestone and clays 
 in the proper proportion. 
 
 Materials for both characters of cement 
 exist in abundance within the State. The 
 limestones of certain beds of the Cretaceous 
 are clayey enough tb make cement when 
 properly calcined and ground, and the same 
 properties are claimed for some of those 
 found in the Tertiary, but our tests have so 
 far failed to bear out the claim. Some of the 
 limestones belonging to the Clear Fork beds 
 of the Permian might answer if the percent- 
 age of magnesia was not too great. 
 
 The materials for Portland cement are, 
 however, more abundant, and the product of 
 so much better quality as to render the 
 natural cement a matter of comparatively 
 .small importance. The Austin chalk is rather 
 widespread in its distribution and adjacent to 
 clays of almost any required grade. 
 
 The entire practicability of the manufac- 
 ture of Portland cement has been shown by 
 the two factories which have undertaken it, 
 one at San Antonio, the other at Austin. 
 The former supplied much of the cement 
 used in the erection of the present capitol 
 building, and it was of very excellent quality. 
 
 Plaster of Paris is produced from gyp- 
 sum by driving out the percentage of water 
 which is chemically combined with it. Its 
 manufacture on any desired scale is entirely 
 practicable in the Permian region of Texas, 
 where many beds of gypsum of great purity 
 occur. 
 
 Sand for mortar, plaster, etc., is found in 
 many places. The Cretaceous is perhaps the 
 area in which it is scarcest, and it can be 
 brought in from either side. The locations 
 will be more fully discussed in the descrip- 
 tions of counties. 
 
 METALS AND OEKS. 
 
 Iron. — Probably the most important of 
 our ore deposits are those of iron, which in 
 various forms are found in many parte of the 
 State. 
 
 Beginning at the Louisiana line with a 
 breadth of nearly 150 miles, stretching south- 
 west in a gradually narrowing belt and proba- 
 bly fading out in Caldwell county or just be- 
 yond, there is found a series of hills of 
 greater or less elevation which are capped 
 with ferruginated material, varying from a 
 sandstone with a small amount of oxide of 
 iron in the matrix, to limonite ores of high 
 grade. Of this division only a few of the 
 counties of east Texas have been fully ex- 
 amined, but enough has been done to show 
 the probability that the greater amount of 
 workable ores of this belt lie east of the 96th 
 meridian, although there may be localities 
 west of that line at which ores of value 
 occur. These ores are associated entirely 
 with rocks of the Tertiary and later periods. 
 
 In the Cretaceous no iron ores of any con- 
 sequence are known except in the extreme 
 west, where deposits of ochre seem to occur 
 in connection with strata belonging to the 
 Fredericksburg division of the Lower Cretace- 
 ous series. 
 
 There are only a few ores of any value 
 found in the carboniferous area, and those of 
 the Permian are not of much importance. 
 The central mineral region, however, con- 
 tains, in connection with its deposits of older 
 
HlsrOUY OF TEXAS. 
 
 rocks, lar^rc dejiosits of very valnal)le ores, 
 including magnetite, red iieniatite, and vari- 
 ous iiydrated ores. Finally, in trans-Pecos 
 Texas iron ores of the hematite and magnetic 
 types are found iu veins of consideral)le 
 tliirkness. 
 
 Tims it will be seen that the distribution 
 uf the ores is general, extending entirely 
 acroes the State from east to west. 
 
 The ores of east Texas all belong to the 
 class of limonites, or brown hematites. They 
 have been divided according to their physical 
 structure, due to the manner of their forma- 
 tion, into four general classes, — laminated 
 ores, geode or nodular ores, conglomerate 
 ores, and carbonate ores. 
 
 The laminated ores are brown to black in 
 color and vary in structure from a massive 
 to a highly laminated variety in which the 
 lamiiuV3 vary from one-sixteenth to one-quarter 
 of an inch in thickness, frequently separated 
 by hollow spaces, and sometimes containing 
 thin seams of gray clay. The average thick- 
 ness of the ore bed is from one to three feet, 
 although it may exceed this in places. This 
 class of ores is most extensively developed 
 south of the Sabine river. The ore bed is 
 generally underlaid by a stratum of green- 
 sand marl from ten to thirty feet in thick- 
 ness, and overlaid by from one to sixty feet 
 of sands and sandstones. 
 
 The nodular, or geode ores, which are 
 best developed north of the Sabine river, 
 usually occur asnodules or geodes, or as sandy- 
 clay strata. This ore generally occurs in 
 nodules or gcodes, or as honey-combed, 
 botryoidal, stalactitic and mammillary masses. 
 It is rusty brown, yellow, dull red, or even 
 black color, and has a glossy, dull, or earthy 
 lustre. Tlie most characteristic feature of 
 the ore is the nodular or geode form in whicli 
 it occurs. Some of the beds are made up of 
 
 tliese masses, either loose in a eandy-elay 
 matrix or solidified in a bed by a ferruginous 
 cement. The ore lies horizontally at or nesr 
 the tops of the hills, in the same manner as 
 the brown laminated ores to the south of the 
 Sabine river. The beds vary in thickness 
 from less than one foot to over ten feet, the 
 thicker ones being often interbcdded with 
 thin seams of sand. The ore-bearing beds 
 are immediately overlaid by sandy or sandy- 
 clayey strata. 
 
 Conglomerate ores consist of a conglomer- 
 ate of brown ferruginous pebbles one-quarter 
 to two inches in diameter and cemented in a 
 sandy matrix. Sometimes a few siliceous 
 pebbles are also found. The beds vary from 
 one to twenty feet thick, and are generally 
 local deposits along the banks and bluffs and 
 sometimes in the beds of almost all the creeks 
 and streams in the iron-ore region just de- 
 scribed. Sometimes they cap the lower hills. 
 They are generally of low grade, but could 
 be concentrated by crushing and washing out 
 the sandy matrix. They usually contiiin more 
 or less ferruginous sandstone in lenticular 
 deposits, and are much cross-bedded. 
 
 The investigations of the survey in east 
 Texas show an aggregate iron-bearing area 
 of a thousand square miles. This is not all 
 a solid bed of commercial ore, but the area 
 within which commercial ores are known to 
 exist. If even one-fourth be taken as pro- 
 ductive iron land, and the bed be estimated 
 at two feet in thickness, both very safe esti- 
 mates, we have a total output of 1,500,000,000 
 tons of iron ore. The quality of the ores 
 varies from that adapted to the manufacture 
 of steel, or " Bessemer ores, " to that of low 
 grade. 
 
 ^The ochres of the Cretaceous are found in 
 Uvalde and Val Verde counties, and proba- 
 bly elsewhere. From analyses they appear to 
 
UlsrORT OF TEX.iS. 
 
 he of very high grade, but no examination lias 
 yet been made of them by the survey. 
 
 A great quantity of htmatiie ironsfone is 
 Imported to occur in the beds adjacent to the 
 Waldrip-Cisco division, which, if it equal the 
 sample analyzed, is a very valuable ore. 
 
 The iron ores of the central mineral rej^ioii 
 are of three classes, magnetites, hematites, 
 and hydrous ores, each of which has its own 
 placeand mode of occurrence. The magnetites 
 lie in tlie northwest trend in the Archsean 
 rocks, which for practical purposes may be 
 confined between northwest-southeast lines 
 drawn through Lone Grove town upon the 
 east and through Enchanted Rock upon the 
 west. This blocks out a district twenty miles 
 wide, and extending perhaps thirty miles in 
 the direction of the strike. Within this held, 
 however, various structural features have pre- 
 vented, in many places, the outcropping of 
 the iron-bearing system, so that probably 
 two- thirds of the area is not in condition to 
 yield ore without removing thick deposits of 
 later origin. Assuming that one-tliird of the 
 territory, in scattered patches, will siiow the 
 Fernandan beds at surface or at depths that 
 may be considered workable from an economi- 
 cal standpoint, it must be understood that 
 only a small fraction of the thickness of these 
 strata is iron ore. Keeping in mind also tlie 
 folded condition of the rocks, it is evident 
 that the chances for mining will be depend- 
 ent largely upon the character of the ero- 
 sion, it being premised that the iron bed, if 
 such it be, is not very near the top of the 
 system to which it belongs. 
 
 The general section of this system of rocks 
 shows that the magnetite, sometimes asso- 
 ciated with hematite, occurs in a bed usually 
 about fifty feet thick at a definite horizon in 
 it. The investigations of the survey show that 
 
 there are several belts within which valuable 
 deposits are known or may be discovered. 
 
 Tlie most eastern of these is the Babyhead 
 belt, and the outcrojis follow a line bearing 
 southeastward, west of Babyhead postotKce 
 and Lone Grove, and coming out southward 
 very near the Wolf crossing of the Colorado 
 river. Probably the best exposure of this 
 belt is the Babyhead mountains, and its north- 
 ern boundary does not cross the Llano county 
 line. To the southeast good results may lie 
 expected as far as Miller's creek. 
 
 A second belt west of this occupies the 
 area between Facksaddle and Riley mount- 
 ains, and stretches northwestward by Llano 
 town toward Valley Spring. Ores of value 
 have been found in many places in this belt, 
 the surface indications of the underlying 
 beds of magnetite being hematite orlimonite. 
 
 The third, or the Iron mountain belt, is 
 that on which the greatest amount of work 
 has been expended, and in two places in it 
 large and valuable masses of magnetic iron 
 have been exposed. The bed is most persist- 
 ent, and can be traced for miles. At Iron 
 mountain a shaft has been sunk down the 
 side of the iron outcrop to the depth of fifty 
 feet, and across-cut of twenty-two feet cut in 
 the lead. The quantity of magnetite and 
 hematite exposed here is very great. About 
 three miles south of Llano City considerable 
 prospecting has been done by drilling with 
 a diamond drill, and also opened by a shaft, 
 disclosing iron almost identical with the Iron 
 mountain product. 
 
 The most western of these belts lies be- 
 tween the Riley mountains and Enchanted 
 Rock in the south, possibly having also a 
 greater width to the northwest. While it is 
 covered in places by later rocks, the indica- 
 tions are good for the discovery of important 
 masses of iron ore in it. 
 
IJIHTOHY OP TKXAti. 
 
 In quality the mao;notitos are high-grade 
 I'cuKeiner ores, being low in silica, phosphorns 
 anil sulplnir, and very InVh in metallic iron. 
 The lieiiiatite ores seem to be chiefly de- 
 rived from alteration of the magnetites. They 
 iisnally crop out along portions of the north- 
 ern border of the magnetite area, and are 
 chiefly segregations in sandstone, and al- 
 though notie of the exposures have yet been 
 worked, valuable deposits will be found fol- 
 lowing the trend of the magnetite beds. These 
 segregations are to be found chiefly in the 
 red sandstone of tlie Cambrian system. They 
 will be of value as Bessemer ores. 
 
 The hydrated iron ores embrace many 
 diffe.rent varieties. These appear almost ex- 
 clusi\ely in veins, for the most part in the 
 older rocks. While they are not abundant 
 enough to sustain any industry by themselves, 
 they may become valuable in addition to the 
 other iron ores. 
 
 Taking the iron ore deposits of the State 
 as a whole, and considering their wide dis- 
 tribution, their excellent quality, tlieir rela- 
 tion to fuel supply and other necessaries for 
 smelting and manufacturing them, no doubt 
 can remain of tlie magnitude which the iron 
 industry is bound to assume in this State, 
 and that Texas is destined to become one of 
 the great iron and steel producing centers of 
 the world. 
 
 The copper ores of Texas are of two char- 
 acters. Those of the central mineral region 
 and trans- I'ecos Texas occur in veins, while 
 the ores of the Permian are found as impreg- 
 nations and segregations in the clays. 
 
 The copper ore of the Permian division 
 was first described by Ca])tain R. B. Marcy 
 in his report on the exploration of Red river 
 in 1852, when he found specimens of it in 
 Cache creek. In 1804, Colonel J. B. Barry 
 sent a party with Indian guides to Archer 
 
 county and secured a considerable amount of 
 ore, which was shipped to Austin and part 
 of it smelted and used for tlie manufacture of 
 percussion caps for the Confederacy, under 
 the superintendence of Dr. W. De Ryee. 
 After the war several attempts were made to 
 develop these deposits, but lack of transport- 
 ation facilities and the fact that the high- 
 grade ore bodies were in pockets and irregu- 
 larly distributed prevented the success of the 
 undertaking. Still later General McLellan 
 and a strong company made an effort to 
 utilize the deposits of Hardeman and adjoin- 
 ing counties, but it seems that the true nature 
 of the deposits were not fully appreciated, and 
 the result was the same as those of earlier 
 date. 
 
 As has been stated, these ores occur as im- 
 pregnations or segregations in the clays at 
 certain definite horizons in tlie formation. 
 They are not in veins, therefore, but in beds, 
 and are not to be mined by sinking shafts to 
 lower depths, but more after the manner of 
 coal deposits. There are three (and possibly 
 a fourth) of these horizons, one in each di- 
 vision of the Permian. The Archer county 
 deposits belong to the lower or Wichita beds, 
 the California creek bed to the Clear fork 
 beds, and the Kiowa Peak stratum or strata 
 to the Double mountain beds. The general 
 manner of occurrence is the same in all. The 
 ores are found in a bed of blue clay from 
 three to four feet thick. It is sometimes found 
 in a pseudomorphic form after wood, in which 
 case the oxide of copper has replaced the ma- 
 terial of the woody fibre in the same manner 
 as is done by silica in ordinary petrified wood. 
 In other places it occurs in rounded nodules 
 of different sizes, " like potatoes in a bed, " 
 as it is graphically described. In addition to 
 this the stratum of clay is impregnated witli 
 copper to the extent of forming a low-grade 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 167 
 
 ore in places. Analyses from various locali- 
 ties of average specimens of these copper 
 clays yield from 1.6 to 4.5 per cent, of cop- 
 per. In any successful attempt to utilize 
 these ores the work must he undertaken with 
 a view of recovering the copper from the 
 copper clays by li.xiviation as the principal 
 object. The extent of the deposits and amount 
 of copper contained in them in places seem 
 to warrant this character of development, 
 and the probability of finding many rich 
 pockets, such as have been found in nearly all 
 the workings so far attemptod is additional 
 inducement for the erection of such works. 
 Some of these pockets have yielded as much 
 as 6,000 pounds of ore assaying sixty 
 per cent, copper. 
 
 The general lines of the outcrop of copper 
 clays are as follows: The lower bed appears 
 at Archer, and from there northeast to the 
 mouth of Cache creek, the original place of 
 discovery. The next bed is found in a line 
 running from Paint creek, in Haskell county, 
 northeast through the northwestern part of 
 Throckmorton county, and crossing Baylor 
 county west of Seymour, and Wilbarger 
 county east of Vernon into Indian Territory. 
 The upper bed appears at Kiowa and Buz- 
 zard Peaks, and passing through the north- 
 western part of Hardeman is finally found 
 on Pease river west of Margaret. 
 
 In the central mineral region copper ores 
 are known principally from the surface in- 
 dications of carbonates and sulphides, which 
 are found in outcrops and scattered through 
 the rocks in various localities. The principal 
 outcrops are confined to the Babyhead district, 
 extending westward from the Little Llano to 
 the head of Pecan creek. A few others are 
 found still further westward in Mason coun- 
 ty, and some in Llano, but all are apparently 
 connected with the same series of rocks. 
 
 The ores at the surface are largely carlion- 
 ates, both Azurite and Malachite occurring, 
 but the latter predominating. Tetrahedrite 
 is more or le-s common, at:d sometimes car- 
 ries considerable silver. Chalcopyrite is also 
 present in small quantities, and in some 
 places Bornite occurs. 
 
 The various prospecting works which are 
 scattered through this area, beginning at the 
 Houston & Texas Central Railway diggings 
 on the east, includes many trial shafts and 
 pits sunk by Captain Thomas G. McGehce 
 on Little Llano, Yoakum and Wolf creeks, 
 Hubbard Mining Company on Pecan creek, 
 others by the Houston Mining Company on 
 Wolf creek, and the Miller mine, also on 
 Pecan. Further west in Mason county sim- 
 ilar prospecting works are found. In addi- 
 tion to these some prospecting has been done 
 in the vicinity of Llano, and also southeast 
 of that city. Specimens taken from the dif- 
 ferent localities by different members of the 
 survey assayed all the way from one per cei\t. 
 to forty-five and six-tenths per cent, copper, 
 in silver from nothing to 107.8 ounces per ton, 
 and of gold from nothing to one-filth ounce. 
 There have been several attempts at devel- 
 opment, but there are no mines in successful 
 operation at present. The work that has 
 been done on the different outcrops has not 
 been carried sufficiently far, nor has it been 
 of such a character, as to make it possible to 
 speak with certainty regarding the existence 
 of extensive bodies of copper ore in the dis 
 trict. What has been done, however, takei 
 in connection with the outcrops and assays 
 and our knowledge of the geological forma- 
 tion of the country, suggests the accumula 
 tion of ores of considerable importance below, 
 and will justify a much larger e.xpendituro 
 for the purpose of developing them than has 
 yet been made. 
 
n I STOUT OF TEXAS. 
 
 The copper ores of trans-Peco8 Texas have 
 been known for many years, and considoral)le 
 prospecting lias been done on them. There 
 is, liowevcr, only one mine in operation at 
 present — the Hazel mine in the J)iabolo 
 monntains, near Allamore, El Paso county. 
 This mine is situated at the foot of the Sierra 
 Diabolo on a lime-spar lead cutting through 
 a red sandstone. The principal ore is copper 
 glance or sulphide of coj)per, at times carry- 
 ing a good deal of wire silver, and occasion- 
 ally rich pockets of grey copper. This pay 
 streak runs in a vein from a few inches up 
 to ten feet in width, in a gangue of strongly 
 siliceous limestone, which is also impreg- 
 nated with the ore. The width of this 
 gangue is in some places as much as thirty- 
 tive feet, and the material is a low grade ore 
 of about $15 per ton. 
 
 In the Carrizo mountains and further 
 south in the Apache or Davis mountains are 
 other good copper prosjjccts, in addition to 
 th'; many outcrops in the Quitman mount- 
 ains and Sierra I'lanca region which show 
 copper at the surface. 
 
 Lead and Zinc. — While many finds of 
 lead ore have been reported in many portions 
 of the State, all tliose outside of the central 
 mineral region and trans-Pecos Texas have 
 proved to be merely float specimens. In the 
 central mineral region the lead ore occurs 
 f^paringly in veins in the older rocks, under 
 similar conditions and within the same area 
 as niai-ked out for the copper ores, but it is 
 principally found in the rocks of the Cam- 
 brian or Silurian age under circumstances 
 similar to those in whicii it is found in 
 Missouri. 
 
 I'crhaps the most extensive "digging "on 
 any of the veins of galena was tliat of the 
 Sam Houston Mining Company, who worked 
 iu the Riley mountains. This shaft, which 
 
 followed the irregular course of the vein, was 
 160 feet, or possibly more, in depth. There 
 was a string of galena, sometimes widening 
 out and sometimes almost entirely missing, 
 but enough ore was not secured to satisfy tiie 
 owners and work was stopped. 
 
 The deposits which occur in the horizon of 
 an age apparently corresponding to that of 
 the Missouri galena ores have been pi-os- 
 pected, chiefly in Burnet county. The 
 principal work is at Silver Mine Hollow. 
 The galena is not only scattered through the 
 sandy, ferruginous vein material, but is 
 found abundantly in the adjacent dark gray 
 to green magnesian limestone. Its original 
 source is probably the " cavern limestone" 
 of the Silurian, but up to the present time 
 there has not been snftieient develo])ment to 
 make it possible to speak with any degree of 
 certainty regarding the exact locality of the 
 ores. 
 
 No zinc ores at all are known iu the cen- 
 tral mineral region. 
 
 In trans-Pecos Texas ores of both lead and 
 zinc are very abundant and contain silver 
 and gold in variable quantities. The pros- 
 pects of the Quitman mountains and vicinity 
 are the best known. These mountains are 
 crossed by numerous vein outcrops and indi- 
 cations of ore, and wherever prospecting 
 boles have been sunk there are promising 
 indications, and even distinct veins of lead- 
 carrying silver, most of them at least having 
 traces of gold. Occasionally, also, tin is 
 present. The outcrops are generally com- 
 posed of iron silicates, with probably some 
 carbonate and oxide of iron, usually contain- 
 ing a little silver; a few feet below the sur- 
 face the copper stain begins; deeper down 
 the quantity of copper increases and traces 
 of lead appear with the cop|iei-. This be- 
 comes stronger the lower the shaft is sunk 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 aud shows zinc and bismuth in greater 
 depths. The zinc sometimes amounts to 30 
 per cent, of the whole, and even pure argent- 
 iferous zinc ores are found. One fact ob- 
 served is that on the northeast slopes of the 
 mountains uranium is found in connection 
 with the ores, while on the southwest slopes 
 this metal gives place to molybdenum even 
 on the same vein traced across the crest of 
 the mountain. 
 
 There are a number of shallow prospect 
 holes scattered over this region, but very few 
 of them reach a depth of fifty feet. 
 
 Several mines have, however, made ship- 
 ments of ore, the principal being from 
 the Alice Ray and Bonanza mines, both of 
 which are on the same vein. Their ores 
 have an average value of $60 to $65; but 
 owing to the fact that they contain 25 to 30 
 per cent, of zinc and that the El Paso smelt- 
 ers are not prepared to properly treat such 
 ores, it has not been found possible to work 
 them profitably after paying for roasting the 
 zinc out of the ores in place of receiving pay 
 for it. The Bonanza is the best developed 
 mine in the Quitman range. The lead runs 
 about east and west, dipping almost verti- 
 cally in a contact between granite and por- 
 phyry. A shaft ninety-five feet deep is sunk 
 to a drift below, running on the vein and 
 about 350 feet in length, which shows a seam 
 of galena from two to ten inches in thick- 
 ness. This carries an average of about thirty 
 ounces of silver, although it sometimes 
 reaches as high as sixty ounces, to the ton. 
 The shipping average of this ore is about 30 
 per cent, of lead, 25 to 30 per cent, zinc, and 
 thirty ounces of silver, to the ton, and about 
 500 tons have been shipped. From the drift 
 a winze is sunk 110 feet deep. 
 
 On the Alice flay claim, at a distance of 
 3,000 feet from the Bonanza, a tunnel is run 
 
 into the same lead. This mine is 5,095 feet 
 above the sea level, which, when compared 
 with the deepest body of the Bonanza, sbows 
 an ore body 450 feet in height by about 
 4,000 feet long. The ore body of the Alice 
 Bay, like that of the Bonanza, is a well de- 
 fined vein of galena, running from two tc 
 eight and ten inches in width. 
 
 There are many other valuable prospects 
 in this district, which are more fully described 
 in the reports. 
 
 Besides the ores of this district, ores are 
 found in districts on the east and south. The 
 Chinati region is, however, the only other 
 one in which much prospecting has been 
 done. Here thert are a great many pros- 
 pecting shafts, as well as some well devel- 
 oped mines. The ore on the river side is 
 galena, the outcrops being strongly ferru- 
 ginous streaks, similiar to those of the 
 Quitman mountains. Some outcrops show 
 carbonates and sulphides containing both 
 bismuth and silver. An assay of one of these 
 outcrops gave silver ten ounces, bismuth 
 three and five-tenths, lead forty and five- 
 tenths per cent. On "the eastern side thecon- 
 tacts between the porphyries and crystalline 
 limestones are very cleai-ly marked, and it is 
 on these that the most satisfactory prospect- 
 ing work has been done. These yield both 
 fine milling silver and galenas. 
 
 In the other ranges examined to the south 
 and east similiar ores also exist, but they are 
 at present so difficult of access that little 
 work has been done on them. 
 
 Oold. — The precious metals occur in con- 
 nection with the ores of copper, lead, and 
 zinc, as has already been stated under those 
 heads. They occur also in a free state. Small 
 amounts of free gold have been found by 
 panning in the Colorado river and in some 
 parts of Llano county, but the amount found 
 
niSTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 is too small for profitable working. In the 
 Qiiitniau mountains some of the quartz and 
 ferruginous outcrops show traces of gold, 
 and by using the pan colors of gold are fre- 
 quently found in the gravel and sand. A 
 small piece of quartz found near Finlay as- 
 sayed eleven ounces of gold to the ton. Tak- 
 ing this evidence, with the general geologic 
 features of the Quitman and surrounding 
 mountains, the presence of gold is established, 
 although the probable quantity is still uncer- 
 tain. Free gold has also been observed in 
 certain ores received from Presidio county. 
 The best developed mine in this region is 
 generally known as the Shafter or Bullis 
 mine, and is owned and operated by the Pres- 
 idio Mining company, who are now working 
 two mines — the Presidio and Cibolo. In the 
 former, which was discovered in 1880, the 
 mine consists of pockets and bunches of ore 
 of irregular shapes and sizes, generally iso- 
 lated from each other, imbedded in a lime- 
 stone country rock, thus forming chamber 
 deposits. 
 
 The Cibolo has the same general character, 
 but, in addition, has an ore body situated in 
 a well defined fissure, and is a contact deposit. 
 This company work their own mill and ship 
 their product as bullion. The mill, which 
 is of ten stamps of the common California 
 pattern, is located on a hillside, so that the 
 ore from the crusher falls to the automatic 
 feeder at the stamps, from which the pulp is 
 lifted to the amalgamators. The amalgam is 
 freed from the excess of quicksilver by strain- 
 ing, as usual, when retorted and fused. This 
 mill averages from thirty to thirty-five tons 
 of ore per day, which yields from forty to 
 forty-five ounces of silver per ton. The mo- 
 tive power is an eighty-horse power engine. 
 There is an ample water supply in Cibolo 
 creek to permit an increase in the size of this 
 
 mill and the erection of others as well, and 
 there is also good opportunity to build stor- 
 age reservoirs along it. There are otlier 
 locations being worked np, many of which 
 promise good returns, and there is no doubt 
 that this district must soon become one of 
 the centers of the mining industry in Te.xas. 
 Silver — Native silver has not yet been re- 
 ported. In trans-Pecos Texas, however, the 
 conditions are more favorable; and there are 
 two mines now working a free-milling silver 
 ore in Presidio county, and many trial shafts 
 have been put down in the surrounding region. 
 A considerable amount of silver bullion has 
 already been produced, and shipped to San 
 Francisco. 
 
 Tin. — The occurrence of tin was reported, 
 doubtfully, in the central mineral district in 
 1889, and it was also found in connection 
 with lead ores in trans-Pecos Texas. In No- 
 vember, during the examination of specimens 
 collected by members of his party. Dr. Com- 
 stock found some excellent pieces of cassi- 
 terite, or oxide of tin, and made a special trip 
 to decide the reality and manner of its occur- 
 rence. This resulted in the discovery that it 
 occurred not only as cassiterite, but in small 
 quantities in connection with other minerals 
 in the rocks of a certain portion of the Bur- 
 netan system extending from the western 
 part of Burnet to the eastern part of Mason 
 county, a distance of fifty miles, and having 
 a width of eight to ten miles. In this belt 
 the tin ore has been found at four or five lo- 
 calities. It occurs in a quartz of somewhat 
 banded appearance, and when pure may often 
 be recognized by its weight, being of greater 
 specific gravity than the iron ores. 
 
 Near the divide between Herman creek 
 and tributaries of the San Saba river, in Ma- 
 son county, are the remains of two old fur- 
 naces, and considerable slag which carries 
 
BISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 tin in little globules scattered throngli it. 
 
 "While it is impossible to speak positively 
 of the probable quantity of ore, the indica- 
 tions are favorable for its existence in amounts 
 suflBcient to be of economic value. 
 
 In trans-Pecos Texas tin has been found in 
 connection with some of the ores of the 
 Quitman range. 
 
 Mercury. — Like tin, this metal has been 
 reported from several localities, but up to the 
 present we have not succeeded in verifying 
 any of the reports or of finding any traces 
 of it. 
 
 Manganese. — The only workable deposits 
 of manganese yet defined by tlie survey are 
 those of the central mineral region. These 
 deposits are both in the form of manganese 
 ores and of combinations of iron and manga- 
 nese ores in different proportions. The Spiller 
 mine, south of Fly Gap, Mason county, is the 
 only known occurrence of the manganese ore 
 on an extensive scale anywhere in the region, 
 although surface croppings were traced, 
 which seemed to indicate companion belts to 
 the one which has been opened at the locality 
 mentioned. 
 
 The ore is rather siliceous psilomelane, with 
 patches of pyrolusite and more or less black 
 wad, filling cavities and crevices in the vein, 
 which is three or four feet wide. The ore 
 seems to lie as an interbedded vein, and nu- 
 merous borings were made on it with a dia- 
 mond drill, presumably for the purpose of 
 prospecting in the direction of its dip. 
 
 Manganese ores are found under similar 
 circumstances in the region between Pack- 
 saddle and Riley mountains, and specimens 
 are reported both from Gillespie and Blanco 
 counties. Manganese also occurs as an in- 
 gredient of the various limonitic ores, and in 
 one instance such an ore was found to con- 
 tain as much as eleven per cent, of this metal. 
 
 in the form of dioxide. These deposits, how- 
 ever, are not likely toprove of much economic 
 value. 
 
 Bismuth occurs in small quantities in con- 
 nection with the ores of the Quitman range, 
 and in one vein examined in the region of the 
 Chinati mountains as much as three and one- 
 half per cent, of this metal was found in the 
 ore (galena). 
 
 ABKASIVE8. 
 
 Buhrstone. — In the Fayette sands are 
 found stones of excellent quality for use as 
 millstones. In Jasper and other counties 
 millstones which have given perfect satisfac- 
 tion in use have been cut from certain hori- 
 zons of these sands. 
 
 Gtindstones. — Certain sandstones in the 
 Carboniferous and older formations furnish 
 excellent materials for grindstones, but up to 
 the present they have been utilized only 
 locally. 
 
 No whetstones have yet been manufactured 
 in Texas, although excellent material exists 
 for such a purpose. The Fayette sands 
 probably furnish the best of the material, 
 and some specimens from Fayette county are 
 now in the State museum. Other material 
 suitable for the purpose is found in the cen- 
 tral mineral region and in the central coal 
 field. 
 
 Several localities of deposits of infusorial 
 earth are known in Hopkins, Leon, Polk and 
 Crosby counties. Very little has been mined 
 for shipment. 
 
 OKNAMENTAL STONES AND GEMS. 
 
 Among the gem stones may be mentioned 
 beryl, smoky quartz, rose quartz, silicified 
 wood, garnet, agate, moss agate, amethyst, 
 jasper, sardonyx, tourmaline, and others. 
 
EIBTOSy OF TEXAS. 
 
 '^Crystal" Quartz. — The clear white vari- 
 ety, wliich is known ae crystal, is sparingly 
 fonnd in masses of a size suitable for use. 
 Clusters of ci-ystals are found which form 
 handsome ornaments, but the greater part 
 are stained or milky. 
 
 Smoky Quartz. — The central mineral re- 
 gion produces fine crystals of smoky quartz 
 of deep color. Barringer Uill, Llano county, 
 is one of the best localities. 
 
 Rose Qicartz. — Beautiful shades of rose 
 quartz are found in Llano and Gillespie 
 counties. 
 
 Amethyst. — Gillespie county furnishes some 
 amethysts of fair color, but the deeper- 
 colored ones have so far been found only in 
 the Sierra Blanca or Quitman region. 
 
 Thetis Hair Stone. — This variety of lim- 
 pid quartz, with tine needles of actinolite 
 scattered through it, is fonnd in the northern 
 part of Gillespie county, near Enchanted 
 Rock. 
 
 Beryl. — Some very large, fine crystals of 
 beryl have been found in Gillespie county, 
 and occasionally in Llano county. 
 
 Garnets are abundant both in the central 
 mineral district and in trans- Pecos Texas. 
 Fine cabinet specimens showing both large 
 and attractive crystals are in the museum, 
 but no systematic work has been done in 
 working the deposits. There are several 
 colors — brown, black, and green — and they 
 occur in abundance. Among the localities 
 may be mentioned Clear Creek valley on the 
 Burnet and Bluff ton road, Babyhead, King 
 mountains, .and similar areas in Llano and 
 Gillespie counties, in the Quitman mountains 
 and other localities in trans-Pecos Texas. In 
 Llano county fine crystals are also found of 
 idocrase, or Vesuvianite, which is near the 
 garnet in character. 
 
 Black toitrmaline is abundant in certain 
 granites of Llano county, and will be useful 
 for all purposes for which it can be em- 
 ployed, although there is no prospect of 
 specimens of value for cabinet purposes 
 being found. 
 
 Chalcedony. — Some fine specimens of chal- 
 cedony have been found in Travis county in 
 the neighborhood of the disturbances caused 
 by the Pilot Knob eruption. They alfo 
 occur in Presidio county and other portions 
 of west Texas. 
 
 Carnelians have been found in the vicinity 
 of Van Horn, El Paso county. 
 
 Sardonyx. — Beautiful specimens of sar- 
 donyx are found in the trans-Pecos region in 
 El Paso or Jeff Davis counties. A number 
 of specimens are now in the State museum. 
 
 Jasper. — In this same region are found 
 handsome varieties of plain and banded jas- 
 per, but, like the other deposits, there has 
 been no attempt at development, and only a 
 few specimens have been collected by per- 
 sons happening on them. Pebbles of jasper 
 are also abundant in the drift as far north as 
 the Staked Plains. 
 
 Agate. — The occiirrence of this beautiful 
 stone has been mentioned in the former re- 
 ports of this survey. It is found aJtundantly 
 in several parts of west Texas and occasion- 
 ally in the river drift of the Colorado. In 
 west Texas they are found in a schistose ma- 
 terial and scattered over the surface in large 
 quantities, from fragments to boulders of 
 considerable size. The colors are rich, and 
 the banded and fortification agates show 
 beautiful bandings and stripes. Moss agate.- 
 are also plentiful, and there is ample room 
 for the establishment of an industry in this 
 material, even if they are only collected for 
 shipment abroad. The average price paid 
 for rough agate for manufacturing purposes 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 at Idar, Oldenburg, Germany, one of the 
 principal manufacturing cities of this ma- 
 terial, is about 25 cents per pound, and the 
 beauty of the varieties occurring in Texas 
 would add materially to that price. 
 
 Pudding Stone. — Of equal beauty with 
 the agates are some varieties of metamor- 
 phosed pudding stones brought from the 
 lower mountains by Prof. Streeruwitz. They 
 take fully as fine a polish, and the variety of 
 color and shape of the inclusions are very 
 pleasing. 
 
 Serpentine. — Some of the serpentines of 
 west Texas will be valuable as ornamental 
 stones. So far no " precious serpentine " has 
 been found, but some of the red and green 
 varieties will come into use as the region is 
 developed. Central Texas also affords varie- 
 ties which may be utilized. 
 
 Alabaster. — Alabaster of fine grain and 
 translucency occurs both among the rocks of 
 the Cretaceous formation and in the gypsum 
 region of the Permian. Its uses in vases 
 and statuary are well known, and material 
 suitable for any of these purposes can be 
 secured in any desired quantity. 
 
 Pearls. — Texas is one of the principal 
 pearl-producing States of the United States. 
 Mr. Kunz, in "Gems and Precious Stones," 
 mentions one from Llano valued at $95, 
 which was sold in New York. The pearls 
 are found in the Unios, or fresh-water mus- 
 sels, which abound in the Colorado, Llano 
 and Concho rivers, and many other streams 
 in Texas. They have been collected in large 
 numbers, and in collecting them great num- 
 bers of the shell-fish have been destroyed. 
 In order to avoid this wholesale destruction 
 and leave the animal to propagate more val- 
 uable progeny, it is recommended that in- 
 struments similar to those used in Saxony 
 and Bavaria be introduced here. One of 
 
 these is a flat iron tool, the other a pair of 
 sharp-pointed pliers, both fashioned for the 
 purpose of opening the shells for examina- 
 tion without injury to the animal, which, if 
 no pearl is found, is replaced in the shoal. 
 
 Silicified Wood. — While the greater part 
 of the silicified wood of the State is not of 
 much value as an ornamental stone, there are 
 certain horizons in the Fayette beds in which 
 the wood has been opalized and presents a 
 pleasant variety of color and banding. These 
 will probably be used quite largely for vari- 
 ous purposes in ornamental work so soon as 
 their beauty is properly shown. 
 
 j 
 
 EEFKACTOEY MATEEIiLS. ' 
 
 Refractory materials, or those which will 
 stand very high degrees of heat without in- 
 jury, are of the highest importance in manu- 
 facturing. They enter into the construction 
 of all furnaces for iron, or steel, or pottery, 
 or glass, or the various other products of 
 high temperatures, and are an absolute neces- 
 sity in the proper development of such man- 
 ufactures. Of such substances fire clay is 
 doubtless the most important. The essen- 
 tials for a good fire clay are not so much the 
 proportions of silica and alumina, although 
 the larger the percentage of silica the greater 
 its refractory power seems to be, but its free- 
 dom from materials such as lime, soda, pot- 
 ash, magnesia, or oxide of iron, which could 
 unite with the silica and form a glass, and 
 thus cause fusion. 
 
 Fir^e Clays. — Of our Texas fire clays only 
 two or three have had any decided or exten- 
 sive trial. These are from the beds found in 
 Henderson, Limestone and Fayette counties. 
 The first two are found in connection with 
 the timber-belt beds, the third in the Fayette 
 beds. In use the brick made at Athens from 
 
niSTORT OP TEXAS. 
 
 the Henderson county clay have proved to be 
 of excellent quality. They have stood the 
 severe test of the iron furnace at Eusk and 
 of some of the lime kilns, and are highly 
 recommended for their good qualities. The 
 brick from the beds of Limestone county are 
 also of good quality, and proper care in tlieir 
 manufacture will make them fully equal to 
 any. Tiie Fayette clays wliich have come 
 under my notice, which are classed as lire 
 clays, seem to be somewhat high in fluxing 
 constituents, but more careful selection of the 
 clays may entirely obviate this difficulty. 
 
 The fire clays are found usually in connec- 
 tion with the lignite beds, and in the central 
 coal field directly underlying the coal seams. 
 They are therefore found scattered over a 
 wide area of the State, but only a few of 
 them have been examined by the geological 
 survey. These are nearly all from eastern 
 Texas, and were collected during one 
 field season. "While they have not yet been 
 fully studied, numerous analyses have been 
 made, and it is found that nuiiiy of them are 
 too "fat," or contain too niucli alumina for 
 use in the state in which they are dug, but 
 require a large mixture of sand to correct 
 the excessive shrinkage that would otherwise 
 take place in drying them, amounting in 
 some specimens to one- fourth of their origi- 
 nal bulk. Others, however, are of excellent 
 quality, and careful selection of localities for 
 mining will yield very favorable results, and 
 clays be secured suitable for brick for fur- 
 naces, kilns, ovens, fire-boxes, retorts, saggers, 
 and the many other similar articles. 
 
 Graphite or Plumbago. — In the central 
 mineral region are deposits of limited extent 
 of an impure graphite in shales and schists. 
 In view of the larger deposits of pure ma- 
 terial in other localities it is not probable 
 that this will be of much value. 
 
 Soapstone. — This highly infusible stone, 
 which is used as firestone in stoves, hearths 
 and furnaces, is found in large quantities. 
 One of the best exposures is about two miles 
 south of west from Smoothing-iron mount- 
 ain, and the most favorable districts for its 
 further occurrence are that between House 
 and Smoothing-iron mountains and the King 
 mountains, and to the west of that area in 
 Llano and Mason counties; also southeast in 
 Llano, Gillespie and Blanco counties. As a 
 lining for furnaces and other purposes which 
 do not require a very firm texture this ma- 
 terial is fully adequate, and it can be cut or 
 sawed into blocks or masses of any desired 
 shape, with a perfectly smooth surface if 
 desired. 
 
 Mica. — While mica is a very abundant 
 mineral in both the central and trans- Pecos 
 regions, it is not commonly of such trans- 
 parency and size as to be commercially valu- 
 able. Specimens are in the museum, how- 
 ever, from both localities which combine 
 these requisites, and it is entirely probable 
 that workable deposits may be found. It .is 
 used in stove fronts, lanterns, etc, also in the 
 manufacture of wall paper and as a lubricant. 
 
 Asbestos. — Asbestos has often been re- 
 ported from the central region, and many 
 specimens have been received bearing that 
 name. Upon examination this is found to 
 be fibrolite, and may answer for many pur- 
 poses for which asbestos is used as refractory 
 material, but not for the finer uses in the 
 manufacture of cloth, etc. 
 
 EOAD MATERIALS. 
 
 Among the various materials suited for 
 road-making are the large gravel deposits 
 which are found in many portions of the 
 State; some of the quartzitic sandstones 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 which occur in the Fayette beds (coast re- 
 gion, from the Sabine to the Kio Grande, 
 and from 40 to 150 miles wide); the eroded 
 flints of the Cretaceous; some of tlie firmer 
 limestones of the lower divisions of the Cre- 
 taceous and the Carboniferous areas; the 
 basalt of such areas as Pilot Knob in Travie 
 county; some of the sandstones or siliceous 
 iron ores of the iron region of east Texas; 
 tlie granites and other tough rocks of the 
 central region are especially valuable, and 
 similar rocks and the quartzites and por- 
 phyries of west Texas will' also prove of 
 value when transportation charges will admit 
 of their use. 
 
 The occurrence of asphaltum in various 
 portions of the State has already been noticed, 
 and its use as paving material is well known. 
 For the construction of sidewalks, in ad- 
 dition to the material above mentioned, flag- 
 stones are found in various localities. 
 
 MATEKIAL8 FOE PAINTS. 
 
 Graphite has already been mentioned under 
 refractory substances. 
 
 Oclire is a hydrated oxide of iron, usually 
 containing more or less clay or sand and 
 giving various shades of yellow, red and 
 brown. The most valuable is that which on 
 preparation furnishes the color called Indian 
 red. Ochres are found in connection with 
 the geode and nodular ores of east Texas, 
 forming centers of the geodes, and also de- 
 posits of limited extent. It is reported at 
 many localities in the area covered by the 
 timber-belt beds. In the Cretaceous area 
 good ochres occur in Uvalde and Val Verde 
 counties, in the latter of which one locality 
 has been developed to some extent and the 
 material shipped. Other deposits have been 
 
 opened and worked very slightly for local 
 use in different parts of the State. 
 
 Barytes is found in Llano county, but has 
 not been put to any use at all as yet. 
 
 OTHER ECONOMIC MATERIALS. ') 
 
 ^M^/^Awn— Specimens of native sulphur of 
 a high degree of purity have been received 
 from Edwards county, but up to the present 
 no detailed examination has been made to 
 ascertain its quantity or the condition of its 
 occurrence. 
 
 Salt. — Like many of the other valuable de- 
 posits of Texas,the occurrence of common salt 
 is widespread. Along the coast to the south- 
 west are lagoons or salt lakes from which 
 large amounts of salt are taken annually. 
 Besides the lakes along the shore many others 
 occur through western Texas, reaching to 
 the New Mexico line, while northeast of 
 tLese in the Permian region the constant 
 recurrence of such names as Salt fork. Salt 
 creek, etc., tell of the prevalence of similar 
 conditions. In addition to the lakes and 
 creeks from which salt is secured by solai- 
 evaporation we have also extensive beds of 
 rock salt. 
 
 That which is at present best developed is 
 located in the vicinity of Colorado City, in 
 Mitchell county. The bed of salt was found 
 by boring at 850 feet, and proved to have -a 
 thickness of 140 feet. A vein of water was 
 struck below it which rises to within 150 
 feet of the surface. This is pumped to the 
 surface and evaporated, and the resulting 
 salt purified for commerce. 
 
 In eastern Texas there have long been 
 known low pieces of ground called "salines," 
 at which salt has been manufactured by sink- 
 ing shallow wells and evaporating the water 
 taken from them. At one of these, Grand 
 
n I STORY OP TEXAS. 
 
 Saline, in Van Zant county, a well was sunk, 
 and at 225 feet a bod of rock salt was struck, 
 into which they have now dug 300 feet with- 
 out getting through it. Many other similar 
 salines are known in eastern Texas and west- 
 ern Louisiana, and the great deposits of rock 
 salt developed at Petit Anse and Van Zandt 
 under practically similar circumstances is 
 certainly warrant enough for boring at the 
 other salines for similar beds. Some of these 
 localities are in Smith and Anderson counties. 
 
 In the Carboniferous area many of the 
 wells yield salt water, sometimes strong 
 enough to render them unfitted for any 
 ordinary purpose, but no attempt has been 
 made at their utilization. There are also 
 brine wells in limited areas in central Texas. 
 
 Alkalies. — The source from which the 
 ialts of potash and soda can be obtained in 
 fexas are: The alkali lakes, where there is a 
 Urge percentage of sulphate of soda (Glauber 
 saUs) deposited by the evaporation of tlie 
 wat.'r. Its impurities consist of some sul- 
 pliato of lime, or gypsum, and common salt. 
 
 N~Xre, or saltpeter, was made from bat 
 guanu during the late war, but, the necessity 
 for its manufacture ending, it was abandoned. 
 
 Alum. — Tlie best material for the manu- 
 facture of alum is found in the clay of the 
 lignitic portion of the timber belt, or Fayette 
 beds, which contain both pyrites and lignitic 
 matter. Nearly all the material used in the 
 production of alum in this country is im- 
 ported. 
 
 Strotdin.— Two minerals having this earth 
 as a base (celestite and strontianite) are found 
 in the lower magnesian rocks of the Cretace- 
 ous of central Texas. It is found at Mount 
 Bonnel near Austin, and in the vicinity of 
 Lampasas, and can be expected to occur 
 wherever the proper horizon of the Creta- 
 ceous rocks containing it are found at the sur- 
 
 face. It is not only used in the form of 
 nitrate for fireworks, but also in the manu- 
 facture of sugar. 
 
 li'jhsomite. — Crystalline masses of Epsom 
 salts are found in the same series of beds 
 that contain the strontianite and celestite. 
 It is extremely doubtful, liowever, whether 
 it can be made commercially valuable. 
 
 THE ARTESIAN WATER CONDITIONS OF TEXAS. 
 
 Artesian water is rain water which has 
 fallen on some porous bed or stratum of 
 earth and has followed the sloping course of 
 this bed between other beds, which were 
 sufliciently impervious to confine it until it 
 has found an opening to the surface, either 
 natural or artificial, at a lower level than its 
 original source, through which it rises and 
 flows off. When this opening is a natural 
 one, it is a spring; when artificial, it is an 
 artesian well. 
 
 The artesian-water conditions of a region 
 are dependent upon its geology, topography 
 and its rainfall. The geologic conditions are 
 that there shall be a continuous porous 
 stratum enclosed between two strata that are 
 impervious. Topographically it is necessary 
 that the exposed portion of this porous 
 stratum — the " catchment " basin — be at 
 sufficient elevation above that of the mouth 
 of the wells to force a steady flow of water 
 by hydrostatic pressure; and finally the rain- 
 fall must be sufticient within the area cov- 
 ered by the catchment basin to secure the 
 steady supply of water. Unless all of these 
 conditions be favorable there can be no con- 
 stant supply of flowing water obtained. 
 
 For the purpose of this discussion, Texas 
 is readily separable into three divisions, — - 
 the Gulf Slope (Cenozoic), the Central Basin 
 (Paleozoic) and the Western Mountain system. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 177 
 
 The area covered by the Gnlf Slope in- 
 cludes all tlie region east and south of the 
 western and northern boundary of the Grand 
 Prairie plateau, which stretches southward 
 from the lied river to the Colorado, and 
 thence westward to the Rio Grande. In area 
 tliis comprises fully one-half of the State and 
 by far the most thickly settled portion. 
 
 The Central JBasin includes all that por- 
 tion of the State west and north of the Grand 
 Prairie, extending to the Gaudalupe moun- 
 tains on the west. 
 
 The Western Mountain System covers the 
 remainder of trans-Pecos Texas. 
 
 The Gulf Slope is in a certain degree a 
 continuation of the topographic and geologic 
 features of the States eastward which border 
 upon the Gulf, but in some ways its differ- 
 ences are as pronounced as its resemblances. 
 Thus, with the exception of a little marshy 
 ground in the southeastern corner, there is 
 none along the entire coast. Differences in 
 amount and character of rainfall and of tem- 
 perature have also resulted in the production 
 of a somewhat different topography, especial- 
 ly toward the Rio Gratide, and the soils of 
 certain formations are of far greater fertility 
 than those derived from rocks of similar age 
 in the other States, owing to peculiar condi- 
 tions of formation. 
 
 The different sediments which now appear 
 covering the surface of this area were laid 
 down by the waters of a great sea, which in 
 its present restricted basin we call the Gulf 
 of Mexico. 
 
 Beginning at the coast in low and almost 
 level prairies the ascent is gradual toward 
 the interior, in many places not exceeding 
 one foot per mile for the first fifty miles. 
 Through this comparatively level plain, which 
 comprises the exposure of the strata em- 
 braced under the general name of " coast 
 
 clays, " the streams move sluggishly in tor- 
 tuous channels, and for the most part through 
 an open prairie country, the only timber be- 
 ing along such water courses and in scattered 
 motts or islands. As we pass inland this is 
 succeeded by other belts which, having been 
 longer subjected to erosion, show a surface 
 more and more undulating as we recede from 
 the gulf. The ascent is also more rapid, and 
 some elevations of as much as 700 feet 
 are found, as at Ghent mountain, Chero- 
 kee county; but such are unusual south of 
 the Grand prairie. This character of country 
 is continuous from the gulf to the western 
 scarp of the Grand prairie, east of the Brazos 
 river. West of the Colorado river the undu- 
 lating country ends at the foot of the south- 
 ern scarp of the Grand prairie, which is a 
 line of elevations known as the Balcones, 
 from the top of which the Grand prairie 
 stretches away north and west to the Rio 
 Grande. The eastern portion of these belts 
 is heavily timbered, but throughout the 
 greater portion — west of the ninety-sixth 
 meridian — the quantity of timber rapidly de- 
 creases and the prairie conditions become 
 almost universal. The general elevation east 
 and south of the Grand prairie is less than 
 500 feet. 
 
 The Grand prairie itself is a great plateau, 
 preserved in its present extent by the resis- 
 tence to erosion afforded by its capping of 
 limestones, and is a marked topographic fea- 
 ture of the State. Beginning at Red river 
 it extends in a gradually widening belt to the 
 south, until its western border meets the 
 Colorado in Lampasas county, from which 
 point it is contracted rapidly until it finds its 
 narrowest exposure in crossing the river in 
 Travis county north of Austin. From this 
 point west it broadens rapidly, until it is 
 mero-ed into the mountainous trans-PecoB 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 'e;^ion. Its lieiglit above the country on 
 eitlier side is variaMe. On its eastern border, 
 from Red river to the Brazos, there is not 
 tliat abruptness of separation wliich distin- 
 fjiiishes it at other places from the upper 
 and lower formations. In the northern por- 
 tion this plateau begins with an elevation of 
 from 000 to 1,200 feet above sea level. "West 
 of tlie Colorado its northern edge reaches a 
 height of 2,300 feet in the ridge which forms 
 the divide between the ^vater flowing into the 
 Colorado and that flowing south. The south- 
 ern border is, however, hardly ever more than 
 700 feet in height, and usually not so high. 
 The western and northern edge of the Grand 
 prairie is, generally speaking, topographically 
 higher than the eastern and southern, and the 
 dip of the beds is very gentle toward the 
 southeast. 
 
 The break between the Grand prairie and 
 the Central Basin region is equally as decided 
 as that between the undulating country and 
 '■ l^alcones' country " on the south, and were 
 it not for its intimate relations, geologically, 
 with the " Coastal Slope, " the topographic 
 features of the Grand prairie would entitle it 
 to be considered a division by itself. 
 
 Both topographically and geologically this 
 area presents a gradual fall from the interior 
 loward the gulf coast, but the average slope 
 of the surface toward the southeast is less 
 than the dip of the strata in the same direc- 
 tion, and as there has been no disturbances of 
 sutlicient magnitude to complicate the geology 
 except the uplift which Itrought up the Bal- 
 cones (and that of I'ilot Knob and similar 
 areas if it be later, as it possibly is), we find 
 t he outcropping edges of the beds of earlier and 
 earlier age as we pass from the coast to the 
 interior. These various beds are e.xposcd in 
 bands of less or greater width, which are, in a 
 general way,parallel wi th the presen t gul f coast. 
 
 The coast clays, which are the most recent 
 of these, and which form a part of the pres- 
 ent floor of the gulf, are very impervious, 
 variously colored, calcareous clays, which 
 often form bluffs along the bay shores and 
 river banks. The level belt of this formation 
 varies from 50 to 100 miles in width. 
 
 The Orange sands underlying these are 
 mottled red and white sands which are well 
 exposed below Willis, on the International & 
 Great Northern Railroad, and at other places. 
 The Fayette beds, which underlie these, are 
 made np also of sands and clays, but of 
 entirely different character and structure. 
 The sand greatly predominates, especially in 
 the center, where great beds of sand and 
 sandstone and millstone grit occur. 
 
 The clays, instead of being massive, are 
 usually thinly laminated and of very light 
 color wherever exposed to the air, and are 
 found both underlying and overlying the 
 sands, as well as interbedded with them. 
 They extend along the line of the Houston 
 & Texas Central Railway from Waller to 
 near Giddings. A study of these beds in 
 the vicinity of Ledhetter showed nearly 400 
 feet of sandy strata included between the two 
 series of clays. 
 
 The dip of the strata toward the gulf is 
 not much greater than that of the suiface of 
 the country. For this reason the exposure 
 of the sand-bed on the surface is very wide— 
 a circumstance of greatest importance, as it 
 gives an immense catchment area for the 
 rain-water. 
 
 These Fayette sands form a range of hills 
 and give rise to the most striking topo- 
 graphic feature of the coast region. Every 
 river in its passage to the gulf pays tribute 
 to and is deflected by them. Many smaller 
 streams have their course entirely determined 
 by them, while the coast rivers, of which the 
 
BISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 San Jacinto and Buffalo are types, liave their 
 origin on their southern slope. At Rock- 
 land, in Tyler county, and along the various 
 railroads that cross the area of these sands, 
 as shown upon the map, typical sections can 
 he seen. The base of these beds are sandy 
 clays and sands, with some lignite. 
 
 The strata often contain carbonate of lime 
 iti appreciable quantities, and sulphur and 
 j,^ypsuin are of frequent occurrence. 
 
 The timber-belt beds are composed of 
 siliceous and glauconitic sands with white, 
 brown and black clays, and have associated 
 with them lignite beds sometimes as much 
 as twelve feet in thickness; iron pyrites, 
 gypsum and various bituminous materials 
 also occur. Carbonate of lime is also widely 
 disseminated throughout the beds, sometimes 
 as limestone, but more often as calcareous 
 concretions or in calcareous sandstones. 
 
 The basal clays are, as the name implies, 
 beds of stratified clays and contain masses 
 of concretionary limestone and large quanti- 
 ties of gypsum. 
 
 The Upper Cretaceous is composed in its 
 upper members of great beds of clay some- 
 what similar to the basal clays above, which 
 were doubtless derived from these. This is 
 underlaid by the Austin chalk, below which 
 we find another series of clay shales over- 
 lying the lower cross timber sands. 
 
 The rock formation of the Grand prairie 
 belongs to the Lower Cretaceous series, and 
 consists of a great thickness of limestones 
 and chalks — maguesian, arenaceous and even 
 argillaceous in places— which is underlaid by 
 a great bed of sand and conglomerate, known 
 as the Trinity Sands. 
 
 We have in these formations, therefore, 
 well marked and definite sandy or porous 
 beds, which are enclosed liy others practically 
 impervious. Some of these are the Orange 
 
 sands, the middle portion of the Fayette beds, 
 the lower cross timber sands and the uppor 
 cross timber or Trinity sands. On the lower 
 Rio Grande there occurs a rock known as 
 the Carrizo sandstone, the geologic age of 
 which is not yet exactly determined, but 
 which must be included among the other 
 water-bearing beds. 
 
 That these beds are indeed " catchment " 
 basins and fully capable of supplying tlie 
 belts nearer the gulf with flowing water has 
 been amply verified by actual and successful 
 boring. In the coast-clay belt artesian water 
 has been secured in many places, as at 
 Houston and vicinity, at Galveston, at Ve- 
 lasco, at Corpus Christi, and at various other 
 points. The shallowest of these wells is at 
 Yorktown, De Witt county, where artesian 
 water was secured at a depth of a very few 
 feet. At Houston water is obtained in wells 
 from 150 to 400 feet deep, and the water is 
 practically free from mineral matter. At 
 Galveston, fifty miles southeast, the wells are 
 from 600 to 1,000 feet deep, and yield water 
 carrying salt, etc., in small quantities. The 
 flow at Velasco is reported to be good, but at 
 Corpus Christi it is highly charged with min 
 eral matter. The quantity of mineral matter 
 contained in the water seems to vary witli 
 the depth and distance from the outcrop of 
 the " catchment " basin. 
 
 It can be stated, therefore, from our pres- 
 ent knowledge that throughout the coast- 
 clay district artesian water can be obtained 
 where the topographic conditions are suit- 
 able, but that it may be more or less in:preg- 
 nated with mineral matter leached out of the 
 containing stratum. 
 
 While the timber-bett beds are not classed 
 as artesian beds, it is nevertheless the fact 
 that favorable conditions exist in numerous 
 localities, and, although no great flows have 
 
niSTOUT OF TEXAS. 
 
 been secMircd, still flowing water lias been 
 fniind in several places; for example, various 
 JDcalities in Robertson county and at Liv- 
 in<;ston, Folk county. 
 
 The lower cross timbers form the second 
 "catchment" basin, but from their location 
 h.ave not been found to yield as good a flow 
 as can be obtained by going deeper, to the 
 Trinity sands. 
 
 The Carrizo sandstone outcrops along a 
 lino drawn at a point on the Nueces river 
 south of the town of Uvalde to a point ten 
 miles west of Carrizo Springs, and ten 
 miles north of that point, on the ranch of 
 Mr. Vivian, produces a stream of excellent 
 water four inches in diameter from a well 
 175 feet deep. This stratum of sanclstone 
 ought to be reached at Laredo at a depth of 
 from 500 to 000 feet. 
 
 The third and possibly best explored col- 
 lecting area is that of the Trinity sands. 
 This bed, the Trinity or upper cross timber 
 sands, is the base of the Lower Cretaceous 
 system, and is the great water-bearing bed 
 cast and south of the central basin. In its 
 Miany exposures and from the material 
 liiought up from it in boring, its composi- 
 tion is shown to be clear white grains of 
 quartz, slightly rounded to much worn, con- 
 taining a few grains of red and black chert. 
 It is for the most part practically free of 
 soluble mineral matter, and the water derived 
 from it is often of excellent quality. From 
 its position, character and extent it forms a 
 most important meml)er in the geology of 
 Texas. The water which falls upon the ex- 
 ])osed edge of this belt is carried under the 
 limestone of the Grand prairie plateau, and 
 part of it breaks forth in a system of great 
 springs which extend frotnWiiliamson county 
 by Austin, San Marcos and New Braunfels, 
 toward the I'ecos. These springs are natu- 
 
 ral artesian wells, which owe their existence 
 to the fault lines caused by the disturbances, 
 already alluded to, which formed the Bal- 
 cones. The remainder of the water con- 
 tinues its course below the overlying forma- 
 tions, and can bo reached at almost any point 
 east and south of the Grand prairie to the 
 border of the basal clays of the Tertiary. 
 Wells are very numerous and vary in depth 
 with distance from catchment area from 100 
 to 2,000 feet. They can not be nained in 
 detail here, but the principal boring has been 
 at Fort Wortli, Dallas, Waco, Austin, Taylor, 
 San Antonio, and in Somervell, Coryell, 
 Hood and Bosque counties. These prove 
 that artesian conditions exist, and there can 
 be no doubt that wells bored in suitable 
 localities will prove successful. 
 
 West of the Grand prairie plateau we find 
 the central basin region, which is principally 
 occupied by strata of the Paleozoic forma- 
 tions. The eastern and southern border of 
 this area is plainly marked by the scarp of 
 the Grand prairie. Its western border is not 
 determined further than that in Texas it is 
 terminated by the Guadaloupe mountains in 
 El Baso connty. In its topography it shows 
 a gradual elevation toward the west, most 
 usually, however, in a series of steps which 
 rise one above the other, having the ascent 
 facing toward the southeast and a long gentle 
 slope toward the west, the average rise being 
 less than eight feet per mile. 
 
 At the edge of the Staked Plain, which is 
 a newer formation snperimposed upon these, 
 there is an abrupt elevation of from 200 to 
 300 feet in places, and a continued rise 
 toward the west to a height of 3,100 feet. 
 West of the Pecos the rise is much more 
 rapid, being about fifteen feet per mile. The 
 dip of the strata, which on the east is toward 
 the northwest not exceeding forty feet to the 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 mile, is reversed, that is, it is to tlie south- 
 east, and brings the edges of the strata to the 
 surface again after crossing the river. In 
 the southeast corner of this region we find 
 tiie Archiean area of Llano couiUy, around 
 which the upturned edges of the older ptileo- 
 zoic rocks are exposed at a considerably 
 greater elevation than that of the basin north 
 of them, giving the overlying rocks of the 
 basin itself a northward dip. 
 
 The western extension of this southern 
 border has not been e.xamined. We fiTul the 
 northern border of our basin in the Wichita 
 mountains in the Indian Territory, where the 
 edge of the Silurian rocks is again exposed 
 at a higher altitude than the interior portion 
 of our region. This region is, therefore, of 
 a basin form of structure, with the exposed 
 edges of its lower members and the under- 
 lying rocks topographically higher on the 
 northern, western and southern borders than 
 on the east or in the center. 
 
 The formations which occupy this basin, 
 if we except some overlying cretaceous and 
 the plains formation, are almost entirely con- 
 fined to the Carboniferous and Permian sys- 
 tems. These consist of beds of limestone, 
 sandstone, sands, clays and shales, with coal, 
 gypsum and salt as associated deposits. The 
 general dip of all the strata in the eastern 
 portion of the basis is to the northwest, but 
 its elevation along the eastern border is less 
 than in almost any other portion of it; conse- 
 quently there can be little hope of finding 
 artesian water from any catchment area on 
 this side, although some of the strata (the 
 lower sandstone and shales) are well adapted 
 for carrying water, and where suitable topo- 
 graphic conditions exist do furnish artesian 
 water. An instance of this is found in the 
 flowing well at Gordon, but such cases are 
 the exception and not the rule. Tlie same 
 
 series of sandstones and sliales are exposed 
 on the southeastern border, and the flowing 
 wells at and around Trickham and AValdrip 
 find their supply in them. The conditions 
 are very favorable in the valley of the Colo- 
 racio and some distance north, between the 
 99th and 100th meridians, for similar wells 
 Tiie rocks of this age are covered by later 
 deposits in the Wichita mountains, and it is 
 therefore impossible to judge of the possibil- 
 ity of their water-bearing character there. 
 Similar rocks are exposed on the western 
 border of this basin, in the vicinity of Van 
 Horn and further north in the Guadaloupe 
 mountains. They are reached by a well 832 
 feet deep at Toyah, some seventy miles east 
 of Van Horn. This well has an abundant 
 flow. We liave, therefore, in the lower mem- 
 bers of the Carboniferous rocks of this basin 
 water-bearing strata, the exposed edges of 
 which on the southeast and west are suffi- 
 ciently elevated to furnish artesian water to 
 portions of the basins in their immediate 
 vicinity. 
 
 We do not know what interruptions to the 
 subterranean flow may exist in the way of 
 dikes or fissures, and therefore the areal ex- 
 tent of this portion favorably situated cannot 
 be given imtil the topography and geology 
 are better known. The quality of the water 
 from every well thus far secured in this 
 basin, which has its origin in this series of 
 rocks, is highly saline, and it is safe to 
 assume from this and from the character of 
 the deposits that no fresh water can be ob- 
 tained from this source. Therefore, if the 
 supply be general over the entire region, it 
 will only be adapted for limited uses. In 
 addition to this, this water-bearing bed can 
 be reached in the greater portion of the 
 region only after passing through the entire 
 series of Permian strata and those of the up- 
 
Ul STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 permost Carboniferous, amounting in all to 
 2,000 or 3,000 feet, or even more in places. 
 If there be any otlier hope for an artesian 
 water supply in tliis region, the catclunent 
 arei must be either in the pre-Carboniferous 
 rucks of the central mineral region and the 
 Wichita mountains or in the Guadaloupe and 
 c<iiin3cted ranges. Tliat such a catchment 
 area exists on the south is fully proved by 
 the powerful springs at Lampasas and in San 
 Saba county, all of which have their origin 
 l)olow the rocks of Carboniferous age. Some 
 of tiiese springs, such as the Lampasas, have 
 their vent through rocks of this period, but 
 they belong to the very lowest strata, and 
 the temperature of the water proves that it 
 comes from still greater depths. All such 
 water is highly mineralized, but much of it 
 feems suitable for general uses after exposure 
 to the air has dispelled the sulphuretted hy- 
 drogen. Others of these springs, like that 
 at Cherokee, San Saba county, spring through 
 rocks below the Carboniferous, and these fur- 
 nish water of an excellent quality. The dip 
 <if these rocks is much greater than the over- 
 lying Carboniferous, and the water supply 
 woidd therefore be rapidly carried beyond 
 the depths of ordinary artesian borings. The 
 conditions of outcropping strata are similar 
 in the Wichita mountains to those of Llano 
 and San Saba counties, but we have no such 
 evidence in the way of springs to prove their 
 value, and no boring lias l)een carried far 
 enough to test the matter, although prepara- 
 tions are now under way to do so. No rocks 
 of similar age have been observed in the 
 (Tua/laloupes. We must therefore conclude 
 that while the artesian conditions of the cen- 
 tral basin are not unfavorable, the probabili- 
 ties are against securing an adequate supply 
 of water sutHciently free from mineral matter 
 to be of use for general purposes, unless it 
 
 bo from the sandstones of the Guadaloupe 
 mountains, which would require sinking to 
 impracticable depths in most places. All ex- 
 ceptions will be of purely local extent and 
 will require much local topographic and geo- 
 logical work for their designation. 
 
 There still remains the area of the Staked 
 Plains formation to be discussed, but our 
 knowledge of its geology is too limited to 
 permit anything but the most general state- 
 ment. The upper portion of these plains is 
 composed of strata of later Tertiary or possi- 
 bly Quaternary age, underlaid by a conglom- 
 erate and sandstone of earlier date than the 
 Trinity sands, dipping soutlieast. It is this 
 bed that furnishes the surface water of the 
 plains, and from it gush the headwaters that 
 form the Colorado, Brazos, and Red rivers 
 The beds underlying this are probably Per 
 mian on the southern border, but newer for 
 mations may intervene toward the north. It 
 is possible that this conglomerate bed may 
 yield artesian water near the western border 
 of the State, and it is said that one sucli 
 well has been secured. It is the opinion of 
 the State Geologist, however, based on such 
 knowledge as he can obtain, that t!ie 
 probabilities of artesian water on the plains 
 are rather unfavorable than otherwise. It 
 will require a considerable amount of work 
 in western New Mexico to decide the matter 
 finally. 
 
 The well at Pecos City most probably be 
 longs to the series newer than that described 
 under the Grand prairie region, and there- 
 fore gives no clue to the area north of it. 
 
 The trans-Pecos mountain district from the 
 Guadaloupe mountains to the Rio Grande 
 consists of numerous mountain ranges and 
 detached peaks which rise from comparatively 
 level plains. These plains are composed of 
 loose material which has been derived from 
 
Ul STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 the erosion of the mountains and sometimes 
 has a thickness of over 1,000 feet, as is proved 
 by the wells along the Texas Pacific & South- 
 ern Pacific railways. Tlie geologic formations 
 of the mountains themselves consist of granites, 
 sandstones, schists, and quartzites and Siluri- 
 an, Carboniferous, and Cretaceous limestones. 
 The whole ai-ea is faulted, broken, and cut by 
 intrusive porphyries, basalts, granites, and 
 other eruptives. 
 
 These conditions of structure prevent any 
 other than a general unfavorable report on 
 the district, although in certain Idealities 
 conditions may, and probably do, exist favor- 
 able to the securing of artesian water. 
 
 Mineral springs are to be found every- 
 where in the world, the financial success at- 
 tending the management of them depending 
 mainly upon advertising and equipment. It 
 is therefore unnecessary to detail here the 
 springs and wells that are frequently visited 
 for medicinal purposes. The mineral ele- 
 ments of such waters generally comprise com- 
 mon salt, sulphur, magnesia, soda, iron, salts 
 of lime and potash and traces of a few other 
 minerals, and often of organic matter. More 
 or less of these elements are also to be found 
 in nearly all artesian water. 
 
 Caves are very numerous in the limestones 
 of the Carboniferous, and some of them are 
 very extensive. Very few of them have been 
 explored for any purpose other than idle 
 curiosity. "I entered only one of them," 
 says a member of the geological staff, "and 
 traversed it about three-fourths of a mile. 
 Sometimes the roof would be high overhead, 
 and then again to crawl upon our hands 
 ind knees. There were lateral openings 
 at different places, but the main opening. 
 
 Most of the way the bottom was dry. 
 but here and there a pool of water would 
 be found ptanding in a basin of calcareous 
 rock. Stalagmites covered the floor and 
 stalactites hung from the top. We came 
 to a place where there was a descent of the 
 bottom of the cave for several feet, and, low- 
 ering our candles into the opening, found on 
 account of the gas they would not burn; so 
 we retraced our way to the entrance. Thi-^ 
 cave is in the massive limestone, three miles 
 down the Colorado river, on the west side 
 from the Sulphur Spring, and just below the 
 month of Falls Creek." 
 
 Other caves have large quantities of guano 
 in them, deposited by the bats. Some of these 
 deposits are twenty feet thick, and are of un- 
 known extent. These caves will, in the nenr 
 future, no doubt, be fully explored, and their 
 valuable beds of guano put upon the market. 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS. 
 
 Some magnificent specimens of petrifac- 
 tion are found in several places in the State. 
 
 TRANS-PECOS TEXAS. 
 
 That portion of western Texas lying west 
 of the Pecos river is called "trans-Pecos 
 Texas." The mineral deposits of that region 
 are proved to be extensive and of great 
 richness: 
 
 1. By their extensive outcrops, the many 
 assays of which show the almost universal 
 presence of the precious metals in them. 
 
 2. By the prospecting and work already 
 done. 
 
 The advantages offered the miners and 
 prospectors are: 
 
 1. The ease with which the outcrops may 
 be distinguished. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 2. Tlie proximity to railroad transporta- 
 tion and case of access by wagon roads. 
 
 3. The healthy climate and freedom from 
 ft-ar of Indian depredations. 
 
 4. Little need of timbering for mines. 
 The disadvatitages are: 
 
 1. The present clouded titles of certain 
 districts. 
 
 2 The lack of definite land lines, mark- 
 ing exact boundaries between surveys. 
 
 3. The lack of surface water. (This can 
 be supplied by reservoirs or can be found in 
 the mines themselves.) 
 
 4. Tiie demand for a yearly cash payment 
 on each claim in addition to the amount of 
 work required. 
 
 All of these disadvantages except the third 
 can be removed by proper legislative action, 
 and the country opened to prospectors in 
 earnest, and as easy terms offered as those by 
 Mexico and other sister States. When this 
 is done, and not sooner, may we expect to see 
 trans- I'ecos Texas take that position among 
 tiie mining countries of the world which the 
 richness of her deposits so surely warrants. 
 
 While western Texas has been regarded as 
 perfectly valueless, and its value doubted even 
 now, because it is not settled by farmers and 
 stock-raisers, and the fact is that it is not and 
 will not be fit for farming and stock-raising 
 without water reservoirs and irrigation, there 
 are in the mountains mineral districts of un- 
 common value. The question arises, why 
 have these resources not been developed? 
 
 This can be answered by simply hinting at 
 *lie circumstances as they existed in western 
 Texas up to a few years ago. In former 
 years the want of water, added to the danger 
 of Indians, prevented the settling of western 
 Texas; and even travelers hurried through 
 parts of the country, as the Sierra de los Do- 
 lores ("the Mountains of Misery," now Quit- 
 
 man and surrounding mountains), with its 
 Puerta de los Lamentaciones ("Gate of 
 Lamentations"), and nobody stopped long 
 enough to examine the mountains for their 
 mineral resources; or if perchance some one 
 did stop he did so at the peril of his life, as 
 is proved by the numerous graves which are 
 found in the mountains. 
 
 Up to ten or twelve years ago military de- 
 tachments were kept at stage stations on the 
 road to Fort Davis and El Paso, to protect 
 these stations from the Indians. Under such 
 circumstances travelers were not inclined to 
 lie over at the station houses, which were 
 uninviting, and to make geological examina- 
 tions of tlie hills and mountains, or try to 
 ascertain their ore- bearing character. 
 
 The daring pioneers who prospected and 
 who began the development of other mineral 
 districts of the United States had not suffi- 
 cient inducement to undergo like hardships 
 and risk their time and life in Texas, for this 
 State had no mining law granting to pros- 
 pectors any right to discoveries they may 
 have made. The Mexicans living along the 
 Rio Grande were farmers, — very indolent, too 
 poor to buy arms, too timid to make explora- 
 tion trips to the mountains without arms. 
 
 In 1883 the legislature of the State passed 
 a mining law, but its contents and ruling 
 were not very tempting. Very few persons 
 in Texas knew, and nobody outside the State 
 suspected, that there was really a mining law 
 at all. It was quite natural that no mineral 
 resources were expected in a State which did 
 not deem it worth while to pass sensible 
 mining laws. 
 
 The railroads made traveling through 
 trans- Pecos Texas easier and quite dangerless. 
 They brought mountain ranges which wer.> 
 hardly accessible in former times in easi. r 
 reach; and in 1889 the legislature of thr 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 State passed a new mining law. The terms, 
 however, under which this law grants mining 
 rights to prospectors are not as inviting as 
 those of the mining laws in force in the 
 mineral districts in other States of the United 
 States or Mexico. There are very few actual 
 prospectors who are able or willing to pay 
 the locating and recording fees, and in addi- 
 tion to their work make a payment annually 
 of $50 in cash on each claim, some of which 
 they may not wish to patent, thus entailing 
 a loss of both work and money. This feature 
 of the law encourages capitalists to locate and 
 secure mineral lands for speculation, and 
 discourages, or it may even be said excludes, 
 the actual prospector. This law does not 
 prevent persons from erecting corner monu- 
 ments of fictitious mineral claims wherever 
 they think good indications might be found, 
 which will at least serve to prevent other 
 honest prospectors from locating on them. 
 There are numerous such bogus locations, 
 which have neither been surveyed bj' the 
 authorized surveyor, nor recorded in the 
 land office, nor the assessment work done, nor 
 the cash payments made on them. There is 
 nobody in the mineral districts to watch and 
 prevent such work, even if it were prohibited 
 by law. The required annual payment of 
 $50 on each claim location would certainly 
 benefit the school or university funds if 
 locations were made under the law; but under 
 the circumstances very few locations will be 
 made. Most of the alternate sections, as well 
 as larger tracts of school and university land, 
 in West Texas in their present condition can 
 not be sold at a reasonable price; they can 
 not be rented out as farming or grazing land ; 
 they therefore bring no revenue through 
 taxation, and they are, and evidently will 
 remain, dead capital ULtil the mineral re- 
 sources are developed in the mountains, and 
 
 water found or provided for in the flats; and 
 the present mining law should be made as 
 favorable as is possible to secure this develop- 
 ment. But this is not the only drawback. 
 
 The titles to some of the lands of west 
 Texas are clouded by large Mexican or Span- 
 ish grants, covering hundreds, and some of 
 them (as, for instance, the E.ongnillo grant) 
 thousands of square miles of the best mineral 
 and prospective farming lands. Prospectors 
 who are able and who are willing to submit 
 to the terms of the mining law are afraid to 
 risk time and money without knowing on 
 whose land they are locating, or which party. 
 State, railroad, or grantee, has a right to 
 grant them the rights. 
 
 In other parts of the trans- Pecos region, 
 where there are no Spanish or Mexican grants 
 clouding the titles, the prospector can, in 
 very few cases only, be perfectly certain 
 whether his claim is located on State or 
 railroad land, even though the location be 
 made by the authorized surveyor, who knows 
 or professes to know the lines. The terms 
 which are offered by the railroad are for the 
 most part so exacting that in fact it is almost 
 impossible for a prospector to accept them. 
 Thus, instead of offering sufficient induce- 
 ments to secure a greater amount of pros- 
 pecting, everything is against the prospector, 
 and helps to prevent the development of the 
 mineral resources of the State. 
 
 The scarcity of water, also a drawback to 
 the development of the mineral and other 
 resources of west Texas, can be overcome by 
 storage reservoirs, and will be partially over- 
 come by the water found in deeper mines. 
 The scarcity of mining timber is not severely 
 felt, for little timbering is required in the 
 solid material of the western mountains. 
 
 The scarcity of fuel is a drawback, the 
 greater because it prevents the utilization of 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 the poorer grade of ores which can not stand 
 shipment, and also in less degree on account 
 of its need for use under steam boilers for 
 iioisting, pumping, and ventilating machin- 
 ery, ijut poorer ores might be stored until 
 tlie coal deposits of Texas are snfBciently 
 explored and developed to furnish cheap fuel, 
 or until the unjustified prejudice against the 
 excellent brown coal of the Tertiary is over- 
 come sufficiently to bring it into use. 
 
 The railroads will no doubt find it to their 
 interest to make cheaper freight rates for 
 coal and ore to and from trans- Pecos Texas. 
 
 The mineral resources, like those of the 
 Quitman district, will and must attract atten- 
 tion, and will be appreciated and utilized as 
 soon as a more liberal mining law makes them 
 acceptable to prospectors, as soon as the title 
 clouds are removed, and as soon as it is pos- 
 sible to determine the exact location of the 
 claims. The advantages for mining are fully 
 as great as the disadvantages that have been 
 mentioned, the proximity of the railroad to 
 most of the mountains being by no means the 
 least. The communication from the mount- 
 ains to the railroad is easy, the roads either 
 good or capable of being made so at nominal 
 cost. The climate is healthy, and there is not 
 the slightest danger of Indian outbreaks or 
 other disturbances so common in many other 
 mining districts. 
 
 I ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. 
 
 The practical man desires a knowledge of the 
 useful minerals and other natural resources, 
 and he, therefore, often fails to appreciate the 
 necessity for such determinations as have been 
 laboriously worked out for the geological 
 reports. But experience has clearly shown 
 that haphazard methods of development 
 are not only ruinous to individuals and 
 
 corporations engaged in mining, but also 
 detrimental to the legitimate industrial growth 
 of any region. Little as it may be realized 
 by those who have suffered from ill-advised 
 speculation in mining property, and undesir- 
 able as the revelation may be to those who 
 live by preying upon the credulity of invest- 
 ors, it is certainly true that there are no 
 isolated cases of marvelous subterranean 
 wealth. If a bonanza in gold, silver, copper, 
 lead, iron, or manganese exists anywhere in 
 central Texas, it is because certain causes 
 have acted to produce it; and if one such 
 occurrence he known, others of the same kind 
 probably exist in the same region. Still, it 
 does not follow that the discovery by accident 
 of one ore body necessitates a similar method 
 for acquiring knowledge of others. Nothing 
 is now more firmly established than the close 
 relations of geologic structure and mineral 
 deposition. Every competent mining engi- 
 neer is a structural geologist, or he is wofully 
 unfitted for his profession, however well 
 trained he may be in other very necessary 
 directions. The really practical miner is 
 often the best judge of the proper means of 
 attacking a special problem in excavation, 
 provided that it requires no knowledge be- 
 yond the range of his own experience. But 
 whenever any person, of whatever training 
 and experience, assumes to pass an opinion 
 upon values after simple inspection, without 
 such knowledge of the structure and of the 
 chemical composition as can come only from 
 varied experience and thorough tests, he is 
 arrogating to himself powers beyond the 
 capacity of any human being. 
 
 No industry can be built upon such a foun- 
 dation. Whatever may be the future of our 
 district, its development will depend upon its 
 resources as they are, not as they are estimated 
 by any individual, although correct statements 
 
Ul STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 of fact will aid inaterially in attracting atten- 
 tion from capitalists. Unfounded hopes and 
 guesses of inexperienced persons, if converted 
 into cash, may produce a temporary artificial 
 excitement, which will certainly result in 
 eventual disaster. The money which has 
 already been lioncstly expended in the Cen- 
 tral Mineral Region by well-meaning enthu- 
 siasts, often without competent advice, would 
 have sufficed to determine the value of the 
 resources of the tract if it had all been under- 
 standingly applied. The amount actually 
 expended in unnecessary work in one investi- 
 gation would have given a fair knowledge of 
 the economic value of a vast area had it been 
 used in a different manner. That this is not 
 idle talk, but hard business sense, is proved 
 by the fact that the writer has already been 
 able in several instances to predict accurately 
 the results of explorations in advance of the 
 work, simply from his familiarity with the 
 geologic structure, as outlined in the first 
 part of the second geological report. 
 
 AGRICULTUEE. 
 
 The origin of all soils is from the decom- 
 position of the rocks, clays, shales, and other 
 material going to make up the crust of the 
 earth. When any part of the earth's crust 
 is exposed to the influence of the rain and 
 dew, the cold of winter and the heat of sum- 
 mer, no matter how compact that material 
 may be, it gradually decomposes and the 
 particles wash down and make the soils of 
 the valley below. 
 
 Then again the lichens, although in many 
 instances they are of microscopic size, fasten 
 themselves upon the rocks and there secrete 
 an acid which gradually decomposes the rocks, 
 and the particles go to make up the soils. 
 
 The clays and other soft materials are more 
 easily broken up and washed down by the 
 rains, and they too enter into the composition 
 of the soils. Again, growing upon this newly 
 made soil will be plants which in turn will 
 die, and the material of which they are com- 
 posed will combine with the rock material 
 and form a soil somewhat different from that 
 of purely mineral origin. The difference in 
 the soil is often observed in the color of the 
 two; the last, or that on top, is usually darker 
 than that below, caused by the large amount 
 of vegetable matter contained therein. 
 
 The material from which most soils are 
 derived has been subjected to this disintegra- 
 tion several times since it was first deposited 
 as rock material. The sandy soils are mostly 
 made up from the sandstones of the different 
 formations, which were in turn derived from 
 the granites and other igneous rocks and 
 deposited along the shores of the former 
 oceans. The calcareous soils have their origin 
 fi-om the limestones, and the limestones were 
 deposited in the bed of the old ocean, the 
 material coming from the worn-out shells of 
 the bygone times. A perpetual round of 
 disintegration, mixing, and redeposition has 
 been going on since the beginning, our soils 
 being the work of all the ages. In the clas- 
 sification of the soils some writers have dis- 
 tinguished them as sedimentary soils, being 
 those which are in the immediate vicinity of 
 the rocks from which they were formed, and 
 the transported soils, being those which have 
 been brought from a distance. This classifi- 
 cation will be well enough if the fact be kept 
 in mind that nearly all the stratified rock 
 material has itself been brought from another 
 locality by the very same forces that are now 
 transporting and depositing the other class 
 of soils. There is no soil that has not at one 
 time been rock. 
 
II I STOUT OP TEX AH. 
 
 There are fifteen principal chemical ele- 
 ments composing all soils, aside from many 
 otlier elements that occnr only in small quan- 
 titles. Tiiese elements are: 1, hydrogen; 2, 
 carbon; 3, oxygen; 4, nitrogen; 5, silicon; 
 6, chlorine; 7, phosphorus; 8, sulphur; 9, 
 aluminum; 10, manganese; 11, potassium; 
 12, calcium; 13, sodium; 14, magnesium; 
 15, iron. Besides these elements soils often 
 contain other ingredients which are, when in 
 excess, quite deleterious to plant life. 
 
 These elements are contained in the prim- 
 itive or granitic and metamorphic rocks, 
 with little or no admixtnre of the elements 
 or combinations caused by the admixture of 
 tlie acids with the basic elements. As tliere 
 arc no primitive or metamorphic rocks in tliat 
 part of the State to which this report relates 
 it will be unnecessary to discnss the question 
 of the mode of occurrence and the combi- 
 nation of these elements in the primitive 
 rocks. The soils of this part of the State are 
 derived from the sandstones, limestones, and 
 clay and shale beds found in the district. 
 
 These stones and beds were originally 
 formed by the disintegration of the material 
 of the primitive rocks. The materials of the 
 limestone were brought down by the rivers 
 into the sea, and were finally deposited with 
 the comminuted shells of the ocean in the 
 deep, quiet ocean in beds as they are now 
 formed. These limestones are composed 
 principally of calcium, carbon and mag- 
 nesium, with iron, silica, clay, bitumen, and 
 other substances as impurities. 
 
 The sandstones were deposited along the 
 sea beach, and are composed principally of 
 silica, being notliing more than fragments of 
 quartz. This material is bound together by 
 clay or lime, and sometimes by iron. 
 
 The clay bods were formed in the shallow 
 seas and along the estuaries and moutiis of 
 
 rivers, and are principally aluminum silicate 
 and carbonate of lime. 
 
 Soils are largely indebted to vegetable life 
 for their fertility and for tlieir ability to 
 receive heat and moisture and to transmit it 
 to the growing crops. This vegetable material 
 after it has reached a certain state of decay is 
 called liuinua. This material has no fixed 
 chemical constituents, owing to the effect 
 produced and the combination formed with 
 other substances in the process of decay. 
 Many soils owe their dark color to this 
 material. It renders a soil more susceptible 
 to heat and moisture. It also causes the 
 undissolved particles of rock material re- 
 maining in the soil to disintegrate and give 
 up their unused material to form a part of 
 the soil. 
 
 Texas justly lays claim to greater variety 
 and richness of soil than any State in the 
 Union. The black waxy, black sandy, black 
 pebbly, hog wallow, gray sandy, red sandy, 
 sandy loam and alluvial soils are each to be 
 found in the State, the majority of them in 
 greater or less quantities in each section. 
 About the best evidence of the richness and 
 fertility of these various soils that can be 
 offered is the fact that commercial fertilizers, 
 now so common in the older States and con- 
 stituting as much a fixed charge on the agri- 
 cultural interests of those sections as the 
 seed necessary to plant the ground, are not 
 used at all in Texas. Another fact worthy of 
 mention in this connection is that there are 
 thousands of acres in cultivation in this 
 State that have been cultivated continuously 
 for more than thirty years, which now yield 
 as much per acre as they did when first 
 planted. The principal soils of Texas are 
 the black waxy, black sandy and alluvial 
 lands of the river bottoms. The other varie- 
 ties are minor divisions, and for the purpose 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 of this report a brief description of these only 
 will be given. 
 
 The black waxy soil, so called from its 
 color and adhesive qualities, is the richest 
 and most durable of the soils of the State. 
 It constitutes a large percentage of the prai- 
 rie region, and is better adapted to the 
 growth of grain crops than other soils of the 
 State. It varies in depth from twelve inches 
 to many feet, the average depth l)eing about 
 eighteen inches, and is not appreciably affected 
 by the washing rains so injurious to looser 
 soils. 
 
 One of the largest bodies of upland black 
 prairie in the United States extends from 
 Lamar county, on the Eed river, southwest 
 in an irregular manner to a point south of 
 San Antonio, in Bexar county, with a width 
 of 140 miles on the north end, 100 in the 
 middle, and about sixty on the south end, 
 and embracing twenty-three and parts of 
 twenty-six counties. 
 
 The hlacJc sandy soil covers a very large 
 area of the State, and is very productive and 
 easily cultivated. It is highly esteemed for 
 gardening purposes and fruit-growing. It 
 is very loose and requires care and attention 
 to prevent deterioration from washing away 
 the surface. Portions of the timber region, 
 counties bordering on the timber belt of east 
 Texas, and also the Cross Timbers, contain 
 more or less sandy land. 
 
 The alluvial soils of the river hottoms 
 vary in quality according to the territory 
 drained by the streams on which they are 
 located. Kiver soils east of the Brazos river 
 partake more of the waxy character and are 
 stiffer than those on the Brazos and streams 
 westward that drain the sandy lands of the 
 northwest. The Brazos river bottom is re- 
 garded as the most valuable in the State, on 
 account of its fertility and comparative im- 
 
 munity from overflows. The lower Brazos 
 is in the heart of the sugar-growing belt, and 
 its bottom lands in that section are consid- 
 ered equal to the best in the sugar-producing 
 region of Louisiana. , 
 
 The variety of crops that Texas soils are 
 capable of profitably growing is as yet un- 
 known. For information in regard to the 
 products that are grown, and the yield per 
 acre of the soils here described, the reader is 
 referred to the reports of the various counties 
 under the head of "Agricultural and General 
 Statistics." 
 
 TIMBER GEOWTH. 
 
 The area of timber in Texas is much 
 greater than it is generally supposed to be 
 by persons not familiar with the country. 
 By many people outside of the State it is re- 
 garded as a vast "treeless" plain; but this, 
 like many other opinions of the State formed 
 at a distance, is wide of the mark. In the 
 prairie region the bottoms along the streams 
 and ravines are skirted with timber, and in 
 most places there is that happy admixture of 
 prairie and timber land that so delights the 
 heart of the farmer. Besides this, eastern 
 and southeastern Texas is covered with a 
 dense forest of fine timber, embracing nearly 
 every variety grown in the South. The re- 
 ports to the State Agricultural Department 
 show that there are 35,537,967 acres of timber 
 land in the State. 
 
 The "Cross Timbers" is the name given 
 to two irregular belts of timber varying in 
 width and entering the State on the Red 
 river on the north and running in a southerly 
 direction across the prairie region. 
 
 The "Lower Cross Timbers" run from a 
 point on Red river north of Gainesville, in 
 Cooke county, south to the Brazos river, in 
 
niaroJiY of tux as. 
 
 McLennan county, a distance of about 135 
 miles, and has an average width of from ten 
 to fifteen miles, interspersed at irregular in- 
 tervals with small prairies. 
 
 The "Upper Cross Timbers" leaves Red 
 river at a point further west, passing south 
 through Montague county, at the lower edge 
 of which it divides, the eastern portion pass- 
 ing south through Wise and i'arker counties 
 to the Brazos river, the wostei'n veering 
 farther west and extending south into Erath 
 county. 
 
 The timber growth of the Cross Timbers 
 is principally post and black-jack oaks. On 
 the streams and lowlands ash, hackberry, 
 pecan and cotton wood trees are found. 
 
 On the gray sand hills in eastern Texas 
 the timber growth is mainly scrubby post 
 and black-jack oaks. On the black sandy 
 land the timber is generally of the same kind, 
 but of more perfect growth. The red lands 
 are covered with hickory, red and post oaks, 
 with a few sweet and black gum and elm 
 trees interspersed. 
 
 In Newton, Jasper, Tyler, Orange, Hardin, 
 and parts of Sabine, Angelina, Trinity, San 
 Augustine, Nacogdoches, Polk, San Jacinto, 
 Shelby and Panola counties, long-leaved pine 
 grows in great abundance. 
 
 Short-leaved pine, interspersed with hick- 
 ory and the various oaks, is found from 
 Bowie county, on the Bed river, south along 
 the eastern edge of the State, finally mergincr 
 into the long-leaved pine region. The area 
 of the pineries, both long and short leaved, 
 is estimated at 25,000,000 acres, capable of 
 producing 64,587,420,000 feet of merchant- 
 able lumber. Along the streams, especially 
 the larger ones, walnut and ash timber is 
 abundant. In the southern part of the State, 
 near the gulf, and west, bordering on the 
 plains, the live oak is a prominent growth. 
 
 It is found singly or in clumps on the prai- 
 ries and in the edges of the bottoms. 
 
 The mesquite is a tree found more gener- 
 ally in western Texas than any other. It is 
 a common growth on the prairie. A prairie 
 with a growth of mesquite six or eight years 
 old resembles a peach orchard very much in 
 appearance. The mesquite is a small, scrubby 
 tree, and produces a bean similar in size and 
 appearance to the common cornfield bean. 
 It is very nutritious and highly prized as 
 food for horses and cattle. It has spread 
 rapidly over the prairies within the last few 
 years, and now furnishes firewood in many 
 localities where a few years ago there was 
 not a stick of any kind of fuel to be found. 
 Cedar of stunted growth also forms a large 
 part of the timber north and west of the 
 Colorado river, and it is usually found on the 
 sides and apexes of the hills and mountains. 
 
 The pecan tree, which produces the deli- 
 cious pecan nut, is found on nearly all the 
 streams, but more abundantly in southern 
 and western Texas, where there are numerous 
 pecan groves in the valleys and on the up- 
 lands. Gathering and marketing the pecan 
 crop forms no inconsiderable adjunct to the 
 industries of that section. The pecan crop 
 of 1887 was estimated at 9,000,000 pounds, 
 valued at $540,000. 
 
 West of the one hundredth meridian the 
 timber growth is very limited, being almost 
 exclusively confined to the ravines and water- 
 ways until the outlying ridges of the Rocky 
 mountains are reached. 
 
 The mesquite tree is a species of gum- 
 Arabic tree (Acacia), has very durable wood 
 that shrinks but little in drying, and is thus 
 well fitted for posts, rails, certain parts of 
 wagons, carriages and furniture. The bean 
 is nutritious, fattening live-stock. This tree 
 is taking possession of prairie tracts and 
 
UmrORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 gradually rendering the land more valuable. 
 The whole body of the wood is also rich in 
 tannin, time rendering it a good tanning 
 material. It is said, indeed, to be better 
 rlian any of the old popular materials, as it 
 jetter preserves the leather. 
 
 AKBOR DAT. 
 
 In response to a growing public opinion 
 in favor of forest planting, and to encourage 
 and promote that object, the Twenty- first 
 Legislature passed an act designating Febru- 
 ary 22 of each year as " Arbor Day." If it 
 sliall result in arousing a greater interest in 
 preserving from unnecessary destruction the 
 magnificent forests in the eastern part of the 
 State and the planting and cultivating of 
 forest trees on the bare prairies of the West, 
 it will become a monument to the wisdom 
 and foresight of the Legislature more en- 
 during than any ever made of marble or 
 brass. And this is the main purpose to be 
 subserved by the setting apart of one day in 
 the year for planting out trees. The number 
 of trees planted out on such occasions is in- 
 considerable compared to the requirements of 
 any community needing the influence exerted 
 by forest areas on the climate. Eut a be- 
 ginning must be made and the people grad- 
 ually educated up to a proper appreciation of 
 the importance of tree planting on a scale 
 conunensurate with the importance of the 
 work. The beneficial influence of forest cover 
 in precipitating rainfall and preserving moist- 
 ure is now acknowledged by the best authori- 
 ties on the subject. The effect is seen in this 
 State in the greater average rainfall in the 
 timbered regions of east Texas as compared 
 with the prairie regions of the west. The 
 situations of the two sections with reference 
 
 to other conditions of rainfall, such as prox- 
 imity to the gulf, topography, etc., are sub- 
 stantially the same. 
 
 As will be seen by the reference to the 
 summary of totals published elsewhere, the 
 cotton crop of 1890 amounted to 1,692,830 
 bales — an increase of 119,424 bales over the 
 crop of 1889. The average production per 
 acre was .41 of a bale, the largest number of 
 bales ever reached in the State, and exceed- 
 ing that of any State in the Union. 
 
 A fact worthy of note in this connection 
 is that Texas has the largest acreage in cotton 
 of any State in the Union, and would, under 
 equal conditions of soil, climate and seasons, 
 fall below the average production per acre of 
 other States. On the contrary, however, as 
 the above figures show, the average yield in 
 this State exceeds that of any of the cotton- 
 growing States, and thus the superiority of 
 our soil and the adaptability of the climate 
 in the production of the fleecy staple are 
 clearly established. It may be stated with- 
 out fear of contradiction, that no fertilizing 
 materials were used by any Texas farmer, ex- 
 cept in cases where experiments were being 
 carried on, while in most, if not all, of the 
 other cotton-producing States commercial fer- 
 tilizers enter largely into the expense account 
 of the cotton producer. 
 
 During the past four years the average 
 yield per acre for each year has been as fol- 
 lows: 1887, .34 of a bale per acre; 1888, 
 .38; 1889, .41, and 1890, .41. The average 
 value of an acre of cotton, including cotton 
 seed, for 1890 was $16.64. It will also be 
 seen by reference to the previous reports of 
 this department that there has been a con- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 stant and steady increase in the acreage de- 
 voted to tiie cultivation of cotton. This is 
 partly due to the abandonment of wheat- 
 growing in portions of north Texas hereto- 
 fore devoted to the growth of that cereal, and 
 partly to the opening of new cotton farms in 
 the southwestern and western parts of the 
 State, hut not entirely. The increase in the 
 cotton acreage has been much greater than 
 the increase in population, showing con- 
 clusively the tendency to an expansion of the 
 cotton acreage to the exclusion of other crops 
 on farms in cultivation during that period. 
 
 The fact that this has been going on in 
 the face of strenuous efforts on the part of 
 the agricultural press and some of the lead- 
 ing farmers of the country to induce the 
 farmers to diversify crops and raise more 
 grain and less cotton, would indicate that the 
 average farmer thinks he knows best what 
 crop is suited to our soil and climate and 
 will yield the greatest return for the capital 
 and labor invested. It is true there are other 
 crops that yield a larger average money value 
 per acre in cultivation, but as a rule they 
 enjoy only a limited market, and are sure to 
 entail loss on producers when the demand is 
 exceeded by production. Sugarcane is about 
 the only exception to this general rule in this 
 State, but the heavy expense necessary to the 
 manufacture of sugar prohibits a rapid de- 
 velopment of the agricultural interests of the 
 State in that direction. Another very im- 
 portant consideration in accounting for the 
 steady increase in the acreage in cotton is the 
 fact that it is a sure money crop, and can be 
 realized on at any time, even in markets re- 
 mote from the great marts of trade, for its 
 value at the tnills, less the cost of transporta- 
 tion; but the producer retains l)ut little 
 money in his hands after paying the cost of 
 production. 
 
 Much time and attention is being devoted 
 to the discovery of the cause of cotton blight, 
 or root rot, which damages the crop and en- 
 tails considerable loss on farmers every year. 
 So far no satisfactory conclusions have been 
 reached upon the subject. While this sub- 
 ject offers a wide field for investigation and 
 research, and one worthy of the best efforts 
 of the scientists, a more important question 
 to the cotton-growers of Texas is the dis- 
 covery of a cheap and efficient agent for the 
 destruction of an insect commonly called iiio 
 boll worm. The value of a remedy for tiit, 
 boll worm wiU be better understood by tuti 
 following carefully prepared estimate of losseo 
 from that source for three years: 
 
 Years. Bales. Value. 
 
 1887 297,499 $11,897,960 
 
 1888 342,560 13,359,840 
 
 1889 428,572 17,578,832 
 
 Total 1,068,631 $42,836,632 
 
 The boll worm destroys cotton in all stages 
 of growth, from the formation of the bud 
 and appearance of the bloom to the boll ready 
 to open, and is equally destructive in its effect 
 at all times. 
 
 In 1890 there was a decrease of 135,655 
 acres in corn compared with the area of 1889. 
 This is accounted for by the low prices at 
 which the crop of that year was marketed. 
 In many places farmers could find no sale for 
 their surplus corn at all, and it was left at the 
 mercy of the weevil, which injures the crop 
 more or less every year, especially in the 
 middle and southern portions of the State. 
 A heavy corn crop is usually followed by a 
 decrease in the acreage in corn the following 
 year and a corresponding increase in the aero- 
 
BISTORT OP TEXAS. 
 
 age in cotton. The average production per 
 acre was 14.38 bushels, which is an average 
 yield during an unseasonalile year, when we 
 consider that Texas is not classed among the 
 corn-producing States as a source from whence 
 the demand for maize may be supplied. The 
 average production in the corn-growing States 
 for years, according to the National Depart- 
 ment of Agriculture, was 24.2 busliels per 
 acre. 
 
 The estimated annual consumption for the 
 past ten years was 28 bushels per capita. 
 On this basis the account of the State, so far 
 as it relates to the item of corn, would stand 
 as follows: Bushels produced, 41,812,904; 
 bushels necessary for home consumption, 
 62,594,644; deficit, 20,781,780. 
 
 The returns for 1890 show a slight decrease 
 in the acreage of wheat compared with 1889. 
 The acreage in wheat for the four years past 
 has been as follows: In 1887, 520,219; in 
 1888, 386,120; in 1889, 402,154, and in 
 1890, 359,440. There has been a constant 
 decrease in the acreage in wheat in the north- 
 ern portion of the State, where formerly the 
 bulk of the wheat grown in the State was 
 produced. This decrease has, in a measure, 
 been compensated for by the opening of new 
 farms in the Tanhandle, which is fast be- 
 coming the granary of the State. The soil 
 and climate of that section are admirably 
 adapted to wheat-growing, and with favorable 
 meteorological conditions that section will 
 supply the demand for home consumption 
 and furnish a large surplus for exportation. 
 The Secretary of Agriculture, in his report 
 for 1890, estimates the consumption of wheat 
 at 4| bushels per capita. On this basis of 
 
 consumption the account of the State on the 
 item of wheat for 1890 stands as follows: 
 Bushels necessary for home consumption, 
 10,432,442; bushels produced in the State, 
 2,365,523; bushels imported for home con- 
 sumption, 8,060,917. 
 
 The value of the wheat imported, at 65 
 cents per bushel, the average value of the 
 crop, amounted to $5,243,496.05, which is 
 approximately the sura sent out of the State 
 for flour during the year. 
 
 The average production per acre is quite a 
 decrease from the previous year, being 6.58 
 bushels, against 13 for 1889. There was a 
 material decline in the average price per 
 bushel, it being 65 cents, as against 71 for 
 the previous year. The tendency to lower 
 prices and consequent diminution of gross 
 returns per acre in wheat has been very 
 marked during the past ten years, as shown 
 by the reports of the Secretary of Agriculture 
 for 1890. The decline has been from |13 
 per acre to $9.97. 
 
 There was a large decrease in the acreage 
 in oats in 1890, attributable to putting oats 
 land in cotton. The average value per bushel 
 of oats in the United States in 1889 was 22.9 
 cents, and the average value per acre was 
 $6 26. In this State the average for 1890 
 was $9.46 per acre, and 48 cents per bushel. 
 Owing to the fact that there is no means of 
 knowing what the average annual consump- 
 tion per capita of oats is, it is impossible to 
 determine exactly whether the supply ex- 
 ceeds the demand or not. The vast amount 
 of open range and enclosed pasture land cur- 
 tails largely the annual consumption of oats 
 in this State. 
 
UISroRY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Rye is Bown mostly for pasturage in tliis 
 State, there being little if any demand for it 
 in local markets. The average yield per acre 
 in the United States for 1888 was 12 bushels, 
 and the average value per bushel 58 cents. 
 The crop of 1889 in this State averaged 14 
 busliels per acre, and the average value per 
 bushel was 85 cents. 
 
 The barley crop is of small importance in 
 this State. In fact the yield is not a fair 
 average of what might be produced under 
 ditierent conditions. Most of the barley 
 sown is planted for pasturage, there being 
 little or no demand for it except for seed. 
 The yield, therefore, represents what is har- 
 vested after the pasturing season is past, and 
 gathered mainly for seed. 
 
 Upon this crop the language used in the 
 report of 1888 is still appropriate: 
 
 "Under this heading is included sorghum 
 cane cut for hay, cidtivated hay, millet and 
 prairie hay, standing in value per acre in 
 order above presented. Sorghum cane hay 
 is most profitable, showing the highest aver- 
 age yield per acre. It is affected less by 
 drouth than any other cultivated product, and 
 in favorable seasons two croi)S can be easily 
 grown. The acreage in cultivated hay indi- 
 cates the extent to which farmers are turn- 
 ing attention to the various varieties of 
 grasses that must soon become a part of the 
 crop on every well conducted farm." 
 
 The average value j)er acre of the different 
 
 hay croj)s was as follows: Sorghum cane 
 hay, $17.75; cultivated hay, $10.88; prairie 
 hay, $5.27; millet, $12.87." 
 
 POTATOES. 
 
 Sweet Potatoes. — There was a decrease in 
 the acreage in sweet potatoes as compared to 
 1888, and a decrease in the average yield per 
 acre. The average value per acre of this 
 crop in 1889 was $57.50, and for the past 
 four years was 157.83. The average yield 
 per acre for the past four years was 123.11 
 bushels. The demand for the pure yellow 
 yam has never been fully supplied. While 
 not so prolific as other varieties, it bears a 
 higher market.value and can be readily sold. 
 
 Irish. — There was an increase in the acre- 
 age in Irish potatoes in 1890. Owing to the 
 inability of preserving them for any consider- 
 able length of time in this climate, the pro- 
 duction of Irish potatoes for the general 
 market is not undertaken at all. The local 
 markets are supplied with them when the 
 crop first matures, but beyond this their pro- 
 duction is adjusted to the demands of the 
 farm on which they are cultivated. Our soil 
 is admirably adapted to the production of 
 Irish potatoes, and the average yield per acre 
 is considerably above the national average. 
 The average annual yield per acre in the 
 United States for the ten years ending in 
 1888 was 87.7 bushels, while in this State 
 the average annual yield per acre for four 
 years past (which is as far back as we have 
 an accurate record) was 101. G7 bushels. 
 
 SOKGIIUM CANE. 
 
 The large decline in the acreage of sorghum 
 cane devoted to the production of sorghum 
 cane syrup is not easily accounted for, unless 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 it be on account of low prices and the grow- 
 ing tendency to supplant sorghum cane syrup 
 with syrup made from sugar cane. It is 
 partly accounted for from the fact that here- 
 tofore more of the acreage in sorghum cane 
 should have been credited to the hay crop, 
 having been planted for that purpose alone. 
 Sorglium cane syrup is not so generally used 
 as formerly, and in time it will doubtless be 
 practically eliminated as a syrup crop. 
 
 SUGAR CANE. 
 
 One of the most promising fields for de- 
 velopment is the vast area of alluvial soil in 
 the middle, eastern and southern part of the 
 State adapted to the growth of sugar cane. 
 This territory is variously estimated at from 
 500,000 to 1,000,000 acres. From informa- 
 tion collected in this office the conclusion has 
 been reached that there is not less tiian 1,- 
 000,000 acres in south Texas alone where 
 sugar cane can be successfully grown every 
 year, and on the river bottoms and along 
 many of the smaller streams, as high as the 
 33d parallel, it is successfully grown for the 
 manufacture of syrup. 
 
 The total value of the sugar and syrup 
 crops amount to 11,260,650, and the value 
 per acre $88.62. As stated in previous re- 
 ports, only a small portion of the area in 
 sugar cane is devoted to sugar-making, owing 
 to a want of facilities for manufacturing 
 sugar. The larger part of the crop is con- 
 verted into syrup, which is less profitable 
 than sugar, and consequently the value of 
 the crop per acre is thereby considerably 
 reduced. 
 
 The following observations in the report 
 of 1887 are still true: 
 
 "Estimating the area in which sugar cane 
 can be profitably grown at a half million 
 
 acres, and valuing the product at $100 per 
 acre, a fair idea of the possibilities of de- 
 velopment in this industry may be gained. 
 It would yield a crop annually worth $50,- 
 000,000— a sum greater by $1,500,000 than 
 the present value of the cotton crop of the 
 State. It is as staple an article, and less 
 liable to fluctuation in prices. The supply 
 in the United States is far below the demand, 
 and there is, therefore, an unlimited market 
 for the product. 
 
 "The only difficulty in the way of the 
 rapid development of the industry is the cost 
 of machinery necessary, which practically 
 limits the advantages presented to men of 
 large means, the cost of a plant ranging from 
 $00,000 to $100,000. Co-operation has been 
 suggested by some as a remedy for this, while 
 others have thought that the purchase by the 
 large mill owners of the cane grown by small 
 planters would solve the problem." 
 
 Messrs. Cunningham & Miller, of Sugar- 
 land, Fort Bend county, have recently refined 
 a quantity of gianulated sugar, as good as 
 any in the market, but their efforts have been 
 cramped by opposing trusts. 
 
 Flax has been raised in Texas as fine as 
 any in Ireland. It will produce here about 
 two tons to the acre, worth about $-15, while 
 it costs less to market it than cotton. 
 
 The production of honey has received but 
 little attention in the State, although it pays 
 more to the capital invested than any other 
 business. Unlike the interest on money, 
 which silently piles up the indebtedness of 
 individuals, bees, with but little attention, 
 day after day, store away hundreds of pounds 
 
niHTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 of lioin'y, which not only add many dollai's 
 to tlie jmrse, but they furnieli the talde witli 
 a luxury which cannot well be dispen&ed 
 with. 
 
 In 18U0, 145,542 stands produced 2,316,- 
 889 pounds, valued at $236,466, which was 
 more than 10 cents per pound. 
 
 HOKTICULTURE. 
 
 As stated in previous reports under this 
 head, it is intended mainly to record the 
 number of acres in orchards and note the 
 proffress made from year to year in extend- 
 ing the area devoted to the fruit-growing in- 
 dustry. The total acreage in orchards in the 
 State is 62,835, and the value of the fruit 
 crop in 1890, estimated at current market 
 prices, was 11,227,791. 
 
 We take this occasion to repeat the language 
 of the report of 1888 commendatory of the 
 work of the State Horticultural Society 
 in promoting the interests of horticulture 
 throughout the State, which was as follows: 
 
 " Within the past few years the State Horti- 
 cultural Society has done a great work in de- 
 veloping and cultivating an interest among 
 the people of the State on the subject of horti- 
 culture. Local societies have been formed 
 in various parts of the State, and local fairs 
 held at which the horticultural products of 
 the iininediate section in particular and the 
 State in general were exhibited, thus practi- 
 ce I ly educating the people upon this most 
 important branch of agriculture, and stimu- 
 lating an interest in the adoption of the best 
 methods of work and the attainniont of a 
 more scientific knowledge of the subject. 
 As a result of the impetus given to fruit- 
 growing by these various associations, can- 
 neries for the preservation of the surplus 
 crops of fruits and vegetables have been 
 
 started in different sections of the State. The 
 fruit crop of the State is therefore getting to 
 be quite an item in summing up the State's 
 sources of revenue. The climate and soil are 
 admirably adapted to the growth of peaches, 
 pears and all the smaller fruits. Largo quan- 
 tities of peaches, grapes and strawberries are 
 shipped North in the early part of the season." 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 In addition to the foregoing data, we have 
 the following items from the last census: 
 
 Av. value 
 
 Number. Value, per h'd. 
 
 Horses and mules 1,439,716 $40,843,176 $28.30 
 
 Cattle 7,r,84,6i)7 45,733,699 6.03 
 
 Jacks and jennets 26,205 748,757 2S.53 
 
 Sheep 4,070,225 5,639,705 1.38 
 
 Goals 384,324 275,849 .72 
 
 Hogs 1,060,226 1,350,755 1.27 
 
 Total 14,565,413 $94,589,941 
 
 1888. 1889. 1890. 
 
 Number gins 4,110 4,506 4,500 
 
 No. sheep sheared . . 3,860,034 3,754,069 2,813,173 
 
 No. lbs. wool clipp'd 18,721,093 18,345,638 13,531,196 
 
 Total val. wool clip'd $2,907,314 $3,319,155 $3,466,625 
 Miles of telegraph 
 
 lines in the State.. 9,475 10,120 10,323 
 Miles of street rail- 
 road In the State . . 202 *84 244 
 Number physicians . 3,024 3,513 8,750 
 
 Number lawyers 2,662 3,106 3,1.50 
 
 Number marriages ... 22,856 23,596 24,593 
 
 No. divorces granted. 1,520 1,466 1,853 
 No. persons incarcer- 
 
 ated in county jails. 12,867 13,274 13,274 
 No. of convicts rec'd 
 
 in State penitentiary 1,113 1,045 f695 
 
 "GKASSHOI'I'Er" kaids. 
 
 The famous western "grasshoppers," or 
 migratory locusts, made their first appearance 
 in Travis and adjoining counties in the fall 
 
 ♦Difference in mileage caused by its rendition as 
 personal property, 
 t August 1, 1891. 
 
UISTOUY OF 'lA'XA-i. 
 
 of 1848, in swarms from the north, lighting 
 and depositing their eggs everywhere, and 
 preferring sandy land for the deposit of eggs. 
 After eating all the garden products, whicli 
 they would do in a short time, they disap- 
 peared, no one knowing whither they went. 
 The warm sun of the following March again 
 brought the little hoppers out, which sud- 
 denly consumed every green thing and fled 
 northward. Tlie crops were again planted 
 and the season proved favorable. 
 
 In October, 1856, they came again, as be- 
 fore, with the early north winds. After 
 eating the blades off the wlieat and deposit- 
 ing their eggs, they disappeared. During 
 the next spring myriads of young hoppers, as 
 before, about the size of large fleas, issued 
 from the ground, and did but little mischief 
 until about three weeks old, when they were 
 half grown. They then moulted and started 
 northward on foot, preserving as much regu- 
 larity and order in their march as an army of 
 well drilled soldiers. Exercise had of course 
 a marked effect upon their appetites, which 
 impelled them to be ravenous, preferring the 
 young cotton to everything else, next the 
 youno- corn, etc. When one was killed or 
 wounded, he would be immediately devoured 
 by his fellows! In their march they had no 
 respect for the dwellings of human beings or 
 animals, but would march right along through 
 them without fear. At the age of six weeks 
 they moulted again and were full-grown 
 grasshoppers. In a few days their wings 
 were ready for a prolonged flight, which they 
 took, northward. 
 
 The ensuing autumn they were here again, 
 acting as before. The next spring the young 
 came forth again, but this time there were 
 added to their already immense numbers 
 another horde which had been driven back in 
 their march by a heavy norther. These latter 
 
 had been bred between the Colorado and the 
 gulf. After remaining long enough to con- 
 sume nearly all that the native locusts had 
 left, they resumed their migration. In the 
 fall of 1858 the pests were again seen, high 
 np in the air, passing southward. 
 
 In their flight their wings glitter in the 
 sun, so that the sky seems to be overcast by 
 a shining snow flurry. They come with the 
 north wind in the fall, and return with the 
 south wind in the spring. 
 
 PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY. 
 
 The Patrons of Husbandry, or Grange, is 
 the oldest farmers' organization of State-wide 
 influence in the State, and according to the 
 estimate of lion. A. J. Rose, Master of the 
 State Grange, numbers between 10,000 and 
 15,000 active members, and has a non affili- 
 ating membership approximating 100,000 in 
 the State. The order has been the means of 
 accomplishing great good in behalf of the 
 farming population of the State, mainly by 
 constantly keeping before the agricultural 
 classes the necessity of a strict observance of 
 the principles of economy in the management 
 of the farm, avoiding extravagant, useless ex- 
 penditures, and producing as far as possible 
 all necessary supplies at home. Farmers who 
 practice the principles of the Patrons of Hus- 
 bandry do not contribute to the annual out- 
 flow of money from the State for the pur- 
 chase of bacon, lard, molasses and other farm 
 supplies that can be produced on Texas soil, 
 and are not in debt to the money-lending 
 classes. The Grange numbers among its ad- 
 herents in this State some of the most intel- 
 lio-ent, thrifty and conservative farmers of the 
 State — men who would be an honor to any 
 organization, and whose names are a guaran- 
 tee of success in any enterprise with which 
 they may connect themselves. 
 
IIISTOHY OF TEXAS. 
 
 The Texas State Farmer, located at Dallas, 
 is the organ of tlie State Grange. 
 
 TEXAS CO-Ol'ERATIVE ASSOCIATION OF THE 
 PATRONS OF UUSBANDRY. 
 
 This organization is the outgrowth of the 
 Grange movement in the State, and has for 
 its oliject the purchase of supplies and gen- 
 eral merchandise for farmers, and the sale of 
 products of the farms of the membership, 
 though its business transactions are not con- 
 tincd to members of the order. The associa- 
 tion consists of central and branch organiza- 
 tions. The central organization conducts a 
 wholesale and the local organizations a retail 
 business. The central or wholesale branch is 
 located in Galveston, and is supported by 
 about 130 associations located in various 
 parts of the State; and in addition to the 130 
 associations above mentioned, there are about 
 ('iJO individual shareholders. Membersliip, 
 alwut 9,000. 
 
 The institution is chartered with an author- 
 ized capital stock of $100,000. 
 
 farmers' ALLIANCE. 
 
 This State enjoys the distinction of having 
 given hirth to the above named institution, 
 which is now the strongest and most active 
 furnicrs' organization in the State. No farm- 
 ers' move has ever taken sncii deep root in 
 the hearts of the agricultural classes, and 
 spread throughout the State and nation with 
 sncli rapidity, as has the Farmers' Alliance 
 movement, and its phenbtnenal growth still 
 continues, its progress being marked by con- 
 linual acquisitions to old Alliances and the 
 formation of new ones in various parts of 
 the State. State Alliances have sprung up 
 in several States, and a national organization 
 has ijcen perfected. 
 
 The following facts relating to the origin 
 of the oi'ganization were gleaned from a 
 "History of the National Farmers' Alliance 
 and Co-operative Union of America," by 
 W. L. Garvin and S. O. Daws, of Jacksboro, 
 Texas. 
 
 The name Farmers' Alliance was assumed 
 by an association of farmers in Lampasas 
 county in 1875, who had organized for self- 
 protection against persons who drove off their 
 stock and otherwise harassed them with a 
 view of preventing the further settlement of 
 the country. In 1878 it had spread over 
 Lampasas and adjoining counties, but, be- 
 coming entangled with politics through de- 
 signing men, was broken up. 
 
 In 1879 W. T. Baggett, of Coryell county, 
 a member of one of the old organizations, 
 moved to Parker county and settled near 
 Poolville. He had in his possession one of 
 the constitutions of the order as it existed in 
 Coryell county, and organized the first Alli- 
 ance at Toolville, July 29, 1879. 
 
 In this organization the political features 
 which had destroyed the Alliance of Lampasas 
 and adjoining counties in 1878 were stricken 
 out of the declaration of principles, and the 
 order placed on a non-political basis. 
 
 The following is the original declaration of 
 principles, with the exception of the second 
 and seventh articles: 
 
 1. To labor for the education of the agri- 
 cultnral classes in the science of economical 
 government, in a strictly non-partisan spirit. 
 
 2. To endorse the motto, "In things 
 essential unity, and in all things charity." 
 
 3. To develop a bettei- state, mentally, 
 morally, socially and financially. 
 
 4. To create a better understanding for 
 sustaining civil officers in maintaining law 
 and order. 
 
HISrORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 5. To constantly strive to secure entire 
 liarmony and good will among all mankind 
 and brotherly love among ourselves. 
 
 6. To suppress personal, local, sectional 
 and national prejudices, all uniiealtliful 
 rivalry and all selfish ambition. 
 
 7. The brightest jewels which it garners 
 are the tears of widows and orphans, and its 
 imperative commands are to visit the homes 
 where lacerated hearts are bleeding, to as- 
 suage the sufferings of a brother or a sister, 
 bury the dead, care for the widows, and edu- 
 cate the orphans; to exercise charity toward 
 offenders; to construe words and deeds in 
 their most favorable light, granting honesty 
 of purpose and good intentions to otliei's, and 
 to protect the principles of the Alliance unto 
 death. 
 
 Its laws are reason and equity, its cardinal 
 doctrines inspire purity of thought and life, 
 and its intentions are "peace on earth and 
 good will to men." 
 
 The first meeting of the State Alliance 
 was held at Central, Parker county, Te.xas. 
 Twelve sub-alliances were represented. 
 
 The membership of tlio order in Texas is 
 now estimated at 250,000. 
 
 farmers' institutes. 
 
 The legislature appropriated §500 for the 
 encouragement of the movement, to be used 
 by the board of directors of the Agricultural 
 and Mechanical College as they might direct. 
 By direction of the board the college authori- 
 ties have arranged for holding an institute in 
 each congressional district in this State, at 
 which lectures on subjects relating to agri- 
 culture, stock-raising and other subjects of 
 practical utility to the farmers will be de- 
 livered by the professors of the college and 
 such other persons as they and the local com- 
 
 mittee at the place of holding the institute 
 may determine. The products of the farm 
 are also exhibited, and results of the best 
 methods of work in all departments of farm 
 labor are shown. 
 
 Farmers' institutes have been held at sev- 
 eral points in the State, and in every instance 
 they were attended with great interest and 
 enthusiasm among the people. With more 
 liberal encouragement on the part of the legis- 
 lature they would become powerful agencies 
 in awakening a deeper interest among the 
 people in improved methods of farming, and 
 directing public attention to the importance 
 and value of the work now being done at the 
 Agricultural and Mechanical College in in- 
 structing the youth of the State in the science 
 of agriculture and the mechanic arts. 
 
 Farmers' institutes are open and free to all 
 who choose to attend them, and thus afford a 
 means of interchanging ideas and opinions 
 among the agricultural classes, unencum- 
 bered by any conditions whatever. 
 
 CLIMATE. 
 
 To convey a correct idea of the climate of 
 any section by giving a statement of "mean 
 temperatures" by the year or month, or even 
 by the day, is misleading, from the fact that 
 the mean temperature of great extremes may 
 be the same as that of slight variations. For 
 example, the mean between zero and 100 
 (fifty) is the same as that between forty and 
 sixty, which also is fifty. To give a correct im- 
 pression of climate one needs to state the 
 number of times the temperature reaches 
 certain extremes in each year for a number 
 of years, with accompanying statements of 
 the wind and moisture prevailing at the same 
 times. A table giving all these items is too 
 tedious for the ordinary reader to scan, and 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Fcientista always go to the original reports of 
 trained observers for tlieir information. 
 
 Texas has variety in her climate as well as 
 other things. A very large portion of the 
 State is swept by the gulf breezes, which 
 dispense life to vegetation and health to the 
 iniiabitants wherever they reach. The long 
 summers characteristic of this latitude are by 
 them rendered not only endurable but enjoy- 
 able. -So marked is the influence of the gulf 
 winds on the climate of the State that the 
 average temperature along the gulf coast and 
 for many miles inland is much lower during 
 the summer months than it is in the higher 
 latitudes of the north. The same influence 
 neutralizes the cold of winter and makes the 
 winters of the southern and southwestern part 
 of the State the mildest and most delightful 
 of all States in the Union. 
 
 The extremes of temperature in Texas 
 range from about zero in the northern part of 
 tiie State to 100° and 112° in August. The 
 iiir being pure, the extreme heat is far more 
 iMiduraide than a temperature of only eighty- 
 live, with such impure air as generally pre- 
 \ails in the cities. Most of the year the 
 temperature is comfortable, and averages 
 I etter than anj' other State in the Union. 
 
 The amount of rainfall at Austin varies 
 from twenty-three to forty-four inches per 
 annum, generally ranging from twenty-eight 
 to thirty- six inches. The exact average from 
 1857 to 1874 inclusive was found to be 33.93 
 inches, with signs of increase; that is, the 
 flrstfive years the fall was 148.08, tlie second 
 Ave IGfi 55, and the third five 178.88. 
 
 During the same period the hijihost ther- 
 mometer was 96° to 107° in the shade, and 
 the lowest 0° to 28° above zero. 
 
 The following table of rainfall, for the 
 years named, is interesting and is of easy 
 reference: 
 
 1882... 
 1SS3... 
 1884... 
 18&-.... 
 18S« . . . 
 18X7... 
 18SS... 
 
 The most notaljle floods of the Colorado 
 since the settlement of Austin have occurred 
 as follows: February, 1843, river rose about 
 thirty-six feet; March, 1852, thirty-six feet; 
 July, 1869, forty-three feet; and October, 
 1870, thirty-six feet. 
 
 The following circumstance is illustrative: 
 Colonel Merriani,of the Twenty-fourth United 
 States Infantry, with his family and an escort, 
 encamped on the Concho river Sunday, April 
 24, 1S70. This river is formed by the junc- 
 tion of a number of small streams from 
 springs, but at its head it is so small that a 
 man can step across it. The tops of the 
 banks are usually about twenty-five feet above 
 the water. 
 
 Fatigued with their journey, the party 
 were pleasantly resting, when early in the 
 evening Colonel Merriam saw signs of a 
 coming storm. The tent was fastened and 
 made as secure as possible, and about nine 
 o'clock a hailstorm burst upon them and 
 lasted until about eleven o'clock, the stones 
 being of the size of hens' eggs and striking 
 the tent with a noise like incessant musketry. 
 The colonel, who was not ignorant of the 
 sudden and extreme overflows to which the 
 mountain streums of Texas are liable, went 
 out into the darkness as soon as the storm 
 
UISTORr OF TEXAS. 
 
 had ceased, to see what effect had been pro- 
 duced on the rivulet. To his amazement he 
 found, in the previously almost dry bed of 
 the creek, a resistless torrent, filled with 
 floating hail, rolling nearly bank full, white 
 like niilk and as silent as a river of oil. He 
 at once saw the danger and rushed back to 
 the tent, shouting at the same time to the 
 soldiers and servant to "turn out." He 
 placed Mrs. Merriam and their child and 
 nurse in the ambulance, and with the aid of 
 three men started to run with it to the higher 
 ground, a distance of not more than sixty 
 yards. Scarcely a minute had elapsed from 
 the time the alarm had been given before the 
 water began to surge over the banks in waves 
 of such volume and force as to sweep the 
 party from their feet before they had traversed 
 thirty yards. The colonel called for assist- 
 ance upon some cavalry soldiers who had just 
 escaped from the United States mail station 
 near by, but they were too terror-stricken to 
 take heed. 
 
 Colonel Merriam then gave up the hope of 
 saving his family in the carriage, and tried 
 to spring into it, intending to swim out with 
 them; but the icy torrent instantly swept 
 him away. Being an expert swimmer, he 
 succeeded in reaching the bank 200 yards 
 below, and ran back to renew the attempt to 
 save his dear ones, when he received the 
 awful tidings that the moment he was borne 
 away by the stream the carriage, with all its 
 precious freight, turned over and went roll- 
 ing down the flood, his wife saying as she 
 disappeared, "My darling husband, good- 
 byl" The little rill of a few hours before, 
 which a child might step across, had become 
 a raging river nearly a mile in width, from 
 thirty to forty feet deep and covered with 
 masses of driftwood. The bereaved husband 
 procured a horse ^roni one of the cavalry and 
 
 rode far down the river, but could see noth- 
 ing distinctly in the darkness, while nothing 
 could be heard but the wild roar of the 
 waters. 
 
 Thus passed the long, wretched night. 
 Before day the momentary flood had passed 
 by, and the stream had shrunk within its 
 accustomed limits. The search began. The 
 drowned soldiers and servant, four in num- 
 ber, were soon found, and the body of the 
 wife was taken from the water three-fourths 
 of a mile below. Tlie body of the child was 
 not found until three days afterward, four 
 miles down the stream and a long distance 
 from the channel. The carriage was drifted 
 by the current about a mile, and lodged in a 
 thicket. 
 
 The storm had been frightful, beyond de- 
 scription. The beaver ponds at the head of 
 the Concho were so filled with hail that tiie 
 fish were killed, and were washed out and de- 
 posited on the surface of the surrounding 
 country in loads. Three days after the storm, 
 when the searching party left the Concho, the 
 hail lay in drifts to the depth of six feet. 
 
 Heavy indeed was the heart of the husband 
 and father when he commenced his melan- 
 choly march to the post of the Concho, fifty- 
 three miles distant! 
 
 PUBLIC LANDS. 
 
 Under this head are included all the lands 
 owned by the State or held in trust for any 
 of its public institutions. 
 
 There are about 5,000,000 acres of unap- 
 propriated public domain belonging to the 
 State. This may be acquired by the pro- 
 visions of the law relating to homestead do- 
 nations. 
 
ni STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 HOW TO ACQUIRE HOMESTEAD DONATIONS, ETC. 
 
 Every head of a family without a home- 
 stead sliall he entitled to receive a donation 
 from the State of 160 acres of vacant unap- 
 propriated public land, and every single man 
 of the age of eighteen years or upward shall 
 be entitled to receive from the State eighty 
 acres of vacant and unappropriated public 
 land. The applicant must apply to the sur- 
 veyor of the district or county in which the 
 land is situated, in writing, designating the 
 land he claims, stating that he claims the 
 same for himself in good faith, etc.; that he 
 is without any homestead of his own; that 
 he has actually settled on the land, etc., and 
 that he believes the same to be vacant and 
 unappropriated public domain. The survey 
 to be made within twelve months after date 
 of application. When the terms of the law 
 have been complied with, and proof of such 
 fact, together with the proof of three years' 
 continuous occupancy, is filed with the com- 
 missioner of the general land ofEce, patent 
 will issue to the claimant or his assignee. 
 (Title LXXIX, Ch. 9, Revised Statutes.) 
 
 By virtue of an act passed March 29, 1887, 
 and amended April 5, 1889, "To provide for 
 the sale of such appropriated public lands, 
 situated in organized counties, as contain not 
 more than 640 acres," it is provided that any 
 person desiring to purchase any of such ap- 
 propriated lands situated in any of the or- 
 ganized counties of the State as contain not 
 more than 640 acres, appropriated by an act 
 to provide for the sale of a portion of the un- 
 appropriated public land, etc., approved July 
 14, 1879, may do so by causing the same to 
 be surveyed by the surveyor of the county in 
 which the land is situated. The person de- 
 siring to purchase shall make application in 
 
 writing, describing the land by reference to 
 surrounding surveys. Tlie land must be sur- 
 veyed within three months from date of aj)- 
 plication, and within sixty days after said 
 survey the surveyor shall certify, record and 
 map the same in his office, and within said 
 sixty days return the same to the general 
 land office, together with the application. 
 Within ninety days after the return to and 
 filing in the general land office the applicant 
 must pay into the State treasury the purchase 
 money at the rate of $2 per acre; patent to 
 be issued by the commissioner of the general 
 land office when the treasurer's receipt is tiled 
 in his office. Failure to make the payment 
 within ninety days forfeits the right to pur- 
 chase, and the applicant cannot afterward 
 purchase under the act. (Chapter 80, Acts 
 of Twentieth Legislature, pp. 61 and 62.) 
 
 COMMON SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY AND ASTLCM LANDS. 
 
 The act of April 1, 1887, and the act 
 amendatory thereof of April 8, 1889, pro- 
 vide for the sale of all lands heretofore or 
 hereafter surveyed and set apart for the bene- 
 fit of the public free schools, the university, 
 and the several asylums, amounting in all to 
 about 30,000,000 acres. 
 
 All lands under this head must be classi- 
 fied by the commissioner of the general land 
 office into agricultural, pasture, and timber 
 lands, and valued according to classification 
 before being placed on the market When 
 classified and valued the land commissioner 
 is required to notify the county clerks of the 
 counties where the lands are situated of the 
 value of each section of land offered for sale 
 in their respective counties and counties at- 
 tached for judicial purposes, which notifica- 
 tion said clerk must keep on record for pub- 
 lic inspection. 
 
^ 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Lands classified as agricnltnral are sold to 
 actual settlers only, in quantities of not less 
 than eighty, and in multiples thereof not 
 more than 640 acres, provided tliat where 
 there is a fraction of less than eighty acres 
 of any section left such fraction may be sold. 
 Where two quarter sections are purchased 
 tliey must constitute a given half of some 
 section. Lands classified as purely pasture 
 lands, and without permanent water thereon, 
 may be sold in quantities not to exceed four 
 sections to the same person. Parts of two 
 sections cannot be purchased without taking 
 the whole of one section. No sales are made 
 to a corporation, foreign or domestic, and all 
 sales to a settler are made on express condi- 
 tion that any sale, transfer, or conveyance of 
 such land to a corporation, either immediate 
 or remote, shall ipso facto terminate the title 
 of the purchaser and forfeit the land to the 
 State. No watered portion of any section 
 shall be sold unless there is permanent water 
 on or bordering on the part of the section re- 
 maining unsold. 
 
 The minimum price of lands sold under 
 this act is %2 per acre. Lands having per- 
 manent water thereon or bordering thereon 
 are sold at not less than $3 per acre. Tim- 
 bered lauds are sold at not less than $5 per 
 acre. By timbered lands is meant lands 
 chielly valuable for the timber thereon. The 
 timber on such lands may also be sold at the 
 discretion of the commissioner of the general 
 land office, for $5 per acre, cash, except where 
 land is sparsely timbered, then for not less 
 than 12 per acre, the purchaser to have five 
 years from the date of purchase to remove 
 the timber therefrom, after which, if not re- 
 moved, it reverts to the State without judi- 
 cial ascertainment. 
 
 Agricultural and pasture lands are sold on 
 forty years' time, at 5 per cent, per annum 
 
 interest. One-fortieth of the aggregate pur- 
 chase money must^ie paid in advance, and an 
 obligation, duly executed, binding the pur- 
 chaser to pay to the State treasurer, on the 
 first day of August each year thereafter, until 
 the whole is paid, one-fortieth of the pur- 
 chase money and the interest on the whole of 
 the unpaid purchase money. Within one 
 year next after the expiration of three years' 
 residence on the land the purchaser must 
 make proof by his own affidavit, corroborated 
 by the affidavits of three disinterested and 
 credible citizens of the county, certified to by 
 some officer of the court, that he has resided 
 on the land three years. Upon receipt of the 
 fortieth payment by the treasurer, and the 
 affidavit and obligation required to be filed 
 with the application for the land, the sale is 
 held effective. 
 
 All purchasers have the option of paying 
 in full after they have resided on their land 
 three consecutive years, proof of which must 
 be furnished the commissioner of the general 
 land office. Purchasers may sell their lands 
 any time after three years, the vendee or sub- 
 sequent vendees to become subject to all the 
 conditions of sale to the original purchaser. 
 
 If the interest due on the first day of Au- 
 gust of any year is unpaid the purchaser 
 shall have until the first day of January 
 thereafter to pay said interest, and for said 
 default shall pay 50 per cent, penalty on said 
 interest past due. Failure to pay said past 
 due interest and penalty on or before the said 
 first day of January any year works a forfeit- 
 ure of the land without the necessity of re- 
 entry or judicial ascertainment, except where 
 the purchaser dies, in which event his heirs 
 have one year after the first day of August 
 next after such death in which to make 
 payment. 
 
 Timbered lands are sold for cash. 
 
HISTOHT OF TEXAS. 
 
 All applications for the purchase of land 
 must be forwarded to the commissioner of 
 the general land ofHce at Austin, accompanied 
 hy an affidavit stating in effect that the appli- 
 cant desires the land for a home, and has in 
 good faith settled thereon; that he is not 
 acting in collusion with others for the pur- 
 pose of buying the land for any other person 
 or corporation, and that no other person or 
 corporation is interested in the purchase save 
 himself. 
 
 The commissioner of the land office may, 
 at his discretion, lease any of the public lands 
 not in demand for actual settlement, for a 
 period of not over five years, at 4 cents per 
 acre per annum in advance. 
 
 Applications to lease shall be made in 
 writing to the commissioner of the land office, 
 and shall specify and describe the land de- 
 sired. If satisfied that it is not detrimental 
 to the public interest, the commissioner may 
 execute under his hand and seal, and deliver 
 to the lessee, a lease for the time agreed upon 
 of any land applied for. 
 
 Grazing lands are not subject to sale during 
 the term of the lease. Lands classified as 
 agricultural shall be leased subject to sale, 
 the lessee to give immediate possession when 
 such lands are sold, and allowed a pro rata 
 credit upon his next year's rent, or the money 
 refunded to him by the treasurer, as he may 
 elect; provided, that no such sale shall be 
 effected of a section where the lessee has 
 placed improvements of the value of $100 
 thereon; and provided further, that no actual 
 settler purchasing land within a leasehold 
 shall be permitted to turn loose therein more 
 than one head of cattle or horses for every 
 ten acres of land purchased by him and en- 
 closed, or in lieu thereof four head of sheep 
 or goats. Each violation of this proviso sub- 
 jects tlie violator to a fine of $1 for each head 
 
 of stock so turned loose, and each thirty days' 
 violation constitutes a separate offense. 
 
 Failure to pay the annual rent due for any 
 year witliin sixty days after the same shall 
 have become due, subjects the lessee to for- 
 feiture at the discretion of the land commis- 
 sioner. The State retains a lien upon all 
 improvements on leased lands to secure pay- 
 ment of rents. Leaseholds are exempt from 
 taxation. 
 
 It is unlawful for any person to fence, use, 
 occupy or appropriate, by herding, line- riding 
 or other means, any portion of the public 
 lands; and the attorney-general is authorized 
 to bring suit for the recovery of such land 
 and damages for its use and occupation, and 
 such suits may be brought in the district 
 court of Travis county. 
 
 Fences on grazing lands must not be con 
 structed for more than three miles lineal 
 measure, running in the same general direc- 
 tion, without a gateway in the same. 
 
 Patents to lands are issued by the com- 
 missioner of the general land office when the 
 receipt of the State treasurer {to whom all 
 payments are made) for all payments due on 
 the land is presented at the land office and 
 the patent fees thereon paid. 
 
 Patent fees are as follows: 
 
 320 acres of land or less flOO 
 
 Over 320 acres and up to 640 acres GOO 
 
 Over 640 and up to 1,280 acres 10 00 
 
 Over 1,280 acres and up to one-third of a league. 12.50 
 Over one-third of a league and up to one league 
 
 and labor 15.00 
 
 One league and labor 20.00 
 
 Each set of field notes filed for less than one 
 
 league and labor 1.00 
 
 Each set of field notes filed for more than one 
 
 league and labor 2.00 
 
 The number of acres of school lands located 
 in each county is given in connection with 
 the statistics of the counties, and represents 
 
HIHTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 the amount of unsold public scbool land in 
 the county July 4, 1888. 
 
 Four leagues of scbool land have been set 
 apart for each county in the State, to be used 
 for educational purposes. Said lands are in 
 the control of the commissioners' courts of 
 the several counties, to whom purchasers 
 should apply. Many counties have already 
 leased or sold their lands. 
 
 Any person desiring to purchase or lease 
 public lands can procure blank applications 
 suitable for each class of land for sale or 
 lease by applying to the commissioner of the 
 general land office at Austin. 
 
 Divisions of land in this State are made 
 according to Spanish land measurement, by 
 varas, labors and leagues, and distances are 
 given in linear varas. 
 
 1 vara 833^ inches. 
 
 1 acre 5,640 square varas — 4,840 sq. y'ds. 
 
 1 labor 1,000,000 square varas— 177 acres. 
 
 }4 league 8,333,333 square varas— 1,476 acres. 
 
 1 league 35,000,000 sq. varas— 4,438 acres. 
 
 1 league and labor. 26,000,000 sq. varas— 4,605 acres. 
 
 NUMBER OF FARMS IN THE STATE. 
 
 In procuring information on this subject 
 much depends upon the standpoint from 
 which inquiry is directed. One farm may 
 
 cover half of a county, and yet be tenanted 
 by hundreds of people, each having to him- 
 self a separate, distinct area of cultivation. 
 A farm may also be a body of land enclosed 
 and separated from other land. Therefore, 
 there may be many farms owned by the same 
 person and each adjoining the other. An- 
 other difficulty in ascertaining the number of 
 farms in the State is in determining how 
 small a tract of land may constitute a farm. 
 In the census of 1880 all bodies of four acres 
 and over were regarded as farms, which is 
 misleading, for on this basis half the market 
 gardens would be called farms. What are 
 generally known in a community as "farms" 
 are reported under that head in this office. 
 There are 142,437 farms in the State. 
 
 In 1889 the number of tenant farmers in 
 the State was 87,991; in 1890 the number 
 was decreased 512 in one year. This decrease 
 indicates the rapidity with which the State is 
 being settled by farmers from other States, 
 as most immigrants rent land the tirst year 
 of their residence in the State. 
 
 In 1889 the number of farm laborers was 
 58,918, and in 1890 57,321. By farm 
 laborers is meant tliose who worked for wages 
 on the farm. The average wages per month 
 paid each laborer was $13.38. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 THE COUNTIES. 
 
 Tlie following table States the names of tLe counties of tte State, for whom named, from 
 
 what taken, when created, when organized, area in square miles, county seats, 
 
 and population in 1890. 
 
 Auptin 
 
 Baudura . . 
 Baetrup... 
 
 Bailey 
 
 Baylor 
 
 Bee 
 
 Bell 
 
 Bexar 
 
 Blanco 
 
 Borden . . . 
 Botquo — 
 
 Brazoria... 
 Brazos — 
 Brewster.. 
 Briscoe.... 
 Brown.... 
 Buchel .... 
 BurlcsoQ . 
 Bnrnet... 
 Caldwell.. 
 Calhoun... 
 Callahan. 
 Cameron.. 
 
 Cass...'.'.'.". 
 
 Chambers 
 
 Cherokee 
 
 Childress 
 
 Clay 
 
 Cochran 
 
 Colte., 
 
 Coleman 
 
 Collin 
 
 Collingsworth 
 
 Colorado 
 
 Comal 
 
 Comanche 
 
 Concho .... 
 
 Cooke 
 
 Coryell 
 
 Cottle 
 
 Crockett 
 
 Ilallam '.'.'. 
 
 Dallas 
 
 Dawson 
 
 Deaf Smith.. 
 
 Delta 
 
 Denton 
 
 DeWitt 
 
 Dickens 
 
 Dimmit 
 
 Douley 
 
 Kenneth L. Amlcrso; 
 Uichiird Andrews . 
 AnRclina River 
 
 Hnmch T. Archer... 
 
 Atascosa River .. . . 
 Stephen F.Aiictiu.. 
 
 Bandera Pass 
 
 Baron de Bneimp... 
 
 Bailey 
 
 Henry W. Baylor . 
 Bernard E. Bee, Sr. . 
 
 Governor P. H. BeU 
 
 Duke of Bexar 
 
 Blanco River 
 
 Gall Borden 
 
 Bopqne River 
 
 James Bowie 
 
 Municipi.lity of Brai 
 
 Andrew llriseoe 
 
 Henry S. Uruwu 
 
 Col. Buchel, of Con. army. 
 General Edward Burleson. 
 President David G. Burnet 
 
 Matthew Caldwell 
 
 .lohn C. Calhoun 
 
 James M. Callahan 
 
 Ervin Cameron 
 
 J. L. Camp 
 
 S. P.Careon 
 
 Lewis CasB 
 
 Henry Castro 
 
 Thomas J. Chambers 
 
 Cherokee tribe of 
 
 iUlrei 
 
 JudKe .liHu.s CuDiuKHWi 
 Municipality of Coloradi 
 
 Comal River 
 
 :ianche tribe of Indii 
 cho River 
 
 Steph> 
 
 G.M. Dallas 
 
 Nicholas Dawson 
 
 Prom its location and shape. 
 
 John B. Denton 
 
 Green De Witt 
 
 Judge Stockton P.Donley. 
 
 Original 
 
 Buruet, Hays, Gillespie, and 
 Comal. 
 
 Bexar 
 
 McLennan 
 
 Counties Created from. 
 
 San Patricio, 
 
 Refugio. 
 Mila- 
 
 and Robertson. 
 
 Travis and Comanche 
 
 Presidio 
 
 Milam and Washington 
 
 Travis, Williamson, and Bell 
 Gonzales 
 
 Bosque, Travis and iSexar. .. 
 
 Vv^\i\it'\\'.'.'.''.'.'.'.'.V.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'. 
 
 Bexar 
 
 Bexar 
 
 Bexar 
 
 Liberty and Jefferson 
 
 Nadogdoches 
 
 Fannrn 
 
 Bexar 
 
 Trnvis and Brown 
 
 Original 
 
 Bexar, Travis, and Gonzales. 
 Coryell and Bosque 
 
 Fainiiii '.'.'.".'.'.'. '.!.'.'."!."...'.'!!!, 
 McLennan and Bell 
 
 Tom Green. 
 Bexar 
 
 Robertson and Nacogdoches 
 
 Bexar 
 
 Bexar 
 
 Hopkins and Lamar 
 
 Gonzales, Victoria, and Go- 
 liad. 
 
 Bexar 
 
 Bexar, Webb, Uvalde, Mav- 
 erick. 
 
 Bexar 
 
 24, 1S46 
 
 21, 1S76 
 22.1846 
 18, 1871 
 
 22, 1858 
 21, 1876 
 25, 1856 
 17, 1H36 
 26,1866 
 17, 1836 
 
 21, 1876 
 4,1854 
 17, 1840 
 17, \m 
 30, IM 
 
 21,' 1876 
 27, 1S66 
 15, 1SS7 
 24,1846 
 5, 18-i2 
 6, 184.S 
 
 July 13,1840 
 Unorganized 
 July 13, 1846 
 
 July 27, 
 Mar. 8, 18!)0 
 Aug. 4, 185r 
 
 183^ 
 
 Mar. 10, 18.i6 
 Apr. 8, 18:i7 
 Unorganized 
 Apr. 13, 187H 
 July 25,1858 
 
 Aug. 
 
 , ISiO 
 18.37 
 Apr. 12, 1858 
 
 — 1K41 
 
 1837 
 
 Feb. 6, 1843 
 Feb. 26,1887 
 Uuorganized 
 Mar. 2, 1857 
 Unorganized 
 July 13, 1846 
 Aug. 7, 18.54 
 
 Aug. 7, 1848 
 
 'nly 13, 1846 
 
 1, lS58JJuly 8, 1877 
 
 19,lS4«Ang. 7,1848 
 
 6, 1874, June 20, 1874 
 
 21, lR-,f,'jaue 26, 1888 
 
 2.5, 1846jJuly 13, 1816 
 
 21, 1876Pec. 23, 1H91 
 
 12, 1858 Aug. a, l.H.-,8 
 
 11, 1846|jaly 13, 1«46 
 
 11, isrr, Apr. 11, 1H87 
 
 "1, 1---N'mV -M, IWI 
 
 :i. i-ii, .Inlv i:t, 1816 
 -.il, is,n ^ept. 3(1, 18»0 
 
 ir, 18;«| 1837 
 
 24. 1846 July 18, 1846 
 25, 18.56 Mar. 17,1866 
 
 1, 18.58 Mar. 11, 1879 
 20, 1848 Mar. 10,1849 
 
 4, 1854 Mar. 4, 1854 
 21, lK7KlUnorKanized 
 26, 1887 Unorganized 
 2e, 1875 July 14, 1891 
 21, 1876 Sept. 11,1886 
 21, 1876 Sept. 9, 1891 
 80, 1846 July 13,1846 
 
 1,18.58 Unorganized 
 21, 1876pec. 1, 1.89t 
 29, 1870 Oct. 6, 1K70 
 11, 1846 July 13, 1816 
 24, 1846 July 13, 1846 
 
 21, 1876lMar. 22, 18S2 
 
 Homer 
 
 Rockport 
 
 Archer. 
 
 Claude 
 
 Pleasanton. .. 
 
 Bellville 
 
 Bandera. 
 
 Bastrop 
 
 Unorganized . 
 
 Seymour 
 
 Beeville 
 
 Belton 
 
 San Antonio.. 
 Blanco 
 
 Durham 
 
 Meridian 
 
 Tcxarkana . . . 
 Brazoria 
 
 Murphyville.. 
 Uuorganized . 
 Brownwood... 
 Uuorganized . 
 
 Caldwell 
 
 Buruet 
 
 Lockhart 
 
 Indi! 
 
 Baird 
 
 Brownsville . 
 Pittsburg 
 
 Henrietta 
 
 Uuorganized . 
 Robert Lee . . 
 
 Coleman 
 
 Mc Kinney. 
 Aberdeen.. 
 Columbus ... 
 New Braunfei 
 Comanche 
 
 , Roek. 
 
 Dallas 
 
 Unorganized . 
 
 La Plata 
 
 Cooper 
 
 6,449 
 
 17,786 
 3,778 
 .■0,592 
 
 .33,'.-89 
 50,145 
 4,635 
 
 14,120 
 
 20,27:j 
 
 11,474 
 
 ,603 
 
 5,422 
 13,080 
 6«0E 
 
 2,037 
 6,086 
 
 3! ..4 
 '.3.57 
 
 19,470 
 6,411 
 
 16,194 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Edwards.... 
 Ellis 
 
 El P.IBO... . 
 
 Encinal 
 
 Erath 
 
 Falla 
 
 Fannin 
 
 Fayette. ... 
 
 Fisher 
 
 Floyd 
 
 Foard 
 
 Foley 
 
 Fort Bend.. 
 Franklin.... 
 Freestone.. 
 
 Frio 
 
 OalTeeton... 
 
 Gaines 
 
 Garza 
 
 Gillespie.... 
 Glasscoclc. . 
 
 Goliad 
 
 Gonzales . . 
 
 Gray 
 
 Grayson 
 
 Gregg 
 
 Greer 
 
 Grimes 
 
 Gnadalnpe . 
 
 Hale 
 
 Hall 
 
 Hamilton... 
 
 Hardin... 
 
 Harrison. 
 Hartley.., 
 Haskell... 
 
 "Tiih 
 
 Hidalgo.. 
 
 Heraiihlll. 
 
 [ill. 
 
 Hockley 
 
 Hood 
 
 Hopkins 
 
 Howard 
 
 Hoaston 
 
 Hunt 
 
 HutchlDBon.. 
 
 Irion 
 
 Jack 
 
 Jackson 
 
 Jasper 
 
 Jefl DbtIs 
 
 Jefferson 
 
 Johnson 
 
 Karnes 
 
 Kaufman .... 
 
 Kendall 
 
 Kent 
 
 Kerr 
 
 Kimble 
 
 King 
 
 Kinney. 
 
 Knox .. 
 
 Lamar 
 
 The Dnval family 
 
 W. M.Eastlaud 
 
 GeuernI Mat Ector 
 
 Haydun Edwards 
 
 Diehard Ellis 
 
 Taken from The Pass.. 
 
 Spanish name— Oak Gr 
 
 George B. Eroth 
 
 Falls on Brazos River.. 
 
 James W. Fannin... , 
 eneral La 
 . S. Rhodes 
 
 . D.Floyd 
 
 . Robt. L. Foard 
 
 . Family named Foley 
 
 . A fort on the Brazos River. 
 
 . B. C. Franklin 
 
 . Kind of Stone 
 
 . Frio River 
 
 . Count de Galvez 
 
 . James Gaines 
 
 The family of Garzas 
 
 . Captain R. A. Gillespie 
 
 . George W. Glasscock, Sr... 
 
 . Municipality of Goliad 
 
 . Raphael Gonzales 
 
 . Peter W. Gray 
 
 . Peter W. Grayson... 
 
 . General John Gregg 
 
 . John A. Greer 
 
 . Jesse Grimes - 
 
 . Guadalupe River 
 
 . Lieutenant J. C. Hale , 
 
 . Warren D.C.Hall 
 
 James Hamilton 
 
 . John M. Hansford 
 
 . Two brothers— Bailey and I. , 
 Hardeman. 
 
 . William Hardin 
 
 . John R. Harris- 
 
 . A pioneer named Harrison. 
 
 . Q. C. and R. K. Hartley 
 
 . Charle Haskell 
 
 . Captain Jack Hays 
 
 . Judge John Hemphill 
 
 . Governor J. P. Henderson.., 
 
 . Guadalupe Hidalgo 
 
 . George W. Hill 
 
 . Adj. Gen. G. W. Hockley... 
 . General John B. Hood ... . . , 
 
 A pioneer family 
 
 . Volney E. Howard 
 
 . Sam Houston 
 
 . Memucan Hunt 
 
 . Anderson Hutchinson 
 
 . Irion 
 
 W. H. and P. C.Jack 
 
 , Andrew Jackson 
 
 . Sergeant Jasper 
 
 . Jefferson Davis 
 
 . Jefferson Beaumont 
 
 . M.T.Johnson 
 
 . Dr. Anson Jones 
 
 . Henry Karnes 
 
 David S. Kaufman 
 
 George W.Kendall 
 
 R. Kent 
 
 James Kerr 
 
 Kimble 
 
 William King 
 
 H. L. Kinney 
 
 Knox County, Ohio 
 
 M. B.Lamar 
 
 Lieutenant Lamb 
 
 Lampasas River 
 
 General Robert E. Lee. 
 
 Couutlos Created from. 
 
 Navarro 
 
 Hc.xur 
 
 Wubl), Starr, and Nueces. 
 
 Coryell and Bosque 
 
 Milnm and Limestone... 
 
 RcdRivLT 
 
 Colorado and Bastrop.... 
 
 Bexar 
 
 Bexor 
 
 Presidi( 
 
 Titus..'.!!'. 
 Limestone 
 
 xar, Atascosa, and Uvalde, 
 d Liberty 
 
 D,King,Cottle,Knox 
 
 Brazoria 
 Bexar ... 
 
 Be.xar and Travif 
 
 Tom Green 
 
 Original 
 
 Original 
 
 Fannin 
 
 Upshur and Rusk 
 
 Clay 
 
 Montgomery 
 
 Gonzales and Bexar 
 
 Bexar 
 
 Bexar 
 
 Comanche, Bosque, Lampa- 
 
 Liberty and Jefferson . 
 
 Shelby 
 
 Fannin and Milam. 
 
 Houston and Nacogdoches. 
 
 Cameron 
 
 Navarro 
 
 Bexar 
 
 Johnson 
 
 Lamar and Nacogdoches... 
 
 Nacogdoches 
 
 Nacogdoches and Fannin.. . 
 
 Bexar 
 
 Tom Green 
 
 Cooke 
 
 Original 
 
 Original 
 
 Presidio 
 
 Original 
 
 Navarro and McLennan . . . . 
 
 Bexar and Bosque 
 
 Bexar, De Witt and Goliad . 
 
 Henderson 
 
 CO and Kerr 
 
 Bexar 
 
 Fannin'.'..'.'.'.".'.'.'.'.*.'.'.'.!'.!!." 
 
 in and Bell 
 
 Bexar and Webb 
 
 Gonzales, Victoria, Jackson, 
 
 Fayette and Colorado. 
 Burleson, Bastrop, Fayette 
 
 and Washington. 
 
 1, 18.58 Nov. 7, 1876 
 
 1,1858 Dec. 2,1873 
 
 26, 1887 Jan. 6, 1891 
 
 1, 1858 Apr. 10, ias3 
 
 20, 1849!Aug. 5, 1850 
 
 3, 1850 May 7, 1871 
 1, 1858 Unorganized 
 
 25, 18.56!Aug. 4, 18.56 
 
 14, 1837 
 21, 1876 
 21, 1876 
 
 3, 1891 
 15, 1887 
 29, 1887 
 8, 1875 
 6, 18.50 
 1,1858 
 
 15, 1838 
 21, 1876 
 21, 1876 
 23, 1848 
 
 — 1836 
 21, 1876 
 17, 1846 
 12, 1873 
 8, 1860 
 6,1846 
 30, 1846 
 21, 1876 
 
 22, 18.58 
 - 1836 
 28, ia39 
 31, ' 
 1, 
 
 1, 1848 
 21, 1876 
 ar, 1846 
 
 24, 1852 
 7, 18.53 
 
 21, 1876 
 
 2, 1866 
 
 25, 1846 
 
 Dec. 31 
 
 Aug. 2, 18.58 
 
 1837 
 
 June 18, 1842 
 
 Feb. 9, 1891 
 
 Jan. 13, 1885 
 
 Aug. 7, 
 
 July 5, 
 
 July 13, 1846 
 
 Aug. 7, 1853 
 
 May 14, 185f 
 Unorganized 
 
 Dec. 25, 1866 
 
 July 13, 1846 
 
 June 15, 1&H2 
 
 1S37 
 i July 13, 1846 
 Unorganized 
 Apr. 16, 1889 
 27, 1856 July 7, 1857 
 
 15, 1887 
 — 1836 
 4, 1854 Aug. 
 
 June 13, 1881 
 
 4; lS54|Feb. 27, 1854 
 B, 184S|Ang. 
 
 26, 1856, Mar. 23,1856 
 
 22, I8.58lJan. 3, 1876 
 
 21, 1876,June 25, 1891 
 
 ■' 187' 
 
 1, 18,6,J 
 
 B. 18501- 
 
 20, 
 
 17, 1840[ 1841 
 
 21, 1876 Unorganized 
 1, IK16 Mar. 10, 185( 
 1, 1858 Nov. 2, 1880 
 6, 1846Jnly 13,1846 
 
 Apr 14, 1874 June 2, 1874 
 
 El PUBO 
 
 Unorganized , 
 Stepbenville. 
 
 Mt. Ver 
 
 Fairfield 
 
 Pearsall 
 
 Galveston 
 
 Unorganized . 
 Unorganized . 
 Frederickburg 
 Unorganized . 
 
 Goliad 
 
 Gonzales 
 
 Unorganized . 
 
 Sherman , 
 
 Longview , 
 
 AndersoB, 
 
 Hardin 
 
 Houston 
 
 Marshall 
 
 Hartley 
 
 Haskell 
 
 San Marcos. 
 Canadian... 
 A the 
 
 [idalgo 
 
 Hillsboro 
 
 Unorganized . 
 
 Granbury 
 
 Sulphur Spr'p 
 Big Springs.. 
 
 Crockett 
 
 Greenville.... 
 Unorganized. 
 
 Sherwood 
 
 Jacksboro. ... 
 Edna 
 
 900 Unorga 
 1,188, Kcrrvlll 
 1,.303'junctio 
 
 930 Paris 
 
 1,080 Unorganized . 
 
 8.58'Lampa8a8 
 
 1,512'Cotnlla 
 
 l.OWjHallettsville.. 
 
 60SGidding» 11,310 
 
HISTORY OP TEXAS. 
 
 Naniud for— 
 
 Counties Croiitu 
 
 Couuty ScuL -g 
 
 Mnrtin 
 
 Mitchell.. 
 
 Montague 
 
 Muutgbmery. . 
 Moore 
 
 Motley..'.'.!!!! 
 NacogdocliLB. 
 
 Parmer- 
 Pecos . . , 
 Pollc.... 
 
 Sabine 
 
 San Anenetlne. 
 San Jacinto 
 
 Shackelford.. 
 
 Shelby 
 
 Sherman 
 
 Smith 
 
 Somervell 
 
 Starr 
 
 Stephens 
 
 ■sterling. 
 
 Stonewall., 
 
 Sutton 
 
 Swisher...- 
 Tarrant 
 
 Alonzo de Leon 
 
 Municipality of Liberty., 
 Limestone ontcrops 
 
 Robertson. 
 Original... 
 Roberteou . 
 
 Wvly Martin (prcs. Consnita 
 
 tion). 
 raptain Mason, of U. 8. Army, 
 aicipality of Matagorda... 
 
 S. A. Maverick 
 
 McCulloch 
 
 Neil McLennan 
 
 John McMuUen 
 
 Bexar . 
 Bexar . 
 
 Aug. 4, 1856 
 Aug. 4, ISM 
 Unorganized 
 
 Limestone, Milam and Ka- 
 Ataecoea, Live Oak and 
 
 2,1856 
 27, 18.-)6 
 22,1850 
 
 12,1848 
 22, 185S 
 4,1885 
 
 John I 
 
 Two brothers, A. and E. Mitch- 
 ell 
 
 Daniel Montague 
 
 eral James Montgomery.. 
 
 imodore E, W. Moore 
 
 VV. Morris 
 
 Um. Motley 
 
 ■ ■ -ibe of Indians. 
 
 1 Comanche. 
 
 21,1 
 
 Mav 
 
 B. Ochiltree 
 
 Williamson S. Oldham, Sr., 
 
 From the Orange fruit 
 
 Palo Pinto River 
 
 ndian tribe 
 
 L fiimilv at i'urkcr's Fort. . 
 
 Patricio. 
 
 . SterlinsC. Robertson 
 
 An underground wall 
 
 Governor 11. R. Runnels 
 
 , Thomas J. Rusk 
 
 Municipality of Sabine 
 
 "' icipalityof San Augustine 
 
 Battlefield of San Jacinto 
 
 Municipality of San Patricio. . 
 
 UHtav Schleicher, M. C 
 
 in Saba River 
 
 m. R.Scurry 
 
 Dr. Schackelford 
 
 General Shelby, of Kentncky. 
 
 General Sidney Sherman 
 
 James Smith 
 
 Alexander Somervell 
 
 James H. Starr. 
 
 Alexander H. Stephens 
 
 t. Col. Sutton, of C. S. A. 
 
 James O. Swisher 
 
 E.H.Tarrant 
 
 Jefferson 
 
 Bosque and Navarro.. 
 Harrison and Shelby 
 
 irro and Bosque... 
 Bexar , 
 
 24, 1857 
 14, 1K37 
 21, 1876 
 13, 1875 
 21, 1876 
 
 — 1836 
 
 25, 1846 
 
 ». 2, 1858 
 
 18:J7 
 
 Unorganized 
 May 12,1876 
 Feb. 25, 1891 
 1837 
 I July 13, lftl6 
 1846[July 13, 1846 
 21, 1876 June "" •""' 
 18, 1846 July 13, 1816 
 21, 1876 Feb. 21,1889 
 25, 1876 June 12, 1891 
 6, 1852 Mar. 20, 18,2 
 37, 1856 Apr. 27, 18.r 
 Sept. 
 
 Hunt and llopkin 
 
 ufmnn 
 
 lar and Travis. 
 
 I'olk, Lilierty, Walker and 
 
 Original 
 
 Bexar 
 
 Nacogdoches 
 
 Hood 
 
 Nueces 
 
 Bosque 
 
 Tom Green 
 
 Fannin 
 
 Crockett Apr. 
 
 ir Aug. 
 
 Navarro Dec, 
 
 Feb. in, 1848 
 
 June 13, 1m8'i 
 July 13, 1841; 
 Apr. 13, l,s7ri 
 Aug. 7, 181H 
 
 Jewett 
 
 Liberty 
 
 Groesbeck 
 
 Lipecorab 
 
 Oakville 
 
 Unorganized . 
 
 Mason 
 
 Matagorda. ., 
 Eagle Pass , 
 
 472 
 
 5,168 
 
 3!feS9 
 3,2.15 
 39,136 
 
 Willis. ... 
 
 Unorganized. 
 
 Daingerfield.. 
 
 Matador 
 
 Nacogdoches. 
 
 Corsicana 
 
 Newton 
 
 Sweet Water. 
 Corpus Christi 
 Ochiltree.... 
 
 Tascosa 
 
 Orange 
 
 Palo Pinto... 
 
 Carthage 
 
 Weatherford. 
 Unorganized 
 Ft. Stockon . 
 Livingston .. 
 
 Marfa... '!!.'. 
 Emory 
 
 6,580 
 
 139 
 
 15,964 
 
 2.5,3117 
 
 4,645 
 
 1,576 
 
 8,089 
 
 198 
 
 287 
 
 ^ 
 
 ille.. 
 
 Refugio 
 
 Miami 
 
 Franklin 
 
 Rockwall 
 
 Ballinger. 
 
 Henderson . . . 
 
 Hemphill 
 
 San Augustine, 
 Cold Spring... 
 
 San Patricio... 
 Unorganized .. 
 
 San Saba 
 
 Snyder 
 
 Albany 
 
 1,.585 
 
 328 
 
 26,496 
 
 6,614 
 1,410 
 2,1 37 
 14,241 
 
 Tyler 
 
 Clcn Rose.... 
 Hio Grande. . 
 I'.reckenridge. 
 Sterling City.. 
 Kaynor 
 
 1, 1887 Nov. 4, 1890 
 21, 1876 Nov. 11,1890 900 Tulla . 
 SO, 1&19 Aug. 6, 1860 900 Fort Worth . 
 
HISTORY OP TEXAS. 
 
 Counties Created from. 
 
 Taylor 
 
 Terry 
 
 Throckmorton 
 
 Tiuis 
 
 Tom Green... 
 
 Trinity....'.... 
 
 Tyler 
 
 Upehur 
 
 Upton 
 
 Uvalde 
 
 Val Verde.... 
 VanZandt. .. 
 
 Victoria 
 
 Walker 
 
 Waller 
 
 Ward 
 
 Waphington.. 
 
 Webb 
 
 Wharton 
 
 Wheeler 
 
 Wichita 
 
 Wilbarger . .. 
 Williamson... 
 
 Wilfon .. 
 
 Winkler 
 
 Wiee 
 
 Wood 
 
 Yoakum 
 
 Young 
 
 Zapata 
 
 Zavala 
 
 A family by name of Taylor. 
 
 Frank Terry 
 
 Dr. William E.Throckmorton 
 
 An old pcttkT 
 
 Geiii-ralTom Grnen 
 
 Abul l'.Ui.>liiir 
 
 John aud W. F. Upton.. 
 
 Jooe Uvalde 
 
 Relative locntim 
 
 Isaac Van Zaudt 
 
 Municipality of Victoria, 
 R„l,..rt .1. \\»\k-y ., ., 
 
 W. 11. and,). A. WUaituu 
 
 Judge Foyall T. Wheeler 
 
 WiclilaHivcr 
 
 Wilbarger family 
 
 R.M. Williamson 
 
 James C. Wilson 
 
 Judge C. M. Winkler 
 
 Henry A. Wise 
 
 Goorge T. Wood 
 
 Henderson Yoakum 
 
 William Cocke Young... 
 Zapata, a Mexiom patriu 
 Lorenzo de Zavala . 
 
 Bexar and Travis 
 
 Fannin and Bosque 
 
 Hed Uiver and liosque 
 
 Bastrop 
 
 Houston 
 
 Liberty 
 
 Nacogdoches and Harrison.. 
 Tom Green 
 
 Kinney, Crockett and Pecos. 
 
 Henderson 
 
 Original 
 
 tgomery 
 
 les and Austin 
 
 Tom Green 
 
 Original 
 
 Bexar and San Patricio 
 
 Matagorda, Colorado, Jack 
 
 Bexar and Fannin 
 
 Young Land District .. 
 
 Bexar 
 
 Bexar and Karnee 
 
 Tom Green 
 
 I zinit.'.'.'.'.'.'.''.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'..'.'. 
 
 July 13, 1816 
 Jan. 5, 1875 
 Apr. 8, 1843 
 Apr. 1, 1850 
 July 13, 1846 
 July 13, 1846 
 Unorganized 
 Apr. 21,18.56 
 May 2, 188." 
 Aug. 7, 1816 
 
 '■ 1837 
 
 July 13, 1846 
 Aug. 16. 1873 
 Unorgan ' 
 
 21, 1876 Apr. 12, 187» 
 
 1, 18.VS June 21, '"- 
 
 1, 18.58 Oct. 10, 
 
 13, 18l8IAng. 7,1848 
 
 and Bosque. ., 
 
 nd Webb 
 
 and Maverick. 
 
 Abilene 
 
 Unorganized .. 
 Throckmorton, 
 Mt. Pleasant.. 
 San Angela 
 
 Unorganized . 
 
 Uvalde 
 
 Del bio 
 
 Canton, 
 
 Brenham. 
 Laredo 
 Wharton . 
 
 Mobeetle 
 
 Wichita Falli.. 
 
 Vernon 
 
 Georgetown, . . 
 
 bloresville 
 
 Unorganized ., 
 Decatur 
 
 Unorganized.. 
 Graham 
 
 iS.fioi 
 
 7i636 
 
 4,831 
 7,072 
 26,8*8 
 
 SUMMARY OF TOTALS 
 
 COUNTIES. 
 
 
 1888. 
 
 1S89. 
 
 1380. 
 
 
 245 
 200 
 45 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 ■.I'J 
 
 
 
 
 
 AREA AND POPULATION. 
 
 Total square miles territory 274,.3i6 
 
 Population, United States census 1880 I,5!ll,r40 
 
 Population, United Stales census 1890 2,3:S,5,,5SJ 
 
 Increase in population since lH8n 643.774 
 
 Percentage of gain since 1880 40.44 
 
 Relative rank in population 7 
 
 Density of population per square mile 8.8 
 
 The population of Texas in 1835 is estimated at .50,000; 1845, ISO.IXW; 1850 census, 212,592; 1860, 601,039; isro, 818,579. During the 
 decade 1880 to 1890, Texas advanced in population, in point of rank, from the eleventh to the seventh among the States ot, the Union. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 CITIES AND miNCIPAL TOWNS. 
 
 Ahilcne, with a population of 4,300, is 
 situated on the Texas & Pacific Railroad, 160 
 miles west of Fort Worth, and at about the 
 center of the "Abilene country." Its esti- 
 mated trade for 1891 was about $1,800,000, 
 the average freight receipts at the depot 
 being about $22,000 per month. During 
 tiie year 1890 nineteen brick business houses 
 were erected. There are three national banks, 
 with an aggregate capital and surplus of 
 $375,000, and the city has also water- works, 
 electric lights, ice factory, etc. 
 
 Austin, the capital of the State, is located 
 near the geographical center of Travis county. 
 Its topography is distinctively unique, having 
 in general the grade of an inclined plane 
 broken by superlicial waves, which seem 
 from their regularity to be the work of art 
 rather than the formation of nature. It is 
 located at the foot of a range of mountains 
 and possesses all local advantages that the 
 most refined taste could desire. In sight of 
 the city and a short distance from it Mount 
 Barker and Mount Eonnell lift their tower- 
 ing heads — the former to an altitude of 398, 
 and the latter 372 feet above the streets of 
 the city. At the entrance of a fertile plain, 
 on the banks of a beautiful stream, it unites 
 the convenience of a commercial town with 
 the romantic beauty of a spot admired by all 
 for its pre-eminent loveliness. Its environ- 
 ments present every shade of refited beauty 
 and cultivated elegance. Austin is regarded 
 by general con-sent as the most beautifully 
 located city in the State. The site was 
 selected by a committee appointed by Presi- 
 dent Lamar in 1839 to locate a permanent 
 scat of government. It was known at that 
 lime as the hamlet of Waterloo, and had a 
 
 population consisting of three families. What 
 an enchanting picture must have presented 
 itself to the committee! Here was a combi- 
 nation of charms that delighted the senses, 
 embracing tlie majesty of mountain scenery, 
 the spreading prairie, the lofty forest, the 
 charming valleys and bounding streams. 
 
 The city was splendidly laid out with 
 broad and imposing avenues, which received 
 their names from the forest trees and streams 
 of the State. Its corporate limits embrace 
 an area of sixteen and three-tenths square 
 miles. It has an efficient electric street rail- 
 way system, with its ramifications reaching 
 the principal points of interest. It has also 
 a dummy line in successful operation, ex- 
 tending to the dam. The illumination by 
 gas and electricity gives the place an air of 
 convenience and security. 
 
 Austin has greatly increased in population 
 during the past few years. In 1880 the 
 population, according to the United States 
 census, was 11,013; in 1891 it was 25,000. 
 The assessed values of property during the 
 same period increased from $5,0-44,221 to 
 $10,514,088. 
 
 The population comprises some of the 
 most enterprising and energetic as well as 
 the most conservative to be found in the 
 State. As a result of this Austin is a beauti- 
 ful city, abundantly provided with every con- 
 venience which has been called into being by 
 the wants of man. 
 
 While Austin is not yet distinctively a 
 manufacturing city, recent investigation.s 
 showing its possibilities as a manufacturing 
 center, and the proximity of valuable build- 
 ing stone and an abundance of clay for bi'ick- 
 making near at hand, have encouraged im- 
 provements of all kinds, and a general feeling 
 of confidence for the city's future prevails. 
 
 In 1890 the tax-paying voters of the city 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 decided at tlie polls by a i. aj^rity of twenty- 
 seven to one to issue bonds for 11,400,000, 
 for the purpose of erecting an enormous dam 
 across the Colorado river and the building of 
 a complete system of water and electric light 
 works, to be owned and controlled by the 
 city. 
 
 The work on the dam was begun in No- 
 vember, 1890, and was completed in 1893. 
 It is an immense granite structure, 1,150 feet 
 long and 60 feet above the ordinary low-water 
 level of the river. Total cost of the dam, 
 $607,928, and the city water and electric plants 
 in connection raise the total cost to aboxit 
 $1,400,000. It furnishes 14,500-horse power, 
 of which the city has about 4,500, leav- 
 ing 10,000-horse power that can be util- 
 ized for manufacturing purposes. It is the 
 largest improved water-power, except one, in 
 the United States. The lake formed by the 
 building of the dam is another attractive 
 feature of the city. It extends thirty miles 
 up the river, and the scenery along its shores 
 is of the most romantic and picturesque 
 character, unsurpassed in America. A large 
 excursion steamer navigates the lake, and 
 Austin is destined to become a great pleasure 
 resort. One of the most lovely sites on the 
 lake, about four miles above the dam, has 
 been laid out for extensive Chautauqua 
 grounds. It is owned by an association of 
 well known, enterprising citizens and edu- 
 cators, chartered by the State. A large per- 
 manent higli school, for advanced education, 
 is established at the Chautauqua grounds. 
 The site commands a magnificent view of 
 lake and mountain scenery, and the Capital 
 City can be plainly seen in the distance. 
 
 Austin offers many superior advantages 
 for manufacturing enterprises, and her in- 
 dustrial enterprises, although comparatively 
 small, are increasing with every year by the 
 
 location of new establishments. A baking- 
 powder factory and creamery are among the 
 most recent assured additions to the manu- 
 facturing interests of the city. 
 
 The Houston & Texas Central, the Inter- 
 national & Great Northern, and the Austin 
 & Northwestern railways run into the city. 
 The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad also 
 has arrangements by which its passenger 
 trains run into the city. It is the terminus 
 of the Houston & Texas Central, and the 
 headquarters of the Austin & Northwestern 
 Railroads. 
 
 Estimated mercantile transactions in 1891: 
 Dry goods, $1,500,000; groceries, $2,500,- 
 000; hardware, $800,000; jewelry, $750,-- 
 000; lumber, $1,200,000; agricultural im- 
 plements, $800,000; furniture, 11,000,000; 
 produce, eggs, chickens, etc., $250,000; mis- 
 cellaneous, $2,000,000. Produce, etc., han- 
 dled in 1891: Cotton, 16,000 bales; wool, 
 2,500,000 pounds; hides, 1,200,000 pounds; 
 cotton seed, 10,000 tons; corn, 100,000 
 bushels; wheat, 10,000 bushels; live-stock, 
 5,000 head; value of all other products, 
 $100,000. 
 
 Eank exchange in 1891 amounted to $11,- 
 000,000. 
 
 The real type of Texas civilization ex- 
 pressed itself at an early date after annexa- 
 tion in the establishment of three grand 
 asylums — one for the blind, one for the deaf 
 and dumb, and one for the insane. The cost 
 to the State in the establishment and mainte- 
 nance of these benevolent institutions has 
 been and still is a heavy draft upon the 
 treasury. AVhile they are sustained by direct 
 taxation, they are the State's channels of con- 
 tinuous aid to the unfortunate among the 
 people. They are objects of general in- 
 terest, and frequent entertainments given by 
 them draw large crowds and furnish occa 
 
312 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 sions of much instruction and amusement. 
 An asyiuin for the deaf and dumb and blind 
 of tlie colored race has also been established 
 near the city. 
 
 Tlie Travis county courthouse, constructed 
 out of limestone having a marble-like ap- 
 pearance, and symmetrically proportioned to 
 its surroundings, occupies an attractive and 
 commanding place to the public eye. It is a 
 costly building, having the appointments of 
 convenience suggested by modern experience, 
 and is located near the southeast corner of 
 (Japitol square and fronting Congress avenue. 
 
 The land ofKce, situated in the east edge of 
 Capitol square, is an imposing edifice adapted 
 to the large business of the land commis- 
 sioner, an officer of State. The governor's 
 mansion is eligibly located on an elevated 
 site southwest of Capitol square and in full 
 view of the new capitol. 
 
 The United States building for post office 
 and other governmental purposes, situated on 
 the corner of Colorado and Sixth street (for- 
 merly Pecan street), is a handsome structure, 
 every way in harmony with the greatness of 
 the country and the magnificence of the city. 
 
 The University of the State of Texas is 
 domiciled in an imposing building on College 
 Hill, in the northern portion of the city. 
 The growing patronage of this institution, 
 its increasing matriculation during the brief 
 period of its existence, and the thorough 
 scholarship required in graduation, success- 
 fully advertise the work that is being done. 
 
 In this connection it is noted with pride 
 the Confederate Home, an eleemosynary in- 
 stitution for the purpose indicated in the 
 title. It is situated in the western part of 
 the city, comprising a beautiful tract of land 
 upon which is constructed an elegant and 
 commodious building. The scope of its de- 
 sign is to provide a home for the unfortunate 
 
 soldier having served in the Confederate 
 army. It was conceived in the purest patri- 
 otism and noblest philanthropy, and although 
 young in its mission of mercy it is rapidly 
 approximating the ideal created for it by the 
 divinest sentiments that ever dominate the 
 human heart. 
 
 The Travelers' Protective Association of 
 America has selected Austin for the location 
 of their National Sanitarium, where the com- 
 mercial travelers of the entire Union may 
 spend their vacations. A beautiful site in 
 the eastern part of the city, embracing some 
 thirty acres on the line of the Austin & 
 Northwestern Kailroad, has been donated to 
 the association, and buildings in keeping with 
 the well known liberality of the traveling 
 men will soon be erected thereon. 
 
 Austin has one of the best school systems 
 in the State, and had a scholastic population 
 in 1890 of 4,004, and gave employment to 
 sixty teachers. 
 
 Brenham, the county seat of Washington 
 county, is a flourishing commercial place of 
 7,000 inhabitants. It is located at the inter- 
 section of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe 
 division of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, 
 and the Houston & Texas Central division of 
 the Southern Pacific systems of railway. 
 The town is beautiful and most pleasantly 
 located, and surrounded by a very tine farm- 
 ing country in a high state of cultivation, 
 and much valuable timber yet remains in the 
 county. The town is well built and supplied 
 with many costly public buildings and hand- 
 some residences. 
 
 Ae a commercial and manufacturing center, 
 few places of its size possess greater advant- 
 ages, in both of which it is steadily increasing. 
 
 The estimated mercantile transactions for 
 1890 amounted to about 14,385,000. Bank 
 capital, $400,000. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 There are in that city eleven churches, 
 with an estimated membership of 3,200, and 
 there are twenty lodges. 
 
 Brownsville, the county seat of Cameron 
 county, is situated in the southwestern part 
 of the county, on the Rio Grande, about 
 thirty miles above its month, and directly 
 opposite the JMexican city of Matamoras. It 
 has a large trade with the numerous small 
 towns along the Rio Grande for a distance of 
 400 miles, the extent of steamboat naviga- 
 tion. It has commercial relations with the 
 gulf ports, both by the way of the mouth of 
 the Rio Grande and the port of Brazos de 
 Santiago, with which it is connected by the 
 Rio Grande Railroad. 
 
 Population in 1890, 6,020. Assessed value 
 of property, $886,215 in 1880, and in 1891 
 $1,126,136. 
 
 Bryan, in Brazos county, had a population 
 in 1890 of 8,869, and an assessed valuation 
 of $1,376,000. 
 
 All the church buildings are nice, hand- 
 some structures. 
 
 Burnet, the capital of Burnet county, is 
 situated about the center of the county, on 
 the Austin & Northwestern Railway, and 
 surrounded by picturesque scenery. It has 
 a good trade, and is specially a wool and live- 
 stock market. Assessed value of all property 
 in 1891, 1543,135. 
 
 Cleburne, the seat of government for John- 
 son county, is located near the center of the 
 county, on the edge of the Lower Cross Tim- 
 bers, fifty-two miles from Dallas and twenty- 
 eight from Fort Worth. It is on the main 
 line of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Rail- 
 road, and is the location of the shops of that 
 road, and also has a railroad direct to Dallas 
 and to Weatheiford. It is situated in the 
 midst of a fine agricultural and stock-raising 
 district, as well as horticultural. It is the 
 
 largest shipping point on its line between 
 Galveston and Dallas or Fort Worth. 
 
 Assessed valuation of property in 1891, 
 11,509,750. 
 
 Besides an excellent system of public 
 schools there is a seminary of high standing 
 and several smaller private schools. 
 
 Cuero, the county seat of De Witt county, 
 had in 1890 a population of 3,079, and is a 
 growing town, doing considerable business. 
 
 Dallas is situated on the Trinity river 
 near the center of the county. It is a city of 
 great push and energy. It has grown from 
 a village of 10,358 inhabitants in 1880 to a 
 population of 38,140 in 1890. The assessed 
 values show a similar ratio of increase, hav- 
 ing increased from $3,420,045 in 1880 to 
 $32,098,950 in 1890. The population given 
 here includes Dallas with all its suburbs. 
 
 The period in the history of Dallas has 
 been reached when its future is no longer 
 doubtful. Its natural advantages make it a 
 rival of the most prosperous cities of the 
 South in progressiveness and commercial im- 
 portance. It is situated in the midst of the 
 great grain belt of the State, and the many 
 new enterprises inaugurated during the past 
 few years are only keeping pace with the 
 general expansion going on. In point of 
 agricultural surroundings and manufacturincr 
 and commercial importance it is inferior to 
 no city in the State. The past year has been 
 a very prosperous one for Dallas. The num- 
 ber of public buildings and private residences 
 constructed are said to be greater than that 
 of any other city in the State. 
 
 Dallas has tine railroad facilities for mar- 
 keting its manufactured products. The fol- 
 lowing railroads run into the city: The 
 Texas & Pacific, the Dallas & Wichita, 
 the Houston & Texas Central, the Missouri 
 Pacific, the Texas Trunk, the Gulf, Colorado 
 
UI8T0RY OP TEXAS. 
 
 & Santa F^, tbe Dallas & Waco, and tlie 
 Dallas, Southeastern & Pacific, about com- 
 ]ilcted — thus making Dallas one of the great 
 railroad centers of the State. It has sixteen 
 miles of rapid-transit railroad, and about this 
 mileage under construction; twenty-six miles 
 of electric street railroad, and several miles 
 being constructed. The business streets and 
 many miles of residence streets are paved 
 with bois d'arc. 
 
 A careful estimate of the volume of trade 
 for 1890 gives the total of mercantile trans- 
 actions $26,097,000. The city has seven 
 large flouring mills, ten banks, etc. There 
 was spent in 1888 $2,750,000 in building 
 operations and public improvements. 
 
 The State Fair and Dallas Exposition, 
 which is the outgrowth of the consolidation 
 of the Dallas State Fair and Exposition and 
 the Texas State Fair is located at Dallas, 
 with a capital of $250,000. It is situated 
 about two miles from the courthouse and has 
 a rapid-transit electric and railroad lines run- 
 ning to the grounds. The grounds cover an 
 area of 120 acres, which, with all improve- 
 ments, cost $177,000. It is one of Dallas' 
 most successful enterprises, as exhibited by 
 the receipts and expenses for 1888 — receipts 
 $110,000, expenses $80,000. 
 
 The Federal District and Circuit Conrt for 
 the Northern Di.'^trict of Texas is also located 
 here. 
 
 The receipts of the Dallas post-oflice for 
 the years 1888 and 1889, for example, very 
 largely increased, and give an idea of the 
 varied growth of postal business. For the 
 fiscal year ending June 30, 1888, $(53,305.- 
 2(5; fur the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889, 
 $79,414.28. 
 
 Denison is a flourishing town of Grayson 
 county, on the Houston & Texas Central 
 liailway and is the southern terminus of the 
 
 great Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway. 
 It is three miles south of Red river. The 
 population now is 11,000, and the place is 
 rapidly improving. It is one of the most 
 important places in northern Texas. 
 
 Denton^ the county seat of Denton county, 
 is thirty-live miles northwest of the city of 
 Dallas by the line of the Dallas «& Wichita 
 Railroad, which has its terminus at Denton. 
 It is situated about the center of the county, 
 on the Transcontinental division of the Texas 
 & Pacific Railroad. 
 
 It has a population of 3,129, with property 
 assessed at about $1,000,000. Has two 
 national banks, with a paid up capital of 
 $110,000; two flouring mills, representing an 
 invested capital of $100,000; an ice factory, 
 marble works, two brick factories, two pot- 
 teries, and several other manufacturing 
 establishments. 
 
 Estimated mercantile transactions in 1890, 
 $810,000. There were expended in 1890 
 $25,000 in public improvements. 
 
 Fort Worth, the county seat of Tarrant 
 county, is situated near the center of the 
 county, on a high plateau overlooking the 
 Trinity river. It is vigorous and enterpris- 
 ing, and is a success as a commercial and 
 manufacturing point. Its growth has been 
 steady and uniform. Fort Worth has long 
 been the distributing point for the live-stock 
 trade of the northwest; and to this is now 
 added the enormous grain trade of the lately 
 opened region of northwestern Texas known 
 as the "Panhandle." 
 
 In 1876 it had a population of 1,123, and 
 that year the Texas & Pacific Railroad was 
 built to it. The increase in population and 
 wealth was thenceforward very marked. The 
 United States census for 1890 gave a popula- 
 tion of 22,700; that of 1891, estimated at 
 (city directory) 32,000. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 The assessed values in 1880 were $1,992,- 
 891, and in 1890 $21,306,785. 
 
 Fort Worth is situated in the northern 
 portion of the central artesian water belt of 
 the State, and has within its limits about 300 
 artesian wells, which supply water to both 
 ],ublic and private enterprises. These wells 
 vary in depth from 114 to 1,140 feet. The 
 first well was dug in 1879 and there is no 
 diminution from the water flow. The deep- 
 est wells are the strong-flowing ones. The 
 water from these wells in most instances is 
 wholesome, and is used for drinking and 
 domestic purposes. 
 
 Manufacturing establishments now in oper- 
 ation are testimonies of Fort Worth's pros- 
 perity. They indicate what is in store for a 
 city with such enterprise and financial back- 
 ing as is possessed by Fort Worth. 
 
 The city has 110 miles of graded and 
 graveled streets, sixty miles of sewer, fifty- 
 nine miles of electric street railway, is 
 copiously lighted by electricity, and has seven- 
 teen churches, models of architecture. It has 
 seven national banks, with a combined capi- 
 tal of $5,000,000. Atnount expended in 
 1890 in building operations and puLlic im- 
 provements, $2,112,000. 
 
 Fort Worth is a great railroad center, the 
 the following lines entering the place: Texas 
 & Pacific, St. Louis, Arkansas & Texas, Fort 
 Worth & Rio Grande, Fort Worth & Denver 
 City, Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe, Missouri, 
 Kansas & Texas and the Fort Worth & JMew 
 Orleans. The shops of the Fort Worth & 
 Denver City, the Texas & Pacific and Fort 
 Worth & Rio Grande Railroad Companies 
 are located here. 
 
 The mercantile transactions for 1890 were 
 estimated at about 114,000,000 
 
 Galveston, the capital of Galveston county 
 and chief seaport in the State, is situated on 
 the extreme northeast end of Galveston island, 
 at the mouth of the bay of the same name. It 
 was laid out in 1838. The first sale of town 
 lots took place April 20 of that year. 
 
 Galveston's peculiar advantages, by reason 
 of its geographical position, have long at- 
 tracted the attention of the commercial world. 
 It is one of the largest cotton markets of 
 America, which trade has contributed much 
 toward its general prosperity. 
 
 Galveston suflfered with other Southern 
 cities in the general business depression 
 incident to the war, and her trade, manu- 
 factures and industries of every character 
 were more or less prostrated. But this pros- 
 tration was only temporary. New enterprises 
 have sprung up, and the commercial, manu- 
 facturing and maritime interests of the city 
 took on new life, and at present a general 
 feelino- of confidence prevails, and the outlook 
 for prosperity and stability is brighter than 
 ever in the history of the city. 
 
 It has bad a constant, steady increase in 
 population, and for the past few years the 
 ratio of increase has been great. The popu- 
 lation (U. S. Census) in 1870, 15,290; in 
 1880, 24,121; in 1890, 29,118; estimated 
 directory count, 1891, 56,000. 
 
 During 1889-'90-'91 the city inaugurat- 
 ed a thorough system of water works, fed 
 from the many artesian wells in the city 
 limits. A marked difference in the tonnage 
 of vessels engaged in the export and import 
 trade is observed, and the draught of water 
 over the bar has been very much improved. 
 From August 1, 1888, to August 1, 1889, 
 75 steamers entered the harbor from foreign 
 ports and 192 entered from coastwise ports, 
 while 80 cleared for foreign ports and 174 for 
 I coastwise ports. 
 
n I STORY OF TEXAJi. 
 
 Ocean-going vessels wliicli liave entered 
 and cleared from this port for seven montlis, 
 ending March 31, are as follows: 
 
 No. Tods. 
 
 Entered from foreign ports.. . .162 194,883 
 Entered from domestic ports. .203 241,468 
 
 Cleared for foreign ports 176 246,613 
 
 Cleared for domestic ports 202 271,176 
 
 Total 743 954,140 
 
 Ocean-going vessels have brought into and 
 carried out of this port in twelve months, 
 ending June 30, 1891 (May and June esti- 
 mated to equal previous year), merchandise 
 and products amounting in value to — 
 Imports, foreign and domestic. . $87,000,000 
 E.xports, foreign and domestic. 84,000,000 
 
 Total value $171,000,000 
 
 Imports consisting of miscellaneous mer- 
 chandise, coal, etc., mainly from New York 
 and other Atlantic ports, foreign imports 
 l)eing less than one-third of the total. Ex- 
 ports, mainly cotton, amounting to about 
 $50,000,000, the other $34,000,000 being 
 made up of wool, grain, flour, other agri- 
 cultural products, and the product of our 
 factories, of wliich the United States Govern- 
 ment reports by the late census we have over 
 300 in operation. The near-by coastwise 
 traffic cirried on in small steamers and sloops 
 amounts annually to many millions of dollars, 
 and it is safe to say the port of Galveston 
 does an annual business exceeding in value 
 $200,000,000, to which, in order to obtain 
 the vast volume of business transacted in 
 Galveston, should be added to wholesale 
 merchandise business, amounting to rearly 
 $1)0,000,000 per annum, the annual output of 
 our 304 manufactories, amounting to several 
 millions of dollars, and the bank clearances, 
 which far exceed $250,000,000 per annum. 
 
 The city has an available wharf frontage 
 on Galveston channel of over 6,000 feet. Its 
 beach is said to be unsurpassed by any other 
 on the American continent. It extends the 
 whole length of the island east and west, and 
 nearly straight, and almost as smooth as a 
 floor. 
 
 There are two lines of steamships plying 
 between Galveston and New York city, with 
 a daily line to New Orleans, and another to 
 Indianola and Corpus Crhisti, a weekly line 
 to Havana, and a semi-monthly line to 
 London. 
 
 The entrance to Galveston harbor is ob- 
 structed by an inner and an outer bar, the 
 removal of which has been undertaken by the 
 United States Government. The work was 
 begun in 1874, but the appropriations have 
 been inadequate, and the work is still incom- 
 plete, but very satisfactory as far as prose- 
 cuted. The water on the bar is steadily 
 increasing in depth, and vessels are now 
 passing over the bar drawing fifteen feet of 
 water. The number of vessels requiring 
 lightering before passing over the bar arc 
 fewer as the increased depth of water on tho 
 bar permits them to come in and discharge 
 their cargoes. The work of deepening the 
 water over the bar may be considered as 
 experimental, but of sufficient importance to 
 demonstrate the fact that when the work 
 proposed is completed deep water over the bar 
 varying from 18 to 20 feet will have been 
 secured. The last report of the engineer in 
 charge of the work shows a gain of six inches 
 on the bar at mean low tide. In 1885 13^ 
 feet was the maximum depth over the bar. 
 In 1886 only one vessel went out over the bar 
 drawing 14 feet of water. 
 
 Galveston is a beautiful city, with wide and 
 straiglit streets and elegant parks. It has a 
 number of costly public buildings. Oleander 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 Park occupies 80 acres, the City Park 25 
 acres. There are a number of public squares, 
 an esplanade two miles long, and several 
 public gardens. Magnolia Grove Cemetery 
 comprises 100 acres, and the City Cemetery 
 10 acres. 
 
 Four railroads run into the city of Gal- 
 veston. They are the Galveston, Houston & 
 Henderson, the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe, 
 the International & Great Nortliern, and the 
 Aransas Pass — the latter runnincr into the 
 city via the track of the Gulf, Colorado & 
 Santa Fe. 
 
 All of the principal railroads in the State 
 also have an outlet to the gulf over these 
 lines. 
 
 In point of manufacturing and commercial 
 importance Galveston surpasses any city in 
 the State, and rivals many of the leading 
 cities of the South with even greater popu- 
 lation. 
 
 Galveston is the most attractive, coolest 
 and healthiest city in the South. Constant 
 gulf breeze, unsurpassed surf bathing and 
 thirty miles of beach for riding and driving, 
 which is unequaled in the world. 
 
 Georgetown, the county seat of William- 
 son county, is situated in a high, healthy 
 section of the county, on the bank of the 
 beautiful San Gabriel river, at the terminus 
 of the Georgetown branch of the Interna- 
 tional & Great Northern Kailroad from the 
 south, and also the Georgetown & Granger 
 branch of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas 
 Eailroad from the east. Its population is 
 2,538. It has two banks, one private and 
 one national. The transactions of these two 
 banks during 1890 amounted to $8,000,000. 
 
 Amount expended in building operations 
 and public improvements, $500,000. 
 
 Manufacturing establishments consist of 
 chair and furniture factory, sock factory, two 
 
 planing mills working all kinds of woodwork 
 for building purposes; ice factory, capacity 
 six tons per day; one roller flouring mill, 
 capacity 110 barrels per day; one saddle and 
 harness factory; one plow factory. 
 
 The Southwestern University is located 
 here, which has the patronage of the five 
 annual conferences of Texas, of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church, South. The annual 
 enrolled attendance in 1890-'91 was about 
 600; $100,000 was expended in 1891 in 
 improvements of the buildings of this uni- 
 versity. 
 
 The Texas Chautauqua Assembly is located 
 on a high, elevated hill, immediately west of 
 the city, and on the opposite side of the river, 
 which is spanned by a magnificent suspension 
 bridge, and is in a flourishing condition. 
 
 The city is supplied with a magnificent 
 system of waterworks, furnishing pure water 
 from springs. 
 
 Gomales, the capital of the county of the 
 same name, is situated on the Guadalupe 
 river, a mile below the mouth of the San 
 Marcos river, about sixty-six miles east of 
 San Antonio and sixty miles south by east of 
 Austin. It has a population of 2,500, two 
 banks, three churches and a college. 
 
 Hempstead, in Waller county, is situated 
 on a high, rolling prairie, about fifty miles 
 northwest of Houston, on the Houston & 
 Texas Central Kailvvay, and is the eastern 
 terminus of the Austin branch of that rail- 
 way. It is in the midst of a most productive 
 agricultural region. Population, 2,259. There 
 are sold in the place about 3,500 bales of 
 cotton annually, and it is also a great shipping 
 point for watermelons and canteloupes. 
 
 Iloxiston, the capital of Harris county, in 
 latitude 29° 30', longitude 94° 50', is at the 
 head of navigation of Buffalo bayou, fifty 
 miles northwest of Galveston, and the rail 
 
niSTOUY OF TEXAS. 
 
 road center of Texas. The city is situated 
 on botii sides of the bayou, on gently undu- 
 lating land, and has steamboat communica- 
 tion with Galveston daily. In 1890 it had a 
 population of 27,411. Besides the usual 
 complement of schools and churches it con- 
 tains the Masonic Temple for the Grand 
 Lodge of Texas, and its city hall and market 
 house are unsurpassed in the South. The 
 annual State fair is also held here. It is an 
 important manufacturing center. 
 
 Assessed value of all property in 1891, 
 $15,776,449, which is greater by nearly $3,- 
 000,000 than that of the preceding year. 
 Total value of all the property owned by the 
 city, $200,000. Number of square miles 
 witldn the corporate limits, nine. 
 
 Huntsville, the last residence of the 
 lamented Sam Houston, is the seat of gov- 
 ernment of Walker county, on the Hunts- 
 ville branch of the International & Great 
 Northern Railroad, seventy-four miles north 
 of Houston. It contains eight churches, the 
 State penitentiary, Andrew Female College, 
 Austin College (Presbyterian), etc. Popula- 
 tion, 2,271. Assessed value of all property 
 in 1891, $490,000. 
 
 Kaufinan, at the crossing of the east 
 branch of the Texas Central and the Texas 
 Trunk railroads, has enjoyed a constant in- 
 crease in population and in taxable values. 
 Since 1870 the number of inhabitants has 
 increased from 400 to about 3,000. Assessed 
 values in 1890, $800,000. 
 
 Lampasas, with a population of about 3,- 
 000, has a property assessed in 1891 at $1,- 
 096,325. There is also a seminary at that 
 place. 
 
 Laredo, on the Rio Grande, at the junc- 
 tion of the International & Great Northern 
 and the Mexican National railroads, has a 
 
 population of 11,313, an Ursuline academy 
 or convent, and property assessed at $2,405,- 
 870 in 1891. 
 
 Marlin, the county seat of Falls county, 
 is situated four miles northeast from the 
 geographical center of the county, on the 
 "Waco division of the Houston & Texas Cen 
 tral Railroad. It has a population of 2,27t'), 
 and property assessed in 1891 at $1,050,000. 
 Amount expended in biiildings and improve- 
 ments during that year, $65,000. 
 
 MarshaV, the seat of government for Har- 
 rison county, in the eastern part of the State, 
 has now a population of 7,196, six churches, 
 a female college, Wiley University (Metho- 
 dist Episcopal), the machine shops and head- 
 quarters of the Texas & Pacific Railroad, etc. 
 The Shreveport branch of the railroad forms 
 its junction there. 
 
 McKinney, the headquarters of Collin 
 county, on the Houston & Texas Central 
 Railroad, is the terminus of the East Line 
 & Red River Railroad. The assessed value 
 of the property of the place increa>ed from 
 $610,000 in 1880 to $1,230,780 in 1888. 
 In 1890 $30,000 was spent in buildings and 
 improvements, and this is but a sample of 
 what that city is averaging. Population in 
 1890, 3,849. 
 
 Nacogdoches, capital of the county of the 
 same name, is situated on the Houston, East 
 & AVest Texas Railroad, 140 miles from 
 Houston and ninety from Shreveport. It is 
 the best trading point between those two 
 places. The amount of bank exchange in 
 1890 was $400,000. 
 
 New Birmin<jham, in Cherokee county, 
 with a population of 1,200 in 1890, is des- 
 tined to become an iron-manufacturing city 
 of considerable importance. It is situated 
 only a mile and a half from Rusk, and is a 
 new place, being laid off iu 1888. It is on 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 the St. Louis, Arkansas & Texas Railroad. 
 "White sulphnr and chalybeate springs are 
 numerous in the vicinity. The place is 
 growing rapidly. 
 
 San Antonio is, as shown by the last 
 United States census, the largest city in 
 Texas. It is by far the prettiest, the most 
 healthful, and has the finest drinking water 
 of all cities anywhere, and her visible water 
 supply is more than sufficient for a city of 
 two millions of people. That this is no ex- 
 aggeration may be seen by remembering that 
 the San Antonio river, with a width of from 
 thirty to seventy-five feet of purest, clearest 
 water averaging from five to six feet deep, 
 flows right through the middle of the city 
 with a current of more than twelve miles an 
 hour; and the San Pedro springs send a 
 third as much through the city in the old 
 acequias dug by the Spanish missionaries 
 nearly 200 years ago; then it has one 
 public artesian well right in the main 
 business part of the city that flows over 
 3,500,000 gallons a day. This gives a 
 public supply of more than 30,000,000 gal- 
 lons of water a day, and its clearness, purity 
 and sweetness are marvels to scientists as 
 well as to visitors. Besides this, factories, 
 ice works, the United States Government 
 headquarters, laundries, breweries and pri- 
 vate premises have a large number of wells, 
 making the present flow of water within the 
 corporate limits of San Antonio more than 
 45,000,000 gallons a day. 
 
 There is no climate yet known that equals 
 that surrounding San Antonio. Southwest 
 Texas, as shown by the most carefully kept 
 statistics and scientific observations, sur- 
 passes any known country. Consumption, 
 catarrh, malarial and typhus complaints are 
 unknown among the natives here, and those 
 coming here in the early stages of lung dis- 
 
 eases recover, and a great improvement im 
 mediately follows any stage. The evenness 
 of temperature in this section is conducive 
 to healthfulness. The highest temperature 
 in 1890 was 96 in July, and the lowest 24 
 in February, and the air is almost perfectly 
 dry except when raining. It was these facts 
 of healthfulness, purity of water and mild- 
 ness and evenness of temperature that caused 
 the Spanish missionaries to select San An- 
 tonio and southwest Texas as their abode 
 and headquarters. As soon as the truth is 
 known hundreds of thousands of people will 
 flock to this section. 
 
 In the way of climate, air, water, soil, 
 scenery and unlimited resources, nature has 
 blessed this section of the United States 
 above almost any country on earth. Ten 
 years ago a city of 20,000 inhabitants, with 
 scarcely any modern business houses, with 
 but one street worthy the name of a business 
 street, with plazas, muddy eye-sores, streets 
 unpaved and with few sidewalks, we find 
 to-day a modern city of 41,181 inhabitants, 
 and improvements completed and under con- 
 struction that place the "Alamo City" in the 
 front rank of Southern cities in appearance 
 and in appliances for comfort. 
 
 As to municipal improvements the rapid 
 increase in tlie assessed values of the city has 
 enabled the authorities to inaugurate unprec- 
 edented expenditures in this direction, while 
 the tax rate has been actually reduced from 
 that of four years ago, and now stands at 1 
 per cent, a rate lower than that paid in any 
 large city in the United States; and there are 
 more than 155 miles of water mains in San 
 Antonio, nearly 75 miles of paved streets, 
 more than 125 miles of smooth cement side- 
 walks and the best electric street-car system of 
 all cities in the United States — seventy-five 
 miles. 
 
HI8T0Ur OF TEXAS. 
 
 The total number of manufactories now in 
 iiperation is about 150, with a capital of §2,- 
 750,300. The raw material used in 1889 
 amounted to something like $1,800,000. In 
 these establishments some 1,500 persons find 
 employment, to whom wages are paid 
 amounting to §400,000. The value of the 
 products for 1889 aggregated §3,750,000. 
 
 One of the grand features that promises to 
 have a great effect in San Antonio's success 
 as a manufacturing center is the discovery of 
 natural gas in considerable quantities both in 
 and adjacent to the city. The wells already 
 developed have more than enough to supply 
 the entire city for domestic lighting and 
 heating purposes. It has a confined pressure 
 of from 50 to 200 pounds per square inch. 
 And on the same lands, belonging to Mr. 
 George DuUnig, are some oil wells that flow 
 the best lubricating oil on the market. It 
 brings 20 cents a gallon for all that is 
 pumped, and the Southern Pacific Eailway 
 gave a certificate saying one of their freight 
 engines, oiled with it, had run over 3,000 
 miles without replenishing the cups — a re- 
 cord unprecedented for any lubricating oil 
 ever discovered. 
 
 The increase in taxable values is a good 
 index of the prosperity of San Antonio. 
 Tax — State, city and county — is less than in 
 any city in the United States — less than $2 
 on the $100 for all purposes whatever. 
 
 The San Antonio military post will one 
 day be the largest in the country, as to-day 
 it is the most beautiful. Nature has given 
 the site, the location, the strategic impor- 
 tance, and Uncle Sam lias always recognized 
 the importance of keeping troops here. 
 
 The first military post in San Antonio was 
 established in 1805. The troops were with- 
 drawn in 1873, but two years later they were 
 marched back, as the war department 
 
 had discovered what an important point 
 this was. It was determined to make 
 the establishment here permanent and 
 the citizens were agreeable to the idea. 
 What is now known as Government hill, be- 
 ing then a long distance from the town, met 
 with favor in the eyes of the officers detailed 
 to select a site. 
 
 The various Christian and Jewish denom- 
 inations have a strong representation in tlio 
 city. Many of the buildings in which their 
 worship is conducted are fine specimens of 
 church architecture. The most imposing 
 church building is the San Fernando catlie- 
 dral, which is the central church of the 
 Catholic religion in the Southwest. This 
 cathedral is situated on Main plaza and its 
 fine peal of the bells and sweet-toned organ 
 are famous throughout the State. The largest 
 Protestant church is called St. Mark's. It 
 is the seat of the Episcopalian bishop of West- 
 ern Texas. This church is beautifully lo- 
 cated on Travis square and is widely noted 
 for its magnificient choir and choral services. 
 In the same neighborhood are situated the 
 Jewish synagogue the First Baptist church 
 and the Methodist Episcopal church, Suuth. 
 The following list shows the number of 
 churches owned by the several denominations: 
 Episcopalian 4, Catholic 4, Presbyterian 3, 
 Methodist 6, Baptist 5, Lutheran 1, Chris- 
 tian 1, colored denominations 7. The rolls of 
 church membership are large, and well filled 
 churches attest the great number of worshipers 
 in the city. 
 
 Besides these, all of which have large Sun- 
 day-schools, the Young Men's Christian As- 
 sociation has a large membership— a larger 
 per cent of young people than any city in 
 the Southwest — with a ladies' auxiliary. 
 
 No city in the United States has better 
 schools than has San Antonio. She has a 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 larger scholastic population than any city in 
 Texas by over 3,000, it being 10,694, 1,590 
 of which are colored. Her public free school 
 property is valued at $1,000,000, and com- 
 prizes seven two-story and one three-story 
 building, latest designs, with all comforts and 
 appliances, for white children, and one two- 
 story stone and two large frame buildings for 
 colored children. 
 
 As a picturesque and historical city there 
 is none in the United States that can equal 
 San Antonio. It is the tourists' paradise. 
 It was founded in 1691, and has been the 
 scene of many an exciting affray. There are 
 many points of interest that afford great at- 
 traction for the visitors to the city. The 
 chief one of these is the Alamo, which was 
 originally founded as a mission under the 
 name of San Antonio de Valero, in 1720. It 
 became the garrison or fort for Spanish and 
 afterward American troops. As such it was 
 the scene of several battles, the most memor- 
 able of which was in 1836, when General 
 Santa Anna, at the head of a Mexican army 
 of 7,000, besieged it, and when, on the 6tli of 
 March of that year, he carried it by storm 
 after being three times repulsed by Colonel 
 William B. Travis, Davy Crockett, James 
 Bowie and their 172 heroic companions, who 
 died fighting for Texas liberty, and whose 
 bodies were burned by the savage Mexicans 
 after the battle and their ashes lie buried in 
 the sacred soil. 
 
 The Alamo is now the property of the 
 State of TexaB, is in the custody of the city of 
 San Antonio and is open to visitors daily 
 without charge. 
 
 The mission Concepcion, which is known 
 as the first mission, was founded in 1716. 
 It is situated on the left bank of the San 
 Antonio river, about two miles below the 
 city. It was the scene of a battle between 
 
 Colonel James Bowie, commanding 90 
 Americans and about 400 Mexican regular 
 troops. The Mexicans were defeated with 
 a loss of 60 killed and 40 wounded. The 
 Americans lost one man killed. This battle 
 was fought on the 28th of October, 1835. 
 This mission was also the scene of several 
 Indian battles. Its name as a mission was 
 "Mision Concepcion la Purisima de Acuna." 
 
 The second mission is the most beautiful 
 and elegant of all the Texas missions. It is 
 situated about four miles below the city near 
 the river, and is named Mision San Jose de 
 Aguayo. It was founded in 1720, and the 
 celebrated artist, Huica, was sent here by the 
 king of Spain, and devoted several years to 
 carving its various ornamentations, statues, 
 etc. The hands of vandals have exceeded the 
 ravages of time in its defacement. Like the 
 others, this mission has been the scene of 
 many memorable conflicts. It is well worthy 
 of a visit by all tourists. 
 
 The third mission differs in general de- 
 sign from all the other missions. It was 
 founded in 1716 and is situated about six 
 miles below the city. Its name as a mission 
 was Mision San Juan Capistrano. It was 
 near here that the American patriots rendez- 
 voused prior to their capture of San Antonio 
 from the Mexicans under General Cos, in 
 1835, — a battle which aroused the ire of 
 Santa Anna and led to the holocaust of the 
 Alamo and subsequently to Texan inde- 
 pendence. Like most of the other missions, 
 it is now in ruins — picturesque but silent elo- 
 quence of past glories and tragedies. 
 
 Sherman, having in 1890 a population of 
 7,320, is the county seat of Grayson county, 
 and a good railroad point. Assessed value of 
 all property in 1891, $4,966,334. Total of 
 all property owned by the city, 820,872. 
 
 Sulphur Springs, the chief trading point 
 
U I STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 in Hopkins county, grew in population from 
 1,000 in 1870 to 3,038 in 1890, and the 
 assessed values increased from §800,000 in 
 1880 to $1,300,000 in 1890. This place also 
 has a number of medicinal wells and springs. 
 
 Temple, in Bell county, is at the intersec- 
 tion of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas and the 
 Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe railroads, has a 
 population of 6,500, and is a new and grow- 
 ing city. 
 
 Terrell, thirty-two miles east of Dallas, is 
 situated on the Texas & Pacific Eailroad, is a 
 great shipping point for cattle, and is abun- 
 dantly supplied with wells of good water. 
 In 1890 it had a population of 2,977. The 
 Terrell Institute is a good school at the 
 place. 
 
 Tyler, the county seat of Smith county, is 
 on the northern division of the International 
 & Great Northern Railroad, and on the Cot- 
 ton Belt road, had a population of 6,908 in 
 1890, has the Charnwood Institute as one of 
 its local institutions of learning, and a pub- 
 lic library of 10,000 volumes. One daily 
 and two weekly newspapers flourish there, 
 and the principal shops and general ofiices of 
 the Cotton Belt Bailroad for Texas, are lo- 
 cated at that place. 
 
 Victoria, on the Southern Pacific Railroad, 
 in Victoria county, had 8,500 inhabitants in 
 1890. Being on the east bank of the Guada- 
 lupe river, the prosperity of the place has 
 been chiefly derived from navigation and the 
 shipment of cattle, etc. 
 
 Waco is a live city at the intersection of 
 several railroads, and had a population of 14,- 
 425 in 1890. Assessed value of all property 
 in 1891, $10,242,642. There are about seven 
 square miles within the corporate limits. 
 
 Waxahachie, the county seat of Ellis 
 county, is a railroad center, with a population 
 in 1890 of 3,076. The county is the banner 
 
 one in the black-waxy district. As a sample 
 of tlie improvement made, we may state that 
 about §130,000 a year is expended in public 
 and private improvements. 
 
 Weatherford, the capital of Parker county, 
 is located at a railroad junction, sixty-six 
 miles west of Dallas. Number of inhab- 
 itants in 1890, 3,314; assessed valuation of 
 all property in 1891, $1,572,772. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 " INDIAN DEPREDATIONS IN TEXAS." 
 
 The above is the title of a most interesting 
 book to Texans, and even to the rest of the 
 world, recently published by J. W. "Wilbar- 
 ger, from which liberal quotations have been 
 made in this work. We only hope that the 
 quotations we have made will whet the ap- 
 petite of the Texan public for the purcliase 
 of that book. Stories have interest only in 
 their details, and such are given in that wci'-. 
 and they cannot be condensed for a larger 
 publication like this, and therefore only 
 extracts could be given in this volume. 
 The work is illustrated with graphic pictures, 
 and arranged by counties and dates in the 
 index, so that ready reference can be made to 
 any point. 
 
 From the above work we give the follow- 
 ing story in our miscellaneous department: 
 
 THE FORT PARKER MASSACRE. 
 
 "The following graphic account of the 
 Fort Parker massacre has been gathered from 
 several reliable sources, but the greatest por- 
 tion of them has been by the kind consent of 
 James T. De Shield, copied from a little 
 book published by him, entitled 'Cynthia 
 Ann Parker.' In fact everything, from the 
 conclusion of the extract from Mrs. Plum- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 mer's diary to the conclusion of the history 
 of Quanah Parker, is intended to be a literal 
 copy from said book. 
 
 "Among the many tragedies that have 
 occurred in Texas the massacre at Parker's 
 fort holds a conspicuous place. Nothing that 
 has ever happened exhibits savage duplicity 
 and cruelty more plainly than the massacre 
 of helpless women and children. 
 
 "In 1833 a small colony was organized in 
 the State of Illinois for the purpose of form- 
 ing a settlement in Texas. After their arri- 
 val in the country they selected for a place of 
 residence a beautiful region on the Navasota, 
 a small tributary of the Brazos. To secure 
 themselves against the various tribes of roving 
 savages was the first thing to be attended to; 
 and, having chosen a commanding eminence 
 adjacent to a large timbered bottom of the 
 Navasota, about three miles from where the 
 town of Springfield formerly stood, and about 
 two miles from the present town of Groes- 
 beck, they by their joint labor soon had a 
 fortification erected. It consisted of a stock- 
 ade of split cedar timbers planted deep in the 
 ground, extending fifteen feet above the sur- 
 face, touching each other and confined at the 
 top by transverse timbers which rendered 
 thera almost as immovable as a solid wall. 
 At convenient distances there were port- 
 holes, through which, in case of an emer- 
 gency, tire-arms could be used. The entire 
 fort covered nearly an acre of ground. There 
 were also attached to the stockade two log 
 cabins at diagonal corners, constituting a 
 part of the enclosure. They were really 
 blockhouses, the greater portion of each 
 standing outside of the main stockade, the 
 upper story jutting out over the lower, with 
 openings in the floor allowing perpendicular 
 shooting from above. There were also port- 
 holes out in the upper story so as to admit of 
 
 horizontal shooting when necessary. This 
 enabled the inmates to rake from every side 
 of the stockade. The fort was situated near 
 a fine spring of water. As soon as it was com- 
 pleted the little colony moved into it. 
 
 "Parker's colony at this time consisted of 
 some eight or nine families, viz.: Eider John 
 Parker, the patriarch of the colony, and his 
 wife; his son, James W. Parker, wife, four 
 single children, and his daughter, Mrs. Eachel 
 Plummer, her husband, L. M. S. Plummer, 
 and an infant son fifteen months old; Mrs. 
 Sarah Nixon, another daughter, and her hus- 
 band, L. D. Nixon; Silas M. Parker (another 
 son of Elder John), his wife and four children ; 
 Benjamin F. Parker, an unmarried son of the 
 elder; Mrs. Nixon, Sr., mother of Mrs. James 
 "W. Parker; Mrs. Elizabeth Kellogg, daugh- 
 ter of Mrs. Nixon; Mrs. Duty; Samuel M. 
 Frost, wife and two children; G. E. Dwight, 
 wife and two children — in all, thirty-four 
 persons. Besides those above mentioned, old 
 man Lunn, David Faulkenberry and his son 
 Evan, Silas Bates and Abram Anglin had 
 erected cabins a mile or two distant from the 
 fort, where they resided. These families were 
 truly the advance guard of civilization in that 
 part of our frontier. Fort Houston in Ander- 
 son county being the nearest protection ex- 
 cept their own trusty rifles. 
 
 "Here the struggling colonists remained, 
 engaged in the avocations of a rural life, till- 
 ing the soil, hunting bufialo, bear, deer, 
 turkey and smaller game, which served abun- 
 dantly to siipply their larder at all times with 
 fresh meat, in the enjoyment of a life of Ar- 
 cadian simplicity, virti;e and contentment, 
 until the latter part of the year 1885, when 
 the Indians and Mexicans forced the little 
 band of compatriots to abandon their homes 
 and flee with many others before the in- 
 vading armj from Mexico. On arriving at 
 
UlaTOIiY OP TEXAH. 
 
 the Trinity river they were compelled to halt 
 in coiisecjiience of an overflow. Pieforo they 
 could cross the swollen stream tlx' pudden 
 and unexpected news reached them fnat Santa 
 Anna and his vandal hordes had been con- 
 fronted and defeated at San Jacinto, that san- 
 guinary engagement whicli gave birth to the 
 new sovereignty of Texas, and that Texas 
 was free from Mexican tyranny. 
 
 " On receipt of this news the fleeing settlers 
 were overjoyed and at once returned to their 
 abandoned homes. The Parker colonists now 
 retraced their steps, first going to Fort Hous- 
 ton, where they remained a few days in oi'der 
 to procure supplies, after which they made 
 their way back to Fort Parker to look after 
 their stock and prepare for a crop. These 
 hardy sons of toil spent their nights in the 
 fort, repairing to their farms early each morn- 
 ing. The strictest discipline was maintained 
 for awhile, but as time wore on and no hostile 
 demonstrations had been made by the Indians 
 they became somewhat careless and restive 
 under confinement. However, it was abso- 
 lutely necessary that they should cultivate 
 their farms to insure substance for their fam- 
 ilies. They usually went to work in a body, 
 with their farming implements in one hand 
 and their weapons of defense in the other. 
 Some of them built cabins on their farms, 
 hoping that the government would give them 
 protection, or that a sufficient number of other 
 colonists would soon move in to render them 
 secure from the attacks of Indians. 
 
 " On the 18th of May, 1836, all slept at 
 the fort, James W. Parker, Nixon and Plum- 
 mer, repairing to their field, a mile distanton 
 the Navasota, early the next morning, little 
 thinking of the great calamity that was soon 
 to befall them. They had scarcely left when 
 several hundred Indians (accounts of the 
 number of Indians vary from 800 to 700 — 
 
 probably there were .about 500), Comanches 
 and Kiowas, made their appearance on an emi- 
 nence within 300 yards of the fort. Those 
 who remained in the fort were not prepared 
 for an attack, so careless had they become in 
 their fancied security. The Indians hoisted 
 a white flag as a token of their friendly in- 
 tentions, and up(in the exhibition of the white 
 flag Mr. Benjamin F. Parker went out to 
 have a talk with them. The Indians artfully 
 feigned the treacherous semblance of friend- 
 ship, pretending they were looking for a suit- 
 able camping place, and inquired as to the 
 exact locality of a waterhole in the imme- 
 diate vicinity, at the same time asking for a 
 beef, as they said they were very hungry. 
 Not daring to refuse the request of such 
 a formidable body of savages, Mr. Parker 
 told them they should have what they 
 wanted. Returning to the fort he stated to 
 the inmates that to his opinion the Indians 
 were hostile and intended to fight, but added 
 he would go back to them and he would try 
 to avert it. His brother Silas remonstrated, 
 but he persisted in going, and was imme 
 diately surrounded and killed; whereupon the 
 whole force — their savage instincts aroused 
 by the sight of blood — charged upon the fort, 
 uttering the most terrific and unearthly yells 
 that ever greeted the ears of mortals. The 
 sickening and bloody tragedy was soon en- 
 acted. Brave Silas M. Parker fell outside 
 the fort, while he was gallantly fighting to 
 save Mrs. Pluramer. Mrs. Plummer made a 
 desperate resistance, but was soon over- 
 powered, knocked down with a hoe and made 
 captive. Samuel M. Frost and his son, Rob- 
 ert, met their fate while heroically defending 
 the women and children inside the stockade. 
 Old 'Granny ' Parker was stabbed and left 
 for dead. Elder John Parker, wife, and Mrs. 
 Kellogg attempted to make their escape, and 
 
UI8T0RY OF TEXAS. 
 
 in this effort Lad gone about tliree-foiirths of 
 a mile, when they were overtaken and driven 
 back to the fort, and tlie old gentleman was 
 sti-ipped, murdered, scalped and horribly 
 mutilated. Mrs. Parker was stripped, speared 
 and left for dead, but by feigning death 
 escaped, as will be seen further on. Mrs. 
 Kellogg was spared as a captive. The result 
 summed up as follows: Killed — Elder John 
 Parker, aged seventy-nine; Silas M. and Ben- 
 jamin F. Parker; Samuel M. and his son 
 Robert Frost. Wounded dangerously — Mrs. 
 John Parker, old 'Granny' Parker, and Mrs. 
 Duty. Captured— Mrs. Kachel Plummer, 
 daughter of James W. Parker, and her son, 
 James Pratt Plummer, two years of age; 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Kellogg; Cynthia Ann Parker, 
 nine years old, and her little brother, John 
 Parker, aged six, childrenof Silas M. Parker. 
 The reu/ainder made their escape, as we shall 
 now narrate. 
 
 " When the attack on the fort first com- 
 menced, Mrs. Sarah Nixon made her escape 
 and hastened to the field to advise her father, 
 husband and Plummer of what had occurred. 
 On her arrival Plummer hurried off on horse- 
 back to inform Faulkenberry, Bates and Ang- 
 lin, who were at work in the fields. Parker 
 and Ni.xon started to the fort, but the former 
 met his family on the way and carried them 
 some four or five miles down the Navasota, 
 secreting them in the bottom. Nixon, though 
 unarmed, continued on toward the fort, and 
 met Mrs. Lucy, wife of Silas Parker (killed), 
 with her four children, Just as they were in- 
 terrupted by a small party of mounted and 
 foot Indians. They compelled the mother to 
 lift her daughter Cynthia Ann, and her little 
 son, John, behind two of the mounted war- 
 riors. The foot Indians then took Mrs. 
 Parker, her two youngest children and Nixon 
 on toward the fort. As they were about to 
 
 kill JMixon, David Faulkenberry appeared 
 with his rifle and caused them to fall back. 
 Nixon, after his narrow escape from death, 
 seemed very much excited and immediately 
 went in search of his wife, soon falling in 
 with Dwight, his own and Frost's families. 
 Dwight and family soon overtook J. W. Par- 
 ker and went with him to his hiding place in 
 the bottom. Faulkenberry, thus left with 
 Mrs. Parker and her two children, bade her 
 follow him. AVith the infant in her arms and 
 leading the other child, she obeyed. Seeing 
 them leave the fort, the Indians made several 
 attempts to intercept them, but were held in 
 check by the brave man's rifle. Several 
 mounted warriors, armed with bows and 
 arrows, strung and drawn, and with terrific 
 yells, would charge them, but as Faulken- 
 berry would present his gun, they would 
 halt, throw up their shields, sight about, 
 wheel and retire to a safe distance. This con- 
 tinued for some distance, until they had 
 passed through a prairie of some forty or fifty 
 acres. Just as they were entering the woods 
 the Indians made a furious charge, when one 
 warrior, more daring than the others, dashed 
 up so near that Mrs. Parker's faithful dog 
 seized his horse by the nose, whereupon horse 
 and rider summersaulted, alighting on their 
 backs in the ravine. At this moment Silas 
 Bates, Abram Anglin, and Evan Faulken- 
 berry, armed, and Plummer, unarmed,, came 
 up, causing the Indians to retire, after which 
 the party made their way unmolested. 
 
 " As they were passing through the field 
 where the men were at work in the morning, 
 Plummer, as if aroused from a dream, de- 
 manded to know wliat had become of his 
 wife and child. Armed only with a butcher- 
 knife he left the party, in search of his loved 
 ones, and was seen no more for six days. 
 The Faulkenberrys, Lunn and Mrs. Parker 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 secreted tlicmselves in a small creek bottom, 
 some distance from the first party, each un- 
 conscious of the others' whereabouts. At 
 twilight Abram Anglin and Evan Faulken- 
 berry started back to the fort to succor the 
 wounded and tliose who might have escaped. 
 On their way and just as they were passing 
 Faulkenberry's cabin, Anglin saw his first 
 and only ghost. He says: ' It was dressed 
 in white with long white hair streaming 
 down its back. I admit that I was more 
 scared at this moment than when the Indians 
 were yelling and charging on us. Seeing 
 me hesitate my ghost now beckoned me to 
 come on. Approaching the object, it proved 
 to be old ' Granny ' Parker, whom the In- 
 dians had wounded and stripped, with the 
 exception of her nnder-garments. She had 
 made her way to the house from the fort by 
 crawling the entire distance. I took her 
 some bed-clothing and carried her some rods 
 from the house, made her a bed, covered her 
 up, and left her until we should return from 
 the fort. On arriving at the fort we could 
 not see a single human being alive, or hear 
 a human sound. But the dogs were bark- 
 ing, the cattle lowing, horses neighing, and 
 the hogs equally making a hideous and 
 strange medley of sounds. Mrs. Parker had 
 tuld me where she had left some silver — 
 I1G0.50. This I found under a hickory 
 bush by moonlight. Finding no one at the 
 fort, we returned to where I had laid 
 ' Granny ' Parker. On taking her up be- 
 hind me, we made our way back to the hid- 
 ing place in the bottom, where we found 
 Nixon, whom we had not seen since his 
 cowardly flight at the time he was rescued 
 by Faulkenberry from the Indians. 
 
 " In the book published by James W. 
 Parker, he states that Nixon liberated Mrs. 
 Parker from the Indians and rescued old 
 
 'Granny' Parker. Mr. Anglin in his account 
 contradicts or rather corrects this statement, 
 lie says: ' I positively assert that this is a 
 mistake, and I am willing to be qualified to 
 the statement I here make, and can prove 
 the same by Silas Bates, now living near 
 Groesbeck.' 
 
 "The next morning Bates, Anglin and E. 
 Faulkenberry went back to the fort to get 
 provisions and horses, and look after the 
 dead. On reaching the fort they found five 
 or six horses, a few saddles and some meat, 
 bacon and honey. Fearing an attack from 
 the Indians who might still be lurking 
 around, they left without burying the dead. 
 Returning to their comrades in the bottom 
 they all concealed themselves until they set 
 out for Fort Houston. Fort Houston, an 
 asylum, on this, as on many other occasions, 
 stood on what has been for many years a 
 farm of a wise statesman, a chivalrous soldier 
 and true patriot, John H. Eeagan, two miles 
 south of Palestine. 
 
 " After wandering around and traveling 
 for six days and nights, during which they 
 suffered much from hunger and thirst, their 
 clothing torn to shreds, their bodies lacerated 
 with briars and thorns, the women and chil- 
 dren with unshod and bleeding feet, the 
 party with James W. Parker reached Fort 
 Houston. 
 
 "An account of this wearisome and peril- 
 ous journey through the wilderness, given 
 substantially in Parker's own words, will en- 
 able the reader to more fully realize the 
 hardships they had to undergo and the dan- 
 gers they encountered. The bulk of the 
 party were composed of women and children, 
 principally the latter, and ranging from one 
 to twelve years old. ' We started from the 
 fort,' said Mr. Parker, ' the party consisting 
 of eighteen in all, for Fort Houston, a dis- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 tance of ninety miles by the route we had to 
 travel. The feelings of the party can be bet- 
 ter imao-itied than described. "We were 
 truly a forlorn set, many of us bareheaded 
 and barefooted, a relentless foe on the one 
 hand and on the other a trackless and unin- 
 liabited wilderness infested with reptiles and 
 wild beasts, entirely destitute of food and no 
 means of procuring it.' Add to this the 
 agonizing grief of the party over the death 
 and capture of dear relatives; that we were 
 momentarily in expectation of meeting a like 
 fate, and some idea may be formed of our 
 pitiable condition. Utter despair almost 
 took possession of us, for the chance of escap- 
 ing seemed almost an impossibility under 
 the circumstances. * * * I took one of 
 my children on my shoulder and led another. 
 The grown persons followed my example and 
 we began our journey through the thickly 
 tangled underbrush in the direction of Fort 
 Houston. My wife was in bad health; Mrs. 
 Frost was in deep distress for the loss of her 
 husband and son; and all being barefooted 
 except my wife and Mrs. Frost our progress 
 was slow. Many of the children had noth- 
 ing on them but their shirts, and their suf- 
 ferings from the briars tearing their little 
 legs and feet were almost beyond human en- 
 durance. 
 
 " We traveled until about three o'clock in 
 the morning, when, the women and children 
 being worn out with hunger and fatigue, we 
 lay down on the grass and slept until the 
 dawn of day, when we resumed our perilous 
 journey. Here we left the river bottom in 
 order to avoid the briars and underbrush, 
 but from the tracks of the Indians on the 
 iiighlands it was evident they were hunting 
 us, and, like the fox in the fable, we con- 
 eluded to take the river bottom again, for 
 though the brambles might tear our flesh 
 
 they might at the same time save our lives 
 by hiding us from the cruel savages who 
 were in pursuit of us. The briars did, in 
 fact, tear the legs and feet of the children 
 until they could have been tracked by the 
 blood that flowed from their wounds. 
 
 " It was the night of the second day after 
 leaving the fort that all, and especially the 
 women who were nursing their infants, be- 
 gan to suffer intensely from hunger. We 
 were then immediately on the bank of the 
 river, and through the mercy of Providence 
 a pole-cat came near us. I immediately 
 pursued and caught it just as it jumped in 
 the river. The only way that I could kill it 
 was by holding it under the water until it 
 was drowned. Fortunately we had the means 
 of striking a fire, and we soon had it cooked 
 and equally divided among the party, the 
 share of each being small indeed. This was 
 all we had to eat until the fourth day, when 
 we were lucky enough to catch another 
 skunk and two small terrapins, which were 
 also cooked and divided between us. On 
 the evening of the fifth day I found that the 
 women and children were so exhausted from 
 fatigue and hunger that it would be impossi- 
 ble for them to travel much further. After 
 holding a consultation it was agreed that I 
 should hurry on to Fort Houston for aid, 
 leaving Mr. Dwight in charge of the women 
 and children. Accordingly the next morn- 
 ing I started for the fort (about thirty-five 
 miles distant), which I reached early in the 
 afternoon. I have often looked back and 
 wondered how I was able to accomplish this 
 extraordinary feat. I had not eaten a mouth- 
 ful for six days, having always given my 
 share of the animals mentioned to the chil- 
 dren, and yet I walked thirty-five miles in 
 about eight hours! But the thought of the 
 unfortunate sufferers I had left behind de- 
 
UIHTOHr OF TJUXjiS. 
 
 |)endent on my efTorts, gave me strength and 
 perseverance that can ho realized only by 
 those vvlio have been placed in similar situa- 
 tions. God in Ilis bountiful mercy upheld 
 mo in this trying hour and enabled me to 
 perform by task. 
 
 " Tiie first person I met was Captain Car- 
 ter of the Fort Houston settlement, who 
 received rae kindly, and promptly offered 
 me all the aid in his power. He soon had 
 five horses saddled, and he and Mr. Jeremiah 
 Courtney went with me to meet our little 
 band of fugitives. We met them just at 
 dark, and, placing the women and children 
 on the horses, we reached Captain Carter's 
 about midnight. Tliere we received all the 
 kind attention and relief that our conditions 
 required, and all was done for our comfort 
 that sympathetic and benevolent hearts could 
 do. We arrived at Captain Carter's on the 
 25th of May. The following day my son- 
 in-law, Mr. riunimer, reached there also. 
 He iiad given us up for lost and had started 
 to the same settlement that we had. 
 
 " In due time the members of the party 
 located temporarily as best suited the re- 
 spectis-e families, most of them returning to 
 Fort Parker soon afterward. A burial party 
 of twelve men from P'ort Houston went up 
 and buried the dead. Their remains now 
 repose near the site of old Fort Parker. 
 Feace to tiieir ashes. Unadorned are their 
 graves; not even a slab of marble or a me- 
 mento of any kind has been erected to tell 
 the traveler where rest the remains of this 
 brave little band of pioneer heroes who 
 wrestled with the savage for the mastery of 
 his broad domain. 
 
 " Of the captives we will briefly trace their 
 checkered career. After leaving the fort the 
 two tribes, the Comanclies and Kiowas, re- 
 mained and traveled together until midnight. 
 
 They then halted on open prairie, staked out 
 their horses, placed their pickets and pitched 
 their camp. Bringing ail their prisoners 
 together for the first time, they tied their 
 hands behind them with raw-hide thongs so 
 tight as to cut the flesh, tied their feet close 
 togethor and threw them upon their faces. 
 Then the braves, gathering round with their 
 yet bloody-dripping scalps, commenced their 
 usual war dance. They danced, screamed, 
 yelled, stamping upon their prisoners, beat- 
 ing th nn with blows until their own blood 
 came near strangling them. The remauider 
 of the night these frail women sntibred and 
 had to listen to the cries and groans of their 
 tender little children. 
 
 "Mrs. Elizabeth Kellogg soon fell into 
 the hands of the Keechis, from whom, six 
 months after she was captured, she was pur- 
 chased by a party of Delawares, who carried 
 her to Nacogdoches and delivered her to 
 General Houston, who paid, them $150, the 
 amount they had paid and all they asked. 
 Mrs. Rachel Plummer remaiuod a cap- 
 
 tive about eighteen months, and to 
 
 give 
 
 reader an idea of her suffering during that 
 period we will give an extract from her 
 diary: 'In July and a portion of August 
 we were among some very high mountains 
 on which the snow remains for the greater 
 portion of the year, and I suffered more than 
 I had ever done before in my life. It was 
 very seldom I had any covei-ing for my feet, 
 and but very little clothing for my body. I 
 had a certain number of buffalo skins to 
 dress every day, and had to mind the horses 
 at night. This kept me employed j)retty 
 much all the time, and often I would take 
 my buffalo skins with me to finish them 
 while I was minding the horses. My feet 
 Would often be frost-bitten while I was dress- 
 ing the skins, but I dared not comjilaiti for 
 
nrsTonr of texajs. 
 
 fear of being punished. In October I gave 
 birth to mj second son. I i^ay October, but 
 it was all guess work with me, as I had no 
 means of keeping a record of the days as 
 thej passed. It was a beautiful and healthy 
 baby, but it was impossible for nie to pro- 
 cure suitable comforts for myself and infant. 
 The Indians were not as harsh in their treat- 
 ment toward me as I feared they would be, 
 but I was apprehensive for the safety of my 
 child. I had been with them six months and 
 had learned their language, and I would 
 often beseech my mistress to advise me wiiat 
 to do to save ray child, but she turned a deaf 
 ear to all my supplications. My child was 
 six months old when my master, thinking, I 
 S'appose, that it interfered with my work, 
 determined to put it out of the way. One 
 cold morning five or six Indians came where 
 I was sucking my babe. As soon as they 
 came I felt sick at heart, for my fears were 
 aroused for the safety of my child. My 
 fears were not ill-grounded. One of the In- 
 dians caught my child by the throat and 
 strangled it until to all appearances it was 
 dead. I exerted all my feeble strength to 
 save my child, but the other Indians held me 
 fast. The Indian who had strangled the 
 child then threw it up into the air repeatedly 
 and let it fall upon the frozen ground until 
 life seemed to be extinct. They then gave 
 it back to me. I had been weeping inces- 
 santly while they had been murdering my 
 child, but now my grief was so great that 
 the fountain of my tears was dried up. As 
 I gazed on the checks of my darling infant 
 I discovered some symptoms of returning 
 life. I hoped that if it could be resuscitated 
 they would allow me to keep it. I washed 
 the blood from its face and after a time it 
 began to breathe again. But a more heart- 
 rending scene ensued. As soon as the In- 
 
 dians ascertained that the child was still 
 alive, they tore it from my arms and knocked 
 me down. They tied a plaited rope around 
 its neck and threw it into a bunch of prickly 
 pears and then pulled it backward and for- 
 ward until its tender flesh was literally torn 
 from its body. One of the Indians who was 
 mounted on a horse then tied the end of the 
 rope to liis saddle and galloped around in a 
 circle until my little innocent was not only 
 doad but torn to pieces. One of them untied 
 the rope and threw the remains of the child 
 into my lap, and I dug a hole in the earth 
 and buried them. 
 
 " 'After performing the last sad rites for 
 the lifeless remains of my dear babe, I sat 
 down and gazed with a feeling of relief upon 
 the little grave I had made for it in the 
 wilderness, and could say with David of old, 
 '' You can not come to me, but I must go to 
 you ;" and then, and even now, as I record 
 the dreadful scene I witnessed, I rejoiced 
 that my babe had passed from the sorrows 
 and sufferings of this world. I shall hear 
 its dying cries no more, and, fully believing 
 in and relying on the imputed righteousness 
 of God in Christ Jesus, 1 feel that my inno- 
 cent babe is now with kindred spirits in tlie 
 eternal world of joys. Oh that my dear 
 Savior may keep me through life's short 
 journey, and bring me to dwell with my 
 children in realms of eternal bliss !' 
 
 " Mrs. rinmmer has gone to rest, and no 
 doubt her hopes have been realized. 
 
 " After this she was given as a servant to 
 a very cruel old squaw, who treated her in a 
 most brutal manner. Her son had been 
 carried off by another party to the far "West, 
 and she supposed her husband and father had 
 been killed in the massacre. Her infant was 
 dead and death to her would have been a 
 sweet relief. Life was a burden, and driven 
 
n I STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 almost to desperation she resolved no longer 
 to submit to the intolerant old squaw. One 
 (lay when the two were some distance from, 
 although still in sight of, the camp, her mis- 
 tress attempted to beat her with a club. De- 
 termined not to submit to this, she wrenched 
 tiie club from the hands of the squaw and 
 knocked her down. The Indians, who had 
 witnessed the whole proceedings from their 
 camp, now came running up, shouting at the 
 top of their voice. She fully expected to be 
 killed, but they patted her on the shoulder, 
 crying: Bueno / Bue?io/ / {Goodl Good!! or 
 Well done!). She now fared much better, 
 and soon became a great favorite, and was 
 known as the ' Fighting Squaw.' She was 
 eventually ransomed through the intervention 
 of some Mexican Santa F^ traders, by a 
 noble-hearted American merchant of that 
 place, Mr. William Donahue. She was pur- 
 chasi'd in tlie Rocky Mountains so far north 
 of Santa Fe that seventeen days were con- 
 sutned in reaching that place. She was at 
 (■lice made a memberof her benefactor's fam- 
 ily, where she received tlie kindest of care and 
 iittention. Ere long she accompanied Mr. 
 jiiid Mrs. Donahue on avisit to Independence, 
 Missouri, where she had the pleasure of meet- 
 ing and embracing her brotlicr-in law, L. I). 
 Kixon, and by him was escorted back to her 
 people in Texas. 
 
 "During her stay with the Indians, Mrs. 
 riiimmer had many thrilling adventures, 
 which she often recounted after her reclama- 
 tion. In narrating her reminiscences, she 
 said that in one of her rambles, after sheh.ad 
 been with the Indians some time, she dis- 
 covered a cave in the mountains, and, in com- 
 pany with the old squaw that guarded her, 
 siie explored it and found a large diamond, 
 but her mistress immediately demanded it, 
 and she was forced to give it up. She said 
 
 also she saw here in these mountains a bush 
 which had thorns on it resembling fish-hooks, 
 which the Indians used to catch fish with and 
 she herself has often caught trout with them 
 in the little mountain streams. 
 
 "On the 19th of February, 1838, she 
 reached her father's house, exactly twenty- 
 one months after her capture. She had never 
 seen her little son, James Pratt, since soon 
 after their capture and knew nothing of his 
 fate. She wrote or dictated a thrilling and 
 graphic history of hercapture and the horrors 
 of her captivity, the tortures and hardships 
 she endured, and all the incidents of her life 
 with her captors and observations among the 
 savages. This valuable and little book is now 
 rare, and out of print. The full title of the 
 volume is: ' Narration of the perilous adven- 
 tures, miraculous escapes and sufferings of 
 Rev. James W. Parker, during a frontier 
 residence in Texas of fifteen years. With an 
 important geographical description of the cli- 
 mate, soil, timber, water, etc., of Texas. To 
 which is appended the narration of the cap- 
 ture and subsequent suflTeringsof Mrs. Rachel 
 Plummer, his daughter, during a captivity of 
 twenty-one months among the Comanche In- 
 dians, etc. (18rao., pp. 95 and 35; boards. 
 Louisville, 1844).' 
 
 " In this book she tells the last she saw of 
 Cynthia Ann and John Parker. She died on 
 the 19tli of February, 1839, just one year 
 after reaching home. As a remarkable coin- 
 cidence it may be stated that she was born on 
 the nineteenth, married on the nineteenth, 
 captured on the nineteenth, released on the 
 nineteenth, reached Independence on the nint'- 
 teenth, arrived at home on the ninetecntii, 
 and died on the nineteenth of the month! 
 
 " Her son, James Plummer, after six lot;.: 
 and weary years of captivity and suiruri:;^, 
 during which time he had lived among many 
 
UltiTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 different tribes, and traveled several tliousand 
 miles, was ransomed and taken to Fort Gib- 
 son late in 1842, and reached home in 1843, 
 ill charge of his grandfather, lie became a 
 respected citizen of Anderson county. Doth 
 he and his father are now dead. 
 
 " This still left in captivity Cynthia and 
 John Parker, who as subsequently heard were 
 held by separate bands. The brother and sis- 
 ter thus separated gradually, forgot the lan- 
 guage, manners and customs of their own 
 people, and became thorough Comanches as 
 tlie long years stole slowly away. How long 
 tlic camera of their brains retained the im- 
 pressions of the old home within the old fort, 
 and the loved faces of tlieir pale kindred, no 
 one knows; though it would appear that the 
 fearful massacre should iiave stamjed an im- 
 press indelible while life continued. But the 
 young mind, as the twig, is inclined by pres- 
 ent circumstances, and often forced in a way 
 wholly foreign to its native and original bent. 
 
 "John grew up with the semi-nude Co- 
 manche boys of his own age, and played at 
 hunter and warrior with the popgun, made 
 of elder-stems, or bows and arrows, and often 
 flushed the chapparal for hare and grouse, or 
 entrapped the finny denizens of the mountain 
 brook with the many peculiar and ingenious 
 devices of the wild man for securing for his 
 repast the toothsome trout which abounds so 
 plentifully in the elevated and delightful re- 
 gion so long inhabited by the lordly Co- 
 manches. 
 
 " When John arrived at manhood he ac- 
 companied a raiding party down the Kio 
 Grande and into Mexico. Among the cap- 
 tives taken was a young Mexican girl of 
 great beauty, to whom the young warrior 
 felt his heart go out. The affection was 
 reciprocated on the part of the fair Dona 
 Juanita, and the two were engaged to be 
 
 married as soon as they should arrive at the 
 Comanche village. Eacli day, as the caval- 
 cade moved leisurely but steadily along, the 
 lovers could be seen riding together and dis- 
 cussing the anticipated pleasures of connubial 
 life, when suddenly John was prostrated by 
 a violent attack of smallpox. The cavalcade 
 could not tarry, and so it was decided that 
 the poor fellow should be left all alone, in 
 the vast Llano Estacado, to die or recover as 
 fate decreed. But the little Aztec beauty 
 refused to leave her lover, insisting on her 
 captors allowing her to remain and take care 
 of him. To this the Indians reluctantly con- 
 sented. With Juanita to nurse and cheer 
 him up, John lingered, lived and ultimately 
 recovered, when, with as little ceremony, 
 perhaps, as consummated the nuptials of the 
 first pair in Eden, they assumed the matri- 
 monial relation, and Dona Juanita's predi- 
 lection for the customs and comforts of civi- 
 lization were sufficiently strong to induce her 
 lord to abandon the wild and nomadic life of 
 a savage for the comforts to be found in a 
 straw- thatched house. 'They settled in 
 Texas,' says Mr. Thrall, the historian of 
 Texas, 'on a stock ranch in the far West.' 
 When the Civil war broke out John Parker 
 joined a Mexican company in the Confeder- 
 ate service and was noted for his gallantry 
 and daring. lie, however, refused to leave 
 the soil of Texas, and would under no cir- 
 cumstances cross the Sabine into Louisiana, 
 lie was still on his ranch across the Rio 
 Grande a few years ago, but up to that time 
 had never visited any of his relatives in 
 Texas." 
 
 CYNTHIA ANN PAEKER. 
 
 The following interesting account is a 
 chapter added to the foregoing story: "Four 
 long years have elapsed since she was cruelly 
 
niSTURT OF TEXAS. 
 
 ti>rn from a inotlier's emlirace and carried 
 into captivity. During this time no tidings 
 have been received of her. Many efforts 
 liave been made to find Iier whereabouts, but 
 witliout success, wlien, in 1840, Colonel Len. 
 Williams, an old and honored Texan, Mr. 
 Stoat, a trader, and an Indian guide named 
 Jack Harry, packed mules with goods and 
 engao;ed in an expedition of private traflic 
 with tlio Indians. 
 
 "On the Canadian river they fell in with 
 Pa-ha-u-ka's band of Comanches, with whom 
 they were peacefully conversant; and with 
 this tribe was Cynthia Ann Parker, who, 
 from the day of her capture, had never 
 seen a white person. She was then about 
 fourteen years of age and had been with the 
 Indians about five years. 
 
 '' Colonel Williams found the Indian into 
 whose family she had been adopted and pro- 
 posed to redeem her, but the Comanche told 
 him all the goods he had would not ransom 
 her, and at the same time ' the firmness of 
 liis countenance,' says Colonel Williams, 
 ' warned me of the danger of further men- 
 tion of the subject.' But old Pa-ha-u-ka 
 prevailed upon him to let them see her. She 
 came and sat down by the root of a tree, and 
 while their presence was doubtless a happy 
 o\ent to the poor, stricken captive, who in 
 her doleful captivity had endured everything 
 but death, she refused to speak a word. As 
 she sat there, musing, perhaps, of distant 
 relatives and friends, and the bereavements 
 at the beginnings and progress of her dis- 
 tress, they employed every persuasive art to 
 evoke some expression. They told her of 
 her playmates and relatives, and asked what 
 message she would send to them, but she 
 had doubtless been commanded to silence, 
 and, with no hope or prospect to return, was 
 afraid to app'^ar sad or dejected, and, by a 
 
 stoical cfTort in order to prevent future bad 
 treatment, put the best face possible on the 
 matter. But the anxiety of her mind was 
 betrayed by a perceptible opinion on her lip, 
 showing that she was not insensible to the 
 common feelings of humanity. 
 
 " As the years rolled by Cynthia Ann 
 speedily developed the charms of woman- 
 hood, as with the dusky maidens of her 
 companionship she performed the menial 
 offices of drudgery to which savage custom 
 consigns woman, or practiced those little 
 arts of coquetry natural to the female heart, 
 whether she be a belle of Madison Square, 
 attired in the most elaborate toilet from the 
 elite bazaars of Paris, or the half-naked sav- 
 ages with matted locks and claw-like nails. 
 
 "Doubtless the heart of more than one 
 warrior was pierced by the Ulyssean darts 
 fi-om the laughing eyes, or cheered by the 
 silvery ripple of her joyous laughter, and 
 laid at her feet the game taken after a long 
 and arduous chase among the antelope hills. 
 Among the number whom her budding 
 charms brought to her shrine was Peta 
 Nocona, a Comanche war chief, in prowess 
 and renown the peer of the famous and re- 
 doubtable Big Foot, who fell in a desperately 
 contested hand-to-hand encounter with the 
 veteran ranger and Indian fighter, Captain S. 
 P. Ross, now living at Waco, and whose 
 wonderful exploits and deeds of daring fur- 
 nished theme for song and story at the war 
 dance, the council and the camp fire. 
 
 " Cynthia Ann, stranger now to every 
 word of her mother tongue save her own 
 name, became the bride of Peta Nocona, per- 
 forming for her imperious lord all the slav- 
 ish offices which savagism and Indian custom 
 assigns as the duty of a wife. She l.-ore him 
 chililren, and, we are assured, loved him with 
 a tierce passion and wifely devotion; 'for. 
 
U/STOST OF TEXA8. 
 
 some fifteen years after ber capture,' says 
 Victor M. Kose, ' a party of white hunters, 
 including some friends of her family, visited 
 the Comanche encampment, and recognizing 
 Cynthia Ann — probably throngh the medium 
 of her name alone — sounded her as to the 
 dii^agreeableness of a retui-n to her people 
 and the haunts of civilization. She shook 
 lier head in a sorrowful negative, and pointed 
 to her little naked barbarians sporting at her 
 feet, and to the great, greasy, lazy buck sleep- 
 ing in the shade near at hand, the locks of a 
 score of scalps dangling at his belt, and 
 whose first utterance on arousing would be a 
 stern command to his meek, pale-faced wife, 
 though, in truth, exposui-e to the sun and air 
 had browned the complexion of Cynthia Ann 
 almost as intensely as those of the native 
 daughters of the plains and forest.' 
 
 "She retained but the vaguest remem- 
 brance of her people— as dim and fiitting as 
 the phantom of a dream; she was accnstomed 
 now to the wild life she led, and found in its 
 repulsive features charms in which ' upper- 
 tendom' would have proven totally deficient. 
 ' I am happily wedded,' she said to these vis- 
 itors; 'I love my husband, who is good and 
 kind, and my little ones, who too are his, and 
 I cannot forsake them.'" 
 
 This incident, in all its bearings, is so 
 unique an one that it seems highly warrant- 
 able to follow Cynthia's career to the end. 
 About a score of years passed and young 
 Ross, of Waco, had seemingly silenced the 
 Comanches at Antelope hills and Wichita 
 mountains, but it was a false silence, as the 
 writer above quoted shows below: 
 
 "For some time after Koss' victory at 
 the Wichita mountains the Comanches were 
 less hostile, seldom penetrating far down into 
 the settlements. But in 1859-'60 the con- 
 dition of the frontier was truly deplorable. 
 
 The people were obliged to stand in a con- 
 tinued posture of defense, and were in con- 
 tinual alarm and hazard of their lives, never 
 daring to stir abroad unarmed, for small 
 bodies of savages, quick-sighted and accus- 
 tomed to perpetual watchfulness, hovered on 
 the outskirts, and, springing from behind 
 bush or rock, surprised their enemy before he 
 was aware of danger, and sent tidings of their 
 presence in the fatal blow, and after execu- 
 tion of the bloody work, by superior knowl- 
 edge of the country and rapid movements, 
 safely retired to their inaccessible deserts. 
 
 "In the autumn of 1860 the indomitable 
 and fearless Peta ISTocona led a raiding party 
 of Comanches through Parker county, so 
 named in honor of the family of his wife, 
 Cynthia Ann, committing great depredations 
 as they passed through. The venerable Isaac 
 Parker was at that time a resident of Weath- 
 erford, the county seat; and little did he 
 imagine that the chief of the ruthless savao-es 
 
 who 
 
 sprt 
 
 desolation and death on 
 
 every 
 
 side as far as their arms could reach, was the 
 husband of his long-lost niece, and that the 
 commingled blood of the murdered Parkers 
 and the atrocious Comanche now coursed in 
 the veins of a second generation — bound 
 equally by the ties of consanguinity to mur- 
 derer and murdered; that the son of Peta 
 Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker would be- 
 come the chief of the proud Comanches, 
 whose boast it is that their constitutional set- 
 tlement of government is the purest democ- 
 racy ever originated or administered among 
 men. It certainly conserved the object of 
 its institution— the protection and happiness 
 of the people — for a longer period and much 
 more satisfactorily than has that of any other 
 Indian tribe. The Comanches claimed a 
 superiority over the other Texan tribes; and 
 they unquestionably were more intelligent 
 
HlbTOUY OF TEXAJS. 
 
 and courageous. Tlie reservation policy — 
 necessary thougli it be — brings tlieni all to 
 an abject level, the plane of lazy beggars and 
 thieves. The Comanche is most (qualified by 
 nature to receive education and for adapting 
 iiiniself to the requirements of civilization of 
 all the Southern tribes, not excepting even 
 the Cherokees, with their churches, school- 
 iiouses and farms. The Comanciies, after 
 waging an unceasing war for over fifty years 
 against the United States, Texas and Mexico, 
 still nuniber,16,000 souls — afar better show- 
 ing than any other tribe can make, tliough 
 not one but has enjoyed privileges to which 
 tiie Comanche was a stranger. It is a shame 
 to the civilization of the age that a people so 
 susceptible of a high degree of development 
 sliouid be allowed to grovel in the depths of 
 heathenism and savagery. But we are di- 
 gressing. 
 
 "The loud and clamorous cries of the set- 
 tlers along tlie frontier for protection induced 
 tiie Guvernment to organize and send out a 
 regiment under Colonel M. T. Johnson, to 
 take the field for public defense. But these 
 efforts proved of small service. Tlie expedi- 
 tion, though at great expense to the State, 
 failed to find an Indian until, returning, the 
 command was followed by the wily Com- 
 anches, their horses stampeded at night, and 
 most of the men compelled to reach the set- 
 tlements on foot, under great suffering and 
 exposure. 
 
 "Captain -Sul' Ross, who had just gradu- 
 ated from Florence "Wesleyan University, of 
 Alabama, and returned to Texas, was com- 
 missioned a captain of rangers by Governor 
 Sam Houston, and directed to organize a 
 company of sixty men, with orders to repair 
 to Fort Belknap, receive from Colonel John- 
 son all government property, as his regiment 
 was disbanded, and take the field atjainst the 
 
 redoubtable Captain Peta Noeona, and afford 
 the frontier such protection as was possible 
 with his small force. The necessity of vigor- 
 ous measures soon became so pressing that 
 Captain Ross soon determined to attempt to 
 curb the insolence of these implacable ene 
 mies of Texas by following them into their 
 fastnesses and carry the war into their own 
 homes. In his graphic narration of this 
 campaign. General L. S. Ross says: 'As I 
 could take but forty of my men from my 
 post, I requested Captain N. G. Evans, in 
 command of the United States troops at Camp 
 Cooper, to send me a detachment of the 
 Second Cavalry. We had been intimately 
 connected on the Van Uorn campaign, during 
 which I was the recipient of much kindness 
 from Captain Evans, while 1 was suffering 
 from a severe wound received from an Indian 
 in the battle of the Wichita. lie promptly 
 sent me a sergeant and twenty one men well 
 mounted. My force was still further aug- 
 mented by some seventy volunteer citizens, 
 under the command of the brave old frontiers- 
 man, Captain Jack Cureton, of Bosque county. 
 These self-sacrificing patriots, without the 
 hope of pay or regard, left their defenseless 
 homes and families to avenge the sufferings 
 of the frontier peoi)le. With pack mules 
 laden down with necessary siipplies, the ex- 
 pedition marched for the Indian country. 
 
 '"On the 18th of December, 1860, while 
 marching up Pease river, I had suspicions 
 that Indians were in the vicinity, by reason 
 of the buffalo that came running in great 
 numbers from the north toward us, and while 
 my command moved in the low ground 1 
 visited all neighboring high points to make 
 discoveries. On one of these sand hills I 
 found four fresh pony tracks, and, being 
 satisfied that Indian vedettes had just gone, 
 1 galloped forward about a mile to a highei 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 point, and, riding to the top, to my inex- 
 pressible surprise, found myself within 200 
 yards of a Comanche village, located on a 
 small stream winding around the base of the 
 hill. It was a most happy circumstance that 
 a piercing north wind was blowing, bearing 
 with it a cloud of sand, and my presence was 
 unobserved and the surprise complete. By 
 signaling my men as I stood concealed, they 
 reached me witiiout being discovered by the 
 Indians, who were busy packing up prepara- 
 tory to a move. By this time the Indians 
 mounted and moved off north across the 
 level of the plain. My command, with the 
 detachment of the Second Cavalry, had out- 
 marched and become separated from the citi- 
 zen command, which left me about sixty 
 men. In making disposition for attack, the 
 sergeant and his twenty men were sent at a 
 gallop, behind a chain of sand hills, to en- 
 compass them in and cut off their retreat, 
 while with fifty men I charged. The attack 
 was 60 sudden that a considerable number 
 were killed before they could prepare for de- 
 fense. They fled precipitately right into the 
 presence of the sergeant and his men. Here 
 they met with a warm reception, and finding 
 themselves completely encompassed, every 
 one fled his own way, and was hotly pursued 
 and hard pressed. 
 
 " The chief of the party, Peta Nocona, a 
 noted warrior of great repute, with a young 
 girl about fifteen years of age, mounted on his 
 horse behind him, and Cynthia Ann Parker, 
 with a girl child about two years of age in 
 her arms, and mounted on a fleet pony, fled 
 together, while Lieutenant Tom Kelliheir 
 and I pursued them. After running about 
 a mile Kelliheir ran up by the side of 
 Cynthia's horse, and I was in the act of 
 shooting when she held up her child and 
 stopped. I kept on after the chief, and about 
 
 half a mile further, when about twenty 
 yards of him, I fired my pistol, striking the 
 girl (whom I supposed to be a man, as she 
 rode like one, and only her head was visible 
 above the buffalo robe with which she was 
 wrapped) near the heart, killing her instantly, 
 and the same ball would have killed both but 
 for the shield of the chief, which hung down 
 covering his back. When the girl fell from 
 the horse she pulled him off also, but he 
 caught on his feet, and before steadying him- 
 self my horse, running at full speed, was 
 very nearly on top of him, when he was 
 struck with an arrow, which caused him to 
 fall to pitching or ' bucking,' and it was with 
 great difficulty that I kept my saddle, and in 
 the meantime narrowly escaped several 
 arrows coming in quick succession from tjie 
 chief's bow. Being at such disadvantage he 
 would have killed me in a few minutes but 
 for a random shot from my pistol (while I 
 was clinging with my left hand to the pom- 
 mel of my saddle), which broke his right arm 
 at the elbow, completely disabling him. My 
 horse then became quiet, and I shot the chief 
 twice through the body, whereupon he de- 
 liberately walked to a small tree, the only 
 one in sight, and leaning against it began to 
 sing a wild, weird song. At this time my 
 Mexican servant, who had once been a captive 
 with the Comanches and spoke their lan- 
 guage fluently as his mother tongue, came 
 up in company with two of my men. I then 
 summoned the chief to surrender, but he 
 promptly treated every overture with con- 
 tempt, and signalized this declaration with a 
 savage attempt to thrust me with his lance 
 which he held in his left hand. I could only 
 look upon him with pity and admiration. 
 For, deplorable as was his situation, with no 
 chance of escape, his party utterly destroyed, 
 his wife and child captured in his sight, he 
 
UlSTOHY OF TEXAJS. 
 
 was undaunted by the fate tliat awaited him, 
 and as he seemed to prefer death to life, I 
 directed tiic Mexican to end his misery by a 
 cliargc of buckshot froiu the gun wliich he 
 carried. Taking up his accoutermeiits, wiiich 
 1 subsequently sent to Governor Houston, to 
 be deposited in the archives at Austin, we 
 rode back to Cynthia Ann and Kelliheir, and 
 found him bitterly cursing himself for hav- 
 ing run his pet horse so hard after an 'old 
 squaw.' She was very dirty, both in her 
 scanty garments and person. But as soon as 
 I looked on her face, I said: 'AVhy, Tom, 
 this is a white woman: Indians do not have 
 blue eyes.' On the way to the village, where 
 my men were assembling with the spoils, and 
 a large caballada of ' Indian ponies,' I dis- 
 covered an Indian boy about nine years of 
 age, secreted in the grass. Expecting to be 
 killed he began crying, but I made him 
 mount behind me and carried him along. 
 And when in after years I frequently pro- 
 posed to send him to his people, he steadily 
 refused to go, and died in McLennan county 
 last year. 
 
 " After camping for the night Cynthia 
 Ann kept crying, and thinking it was caused 
 from fear of death at our hands, I had the 
 Mexican tell her that we recognized her as 
 one of our own people, and would not harm 
 her. She said two of her boys were with her 
 when the fight began, and she was distressed 
 by the fear that they had been killed. It so 
 happened, however, both escaped, and one of 
 them, ' Quanah,' is now a chief. The other 
 died some years ago on the plains. I then 
 asked her to give me the history of her life 
 among the Indians, and the circumstances 
 attending her capture by them, which she 
 promptly did, in a very sensible manner. 
 And as the facts detailed corresponded with 
 the massacre at Parker's Fort, I was im- 
 
 pressed with the belief that she was Cynthia 
 Ann Parker. Returning to rtiy post, I sent 
 her and child to the ladies at Cooper, where 
 she could receive the attention her situaliun 
 demanded, and at the same time dispatched 
 a messenger to Colonel Parker, her uncle, 
 near Weatherford; and as I was called to 
 Waco to n)eei Governor Houston, I left 
 directions for the Mexican to accompany 
 Colonel Parker to Cooper as interpieter. 
 When he reached there her identity was soon 
 discovered to Colonel Parker's entire satis- 
 faction and great happiness." (This battle 
 broke the spirit of the Comanches for Texas.) 
 
 "Upon the arrival of Colonel Parker at 
 Fort Cooper interrogations were made her 
 through the Mexican interpreter, for she re- 
 membered not one word of English, respect- 
 ing her identity; but she had forgotten abso- 
 lutely everything apparently at all connected 
 with her family or past history. 
 
 "In despair of being able to reach a con- 
 clusion, Colonel Parker was about to leave 
 when he said, 'The name of my niece was 
 Cynthia Ann.' The sound of the once fa- 
 miliar name, doubtless the last lingering 
 memento of the old home at the fort, seemed 
 to touch a responsive chord in her nature, 
 when a sign of intelligence lighted up her 
 countenance, as memory by some mystic in- 
 spiration resumed its cunning as she looked 
 up and patting her breast, said, « Cynthia Ann I 
 Cynthia Ann!' At the wakening of this 
 single spark of reminiscence, the sole gleam 
 in the mental gloom of many years, her coun- 
 tenance brightened with a pleasant smile in 
 place of the sullen expression which habitu- 
 ally characterizes the looks of an Indian re- 
 strained of freedom. There was no longer any 
 doubt as to her identity with the little girl 
 lost and mourned so long. It was in reality 
 Cynthia Ann Parker, but oh, so changedl 
 
niSTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 '< But as savage-like and dark of complex- 
 ion as she M'as, Cynthia Ann was still dear to 
 her overjoyed uncle, and was welcomed home 
 |py relatives with all the joyous transports 
 witii which the prodigal son was hailed upon 
 his miserable return to the parental roof. 
 
 " A thorough Indian in manner and looks 
 as it she had been so born, she sought every 
 opportunity to escape and had to be closely 
 watched for some time. Her uncle carried 
 herself and child to his home, then took tiiein 
 to Austin, where the secession convention 
 was in session. Mrs. John Henry Brown and 
 Mrs. N. C. Raymond interested themselves 
 in her, dressed her neatly, and on one occasion 
 took her into the gallery of the hall while the 
 convention was in session. They soon realized 
 that she was greatly alarmed by the belief 
 that the assemblage was a council of chiefs, 
 sitting in judgment on her life. Mrs. Brown 
 beckoned to her husband, Hon. John Henry 
 Brown, who was a member of theconvention, 
 who appeared and succeeded in reassuring her 
 that she was among friends. 
 
 " Gradually her mother tongue came back, 
 and with it occasional incidents of her child- 
 hood, including a recognition cf the venerable 
 Mr. Anglin, and perhaps one or two others. 
 
 " The Civil war coming on soon after, 
 which necessitated the resumption of such 
 primitive arts, she learned to spin, weave and 
 perform the domestic duties. She proved 
 quite an adept in such work and became a very 
 useful member of the household. The ruling 
 passion of her bosom seemed to be the 
 maternal instinct, and cherished the hope that 
 when the war was concluded she would at 
 last succeed in reclaiming her two children, 
 who were still with the Indians. But it was 
 written otherwise and Cynthia Ann and her 
 little barbarians were called hence ere the 
 cruel war was over. She died at her brother's 
 
 in Anderson county, Texas, in 1864, preceded 
 a short time by her sprightly little daughter, 
 Prairie Flower. Thus ended the sad story of 
 a woman far-famed along the border." 
 
 Only one of her sons, Quanah, lived to 
 manhood. He became one of the four chiefs 
 of the Cohoite Comanches, who were placed 
 on a reservation in Indian Territory in 1874, 
 and became the most advanced of Comanche 
 tribes in the arts of civilized life. Qnanah 
 learned English and soon conformed to 
 American customs. A letter written in 1886 
 thus described his surroundings: " We 
 visited Quanah in his teepe. He is a fine 
 specimen of physical manhood, tall, muscular, 
 straight as an arrow, gray, look-you-straiglit- 
 through-the-eyes, very dark skin, perfect 
 teeth, and heavy raven-black hair — the envy 
 of feminine hearts — he wears hanging in two 
 rolls wrapped around with red cloth. His 
 hair is parted in the middle; the scalp lock is 
 a portion of hair the size of a dollar, plaited 
 and tangled, signifying, ' If you want tight 
 you can have it.' 
 
 " Quanah is now camped with a thousand 
 of his subjects at the foot of some hills near 
 Anadarko, Indian Territory. Their white 
 teepos, and the inmates dressed in their bright 
 blankets and feathers, cattle grazing, children 
 playing, lent a weird charm to the lonely, 
 desolate hills, lately devastated by prairie 
 lire. 
 
 " He has three squaws, his favorite being 
 the daughter of Yellow Bear, who met his 
 death by asphyxiation at Fort Worth in De- 
 cember last. He said he gave seventeen 
 horses for her. His daughter Cynthia, named 
 for her grandmother, Cynthia Parker, is an in- 
 mate of the agent's house. Quanah was 
 attired in a full suit of buckskin, tunic, leg- 
 gins and moccasins elaborately trimmed in 
 I beads, and a red breech cloth with ornamental 
 
HISTOnr OF TEXAS. 
 
 end hanging down. A very handsome and 
 txpensive Mexican blanket was thrown 
 around his body; in his ears were little stuffed 
 birds. His hair was done with tlie feathers 
 of bright piuniaged birds. He was hand- 
 somer by far than any Ingomarthe writer has 
 ever seen, but there was no squaw fair enongli 
 to personate his Parthenia. His general as- 
 pect, manner, bearing, education, natural in- 
 telligence, show plainly that white blood 
 trickles through his veins. When traveling 
 he assumes a complete civilian's outfit — dude 
 collar, watch and chain, and takes out his ear 
 rings. He, of course, cannot cut off his long 
 iiair, saying that he would no longer be 'big 
 chief.' He has a handsome carriage, drives a 
 pair of matched grays, always traveling with 
 one of his squaws (to do the chores). Minna- 
 a ton-cha is with him now. She knows no 
 English, but while her lord is conversing 
 gazes dumb with admiration at ' my lord,' 
 ready to obey his slightest wish or command." 
 
 A COMANCHE PRINCESS. 
 
 The following beautiful story is from the 
 pen of General H. P. Bee: 
 
 In the spring of 1843, the Republic of 
 Texas, Sam Houston being president, dis- 
 patched Colonel J. C. Eldridge, Commis- 
 sioner of Indian affairs, and Tom Torrey, 
 Indian agent, to visit the several wild tribes 
 on the frontier of Texas and induce them to 
 make peace and conclude treaties with the 
 Kopublic. General H. P. Bee accompanied 
 the expedition, but in no official capacity. 
 At the house of a frontier settler, near where 
 the town of Marlin stands, the commissioners 
 received two Comanche children who had 
 been captured by Colonel Moore, a famous 
 and gallant soldier of the old Republic, in 
 
 one of his forays on the upper waters of the 
 Colorado in 1840. These children had been 
 ordered to be returned to their people. One 
 of them was a boy fourteen years old, named 
 Bill Hockley, in honor of ^'^e veteran Colo- 
 nel Hockley, tlien high in command of the 
 army of the Republic, who had adopted the 
 boy and taken care of him: the other was a 
 girl eleven years old, named Maria. The 
 parting of the little girl from the good people 
 who had evidently been kind to her was very 
 affecting; she cried bitterly and begged that 
 she would not be carried away. She had 
 forgotten her native tongue, spoke only one 
 language, and had the same dread of an In- 
 dian that any other white children had. Her 
 little nature had been cultivated by the hand 
 of civilization until it drooped at the thought 
 of a rough Indian life as a delicately nurtured 
 flower will droop in the strong winds of the 
 prairies. There being no excuse, however, 
 for retaining her among the white people, a 
 pretty gentle Indian pony, with a little side- 
 saddle, was procured for her, and she was 
 taken from her friends. 
 
 On arriving at a camp in Tanaconi, above 
 where Waco is now located, the party met 
 the first Indians, a mixture of Delawares, 
 Wacoes, etc. The appearance of the little 
 girl on horseback created great amusement 
 among the Indians. She was so shy and 
 timid, and the very manner in which she was 
 seated on the side-saddle was different from 
 that of the brown-skinned women of her 
 race. The next morning after the arrival at 
 the camp, Ben Hockley came out in full In- 
 dian costume, having exchanged his citizen 
 clothes for buck-skin jacket, pants, etc. He 
 at once resumed his Indian habits, and from 
 that day, during the long trip of months, Bill 
 was noticed as rhe keenest eye of the party. 
 He could tell an object at a greater distance, 
 
IlISTOUY OF TEXAS. 
 
 for example, a horse from a buffalo, a horse 
 without a rider, etc., quicker than an Indian 
 in camp. 
 
 The journey proceeded with its varied 
 scenes of excitement, danger and interest for 
 four months, and the barometer of the party 
 was the little Comanche jirincess. The ob- 
 ject of the expedition was to see the head 
 chief of the Comanches, and of course, as the 
 search was to be made in the boundless prai- 
 ries, it was no easy or certain task; yet they 
 could tell the distance from or proximity to 
 the Comanches by the conduct of the little 
 girl. "When news came that the Indians were 
 near, the childish voice would not be heard 
 in its joyous freshness, caroling round the 
 tire; but when news arrived that they could 
 not be found, her spirits would revive, and 
 her joy would show itself in gambols as 
 merry as those of the innocent fawn that 
 sports around its mother on the great bosom 
 of the prairie. 
 
 At last the goal was reached, and the party 
 was in the Comanche camp, the village of 
 Pay-ha-hu-co, the head chief of all the Com- 
 anches. Maria's time had come, but the 
 little girl tried to avoid notice and kept as 
 close as possible. Her appearance, however, 
 was the cause of great sensation, and a few 
 days fixed the fact that she was the daughter 
 of the former head chief of the nation, who 
 died on the forks of the Brazos, from wounds 
 received at the battle of Plum creek in 1840. 
 Thus, unknown to her or themselves, they had 
 been associating with the royal princess, No- 
 sa-co-oi-ash, the long-lost and beloved child 
 of the nation. This extraordinary good luck 
 for the little girl brought no assuagement to 
 her grief. Her joy was gone. She spoke 
 not a word of Comanche, and could not recip- 
 rocate the warm greetings she received. 
 
 On arriving at the village. Bill Hockley 
 
 determined that he would not talk Comanche, 
 although he spoke it perfectly well, not hav- 
 ing, like Maria, forgotten his native language. 
 During the week they remained in the village. 
 Bill, contrary to his usual custom, kept close 
 to the party, and did not speak a word to 
 those around him; nor could he be induced 
 to do so. On one occasion a woman brought 
 a roasting ear, which was of great value in 
 her eyes, as it had come probably 150 miles, 
 and presented it to Bill, who sat in one of 
 the tents. The boy gave not the slightest at- 
 tention to the woman or her gift, but kept 
 his eye fixed on the ground. Finally she put 
 the roasting ear under his eyes, so that as he 
 looked down he must see it. Then, talking 
 all the time, she walked off and watched 
 him. But Bill, from under his eyes, noted 
 her movements, and not until she was out of 
 sight did he get up and say, " That ugly old 
 woman is not mammie, but I will eat her 
 roasting ear." 
 
 When the chief came home (he was ab- 
 sent for several days after the party arrived), 
 he asked to see the children; and when they 
 were presented he spoke to Bill in a very 
 peremptory tone of voice, and Bill at once 
 answered, being the first word of Comanche 
 he had spoken since his arrival. This broke 
 the ice, and the boy went among his people, 
 not returning to his white friends until he 
 was wanted to take part in the ceremony of 
 being finally delivered over to his tribe, and 
 afterward never going to tell them good by. 
 So there and then Bill Hockley passed from 
 the scene. 
 
 The day before the grand council with the 
 Comanches, the skill and ingenuity of the 
 party of the three white men were taxed to 
 their fullest extent to make a suitable dress 
 for the Comanche princess, whose clothes, it 
 may be supposed, had become old and shabby 
 
nisrORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 Their lady friends would have been vastly 
 Hmueed at tlieir eiTorts. There was no crin- 
 oline, corset, pull-back, wasp- waist or Dolly 
 Varden to be sure. Whether the body was 
 too long or too short, we are unable to say ; 
 but it was one or the other! Tiie skirt was 
 a success, Int the sleeves would not work: so 
 they cut them off at the elbow. The next 
 morning they dressed the little princess in a 
 flaming-red calico dress, put strings of brass 
 beads on her neck, brass rings on her arms, 
 a wreath of prairie flowers on her head, tied 
 a red ribbon around her smooth, nicely 
 plaited hair, and painted her face with ver- 
 milion, until slie looked like the real princess 
 that she was. All this, however, was no 
 pleasure to poor Maria; she was like a lamb 
 dressed in flowers for the sacrifice. 
 
 Finally the time came wlien, in the full 
 council. Colonel Eldridge stood holding the 
 hands of the two children in front of the 
 chief, and said to him that as an evidence of 
 the desire of the great white Father (Hous- 
 ton) to make peace, and be friendly with the 
 great Comanche nation, he sent them two 
 children, captives in war, back to their peo- 
 ple. After these words he attempted to 
 place the hands of both in the extended hand 
 of the chief; but at that moment the most 
 distressing screams burst from Maria. She 
 ran behind Colonel Eldridge, and begged him 
 for God's sake not to give her to those peo- 
 ple, to have mercy, and not to leave her. 
 Then the poor child fell on her knees and 
 shrieked, and clung to him in all the mad- 
 ness of despair. A death-like silence pre- 
 vailed in the council. The Indians stood by 
 in stern stoicism, the voices of the white men 
 were silent with emotion, and nothing but 
 the cries of the poor lamh of sacrifice pierced 
 the distance of the bloom-scented prairies. 
 Hei white friends, as soon as possible, at- 
 
 tempted to quiet the child. Of course the 
 comforting words were spoken in their own 
 language, but they were evidently understood 
 by all, for theirs was the language of nature. 
 Finding their efforts useless, the chief said: 
 "This is the child of our long-mourned chief; 
 she is of our blood; her aged grandmother 
 stands ready to receive her; but she ha« for- 
 gotten her people. She does not want to 
 come to us; and if the great white chief only 
 sent her for us to see that she is fat and well 
 cared for, tell him I thank him, and she can 
 go back." 
 
 This was an opportunity; and General Bee 
 suggested to Colonel Eldridge to save the 
 child; but, although the latter's heart was 
 bursting with grief and sympathy, his sense 
 of duty told him his work was dnished, and 
 he replied to the chief, as follows: "I have 
 been ordered to give up this child. I have 
 done so, and my duty is fulfilled. But you 
 see she is no longer a Comanche. Child in 
 years when she was taken from you by the 
 stern hand of war, she has learned the Ian 
 guage of another people, and I implore you 
 to give her to me, and let me take her to my 
 home and care for her all the days of my life." 
 "No," said the chief; "if she is my child I 
 will keep her." He swung her roughly be- 
 hind him into the arms of the old grand- 
 mother, who bore her screaming from the 
 council tent; and thus the princess was de- 
 livered to her people; and the last sound the 
 party heard on leaving that Comanche camp 
 was the wail of the poor, desolate child! 
 
 Years afterward General Bee received a 
 message from Maria, and sent her a few pres- 
 ents by way of remembrance. She had be- 
 come the main interpreter of her nation, and 
 met the white people in council. So it ended 
 well at last. She became an instrument of 
 good, and fulfilled her destiny on the stage 
 
BISTORT OP TEXAS. 
 
 of action for which she was born. But the 
 remembrance of the bright but desolate child, 
 and her prayers and tears when she was 
 forced to be left with her stranger people, is 
 fresh in the memory of at least one of the 
 party, and will last him through life. 
 
 We presume that the princess was captured 
 in the tight by Colonel Moore on the Red 
 fork of the Colorado. 
 
 GAME ANIMALS. 
 
 George J. Durham, of Austin, a number 
 of years ago enumerated the following as the 
 chief gatoe animals of Texas: 
 
 Buffalo (formerly), elk, black-tailed deer, 
 antelope, hare, rabbit, red and fox squirrels, 
 turkey, prairie chicken, quail ("partridge"), 
 the whooping and the sand-hill cranes, the 
 American and trumpeter swans, the bav 
 goose, brant, snow goose (common or Cana- 
 dian), etc., blue-winged teal, the shoveler, 
 widgeon, green-winged teal, pintail, gray 
 duck, ring-necks, canvas-back, mallard and 
 possibly some other species of ducks, wood- 
 cock, plover, curlew, tatler, sanderling, etc. 
 
 It would scarcely be appropriate here to 
 enumerate the habits of these various animals, 
 their seasons of immigration and emigration, 
 etc., as such matters come more properly 
 within the domain of scientific and sports- 
 men's works. Hunters' stories constitute 
 interesting reading, but are not properly the 
 matter of the history of a State; but we will 
 venture to relate one, as follows: 
 
 FEARFUL ENOOUNTEE WITH A BEAR. 
 
 " Returning home from one of my monthly 
 tours under the burning snn of August," 
 says Elder Z. N. Morrill, "I found myself 
 greatly exhausted in consequence of a ride of 
 
 100 miles from Providence Church, Navarro 
 county, north of Chambers creek. After a 
 little rest I mounted my horse, gun in hand, 
 with a view first to look after the farm, and 
 secondly, if possible, to get a deer or turkey, 
 as fresh meat was called for. The farm was 
 in the Brazos bottom, and at this season of 
 the year the weeds were from four to six feet 
 high. Passing around the field, I watched 
 every motion of the weeds, expecting to see a 
 deer or turkey. Presently my attention was 
 called to my right, and about thirty steps 
 from my path my eyes rested upon the head 
 of an old she-bear, standing upon her hind 
 feet and looking at me. My horse was wild 
 and I dared not shoot from the saddle. Leap- 
 ing to the ground as quickly as possible, I 
 leveled my rifle at the fearful object, which 
 then suddenly disappeared. Immediately the 
 weeds nearer by began to shake, and two 
 cubs, not more than ten feet from me, ran up 
 a hackberry tree. Resting among the limbs, 
 they turned their anxious eyes on me. The 
 old bear was gone; and very deliberately I 
 tied up my horse, and with a smile on my 
 face and none but the cubs and the God of 
 the universe in hearing, I said, I am good for 
 you, certain. As I was about pulling the 
 trigger the case of Davy Crockett flashed into 
 my mind when he shot the cub and the old 
 bear came upon him with his gun empty. 
 With that distinguished hunter I had gone 
 on a bear chase in Tennessee. 
 
 " Well was it that I thought of him at this 
 moment, for I had not even a knife or a dog 
 to help me in my extremity; and as, unlike 
 the king of Israel, I did not feel able to take 
 the bear by the beard, I lowered my gun and 
 unsprung the trigger. Just then an angry 
 snarl fell upon my ears a short distance away. 
 The old bear was after me. The weeds 
 cracked and shook, and she stood npoc her 
 
HISTOBT OF TEXAS. 
 
 hind feet, walking toward me, swaying her 
 body right and left. Iler hair was all stand- 
 ing on end and iier ears laid back, presenting 
 a friglitful appearance. Life was pending on 
 ti>e contest. Either Z. JS\ Morrill or that 
 bear had to die. The only chance was to 
 make a good shot. The bear was now not 
 more than forty feet from me, and steadily 
 advancing. Remembering that I had but 
 the one slim chance for my life, depending 
 on tlie one gun-cap and the faithfulness of 
 my aim, I found I had the ' buck ague.' 1 
 had faced cannon in the battle-field, but never 
 did I feel as when facing that bear. I grasped 
 the gun, but the tighter I grasped the worse 
 I trembled. The bear was now less than 
 twenty feet away, walking straight on her 
 hind legs. By moving the gun up and down 
 I finally succeeded in getting in range of her 
 Uody, but not until the animal was within ten 
 ftet of me did I get an aim upon which I was 
 willing to risk a shot! The bear was in the 
 not of springing when 1 tired. At the crack 
 of the gun, the bear sprang convulsively to 
 one side and fell. 1 then re-loaded and killed 
 the cubs." 
 
 YELLOW FEVEE. 
 
 The year 1867 was probably the worst sea- 
 son for yellow fever that Texas ever saw. 
 About tliirty interior towns and villages suf- 
 fered an a|>palling mortality. It first made 
 its appearance at Indianola, early in July, — 
 which was probably the earliest for that 
 year in the United States. Within the first 
 few weeks it proceeded in its devastating 
 march, in turn, to Galveston, Lavaca, Vic- 
 toria, Goliad, Hempstead, Cypress, Navasota, 
 Millican, Brenham, Chapel Hill, La Grange, 
 Bastrop, Alleyton, Long Point, Courtney, 
 Anderson, Huntsville, Liberty, Lynchburg 
 
 and many smaller places. It was said to have 
 been successfully excluded from Kichmond 
 and Columbus by a rigid quarantine, and also 
 from Brownsville and Anderson till a very 
 late period, though it finally broke out in 
 both of the latter places. 
 
 The mortality was very great. In Gal- 
 veston, for example, out of a total of 1,332 
 deaths reported during the epidemic, 1,134 
 were from yellow fever. In llarrisburg and 
 some other towns, considerably more than 
 half the cases were fatal; in other ])lace6, 
 half or a little less. Some cases of distress 
 and lack of care were truly heart-rending. 
 
 DAWSON AND SIMS. 
 
 Frederick Dawson, of Baltimore, Maryland, 
 who helped Texas with money in her early 
 struggles, was a jovial gentleman with huge 
 proportions, and used to come to Austin dur- 
 ing the sessions of the legislature after 
 annexation, to press his claims for settlement 
 with the State of Texas. He was a jolly 
 companion, a good liver, very fond of brown 
 stout, and had a laugh which waked the 
 echoes around to a marvelous distance. 
 
 In the amplitude of his proportions and 
 the magnitude of his laugh Dawson was 
 rivaled by Bart Sims, a resident of the Colo- 
 rado valley. They had never met before the 
 occasion under consideration; consequently 
 their points of resemblance were unknown to 
 each other. Upon this day, as they chanced 
 to be in town at the same time, the young 
 men of the place conceived the sportive notion 
 of having Dawson and Sims laugh for a 
 wager. Drinks for the whole population 
 were staked upon the result, judges were 
 chosen and the cachinnation commenced. 
 
 Never before or since has there been such 
 a merry scene in Texas. For half an hour 
 
n I STORY or TEXAS. 
 
 the log houses within, and the hills around, 
 the seat of government echoed and re-echoed 
 to laugliter of the most thundering descrip- 
 tion. Dogs, pigs, chickens and litcle chil- 
 dren ran away terrified; and men, women and 
 tiie youth who did not know what was the 
 matter poked their lieads out of the doors 
 and windows in wonderment. Soon the by- 
 standers became infected with the fun of the 
 tiling, joined in the loud smile, and from the 
 head of Congress avenue to its foot the street 
 was one astounding roar. 
 
 At one moment the star of Sims would ap- 
 pear to be in the ascendant, but the next 
 instant Dawson would gather himself for a 
 mighty effort and roll out a peal that would 
 drown out the neigh of a horse or bray of an 
 ass. The umpires gave their decision in 
 favor of Dawson. 
 
 "Well, boys," said Sims, after the result 
 was announced, "he (pointing to Dawson) 
 laughs to the tune of half a million, while I 
 
 hav'ut got a d d cent to laugh on." This 
 
 was a good hit for Sims, as he was not a man 
 of wealth, and the laugh now turned in his 
 favor, while his antagonist stood the treat 
 with his usual good nature. 
 
 TEXAS VETERAN ASSOCIATION. 
 
 This association is composed of the sur- 
 vivors of the Texas revolution, the men who 
 conquered the armies of Santa Anna and 
 wrested this vast empire from the dominion 
 of Mexico. 
 
 Its object is to "perpetuate the memories 
 of men and measures that secured and main- 
 tained liberty and independence to the Re- 
 public of Texas, and for the promotion of 
 more intimate intercourse and association of 
 the survivors of that memorable struggle." 
 
 Its membership is composed: Ist, of all 
 survivors of the old 300 soldiers and seamen 
 of the Republic of Texas who served against 
 Mexicans and Indians from 1820 to 1845; 
 2d, all citizens appointed by the government 
 or elected to and who discharged positions 
 of trust from 1820 to 1836. 
 
 The association meets annually at such time 
 and place as may be designated by the mem- 
 bers. 
 
 SUFFRAGB. 
 
 The following classes of persons are pro- 
 hibited from voting in this State: 1, All per- 
 sons under twenty- one years of age; 2, idiots 
 and lunatics; 3, paupers supported by any 
 county; 4, persons convicted of any felony; 
 and 5, soldiers, marines and seamen in the 
 service of the United States. 
 
 Every male citizen twenty-one years of age, 
 subject to none of the foregoing disqualifi- 
 cations, who has resided in the State one year 
 next preceding the election and the last six 
 months within the district or county where 
 he offers to vote, is a qualified elector. 
 
 EXEMPTIONS FROM TAXATIOW. 
 
 Farm products in the hands of the pro- 
 ducer and family supplies for home and farm 
 use. 
 
 Household and kitchen furniture to the 
 value of $250, including a sewing machine. 
 
 All annual pensions granted by the State. 
 
 All public property. 
 
 Lands used exclusively for graveyards or 
 grounds for burying the dead, unless held by 
 persons or corporations for pi'ofit. 
 
 Buildings and lands attached thereto be- 
 longing to charitable or educational institu- 
 tions and used exclusively for charitable or 
 educational purposes. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 BXEMmONS FROM FORCED SALE. 
 
 A homestead worth $5,000 exclusive of im- 
 provements, if in a town or city; if in tlie 
 country, 200 acres, including improvements 
 and crops growing thereon, except for part or 
 all of the purchase money thereof, the taxes 
 due thereon, or for material used in con- 
 structing improvements thereon, and in this 
 last case only when the work and material 
 are contracted for in writing, with the 
 consent of the wife given in the same manner 
 as is required in making a sale and con- 
 veyance of the homestead. 
 
 All household and kitchen furniture, and 
 all provision and forage on hand for home 
 consumption. 
 
 Any lot or lots in a cemetery for the 
 purpose of sepulture. 
 
 All implements of husbandry, and all 
 tools, apparatus and books belonging to any 
 trade. 
 
 The family library and all family portraits 
 and pictures. 
 
 Five milch cows and their calves, and two 
 yoke of work oxen, with necessary yokes and 
 chains. 
 
 One gun, two horses and one wagon, one 
 carriage or buggy, and all saddles, bridles, 
 and harness necessary for the use of the 
 family. 
 
 Twenty head of hogs and twenty head of 
 sheep. 
 
 All current wages for personal services. 
 
 TEXAS AT THE WOKLd's FAIR OF 1893. 
 
 Were it not for an implied inhibition in 
 the present State constitution, made in haste 
 to cover more ground than was probably 
 intended, Texas would have surprised the 
 
 world at the great Columbian Exposition at 
 Chicago with exhibits of her vast resources 
 and present stage of development. Possibly 
 she would have surpassed every other State 
 in the Union, if not every country in tliis 
 wide world, as a favorable section for immi- 
 gration, which she could have easily done 
 had it not been for tliat fatal claufe in her 
 constitution and the political collisions which 
 it occasioned between the granger and anti- 
 granger element of the people. 
 
 A tremendous effort was made by a few of 
 the most zealous friends of Texas to have a 
 respectable and worthy exhibit at Chicago. 
 despite the obstacles just mentioned, but ail 
 proved abortive except the movement inau- 
 gurated by the two private organizations 
 denominated the Gentlemen's World's Fair 
 Association of Texas and the Texas Women's 
 World's Fair Exhibit Association, all the 
 work being devolved upon the latter, headed 
 by the brave and executive Mrs. Benedette 
 B. Tobin, of Austin, who was elected presi- 
 dent of the board of managers and took 
 charge of the Texas State building at the 
 fair. The career of the enterprise is a long 
 story, but remarkable from the fact that it 
 was successfully carried through by Southern 
 ladies. This was probably tlie greatest 
 undertaking by women of the South in the 
 history of the whole country. They suc- 
 ceeded in obtaining subscriptions from various 
 parties in the cities and towns throughout 
 the State, until they raised sutticient funds to 
 place upon the fair grounds at Chicago the 
 best arranged State building there, at a final 
 cost of about 128,000; and it was really a 
 magnificent structure, even in comparison 
 with all the other State buildings, whic' 
 were erected under appropriations from 
 respective general State treasuries, 
 architect was J. Riely Gordon, of 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 245 
 
 Antonio. Considering that the ladies did 
 not commence work until the August pre- 
 ceding the opening of the fair, the grand 
 success of the enterprise seems still more 
 remarkable. 
 
 A splendid oil painting representing a life- 
 sized equestrian statue of General Houston, in 
 the act of giving orders in action on the battle- 
 field at San Jacinto, adorned the wall in the 
 rear of the rostrum of the building. 
 
 The officers of the association were: Mrs. 
 Benedette B. Tobin, President; Mrs. J. C. 
 Terrell, Mrs. W. F. Ladd and Mrs. E. A. 
 Fry, Vice Presidents; Miss Mary J. Palm, 
 Secretary; S. J. T. Johnson, Superintendent 
 of the State building; Board of Directors: 
 Mes. B. B. Tobin, J.W. Swayne, J.L.Henry, 
 J. M. Burroughs, E. M. House, A. V. Doak, 
 A. D. Hearne, C. F. Drake and Val C. 
 Giles; Vice Presidents at Large: Mes. John 
 W. Stayton, R. R. Gaines, John L. Henry, 
 George W. Tyler, George Clark, Ella Scott, 
 Ella Stewart, E. M. House, W. W. Leake, 
 C. F. Drake, J. B. Scruggs, Wm. H. Rice, 
 Mollie M. Davis and MissHallie Halbert. 
 
 Besides the above building, a few enter- 
 prising business men and women contributed 
 a small exhibit, notably Mrs. Mary B. 
 Nickels, of Laredo, who had in the Horticul- 
 tural building probably the grandest cactus 
 e.xhibit ever made in this country. 
 
 ,_/^APOLEON B. ROSS.— The valu- 
 
 I ■ able farm of six hundred acres now 
 
 J y owned by our subject in Bosque 
 
 county has been transformed into 
 
 one of the most comfortable homesteads of 
 
 this section, of which two hundred and fifty 
 
 acres has been brought to a finely cultivated 
 
 condition, and is embellished by a set of 
 
 handsome and substantial farm buildings. 
 In addition to general farming the proprietor 
 is giving considerable attention to the raising 
 of fine stock, including horses, cattle, hogs 
 and mules. A fiourishing orchard and a 
 choice assortment of the smaller fruit trees 
 serve to add to the comfortable appearance 
 of the premises and supply the household 
 with the luxuries of the season. 
 
 Mr. Ross is an intelligent and well in- 
 formed man, although he received but a 
 limited education in his early years, and is 
 one of the representative and solid men of 
 Bosque county, where he has made his 
 home since 1867. He was born in what 
 was then Benton, but now Calhoun county, 
 Alabama, November 8, 1845. The birth 
 of his father, Frederick Ross, occurred in 
 Edgefield county. South Carolina, January 
 22, 1800, and he was the son of John Ross, 
 who was born February 13, 1769, of Irish 
 parentage. On the 6th of December, 1793, 
 the latter wedded Mary Ward, who was of 
 the same age. 
 
 Frederick Ross was married May 3, 1 827, 
 the lady of his choice being Nancy Scurry, 
 who was born September 13, 1809, and 
 was a daughter of Jesse Scurry, who 
 was a prominent slave owner and be- 
 longed to one of the good old families of 
 South Carolina. Mr. Ross with his family 
 later removed to Benton county, Alabama, 
 locating on the Tallapoosa river, near the 
 old Arbacooche gold mines. The parental 
 household included thirteen children, eight 
 sons and five daughters, namely: Thomas; 
 John, who served as a captain in the Thirty- 
 first Alabama Infantry; Newton, who was 
 captain of Company H, Forty-first Georgia 
 Infantry; Cornelia; Sarah; Jesse, who was a 
 member of the Fifty-first Alabama Cavalry, 
 and was killed at the battle of Bentonvilie; 
 
HIS TO in' OF TEXAS. 
 
 Mary; Andrew, deceased; Frederick E., 
 who was captain of a company of sharp- 
 shooters that was selected from Thomas 
 R. Cobb's legion; Napoleon B., Martha, 
 Emma and Augustus H. Their father, who 
 was a successful planter and an earnest 
 Democrat in politics, died in February, 
 1866; and their mother, who long survived 
 him, passed away in 1889, at the age of 
 eighty years. 
 
 The early life of our subject was passed 
 in Alabama, and in October, 1861, he en- 
 listed in Company F, Twenty-second Ala- 
 bama Infantry, with which he served for a 
 time and was then transferred to Company 
 H, Forty-first Georgia Infantry. He was 
 in a number of engagements, including Per- 
 ryville and the siege of Vicksburg until its 
 surrender. He later joined the Eleventh 
 Te.xas Cavalry, and followed the fortunes of 
 that regiment until the final surrender. He 
 was a gallant and brave soldier, ever found 
 at his post of duty. 
 
 In Alabama, on the iSth of July, 1865, 
 Mr. Ross was united in marriage with Miss 
 Eliza A. Bell, an intelligent and cultured 
 lady who belonged to a prominent family. 
 She was born in Georgia and was nine years 
 of age when she accompanied her family to 
 Alabama. Her father, James H. Bell, was 
 also a native of Georgia, and there her 
 mother, who bore the maiden name of Jane 
 Berry, was born. Their eleven children 
 were as follows: Mary C, Lycurgus, 
 Thalestus, Eliza A., Ross, Alice, Largus, 
 Izalia, Alzonia, Justin, Gaston and Sonora. 
 On the 9th of August, 1866, the mother of 
 these children was called to her final rest, 
 and their father passed away January 8, 
 1885, at the age of sixty-seven years. He 
 was a prominent and representative planter, 
 very active in church work, being for many 
 
 years a faithful member of the Methodist 
 denomination. 
 
 In 1867 Mr. Ross with his family started 
 with teams and wagons overland for Te.xas, 
 accompanied by Rev. G. W. Roberts, Tully 
 Caruth and Jesse Barker. After his arrival 
 here in Bosque county he spent the first year 
 near Meridian and the two succeeding j'ears 
 near Flat-top mountain, and then bought 
 his present farm, and settled on it in Decem- 
 ber, 1870. It was then all wild land, but he 
 has transformed it until it is now one of the 
 most productive and highly improved places 
 in the county. The fields are all well fenced 
 and the dwelling is made more attractive by 
 the shade trees which surround it. 
 
 Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Ross, but one died in infancy, and Belle, who 
 was born in 1868, died in 1871. Those 
 living are Frederick Newton, at home; 
 Audella, wife of S. A. Harris, of Killeen, 
 Te.xas; and Stella, at home. The daughters 
 are well educated in both literature and 
 music. Mr. Ross takes a prominent part 
 in church and temperance work, being a 
 zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal 
 church, south, of which he has been trustee, 
 and since reaching his majority has been 
 prominently identified with the Masonic 
 order. He is a wide-awake, enterprising 
 man, of more than ordinary business ability, 
 highly esteemed among all classes of people, 
 and well deserves the success that has 
 crowned his life. 
 
 HNDREW JACKSON GILBREATH 
 is numbered among the earliest set- 
 tlers of Erath county, which he 
 aided in opening up to civilization. 
 He has not only been an eye-witness of the 
 growth and progress of the county from the 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 days of its infancy, but has borne an active 
 part in its development and advancement, 
 and well deserves mention among its i 
 founders. 
 
 Mr. Gilbreath was born in Maury county, 
 Tennessee, on the 15th of February, 1818, 
 and is a son of James and Elizabeth (Baker) 
 Gilbreath. The father was a native of Ken- 
 tucky and a son of John Gilbreath, who was 
 born in South Carolina and was a son of 
 one of the Revolutionary heroes, who served 
 for seven years in the colonial army, val- 
 iantly aiding in the struggle for American 
 independence. John Gilbreath, with his 
 family, emigrated to Kentucky in the pio- 
 neer era of that state, and there he reared 
 his three sons and one daughter. The 
 father of our subject was the second child 
 of this family. He was married in the state 
 of his nativity, and soon after removed to 
 Tennessee, where he followed farming 
 throughout the remainder of his life. 
 
 The youth of A. J. Gilbreath was spent 
 on the old family homestead, where he as- 
 sisted his father until twenty-five years of 
 age, when he went to Arkansas and engaged 
 in the tanning business. He continued his 
 residence in that state until 1855, when he 
 came to Texas, and Erath county has since 
 numbered him among her valued citizens. 
 This region was then but sparsely settled, 
 the homes of the few pioneers being widely 
 scattered. He first took up his residence 
 on Restless creek, below Dublin, where he 
 lived for about four years. During that 
 time he lost all he had through Indian dep- 
 redations. He then removed to South 
 Bosque, where he purchased two hundred 
 acres of land, at three dollars and a half 
 per acre. With characteristic energy he 
 began the improvement of the property, 
 and to-day he owns two hundred and thirty- 
 
 seven acres of fine land, of which sixty acres 
 is under a high state of cultivation and yields 
 to the owner a golden tribute for the care 
 and labor he bestows upon them. His busi- 
 ness dealings have been well conducted, and 
 in his undertakings he has prospered so that 
 he now has a pleasant and commodious 
 home, supplied with the comforts that go to 
 make life worth the living. He has been 
 the architect of his own fortune, and has 
 builded wisely and well. 
 
 Mr. Gilbreath was married on the nth 
 of January, 1846, to Miss Rebecca Turn- 
 bow, a native of Giles county, Tennessee, 
 and a daughter of Chesley and Sabra (Rose) 
 Turnbow, who had formerly resided in South 
 Carolina. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Gil- 
 breath numbered twelve children, but two 
 have now passed away, although eleven of 
 the number reached years of maturity. In 
 order of birth they are as follows: Mary 
 Jane; Sabra Elizabeth; Minerva Louisa; 
 William Chesley; Lucy Caroline; James 
 Isaiah; Sarah Catherine; Rebecca Frances; 
 Susan P., who died at the age of twenty- 
 four years; Andrew Houston; John Frank- 
 lin, who died in infancy; and Geneva Ten- 
 nessee. 
 
 For a half century our subject and his 
 estimable wife have traveled life's journey 
 together as man and wife, sharing with each 
 other the joys and sorrows, the prosperity 
 and adversity, which checker the lives of 
 all. They have ever had the respect of all 
 with whom they have come in contact, and 
 have gained many warm friends who esteem 
 them highly for their many excellencies of 
 character. In his business dealings Mr. 
 Gilbreath has ever been upright and hon- 
 orable, and on the roll of Erath county's 
 best citizens his name deserves a conspicu- 
 ous place. 
 
HISTORV OF TEXAS. 
 
 ©EORGE WASHINGTON LIDIA.- 
 As the river whose deep and steady 
 current, windinj;; among fair land- 
 scapes, past blossoming fields, 
 blessing many people and enhancing the 
 wealth of communities which it touches, af- 
 fords little of that wild and romantic scen- 
 ery which startles the traveler or delight the 
 artist, so those lives which contribute most 
 toward the improvement of a county or 
 state and the well-being of a people are 
 seldom the ones which furnish the most bril- 
 liant passages for the pen of the historian or 
 biographer. There is, in the anxious and 
 laborious struggle for an honorable compe- 
 tence and a solid career of the business man 
 fighting the every-day battle of life, but lit- 
 tle to attract the idle reader of a sensational 
 chapter; but for a mind thoroughly awake to 
 the reality and meaning of human existence, 
 there are noble lessons in the life of a man, 
 who, without other means than a clear head, 
 a strong arm and a true heart, conquers ad- 
 versity, and, toiling on through the work-a- 
 day years of a long career, finds that he has 
 gained not only prosperity but also some- 
 thing far greater and higher, — the deserved 
 respect and esteem of those with whom his 
 years of active life placed him in contact. 
 
 Such a man is the gentleman whose 
 name heads this sketch, who for more than 
 a third of a century has been prominently 
 connected with the history of Erath county. 
 He is a native of Alabama, born in Law- 
 rence county, April 24, 1838. When a 
 child he was left an orphan and practically 
 thrown upon his own resources. He was 
 reared on a farm in his native state until 
 seventeen years of age, when he came to 
 Texas and located in Collin county, where 
 he worked as a farm hand until 1857. He 
 then removed to Hopkins county, where he 
 
 continued his residence until 1859, — the 
 year of his arrival in Erath county. Here 
 he again was employed at farm labor until 
 his marriage, when he began farming on his 
 own account. 
 
 On the 13th of May, 1861, was consum- 
 mated the marriage of Mr. Lidia and Miss 
 Mary Pickard, a native of Tennessee who 
 came with her parents to Texas in 1854, 
 the family locating in Waco, where they 
 resided for a year, then came to Erath 
 county, locating on the farm which is now 
 the home of our subject. Mrs. Lidia lost 
 her own parents during her early girlhood 
 and was adopted into the family of G. R. 
 Pickard, whose name she bore up to the 
 time of her marriage. Our subject began 
 his domestic life on his present homestead 
 and has since carried on agricultural pur- 
 suits. When he took possession of the 
 place the improvements consisted of a little 
 cabin and a cleared tract of ten acres. Acre 
 after acre, however, was soon placed under 
 the plow, and waving fields of grain re- 
 placed the desolate, barren tract, while the 
 boundaries of the farm were extended until 
 its area is twelve hundred acres. Of this 
 two hundred and fifty acres are under a 
 high state of cultivation, and the buildings, 
 fences and other accessories of the model 
 farm indicate the progressive spirit of the 
 owner. 
 
 To Mr. and Mrs. Lidia were born twelve 
 children, all of whom, with one exception, 
 are yet living, namely: John P., of Erath 
 county; W. I. ; Robert Lee; Jane, wife of 
 Lewis Lawson; Thomas Jefferson; Phineas 
 Ewing; Mina, wife of I^uther Bird; Sarah 
 Ida, Richard Coke, George W., Samuel H. 
 and Arthur. Oscar died in infancy. The 
 mother of these children died July 14, 1880, 
 at the age of thirt}-six years. Mr. Lidia 
 
a/'^di/f^ @^^^^ 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 249 
 
 was again married October 27, 1880, his 
 second union being with Miss Nancy Law- 
 son, a native of Kentucky, who came to 
 Erath county when about twenty years of 
 age. There are four children by this union, 
 CeHa Emeline, Pearl, Maud and Blanche. 
 Mrs. Lidia was called to the home beyond 
 this life April 12, 1890, and in April, 1892, 
 Mr. Lidia married Rachel C. Lawson, a 
 cousin of his former wife and also a native 
 of Kentucky. They have two children, Bell 
 and Nettie. 
 
 Mr. Lidia is a member of the Mission- 
 ary Baptist church and is a man whom to 
 know is to respect. He has made his own 
 way in the world unaided and has attained 
 not only a fortune but that more important 
 thing, an untarnished character. 
 
 aOLONEL PHILIP HOWARD, one 
 of the oldest residents of Bosque 
 county, recently died in Meridian, 
 at the advanced age of eighty-two 
 years. After a stirring and remarkable 
 career this heroic man, so closely identified 
 with the early history of Texas, settled 
 down quietly as a citizen, first near San 
 Antonio, Texas, then moved to Lavaca 
 county, this state, in 1842, and finally to 
 Bosque county, in 1855, in the town of 
 Meridian, where his declining years were 
 passed. Here, surrounded by a devoted 
 family, including children, grandchildren and 
 great-grandchildren, this hero of many a 
 battle-field quietly passed over to the ' ' silent 
 majority," after an illness of three days. It 
 is a notable fact that the burial of his earthly 
 remains occurred on his eighty-second birth- 
 day. Considering the hardships he endured, 
 the dangers he encountered, the trials and 
 exposures to which in all the early years of 
 
 his early life he was necessarily exposed, it 
 is surprising that he attained to such a ven- 
 erable age. 
 
 Colonel Howard was born in Louisville, 
 Iventucky, April 7, 18 12. His parents, 
 Gideon and Delilah Howard, moved to Illi- 
 nois when he was a child, and in that state 
 he lived until twenty-one years of age. At 
 that time he emigrated to Texas, which was 
 ever afterward his home. When but a 
 small lad he started out to earn his own 
 living, and being full of life and energy he 
 determined to make his own way in the 
 world without aid from his father. His 
 education, in those primitive times of a new 
 country, was of course very limited, jet he 
 obtained business opportunities, his first 
 experience being in the mercantile line at 
 old Fort Dearborn, now the world renowned 
 city of Chicago, then a mere trading post for 
 Indians and pioneer white settlers. Upon 
 the breaking out of the Black Hawk war 
 young Howard enlisted as a soldier and ren- 
 dered brave service for his country under 
 the command of General William Henry- 
 Harrison, afterward president of the United 
 States. Once during the progress of a bat- 
 tle, the horse he rode was shot from under 
 him, but hestill continued fighting in the field, 
 evincing the courage and perseverance that 
 was a marked feature in his subsequent life. 
 
 Ambitious and adventurous, in 1833, at 
 at the age of twenty-one, he emigrated to 
 Texas, then under Mexican rule. Here, 
 during all those troublous times, he was act- 
 ively engaged. There was a plenty of work 
 for every man to dOj and a plenty of hard- 
 ships and dangers, too. This was three 
 years before Texas first became a republic 
 under Houston. Murderous Indians and 
 cruel, treacherous Mexicans were then con- 
 stantly menacing the settlers and calling for 
 
JIlSTOUr OF TEXAS. 
 
 the exercise of braverj' and sagacity. Young 
 Howard was equal to the situation. Alert, 
 undaunted, he was ready for emergencies 
 and did good service under the republic and 
 also after Texas was admitted into the 
 Union. He was one of the Texan rangers 
 whose services as minute men often saved 
 the settlers from massacre, and were in fact 
 the strongest and most efficient organization 
 in Texas for defense against Indian depre- 
 dations and their murderous raids. 
 
 Colonel Howard waspresent when Santa 
 Anna was brought in a prisoner after the 
 battle of San Jacinto. He was also at the 
 council in San Antonio where a noted Co- 
 manche chief, with his warriors, plotting 
 the extermination of the whites, brought in 
 a part of their white capti\'es, ha\'ing mur- 
 dered the others but concealing the fact, 
 and pretending to have come to the council 
 solely for the purpose of bringing these cap- 
 tives and receiving their ransom. Some 
 years ago the Colonel, sitting at his own 
 quiet fireside, gave a thrilling account of 
 this exciting and tragical encounter that 
 came so near being fatal to all the whites 
 assembled there. 
 
 "Ask the chief where are the other pris" 
 oners he was to bring," was the order given 
 to the interpreter. "I dare not; he will 
 kill me .if I do," was the reply. But there- 
 quest was pushed to a command: "Why 
 are the other prisoners not here .'" The 
 Colonel said the chief was a tall, muscular 
 Indian, with a broad chest. Standing there 
 when the question was asked he raised his 
 arm, struck a resounding blow upon his 
 chest and quick as thought drew out his 
 knife and with a terrific yell killed the inter- 
 preter on the spot! This was the signal for 
 a general fight, and had not the settlers been 
 prepared f(jr a treacherous emergency every 
 
 white person would have been butchered 
 then and there ! 
 
 During the Mexican war Colonel How- 
 ard held the position of commissary, a post 
 of great danger, as the capture of army 
 stores was an important part of a campaign, 
 and his courage and energ\' were often tested 
 severely. 
 
 In May, 1839, Colonel Howard married 
 Mrs. Sarah Stinnett, daughter of George 
 and Isabella Creth. She was a noble wo- 
 man, brave, efficient and affectionate, and 
 their union was a happy one though their 
 early married life was fraught with hardships 
 and dangers. A sketch of her tragic life 
 follows this. By the marriage just men- 
 tioned there were three daughters, — Eu- 
 genie, Minty and Susan. The eldest married 
 Mr. Heath and dned leaving two children. 
 Minty, now Mrs. Greer, resides in Meridian. 
 In her home the Colonel died April 6, 1S94, 
 tenderly cared for by herself and sister, Mrs. 
 Susan Womack, who resides at Morgan, 
 Bosque county. 
 
 When the Centennial Exposition was 
 held in Philadelphia in 1876 complimentary 
 railroad and exposition tickets were sent to 
 Colonel Howard as a mark of respect for 
 his services in behalf of his countr\'; and for 
 his attendance at the recent World's Fair 
 at Chicago a special Pullman car was ten- 
 dered him, — the octogenarian who had 
 fought in the Black Hawk war anil had been 
 a trader at Fort Dearborn, the old military 
 station before Chicago was dreamed of; but 
 he was obliged to decline the honor on ac- 
 count of the infirmity of age. 
 
 The history of his life even after his 
 marriage would of itself be more interesting 
 than a sensational romance, and several 
 experiences even more thrilling. Suffice it 
 to say that in an earlier da)- he took up a 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 number of state farms and was several times 
 driven away by hostile Comanches, at the 
 risk of his life and of the lives of his family. 
 His homes were located near the coast, the 
 interior of the state being then a wilderness. 
 He studied law and at one time was judge 
 of the court in Lavaca county. Through- 
 out his life he was governed by principles of 
 right in his dealings. 
 
 In the death of Colonel Howard Texas 
 loses one of the very few veteran pioneers 
 and patriots that have made her history 
 illustrious. They are passing on. We shall 
 see their like no more. But Texas owes a 
 debt of gratitude to such, who in her days 
 of peril were indeed her heroes and the 
 saviors of this fair heritage. Father How- 
 ard was a lifelong Universalist in his relig- 
 ious belief. ' ' He was never anything else 
 in religious belief or practice," said his 
 daughter, Mrs. Greer. During the danger- 
 ous times of the late civil war he was a 
 Union man to the core and held the integ- 
 rity of the United States government dear 
 to him. He occupied a position as an of^- 
 cer on the frontier on the home guard 
 against Indian raids, when a Union man's 
 life was in special danger, more particularly 
 that of a Union officer. After the war he 
 was appointed superintendent of the Freed- 
 men's Bureau for a number of counties and 
 held the office until it was abolished. 
 
 ( The foregoing sketch is furnished by 
 Mrs. Mary C. Billings, of Hico, the wife of 
 Rev. Mr. Billings.) 
 
 >'T^RS. PHILIP HOWARD, the 
 III heroine, whose maiden name was 
 \ £ ^ Sarah Creth, was born in Illinois, 
 in iSio, and when but a child of 
 fourteen years was married, becoming the 
 
 wife of John Sherry, because unhappy at 
 home with a stepmother. A few years 
 after her marriage she emigrated with her 
 husband to Texas, then a foreign and par- 
 tially unknown country. Only those pos- 
 sessed of an adventurous spirit came from 
 "the States" to this land, then the home 
 of Comanche and other warlike Indians, 
 and ruled by a government which though 
 ostensibly republican was purely despotic in 
 operation, and its people treacherous and 
 cruel. Theexperienceof thisgirl-wifeinTexas 
 was, from the first, trying and full of uncer- 
 tainty and danger. After a married life of 
 five years her husband was killed by the 
 Indians, leaving her with one child, — Joseph 
 Lewis Sherry, — who grew to manhood and 
 reared a family in Texas but is now deceased. 
 Subsequently to the death of John 
 Sherry, his widow married John Hibbins, 
 by whom she had one child. As she could 
 neither read nor write she was unable to 
 communicate with her friends, and conse- 
 quently knew nothing of them after leaving 
 Illinois. Five years had passed when she 
 decided to satisfy a continued longing to visit 
 her father and family at the old home. With 
 her husband's consent she undertook the 
 journey, which she made by boat. On her 
 arrival at her childhood's home she learned 
 that her father was dead and the family 
 scattered, so that she was obliged to return 
 to Texas without having seen her people 
 except two brothers and a half-brother, who 
 accompanied her on her return journey. 
 They were met at the boat by Mr. Hibbins, 
 who had already loaded up and was ready 
 to start for the settlements. The following 
 morning they were attacked by a party of 
 Indians, who murdered the husband and 
 half-brother in her presence and took her 
 and her two children prisoners. 
 
252 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 The young mother, with hereight-months- 
 old child in her arms, was marched along 
 guarded by her demoniacal captors, who, 
 saying she could not walk fast enough 
 carrying her burderi, tore the child from her 
 arms and dashed its brains out against a 
 tree before the agonized mother's eyes and 
 threw the body into the crotch of a tree! 
 Every feeling of her heart, she afterward 
 said, was concentrated into deadly hate and 
 thirst for vengeance. Fear was gone; all 
 thought merged into the one absorbing 
 desire to kill the murderers of her husband 
 and child. 
 
 Onward they went, testing all her pow- 
 ers of endurance to keep up with their hasty 
 march. At night she was surrounded by 
 the savage Indians, who lay near by her On 
 the ground with their hatchets in hand. She 
 had acquired some understanding of the 
 Spanish-Mexican /^r/^)/.? in which the Indians 
 talked, and ascertained that she was not to 
 be kept a prisoner for a ransom but would 
 be killed, while her little boy would be re- 
 tained by them and reared in the tribe. 
 
 Fortunately the second night they en- 
 camped on the bank of a stream. After 
 midnight she arose and slipped out from 
 among them, picked up a tomahawk with 
 the intention of killing two of the savages, 
 but thinking that she might thus awaken the 
 rest, who would then kill her and keep the 
 child, she started away, leaving the little 
 boy. Wading down the creek for a distance 
 to hide her tracks, she found a dense thicket, 
 where she concealed herself. For a few 
 hours she lay concealed there, and could 
 hear the voice of her four-year-old boy cry- 
 ing for her! After making an unsuccessful 
 search for her the Indians started away, tak- 
 ing the opposite direction. After going 
 some distance she heard the lowing of a cow 
 
 and saw one going over the hill, evidently to 
 her calf, which assured her that a habitation 
 was not far away. Leaving the stream she 
 followed the animal and came to a settler's 
 house. Providentially, it appeared, there 
 was a company of rangers there, eating their 
 breakfast while on their way in pursuit of 
 the Indians. Rapidly the escaped captive 
 told her tale of woe, and quick as thought 
 those brave men were in the saddle in hot 
 pursuit of the savages. 
 
 Taking the direction indicated by Mrs. 
 Hibbins, it was not long before they sighted 
 the squad of Indians, now on a rapid flight, 
 knowing that the escape of their captive 
 meant their own danger. Fiends as they 
 were, they had tied Mrs. Hibbins' little boy 
 upon the back of a wild horse, which they 
 then let loose from the band. It was a des- 
 perate case, and perfect marksmen as were 
 those brave rangers, it required all the nerve 
 they possessed to save the little fellow thus 
 ruthlessly doomed by the Indians to a hor- 
 rible death. But a quick dash, a keen eye 
 and a firm hand brought relief; the horse 
 was shot and the child rescued unharmed, 
 while the savages were routed, and a portion 
 of the band were shot! 
 
 About a year after the event just related 
 she married a man named Stinnett, and they 
 had a daughter, who was drowned when two 
 years old, after its father was killed. While 
 on his way to New Orleans to purchase 
 goods and supplies, with a considerable sum 
 of money with him, he was robbed and 
 murdered, probably by two Mexicans and a 
 white man; but no trace of him was ever 
 discovered, though his horse returned and 
 his saddle and saddlebags were afterward 
 found. 
 
 Thus within a few years this brave young 
 woman, having as it were had no childhood, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 253 
 
 experienced trouble, sorrow and suffering 
 which would have killed an ordinary woman. 
 
 In 1839 she married Colonel Philip 
 Howard, and through all the troublous peri- 
 od that followed in Texas history proved a 
 noble woman and a helpmeet indeed in 
 every emergency. She and her family were 
 obliged to abandon their homes several 
 times on account of the hostile Comanches, 
 for whom naturally she cherished a deadly 
 hate. 
 
 Such were the experiences of the early 
 settlers of Texas, whose courage and perse- 
 verance in the face of trials and dangers 
 helped to found this great state and give its 
 people the bravery to achieve such success, 
 — first as a republic and later as a noble ac- 
 cession to our beloved Union. The heroine 
 who had passed through such terrible ex- 
 periences in her younger days, lived to see 
 her children grown and married, and in more 
 peaceful times spent years of domestic hap- 
 piness, beloved by all for her cheerful and 
 kindly spirit, as well as for her courage and 
 bravery in situations that would have caused 
 even the strongest man to shrink appalled 
 under such an experience as hers. 
 
 After a busy and remarkably eventful 
 life this grand woman died, March 28, 1870, 
 a matron of sixty years, whose departure 
 was mourned by a large circle of friends be- 
 sides the members of her immediate family. 
 
 >^UDGE JOHN WEATHERFORD 
 i PARKER, a member of the firm of 
 /• 1 Parker & Chesley, prominent and 
 leading attorneys of Hamilton, Texas, 
 is a native of this state, born in Dallas county 
 October 6, 1859, at Grapevine, and is the 
 son of Lacy and Lou (Russell) Parker. 
 Puring the late civil war his father enlisted 
 
 under General Price in the Confederate 
 army, and died of bilious fever in a hospital 
 at Memphis, Tennessee, in 1864. His 
 mother, with her three children, — JohnW. , 
 Mattie Davis and Mollie Lacy, — went to 
 live with her father, Allen Russell, who in 
 the spring of 1866 removed to Falls county, 
 Texas. 
 
 Our subject received a good common- 
 school education, and at the age of seven- 
 teen returned to his grandfather's, then liv- 
 ing in Hill cftunty, Texas, where he at- 
 tended school for two years. He next 
 accompanied his cousin, Jap Hearne, to 
 Archer county, Texas, taking three hundred 
 head of cattle, and remained there for one 
 year. The following six months were spent 
 in teaching at Arlington, Tarrant county, 
 and for two years engaged in the same 
 occupation at White Chapel. 
 
 Coming to Hamilton county in the fall 
 of 1883, Mr. Parker took charge of a school 
 at Lanham, which he conducted for three 
 months, and then taught four months at 
 Jonesboro, and two years at Boggy, Bosque 
 county. Later he was a student in Hamil- 
 ton College for six months, in which he 
 later taught for the same length of time. 
 Subsequently he again engaged in teaching 
 at Lanham for two years. 
 
 When young, Mr. Parker began reading 
 law, and was admitted to the bar at Stephen- 
 ville, in the fall of 1888. During the same 
 season he was elected prosecuting attorney 
 for Hamilton county, which position he 
 capably filled for two years, and then 
 opened a law office with J. C. George, now 
 of Stephenville, under the firm name of 
 Parker & George. In the fall of 1892 our 
 subject was elected county judge, and served 
 in that position for two years. The same 
 year he formed a partnership with H. E. 
 
254 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Chesley, the present firm being Parker & 
 Cheslej', who do a large law and land busi- 
 ness. 
 
 On the 25th of January, 1891, Mr. 
 Parker was united in marriage with Miss 
 Eloise Nicholson, who was born in McLen- 
 nan county, Te.xas, December 17, 1871, 
 and is the daughter of M. H. Nicholson. 
 She came with her parents to Hamilton in 
 1877. 
 
 For twelve years Mr. Parker has been a 
 member of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
 became a Mason at Hico in 1887, and now 
 belongs to Rock House Lodge at Hamilton. 
 He casts his ballot in support of the men 
 and measures of the Democratic party, and 
 is numbered among the most progressive 
 and enterprising citizens of the county. He 
 made one of the most successful prosecuting 
 attorneys as well as county judges that the 
 county has ever had. He is thoroughly 
 familiar with authority, and never at a loss 
 for a precedent. He has a large circle of 
 warm personal friends, the regard of the 
 entire profession, and has won the respect 
 of all with whom business or social relations 
 have brought him in contact. 
 
 >Y»OSHUA LAWSON HERRINGTON, 
 m M. D., an eminent physician of 
 /• 1 Pottsvillc, Texas, was born July 20, 
 1 86 1, in Jefferson county, Missouri, 
 and is a son of Joshua and Lucinda (Wide- 
 man) Herrington, the former of Irish and 
 the latter of Welsh descent. The parents 
 were also natives of Jefferson county, the 
 birth of the father occurring at Belew's 
 Creek, February 8, 181 1, and the mother 
 at Jones' Creek, June 20, 181 7. By occu- 
 pation he was both a farmer and black- 
 smith, religiously was a member of the 
 
 Missionary Baptist church, and in politics a 
 lifelong Democrat. He passed away Sep- 
 tember 9, 1886, and his wife died January 
 I, 1874. In their family were thirteen 
 children, nine still living, of whom the 
 Doctor is the youngest. 
 
 Bartholomew Herrington, the great- 
 grandfather of our subject, was a pioneer 
 of Lexington, Kentucky, where he erected 
 the first house there that had a shingle roof; 
 and there the grandfather of the Doctor, 
 John Herrington, was born. The latter 
 died in Missouri, in 1865, at the age of 
 eighty-six years. He was the father of four 
 sons, — John C. , James, Samuel and Joshua. 
 Francis Wideman, the maternal grandfather 
 of the Doctor, was a native of South Caro- 
 lina, born near Charleston, but as early as 
 1 8 10 became a resident of Missouri, where 
 he owned a plantation and also worked as a 
 mechanic. In his family were four children, 
 — Matilda, Lucinda, Leonard and Henry. 
 
 In February, 1880, Dr. Herrington left 
 the parental roof and came to Kaufman 
 county, Texas, where he worked as a farm 
 hand ten months for his brother, G. W. 
 Herrington. In December, 1880, he re- 
 turned to Missouri and entered the Salem 
 Academy, in Dent county, that state, where 
 he obtained a good common-school educa- 
 tion. In February, 1882, he returned to 
 Texas and worked as a farm hand until the 
 fall of 1883. During the winter of 1883-4 
 he cut cord-wood four miles south of Ter- 
 rell, Texas. During the spring of 1884 he 
 clerked in a grocery store in Terrell for four 
 months. On August 18, 1884, he came to 
 Hamilton county, Texas, and for two months 
 he ran a stationary engine at a gin in Ham- 
 ilton. In the following November he com- 
 menced teaching school four miles south of 
 Pottsville, and continued to follow that 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 255 
 
 profession in Hamilton and Comanche coun- 
 ties until he began the practice of medicine. 
 In the winter of 1888 he began reading 
 medicine under the instruction of Eargle 
 Brothers, two physicians of Lamkin, Co- 
 manche county, Texas. 
 
 In September following he entered the 
 medical department of the University of 
 Tennessee, at Nashville, where he received 
 the degree of M. D., February 24, 1891. 
 After two months spent at Indian Gap he 
 located at Pottsville, in May, 1891, where 
 he has since successfully engaged in practice, 
 his business extending nine miles east and 
 west, and twelve miles north and south of 
 the village. His thorough knowledge of 
 medicine and skill in surgery have won for 
 him the confidence of the people, and 
 gained him a large and lucrative practice. 
 His religious belief is that held by the 
 Missionary Baptist church, in politics he is 
 an ardent Democrat, and socially is a mem- 
 ber of Hamilton Lodge, I. O. O. F. 
 
 On the 30th of May, 1888, Dr. Herring- 
 ton was united in marriage with Miss Ella 
 Tatum, and they now have three children: 
 Rosa Ella, born March 20, 1890; I my Gene, 
 born January 31, 1892; and Gaillard Law- 
 son, born January 27, 1894. Mrs. Her- 
 rington is the daughter of Walter Marion 
 Tatum, a prosperous farmer of Comanche 
 county, who was born in Hall county, 
 Georgia, October 28, 1841. Her mother, 
 who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth 
 Blevins, was born in Carroll county, Arkan- 
 sas, and is the daughter of Luke and 
 MaHssa (Mellock) Blevins. 
 
 William Tatum, the grandfather of Mrs. 
 Herrington, was born in Buncombe count)'. 
 North Carolina, October i, 1805, and died 
 in Comanche county, Texas, February 17, 
 1884, In 1844 he removed to Alabama, 
 
 three years later became a resident of 
 Mississippi, and on the 25th of December, 
 1849, reached Galveston, Texas, with his 
 four sons, — Nathaniel, Thomas, Walter 
 Marion and James K. From Galveston he 
 went to Austin county, where he rented 
 land for a year, for the following two years 
 operated rented land in Washington county, 
 and then for three years rented land in Bell 
 county. In September, 1856, he located 
 in Comanche county, where he passed the 
 remainder of his days, and there acquired 
 two hundred and fifty acres of land on the 
 head-waters of Warren's creek. His house 
 was the favorite resting place for the weary 
 travelers in those early days, and he was 
 one of the pioneer Indian fighters in this 
 section. In South Carolina he married 
 Miss Barrett, and their children were Na- 
 thaniel, Riley, Thomas and William, all 
 of whom are now deceased with the excep- 
 tion of Nathaniel, who is living in Indian 
 Territory. His second wife, and the grand- 
 mother of Mrs. Herrington, was in her 
 maidenhood Miss Rebecca Douglass, whom 
 he married in Georgia. She was born in 
 Knox county, Tennessee, January 3, 1804, 
 and died June 28, 1896, aged ninety-two 
 years, five months and twenty-five days. 
 Her other child, James Riley, was born 
 September 28, 1843. 
 
 ai 
 
 W. McNeill, M. D.— The his- 
 tory of central Texas would be 
 incomplete without the record of 
 this gentleman, who is the pio- 
 neer physician of Erath county, taking up 
 his residence here with the first family that 
 settled within the borders of the county. 
 Pioneer life at best entails many hardships, 
 
256 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 but the life of the pioneer doctor is a pecu- 
 liarly difficult one, and no greater bravery 
 is displayed by the soldier on the tented 
 field than by the physician who in the storm- 
 iest weather is forced to ride mile after mile 
 across trackless prairies or through forests 
 where every tree may serve as a hiding place 
 for the treacherous Indian lying in wait for 
 his foe. It was such a life that Dr. McNeill 
 entered upon in 1855 when he took up his 
 abode in Erath county, but the sturdy, 
 courageous nature of such a man will over- 
 come, surmount or else meet bravely all 
 trials and difficulties. Not only did he min- 
 ister to those in need of his professional 
 services, but in the work of developing the 
 region and advancing its best interests he 
 has borne a prominent and an active part, 
 and certainly deserves to be numbered 
 among the founders of his adopted county, 
 meriting the gratitude of younger generations 
 who shall profit by his labors. 
 
 The Doctor is a native of North Caro- 
 lina, his birth having occurred in Moore 
 county, on the 26th of May, 18 19, and his 
 parents being Archibald and Mary (Waddle) 
 McNeill. The McNeill family is of Scotch 
 origin and was founded in America at a 
 period antedating the Revolutionary war. 
 The father was a man of influence and im- 
 portance in Moore county and for several 
 terms represented his district in congress, 
 while his brother served for twenty years as 
 sheriff of the county. When our subject 
 was about si.xteen years of age the father 
 emigrated to Mississippi and took up his 
 residence on a farm six miles east of Holly 
 Springs, where he made his home until his 
 life's labors were ended. His death oc- 
 curred when he had reached his si.xty-ninth 
 year, and his wife, who survived him for ten 
 years, passed away at the same age. They 
 
 were members of the Baptist church and 
 were most estimable people. They had 
 twelve children, ten of whom reached man- 
 hood and womanhood and several of the 
 sisters lived to advanced years. 
 
 The Doctor, however, is now the only 
 survivor of the family. He resided with 
 his parents until the death of his father, 
 when he went to live with an older brother, 
 with whom he remained for three years. 
 He then took up the study of medicine 
 under the direction of Dr. John H. Morse, 
 of Holly Springs, Mississippi, and later at- 
 tended lectures at the Medical Institute, at 
 Louisville, Kentucky, in 1840. In March, 
 1 84 1, he entered upon the practice of his 
 profession in Waterford, Mississippi, eight 
 miles from Holly Springs, remaining there 
 for four years, when he removed to De Soto 
 county. In the meantime, however, he re- 
 turned and took another course of lectures 
 and was graduated with the class of March, 
 1843- 
 
 Dr. McNeill engaged in practice in De- 
 Soto county from the spring of 1845 until 
 1854, when he came to Texas and located 
 in McLennan county, ten miles north of 
 Waco. In 1855, in company with John M. 
 Stephen, Thomas Arendell, Mefferd Henley, 
 Major George B. Erath, Thomas Newby, 
 John Jones and James McCarthy, he came 
 to what is now Erath county. They looked 
 over the country, noted its natural resources 
 and decided to take up their abode here. 
 The following fall they moved their families 
 to this place. Doctor McNeill's home being 
 upon the present site of Stephenville. He at 
 once began the practice of his profession, 
 and his duties often called him fifty miles 
 from home, which journeys were accom- 
 plished on horseback, as there were no rail- 
 roads in the district at that time. No 
 
HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 257 
 
 matter what the difficulties, how inclement 
 the weather or long the ride, he would never 
 refuse to respond to a call from a suffering 
 fello-w creature, and in this way he became 
 one of the best known men in all the coun- 
 try around and one of the most highly re- 
 spected. In Erath county to-day not to 
 know Dr. McNeill is almost to argue one's 
 self unknown. In addition to his practice 
 he also established and conducted a general 
 mercantile store, which yielded him a good 
 income as the increasing population brought 
 him greater trade. In 1868 he met with 
 an accident, suffering a compound fracture 
 of both bones of the leg, and this prevented 
 further professional duties and cares. 
 
 Dr. McNeill was united in marriage to 
 Miss Mary Scott, of Tippah county, Mis- 
 sissippi, who died in 1852, leaving one son, 
 Wallace C, who is still living. For his 
 second wife the Doctor chose Miss Mary A. 
 Stephen, daughter of John M. Stephen and 
 a native of Washington county, Te.xas. 
 They had five children, namely: John 
 E., of Taylor county, Texas; Ophelia 
 A., wife of William Latta, of Erath county; 
 James and Sidney, also of the same county;' 
 and Margaret, wife of James D. Carr, of 
 Erath county. The mother of this family 
 died in 1863 and the Doctor was married 
 March 5, 1865, to Mrs. Lizzie (Bell) Peters, 
 a native of Wilson county, Missouri, born 
 Decembers, 1842, who came to Texas in 
 an early day, when a child. There are three 
 children of this union: Mary, wife of 
 Stephen N. Borders, of Stephenville; Sam- 
 uel J. and Daniel Malcolm. Mrs. McNeill 
 departed this life Auji;ust 9, 1893. While 
 engaged in the practice of his profession the 
 Doctor took advantage of his opportunity to 
 purchase desirable property and became 
 owner of three thousand acres, large tracts 
 
 of which he had placed under cultivation and 
 then rented, deriving a good income there- 
 from. He has given to each of his children 
 two hundred acres of land. He still retains 
 a large property for himself, the income from 
 which surrounds him with all the comforts 
 and many of the luxuries of life. He is a 
 man of keen foresight and sagacity and ex- 
 cellent business and executive ability, and to 
 these qualities his success is attributable. 
 
 Doctor McNeill has been frequently 
 called to public office, by his fellow citizens 
 who appreciate his worth and ability. He 
 has the honor of having been the first post- 
 master of Stephenville. and also the first 
 county clerk of Erath county, holding the 
 latter office for two years. In his 'political 
 affiliations he is a Democrat and warmly ad- 
 vocates the principles of that party. Since 
 1856 he has been connected with the Ma- 
 sonic fraternity, was a charter member of the 
 lodge at Stephenville and its first secretary. 
 A consistent member of the Methodist 
 church, he has served as its steward and 
 was one of the seven original members who 
 organized the society at his place. In the 
 development of the business, educational 
 and moral interests of the county he has 
 been most active. He has witnessed the 
 entire growth and development of this region, 
 and no name is more intimately identified 
 with its most progressive work than that of 
 Dr. W. W. McNeill. 
 
 «V^ EV. R. D. ROSS.— No one who 
 I /^ has made a study of the history of 
 ,' * Texas can fail to note the im- 
 portant place the Baptist preacher 
 has occupied in this state. His presence 
 among the cowboys and frontiersmen has 
 
258 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 been a restraining power. He has exerted 
 a refining influence in the rough settle- 
 ments and rude homes. As the country 
 has become more thickly' settled, it has 
 been through his direction and untiring 
 efforts that churches have been organized 
 and houses of worship built. Indeed, there 
 has been no force more potent for good in 
 this broad state than that wielded by the 
 Baptist preacher. In this connection we 
 would speak at length of the life of the 
 Rev. R. D. Ross, whose identity with 
 Erath county, Te.\as, dates from the year 
 1865. 
 
 He was born September 26, 1824, in 
 Lauderdale county, Alabama, and on his 
 father's Tarm in Franklin county, that state, 
 was reared to manhood, passing his youth- 
 ful days in honest toil in the field and 
 receiving a fair education in the schools 
 near his home. His parents were James 
 and Margaret (Yost) Ross. John Ross, his 
 grandfather, was a Pennsylvanian by birth. 
 He served in the Revolutionary war, making 
 a tour of the south under General Greene, 
 and after the war returned south and made 
 settlement in North Carolina; and his history 
 in this respect was not unlike that of our 
 subject's maternal grandfather, Jacob Yost, 
 he, too, serving under General Greene in 
 the war for independence, and at its close 
 establishing his home in the Old North 
 State. Grandfather Ross was of Scotch 
 descent and by occupation was a millwright, 
 while Grandfather Yost was a farmer all his 
 days and traced his origin back to Germany. 
 In North Carolina James Ross was reared 
 and married. While yet a young man, 
 accompanied by his wife and only child, he 
 sought a new home in Alabama, then on the 
 frontier, and there engaged in farming, 
 having plenty of Indians and only a few 
 
 white settlers fpr liis neighbors. In 1859 
 the emigration spirit again seized him and 
 we find him seeking another frontier home, 
 this time in Harrison county, Texas, where 
 he bought a farm and maintained his resi- 
 dence until 1865. That year he removed 
 to Comanche county, where he bought an- 
 other farm, and finally died, in 1868, at the 
 advanced age of seventy- eight years. Wher- 
 ever he lived he figured as a leading and 
 respected citizen. A Democrat and active 
 and prominent in local politics, he was 
 frequently called to fill important positions, 
 and always acquitted himself creditably. 
 For many years he was a justice of the 
 peace, and among other responsible offices 
 he filled was that of deputy sheriff. His 
 first wife died when the subject of our 
 sketch was small, his last wife surviving him 
 until 1 88 5. In early life he was a Presby- 
 terian, as also was his first wife, but later 
 he became a Baptist and died in that faith. 
 His two marriages resulted in the birth of 
 twenty children, two of whom died in in- 
 fancy, and of the others we make brief 
 record as follows: Daniel, who died in 
 Alabama; Mary, wife of Littleton Ross; 
 Rachel, wife of John Walker; John, who 
 died while on a visit to Te.xas; Jacob, a 
 resident of Comanche county, Te.xas; and 
 R. D., whose name forms the heading of 
 this sketch. These were born of the first 
 marriage. The children of the second wife 
 are Robert; Samuel; Jane, who died young; 
 Martha, deceased; Elizabeth, wife of Jesse 
 Davis; Martin V.; Zillha, wife of Pleas 
 Crosley; Texas, deceased; Francis M., 
 George, William and.Allie, wife of Frank 
 Brown. 
 
 From this reference to his family history 
 we turn now to the life of our immediate 
 subject, R. D. Ross. He remained with 
 
HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 259 
 
 his parents on the Alabama farm until he 
 reached his majority. In 1849 he married, 
 then lived with his father-in-law in that 
 state until 1851, when he and his young wife 
 started for Arkansas. Arrived there, he 
 purchased land covered with heavy timber, 
 cleared off the same and made a farm, and 
 then sold out and bought again. In 1862 
 he sold his second farm and moved to 
 Texas, joining his father in Harrison 
 county. 
 
 Early in life, in 1844, Mr. Ross was 
 soundly converted and joined the Baptist 
 church. Soon he began taking an active 
 interest in church work, this interest in- 
 creased from year to year, and he has never 
 yet tired of his work for the Master. On 
 moving to Arkansas he found no church or 
 Sabbath-school organization, but instead a 
 wide field for missionary work. About 1853 
 he commenced holding meetings, organized 
 both church and Sunday-school, and carried 
 on the gospel work with enthusiam and suc- 
 cess. He was ordained regular minister in 
 1856. As long as he remained in Arkansas 
 he continued to preach and in that time had 
 five different charges, the last one being at 
 Hot Springs. Almost immediately after his 
 arrival in Te.xas he was called upon to 
 preach and soon had chargeof two churches. 
 In 1865 he came to his present locality in 
 Erath county, pre-empted one hundred and 
 si.xty acres of land and set about the work 
 of establishing a home, and at the same 
 tune embraced every opportunity to tell the 
 glad tidings of salvation. He was then the 
 only Baptist preacher in Erath county. His 
 first charge was at Dublin and ne.xt at Ste- 
 phenville, and at Dublin and Stephenville 
 he preached fourteen years. Between his 
 home and those places there was no house 
 or sign of habitation, and such was the un- 
 
 settled condition of the country that he was 
 compelled to go well armed to protect him- 
 self against the Indians. But he had a good 
 horse and always felt able to take care of 
 himself as he rode about the country mak- 
 ing his appointments. In all his experience 
 he never ran from, or had a fight with, an 
 Indian. But he has been with the settlers 
 on numerous raids after the red men, and at 
 one time he captured a Comanche Indian 
 whom they sent to Fort Sill and subsequently 
 e.xchanged for a white child. 
 
 Mr. Ross preached every Sunday, either 
 at his regular charge or at some ranch, and 
 after several years helped to organize other 
 churches, among them Round Grove, where 
 he was chosen pastor in 1871 and where he 
 has since presided as such. July of the 
 present year will round up his quarter cen- 
 tury as pastor of this charge. This fact 
 alone is ample evidence of the high regard 
 he enteriains for the people of Round Grove 
 and also of their love for him. The first 
 church at Dublin, above referred to, was 
 called Leon church, it was afterward dis- 
 solved and re-organized as Dublin church. 
 In this change, however, there was no ill 
 feeling whatever. Indeed, in all his long 
 ministerial career Mr. Ross has never had 
 any wrangles to contend with. His minis- 
 try has in many respects been a remarkable 
 one, remarkable for the long years of har- 
 monious service, all characterized by steady, 
 constant work and free from anything like 
 spasmodic action. Among his best friends 
 were the cowboys. They came miles to 
 hear him preach, were attentive to the serv- 
 ice, and never had to be called to order, and 
 not a few of them when they married sent 
 for him to perform the ceremony. What 
 may seem a little strange now is that he has 
 never kept a record of the marriages and 
 
260 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 baptisms he has solemnized. Now in his 
 old age he seldom goes far from home to 
 preach but he is regular in the performance 
 of his duties in his home church. 
 
 As already stated, Mr. Ross pre-empted 
 one hundred and si.xty acres of land at the 
 time he located here in 1865. He has since 
 acquired five hundred acres more, has given 
 about three hundred acres to his children, 
 and yet retains four hundred acres, one hun- 
 dred and seventy-five of which are under 
 cultivation. He has a commodious and de- 
 lightful home, with modern conveniences 
 ail around, including wind-pump, fine 
 orchard, etc. ; and he has always raised 
 some stock. 
 
 Mr. Ross was first married in Alabama 
 to Miss Martha A. Thompson, daughter of 
 George and Mary Thompson, Virginia peo- 
 ple who had moved to Alabama, Mr. 
 Thompson being a slaveholder and farmer 
 of Alabama, where he died. Mrs. Thomp- 
 son died in Te.xas. Mrs. Martha A. Ross 
 was a woman of most excellent qualities, 
 was in sympathy with her husband's work, 
 and was in every way a true helpmate to 
 him. She and all her children were con- 
 sistent members of the church. She died 
 September 12, 1875. Seven of her nine 
 children grew to maturity, namely: George 
 R., pastor of the Baptist church at De 
 Leon, Texas; James R. , Reuben B., Jacob 
 and John — all prosperous farmers; Samuel, 
 who died at the age of thirty-one years, 
 January, 1896, leaving a wife and two sons; 
 and Potia, wife of Ed. Ripato, a farmer. 
 May 25, 1876, Mr. Ross wedded Miss Nancy 
 A. Howell, daughter of Sparks Howell, who 
 was killed in the siege of Vicksburg. The 
 present Mrs. Ross also is a member of the 
 Baptist church, and is a refined and cultured 
 lady. Their union has resulted in the birth 
 
 of five children, ail at home, namely: 
 Graves, Milton H., Morgan, Virginia and 
 Bertha. 
 
 >y*AMES HOPKINS WYSONG, M. D., 
 m Sc. D., Ph. D., a prominent and 
 A ■ successful practitioner of the healing 
 art, at Hico, Texas, was born April 
 27, 1850, in Collin county, Texas, ten miles 
 north of McKinney. His parents were 
 Charles Hopkins and Sarah (Foster) \Vy- 
 song, and his mother and twin brother died 
 when he was only three days old. When 
 he was only nineteen he began the study of 
 medicine, under the advice of Dr. J. L. 
 Leslie, at Mantua, Collin county, Texas. 
 He taught during the years 1870 and 1871, 
 at Hillsboro, and at the close of the last 
 year resumed his medical reading with Ur. 
 N. B. Kennedy, of that city, as preceptor. 
 He was ready in about a year to begin the 
 medical course at the University of Louisi- 
 ana, now known as Tulane University. 
 Here he studied during 1872-73, and then 
 came to Bosque county, and practiced there 
 ufitil the winter of 1879-80, when he took 
 a degree at the Louisville Medical College 
 at Louisville, Kentucky. Later on he re- 
 turned to the Tulane University, in the 
 medical department of which he was grad- 
 uated in 1886. In the month of Septem- 
 ber, 1888, he was called to the chair of 
 chemistry and toxicology in the Texas Med- 
 ical College and Hospital at Galveston, and 
 filled the duties of that responsible position 
 for three years. During the last two years 
 of this time he was also superintendent of 
 the John Scaly Hospital, and, as the first 
 superintendent, had the honor of opening it, 
 in January, 1890. July i, 1891, our sub- 
 ject returned to his home in Walnut Springs, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Bosque county. For a time he was prac- 
 ticing in Hillsboro, with Dr. E. L. Sessions, 
 and in August, 1895, removed to Hico, 
 where he has since continued his medical 
 career with much success. In addition to 
 his regular professional work, Dr. Wysong 
 has, since September, 1S91, completed two 
 courses of post-graduate work in Trinity 
 University, Tehuacana, Texas, and gradu- 
 ated there with the degrees of Doctor of 
 Science and Doctor of Philosophy. 
 
 Dr. Wysong was married in October, 
 1S73, to Ophelia Atlanta, daughter of Rev. 
 Joseph P. and Mary F. (Johnson) Grace. 
 Her father was a minister of the Methodist 
 Episcopal church, south. She is the mother 
 of seven children, five of whom are now 
 living: Ernest E., Ruth, Blanche, Mabel 
 and Ine2. He is a member of the Knights 
 of Honor lodge at Hico, and of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal church, south. He was 
 reared a Presbyterian, but when he became 
 a man he saw fit to alter his religious asso- 
 ciations. 
 
 The father of our subject, C. H. Wy- 
 song, was born in Franklin county, \'ir- 
 ginia. May 19, 1820. and removed to Mis- 
 souri in 1S46. There he remained for three 
 years, when he came to Te.xas, making his 
 home at Melissa, Collin county, where he 
 still resides, enjoying a hale and hearty old 
 age. In the latter part of the war he joined 
 Burnett's brigade, but the great strife was 
 over before he had seen much service. He 
 was made a Mason in Mantua Lodge, No. 
 209, in 1857, and two years later was 
 created worshipful master, and served his 
 lodge in that capacity for many years. He 
 was exalted a Royal Arch Mason March 27, 
 
 1858, in Haggai Chapter, No. 53, McKin- 
 ney, Texas, and was elected high priest in 
 
 1859, which chair he has occupied most of 
 
 the time since. He was appointed D. D. 
 G. M. in 1879, and served fourteen years. 
 He was knighted in Dallas Commandery, 
 No. 6, about four years ago, and was made 
 grand tiler and guard at the same time, 
 which position he now holds. He is patron 
 of Ottawa Chapter, No. 27, O. E. S. From 
 all this it will readily be seen that Mr. Wy- 
 song is one of the prominent Masons of the 
 country. 
 
 kJ^ EV. W. p. HATCHETT.— Among 
 
 I ^^i all the classes of men who came to 
 M - P Texas in an early day none bore a 
 more heroic part than the pioneer 
 preachers. They were of necessity men 
 of stern mold, with the courage of Spar- 
 tans, as ready to fight as to preach. The 
 use of the rifle and the pistol was as familiar 
 to them as the texts of scripture from which' 
 they preached the story of the cross to the 
 brave men and women who dared to face 
 danger and death on the Texas frontier. 
 
 Eider Hatchett was a man of this type. 
 He first came to Texas in 1846, then a 
 young man of twenty-two, so that he has 
 devoted the best years of his life to the ad- 
 vancement of the state and to the interests 
 and aid of his fellow men. His birth oc- 
 curred in Greene county, Georgia, Decem- 
 ber 21, 1823, his parents being John B. and 
 Eliza (Tuggle) Hatchett, the former born in 
 Virginia, the latter in Georgia, and both 
 having descended from English ancestry. 
 The father died in Georgia, in 1847, at the 
 age of fifty-three years, and in 1851 the 
 mother came to Texas, where her death oc- 
 curred in 1890, when she had attained the 
 age of eighty-six years and seven months. 
 Mr. Hatchett was a planter and a man of 
 genuine worth, enjoying the esteem of all 
 
262 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 who knew him. In the family were eight 
 children, seven of whom came to the Lone 
 Star state, namely: Eliza Stevens, W. P., 
 P. Henry, James J., Julia Ann, John M. 
 and Amelia C. All are now deceased ex- 
 cept W. P. and John M. 
 
 The boyhood days of our subject were 
 spent in Georgia, where he acquired a prac- 
 tical education in the English, Latin and 
 Greek languages and was thus fitted for pro- 
 fessional studies. He graduated in medicine 
 at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1843. Returning to 
 his home he began the practice of his 
 chosen profession in his native state. Soon 
 afterward he located at Oak Bowery, Ala- 
 bama. In 1S46 he came to Texas, first set- 
 tling in Harrison county, si.x miles west of 
 Marshall. There he remained until the fol- 
 lowing year, when he enlisted in Chevallier's 
 battalion for service in the Mexican war. 
 The command went to the " land of Monte- 
 zuma," joined Taylor's army and did active 
 service with the scouting forces, — a very im- 
 portant duty. In 1848 Mr. Hatchett was 
 transferred to another command, but before 
 he joined it the war was brought to a close. 
 
 On leaving the army our subject went 
 once more to Georgia, there remaining for 
 six years or until 1855. Within this time 
 he was married, the important event being 
 celebrated in 1850, when Miss Angelina 
 Isabella Stevens became his wife. Four 
 children were born to them in Georgia, and 
 with their little ones they started for Texas 
 in 1855. The same year Mr. Hatchett had 
 been ordained as a minister of the gospel in 
 Georgia, his relationship being with the 
 Missionary Baptist church, and when he 
 arrived in the Lone Star state he entered 
 upon the active work of the ministry, 
 spreading the "glad tidings of great joy " 
 into communities which had not before 
 
 enjoyed church privileges. He was instru- 
 mental in founding fifteen different churches, 
 in addition to his other labors in the 
 Master's vineyard. He preached for a time 
 to old churches at Rocky Creek, Columbus 
 and Hallettsville, and in 1868 moved to 
 Bosque county, locating on the Brazos 
 river, twenty miles above Waco. There he 
 resumed the practice of medicine, but after 
 a year removed to Valley Mills, where he 
 resided until 1884, at which time he took up 
 his abode at his present place of residence. 
 Here, he has since lived and prospered. 
 He is now practically retired from the work 
 of the ministry and the medical profession, 
 although he still retains his interest in the 
 advancement of both. 
 
 Mr. Hatchett is now giving his attention 
 to that highly useful calling of agriculture 
 and has helped to subdue a considerable 
 portion of the wild prairie, making this 
 region a productive and prosperous one. 
 He first bought eleven hundred acres of 
 land, entirely unimproved, the greater part 
 of which is now under cultivation and well 
 improved with good buildings and the other 
 accessories of a model farm of the nineteenth 
 century. His landed possessions are now 
 five hundred acres, having settled his chil- 
 dren around him on other acres he formerly 
 owned. He is a man of sound judgment, 
 and his untiring industry and perseverance, 
 combined with the strictest regard for busi- 
 ness ethics, have won him a handsome com- 
 petence. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Hatchett became the par- 
 ents of eleven children, eight of whom arc 
 yet living, namely: Mrs. Ella A. Wyly, 
 Mrs. Mary E. Wyly, John P.. and Hamp- 
 ton S., twins, Augustin M., \\'illiam P., 
 Julia E. and Angelina I. Those who have 
 passed away are Ann Corrinne, James H. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 263 
 
 and Walter. The children are all living in 
 comfortable homes of their own near the 
 father and are valued members of society. 
 There are now eighteen grandsons and sev- 
 enteen granddaughters. In 1891 Mr. Hatch- 
 ett was called upon to mourn the loss of his 
 wife, who died on the 14th of December, 
 aged sixty-two years and twelve days. In 
 1892 our subject was again married, his 
 second union being with Miss Narcissa E. 
 Stevens, of Georgia, an estimable lady who 
 has many warm friends in this locality, and 
 is a cousin of his first wife. 
 
 The Doctor is well preserved both men- 
 tally and physically. In personal appear- 
 ance he is a man of six feet and one inch, 
 compactly built, weighing about one hun- 
 dred and fifty-five pounds. His once black 
 hair is slightly tinged with gray, but his 
 heart is young and he still retains his inter- 
 est in public affairs, being well informed on 
 matters of general interest. He votes the 
 Democratic ticket and gives his support to 
 all measures, political and otherwise, which 
 he believes will best promote the interests of 
 his fellow men. His well spent life has won 
 him the highest regard of all, and this vol- 
 ume would be incomplete without the record 
 of one who has been so prominently con- 
 nected with the progress of central Texas 
 through a half century. 
 
 \y~\ EV. GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 |/^ ROBERTS is one of the prominent 
 1 . P men and pioneer ministers of 
 Bosque county, arriving here in Oc- 
 tober, 1867, and now makes his home at 
 Iredell. 
 
 He was born in Gwinnett county, Geor- 
 gia, about thirty miles from Atlanta, on the 
 28th of January, 1833. His father. Step 
 
 Roberts, was a native of North Carolina, 
 and a son of William Roberts, who was of 
 Welsh descent and served in the Revolution- 
 ary war. On reaching man's estate the fa- 
 ther of our subject was united in marriage 
 with Parnella Burgess, who was born in 
 North Carolina and was a daughter of John 
 Burgess, whose father was an officer in the 
 Revolution. The Burgess family also had 
 representatives in the war of i 8 1 2, the Mexi- 
 can war and the civil war. In 1836 Step 
 Roberts, accompanied by his family, re- 
 moved to Calhoun county, Alabama, where 
 both parents died, the father at the age of 
 eighty-two and the mother at the age of 
 sixty-nine years. The household included 
 ten children, five sons and five daughters, 
 namely: Martha, William, John, David, 
 Mary, George W., Step M., Sarah, Virginia 
 and Nancy. The father was a planter, and 
 in political sentiment was an unswerving 
 Democrat, to which party his children also 
 adhered. 
 
 Our subject early became familiar with 
 farm work in all its departments, and ac- 
 quired a fair education in the public schools 
 and by study at home. He was a close 
 student of the Bible and in 1862 was or- 
 dained a minister of the Baptist church. 
 He has ever been an active and zealous 
 worker in the vineyard of the Master and in 
 Alabama had charge of congregations at 
 Harmony Grove, Providence, and Shoal 
 Creek. 
 
 In 1867 Mr. Roberts with his famil}' 
 came to Texas, making the journey with a 
 wagon and buggy drawn by five mules. 
 They left Georgia on the lOth of October, 
 and on the 8th of December they arrived at 
 their destination, which was on the Brazos 
 river six miles south of Kimball. In August 
 of the following year Mr. Roberts purchased 
 
-,f>4 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 land in Bosque county south of Iredell, and 
 there built up a good farm of four hundred and 
 fifteen acres, comprising one of the valuable 
 places of the county. Upon the place he 
 erected a comfortable dwelling, substantial 
 barn and other outbuildings, and the water 
 was supplied from an ever flowing well. 
 There he lived until 1894, when he removed 
 to Iredell, where he built a pleasant 
 residence. 
 
 In Calhoun county, Alabama, in Jan- 
 uary, 1853, Mr. Roberts married Miss Susan 
 Jane Walker, a daughter of William Walker, 
 a Virginian by birth, whose father was of 
 Irish extraction and a Revolutionary soldier. 
 Eight children were born of this union, 
 three of whom died in early life in Alabama; 
 and George W. died in his twenty-first year, 
 while attending college at Waco. Those 
 living are Mrs. J. N. McDaniels, of Hamil- 
 ton county, Texas; Mrs. Susan P. Welch, 
 of the same county; Robert Lee, of Ham- 
 ilton county; and Ida B., wife of J. P. 
 Williamson, of Iredell. The mother of 
 these children passed away in 1885, and the 
 following year Mr. Roberts wedded Miss F. 
 M. Brennan, who was born in Alabama 
 and is the daughter of James W. and Uepsy 
 (Thompson) Brennan, both natives of South 
 Carolina. To her parents were born the 
 following children: Martha, Jane, Luella, 
 Ann, F. M., wife of our subject. May E., 
 Carolina J., Rebecca E., J. A. and J. W. 
 
 In October, 1868, Mr. Roberts organ- 
 ised a Baptist church two miles north of 
 Iredell, with twelve members, but this grew 
 until it had a membership of one hundred 
 and fifty. In November, of 1868, the Bap- 
 tist churches of Erath, Bosque, Hood and 
 Comanche counties held a convention at 
 which twenty delegates were present. At 
 that time the Indians were so troublesome 
 
 that a man had to stand guard to keep 
 them from stealing the horses, and the 
 preachers all wore fire-arms strapped to 
 their waists. The Baptist church at Ire- 
 dell was organized in 1 88 1 with little over 
 thirty members. It grew and prospered 
 until 1894, when there arose a difference of 
 opinion in the congregation on a doctrinal 
 point, which was brought about by the call 
 of Rev. Joseph Lockhart as pastor, who 
 propagated doctrines known as Martinism. 
 This resulted in a division of the congrega- 
 tion, and in July, 1895, the second Baptist 
 church was organized, with Rev. J. H. 
 Johnson, as pastor. 
 
 In all the walks of life, Mr. Roberts has 
 taken as his guide the precepts of the scrip- 
 tures, and has been foremost in every move- 
 ment for the religious advancement of the 
 community. Of him it may be well said 
 that he is in " soul sincere, in action faith- 
 ful, and in honor clear." 
 
 *y-» EONIDAS CREWS, M. D., one 
 
 I r of the most respected practicing 
 I jli physicians of the city of Hamilton, 
 Texas, is a native of the little vil- 
 lage of Thomaston, Upson county, Georgia, 
 and a son of Reuben Jordan 'and Eliza Yar- 
 brough (Philips) Crews. While our subject 
 was an infant, his parents sought a new 
 home in Harris county, of the same state, 
 and there his childhood and youth were 
 passed. He had educational advantages of 
 a rather high order, and was a student in 
 what was known as the Flat Showl Aca- 
 demy in Harris county, where he completed 
 the course in Latin. The profession of 
 medicine early attracted him, and his first 
 reading toward that end as his life work 
 was under the auspices of Dr. Thomas P. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 265 
 
 Park, with whom he studied two years. In 
 the fall of 1853 the budding young physi- 
 cian entered as a student in Jefferson Col- 
 lege, Philadelphia, where he continued one 
 session. The next fall he was enrolled in 
 the medical department of the University of 
 New York, where he attended two sessions, 
 graduating March 9, 1855, and immediately 
 beginning his medical career as a practicing 
 physician at Steam Mills, Decatur county, 
 Georgia, where the outbreak of the civil 
 war found him a successful country doctor. 
 
 When the noise of battle broke over the 
 land he did not long remain home, but en- 
 listed as a private in an artillery company 
 of Florida, under command of J. L. Dun- 
 ham, but was almost immediately appointed 
 as surgeon, after passing an examination 
 before the board of examiners at Charleston, 
 South Carolina. The most of the military 
 experiences of our subject were confined to 
 the Everglade state, and here he was found 
 when the war finally ceased, and he was free 
 once more to return to the practice of his 
 chosen profession. From Marianna, Flor- 
 ida, the scene of the surrender of his com- 
 pany, he went to Georgia, where he began 
 his medical practice. In the year 1872 our 
 subject removed to Valdosta, Lowndes 
 county, where he remained until his removal 
 to Texas. 
 
 Dr. Crews finally determined to seek a 
 more productive field in Texas, and located 
 in Hamilton, on the first day of May, 1875, 
 and at once engaged in practice. There 
 were already established here such physi- 
 cians as Drs. Nicholson, Wilson and Steager, 
 but Dr. Crews met with more than the usu- 
 al measure of success. In 1878 Dr. Crews 
 purchased one hundred and sixty acres on 
 Lampasas creek, and was located there for 
 five years, but in 1882 re-established him- | 
 
 self in the city of Hamilton, where he has 
 since remained. He is now sixty-five years 
 old, has practiced medicine forty-one years, 
 and has never taken a glass of whisky or 
 used any alcoholic beverage whatever. 
 
 Dr. Crews became a married man May 
 30, 1 86 1, leading to the altar Miss Helen 
 Coachman, daughter of J. J. and Sarah 
 (Wilkinson) Coachman. Mrs. Crews is a 
 native of the Palmetto state, and was born 
 March 29, 1843, at Georgetown. She is 
 the mother of fourteen children, of whom 
 the oldest is Clarence Coachman, born 
 March 31, 1862, married Pauline Mingus, 
 and is now living at Hico, where he is 
 occupying the responsible position of editor 
 of the Courier. Eulalie was born January 
 28, 1866, and died October 16, 1892. She 
 was the wife of F. H. Baker. Floyd 
 Coachman was born May 2, 1867, was mar- 
 ried to Rowe McKinnie, and is now living 
 at Dublin, where he publishes the Tele- 
 phone. Donella celebrated as her birthday 
 October 6, 1868, and is now the wife of 
 George H. Boynton, editor of the Llano 
 Times. Elma was with her parents but a 
 little time, born March 15, 1870, and dying 
 August 10, 1874 — a brief life story. Perci- 
 val Coachman was born September 30, 
 I 87 1, and is now at East Las Vegas, New 
 Mexico. Stella first saw the light July 7, 
 1 873, and is now the wife of J. E. Williams, 
 one of the successful druggists of the cit}-. 
 The names and birthdays of the younger 
 children, who are all at home, are noted as 
 follows: Wilkinson Coachman, September 
 9, 1875; Helen, August i, 1877; Simmie, 
 May 12, 1879; Leonidas Coachman, January 
 12, 1 88 1, who died May 24, 1888; John 
 Coachman, born April 6, 1883; Coachman, 
 born March 23, 1886, and Lizzie, October 22, 
 1888. Our subject has always been identi- 
 
200 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 fied politicallj' with the Democratic party, 
 and in matters of religion is associated with 
 the Christian church, having been a mem- 
 ber of that church for fourteen years. 
 
 The father of our subject was a lawyer 
 and died at the age of fifty years. He was 
 the owner of a Georgia plantation of three 
 hundred and twenty acres, and was regarded 
 as a highly successful man. The mother 
 of our subject was born in North Carolina, 
 and died in the month of September, 1854, 
 in her forty-fifth year. Dr. Crews had 
 several brothers and sisters, whose names 
 and history we briefly give: Charles Con- 
 stantine, who was a soldier in the Con- 
 federate army, entered as captain and came 
 out as brigadier general. He operated with 
 General Wheeler, and was twice shot, but 
 never captured. Algernon, who lived only 
 to his second year. James Mortimer, who 
 also was conspicuous in the Confederate 
 service, rising to the rank of colonel, and 
 for a time was attached to General Forrest's 
 staf?, and afterward had command of a 
 regiment. Fleming Jordan, who also was 
 in the war, entering as a private and rising 
 to the rank of captain. Jackson Philip was 
 a Baptist preacher and had charge of a 
 school at Memphis. He died of yellow 
 fever. He also followed the fortunes of the 
 Stars and Bars, and was a graduate of the 
 Emory and Henry College, Virginia; and 
 Sarah, who died at the age of fourteen 
 years. 
 
 The grandfather of our subject, Martin 
 Crews, was a man of Revolutionary fame, 
 and left five children, of whom Reuben 
 Jordan was the oldest. The others were 
 James Ware, Martin Mortimer, James Flem- 
 ing and Elizabeth, who remained unmarried. 
 The Crews family was probably of German 
 extraction. 
 
 The maternal grandfather of our sub- 
 ject was Charles Philips, who was a native 
 of North Carolina, but moved to Georgia in 
 an early day. He was married to Miss 
 Anna Ni.x, and their children were Eliza 
 Yarbrough (the mother of our subject), Do- 
 rinda, Margaret, Pleasant Jackson, Abram, 
 George Ni.x, Sarah and Henry Lowe. 
 
 aAPTAIN F. S. EARNED— Patri- 
 otism is the keynote of the Ameri- 
 can character, and a willing fidelity 
 to the institutions and laws of the 
 land has made possible the perpetuation of 
 the republic. The men who stood by it 
 through its periods of difficulty are deserv- 
 ing the gratitude of the entire nation, and 
 their heroism should serve as examples to 
 all who follow. Founded in the United 
 States at an early day in its history the 
 Earned family has long been noted for the 
 loyalty of its members to all that is calcu- 
 lated to strengthen and uphold the national 
 government. The father of our subject was 
 General Benjamin Franklin Earned, who 
 was born and reared in Vermont, and dur- 
 ing the war of 1812 entered the United 
 States army with the rank of lieutenant. 
 He did arduous and faithful service on the 
 frontier and for meritorious conduct was 
 promoted until he became paymaster and 
 afterward paymaster-general. He married 
 Lucy Willis, a daughter of Nathaniel P. 
 Willis, who belonged to one of the old and 
 honored New England families of English 
 origin. 
 
 The marriage of General and Mrs. 
 Earned was celebrated in Pittsfield, Massa- 
 chusetts, after which he was stationed at 
 different posts on the frontier and served 
 through the Florida war. They were the 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 267 
 
 parents of four children, of whom three 
 served as loyal defenders of their country. 
 Our subject, the eldest, was followed by 
 Frank, who was a captain of artillery in the 
 regular army; Edward, who was a physician; 
 Charles, who was a paymaster in the army 
 with the rank of major. The father of this 
 family, after a long life of devotion to his 
 country, died in Washington, in 1862. His 
 wife died during the early boyhood of her 
 eldest son, who was born in New York city, 
 July 31, 1823. 
 
 The youth of Captain F. S. Larned of 
 this review was spent in attendance at the 
 public schools. Having received a military 
 education he was ordered to New York, 
 joined a New York regiment in quarters at 
 Fort Hamilton, and did active and arduous 
 service for his country until after the cessa- 
 tion of hostilities. 
 
 In July, 1853, Captain Larned was mar- 
 ried to Miss Louisa Wooster, a native of 
 Chicago, and a daughter of David and 
 Laura (Walter) Wooster, who removed 
 from Connecticut to Chicago at a very early 
 day. They became the parents of four 
 children, namely: Walter, who is now en- 
 gaged in business with his father; Lucy, 
 wife of Dr. Henry Byford, a prominent phy- 
 sician of Chicago, Illinois; Gertrude, wife 
 of A. J. Robertson, of Hood county; and 
 George, of Bostwick. 
 
 In 1865 our subject threw up his com- 
 mission as captain of the Twelfth United 
 States Infantry and went abroad. He was 
 wrecked off the coast of Africa, and after 
 being in an open boat for three days and 
 two nights, tossed about by a troubled sea, 
 he was picked up by a United States man- 
 of-war, remaining on board of the same for 
 two years. During his absence his wife 
 died. Five years after leaving his native 
 
 land he returned to New York, and in 1870 
 came to Texas. 
 
 He first located in Waco, where he con- 
 tinued to make his home until 1876, when 
 he came to Hood county, where for several 
 years he was successfully engaged in teach- 
 ing. In 1890 he turned his attention to 
 mercantile pursuits, establishing a store in 
 Faluxy, where he carries a large and well- 
 selected stock of dry goods and all general 
 merchandise, also drugs and druggists' sup- 
 plies. He is a wide-awake and progressive 
 merchant, who keeps thoroughly up to the 
 times, and his large and constantly increas- 
 ing patronage shows the confidence reposed 
 in him by his fellow-townsmen. Politically 
 he affiliates with the People's party, and in 
 religious belief he is a Catholic. 
 
 K^^ E V. WILLIAM CARROLL 
 1 ^<^ BURKS, who for many years was 
 \ _ y actively engaged in the work of the 
 ministry of the Primitive Baptist 
 church, is now living retired at Pottsville, 
 Texas, enjoying a well earned rest. 
 
 He was born on the 7th of March, 181 8, 
 and is the son of James Lyon and Lydia 
 (Robinson) Burks. The father was a native 
 of Lincoln county, Georgia, served as orderly 
 sergeant under General Jackson in the war 
 of 18 1 2, was for a number of years a mem- 
 ber of the state legislature, and was colonel 
 on the staff of Governor Sleigh. In 1845 
 he became a resident of Scott county, 
 Mississippi, where his death occurred in 
 1866, at the age of seventy-six years. He 
 was also a faithful member of the Baptist 
 church. 
 
 At the age of twenty-two years our sub- 
 ject started out in life for himself, operating 
 his father's farm until 1843, when he re- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 moved to Russell county, Alabama. At the 
 end of a year, however, he went to Cham- 
 bers county, that state, where the following 
 three years were passed. The next four 
 years he spent in Tallapoosa county, whence 
 he removed to Leake county, Mississippi, 
 but in November, 1872, he became a resi- 
 dent of Comanche coimty, Texas, where he 
 purchased three hundred and twenty acres 
 of land on Holmes creek, all wild. He at 
 once began its improvement, erecting a 
 house, and there made his home for three 
 years, when he sold out and bought two 
 hundred acres nearer the town of Comanche. 
 After living there for four years, he ex- 
 changed that place for one east of the town, 
 but three years later removed to his present 
 home in Pottsville. 
 
 On the 22d of December, 1840, Mr. 
 Burks was united in marriage with Miss 
 Sarah Weathers, who was born in Georgia, 
 October 11, 18 19, and is the daughter of 
 Daniel and Sarah (Malney) Weathers. Her 
 father served as a member of the state sen- 
 ate from Talbot county, Georgia, and died 
 there in 1882, at the advanced age of 
 ninety-three years, being at that time the 
 oldest man in the county. Our subject and 
 his estimable wife became the parents of the 
 following children: Daniel, born November 
 19, 1S42, died in August, 1862, from effects 
 of Confederate service in the late war; 
 James, born July 20, 1845, also died in the 
 same month in 1862; William Milton, born 
 June 27, 1847, died while a member of the 
 Confederate army in the fall of 1865; Jesse, 
 born March 12, 1850, is living in Comanche 
 county, Texas; John Franklin, born August 
 31, 1 852, makes his home in the same county; 
 Thomas Jefferson, born November 22, 1854, 
 owns and runs a cotton gin at Pottsville 
 (see sketch elsewhere in this work); Sarah 
 
 Frances, born July 22. 1855, is the wife of 
 Benjamin Lassette, of Taylor county, Texas; 
 Lainey was born December 13, 1857, and 
 died between seventeen and eighteen years 
 of age; Andresv Jackson, born December 3, 
 i860, is living in Callahan county, Texas. 
 
 In early life, Mr. Burks became a mem- 
 ber of the Primitive Baptist church, of 
 which he was ordained deacon in 1845, and 
 on the 27th of November, 185S, was or- 
 dained a minister, and has engaged in 
 preaching ever since. He has been a faith- 
 ful and conscientious worker in the Master's 
 vineyard, doing all in his power for the up- 
 lifting of humanity, and the world is better 
 for his having lived. His political support is 
 given the Democratic party. 
 
 at 
 
 ILLIAM HENDERSON RUS- 
 SELL, M. D. — Bosque county 
 has few, if any, citizens more 
 worthy of biographical honors 
 than he whose name adorns this page, — Dr. 
 W. H. Russell, — a man of great versatility, 
 who has been closely connected in many 
 ways with the interests of Bosque county, 
 has kept pace with its progress and aided in 
 its development, and stands to-day as one 
 of its best and most honored citizens. To 
 the portrayal of such a life the biographer 
 reverts with no little satisfaction, finding 
 both interest and profit therein. 
 
 Dr. Russell was born in Pulaski county, 
 Illinois, July 6, 1827, son of John and Sarah 
 (Hairston) Russell, the former a native of 
 Kentucky and the latter of Virginia, both 
 having emigrated to Illinois, where they 
 first met and at length were married. The 
 maternal grandfather of our subject, Peter 
 Hairston, was a Virginian by birth, served 
 all through the Revolutionary war, and at 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 269 
 
 its close, greatly broken in health by ex- 
 posure in the army, settled in South Caro- 
 lina, where he died shortly afterward. Of 
 the history of the Russell family very little 
 is known back of the Doctor's father, John 
 Russell. John Russell moved with his fam- 
 ily to Mississippi in 1835, and was for a 
 number of years one of the wealthy planters 
 and slaveholders of that state, being public- 
 spirited and occupying a prominent and in- 
 fluential position in his community. In his 
 political views he harmonized with the 
 Democratic party, but he never sought offi- 
 cial honors. Both he and his wife were 
 devoted Christians and consistent members 
 of the Baptist church. She died in July, 
 1847, and he survived until 1852. They 
 were the parents of si.\ children, one of 
 whom died in infancy, and of the others we 
 make brief record as follows: Anastacia and 
 her husband, D. Adair, both deceased, left 
 four children: Mary G., deceased, was the 
 wife of Ruben Loggins, and was for some 
 years a resident of Te.xas, having emigrated 
 to this state in 1856; Rowena, wife of 
 James Loggins, came to Texas in 1858. 
 Both Mr. and Mrs. Loggins are deceased, 
 and left two children; Dr. W. H., the fourth 
 born, is the subject of this article; and 
 Eliza and her husband, John Johnson, both 
 died in Mississippi, leaving two children. 
 
 W. H. Russell was reared on his father's 
 Mississippi farm and received his early train- 
 ing in the common schools near his home. 
 He continued to reside in Mississippi for 
 some years after his marriage, engaged in 
 farming there, and in 1856 came to Texas 
 and pitched his tent in Cherokee county, 
 where he carried on agricultural pursuits 
 until i860. That year he became identified 
 with Bosque county. Selecting a location 
 on Steel's creek, be purchased two hundred 
 
 acres of wild land and settled upon the same, 
 there being at that time only a few white 
 families in this vicinity, and they all en- 
 gaged in the stock business. Later he 
 added to his original purchase another two 
 hundred acres, and now owns four hundred 
 acres. Like the other primitive settlers of 
 the community, the subject of our sketch 
 turned his attention to the stock business, 
 raising both cattle and horses, and continu- 
 ing the same until 1870. In the meantime 
 he had begun the study of medicine under 
 the tutorship of Dr. William Bateman, of 
 Bosque county, had pursued his studies dil- 
 igently for four or five years, and in 1870 
 went to New Orleans and entered the State 
 Medical University of that city, where he 
 attended a course of lectures and received 
 the degree of M. D. 
 
 On his return from New Orleans, Mr. 
 Russell entered upon the practice of his pro- 
 fession, being the first regular practitioner 
 of his locality. Here he soon built up a 
 practice that grew with the settlement of 
 the country and that ramified into the sur- 
 rounding districts for a distance of twenty 
 miles, his faithfulness and his sympathetic 
 devotion to those whom he served being at 
 once apparent and gaining him a marked 
 popularity. This high standing as a physi- 
 cian he still maintains, and although he has 
 for several years tried to retire he finds it 
 almost impossible to do so, his old patrons 
 insisting upon his attention. 
 
 As early as 1875 Dr. Russell opened up 
 a stock of drugs and groceries in his resi- 
 dence, which was a great convenience to the 
 pioneer community, saving the settlers many 
 a long trip for supplies. Also he helped to 
 secure a post-office, known as Russell's Gap, 
 for the settlement, being appointed post- 
 master, and serving as such for a number of 
 
270 
 
 HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 years. When the railroad threaded this 
 part of the country, Dr. Russell was among 
 the first to see a business opening at Walnut 
 Springs, and with a partner erected the first 
 store building in the town and opened up a 
 line of groceries, drugs and hardware. This 
 store they conducted successfully for about 
 three years, after which the Doctor sold his 
 interest in it. Since then he has ventured 
 no more in merchandising. Reverting to 
 his farmstead, we further state that about 
 1868 he began the cultivation of some of 
 his land, increased the cultivated acreage 
 from year to year, until now he has half of 
 the tract under plow and producing excel- 
 lent crops. He has a fine orchard of his 
 own planting. The springs which furnish 
 the water supply for his farm are among the 
 best in the county. He has a comfortable 
 residence, good farm buildings, and, in 
 short, is pleasantly situated. 
 
 Dr. Russell is a strong advocate of 
 Democracy. He has always taken an en- 
 thusiastic interest in politics and has fre- 
 quently been an attendant upon the conven- 
 tions of his party, but his interest has not 
 been a selfish one, for he has cared little for 
 official preference. About the only office 
 he ever filled was that of district clerk, in 
 which position he served four years, until 
 the reconstruction period, when he was re- 
 leased from further official duty. 
 
 Dr. Russell was married in 1847 ^o Miss 
 Sarah A. Holt, a native of South Carolina, 
 born March 12, 1825, daughter of Israel and 
 Elizabeth (Nelson) Holt. Mrs. Holt was a 
 daughter of Maj. William Nelson, who 
 served through the Revolutionary war as a 
 major-general, and died in South Carolina, 
 some years after that war. Israel Holt was 
 married in South Carolina, and from there 
 came with his family to Texas in 1858, first 
 
 making settlement in Cherokee county. Af- 
 terward he lived in Shelby county, and in 
 that county passed the closing years of his 
 life and died. He was a man of learning, 
 educated above the ordinary, and was by 
 occupation a teacher and surveyor. Btsth 
 he and his wife were members of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal church, south. A record of 
 their family of seven children reads as fol- 
 lows: John, who is one of the first settlers 
 of eastern Texas, died m Shelby county; 
 Mary, deceased wife of J. A. Lomax; Sarah 
 A., wife of Dr. Russell; Martha, wife of 
 Henry Carey, died in Shelby county; Leo- 
 dicia, widow of Isaac Rundell, a resident of 
 Bosque county; William, of Mississippi; and 
 Elizabeth, wife of E. Covington, Shelby 
 county. The Doctor and his wife have 
 a large family, including children, grand- 
 children and great-grandchildren. Of the 
 children, eight in number, we record that 
 Sarah Elizabeth is the wife of Calvin Wil- 
 banks. Walnut Springs; Samuel H. is a 
 widower and resides with his parents; Lucy 
 A. is the wife of B. F. Brown, a teacher, 
 farmer and stock-raiser of Stephens county; 
 Mattie and her husband, Joseph Hale, are 
 both deceased, and left a family of five 
 children; Julia is the wife of R. A. Cureton, 
 a farmer and stock mao of Bosque county; 
 Kate, wife of Thomas Garbro, a farmer and 
 stockman of Bosque county; William E. is 
 a practicing physician of Duffau, Erath 
 county, Texas; and Jessie, the youngest, is 
 the wife of Dr. W. C. Jones, of Walnut 
 Springs, Te.xas. And besides rearing their 
 own children. Dr. Russell and his wife have 
 brought up nine grandchildren, the four of 
 their son Samuel and the five left by their 
 daughter, Mrs. Hale; and more than this, 
 they reared the Doctor's niece, Miss John- 
 son, who is now the wife of T. N. Savage, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 271 
 
 of Walnut Springs. The family tree has 
 branched out until now the grandchildren 
 of this honored pioneer number thirty-four, 
 and the great-grandchildren four; and the 
 families are among the most respected in the 
 communities in which they live. 
 
 The Doctor and his wife are church 
 people, each, however, adhering to the 
 creed in which reared, and showing by their 
 lives that Christianity does not consist in 
 creeds. He is a member of the Missionary 
 Baptist church and she is a Methodist. 
 
 >^AMES ALLEN EIDSON, the sen- 
 ^ ior member of the law firm of Eid- 
 A 1 son & Eidson, Hamilton, Te.xas, oc- 
 cupies an honorable position at the 
 bar, which he has attained not more by 
 force of his intellectual ability than by the 
 weight of character and integrity. He is a 
 native of Edgefield county. South Carolina, 
 born April 29, 1848, his parents being ! 
 Russell and Caroline (Bouknight) Eidson. 
 
 He remained at his parents' home until 
 he had reached the age of twenty-one, when, 
 like many another strong and ambitious 
 young man, he began life for himself by 
 taking charge of a country school. In this 
 occupation our subject was engaged for 
 about a year, in the meantime reading law 
 very effectively, so that he was admitted to 
 the bar in the fall of 1870, in his native 
 county. He removed to Collin county, 
 Texas, in 1871, and for a temporary income 
 took a country school north of McKinney, 
 and continued in its charge for a period of 
 eight months. But the budding barrister 
 was not content with pedagogical labors, 
 and in September of that }^ear was admitted 
 to the county bar at Corsicana, and at once 
 engaged in the practice of his life work. 
 
 December 24 of the same year he located 
 at Hamilton, where he has since remained. 
 
 Mr. Eidson entered into partnership 
 with J. G. W. PiersonandC. M. Rutherford, 
 under the firm name of Eidson, Pierson & 
 Rutherford. This arrangement was broken 
 at the end of one year by the retirement of 
 the junior partner, leaving the firm to con- 
 tinue as Eidson & Pierson until 1881, when 
 it was dissolved. Our subject practiced 
 alone until 1890, when he associated with 
 himself J. C. Roberts. In 1892 Mr. Rob- 
 erts gave way to J. B. Allen, who was asso- 
 ciated with him for some three years, when 
 he retired, in August, 1895. Mr. Eidson 
 was again alone until the opening of the 
 year 1896, when his son Arthur, having 
 been admitted to the bar, came into the 
 office and became his partner, under the firm 
 name noted above, Eidson & Eidson. 
 
 While Mr. Eidson has done a very gen- 
 eral law business, he has manifested espe- 
 cial ability in the handling of land cases, so 
 that he has been brought in contact with a 
 most desirable class of office business. He 
 has handled much land on commission in 
 this and adjoining counties, and has won 
 a very high place not only as a level-headed 
 and clear-minded lawyer, of accurate judg- 
 ment, and intimate knowledge of the law, 
 but also as a keen and capable business man. 
 It is hardly too much to say that our subject 
 stands at the very head of the bar of Hamil- 
 ton county, and that he is universally re- 
 spected for his upright life, professional 
 ability, and genial disposition. 
 
 He was married August 11, 1S74, to 
 Miss Charity Eli2abeth, daughter of James 
 M. and Elizabeth (Standifer) Rice. Mrs. 
 Eidson is a native of this county, and has 
 done much to help her husband win and 
 retain his high position. The names and 
 
272 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 birthdays of their children appear on the 
 family records in this wise: Arthur Riche- 
 lieu, born December 28, 1875. (He is his 
 father's present partner, and is a young man 
 of much promise. He was educated at the 
 town schools, and was at Georgetown school 
 for two years.) Clara Elizabeth, born 
 August 16, 1877; John Russell, May i, 
 1880; Joseph Harvey, November 16, 1884; 
 Wilhelmine Catherine, November 22, 1S86; 
 Kudora Mabel, March 22, 1889, and Barn- 
 well Rhett, July 23, 1891. 
 
 As might be expected, when the civil 
 war broke out our subject rallied to the sup- 
 port of the cause of the south, and served 
 in the state troops from November, 1864, 
 until the close of the war. He was. in 
 Charleston at the time of the surrender, as 
 a second lieutenant in Captain Yancy Dean's 
 company. 
 
 James R. Eidson, the father of our sub- 
 ject, died in Edgefield district. South Caro- 
 lina, November 3, 1895, in the same district 
 in which he first saw the light, October 20, 
 1 82 1. He was a man of prominence and 
 much influence in the old south. He was a 
 large slave-holder and a very successful 
 planter. The mother of our subject died in 
 1 88 1, aged fifty-seven. Besides our sub- 
 ject, she was the mother of the following 
 children: John Daniel, Cleopatria, Martha, 
 Wilhelmine Catharine and Arthur Riche- 
 lieu. The Eidsons were originally from 
 England, but have long been associated 
 with the south, the great-grandfather of our 
 subject having served with Marion in the 
 Revolution. 
 
 Mr. Eidson is a man o{ fine literary 
 ability and of unusual scholarship, having 
 taken the degree of A. B. at Wofford Col- 
 lege, Spartanburg, South Carolina, which 
 institution he entered at an early age, hav- 
 
 ing thoroughly prepared himself at private 
 schools, so that he found no difficulty in 
 taking a good position in the sophomore 
 class. He is a Democrat of the old school, 
 and was a candidate for the legislature be- 
 fore the convention atGatesville, but, though 
 he made a good fight, was defeated. His 
 candidacy was of use to him, however, in 
 that it brought him much more prominently 
 before the people and made the public 
 understand what manner of man he is. 
 
 QB. GRACE, M. D., of Iredell, is 
 one of the well-known and suc- 
 cessful physicians and surgeons 
 of Bosque county. He was born 
 at Hillsboro, in Hill county, Te.xas, Janu- 
 ary 28, 1868, and is a son of J. P. Grace, 
 who located at Walnut Springs in 1878, 
 where he erected the first house, and after- 
 ward served as justice of the peace for eight 
 years, and died there on the 12th of June, 
 1895. His birth occurred in Clay county, 
 Tennessee, in 1827. The Grace family is 
 of Scotch descent, and was founded in 
 Maryland at a very early day. It was well 
 represented in both the Revolutionary and 
 civil wars. 
 
 The early days of the father were passed 
 in Tennessee, where he acquired his educa- 
 tion, and at the age of nineteen he came to 
 Texas, locating first near Sulphur Springs, 
 whence he later removed to Hillsboro. He 
 wedded Miss Mary F. Jackson, who sur- 
 vives him and now makes her home at Hico, 
 Texas. Eight children were born to them, 
 of whom five are still living, namely: O. A., 
 wife of Dr. James H. Wysong, of Hico; 
 AbbieA., wife of J. Dorenfield, of Belton, 
 Texas; Marvin B., of this review; Beulah, 
 wife of John Collins, of Hico; and J. E., 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 273 
 
 of the same place. The father was quite a 
 successful business man, and gave his chil- 
 dren excellent educational advantages. For 
 a time he was engaged in the dry-goods 
 business at Brazos Point. His political 
 support was always given the Democratic 
 party, and he also served as sheriff of Hill 
 county. Honored and respected by all who 
 knew him, he was a most popular citizen, 
 prominent in Masonic circles, and a local 
 preacher of the Methodist church for years, 
 being an active and zealous worker in the 
 cause of his Master. 
 
 Dr. Grace was but five years of age 
 when brought by his parents to Bosque 
 county, where he obtained his primary edu- 
 cation in the public schools, and completed 
 his literary training at Georgetown, Texas, 
 in 1887-88. He then began the study of 
 medicine with Dr. J. H. Wysong, of Wal- 
 nut Springs, and in 1891 graduated at the 
 Texas Medical College and Hospital, and 
 for two years was interne in the John Sealy 
 Hospital, after which he located at Iredell, 
 where he engaged in practice. He has ever 
 been a thorough student of his profession, 
 keeps well up in the advancement of medi- 
 cine and surgery, and is one of the most 
 successful practitioners in the county. 
 
 In January, 1888, at Walnut Springs, 
 was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Grace 
 and Miss Dora Bailey, a lady of intelligence 
 and culture, who belongs to a good family, 
 and the daughter of J. Marimon Bailey, of 
 Walnut Springs. They have become the 
 parents of four children, but one died in in- 
 fancy. Those living are Wysong Lee, 
 Gladys May and Esther. 
 
 In politics the Doctor is a firm believer 
 in the principles of the Democratic party, 
 socially is connected with the Masonic lodge. 
 No. 405, of Iredell, and the Knights of 
 
 Honor, No. 3742, of which he is past dic- 
 tator, and religiously holds a membership 
 in the Methodist church. In his profession 
 he is talented and skillful in a marked de- 
 gree, and is a young man of correct habits 
 and of an upright moral character. An 
 honorable career lies before him in his 
 chosen calling. 
 
 •y-rf ON. WILLIAM E. CURETON, a 
 1'^^ worthy and honored representative 
 \ , * of the agricultural interests of 
 Bosque county, is the true type of 
 the energetic, hardy and courageous men who 
 have actively assisted in the development of 
 this wonderful region. He was born in 
 Ozark, Arkansas, on the 20th of July, 
 1848, and is the eldest son of Captain Jack 
 Cureton, whose sketch follows this. With 
 his parents he came to Texas, in 1855, was 
 reared to agricultural pursuits and still fol- 
 lows that calling. He is one of the largest 
 stock-raisers in the county, and at present 
 his landed possessions consist of seven hun- 
 dred acres near Walnut Springs, one hun- 
 dred and twenty-five acres being under cul- 
 tivation, and the remainder pasture land. 
 He also has a fine orchard upon his place, 
 consisting of three hundred trees, — pears, 
 peaches and apples — and it is probably the 
 only farm in Bosque county that produces 
 apples in any considerable quantity. 
 
 On the 15th of May, 1873, Mr. Cureton 
 was united in marriage with Miss Mary J. 
 Odle, a native of Texas, who departed this 
 life June 30, 1879. To them were born two 
 sons: Calvin M., the able editor of the 
 Southern Arena, a monthly magazine pub- 
 lished at Walnut Springs; and Hugh J., who 
 is a printer and at work upon the same 
 journal. 
 
274 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Mr. Cureton was elected representative 
 to the state legislature on the Populist ticket 
 and represented his district in the twenty- 
 fourth assembly. He has been the recipient 
 of numerous laudatory letters from cultured 
 ladies and gentlemen throughout the state 
 for his efforts and success in introducing and 
 engineering through the legislature the bill 
 of "consent," raising the age from twelve 
 to fifteen years. This was no easy task, in- 
 asmuch as others had tried in vain to get a 
 bill passed of like character, and Mr. Cure- 
 ton is deserving of much honorable praise 
 for his untiring effort and final success in a 
 noble cause. Socially, he is connected with 
 the Masonic fraternity and the Farmers' Al- 
 liance of Walnut Springs. 
 
 Cai't.'MN J. J. Cureton, deceased. — 
 Atnoug many whose names are now identi- 
 fied with the history of Texas none perhaps 
 are more worthy of honorable mention than 
 this brave old frontiersman of Bosque 
 county. In 1855 he emigrated to this state 
 and from that time until 1865 was a noted 
 character, having been prominently identi- 
 fied with the Indian wars of the frontier. 
 He was a soldier in the Mexican war, and 
 March 15, 1861, enlisted in the Confederate 
 service, raised a company and was elected 
 its captain, serving until 1863, when he re- 
 turned to his home and from that time was 
 captain of a company of militia, guarding 
 the frontier until the close of the war. 
 
 It would seem to be almost superfluous 
 to give a thorough sketch under this heading 
 of one whose career has been a portion of 
 the history of this state and of course known 
 to all, and yet the sketch of this life of one 
 so noted as an Indian fighter and frontiers- 
 man certainly comes within the legitimate 
 scope and purposeof this section of the work. 
 We therefore give the following outlines as 
 
 brief as possible and leave the details for 
 the historical portions of this vcjlume. The 
 name of Captain Jack Cureton will be long 
 remembered, at least so long as there are 
 any of the old Texans still living, for his 
 gallant service in the defense of the frontier 
 against the murderous savages. 
 
 The Captain was a native of Arkansas, 
 born in 1826, and on coming to Texas lo- 
 cated on the Brazos river at Palo Pinto, 
 being among the first settlers of that local- 
 ity. He was an extensive farmer and cattle- 
 raiser, owning some three thousand head of 
 cattle. Like other self-sacrificing patriots, 
 without the hope of reward, he and others 
 left their defenseless homes and families to 
 avenge the sufferings of the frontier people 
 from the terrible raids of the Comanche In- 
 dians. During the years 1859 and 1 860 the 
 condition of the frontier was truly deplor- 
 able, the people being obliged to stand in a 
 continued posture of defense. Captain 
 Cureton was with the Ross expedition, or 
 rather re-enforced Captain Ross when he 
 followed the Comanches from Fort Belknap, 
 and was in command of a company of sev- 
 enty volunteer citizens. He was in the en- 
 gagement of Salt creek, and also fought the 
 last Indian battle of Dove creek, January 
 8, 1865. He died May 12, 1881. 
 
 Mrs. Cureton, whose maiden name was 
 Eliza M. Price, still survives her husband, 
 and their family consisting of six children, — 
 four sons and two daughters, — are also liv- 
 ing, namely: William E., whose name in- 
 troduces this narrative; John C. and James 
 W. , stock-raisers of New Mexico; Richard 
 A.; Melissa C, the wife of William V. 
 Grounds, of Arizona; and Dorinda M., wife 
 of O. L. Lockett, of Meridian, Texas. 
 
 Mrs. Cureton draws a pension for the 
 Captain's service in the Mexican war. 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 275 
 
 aAPTAIN JAMES EDWARD 
 S M I T H.— In the great and fer- 
 tile state of Texas are some exten- 
 sive farmers who bring to their 
 calling rare business skill and excellent judg- 
 ment. Some of the most enterprising of 
 these may be found in Hamilton county, 
 among whom is the gentleman whose name 
 heads this sketch. On coming to the coun- 
 ty, in December, 1876, he purchased three 
 hundred acres, but has added to that tract 
 from time to time until he now owns three 
 thousand acres, four hundred of which is 
 under cultivation and to this he gives his 
 personal supervision. This valuable place 
 is adorned with a line country home, sub- 
 stantial barns and other outbuildings, all of 
 which are plentifully supplied with water 
 from a bored well. 
 
 The Captain was born in Houston coun- 
 ty, Georgia, January 29, 1837, and is the 
 son of Gabriel and Elizabeth (Engram) 
 Smith. The paternal grandfather, who also 
 bore the name of Gabriel, was born in North 
 Carolina; where on reaching manhood he 
 was married, and has four children, namely: 
 Gabriel, Jonathan, Daniel, and Millie, who 
 married William Suggs. Edward Engram, 
 the maternal grandfather, was twice mar- 
 ried, having four children by his first wife, — 
 Oliver, Robert, John and Elizabeth,— and 
 by the second Seburn, Henry, Frankhn, 
 Edward and Amanda. He was of English 
 descent, and died November 17, 1843, at 
 the age of fifty-nine years, nine months and 
 two days. The Smith family also was from 
 England. The father of our subject was 
 born in North Carolina, April 11, i8o[,and 
 when a young man removed to Georgia, 
 where he wedded Elizabeth Engram, whose 
 birth occurred in that state, March 26, 181 i. 
 They became the parents of the following 
 
 children: James E., Franklin, Jane, Aman- 
 da, John, Oliver, Jerome, and Gabriel, who 
 died in infancy. The father, who is an 
 earnest Democrat and member of the Mis- 
 sionary Baptist church, passed away in 
 Georgia, August 29, 1852, and his wife on 
 the 30th of January, 1855. 
 
 On the 25th of February, 1862, ou*r sub- 
 ject enlisted in the Fifty-first Georgia regi- 
 ment and served under Eweli and Long- 
 street. At the end of a year he was pro- 
 moted captain, with which rank he served 
 until the second battle of Manassas, when 
 he lost the two middle fingers on the left 
 hand and was compelled to return home, 
 thus terminating his military service with 
 the exception of thirty days spent as a 
 recruiting officer. He was then elected 
 sheriff of Clay county, Georgia, which posi- 
 tion he resigned in December, 1866, when 
 he removed to Roberts county, Texas, pur- 
 chasing three hundred acres of land there on 
 the Brazos river, for five dollars per acre. 
 He added to this another three-hundred- 
 acre tract, a half of which he had under 
 cultivation at the time of his removal to 
 Hamilton county, where he has since been 
 numbered among the most prominent agri- 
 culturists. 
 
 Captain Smith was united in marriage 
 October 11, 1S54, with Miss Sarah Sutton, 
 who was bora in Early county, Georgia, 
 June 26, 1837, and was the daughter of 
 William and Elizabeth (Perry) Sutton. 
 Their family now comprises the following 
 children: James Buchanan, born June 25, 
 1855, married Josie May, and is engaged in 
 farming in Hamilton county; William Ga- 
 briel, born December 21, 1858, married 
 Julia Little, and also carried on agricultural 
 pursuits in Hamilton county, where his 
 death occurred August 26, 1S93; Leola, 
 
276 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 born November 30, 1859, died June 17, 
 1862; Edgar Warren, born February 11, 
 1862, married Nellie Bond, and manages a 
 farm in Hamilton county; Leanna, born 
 May 18, 1864, died May 8, 1865; Alice 
 Parthenia, born September 15, 1866, be- 
 came the wife of Hal Williams, a stockman 
 of Hamilton county, and died December 18, 
 1888; and Mollie, born August 10, 1870. 
 
 Mr. Williams was killed by the Indians 
 in Montana in 1890, and his widow is now 
 at home with her parents. 
 
 Politically, the Captain is identified with 
 the Democratic party, and socially is a 
 Mason, being initiated into the mysteries 
 of that order at Fort Gaines Lodge, in 
 Georgia, in 1856, and now belongs to Rock 
 House Lodge at Hamilton. Since 1848 he 
 has been a faithful member of the Mis- 
 sionary Baptist church, and is now serving 
 as deacon. He is a genial southern gentle- 
 man, always pleasant and affable, well 
 informed on the current events of the day, 
 and his hospitality is proverbial. 
 
 >T^AMES J. LUMPKIN, M. D.— In 
 
 J this brief sketch we give the biog- 
 /• 1 raphy of one who is a leader in the 
 medical profession. Biography is 
 not to give voice to a man's estimate of him- 
 self and his accomplishments, but rather to 
 have a perpetual record establishing his 
 character by the consensus of opinion on 
 the part of his fellow men. That great 
 factor, the public, is discriminating and 
 takes cognizance not of objective exalta- 
 tion, not yet of objective modesty, but 
 delves deeper into the intrinsic character, — 
 strikes the keynote of individuality and 
 pronounces judicially and unequivocally 
 
 upon the honest worth of man, invariably 
 distinguishing the clear resonance of the 
 true metal from the jarring dissonance of 
 the baser. In no better way can we gain a 
 conception of the divine elements which 
 have entered into our social and commercial 
 life and which will import to the future 
 American type features which cannot be 
 conjectured at the present time. Dr. 
 Lumpkin came to Te.xas a poor but honest 
 man, yet he was rich, having plenty of vim, 
 push and determination, being endowed by 
 nature with a quick perception, and through 
 his own efforts has placed himself in the 
 front ranks of the most progressive and 
 prosperous men of Bosque county. 
 
 By tracing the genealogy of the Lumpkin 
 family, we find that they located on this 
 continent previous to the Revolutionary 
 struggle, two brothers having come to the 
 colonies with General Braddock in 1755, 
 and from one of these the Doctor has 
 descended. His paternal grandfather was 
 a native of Virginia, and by his marriage 
 had two children. One of them, Abraham 
 F. Lumpkin, was the father of our subject. 
 He was born in Fairfield county. South 
 Carolina, and on reaching manhood mar- 
 ried Miss Patience Pickett. The parental 
 household included twelve children, namely: 
 Marium, now the widow of Rev. James 
 Connor, of South Carolina; Reuben P., 
 William T., Abraham F., Philip P., Troy 
 T., John R., Robert K. , Simon H., James 
 J., Lucius O. and Edward L. 
 
 Dr. Lumpkin is also a native of Fairfield 
 county. South Carolina, born February 29, 
 1852, and was reared and educated there. 
 At the age of twenty years he began the 
 battle of life, first taking up the study of 
 pharmacy, in which he passed e.xamination 
 I and was found duly qualified. He then 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS 
 
 277 
 
 took a course of medical lectures at Charles- 
 ton in 1S74, and graduated two years later. 
 
 Emigrating to Texas the same j'ear, the 
 Doctor has since successfully engaged in 
 practice at Meridian, and established the 
 first exclusive drugstore in the city in 1878. 
 He owns no less than seven farms in Bosque 
 county, besides uncultivated land, and busi- 
 ness property in the city. He has also 
 dealt largely in cattle and other stock until 
 of late. However, he still gives the greater 
 part of his time and attention to his profes- 
 sional labors, although he is a capitalist, 
 money lender and probably pays more taxes 
 than any one man in the county. 
 
 On the 8th of January, 1878, Dr. Lump- 
 kin was united in marriage with Miss Ida E. 
 Fuller, a native of Texas and a daughter of 
 Moses W. Fuller, a pioneer of the early 
 '50s. Mrs. Lumpkin is a lady of culture 
 and refinement, who graduated at a cele- 
 brated school at Lockport, New York, and 
 is a member of the Episcopal church; and 
 the Doctor is a member of the Methodist 
 Episcopal church, south. A prominent mem- 
 ber of the Masonic order, the Doctor be- 
 longs to Meridian Lodge, No. 268, A. F. 
 & A. M. ; Meridian Chapter, R. A. M. ; and 
 Waco Commandery, No. 10. K. T. 
 
 'HE NUTT family of Granbury and 
 Hood county, so ably represented 
 in mercantile and social circles by 
 the brothers J. F. and D. L. Nutt, 
 are descended on the paternal side from 
 David Nutt, grandfather of these gentlemen, 
 who, according to the best information ob- 
 tainable, was a native of England. When 
 but a boy, in company with a brother also 
 in his minority, he left their native land to 
 seek a home and fortune in the western 
 
 world. The accumulating mist of years 
 has obscured the data of their arrival upon 
 American shores, yet data exist to justify 
 the placing of that event previous to the 
 breaking out of the Revolutionary war in 
 1775. These brothers settled in North 
 Carolina where, so far as known, they made 
 permanent homes and became useful and 
 respected citizens. Tradition asserts that 
 the grandfather, David Nutt, was a man of 
 local prominence and efficiently served the 
 people of his county in the capacity of 
 sheriff. From the best evidence now extant 
 it appears that the name was originally Mc- 
 Nutt and that the orthographic change 
 occurred in this branch of the American 
 family when David Nutt was sheriff. He 
 was married in North Carolina to Rachael 
 Cates, by whom he had a large family of 
 children. Four of his sons located in Ten- 
 nessee, probably all in Bedford county, and 
 one of the number, David, Jr., was the fa- 
 ther of the Nutt brothers of Granbury. 
 
 David Nutt, Jr., was married in Tennes- 
 see to Miss Sarah Ann Landers and con- 
 tinued his residence in that state until 1844, 
 when with his family he removed to Newton 
 county, Missouri, where he purchased land 
 which was cultivated by his sons while he 
 applied himself to his trade of blacksmith- 
 ing. There the family resided until 1S59, 
 when the parents and four of their children 
 — Jacob, Abel, Susan A. and D. L. — 
 moved to Texas to join their son and brother, 
 Jesse F., who had preceded them to the 
 Lone Star state, locating in what is now 
 Hood county in 1858. Mr. Nutt purchased 
 a small tract of land near the present site of 
 Granbury, — the property now owned by 
 James H. Henderson. Subsequently he 
 settled in Granbury, where he lived until 
 his death, which occurred in 1872, when he 
 
278 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 attained the age of seventy-five years. He 
 was well advanced in life when he reached 
 Texas and until the end of his days he lived 
 in retirement, cared for by his sons, who 
 quickly became important business factors in 
 the locality and highly prosperous men. 
 Mrs. Nutt departed this life in 1890, aged 
 eighty-three years. She was a lady of ster- 
 ling Christian qualities and was an accept- 
 able member of the Baptist church. She 
 was a daughter of Christopher and Phceba 
 (Lee) Landers, who removed from Ken- 
 tucky to Tennessee in the early settlement 
 of that state. The Lee family was origi- 
 nally from Virginia and tradition states was 
 connected with the family of that name so 
 distinguished in the affairs of the Old Do- 
 minion. 
 
 Of the twelve children born to Mr. and 
 Mrs. Nutt, eleven grew to maturity and at 
 present four survive, namely: Jesse F. ; 
 Jacob; Henry, who resides in Neosho, Mis- 
 souri; and D. L. The deceased are Robert 
 L. ; Elizabeth P., wife of A. J. Wright; Mary, 
 whodied unmarried; Phceba, who was the wife 
 of M. F. Landers; Abel; Susan Ann, whose 
 first husband, H. A. Landers, was killed at 
 the battle of Mansfield, Louisiana, in 1863, 
 after which she became the wife of Ray 
 Hopping; John M. ; and an infant daughter, 
 a twin sister of Susan Ann. 
 
 Of the Nutt brothers it may be stated 
 that since 1869 they have been associated in 
 mercantile pursuits and in business affairs, 
 and their history, considered from this 
 standpoint, is as one. Jesse F. was born 
 in Bedford county, Tennessee, January 19, 
 1833, while Jacob's birth occurred in the 
 same county, on the ist of January, 1835; 
 and D. L. was born in Newton county, 
 Missouri, Jannary 6, 1848. Their early 
 bojhood days were passed in a frontier 
 
 home with practically no advantages for ob- 
 taining an education. In 1844 the parents 
 removed with their family to Newton coun- 
 ty, Missouri, then a western frontier settle- 
 ment, in which the elder children grew to 
 man's estate and assisted in the develop- 
 ment and cultivation of the father's farm. 
 
 On the loth of April, 1853, Jesse F. 
 Nutt was united in marriage to Miss Eliza- 
 beth, daughter of Hon. Abel and Sarah 
 (Shipman) Landers. In 1858, in company 
 with her parents and their children, Jesse 
 Nutt and his wife came to Texas, and the 
 following year he was joined bj- his parents 
 and a part of the familj' as stated above. 
 The terrible misfortune of blindness befell 
 the two brothers in early life, Jesse F. los- 
 ing his sight in 1854 and Jacob the following 
 year, both from disease of the eyes. Their 
 active business career opened in 1867, at 
 Stockton on the Brazos, a small hamlet 
 which first bore the name of Landers' Cross- 
 ing and was located about three miles up 
 the river from the present city of Granbury. 
 Their joint capital at the time amounted to 
 thirty dollars. Both were persevering by 
 nature, and affliction had made them doubly 
 patient. They economized at every point, 
 bought goods in small quantities, alwaj's us- 
 ing up the accumulating surplus, however 
 small, in this way. In 1868 Granbury was 
 settled and they moved at once to the new 
 town and built the second house, — a log 
 one, — in which they opened up business. 
 They gradually prospered, and when their 
 business outgrew their store they erected 
 another, sixteen by twenty feet, a part of 
 the lumber used in the construction being 
 hauled from east Texas with ox teams. For 
 this they paid five hundred dollars, at the 
 rate of ninety dollars for a thousand feet. 
 In course of time this structure was out- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 279 
 
 grown by their constantly increasing busi- 
 ness, which necessitated the erection of 
 their present commodious stone building, 
 at a cost of ten thousand dollars, and their 
 stock is one of the largest in the county, 
 while the volume of their trade aggregates 
 thirty-five thousand dollars annually. The 
 brothers together gave their attention to 
 their mercantile business until 1883, when a 
 tract of six hundred and forty acres was 
 purchased by them on the Paluxy creek, at 
 which time Uncle Jake, as he is familiarly 
 •called, went to the farm to give it his per- 
 sonal supervision, and Uncle Jesse and D.L. 
 remained in charge of the store. This 
 widened interest proved a source of profit, 
 under Uncle Jake's able management, and 
 since then by purchase they have added to 
 the original tract until at the present they 
 own two thousand and five hundred acres 
 of good land. 
 
 Thus we have presented a career which 
 for the success attained under the disadvan- 
 age of blindness, the lack of useful business 
 training and an insignificant capital, is, we 
 believe, unparalleled in business annals. As 
 their financial resources increased, their 
 naturally generous natures adopted a liberal 
 policy in encouraging public improvement. 
 They donated to the Granbury College the 
 splendid and beautiful campus of that insti- 
 tution, and to encourage the location of the 
 county seat at Granbury they and Thomds 
 Lambert offered to donate forty acres of land 
 for a town site. This was eventually ac- 
 cepted by the commissioners appointed by 
 the court to decide upon the location. To 
 churches and schools they have given freely, 
 besides aiding every enterprise whether pub- 
 lic or private that is calculated to add to the 
 well-being of the community. For many 
 years the Brazos river remained unbridged 
 
 at Granbury, — a serious detriment to the 
 city's interests; and to do away with this the 
 Nutt Brothers, Captain Thrash, Dr. Hanna- 
 ford and a few others erected the magnifi- 
 cent iron bridge that now spans the Brazos 
 at this point. The cost of this structure 
 was twenty-five thousand dollars. Subse- 
 quently the bridge was sold to the county at 
 TDne-half its original cost. 
 
 These brothers all have intense religious 
 natures J. F. and J. being exemplary members 
 of the Baptist church, while D. L. is a member 
 of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. 
 These three brothers are similar in nature, 
 quiet and unostentatious in manner, of 
 kindly temperament and of even disposi- 
 tions, rarely disturbed by the turmoils and 
 commotions incident to life. 
 
 John M. Nutt married one of the daugh- 
 ters of John Cline about i860, and in 1865 
 was accidentally killed, leaving three chil- 
 dren ; his wife died a few years later. Robert 
 L. Nutt married Miss Elizabeth Lattimore, 
 and died about 1848; 'three children survived 
 him. Abel married Miss Indiana Rylie, 
 daughter of Y. J. Rylie, of Hood county. 
 
 To Jesse F. Nutt and wife have been 
 born four children, two of whom died in 
 infancy. Abbie became the wife of Henry 
 J. Iverr, and Josie married A. V. Harlson. 
 These two gentlemen comprise the well- 
 known firm of Kerr & Harlson, of Granbury. 
 While "Uncle Jake" has always been an 
 admirer of ladies and by ladies admired in 
 turn for his manliness of character, his life 
 has been one of " single existence," yet he 
 took upon himself the responsibility of rear- 
 ing and educating a number of children, 
 nieces and nephews. Of two, Ora and 
 Mattie, daughters of his brother Abel, he 
 assumed paternal care when they were ten 
 and twelve years of age, respectively. Ora 
 
280 
 
 JUS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 became the wife of A. F. Warren, of Hood 
 county; Mattie died February 27, 1895, at 
 the age of twenty years. When Henry A. 
 Landers, his brother-in-law, fell in the battle 
 of Mansfield, Louisiana, Uncle Jake opened 
 his home for the reception of his two father- 
 less children, Georfje \\'. and Belinda, both 
 of whom he reared and educated. The latter 
 became the wife of John L. Glenn, of Hood 
 county, and the former now resides in 
 Granbury. Susan, his sister, and the widow 
 of Mr. Landers, married for her second hus- 
 band Ray Hopping, by whom she had three 
 children, all of whom Uncle Jake reared and 
 educated. They are named as follows: 
 Jesse S. ; Flora, who married Jesse Nutt, Jr., 
 of Hood county; and R. C, who married 
 Lela Jones. 
 
 David L. Nutt, the youngest brother of 
 the trio, was united in marriage February 
 28, 1872, with Miss Sudie A., daughter of 
 Captain Peter Garland, by whom he has 
 four children, namely: Mattie, now a 
 talented and popular young lady; and Henry 
 Lee, a young gentleman of most promising 
 talents. The deceased children were Sallie 
 L., who died January i, 1891, and Joseph, 
 whose death occurred February i, 1894. 
 
 About 1880 D. L. Nutt erected his 
 present handsome home as a private resi- 
 dence; but as there was a dearth of hotel 
 accommodations in Granbury, he subse- 
 quently built additions to the original 
 structure and converted his home into a 
 public hostelry, which has since been main- 
 tained greatly to the comfort and satisfaction 
 of commercial travelers and all others requir- 
 ing transient homes. As host and hostess 
 Mr. Nutt and his amiable wife are without 
 peers as entertainers, and all who stop 
 beneath their roof are made to feel at home. 
 He is genial yet undemonstrative in manner, 
 
 and there is a warmth of sincerity in his 
 language and ways that denotes the true 
 friend. He has business qualities of the 
 highest order, and the phenomenal success 
 that has attended the Nutt Brothers' busi- 
 ness is in no small degree attributable to his 
 able and conservative management. In 1864 
 D. L. Nutt regularly enlisted in the home 
 guards, a military organization to suppress 
 the depredations of hostile Indians, and was 
 active in the service until the close of the 
 civil war. He is a Mason of the Royal Arch 
 degree, having been admitted to the Gran- 
 bury Lodge in 1871. 
 
 5>^R. JOHN RICHARD RIEGER, 
 
 I I one of the prominent pioneer phy- 
 (/^^ sicians of Texas, now living re- 
 tired in School Land Cove, Hamil- 
 ton county, was born May 30, 1834, in Hick- 
 man, now Carlisle, county, Kentucky, and 
 was the son of George and Elizabeth (Traf- 
 ford) Rieger, the former of GeFman and the 
 latter of English lineage. The father died 
 in 1 836, leaving his widow with two children, 
 — John R. ; and Sarah Catherine, who mar- 
 ried E. S. Emerson, and lived in Montague 
 county, Texas, until 1862, when she, too, 
 was called to her final rest and left several 
 children. After the death of Mr. Rieger, 
 the mother of our subject became the wife 
 of T. J. Magruder, by whom she had five 
 children, all now deceased. She passed 
 away in 1855. Her people were from Posey 
 county, Indiana. Her father, John Traf- 
 ford, died in 1850, at the age of fifty-five 
 years, in Kentucky, to which state he had 
 removed from Little Wabash, Illinois. By 
 his marriage to Catherine Johnson, he had 
 the following children: Sutton, Rebecca, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 281 
 
 Elizabeth, John Rote, Billy, Moses and Jane. 
 Richard Rieger, the paternal grandfather of 
 our subject, moved from Virginia to Ten- 
 nessee, later to Kentucky, and in Johnson 
 county, that state, died, in 1850, at the age 
 of seventy-five years. He married Sally 
 Alsup, and they had eight children, — George, 
 Joseph, Woodford, John, Lucinda, Cinda- 
 reila, Polly Ann and Richard T. 
 
 At the age of seventeen years, our sub- 
 ject began life on his own account. Going 
 to Dyer county, Tennessee, in 1852, he 
 worked for wages for a time. On the loth 
 of December, 1856, he arrived in Parker 
 county, Te.xas, where he started with Mr. 
 Davidson for San Antonio, but on reaching 
 McLennan county, Mr. Davidson learned of 
 the removal of his relatives from that city 
 and declined to go further. The Doctor 
 then worked for seven months for A. D. 
 Marony, at the end of which time he re- 
 turned to Parker county and attended the 
 school of Thomas W. Toler for fifteen 
 months. In the summer of 1865 he went 
 to Brazos county, where he remained for a 
 few months. 
 
 Dr. Rieger began the drug business in 
 1856, and in 1859 and i860 read medicine 
 under his brother-in-law. Dr. J. B. Conger. 
 He never attended a medical school, but 
 after pursuing his studies for some time he 
 began practice at Woodland, Freestone 
 county, Texas, where he remained for nine 
 years. He came to Hamilton county, in 
 May, 1876, and August ist following he lo- 
 cated upon his present place, buying two 
 hundred and thirty-five acres of Robert S. 
 Howell, to which he has since added a hun- 
 dred-acre tract, and has made many valua- 
 ble and useful improvements, including a 
 good residence. The place is known as 
 School Land Cove, although his land is not 
 
 18 
 
 school land. He gave up his practice in 
 1890. 
 
 On the 5th of May, 1859, Dr. Rieger 
 was united in marriage with Miss Ann Eliza 
 Mitchell, who was born July 13, 1839, in 
 Benton county, Arkansas, and is the daugh- 
 ter of David and Eliza (Davidson) Mitch- 
 ell. Seven children graced their union: 
 George David, born January 4, 1862, died 
 October 2, following; Guy, born September 
 7, 1867, died May 16, 1868; John M., born 
 November 13, 1868, married Lizzie Thorn- 
 ton, and is now a lawyer of Comanche, 
 Texas; Albert C, born September 28, 1872, 
 is engaged in teaching in Tom Green county, 
 this state; Walton T., born September 9, 
 1876, is also located in the same county; 
 Jewel, born November 29, 1879, is attend- 
 ing school at Comanche; and Ewell Mitch- 
 ell, twin brother of the last named, died 
 September 7, 1880. 
 
 The Doctor was sworn into the Con- 
 federate service March 31, 1862, becoming 
 a member of Company E, Ninteenth Texas 
 Cavalry, of the Trans-Mississippi Division, 
 and was on duty mostly in Louisiana and 
 Arkansas, but at the time of the surrender 
 of Lee was stationed near Sterling, Texas, 
 where the troops disbanded and he returned 
 home. Politically, Dr. Rieger was a Demo- 
 crat until seven years ago, when he joined 
 the Prohibition party, with which he has 
 since voted. Both he and his wife are 
 worthy members of the Christian church, to 
 which he has belonged for thirty years, and 
 is now serving as elder. In his earlier life 
 medical schools were few, and it was next to 
 impossible for a young man in limited cir- 
 cumstances residing in Texas to attend the 
 medical colleges of the east. Hence the 
 Doctor did as others in his day and under 
 the same conditions. He was a close student 
 
HI STOUT OF TEXAS. 
 
 under a practical physician, and from this 
 worked into a practice along the frontier of 
 his state, thus carrying the healing art to 
 many who would have been deprived of it 
 without the existence of such devoted prac- 
 titioners as our subject. 
 
 aHARLES W. TIDWELL is the 
 popular and efficient clerk of 
 Bosque. He cannot claim the 
 distinction of a pioneer, but is 
 justly entitled to the next highest honor, — 
 that of a native son. He was elected to 
 the office which he now fills in 1892, and 
 re-elected two years later. Although com- 
 paratively a young man his official career 
 has been highly satisfactory to the citizens 
 of ^Ieridian and Bosque county. From 
 early manhood he has taken an active inter- 
 est in political matters, being a stanch and 
 steadfast advocate of Democracy, and may 
 always be found allied with the progressive 
 wing of the Democratic party. 
 
 Mr. Tidwell was born in Limestone coun- 
 ty, Texas, on the 25th of March, 1863, 
 and is the fifth in order of birth in a family 
 of seven children born to John \V. and 
 Frances R. (McGee) Tidwell. The father 
 was a native of Tennessee and a farmer 
 by occupation. He emigrated to Texas as 
 early as 1851, and was recognized as one of 
 the substantial and progressive pioneer 
 farmers of the Lone Star state, and in Feb- 
 ruary, 1875, came to Bosque county. He is 
 now deceased, but the mother of our sub- 
 ject, who is a native of Mississippi, survives 
 him, with six other members of the family. 
 In the usual manner of farmers' sons, 
 Charles W. Tidwell spent his boyhood and 
 youth, attending the public schools of Bosque 
 county, and early becoming familiar with 
 
 the labors that fall to the lot of an agricul- 
 turist. He completed his education by a 
 business course at Bryant & Stratton's Com- 
 mercial College at St. Louis, Missouri, in 
 1885. Returning to his native State he 
 again engaged in mercantile pursuits until 
 elected to the office he now fills. 
 
 On the 17th of November, 1886, Mr. 
 Tidwell was united in marriage with Miss 
 Rebecca Mingus, a native of Missouri, and 
 they have become the parents of four chil- 
 dren — Roberta, Gerald, Ruby and Winnie. 
 The parents are members in good standing 
 of the Methodist church, and Mr. Tidwell is 
 prominently identified with Meridian Lodge, 
 No. 268, F. & A. M., in which he now 
 occupies one of the important official chairs. 
 In all places and under all circumstances 
 he is loyal to truth, honor and right, justly 
 valuing his own self-respect as infinitely 
 more preferable than wealth, fame and 
 position. 
 
 HOMAS B. KING, the subject of 
 
 this sketch, resides at Stephenville 
 
 in Erath county, and is at this date, 
 
 April, 1896, county judge of Erath 
 
 county. 
 
 Judge King was born on his father's farm 
 near Richmond, Missouri, on April 12,1838. 
 His father, Austin A. King, was then cir- 
 cuit judge of the largest judicial district in 
 the new west, and was afterward, 1848-52, 
 governor of Missouri. Governor King's 
 grandfather, John Sevier, was six times 
 governor of Tennessee. From this stock 
 sprang the Seviers, Conways and Rectors of 
 Tennessee and Arkansas. On the maternal 
 side Mr. King's mother was a Miss Roberts, 
 of Albemarle county, Virginia, being con- 
 nected with the large and influential families 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 of the Tuckers and Harrises and Randolphs 
 of that section. 
 
 Judge King, in his sixteenth year, en- 
 tered the State University at Cohimbia, Mis- 
 souri, and, after having passed through the 
 entire curriculum of that institution, grad- 
 uated at the same in the class of 1858, and, 
 though the youngest of the class, received 
 the highest honor by being awarded the 
 honor of delivering the valedictory address. 
 On graduating, he entered upon the study 
 of law, and soon after settled at Liberty, 
 Missouri, where he at once had a good prac- 
 tice. In the meantime, at the age of 
 twenty-two, he married Miss Emma Chiles, 
 a niece of General Sterling Price. The civil 
 war coming on, he moved to Jeflferson City, 
 where he filled a position in the office of the 
 secretary of state, which he held until the 
 close of the war, when he resigned though 
 offered double salary, as he did the work of 
 two departments. 
 
 The stormy scenes and outrages which 
 were enacted along the Missouri and Kan- 
 sas borders from 1854 to the beginning of 
 the war, amidst which his boyhood was 
 spent, rather set young King against the 
 whole war business before the regular war 
 came on; and the only part he took in it was 
 to alleviate the sufferings and keep down, 
 as far as possible, all asperities of passion 
 regardless of sides. Not many months after 
 his marriage his wife died, which event, 
 coupled with the butchering, burning and 
 bloodshed on all sides along in the early 
 '60s, caused him to lose all desire for politi- 
 cal life, except to heal breaches through 
 which woes so immeasurable were flowing. 
 Inheriting from his mother the strongest of 
 religious tendencies, at the close of the war 
 he entered the ministry; but, always being 
 open and free to seek the truth in any field 
 
 that might be found, before the close of the 
 fourth year, when certain ordination doc- 
 trinal vows had to be taken, he knew that 
 he could not conscientiously vow that he 
 believed what he did not believe. Hence, 
 with great personal pain and forsaking a 
 seemingly bright opening, he quietly with- 
 drew from the Methodist conference, with 
 the utmost good will to all, and, so far as he 
 knew, with the kindest feelings on the part 
 of those whom he left; and, while to-day he 
 cherishes the memories of the old-time 
 preachers who made their homes at his own 
 mother's house, yet he could hardly see 
 with them that there were ' ' three persons 
 in the Godhead," but rather, that there is, 
 nor can be, "only one Wise God," who is 
 the Lord Jesus Christ; and besides this only 
 God there is no other God, He being the 
 First and Last, the Mighty God, the Won- 
 derful, Counselor, the Heavenly Father, the 
 Prince of Peaqe, in whom dwells bodily ' ' all 
 fulness of the Godhead." The admission 
 that there is but one God and that the Lord 
 Jesus Christ is that only God, so alters the 
 body of doctrine that springs from a belief 
 of three personal Gods that not one stone is 
 left on top of, or cohering with, another. In 
 fact, the belief in the sole and supreme 
 Godship, or divinity, of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 causes the passing away of all old things 
 in spiritual thought, and substitutes in their 
 place such truths as necessarily usher in the 
 second coming of the Lord, which all men 
 of Judge King's faith believe is now, and has 
 been for many years, taking place, — that all 
 old things are gradually passing away and 
 all things are being made new. Judge King 
 is what is commonly known as " Sweden- 
 borgian," being thus identified with a people 
 whose faith is as beautiful as it is rational, 
 and as scriptural as it is practical. 
 
284 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 On June 2, 1864, Mr. King married Miss 
 Clara Bingham, whose father, George C. 
 Bingham, is known as the " Missouri Artist," 
 and was at that time state treasurer of 
 Missouri. Many of General Bingham's 
 paintings hang in the public buildings of 
 Missouri, — several in the capitol, for which 
 he was paid from two thousand dollars to 
 four thousand dollars. His daughter, Clara, 
 was educated mostly in Europe and was 
 herself possessed of great artistic talent, and 
 was, by the Missouri legislature, voted a 
 five hundred dollar medal as an honor for a 
 portrait in needle-work of George Washing- 
 ton, wrought by her artistic fingers before 
 she was fifteen years of age. The portrait, 
 as exact as a painting, hangs over the door 
 of the chamber of representatives in the 
 Missouri capitol, a gift from Mr. Bingham 
 to the state. 
 
 In 1873, Mr. King with his estimable 
 wife and four children — Horace, Allie, 
 Emma and Bingham— moved from Mis- 
 souri to Erath county, Texas, where they 
 have since lived. ' Besides the above named 
 children they had raised Austin, Clara, Don, 
 Laura and Fanny, all of whom, though 
 modest and childlike, stand generally first 
 at school, having won many school medals 
 and are well liked by all who know them. 
 Judge King has taught his children, as one 
 rule of life, " Never receive any pay until 
 you have earned it ; " and another, ' ' Demand 
 nothing until j'ou convince persons in 
 whose service you are that you deserve it. " 
 
 Mr. King came to Texas with the intent 
 to devote his life to farming and stock-rais- 
 ing, to which for several years he devoted 
 his time. But he saw that with the de- 
 pressed condition of the agricultural classes 
 it would be impossible for him, out of the 
 profits of even a large ranch, to live and edu- 
 
 cate his children. He resumed the practice 
 of law, in which, had he had the heart as he 
 had the adaptability and talent, he would 
 have been, as in his college course, at the 
 head. But he had a feeling bordering on 
 disgust at the usual sharp, tricky, and fo.xy 
 practices which go so greatly in these days 
 toward money- making success at the bar. 
 Hence, with his law business, he coupled 
 a real-estate bureau, and succeeded in 
 educating his children, which was his sole 
 aim. But his final ambition is to find agri- 
 culture restored to its lost estate and retire 
 to the country to spend his last days looking 
 into the faces of the big mellow-eyed milk 
 cows, the tinkling of whose bells and the 
 distant lowing of whose mellow throats are 
 much more congenial to him than are the 
 sinister contentions of attorneys or the hun- 
 gry and hoarse brawlings of politicians. 
 
 Judge King is what might be called a de- 
 vout believer in the political doctrines of the 
 People's party, and was elected county 
 judge in 1894 as one of the standard-bearers 
 of this party. He firmly believes that the 
 true and only permanent remedy for exist- 
 ing economic evils is that all should have 
 homes and that all products of labor should 
 have equal and inexpensive transportation 
 to market, and, when reaching the market, 
 be met with a volume of money equal to the 
 needed volume of products, and so unfet- 
 tered by corners, trusts and monopolies 
 that producers and consumers could live and 
 have life abundant. Hence, from the first, 
 on through and up to date, he advocated 
 what the People's party deem the essential 
 trinity of Christian civilization, — homes for 
 the people, cheap transportation and suffi- 
 cient cash to pay as you go, — all of which 
 are involved in the land, transportation and 
 financial problems. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 285 
 
 As radical as his views are, both rehg- 
 iously and politically, he yet entertains them 
 in such utmost charity and advocates them 
 in such fairness of altruistic sincerity that 
 among those differing with him he finds 
 some of his best friends. 
 
 J. ELLIS & COMPANY, is the 
 title of a well known livery firm, 
 proprietors of the " Iron Barn." 
 The members of the firm are T. J. 
 Ellis and Major W. R. Bratton, and they 
 conduct one of the leading livery stables in 
 this section of the state. 
 
 Mr. Ellis was born at Cave Springs, 
 Georgia, September 20, 1838, a son of 
 James and Ollie (Varner) Ellis, both repre- 
 sentatives of prominent old families of 
 Georgia. The paternal grandparents were 
 Radford and Elizabeth (McCoy) Ellis, na- 
 tives of North Carolina. The former was 
 a prosperous and prominent farmer and 
 slave-owner, and was also proprietor of a 
 fine merchant mill. In the Baptist church 
 he was a leading member, and all who 
 knew him respected him for his genuine 
 worth. He served in the Revolutionary 
 war, as did the maternal grandfather of our 
 subject. James Ellis was an extensive 
 planter and slave-owner, and both he and 
 his wife were prominent in the Baptist 
 church, in which he served as deacon. In 
 politics he was a stalwart Democrat. His 
 death occurred December 25, i86r, and his 
 wife died April 5, 1862. They had eight 
 children: Matthew V., who is living in 
 Georgia at the age of seventy-eight; Rad- 
 ford and Susan H. , both deceased; Elizabeth, 
 wife of W. H. Dykes, both deceased; Jack 
 L. , of Georgia; James M., deceased; Mar- 
 
 tha P., wife of J. B. Appleton, of Alabama; 
 and T. J., of this review. 
 
 The last named remained with his par- 
 ents until after his marriage, which occurred 
 in i860. In July of the following year he 
 entered the Confederate service, as a mem- 
 ber of Company C, First Georgia Cavalry, 
 which was joined to the Army of the Ten- 
 nessee. He continued at the front, partici- 
 pating in many hard-fought engagements 
 until 1865, when with Johnston's army he 
 surrendered in North Carolina. Upon his 
 return home he found that nearly all the 
 fences and buildings had been destroyed and 
 his stock killed. It indeed was a sorrowful 
 home-coming, but he hopefully began the 
 work of replacing the lost possessions, and 
 embarked in the stock business, at length 
 becoming prominent as a breeder of fine 
 horses and mules, and continued in that 
 business until 1889, when he came to 
 Comanche county .and purchased a farm. 
 This he sold in 1891 and embarked in the 
 livery business. His first stable was burned, 
 causing him heavy loss. In 1894 he entered 
 into partnership with Major Bratton, and 
 they now conduct the leading stable in the 
 town. 
 
 Mr. Ellis was married in i860 to Susie 
 M. Trippe, a lady of an intelligent and good 
 family, whose parents, James J. and Martha 
 (Patillo) Trippe, were both natives of 
 Georgia. Their last days were spent in 
 Alabama, and in the Methodist Episcopal 
 church they held membership. They reared 
 a family of eight children, but only William 
 H. and Susie are now living. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Ellis had four children, three yet living, — 
 Ollie, wife of W. E. Trippe, a hardware 
 merchant of Birmingham, Alabama; Jennie, 
 wife of Dr. T. E. Garrett, of Durant, Indian 
 Territory; and James C. , at home. Mr. 
 
286 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 and Mrs. Ellis belong to the Methodist 
 church, and are highly esteemed people. 
 In his political faith he is a Democrat, and 
 in Georgia faithfully served for ten years as 
 justice of the peace, but has never been an 
 aspirant for office. 
 
 Major W. R. Bratton is an early settler 
 of Te.xas, a veteran of two wars, and a man 
 of prominence in the community where he 
 makes his home. He was born in Mason 
 county, Kentucky, May 8, 1830, and at the 
 age of two years went with his parents to 
 Madison, Indiana. His father, Hiram 
 Bratton, a native of Kentucky, married 
 Edith Moore, who also was born in the 
 same state. He was a steamboat captain, 
 and while on the lower Mississippi in 1832 
 became a victim of the cholera. In 1839 
 Mrs. Bratton removed to western Indiana, 
 where she became the wife of Peter Smith, 
 and in 1844 the family emigrated overland 
 to Texas, locating on a farm in Matagorda 
 county. In 1852 they went to Williamson 
 county, where Mr. Smith engaged in farm- 
 ing and stock-raising until his death, which 
 occurred in 1862. His wife survived him 
 four years. Both were members of the 
 Christian church. The sister of our sub- 
 ject, Emily Bratton, is the wife of O. Bene- 
 dict, who came to Texas selling clocks, and 
 is now a farmer and stock dealer of Kansas. 
 
 The Major spent about twelve years of 
 his boyhood in Indiana, and when a youth 
 of fourteen came to Texas with his mother. 
 In 1S46 he left home, and the same year 
 enlisted in McCullough's regiment for the 
 Mexican war, serving from the first battle 
 at Palo Alto until the close. He then re- 
 turned to the Lone Star state and did duty 
 on the frontier protecting the pioneers for 
 two years, when he was relieved by the 
 regular United States forces. In 1850 he 
 
 returned to Indiana, where for two years he 
 attended school, acquiring his education 
 without aid from home. In 1855 he se- 
 cured employment in a dry-goods store, 
 where he remained until 1859, when he 
 again came to Texas. While in Indiana he 
 was appointed postmaster of ' Eugene, of 
 that state, by Franklin Pierce, and filled 
 the office for two years. After taking up 
 his abode in Williamson county, Texas, he 
 also served as postmaster, and in addition 
 engaged in merchandising. At the inaugu- 
 ration of the civil war he sold his store and 
 joined Colonel Gurley's regiment, the Thir- 
 teenth Texas Cavalry, which was attached 
 to the trans-Mississippi department. He 
 was made first lieutenant of his company, 
 and did service in Arkansas, Louisiana and 
 Indian Territory. He participated in many 
 hard-fought battles, but was never wounded 
 or captured, and after his captain was made 
 major of the regiment he had full command 
 of his company. 
 
 On the close of the war, Mr. Bratton re- 
 turned to Williamson county, where he 
 again engaged in merchandising. During 
 the reconstruction period he was robbed of 
 all his goods in a single night and there was 
 no law to protect him then. Soon after- 
 ward he became manager of the mill owned 
 by J. W. Adkins, and in this capacity made 
 several trips to San Antonio and other 
 markets, where he found a sale for the mill 
 products. In 1866 he once more opened 
 a store, which he conducted with fair suc- 
 cess for eleven years. In 1877 he sold and 
 removed to Brown county, where he pur- 
 chased a farm. In 1882 he disposed of that 
 property and came to Comanche, where he 
 has since followed the livery business. He 
 has been associated with several partners, 
 but is now connected with T. J. Ellis, and 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 287 
 
 the "Iron Barn," of Comanche, of which 
 they are proprietors, is one of the best 
 equipped Hvery stables in this section of the 
 state. 
 
 Major Bratton married Miss Frances 
 Pyle, who was born in Vermilhon county, 
 Indiana, October 22, 1833, a daughter of 
 Robert Pyle, formerly of Ohio, who removed 
 from the Hoosier state in 1859 to Texas. 
 He was a farmer by occupation, and both 
 he and his wife are now deceased. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Bratton have four children, as follows: 
 Eva, wife of Albert Wulfgen, of Colorado 
 City; Robert M., of Goldthwait, Texas; 
 May, wife of Ernst J. Carmerbu, of Waco, 
 Texas; and Florida, widow of Dr. Mays. In 
 his social relations the Major is a Royal 
 Arch Mason, and in religious belief he and 
 his wife are zealous Methodists. In politics 
 he was a Democrat until after the late war, 
 since which time he has been an ardent Re- 
 publican. 
 
 aAPTAIN MOSES HURLEY 
 stands conspicuously forth as one 
 of the most prominent men in 
 western Texas. He is a progres- 
 sive and liberal-minded gentleman, who has 
 made a success of his life's work, and is 
 now living in the enjoyment of the accu- 
 mulated fruits of his labor. There are few 
 men whose lives are crowned with the 
 honor and respect which are so freely 
 accorded him wherever he is known, but in 
 many ways he has advanced the interests of 
 the state, and in all the relations of life he 
 has never deviated from a course which 
 his judgment would indicate to be right and 
 honorable between his fellow men and 
 himself. 
 
 A native of Tennessee, the Captain was 
 
 born in 1829, a son of Rev. Henry and 
 Debby (Bowen) Hurley, the former a native 
 of North Carolina and the latter of Ten- 
 nessee. The maternal grandfather, John 
 Bowen, was a Revolutionary patriot and a 
 well known man of his day, being a recog- 
 nized leader in matters of public import- 
 ance. The parents of our subject were 
 married in Tennessee, and in 1836 removed 
 to Missouri, settling in Lawrence county. 
 It was there he was ordained to preach the 
 gospel according to the tenets of the Primi- 
 tive Baptist church, and for many years 
 thereafter his labors were devoted to the 
 ministry. In 1845 he came with his family 
 to Texas, traveling overland with an ox 
 team. He first located in the Merciers 
 colony in Hunt county, where he was given 
 six hundred and forty acres of land, upon 
 which he made his home until 1858. During 
 that time he was engaged in preaching the 
 gospel and in doing ministerial work in the 
 settled portions of the state. In 1858 he 
 came to Erath county and the same year 
 organized the first Primitive Baptist church 
 within its borders, preaching there until his 
 death, which occurred in 1869, when he had 
 reached the age of seventy-two years. The 
 mother passed away in 1871, aged sixty- 
 eight years. They had a family of four 
 sons and eight daughters, of whom five are 
 now living, namely: Elizabeth Boucher, 
 Mrs. Mary F. Fooshee; Moses, William B. 
 and Robert T. 
 
 Rev. Henry Hurley was well fitted by 
 nature and training for the part which he 
 took in the development of the Lone Star 
 state. He possessed unlimited courage to 
 meet all kinds of danger, and to the call of 
 duty he ever responded, no matter what 
 sacrifice was thereby required. He worked 
 and labored in the interests of his fellow 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 men when for personal safety he had to be 
 as familiar with the use of the rifle as with 
 texts of scripture, and in his long journeys 
 through the country he carried a double- 
 barreled shotgun and a six-shooter in order 
 to defend himself, should the occasion de- 
 mand, against the murderous redskins who 
 infested the country through which he 
 traveled and preached, proclaiming the doc- 
 trine of " peace on earth, good will to men " 
 in a country where such a faith was much 
 needed. In his early life he had been inured 
 to the hardship of frontier life, had there 
 learned the use of firearms and frequently 
 accompanied the celebrated Davy Crockett 
 of Alamo fame on many hunting expeditions. 
 He was a man of stout build, about five 
 feet eight inches in height, with dark com- 
 plexion and black eyes, and weighed about 
 one hundred and sixty-five pounds. Al- 
 though a member of the Baptist church, he 
 was a man of very broad views, recognizing 
 the brotherhood of humanity and the fact 
 that all churches were striving to bring the 
 world to a knowledge of the saving power 
 of Christ. This led him often to invite 
 ministers of other denominations to fill his 
 pulpit. He loved all men and was loved by 
 them in return. He was a powerful preacher 
 and possessed a natural eloquence that car- 
 ried conviction to the hearts of his hearers. 
 Into his declining years he carried the men- 
 tal and physical vigor of early manhood, 
 and was thus enabled to continue his labors 
 with undiminished ardor until late in life. 
 The good such a man does cannot be meas- 
 ured, but his influence is felt by all who 
 knew him as a blessed benediction, and his 
 memory is cherished by hundreds of friends 
 throughout Texas. 
 
 The childhood days of Captain Hurley 
 were spent in Tennessee and Missouri. After 
 
 the removal of the family to the latter state 
 he attended school and acquired a good 
 knowledge of the common English branches 
 of learning. He was sixteen years of age 
 when his parents moved to Texas, and two 
 years later, in 1848, he enlisted for service 
 in the Mexican war as a member of the 
 regiment commanded by Colonel Jack 
 Hayes and was made orderly sergeant of 
 Captain Snell's company. During the war 
 he was stationed principally in San Antonio. 
 After the cessation of hostilities he returned 
 to his home, where he remained until his 
 marriage. 
 
 That important event in his life occurred 
 in 1857, the lady who became his wife be- 
 ing Miss Mary Tucker, daughter of J. M. 
 and Lurana (Gregory) Tucker. They re- 
 moved to Fannin county, Texas, where they 
 lived for a year and a half, while Mr. Hur- 
 ley acceptably filled the offices of justice of 
 the peace and county commissioner. In 
 1858 he removed to Erath county, settling 
 three miles from Dublin, where he lived ten 
 years. In 1868 he came to his present 
 home, purchasing at the time one hundred 
 and sixty acres of land. He now owns three 
 hundred and ninety acres, a well improved 
 tract, much of which is under cultivation. 
 He is also extensively engaged in raising 
 horses and mules of the best grades from 
 pedigreed stock. 
 
 During the late war Captain Hurley was 
 a member of the home guard and did yeo- 
 man service on the frontier against the In- 
 dians. He had many adventures and par- 
 ticipated in many fights with the savages 
 who planned and carried out every form of 
 attack imaginable, being unexcelled in 
 treachery and craftiness. Such warfare as 
 the home guard was obliged to participate 
 in was often more arduous and dangerous 
 
^/^. 
 
 -(^- ^ft.^/e4nen 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 than that in which the boys in gray and 
 blue took part. On one occasion Captain 
 Hurley was wounded in the chin. He is a 
 gentleman of dauntless courage and great 
 determination, who was never known to 
 flinch in the performance of any duty. 
 
 Socially, the Captain is a valued and 
 honored member of the Independent Order 
 of Odd Fellows, belonging to both the sub- 
 ordinate lodge and the encampment, and 
 for six years has represented the Stephen- 
 ville lodge in the grand lodge and has been 
 district deputy grand master for four years. 
 Politically he is a stalwart advocate of the 
 principles of Democracy. On all matters 
 of general interest, especially concerning 
 the public welfare, he is well informed. He 
 is an entertaining converser, a logical rea- 
 soner and is an eloquent and forceful speaker 
 on the stump. In parliamentary proceed- 
 ings he is well versed, and in logical dispu- 
 tations his services are often in demand as 
 moderator, while as presiding officer he has 
 few if any equals in the county. Mr. 
 Hurley enjoys a very wide acquaintance in 
 the state of his adoption and is justly a fa- 
 vorite with his numerous friends. 
 
 >Y*AMES M. STEPHEN.— In all Erath 
 J county there is no family deserving of 
 m J more prominent mention than the 
 one to which this gentleman belongs. 
 From the earliest settlement of the county 
 he has been one of its residents, and has 
 always taken an active interest in its de- 
 velopment and upbuilding. It was in honor 
 of his father that the name of Stephenville 
 was given to the county seat; and it was an 
 honor well deserved, for he was most prom- 
 inent in opening the way to civilization in 
 this locality, and largely aided in laying the 
 
 foundation upon which the present pros- 
 perity and advancement of the county rests. 
 Pioneer life, with its attending hardship 
 and inconveniences, became very familiar 
 to the family. Their home was upon the 
 broad, unbroken prairie, far from other set- 
 tlements and in constant danger from Indian 
 depredations. 
 
 Mr. Stephen, of this review, was born 
 in Washington county, Texas, on the 2d 
 of March, 1846, and was the youngest child 
 born to John M. and Miranda E. (Walker) 
 Stephen. The father was a native of Mis- 
 souri, born December 29, 18 14, and a son 
 of James Stephen. He came to the Lone 
 Star state in a very early day, and when 
 the settlers attempted to gain independence 
 from the Mexican rule he entered the ser- 
 vice and aided in establishing the republic 
 of Texas. He was married to Miss Walker 
 August I, 1837, and resided in Washing- 
 ton and Burleson counties, following the 
 occupation of farming until 1854, when, 
 with the true pioneer spirit strong within 
 him, he started out in search of a suitable 
 location further west. He pushed on into the 
 Indian Territory, surveyed the land now 
 comprised in Erath county and located the 
 tract on which Stephenville stands. The 
 following year he removed a negro family 
 to this place and began the development of 
 a farm. The succeeding year he moved 
 his family to the home which he had pre- 
 pared for their reception, and in 1855 laid off 
 the town site of Stephenville. This place 
 was made the county seat of the new county, 
 and, as before stated, was named in honor 
 of its founder. He established the first mer- 
 cantile store there, carrying a general line 
 of goods, such as would be in demand by 
 the settlers living here on the frontier. He 
 also engaged in farming and stock-raising 
 
290 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 and thus laid the foundation for a suc- 
 cessful business career. After a time he 
 changed his place of residence to a farm a 
 mile and a half east of Stephenville. 
 
 While residing there Mrs. Stephen, the 
 mother of our subject, died, passing away 
 on the 5th of March, 1859. She left two 
 children, while two had preceded her to 
 the eternal home. The eldest son, Samuel, 
 was killed by the Indians, December 27, 
 1S58, at the age of seventeen years, and 
 John Brown died at the age of six months. 
 A daughter, Mary A., was married Decem- 
 ber 17, 1S54, to Dr. W. W. McNeill, and 
 has since died; and our subject completes 
 the family. The father was again married 
 April 5, i860, his second union being with 
 Eveline Bellina, a native of Illinois, who 
 came to Te.xas at ah early day. They had 
 three children, but all are now deceased. 
 After the death of his first wife Mr. Stephen 
 removed to what was known as the old 
 Colonel Holcomb farm on the Bosque river. 
 At the time it was a barren tract, but he 
 transformed it into richly cultivated fields, 
 made excellent improvements upon it and 
 resided there until his death, which occurred 
 on the 31st of October, 1862. Only one 
 who has gone through such experiences can 
 understand what the term " pioneer life " 
 means. Surrounded by the comforts of 
 civilization, which railroads bring, with 
 thriving towns only a few miles away, one 
 cannot realize what it is to go into an unin- 
 habited region, far from friends, and estab- 
 lish a home. It requires fortitude and real 
 bravery. The pioneers of Erath county 
 not only had the usual experiences which 
 fall to the frontiersman, but were in con- 
 stant danger from the Indians. The greatest 
 sorrow which came into the lives of John 
 and Miranda Stephen was the loss of this 
 
 son at the hands of the treacherous savages. 
 The parents were both consistent members 
 of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. 
 Stephen took a very active part in its work, 
 was one of the organizers of the church and 
 afterward served as its steward. He will be 
 well remembered by many of. the old settlers 
 here as a man of sterling worth, possessing 
 many admirable qualities which commanded 
 the respect and confidence of all who knew 
 Jiim. 
 
 The subject of this review was a child 
 of nine years when he came to Erath county 
 with his parents. He lived in a manner 
 similar to that of all pioneer lads, early 
 learning all kinds of farm work, but having 
 few opportunities to acquire an education, 
 for schools had not then been established. 
 He worked in the fields or assisted in the 
 care of the stock, and after the death of his 
 father, the home having been broken up, he 
 engaged in stock-raising for himself. Dur- 
 ing the war he served in the militia, enlist- 
 ing when only sixteen years of age. His 
 duty was in the line of frontier service, and 
 he remained with his command until after 
 the cessation of hostilities. He then en- 
 gaged in farming, in company with his 
 brother-in-law. Dr. McNeill, the business 
 association between them continuing for 
 three years, when he purchased his present 
 farm, first becoming owner of two hundred 
 acres of wild land, which he at once began 
 to improve. From time to time he has 
 added to his property until his possessions 
 now aggregate more than one thousand 
 acres, of which four hundred acres are under 
 a high state of cultivation. This is one of 
 the finest farms in all the county, with its 
 well-tilled fields, its good buildings, its im- 
 proved machinery and the other accessories 
 found upon a model farm of the nineteenth 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 291 
 
 century. In his business dealings he has 
 been very successful, owing to his indomita- 
 ble perseverance and dauntless energy and 
 industry. 
 
 Mr. Stephen was married on the 2ist of 
 August, 1887, to Miss Florence Fay, a most 
 estimable young lady. She is a native of 
 Erath county and a daughter of E. S. Fay, 
 who came to this locality when it was a 
 wild, frontier region. Mr. and Mrs. Stephen 
 have had four children,— Ollin W., Ethel 
 A., and two who died in infancy. The 
 parents are worthy members of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal church, and their well- 
 spent lives are in harmony with their pro- 
 fession. In their home hospitality reigns 
 supreme, and the Stephen residence is a 
 favorite resort with their many friends. In 
 his political views Mr. Stephen is a Demo- 
 crat, but so engrossing are the cares of his 
 extensive estate that he has no time for 
 political office, even though he had inclina- 
 tions in that direction. 
 
 >y»OSEPH H. ALEXANDER, M. D., 
 
 J is one of the able and prominent 
 A I medical practitioners of Meridian. 
 This being his birthplace the formal- 
 ity of an introduction is unnecessary. He 
 has been well and favorably known from his 
 childhood, and enjoys the confidence and 
 respect of the entire community, not only as 
 a gentleman but also as a thorough and 
 well-read physician of the regular profession. 
 The Doctor was born on the 22d of July, 
 1870, and in his native city was reared and 
 educated. He is a son of Thomas C. and 
 Catherine ( Little ) Alexander, highly re- 
 spected citizens of Meridian. The father's 
 birth occurred in Maury county, Tennessee, 
 September 15, 1824, and he is a son of 
 
 Silas Alexander, a native of North Carolina. 
 The advent of the family into the latter 
 state antedates the Revolutionary war, and 
 our subject springs from a long-lived and 
 prolific family. His father emigrated to 
 Texas in 1848, and in 1855 located at Merid- 
 ian, where he has since resided. In past 
 years he was prominently engaged in cattle- 
 raising and also practiced law, which he had 
 made a special study while a resident of 
 Tennessee, and was admitted to practice in 
 this state in 1849. He served in the Me.xi- 
 can war and held a commission in the Con- 
 federate army during the civil war, being 
 first lieutenant in the Tenth Texas Infantry, 
 commanded by Colonel A. Nelson and later 
 by Roger Q. Mills. After hostilities had 
 ceased. Captain Alexander returned to Merid- 
 ian, being somewhat broken down in 
 health, and has never fully recovered his 
 former strength. After practicing law for a 
 time, he began merchandising, which line of 
 business he still follows. The Captain has 
 been twice married and reared two families, 
 the last marriage being consummated at 
 Meridian in 1869. 
 
 By the second union there are seven 
 children, of whom the Doctor is the eldest. 
 Prior to beginning his professional studies he 
 had followed the printing business, which he 
 began when only fourteen years of age, and 
 at one time was foreman on the Alliance 
 Sun. This journal ceased publication sev- 
 eral years ago and soon afterward our sub- 
 ject entered the office of Dr. J. J. Lumpkin, 
 whose sketch appears on another page of 
 this work. Dr. Alexander took a course of 
 lectures at the Texas Medical College, at 
 Galveston, and was graduated at the Mem- 
 phis Hospital and Medical College in 1891. 
 Since his return to Meridian he has engaged 
 in the practice of his profession, and also 
 
292 
 
 niSTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 carries on the drug business with his brother. 
 He is now enjoying a large and hicrative 
 practice, and may well be numbered among 
 the rising young physicians of the state. 
 
 In Bosque county, on the 20th of July, 
 1892, was performed a wedding ceremony 
 which united the destinies of Dr. Alexander 
 and Miss Belle Lumpkin, a native of South 
 Carolina, and their union has been blessed 
 by the birth of two children, — Elmo and 
 Kathlinc. 
 
 Vj^AMES POWELL WORD.— Among 
 ■ the later additions to the ranks of 
 /• 1 the legal fraternity in Bosque county 
 is the gentleman with whose name 
 this article commences. Although a recent 
 arrival his attainments in the line of his 
 professional duties have already won for 
 him a high standing at the bar of the 
 county, as well as among the people of 
 Meridian and its vicinity, — the scene of his 
 present labors. 
 
 Mr. Word first made his appearance on 
 the stage of this life in Pontotoc county, 
 Mississippi, on the 4th of June, 1858, and 
 is the fifth child in the family of James O. 
 and Evatine (Strickland) Word. When a 
 mere child his mother died, passing away 
 in i860. The father, who was a native of 
 Georgia, removed to Carroll county, Georgia, 
 in 1862, where he followed farming, and to 
 that calling our subject was reared. When 
 about si.xteen years of age he began the 
 battle of life on his own account, his edu- 
 cation having previously been secured in 
 private schools. In 1875 he returned to 
 the haunts of his childhood in Mississippi, 
 and for a year or more worked upon farms 
 for wages. He then planted crops on the 
 shares for a time. 
 
 On coming to Texas, Mr. Word made 
 his iirst location at Tyler, and later for a 
 few months was engaged in operating a cot- 
 ton gin in Rusk county. For several months 
 he was then engaged in teaching, after 
 which he was employed as a salesman in a 
 mercantile house at Pine Hill for a year. 
 We next find him at Iredell, Bosque county, 
 where he conducted a school for some five 
 years, reading law in the meanwhile. The 
 following three years were .spent as a sales- 
 man in a mercantile establishment, and 
 during this time he completed his law studies 
 and was admitted to practice on the 17th 
 of October, 1892. He followed his pro- 
 fession at Iredell until the fall of 1894, 
 when he permanently located at Meridian, 
 where he has established a good and con- 
 stantly increasing practice. Politically, Mr. 
 Word was formerly a Democrat, but is 
 now as stanch and steadfast as an advocate 
 of the People's party, and is their candidate 
 for county attorney. 
 
 In Bosque county, on the 5th of Octo- 
 ber, 18S5, was celebrated the marriage of 
 Mr. Word and Miss Alice Hendricks, a 
 native of Texas, and a daughter of W. J. 
 Hendricks, who came to this state in 1S66. 
 Four children now grace this union, — Bar- 
 ney F., James E. , William H. and Lola 
 Ethel. 
 
 aOLONEL J. A. JAQUESS, de- 
 ceased, was a prominent citizen of 
 Bosque county, where, as a leader 
 among men, his memory is held in 
 reverence and honor. He was very influ- 
 ential in public affairs, as by his strong 
 force of character and undoubted integrity 
 he gained the confidence of the people, who 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 293 
 
 saw in him a man wliom they could trust as 
 a guide and well fitted to hold public office. 
 
 Mr. Jaquess was born in Campbell 
 county, Kentucky, February 14, 1830, and 
 was the son of James and Mary (Howard) 
 Jaquess, the former a native of France and 
 the latter of Cincinnati, Ohio, where her 
 people were numbered among the prominent 
 families. The Colonel secured a good edu- 
 cation in a Catholic college at Vincennes, 
 Indiana, and while young served as a lieu- 
 tenant in the Mexican war. For a time he 
 was engaged in merchandising in New Or- 
 leans, and in 1856 joined General Walker's 
 army in the Nicaragua expedition as an offi- 
 cer, while during the civil war he served as 
 colonel of the First Louisiana Infantry. 
 While a resident of Louisiana he also served 
 as a member of the legislature, representing 
 the city of New Orleans. 
 
 After the close of the civil war Colonel 
 Jaquess was engaged in the cotton trade at 
 Mobile, Alabama, being associated in busi- 
 ness with Colonel Parker, a brother-in-law 
 of General Ben Butler, and also served as 
 tax assessor of that city. It was in March, 
 1879, that he came to Texas for the benefit 
 of his health, and purchased a good farm of 
 two hundred acres, on which he engaged in 
 sheep-raising. In early life a Whig, but 
 later a Prohibitionist, he took an active in- 
 terest in the party in Bosque county, and 
 socially was a member of the Masonic fra- 
 ternity. 
 
 On the 4th of July, 1848, in Louisiana, 
 was celebrated the marriage of Colonel 
 Jaquess and Miss Eliza Simpson, a lady of 
 culture and refinement, who is a daughter 
 of John Simpson, of Virginia, of Scotch de- 
 scent. Her mother, who bore the maiden 
 name of Aglia Tyler, belonged to a promi- 
 nent family, and was a cousin of President 
 
 Tyler. The father was an extensive planter 
 and slave-owner. George W. Simpson, the 
 brother of Mrs. Jaqu'^ss, was an officer in 
 the Confederate army, and for three years 
 was held a prisoner on Johnson island. He 
 is now a railroad official, and makes his 
 home at Jacksonville, Florida. 
 
 Eight children were born to the Colonel 
 and his estimable wife, only two of whom 
 lived to maturity: Parthenia, who is profi- 
 cient in music, is now the widow of James 
 Kline, who died at Waco, Texas, August 
 26, 1889, leaving three sons, — John Jaquess, 
 James Gerard and Lumpkin. The other 
 daughter, Charleta, died in 1878, and was 
 a young lady loved and respected by all who 
 knew her. Mrs. Jaquess still lives upon the 
 old homestead near Meridian, where she is 
 surrounded by all the comforts of life, and 
 is passing the evening of her life among 
 many warm friends, who have for her the 
 highest regard. 
 
 m 
 
 LLIAM C. JONES, M. D., is 
 one of Bosque county's most 
 prominent and progressive physi- 
 cians and surgeons, located at 
 Walnut Springs. Practical industry wisely 
 and vigorously applied never fails of success. 
 It carries man onward and upward, bring- 
 ing out his individual character and power- 
 fully stimulating the action of others. It 
 is this untiagging spirit of industry that has 
 laid the foundation and has built the com- 
 mercial greatness of the southwest. The 
 career of the subject of this sketch happily 
 illustrates the foregoing observations. Born 
 and reared amid adverse surroundings, his 
 indomitable will and energy, combined with 
 sterling integrity, have placed him in the 
 
294 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 front ranks of the medical fraternity of this 
 section of the country. 
 
 Dr. Jones was born in Hickman county, 
 Tennessee, July 17, 1861, and is the second 
 in the family of four children born to Richard 
 W. and Eliza (Wadkins) Jones, the former 
 a native of Tennessee and the latter of Vir- 
 ginia. Both were descendants of early and 
 influential southern families. The father 
 was by occupation a farmer, and from the 
 rocky soil of Tennessee obtained a living 
 for himself and family until 1871, when he 
 removed to Texas. 
 
 In this state the Doctor was reared to 
 farm life, and his literary education was ob- 
 tained in the public schools. His ambition 
 was of the most practical kind, which an 
 intelligent, energetic youth would be almost 
 certain to have. He did not believe the road 
 to wealth and position could be traveled 
 rapidly, but he determined to labor faith- 
 fully and diligently to rise above the condi- 
 tions which surrounded his boyhood. At 
 the age of twenty years he began the study 
 of medicine under the guidance of Dr. 
 Scott Milam as his preceptor, and took his 
 first course of lectures at Vanderbilt Uni- 
 versity, of Nashville, Tennessee, after which 
 he engaged in practice some eighteen months 
 at Eulogy, Bosque county. His second 
 course was received at the Bellevue Medical 
 College of New York city, and he graduated 
 at that institution in 1886, since which time 
 he has been in constant practice at Walnut 
 Springs. He took a post-graduate course at 
 the Post-Graduate Medical school and Hos- 
 pital of New York in 1895. 
 
 The Doctor is also proprietor of a drug 
 store, and some seven years ago established 
 the Walnut Springs Hospital for employees 
 of the Te.xas Central and the Waco & 
 Northwestern Railroad Companies, and at 
 
 this writing is the chief surgeon of that insti- 
 tution. He is a member of the State Med- 
 ical Association and also holds a member- 
 ship in the Texas and National Associations 
 of Railway Surgeons. Socially he is con- 
 nected with the Knights of Honor of Wal- 
 nut Springs. 
 
 On the 17th of July, 1887, Dr. Jones 
 was united in marriage with Miss Jessie 
 Russell, a native of Texas and a daughter 
 of W. H. Russell, M. D., and of this union 
 four children have been born, namely: Lute 
 R., Ethel, Mabel and Clara. 
 
 HOMAS SOLOMON VAUGHN, 
 
 a pioneer settler of Texas, now 
 living on his fine farm near Potts- 
 ville, in Hamilton county, was 
 born on the 28th of February, 1836, in 
 Yalobusha county, Mississippi, and is a son 
 of John and Malinda (Reed) Vaughn, who 
 brought their family to Texas in the fall of 
 1837, locating first at Cedar Creek, Wash- 
 ington county, but on account of the Indi- 
 ans they went to Montgomery county three 
 years later. Their next move made them 
 residents of Brazos county, whence they 
 went to Robertson county, and later across 
 the line to Rogers' prairie in Leon county. 
 The father died September 4, 1850, at the 
 age of forty-five years. He was a native of 
 Virginia, and having lost his parents when 
 a very small child he was reared by an uncle. 
 The maternal grandfather of our subject, 
 John Reed, was of Irish descent, and in 
 his family were the following children: 
 Hester, Nancy, Malinda, Lucy, Betsy, 
 Mary, who wedded Mr. Milej', George, 
 Amanda, and Solomon. 
 
 Shortly after the death of his father, 
 Thomas S. Vaughn started out in life for 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 295 
 
 himself, first driving a team between Hous- 
 ton, Dallas, Fort Worth and other points, 
 and during that time made his home in 
 Leon county. After a few months he be- 
 came owner of a couple of teams and en- 
 gaged in the freighting business. He next 
 began dealing in cattle, having a herd of 
 one hundred and fifty. His personal inter- 
 ests were interrupted, however, by the 
 breaking out of the civil war, and on the 
 2 2d of May, 1862, he entered the Confeder- 
 ate service as a member of Company B, 
 Gould's battalion. Walker's division. He 
 served in the cavalry for six months in 
 Arkansas and Louisiana, taking part in all 
 the engagements in which his command 
 participated. 
 
 The war over, Mr. Vaughn returned to 
 Leon county, and explored the central and 
 western portions of the state looking for a 
 location, and at length pre-empted land 
 east of the Leon river, about four miles 
 from Jonesboro. He afterward exchanged 
 that land for other lands and added to it 
 until he had four hundred and eighteen acres, 
 eighty of which was under cultivation, some 
 of the improvements having been made 
 upon the land before he purchased it. Later 
 he exchanged this for a cotton gin at Potts- 
 ville and a farm of two hundred and forty 
 acres on the Hoover branch up the Cow- 
 house, exchanging with E. Manning. On 
 the nth of November, 1875, he bought of 
 T. J. Rosser and wife his present place 
 comprising two hundred and forty acres, 
 and the following November removed there- 
 on. He has also purchased seven hundred 
 and ninety-two acres of land adjoining. 
 His cotton gin was operated by another 
 party and finally sold to J. C. C. Martin & 
 Son, Mr. Martin being his son-in-law. Dur- 
 ingthe early day she experienced much trouble 
 
 with the Indians, having at one time five 
 head of horses taken by them. In 1873 he 
 sold his stock of cattle, numbering at that 
 time nine hundred head. From September, 
 1874, to March, 1S95, he was in the sheep 
 business, at times having as many as twenty- 
 four to twenty-six hundred head. At pres- 
 ent (summer of 1896) he has a little over two 
 hundred head of horses and mules. He 
 also owns and operates a cotton-gin, at 
 Indian Gap. 
 
 On the 20th of May, 185S, at Rogers' 
 Prairie, Leon county, Mr. Vaughn married 
 Miss Eliza Clark, who was born in Arkansas, 
 September i, 1837, and is the daughter of 
 Benjamin and Mary Ann (Pierce) Clark. 
 Her father emigrated to Texas in 1842, lo- 
 cating first in Hopkins county, but his last 
 days were passed in Leon county, where he 
 died in August, 1866, at the age of eighty 
 years. He was a native of Tennessee, 
 whence he removed to Nebraska, later to 
 Arkansas and Missouri, and finally became 
 a resident of the Lone Star state. In the 
 war of 18 1 2 he served under General Jack- 
 son, participating in the battle of New Or- 
 leans. At the early age of nineteen years 
 he became a minister of the Missionary Bap- 
 tist church, and was the first missionary 
 sent to Missouri by the Board of American 
 Baptist Missions. On arriving in Texas he 
 spent some time in the Red River Associa- 
 tion, and in 1852 became a member of 
 the Trinity River Association. 
 
 The family of Mr. and Mrs. Vaughn 
 comprise the following children: Theodocia, 
 born July 25, 1859, died at the age of three 
 months; Owen, born July 28, i860, died 
 December 14, 1888; Thomas Lewis, born 
 December 13, 1862, married Katie Walton, 
 by whom he has three children, — Austin, 
 Viola and William, — and with his family 
 
296 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 now resides in Coke county, Texas, where 
 he is engaged in farming and ginning cotton; 
 Julia Ann, born June 29, 1865, married J. 
 C. C. Martin, now of Comanche, Texas, by 
 whom she has five children — Solomon Tay- 
 lor, Lorena, Grover Cleveland, Georgia Belle 
 andOrelia; Malinda Aryella, born September 
 7, 1 868, died September 4, 1 873 ; Mary Eme- 
 line, born July 2, 1873, is the wife of G. P. 
 Pierce, and they have four children, — Lou- 
 ella, Esther Ethel, Nora Vida and Thomas 
 Marcus; Francis Marion and James Monroe, 
 twins, born October 7, 1875, are engaged 
 in farming in Cooke county, Texas; and Mar- 
 tha Lulu, born September 14, 1879, is at 
 home. 
 
 Mr. Vaughn is a type of the old stock- 
 man of his section of the state, which is now 
 fast becoming extinct, and has taken a 
 prominent part in the affairs of the locality. 
 He cast his first vote in support of the Know 
 Nothing party, but is now an ardent Demo- 
 crat. He joined the Masonic order at 
 Jonesboro in 1872, and now holds his mem- 
 bership in Rock House Lodge, No. 417, F. 
 & A. M., of Hamilton; joined Sycamore 
 Grange, when organized, of which he became 
 treasurer, and also belongs to the Farmers' 
 Alliance. He is a conscientious, Christian 
 gentleman, of the strictest integrity, and for 
 twenty-seven years has been an active mem- 
 ber of the Baptist church. 
 
 HG. B. DUNN, M. D., a retired 
 physician who is now living near 
 Selden, Texas, where he is success- 
 fully engaged in agricultural pur- 
 suits, is one of the esteemed and valued 
 citizens of Erath county. He comes of an 
 old Virginian family, the Old Dominion 
 having long been the ancestral home of the 
 
 Dunns. His grandfather, James Dunn, 
 received from King James a patent for a 
 tract of land in Virginia. He married a 
 Miss Harvey, also a representative of one 
 of the old families of Virginia, and their son 
 James became the father of the Doctor. 
 He married Elizabeth Collins, a native of 
 Virginia and of Irish descent. 
 
 Our subject was born in Albemarle 
 county, Virginia, in 1837, and spent his 
 boyhood days there. His early educational 
 privileges were supplemented by a course in 
 the high school at Standardville and in 
 Roanoke College, in Salem, Virginia. Before 
 he was graduated the civil war was inaugu- 
 rated and he laid aside his text-books and 
 volunteered for service in the Confederate 
 army. He joined the boys in gray in 1862 
 and was stationed at Camp Lee, where he 
 was assigned to duty in connection with the 
 hospital. It was his experience in this way 
 that probably influenced him to take up the 
 study of medicine. He attended medical 
 lectures at Richmond, Virginia, and was 
 there equipped for practice. 
 
 When the war was over Mr. Dunn 
 returned to his old home, where he arrived 
 the night of General Lee's surrender. For 
 two years he remained in Virginia, and in 
 1867 removed to Lincoln county, Missouri, 
 where he engaged in the practice of medi- 
 cine until coming to Texas in 1880. His 
 first location in the Lone Star state was in 
 Grayson county, whence the following year 
 he came to Erath county, taking up his 
 abode upon his present farm. He purchased 
 sixty-one acres of partially improved land, 
 and with characteristic energy began its 
 further development. He has prospered in 
 his undertakings and as his financial 
 resources have increased has extended the 
 boundaries of his farm until it now com- 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 297 
 
 prises six hundred and eighty-five acres, of 
 which one hundred and ten acres is under 
 cultivation. The improvements upon the 
 place are modern in style and in keeping 
 with the progressive spirit of the nineteenth 
 century. His residence is a commodious 
 structure, of a pleasing styleof architecture, 
 and its furnishings are tasteful and comfort- 
 able. The house stands in the midst of a 
 well cultivated farm, which is justly regarded 
 as one of the best in this section of the state. 
 In 1870 was consummated the marriage 
 of Dr. Dunn and Miss Virginia A. Gentry, 
 the estimable daughter of Reuben and S. 
 E. Gentry. They have one child, Alva E. 
 In his political views the Doctor is a Demo- 
 crat, and socially he is an esteemed mem- 
 ber of the Odd Fellows lodge in Stephen- 
 ville. He is a gentleman of pleasing per- 
 sonality and courtly address, and is the 
 possessor of that quiet and inborn dignity 
 which commands attention and respect 
 everywhere. He is a man of broad general 
 information, well versed in the current 
 affairs of the country, and being an agree- 
 able conversationalist is regarded as a wel- 
 come addition to any circle. 
 
 a 
 
 OLONEL WILLIAM STONE is a 
 worthy example of the old-school 
 southern gentleman, — true and up- 
 right in all things, straightforward 
 in business, genial and pleasant in manner, 
 and most hospitable in his home. For 
 many years he has been a resident of Texas, 
 and his well-spent life has won him the con- 
 fidence and respect of all. He has now 
 reached the age of seventy-eight, but the 
 years have dealt kindly with him, and he is 
 now one of the honored and highly esteemed 
 citizens of Comanche county. 
 
 A native of Warren county, Tennessee, 
 he first opened his eyes to the light of day 
 early on a Monday morning, June i, 1818, 
 and was always called by his father ' ' Early 
 Bill." As he grew he became familiar with 
 farm life in all its aspects, but his school 
 privileges were meager. The blood of one 
 of the heroes of the Revolution runs in his 
 veins, his grandfather, William Stone, hav- 
 ing entered the colonial army and received 
 several wounds while fighting for the inde- 
 pendence of this nation. He afterward 
 located in South Carolina, where he became 
 a farmer and tobacco-raiser, — one of the 
 substantial planters of that state. He thor- 
 oughly indorsed the principles of the De- 
 mocracy, and instilled them into the mind 
 of his grandson and namesake, — our sub- 
 ject. He married a Miss McClure, a native 
 of Wales, who reached the advanced age of 
 one hundred and two years, while her 
 mother lived to the extreme age of one hun- 
 dred and eighteen years! 
 
 James Stone, the father of the Colonel, 
 was a native of South Carolina, and made 
 farming his life work. He was an opponent 
 of slavery, and was a warm supporter of the 
 Democratic party. He came to Texas with 
 his son William in 1843, having in the mean- 
 time spent ten years in Arkansas, and took 
 up his abode in Ross county, where he de- 
 veloped a large farm. This he afterward 
 sold and removed to Hunt county, where he 
 died about 1852. He always followed farm- 
 ing and stock-raising, and was a man of 
 good business ability, who won success in 
 his undertakings. He served as deputy 
 sheriff and in other offices, and ever dis- 
 charged his duties with the utmost prompt- 
 ness and fidelity. He married Miss Eliza- 
 beth Guest, a native of Tennessee and a 
 daughter of William Guest, of English and 
 
298 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Cherokee blood. Mrs. Stone, who was a 
 consistent member of the Cumberland Pres- 
 byterian church, died in Erath county in 
 1857. In the family were eleven children, 
 all of whom reached mature years, were 
 married and reared families of their own, 
 namely: Martin, now deceased; William; 
 Sarah, wife of H. B. Corattus; James, de- 
 ceased; Polly A., wife of A. Pruitt; Mar- 
 garet, wife of John Welch; Matilda, wife of 
 Willis Rhodes; J. B. and Redmond, both 
 deceased; John A., a resident of Texas; and 
 Larkin, deceased. The only two survivors 
 of this family are William and John. 
 
 Although the educational advantages 
 which our subject enjoyed were limited to 
 three weeks' attendance at school in his na- 
 tive state, he has become a well informed 
 man as the result of observation, practical 
 experience and reading. He was reared in 
 Tennessee and when a young man went to 
 Missouri, where, in 1837, he was united in 
 marriage to Miss Elizabeth Stinnett, a na- 
 tive of Illinois and a daughter of John Stin- 
 nett, of Tennessee, who removed from that 
 state to Missouri, where he followed farm- 
 ing. He served as a captain in the Black 
 Hawk war, and when last heard from was 
 living in Missouri, at the age of ninety years. 
 Six years after their marriage Mr. Stone 
 removed his family to Texas, locating in 
 Hunt county, where he engaged in the cat- 
 tle business and also opened up a small 
 farm. Subsequently he went to Tarrant 
 county, and in 1857 came to Comanche 
 county, where he has since continued the 
 stock business. At one time he was one of 
 the most extensive stock owners in the 
 county, paying tax on ten thousand head of 
 cattle. He bought a tract of land, devel- 
 oped a farm and there engaged in caring for 
 his herds until the war. He also had many 
 
 head of horses, but suffered great losses 
 through theft. During and after the war 
 he drove cattle to Mexico. The thieving 
 became so great in this section of the state 
 that some rigorous measures were taken by 
 the settlers who were compelled to protect 
 their own interests, and seventy-two men 
 were shot and killed when caught in the act 
 of stealing stock! Mr. Stone was very suc- 
 cessful in his business dealing and made a 
 considerable fortune, but lost not a little of 
 his property during the war. He closed out 
 his stock business in 1868. 
 
 During the period of reconstruction Col- 
 onel Stone figured prominently in the pub- 
 lic affairs of the state, aiding to adjust 
 everything to the new order and laboring 
 for the best interests of Texas with an ardor 
 that showed his devotion to the cause of the 
 "Lone Star" and proved of great benefit 
 to the state. In 1866 he took up his abode 
 in Comanche, where he embarked in gen- 
 eral merchandising as a member of the firm 
 of Stone, Kingsbury & Homesley, and con- 
 ducted the business for six years. Since 
 that time he has practically lived retired, 
 engaging in no business save the care of his 
 investments. He has sold his farms, but 
 still owns some real estate in Proctor, which 
 he rents. The year in which occurred the 
 sixtieth anniversary of his birth was largely 
 devoted to hunting, and he killed more 
 than one hundred buffaloes, selling their 
 hides. 
 
 To Mr. and Mrs. Stone were born three 
 children, but one died in childhood. -Martha 
 became the wife of G. Ratliff, who died in 
 the army, and later she wedded H. R. Mar- 
 tin, a prominent citizen of Comanche coun- 
 ty. Margaret married Enoch James, of 
 Alabama, who came to Texas with his 
 parents during his childhood days. He was 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 299 
 
 first a stockman and later a merchant at 
 Comanche. A prominent and influential 
 citizen, he supported the Democracy and 
 served for four years as county clerk, also 
 as justice of the peace. His death occurred 
 in 1878 and his widow is now keeping house 
 for her father. She has seven children: 
 Williams., a minister of the Presbyterian 
 church; Andrew L., a minister of the Mis- 
 sionary Baptist church; Thomas, Richard, 
 Mattie, Elizabeth and Harry. Mrs. Eliza- 
 beth Stone died in 1846, in the faith of the 
 Cumberland Presbyterian church, of which 
 she was a faithful member. In 1848 the 
 Colonel married Miss Malinda Ratliff, 
 daughter of William Ratliff. She too was 
 a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
 church and a lady of culture and intelligence 
 who proved to her husband a faithful help- 
 meet. 
 
 Colonel Stone has always given a loyal 
 support to the Democracy. Although not a 
 member of any church he is a true Christian 
 man, whose life has been in harmony with 
 the underlying principles of religion, and 
 profanity has formed no part of his speech. 
 He is jovial and genial, with the old-time 
 courtesy of the true southern gentleman. 
 His experiences have been many and often 
 of a thrilling nature during the early 'days of 
 the state, but now he is quietly resting from 
 all labors, enjoying the hours as they pass in 
 the midst of relatives and friends, who have 
 for him the respect and reverence which 
 should always accompany old age. 
 
 <>^ ANIEL PINGREE, M. D., one of 
 
 I 1 the most prominent citizens of 
 
 ^^ Hico, is to-day at the head of the 
 
 city government, serving in the 
 
 capacity of mayor. His capable adminis- 
 
 tration of the municipal affairs has largely 
 advanced the interests of the town, and has 
 won him high commendation. 
 
 The Doctor springs from a family that 
 has for more than two hundred and fifty 
 years been identified with American history, 
 the first ancestor, Moses Pingree, coming 
 from England, and locating in Ipswich, 
 Massachusetts, in 1640. He was accom- 
 panied by his brother Aaron, who, however, 
 had no descendants. Our subject is of the 
 sixth generation in America, and the com- 
 plete family genealogy has been prepared 
 by William Pingree, now deceased, of Per- 
 kinsville, Vermont, a prominent lawyer. 
 The Doctor was born in Springfield, New 
 Hampshire, January 26, 18 19, a son of 
 Andrew* and Abiah (Straw) Pingree, who 
 removed to Kane county, Illinois, in 1838. 
 He started out in life for himself at the age 
 of nineteen, and for eleven years engaged 
 in school-teaching, being thus employed in 
 Tennessee, in 1846. There he determined 
 to enter the medical profession and pursued 
 his studies with Dr. Alfred Moore, of Shelby 
 county, Tennessee, also with Dr. Nicholas 
 Hard, of the Indiana Medical College, re- 
 ceiving his degree from that institution in 
 1849. For a year he engaged in practice 
 in Germantown, Tennessee, then went over- 
 land to California, where he practiced until 
 1859, when he returned to Illinois. He 
 was then a member of the medical frater- 
 nity of that state until 1883. On Christ- 
 mas day of that year he went to Fort Worth, 
 Texas, and in May, 1884, came to Hico. 
 He purchased nearly three thousand acres 
 of land near Carlton, Texas, of which one 
 hundred and twenty-five acres are under 
 cultivation. 
 
 The Doctor was married November 10, 
 1 8 59, to Jane Havenhill, daughter of George 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 and Sarah (Clark) Havcnhill. She was 
 born in Litchfield, Kentucky, November 5, 
 1825, and died in July, 1884. They had 
 three children: Walter Scott, who was 
 born July 22, 1863, and died in July, 1884; 
 Ellen Douglas, born February 26, 1865; 
 and Jennie, born January 3, 1868. The 
 two last named remain at home, are educa- 
 ted, and very much respected. 
 
 The Doctor gives his political support 
 to the Democratic party. He has taken an 
 active part in city affairs, has served as 
 alderman for three years, and for the past 
 six years has been mayor of Hico. He is a 
 wide-awake, progressive man, alive to the 
 best interests of the city, and gives his sup- 
 port to all measures calculated for its ben- 
 efit. The cause of education also' finds in 
 him a warm friend. Religiously he is con- 
 nected with the Universalist church. 
 
 aAPTAIN FREDERICK BROW- 
 DER GENTRY, one of the highly 
 esteemed and popular citizens of 
 Hamilton county, is the only sur- 
 vivor of the San Jacinto fight in this section, 
 and there are not over twelve veterans who 
 are still living. A native of Tennessee, he 
 was born in Williamson county, January 10, 
 1810, and is the son of Nicholas Gentry. 
 His mother, also a native of Tennessee, 
 died when our subject was two years old, 
 leaving four children: Elizabeth, who mar- 
 ried Wilson Winn, and lived in Tennessee; 
 George, who married and had a family, and 
 died in Comanche county, Texas; the Cap- 
 tain; and Caroline, who became the wife of 
 Stephen Fuqua, and was a resident of Ham- 
 ilton county, where her children still live. 
 
 When the Captain was fourteen years of 
 age his father married again, his second 
 
 union being with Polly Nunn, by whom he 
 had the following children: James, Thomas, 
 Nicholas, William, Amanda, Louisa, and 
 several others that died young. With their 
 father, these children came to Texas in 
 1842, locating first in Washington county, 
 but are now scattered over the state. Their 
 father was born in Nashville, Tennessee, 
 was in the Cherokee war, and after a resi- 
 dence in the Lone Star state of two years, 
 died, in 1844, at the age of over seventy 
 years. The paternal grandfather of our 
 subject, who was a native of North Caro- 
 lina, helped to build the fort at Nashville, 
 Tennessee, in pioneer days, and with his 
 oldest son, was caught outside its limits and 
 killed by the Indians. He had several chil- 
 dren, amongwhom were George Washington, 
 who died in Falls county, Texas; Samuel, 
 who married a sister of Governor Cannon, 
 of Tennessee; Nicholas, the father of our 
 subject; and a daughter, who married a Mr. 
 Boyd. 
 
 In December, 1835, Captain Gentry left 
 Tennessee, going to New Orleans, and then 
 to the mouth of the Brazos river, where he 
 disembarked. In a company of twelve, in- 
 cluding Mr. Cooper, Henry Horn, Jeans 
 Lemarsand Dr. David, all from Tennessee, 
 started for Washington county, with the 
 intention of joining Austin's company, but 
 the trouble being over all returned with the 
 exception of our subject, who remained to 
 take care of Mr. Cooper, who was ill. With 
 Mr. Horn he later started up the Brazos 
 river to Washington county, which they 
 reached the last of December. Near the 
 present site of Independence, he located 
 with James Swisher, who had married his 
 cousin, and come to Texas in 1S33. 
 
 With that gentleman Captain Gentry 
 remained until the ist of March, 1836, when 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 he joined Houston's army, as Santa Anna 
 was expected to arrive at any time. He 
 belonged to the company formed by Captain 
 W. W. Hill, at Independence, composed of 
 sixty-five men, and started to relieve Travis 
 at San Antonio. At Gonzales they joined 
 Neil's army of four hundred men, of which 
 Houston took charge. San Antonio had 
 been taken by Santa Anna, so the force fell 
 back to the Colorado, then to the Brazos, 
 and later to Harrisburg and Lynch's Ferry, 
 reaching the latter place before Santa Anna 
 came up the next morning. The army at 
 this time numbered nine hundred and fifty- 
 three men, but many were ill and were left 
 with the supplies, so that only seven hun- 
 dred and eighty-three took part in the battle 
 against Santa Anna, whose army was fifteen 
 hundred strong. However, the Texans 
 took six hundred prisoners, whom they held 
 in captivity for two years. Santa Anna 
 escaped but was followed to see that he left 
 the State. 
 
 Being discharged. Captain Gentry re- 
 turned to Washington county on the ist of 
 June, 1836, but on the reorganization of 
 the company he again joined it and was 
 sent to Nashville, on the Brazos, where for 
 three months he was engaged in scouting 
 among the Indians. He was again dis- 
 charged and returned to Washington county 
 on the 1st of October, where he worked 
 until the fall of 1837, when he made a trip 
 back to Tennessee, remaining there until 
 September of the following year. He then 
 came overland back to Washington county, 
 where he was employed for a year, and 
 then purchased five hundred acres of land 
 at Long Point. During his ten years' res- 
 idence there he participated in many en- 
 gagements with the Indians. 
 
 In 1847 Captain Gentry removed to 
 
 Gonzales county, where he bought two hun- 
 dred acres of land and engaged in farming 
 and stock-raising until 1856. In the spring 
 of that 3'ear he came to Hamilton county 
 with three hundred and thirty-seven head of 
 stock, and the next fall brought his family. 
 Near the village of Hamilton he had six 
 hundred and forty acres on the Leon river 
 given him by the government, and this fine 
 farm he still owns, two hundred acres of 
 which have been cleared and are now 
 rented. Upon that place he resided until 
 1874, when he removed to Hamilton, where 
 the following year was passed. Purchasing 
 a tract of three hundred and twenty acres 
 on Warren's creek, he moved there, and 
 now has four hundred and eighty acres in 
 that place. He erected a mill there, run by 
 water power, and two years later added a 
 circular saw, and afterward a gin, but has 
 since sold the gin. The post-office at Gen- 
 try's Mill was named in his honor. 
 
 On the 14th of December, 1856, four- 
 teen horses were taken by the Indians from 
 Captain Gentry, and they drove them to 
 Camp Cooper, where Agent Bayton took 
 them, and twelve were afterward recovered 
 by our subject. Shortly after this he was 
 appointed captain, by Governor Houston, 
 of a company of fifty men, organized to fight 
 the Indians, and at the close of the civil 
 war was reappointed by President Johnson. 
 Since coming to Hamilton county the Cap- 
 tain has lost through the Indians ten thou- 
 sand dollars' worth of horses and other 
 stock. 
 
 In Washington county, on the 2Sth of 
 October, 1840, was celebrated the marriage 
 of Captain Gentry and Miss Rebecca Patton 
 Barnett, who was born in Williamson coun- 
 ty, Tennessee, June 9, 1823, and is the 
 daughter of George Washington and Eliza 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 (Patton) Barnett. The birth of her father 
 occurred December 12, 1793, in South Car- 
 olina, and when a young man he went to 
 Tennessee. He was married in Williamson 
 county, that state, July 6, 1820, to Miss 
 Eliza Patton, who was born there July 3, 
 1S02, and was the daughter of Isaac and 
 Ann (Patton) Patton. In 1830 Mr. Barnett 
 removed to Mississippi, where he lived for 
 two years, and then went overland to 
 Te.xas, reaching Milam county in December, 
 1833. The party was composed of himself, 
 wife and three children; Mrs. Gentry, 
 William and James; and also Mr. Johnson 
 and three sons; Gabriel Jackson, and his 
 three children, a brother-in-law of Mr. Jack- 
 son, named Craddock; and Mrs. Perkins, a 
 widow, who was going to join her brother 
 living in Matagorda county. In the fall of 
 1S34, Mr. Barnett went to Washington 
 county, where he purchased four hundred 
 acres of land, and the following year partic- 
 ipated in the Indian wars and in the cap- 
 ture of San Antonio. He was one of the 
 signers of the declaration of independence 
 which made Texas free, March 2, 1836. 
 About 1845 he became a resident of Gon- 
 zales county, where he owned five thousand 
 acres of land, most of which came through 
 Austin's colony, of which he was a member. 
 Indians were seldom seen through that sec- 
 tion of the country, but while out hunting 
 cattle he was surprised and killed by them, 
 October 14, 1849, and his body was not 
 found until seventeen days later, when only 
 the bones remained. By profession he was 
 a doctor. He was prominently connected 
 with political affairs, serving several terms 
 as senator, and religiously was a consistent 
 member of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
 church. 
 
 Mrs. Gentry is the oldest in a family of 
 
 seven children, the others being as follows: 
 James Alexander, born April 25, 1827, died 
 in Gonzales county; William Lockridge, 
 born January 3, 1830, is still living in that 
 county; Isaac Patton, born August 18, 1834, 
 died in Williamson county, Texas; Mar- 
 garet Ann, born December 14, 1836, mar- 
 ried John McCoghn, and lived in Gonzales 
 county until her death; George Washing- 
 ton, born March 12, 1835, died at the age 
 of four years; and John Work, born May 
 24, 1845, died in Gonzales county. 
 
 The Captain and his estimable wife are 
 the parents of three children: Elizabeth 
 Augusta, born in Washington county, Texas, 
 October 11, 1841, married A. P. Shockley, 
 October 28, 1S71; George Nicholas, born in 
 Washington county, August 29, 1845, is 
 now living in Hamilton county; and Emily 
 Eliza, born in Gonzales county, January 8, 
 1849, is the wife of Marion Graves. 
 
 Captain Gentry uniformly votes the 
 straight Democratic ticket, but has never 
 sought or held political office. As a citizen 
 he meets every requirement and manifests a 
 commendable interest in everything that is 
 calculated to promote the welfare of his 
 county and state. He contributed his share 
 toward the protection of the early settlers 
 during pioneer days against the hostile In- 
 dians, valiantly fought for the liberty of 
 Texas, and well deserves a prominent place 
 among her honored and representative citi- 
 
 aAPTAIN JOHN ROCH is a gen- 
 tleman very familiar to the citizens 
 of Comanche and Erath counties, 
 for he is one of the leading citizens 
 of this locality and is very prominent in po- 
 litical affairs. His long connection with 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Texas and his honorable identification with 
 its best interests justly entitle him to repre- 
 sentation in a work of this character, whose 
 province is to portray the lives of those who 
 have had a marked influence in shaping the 
 county; and it is therefore with pleasure 
 that we present a sketch of his life to our 
 readers. 
 
 Captain Roch was born of Irish parent- 
 age, March 22, 1844, in Portland, Maine, a 
 son of Bernard and Mary (Murrey) Roch, 
 both of whom were natives of county Ros- 
 common, Ireland, where their marriage was 
 celebrated. In 1844 they crossed the At- 
 lantic to the United States, locating at Port- 
 land, Maine. The father was a mechanic 
 and became prominent as the inventor of 
 the Blasedell brick machine, the fame of 
 which became widespread. He lived at 
 two or three different places in Maine and 
 died in Taunton, Massachusetts, in Septem- 
 ber, 1854. His wife survived him for many 
 years and died in Taunton in 1888. Both 
 were members of the Catholic church. They 
 reared a family of four children, and lost 
 two others in childhood. Those yet living 
 are Ed, Tom, Kate and John. The first 
 named came to Comanche county in i86g 
 and is now engaged in farming. 
 
 Captain Roch was reared and educated 
 in Taunton, Massachusetts, but never at- 
 tended school after he was eleven years of 
 age. However, he has obtained an excel- 
 lent fund of knowledge through his own efforts 
 and is to-day a man of broad general infor- 
 mation. In his youth he was apprenticed 
 to a machinist, and after working all day he 
 would attend night school. All thought of 
 study and of work, however, was put aside 
 in 1 86 1, for the president issued his call for 
 troops and the patriotic ardor of the young 
 man prompted his enlistment in the three- 
 
 months' service with the Taunton Light 
 Guards. On the expiration of his first term 
 of enlistment he joined the boys in blue of 
 the Twenty-second Massachusetts Infantry, 
 with which he was connected for three 
 years, serving with the Army of the Poto- 
 mac. His duty was often very arduous and 
 he was five times wounded, in three battles. 
 At Gaines' Mill he was shot through the 
 neck; at Fredericksburg, while making a 
 charge against a stone wall, was shot through 
 the left leg; and at the memorable battle of 
 Gettysburg was shot through both thighs 
 and the left breast. He entered the service 
 as a private, but when mustered out held 
 the rank of captain and was brevetted major. 
 In 1866 Captain Roch went to Little 
 Rock, Arkansas, and from there crossed the 
 plains to New Mexico as wagon-master of a 
 freighting- train. About a year later he 
 came to Comanche county with some stock- 
 men and has here since made his home. 
 He was first employed as a cowboy, but 
 upon his marriage in 1869 he preferred a 
 more quiet life and began the operation of 
 the first steam mill of the county, located 
 at Hazel Dell. The wild and unsettled con- 
 dition of this part of the state made his life 
 fraught with all the hardships and dangers 
 incident to residence on the frontier. In 
 February, 1870, he received a wound in- 
 flicted by an Indian arrow, which struck 
 under the right shoulder blade and came 
 out in front. At that time four men were 
 opposing twenty-eight Indians. F. M. 
 Brown was shot in the arm and in the 
 cheek, Mr. Wallace was shot in the arm, 
 and Mr. Grissom, the fourth member of the 
 party, escaped uninjured. Mr. Brown suc- 
 ceeded in killing the chief of the band and 
 another Indian also was shot. A party 
 started in pursuit of the red men, killing 
 
304 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 seven of them, while among the white men 
 Freeman Clark lost his life. Our subject 
 now has in his possession an Indian comb 
 which was taken from the fellow who shot 
 him, and this he still cherishes as a relic of 
 the bygone days when the pioneers were in 
 constant danger from Indian depredations. 
 He was also in other raids and fights against 
 the Indians. 
 
 The Captain continued his milling oper- 
 ations at Hazel Dell for two years and then 
 removed to Duncan Creek, where he oper- 
 ated the mill formerly owned by Bob Leslie, 
 who had been killed by the red men in 1876. 
 For two years Mr. Roch did business there 
 and during that time he was elected justice 
 of the peace and also served as county com- 
 missioner and tax assessor. In 1877 he 
 purchased a tract of unimproved land and 
 for a time was engaged in its cultivation. In 
 1880 he pursued a course of study in New 
 Orleans to fit himself for work as an optician 
 and has since been practicing his profession. 
 His excellent work has won the public con- 
 fidence and he has been very successful in 
 his endeavors, having now a good business 
 in this line. 
 
 Mr. Roch has always been a stanch 
 Democrat and is the acknowledged leader 
 of his party in Comanche county. He is 
 chairman of the executive county commit- 
 tee, and though he has never been a politi- 
 cal aspirant had he so desired he could un- 
 doubtedly have secured any office within the 
 gift of the people of this community. He is 
 a forceful, interesting and instructive speaker 
 and has done considerable campaign work 
 for his party. He has been delegate to every 
 state convention since the reconstruction 
 and his opinions are received with deference 
 in the counsels of his party. He has long 
 been a member of the Independent Order 
 
 of Odd Fellows, is past senior vice-com- 
 mander of the Grand Army of Texas and 
 was delegate-at-large from this state to the 
 national encampment at Indianapolis, In- 
 diana. He was formerly a member of the 
 Methodist church and served as superintend- 
 ent of the Sunday-school, but is not now 
 connected with any religious denomination, 
 although a believer in the underlying prin- 
 ciples of Christianity. 
 
 Captain Roch was married in 1869 to 
 Miss Mary A. Marshall, a native of Arkansas, 
 who came to Texas with her father, Bailey 
 Marshall, one of the first settlers and a 
 farmer and stock-raiser of Comanche county. 
 He is still living, at the advanced age of 
 eighty-five years. There were two sons by 
 this union: Ed, who married Odie Pinson 
 and is farming the homestead; and Tom, 
 who was killed by a horse, October 28, 1 894. 
 The mother died April 20, 1873. In Janu- 
 ary, 1874, Captain Roch married Miss Fanny 
 Cams, who was born in Coryell county, 
 Texas, in May, 1855, a daughter of Ed 
 Cams, of Georgia, who became one of the 
 early farmers of this state and died in July, 
 1888, while his wife passed away in May, 
 1893. Mr. and Mrs. Roch became parents of 
 the following named children; Mary, wife of 
 Walter Holt, a farmer; Irrna, wife of New- 
 ton Hoover; Ella, twin sister of Irma, now 
 deceased; Laura; Lee and Grant, twins, the 
 former at home, the latter now deceased; 
 Will, Kate, James and Sam D., at home; 
 Ella, Phil C, Fanny and Katie, who are 
 now deceased. 
 
 The Captain yet resides on the farm 
 which he purchased of Governor Pease, be- 
 coming owner of three hundred acres. He 
 afterward bought three hundred acres addi- 
 tional of the same survey and improved his 
 present property, one hundred acres of 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 305 
 
 which is under a high state of cultivation. 
 In addition to the cultivated fields is a good 
 orchard, and the many improvements upon 
 the place include substantial outbuildings 
 and a commodious two-story frame residence, 
 which is pleasantly situated fourteen miles 
 northeast of Comanche and four miles north 
 of Proctor. In all life's relations our sub- 
 ject has been found true to his duty; and 
 his high sense of honor, his integrity and 
 sterling worth class him among the best citi- 
 zens of his adopted county. 
 
 ^>^EV. J. N. CHANDLER.— In all 
 I /<^ central Texas there is no man 
 \ , P more worthy of representation in 
 this volume than the gentleman 
 whose name introduces this biographical 
 notice. He has been a most important 
 factor in the development of this region. 
 His labors have promoted the material 
 prosperity of the community, but more than 
 all he has labored for the spiritual welfare 
 of his fellow men and his upright life and 
 words of entreaty have led many into the 
 straight and narrow way, making them 
 good citizens, honorable in all the relations 
 of this life and fitting them for the life to 
 come. 
 
 Mr. Chandler was born in Hart county, 
 Georgia, September 7, 1S28, — making him 
 sixty-eight years old the 7th of September 
 this year, — a son of Henry F. and Fannie 
 (Harbin) Chandler. His father was born 
 in Georgia and was a son of Joseph 
 Chandler, a native of Virginia, who was of 
 English ancestry and served throughout the 
 Revolutionary war in defense of American 
 independence. The maternal grandfather 
 of our subject carried dispatches from 
 George Washington to one of his officers 
 
 during the war. Henry F. Chandler was a 
 farmer by occupation. He died at the age 
 of seventy years, but his wife died when 
 J. N. was a small boy. In the family were 
 ten children, all of whom reached years of 
 maturity, while five daughters and two sons 
 are yet living. 
 
 The youth of Rev. J. N. Chandler was 
 spent on a farm and his labors there were 
 alternated by attendance at the common 
 schools of the neighborhood. He assisted 
 his father until he had reached his majority, 
 when he engaged in farming on his own 
 account and also followed teaching in his 
 native state. He was married November 
 22, 1849, to Miss Mary Burton, a native of 
 Franklin county, Georgia, and a daughter of 
 John H. Burton. She was only three years 
 old when her mother died, and she was 
 reared by an uncle. 
 
 During the late war Mr. Chandler was 
 living in Banks county, Georgia, where he 
 organized a company, of which he was 
 appointed captain. It was made Company 
 A, Twenty-fourth Georgia regiment, which 
 was attached to the Virginian army. Long- 
 street's division. He participated in many 
 hard-fought battles, commanded his regi- 
 ment at Gettysburg and valiantly led his 
 men in the engagements at Chickamauga, 
 Malvern Hill, White Oak Swamps and 
 Fredericksburg. He continued in the serv- 
 ice until the close of the war and was made 
 lieutenant-colonel. 
 
 In 1865 Mr. Chandler emigrated to 
 Texas, crossing the country with teams and 
 reaching his destination after sixty-two days 
 of travel. He located on the Brazos river 
 in Hood county, where he purchased two 
 hundred acres of wild land, at two dollars 
 and a half per acre, although he was only 
 able to make a partial payment upon it. 
 
30G 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 He cleared and improved his farm, built his 
 residence, even making the chimneys, and 
 after four years sold this place for two 
 thousand and two hundred dollars. He 
 then moved to Somervell county and bought 
 a tract of land on Squaw creek, two miles 
 from the Brazos river. He still owns that 
 place, which now comprises one thousand 
 acres of land, two hundred being under 
 cultivation. In 1891 he took up his resi- 
 dence in Bluff Dale, where he embarked in 
 the lumber business. 
 
 In 1855 Rev. Chandler received a license 
 to preach in the Baptist church in Banks 
 county, Georgia, and entered upon the work 
 of the ministry in 1870. After the war he 
 was elected by the men of his company as 
 their pastor and continued his ministerial 
 work in Georgia until he came to Texas. 
 For many years after locating in this state 
 he was the only preacher for miles around, 
 and he was the organizer of fifteen churches 
 in Somervell and Hood counties. He 
 preached every Saturday and Sunday for 
 fifteen years and at the same time managed 
 his farm. He is now the efficient and 
 beloved pastor of the church in Bluff Dale, 
 where he is doing a good work. He is 
 known far and wide, and his kindly, sympa- 
 thetic nature has won him the love of all, 
 irrespective of denominations. 
 
 There is no man more deserving the 
 respect and confidence of the people of 
 central Texas than Rev. Chandler, for he 
 has labored unceasingly in their interests 
 and has done much for the advancement of 
 the community. In 1892 he was chosen to 
 represent his district in the state legislature 
 and served for one term. His political sup- 
 port is given the Democracy. 
 
 By the marriage of J. N. and Mary 
 Chandler were born two children, one of 
 
 whom is yet living, Morris, a farmer, of 
 Somervell county, Texas. Mrs. Chandler 
 died, and Mr. Chandler was again married 
 November 4, 1858, his second union being 
 with Miss Ilivia J. Jones, of Franklin 
 county, Georgia. Their children were five 
 in number, four sons and a daughter, two 
 yet living: Joseph, a prominent physician 
 of Weatherford, Texas; and Charles, a 
 druggist, of Glen Rose, Texas. The third 
 marriage of our subject was celebrated Jan- 
 uary 15, 1870, the lady of his choice being 
 Miss A. H. Cole, of Parker county, Texas, 
 by whom he has six children, three surviv- 
 ing, namely: Dora, aged twenty-two years; 
 Paul, aged sixteen; and Eddie, aged eleven. 
 
 >Y*AMES F. Mccarty, M. D.— Prom- 
 
 ■ inently identified with the medical 
 /• 1 fraternity of Comanche county, and 
 also with its progressive business in- 
 terests, is the gentleman whose name heads 
 this biography. While he can scarcely 
 claim to be a Texas pioneer, he certainly 
 enjoys the distinction of the next best honor, 
 — that of a native son. 
 
 Dr. McCarty dates his birth in Van 
 Zandt county, July 27, 1853, and was the 
 third born in the family of eight children of 
 Dr. Benjamin F. McCarty and M. J. nee 
 Garrett, both natives of Alabama. The 
 senior Dr. McCarty was a skilled physician 
 and surgeon, a successful practitioner for 
 many years, and became a resident of the 
 Lone Star state in 1848. He was a partici- 
 pant in the Mexican war. The subject of 
 our sketch was reared and educated in 
 Hopkins county, this state, and devoted his 
 early life to mercantile pursuits, the drug 
 business chiefly. He studied medicine 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 307 
 
 under the able tutorship of his father, after 
 which he attended lectures at Nashville, 
 Tennessee, and Louisville, Kentucky, and 
 graduated at the School of Medicine at the 
 last named place with the class of 1882. 
 On his return to Texas after having com- 
 pleted his medical course, he established 
 himself in the practice of his profession in 
 Van Zandt county, remained there several 
 years, and then was for one year associated 
 with Dr. R. A. Miller of Dublin, Erath 
 county. In 1889 he located in Comanche, 
 since which time, in addition to practicing 
 his profession, he has been identified prom- 
 inently with many public enterprises of the 
 city. He has an interest in a drug estab- 
 lishment here, which is conducted under 
 the firm name of Hamilton & McCarty and 
 which takes front rank with the business 
 houses of Comanche. He was the origina- 
 tor and is the owner of the telephone ex- 
 change of the city, which was organized in 
 1895, now having nearly a hundred sub- 
 scribers, and which is of inestimable value to 
 the businesss men of the town. As a prac- 
 titioner, the Doctor is popular and enjoys a 
 large and lucrative practice. Upon his 
 office tables are to be found the latest med- 
 ical and scientific journals. He is a con- 
 stant student, takes a pride in keeping 
 abreast with the times professionally, and 
 is also well posted on all subjects of general 
 interest. He is a member of the Van 
 Zandt County Medical Association, and in 
 social and political circles also we find him 
 prominent and active. He was a charter 
 member of Comanche Lodge, No. i 54, K. 
 of P., in which he was honored by being 
 elected its first chancellor commander, and 
 which position he filled with his usual dig- 
 nity. His political affiliations are with the 
 Republican party. At this writing he is 
 
 chairman of the Republican county com- 
 mittee. 
 
 More than twenty years ago, January i 5, 
 1876, Dr. McCarty led to the hymeneal 
 altar Miss Fredona Riley, like himself a 
 native of Texas, with whose life his was 
 blended until her death January 27, 1896. 
 Their happy union was blessed in the birth 
 of six children, namely: May, now the 
 wife of James Burk, Gerome, Judson, Hal. , 
 Frank and Flora. Two sons and one 
 daughter are deceased. 
 
 * w ^ ON. ABEL LANDERS, pronn- 
 l'^^ nently connected with public affairs 
 \ W in the early settlement of Hood 
 county, was a native of Kentucky 
 and reared in Tennessee, where he married 
 Sarah Shipman. They had a family of 
 eleven children, three of whom are now 
 (1896) living, viz.: Christopher Lee and 
 Robert, farmers in Erath county; and Eliza- 
 beth, wife of J. F. Nutt, one of the found- 
 ers of Granbury, and now a leading mer- 
 chant of this place. 
 
 Mr. Landers was reared on a farm in the 
 early days of Tennessee and enjoyed but 
 meager advantages for acquiring an educa- 
 tion, but he was one of those positive and 
 determined characters who rise in spite of 
 adverse surroundings, and by much reading 
 and far more observation he acquired a good 
 stock of useful knowledge, enabling him to 
 discern motives and press circumstances to 
 most advantageous results. 
 
 He emigrated to Missouri about 1S37 
 and located in Newton county, where he 
 soon became identified with public affairs. 
 He was first elected justice of the peace and 
 so acceptably performed the duties of that 
 office that he was next elected to represent 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 his party in the legislature, and again twice 
 re-elected, so faithful and unswerving was his 
 fidelity to his constituents, and then elected 
 to the state senate. In 1S58 Judge Landers 
 removed with his then large family and 
 other relatives to Texas, settling on the 
 west bank of the Brazos river, in what was 
 then Johnson county. He bought a choice 
 body of land and engaged in farming and 
 stock-raising, and was soon after elected 
 justice of the peace, and upon the organiza- 
 tion of Hood county in 1867 he was elected 
 its first county judge, serving for several 
 years. During this period many ve.xed pub- 
 lic questions came before him, which he dis- 
 posed of without much regard for prece- 
 dents which happened to stand in the way 
 of reaching what he deemed just results; 
 and though the location of the county site 
 at Granbury where it remains was most bit- 
 terly contested, yet his personal influence 
 and efforts were so great that he succeeded in 
 overruling all opposition and by a direct- 
 ness of purpose and methods of his own in- 
 vention established the county site at this 
 place in spite of several popular elections 
 against it but finally in its favor. Subse- 
 quent events as well as public sentiment 
 have fully attested the wisdom of his judg- 
 ment. 
 
 Judge Landers was a man of the people 
 but of great determination, often amount- 
 ing to bluntness which in others would have 
 been offensive, but not so in him. He was 
 public-spirited; in politics a Democrat; in 
 religion a "hard-shell" Baptist. His good 
 wife died a few years after their arrival in 
 Te.xas, and he about 1873, leaving in Hood 
 and adjoining counties many descendants 
 and collateral relatives besides friends of 
 lifelong attachment who had emigrated from 
 Missouri to Texas with him. 
 
 '■^ EVEN B. THOMAS, M. D.— 
 
 I j Among the prominent and progress- 
 
 I ^ ive medical advisers of Comanche 
 
 county, Texas, is the young man 
 
 to a brief review of whose life we would now 
 
 direct attention. Dr. Leven B. Thomas, who 
 
 is a native of Tennessee and dates his birth in 
 
 the city of Memphis, November 8, 1866, 
 
 he being the youngest of the seven children 
 
 of Isaac B. and Emma (Seward) Thomas, 
 
 both natives of Tennessee. 
 
 He was reared in his native state, com- 
 pleted a literary course there, and then 
 entered a commercial college at Bowling 
 Green, Kentucky, where he received a 
 thorough business training. On leaving 
 the college he accepted a position as book- 
 keeper for the Planters' Oil Mill Company, 
 of Memphis, and while acting in this ca- 
 pacity spent all his leisure moments in the 
 study of medicine, there laying the founda- 
 tion for his professional studies. Later he 
 came to Texas and was a student in the 
 office of Dr. W. S. McLean, an eminent 
 practitioner of this state, and finally en- 
 tered the Vanderbilt Medical College, of 
 Nashville, Tennessee, at which well-known 
 institution he graduated with the class of 
 1891. While in Nashville he had valuable 
 clinical experience in the hospitals. He 
 was employed as physician for the county 
 work house, at Memphis, Tennessee, and 
 also was for eighteen months first assistant 
 physician at the Poor and Insane Hospital 
 of Shelby county, that state, in these po- 
 sitions proving himself a benefactor to many 
 a poor sufferer and at the same time gain- 
 ing an experience equal to that of many 
 years of ordinary practice. 
 
 In 1892 Dr. Thomas located at Coman- 
 che. Here his gentlemanly bearing and his 
 skill and success as a practitioner at once 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 > 
 
 brought him to the front and gained for him 
 a lucrative and growing practice, which he 
 maintains to the present time. He is a 
 member of the North West Texas Medical 
 Association. 
 
 Dr. Thomas was united in marriage, in 
 January, 1896, to Miss Hattie Fields, a 
 native of Texas and one of the most esti- 
 mable and charming young ladies of Co- 
 manche. 
 
 Thus briefly is outlined the life history 
 of one of the rising young professional men 
 of Comanche county, and it is fair to pre- 
 dict, judging the future by the past achieve- 
 ments, that he will one day take rank with 
 the eminent physicians of his state. 
 
 ^'"^EORGE HENRY DENISON.— 
 ■ ^j\ The progressive and enterprising 
 ^LM spirit so essential to a successful 
 commercial career is possessed by 
 this gentleman, a merchant of Shive, and 
 also the popular postmaster of the town. 
 He is one of the native sons of the Lone 
 Star state, his birth having occurred near 
 Caldwell, in Burleson county, Texas, on the 
 28th of December, 1841, and his parents 
 being George Henry and Sylvia (Bunker) 
 Denison. The Denison family is of Irish 
 lineage and was established in America in 
 colonial days. The grandparents were Jed- 
 ediah and Abigail Denison, the former born 
 December 23, 1759, and the latter August 
 10, 1769. Their children were Charles, 
 born January 22, 1786; Jedediah, Decem- 
 ber I, 1787; Jeremiah C, January 18, 1790; 
 Abigail, July 19, 1793; William, June 20, 
 1795; Gideon, February 20, 1798; Eliza, 
 March 6, 1800; Richard A., January 27, 
 1802; George Henry, May 6, 1804; and Ed- 
 ward, May 30, 1806. 
 
 The maternal grandfather of our subject, 
 Isaac Bunker, was born March 3, 1780, and 
 was ri^arried January 2, 1804, to Mary 
 Smith, who was born August 12, 1781. The 
 names and dates of birth of their children 
 are as follows: Slocum, born November 
 12, 1805; John, June 11, 1807; David, No- 
 vember 24, 1808; Thomas Smith, April 14, 
 181 1 ; Peleg, December 21, 18 12; Isaac, 
 October 10, 18 14; Sylvia, May 10, 18 17; 
 Henry, August 8, 18 19; Mehitable, born 
 March 15, 1821; Joseph, May 15, 1823; 
 Justin Harvey, born March 21, 1827; Han- 
 nah, February 20, 1829. The Bunker 
 family is of Scotch origin. The grand- 
 father and his sons, Isaac and Joseph, be- 
 came residents of Texas and located much 
 land in this state. 
 
 The father of our subject, George Henry 
 Denison, Sr. , was a native of Connecticut, 
 was a graduate of Yale College and a physi- 
 cian by profession. He began practice in 
 Ohio, and in the spring of 1839 removed to 
 Houston, Texas, whence, in 1840, he went 
 to Burleson county. He met his death by 
 drowning, while attempting to ford the 
 Brazos river on his way to the Methodist 
 quarterly meeting, of which he was a mem- 
 ber, being a local preacher of that church. 
 On the 1st of January, 1830, Mr. Denison 
 married Eunice D. McLane, a native of 
 Connecticut, and shortly after removed to 
 the Buckeye state. They had four children, 
 namely: Sarah Abigail, who was born No- 
 vember 2, 1830, and died in childhood; 
 George Henry, who was born October 20, 
 1832, and also died in childhood; Ezra 
 Done, who was born January 9, 1836, and 
 is a farmer of Runnels county, Texas; and 
 Eunice McLane, who was born May 16, 
 1837, and became the wife of C. B. Wilk- 
 inson, an early settler of Texas, and after 
 
310 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 his death married Wilham Donald, who is 
 also deceased, while she is a resident of 
 Williamson county, Texas. The m<fther of 
 this family died in Ohio and the father was 
 married October i8, 1838, to Sylvia Bunk- 
 er, who was born in Ohio, May 10, 1817. 
 She died July 15, 1886. Their children 
 were Arthur Bunker, born in Houston, 
 Texas, July 25, 1839, now engaged in farm- 
 ing four miles from Waco, Texas; and George 
 Henry, of this review. After the death of 
 Mr. Denison his widow became the wife of 
 John Ethelbert King, who is now living in 
 Belton. Of their marriage, celebrated Oc- 
 tober 19, 1842, the following children were 
 born: Willis Justin, born November 2, 
 1843, now deceased; Mary Margaret, born 
 March 21, 1846, also deceased; Sylvia Re- 
 becca, born January 21, 1849, deceased; 
 John Thomas, born March 11, 1851, now 
 living in Armstrong county, Texas; Alice 
 Elizabeth, born February 17, 1858, wife of 
 W. W. Morris, a merchant of Cornhill, 
 Texas. 
 
 After his father's death Mr. Denison, 
 whose name heads this sketch, continued to 
 make his home with his mother, and in 
 1855 accompanied heron her removal to 
 Williamson county, Texas. He was a 
 young man of nineteen years at the time of 
 the outbreak of the civil war and a pa- 
 triotic defense he gave to the south, enlisting 
 in June, 1861, in Captain Mullins' company 
 of the Twelfth Texas Cavalry. His service 
 was mostly in Arkansas, Louisiana and 
 Texas, and he was wounded by a shell in 
 the right hip when participating in the bat- 
 tle of Yellow Bayou. When the war was 
 over he returned to Burleson county, where 
 he engaged in farming and stock-dealing. In 
 October, 1873, he cameto Hamilton county, 
 where he purchased three hundred and 
 
 sixty acres of unimproved land on the Leon 
 river below the city of Hamilton. Here he 
 resumed agricultural pursuits, which he suc- 
 cessfully followed for a number of years. 
 
 Mr. Denison was married January 11, 
 1872, to Susan Eleanor Leeper, daughter 
 of Charles and Frances (Knott) Leeper. 
 She was born in Burleson county, Texas, 
 October 15, 1850, and died July 8, 1876. 
 Of their three children only one is now liv- 
 ing, namely, Ada Wilson, who was born 
 November 2, 1872, and was married No- 
 vember 16, 1890, to Charles Baker Hooks, 
 whose death occurred December 22, 1891. 
 Mr. Hooks has since resided with her father. 
 She has a little daughter, Nora Arminta, 
 born October 1 1 , 1891. The other children 
 of Mr. Denison's first marriage were William 
 Arthur, born March 3, 1875, and died 
 April 25, 1875; and Susan Eleanor, who 
 was born on the 8th of July, and died on 
 the 26th of September, 1876. On the 27th 
 of November, 1877, Mr. Denison was again 
 married, his second union being with Eliza- 
 beth Bodenhamer, who was born in Mis- 
 sissippi, October 31, 1848, and came to 
 Texas in 1870. She was called to the home 
 eternal February 7, 1887. Mr. Denison 
 was again married, August 29, 18S8, when 
 Mrs. Ellen Elizabeth Osburne became his 
 wife. She was the widow of Alexander 
 Osburne and a daughter of George Moran 
 and Rebecca (Roddy) Fletcher. Her birth 
 occurred in Burleson county, December 6, 
 185 1, and she is a representative of one of 
 the old families of the state. Her grand- 
 father, Major Ephraim Roddy, came to 
 Texas in 1831 and married Harriet Harri- 
 son Earle. Their children were John, 
 Amaryllis, Balys, Rebecca, Eleanor, and 
 Joseph. The father was a lawyer by pro- 
 fession and died in Liberty Hill, Texas, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 311 
 
 May 17, 1872, at the age of eighty-six 
 years. 
 
 Mr. Denison abandoned agriculture in 
 1 89 1 and on the 24th of December moved 
 to his present home in Shiva and purchased 
 the general store of J. W. Shive, in honor 
 of whom the town was named. The stock 
 was then small, but he has increased it to 
 meet the demands of his constantly growing 
 trade until his goods will now invoice two 
 thousand dollars and his sales amount to 
 eight thousand annually. He devotes his 
 energies untiringly to his business and there- 
 in lies the secret of his success. The post- 
 office at this place was established in 1886, 
 with J. W. Shive as postmaster, until suc- 
 ceeded by the subject of this sketch in 1892. 
 In politics he was formerly a Democrat, 
 but since 1892 has voted with the Populist 
 party. Since the age of sixteen he has 
 been a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
 church, south, and has held all its lay of- 
 fices and largely advanced its interests. He 
 was made a Mason in Neal Lodge at 
 Lexington, Texas, in 1868, and took the 
 Royal Arch degrees at the same place in 
 .872. 
 
 >Tr»ESSE CARAWAY, deceased, was 
 m one of Hood county's pioneer set- 
 /• 1 tiers, taking up his residence within 
 her border in 1859. He lived in 
 the beautiful and productive valley of Pa- 
 luxy and aided in transforming its wild 
 lands into rich and fertile fields. He wit- 
 nessed almost the entire growth and prog- 
 ress of the region, living through the period 
 when the Indians made frequent depreda- 
 tions in the neighborhood, and through the 
 early day of settlement when the few homes 
 were widely scattered over the trackless 
 
 prairie. He left the impress of his individ- 
 uality on the improvement and develop- 
 ment of this region, and therefore deserves 
 mention among the honored founders of 
 the county which now takes its place among 
 the best in the state. Jesse Caraway was 
 a man whom to know was to respect, for 
 his life was upright and straightforward in 
 every particular. 
 
 He was a native of Duplin county, North 
 Carolina, and a son of Bryant Caraway, 
 who was born in the same state and was a 
 descendant of a notable English family and 
 a cousin of Rufus King, vice-president of 
 the United States. His father married a 
 Miss Reeves, and about the year 1830 re- 
 moved with his family to Tennessee, be- 
 coming one of the first settlers of Gibson 
 county, where he lived neighbor to Davy 
 Crockett, the famed explorer and hunter; 
 and between the two gentlemen there 
 sprang up a warm friendship. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Caraway spent their remaining days 
 in that state and reared to maturity five 
 children. He followed agricultural pursuits 
 and died at an advanced age. 
 
 Jesse Caraway passed the days of his 
 childhood and youth on the homestead farm 
 and attended the district schools near by. 
 He remained with his parents until his mar- 
 riage, which occurred in 1838, when he es- 
 poused Miss Elizabeth Keathley. Thfe lady is 
 a native of Duplin county. North Carolina, 
 and a daughter of Daniel and Lieuhamy 
 Keathley, who were of Irish descent. With 
 a wife to care for, Mr. Caraway now began 
 farming, on his own account, and continued 
 that pursuit in Tennessee until his emigra- 
 tion to Texas in 1859. He traveled with 
 teams across the country, and after a jour- 
 ney of four weeks arrived at his destination. 
 He purchased a tract of wild land in the 
 
312 
 
 HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 Paluxy valley and bepjaii the arduous task 
 of making a home and developing a farm 
 on the frontier. He also engaged in raising 
 stock, but his business was largely inter- 
 rupted through the period of the civil war. 
 He served as a meinber of a minute com- 
 pany engaged in protecting the frontier. On 
 one occasion, while riding a spirited horse, 
 he ran into a band of Indians, who fired 
 upon him and he barely escaped with his 
 life. When hostilities had ceased he re- 
 sumed farming and stock-raising, which he 
 carried on continuously until his death. He 
 placed one hundred acres under a high state 
 of cultivation, transforming it into one of 
 the best improved farms in the Paluxy val- 
 ley. He was industrious and energetic, and 
 was most honorable and upright in all his 
 business relations. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Caraway were the parents 
 of six sons and four daughters, as follows: 
 L. J., of Thorp Spring; Bryant, of Alma, 
 Arkansas; Adam, of Marshall, Texas; Archie, 
 who is living on the old homestead; John, 
 of Anson, Texas; William, deceased; Ada- 
 line, wife of J. R. Jones, of Erath county; 
 Lieuhamy, wife of George McDermitt, of 
 Erath county; Ann, wife of Albert Roberts, 
 of De Leon, Texas; and Amanda, deceased 
 wife of Joel Counts. 
 
 Mr. Caraway was an active and consist- 
 ent member of the Methodist Episcopal 
 church, and also belonged to the Masonic 
 fraternity, and strange to say he was never 
 known to speak an unkind word to his wife. 
 He took an active interest in all affairs that 
 tended to promote the material, educational, 
 social or moral welfare of the community, 
 and was one of the founders of the church 
 with which he was so long connected. He 
 left behind him the memory of a noble and 
 well spent life and an example that is wor- 
 
 thy of emulation. He passed away May 
 1 8, 1893, and his wife, a most estimable 
 lady who had a large circle of friends, is 
 still living, making her home on the old 
 homestead. 
 
 ''I-* J. CARAWAY is one of the most 
 
 I I prosperous, intelligent and influen- 
 I ^ tial agriculturists of Hood county. 
 To sketch the life of a busy man of 
 affairs and in a manner to throw a well 
 focused light upon the principal events of 
 his life, is the task in hand to portray the 
 life of the gentleman whose name introduces 
 this biographical notice. Seven years ago 
 he passed the fiftieth mile-stone on life's 
 journey, yet he is to-day remarkably well 
 preserved and presents the appearance of a 
 man at the zenith of his powers. He is a 
 man highly honored in Hood county, for he 
 is recognized as one of its most public- 
 spirited and progressive citizens, and his 
 genuine worth merits the high regard in 
 which he is held. For many years he has 
 been identified with the history of this local- 
 ity, and as a business man and political 
 leader he is well known. His residence is 
 now in Thorp Spring. 
 
 Mr. Caraway was born on the old home- 
 stead of the celebrated Davy Crockett, in 
 Gibson county, Tennessee, April 21, 1839, 
 and is the eldest son of the late Jesse Cara- 
 way, whose sketch precedes this. He was 
 reared on a farm and educated in the best 
 schools in the neighborhood of his home. 
 With his father's family he came to Texas 
 and assisted in the arduous task of opening 
 up a new farm; hut, his tastes and desires 
 being in the line of professional life, he 
 took up the study of law, in the office of 
 W. H. Blaine, of Stephenville, who was an 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 313 
 
 eminent practitioner, having been a pupil 
 of the Hon. Richard Coke. He was Hcensed 
 to practice by Judge N. W. Battle, oi Waco; 
 but in the meantime the war broke out and 
 he went to Hempstead, Texas, and enlisted 
 in Captain \V. A. Taylor's company, of the 
 Twenty-fourth Texas Cavalry, commanded 
 by Colonel F. C. Wilkes, who was an inti- 
 mate friend of our subject. 
 
 This regiment, together with that of 
 Colonels Gillespie and Carter, formed what 
 was known as Carter's brigade. The three 
 colonels were Methodist ministers, and no 
 more distinguished and intellectual colonels 
 could be found in the service. The brigade 
 moved first to Shreveport and then to 
 Arkansas Post, where with his command 
 Mr. Caraway was captured, January ii, 
 1862. He was taken to Camp Butler, near 
 Springfield, Illinois, where lie was confined 
 for three months, and then sent to City 
 Point, Virginia, where he was exchanged. 
 He made his way to the Model Farm and 
 then to Petersburg, where he was confined 
 in a hospital. During that time the brave 
 and gallant "Stonewall" Jackson was 
 killed. After partially recovering from a 
 severe attack of pneumonia Mr. Caraway 
 received a furlough and returned home, but 
 after a short time reported to Henry E. 
 McCullough and was assigned to duty in 
 Captain L. W. Goodrich's company, of the 
 Thirtieth Cavalry, with which he spent the 
 last two years of the war, in the Indian 
 Territory and Arkansas. As third lieutenant 
 of his company he participated in the battles 
 of Diamond Grove, Cabin Creek, Roseville, 
 Poison Springs and in the demonstration 
 before Fort Smith. When the war was 
 over his company was disbanded, near Mar- 
 lin, Texas. 
 
 He then went to Waco, Texas, and en- 
 
 tered the law office of S. H. Renick, one of 
 the ablest jurists of Texas, with whom he 
 studied until his eyes failed and he was 
 forced to abandon the profession, thus put- 
 ting aside the ambition of his life. Nature 
 seemed to have fitted him for the law. He 
 possessed a keen, analytical mind, strong 
 powers of comprehension and a ready fac- 
 ulty of presenting his views so that he wins 
 followers. These qualities, so essential at 
 the bar, would undoubtedly have made his 
 career as a lawyer a brilliant one; but Fate 
 ordained otherwise. He then turned his at- 
 tention to merchandising, in Stephenville, 
 but the confinement of in-door labor af- 
 fected unfavorably his health, and his phy- 
 sician advised some occupation that would 
 keep him much of the time in the open air. 
 He therefore returned to the calling to 
 which he had been reared, and has since 
 carried on general farming, in which he has 
 enjoyed success. Although it was impossi- 
 ble to carry out the hopes of his youth, 
 without idle regret he turned his attention 
 to agriculture, made the most of his oppor- 
 tunities, and to-day is the owner of one of 
 the finest farms in the Brazos valley,— a 
 farm containing four hundred acres of highly 
 cultivated land. The legal profession of 
 Texas lost one of its brightest members, the 
 mercantile interests one of its best business 
 men, but the agricultural community gained 
 a leader. In whatever he undertakes he is 
 always at the front, and he has added dig- 
 nity to the calling with which he is now con- 
 nected. On his farm he has an elegant resi- 
 dence, which he erected in 1890, and he also 
 has one of the finest dwellings in Thorp 
 Spring, to which place he moved for the 
 purpose of affording his children better edu- 
 cational privileges. 
 
 Mr. Caraway was married in 1865 to 
 
314 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Miss Texanna J. Martin, who lived and died 
 a consistent member of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal church; she was a daughter of Robert 
 and Angeline Martin. They had one son, 
 Robert Jesse, who died at the age of twenty- 
 three years and was buried in the cemetery 
 on the Paluxy. The date of Mrs. Cara- 
 way's death was 1866; and July 8, 1869, 
 Mr. Caraway married Miss Catherine Thorp, 
 a daughter of Pleasant Thorp, the founder of 
 Thorp Spring. By this marriage there are 
 seven children: Josephine B., wife of Lee 
 Conway, of Parker county, Texas; Lee P., 
 of Denison, this state; Ella E., wife of D. N. 
 Hodge, of Grand View, Johnson county, 
 Texas; John C, of Parker county; Nettie 
 v., William J. and Armanda J. 
 
 The parents are active and consistent 
 members of the Christian church, and Mr. 
 Caraway is a trustee of Add Ran University, 
 a school of that denomination. He also be- 
 longs to the Masonic fraternity, and is pres- 
 ident of the Texas State Farmers' Congress. 
 He has served as county judge, is a recog- 
 nized leader in the Democratic party, and 
 has been largely instrumental in the elec- 
 tion of many of the prominent men who 
 have held high positions in the state and 
 nation. Among these are Colonel W. L. 
 McGaughey, who was elected land com- 
 missioner, and Hon. John H. Taylor, whose 
 record is well known to the early settlers. 
 He has always been a warm personal friend 
 and supporter of Hon. S. W. T. Lanham, 
 of Weatherford. Few men are more thor- 
 oughly informed on the questions and issues 
 of the day than Mr. Caraway. He studies 
 a question in its entirety and masters it in 
 every detail. He believes in the doctrine of 
 state rights as advocated by Jefferson, and 
 in bimetallism. He is one of the most far- 
 seeing men in Texas, and his influence is 
 
 ever strongly exerted in behalf of those prin- 
 ciples and movements which he believe will 
 benefit the greatest majority. All who know 
 him esteem him highly for his conscientious 
 fidelity to principle, and his friends are lim- 
 ited in number only by the number of his 
 acquaintances. 
 
 * w ^ ON. NEWTON L. COOPER, a 
 
 |rV prominent attorney of Granbury, 
 \ W who has attained a conspicuous 
 place at the barof central Texas as a 
 successful criminal lawyer, was born in Ashe 
 county, North Carolina. His parents were 
 Samuel and Anna (Patterson) Cooper, the 
 former a native of Maryland and the latter 
 of Virginia. The family is of English and 
 Scotch origin and was established on Amer- 
 ican soil at an early date by the great-grand- 
 parents of our subject. 
 
 Mr. Cooper, of this review, was edu- 
 cated in a private school and in Jonesville 
 Academy in North Carolina. With a good 
 English education to serve as a basis for fu- 
 ture work, he went to Georgia in 1858 and 
 taught school for two years, and in January, 
 1 86 1, with the desire to become a profes- 
 sional man, he commenced the study of law 
 in the office of the Hon. James G. Inlow in 
 Elijay, Georgia, and was admitted to the 
 bar at that place before the Hon. George D. 
 Rice, judge of the superior court of the Blue 
 Ridge circuit. 
 
 His sympathies and feelings being with 
 the south he felt it his duty to join the Con- 
 federate forces, and on the 17th day of Oc- 
 tober, 1 86 1, he was mustered into the Con- 
 federate service as a private in Companj' E, 
 Eighth Battalion, Georgia Infantry, in which 
 company he continued until the i8th day of 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 315 
 
 April, 1865, when General Johnston surren- 
 dered his forces to General Sherman at 
 Greensboro, North Carolina. He held the 
 rank of first lieutenant for over two years 
 and participated in many important engage- 
 ments, where his coolness and bravery were 
 especially manifested. During the great 
 national struggle he was three times slightly 
 wounded but never remained away from the 
 scene of action exceeding two months in 
 total time until hostilities were ended. 
 
 After the surrender he remained in North 
 Carolina, where his mother still resided, 
 until in November, 1865. During the war 
 his father died, in October, 1862. Lieuten- 
 ant Cooper returned to Ellijay, Georgia, and 
 commenced the practice of law in 1865, and 
 in 1866 was elected county judge of Gilmer 
 county. In June, 1867, he came to Texas 
 and married Miss Sallie A. Lewis, on the 
 27th day of June, 1867, a daughter of Col- 
 onel E. D. Lewis, who lived near Weather- 
 ford, Texas. After his marriage he and his 
 bride returned to Ellijay, Georgia. In 1870 
 he was elected to the legislature of the 
 state, and in May, 187 1, resigned the office 
 and came to Texas, and on the 4th day of 
 August, 1 87 1, settled in Granbury, Texas, 
 where he has since resided, except for two 
 years, during which time he was a resident 
 of Dallas, Texas, where he was a member of 
 the law firm of Russell, Cooper & Lemmon. 
 Granbury, at the time he located there, was 
 a mere hamlet, not having over fifty or sixty 
 inhabitants. By a strict attention to bus- 
 iness and an honest treatment of clients he 
 has won a liberal share of the law practice, 
 both in civil and criminal cases. He has 
 been more generally engaged in the criminal 
 practice, and has been retained as counsel 
 in many of the important criminal cases 
 that have come up for trial in this part of 
 
 the state. Mr. Cooper has a very remark- 
 able memory for dates and incidents, and 
 rarely takes any notes in any case prepara- 
 tory to arguing the case. He has always 
 been a close student of his profession and 
 other literature. He has a keen and com- 
 prehensive knowledge of authorities, and 
 readily grasps the strong points in his case 
 and does not fail to discover the weak points 
 of his adversary. Before a jury he is quiet 
 and confident, for his cases are well pre- 
 pared and his declarations are clear and 
 forcible. If he fails in the lower courts he 
 has a very clear idea of the results in a 
 higher court, and when he so feels he rarely 
 fails to get a reversal. 
 
 Mr. Cooper was made a Mason on the 
 1st day of January, 1867, in Ellijay Lodge, 
 in Georgia. He is a charter member of the 
 Knights of Honor, of Granbury Lodge, No. 
 2369, which was organized in February, 
 1 88 1. He is liberal in religious thought, 
 and while he believes in a supreme power 
 he does not believe that anyone knows his 
 attributes, either in this or any other age. 
 He is not a member of any religious denom- 
 ination, but his wife and one or two of .his 
 daughters are members of the Presbyterian 
 church. They have had five children, 
 namely. George Lewis, who died at the 
 age of six years; Dora Lee; Hugh H., who 
 was educated in the public school and Gran- 
 bury College, studied law in his father's 
 office and was admitted to the bar at Gran- 
 bury in March, 1894, and is now associated 
 with his father in the practice of the law, 
 under the firm name of N. L. Cooper & 
 Son; Kate Lorena and Nannie Olena com- 
 plete the family. The Cooper home is 
 truly a hospitable one and the members of 
 the family occupy a high place in the esteem 
 and affections of their many friends. 
 
816 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 @L. BOOKER, who occupies dis- 
 tinctive preferment as county sur- 
 veyor of Somervell county, Texas, 
 has been identified with the interests 
 of Hood and Somervell counties since 1874, 
 these years having been given to official serv- 
 ice, to teaching and to farming and stock- 
 raising. 
 
 Mr. Booker is a native of the Big Bend 
 state. He was born in Sullivan county, 
 Tennessee, July 6, 1842, his parents being 
 J. S. and M. E. (Waterman) Booker. The 
 Bookers are of German origin, settled in 
 America during the colonial period, and 
 later scattered to various parts of the 
 country, J. S. Booker's native state being 
 Tennessee. The mother of our subject was 
 born in Virginia, the daughter of Bostonians 
 who were of English descent. In 1873 J. 
 S. Booker and his family left Virginia and 
 came to Te.xas, locating first in Lamar 
 county and a year later coming to Hood 
 county, where he followed farming, milling 
 and stock-raising. He and his wife had nine 
 children, namely: G. L. , whose name intro- 
 duces this sketch; Amanda, who died at the 
 age of seventeen years; Lucretia, wife of 
 Frank Simpson, of Delta county. Texas; 
 Walter, who died at the age of fourteen 
 years; next were twins that died in infancy; 
 Alice, widow of G. Howington, Dublin, 
 Erath county, Texas; N. E., Stephens 
 county, Texas; and Minnie, wife of Almond 
 Shepherd, of Stephens county. The mother 
 of this family was a member of the Meth- 
 odist church, south. Politically, the father 
 was in early life an old-line Whig, but after 
 the war gave his support to the Democrat 
 party. He and his son, our subject, were 
 both members of Company I, Forty-eighth 
 Virginia Volunteer Infantry, in the war, the 
 former serving two years in this company. 
 
 Then for one year he was captain of a re- 
 serve force. Soon after the seven days' 
 fight before Richmond the elder Mr. Booker 
 was honorably discharged and returned 
 home. The son participated in several bat- 
 tles in the valleys of Virginia, was in the 
 engagement around Petersburg and at the 
 battle of Appomattox. 
 
 At the close of the war the subject of 
 our sketch went to school for three years, 
 then he engaged in teaching and was occu- 
 pied in that profession in Virginia until their 
 removal to Texas, and the first two 3-ears 
 after their settlement here he taught school. 
 He was then deputy county clerk three 
 years, deputy sheriff two years, and in 1882 
 was elected sheriff, which office he filled 
 about one year. On his retirement from 
 the sheriff's office he turned his attention to 
 farming and stock-raising, which he has 
 since followed, dividing his time between 
 this occupation and teaching. During his 
 school-days Mr. Booker made a specialty of 
 the study of civil engineering, has ever since 
 given more or less attention to the business, 
 and in 1889 was elected to the office of 
 county surveyor, which he has since filled 
 acceptably. Mr. Booker has occupied his 
 present farm since 1884. This place com- 
 prises six hundred acres, forty-five of which 
 are under cultivation and utilized for a 
 diversity of crops. 
 
 February 24, 1881, was consummated 
 Mr. Booker's marriage to Miss Nannie D. 
 Fuller, a native of Georgia and a daughter 
 of Samuel O. and E. S. (Bates) Fuller. She 
 has been a resident of this county since 
 1878. Her father was a member of the 
 Twenty-fourth Georgia Regiment during the 
 late war and was killed in a skirmish near 
 Sevierville, Tennessee, at the age of forty 
 years. Her mother is still living and is now 
 
rf-J:: 
 
 .em^. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 317 
 
 a resident of Stephens county, Texas. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Booker have had eight children, 
 all of whom are living except Nora E., who 
 died at the age of five years. The others 
 are Olin, Phenie, Lorena, Nellie, Lizzie, 
 Samuel and Karl. 
 
 Fraternally, Mr. Booker is identified 
 with Glen Rose Lodge, No. 525, A. F. & 
 A. M., and his affiliations are with the 
 Democratic party. Religiously, he is a 
 member of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
 south, while his wife has a membership in 
 the Missionary Baptist church. 
 
 'HOMAS Y. LEWIS, M. D., Dub- 
 lin, Texas. — Holding marked pres- 
 tige among the professional men of 
 Erath county, enjoying high popu- 
 larity, and maintaining a representative po- 
 sition as identified with the stock and farm- 
 ing interests of the county, it is of special 
 importance that the life history of Dr. 
 Thomas Y. Lewis be given prominence in 
 this work. 
 
 Dr. Lewis is a native of Illinois. He 
 was born in Shelbyville, that state, Feb- 
 ruary 20, 1837, son of Thomas and Jane 
 (Armstrong) Lewis. The records of the 
 Lewis family show Thomas to be a favorite 
 name, the Doctor, his son and grandson, 
 his father and grandfather all bearing the 
 name of Thomas. Grandfather Lewis died 
 in 1S24. Dr. Lewis has and highly prizes 
 as an heirloom the silver watch which his 
 grandfather carried. This watch was made 
 in England in 18 10 and has engraved on it 
 the grandfather's obituary and the names of 
 his family. Of his children, we record that 
 Thomas, the Doctor's father, was the 
 eldest; Joseph came next; Sarah, who 
 died unmarried; A. S., still a resident 
 
 of Boston, Massachusetts; and there were 
 two others of whom little or nothing is 
 known by our subject. The eldest son, 
 Thomas, born and reared in Boston, 
 left the east in 1827 and established his 
 home in Illinois, where he engaged in mer- 
 chandising, he being the only one of the 
 family to go west. TherS he died in April, 
 1838, the year following the Doctor's birth; 
 and of the three children born to Thomas 
 and Jane Lewis, only Thomas Y. is living. 
 Subsequently Mrs. Lewis became the wife 
 of Dr. William Keller, of Shelbyville, Illi- 
 nois. Her father, William Armstrong, was 
 a Kentuckian who moved from that state to 
 a place near Vincennes, Indiana, at an early 
 date and was one of the pioneers of the 
 Hoosier state. He and his good wife were 
 the parents of the following children : James, 
 who located near Austin, Texas, in 1833, 
 became prominent as a lawyer and was hon- 
 ored with a seat in the state legislature; 
 next in order of birth was Jane, the Doctor's 
 mother; Isabelle married Samuel Paddock 
 and located in Terre Haute, Indiana; An- 
 drew and Edward, twins, lived in Indiana; 
 Elizabeth married Charles Woodward, of 
 Shelbyville, Illinois; William came to Texas 
 in 1836 and located near Austin, and to him 
 belongs the distinction of having surveyed 
 much of Erath county and western Texas, 
 then called Palo Pinto county; Benjamin, 
 who died in Indiana; John, who also died in 
 the state of Illinois: and Mary, deceased 
 when young. 
 
 Early in life Thomas Y. Lewis, the im- 
 mediate subject of this review, and to whom 
 we now direct attention, chose the medical 
 profession and at once bent his energies in 
 that direction. He began the study of 
 medicine under the tutorage of Dr. J. Y. 
 Hitt, of Greensburg, Indiana, and subse- 
 
318 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 quently was a student in the office of Dr. 
 A. L. Kellar, of Sullivan, Illinois. In 1856 
 he entered the University of Louisville, at 
 Louisville, Kentucky, took a course there 
 and also in the Kentucky School of Medi- 
 cine at that place, receiving a diploma 
 from the latter institution February 25, 
 1858. Returning to Illinois, the young 
 physician began the practice of his profes- 
 sion at Sullivan, where his honorable and 
 upright bearing as a gentleman and his eager 
 and sympathetic attention to those who re- 
 quired his assistance, gained him a popular- 
 ity among the good people of the town and 
 surrounding country and at the same time 
 won for him recognition from the leaders in 
 the medical ranks. He remained in Sulli- 
 van until the latter part of 1881, when he 
 removed to Texas, landing here on the 
 20th of December. Previous to this time 
 Dr. Lewis had visited Texas and had been 
 favorably impressed with the location and 
 surroundings of Dublin, and had determined 
 to make it his future home. Here he at 
 once established himself in practice, with 
 his former success, and has ever since 
 maintained a high standing as a practitioner. 
 By June, 1884, the demands on his time 
 and attention having so increased, he found 
 it necessary to have an associate in bus- 
 iness and accordingly formed a partnership 
 with Dr. J. J. McLemore, whose skill as a 
 physician and high standing as a gentleman 
 show conclusively Dr. Lewis's wisdom in 
 the selection of a partner. Drs. Lewis and 
 McLemore still practice together. 
 
 And not only as a physician but also as 
 a business man and financier has Dr. Lewis 
 shown marked ability. He has made in- 
 vestments in real estate until he is now re- 
 garded as one of the large landholders of 
 Erath county. His ranch, comprising 1,500 
 
 acres — one of the finest in the county — has 
 a reputation far and near for the excel- 
 lency of its stock, — Durham cattle and Nor- 
 man horses. On this ranch there are four 
 tenant houses, the families living in them 
 being employed by the Doctor to attend to 
 the cultivation of his broad acres and take 
 charge of his fine stock. 
 
 Dr. Lewis was married June 22, 185S, 
 to Cordelia B. Elder, daughter of James 
 and Didanna (French) Elder. Mrs. Lewis 
 was born October 31, 1 841, is a lady of 
 pleasing personality, and has all these years 
 presided with charming grace over the Doc- 
 tor's home. Of their children we record 
 that Eva, who became the wife of F. M. 
 Craig, of Illinois, was born August 9, i860, 
 and died April 17, 1885; Thomas Edward, 
 born December 2, 1862, and now a resident 
 of Fort Worth, Texas, married Miss Laura 
 Gray, of Mississippi, who died two years 
 afterward, and after her death her one-year- 
 old son died; Minnie, born December 17, 
 1864, died October 4, 1865; and Edith, 
 born March 17, 1873, is the wife of S. S. 
 Davis, of Dublin, Texas, and has two chil- 
 dren, — Lewie and Thomas, aged five and 
 three years. 
 
 Fraternally, Dr. Lewis has long been 
 identified with the Masonic order, having 
 been initiated into its mysteries in April, 
 1858, a short time after attaining his ma- 
 jority. He now affiliates with Dublin lodge. 
 No. 540, A. F. & A. M. While in Illinois 
 he was received into the Independent Order 
 of Odd Fellows. The Doctor is an earnest 
 advocate of temperance, and gives his sup- 
 port to the Prohibition party. In municipal 
 and educational affairs he has ever taken a 
 commendable interest, more especially, 
 however, in the latter, he having served as 
 trustee of the Dublin schools two years, and 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 319 
 
 four years as superintendent of the schools 
 of Moultrie county, Illinois, and was elected 
 the first president of the Dublin National 
 Bank in 1893. At the time he was twenty 
 years of age he united with the Christian 
 church, and has ever remained a consistent 
 member of the same. Thus it is seen that 
 Dr. Lewis early in life chose high ideals, 
 has worked steadily toward them, and as 
 the result of his efforts enjoys to-day an en- 
 viable position in the high circles in which 
 he moves. 
 
 [P. S.— The main facts in this sketch 
 were furnished by me; but the embellish- 
 ments were furnished by the writers of the 
 book. Very respectfully yours, 
 
 T. Y. Lewis, M. D.] 
 
 >^OHN CLARK PHILLIPS, the pop- 
 k ular postmaster of Iredell, is one o 
 /» 1 the leading and successful business 
 ^-'^ men and enterprising citizens of the 
 place, where he has been engaged in busi- 
 ness since 1878. 
 
 He was born in Jackson parish, now 
 Lincoln county, Louisiana, on the 20th of 
 February, 1852, and is a son of Jonathan 
 A. Phillips, a native of Georgia, who died 
 of yellow fever at New Orleans in 1853, at 
 the age of twenty-seven years. He had re- 
 ceived a good practical education, which 
 well fitted him for a business career, and 
 was a merchant at Vienna, near New Or- 
 leans. At the age of twenty-one he had 
 married Miss Caroline Nail, who was born 
 in Georgia, of which state her father, Na- 
 than Nail, was also a native. The latter 
 was a planter and a faithful member of 
 the Baptist church, and died in 1894. The 
 mother of our subject passed away in 1 890, 
 at the age of sixty-four years. She was 
 
 connected with the Methodist church, and 
 at her husband's death was left with the 
 care of five children, namely: Reuben, of 
 Bosque county; Sally E., widow of David 
 Sutphen, who died in Bosque county; Mary 
 E., of Texas; W. W., also of Bosque coun- 
 ty; and J. C. of this sketch. 
 
 Reuben Phillips, the paternal grandfa- 
 ther of our subject, now makes his home at 
 Iredell, at the advanced age of ninety-two 
 years, being the oldest citizen of the county. 
 He was born in Georgia, of a prominent 
 family, and became one of the early miners 
 and gold diggers of that state. Later he 
 was a successful planter and slave-owner. 
 It was in 1852 that he first came to Texas, 
 accompanying a friend and comrade, M. 
 Wafer, who died in Bosque county, and was 
 the first to be interred at Rock church. 
 After this sad event Mr. Phillips returned to 
 Louisiana, but in 1859 came again to Texas, 
 and ten years later located permanently in 
 Bosque county. At Iredell he is now a 
 prominent member and class-leader in the 
 Methodist church. His first wife died in 
 Louisiana, and Jonathan A. was his only 
 son. 
 
 In 1859 our subject was brought to 
 Texas, where he obtained his education. 
 On starting out in life for himself he was 
 engaged in merchandising for a time as a 
 member of the firm of Heflin, Phillips & 
 Company. Since 1890 he has engaged in 
 the drug business, employing a registered 
 and licensed pharmacist, and has a good 
 store building twenty-five by sixty feet, 
 where he carries a full line of pure drugs, 
 medicines, druggist supplies and sundries. 
 He has built up an excellent trade and is 
 also the proprietor of a good livery stable. 
 At Iredell, on the 8th of March, 187S, 
 Mr. Phillips was united in marriage with 
 
320 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Miss Martha Heflin, who was born in 
 Cherokee county, Texas, and is a daughter 
 of David HeHin, now deceased, who was a 
 native of Georgia. To them have been 
 born the following children: Edith W., 
 Maud M., Reuben J., Amy and Agnes, 
 twins, Wilbur, Herbert, and four who died 
 in infancy. 
 
 Mr. Phillips and his wife hold member- 
 ship in the Methodist church, and he is now 
 trustee of the same and a member of the 
 choir. He is prominently connected with 
 the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
 belonging to the Lodge No. 184 of Iredell, 
 in which he has held office, and is also a 
 member of the encampment and grand 
 lodge. An active supporter of the Demo- 
 cratic party, he was appointed postmaster in 
 1893, and is now acceptably filling that 
 position. He is one of the leading and in- 
 fluential citizens of Iredell, taking a com- 
 mendable interest in educational and moral 
 advancement, and is surrounded by many 
 warm personal friends. In business, social 
 and private life his honor stands unques- 
 tioned and his career is one to which his 
 family and friends may refer with just pride. 
 
 <>^ ICHARD ADOLPHUS CURE- 
 
 I ^Z TON, a well-to-do farmer and 
 M . F stock-grower of Bosque county, 
 belongs to one of its honored pio- 
 neer families, and has contributed his share 
 to the growth and development of this part 
 of the state. 
 
 He was born at Ozark, Arkansas, De- 
 cember 9, 1854, and when an infant was 
 brought to Texas by his parents, James J. 
 and Margaret E. Cureton, a sketch of 
 whose lives is given in the biography of W. 
 E. Cureton, on another page of this work. 
 
 Upon the frontier our subject grew up, 
 early becoming familiar with the trials and 
 privations that fall to the lot of the pioneer; 
 and as schools were very scarce his edu- 
 cation was necessarily limited. For several 
 years he was extensively engaged in stock- 
 raising upon the plains of El Paso county, 
 Texas, sixty miles from a government post- 
 office. 
 
 Near Walnut Springs, in Bosque county, 
 on the 22d of March, 1872, Mr. Cureton 
 was united in marriage with Miss Julia Ann 
 Russell, who also was reared to frontier life, 
 becoming familiar with the wild llowers and 
 birds to be found in this unsettled region. 
 Indians still sulked around the homes of the 
 pioneers, and the brave cowboy watched his 
 herd of longhorns on the prairies. Her 
 parents were W. H. and Sarah (Holt) Rus- 
 sell, honored and respected citizens of 
 Bosque county, whose sketch may be also 
 seen elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Cureton have become the parents of 
 four children, namely: James Houston, 
 born April 29, 1878; Koss Barry, born Jan- 
 uary 5, 1880; William Jackson, born Octo- 
 ber II, 1884; and Elsie, born October 4, 
 1892. 
 
 Mr. Cureton now owns a fine farm of 
 two hundred and ten acres in Bosque coun- 
 ty, where he is extensively engaged in rais- 
 ing sheep, and also has a large drove of 
 cattle in the western part of the state. He 
 is one of the most progressive and energetic 
 farmers and stock-raisers in this part of the 
 country, and is a complete master of the 
 calling which he is following. He is six 
 feet and four inches in height and weighs 
 two hundred and ten pounds. His sterling 
 integrity and honorable, upright manhood, 
 fully entitle him to the position which he 
 holds in the estimation of the people of the 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 community. In his political views he coin- 
 cides with the principles of the People's 
 party, and takes an active part in the local 
 campaigns of that organization. 
 
 aC. WOOD, county commissioner 
 of Erath county, Texas, and one 
 of its leading and influential farm- 
 ers, dates his birth in east Ten- 
 nessee, May 12, 1848. 
 
 Mr. Wood's parents are John D. and 
 Eliza (Inman) Wood, both natives of Ten- 
 nessee. His grandfather, John Wood, was 
 a Pennsylvanian, of Scotch and German 
 descent, who emigrated from the Keystone 
 state to Tennessee at an early day and be- 
 came prominent there as a pioneer farmer. 
 John D. Wood was reared in Tennessee and 
 made that state his home until 1854, at 
 that time coming to Texas and locating on a 
 tract of land in Cooke county, where he 
 was engaged in the cattle business until 
 1859. He then removed to San Saba 
 county and turned his attention to the sheep 
 industry, being thus occupied at the time 
 the civil war came on. In 1862 he enlisted 
 in the Nineteenth Texas Cavalry, Confeder- 
 ate army, and was with his command in 
 Texas and Arkansas until late in the following 
 year, when, on account of ill health, he 
 was discharged. After recuperating he en- 
 tered the home guard, in which he rendered 
 efficient service in protecting the frontier 
 from Indian raids until peace and quiet 
 again reigned over the land. 
 
 In 1 866, during the reconstruction period, 
 he moved to Coryell county; but before 
 this, in 1865, he drove his stock to Arkan- 
 sas and sold out. He remained in Coryell 
 county, variously employed, until 1871, 
 when he took up his abode in Erath county, 
 
 farming here one year and then engaging 
 with his son C. C. in merchandising. Sub- 
 sequently they purchased in partnership the 
 farm now owned and occupied by this son, 
 and they continued their operations together 
 until 1 88 1, when the father turned the farm 
 over to C. C. and moved out nearer the 
 mountain a few miles away. There the 
 father still resides and gives his attention to 
 the sheep business. He and his good wife 
 live alone, their children having married and 
 scattered. Of their family we record that 
 Mary is the wife of B. Turney, a stock man 
 of McCullough county, Texas; C. C. is the 
 next in order of birth; Margaret is the wife 
 of G. W. Tabor, a furniture dealer of Hico; 
 William M. died at the age of twelve years; 
 M. A., widow of S. P. Gilentine, deceased, 
 has four children; and L. M. is the wife of 
 B. F. Beach, a prominent farmer and early 
 settler of Erath county. The father of this 
 family has passed his threescore years and 
 ten, and he is still vigorous with seemingly 
 a long lease yet on life. He filled some 
 important public positions since coming to 
 this state, such as justice of the peace, as- 
 sessor and collector of taxes in Cooke coun- 
 ty, and while living in San Saba county was 
 appointed county sheriff, which position he 
 resigned. Since 1893 he has given his sup- 
 port to the Populist party. Previous to 
 that time he was a Democrat. 
 
 Having thus referred to his parentage, 
 we would now direct attention to the life of 
 C. C. Wood. He was only six years old at 
 the time he accompanied his parents to this 
 state, and he was brought up to the stock 
 business, his advantages for schoohng of 
 course being limited owing to the unsettled 
 condition of the country. While his father 
 was absent during the war young Wood, 
 with the assistance of his mother's counsel, 
 
322 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 took charge of the stock. He married in 
 Coryell county in 1869, and after this en- 
 gaged in merchandising in partnership with 
 his brother-in-law at Valley Mills, Bosque 
 county. Upon the removal of his father to 
 Erath county he sold his interest at Valley 
 Mills, came here and joined his father and 
 together they opened a country store, as 
 above stated. When he took charge of 
 the farm in 1881 it had but few improve- 
 ments and only a small amount of land 
 under cultivation. Its present improved 
 condition is therefore due to his efforts. 
 This place comprises one hundred and thirty 
 acres, has a pleasant residence, and is ad- 
 joining the town of Duffau, and here Mr. 
 Wood now devotes his attention to farming 
 and stock-raising, making a specialty of 
 sheep. 
 
 Of recent years he has taken an active 
 part in politics, affiliating with the Demo- 
 cratic party, and in recognition of his 
 ability and enthusiastic interest in public af- 
 fairs he has been honored with official posi- 
 tion. He is now serving as county com- 
 misioner and alfeo as justice of the peace. 
 
 Turning now to that part of his life 
 which is of a domestic nature, we find that 
 Mr. Wood married in 1869 Miss Martha 
 Slater, who was born in Mississippi, Jan- 
 uary 13, 1851, daughter of William B. and 
 Eliza (Sandifer) Slater. Mrs. Wood knows 
 little of the history of her parents save that 
 they died in Arkansas when she was young, 
 they having moved to that state from Ala- 
 bama, their deaths occurring about four years 
 apart. In the Slater family were twelve 
 children, namely: John, who died in Ar- 
 kansas after having served through the late 
 war; Charles, a veteran of the late war 
 and now a resident of Erath county, Texas; 
 William, who was killed at Pascagoula; 
 
 James, a resident of Mississippi; George, a 
 veteran of the late war, who died in Ar- 
 kansas at the age of twenty years; Benja- 
 min F. , a war veteran and now a farmer of 
 Erath county; Newton, now of Alabama, 
 also is a veteran of the war; Noel, who 
 died at the age of thirteen years; Mary, 
 widow of John Staton, has eight children 
 and is a resident of Bell county, Texas; 
 Martha, who is now Mrs. Wood; Laura, 
 wife of W. W. Man, a Bell county farmer. 
 Their parents were members of the Mis- 
 sionary Baptist church. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Wood have had eight children, one of whom 
 died in infancy. Of the others we record 
 that Annie is the wife of G. L. Sikes, a 
 farmer of this locality; Mary E. is the wife 
 of Walter Syer, a farmer; and the other 
 five — Laura L., Lela M., Ola K., Alberta 
 and Susadell are at home. 
 
 Mrs. Wood is a member of the Chris- 
 tian church. 
 
 QATTHEW LEANDER PATTON, 
 who is a conspicuous figure in 
 agricultural and political circles 
 in Erath county, and is justly 
 numbered among the leading and influential 
 citizens, comes of a family of long identifi- 
 cation with the United States. Before 
 American independence was achieved his 
 ancestors had crossed the Atlantic to the 
 new world. The great-grandfather of our 
 subject, Matthew Patton, was a native of 
 Dublin, Ireland, and leaving the Emerald 
 isle he sought a home in the British provinces 
 on this side the water. When the colonists 
 attempted to throw off the yoke of English 
 oppression he joined the American army 
 and gave his life for the cause of freedom. 
 The paternal grandfather of M. L. Pat- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ton was Alexander Patton, Sr., a native of 
 North Carolina and a schoolmate of Andrew 
 Jackson, with whom he afterward removed 
 to Tennessee. He married Jane Starr, a 
 daughter of Thomas Starr, a native of Eng- 
 land, who on emigrating to the United 
 States settled in South Carolina. Their 
 son, Alexander Patton, Jr. , was the father 
 of our subject. Born and reared in Ten- 
 nessee, when he had arrived at years of 
 maturity he married Frances H. Chenault, 
 a native of Alabama and a daughter of Mor- 
 ris Chenault, of French descent. Mr. Pat- 
 ton went to Alabama when a young man, 
 and afterward removed to Mississippi, where 
 he followed farming and tanning until 1877. 
 In that year he came to Texas, locating first 
 in Ellis- county, whence he came to Erath 
 county, where his death occurred in 1889, 
 at the age of eighty-four years. His widow 
 still survives him, and is now seventy-five 
 years of age. In their family were eleven 
 children, eight of whom are now living. 
 The father was a member of the Cumber- 
 land Presbyterian church, and the mother 
 belongs to the Missionary Baptist church. 
 People of the highest respectability, they 
 had a large circle of warm friends, who held 
 them in the greatest esteem. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born in 
 Tippah county, Mississippi, on the 14th of 
 April, 1 84 1, and his boyhood days passed 
 quietly, unmarked by any event of special 
 importance. He became familiar with farm 
 work in its various departments, and assisted 
 his father in the development of the old 
 homestead until after the commencement of 
 the civil war, when, in September, 1861, he 
 enlisted as a member of Company F, Sec- 
 ond Mississippi Infantry. He served with 
 the Army of Northern Virginia, and partici- 
 pated in the battle of Seven Pines, the 
 
 seven-days engagement near Richmond, the 
 second battle of Manassas and many skir- 
 mishes until the hotly-contested battle of 
 Gettysburg. On the 3d of July, during that 
 engagement, he was wounded in the left 
 arm, and has never recovered from the 
 effects. This unfitted him for further serv- 
 ice and he returned home, where he re- 
 mained until after the close of hostilities. 
 
 Mr. Patton was married on the 6th of 
 September, i860, to Miss Elizabeth Cut- 
 birth, a native of Tennessee, born at Hard- 
 eman, and a daughter of Daniel and Eliz- 
 abeth (Reed) Cutbirth, formerly of Maury 
 county, Tennessee, and descended from 
 Irish ancestry. Mr. Cutbirth was a nephew 
 of Daniel Boone, the noted pioneer and 
 hunter of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Patton 
 are the parents of seven children, and with 
 one exception all are yet living: Jerome 
 B. ; Thomas A., who died in infancy; Mat- 
 thew Leander; William T. ; Elizabeth F., 
 wife of John Sheridan; Daniel Jackson and 
 Robert Lee. 
 
 Mr. Patton and his wife began their do- 
 mestic life on a farm in Mississippi, where 
 they resided until 1871, the year of their 
 arrival in Texas. In Cass county our sub- 
 ject purchased a tract of land and erected a 
 cabin, but soon after sold that property and 
 removed to Parker county, where he lived 
 for two years, when trouble with the In- 
 dians caused him to seek a home in Ellis 
 county. He continued his residence there 
 until 1878, when he came to Erath county, 
 where he purchased one hundred and 
 twenty acres of land that was still in its 
 primitive condition, not a furrow having 
 been turned or an improvement made 
 thereon. The work of cultivation and de- 
 velopment was at once begun and has been 
 i carried steadily forward until now well tilled 
 
324 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 fields surrounding his pleasant home tell to 
 the passer-by of the enterprise and the pro- 
 gressive spirit of the owner. Success has 
 attended his undertakings, and he is now 
 the owner of four hundred acres of valuable 
 land, and has also given farms to each of 
 his children. He is an excellent type of 
 the honorable, practical, energetic business 
 man of America, and his prosperity is the re- 
 ward of his own labors. From an humble 
 position he has worked his way upward to 
 one of affluence and is now enabled to sup- 
 ply his familj' with all the comforts that 
 go to make life worth the living. 
 
 His fellow citizens, appreciating his worth 
 and ability, have called Mr. Patton from 
 the retirement of private life to political 
 office, and for six years he served as tax 
 assessor of Erath county, being first elected 
 to the office in 1886 and serving therein for 
 six consecutive years, when he declined to 
 allow his name to be used any longer as a 
 candidate. His long continuance in office 
 plainly indicates his fidelity to duty and the 
 trust reposed in him, — a trust of which he 
 is well worthy. He and his wife are mem- 
 bers of the Baptist church, and socially he 
 is connected with the Farmers' Alliance 
 and Stephenville Lodge, No. 267, F. & A. 
 M. His political affiliation is with the 
 Democracy. 
 
 ^"YAMUEL A. BRIANT.— That hon- 
 >^^^ ered resident of District No. 6, 
 j \^/j Comanche county, Texas, whose 
 life history now comes under re- 
 view, is of North Carolina birth, and an- 
 cestry tracing back to the Emerald Isle. 
 The history of the Briant family is that of 
 a loyal and valorous people, serving their 
 country in times of war, and living useful 
 
 and respected lives; and in this the subject 
 of our sketch is not unlike his forefathers. 
 
 He was born in Cleveland county. North 
 Carolina, September 16, 1841, son of Lewis 
 Briant, a native of South Carolina and 
 grandson of Augustus Briant, who was born 
 in Irelarid and settled in America at an early 
 day. Grandfather Briant was a participant 
 in the early wars of this country, and was 
 for many years a resident of South Carolina, 
 where he reared his family. His son Lewis 
 was married there to Miss Narcissa Hemphill, 
 a native of South Carolina, and daughter of 
 James Hemphill, a representative of one of the 
 colonial families of that state. They became 
 the parents of seven children, all of whom 
 were reared in Cleveland county, namely: 
 Margaret, John, James, Elizabeth, Samuel 
 A., William and Matilda; and of this number 
 only three — Margaret, Elizabeth and Sam- 
 uel A. — are now living. James was a Con- 
 federate soldier and was killed in the battle 
 of Seven Pines. The father died in the 
 prime of life, at the age of forty-one, and 
 the mother lived to the venerable age of 
 seventy-eight. Hers was a beautiful Chris- 
 tian character. She brought up her chil- 
 dren in the fear of the Lord, teaching both 
 by precept and example, and when she came 
 to die was happy in the hope of immortal 
 life. 
 
 Samuel A. Briant thus had early Chris- 
 tian influence, and was reared on the farm 
 and received a common-school education. 
 When the hostilities between the north and 
 the south could no longer be suppressed and 
 war was openly declared, we find him on 
 the verge of young manhood and eager to 
 give his support to the Confederate cause. 
 He was among the first to enter the ranks, 
 for four years he bravely battled for the 
 cause that was finally lost, and was with 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 325 
 
 General Lee's army at the time of the sur- 
 render at Appomattox. At first he was a 
 member of the Twelfth Arkansas Regiment, 
 remaining with this command until after the 
 fall of Port Hudson, where he was captured, 
 but soon after made his escape, and from 
 that time until the close of the war was with 
 the Fifty-fifth North Carolina Infantry. 
 Among the engagements in which he partic- 
 ipated were those of Island No. lo. Deep 
 Bottom and Petersburg, and, although he 
 came out of the army without a wound, he 
 made many narrow and almost miraculous 
 escapes from bursting shells. 
 
 The war over, Mr. Briant returned to 
 his home in Cleveland county, which had 
 been made desolate by the vicissitudes of 
 civil conflict, and instead of being discour- 
 aged he began with renewed energy to re- 
 place the losses he had sustained. He re- 
 mained in that county until 1872, when he 
 removed to Pope county, Arkansas, and the 
 following year came from there to Com- 
 anche county, Texas. Here he purchased 
 from the Deaf and Dumb Asylum one hun- 
 dred and sixty acres of land, settling on it and 
 devoting his energies to its cultivation and 
 improvement, and as he was prospered in his 
 operations purchased more land until now 
 he has four hundred acres, one of the best 
 and most valuable farms in this part of the 
 county, its location being a mile and a half 
 from Sipe Springs. Half of this tract is un- 
 der cultivation. He has a modern resi- 
 dence, well furnished, and surrounded with 
 an attractive lawn dotted over with flowers, 
 shrubs and trees. The whole farm is well 
 fenced and in the broad pastures are found 
 a good grade of horses, cattle and hogs. In 
 short, the home is delightful and the farm a 
 model one. 
 
 At the age of twenty-five years Mr. 
 
 Briant chose for his life companion and 
 wedded Miss Rossie Evans, daughter of 
 David and Anna Evans, whose life has since 
 been happily blended with his and who has 
 been a helpmate in every sense of that 
 word. The children of their union are as 
 follows: James B., married and living on 
 his father's farm; Anna P., wife of Mr. C. 
 Johnson of Wood county, Texas; Minnie, 
 wife of Green Rye, of Young county, Texas; 
 and David, William and Albert, at home. 
 
 Mr. Briant maintains a fraternal rela- 
 tion with Masonic lodge No. 537, of Sipe 
 Springs; in his political affiliations is Dem- 
 ocratic; and religiously both he and his wife 
 are identified with the Missionary Baptist 
 church, in which he is a deacon. 
 
 5>^ E. SCHOW & BROTHERS, Clif- 
 |, 1 ton, Texas, has achieved a success 
 ^_ that has placed its members fore- 
 most among the progressive mer- 
 chants of central Texas and gained for it 
 high standing in commercial circles. In 
 this connection we are pleased to present a 
 history both of the firm and its individual 
 members. 
 
 The house of P. E. Schow & Brothers 
 was established in September, 1889, with a 
 a small capital but with a large amount of 
 energy, perseverance and business tact, and 
 from the first has gone steadily forward. 
 Indeed, the business of the firm has ex- 
 panded far beyond the most sanguine 
 expectations of its members. To-day they 
 are not excelled in Bosque county, and 
 probably few business houses of central 
 Texas will equal them in volume of business. 
 The last year, 1895, shows sales amounting 
 to nearly eighty-five thousand dollars. The 
 Messrs. Schow are all representative busi- 
 
326 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ness men, representing a large aggregate of 
 wealth combined with a generous share of 
 good judgment and enterprise. Their pres- 
 ent building was erected in 1895, at a cost 
 of nearly nine thousand dollars, has a corner 
 location in the business center of the town 
 and is adjacent to the railroad. It has a 
 frontage of thirty feet, is one hundred and 
 fifteen feet in length, is two stories high, 
 and has a cellar, with a concrete floor, 
 under the whole of the building, all being 
 nicely finished and conveniently arranged. 
 The first floor contains shelf hardware and 
 groceries, while in the second story is found 
 heavy hardware, stoves, ranges, etc., and 
 also the saddle and harness manufacturing 
 department. An elevator and other modern 
 conveniences are of course necessary in an 
 establishment of this kind and have not 
 been overlooked. Adjoining the main build- 
 ing on the south, and constructed of cor- 
 rugated iron, is the large warehouse, 60 x 1 1 5 
 feet, and containing wagons, carriages and 
 all kinds of agricultural implements. The 
 patrons of this establishment can be accom- 
 modated with almost anything they call for 
 from an ordinary sock needle to an anchor 
 chain or threshing machine, for such is the 
 completeness of the stock handled by the 
 firm. Also they deal largely in cotton, 
 handling many thousand bales annually. 
 
 The members composing this firm are 
 Otto E., John E. and Peter E. Schow, and 
 to a personal sketch of each we now turn. 
 
 Looking first to the ancestry of these 
 gentlemen, we find their parents to be Evan 
 and Bertha Schow, both natives of Norway, 
 the latter of German origin. Evan Schow 
 was born in 1798 and died in 1888. By 
 occupation he was a landscape gardener, 
 trained under government supervision, and 
 for many years employed in that capacity. 
 
 Their family consisted of nine children, five 
 of whom are now American citizens. 
 
 Otto E. Schow, the eighth in order of 
 birth, was born in Norway, November 14, 
 1867, and there spent the first sixteen years 
 of his life. In 1884 he came to America 
 and took up his abode in Texas, locating 
 first at Waco, where he resided some fifteen 
 months and whence he removed to Gates- 
 ville. At the latter place he served an ap- 
 prenticeship to the saddler's trade. About 
 four years later, after visiting Oklahoma, 
 he located in Clifton, and in the fall of 1889 
 the three brothers embarked in their pres- 
 ent business. 
 
 John E. Schow, senior member of the 
 firm, was born April 24, 1858, and came to 
 America in 188 1. He resided in Waco two 
 years and was married there July 29, 1885, 
 to Miss Syverine Brown, a native of Nor- 
 way, and they have five children, viz. : Carl 
 E., Jennie S., Cora, Segard C. and Sophia 
 R. Mr. John E. Schow owns, individually, 
 farming property to the amount of three 
 hundred and twenty acres, one hundred and 
 twenty of which are under cultivation. 
 
 Peter E. Schow, the seventh of this 
 large family, dates his birth December 14, 
 1864. He emigrated to America in 1882. 
 On his arrival at Clifton, Texas, that same 
 year he engaged in farming, which he fol- 
 lowed two years. Then he left the farm 
 and began railroad work. For six years he 
 was a member of the section force on the 
 Santa Fe line, much of that time serving as 
 section foreman. He was also employed in 
 a similar capacity on the Texas Pacific, and 
 was foreman in charge of a steam shovel on 
 the Missouri, I\ansas & Texas railroad be- 
 tween Fort Worth and Waco, some four 
 years. Mr. Schow is a man of family. He 
 was united in marriage in Fort Worth, May 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 327 
 
 8, 1890, to Miss Annie Berge, like himself a 
 native of Norway. They have two children 
 living, namely: Frank P. and Emmit H. 
 They lost their little daughter Ruby. Mr. 
 Peter E. Schow owns farming land and 
 other property independent of the firm. In 
 the store he is recognized as general man- 
 ager and financier. Otto E. is at the head 
 of the manufacturing department and cor- 
 respondence, while the other brother, John 
 E. , looks after the outside sales and pur- 
 chases on the cotton market. Each is 
 specially adapted for the line of business he 
 controls and all work harmoniously, con- 
 tributing to the general success of the firm. 
 
 ^"V* IMPSON LOYD, a well-known pio- 
 •^^^* neer settler of Hamilton, is a native 
 Y\^J of Perry county, Tennessee, born 
 January 8, 1825, and remained in 
 that county until the month of March, 1S37, 
 when his parents' removal to Arkansas 
 brought him into that state. Following 
 their rapidly changing locations during the 
 next seven years, he spent time in the fol- 
 lowing counties of that state: Green, Jack- 
 son, White, Azord, Crawford and Clark. 
 During this period the family also visited 
 Ripley, Pulaski and Greene counties in the 
 state of Missouri. In 1843 the family was 
 found in Crawford county, Arkansas, and 
 consisted of father, mother and seven chil- 
 dren, of whom our subject was the oldest. 
 The other children were Jemima, John, 
 Vincent, William, Lavina and Martha. In 
 the month of October, 1S45, this family 
 came to Harrison county, Texas, now known 
 as Upshur county, and settled ten miles 
 from the location of the present town of 
 Gilmer. At that time the nearest town was 
 
 Marshall, forty miles away. The father 
 bought a tract of three hundred and twenty 
 acres, from the old and widely-known sur- 
 veyor, David Hill, paying therefor one dol- 
 lar an acre. He lived in camp until he had 
 sold his first crop, and with the proceeds 
 erected a home. 
 
 Simpson Loyd took up a pre-emption 
 claim of three hundred and twenty acres ad- 
 joining his father's plantation, in 1850, when 
 he married and continued his home here for 
 the next six years. He received a good 
 of^er for his place, and accepting it removed 
 to Lampasas county in 1856, which was his 
 home for the next six years, when great 
 danger from the Indians drove him with 
 many other settlers into the town of Ham- 
 ilton for common protection. A company 
 of forty men had long been organized for 
 protection against these Indian warriors, 
 served two years, and then disbanded on 
 the election of Governor Houston in i860. 
 November, 1863, witnessed the organization 
 of the first company of sixty men made up 
 in the county, which did not leave the state 
 and served throughout the war. 
 
 When the storm of war had died away 
 and peace and industry had once more pos- 
 sessed the state, Mr. Loyd devoted himself 
 again to agricultural pursuits. In 1868 he 
 disposed of his property on the edge of the 
 county, and six months later located him- 
 self on the farm where he is now found. 
 This is close by the city, and consists of 
 three hundred and twenty-seven acres, which 
 is well stocked with cattle and horses and is 
 regarded as a very well managed and suc- 
 cessful Texas farm. 
 
 Mr. Loyd has been a consistent and de- 
 voted Democrat, and was first elected jus- 
 tice of the peace in 1858, and was also 
 chosen county commissioner at the same 
 
328 
 
 IIISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 time, and held both of these offices continu- 
 ously until the close of the war. Under 
 the operation of the Amnesty Proclamation 
 of Andrew Johnson in 1867, he was again 
 eligible for office and was elected assessor 
 and collector, and here he was busy until 
 1870. General Runnels appointed him that 
 year as inspector of hides and cattle, a posi- 
 tion he held for a year or more, but in that 
 brief time succeeded in breaking up a very 
 extensive system of cattle-thieving that had 
 prevailed since the war. April 23, 1873, 
 our subject was elected presiding justice, a 
 position corresponding to that of county 
 judge, and held the position until it was 
 abolished in 1876. His neighbors appre- 
 ciating his character and integrity, elected 
 him justice of the peace and county com- 
 missioner in precinct No. i. These posi- 
 tions he has held to the present time with 
 the exception of two years, when another 
 man was chosen county commissioner. 
 
 Mr. Loyd was married March 24, 1850, 
 to Miss Olive, daughter of John and Mary 
 (Winchester) Jackson. She was born in 
 Henderson county, Tennessee, June 14, 
 1831, and died May 8, 1895. She was the 
 mother of eight children: George Washing- 
 ton, June I, 1851, now a farmer north of 
 the town; Mary Ann, July 15, 1852, mar- 
 ried W. F. Walter, and is now a widow, 
 living with her father; William Pickney, 
 June 6, 1855, living three and one-half miles 
 northeast of Hamilton; Martha Jane, born 
 January 10, 1857, wife of Daniel Kelly and 
 residing in Grier county; Lavinia Eleanor, 
 May 9, 1858, wife of " Dock " Prickett and 
 lives in Choctaw nation, and is the mother 
 of three boys and two girls; Jemima Emily, 
 February 10, 1861, and died March 22, 
 1886; John Templeton, March 15, 1864, 
 and died September 5, 1877; and Simpson, 
 
 January 3, 1869, dying January 11 of the 
 same year. 
 
 Mr. Loyd has been a member of the 
 Missionary Baptist church for thirty-eight 
 years, and with his wife has been a faithful 
 supporter of that branch of the Christian 
 church. He is also a Mason of long and 
 enthusiastic service. In 1870 he was made 
 a member of Gatcsville Lodge, No. 197, 
 A. F. & A. M., and two years later was 
 associated with several distinguished citi- 
 zens of Hamilton in the organization of 
 Rock House Lodge, No. 417, A. F. & A. M., 
 of Hamilton, of which organization he has 
 been treasurer since its institution. 
 
 ' ' 'Squire " Loyd, as he is familiarly called 
 by his neighbors, is a fine type of the south- 
 ern Texas pioneer, hospitable and generous 
 to a fault. He has many friends and few 
 enemies, and has made a noble record in the 
 work of establishing law and order, and 
 building up a higher civilization. In this 
 he has been earnest and persistent, and now 
 in his old age he is reaping the reward of a 
 well spent, honest and upright life. 
 
 The father of our subject was a native 
 of Barren county, Kentucky, where he was 
 born November i, 1797, and he died Febru- 
 ary 23, 1878, in Coryell county, Texas. 
 His wife was a native of South Carolina, 
 where she was born in 1803. The grand- 
 father Loyd was a native of England who 
 came to this country about the year 1785, 
 locating near the village of Glasgow, Barren 
 county, Kentucky, where he died in 1802, 
 when only a little past fifty. He was a man 
 of parts, and held the responsible position 
 of sheriff at the time of his death. His wife 
 also was English, and their children were 
 James, Sarah (Crawley), Elizabeth (Denni- 
 son), Thomas, the father of our subject, 
 Stephen, Margaret (Martin) and Jemima 
 
m 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 (Madison). Abraham Wyatt, the maternal 
 grandfather of our subject, was born in 
 South Carohna and served in the Continent- 
 al army, which he entered at the age of 
 thirteen, in the year 1775. Lavina Masen- 
 gale became his wife and they had the fol- 
 lowing children: John, who married Mary 
 Murphy; Susan, who became the wife of 
 George Martin; Daniel, who married Mary 
 Johnson; Solomon, who married a Miss 
 Plunckett; Samuel, who married Mary John- 
 son; Abraham, who married Sarah McCor- 
 mack; Nancy, who became the wife of Amos 
 Collier; Elizabeth, who married Isaac Be- 
 shears; Sarah, who became Mrs. Daniel 
 Murphy; Isham, who married Mary Murphy; 
 Absalom, who married Sarah Henley; Mar- 
 tha, who became the wife of William Loyd; 
 Lavina, who became the wife of Moses Col- 
 lier; William, who married Mary Beshears; 
 and Reuben. 
 
 The great-grandfather of our subject, 
 Abraham Wyatt, was born and married in 
 England. 
 
 ^y^HILIP JACKSON.— There is some- 
 1 M thing in the life of every self-made 
 J man that excites admiration and 
 
 respect, for those qualities which 
 can overcome difficulties and obstacles and 
 press forward to succeed are worthy the 
 highest commendation and furnish an ex- 
 ample that is indeed worthy of emulation. 
 Our subject is a man of this type, and his 
 fellow-citizens, appreciating his worth and 
 ability, have honored him with the office of 
 county clerk, in which capacity he is now 
 acceptably serving. 
 
 Mr. Jackson was born in Polk county, 
 Arkansas, June 8, 1851, being a son of 
 Philip and Abiah (Barker) Jackson, the for- 
 
 mer a native of Virginia and the latter of 
 Indiana. They were early settlers of west- 
 ern Arkansas, and there the father followed 
 farming and stock-raising until his death, 
 which occurred in i860. He left a widow 
 and eight children, six of whom are yet liv- 
 ing. Philip was sixteen years of age when 
 the family left the state of his nativity and 
 emigrated to Hood county, Texas, making 
 the journey in a wagon drawn by oxen. 
 They located on the Abbey farm on the east 
 side of the Brazos river, where for a year 
 they lived in a rude log cabin without chim- 
 ney or floor. The children and mother 
 worked hard and succeeded in raising a good 
 crop that season. The next year they 
 rented land from John Cavasas, a Mexican, 
 — the place now owned by J. H. Allison, 
 near the Barnard Knob. After three years' 
 residence in Texas the mother died, and the 
 home was then broken up, the children 
 starting out to take care of themselves as well 
 they could. It was a hard lot, for, with no 
 inheritance whatever, they were dependent 
 entirely upon their own resources. 
 
 Mr. Jackson, of this review, was addi- 
 tionally afflicted, for in his youth he had 
 suffered from "white swelling" in his left 
 knee, which ultimately necessitated the am- 
 putation of the leg. He at once sought em- 
 ployment in the neighborhood and worked 
 at whatever he could get to do. His meager 
 educational advantages were such as he 
 could secure for himself by saving money 
 from his earnings and meeting the necessary 
 expenses while in the public schools. By 
 private reading and study, however, he has 
 become a well-informed man, having a good 
 practical education which well fits him for 
 life's responsible duties. When he had 
 fitted himself for school-teaching he entered 
 upon that profession, which he successfully 
 
330 
 
 HIS TOR r OF TEXAS 
 
 followed for ten years, winning a reputation 
 as one of the most capable educators in the 
 country. 
 
 Upon the organization of Somervell 
 county (said county having been cut off from 
 Hood county), Mr. Jackson was cut of? in 
 said Somervell county, and at the first elec- 
 tion for county officers he was elected tax 
 assessor, serving one term, and did not offer 
 for re-election but returned to his former 
 profession, school-teaching. In iS8o he 
 moved to Erath county, where, in April, 
 1884, he married Miss Sarah Jane Worley, 
 a native of Georgia, by whom he has five 
 children, as follows: Ethel, May, Zella, 
 Roy and Vada. In 1885 he moved to the 
 village of Paluxy in Hood county, where he 
 embarked in the mercantile business, in 
 partnership with his brother, H. C. Jack- 
 son, under the firm name of Jackson Broth- 
 ers, which connection was continued for five 
 years, and during that time they enjoyed 
 a lucrative patronage. He is now the 
 owner of a one-hundred-and-sixty-acre farm, 
 about two miles north of Granbury, where 
 he resides, and to its cultivation he gives 
 his personal supervision. He also owns 
 three hundred and fifty acres in Erath 
 county, a mile and a half west of Bluff 
 Dale, of which one hundred and seventy- 
 five acres are under cultivation. This prop- 
 erty yields him a good income. 
 
 Socially Mr. Jackson is a member of 
 Granbury Lodge, No. 392, A. F. & A. M. 
 In politics he is a Democrat, and keeps him- 
 self well informed upon all public questions 
 and takes an interest in educational and all 
 other matters pertaining to the public wel- 
 fare. 
 
 In 1 890 he was elected to his present 
 position as county clerk of Hood county, 
 and has been twice re-elected, so that he is 
 
 now serving his sixth year. His three elec- 
 tions are the best evidence that could be 
 given of his faithful and honest discharge of 
 the duties devolving upon him, and his fellow 
 citizens have the utmost confidence in him, 
 — a trust that has never been betrayed. 
 The years of his hardships are now past. A 
 man of less resolute spirit would have given 
 way under the difficulties that he has en- 
 countered, but his energy and perseverance 
 triumphed over these and to-day he is enjoy- 
 ing the fruits of his former labor in the pos- 
 session of much valuable and productive 
 land and the confidence and respect of all 
 who know him. 
 
 HNDREW B. FOSTER, sheriff of 
 Comanche county, needs no intro- 
 duction to the citizens of this or 
 surrounding counties in central 
 Texas. There are, indeed, few gentlemen 
 here who are better known or more highly 
 respected than he. He has been connected 
 with the sheriff's office for some eight years, 
 having been deputj' under F. E. Wilson 
 and for the past six years being continu- 
 ously re-elected. Some personal mention 
 of him is therefore appropriate in this work, 
 and the following facts in regard to his life 
 have been gleaned for publication. 
 
 Andrew B. Foster is a native of Tennes- 
 see, born July 15, 1843, son of T. Boyd and 
 Eleanor S. (Cowan) Foster, and the fourth 
 in their family of eleven children. His fa- 
 ther was a native of Old Virginia and his 
 mother of Alabama. He was reared to 
 farm life in Alabama, where his parents re- 
 sided for many years, and received his edu- 
 cation in the schools of Jackson county, 
 that state. In 1862, at the age of eighteen 
 years, he went forth in the strength of his 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 331 
 
 young manhood to fight for the southern 
 cause, civil war at that time having been in 
 progress about one year. It was as a mem- 
 ber of the Thirty-third Alabama Infantry 
 that he entered the ranks; he served as a 
 non-commissioned officer and distinguished 
 himself by his brave and decisive action 
 through the various engage,ments from Nash- 
 ville to Atlanta, and at the last named place 
 was taken prisoner and sent north. He was 
 held captive at Camp Chase, Ohio, during 
 the last year of the war, was there at the 
 time of the surrender, and on being released 
 returned to his home in Alabama. 
 
 Mr. Foster maintained his residence in 
 Alabama until 1875, when he came to Texas 
 and located permanently in Comanche 
 county. Here he has from time to time 
 made profitable investments in realty and at 
 this writing has a landed estate comprising 
 a thousand acres, three hundred acres of 
 which are under cultivation and producing 
 the usual crops of the vicinity. He has 
 one acre in fruit trees. And in connection 
 with his farming operations he also has ex- 
 tensive stock interests, raising both horses 
 and cattle and making a specialty of grad- 
 ing them up to a high standard. Both as 
 a farmer and stock man he takes high rank 
 in the county. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Foster is a stanch and 
 steadfast Democrat, has given the party 
 valuable aid and has been honored by it 
 with official preferment. He is a man of 
 promptness and nerve, ever on the alert in 
 the faithful performance of his duty, and 
 his long continuance in office is evidence of 
 his popularity. Socially, he affiliates with 
 the F. & A. M. and the I. O. O. F. 
 
 Mr. Foster is a man of family. Jan- 
 uary 30, 1867, was consummated his mar- 
 riage with Miss Nancy B. Brewer, a native 
 
 of Alabama and a most estimable woman, 
 who has since shared the joys and sorrows 
 of life with him. They have ten children 
 living, viz.: Betty E., Sidney B., Sallie P., 
 Thomas L., John C, Allie, Pearl, Annie B., 
 Willie B., and Frank W. Earnest A. and 
 an infant daughter are deceased. 
 
 C^^k5 H. TUGGL 
 mC\ life in Coma 
 \^^ tory of life 
 
 TUGGLE has passed his entire 
 Comanche county. The bis- 
 on the frontier is very 
 familiar to him and with the devel- 
 opment and upbuilding of this region he has 
 been prominently identified, being specially 
 interested in its farming and stock-raising 
 pursuits. An honored pioneer and worthy 
 citizen, he well deserves representation in 
 this volume, and it is with pleasure we pre- 
 sent a review of his career to our readers. 
 
 His parents, Dr. R. and Elizabeth A. 
 (Darnell) Tuggle, were both natives of Geor- 
 gia and were reared and married in that 
 state. His father was graduated at one of 
 its medical colleges and then entered upon 
 the practice of his chosen profession, which 
 he followed in his native state and afterward 
 in Arkansas. . He arrived in Texas in Janu- 
 ary, 1855, ta'king up his residence in what is 
 now Comanche county. Here he aban- 
 doned his profession, save as he practiced it 
 to a limited extent among his neighbors, and 
 turned his attention to stock-dealing. He 
 invested eleven thousand dollars in cattle 
 and at various times bought and sold. For 
 ten years he continued in the business and 
 then disposed of his stock, for six thousand 
 dollars, for he became dissatisfied with the 
 conditions that then attended cattle-raising. 
 He next invested his capital in a large tract 
 of land, on part of which our subject is now 
 living, and spent the remainder of his life in 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 the quieter pursuits of general farming. 
 During the civil war he entered the service 
 as a surgeon, and in payment received over 
 five thousand dollars in Confederate money. 
 This proving worthless on the overthrow of 
 the southern government, it was never used 
 and is now in possession of T. H. Tuggle, 
 preserved as a relic of those days. In poli- 
 tics in his later life he was an advocate of 
 the Greenback party. His death occurred 
 March 27, 1878, and his wife died in 1880. 
 She was a devoted member of the Method- 
 ist church, and both had the respect of 
 many warm friends. In their family were five 
 children, all of whom reached years of ma- 
 turity, namely: H. Ellen, wife of A. Jack 
 Cams, died in 1878; Mary F. is the wife of 
 William Cams, a resident of De Leon; 
 William M. is deceased; Pauline is the wife 
 of L. D. Criswell and makes her home in 
 this locality; while our subject completes 
 this family. 
 
 Mr. Tuggle, whose name introduces this 
 review, was born October 13, 1857, and 
 spent his childhood on the frontier in his 
 native county, where he enjoyed but limited 
 school privileges, for the work of advancing 
 educational interest in this locality had not 
 been promoted to a great extent at that 
 early day. However, practical business ex- 
 perience and observation have supplied the 
 lack in this particular and he is to-day a 
 man of affairs, well informed on subjects of 
 general interest. At an early age he began 
 assisting his father in the care of the stock 
 and was thus employed until the elder Tug- 
 gle retired from that line of work. He then 
 began farming, which he has since contin- 
 ued. Upon his marriage he settled upon a 
 portion of the old homestead, which he pur- 
 chased from his father, and upon his moth- 
 er's death he inherited from her the re- 
 
 mainder of the farm, comprising in all about 
 five hundred acres. He has sold all this 
 with the exception of about two hundred 
 acres, which constitutes one of the best 
 farms in this section of the county. He 
 has erected thereon a commodious resi- 
 dence, planted a good orchard and has about 
 one hundred and fifty acres under cultiva- 
 tion, the well tilled fields yielding to him a 
 good income for his labors. His home is 
 pleasantly located two miles and a quarter 
 east of Comanche. He carries on general 
 farming and also raises enough stock for his 
 farm work and also some to sell. He is now 
 breeding hogs. His horses are of the Eng- 
 lish shire and Percheron bloods. 
 
 On the 1 6th of January, 1884, was cele- 
 brated the marriage of Mr. Tuggle and Miss 
 Anna B. Campbell, who was bom in Co- 
 manche, January 20, 1869, a lady of intelli- 
 gence belonging to a highly respectable fam- 
 ily that has figured prominently in the his- 
 tory of this locality. Her father, Charles 
 C. Campbell, was born in St. Landry parish, 
 Louisiana, and the title to that town is still 
 in possession of the family. His mother 
 was a Miss Whitehead previous to her mar- 
 riage, whose mother was a Dunman, and it 
 was through her the Campbell family came 
 into possession of the Louisiana town. 
 Charles C. Campbell became a resident of 
 Comanche county in 1856 and followed 
 farming and stock-raising, cultivating two 
 hundred acres of land, which he first re- 
 duced to the plow. He was a member of 
 the Primitive Baptist church and was an en- 
 terprising and public-spirited citizen. His 
 death occurred December 24, 1889, and his 
 wife is living on the old homestead. She is 
 a member of the Methodist church and a 
 most esteemed lady. In the family were 
 nineteen children, namely: Jane, Joseph- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ine, Katie, Nettie, Mollie, Susie, Etta, 
 Joe, Charles, Lee, Lizzie, Minnie, Annie, 
 Connie, Richard C, JuHa, two who died in 
 early life, and Ransom, who died at the age 
 of fourteen years. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Tuggle have an interest- 
 ing family of five children, as follows: 
 Charles R., Julia E. , Buna, Pauline and R. 
 Paul. 
 
 Our subject supports the men and meas- 
 ures of the Populist party. In the commu- 
 nity where his entire life has been passed he 
 has many warm friends, for his upright life 
 commends him to the confidence and regard 
 of all with whom business or social relations 
 have brought him in contact. 
 
 QRS. HARRIETTE S. STONE, 
 widow of Redmond Stone, is a 
 lady of large business capacity 
 and marked intelligence, and is 
 distinguished in the records of Comanche 
 county for her straightforward and womanly 
 course no less than for the tact and energy 
 she has employed in her business affairs 
 since her husband's death, on the 1 5th of 
 November. 1885. 
 
 Redmond Stone was a native of Arkan- 
 sas, and came to Texas when a young man 
 with his family, locating in Erath county, 
 where his mother died about 1864. He was 
 twice married, his first wife dying in 1S62. 
 They had five children, but William A., a 
 farmer of Comanche county, is the only one 
 now living. In 1861 Mr. Stone entered the 
 Confederate army, and was in the frontier 
 service until the close of the war. In the 
 fall of 1863 was celebrated his marriage 
 with Miss Harriette Sanders, of this review, 
 and the following year he removed to Co- 
 manche, where he was employed at different 
 
 occupations. Before the war he had main- 
 ly been engaged in herding cattle. In 1873 
 he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres 
 of land in Comanche county, upon which he 
 moved, and to its improvement and cultiva- 
 tion devoted his entire time and attention 
 until his death, having at that time about 
 sixty acres under the plow. His wife has 
 since continued that work, and now seventy- 
 five acres are under a high state of cultiva- 
 tion. He was a faithful member of the 
 Methodist church, was a Master Mason, and 
 had the confidence and respect of all who 
 knew him. 
 
 Mrs. Stone was born on the 24th of 
 March, 1846, in Illinois. Her father, who 
 was the son of J. Sanders, was also a native 
 of the same state, and came to Texas in 
 1 85 1, settling in Fannin county, where he 
 left his family while he spent four years in 
 California. In 1858 he removed to Jack 
 county, Texas, and after spending some 
 time there went to Missouri. He is now 
 living in Arkansas, at the ripe old age of 
 seventy-four years, and has there carried on 
 his occupation of farming. He is a Royal 
 Arch Mason and a prominent member of 
 the Baptist church. James Sanders, the 
 only brother of our subject, was killed by 
 the Indians in Parker county, Texas, in 
 1865, and her only sister died while young. 
 
 Mrs. Stone is the mother of seven chil- 
 dren: Martha E., wife of J. H. Cooper, an 
 agriculturist; Enoch J., engaged in farming 
 in Indian Territory; Susan, wife of J. J. 
 Town, a blacksmith of De Leon; Jonathan 
 and David, twins, now seventeen years old; 
 Nora and Thomas J. She also lost three 
 children when they were young. She is a 
 lady of pleasant address, who has gained 
 many friends throughout the county, and is 
 much beloved by every one with whom she 
 
3a4 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 comes in contact for her gentle ways and 
 genial manner, and is a consistent member 
 of the Christian church. 
 
 at 
 
 G. W. POWELL. — In this con- 
 nection the biographer would in- 
 vite attention to some of the most 
 'salient points in the life history of 
 one of Hood county's first settlers and ven- 
 erable citizens, — \V. G. W. Powell. He is 
 a native of Georgia, born in Columbia 
 county in 1817, son of Isaac and Sarah 
 (Jones) Powell. 
 
 Isaac Powell was a son of Hardy Powell, 
 who was of English descent, served as a 
 Revolutionary soldier, was for some time a 
 resident of North Carolina and from that 
 state removed to Georgia. On his mother's 
 side the subject of our sketch traces his 
 origin back to Wales. His maternal grand- 
 father, Robert Jones, was one of the pio- 
 neers of Georgia. In Georgia W. G. W. 
 Powell was reared on his father's farm, from 
 his boyhood assisting in the farm work, and 
 remaining in the parental home until he was 
 twenty-two years of age. Then in 1839 he 
 wedded Miss Adevine Jones, a native of the 
 same county in which he was born, and a 
 daughter of Joseph Jones and his wife, ucc 
 Nelson, both of Welsh descent. He and 
 his young wife settled down to housekeeping 
 on a Georgia farm, remained there until 
 1841 and that year moved to Tallapoosa 
 county, Alabama, where he reclaimed a 
 farm from Nature's wilds and upon which 
 he resided until his removal some years 
 later to Texas. Arrived here, he settled on 
 Squaw creek, on a pre-emption claim, hav- 
 ing for his neighbors and companions the 
 Indians and wild animals, as there were 
 
 then but few white people in this part of the 
 country. At first the Indians were friendly 
 and harmless. Later, however, by their 
 raids and depredations of various kinds they 
 gave the settlers great trouble, and Mr. 
 Powell had for some years to be constantly 
 on the alert. At one time he and his sons 
 had a battle with the Indians and killed 
 seven of them and drove the others away. 
 He cleared up and improved 16© acres of 
 land where he first settled on coming to 
 Hood county, and still owns the place, its 
 operations now being conducted by his son. 
 The great loss of Mr. Powell's life was in 
 the death of his aged companion. For a 
 period of fifty-three years they traveled life's 
 pathway together, sharing each other's joys 
 and sorrows, working hard in early years to 
 make a home and accumulate a competency 
 for old age, and enjoying together the fruits 
 of their labors until 1892, when she was 
 called to her home above. They had twelve 
 children, ten of whom reached adult age. 
 Six are still living and are residents of this 
 county, — Jackson, Robert, Charles, Lewis 
 J., John R. and Sarah J. Sarah J. is the 
 widow of W. J. Arinton. Of John R. we 
 make more extended mention further on in 
 this sketch. 
 
 During his long residence in Hood county 
 Mr. Powell has witnessed the many changes 
 that have taken place here, and he has not 
 only been a witness to these changes but 
 also he has been a prominent factor in 
 developing the resources of the country and 
 making it possible for the people of to-day 
 to enjoy the privileges and advantages which 
 they do. He took a leading part in build- 
 ing the first churches and schoolhouses here. 
 For many years he has been a member of 
 the Christian church, with which his good 
 wife also was identified, and for years he 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 filled the offices of deacon and elder. Dur- 
 ing his early residence here he served as 
 county commissioner. He maintains a mem- 
 bership in the A. F. & A. M., having been 
 initiated into the mysteries of this order 
 many years ago. 
 
 John R. Powell, an enterprising mer- 
 chant of the prosperous new town of Tolar, 
 Hood county, Texas, is a native of this 
 county and the youngest son of one of its 
 honored pioneers, W. G. W. Powell, whose 
 history we have outlined above. 
 
 John R. dates his birth November 9, 
 1862. He was reared on his father's home- 
 stead on Squaw creek, early assisting in the 
 farm work and making himself generally 
 useful at home while he remained there, 
 which was until the time of his marriage, 
 that event occurring in 1891. He received a 
 common-school education only. In 1891 he 
 came to the present site of Tolar, built the 
 first house in the place and was a leading 
 factor in giving the town its start and push- 
 ing on its rapid development. That same 
 year he was appointed postmaster of Tolar, 
 which position he filled acceptably from 1891 
 until 1S96. Also about the time he re- 
 ceived his appointment as postmaster he 
 opened out a stock of general merchandise, 
 in which business he has continued up to the 
 present time, his annual sales amounting to 
 a sum between $6,000 and $8, 000. The 
 past year, 1895, he sustained a heavy loss 
 by fire, his building and stock all going up 
 in flames and his total loss being about $500. 
 As soon as possible he stocked up again and 
 opened his doors for business, and is meet- 
 ing with that success which is sure to follow 
 earnest and well-directed effort. 
 
 Mr. Powell was married February 22, 
 1 89 1, to Miss Ella Perry, a native of Hills- 
 boro, Te.xas, but who was reared in Bosque 
 
 county, this state. She is a daughter of F. 
 M. Perry, now of Hood county. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Powell are members of the 
 Christian church, and his political support 
 he tenders the Democratic party. 
 
 "^-T* C. LOGAN, who is engaged in the 
 J drug business at Morgan Mills, Erath 
 A 1 county, belongs to that class of en- 
 terprising, progressive merchants on 
 whom the prosperity and welfare of a town 
 depends. 
 
 A native of North Carolina, he was born 
 in Rutherford county, on the 21st of Au- 
 gust, 1828, and is a son of J. J. and Mary 
 (Withrow) Logan. The Logan family is of 
 Scotch origin and was established in Amer- 
 ica long prior to the Revolution. The great- 
 grandfather of our subject was a native of 
 South Carolina, served throughout the strug- 
 gle for independence and became one of the 
 pioneer settlers of Rutherford county, North 
 Carolina. The grandfather of our subject 
 was James Logan, and on the old family 
 homestead in North Carolina was born J. J. 
 Logan. Having arrived at years of matur- 
 ity the last named wedded Mary Ann With- 
 row, a native of the same state and a daugh- 
 ter of John Withrow, whose father, Captain 
 James Withrow, won his title by valiant 
 service in the Revolutionary war and repre- 
 sented his county in the legislature for thirty 
 successive years. He was a man of much 
 prominence and his abilities well fitted him 
 for leadership. 
 
 J. J. Logan was a farmer by occupation 
 and continued his residence in Rutherford 
 county until 1832, when, with his family, 
 he removed to the Cherokee nation in 
 northern Georgia. In 1834 he emigrated 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 westward, becoming a resident of Gibson 
 county, Tennessee, where his wife died in 
 1840. They were parents of six children, 
 all of whom reached adult age, while four 
 sons are still living. After the death of his 
 first wife and after his second marriage, Mr. 
 Logan returned to Georgia. Of the five 
 children born of the second marriage, four 
 still survive. The father died in 1893, at 
 the advanced age of ninety years. 
 
 Our subject, the oldest representative of 
 the family now living, was reared on a 
 frontier farm, where his school privileges 
 were limited; but he gained a good practical 
 education, which reading and observation 
 have supplemented until he is now a well 
 informed man. He resided with his father 
 until twenty-two years of age and during 
 that time became familiar with farm work 
 in all its branches. He was married in 1851 
 to Nancy E. King, one of the children of 
 Jems King, a citizen of Cherokee county, 
 North Carolina. 
 
 Soon afterward Mr. Logan bade adieu 
 to his wife and started for California, hop- 
 ing to gain a fortune on the Pacific slope. 
 He made the journey by way of the isthmus 
 of Panama, and eighty-eight days after leav- 
 ing home he arrived in the Golden state. 
 Going to Eldorado he engaged in mining for 
 a time and then went to the Klamath river, 
 where he successfully carried on the same 
 pursuit for si.x years. He then returned to 
 his native county, where he followed farm- 
 ing and tanning until his removal to Texas. 
 His labors, however, were interrupted by 
 his service in the Confederate army, having 
 enlisted in the summer of 1862 as a member 
 of Company B, Sixth Georgia Cavalry, un- 
 der Colonel John R. Hart. The command 
 went to East Tennessee and accompanied 
 Kirby Smith into Kentucky. Later they 
 
 were with Bragg at Chickamauga and with 
 J. E. Johnston at Atlanta, also with Hood in 
 Tennessee, participating in the battles of 
 Franklin and Nashville. With his company 
 Mr. Logan surrendered to General Sherman 
 at Greensboro, North Carolina, April 25, 
 1865, being then under General J. E. John- 
 ston, and soon afterward returned home, 
 where he resumed the cultivation of his 
 farm. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Logan became the parents 
 of ten children, namely: J. D., a minister 
 of the Methodist Episcopal church, located 
 in Morgan Mill; Jennie, now Mrs. Davidson, 
 a widow, living in Erath county; Josa, wife 
 of W. S. Dobbs, of Georgia; Emma, wife 
 of A. J. Davis, of Morgan Mill; Delia, widow 
 of J. M. Taylor, of Dallas county; Dr. M. 
 H.,of Finis, Texas; Dr. W.H., ofSegoville, 
 Texas; Mark, an attorney of Hico, Texas; 
 Oran J., who is engaged in the practice of 
 law in Cleburne, Texas; and Jon M., a 
 farmer of Jack county. The mother of this 
 family died in 1882, at the age of fifty-two 
 years. She was a member of the Method- 
 ist Episcopal church, south, and a most es- 
 timable lady. The death of the mother of 
 the above family of ten children is the only 
 missing link in forty-five years. The father 
 and ten children are yet living. 
 
 Mr. Logan came to Texas in 18S3, and 
 after a month spent in Hill county came to 
 Morgan Mill, where he purchased two hun- 
 dred and sixty-five acres of land, all wild. 
 After clearing and cultivating his farm for a 
 time he sold, and on the 12th of October, 
 1889, established a drugstore, which he has 
 since successfully conducted, his large trade 
 yielding him a good income. He is a man 
 honorable in business, and his careful man- 
 agement, enterprise and perseverance have 
 brought him prosperity. In his political 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 337 
 
 views Mr. Logan is a Democrat, and socially 
 is connected with the Masonic fraternity. 
 He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal 
 church, south, and has served as steward 
 and as superintendent of the Sunday-school 
 for a number of years. 
 
 HLLEN BROOIvS NEAL, a retired 
 farmer of Comanche county, now 
 living in School Land Cove, Hamil- 
 ton county, is one of the pioneers 
 of central Texas, whose identification with 
 the interests of the state covers a period of 
 nearly half a century. The Neal family is 
 of Irish origin, and his great-grandfather, 
 who was born on the Emerald Isle, was its 
 founder on American soil. He was one of 
 the heroes of the Revolution, belonging to 
 that valiant band that followed Francis 
 Marion in that long struggle which ended in 
 the establishment of this republic. His 
 home was in North Carolina, where he 
 located in childhood days, just after his 
 emigration to this country. The grand- 
 father of our subject, John Neal, was born 
 in North Carolina and served in the Indian 
 wars in that state. He was killed by being 
 run over by a wagon when fifty years of age. 
 His wife bore the maiden name of Miss 
 Buison, and their children were Guan, 
 Polly, Mrs. Cromley, John Garrett, Elbert 
 and Thomas. 
 
 John Garrett, the father of our subject, 
 was a native of Georgia and there married 
 Malissa Spurlen, who was born in the same 
 state. Her father, William Spurlen, was 
 born in Georgia, and after his marriage 
 removed to Mississippi and later to Dallas 
 county, Te.xas, becoming a resident of this 
 state in 1848. He died in Navarro county, 
 
 about 1858, at the age of eighty years. He 
 wedded Nellie Carter, and their children 
 were Mrs. Neal, Narcissus, Emily, William, 
 Permelia, Lazarus, Jerry and Levi. The 
 Spurlen family is of Irish descent, but were 
 connected with the Protestants in religious 
 belief. Mr. Neal, of this sketch, now has 
 in his possession a cane which was made by 
 his maternal grandfather in 1792. It was 
 cut from a persimmon tree, wound with a 
 rattan vine, on the bank of a river in North 
 Carolina, and on account of its extreme age 
 is a treasured heirloom in the family. 
 
 After his marriage John Garrett Neal 
 removed to Alabama, and when our subject 
 was three months old took his family with 
 him to Choctaw county, Mississippi, which 
 had been recently organized, and there 
 served as first sheriff of the county. He 
 lived there for eighteen years and then went 
 to Madison county, Mississippi, where he 
 made his home until coming to Texas. On 
 the 24th of December, 1852, he crossed the 
 Trinity river and took up his residence in 
 Navarro county, where he entered three 
 hundred and twenty acres of land, but 
 afterward was compelled to purchase 
 this. He afterward added to his possessions 
 until he had six hundred and thirty-nine 
 acres all in one body. In addition to farm- 
 ing he devoted his services to the work of 
 the ministry, becoming a preacher of the 
 Primitive Baptist church when a young man. 
 His political support was given the Democ- 
 racy and his honorable life was an example 
 to all with whom he came in contact. His 
 death occurred in 1 866, and his widow died 
 in 1887, at the age of seventj'-two years. 
 Their children are John and William, both 
 deceased; Allen B., living; Melissa, Viola 
 and Martha, all deceased; Sylvannus, yet 
 living; Jeptha, who has passed away; Ella 
 
HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 and Columbus, living. The living members 
 of the family, with the exception of our 
 subject, reside in Ellis county, Texas. 
 
 Allen B. Neal was born in Alabama, No- 
 vember 17, 1833, and accompanied his par- 
 ents on their various removals until they 
 had settled in Navarro county, Texas. In 
 1854 he left home and worked for a year as 
 a farm hand. In 1855 he entered one hun- 
 dred and sixty acres of land in Johnson 
 county, which had been recently organized 
 and was one of the first settlers within its 
 borders. His home was near Mansfield, 
 where he lived for three years, and then re- 
 turned to Navarro county, working with his 
 father for a year. He then sold his inter- 
 est in the place, of one hundred and sixty 
 acres near the old homestead, in 1861, and 
 took his family back to his wife's father in 
 Johnson county, while he went forth to bat- 
 tle for the interests of the south. 
 
 Enlisting in the spring of 1861 Mr. Neal 
 became a member of Captain Marion Mar- 
 tin's company and the regiment commanded 
 by Colonel Bass. This started out as a 
 cavalry company, but was dismounted the 
 second year. It operated west of the Mis- 
 sissippi in Missouri, Arkansas and the In- 
 dian Territory. He lost but six months 
 during the four years of the war, and that 
 on account of illness. He was at Dokes- 
 ville in the Indian Territory at the time of 
 the surrender. Returning to Johnson county 
 he purchased four hundred acres of land and 
 there engaged in farming and stock-raising 
 until April, 1883, his efforts being crowned 
 with success. He then sold out and bought 
 three hundred and twenty acres in the south- 
 eastern part of Comanche county, to which 
 he removed in 18S3, and added to the prop- 
 erty until he had nine hundred and sixty 
 acres, of which sixty acres was under culti- 
 
 vation, a large portion of the remainder be- 
 ing used as pasture land for his cattle. He of- 
 ten had as many as four hundred head of 
 stock upon his land. His industry, his good 
 management and his honorable dealing won 
 him prosperity, and to-day he is one of the 
 substantial citizens of central Texas. He 
 continued his operations as an agriculturist 
 and stock-dealer until December, 1895, 
 when he laid aside the cares and responsi- 
 bilities of active business life and took up 
 his abode in the home of his son, John, in 
 School Land Cove. 
 
 Mr. Neal was married June 20, 1855, 
 in Navarro county, to Pernieasa, daughter 
 of Redding and Mary Ann (Brown) Sessims. 
 Her father died in Montague county, Texas, 
 in 1882, at the age of eighty-seven. He 
 was born on the Cumberland river in Ken- 
 tucky, removed from there to Middle Ten- 
 nessee and subsequently to Georgetown, 
 Mississippi. He built the first house in 
 Jackson, the present capital of that state, 
 and continued his residence in Mississippi 
 until 1835, when in the month of March he 
 started for Texas, driving across the country 
 to what is now San Augustine county. He 
 was accompanied by his wife and their chil- 
 dren, — Ailsey Ann, William, Mrs. Neal, 
 Wilson Russell and Elizabeth. At the first 
 location the father planted a crop, but in 
 the fall of 1835 removed to Shelby county 
 and entered a section of land near the town 
 of Shelbyville, upon which he made his 
 home until 1852. Through the three suc- 
 ceeding years he resided in Navarro county, 
 and in 1855 went to Johnson county, where 
 he took up land, living there until i860. 
 From that time until 1877 he lived in Ellis 
 county, then removed to Montague county, 
 where he spent his remaining days near 
 Bowie. In politics he was a Democrat and 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 acceptably served as justice of the peace. 
 He belonged to the Primitive Baptist 
 church and served as its elder, also took a 
 most active part in its work, materially 
 advancing its interests. His wife died in 
 1889, at the age of seventy-seven years. 
 She was a native of Tennessee. 
 
 Mrs. Neal was born in Copiah county, 
 Mississippi, March 31, 1829, and by her 
 marriage became the mother of three chil- 
 dren. The eldest, John Allen, born in 
 Johnson county, April 2, 1856, was married 
 January 31, 1878, in Navarro county, to 
 Cordelia Lambeth, who was born near Dal- 
 las, Texas, April 17, 1858. Their children 
 are Viola Hettie, born September 24, 1878; 
 Aimer Brooks, born May 12, 1880; Eva 
 Lee, born August 26, 1881; John Gran- 
 ville, born November 16, 1883; and Melissa 
 Virginia, born January 3, 1885. Melissa 
 Mary, the second of the family, was born 
 June 28, 1858, in Johnson county, and be- 
 came the wife of W. D. Denham, October 
 8, 1874. Their children are Demeras, born 
 May 27, 1876; Eula Elizabeth; James 
 Allen; Annie, deceased; Jeffie, Ida and Coy. 
 Ida Pemesa, born April 24, 1871, in John- 
 son county, was married October 2, 1887, 
 to W. W. Journey, and has four children: 
 Walter, deceased, Frank Burks, Edgar 
 Costin and Clyde Iva. 
 
 In his political adherency Mr. Neal has 
 always been a stalwart advocate of the Dem- 
 ocratic party, and since 1869 he has been 
 connected with the Masonic fraternity, 
 while in religion for twenty-seven years he 
 has been a member of the Baptist church, 
 and is now serving as its deacon. His life 
 has ever been marked by fidelity to duty, 
 by honest dealing in all business relations 
 and by those qualities of true manliness 
 which awaken respect wherever seen. 
 
 ,>^OBERT ASBURY MILLER, M. 
 I /^ D. — The visitor to this prosperous 
 \ _ y Texas town, Dublin, as he passes 
 through its streets is sure to have 
 pointed out to him the handsome residence 
 of Dr. Robert Asbury Miller, — one of the 
 finest in the county, — with the remark, by 
 the way, that "Dr. Miller is one of the 
 leading men of the place; has a large prac- 
 tice here, and both as a physician and en- 
 terprising citizen holds a high place in the 
 esteem of his fellows." As such his biog- 
 raphy forms an important page in the his- 
 tory of Erath county. 
 
 Dr. Robert Asbury Miller was born Au- 
 gust 5, 1853, in La Fayette, Walker coun- 
 ty, Georgia, son of John Louis and Mary 
 Elizabeth (Henderson) Miller. The Millers 
 are of German origin, came to this country 
 at an early day and were for several gen- 
 erations residents of the Old Dominion. 
 William Miller, the Doctor's grandfather, 
 removed from Virginia to Knoxville, Ten- 
 nessee. He had married in Virginia a Miss 
 Wayland, and the children of their union 
 were Henry, William, Elizabeth, Mary, 
 John L., David, Robert and Thomas. 
 Thomas C. Henderson, the maternal grand- 
 father of our subject, died in Georgia, Feb- 
 ruary 17, 1895, at the age of ninety-seven 
 years. He was married three times. By 
 the Doctor's grandmother he had seven chil- 
 dren, — five daughters and two sons. Great- 
 grandfather Henderson was a participant in 
 the Revolutionary war. As was the custom 
 in those days he wore his hair plaited, and 
 while in battle had one plait shot off. In 
 the latter part of his life he lived in retire- 
 ment, in many respects was very eccentric, 
 and at the time of death was nearly a hun- 
 dred years old. 
 
 Dr. Miller's father and mother are still 
 
S40 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 living, now residents of Henderson county, 
 Texas. The former was born in Knoxville, 
 Tennessee, August 17, 1827; the latter, in 
 Greenville, South Carolina, August 26, 
 '835. John Louis Miller has been a farmer 
 all his life, has had his abiding place in 
 Texas since 1878, and is a respected citizen 
 of Henderson county. During the late war 
 he went out as a volunteer, was with Gen- 
 eral Lee's army from the first to the last of 
 the conflict, and among other engagements 
 in which he participated was that of Gettys- 
 burg, where, on the third day, he was shot 
 in the right shoulder, the ball passing out 
 at the elbow. An epitomized record of his 
 family is as follows: Robert Asbury, whose 
 name introduces this sketch, and is the eld- 
 est; Fanny, who died at the age of seven 
 years; William, who lived only one year; 
 next came a son that died in infancy; 
 Georgia, wife of Mr. Ed. Barker, of Hender- 
 son county, Texas; Charles Arthur, who re- 
 sides on the farm with his father; Thomas 
 Ashburn, a merchant of Dublin, Texas; 
 Virginia Viola, married and living in Hen- 
 derson county; and David Livingston, of 
 Italy, Ellis county, Texas. 
 
 From this ancestral history we return 
 now to the life of Dr. Miller. Dr. Miller's 
 boyhood days were spent on his father's 
 farm and in attendance at the public schools 
 up to the time he was eighteen. At that 
 age he began the study of medicine in 
 Chattooga county, Georgia, with Dr. W. 
 H. Saxton as his preceptor, and in 1873 
 entered the Atlantic Medical College at At- 
 lanta, Georgia, where he spent eighteen 
 months. From the college he went to 
 Sugar Valley, Gordon county, that state, 
 and a year later came to Texas, stopping at 
 Dublin, in February, 1877, this journey be- 
 ing made by rail as far as Waco and from 
 
 there by private conveyance. After a year 
 in Dublin he moved to Will's Point, Van 
 Zandt county, where he practiced one year 
 in partnership with Dr. W. C. Monghan, at 
 the end of that time moving to Canton, the 
 county seat of Van Zandt county, and there 
 becoming associated in practice with Dr. J. 
 F. McCarty, the association lasting five 
 years. In January, 1883, feeling the need 
 of still further preparation for his life work, 
 Dr. Miller went to Louisville, Kentucky, 
 and took an advanced course in the Ken- 
 tucky School of Medicine, receiving a di- 
 ploma from that institution in June. At 
 the expiration of his five years' residence in 
 Canton he returned to Dublin and has since 
 been identified with this place. Here he 
 was in partnership with Dr. T. P. Davis 
 two years, then with Dr. McCarty one year, 
 and later one year with Dr. T. J. Farmer. 
 At present he is associated with Dr. C. T. 
 Elmer, under the firm name of Miller & El- 
 mer, this partnership having been formed 
 January i, 1896. Here Dr. Miller's ear- 
 nest and sympathetic devotion to those 
 whom he served gained their confidence 
 and soon brought him into prominence, and 
 ere long his practice reached far beyond the 
 town and ramified into all sections of the 
 county. As a skilled physician he has few 
 if any superiors in central Texas. He has 
 reached this point of high attainment 
 through his own efforts and takes a pride in 
 keeping constantly abreast of the advance- 
 ment made in his profession; and that he is 
 held in high repute by his brother phy- 
 sicians is evinced by the fact that he is 
 frequently called in consultation by them. 
 
 Dr. Miller has also shown a spirit of en- 
 terprise and marked business ability. He 
 platted the Miller addition to Dublin, a 
 tract of ten acres, in 1 890, placed it upon 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 841 
 
 the market and has sold it all, and still 
 deals in land and city property. His own 
 delightful home in Dublin has already been 
 referred to. Here he is surrounded by an 
 interesting family and seemingly with 
 everything that goes to make life happy in 
 this world. 
 
 He was married October 5, 1876, to 
 Susie Griffin Mayes, who was born April 20, 
 1853, only child of Thomas and Elizabeth 
 (Harber) Mayes, both of whom died before 
 her marriage. Her father was a prominent 
 man and was at one time representative 
 from Gordon county to the Texas state 
 legislature. The Doctor and his wife 
 have had the following named children, all 
 of whom are hving except one: De Alva, 
 born August 21, 1877; Mayes, January 30, 
 1879; Paul, January 11, i88i;Tom Meta, 
 December 13, 1883; and Coda, December 
 17, 1887, died August 29, 1890. 
 
 Dr. Miller maintains fraternal relation 
 with Dublin Lodge, No. 313, I. O. O. F. , 
 and Dublin Lodge, No. 107, K. of P., be- 
 ing a charter member of the latter. While 
 he has never been active in political circles, 
 he has ever been a stanch Democrat. 
 When only fifteen years of age he united 
 with the Baptist church, and through all 
 the years that have intervened between 
 that time and this he has exemplified in his 
 life the teachings of the cause he thus early 
 espoused. 
 
 aHARLES S. BURROUGHS is one 
 of the wide-awake, progressive 
 business men of Erath county, 
 now successfully engaged in gen- 
 eral merchandising at Morgan Mill. His 
 ability to recognize and take advantage of 
 
 opportunities offered has given him rank 
 among the substantial merchants of the 
 community, and his deep interest in public 
 affairs and active support of all measures 
 calculated to benefit the community places 
 him among the valued citizens of central 
 Texas. 
 
 A native of the Empire state, Mr. Bur- 
 roughs was born in Seneca county. New 
 York, March 20, i860, a son of William 
 and Lucinda (Beary) Burroughs. The for- 
 mer was a native of the same county and a 
 son of Thomas Burroughs. The youth of 
 our subject was spent on the old family 
 farmstead, and his early education was ob- 
 tained in the common schools of the neigh- 
 borhood. He was only thirteen years of 
 age when he started out in life to make his 
 way in the world, and his first employment 
 was at farm labor. He was energetic and 
 industrious, and these qualities have been 
 important factors in his success. In April, 
 1882, he came to Texas, locating in Erath 
 county, where he worked for various farmers 
 until 1885, when he began railroading, fol- 
 lowing that pursuit for four years. With 
 the capital he had acquired through his own 
 labors he then purchased an improved farm 
 and carried on agricultural pursuits until 
 January, 1894, when he turned his attention 
 to merchandising. He purchased a half 
 interest in his present business and April i, 
 1896, Mr. Hancock's interest, and he now 
 enjoys a lucrative and constantly increasing 
 trade, his sales now amounting to five thou- 
 sand dollars per annum. He carries a good 
 stock, and his honorable and straightforward 
 dealing has won him a liberal patronage. 
 
 On the 29th of December, 1S95, was 
 celebrated the marriage of Mr. Burroughs 
 and Miss Texanna Bass, a native of the 
 Lone Star state. They have a pleasant 
 
34S 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 home, where hospitalit}' reigns supreme, 
 and their friends throughout the community 
 are many. 
 
 at 
 
 ILLIAM BURROUGHS, the 
 
 efficient postmaster of Morgan 
 Mill and a man who in various 
 'capacities has been prominent in 
 public affairs in the communities in which 
 he has resided, comes of a family that has 
 been honorably connected with the history 
 of America. In early colonial days the first 
 ancestors in this country crossed the Atlan- 
 tic from Wales. The grandfather of our sub- 
 ject, Joseph Burroughs, lived in New Jer- 
 sey and there his son Thomas was born. 
 The latter emigrated to Seneca county. 
 New York, in 1812, and became not only 
 a leading agriculturist of that locality but 
 also a man of much prominence and influ- 
 ence in public affairs and took an active 
 part in all interests calculated to advance 
 the general welfare. He married Phcebe 
 Christopher, a daughter of Daniel Christo- 
 pher, who belonged to an old New Jersey 
 family and was of Dutch and Irish descent. 
 He was drowned in Cayuga lake while re- 
 turning from an entertainment given in 
 Aurora Seminary. 
 
 The childhood days of William Bur- 
 roughs, from 1828 to 1843, were spent on 
 the old home farm, and until fifteen years of 
 age he attended the district and select 
 schools of the neighborhood. He spent a 
 year in study in Waterloo Academy, and 
 later entered the Genesee Wesleyan Semi- 
 nary, in Livingston county, New York, 
 where he remained for a year. His literary 
 education was completed by one year's 
 study in the Oneida Conference Seminary 
 in Cazenovia, New York, after which he re- 
 
 turned to the old homestead and aided in its 
 cultivation for two years. After attaining 
 his majority Mr. Burroughs went to Balls- 
 ton Spa, Saratoga county, New York, 
 where he attended law school, and in 1851 
 was admitted to the bar in Albany, New 
 York. He entered upon the practice of his 
 profession in the county of his nativity and 
 for several years enjoyed a good business. 
 He was then called to public office, being 
 elected supervisor of his native town for a 
 period of four years. He then returned to his 
 law practice and in connection with it car- 
 ried on a farm. From 1862 until 1868 he 
 was collector of internal revenue and in the 
 various public offices which he filled he dis- 
 charged his duties with marked fidelity and 
 won the unqualified confidence of all con- 
 cerned. 
 
 In 1 890 Mr. Burroughs came to Texas, 
 taking up his residence in Morgan Mill, 
 where he opened a law office. He soon 
 gained a fair clientage, and in the case 
 which he tried demonstrated his ability and 
 skill. He ranks among the foremost law- 
 yers in this section of the state, for he has a 
 thorough knowledge of his profession and 
 good oratorical powers. In August, 1892, 
 he was appointed postmaster of Morgan 
 Mill by President Harrison and has since 
 held the office. 
 
 On the 24th of February, 1853, was cele- 
 brated the marrage of Mr. Burroughs and 
 Miss Lucinda Beary, a native of Bearytown, 
 Seneca county, New York, and a daughter 
 of Thomas Beary, whose father, Henry 
 Beary, removed from Allentown, Pennsyl- 
 vania, to New York and founded the village 
 of Bearytown. He was of German descent. 
 To our subject and his wife were born sev- 
 en children, si.\ of whom are yet living, as 
 follows: Thomas E., who makes his home 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 343 
 
 in New London, Connecticut; Charles Sum- 
 ner, of Morgan Mill, Texas; Emma Beary, 
 wife of Olin E. Emmons, of Bearytown, 
 New York; Grace, who is a professional 
 nurse and makes her home in Rochester, 
 New York; Laura May, who is located in 
 Cleveland, Ohio; and LeRoy C, who is 
 living in Seneca county, New York. 
 
 Mr. Burroughs of this review was for- 
 merly an old-line Whig, but later became a 
 Republican and is now independent in poli- 
 tics. In all the relations of life he has been 
 true to the trust reposed in him and his ca- 
 reer is that of an upright, honorable gentle- 
 man whose many excellent qualities com- 
 mand the esteem of all. 
 
 HLRED L. OXFORD, who car- 
 ries on farming and stock-raising 
 in Erath county, is one of the na- 
 tive sons of Texas, his birth having 
 occurred in what was then Hopkins but is 
 now Delta county, on the 17th of October, 
 1 85 1. He is the youngest son in a family 
 of nine children, five sons and four daugh- 
 ters, his parents being Clayborn and Louisa 
 (Ramsey) Oxford, prominent people of this 
 locality. 
 
 When Alfred L. was a child of seven 
 summers his parents came to Erath county 
 and here his youth and the years of his man- 
 hood have been passed. The public schools 
 afforded him his educational privileges and 
 he is to-day a practical, energetic business 
 man. His father died when he was a child, 
 after which he lived with his mother until 
 his marriage, when his mother went to live 
 with him, remaining a member of his house- 
 hold until called to the eternal home. He 
 thus compensated her for the care and at- 
 tention which she had bestowed upon him 
 
 in his youth. He began farming on his 
 own account in 1872, when he effected the 
 purchase of one hundred acres of land, of 
 which only nine acres had been cleared. 
 It is an arduous task to prepare for the 
 plow a tract of new land, but with charac- 
 teristic energy he began the work and acre 
 after acre was developed until now a tract 
 of sixty acres is under a high state of cul- 
 tivation. The home farm at present com- 
 prises one hundred and fifteen acres, and 
 in addition to this he owns seven hundred 
 acres, of which twenty acres yields to him 
 a good return for the care he bestows upon 
 it. He is a wide-awake, progressive farmer, 
 and the success which has come to him is 
 all due to his own efforts. 
 
 In 1874 Mr. Oxford was united in mar- 
 riage to Miss Josephine Jones, a native of 
 Kaufman county, Texas, and a daughter of 
 Burl and Mahala (Orr) Jones, of Alabama, 
 who located in Erath county in 1873. To 
 Mr. and Mrs. Oxford have been born eight 
 children: Laura, Lillie, Lutie, Gertrude, 
 Ollie, Earle, Eddie and Mamie. The par- 
 ents are members of the Methodist Episco- 
 pal church, and in politics Mr. Oxford is a 
 Democrat. 
 
 >T^ V. BROOKS.— Since i860 this gen- 
 ■ tleman has been identified with the 
 A 1 development of central Texas and 
 has been an important factor in all 
 that pertains to the improvement of this 
 section of the state. The vast area of the 
 Lone Star state, with its many available 
 resources, had long been awaiting the hand 
 of civilized man. Mr. Brooks, with others, 
 had subjugated considerable tracts of wild 
 land and transformed the wild prairie into 
 rich fields and happy homes. Thus the 
 
344 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 work of progress is ever carried forward and 
 the men who engage in the task are deserv- 
 ing the gratitude of all who come after them. 
 Mr. Brooks is a native of Alabama, born 
 in Fayette county on the 30th of Septem- 
 ber, 1S37. His parents were Zachariah 
 and Sarah McGill (Cheek) Brooks. The 
 father was a native of Blount county, Ten- 
 nessee, and of Scotch-English descent, 
 while the mother, a native of Georgia, was 
 of Scotch lineage. Both went to Alabama 
 in an early day and were married there, 
 after which Mr. Brooks followed farming in 
 the Cotton state until 1843, when he came 
 to Texas, first settling in Red River county. 
 A year later he removed to Cherokee county, 
 where he also remaiend one year and then 
 returned to Red River county. Twelve 
 months later he took up his abode in Titus 
 county, where he continued his residence 
 until i860, when he again sought a frontier 
 home, finding the same in Erath county. 
 Here he followed stock-raising for about 
 four years. He opened up a farm in Hood 
 county and carried on agricultural pursuits 
 until the latter part of his life. During the 
 war, in connection with Alex. McCamlet, he 
 engaged in tanning, and found this a very 
 successful undertaking. While farming he 
 frequently suffered the loss of his horses, 
 which were stolen by the Indians, but he 
 prosecuted his labors with energy and 
 accumulated a comfortable competence. 
 Before the war he served as justice of the 
 peace. Both he and his wife were consist- 
 ent and faithful members of the Methodist 
 Episcopal church, in which he served as 
 steward and class-leader. Socially he was 
 connected with the Masonic fraternity and 
 politically with the Democratic party. He 
 was, however, opposed to the secession of 
 the southern states from the Union, and was 
 
 a follower of Sam Houston. Although 
 his views were at that time very unpopular, 
 he lived to see the time when his neighbors 
 acknowledged him in the right. He died in 
 June, 1888, at the age of seventy-six years, 
 and his wife passed away in May, 1873. 
 They were the parents of six children, who 
 reached adult age, namely: J. A., now 
 deceased; J. v., of this sketch; G. W., of 
 Coleman City; C. C, deceased; Martha, 
 who was twice married and has now passed 
 away; and John Valentine, who also has 
 been called from this life. The sons were 
 all soldiers in the Confederate army and 
 attested their bravery on many a battle- 
 field. 
 
 The subject of this review was a little 
 lad of six summers when brought to Texas 
 by his parents. He was reared on the 
 frontier farm, sharing in the hardships and 
 trials incident to pioneer life and bearing his 
 part in the arduous task of developing new 
 land. The advantages of his boyhood, edu- 
 cational and otherwise, were very meager. 
 He continued to give his father the benefit 
 of his services until his marriage, which 
 important event in his life was celebrated 
 on the 1st of January, 1857, the lady of his 
 choice being Miss Nancy Jane Porter, who 
 was born in Red River countj^, Texas, a 
 daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca (Boran) 
 Porter, who came from Alabama to Texas 
 in the fall of 1842 and located in Red River 
 county. After a two-years residence there 
 they removed to Titus county, where the 
 mother died, on the 26th of February, 1854. 
 The father departed this life in October, 
 1856. 
 
 After his marriage Mr. Brooks settled 
 on a farm in Titus county, where he made 
 his home until November, i860, when he 
 located on the bank of Paluxy creek in 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 what is now Somervell county, and opened 
 up a farm of about forty acres. The civil 
 war having been inaugurated he enlisted in 
 the fall of 1862, in Captain Puckett's com- 
 pany and Colonel Gurley's regiment and 
 was in the service of the western army until 
 the close of hostilities. He then returned 
 to Somervell county, where he was em- 
 ployed in his father's tanyard for a year. 
 His next home was on the Brazos river 
 above Granbury in Johnson county. There 
 he also improved a farm and later he aided 
 in the organization of Hood county. After 
 three years he returned to the Paluxy, 
 trading his property for a partially improved 
 farm on which he lived for a year. A year 
 later he took up his residence upon a farm 
 two miles distant, and while residing there 
 his horses were stolen by the Indians. In 
 connection with his father and brothers he 
 lost more than twenty head in this way. In 
 1872 Mr. Brooks took up one hundred and 
 forty-seven acres of wild land under the 
 pre-emption act and began the task of clear- 
 ing and improving his fourth farm in central 
 Texas. His property now comprises two 
 hundred and fifty-one acres, of which one 
 hundred and eighteen acres is under a high 
 state of cultivation, the well tilled fields in- 
 dicating the thrift and enterprise which are 
 so characteristic of the owner. He carries 
 on general farming but his principal crop is 
 cotton. He is a man of systematic habits, 
 and his careful management and energy 
 have been the means of bringing to him a 
 well-deserved success. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Brooks are the parents 
 of seventeen children, of whom seven are 
 still living. These are Margaret J., wife of 
 J. S. Johnson, of Hood county; John F., a 
 resident of Hood county; Mary I., the wife 
 of P. S. Tidwell, of the same county; Leti- 
 
 tia, wife of Charles Pair, of Hood county; 
 Samuel H., Eveline and Adalaide; the last 
 three are still single. Also all the family 
 reside in Hood county excepting B. A. 
 Collings, husband of a deceased daughter, 
 Luveney, who lives in Somervell county. 
 Of ten deceased children nine died in in- 
 fancy, and Mrs. Collings died February 28, 
 1893, leaving seven children living. 
 
 The family hold membership in the 
 Methodist Episcopal church, in which Mr. 
 Brooks is acting as steward. He is also a 
 member of Paluxy Lodge, No. 393, F. & 
 A. M. and in his political proclivities is a 
 Democrat. 
 
 HOMAS JEFFERSON BURKS has 
 the reputation of a strictly first- 
 class business man, reliable and 
 energetic, and is a citizen of whom 
 Pottsville may be justly proud. His birth 
 occurred in Leake county, Mississippi, No- 
 vember 23, 1853, and a sketch of his ances- 
 tors may be found on another page of this 
 work. At the age of twenty years he started 
 out in life on his own account, at first work- 
 ing for wages, and then rented land, which 
 he operated for one year. 
 
 Going to Comanche county, Texas, Mr. 
 Burks attended a school taught by George 
 W. Cunningham, and later engaged in 
 teaching for two and a half months. On 
 the nth of March, 1877, he first came to 
 Pottsville, where with R. L. Burks he started 
 a general store under the firm name of T. 
 J. & R. L. Burks, but at the end of nine 
 months bought out his partner's interest and 
 conducted the establishment alone for three 
 years, when he admitted B. Frank Burks, 
 a cousin, to a membership in the firm. At 
 the end of two years he purchased the lat- 
 
840 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ter's interest, but three months later sold 
 out to his cousin and bought a farm of eighty 
 acres in Comanche county. On the expira- 
 tion of nine months, however, he again be- 
 gan general merchandising, and after being 
 alone for eight months R. L. Burks and 
 J. C. Chatman became members of the 
 firm, which assumed the style of Burks, 
 Chatman & Company. Later he bought 
 out his partners, and afterward sold out his 
 stock to J. R. Linn. 
 
 In the meantime Mr. Burks had traded 
 his farm in Comanche county to J. S. Lind- 
 sey for a flour and corn mill and cotton gin 
 at Pottsville, which he afterward sold to 
 Charles Valentine, but two years later 
 bought the property back, which at that 
 time had run down considerably. He re- 
 built the gin, and is now doing a flourishing 
 business in that line. He has a fine farm 
 of two hundred and seventy-si.x acres on 
 Cowhouse creek, five miles above Pottsville, 
 one hundred and seventy of which are under 
 cultivation, and he rents the entire amount. 
 He recently purchased a drug store on the 
 west side of the square at Pottsville, of 
 which he will take charge in the fall of 1896. 
 The post-office is now in the building. 
 
 On the 22d of October, 1878, was sol- 
 emnized the marriage of Mr. Burks and Miss 
 Alice Amelia Goggin, who was born in De- 
 Kalb county, Alabama, June 5, 1858, and 
 was brought by her parents, William Hugh 
 and Adeline (Lyons) Goggin, to Hamilton 
 county, Texas, in 1859. Seven children 
 grace this union, namely; Arthur, born 
 August 6, 1879; Meda, February i, 1882; 
 Charlie, October 15, 1884; Julia, April 20, 
 1887; Adaline, October 7, 1890; Clara, 
 January 30, 1892; and Ida, April 23, 1894. 
 
 In his political affiliations Mr. Burks is 
 a stalwart Democrat, and religiously is a 
 
 member of the Baptist church. He is one 
 of the most progressive and energetic men 
 of the county, has been actively identified 
 with the mercantile interests of the Cow- 
 house neighborhood, with headquarters at 
 Pottsville, for a number of years, and is one 
 of the solid business men of the locality, 
 who has the respect and confidence of all 
 with whom he comes in contact. 
 
 ,>^ENJAMIN PALMER, of the law 
 \f^ *irm of Wasson & Palmer, Dublin, 
 ^^K^J Erath county, Texas, is a young 
 man who has worked his way to 
 the front and who is deserving of more than 
 a passing notice on the pages of this volume. 
 Following is a short sketch of his life and 
 ancestry: 
 
 Benjamin Palmer was born in Russell 
 county, Alabama, August 11, 1863, son of 
 Benjamin Robert and Claudia A. (Lewis) 
 Palmer. His early life, until November 27, 
 i88i, was spent on his father's farm, and 
 at that date he came to Navarro county, 
 Texas, and engaged in the stock business 
 with his brothers, Hugh and R. U., remain- 
 ing with them two years. Feeling the need 
 of a better education and wishing to fit him- 
 self for something higher in life, he severed 
 his connection with the stock business and 
 earnestly set himself about the work of ob- 
 taining an education. For three years he 
 attended public school and then spent two 
 years in the State University at Austin, 
 pursuing a literary course and reaching the 
 senior class in college. After this he re- 
 turned to Navarro county and taught one 
 term of school. While teaching he began 
 the study of law, and in due time was ad- 
 mitted to the bar, his admission being Au- 
 gust 9, 1890, at Corsicana, Navarro coun- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 347 
 
 ty, before Judge Rufus Hardy, but had 
 practiced under temporary license before 
 that time. Immediately thereafter he en- 
 tered upon the practice of his profession at 
 Corsicana, and remained there until the 
 spring of 1892, following which he was for 
 eight months a partner with W. F. Martin 
 in the practice of law at Glen Rose, Somer- 
 vell county. November i, 1892, he came 
 to Dublin, where he has since practiced. 
 Until November i, 1893, he had for his 
 partner W. T. Daniel and since then he has 
 been associated with Mr. Wasson under the 
 firm name of Wasson & Palmer. Mr. Pal- 
 mer was made assistant county attorney 
 December 9, 1895, and is now serving in 
 that capacity. While in Navarro county he 
 was city attorney of Blooming Grove two 
 years, having been elected to this office on 
 the Democratic ticket. 
 
 Mr. Palmer is happily married. Mrs. 
 Palmer's maiden name was Bettie Hughes. 
 She is a typical southern woman, being a 
 native of Alabama, and a daughter of John 
 Hughes. Her mother's maiden name was 
 Strickland. Mrs. Palmer was reared by an 
 aunt, her father having been killed in the 
 Confederate army and her mother dying 
 soon after. They have an interesting family 
 of three little ones, whose names with dates 
 of birth are here given: Lewis Kenneth, born 
 June 25, 1890; Benjamin Herschell, Octo- 
 ber 29, 1892; and Frank Strickland, March 
 29, 1894. The family worship at the Epis- 
 copal church. 
 
 Having thus reviewed Mr. Palmer's life, 
 we would now direct attention to the ances- 
 try from which he sprang. Benjamin Robert 
 Palmer, his father, was a farmer all his life, 
 served in the late war as superintendent of 
 the breastworks at Mobile, and as enrolling 
 officer, and died in September, 1S89, at the 
 
 ripe age of seventy-three years. Benjamin 
 Robert Palmer, on his maternal side, was 
 first cousin to ex-Governor Herschell V. 
 Johnson, of Georgia, who was also Demo- 
 cratic nominee for vice-president of the 
 United States in i860, they being educated 
 together at a high school at Warrenton, 
 Georgia, and were playmates during the 
 most of their boyhood days. He was a son 
 of Robert Palmer, who was born and died 
 in Georgia. Robert Palmer married a Miss 
 Tarver and they were the parents of two 
 sons and three daughters. William Palmer, 
 the great-grandfather of our subject, was, it 
 is supposed, born in England. At the time 
 the Revolutionary war came on he was a 
 resident of North Carolina and went from 
 there into the army, where he rendered val- 
 iant service. After the war he settled in 
 Georgia, where he reared his family and 
 passed the remainder of his life. Of our 
 subject's maternal ancestry, we record that 
 his grandfather Ulysses Lewis died about 
 the beginning of the late war, at the age of 
 fifty-five years. He was judge of the pro- 
 bate court of Russell county, Alabama, for 
 many years, and also had farming interests. 
 He and his wife, nee Sarah Abercrombie, 
 had four sons and five daughters. John 
 Lewis, his father and the great-grandfather 
 of Mr. Palmer, was a Virginian by birth and 
 an early settler of Sparta, Georgia. He 
 was also a grandson of Col. Fielding Lewis, 
 who married Bettie Washington, the only 
 sister of George Washington. He (Field- 
 ing Lewis) constructed "Kenmore, " at 
 Fredericksburg, Virginia. It is a grand 
 colonial mansion and is yet standing in a 
 good state of preservation. It is the house 
 in which the mother of George Washington 
 died. His mother was a Miss Randolph, 
 a member of the famous old Virginia family 
 
348 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 of that name. Mr. Palmer's mother is now 
 sixty si.x-years of ap^e and makes her home 
 with him. Her children are Robert Ulysses; 
 Lucy, deceased; John; George, deceased; 
 Hugh, deceased; and Benjamin. 
 
 £~V*IMEON PERKINS. — More than 
 •^^^ twenty years a resident of Coman- 
 K^^y che county, and nearly twice that 
 long of Texas, the subject of this 
 sketch is entitled to biographical honors in 
 this work on account of his long connection 
 with the state if for no other reason; but 
 more than this his life has been one of ac- 
 tivity and usefulness; he has done his part 
 in helping to develop the resources of the 
 country, and he is now one of the respected 
 citizens of Sidney, living practically retired. 
 None are better known or more worthy of 
 personal mention than he, and it is gratify- 
 ing to us to present here the following facts 
 in regard to his life and ancestry. 
 
 Simeon Perkins was born February 
 14, 1833, five miles from Savannah, the 
 county seat of Hardin county, Tennessee. 
 His father, Samuel Perkins, was a native of 
 North Carolina, of English and Scotch ex- 
 traction and a representative of a family 
 that settled in the Carolinas during the co- 
 lonial period. He was twice married. By 
 his first wife, whose maiden name was Marsh 
 and whom he wedded in North Carolina, he 
 had six children, viz. : Hugh, John, William, 
 Solomon, E. M. Perkins and Lucinda. 
 Some time after her death he was united in 
 marriage to Miss Anna Userry, a native of 
 Tennessee and a member of one of the re- 
 spected families of that state. As the re- 
 sult of their union eight children were born, 
 namely: Amanda, Hardiman, Catharine, 
 Samuel, Anna, Joseph, Simeon and Louisa. 
 
 The mother of these children died in Har- 
 din county, Tennessee. The father lived to 
 the ripe old age of seventy-six years. Both 
 were members of the Christian church, in 
 which laith they reared their family. By 
 occupation the father was a farmer, in poli- 
 tics he was Democratic, and as an honor- 
 able and upright citizen he stood high in his 
 community. 
 
 On his father's farm in Hardin county 
 the subject of our sketch passed his boy- 
 hood and youth and as he grew up had in- 
 stilled into him those lessons of honesty and 
 industry which form the foundation of all 
 true success. His book knowledge was ob- 
 tained in the common schools near his home 
 and his business training was in the broad 
 school of experience. In 1853, at the am- 
 bitious age of twenty, we find young Per- 
 kins breaking home ties and starting for far- 
 away California, where he landed in due 
 time, having made the journey by water. 
 A year later he returned East, and the next 
 year again went to California and made an- 
 other sojourn on the Pacific coast. While 
 there he was engaged in mining and was 
 fairly successful. In 1857 he directed his 
 course toward Texas and took up his abode 
 in Rusk county, where he made his home 
 until 1875, when he disposed of his inter- 
 ests there and came to Comanche county. 
 Here he purchased a large tract of land 
 near Sidney and about ten miles west of 
 Comanche, and for some years was exten- 
 sively engaged in farming and stock-raising. 
 At one time he owned no less than fifteen 
 hundred acres at this point, but of recent 
 years sold off most of his acreage and is now 
 retired from the active duties of the farm. 
 His home is a handsome, modern residence, 
 beautifully furnished and with attractive 
 surroundings, and here he and his good wife 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 349 
 
 are pleasantly passing their declining years, 
 surrounded by a large circle of friends and 
 acquaintances, by all of whom they are held 
 in high esteem. 
 
 Mr. Perkins was married December 15, 
 1859, in Rusk county, this state, to Miss 
 Celia A. Howardton, a native of Alabama but 
 reared and educated in Rusk county. She 
 is a daughter of William and Mary A. How- 
 ardton, both natives of Alabama and both 
 now deceased. They were among the early 
 and prominent families of Rusk county. 
 His death occurred there in 1866, and hers 
 in Sidney in 1895. 
 
 Reverting to Mr. Perkins' early life in 
 Texas, we state that when the civil war came 
 on he left his wife at their home in Rusk 
 county and went out in defense of the Con- 
 federate cause, as a member of the Elev- 
 enth Texas Infantry. Governor O. M. 
 Roberts was his colonel. Among the en- 
 gagements in which he participated were 
 those of Mansfield, Jenkins' Ferry and oth- 
 ers, and on one occasion he was captured by 
 federal troops, taken to New Orleans and 
 there held a prisoner fifty days, after which 
 he was released. Mr. Perkins has always 
 tendered hissupport to the Democratic party. 
 He is now the appointed postmaster of Sid- 
 ney, but does not himself take charge of 
 the office, its business all being in the hands 
 of his deputy, Hugh R. Lacy. Both Mr. 
 Perkins and his wife are identified with the 
 Christian church, of which they are consist- 
 ent members and liberal supporters. 
 
 ^^Y S. LO MAX.— Classed with the 
 •^^KT prominent and enterprising farmers 
 
 hs^_y of Bosque county, Texas, and de- 
 serving of specific consideration 
 both as a leading farmer and highly respect- 
 
 ed citizen, is found the gentleman whose 
 name initiates this article, — S. S. Lomax. 
 S. S. Lomax dates his birth in Abbeville 
 county. South Carolina, October 9, 1842, 
 son of J. A. Lomax and grandson of Terry 
 Lomax, both natives of South Carolina. 
 The original progenitor of the Lomax fam- 
 ily in America came to this country from 
 England. J. A. Lomax was born in 1816. 
 He was married in South Carolina to Mary 
 Holt, likewise a native of that state, her 
 father being Israel Holt, and he, too, a na- 
 tive of the "Palmetto state." In 1844 
 J. A. Lomax moved to Carroll county, Mis- 
 sissippi, and two years afterward moved to 
 Holmes county and engaged in the tannery 
 business, he having learned the trade of 
 tanner in early life. During the civil war 
 his tannery was turned over to the Confed- 
 eracy and he was assigned a quartermaster's 
 position over the plant. He continued his 
 residence in Mississippi until 1869, when he 
 followed the march of emigration and came 
 to Texas, selecting a location in Bosque 
 county and maintaining his home here the 
 rest of his life. He was twice married. By 
 his first wife he had five children, namely: 
 Martha E., deceased; S. S., of this sketch; 
 J. T., a business man of Meridian, Texas; 
 Dorothy, deceased; and Israel, also of Me- 
 ridian. The mother of this family died in 
 Mississippi, April 27, 1854. By his second 
 wife, nee Susan F. Cooper, a native of Mis- 
 sissippi, he had the following named chil- 
 dren: Richard C, an attorney of Austin, 
 Texas; Mary Frances; Jesse J., who is en- 
 gaged in the insurance business at Dallas, 
 Texas; John E., a teacher by profession; 
 George K. ; Robert A., engaged in teaching; 
 Susan, the third of the family, who follows 
 the occupation of teacher; and Alice. The 
 father of this numerous progeny lived to the 
 
350 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 ripe age of seventy-six years and died in 
 January, 1892. He was a successful busi- 
 ness man, noted for his stanch integrity, his 
 word ever as good as his bond; was an un- 
 wavering supporter of the Democratic party; 
 and was Methodistic in his religious views, 
 long being identified with the Methodist 
 Episcopal church and serving as a class- 
 leader in the same. Fraternally, he was a 
 Royal Arch Mason. His widow still sur- 
 vives him and is a resident of Meridian. 
 
 Having thus briefly referred to his hon- 
 ored parents, we would now turn for a 
 glimpse of the life of S. S. Lomax. He 
 was two years old at the time his father 
 moved to Mississippi, lived two years in 
 Carroll county, and was reared in Holmes 
 county. During the war he had charge of 
 a shoe manufactory connected with his fa- 
 ther's plant, and at the close of the war he 
 turned his attention to the stock business, 
 operating at different places in Mississippi 
 and Texas and giving his time and energies 
 exclusively to the stock business until 1884. 
 That year he settled on his present farm in 
 Bosque county, where he owns two hundred 
 and seventy acres of land, all under cultiva- 
 tion except fifty acres. 
 
 Mr. Lomax was married April 28, 1864, 
 to Miss Martha S. Cooper, daughter of James 
 C. and Mary (Simonton) Cooper, the former 
 for some years a resident of this county 
 and now deceased, and the latter still living 
 in Bosque county. Mr. and Mrs. Lomax 
 have seven children living, namely: Avery 
 C, Hycen-M., William R., Carlos A., Sea- 
 born S., Lottie B. and Lucy M. ; and they 
 have three deceased: Aliff, the first born, 
 who died at the age of two years; Benton 
 S., the fifth, at eighteen months; and Do- 
 rothy, the eighth, at three years. 
 
 Mr. Lomax has in many ways followed 
 
 in the footsteps of his worthy sire. He is 
 a Methodist and a trustee of his church, is 
 an ardent supporter of the principles of De- 
 mocracy, and is identified with the Masonic 
 fraternity. As a man he is genial, frank and 
 honorable, strong in his convictions, and 
 never afraid to defend his position upon any 
 point where principle is involved. 
 
 aHARLES DOCKUM, whose con- 
 nection with the farming and stock- 
 raising interests of Erath county 
 have been of material benefit both 
 to him and to the community, has resided 
 in this section of the state for a quarter of a 
 century. He comes from the far-off Empire 
 state, his birth having occurred in Clinton 
 county. New York, March 4, 1832. 
 
 The family is of Scotch lineage and the 
 grandfather, Thomas Dockum, a native of 
 Scotland, was its founder in America. He 
 was a farmer and died in New York. The 
 father of our subject, Thomas Dockum, Jr., 
 was a native of Vermont, where he was 
 reared and married Lucinda Janes, who 
 also was born in the Green Mountain state, 
 a daughter of David Janes, of Irish descent, 
 a Vermont farmer, who died in Delaware 
 county, Ohio. In 1841 Thomas Dockum 
 removed with his family to Delaware 
 county, Ohio, and in 1852 went to Davis 
 county, Iowa, where his death occurred the 
 same year. Throughout life he engaged in 
 business as a farmer and millwright. His 
 wife survived him for a number of years 
 and died in Missouri in 1888. Both were 
 members of the Methodist church. They 
 had seven children, namely: Orin, of Belton, 
 Texas; Charles; Lester, of Missouri; Henry, 
 of Waco, Texas; Martha M. , deceased wife 
 of Daniel Bears, who was killed in the army 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 351 
 
 during the civil war; Mary, wife of Lewis 
 Reveal, both now deceased; Sarah L. , de- 
 ceased wife of William Rayburn. 
 
 Our subject was a child of nine years 
 when with his parents he left the state of 
 his nativity, and after living in various places 
 the family went to Iowa. Upon his father's 
 death the care of his mother and the 
 younger children of the family devolved 
 upon him and nobly and faithfully did he 
 perform his duty. In 1852 he removed the 
 family to Missouri, locating on a farm. In 
 1 86 1 he entered the Confederate army, 
 joining Forrest's division of artillery. His 
 service was at Savannah, but ill health 
 forced him to leave the army. After recov- 
 ering" he was employed at mounting guns 
 and mortars and was thus engaged until the 
 close of the war. His command was cap- 
 tured at West Point, Georgia, where they 
 made the last fight of the war and at the 
 surrender of General Lee all were paroled. 
 As Mr. Dockum lived north of Mason and 
 Di.xon's line he was called a traitor and in 
 consequence he remained in the south. He 
 worked in Atlanta, Georgia, or vicinity for 
 a time, then went to Stewart county, that 
 state, whence in 1868 he removed to Ala- 
 bama. In 1870 he came to Texas and for 
 a year resided in Limestone county, where 
 he built a mill for Dr. Pitts and operated it 
 for a number of months. In 1872 he ar- 
 rived in Erath county, where he rented land 
 and raised twocrops. He then pre-empted one 
 hundred and sixty acres of unimproved land 
 and to-day has seventy-five acres under 
 high cultivation. In addition to the well 
 tilled fields that yield to him a rich return 
 he also has a good orchard that supplies 
 him with various kinds of fruit in season. 
 His home is a substantial structure and the 
 many improvements upon his place indicate 
 
 the progressive and enterprising spirit of 
 the owner. 
 
 Mr. Dockum was married in 1865 to 
 Mrs. Harper, daughter of L. Archer, a 
 farmer and cabinet-maker. She has one 
 brother, John Archer, who resides in Lime- 
 stone county, Texas. By her first marriage 
 she had a son, G. F. Harper, who has al- 
 ways lived with Mr. and Mrs. Dockum, and 
 the only child of her second marriage is a 
 daughter, Martha L. , wife of B. K. Bowen, 
 a farmer of this locality. Mrs. Dockum is 
 a member of the Primitive Baptist church 
 and a most estimable lady, having many 
 friends throughout the community. Mr. 
 Dockum is connected with the Independent 
 Order of Odd Fellows, and since attaining 
 his majority he has been an ardent advo- 
 cate of the Democracy, firmly believing it 
 to be the true principle of government for 
 America. He is a man of sterling worth 
 and strict integrity, ever true to his convic- 
 tions, and those who know him esteem him 
 highly. 
 
 ,>^ ILEY N. CONDRON was born in 
 
 1/*^ Alabama, December 25, 1821, a 
 
 1 . r son of William and Margaret 
 
 (McNab) Condron, both of whom 
 
 were natives of Alabama, in which state 
 
 they were married. The father was a son 
 
 of Jack and Rachel (Vaught) Condron, the 
 
 former of South Carolina. Removing to 
 
 Alabama, he located near Decatur, where 
 
 he spent his remaining days, a prominent 
 
 planter and slave owner of that locality. In 
 
 politics he was a Democrat, and was an ex- 
 
 horter in the Methodist church. 
 
 The father of our subject was reared in 
 his native state, where he resided until De- 
 cember, 1849, when he removed to Will- 
 
352 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 iamson county, Texas, where he purchased 
 land and developed a farm. His death 
 occurred there in 1867. His wife is yet 
 living on the old homestead, at the age of 
 eighty-six years. He became a member of 
 the Methodist church when a young man of 
 seventeen years, and his wife when a maiden 
 of fourteen, so that they were long faithful 
 members of that denomination. The father 
 was engaged in the live-stock business, in 
 which he met with excellent success until 
 the period of the war, when he lost nearly 
 all his property. He had four sons in the 
 Confederate service, and on the cessation of 
 hostilities they returned home to find noth- 
 ing left but the land! William Condron 
 also gave his political support to the De- 
 mocracy. His children are Rachel, wife of 
 John W. Lane, of Williamson county; 
 Stewart, a graduate of Florence College, of 
 Alabama, who died at the age of twenty- 
 two; William H., who was in the late war; 
 Benjamin F., deceased; Riley N. ; Francis 
 M. ; and Thomas M., who served through 
 the war in the Second Texas Infantry; Lu, 
 widow of William Neighbors; Jennie, wife 
 of William Wilson, of Williamson county; 
 and Josephine, wife of A. J. Pettijohn, who 
 resides in Elgin, Texas. Three of the sons 
 have been twice married, and there are now 
 thirty-seven grandchildren who bear the 
 name of Condron. 
 
 Our subject was a lad of eight years 
 when he came with his parents to Texas, 
 and when seventeen years of age he left 
 home and went to Chapel Hill University 
 in Washington county, where he remained 
 as a student for one year. There he en- 
 listed in August, 1 86 1, in the Confederate 
 service, and was sworn in at Houston, as a 
 memberof the Eighth Texas Cavalry, known 
 as Terry's Texas Rangers. The regiment, 
 
 under command of Sidney Johnston, was 
 assigned to the Army of the Tennessee. 
 Johnston was killed at Shiloh, after which 
 Beauregard assumed command. Mr. Con- 
 dron was in all the principal battles with 
 the Army of the Tennessee, and at Shiloh 
 was wounded by a ball in the left leg, which 
 still occasions him considerable suffering. 
 At Chickamaugua he was wounded in the 
 left shoulder, at Perryville his horse was 
 shot from under him, and at Salt River, 
 Kentucky, another horse was shot from 
 under him, which in falling crushed his leg. 
 He was at Goldsboro, North Carolina, at 
 the time of General Lee's surrender, and on 
 horseback made the return trip to his home, 
 a distance of seventeen hundred miles! He 
 never received a furlough in all his four long 
 years of service, but was always found at 
 his post, faithfully defending the south. 
 
 After visiting his home, Mr. Condron re- 
 turned to Washington county, Texas, and 
 with a partner purchased the Hiram Thomp- 
 son farm, of one thousand acres, of which 
 eight hundred acres was under cultivation. 
 He also secured the horses, mules and farm 
 machinery, the purchase price for the entire 
 place being twenty-nine thousand dollars. 
 On the first crop he made thirteen thousand 
 dollars and soon paid off all indebtedness. 
 After four years he sold this property, but 
 remained in Washington county until 1873, 
 when he came to his present home. Here 
 he purchased nine hundred and sixty acres, 
 and with the aid of four farm hands planted 
 fifty acres the first year. He was spon do- 
 ing a good live-stock business, but in 1878 
 he sold his stock and went to Comanche 
 county, where he engaged in speculating 
 until 1884. He then returned to his present 
 home, where he now carries on general 
 farming. He has here three hundred and 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 353 
 
 sixty-nine acres, of which two hundred acres 
 are highly cultivated, while the farm is im- 
 proved with a commodious residence and 
 good barns, also an excellent orchard and 
 other conveniences. He has two of the 
 finest fish pools in the state, supplied with 
 water from a never failing spring, situated 
 three miles south of Proctor. 
 
 In Washington county, Texas, January 
 I, 1867, Mr. Condron married Miss Addie 
 L. Slauter, a native of Kentucky and a 
 daughter of William and Fannie (Fontleroy) 
 Slauter, who came to Texas at an early day. 
 Her mother was the first white child born 
 in the Boone reservation of Iventucky, and 
 her grandfather was James Harrod, the 
 founder of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, and a 
 prominent and wealthy citizen of that state. 
 To Mr. and Mrs. Condron were born ten 
 children, of whom four died in childhood. 
 The others are Harrod and Albert O., of 
 Williamson county: Mary E. , deceased wife 
 of John V. Martin; D. L., wife of A. Hicks, 
 a farmer; Pearl, at home; and Roy E. The 
 mother, who was a consistent member of 
 the Methodist church, died in 1884. On 
 the 19th of July, 1885, Mr. Condron mar- 
 ried Miss Henrietta F. Bell, who was born 
 in Arkansas, June 9, 1852, a daughter of R. 
 and Susanna (Grounds) Bell, of English 
 descent. Her parents came to Texas in 
 1855, locating in Lavaca county, where the 
 father carried on farming and stock-raising 
 until his death, July 2$, 1863. He and his 
 wife were members of the Methodist church, 
 and their children were Mrs. Condron, Mary 
 A. , Annis B. , John R. , Araminta D. , Dosha 
 and Archie G. Our subject and his wife 
 have four children, — Birney C, Euel D., 
 Emma T. and Ammor. The parents arc 
 consistent members of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal church, and Mr. Condron is a Master 
 
 Mason. His political support is given the 
 Democracy, but he has never sought or de- 
 sired office. 
 
 HARON H. ALLARD.— In the gen- 
 tleman to a review of whose life 
 the biographer would now invite 
 attention is found a native son of 
 the Lone Star state and a representative 
 farmer of Erath county. In a frontier home 
 in Hopkins county, Texas, February 7, 
 1856, he first saw the light of day, his par- 
 ents and grandparents being pioneers of this 
 state; and before passing on to a sketch 
 of his life we wish to refer briefly to his 
 parentage. 
 
 James Burleson Allard, his father, was a 
 son of Aaron Allard, the former a native of 
 Missouri and the latter of Kentucky. About 
 1850 the Allard family emigrated to Texas 
 and located in Hopkins county, where the 
 grandfather of our subject improved a farm 
 and passed the rest of his life, dying in 1866. 
 He was a man of considerable prominence 
 in his day, owned slaves and carried on 
 farming extensively. Religiously he was a 
 Primitive Baptist. His son, James Burle- 
 son, was eighteen years old at the time they 
 came to this state; and about that time 
 or prior to it there settled in Hopkins county 
 a family by the name of Hamilton, from 
 Tennessee. A pleasant acquaintance soon 
 sprang up between these two families, re- 
 sulting a few years later in the marriage of 
 James B. Allard and Miss Amanda E. Ham- 
 ilton. The young couple settled down on 
 a farm in that county and remained there 
 until 1858, when they sought to better their 
 condition by a removal to Erath county, 
 where they figured as pioneers and where 
 he turned his attention to the cattle busi- 
 
354 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 iiess. He brought with him a drove of 
 cattle, bought more after his arrival, and 
 was soon established in a successful busi- 
 ness, having for a partner Mr. E. Cox, who 
 was subsequently killed by the Indians. 
 About i860 the Indians began to be trouble- 
 some, and for ten years thereafter gave the 
 cattle-men and people on the frontier almost 
 constant annoyance. Mr. Allard had great 
 difficulty with them. He was in numerous 
 raids after the intruders and in some battles 
 with them, and, besides having much of his 
 stock stolen and driven off, he suffered the 
 great loss of his partner. Mr. Co.x's death is 
 referred to elsewhere in this volume. His heirs 
 sold their interest in the cattle to Mr. Allard, 
 who continued in the business until after the 
 close of the war, when he disposed of his 
 stock. After this he went to Johnson coun- 
 ty, bought land and settled down to farming, 
 remaining there some years and then selling 
 out. His next move was to Granbury, Hood 
 county, where he invested in both town and 
 farm property. He is still living and now a 
 resident of Cleburne, retired from active 
 business life. He and his wife are members 
 of the Methodist church. Of their family, 
 five sons and one daughter, we make record 
 as follows: Sarah is the wife of W. R. 
 Robinson, a prominent farmer of Erath 
 county; John is a farmer of Johnson county; 
 Aaron H. is the subject of this sketch; 
 James, Edward M. and Price are residents 
 of Cleburne. 
 
 Aaron H. Allard was only two years old 
 at the time he was brought by his parents to 
 Erath county. As soon as he was large 
 enough he was put into the saddle and sent 
 out to assist in the care of his father's cattle, 
 and he made himself useful in this way as 
 long as his father was in the business. After 
 their removal to Johnson county he helped 
 
 with the work on the farm. When he 
 started out in life on his own responsibility 
 he returned to the cattle business and fol- 
 lowed it for some years longer. He married 
 in 1880 and about that time bought a farm, 
 on which he spent the next four years. 
 From farming he turned to freighting, 
 having Granbury for his headquarters and 
 being thus occupied three years. His next 
 venture was to California; but after an 
 absence of about six months he returned to 
 his family in Texas and again resumed farm- 
 ing here. A year later he bought a small 
 tract of timber land, where he has since 
 resided. To this he has added by subsequent 
 purchase until he now has two hundred 
 acres, sixty of which are under cultivation. 
 He has a comfortable frame residence and 
 is nicely situated. In 1894 he built a steam 
 gin and mill, which he has since operated. 
 During the past season he ginned over six 
 hundred bales of cotton. The mill he runs 
 only at stated times, one day out of every 
 week the year round. Some time ago he 
 owned and ran a thresher. He has been 
 fairly prosperous in his various undertakings, 
 and the success to which he has attained is 
 due wholly to his own efforts. 
 
 Mrs. Allard, ncc Paralu Austin, is a na- 
 tive of Tennessee and was born in May, 
 1862, her parents being J. D. and Mary 
 Austin. The Austin family came to Texas 
 about 1876 and after one or two moves set- 
 tled in Johnson county. In 1881 Mr. Austin 
 moved to his present home in Erath county. 
 He is the father of ten children, — one son. 
 Dee, by his first wife, and the following by 
 his second marriage: Mary J., Alice, Paralu, 
 Ellen, Newton, James, Lew, Hermon and 
 Sterling. Mr. and Mrs. Allard have seven 
 children: Docia, Ina, John, Doss, Bena, 
 Harvey and Ruth — all at home. 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 Mr. Allard was formerly a Democrat, 
 but like many of the most intelligent men of 
 his community he is a believer in the prin- 
 ciples held by the Populists and has left the 
 old party and given his support to one he 
 believes to be better. But he is not a poli- 
 tician, nor has he ever sought official honors. 
 He and his wife are members of the Primi- 
 tive Baptist church. 
 
 m. 
 
 'ILLIAM D. COX.— Among the 
 prominent and progressive farm- 
 ers of central Te.xas there prob- 
 ably are none more worthy of 
 honorable mention in a work of this char- 
 acter than the above named gentleman, 
 William D. Cox, e.x-sheriff of Comanche 
 county. 
 
 Mr. Cox is a native of Tennessee, born 
 in Roane county, October 15, 1839. His 
 parents, Samson and Elizabeth ( Driscol ) 
 Cox, were both of Virginia birth and de- 
 scended from old and influential families of 
 the early colonial days. The progeny of 
 this worthy couple numbered eleven, and 
 their fifth in order of birth was William D. 
 The latter was reared to farm life and 
 enjoyed excellent educational advantages. 
 At the age of seventeen he entered upon a 
 collegiate course and earnestly pursued his 
 studies. In 1858 he began teaching, which 
 he followed for some years; and it may 
 further be stated here that he has always 
 taken a deep interest in educational matters, 
 has been influential as a local educator, ancf 
 is still interested in the welfare of the 
 schools of his community. 
 
 In 1862 he enlisted in the Fifty-ninth 
 Tennessee Regiment of Infantry, as a pri- 
 vate soldier, but soon was promoted to the 
 rank of commissioned officer, and at the 
 
 close of the war was lieutenant in Company 
 H, Fifty-ninth Regiment. All his service in 
 the many engagements in which he partici- 
 pated was characterized by true bravery, and 
 although he fought for a cause that was lost 
 he came home from the army with a record 
 in which he has every reason to take a just 
 pride. 
 
 Mr. Cox remained in Tennessee until 1 872. 
 That year he landed in Texas and took up 
 his abode in Robertson county, where he re- 
 sided about four years, teaching school 
 meanwhile. He came to Comanche county 
 in 1876 and for twenty years has had his 
 abiding place in this county. He now re- 
 sides on his farm some ten miles west of the 
 city of Comanche, and near Sidney, his 
 post-office address. At one time he was the 
 owner of a large landed estate, but at this 
 writing his holdings comprise only 100 acres, 
 thirty-five of which are under cultivation, 
 well stocked and improved. He has about 
 an acre in orchard and vineyard, his orchard 
 comprising a variety of fruits, among which 
 are peach, plum and apricot. 
 
 Mr. Cox has been twice married. His 
 first marriage was consummated in Tennes- 
 see in 1862 with Miss Elizabeth Shugart, a 
 native of that state. She died some years 
 later, leaving a family of six children, 
 namely: William D., John S., James L. , 
 Leila, now the wife of Y. G. Parker, Ed- 
 ward S. and J. Fred. Also she had two 
 children whose death preceded hers, and one 
 who has died since. For his second wife 
 Mr. Cox wedded, September 28, 1886, Mrs. 
 Martha A. Langston, ncc White, a most esti- 
 mable lady who still presides over his home. 
 The present Mrs. Cox is a native of Mis- 
 souri, and by her former marriage has five 
 children, viz.: William C, Mollie F,, wife 
 of J. C. Ross, Jessie, Wilson and Thomas W. 
 
356 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 The family are consistent members of the 
 Methodist Episcopal church. 
 
 Prior to his removal to Texas the subject 
 of our sketch was honored with official pref- 
 erence, and served efficiently in some local 
 positions of prominence, in McMinn county, 
 Tennessee. In 18S2 he was elected sheriff 
 of Comanche county and filled the office one 
 term. Also he served two years as deputy 
 in the same office, under J. W. Cunning- 
 ham, sheriff. His political affiliations have 
 always been with the Democratic party, of 
 which he is a stanch member. Socially, he 
 is identified with the Masonic order. 
 
 * m ^ ENRY HUNT, one of the progress- 
 I'^^V ive and prosperous farmers of 
 %^ . * Erath county, is a self-made man 
 to whom success has come as the 
 reward of earnest labor, energy and inde- 
 fatigable resolution. He has truly been the 
 architect of his own fortune and has builded 
 wisely and well. It is a matter of commen- 
 dation when a native American overcomes 
 adverse surroundings and difficulties and 
 work his way upward; but the man of for- 
 eign birth who follows such a course has 
 still more to contend with and therefore de- 
 serves still greater credit. The habits and 
 customs and ofttimes the language also are 
 unknown to him when he sails across the At- 
 lantic to the new world. To his altered con- 
 ditions and surroundings he adjusts himself 
 and then begins the arduous task of compet- 
 ing with those around him and win success 
 by sheer effort and good management. 
 
 Mr. Hunt was born in the province of 
 Sa.xony, Germany, March 2, 1851, and is a 
 son of Henry and Mary Catherine (Stoltze) 
 Hunt, who were born in the province of 
 Louinger. The father, a baker by trade, 
 
 was a son of Joseph Hunt, an extensive mil- 
 ler and baker, who spent his entire life in 
 the fatherland. In 1869 Henry Hunt, with 
 his wife and six children, took passage on a 
 sailing vessel at Bremen and after a voyage 
 of eleven weeks landed at New York. He 
 took up his residence at Fort Madison, Iowa, 
 where he was employed in the lumber mills 
 for two years, and then removed to St. 
 Louis, Missouri, where he was connected 
 with a sugar house until his death, which 
 occurred in December, 1871, at the age of 
 forty-four years. In the family were the 
 following named: Henry, of this review; 
 John A., of Fort Madison, Iowa; Rev. 
 Charles F. , pastor of St. Mary's Catholic 
 church of Keokuk, Iowa; William, of Fort 
 Madison; Frank, who died at the age of five 
 years; and Harmon V., who is also living in 
 Fort Madison. The mother also makes her 
 home in that city. After the death of Mr. 
 Hunt she married a Mr. Wadinger, who died 
 two years later, and subsequently she be- 
 came the wife of Anton Bigner, who is also 
 deceased. 
 
 In his native land Mr. Hunt, of this 
 sketch, attended the common schools until 
 fourteen years of age, when he was appren- 
 ticed tothelocksmith'strade, servinga three- 
 years term, during which time he supple- 
 mented his educational training by an at- 
 tendance on the night schools. He was a 
 young man of seventeen when he arrived in 
 America. He workedatblacksmithing dur- 
 ing the residence of the family in Fort 
 "Madison, Iowa, and after their removal to 
 St. Louis he and his brother engaged in the 
 coopering business for a number of years. 
 
 On the 14th of April, 1874, was cele- 
 brated the marriage of Mr. Hunt and Miss 
 Mary Hillenbrand, a native of Philadelphia, 
 Pennsylvania, and daughter of Carl and 
 
HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 357 
 
 Louisa (Singer) Hillenbrand. The former 
 was a native of Baden, Germany, and his 
 father was a prominent and wealthy citizen 
 of that country. When Carl Hillenbrand 
 was a young man he came to America, tak- 
 ing uphis residence in Philadelphia. Later he 
 returned to his native land and when he 
 again came to the United States brought 
 with him his affianced bride and they were 
 married in Philadelphia. He engaged in 
 the hotel business for a number of years and 
 in 1856 emigrated to St. Louis, where he 
 embarked in the butchering business, which 
 he carried on until his death. He passed 
 away September 7, 1892, at the age of 
 sixty-two years, but his wife is still living, 
 in St. Louis. Both were consistent mem- 
 bers of the Catholic church and reared their 
 children in that faith. They had seven chil- 
 dren, four of whom are still living, namely: 
 Mrs. Hunt; Lizzie; Emma; and Rosa, wife 
 of C. J. Stolle, of St. Louis. 
 
 In 1877 Mr. Hunt came to Texas, locat- 
 ing first in Grimes county, where he was 
 initiated into the mysteries of farming. Never 
 before had he engaged in agricultural pur- 
 suits, but he possessed a retentive memory 
 and observing eye, noted what others did, 
 profited by their experiences and by his in- 
 defatigable industry has won success. He 
 rented land the first season and on the ist 
 of December, 1877, came to Erath county, 
 where he rented land of D. L. Thornton, on 
 Barton's creek. He raised good crops and 
 thus got a start. He thus rented land for 
 four years, and in 1881, in company with 
 his brother William, he purchased three 
 hundred and twenty acres of wild land, on 
 which he built a log cabin. When prepara- 
 tions for a home were completed he turned 
 his attention to the work of clearing and de- 
 veloping the place and now has seventy-five 
 
 acres under a high state of cultivation, while 
 all the improvements and accessories of the 
 model farm of the nineteenth century add to 
 the value and attractive appearance of the 
 place. In the spring of 1887 he erected his 
 present residence, a two-story frame dwell- 
 ing, fourteen by thirty-four feet, with an L 
 twenty by twelve feet. The house is sur- 
 rounded by a beautiful lawn, which is en- 
 closed by a well kept fence, and the appear- 
 ance of the place well indicates the careful 
 supervision of the owner. 
 
 The home of Mr. and Mrs. Hunt is 
 brightened by the presence of seven children, 
 as follows: Lillie, Charles, May, Rosa, 
 Louis, Hermann and Joseph. The parents 
 and eldest daughter are members of the 
 Catholic church, and contribute liberally to 
 its support. The eldest daughter, Lillie, 
 completed her education at the Academy of 
 the Sacred Heart, Waco, Texas, in the year 
 1891-2. In politics Mr. Hunt is independ- 
 ent. He has neither time nor inclination for 
 public office, preferring to devote his ener- 
 gies to his business pursuits, in which he is 
 meeting with signal success. 
 
 aOLUMBUS LOUTHERBACK is a 
 leading and enterprising farmer of 
 Bosque county. Like hundreds of 
 that class to whose efforts the state 
 of Texas owes so much for its development 
 and prosperity, the subject of this history 
 came to this section of the country armed 
 only with his strong hands and willing heart 
 and the elements of a character which de- 
 scended to him from a line of honorable 
 ancestry, conspicuous chiefly for its industry 
 and energy. 
 
 Mr. Loutherback is a native of the 
 Buckeye state, born in Scioto county, on 
 
358 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 the 23d of March, 1843, and was the fourth 
 in the family of eight children born to Sam- 
 uel and Elizabeth (McCall) Loutherback, 
 who were also natives of Ohio, and both are 
 now deceased, the father dying in 1846 and 
 the mother in 1867. Until he was twenty- 
 two years of age our subject followed farm- 
 ing, and then for many years was employed 
 in iron furnaces. In Scioto county he was 
 reared and educated. He spent eleven 
 years in Missouri before coming to Texas in 
 1879, at which time he located near Tur- 
 nersville in Coryell county, where he engaged 
 in agricultural pursuits for seven years, and 
 for the past eight years has resided in 
 Bosque county. At this writing he is lo- 
 cated on the farm of P. A. Noland, nine 
 miles south of Clifton, where he cultivates 
 one hundred and fifty acres of land, and is 
 one of the model farmers of this section. 
 He also handles stock, buying and selling 
 on the markets. 
 
 In Ohio was consummated the marriage 
 of Mr. Loutherback and Miss Narcissa Tur- 
 ner, of that state, and they have become 
 the parents of thirteen children, named as 
 follows: Ellen, Cora, Minnie, Samuel, 
 Charles R., Lillia A., Mary, Edward, Da- 
 vid, Jessie, Philip, Narcissa, and one 
 daughter deceased. The family are con- 
 sistent members of the Baptist church. Mr. 
 Loutherback takes no active interest in po- 
 litical matters, and belongs to no secret so- 
 cieties, his entire time and attention being 
 devoted to his agricultural pursuits. How- 
 ever, he takes a commendable interest in 
 educational affairs, and for several years 
 has served as a school trustee. He served 
 twenty-three months in the rebellion, enlist- 
 ing in August, 1863, and was discharged in 
 July, 1865. He was in the battles of Cedar 
 creek, Bolivar Heights, the Lynchburg raid, 
 
 and several other fights. He served under 
 Generals Crook, Sheridan and Hunter, be- 
 longing to the Fifth Virginia Veteran 
 Infantry. 
 
 at 
 
 S. ETHRIDGE. — Success in 
 any lineof occupation, in any ave- 
 nue of business, is not a matter 
 of spontaneity, but is the legiti- 
 mate offspring of subjective effort in the 
 proper utilization of the means at hand, the 
 improvement of opportunity and the exer- 
 cise of the highest functions made possible 
 by the specific ability in any case. In view 
 of this condition the study of biography be- 
 comes valuable and its lessons of practical 
 use. To trace the history of a successful 
 life must ever prove a profitable and sat- 
 isfying indulgence, for the history of the in- 
 dividual is the history of the nation and the 
 history of the nation is the history of the 
 world. The subject of this review is a man 
 to whom has not been denied a full measure 
 of success, who stands distinctively as one 
 of the representative men of Palu.xy and has 
 been a conspicuous figure in the commercial 
 history of Hood county. It is therefore with 
 gratification that we enter upon the task of 
 preparing for his fellow townsmen and those 
 who know him an adequate record of his 
 career. 
 
 A native of Tennessee, Mr. Ethridge 
 was born in Carroll county, on the 2d day 
 of August, 1837, and is a son of J. J. and 
 Patience (Rochell) Ethridge, who removed 
 from North Carolina to Tennessee in an 
 early day. During the infancy of our sub- 
 ject his parents went to Gibson county, 
 Tennessee, where he was reared on a farm. 
 His educational advantages were limited, 
 but his training at farm labor was not 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 359 
 
 meager. In 1853 the family removed to 
 Missouri, locating in Newton county, and in 
 1855 W. S. Ethridge started out in life on 
 his own responsibility, following various oc- 
 cupations until 1 86 1, when he came to 
 Texas, locating in Cooke county. Soon 
 afterward he entered the Confederate army 
 as a member of General Henry McCullough's 
 brigade and served principally on the fron- 
 tier in Texas and Indian Territory. He 
 was thus engaged until the close of the war, 
 when he went to Gainesville, Texas. There 
 he engaged in farming and stock-raising for 
 two years, when he returned to Missouri, 
 spending the succeeding two years in that 
 state and Tennessee. In the fall of 1870 
 he came to Hood county. 
 
 Upon his arrival in Paluxy Mr. Ethridge 
 established a large general mercantile store 
 and for twenty-five years has successfully 
 conducted business here. He carries a stock 
 valued at five thousand dollars, and his 
 goods are well assorted to meet the popular 
 demand. He is courteous in his treatment 
 of his patrons, thoroughly reliable and hon- 
 orable in all transactions and as a result has 
 a large and constantly increasing trade. In 
 connection with his mercantile pursuits he is 
 also extensively engaged in farming. He owns 
 a landed estate of four hundred and fifteen 
 acres in Somervell county and two hundred 
 acres in Hood county, and two hundred and 
 fifty acres of this property is under a hihg 
 state of cultivation and yields to the owner 
 a fair tribute. 
 
 Mr. Ethridge has been twice married. 
 On the 9th of January, 1859, he was joined 
 in wedlock with Emeline Rutledge, and to 
 them were born two children: John H., 
 who was born November 29, 1861, in the 
 Chickasaw Nation, while his parents were 
 on the way to Texas; and Laura, who was 
 
 born in this state in 1863. Mr. Ethridge 
 was again married April 12, 1871, his second 
 union being with Mrs. Maggie Day, a daugh- 
 ter of John Meek, a most prominent and 
 honored citizen. Four children grace this 
 marriage, namely: Eula, Maud, wife of 
 R. C. Mulky, of Hood county, Luther and 
 Lillie. 
 
 Mr. Ethridge was first appointed post- 
 master under Grant's administration, be- 
 coming the first postmaster of the town, 
 and with the exception of about five years 
 has continuously held the office, discharging 
 his duties with a commendable fidelity that 
 has won him high commendation. He affil- 
 iates with the Democratic party and his wife 
 is a member of the Christian church. He 
 is a self-made man and his career is one of 
 usefulness, of honor and success. Such a 
 life is well worthy of perpetuation in the 
 history of his adopted county and it is there- 
 fore with pleasure that we present his record 
 to our readers. 
 
 >Y*OHN ALEXANDER FORM WALT, 
 f justice of the peace at Granbury and 
 /» J an honored pioneer of Hood county, 
 was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, 
 April 22, 1820, and was the second son of 
 Jacob and Rebecca (Troup) Formwalt. His 
 great-grandparents, who were among the 
 first settlers of Knoxville, founded the fam- 
 ily in Tennessee. They were of German 
 birth and from the fatherland came to 
 America in colonial days. His father, Jacob 
 Formwalt, was a native of Virginia and a 
 soldier of the war of 1812; and his mother, 
 Rebecca Troup Formwalt, was born in 
 Georgia. They were married in Huntsville, 
 Alabama, about 18 16. Two sons — William, 
 deceased, and John A. — were the fruits of 
 
3G0 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 this marriage. Not long after their mar- 
 riage the parents removed to Knoxville, and 
 thence to Jackson, Tennessee, being num- 
 bered among the first settlers there. In 
 1S26 they went to Florence, Alabama, and 
 two years later to Pulaski, Tennessee, where 
 in the subscription schools John A. received 
 his primary education, therein pursuing his 
 studies until twelve years of age. At the 
 age of eighteen he pursued a one-term course 
 in a private school, which was taught by an 
 Englishman in the mountains of Alabama. 
 
 In 1840 young Formwalt made his first 
 visit to Texas, arriving in Red River county 
 in November. He remained in the Lone 
 Star state for six months and then returned 
 to Tennessee, having made the trip on horse- 
 back. In 1843 he located in Pontotoc 
 county, Mississippi, where for a few years 
 he engaged as clerk and bookkeeper for a 
 mercantile firm, but when his abilities and 
 reliable character came to be recognized he 
 was elected to the office of county clerk, 
 which position he filled from 1847 until fail- 
 ing health rendered it necessary for him to 
 seek a change of climate. This was in 
 1849, when the California gold excitement 
 was intense; and in company with others he 
 journeyed to the Pacific slope, where for 
 nearly two years he was engaged in mining 
 with gratifying results. In 1850 he returned 
 to his home in Mississippi, and a year later, 
 selling out his interests there, he emigrated 
 to east Texas, making the trip with ox- 
 teams and reaching his destination after 
 three months of travel. Locating in Ander- 
 son county, he purchased and operated a 
 farm for two years and then removed to 
 Palestine in that county, where he em- 
 barked in merchandising. He was also ap- 
 pointed postmaster, serving in that capacity 
 for three years, when, selling out his busi- 
 
 ness, he also gave up the office and resumed 
 farming. In 1856 he became a resident of 
 West Point, Freestone county, and in 1859 
 went to his present location, then a part of 
 Johnson county. Here he purchased a 
 section of land near Thorp Spring and has 
 ever since been one of the most prominent 
 farmers and stock-raisers of this locality, 
 also one of the most important men in mat- 
 ters of influence in the development of the 
 best interests of Hood county. In the affairs 
 which have had for their object the general 
 welfare, he has taken an active part and is 
 recognized as a wide-awake, progressive and 
 valued citizen. 
 
 In politics Major Formwalt is a Demo- 
 crat, though he has never been a politician. 
 He was first appointed to his present office 
 of justice of the peace to fill a vacancy and 
 has subsequently been three times elected 
 thereto. For half a century he has been a 
 Master Mason in good standing, and in re- 
 ligious belief he is a Presbyterian. He has 
 always liberally contributed of his means to 
 educational interests, and school, church 
 and social interests find in him a friend. 
 
 Mr. Formwalt has been twice married, 
 first at Pontotoc, Mississippi, in December, 
 1845, to Miss Cortney Lane McEwen, 
 daughter of Colonel D. K. McEwen. By 
 this union he became the father of seven 
 children, namely: William, John, Charles, 
 Hood, Ada, Sam and Helen, — all save Sam 
 still living and respected citizens of Texas. 
 The mother of this family died in 1880, and 
 on December 25, 1882, Mr. Formwalt mar- 
 ried Mrs. Burdett, widow of John Burdett 
 and daughter of Judge Jowers, of Palestine, 
 Texas. 
 
 Major Formwalt is tall and graceful in 
 his bearing and though of German origin 
 his diction is perfectly free from any foreign 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 361 
 
 accent, and is of the best type of the south- 
 ern English. In character, spotless; in can- 
 dor, courage and generosity, civilian of the 
 soldier type, his tendencies having been to- 
 ward a military life. At the time of his 
 first settlement in his present locality it was 
 a very sparsely settled frontier community, 
 subjected to depredations of marauding bands 
 of fierce and thieving Indians, who inhab- 
 ited the unsettled parts of Texas on the Up- 
 per Brazos. Mr. Formwalt was always a 
 leader and among the foremost to organize 
 the citizen militia into pursuing and chastis- 
 ing parties, which he led far into the haunts 
 of the savages. These first crude experien- 
 ces of a militia man were, at the breaking 
 out of the civil war, to find a more expan- 
 sive field and his military genius and ambi- 
 tion were to find scope. In October, 1861, 
 as a true-born southerner, he enlisted as a 
 private in Captain William Shannon's com- 
 pany to serve in the Confederate army, but 
 in the following spring Colonel A. Nelson, 
 to whom this company reported, well dis- 
 cerning in the modest private qualities fit- 
 ting him for command, sent Formwalt to 
 the Brazos settlements to raise a company, 
 which was soon accomplished. Mr. Form- 
 wait was elected its captain, and he imme- 
 diately reported to, and his company was or- 
 ganized into. Colonel Nelson's Tenth Regi- 
 ment of Texas Infantry. This noted regi- 
 ment, upon the promotion of Colonel Nelson, 
 was subsequently commanded by Colonel 
 Roger Q. Mills, and Major Formwalt partici- 
 pated in all the many desperate battles in 
 which his command took part. He was cap- 
 tured January 11,1 862, at Arkansas Post, and 
 suffered imprisonment at Columbus, Ohio, for 
 five months, when he was exchanged. His 
 service thereafter was in the Army of the 
 Tennessee. At the battle of Franklin, Ten- 
 
 nessee, in the assault led by those heroic 
 generals, Pat Cleburne and H. B. Gran- 
 bury, Formwalt, as senior captain, led his 
 regiment to the charge and fell, severely 
 wounded, being one among many other 
 heroes whose blood mingled to enrich the 
 soil of that sanguinary field. He was after- 
 ward promoted to the rank of major. 
 
 Not long after this the war terminated 
 and Major Formwalt returned to his home 
 in western Texas to find that his brave wife 
 with her little ones had by the farm and the 
 loom managed to clothe themselves, although 
 they suffered many hardships and dangers 
 known only to those who were within 
 the territory so frequently invaded by the 
 Indians. Much of his property was wasted 
 and gone, but, with spirit yet undaunted, 
 with his usual energy he resumed the labors 
 of the civilian and soon again became pros- 
 perous in husbandry. A few years later he 
 embarked in a mercantile business at Gran- 
 bury, but his kindly nature was in the way 
 of success, and after a few years' experience 
 in this line he again retired to the farm 
 much crippled in fortune. 
 
 Though spending his later years in judi- 
 cial office, the military title of Major is far 
 more fitting to Mr. Formwalt than that of 
 Judge, for, possessing the bluntness and 
 courage of the Scottish chief, he combines 
 with it the grace and courtesy of the most 
 faithful Christian gentleman. Deeply im- 
 bued with sentiments of patriotic devotion 
 to his country, had his life been spent under 
 favoring circumstances, honor and glory 
 might alike have attached to his name and 
 fixed it well upon the pages of his country's 
 history; but as the fatality of events have 
 decreed he is now serving his neighbors in 
 the humble office of magistrate at the age 
 of seventy-six years, but with buoyant step 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS 
 
 and figure erect appears not to exceed 
 sixty. It has already been fitly written: 
 
 "The march of the soldier is ending; 
 
 On the hilltops over the river 
 The campfire lights are ascending 
 
 To our God, the merciful giver, 
 Where comrades assembling in glory 
 
 At the heavenly gates are waiting; 
 While mortals in song and in story, 
 
 Their valorous deeds are relating." 
 
 at 
 
 C. BISHOP.— About the middle 
 of the present century, when emi- 
 gration from the older states of 
 the Union began to pour into the 
 new state of Texas, there landed in Karnes 
 county a young man, ambitious and enter- 
 prising and determined to make his mark in 
 the world. He had been a stage driver at 
 his old home in Tennessee. Here for a time 
 he followed the same business, then turned 
 from staging to stock-raising, and from that 
 to farming; and as the years passed by Dame 
 Fortune smiled upon his efforts and re- 
 warded him with success that is granted 
 to but few. Now in these years which 
 mark the close of the century, we find this 
 same young man, W. C. Bishop, known 
 throughout the country as Colonel Bishop, 
 one of the largest landholders and wealth- 
 iest men of Erath county. The history of 
 such men as he is both interesting and 
 instructive, and it is with a feeling of satis- 
 faction that the biographer turns to a re- 
 view of his life. 
 
 W. C. Bishop was born in Hawkins 
 county, Tennessee, November 28, 1826, 
 son of Samuel and Anna (Carter) Bishop, 
 natives of Tennessee and Alabama respect- 
 ively. Samuel Bishop was a son of Joseph 
 Bishop, one of the early pioneers of Ten- 
 nessee, and both father and son followed 
 
 agricultural pursuits and figured prominently 
 in the community where they resided. 
 Samuel Bishop served under Jackson in the 
 Creek Indian war. He died in Tennessee, 
 in 1865, and his wife passed away in that 
 state the following year. Both were mem- 
 bers of the Missionary Baptist church. 
 Eight children constituted his family, by 
 his two wives, their names in order of birth 
 being as follows: Gartny, Mason, Richard 
 and Samuel, by his first marriage; and by 
 the second marriage, W. C, whose name 
 heads this article; Robert, who came to 
 Texas with W. C. in 1849, settled in 
 Karnes county, and died there some years 
 later; Mary, wife of C. G. Gillett; and 
 Elizabeth, wife of Peter Poindexter, of 
 Tennessee. 
 
 Colonel Bishop was reared on his fa- 
 ther's farm. He attended the common 
 schools of the district and spent his youth- 
 ful days not unlike other boys of Tennes- 
 see. In 1846, at the age of twenty years, 
 he married and began life on his own re- 
 sponsibility, farming first and then beginning 
 his career as a stage driver. In 1854 he 
 came to Texas and located on the San An- 
 tonio river in Karnes county. Here he 
 drove stage for several years, and had many 
 unique and exciting experiences incident to 
 life in a new country, and formed many 
 pleasant acquaintances among the traveling 
 public of that day. Soon after coming to 
 Texas he made investments in cattle, and 
 when he quit staging it was to give his 
 whole attention to the cattle business, in 
 which he was largely engaged in Karnes 
 county until 1873, when he sold out and 
 came to his present location in Erath counts'. 
 Here he bought a tract of land with small 
 improvements thereon, and in this county 
 continued the stock business on a large 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 scale and also carried on farming operations. 
 Gradually he disposed of his stock and 
 turned his attention more particularly to his 
 farm and its improvement until of recent 
 years he keeps only enough stock for the 
 support of his farm. The Colonel and his 
 son now own one thousand acres in one 
 body, a magnificent tract unsurpassed by 
 any land in Erath county, and the Bishop 
 homestead is one of the best improved and 
 finest country places in all the country 
 round. The residence is a commodious and 
 attractive one. The barn and outbuildings 
 are first-class in every respect, and every- 
 thing about this delightful home gives evi- 
 dence of culture and refinement as well as 
 wealth. The Colonel now has most of his 
 land rented. 
 
 To that page which tells more particu- 
 larly about his domestic life would we now 
 turn. Colonel Bishop has been married 
 three times. His first wife, ncc Uizzie 
 Johnson, whom he wedded in Tennessee in 
 1846, was a daughter of Thomas Johnson, 
 of that state. Mr. Johnson was a respected 
 farmer of Tennessee, and passed his life and 
 died there. Mrs. Lizzie Bishop accom- 
 panied her husband to Texas and shared his 
 frontier life until 1857, when she was called 
 to her last home. She left two children, 
 viz. : James A. , now a cattle man of Presidio 
 county, Texas; and John B., a farmer of 
 Erath county. In 1858 our subject married 
 Miss L. J. Humphreys, daughter of James 
 Humphreys, who had come to Texas from 
 Louisiana as early as 1833. Mr. Humphreys 
 belonged to Houston's army and at the 
 time of the San Jacinto battle was out as a 
 scout. After the Republic was formed he 
 settled down to farming on the Trinity river, 
 near Liberty, where he passed the rest of 
 his life, and died in i860. This second 
 
 marriage was blessed in the birth of five 
 children, namely: Priscilla, wife of Stephen 
 Spirey, Wilson county, Texas; Ellen, wife 
 of J. W. Spirey, Concho county, Texas; 
 Betty, who became the wife of George Bos- 
 ton, both now deceased; and John H. and 
 James, deceased. The mother of this fam- 
 ily died in 1863. She was a member of the 
 Methodist church. The Colonel's marriage 
 to this third and present wife was consum- 
 mated in 1882. Mrs. Bishop, whose maiden 
 name was Miss Maggie Stipe, is a daughter 
 of James Stipe, a Tennesseean who moved 
 with his family to Missouri. In Missouri 
 both Mr. and Mrs. Stipe died, and after 
 their death their children all came to Texas. 
 Mrs. Bishop has given birth to two children, 
 Annie and Richard. 
 
 While Colonel Bishop's life has in many 
 respects been a remarkably successful one, 
 he has like other men met with reverses. 
 About 1880 he furnished capital for a mer- 
 chandise business at Alexander, an enter- 
 prise that promised most flattering results, 
 but which in a few years cost him no less 
 than fifteen thousand dollars. That expe- 
 rience satisfied him with mercantile busi- 
 ness. Also, during the war he suffered 
 heavy loss from theft of cattle, and at the 
 close of the war was unfortunate in having 
 on hand no small amount of Confederate 
 money. He was a Union man all through 
 those dark days of civil war, but " stuck to 
 his country," as a true patriot would. He 
 was detailed on the supply force, and in that 
 capacity rendered good service. 
 
 At the time our subject came to Erath 
 county he was the wealthiest and most 
 extensive cattle dealer here; and his large 
 wealth, together with his generous and 
 public-spirited nature and commanding per- 
 sonal appearance, soon brought him into 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 prominence and he was dubbed " Colonel," 
 a title that has clung to him ever since. 
 
 In his political views, Colonel Bishop 
 has always harmonized with the Democratic 
 party, and has given it his stanch support, 
 but has never aspired to official preferment. 
 Socially, he is identified with the Masonic 
 order. Both he and his wife are members 
 of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
 
 >»j*OSEPH REEVES. —Among the 
 ■ prominent and respected pioneers of 
 /• 1 the Lone Star state none perhaps 
 are more worthy of honorable men- 
 tion in a work of this character than he 
 whose name heads this brief notice. He is 
 fast nearing the eightieth milestone on life's 
 journey and his pilgrimage has been one 
 that shows forth many examples worthy of 
 emulation. He has lived through every 
 presidential administration of this nation 
 since the opening year of Monroe's incum- 
 bency as chief executive, and in the various 
 communities in which he has resided he has 
 been prominent in promoting those affairs 
 which advance the general prosperity and 
 engender the public good. To-day he is 
 given the esteem and reverence which should 
 always accompany old age, and is accounted 
 one of the most valued citizens of Brown 
 county. 
 
 Mr. Reeves was born in Walton county, 
 Georgia, October 6, 1817, and was educated 
 and reared in the state of his nativity until 
 seventeen years of age, when he accom- 
 panied his parents on their removal to 
 southern Alabama, where they remained for 
 nine years. On the expiration of that 
 period he returned to Georgia. His parents 
 were Jonathan and Batany (Mayfield) 
 Reeves. His father was born in South 
 
 Carolina, in 1788, and was of Irish extrac- 
 tion, the original American ancestors having 
 come to this country in the early days when 
 America was a province of Great Britain: he 
 died in 1844. Mrs. Reeves was also a na- 
 tive of South Carolina, born in 1793, while 
 her death occurred October 22, 1854. Her 
 husband survived her several years and 
 passed away June 30, i860. Their family 
 numbered eight children, the subject of this 
 review being the fourth in order of birth. 
 
 Joseph Reeves spent the days of his child- 
 hood and youth in the usual manner of 
 farmer lads of that period. He became a 
 resident of Texas in 1854 and for fourteen 
 years made his home in Parker county, af- 
 ter which he went to Comanche county. He 
 now makes his home in Brown county, near 
 the Comanche line, some twelve miles west 
 of the city of Comanche. Here he has re- 
 sided for twenty-two years. His farm prop- 
 erty consists of three hundred and twenty 
 acres of rich land, of which one hundred 
 acres are under a high state of cultivation. 
 He also has a good orchard, substantial barns 
 and outbuildings for the care of stock and 
 poultry and the latest improved machinery. 
 Thus he has made his place one of the 
 model farms of the county, a most desirable 
 property, which yields to him a good income 
 in return for the care and labor that is be- 
 stowed upon it. 
 
 On Christmas day of 1849, while in 
 Georgia, Mr. Reeves was united in marriage 
 to Miss Sarah M. Duke, a native of that 
 state. Their home was made bright and 
 happy by the presence of seven children, 
 namely: Berry, Elijah, Malachiah, Nancy 
 B., wife of John Knuteson, John, Luke and 
 Mark. Their eldest son, Jonathan, died in 
 i860. 
 
 In his political views Mr. Reeves has al- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 365 
 
 ways been a stanch Democrat. For many 
 years he has been associated with the Mis- 
 sionary Baptist church, and in both church 
 and educational interests he has borne his 
 part. For a number of years he served as 
 a member of the school board, and has ever 
 been a public-spirited man deeply interested 
 in the welfare of the community. In 1836 
 he served in the Seminole war in Florida, 
 aiding in subduing the Seminole Indians, one 
 of the hardest tribes to bring under subjec- 
 tion. He is now seventy-nine years of age, 
 but is well preserved both mentally and phys- 
 ically. His family is noted for longevity, 
 and the evening of his life is pleasantly pass- 
 ing in his comfortable home with the loved 
 wife with whom he has so long traveled 
 life's journey. 
 
 t V^"^ M. RUPE, who is now living in 
 I I Brown county, is one of the hon- 
 Z^,^ ored pioneers of Texas, dating his 
 residence in the state from 1839, 
 at which time Texas was an independent re- 
 public. He has, therefore, witnessed all 
 the most important events connected with 
 its history, has seen its progress and ad- 
 vancement and has taken a just pride in its 
 upbuilding. He has always been a resident 
 of the south, his birth having occurred in 
 Jefferson county, Alabama, April 15, 1821. 
 His father, William Rupe, was born in Vir- 
 ginia and was of Irish and German extrac- 
 tion. The grandfather was one of the he- 
 roes of the Revolution who gave his life in 
 the interests of American independence, 
 being killed at the battle of Brandywine. 
 William Rupe was reared in the Old Do- 
 minion and there married Jane Ferguson, a 
 native of the same state and of Scotch-Irish 
 descent. They became the parents of nine 
 
 children, — John, Mary, Nancy, Martha, 
 Elizabeth, Caroline, Matilda, Eliza and one 
 who died in infancy. The father of this 
 family died in Goliad county, Texas, at the 
 age of eighty-four. He made farming and 
 stock-raising his life work, and in politics 
 he was a Democrat. His wife died at the 
 age of eighty-one. She was a member of 
 the Christian church and a most estimable 
 lady. 
 
 In his early youth our subject became 
 familiar with the duties that fall to the lot 
 of the farmer and stock-dealer. He was a 
 young man of eighteen years when he came 
 to Texas, locating in Liberty county, where 
 he remained for a year, then returned to 
 his native state. His next home in Texas 
 was in Gonzales county, and in 1856 to 
 Atascosa county. After four years spent as 
 a stock-dealer in the last named he removed 
 to Goliad county, where he remained for 
 five years, when he went to Refugio county, 
 and seven years later came to Brown county. 
 He was one of the first settlers in this neigh- 
 borhood, the land was wild and there was 
 little prospect of rapid development; in fact 
 it was a typical frontier region. He pur- 
 chased six hundred and twenty acres of 
 land, of which one hundred acres is under 
 cultivation. A modern stone residence, 
 built after the pleasant southern style, is 
 the abode of hospitality. It stands in the 
 midst of well kept grounds, and beyond 
 these are the cultivated fields and good 
 pasture lands, all indicating the careful su- 
 pervision of a thrifty, painstaking owner. 
 
 Mr. Rupe was married in 1847 to Elsa 
 Reed, a native of Tennessee, by whom he 
 had two children, one now living, namely: 
 Cornelia, wife of G. A. Beeman, a prominent 
 merchant and stock- trader of Comanche, 
 Texas. The mother died in 1852 and Mr. 
 
360 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Rupe was afterward married in George- 
 town, Texas, to Mary Strickland, a native 
 of Illinois and a cultured and intelligent 
 lady. They have had four children: Thomas, 
 a successful farmer of Brown county ; Stephen, 
 a stock-dealer; Alice, in Comanche county; 
 and Ella, deceased. 
 
 In his political affiliations Mr. Rupe is a 
 Democrat. He belongs to Hope Lodge, 
 No. 283, of Masons, of Comanche, and is a 
 wide-awake, progressive citizen, active in 
 support of all educational or moral interests 
 or other enterprises which are calculated to 
 promote the general welfare. 
 
 at 
 
 [LLiAM Mcpherson, who is 
 
 engaged in merchandising in 
 Pottsville, Texas, comes of that 
 sturdy Scotch-Irish stock which 
 forms one of the best elements in our 
 American nationality, combining the perse- 
 verance and resoluteness of the former race 
 with the versatility of talent of the latter. 
 These pronounced characteristics seemed to 
 have been inherited by our subject, whose 
 straightforward business career has been 
 crowned with a good measure of success, so 
 that he is now numbered among the sub- 
 stantial citizens of his native count3'. 
 
 His grandparents were Barton and Par- 
 thenia (Hale) McPherson. The former died 
 about 1866, at a very advanced age. The 
 members of his family were Hezekiah, father 
 of our subject, Mary, Elijah, Susanna, 
 Charles, William, Deborah, John, Thomas 
 and Margaret. The first of this family, 
 Hezekiah McPherson, was born in Alabama, 
 August 26, 1809, and was a farmer by occu- 
 pation. He married Malinda Rector, who 
 was born in Tennessee, November 15, 1814. 
 In his political views Mr. McPherson was a 
 
 Democrat, but took no active part in politics, 
 preferring to devote his attention to his agri- 
 cultural duties. He died in Texas, January 
 15, 1878, and his wife passed away in Fan- 
 nin county, this state, April 5, 1895. Their 
 children are as follows: Hardin Deatherage, 
 James Madison, Pcrthena Hale, Barton, 
 Mahala Miller, William, Elizabeth, Mary 
 C. , Amanda Jane, Lucinda and Josephine, 
 twins. All are living with the exception of 
 Hardin D. and Mary C, the former having 
 been killed during the battle of Oak Hill, 
 while serving in the Confederate army during 
 the late war. 
 
 Mr. McPherson, whose name introduces 
 this article, was born in Roane county, 
 Tennessee, May 18, 1848, and with his 
 parents went to Cedar county, Missouri, in 
 1852. They were obliged to leave that 
 state at the time of the civil war, and in 
 July, 1863, with ox teams drove through to 
 Texas. The mother and the six sisters of 
 our subject made this trip and were joined 
 by the father at Cross Hollows, Arkansas. 
 They located in Fannin county, near where 
 the town of Savoy now stands, rented land 
 and there made their home for four years. 
 On the expiration of that period they re- 
 moved to Washington county, Arkansas, 
 after which our subject spent part of his 
 time in that state and the remainder in 
 Texas. In October, 1873, he removed to 
 Collin county, Texas, where he cultivated a 
 rented farm, and in 1875 came to Hamilton 
 county, settling five miles north of Potts- 
 ville. He bought six acres of land in the 
 village, whereon is now located his present 
 home, and also three hundred and eighty 
 acres adjoining his home. Here he first 
 engaged in cattle-dealing and later in sheep- 
 raising, and in both pursuits met with suc- 
 cess. He became connected with the mer- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 cantile interests of Pottsville, July 5, 1889, 
 when he bought out the stock of goods of 
 J. R. Lynn, valued at eight hundred dollars. 
 On the 1st of December, 1S90, he admitted 
 to a partnership in the business his brother, 
 B. McPherson, under the firm name of 
 W. & B. McPherson, and their stock was 
 invoiced at eleven hundred and thirty-four 
 dollars and thirty-six cents. The connection 
 between them continued until January 5, 
 1893, when our subject bought out his 
 brother and has since been sole proprietor. 
 He now carries a stock valued at two 
 thousand dollars, and enjoys a large trade, 
 which is constantly increasing. He has a 
 well appointed store, containing everything 
 found in a first-class establishment of the 
 kind, and the profits from his business yield 
 him a good living. 
 
 On the 20th of October, 1870, was con- 
 summated the marriage of Mr. McPherson 
 and Miss Julia Ann Alexander, daughter of 
 Hamilton Hezekiah and Martha Jane ( Mat- 
 thews) Alexander. The lady was born 
 July 29, 1847, and by her marriage has be- 
 come the mother of seven children, as fol- 
 lows: Armintie Lee, born September 6, 
 1871, was married June 3, 1891, to Erastus 
 Henry Rogers, now of Hamilton county, by 
 whom she has one child, William Maxwell, 
 born September 20, 1893; Samuel Hezekiah, 
 February 7, 1873; Fannie Jane, October 18, 
 1874; Willie Florence, September 18, 1878; 
 and Woodie Belle, born September 22, 1885, 
 are all at home; and the last members of 
 the family, Winsor Barton and Winnie 
 Belle, were born September 16, 1890, twins; 
 the latter died September 5, 1891. 
 
 In his political associations Mr. McPher- 
 son is a Democrat and keeps well informed 
 on all the issues and questions of the day. 
 He served as postmaster from 1889 to 1893, 
 
 discharging his duties with promptness and 
 fidelity. Since 1882 he has been a member 
 of the Primitive Baptist church. His pro- 
 gressive views and his enterprising spirit 
 make him the friend of all movements for the 
 public good, and he is recognized as one of 
 the valued citizens of the community. 
 
 at 
 
 ILLIAM B. HICKS, whose up- 
 right, honorable life commends 
 him to the confidence and respect 
 of all and has won him a host of 
 warm friends, is numbered among the val- 
 ued citizens of Erath county, where he is 
 now engaged in farming and stock-raising. 
 For more than twenty years he has resided 
 in this county and in the work of improve- 
 ment and progress has ever borne his part. 
 A native of Tennessee, Mr. Hicks was 
 born in Giles county, August 27, 1838, and 
 is a son of Thomas and Mary (White) Hicks, 
 also natives of Tennessee and of Irish line- 
 age. When our subject was a child of only 
 one year his parents removed to Polk county, 
 Missouri, and thence to Wright county, 
 where the father died about 1843. I" the 
 family were five children. The mother de- 
 parted this life about 1850, after which 
 William B. Hicks went to live with a man 
 in Polk county, Missouri, intending to re- 
 main with him until he had attained his 
 majority, but the man died after our subject 
 had been with him for three years and he 
 was thus once more thrown upon the chari- 
 ties of a cold world. He possessed, how- 
 ever, a resolute spirit and a determined pur- 
 pose, and going to Lawrence county, 
 Missouri, he found a home with J. W. Allen, 
 with whom he resided until he reached the 
 age of twenty-three. 
 
368 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Mr. Hicks was married on the 24th of 
 February, 1861, to Miss Sarah A. Johnston, 
 a native of Lawrence county and a daugh- 
 ter of J. M. and Sally (Davidson) Johnston, 
 who had formerly been residents of Ten- 
 nessee and at an early day cast in their lot 
 with the pioneer settlers of that section of 
 Missouri. After his marriage Mr. Hicks 
 began farming on his own account and made 
 it his business until 1866. During the civil 
 war he joined Company D, Forty-sixth Mis- 
 souri Infantry and was stationed at Caseville, 
 serving in the federal army for six months. 
 
 In 1866 Mr. Hicks arrived in the Lone 
 Star state, locating first in Hill county. 
 With his wife and two children he made the 
 journey in a wagon drawn by two horses, 
 starting on the i 5th of October and reach- 
 ing his destination on the 1 8th of November. 
 For three years he rented land in Hill county, 
 then spent one year in Bosque county, after 
 which he removed to Limestone county, 
 where the succeeding three years were passed. 
 For six months he resided in Eastland 
 county, and in November, 1875, came to 
 Erath county, where, with the capital he 
 had acquired through his own labors, he 
 purchased one hundred and fifty-six acres of 
 land at two dollars per acre. Upon the 
 place was a cabin and about three acres had 
 been cleared, but otherwise it remained in 
 its primitive condition. Mr. Hicks has led 
 a busy and useful life, has worked hard and 
 as a result of his labor now has two hundred 
 and seventy-three acres of good land, of 
 which eighty acres is under cultivation. 
 
 As the years passed the home of our sub- 
 ject and his wife was blessed with a family of 
 thirteen children, eleven of whom are still 
 living: James T. , of Stephenville, Texas; 
 William H.; Ida Elzora, the deceased wife 
 of J. W. Smith; Benjamin Augustus, who 
 
 died at the age of two years; Mary J., wife 
 of J. R. McCluskie; Reuben Anderson; 
 Peter D., who died at the age of thirteen 
 years; Sarah Adaline, Margaret Ann, Samp- 
 son Russell, Cynthia Burton, John H. and 
 Leila Pearl. 
 
 The parents of this family are consistent 
 members of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
 church and take an active interest in its work. 
 Mr. Hicks is serving as ruling elder and his 
 life is in harmony with his professions. By 
 his ballot he supports the Democratic party. 
 His strict integrity and his genuine worth 
 make him highly esteemed and have gained 
 for him the high regard of all who know 
 him. 
 
 >^AMES T. WILLIAMS, a farmer and 
 m stock-raiser of Erath county, is the 
 A 1 owner of three hundred and twenty 
 acres of land, of which one hundred 
 acres is under a high state of cultivation. 
 The fields are well tilled and at times of 
 harvest well indicate the care and attention 
 that has been bestowed upon them by the 
 owner, who is justly regarded as one of the 
 leading and progressive agriculturists of the 
 community. 
 
 The life record of Mr. Williams is as 
 follows: A native of Stewart county, Ten- 
 nessee, he was born December 23, 1846, 
 the eldest child of W. W. and Adah T. 
 (Vickers) Williams, whose family numbered 
 six children. The father was a native of 
 North Carolina and belonged to one of the 
 old families of the Carolinas. In 1849 he 
 removed with his wife and children to Chari- 
 ton county, Missouri, where for several 
 years he carried on farming, then went to 
 Brunswick, where he followed various pur- 
 
'^.(^Meen-. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 suits. He is still living, on a farm in Chariton 
 county. The mother of our subject died 
 when James was a child of twelve years, 
 leaving four children. The father was again 
 married and by the second union had two 
 children. 
 
 During his childhood James T. Williams 
 attended the common schools and aided his 
 father in the cultivation of the home farm. 
 He was also a student in Mt. Pleasant Col- 
 lege, Huntsville, Missouri, and in William 
 Jewell College, Liberty, Missouri, thus ac- 
 quiring an excellent education to fit him for 
 life's responsible duties. His business train- 
 ing was obtained in Bryant & Stratton's 
 Business College, of St. Joseph, Missouri, 
 and thus thoroughly equipped for almost 
 any career he started out for himself. Dur- 
 ing the war he served for a short time with 
 Price's command and his bravery was fully 
 demonstrated. In March, 1873, he sought 
 a home in Texas, remaining in Ellis county 
 until the fall, when he went to Hood 
 county, where he engaged in teaching for 
 five years, being recognized as one of the 
 most able educators in this section of the 
 state. He is a man of broad general infor- 
 mation and the cause of the public schools 
 has ever found in him a most ardent 
 advocate. 
 
 Mr. Williams was married December 
 18, 1878, to Miss Mary L. Cowan, daughter 
 of Isaac Cowan. They began their domes- 
 tic life upon their present farm, and six 
 children came to brighten the home by 
 their presence. William Bryant, Mary 
 Adah, Isaac W., Branch V., James M. B. 
 and one who died in infancy. Our subject 
 and his estimable wife are members of the 
 Methodist Episcopal church and their many 
 excellencies of character commend them to 
 the confidence and friendship of all. Mr. 
 
 Williams belongs to Paluxy Lodge, No. 
 393, F. & A. M., has taken the Royal Arch 
 degree and has filled all the chairs in the 
 local lodge. 
 
 HOMAS HAMILTON DEEN, dis- 
 trict clerk of Hamilton county, be- 
 longs to that class of honored 
 citizens who in public and private 
 life are ever true to the duties devolving up- 
 on them and who therefore serve to make 
 up the best element in the progress and ad- 
 vancement of the county's welfare. Mr. 
 Deen has for twenty years been a resident 
 of this county and is most widely known 
 and highly esteemed. 
 
 A native of Montgomery county, Ala- 
 bama, he was born on the nth of July, 1822, 
 a son of William Hamilton and Elizabeth 
 (Pierce) Deen. He comes of one of the old 
 families of the south. His paternal grand- 
 father, Thomas Deen, was probably a native 
 of South Carolina, whence he removed to 
 Georgia, where his death occurred when he 
 had reached the age of three-score years 
 and ten. His children were William H., 
 John, Willis, Jeremiah and others, of whom 
 there is no record. The father was a farmer 
 by occupation. The maternal grandfather 
 was married and died in Georgia. After his 
 demise his widow became the wife of John 
 Ousley, and their children were Jackson and 
 Wiley. When Mrs. Pierce was removed 
 from Georgia to Alabama she had to pass 
 through a strip of territory inhabited by the 
 Indians, and while in this region one of her 
 daughters was stolen by the savages and 
 never heard from afterward. 
 
 William Hamilton Deen, the father of 
 our subject, was born April 2, 1799, prob- 
 
370 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ably in South Carolina, whence with his 
 parents he went to Georgia. He afterward 
 sought a home in Mississippi and still later 
 established his residence in Louisiana, where 
 he died May 13, 1875. His occupation was 
 also that of farming, but for about fifty-five 
 years he was afflicted with rheumatism and 
 was able to do but little work. In 1830 he 
 became a member of the Methodist church 
 and a number of years before his death was 
 licensed as a local preacher, and preached in 
 Mississippi, but never in Louisana. He was 
 made a Mason in Raymond, Mississippi, 
 and in his political adherency was a Demo- 
 crat. He held the offices of constable 
 and magistrate, and served as treasurer of 
 Hines county, Mississippi, for six years, 
 discharging his duties with a fidelity and 
 promptness that won him the qualification 
 of all concerned. His wife, who was born 
 in Georgia, November 18, 1801, died in 
 Louisiana, March 16, 1884. The children 
 of this worthy couple were: Oliver Lewis, 
 born December 24, 18 19; Thomas H., of 
 this review; Caroline, born January 20, 
 1825; Permelia, October 29, 1827; Permitta 
 Jane, March 18, 1829; Priscilla, born Sep- 
 tember 10, 1831; Araminta, March 25, 
 1834; Rufus Marion, April 27, 1836; Wylie 
 Jackson, April 5, 1838; Daniel Franklin, 
 September 10, 1840; and Oregon, born Oc- 
 tober 3, 1844, and died Septembers, 1848. 
 All of the children have now passed away 
 with the exception of our subject and Caro- 
 line. 
 
 During his infancy our subject was taken 
 by his parents to Hines county, Mississippi, 
 where he was reared to manhood. His edu- 
 cation was obtained in a private school, but 
 his advantages in this direction were some- 
 what limited. He aided in the cultivation 
 of his father's farm and remained under the 
 
 parental roof until twenty-five years of age, 
 when he started out in life for himself, and 
 began farming, on his own land. In i860 
 he removed to St. Landry parish, Louisiana, 
 where he carried on agricultural pursuits, 
 and from 1872 until 1876 he resided at Lake 
 Charles, Sabine parish, Louisiana, where he 
 engaged in conducting a large boarding- 
 house for the accommodation of the em- 
 ployees of one of the extensive sawmills in 
 that region, but in the centennial year he 
 disposed of his interests in that locality and 
 came to Texas. He had relatives living in 
 Hamilton county, this state, and thus was 
 induced to locate here. He arrived in No- 
 vember, 1876, and rented a farm ten miles 
 east of town, of Dr. Valient, remaining 
 there for a year. He afterward bought one 
 hundred and sixty acres from Mr. Smith, 
 two miles northwest of the city and began 
 its development, for it then had but meager 
 improvements upon it. There he continued 
 farming for three years and on the expira- 
 tion of that period came to Hamilton. 
 
 On the 25th of August, 1846, was con- 
 summated the marriage of Mr. Deen and 
 Miss Dorcas Hollingsworth Steen, daughter 
 of Robert and Sarah ( Smith ) Steen. She 
 was born in Lawrence county, Mississippi, 
 April 22, 1822, and died April 7, 1896, 
 her departure from life being the occa- 
 casion of the deepest regret among her 
 many friends. To Mr. and Mrs. Deen were 
 born six children: Maloney, the eldest, 
 born July 5, 1847, '^ied April 18, 1S67; she 
 was the wife of John Brady, and their son, 
 Thomas Jackson, who was born January 27, 
 1863, died October 26, 1868; Elizabeth, 
 born April 22, 1849, died October 5, 1876; 
 she married William T. Brown and they had 
 three sons, William Lee, born October 16, 
 1872, Thomas Brady, born February 11, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 371 
 
 1874, and Isaac, who was born September 
 
 25, 1876, and died October 25, 1876; Ar- 
 aminta, born October 5, 1851, died October 
 
 26, 1868; William, born September 23, 
 1853, died December 4, 1857; Alice Salome, 
 born January 19, 1857, died December 11, 
 1857; Frederick Pierce, born March 26, 
 1859, married Sarah Jane Johnson, and his 
 children are: Thomas Walter, born Janu- 
 ary 10, 1878; David Monroe, born Novem- 
 ber II, 1879; Edgar Hugh, born October 
 17, 1882, and died June 16, 1884; Henry 
 Guy, born January 28, 1884; Maloney, born 
 August 12, 1885; James Levi, born May 14, 
 1887; Maud, born February 29, 1888; Ella 
 Dorcas, born December 12, 1890; and Lola 
 Madge, born November 17, 1892. The 
 mother of this family died in July, 1895, 
 and their father and the children are now 
 living with the subject of this notice. 
 
 In his political views Mr. Deen has al- 
 ways been a stalwart Democrat, unswerving 
 in his allegiance to the principles of the 
 party. He has been honored with several 
 public offices, and while residing in Missis- 
 sippi served as magistrate for four years, and 
 was also commissioner of Rankin county for 
 two years. In the fall of 1880 he was 
 elected district clerk of Hamilton county 
 and has served continuously since. His 
 present term expires in the autumn of 1896. 
 During his sixteen years' incumbency he has 
 never been absent from his office but three 
 days. His long continued service well indi- 
 cates his fidelity to duty and the confidence 
 reposed in him by his fellow townsmen, — a 
 confidence that has been betrayed in not the 
 slightest degree. Since the age of twelve 
 years Mr. Deen has been a faithful member 
 of the Methodist Episcopal church and has 
 served as church steward. He was made a 
 Mason in Winfield, Louisiana, and now holds 
 
 membership in Rock House Lodge, No. 417, 
 A. F. & A. M., also in the Independent 
 Order of Good Templars. 
 
 '^" J* J. MORGAN is another native son 
 m of the Lone Star state who is a 
 A 1 prominent factor in the agricultural 
 ranks of Bosque county. He dates 
 his birth in Anderson county, Texas, March 
 27, 1852, and is a son of one of the early 
 pioneers of this state. 
 
 Daniel Morgan, the father of our sub- 
 ject, is a native of Morgantown, Kentucky, 
 born in 18 18, son of one of the primitive 
 settlers of that place, — Nathaniel Morgan. 
 Daniel Morgan married Miss Caroline Chil- 
 dress, a native of Shelby county, Tennes- 
 see, and a daughter of John Childress. She 
 moved to Texas in 1838, and was married 
 in Anderson county, this state, in 1842. In 
 1878, after several others moved, they took 
 up their abode in Bosque county, where 
 they passed the residue of their lives and 
 where both died in 1892, the father at the 
 age of seventy-four years and the mother at 
 sixty-six. They were people of the stanch- 
 est sort, stood high in the estimation of the 
 people of the frontier settlements where 
 they resided, and those who knew them best 
 esteemed them most. Both were members 
 of the Primitive Baptist church, and his 
 political affiliations were with the Demo- 
 cratic party. He served as a soldier in the 
 Confederate war. Their family comprised 
 ten children, whose names in order of birth 
 are as follows: Catherine, Nancy, Henry, 
 Lewis, Jack J., Sarah, Nat, James, Jeffer- 
 son D., and Elizabeth. 
 
 J.J. Morgan, the direct subject of this 
 review, passed his boyhood and youth in the 
 frontier districts of his native state, in An- 
 
372 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 derson, Ellis and McLennan counties, and 
 as would naturally be expected he had but 
 meager advantages for obtaining an educa- 
 tion. In 1878 he became identified with 
 Bosque county, and in 1892 settled on the 
 farm he has since owned and occupied. 
 This farm includes one hundred and sev- 
 enty-five acres of good land, sixty acres of 
 which are under plow and devoted to the 
 usual crops of the vicinity. A comfortable 
 residence, good barn and outbuildings, 
 fences, etc., comprise the improvements 
 that have been made here, and the general 
 appearance of the premises at once indicates 
 the fact that the owner is a man of enter- 
 prise and push. 
 
 Mr. Morgan was married at the age of 
 twenty years to Miss Clarinda Seal, a native 
 of Louisiana, as also were her parents, 
 Daniel and Sarah (Phillips) Seal; but she 
 was reared in Jasper county, Texas, to 
 which place the family moved when she was 
 quite young. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have 
 been blessed in the birth of eight children, 
 six of whom are living, viz.: William, Ed- 
 ward, Minnie, Carrie, Kemp, and Carl. 
 Those deceased are Burt and Elias. Mrs. 
 Morgan is a member of the Baptist church. 
 
 In politics Mr. Morgan has always given 
 his support to the Democratic party; but, 
 like many of his friends and fellow citizens, 
 he believes that "new times demand new 
 measures and new means," and is therefore 
 of advanced political views. 
 
 >^AMES T. PARKER, Esq., a well- 
 J known farmer and stock-raiser, has 
 A 1 for many years been a prominent 
 factor in promoting the interests of 
 Hood and Somervell counties, his residence 
 here dating from January i, 1874. 
 
 Mr. Parker is a native of Dickson county, 
 Tennessee, and was born December 29, 
 1837, son of William J. and Mary M. (Tid- 
 well) Parker, both natives of Tennessee. 
 William J. Parker was a son of Moses Par- 
 ker, of Georgia birth, who had settled in 
 Tennessee in 1803, when he was twenty- 
 three years of age, and there for many 
 years had chiefly the Indians for his neigh- 
 bors. His ancestors were of English ex- 
 traction. The mother of our subject was 
 a daughter of Isaiah and Rebecca Tidwell, 
 who had removed from South Carolina to 
 Tennessee at an early day, settling there 
 about the time Mr. Parker did. William J. 
 Parker followed the vocation of farmer and 
 spent his life and died about one mile from 
 the place of his birth. He and his wife 
 were the parents of ten children, James T. 
 being the second son and one of the seven 
 children who are still living. 
 
 James T. Parker passed his boyhood and 
 youth on his father's farm, and had the 
 benefit of good educational advantages, his 
 schooling being completed in Tracy Acad- 
 emy in his native county. He remained 
 with his parents until the war between the 
 north and the south was inaugurated, when 
 he espoused the cause of the latter and 
 went out in its defense. It was May 18, 
 1 86 1, that he enlisted as a member of Com- 
 pany E, Eleventh Tennessee Volunteer In- 
 fantry, which formed a part of the Army 
 of the Tennessee. He was with this com- 
 mand and in all its engagements up to July 
 22, 1864, when while near Atlanta he was 
 wounded, being shot through his left hip 
 and right ankle, altogether receiving five 
 wounds. From this time on he was dis- 
 abled for active service and was in the com- 
 missary department. 
 
 At the close of the war Mr. Parker re- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 373 
 
 turned home and began teaching school and 
 taught and attended school in Tennessee un- 
 til 1 87 1, when he came to Texas. His 
 journey to this state was made by team, 
 Bosque county his destination, and forty-two 
 days being required in making the trip. For 
 two years he lived on rented land in Bosque 
 county. Then he came to his present loca- 
 tion in what is now Somervell county and 
 settled on a tract of school land, at once 
 began the work of clearing and developing 
 a farm, and now has a landed estate com- 
 prising five hundred and fourteen acres, 
 ninety of which are under a high state of 
 cultivation. After coming to Texas Mr. 
 Parker found his services as teacher were in 
 demand, and taught several terms of school 
 here, — in 1872 and 1875 at Fort Graham, 
 Hill county, and in 1882 and 1883 at Enon 
 church, Somervell county. Early recog- 
 nized as a man above the ordinary in intel- 
 ligence and ability, he was honored with 
 official preference and looked to for counsel 
 and advice. He was appointed as magis- 
 trate and county commissioner to fill the 
 unexpired term of 'Squire Childer, and was 
 re-elected for three successive terms, and in 
 all served eight years, and throughout the 
 whole of that time not a single one of his 
 decisions was ever reversed. In all public 
 affairs of a local nature, and especially in 
 educational matters, has he taken a deep 
 interest. 
 
 Mr. Parker is a man of family. He was 
 married July 18, 1867, to Miss Susana C. 
 Johnston, a native of Tennessee and of 
 Dickson county, and a daughter of Richard 
 and Martha J. (Beck) Johnston, represent- 
 atives of old Virginia families. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Parker have been blessed in the birth 
 of a large family of children, namely: 
 Thomas C, who is engaged in the milling 
 
 business at Paiuxy, Hood county, Texas; 
 Henry J., a farmer of Hood county; Bulah, 
 a popular and successful young teacher, 
 who died while attending school at Gran- 
 bury, June 15, 1894, at the age of twenty- 
 one years; Ida, who died at the age of four 
 years; William J., who died when only one 
 year old ; Lee Jefferson and a twin sister, 
 both deceased, the latter having died in in- 
 fancy and the former at the age of six years; 
 John D., at home; and Cliff, Mack, Callie 
 and Azula, — all at home. 
 
 Mr. Parker and his wife are consistent 
 members of the Missionary Baptist church, 
 of which he has been clerk for the past five 
 years. Also he is a member of the Masonic 
 order. Politically, he tenders his support 
 to the Democratic party. Mr. Parker is 
 decidedly a self-made man. By his own 
 exertions and the assistance of his noble 
 companion he has made a home and ac- 
 quired a competency in this favored clime, 
 and he and his family are justly entitled to 
 that high esteem in which they are held 
 by all. 
 
 K^^ ENJAMIN W. GARRETT, who is 
 l/'^L connected with the farming inter- 
 J^^J ests of Comanche county, is one of 
 the worthy citizens that Georgia 
 has furnished to this state. "^He^is numbered 
 among the native sons of the Cotton state, 
 and on the 9th of June, 1857, first opened 
 his eyes to the light of day, being the eldest 
 son of Henry P. Garrett. His father was 
 born in South Carolina on the 14th of De- 
 cember, 1838, and removed with his family 
 to Georgia in the early '40s, making his 
 home there for almost a quarter of a cen- 
 tury, when, in 1865, he emigrated to Texas. 
 
374 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 He resided first in Hill county, afterward 
 went to Ellis county and finally located in 
 Comanche county, where he spent the re- 
 mainder of his life. His labors on earth 
 were ended March 19, 1884, and many 
 friends mourned his death. His marriage 
 to Miss Mary J. Johnson was consummated 
 in 1856. The lady was born in Polk county, 
 Georgia, on the 14th of January, 1836, and 
 at the time of her death, which occurred 
 November 17, 1887, had attained the age of 
 fifty-one j'cars. Their family included seven 
 children. 
 
 The first born, Benjamin W. Garrett, 
 now resides on the old homestead, located 
 eighteen miles northwest of Comanche. He 
 was reared to agricultural pursuits and has 
 always followed that vocation, being now 
 numbered among the leading and influential 
 farmers of this locality. He owns one hun- 
 dred and thirty-six acres of land, of which 
 seventy-six acres are in cultivation, planted 
 with the crops best adapted to this climate 
 and soil. He has an excellent peach or- 
 chard of one acre and the improvements on 
 his place are in keeping with the progress- 
 ive spirit of the age. The farm is well 
 stocked with good horses and graded cattle, 
 the latter being of the Durham breed. 
 
 Mr. Garrett is a stanch Democrat, un- 
 wavering in his loyalty to the party with 
 which he has affiliated since attaining his 
 majority. In his social relations he is a 
 Mason, a member of Sipe Springs Lodge, 
 No. 537, F. &. A. M., and holds the office 
 of chair of the east. He is a man of do- 
 mestic tastes and has a pleasant home. He 
 was married February 15, 1877, the lady 
 of his choice being Miss Barzella J. Weath- 
 erby, by whom he has six children, namely: 
 Albert B., Eula B., Thomas R., Martha, 
 Lillic F. and Myrtle. 
 
 vV^ ENTON SMITH is a prominent and 
 1/''^ respected farmer of Bosque county, 
 ^K^J Texas, who receives his mail at 
 Clifton. He was born in Holmes 
 county, Missouri, March 16, 1S38, where he 
 was educated and reared to manhood. His 
 father, James, was a native of Ohio, and 
 died when our subject was quite young. He 
 was an educator of superior attainments and 
 came from Ohio into Mississippi toward the 
 close of the '30s, where he met and married 
 the mother of our subject, whose maiden 
 name was Cynthia Sewell. At the time of 
 her marriage to Mr. Smith she was the 
 widow of Lawrence Scrogens. By this 
 marriage there were four children, the sub- 
 ject of our sketch being the oldest of the 
 family. 
 
 Benton Smith was reared to farming 
 pursuits. In April, 1862, he enlisted in the 
 Confederate army, being a member of Com- 
 pany C, Thirty-fifth Mississippi Regiment, 
 and with it he served until the close of the 
 war. He participated in the engagements 
 of Corinth, siege of Vicksburg and in the 
 battles around Atlanta, and was taken pris- 
 oner at Nashville, Tennessee, and sent 
 north to Chicago, where he was confined in 
 the military prison from December 20, 1864, 
 to June 20, 1865, when he was released. 
 He came to Texas and located in Washing- 
 ton county in 1869. Some four years later 
 he removed to Bosque county, where he 
 now resides, six miles north of Clifton. 
 Here he owns a handsome farm of one hun- 
 dred and sixty acres, and has twenty-five 
 under close cultivation. He also cultivates 
 ninety-five acres of rented land near him. 
 
 Mr. Smith has a small family orchard of 
 peach-trees, and raises horses, mules and cat- 
 tle, the latter being graded stock of the Jer- 
 sey breed. He takes an active interest in 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 school matters, being one of the school trus- 
 tees of district No. i. In social matters he 
 affiliates with the Masonic order, being a 
 member of Meridian Lodge, No. 205. He 
 was joined in marriage, in the state of Mis- 
 sissippi, December 29, 1868, with Miss 
 Mary A. Cooper, a native of that state, and 
 they have no children. They are both de- 
 voted Christians, he being a Presbyterian 
 and she a member of the Baptist church. 
 
 K^/^ ENJAMIN T. PRATHER, Chase, 
 l/*^ Bosque county, Texas, is a man 
 JK^J whose sketch it is a pleasure to 
 write. He is prominently identified 
 with the stock-growing and farming interests 
 of Bosque county. He is a native of Tennes- 
 see and dates his birth in Henry county, 
 March 7, 1S45. His father, born in Ten- 
 nessee, was a pioneer in the settlement of 
 Texas, coming to this state in 1854, and dy- 
 ing here twenty years later. The mother, 
 whose maiden name was Martha Love, was 
 a native of North Carolina and descended 
 from an old and influential family of that 
 name long identified with the history of that 
 state. Her father, Thomas Love, was a 
 general in the service of the colonies, also 
 served in the early Indian wars, and is among 
 the prominent characters in the records of 
 his state. 
 
 Benjamin T. Prather, the subject of this 
 writing, was the youngest in a family of 
 eight children, was reared to manhood, and 
 educated as far as the opportunities of the 
 times afforded, near Waco, where his father 
 had located on entering the state. Here he 
 resided and followed farming until the close 
 of the war, when he went to southeast Mis- 
 souri and made his home in Stone county 
 for some three years, when he returned to 
 
 Bosque county, and now resides some nine 
 miles north of Clifton. He has an exten- 
 sive farm of two thousand acres, on which 
 he lives like some prince of the olden times. 
 Three hundred and thirty acres of this ex- 
 tensive farm are under high cultivation, and 
 the remainder is devoted to grazing. 
 
 Our subject is much interested in sheep- 
 raising, and at the time of writing this 
 sketch has over thirteen hundred on his 
 ranch. He has some fifty head of cattle, 
 and these are of Holstein strain of breeding, 
 which he regards as especially adapted to 
 the conditions of Texas farming. He is in- 
 terested in whatever conserves the good of 
 the community, and devotes much attention 
 to school matters. Politically he is a stanch 
 and steadfast Republican. 
 
 The domestic relations of our subject 
 have been peculiarly pleasant and helpful. 
 On the iithday of March, 1866, Miss Mary 
 Drahn, a native of Germany, became his 
 wife, and has made him the father of six 
 children: Mattie, who is now the wife of 
 T. J. Rhodes; Alice A., now Mrs. W. D. 
 Ferris, of this county; Fannie, Joseph M., 
 and Jessie, being the younger members of 
 the family and still at home. They have 
 lost one son, George A., who died Decem- 
 ber 17, 1889. 
 
 ^^REEN WASHINGTON FREE- 
 ■ C\ LAND. — The splendid farm owned 
 \^_^ by this gentleman is a standing 
 monument to his industry, perse- 
 verance and good management. He comes 
 under the category of self-made men, hav- 
 ing been thrown upon his own resources 
 early in life, and has succeeded by the ex- 
 ercise of his steady labors, both mental and 
 physical. Just at this time he is one of the 
 
376 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 representatives o( the agricultural and stock- 
 raising interests of northern Texas, and is 
 one of the most solid men financially in this 
 region. 
 
 Mr. Freeland was born in Tennessee, 
 February i6, 1823, of Scotch-Irish ances- 
 try, and is a son of James and Nancy (Stra- 
 horn) Freeland, both natives of North Car- 
 olina. By occupation the father was a 
 farmer and miller. Our subject was reared 
 to farm life and acquired but a limited edu- 
 cation in the district schools near his home. 
 He remained under the parental roof until 
 coming to Texas in 1850, first locating in 
 Shelby county, where he remained for two 
 years. The following year was passed in 
 Dallas county, but in 1853 he went to Cali- 
 fornia, where he engaged in mining for a 
 few months, and later in freighting, remain- 
 ing io the Golden state for three years, 
 when he returned to Dallas county. In 
 the fall of 1858 he located in Johnson coun- 
 ty, where he has since successfully engaged 
 in farming and stock-raising. 
 
 In 1862 Mr. Freeland enlisted in the 
 Confederate service, in which he remained 
 for about six months, when the conscript 
 law released him, and he then joined the 
 frontier service. He was with that depart- 
 ment until the close of the war, watching 
 the Indians and assisting to keep them in 
 subjection, and this service was performed 
 at his own expense. When hostilities had 
 ceased and the difficulties with the Indians 
 were about over, he returned to his home 
 in Johnson county and resumed his chosen 
 occupation. He now has twenty-one hun- 
 dred acres of good pasture land, about six 
 hundred of which are in Hood county, and 
 two hundred acres he has placed under a 
 high state of cultivation. 
 
 Mr. Freeland has been twice married. 
 
 In the spring of 1852 he wedded Miss Jane 
 Hickman, whose death occurred in Califor- 
 nia, in 1854. In the spring of 1858 he was 
 united in marriage with Miss Rachel Merri- 
 field, daughter of Jack and Sarah (Welch) 
 Merrifield. She was born in Kentucky, in 
 1832, about thirty miles east of Louisville, 
 and came with her father to Texas in 1850, 
 her mother having died when she was less 
 than a month old. Two sons have been 
 born to our subject and his wife: Marshall 
 Boon, a farmer of Hood county; and J. W., 
 at home. 
 
 Mr. Freeland is numbered among the 
 public-spirited men of his section, no one 
 being more interested in its development 
 and progress, and is a supporter of every 
 enterprise designed for the public good. 
 Both he and his excellent wife are members 
 in good standing of the Cumberland Presby- 
 terian church, and are held in the highest 
 regard by all who know them. They en- 
 dured all the hardships and privations inci- 
 dent to life in a new settlement, having 
 come here at a time when their neighbors 
 were few and far between, and being sub- 
 jected to all the inconveniences of a distant 
 mill and market. 
 
 ^y^ ART JOHNSON, proprietor of the 
 ■ (''^ Summit Fruit Farm of Comanche 
 g'^^J county, has been closely identified 
 with the growth and prosperity of 
 the city of Comanche since 1892, at which 
 date he took up his residence here. Having 
 purchased sixteen acres of land he at once 
 cleared it and planted twelve acres with 
 fruit-trees of all kinds and with grapes. 
 These are now in good bearing condition 
 and Mr. Johnson sells his fruit, berries and 
 vegetables in Comanche and the surrounding 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 377 
 
 country, taking his goods from house to 
 house, as well as supplying the markets. He 
 is entitled to much credit for the establish- 
 ment of the only enterprise of this nature in 
 Comanche. Four years ago his farm was 
 as nature left it, — covered with a thick 
 growth of underbrush, — but to-day it is a 
 richly cultivated garden, already yielding 
 excellent returns, and in a short time it will 
 undoubtedly rival in productiveness and 
 value any berry farm in this section of the 
 state. 
 
 The owner of this desirable property is 
 a native of Georgia, born in i860, his 
 parents being John and Sarah (Davis) John- 
 son. They had eight children, six sons and 
 two daughters, and one son, Alonzo, entered 
 the Confederate service and lost his life in 
 defense of the south. From Georgia his 
 parents removed to Arkansas, where the 
 father died, at the age of seventy-two years. 
 The mother of our subject still resides in 
 that state. 
 
 Mr. Johnson of this review was reared to 
 manhood in Arkansas and acquired there a 
 good education. He came to Comanche 
 county in 1888, locating some eight miles 
 south of the city, where he engaged in farm- 
 ing for four years. He then purchased his 
 present property and has since been actively 
 interested in its improvement. He has a 
 neat and comfortable cottage, located on a 
 natural building site and surrounded by 
 beautiful flowers and shrubbery. In addi- 
 tion to his labor which he devotes to his 
 farm he is engaged in conducting a restau- 
 rant and fruit store in Comanche, seUing 
 fruits, lunches and cold drinks. His politi- 
 cal support is given the Democracy, but his 
 business interests leave little time for po- 
 litical work. 
 
 While residing in Arkansas, Mr. John- 
 
 son was united in marriage with a lady of 
 refinement and culture, Miss Lula Dobbs, a 
 representative of one of the old southern 
 families. They now have four interesting 
 children, two sons and two daughters, — 
 Minnie, John, Nora and James. 
 
 ^y^ R. SEABIRD RAY McPHERSON 
 I ■ is ons of the pioneer settlers and 
 A^_J' physicians of Hood county. Not 
 to know him is almost to argue 
 oneself unknown. For twenty years he 
 was actively engaged in the practice of his 
 profession in this county and has ever been 
 active in performing all tasks or duties 
 which would benefit the community. In 
 his old age he is honored and esteemed by 
 all who know him and no one is more worthy 
 of representation in this volume. 
 
 Dr. McPherson was born in Jackson 
 county, Tennessee, on the 13th of March, 
 I Si 8, and when three years of age was 
 taken by his parents to Alabama, where he 
 was reared to manhood. His father, Reu- 
 ben McPherson, was a soldier of the war 
 of 1S12 and had a brother who lost his life 
 in the battle of New Orleans. He spent 
 his boyhood and youth on his father's farm 
 and largely aided in the development of the 
 fields, and he therefore had but limited op- 
 portunities for securing an education, and 
 at that time, also, the only school near his 
 home was a primitive one, held in a little 
 log building. He was the eldest of the 
 eleven children born to Reuben and Eliza- 
 beth McPherson, and upon the death of his 
 father in 1842 the care of the family de- 
 volved largely upon him. He brought his 
 mother and the younger children to the 
 southwest in 1843, locating in Arkansas, 
 where for several years he continued his 
 
378 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 residence. He had studied medicine when 
 a boy, and after his mother's second mar- 
 riage he continued his studies with his step- 
 father, Dr. Jesse Casey, of Arkansas. He 
 entered upon practice in that state and af- 
 terward hved for two years in Missouri. 
 
 The Doctor dates his residence in Te.xas 
 from 1858, at which time he took up his 
 abode in Parker county, whence in 1861 
 he came to Acton, Hood county, where for 
 twenty years he continued to engage in 
 practice. His skill and ability soon won 
 him a liberal patronage and he did a profit- 
 able business. He also engaged in farming 
 for a number of years, but is now living 
 retired. 
 
 The Doctor was married, July 23, 1839, 
 to Eliza Allison, a native of North Carolina, 
 and their family numbered eleven children, 
 six of whom are yet living. William L. , 
 born May 3, 1840, is a prominent citizen of 
 Hood county, and is mentioned elsewhere 
 in this volume. The other members of the 
 family are Eveline, deceased; John, who 
 lives in Stephen county, Texas; Leanna, 
 wife of John Tingly, of the Indian Terri- 
 tory; Ambrose, deceased; Joseph, who 
 makes his home in Johnson county; Benton, 
 Allison and Mary, who have all passed 
 away; Sarah, wife of Henry Armstrong, of 
 Comanche county; and Creed, who is a 
 farmer of Hood county. The mother of 
 this family passed away October 5, 1875. 
 The Doctor was again married, but his sec- 
 ond wife is also deceased. 
 
 Dr. McPherson has almost reached the 
 age of four-score years. His life has been 
 largely devoted to the medical profession, 
 and he has undergone the usual experiences 
 that fall to the lot of the physician who 
 makes his home on the frontier. It is an 
 arduous life, requiring sacrifices which merit 
 
 the gratitude of the public and which will 
 long be remembered by those who profited 
 by his benevolent and sympathetic spirit. 
 The friends of Dr. McPherson are limited 
 only by the number of his acquaintances, 
 and now in his declining years he is revered 
 and honored by all, — a fitting crown to a 
 well spent life. 
 
 at 
 
 n.LIAM LOURY McPHERSON 
 is a representative of one of the 
 prominent pioneer families of 
 Hood county, and his long iden- 
 tification with its interests has been such as 
 to advance its material welfare and all that 
 pertains to its upbuilding and progress. He 
 was born in Alabama on the 3d of May, 
 1840, and is a son of Dr. S. R. McPherson, 
 the pioneer physician, who was so long a 
 leading medical practitioner of Hood county. 
 Our subject was reared in Arkansas and 
 Missouri, and became familiar with all the 
 duties that fall to the lot of the agricul- 
 turist, while assisting his father in the devel- 
 opment of the home farm and in working 
 as a farm hand in the neighborhood near 
 his home. After the removal to Texas he 
 also engaged in clerking in Acton. 
 
 Feeling that his duty was to his coun- 
 try, he laid aside all business cares in 1863 
 and joined the Union army. Acknowledg- 
 ing the supremacy of the United States 
 government above all else, he went to its 
 defense when the attempt at secession was 
 made, and on the 2d of September joined 
 the "boys in blue." He was assigned to 
 Company E, Second Arkansas Infantry, 
 Third Division, Seventh Army Corps, and 
 served throughout the remainder of the war, 
 being honorably discharged on the 8th of 
 August, 1865, at Clarksville, Arkansas. He 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 379 
 
 was a valiant and brave soldier, always 
 found at his post of duty, and now that the 
 trouble is over and the country is once 
 more at peace, he quietly performs his du- 
 ties of citizenship in his adopted county, 
 deeply interested in all that pertains to its 
 welfare. 
 
 Mr. McPherson continued to make his 
 home in Arkansas until 1875, when he re- 
 turned to Texas and resumed farming, which 
 he still follows with good success. He pos- 
 sesses the determined, persevering nature 
 necessary to the successful agriculturist, and 
 his energy and good management have made 
 his business profitable. His health, im- 
 paired in the army, has never been fully re- 
 stored and the government therefore grants 
 him a pension. 
 
 On the ist of December, 1859, Mr. 
 McPherson was united in marriage with 
 Miss Rachel A. Means, a native of Wayne 
 county, Ohio, and a daughter of Daniel 
 and Rosa (Franks) Means, the former a na- 
 tive of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. 
 They emigrated to Dubuque county, Iowa, 
 about 1846, and were among the first set- 
 tlers of that locality. In 1857 they took 
 up their abode in Tarrant county, Texas, 
 and in the spring of 1878 started for Kan- 
 sas, but before reaching their destination 
 the father died, his death occurring at Fort 
 Gibson, in the Indian Territory. He was 
 there buried by the Masons of the town, 
 he being a member of that fraternity. The 
 widow and her family proceeded to Kansas, 
 but returned to Texas the following spring. 
 At length the family went back to Iowa and 
 the mother died at Hazleton in 1884. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. McPherson have three liv- 
 ing children and have lost five. Those who 
 still survive are Rosa, Ida and Bessie. The 
 eldest is the wife of C. A. Newsome, a 
 
 farmer of Hood county, Texas, by whom 
 she has eight children, namely: Pearl, Maud, 
 William, Eliza, James, Omar and Naomi, 
 twins, and Rachel Ann. 
 
 Mr. McPherson with his family resides 
 on his farm near Acton and their home is 
 noted for the true southern hospitality which 
 is enjoyed there by their many friends. The 
 farm comprises two hundred acres of good 
 land, about eighty of which are under culti- 
 vation. In his political views Mr. McPher- 
 son is a Republican, and socially he is con- 
 nected with the Grand Army Post at Gran- 
 bury. His church relationship is with the 
 Primitive Baptists. All who know him re- 
 spect him for his genuine worth and strict 
 integrity. He has the courage of his con- 
 victions, is fearless in defense of what he 
 believes to be right and his straightforward 
 conduct awakens the esteem of all. 
 
 at 
 
 LLIAM JEFFERSON DUCK- 
 WORTH is one of the most en- 
 ergetic and progressive farmers of 
 Hood county, who makes his 
 home in Acton, and is also successfully en- 
 gaged in ginning cotton. In 1871 he came 
 to Texas, and for the first five years made 
 his home in Johnson county, but since that 
 time has lived in Hood county, locating first 
 near Acton on his farm. He devoted his 
 attention to its improvement and cultivation, 
 with most excellent results. He is honored 
 and respected by the entire community, who 
 look upon him as one of their most wide- 
 awake farmers and model citizens. 
 
 The birth of our subject occurred in Ar- 
 kansas, on the 17th of March, 1851, at the 
 home of his parents, William and Civilla 
 Jane (Wilborn) Duckworth, who were of 
 Scotch-Irish descent. He was reared to 
 
380 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 farm life, receiving the education common to 
 such, but has always been somewhat of a 
 student, and has become well informed on 
 current events. He remained under the 
 parental roof until his marriage, which im- 
 portant event in his life was celebrated June 
 29, 1869, Miss Arkansas Gibbs becoming 
 his wife. She was born in Mississippi, but 
 during childhood was taken to Arkansas. 
 Eight children belong to this union, namely: 
 Carrie, wife of J. T. Brooks, of Eastland 
 county; Josephine, wife of I. F. Powell, of 
 Hood county; Annie, wife of R. M. John- 
 son; Emma, Hugh, Earl, Audie and Lo- 
 rena. 
 
 After his marriage Mr. Duckworth en- 
 gaged in farming on his own account in Ar- 
 kansas until coming to Texas. In 1888 he 
 purchased a cotton gin at Acton, and since 
 that time has engaged in its operation, 
 which has proved a paying investment. He 
 also owns another gin and mill near Joshua 
 in Johnson county, Texas. His farm, which 
 he rents, comprises one hundred and fifty 
 acres of valuable land, forty-five of which is 
 under cultivation and lies three miles south- 
 east of Acton. His prosperity has been 
 brought about by his untiring and persistent 
 labors. 
 
 Mr. Duckworth is a popular and influen- 
 tial citizen, was elected county conmiissioner 
 in 1888, and was twice re-elected, serving 
 in all six years. At the primaries he re- 
 ceived the nomination for a fourth term, 
 but withdrew from the race. In 1886 he 
 was elected justice of the peace, which of- 
 fice he has filled about eight years in all, 
 and is the present incumbent. He has also 
 served as school trustee for eight years. He 
 is strongly Democratic in his political affilia- 
 tions; socially, is connected with Acton 
 Lodge, No. 285, F. & A. M. ; and religious- 
 
 ly is a member of the Missionary Baptist 
 church. His prosperity cannot be attrib- 
 uted to a combination of lucky circumstan- 
 ces, but has risen from energy, enterprise, 
 integrity and intellectual effort well directed, 
 and he well deserves the success which has 
 come to him. 
 
 *■■ » ^ ARDIN GRIFFITH is an able rep- 
 ^'"V resentative of the agricultural in- 
 \ W terests of Hood county and a man 
 who by the faithful performance of 
 every duty devolving upon him, whether 
 public or private, has won a place among 
 the best and most highly esteemed citizens 
 of this section of the state. It is with a 
 feeling of gratification that the biographer 
 enters upon his task of portraying the life 
 of one who has ever merited the esteem of 
 his fellow men, for such a record serves as 
 a source of encouragement and inspiration 
 to others and as an example to the youthful 
 members of society. 
 
 Mr. Griffith was born in Tennessee, De- 
 cember 26, 1850, a son of Samuel T. and 
 Nancy (Price) Griffith, of Welsh descent. 
 The great-grandfather, Jonas Griffith, and 
 his two brothers were natives of rock-ribbed 
 Wales, whence they emigrated to the new 
 world, settling in Tennessee. They were 
 the founders of the family in this country. 
 Jonas Griffith was then sixteen years of age. 
 He became a close friend of Daniel Boone, 
 and with him explored considerable por- 
 tions of Tennessee. His last days were 
 spent in that state. The parents of our 
 subject were both born in Gainesboro, Ten- 
 nessee, and the father served his country as 
 a soldier in the Mexican war. In 1859, 
 with his wife and two children, he went 
 to Granby, Missouri, where, in 1S60, the 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 mother died, leaving our subject and a 
 sister, the latter being Willie, now Mrs. 
 Sparks, of Commerce, Delta county, Texas. 
 
 During the civil war Samuel T. Grif^th 
 enlisted in the Confederate service, in which 
 he remained until the close of hostilities. 
 Being captured by the Union troops, he was 
 held as a prisoner of war in Alton, Illinois, 
 for eight months, and for a year at Dela- 
 ware Bay. He had been engaged in the 
 occupation of mining and had his capital 
 invested in mines at Granby, but lost all his 
 property during the war. When the trouble 
 between the two sections of the country was 
 over he came to Texas, where his son H. H. 
 had preceded him, and settled in Fannin 
 county, where his death occurred in 1870. 
 
 Hardin Griffith, of this sketch, enjoyed 
 good educational privileges in his early 
 youth, but after the war had no advantages 
 in that direction. At the age of seventeen 
 he left home, and since that time has been 
 dependent entirely upon his own labors, so 
 that whatever success he has achieved is 
 due entirely to his energy and good man- 
 agement. On leaving home he engaged in 
 herding cattle, and for fifteen years he was 
 a participant of camp life. His associates 
 were the worst element of the frontier, 
 made up of cowboys, buffalo-hunters and 
 many desperate characters, but his career 
 was an exception to the rule that evil com- 
 munications corrupt good manners. His 
 self-respect was always dear to him, and he 
 demonstrated the fact that a man can be a 
 true and honorable gentleman in any sur- 
 roundings. He would never use tobacco or 
 liquor in any form, and though his compan- 
 ions were men who often scoffed at virtues, 
 they respected him for his strict adherence 
 to what he believed to be right, and any 
 man among them would have stood up 
 
 against a multitude for Hardin Griffith. 
 During all these years Granbury was his 
 headquarters, but his operations extended 
 over a number of the western frontier coun- 
 ties. 
 
 In 1885 Mr. Griffith secured a clerkship 
 in a hardware store in Granbury, his em- 
 ployers being Baker & Smith. He served 
 in that capacity for five years, and on the 
 expiration of that period he came to the 
 farm where he now lives and which has 
 since been his home. He had previously 
 purchased the property, but the land was 
 entirely destitute of improvements. He 
 has developed fifty acres of his farm, which 
 comprises three hundred and five acres, and 
 the tract is now highly cultivated. In ad- 
 dition to general farming he is also exten- 
 sively and successfully engaged in stock- 
 raising, and now has a number of fine thor- 
 oughbred Jersey cattle upon his farm. 
 
 On the 25th of September, 1889, was 
 celebrated the marriage of Mr. Griffith and 
 Miss Maggie Blair, daughter of Samuel and 
 Susan Blair. The lady was born in Bates- 
 ville, Arkansas, while her parents were na- 
 tives of Tennessee, the former of Irish and 
 the latter of Scotch descent. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Griffith have lost two children, but now 
 have a bright little boy, Guy, born April 
 29, 1893. 
 
 Our subject exercises his right of fran- 
 chise in support of the men and measures of 
 the Republican party at national elections, 
 but at local elections, where no national is- 
 sue is involved, he supports the candidate 
 that he thinks best qualified for office, re- 
 gardless of party connections. Both he and 
 his wife occupy a high position in social 
 circles where true worth and intelligence 
 are received as the passports into good so- 
 ciety. Fond of reading, they keep well 
 
382 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 informed on the questions of the day and 
 on all current literature, and their broad 
 views on all questions indicate well-stored 
 minds. They are liberal in their religious 
 views, and are deeply interested in all that 
 pertains to the moral upbuilding of the com- 
 munity, and their lives, honorable and con- 
 scientious in all things, commend them to 
 the high regard and confidence of their 
 many friends. 
 
 SI 
 
 p. Mccarty.— Among the most 
 prosperous and enterprising farm- 
 ers and stock- dealers of Erath 
 county, Texas, is the subject of 
 this sketch, W. P. McCarty, of Chalk Moun- 
 tain, who has maintained his residence here 
 during the past fifteen years. 
 
 Mr. McCarty, as his name indicates, is 
 of Irish descent. His parents, Andrew P. 
 and Mary S. (McVey) McCarty, both traced 
 their ancestry back to the Emerald Isle. 
 Grandfather McCarty was born in Ireland, 
 emigrated to this country in early life, and 
 settled in Alabama, whence he subsequently 
 removed to Mississippi. The McVeys also 
 made settlement in the south, and both 
 families were planters. Andrew P. McCarty 
 was married in Mississippi, and was for 
 some years a slaveholder and prominent 
 planter of that state. Thus was he situated 
 at the opening of the civil war. In the first 
 year of the war, although he was past the 
 conscript age, he tendered his services to 
 the Confederacy, and went to the front as 
 a member of a regiment of infantry. He 
 was with his command in all its campaigns 
 up to the battle of Fort Donelson, where 
 he was captured by the northern forces and 
 taken prisoner to Camp Douglas. Seven 
 months later he was exchanged and dis- 
 
 charged. At that time the Federals about 
 his home were compelling men to swear 
 allegiance to their government. He refused 
 to take an oath of any kind, and dodged the 
 authorities for a time, but some months 
 later, while on a visit to his old regiment, 
 he was captured. This time he was taken 
 to Alton, where he was held as a prisoner of 
 war, and while there he sickened and died, 
 his death occurring in October, 1863. He 
 was reared in the Primitive Baptist church, 
 and was a man of many excellent traits of 
 character. His widow survived him some 
 years, came to Texas about 1878 and made 
 her home with her children who had pre- 
 viously settled here, and April 6, 1887, she 
 quietly passed to her last home. She, too, 
 was a member of the Primitive Baptist 
 church. Their family consisted of five chil- 
 dren, namely: Amanda, wife of J. D. West, 
 a boot and shoe dealer; Emeline, wife of 
 J. A. Robinson; W. P.; Mary, wife of Dr. 
 William Kinningham; and Arminda, wife of 
 Thomas Rodes, a farmer. 
 
 W. P. McCarty was born in Mississippi, 
 April 18, 1S50, and was reared on his father's 
 plantation. The war coming on, his father's 
 absence made it necessary for the boy to re- 
 main at home when he should have been at 
 school, and thus his early education was 
 somewhat neglected. He, however, made 
 up for these deficiencies by study later in 
 life and by actual business experience and 
 contact with the world. The signal success 
 he has attained in life, and that, too, through 
 his own unaided efforts, is sufficient evidence 
 that he possesses not only a practical edu- 
 cation, but also that he has more than ordi- 
 nary business and financial ability. During 
 the war he was his mother's main support, 
 and after his father's death he remained with 
 her for some years, — until he was twenty- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 five. In that memorable period of civil 
 war their property was raided by both the 
 northern and southern armies, the former 
 not only destroying their buildings, but also 
 offering them all kinds of abuse. As soon 
 as possible he erected new buildings and 
 fences and put the farm in good shape again, 
 and by 1874 had saved a little money. In 
 the meantime, November 10, 1870, he took 
 to himself a wife. 
 
 Mr. McCarty left the old home place in 
 Mississippi in 1874 and moved to Texas, 
 landing in this state with his wife and with 
 two hundred dollars in money, and making 
 settlement in Johnson county. With the 
 aid of a borrowed pony he put in and culti- 
 vated a small crop there. In the fall of 
 the following year he moved to Tarrant 
 county, where he bought a team of mules 
 and rented forty acres of land, and by care- 
 ful economy and honest toil was enabled to 
 add a little to the sum he had already saved. 
 Not long afterward he purchased sixty acres 
 of land, at ten dollars an acre, paying four 
 hundred dollars down and the rest in due 
 time. He remained on that farm five years. 
 Having disposed of his Tarrant county prop- 
 erty, he came, in July, 1881, to his present 
 location in Erath county, where he has since 
 remained and where he has been prospered 
 in his undertakings. On his arrival here 
 he purchased three hundred and twenty 
 acres of unimproved land and at once set 
 about the work of developing a farm. He 
 was the first man to build a wire fence in 
 this part of the county, and in the line of 
 modern improvements he still keeps in the 
 van. As year by year he was prospered in 
 his undertakings, he not only continued im- 
 proving his land but has also bought other 
 land, adding to his home farm and pur- 
 chasing another tract of land, — three hun- 
 
 dred acres, — two miles distant. At this 
 writing his home place comprises four hun- 
 dred acres, all under fence and one hun- 
 dred acres in cultivation, and at his other 
 farm there are seventy-five acres in cul- 
 tivation, the whole tract fenced. Besides 
 this he owns property in Stephenville. 
 His home farm is located five miles east 
 of Duffau and four miles west of Chalk 
 Mountain, is improved with a pleasant and 
 commodious residence, large barn, good 
 orchard, modern wind pump, etc., and its 
 general appearance at once stamps the 
 owner as an intelligent and progressive man 
 and one in every way fully up with the 
 times. Mr. McCarty has most of his land 
 let out to renters, on the "share " system, 
 the crops being the usual ones of the county. 
 For a few years he was largely interested in 
 the cattle business and was successful, but 
 lately, like many of the leading farmers and 
 stock men of the country, he finds it more 
 profitable to pay more attention to the qual- 
 ity than the quantity of stock. Conse- 
 quently he keeps a fewer number and a 
 higher grade of stock, both cattle and 
 horses. Horses and mules especially have 
 received his attention during the past few 
 years. In .1892 he bought two jacks, and 
 the following year a Morgan stallion, all of 
 which he keeps for public service. He keeps 
 an average of a dozen brood mares, and 
 besides the horses and mules he raises he 
 annually buys young mules. At this writ- 
 ing he has a fine herd. Mr. McCarty has 
 always so conducted his operations that his 
 farm has paid its own way. He has made 
 it a practice not to borrow money, and when 
 he has found it necessary to make debts he 
 has always planned ahead for prompt pay- 
 ments and met his obligations on time. Po- 
 litically, he harmonizes with the Democratic 
 
384 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 party and the principles advocated by it, 
 but has never had any aspirations for offi- 
 cial honors. 
 
 The date of Mr. McCarty's marriage 
 has already been given. Mrs. McCarty, 
 iicc Eliza V. Kinningham, was born in Mis- 
 sissippi, in January, 1853, daughter of John 
 Kinningham, a planter of that state. Her 
 father died when she was small, and her 
 mother, who still survives and is now past 
 the meridian of life, makes her home with 
 her children. Mrs. AfcCarty's eldest broth- 
 er, William, deceased, left a family of chil- 
 dren which she and Mr. McCarty are rearing. 
 Her brother Ira is a resident of Mississippi, 
 and her sister Martha, wife of L. Linedargy, 
 is deceased, as also is Mr. Linedargy. Also 
 she has a half brother and sister, namely: 
 Samuel, a resident of Falls county, Texas; 
 and Harriet, wife of William Narmon, 
 Haskell county, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Mc- 
 Carty have had six children, all of whom 
 died in infancy. 
 
 Our subject and his wife are members 
 of the Primitive Baptist church. 
 
 ai 
 
 \. ANDREWS, an agriculturist 
 of energy and ability, has been 
 identified with the interests of 
 Hood county since December, 
 1878. His birth occurred in Monroe coun- 
 ty, Georgia, on the 21st of December, 1825, 
 and he is a son of Sterling and Elizabeth 
 (Williams) Andrews, natives of Virginia, the 
 former of Welsh and the latter of Scotch 
 descent. The maternal grandfather came 
 from Scotland to the New World with Gen- 
 eral Braddock's army, and was so well 
 pleased with the country that he determined 
 to make it his home. The grandparents on 
 both sides removed to North Carolina at an 
 
 early day, where the parents of our subject 
 grew to maturity and were married. There 
 the father engaged in merchandising, and 
 served as sheriff for many years. After his 
 removal to Georgia, in 1823, he turned his 
 attention to agricultural pursuits. While 
 on a business trip to North Carolina, he 
 died there, at the age of sixty-five years, 
 and his wife passed away in Alabama at the 
 age of seventy-five years. 
 
 In their family of ten children, five sons 
 and five daughters, our subject is the ninth 
 in order of birth. Upon the home farm he 
 was reared and received a very limited edu- 
 cation in the primitive log schoolhouse of 
 that early day, but he supplemented the 
 knowledge there acquired by study at 
 home, so that he is now a well informed 
 man. He remained with his mother un- 
 til twenty-three years of age. In 1850 he 
 began merchandising in Whitesville, Harris 
 county, Georgia, which he successfully fol- 
 lowed until the breaking out of the civil war. 
 In March, 1862, he enlisted in Company E, 
 Forty-sixth Georgia Volunteer Infantry, 
 which company he had organized, and was 
 unanimously elected its captain. He was 
 in many engagements, participating in the 
 bombardment of Charleston, the battles of 
 Jacksonville, Mississippi, and Chickamauga, 
 where he was wounded in the right leg, 
 which disabled him for further active duty, 
 but he remained on post duty until the close 
 of the war. After his return home he 
 continued to engage in merchandising from 
 1866 until 1874. 
 
 On the 22d of October, 1854, was sol- 
 emnized the marriage of Mr. Andrews and 
 Miss S. F. Cotton, a daughter of Rev. J. G. 
 Cotton. She was a native of Georgia, and 
 by her marriage became the mother of the 
 following children: Clara Belle; Willie A., 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 385 
 
 who died in Georgia, in October, 1885; 
 John Lee, of Hood county; James B., who 
 died in Kaufman, Texas, in 1882; Payton 
 C, of New Mexico; R. E., of California; 
 Alberts., who died February 11, 1896, in 
 Arizona; George F. , N. M., and Homer, at 
 home; and Fanny Lizzie, who completes 
 the family. The death of the mother oc- 
 curred on the 9th of December, 1894, when 
 she had attained the age of fifty-six years. 
 
 In 187S Mr. Andrews came to Texas, 
 where he has since engaged in agricultural 
 pursuits, and has a fine farm of two hundred 
 and fifty-seven acres in the Brazos valley, 
 four miles east of Granbury, which is under 
 a high state of cultivation and well improved 
 with good buildings. He is an active and 
 consistent member of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal church, south, as was also his worthy 
 wife, and for forty-five years has been con- 
 nected with the Masonic order, in which he 
 has taken nine degrees. In politics he ad- 
 heres closely to the principles of the Demo- 
 cratic party. 
 
 eT. GOODWIN.- Biography has 
 at all times and in all climes been 
 a subject of interest; and especially 
 is American biography of interest 
 at this time when in the lights and shades 
 of a few years fortunes are made and lost; 
 when the indigent youth has nothing save 
 his own will to prevent him from attaining 
 the highest position in the land; and per- 
 haps in no portion of America is biography 
 more replete with interest than in the com- 
 monwealth of Texas, with its boundless re- 
 sources and its daring and enterprising 
 people. 
 
 Just fifty years ago, in i S46, the year 
 after Texas had been admitted into the sis- 
 
 terhood of states, there landed within its 
 borders a family from Mississippi, — people 
 not rich so far as the things of this world 
 count, but possessing what is of far more 
 value, namely, a sterling integrity and char- 
 acter above reproach. Mr. E. T. Goodwin, 
 a representative of this family and now one 
 of the wealthy and influential men of Bosque 
 county, illustrates our point exactly, and to 
 a succinct review of his life would we now 
 invite attention. 
 
 E. T. Goodwin was born in Chickasaw 
 county, Mississippi, April 17, 1843, son of 
 E. T. and Nancy (Page) Goodwin, the 
 former a native of North Carolina and the 
 latter of Alabama. The Goodwin family is 
 of Irish and Scotch origin and made its first 
 American settlement in North Carolina. Of 
 the Page family we record that its history 
 can be traced no further back than Ala- 
 bama, whence some of its members re- 
 moved at an early day to Texas. The 
 father of our subject emigrated with his 
 family to Texas in 1846 and located in 
 Rusk county. He witnessed the fight be- 
 tween the Regulators and the Modera- 
 tors, but took no part in it himself. In 
 1853 he removed to Navarro county, this 
 state, subsequently made several other 
 moves, and finally settled in Erath county, 
 where he died in 1889, at the ripe old age 
 of eighty-four years. He was a farmer and 
 stock-raiser all his life, and while in Ala- 
 bama owned some slaves. In politics he 
 was Democratic. He took an active and 
 intelligent interest in all public affairs, but 
 never sought or held office. He was a firm 
 believer in state rights and in favor of seces- 
 sion. His religious creed was that of the 
 Missionary Baptists. The mother of our 
 subject, his first wife, died in December, 
 1855. Twelve children were born of their 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 union, of whom a brief record is as follows: 
 David P.; Sarah, wife of William Dudley; 
 Tempie, wife of Jasper Higenbottom; James 
 P.; E. T., whose name graces this article; 
 David; Mary A., wife of James Abies; Bell, 
 wife of T. J. Bryant; John F., who died 
 when young; Delia, wife of N. B. Walker; 
 Augustus, deceased; and Sarah N., wife of 
 William Bell. By a subsequent marriage 
 to a Mrs. Smith, the father had two sons, 
 Lee and William. His second wife sur- 
 vives him and is now a resident of Erath 
 county. 
 
 At the time the Goodwin family landed 
 in Texas the subject of our sketch was a 
 child of three years. He grew up on the 
 frontier, moving about from place to place 
 as above recorded, and had no educational 
 advantages, his training being chiefly in the 
 practical school of experience. In 1861, 
 when civil war broke out, he left his father's 
 home and tendered his services to the Con- 
 federacy, going out as a member of the 
 Fifteenth Texas Infantry in the Trans-Mis- 
 sissippi Department, in which he continued 
 until the sanguinary. struggle was at an end. 
 He was in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mis- 
 souri, under command of General Kirby 
 Smith, was engaged in no less than thirty- 
 one fights, and, although he was often in 
 the heat of battle, the balls flying thick and 
 fast around him, he never received a wound. 
 He did not obtain a furlough during the 
 whole of his army life, and, with the excep- 
 tion of a brief period when he was sick, he 
 was never off duty. At the time of the 
 surrender he was in Texas; his command 
 was disbanded at Houston, and from there 
 he returned home, reaching home barefooted 
 and hatless. 
 
 After his return from the army young 
 Goodwin settled down to work on his 
 
 father's farm and remained at the parental 
 home until his marriage, which occurred in 
 the summer of 1867. Then he rented land 
 in this county, his father having settled 
 here in 1855, and in Bosque and Hill coun- 
 ties the subject of our sketch has resided 
 ever since. At this point we may state that 
 he had no assistance when he started out in 
 life for himself, nor has he ever had any- 
 thing given to him since, all he now has 
 having been acquired through his own 
 unaided efforts. After struggling along on 
 rented land for two years, he in 1869 pur- 
 chased a small farm. A year later he sold 
 out and bought a farm in Hill county, near 
 Fort Graham, and bought and sold a num- 
 ber of times, and finally in 1885 purchased 
 one hundred acres of his present farm, in 
 the vicinity of Morgan, where since that time 
 he has made his home, and to which he has 
 added by subsequent purchase until his 
 farmstead now comprises two hundred and 
 thirty-four acres, one hundred and twenty- 
 two acres of which are under cultivation, 
 and among the improvements upon this 
 place may be mentioned his commodious 
 residence, good barn and outbuildings, 
 fences, etc. And in addition to this fine 
 homestead he owns four other farms, pur- 
 chased at different times, altogether includ- 
 ing no less than one thousand five hundred 
 and fifty-three acres, six hundred acres of 
 which have been furrowed and refurrowed 
 and are producing as good crops as are 
 raised in the county of Bosque. For twenty- 
 six years Mr. Goodwin has been interested 
 in the cattle business, handling from one 
 hundred to one thousand head per year, — at 
 this writing having over three hundred head 
 of fine Durham cattle, and of recent years 
 giving especial attention to improving the 
 grade of his stock. He raises only enough 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 387 
 
 horses with which to carry on his farming 
 operations, and he also raises his own pork. 
 Some years ago Mr. Goodwin was for a time 
 engaged in the grocery business at Pearl 
 Valley and Fort Graham, but with this ex- 
 ception he has always devoted his energies 
 to agricultural pursuits, and in all his opera- 
 tions he has met with signal success. He 
 is enterprising and public-spirited to an 
 extent that he is not afraid to support a 
 new venture or measure or to invest in a 
 speculation, and his shrewdness and dis- 
 cernment keep him from going far amiss in 
 his investments. 
 
 July lo, 1867, was consummated the 
 marriage of Mr. E. T. Goodwin and Miss 
 Catherine D. T. Tilley, daughter of Dennis 
 Tilley. Dennis Tilley was one of the early 
 pioneers of Fort Graham, having come to 
 this state from Tennessee. He was by 
 occupation a farmer. He met his death in 
 1856, at the hands of one Greer Hardwick, 
 who robbed him of over three thousand 
 dollars and then killed him in cold blood. 
 His only children were twin girls, one of 
 whom is Mrs. Goodwin. Her mother sub- 
 sequently married a Mr. Lucy, who also 
 was killed. The widowed mother made her 
 home with Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin for many 
 years, and while on a visit to relatives in 
 Limestone county, this state, died, her 
 death occurring in 1872. She was a woman 
 who had bitter experience in life, suffering 
 the loss of both husbands by a murderous 
 hand, and undergoing no little privation 
 and hardships incident to life on the fron- 
 tier; but through it all she bore up like the 
 true Christian that she was. For many 
 years she was identified with the Christian 
 church. Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin have been 
 blessed in the birth of eight children, namely: 
 Lula, deceased; John W., engaged in farm- 
 
 ing; Lee and Sally, in school; Ella, de- 
 ceased; Minnie, deceased; Dennis H., at- 
 tending school ; and one that died in infancy. 
 Mr. Goodwin is taking a just pride in the 
 education of his children, affording them 
 the best of advantages in this line, and at 
 the present writing three of them are in 
 school at Thorp Spring, Mrs. Goodwin also 
 being at that place with them. He and his 
 wife are members of the Christian church, 
 and in his political views he harmonizes 
 with the Democratic party. 
 
 Thus briefly is outlined the salient 
 points in the life history of one of Bosque 
 county's wealthy aud prominent citizens. 
 
 @EORGE WILLIAM HARRIS.— 
 This respected citizen and mer- 
 chant of Dublin, Texas, whose 
 history now comes under review, 
 is of ancestry, both paternal and maternal, 
 tracing back to the Old Dominion. He, 
 however, is a native of Missouri, whither 
 his parents, James Walls and Kate E. 
 (Kearny) Harris, emigrated from Virginia in 
 1837, the year previous to his birth. James 
 Walls Harris was born in Jefferson county, 
 Virginia, son of George Harris, a native of 
 that state and a well known planter there. 
 The Harrises are of Scotch origin. The 
 Kearnys as far back as their history can be 
 traced were Virginians. Grandfather Kearny 
 was an extensive planter and slaveholder, 
 and Kearnyville, Virginia, was named in 
 honor of him. He had five daughters, all 
 of whom grew up and married, their names 
 being Mrs. Elizabeth Glover, Mrs. Susan 
 Smith, Mrs. Jane O'Farrell, Mrs. Maria 
 Gartrell and Mrs. Kate E. Harris. Mrs. 
 Harris received sixty-five slaves as her por- 
 tion of her father's estate. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 On the removal of James Walls Harris 
 and his family to Missouri, he settled in St. 
 Charles, Charles county, where he engaged 
 in merchandising and remained until 1840, 
 that year taking up his abode in St. Louis. 
 Seven years later he moved to Glasgow, 
 Howard county, same state, where he died 
 in the prime of life, August 13, 1853, at the 
 age of thirty- five years. 
 
 George William Harris, the immediate 
 subject of this sketch, was born in the town 
 of St. Charles, Charles county, Missouri, 
 April I, 1838, and went with his parents to 
 St. Louis and thence to Glasgow. After 
 the death of his father he went to Berlin, 
 Missouri, where he secured a clerkship in 
 the store of Joe O. Shelly, with whom he 
 remained two years. The next two years 
 he was purser on the well known river boats. 
 Polar Star, James H. Lucas, White Cloud, 
 and Tropic, running between St. Louis and 
 St. Joseph and Jefferson City and St. 
 Joseph. In 1857 we find him on an 
 overland journey as representative for the 
 firm of Gratz & Shelby, of St. Louis, who 
 had a government contract to deliver freight 
 to Camp Floyd in Utah. This trip across 
 the country was made in a large company, 
 there being twenty-six trains of twenty- six 
 wagons each. Mr. Harris and Mr. Elijah 
 Kertley left the train at Fort Kearney and 
 continued the rest of the journey alone to 
 Camp Floyd, Utah. Subsequently Mr. 
 Harris was for sixteen months quartermaster 
 sutler at Fort Bridger. From there he 
 made the return trip in company with 
 Messrs. Maupin and Clark to Berlin, Mis- 
 souri, and thence came to Waco, Texas, 
 reaching this place in November, 1859. At 
 Waco in February of the following year he 
 established himself in a merchandise busi- 
 ness, which he conducted successfully until 
 
 March, 1861, when he sold out and the 
 next month joined the army. His army life 
 began in April, 1861, and lasted until the 
 close of the war, was principally on the 
 west of the Mississippi, and in many re- 
 spects was a remarkable one. He went out 
 as a member of Company E, Fourth Texas 
 Cavalry. This company was afterward dis- 
 mounted in Arkansas and he was discharged. 
 Immediately he assisted in raising Company 
 H, Nineteenth Texas Cavalry, of which he 
 was first lieutenant and with which he re- 
 mained until the conflict was over. Al- 
 though he was frequently in the hottest of 
 the fight, many a time almost within the 
 grasp of the enemy, had four horses killed 
 under him, and on one occasion his hat shot 
 off his head, he passed through the whole of 
 the war without ever having been captured 
 or wounded. 
 
 The war over, Mr. Harris returned to 
 Waco and resumed business at that point, 
 which he continued until November, 1874. 
 That year he moved to Bosque county, ten 
 miles west of Meridian, and engaged in the 
 cattle business, was there two years, and at 
 times had as high as 3,000 head of cattle. 
 His next move was to Iredell, Bosque 
 county, where he again turned his attention 
 to mercantile business. He remained in 
 Iredell till November, 1893. In February 
 of the following year became to Dublin and 
 started a business here, and at this writing 
 he is manager of a store for his son, E. W. 
 Harris. 
 
 Mr. Harris was married February 19, 
 1 86 1, to Miss Mary L. Burney, who was 
 born in November, 1841, daughter of Colo- 
 nel George E. and Sarah E. ( Blaire ) Bur- 
 ney, of Waco. She died June 4, 1877, 
 leaving two children, Mattie Imogene and 
 Ewing Walls. The former was born De- 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 cember 23, 1861, married Mr. Marcus E. 
 McPhail, and is now living at Ennis, Texas. 
 Ewing Walls was born April 24, 1864, at 
 Waco, married Miss Pauline Quillidge, of 
 Cleburne, Texas, and they have two chil- 
 dren, — Reita and Mary. For his second 
 wife the subject of our sketch married Mrs. 
 Nannie Lacy, ncc Turner, widow of John 
 Lacy, her marriage to Mr. Harris being con- 
 summated November 19, 1878. Their chil- 
 dren are Ruth, born June 20, 1890, and 
 Burney William, December 20, 1893. 
 
 Mr. Harris is fraternally identified with 
 Meridian Lodge, No. 127, I. Q. O. F., and 
 Dublin Lodge, No. 107, K. of P. He 
 united with the Methodist church in 1893, 
 but prior to that was for eighteen years a 
 Baptist. His political standing is that of a 
 stanch Democrat. 
 
 >Y* A- CLARK.— The world has little 
 J use for the misanthrope. The uni- 
 A ■ versal truth of brotherhood opposes 
 with great force the living for self 
 alone. The underlying principle of all re- 
 ligion consists in man's duty to his Creator 
 and to humanity, and "he serves God best 
 who serves most his fellow man." Such 
 has been the service in which Mr. Clark has 
 for many years been engaged. In educa- 
 tional and church work in Texas he has 
 been a most important factor, laboring ear- 
 nestly in those interests which elevate hu- 
 manity and make the world brighter and 
 better. 
 
 Each calling or business, if honorable, 
 has its place in the scheme of human exist- 
 ence, constituting a part of the plan where- 
 by life's methods are pursued and man 
 reaches his ultimate destiny. "All are 
 needed by each one," wrote Emerson. The 
 
 importance of a business, however, is largely 
 determined by its usefulness. So depend- 
 ent upon his fellow man is man that the 
 worth of the individual is largely estimated 
 by what he has done for humanity. There 
 is no class to whom greater gratitude is due 
 than to those self-sacrificing, noble-minded 
 men who carry the gospel into the frontier 
 regions. Their influence cannot be measured 
 by any known standard, their helpfulness is 
 as broad as the universe, and their power 
 goes hand in hand with the beneficent laws 
 of nature that come from the source of life 
 itself. 
 
 Laboring for his fellow men through 
 four-score years, Mr. Clark is to-day hon- 
 ored and revered by all who know him. He 
 was born in Shawneetown, Illinois, Novem- 
 ber 6, 181 5, a son of Thomas D. and Jane 
 (Cunningham) Clark. The family removed 
 to Louisville, Kentucky, at an early day, 
 and in 1839 the mother came with her chil- 
 dren to Texas, locating in Austin. The 
 father had died while the family were living 
 in Kentucky. From Austin they went to 
 Nacogdoches, Texas. 
 
 Mr. Clark received excellent educational 
 privileges, completing a course in the State 
 University of Alabama, at Tuscaloosa. Feel- 
 ing that his services were needed in the 
 ministry he began preaching in Texas in 
 1843, being ordained in Titus county in the 
 same year. For several years he preached 
 for the church at Palestine and afterward at 
 Fort Worth and other places. For fifty- 
 two years he continued his work as a preach- 
 er of the gospel, and his eloquent, earnest 
 words induced many to forsake the ways of 
 the world and prepare by righteous living for 
 the life eternal beyond the grave. In 1873 
 he came to Thorp Springs, Hood county, 
 and founded Add Ran College. At his own 
 
390 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 expense he erected the school buildings, 
 which are constructed of stone and are com- 
 modious, substantial structures, furnishing 
 accommodation for six hundred students. In 
 1873 Mr. Clark opened the school with thir- 
 teen pupils, and in six years had increased 
 the membership to five hundred. In 1879 
 he turned the management of the college 
 over to his sons A. and R. Clark, who con- 
 ducted the school until the winter of 1895-6, 
 when it was abandoned and the school re- 
 moved to Waco, Texas. 
 
 Mr. Clark has been one of the strongest 
 educational workers in the state and has 
 done more for the upbuilding of the church 
 and school interests of Texas than any one 
 man, save perhaps the venerable Dr. Burle- 
 son, of Baylor University, at Waco. For a 
 number of years past he has been retired 
 from all business cares, yet he has preached 
 at intervals in Thorp Spring and other 
 places and recently conducted a nine-days 
 meeting in Bell county, Texas. In May, 
 1896, he held a nine-days meeting at Bon- 
 ham, Texas, doing all the preaching himself. 
 
 In 1842 Mr. Clark was united in the 
 holy bonds of matrimony with Miss Hettie 
 De Spain, and their marriage was blessed 
 with eight children, namely: Addison, Ran- 
 dolph, Ida, Joseph, Thomas, Mollie, Frank 
 and Amelia. The two eldest sons served 
 in the Confederate army during the civil 
 war, the eldest continuing at the front 
 throughout the struggle. The mother of 
 this family was a most estimable Christian 
 woman and proved of great assistance to her 
 husband in his work. She died in 1894, at 
 the age of seventy years, after fifty-two 
 years of happy married life, but though the 
 husband is now left alone he lives in the as- 
 surance of a blessed reunion in that land 
 where parting and sorrow are no more. 
 
 >nr* D. BERRY, is classed among the 
 
 M most distinguished adopted sons of 
 /G 1 central Texas, and for twenty-eight 
 years he has been an important fac- 
 tor in the business life of this locality. The 
 majority of lives are unmarked by events of 
 exciting nature and the reader who is fond 
 of startling incidents is therefore seldom a 
 student of biography; but the record of a 
 man who faithfully performs the duties that 
 devolve upon him and makes the best of his 
 opportunities leaves behind him a record 
 which is worthy of perpetuation. It is to 
 this class that the country owes its stability 
 and of this class our subject is a worthy rep- 
 resentative. 
 
 Mr. Berry comes of a family of English 
 origin. His father, Henry Berry, was a na- 
 tive of North Carolina, and J. D. was born 
 in Morgan county, Alabama, on the 27th of 
 September, 1820. He spent his childhood 
 daj's on the old homestead, aiding in the 
 labors of the farm and attending the sub- 
 scription schools. At the age of sixteen he 
 started out in life for himself and has been 
 the architect of his own fortune. He was 
 first employed as a salesman in a mercantile 
 establishment in New Orleans, where he 
 remained for some years, and in 1839 went 
 to Mississippi. 
 
 Mr. Berry was married in Marion coun- 
 ty, of the latter state, on the loth of Jan- 
 uary, 1844, the lady of his choice being Miss 
 M. E. Wilks, daughter of S. H. Wilks and 
 a native of Alabama. They now have two 
 living children, — S. O., of Ardmore, Indian 
 Territory; and C. P., who is in the employ 
 of the state as a convict guard. 
 
 In Mississippi Mr. Berry engaged in 
 farming for five years and then removed to 
 Arkansas, locating at Gaines' Landing, 
 where he carried on merchandising. He 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 also followed the same pursuit in Monticello 
 and Lake Valley for several years, enjoying 
 a very extensive and lucrative trade. At 
 length he disposed of his mercantile inter- 
 ests, took up the study of law in Monticello, 
 Arkansas, and was admitted to the bar in 
 1858. Immediately he entered upon the 
 practice of his profession and continued a 
 member of the legal fraternity of Monticello 
 until after the beginning of the civil war, 
 when he enlisted and was assigned to the 
 quartermaster's department at Camden, 
 Arkansas, where he remained until the fail 
 of 1863. He was then detailed forservice in 
 the cotton department at Lamartown, where 
 he remained until the close of the war. 
 
 When hostilities had ceased Mr. Berry 
 removed to Waco, Texas, where he resumed 
 merchandising, conducting his store until 
 the fall of 1868, when he took up his resi- 
 dence in Stephenville and became identified 
 with the bar of this place. After ten years' 
 successful practice he opened a private bank, 
 which he successfully conducted until he 
 went to Cisco, where, in partnership with 
 Judge J. R. Fleming, he conducted a bank. 
 His next place of residence was Dublin. He 
 established the first bank at that place, and 
 on selling out there returned to Stephenville, 
 where he has since been engaged in the insur- 
 ance business. He has the agency for sev- 
 eral well known and reliable companies, and 
 in the new undertaking has met with a well de- 
 served success. His career is a most credit- 
 able one, for he started out in life empty- 
 handed and depending entirely upon his own 
 exertions, by the exercise of his abilities, 
 both natural and acquired, he has risen to a 
 position of affluence. He is regarded as one 
 of the leading business men of central Texas 
 and a valued citizen of Erath county. 
 
 In his political views Mr. Barry is a "sil- 
 
 ver democrat," and socially he is connected 
 with Stephenville Lodge, No. 263, F. & A. 
 M. Both he and his wife are members of 
 the Baptist church and their many friends 
 throughout the community testify to their 
 sterling worth. 
 
 ai 
 
 C. SWITZER is the pioneer 
 blacksmith of Comanche, Texas, 
 and the founder of a family in 
 this county that has been promi- 
 nently connected with its history for almost 
 a quarter of a century. He has been a pro- 
 moter of its industrial interests and has 
 given an active support to all measures cal- 
 culated to prove of public benefit. In the 
 work of development and progress he has 
 borne his part, and he deserves mention 
 among the honored pioneers. 
 
 Mr. Switzer was born in Orangeburg 
 county, South Carolina, November 14, 
 1830, a son of Samuel Switzer, who was 
 born in 1801, while the grandfather, Henry 
 Switzer, was also a native of South Caro- 
 lina, and was one of the heroes of the 
 Revolution. The father of the last named 
 was a native of Switzerland and became the 
 founder of the family in America. The 
 male representatives of the name have us- 
 ually been farmers and mechanics, and in 
 religious belief have been Lutherans. Sam- 
 uel Switzer was reared in South Carolina, 
 and married Mary Gates, a native of the 
 same state and a daughter of Christian 
 Gates, who was born in Germany, and was 
 an officer in the Revolutionary war. They 
 had nine children, seven sons and two 
 daughters, namely: William, John, Cathe- 
 rine, Samuel, W. C, H. C, Ben W., 
 Mary and D. S., who is president of 
 Weatherford College, of Weatherford, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Texas. The mother died at the age of 
 forty-six, the father at scveiity-one years. 
 The father was a contractor and builder and 
 a successful business man. He supported 
 the Democracy and in religious belief was a 
 Mefhodist, rearing his family in that faith. 
 
 Our subject spent his boyhood in his na- 
 tive state, working at the carpenter's trade 
 with his father and then learning the black- 
 smith's trade. During the war he served 
 in defense of the south in the Twenty-sev- 
 enth Mississippi Infantry until his health 
 failed. Later he joined General Forrest's 
 command under Colonel Kelly and was de- 
 tailed to serve as blacksmith. 
 
 In 1866 Mr. Switzer came to Austin 
 county, Texas, where he remained three 
 years, when he removed to Milam county 
 and spent six years there. In February, 
 1876, he came to Comanche county and 
 established a blacksmith and wagon repair 
 shop in the county seat. Here he is still 
 carrying on business, having the leading 
 shop in the town, and with forty years' ex- 
 perience in this line he is able to do the 
 most efficient and satisfactory work, there- 
 fore receiving a liberal patronage. 
 
 When twenty-four years of age, Mr. 
 Switzer married Jane Yeagin, who was born 
 in Greenville, South Carolina, a daughter 
 of Rufus and Jane McDaniel Yeagin. They 
 became the parents of twelve children, nine 
 sons and three daughters — Sam Rufus, 
 William D., Lulu Mary, Lawrence (de- 
 ceased), Cora (deceased), John J., Ben (de- 
 ceased), David, Fred, Walter, Isla May and 
 Yeagin. In April, 1895, the mother was 
 called to the home beyond, bringing to Mr. 
 Switzer the greatest bereavement that has 
 ever come into his life. 
 
 For over fifty years he has been a con- 
 sistent member of the Methodist church, 
 
 class-leader for twenty-five years and is 
 deeply interested in church work. In poli- 
 tics he is a Democrat. Of a pleasant, genial 
 manner, he wins friends wherever he goes 
 and his genuine worth gains him their high 
 regard. 
 
 EL. HOLT, the popular druggist of 
 I>luff Dale and the pioneer physi- 
 cian of Erath county, for almost a 
 quarter of a century has been iden- 
 tified with the business interests of this 
 place, and as one of its leading citizens is 
 held in high esteem. Figuring thus promi- 
 nently, it is but fitting that biographical 
 honors be accorded him in connection with 
 the personal mention of other representa- 
 tive men and women of central Texas. 
 
 Dr. Holt is a native of South Carolina, 
 born March 4, 1844, a son of Israel and 
 Harriet Eliza (Conant) Holt. The Holt 
 family is of German origin, and was founded 
 in America in early colonial days. The 
 father of our subject was born in North 
 Carolina, and when a young man went to 
 South Carolina. He served as a soldier in 
 the war of 1812, and made farming his life 
 occupation. He was married in South Car- 
 olina to a daughter of Major Nelson, and 
 after her death he married Mrs. Harriet 
 Eliza Nichols, widow of Dr. Nichols, and 
 whose maiden name was Conant. She was 
 a native of South Carolina, of Scotch-Irish 
 ancestry, and died in 1857. In 1S59 he 
 removed with his family to Texas, locating 
 in Cherokee county. 
 
 The Doctor was reared on his father's 
 farm, and the public schools afforded him 
 his early educational privileges. In the 
 summer of 1861, when less than eighteen 
 years of age, he joined the "boys in gray," 
 
HIS TOUT OF TEXAS. 
 
 true to the district in which he was reared 
 and to the principles with which he was 
 familiar from his earliest boyhood. He be- 
 came a member of Company G, Eighteenth 
 Texas Infantry, which was attached to 
 Walker's division, and participated in the 
 battles of Mansfield, Jenkins' Ferry, Pleas- 
 ant Hill, Yellow Bayou, and many others. 
 He was commissioned first lieutenant and 
 commanded his company throughout the 
 war. After the first year he was never off 
 duty for a single day. 
 
 When hostilities were brought to an end 
 the Doctor took up his residence in Bosque 
 county and began the study of medicine 
 under the preceptorship of Dr. M. S. Crow, 
 at Meridian, remaining with that gentleman 
 for two years. On the expiration of that 
 period he took his first course of lectures at 
 the Tulane University, in New Orleans, and 
 then began practice at Iredell, where he 
 remained until 1872, when he came to the 
 present site of Bluff Dale. His practice in 
 those early days extended over a radius of 
 thirty-five miles in Erath, Hood, Somervell 
 and Bosque counties. In 1876 he took a 
 second .course of lectures at New Orleans, 
 and graduated, then resumed his practice in 
 Bluff Dale and the surrounding country, 
 where he has built up a very extensive and 
 lucrative business. He has the honor of 
 being the oldest practicing physician in 
 Erath county, and his life has probably 
 made him better known than almost any 
 other resident. He has that true love for 
 his profession without which there is no 
 success, and that broad charity for a fellow 
 man that enables him to get a keener insight 
 into his patient's condition than would other- 
 wise be possible. He has ever been a close 
 student, and his advancement in proficiency 
 has been continuous. He has few equals 
 
 and no superiors in all central Texas, and 
 he is indeed a worthy representative of the 
 medical fraternity in this section of the 
 state. For ten years he has also been 
 engaged in the drug business, establishing 
 the first store of the kind in Bluff Dale. He 
 has a pasture of one thousand acres in Erath 
 county and is extensively and successfully 
 engaged there in the stock business. 
 
 On the 1 2th of February, 1871, Doctor 
 Holt was joined in wedlock to Miss Sarah 
 Adair, a native of Carroll county, Mississippi, 
 who died October 8, 1872. He was again 
 married February 12, 1874, his second 
 union being with Miss Bell Gordon, a native 
 of Georgia and a sister of A. P. Gordon, of 
 Granbury, Texas. They have five children: 
 Mary Ida; Condie; Birdie, who died at the 
 age of eight months; Ulpian G. and Joe G. 
 
 The Doctor and his estim<ible wife are 
 faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal 
 church. Socially he is connected with Bluff 
 Dale Lodge, No. 764, F. & A. M., and his 
 wife and daughter belong to the Order of 
 the Eastern Star, the former serving as 
 matron and the latter as deputy grand of 
 district No. 36. The Doctor also belongs 
 to the Stephenville Medical Association and 
 in politics is a Democrat. On the 14th of 
 December, 1895, he lost his pleasant home 
 and all its contents by fire, thus suffering a 
 loss of six thousand dollars. The family is 
 one of prominence in the community, the 
 members of the household occupying an 
 enviable position in social circles. 
 
 W C. C 
 
 g one o 
 «| at the 
 
 GEORGE, of Stephenville, is 
 of the ablest lawyers practicing 
 
 A f at the bar of central Te.xas, having 
 that mental grasp which enables him 
 
 to discover all the relevant points in a case 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 and use them to the best advantage. A 
 man of sound judgment, he masters his 
 cases with masterly skill and tact, is a log- 
 ical reasoner and has a ready command of 
 English, while his devotion to his client's 
 interest is most marked. 
 
 Mr. George traces his ancestry back to 
 Wales. His great-grandfather, Thomas 
 George, came from that country to America 
 in 1755, when five years of age, subsequently 
 went to Kentucky, and was engaged with 
 Daniel Boone in the Indian wars in that 
 state. He was also a soldier of the Revo- 
 lution. He settled at Boonesboro, was a 
 minister of the Methodist church, and died 
 in 1854, at the advanced age of one hun- 
 dred and four years. He married Polly 
 Byrd, who was born in 1748, and died in 
 1853, at the age of one hundred and five 
 years. The grandfather, Asa George, was 
 born in 1803, and met his death by accident 
 in 1863. By occupation he was a farmer. 
 The maternal grandfather of the father of 
 our subject, Mr. Freshour, was a cente- 
 narian at the time of death, and his wife, 
 who bore the maiden name of Barbara 
 Williams, is still living, and has passed the 
 one hundredth milestone on life's journey. 
 
 Mr. Lee H. George, father of our sub- 
 ject, was born in Alabama, was reared in 
 Mississippi, and became a resident of Na- 
 varro county, Texas, in 1856. He there 
 married, in 1858, Miss Lou A. Jeffers, a 
 ilative of Navarro county. Her father was 
 the first settler of that county, and lived 
 there at the time of the Texas revolution. 
 He was of English descent, and both he 
 and his wife reached advanced age. She 
 was born in 1800, and died in 1887. Of 
 her children, eleven sons and two daughters 
 reached mature years. To L. H. and Lou 
 A. George were born five children,— a son. 
 
 — the subject of this sketch, — and four 
 daughters who lived to maturity; and they 
 lost three sons, two of whom died by acci- 
 dent. The father of this family entered 
 the Confederate service at the beginning of 
 the civil war, as a member of the Nine- 
 teenth Texas Cavalry, under Nat M. Bur- 
 ford, and served as orderly sergeant until 
 the close. He is still living, at the age of 
 fifty-seven years, and is well preserved. 
 The mother, also, Lou A., is still living, 
 and her sincere piety, good judgment and 
 great moral worth makes her loved by all 
 and of great influence for good in her home 
 and community. 
 
 It will thus be seen that the ancestry of 
 our subject is noted for longevity, and it 
 seems that Mr. George may not be an ex- 
 ception to the rule. He is a man of fine 
 physique, six feet tall and weighing one 
 hundred and eighty pounds, and possesses 
 excellent athletic power. He was born in 
 Navarro county, July 21, 1864, and when 
 twenty-two years of age made the best rec- 
 ord as a sprint-runner in Texas, covering 
 one hundred yards in ten seconds, and one 
 thousand feet in thirty-four and one-fourth 
 seconds. His splendid physical develop- 
 ment has fitted him for his business life, for 
 it is well known that the strongest minds 
 are found in healthy bodies. His mental 
 training has been such as to make him a 
 ripe scholar, and his education has been 
 largely self-acquired. He attended the 
 common schools, and afterward acquired 
 some knowledge of Greek and Latin. 
 
 In May, 1887, he took up the study of 
 law in the office of A. M. Carter, of Fort 
 Worth, Texas, and in August of the same 
 year was admitted to the bar, before George 
 McCall, judge of the district. He then 
 taught school for two years, and in 1889 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 began the practice of law in Hamilton, 
 Texas, where he remained for four years, 
 when he removed to Stephenville. He 
 served as district attorney in the twenty- 
 ninth judicial district of Texas in 1891 and 
 1892, and has gained a place among the 
 foremost representatives of the legal pro- 
 fession in this section of the state. In 1894 
 he was a candidate of the Democracy for 
 the state legislature, receiving the nomina- 
 tion entirely without his solicitation, and 
 though he ran ahead of the ticket he suf- 
 fered defeat with the others of his party. 
 
 On the i6th of April, 1889, Mr. George 
 was married to Miss Willie Akers, in Ham- 
 ilton county, Texas, and they now have a 
 son, Sawnie, six years of age. 
 
 @EORGE E. J ACIvSON.— History 
 and biography for the most part 
 record the lives of those only who 
 have attained military, political or 
 literary distinction, or who in any other 
 career have passed through extraordinary 
 vicissitudes of fortune. The unostentatious 
 routine of private life, although in the ag- 
 gregate more important to the welfare of 
 the community, cannot, from its nature, 
 figure in the public annals, bat it is the men 
 of private life who are the true source of 
 strength of a nation. We cannot all fol- 
 low the example of those who have been 
 warriors or statesmen, but the man who has 
 been true and honorable in all the relations 
 of life furnishes to the world a career that 
 is well worthy of emulation. 
 
 Such a man is the subject of this re- 
 view, — George E. Jackson, — who is justly 
 regarded as one of the leading farmers and 
 stock-raisers of Hood county, and he has 
 the esteem of all who know him. He was 
 
 born in Georgia and is the second child and 
 eldest son of Andrew Jackson, a promi- 
 nent citizen of this locality. The natal day 
 of Mr. Jackson was April 23, 1849. When 
 a child of eight years he was brought to 
 Texas and was reared on the Paluxy, his 
 time being largely passed in the work of the 
 farm. His school privileges were meager, 
 his boyhood being spent in assisting in the 
 improvement of the frontier farm. He re- 
 mained with his parents until he had attained 
 his majority and then started out in life for 
 himself, turning his attention to the pursuit 
 with which he had become familiar when 
 under the parental roof. 
 
 In 1872 Mr. Jackson made his first pur- 
 chase of land, becoming the owner of a tract 
 of one hundred and thirty-five acres, of 
 which twenty acres were under a partial 
 state of improvement. He at once began 
 its further development, and success has 
 crowned his energetic and well directed ef- 
 forts. In connection with general farming 
 he is engaged extensively in stock-raising, 
 making a specialty of the breeding of Jer- 
 sey and Berkshire hogs, graded shorthorn 
 cattle and Clydesdale horses. 
 
 He may truly be called a self-made man, 
 for he started in life without means, and by 
 his own industry and perseverance has accu- 
 mulated a handsome property, comprising 
 three hundred and twenty acres of fine land 
 on the Palu.xy, of which one hundred and 
 ten acres are under a high state of cultiva- 
 tion. He makes the best of his opportuni- 
 ties and demonstrates that success is not a 
 matter of genius but the result of earnest 
 purpose and energetic labor. 
 
 Mr. Jackson has a pleasant home and 
 happy family. He was married on the 14th 
 of September, 1873, to Miss Elizabeth Car- 
 away, a native of Tennessee, and a daugh- 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 ter of Bryant and Rachel (Deil) Caraway, 
 who came to Hood county in 1859. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Jackson are the parents of nine 
 children, namely: Charles I^. , Emma S., 
 Mary T. , Jessie A., Catherine M., Alice R., 
 Robert E. , Sarah E. and George A. Our 
 subject is devoted to the interests of his 
 family and has provided his children with 
 good educational advantages, thus fitting 
 them for life's practical and responsible 
 duties. He and his wife are members of 
 the Methodist Episcopal church, south, their 
 membership being with the congregation at 
 Marion Chapel. Socially Mr. Jackson is 
 connected with Palu.xy Lodge, No. 393, 
 A. F. & A. M., has passed all the chairs 
 and is the present master of the lodge. Po- 
 litically he votes with the Democracy. 
 
 >Y'0HN DILLARD hunt, one of the 
 J extensive landowners and leading 
 A 1 farmers of Shive, Texas, was born 
 April 4, 1839, in Bastrop county, 
 Texas. He has in his veins an admixture 
 of the Scotch and Irish blood and the best 
 characteristics of those nationalities are 
 manifest in his life. His great-grandfather 
 was born in Scotland and founded the fam- 
 ily on this side the Atlantic. The grand- 
 parents of our subjects were George and 
 Lydia Hunt, the former a native of Tennes- 
 see, the latter of Pennsylvania, of Dutch 
 lineage. Shortly after their marriage they 
 removed to Alabama and the husband plat- 
 ted the town of Huntsville, which was 
 named in his honor. He bought about six 
 hundred and forty acres of land there, 
 founding the little village, which has since 
 become of considerable importance, both 
 in size and business interests. He proba- 
 
 bly served in the war of 1812 and was al- 
 ways known by the title of Captain. His 
 political support was given the Democracy. 
 He was a man of five feet ten inches in 
 height, weighing two hundred pounds and 
 of a nervous temperament. His death oc- 
 curred when about fifty-seven years of age. 
 His children all became residents of Texas, 
 and a record of the family is as follows: 
 John C. , the first of the family to come to 
 Texas, arrived in 1830 and resided princi- 
 pally in Fayette and Bastrop counties, 
 where he followed surveying. He amassed 
 considerable landed property and died un- 
 married about the year 1S42. Minerva 
 married Thomas G. McGebee, and lived in 
 Hayes county, having a family of ten chil- 
 dren; George was a farmer of Bastrop 
 county; Sarah died at the age of eighteen 
 years, while on the way to Texas. Eliza- 
 beth married Alfred C. Hall and had three 
 children; they lived in Fayette and had a 
 farm in Washington county. Alexander 
 was a farmer of Bastrop county. David 
 died at the age of nineteen years. Palmyra 
 became the wife of D. M. Oliver, by whom 
 she had five children, and after his death 
 wedded Thomas Hubbard, by whom she 
 had two children. Her husbands were 
 farmers of Bastrop and Fayette counties. 
 
 William Hunt, the father of our subject, 
 was born in Talladega county, Alabama, 
 and was married there in July, 1836, to 
 Lucinda Herndon Gaines. Soon afterward 
 he removed to Washington county, Texas, 
 accompanied by his parents and a number 
 of his brothers and sisters. After a year 
 spent in Washington county they all went 
 to Bastrop county, where the grandfather 
 located a headright of six hundred and forty 
 acres. He spent only a portion of his time 
 upon the place, improving it, and in the 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 winter of 1837-8 he died of winter fever. 
 It had been his intention of taking the fam- 
 ily to his new farm in the spring, and the 
 widow and her children moved to the place 
 at that time, living there until 1852. Mrs. 
 Hunt, the mother of our subject, was born 
 in Georgia in 1820 and was a daughter of 
 John Gaines, of Scotch descent. Her death 
 occurred in 1887. Her children were John 
 Dillard, of this review; Elizabeth Ann, who 
 married Luke Hart; Martha, wife of Thomas 
 H. Martyn; Evaline, who became the wife 
 of John Hall and after his death wedded 
 Samuel Nuckles; Sarah; Alexander David, 
 deceased; Mary, wife of W. Robert Wal- 
 lace; Alice, wife of John Wallace; Willie; 
 Lou, deceased, who married William Bul- 
 lard and after his death became the wife of 
 Hugh Sherrell. 
 
 In the spring of 1848, when John Dillard 
 Hunt was a boy of nine years, he accom- 
 panied his parents on their removal to Hayes 
 county, Texas, and in the fall of the same 
 year went with them to Fayette county, 
 where he made his home until 1881. Dur- 
 ing the war he entered the service of the 
 south, enlisting in July, 1861, as a member 
 of Company I, Eighth Texas Cavalry. An 
 attack of measles caused his discharge on 
 account of disability in January, 1862, but 
 in his short service he participated in the 
 battle of Green River. Recovering suffi- 
 ciently he re-enlisted in September, 1S62, 
 in Company I, Fifth Texas Cavalry, and 
 participated in its many engagements to the 
 close of the war, in April, 1865. 
 
 Mr. Hunt returned to his home in Fay- 
 ette county, and on the 15th of June, 1865, 
 was united in marriage with Miss Mary 
 Elizabeth Moore, daughter of Colonel John 
 Henry and Eliza (Cummings) Moore. She 
 was born in Fayette county, Texas, Novem- 
 
 ber 2, 1844. Her father. Colonel Moore, 
 came to this state in 1818 and located a 
 headright where the city of Lagrange is now 
 located, and was almost continuously in the 
 service of Texas until after annexation to the 
 United States in 1845, when the declining 
 health of his faithful wife called him home; 
 and preferring to be by her side, he withdrew 
 from public life. (See Thrall's and other 
 histories, as well as state papers, acknowl- 
 edging his valuable services rendered.) He 
 was truly one of the pioneers of the region. 
 He was married June 14, 1827, and the 
 following children were born to the Colonel 
 and his wife: William, who was born May 
 5, 1828, and is now deceased; Armsted, 
 who was born March 17, 1831, and died in 
 infancy; Tabitha Bowen, who was born De- 
 cember 25, 1832, and died November 20, 
 1895; Eleanor, who was born August 25, 
 1835, and died in infancy; Eliza Francis, 
 born August 9, 1837, and is deceased; John 
 Henry, born March 20, 1840, also deceased; 
 Robert James, born June 12, 1842, de- 
 ceased; and Mrs. Hunt. The grandfather 
 of the last named was Colonel Armsted 
 Moore, who removed from Virginia and set- 
 tled near Carthage, Tennessee. He mar- 
 ried Tabitha Adams Bowen, daughter of 
 Captain John and Mary Henley (Russell) 
 Bowen, of Pennsylvania. Her mother was 
 a daughter of William and Tabitha (Adams) 
 Russell, and General Russell was the origi- 
 nal emigrant of the family in America, sail- 
 ing from England to Virginia in 17 10. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Hunt have but one child, 
 John William, who was born Mary 29, 1866, 
 and was married in December, 1888, to 
 Lillie D. Laxon, daughter of William La.xon, 
 of Reynolds county, Texas. The children 
 of this marriage are Hattie Erma, born No- 
 I vember, 27, 1889; Lola, born in November, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 1892; and Mary Wallace, born in October, 
 1894- 
 
 Mr. Hunt continued his farming in Fay- 
 ette county until September, 1881, when he 
 removed to Bell county, Texas, residing 
 there until 1883, when he purchased six 
 hundred and forty acres, where he now re- 
 sides. To his farm he has added from time 
 to time until he now has one thousand six 
 hundred and thirty acres, all in one body. 
 When he made the first purchase the land 
 was entirely unimproved, but with character- 
 istic energy he began arrangements for its 
 development and now has three hundred 
 acres under a high state of cultivation. In 
 addition to this ranch he owns three hun- 
 dred and twenty acres in Floyd county. 
 His well directed efforts have been crowned 
 with success and he is to-day one of the 
 prosperous farmers of the county. 
 
 In his political sympathies he is a Popu- 
 list. Socially he is a Mason, having united 
 with the order in Lafayette Lodge, No. 34, 
 F. & A. M., in 1862. He is also connected 
 with Hamilton Lodge, No. 3021, Knights 
 of Honor. Since 1859 he has been a mem- 
 ber of the Christian church, and social, edu- 
 cational and moral interests receive his 
 support and co-operation. 
 
 iHOMAS HOOKER, a prominent 
 early settler and Baptist preacher 
 of Texas, and now the senior mem- 
 ber of the mercantile firm of 
 Hooker & Miller (the latter his son-in-law), 
 at Duffau, Texas, was born in Tennessee, 
 February 12, 1821. His history is in some 
 respects unique and is well worthy a place 
 in this biographical record. 
 
 Mr. Hooker's ancestors were among the 
 original families of Virginia and North Car- 
 
 olina, and his parents, Thomas and Sarah 
 (Walker) Hooker, were natives of Tennes- 
 see, the former of Welsh descent and the 
 latter of Irish. The senior Thomas Hooker 
 was a Baptist minister and farmer, was a 
 man of great usefulness in his day, and died 
 in his native state in 1 831, at the age of 
 fifty-three years. His widow survived him 
 a number of years, moved to Texas with her 
 family, and died here in i860. They were 
 the parents 6f ten children, two of whom 
 died young, seven came to Texas, and of 
 this number only two, Thomas and Walker, 
 are now living. Their names in order of 
 birth are: Charlotte, wife of William 
 Kitchens; Mary, who was twice married, 
 first to C. Massie and after his death to 
 Benjamin Childers; Ruth, wife of William 
 Harris; James; Samuel; Thomas; William; 
 and Walker, now a farmer of Hunt county. 
 James Hooker came to Texas at an early 
 day and was prominent here for many years, 
 living first in Red River county and later in 
 Hunt county. He died in Hunt county. 
 For years he was largely interested in farm- 
 ing and stock-raising, owned a large number 
 of slaves and accumulated great wealth. 
 Also he figured conspicuously in public life. 
 He served as county judge and time after 
 time was honored with a seat in the state 
 legislature. 
 
 The subject of our sketch spent his boy- 
 hood days on the farm and grew up under 
 Christian influence. He, however, had only 
 limited advantages for obtaining an educa- 
 tion, this being due to the circumstances in 
 which the family were left at his father's 
 death, that being when Thomas was ten 
 years old. He remained in Tennessee until 
 he was nineteen, when he went to Missis- 
 sippi; but before leaving his native state he 
 had left the home farm and clerked for a 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 399 
 
 time in Carthage, Lebanon and Rome. 
 Soon after going to Mississippi he married 
 and settled down to farming, buying land 
 there and remaining thus occupied nine 
 years. 
 
 While clerking at Rome he was leader 
 of a gang of young men, owned two race- 
 horses, lived fast and gambled; but fortu- 
 nately for him he saw the error of his ways 
 before it was too late. On one occasion, 
 after some days and nights of carousing, he 
 awoke to the realization of the life he was 
 leading, the thought of his early home 
 influence and Christian parents came to 
 him, and he turned away in disgust from the 
 dissipations that had so fascinated him. He 
 disposed of his liquors and sold his race- 
 horses, and shortly afterward was converted 
 and joined the Missionary Baptist church. 
 His companions in vice left him and he 
 sought other and better company, and soon 
 he began in a feeble way to preach the gos- 
 pel of salvation. He preached at intervals 
 while he was engaged in farming in Missis- 
 sippi, has ever since continued to tell the 
 glad tidings whenever opportunity was af- 
 forded, and during his ministry, which has 
 covered a period of about fifty-four years, 
 he has been instrumental in the accomplish- 
 ment of great good. 
 
 About 1854 Mr. Hooker moved to Texas 
 and located in Hunt county, which county 
 at that time had only one Missionary Bap- 
 tist church. He organized the second one. 
 Near the church he established was a 
 grocery and a race track, both of which 
 soon felt his influence, the result being that 
 the groggery in a few years was closed and 
 the race track grown over with grass and 
 weeds. Later Mr. Hooker had charge of as 
 many as four churches at one time. He 
 never received a stated salary for his serv- 
 
 ices, nor did he ask it, his object being not 
 to make money but to elevate humanity and 
 to honor his Maker. At the same time he 
 has always been more or less interested in 
 various business enterprises and has suc- 
 ceeded financially in his undertakings. While 
 in Hunt county he owned and ran a woolen 
 factory and had an interest in a steam mill, 
 and also farmed. The factory and mill he 
 ran during the war in the interest of the 
 war widows. During the latter part of the 
 war the factory was impressed into military 
 service by Kirby Smith, who was in the act 
 of tearing it down and hauling it away on 
 wagons he had seized for the purpose, when, 
 at this critical period, the women took up 
 arms, came to the front and prevented its 
 removal. 
 
 Soon after the close of the war Mr. 
 Hooker moved to Fayette county, where 
 his vocations for three years were farming 
 and preaching the gospel, and at the end 
 of that time he went from there to Hill 
 county and settled on a farm. In 1891 he 
 sold out and came to his present location, 
 DufTau, where he engaged in merchandising 
 with Mr. Miller, under the firm style of 
 Hooker & Miller, and has since conducted a 
 prosperous business and at the same time 
 frequently preaching. Also he has other 
 interests here. He owns a farm near the 
 town, runs a blacksmith shop, and is the 
 owner of town property, including his resi- 
 dence and the building occupied by their 
 store. 
 
 Mr. Hooker married Mrs. Martha J. 
 Dement, a young widow and a daughter of 
 William and Eliza (Norwood) Justice. Her 
 father and mother were natives respectively 
 of North Carolina and Alabama, and her 
 father was a prominent farmer and slave- 
 holder, and religiously was a Methodist. He 
 
400 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 died in Mississippi before the war. Her 
 mother subsequently moved to Texas, and 
 died in this state. In their family were ten 
 children, five sons and five daughters, all of 
 whom came to Texas, namely: David W. , 
 Martha J., Franklin H., Frances M., Mary 
 A., Eliza, Caroline, Joseph, John and Del- 
 cia. Four of this number are yet living. 
 Mrs. Hooker had one child by her first hus- 
 band. She and Mr. Hooker are the parents 
 of the following named children: Dolphin, 
 wife of M. Wigginton; Silana, wife of T. J. 
 Dozier; Thomas; James, deceased; William 
 J.; Paul; Flora, wife of M. Magee; and 
 Sally, wife of J. W. Miller. Paul Hooker 
 is a minister and is working in the interest 
 of the Salvation Army. The children, 
 grandchildren and great-grandchildren of 
 Mr. and Mrs. Hooker now number fifty-four. 
 Politically Mr. Hooker has been a Dem- 
 ocrat ever since he became a voter and has 
 always taken a commendable interest in 
 both local and national issues, but has never 
 been an office-seeker. He is now in favor 
 of free silver. He is now nearly seventy- 
 five years of age and is a hale and hearty 
 
 HARON BENJAMINE ANDER- 
 SON. — There is something in the 
 life of every self-made man that 
 excites admiration and respect, for 
 those qualities which can overcome difficul- 
 ties and obstacles and press forward to suc- 
 cess are worthy the highest commendation 
 and furnish an example that is indeed wor- 
 thy of emulation. When men make the 
 best of their opportunities to improve them- 
 selves and their surroundings and by the 
 exercise of those abilities with which nature 
 has endowed them win success in a chosen 
 
 calling, they command and receive the re- 
 spect and esteem of those with whom they 
 are associated. The subject of this review 
 is such a man. He started out for himself 
 empty-handed, but diligence and persever- 
 ance have brought to him prosperity and to- 
 day he ranks among the leading farmers 
 and stock-raisers of Hood county. 
 
 Mr. Anderson was born in Pendleton 
 county, Kentucky, April 21, 1850, and is a 
 son of William and Jane (Tucker) Ander- 
 son. He was reared on the old homestead, 
 remaining with his mother until he arrived 
 at years of maturity. During his early 
 childhood the family removed to Knox 
 county, Missouri, where they remained until 
 the year i860; they then moved to Dade 
 county, Missouri, and remained there until 
 1863, when all the property they po.ssessed 
 was stolen and burned up by the soldiers. 
 They could not remain there any longer, 
 and at once constructed a cart out of the 
 two hind wheels of an old wagon, which 
 was drawn by two cows, and moved, in this 
 conveyance, to Arkansas, and afterward 
 came to Texas, settling in Lamar county, 
 in 1865. 
 
 There Mr. Anderson turned his attention 
 to farming and continued the cultivation of 
 his land there through the succeeding dec- 
 ade, when he removed to Hood county, in 
 18715. For three years after his arrival in 
 this section of the state he rented land and 
 then pre-empted one hundred and sixty 
 acres, which at that time was still in its 
 primitive condition, not a furrow having 
 been turned or an improvement made on 
 the tract. With characteristic energy he 
 began its development and it was soon 
 transformed into rich and fertile fields. As his 
 financial resources grew Mr. Anderson also 
 added to his property from time to time un- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 401 
 
 til his landed possessions now aggregate six- 
 teen hundred acres, of which two hundred 
 are under a high state of cultivation and 
 yield to the owner a golden tribute in return 
 for the labor he bestows upon it. In con- 
 nection with general farming he is exten- 
 sively engaged in stock-raising and now has 
 three hundred and fifty head of cattle and 
 seventy-five head of horses. He is recog- 
 nized as one of the leading farmers of the 
 county, for he is progressive in his methods 
 and keeps fully up with the improvements 
 of the age and with advancement in any 
 way connected with his chosen occupation. 
 He is to-day the possessor of a good prop- 
 erty, all through his own efforts. 
 
 In 1 87 1 Mr. Anderson was united in 
 marriage with Miss Victoria Ann Gunter, a 
 native of Texas, and resided in Nacogdoches 
 county. They have three children, two 
 boys and one girl. The first boy, Robert 
 Newton Anderson, was born in Lamar coun- 
 ty, Texas, on January 28, 1872; the second, 
 a girl, Susie Anderson, born in Hood county, 
 Texas, on August 23, 1878; and the third, 
 a boy. Bee Anderson, born in Hood county, 
 Texas, July 31, 1880. Their mother died 
 in Hood county, Texas, May 18, 1881. 
 Mr. Anderson was married on September 
 6, 1882, to Miss Mary Frances Ring, in Hood 
 county, Texas, who was a native of John- 
 son county, Illinois, and came to this state 
 in the spring of 1877; she was born June 
 II, 1 86 1. By this union there are four 
 children: John Anderson, born in Hood 
 county, Texas, May 13, 1883; Evaleaner 
 Anderson, born in Hood county, Texas, 
 May 7, 1885; William Anderson, born in 
 Hood county, Texas, September 21, 1889; 
 and Hattie May Anderson, born in Hood 
 county, Texas, March 15, 1894. 
 
 Mr. Anderson is a member of Jubilee 
 
 Lodge, No. 599, A. F. & A. M., in politics 
 is a stalwart Democrat, and is deeply inter- 
 ested in all that pertains to the county's 
 welfare and upbuilding. 
 
 ^~>^AMUEL I. RUNDELL.— On the 
 •^^11* highway leading east from Walnut 
 f<_y Springs, three and a half miles dis- 
 tant from the town, is found the 
 pleasant home and nice farm of one who is 
 a recent acquisition to Bosque county, — 
 Samuel I. Rundell. He became identified 
 with this place in the autumn of 1895, ^nd 
 while his residence here has been brief it has 
 been long enough to gain him recognition as 
 a public-spirited citizen and a man of more 
 than ordinary ability. 
 
 Mr. Rundell is a Texan by birth. He 
 was born in Rusk county. May 6, 1859, son 
 of Isaac M. and Leo N. (Holt) Rundell, 
 both natives of South Carolina. Of his pa- 
 ternal grandparents he knows little or noth- 
 ing. His maternal grandfather was Israel 
 Holt, a native of South Carolina and a rep- 
 resentative of a family that settled there at 
 an early day. Isaac M. Rundell went from 
 South Carolina to Mississippi and in 1856 
 came from the latter state to Texas, locat- 
 ing in Rusk county, where he engaged in 
 agricultural pursuits. He was exempt from 
 service in the late war and during that per- 
 iod was occupied in freighting, a business 
 which was profitable here before the advent 
 of the railroad. His death occurred in 
 Bosque county in 1867. The mother still 
 survives, is now sixty-seven years of age, 
 and resides with her son Samuel I. The 
 children of this worthy couple numbered 
 seven, brief record of whom is as follows: 
 Frances, deceased; Harriet E., wife of W. 
 H. Cunningham, of Bosque county; Israel, 
 
402 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 a resident of the Indian Nation; Samuel I., 
 whose name graces this article; Sarah J., 
 who died at the age of seventeen years; 
 John W. , a farmer of Bosque county; and 
 Mary E. J., wife of A. K. ISender, of De 
 Leon, Texas. 
 
 Samuel I. Rundell was nine years old at 
 the time his father died. Five years later, 
 at the early age of fourteen, he left home and 
 pushed out to make his own way in the 
 world, at first securing employment as a 
 farm hand. From farming he turned to 
 railroading. For four years he was con- 
 nected with the Texas Central, afterward 
 with the Santa Fe line and again with the 
 Texas Central, spending in all about eight 
 years in railroad employ. After this he 
 bought a farm in Eastland county, where he 
 resided and carried on agricultural pursuits 
 about three years, selling out at the end of 
 that time and investing in a farm in John- 
 son county. After four years residence in 
 Johnson county he again sold out, and it was 
 at this time that he came to his present lo- 
 cation. Here he purchased 165 acres, all 
 under fence, and eighty-five acres in cultiva- 
 tion, and the place well improved with com- 
 modious residence, good outbuildings, or- 
 chard, etc. When Mr. Rundell first set- 
 tled down to farming he made a specialty of 
 the live-stock business, but he now keeps 
 only enough stock for the support of his 
 land, and raises the usual crops of this 
 vicinity. 
 
 Mr. Rundell was married in 1883 to Miss 
 C. A. Harris, a native of Missouri and a 
 daughter of John M. Harris. Her father 
 was a Tennessean who removed from Mis- 
 souri to Texas in 1880, returned soon after, 
 but came back in 1883, and in this state 
 passed the residue of his life with his chil- 
 dren. He died in Bosque county in 1888. 
 
 Four children have been born to Mr. and 
 Mrs. Rundell, three of whom are living, — 
 Marion Otto, Cathie N., Stella E. 
 
 Mrs. Rundell's father was a stanch mem- 
 ber of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 
 in which he reared his family, and of this 
 church both Mr. and Mrs. Rundell are con- 
 sistent and acceptable members. Also Mr. 
 Rundell is a member of the Masonic order. 
 
 >-T*OHN THOMAS JAMES, a success- 
 J ful druggist at Hamilton, Texas, was 
 /• J born at Napa, California, April 2, 
 1856, and is a son of William Har- 
 rison and Lucy Ann (Wade) James. His 
 parents took him with them to the east 
 when he was thirteen years of age, and lo- 
 cated for a time at Warrensburg, Missouri, 
 where he attended school for twelve months. 
 Then he was taken with his father and family 
 to Webster county in the same state. As 
 he grew older he studied pharmacy and read 
 medicine under his father's supervision. He 
 was quite competent, and when he had 
 reached the age of twenty struck out for 
 himself, coming to Hamilton, February 
 5, 1876, and at once opened a drug store, 
 in company with Z. C. Law, with whom he 
 remained in business until 1880. In 1877 
 they added banking to their other business, 
 and branching out extensively into the sheep 
 business, incurred many and serious losses, 
 which compelled an assignment in 1880, our 
 subject losing everything he had in the 
 world ! 
 
 Mr. James was not discouraged, but with 
 a pluck peculiarly American, he sought em- 
 ployment as a clerk in the service of Dr. 
 George F. Perry. The clerkship presently 
 grew into another partnership, out of which 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 has come the present firm of Perry & James. 
 Mr. James was instrumental in the organiza- 
 tion of the Hamilton National Bank, of 
 which institution he is at present vice-presi- 
 dent. He has been much interested in the 
 insurance business since 1884, and has had 
 large representations of loan and investment 
 interests since 1886, acting as local agent for 
 prominent state and eastern companies. In 
 these years he has been remarkably success- 
 ful in all his business turns, and is now the 
 owner of thirteen hundred acres of farm 
 land in Hamilton county, besides much city 
 and other property. 
 
 Mr. James led to the altar September 3, 
 1879, Miss Mary T. Bouldin, a native of 
 Arkansas, and for a number of years a resi- 
 dent of Belton, Texas. Mrs. James is the 
 daughter of Captain H. M. and Nancy (Gill- 
 espie) Bouldin, and has borne her husband 
 two children — Cecil Bouldin and Malcolm 
 Gillespie, born January 10, 1882, and No- 
 vember 17, 1883. 
 
 Mr. James has been actively identified 
 with the Democratic party, but has never 
 been an office-seeker or a holder of official 
 position. He is associated through his wife 
 with the Episcopal church, and is a Mason 
 of considerable prominence, having become 
 a member of Rock House Lodge, No. 417, 
 July 17, 1880. He may well congratulate 
 himself upon the very large measure of suc- 
 cess that he has won through these stormy 
 and desperate years. In 1880 he had lost 
 everything that he possessed, and to-day he 
 enjoys the reputation of being one of the 
 strongest and most reliable moneyed men of 
 the county. 
 
 William Harrison James, the father of 
 our subject, is now a practicing physician in 
 Missouri, at the age of sixty-eight. He was 
 born near Knoxville, in east Tennessee. 
 
 The mother of our subject is a native of 
 Virginia, but her parents took her while 
 still a child to Arkansas, where she was resi- 
 dent a brief time. Then the family moved 
 on to California, where she met and married 
 the father of our subject. She is the mother 
 of four boys and three girls, of whom all 
 but one are living. John James, the grand- 
 father of our subject, married Elizabeth 
 Moulton Kelly; was the father of eight 
 children, — four boys and four girls, — and 
 died when upward of sixty years of age. 
 The James family is of English extraction. 
 Thomas B. Wade, the maternal grandfa- 
 ther of our subject, was a native of Vir- 
 ginia, and died in Arkansas. He was mar- 
 ried to Phoebe Ann O'Driskell, and spent 
 the greater part of his life at Richmond, 
 Virginia. They were the parents of nine 
 children. 
 
 >Y*EFFREY R. BELL.— On the road 
 H leading southwest from Alexander, 
 A 1 and about three miles out from the 
 town, is the pleasant home and fine 
 farm of one of the most enterprising and 
 successful farmers of Erath county, — Jeffrey 
 R. Bell; and at this point in this series of 
 biographical sketches we take pleasure in 
 referring briefly to his life and ancestry. 
 Although a native of Alabama, Mr. Bell has 
 never known any other home than Texas. 
 He was born in Alabama, February 22, 1846, 
 and in the fall of that same year was brought 
 by his parents to the Lone Star state, their 
 location being in Rusk county. 
 
 Mr. Bell's parents, Thomas and Mary 
 (Holland) Bell, were born in Tennessee and 
 Georgia respectively, and were married in 
 the latter state. Thomas Bell was a son of 
 Thomas Bell, Sr., who was of Irish descent 
 
404 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 and a resident of Tennessee. The senior 
 Mr. Bell and a Mr. Carmicle laid out the 
 town of Knoxvilie, Te.xas. In 1847 Grand- 
 father Bell came to Texas and made settle- 
 ment in Cherokee county, where he passed 
 the residue of his life and where he died in 
 1862. He built the first small gin and mill 
 in Cherokee county. He was a farmer and 
 slaveholder, and a member of the Cumber- 
 land Presbyterian church, and both in Ten- 
 nessee and Texas he figured as a prominent 
 man and enjoyed the confidence and respect 
 of ail who knew him. 
 
 The father of our subject, as above 
 stated, settled in Rusk county on coming to 
 Texas. He first located on wild land and 
 made a farm, and later sold out and bought 
 an improved farm. He died in December, 
 i860, in the prime of life, leaving a widow 
 and a large family of children. His widow 
 is still living, is now nearing the octoge- 
 narian ranks, and has a pleasant home with 
 her son Jeffrey R. In 1864 she came to 
 Dublin, where her father, John Holland, 
 had formerly lived. At the close of the war 
 she sold her Rusk county homestead and 
 located with her family near Alexander. 
 Of recent years she has lived with her son. 
 Of her children, we record that Simruda, 
 widow of William Caison, is a resident of 
 Cherokee county, Texas; Thomas is a farmer 
 in that county; Martha is the wife of B. 
 Quaid, a Cooke county farmer; Jeffrey R. 
 is the subject of this review; Mary has been 
 twice married, first to Joseph McDow and 
 after his death to Green Britton, a Mills 
 county farmer; Amanda's first husband was 
 Thomas Hollis, and her present husband, 
 Samuel Robinson, has a wagon-yard and 
 boarding house in Stephenville; Azilee is 
 the wife of George Salmon, a stockman of 
 La Salle county; and Antinette, whose first 
 
 husband was Jesse Hollis, is now the wife of 
 G. B. Phillips, a farmer of Erath county. 
 
 Jeffrey R. Bell passed his boyhood days 
 on his father's frontier farm in I^usk county, 
 was early inured to the various kinds of 
 hard work known only to pioneer farmers, 
 and in consequence of the unsettled condi- 
 tion of the country had only the most mea- 
 ger educational advantages. At the time 
 the civil war broke out he was not yet 
 grown. His youth, however, did not pre- 
 vent him from entering the service of his 
 country, and in 1862, at the age of sixteen, 
 we find him enlisting as a member of Bird's 
 battalion. He was mustered in at Shreve- 
 port, Louisiana; consigned to the Western 
 Department, under Kirby Smith, and was 
 with the forces that operated in Indian 
 Territory, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. 
 From his enlistment until the close of the 
 war he was on active duty, being detailed 
 most of that time as courier, and at the 
 time of the surrender was at Clarksville, in 
 Red River county, this state. From there 
 he returned to his old home in Rusk county, 
 and shortly after joined his mother in Erath 
 county. Here they took a squatter's claim 
 on an old survey, bought a stock of cattle, 
 and pioneered again, and the following three 
 years our subject spent most of his time in 
 the saddle, looking after the stock and con- 
 ducting the affairs of the ranch. Then they 
 sold out and bought a claim on the Little 
 Duffau, Jeffrey having full charge of its op- 
 erations and being his mother's chief sup- 
 port. In 1875 he came to his present loca- 
 tion. After that his mother gave the claim 
 to a son-in-law and he subsequently sold it. 
 
 On coming to his present location, Mr. 
 Bell purchased eighty acres of partially im- 
 proved land, twenty-six acres being under 
 cultivation, and into the log cabin which he 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 405 
 
 found here he moved his family, he having 
 been married about three years at that time. 
 To this eighty-acre tract he added by later 
 purchase until he now has five hundred and 
 twenty acres, one hundred and seventy of 
 which are under cultivation, and the log 
 cabin has long since been replaced by a 
 commodious and pretty home, surrounded 
 by ail that goes to make life pleasant in this 
 favored clime. With the selling of his herd 
 of cattle years ago Mr. Bell's interest in the 
 stock business did not cease. He has al- 
 ways handled more or less stock, usually 
 keeping a surplus, and, like not a few of the 
 most enterprising farmers of this part of the 
 country, is now directing his attention more 
 especially to a higher grade of stock than 
 was formerly deemed profitable here. He 
 has tried various breeds of hogs and finds 
 Poland-China and Berkshire the most desir- 
 able; makes his own pork and lard. Since 
 1 893 he has been raising sheep, his flock 
 including a mixed stock of the best breeds. 
 When he began grading up his cattle it was 
 first with Durham, next Holstein, and re- 
 cently he has crossed with Jerseys. Espe- 
 cially has he been interested in improvingthe 
 grade of horses. He has owned some fine 
 stallions and at this writing has a valuable 
 Morgan steeldust Jordan horse. Also he 
 has handled jacks to some extent. The 
 visitor to Mr. Bell's delightful rural place is 
 at once impressed with the system and order 
 which prevail on every side and concedes to 
 him a first place among the most progress- 
 ive farmers of his day. 
 
 Mr. Bell served one term as county 
 commissioner of Erath county and has not 
 infrequently been solicited to run for other 
 offices, but he has never been an aspirant 
 for official honors, feeling that the demands 
 of his own private affairs were sufficient to 
 
 require all his time and attention. It was 
 during his term of office as commissioner 
 that the courthouse at Stephensville was 
 erected, and his service on the board at 
 that time was of inestimable value. Mr. 
 Bell has long been identified with the Demo- 
 cratic party, — in fact, was reared a Demo- 
 crat; but recently has taken more advanced 
 views than those advocated by the old party 
 and is now what is known as an independ- 
 ent Democrat. Fraternally, he affiliates 
 with the Masonic order. He and his wife 
 and mother are all members of the Mission- 
 ary Baptist church. 
 
 Mr. Bell was married in 1872 to Miss 
 Elephare Boatright, a native of Cherokee 
 county, Texas, and a daughter of George 
 Boatright. Her father was a Georgia man 
 who came to this state about 1850, bringing 
 with him his family and slaves belonging to 
 Mr. Harris, and settling in Rusk county, 
 where he became a prominent citizen and 
 where he still resides. During the late war 
 he served as a member of Ochiletree's regi- 
 ment, Walker's division. After only a few 
 brief years of happy wedded life, Mr. Bell 
 was called upon to mourn the loss of his 
 young companion, her death occurring in 
 1875. She left two children, namely: 
 Laura, now the wife of F. Ross, a farmer 
 of this county; and Eudora, wife of Algie 
 Monroe, also a farmer of Erath county. In 
 1877 Mr. Bell's marriage to Miss Sallie 
 Myers was consummated. She was born in 
 Cherokee county, Texas, in 1855, daughter 
 of Judge Abraham Myers, formerly of Ten- 
 nessee. Judge Myers came to Texas in 
 1845, lived in Cherokee county until i860, 
 and then moved to Bosque county, where he 
 died in 1881. He was a prominent Demo- 
 crat and popular man, was largely interested 
 in farming and stock-raising in Bosque 
 
406 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 county, and there filled the offices of justice 
 of the peace and county commissioner. He 
 had served as judge previous to his removal 
 to this state. Mr. Bell and his present wife 
 have four children, \'\z.: Azilee, Abraham, 
 John and Jeffrey. 
 
 >Tr«OSHUA H. EDWARDS.— Among 
 m the prominent and enterprising farm- 
 A 1 ers of Erath county and veterans of 
 the late war is the subject of this 
 sketch — Joshua H. Edwards. He was born 
 in the Old North State (North Carolina), 
 September 20, 1843, son of Leonard and 
 Mary ( Glasscock ) Edwards, both natives of 
 that state. Not long after the birth of our 
 subject his parents emigrated to Ohio and 
 settled in Lawrence county, where the father 
 continued work at his trade, that of wheel- 
 wright, and where he died about 1848. His 
 widow survived him until 1855. They were 
 not rich in this world's goods and the chil- 
 dren as soon as possible scattered and be- 
 came self-supporting. Of their family of five 
 sons and six daughters we make the follow- 
 ing record: John, deceased, never left Ohio; 
 Charles went out to Washington Territory 
 and there died; William and Elisha died in 
 Ohio; Washington died in Virginia; Joshua 
 H. Edwards, whose name heads this article, 
 is the youngest of the sons and the only one 
 now living; Elizabeth is the wife of a Mr. 
 Brown; Tempa B. married George Bru- 
 baker; Margaret, wife of J. H. Roberts, has 
 been a resident of Texas since 1858; Mary 
 J. was married in Texas to John Brown, and 
 their home is now in Washington state; and 
 Louisa C, widow of William Tatum, re- 
 sides in Kansas. The mother of these chil- 
 dren was a member of the Baptist church. 
 Joshua H. Edwards, early thrown upon 
 
 his own resources, came to Texas about 
 i860, at about the age of sixteen, joining 
 some distant relatives here and being em- 
 ployed by them as a farm hand. In Octo- 
 ber of the following year he enlisted in the 
 Confederate service, in the Tenth Texas 
 Regiment, under Colonel Nelson. After 
 Colonel Nelson's death R. Q. Mills took 
 command of the regiment and it was con- 
 signed to the Tran-Mississippi department. 
 At the battle of Arkansas Post the larger 
 part of the regiment was captured and taken 
 to Camp Douglas, Chicago, where they were 
 held three months, after which they were 
 exchanged and sent to Petersburg, Virginia. 
 From this time on young Edwards was with 
 the forces that operated in the east and 
 south. He was under General Bragg in the 
 battle of Chickamauga. Other engagements 
 in which he took part were Lookout Moun- 
 tain, New Hope Church and Tunnel Hill. 
 At Marietta, Georgia, he was again captured. 
 This time he was taken to Chattanooga, 
 where he was offered his freedom if he would 
 take an oath not to enter the Confederate 
 service again. On his refusal to accept 
 these terms he was sent to Camp Morton, 
 Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was held 
 eight months. He was then paroled and 
 transferred to Virginia, where he was re- 
 leased by his own officers; and on his way 
 home, at Jackson, Mississippi, he learned of 
 the surrender of General Lee. 
 
 The year after his return from the army 
 Mr. Edwards married and settled down to 
 farming on rented land. Two years later 
 his home was broken up by the death of his 
 wife. From 1870 to 1875 he traveled 
 throughout various parts of the country, but 
 finally returned to Texas, and in 1885 was 
 married again. Since his second marriage 
 he has occupied his present farm in Erath 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 407 
 
 county and given his attention to general 
 farming, also working some at his trades, 
 he being both a carpenter and stone mason. 
 Some years ago he dealt considerably in 
 stock but of recent years it has been his 
 purpose to keep only enough stock with 
 which to carry on his farming operations. 
 
 Mr. Edwards had his share in the Indian 
 troubles which prevailed in Texas between 
 the years 1859 and 1 87 1. He was in many 
 a raid after the red men and in one battle 
 with them, namely, Sandy Creek, where 
 twenty-five Indians were arrayed against 
 eight white men. The latter, although so 
 much in the minority, came out victorious, 
 completely routing the Indians. The other 
 men in this engagement besides Mr. Ed- 
 wards were George Keith, J. K. Roberts, 
 Jerome McCallister, John Beal, Hezekiah 
 Bellamy, Leonard Roberts and Albert Hen- 
 ing. Mr. Hening received a flesh wound 
 in the left side, but in due time recovered 
 from it. It is not known that any of the 
 Indians were killed. 
 
 Mr. Edwards was first married in 1 866, 
 to Miss Elizabeth Bellamy, daughter of 
 Hezekiah Bellamy, an Ohio gentleman who 
 had moved from Ohio to Missouri and 
 thence to Texas, where he died. During 
 this marriage there occurred the birth of 
 one child, William W., who is now a farmer 
 of Erath county. Mrs. Elizabeth Edwards 
 was a member of the Methodist church, was 
 a most amiable woman and was loved by all 
 who knew her. Her untimely death occur- 
 red in 1868. In 1885 was consummated 
 Mr. Edwards' marriage to Mrs. Sarah E. 
 Galbreath, his present companion. By her 
 former marriage she had three children, — 
 Roy E., Ada M., and Ida D. M.,— two of 
 whom are now married. Mrs. Edwards 
 was born in Washington county, Texas, in 
 
 1846, daughter of J. B. and Matilda (Pen- 
 nington) Dupuy, the former a native of 
 Kentucky and the latter of Illinois. Mr. 
 Dupuy was a mechanic of great ingenuity, a 
 wheelwright, cabinet-maker, etc. ; was pub- 
 lic-spirited and took an active interest in 
 local affairs; in politics was Democratic, and 
 served as justice of the peace and also filled 
 other minor offices. He came to Erath 
 county in 1857 and died here in 1864. His 
 eleven children were named as follows: 
 Mary J., Riggs, Joanna, Sarah, Rebecca, 
 William, John, Liddia, Adeline, Ellen and 
 Capitola,— all now living except Riggs, who 
 was assassinated by a Mexican. The mother 
 is still living, is seventy-nine years of age, 
 and is well preserved both mentally and- 
 physically. She is a member of the Chris- 
 tian church, as also are Mr. and Mrs. Ed- 
 wards. By his present marriage Mr. Ed- 
 wards has two children, — Leonard B. and 
 Sarah A., both at home. 
 
 Mr. Edwards served as deputy sheriff of 
 Erath county under A. L. Kirk, and was 
 shot at twice by a desperado in Texas, 
 while on duty as an officer, both shots tak- 
 ing effect, one of which severed the right 
 collar bone. He did not fully recover from 
 this wound for seven years. Mr. Edwards 
 has the bravery to encounter any kind of 
 opposition to principle and official duty. In 
 this respect he has the character of Andrew 
 Jackson. 
 
 HH. REEDER, a leading and rep- 
 resentative citizen of Somerville 
 county, Texas, has been a resident 
 of Texas since 1873, and since 
 1 89 1 has lived upon his present farm, own- 
 ing three hundred and twenty acres of good 
 
4D8 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 land, where he is surrounckd by the desira- 
 ble things of life and enjoys the esteem and 
 confidence of his neighbors. He was born 
 in Washington county, Arkansas, near Cin- 
 cinnati, December 12, 1854. 
 
 Noah Reeder, his grandfather, came to 
 Texas in 1840, but returned to Washington 
 county, Arkansas, and died there. McCa- 
 ger Reeder, father of the last mentioned, 
 was a native of Kentucky, who moved first 
 to Arkansas and afterward to Te.xas, settling 
 at the mouth of the Big Cany creek, before 
 the Mexican war, but finally returned to 
 Arkansas, where he died. 
 
 The birth of his father, A. G. Reeder, 
 also occurred in Arkansas, some sixty-four 
 years ago, and he was of Irish descent. In 
 Washington county, that state, he married 
 Miss Nancy Caroline West, who was born 
 there, and is the daughter of Jonathan 
 West, who belonged to an old and promi- 
 nent family of the south. Ten children 
 were born of this union, namely: A. H., 
 Samantha, William T. , Ellen, John, Ed, 
 Dora, Ula, and two who died in infancy. 
 
 From Arkansas the father removed with 
 his family to Kansas, living for a time near 
 Ottumwa, Coffey county, and later near 
 Emporia, Lyon county. Returning to Mis- 
 souri he made his home there for about 
 seven years, near Carthage, in Jasper coun- 
 ty, after which he went to Montgomery 
 county, Kansas, remaining at Independence 
 for eighteen months. Since that time he 
 has resided in Somerville county, Texas, 
 where he has an excellent farm of one hun- 
 dred and ten acres, well improved. In 
 politics he is a stalwart Democrat, and in 
 religious matters his wife is a Methodist. 
 
 Our subject accompanied his parents on 
 their various removals, coming to Texas 
 with them in 1873, but previous to that 
 
 time he had acquired a common-school edu- 
 cation. He gives close attention to his 
 farming interests, raising corn, cotton and 
 all the cereals adapted to this clime, and 
 his place is also well stocked with horses 
 and hogs. He has a good residence, barns 
 and other outbuildings and his fields are 
 enclosed by good fences. 
 
 At the age of twenty, Mr. Reeder was 
 married, the lady of his choice being Miss 
 M. J. Moon, a native of Mississippi, and 
 a daughter of Jack and Martha (Johnson) 
 Moon, both of whom died in that state. 
 Nine children grace this union, seven sons 
 and two daughters — Robert M., Henry G., 
 Joseph R. , George W. , Jack A., Martha 
 C, Bert E., Kate and John F. 
 
 Mr. Reeder is a firm Democrat in his 
 political views. He is an influential citizen, 
 taking a deep interest in public affairs and 
 is highly respected by all who know him. 
 His excellent wife holds a membership in 
 the Baptist church. 
 
 aN. JOHNSTON, who follows farm- 
 ing and stock-raising in Erath 
 county, where he has made his 
 home since 1876, was born in 
 Conecuh county, Alabama, March 13, 1847, 
 his parents being W. F. and F. C. (Collins) 
 Johnston. He was reared on a farm and 
 continued on the old homestead until the 
 civil war was inaugurated. In 1862, al- 
 though only fifteen years of age, he joined 
 the Confederate forces, becoming a member 
 of Company I, Fifteenth Alabama Volun- 
 teer Cavalry. He served in Florida, Ala- 
 bama and Mississippi, doing duty on the 
 coast until the close of the war. 
 
 When hostilities had ceased Mr. John- 
 
^.%^rm 
 
 af/i. 
 
HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 409 
 
 ston returned to Alabama, where he followed 
 farming until his marriage. That important 
 event in his life occurred in January, 1871, 
 when he led to the marriage altar Miss Re- 
 becca Orum, a native of Alabama and a 
 daughter of Henry and Caroline Orum. Ten 
 days after their marriage the young couple 
 started for Te.xas and made a location in 
 Limestone county, where Mr. Johnston de- 
 veloped a farm, continuing its cultivation 
 until 1876, the year of his arrival in Erath 
 county. 
 
 On reaching this county our subject 
 rented land for a period of seven years and 
 was successfully engaged in farming, on the 
 bank of the Palu.xy. He also engaged in 
 the stock-raising business, and when he had 
 acquired a sufficient capital he purchased 
 his present farm, in 18S3. The work of 
 improvement had been scarcely begun on 
 the two hundred and forty acre tract of 
 which he became owner, but he was indus- 
 trious and energetic, and now has eighty 
 acres highly improved, the well tilled fields 
 telling to the passer-by the story of his labors 
 and enterprise. He raises principally corn 
 and cotton, and for his products finds a 
 ready sale on the market. He also pur- 
 chased cattle at nineteen dollars per head 
 and to-day he owns one hundred head of 
 fine graded cattle. He has been very pros- 
 perous in his labors and his success is well 
 deserved, as it has all been acquired through 
 his own efforts, resulting from energy and 
 sound judgment. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Johnston are the parents 
 of four children, M. A., a farmer residing in 
 Erath county; M. W., O. A., and G. A., 
 all at home. In his political views he is in- 
 dependent. His wife is a member of the 
 Baptist church and both are highly esteemed 
 people. 
 
 ^^OHN CALHOUN MAIN, county 
 J judge of Hamilton county, Te.xas, 
 
 A J has made a somewhat remarkable 
 record of winning a position on the 
 bench of Texas when not yet twenty-six 
 years of age against fierce competition, and 
 of administering the duties of that high po- 
 sition so fairly and honestly as to secure a 
 triumphant re-election two years later. It 
 is a pleasure to the historian to tell the 
 story of so successful a career. Judge Main 
 is a choice specimen of the possibilities of 
 the Blue Grass country in the way of strong 
 and sturdy manhood, hailing as he does 
 from Bell county, Kentucky, where he was 
 born December 14, 1868. 
 
 His parents were Benjamin Franklin 
 and Susan (Siler) Main, his father being a 
 native of Middle Tennessee, where he was 
 born in 1842. Elder Main himself is far 
 above the average in point of ability, char- 
 acter and energy. At the outbreak of the 
 civil war he sided with the cause of the 
 north, and enlisted in the Eighth Kentucky 
 Regiment, serving throughout the great 
 struggle. In this movement he was accom- 
 panied by his brother John, though disap- 
 proved by the rest of his people. The two 
 had the usual army experiences. The young 
 soldier, Benjamin, was captured at Gettys- 
 burg and wounded at Murfreesboro. He 
 was held a prisoner of war for two months 
 at Dalton, Georgia, when he was exchanged. 
 His nature early turned to religious matters 
 and he began to preach when only seven- 
 teen years of age. He acted as chaplain 
 during part of his service in the army, and 
 is now a practicing physician and a preacher 
 of the Missionary Baptist church in Lansing, 
 Oklahoma. The mother of our subject 
 died in 1889, at the age of thirty-eight. Her 
 birthplace was the village of Boston, Ken- 
 
410 
 
 HIS TORT OF' TEXAS. 
 
 tuckj', and she was the mother of seven chil- 
 dren, all of whom are living, but only one is 
 found in Texas. Their names are Charles, 
 Calvin (our subject), Benjamin Franklin, 
 Mack, Green Clay, Joe Smith and Sidney. 
 
 The grandfather of our subject, Charles 
 Calvin Main, is how living at Stephenville, 
 Texas. He is a native of North Carolina, 
 and has been a lifelong agriculturist, and is 
 a devoted member of the Missionary Bap- 
 tist church. He was early married to Mollie 
 Jones, of Scotch extraction, who has borne 
 him the following children: John Calhoun, 
 Benjamin Franklin, Martha, Ann (married 
 a man named Thomas), J. Davis, William 
 Henry, Charles A., James Mack, Louisia A. 
 (Cooper), Thomas, and Rosa Belle (Mar- 
 low). The Mains are of English origin, a 
 Main and a Miss Berisford coming from 
 England in colonial times and settling in 
 Virginia as missionaries, where they were 
 presently married. The name was origin- 
 ally spelled Mayne, but was changed in 
 handling checks, and has remained as above 
 written. James Siler, the maternal grand- 
 father of our subject, was married to Susan 
 Stanfill ; both were Kentucky people. They 
 became the parents of Susan, Shirel, Caro- 
 lina, Efifie, two boys, and Mary, and are 
 still living. 
 
 Our subject is a conspicuous illustration 
 of the possibilities of American life. He 
 has made his way upward to a high position 
 with few advantages, and against tremen- 
 dous difficulties, and while still a young man 
 holds a prominent position in the judiciary 
 of Texas. He was an attendant at Union 
 College at Barbersville, Kentucky, for ten 
 months, and spent one term in teaching in 
 that state in 1885. The next year he left 
 Kentucky, and came to Clifton, Bosque 
 county, Texas, where he worked on a farm 
 
 for a year. He then found employment on 
 the sheep ranch of J. B. Barbee. He 
 taught a term at Enterprise, and in the 
 summer found work on cattle ranches, and 
 continued in this way until 1892, when he 
 was admitted to the bar. Two years before 
 our subject began reading law under the 
 direction of H. A. Allen, of Hamilton, but 
 now of Henrietta, Clay county, and re- 
 ceived also the counsel and advice of J. A. 
 Eidson, whose sketch appears elsewhere in 
 this work. 
 
 Immediately after his admission to the 
 bar. Judge Main began the practice of his 
 profession. In the early part of 1893 he 
 formed a partnership with J. W. Warren, 
 under the firm name of Warren & Main, 
 which was dissolved January I, 1895. Since 
 that time he has been alone in his practice. 
 He has taken a deep interest in political 
 affairs, and has cast his lot with the fortunes 
 of the Populist party, and much of his best 
 work has been done in the direction of pro- 
 moting the interests of that organization, 
 in 1893 he inaugurated the Hamilton Jour- 
 nal, with which he was associated for some 
 nine months. He was a candidate for 
 county attorney in 1892, and was defeated 
 by J. B. Allen. Two years later he was 
 nominated for county judge, and was elected 
 to that responsible and highly honorable 
 position. He was tendered the nomination 
 for district judge in 1896, also for district 
 attorney, but declined to accept both nomi- 
 nations. He has faithfully discharged the 
 duties of his office as county judge, and is 
 a candidate for re-election. He and his wife 
 are members of the Presbyterian church, 
 and he is also prominently associated with 
 the Odd Fellows and Masonic orders. 
 
 On the 7th of May, 1893, the Judge 
 married Miss Leila Ada Roddy, at Shiver, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 411 
 
 Texas. She is the daughter of Joseph 
 Berry and EHzabeth Jane (Murray) Roddy, 
 and the granddaughter of Ephraim and 
 Harriet H. (Earl) Roddy. They have two 
 children, namely: Thomas Talmage, born 
 June 17, 1894, at Hamilton; and an infant 
 daughter, born May 13, 1896. 
 
 >^AMES FRANKLIN WOODWARD, 
 
 ■ one of the most popular and wide- 
 A 1 awake business men of Hamilton 
 county, where he is familiarly known 
 as Captain Woodward, was born on the 30th 
 of May, 1836, in Wayne county, Tennessee, 
 and is a son of Solomon H. and Elizabeth 
 (Bivins) Woodward, who took their family 
 to Tishomingo county, Mississippi, in 1840, 
 where the father died two years later. The 
 mother then returned to Tennessee, and 
 and there she passed away in 1845. She 
 was the daughter of Abram Bivins, whose 
 birth occurred in Virginia, but he was mar- 
 ried in Tennessee, and there spent most of 
 his life. William Woodward, the paternal 
 grandfather of our subject, was also a na- 
 tive of the Old Dominion, and was a farmer 
 by occupation. With six brothers he aided 
 the colonies in their struggle for independ- 
 ence, and in the war of 181 2 the father of 
 our subject served, being with General 
 Jackson at the battle of New Orleans. 
 
 After the death of his mother. Captain 
 Woodward went to Chickasaw, now Cal- 
 houn county, Mississippi, and made his 
 home with W. B. Woodward, a store-keeper 
 and farmer, with whom he remained until 
 1856, when he went to New Lexington, 
 Alabama, and stayed," with a cousin, T. W. 
 Smith, for the purpose of going to school. 
 In 1858 he began teaching and taught for ' 
 
 ten months in Walker county, Alabama. 
 We next find him in Cass county, Texas, 
 where he had cousins living, reaching Jeffer- 
 son, in what was then Cass county, but is 
 now Marion county, on the 12th of January, 
 1859. He clerked for B. F. Miller in Cusseta 
 in a general store for twelve months, re- 
 ceiving six hundred and fifty dollars and 
 board. In connection with A. P. Therrell, 
 he bought out the stock of his employer, the 
 firm becoming Woodward & Therrell. 
 
 This partnership continued until the be- 
 ginning of the civil war, when Mr. Therrell 
 enlisted in the First Texas Infantry, under 
 Captain A. G. Clopton, and was killed at 
 Sharpsburg, Maryland, in 1862. Mr. Wood- 
 ward was made first lieutenant of the com- 
 pany known as the Lone Star Rifles, being 
 mustered in at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 
 September, 1861, and reported to Albert 
 Sydney Johnston at Bowling Green, Ken- 
 tucky. He participated in the battle of 
 Shiloh, after which he went to Alabama, 
 where he raised a company of cavalry, be- 
 coming its captain. This was Company B 
 of the Fifth Alabama Cavalry, and served 
 with General Forrest most of the time. 
 
 At the close of the war. Captain Wood- 
 ward was in Mississippi, from which state 
 he returned to Cass county, Texas, but in 
 1866 went to Bell county, where he engaged 
 in dealing in horses for a time, and then 
 in the real-estate business. He purchased 
 considerable land in Hamilton county, and 
 located large tracts for other parties. It 
 was on the 22d of May, 1879, that he lo- 
 cated at his present place, and is still quite 
 extensively engaged in real estate. He has 
 owned several thousand acres in Hamilton 
 county, where he yet has two thousand 
 acres, and also one thousand in Mills coun- 
 ty, a part of which is under cultivation. He 
 
412 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 has a farm of three hundred acres in culti- 
 vation, four miles west of Hamilton. 
 
 On the 31st of March, 1875, ^^'^s cele- 
 brated the marriage of Captain Woodward 
 and Miss Henrietta Elizabeth Smith, who 
 was born in Randolph county, Georgia, 
 June 15, 1846, and was the daughter of 
 Jonithan and Martha (Barker) Smith. She 
 was called from this life, September 6, 1894, 
 leaving many friends as well as relatives 
 to mourn her loss, but no children. Cap- 
 tain Woodward was married the second 
 time, to Miss Julia H. Witherspoon, in the 
 city of Bessemer, Alabama, on the ist day 
 of June, 1896, and is still occupying his 
 old home four miles west of Hamilton, 
 Texas. 
 
 The Captain was a Democrat until 1892, 
 since which time he has supported the Peo- 
 ple's party, and, religiously, for twenty-five 
 years has been a faithful member of the 
 Missionary Baptist church. Socially, he is 
 identified with Cusseta Lodge, No. 162, 
 F. & A. M., and is also a Royal Arch Mason, 
 now holding a dimit from Golden Rule 
 Lodge and Golden Rule Chapter, both of 
 Robertson county, Texas. Captain Wood- 
 ward has traveled extensively throughout 
 the state, and is well acquainted with its 
 natural resources. He is one of the large 
 landowners of Hamilton county, and has 
 done much to improve the locality and in- 
 troduce new settlers. He is in prosperous 
 circumstances and knows how to enjoy life. 
 
 ^y^ ICK BRYAN.— He whose life now 
 I \ comes under review must be dis- 
 \ \ tinctively regarded as one of the 
 representative men of Bosque coun- 
 ty, — one whose identity with the county and 
 its development covers a period of twenty- 
 
 eight years, the date of his arrival in Texas 
 being 1868. 
 
 Mr. Bryan is a native of Alabama, born 
 December 10, 1846, was reared to farm 
 pursuits, and though his educational advan- 
 tages in youth were limited in scope, yet he 
 secured a good practical education which 
 has been most admirably supplemented by 
 the wide experience which has been his in 
 later years. He is a son of William E. and 
 Charity (Jay) Bryan, who were born, reared 
 and married in Alabama, and who moved 
 from there to Louisiana in 1846. In Lou- 
 isiana William E. Bryan bought and im- 
 proved a farm and lived on it until 1856, 
 when he sold out and moved to another 
 farm in that state, where he died the follow- 
 ing 'year, of flux, his wife, four children, 
 two grandchildren and a son-in-law, nine in 
 all, dying in eight days, and all of the same 
 disease. The parents and all the children 
 were Methodists. The father, following 
 farming all his life, was a well-known man 
 and one greatly respected, and his untime- 
 ly death and that of his wife and children 
 was a sad blow to the remaining members 
 of the family and their many friends. Of 
 the surviving children, we record that Ellen 
 became the wife of T. J. Tanner, came to 
 Texas in 1871, and died here some years 
 later; Nick is the subject of this sketch; 
 James removed to Texas in 1868 and has 
 since been engaged in farming in Bosque 
 county; and two of the younger children 
 died during the war. Thus the two broth- 
 ers, Nick and James, are the only ones now 
 left of this large family. After the death of 
 the parents the orphan children were taken 
 into the home of an uncle, where all re- 
 mained until nearly grown. 
 
 The direct subject of this review, Nick 
 Bryan, had not entered far into his 'teens 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 413 
 
 when war was inaugurated between the 
 north and the south, and young as he was 
 he was enthusiastic for the success of the 
 cause he had been reared to believe was 
 right, and was anxious to go out and fight 
 for it. Six months before the war closed he 
 entered the southern army, and remained on 
 duty until after the surrender. After this 
 he secured employment as a farm laborer in 
 Louisiana, where he was thus occupied for 
 two years, until 1868, when he came to 
 Texas. Arrived in this state, he found him- 
 self without money and with no capital what- 
 ever save his energy and his determination 
 to succeed. His first location was at Waco, 
 where he hired out as a farm hand and re- 
 mained one year. In 1869 he came to 
 Bosque county and rented land of Temple 
 Spivey, one of the pioneers of the county, 
 and farmed this land for two or three years, 
 after which he bought the place. In the 
 meantime, in December, 1870, he took to 
 himself a wife. He continued his residence 
 on that farm until 1880, when he sold out, 
 and the following year he bought and moved 
 to his present farm, two miles east of Ire- 
 dell. His original purchase here was 360 
 acres, with some improvements thereon, and 
 to it he has since added until now his landed 
 estate comprises 529 acres, all well fenced 
 and 250 acres in a fine state of cultivation. 
 He has a commodious and attractive resi- 
 dence, good outbuildings, windmill, orchard 
 and many other modern improvements and 
 conveniences, and is nicely situated for con- 
 veniently carrying on both farming and 
 stock-raising. Mr. Bryan is a lover of fine 
 stock, and takes a just pride in the fine 
 horses and cattle that graze in his broad 
 pastures. Like many of the most intelli- 
 gent and best posted farmers of this part of 
 the country, he has reduced his stock in 
 
 numbers and increased it in quality. His 
 horses are of the Norman and Steeldust 
 breeds, and he has sold some for as high a 
 figure as five hundred dollars, thus demon- 
 strating that it pays to keep a high grade of 
 stock. His cattle are Holstein and Jersey 
 strains, and his hogs are chiefly of the 
 Berkshire breed. A fine apiary is another 
 one of the attractions of this model farm, 
 which literally "flows with milk and 
 honey." In his bees Mr. Bryan finds a good 
 source of revenue. On the whole premises 
 — the delightful home, the well-cultivated 
 fields, the fine stock, the well-stored hives, 
 the productive orchard, and, in short, every 
 where about the estate — is apparent the 
 touch of a master hand. 
 
 Mr. Bryan's marriage, which has already 
 been referred to, occurred in Bosque county, 
 the lady he wedded being Miss Elizabeth 
 Ford, a native of Louisiana, born in 1849. 
 Her father, Thomas Ford, a Georgian by 
 birth, moved to Louisiana and from that 
 state came in 1855 to Texas, locating on the 
 Brazos river in this county, where he was 
 for many years a prominent and influential 
 man. He took an active interest in public 
 affairs and filled many responsible offices. 
 For several years he was county judge, he 
 took the census of Bosque, Hamilton and 
 Hood counties in 1870, was superintendent 
 of free schools with his office at Austin, was 
 postmaster of Cyrus for a long time, and 
 besides these filled many other offices. He 
 was a loyal member of the Masonic frater- 
 nity for many years. Personally, he was a 
 man of fine physique, always genial and 
 approachable, and commanded the respect 
 and esteem of all who knew him. He died 
 in January, 1879, and his wife in 1888. 
 Their family comprised the following named 
 members: William, deceased, was a prom- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 inent man and at one time represented 
 Bosque county in the Texas state legislature; 
 Cyntha Ann, wife of Dr. A. M. Attaway, of 
 Hillsboro; Thomas is one of the leading 
 merchants of Morgan, Texas; Henry is a 
 retired merchant of Whitney; Elizabeth is 
 now Mrs. Bryan; and Caroline, deceased, 
 was the wife of John Mosely. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Bryan have six children, viz.: Ella, 
 wife of Robert L. Roberts, is a resident of 
 Hico, Texas; Thomas F. and William E. 
 are students at Waco; and Clemma, Frank 
 and May are at home. 
 
 Both Mr. Bryan and his wife are devoted 
 and consistent Christians, differing, how- 
 ever, in their creeds and maintaining rela- 
 tion with the churches in which they were 
 reared. He is a Methodist and she and 
 three of the children are identified with the 
 Baptist church. 
 
 ^^^EORGE W. LUKER, an exam- 
 ■ ^^\ plary citizen of Comanche county 
 \^^ who is successfully engaged in 
 agricultural pursuits, was born in 
 Alabama, on the 22d of October, 1844, and 
 is descended from one of the old families of 
 that state. His grandfather, Joshua Luker, 
 made his home in Alabama, was widely and 
 favorably known and was a local Methodist 
 minister, engaging in work of the church as 
 well as in farming pursuits. He served in 
 the Seminole Indian war and was a Demo- 
 crat in politics, but never aspired to office. 
 His entire life was spent in the state of his 
 nativity. The parents of our subject, James 
 and Elizabeth (Edwards) Luker, were also 
 born, reared and married in Alabama, and 
 there remained until called to the eternal 
 home. The mother was a member of the 
 
 Baptist church and died in 1851. The fa- 
 ther survived her several years and passed 
 away in 1862. His religious views accorded 
 with the doctrines of the Methodist church, 
 and his political support was given the 
 Democracy, although he never cared for 
 the honors of public office. The family 
 numbered eight children, as follows: Mary 
 became the wife of L. Ingram and both are 
 now deceased, her husband having died 
 while serving in the late war; Susan became 
 the wife of James Buckler, later came to 
 Texas and is now deceased; Joseph E. yet 
 resides in Alabama; John W. is a prominent 
 farmer of Comanche county; George W. is 
 the next younger; Sarah M. became the wife 
 of Joseph Graham and died in Alabama; 
 Benjamin F. came to Texas in 1872, and 
 died in Comanche county; and James B., 
 who arrived in this state the same year, is 
 now a Methodist minister of Cherokee 
 county, Texas, belonging to the east Texas 
 conference. 
 
 Our subject was reared on his father's 
 farm and received but limited school privi- 
 leges. He was a young man of only sev- 
 enteen when, in March, 1862, he enlisted 
 in the Twenty-second Alabama Infantry 
 and went to the front with the ' ' boys in 
 gray." He served in all the campaigns and 
 battles of the Army of the Tennessee up to 
 Atlanta, where he was captured and sent to 
 Camp Chase, Ohio, where he remained for 
 eight months. He was exchanged at Rich- 
 mond, Virginia, and was granted a thirty- 
 day furlough, during which time General 
 Lee surrendered and the war was brought 
 to a close. Mr. Luker then went to Merid- 
 ian, Mississippi, where he took the oath of 
 allegiance to the United States, and thus 
 ended his military record. He was a true 
 and brave soldier, loyal to the cause which 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 415 
 
 he espoused, and served continuously until 
 his capture. 
 
 Mr. Luker at once returned to his home, 
 and purchasing an interest in the old home- 
 stead, he managed that place (Choctaw, 
 Alabama) until 1872, when he moved to 
 Sumter county, that state, where he fol- 
 lowed farming until 1876, and then he came 
 to Comanche county, Texas. He was mar- 
 ried in January, 1867, to Miss Frances E. 
 Graham, who was born in Alabama, March 
 7, 1845, a daughter of Charles and Mar- 
 garet Graham. Her parents were natives 
 of South Carolina, and in that state were 
 married. Her father was a prominent 
 farmer and followed agricultural pursuits 
 throughout his entire life. He died in 
 Alabama, and his wife, who survived him 
 several years, passed away in 1876. Both 
 were faithful members and active workers 
 in the Methodist church. In their family 
 were eight children: Dempsey, Moses, 
 Elizabeth, Napoleon, Frances, Amelia, 
 Charles, and James, who died in infancy. 
 
 Upon his marriage Mr. Luker began 
 business on his own account, and purchas- 
 ing an interest in the old homestead he 
 operated that land until 1876, when he 
 come to Comanche county, Texas. After 
 raising one crop on rented land he purchased 
 his present farm, becoming owner of one 
 hundred and seventy-five acres, to which he 
 has since added until he now has two hun- 
 dred and sixty-eight acres. He has made 
 many excellent improvements upon the 
 place, and although only twenty acres were 
 broken when he came into possession of the 
 place, he now has one hundred acres under 
 cultivation, and the well tilled fields indi- 
 cate his careful supervision. He has a 
 commodious frame dwelling, substantial 
 'outbuildings, two good tenement houses and 
 
 a fine orchard. His home is pleasantly sit- 
 uated five miles southeast of Proctor, and 
 he carries on general farming, and raises 
 stock not only for the support of the farm 
 but also some to sell, adding not a little to 
 his income in this way. 
 
 The home of Mr. and Mrs. Luker has 
 been blessed with eight children, and the 
 family circle yet remains unbroken by the 
 hand of death. In order of birth they are 
 as follows: Benjamin F., a farmer; Mar- 
 garet E., wife of F. A. Tucker, a farmer 
 and Methodist local preacher; Ella, wife of 
 James Robinson, a teacher and agricultur- 
 ist; C. F., a farmer; and Annie; George 
 W., Thomas and Katie, — all at home. 
 The parents are members of the " Holiness 
 church," and their children, all carefully 
 reared, are members of the Methodist 
 church. Mr. Luker gives his political sup- 
 port to the Democracy. His upright life 
 has won him the confidence and esteem of 
 all, and over the record of his career there 
 falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of 
 evil. 
 
 ,>^ L. HENLEY is one of the most 
 I ^^ energetic and progressive agricul- 
 \ _ p turists of Erath county, and has 
 won a success that is certainly 
 creditable in the highest and best sense of 
 the term, — a success that does not consist 
 alone in property acquired, but comprises 
 also the building up of a character that wins 
 the respect of all, for it includes the posses- 
 sion of manly virtues, of honorable dealings 
 and conscientious performance of duty. 
 
 Mr. Henley was born in Hart county, 
 Georgia, July 21, 1850, and is a son of 
 John S. and Minerva Elizabeth (Mclntyre) 
 
416 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Henley. His mother was a native of Geor- 
 gia and his father of Tennessee. Upon his 
 father's farm he spent the days of his child- 
 hood, working in the fields until after his 
 father's death, which occurred when our 
 subject was a youth of fourteen years. One 
 year later the mother died, leaving Mr. 
 Henley an orphan at the age of fifteen, — 
 that period in a boy's life when he most 
 needs a parent's care. He possessed a reso- 
 lute spirit, however, and resolved to make 
 the best of his opportunities. He secured 
 employment in the neighborhood and thus 
 worked for others until he had acquired 
 enough capital to engage in business for 
 himself. With the hope of bettering his 
 financial condition he came to Texas in 
 1 87 1, and was engaged in farming in several 
 places prior to his arrival in Erath county. 
 Here he made purchase of one hundred and 
 sixty-three acres of wild land, which he at 
 once began to clear and improve. Fields 
 were plowed, crops planted, and in course 
 of time good harvests were garnered. Thus 
 the work of development has been carried 
 forward until he now has one hundred acres 
 under a high state of cultivation, and to his 
 farm he has added from time to time until 
 within its boundaries lie two hundred and 
 thirteen acres. His possessions are a monu- 
 ment to his industry and enterprise, for all 
 has been acquired under his own efforts. 
 Politically he affiliates with the Populist 
 party, but the honor and emoluments have 
 not been strong enough attraction to win 
 him from his chosen calling to the field of 
 politics. 
 
 In 1872 Mr. Henley was united in mar- 
 riage to Miss Sarah Turnbow, who was born 
 in Mississippi but was reared in Texas. 
 They had ten children, eight of whom are 
 living: Rhoda L., J. Thomas, R. H., Pearl, 
 
 Beulah, Nora, Bell and Rene. Rosetta 
 died at the age of four years and Nettie 
 died in infancy. ' 
 
 ,y^AVID A. WHITE, deceased, was 
 I I ^ m2iW of excellent principles and 
 /^^ blameless life, and thoroughly en- 
 joyed the esteem and respect of 
 the community in which he resided, and 
 died mourned by a large circle of friends and 
 acquaintances. He was a native of Texas, 
 born March 18, 1849, and his marriage 
 to Miss Sarah Darden, who survives him, 
 was celebrated September 6, 1871. Mrs. 
 White was born in Heard county, Georgia, 
 and is the daughter of Captain R. S. Dar- 
 den, who emigrated to Texas thirty-eight 
 years ago, and is now deceased. His wife, 
 who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth 
 Towles, is a native of South Carolina, and 
 descended from one of the old and influen- 
 tial families of that state. 
 
 Mrs. White is the second in order of 
 birth in a family of seven children, and by 
 her marriage became the mother of ten chil- 
 dren: W. Seaburn, Dora, Ella, Katie, Clay- 
 ton, May, Daisy, Ethel, David and Maud. 
 She is also rearing two orphan nephews, — - 
 John and Luther. She resides upon the 
 fine farm of four hundred and eighty-five 
 acres left her by her husband, which lies 
 four and a half miles east of Clifton, and 
 one hundred and eighty acres of the amount 
 is now under a high state of cultivation. 
 Upon the place is a nice orchard, composed 
 principally of peach trees, and the farm is 
 stocked with an excellent grade of Jersey 
 cattle. 
 
 W. Seaburn White, the eldest son of the 
 family, now manages his mother's farm. 
 He is a gentleman of culture and one that 
 
HIS TOUT OB TEXAS. 
 
 417 
 
 keeps fully abreast with the times. He 
 was born on the 27th of May, 1872, was 
 educated in the public schools of Bosque 
 county, and in 1889 began teaching. That 
 profession, however, was not in keeping 
 with his ambition, and four years later he 
 entered the law office of Lockett & Kimble, 
 well known attorneys of Meridian. Mr. 
 White proved an apt scholar in the legal 
 profession and was duly admitted to the 
 bar September 25, 1894. At present he is 
 looking after the interests of the farm, but 
 expects soon to begin his professional prac- 
 tice. He is a young man of steady, in- 
 dustrious habits, and one who has the re- 
 spect and confidence of a large circle of 
 friends. 
 
 ISAAC F. COWAN is one of the ex- 
 tensive land-owners of Erath county 
 and one of its leading and influential 
 citizens. His name stands conspicu- 
 ously high upon the roll of honored pioneers, 
 and the part which he has taken in the up- 
 building of the region well entitles him to 
 this distinction. His active co-operation in 
 all matters tending to promote the general 
 welfare has been of material benefit to the 
 community, and he has advanced civiliza- 
 tion by his efforts in establishing homes on 
 the frontier, aiding many of the settlers in 
 making locations in this region. For thirty- 
 seven years he has been a resident of Erath 
 county, and throughout the community no 
 man is held in higher regard than Mr. 
 Cowan. 
 
 A native of North Carolina, our subject 
 was born in Rowan county July 14, 1822, 
 and is the only survivor of the six children 
 whose parents were Benjamin F. and Eliza- 
 beth (Cowan) Cowan. On both sides he 
 
 has descended from good old Revolutionary 
 stock. The father's people were of English 
 ancestry and the family was established in 
 North Carolina in early colonial days. 
 When the war of the Revolution was in- 
 augurated the grandfather, Henry F. Cowan, 
 who was also a native of North Carolina, 
 entered the service and bravely aided in the 
 struggle for freedom. The maternal grand- 
 father of our subject, David Cowan, was of 
 Scotch-Irish lineage, was reared in Rowan 
 county. North Carolina, and was also one 
 of the heroes of the war which brought to 
 America her independence. In the state 
 where their ancestors had lived both Ben- 
 jamin and Elizabeth Cowan opened their 
 eyes to the light of day for the first time. 
 They lived on a farm in Rowan county for 
 some years, and in 1832 removed to Iredell 
 county, North Carolina, where they re- 
 mained until 1846, removing then to west 
 Tennessee, which continued to be their 
 place of abode until called to their final 
 rest. 
 
 The boyhood and youth of Isaac F. 
 Cowan were spent on his father's farm, 
 where he early became familiar with all the 
 duties that fall to the lot of the agricultur- 
 ist. He obtained his education in the com- 
 mon schools and remained with his parents 
 until nineteen years of age, when he ac- 
 cepted a position as overseer on a planta- 
 tion in North Carolina. He was afterward 
 employed in a similar capacity in Mississippi, 
 spending about ten years in that way, when 
 he removed to Gibson county, Tennessee. 
 
 In November, 1848, Mr. Cowan was 
 united in marriage with Miss Mary Branch, 
 a native of Duplin county, North Carolina, 
 and daughter of Bryant M. and Sarah (Car- 
 away) Branch, who became residents of 
 Gibson county, Tennessee, during the early 
 
418 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 girlhood of their daughter. After his mar- 
 riage Mr. Cowan turned his attention to 
 farming, following that pursuit in the " Big 
 Bend state" until 1859, when he emigrated 
 to Te.xas, making the journey with teams 
 and reaching his destination after nine 
 weeks of travel. The settlement which he 
 made seemed on the very border of civiliza- 
 tion. Around him stretched miles of un- 
 broken prairie, affording excellent fields for 
 grazing stock; but the latter attracted the 
 Indians and in the early years the settlers 
 had to be constantly on guard lest their en- 
 tire herds should be stolen by the savages. 
 Mr. Cowan pre-empted one hundred and 
 sixty acres of land and also purchased an- 
 other quarter section. He at once began to 
 clear and improve the place, and in connec- 
 tion with this work engaged extensively in 
 stock-raising. He now has three thousand 
 acres of land, of which three hundred and 
 fifty are now under a high state of cultivation. 
 His success is the crown of his own labors 
 and may be attributed entirely to his indus- 
 try, perseverance and good management. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Cowan are the parents of 
 eleven children: A. B., of Erath county; 
 Bryant M., who died at the age of twenty- 
 seven; Sarah Elizabeth, who died at the 
 age of five years, when the family were on 
 the way to Texas; J. M. B., of Erath coun- 
 ty; William P., who died at the age of two 
 years; Mary L. A., wife of James T. Will- 
 iams; Isaac Elihu, of Greer county; John 
 F., who died at the age of seventeen; 
 Amanda Ellen, who died at the age of three 
 years; Sarah Elizabeth, who died at the age 
 of twenty-one years; and Bedford Forest, 
 who died at the age of ten years. 
 
 Mr. Cowan is a member of the Masonic 
 lodge at Bluff Dale. In politics he is a 
 stalwart Democrat and for eight years served 
 
 most acceptably as magistrate. In all the 
 relations of life he has been true and faith- 
 ful to the trust reposed in him. In the 
 early days he was indeed a benefactor to 
 this locality, taking a most active part in its 
 improvement and extending a helping hand 
 to the pioneers who came here to found 
 homes. In his business dealings he is 
 straightforward and honorable and has the 
 high regard of all with whom he has come 
 in contact. 
 
 ,>^ ENJAMIN HARE.— To a student 
 l<''^ of human nature there is nothing 
 J^^J of more interest than to examine 
 into the life and history of the self- 
 made man and to analyze those principles 
 which have enabled him to pass many on 
 the highway of life and attain a position of 
 prominence in the community. He of 
 whom we write has forced aside the barriers 
 that obstruct the way, and climbing up the 
 hillside of endeavor has reached the plain of 
 prosperity. 
 
 Mr. Hare is of English birth. A native 
 of Lincolnshire, England, he was born about 
 fifteen miles from the city of Lincoln, on 
 the 1 8th of September, 1829, a son of Ben- 
 jamin Hare, Sr., and a grandson of James 
 Hare, both natives of the same county. 
 The Hares were not a wealthy people; in 
 fact their worldly possessions were rather 
 limited, but they were honest and industri- 
 ous and as such were esteemed by their 
 neighbors and friends. The father of our 
 subject wedded Mary Scott, a native of Lin- 
 colnshire, and they had ten children, three 
 sons and seven daughters: James, Mary, 
 George, Elcy, Ellen, Ben, Sarah, Martha, 
 Eliza and one deceased. The parents were 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 419 
 
 Methodists in religious belief and both died 
 when eighty-seven years of age. 
 
 Our subject was reared in the place of 
 his birth and from an early age had the care 
 of a large flock of sheep. He early learned 
 those habits of industry and honesty which 
 are such essential qualifications to success, 
 and the principles thus inculcated have 
 become salient points in his character. He 
 attended the public school to a limited ex- 
 tent, but has greatly added to his knowledge 
 by the experiences gained through travel, 
 observation and business life. He has 
 always been a student and has read broadly, 
 assimilating what he has read until he is 
 now an excellently well informed man. At 
 the age of twenty-two, on the 17th of Jan- 
 uary, 1852, he left Liverpool for New York, 
 and from there went to Buffalo and on 
 to Orleans county, of the Empire state, 
 where he remained for eight months. Con- 
 tinuing his westward journey he next took 
 up his abode at Portland Corners, Niagara 
 county, same state, where he remained 
 twelve months; thence he removed to St. 
 Joseph county, Michigan, where he had a 
 brother living and where he lived a year. 
 Removing to Dakota county, Minnesota, he 
 became one of its pioneer settlers, purchased 
 land and began farming. During the war 
 he enlisted in the Eighth Minnesota Infan- 
 try, under Captain George F. Pettit, and 
 served for two and a half years, mostly in 
 the northwest fighting Indians, who greatly 
 molested the white settlers living on the 
 frontier, the safety of their homes and lives 
 being constantly endangered. He received 
 an honorable discharge in January, 1865, 
 and then went to Sauk Center, Stearns 
 county, Minnesota, making his home there 
 for the succeeding six years. 
 
 Forming a business connection with the 
 
 Northern Pacific Railroad Company, he re- 
 mained in their service for a year as cook, 
 and then went to Chicago, where he had 
 charge of the stage and transfer barn for a 
 time. He came to Texas overland with a 
 team, and casting his lot with the citizens 
 of Comanche county is now one of its ex- 
 tensive landholders, his possessions aggre- 
 gating over one thousand acres. He has 
 ninety acres planted with crops, while four 
 hundred acres, all under fence, is used as 
 pasture for the stock. He has a comforta- 
 ble residence, good barns and yards, tank 
 and well, and the many conveniences of 
 farm life and the neat and thrifty appear- 
 ance of everything here to be found illus- 
 trates the enterprising, progressive spirit of 
 the owner. 
 
 Mr. Hare was married in Hastings, Min- 
 nesota, to Ann Maria Depue, who died 
 eight months later. He afterward wedded 
 Miss Fidelia Tucker, who was born in Wis- 
 consin, and by this union there are four 
 children, three yet living, — Mary Elcy, 
 Anna Maria and Emily Genet. After the 
 death of his second wife Mr. Hare was 
 united in marriage to Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Tucker, ncc Mackeral, who was born in 
 Devonshire, England, and lived in Cleve- 
 land, Ohio, for a time after coming to this 
 country. 
 
 In his political views Mr. Hare is a stal- 
 wart Republican and is a member of Sam 
 Houston Post, No. 55, G. A. R., also of 
 Sipe Spring Lodge, No. 537, A. F. & A. M., 
 in which he has held several offices. His 
 extensive travels over this country and his 
 native land, in which he has exercised his 
 powers of observation and his retentive 
 memory, have made him a well informed 
 man, and he is an interesting companion 
 who has the high regard of many friends. 
 
420 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 at 
 
 ILLIAM A. FIELDER.— Among 
 the successful farmers who have 
 been identified with the growth 
 and development of Comanche 
 county for the past twenty years is the gen- 
 tleman whose name introduces this bio- 
 graphical sketch. Through the period of 
 the county's great advancement he has been 
 an important factor in its upbuilding, and it 
 is therefore a matter of justice that he be 
 represented in this work. 
 
 A native of Mississippi, Mr. Fielder was 
 born on the 7th of January, 1846, and is a 
 son of William B. Fielder, who was born 
 in Alabama and became one of the early 
 settlers of Mississippi. His death occurred 
 August 9, 1862. His wife, who bore the 
 maiden name of Eliza A. Smith, was a na- 
 tive of South Carolina, and in 1893 she was 
 called from this life to the eternal home. 
 Both parents .were descended from promi- 
 nent and influential families of the south that 
 trace their ancestry back to early colonial 
 days. 
 
 Our subject is the third in order of birth 
 among the ten children of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Fielder. He was reared in the state of his 
 nativity and is indebted to its public schools 
 for the educational facilities which he en- 
 joyed. During the months of vacation he 
 worked on the home farm and continued to 
 aid in its cultivation until 1862, when, at 
 the age of eighteen, he left home and went 
 to the defense of the south, then engaged in 
 civil war. He valiantly defended the prin- 
 ciples in which he so firmly believed and dis- 
 played the bravery that marks the true sol- 
 dier in any land or clime. When the war 
 was over he returned to his home in Missis- 
 sippi, and in 1866, when twenty years of 
 age, came to Texas, where he has since 
 made his home. He first located in Smith 
 
 county, but afterward resided in Fannin 
 and Bastrop counties. For seven months 
 he was a member of the Texas Rangers, an 
 organization formed for protection against 
 the Indians. He made a permanent loca- 
 tion in Comanche county in 1874, and now 
 resides sixteen miles northwest of the city 
 of Comanche. His farm comprises one 
 hundred and sixty acres of land, of which 
 eighty-five acres are highly cultivated. He 
 has also a fine orchard of five acres, con- 
 taining peaches, pears, plums, grapes and a 
 variety of berries. The many improvements 
 upon his place indicate the care and atten- 
 tion he has bestowed upon it, and are as a 
 monument to the thrift and enterprise of 
 the owner. 
 
 On the 2ist of October, 1872, Mr. 
 Fielder was united in marriage to Miss 
 Martha E. Carter, a native of Texas. They 
 have twelve children, as follows: Rufus, 
 Lillie (now Mrs. William Courtney), Lena, 
 Wilson, Irene, Florence, Jacob, Leo, Joseph, 
 Robert, Winnie and Maiden. 
 
 ,y^AVID EMISON.— Among the early 
 I I settlers of Brown county, Texas, 
 ^^^J none are perhaps better known or 
 more worthy of mention in a vol- 
 ume of this character, devoted to the best 
 citizens, than the gentleman whose name 
 introduces this review. He is a native of 
 the state noted for its brave men and beau- 
 tiful women, his birth having occurred in 
 Scott county, Kentucky, on the 29th of 
 November, 1820. His father, Hugh Emi- 
 son, was a native of Ireland, and belonged 
 to a prominent family of the land that fur- 
 nished many representatives to the military 
 service of the government. Hugh Emison 
 was a young man of seventeen when he 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 421 
 
 came to Ketrtasky. He wooed and won 
 one of the belles of that state, a lady of 
 intelligence and culture, — Elizabeth Mar- 
 shall, a cousin of Thomas Marshall, who 
 served as one of the supreme judges of the 
 state. By this union were born the follow- 
 ing children: Hugh, Greenup, George, 
 David, Joseph, Eliza, Nancy, Lucy and 
 Amanda. The father of this family was an 
 Episcopalian in religious faith and his wife 
 belonged to the Methodist church. He 
 died at the age of eighty-two years, and his 
 wife was sixty-three years of age when called 
 to the eternal home. 
 
 David Emison, of this review, was reared 
 in the state of his nativity, and into his 
 mind were instilled the lessons of industry 
 and honesty which have left their impress 
 on his entire life, proving salient points of 
 his character. He acquired a good educa- 
 tion and was thereby well fitted for life's 
 practical duties. During the war his influ- 
 ence was all on the side of the Union and 
 in opposition to secession, which would de- 
 stroy the nation. When a young man of 
 twenty-seven he chose as a companion and 
 helpmeet on life's journey Miss Elizabeth 
 Brown, belonging to a good family of 
 Kentucky, a daughter of Samuel and Dor- 
 cas Brown, the parents natives of Vir- 
 ginia. Mr. and Mrs. Emison have four 
 children, namely: Frank, Julian, Sally Fish 
 and Maggie, wife of Rev. Frank Wagnon. 
 They also lost four children, three of whom 
 died in infancy, while Mary E. died at the 
 age of twenty-two years. She was the 
 wife of M. H. P. Williams, a son of Judge 
 Williams, of Kentucky. 
 
 InFebruary, 1875, Mr. Emison removed 
 with his family to Texas, taking up his 
 residence in Brown county, locating on 
 one hundred and si.xty acres of wild land 
 
 amid the mountains. He went to the coun- 
 ty surveyor to secure the services of that 
 official to survey his land, but that official 
 said that the Indians were too numerous 
 among the mountains and would not consent 
 to undertake the task. Mr. Emison then 
 borrowed the surveyor's instruments, sur- 
 veyed his own land and also that of several 
 of his neighbors. He was afterward elected 
 to the office of county surveyor, in which 
 position he served for four years, with 
 credit to himself and satisfaction to the 
 public. The greater part of his attention, 
 however, has been given to his farming in- 
 terests. He owns one hundred and si.xty 
 acres, of which seventy acres are under cul- 
 tivation and well improved with buildings 
 and fences. 
 
 In 1896 the happy home of Mr. Emison 
 was made desolate by the loss of his loved 
 wife, who died on the loth of May. She 
 was to him a faithful companion and help- 
 meet for forty-eight years; they had shared 
 in the hardship of pioneer life together, in 
 the joys and sorrows, the adversity and 
 prosperity which checker the career of all, 
 and her vacant place in the household is 
 one which can never be filled. She was a 
 lady of many virtues, esteemed and beloved 
 by all. Mr. Emison is a true southern gen- 
 tleman, chivalrous, courteous, kindly and 
 true. His genuine worth is recognized in 
 the friendship which is extended him, and 
 it is with pleasure that we present this re- 
 view of his life to our readers. 
 
 ar 
 
 ILLIAM C. JACKSON, of the 
 firm of H. C. Jackson & Son, 
 proprietors of a cotton gin at 
 Sidney, Texas, is a fair repre- 
 sentative of the enterprising young business 
 
422 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS 
 
 men of this state; and at this point in this 
 series of biographical sketches we are 
 pleased to make the following allusion to 
 him. 
 
 Mr. Jackson claims Greenwood county, 
 Kansas, as the place of his birth. He is 
 the eldest in the family of seven children of 
 Henry C. and Martha J. (Whaley) Jackson 
 and was born January 25, 1866. His fa- 
 ther is a native of the " Hoosier" state and 
 his mother was born in Missouri. The 
 former had settled in the "Garden of the 
 West" in 1864, where he made his home 
 for three years, and in 1877, accompanied 
 by his wife and children, he emigrated to 
 Te.xas and located in Comanche county, 
 where he has since maintained his residence 
 and where he is ranked with the honored 
 and respected citizens of the community. 
 
 In Comanche county William C. Jack- 
 son was reared. He is now in partnership 
 with his father at Sidney, where they are 
 operating a cotton gin, the business being 
 conducted under the name of H. C. Jackson 
 & Son, as already stated. Their gin was 
 erected in August, 1895, has two stands of 
 seventy rows each, and is provided with all 
 the modern machinery and conveniences. 
 Its daily capacity is twenty-five bales. The 
 management of the gin is given over entire- 
 ly to the younger member of the firm, and 
 under his able direction the business is in a 
 prosperous condition. 
 
 When he was twenty-two years of age 
 Mr. Jackson joined the ranks of benedicts. 
 He was united in marriage, February 29, 
 1888, to Miss Roxie A. Johnson, a native of 
 Texas and a daughter of William M. John- 
 son, honorable mention of whom will be 
 found on another page of this work. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Jackson have an interesting fam- 
 ily of three children, namely: Oral K., Bar- 
 
 ney H. and Helen. Also they have one 
 daughter deceased. 
 
 Ever since he became a voter the sub- 
 ject of our sketch has given his support to 
 the Democratic party. He is not, however, 
 active in politics nor has he ever sought of- 
 ficial honors. Socially he affiliates with 
 the Masonic order, retaining metnbership in 
 Sipe Springs Lodge, No. 537, A. F. & A. M. 
 As a citizen and business man, he stands 
 high in the estimation of all who know him. 
 
 >Y*AMES L. BELCHER.— Four miles 
 ^ east of Morgan, and lying along 
 A 1 Steel's creek, in Bosque county, is 
 found the farm owned and occupied 
 by the subject of this sketch, James L. Bel- 
 cher. This farm comprises about two hun- 
 dred acres, eighty of which are under culti- 
 vation, and all the improvements upon the 
 place, including fences, residence and farm 
 buildings, have been put here by the pres- 
 ent owner, who purchased the land in its 
 wild state in 1879. As one of the repre- 
 sentative farmers of his community, it is 
 appropriate that a sketch of his life be given 
 a place in this volume. 
 
 James L. Belcher is a native of the 
 "Empire State of the South," and is closely 
 related to a number of people who have 
 figured prominently in that commonwealth. 
 It was July 21, 1845, and on a farm in 
 Jasper county, Georgia, that he was born, 
 his parents being O. R. and Comfort (Mad- 
 dox) Belcher. His paternal grandfather, 
 Obid Belcher, was an Englishman who was 
 a participant in the Revolutionary war, and 
 who at the close of the war made a settle- 
 ment in Georgia, where he passed the re- 
 mainder of his life and died. He owned a 
 large plantation and many slaves, and was 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 well known and greatly respected. His 
 good wife survived him a number of years, 
 and died at the venerable age of ninety- 
 nine. At her death she freed several of her 
 oldest slaves. O. R. Belcher, the father of 
 our subject, grew up in Georgia and lived 
 and died there, his death occurring in 1886. 
 He was a public-spirited man, and filled 
 numerous responsible positions. For ten 
 years he was county judge, and for many 
 years he served as justice of the peace, and 
 in the Methodist church, of which he was 
 an honored member, he long filled the office 
 of steward. His vocation was the same as 
 that of his father before him, and he was 
 prosperous in his undertakings until the war 
 came on, when his forty-odd slaves were 
 freed, much of his property destroyed, and 
 he practically broken up. His wife, lue 
 Miss Comfort Maddox, was a daughter of 
 John M. Maddox, one of the wealthy plant- 
 ers and slaveholders of Georgia. He reared 
 a large family of children, ten in all, some 
 of whom were prominently identified with 
 the country. James L., deceased, was for 
 many years the incumbent of some office of 
 trust, for a time being honored with a seat 
 in the state legislature, and was a wealthy 
 and influential man. Another son, W. D. 
 Maddox, was an eminent physician, and 
 two of the sons, S. H. and Shackford, were 
 noted Methodist ministers. Still other mem- 
 bers of the family figured prominently as 
 farmers. All are living except three sons 
 and a daughter,— James L., Emery, Abram 
 and Sarah. Sarah was the wife of William 
 Flanon, a wealthy and influential man. The 
 mother of our subject survived the father a 
 short time, her death occurring in 1887. 
 She, too, was a member of the Methodist 
 Episcopal church. Of their children, seven 
 in number, we make the following record: 
 
 Greenberry, who was killed in the late war; 
 John, a farmer of Bosque county, Texas; 
 William D., a practicing physician of Geor- 
 gia; O. R., a Methodist minister, who died 
 in Bosque county; J. L., whose name in- 
 itiates this article; Sarah, wife of Jasper 
 Stallings. Both she and her husband are 
 deceased, and left four children; and Crosby 
 D., who died at Bryant and left a wife and 
 one child. 
 
 James L. Belcher remained with his 
 parents until the outbreak of the civil war. 
 In 1862, at the age of sixteen years, he en- 
 listed in the Sixth Georgia Infantry and 
 was consigned to the Army of Virginia. 
 He was detailed for special service near Fort 
 Sumter, his business for one year being to 
 carry the mail. Afterward he was hospital 
 nurse, acting as such until he was taken 
 sick and went home on furlough. It was 
 not until after the close of the war that he 
 fully recovered. In the meantime, in 1864. 
 at the early age of eighteen years, he was 
 married. 
 
 In the fall of 1866 Mr. Belcher, accom- 
 panied by his young wife, came to Texas 
 and settled on a rented farm in Grimes 
 county, where he made his home four years. 
 The next six years he lived in Brazos county 
 and then spent two years in Hill county, all 
 this time renting land, and in 1879 he came 
 to his present location in Bosque county, 
 and, as stated at the beginning of this 
 sketch, purchased the property upon which 
 he has' since made his home. This tract is 
 a portion of the Spencer survey. 
 
 Mr. Belcher married Miss Mary E. Kel- 
 ly, a native of Georgia, born October i, 
 1846, a daughter of Michael and Sophia 
 Kelly, who were of Irish descent. Her father 
 moved to Texas in 1866, and died in Bosque 
 county in 1891- He was a farmer. His 
 
424 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 wife survives him, has recently entered the 
 octogenarian ranks, and is kindly cared for 
 by her children. She is the mother of 
 eleven children, five of whom are yet liv- 
 ing, four in Texas and one in Georgia. 
 Mrs. Kelly is a member of the Missionary 
 Baptist church, with which her husband 
 also was identified for many years. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Belcher are Methodists, their 
 membership being with the Methodist Epis- 
 copal church, south, and he is a steward in 
 the same. They have had seven children, 
 of whom three died in infancy, and one, 
 John M., at the age of twenty-one years. 
 Those living are William R. , James D., and 
 Roy L. 
 
 Mr. Belcher has always been stanch in 
 his support of the Democratic party and its 
 principles, but he has never had any office- 
 seeking inclinations. 
 
 "^i* F. ROBINSON is numbered among 
 J that class of honored pioneers to 
 A ■ whom a community owes its develop- 
 ment and upbuilding. He is now the 
 oldest living settler on the Paluxy, and dur- 
 ing the years that have passed since he lo- 
 cated here he has borne an important part 
 in the work of bringing under subjection the 
 uncultivated land, transforming it into richly 
 improved farms, and has taken an active and 
 commendable interest in everything pertain- 
 ing to the welfare of the district. Farming 
 and stock-raising now claim his attention, 
 and he is justly regarded as one of the lead- 
 ing agriculturists of Erath county. 
 
 Mr.' Robinson is a native of Alabama, 
 his birth having occurred in Marengo county, 
 on the 4th of June, 1839, and his parents 
 being Rev. William and Julia (Fulford) 
 
 Robinson. The father was a native of Ala- 
 bama and his ancestors were numbered 
 among the early colonists of Virginia, where 
 their residence antedates the war of the 
 Revolution. The mother of our subject 
 also was born in Alabama. Rev. William 
 Robinson followed farming in early life and 
 when a young man removed to northern 
 Louisana, whence, in 1848, he continued 
 his westward journey to what seemed the 
 very frontier of civilization, locating in Rusk 
 county, Texas. After a short time he re- 
 moved to Johnson county and assisted in its 
 organization. He was also one of the or- 
 ganizers of Erath county and was a promi- 
 nent factor in public affairs, laboring ear- 
 nestly for the best improvement of the differ- 
 ent localities with which he was connected. 
 He took up his residence on the bank of 
 Paluxy creek in 1856 and the same day be- 
 gan plowing and planting, raising the first 
 crop of corn on the creek. He entered upon 
 the work of the ministry in 1854 in Rusk 
 county and .was one of the most eminent 
 pioneer preachers in this section of the state. 
 For many years he followed this holy calling 
 on the frontier, bravely meeting all the hard- 
 ships and dangers it involved. During the 
 early part of the civil war he went to Bel- 
 knap and for some time furnished the Con- 
 federate army with beef and engaged exten- 
 sively in the stock business for a time. He 
 made his home in Stephenville and after- 
 ward removed to Coleman county, where he 
 followed the stock business until his retire- 
 ment from active life on account of ad- 
 vanced age. Later he removed to Coman- 
 che, and the energetic spirit of the man not 
 permitting him to lay aside all business cares 
 he took up the milling business. At pres- 
 ent, however, he is enjoying a rest that he 
 has truly earned and richly deserves. Al- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 425 
 
 though eighty-six years of age he still retains 
 the mental and physical vigor which usually 
 accompanies middle life. 
 
 In the family of Rev. William and Julia 
 Robinson were twelve children, ten of whom 
 reached years of maturity, while five are 
 still living, our subject and one sister being 
 residents of Erath county. The mother 
 died in 1 846 and the father afterward mar- 
 ried Isabel Brant, of Hinds county, Missis- 
 sippi. By this marriage were born six 
 children. 
 
 The gentleman whose name begins the 
 introductory paragraph of this review was a 
 child of only ten years when brought by his 
 father to the Lone Star state. On the old 
 home farm he was reared, and early he was 
 inured to the arduous labor of developing 
 new land and cultivating the farm. He also 
 became familiar with the best methods of 
 caring for stock. His educational privileges 
 were necessarily quite limited, as there were 
 then few schools on the frontier. He re- 
 mained at home until his marriage, which 
 was celebrated December 22, 1859, the lady 
 of his choice being Miss Elizabeth Nealy, a 
 native of Tennessee and a daughter of 
 Charles Nealy. 
 
 After his marriage Mr. Robinson engaged 
 in stock-raising until the spring of 1862, 
 when, bidding good-by to his little family, 
 he enlisted in the Confederate army and 
 served in Parsons' Texas cavalry until the 
 close of hostilities, his command being at- 
 tached to the western army. He partici- 
 pated in the battle of Yellow Bayou and 
 others of lesser importance, and when the 
 war was over returned to his home and 
 resumed his old occupation of stock-raising. 
 He is a man of good business ability, and 
 his straightforward dealing and tireless 
 energy have brought to him success and won 
 
 for him the confidence of all with whom he 
 has been brought in contact. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Robinson are the parents 
 of twelve children, namely: Rebecca, widow 
 of J. J. Collins, of Erath county; Mary, 
 wife of Frank Perry; Julia, wife of Will 
 Adams; Belle, wife of Thomas Perry; Lin- 
 nie, wife of A. Letherman; Martha, wife of 
 Price Carter; Charles W., William J., Dora. 
 Thomas Paine, Robert I. and John Volney. 
 The family is one widely and favorably 
 known and their friends throughout the 
 community are many. In his political 
 views Mr. Robinson is a Populist. He is a 
 disbeliever in revelation,— believing all re- 
 ligions and religious beliefs to be of human 
 origin. 
 
 ^^LUFORD L. HOLLIS, Duffau, 
 |,^ Texas.— In the gentleman whose 
 A^ name forms the heading of this 
 sketch is found one who was born 
 in this state the year following its admission 
 into the Union, and whose whole life has 
 been spent within her borders. He grew 
 up in the saddle out on the range with his 
 father's cattle, had many exciting and thrill- 
 ing experiences with the Indians, for years 
 figured as one of the leading stock men of 
 the county, is now identified with the farm- 
 ing interests of Erath county, and is proba- 
 bly as well posted on the various phases of 
 life in the Lone Star state as any man to 
 be found here. His history therefore is of 
 particular interest in this connection. 
 
 Bluford L. Hollis was born in Anderson 
 county, Texas, June 9, 1846, his parents 
 being Harvey B. and Polly A. (McCarty) 
 Hollis, natives respectively of Tennessee 
 and Alabama, who came to Texas only a 
 
426 
 
 niSTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 short time previous to his birth. Mr. Hol- 
 Hs knows little of his paternal ancestry save 
 that his grandfather Hollis was a farmer in 
 Tennessee and died there. His maternal 
 grandfather, James McCarty, was of Ala- 
 bama birth and emigrated from that state 
 to Texas about 1846, the McCarty and 
 Hollis families all coming together and set- 
 tling in Anderson county, and about 1852 
 removing to what afterward became Erath 
 county and locating on the Duffau. Here 
 some years later Mr. McCarty died. Har- 
 vey B. Hollis brought with him to this 
 county his stock, was successful in the stock 
 business and increased his herds from year 
 to year until 1874, when he sold out to his 
 son, our subject. During his early e.xper- 
 ience here many of his horses and cattle 
 were stolen by the Indians, and many a 
 time he went in hot pursuit after them. 
 His own saddle horse he kept locked to a 
 log by his cabin door in order to keep him 
 from being stolen and to have him there 
 ready for an emergency. By those uniniti- 
 ated the story of pioneer privation and dan- 
 ger can never be fully appreciated. It 
 takes a genuine frontiersman to understand 
 what it means to live fifteen miles from a 
 neighbor and have to go sixty miles to mill 
 and be in constant danger of surprise by In- 
 dians. Such was the experience of Mr. 
 Hollis. His first breadstuff was procured 
 at Milford, sixty miles away, and later he 
 went to mill at Meridian, only thirty miles 
 distant. The county of Erath was not or- 
 ganized until 1856. Then the land was 
 put on the market and he purchased the 
 tract upon which he had settled, a part of 
 the Wisenhetter survey. Years later, after 
 he had sold his stock to his son, he gave his 
 attention to farming and handling stock in 
 a small way. Democratic in politics and 
 
 well posted on the issues of the day, he was 
 called upon to fill some important positions 
 in the county, which he did both with 
 credit to himself and those whom he served. 
 He was county assessor and also tax collec- 
 tor. He, however, never sought office of 
 any kind, these being given him unsolicited. 
 Of his children, there were seven by his 
 first marriage and four by the last. Of the 
 family were: Bluford L. ; Harriet, wife of 
 W. L. Hale; Mary, wife of W. L. Robin- 
 son; Joseph, who died in the Indian Nation; 
 James H., a carpenter of Stephenville, 
 Texas; Martha, wife of J. M. McCanless; 
 and William, a farmer of Erath county. 
 The mother of these children died in Janu- 
 ary, 1 867. Four years later the father 
 married again, and the children of his sec- 
 ond wife are: Calla, wife of John Robin- 
 son; Walter, at home; Ira, wife of John 
 Houlton; and Ada, at home. Religiously, 
 this worthy pioneer was a Primitive Baptist, 
 his wives members of the same church, and 
 in this faith the children were reared. 
 
 Bluford L. Hollis, as stated at the be- 
 ginning of this article, spent his boyhood in 
 riding over the country watching his father's 
 cattle, and owing to the limited educational 
 advantages afforded here his schooling was 
 neglected. Later in life he acquired a prac- 
 tical knowledge of affairs that has been of 
 more value to him in his business transac- 
 tions than has book learning been to many. 
 He remained with his father, assisting in the 
 stock business, until 1867. In 1863 he en- 
 tered the ranging service, and was on the 
 frontier until the close of the war. He was 
 in Colonel Mullen's command. During this 
 time he was in many raids after the Indians 
 and was in one regular engagement with 
 them, namely, the second battle of Dove 
 creek. In this battle young Hollis had his 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 427 
 
 clothes twice pierced with bullets, he, how- 
 ever, escaping uninjured. The war over, 
 he resumed the stock business, but for sev- 
 eral years after was at intervals greatly an- 
 noyed by the Indians. In 1868 they stole 
 forty head of horses, taking them in broad 
 daylight from the herder. A few of these 
 horses were afterward recovered. At an- 
 other time he was with a party out hunting 
 stock and got into a fight with the Indians 
 and two of his company were killed. These 
 Indian troubles did not cease until about 
 1871. Mr. Mollis has made application to 
 the government for pay for his stock then 
 lost, and has furnished the proper proof, 
 but as yet has not had his claim recognized. 
 About 1868 he purchased his father's 
 cattle and brand and assumed charge of the 
 whole business. After the range here in 
 Erath county was reduced, the country be- 
 coming more thickly settled, he moved his 
 stock to broader pastures, first to Throck- 
 morton county, where he remained three 
 years, at the end of that time selling out. 
 Then he bought another herd, which he 
 moved to the Rio Grande country, and later 
 sold. Buying again, he took his herd to 
 Scurry county, where he ranged them until 
 the fall of 189s and then sold out. About 
 1882 he purchased one hundred and sixty 
 acres of land where he now lives, and for 
 some years his attention was divided be- 
 tween his stock interests and the improve- 
 ment and cultivation of his land. In the 
 meantime he bought other land, one tract 
 of one hundred acres, and another tract of 
 six hundred and forty acres, making in all 
 nine hundred acres, one hundred and fifty 
 of which are at this writing under cultivation 
 and nearly all in the hands of renters. Mr. 
 Hollis now raises only enough stock for the 
 support of his land, his attention being di- 
 
 rected t_othe quality rather than the quan- 
 tity of stobk,^ __ 
 
 March 14, 1867, Mr. Hof-hs-married Miss 
 Mary Gillentine. She was born in Tennes- 
 see, in 1850, of Tennessee parents, Nicholas 
 and Elizabeth (Parker) Gillentine, and came 
 with them in 1 8 59 to Texas. The Gillentines 
 spent one year in Hunt county and from there 
 came to Erath county, where Mr. Gillentine 
 farmed some and dealt largely in horses. 
 He was in the ranger service two years, 
 and in the memorable battle of Dove creek, 
 in December, 1864, was killed, as also was 
 his eldest son John. Another son, William, 
 was wounded in that battle and died a few 
 years later from the effects of his wounds. 
 Of his other children, we record that Jane 
 married Benjamin Beach, a prominent farm- 
 er of this county; Terry is a resident of 
 Stephenville; and Spencer died and left a 
 wife and four children. William also was a 
 man of family; he left a wife and two daugh- 
 ters. Mr. and Mrs. Hollis have been 
 blessed in the birth of eleven children. Two 
 died young. The names of the others in 
 order of birth are: Jane, wife of J. C. Laney, 
 a farmer of this county; Nannie, wife of 
 James P. Koonsman, a farmer; and Nicholas 
 M., Emma, Blufa, Amanda E., Betty, 
 Johnie and Spencer, — all at home. 
 
 Fraternally, Mr. Hollis is an Odd Fel- 
 low. Politically, like his father before him, 
 he has steadily adhered to the principles advo- 
 cated by the Democratic party, and has 
 never had aspirations for official position. 
 
 ^VOHN M. BIRDWELL, who carries 
 J on general farming and stock-raising 
 «f in Erath county, is a native of Ala- 
 bama, born October 11, 1833, but 
 since the days when the Lone Star state 
 
428 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 was the republic of Texas he has been one 
 of its residents. His parents were George 
 and Matilda (Garner) Birdwell, the former 
 a native of Georgia and the latter of Mis- 
 sissippi. When our subject was a lad of five 
 years they emigrated with their family to 
 Texas, locating on Blossom Prairie in what 
 is now Paris county. Again with the tide of 
 emigration they drifted westward and their 
 last days were spent in Young county. The 
 father died at the age of eighty-nine years 
 and the mother passed away at the age of 
 seventy-nine. 
 
 Mr. Birdwell of this review was reared 
 on the frontier of Texas, and his youth was 
 largely spent in caring for his father's cattle 
 and preventing them from being driven off 
 by the Indians. He experienced all the 
 hardships and difficulties of such a life, and 
 his early years were largely a period of toil. 
 When he was twenty-five years of age he 
 left home, beginning life on his own ac- 
 count. In i860 he was united in marriage 
 with Miss Caroline Miller, a native of Pitts 
 county, Missouri, and a daughter of George 
 Miller, who came to Texas in 1858. The 
 marriage of our subject was celebrated in 
 Wise county, where he turned his attention 
 to the stock business, which he followed for 
 ten years, his labors being interrupted only 
 by his services on the frontier during the 
 civil war. When the Indians with daring 
 and boldness made their attacks on the out- 
 lying settlement he went to the defense of 
 that region and royally aided in keeping back 
 the savages. 
 
 Mr. Birdwell removed from Wise to Palo 
 Pinto county, where for a time he engaged 
 in dealing in horses, and then went to Tar- 
 rant county, where he followed farming for 
 two years. In 1874 he came to Erath 
 county, where in company with a cousin he 
 
 purchased three hundred and twenty acres 
 of wild land on Richardson creek and began 
 the task of making a home on the frontier. 
 He now has an excellent farm of two hun- 
 dred acres, of which eighty-five acres is un- 
 der cultivation and yields to the owner a 
 golden tribute in return for the care and 
 labor he bestows upon it. He is a thrifty, 
 energetic farmer, and the prosperity of the 
 state is largely due to the class of citizens of 
 which he is a worthy representative. While 
 residing in Wise county Mr. Birdwell lost his 
 wife. He afterward married Charity Ann 
 Weatherby, a native of Alabama, who when 
 a child came to Tyler, Texas, with her par- 
 ents, George and Charity (Heflin) Weather- 
 by. The marriage of our subject was cele- 
 brated in Wise county, and he has had six 
 children, namely: Virginia, deceased wife 
 of Martin Clarke of Erath county; Jessie, 
 wife of John Pinkeny Flinn; Beatrice, wife 
 of Martin Clarke; George, of Erath county; 
 Charles, at home; and Dollie Ann. 
 
 In his political viesvs Mr. Birdwell is a 
 Democrat. Both he and his father were 
 opposed to the secession of the southern 
 states and voted for the Union. He has 
 ever been a loyal citizen, unfaltering in sup- 
 port of all he believes to be right, and is 
 highly esteemed for his sterling worth and 
 strict integrity. 
 
 /^^ USTAVUS FREDERICK LEWIS 
 \Q\ BANOWSKY, an agriculturist of 
 \^^ energy and ability, making his 
 home near Indian Gap, in Hamil- 
 ton county, is a native of Germany, born 
 June 26, 1S49, and is a son of Lewis Fred- 
 erick and Augusta (Matschke) Banowsky. 
 In 1849 the father emigrated to Texas, and 
 the following year the mother brought her 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 429 
 
 two children, — our subject and Otelia. The 
 father, who was a cabinet-maker and car- 
 penter, was working at his trade in Grimes 
 county at the time his family joined him, 
 but in 1852 removed to Burnet county, 
 where he took up a claim of one hundred 
 and sixty acres. On selling this he pur- 
 chased a second tract there, consisting of 
 three hundred and twenty acres. In 1882 
 he went to Kimball county, Texas, where 
 he is now engaged in stock-raising, owning 
 about theee thousand acres, a portion of 
 which is farming land. 
 
 At the age of fourteen our subject left 
 home and worked for wages until his mar- 
 riage, which important event in his life was 
 celebrated on the 13th of November. 1879. 
 For three years he then followed farming 
 upon a tract of fifty acres belonging to his 
 wife, and then removed to Kimball county, 
 where he purchased three hundred and 
 twenty acres, partially improved. At the 
 end of two years he purchased one hundred 
 and sixty acres on Mesquite creek in Hamil- 
 ton county, five miles north of Pottsville, 
 and in December, 1890, removed to that 
 village, where, in connection with W. A. 
 Taylor, he started a store under the firm 
 name of Taylor & Banowsky, our subject 
 buying out B. B. Kinney, the firm being 
 originally Kinney & Taylor. Selling out his 
 interest at the end of one year, Mr. Ba- 
 nowsky then dealt in cattle until January, 
 1893, when he bought his present place of 
 the William King heirs, it comprising two 
 hundred and fifty-one acres. His present 
 residence was completed in May, 1893, and 
 he has bored a well one hundred and forty 
 feet deep, placing therein a windmill. 
 
 On the 13th of November, 1879, Mr. 
 Banowsky wedded Sena Hannah Johnston, 
 who was born November 14, 1857, in Dal- 
 
 las county, Texas, and is the daughter of 
 Isaac and Thursey (Weaver) Johnston, both 
 natives of Tennessee, the former born in 
 White county, in 1812, and the latter in 
 Warren county, July 27, 1815. In their 
 family were nine children, of whom Mrs. 
 Banowsky was the youngest. At the age of 
 eighteen years her father went to Illinois, 
 and, in October, 1854, located in Dallas 
 county, this state, where he owned three 
 hundred and twenty acres. His death oc- 
 curred May 10, 1862, and his wife, who 
 long survived him, passed away February 
 25, 1896. Six children grace the union of 
 our subject and wife, viz. : Lawrence Aubra, 
 born August 10, 1880; Richard Henry, born 
 January 15, 1882; lola Elizabeth, born 
 February 22, 1884; Albert Mercer, born 
 September 23, 1892; Lottie May, born May 
 I, 1894; and Emma Blanche, born March 
 I, 1896. 
 
 Mr. Banowsky is one of the most pro- 
 gressive and wide-awake citizens of Hamil- 
 ton county, and though of German birth, 
 he is not only a good American scholar, but 
 is Americanized in all his dealings and life. 
 His political support is ever given to the 
 Democratic party, and since the age of 
 twenty-one years he has been a consist- 
 ent and devoted member of the Christian 
 church. 
 
 HB. GATEWOOD.— Back to the 
 Old Dominion, one of the historic 
 landmarks, does the subject of this 
 sketch trace his lineage, and, hke 
 all true sons of Virginia, has reason to be 
 proud of his blood. In him is found an ex- 
 cellent representative of the Bosque county 
 farmer and stock dealer, and a man whose 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 prominence justifies the presentation of this 
 biographical rcsuinc. 
 
 A. B. Gatewood was born in Stafford 
 county, Virginia, January 29, 1822, son of 
 Thomas J. and Frances (Harding) Gate- 
 wood, both natives of that state. At an 
 early day Thomas J. Gatewood emigrated 
 with his family to Missouri, locating in that 
 state a few years after its admission to the 
 Union, and there he died soon after, in the 
 prime of life, his death occurring in 1830. 
 His wife survived him a number of years 
 living to the advanced age of eighty-two 
 years. Both were members of the Mis- 
 sionary Baptist church, and by occupation 
 he was a farmer. In their family were 
 seven children, one of whom died in infancy, 
 and of the others we record that Henry is 
 deceased; A. B., of this sketch, is the next in 
 order of birth; Jefferson is a resident of 
 Missouri; Enoch is deceased; Festus went 
 to California in the daj's of '49 and his 
 whereabouts is now unknown; and Eliza- 
 beth married Mr. Thomas Northcut and 
 resides in Missouri. 
 
 The subject of this biography was small 
 at the time his father died and remembers 
 little of him. He remained with his mother 
 and other members of the family, growing 
 up on their frontier farm and receiving no 
 other educational advantages than those of 
 the common schools near his home. On 
 emerging from his 'teens, and before reach- 
 ing his majority, he took to himself a wife 
 and launched out as a farmer in Clarke 
 county, Missouri, where he remained for a 
 number of years, including the war period. 
 At the close of the war, in 1865, he sold out 
 and went to California, where he spent three 
 j-ears in farming and working at the car- 
 penter's trade, after which he came to 
 Texas, landing here in 1868, and first making 
 
 settlement near Fort Worth in . Tarrant 
 county. There he bought land and im- 
 proved a farm and lived upon and cultivated 
 the same until 1879, when he disposed of his 
 property and removed to his present loca- 
 tion in Bosque county, five miles northeast 
 of Walnut Springs. At this point he pur- 
 chased four hundred and fifty-three acres of 
 land, which had for some time been used as 
 a stock ranch, but which had no improve- 
 ments save a small house. Through his 
 efforts during the years that have passed 
 since then a-change has been wrought. A 
 hundred acres of the soil have been fur- 
 rowed and refurrowed, and, with the excep- 
 tion of two seasons, have always produced 
 fine crops. The whole tract is now well 
 fenced, a substantial and modern residence 
 has been built, and an orchard has been 
 planted and brought into bearing. For 
 five or six years after settling here Mr. 
 Gatewood gave considerable attention to the 
 cattle business and had as fine a herd as was 
 to be found in this section of the country. 
 In 1882 he sold his cattle and turned his 
 attention to sheep. 'At one time his band 
 of sheep numbered as high as five hundred 
 head, but at this writing he has only about 
 three hundred. Also he has been much 
 interested in raising horses, making a spe- 
 cialty of improving the grade, and now is 
 the owner of a fine stallion of the Steeldust 
 and Norman strains. He carries on both 
 his farming and stock-raising by the most 
 modern and improved methods and is justly 
 deserving of the success which is his. 
 
 Reference has already been made to his 
 early marriage, and now we would look fur- 
 ther into that part of his history which is 
 more especially domestic. Mr. Gatewood's 
 first marriage was to Miss Ann E. Shackle- 
 ford, a native of Missouri and a daughter of 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 431 
 
 Morgan Shackleford and his wife, whose 
 maiden name was Monroe. Mr. Shackle- 
 ford was one of the respected farmers of 
 his community. While Mr. Gatewood and 
 his family were on the way to California, in 
 1865, Mrs. Gatewood died, and a mound 
 by the wayside marks her last resting place. 
 She left three children, — JohnW., Camillus 
 A. and Cornelius L., — all of whom are still 
 living and successfully engaged in agricult- 
 ural pursuits in Texas. In 1868 Mr. Gate- 
 wood was married in this state to Miss Emily 
 Oxer, a native of Warren county, Indiana, 
 who came to Texas with her father, Samuel 
 Oxer, and family about 1844, their location 
 being on a rented farm in Dallas county. 
 There her father died that same year, leav- 
 ing a widow and seven children. Four 
 years later the mother moved with her fam- 
 ily to Parker county, where she lived for 
 many years, and whence she finally moved 
 to Thorp Spring, Hood county, where she 
 died about the year 1882. She and her 
 husband were both members of the Freewill 
 Baptist church. Of their family, we record 
 that their eldest son, James O., is deceased; 
 Rachel is the wife of Dr. Bateman, of Mor- 
 gan, Texas; Mary A. has been twice mar- 
 ried, her first husband's name being Lewis, 
 and her present companion a Mr. Kirkland; 
 William is deceased; and Emily is the wife 
 of our subject; and besides these there were 
 two other children that died in early life. 
 The marriage of Mr. Gatewood to Miss 
 Oxer has resulted in the birth of six chil- 
 dren now living, namely: Annie, wife of 
 J. L. Mingus; Charles, a farmer; Rachel, 
 a dressmaker of Morgan, this county; and 
 Julian, Eddie and Garvin, at home. Also 
 they lost one child in infancy. 
 
 Both Mr. Gatewood and his wife are 
 identified with the Christian church, of 
 
 which they are consistent members. In his 
 political views he harmonizes with the prin- 
 ciples advocated by the Democratic party. 
 During the late war he, being of southern 
 birth and education, naturally sympathized 
 with the southern cause, and he was for a 
 time a member of the home guard in Mis- 
 souri. 
 
 ^j'AMES H. HANSON, a prominent 
 B farmer of Comanche county, has 
 f^J been a resident of central Texas 
 through the years of his manhood, 
 becoming identified with the interests of 
 this section of the state when a youth of 
 sixteen. He has ever been an advocate of 
 those movements and enterprises which are 
 calculated to promote the general welfare 
 and gives an intelligent support to all that 
 is tending to bring about a better condition 
 of affairs, both temporal and spiritual. Thus 
 he has made himself a valued citizen of 
 the community and one of the most popular 
 and highly respected residents of Comanche 
 county. 
 
 Mr. Hanson was born in Marion county, 
 Alabama, December 24, 1845, a son of 
 William and Martha (Duse) Hanson, the 
 former a native of Virginia and the latter 
 of Georgia, in which state they were mar- 
 ried. The Hansons were of Scotch-Irish 
 descent, with some Cherokee blood in their 
 veins. The father of our subject was reared 
 and educated in Georgia and always fol- 
 lowed agricultural pursuits. In 1861 he 
 came with his family to Texas, locating near 
 the present home of his son in Comanche 
 county, which was then an almost unbroken 
 wilderness. The land was not then on the 
 market and there were no settlements in 
 the vicinity. Mr. Hanson opened up a 
 
432 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 small farm and engaged in raising hogs and 
 afterward in raising other kinds of stock, 
 following this pursuit through his remaining 
 days. He died in 1872, and his wife, who 
 survived him for a number of years, passed 
 away in 1885. In politics he was a Demo- 
 crat but never sought for political distinc- 
 tion. His wife was a member of the 
 Primitive Baptist church. Her father, John 
 Duse, of Georgia, was a prominent farmer 
 and died in Alabama in 1858. He, too, 
 exercised his right of franchise in support 
 of the men and measures of the Democ- 
 racy. To Mr. and Mrs. Hanson were born 
 nine children, all of whom reached years 
 of maturity and became residents of the 
 Lone Star state. These were John, who 
 served through the late war but is now 
 deceased; William, who was in Price's army 
 and is now a farmer of Comanche county; 
 Jack, of Montague county, Texas; Jessie, 
 who resides in Alabama; Elizabeth, wife of 
 William Howell, a resident of Indian Ter- 
 ritory; Jane, wife of William Durr, both 
 now deceased; James, of this review; P. M., 
 of the Chickasaw nation; and Armstead, 
 deceased. 
 
 Having spent the first sixteen years of 
 his life in Alabama, James H. Hanson then 
 came with his parents to Texas, living with 
 them through the years of his minority and 
 caring for his widowed mother after her 
 husband's death. In 1883 he purchased 
 land and made a home for his mother. He 
 afterward bought one hundred and sixty 
 acres of heavy timber land., and with char- 
 acteristic energy began to clear away the 
 trees and develop a farm. All the improve- 
 ments upon the place have been made b\' 
 him, including the erection of the comfort- 
 able home and substantial outbuilding. 
 About eighty-five acres have been put under 
 
 the plow and now yield a good return for 
 the labor bestowed upon it, while an orchard 
 adds to the value of the place. One hundred 
 acres are under fence and the farm is one of 
 the best improved properties in this section 
 the state. All this Mr. Hanson has accom- 
 plished himself, notwithstanding that during 
 the greater part of his life he has been a 
 great sufferer from rheumatism and white 
 swelling. His farm claims the greater part 
 of his attention and in his labors he has 
 met with a well-deserved success. 
 
 In 1885 Mr. Hanson was united in mar- 
 riage to Miss Lucinda Marquis, who was 
 born in Cherokee county, Texas, August 18, 
 1854, a daughter of William and Martha 
 (Burleson) Marquis, the former a native of 
 Mississippi, the latter of Alabama, and a rep- 
 resentative of the prominent Burleson family 
 in Texas. Mr. Marquis was an early settler 
 of this state, locating in Henderson county, 
 and afterward entering the Confederate serv- 
 ice, his death occurring while in the army. 
 In his political views he was a Democrat, 
 and in his religious belief was a Missionary 
 Baptist. His widow, who is also a member 
 of that church, still survives him, and is 
 now living in Limestone county, Texas, at 
 the age of sixty years. In their family 
 were five children, namely: Mrs. Hanson; 
 John T., deceased; Susanna, wife of Will- 
 iam Burleson; Elizabeth, deceased; and 
 Sarah A. , wife of F. Ainsworth. Four chil- 
 dren grace the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Hanson: Walter, born February 8, 1887; 
 Homer J., born September 28, 1888; Ed, 
 born October 27, 1890; and Ada, born 
 April 26, 1894. 
 
 Mr. Hanson is deeply interested in the 
 welfare of the county in which he makes 
 his home, is a warm friend of church and 
 educational enterprises, and has given three 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 acres of land on which to erect a church 
 and schoolhouse. His wife is a faithful 
 member of the Christian church and he con- 
 tributes liberally to the support of the same. 
 His political support was formerly given the 
 Democracy, but he now votes with the Pop- 
 ulist party. Mr. and Mrs. Hanson are most 
 highly esteemed people and their genuine 
 worth has gained them a large circle of 
 friends. 
 
 "^^ R- BLAIR. — More than fifty years 
 8 ago, shortly before Texas was ad- 
 * J mitted into the union of States, there 
 landed within the Texan border, 
 among other emigrant families, a widow and 
 her children. They settled on the frontier 
 and the children "grew up with the coun- 
 try" and took rank with its leading and re- 
 spected citizens. One of the members of 
 this family has long been a prominent factor 
 in the agricultural and stock interests of 
 Bosque county. His name is well known 
 throughout the county and forms an' appro- 
 priate heading for a sketch in this biograph- 
 ical record. 
 
 J. R. Blair was born on a Georgia farm, 
 September 5, 1829. His parents, William 
 and Elizabeth (Robinson) Blair, were na- 
 tives of South Carolina, were married in 
 that state, and some time later removed to 
 Georgia and settled on a farm, where he 
 died in the year 1836, leaving his family in 
 good circumstances. William Blair was a 
 man of many estimable traits of character, 
 followed the quiet pursuits of the farm all 
 his life, and enjoyed the respect and esteem 
 of all with whom he came in contact. In 
 his political views he was what was called a 
 Jackson Democrat. In 1844 his widow and 
 her family left the old home in Georgia and 
 
 sought a new one in the republic of Texas, 
 and in due time landed in what is now called 
 Titus county. Here she bought a tract of 
 land and with the assistance of her sons 
 opened up a farm. They continued their 
 residence at that point until 1858, when 
 they sold out and removed to Hunt county. 
 The mother died in Hunt county the follow- 
 ing year. Of the seven children composing 
 her family, we make the following brief 
 record: Evaline married Andrew Blair, a 
 distant relative, and both are now deceased; 
 William died unmarried; Andrew, deceased, 
 left a wife and one child; Marinda is the 
 wife of Elisha Keith and is a resident of 
 Arizona; Louisa is the widow of William 
 Long, who was killed in the late war; J. R., 
 the subject of this review, was the sixth 
 born; and Emily, the youngest, is the widow 
 of Cyrus Fares and is a resident of Grayson 
 county, Texas. 
 
 J. R. Blair was only seven years of age 
 at the time his father died and was in his 
 'teens when he came with his mother to the 
 Lone Star state. His education has been 
 gained chiefly in the practical school of ex- 
 perience. On attaining his majority, he en- 
 gaged in the stock business on his own ac- 
 count, and has been more or less interested 
 in that business for a period of forty-five 
 years, remaining in Hunt county until 1875, 
 since which time he has been identified with 
 the county of Bosque. 
 
 When civil war was inaugurated the sub- 
 ject of our sketch was naturally in sympathy 
 with the southern cause, and gave to it his 
 support. He enlisted in 1861 as a member 
 of the Third Texas Cavalry, under Colonel 
 Greer and General McCulloch, and was 
 consigned to the Western Department. He 
 was with the forces that operated in Arkan- 
 sas, Missouri and Kansas, and was a partic- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ipant in all the memorable battles and raids 
 of those states. Then he went with Gen- 
 eral Price's command to Corinth, Mississippi, 
 in which engagement he took part, after 
 which he went to Rome, Georgia, and con- 
 tinued in the Army of the Tennessee until 
 the close of the war. He was in much hard 
 service, and there were few hardships of war 
 that he did not endure, but through it all he, 
 in many instances almost miraculously, 
 escaped wounds and capture; and during the 
 whole war he never had a furlough, nor was 
 he ever off duty, with the exception of a 
 short time when he was sick and in hospital 
 at Carthage, Missouri. At the close of the 
 war he was on his way home, his regiment 
 having been sent west, and was in Titus 
 county when he heard of the surrender. He 
 at once left the ranks and returned home, 
 and, as he expresses it, has never yet been 
 surrendered ! 
 
 The war over, Mr. Blair resumed the 
 stock business in Hunt county, where he 
 remained until he brought his stock in 1875 
 to Bosque county. He had married that 
 same year and was accompanied by his wife 
 to the new home. There was then no farm- 
 ing done in this part of the country. There 
 were only two families located on Steel's 
 creek, and they were engaged in the stock 
 business. He was among the earliest to 
 settle on this creek. Here he purchased 
 two hundred acres of choice valley land, 
 and as soon as practicable put a portion of 
 it under cultivation. From time to time he 
 added to his original purchase, investing his 
 profits in land, and now he has a fine tract 
 of seven hundred acres, all under fence and 
 with excellent improvements thereon, one 
 hundred and eighty acres in cultivation and 
 producing as fine crops as any raised in this 
 favored clime. When he first came here he 
 
 built a cheap house, which served for a 
 home until he erected his commodious and 
 attractive residence a few years ago. Also 
 he built a good barn and outbuildings and 
 has two tenant houses. About 1888 Mr. 
 Blair took his herd of cattle to Colorado for 
 wider range, kept them there a year or two 
 and then sold out. Since then he has kept 
 fewer stock, and, like his intelligent and 
 prosperous neighbors, has given more atten- 
 tion to the quality than quantity. 
 
 Mr. Blair was married in 1875 to Miss 
 Ellen Andrews, a native of Hunt county, 
 Texas, born September 25, 1856, daughter 
 of David and Sarah Jernigin, natives of 
 middle Tennessee, who had come to Texas 
 when young, the father landing here as 
 early as 1829. Her parents were married 
 in Red River county, Texas, but afterward 
 removed to Arkansas, where they made their 
 home until 1856, that year returning to this 
 state and locating in Hopkins county, where 
 the venerable father still lives, now at the 
 age of eighty-two years, the mother having 
 passed away in 1890, at the age of seventy- 
 five. Farming and stock-raising have been 
 his life occupation, and he has for many 
 years been a consistent member of the 
 Christian church. Their family is com- 
 posed of ten members, namely: William, 
 Jane, Lee, George, Franklin, John B., 
 Elva, Thomas, Amanda, and Ellen (Mrs. 
 Blair). Mrs. Blair is the only one of her 
 family living in Bosque county. Five of her 
 brothers served in the late war and all re- 
 turned in safety except George, who was 
 killed in battle. The children of Major and 
 Mrs. Blair are Tolbert, Elbert, William and 
 James R., all attending school at Walnut 
 Springs. 
 
 Much more might be said of this popular 
 and enterprising citizen and his estimable 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 435 
 
 family, but enough has been given even in 
 this succinct review to serve as an index to 
 his character and show that he and his wife 
 and children are entitled to the high esteem 
 in which they are held. 
 
 OSBORNE LEVI LOCKETT. — 
 Among those who are justly en- 
 titled to honorable mention in a 
 work of this character is the gen- 
 tleman whose name heads this brief sketch. 
 The opportunities offered him for acquiring 
 an education were indeed limited, although 
 he made good use of his time and became 
 well grounded in the simpler banches of 
 study. However, he has gained most of 
 his knowledge in the school of experience, 
 and by his own efforts has obtained a good 
 practical education, and may justly be 
 termed a self-made man. 
 
 In early manhood Mr. Lockett learned 
 the trade of brick mason and also became a 
 practical butcher, and later engaged in 
 teaching school; but for generations back 
 his paternal ancestors were of the profes- 
 sional class, and to follow in line was young 
 Lockett's greatest desire. During the time 
 he followed school-teaching and other occu- 
 pations he was filled with high hopes and a 
 laudable ambition to succeed. His hours 
 were well spent in reading law, and he be- 
 came an apt scholar, although he had no 
 preceptor. In after years — 1877 ^'id 1878 
 — he attended the law school at the State 
 University of Virginia. 
 
 From the beginning of his professional 
 practice Mr. Lockett has occupied a promi- 
 nent place among the leaders of the Bosque 
 county bar, and is the peer of the brightest 
 and ablest in the profession. He was ad- 
 mitted to practice in 1877. In i88o he was 
 
 elected to the office of prosecuting attorney, 
 but after one year resigned that position in 
 order to resume his private practice. 
 
 Mr. Lockett was born in Cole county, 
 Missouri, February 19, 1849, and is the 
 eldest in the family of nine children born to 
 Rev. Thomas F. and Sallie W. (Dixon) 
 Lockett, the former a native of Virginia and 
 the latter of North Carolina. The mother 
 descended from the well known Dixon fam^ 
 ily, of her native state. The father, who is 
 a Baptist minister, traces his lineage back 
 to old and influential families, and is a dis- 
 tant relative of Henry Clay. He was a 
 Missouri pioneer in 1845, and served as 
 color-bearer during the Mexican war. 
 
 On leaving his native state our subject 
 came to Texas in 1863, first locating in 
 Washington county. He resided in Robin- 
 son, McLennan and Hill counties until 1874, 
 when he settled permanently at Meridian, 
 and at the present time is a member of the 
 city council. He owns farm property in 
 Taylor county, and is also engaged in cattle- 
 raising in the western portion of the state. 
 
 In Bosque county, on the 25th of April, 
 1880, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. 
 Lockett and Miss Dora M. Cureton, a na- 
 tive of Texas, and the daughter of Captain 
 Jack Cureton, an old frontiersman, whose 
 sketch may be seen in another portion of 
 this work. Four children have come to 
 bless this union, namely: Maggie, Orby J., 
 Richard and William C. The parents are 
 consistent members of the Baptist church. 
 
 ,>^ENJAMIN FRANKLIN HARRIS. 
 
 \c^^ — Situated on the prairie adjacent 
 
 J^^J to and overlooking the town of 
 
 Morgan, Texas, is the homestead 
 
 of one of Bosque county's venerable citizens, 
 
436 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 a man who has long resided within the Texan 
 border, and whose residence at his present 
 location covers two decades. This gentle- 
 man is Mr. B. F. Harris. During his long 
 identity with the state he has made hosts of 
 friends and acquaintances, and by many will 
 a review of his life be perused with interest. 
 Mr. Harris was born January 8, 1824, 
 his native place being in Monroe county, in 
 the "Empire State of the South," and his 
 parents, Thomas N. and Lucy (Robinson) 
 Harris, among its best citizens. Both were 
 natives of South Carolina, as also were their 
 parents, but of the latter little is known ex- 
 cept that they died before passing middle 
 life. Thomas N. Harris and his wife were 
 married in South Carolina, moved from that 
 state to Georgia and some years later to 
 Alabama, and in Alabama they spent the 
 evening of life and died, her death taking 
 place about 1848 and his in 1859. He was 
 a prominent and wealthy slaveholder and 
 planter, and carried on agricultural pursuits 
 all his life. In church circles he was active 
 and influential. For many years he was a 
 member of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
 was an exhorter and filled the office of 
 steward and class-leader, and both by ex- 
 ample and precept showed that he was a 
 true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 Politically, he was what was called a Henry 
 Clay Whig, and while he always took a deep 
 interest in all public affairs, he never had 
 any desire for official honors. While living 
 in Georgia he served as justice of the peace 
 for about seven years. His family, which 
 was composed of six sons and three daugh- 
 ters, have all passed away with the excep- 
 tion of B. F., the subject of this article. 
 Their names in order of birth are: Martha, 
 John, Rebecca, Daniel, Wesley, Ann, 
 Thomas N., B. F. and Reuben C. All 
 
 Were reared and educated in Georgia and 
 Alabama, and of the nine only two, — Dan- 
 iel and B. F. , — came to Texas. 
 
 B. F. Harris was fifteen years of age at 
 the time he removed with his parents from 
 Georgia to Alabama, where he remained 
 until he was thirty, engaged in farming. In 
 the meantime, in 1845, on attaining his 
 majority, he married and left the parental 
 home and started out in life on his own 
 responsibility. In 1854, following the trend 
 of emigration to Texas, he brought his wife 
 and six children with him to this state, 
 landing in Galveston in January of that year. 
 Soon he made his way to Boonsville and a 
 few months later to Waco. On his arrival 
 in Texas, as he had but little means, he 
 found it necessary to turn his genius into 
 account, which he did by transforming him- 
 self into a cabinet-maker and manufacturing 
 his own furniture. He cut down a mul- 
 berry tree, prepared the lumber himself, 
 and made it up into chairs, tables, etc. 
 That was while he was in Boonsville. On 
 his removal to Waco that same year he 
 formed some genial and desirable acquaint- 
 ances, with one of whom he entered into a 
 partnership and commenced the manufacture 
 of household furniture. This proved a 
 profitable business, and they made and sold 
 furniture for about four years, until the out- 
 break of the civil war. Mr. Harris was 
 opposed to secession and never entered the 
 army. In 1861 he was made postmaster of 
 Waco, in which position he rendered faith- 
 ful and efficient service until after the war 
 closed. During the reconstruction period 
 he refused to take the "iron-clad oath," 
 and his successor was accordingly appointed, 
 that being about 1866. His refusal to take 
 this oath was based on the fact that he had 
 never sought or taken office with a view of 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 437 
 
 aiding the rebellion. His successor, George 
 A. O'Brien, secured Mr. Harris's services as 
 deputy in the office, and meanwhile petition 
 after petition went up to the department at 
 Washington asking that Mr. Harris be re- 
 instated, the result being that Mr. O'Brien 
 resigned and a son of Mr. Harris was 
 appointed, the appointment being made by 
 President Johnson. The younger Mr. Harris 
 served as postmaster of Waco for several 
 years, his service, like his father's, being 
 characterized by promptness and the strictest 
 fidelity. 
 
 In 1866 the subject of our sketch formed 
 a partnership with Mr. R. W. Bright and 
 engaged in general merchandising, which 
 they conducted successfully for some time. 
 That same year he was elected alderman, 
 in which office he served three years, and 
 in 1869, when a vacancy was created by the 
 resignation of the mayor, the council elected 
 Mr. Harris to fill the place. He was the 
 incumbent of the mayor's office for four 
 years, until 1872, at the expiration of his 
 first term having been appointed by the 
 "enabling act." Also he was appointed 
 justice of the peace and notary public, in 
 both of which positions he proved himself 
 the right man in the right place. Before 
 the war he had served as deputy sheriff at 
 Waco. In 1873 Mr. Harris moved to 
 Cleburne, Johnson county, where he was 
 soon after honored with appointment to the 
 office of postmaster, which he filled four 
 years, resigning at the expiration of that 
 time. In 1870 and 1871 he bought a tract 
 of wild land, 1,280 acres, where he now 
 lives, and in 1877 he left Cleburne and came 
 here, for a time making his home within the 
 corporate limits of Morgan. Since then he 
 has sold and given away some of his broad 
 acres, retaining for his homestead eight 
 
 hundred and forty acres adjoining the town. 
 Here he has a delightful home. His resi- 
 dence is comfortable and commodious. His 
 farm buildings, fences, orchard and other 
 improvements are kept in excellent repair, 
 and both the exterior and interior appoint- 
 ments of his home are indicative of culture 
 and refinement as well as means. Since 
 coming here Mr. Harris has been engaged 
 to some extent in stock-raising, making a 
 specialty of cattle and sheep, and giving 
 attention to improving his breed of cattle, 
 grading up with Herefords and Durhams. 
 He has about a hundred acres of his land 
 in cultivation, which he rents, himself fur- 
 nishing the teams and seed and exercising a 
 general supervision over the crops. 
 
 We now turn to that page in the history 
 of Mr. Harris which is more purely domes- 
 tic, and find that August 27, 1845, he was 
 united in the bonds of wedlock to Miss Mar- 
 garet Robinson, a lady of intelligence and a 
 member of a good family. She was born 
 in Monroe county, Georgia, September 23, 
 1828, a daughter of Joseph T. and Rennie 
 (Rutland) Robinson, natives of South Caro- 
 lina, and the latter of French and Irish 
 descent. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson had six 
 children that grew to maturity, namely: 
 William, deceased; Francis, widow of John 
 Burlage and a resident of Rockdale, Texas; 
 Alfred, deceased; Joseph T., deceased; Mar- 
 garet, wife of our subject; and Charity, de- 
 ceased. Mr. Harris and his wife have been 
 blessed in the birth of twelve children, ten 
 of whom lived to adult age, as follows: Noah 
 W. , deceased; Eugenia, who has been twice 
 married, first to John Goode and after his 
 death to Henry Gates, and has one child; 
 Emily, wife of J. M. Corbus, died without 
 issue; Jane, deceased; Henrietta, widow of 
 H. L. Muse; Rennie is the wife of G, Wal- 
 
HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 ters, a farmer and stock dealer; Martha E., 
 wife of J. Hayward, died and left two chil- 
 dren; Jessie D. is the wife of Dr. W. A. 
 Reeves and resides in Indian Territory; 
 Kufus, deceased; and Rosa L. , at home. 
 
 Time has dealt gently with Mr. and Mrs. 
 Harris. He has lived out his threescore 
 years and ten, and she has nearly reached 
 that mark, yet both are well preserved physi- 
 cally and mentally and appear much younger 
 than they are. Side by side they have 
 traveled life's pathway for more than half a 
 century, sharing the sorrows and felicities 
 that have come to them, and in their old 
 age enjoying together the fruits of their 
 early years of toil. Both are devoted Chris- 
 tians, he being a Methodist and she a mem- 
 ber of the Episcopal church. In addition 
 to the official positions already mentioned 
 as having been filled by Mr. Harris, we fur- 
 ther state that he was for two years mayor 
 of Morgan, and more than this, it was only 
 his own modesty that kept him from higher 
 official honors; for such has been his wide 
 acquaintance throughout Texas, his marked 
 popularity and his ability, that he might 
 have had any office in the gift of the people 
 if he had asked for it. 
 
 *y* EROY PARKS.— This enterprising 
 I r Texan numbers his stock and broad 
 1 jj acres by the thousands. He has 
 long been a resident of Bosque 
 county, having located here in 1859, and 
 during all the years which have intervened 
 since then he has figured as a leading farm- 
 er and stock man. His long identity with 
 the county and his prominence here render 
 him therefore a fit subject for biographical 
 honors, and we are pleased in this connec- 
 
 tion to offer the following resume of his 
 life. 
 
 Leroy Parks was born in Marshall coun- 
 ty, Mississippi, October 5. 1827. His fath- 
 er, John Parks, was of North Carolina birth, 
 spent much of his life in frontier districts, 
 was a noted Indian fighter, a veteran of the 
 war of 1812, and was for many years en- 
 gaged in farming and stock-raising. He was 
 married in Lincoln county, Tennessee, to 
 Miss Elizabeth McMillin, and after his mar- 
 riage moved to Mississippi, whence in 1839 
 he came to Texas and settled in Nacogdo- 
 ches county, remaining there until 1844 
 and then removed to Anderson county. 
 Only a few years after their removal to 
 Texas, when their son Leroy was fourteen 
 years old, Mrs. Elizabeth Parks died, her 
 death occurring in Nacogdoches county. 
 John Parks lived to the advanced age of 
 eighty-two years. They were the parents 
 of a large family of children, namely: Felix, 
 Leroy, Jane, Mary, William C. , John, 
 Thomas, Bedford, and Martha Small. 
 
 The subject of our sketch, Leroy Parks, 
 was reared in Mississippi and Texas and his 
 frontier life gave him little opportunity for 
 schooling. In 1859 he settled at his pres- 
 ent location in Bosque county, on a tract of 
 three hundred and twenty acres, a portion 
 of his present property, and here he built a 
 little cabin, 16 x 16 feet, which served as 
 his home until better and more commodious 
 quarters could be secured. During his early 
 experience here he was interested in raising 
 both horses and cattle, at one time having 
 threehundredheadofhorses and one thousand 
 five hundred of cattle; but of recent years his 
 stock operations have been confined almost 
 entirely to cattle. From time to time he 
 has added to his original holdings until now 
 his landed estate covers no less than 4,600 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 acres, 270 of which are under a good state 
 of cultivation. The little cabin has long ago 
 been replaced by a spacious and comfort- 
 able residence. Two large barns have been 
 built, and many other modern conveniences 
 add attractiveness and value to this model 
 farm. 
 
 Reverting to Mr. Parks' domestic life, 
 we state that he was married in 1856 to Miss 
 Susan Wheeler, a native of the same coun- 
 ty in which he was born. She is a daugh- 
 ter of James and Mary (Quinn) Wheeler, 
 both of Virginia birth. Mr. Wheeler died 
 in Mississippi, in 1837. Mrs. Wheeler came 
 to Texas and passed the closing years of her 
 life in Bosque county, where she died, at 
 the age of sixty-nine years. They were 
 people of deep piety and were members of 
 the Primitive Baptist church. In their 
 family were five children, their names being 
 Jane, Mary, William, James H. and Susan. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Parks have had six children, 
 of whom four survive, viz. : Mary, wife of 
 C. Blythe, of Los Angeles, California, has 
 two sons and four daughters; Martha, wife 
 of James Preston, of this county, has two 
 sons; James W., Stephens county, Texas, 
 is a wealthy farmer and stock man, owning 
 a fine ranch of 5,000 acres; and Thomas C, 
 at home. Those deceased are Lee, who 
 died at the age of four years; and John B., 
 whose death occurred at Weatherford, 
 Texas, where he was attending college, Oc- 
 tober 21, 1894, at the age of twenty-one 
 years. 
 
 ^J* R. POWELL, Duffau, Texas.— 
 
 m None are more worthy of a place in 
 
 ^•1 the history of Erath county than this 
 
 well-known and highly respected 
 
 farmer, J. R. Powell. He is a native of 
 
 Maury county, Tennessee, born January 22, 
 1 84 1, and traces his ancestry, both paternal 
 and maternal, back to the Emerald Isle. 
 Several generations of the families, how- 
 ever, have been residents of America. His 
 parents, E. A. and Cynthia (Turberville) 
 Powell, were born in Tennessee; were mar- 
 ried there, and there the father carried on 
 farming operations until 1867, when he 
 moved to Brazos county, Texas, and settled 
 near Bryan. Subsequently he moved to Leon 
 county, where he died in the year 1 87 1 . He 
 was engaged in farming all his life. Dur- 
 ing the war he showed his loyalty to his 
 country by enlisting in the Confederate ser- 
 vice and acting the part of a true, brave 
 soldier, remaining on duty for three years, 
 until he was wounded and discharged on 
 account of disability; and all this after 
 he had attained to an age when most men 
 think they are too old for army service. 
 He was twice married and by each wife had 
 four children, and all that are living are 
 now residents of this state. His first com- 
 panion, the mother of our subject, died in 
 Tennessee in 185 1. Her children are: 
 Louisa A., now Mrs. Dowell; Martha E., 
 wife of S. Rutherford; Josephine, the wife 
 of S. Rutherford, Jr.; and J. R., whose 
 name introduces this article. Following 
 are the children of the second marriage: 
 William E., a merchant of Leon county, 
 Texas; W. K., also of Leon county; James 
 W. , county judge of Leon county; and 
 Henrietta, wife of H. McDonald, died and 
 left one child. 
 
 J. R. Powell spent his boyhood days on 
 his father's farm, assisting in the farm work 
 and attending the schools of the district. 
 At the time the civil-war cloud gathered 
 and burst upon the country we find him on 
 the verge of manhood and still 
 
440 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 honest toil in his father's fields. When the 
 call for volunteers was made he was among 
 the first to respond. He went out in 1861 
 as a member of the First Tennessee Infan- 
 try and was in active service throughout the 
 war, being with the forces that participated 
 in the Virginia and other Eastern cam- 
 paigns. To outline even briefly the numer- 
 ous engagements in which he took part 
 would require much more space than can 
 be given any one biography in a work of 
 this character. Although he was often in 
 the thickest of the fight, the balls flying 
 around him and his comrades falling on 
 every side, he fortunately escaped without 
 capture and with only slight wounds. 
 While with Johnston on his famous retreat, 
 Mr. Powell was under fire for thirty succes- 
 sive days, and at one time in his service he 
 went three days without food. 
 
 The war over, our subject was paroled 
 at Gainesville, Alabama, and from there re- 
 turned home. The following year he clerked 
 in a store at Nashville. After this he mar- 
 ried and settled on a farm in west Tennessee, 
 where he carried on farming operations suc- 
 cessfully until January, 1881, the time of 
 his removal to Texas. His first location in 
 this state was in Leon county. There he 
 spent one year and then he removed to Erath 
 county, where he has since continued to re- 
 side. After renting land here one year he 
 purchased his present farm, one hundred 
 and seventy-two acres, located half a mile 
 east of Duffau, where he carries on general 
 farming and raises some stock, having about 
 seventy acres of his land under cultivation. 
 
 Mr. Powell has been an enthusiastic 
 Democrat ever since becoming a voter and 
 has always taken an active interest in public 
 affairs. In 1 890 he was elected county com- 
 missioner of Erath county, a position he was 
 
 well qualified to fill and one in which he 
 gave the best of satisfaction. During his term 
 of office public improvement in Erath county 
 was vigorously carried forward. The new 
 courthouse was built, a number of iron 
 bridges were constructed, and numerous 
 other improvements made, all of which 
 helped to place the county well to the front 
 as an enterprising and progressive one. 
 
 Mr. Powell was married in 1866 to Miss 
 Seretha A. Mclver, a native of Mississippi, 
 born November 22, 1844, daughter of James 
 H. and Elizabeth (Dowells) Mclver, the 
 former a native of Illinois and the latter of 
 Tennessee. Her father, a mechanic in early 
 life, later settled down to farming, and is 
 still living in west Tennessee. Her mother 
 died in 1875. The children born to Mr. 
 and Mrs. Powell numbered ten, of whom 
 three died in infancy, and of the others we 
 record that E. A. is a business man of Dub- 
 lin, Te.xas; James J. died in March, 1884, at 
 the age of fourteen years; John H. is a resi- 
 dent of Hico, Texas; Bessie is the wife of 
 M. A. Cole, who is engaged in business at 
 Hico; and Mary E., Henrietta and Edgar 
 C. , at home. Mr. Powell and his wife are 
 members of the Southern Episcopal church. 
 
 tV^ ENJAMIN MARTIN KIKER.— It 
 \c^ is with an eminent degree of satis- 
 J^,^ faction that the biographer turns 
 to the consideration of the more 
 pertinent points in the life history of this 
 well known and honored citizen of central 
 Texas, who is a man of distinguished force 
 of character. For a quarter of a cen- 
 tury he has been identified with this re- 
 gion as one of its most prominent farm- 
 ers and stock-raisers, and in his career 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 are shown forth those saHent points in 
 his nature that have enabled him to over- 
 come obstacles and difficulties and work his 
 way upward to prosperity. Such a life 
 contains much that is valuable in the way 
 of example and inspiration, encouraging 
 others to press forward in the race of life 
 until the goal of success is reached. 
 
 Mr. Kiker was born in Gordon county, 
 Georgia, on the 31st of August, 1847, and 
 son of E. R. and Rebecca P. (Bonham) 
 Kiker. His father was born in South Caro- 
 lina, a son of Benjamin Kiker, who was 
 also born in that state. The family, how- 
 ever, is of German origin and was founded 
 in America by the great-grandfather of our 
 subject. The mother of B. M. Kiker was 
 a native of Virginia, but was reared in Ten- 
 nessee, where her father, Martin Bonham, 
 removed at an early day in the history of 
 that state. He was probably of Welsh 
 descent. The parents of our subject were mar- 
 ried in Georgia and Mr. Kiker followed the 
 carpenter's trade. Subsequently he removed 
 to Alabama, and in 1871 came to Texas, lo- 
 cating on Green's creek in Erath county, 
 where he and his wife spent their remain- 
 ing days. Mr. Kiker died at the age of six- 
 ty-four years, and his wife passed away at the 
 age of sixty-three. During the war he had 
 served as lieutenant of Company A, Twenty- 
 eighth Alabama Infantry, which was at- 
 tached to the Army of the Tennessee. At 
 the battle of Missionary Ridge he was cap- 
 tured and confined on Johnson's island for 
 eighteen months, or until the close of the 
 war. 
 
 Both Mr. and Mrs. Kiker were members 
 of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, 
 and were most estimable people. The for- 
 mer was a valued member of Stephenville 
 Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and filled all its offi- 
 
 ces, and also belonged to the grange. In 
 all matters calculated to improve or benefit 
 the community he was deeply interested and 
 gave to the same his liberal support. In 
 the family were six children, four of whom 
 are yet living. 
 
 We now turn to the personal history of 
 the gentleman whose name honors the in- 
 troduction of this article, a man whom to 
 know is certain to lead one to honor him. 
 He is a worthy representative of the agricult- 
 ural interests of the county and belongs to 
 that class of valued individuals who faith- 
 fully perform their duties of citizenship and 
 their duties to their fellow men. He be- 
 came familiar with farm life in its various 
 departments at an early age, for he was 
 reared on the old family homestead and 
 aided his father in its cultivation. The 
 common schools afforded him his educa- 
 tional privileges, and experience has made 
 him a practical man of affairs. He re- 
 mained with his parents until he had at- 
 tained his majority and made preparations 
 for a home of his own by his marriage, 
 which was celebrated September 14, 1870, 
 the lady of his choice being Miss Mary B. 
 McCleskie, a native of Georgia, and a 
 daughter of N. T. and M. L. (Gill) McCles- 
 kie, who were representatives of old fami- 
 lies of Georgia. 
 
 Three weeks after their marriage Mr. 
 and Mrs. Kiker emigrated to Texas, making 
 the journey with teams and reaching their 
 destination after nine weeks of travel. Our 
 subject pre-empted one hundred and sixty 
 acres of land and at once began the arduous 
 task of transforming it into a productive 
 farm. The team of mules which he drove 
 were now used in breaking the land, and the 
 household effects which he had hauled in the 
 wagons furnished the new frontier home. 
 
442 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 As time passed success attended his ener- 
 getic efforts, and he extended the bounda- 
 ries of his farm until it comprised, as it does 
 now, nine hundred acres of land, of which 
 one hundred acres are under a high state of 
 cultivation. He is also extensively engaged 
 in stock-raising, and this has proved to him 
 a valuable source of income. He now has 
 large herds of cattle. Into other lines of 
 endeavor he entered, and in 1891 built a 
 cotton gin on the Palu.xy river and also on 
 the Fort Worth & Rio Grande railroad. 
 This has proved to him a profitable invest- 
 ment as well as a benefit to the community, 
 enabling the farmers in the vicinity to have 
 their cotton prepared for market near their 
 homes and without paying high shipping 
 prices. 
 
 The family of Mr. and Mrs. Kiker com- 
 prises nine children, seven of whom are living, 
 as follows: Lula Bell, who died at the age 
 of seventeen years; Ella Gracie.who died at 
 the age of six years; Walter C, a farmer of 
 Erath county, who married Maud V. Jack- 
 son and now has one child, Charlie Martin; 
 Rev. O. P., a minister of the Methodist 
 Episcopal church, south, who is now attend- 
 ing the Polytechnic College at Fort Worth, 
 Texas; Orvil Price, at home; Arab M., who 
 is attending the college in Fort Worth; Eli 
 Robertson; Ira C. ; and Effie May. 
 
 Mr. Kiker and his family are consistent 
 members of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
 south, and take an active part in its work 
 and all that pertains to its upbuilding. Mr. 
 Kiker is now serving as church steward. In 
 politics he is a stanch Prohibitionist, being 
 a stalwart advocate of the cause of temper- 
 ance, and for two terms he served as county 
 commissioner, discharging his duties with 
 marked fidelity and ability. Socially he is 
 connected with Harmony Lodge, A. F. & 
 
 A. M., and in lodge, church, political, busi- 
 ness and social circles he is held in the high- 
 est esteem for his sterling worth. 
 
 HLONZO COOPER, Clifton, Texas, 
 enjoys the reputation of being one 
 of the most extensive farmers and 
 landowners of Bosque county. His 
 lands are located five miles north of Clifton, 
 and consist of five thousand acres, at least 
 one thousand acres being under cultivation. 
 In former years Mr. Cooper devoted much 
 time to thoroughbred race stock, but lately 
 has been much interested in general farming 
 and stock-raising for the market. Hogs, 
 sheep and cattle, — anything that has money 
 in it, — he finds ready to his hands and turns 
 into the channels of trade. The farm on 
 which he resides is probably one of the 
 most picturesque in the county, his dwell- 
 ing-house being located on the Bosque 
 river, one of the famous water courses 
 which have made the county remarkable. 
 It is a frame building of modern architecture 
 and beautiful design, located on a natural 
 building site, with fine lawn surrounding, 
 and in the background suitable barns and 
 outbuildings for stock. 
 
 Mr. Cooper was born in Clay county, 
 Mississippi, August 29, 1843, the third of 
 the four children of Charles H. and Eliza 
 (Smith) Cooper. His parents were both 
 natives of North Carolina. His father was a 
 large slaveholder in ante-bellum days, who 
 brought his slaves from Mississippi to Texas 
 in 1849, the family coming the following 
 year. They located in Washington county, 
 where our subject was reared and educated. 
 His father died in July, 1879, and Mr. 
 Cooper located in Bosque county the next 
 year. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 443 
 
 Our subject has been four times married, 
 and has one son, Julian G. , by his second 
 union, and one by the third marriage, AlH- 
 son W. His present wife was formerly Miss 
 Hattie C. Wood, and by this union there 
 are two children, — Harry and Lawrence. 
 
 >Y*AMES W. McINTURFF, Valley 
 m Mills, Bosque county, Texas. — The 
 A 1 gentleman whose name heads this 
 sketch is one of the substantial farm- 
 ers and cotton-gin proprietors of Valley 
 Mills. He is a Virginian by birth, and his 
 first sight of this world was taken on 
 "Freedom's Natal Day," July 4, 1849. 
 His parents were Philip and Eliza (Cover- 
 stom) Mclnturfi. They were both native 
 Virginians and descendants of early families, 
 which were prominent in colonial times. 
 The father was a local minister, and also a 
 blacksmith by trade. 
 
 To these good people, our subject was 
 the only child that Fortune granted, and he 
 was reared to farming pursuits and received 
 that wise and thoughtful training that such 
 a father would impart. When twenty-two 
 years of age he followed a stream of settle- 
 ment then flowing from the southern states 
 into Texas, and came into the state, locating 
 first in Johnson county, but did not long 
 remain there. He went to Corsicana, where 
 he became engaged on a railroad then under 
 construction, and was employed in the car- 
 pentry department of the road. 
 
 Mr. Mclnturff came to Bosque county in 
 1873, and is now the proprietor of a farm 
 property of one hundred and fifty-three 
 acres, some three miles west of Vallej^ Mills. 
 He has forty acres of this place under culti- 
 vation, and has something over an acre in a 
 
 fine peach orchard. His wife raises fowls 
 for the sake of the eggs alone; during the 
 year 1895 sold in the Valley Mills market 
 over seven hundred dozen eggs. Our sub- 
 ject, in addition to his farming, carries on 
 several profitable and absorbing enterprises. 
 He owns a steam threshing-machine, which 
 he runs throughout the season. He also 
 conducts a cotton gin in this city. This gin 
 was erected in 1894, and has a thirty boiler 
 and a twenty-five-horse-power engine and 
 all modern improvements. The plant has a 
 capacity of eighteen bales daily. With it is 
 connected a machinery for grist-grinding, 
 which is in operation all the year around. 
 
 Mr. Mclnturff is a member of the Farm- 
 ers' Alliance, but takes no active interest in 
 local politics other than casting his vote in 
 the interest of good government. March 15, 
 1 874, he espoused in marriage an estimable 
 widow lady, Mrs. Mary J. Hilton, nee Ever- 
 ett. She is the mother of two sons by a 
 former union, — Jesse and James D. Hilton. 
 
 ■JrY* AMES DAY is the popular and genial 
 A editor of the People's Tribune, of 
 A ¥ Walnut Springs. This paper is the 
 successor of The Nutshell, which 
 was established by J. F. Denton toward the 
 close of 1894, and continued until July 20, 
 1895, when Mr. Day took charge and 
 changed the name to its present form. It 
 is now the organ of the Populist party and 
 under our subject's able management hdS 
 become a very witty and newsy journal. It 
 has a circulation of nearly one thousand 
 outside of exchanges, and reaches the sur- 
 rounding counties and even beyond the state 
 limits. 
 
 Mr. Day was born in Texas, his birth- 
 
444 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 place being in Freestone county, and the 
 date thereof July 29, 1866; but in Bosque 
 county he was reared and educated. His 
 parents were James R. and Barbara E. 
 (Weaver) Day, the former a native of Geor- 
 gia and the latter of Texas. As early as 
 1844 his father came to this state, locating 
 first in Rusk county, and was by occupation 
 a farmer. His death occurred on the 2d of 
 June, 1885. 
 
 Mr. Day of this sketcli is the eldest in 
 family of nine children, and early became 
 familiar with agricultural pursuits upon the 
 home farm, which calling he continued to 
 follow until 1890, when he began merchan- 
 dising at Iredell, Bosque county. At the 
 end of two years he sold out his business 
 there and came to Walnut Springs, where for 
 a year he conducted a store. 
 
 On the 22d of July, 1886, Mr. Day was 
 married, the lady of his choice being Miss 
 Louisa E. Flanagan, of Alabama, and to 
 them were born five children, two of whom 
 are now deceased — Tomy E. and Wiley E. 
 Those living are James W. , Frank and Emma 
 E. While engaged in merchandising, Mr. 
 Day devoted his leisure hours to the study of 
 law, and in 1895 was appointed justice of the 
 peace, which position he is efficiently filling 
 at the present time. In political matters he 
 is a stanch and active Populist, and in 1884 
 stumped the county in the interest of his 
 party. 
 
 ,>'^I-:TER DAHL, an agriculturist of 
 M m energy and ability, who is residing 
 ^ three miles southwest of the city of 
 
 Clifton, was born in Bosque coun- 
 ty on the 22d of March, 1858, and is a de- 
 scendant of one of the early pioneers of the 
 state, his parents being Henry O. and 
 
 Christina (Fureset) Dahl. The father's birth 
 occurred in Romedal, Norway, and it was 
 in the year 1852 that he became a resident 
 of Texas. 
 
 Our subject is the third in order of birth 
 in the family, which consisted of nine chil- 
 dren, and he early became familiar with the 
 duties that fall to the lot of an agriculturist. 
 He has always followed farming as a life 
 work, and now owns a tract of seven hun- 
 dred and three acres of valuable land, fifty 
 of which he has placed under the plow, 
 while all is under fence, the greater portion 
 being utilized for pasture lands. His resi- 
 dence is far ahead of that of the average 
 Texas farmer, being a large two-story frame 
 dwelling, located on a very prominent build- 
 ing site, with all modern conveniences, and 
 at once strikes the beholder as the home of 
 a model farmer. 
 
 Mr. Dahl has been twice married. On 
 the 28th of December, 1882, he wedded 
 Miss Annie E. C. Nelson, whose death oc- 
 curred January 10, 1894. By this marriage 
 there were seven children, namely: Chris- 
 tine E., Hendrek A. , Osunelle M., Axel O., 
 Palmer S., Agnes B., and Alma B. who died 
 July 4, 1893. His second union was with 
 Miss Ingeborg E. Ellengson, a native of 
 Norway, whom he married March 14, 1895, 
 and she died January 27, 1896, leaving one 
 child,— Bernt I. 
 
 Mr. Dahl is one of those gentlemen who 
 keeps abreast with the times, taking an act- 
 ive interest in all matters pertaining to the 
 welfare of his county and state, particularly 
 educational matters, and has been for sev- 
 eral years a member of the board of school 
 trustees of district No. 2 i . Religiously he 
 is a consistent member of the Lutheran 
 church, and is held in high regard by all 
 who know him. 
 
HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 445 
 
 HNDREW J. WALTON, Eulogy, 
 Bosque county, Texas, is one of the 
 most progressive, intelligent and 
 popular business men of the coun- 
 ty. He was born in Neshoba county, Mis- 
 sissippi, November ii, 1848, his father and 
 grandfather both bearing the name of Will- 
 iam, and being natives of that state and 
 members of an old southern family. The 
 mother of cur subject was Ellen Chipman, 
 who was related to some of the best families 
 of the old south, her own immediate family 
 being among the first settlers of the state. 
 She was the mother of six children: Eliza- 
 beth, one who died a babe, A. J., W. W. , 
 Nancy J. (dead), and Abbie Young, of this 
 county. Mrs. Walton died, and later on 
 her husband married for his second wife 
 Betty Hoye, and by this marriage there are 
 six children: George, Lucy, Emma, R. G., 
 Ollie and Thomas. He is a Democrat 
 and a Baptist. He is still hving and is in 
 fine health. 
 
 Our subject grew to manhood on a Mis- 
 sissippi farm, and learned something of the 
 primary elements of success in life, and his 
 earnest devotion to business, his upright 
 character, and his persistence in whatever 
 he undertakes show the kind of teaching he 
 had as a boy. He depended upon the pub- 
 lic schools for his education, but has made 
 himself a man of thought and judgment, by 
 reading and observation. He came to this 
 county in 1881, and bought two hundred 
 and fifty-four acres, almost in the wilder- 
 ness. He worked hard, made money, and 
 bought one hundred and seventy-six acres 
 more in 1884, and in 1893 made the very 
 extensive purchase of nineteen hundred 
 acres. This large tract of land he sub- 
 divided, platted and sold out at a good 
 profit. He now owns four hundred and 
 
 thirty acres, which he keeps up to the very 
 front of farming. On this farm he has 
 three fine dwelling-houses, large barns, four 
 good wells, and a good gin house, and does 
 a large business in ginning cotton. His 
 farm is well stocked with horses, mules, 
 cattle and sheep, and is regarded as one of 
 the most successful farmers of the entire 
 state. 
 
 Mr. Walton was married February 14, 
 1S72, to Miss Cleopatra Williams, a daugh- 
 ter of Zachariah Williams. Both she and 
 her father were natives of Mississippi. Our 
 subject has had twelve children, — ten sons 
 and two daughters, — of whom eight sons 
 are now living. Zachariah is married and 
 has a good farm. William is also married, 
 and has a farm. The other children are 
 Otho, Andrew J., Jr., Osca, Ollie, R. G., 
 and Earley. 
 
 Mr. Walton, our subject, is a strong and 
 devoted Democrat, and was county commis- 
 sioner for four years, — a position which he 
 has filled with honor and credit to himself 
 as well as the party. He may fairly be pro- 
 nounced a self-made man, and has done ex- 
 ceedingly well in whatever occupation he 
 has engaged. He is a member of the Bap- 
 tist church and also of the Masonic order, 
 and is a great favorite with a wide circle of 
 friends. 
 
 ^»-f H. F. SKIPPER.— It iseminentlyfit- 
 g ting that in this connection we incor- 
 «1 porate a resume of the life of this well- 
 known farmer, J. H. F. Skipper, of 
 Skipper's Gap, Erath county, Texas, who 
 was brought to the state in his infancy and 
 who has resided in the county of Erath for 
 more than thirty-six years. 
 
 Mr. Skipper was born in Maury county. 
 
446 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS 
 
 Tennessee, April i, 1847, and his parents, 
 William and Mary (Goodgine) Skipper, were 
 also both natives of that state. In the latter 
 part of the same year in which he was born 
 the family emigrated to Texas and located 
 in Lamar county, where they resided two 
 years, removing thence to Hopkins county, 
 and in i860 leaving the latter place and 
 coming to Erath county. William Skipper 
 was one of the primitive settlers of this 
 county. He located near the land now 
 owned and occupied by our subject, erected 
 a cabin to shelter his family, and soon had 
 a small patch of ground under cultivation. 
 As he prospered he increased his operations 
 and carried on both farming and stock- 
 raising. He was a natural mechanic. He 
 did all sorts of tinkering, and in this way 
 was of great value in the settlement, his 
 services not infrequently being called into 
 use to make coffins, for in those days there 
 were no undertakers here. And he was not 
 only a farmer and coffin-maker, but also as 
 a local politician did he figure prominently, 
 his choice being the Democratic party. 
 Frequently he was honored with official 
 preference. He served as justice of the 
 peace, high sheriff of the county, tax col- 
 lector, etc. His incumbency as sheriff was 
 during the civil war. The office was a hard 
 one to fill then and required a man of nerve 
 and resolute courage, one not afraid of dan- 
 ger and willing to risk his life if need be in 
 the performance of his duty; and few, if 
 any, could have served with more prompt- 
 ness and fidelity than did Mr. Skipper. He 
 refused to take the ' ' iron-clad " oath during 
 the reconstruction period and -resigned his 
 office. When he first settled in this county 
 Mr. Skipper had no trouble with the In- 
 dians. Later, however, they became hos- 
 tile, stole much of his stock, and gave him 
 
 and his neighbors no end of trouble. He 
 and his neighbors went out in pursuit of the 
 red men and their stolen stock on numerous 
 occasions and often got into skirmishes. 
 Religiously Mr. Skipper was a Methodist 
 and fraternally a Mason, and when he died, 
 at Stephenville, in 1892, he was buried by 
 the Masonic order. His wife had died in 
 1887. Thus passed from this life two of the 
 earliest and best beloved pioneers of Erath 
 county. They were the parents of six chil- 
 dren, two of whom died in infancy, and one 
 at the age of ten years was killed by a horse. 
 Rufus K. died at the age of twenty-one 
 years; James died when seventeen; and 
 J. H. F., the subject of this review, is the 
 only surviving member of the family. 
 
 J. H. F. Skipper was not yet a year 
 old at the time he was brought in his 
 mother's arms to this frontier state. He 
 was reared on his father's farm, was early 
 put to the plow, and after he was thirteen 
 spent most of his youth in the saddle look- 
 ing after their stock. He was yet in his 
 'teens when the Indian troubles began and 
 there was not a more courageous cowboy 
 on the range than he. It was his ambition 
 to have the best horse and be first in the 
 raid and he was never willing to give up the 
 chase as long as there was one to go with him. 
 He was in many battles and skirmishes with 
 the red men, the most noted of which was 
 the Dove Creek battle, in the winter of 
 1865, on the Concho river, where eighteen 
 men were killed on the spot and four died 
 later from wounds received there. The 
 loss of the Indians was not known. 
 
 In March, 1865, the subject of our 
 sketch took to himself a wife, but for two 
 years longer he remained at his father's 
 home. After he left the farm he com- 
 menced freighting for the government, haul- 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 447 
 
 ing supplies from Houston to Forts Chad- 
 bourne and Griffin and continuing thus occu- 
 pied until 1 87 1 or 1872. In the meantime 
 he had some farming operations carried on 
 under his supervision. After he quit freight- 
 ing he settled down to farming on the place 
 where he has since lived and where he car- 
 ries on both farming and stock-raising. 
 Here he owns two surveys, including about 
 1,000 acres, all under fence. 
 
 Mr. Skipper's early life being passed in 
 a frontier settlement, he had little time or 
 thought for books, and there were no schools 
 here. After he grew up he felt the need of 
 an education. He began a course of home 
 study and he has kept this up through the 
 years until now he has a fair business edu- 
 cation and is a practical surveyor. He 
 takes a deep interest in the educational 
 affairs of the community, has been instru- 
 mental in securing better schools, and, in 
 short, is interested in whatever will promote 
 the welfare of his vicinity. It was through 
 his influence that the postoffice. Skipper 
 Gap, which is in his house, was established. 
 His father was the first postmaster of this 
 place and his daughter now occupies the 
 position. Mr. Skipper is a notary public; 
 in politics is a Democrat, active and enthu- 
 siastic in party matters, and a prominent 
 factor in local conventions, etc. ; and frater- 
 nally is a Mason in good standing, maintain- 
 ing a membership in New Hope Lodge, 
 F. & A. M. Both he and his wife are active 
 members of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
 Mrs. Skipper, nee Ellen Hamilton, was 
 born in Hopkins county, Te.xas, in 185 1, 
 daughter of T. R. and Mary J. (Miller) 
 Hamilton, her father a descendant of the 
 old Robert Hamilton family. T. R. Ham- 
 ilton was a mechanic. He moved to Erath 
 county in 1859 and passed the regt of his 
 
 life here, dying in 1879. He was a Mason, 
 a Democrat and a Presbyterian, a man of 
 many sterling qualities of both heart and 
 mind. His wife died in 1853. They were 
 the parents of two children, namely: Mar- 
 garet, wife of Elijah Kealrey, a farmer of 
 this county; and Mrs. Skipper. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Skipper have had ten children, two of 
 whom died when young, those living being 
 as follows: John T., cashier of the State 
 Bank at Opelousas, Louisiana; Mary, wife 
 of William Parnell, is a resident of Erath 
 county; Frances, wife of Wylie Taylor, re- 
 sides at Moody, Texas; and Amanda, 
 James A., Edna, Wilty and Henry,— all at 
 home, Miss Amanda being the postmistress 
 of Skipper's Gap. 
 
 eDGAR A. WILSON, Valley Mills, 
 Bosque county, Texas, is a gentle- 
 man the writing of whose sketch is 
 a pleasant task to the historian 
 who loves to deal with the story of promi- 
 nent and successful men. Mr. Wilson is a 
 native of Georgia, where he was born March 
 13. '857. His father died while he was 
 still an infant, and whatever he has accom- 
 plished in the world he has to thank his 
 mother for, for it was her training that has 
 made him what he is. She was a native of 
 South Carolina, and still resides in the state 
 of Georgia. 
 
 Mr. Wilson spent his boyhood's days in 
 the calm and peaceful life of a farmer's 
 home, and was raised to agricultural pur- 
 suits, but when he became a man was for a 
 time engaged in mining. He came to Texas 
 in 1882, and here he has achieved a large 
 success, being now the owner of a fine ranch 
 of eight hundred and fifty acres, located 
 some twelve miles west of this city, of which 
 
448 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 he has one hundred and thirty-five acres 
 under the plow. He also owns a section 
 of land four miles west of the city, in which 
 one hundred and seventy-five acres are un- 
 der cultivation, and there he has an orchard 
 of an acre and a half, in which the peach- 
 tree is most frequently seen. He is sole 
 owner of a cotton gin within the city limits, 
 a large plant operated by a forty-horse- 
 power engine and having three seventy-sow 
 gins, and is capable of handling thirty bales 
 daily. Here chop feed and meal are ground 
 daily. Our subject is also a stock-grower 
 and breeder and has among his horses one 
 very fine Percheron valued at two thousand 
 five hundred dollars. 
 
 He is a man of family, and was married 
 in the state of Georgia to Miss Susan E. 
 Loggins, February 8, 1877. They have nine 
 children living: Benjamin F. , Lillia M., Sal- 
 lie D., Gary J., William J., Edgar A., Eulo, 
 Garl and Effie. They have lost three chil- 
 dren, — two boys and a girl. 
 
 '=-»-» EMUEL BRUMBELOW. — The 
 I C fine farm owned by this gentleman 
 P j^ in Gomanche county invariably 
 attracts the eye of the passing trav- 
 eler as being under .the supervision of a 
 thorough and skillful agriculturist, and a 
 man otherwise of good business qualifica- 
 tions. His birth occurred in Robinson 
 county, Tennessee, March 29, 1832, and he 
 passed his younger days in the usual manner 
 of farmer boys, aiding his father in the work 
 of the fields and receiving a practical edu- 
 cation in the common schools. 
 
 His paternal grandfather, Louis I^rumbe- 
 low, was a native of North Garolina, was a 
 farmer by occupation, and died in Tennessee. 
 
 The father of our subject, who also bore 
 the name of Louis Brumbelow, was reared 
 in Tennessee, where he married Anna Hall, 
 by whom he had nine children, — Nancy, 
 Andrew, Mary, Delila, Lemuel, William M., 
 Gharity, Anna and Isaac. Our subject and 
 William M. are the only ones that live in 
 Te.xas. In 1852 the father removed to 
 Arkansas, where he followed his chosen 
 occupation of farming near Hot Springs, 
 and there improved a valuable tract. His 
 first wife had died in Tennessee and he was 
 again married there. In 1873 became with 
 his family to Gomanche, Texas, locating upon 
 wild land, which he converted into a good 
 farm, and he died there in 1878. His 
 second wife survived him until 1886, when 
 she, too, was called to her final rest. 
 Politically he was a Democrat, and relig- 
 iously a member of the Missionary Baptist 
 church. 
 
 As long as his father lived our subject 
 and his brother, William M., remained with 
 him, and since his death have purchased the 
 interests of the other heirs in the home 
 place, all of which has been fenced and one 
 hundred acres of the amount is under a high 
 state of cultivation and improved with an 
 orchard, good buildings, etc. The farm is 
 pleasantly situated in the valley of the Leon 
 river, just three miles east of De Leon, and 
 comprises three hundred and seventy acres 
 of valuable land. 
 
 While in Arkansas, Mr. Brumbelow 
 enlisted in the Thirty-fifth Arkansas Gavalry, 
 Pagan's brigade, in the Trans-Mississippi 
 department, where he saw some hard service 
 and engaged in many battles and skirmishes. 
 While out on a scouting expedition he was 
 captured and held a prisoner at Little Rock 
 for one year, being released after the sur- 
 render of General Lee. Since returning 
 
(^.(^fJM 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 449, 
 
 home he has been successfully engaged in 
 general farming and stock-raising. 
 
 At the age of twenty-five years Mr. 
 Brumbelow was married, in Arkansas, the 
 lady of his choice being Miss Georgiana 
 Thompson, who was born in Alabama in 
 1 843, and is the daughter of George Thomp- 
 son, also a native of Alabama, but who 
 later became a prominent farmer of Arkan- 
 sas, where his death occurred. Six children 
 bless this union, namely: Frances A., wife 
 of C. C. Blair, an agriculturist; Mary, wife 
 of C. L. Rucker, who operates a cotton-gin 
 at De Leon; George L. , a farmer; Jennie, 
 wife of Lewis Stewart, a farmer; and Agnes 
 and Lemma B., both at home. The par- 
 ents are worthy members of the Missionary 
 Baptist church. Mr. Brumbelow is a stanch 
 adherent of the principles of the Democratic 
 party, and supports the candidates offered 
 by that organization on all occasions. Since 
 coming to the state he has never failed to 
 raise good crops upon his place, and is 
 justly numbered among the most enter- 
 prising and progressive agriculturists of 
 Comanche county. 
 
 EON. GEORGE FREDERICK 
 PERRY, M. D., president of the 
 Hamilton National Bank, was 
 born December 5, 1846, in Benton 
 county, Missouri, and is the son of Chris- 
 tian Louis and Margaret Elizabeth (Olf) 
 Perry. Our subject had a very fair com- 
 mon-school education, and at the age of 
 twenty began reading medicine under Dr. 
 John Ray, of Cassville, Missouri. At 
 twenty-one he set up for himself as a doctor 
 of medicine at Corsicana, in that state; but 
 he had hardly entered into the real practice 
 of medicine than he began to feel his defi- 
 
 ciencies; so that we are not surprised to find 
 him enrolled among the students of St. Louis 
 Medical College in 1869. He attended for 
 a time, and then returned to his practice, 
 and came back again to the school in 1874, 
 to take his final degree as Doctor of Medi- 
 cine. He was for a time at Rocky Com- 
 fort, Missouri, and briefly at two or three 
 other points. Arriving at Hamilton, March 
 18, 1878, he set up an office and has held it 
 to this day. He had Dr. H. W. Gregg for 
 a partner in 1882, an arrangement which 
 continued for four years. He was also in 
 partnership for a short time with Dr. Koo- 
 ken. Up to six years ago he practiced reg- 
 ularly, and did consultation and office work, 
 but of late the cares of an increasing and 
 growing business have drawn him away, at 
 least to an extent, from the full profession 
 of medicine. 
 
 In 1878 he started a drug store, with a 
 capital of only three hundred dollars. The 
 business grew, and in 1881 he took in J. T. 
 James as partner, and formed the firm of 
 Perry & James, that has continued to the 
 present time. Our subject began a private 
 banking business in 1883, which was merged 
 into the Hamilton National Bank October 
 27, 1890. It is an extensive institution for 
 the southwestern country, commands a 
 large business, and is firmly established upon 
 a cash capital of $50,000. Our subject is 
 its president, his brother, E. A. Perry, is 
 cashier, J. T. James is vice-president, and 
 the directors are J. J. Cleveland, J. A. Eid- 
 son and J. T. James. Dr. Perry is one of 
 the most extensive landed proprietors of the 
 county, owning over one thousand acres of 
 valuable land. He was also largely inter- 
 ested in a roller mill, which was put up in 
 1884, at a cost of twenty-two thousand 
 dollars, and of which he was superintendent 
 
450 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 and treasurer. It had a daily capacity of 
 fifty-four barrels, and was in operation nine 
 years, when it was destroyed by fire. The 
 broad-minded public spirit which has always 
 actuated Dr. Perry was illustrated by his 
 hearty co-operation with the effort to found 
 and maintain a college in Hamilton county. 
 He was president of the county association 
 formed for that purpose. A building was 
 put up costing seven thousand dollars, and 
 conducted as a college for five years, but is 
 now used as a public school by the town. 
 
 Dr. Perry has always been a pro- 
 nounced and ardent Democrat, and has 
 been identified with the history of his party 
 in Hamilton county for many years. In 
 1890 he was elected representative to the 
 state legislature from Hamilton and Coryell 
 counties, and held that office for a term of 
 two years, but refused to run as a candi- 
 date for re-election. Later on his name was 
 up as a candidate for nomination for senator 
 in the district composed of Hamilton, Mills, 
 Lampasas and Coryell counties, but he lost 
 the nomination by one vote. He is the 
 present chairman of the Democratic con- 
 gressional district committee, and has fre- 
 quently attended national conventions of 
 his party as alternate delegate. 
 
 Mr. Perry was married March 4, 1866, 
 to Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas 
 and Martha Rowena (Bullock) Pogue. 
 Mrs. Perry is a native of Barry county, 
 Missouri, where she was born December 9, 
 1846. To them have been born three chil- 
 dren, Irene being the name of the oldest 
 daughter. She came to gladden her par- 
 ents' hearts June 9, 1867, grew up to 
 womanhood, and is now the wife of Joseph 
 J. Cleveland, a liveryman of Hamilton. 
 Ida P. was born April 11, 1871, and mar- 
 ried A. H. Williams, assistant cashier of the 
 
 Hamilton National Bank. Henrietta P., 
 born September 6, 1873, is now the wife 
 of William Graves, deputy clerk of Hamil- 
 ton county. 
 
 The father of our subject, Christian 
 Perry, died in October, 1886, in Missouri. 
 He was of English extraction, having been 
 born in Leicester in the year 1820, and 
 passed his life as a farmer. When fourteen 
 years of age he accompanied his parents to 
 Germany, where he remained until 1842. 
 He was graduated at the University of 
 Heidelberg, and found his wife in Ger- 
 many. When twenty-four years of age he 
 came to this country, bought land in Ben- 
 ton county, Missouri, and passed the re- 
 mainder of his life there. At the time of 
 his death he was the owner of a valuable 
 farm of two hundred acres. He was the 
 father of twelve children, of whom eleven 
 grew to maturity, and eight are now living. 
 
 The grandfather of our subject, Henry 
 Perry, died in 1859, at the age of sixty- 
 eight, after a varied and eventful career, 
 including service as a captain in the British 
 infantry during the Napoleonic wars. He 
 was captured in Italy and kept a prisoner of 
 war for six years, in Verdun, France, and 
 here he met and wooed his wife. He was 
 afterward at the battle of Waterloo. He 
 spent the last ten years of his life in this 
 country. His father was a military man, 
 and also served in the Napoleonic wars, 
 dying on the island of Malta from a sabre 
 stroke on the head. His father, Roland 
 Perry, the great-great-grandfather of our 
 subject, was a British captain and was 
 killed at the storming of Quebec. 
 
 Dr. Perry has probably done more for 
 the building up of Hamilton than any other 
 one citizen in it. He is a man of the 
 utmost refinement, thoroughly progressive 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 451 
 
 both in his spirit and in all his methods. 
 He lends his voice to the right on every oc- 
 casion, and is not afraid to come forward in 
 behalf of his own convictions, even against 
 great opposition. His spirit was shown by 
 the very able support he gave to the move- 
 ment for prohibition in the town of Hamil- 
 ton. He stands among the richest business 
 men of the county, and is considered one of 
 its most respected and progressive citizens. 
 
 *-!-• EONIDAS HOLLOWOOD.— 
 I r Prominent among the enterprising 
 I Ji farmers of Erath county, Texas, is 
 Leonidas Hollowood, the salient 
 points in whose life history we would now 
 bring under consideration. He was born in 
 Vienna, Canada, November 27, 1842, son 
 of Solomon and Lavina (Elliott) Hollowood, 
 both natives of Canada and of French de- 
 scent, both the Hollowoods and Elliotts 
 having long been residents of that dominion. 
 Solomon Hollowood became a sailor in 
 his early boyhood, later in life was a captain 
 on lake vessels, and about 1845 moved with 
 his family to Indiana and located at La Fay- 
 ette. The year following his settlement 
 there he enlisted for the Mexican war, under 
 General Wood, went at once to the scene 
 of action and was through all the campaign 
 up to the battle of Buena Vista, where he 
 was killed. After receiving the news of her 
 husband's death, Mrs. Hollowood returned 
 to Canada with her two children, Leonidas 
 and Adelia, and in her native land was sub- 
 sequently married to Mr. Cyrus Eggleston. 
 About 1850 they, together with her father, 
 Isaac Elliott, and his family, returned to 
 "The States," this time locating at Milan, 
 Erie county, Ohio, where they made per- 
 manent settlement. Mr. Eggleston was a 
 
 blacksmith and ran a shop there for many 
 years. Grandfather Elliott was a lumber 
 dealer. The sister, Adelia, above referred 
 to, grew up in Milan, and was twice married. 
 By her last husband, a Mr. Myers, she had 
 three or four children. She died and is 
 buried at Milan, the last resting place also 
 of her mother, grandfather and other mem- 
 bers of the family. Mrs. Eggleston was a 
 member of the Presbyterian church. 
 
 Having thus briefly referred to his parent- 
 age, we pass on now to the life of our imme- 
 diate subject, Leonidas Hollowood. His 
 early childhood was spent in Canada, Indiana 
 and Ohio. At the age of fourteen his am- 
 bitious and adventurous nature, together 
 with a combination of circumstances, led 
 him to leave his Ohio home without the per- 
 mission or knowledge of his parents and 
 seek his fortune in the far west, — in other 
 words, he ' ' ran off. " Directing his course 
 to Fort Scott, Kansas, he there secured em- 
 ployment as mail-carrier. He made weekly 
 trips on horseback over a sixty-five-mile 
 route, about forty miles of this distance be- 
 ing across the prairie and in an almost un- 
 inhabited district, only two houses on the 
 road. To say the least, it was a lonesome 
 ride for a young boy; but the position was a 
 responsible one, and he proved himself equal 
 to it. Thus was he occupied throughout 
 the summer. The next year he went still 
 further west on the plains and for some time 
 was engaged in hunting buffalo and obtain- 
 ing wolf scalps. His next employment was 
 as a farm hand in Missouri. At the time of 
 the Brown and Lane trouble in Kansas Mr. 
 Hollowood was there. He was at Fort 
 Scott at the time Brown and Montgomery 
 made a raid on the fort and killed one man 
 and carried off all the goods they could. 
 Indeed, he was familiar with all the Kansas 
 
452 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 troubles up to the opening of the late war. 
 He enlisted under Claiborn Jackson's call 
 for six-months militia, served out the time, 
 and then re-enlisted for three years or dur- 
 ing the war; was in D. C. Hunter's regi- 
 ment, Price the commanding general, and 
 was through all of General Price's campaigns, 
 undergoing much hard service. Indeed, he 
 was in almost continual skirmishing, and many 
 hotly contested battles. For fifty-six days 
 at one time he was under fire! On two occa- 
 sions he was wounded. At Wilson's creek 
 he received a ball in the left leg, lost some 
 time from service on account of this wound, 
 and to this day carries the ball in his limb. 
 The second wound was not so serious. It 
 occurred in the Westport fight and was a 
 scalp shot. He was knocked from his horse 
 at this time, but rallied at once and con- 
 tinued with his command. 
 
 At the time of the surrender Mr. Hollo- 
 wood was near his adopted home in Mis- 
 souri, and immediatelj' thereafter he settled 
 in Vernon county, that state, where he con- 
 tinued his abiding place until 1874, then 
 removing to Barton county, same state. 
 At the latter place he maintained his home 
 until 1 88 1. That year he came to Texas, 
 direct to his present location in Erath 
 county, within four miles of Duffau, where 
 he purchased land, his first purchase com- 
 prising six hundred and forty acres and later 
 he acquired adjoining lands. " Now he is 
 the owner of one thousand and fifty-five 
 acres, all in one body, nearly all under 
 fence, and about three hundred acres in a 
 good state of cultivation. He has a com- 
 fortable residence, good outbuildings, mod- 
 ern wind pump, etc., and the general ap- 
 pearance of the farm at once indicates that 
 marked intelligence and good judgment 
 have been back of the energy here ex- 
 
 pended. Mr. Hollowood raises the usual 
 crops of the county and keeps a sufficient 
 amount of stock for the support of his farm. 
 During the early years of his residence here 
 he was largely interested in the cattle busi- 
 ness, but recently, like most of the farmers 
 of this section, he gives all his attention to 
 farming; and during his fifteen years' exper- 
 ience here he has never had a failure in 
 crops. 
 
 Mr. Hollowood was first married in 
 1866, to Miss Catherine White, a native of 
 Missouri. She died in January, 1869, and 
 their only child, Leona, died in September, 
 1892, at the age of twenty-three j'ears. In 
 1874 he married Miss Samantha E. Forbes, 
 a native of Illinois, with whose life his was 
 blended for more than twenty years and 
 who died of consumption, April 22, 1895. 
 She was a daughter of Isaiah Forbes, a Mis- 
 souri farmer, who died in that state. Two 
 children were born of this union, namely: 
 Lenora, who is at this writing attending 
 school at Hico; and Addie, in school at 
 Duffau. 
 
 Mr. Hollowood is a gentleman who has 
 always kept himself well posted on the 
 issues of the day, is broad and progressive 
 in his views, especially in his political 
 views, and, politically, may be termed an 
 independent. He has never sought official 
 honors, nor has he ever filled office. 
 
 BR. SCHENCK.— It now becomes 
 the pleasant task of the sketch 
 writer to revert to the life history 
 of one whose identity with Bosque 
 county covers a period of eighteen years, 
 who has contributed his due quota to the 
 development of this section of the country, 
 and who stands to-day as one of its leading 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 453 
 
 men, his high position in the respect and 
 esteem of his fellow men being assured be- 
 yond peradventure. Before proceeding to a 
 sketch of his own life, we glance briefly at 
 the ancestry from which he sprang. 
 
 Mr. Schenck's forefathers figured prom- 
 inently in the southern states. Michael 
 Schenck, his grandfather, was born in Penn- 
 sylvania, February 15, 1771, of Swiss de- 
 scent, and when a young man moved south 
 and located in North Carolina, where he 
 reared his family and passed the rest of his 
 life, dying in that state March 6, 1849. His 
 son John, the father of F. R. , was born in 
 North Carolina, and in that state was united 
 in marriage to Miss Harriet Allyn, a native 
 of Connecticut and a lady of culture and 
 education, who had gone to North Carolina 
 as a school-teacher. As early as 1834, 
 shortly after the birth of their first child, 
 they removed to Alabama and settled on the 
 frontier, where he took mail contracts and 
 ran a stage. Also during his early resi- 
 dence here he assisted, as a commissioned 
 officer, in the removal of the tribe of Sem- 
 inole Indians, which was accomplished with 
 no little difficulty. Later he purchased the 
 largest and best grist and saw mill in all the 
 country round, known as Schenck's Mills, 
 which he operated for many years. Also 
 he owned the land upon which Sulphur 
 Springs was located, this place after it passed 
 from his hands becoming a favorite resort. 
 He lived to an advanced age and died in 
 1 89 1 at the old homestead in Alabama, and 
 when he passed away the community lost 
 one of its best loved and most honored citi- 
 zens. His wife, the mother of our subject, 
 died many years before, her death occurring 
 when F. R. was a lad of thirteen 5'ears. 
 Their family comprised the following named 
 members: F. R., the eldest and subject of 
 
 this article; Harriet J., wife of F. Smith; 
 Maria, aeceased; John C. , a veteran of the 
 civil war and now a resident of Indian Ter- 
 ritory; Catharine, a resident of northern 
 Alabama, is the wife of Merrill Smith, a 
 veteran of the late war; and David, who 
 died in the army. 
 
 Mr. F. R. Schenck was born in North 
 Carolina, March 20, 1834, was taken in his 
 infancy to Alabama, and in the latter state 
 was brought up as a farmer and miller, re- 
 maining with his father until twenty-seven 
 years of age. Then fie married, and the 
 year following his marriage, in 1862, he en- 
 tered the army, going into the service as a 
 member of the Ninth Battalion, later the 
 Fifty-eighth Alabama Regiment, and was in 
 General Bragg's command. He was in 
 many of the most important engagem.ents 
 of the war, prominent among which were 
 the hotly contested battles of Chickamauga 
 and Missionary Ridge. In all his service he 
 was never captured, but on one occasion was 
 slightly wounded. After the engagement at 
 Missionary Ridge he resigned his commission, 
 that of lieutenant, and returned home, and 
 soon after joined a cavalry regiment and 
 was detailed to work in a railroad shop, con- 
 tinuing thus employed up to the close of the 
 war. Returning home, he took charge of 
 his father's mill and farm, and continued the 
 operations of both until 1876, when became 
 to Texas. 
 
 Mr. Schenck's first location in Te.xas 
 was in Limestone county, v>here he lived on 
 and cultivated rented land two years. In 
 1878 he moved to Bosque county, to his 
 present locality, and here purchased of Mr. 
 Trimble one hundred and ninety-six acres of 
 land, slightly improved and having a cabin 
 on it. Mr. Trimble, or "Father Trimble," 
 as he was called, was the pioneer Methodist 
 
454 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 preacher of this place, having located here 
 in 1867, when there were only three or 
 four white families in this section of the 
 country. He helped to organize the first 
 church here, called Wills Chapel, and it was 
 largely through his instrumentality that a 
 church and schoolhouse combined was 
 erected, and the upper room of this building 
 was used for a Masonic hall. A mill had 
 been built on the river before the erection of 
 the church and schoolhouse, and thus was 
 formed the nucleus of the town of Iredell. 
 Mr. Schenck soon went earnestly to work to 
 improve his land, and with the most grati- 
 fying results, notwithstanding the fact he 
 was told when he came here he could not 
 make a living. In all the eighteen years of 
 his residence here he has never had a failure 
 of crops. He has made his own pork and 
 lard and has had plenty for himself and 
 some to sell. He has eighty acres in culti- 
 vation, a fine orchard, good barn and out- 
 buildings, and the little cabin which served 
 for his home at first has long since been re- 
 placed by a substantial and convenient resi- 
 dence. Besides this fine farm and home, 
 which adjoins Iredell, he owns business 
 property in the town, — a substantial stone 
 building. 
 
 In 1861 was consummated the marriage 
 of Mr. Schenck and Miss Mary Woodley. 
 Mrs. Schenck is a daughter of William and 
 and Emily (Cross) Woodley, natives respect- 
 ively of Georgia and Tennessee and early 
 settlers of Alabama, where they passed their 
 lives and died, Mr. Woodley 's death occur- 
 ring July II, 1876, and his wife's in Feb- 
 ruary, 1868. He was for many years a 
 prominent farmer and stockman, was pub- 
 lic-spirited and influential, and was not infre- 
 quently called upon to settle difficulties be- 
 tween his neighbors, affairs invariab-ly being 
 
 satisfactorily adjusted when entrusted to 
 him. He filled the ofiice of county com- 
 missioner and numerous other minor offices. 
 His family was composed of the following 
 named children: Mary E., wife of the sub- 
 ject of this sketch; Jack M., who came to 
 Texas in 1886 and is now a farmer in this 
 county; Urena, wife of W. B. Turner, a 
 railroad man; George W., a resident of 
 Limestone county, Texas; Asceneth, wife of 
 E. Davis, of Alabama; William, of Cottle 
 county, Texas; Martha J., wife of William 
 Davis, a farmer of Bosque county; and 
 Susan B., wife of Ed Turner. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Schenck have two children living: Will- 
 iam D., who is engaged in farming at the 
 home place, is married and has three chil- 
 dren; and Walter F., recently graduated in 
 law in the University of Texas, at Austin. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Schenck are among the 
 leading members of the Methodist Episcopal 
 church of Iredell, in which he has served in 
 various official capacities and of which he is 
 now a trustee. In his political predilections 
 he is Democratic. He takes a commend- 
 able interest in public affairs and is enthusi- 
 astic for the success of his party, frequently 
 attending its conventions; but he has never 
 had any aspirations for official honors. 
 Thus briefly is outlined the salient features 
 in the history of one of Bosque county's best 
 citizens. 
 
 sa 
 
 ILLIAM MAXWELL. —As an 
 
 enterprising and wide-awake busi- 
 ness man of Hamilton, and one 
 who, through his own efforts, has 
 established himself among the prominent 
 and wealthy men of the place, owning the 
 largest general store there, we take pleasure 
 in giving a brief biography of the gentleman 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 455 
 
 whose name stands at the head of this 
 sketch. He was born in Decatur county, 
 Georgia, February i, 1839, and is the son 
 of James George and Malsy (Butler) Max- 
 well. 
 
 Our subject remained under the parental 
 roof until the breaking out of the civil war, 
 when he enlisted in Company F, Fiftieth 
 Georgia Infantry, in June, 1861. Being 
 captured at Cold Harbor, he was imprisoned 
 at Elmira, New York, for nine months, when 
 he was exchanged, but, as he was ill at that 
 time, he never rejoined his regiment. At 
 the battle of the Wilderness he was wounded 
 in the right wrist, but not seriously, though 
 his gun was broken. 
 
 The war over, Mr. Maxwell returned to 
 Georgia, where he engaged in farming for a 
 year, and then went to Ashley county, 
 Arkansas, remaining there until November, 
 1867. He was then married and bought a 
 farm in Morehouse county, Louisiana, own- 
 ing one hundred and twenty acres there 
 until July, 1875, when he sold out and came 
 to Texas. He reached Lampasas on the 
 4th of July, that year, whence he came to 
 Hamilton county, where he camped for 
 some time at Rice Spring. Buying a lot in 
 Hamilton, he erected a house, but shortly 
 after purchased a place on the Leon river 
 opposite the Groomer place. This com- 
 prised one hundred and sixty acres, upon 
 which he removed and made his home there 
 for six years, when he returned to Hamil- 
 ton. For three years he conducted a 
 butcher-shop and engaged in loaning money. 
 He next became clerk in the mercantile 
 establishment of M. J. Hearne & Company, 
 with whom he remained as long as Mr. 
 Hearne was in business. 
 
 In 1892, associated with C. E. Horton, 
 Mr. Maxwell bought the general store of 
 
 J. L. Spurlin, which was conducted under 
 the firm style of Horton & Maxwell until 
 1894, when our subject purchased his part- 
 ner's interest, and has since been sole pro- 
 prietor, carrying on the business under the 
 name of William Maxwell. This is the 
 largest mercantile establishment in Hamil 
 ton, and one of the largest in the county 
 Mr. Maxwell has been a careful, pruden' 
 and enterprising business man all his life 
 and by hard work and economy has sue 
 ceeded in saving some means, which he 
 loaned to his friends who desired to borrow 
 and in this way accumulated more capital 
 finally taking an interest in the mercantile 
 business. His success increased until he is 
 now sole owner of the business which he 
 first became connected with as a clerk. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell have no children. 
 They live in their neat and quiet home in 
 Hamilton, where they enjoy the friendship 
 of a large circle of acquaintances. In poli- 
 tics he is an unfaltering Democrat, and re- 
 ligiously is one of the most zealous and 
 important members of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal church, with which organization he 
 became connected in 1894. 
 
 ^^ C. ROBERTS, a venerable citizen 
 A of Bosque county, was born at Ful- 
 A 1 ton, on Red river, in what was then 
 the territory of Arkansas, January 
 28, 1820, and has passed the most of his 
 life on the frontier. He is rich in pioneer 
 lore, and his life history is replete with in- 
 terest. 
 
 Mr. Roberts' father was a Virginian, 
 David Roberts by name, who was left an 
 orphan at the tender age of six years, and 
 was reared in Virginia and Tennessee. He 
 married Miss Nancy Caldwell, a native of 
 
45(5 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Kentucky and a daughter of Andrew Cald- 
 well, who was a son of Irish parents. In 
 1819 David Roberts and his wife removed 
 to far-away Arkansas, which had that year 
 been made a territory of the Union, and on 
 Ked river in Hempstead county they pitched 
 their tent and soon estabhshed a home, 
 being among the very earliest settlers of 
 that portion of the commonwealth. They 
 were Methodists of the truest and stanchest 
 type, and in their new home did not forget 
 to honor their God and bring up their chil- 
 dren in his love and fear. Politically he 
 was a Whig. With the passing years sons 
 and daughters came to bless and brighten 
 their home, — eleven in all, — and all reached 
 maturity, namely: Andrew, Joseph C. , 
 James, J. G., Cyrena, Louisa, Thomas, 
 La Fayette, William, John and Richard. 
 
 Joseph C. Roberts, whose name initiates 
 this review, grew up in the wilds of Arkan- 
 sas and became more familiar with his gun 
 and the haunts of the animals in the primeval 
 forest near his home than he did with his 
 books. Indeed, his early school education 
 was of a necessity greatly neglected. He 
 has, however, through his contact with the 
 world and his home study long after he was 
 grown, acquired a practical education. In 
 1853 he was one of the gold-seekers that 
 sought the Pacific shore. He made the 
 long and tedious trip overland on horseback, 
 was five months en route, camping at night 
 under the blue dome of the heavens and being 
 lulled to sleep by the how] of wild beasts of 
 the plain or the forest, wherever he hap- 
 pened to be when darkness overtook him. 
 In California he spent three years, mining 
 and working on a ranch, and at the end of 
 that time returned to his old home in Ar- 
 kansas, making the return trip via the isth- 
 mus of Pana.ma to New Orleans, thence up I 
 
 the Mississippi river to Gaines' landing, and 
 thence by stage home. 
 
 Mr. Roberts remained in Arkansas until 
 1858, when he came to Bosque county and 
 bought the land he yet owns, two hundred 
 acres, to the cultivation and improvement of 
 which he has devoted many years of labor. 
 Now he has seventy acres under plow, has 
 a comfortable house, good barn and out- 
 buildings, orchard, etc. Besides this farm 
 he is the owner of a good business lot and 
 valuable store building in Kopperl, which he 
 rents. For the past five years he has done 
 an extensive business in selling native-herb 
 medicines. 
 
 Mr. Roberts was married in 1847, in 
 Hempstead county, Arkansas, to Miss Eliz- 
 abeth Wylie, a native of Alabama and a 
 daughter of Elias and Sarah Wylie. Their 
 happy union was blessed in the birth of one 
 child, a son, whom the}' named Elias and 
 who grew to be a noble young man. He 
 married Miss E. Jane Reese, a daughter of 
 Edward Reese, and by her had three chil- 
 dren, — William Augustus, Martha E. and 
 Joseph, the last named dying when young. 
 Elias Roberts was cut down in the prime of 
 early manhood, his death occurring in 1879, 
 at the age of twenty-seven years. His 
 eldest child, now twenty-one years of age, 
 resides with his grandfather Roberts; and 
 his widow, who subsequently became the wife 
 of Mr. A. Fairchild, is a resident of Morgan, 
 Texas. The wife of our subject departed 
 this life September 19, 1881. Both she 
 and her son were devoted Christians, mem- 
 bers of the Methodist Episcopal church, and 
 died in the full hope of life immortal. 
 
 Mr. Roberts is not only a good repre- 
 sentative of the pioneer farmer, but also well 
 represents the intelligent citizen of his com- 
 munity to-day. He is posted on all current 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 457 
 
 topics, and especially on political issues, 
 and gives his stanch support to the Populist 
 party. During the late war he served two 
 years in the Confederate army, and during 
 two years of the war period ran a wagon 
 train. He has a store of interesting remi- 
 niscences of his early days and travels and 
 also of his later life in the state of Texas, 
 which, when occasion demands, he relates 
 in a manner both entertaining and edifying. 
 
 ^^r* EONARD WINDSOR, an agricult- 
 I i urist of energy and ability, is one 
 H ^ of the honored and representative 
 pioneers of Texas, now residing in 
 Comanche county. By great energy, per- 
 severance and industry, he has brought his 
 farm from its original state of pristine wild- 
 ness to a condition of excellent culture, and 
 it stands to-day a monument to his good 
 management and his business qualities. He 
 was born in Blount county, Alabama, Sep- 
 tember 19, 1825, and is the son of James L. 
 and Mary (Bowerman) Windsor, the former 
 a native of Kentucky and the latter of Ten- 
 nessee, where their marriage was cele- 
 brated. 
 
 When young the father left home to join 
 the United States army and never returned. 
 All through the war of 18 12 he served under 
 General Rusk's command, and was in the 
 battle where Bowles was killed. After his 
 death his wife received a pension. When 
 the war was over he went to Tennessee, 
 where he was married, and later removed to 
 Alabama. In 1835 he came to Texas, 
 where his death occurred, in 1848, in Nac- 
 ogdoches county. His wife, who long sur- 
 vived him, died in the same county in 1893, 
 at the extreme old age of ninety-six years. 
 The family had much experience with the 
 
 Indians but were always kind to them and 
 therefore had their respect and were never 
 harmed. Both parents were devoted mem- 
 bers of the Methodist church, to which the 
 mother belonged for seventy-five years. 
 
 The maternal grandfather of our sub- 
 ject was born in Pennsylvania, of German 
 descent, was there married and later located 
 in Tennessee, whence he removed to Ala- 
 bama, where his wife died. In 1835 he be- 
 came a resident of Nacogdoches county, 
 Texas, where he received one-third of a 
 league of land and finally died. He reared 
 one son, who remained in Alabama, and a 
 daughter who lived in Arkansas, besides the 
 mother of our subject. 
 
 Leonard Windsor is the fifth in order of 
 birth in a family of six children. Eliza be- 
 came the wife of Arch Henry, but both are 
 now deceased and only one of their children 
 is now living. Malinda married V. Whit- 
 aker, and both of them also have passed 
 away. Sally wedded M. Brown, who 
 served in Houston's army at the battle of 
 San Jacinto, and both are now deceased. 
 Marston, who was a local preacher in the 
 Methodist church for over twenty years, 
 served in the Indian war under General 
 Rusk and died in 1894. Catherine married 
 A. J. Page who is now deceased, and she is 
 living in New Mexico. 
 
 Mr. Windsor of this review early became 
 inured to the arduous duties of farm life on 
 the frontier, and his education was such as 
 the schools of the locality afforded. He 
 remained with his parents until he was mar- 
 ried, in Harrison county, Texas, in 1847,10 
 Miss Elizabeth Choat, whose parents died 
 in this state. The mother was a member 
 of the Methodist church. Three children 
 were born of this union: Mary J., wife of 
 Jo Garner, a farmer of Comanche county; 
 
458 
 
 HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 David, a farmer and stock-raiser of Howard 
 county, Texas; and Sarah A., wife of J. F. 
 Tajlor, an agriculturist of Harrison county. 
 The mother of these children, who was a 
 devoted Methodist, died July 9, 1851. 
 
 For a number of years Mr. Windsor re- 
 mained a resident of Harrison county and 
 then removed to Nacogdoches county, 
 where the death of his wife occurred. He 
 then returned to Harrison county, where in 
 December, 1852, he was again married, his 
 second union being with Miss Mary Cowan, 
 a daughter of A. and Willie Ann Cowan, 
 both of whom departed this life in Texas. 
 Two children graced this union: Elizabeth, 
 who married William W. H. Ragan, and 
 yet lives in Harrison county; and Willie A., 
 wife of H. H. Oney, of Eastland county, 
 Texas. The mother was an earnest Chris- 
 tian lady and died January 30, 1884, in the 
 full faith of a blessed Redeemer. On the 
 1 2th of March, 1S85, Mr. Windsor was 
 united in marriage with Mrs. Heath, widow 
 of Burl Heath, who served in the Mexican 
 war. She was first married in Texas, and 
 by the death of Mr. Heath was left with 
 one child, — Josie, — now the wife of Mr. 
 Meal, a merchant of Gorman, Texas. Mrs. 
 Windsor is the daughter of Jacob Seay, 
 who came to Texas in 1855, locating in 
 Brown county, but is now living in New 
 Mexico with a son, who is in the live-stock 
 business. 
 
 In 1879 Mr. \\'indsor came to Coman- 
 che county, where he purchased three hun- 
 dred and twenty acres of school land, which 
 was covered with a heavy growth of timber, 
 but has since divided the amount with his 
 son, and one hundred and ten acres of his 
 one hundred and sixty-acre tract is under 
 cultivation. A comfortable dwelling and 
 good outbuildings stand upon the place. 
 
 also a fine orchard, a windmill, and many 
 of the modern conveniences. The farm is 
 pleasantly located just two miles northwest 
 of De Leon. Mr. Windsor has always 
 supported the Democratic party, and for 
 twelve years served as justice of the peace. 
 He is a sincere and conscientious Chris- 
 tian, for many j'ears has been a member of 
 the Methodist church, in which he has 
 served as class-leader and steward, and 
 always attends the district conventions. 
 His family have copied the worthy example 
 set for them, and are all church members. 
 
 >Y*ONATHAN GENTRY, a representa- 
 m tive farmer and stock-raiser of Erath 
 A 1 county, is a native of Tennessee, 
 born in McNairy county on the 12th 
 of November, 1S29, his parents being Cain 
 and Martha (Philpot) Gentry. The Gentry 
 family was founded on American soil in 
 colonial days. The father of our subject 
 was born in Georgia and died in Arkansas 
 when his son Jonathan was a lad of nine 
 summers. The family, in 1831, emigrated 
 with their children to Missouri, and thence 
 five years later to Arkansas. The mother 
 removed to Grayson county, Texas, in the 
 fall of 1865, where she died in 1876. 
 
 The gentleman whose name introduces 
 this biographical mention remained at home 
 until twenty-two years of age, and then 
 started out in life for himself. In 1852 he 
 chose a companion and helpmeet on life's 
 journey, Miss Catherine Ford becoming his 
 wife. The lady is a native of Tennessee 
 and a daughter of Henry and Nancy (Saw- 
 yer) Ford. The young couple began their 
 domestic life in Arkansas, where they re- 
 sided until 1855, when they came to Texas, 
 locating first in Grayson county. For a 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 459 
 
 time Mr. Gentry rented land, and when his 
 labors had brought to him a sufficient capi- 
 tal he purchased a farm upon which he 
 lived for twenty years. In 1875 he came 
 to Erath county, and by purchase became 
 owner of one hundred and ninety- five acres 
 of wild land, which he at once began to 
 clear and improve. The transformation of 
 an unimproved prairie into rich and fertile 
 fields is no easy task, but involves much 
 arduous labor, and a highly cultivated tract 
 certainly indicates the energy and thrift of 
 the owner. Mr. Gentry has now placed 
 sixty acres of his farm under improvement, 
 raising various crops adapted to this climate, 
 and thus acquiring a good return for his 
 labor. Prosperity has attended his efforts 
 and enabled him to extend the boundary of 
 his farm until it now embraces four hundred 
 and fifty acres of valuable land. He is a 
 man of good business ability, systematic and 
 energetic, and possessing that indispensable 
 quality to success, — industry. 
 
 The home of Mr. and Mrs. Gentry has 
 been blessed with eight children, six of 
 whom are yet living, while two died in 
 childhood. Those who still survive are: 
 Henry, who wedded Mary J. Norman; Cain, 
 who married Malinda Lauder; William; 
 John, who wedded Ora Henderson, of East- 
 land county; Hannah, wife of A. L. Camp; 
 and James P. The parents are members of 
 the Missionary Baptist church, and are peo- 
 ple whose many excellencies of character 
 command the respect of all with whom they 
 come in contact. In politics Mr. Gentry is 
 a stalwart Democrat, unswerving in support 
 of the principles of the party. During the 
 civil war he entered the Confederate service, 
 becoming a member of Company A, Hard- 
 man's regiment, in 1862. He served with 
 the western army and participated in the 
 
 battle of Reed's Grove, also the attack on 
 Fort Smith, and continued at the front 
 until the close of the war. He was ever 
 brave, and in the thickest of the fight he 
 might be found as a zealous defender of the 
 cause under whose banner he had enlisted. 
 
 BRANCIS MARION CONLEY.— 
 As an enterprising and wide-awake 
 business man of Iredell, and one 
 who, through his own efforts, has 
 established himself among the prominent 
 and well-to-do men of the place, we take 
 pleasure in giving a brief biography of the 
 gentleman whose name stands at the head 
 of this sketch. He is the senior member of 
 the firm of Conley & Son, general merchants, 
 who carry a large and complete stock 
 of dry goods, clothing, boots, shoes, gro- 
 ceries, hardware and queensware. They 
 own one of the best business houses in the 
 town, which is a two-story brick, thirty by 
 eighty feet, situated at the corner of Main 
 street opposite the depot. 
 
 Mr. Conley first opened his eyes to the 
 light in Buncombe county. North Carolina, 
 June 24, 1833, and is a son of R. B. and 
 Susan (Kincaid) Conley, the former of a 
 prominent Irish family and the latter of 
 Scotch extraction. The paternal grand- 
 father, who gallantly aided the colonies in 
 their struggle for independence, was a plant- 
 er, and in religious belief was a Presbyte- 
 rian, to which faith his son also adhered. 
 The father, who was a native of South Car- 
 olina, removed with his family to Buncombe 
 county. North Carolina, and later to Union 
 county, Georgia, in 1S38, and was the first 
 white settler on Conley's creek. Both par- 
 ents died there, — the father in 1865, at the 
 age of seventy-two years, and the mother in 
 
460 
 
 HIS TOR r OB TEXAS. 
 
 1 876. In their family were eleven children, 
 six sons and fi%'e daughters, of whom the 
 following are still living: F. M., of this 
 sketch; S. M., of Union county, Georgia; 
 J. K., of the same county; Mary E. ; Martha 
 L. ; Eliza Jane and Emily A. 
 
 Mr. Conley, whose name introduces this 
 record, was reared in Georgia, where he ob- 
 tained a fair education, and in 1861 joined 
 the Confederate service, becoming a mem- 
 ber of the Sixth Georgia Cavalry under Col- 
 onel John R. Hart and Captain J. C. Fain. 
 He was quartermaster for a time in the Fif- 
 teenth Battery, and for gallant service on 
 the field of battle was promoted to the rank 
 of first lieutenant. 
 
 In 1873 Mr. Conley came to Bosque 
 county, Texas, where the following year he 
 purchased one hundred and thirty-eight 
 acres of land, and has since added to this 
 until he now has a valuable farm of six 
 hundred acres, which is well improved, be- 
 ing all under fence and supplied with sub- 
 stantial farm buildings. Previous to coming 
 to Texas he had engaged in school-teaching 
 in Georgia, and followed that occupation 
 for a time after his arrival here. 
 
 On the 1 2th of January, i860, Mr. Con- 
 ley was united in marriage with Miss Eliza 
 Parks, a most estimable lady and a daugh- 
 ter of John Parks. Nine children have been 
 born of this union, namely: Modena P., 
 wife of Joseph Dotson, of Erath county, 
 Texas; E. J., who is in business with his 
 father; Martha A., at home; Alice L., wife 
 of James Cavness, of Erath county; Mary 
 E., wife of B. F. Newton, of Bosque coun- 
 ty; William W., of the same county; Geor- 
 gia T., wife of William Myers, also of 
 Bosque county; Rob M., and James W. 
 
 In his political affiliations, Mr. Conley is 
 a Democrat, and while a resident of Geor- 
 
 gia served as tax assessor of Union county. 
 In 1872 he was made a Mason in Allegany 
 Lodge, No. 114, A. F. &. A. M., of Blairs- 
 ville, Georgia, and in 1873 affiliated with 
 Iredell Lodge, No. 405, and for six years 
 served as worshipful master. During the 
 days of the grange he was an active and 
 leading member of that organization. He 
 is a man of the strictest integrity, fair and 
 honorable in all his dealings and takes an 
 active interest in all educational, religious 
 and temperance work. He is a sincere and 
 earnest Christian, a member of the Baptist 
 church, as is also his wife, and has the re- 
 spect and confidence of all who know him. 
 
 >^OHN M. BRUINGTON is one of the 
 m most prominent and highly esteemed 
 /» 1 agriculturists of Erath county. In 
 this age of urban development and 
 prosperity, few men of his strength of char- 
 acter and practical business qualifications 
 are content to lead what might be called a 
 pastoral or agricultural life; and certainly 
 few men who had the natural trend of senti- 
 ment and love for mother nature that would 
 lead them to shun the more glittering op- 
 portunities for material advancement in a 
 business or speculative city life, have had in 
 their make-up so blended the rather unique 
 qualities required to harmonize the nine- 
 teenth-century spirit of advancement and 
 adaptation with the quiet life of a husband- 
 man. Mr. Bruington, however, is a man of 
 most excellent business and executive abil- 
 ity, imbued with the spirit of progress, and 
 this he applies to his labors as an agricult- 
 urist, leaving the touch of improvement 
 upon everything with which he is closely 
 brought in contact. 
 
 A native of Breckenridge county. Ken- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 461 
 
 tucky, Mr. Bruington was born on the 4th 
 of April, 1834, a son of Thomas and Jane 
 (McGlothlan) Bruington, who also were na- 
 tives of Kentucky. The father belonged to 
 an old Maryland family of English origin, 
 and the mother's people removed from the 
 Old Dominion to Kentucky. When our 
 subject was a child of only three weeks the 
 parents removed with their family to Illi- 
 nois, locating three miles west of where the 
 city of Galesburg, Knox county, now stands, 
 and there spent their remaining days. They 
 had six sons and three daughters, and of 
 this number eight grew to mature years, 
 while five yet survive. The mother de- 
 parted this life in 1849, and Mr. Bruington 
 afterward married a Mrs. Goff, by whom he 
 had two sons, one of whom is still living. 
 His death occurred in 1882, when he had 
 attained the advanced age of seventy-five 
 years. 
 
 The usual experiences of farmer boys 
 fell to the lot of our subject, who was reared 
 on the old homestead and early became 
 familiar with the work of field and meadow. 
 The first event of great importance in his 
 life was his marriage to Miss Margaret 
 Davidson, which occurred on the 9th of 
 November, 1854. The lady was a native 
 of Illinois, and a daughter of Elijah and 
 Elizabeth Davidson. By this union were 
 born two children: Stephen Douglas, who 
 is now residing in Stephenville, Texas, and 
 Nellie, wife of Emery Clelland, of Davis 
 county, Iowa. The mother of these chil- 
 dren died in 1862, and several years later 
 Mr. Bruington was again married, Miss Bell 
 Perry becoming his wife in February, 1870. 
 She was born in New York, a daughter of 
 JohnW. and Marion (Hubbard) Perry, the 
 former a native of Canada and the latter of 
 the Empire state. 
 
 The day following their marriage Mr. and 
 Mrs. Bruington started for Texas, where 
 they arrived ten days later, completing their 
 journey to Waco with a team. The follow- 
 ing spring they_ came to Erath county and 
 Mr. Bruington established a livery stable in 
 Stephenville, which he successfully conduc- 
 ted until 1883. His barn was well equipped 
 with good horses and vehicles of various 
 kinds and his known reliability in all busi- 
 ness transactions and his earnest endeavor 
 to please his patrons soon brought to him a 
 good business. In this way he accumula- 
 ted a good competence which in 1883 he 
 invested in land, becoming the owner of his 
 present desirable and valuable farm of six 
 hundred acres, of which only ninety acres 
 was then under cultivation. He has added 
 to the improved tract until now one hun- 
 dred and ninety acres have been transformed 
 into rich and fertile fields, and his well de- 
 veloped farm is one of the best in the entire 
 county. Careful attention to business, reso- 
 lute purpose and straightforward dealing 
 have been the factors in his well merited 
 success. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Bruington have eleven 
 children, but of these four have been called 
 to the home beyond this life. In order of 
 birth they are as follows: John T. ; E. C. ; 
 Lillie, who died at the age of fourteen years; 
 Jennie, who died in infancy; Mary, who 
 died when ten months old; Newton C. ; 
 George; Bessie, who died at the age of four- 
 teen months; Charlie who died at the age of 
 four years; Grace and Edna. 
 
 The parents are faithful members of the 
 Christian church. Mr. Bruington is con- 
 nected with the Stephenville lodge. No. 166, 
 I. O. O. F., and in politics he is an advo- 
 cate of Democratic principles. Public-spir- 
 ited and progressive, he takes a deep interest 
 
462 
 
 HIS TOR r OF TEXAS 
 
 in all that pertains to the welfare of the 
 communit}', and in the discharge of his 
 duties both public and private, he has mani- 
 fested a loyalty to the right that commands 
 the sincerest respect. 
 
 m. 
 
 ILLIAM JASPER MEFFERD. 
 — Among those honored pioneers 
 who blazed a path for future cav- 
 alcades to follow, who bravely 
 turned their faces from the advantages and 
 opportunities afforded in the older settled 
 states to cast their fortunes with the west- 
 ern frontier, in all its wildness and primi- 
 tive modes of life; who endured the hard- 
 ship of a wider and freer country and who 
 made out of the very obstacles which they 
 were forced to meet and which to a weaker 
 class of men would have proved stumbling 
 blocks, the stepping-stones to success, none 
 of these are more justly entitled to credit 
 for untiring perseverance and steady prog- 
 ress than the gentleman whose name heads 
 this sketch. 
 
 Mr. MefPerd was born in Muhlenberg 
 county, Kentucky, October 31, 1842, a son 
 of William E. and Lucy (Arendell) Mefferd, 
 the former a native of Virginia and of Ger- 
 man lineage, while the latter was born in 
 Virginia, of English parentage. Both fam- 
 ilies were early identified with the develop- 
 ment of Kentucky, being numbered among 
 its honored pioneers. Jacob Mefferd, the 
 great-grandfather of our subject, went to 
 the state when Daniel Boone was making 
 his explorations. In 1848 William E. Mef- 
 ferd came with his family to Texas and 
 took up his residence in Navarro county, 
 where the city of Corsicana now stands. At 
 that time, however, the city was a "thing 
 of the future," and Mr. Mefferd became one 
 
 of the pioneers of the region, who aided in 
 opening up to civilization that part of the 
 state. He had made the journey to Texas 
 with teams, reaching his destination after 
 nine weeks of travel. He made his home 
 in Navarro county for seven months and 
 then removed to Anderson county, where 
 he resided for seven years, when, in the 
 fall of 1855, he came to Erath county, 
 taking up his residence on the site of Ste- 
 phenville. He arrived in this place on the 
 3d of July and soon returned for his family, 
 who took up their abode on the home he 
 had located on the ist of September. The 
 father purchased a tract of wild land and at 
 once began the arduous task of opening up 
 a new farm. His property comprised two 
 hundred and fifty-six acres, for which he 
 paid the regular government price of one 
 dollar and a quarter per acre. To its culti- 
 vation and improvement he devoted his 
 energies throughout his remaining days, and 
 at length his life labors were ended by death 
 in 1875, when he had reached the age of 
 fifty-six years. His wife survived him for a 
 decade and was sixty-three years old when 
 called to the eternal home. They were both 
 members of the Primitive Baptist church 
 and were people of the highest respectabil- 
 ity, well meriting the high regard in which 
 they were held by all. In politics Mr. Mef- 
 ferd was a Democrat. 
 
 The subject of this sketch is the second 
 child and eldest son in a family of twelve 
 children, ten of whom reached years of 
 maturity. His boyhood days were spent on 
 his father's farm, and in 1859 he entered 
 the state service to aid in quelling the Indian 
 troubles. This well fitted him for his future 
 service in the army of the south. He had 
 been engaged in this border warfare for two 
 years when the civil war was inaugurated, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 and he joined the Confederate troops. His 
 service was again on the frontier, where his 
 duties were often more arduous and required 
 no less valor than that displayed in regular 
 warfare, for it involved a knowledge of the 
 tactics of the treacherous savage and a skill 
 in meeting the wily antagonist that is not 
 demanded when foe meets foe openly and in 
 the regular methods of war. Mr. Mefferd 
 continued with the army until the close of 
 hostilities, when, in the spring of 1865, he 
 was mustered out, at Galveston, Texas. 
 He then returned home and resumed farming. 
 
 On the 19th of September, 1866, Mr. 
 Mefferd was united in marriage to Miss 
 Leana Graves, a native of Alabama and a 
 daughter of William and Caroline (Cowder) 
 Graves, who became a resident of Hunt 
 county, Texas, in 1857, and of Erath county 
 in 1859. In the latter county Mrs. Mefford 
 was reared and among her many friends she 
 is known as a most estimable lady, having 
 the warm regard of all. Seven children 
 were born to our subject and his wife, but 
 they have lost two in infancy, — William, 
 the second child, and Margaret, the fifth. 
 The others are: Lucy C. , now the wife of 
 William Lockhart, of this county ; Tennessee, 
 wife of John Lockhart; John Milford, Mar- 
 tin Luther and Jasper Franklin. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Mefferd began their do- 
 mestic life upon a rented farm, and in 1870 
 he purchased his present home, becoming 
 owner of one hundred and twenty acres of 
 wild land, to which he has added from time 
 to time until he now has four hundred and 
 forty acres, of which a quarter section is 
 under a high state of cultivation. He has 
 probably cleared more land than any other 
 one man in the county, and has been most 
 prominent in promoting the agricultural in- 
 terests, upon which the prosperity and sta- 
 
 bility of a county so largely depends. He 
 now raises various crops, and in his under- 
 takings is meeting with good success, for he 
 is energetic and enterprising, qualities which 
 always bring their sure reward if guided by 
 sound judgment. Mr. Mefferd is familiar 
 with pioneer life in all its experiences. He 
 comes of a race of sturdy, courageous fron- 
 tiersmen who are not afraid to meet the 
 hardship and danger of life in the west. 
 He has undergone the trials that come to 
 those who establish homes on the borders 
 of civilization, but has unflinchingly met all 
 difficulties, and his perseverance and unfal- 
 tering purpose have at length triumphed 
 over these. To-day he is enjoying the fruits 
 of his former toil, and the later arrivals in 
 the county also share in the benefits of his 
 work in opening up this region to settlement. 
 Mr. Mefferd and his wife are members of 
 the Missionary Baptist church, socially he is 
 connected with the Grange, and politically 
 with the Democratic party. 
 
 K^/^\ ANIEL BOONE LAINE, a farmer 
 I I and stock-raiser of Erath county, 
 /^^^ whose home is pleasantly located 
 seven miles northwest of Stephen- 
 ville, has been identified with the interests of 
 this county since the 3d of October, 1874. 
 His connection with frontier regions em- 
 braces the entire period of his life. His an- 
 cestors were sturdy pioneers in different 
 sections of the country, and he has lived in 
 but slightly developed regions in California 
 and the Lone Star state. His father, Wil- 
 lis B. Laine, was a follower of Nimrod, 
 taking great delight in the chase, which he 
 also largely utilized as a source of livelihood. 
 His father was a noted bear hunter, and 
 when his children were yet small removed 
 
4(>1 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 to Arkansas, where in the wilds he had ex- 
 cellent opportunity to pursue his favorite 
 sport. Subsequently, however, he returned 
 to Missouri. Willis B. Laine was a native 
 of Tennessee, but spent the greater part of 
 his life in Missouri, where he died about 
 1846. His wife, who bore the maiden 
 name of Mildred B. Cave, was a native of 
 Kentucky. After the death of her first hus- 
 band she became the wife of the Rev. 
 Thomas Thompson; and in 1849 the family, 
 consisting of the minister, his wife and the 
 two sons of her first marriage, — Thomas 
 Henry and Daniel Boone, — crossed the 
 plains to California. It was a long and ar- 
 duous journey, but was at length completed 
 in safety and the mother continued to re- 
 side in the Golden state until called to the 
 home beyond the grave. The brother of 
 our subject, Thomas Henry Laine, became 
 a very prominent and influential citizen of 
 San Jose, California, attaining the position 
 of an eminent jurist, and died in 1891. 
 
 Mr. Laine, whose name introduces this 
 sketch, accompanied the family to the Pa- 
 cific coast and entered Brick College, where 
 he acquired a good education. Remaining 
 in the west until 1858, he returned then to 
 his native state, — Missouri, — his birth hav- 
 ing occurred in Barry county, of that state, 
 April 21, 1836. He now turned his atten- 
 tion to agricultural pursuits, which he fol- 
 lowed until after the commencement of the 
 civil war. In the meantime he was married, 
 having, on the 9th of January, 1861, led to 
 the marriage altar Miss Delilah A. Turner, a 
 native of Howard county, Missouri, and a 
 daughter of James and Elizabeth (Rupe) 
 Turner, who were among the pioneer set- 
 tlers of Missouri. Her grandfather Rupe 
 ran the first ferry across the Missouri river 
 at Booneville, Missouri, locating there at a 
 
 time when the settlers were obliged to live 
 in forts in order to secure protection against 
 the Indians. 
 
 In the fall of 1862 Mr. Laine left his 
 young wife and their pleasant home, for he 
 felt that his duty lay elsewhere; and fidelity 
 to whatever he believes to be right is one of 
 his most marked characteristics. He en- 
 tered the Confederate service, becoming a 
 member of Captain Hugh's company, which 
 was attached to Colonel Clark's regiment of 
 General Frost's brigade, thus becoming a 
 part of the First Missouri Volunteer In- 
 fantry. With his command he went to 
 Arkansas and participated in the battles of 
 Prairie Grove, Gaines Landing, Catfish 
 Landing and \'icksburg, serving until the 
 fall of 1864, when he returned to his home. 
 
 Not long afterward Mr. Laine removed 
 to Adams county, Illinois, where he fol- 
 lowed farming for a year and a half, then 
 again became a resident of Monroe county, 
 Missouri, where he resided until 1874. That 
 year witnessed his arrival in Texas, where 
 he arrived after a five-weeks journey by 
 wagon. Here he purchased four hundred 
 acres of wild land, and the work of improv- 
 ing a farm was at once begun. It is an 
 arduous task to develop new land, but the 
 work has been unremittinglj' prosecuted, and 
 as a result two hundred and seventy acres 
 are now under fence and the waving fields 
 of grain indicate to the passer by that the 
 owner is a man of thrift and enterprise. 
 
 Mr. Laine and his wife are members of 
 the Christian church and are most estimable 
 people, taking a commendable interest in 
 everything that pertains to the welfare of 
 the community and its upbuilding. Polit- 
 ically our subject affiliates with the Demo- 
 cratic party and socially with the Masonic 
 fraternity, being a charter member of Barton 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 465 
 
 Creek Lodge, No. 567, A. F. & A. M., in 
 which he has held the office of secretary for 
 eighteen months, and has also held other 
 offices therein. He is truly a self-made man, 
 having overcome the difficulties in his path 
 by determined energy and perseverence and 
 worked his way upward to a position of 
 affluence. 
 
 ^T^OHN HYMEN JOHNSON, a farmer 
 J and stock- raiser of Erath county, is 
 « 1 a representative of one of the hon- 
 ored pioneer families of central 
 Texas, and for more than a third of a cen- 
 tury he has been numbered among the pro- 
 gressive citizens of the community, manifest- 
 ing an active interest in all that pretains to 
 the welfare and advancement of his adopted 
 county. 
 
 Mr. Johnson was born in Franklin county, 
 Alabama, on the 29th of October, 1838, be- 
 ing a son of Rev. James M. and Nancy 
 (Johnson) Johnson. The former was born 
 in McCracken county, Kentucky, November 
 21, 1817, and was a son of Rev. Samuel 
 Johnson, one of the earliest settlers of Ken- 
 tucky. The father of our subject was mar- 
 ried in 1837 to Miss Nancy Johnson, of 
 Kentucky, and to them were born four 
 children, three of whom are now living, 
 namely: John H., James Van Buren and 
 William M. Samuel. The fourth son was 
 killed by the cars and left a family to mourn 
 his loss. The mother of our subject de- 
 parted this life on the 19th of July, 1868, 
 and on the 3d of December following. Rev. 
 Johnson wedded Miss Mary J. Poe. Their 
 family included three sons and one daughter, 
 and the sons and the mother are yet living. 
 The Rev. James M. Johnson was long a 
 faithful laborer in the Master's vineyard. 
 
 He was converted in his youth and joined 
 the Methodist Episcopal church. After his 
 marriage he located in Alabama and about 
 1846 was licensed to preach. In 1848 he 
 came to Texas, locating nine miles east of 
 Marshall, where he remained two years. In 
 1849 he joined the Texas conference and 
 traveled on the Mount Pleasant circuit in 
 1850-51, and on the Sulphur Springs cir- 
 cuit in 1852-3. In 1854 he obtained a 
 supernumerary relation in order to improve 
 a farm and thus established a good home 
 for his family, securing and operating land 
 on Big Creek in Hopkins county. 
 
 After about four years Mr. Johnson sold 
 his farm in that county and returned to the 
 work of the ministry. He crossed the Brazos 
 river in i860 and took up his residence in 
 Stephenville, Erath county, while from 1861 
 to 1863 he labored in the Stephenville and 
 Comanche mission. He was then appointed 
 presiding elder for the Lampasas district, of 
 which he had charge from 1861 until 1867, 
 when the boundaries of the circuit were 
 changed, but he remained in charge of one 
 portion for a year longer. In 1869 he was 
 engaged in service on the Grandview circuit, 
 and in 1870--1 on the Stephenville circuit, 
 was supernumerary in 1872, and in 1873 
 was superannuated, which relation he re- 
 tained in the Northwestern Texas Conference 
 until his death. He died at his home near 
 Oak Dale, Erath county, February 18, 1891, 
 but the influence and memory of his life re- 
 main as a blessed benediction to all who 
 knew him. He was an indefatigable worker 
 in the service of the Master, considering no 
 sacrifice too great or labor too arduous 
 which would advance the cause of Christian- 
 ity among men. In the early days of his 
 itinerant work west of the Brazos river it 
 was necessary for him to carry a six-shooter 
 
4C6 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 in order to defend himself from the scalping 
 knife of savage Indians, and thus armed 
 with the habiliments of literal and spiritual 
 warfare he traveled over the western country, 
 upholding the banner of the cross. In the 
 conference he was named " Center Shot, " 
 from the fact that, though he spoke seldom, 
 his remarks were always to the point. 
 
 Mr. Johnson was one of thirty-eight 
 traveling preachers who composed the or- 
 ganization of the Northwest Texas Confer- 
 ence, which reached a membership of one 
 hundred and seventy-six traveling preachers 
 in full connection and twenty-five on trial, 
 with three hundred and eighty-eight local 
 preachers and a membership of forty-four 
 thousand six hundred and twenty-three. 
 Rev. Johnson was ordained deacon by 
 Bishop James O. Andrew in 1853 and was 
 ordained elder in i860 by the same bishop. 
 In writing of him a friend said: "He was 
 clothed with all the authority of the church 
 and performed all the functions of the 
 church. His premises were always well 
 taken, his scriptural quotations well ar- 
 ranged, his arguments invulnerable, his logic 
 invincible and his descriptions wonderfully 
 lucid and clear, and while in his working 
 manhood he had a full round voice, of easy 
 control. There was melody in his songs 
 and power in his eloquence and oratory. 
 Sinners were converted under his preaching, 
 penitents brought back to the fold and the 
 church strengthened and edified. He 
 preached his last sermon only eleven days 
 before he died, taking as his text, 'Ye are 
 all the children of light, and the children of 
 the day; we are not of the night, nor of 
 darkness.' Such was his own life. God 
 bless Uncle Jimmie; he is done with evil 
 forever and his glorified spirit is gone to join 
 the company of his sainted companions and 
 
 children in their anthems of praise to Him 
 who hath loved them and cleansed them 
 from their sins in His own blood." 
 
 We now take up the personal history of 
 the gentleman whose name introduces this 
 review, and who, like his father, has the 
 respect and confidence of all who know 
 him. He has indeed been an important fac- 
 tor in the development of this region and it 
 is to such men that the Lone Star state 
 owes her stability and her proud position 
 among the sister states of this great union. 
 The educational privileges which John H. 
 Johnson received in his youth were very 
 meager, and after attaining his majority he 
 attended school for ten months, and through 
 reading and observation in later years he 
 has become a well informed man. He 
 came with his parents to Texas in 1848, and 
 remained under the parental roof until 
 twenty-three years of age, assisting in the 
 work of the old home farm. He arrived in 
 Erath county on the 4th of July, i860, and 
 here, in connection with agricultural pursuits, 
 engaged in teaching school for one term in 
 the Hargus neighborhood. 
 
 After the breaking out of the civil war 
 Mr. Johnson entered the Confederate serv- 
 ice, enlisting on the 17th of February, 
 1862, as a member of Company D, Fifteenth 
 Texas Cavalry. The troops went to Little 
 Rock, Arkansas, and joined Churchill's divi- 
 sion. Mr. Johnson participated in the en- 
 gagement at Pike's Bluff, and while the 
 army was in winter quarters was taken ill, 
 but recovered in time to bear his part in 
 the battle of Arkansas Post, where his com- 
 mand was captured. Fortunately, however, 
 he succeeded in making his escape and be- 
 came a member of Company D, Seventeenth 
 Dismounted Cavalry, of which he was made 
 first sergeant. He was wounded in the bat- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 467 
 
 tie of Mansfield and some idea of the rain of 
 shot and shell may be gained from the fact 
 that his blanket was pierced in fourteen 
 places by one ball! He was in the battle of 
 Pleasant Hill and Yellow Bayou and served 
 until the close of the war, when he was 
 discharged by his captain. 
 
 After his return home Mr. Johnson 
 taught three sessions of school, of five 
 months each, on the Duffau. During this 
 time he was married, the wedding being cel- 
 ebrated on the 19th of December, 1865, 
 when Miss Araminta Mitchel became his 
 wife. The lady is a native of Calhoun 
 county, Arkansas, and is a daughter of Nel- 
 son and Nancy (Pond) Mitchel, the former 
 a native of England and the latter of Vir- 
 ginia. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are the par- 
 ents of nine living children: James H.; 
 William Nelson; Nancy B.,wife of M. A. 
 Hilton; Charles W. , Martha Josephine, 
 Cora, Andrew Jackson, Roy and Nathan. 
 
 After his marriage Mr. Johnson resided 
 for two years in Duffau, and on the 31st of 
 July, 1868, located on his present farm, 
 where with his father and two brothers he 
 purchased nine hundred acres of land, of 
 which only si.xty acres were under cultiva- 
 tion. They bought nine hundred and 
 twenty-three acres, for twelve hundred dol- 
 lars, and to-day our subject is the owner of 
 two hundred and fifteen acres of valuable 
 and desirable land, of which one hundred 
 and fifty acres has been placed under the 
 plow and now yields to him a handsome 
 •return. He is energetic and enterprising, 
 and his indomitable perseverance and well 
 directed efforts have given him rank among 
 the substantial residents of the county. 
 
 Mr. Johnson and his wife are most esti- 
 mable people, having the warm regard of 
 many friends, and in the Methodist Episco- 
 
 pal church, south, they hold their member- 
 ship. In its work our subject takes an 
 active part, has served in the varit)us church 
 offices and for three years has been the 
 efficient superintendent of the Sunday 
 school. For several years he was a mem- 
 ber of the Farmers' Alliance, and in his 
 political views he is a Populist. 
 
 at 
 
 ILLIAM G. HIGGINBOTHAM, 
 
 of Bosque county, Texas, is the 
 name of a well-known agricult- 
 urist, who receives his mail at 
 Morgan. He was born in Jackson county, 
 Alabama, September 30, 1832, and, was a 
 son of John G. Higginbotham, born in 
 Tazewell county, Virginia, October 26, 1 800, 
 and a grandson of Robert Higginbotham, 
 born in Ireland. This man was a soldier 
 in the Revolutionary war, and is well spoken 
 of in the records of Virginia. He married 
 Nancy Blankenship, who also was of Irish 
 extraction, though reared in Virginia. They 
 are both buried in Alabama. 
 
 John G. Higginbotham was ten years 
 old when his parents left Virginia for their 
 new southern home, and he grew to man- 
 hood in Madison county, Alabama, where 
 he was married, Hester Ann Griffin becom- 
 ing his wife. She was a woman of a good 
 family, of South Carolina extraction, being 
 a daughter of Joseph and Lucinda (Lucas) 
 Griffin, both natives of South Carolina and 
 residents of Edgefield district, that state. 
 When John G. Higginbotham was married, 
 he and his wife removed to Jackson county, 
 Alabama, and in 1850 located in Fayette 
 county, where he made his home to the day 
 of his death, September 15, 1894. He was 
 a Democrat in his politics, a Baptist in 
 
463 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 his religion, and all his life an honest farmer. 
 His wife, the mother of our subject, died 
 July 19, 1877. Shewasformerly a Method- 
 ist, but subsequently became a Baptist, 
 and was universally regarded as a good 
 Christian woman. They were the parents 
 of nine children, of whom four are now 
 living: Mary F. (Browning), William G., 
 the subject of this sketch, James W. (a 
 soldier in the Twenty-eighth Mississippi Cav- 
 alry), and Sarah C. (Savage). Robert and 
 Ellen are dead. John was killed during 
 the war, and was a member of the same 
 regiment with his brother James. Jasper 
 N. and Charles M. are also dead. 
 
 William G. Higginbotham, the subject 
 of this writing, was reared in Alabama, 
 among the circumstances of life that usu- 
 ally attend an Alabama farmer. He was 
 trained to useful habits, and principles 
 of honor were implanted in his heart 
 with his earliest instruction. He was edu- 
 cated in the common school, and by expe- 
 rience and reading may fairly be judged an 
 educated man. When eighteen years of 
 age he went to Mississippi, where he was at 
 the outbreak of the civil war. He enlisted 
 in the Twenty-fourth Mississippi Battalion, 
 and was on special conscription service for 
 a time. After the conclusion of the war he 
 resided in Mississippi until 1874, when he 
 came to Dallas, Texas. He was in Na- 
 varro county for two years, and then for 
 the same period of time in Coryell county, 
 and in Taylor county for a few months, and 
 came into Bosque county, in October, 1879, 
 settling near Meridian. In the fall of 1883 
 our subject took possession of the farm 
 mentioned above, on which he has since 
 made his home. Here he has four hundred 
 acres of land, one hundred and fifty of 
 which are in cultivation. It is a valuable 
 
 farm, with rich soil fitted for corn and cot- 
 ton, streams of living water, good farm 
 house and fine outbuildings. 
 
 Mr. Higginbotham was married in 1851 
 to Celia S. Browning, born in Jackson 
 county, Alabama, December 18, 1832. She 
 was a daughter of Major Joshua Browning, 
 who was an officer in the war of 1812 and 
 a veteran of the battle of New Orleans. To 
 Mr. and Mrs. Higginbotham have been born 
 fourteen children, of whom nine are now 
 living, — six sons and three daughters: Em- 
 met B., of Bosque county; Joseph G., of 
 Oklahoma; William G., Jr., also of Bosque 
 county; Jefferson Davis, John T. and Reu- 
 ben S. are at home; Mollie J. Keating is a 
 widow, and at home; Sarah V. Orr is a 
 resident of Tom Green county; Esther I. 
 Burgan is a resident of Bosque county; 
 James W. was killed by a mill explosion at 
 the age of twenty-five; Charles F. died at 
 fifteen; and three children passed away in 
 infancy. The great loss that has come into 
 the life of our subject was the death of his 
 beloved wife, who entered into rest Decem- 
 ber 15, 1895, at the age of sixty-three. 
 They had been married forty-four years, 
 and she had proved always a loving and 
 cheerful helpmeet, and went to her heavenly 
 home in the full expectation of a glad re- 
 union where tears are wiped away from all 
 faces and sorrow is unknown. 
 
 Our subject was a strong Democrat for 
 many years, but lately having come to feel 
 that the welfare of the country required 
 other measures than those advocated by his- 
 life-long associates, he has parted from them 
 and casts his political activities with what 
 is known as the Populist movement. He is 
 a deacon in the Missionary Baptist church, 
 a firm believer in the gospel, and a zealous 
 and active worker in the cause of his Mas- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ter. He is also much interested in temper- 
 ance work, and is well known as an ardent 
 prohibitionist. 
 
 ,>^ H. WHITWORTH is a resident 
 1 ^ of Kopperl, Bosque county, Texas, 
 M where he is well and widely known 
 
 as a popular and enterprising citi- 
 zen. He was born in Gwinnett county, 
 Georgia; August 1 1, 1851, and was a son of 
 R. A. Whitworth, also born in Georgia. 
 His father, Richard Whitworth, was a na- 
 tive of South Carolina, and of English de- 
 scent. R. A. Whitworth was raised in 
 Georgia and was brought up on a farm, 
 receiving a fair education for the times. He 
 married Miss Sarah Moore, of good family 
 associations, who was born in Lincoln 
 county. North Carolina. They had seven 
 children, of whom Annette was the oldest, 
 and the subject of this sketch coming sec- 
 ond. Isaac died at the age of thirty-seven. 
 The others were Cassander, Hines, Pinck- 
 ney and Florence. He was a gallant Con- 
 federate soldier, serving in a Georgia regi- 
 ment of infantry, and died from the effects 
 of a wound received in battle. The mother 
 of our subject died in Gwinnett county, 
 Georgia, in 1868, in her fortieth year. 
 
 Our subject, P. H. Whitworth, was the 
 second and oldest child, and on him fell 
 much care and duty toward the children in 
 the help of his widowed mother in caring 
 for her little family, but he never flinched. 
 As a son he was worthy of his father, the 
 brave soldier, who had died on the field of 
 honor. As might be imagined, Mr. Whit- 
 worth, of this sketch, had but few oppor- 
 tunities for school attendance and instruc- 
 tion, but he made the most of what he had 
 in later life by strict attention to business 
 
 and close observation of all its forms. He 
 came to Texas, locating first in Bosque 
 county and later in Hill county, but he has 
 made his home most of the time since 1884 
 as noted above. He bought his present 
 farm of three hundred and fifty acres in 
 1894. This is a very desirable tract of 
 choice rich black soil,' regarded as unusually 
 fine for corn and cotton. Eighty acres are 
 now in cultivation. It is well watered by 
 Plowman's creek, has good buildings and 
 outbuildings, and is considered one of the 
 best farms of the county. 
 
 Mr. Whitworth, the theme of this writ- 
 ing, was married December 27, 1877, in 
 Hill county, Texas, to Miss Frances Cleve- 
 land, a woman of intelligence and fine feel- 
 ing. She was born in Mississippi, where 
 she was raised and educated. She was a 
 daughter of James M. and Emily (Alexan- 
 der) Cleveland, her father dj'ing before her 
 marriage and her mother dying at the home 
 of our subject in September, 1895. O'^'' 
 subject has six children: Toulous E., Moss, 
 Florence, Clarence, Pearl, and Ruby, the 
 babe. 
 
 Mr. Whitworth is a strong and ardent 
 Democrat and has labored faithfully for the 
 interests of his party in every campaign. 
 He is a Mason of good standing in Lodge 
 No. 292, at Kopperl. He is now at the 
 prime of his life, intelligent, frank, genial, 
 jovial and popular. 
 
 ^"^RIFFITH C. BARRY, Sr., a long- 
 ■ G\ time resident of Kopperl, Bosque 
 \^_^ county, Texas, holds an honorable 
 position in the records of pioneer 
 Texas. He is widely respected both for his 
 business abilities and his personal charac- 
 
470 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ter. He is a native of Washington, D. C, 
 having been born under the shadows of the 
 national capitoi April 14, 1826. 
 
 Our subject is of Irish origin, his father, 
 J. D. Barry, having come to this country 
 in the closing years of the last century and 
 settled in the new capital almost before it 
 had been reclaimed from the wilderness. 
 Here he was married to Miss Julia Coombe, 
 a daughter of Griffith C. Coombe, well 
 known among the early settlers of the cap- 
 ital city, and here he continued to make his 
 home until the day of his death. He was 
 a successful business man, and in middle 
 life retired to a farm near the city. He 
 was the father of ten children, seven sons 
 and three daughters, all but one of whom 
 lived to attain maturity. Their names were 
 David, Robert, James, Ed., Mary, Anna, 
 Griffith C., Daniel, Eliza and John, who 
 died in infancy. His fourth son, Ed., was 
 a captain in the Confederate service, and 
 was widely known on account of his brav- 
 ery and the daring way in which he pene- 
 trated Washington in search of information. 
 The father of this interesting family died in 
 December, 1849, at the age of seventy- 
 four, and his wife in December, 1872, at 
 the age of seventy. He was a Catholic in 
 his religion and a Whig in his politics, 
 while she was a member of the Episcopal 
 church. They were able to give their chil- 
 dren good educational opportunities. 
 
 Mr. Barry, our subject, was raised in 
 the federal district, well educated in the 
 public schools, and especially trained in 
 sentiments of honesty and industry, which 
 have indeed proved a good foundation on 
 which to build for future success, and for 
 which he never ceases to be grateful to his 
 parents. In the year 1849 he left home 
 and went to New York. Here he remained 
 
 but for a few months, and in 1850, follow- 
 ing the tide of emigration, came west, lo- 
 cating for two years at Palmyra, Marion 
 county, Missouri. A great flood of settle- 
 ment was flowing west to California, bear- 
 ing on its crest the brave and daring, and 
 our subject, being a man of this character, 
 mounted the crest. So he started over- 
 land for California with a mule team, leav- 
 ing Palmyra April 21, 1852, and on August 
 7 of the same year was in the land of gold. 
 While in Salt Lake they traded off their 
 wagons, and our subject rode over one 
 thousand miles horseback, without a saddle! 
 In his party there were but three, and they 
 were unarmed; but they had no trouble. 
 Our subject spent one year in Tuolumne 
 county engaged in placer mining, and was 
 then two years in the San Jose valley, 
 mostly on a ranch. By this time our young 
 adventurer felt that he had enough of the 
 golden west and turned his face back to 
 Missouri, returning by way of the water 
 and the isthmus. He again located in Ma- 
 rion county, Missouri, where he made his 
 home until 1858. This year our subject 
 came to Texas with his family, traveling 
 with a wagon across the country and camp- 
 ing out on the way. He was attracted by 
 the fine appearance of Bosque county, and 
 determined to locate here, a determination 
 which he has never regretted. He pur- 
 chased two hundred acres and built a log 
 picket house of the dimensions of 15x15, 
 converting a canoe into a meat house, — 
 narrow quarters but a hospitable, generous 
 home, where saint and sinner were alike 
 welcome. In 1875 he erected a concrete 
 house, 30x49, and has added four hundred 
 acres to his original purchase. This farm 
 of six hundred acres, well watered by Ray- 
 mond creek, with much rich valley land 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 471 
 
 and good hill land, he has made one of the 
 best in the county. 
 
 Mr. Barry was married March 27, 1851, 
 at Palmyra, Missouri, to Miss Mary, daugh- 
 ter of William Claybrook, of a Kentucky 
 family, in which state the bride was born. 
 They have had six children, of whom four 
 are now living: David, the oldest, is a resi- 
 dent of this state; Lillie is the wife of Ed. 
 McICissick, of Fowler, Texas; Griffith C, 
 Jr., is located in Hill county, Texas; and 
 Edmund, the youngest, is on the old farm. 
 Two children, Harry, aged nine, and Vic- 
 tor, aged four, died in these years of their 
 lives. Mrs. Barry, herself, died in the 
 month of December, 1883, at the age of 
 fifty-four. She was a good wife and 
 mother and a devoted member of the Pres- 
 byterian church. 
 
 Mr. Barry remarried after six years, 
 leading to the altar Mrs. M. L., widow of 
 B. B. Walker. She was raised and edu- 
 cated at Judson Institute, Alabama, and 
 had been a popular and successful teacher 
 before her marriage. She came to Texas 
 with her husband in 1873, and lived at 
 Fort Worth, where Mr. Walker died. She 
 is a lady of culture and refinement, and is 
 prominent in the Eastern Star and in other 
 orders. 
 
 Our subject is a Democrat, and has 
 greatly helped to shape the development of 
 his county. He is a member of the Baptist 
 church. 
 
 'Jrj'OHN C. TANDY, president of the 
 ■ First National Bank of Morgan, en- 
 (•T joys the distinction of being the 
 youngest bank president in the state 
 of Texas. The institution with which he is 
 connected is one of the leading, solid and I 
 
 popular banks of Bosque county. It has a 
 capital of fifty thousand dollars, and with 
 the able assistance of Cashier R. E. Doyal, 
 oursubject has built it up into sudden and sat- 
 isfying success. Both these gentlemen are 
 capable and successful business men, and 
 whatever enterprise they associate them- 
 selves with is bound to go. They begun 
 business as a private banking company in 
 August, 1895, a'ld were much aided by the 
 fact that they had already become well 
 known to the people in the county. Mr. 
 Tandy has had some seven years' experience 
 as a banker, and. is widely known as a thor- 
 oughly reliable and capable business man. 
 His natural, fixed trait is that of honesty, 
 and by his fair and candid business methods 
 he retains all his customers who seek his 
 service from any cause. The people of 
 Bosque county are justly proud of this finan- 
 cial institution and of the two young men 
 who are putting both brains and character 
 into its management. 
 
 Mr. Tandy wasborn at Granbury, Hood 
 county, this state, February 16, 1871, and 
 is a son of J. A. Tandy, a prominent and 
 well-known citizen of that county, and there 
 he was raised and educated. He belongs 
 to the new Texas, and with much devotion 
 to the progressive spirit of the present time 
 retains the hospitality and open-heartedness 
 of the old order. He has made a striking 
 success of farm and stock interests as well 
 as in banking. In this he has only followed 
 in the footsteps of his father, who is one of 
 the most successful farmers and stockmen of 
 the county. His father was born in Lavaca 
 county, Texas, forty-six years ago, and has 
 been raised and educated in this state. His 
 father, William Tandy, the grandfather of 
 our subject, was a Kentuckian by birth and 
 came to Texas in 1845. The mother of our 
 
472 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 subject was before her marriage Rebecca 
 Stribling, was a native of South Carolina 
 and a member of one of the historic families 
 of that state. She died in December, 1873, 
 leaving two children, our subject, and a 
 brother, Sloan, who is a farmer in Hood 
 county. 
 
 Mr. Tandy, our subject, was raised to 
 manhood in Hood county, where he received 
 a very good education at the College of Gran- 
 bury, graduating in 1889. In 1890 he was 
 engaged in the stock business. Later he 
 went into the First National Bank at Gran- 
 bury as assistant cashier, and made a most 
 efficient and popular officer. Here he re- 
 mained until 1895, when he resigned and 
 came to Morgan to engage in banking for 
 himself. 
 
 In 1895, in the month of July, Mr. 
 Tandy led to the altar, and plighted nuptial 
 vows with, Miss Josie Kerr, a lady of edu- 
 cation and of good family. She is a daugh- 
 ter of H. J. Kerr, a leading citizen of Gran- 
 bury. Our subject has made one of the 
 handsomest homes in Morgan for his wife, 
 which has become quite a social center. 
 
 He is a Democrat, and adds to his 
 laurels as a young banker the fact of being 
 the youngest mayor in Texas. He is also 
 an active secret-society man, being a mem- 
 ber of the order of Odd Fellows, as well as 
 a Pythian Knight, Castle No. 232. 
 
 *y-» AZARUS EMANUEL HOLDER, 
 I r who resides at the Holder home- 
 I jl stead, one of the finest farms in 
 the county of Bosque, — his post- 
 office address being Morgan, — is a worthy 
 son of an honored sire and a representative 
 of one of the respected families of the coun- 
 
 ty. To a succinct review of his life would 
 we now invite attention. 
 
 Mr. L. E. Holder is a native of the 
 Bayou state, born January 28, 1859, and 
 spent the first nineteen years of his life in 
 that state, receiving his education there. 
 His father, James Holder, late of Bosque 
 county, was for a number of years one of 
 the leading citizens of the county. James 
 Holder was born in Alabama in 18 16, son 
 of Willis Holder, who was a native of South 
 Carolina and of English descent. Willis 
 Holder's wife was of German origin. 
 In Alabama James grew up and married, 
 the lady of his choice being Miss Rebec- 
 ca Dickson, a native of Louisiana and a 
 daughter of Spyas W. and Lydia Dickson, 
 both also natives of the Creole state. After 
 their marriage they spent a number of years 
 in Mississippi. In 1880 they left that state 
 and came to Texas, locating in Bosque coun- 
 ty nine miles from Morgan, where he pur- 
 chased a large tract of land, 1,632 acres in 
 extent, in the improvement of which he 
 spent unstintingly both labor and means. 
 He erected two dwelling-houses and barns, 
 put down an artesian well, and ere long had 
 600 acres under plow, and continued the 
 work of improvement as long as he lived. 
 At the time of his death, in 1892, his farm 
 was regarded as one of the largest and best 
 in this portion of the county. His death 
 and his wife's occurred only a few days 
 apart, hers being January 5, 1892, and his 
 on the 1 2th of the same month. They were 
 the best of people and were loved and hon- 
 ored by all who had the pleasure of their 
 acquaintance. For many years he was a 
 class-leader in the Methodist Episcopal 
 church, south, worked earnestly and zealous- 
 ly for the cause of Christ, and through his 
 influence not a few were brought into nearer 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 473 
 
 and sweeter relation with the Redeemer. 
 Fraternally, he was a Mason and politically 
 a Democrat. During the civil war he was 
 a member of a Mississippi regiment, was de- 
 tailed to feed the destitute war widows of 
 his own county, and as such rendered most 
 appreciative service. To him and his wife 
 were given a large family of children, ten in 
 all, two of whom are deceased: Andrew 
 J., a teacher in Mississippi, died in that 
 state at the age of twenty-four years; and 
 Jane. Those living are as follows: G.W. B., 
 John F., Willis W., James B., L. E., S. J., 
 Mira L. , Giliis and S. W., all occupying 
 honorable and respected positions in life. 
 
 L. E. Holder, the immediate subject of 
 this biography, came to Bosque county, 
 Texas, at the age of nineteen years; a year 
 later went to Crockett county, this state, 
 and spent one year on Devil's river; re- 
 turned to Bosque county, where he remained 
 until 1887, when he went to Mexico on a 
 mining expedition, being absent a year. 
 Since then he has resided here continuously. 
 He purchased one hundred and thirty acres 
 of land adjoining the homestead farm, thus 
 increasing its extent to one thousand seven 
 hundred and sixty-two acres, and in his 
 extensive operations is meeting with that 
 success which honest, earnest effort ever 
 merits. 
 
 Mr. Holder has a most estimable wife 
 and interesting family. He was married at 
 the age of twenty-two to Miss Lou Kimbell, 
 a daughter of J. A. and E. K. (Cleveland) 
 Ivimbell. Her father w-as killed in the late 
 war. Mr. and Mrs. Holder are blessed 
 with children, named as follows: Lee, 
 Lonny, Maud, Floyd, William, Roger Q. 
 and Eugene. They lost one child by 
 death, — Mary, their eighth born. 
 
 Like his father before him, Mr. Holder 
 
 is an enthusiastic worker in the Methodist 
 Episcopal church, south, of which he has 
 for some years been a member. He is now 
 a steward in the church, and at his own 
 home conducts a Sabbath-school. His po- 
 litical views are those of the Populists. 
 That such a man as he is is popular with 
 his neighbors and fellow citizens is a fore- 
 gone conclusion. 
 
 »T^OHN P. JORDAN.— During the years 
 a which immediately followed the civil 
 /• J war, emigration, which had some 
 time beforebeen turned toward Texas, 
 renewed its march in this direction, and 
 among the families which at that time sought 
 homes in this broad commonwealth were 
 the Jordans, of which family the subject of 
 this sketch, John P. Jordan, is a representa- 
 tive. It was in 1867 that they landed here, 
 their settlement being in Bosque county, 
 where he has ever since maintained his resi- 
 dence and been identified with agricultural 
 interests, 
 
 John P. Jordan was born in Alabama 
 November 24. 1846, and was reared as 
 other farmer boys, his educational advan- 
 tages being limited to the common schools 
 of the neighborhood in which he lived. 
 His parents were Elijah and Frances (Fagan) 
 Jordan. Elijah Jordan vvas a native of North 
 Carolina, lived in Alabama some years, 
 went from there to Arkansas, and in 1867, 
 as stated above, came to Bosque county, 
 Texas. He had served all through the late 
 war. On coming to this county he bought 
 a tract of land, but before he succeeded in 
 opening up a farm he was summoned to his 
 last home, his death occurring in 1S68. 
 His good wife survived him until 1883. 
 Like her worthy husband, she possessed 
 
474 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 many noble traits of character, adapted 
 herself to pioneer life, and was a blessing to 
 her family; and above all, she was a true 
 Christian woman, the church of her choice 
 and of which she was an honored member 
 being the Methodist Episcopal. Their family 
 consisted of eight children, one of which 
 died in infancy, the others being as follows: 
 John; Sally, wife of West Borders; Augustus, 
 a prominent farmer of this county; Andrew, 
 also a farmer of this county; Georgia, wife 
 of N. Sliger; Josephene, wife of F. Garrett; 
 and Susan, wife of B. Barrett. 
 
 John P. Jordan remained with his parents 
 until at the age of eighteen he left the pa- 
 rental home to enlist in the Confederate 
 service. He was detailed in Government 
 service and stationed at Marshall, Texas, 
 where he was assigned work in manufactur- 
 ing war supplies for the Confederacy, and 
 was thus occupied ten months. The war 
 over, he returned home and remained with 
 his parents in Arkansas until their removal 
 to this state two years later, he accompany- 
 ing them hither and continuing a member of 
 the home circle until his marriage, that 
 event being consummated in 1870. In 1874 
 he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres 
 of the land upon which he has since lived, 
 at once began improving and cultivating it, 
 and from time to time added to his original 
 holdings. Now his landed estate comprises 
 nine hundred acres, two hundred and fifty 
 of which are under cultivation, the whole 
 tract well fenced, and the numerous and 
 substantial improvements upon the same at 
 once stamping the owner as a man of enter- 
 prise and one fully abreast with the times. 
 A windmill supplies the power by which 
 water is pumped for all farm purposes. 
 While he is not extensively engaged in the 
 stock business, Mr. Jordan raises enough 
 
 stock for the support of his broad acres. He 
 has a pleasant home and a large and inter- 
 esting family. 
 
 Mr. Jordan was first married in 1870, to 
 Miss Susan McCurry, a native of Bosque 
 county, Texas, daughter of Captain Colum- 
 bus McCurry, late of this county. Captain 
 McCurry earned his title in the late war. He 
 was one of the early farmers of Bosque 
 county and was for a number of years one 
 of its most respected citizens. Mrs. Susan 
 Jordan departed this life April 19, 1884, 
 leaving the following children, all of whom 
 are at home: Homer, Addison, Sally, 
 Cumy, Thomas and Andrew. In 1886 he 
 wedded ior his second wife Miss Betty Bur- 
 dett, a native of Smith county, Texas, born 
 September 3,1868, daughter of B. Burdett. 
 Her father came from Alabama, his native 
 state, to Texas in 1866 and settled in Smith 
 county, whence he subsequently removed to 
 Bosque county, where he still lives, engaged 
 in farming. He served all through the civil 
 war. The Burdett family is composed of 
 twelve children, their names in order of 
 birth being Martina, Wesley, Emma, Benja- 
 min, Joseph, Betty, Nina, John, Lina, Al- 
 bert, Ella and George. By his second 
 marriage Mr. Jordan has four children, — 
 Nora, Charles, Laudie and Alvin. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Jordan has always afifili- 
 ated with the Democratic party, and while 
 he has ever taken an enthusiastic interest in 
 local affairs he has never in any sense sought 
 official honors. Religiously, he is a Baptist. 
 His first wife was a member of this church, 
 as also is his present companion and her 
 parents, both the Burdetts and the Jordans 
 being leading members of the church. 
 
 Reverting to Mr. Jordan's early life in 
 the Lone Star state, we may add that there 
 were plenty of Indians through this part of 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 475 
 
 the country at the time he settled here; and 
 while many of the frontier settlers had more 
 or less trouble from their raids and thieving, 
 the Jordans maintained friendly relations 
 with the red men and never suffered any loss 
 whatever from their depredations. It was 
 some years before there were any gins in 
 this community, and Mr. Jordan had his 
 first ginning done at Brazos, and later, 
 when a gin was built at Meridian, his cotton 
 was the first to be ginned there; and his first 
 bale brought him $ioo. This gin was oper- 
 ated by horse power. 
 
 Meridian is Mr. Jordan's post-office ad- 
 dress. 
 
 eDWARD FRANCIS.— Among the 
 many prominent and well known 
 farmers of Bosque county none are 
 more worthy of recognition in a 
 work of this character than is the subject of 
 this sketch, Edward Francis. He was born 
 in Montgomery county, Alabama, January 
 6, 1837, his parents being John and Hester 
 (West) Francis, the former a native of 
 Massachusetts who came south to Alabama 
 when a young man and was married there. 
 John and Hester Francis were the parents 
 of four children, namely: John, who died 
 while serving in the late war; Edward, 
 whose name forms the heading of this 
 sketch; Alexander deceased; and Benjamin, 
 also deceased. The father died in Louisi- 
 ana, at the age of thirty years, and the 
 mother survived him until 1866, when she 
 died, in Texas. 
 
 Edward Francis is now the only living 
 representative of the family. He dates his 
 arrival in Texas in 1847, and that year made 
 settlement in Jasper county, where he con- 
 tinued to reside with his mother until their 
 
 removal in 1851 to a place seven miles west 
 of Houston, at which point he lived eight 
 years. At the close of the civil war he came 
 to his present location in Bosque county 
 and purchased a tract of wild land, upon 
 which he settled and where he has continued 
 his abiding place ever since, its location be- 
 ing two miles west of Meridian. Here he 
 has from time to time made substantial and 
 valued improvements, including a commo- 
 dious stone residence, good fences, wind 
 pump, and numerous modern conveniences, 
 and here he and his family own in one tract 
 about seven hundred acres, fine prairie and 
 valley land. Eighty acres of this tract are 
 under plow and the rest is utilized for stock 
 purposes. 
 
 Mr. Francis has been twice married. 
 His first wife, ncc Eliza Hardwick, he wed- 
 ded in this county in 1862, she being the 
 daughter of a prominent early settler here. 
 Their happy union resulted in the birth of 
 three children, — Joseph D., Harvey and 
 Hatty, wife of a Mr. Gandy. Death entered 
 their home in 1868 and called the young 
 wife and mother away, and late in that 
 same year Mr. Francis married Miss Lucy 
 Billingsby, a native of Arkansas, who still 
 presides over his home. They have been 
 blessed in the birth of five children, — Elsie, 
 Clay, Henry, Isaac and Addie. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Francis has never wa- 
 vered in his support of the Democratic par- 
 ty and its principles, but he has never in 
 any sense been an aspirant for official hon- 
 ors, preferring to devote his time and atten- 
 tion to his own private affairs. During the 
 war he gave his service to the Confederacy, 
 enlisting in May, 1862, as a member of the 
 Thirty-first Texas Cavalry, and remaining 
 in the ranks until the conflict was over. He 
 has long been a prominent worker in the 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Methodist Episcopal church, south, has for 
 twenty years served as steward of the 
 church, and from his early identity with it 
 has been one of its most liberal supporters. 
 
 ai 
 
 M. HOLLOWAY is one of the 
 most i^enial and wholesouled men 
 of Bosque county, where he is 
 engaged in agricultural pursuits, 
 and the greater part of his property has been 
 accumulated by his own thrift and industry. 
 His tastes have always inclined him to agri- 
 cultural pursuits, and the stock-raising indus- 
 try has found in him one of its most able 
 representatives. 
 
 Mr. Holloway was born in Bosque 
 county, on the 4th of November, 1857, and 
 belongs to a well known and prominent fam- 
 ily who were pioneers of Texas. Willis A. 
 Holloway, his father, who was for years a 
 leading citizen of the county, is now en- 
 gaged in cattle-raising in Indian Territory. 
 His birth occurred in Mississippi, and he js 
 the son of Simpson Holloway, one of the 
 early settlers of Texas, who served as a sol- 
 dier in the Me.xican war and died in the 
 Osage Territory in 1893, at the age of 
 eighty-seven years. For fifteen years pre- 
 vious to his death he had been blind. He 
 was also a stockman in his younger years. 
 
 When a boy the father of our subject 
 came to the Lone Star state, and upon the 
 frontier grew to manhood. He was married 
 in Bosque county to Miss Mary E. Robbins, 
 who died when our subject was only ten 
 years old, leaving five children, namely: 
 S. H., who is engaged in farming in Mid- 
 land, Texas; Burl, a stockman of the same 
 place; Simpson, of Brown county, Texas; 
 Lottie, wife of Jesse Chandler, of Pecos 
 county; and W. M., of this review. 
 
 In his native county the last named 
 spent the days of his boyhood and youth, 
 attending the common schools and obtain- 
 ing a practical experience in the business 
 which he now follows. In 1881 he went to 
 the Staked Plains, where he engaged in the 
 stock business until 1893, when he went to 
 Indian Territory. Near Cedar Vale, Kan- 
 sas, he dealt in stock until the fall of 1895, 
 when he sold out and returned to Bosque 
 county. He now owns a fine farm of three 
 hundred and thirteen acres, one hundred and 
 forty of which is under a high state of culti- 
 vation. Upon the place is a good dwelling, 
 neat and tastefully furnished, a flowing well 
 of pure water, and the entire farm indicates 
 to the passerbj' that it is under the supervis- 
 ion of a careful and painstaking owner. 
 
 In May, 1878, Mr. Holloway led to the 
 marriage altar Miss Mary E. Siddall, a lady 
 of intelligence and refinement, who was 
 born in Mississippi and belonged to a good 
 family. At the age of nine years she was 
 brought to Texas, where she was reared and 
 educated. Her father, A. S. T. Siddall, 
 died in Bosque county, and her mother, who 
 bore the maiden name of Elizabeth McGee, 
 passed away in December, 1892. In their 
 [ family were four children, — Addie McLean, 
 [ John S., William P. and Mary E. The 
 union of our subject and his wife has been 
 blessed with the birth of two children, — 
 Mary Grace and Young. 
 
 In his political views, Mr. Holloway is 
 an ardent Democrat, and religiously is a 
 member of the Missionary Baptist church. 
 He is now in the prime of life, and is quite 
 strong, both mentally and physically. In 
 disposition he is frank and jovial, which 
 makes him popular in society, and in busi- 
 ness circles he also stands high, as his integ- 
 rity and honor are above question. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 iHOMAS COBBS, Clifton, Texas, 
 one of Bosque county's most ex- 
 tensive farmers, is a native of the 
 state of Missouri. He was born 
 near Hannibal, in that state, December i, 
 1838, being the sixth out of a family of 
 twelve children born to John A. and Ellen 
 (Cleaver) Cobbs. The father was a native 
 of Virginia, and was a pioneer in Missouri 
 as far back as 1824. The Cobbs family 
 belong to the order of American aristocracy, 
 having a -history on this continent that 
 reaches far back beyond the American Revo- 
 lution. Thomas Cobbs, the paternal grand- 
 father of our subject, was a patriotic soldier 
 in that memorable struggle, and bore an 
 honored part in the effort to found the re- 
 public of liberty on these western shores. 
 The mother of our subject was a Kentuckian 
 by birth, descending from one of the early 
 and influential families of the Blue Grass 
 state. The family removed to Texas in 
 1853, locating near what is now Waco, 
 where the father of our subject passed away 
 in 1876; and the mother died in 1882. 
 
 Mr. Cobbs, the theme of this writing, 
 spent his boyhood in McLennan county, 
 where he received a very substantial educa- 
 tion in private schools. Here he grew to 
 manhood, and was thoroughly trained in 
 farm life. When the great civil war broke 
 out he early entered the struggle and enlisted 
 in the Nineteenth Texas Cavalry, in which he 
 served throughout the entire war. 
 
 Our subject appeared in Bosque county 
 in 1878, and now resides five miles north of 
 Clifton, on an elegant farm of four hundred 
 and ninety-five acres. He has two hundred 
 and seventy acres under cultivation, and 
 a beautiful peach orchard of over three 
 acres. He was united in marriage, in Mc- 
 Lennan county, January i, 1868, with Miss 
 
 Maude Rodgers, a native of Texas. They 
 have two adopted children, Ima and Joseph 
 T. Steele, children of a sister. 
 
 eS. NEW.— The agricultural indus- 
 try of Bosque county is well repre- 
 sented by this enterprising farmer 
 and early settler, E. S. New, who 
 has his abiding place on his farm not far 
 distant from the town of Iredell, his post- 
 office. 
 
 Mr. New is a native of Gallatin county, 
 Kentucky, and was born April 19, 1830, 
 son of James B. and Frances (Spencer) 
 New, both natives of that state. William 
 New, the grandfather of our subject, was 
 born in Rhode Island, at an early day 
 moved West and made settlement in Ken- 
 tucky, where he reared his family, passed 
 his life and died. The Spencers were Vir- 
 ginia people who likewise sought a home in 
 Kentucky at an early day. Their family 
 was represented in the Seminole war .in 
 Florida. James B. New was by trade a 
 saddler, which he followed in his younger 
 days, later settling down to the quiet of 
 farm life. Also for some time he served as 
 postmaster of his town. He was a man 
 interested in all the public affairs of his 
 place, but never sought official honors; 
 politically he gave his support to the Demo- 
 cratic party, and in his religion was a zeal- 
 ous Baptist, active and enthusiastic in 
 church work. He died in Kentucky in 
 1 85 1. His good wife survived hmi many 
 years and died in November, 1895, at the 
 ripe old age of ninety-four. She, too, was 
 a consistent Baptist, and her long and use- 
 ful life was adorned with many Christian 
 graces. They were the parents of seven 
 children: E. S., whose name graces this 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 article; Frank S., a resident of Texas since 
 1S57 and a veteran of theConfederate army, 
 who is now a saddler of San Saba, Texas; 
 William H., who came to Texas in 1857 
 and served through the late war, and is now 
 a resident of the Indian Nation; Nancy is 
 the wife of J. T. Edmonds of Kentucky; 
 Susan, wife of F. G. Acre, a farmer of 
 Llano county, Texas, came to this state in 
 1858; Betty, wife of William Rainbolt, 
 came to this state in 1857, and now lives in 
 the Indian Nation ; and Mary, wife of John 
 T. Scott, resides in San Saba countj', Texas. 
 E. S. New attended the common schools 
 near his home and spent his youthful days 
 not unlike other Kentucky farmer boys. In 
 1853 he married and settled in the town of 
 Mayfield, that state, where he ran a harness 
 and saddle shop, and at the same time kept 
 the post-office, remaining there until 1857. 
 That year he emigrated to Texas, first lo- 
 cating at Waxahachie, where he worked at 
 his trade one year, after which he turned 
 his attention to the stock business. Like 
 most men of his age in this country, Mr. 
 New has a war record. He enlisted in the 
 first year of the war in Buflord's Nineteenth 
 Texas Cavalry, Parson's brigade, and ren- 
 dered service in Arkansas, Louisiana and 
 Texas, also making one raid up into Mis- 
 souri, and in all his army life, which ex- 
 tended until the close of the war, he was 
 never wounded nor captured. At the time 
 of the surrender he was near Houston, Texas, 
 and from there returned to his home in Ellis 
 county, gathered up his stock, and that same 
 year, 1865, moved to Bosque county, locat- 
 ing near Morgan, where he bought a tract 
 of land and opened up a farm. At that 
 point he conducted farming and stock-rais- 
 ing until 1894, when he sold out and came 
 to his present location near Iredell. Here 
 
 he has three hundred and two acres'of well- 
 improved land, one hundred and ten acres 
 under cultivation. He has a comfortable 
 residence, modern wind pump, fine orchard, 
 etc., and is pleasantly situated for conven- 
 iently and successfully carrying on farming 
 and stock-raising. 
 
 Mr. New was married in Kentucky in 
 1853, as already stated. Mrs. New was 
 formerly Miss Mary Peterson. She is a 
 native of Kentucky and a daughter of a 
 Kentucky farmer, William Peterson, who 
 died in that state and is the only repre- 
 sentative of the family that came to Texas. 
 Mr. and Mrs. New have been blessed in the 
 birth of twelve children, all of whom are 
 yet living, their names in order of birth be- 
 ing as follows: Edward, a farmer of Bosque 
 county; Emma, wife of William Lafon, a 
 farmer; Mrs. Mary E. Gilpen; Mrs. Fanny 
 McGeehee; Mrs. Laura W. Wylie; Will- 
 iam, who married Miss Nelly Plumly; Frank, 
 who married Abby Warmack; Anna, who 
 married D. M. Gar}', a school-teacher; Rob- 
 ert, a farmer, who married Cory Warmack; 
 and Ada, James and Jay G., all at their pa- 
 rental home. 
 
 Mr. New has always been firmly arrayed 
 in the support of the Democratic party and 
 its principles, and has taken an intelligent 
 and commendable interest in public affairs, 
 but has never had any official aspirations, 
 the demands of his own private interests re- 
 quiring all his time and attention. Mrs. New 
 is a member of the Baptist church. 
 
 B. TUDOR. — Among there pre- 
 sentative farmers and stock-raisers 
 of Erath county none are more de- 
 serving of honorable mention in 
 this volume than the gentleman whose name 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 479 
 
 introduces this review. His residence here 
 covers a decade, and though many have 
 longer resided in this locaHty none have 
 evinced higher purpose or more worthy and 
 commendable attributes; and it is therefore 
 with pleasure that we present to our readers 
 the record of his career. 
 
 Mr. Tudor has always been identified 
 with the interests of the south. He was 
 born in Tippah county, Mississippi, on the 
 2d of July, 1 84 1, a son of Jesse G. and 
 Eliza (Cutbirth) Tudor. The father was a 
 native of Barren county, Kentucky, and of 
 English descent, the grandfather, Kinzie 
 Tudor, having been born in England, whence 
 he emigrated to America, locating in Ken- 
 tucky. In the days when all produce was 
 shipped to New Orleans on flatboats for 
 market he was one day, in 181 1, taking his 
 corn to the Crescent City in that way and 
 was drowned. He left a family of four 
 sons and four daughters. In early life 
 Jesse G. Tudor removed to Mississippi, 
 where he followed farming. He married 
 Miss Cutbirth, a native of Murray county, 
 Tennessee, and a daughter of Daniel Boone 
 Cutbirth, who was born in Kentucky and 
 was of Irish descent. The wedding of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Tudor was celebrated in Hardin 
 county, Tennessee, after which they removed 
 to Mississippi, where the husband followed 
 farming throughout his remaining days. A 
 tragedy occurred which brought great gloom 
 upon the household on the ist of January, 
 1863, when the father was robbed and shot 
 in his own house by a body of troops pre- 
 tending to be federal soldiers, but were in~ 
 reality a part of the lawless band that always 
 accompanies warfare for the purpose of 
 securing all they can through plundering. 
 Mrs. Tudor, at the age of eighty-two years, 
 is now living with our subject and still re- 
 
 tains her mental faculties in a remarkable 
 degree. She has long been a member of 
 the Baptist church and is a most estimable 
 lady. 
 
 The subject of this review is one of a 
 family of thirteen children, ten of whom 
 reached adult life, while nine are still living. 
 He spent his boyhood days in a manner 
 similar to all farmer lads of the time and 
 locality, and resided with his parents until 
 after the opening of the civil war, when he 
 entered the Confederate army in defense of 
 the principles with which he had been 
 familiar from his earliest boyhood. In 
 August, 1 86 1, he became a member of 
 Company G, Third Mississippi Volunteer 
 Infantry, and afterward served with the 
 Twenty-third Regiment of the same state. 
 He participated in the battles of Big Black 
 and Fort Donelson, and in the latter was 
 taken prisoner. For seven months he was 
 incarcerated at Camp Douglas, in Chicago, 
 Illinois, for three months at Camp Morton, 
 in Indianapolis, and later was transferred to 
 Fort Delaware, where he was held as a 
 prisoner of war until the cessation of hos- 
 tilities. 
 
 On his return to Mississippi Mr. Tudor 
 secured a position in a steam sawmill, where 
 he worked nearly three years, then turned 
 his attention to farming, which he followed 
 in his native county until 1886, when he 
 came to Texas. The capital that he had 
 acquired as the result of his own labor and 
 economy he now invested in land, becoming 
 owner of one hundred and sixty acres, of 
 which thirty acres was under partial culti- 
 vation. He now owns a tract of two hun- 
 dred acres, and the eighty acres that has 
 been transformed into arable fields yields to 
 him a golden tribute for the care and labor 
 bestowed upon it. The neat and thrifty ap- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 pearance of the place indicates his careful 
 supervision, and the owner is justly regarded 
 as one of the leading agriculturists of the 
 locality. His pleasant home, which adorns 
 the place, was erected in 1893. 
 
 Mr. Tudor was married in May, 1867, 
 to Mrs. S. H. Morton, a native of Tippah 
 county, Mississippi, and a daughter of Yancy 
 and Eliza (Jones) Keith, of Maury county, 
 Tennessee, who was an early settler of 
 Mississippi. Twelve children were born to 
 Mr. and Mrs. Tudor, ten of whom yet sur- 
 vive, as follows: William F., a successful 
 teacher of Erath county; Henry Hank, a 
 farmer of the same locality; Charles C, 
 Thomas B. (deceased); Kelsey K. ; Alfred 
 H. ; Condred ("Governor" Ross); Mary; 
 Martha (deceased); Annie; Daisy and Jessie. 
 Mrs. Tudor is a member of the Methodist 
 Episcopal church. In his political aiBlia- 
 tions Mr. Tudor is a Democrat and is a man 
 who in all the relations of life is true and 
 faithful to the trust reposed in him,- — a 
 man whom to know is to respect. 
 
 ,y^ C. BALDWIN. — The past two 
 I \ decades constitute the period of 
 \ \ most rapid growth and develop- 
 ment in Erath county, and the 
 most careless observer cannot fail to note 
 that the influence most potent in shaping 
 and controlling the affairs of any particular 
 community are wielded by men who have 
 busied themselves with the practical affairs 
 of life. Mr. Baldwin has attained a position 
 of prominence and influence in the county 
 and is one of the most progressive and val- 
 ued citizens of Stephenville and Erath coun- 
 ty. A specific type of the self-made man, 
 he has attained a signal success intheafiairs 
 
 of life, has devoted himself assiduously to 
 the work which has come to his hand, and 
 his every act has been characterized by that 
 integrity and honor which never fail to call 
 forth the respect and confidence of men. 
 The career of such a one cannot fail to 
 prove of great interest, setting forth, as it 
 does, the results that may be attained 
 through indefatigable industry and unfalter- 
 ing perseverance, when guided by sound 
 judgment. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin was born in the province 
 of Quebec, Canada, December 4, 1841, a 
 son of Levi and Lidia A. (Converse) Bald- 
 win, both of whom were natives of the same 
 province and of Puritan ancestry. The 
 father was a miller by occupation. 
 
 The subject of this review spent his 
 childhood days in attendance on the public 
 schools of the neighborhood, and completed 
 his course at Bates College, in Lewiston, 
 Maine, where he was graduated with hon- 
 ors in the class of 1863. Being now well 
 equipped for the more difficult life-lessons, 
 which come to each one on leaving his alma 
 mater, he entered upon his business career 
 as a manufacturer of reapers and mowers. 
 He followed that pursuit in his native prov- 
 ince for fifteen j'ears, meeting with excellent 
 success in the undertaking. On the expira- 
 tion of that period he came to Texas, and 
 has since been an important factor in pro- 
 moting the commercial interests of the cen- 
 tral section of the state. He located in 
 Jefferson, and his excellent knowledge of 
 mechanics secured him the position of super- 
 intendent of the Kelly Iron Works, which 
 he conducted for one year. He afterward 
 spent one year in Fort Worth, and then 
 came to Stephenville, a frontier town. 
 With its development he has since been 
 actively identified, and to no man in the 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 481 
 
 place is greater credit due for the growth 
 and prosperity of the county-seat. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin here erected a cotton gin 
 and flouring mill, which he operated under 
 the firm name of Baldwin & Beach, this 
 being the second mill built in Erath county. 
 In connection with his other enterprises our 
 subject also had a large warehouse filled 
 with grain; but, owing to a cloud-burst 
 which brought ruin upon this entire section, 
 his mills and warehouse, with their contents, 
 were swept away, entailing a loss of about 
 ten thousand dollars! This would have dis- 
 couraged most men, but with undaunted 
 .courage Mr. Baldwin erected a new mill at 
 Alexander, Erath county, which he operated 
 successfully for two years, and at the same 
 time conducted a hardware and agricultural 
 implement business in Stephenville, having 
 the largest trade in this line in this section 
 of the country. In all his undertakings he 
 has met with marked success and accumu- 
 lated a handsome property. For several 
 years past he has devoted the greater part of 
 his time and attention to cotton-ginning, 
 and his gin is now the most extensive and 
 best appointed of all in this part of Texas, 
 being supplied with all modern appliances, 
 including an electric dynamo, which in addi- 
 tion furnishes light for his own residences 
 and several other buildings in the city. In 
 the spring of 1896 he with others organized 
 the Baldwin Gin & Electric Light Com- 
 pany, who now furnish light for the city. 
 Mr. Baldwin was one of the organizers and 
 the first vice-president of the First National 
 Bank of Stephenville, and has been con- 
 nected with every enterprise of importance 
 that has had for its object the welfare of 
 the community or would in any way enhance 
 the public welfare. 
 
 The cause of education finds in Mr. 
 
 Baldwin a stanch ally, and he is an active 
 worker in the interests of the schools and 
 churches. Another cause that claims his 
 untiring allegiance is the temperance cause. 
 Whatever is calculated to advance the 
 morality of the community and uplift his 
 fellow men has a deep hold on his sympathy 
 and never seeks his financial aid in vain. 
 He is a man of ripe scholarship and broad 
 general information, of liberal views and 
 charitable impulses, and his honorable, 
 straightforward career is unmarred by sus- 
 picion of wrong. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin spends his happiest hours 
 in his home, surrounded by family and 
 friends. He was married in 1862 to Miss 
 Ellen S. Wright, of Barton Landing, Ver- 
 mont, a daughter of Alexander and Mary 
 (Stewart) Wright, the latter a cousin of the 
 late A. T. Stewart, the merchant prince of 
 New York. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Baldwin died in infancy. 
 
 >^OSEPH BROWN GORDON.— The 
 k task of writing the biographies of 
 A 1 the living representative men of any 
 ^^ community is an exceedingly difficult 
 one because of the prevailing modesty of 
 the successful business man, who almost in- 
 variably manifests a certain repugnance to 
 anything that partakes of the nature of pub- 
 lic notoriety or prominence and thus dis- 
 courages even friendly attempts to uncover 
 the secret of his success. Genuine success 
 is not likely to be the result of mere chance 
 or fortune, but is something to be labored 
 for and sought out with consecutive effort. 
 Ours is a utilitarian age, and the life of 
 every successful man bears its lesson, and 
 as told in contemporary narration perhaps 
 
182 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 is productive of the greatest good. Thus 
 there is a due measure of satisfaction in 
 presenting even a brief resume of the life 
 and accomplishments of such a man. 
 
 The subject of this review is t:nown to 
 be one of the most eminent and able physi- 
 cians in central Te.xas and to-day is success- 
 fully engaged in the practice of his profes- 
 sion in Paluxy and Hood county, where he 
 has resided since i8Si. He was born in 
 Pickens county, Georgia, on the 7th of No- 
 vember, 1857, and is a son of William H. 
 and Sarah C. (Morrison) Gordon, who were 
 also natives of Georgia. The father died 
 when the Doctor was only about seven 
 years of age and the mother afterward mar- 
 ried A. W. Huffman. She had two chil- 
 dren by the first union, ^Joseph B. and 
 W. A., — the latter a resident of Erath coun- 
 ty, and by her second marriage there is one 
 son, Frank W., also of Erath county. Mrs. 
 Huffman died January 19, 1870, in the faith 
 of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which 
 she was a consistent member. Mr. Gor- 
 don was a merchant and a successful business 
 man. 
 
 The boyhood of Dr. Gordon was spent 
 on a farm. After his mother's death he 
 went to live with his maternal grandfather, 
 with whom he continued to make his home 
 until he had attained his majority. He 
 aided in the work of the farm and acquired 
 his literary education largely in the public 
 schools of the neighborhood. Agriculture, 
 however, was not the pursuit that he wished 
 to make a life work, nor was it that for 
 which nature evidently intended him. After 
 he had arrived at years of maturity he 
 took up the study of medicine under the 
 direction of Dr. A. H. Stearns, of Jasper, 
 Pickens county, Georgia, with whom he 
 remained two years. He attended his first 
 
 two courses of lectures at the Augusta 
 Medical College and was graduated in the 
 spring of 1881, when he came directly to 
 the Lone Star state, locating in Bluff Dale, 
 where he soon built up a very large and 
 lucrative practice. He is a student, con- 
 stantly seeking advancement; and in order 
 to still further perfect himself in his chosen 
 calling, in 1890 he took a course of lectures 
 in the Southern Medical College, at Atlanta. 
 He continued his residence in Bluff Dale 
 until 1890, when he came to his present 
 location. He now has one of the most 
 extensive practices in this section of the 
 state and his large business has brought to 
 him a handsome competence. Of marked 
 personality and with an indomitable spirit 
 he has steadily risen to the proud position 
 which he to-day occupies in the medical 
 fraternity of Texas, and has the respect -of 
 the public and the confidence of the medical 
 fraternity in a marked degree. 
 
 The Doctor was married on the 31st of 
 December, 1887, to Miss Loretta Smith, a 
 native of McMinn county, Tennessee, and a 
 daughterof Milas and Louisa (Armstrong) 
 Smith, who removed with their family to 
 Texas when Mrs. Gordon was a child of 
 three years, locating in Titus county. Six 
 years later they went to Fannin county and 
 in i88icameto Hood county. The Doctor 
 and Mrs. Gordon are the parents of three 
 children, two yet living, — Thomas and Nina. 
 Florence Edith died when a year old. 
 
 Our subject is a member of Bluff Dale 
 Lodge, No. 396, I. O. O. F. , and his 
 political support is given the Democracy. 
 His wife belongs to the Baptist church. 
 Both are most highly esteemed citizens, and 
 their genuine worth and many estimable 
 qualities have won them the high regard of 
 all with whom they have come in contact. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 483 
 
 5>^^ S. DAVIS.— The lives that furnish 
 J ■ the best examples to be followed 
 Jl y by those who wish to attain suc- 
 cess are not the lives of the men 
 who are most prominent in military, political 
 or professional circles. It is not possible for 
 all to be statesmen and warriors, but America 
 offers boundless opportunities in the lines 
 of business for all who will enter and by 
 earnest effort press forward. Prosperity 
 thus comes to them, and it is this class who 
 form the real bulwark of defense for the 
 country. The gentleman whose name in- 
 troduces this review belongs to this class. 
 Though his life is not marked by events 
 of thrilling interest, it contains many valua- 
 ale lessons which may be profitably fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 Mr. Davis was born in Grainger county, 
 Tennessee, July 12, 1842. The place of 
 his birth, however, is now in Union county, 
 owing to a division which has been made in 
 the former. His father, William Davis, 
 was a native of Virginia, born of Welsh 
 ancestry. He married Rebecca Capps, who 
 died in January, 1849, while his death oc- 
 curred in Tennessee in 1879, at the age of 
 sixty-one years. 
 
 Our subject was reared on the old home 
 farm and remained with his father until the 
 south and north had become engaged in 
 civil war, when he entered the Confederate 
 service, being at the time eighteen years 
 of age. He enlisted on the 20th of June, 
 1 861, becoming a member of Company D, 
 of Colonel Ashby's cavalry regiment, and 
 was mustered into the Confederate service 
 at Knoxville. He participated in the battle 
 of Wild Cat, in Kentucky, Fishing Creek 
 and Richmond, and was afterward with 
 Wheeler's cavalry forces at Chickamauga, 
 where he was taken prisoner. He was sent 
 
 to Camp Morton in Indianapolis, Indiana, 
 where he was held until the close of hostili- 
 ties, when on the 12th of June, 1865, he 
 was released. 
 
 When the war was ended Mr. Davis re- 
 turned to Tennessee and after a tour through 
 Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois he 
 went to Missouri. In that state, in January, 
 1870, was celebrated his marriage, the lady 
 of his choice being Miss Malinda McBee, 
 who was also a native of Grainger county, 
 Tennessee, whence she was taken to Mis- 
 souri at the age of two years by her parents, 
 Silas and Rebecca (Beler) McBee. The 
 wedding of the young couple took place in 
 Newton, and by their union two children 
 were born; but the elder died in infancy. 
 The other is a daughter, named Ada, who 
 married Huston Brooks. One child was 
 born to them, whose name is N. S. Davis 
 and is living with his adopted parents. 
 
 For several years Mr. Davis carried on 
 farming in Missouri and in 1876 came to 
 Texas, having since made his home in Hood 
 county. Here he pre-empted one hundred 
 and sixty acres of land, which proved to be 
 an old survey and he therefore purchased it. 
 He also bought an additional quarter section 
 and now has about one hundred acres trans- 
 formed into rich and productive fields. He 
 has also for soriie years engaged in stock- 
 dealing, and his honorable dealing in all 
 business transactions has gained him the 
 confidence of the public; while his energy, 
 guided by sound judgment, has brought to 
 him a comfortable competence. He is now 
 the owner of one of the finest farms of 
 Hood county, its rich fields and many ex- 
 cellent improvements, all indicating the 
 careful supervision of the owner. 
 
 In 1 888 Mr. Davis was elected on the 
 Democratic ticket as county commissioner 
 
4sl 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 and served in that position for two years, 
 during which time he introduced the resolu- 
 tion to erect the courthouse at Granbury. 
 He has served as deputy assessor and at this 
 writing is holding the office of deputy sheriff. 
 In politics he is an uncompromising sup- 
 porter of the Cleveland Democracy. So- 
 cially he is a member of Paluxy Lodge. No. 
 393. F. & A. M.. and both he and his wife 
 adhere to the faith of the Cumberland Pres- 
 byterian church, of which they are worthy 
 members. 
 
 "^Y'OHN HARVEY, of Meridian, is a 
 ^ dealer in musical instruments of all 
 (% J kinds, books, school supplies, station- 
 ery, newspapers, magazines, cigars, 
 tobacco, confectionery, and in fact is keeping 
 a general variety store. He is well known 
 throughout Bosque county, where he has 
 resided for more than a quarter of a century, 
 and for many years has been prominently 
 identified with the business circles of Merid- 
 ian as one of the substantial merchants and 
 also as postmaster until of late years. Mr. 
 Harvey is one of those whole-souled, unas- 
 suming gentlemen whom it is a pleasure to 
 meet and converse with. He is a well read 
 man, thoroughly posted on the historical 
 and current events of this progressive age 
 and always keeps abreast with the times in 
 ever}- particular. 
 
 Mr. Har\ey is a native of the Keystone 
 state, his birth occurring in the Quaker 
 City. December 13. 1835, where he spent 
 the days of his boyhood and youth. His 
 father, William Har\ey. was bom in Scot- 
 land, about 17S6. He came to the United 
 States when nineteen years old, and while 
 working as a sailor on a ship that traded 
 
 between Philadelphia and the West Indies 
 was pressed into the English Navy. This, 
 however, not being in keeping with his de- 
 sires, and the opportunity soon presenting 
 itself he deserted his ship and located per- 
 manently in America. During the war of 
 1S12 he ser\'ed in the United States Navy, 
 where he remained for five years, being on 
 board the old Constitution, and was twice 
 wounded in engagements during that mem- 
 orable struggle. After the close of the war 
 he located at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 
 where his death occurred in January. 1846. 
 His wife, who bore the maiden name of 
 Mary Harvey, was a native of England, and 
 and a niece of Sir John Harvey, of the 
 English navy. She survived her husband 
 until iSSS. when she too passed away. 
 
 In the famih" of eight children our sub- 
 ject was the third in order of birth. His 
 parents being poor, he was compelled to 
 earn his own living at an early age, begin- 
 ning when only ten years old. His oppor- 
 tunities for securing an education were 
 therefore quite meager, although during his 
 school dajs he laid the foundation for an 
 education, and in after years through his 
 own exertions became a cultured and well 
 informed man. 
 
 Like many other boys who are thrown 
 upon their own resources at an early age, 
 Mr. Harvey has followed many callings. At 
 one time during the building of the coal 
 wharfs at Delaware City, Delaware, he 
 became chief cook and steward for a mess 
 of thirteen men, who were employed at that 
 work, and had to carry the water for cook- 
 ing purposes a mile and a half! He was 
 successful as a cook, even relishing his own 
 cooking! Three months later he returned 
 to his native city, where he was employed 
 as a messenger boy in a telegraph office for 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 485 
 
 some eight months, and also served as an 
 errand boy. He was next bound out to a 
 farmer, becoming a practical and well 
 posted tiller of the soil in just two days' 
 time, and, as sailors say, " slipped the cable 
 and drifted off." 
 
 Mr. Harvey was then apprenticed to the 
 trade of painter, at Delaware City, although 
 he had no ambition to become a wielder of 
 the brush, and remained about si.x months at 
 that work. He left that job for a life on 
 the canal, but a few months of this con- 
 vinced him that canal-boating was a slow 
 way of getting through the world, and he 
 graduated in that line. He next selected 
 the blacksmith's trade, in which he became 
 an expert, and after completing his appren- 
 ticeship he followed the trade for a few 
 months in the east and then took Horace 
 Greeley's advice and came west. St. 
 Louis, Missouri, was the scene of his oper- 
 ations for a short time, and from there he 
 went to Madison, Indiana, where he 
 sojourned for two years. 
 
 Mr. Harvey then emigrated to Texas, 
 via New Orleans and Indianola, and thence 
 to San Antonio, where he arrived in 1858. 
 Remaining in that vicinity some three years, 
 he then located permanently in Bosque 
 county, where he followed his trade for one 
 year. He joined the Confederate arm}' and 
 served through the war in Company B, 
 Thirty-first Texas Cavalry, and though he 
 participated in a number of important en- 
 gagements was never injured. When hos- 
 tilities had ceased he returned to Meridian, 
 where he opened a shop and followed black- 
 smithing for several years before embarking 
 in his present business. During these years 
 he has traveled about considerably, making 
 trips to California and the northwest, but 
 has always looked upon Meridian as his 
 
 home, where his financial interests are 
 located. 
 
 In Anderson county, Texas, on the 13th 
 of December, i860, was consummated the 
 marriage of Mr. Harvey and Miss Minerva 
 Florney, who died February 10, 1863, and 
 by this union there was one child that is 
 now deceased. Our subject was again 
 married, June 8, 1S65, his second union 
 beingwithMissMary J. Foulger, whose death 
 occurred June 2, 1882. They became the 
 parents of two children, one still living. 
 The lady who now bears the name of Mrs. 
 Harvey was previously Mrs. Rebecca I. 
 Little, widow of Dr. H. L. Little, who was 
 among the early settlers of Texas. 
 
 Socially, Mr. Harvey is connected with 
 the Masonic fraternitj', and has taken the 
 Royal Arch degrees in that order. Politi- 
 cally he casts his vote in support of the Re- 
 publican party, and was appointed post- 
 master of Meridian in 1879, which office he 
 held until 1885, and again from 1889 until 
 1893. He has twice acceptably filled the 
 position of justice of the peace between the 
 years 1880 and 1889, and has always taken 
 an active interest in public matters, giving 
 his earnest support to everything for the 
 benefit of his county and state. 
 
 HOMAS C. WYLIE, whose long 
 identification with the interests of 
 Erath county well entitles him to 
 representation in this volume, is 
 numbered among the pioneers of 1858. 
 Long before railroads were thought of in 
 this part of the country, long before the 
 south and east had turned the tide of emi- 
 gration in this direction, he came to Texas, 
 one of the band of courageous, hardy pio- 
 neers whose resolute spirit enabled them to 
 
48G 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 cope with the dangers and difficulties of 
 frontier life and thus found homes, where a 
 man of ordinary force of character could not 
 have succeeded. 
 
 Mr. Wylie was born in Tishomingo, now 
 Alcorn, county, Mississippi, on the 25th of 
 June, 1840, a son of Samuel and Maria 
 (McNeil) Wylie. The father was a native 
 of North Carolina, but was reared in South 
 Carolina, where he was married, the lady 
 of his choice being a native of the latter 
 state and a daughter of John McNeil. A 
 few jears after his marriage he moved to 
 Mississippi, where he carried on a planta- 
 tion. In 1856 he came to Texas, locating 
 in Anderson county, .where he died in 1859, 
 at the age of si.xty-seven years. His 
 wife died in Mississippi, in 1845, when 
 abo\it thirty-five years of age. They were 
 the parents of nine children, eight of whom 
 reached mature years. There were seven 
 sons, six of whom are yet living. The 
 members of the family were Martha David- 
 son, deceased; William H., of Runnels 
 county; John M., of Erath county, now de- 
 ceased; James J., of Aberline, Tabor county; 
 R. R., who resides in Runnels county; 
 Thomas S., of this review; Benjamin Frank- 
 lin, who died in 1870; Henry C. , of Run- 
 nels county; and Mary Isabell, who was the 
 wife of S. D. Harden and died in this 
 county. The father was a member of the 
 Masonic fraternity and for several years 
 served as magistrate, most capably discharg- 
 ing his duties. 
 
 Our subject spent his childhood days in 
 Mississippi, until sixteen years of age, when 
 he came to Anderson county, Texas, where 
 he remained two years and then came with 
 his six brothers to Erath county. He set- 
 tled in the northern part of the county and 
 engaged in the stock business, the brothers 
 
 working together for ten years. During the 
 time he had many skirmishes with the In- 
 dians. On one occasion, in company with 
 Captain Garland, he had command in Palo 
 Pinto county and at daylight they killed 
 fifteen Indians. The settlers lost many 
 horses and large numbers of stock through 
 the depredations of the redskins, and were 
 in constant danger, for the treachery of the 
 race is beyond calculation. 
 
 In the fall of 1861 Mr. Wylie joined the 
 Confederate army, becoming a member of 
 Captain Price's company of the Thirty-sec- 
 ond Cavalry. He saw service in the west- 
 ern army and was in the battle of Bunneck 
 Bay, where with a band of one hundred and 
 fifty men the Confederates succeeded in cap- 
 turing one thousand and five hundred men. 
 Our subject served until the close of the war 
 and ever manifested the loyalty and bravery 
 that mark the true soldier everywhere. 
 
 Returning to Texas he engaged in farm- 
 ing and stock-raising and in 1867 he also 
 opened a general store at what was known as 
 the town of Wylieville. He was also post- 
 master of that place. For seven years he 
 carried on his store, and his careful manage- 
 ment and honorable dealing secured him a 
 good trade. He has prospered in his other 
 work and his landed possessions now aggre- 
 gate two thousand and two hundred acres, 
 of which four hundred acres are under 
 a high state of cultivation and yields to 
 the owner a golden tribute in return for the 
 care and labor he bestows upon them. His 
 life is that of the typical self-made man, 
 who without capital other than the ability^ 
 with which nature has endowed him starts 
 out for himself and by the force of his char- 
 acter, his unfaltering industry, his persever- 
 ance and good management, works his way 
 steadily upward to a position of affluence. 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 487 
 
 Such a career is certainly well worthy of all 
 commendation. 
 
 Mr. Wylie was married July 21, 1889, 
 to Dolly E. H. Bryan, a native of Louisiana 
 and a daughter of Terrill and Harriett (Al- 
 britton) Bryan, her parents being from 
 South Carolina and Georgia. On removing 
 to Texas they located in Eastland county, 
 whence they came to Erath county in 1875. 
 To our subject and his wife have been born 
 three children, — Thomas Milton, Grover 
 Cleveland and Laura Isabelle. 
 
 Politically Mr. Wylie is a stalwart Dem- 
 ocrat, and socially he is connected with the 
 Masonic fraternity. 
 
 *y-» EE YOUNG. —We now turn to one 
 I r who has gained for himself an hon- 
 ^ ^ orable position in connection with 
 the activities of the world. Not a 
 pretentious or exalted life has been his, but 
 one that has been true to itself and its pos- 
 sibilities. 
 
 Mr. Young has been a resident of Erath 
 county since 1878, and is a native of Texas, 
 his birth having occurred in Brazoria county 
 on the 9th of March, 1853. He is the eld- 
 est son of Overton and Ann E. (Compton) 
 Young, the former, a native of Georgia and 
 a son of John Young, who was born in Vir- 
 ginia and was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. 
 The mother of our subject was a daughter 
 of Alexander Compton, a native of Louis- 
 iana, of English lineage. During the war 
 for the independence of Texas, in 1835, he 
 came with Hall's colony to this state, locat- 
 ing in Brazoria county, where he resided 
 until his death, which occurred at the age of 
 seventy-four years. His wife was Mary 
 Calvit, a native of Louisiana. 
 
 The father of our subject came to Texas 
 
 in 1848, and in Brazoria county wedded 
 Mrs. A. E. Manadue. The childhood and 
 youth of their eldest son was spent on the 
 homestead and his early education was ac- 
 quired in the common schools. He after- 
 ward attended a private school and com- 
 pleted his literary training in the Texas Mili- 
 tary Institute, at Austin, Texas. Having 
 determined to make the practice of law his 
 life work he began its study in the office of 
 Judge Thomas G. Masterson, of Brazoria, 
 in 1875. A year later he became a student 
 in the law office of Flournoy & Scott, of 
 Galveston, where he remained until Decem- 
 ber, 1878. He was admitted to the bar in 
 January, 1876, in the old town of Brazoria, 
 before Judge A. P. McCormick. 
 
 In December, 1878, Mr. Young came to 
 Stephenville, and the following year entered 
 into partnership with Judge William Ken- 
 nedy, under the firm name of Kennedy & 
 Young. At that time Erath county was on 
 the frontier and contained only about five 
 thousand inhabitants. Only a short time 
 had passed before Mr. Young had succeeded 
 in building up a good practice. The part- 
 nership with Judge Kennedy continued until 
 the summer of 1882, when the Judge re- 
 moved to Colorado City and our subject en- 
 tered into business associations with Judge 
 H. H. Neill, now the judge of the court of 
 civil appeals, with whom he remained until 
 December, 1885, when Mr. Neill removed 
 to El Paso, Texas, and Mr. Young was 
 alone in business until the spring of 1890. 
 At that time the firm of Young & Martin 
 was formed, his partner being M. F. Martin, 
 who practiced with him until 1894, when 
 the firm dissolved their business relation and 
 Mr. Young joined Senator L. N. Frank and 
 his brother, A. P. Young, in the present firm 
 of Frank & Young, attorneys at law. His 
 
488 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 careful preparation of cases and indefatig- 
 able industry have won him prosperity and 
 an honored name among his professional 
 brethren. His specialty is real-estate law 
 and the handling of property cases, he en- 
 tirely eschewing the criminal practice. 
 
 Mr. Young was united in marriage, in 
 May, 1884, to Miss Bamah Crow, a native 
 of Texas and daughter of Dr. M. S. Crow, 
 of Stephenville. Their home is blessed 
 with two children, — Cecil and Ina. The 
 parents have a large circle of friends to whom 
 their hospitable doors are ever open, and to 
 whom a warm-hearted welcome is assured. 
 
 BREDERICK SCHLEGEL 
 is a prominent farmer residing two 
 miles north of Clifton, Bosque 
 county, Te.xas. He is a native of 
 German)', and is a fine representative of 
 that German contingent that has long been 
 pouring into Te.xas with its strength of char- 
 acter, moral purpose, and domestic virtue 
 which have been of vast value in the con- 
 version of the wilderness into a civilized 
 nation. 
 
 He is a native of Germany, where he was 
 born January 23, 1847, Christian and Con- 
 cordia (Lang) Schlegel being his parents. 
 He remained in his native country until he 
 had passed the age of forty, when he de- 
 termined to seek a new home in the far 
 west, where he felt a larger liberty and 
 greater opportunity, for a free manhood 
 would give him an old age of peace, honor 
 and happiness. He came to America in 
 1888, locating in Coryell county, Te.xas, 
 where he resided for some five years. His 
 present holding consists in all of one hun- 
 dred and seventy- five acres, ninety acres of 1 
 which is under cultivation. One acre is ' 
 
 devoted to a promising peach orchard, and 
 the balance is used as pasture land. 
 
 Mr. Schlegel has learned early the lesson 
 that all western farmers should master, but 
 which many refuse to learn, and that is, 
 successful farming demands the very best 
 blood in all the stock. So his farm is 
 stock-graded, and his cattle attest the judg- 
 ment of a cultivated and trained farmer, 
 demanding the best as none too good. All 
 his surroundings indicate thrift, industry, and 
 sturdy German honesty. He is doing well, 
 and is highly regarded by his neighbors. 
 
 Before he left Germany, our subject 
 found his matrimonial destiny, and there, 
 April 14, 1872, he plighted faith with Miss 
 Amelia Hause, to live together as husband 
 and wife. 'Three children have blessed this 
 union, who still live, — Herman, Annie, and 
 Minnie. Four of their children are at rest 
 beneath the wild flowers of Texas, and 
 their glad spirits are waiting in the sweet 
 beyond for father and mother. The family 
 are all members of the Lutheran church, 
 where they are highly regarded. 
 
 aASPER A. PAULSON, a lumber 
 dealer of Clifton, Bosque county, 
 carries a large and well selected 
 stock of builder's material, rough 
 and dressed lumber, laths, shingles, mold- 
 ing and mill stuff generally, also builder's 
 hardware, paints, oils, etc. His yard was 
 first established about 1878, and was man- 
 aged by our subject for other parties until 
 six years ago, when he purchased the stock 
 then owned by George W. Kidd. He is an ex- 
 pert in the lumber business, having had many 
 years experience in that line of trade. His 
 extensive knowledge of the business and his 
 large acquaintance throughout this and sur- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 rounding counties makes him very popular 
 and his trade extends far beyond the county 
 limits. 
 
 Mr. Paulson was born in Norway, March 
 20, 1 84 1 , and is the eldest of the four children 
 of Paul and Olena (Holverson) Paulson, who 
 also were natives of Norway. The father 
 came to America and located in California 
 in the days of '49, where he engaged in 
 mining for a number of years. His wife and 
 family joined him in the new world about 
 1856, and they became residents of Bosque 
 county, Texas, where the father engaged in 
 agricultural pursuits until his death, which 
 occurred in 1870. The mother, who long 
 survived him, passed away in 1891. 
 
 The year 1858 witnessed the arrival of 
 our subject in the United States, and he at 
 once located in Bosque county, where he 
 has since resided. On the breaking out of 
 the civil war he enlisted and served for four 
 years in the Confederate army. After his 
 return to Texas he engaged in farming for a 
 time, and later was employed for three years 
 at the lumber business at Waco, after which 
 he came to his present location. 
 
 In November, 1893, in Bosque county, 
 Mr. Paulson led to the marriage altar Miss 
 Augusta Holverson, a native of Texas. 
 They are both good, sincere Christian people, 
 consistent members of the Lutheran church, 
 and the hospitality of their home is always 
 extended to their numerous friends, who 
 have been attracted to them by their genial- 
 ity and kindness. 
 
 At the present writing, Mr. Paulson is 
 one of the board of aldermen and also city 
 treasurer. He may be properly classed 
 among the self-made men of the county, 
 who by the exercise of their own industry 
 and perseverance have not only gained for 
 themselves a home and competence, but 
 
 have materially assisted in the progress and 
 development of the country around them. 
 He owns city business and also residence 
 property, including the stone building in 
 which the Farmers & Merchants' Bank is 
 located and five tenement houses. His out- 
 side property consists of a three-hundred- 
 and-twenty-acre farm, situated seven miles 
 southeast of Clifton, one hundred and fifty 
 acres of this tract being under cultivation, 
 and the balance, which is used for grazing 
 purposes, is under fence. He conducts his 
 own farm, although he resides in the city, 
 and upon the place produces quantities of 
 fruit, — peaches and plums; but the former 
 predominates. 
 
 EON. JOSEPH K. HELTON was 
 born during the presidency of 
 James Monroe, the fourth successor 
 to Washington, and has lived 
 through the terms of the last twenty presi- 
 dents. He stands to-day an eminent lawyer, 
 'jurist and statesman at the ripe old age of 
 seventy-eight years, having passed his three- 
 score years and ten, one of the few surviv- 
 ing links of our earlier with our present 
 state's history, and enjoys the honor, esteem 
 and confidence of his fellow countrymen. 
 
 The birth of Judge Helton occurred in 
 White county, Tennessee, on the 12th of 
 August, 18 17, and he was the elder of two 
 children by the second marriage of Edward 
 Helton, his mother before marriage bearing 
 the name of Elizabeth Knowles. Both 
 parents were natives of Virginia and mem- 
 bers of prominent old colonial families. Our 
 subject was reared to farm life, and received 
 his early education in the state of his nativ- 
 ity, where he resided until nineteen years of 
 age, at that time going to Cofteeville, Mis- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 sissippi, which continued to be his home for 
 eight years. 
 
 In 1842 the Judge emigrated to Texas, 
 locating near Marshall, where he engaged in 
 farming until 1853, when he came to what 
 was then McLennan county, but is now 
 Bosque county. To agricultural pursuits he 
 here turned his attention, but was also en- 
 gaged in reading law until 1857, at which 
 time he was admitted to the bar. He was 
 elected chief justice of Bosque county in 
 1 86 1, but was removed from office five years 
 later owing to his political views. Later he 
 was appointed county judge and was again 
 removed in 1867. In that year he was dis- 
 franchised, and on being restored to citizen- 
 ship in 1873 was elected presiding justice of 
 the county. For two years he also served 
 as a member of the state legislature, and 
 continued to hold the judgeship up to 1880, 
 since which time he has been actively en- 
 gaged in professional practice. As a side 
 issue the Judge is also engaged in farming 
 and stock-raising, owning a fine farm of two 
 hundred and forty acres located two and a 
 half miles west of Meridian. He also has 
 some city property, including a comfortable 
 residence. 
 
 On the 25th of July, 1839, at Cof^ee- 
 ville, Mississippi, Judge Helton was joined in 
 marriage with Miss Lucinda Mabray, a na- 
 tive of Alabama, who died January 2, iSSo. 
 To them were born eight children, six now 
 living, namely: James E. ; Jasper N. ; Cyn- 
 thia E. , now Mrs. McSpadden, of Bosque 
 county; John K. ; and Isabella J., and Joseph 
 M., at home. David M. died while serving 
 in the Confederate army in the fall of 1863, 
 and Ann J. died in April, 1872, at the age 
 of fourteen years. 
 
 Politically. Judge Helton was first an old- 
 line Whig, but since that party went out of 
 
 existence he has been prominently and act- 
 ively identified in the ranks of the Democ- 
 racy, and to-day is a stanch supporter of the 
 Cleveland administration. Socially he af- 
 filiates with the Masonic fraternity, and has 
 passed all the official chairs of the blue 
 lodge. He is a consistent member of the 
 Baptist church, and has been for many years 
 deacon in the same. In the practice of his 
 profession he has been eminently successful, 
 winning a foremost place in the bar of 
 Bosque county, and as a judge his rulings 
 were always wise and impartial. 
 
 QARTIN J. OSWALD.— Among 
 the leading and representative 
 agriculturists of Bosque county, 
 stalwart and sturdy tillers of the 
 soil, there is none who stands a more promi- 
 nent figure than the gentleman of whom this 
 notice is written. His residence stands 
 about two miles north of Clifton, and is 
 known far and wide for the open hospitality 
 and geniality of its inmates. 
 
 Mr. Oswald is a native of Ohio, his 
 birth occurring on the nth of February, 
 1853, and is a son of George H. and Eliza- 
 beth (Myers) Oswald, who were both born 
 in Germany. On crossing the briny deep to 
 the United States in 1845, they located in 
 Ohio, where they remained until 1863, when 
 with their family they removed to Madison, 
 Indiana. Two years later, however, they 
 w-ent to Kentucky, and in 1870 became resi- 
 dents of Texas. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was the fourth 
 born in a family of eleven children, and has 
 always followed farming as a means of live- 
 lihood. His present fine farm consists of 
 two hundred acres, ninety acres of this 
 being under cultivation, and upon the place 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 491 
 
 is a one-acre orchard of peach and plum 
 trees. The farm is well stocked and pro- 
 vided with all the necessary farm imple- 
 ments, and shows the progressive and enter- 
 prising spirit of the owner. 
 
 On the 17th of September, 1872, was 
 performed a wedding ceremony which united 
 the destinies of Mr. Oswald and Miss Annie 
 Archibald, a native of Texas and a daugh- 
 ter of Thomas W. Archibald, who came to 
 this state as early as 1846, and during the 
 Indian raids rendered much valuable service 
 to the families of the early settlers. His 
 death occurred June 25, 1892. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Oswald have five children living, 
 namely: Katie Elizabeth, Samuel, Joseph, 
 Lucretia and Robert, and they also lost a 
 son and daughter. They are members in 
 good standing of the Methodist church, and 
 receive the highest meed of praise for their 
 industry, integrity and pleasant, genial man- 
 ners. Mr. Oswald takes an active interest 
 in educational matters, and is a member of 
 the school board. 
 
 iHOMAS JACKSON ARENDELL, 
 deceased, was numbered among 
 the sturdy men who came to Texas 
 to reclaim the virgin soil of the 
 Lone Star state from the dominion of savage 
 hordes and make it a habitable region, — the 
 home of a law-abiding, prosperous people 
 who have established one of the foremost 
 states in the union. He possessed in a 
 large degree the qualities so essential in the 
 successful frontiersman, who must meet all 
 kinds of dangers and difficulties in his at- 
 tempts to make a pleasant abode for himself 
 and family. Of a hardy nature and brave 
 to a fault, Mr. Arendell was eminently fitted 
 for the role which he played in the theater 
 
 of dramatic action that formed the history 
 and characterized the lives of the pioneers 
 of Texas. 
 
 Our subject was a native of Kentucky, 
 born in 1 8 19. In his native state his boy- 
 hood days were passed. He was married 
 there, to Polly Williams, and a short time 
 afterward started with his wife for Texas, 
 and effected a settlement in Anderson county, 
 being among the first to penetrate the wilds 
 of that region. There he resided until 1854, 
 which was the year of his arrival in Erath 
 county. He located temporarily on the 
 present site of Stephenville, building the 
 first house in the town, on a lot given him 
 by John M. Stephen, the founder of the 
 county seat. After a brief residence there 
 he bought land near by and made his home 
 thereon for several years. His next home 
 was on Green's creek, near Alexander, Erath 
 county, where he bought land and carried 
 on agricultural pursuits for seven years. On 
 the expiration of that period he removed to 
 the Bosque river and later purchased a farm 
 near Seldon, where his son Thomas now 
 lives, this place becoming his permanent 
 earthly home. 
 
 During the Indian troubles Mr. Arendell 
 gallantly served in defense of the lives and 
 property of the frontier settlers, and in every 
 position in which he was placed he showed 
 the bravery and spirit which is always a 
 characteristic of the true soldier. He was 
 fearless in times of danger, when it came to 
 protecting his fellow men, and never stopped 
 to count the cost to himself if he might 
 serve others. In his labors he was indus- 
 trious and energetic, and his life-work was 
 crowned with success, as he accumulated a 
 large and valuable property. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Arendell became the par- 
 ents of twelve children, but only three are 
 
492 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 now living, — John, who valiantly served in 
 the late war, Daniel and Thomas. Six of 
 the nine deceased children reached years of 
 maturity: Samuel and Calvin, who were 
 both in service in the late war, Lucinda, 
 Nancy Jane, Alfred and David. During the 
 civil war Mr. Arendell and his two sons, 
 David and Thomas, did service on the 
 Texas frontier, and the family is noted for 
 its loyalty to the principles in which they 
 believe. The father, who was honored and 
 respected by all who knew him, died in 
 1885, at the age of sixty-six years, and was 
 buried on the old homestead. His wife de- 
 parted this life in 1865, at the age of forty- 
 eight, and was buried near Stephenville. 
 
 Thomas Arendell, who is a worthy rep- 
 resentative of this prominent pioneer family, 
 was born in Kentucky, in 1846, and during 
 his early childhood accompanied his parents 
 to Texas; consequently he has been a wit- 
 ness of the development of this great state 
 through the most important period in its 
 history. His early education was limited to 
 the meager privileges afforded by the prim- 
 itive schools of that day, but through his 
 own efforts he has become a man of broad 
 general information. His has been a pros- 
 perous life. His farm now comprises seven 
 hundred and ninety acres of land, of which 
 two hundred acres is under a high state of 
 cultivation. His buildings are commodious 
 and comfortable, and his well improved 
 place indicates the taste and enterprise of 
 the owner, who is accounted one of the lead- 
 ing farmers of Erath county. 
 
 Mr. Arendell was married in 1875 to 
 Miss Cleone California Voter, and they now 
 have an interesting family of five children, — 
 Debby L. , Amanda Lee, John E., Samuel 
 M., and Ginnie B. The family is widely 
 and favorably knosvn in this locality, and 
 
 Mr. Arendell and his estimable wife have 
 many friends. In politics he is an unswerv- 
 ing adherent of the Democratic party, which 
 he has supported since attaining his majority. 
 
 >Y*A^1ES MONROE WELLS.— Indus- 
 H try in useful pursuits, truly and vig- 
 A 1 orously applied, never fails of suc- 
 cess: it carries a man onward and 
 upward, brings out his individual character, 
 and powerfully stimulates the action of oth- 
 ers. The greatest results in life are usually 
 attained by simple means and the exercise 
 of the ordinary qualities of common sense 
 and perseverance. The every-day life, with 
 its cares, necessities and duties, affords 
 ample opportunity for acquiring experience 
 of the best kind, and its well-beaten paths 
 provide the true worker with abundant 
 scope for effort and room for self-improve- 
 ment, and ultimate advancement to posi- 
 tions of high trust and responsibility. 
 
 It is now our purpose to take briefly 
 under review the life history of James M. 
 Wells, whose career, unmarked by events 
 of thrilling interest, yet contains many ex- 
 amples worthy of emulation, for it is the 
 career of one who has ever made the most 
 of his opportunities, and by an upright, 
 honorable life has gained the high esteem of 
 all who know him. 
 
 Mr. Wells was born in Murray county, 
 in middle Tennessee, on the 26th of April, 
 1832, and is a son of Thomas and Mary 
 (Davis) Wells. The father was a native of 
 Virginia, and a son of David Wells, who 
 also was born in the Old Dominion and 
 became one of the pioneer settlers of Ten- 
 nessee. The latter was a daughter of John 
 Davis, and a native of North Carolina, 
 whence the family removed to the Big Bend 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS, 
 
 493 
 
 state in the early days of its history. The 
 father of our subject was killed in a cyclone 
 on the 7th of May, 1832, when his son was 
 only eleven days old. The latter was one 
 of three children, and is now the only sur- 
 vivor of the family. He was tenderly and 
 carefully reared by his mother, and when 
 he had attained a sufficient age he provided 
 for her support and furnished her with a com- 
 fortable home, thus repaying her for what 
 she had done for him in early childhood. 
 They were never separated except for twen- 
 ty-one days until the mother's death, which 
 occurred at the advanced age of eighty-two 
 years. 
 
 On the 1 6th of September, 1852, Mr. 
 Wells was united in marriage to Miss Louisa 
 Bowlen, a native of Giles county, Tennes- 
 see, and a daughter of Yearley and Lucy 
 (Saunders) Bowlen, the former a native of 
 Virginia and the latter of North Carolina. 
 They were among the pioneers of Giles 
 county, Tennessee, and thither our subject 
 went when a young man of eighteen years. 
 He followed farming until his emigration to 
 Texas, in 1874, at which time he became a 
 resident of Eastland county. He lived there 
 only a year, however, and in 1875 came to 
 Erath county, where he purchased one hun- 
 dred and sixty acres of unimproved land on 
 the South Bosque. Here he built a cabin 
 and with characteristic energy began the 
 work of clearing and developing a farm. 
 Alter two years he bought six hundred and 
 forty acres of wild land where his present 
 home is located, and to-day he owns more 
 than seven hundred acres, with one hundred 
 and fifty acres under a high state of cultiva- 
 tion and yielding to the owner a good re- 
 turn for the care and labor he bestows upon 
 it. For several years he has also extensive- 
 ly engaged in stock-raising and has found I 
 
 this a profitable source of income. Energy, 
 enterprise and perseverance have been the 
 important factors in his success and have 
 given him a place among the substantial 
 citizens of Erath county. 
 
 Mr. Wells gives his political support to 
 the Democracy, but has neither time nor 
 inclination for public office preferring to de- 
 vote all his energy to his business pursuits. 
 In his social relations he is a Mason, belong- 
 ing to Burlin Lodge. He was also a mem- 
 ber of the Grange while in Tennessee, and 
 he and his wife hold membership in the 
 Missionary Baptist church. 
 
 The family of this worthy couple num- 
 bers ten children, as follows: Lucy, the 
 widow of Joseph Allen, of Erath county; 
 Adelia, who died at the age of three years; 
 Andrew Jackson, of Erath county; John W. , 
 who also lives in the same locality; Mary P., 
 wife of Elijah Carneal; Alice, wife of Rev. 
 John Wallace, a Methodist minister of Erath 
 county; Thomas J., a physician of Gaines- 
 ville, Texas; Sarah E., wife of James Sim- 
 ers; Felix W., who makes his home in Erath 
 county; and Lelia, wife of Rev. J. H. Ellis, 
 a Baptist minister. 
 
 BREDERICK MOSS CLEVE- 
 LAND. — Among the sturdy, en- 
 ergetic and successful farmers of 
 Hood county who thoroughly un- 
 derstand the vocation which they follow, 
 and are consequently enabled to carry on 
 their calling with profit to themselves, is 
 the subject of this sketch, a native of South 
 Carolina, born in Pickens county, August 
 13, 1830. He is descended from good old 
 Revolutionary stock. His parents, Osborn 
 and Jane (Moss) Cleveland, were also born 
 in Pickens county. 
 
494 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Our subject was reared to manhood upon 
 his father's farm, early becoming famihar 
 with the duties that fall to the lot of the 
 agriculturist, and obtaining his education in 
 subscription schools of the neighborhood. 
 He remained at home until twenty-five 
 years of age, when, in March, 1856, he was 
 united in marriage with Miss Nancy Marie 
 Isbell, and they began their domestic life 
 upon a farm which he continued to operate 
 until the breaking out of the late civil war. 
 
 In 1862 Mr. Cleveland enlisted in Com- 
 pany K, Twenty-second South Carolina 
 Volunteer Infantry, and served until hostil- 
 ities had ceased, participating in a number of 
 important engagements. At the battle of 
 Petersburg, where twenty-three of his com- 
 pany were killed, he was injured and ren- 
 dered unconscious for many hours, from 
 the effects of which injury he has never ful- 
 ly recovered. 
 
 On returning to his home in South Caro- 
 lina, Mr. Cleveland resumed farming and 
 remained there until 1870, when he came 
 to Texas, locating in Hood county. The 
 first year he lived on the Paluxy and the 
 following year he planted a crop on Ruck- 
 er's creek, but since the loth of January, 
 1873, he has made his home upon his pres- 
 ent farm. At that time it comprised only 
 eighty acres, but as his financial resources 
 have increased he has extended its bounda- 
 ries until they now contain four hundred 
 acres, one hundred of which have been 
 placed under a high state of cultivation, and 
 he now rents his land. 
 
 By his first marriage Mr. Cleveland had 
 six children, but one died in early child- 
 hood; and Mamie, who grew to womanhood 
 and married Mr. Green, and died in 1889. 
 Those living are Warren Wilson, a farmer 
 of Hood county; John F., a merchant of 
 
 Acton; Samuel, who has been in the mining 
 states for several years, and Wade Hamp- 
 ton, at home. The mother of these chil- 
 dren was called to her final rest in 1883. 
 On the 1st of January, 1895, Mr. Cleve- 
 land was again married, his second union 
 being with Mrs. Gregory. 
 
 Our subject is now retired from active 
 business, having accumulated a sufficiency 
 of this world's goods to enable him to pass 
 his remaining years in ease, surrounded 
 with the comforts of life, and enjoying the 
 respect and confidence of his fellow men in 
 the highest degree. He is a true-hearted 
 man, an earnest believer in the doctrines of 
 Christianity, and a member of the Mission- 
 ary Baptist church, while his wife is a 
 faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal 
 church, south. 
 
 ^VOHN SULLIVAN.— Emigration, as 
 J it has swept along from the first set- 
 A 1 tlements on the Atlantic to the broad 
 prairies of the west and on to the 
 Pacific coast, has had no more important 
 factor than is found in the Irishman. His 
 honesty, his earnest industry, and his jovial 
 nature and ready wit have made him wel- 
 come wherever he has sought a home, and 
 he fills a large niche in this great American 
 commonwealth. In the subject of this 
 sketch, John Sullivan, a contractor and 
 builder of Comanche, Texas, is found a gen- 
 tleman of Irish parentage, and one in whom 
 is seen strongly marked many of the sterling 
 characteristics which distinguish the race 
 from which he sprang. 
 
 Mr. Sullivan was born in Buffalo, New 
 York, June 24, 1S46. His father, Michael 
 Sullivan, was a native of county Cork, Ire- 
 land, who in 1 84 1 left the Emerald Isle and 
 
HIS TORT OP TEXAS. 
 
 495 
 
 crossed the Atlantic to Canada, from there 
 coming over" into the States and making 
 settlement at Buffalo, New York. He was 
 a laboring man, poor but honest and indus- 
 trious, and in this land of the free he was 
 enabled to procure for his family the neces- 
 saries and many of the comforts of life. On 
 his emigration to America he was accom- 
 panied by his wife and children. She, too, 
 was a native of county Cork, and possessed 
 many of those estimable qualities which are 
 found combined in the devoted wife and 
 loving mother. John was the fourth born 
 in their family of six children. When he 
 was a small boy the family moved to Massa- 
 chusetts, where he was reared. 
 
 At the age of nine years the subject of 
 our sketch was put to work attending a mule 
 spinner in a large cotton factory in Massa- 
 chusetts, where he was employed for sev- 
 eral years, thus from an early age earning 
 his own support. He was in this factory 
 and was fifteen years old at the time the 
 civil war broke out. But, notwithstanding 
 his youth, he was large, strong and robust, 
 and when he tendered his services to the 
 Union was accepted and became a member 
 of Company D, Fifth New York Cavalry, 
 a regiment noted for its robust-looking men 
 and their bravery and daring acts. His 
 service extended from his enlistment, Sep- 
 tember 5, 1861, to July 19, 1865, when he 
 was honorably discharged, and throughout 
 his four years of army life, while he was a 
 participant in numerous skirmishes and 
 hotly-contested engagements, he fortunately 
 escaped both capture and wounds. Among 
 the actions in which he took part were those 
 of Antietam, the Wilderness and Gettys- 
 burg. At the last named engagement he 
 was under command of General Custer. 
 He was under General Wilson in the Wil- 
 
 derness campaign, and he also served under 
 General Kilpatrick. 
 
 At the close of the war we find young 
 Sullivan not yet out of his 'teens, a veteran 
 and a victor, and with an experience that 
 made him appear much older than he was. 
 Returning to Massachusetts, he resumed 
 work in the cotton factory and remained 
 there two years. In 1867, seized with a 
 spirit of emigration, he made his way west- 
 ward to Kansas, and there secured employ- 
 ment as a teamster, driving government 
 teams and freighting over the plains. In 
 this way he was occupied for two years. 
 Next he turned his attention to learning a 
 trade, that of stonemason and bricklayer, 
 which he thoroughly mastered, and also for 
 a time he worked in a mill at Emporia, 
 Kansas. Still later we find him engaged as 
 a cattle driver in Colorado. In 1875 he 
 came to Texas and settled on a farm in 
 Comanche county, near the town of Co- 
 manche, where he still lives, here having 
 sixty-five acres of land, twenty-five of which 
 are under cultivation, two acres being util- 
 ized for orchard purposes. And here he 
 has a comfortable residence, and he and his 
 family are pleasantly situated. For a num- 
 ber of years he has carried on contracting 
 and building, doing all kinds of stone and 
 brick work, and in this, as in whatever else 
 he has undertaken, his efTorts have been 
 attended with success. 
 
 Since coming to Texas Mr. Sullivan has 
 in many ways been identified with the in- 
 terests of the community in which he has 
 lived. He has served as constable, deputy 
 sheriff, jailer and city marshal in Comanche, 
 and in all these responsible positions he has 
 acquitted himself creditably. He is a mem- 
 ber of the McKinley Club of this place, is 
 one of its most active workers, and is hon- 
 
496 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ored with the position of vice president in 
 the same. Also he is a member of the G. 
 A. R., having membership in the Dublin 
 Post, No. 55, in which he has served offi- 
 ciall}-. 
 
 Mr. Sullivan was married June 22, 1878, 
 to Miss Catharine A. McAfee, a native of 
 St. Louis, Missouri, a refined and cultured 
 lady and a member of a highly respected 
 family. Their happy union has been blessed 
 in the birth of si.x children, five of whom 
 are living, namely: Michael B., George, 
 Walter, Mortimer and Kate Inez. Their 
 daughter Margaret died at the age of three 
 years. 
 
 >j*OHN ASBURY POE, whose pleasant 
 m rural home and fine farm is located 
 A 1 seven miles southeast of Granbury, 
 Hood county, Texas, is a gentleman 
 whose high standing in the community en- 
 titles him to a place in this biographical 
 record. He was born in Alabama, August 
 19, 1840, eldest son, and second in order of 
 birth, in the family of William and Elizabeth 
 (Stuart) Poe, who are referred to elsewhere 
 in this work in the sketch of William C. Poe, 
 a brother of John A. 
 
 John A. Poe accompanied his parents to 
 Texas in 1848, spent two years at their first 
 point of settlement in Rusk county, seven 
 years in Wood county, and from the latter 
 place removed to San Saba county. While 
 they were en route to San Saba county the 
 father died. The rest of the family contin- 
 ued the journey and located there as they 
 had intended, John A. at that time being 
 seventeen years of age. His early advan- 
 tages for obtaining an education were indeed 
 meager, owing to the fact that his boyhood 
 was passed in thinly settled communities, 
 
 all his schooling covering only a few months. 
 Through his own efforts, however, in later 
 life he has broadened his knowledge, ac- 
 complishing this by home reading and by 
 close observation and contact with the 
 world. He remained at home until 1862, 
 when he enlisted in the Twenty-fourth Texas 
 Cavalry for service in the Confederate army. 
 He remained with the Confederate ranks 
 until the close of the war and was with 
 Johnston's command when that general sur- 
 rendered, in April, 1S65. During this serv- 
 ice he was wounded five times, twice in the 
 engagement at New Hope Church. He took 
 part in all the battles of his command, re- 
 maining constantly with it, with the excep- 
 tion of about one hundred days when he 
 was laid up in hospital on account of his 
 wounds. 
 
 Accepting with the best grace possible 
 the results of the war, young Poe left the 
 ranks and shortly after returned to his home 
 in San Saba county, Texas, arriving here in 
 November, 1865, and resuming the stock 
 business in which the family were engaged. 
 In the spring of 1867 they disposed of their 
 interests there on account of the hostility 
 the Indians had exhibited for some time, 
 and came to Hood county. Here the sub- 
 ject of our sketch farmed from 1867 until 
 1873. In 1873 he went to Alabama and 
 turned his attention to work at the carpen- 
 ter's trade, at which when a boy he had 
 worked some under his father's instructions. 
 He remained in Alabama seventeen years, 
 twelve of which he spent in work at his 
 trade, the other five being given to agricult- 
 ural pursuits. Then in 1S91 he returned to 
 Texas. For two years he farmed rented 
 land here and at the end of that time pur- 
 chased his present property, three hundred 
 acres, situated seven miles southeast of the 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 497 
 
 town of Granbury, where he has since re- 
 sided and carried on farming and stock- 
 raising. 
 
 In whatever community it has been his 
 lot to abide, Mr. Poe has always shown 
 himself interested in its welfare and willing 
 to do his part toward promoting the public 
 good. X^Vhile in Alabama he was a justice 
 of the peace for nearly eight years, and four 
 years was tax assessor of Cherokee county. 
 Politically, he harmonizes with the Demo- 
 cratic party, and at this writing is chairman 
 of the Democratic county convention. Be- 
 ing deprived of educational advantages in 
 his youth and having to educate himself, he 
 is and has been for some time deeply inter- 
 ested in having good schools in his commun- 
 ity. Mr. Poe maintains a fraternal relation 
 with the Masonic order. He was made a 
 Mason in Acton Lodge in 1869; while in 
 Alabama was a member of Lozzathcie 
 Lodge, No. 97, in which he filled most of the 
 chairs; and now has a membership in Gran- 
 bury Lodge, No. 392, A. F. & A. M. 
 
 May 17, 1865, was consummated Mr. 
 Poe's marriage to Miss Sarah M. Stewart, 
 a native of Cherokee county, Alabama, and 
 of Irish descent. They have si.\ children 
 living, viz. : Allie, Davis, Gertrude, Octava, 
 Robert and Thomas. Both Mr. and Mrs. 
 Poe are members of the Methodist church, 
 south. 
 
 ^9^1* L. ELAM is now living retired at his 
 m pleasant home in Cresson, — after an 
 A 1 industrious and well spent life, now 
 enjoying the fruits of his former 
 labors. A native of McNairy county, Ten- 
 nessee, he was born February 20, 1826, a 
 son of Andrew and Polly (Laughlin) Elam, 
 
 who were farming people of middle Tennes- 
 see. On the old family homestead our sub- 
 ject was reared to manhood, aiding in the 
 labors of the fields and becoming familiar 
 with all the duties that fall to the lot of the 
 agriculturist. 
 
 Mr. Elam spent the days of his boyhood 
 and youth with his parents and continued at 
 their home until his marriage, which was 
 celebrated on the 24th of December, 1844, 
 Miss Mary Jane Williams, also a native 
 of Tennessee, becoming his wife. For a 
 year after his marriage our subject worked 
 on his father's farm and then purchased a 
 tract of land, which he continued to culti- 
 vate until his removal to the Lone Star 
 state. This occurred in 1855. He made the 
 journey with a mule team and wagon and 
 after a month of travel took up his abode in 
 Fannin county, where he resided for a year. 
 He was a resident of Johnson county until 
 1889, and then moved to Hood county. In 
 1856 it was, however, a part of Johnson 
 county. He pre-empted a tract of land on 
 Staten branch, which he cleared and im- 
 proved, making it a highly cultivated tract. 
 He carried on farming and stock-raising un- 
 til 1889, and became the owner of three 
 hundred and fifty-four acres. His business 
 was well conducted, and his enterprise, 
 energy, good management and perseverance 
 brought to him a handsome competence, 
 which now enables him to lay aside the 
 heavier cares of his earlier manhood and 
 rest in the enjoyment of the fruits of his 
 former toil. 
 
 Mr. Elam's labors were interrupted by 
 his service on the frontier during the civil 
 war, but with the exception of that period 
 he continued his work without cessation un- 
 til 1889, when he removed to Cresson, 
 I where he has since lived retired. It is the 
 
4:s 
 
 HIS TOR r or TEXAS 
 
 fitting cro\va of a well spent life and his 
 success is justly merited. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Elam have one child. 
 Mahala Jane, now the wife of Jefferson 
 Merrifield, of Stephens count}-. Texas. Mrs. 
 Elam is a consistent member of the Metho- 
 dist Episcopal chnxch and an estimable 
 lady whose many excellent qualities have 
 gained her a laige circle of friends. Mr. 
 Elam belongs to the Masonic fraternity. 
 ba>-ing been made a Mason in Acton. Texas, 
 in 1S69. These worthy people have trav- 
 eled life's journey leather as man and wife 
 for fifty-one years, their mutual love and 
 confidence increasing as the \-ears have 
 passed by. bringing with them the joys and 
 sorrows, the adversity and prosperity, which 
 checker the lives of all. In a pleasant home 
 in Creson they are now spending their da}^ 
 among many friends who have for them the 
 hisrhest esteem. 
 
 HNDREW MILLER, a weU known 
 and highly respected agriculturist, 
 whose fine farm hes partly within 
 Comanche and partly within Ham- 
 ilton counties, was bom on the 1 1 th of 
 September, 1827, in Monroe county. West 
 Virginia, and is a son of James and Ann 
 (Mills) Miller. He remained in his native 
 countj- until Februar}. 1S53. when he 
 became a pioneer of Bell count}-. Texas. 
 At the end of three years he sold the farm 
 which he had purchased there, and in Octo- 
 ber, 1S56, located in Comanche count}' on 
 one hundred and sixty acres which he bad 
 pre-empted. He later lived in different 
 parts of the county, but at the time of the 
 breaking out of the civil war removed to his 
 pr^ent place, which comprises four hundred 
 and forty acres. He began dealing in stock 
 
 there, and now with his son has about four- 
 teen hundred head of sheep. During the 
 war he served in a ranger company, engaged 
 in scouting dut}- for ten da}-s at a time. 
 
 In 1 86 1. Mr. Miller married Miss Han- 
 nah Mai^raret Shockley. and to them were 
 bom seven children: Cjmthia Aim, who first 
 wedded S. F. Tiebout, and after his death 
 H. P. Kellogg, now U\-ing at Franklin, 
 Robertson county. Texas; Martha Isabella, 
 wife of W. W. Lrach. of Hamilton; James 
 Robert, who married Minnie Stein; Alice 
 Jane, wife of Thomas Niblack. who is h\-ing 
 upon the farm with our subject: and Mc- 
 E>onald. Margaret and Hemy- Franklin, all 
 at home. 
 
 Mr. Miller is a member of the Presb}"te- 
 rian church, and politically is a Democrat. 
 He is a resident of Comanche count}-, but 
 his farm lies lai^y in Hamilton county, 
 and his interests call him more frequently to 
 Hamilton than to Comanche. As will be 
 seen by the above he is one of the old set- 
 tlers of Texas, and during the early days 
 fearlessly took part in the Indian warfare 
 along the frontier. He is one of the leading 
 farmers of central Texas, and an upright, 
 honorable citizen. 
 
 (r>^ A. 
 
 WOOD, of Hood county, is a 
 litive son of Georgia, his birth 
 ha\-ing occurred in Hall county on 
 the nth of August. 1S42. In 
 colonial days the Wood family was es- 
 tablished in South Carolina, and there the 
 father of our subject, Lorenzo Dow Wood, 
 was bom and reared. He became a farmer 
 and followed that pursuit throughout his 
 entire life. When he had arrived at years 
 of maturity he married Miss Louisa Ray 
 McCleskey, a native of Geoi^a. Our sub- 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 499 
 
 ject was their third son and seventh child. 
 When he was a lad of ten years his parents 
 removed from Georgia to Alabama, locating 
 in what was then Marshall county, but is now 
 Etowah county. 
 
 Upon a farm in that locality T. A. Wood 
 lived and labored in his early days, remain- 
 ing with his parents until the spring of 
 1 86 1, when he felt that duty called him for 
 service in the southern army and he was not 
 slow to respond to that call. Accordingly 
 he joined theTwenty-eighth Regiment of Ala- 
 bama volunteers, and was assigned to Cap- 
 tainTerpin's company. His service called him 
 to Corinth, Mississippi, where he remained 
 for about seven months, when he returned 
 home on a furlough. During his visit he 
 succeeded in organizing a cavalry company, 
 was chosen lieutenant and was transferred 
 from the infantry to the cavalry service and 
 attached to the Fourth Alabama Cavalry. 
 He participated in the battle of Murfrees- 
 boro and was then on detached duty as a 
 conscript officer and under General Pillow at 
 Huntsville, Alabama, until the close of the 
 war. 
 
 Returning to the pursuits of civil life Mr. 
 Wood carried on farming in Etowah county 
 until 1 87 1, — the year of his arrival in Texas, 
 at which time he purchased one hundred 
 and sixty acres of wild timber land. This 
 he has cleared and improved, making it a 
 very productive tract; and as his financial 
 resources have increased he has added to his 
 property until his landed possessions now 
 aggregate five hundred acres. His principal 
 crops are cotton, corn and potatoes. In 
 addition he is also engaged in stock-raising 
 to some extent, making a specialty of the 
 breeding of Clydesdale horses. He is a 
 self-made man who has accumulated a com- 
 fortable property through his own labors. 
 
 Socially he is connected with Paluxy 
 Lodge, No. 393, F. & A. M., and in polit- 
 ical views he is independent. 
 
 During the war Mr. Wood was united in 
 marriage with Miss Mary Emma Bayne, a 
 native of Virginia, but living in Blount 
 county, Alabama, at the time of her mar- 
 riage. Her parents were James and Eliza- 
 beth (Moore) Bayne. Three children were 
 born of this union: Willie, wife of L. A. 
 Tidwell, of Hood county; Robert Irving, 
 who died on the eighteenth anniversary of 
 his birth; and James Austin, of Hood county. 
 The mother was called to the home beyond 
 in 1 874, and for his second wife Mr. Wood 
 chose Miss Sarah Ann Burton, a native of 
 Illinois. During her girlhood days she 
 came with her parents to Erath county, and 
 by their death was soon left an orphan. 
 Four children grace this marriage, — Jessie 
 Lora, Conda Cleveland, Joel Tralor and 
 Thomas Sylvester. The parents are mem- 
 bers of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
 south. 
 
 >^AMES LOVE HOWELL.— For over 
 ■ two decades a resident of Erath 
 A I county, Texas, and more than half 
 that time identified with the mercan- 
 tile establishment in Dublin of which he is 
 the head, James Love Howell is entitled to 
 special consideration on these pages, and to 
 his life history the biographer now directs 
 attention. 
 
 Mr. Howell is of Alabama birth, and 
 first saw the light of day in Randolph (now 
 Cleburne) county, October 5, 1843, his 
 parents being Evan Sparks and Narcissa 
 Virginia (Kennedy) Howell. Tracing his 
 ancestry along the agnatic line back through 
 Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Vir- 
 
500 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ginia and across the Atlantic, we find that 
 in Wales many generations ago the Howells 
 lived and flourished. It was in Wales that 
 John Howell, the great-great-grandfather of 
 our subject, was born. On emigrating to 
 this country he made settlement on the 
 James river in Virginia, and there reared his 
 family. One of his sons, Great-grandfather 
 Howell, moved from the Old Dominion to 
 North Carolina, and in that state Eli Howell, 
 the grandfather of James L. , was born. 
 Eli Howell moved to Georgia and thence to 
 Alabama. He and his wife, whose maiden 
 name was Miss Nancy Love, were the par- 
 ents of the following named children: Love, 
 Polly, Sally, Caroline, Jonah, Pickens, 
 Nancy, Eleanor, Jane, Columbus and Evan 
 Sparks. Evan Sparks Howell and his wife 
 had children as follows: James Love, 
 Nancy Eleanor, Mariam Jane, Virginia 
 Emeline, Rhoda Ann, Serena, Wadsworth 
 Clardy, Eli Kennedy, Archibald Artemas 
 and William Grogin. 
 
 At the time the civil war was inaugurated 
 we find the Howell family living quietly at 
 their home in Alabama, — the father in the 
 prime of life and the eldest child, our sub- 
 ject, on the verge of young manhood. To 
 the call to arms both responded and entered 
 the Confederate ranks. At the battle of 
 Big Black, Mississippi, in 1863, the father 
 received a fatal ball, he being about forty- 
 six years of age at the time he was killed. 
 The mother lived to the age of sixty-seven 
 years, her death occurring in November, 
 1890. 
 
 It was July 19, 1 86 1, that James L. 
 Howell enlisted, and as a member of Com- 
 pany D, Thirteenth Alabama Infantry, that 
 he went to the front. Among the engage- 
 ments in which he participated were York- 
 town, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, seven 
 
 days around Richmond, South Mountain, 
 Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and 
 the Wilderness. On the third day of the 
 battle of Gettysburg he received a wound, 
 the ball passing across his spine and into his 
 hip, and in the battle of the Wilderness, 
 May 6, 1864, he was taken prisoner by the 
 Union forces and sent to Point Lookout, 
 Maryland, and later to Elmira, New York, 
 where he remained until the close of the 
 war, returning home July 4, 1865. He had 
 gone out as a private and he returned with 
 the rank of sergeant. 
 
 At the close of the war Mr. Howell en- 
 gaged in farming at his old home, and was 
 thus occupied there until the fall of 1872. 
 On the tenth of December that year he left 
 his native state and came to Texas, first set- 
 tling on the Brazos river in McLennan county 
 and farming there one year. Next he came 
 to Erath county. On Green's creek in this 
 county he purchased one hundred acres of 
 land, settled on it, and continued in agricul- 
 tural pursuits until the fall of 1882, when he 
 moved into Dublin. About that time he 
 was elected justice of the peace. This office 
 he filled two years, and at the same time 
 was in the employ of F. C. Oldham. Then 
 returning to the farm, he maintained his 
 residence on it eight years longer, after 
 which he again moved to Dublin, coming 
 this time to take a position as salesman for 
 the Dublin Co-operative Association of Pat- 
 rons of Husbandry. This association had 
 been organized in October, 1883, to do a 
 general mercantile business, and with J. P. 
 Herndon as its first president. In January, 
 1887, Mr. Howell was elected president of 
 the company, has since retained the office, 
 and has full charge of the business, which, 
 under his efficient directions, is in a flourish- 
 ing condition. At the same time Mr. How- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 501 
 
 ell personally superintends his farming oper- 
 ations. He now has land to the amount of 
 two hundred and six acres. 
 
 January 13, 1867, was consummated his 
 marriage to Miss Matilda Jane Leverett, 
 daughter of Abram and Emily (Dozier) 
 Leverett, who was born March 3, 1845. 
 Their children are: Orpha lantha, who was 
 born July 5, 1868, and who is now the wife 
 of Cornelius S. Watson, a farmer of this 
 county, the children of Mr. and Mrs. Wat- 
 son being Mattie, Matilda, Hugh, John (de- 
 ceased) and Lena; Evan Sparks, born De- 
 cember 5, 1 87 1, married Miss Flora Tolar, 
 and is engaged in farming in this county, 
 their family comprising four children, — Her- 
 schel, Winnie Davis, Annie, and an infant 
 son; and Abram Gideon, born December 26, 
 1873, is also a farmer of this county, and 
 he and his wife, ncc Callie Carr, have one 
 child, George Love. 
 
 Mr. Howell has always been firmly ar- 
 rayed in the support of the Democratic 
 party and its principles, and has been an 
 active worker in the local organization of 
 the same. He served as county commis- 
 sioner four years, and, as above stated, was 
 for two years a justice of the peace. In 
 1866 he united with the Baptist church, and 
 during the thirty years that have intervened 
 has lived a consistent Christian life. His 
 business success has been achieved through 
 his own well-directed efforts and careful 
 management, and is therefore justly merited. 
 
 m. 
 
 'ILLIAM ROBERSON YOUNG, 
 
 for several years a resident of 
 Dublin, Texas, and well known 
 here as a prosperous merchant, 
 was born in Barber county, Alabama, De- 
 
 cember 20, 1 85 1, a son of James Bunberry 
 and Cynthia (Sutton) Young. 
 
 James B. Young was of North Carolina 
 birth, removed from that state to Alabama 
 when a youth of eighteen, and there married 
 and passed the rest of his days, dying in the 
 prime of life at the age of forty-five. His 
 children by his first wife are as follows: 
 Sarah Maria, Frances Ellen, Daniel Con- 
 stantine, Mary Rebecca, James Hardy, 
 William Roberson and Henry Washington. 
 For his second wife he wedded Emily James, 
 who bore him one daughter, Alice. All are 
 deceased except James H., Frances E. and 
 our subject. 
 
 William R. Young was deprived of a 
 mother's loving care at the tender age of 
 four years, and he was only nine years of 
 age at the time his father died. Thus early 
 left an orphan, he was reared by his grand- 
 mother Sutton, with whom he lived until 
 her death, in 1869. He continued to reside 
 in Alabama until the fall of 1872, engaged 
 in farming his own and rented land, and 
 from there came to Texas. The following 
 year he spent in San Augustine county, then 
 returned to Alabama, where he remained 
 until the fall of 1876, and at that time he 
 came again to the Lone Star state. For 
 one year he farmed in Nolan county. In 
 the winter of 1877 he came to Erath county 
 and located on the divide between the 
 waters of Green and Alarm creeks, where 
 he purchased of Hattie James two hundred 
 acres of land. Here he made his home for 
 seven years. Later he disposed of this 
 tract, and February i, 1885, came to Dub- 
 lin, where he has since maintained his resi- 
 dence. He still has an interest in farming 
 lands, he and his brother James H. owning 
 a ranch of four hundred acres. 
 
 Mr. Young was one of the organizers of 
 
502 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 the Dublin Mercantile Company, and while 
 still on the farm served one year as a di- 
 rector of the same. On his removal to 
 town he became general manager of the 
 store, which position he now occupies, and 
 where he has gained a wide acquaintance 
 and made friends without number. 
 
 Mr. Young is Democratic in his political 
 affiliations, maintains a membership in the 
 Dublin Masonic Lodge, and worships at the 
 Baptist church, of which denomination he 
 has been a member for the past twenty- 
 three years. 
 
 IHOMAS JEFFERSON HUB- 
 BERT, M. D., who is successfully 
 engaged in the practice of medi- 
 cine in Hico, Texas, and is ac- 
 counted one of the most able physicians in 
 this section of the state, comes of a family 
 of English origin, that was early founded in 
 America. His grandfather, Matthew Hub- 
 bert, a native of Virginia, removed to Ten- 
 nessee and thence to Missouri. His chil- 
 dren were Anderson, Jehu, William, Mat- 
 thew, Mrs. Polly McCary, Mrs. Betsey 
 Fergus, Mrs. Jane Rowden and Mrs. Dur- 
 ham. William Hubbert, the Doctor's fa- 
 ther, was born in Tennessee and at the age 
 of twenty years went to Missouri, where he 
 was married five years later to Nancy Ann 
 Lee, daughter of Miller Lee, who removed 
 from the Big Bend state to Missouri and 
 reared a family of thirteen children. Mr. 
 Hubbert was a farmer and a cabinet-maker, 
 and was elected county and circuit clerk of 
 Barry county, Missouri, filling the office for 
 about twenty years or until after the begin- 
 ning of the civil war. He enlisted in the 
 Confederate service in 1862, serving as 
 
 quartermaster under Joe Shelby until the 
 close of the war, when he returned to Barry 
 county and there engaged in mercantile pur- 
 suits for five years. On the expiration of 
 that period he removed to Berryville, Arkan- 
 sas, where he conducted a hotel until his 
 death, which occurred in 1895, when he 
 had reached the age of seventy-three years. 
 His wife died in 1880, at the age of forty 
 years. Their children were as follows: 
 George Washington, a prominent criminal 
 lawyer of Neosho, Missouri; Thomas Jeffer- 
 son; James Monroe, who for several years 
 has been president of the Lebanon Presby- 
 terian College of Lebanon, Tennessee, was 
 in early life a student in that school, later 
 was graduated from a school in New York 
 city and subsequently continued his studies 
 in London. He is a man of ripe scholar- 
 ship and broad general information. Amy 
 Ann, the sister of James Monroe, is the wife 
 of John B. Gill, a merchant of Roswell, 
 New Mexico. Darius Lafayette, the young- 
 est of the family, is a lawyer by profession, 
 but is now engaged in business as a railroad 
 bridge inspector. 
 
 Dr. Hubbert, of this review, was born 
 in Barry county, Missouri, April 20, 1847. 
 He began the study of medicine when nine- 
 teen years of age under Dr. E. P. Hansard, 
 of Pierce City, Missouri, and when he had 
 become quite proficient in his work was 
 taken into partnership by his preceptor. In 
 1872 he removed to Elm Springs, Arkansas, 
 where he engaged in the prosecution of his 
 chosen profession until, wishing to further 
 perfect himself in his work, he entered the 
 St. Louis Medical College, where he obtained 
 his degree in 1877. After his graduation 
 he returned to Missouri, spending a year in 
 his native state, and then again went to Elm 
 Springs. His residence in Texas dates from 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 503 
 
 September, 1884, when he went to Iredell, 
 establishing an office which he maintained 
 for five years, also carrying on a drug store 
 at that point. In February, 1889, he came 
 to Hico, where he has since made his home. 
 He has built up a large and lucrative prac- 
 tice, his ability being attested by the excel- 
 lent success which follows his labors. He 
 is also a prosperous druggist of the city and 
 in 1892 erected the stone building in which 
 he is now doing business. He also built a 
 comfortable residence which was destroyed 
 by fire about three years and a half ago, 
 and in 1895 he erected his present home, 
 one of the finest in the entire county. 
 
 The lady who bears the name of Mrs. 
 Hubbert was in her maidenhood Miss Ella 
 Lee, daughter of John and Sarah (Perkins) 
 Lee. Their marriage has been blessed with 
 five children, namely: Delia Octa, Annie 
 Etta, William Ernest, Lillie, Minnie Lee 
 and Balma Keziah. The son was born July 
 14. 1874, and completed a five years' course 
 in the Galveston State University Pharmacy 
 by his graduation with the class of 1895. 
 He is now his father's assistant in the store. 
 
 The Doctor has been a member of the 
 Masonic fraternity for twenty years, having 
 been initiated into its mysteries in Berry- 
 ville Lodge, F. & A. M., in Arkansas. He 
 also belongs to the Odd Fellows lodge of 
 Cassell, Missouri, and is a charter member 
 of Hico Lodge, No. 141, K. P. In his 
 political affiliations he is a Democrat, warmly 
 advocating the principles of his party, and is 
 well informed on the issues of the day. 
 He has for twenty years been a member of 
 the Baptist church and his aid and co-opera- 
 tion are ever with those enterprises or move- 
 ments which tend to uplift humanity and 
 promote the welfare of his resident com- 
 munity. 
 
 f^^ EORGE FRANKLIN BROCK, a 
 ■ G\ farmer of Hood county, was born 
 \^^^ in Mississippi, May 28, 1844, and 
 is a son of John Hill and Eleanor 
 (Lloyd) Brock, both natives of North Caro- 
 lina. They were married in that state, and 
 in 1843 removed to Mississippi, where they 
 spent their remaining days. The father was 
 a cooper and house carpenter by trade. He 
 was three times married, our subject being 
 a child of the second marriage. 
 
 George F. Brock received but meager 
 educational privileges, and early in life was 
 thrown upon his own resources, so that 
 whatever success he has achieved is due en- 
 tirely to his own labors. He was one of 
 the soldier boys of the late war, joining the 
 army when only seventeen years of age. He 
 enlisted on the 5th of September, 1861, for 
 service in the Confederate ranks and was 
 assigned to the Fifteenth Mississippi Infan- 
 try, with which he remained until hostilities 
 were over, participating in all the battles in 
 which his company took part. On the 
 close of the war he returned to his native 
 state and in 1867 came to Texas. In March 
 of that year he arrived in Galveston and for 
 a short time worked on a farm in that region 
 and was employed in other capacities, 
 accepting any labor that offered if it would 
 yield to him an honest living. In 1868 he 
 went to Young county, where he was in the 
 employ of different stockmen until 1870. 
 In 1873 he began farming for himself in 
 Ellis county, living on rented land until 
 1874, when he purchased his present farm 
 of one hundred and sixty acres, about ten 
 miles south of Granbury. He moved upon 
 this place in the autumn and immediately 
 began its development. He has since car- 
 ried on general farming and now has a well 
 cultivated place, to the further improvement 
 
504 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 of which he gives the greater part of his 
 time and attention. 
 
 On the 1 8th of March, 1875, Mr. Brock 
 married Miss Sarah, daughter of James and 
 Nancy (Howard) Rogers, both of whom are 
 natives of Texas, as is Mrs. Brock, who 
 was born in Erath county, in 1858. Her 
 parents are now living in the Indian Terri- 
 tory. They have reared a family of eight 
 sons and three daughters, all of whom are 
 living at this writing, Mrs. Brock being the 
 eldest of the number. Our subject and his 
 wife have seven living children and lost 
 three in childhood. The living are Mary, 
 George, John, Rosalie, Allen, Laura and 
 Earl. In his political views Mr. Brock was 
 formerly a Democrat, but now is independ- 
 ent of any party associations. He and his 
 wife are members of the Christian church, 
 and their true worth and straightforward 
 lives commend them to the confidence 
 of all. 
 
 •y— ^ ERBERT SPENCER DILLARD. 
 |f\ — Prominent among the leading 
 \ , r legal lights of the Bosque county 
 bar stands this gentleman, and none 
 perhaps are more worthy of honorable men- 
 tion in this or any other work of the state 
 than he whose name heads this sketch. He 
 is at present a distinguished and capable 
 attorney of Bosque county. Nature has 
 endowed Mr. Dillard with some rare gifts, 
 among them an intellectual ability of a high 
 order, logical discrimination and compre- 
 hension. He is a close reasoner and an 
 impressive speaker. He has acquired for 
 himself an enviable reputation at the bar, 
 and his knowledge of the principles of law, 
 his calm deliberations, his logical power and 
 
 his analytical acumen have well fitted him 
 for the position he now occupies. 
 
 Mr. Dillard was born in Fayette county, 
 Tennessee, on the 2d of August, 1861, and 
 is a son of Henry M. Dillard, who is a 
 native of Virginia and descended from one 
 of the old and influential families of that 
 state. The father removed from Tennessee 
 to Alabama about 1865. He was in the 
 Confederate service, being connected with 
 the army of northern Virginia during the 
 civil war. The mother of our subject, who 
 bore the maiden name of Elizabeth W. 
 Lucas, was born in Mississippi, and her 
 ancestors were early settlers of South Caro- 
 lina. 
 
 Our subject is the eldest in a family of 
 five children, and acquired his education in 
 the public schools of Alabama and Te.xas. 
 Most of his boyhood days were passed in 
 Alabama. On the removal of the family to 
 Te.xas they located first near Cameron, in 
 Milam county, where Mr. Dillard worked on 
 a farm and began the battle of life on his 
 own account at an early age. He later 
 engaged in teaching school, meanwhile be- 
 ginning the study of law, and as time passed 
 received instruction under the guidance of 
 S. H. Lumpkin, a prominent and able attor- 
 ney of Meridian. He was duly admitted to 
 practice in 1885, but for a time continued 
 teaching. He was elected county attorney 
 in 1888, and two years later was appointed 
 local counselor and attorney for the Atchi- 
 son, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Com- 
 pany in Bosque, a position which he still 
 retains. 
 
 In Bosque county, on the 15th of Octo- 
 ber, 1889, occurred the marriage of Mr. 
 Dillard and Miss Janie Johnson, a native of 
 Missouri, and to them has been born one 
 child, — Terry M. The parents are faithful 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 505 
 
 members of the Methodist church. In his 
 social relations Mr. Dillard is prominently 
 identified with the Independent Order of 
 Odd Fellows, and has passed all the chairs 
 in the subordinate lodge, while politically 
 he is an active and progressive Democrat of 
 the Jackson and Bryan school. 
 
 at 
 
 R. JOYCE has been a resident 
 of Hood county only since Janu- 
 ary, 1894, but his sterling worth 
 has won him a place among the 
 leading farmers and respected citizens of 
 the community, and it is therefore with 
 pleasure that we present the record of his 
 life to our readers. 
 
 A native of Louisiana, he was born in 
 Franklin parish July 25, 1847, and is a son 
 of William Henry and Eunice (Price) Joyce, 
 both of whom were natives of Mississippi. 
 His father was born in Hines county, that 
 state, and was of Scotch-Irish descent, while 
 the birth of his mother occurred near Jack- 
 son. Her death occurred when her son was 
 only two years old, and by the death of his 
 father he was left an orphan at the age of 
 twelve. He resided with his grandfather 
 Price until the latter's death in i860, after 
 which he made his home with his maternal 
 great-uncle for two years. His youth was 
 spent on a farm, and his educational priv- 
 ileges were rather meager. During the 
 progress of the civil war he served for si.x 
 months in the state militia. 
 
 Mr. Joyce dates his arrivalin Texas from 
 1867, at which time he took up his residence 
 in Tarrant county, purchasing a tract of wild 
 land on Big Bear creek. He improved one 
 hundred and sixty acres of that farm, and 
 from time to time extended its boundaries 
 by additional purchase until it comprised , 
 
 four hundred and sixteen acres. He also 
 bought a farm of three hundred and ninety- 
 six acres, which he sold. He now owns 
 two hundred and forty acres of land in that 
 county, of which one hundred acres is under 
 a high state of cultivation. He followed 
 farming in Tarrant county until January, 
 1894, when he came to Hood county, and 
 here purchased two hundred acres of valua- 
 ble land on the Paluxy creek, of which one 
 hundred and fifteen acres has been trans- 
 formed into rich and arable fields. He 
 raises several different crops, and is also en- 
 gaged in stock-raising, making a specialty 
 of the breeding of high-grade horses. 
 
 Mr. Joyce has been twice married. On 
 the 14th of October, 1868, he wedded Miss 
 Josephine Jeanette Witten, a native of Mis- 
 souri and a daughter of C. H. and Jeanette 
 Witten, who were early settlers of Texas. 
 Five children graced this union: Eunice 
 Jeanette, wife of William Rogers, of Fort 
 Worth; John P., of Erath county; William 
 Walter, George W. and M. M. The mother 
 of these children died in 1883, and Mr. 
 Joyce was again married October 14, 1885, 
 his second union being with Miss F. S. 
 Glenn, a native of Lamar county, Texas, a 
 daughter of William and Nancy (Griffin) 
 Glenn, the former of Kentucky, the latter of 
 Arkansas. They became pioneer settlers of 
 Texas. There are three children by the 
 second marriage, — Pearl, Aubrey and Earl. 
 Mr. Joyce is a member of the Christian 
 church and his wife belongs to the Method- 
 ist Episcopal church. In politics he is in- 
 dependent, and has never sought or desired 
 political preferment, desiring rather to give 
 his entire attention to his business interests, 
 in which he has met with signal success. 
 Without capital or influential friends to aid 
 him and dependent entirely upon his own 
 
500 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 resources, he has worked his way steadily 
 upward from a humble position to one of 
 affluence, and is to-day one of the substan- 
 tial citizens of Hood county. 
 
 >^OSEPH W. DABNEY, who devotes 
 ^ his energies to farming and stock- 
 m 1 raising in Comanche county, is a na- 
 tive of the Blue-grass state, his birth 
 having occurred in Hopkinsville, December 
 27, 1845. His father, Albert G. Dabney, 
 was born in Virginia and went to Kentucky 
 in 1827, the family joining him in that state 
 two years later. He was among the promi- 
 nent planters of the county in which he 
 settled and an extensive slave-owner. He 
 died of cholera during the epidemic which 
 swept the country in 1855. His father, 
 Cornelius Dabney, was also a Virginain by 
 birth and was a patriot in the Revolution 
 which brought to America her independence. 
 The mother of our subject bore the maiden 
 name of Elizabeth Scates, was a native of 
 the Old Dominion and a sister of Hon. Wal- 
 ter B. Scates, one of the supreme judges of 
 the state of Illinois, also a sister of the Hon. 
 \Vm. B. Scates, an old Texan soldier and 
 signer of the Texan declaration of inde- 
 pendence. Her death occurred in Ken- 
 tucky in i860. The family numbered twelve 
 children, six of whom are yet living, three 
 brothers and three sisters. 
 
 Joseph W. Dabney was the eleventh in 
 order of birth in the family. His education 
 was obtained in private schools, and his 
 knowledge, supplemented by observation, 
 experience and reading, has made him a 
 well informed man. In 1864 he enlisted in 
 the Eighth Kentucky Cavalry, and served 
 with Forrest's command throughout the re- 
 
 mainder of the war. When hostilities had 
 ceased he removed to Virginia and was en- 
 gaged in merchandising until 1880, when he 
 came to Texas. He now resides eight miles 
 southwest of the city of Comanche, in Cox 
 Gap, where he has a valuable property, 
 comprising five hundred and sixty acres of 
 land, most all capable of cultivation. Of 
 this a quarter section has been transformed 
 into rich fields, and the crops raised thereon 
 are equal to any in the county and indicate 
 his careful supervision. He makes a spe- 
 cialty of raising blooded stock and owns an 
 interest in a fine imported stallion of the 
 French Percheron breed. He also has a 
 famous jack from Columbia county, Ten- 
 nessee, and the stock upon his farm, being 
 well kept and of excellent grades, show that 
 the owner keeps up with all progressive- 
 ness. His home is a neat and substantial 
 residence surrounded by ornamental shrubs 
 and flowering plants. He also has a peach 
 orchard covering two acres. 
 
 Mr. Dabney was united in marriage in 
 Virginia, with Miss Lunie A. Bowles, the 
 wedding being celebrated on the 25th of 
 March, 1873. The lady died in 1S86. leav- 
 ing seven children, namely: Joseph W., Jr., 
 Augustus B., Bettie, Walter S,, Hugh G., 
 Mary L. and Lunie A. Two children have 
 also passed away: William C, who died at 
 the age of thirteen years, and an infant 
 daughter. Mr. Dabney and his family are 
 members of the Christian church and take 
 a deep interest in its work. The cause of 
 education finds in him a warm friend and he 
 gives an earnest support to all social, school 
 and moral interests which are calculated to 
 prove of public benefit. He is a man of 
 genuine worth, esteemed in private life and 
 trusted in business, for his career is ever 
 honorable and straightforward. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 507 
 
 @W. OAKES was born in Haber- 
 sham county, Georgia, February 
 14, 1848, and is a son of Davis and 
 Mary (Hyce) Oakes. His father 
 was a native of Virginia and a son of William 
 Oakes, a Revolutionary soldier. His mother 
 was born in North Carolina and was a 
 daughter of George Hyce. David Oakes 
 was a farmer by occupation and followed 
 that pursuit as a means of livelihood for 
 many years. He was killed at Vicksburg 
 during the late war, and his wife, surviving 
 him for many years, died in Alabama in 
 1888. They were the parents of seven 
 children, five of whom reached years of 
 maturity, while two are still living: G. E., 
 of this review, and Sarah, wife of John 
 Hyde, of Acra, Texas. 
 
 The gentleman whose name introduces 
 this review was reared in the usual manner 
 of farmer lads and resided with his mother 
 until he had attained his majority, when he 
 started out in life for himself. As a com- 
 panion and helpmeet on life's journey he 
 chose Miss Isabella Kelh', and their mar- 
 riage was celebrated on the ist of Novem- 
 ber, 1866. The lady was born in Pickens 
 county, Georgia, and is a daughter of 
 Andrew and Louisa (Pickett) Kelly. Their 
 union has been blessed with twelve children: 
 E. T., of Erath county; Florence L. , wife 
 of J. N. Barron, of Erath county; Nora, 
 wife of D. W. Turner, of Hood county; 
 Hattie, wife of G. W. Harris, of Erath 
 county; Dove, wife of A. Lowe, of the same 
 county; Ivie May, Willie, George Emery, 
 Lemmer, Don Coyl, Claudie and Curlie B., 
 all yet at home. 
 
 After his marriage Mr. Oakes followed 
 farming in Georgia until 1873, when he 
 sought a home in Texas, casting his lot with , 
 the citizens of Erath county, where he has I 
 
 since resided. He purchased two hundred 
 acres of land that was still in its primitive 
 condition and at once began the task of 
 transforming it into cultivable fields. He 
 now owns seven hundred acres, of which 
 one hundred and forty acres is now highly 
 cultivated. In connection with general 
 farming Mr. Oakes has also engaged in stock- 
 raising; and his capable business methods, 
 his sound judgment and unflagging industry 
 have brought him success. In politics he 
 affiliates with the Prohibitionists, and relig- 
 iously he and his wife are connected with 
 the Baptist church. 
 
 >Y» W. GUTHRIE, a farmer and stock- 
 ■j raiser of Erath county, was born in 
 A 1 Lawrence county, Missouri, on the 
 30th of October, 1844, a son of John 
 and Polly (Patton) Guthrie. His father, a 
 native of Virginia, was a son of James 
 Guthrie, a representative of one of the old 
 families of that state. At an earlj- day he 
 emigrated to Missouri, becoming one of the 
 pioneers of the southwestern section of the 
 state. John Guthrie was reared on a fron- 
 tier farm in Missouri and there married 
 Polly Patton, a native of Tennessee, and a 
 daughter of John Patton, who also was of 
 an old Virginia family. Upon his marriage 
 Mr. Guthrie began farming on his own ac- 
 count and followed that pursuit throughout 
 his remaining days. He was one of the 
 prominent and highly esteemed citizens of 
 the county in which he made his home, and 
 for man}- years served as magistrate. He 
 died in 1858, and his wife passed away five 
 or six years previous. They were the par- 
 ents of four children, two of whom are still 
 living, namely: Sally, wife of D. L. Mur- 
 
508 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ray, of Phoenix, Arizona; and the subject of 
 this notice. 
 
 Mr. J. W. Guthrie was left an orphan 
 at the age of eleven years and for a time 
 lived with his paternal grandfather, after 
 which he made his home with his uncle 
 until he entered the Confederate service, in 
 the fall of 1862, as a member of Company 
 A, Thirteenth Missouri Volunteer Cavalry. 
 He participated in the battle of Pea Ridge 
 and remained with that command for six 
 months, when he went to Kentucky and 
 joined Morgan's command and remained 
 with a regiment therein until the close of 
 the war. He was captured in Kentucky by 
 the Union forces and sent to Camp Douglas, 
 in Chicago, Illinois. 
 
 On the close of the war Mr. Guthrie 
 went to Todd county, Kentucky, where he 
 followed agricultural pursuits for four years 
 and then returned to Missouri. From the 
 latter state he came to Texas, in 1S70, and 
 engaged in the live-stock business, taking a 
 drove of cattle to Colorado, where he re- 
 mained for eighteen months. He then 
 returned to Erath county, where he pur- 
 chased two hundred and seventy-five acres 
 of wild land, which he improved and sold. 
 He next bought a farm on which a few im- 
 provements had been made, and for seven 
 years resided there, when he effected the 
 purchase of one hundred and sixty acres, all 
 wild, not a furrow having been turned 
 thereon. With characteristic energy he be- 
 gan its development and now has sixty acres 
 under cultivation, yielding to him a good 
 return. 
 
 In 1872 Mr. Guthrie was united in mar- 
 riage to Miss Maggie Ray, a native of War- 
 ren county, Tennessee, and a daughter of 
 Archibald Ray. Four children have been 
 born of this union: S. F., the wife of James 
 
 Knight, John, Booker and Anna. Their 
 mother is a member of the Christian church. 
 In politics Mr. Guthrie is a Democrat and 
 warmly advocates the principles of his party. 
 His life, however, is largely given to his 
 business interests, and it is to such industri- 
 ous, energetic farmers that Erath county 
 owes its prosperity and stability. 
 
 aM. CARM.^N, who conducts a gen- 
 eral mercantile store in Immer- 
 mere, and is the efficient postmaster 
 of the place, is a native of Jeffer- 
 son county, Ohio, born on the 29th of June, 
 1830, a son of John and Mary (Marshall) 
 Carman, who were natives of Maryland. 
 The Carmans were among the old colonial 
 families that took root in American soil long 
 prior to the Revolution. The father of our 
 subject, removing to Jefferson county, Ohio, 
 cleared a farm and continued its cultivation 
 throughout his remaining days. His death 
 occurred at the age of seventy-eight years 
 and his wife survived him for about three 
 years, also dying at the age of seventy- 
 eight. They had ten children, all of whom 
 reached years of maturity, but only our sub- 
 ject is now living. 
 
 C. M. Carman spent his boyhood days 
 on the Ohio farm, assisting his father in the 
 labors of the fields until he had attained his 
 majority, when he started out to make his 
 own way in the world. He was married in 
 November, 1853, to Miss E. J. Carman, a 
 native of Maryland and a daughter of Amos 
 and Jane (Marshall) Carman. The young 
 couple removed to Athens county, Ohio, 
 where our subject purchased a farm of 
 eighty acres in Waterloo township, and with 
 characteristic energy began its development. 
 He was very successful in his undertaking. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 509 
 
 and as his financial resources increased he 
 extended the boundaries of his farm by ad- 
 ditional purchases of land until it comprised 
 five hundred acres, one third of which was 
 under cultivation. There he carried on ag- 
 ricultural pursuits until 1878, when he re- 
 moved to Dallas county, Texas, where he 
 followed farming for seven years. Since 
 1885 he has been a reisdent of Erath 
 county. He located on school land and 
 improved a farm, and in connection with 
 the development of his land engaged in 
 teaching school in the winter season. He 
 greatly advanced the standard of the 
 schools in this locality and has done much 
 for the cause of education. He purchased 
 his present home in 1892, becoming the 
 owner of twelve hundred and eighty acres 
 of land, on which little improvement had 
 been. made. He has made a great trans- 
 formation in the appearance of his place by 
 the cultivation of the farm, and the well- 
 tilled fields indicate his careful supervi- 
 sion, — one hundred acres being under the 
 plow. Stock-raising was formerly a profit- 
 able department of his business. In Octo- 
 ber, 1894, Mr. Carman was appointed by 
 President Cleveland postmaster of Immer- 
 mere and is now serving in that capacity. 
 He also opened a stock of general mer- 
 chandise and has a well appointed store, 
 while the public accord to him a liberal 
 patronage. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Carman had seven chil- 
 dren, but lost three in infancy. Those still 
 living are Marshall W. , who makes his home 
 in Athens county, Ohio; John A., who is in 
 the employ of the Fort Worth & Rio Grande 
 Railroad Company; and Maggie J., at home. 
 One son, R. J., went to Montana, where 
 he died at the age of thirty-six years. Mr. 
 Carman and his wife are consistent members 
 
 of the Christian church, taking an active 
 part in its work, and the former has for 
 some years served as elder. His political 
 support is given the Republican party. He 
 has the true spirit of progress and enterprise 
 which characterizes thesection of the country 
 where his minority was passed and became 
 thoroughly imbued with the spirit of industry 
 and perseverance. These qualities have en- 
 abled him to win success, and taking advan- 
 tage of the opportunities which are generally 
 presented to mankind, he has worked his 
 way steadily upward. All who know him 
 have for him the highest esteem, and it is 
 with pleasure that we present the record of 
 his career to our readers. 
 
 ISAAC DANLEY, one of the promi- 
 nent farmers and early settlers of 
 Erath county, Texas, and a gentle- 
 man well worthy of biographical 
 honors, dates his birth in Newton county, 
 Missouri, January 27, 1835. 
 
 Mr. Danley is a son of Andrew and 
 Nancy ( Burket ) Danley. His parents were 
 born, reared and married in Tennessee, and 
 about 1828 moved from there to Missouri, 
 where they continued to reside until 1844. 
 Then seeking another frontier home, they 
 came to Texas, first locating in Rusk county, 
 moving from there to Wood county about 
 1848, and thence to Grayson county. Mr. 
 Danley was in Grayson county when the 
 news of the California gold discovery spread 
 like wild fire throughout the country. He 
 was a veteran of the war of 18 12, had spent 
 the most of his life on the frontier, and was 
 a lover of adventure; and when the wonder- 
 ful stories of the new El Dorado reached 
 him he was not slow in deciding upon a trip 
 to the gold fields of the far west. Accord- 
 
510 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ingly in 1856 he started for California, but 
 fate was against him: he died on the plains 
 before reaching his destination. Mr. Dan- 
 ley was a blacksmith by trade, at which he 
 worked in early life, later giving his atten- 
 tion to farming. He left a wife and eight 
 children, with only scant means of support, 
 and right nobly did this pioneer wife and 
 mother begin the struggle of life and pro- 
 vide for her little ones and keep them to- 
 gether. During the closing years of her life 
 she was cared for kindly in the home of her 
 son Isaac. In 1885, at the ripe old age of 
 eighty-one years, she quietly passed to her 
 home above. For many years she had been 
 a devoted Christian and acceptable mem- 
 ber of the Methodist church. She was the 
 mother of sixteen children, and by a former 
 marriage Mr. Danley had six other children. 
 Five of the first family grew to maturity and 
 all came to Texas except Patsy, who re- 
 mained in Missouri. Their names were 
 Nancy, John, Patsy, Betsy and Ira. Some 
 of the second family died young. Andrew 
 served through the late war and has since 
 died; Mary, deceased, was the wife of A. 
 Crocket; Eliza J. was the second wife of Mr. 
 A. Crockett; Morena married Pleas Adams; 
 James has been a resident of California 
 since 1852; Isaac, the subject of this article; 
 William, deceased; Catharine, wife of W. 
 A. King; F. M., a farmer of Erath county; 
 Hezekiah, a farmer; Alexander, a black- 
 smith; George B., who was killed by the 
 Indians in Arizona; and Malinda I. and her 
 husband, F. M. Carpenter, are both de- 
 ceased. Mrs. Carpenter left four little chil- 
 dren, who have been taken into the home of 
 our subject and are being brought up as his 
 own. 
 
 Isaac Danley was reared on the frontier 
 and had no educational advantages what- 
 
 ever. He has, however, picked up valua- 
 ble information here and there and through 
 his own efforts has acquired a practical edu- 
 cation. After the death of his father he 
 remained with his widowed mother and 
 assisted her in the support of the family for 
 some years. His business operations have 
 been somewhat varied, owing to the times 
 and circumstances. In early life, like most 
 of the pioneers of this part of the country, 
 he launched out in the live-stock business, 
 and at first was very successful, but during 
 the war period many of his cattle were 
 stolen or driven away. At the close of the 
 war he gathered up as much of his stock as 
 he could find and sold out and quit the 
 business. He had not a little experience 
 with the Indians in those early days. In 
 1858 he assisted Captain John Henry Brown 
 in the removal of the Indians from Texas. 
 During the war he was in the "ranging" 
 service, had many a raid after the Indians 
 and some exciting experiences, and for years 
 belonged to a minute company, ready to be 
 called out at any time as a protection against 
 the Indians. While in the ranging service 
 he picked up the trade of blacksmith, made 
 himself useful in shoeing the horses of his 
 company, and after the close of the war 
 worked at that trade for some time. Next 
 he began dealing in land, buying and selling, 
 and has been more or less interested in real- 
 estate deals ever since. In 1880 he married 
 and settled down on land he owned and 
 has since carried on farming and stock- 
 raising, making the usual crops of this 
 section and keeping only enough stock for 
 the support of his farm. He now owns 
 three hundred acres in his home place, 
 sixty of which are under cultivation. 
 
 Mr. Danley was married in 1880 to 
 Mrs. Alionia Hopper, a widow with one 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 511 
 
 son, Edward B. Harper. Mrs. Danley was 
 born in Tennessee in 1855, daughter of 
 Scarlot M. and Nancy (Long) Glasscock, 
 natives of North Carolina. Her father, a 
 carpenter by trade, died in the prime of 
 life, in i860, leaving a widow and eight 
 children, namely: Aldonza, Tennessee, 
 Parlee, Jacob, Cordelia, Alionia, Callie and 
 Alice. Their mother is still a resident of 
 west Tennessee. Mrs. Danley is the only 
 one of the family that came to Texas. She 
 married Mr. Harper in Tennessee, moved to 
 this state in 1876 and settled in Hood 
 county, and later came to Erath county, 
 where Mr. Harper died. She and Mr. Dan- 
 ley have six children: Eppa, Callie, Adella, 
 Vurna, Hester and Jacob, all at home. 
 
 Both Mr. Danley and his wife are accept- 
 able members of the Christian church. Fra- 
 ternally he is a Mason and politically a 
 Populist. Early in life he was Democratic 
 in his political views, then he gave his sup- 
 port to the Greenback party, and recently 
 he has been a strong advocate of the Popu- 
 list doctrine. 
 
 "^ i* P. MARTIN. — Figuring prominently 
 ■ as one of the early settlers of Erath 
 A J county, Texas, and occupying a fore- 
 most place among its successful farm- 
 ers, J. P. Martin is entitled to no small 
 recognition in a biographical record of the 
 representative men and women of his day 
 and place. He has descended through both 
 his paternal and maternal ancestry from 
 German stock, and in his make-up are found 
 many of the sterling traits of character 
 which distinguish the German race, — indus- 
 try, integrity, good judgment, and a frank, 
 open manner. These elements combined 
 in his personality are strongly marked and 
 
 have contributed to his success, or, rather, 
 have won him success. 
 
 On a farm in Autauga county, Alabama,- 
 February 22, 1832, J. P. Martin first saw 
 the light of day, his parents being Lewis 
 and Mary (Riser) Martin, both natives of 
 South Carolina. Lewis Martin's father, 
 Jacob Martin, came to America in co- 
 lonial days, was a participant in ' the war 
 of the Revolution, and after that war 
 ended settled in South Carolina, where he 
 resided for some years, and hence he re- 
 moved to Alabama. He was by trade a 
 blacksmith, but the greater part of his life 
 was spent in agricultural pursuits. His fa- 
 vorite pastime was hunting, in which he 
 excelled, and for which he was noted far 
 and near. Mr. Martin's grandfather on his 
 mother's side was Bijah Riser. He was a 
 native of Germany, and on coming to this 
 country settled in South Carolina, where he 
 became a prominent planter and slave- 
 owner. Lewis Martin was reared in Ala- 
 bama, in which state he was married and 
 settled down to the life of a planter, being 
 prospered in his operations and becoming 
 the owner of a number of slaves. In the 
 year i860 he removed to Texas and settled 
 in Montgomery county, buying a farm and 
 on it passing the closing years of his life. 
 He died there in 1866. His advanced age 
 barred him from service in the late war, but 
 his family was well represented in the Con- 
 federate army, his five sons donning the gray 
 and marching to the front. Of his children 
 we record that Mariah, widow of Thomas 
 Moore, is a resident of Montgomery county, 
 Mr. Moore having died while serving in the 
 army; J. P., the next in order of birth, is 
 the subject of this article; Emeline and her 
 husband, a Mr. Mets, are deceased; William 
 Crockett died in Fort Bend county, Texas. 
 
512 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 in 1895; Benjamin F., Montgomery county, 
 Texas; Francis M. died at Little Rock, Ar- 
 kansas, during the war; and Zachariah T. 
 residing in Montgomery county. Two of the 
 five sons lost their lives in the army and the 
 other three escaped with only slight wounds. 
 
 J. P. Martin passed his boyhood and 
 youth on his father's plantation, remaining 
 with his parents until reaching his majority, 
 and when he started out in life on his own 
 responsibility it was in a Louisiana sawmill. 
 From milling he turned to rafting logs down 
 the Washita river, was engaged in rafting 
 for several years, until he came to Texas, in 
 1859, and since coming to this state has 
 been identified with farming interests. His 
 first location in Texas was in Montgomery 
 county. There he bought a tract of wild 
 land remote from civilization, the nearest 
 settlement on one side of him being eight 
 miles distant and in another direction there 
 being a stretch of thirty miles of uninhabited 
 country. He was twenty-eight miles from 
 Houston. The work of opening up his land 
 to cultivation and making a home occupied 
 his close attention, and the while he toiled 
 on he endured many privations and hard- 
 ships, meeting and overcoming every ob- 
 stacle, however, with that good grace and 
 steady nerve that have characterized his 
 whole life. 
 
 He lived in Montgomery county nine 
 years, including his three years in the war; 
 and at this point we would speak further of 
 his war service. It was in 1863 that Mr. 
 Martin enlisted, as a member of Company 
 K, Elmo's infantry, and his service extended 
 from that time until the close of the war. 
 This command operated on the coast of 
 Texas and Louisiana, from the mouth of the 
 Brazos to New Orleans. Among the en- 
 gagements in which he was a participant 
 
 were Sabine Pass, the retaking of Galveston 
 and Yellow Bayou, and he was also in a 
 hotly contested battle with negroes. Dur- 
 ing his three years' army life he was never 
 captured by the enemy and he was only 
 slightly wounded. At the time of General 
 Lee's surrender Mr. Martin was with his 
 command at Galveston; from there they 
 went to Houston, where they were dis- 
 banded, and he immediately returned home 
 and resumed farming. 
 
 In 1872, seeking a more desirable loca- 
 tion and hoping to improve his temporal af- 
 fairs, the subject of our sketch came to 
 Erath county and purchased three hundred 
 and twenty acres of raw land, on credit, 
 and here he set about the work of improv- 
 ing another farm. A few years later he sold 
 a part of his land, including his house and a 
 portion of the land he had brought under 
 cultivation, and in the meantime he had 
 bought three hundred and twenty acres 
 where he now lives. Here he has continued 
 his work of cultivation and improvement 
 with the result that to-day he has one of the 
 most desirable properties in the locality. 
 He is conveniently near to Dublin and is 
 most pleasantly situated. He now owns 
 three hundred and sixty acres of land, one 
 hundred and fifty of which are under culti- 
 vation; has a comfortable residence, modern 
 wind pump and other up-to-date improve- 
 ments; and a feature not to be overlooked 
 on his farm is his fine orchard. At the time 
 Mr. Martin came to Erath county the red 
 men had not ceased their raids through the 
 country, but while many of his neighbors 
 suffered the loss of their stock none of his 
 were ever stolen. For some years he bought 
 and sold cattle extensively, and it was in 
 this way that he got his financial start. Of 
 recent years, however, he has kept only 
 
HISTORr OF TEXAS. 
 
 513 
 
 enough stock for the support of his farm. 
 A lover of fine horses, he has given no Httle 
 attention to them, making a specialty of 
 English draft horses, and at this writing he 
 is the owner of the finest team in Erath 
 county. 
 
 Mr. Martin is a man of family. He was 
 first married in 1S57 to Miss Louisa Metts, 
 a native of Georgia, their marriage being 
 consummated in Louisiana. She was one 
 of a large family of children, her father be- 
 ing Zachariah Metts, a native of Georgia 
 who moved first to Louisiana and in 1859 
 came to Texas, settling in Montgomery 
 county. Mr. Metts died in Montgomery 
 county. He was a member of the Baptist 
 church and was a man who stood high in 
 the estimation of all who knew him. Mrs. 
 Louisa Martin died in 1864, leaving two 
 children, viz.: Martha, who is now the 
 wife of Russell Holliway and resides in Cal- 
 lahan county, Texas; and Fanny, wife of 
 Robert Mahan, a farmer. In March, 1866, 
 Mr. Martin married Miss Indiana Cagel, 
 who was born in Mississippi in 1845, daugh- 
 ter of George W. Cagel, a native of In- 
 diana, she being named in honor of his old 
 home. Mr. Cagel moved south at an early 
 day and for many years followed boating on 
 the Mississippi river, later settling down on 
 a farm and conducting its operations and 
 also working at his trade of blacksmith. 
 The latter part of his life was spent in Mont- 
 gomery county, Texas, where he died about 
 1885. He was the sire of eleven children, 
 ten of whom reached adult years, namely: 
 Mary J., John A., Lucinda, Alzada, In- 
 diana, Almeda, William J., George A., 
 James F. and Greenberry. Of this number 
 three daughters and one son are still living, 
 Mrs. Martin being the only one who came 
 to Erath county. Mr. Martin and his pres- 
 
 ent wife have had seven children, three of 
 whom died young, the others being George 
 A., wife of Joseph Kirkland; and Ida S., 
 Mary R. .and Euberta B., at home. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Martin was in early life 
 a Whig, in 1856 he became a Democrat and 
 ever since that date has remained true to 
 this party and its principles; and while he 
 has ever taken a commendable interest in 
 public affairs he has never been an aspirant 
 for office of any kind. He is a member of 
 the Christian church. 
 
 ai 
 
 H. JORDAN is numbered among 
 the worthy citizens of central 
 Texas whose place of nativity is 
 Alabama. He was born in Pike 
 county, that state, on the 5th of May, 1848, 
 a son of Elijah and Eveline (Coleman) Jor- 
 dan. He was reared on his father's farm 
 and when seventeen years of age left his 
 home for a visit to Mississippi, where he re- 
 mained for a year. His arrival in Texas 
 dates from 1867, and since that time he has 
 been a resident of the central portion of the 
 Lone Star state. 
 
 Mr. Jordan first located at Thorp Spring, 
 Hood county, which was then on the very 
 border of civilization. He was employed 
 in the care of live stock for a time, and in 
 1868 he raised his first crop, upon a rented 
 farm. After carrying on agricultural pur- 
 suits in Hood county for two years he came 
 to Erath county and purchased one hundred 
 and thirty-three acres of wild land, which 
 was then heavily timbered, but undeterred 
 by the arduous task that lay before him he 
 began to clear the place and soon acre after 
 acre was plowed and placed under cultiva- 
 tion until now a tract of eighty acres has 
 been transformed into richly improved fields 
 
514 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 that yield to him a handsome return for his 
 labor. He has also extended the bounda- 
 ries of his farm by additional purchases until 
 his property now aggregates six huhdred and 
 sixty- five acres. 
 
 Mr. Jordan was married on the loth of 
 March, 1870, to Miss L. C. Hightower, a 
 native of Texas and a daughter of J. B. 
 Hightower. Two children bless this union, 
 J. B. and W. A., both of whom are still on 
 the home farm, assisting their father in its 
 cultivation. The elder son married Miss 
 Lou Ashworth. The mother died in 1879 
 and many warm friends mourned her loss. 
 
 Mr. Jordan is a member of the Mission- 
 ary Baptist church and takes a deep inter- 
 est in everything pertaining to the moral, 
 educational or social advancement of the 
 community. He is connected with the Odd 
 Fellows society and in his political views is 
 a Democrat. 
 
 BRANK H. SHERRILL, who is suc- 
 cessfully engaged in farming in 
 Comanche county, is a gentleman 
 of sterling business qualities who 
 has worked up to his present affluent posi- 
 tion by the strictest application of his splen- 
 did business abilities. He was for many 
 years connected with the building interests 
 of the county, and is now a representative 
 of the agricultural interests, and in both has 
 met with the desired success. 
 
 Mr. Sherrill is a member of one of the 
 old pioneer families of the state, and is 
 numbered among the native sons of Texas, 
 his birth having occurred in February, 1854, 
 in Washington county, where his father, 
 Hugh Sherrill, had settled at an early day. 
 The latter was a native of North Carolina 
 and married Cora Testard, who was born in 
 
 Tennessee and came of a well-known old 
 southern family of high repute. The mar- 
 riage occurred in Brenham, Washington 
 county, Texas, and during the civil war the 
 father entered the army as a member of a 
 regiment from the Lone Star state and died 
 during the service. He left a widow and 
 three children, and the former is now the 
 wife of M. V. Fleming, a pioneer and busi- 
 ness man of Comanche. The children are 
 Frank H., of this review; James Dudley, of 
 the First National Bank, of Comanche, and 
 Alberta, wife of J. T. Green, of Comanche. 
 
 Frank H. Sherrill was reared andacquired 
 his education in the common schools of 
 Washington county. He learned the car- 
 penter's trade, becoming an expert in that 
 line, and at the age of eighteen he came to 
 Comanche, where he still followed his trade. 
 He has erected and assisted in the building 
 of many of the best business houses and 
 residences of the county seat, and on vari- 
 ous sides stand evidences of his skill and 
 ability as a contractor and builder. In 
 1892 he purchased his present farm of one 
 hundred and sixty acres and has made this 
 a very valuable tract, with one hundred and 
 forty acres under cultivation. A substantial 
 residence, well-kept fences, good barns and 
 the other accessories of a model farm are 
 here seen, and everything gives evidence of 
 the thrift and enterprise of the owner. 
 
 In Caryell county, Texas, in 1874, was 
 celebrated the marriage of Mr. Sherrill and 
 Miss Sarah Gage, who was born in Bastrop 
 county, Texas, a daughter of I. C. and 
 Mary (Burleson) Gage, the former now 
 deceased, while the latter is a resident of 
 Comanche county, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Sherrill have a family of four sons and four 
 daughters, namely: Hugh, Alfretta, Mar- 
 tin, Bailey, Frank, Camille, Cora and Mary. 
 
HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 515 
 
 Our subject gives his political support to 
 the men and measures of the silver Democ- 
 racy and has served as deputy sheriff of the 
 county. He is a member of the Odd Fel- 
 lows society of Comanche, in which he has 
 served as noble grand. He has been ener- 
 getic and industrious, and working his way 
 steadily upward he has overcome all the 
 difficulties and obstacles which must be 
 encountered in a business career, until now 
 he has reached the goal of prosperity. 
 
 m. 
 
 ILLIAM D. SWITZER is suc- 
 cessfully engaged in carrying on 
 agricultural pursuits in Comanche 
 county, and belongs to that class 
 of thoroughgoing, substantial citizens to 
 whom the welfare and advancement of the 
 community is due. A native of South Caro- 
 lina, he was born on the 6th of May, 1856, 
 in Orangeburg county, and is a son of W. C. 
 Switzer, one of the honored and respected 
 citizens of Comanche county, who has re- 
 sided here for twenty years. He married 
 Jane C. Yeargin, who belongs to a promi- 
 nent southern family and was born and 
 reared in South Carolina. Her death oc- 
 curred in Comanche county, in April, 1895. 
 Of the twelve children born of their union, 
 nine are still living, as follows: Rufus, Will- 
 iam D., Lulu Clover, J. J., of the De Leon 
 Press, David, Fred, Walter, Isla May and 
 Yeargin. 
 
 In taking up the personal history of 
 William D. Switzer we present to our read- 
 ers the life record of one who is widely and 
 favorably known in Comanche county, and 
 who has been prominently identified with 
 the interests of western Texas through the 
 period of its development, and is familiar 
 with all the hardships and dangers incident 
 
 to life on the plains. He was a child of 
 ten years when the family took up their abode 
 in Austin county, Texas, and with his parents 
 he later removed to Milam county. The 
 public schools afforded him his educational 
 privileges and business experience has added 
 largely to this training. For eight years he 
 was a cowboy on the plains of Texas, Colo- 
 rado and New Mexico, at the time when the 
 Indians were numerous in the western dis- 
 trict and had no regard for the rights of the 
 white settlers. In 1884 he purchased his 
 present farm, comprising one hundred and 
 sixty acres, one half of which has been 
 planted in crops and yields to him a good 
 income in return for his labor. An orchard, 
 residence and barn add to the value and im- 
 provement of the farm, which is one of the 
 best in the neighborhood. 
 
 Mr. Switzer was married in 1887 to Miss 
 Bettie, daughter of William A. Thompson, 
 of Brown county, Texas. She died in 1888, 
 and in 1893 he wedded Miss Alice Bennett, 
 a native of Ellis county, who was reared 
 and educated in Georgia and in Arkansas. 
 Her parents, Jessie L. and Sallie (Burke) 
 Bennett, were both natives of Tennessee, 
 and their children were Walter and Alice. 
 The father died, and the mother afterward 
 married W. W. Justus, with whom she is 
 now living in Comanche county. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Switzer have two interesting children, 
 — Horace S. and Flora Lee. 
 
 Our subject is deeply interested in the 
 cause of reform, of education and of tem- 
 perance, and lends a hearty support to the 
 advancement of these measures. He and 
 his wife are consistent members of the 
 Methodist church at Blanket, and he is a 
 leader in the Sunday-school, being now the 
 efficient teacher of the young people's Bible 
 class. 
 
51G 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 x,/^ OBERT M. WAGNON is the 
 
 I /^ owner of one of the fine farms of 
 \ . P Comanche county and has made 
 his home thereon since 1882. The 
 place comprises three hundred and twenty 
 acres of rich land, all of which is under 
 fence, while one hundred and twenty acres 
 is divided into fields of convenient size and 
 planted with the crops best adapted to this 
 climate. The harvests have brought to him 
 a good return for his labor and he is recog- 
 niijed as one of the substantial and progress- 
 ive agriculturists of the community. His 
 comfortable home is twenty-four by forty 
 feet, and the broad porches add to its at- 
 tractive appearance. There are also good 
 barns, cattle sheds, well and tanks, and in 
 fact all the improvements that are to be 
 found upon a model farm. 
 
 The owner of this desirable property 
 came to Comanche county, in November, 
 1870. He was born in Washington county, 
 Arkansas, near the mouth of War Eagle 
 river, August 4, 1848. His father. Perry 
 Wagnon, was also a native of Arkansas, and 
 a son of Beryl Wagnon, an early settler of 
 that state, — but a native of Indiana and a 
 descendant of Colonel George Wagnon, one 
 of the honored heroes of the Revolutionary 
 war. He was of Welsh and German e.\- 
 traction and was the first of the family to 
 settle in the " Bear state." Perry Wagnon 
 grew to manhood there and learned and fol- 
 lowed the carpenter's trade. He married 
 Elizabeth Easley, who was born in Ken- 
 tucky, a daughter of William D. Easley, a 
 native of Tennessee and a representative of 
 one of the old families of that state. When 
 the war broke out the father of our subject 
 entered the southern army and served with 
 the Third Louisiana regiment, until his 
 death, which was occasioned by measles. 
 
 He left a widow and seven children, namely: 
 Robert M., W. B., Sarah Jane, F. M., F. 
 G., T. A., and J. W. The mother is still 
 living, at the age of seventy-four years. Mr. 
 Wagnon was in politics a Democrat, and in 
 religious belief was a Methodist. Many 
 years of his life were devoted to the work of 
 the Master, and he was ordained as a min- 
 ister of the Methodist church. 
 
 Robert M. Wagnon spent the days of 
 his boyhood and youth in his native state 
 and acquired his education in the public 
 schools. After his father's death the re- 
 sponsibility of caring for the younger mem- 
 bers of the family devolved upon his mother 
 and himself and he proved her very able as- 
 sistant. He was then but fourteen years of 
 age, but he labored earnestly and faithfully 
 performed the heavy duties that fell to his 
 lot. He was also a valiant soldier boy, en- 
 tering the army as a member of Captain 
 Ingram's company and Colonel Brooks' regi- 
 ment. When the war was over he came to 
 Texas in 1865 and worked in the employ of 
 others, caring for stock until 1870. Thus 
 he got his start in life. He then came to 
 Comanche county, where for more than a 
 quarter of a century he has made his home. 
 Since purchasing his present property he 
 has been successfully engaged in its cultiva- 
 tion and in stock-raising. He has some 
 good cattle and horses and buys and sells 
 stock. 
 
 In 1873, in Comanche coimty, was cele- 
 brated the marriage of Mr. Wagnon and 
 Miss E. M. Bates, an esteemed and cultured 
 lady, a native of Georgia and a daughter of 
 William and R. C. Bates, who came to 
 Texas from Georgia. Her parents had a 
 large family. The family of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Wagnon numbers twelve children, seven 
 sons and five daughters, namely: W. Perry, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 517 
 
 Dovey J., Harvey G. , Julia Ann, Rosa M., 
 Ruth N., Seth, Custer, Robert J., Cyrus 
 Buell, Noah Webster, and Beryl. 
 
 Since attaining his majority Mr. Wagnon 
 has supported the men and measures of the 
 Democratic party with the exception of the 
 past three years, when he has voted with the 
 Populist party. He is a consistent member 
 of the Baptist church, in which he is serv- 
 ing as deacon, and is a public-spirited pro- 
 gressive man, who favors all interests or 
 movements which have for their object the 
 welfare of the community and its advance- 
 ment. In manner he is pleasant and 
 frank, a man of sterling worth whose many 
 excellent qualities make him a popular 
 citizen. 
 
 ^"^^AMUEL LATIMORE CARLTON, 
 •^^^ a merchant of Carlton, Texas, and 
 k_^ the proprietor of one of the best 
 stores in Hamilton county, is the 
 subject of this review. He is a son of 
 James and Mary Jane (Aiken) Carlton and 
 a brother of Dr. F. M. Carlton. To the 
 sketch of the latter in this work the reader 
 is referred for the history of their ancestry. 
 Samuel L. Carlton spent his early life 
 in Mississippi and Arkansas, left home at 
 the age of fourteen and from that time on 
 made his own way in the world, for some 
 years engaging in farm work. In 1861 he 
 came to Newton county, Texas, and the 
 three years following was employed as over- 
 seer on farms in this state. His next loca- 
 tion was in Louisiana one year, then re- 
 turned to Arkansas, where he was engaged 
 in running machinery. From there he re- 
 turned to Texas, in 1876, this time to Erath 
 county, where he engaged in farming. 
 Subsequently he removed three-quarters of 
 
 a mile east of Carlton, at which place he 
 purchased a farm of ninety-seven acres, 
 which he still owns. Mr. Carlton's career 
 as a merchant began in September, 1888. 
 At that time he bought out a small stock of 
 goods, valued at only forty dollars, pur- 
 chased more goods, to the amount of three 
 hundred dollars, and opened business in the 
 old Armstrong building, on the site he still 
 occupies. In the summer of 1892 this 
 building was torn down and a new structure 
 erected better suited to the requirements of 
 his increasing business, and in it he contin- 
 ued to prosper until January 13, 1894, 
 when the building and contents were swept 
 away by fire. The following August he be- 
 gan the erection of his present fine build- 
 ing, which is built of stone quarried at this 
 place, and as soon as it was completed he 
 stocked up anew, opening his doors for bus- 
 iness in November. At the time of the fire 
 he carried a stock valued at five thousand 
 and six hundred dollars. When he opened 
 up again it was with a four-thousand-dollar 
 stock, and now his stock is valued at no 
 less than seven thousand dollars. His sales 
 average about forty-one thousand dollars. 
 Such has been the success of this persever- 
 ing man who began at the bottom and 
 has worked his way up in spite of discour- 
 agements and misfortune. As already 
 stated, Mr. Carlton now owns one of the 
 finest stores in the county; and in his busi- 
 ness he is ably assisted by his son Elmer, 
 a young man of good habits and business 
 abiHty. 
 
 Mr. Carlton was married December 23, 
 1873, in White county, Arkansas, to Miss 
 Elizabeth Johanna Bolton, a native of Ten- 
 nessee, born December 13, 1854, daughter 
 of Captain Bolton. Their family comprises 
 the following members: Elmer, born Jan- 
 
518 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS 
 
 uary 1 1, 1875; James Wesley, born June 6, 
 1876, died March 12, 1877; Marcus Otho, 
 born December 16, 1878; Lillie Belle, May 
 9, 1882; Samuel Robert, May 19, 1887; 
 and Sydney Harrison, March 15, 1889. 
 
 Like his brother, Mr. Carlton was made 
 a Mason by Center Hill Lodge in Arkansas, 
 and his name is found on the list of charter 
 members of the Carlton Masonic Lodge. 
 His political standing has been with the 
 Republicans, at least in the national cam- 
 paigns, until recently, when he identified 
 himself with the Populist party. 
 
 ^ V* M. MOSS, a well-known farmer of 
 ^ Bosque county and at this writing a 
 A 1 candidate for the office of county 
 commissioner, is a gentleman whose 
 prominence in the county entitles him to 
 more than a passing notice in this work. 
 The following facts in regard to his life have 
 been gleaned for publication: 
 
 Mr. Moss is a native of Morgan county, 
 Illinois. He was born January 16, 1833, a 
 son of Isaac Moss and grandson of John 
 Moss, the family being of Irish origin. Isaac 
 Moss was a native of the Old Dominion and 
 an early settler of Morgan county, Illinois. 
 He and his wife, who was of French de- 
 scent and a representative of one of the pio- 
 neer families of St. Louis, were the parents of 
 nine children, namely: Elizabeth, James 
 M., Jonas, John, Nancy, Thomas, W. D., 
 Martha Josephine and Rosanna. The fa- 
 ther died in Scott county, Illinois, at the 
 age of seventy years. The Moss family was 
 represented in both the Mexican and late 
 civil wars. In the latter Isaac Moss and 
 two of his sons were participants, he and 
 one son in the northern army and the other 
 in the Confederate ranks. The one who 
 
 espoused the southern cause was the subject 
 of our sketch, J. M. He had gone to Cairo, 
 Illinois, in 1855 and was a resident of that 
 place when the war broke out, and from 
 there he enlisted in Jeff. Thompson's brig- 
 ade. General Price in command, and fought 
 as bravely and earnestly for the cause of the 
 south as did his father and brother for the 
 preservation of the Union. In a skirmish 
 at Bertrand, Missouri, he was wounded in 
 the left side. 
 
 After the war Mr. Moss lived in Mis- 
 souri until 1870, when he came to Texas 
 and located in Bosque county, and since 
 1876 has resided on his present farm. 
 
 Mr. Moss was married at the age of 
 thirty-one to Miss Eliza E. Kitts, a native 
 of Louisville, Kentucky, and a daughter of 
 Edward and Joanna Kitts. She is now the 
 only surviving member of her family. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Moss are active and influential 
 members of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
 south, in which he has for many years been 
 honored with the office of class-leader and 
 steward. 
 
 Formerly he harmonized in his political 
 views with the Democratic party, but re- 
 cently has affiliated with the Populists and 
 is now their candidate for county commis- 
 sioner. He is a man of sterling integrity 
 and one whose influence is felt for good in 
 his community, and if elected will, without 
 doubt, make a worthy official. 
 
 >^ V. . STEPHENS, a worthy and 
 fl highly respected old settler of Erath 
 A ■ county, who for many years has 
 been prominent in the development 
 of this region, is a native of Alabama, his 
 birth having occurred in Morgan county, on 
 the 15th of May, 1840, his parents being 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 519 
 
 Benjamin F. and Anna (Maxwell) Stephens. 
 Until his fourteenth year he remained under 
 the parental roof, after which he accom- 
 panied his brother Benjamin F. to Texas, 
 settling in Hunt county in 1854. There 
 the brothers remained four years and both 
 are still residents of the Lone Star state, 
 the elder now making his home in Black 
 Jack Grove, in Hopkins county, Texas, 
 where he is ranked among the prominent 
 business men and esteemed citizens. 
 
 In 1858 the subject of this review came 
 to Erath county, then a young man of 
 eighteen years, vigorous and energetic, well 
 fitted by nature to cope with the difficulties 
 of pioneer life. These he met unflinchingly, 
 and, like all troubles when bravely encoun- 
 tered, the trials incident to the frontier van- 
 ished away before his persistent, resolute 
 efforts. Soon after the breaking out of the 
 late war, his patriotism prompted his en- 
 listment in the Texas Rangers, an organiza- 
 tion formed to protect the homes and their 
 inmates from Indian depredations. The 
 red men were at that time occasioning the 
 white settlers great trouble, and a patrol of 
 armed men all along the border was neces- 
 sary to hold them in check. Mr. Stephens 
 first enlisted in Captain Selma's company 
 and efficiently discharged all the duties 
 allotted to him. After a year he was 
 mustered out, but immediately re-enlisted 
 in the same service as a member of Captain 
 Whiteside's company, from which a year 
 later he was transferred to Captain Lloyd's 
 command. He met the Indians in a num- 
 ber of running skirmishes and did gallant 
 duty in the lower Brazos countr}' until the 
 war was over, when the company was dis- 
 banded, in June, 1865. 
 
 Mr. Stephens at once returned to Erath 
 county and engaged in the cattle business, 
 
 locating upon the farm which is now his 
 place of residence. He has been very suc- 
 cessful in his farming operations and has ac- 
 cumulated a good property, being now the 
 owner of six hundred and twenty acres of 
 valuable land, of which sixty acres is under 
 cultivation and nicely improved with com- 
 fortable buildings. In appearance it is neat 
 and thrifty and well indicates the careful 
 supervision of the owner, who is one of the 
 practical and progressive farmers of the 
 county. 
 
 Mr. Stephens was married in January, 
 1866, to Miss Olive, daughter of George W. 
 and Melvina (Jackson) Wilkins. Her par- 
 ents came with their children to Texas when 
 it was a repubHc and located first in the 
 eastern part of the state. In 1859 they all 
 came to Erath county, where they lived 
 until after the war, and then went to Hunt 
 county, Texas, where the father died within 
 a short time. He was a native of Georgia 
 and as a means of livelihood followed the 
 occupation of farming. Both he and his 
 wife were members of the Primitive Baptist 
 church. In their family were nine children, 
 those besides the subject of this sketch 
 being Olive, David, James, Mary, Sarah, 
 Elijah, deceased, Louisa and George. The 
 mother of this family is yet living. 
 
 To our subject and his wife have been 
 born ten children, and the family circle yet 
 remains unbroken by the hand of death. 
 They are Will, Melvina, Martha, Zoe, Lucy, 
 George, Lilie, Benjamin F. , Alice Lonora, 
 and Thomas. The family is widely and 
 favorably known throughout Erath county 
 and their hospitable home is a favorite 
 resort with many friends. In politics Mr. 
 Stephens is a stanch Democrat, but has 
 never been an office-seeker. His wife is a 
 member of the Baptist church. His long 
 
520 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 residence in the county has made him widely 
 known and he is well worthy of representa- 
 tion in this volume. 
 
 iHOMAS EDWARD PRESLEY, 
 M. D., is one of the younger mem- 
 bers of the medical profession of 
 Hamilton county, but his ability is 
 by no means measured by his years, and he 
 is to-day enjoying a reputation and a patron- 
 age that many an older practitioner might 
 well envy. He is located at Shive, where 
 for three years he has made his home. 
 
 The Doctor is a native of Coldwater, 
 Mississippi, born January 7, 1870, and a son 
 of James Madison and Sarah (Cain) Presley. 
 The family ancestry is traced back to the 
 Emerald Isle, whence the great-grandfather 
 of our subject emigrated to South Carolina. 
 The grandfather, Winfield Roslin Presley, 
 was born in South Carolina and married 
 Anna Hardin, and their children were John 
 Madison, Thomas and Elizabeth. The sec- 
 ond named was a native of the same state 
 and in his early manhood went to Missis- 
 sippi. In 1885 he came to Te.xas, locating 
 near Boston, in Bowie county, on the 5th 
 of December of that year. He purchased 
 two hundred acres of land, one third of 
 which was under a high state of cultivation, 
 and there began farming. He is still living 
 in eastern Texas, at the age of si.xty-seven 
 years. Mr. and Mrs. Presley had five chil- 
 dren, namely: William Roslin, John, Car- 
 roll, Emma J. and Thomas Edward. 
 
 The last named was a youth of fifteen 
 when he accompanied his parents to Texas. 
 He began the study of medicine under the 
 direction of Dr. J. H. Camp, of Bassett, 
 Texas, and after a course in the Memphis 
 Hospital Medical College, of Memphis, Ten- 
 
 nessee, was graduated with the degree of 
 M. D. He first came to Shive in February, 
 1893, and after his graduation returned to 
 the place which is now his home and where 
 he is successfully engaged in general prac- 
 tice. He is a close student of his profes- 
 sion, deeply interested in its advancement 
 and keeps thoroughly in touch with the prog- 
 ress of the day. On first coming to Shive 
 he also embarked in the drug business in 
 connection with E. L. McKinley, but after 
 six months sold out to his partner and has 
 since given his entire attention to his chosen 
 calling. 
 
 The Doctor was united in marriage June 
 7, 1 891, to Elizabeth Parthenia Dillard, 
 daughter of Edward Peters and Emma 
 (Holcolm) Dillard, and a native of Texas, 
 born August 6, 1869. They have three 
 children: Jennie Elizabeth, born February 
 27, 1892; Kelsey, May 4, 1893; and Palmer, 
 June 7, 1895. The Doctor and his wife 
 have a pleasant home, which is noted for 
 its hospitality, and their friends through the 
 community are many. In his political 
 views he is a stanch Democrat. 
 
 ^VOHN WASDIN JONES is the owner 
 ■ of one of the fine farms in Hood 
 A 1 county, — a tract of three hundred 
 and seventy-six acres, — the greater 
 part of which is under a high state of culti- 
 vation. There are good improvements 
 upon the place, including a handsome coun- 
 try residence, substantial out-buildings, well- 
 kept fences and the other accessories of the 
 model farm, and the owner is now success- 
 fully engaged in general farming and stock- 
 raising. He is progressive in his methods, 
 energetic and persevering in his work, hon- 
 orable in all dealings, and is justly regarded 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 521 
 
 as one of the leading and influential agri- 
 culturists of his adopted county. 
 
 Mr. Jones is a native of North Carolina, 
 his birth having occurred in Wayne county 
 on the 5th of January, 1837. His parents, 
 John and Mary (Wasdin) Jones, were both 
 natives of the same state and their respective 
 fathers belonged to old Virginian families. 
 In early manhood John Jones learned the 
 saddler's trade, at which he worked for 
 some years, but later in life he became a 
 farmer. He died in North Carolina in 
 185 1, and his wife, surviving him ten years, 
 passed away in 1861. They were the 
 parents of eight children, — two sons and 
 six daughters, — only three of whom are now 
 living: Sarah, wife of William Bardin, who 
 is living near the old homestead in North 
 Carolina; J. W., and Alva A. Balance, also 
 a resident of North Carolina. 
 
 J. W. Jones was reared on his father's 
 farm and acquired a good English education 
 in a private school near his home. At the 
 age of eighteen he assumed the manage- 
 ment of the home farm, which was largely 
 covered with pine forests, and the manu- 
 facture of turpentine therefore became the 
 labor to which he turned his attention. 
 He was extensively engaged in this business 
 at the breaking out of the civil war. He 
 had removed to South Carolina in 1859 and 
 was doing a large and profitable business, 
 when in 1861 he put aside all considerations 
 of personal gain to aid in the protection of 
 the southern principles and institutions 
 which had been familiar to him from his 
 earliest infancy. He joined the "boys in 
 gray" of Company A, Fourteenth South 
 Carolina Infantry, with which he was con- 
 nected until the close of the war, partici- 
 pating in many engagements with his regi- 
 ment. He was slightly wounded at the 
 
 battles of Gettysburg and Gaines' Mills, and 
 on the loth of May, 1864, was taken pris- 
 oner at Spottsylvania and held at Fort 
 Delaware until June, 1865, vvhen the war 
 was at an end and he was released. 
 
 Mr. Jones returned to his home in South 
 Carolina to find his possessions gone. While 
 he was thus forced to begin life anew, he 
 began school-teaching, which he followed 
 until the close of the year 1865. On the 
 7th of December of that year he married 
 Sue E. Carter, a native of South Carolina, 
 and a daughter of Giles and Martha Carter, 
 who were members of old families of that 
 state. After his marriage Mr. Jones began 
 farming, and followed that pursuit until 
 1870, when he came to Texas, arriving in 
 Harrison county on the i8th of March. In 
 the succeeding autumn he came to Hood 
 county, reaching his destination on the 28th 
 of October. He purchased land, but owing 
 to a defective title he was unable to hold it. 
 In 1874 he taught the first school in this 
 part of Hood county, conducting the same 
 for four terms, and at the same time carry- 
 ing on agricultural pursuits. In 1873 he 
 purchased seventy-six acres of land ten 
 miles south of Granbury, and thereon made 
 his home until 1887, when he took up his 
 residence upon his present farm. In addi- 
 tion to this he owns a tract of one hundred 
 and twenty-five acres elsewhere. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Jones had eight children, 
 three of whom died in childhood. Those 
 still living are Charles W., who is a farmer 
 of Hood county; Jesse; Sarah A., wife of 
 James McCarty, of Erath county; Martha 
 H., wife of R. T. Blackburn, a resident of 
 Smithville, Bastrop county, Texas; and 
 David, at home. The mother of these chil- 
 dren died February 27, 1880, and Mr. Jones 
 was married December 7, 1 881, to Cynthia 
 
522 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Poe, a native of Alabama, and a daughter 
 of William and Elizabeth Poe. By this 
 union there is one son, George. 
 
 Our subject and his wife are consistent 
 members of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
 south. In his political association Mr. Jones 
 is a Democrat, and has always taken an act- 
 ive interest in all public questions of the 
 da}'. He was elected county commissioner 
 in 1892, filling the office for one term. He 
 belongs'to Mistletoe Lodge, No. 67, K. P., 
 and is a man of strong personality and 
 marked intelligence, who keeps well abreast 
 of the times on all public questions, state 
 and national. He is an excellent citizen, 
 highly regarded by an extended circle of 
 friends, and his fine home is the abode of 
 that genuine hospitality for which the south 
 is so justly noted. 
 
 K^/^ P- SADLER.— Among the repre- 
 1/''^ sentative and influential citizens 
 J^^_^ of Bosque county is numbered this 
 gentleman, whose residence in the 
 state of Texas dates from 1857. He was 
 born in Jackson county, Tennessee, May 20, 
 1848, and comes of a family of long identi- 
 fication with the south. His paternal grand- 
 father was a native of Virginia and of Scotch- 
 Irish descent. He died on the old Sadler 
 homestead in the Big Bend state, at the age 
 of eighty-six years. His wife bore the 
 maiden name of Patsy Williamson. The 
 father of our subject, John K. Sadler, was 
 born in Maury county, Tennessee, Decem- 
 ber 2, 1 80 1, and was reared in Jackson 
 county, acquiring his education in the pub- 
 lic schools of that locality. At the age of 
 twenty-two he married Celina Roberts, a 
 native of Jackson county, and in 1857 he 
 emigrated with his family to McLennan 
 
 county, Texas. His home was located 
 twenty miles west of Waco, and there 
 he engaged in the live-stock business, 
 winning success in his undertakings. In 
 political affiliations he was a Democrat. He 
 served as elder in the Presbyterian church, 
 and his upright life commended him to the 
 confidence of all. His death occurred in 
 Comanche county, Texas, at the age of 
 eighty-nine and his wife passed away at the 
 age of eighty-five. For more than sixty 
 years they traveled life's journey together, 
 their mutual love and confidence increasing 
 as the years went by, while their upright 
 lives won them the high regard of all. 
 Their family consisted of eight sons and a 
 daughter, namely: C. C, born April 26, 
 1824, and during life served twelve years as 
 county commissioner; E. F. , born Febru- 
 ary 30, 1826, and W. K., born July 2, 1828, 
 both died in childhood; J. R., born April 
 18, 1830, now lives in Oklahoma; Ridley, 
 born in 1832, died in infancy; Darthula, 
 born in 1834, is the wife of A. E. Hogan, 
 of Comanche county; Henry W., born in 
 1837, was a quartermaster in the Confeder- 
 ate army, and is now a resident of McGreg- 
 or, Texas; R. B., M. D., born in 1839 and 
 died in Bastrop, Louisiana, in 1894; and 
 B. P., the subject of this sketch, born May 
 20, T848. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was a child of 
 nine years when he came with his parents 
 to Texas. He acquired his education in 
 Bosqueville and in Bell county, and at the 
 age of sixteen entered the Confederate serv- 
 ice, thus becoming one of the soldier boys 
 — boys in years but men in courage — of the 
 civil war. He served with the Nineteenth 
 Texas Infantry, and when the war ended re- 
 turned to his home. 
 
 In 1874, Mr. Sadler removed to Rusk 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 523 
 
 county, Texas. On the 21st of November, 
 1872, he had wedded Mary B. Graham, who 
 was born, reared and educated in the Lone 
 Star state. Her father was Dr. A. B. Gra- 
 ham, a native of Alabama, and a pioneer of 
 Texas. Her mother, who bore the maiden 
 name of Susan A. Bradfield, was also born 
 in Alabama, and they now reside in Hen- 
 derson, Texas. Their children are W. J., 
 who is judge of his district; Mrs. B. C. Dick- 
 inson, whose husband was county clerk of 
 Rusk county, Texas, for twelve years; and 
 Mrs. Sadler. To our subject and his wife 
 were born six children, four of whom are 
 now living: Jodi* Graham, a student in 
 Vanderbilt University, of Tennessee; Esther, 
 deceased; Walter H. ; Anna, who died at the 
 age of two years; Malcolm; and Alfred B. 
 The mother was called to the eternal home 
 July 24, 1884, and in March, 1886, Mr. 
 Sadler married Ida Parramore, a native of 
 Georgia, by whom he has two sons— Edgar 
 L. and Forest. The second wife died Jan- 
 uary 7, 1889. 
 
 Mr. Sadler took up his residence near 
 Valley Mills in Bosque county in 1875, and 
 in 1 88 1 located on his present farm, where 
 he owns two hundred and fifty acres of land, 
 of which one hundred acres is under culti- 
 vation. In politics he is a Democrat, and 
 m religious belief a Presbyterian. He is a 
 man of intelligence and good business ability, 
 faithful to his duties of citizenship and popu- 
 lar with his fellow men. 
 
 WAMES M. PEVELER._Prominent 
 I among the representative citizens and 
 (»J respected and influential men of 
 Hood county is found the subject of 
 this biographical notice, who is engaged in 
 general farming. His land is well improved 
 
 and highly cultivated, and shows conclu- 
 sively that the owner has not mistaken his 
 calling in adopting agriculture. 
 
 The entire life of our subject has been 
 passed in Texas, his birth having occurred 
 in Fannin county, April 6, 1838. His par- 
 ents, David and Sarah (McCart) Peveler, 
 were both natives of Kentucky, where they 
 grew to maturity and were married. The 
 former was of German descent, and the lat- 
 ter of Irish lineage. Her father, John 
 McCart, served as a soldier under General 
 George Washington during the Revolution- 
 ary war. Soon after their marriage the 
 parents of our subject emigrated to Mis- 
 souri, where they remained a few years, and 
 then went to Iowa. In 1837, however, we 
 find them in Texas, and in Fannin county 
 they located when there was only one fam- 
 ily living west of them. The father became 
 captain of a company which he led against 
 the Indians under General Tarrant, in 
 1 84 1. The family endured all the hard- 
 ships incident to pioneer life among the 
 Indians, and one son, W. R., was killed by 
 the red men in September, 1864. In com- 
 pany with five other white men he was en- 
 gaged in battle against about sixty Indians, 
 and on the 5th of that month received a 
 wound which terminated his life. G. C. 
 Peveler served in the Mexican war under 
 General Zachary Taylor, entering the serv- 
 ice in 1846 and remaining therein about 
 two years. He died in Young county, 
 Texas, in 1862. 
 
 The parental household included thir- 
 teen children, one of whom died in child- 
 hood, but eight sons and four daughters 
 grew to maturity, and seven are still living, 
 namely: Malissa, who is the widow of 
 Thomas Burns, and now lives in William- 
 son county, Texas; Lucinda Terrill, of 
 
524 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Young county; Mrs. Mary Hampton, of 
 Grayson county; James M., of this review; 
 Samuel H. and Francis M., both farmers of 
 Hood county; and Martha, wife of Colonel 
 J. B. Barry, of Bosque county. As there 
 were few schools in Texas at that early day 
 the educational privileges of the children 
 were very meager. With their family the 
 parents removed to Young county in 1857, 
 and in 1866 came to Hood county, settling 
 on the Brazos river, where the father died 
 on the 1st of January, 1867. His widow 
 survived him until January 29, 1894, dying 
 at the extreme old age of ninety-four years. 
 
 James M. Peveler was reared to agricul- 
 tural pursuits, and in Young county, in 
 1855, became connected with the cattle 
 business, continuing in that trade with good 
 success until the breaking out of the civil 
 war. In 1861 he joined a frontier regiment 
 commanded by Colonel Openchain, in which 
 he served until the close of hostilities, and 
 was with Sullivan Ross at the capture of 
 the celebrated Cynthia Ann Parker. 
 
 After his return home Mr. Peveler closed 
 out his stock business and removed to Hood 
 county, where he has since successfully en- 
 gaged in farming. He first bought one 
 hundred and seventy-seven acres, to which 
 he has added until he now owns three hun- 
 dred and eighty-seven acres of tillable land 
 and has placed two hundred acres under 
 cultivation. He has had much experience 
 with the Indians, having, on two different 
 occasions in 1866, all his horses stolen by 
 them. In January, 1868, while he and two 
 others were out fox-hunting, they encoun- 
 tered a party of Indians who stole all the 
 horses in the valley with the exception of 
 those belonging to our subject and his neigh- 
 bor, Mr. Raborn, whom he apprised of their 
 presence. 
 
 On the 6th of March, 1867, was cele- 
 brated the marriage of Mr. Peveler and 
 Miss Mary Jane Goodlet, a daughter of Cal- 
 vin Goodlet, a pioneer of Hood county, and 
 to them were born three children, but the 
 only son is now deceased. The daughters 
 are Martha, who is now the wife of A. C. 
 Middleton, of Jones county; and Maggie, 
 wife of Walter Dillard, of Cleburne, Texas. 
 The mother of these children died March 7, 
 1873, and on the 19th of December, 1883, 
 Mr. Peveler was again married, his second 
 union being with Harriet T. Harris, a native 
 of Tennessee. One son is born by this mar- 
 riage, Walter L., March 24, 1887. Mrs. 
 Peveler is a consistent member of the Cum- 
 berland Presbyterian church. 
 
 Mr. Peveler, who is a great reader, keeps 
 himself well informed on the current events 
 of the day and takes a commendable inter- 
 est in the public schools. He uses his right 
 of franchise in support of the men and 
 measures of the Democratic party, but has 
 never sought office of any kind, preferring to 
 devote his entire time and attention to his 
 business interests. Socially, he is identified 
 with Jubilee Lodge, F. & A. M. Both he 
 and his most excellent wife enjoy the es- 
 teem and respect of the neighborhood, and 
 are valued members of the community. 
 
 ■»-t'OHN WILLIAM HINKLE, county 
 J commissioner of Hamilton county, is 
 A 1 a representative citizen, the owner 
 of a valuable farm, and stands well 
 in the community. His birth occurred on 
 the 20th of August, 1849, in Clark county, 
 Arkansas, on the homestead farm of his 
 father, William Hinkle, a sketch of whom 
 appears elsewhere in this volume. At the 
 age of twenty-eight he began agricultural 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 525 
 
 pursuits on his own account, upon a farm 
 of fifty acres, which he owned in Dallas 
 county. In 1880 he removed to Milam 
 county, but in the summer of that year pur- 
 chased one hundred and sixty acres in Ham- 
 ilton county, on which he located the fol- 
 lowing autumn. He later bought four hun- 
 dred and eighty acres, but has since 
 sold one hundred acres of that amount, 
 so that he now has three hundred and 
 eighty acres, of which one hundred acres 
 are under a high state of cultivation. 
 It is supplied with good and substantial 
 buildings, and all the farm machinery is 
 modern. He spent his boyhood and youth 
 after the manner of most farmers' sons, be- 
 coming familiar with plowing, sowing and 
 reaping, and amid the quiet scenes of coun- 
 try life grew up with a healthy constitution, 
 a clear brain, and was well equipped for his 
 chosen calling. 
 
 On the 2d of May, 1878, Mr. Hinkle 
 was united in marriage with Miss Sarah 
 Elizabeth Gilliland, who was born in Parker 
 county, Texas, February 2, 1858, and is 
 the daughter of James Berry and Angeline 
 (Baker) Gilliland. They have become the 
 parents of five children: Charles William, 
 born July 12, 1879; James Baltus, born 
 February 2, 1881; Avy Emzella, born Au- 
 gust 2, 1883; Chloe Alice, born July 25, 1885; 
 and Johrt Calvin, who was born September 
 4, 1888, and died on the 13th of the same 
 month. 
 
 Mr. Hinkle was a supporter of the Dem- 
 ocratic party until 1880, when he joined 
 the Greenback party, later belonged to the 
 Union Labor party, and since 1892 has 
 been a Populist. He was elected county 
 commissioner in the fall of 1894, and so 
 ably has he filled that position, giving the 
 best of satisfaction, that his name is promi- 
 
 nently mentioned for re-nomination. For 
 twelve years he has been a consistent mem- 
 ber of the Missionary Baptist church, to 
 which his estimable wife also belongs. 
 They enjoy the society and friendship of 
 the best people of their community, and 
 possess the entire confidence and regard of 
 their neighbors. 
 
 at 
 
 ILLIAM HINKLE, a prominent 
 and leading farmer of Hamilton 
 county, like many of the best 
 citizens of Texas, is a native of 
 Alabama, born in Madison county, April 4, 
 1 82 1, and is the son of Baltis and Annie 
 (Downing) Hinkle, the former of German 
 descent and the latter of Irish lineage, her 
 grandfather having come to this country 
 from the Emerald Isle and founding the 
 family here. The paternal grandfather of 
 our subject, Jesse Hinkle, was born in South 
 Carolina, whence he went to Alabama, and 
 later became a resident of Tennessee, where 
 his death occurred in 1832, at the age of 
 seventy years. In his family were four 
 children, — William, Jonathan, Baltis and 
 Zuly. 
 
 By trade the father of our subject was a 
 carpenter. He died in Alabama when our 
 subject was about six years old, at the age 
 of thirty years. William was the oldest in 
 the family of five children, the others being 
 John, Alexander, Catherine and Baltis; but 
 himself and John are the only ones now liv- 
 ing. After the death of Mr. Hinkle his 
 widow returned to the home of her parents, 
 Andrew and Elizabeth (Jones) Downing, 
 whose children were: Mary, John, Catherine, 
 Annie, William, James, Sarah and Jonathan. 
 Mr. Downing died in Tennessee, in 1844, at 
 the ripe old age of seventy-eight years. 
 
526 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 For her second husband the mother of our 
 subject wedded Tyrance Emerson, by whom 
 she had five children. Her death also oc- 
 curred in Tennessee, in the fall of 1855, at 
 the age of fifty years. 
 
 When between the age of six and seven 
 years, William Hinkle was taken by his 
 parents to Wayne county, Tennessee, where 
 he made his home until 1848, when he re- 
 moved to Saline county, Arkansas. Later 
 he became a resident of Clark county, the 
 same state, and during the war went to Hot 
 Springs county. In January, 1869, how- 
 ever, we find him a resident of Dallas coun- 
 ty, Texas, where he bought two hundred 
 and fifty acres of partially improved land, 
 living there until the fall of 1883, when he 
 came to his present farm of one hundred 
 acres of rich and productive land in Hamil- 
 ton county. 
 
 Mr. Hinkle was married February 13, 
 1845, to Miss Frances Carolina Tinkle, who 
 was born in Limestone county, Alabama, 
 March 5, 1825, and is the daughter of John 
 and Sarah (Browning) Tinkle. By this 
 union six children have been born: Sarah 
 Ann, born January 24, 1846, married Valen- 
 tine O. Brown, by whom she had five chil- 
 dren, and died January 26, 1879; John 
 William, whose sketch appears elsewhere 
 in this volume, is next in order of birth; 
 Jesse Baltis, born April 18, 1852, wedded 
 Mollie Butcher, by whom he had two chil- 
 dren, and died February 28, i89i;Mary 
 Catherine, born December 18, 1854, mar- 
 ried Isaac Darby, a farmer of Dallas county, 
 Texas, and they have eight children; Mar- 
 tha Alpha Elizabeth, born August 16, 1858, 
 married James Monroe Knight, an agricult- 
 urist of Young county, Texas, and they 
 have seven children; and Eliza Ellen, born 
 October 30, 1861, is the wife of Calvin H. 
 
 Eoff, a farmer of Falls county, Texas, and 
 they have seven children. 
 
 Since casting his first vote, up to eight- 
 een years ago, Mr. Hinkle was always 
 identified with the Democratic party, then 
 voted the Greenback ticket, and is now a 
 Populist. In 1 849 he became a member of 
 the Missionary Baptist church, in which he 
 has taken an active part and is now serving 
 as deacon. His life has been spent in deeds 
 of usefulness and industry, and the name of 
 William Hinkle deserves an honored place 
 among the representative and highly 
 esteemed citizens of Hamilton county. 
 
 '^^OSIAH T. TUNNELL.— Inthe sub- 
 B ject of this sketch, Josiah T. Tun- 
 A ^ nell, tax collector of Comanche 
 county, is found a gentleman whose 
 life has nearly all been spent within the 
 Texan border and whose prominence in 
 a local way justifies the presentation of a 
 biographical outline of his career in this 
 work. 
 
 Mr. Tunnell is a native of Blount coun- 
 ty, Alabama, and was born May 3, 1837, 
 son of James and Elizabeth (Ellis) Tunnell. 
 His parents were natives of Alabama and 
 descendants of old and influential families of 
 that state. The arrival of the Tunnells on 
 this continent antedates the Revolutionary 
 period, they having emigrated to America 
 and made settlement in Virginia as early 
 as 1752. In 1849 the father of our subject 
 removed with his family to Texas and 
 located in Smith county, where he engaged 
 in farming and stock-raising and where he 
 resided for many years. He died in 1861. 
 His family consisted of nine children, Josiah 
 T. being the second in order of birth. Josiah 
 T. Tunnell grew up and received his early 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 527 
 
 training in Sniitli county and finished his 
 education with a course in the McKenzie 
 College in Red River county. When the 
 war broke out in 1861 he was among the 
 first to enlist his service for the Confederate 
 cause, and as a member of the Fourteenth 
 Texas Cavalry went to the front, at first in 
 the capacity of a private soldier and later 
 holding a lieutenant's commission and com- 
 manding Company B of the Fourteenth 
 Regiment. He served all through the war; 
 was in the Kentucky campaign, participating 
 in numerous engagements, including Rich- 
 mond, that state, and also was at Chicka- 
 mauga, where he was wounded. 
 
 The war over, Mr. Tunnell accepted 
 with the best grace possible its results and 
 returned to his old home in Smith county, 
 Texas, and resumed farming. He removed 
 to Comanche county in 1868 and continued 
 farming there until 1877, when he turned 
 his attention to merchandising, in which he 
 was occupied up to 1892. In the meantime 
 he served four years as county surveyor, 
 from 1872 until 1876. He was elected to 
 his present office in 1892, was re-elected, 
 and is now serving his second term as tax 
 collector, performing the arduous duties of 
 this position in a manner that reflects credit 
 on him as a prompt, decisive business man 
 and official. He has always taken an active 
 interest in local politics. Formerly he was 
 a Democrat, but of recent years has given 
 his stanch and steadfast support to the Pop- 
 ulist party. Socially, he affiliates with the 
 Masonic order, and is a charter member of 
 Comanche Lodge, No. 316, F. & A. M. 
 Also he is a member of the Ex-Confederate 
 Camp, of which he is at this writing com- 
 mander. 
 
 Mr. Tunnell was united in marriage, 
 December 27, 1867, to Miss Katie Stewart, 
 
 a native of Alabama and a daughter of 
 George A. Stewart, a Texas pioneer of 
 
 BF. LAUGHLIN, county commis- 
 sioner of Erath county, is one of 
 the native sons of Texas, his birth 
 having occurred in Ellis county, on 
 the 1st of July, 1856. His parents, Newton 
 C. and Margaret J. (Weatherspoon) Laugh- 
 lin, removed from Missouri to Arkansas and 
 thence to Ellis county, where they resided 
 until 1870, when they became residents of 
 Johnson county. The father engaged in the 
 milling business, conducting a saw and flour 
 mill. He also ran a carding factory at Cle- 
 burne. Their next home was in Hood 
 county, and he also engaged in the milling 
 business at Thorp Spring. His death oc- 
 curred in June, 1873, at the age of fifty-six 
 years, and the mother died in Ellis county, 
 when our subject was a youth of eight years. 
 B. F. Laughlin accompanied his father 
 on his various removals and after the latter's 
 death came to Erath county, in 1874, and 
 engaged in farming. Here he purchased 
 two hundred acres of land on the Paluxy 
 river, it being entirely unimproved, but the 
 arduous task of developing it did not appall 
 him and energetically he began the work. 
 He plowed and planted sixty-five acres, 
 placing it under a high state of cultivation. 
 He is a practical, progressive farmer, and 
 the neat and thrifty appearance of the place 
 well indicates the careful supervision of the 
 owner. 
 
 Mr. Laughlin was married January 2, 
 1879, to Miss Sarah A. Williams, a native 
 of Wayne county, Tennessee, and a daugh- 
 ter of L. C. and Jemima (Massey) Williams. 
 During her early girlhood her parents re- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 moved to Arkansas, and in the spring of 
 1877 came to Erath county. Her father is 
 now a resident of the Indian Nation. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Laughlin are the parents of seven 
 children, namely: Lydia L. , Louis N., 
 Daisy D., Mary E., Wirgil V., Averilla J. 
 and Benjamin F. The parents are mem- 
 bers of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, 
 in which he is serving as elder. Mr. Laugh- 
 lin also belongs to the Farmers' Alliance. 
 In the fall of 1894 he was elected one of the 
 commissioners of Erath county and has dis- 
 charged his duties in a manner highly satis- 
 factory to his constituents and reflecting 
 credit upon himself. He is deeply interested 
 in all that pertains to the welfare of the 
 community, its advancement and upbuilding, 
 and whatever measuce is calculated to prove 
 of public benefit receives his support. 
 
 ^;* A. GRIFFITH, a worthy representa- 
 J live of the agricultural interests of 
 A 1 Comanche county, was born in North 
 Carolina, December 8, 1834, a son 
 of Daniel Griffith, who was reared in that 
 state and followed the occupation of farm- 
 ing. In 1836 he removed with his family 
 to Guilford county, that state, where he 
 made his home until 1848, when he went to 
 Stoddard county, Missouri. In 1858 he 
 became a resident of Comanche connty, 
 Te.\as, and in 1867 moved to Arkansas, 
 but afterward returned to Texas, his death 
 occurring in Collin county, this state, in 
 1886. He was a Democrat in politics and 
 gave an active support to his party, although 
 he never aspired to office. His wife still 
 survives him and makes her home in Chick- 
 asaw Nation. She is a member of the 
 Christian church. In their family were 
 twelve children, namely: J. A., Jane, 
 
 George, Franklin, John, Sarilda, Madison, 
 Rebecca, Columbus, Jemima, Julia and 
 Newton. 
 
 Mr. Griffith, whose name heads the 
 initial paragraph of this review, was a child 
 of only two years when his parents left the 
 state of his nativity and removed to I\en- 
 tucky. He also accompanied them to Mis- 
 souri, when a youth of fourteen, and came 
 to Texas in their company in 1858, a young 
 man of twenty-four. He was largely reared 
 on the frontier and shared in the e.xperiences 
 and hardships which always fall to the lot of 
 early settlers. After coming to Comanche 
 county he engaged in raising hogs and in 
 hunting. For some years this region 
 abounded in wild game and the followers of 
 Nimrod found this a profitable as well as a 
 pleasant pursuit. During the war he was in 
 the state service on the frontier, and thus 
 continued until hostilities had ceased. In 
 1 87 1 he left Texas and went to Arkansas, 
 remaining with his father until the fall of 
 1872, when he was married and established 
 a home of his own. 
 
 Mr. Griffith was joined in wedlock with 
 Miss Sarah Green, who was born in Georgia 
 in 1850, a daughter of William W. and 
 Hannah (Dover) Green, the former a native 
 of North Carolina and the latter of South 
 Carolina, their wedding being celebrated, 
 however, in Georgia. Her father was a 
 minister of the Primitive Baptist church and 
 was exempt from service in the war. In 
 1866 he moved to Texas, and in 1S6S took 
 up his abode in Arkansas, where he made 
 his home until his death, in 1887. His 
 wife yet survives him, and is now living in 
 Arkansas. They were the parents of fifteen 
 children, fourteen of whom reached years of 
 maturity, as follows: H. H., Jesse M., 
 Alford W., Susan E., Eliza J., Mary A., 
 

 & 
 
 ^fSi^r 
 
 ^. ^l. '^odei^on. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 529 
 
 Caroline, Laura A., Sela A., Sarah A., Will- 
 iam G., Gisson, John F. and Benjamin M. 
 The mother and eleven of her children are 
 members of the Primitive Baptist church, 
 and Jesse M. is a Missionary Baptist minis- 
 ter. Hannah A. is also connected with the 
 Missionary Baptists, and William G. and 
 Benjamin M. are ministers of the Primitive 
 Baptist church. The marriage of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Griffith was blessed with ten children, 
 but five died in childhood. Those still liv- 
 ing are James A., a farmer, William R. , 
 Daniel H., Cela M. and Sarah S., all at 
 home. The parents hold their religious mem- 
 bership in the Primitive Baptist church, and 
 are highly esteemed people, whose friends 
 throughout the community are many. 
 
 Upon his marriage Mr. Griffith purchased 
 a farm in Arkansas and at once began its 
 cultivation. In 1885 he again came to 
 Comanche county, where he has since re- 
 sided, and purchased one hundred acres of 
 improved laud, to which he has since added 
 one hundred and seventy-five acres. He 
 now has one hundred and twenty-five acres 
 under cultivation, and this rich and fertile 
 tract yields to him a good income in return 
 for the care and labor he bestows upon it. 
 He also raises enough stock for the care of 
 the farm. His home is conveniently situ- 
 ated within four miles of Comanche, and 
 thus a near market is at hand, enabling him 
 to secure easily the comforts of town life, 
 and at the same time enjoy the pleasures of 
 a country home. 
 
 >^AMES MONROE ROBERTSON, 
 
 h senior member of the law firm of 
 
 A 1 Robertson & Robertson, is one of 
 
 the most able members of the Bosque 
 
 county bar. The present firm was estab- 
 
 lished some four years ago, prior to which 
 time our subject was a law partner of O. L. 
 Lockett and J. Jenkins. He deserves men- 
 tion among those to whom the prosperity 
 and development of Meridian is due, as he 
 has borne an important part in the upbuild- 
 ing of the city and has filled the civic chair 
 for two terms. His wide acquaintance, and 
 the high regard in which he is universally 
 held, will make his life record one of pe- 
 culiar interest to our readers, and we gladly 
 give it a place in the history of his native 
 state. 
 
 Mr. Robertson was born in Hunt county, 
 August 25, 1854, and is the eldest in the 
 family of eleven children born to Eldridge 
 B. and Malinda G. (Dragoo) Robertson. 
 The family name is well known among the 
 early settlers of North Carolina. The father 
 was a native of Giles county, Tennessee, 
 and became one of the pioneers of Texas, 
 where he resided up to the time of his death, 
 which occurred on the 3d of August, 1876. 
 The mother's birth occurred in the Hawkeye 
 state, and she is a daughter of John H. 
 Dragoo, who located in Texas as early as 
 1842. She now finds a pleasant home with 
 our subject. Her living children are as fol- 
 lows: James M. ; Mary, now the wife of 
 W. W. Vickry; Eldridge F. ; Sarah M., 
 wife of W. P. Caldwell; Benjamin A., 
 George P., Ephraim B. and Robert S. 
 
 Mr. Robertson, of this review, spent his 
 early life upon the home farm, becoming 
 familiar with its hard and steady work, and 
 his education was obtained in the district 
 schools. He later began reading law. He 
 was elected surveyor of Bosque county in 
 1878, in which position he served for two 
 years, and then formed a partnership with 
 O. L. Lockett, the firm being real-estate 
 dealers and land lawyers. This connection 
 
530 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 existed until 1881, and from that period un- 
 til 1 884 was engaged in the real-estate busi- 
 ness and in surveying. At that time J. 
 Jenkins became a member of the firm, and 
 as he was an attorney they also engaged in 
 the practice of law, our subject in the mean- 
 time having prepared himself for admission 
 to the bar. He was admitted to practice in 
 1888, but the following year death dissolved 
 the partnership by taking away Mr. Jenkins. 
 
 Mr. Robertson was married October 2, 
 1879, to Miss Lula A. Standefer, a native 
 of Alabama, and to them have been born 
 six children who are still living, — Mary Ida, 
 John Eldridge, James Monroe, Felix Hel- 
 ton, Marvin Harris and Joseph Key. One 
 son, Abram Mulkey, died October 17, 
 1895. 
 
 In his political views Mr. Robertson is 
 an unswerving Democrat, and has served 
 the city two terms as its mayor, and 
 was alderman up to 1895. Religiously he 
 holds a membership in the Methodist church, 
 south, and socially belongs to Meridian 
 Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and is also a mem- 
 ber of the chapter. 
 
 iy^-|r>OL WILSON is one of the early 
 4 / settlers of central Texas, a promi- 
 ^Y nent citizen and successful farmer. 
 He came to this state empty-hand- 
 ed, but was full of energy, industry and a 
 strong determination to succeed. Perse- 
 vering in his labors, he has therefore worked 
 his way steadily upward until his operations 
 are now comprehensive in their scope and 
 the returns therefrom have made him one of 
 the substantial citizens of the community. 
 
 Mr. Wilson was born in Jackson county, 
 Georgia, January 18, 1833, and is a son of 
 Henry and Jensie J. (Walraves) Wilson, 
 
 both natives of the same state. The Wil- 
 son family is of English origin and the orig- 
 inal American ancestors came to this coun- 
 try at a very early day. The father of our 
 subject was a wealthy and prominent farmer 
 and slave owner. Although he never at- 
 tached himself to any church he was a man 
 of Christian habits and belief, and his death 
 occurred in Georgia in 1863. His political 
 support was given the Democracy. Henry 
 Wilson and his wife became parents of 
 eleven children, — seven sons and four 
 daughters, — all of whom reached years of 
 maturity. All of the sons served in the 
 Confederate army during the late war and 
 three were killed, while one was badly 
 wounded, the other three escaping un- 
 harmed. Pascal gave his life in defense of 
 the south; Oswell is yet living in Arkansas; 
 Nancy became the wife of Fillip Wilson; 
 Charlotte married L. T. Coker; Fidilla is 
 the wife of A. Dover; Vol is the next 
 younger; Henry is now living in Tennessee; 
 John makes his home in Georgia; Loving 
 was killed in the war; Pleasant was seriously 
 wounded and crippled for life, but is now 
 living in Georgia; and Pliant was also killed 
 while defending the banner under which he 
 enlisted. The mother of this family passed 
 away many years before the war. 
 
 The subject of this review acquired his 
 education in the common schools and was 
 reared on the old homestead, remaining un- 
 der the parental roof until 1854, when he 
 came to Texas. He made his first location 
 in Bell county, where he rented land and 
 raised two crops. In 1856 he came to Co- 
 manche county, where he embarked in the 
 stock business, devoting his energies to that 
 enterprise for a number of years. 
 
 In January, 1862, Mr. Wilson was united 
 in marriage to Miss Sarah E. Isham, and in 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 531 
 
 July he bade adieu to his bride and entered 
 the army as a member of the Thirtieth 
 Texas Cavalry, which was assigned to the 
 Trans-Mississippi department. His service 
 was largely in the Indian nation and he par- 
 ticipated in many skirmishes and a number 
 of battles, but was extremely fortunate in 
 that he was never wounded or captured. 
 He continued in the army until the close 
 of the war, at which time he was located in 
 Marshall, Texas. When his services were 
 no longer needed he returned home to his 
 bride whom he had seen only twice during 
 the three years that he was numbered among 
 the boys in gray. 
 
 Mrs. Wilson was born January ii, 1846, 
 and belonged to one of the old families of 
 Georgia, her parents being Charles and 
 Mary (Warnett) Isham, natives of that 
 state. Their marriage was celebrated in 
 Georgia and in 1854 they emigrated to 
 Texas. After residing at two or three places 
 they came to Comanche county in 1855 and 
 the father engaged in the stock business. 
 During the war he was in the frontier serv- 
 ice, and after hostilities had ceased he 
 closed out his stock business and purchased 
 a tract of land, which he transformed into a 
 good farm. His political support was given 
 the Democracy, and he took an active inter- 
 est in public affairs, holding a number of 
 county offices, the duties of which were dis- 
 charged in a prompt and able manner. His 
 death occurred about 1877, and his wife sur- 
 vived him until 1884. She was a consistent 
 member of the Missionary Baptist church. 
 Their children were Frances, Sarah, Jack- 
 son, Millia, Martha A., Caroline, Mary, 
 Ellen, and Mrs. Wilson. 
 
 When our subject returned from the war 
 he continued to engage in the stock business 
 for two years and then sold his cattle. He 
 
 purchased the raw land that formed the 
 nucleus of his present fine farm, first be- 
 coming owner of one hundred and sixty 
 acres, to which he has added from time to 
 time until he now has ten hundred and 
 thirty-five acres, of which one hundred and 
 thirty acres is highly cultivated. He also 
 owned two other farms, which he has sold. 
 He has made all the improvements upon his 
 property and now has one of the model 
 farms of the county, with a commodious and 
 pleasant residence, substantial outbuildings, 
 windmills, all kinds of farm machinery and 
 a good orchard. The farm is situated on 
 Rush creek, nine miles north of Comanche. 
 Mr. Wilson has given his attention to stock- 
 raising and land-trading, and although he 
 came to Texas with only fifty cents in his 
 pocket, by his own efforts he has worked his 
 way upward to a position of affluence. He 
 possesses excellent business and executive 
 ability, and his capable management and 
 enterprise are the secret of his success. He 
 has shared in the various trials and hard- 
 ships incident to life on the frontier, includ- 
 ing service against the Indians. Before the 
 war he belonged to a ranging company and 
 participated in many raids against the In- 
 dians, frequently going three hundred miles 
 from home in pursuit of the red men and 
 taking part in several skirmishes with them. 
 In connection with his other work he has 
 engaged in milling on Elm creek, a branch 
 of Trinity river, and also at Stephenviile. 
 
 To Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have been born 
 eleven children, and with the exception of 
 one who died in infancy all are yet living, 
 namely: Mary J., wife of Jo H. Griffith, 
 a farmer; Ellen, wife of W. T. Loudermilk; 
 Charles H., who carries on agricultural pur- 
 suits; Mintie, wife of W. H. Loudermilk, a 
 farmer; David V., who carries on the same 
 
532 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 business; Annie, wife of John Neighbours, 
 an agriculturist; John A., James F., Media 
 and Charity B., at home. The mother and 
 three of the children are members of the 
 Christian church and the family is one of 
 prominence in the community, while the 
 hospitable home is a favorite resort with 
 many friends. In his political views Mr. 
 Wilson was formerly a Democrat, but was 
 later an active worker in the Greenback 
 party and when the People's party sprang 
 into existence he joined its ranks and is now 
 one of its stalwart advocates. He has never 
 sought or desired office, but has given a 
 loyal support to all measures calculated to 
 support the welfare of the community and 
 ever faithfully discharges all his duties of 
 citizenship. 
 
 >^OHN B. DABNEY, of Comanche 
 ^ county, is one of the worthy citizens 
 A ■ that Kentucky has furnishedto Texas. 
 His birth occurred in Christian coun- 
 ty, Kentucky, June 28, 1853, and he is 
 descended from one of the old colonial 
 families. 
 
 His father, Edwin W. Dabney, was a 
 native of Louisa county, Virginia, born 
 September 21, 1821; was the grandson of 
 Albert G. Dabney and great-grandson of 
 Cornelius Dabney. A. G. Dabney also was 
 born in the Old Dominion. Edwin W. 
 Dabney remained in the state of his nativity 
 but a few years. In 1830 the grandfather, 
 A. G. Dabney, moved to Christian county, 
 Kentucky, with four small boys, his wife 
 having died in 1829 in Louisa county, Vir- 
 ginia. E. W. was raised in Kentucky, in 
 which state he married Miss Hannah G. 
 Dabney, in 1841; in 1853 he removed with 
 his family to Austin county, Texas. He 
 
 and his wife became the parents of ten 
 children, five of whom are now living, — 
 three sons and two daughters, viz.: E. T. , 
 Cornelius I., John B. , Hannah Elizabeth 
 and Virginia Louisa. The mother of these 
 children died July 2, 1895, at the good old 
 age of seventy-eight years and ten months 
 less one day. Their father is still living, at 
 the age of seventy-four years and ten 
 months, making his home near Belton. He 
 is a minister of the Church of Christ, having 
 devoted much of his life to his holy caUing, 
 earnestly laboring for his fellow men. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, Mr. John B. 
 Dabney, was reared at his parental home, 
 spending the greater part of his youth in 
 Austin county, this state, as he was but an 
 infant when he was brought to this state. 
 He acquired the greater part of his educa- 
 tion in Austin county, and he is to-day a 
 well-read man, keeping himself posted on 
 all current questions. He resided in Austin 
 county and followed farming until the fall of 
 1882, when he moved to his present farm in 
 Comanche county. This farm is pleasantly 
 and conveniently situated near the town of 
 Blanket, and he has forty acres under a high 
 state of cultivation. 
 
 On the 24th of November, 1875, was 
 celebrated the marriage of Mr. Dabney and 
 Miss Lida Scoggins, a native of Alabama 
 and a daughter of William and Caroline {ncc 
 Peinington) Scoggins. She spent her girl- 
 hood in the state of Alabama, acquiring her 
 education in the public schools there, and 
 has proved to her husband an able assistant 
 in the duties of life. The home of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Dabney has been blessed with seven 
 children, namely: Anna E., Cornelius S., 
 Creath G., Willie Lou, Manervy M., Henry 
 G. and Minnie G. 
 
 In his political views Mr. Dabney is inde- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 538 
 
 pendent, casting his ballot for the man whom 
 he thinks best qualified for the office regard- 
 less of party ties. He is an honorable, up- 
 right gentleman, respected by all who know 
 him; is a warm-hearted man, of broad sym- 
 pathies, pleasant and genial in manner, 
 making friends wherever he goes, and thus 
 has he become one of the popular citizens 
 of his adopted county. 
 
 >T^OHN H. BRYSON, one of the most 
 ^ prominent and successful stock-rais- 
 A 1 ers of Comanche county, came to 
 this section of the state in 1873, a 
 poor man, but since that time by his indus- 
 try and perseverance has steadily worked 
 his way upward. By his earnest efforts he 
 has accumulated a competency and there 
 are few indeed who have mounted the lad- 
 der of prosperity with greater rapidity than 
 he. Mr. Bryson is almost constantly in the 
 saddle, is a man of indomitable energy 
 and perseverance and carries forward to suc- 
 cessful completion whatever he undertakes. 
 He is comparatively a young man and has 
 attained an enviable position in business 
 circles and in personal appearance is a per- 
 fect type ofmanhood. 
 
 Mr. Bryson is a native of North Caro- 
 lina, born April 6, 1853. He was reared 
 and educated in the state of his birth and 
 was the second in a family of eight children, 
 his parents being Coleman and Louisa 
 (Bumgardner) Bryson, both of whom were 
 natives of North Carolina and were descend- 
 ed from old and influential families, whose 
 advent on this continent antedate the Revo- 
 lutionary war. 
 
 The gentleman whose name introduces 
 this review was reared to farm life, but 
 since his arrival in Texas, in 1872, he has 
 
 turned his entire attention to stock dealing, 
 although for some two years after his arrival 
 in the Lone Star state he was engaged in the 
 construction of rock fences. His home is 
 now located some six miles southwest of 
 Comanche and his property consists of 
 seven thousand acres, with four hundred and 
 twenty-five acres under cultivation. He has 
 four tenants upon this place who engage in 
 its operation. He also owns five and a half 
 sections of land in McCullough county. On 
 the home place is a peach orchard, covering 
 about an acre, and he now has two thousand 
 head of cattle on feed. 
 
 Politically Mr. Bryson is allied with the 
 progressive wing of the Democratic party, 
 and socially he affiliates with the Masonic 
 fraternity, as a member of the blue lodge 
 and chapter. He was married April 20, 
 1 88 1, to Miss Eleanor E. Martin, a native 
 of Texas and a daughter of H. R. Martin. 
 They have five children, namely: William 
 C, Charles H., Gerald C, Minerva B. and 
 Sarah L. The family have a pleasant home. 
 
 EENRY ADKINS SHIPMAN, a pro- 
 gressive and enterprising citizen, 
 postmaster and general merchant 
 of Indian Gap, Hamilton county, 
 was born October 17, 1835, in Henderson 
 county, Tennessee, at the village of Inde- 
 pendence, and is the son of Isaac Denton 
 and Sarah (Storey) Shipman, the former of 
 English and the latter of Scotch descent. 
 The father, who was born in Perry county, 
 Tennessee, December 12, iSoi, was a 
 farmer by occupation, and for forty years 
 was also a preacher in the Missionar}' Bap- 
 tist church. He was five feet and nine 
 inches in height, a fine speaker, and a Whig 
 in politics. His death occurred in Lake 
 
534 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 county, Tennessee, in 1859, and his wife 
 survived hiin only fifteen days. Her birth 
 occurred in Virginia in 1802, and with her 
 parents she removed to Tennessee. She 
 became the mother of eleven children, — 
 Jacob, Daniel, Nancy, Marinda, Caroline, 
 Elijah, Clark, Henry A., Sarah, Monroe 
 and James. All married with the exception 
 of James, who died at the age of three 
 years, and Clark, who was killed at the 
 battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, in the 
 late war. The paternal grandfather of our 
 subject, Jacob Shipman, married Nancy 
 Denton, by whom he had the following chil- 
 dren: Denton, Isaac D., John, Levi, Dan- 
 iel, Abram, Sally, Polly, Annie and Abbie. 
 The grandparents lived to be very old. 
 Daniel Storey, the maternal grandfather, 
 wedded Miss Phesmire, and they became 
 the parents of Samuel, James, Elijah and 
 several daughters. 
 
 At the age of nineteen our subject began 
 teaching school, which profession he fol- 
 lowed for three years, and in the fall of 
 1858 went to Cassville, Missouri, where he 
 clerked for eighteen months for Dr. Deffen- 
 baugh, while the following six months were 
 passed at Keytesville, Missouri. Returning 
 to his Tennessee home, he there engaged 
 in farming until June, 1861, when he en- 
 listed in Company E, Fifteenth Tennessee 
 Regiment, under Captain W. B. Isley, and 
 remained with that command all through 
 the service. Though he enlisted as a pri- 
 vate, he was soon made sergeant, and thus 
 served until the close of the war. At the 
 battle of Shiloh, he was wounded by a 
 piece of shell striking him on the right side 
 of the head just above the eye and was in 
 the hospital for twenty days. 
 
 When hostilities ceased, Mr. Shipman 
 resumed farming in Tennessee, where he 
 
 remained until November, 1872, when he 
 located upon a one hundred and fifty acre 
 tract of land in Fannin county, Texas. 
 This he improved and cultivated for five 
 years, when he sold and purchased sixty 
 acres near Honey Grove, in the same coun- 
 ty, and also had charge of the poor farm of 
 the county for one year. In November, 
 1884, he moved to Hamilton county, and 
 in connection with his son-in-law, J. L. 
 Spencer, started a grocery and hardware 
 store at Hamilton, Texas, the firm doing 
 business under the name of Shipman & 
 Spencer for one year, when they sold out 
 to C. C. Bumgardner, now a resident of 
 McCullough county. 
 
 For one year, Mr. Shipman then lived 
 on the ranch owned by B. McPherson, and 
 in February, 1885, purchased his present 
 place of two hundred and sixty-five acres, 
 including the town site of Indian Gap, forty 
 acres of which had been placed under culti- 
 vation. For four years he conducted his 
 farm, at the end of which time he pur- 
 chased the remnant of the stock owned by 
 Hawley Gerralls, and opened a store, being 
 at the same time appointed postmaster at 
 that place, and on the 25th of July, 1892, 
 moved to his present location at Indian 
 Gap. Three years later he built his fine 
 residence and sold out his stock of drugs to 
 Dr. Carson, and added hardware to his 
 groceries, carrying at the present time about 
 a two thousand dollar stock. His business 
 amounts to that amount per annum. Mr. 
 Shipman offered lots, twenty-four by ninety 
 feet to any one who would erect either 
 a business house or a residence at the Gap, 
 and since the proposition was made nine 
 houses have been built. 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1861, a marriage 
 ceremony was performed by Elder Henry 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 585 
 
 Parker, which united the destinies of Mr. 
 Shipman and Miss Clara Ann Simmons, 
 who was born in Gibson county, Tennessee, 
 November 15, 1840, and was the daughter 
 of Andrew Jackson and Harriet (Beard) 
 Simmons. The lady was called from this 
 life on the 23d of January, 1888. They 
 had become the parents of seven children, 
 namely: Delia Edna, born May 31, 1863, 
 married John L. Spencer, a farmer of Ham- 
 ilton county, by whom she has five children; 
 Tellamachus, born August 2, 1866, married 
 Ora Abney, by whom he has three children, 
 is now engaged in farming in Hamilton 
 county; Rodolph, born June 18, 1868, died 
 in Tennessee, August i, 1872; Beulah, born 
 April 3, 1870, died July 23, 1873; Junot, 
 born January 25, 1872, is an agriculturist 
 of Hamilton county; Hattie, born Decem- 
 ber 25, 1874, died November 19, 1881; and 
 Henry, born March 10, 1877, died October 
 25, 1893. Mr. Shipman was again mar- 
 ried July 14, 1889, his second union being 
 with Mrs. Nettie Johnson, who was born 
 August 4, 1847, in Giles county, Tennessee, 
 a daughter of Abram and Nancy Hester, 
 and was the widow of Keros Johnson, a 
 preacher of the Christian church. 
 
 Mr. Shipman is one of the progressive 
 men of the county, and so removed his 
 business from the foot of the mountain to 
 the Gap proper, which he had purchased. 
 Here he platted the town site, and gave 
 lots to parties who would erect suitable 
 buildings, and as a result the pretty village 
 of Indian Gap sprang up. The scenery of 
 this region is very fine, and a view of the 
 surrounding country can be had for miles 
 around, and for health unsurpassed by any 
 country. The place was the scene of many 
 an Indian raid during early days. Here the 
 Indians would pass through the mountains, 
 
 and from this fact it derived its name. For 
 sixteen years, Mr. Shipman has been a 
 member of the Christian church, of which 
 he has served for three years as elder, and 
 in politics is an ardent Democrat. 
 
 t >^^ B. SHAW, who figures as one of 
 I I the prominent and progressive 
 ^^^_^ farmers of Erath county, Texas, 
 furnishes an excellent illustration 
 of what can be accomplished in this state 
 by a man with no other capital than brains 
 and energy. More than twenty years ago 
 he landed here a poor man and in debt; to- 
 day he owns hundreds of acres of land and 
 is recognized as one of the leading men of 
 the county. 
 
 Mr. Shaw is a native of Alabama. He 
 was born in Butler county, that state, April 
 II, 1843, and is a son of Jonathan J. and 
 Elizabeth (Green) Shaw, the former a native 
 of North Carolina and the latter of Alabama. 
 His parents were married in Alabama and 
 after a residence of some years in that state 
 removed to Louisiana. Later, however, 
 they returned to Alabama, where the father 
 passed the rest of his life and where he died 
 about 1874. Farming was his vocation, 
 but for a number of years he was an invalid 
 and unable to work. Of his ancestors little 
 is known save that they were of Scotch-Irish 
 origin. The mother of our subject survived 
 the father some years, came to Texas and 
 made her home with her son D. B., and 
 died here in 1892. Both parents were 
 members of the Christian church. Two 
 sons composed their family, D. B. and James 
 A., both farmers of Erath county, Texas, 
 the latter having resided here since 1878. 
 The invalid condition of his father early 
 I made it necessary for our subject, the elder 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 of the sons, to aid in the maintenance of 
 the family, and thus as his boyhood days 
 were spent in almost constant work on the 
 farm he had little opportunity for attending 
 school. But by home study and close ob- 
 servation he has acquired a practical edu- 
 cation. 
 
 Besides sickness and limited means 
 there was another obstacle in the way to 
 prevent him from enjoying the advantages 
 that he otherwise might have had: While 
 he was yet in his 'teens the civil war came 
 on. At about the age of eighteen he en- 
 tered the First Battalion of Hilliard's Legion 
 of infantry, which was organized at Mont- 
 gomery. He was with his command in all 
 the engagements in which it participated 
 until December, 1864, and saw much hard 
 service. At Chickamauga he was wounded, 
 a piece of shell striking his head and right 
 ear, the result being that he was disabled 
 for a time and was in hospital at Marietta, 
 Georgia. As soon as able he rejoined his 
 command, and continued with it until after 
 the siege of Petersburg. 
 
 Late in the year 1864 Mr. Shaw left the 
 army and returned home, and the next year 
 he married and settled down on a rented 
 farm in Alabama. He continued farming in 
 that state, cultivating land on "the shares," 
 until 1872, when with the hope of improv- 
 ing his temporal condition he started for 
 Texas, arriving at Galveston late in the fall 
 of that year and continuing his journey, via 
 Waco, to Erath county. The trip from 
 Waco to this place was made with ox teams, 
 and was saddened by the death of one of 
 his children. A pause by the wayside, a 
 brief good by, a little grave, and then the 
 ox team and the sorrowful family moved on 
 and early in the following year, 1873, ar- 
 rived at their destination, the father in debt 
 
 and with his means all exhausted. But he 
 was not discouraged, and went bravely to 
 work hoping for better things. At the end 
 of a year spent in rail-splitting and farming 
 he found himself no better off than when he 
 arrived. Still he kept on and finally the 
 tide turned in his favor. He commenced 
 buying land, increased his operations from 
 year to year, investing and reinvesting as he 
 accumulated, and now he is the owner of no 
 less than five hundred acres, one hundred 
 and seventy-five of which are under cultiva- 
 tion and devoted to diversified crops; and 
 throughout all these years he has maintained 
 his credit and integrity. It has not been 
 through luck or wild speculation that he has 
 attained to this marked success; it is due 
 solely to his honest toil and perseverance 
 and good management. Mr. Shaw's resi- 
 dence is thirteen miles southeast of Stephen- 
 ville, and within three miles of the place 
 where he located on coming to this county. 
 Shortly after his return from the army 
 Mr. Shaw was united in marriage to Miss 
 Elizabeth Moore, daughter of A. L. and 
 Judia L S. (Northcut) Moore. Her father 
 and mother are natives respectively of South 
 Carolina and Alabama, and her father when 
 in his prime was a farmer and miller, but 
 now in their old age the worthy couple re- 
 side with their children in Texas, they hav- 
 ing come thither from Alabama in 1885. 
 Their family comprises thirteen children, 
 nine of whom are still living, viz. : Eliza- 
 beth, Anthony, W. H., Marion, John T. , 
 Louis E., Susan A., Fariba J. M., Theresa 
 I. S. Mrs. Moore is a member of the Meth- 
 odist church. Mr. and Mrs. Shaw have 
 been blessed with a large progeny, and nine 
 of their twelve children are yet living, 
 namely: Andrew J.; Martha E., -wife of 
 Edward Cox; Judia A., wife of R. Cox; and 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 537 
 
 Edward; John D., William A., Susan M., 
 Alford L. and Clara B. 
 
 Mr. Shaw and his wife are identified 
 with the Christian church and are active and 
 consistent members of the same. He has 
 always harmonized with the Democratic 
 party and taken an enthusiastic interest in 
 local politics and public affairs, but has 
 never sought official honors. His numerous 
 friends have frequently urged him to be a 
 candidate for county commissioner. Thus 
 far, however, he has declined to allow his 
 name to be used in this way. 
 
 >rj» M. WOODLEY is one of the promi- 
 J nent and enterprising farmers of 
 m ■ Bosque county, his residence being 
 four miles southeast of Iredell, his 
 post-office, where he has lived during the 
 past ten years. 
 
 Mr. Woodley was born in Alabama, Sep- 
 tember 3, 1847; spent his boyhood days on 
 his father's farm, and in his youth received 
 only a limited education in the common 
 schools of the district, civil war interfering 
 with his studies as well as with those of 
 many other southern and northern boys. 
 After he grew up, however, he acquired a 
 good practical education. Mr. Woodley is 
 a son of William G. and Emily (Cross) 
 Woodley, natives respectively of Georgia 
 and Tennessee, their marriage having been 
 consummated in Alabama. John Woodley, 
 the father of William G., was likewise a na- 
 tive of Georgia, his father, a native of Dela- 
 ware, having served as a soldier all through 
 the Revolutionary war and at its close hav- 
 ing made settlement in the " Empire State 
 of the South." William G. Woodley was 
 a farmer all his life. During the late war 
 
 he, like most southern men, espoused the 
 cause of the Confederacy and entered its 
 army. His service was chiefly in Virginia 
 and extended to the close of the war, after 
 which he returned to his homestead in Ala- 
 bama, where he spent the closing years of 
 his life, dying July 11, 1876. He was a 
 Democrat. He took a laudable interest in 
 all public affairs and especially those of a 
 local nature, ever directing his influence in 
 the line of truth and right, but never in any 
 was aspiring to official rank. Both he and his 
 good wife were deeply pious and were zeal- 
 ous members of the Primitive Baptist church, 
 retaining a membership in this organization 
 for many years and dying in the full hope of 
 life immortal. Their family comprised eight 
 children, viz. : Mary, wife of F R. Schenck, 
 has been a resident of Bosque county, 
 Texas, since 1 876, Mr. Schenck being ranked 
 with the prominent farmers of the county; 
 J. M., of this sketch; Urena E., wife of B. 
 W. Turner, an employee on the Texas Cen- 
 tral Railroad; George W., a farmer of 
 Limestone county, this state; Assenith, wife 
 of E. B. Davis, of Cherokee county, Ala- 
 bama; John W., engaged in the stock busi- 
 ness in the "Panhandle;" Mattie J., wife of 
 W. R. Davis, a farmer of Bosque county; 
 and Sue E., wife of E. R. Turner, a Bosque 
 county farmer. 
 
 J. M. Woodley remained with his father 
 until twenty-four years of age, when he 
 took to himself a wife, rented a farm and 
 launched out to make his own way in the 
 world. For three years he farmed rented 
 land. Then he bought a small farm, moved 
 to it and continued its cultivation until 
 1885, when he sold out and came to Texas, 
 directing his course to Bosque county. 
 Here he rented land one season and in 1886 
 purchased one hundred and seventy-seven 
 
538 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 acres of wild land where he now lives. He 
 has fenced this whole tract and has about 
 a hundred acres of it under cultivation, 
 and besides this has made numerous other 
 improvements, thus greatly enhancing its 
 value. He has a commodious and attract- 
 ive residence, substantial and convenient 
 outbuildings, wind pump, etc. His land is a 
 rich, black soil and produces as good crops 
 as any in this part of the country. 
 
 Although Mr. Woodley is comparatively 
 a young man and was only a boy at the 
 time of the civil war, he has a war record. 
 He was enrolled in the Confederate service 
 as a member of a battalion, composed of 
 boys and old men, which performed guard 
 duty and looked after deserters, and was in 
 this service during the last eight months of 
 the war. He was surrendered under Gen- 
 eral Adams' command. 
 
 Mr. Woodley was married in his native 
 state, in 1871, to Miss Alice C. Pike, a na- 
 tive of Alabama and a daughter of John W. 
 Pike. Her father was a South Carolinian 
 who in early life settled in Alabama and in 
 1885 came from there to Te.xas, coming at 
 the same time that Mr. and Mrs. Woodley 
 did and settling on a farm in Bosque county, 
 where he still lives, engaged in farming and 
 stock-raising. He was a Confederate sol- 
 dier, was captured at Vicksburg by the fed- 
 eral forces, but was soon afterward paroled, 
 and was all through the war. Of the chil- 
 dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Woodley, ten in 
 number, we record that two died young, 
 and that the others are as follows: Edward 
 L., railroad agent at De Leon; Thomas J., 
 . a resident of Taylor county, Te.xas; and 
 Henry J., Nannie E., Florence, Ernest, 
 Cordelia and Jesse, all at home. 
 
 Mr. Woodley and his wife are identified 
 with the Missionary Baptist church and are 
 
 among its active and leading members. He 
 also is a member in good standing of the 
 Knights of Honor. 
 
 HJ. WALKER.— We are at this 
 point in this series of biographical 
 sketches permitted to review briefly 
 the life history of one who stands 
 conspicuously as an enterprising agricultur- 
 ist and stock man of Bosque county, — 
 A. J. Walker. His home and farm are lo- 
 cated two miles south of Eulogy. 
 
 A. J. Walker dates his birth in the state 
 of Alabama, February 6, 1856, and is a son 
 of Henry and Nancy (Pierce) Walker, both 
 natives of that state. William Walker, the 
 grandfather of A. J., was of South Carolina 
 birth, and passed the most of his life in 
 frontier districts. He was for some years a 
 resident of Alabama. While there his wife 
 died, and shortly afterward, in 1856, he 
 came to Texas and engaged in ranching in 
 Parker county, living on his ranch with his 
 hired men and thus passing the closing 
 years of his life. He died in 1869. He was 
 for many years a slaveholder, and carried 
 on extensive farming operations. He served 
 as a soldier in the Seminole war in Florida, 
 and his frontier life not infrequently brought 
 him into contact with the Indians, the red 
 men being numerous in Parker count}' when 
 he settled there. On two occasions all his 
 horses were stolen by them, and he did his 
 part in driving the Indians away and putting 
 a stop to their depredations. Henry Walker, 
 the father of our subject, was reared and 
 married in Alabama, and in 1858 followed 
 his father's example and emigrated to Texas, 
 bringing his family with him and locating 
 in Parker county, where he engaged in the 
 live-stock business, keeping both cattle and 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 539 
 
 horses. In i86S he moved to Bosque county 
 and located near Kimball, on Mesquite 
 creek, where he continued the stock busi- 
 ness. He from time to time became the 
 owner of many other tracts of land in this 
 county, some of which he opened up to 
 farming. In 1888, being afflicted with can- 
 cer, and wishing to obtain medical treat- 
 ment and a change of climate, he went to 
 Eureka Springs, Arkansas; but neither 
 change of climate nor medical skill effected 
 a cure. He died and is buried there. He 
 was a Democrat, and a man who took a 
 deep interest in all that tended to promote 
 the welfare of his community and the coun- 
 try at large. He was a veteran of both the 
 Mexican and civil wars. Both he and his 
 aged father were in the frontier service 
 fighting the Indians during the late war. 
 Religiously he was reared a Baptist, and 
 adhered to that faith all through life, retain- 
 ing a firm trust in the Savior to the very 
 last. His wife also was a devoted and con- 
 sistent member of the Baptist church. She 
 died in 1878. Her father — Grandfather 
 Pierce — was a native of Alabama, and for 
 many years a prominent farmer of that 
 state. He died while 01 route to California 
 in 1850. Henry and Nancy (Pierce) Walker 
 were the parents of eight children, namely: 
 Belle, who became the wife of ]. R. Ashley; 
 A. J., whose name forms the heading of 
 this article; Nanny, who married a Mr. 
 Scott; William H., deceased; John, a law- 
 yer of Alabama; Thomas J., who is engaged 
 in farming in Somervell county, Texas; 
 Jerome, also of Somervell county; and Sally, 
 who died at the age of seventeen years. 
 
 A. J. Walker was two years old at the 
 time he was brought by his parents to 
 Texas, and here he was reared to the stock 
 business, early assisting in the care of the 
 
 stock and becoming familiar with every de- 
 tail of the business. While in early boy- 
 hood he had only limited opportunities of an 
 education, he, after becoming a man, made 
 up for those deficiencies by his home study 
 and reading, and thus through his own 
 efforts acquired a good practical education. 
 He has always followed the business in 
 which he was reared. He has bought, im- 
 proved and sold three farms, the first one 
 being in Johnson county. His present farm 
 comprises 700 acres, is located two miles 
 south of Eulogy, and is nicely improved and 
 regarded as one of the most desirable farms 
 in the vicinity. At the time Mr. Walker 
 came into possession of this place only a 
 few acres of its soil had been furrowed and a 
 small box house was its only building. To- 
 day the whole 700 acres are under fence, 
 much of the land is being cultivated, there 
 is a nice residence and good tenant house, 
 wind pump, etc., and the general appear- 
 ance of the premises is indicative of pros- 
 perity. Of recent years Mr. Walker has 
 reduced the number of his stock and in- 
 creased the grade. Horses are his specialty, 
 and there are few better judges of "horse- 
 flesh " in this part of the country than he. 
 He has taken droves of horses and mules to 
 the Louisiana markets. At this writing he 
 has a fine thoroughbred stallion and sev- 
 eral valuable mares and colts; and in both 
 his farming and stock-raising he is meeting 
 with that success which his earnest and well- 
 directed efforts merit. 
 
 Mr. Walker was married in 1880 to Miss 
 Sally Vinson, a native of Johnson county, 
 Texas, born November 22, 1861, daughter 
 of Benjamin F. and Susan (Wilbanks) Vin- 
 son, natives respectively of Georgia and 
 Texas. The Vinsons were slaveholders and 
 among the prominent and well-to-do fami- 
 
r)40 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 lies of Georgia. Mrs. Walker's maternal 
 grandfather, Gardiner Wilbanks, was a 
 South Carolina man who came to Texas 
 about the time it was admitted into the 
 Union of States. He was a well-known 
 farmer and stock-man and slave-owner, and 
 lived to the extreme old age of ninety-four 
 years, his death occurring in Johnson county. 
 Both he and his wife were of the Methodist 
 persuasion. Mrs. Walker's father, Ben- 
 jamin F. \'inson, died in Johnson county in 
 1 888. He was a member of the Christian 
 church, and his wife of the Baptist. The 
 latter is still living in Johnson county, and 
 recently became the wife of Mr. David 
 Wylie. Her children by Mr. Vinson num- 
 bered eleven, two of whom died in infancy, 
 the others being as follows: Mrs. Walker; 
 Frank, a resident of the Indian Nation; 
 Alice, wife of Davis Porter, died and left 
 two sons; Otis, a farmer; Miss Ola; Jefie, 
 wife of Samuel Calahan; and Bertha, Dovie, 
 and Velmer. Mr. and Mrs. Walker have 
 one son, Loyan H., born October i, 1882. 
 Mr. Walker is a Democrat, and both himself 
 and wife are members of the Christian 
 church. 
 
 >^ B. BLANKINSHIP, who is inti- 
 J mately concerned in a line of indus- 
 A 1 try which has important bearing 
 upon the progress and stable pros- 
 perity of any section or community, — the 
 farming interests, — occupies a distinctively 
 representative position among the enterpris- 
 ing and progressive business men of Erath 
 county, and it is eminently fitting that he 
 be accorded due recognition within the 
 pages of a volume whose province is the 
 consideration of the lives of the represent- 
 
 ative citizens of the section with whose in- 
 terests he has been so closely identified for 
 almost a quarter of a century. 
 
 Mr. Blankinship was born in Georgia in 
 1832, a son of Woodson and Mary (Weems) 
 Blankinship, both natives of North Caro- 
 lina, and the latter of English ancestry. 
 When our subject was a child of seven years 
 his father died, and he then remained with 
 his mother on the homestead farm until 
 eighteen years of age, when he joined his 
 brother in an independent agricultural ven- 
 ture. He followed farming in Georgia un- 
 til 1852, when he came to Texas and loca- 
 ted in Wood county, resuming his labors at 
 the plow. He had been a resident of the 
 Lone Star state for six years, when, in 1858, 
 he secured as a companion and helpmeet on 
 life's journey Miss Mary Haley, a native of 
 Tennessee. By their marriage three chil- 
 dren were born, namely: M. D. ; Mary, 
 deceased wife of William G. Wright; and 
 Amzy. The mother of this family died in 
 1866, and in 1867 Mr. Blankinship was 
 again married, his second union being with 
 Miss America Jane Jeffries, a native of Ar- 
 kansas, who came to Texas during her girl- 
 hood with her parents. Her father, Joseph 
 Jeffries, was a pioneer of Hopkins county, 
 Texas. Eight children have been born of 
 the second marriage of Mr. Blankinship, as 
 follows: Melissa M., wife of Joseph C. Mc- 
 Mahan; J. W. ; A. W. ; J. B., Jr.; A. F. ; 
 G. W. ; W. A., who died in infancy; and 
 Grover C, who completes the family. 
 
 Mr. Blankinship continued to engage in 
 farming in Wood county until 1872, when 
 he came to Erath county. Here he has a 
 landed estate of three hundred acres, and 
 his farm with modern improvements and 
 highly cultivated fields, indicate the careful 
 supervision of the owner, who is justly 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 541 
 
 regarded as one of the leading agriculturists 
 of the community. 
 
 Mr. Blankinship's military record was 
 made through service in the civil war, 
 wherein he demonstrated his bravery and his 
 fidelity to the cause he espoused. In the 
 fall of 1 86 1 he joined Roberts' company of 
 the Eleventh Texas Infantry, which was 
 attached to Reynolds' brigade. He partici- 
 pated in the battles of Mansfield, Pleasant 
 Hill, Boise Bay and Saline river. At Boise 
 Bay he was captured, but soon afterward 
 was recaptured. He served until the close 
 of the war, and when the regiment was dis- 
 banded in 1S65 returned to his home, which 
 he found had suffered from the ravages of 
 war. 
 
 He and his wife are members of the 
 Methodist Episcopal church; socially he is 
 connected with the Masonic lodge at Ste- 
 phenville, and politically he is a Democrat. 
 
 aHARLES MACK McKINLEY, who 
 is engaged in farming in Hamilton 
 county, Texas, was born in Harde- 
 man county, Tennessee, April 21, 
 1846, and is a son of Stephen and Dovy 
 Louisa ( Robinson ) McKinley. The family 
 traces its ancestry to the Emerald Isle, and 
 from the same lineage comes William Mc- 
 Kinley, the prominent Republican leader, 
 who is therefore a relative of our subject. 
 The grandfather of Charles M. McKinley 
 also bore the name of Charles, and was 
 born in Ireland, whence he emigrated with 
 his wife to the United States, locating in 
 North Carolina. He served in the Revolu- 
 tionary war, valiantly aiding the colonies in 
 their struggle for independence. His chil- 
 dren were John, Carson, David, Margaret, 
 
 who married John White, and Jennie, who 
 was the wife of Thomas McCoughan. All 
 were at one time residents of North Carolina. 
 
 Stephen McKinley was born in Cabarrus 
 county. North Carolina, July 22, 1799, and 
 was married January 6, 1825, to Dovy Lou- 
 isa Robinson, who was born December 9, 
 1 806. They began their domestic life in the 
 state of their nativity and after twenty 
 years' residence there removed to Hardeman 
 county, Tennessee, in 1845; in 1859 they 
 went to Colorado county, Texas, and in June, 
 1883, Mr. McKinley became a resident of 
 Hamilton county. He died February 12, 
 1 886, and his wife passed away July 21, 1875. 
 In early life he united with the Presbyterian 
 church and for forty years was one of its 
 ruling elders and most active workers. His 
 political support was given the doctrines of 
 the Whig party. In his family were nine 
 children, namely: John Robinson, born Sep- 
 tember 28, 1825; David Sample, November 
 18, 1828; James Harvey, January 8, 1831; 
 Mary A., January 13, 1833; Daniel Pence, 
 July 5, 1836; Martha Jane, July 31, 1838; 
 Margaret Louisa, December 9, 1840; 
 Thomas Milton, in 1844; and Charles Mack, 
 who completes the family. The sisters are 
 all living, but with the exception of our sub- 
 ject the brothers have all departed this life. 
 
 Mr. McKinley, whose name introduces 
 this review, was in his fourth year when he 
 was brought by his parents to the Lone Star 
 state. His father purchased a home and as 
 soon as Charles had attained a sufficient age 
 he assisted in the labors of the farm, its cul- 
 tivation and improvement. Thus he early 
 became familiar with all the duties that fall 
 to the lot of the agriculturist, and when he 
 started out in life for himself it was along 
 the same line of endeavor. He became 
 quite an extensive dealer in stock, and when 
 
542 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 he removed to Hamilton county he brought 
 with him five hundred head. In November, 
 1 1876, he arrived in this locality and pur- 
 chased one hundred and sixty acres of land 
 of Mr. Wilhelm. He now has one hundred 
 and eighty-five acres of rich land, of which 
 fifty acres is under cultivation. There are 
 also good improvements upon the place in 
 the shape of substantial buildings and the 
 other accessories of a model farm of the 
 nineteenth century. 
 
 On the 13th of February, 1873, was cel- 
 ebrated the marriage of Mr. McKinley and 
 Miss Annie Eliza Ragsdale, daughter of 
 Dionysius and Sarah (Haile) Ragsdale. 
 Their union has been blessed with one 
 daughter, Bessie Clay, born July 29, 1876, 
 now with her parents. Mrs. McKinley was 
 born in Manchester, Tennessee, October 10, 
 1844, and lived there until twelve years of 
 age. Within that time her father died, and 
 the mother with her son, E. M. Ragsdale, 
 removed to Colorado county, Texas, whence 
 they afterward went to Goliad county. On 
 the breaking out of the civil war they re- 
 turned to Colorado county. Dionysius 
 Ragsdale was born February 23, 1796, and 
 died in Tennessee September 26, 1846. In 
 the same state he was married to Miss Haile 
 on the 15th of September, 1825, and the 
 record of their family is as follows: Francis 
 Hewitt, who was born July 15, 1826, and 
 became a captain in the Confederate army, 
 commanding his company on the last day of 
 the engagement at Murfreesboro. He was 
 a Mason and an Odd Fellow. He married 
 Eliza Howard and had three children. Per- 
 melia Hord, born April 21, 1828, died in 
 Dallas, Texas, May 4, 1891. She was the 
 wife of Samuel Williams, a veteran of the 
 Mexican war, and had eight children. 
 Martha Jane, born August 26, 1830, died 
 
 at the age of thirty-eight years. She mar- 
 ried Thomas Patton and had five children. 
 Mary H., born September 22, 1833, and 
 died in July, 1857. Edward Mitchell, born 
 November 12, 1835, was a lieutenant in the 
 southern army and is now a resident of 
 Hamilton county; he married Kate Walker 
 and has nine children. Nancy Carter, born 
 May 6, 1837, died at the age of eighteen 
 years. Sarah Elizabeth, born June 10, 
 1840, died November 24, 1888. She was 
 the wife of James Harvey McKinley and 
 their family numbered six children. (J. H. 
 McKinley was a lieutenant in the southern 
 army.) Angeline Olive, born January 5, 
 1842, is the wife of Rodeny Taylor, a resi- 
 dent of Pecos City, Texas, and has four 
 children. Mrs. McKinley is the next of the 
 family. John Dionysius, born March 27, 
 1847, died at the age of forty years, a stock- 
 man. The father of these children was a 
 prominent and influential citizen of Ten- 
 nessee. In his religious belief he was a 
 Methodist, and in his social relations a Ma- 
 son. The Ragsdale family was of English 
 origin. His wife, who was born in Vir- 
 ginia, in September, 1805, died February 
 19, 1886. Her father, Dudley Haile, the 
 maternal grandfather of Mrs. McKinley, 
 was a native of Ireland and married Nancy 
 Carter, by whom he had the following men- 
 tioned children: Gatewood, who is now 
 living in Kentucky, at the advanced age of 
 one hundred years, Leaman, Josie, Nancy 
 and Sarah. 
 
 Mr. McKinley has devoted the greater 
 part of his time and attention to his busi- 
 ness interests and therein has won success. 
 He has, however, found opportunity to pro- 
 mote the enterprises calculated to advance 
 the general welfare and to faithfully perform 
 all the duties of citizenship. His political 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 543 
 
 support is given the Populist party, and for 
 ten years he has been a member of the 
 Methodist church. 
 
 QL. WOOLLEY, an agriculturist 
 of energy and "ability, who has 
 been identified with the growth 
 and development of Comanche 
 county for several years, was born Febru- 
 ary 24, 1S43, in Alabama, and was reared 
 there on a farm. His parents, Irby and 
 Feraby (Page) Woolley, were also natives of 
 the same state, where their marriage was 
 celebrated; but the paternal grandfather, 
 Bazil Woolley, was born in South Carolina, 
 and on his removal to Alabama became a 
 prominent farmer and slave owner. He 
 was a strong Democrat, but never cared to 
 hold public office. Like his father, Irby 
 Woolley, he gave his unwavering support to 
 the Democracy, and was called upon to fill 
 several important positions of honor and 
 trust in the county, including that of pro- 
 bate judge, which he held for many years, 
 and which he was acceptably filling at the 
 time of his death, which occurred before 
 the late war. In religious belief he was a 
 Methodist, and was a most upright, honor- 
 able man and leading citizen. His wife, 
 who survived him, also died before the out- 
 break of the civil war. In their family 
 were five children: Monroe, deceased, who 
 served in the late war; Virgil, who was also 
 a Confederate soldier in that struggle and is 
 now a farmer of Lee county, Texas; Bazil, 
 deceased, who also "wore the gray;" M. L., 
 who is next in order of birth; and Mila A., 
 who become the wife of Thomas Jackson, 
 with whom she came to Texas, but both 
 are now deceased. 
 
 Our subject remained at home until 
 
 after the death of his parents. In 1861 he 
 enlisted in the first company raised in his 
 county, becoming a member of the Tenth 
 Alabama Infantry, in the Army of Virginia, 
 under General Robert E. Lee, and saw 
 some very hard service. For a time he 
 was a sharpshooter in the advance cam- 
 paign, being in constant skirmishes, and 
 was in many important battles. At Peters- 
 burg he was wounded by a gunshot through 
 the right arm, which disabled him for active 
 duty for eight weeks, but was never taken 
 prisoner, and remained faithful to the cause 
 for which he fought until hostilities had 
 ceased. While he was at home wounded, 
 he was cut off from Lee's army by the fed- 
 eral general Thomas. Then he joined 
 Gatewood's independent company in east 
 Tennessee and fought with them until all 
 the Confederate forces had surrendered, but 
 he was never surrendered. 
 
 Returning to southern Alabama, Mr. 
 Woolley engaged in farming for a time, and 
 on the 30th of November, 1865, was united 
 in marriage with Miss Alpha Jones, a most 
 estimable lady, who was born in Alabama, 
 where her parents, Hugh and Janette 
 (Woolley) Jones, were prominent farming 
 people and slave-owners. They too were 
 earnest members of the Methodist church. 
 Mrs. Woolley was the seventh in order of 
 birth in their family of sixteen children, the 
 others being Seaborn, Stephen, Emeline, 
 Rebecca, Elizabeth, Joseph W., Bazil, Eze- 
 kiel, Hugh, Henry C, George W. , Mary, 
 Julia, Geneva, Laura and Andrew S. Six 
 children were born to our subject and his 
 wife: Emma E., wife of Jack R. Tatam, a 
 farmer; Walter H., who is engaged in gen- 
 eral merchandising; Allie G., wife of James 
 White, an agriculturist; Lula M., wife of 
 John Tally, also a farmer; Gatewood L., 
 
544 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 a farmer; and Druzele, wife of Sam Cooper, 
 a farmer. 
 
 After harvesting two crops in Alabama, 
 Mr. Woolley emigrated to Texas, locating 
 first in Bastrop county, where he rented 
 land for two years, and then purchased raw 
 land, which he converted into a most excel- 
 lent farm, on which he made his home un- 
 til 1880. For one year he was then en- 
 gaged in the stock business in Shackleford 
 county, after which he went to Lee county, 
 where he purchased land, which he engaged 
 in cultivating and improving until coming to 
 this county, three years later. He brought 
 his stock with him and was engaged in that 
 business until 1892, when he sold out. It 
 was in 1884 that he purchased his present 
 valuable farm of four hundred and ten acres 
 in Comanche county, and now devotes his 
 entire time and attention to its development, 
 having at present one hundred and thirty- 
 seven acres under a high state of cultiva- 
 tion and improved with excellent buildings 
 and a good orchard. As he was reared in 
 the Methodist church, he still holds to that 
 faith, and also adheres to the principles of 
 the Democratic party, but has never aspired 
 to office. He is a highly respected citizen, 
 straightforward and honorable in all his 
 dealings, and has the confidence of all with 
 whom he comes in contact either in a busi- 
 ness or social way. 
 
 >T^OHNA. McGUIRE is now living a re- 
 ■ tired life in Comanche. He is so 
 /• 1 well kdown to the citizens of central 
 Texas that he needs no special in- 
 troduction to the readers of this volume. 
 With the history of the county he 
 has been closely identified since 1854, 
 when he located within its borders and 
 
 erected the first house within its present 
 limits. He is to-day the oldest pioneer here, 
 in years of continued residence, excepting 
 only his father-in-law, who accompanied 
 him on the removal to the Lone Star state. 
 
 Mr. McGuire was born in Iredell county, 
 North Carolina, May 15, 1823, and comes 
 of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His grandfather, 
 John McGuire, was born on the Green Isle of 
 Erin, whence he sailed for America, found- 
 ing the family in North Carolina. He spent 
 his last days in Iredell county, that state, 
 and his wife, Anna McGuire, died in Bell 
 county, Texas. Spencer McGuire, father 
 of our subject, was born in Iredell county, 
 September 4, 1804, and there grew toman- 
 hood. At the age of eighteen he married 
 Sarah Burton, a native of North Carolina 
 and daughter of Ed Burton, who was of 
 Scotch lineage. To Mr. and Mrs. McGuire 
 were born eight children, namely: John A., 
 Wiley, Anna, Burton, Mary, Martin, Doc 
 and Sarah. The father of this family fol- 
 lowed the occupation of farming and died 
 in Walker county, Georgia, at the early age 
 of thirty-seven. In politics he was a Demo- 
 crat of the Jackson school, and in religious 
 belief was a Methodist. 
 
 Mr. McGuire, of this notice, spent his 
 youthful days in his parents' home, and to 
 some extent attended the common schools 
 of the neighborhood. Reading and study 
 in his leisure hours and the practical experi- 
 ence of life has made him a well informed 
 man and he has a broad knowledge of the 
 questions of the day. 
 
 On the 26th of October, 1846, Mr. Mc- 
 Guire chose as a companion and helpmeet 
 on life's journey Miss Dicy Martin, an in- 
 telligent and estimable lady belonging to 
 one of the old southern families. She was 
 a sister of H. R. Martin, the president of 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 545 
 
 the First National Bank of Comanche, and 
 a daughter of Henry Martin, who is num- 
 bered among the honored pioneers of central 
 Texas. In 1851 Mr. McGuire left Georgia 
 and accompanied by his family removed to 
 Bell county, Texas, where he remained until 
 the fall of 1854, when he came to Comanche 
 county and settled on the farm now occupied 
 by Thomas Homesley. He remained in the 
 county for thirteen years, and in 1866 went 
 to Benton county, Arkansas, where he re- 
 mained for three years. He then sold his 
 property there and returned to this county, 
 settling on Rush creek, where he made one 
 of the best farms in the county. He now 
 has three farms, aggregating fifteen hundred 
 acres, of which four hundred acres are under 
 cultivation. This is rich bottom land, well 
 adapted for the raising of corn and cotton, 
 and the excellent crops which he harvests 
 are to him a profitable source of income. 
 He has upon his land twelve tenement 
 houses and other improvements in the way 
 of outbuildings, machinery and fences, all 
 of which indicate his careful supervision. 
 In addition to his other property he has also 
 given one hundred and sixty acres of land to 
 each of his children, thus enabling them to 
 avoid many of the difficulties which must be 
 met if one starts in life empty-handed. 
 
 By his first marriage Mr. McGuire had 
 twelve children, ten of whom are living, 
 namely: Sarah E., E. Anna, William, 
 Henry, John E., Jesse, Emily, Martha, 
 James and Lucy. Amanda and Elizabeth 
 are both deceased. The mother of this 
 family died June 25, 1883. She was a de- 
 voted and affectionate wife and mother, a 
 kind neighbor and a most estimable lady, 
 beloved by all who knew her. Mr. Mc- 
 Guire's second wife bore the maiden name 
 of May Evans, and her death occurred in 
 
 1887. In 1888 our subject wedded Mrs. 
 Martha Hairston, a widow, and they have a 
 daughter, named Ruby. 
 
 In his political views Mr. McGuire is a 
 stalwart Democrat, and is recognized as one 
 of the leading members of his party in Co- 
 manche county. He was elected sheriff of 
 the county in 1 860 and served in that capac- 
 ity for four years, a brave officer, never 
 flinching in the face of the sternest duty. 
 He was also county commissioner for six 
 years and school superintendent for four 
 years, discharging his duties with a prompt- 
 ness and fidelity that won him high com- 
 mendation. Socially he is a Royal Arch 
 Mason. Mr. McGuire has rounded the 
 Psalmist's span of threescore years and ten, 
 but a kindly use of those powers which na- 
 ture bestowed upon him, both mental and 
 physical, leaves him to-day a well preserved 
 man. Frank and genial in manner he has 
 many friends, and over the record of his life 
 there falls no shadow of wrong. 
 
 K^^ ENJAMIN W. SWITZER, who has 
 l/"^ been honored with official prefer- 
 J^^J ment in Comanche county, is one 
 of the successful and highly es- 
 teemed farmers in central Texas. A native 
 of South Carolina, he was born at Spartans- 
 burg, June 3, 1840, and in that locality was 
 reared and educated. His father, Samuel 
 Switzer, was born in South Carolina, in 
 1 80 1, and is descended from one of the old 
 and influential southern families. About 
 1 820 he was joined in wedlock with Miss 
 Mary Gates, a cultured lady born in South 
 Carolina in 1804, and a descendant of the 
 well known family of that name. She lived 
 to the age of forty-eight years, her death 
 occurring in 1852. Her husband removed 
 
54G 
 
 HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 to Texas in 1865, locating in Milam county, 
 where he resided until called to the home 
 beyond this life in 1872. Their family 
 numbered nine children. 
 
 The subject of this review was the 
 seventh in order of birth, and was reared to 
 manhood on his father's farm, early be- 
 coming familiar with its labors and duties. 
 When the civil war was inaugurated he took 
 up arms in defense of the south, enlisting 
 in 1861, as a member of Company C, 
 Twenty-seventh Mississippi Infantry. He 
 entered the service as a private, and during 
 the engagement at Perryville, Kentucky, in 
 1862, received a serious wound in the left 
 leg, which necessitated the amputation of 
 that member. After sufficiently recovering 
 he returned to Mississippi, whither he had 
 removed in 1859. 
 
 Ten years later Mr. Switzer came to 
 Texas and joined his father, then a resident 
 of Milam county. In 1876 he made a per- 
 manent location in Comanche county, and 
 is now residing about ten miles southwest of 
 the county seat, where he owns a beautiful 
 farm that embraces within its boundaries 
 three hundred and forty acres, of which 
 sixty-five acres is highly cultivated, being 
 planted to cotton, corn and small grain. He 
 also makes a specialty of the raising of hogs, 
 and his farm stock is graded, the cattle be- 
 ing of the Holstcin breed. His home is a 
 commodious and convenient residence, lo- 
 cated on a natural building site and sur- 
 rounded by a fine orchard of peach and or- 
 namental trees. 
 
 Mr. Switzer was joined in wedlock, in 
 Hamilton county, May 17, 1877, with an 
 estimable lady, Miss Palestine Johnson, who 
 was born in Mississippi and is a daughter of 
 William Johnson, an honored veteran of the 
 Mexican war. Mr. and Mrs. Switzer have 
 
 a family of nine children, namely: Christian 
 B. , Samuel O., Mary E., William D., 
 James G., Nellie G., Julia J., John C. and 
 Clifford W. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Switzer is a stanch and 
 steadfast Democrat of the old school. In 
 1880 he was elected on that ticket as county 
 assessor and served two terms in that im- 
 portant office. He has always taken an act- 
 ive part in educational matters, and has 
 served many years as a trustee or school 
 director of district No. 51. A loyal and 
 conscientious Christian gentleman, he has 
 been connected with the Methodist denomi- 
 nation from boyhood, and at this writing is 
 secretary and trustee of the church in 
 Blanket. 
 
 ^"V'AMUEL STILES is an honored 
 •^^^k* pioneer and worthy citizen of Hain- 
 
 ^^ J ilton county, Texas. As a business 
 man he possesses excellent judg- 
 ment, is skillful and enterprising in his farm- 
 ing operations, and in all respects accounted 
 a useful and desirable member of society. 
 Almost his entire life has been passed in the 
 Lone Star state, but he was born in 
 Claiborne parish, Louisiana, September 7, 
 1837, and is a son of William and Nancy 
 (Lawrence) Stiles. 
 
 The family was founded in America by 
 William Stiles, the great-grandfather of our 
 subject, who came from Ireland and settled 
 in North Carolina when a young man. He 
 was married there and later removed to 
 South Carolina, where he served as a con- 
 tinental soldier in the Revolutionary war. 
 In religious belief he was a Protestant. 
 
 The grandfather of our subject, who also 
 bore the name of William Stiles, was a 
 native of North Carolina, but was married 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 547 
 
 in South Carolina, and became the father of 
 six children, — Richard, John, William, 
 Hettie, Elizabeth and Sarah. As early as 
 1 82 1 he came to Texas, accompanied by his 
 wife and three children, — William, Hettie 
 and Sarah. Hettie was married at that 
 time to Henry Jones. She is the only one 
 now living and resides on her old homestead 
 on the St. Marcus river. Sarah was also 
 the wife of a Henry Jones, who, though 
 bearing the same name as her sister's hus- 
 band, was no relative. Of the other chil- 
 dren Richard was one of the pioneers of the 
 state, locating in Shelby county; John was 
 one of the first settlers of Red River county, 
 making his home near Clarksville; and 
 Elizabeth, who married Samuel Frame, 
 came to Texas after the civil war and located 
 near Austin. The grandfather never left 
 the state after his location here in 1821, but 
 passed his last days on the Brazos river at 
 the home of his daughter Sarah. He also 
 aided the colonies in their struggle for inde- 
 pendence, serving with Marion and Sumter 
 in South Carolina. 
 
 The father of our subject first opened his 
 eyes to the light February 3, 1799, in South 
 Carolina. With his parents he went to 
 Kentucky, where they resided for a time, 
 and then removed to Washington county, 
 Arkansas. Joining the Austin colony, they 
 came to Texas in 1821, where William 
 Stiles, Jr., remained for one year. He had 
 previously married in Arkansas, and had at 
 that time one son, John. At the end of a 
 year, however, he removed to Indian Ter- 
 ritory, where the following year was passed, 
 and then returned to the colony in Texas, 
 remaining with it for eighteen months. 
 Going again to the nation, he located near 
 Fort Towson, where he lived eight years, 
 leading a truly pioneer life. His next 
 
 removal made him a resident of Louisiana, 
 where he remained until 1850, and in the 
 fall of that year came to Ellis county, Texas. 
 He located in what is now Johnson county, 
 near Mansfield, and his family at this time 
 consisted of his wife and six children, 
 namely: William, Samuel, Nancy, Jane, 
 James and Sarah. The father there secured 
 a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, 
 to which he added until he had three hun- 
 dred acres of good land, and there made his 
 home until his death, which occurred August 
 29, 1875. He had enlisted as a private 
 under General Jackson in the war of 1812, 
 but being very young was never called into 
 active service. He was a Democrat in poli- 
 tics, and after settling in Louisiana became 
 a devoted member of the Methodist Episco- 
 pal church, to which faith he ever afterward 
 adhered. 
 
 The mother of our subject was born in 
 South Carolina, October 25, 1803, and was 
 the daughter of Adam Lawrence, who was 
 of Scotch lineage. Her father was married 
 in South Carolina, and her mother, who 
 carried dispatches during the Revolutionary 
 war, was wounded at the battle of Cowpens. 
 Mrs. Stiles departed this life on the 24th of 
 September, 1875. She was the mother of 
 the following children: John, George, Eliz- 
 abeth, Richard, William, Nancy, Samuel, 
 Jane, James, Sarah, and one son that died at 
 birth. 
 
 Mr. Stiles, whose name introduces this 
 record, remained with his parents until 
 1 87 1, when he removed to a home of his 
 own in Johnson county, where his farm con- 
 sisted of one hundred and seventy acres, 
 and continued to reside there until 1875, 
 when he purchased one hundred and six 
 acres of the farm where he now lives, re- 
 moving there on the 27th of December of 
 
518 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 that year. He now has a valuable tract of 
 one thousand acres, of which one hundred 
 and sixty acres are under cultivation, and 
 erected his present comfortable residence in 
 1881. 
 
 On the 3d of February, 1870, was cele- 
 brated the marriage of Samuel Stiles and 
 Mira Jane Poindexter, who was born in 
 Maury county, Tennessee, February 26, 
 1846, and is the daughter of Joseph and 
 Amanda Jane (Blair) Poindexter. To them 
 were born the following children: Ella, 
 born October 8, 1870; John, who was born 
 May 18, 1872, and died in infancy; William 
 Thomas, born July 7, 1873; Samuel Ed- 
 ward, born April 15, 1875; Amanda Jane, 
 born September 17, 1878; George, born 
 November 10, 1879; Mary Emma, born Oc- 
 tober 24, 1882; Martha Elizabeth, born 
 August 31, 1884; Jamie Omer, who was 
 born September 15, 1886, and died April 
 23, i8go; Mira Launa, born May 24, 1890; 
 and Marvin, September 18, 1892. 
 
 At the beginning of the civil war, in 
 April, 1 86 1, Mr. Stiles enlisted in Captain 
 Buck Berry's company. First Texas Mounted 
 Rifles, and engaged in arduous warfare with 
 the Indians for three years, when he went 
 to Louisiana and served until the close of 
 the war. Prior to his enlistment he had 
 belonged to the "ranger" service, and his 
 duties carried him well over the state, with 
 which he is therefore familiar. He has one 
 of the finest farms in the community, 
 adorned with excellent farm buildings, and 
 is numbered among the most popular, enter- 
 prising and successful agriculturists of Ham- 
 ilton county. He affiliated with the Demo- 
 cratic party until the first election of Presi- 
 dent Cleveland, and then became one of the 
 first Populists of the county, attending the 
 first state convention at Dallas, in 1892, as 
 
 a delegate from Hamilton county. He is a 
 consistent member of the Methodist Episco- 
 pal church, and is actively identified with 
 all plans for the social and moral elevation 
 of the community. 
 
 >T^AMES PINKNEY MAJOR, one of 
 m the best known and most prominent 
 A 1 citizens of Hamilton county, is now 
 engaged in the operation of a cotton 
 gin at Lanham, and may be justly styled 
 the father of that place. His birth occurred 
 on the 27th of December, 1838, in Blount 
 county, Alabama, at the home of his parents, 
 Elijah Tiegue and Casander (Allgood) Major, 
 and he is the fifth in a family of eight chil- 
 dren, the others being Miles, Charley, Mar- 
 tha, Sarah, Ellis, Elizabeth and Stephen. 
 The father, who was a native of Pendleton 
 count}'. South Carolina, after the death of 
 the mother of our subject, married Louisa 
 Cowden, by whom he had five children, 
 namely: John, George, Amanda, Mary and 
 William. The paternal grandfather, Epps 
 Major, served in the Revolutionary war un- 
 der Generals Marion and Sumter. By his 
 marriage to Miss Tiegue he had ten chil- 
 dren, — two sons and eight daughters. Bar- 
 nett Allgood, the maternal grandfather, 
 married a Miss Dean. 
 
 During the late civil war our subject was 
 in the hospital department of the Confed- 
 erate service at Tunnel Hill, Georgia. In 
 1862 he started in the milling business in 
 his native state, which he conducted until 
 1872, when in November of that year he 
 came to Hamilton county, Texas, where he 
 engaged to run the old Snow mill at Pull 
 Tite, on the Leon river, which he operated 
 about a year. He then purchased four hun- 
 dred and twenty-eight acres of the St. John 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 549 
 
 survey, all wild land, which he at once 
 began to improve, and has since added 
 thirty-three acres to the tract. His present 
 comfortable home was erected in 1885, and 
 three years later he built the gin which he 
 now conducts with excellent success. The 
 town was named in honor of Colonel Sam- 
 uel Lanham, who served as congressman in 
 1888. Mr. Major is widely known in busi- 
 ness circles as a man of undoubted integrity, 
 conducting his interests with ability and a 
 strict regard to details. 
 
 In 1858 Mr. Major led to the marriage 
 altar Miss Eliza Jane Blakely, and to them 
 have been born si.x children: Mattie, who 
 first wedded William Tidwell, and after his 
 death A. J. Russell; Stephen Ellis; James 
 Aleck; Mettie, wife of Mr. Cousins; John 
 Elijah, a teacher; and Charles, who is at- 
 tending school at Weatherford. Mr. Major 
 himself is a well-read man, and has given 
 his children a liberal education. He has 
 been eminently successful in his business 
 ventures, his residence and its surroundings 
 denoting him to be a man of thrift and en- 
 terprise, and he takes an active and com- 
 mendable interest in whatever is for the 
 good of his county or state. He assisted in 
 the organization of the People's party, since 
 which time he has been one of its stalwart 
 supporters. For forty-six years he has been 
 a consistent member of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal church, and was made a Mason at 
 Hico, Texas, in 1884, becoming a charter 
 member of Fairy Lodge. 
 
 at 
 
 'ALTER C. LANFORD is one of 
 the useful and valued citizens of 
 Comanche county. It is not the 
 men who are found in the legis- 
 lative halls of the nation or are prominent 
 
 in military circles on whom the welfare of 
 the country depends, but the men who re- 
 main quietly at home, attentive to business, 
 faithful to their duties of public and private 
 life. To them can be attributed the stable 
 growth and prosperity of a community and 
 to this class belongs the subject of this re- 
 view. 
 
 Mr. Lanford was born in the Spartan- 
 burg district of South Carolina, on the 3d 
 of May, 1855. His grandfather, John Lan- 
 ford, was a native of Virginia and a member 
 of an old and respected family of that state. 
 He was only six months of age at the time 
 of the commencement of the Revolutionary 
 war. The family of Lanfords is of Scotch 
 origin and was probably founded in America 
 in early colonial days. To John and Rutha 
 Lanford, the grandparents of our subject, 
 were born twelve children. The father, 
 Silas Lanford, was born in South Carolina, 
 and when he had arrived at years of matur- 
 ity married Miss Salena Mason, a native of 
 the same state and a daughter of Posey 
 Mason, one of the native sons of South 
 Carolina, and a member of an old and hon- 
 ored family. The children born of this 
 marriage were: Augustus, W. C, Eu- 
 genia, Lee, Elliott, Mason, Jane, Lillie, 
 Lou, Herbert and one deceased. The fa- 
 ther of this family was a soldier in a South 
 Carolina regiment for five years and died in 
 that state at the age of sixty-five. Farm- 
 ing was his business pursuit and to the de- 
 velopment of his land he gave the greater 
 part of his attention. In his political views 
 he was a Democrat and in his religious be- 
 lief a Baptist. His wife is still living in 
 South Carolina, at the age of sixty-six years. 
 
 Our subject was reared in the state of 
 his nativity and early learned lessons of in- 
 dustry and integrity, his home training be- 
 
550 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 iiig a good preparation for his life work. 
 His education was obtained in the public 
 schools and through the years of his boy- 
 hood and youth he worked on his father's 
 farm. In 1878 he left the Atlantic coast 
 and came to the Lone Star state, locating in 
 Comanche county four years later. He 
 then purchased his present farm, comprising 
 three hundred and twenty acres of land, of 
 which eighty acres are highly cultivated. 
 He erected a good house, at a cost of eight 
 hundred dollars, the dwelling being situated 
 on a natural building site which commands a 
 fair view of the surrounding country. He 
 also has a good orchard, covering an acre 
 and a half, and his farm is one of the best 
 improved in this section of the county. 
 
 In the year of his arrival in this county 
 Mr. Lanford was married to Miss Minnie 
 Switzer, the wedding being celebrated on 
 the 14th of December, 1882. The lady was 
 born in Austin county, Texas, a daughter of 
 H. C. Switzer, who died in 1891. Her 
 mother, whose maiden name was Eustacia 
 Collins, died in 1876. She also was born 
 in Austin county, Texas, and was a daugh- 
 ter of J. W. Collins, who went to that coun- 
 ty in 1836, becoming one of its pioneer set- 
 tlers as well as one of its honored citizens. 
 His death occurred in 1886. Mrs. Lanford 
 was one of eight children, four sons and 
 four daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Lanford 
 have five sons and one daughter, namely: 
 John Posey, Silas Ernest, Sam Christian, 
 Lawrence, Elma Malinda, and Walter 
 Calvin. 
 
 In his political affiliations Mr. Lanford is 
 a stalwart Democrat, and both he and his 
 wife are faithful members of the Christian 
 church. He is deeply interested in educa- 
 tional and religious work and all matters 
 that pertain to the welfare and advance- 
 
 ment of the community. He is a man of 
 fine physique, of genial, affable manner and 
 the excellencies of his character give him a 
 standing in the community that is indeed 
 enviable. 
 
 >^OHN BOLER.— A view over the field 
 J of business life in Hamilton county 
 A J shows no one who stands forth more 
 conspicuously as one of the most 
 prominent representatives of commercial in- 
 terests than the subject of this review. He 
 is the senior member of the well known firm 
 of J. Boler & Son, general merchants of 
 Pottsville, and his identification with busi- 
 ness in this locality has not only advanced 
 his individual success, but has also materi- 
 ally promoted the welfare of the community. 
 Mr. Boler is of Scotch-Irish descent. 
 His father was born June 24, 1793, in Edge- 
 field, South Carolina, and when very small 
 lost his father, who died leaving three chil- 
 dren, — John, Mary and Wesley. The last 
 named, before his marriage, accompanied 
 his brother to South Carolina and was there 
 joined in wedlock with Eliza Walton, a 
 daughter of John Walton, who died in New- 
 ton county, Mississippi, in 1846, at the age 
 of eighty years. He had removed from 
 South Carolina to Alabama and thence to 
 Mississippi in 1830. His wife bore the 
 maiden name of Elizabeth McMillan, and 
 their children were James, Enoch, Eliza, 
 Martha, Sarah, William, John, Henry and 
 Elizabeth. The father of this family served 
 in the Indian wars. Mrs. Eliza Boler was 
 born in Alabama in 1807, and in 1830 the 
 parents of their subject went to Hinds 
 county, Mississippi, where they remained 
 for five years, then took up their abode in 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 551 
 
 Newton county, where the father carried on 
 agricultural pursuits. He was a member of 
 the Primitive Baptist church and in politics 
 was a Democrat. His death occurred No- 
 vember lo, 1883, and his wife passed away 
 in February, 1867. The members of their 
 family were William Riden, John, Mary 
 Ann, James, Sarah Jane, Martha, Elizabeth, 
 Greenbury, Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson 
 and Eliza Jane. All are living with the ex- 
 ception of James, William and Eliza Jane. 
 After the death of his first wife the father of 
 this family married Mrs. Nancy Walton. 
 
 John Boler, of this review, was born 
 April 22, 1827, in Clarke county, Alabama, 
 and when a child of three years went with 
 the family to Mississippi. On attaining his 
 majority he entered upon his business career, 
 accepting a situation as overseer, where he 
 had the management of one hundred hands. 
 Subsequently he began farming, which he 
 followed until 1865.. In August, 1863, he 
 enlisted in the Confederate service but did 
 not go to the front, although he aided in the 
 attacks made on Sherman's army as it was 
 on its raid. He began merchandising in 
 Neshoba county, Mississippi, opening a store 
 three miles from Union with a stock valued 
 at fifteen hundred dollars. This establish- 
 ment he conducted for eight years, when he 
 returned to his old home in Newton county, 
 where he carried on farming for five years. 
 He left Mississippi for Texas December i, 
 
 1882, and located in Oceola, Hill county, 
 where he rented land. In October, 1883, 
 he was joined by his son, Walter J., and 
 they have since been largely associated in 
 business. Mr. Boler had purchased two 
 hundred and forty acres of land on Cow- 
 house creek, near Indian Gap, in August, 
 
 1883, and moved to that place in December. 
 He also rented land near by and improved 
 
 both properties, continuing their cultivation 
 for two years. 
 
 Mr. Boler arrived in Pottsville, March 
 25, 1885, and established a store under the 
 firm name of J. Boler & Company, busi- 
 ness being carried on by this house until 
 February 4, 1888, when his son purchased 
 the interest of I. G. Alvey, and the firm of 
 J. Boler & Son was established. They 
 carry a stock valued at twenty-five hundred 
 dollars, and their annual sales amount to 
 four thousand dollars. They have one of 
 the best equipped stores in the entire coun- 
 ties and are numbered among the leading 
 general merchants in this part of the state, 
 while from the general public they receive 
 a liberal and well merited patronage. 
 
 On the 29th of June, 1848, Mr. Boler 
 was united in marriage with Miss Martha 
 Adeline Boyd, daughter of William and 
 Maria (Henderson) Boyd. Their children 
 were William Alexander, who was born De- 
 cember 9, 1850, and died July 26, 1865; 
 John Madison, born April 23, 1853, married 
 Victoria Germany, who resided in Mills 
 county, three miles west of Indian Gap. 
 Their children are Ennis, Augusta, deceased, 
 Maud, Marcus, Pollie, Austin, Bertie and a 
 baby boy. Martha Virginia Adelaide, born 
 October 9, 1855, married G. H. Abney, by 
 whom she had three children, Ora, Mattie 
 and George H. After the death of her first 
 husband she wedded T. A. Lovelace and 
 the children of this union are Roy, Earl, 
 Ina, Ima, deceased, and an infant son. 
 Walter James, born July 20, 1866, his fa- 
 ther's partner, was married September 13, 
 1888, to Pallie Germany, daughter of John 
 W. and Hester (Smith) Germany. She 
 was born in Mississippi in February, 1869, 
 and their children are Roger Willis, born 
 August 24, 1889; Bertha May, born March 
 
552 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 2, 1892; Levie, born October 24, 1894. 
 Mrs. Martha A. Boler, who was a consis- 
 tent member of the Missionary Baptist 
 church, died August 26, 1890. On the 
 29th of March, 1891, Mr. Boler married 
 Mrs. Maggie Blondell Johnson, widow of 
 John Johnson, by whom she had three chil- 
 dren. Her father was John Wails. 
 
 In his political views Mr. Boler and his 
 son Walter are Democrats, and while living 
 in Mississippi the former served as justice 
 of the peace for two years. Both are mem- 
 bers of the Missionary Baptist church, the 
 father having held membership therein for 
 forty-five years. When twenty-si.x years of 
 age he joined Hillsboro Lodge, F. & A. M., 
 of Hillsboro, Mississippi, and now holds a 
 demit from the lodge in Newburg, Texas. 
 
 IHOMAS TAYLOR EWELL, a 
 prominent lawyer of Granbury, 
 was born in McCracken county, 
 Kentucky, February 8, 1844, the 
 second in a family of fourteen brothers and 
 sisters, whose parents were John and Ann 
 E. (Taylor) Ewell. His paternal grand- 
 father was Major Charles Ewell, an Ameri- 
 can soldier of the Revolutionary war, who 
 married Mrs. Maria D. Craik, whose maiden 
 name was Tucker. His maternal grand- 
 father was Captain Thomas Taylor, a sea- 
 man, engaged in trade between the Chesa- 
 peake and West Indies during the early part 
 of this century. The Ewell, Tucker and 
 Taylor families had been established in \'ir- 
 ginia during early colonial days, and Major 
 Charles Ewell and Captain Thomas Taylor 
 removed with their families from Prince 
 William county, \'irginia, to McCracken 
 county, Kentucky, about the year 1826. 
 
 There John Ewell and Ann Taylor were 
 reared and their marriage was celebrated 
 April 8, 1 84 1. The former followed the 
 occupation of farinng and trained his boys 
 to a practical knowledge of farm work. He 
 was in strong sympathy with the cause of 
 the southern Confederacy, and at the close 
 of the civil war was broken down both in 
 spirit and fortune. Removing to Paducah, 
 Kentucky, he was there elected at various 
 times to county offices. His death oc- 
 curred in 1890. 
 
 As far back as authentic records can be 
 secured it is known that the Ewell family 
 sprang from Charles Ewell, an English gen- 
 tleman, three of whose sons — Charles, Sol- 
 omon and James — emigrated with a colony 
 from Dumfries, Scotland, and settled along 
 the Potomac in Prince William county, Vir- 
 ginia, during the reign of Charles II, naming 
 the new town Dumfries. Charles, the eld- 
 est, remained in Virginia, and from him 
 sprang the Virginia family of Ewells; while 
 Solomon and James, during Indian troubles, 
 removed to the eastern shores of Maryland. 
 This Charles Ewell married Marian Ber- 
 trand, a lady of a French family, and had 
 three sons, — Charles, Bertrand and Solo- 
 mon. Of these Bertrand Ewell married a 
 Miss Kinnor and had nineteen children, of 
 whom Major Charles Ewell, the grand- 
 father of the subject of this sketch, was the 
 eighteenth. Records of the Taylor family 
 beyond Captain Thomas Taylor have not 
 been perpetuated. It is traditionally known 
 that by intermarriage they are intimately 
 descended from the family of "Light- 
 Horse" Harry Lee. 
 
 Thomas T. Ewell, as before indicated, 
 spent his boyhood on the farm and had only 
 the ordinary opportunities of a country 
 school, such as was common to the early 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 553 
 
 days of country life in western Kentucky. 
 When he was sixteen years of age his 
 father secured for him a place with an old- 
 time friend as deputy circuit court clerk, 
 where he remained from 1859 until 1862. 
 While living there he became imbued with 
 a desire to enter the legal profession and 
 set about to master the science of law, by 
 hard study, but the federal army upon en- 
 tering Kentucky in 1861 took possession of 
 the courthouse, and the civil courts at 
 Paducah being virtually suspended he re- 
 turned to his father's farm for a few months; 
 and then, riding a mule and accompanied 
 by a cousin, he made his way from his 
 home on the Ohio across Kentucky and 
 Tennessee, to Guntown, Mississippi, having 
 had many narrow escapes and adventures 
 in slipping past the federal lines. Here 
 they met Confederate cavalry, and, learn- 
 ing that the Third Kentucky Regiment of 
 Confederate Infantry, having just partici- 
 pated in the battle of Baton Rouge, was 
 then encamped at Jackson, Mississippi, they 
 at once joined that regiment, where an older 
 brother of our subject, Charles Ewell, was 
 already enlisted. From this on through 
 the war Thomas T. Ewell, as a private 
 soldier, followed the fortunes of his com- 
 pany under the leadership of Breckenridge, 
 Van Dorn, Loring, Buford and Forrest, 
 under whose various commands in order 
 named it fought through the war. Mr. 
 Ewell participated in the battle of Corinth, 
 the maneuvers under the direction of Joseph 
 E. Johnston before and after the fall of 
 Vicksburg, the siege and accompanying the 
 battle of Jackson, Mississippi, the battle of 
 Port Hudson, Louisiana, the battle of 
 Paducah, Kentucky, Brice's Cross Roads, 
 Harrisburg, Mississippi, Athens, Tennessee, 
 and other minor engagements, and while on 
 
 special detached service entered Kentucky 
 with General Lyon in the winter of 1864-5 
 and participated in the capture of several 
 federal steamers on the Cumberland, loaded 
 with cargoes for Nashville. A few days 
 later, while engaged in scout service, he was 
 hemmed in by a freshet in Green river, the 
 retreat of his party being thus cut off, and 
 was captured near Bowling Green, Ken- 
 tucky, being thence conveyed to Camp 
 Chase in Ohio, where he was held as a pris- 
 oner of war until March, 1865, when under 
 arrangements for final exchange he was 
 conveyed by way of Baltimore and up the 
 James river to the Confederate lines about 
 Richmond and released under parole. 
 
 At the conclusion of the war, before his 
 final exchange, he returned to his Kentucky 
 home, having but recently reached his 
 majority, and there found that his father's 
 fortune had gone and he could therefore 
 receive no aid from that source. He then 
 entered the service of the Paducah & Gulf 
 Railroad Company and in the various capac- 
 ities of freight and passenger agent, con- 
 ductor and master of transportation followed 
 such service until January, 1871, when, 
 owing to failing health, he removed to Hood 
 county, Texas, a then newly organized 
 county on the frontier. He settled at Gran- 
 bury, where, without a tutor, he took up 
 again his long-interrupted study of law, 
 sometimes doing farm work and sometimes 
 teaching school to bear his expenses. At 
 the fall term of the district court of 1871, 
 after only eight months of study, — during 
 which time, however, he had diligently in- 
 vestigated Blackstone, Kent, Phillips on Evi- 
 dence, Story's Equity and Chitty's Plead- 
 ings, together with the Texas statutes and 
 many decisions of the Texas courts, — he 
 applied for license to practice law, and after 
 
554 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS 
 
 an examination was admitted to the bar, 
 the examination being conducted by Judge 
 Charles Soward and a committee composed 
 of S. H. Renicit, of Waco, Colonel Rushing, 
 of Cleburne, and Mr. Young, of Granbury. 
 
 Being at the time engaged in school- 
 teaching, Mr. Ewcll did not enter into 
 practice until January, 1872, when he 
 opened an office, and has since been actively 
 engaged in the practice of his profession in 
 Granbury. From the summer of 1872 until 
 February, 1876, he was associated in part- 
 nership with Colonel T. J. Duke and after- 
 ward, till 1880, with John P. Estes and with 
 B. M. Estes until 1881. In 1887 he admit- 
 ted R. C. Milliken into his office as a student 
 and soon as a partner, and this connection 
 continued until Mr. Milliken's removal from 
 the county in 189 1. In 1878 Mr. Ewell 
 was elected county attorney of Hood county, 
 serving for one term, but having more taste 
 for civil law he did not seek a re-election. 
 His professional labors have been chiefly in 
 land litigations, and in this field, by skill- 
 fully invoking legal and equitable principles, 
 thoroughly studied by him, he gained many 
 victories for poor and humble clients in his 
 earlier career, thus gaining a reputation in 
 this specialty which his subsequent career 
 has not only retained but made brighter 
 still. He has been an occasional contributor 
 to the local press of his county on questions 
 of public interest, and has recently compiled 
 a brief history of Hood county, which is a 
 reliable and well-edited volume. 
 
 Mr. Ewell was married to Miss Bettie 
 Black, of Jefferson, Texas, in 1874. Their 
 eldest child, a daughter, nosv twenty years 
 of age, is engaged in school-teaching, hav- 
 ing received the degree of A. B. in Gran- 
 bury College in the class of 1894. She and 
 a son, now thirteen years of age, are the 
 
 only surviving children, two other sons hav- 
 ing died in infancy. 
 
 Mr. Ewell was one of the original 
 founders and trustees of Granbury High 
 School (now College), and is now acting on 
 its board of trustees. He has always been 
 a friend to local educational institutions, 
 deeply interested in all that pertains to the 
 mental development of the young. In 
 politics he has affiliated with the Demo- 
 cratic party, but as an aspirant for office 
 has never actively participated in politics. 
 However, in the great state contest on the 
 prohibition question in 1887 he engaged 
 ardently in the public discussions on the 
 side of temperance. In his boyhood he 
 joined the Methodist Episcopal church, 
 south, and has ever since retained his mem- 
 bership therein. Not deeply pious, he has 
 great faith in God, to whom, with his fam- 
 ily, he offers daily prayer and thanksgiving. 
 He has never united with any civic society 
 except the Masonic, having been made a 
 master Mason in Kentucky about 1868; since 
 his removal to Texas he has been dimitted. 
 
 To note the characteristics of Mr. Ewell, 
 it may be mentioned that while he is en- 
 dowed by nature with a high temper, he 
 has complete mastery of self. This control 
 emanates from his well balanced mental 
 organization, to which all of his character- 
 istics are subject in a large degree. He is 
 candid to a fault, and his strict sense of 
 honesty in business and professional life has 
 never admitted of an undue advantage being 
 taken of any situation. A strict adherence 
 to the golden rule has marked his life, and 
 while it may have made him poorer in ma- 
 terial things he has thereby been enriched by 
 blessings choicer than wealth, — the heritage 
 of a good name and the confidence and es- 
 teem of his fellow men. His sympathetic 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 nature has often occasioned great sacrifice 
 of his personal interests to the betterment 
 of the condition of others. Possessing a 
 studious mind he prefers the exclusion of his 
 home and office to the social amenities of 
 society. He is quick of perception, writes 
 with fluency and clearness, while in speech he 
 is not demonstrative in manner but logical 
 and pointed in his utterances, which gives a 
 weight to his words. Of a frail physique 
 his physical constitution has always lacked 
 robustness in health and strength, his nerv- 
 ous and mental energies alone enabling him 
 in lieu of physical strength to succeed in his 
 undertaking. 
 
 ^"V* R. SWITZER, a leading citizen 
 •^^^kT of Comanche county, was born in 
 
 h\^^^y the Orangeboro district, South Car- 
 olina, December 22, 1854, and is 
 a son of W. C. and Jane C. (Yeargin) 
 Switzcr. They had twelve children, nine 
 sons and three daughters, namely: S. R., 
 W. D., Lula M., Lawrence, John J., Cora, 
 Ben, David, Fred, Walter, Isla May and 
 Yeargin. 
 
 The subject of this review spent the 
 first twelve years of life in the state of his 
 nativity, and in 1866 became a resident of 
 Austin county, Texas, where he remained 
 for three years. He then went to Milam 
 county, where he continued for six years, 
 and on the expiration of that period became 
 a resident of Comanche county. He ac- 
 quired his education in the public schools, 
 and has largely supplemented it by reading 
 and study at home. In his early life he 
 learned the blacksmith trade, which he fol- 
 lowed for several years, and in 1888 he 
 turned his attention to farming, locating at 
 his present home, which was then a tract 
 
 of wild land entirely destitute of improve- 
 ment. He now has a valuable farm of one 
 hundred and sixty acres, of which sixty-five 
 acres is now highly cultivated. There is 
 also a good orchard upon the place, a com- 
 fortable residence, stable yards and the ac- 
 cessories of a model farm. 
 
 Mr. Switzer has been twice married. 
 He wedded Amy Cross, daughter of Riley 
 and Jane Cross and a native of Brown coun- 
 ty, Texas, where she was reared and edu- 
 cated. Two children were born of this 
 marriage, — Pierce and Riley, the latter now 
 deceased. The mother passed away in 1 886, 
 mourned by many friends as well as her 
 own immediate family. In 1887 Mr. Switzer 
 was again married, his second union being 
 with Miss Eddie Drake, a cultured and in- 
 telligent lady and a daughter of M. L. 
 Drake. Three children grace this union, — 
 Ethlene, Fred and Anna, — and they also 
 lost one son, Paul D. 
 
 In politics, Mr. Switzer is a stalwart 
 Democrat, and is a member of the Masonic 
 Lodge at Comanche. He holds member- 
 ship in the Methodist church, and is one of 
 its most active and zealous workers, having 
 served as steward and trustee of the church 
 and as superintendent of the Sunday-school. 
 He encourages and aids all enterprises and 
 movements calculated to advance the best 
 interests of the community, and well de- 
 serves mention among the best citizens of 
 his adopted county. 
 
 ,>^ EV. ROBERT A. BIGGS is one of 
 
 jl ^^ the native sons of Texas and is a 
 
 I P worthy representative of one of the 
 
 honored pioneer families of the 
 
 state. More than half a century has passed 
 
 since his father, Benjamin F. Biggs, came 
 
556 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 to Texas, during which time the republic 
 has taken on statehood and become a rec- 
 ognized power in the Union, exerting an in- 
 fluence on almost all national affairs of 
 moment. He is now living in Duffau, in 
 the seventy-ninth year of his age, — a man 
 whose honored old age indicates a well 
 spent life. He was born in Tennessee, June 
 27, 1818, and is a son of Elder Asa Biggs, 
 a native of North Carolina, who removed to 
 Tennessee in a very earl}' day and was one 
 of the pioneer preachers of that state. He 
 was accompanied by his wife and six chil- 
 dren, namely: Susan Glover, Eliza Mualdin, 
 Wilson, B. P., Henry and Amanda. After 
 some years' residence in Tennessee Elder 
 Asa Biggs came to Texas, where he con- 
 tinued the work of the ministry, delivering 
 the first sermon in many localities of the 
 frontier region. He died in Rusk count}', 
 in April, 1861, at the age of seventy-eight 
 years, and his death was the occasion of 
 deepest regret wherever he was known. His 
 life was pure and holy and his kindness and 
 sympathy won the love and respect of all. 
 He was a man six feet in height, well pro- 
 portioned, of light complexion and blue eyes, 
 and weighed nearly two hundred pounds. 
 
 Benjamin F. Biggs spent his early life 
 in the state of his nativity and in 1838 was 
 married. Almost immediately thereafter 
 he started for the republic of Texas, taking 
 up his residence in Shelby county in 1841. 
 For five years he made his home in that lo- 
 cality and then removed to Rusk county, 
 where he followed agricultural pursuits. He 
 was very successful in his undertakings and 
 accumulated handsome property prior to 
 the conmiencement of the civil war, but dur- 
 ing that struggle he lost all of his personal 
 effects and transportable property. During 
 the last two years of the war he was con- 
 
 nected with the state militia. In 1867 he 
 removed to Collin county, Texas, where he 
 remained until 1890, when he came to 
 Duffau. Here he is spending his last years 
 in the enjoyment of a well earned rest, 
 while friends and neighbors have for him 
 the highest regard. He had not long been 
 a resident of Texas when his first wife died. 
 Tbey had three children, Eliza Jane, Mar- 
 tha Ann and Franklin, — the last named 
 having died at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, while 
 serving as a soldier in the late war. The 
 daughters still survive. For his second wife 
 he chose Alsa J., daughter of Thomas Starr, 
 a native of Illinois, who came to Texas 
 about the time Mr. Biggs arrived in the state 
 and also settled in Shelby county, where he 
 died a few years later. By the second mar- 
 riage of Benjamin F. Biggs there were ten 
 children, seven of whom are yet living, as 
 follows: Elder Robert A., Daniel, Jefferson 
 D., Margaret C, wife of James F. Stensin, 
 James, Hugh R., and Fannie, wifeof James 
 Hagan. The deceased were Minnie E. , 
 Thomas A. and Mary E. The mother of 
 this family died in August, 1869. For more 
 than half a century Mr. Biggs has been a 
 member of the Primitive church and has 
 always taken an active part in religious 
 work. He served for many years as deacon 
 and clerk in the church and has ever been 
 prominent in advancing the cause of Chris- 
 tianity whenever possible. 
 
 Rev. Robert A. Biggs, whose name intro- 
 duces this review, was born in Rusk county, 
 Texas, June 2, 1849, and his early life was 
 spent in a manner similar to that of most 
 boys of the state. His early education was 
 limited, for the period of the war and its 
 attendant hardships interfered with the con- 
 tinuance of his school work. During the 
 last three years of the war the care of fif- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 557 
 
 teen persons devolved upon his young shoul- 
 ders; but faithfully and conscientiously he 
 performed the heavy task imposed upon 
 him. He remained at home until his mar- 
 riage, which was celebrated in October, 
 1869, the lady of his choice being Miss 
 America Crawley. 
 
 Not long after this event he removed 
 with his bride to Collin county, Texas, 
 where for eight years he followed farming 
 and then came to Erath county, in the au- 
 tumn of 1877. The following year he was 
 licensed to preach, and in 1880 he was or- 
 dained by Elders W. S. Harris and F. Lo- 
 den. Following his ordination he received 
 calls from the Damascus church in Erath 
 county and Concord church in Comanche 
 county, serving the former two years and 
 the latter six years. During this time he 
 was instrumental in the organization and 
 upbuilding of Ephesus church, of which he 
 acted as pastor for five years, and in 1887 
 he returned to Erath county, locating on 
 his present farm, a small tract of eighty 
 acres, which is cultivated under his personal 
 supervision. In addition to his farm work 
 he has charge of four churches, — Bosque, 
 Hopewell, Providence and Mineral Springs; 
 and his labors in the Master's vineyard are 
 untiring. He has ofificiated at the ordina- 
 tion of eleven deacons and six ministers, 
 and since 1887 has baptized one hundred 
 and twenty-four people and has married 
 fifty-four couples. In eight years, while 
 serving four churches, he traveled one thou- 
 sand miles annually, and since his ordination 
 he has delivered eleven hundred and eighty- 
 nine discourses. Mr. Biggs is a gentleman 
 of scholarly attainments and broad general 
 information, is a fiuent, logical and enter- 
 taining speaker, has won an enviable repu- 
 tation as a debater and is a warm defender 
 
 of his faith. His labors in the ministry have 
 been productive of most beneficial results, 
 and his devotion to this holy calling has led 
 many to enter that straight and narrow way 
 which leads to life everlasting. 
 
 Mr. Biggs was called upon to mourn the 
 loss of his wife June 25, 1881. She was 
 born May 5, 1850, and departed this life at 
 the age of thirty-one years, leaving five chil- 
 dren,— Nathan L., John B., Riley B., Lula 
 M. and Jesse D. One child, Josephine, is 
 now deceased. On the 7th of October, 
 1 88 1, Rev. Biggs married Sarah E. Hack- 
 ler, by whom he had six children; but 
 Lewis A. and an infant have passed away. 
 Those who are still with their parents are 
 Callie L., Dora P., Neal L. and Dollie B. 
 
 >T^ H. KEITH is the oldest settler on 
 J Alarm creek, having been connected 
 A 1 with this section of the state since 
 1859. The region in which he lo- 
 cated was wild and unimproved. Vast 
 stretches of prairie offered excellent oppor- 
 tunity to the agriculturist, but as yet were 
 in the primitive condition. Few homes had 
 been established in the surrounding country 
 and along the banks of Alarm creek no 
 settlement had been effected. From that 
 time forward Mr. Keith has been active in 
 the development of the neighborhood and 
 belongs to that class of honored pioneers to 
 whom the county owes a debt of gratitude 
 for what they have accomplished. 
 
 Mr. Keith was born in McNairy county, 
 Tennessee, on the 21st of February, 1829, 
 a son of Stephen and Rebecca (Crane) Keith, 
 who removed to Arkansas in 1830 and came 
 to Texas in 1839. Our subject resided in 
 Titus county, this state, until after he had 
 attained his majority and then took up his 
 
558 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 abode in Hunt county. He was married in 
 the former county, in 1848, to Miss Jane 
 O'Neal, a native of McNairy county, Ten- 
 nessee, born in 1829, a daughter of George 
 W. and Mary (Major) O'Neal, who reached 
 Titus county, Texas, on the 2u of January, 
 1846. 
 
 After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Keith 
 removed to Hunt county, where he followed 
 farming and stock-raising until 1859, when 
 he came to Erath county, then on the very 
 border of civilization. Locating on his 
 present iarm he began to clear and improve 
 the place and continued this work until the 
 breaking out of the war. In August, 1862, 
 he enlisted in Colonel Gurley's regiment, 
 which was attached to General Gano's di- 
 vision, and served in the western army, par- 
 ticipating in many skirmishes and the battle 
 of Cabin creek, where three hundred 
 wagons were captured by the Confederate 
 forces. 
 
 At the close of the war the regiment 
 with which Mr. Iveith was connected was 
 disbanded, and he returned home to find 
 that all his transportable property had been 
 stolen and he was forced to begin business 
 life anew. His family had during the strug- 
 gle between the north and the south re- 
 moved to Dublin, Te.xas, in order to escape 
 the treachery of the savage Indians, who 
 were committing so many depredations on 
 the frontier. Locating upon his farm our 
 subject once more began the work of devel- 
 opment and improvement and now has a 
 valuable place, comprising seven hundred 
 and twenty acres, all of which is fenced, 
 while one hundred and fifteen acres is under 
 a high state of cultivation and yields to him 
 a golden tribute in return for his care and 
 cultivation. Mr. Keith has won that suc- 
 cess that results from enterprise, capable 
 
 1 management, and unfaltering industry, and 
 is to-day numbered among the substantial 
 citizens of the community. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Keith arc the parents of 
 eleven children, seven of whom are still liv- 
 ing, namely: Wilson S., born June 25, 
 1849, ^tJ after attaining to years of matur- 
 ity engaged in the stock-raising business. 
 While following this pursuit on the Pecos 
 river, August 3, 1873, he was wounded by 
 the Indians at Horse Shoe Bend, and after 
 being removed to Seven Rivers he died. 
 W. G. is married and resides near the old 
 homestead. Nicodemus is married and 
 makes his home in Eastland county, Texas. 
 Ellen died at the age of eight years. 
 Stephen is married and resides on the home- 
 stead farm. The next, a daughter, died in 
 infancy. Robert E. is married and lives in 
 Erath county. Elba is the wife of Frank 
 Ham, of Erath county. Walter is at home. 
 Emma is the wife of J. H. Boyd of Erath 
 county. The youngest child also died in 
 infancy. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Keith are members of the 
 Missionary Baptist church and are people 
 whose many excellencies of character have 
 endeared them to a large circle of friends. 
 In his political views our subject is a Demo- 
 crat and warmly advocates the principles of 
 his party, although he has never sought or 
 desired office, preferring to give his time and 
 attention to his business interests. 
 
 at 
 
 ILLIAM H. DAVIS, Sr., is one 
 of Erath county's most honored 
 pioneers, dating his residence 
 here from 1S56. His name is 
 indelibly engraved on the pages of its his- 
 tory and the progress of the county bears 
 the impress of his individuality. A man of 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 great force of character, he was well fit- 
 ted to cope with the difficulties of frontier 
 life, and his labors have largely opened the 
 way to civilization and advancement in this 
 region. It is therefore with gratification 
 that the historian enters upon the task of 
 preserving the record of his achievements 
 and the good he has accomplished and given 
 to his many friends, — a review of a career 
 that has been as honorable as it is replete 
 with interesting incidents. 
 
 Mr. Davis comes of a family of Welsh 
 origin that was established in the United 
 States when the country was a province of 
 Great Britain. The great-grandfather of 
 our subject, leaving his native Wales, took 
 up his abode in Virginia, where he reared a 
 family of children, furnishing four sons to 
 the colonial .army to battle for the cause of 
 freedom. These were Mathew, Jonathan, 
 John and Samuel. The last named was the 
 grandfather of our subject. He was born in 
 Westmoreland county, Virginia, and was 
 reared on a farm in the neighborhood of the 
 Washington plantation, where the boy 
 George spent his youthful days. The two 
 served together for their country's independ- 
 ence, Mr. Davis entering the army when 
 only sixteen years of age. He was in the 
 battle of Yorktown and was present at the 
 surrender of Cornwallis. After the war he 
 removed to Burke county. North Carolina, 
 where he was married and reared a family of 
 four sons and four daughters, two of the 
 sons, William and John, serving in the war 
 of 1812. 
 
 Of this family Samuel Davis became the 
 father of the gentleman whose name intro- 
 duces this sketch. He was married in 
 Burke county to Miss Eliza Morris, a native 
 of Rutherford county. North Carolina, and 
 a daughter of Hal Morris, who also was bpri] 
 
 in the same locality. Her grandfather, 
 William Morris, was of Irish descent and his 
 wife was of Scotch ancestry. Samuel Davis 
 followed agricultural pursuits and also en- 
 gaged in gold mining. By his marriage 
 there were two children, our subject and 
 Sallie, who became the wife of W. K. Har- 
 ris. The mother died when William was 
 only two years and a half old, and in 1835 
 tlie father sold his farm and removed to 
 Cass county, Georgia. Later he went to 
 Gilmore county, where he remained until 
 1855, when he emigrated to Dallas county, 
 Texas. His last days were spent at the 
 home of our subject, where he died in 1858, 
 at the age of sixty-four years. 
 
 After his mother's death William H. 
 Davis remained with his father for eight 
 years, then went to live with other rela- 
 tives and at last made his home with his 
 grandfather Morris until the demise of that 
 gentleman. In 1842 he removed to Gil- 
 more county, Georgia, and embarked in 
 farming on his own account, but his soli- 
 tary life was not pleasant, and on the 28th 
 of October, 1847, he married Miss Sarah 
 Ann Osborn, a native of Henderson county. 
 North Carolina, and daughter of Newman 
 and Judith (Harris) Osborn. Her father 
 was born in Henderson county and was of 
 Scotch- Irish descent, and the mother was 
 born in the Abbottville district, of South 
 Carolina. 
 
 At the time of his marriage Mr. Davis 
 was a young man of twenty years, his birth 
 having occurred in Burke county, North 
 Carolina, April 15, 1827. He followed 
 farming until 1856, when he started for 
 Texas with an ox team and wagon, reach- 
 ing his destination after fourteen weeks of 
 travel. He landed on the Paluxy on the 
 31st of December, without any money. 
 
560 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 He improved several farms in this section 
 of the state and at length purchased three 
 hundred acres of land, at three dollars per 
 acre. Of this he improved seventy-five 
 acres and then sold out and in 1870 bought 
 one hundred and twenty-three acres of wild 
 land, which he placed under cultivation. 
 He has improved five different farms in 
 Erath county and thus has carried on the 
 work of progress which makes the labor 
 each succeeding generation lighter. He now 
 has a very valuable and desirable property, 
 on which he has placed all the accessories 
 and conveniences of a model farm, and his 
 orchard is the finest in the county. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Davis are the parents of a 
 family of twelve children, ten of whom are 
 still living, namely: Newman O. , who 
 died at the age of thirty-three years, leaving 
 a wife and four children; Judith A., widow 
 of C. C. Brooks, of Erath county; Samuel 
 J., a physician and minister of Morgan Mill; 
 Andrew J., a stock-dealer of Morgan Mill; 
 Eliza J., wife of P. M. Cantrell; Monroe 
 F. , who is living in the Indian Nation ; Sarah 
 E. , twin sister of Monroe, who became the 
 wife of F. M. Dever and died July 16, 
 1882, leaving one daughter; Harriett E., 
 wife of Dr. M. H. Logan, of Jack county; 
 Rev. Jeremiah Lee, a minister of the Mis- 
 sionary Baptist church, located in Erath 
 county; Mary F., wife of R. M. Ballentine, 
 of Bluff Dale; William H., Jr., of Erath 
 county; and Marian N., wife of O. L 
 Moates, of the Indian Territory. 
 
 The parents are members of the Mis- 
 sionary Baptist church and are people whose 
 genuine worth has won them a large circle 
 of friends. Mr. Davis has served as mag- 
 istrate and in all the relations of life has 
 been found true and faithful to the trust re- 
 posed in him. He is a self-made man who 
 
 by his own industry has accumulated a good 
 property, which has enabled him to supply 
 his family with those comforts that go to 
 make life worth living, and in giving his chil- 
 dren such educational privileges as would fit 
 them for the duties of the future. He came 
 to Erath county when the Indians were far 
 more numerous than the white settlers, and 
 has been an important factor in making the 
 district what it is to-day. 
 
 ^t'OHN C. McCAMEY. — Among the 
 J early settlers and prominent farmers 
 ^j of Comanche county is numbered 
 this gentleman, who claims Tennes- 
 see as the state of his birth, that event hav- 
 ing occurred in Greene county, April 15, 
 1829. His parents were Alexander and 
 Malinda (Borden) McCamey. The former 
 was of German lineage, while the latter was 
 of Irish descent, the maternal grandfather 
 having come to this country from the Eme- 
 rald Isle. The paternal grandfather, Samuel 
 McCamey, was a gunsmith by trade, and 
 also carried on farming. He held member- 
 ship in the Methodist church, and died in 
 Tennessee. Alexander McCamey was born 
 in Virginia and reared in Tennessee, where 
 throughout his life he followed farming. In 
 political faith he was a Whig and in religious 
 belief a Methodist. His death occurred in 
 1 87 1, and his wife passed away in 1889. 
 They had sixteen children, and with one 
 exception all reached mature years, namely: 
 Sarah; Mary; William, a prominent lawyer 
 and teacher now residing in Comanche 
 county, who served in the Mexican and 
 civil wars, being taken prisoner in the latter 
 and sent to Rock Island, Illinois, soon after 
 which he removed to Iowa, where he resided 
 until 1888; James; David, deceased; Mari- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 561 
 
 man, deceased, who served through the 
 civil war; John C. ; Jane; EUza; Elizabeth; 
 Alpha; Martha; Daniel; Samuel, who served 
 in the federal army during the civil war 
 and is now in Tennessee; and Malinda, of 
 Tennessee. The parents and all of their 
 children with the exception of our subject 
 were members of the Methodist church. 
 
 John C. McCamey was reared to farm 
 life and is indebted to the common schools 
 for his educational privileges. He remained 
 under the parental roof until he had attained 
 his majority, when, in March, 1856, he came 
 to Comanche county, Texas, where he made 
 a squatter's claim of one hundred and sixty 
 acres and afterward pre-empted it. The 
 first season he placed a small portion of the 
 tract under cultivation, and in 1857 he built 
 a cabin and was married, then beginning 
 life in earnest. He still has in his posses- 
 sion the patent from the government grant- 
 ing him his land, and since 1856 he has 
 lived upon his farm. In 1861 he entered 
 the frontier service, and after serving as a 
 scout for a short time was detailed with four 
 others to act as special guard to the assessor 
 and collector of war tax, thus continuing 
 until the close. 
 
 Returning home, Mr. McCamey resumed 
 farming, and now owns one hundred and 
 eighty-three acres of rich land, of which 
 eighty acres are highly cultivated, while a 
 commodious residence, an orchard and the 
 well-tilled fields make this a desirable prop- 
 erty. It is situated eight miles east of Co- 
 manche. 
 
 Mr. McCamey has been three times mar- 
 ried. He first wedded Sarah A. Martin, a 
 native of Murray county, Georgia, who came 
 to Texas with her father, Henry Martin, a 
 leading citizen of Comanche county. Their 
 children are Pulaski, now deceased; Calvin, 
 
 Caldona, Mary E. and Ann. All reached 
 maturity and were married. The mother, 
 who was a consistent member of the Meth- 
 odist church, died in 1873. In 1876 Mr. 
 McCamey married Miss Lucinda Howry, a 
 native of Arkansas, reared in Missouri. 
 She was early left an orphan, and after the 
 war came to Texas. They had five chil- 
 dren, — Edward, Julia, Alpha, John and 
 Anna. Mrs. Lucinda McCamey, who was 
 a faithful member of the Holiness church, 
 died in 1890. On the loth of April, 1895, 
 our subject wedded Mrs. Josephine Lincoln, 
 widow of Jesse Lincoln, who died, leaving 
 four children. She was a daughter of E. 
 Durham, of Tennessee, who in 1856 located 
 in Hunt county, Texas, where he is still 
 living. He served through the late war, 
 and in his religious affiliations is a Method- 
 ist. Mr. and Mrs. McCamey are faithful 
 members of the Holiness church, and their 
 upright lives and genuine worth have gained 
 them the respect of all. In politics he was 
 formerly a Democrat, but now votes with 
 the Populist party. 
 
 aLAIBORN GARNER, of Comanche 
 county, is not only one of the 
 native sons of Texas, but is a rep- 
 resentative of a family that has 
 been connected with the history of this 
 state since the days when the territory be- 
 longed to Mexico and through that romantic 
 yet perilous period that brought independ- 
 ence to the "Lone Star," through the days 
 of its existence as a republic and through the 
 later epoch that has brought peace and 
 prosperity to the region and placed Texas in 
 the front ranks among the states that form 
 our glorious country. 
 
 David Garner, the father of our subject. 
 
562 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 was a native probably of Louisiana, and 
 a son of Isaac Garner, a native of North 
 Carolina, whence he removed with his fam- 
 ily to Louisiana, becoming there a great 
 hunter and stockman. There at one time 
 for nine months the family subsisted on 
 game, until they could raise a crop of corn, 
 which they did on ground they cleared by 
 burning a dead canebrake; and they planted 
 the corn with sharp sticks. Isaac Garner 
 first left his family when about fourteen 
 years old and went with some emigrants 
 who caused him and his family to lose sight 
 of each other indefinitely. David was 
 largely reared in Louisiana and from his 
 earliest boyhood was familiar with the stock 
 business, but there were many more excit- 
 ing and thrilling chapters in his life than 
 those which disclosed his industrial career. 
 He was captain of a company in the war 
 with Mexico, and was present at the old his- 
 toric church — the Alamo — of San Antonio, 
 only a few days before the bloody massacre 
 which virtually brought to Texas her inde- 
 pendence, when the noble, valiant heroes 
 defended with their lives the cause of free- 
 dom. He was at Sabine Pass, at the time 
 of the decisive battle of San Jacinto, being 
 actively engaged in moving the women and 
 children from the scene of danger and pre- 
 venting them from falling into the hands of 
 the ruthless, unprincipled Mexicans, to which 
 fate death would have been preferable. His- 
 tory shows forth no grander examples of 
 heroism than was displayed by the Amer- 
 ican soldiers at that time, and while Texas 
 remains the memory of their brave deeds 
 will be green in the hearts of her citizens. 
 David Garner was married in Texas to 
 Matilda Hampshier, a native of Louisiana, 
 and his last days were spent in Calhoun 
 county, Texas, where he died April to, 
 
 1864. He followed stock-raising during the 
 greater part of his life, and during the civil 
 war he speculated in Louisiana — in negroes 
 and sugar. He converted a large amount 
 of gold into Confederate money and left his 
 heirs a fortune of thirty-six thousand dollars 
 in Confederate money. As the war was 
 drawing to a close and the currency of the 
 south was losing its purchasing power, the 
 administrator sold eleven thousand dollars 
 in Confederate bills for three hundred dol- 
 lars in gold and bonded the balance. When 
 Texas was a republic Mr. Garner served in 
 the senate and was also sheriff of Jefferson 
 county. He was a successful and promi- 
 nent man, public-spirited and had the sin- 
 cere respect of all who knew him. Socially 
 he was connected with the Masonic frater- 
 nity. His wife, who was a consistent mem- 
 ber of the Methodist church, died in 
 Comanche county, March 30, 1889, at the 
 age of seventy-two years. They were the 
 parents of eleven children, namely: Emily, 
 deceased wife of W. H. Williams; Jacob, a 
 stock-dealer of Calhoun county, who served 
 in the late war; David, who died in 1869; 
 Claiborn, of this review; Annie, who be- 
 came the wife of A. J. Williams, and both 
 are now deceased; Martha, who has also 
 passed away; John, a stock-dealer of Cal- 
 houn county; William B., who follows the 
 same pursuit in that county; Matilda, wife 
 of J. P. Campbell, a farmer of Comanche 
 county; Sally, wife of J. B. Price, of Cal- 
 houn county; Mary, wife of Charles Camp- 
 bell, an agriculturist of Comanche county. 
 Claiborn Garner was born in Jefferson 
 county, Texas, May 23, 1844, and was edu- 
 cated in the country schools. From his 
 earliest boyhood he was perfectly at home 
 in the saddle and became familiar with 
 every detail connected with the care of 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 563 
 
 stock. When he was old enough to engage 
 in business for himself he followed the same 
 pursuit and carried on operations along that 
 line of business until 1886, when he came 
 to Comanche county and began the improve- 
 ment of his present farm. During the war 
 between the two sections of the country he 
 became a member of the Eighth Te.xas Ar- 
 tillery and was detailed to drive and handle 
 beef cattle for the government, being thus 
 employed until the close of the war. He 
 afterward handled cattle for different com- 
 panies, also for himself, and in this way 
 made considerable money. His father was 
 an extensive landowner and by the burning 
 of the home lost land certificates for about 
 forty or fifty thousand acres ! He also 
 owned a large tract of land in Comanche 
 county and our subject bought of the estate 
 eleven hundred acres where he now lives, 
 to which he has since added until he now 
 has sixteen hundred acres. 
 
 In 1886 Mr. Garner was married and at 
 once started for his property in Comanche 
 county. The first farming he ever did was 
 in that year, on a tract of rented land. The 
 year following he erected a house and moved 
 to his own farm. He now has one hundred 
 acres under a good state of cultivation and 
 improved with the accessories now essential 
 to farming. He has erected a commodious 
 residence, good barns and other outbuild- 
 ings, has planted a good orchard with a 
 variety of fruits, including grapes, and has 
 about ten miles of fence upon his land. He 
 is still carrying on stock-raising and now has 
 some good cattle and horses, also hogs, up- 
 on his place. As a business man he is en- 
 ergetic, industrious and persevering, and 
 these qualities, combined with good judg- 
 ment, have brought to him success. He 
 long voted with the Democracy, but now 
 
 supports the Populist party, yet political 
 affairs do not claim his attention, which is 
 given exclusively to his business interests. 
 
 Mr. Garner was married April 29, 1886, 
 his choice for a companion on life's journey 
 falling upon Miss Katie Boquette, a native 
 of Calhoun county, Texas, and a daughter 
 of J. V. and Sarah (Swenney) Boquette. 
 The father was a native of Louisiana and 
 his parents came from France to America. 
 He became a prominent stockman, for four 
 years served in the Confederate army and is 
 now living in Calhoun county. He belongs 
 to the Catholic church, and his wife, whose 
 death occurred January 28, 1889, was an 
 Episcopalian. In their family were ten chil- 
 dren, besides two who died in early life. 
 The others are Mrs. Garner; Annie, wife of 
 Bradley Garner; Rosa, wife of W. H. 
 Thomas; John, Eddie, Addie, Bell, James, 
 Claiborn and Arthur. To our subject and 
 his wife have been born five sons: David C, 
 February 23, 1887; William C, November 
 5, 1888; John L., January 15, 1891; Milton 
 E., April 19, 1893; and Clarence B., Oc- 
 tober I, 1895. The parents are members 
 of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. 
 
 ® 
 
 HOMAS A. DEATS is one of the 
 most extensive farmers and stock- 
 raisers of Comanche county. His 
 home is situated in one of the most 
 fertile sections of this region and is pleas- 
 antly and conveniently located nine miles 
 southeast of Comanche. He has to-day 
 nineteen hundred acres of land all under 
 fence, with two hundred acres under a high 
 state of cultivation, and in the midst of his 
 fine farm stands a good residence with barns 
 and the necessary outbuildings for the shelter 
 of stock and grain. He is accounted one of 
 
5U 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 the leading agriculturists of the locality and 
 is an enterprising and public-spirited citizen 
 that Comanche county could ill afford to 
 lose. 
 
 Mr. Deats was born in Bastrop county, 
 Te.xas, June lo, 1855, and is a son of Paul 
 and Elizabeth (Ware) Deats, the former a 
 native of Berlin, Germany, and the latter 
 belonging to a prominent old family of 
 Georgia. Their marriage was celebrated in 
 Bastrop county, Texas. The father had 
 come to America with his parents about 
 1835, when only five or six years old, the 
 family first locating in Alabama, whence the 
 following year they came to Texas, where 
 the paternal grandparents of our subject 
 died. Paul Deats grew to manhood in 
 Bastrop county and after his marriage 
 turned his attention to farming and stock- 
 raising. In 1858 he removed to Lebanon 
 county, where he engaged exclusively in the 
 stock business, and remaining there until 
 1 87 1, when he sold his stock and brand 
 and in 1872 went to Travis county, settling 
 near Austin. He took up his abode upon 
 his farm, where he spent his last days, his 
 death occurring June 1 1, 1885. His wife is 
 yet living in that county. In his business 
 he was very successful, accumulating a com- 
 fortable property. His political support 
 was unswervingly given the Democratic 
 party. His wife was a daughter of Burrell 
 Ware, a Georgia farmer, belonging to one of 
 the most influential and honored families of 
 that state. Mrs. Deats is a member of 
 the Methodist church. By her marriage 
 she became the mother of seven children, 
 namely: Mary; Thomas A. ; Laura, de- 
 ceased; Robert, a farmer, stock-raiser and 
 merchant residing in Travis county; Eliza, 
 wife of Tom Thrasher, an agriculturist and 
 stock-dealer of Bastrop county; Martha, 
 
 wife of Rufus Burleson, a farmer and mer- 
 chant of Travis county; and Paul, al.so 
 engaged in merchandising in Travis county. 
 
 Our subject was born in Bastrop county 
 June 10, 1855, and from a very early age 
 was entirely at home in the saddle, aiding 
 in the care of the immense herds of stock 
 which his father owned. He thus in his 
 youth became familiar with the best methods 
 of caring for stock, and his experience has 
 proved very profitable to him in his own 
 business career. He has devoted the greater 
 part of his time since attaining to man's 
 estate to stock-dealing, and is now making 
 a specialty of the raising of hogs and beef 
 cattle. In 1884 he was married and located 
 at Wichita Falls, but the following year 
 took up his residence in Travis county and 
 aided his mother in settling up the estate. 
 In 1890 he purchased his present home, 
 becoming owner of three hundred and thirty- 
 two acres, to which he has added from time 
 to time until his landed property aggregates 
 nineteen hundred acres. 
 
 On the loth of June, 1884, Mr. Deats 
 married Miss Annie Elkins, a native of 
 Parker county, Texas, and a lady of culture 
 and refinement, whose family is a prominent 
 one in the state. She was born November 
 16, 1865, a daughter of G. K. Elkins, a 
 stock-dealer of Kent county, Texas. He 
 has served as assessor and in politics is a 
 stalwart Democrat. Four children grace 
 the union of our subject and his wife: Paul 
 K. , born May 4, 1885; Jane E., born March 
 28, 1887; Lorena, September i, 1889; and 
 Bob, August 31, 1893. 
 
 Socially our subject is connected with the 
 Ancient Order of United Workmen, and in 
 politics he is a Democrat, but has never 
 sought or desired office. Success has come 
 to him in his business dealing, for his care- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 565 
 
 ful management, enterprise and persever- 
 ance are qualities which always insure pros- 
 perity. 
 
 «y-rf ON. TILLMAN K. SEAGO, a 
 
 1^''^ farmer of Comanche county, is one 
 \ ^ P of the deservedly prominent men 
 of this section of the state. His 
 loyalty to the south was fully tested during 
 the civil war, his faithfulness in public office 
 has been shown, and all who know him are 
 assured that his honesty and uprightness in 
 business and private life is above question. 
 He may therefore be justly numbered 
 among the e.xeniplary citizens of the county, 
 and it is with pleasure that we present the 
 record of his life to our readers. 
 
 Mr. Seago is a native of Cherokee county, 
 Georgia, born July 29, 1836, a son of Isaac 
 L. and Lucinda (Garrett) Seago, who were 
 born in South Carolina and in that state 
 were reared and married. The former was 
 a son of Benjamin Seago, a prominent 
 farmer and slave-owner. He was a member 
 and deacon of the Baptist church, and in 
 politics was a Whig, but never had any de- 
 sire for political preferment. His death oc- 
 curred in Georgia. Isaac Seago also was a 
 leading farmer and held a membership in the 
 Baptist church. He enlisted in 1846 for 
 service in the Mexican war, joining Captain 
 Bird's company, and soon after arriving in 
 Me.xico he was stricken with the measles and 
 died. He was buried at Matamoras, Mexico, 
 being then thirty-two years of age. His 
 widow still survives him and is now living 
 with a daughter in Dallas county, Texas, at 
 the ripe old age of eighty-four years. She, 
 too, is a consistent member of the Baptist 
 church. In her family were seven children: 
 Matilda; Mrs. Malinda Dooley, now de- 
 
 ceased; Tillman K. ; Alford, who died in the 
 army during the late war and left a wife and 
 one child; Posey, who came to Texas in 
 1 85 1, served in the late war and had one 
 eye shot out, and died in 1882; Thomas died 
 in the army; and Cynthia, who married Sam 
 Sullivan and now resides in Dallas county, 
 her mother finding a pleasant home'with her. 
 Our subject was reared on a farm and 
 acquired his education in the common 
 schools. He remained with his widowed 
 mother until his marriage and with the fam- 
 ily came to Texas in 1851. Four years 
 later, in 1855, he was married and then be- 
 gan business on his own account. He began 
 farming, but after raising two crops turned 
 his attention to carpentering, which he pur- 
 sued until the beginning of the war. In 1 86 1 
 he entered the service of the south, — the 
 south which had furnished him a home and 
 with whose principles and institutions he had 
 been familiar from his earliest infancy. He 
 enlisted for one year in the Third Texas 
 Cavalry, and on the expiration of that 
 period he re-enlisted and continued to serve 
 until hostilities were over. He was assigned 
 to the Trans-Mississippi department and 
 was in Missouri with McCulloch's command. 
 He participated in the battle of Oak Hill 
 and saw much hard service in Missouri and 
 Arkansas His command was ordered to 
 Shiloh, but before reaching that place the 
 battle was over, and he later went with Joe 
 Johnston and continued with the Army of the 
 Tennessee for some time. He participated 
 in the battle of luka, and, remaining with 
 the wounded, he was taken prisoner, but 
 was paroled after five days. He remained 
 with his brother and other wounded com- 
 rades for two months and then joined his 
 command and was at Jackson, Mississippi, 
 where he remained some time. Without 
 
566 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 any absolute knowledge as to whether he 
 had been exchanged, Mr. Seago joined his 
 regiment and continued in active service un- 
 til the close of the war. When General Lee 
 surrendered he was in east Mississippi, 
 whence he returned to Te.xas and soon took 
 the regular parole. 
 
 Resuming the interrupted labor of civil 
 life Mr. Seago purchased a farm in Cass 
 county, Texas, which he operated for two 
 years and then traded for a mill in Marion 
 county, which he conducted for one year. 
 He next traded this property for a tract of 
 wild land in McLennan county, where he 
 developed a good farm, and later he bought 
 land in Dallas county, where he successfully 
 carried on agricultural pursuits for fourteen 
 years, and established the town of Seago- 
 ville, named for him. In 1884 he arrived 
 in Comanche county and bought a small 
 tract of land, — the nucleus of his present 
 fine farm, which comprises four hundred 
 acres of rich land, one hundred and eighty- 
 five acres being highly cultivated, while the 
 neat and thrifty appearance of the place in- 
 dicates the careful supervision of the owner. 
 He has erected a commodious residence and 
 good outbuildings, which stand as monu- 
 ments to his enterprise. He has planted a 
 good orchard and the great part of the land 
 is under fence. For seven years after lo- 
 cating in Comanche county Mr. Seago was 
 a partner in a country store, but is now 
 giving his entire attention to his farming in- 
 terests, in which he is meeting with excel- 
 lent success. 
 
 In 1855 Mr. Seago was joined in wed- 
 lock with Miss Matilda Davenport, who was 
 born in Georgia in May, 1839, a daughter 
 of P. G. and Sarah (Credille) Davenport, 
 the former a leading farmer and slave- 
 owner. He and his family were active and 
 
 prominent members of the Methodist church. 
 He died in Georgia, and in 1854 the mother 
 removed with her family to Cass county, 
 Texas, where her death occurred in 1866. 
 Her children areas follows: George, Moses, 
 Mrs. Seago and Eunice, wife of Mr. Witt, 
 of eastern Texas. The marriage of our sub- 
 ject and his wife has been blessed with 
 eight children, viz. : Sarah, who became 
 the wife of Martin Joice and died in 
 1889; Tillman B., a farmer; Jennie, at 
 home; Lilla, wife of H. Tate, an agricult- 
 urist; Annie, wife of C. McCamey, a farm- 
 er; Ada and Eunice, at home; and Benja- 
 min Lee, who died in 1890, at the age of 
 eighteen years. The family is widely and 
 favorably known in Comanche county and 
 its members hold a high position in social 
 circles. Their home is noted for its hospi- 
 tality and is a favorite resort with their 
 many friends. 
 
 On attaining his majority Mr. Seago was 
 a supporter of the Democracy, but in 1878 
 he joined the Greenback party, with which 
 he affiliated for some time. He is always 
 on the side of reform and improvement and 
 was among the first to advocate the doctrines 
 of the new Populist party, with which he 
 has been identified from the beginning. He 
 has never been a politician in the sense of 
 office-seeking, but always keeps well in- 
 formed on the issues of the day and gives an 
 intelligent support to the measures that he 
 advocates. In 1894 he was nominated and 
 elected by the Populists to a seat in the 
 state legislature and served in the Twenty- 
 fourth General Assembly, where he ably 
 represented his district and did effective 
 service for the best interests of the state. 
 He then refused further political honors, 
 preferring to give his entire attention to his 
 business in which he is meeting with ex- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 567 
 
 cellent success. He is persevering, ener- 
 getic and far-sighted, and prosperity has 
 come to him as the reward of his own 
 labors. His life is one of honor in all 
 things, and the name of Mr. Seago every- 
 where commands respect. 
 
 ai 
 
 n.LIAM J. NABERS.— The gen- 
 tleman whose name heads this 
 sketch is one of the leading, in- 
 fluential and successful farmers 
 of Comanche county. He is a native of the 
 Lone Star state, his birth having occurred 
 in Bell county, on the 2d of March, 1848. 
 His father, Thomas J. Nabers, was born in 
 Pendleton county, South Carolina, on the 
 17th of February, 18 16, and in early man- 
 hood removed to Tennessee, where he re- 
 sided for many years. He afterward went 
 to Missouri, whence he came to Texas in 
 the year 1846, locating in Milam county, 
 where he became one of the prominent 
 stockmen of the community. He was, 
 however, a stone-mason by trade, but aban- 
 doned that occupation in the later years of 
 his life. His death occurred October 12, 
 1 891. On the 3d of November, 1842, he 
 was united in marriage with Lucy Jane 
 Murill, a native of Nelson county, Virginia, 
 whose death occurred in 1882. They be- 
 came parents of nine children, six of whom 
 are yet living, William J. being the third in 
 order of birth. 
 
 Mr. Nabers, of this review, was brought 
 to this county during his early childhood 
 and has been virtually reared in Comanche 
 county. He is indebted to its schools for 
 his educational privileges, and taking ad- 
 vantage of these he has become a well in- 
 formed man. He has always followed 
 
 farming and stock-raising as a means of 
 livelihood, although his youthful days were 
 spent, as he expressed it, "as a picket on 
 the lookout for Indians," while the elder 
 members of the family conducted the farm 
 work. They had come to Comanche 
 county in 1857, when Indians were still 
 quite numerous in this section of the state 
 and occasioned no little trouble to the white 
 settlers by their depredations on the stock 
 pastures. The present home of our subject 
 is located six miles southwest of the city of 
 Comanche, and his real-estate holdings 
 comprise three hundred and twenty acres 
 of land, of which sixty acres is highly culti- 
 vated and improved. His fine orchard, 
 comprising two acres, is planted with peach- 
 trees and grape-vines. He also has a good 
 apiary and is well versed in bee culture. 
 His pleasant and hospitable home is located 
 on a natural building site and is surrounded 
 by fruit and ornamental trees, which add to 
 the value and attractive appearance of the 
 place. His stock is adequate for farming 
 purposes and is well graded, the cattle 
 being principally of the Jersey breed. 
 
 Mr. Nabers takes quite an active inter- 
 est in school matters and has been a 
 trustee in his district for many years, doing 
 all in his power to advance the cause of ed- 
 ucation. In politics he is a stanch and 
 steadfast Democrat, having supported that 
 party since attaining his majority. Socially 
 he affiliates with the Masonic order, and 
 religiously he and his family are closely 
 allied with the Methodist church and its 
 work, while Mr. Nabers is serving as super- 
 intendent of the Sunday-school. 
 
 He was married September 15, 1872, to 
 Miss Adra A. Leroy, a native of Texas and 
 an only child of Gilbert Leroy, a highly re- 
 spected pioneer of the early '50s. Her 
 
568 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 mother bore the maiden name of Mary Ann 
 Mayes and was also a native of this state. 
 She was born in 1837 s"<i died May 19, 
 1861. Mr. and Mrs. Nabers have eight 
 children, as follows: Thomas J., Leroy, 
 Mary A., Bailey C, Lucy J., Eulalia, Roger 
 V. and William T. 
 
 «y-^ ENRY R. MARTIN.— The subject 
 |rV of this review is one whose mem- 
 \ , r ory links in an indissoluble chain 
 the trend of events from the early 
 pioneer period in the history of this section 
 of the state to the latter-day epoch where 
 peace, progress and prosperity crown the 
 end of the century. In this era of develop- 
 ment in central Texas he has been a con- 
 spicuous figure. He belongs to that class 
 of citizens who promote the public welfare, 
 while advancing individual prosperity, and 
 he has left the impress of his individuality 
 upon the agricultural and commercial inter- 
 ests in a way that has brought advancement 
 and improvement to the community as well 
 as a most excellent pecuniary success to 
 himself. His record furnishes an illustra- 
 tion of what can be accomplished through 
 perseverance, unfaltering industry and en- 
 terprise, when guided by sound judgment, 
 and furnishes a most practical example 
 which may well be followed by those who 
 wish to make life an honorable success. 
 
 A native of Georgia Mr. Martin was born 
 May 8, 1829, and is a son of Henry and 
 Ellen Martin. His father was born in 
 Edgefield district, South Carolina, in 1800, 
 and in his early manhood married Miss 
 Dooly, who was born in North Carolina and 
 was a representative of one of the old fam- 
 ilies of that state. In 1853 the parents 
 
 emigrated with their family to Texas, locat- 
 ing in Bell county, whence in 1855 they 
 came to Comanche county in company with 
 their son-in-law, John A. McGuire. They 
 were among the very first settlers of the 
 county and were prominent in its develop- 
 ment and upbuilding. Mr. Henry Martin, 
 Sr. , after a well-spent life, which won him 
 the high regard of many friends, passed 
 away in 1883, and his wife was called to 
 the eternal home in Arkansas, in 1853. 
 
 Mr. H. R. Martin, whose name intro- 
 duces this article, was reared and educated 
 in Murray county, Georgia, and continued 
 at his parental home until he had attained 
 his majority, when he started out in life for 
 himself. In 1850 he removed to Missis- 
 sippi, where he remained for three years, 
 when, attracted by the discovery of gold on 
 the Pacific slope, he went to California, 
 making the journey by water. There he 
 engaged in mining in different parts of the 
 state and was very successful in his under- 
 taking, accumulating a considerable amount 
 of the precious "dust." In 1855 ^e re- 
 turned to his family, whom he had not seen 
 for five years. Removing to Texas, he in- 
 vested his capital in real estate and has 
 added to this from time to time until he is 
 now one of the most extensive landholders 
 in central Texas. He has ten thousand 
 acres three to seven miles south of Co- 
 manche, of which sixteen hundred acres are 
 under a high state of cultivation and yield 
 to him a good tribute. He has upon this 
 place twenty-nine tenement houses and 
 other necessary buildings and improvements, 
 together with a one-acre orchard. His 
 other real-estate holdings include a farm on 
 the Sweetwater of two hundred acres, of 
 which eighty acres are cultivated and two 
 acres have been planted to fruit trees, form- 
 
m 
 
 4 
 
 iWMaae. 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 569 
 
 ing a fine orchard; also town property, in- 
 cluding his present commodious and com- 
 fortable residence in Comanche. 
 
 He has been president of the First Na- 
 tional Bank of Comanche since its organi- 
 zation on the 24th of September, 1886, and 
 his able administration of its affairs has made 
 it one of the leading financial institutions in 
 this section of the state. The bank was 
 capitalized for fifty thousand dollars, which 
 was afterward increased to one hundred 
 thousand dollars. There is also a surplus 
 of twenty thousand dollars and undivided 
 profits to the amount of thirteen thousand 
 dollars. The company does a general 
 banking business and also gives e.xchange on 
 all the large cities throughout the country. 
 Mr. Martin is also president of a company 
 owning an oil mill which has a capacity of 
 fifty tons of seed per day. It has the latest 
 improved machinery and its output finds a 
 ready sale on the market. 
 
 Mr. Martin is one of the most extensive 
 cattle dealers in this part of Texas. He 
 handles thousands of cattle annually, having 
 at the present time five hundred head in 
 Comanche county, together with large herds 
 in New Mexico. He also has a number of 
 horses in Oklahoma. His business dealing 
 for many years has been of colossal pro- 
 portions, and as every legitimate business 
 transaction has a reflex beneficial influence 
 on the community where the operation is 
 conducted, so Mr. Martin's dealings, great 
 in extent, have been of material benefit to 
 Comanche county. 
 
 In his political views Mr. Martin is a 
 stalwart Democrat and takes a deep interest 
 in the growth and success of his party, but 
 has never found time from his business 
 cares to seek for political honors. Socially, 
 he is a Royal Arch Mason, and religiously is 
 
 36 
 
 connected with the Baptist church, which 
 finds in him a liberal contributor. 
 
 In 1853 Mr. Martin married Miss Mar- 
 tha Maxwell Ross, a native of Tennessee 
 and a daughter of William Ross. She died 
 in 1862. They had four children: John 
 Alex., William Henry, Calvin Davis and 
 William H. In May, 1863, was celebrated 
 the marriage of Mr. Martin and a Martha 
 J. Ratliff, by whom he has six cnudren: 
 Elizabeth Eleanor, Mary E., Sarah J., 
 James Monroe, Martha J. and Lucy N. 
 
 Mr. Martin has passed the sixtieth mile- 
 stone on life's journey, but the years rest 
 lightly upon him and he seems yet a man in 
 his prime. In manner he is genial and social, 
 and is of a frank and jovial disposition that 
 commands confidence and awakens respect. 
 His genuine worth, his kindly nature and his 
 honorable life has gained him the friendship 
 of all, and the history of this section of 
 Texas would be incomplete without a review 
 of his career. 
 
 *y ^ ON. WILLIAM BYE WHITACRE 
 I'^^V stands forth as a conspicuous figure 
 \ , P in the history of central Texas. In 
 business and political life he is well 
 known. He has labored for the best inter- 
 ests of his fellow citizens in the latter field, 
 and his labors in the former have not only 
 brought to him personal prosperity but have 
 also promoted the material welfare of the 
 community. For many years he has been 
 known for his sterling qualities, his fearless 
 loyalty to his honest convictions and his 
 clear judgment and practical work in public 
 affairs. Such a man is certainly deserving 
 of prominent mention in the annals of the 
 state with which he has been identified, and 
 it is a matter of gratification to the biog- 
 
570 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 rapher to present to the readers of this vol- 
 ume his life record. 
 
 A native of Ohio, Mr. Whitacre was 
 born on the 6th of June, 1829, and is a son 
 of Edward and Rachel (Bye) Whitacre, 
 natives of Virginia. His grandfather was 
 Edward W^hitacre, one of the heroes of the 
 Revolutionary war, who valiantly aided in 
 that long struggle that happily resulted in 
 the establishment of the American republic. 
 He belonged to an old Virginian family of 
 English ancestry and settled in Ohio among 
 the pioneers of that state. In the year 1832 
 the father of our subject left his home in the 
 Buckeye state and went with his family to 
 Illinois, locating in Wayne county, which 
 seemed then on the very border of civiliza- 
 tion, so little had the work of development 
 been advanced in that region. He pur- 
 chased a tract of wild land, which was still 
 in the condition which nature had placed it, 
 and transforming it into a fine farm he spent 
 his remaining days there engaged in agricul- 
 tural pursuits. His death occurred in 1842, 
 and his wife passed away previously. In 
 early life they were connected with the 
 Society of Friends and later were members 
 of the Christian church. They had live 
 children, three sons and two daughters, and 
 with one exception all reached years of 
 maturity, while three are still living. 
 
 Upon the old home farm, amid the wild 
 scenes of frontier life, W. B. Whitacre was 
 reared, and the subscription schools of the 
 neighborhood afforded him his educational 
 privileges. His opportunities in this direc- 
 tion, however, were necessarily limited, for 
 at the early age of thirteen he was left an 
 orphan, and thrown thus upon his own 
 resources he has since been self-dependent. 
 He early developed a strength of character 
 and self-reliant spirit which have proved of 
 
 incalculable benetit to him in his business 
 career and combined with energy and inde- 
 fatigable industry have brought to him pros- 
 perity. He first worked at chopping wood 
 along the Mississippi river, for thirty-seven 
 cents per cord, and afterward was employed 
 in various capacities and at whatever labor 
 would yield him an honest living. Several 
 years were thus passed, after which he was 
 employed in building bridges and ware- 
 houses. 
 
 A new incentive for labor came to him, 
 — the establishment of a home of his own 
 and a wife to care for. Mr. Whitacre was 
 married October 6, 1 851, to Miss Matilda 
 Roberts, a native of Illinois and a daughter 
 of John G. and Millie Roberts, who were 
 natives of Virginia and emigrated to Illinois 
 at an early day. Mr. Whitacre now pur- 
 chased a tract of wild land which he im- 
 proved and continued to cultivate until the 
 autumn of 1855, — the date of his emigra- 
 tion to Texas. Arrangements were made 
 for the removal, and on the 12th of Octo- 
 ber they bade adieu to the old Illinois home 
 and started southward, arriving at their 
 destination after a journey of thirty-seven 
 days. For three years they resided in Na- 
 varro county, and then, still following the 
 frontier, they went to Jack county. Mr. 
 Whitacre, with his sturdy, courageous and 
 resolute nature, is well fitted to cope with 
 the difficulties of pioneer life, and has there- 
 fore been an important factor in the devel- 
 opment of the unimproved regions of this 
 state. He came to Erath county in i860 
 and located about two miles from his pres- 
 ent home. He afterward located on a farm 
 fifteen miles northwest of Stephenville, and 
 in 1865 took up his abode at the county- 
 seat, where he engaged in blacksmithing 
 until 1867. In that year he went to the 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 571 
 
 Brazos, and in 1870 settled upon his pres- 
 ent farm, which was then in a wild state. 
 Having pre-empted one hundred and sixty 
 acres of land, he afterward purchased three 
 hundred and fifty-two acres, but has since 
 sold a portion of this, his present property 
 comprising three hundred and twenty acres, 
 of which two hundred and twenty acres are 
 under a high state of cultivation, with well- 
 tilled fields, good buildings and machinery, 
 rich pasture lands and all the accessories of 
 the model farm of the nineteenth century. 
 Without assistance he has achieved this 
 success, and it is certainly most creditable. 
 Such a life is an example well worthy of 
 emulation, and acts as a source of encour- 
 agement and inspiration to others who must 
 depend entirely upon their own resources. 
 
 During the civil war Mr. Whitacre served 
 in the state militia, holding the rank of first 
 lieutenant in Captain Pugh's company, and 
 serving on the frontier from i860 until 1865. 
 The troops met all the expenses of this cam- 
 paign, calling on the government for no 
 part of it. In other public service Mr. 
 Whitacre has been eminent, and his fidelity 
 to duty and marked ability has been recog- 
 nized by higher honors in the poHtical field. 
 In 1866 he served as justice of the peace 
 and district clerk, and in the fall of 1894, 
 at the urgent solicitation of many friends, 
 he became the candidate on the ticket of 
 the People's party for the legislature, and 
 was triumphantly elected. There he made 
 for himself an excellent record, and vvas a 
 valued member of the committee on federal 
 relations, commerce and manufacturing, and 
 mining and minerals. Prior to 1892 he was 
 allied with the Democracy, but since that 
 year he has been connected with the Pop- 
 ulists. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Whitacre are the parents 
 
 of ten children, namely: Ellezan, widow of 
 Benjamin Daly, of Dublin; Lycurgus, who 
 died at the age of fourteen years; John Syl- 
 vester, of Erath county; Edward Stanley; 
 Millie Rachel Ann, wife of William A. Tur- 
 pin, of Erath county; Herman F. ; Sarah 
 E., wife of Leonard Williams, of Erath 
 county; Laura E., wife of W. T. Carlton; 
 Alatha J., wife of Matthew Moss; and Alice 
 Augusta, wife of James Moss. The parents 
 are members of the Christian church, and 
 the family is one of considerable influence 
 and prominence in the community, its mem- 
 bers holding an enviable position in social 
 circles. 
 
 >^OSEPH B. PARKS, one of the lead- 
 f ing and enterprising business men of 
 nt 1 Iredell, is now proprietor of a hotel 
 and livery, and is also engaged in 
 mercantile trade. He arrived here in i 884. 
 Near Rome, Georgia, he was born Septem- 
 ber 7, 1852, and is a son of Marshall and 
 Mary (Bobo) Parks, the former a native of 
 Tennessee and the latter of Georgia. Both 
 were members of well-known and prominent 
 families, and the father was of English 
 origin. He was a planter and slave-owner, 
 and became the father of nine children, five 
 still living: Abram, Archie, John and Mrs. 
 Eva Bradley, all of Georgia; and Joseph B., 
 of this sketch. With the Missionary Bap- 
 tist church the parents were connected, and 
 the father was called to his final rest in 
 1852, and his wife, who long survived him, 
 died in August, 1887, at the age of sixty- 
 nine years. They were both laid to rest near 
 Rome, Georgia. 
 
 Our subject spent his early life upon a 
 farm in Georgia, and there received his edu- 
 cation. He continued to engage in agricult- 
 
572 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ural pursuits until coming to Texas in 1884. 
 In January, 1895, he became a member of 
 the firm of Doyal, Mitchell & Company, 
 dealers in general merchandise, who carry a 
 large and complete stock and have succeeded 
 in building up an excellent trade. In 1896 
 he purchased his present hotel, which he is 
 now successfully conducting, and it has be- 
 come quite a favorite with the traveling 
 public. In connection with this he also has 
 a good livery. He has an honorable busi- 
 ness record, and is a man of unchallenged 
 honesty and integrity. 
 
 On reaching his majority, Mr. Parks was 
 married, in Georgia, the lady of his choice 
 being Miss Nancy Adaline Doyal, a native 
 of Alabama, and a daughter of J. C. Doyal, 
 one of Iredell's worthy citizens. They have 
 seven children: Eva, wife of J. A. Brennan; 
 Joseph, Archie, John, Ida Belle, David and 
 Luella. They have also lost one daughter, 
 Lela Ann, who was killed by lightning at the 
 age of ten years. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Parks casts his ballot in 
 support of the men and measures of the 
 Democratic party. Both he and his wife 
 are active members of the Baptist church, 
 in which he has served as clerk. His life 
 has been manly, his actions sincere, his 
 manner unaffected, and his example is well 
 worthy of emulation. 
 
 >^AMES L. OWNBEY, one of the 
 ■ county commissioners of Bosque 
 A 1 county, who occupies an influential 
 and prominent position among the 
 agricultural population, has made the most 
 of his opportunities in life and become well- 
 to-do. The early tramping ground of our 
 subject was in Lumpkin county, Georgia, 
 
 where he was born on the 20th of March, 
 1833- 
 
 His father, James Ownbey was born in 
 Buncombe county, North Carolina, Decem- 
 ber, 1797, the son of Porter Ownbey, a 
 native of Amherst county, Virginia, where 
 the founder of the family in the New World, 
 who was English, located at a very early 
 day. On reaching man's estate the father 
 of our subject led to the marriage altar Miss 
 Elizabeth Oxford, also of Buncombe county, 
 North Carolina, and a daughter of Jonathan 
 Oxford, who was of English origin. The 
 father died September 21, 1834, leaving his 
 widow with five children, namely: David M. , 
 Jonathan W. , Porter M., Elizabeth E. and 
 James L. He was a planter, in politics was 
 a Republican, and was a member of the 
 Baptist church. The mother's death oc- 
 curred in Coffey county, Kansas, in Decem- 
 ber, 1875. 
 
 Until thirteen years of age our subject 
 made his home with his maternal grand- 
 father, and went to live with his paternal 
 grandfather. He was educated in a primi- 
 tive log school-house, with a large fireplace 
 at one end, and the seats were made of 
 rough slabs. He has supplemented the 
 knowledge acquired there by reading and 
 study in subsequent years, and in the school 
 of experience has learned many valuable 
 lessons. 
 
 On the 20th of March, 1856, in Wash- 
 ington county, Arkansas, was consummated 
 the marriage of Mr. Ownbey and Miss Ava 
 Oxford, a native of that county, and a 
 daughter of Jacob and Rebecca (Goodwin) 
 Oxford, both of whom died in Washington 
 county, the former August 29, 1872, and the 
 latter January 2, 1893. Twelve children 
 were born of the union of our subject and 
 his wife, namely: Willis T., Perry W., Ava 
 
HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 573 
 
 A., Jacob N., Mary B., Dora E. and James 
 K. are the living. The last is now attend- 
 ing school at Itasca, Texas. Three of the 
 children died in infancy; Rebecca at the age 
 of five years and Jonathan at the age of 
 fourteen years. 
 
 In 1877, Mr. Ownbey became a resident 
 of Texas, at first locating near Morgan, in 
 Bosque county, but at the end of two 
 years removed to his present fine farm com- 
 prising two hundred and eight acres of fer- 
 tile and productive land, one hundred acres 
 of which have been placed under the plow 
 and yield bountiful harvests. The neat and 
 thrifty appearance of the place indicates the 
 owner to be a man of industry, perseverance 
 and enterprise, and the improvements found 
 thereon are all of a substantial character. 
 
 Mr. Ownbey is a strong third party man 
 and on the Populist ticket was elected 
 county commissioner in 1892, re-elected in 
 1894, and is still filling that position to the 
 satisfaction of all concerned. He takes an 
 active interest in the welfare and advance- 
 ment of his county and is public-spirited to 
 a marked degree. He is well developed 
 physically, being six feet three inches in 
 height and weighs two hundred pounds. 
 He is a sincere Christian, a member of the 
 Protestant Methodist church, and is fore- 
 most in all good works. 
 
 >^OHN E. McGUIRE occupies a lead- 
 J ing place among the business men of 
 /• 1 Comanche and is connected with one 
 of its most important industries as a 
 member of the firm of McGuire Brothers, 
 proprietors of a cotton gin and corn mill, — 
 one of the foremost establishments of the 
 kind in the county. His conspicuous iden- 
 tification with a line of business which has 
 
 a marked bearing upon the industrial activi- 
 ties and the material prosperity of the com- 
 munity, and his acumen and discrimination 
 in the conduct of different enterprises have 
 given him prestige as a practical man of 
 affairs and as one of the valued and promi- 
 nent citizens of the community. He has 
 also the distinction of being the first white 
 male child born in the Comanche county, 
 and his long connection with its interests 
 has made him known to a majority of the 
 citizens, all of whom have for him the 
 highest esteem, — a feeling that has been 
 won by his well-spent life. 
 
 The date of his birth is June i, 1855. 
 His father, John A. McGuire, was a native 
 of Walker county, Georgia, born in 1823, 
 and a son of Spencer McGuire, whose birth- 
 place was in Iredell county, Georgia. His 
 father was Joseph McGuire, who was born 
 on the Emerald Isle and who belonged to 
 an old and respected Irish family of brave 
 and honest people noted for their courage 
 and their kindness of heart. John A. Mc- 
 Guire was reared to manhood in the state of 
 his nativity, and, emigrating to Texas, took 
 up his abode in what is now Comanche 
 county in 1854. It was then a wild frontier 
 region and he made the first settlement 
 within its borders, thus carrying the torch 
 of civilization farther into the west and 
 lighting the way that others might follow. 
 He had married Dicy Martin, a sister of H. 
 R. Martin, the president of the First National 
 Bank of Comanche, and a daughter of Henry 
 and Ellen (Dooly) Martin, who were also 
 numbered among the first settlers of the 
 county. 
 
 A detailed account of the life of John E. 
 McGuire, whose name introduces the initial 
 paragraph of this review, would contain 
 almost a complete account of the history of 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Comanche county from the days of its set- 
 tlement down to the present, so intimately 
 has he been associated with its progress, its 
 upbuilding and advancement. He has wit- 
 nessed its entire growth, and since attaining 
 to man's estate has been an important factor 
 in its improvement. His early life was that 
 of a boy on the extreme western frontier. 
 He was the fifth in a family of five children, 
 his brothers and sisters being his playmates, 
 for neighbors were widely scattered. The 
 prairie, covered with the long grass, formed 
 his playground. Many varieties of wild 
 flowers and the gorgeous cactus blossoms of 
 the plains added beauty to the scene, and a 
 chorus of birds caroled a sunrise hymn. 
 There were also hardships to be borne in 
 connection with the farming and stock- 
 raising and danger from the Indians, who 
 lived not far distant, was to be feared. 
 When a boy of only six years Mr. McGuire 
 was perfectly at home in the saddle and 
 frequently drove the cattle over the prairies 
 when still a mere child. He assisted his 
 father for many years, then went to Benton 
 county, Arkansas, where he remained for 
 three years, when he returned to his native 
 county. He spent a number of years in the 
 cattle trade, buying and selling stock, and is 
 recognized as one of the best judges of cattle 
 in this part of the state. He also operated 
 a threshing-machine until he lost one hand 
 in the separator. This accident caused the 
 amputation of the left arm and he afterward 
 turned his attention to other pursuits. 
 
 Mr. McGuire has had ten years' expe- 
 rience in the cotton-ginning business, and in 
 this, as in every thing else he undertakes, 
 he has thoroughly mastered the work in all its 
 details. Some four years ago he joined his 
 brother as a member of the firm of McGuire 
 Brothers, and they have since conducted in 
 
 Comanche the gin and mill mentioned above. 
 Their establishment is supplied with the 
 latest and best improved machinery in both 
 departments and they are now enjoying an 
 excellent trade. In 1894 they pressed sev- 
 enteen hundred and forty-one bales of cot- 
 ton and in 1895 fourteen hundred and forty- 
 two bales. The capacity of the gin is about 
 twenty-five bales per day. They take in 
 some days three hundred bushels of corn for 
 grinding and the excellent quality of their 
 work insures them a good trade. The 
 brothers are popular business men and their 
 straightforward dealing and energy has 
 brought to them prosperity. 
 
 In October, 1880, Mr. McGuire was 
 united in marriage, in Comanche county, to 
 Miss Calle Williams, a daughter of A. J. 
 Williams. They have an interesting family 
 of six daughters, namely: Lona, Viola, 
 Lois, Buena, Velma, and Beulah. The 
 family is widely and favorably known, and 
 their home is the attractive center to a large 
 circle of friends. Socially Mr. McGuire is 
 connected with the Modern Woodmen of 
 America. He is a man of pleasing person- 
 ality, very genial and jovial in manner and 
 is well-liked by all who know him. 
 
 at 
 
 M. BURGER, M. D., has been 
 a resident of Bluff Dale for little 
 more than two years, yet in that 
 time has demonstrated his supe- 
 rior skill as a physician and won a most lib- 
 eral patronage which many an older prac- 
 titioner might well envy. He was born in 
 Cannon county, Tennessee, December 22, 
 1852, a son of S. N. and Sarah A. (Kelton) 
 Burger, the former of French and German 
 descent and the latter of Scotch-Irish ances- 
 
HIS TORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 575 
 
 try. During the infancy of the Doctor his 
 parents removed to Coffee county, Tennes- 
 see, where he spent his childhood and youth. 
 His literary education was completed in 
 Manchester College in 1870 and he then 
 entered upon his business career, securing a 
 clerkship in a drug store in Nashville, Ten- 
 nessee, where he remained until his removal 
 to the Lone Star state. 
 
 On the 1st of March, 1873, Dr. Burger 
 became a resident of Waco, Texas, and 
 taught school in McLennan county through 
 the ten succeeding years. He also carried 
 on farming and met with fair success in his 
 undertakings. In 1880 he began the study 
 of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. 
 J. M. Burger, of McMinnville, Tennessee, 
 and took his first course of lectures in the 
 winter of 188 1-2. He entered upon the 
 practice of his chosen profession in Pendle- 
 ton, Texas, in November, 1882, and in 
 March, 1885, he was graduated at the Van- 
 derbilt Medical College at Nashville, Tennes- 
 see. He then took up his residence in 
 Bartlett, Bell county, where he did a good 
 business until October, 1887, when he re- 
 ceived the appointment as physician to the 
 Tongue river Indian agency, thus serving 
 from November, 1887, until May 15, 1890. 
 
 Remaining in the Panhandle of Texas 
 until July, 1894, he then came to Bluff 
 Dale, where he has built up a lucrative 
 practice that well attests the confidence that 
 the public have in his skill and ability. His 
 standing among his professional brethren is 
 such that classes him among the foremost 
 physicians of the county. He is a progres- 
 sive man, constantly improving upon his 
 own and others' methods and gaining fresh 
 information for coming work by the faithful 
 performance of each day's duty. Of the 
 State Medical Association arjd the Erath 
 
 County Medical Association he is a valued 
 member. 
 
 Dr. Burger has been twice married. In 
 January, 1878, he wedded Miss Maggie M. 
 Messer, of Howard, Bell county, Texas. 
 She was born in North Carolina, but when 
 a child of four years was brought by her 
 father, Neil B. Messer, to Texas. Her 
 death occurred in November, 1886, and the 
 Doctor was again married on the 2d of 
 March, 1889, his second union being with 
 Miss Allie M. Muse, a native of Bedford 
 county, Tennessee, and a daughter of W. R. 
 Muse, of Bellbuckle, Tennessee. Dr. and 
 Mrs. Burger are prominent members of the 
 Christian church, and socially he is connect- 
 ed with Bluff Dale Lodge, No. 724, F. & 
 A. M., and Bluff Dale Lodge, No. 396, 
 I. O. O. F. 
 
 91 
 
 K. HOLMES.— Among the pio- 
 neer settlers and prominent men 
 of Bosque county, this gentle- 
 man is especially worthy of notice 
 in a work of this kind. He came to Texas 
 as early as 1848 and located permanently 
 in this community in 1866. Being pos- 
 sessed of a rare amount of energy, he proved 
 a most valuable member of the young and 
 rapidly growing community, and has since 
 been actively identified with its interests. 
 In Knox county, Tennessee, Mr. Holmes 
 was born November 2, 1826, and is a son 
 of George Holmes, whose birth occurred in 
 North Carolina. Hardy Holmes, the pater- 
 nal grandfather, was also a native of North 
 Carolina, and was descended from a good 
 old family of Irish origin. On reaching 
 manhood the father was united in marriage 
 with Elizabeth Bird, daughter of Thomas 
 Bird, who with his family had come over 
 
576 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 the mountains to Tennessee on foot, carry- 
 ing their beds on their backs. The young 
 couple located in Knox county, Tennessee, 
 where were born to them the following chil- 
 dren: Charity, who is now living in Ken- 
 tucky, at the age of eighty years; James; a 
 daughter who is deceased; William K., of this 
 review; George Thomas, Nancy Ann, John 
 R., and Aaron. When our subject was only 
 nineteen his mother's death occurred, at 
 the age of fifty years, and the father passed 
 away at the age of sixty. By occupation 
 he was a farmer, was a Democrat in poli- 
 tics, and in religious belief was a Baptist. 
 
 Upon the home farm in Tennessee, Will- 
 iam K. Holmes was reared and his edu- 
 cational privileges were rather limited dur- 
 ing early life, but by reading and experience 
 he has gained a good practical knowledge. 
 On his arrival in Texas in 1848, he located 
 in Rusk county, but the following year went 
 overland to California for gold, making the 
 trip with an ox team, which required six 
 months. Upon the Pacific slope he en- 
 gaged in mining for about two years, when 
 he returned home by way of the Nicaragua 
 route to New York and thence to Tennessee. 
 For three years he then made his home in 
 Blanco county, Texas, whence he went to 
 Leon county. During the war he was in 
 the detached service, driving a team for the 
 government for three years. 
 
 In 1866 Mr. Holmes came to Bosque 
 county, and three years later located upon 
 the farm he still owns. He has three hun- 
 dred and fourteen acres of valuable farming 
 land, one hundred and twenty-five of which 
 is under a high state of cultivation and well 
 improved with good buildings, including a 
 comfortable dwelling thirty-four by thirty- 
 eight feet. 
 
 On the 12th of May, 1854, in Blanco 
 
 county, Mr. Holmes led to the marriage 
 altar Miss Frances Blasongame, a native of 
 Alabama and a daughter of Woodson and 
 Mary E. (Blasongame) Blasongame, the 
 latter the sister of old Parson Jesse Tubbs, 
 of Texas. Ten children to our subject and 
 his wife, but John and an infant son are 
 now deceased. Those living are Mary E. 
 Dillard, Sarah Caroline McCronie, William 
 Woodson, George Thomas, Frances Matil- 
 da Moss, Alice Martin, Jesse Alonzo and 
 Martha Lucinda Martin. They have also 
 twent3'-one grandchildren. 
 
 Mr. Holmes has ever used his right of 
 franchise in support of the men and meas- 
 ures of the Democratic party, casting his 
 first vote, however, for General Zachary 
 Taylor, a Whig; and he and his faithful wife 
 are worthy and consistent members of the 
 Baptist church. Socially he affiliates with 
 Iredell Lodge, No. 405, F. & A. M. Al- 
 though he has now reached the age of three- 
 score years and ten, he is still hale and 
 hearty, and attributes much of his good 
 health to the fact that he has never used 
 liquor or tobacco in any form. Since com- 
 ing to the county he has always held a 
 prominent and influential position and stands 
 remarkably high in the estimation of the 
 community as an honorable, upright and 
 trustworthy man. 
 
 K^"^ R- THORNTON is one of the 
 
 I I honored pioneers of Erath county, 
 /^^_y taking up his residence in tnis 
 district when it seemed on the very 
 border of civilization, for the country 
 stretched away unbroken for mile after mile 
 and the few settlers were constantly in dan- 
 ger of losing their lives at the hands of the 
 treacherous savages and again and agaiq 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 577 
 
 suffered the loss of their stock. The usual 
 experiences that come to pioneers were 
 also to be endured, and the development of 
 this region demanded men of courage, of 
 unfaltering perseverance of industry and in- 
 domitable purpose. Possessing the quali- 
 ties which go to make up the pioneer, Mr. 
 Thornton has for many years borne a most 
 important part in the development and im- 
 provement of this region, and a work of this 
 character would be incomplete without the 
 record of his life. 
 
 A native of Alabama, he was born in 
 Pickens county, on the 27th of March, 1833, 
 a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Roberts) 
 Thornton. The former was born in South 
 Carolina and was a son of John Thornton, 
 a native of the same state and of English de- 
 scent. The great-grandfather served as a 
 soldier through the Revolutionary war and 
 lived to the advanced age of one hundred 
 and seven years. Our subject remembers 
 seeing him when he was one hundred and 
 five. The mother of D. R. Thornton was 
 a native of Virginia, and a daughter of 
 Daniel Roberts, whose father was killed by 
 the Indians, in Virginia, and when the son 
 had reached manhood he killed two of the 
 red men in order to avenge his father's mur- 
 der. Both the paternal and maternal grand- 
 parents of our subject were pioneers in 
 Alabama, and the parents were married in 
 'that state. In 1839 they removed to 
 Mississippi, where Mr. Thornton followed 
 farming as a means of livelihood. In the 
 family were twelve children, who reached 
 years of maturity, while nine are still living. 
 Their mother died at the age of eighty-three 
 years, but their father still survives, at the 
 age of eighty-six. 
 
 Mr. Thornton, of this sketch, spent his 
 childhood days in assisting his father on the 
 
 farm and resided with his parents until he 
 came to Texas, in November, 1852. He 
 visited the state that year, intending to re- 
 turn the following spring. He first stopped 
 in Anderson county and spent the months of 
 April, May and June in exploring the coun- 
 try. He was married in Anderson county, 
 July 27, 1853, to Miss Mary Garland, a 
 native of Tennessee and a daughter of Peter 
 and Lucinda (Goff) Garland, of Irish ances- 
 try. Mrs. Thornton came with her parents 
 to the Lone Star state when a maiden of 
 twelve years. 
 
 Upon his marriage Mr. Thornton turned 
 his attention to farming, which he followed 
 in Anderson county until February, 1857, 
 when he came to Erath county, reaching 
 his destination on the 20th day of the 
 month. He located eighteen miles north- 
 west of Stephenville, where he found a fine 
 range for his cattle. He embarked in the 
 stock business on a small scale and for six- 
 teen years followed that pursuit. At first 
 he had no trouble with the Indians, but in 
 November they made a raid, stealing a 
 number of horses from Mr. Thornton and 
 killing a Mr. Johnson. From that time on 
 for some years the settlers had to be con- 
 stantly on their guard. A fort was also 
 constructed so that the settlers might unite 
 in their efforts for defense. On one occa- 
 sion Mr. Thornton, in company with Robert 
 Wylie, started for Palo Pinto with a num- 
 ber of cattle. On the way they saw a large 
 band of Indians and turned to go back to 
 the fort. They were followed by three In- 
 dians, who attempted to steal some horses. 
 Mr. Thornton dismounted, made a stand 
 and succeeded in driving off the redskins. 
 At another time he aided in the rescue of 
 the Lemly girls, who had been carried off 
 by the Indians in 1859; and as soon as the 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 girls were taken to a place of safety he with 
 others started in pursuit of their captors. 
 Such were the experiences which were con- 
 stantly occurring in this frontier region. Mr. 
 Thornton once had a muscle of his arm 
 shot through by an arrow while attempting 
 to defend himself from five Indians who had 
 come to steal his horses. He succeeded in 
 drawing his revolver on one and wounded 
 him, but soon was himself wounded. At 
 no time was it safe for a man to venture 
 away from home without a double-barreled 
 shotgun, and even the wives and daughters 
 were forced to go armed as they made their 
 way about the farms. This life of excite- 
 ment and danger continued for sixteen 
 years, the last raid being made in 1874, 
 when many settlers lost their horses and 
 when Charlie Ellington was shot by the 
 savages. Mr. Thornton has sustained 
 severe losses through these Indian depreda- 
 tions, but now the era of danger is over and 
 he has succeeded in accumulating a good 
 property. He continued to engage in the 
 stock business until 1869, when he made 
 his first purchase of land, becoming owner 
 of ten hundred and twelve acres. He now 
 has a landed estate of thirty-five hundred 
 acres, of which three hundred is under cul- 
 tivation. For a time he engaged in raising 
 small grain, but is now cultivating only 
 cotton and corn. He also has a good or- 
 chard of five acres, containing peaches, pears 
 and apricots. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Thornton are the parents 
 of eight children, viz. : Columbus, who mar- 
 ried Molly Crawford and has nine children; 
 Peter, who married Parcinda Gordon and 
 has six children; Elizabeth, wife of Henry 
 Wylie, of Runnels county, by whom she has 
 six children; Henry, who married Florence 
 Kenny and has four children; William, who 
 
 wedded Jakkie Kenny and has one child; 
 Arthur, who married Fannie Fulkerson and 
 has two children; and Daniel and Minnie, 
 who are at home. 
 
 Mr. Thornton is a member of Hannibal 
 Lodge, No. 564, F. & A. M., and is a mem- 
 ber of Stephenville Chapter, R. A. M. His 
 wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal 
 church. 
 
 Mr. Thornton made his military record 
 while in the Confederate service during the 
 civil war. He was a member of Company 
 D, Fifteenth Texas Cavalry, but after a time 
 the troops were dismounted and served as 
 infantry. At the battle of Arkansas Post Mr. 
 Thornton was taken prisoner and sent to 
 Camp Douglas, Chicago, where he was held 
 for three months. He then went to Virginia, 
 where he was exchanged, and later joined 
 the Army of the Tennessee. He participa- 
 ted in the battles of Cedar mountain and 
 Missionary Ridge, and after the defeat of 
 Bragg he obtained a furlough and returned 
 home. From that time until the close of 
 the war he was on post duty guarding pro- 
 visions. He served as county commissioner 
 in 1876 and 1877, under the reconstruction. 
 His name is inseparably associated with the 
 history of Erath county and the work he 
 has done in its behalf well entitles him to 
 prominent mention among the honored pio- 
 
 BRANCIS D. HOLMES, grandson 
 of Gordon V. Holmes and wife 
 Annis h.,iicc Alexander, of Charles- 
 ton, South Carolina, and son of 
 Thomas W. Holmes and wife Mary Ann iicc 
 Grennon, is one of the worthy citizens that 
 Alabama has furnished to central Texas, 
 and his identification with this region has 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 579 
 
 been long and honorable. He was born in 
 Greene county, in the " Cotton state," Jan- 
 uary ii, 1838. His early youth was spent 
 on his father's farm in the state of his nativ- 
 ity, and when twelve years of age he accom- 
 panied the family to Cherokee county, Ala- 
 bama. After three years they removed to 
 Marshall county, that state, where our sub- 
 ject was living when he attained his ma- 
 jority. 
 
 He remained at his parental home until 
 the breaking out of the civil war and then 
 joined the southern army. In the first year 
 of the struggle he aided in the organization 
 of Humphrey's brigade, which, however, 
 was disbanded before being mustered into 
 service. In the spring of 1862 he enlisted 
 as a member of Captain Turpin's company 
 of the Twenty-eighth Alabama Infantry, 
 which was immediately sent to Corinth. 
 He participated in the battle of Shiloh and 
 many skirmishes, and was then in a hospi- 
 tal in Mississippi for a time. He was later 
 commissioned second lieutenant and joined 
 Forrest's brigade, which was ordered to 
 Murfreesboro, doing service in that vicinity 
 and then taking part in a raid in western 
 Tennessee. Mr. Holmes participated in the 
 battle of Lexington and Parker's Cross 
 Roads, and was wounded there in the right 
 wrist and captured; but the following morn- 
 ing he was paroled. He remained in that 
 neighborhood for two weeks, after which he 
 started for home, but his wound so troubled 
 him that he was obliged to make the jour- 
 ney by slow and easy stages and was un-.. 
 fitted for further service. 
 
 He remained at the old homestead from 
 the close of the war until his marriage, on 
 the 4th of September, 1866, to Martha J. 
 Laughlin, a native of Alabama and a daugh- 
 ter of Marcus and Isabella (Batty) Laugh- 
 
 Hn. The young couple began their domes- 
 tic life upon a farm which Mr. Holmes 
 operated until 1870, when he sold out and 
 with a capital of eight hundred dollars re- 
 moved to Fannin county, Texas. While on 
 the journey, his wife and children were at- 
 tacked with the measles and smallpox and 
 all died within a few weeks. This left Mr. 
 Holmes all alone except that his mother-in- 
 law kept house for him until his second 
 marriage. She was a member of his family 
 until her death. For a year our subject 
 remained in Fannin county, and in 1871 
 came to Erath county, where he pre-empted 
 one hundred and sixty acres of land and be- 
 gan the development of a farm. To this 
 property he has added as the years have 
 passed, and his financial resources have in- 
 creased until to-day he owns a valuable 
 property of eight hundred acres, of which 
 one hundred and seventy-five acres are un- 
 der a high state of cultivation and yields to 
 him a handsome tribute in return for the 
 care and labor he bestows upon it. He 
 has also engaged in stock-raising to some 
 extent. 
 
 In August, 1876, Mr. Holmes was again 
 married, his second union being with Miss 
 Mary A. Gunter, a native of Louisana and 
 a daughter of Henry and Sarah (George) 
 Gunter. By their union they have three 
 children, two yet living, ^Thomas Howard 
 and Martha Hortense. The other child 
 died in infancy. 
 
 Mr. Holmes and his wife are consistent 
 members of the Methodist Episcopal church 
 and are people of the highest respectability. 
 He belongs to Bluff Dale Lodge, No. 724, 
 F. & A. M., of which he is treasurer, and 
 in politics is a Populist. He may truly be 
 called a self-made man, for by industry and 
 enterprise he has overcome the difficulties 
 
580 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 in the path to success and has become the 
 owner of a valuable and desirable property. 
 He is now able to surround his family with 
 the comforts of life, and, more than the 
 property he has acquired, he has made for 
 himself that "good name which is rather 
 to be chosen than great riches." 
 
 ^y*ESSE COX is a venerable citizen of 
 J Erath county, Texas, now an invalid 
 A 1 and living retired at his pleasant rural 
 home in the vicinity of Chalk mount- 
 ain. His life has been a somewhat eventful 
 one and is well worthy of an honorable men- 
 tion in the county annals. 
 
 Jesse Co.\ was born in Tennessee, No- 
 vember 19, 1825, and is of German de- 
 scent. His parents were Nathan and Sarah 
 (Wheeler) Cox, the former a native of 
 North Carolina, who went with his parents 
 to Tennessee when he was very young, and 
 in that state grew up and passed his life. 
 His father was Henry Cox, a Pennsylvanian 
 by birth and in religion a Quaker. On 
 account of his religious views Henry Cox 
 took no part in the Revolutionary war. He 
 was hated by the Tories, and at one time, 
 when some sort of a disagreement arose be- 
 tween him and some members of this party, 
 one of them struck him with a saber, inflict- 
 ing a wound which he carried through life. 
 He emigrated to Tennessee at an early day, 
 was among the pioneer farmers of that state, 
 and there reared his family and died. The 
 Quakers in those days were as much op- 
 posed to slavery as to war; consequently he 
 had no slaves, and carried on his farming 
 operations with the assistance of his sons 
 and with hired help. He had six sons and 
 two daughters, none of whom ever came to 
 Texas. The father of our subject, Nathan 
 
 Cox, married in Tennessee, and there spent 
 his life in agricultural pursuits. He and his 
 wife were members of the Christian church. 
 They were the parents of eleven children, 
 namely: Huldah, deceased; Jesse, whose 
 name graces this article; Henry, still a resi- 
 dent of Tennessee; William, deceased; 
 Samuel, a resident of Mississippi; John E., 
 a farmer of Ellis county, Texas; Solomon, 
 of Tennessee; Mary A., who died when 
 young; the next two died in infancy; and 
 the youngest, Nancy, is the wife of D. Col- 
 ston, a farmer. 
 
 At the age of twenty years Jesse Cox 
 left the parental home and started out in 
 life to care for himself, and was at first em- 
 ployed as a farm hand. After that he was 
 variously employed for several years. In 
 1853 he married Sarah C. Murphy, and at 
 this time he was engaged in merchandising. 
 At first he conducted a country store, then 
 he did business in Nashville; but merchan- 
 dising was not particularly suited to his 
 taste and he left it to engage in work at the 
 carpenter's trade. In 1856 he moved to 
 Missouri and settled in St. Clair county, 
 where he worked at his trade and also did 
 some farming. During the latter part of 
 his residence in Missouri he was a member 
 of the home guard. The Kansas Jayhawk- 
 ers made a raid through St. Clair county 
 and destroyed Osceola, the county seat, and 
 Mr. Cox, as a member of the home guard, 
 was in a skirmish with these raiders, in 
 which encounter one or two men were 
 killed. About three weeks later, in Octo- 
 ber, 1 86 1, Mr. Cox started to flee with his 
 family, and worked his way to Texas, land- 
 ing here after some time and making settle- 
 ment in Grayson county. He had but little 
 means and he worked at whatever he could 
 get to do. In the fall of 1862 he was de- 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 581 
 
 tailed by the Confederacy to make salt in 
 Van Zandt county, in which he was engaged 
 until the close of the war. 
 
 After the close of the war he went to 
 Ellis county and bought a small tract of 
 land, paying for the same with money he 
 earned by freighting with ox teams, in two 
 years' time completing the payments and af- 
 ter devoting his attention to the improve- 
 ment of his land. He continued farming in 
 Ellis county until 1883, when he sold out 
 and came to his present location in Erath 
 county. Here he bought twelve hundred 
 and eighty acres, all in one tract, portions 
 of which he has since sold to his children, 
 retaining eight hundred acres in his home 
 place. The most of this is under fence and 
 one hundred and fifty acres in cultivation. 
 Before he disposed of his property in Ellis 
 county Mr. Cox took a herd of cattle to 
 Stephens county, where he bought a tract 
 of land and on it ranged his cattle three 
 years, selling out his interests there just be- 
 fore coming to this county. Here he has 
 made substantial improvements, including 
 nice orchard and comfortable residence, and 
 here he is pleasantly situated in his old age. 
 About 1882 he became afflicted with rheu- 
 matism and for a few years was unable to 
 attend to business. About 1890 he grew 
 worse instead of better, finally becoming 
 helpless, and for the past four years has been 
 unable to help himself. He has to be lifted 
 in and out of his bed, and his hands are so 
 drawn that he can not close them, but 
 through all his sufferings he is cheerful and 
 patient. 
 
 Mr. Cox is the father of a large family, 
 three of his children dying in early life. Of 
 the others we make record as follows: Will- 
 iam E., an attorney of Waxahachie ; John 
 B., a farmer, who died in 1889 and left a 
 
 wife and live children; Jessie May, wife of 
 James F. Hatchett, a farmer; Mollie D., 
 wife of Joel F. Hatchett; Laura L., wife of 
 C. Rogers, a farmer now of Oklahoma; 
 Effa, wife of William Hamick, a farmer; 
 Emma, wife of H. Dodson, a farmer; Henry 
 W., engaged in farming; and Charlie, Sally, 
 and Walter E., at home. 
 
 Mr. Cox and his wife have long been 
 identified with the Methodist Episcopal 
 church, south. In his political views he 
 was originally a Whig. Later he belonged 
 to the American party, then the Greenback- 
 ers, and of more recent years he has har- 
 monized with the Democrats. 
 
 St 
 
 ILLIAM MINGUS.— The subject 
 of this notice is certainly entitled 
 to be considered not only one of 
 the most enterprising farmers of 
 Bosque county, but one of its respected and 
 honored citizens and a man of more than 
 ordinary ability. His residence in the 
 county dates back to 1867, but he has lived 
 in Texas since 1852. He was born in Hay- 
 wood county. North Carolina, November 3, 
 1823, and is of German extraction, his 
 grandfather, George Mingus, being a native 
 of Germany. After coming to the New 
 World he aided the colonies in their struggle 
 for independence. 
 
 Abram Mingus, the father of our subject, 
 was born in Lincoln county. North Carolina, 
 where he was reared, but was married in 
 Haywood county to Miss Rebecca Stilhvell, 
 also a native of that state and a daughter of 
 Jerry Stilhvell, whose birth occurred in 
 Holland. In 1853 the parents removed to 
 Newton county, Missouri, where the father 
 died in 1859 and the mother ten years later. 
 In their family were twelve children, namely: 
 
582 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Mary, who died in Iredell, Texas; George W. , 
 Cornelius, William, Richard, Abram, David, 
 Isaac, Rebecca, Abigail, Jacob and one that 
 died in infancy. By occupation the father 
 was a farmer; was a Whig in politics, being a 
 warm admirer of Henry Clay; and in religious 
 belief was a Baptist. 
 
 In the common schools of his native 
 state William Mingus obtained a limited 
 education, and in 1848 left home, going to 
 Jackson county, Missouri, where he remained 
 for about twenty months, when he returned 
 to Haywood county, North Carolina, but in 
 the fall of 1850 went to Mississippi, where 
 the following year was passed. We next 
 find him in McLennan county, Texas, later 
 in Bell and De Witt counties, and in 1855 
 he went to Lawrence county, Missouri, 
 where he was married. He then returned 
 to Bell county, where he remained for two 
 years, and the following ten years he was 
 engaged in the stock business in Palo Pinto 
 county, Texas, but in 1867 located upon the 
 land in Bosque county, where he still lives, 
 it being a valuable tract of seven hundred 
 acres, well improved. His first home here 
 was a rude log cabin, sixteen by sixteen 
 feet, and this was later replaced by a box 
 house, where he kept a stage tavern for 
 travelers, it being one of the best at that 
 time in the locality. He now has a com- 
 fortable and commodious dwelling, two 
 stories in height, good barns and other out- 
 buildings, which are models of convenience. 
 He is engaged in general farming and stock- 
 raising and has one of the most productive 
 places in the county. 
 
 While in Lawrence county, Missouri, 
 Mr. Mingus wedded Miss Julia Frances Spill- 
 man, who comes of a prominent family and 
 is a woman of more than ordinary business 
 ability, possessing excellent judgment and 
 
 rare tact. She was born in Allen county, 
 Kentucky, and was ten years of age when 
 she went to Missouri, where her education 
 was obtained. Her father, John Spillman, 
 was also a native of Allen county, and was 
 the son of Thomas Spillman, who was born 
 in Virginia, of German and English parent- 
 age. The mother of Mrs. Mingus, who bore 
 the maiden name of Mary Boucher, was born 
 in Allen county, Kentucky, and was a daugh- 
 ter of Peter Boucher, of French parentage. 
 To John Spillman and wife were born 
 twelve children, nine of whom grew to ma- 
 turity, namely: Nathan, who is now serv- 
 ing as county judge; Thomas, Mary, Sarah, 
 John J., an ex-treasurer and justice of the 
 peace; Arrena; Nancy Ellen; Julia Frances 
 and Theresa Eveline. At the present time 
 there are also seventy-five grandchildren, 
 nine great-grandchildren and four -great- 
 great-grandchildren. The father was a 
 well-to-do planter and a member of the 
 Baptist church. His death occurred at the 
 age of sixt3^-two years, and his wife reached 
 the age of sixty-five. 
 
 Twelve children blessed the union of 
 our subject: Ada Mingus, the daughter of 
 Frances Mingus, is the wife of Hon. W. H. 
 Lockett, of Texas; G. W. , at home; Mary 
 J., wife of Frank Duckworth, of Erath 
 county; Charlotte R,, wife of Morgan Wea- 
 ver, of Hico, Texas; Judson L. , deputy 
 county clerk, living at Meridian; Ida E. , a 
 popular and successful teacher of Bosque 
 county; Nelia Pauline, wife of C. C. Crews, 
 editor of the Courier, of Hico; William 
 Coke and Frank Mills are twins, and John 
 A., the youngest, — these three are at home. 
 The children have all been supplied with 
 good educational advantages. 
 
 Mr. Mingus is a clear-headed, intelligent 
 man, with sound common-sense \iews of 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 life and its duties, and is active in well-do- 
 ing, sober, industrious and of good business 
 habits, — in fact, possessing in an eminent 
 degree all the qualifications that go to make 
 up a good citizen and an honorable man. 
 In politics he sides with the Democratic 
 party, has served as justice of the peace, 
 and socially belongs to Iredell Lodge, No. 
 405, F. & A. M. He is a faithful member 
 of the Baptist church, in which he has 
 served as elder and deacon, and is one of its 
 most liberal supporters. 
 
 St 
 
 C. ROBINSON.— This gentle- 
 man stands as one of the most 
 prosperous and prominent agri- 
 culturists of the vicinity of Eu- 
 logy, is well known and highly respected 
 throughout the county of Bosque, and there 
 is therefore signal consistency in giving 
 an outline of his life history in this con- 
 nection. 
 
 W. C. Robinson was born in Lee coun- 
 ty, Mississippi, January 6, 1850; was reared 
 on a farm, and at the age he should have 
 been in school the war and its vicissitudes 
 prevented the carrying out of any educa- 
 tional plans. Thus he grew up with but 
 little book learning. Later in life, however, 
 by improving his odd moments in reading 
 and study and by close observation as he 
 passed along, he acquired a valuable fund 
 of useful information, and now has as good 
 a practical education as the average farmer. 
 He is a son of W. B. and Elizabeth A. 
 (Thomason) Robinson, the latter a native of 
 Alabama. W. B. Robinson was born in the 
 Old Dominion, March 18, 1819, the son of 
 Virginia parents, his father an Irishman by 
 birth, and his mother of Welsh descent. 
 His marriage to Miss Thomason was con- 
 
 summated in Alabama in December, 1842, 
 and as time passed by they became the par- 
 ents of four children, namely: James L., 
 now a farmer of Johnson county, Texas; 
 William C, whose name graces this sketch; 
 Henrietta; and Mollie, wife of J. W. Chit- 
 wood, who is engaged in the sheep business 
 in Greer county, Texas. The father was 
 at one time a slaveholder and prominent 
 farmer, carrying on his operations in Ala- 
 bama and Mississippi, and the family still 
 own a large tract of land in the latter state. 
 Also he was a stock dealer, bought and sold 
 horses, and was successful in his undertak- 
 ings. Religiously, he was a Missionary 
 Baptist, and a deacon in the church; in his 
 political views he was Democratic, but he 
 never sought official honors; and fraternally 
 he was a Mason, having risen in that order 
 to the Royal Arch degree. He died in 
 Mississippi, and his venerable widow is yet 
 living, is now seventy-eight years of age, 
 and resides with her son, our subject. 
 
 W. C. Robinson remained with his 
 mother in Mississippi until their removal to 
 Texas in 1871, he being then a single man, 
 and with his mother located on rented land 
 near Waco, McLennan county, where they 
 remained until 1875. In the meantime, in 
 November, 1874, he won and wed a young 
 lady of that county. In 1875 he removed 
 to Bosque county and settled near Eulogy, 
 and two years later, in 1877, he purchased 
 a portion of his present holdings, his origi- 
 nal purchase comprising fifty-seven acres of 
 wild land, to which he has since added until 
 he now has 457 acres. Seventy-five acres 
 of this he has under cultivation. He has 
 made various improvements in the way of 
 buildings, fences, etc., and he now has a 
 valuable farm desirably located, being two 
 and a half miles south of Eulogy. 
 
584 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 Mr. Robinson's marriage, as above re- 
 corded, was to Miss Sudie Lockhart, a 
 native of Mississippi, born October 22, 
 1858, only child of Marion and Amelia 
 (Criddle) Lockhart. Her parents were born, 
 reared, married and died in Mississippi, 
 dying when she was quite small, the mother's 
 death occurring only three months before the 
 father's. In 1865 the little girl was brought 
 to Texas by her grandmother, Mrs. Nancy 
 Rhenson, who settled near "Waco and who 
 died some years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Robin- 
 son have had nine children, two of whom 
 died young. Those living are as follows: 
 Mollie, Edgar, Marion, Thomas, Lulu, Het- 
 tie, and Sudie, all at home except the eldest 
 daughter, Mollie, who is the wife of W. C. 
 Wamble. 
 
 In fraternal circles, Mr. Robinson is act- 
 ive and popular, being identified with both 
 the I. O. O. F. and the F. & A. M., having 
 membership in the former at Morgan and in 
 the latter at Eulogy. He was initiated into 
 the mysteries of Masonry at Morgan, was 
 one of the charter members of the Eulogy 
 Lodge, which he helped to organize, and at 
 present holds the office of master of this 
 lodge. He is Democratic in his political 
 views and as a voter takes an intelligent in- 
 terest in party issues, but has never been 
 an aspirant for official preference. A genial, 
 pleasant gentleman, he makes friends wher- 
 ever he goes, and is as popular as he is well 
 known. 
 
 %y^ OBERT L. SELMAN.— It is a sat- 
 
 I /^ isfaction to the biographer to write 
 
 M . F the sketch of a man who- is not 
 
 only a native son of the Lone Star 
 
 state but is also a representative of one of 
 
 the old and honored families that has been 
 
 connected with its history since the days of 
 the Republic. The name of Selman stands 
 conspicuously forth on its annals, and the 
 subject of this review is one whose connec- 
 tion with the growth and substantial up- 
 building of the thriving city of Comanche 
 has been of an intimate nature and has ex- 
 tended over a considerable period. He is a 
 recognized leader in commercial and politic- 
 al circles, and wherever known his name 
 passes current as a synonym for all that is 
 upright and honorable. 
 
 Born in Cherokee county, Texas, April 
 4, 1855, Robert L. Selman is a son of 
 Greene B. Selman, who was born in Ala- 
 bama and came to Texas in 1846. The 
 grandfather, Benjamin Selman, had arrived 
 in this state the year previous an3 in 1848 
 was elected to the legislature, where he 
 proved an acceptable and valued member of 
 the house, advancing by his support all in- 
 terests which he believed would promote the 
 welfare of the state. He was one of the 
 pioneer settlers of Texas and his prominence 
 and his well spent life won him the highest 
 regard of all with whom he came in contact. 
 He was popular with all and when he passed 
 from this life many friends mourned his 
 death. Greene B. Selman took no part in 
 public affairs, but was an energetic, pro- 
 gressive farmer, who extensively engaged in 
 stock dealing. His wife bore the maiden 
 name of Amanda D. Oldham and was a na- 
 tive of Mississippi. Her death occurred in 
 1880 and Mr. Selman passed away in 1888. 
 
 R. L. Selman spent the days of his boy- 
 hood and youth in Leon county, Texas, and 
 in its public schools acquired his education. 
 He afterward removed to Hood county, 
 which was then located on the frontier, and 
 later he became a resident of Baylor county, 
 where he engaged in farming and stock-rais- 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 585 
 
 mg. He is a man of good business ability, 
 with whom failure could never come through 
 inattention to his interests. On the other 
 hand the success he has achieved is the re- 
 sult of his earnest application and energy 
 combined with good judgment and careful 
 management. He came to Comanche coun- 
 ty in 1884 and devoted his time to farm- 
 ing. In 1893-4 he served as deputy tax as- 
 sessor of Comanche county and in the lat- 
 ter year was elected county surveyor, in 
 which capacity he is still serving, discharg- 
 ing his duties with a promptness and fidelity 
 that have won him the commendation of all 
 concerned. 
 
 In his political views Mr. Selman is a 
 Populist and takes a very active interest in 
 the work of that party. He is a member of 
 the Farmers' Alliance and of the Baptist 
 church. He is a man of strong intellectual- 
 ity, of broad and progressive views and is a 
 friend to education, religion and all interests 
 which are calculated to benefit humanity or 
 to advance the welfare of the community 
 with which his interests are now identified. 
 He has the confidence and respect of all 
 who know him and is a popular member of 
 society. 
 
 eE. KILGORE, the efficient post- 
 master of Gap, and one of the in- 
 telligent, progressive farmers of 
 Comanche county, is one of the 
 worthy sons that Georgia has furnished to 
 Texas. He was born in Walker county, of 
 the former state, on the 17th of December, 
 1858, and is a son of James Kilgore, a na- 
 tive of Tennessee. His mother bore the 
 maiden name of Rachel Moore and died 
 during the early childhood of our subject. 
 The father came to Texas in 18S6 and died 
 
 in 1 888. In the family were seven children 
 of whom E. E. was the sixth in order of 
 birth. 
 
 Mr. Kilgore of this review was reared on 
 his father's farm and early became familiar 
 with the duties and labors that fall to the 
 lot of the agriculturist. He is indebted to 
 the public schools for his early educational 
 training, but after leaving the school-room 
 he added greatly to his knowledge by read- 
 ing and study at home, while in the experi- 
 ences of a business career he had found 
 practical training in the affairs of life. He 
 maintained his residence in his native state 
 until 1878, when he came to Texas and 
 made a location in Robertson county, where 
 he remained for thirteen years. He was 
 there engaged in agricultural pursuits and 
 met with a fair degree of success. 
 
 During his residence there Mr. Kilgore 
 was married, on the 29th of December, 1S80, 
 the lady of his choice being Miss Ellen 
 Walton, daughter of J. N. Walton, a promi- 
 nent and early settler of Robertson county. 
 Mrs. Kilgore, with the influences of a re- 
 fined home, became a lady of culture and 
 intelligence, who presides with gracious hos- 
 pitality over her own home. Four children 
 grace this marriage,— three daughters and 
 a son,— namely: Maud A., Adella P., Sadie 
 A. and Hugh W. 
 
 In 1 89 1 Mr. Kilgore left Robertson 
 county and came with his family to his pres- 
 ent home in Comanche county. Here he 
 has one hundred acres of cultivable land, of 
 which thirty acres is now highly cultivated, 
 while in the pastures are found good grades 
 of stock. His comfortable residence stands 
 on a natural building site, and good barns 
 and outbuildings and an orchard are among 
 the improvements which have helped to 
 transform the once wild land into a good 
 
58(5 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 farm. In addition to the cultivation of his 
 land Mr. Kilgore is also serving as postmas- 
 ter at Gap. In politics he is an inflexible 
 adherent of the Democratic party and 
 warmly advocates its principles. He keeps 
 well informed on the issues of the day and 
 is a progressive man in all particulars, in his 
 business, in politics, and in all local matters 
 which tend to the advancement of the gen- 
 eral welfare. The success he has achieved 
 is richly merited, for it has been achieved 
 entirely through his own industry. 
 
 BRANK SMITH.— It is our purpose 
 at this point to briefly call atten- 
 tion to the life of one of the rep- 
 resentative and well-known men 
 of the town of Bibb, Frank Smith, who is 
 postmaster of the town and also a dealer in 
 general merchandise. 
 
 Mr. Smith is a son of early settlers of 
 this state. He dates his birth in Hunt 
 county, Te.xas, April 7, 1861, and was 
 reared on a farm in that county and re- 
 ceived no other educational advantages than 
 those of the common schools. His parents, 
 Hugh and Mary A. (Hendricks) Smith, were 
 Tennesseeaniwho about 1858 left their na- 
 tive state and emigrated to Texas, making 
 settlement on a farm in Hunt county, where 
 they reared their large family, Frank being 
 their fifth in order of birth. 
 
 Frank Smith remained in Hunt county 
 until 1889, when he removed to Comanche 
 county and located at Bibb. Here he is 
 doing a prosperous business in the line of 
 general merchandise, keeping a well-selected 
 stock, including dry goods, groceries, patent 
 medicines, and in short almost every article 
 demanded by the trade. He has for sev- 
 eral years taken an active interest in polit- 
 
 ical matters and is regarded as one of the 
 wheelhorses among the Democrats at Bibb. 
 In 1894 he received from President Cleve- 
 land the appointment of postmaster at 
 Bibb, and has since had charge of the office, 
 conducting it in connection with his store, 
 it being a fourth-class office. As a business 
 man he is fair and square in all his deal- 
 ings, is genial and accommodating, and that 
 he is popular both as a merchant and post- 
 master goes without saying. 
 
 Mr. Smith was married in Hunt county, 
 Texas, December 23, 1882, to Miss Pinkey 
 Voyles, who, like himself, is a native of 
 this state. She is a daughter of John 
 Voyles, one of the early pioneers of Texas. 
 They have a family of three interesting 
 children, — Luther, Horace and Claude, — 
 and they also had a daughter that died in 
 infancy. 
 
 ^^ M. VERNON is the editor and 
 •^^^^ proprietor of the Comanche Chief, 
 
 K,^_^ the leading newspaper of Coman- 
 che county. His connection with 
 the paper has been continuous since 1881 
 and under his capable management he has 
 placed it in the front ranks among similar 
 publications in this part of the Lone Star 
 state. 
 
 A native of Mississippi Mr. Vernon was 
 born on the 6th of November, 1862, and is 
 a son of Dr. Samuel M. Vernon. His 
 father was born in Alabama and when he 
 had arrived at years of maturity he was 
 united in marriage to Miss Haseltine Dowd, 
 of Mississippi. In 1872 the family came 
 to Texas, and here the subject of this notice 
 was reared and educated. He learned the 
 printer's trade and in 1881 he took full 
 charge of the Comanche Chief, a bright, 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 587 
 
 interesting journal which was established in 
 1873 by G. A. Beemer. It is the leading 
 Democratic paper of the county and has a 
 circulation of twenty-five hundred. It is 
 well edited, is clean and pure, fit for intro- 
 duction into the most refined household. 
 It is pre-eminently suited for a family paper 
 and its diversified contents make it interest- 
 ing to the various tastes found in any home. 
 It contains a review of all matters of gen- 
 eral interest, as well as the state and local 
 news, and the ofi^ce is equipped with mod- 
 ern machinery and accessories so that in 
 appearance also the paper is equal to the 
 best publication of the kind in the state. 
 Mr. Vernon is one of the prominent and 
 progressive business men and leading and 
 influential citizens of Comanche county. 
 His position gives him an insight into public 
 affairs that others seldom have. He sees 
 the public needs and champions all meas- 
 ures calculated to advance the public wel- 
 fare, materially, socially or morally. He 
 has done much to build up the town in 
 which he lives, he is wide-awake and enter- 
 prising and has been found as the leader in 
 many movements for the general good. His 
 political support is given the Democracy, 
 and of the principles of that party he is an 
 earnest and able advocate. 
 
 eLIAS BARBEE, who is now living 
 retired in Granbury, in the enjoy- 
 ment of the fruits of his former toil, 
 IS one of those whose valor and 
 loyalty were displayed during the eivil war 
 m defense of the Union, and whose life has 
 always been marked by the faithful discharge 
 of his duties of citizenship. 
 
 Mr. Barbee is a native of Williamson 
 county, Tennessee, born on the 3d of Sep- 
 
 tember, 1840, a son of Joseph and Rachel 
 (Compton) Barbee. Both parents were na- 
 tives of Virginia, but were married in Ten- 
 nessee, and in 1841 removed to Jefferson 
 county, Illinois. There the subject of this 
 sketch grew to manhood upon his father's 
 farm, and his labors in the fields were alter- 
 nated with his attendance on the public 
 schools of the neighborhood, where he ac- 
 quired a fair English education. He re- 
 mained at home, assisting in the labor of 
 the farm, until the breaking out of the late 
 war, when, on the 19th of October, 1861, 
 he offered his services to the government,' 
 enlisting in the Union army as a member of 
 Company K, Forty-ninth Illinois Volunteer 
 Infantry. In 1862, at Camp Butler, Illi- 
 nois, he was taken ill, which resulted in his 
 total blindness and led to his honorable di.s- 
 charge from the service on the 30th of 
 I April, 1862, at Camp Stanton, Tennessee. 
 He then returned to his home in Illinois, 
 but, though his army service was thus cut 
 short, few of the "boys in blue" gave more 
 to their country than Mr. Barbee, who 
 through a third of a century has been de- 
 prived of his sight. 
 
 On the 14th of April. 1861, in Franklin 
 county, Illinois, Mr. Barbee was united in 
 marriage with Miss Lovisa Allen, a native 
 of that county, and a daughter of Stephen 
 and Rebecca (Webb) Allen, the former born 
 in Kentucky, the latter in Illinois. For a 
 number of years our subject and his wife 
 continued their residence in Illinois and 
 then emigrated to Te.xas, settling in Palu.xy, 
 Hood county, where Mr. Brabee purcha.sed 
 one hundred and si.xty acres of land. He 
 had secured the capital as the savings 
 from his meager pension of eight dollars per 
 month, which was later raised to twenty- 
 five dollars. With the assistance of his 
 
til STORY OF TEXAS 
 
 thirteen-year-old son, Mr. Barbee engaged 
 in the stock business on a small scale and in 
 the undertaking met with success. He sub- 
 sequently sold his land and purchased else- 
 where one hundred and ninety acres, also 
 an interest in about five hundred acres of 
 cedar brake. The former place he made 
 his home and engaged there in general 
 farming, with the assistance of his son. 
 Before coming to Texas his pension was in- 
 creased to fifty dollars per month, which 
 was of material assistance to him, and in 
 1879 it was raised to seventy-two dollars. 
 Mr. Barbee made many excellent improve- 
 ments upon his farm, placed the greater 
 part of the land under a high state of culti- 
 vation, and continued to engage in agri- 
 cultural pursuits until 1887, when he laid 
 aside all business cares and took up his resi- 
 dence in Granbury, where he has since made 
 his home. 
 
 He deserves great credit for his success 
 in life, for, suffering under an affliction which 
 would have utterly discouraged and dis- 
 heartened a man of less resolute spirit, he 
 has worked his way steadily upward and has 
 not only been able to provide for his family 
 but has also acquired a handsome property 
 which now permits him to rest from all 
 care. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Barbee were the parents 
 of three children, but only one is living. 
 Wilson B. married Mary Pate and they have 
 two children, Luther B. and Alta. He has 
 always been his father's assistant and with 
 a wisdom and judgment seemingly beyond 
 his years managed the business interests in 
 his early boyhood. Emma married William 
 H. Meek, and died in 1885, leaving two 
 children, Minnie and Maud, who are now 
 living with their grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Barbee, for they were left orphans by the 
 
 death of their father in 1895. Williard J., 
 the youngest of the family, died at the age 
 of three years. The parents are members 
 of the Missionary Baptist church and sup- 
 port all worthy enterprises which tend to 
 advance the general welfare. Mr. Barbee 
 is a Republican in politics at national elec- 
 tions, but at local elections, where no gen- 
 eral issue is involved, he supports the Dem- 
 ocratic candidates. 
 
 * y ^ ARVEY WILSON, one of the prom- 
 l^'^W inent farmers of Hood county, who 
 \ P for a quarter of a century has been 
 identified with the best interests of 
 the community, is a native of South Caro- 
 lina, where he was born March 15, 1825, 
 and is a son of Henry and Mary (Hunt) 
 Wilson, the former a native of Virginia and 
 the latter of South Carolina. The father 
 served as a soldier in the Colonial army 
 during the Revolutionary war, and died at 
 the age of seventy-eight years, when our 
 subject was only seven years old. The 
 mother was the second wife of Henry Wil- 
 son, by whom she had six children, and her 
 death occurred in her native state in 1871. 
 After the death of his father Harvey 
 Wilson was reared by strangers, and was 
 able to attend school for only six months, 
 for which privilege he had to work the other 
 si.x months to pay for his board and tuition. 
 Most of his education has been secured since 
 his marriage, being taught by his wife. At 
 the age of eighteen he began learning the 
 trade of wagon-maker, and later took up 
 blacksmithing, at which he worked for 
 nearly twenty years, at the same time man- 
 aging a farm which he owned in his native 
 state. 
 
 Mr. Wilson was married in 1849, the 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 lady of his choice being Miss EHzabeth 
 Reynolds, who was born in South Carolina, 
 and is a daughter of Edward and Winnie 
 Reynolds, also natives of the same state. 
 Twelve children were born of this union, 
 but only four grew to maturity, and are 
 living at the present time, namely: Ara- 
 menta, wife of M. E. Huggins, a farmer of 
 Hood county; Vermeil, wife of E. J. Baker; 
 Ella, wife of W. J. McElroy; and Fannie, 
 wife of D. F. Ward. All make their home 
 in Hood county. 
 
 In ten years after his marriage Mr. Wil- 
 son was employed as clerk and bookkeeper 
 for a firm that engaged in merchandising 
 and in the manufacture of turpentine. In 
 1861 he enlisted in Company H, Twenty- 
 first South Carolina Infantry, with which he 
 served until captured at Fort Fisher in Jan- 
 uary, 1864, and was a prisoner on Gov- 
 ernor's island. New York, for about two 
 months, when he was paroled. He was 
 first a corporal, from which position he was 
 promoted to that of orderly sergeant, and 
 later to that of second lieutenant, and at 
 the siege of Battery Wagner on Morris 
 island had command of a detachment of 
 thirty men for six months. 
 
 In 1870 Mr. Wilson sold his interests in 
 South Carolina and came to Texas, locating 
 on the Brazos, which was his objective 
 point. At the end of a year he purchased 
 two hundred acres of partially improved 
 land, which he cultivated for a year and 
 then sold out and bought one hundred and 
 sixty acres of his present farm. He has 
 given to each of his children eighty acres of 
 good land, and still owns three hundred and 
 thirty acres, all of which he rents, as he is 
 now living in comparative retirement, ne- 
 cessitated by having received a sunstroke 
 and partial paralysis. For two years he 
 
 conducted a store at Acton, Hood county, 
 since living upon his present farm. He has 
 been the architect of his own fortune, and 
 has never been afraid of putting his shoul- 
 der to the wheel whenever necessary. He 
 has brought his land to a high state of cul- 
 tivation greatly by the labor of his own 
 hands, and well deserves the success that 
 has come to him. 
 
 Mr. Wilson is a popular and influential 
 man, who for two years served as county 
 commissioner, and socially is a member of 
 Acton Lodge, No. 285, F. & A. M. In re- 
 ligious matters he and his wife belong to 
 the Methodist Episcopal church, south, and 
 are people who enjoy the confidence and 
 respect of the community generally. 
 
 ej. WHITACRE is a worthy repre- 
 sentative of the agricultural inter- 
 ests of Erath county, where he has 
 resided since 1876. A native of 
 Ohio, he was born in Carroll county, that 
 state, on the 14th of October, 1826, the 
 second son of Edward and Rachel (Bye) 
 Whitacre, who were natives of Virginia and 
 were of English descent. They became 
 pioneer settlers of Ohio and in 1 840 removed 
 to Illinois, taking up their residence in 
 Wayne county. 
 
 The youth of our subject was spent on 
 the old home farm. He lost his father 
 when he was about eighteen years of age 
 and since that time he has been dependent 
 on his own resources for a livelihood. He 
 acquired a good common-school education 
 and when nineteen years of age he taught 
 his first school, which was held in a little 
 log building with a mud-and-stick chimney 
 and dirt floor, while the light made its way 
 through a greased-paper window. There 
 
590 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Mr. Whitacre taught for three months, re- 
 ceiving from each pupil a dollar and a half 
 in payment for -his instruction. When the 
 school term was ended Mr. Whitacre went 
 to Williamson county, thence to Union 
 county, Illinois, and later to Arkansas. 
 Subsequently he returned to Illinois and 
 engaged in teaching for eight years. 
 
 On the 29th of September, 1853, Mr. 
 Whitacre was united in marriage to Miss 
 Nancy Jane Roberts, a native of Illinois, 
 born in Union county, and a daughter of 
 John and Mildred (Ferrill) Roberts, the 
 latter born in Virginia and the former in 
 North Carolina. In an early day they took 
 up their residence in Illinois, where Mrs. 
 Whitacre spent her girlhood days. In 
 1855 our subject came to Texas, making 
 the journey by team and traveling from the 
 4th of October until the 12th of November. 
 He settled in Navarro county, where he 
 engaged in teaching for two years and 
 resided until the fall of i860, when he 
 removed to Hill county. He next engaged 
 in teaching in Hill county and later located 
 on the Brazos river, where he followed 
 agricultural pursuits for sixteen years. In 
 1876 he came to Erath county and bought 
 two hundred and thirty acres of wild land 
 that had been left as it came from the hand 
 of nature, beingentirely destitute of improve- 
 ment. He at once began to clear the place 
 and soon richly-cultivated fields were seen 
 where was once only wild prairie. He now 
 has one hundred and ten acres under the 
 plow and the harvests of autumn bring their 
 reward for his energetic labors. He has 
 followed farming continuously since coming 
 to Erath county and is now the owner of 
 one of the highly developed farms in this 
 locality. 
 
 In 1895 Mr. Whitacre was called upon 
 
 to mourn the loss of his wife, who died on 
 the 23d of June, at the age of sixty-three 
 years and three months. She was a con- 
 sistent menr.ber of the Christian church and 
 had many estimable qualities which endeared 
 her to all who knew her. In the family 
 were five children: Rachel, wife of G. W. 
 Whitehead, of Erath county; Mary R., wife 
 of M. P. Balock, of the same county; A. 
 Y., who is living on the old homestead; 
 Clara J., wife of G. H. Rainsey, of Erath 
 county; and S. J., who also inakes his home 
 in the same locality. Like his wife, Mr. 
 Whitacre is a member of the Christian 
 church and is now serving as one of its 
 elders. His life has been well spent and he 
 has the esteem of all. 
 
 eLISHA TERRY, living near Jones- 
 boro, was born in Hot Springs 
 county, Arkansas, October 13, 
 1837, the son of Turner and Ma- 
 tilda (Bond) Terry. On the 8th of January, 
 1839, his father died, leaving two children, 
 — Elisha and George, the latter now lying 
 in the carnage at Vicksburg, Mississippi. 
 Later the mother became the wife of James 
 Wornick, and by that marriage there were 
 three children, — William D., Margaret and 
 Ellen. His paternal grandfather, John 
 Terry, married Miss Fanny Gaddy, at Bed- 
 ford Court House, Virginia. Richard Bond, 
 the maternal grandfather of our subject, who 
 wedded Mary Baker, was a North Caro- 
 linian by birth. On both sides Mr. Terry is 
 of Irish descent. 
 
 In 1847 he accompanied his parents to 
 Union parish, Louisiana, where the family 
 continued to reside until May, 1852, when 
 they emigrated to Texas, locating in Leon 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 501 
 
 county. At the age of twenty he began 
 
 teaching, which profession he followed 
 eight months of the year until the outbreak 
 of the civil war; then, in 1861, he joined 
 Company B, Twelfth Texas Cavalry (Par- 
 sons'), and served as chaplain for a limited 
 time. Shortly before the close of the war 
 he resigned. He had a horror of shedding 
 human blood and hence never actively bore 
 arms. His sympathies, however, were with 
 the south, and he did all in his power to 
 administer to the spiritual welfare and alle- 
 viate the physical suffering of the soldiers. 
 
 Returning to Leon county, Mr. Terry 
 made his home there until August, 1868, 
 when he removed to his present place in 
 Hamilton county. Finding no congrega- 
 tions here, the territory being large and 
 sparsely settled, although there had been a I 
 conference of the Methodist Protestant 
 church for ten years, he went to work to 
 raise a congregation. He had no means 
 but his labor and no church funds to aid in 
 the good work. Before the close of the 
 year 1869 he was enabled to organize Lib- 
 erty church. Two years later he was elected 
 president of the district, which office, how- 
 ever, he was compelled to abandon before 
 the close of the second term, on account of 
 physical exhaustion and meager support. 
 Thus, up to 1883, all the time that could be 
 so spent was spent in any labor the confer- 
 ence might require till the onerous duty of 
 pastor of a weak church and the care of a 
 large family so overtaxed his powers of both 
 body and mind that he was forced to retire 
 from the active ministry. 
 
 Our subject is more familiarly known as 
 "Parson Terry." In 1859 he became a 
 member of the Methodist Protestant church, 
 and a year later entered the work of the 
 ministry, preaching the gospel until 1883. 
 
 During that time he established Liberty 
 church, four miles east of Jonesboro, one at 
 Brown's creek in Brown county, and still 
 another in San Antonio, Texas, while he has 
 assisted in the organization of many others. 
 He has made a valiant fight for his church 
 and Master, and now, in his old age, has 
 the pleasure of seeing some of the congre- 
 gations which he established in a flourishing 
 condition. He is one of the pioneer Meth- 
 odist Protestant preachers of the state, and 
 to the Master's work he has devoted the 
 best years of his life. He is a well read 
 man, thoroughly informed on the current 
 events of the day, and has the esteem and 
 confidence of all who know him. Politically 
 he is a conservative Democrat, and socially 
 is a Mason, having joined that order at 
 Leona Union Lodge, No. 39, in 1865, and 
 is a charter member of Coryell Lodge, No. 
 442, at Jonesboro. 
 
 Mr. Terry remarks in addition to the 
 above: "If the endowments of an individ- 
 ual are such as claimed above, why not 
 align himself with more power and prestige 
 in Christian work.' I feel a respect for dif- 
 ferent bodies of Christians that amounts to 
 admiration, — a love that amounts to broth- 
 erhood. At the same time I believe the 
 genius of Christian teaching to be the re- 
 quirement of perfect equality among breth- 
 ren, higher endowments among Christians 
 enjoining only more love, more humility and 
 more work. I believe that Christians are 
 required to do all in their power to promote 
 the welfare of the country in which they 
 live; hence I believe that all church officials 
 should hold place only by consent of the 
 church. In a word, I believe that a man 
 should stand to his own sense of Christian 
 duty at all hazards. Under these convic- 
 tions I joined the church I thought to be 
 
592 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 nearest in harmony with them, being a con- 
 stitutional republic of Christian people. 
 
 "When called upon to cast a ballot on 
 the ordinance of secession I told the officers 
 that my mother had taught me to reverence 
 my Bible and the constitution of my coun- 
 try, and I should vote no ticket stained in 
 blood, and cast an open ballot against it — 
 secession." 
 
 At the age of forty-seven years, namely, 
 on the 25th of July, 1866, Mr. Terry was 
 united in marriage with Miss Asalie Hunt, 
 who was born July 22, 1844, the daughter 
 of Noah and Ann (Rheinhart) Hunt. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Terry have had the following 
 named children: George E., born in Leon 
 county, Texas, July 30, 1867; Turner H., 
 born in Hamilton county, February 6, 1871; 
 the next was a daughter who died in infancy 
 January 18, 1873; Mary Ida was born Jan- 
 uary 4, 1874; Rosa A., October 13, 1876; 
 Matilda Andora, January 10, 1879; Luther, 
 March 9, 1881; Olive M., July 13, 1884; 
 Mary Clark, February 22, 1888; and Will- 
 iam E., August 17, 1890. The last seven 
 were born in Hamilton, Texas. 
 
 ^V^ENJAMIN F. BEACH has for 
 
 \f^^ nearly four decades maintained his 
 J^^J home in the commonwealth of 
 Texas. Here he has rendered val- 
 iant service in times of war and Indian 
 troubles, and since those dark days has con- 
 tributed his due quota toward the agricult- 
 ural development of the country. For 
 thirty-five years he has resided at his pres- 
 ent location in Erath county. Skipper's Gap 
 being his post-office address. 
 
 Tennessee is Mr. Beach's native state. 
 He was born August 11, 1835, son of Oliver 
 C. and Sela (Furguson) Beach, natives of 
 
 North Carolina who moved to Tennessee in 
 the year 1834. Oliver C. Beach purchased 
 land and improved a farm in Tennessee, 
 and there spent the rest of his life and died, 
 his death occurring in 1891, at the advanced 
 age of seventy-nine years. He figured 
 prominently in his community. For about 
 forty years he was a justice of the peace. 
 He was a man of deep piety, a member of 
 the Christian church, and was honored and 
 esteemed by all who knew him. His wife 
 survived him only a short time, her death 
 transpiring in 1893. They were the par- 
 ents of six children, — Martha, Benjamin F. , 
 Melissa, Hiram H., Mary and Sampson, — 
 all residents of Tennessee at this writing, 
 with the exception of the subject of our 
 sketch. 
 
 Benjamin F. Beach spent his youthful 
 days in honest toil in his father's fields, 
 with no other educational advantages than 
 the common schools, and at his native place 
 passed from boyhood to manhood. He 
 was married in Tennessee in 1858, and the 
 following year came to Texas, stopping in 
 Hunt county with his wife and babe and 
 sixty-four dollars in money. He lived in 
 Hunt county one year, and that was a 
 memorable year, — memorable on account 
 of his own sickness and that of his family, 
 and also by reason of their limited means 
 and the privations which they endured. In 
 1 86 1, with the hope of bettering their finan- 
 cial condition, he came to Erath county. 
 Here he "squatted" on a tract of land, 
 built a cabin and located his family, and as 
 soon as the land was placed on the market 
 he purchased it. It is on this same place 
 that he yet resides. 
 
 After getting his family settled he en- 
 tered the state service on the frontier, and 
 in 1863 was transferred to the regular Con- 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 federate service along the Texas coast, 
 where he remained until the close of the 
 war. During this coast service, however, 
 he saw no actual fighting. On his re- 
 turn home after the surrender of Gen- 
 eral Lee, Mr. Beach found the Indians had 
 become so troublesome that measures had 
 to be taken to stop their raids and depreda- 
 tions. The Indians took advantage of the 
 moonlight nights for their raids, slipped up 
 on the scattered settlers and stole and drove 
 off their stock in great numbers, and when 
 pursued by the white men would turn and 
 fight, always trying to keep themselves be- 
 tween the settlers and the stock they were 
 stealing. Mr. Beach on many occasions 
 joined with the neighbors in pursuit after 
 thieving Indians. One time, a beautiful 
 moonlight night, the Indians came through 
 his neighborhood with a large herd of horses 
 they had stolen from the settlers. The lat- 
 ter, Mr. Beach included, made a running 
 fight and recovered one hundred and fifty 
 head of horses during the night and the ne.xt 
 day continued the pursuit and secured the 
 rest, recovering altogether over three hun- 
 dred head. This was only one of many 
 raids which finally resulted in putting 
 a stop to the stealing and driving the red 
 men from the country. In these Indian 
 raids Mr. Beach was often exposed to the 
 greatest danger, the bullets flying thick and 
 fast around him, but he fortunately escaped 
 without wounds. 
 
 As soon as possible after his settlement 
 here Mr. Beach began fencing and improv- 
 ing his land, and in 1871 bought it, the 
 tract comprising four hundred acres, two 
 hundred acres of which he afterward dis- 
 posed of. He now has this land all under 
 fence, has one hundred and twenty-five 
 acres in cultivation, and has made numer- 
 
 ous substantial and valuable improvements, 
 including a commodious and comfortable 
 residence. And besides this home place he 
 owns other lands, six hundred acres in all, 
 and in four different surveys. About a third 
 of this acreage is under cultivation, most of 
 it in the hands of renters. During his early 
 residence here Mr. Beach, like most of the 
 pioneers, gave considerable attention to the 
 stock business, but of later years has kept 
 only a limited amount of stock. He has 
 always made his own pork and lard and 
 home supplies such as the farm produces, 
 and his farming has been of a diversified 
 character. For about fifteen years he 
 owned and ran a threshing-machine. He 
 has witnessed the development of this part 
 of the country from its early settlement, 
 and has not only been an eye witness to the 
 transformation which has been wrought 
 here but also has done his part in bringing 
 about this change. 
 
 Mr. Beach was first married in Tennes- 
 see, in 1858, to Miss Martha J. Gilentine, 
 a daughter of Nicholas Gilentine, a Tennes- 
 see trader who left Tennessee in i860, came 
 to Texas and located in Erath county, 
 where he built a cabin for his family and 
 started a horse ranch. The year following 
 his settlement here he went out as captain 
 of a company to re-enforce the Texas ran- 
 gers. While in this service and in the bat- 
 tle of the Concho he and one of his sons 
 were killed. Another one of his sons was 
 badly wounded at the same time, but lived 
 seven or eight years afterward. That was 
 one of the most noted of all the Indian 
 fights of those days. The rest of Mr. Gil- 
 entine's family remained in this country 
 and settled down to farming. The widowed 
 mother died here in 1869. One son is now 
 a resident of Stephenville. By his first 
 
594 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 marriage Mr. Beach had four sons. His 
 wife, a consistent member of the Baptist 
 church and a most estimable woman, died 
 in 1 87 1. In 1S75 he married Miss Ellen 
 Wood, whose birth occurred in Cooke 
 county, this state, April 4, 1859. She is a 
 daughter of John D. Wood, honorable 
 mention of whom is made in the sketch of 
 C. C. Wood on another page of this vol- 
 ume. Mr. Beach and his present compan- 
 ion ha\e eight children, namely: Theo- 
 dore, Lulu, Lillie, Benjamin, Jessie, Can- 
 die, Ruby and Flossy, all at home. 
 
 Mr. Beach maintains a membership in 
 the Masonic order, and his political sup- 
 port has always been tendered the Demo- 
 cratic party. 
 
 5>^~X W. BROUGHTON, a leading and 
 I B successful farmer and fruit-grower 
 \ y of Comanche county, has been a 
 resident of Te.xas since 1848. He 
 was born in Monroe county, Alabama, 
 January 30, 1826, and is a son of Hon. 
 Edward T. Broughton, who was born in 
 South Carolina in 1805 and became a very 
 prominent citizen of Alabama. The grand- 
 father, Nathaniel Broughton, who was also 
 born in South Carolina, and his father was 
 one of the heroes who aided in the estab- 
 lishment of the American republic by his 
 faithful service in the war of the Revolu- 
 tion. The family is of English lineage. 
 The grandfather married a Miss Benbow 
 and removed to Alabama, where they spent 
 their remaining days. 
 
 The father of our subject was reared in 
 Alabama, acquired a good education in his 
 youth and afterward engaged in teaching 
 school for a time. • He was married Decem- 
 ber 18, 1823, to Mrs. Rachel Walker, widow 
 
 of Robert Walker, by whom she had one 
 son. Rev. J. O. Walker, a well known Bap- 
 tist minister and physician now deceased. 
 Her maiden name was Rachel Winburn, 
 and she was born in South Carolina, a 
 daughter of Dempsey and Priscilla (Owen) 
 Winburn, also natives of South Carolina. 
 Both are now deceased, the father having 
 passed away in Alabama, the mother while 
 residing in Texas. Mr. Broughton was a 
 man of sterling worth, and his capabilities and 
 many excellencies of character led to his se- 
 lection for public office. He was elected 
 sheriff of Monroe county, Alabama, and 
 for two terms served in the General Assem- 
 bly of that state with credit to himself, sat- 
 isfaction to his constituents and to the best 
 interests of the commonwealth. In 1842 
 he removed with his family to Arkansas and 
 fn 1848 came to Texas, making the journey 
 with horse, mule and ox teams, and camping 
 out along the road at night. After several 
 weeks of travel he reached Jasper county, 
 where he remained for a year, when, in 
 1849, he removed to Cherokee county. In 
 185 1 he went to Smith county, where he 
 was clerk of the county court. After the 
 war he took up his abode in Kaufman coun- 
 ty, and in 1875 came to Comanche county. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Broughton were the parents 
 of the following children: Dempsey W. , 
 who was an attorney, physician and Presby- 
 terian minister of the gospel, and died in 
 Dallas, Texas; Nathaniel W., of this re- 
 view; Sarah Priscilla; Rachel Elizabeth; 
 Ed Thomas, who was a captain and lieu- 
 tenant colonel in the civil war, after the war 
 a prominent lawyer and state senator from 
 Gra3'son county; Amanda; and Ann M. 
 The mother of this family died in Kaufman 
 county in 1869, and the father died at the 
 home of our subject, April 30, 1891, in the 
 
HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 595 
 
 eighty -seventh year of his age. He was a 
 man of broad general information, a public- 
 spirited citizen and a gentleman whose loy- 
 alty to his honest convictions was most 
 strongly marked. He was active in the 
 work of the Baptist church and served as 
 deacon in the congregation of which he was 
 a member. 
 
 Nathaniel W. Broughton, whose name 
 introduces the initial paragraph of this re- 
 view, was reared in Alabama until fifteen 
 years of age, when he accompanied his parents 
 to Arkansas and with them came to Texas in 
 1848. He is indebted to the public schools 
 of those states for his educational privileges. 
 During the civil war he entered Company 
 C, Seventh Texas Infantry, under Captain 
 E. T. Broughton, his brother, and partici- 
 pated in the battles of Port Hudson, Ray- 
 mond, where he was wounded, Chicka- 
 mauga, Missionary Ridge, afterward under 
 General Johnston in his retreat across north 
 Georgia, and later with General Hood's 
 forces in the battles around Atlanta and at 
 Franklin, Tennessee, where he was severely 
 wounded while on the enemy's breastworks. 
 His brigadier-general, Granbury, and divis- 
 ion commander, General Pat Cleburne, both 
 fell in this gallant charge. True and faith- 
 ful to the cause he espoused, Mr. Broughton 
 was a brave and devoted soldier, and his 
 war record is one of which he need never 
 feel ashamed. 
 
 After the war he spent one year in Smith 
 county, then went to Kaufman county, 
 whence he came to Comanche county in 
 1875, locating on his present farm. In con- 
 nection with his son John he owns three 
 hundred and twenty acres of rich land, of 
 which one hundred and forty acres are 
 highly cultivated. Their home is a sub- 
 stantial residence, their barns are commo- 
 
 dious and their orchard is one of the finest 
 in this section of the state, comprising four 
 acres, which has been planted to apples, 
 peaches, plums, grapes, prunes, apricots, 
 blackberries, currants and almonds. Mr. 
 Broughton was one of the pioneers in fruit 
 cultivation in this part of Texas and has 
 made it a profitable industry. 
 
 Mr. Broughton was married November 
 29, 1846, in Washita county, Arkansas, to 
 Flora Neal, a native of Chambers county, 
 Alabama, and a daughter of Joseph and 
 Esther (Craft) Neal, the father dying in 
 Alabama and the mother in Arkansas. 
 Seven children have been born of this union, 
 namely: Ed. T.,of Eastland county, Texas; 
 Joseph N., of De Leon; John, who is his 
 father's partner; Priscilla, wife of E. R. 
 Griffith, of Taylor county, Texas; Nathaniel 
 W., of Comanche county; David James; 
 Benjamin; and Mary and Dempsey, both 
 deceased. Of this family John was born in 
 Smith county, August 21, 1854, and in 
 1874 married Susie Lee, daughter of H. B. 
 and Mary A. (Windham) Lee. They have 
 two daughters, Flora M. and Mary S. 
 
 In his political adherency Mr. Broughton 
 is a Democrat and has voted with the party 
 since supporting Breckenridge; prior to that 
 time he affiliated with the Whig party. He 
 has served as justice of the peace, but has 
 never been an office-seeker. Himself, wife 
 and five children are members of the Bap- 
 tist church and he belongs to the Masonic 
 fraternity. 
 
 EP. BIFFLE. — Comanche has many 
 well-to-do and successful farmers, 
 who have accumulated what they 
 have of this world's goods through 
 individual effort. Among this class the 
 
596 
 
 HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 name of the subject of this notice is entitled 
 to a place. His desirable farm joins the 
 corporation limits of De Leon, where he is 
 industriously enj^aged in the prosecution of 
 his noble calling, and is meeting with far 
 more than ordinary success. 
 
 Mr. Biffle was born in Wayne county, 
 Tennessee, February 19, 1835, upon a farm 
 where he was reared, and was educated in 
 the district schools of the neighborhood. 
 His parents were Valentine and Margaret 
 (Payton) Biffle, the former a native of Ten- 
 nessee and the latter of Kentucky. They 
 were married in the former state, and to 
 them were born ten children. William, the 
 oldest, became a prominent and wealthy 
 planter, owning a large number of slaves, 
 but was a Union man, and on the breaking 
 out of the civil war moved north and freed 
 all his slaves. On the close of that struggle 
 he returned to his Tennessee home and died 
 there. Maria is the widow of T. T. Chris- 
 tian, who was a captain in the Confederate 
 army. Mary wedded John Nichols, a mer- 
 chant of Tennessee. Catherine married R. 
 A. Nichols, also a merchant. Susan is the 
 wife of Samuel Cressno. Johnson died 
 leaving a number of children, three of his 
 sons being Methodist ministers. Wilson 
 resides in Missouri. Nathan is a Methodist 
 minister of Jack county, Texas. Ursula 
 first wedded William Wilson, and after his 
 death James Stockard; she also is now de- 
 ceased. Margaret died at the age of sixteen 
 years. Henderson P., of this review, is 
 next in order of birth. John came to Texas 
 in 1865, and was assassinated in Titus 
 county. The entire family held their re- 
 ligious membership in the Methodist church, 
 in which the father was a most active worker 
 and served as class-leader for many years. 
 He was a prominent slave-owner, and was 
 
 well and favorably known throughout the 
 community where he made his home. His 
 death occurred in 1855. 
 
 Jacob Biffle, the paternal grandfather of 
 our subject, was born in Germany, and after 
 his emigration to the New World aided the 
 colonies in their struggle for independence. 
 Later he became one of the pioneer settlers of 
 Maury county, Tennessee, but previous to 
 that time lived upon rented land in South 
 Carolina. He became a wealthy farmer 
 and large slave-owner of Maury county, and 
 one of the leading members of the Methodist 
 church. He passed away in Tennessee, in 
 1847. In his family were eight children, 
 namely: Valentine, John, Elizabeth, Millie, 
 Ivatie, William, Jacob and one that died in 
 infancy. 
 
 On attaining his majority, Henderson P. 
 Biffle went to Missouri, locating first in 
 Newton county, but later removed to Mc- 
 Donald county, where he was married and 
 began his domestic life upon a farm which 
 he owned there. In 1866 he became a 
 resident of Kimball, Bosque county, Texas, 
 where he rented land for three years and 
 then purchased a tract of wild land, which 
 he continued to improve and cultivate until 
 1875, when he sold out and came to Co- 
 manche county. Here he bought one hun- 
 dred and sixty acres of timber land, which 
 has all been fenced, and now one hundred 
 and ten acres are under cultivation and 
 yield a ready return for the care and labor 
 expended upon them. All of the buildings 
 and improvements are such as can be found 
 upon the model farms of the state. 
 
 In 1862 Mr. Biffle enlisted in the Sixth 
 Missouri Cavalry, under General Joe Shelby 
 and in the regiment commanded by Colonel 
 Coffee, and took part in many hotly con- 
 tested engagements. At the battle of 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 59? 
 
 Prairie Grove, Arkansas, he was captured 
 witli many others and taken to Springfield, 
 Missouri, where after a short time he was 
 paroled but was never exchanged. When the 
 war was over he resumed farming and came 
 to Texas, as before stated. Mr. Biffle led 
 to the marriage altar Miss Mary Brewer, a 
 lady of a most excellent family, who was 
 born in Tennessee, September 12, 1841, 
 and is the daughter of George and Eliza 
 (Sims) Brewer, also natives of Tennessee, 
 where their deaths occurred when Mrs. 
 Biffle was very small. She was reared by 
 her grandparents, George and Martha 
 Brewer, who took her to Arkansas. They 
 were members of the Cumberland Presby- 
 terian church. 
 
 To our subject and his wife were born 
 ten children: John W., a farmer of Baylor 
 county, Texas; Mary, wife of Wilson Allen, 
 a Methodist minister of the same county; 
 William, an agriculturist of Comanche 
 county; Emily, wife of H. Huffman, a black- 
 smith, of De Leon; George I., who obtained 
 a good common-school education through 
 his own perseverance, and is now engaged 
 in school-teaching and the work of the 
 Methodist ministry; Charles, a farmer; 
 Frances and Marvin, both at home; and 
 Elizabeth and Margaret Lee, who are still 
 attending school. 
 
 For three or four generations the Biffle 
 family have been prominently identified 
 with the Methodist Episcopal church, south, 
 and our subject devotedly adheres to that 
 faith. He has for many years served as 
 steward of the church, and has also been 
 class-leader and trustee of the church prop- 
 erty. Mr. and Mrs. Biffle can look with 
 pride upon their interesting family of chil- 
 dren, who have closely followed in their 
 footsteps and are all faithful members of the 
 
 same denomination. Politically, our sub- 
 ject affiliates with the Democratic party, 
 but has never taken any active part in po- 
 litical affairs. 
 
 ^ i* DOSS MILLER is numbered among 
 ^ the most prominent and successful 
 /• 1 farmers of Comanche county. He is 
 a representative of the progressive 
 spirit of the age which has given to America 
 pre-eminence along many lines and which 
 has produced in Texas the rapid develop- 
 ment that within the last few decades has 
 placed it on a par with the states along the 
 Atlantic coast whose settlement antedates it 
 many years. He has justly earned the 
 proud American title a self-made man and 
 has achieved marked success as the result 
 of enterprise, business ability and capable 
 management. 
 
 The American branch of the Miller fam- 
 ily is of Scotch-Irish descent, the first emi- 
 gration to this country being about 1700, 
 landing at Hartford, Connecticut. They 
 were William and Oliver Miller, from North 
 Ireland. A son of the former, also named 
 William, was born at Hanover, Pennsylva- 
 nia, and about 1760 was married to Sarah 
 Cooper, of that state, but a native of Eng- 
 land. This couple moved to North Caro- 
 lina, settling near the narrows of the Yad- 
 kin river, and during life they had nine chil- 
 dren, — Israel, Jacob, John, William, Isaac, 
 Sarah, Oliver, Nancy and Phebe. Israel 
 married Mary Henderson, of Georgia; Jacob 
 married Miss Shaw, of Long Cane, Abbe- 
 ville, South Carolina; John was united in 
 marriage to Nancy Henson, of the old 
 North state; William married Hannah 
 Walker, of Greenville, South Carolina; Isaac 
 I married Miss McFee, of middle Tennessee; 
 
598 
 
 HIS TOR r OP TEXAS. 
 
 Sarah was married to Mr. Croffour, of North 
 Carohna; Oliver was married to Philip Ward, 
 of North Carolina; Nancy to John Ferguson, 
 of Abbeville, North Carolina; and Phebe 
 was never married. 
 
 Edmund Miller and his brother Tillman, 
 sons of Israel and Mary lu-c Henderson, 
 married t,he twin sisters, Louisa and Luna 
 Fowler. Edmund made his home near 
 Greenville, South Carolina, and had six chil- 
 dren, as follows: Israel, who married Nancy 
 Hudson; Archie Lee, who married Nancy J. 
 Smith; Mary Ann, who married W. S. 
 Smith; Louise C, who became the wife of 
 John Abb. Smith; Edmon B., who married 
 Lou C. Gregg; and \V. S., who took for his 
 wife Kesiah B. Walker. Edmund Miller 
 was a leading planter and extensive slave 
 owner and became very wealthy. In poli- 
 tics he was a Democrat and was a promi- 
 nent member of the Baptist church. His 
 death occurred in South Carolina at the age 
 of ninety-seven. 
 
 Archie Lee Miller was born and reared 
 in South Carolina and was a leading farmer 
 of that state. In 1S57 he removed to De 
 Soto county, Mississippi, where he died 
 January 24, 1 870. For many years he 
 served as justice of the peace, discharging 
 his duties with the utmost fidelity. He was 
 a peace-loving man and always counseled ar- 
 bitration rather than litigation. His polit- 
 ical support was given the Democracy, and 
 he had the high regard of all. His church 
 relationship was with the Baptist denomina- 
 tion. His wife was a daughter of John D. 
 Smith, an extensive planter of South Caro- 
 lina, who married a daughter of Colonel 
 Bockman, of Revolutionary war fame. Mrs. 
 Miller, also a consistent Baptist, died in 
 September, 1883. She was the mother of 
 nine children: Roland, who died at the age 
 
 of thirteen; J. Doss; Louisa, wife of S. J. 
 Casselbury; E. B., a Baptist minister of 
 Arkadelphia, Arkansas; Gerald, who mar- 
 ried H. Brown, of Memphis, Tennessee; 
 A. L., a railroad man of Walnut Springs, 
 Texas; Emma F., wife of T. Harper, of 
 Mississippi; Jeff D., a soldier in the United 
 States army at Sackett's Harbor, N. Y. ; 
 S. A., wife of M. Humphreys, of Missis- 
 sippi; and Thomas W., who died at the age 
 of nine years. 
 
 J. Doss Miller was born in South Caro- 
 lina, September 27, 1848, and was reared 
 on his father's farm and attended school but 
 very little. When he had arrived at man's 
 estate he was married, June 7, 1870, and 
 then started out in life for himself. He 
 owned a farm in Mississippi, which he oper- 
 ated until he came to Texas in the fall of 
 1885. Purchasing two hundred and fifteen 
 acres of wild land in Comanche county, he 
 has since been numbered among its promi- 
 nent agriculturists and to-day is the owner 
 of more than six hundred acres, of which 
 over three hundred acres are under a high 
 state of cultivation. He erected a commo- 
 dious frame residence, substantial outbuild- 
 ings and placed the entire farm under fence. 
 It is one of the best improved ranches in 
 the county. He is raising Holstein and 
 other good grades of cattle and is extensive- 
 ly engaged in raising hogs, while the sale of 
 his pork and lard is a material source of in- 
 come. Fruit-raising claims his attention, 
 and he has a fine young orchard containing 
 many different varieties of fruits. He has 
 exhibited at fairs the finest pears ever raised 
 in Texas, also has most excellent varieties 
 of grapes, peaches, plums and berries. Mr. 
 Miller is a man of broad capabilities and 
 has not limited his efforts to one line of un- 
 dertaking, but has also engaged in the real- 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 599 
 
 estate and loan business, his investments 
 having brought him a handsome return. He 
 is sagacious and far-sighted, strictly honor- 
 able in all his dealings, and his success 
 demonstrates what can be accomplished 
 through determined effort. 
 
 Mr. Miller married Miss Bettie Rv Whit- 
 ley, an intelligent and estimable lady, 
 daughter of Deveraugh Whitley, a promi- 
 nent planter of Mississippi. She died in 
 that state, August 12, 1875, a consistent 
 member of the Baptist church, and many 
 friends mourned her loss. She left two 
 children: Nora, wife of J. W. Chambers, a 
 farmer; and Carroll C. , who married Mrs. 
 Nora Wilson and is also an agriculturist. On 
 the isth of February, 1876, Mr. Miller was 
 again married, his second union being with 
 Miss Bosilla Norris, a daughter of J. H. 
 Norris, a planter of North Carolina, who 
 also was a member of the Baptist church. 
 Two children were born of this union, but 
 one died in childhood. The other, John 
 C, is upon the home farm. The mother of 
 these children died September 13, 1878. 
 She, too, was a faithful member of the 
 Baptist church. On the 13th of February, 
 1879, Mr. Miller wedded Miss Everett Stew- 
 art, a daughter of J. N. B. and Sarah E. 
 (Matthews) Stewart, both natives of Ten- 
 nessee. Her father was first a planter of 
 Tennessee and later of Mississippi, where 
 he is still living, at the ripe old age of sev- 
 enty-si.x years. He is an ardent Democrat, 
 but has never been an office-seeker. Her 
 maternal grandfather, Isaac Matthews, was 
 a prominent and wealthy farmer of Tennes- 
 see, where his death occurred. Five chil- 
 dren grace the last marriage of our subject, 
 namely: Donnie, Iva, Dawson, Sallie J. and 
 Oran. 
 
 Mr. Miller is above the average size, is 
 
 pleasant and agreeable in manner, a good 
 conversationalist, enterprising and progres- 
 sive, and fully alive to the inter^ts of the 
 Lone Star state. Both he and his estima- 
 ble wife are sincere and earnest Christians, 
 faithful members of the Missionary Baptist 
 church, while politically he affiliates with 
 the Democratic party. 
 
 >Y*OSEPH B. SMITH, a resident of Vic- 
 ■ tor, Texas, and a leading and intlu- 
 «1 ential agriculturist of Erath county, 
 is eminently worthy of representation 
 in this volume, and the work might well be 
 considered incomplete were there a failure 
 to direct specific attention to his life and its 
 accomplishment. Having for many years 
 been identified with the development and 
 progress of this section of the state, he is 
 numbered among its honored pioneers and 
 important factors in the material welfare of 
 the community. 
 
 A native of Macon county. North Caro- 
 lina, Mr. Smith was born September 19, 
 1839, a son of Saul and Talitha (Dobson) 
 Smith, both natives of North Carolina, 
 where their marriage was celebrated. The 
 grandfather, Samuel Smith, was also born 
 in the same state. Although too young for 
 service in the war of the Revolution, he was 
 near a number of the battle-fields and heard 
 the booming of the cannon as the armies 
 met in deadly conflict. He was a farmer by 
 occupation, and in his later life he came with 
 one of his sons to Texas, living in Rusk 
 county until his death, which occurred at 
 the advanced age of ninety-three years. 
 
 Saul Smith, the father of our subject, 
 came to the Lone Star state in 185 1, taking 
 up his residence in Smith county, where he 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 purchased wild land and made a farm. Four 
 years later he sold his property, and in 1855 
 became a resident of Parker county. Sub- 
 sequently he lived in different parts of the 
 state, his death occurring at Mineral Wells, 
 in Palo Pinto county, May 16, 1884. While 
 a resident of Menard county he was engaged 
 in merchandising, and at various times in 
 his life he followed farming and the ma- 
 chinist's trade. He was a Democrat in 
 politics, and took a prominently active part 
 in public affairs, serving for many years as 
 county clerk in North Carolina and as jus- 
 tice of the peace in this state. He was a 
 well-read man, who kept informed on all 
 the questions of the day, and was a valued 
 citizen of any community in which he made 
 his home. Of the Methodist church he was 
 an active and consistent member, and few 
 men have a more familiar knowledge of the 
 Bible than did he. He married Miss Dob- 
 son, daughter of John Dobson, of North 
 Carolina, who was also a leading member 
 of the Methodist church and an exhorter. 
 His occupation was that of farming. His 
 death occurred in Alabama, at the age of 
 eighty-five. Mr. Smith, father of our sub- 
 ject, also died at the age of eighty-five, and 
 his wife died in Smith county in 1853. 
 They had thirteen children, namely: Eliza, 
 who was four times married, her husbands 
 being in the following order: C. Thomas, 
 R. S. Patton, John R. Witt and F. N. 
 Roach; Lucian D., of Hood county; John 
 and Samuel, both deceased; Tullius B. , who 
 was killed by the Indians in Menard county, 
 Texas; Catherine, wife of N. R. Wilson; 
 Sarah, wife of Dr. G. P. Barber; Joseph 
 B. ; Raleigh, of California; Brookline, de- 
 ceased; Louisiana, wife of N. R. Wilson; 
 Charles, who died in childiiood; and one 
 who died in infancy. 
 
 Joseph B. Smith spent the first twelve 
 years of his life in the state of his nativity, 
 and then came with his parents to Texas. 
 He acquired a good practical education at 
 home, being thus fitted for the responsible 
 duties of life, and at the age of sixteen be- 
 came identified with the stock business, 
 which he has since followed. In i860 he 
 brought his stock to Erath county and has 
 gone from place to place in order to provide 
 excellent grazing for them. In i860, while 
 he was in Eastland county with his cattle, 
 a band of Indians in ambush shot him in the 
 knee with an arrow and the spike remained 
 in his leg for twenty-five years. It was 
 then removed and is now in his possession. 
 His companion at the time, Goldston Flan- 
 agan, was killed and scalped, but with the 
 arrow in his leg Mr. Smith started to run and 
 soon distanced his pursuers, fifteen in num- 
 ber. This accident, however, left him 
 lame and made an additional difficulty in 
 his path to success, but with a resolute 
 purpose he has continued his labors until he 
 is now the possessor of a handsome com- 
 petence. 
 
 When Mr. Smith first came to the county 
 there was no land on sale, the government 
 survey's not having been made at the time. 
 In 1870 he pre-empted the land where he 
 now lives, securing one hundred and sixty 
 acres, to which he has added until he now has 
 four hundred acres. Few of the settlers were 
 then engaged in farming, the greater number 
 being engaged in stock-raising. Mr. Smith 
 erected a house and soon began the develop- 
 ment of a farm. His home is a commodious 
 and substantial residence, in the rear of 
 which are good outbuildings for the care of 
 grain and stock. These in turn stand in the 
 midst of well-tilled fields, he having one 
 hundred and forty acres under a high state 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 601 
 
 of cultivation. There is also an excellent 
 orchard, which was planted by him. He is 
 one of the extensive stock-raisers of the 
 county, and raises a greater number of hogs 
 than any other man in this section of the 
 state, he making a specialty of the Berkshire 
 breed; and in addition he is also raising 
 Jersey cattle, and has a jack. During the 
 period of the civil war he frequently had to 
 join his neighbors in raids against the In- 
 dians. 
 
 Mr. Smith married Melzorie Blair, a 
 lady of intelligence and good family. She 
 was born in Alabama, a daughter of Charles 
 Blair, of Georgia, who removed to Collin 
 county, Texas, in 1854, but after raising one 
 crop there went to Parker county, where he 
 aided in the establishment of Blaur's Fort. 
 He lived in Eastland county for many years 
 and also has been a resident of other locali- 
 ties. For some time he was engaged in 
 sheep-raising in Kimball county and is now 
 making his home with a son in Erath 
 county. His children are: Sarah J., Nancy, 
 Melzora, Delphia, Charley, Owen, Adeline, 
 Mack and Floyd. The parents were mem- 
 bers of the Baptist church. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Smith had an interesting 
 family of seven children, but the eldest, Lou, 
 is now deceased. She married J. S. Bailey, 
 and died January 20, 1894, leaving four 
 children, who find a good home with our 
 subject. Texas is the second of the family; 
 Nevada is the wife of R. Clifton; and Lola, 
 Frank, Raleigh and Jerome are yet at home. 
 There were also two children that died in 
 infancy. Mr. Smith was formerly a Demo- 
 crat, but for eight years has supported the 
 Populist movement. Socially he is con- 
 nected with the Masonic fraternity, and 
 religiously his wife is associated with the 
 Baptist church. 
 
 ,V^ENJAMIN HARVEY FLINN is a 
 B/"^! representative of one of the hon- 
 J^^J ored pioneer families of Erath 
 county and has made his home in 
 central Texas during the greater part of the 
 time since his early childhood days. He 
 was born in Gilmer county, Georgia, Janu- 
 ary 9, 1856, a son of Enoch and Nancy 
 (Searcy) Flinn. His father was born in 
 Spartanburg, South Carolina, January 6, 
 1822, and is a son of Paul Flinn, who was 
 probably a native of South Carolina. The 
 great-grandfather of our subject was a 
 native of Scotland and on emigrating to 
 America took up his residence in South 
 Carolina. Mrs. Flinn, the mother of our 
 subject, was a native of North Carolina and 
 a daughter of John Searcy, who was born in 
 the same state. Her grandmother was of 
 Holland descent. 
 
 Enoch Flinn accompanied his father on 
 his removal to Rutherford county. North 
 Carolina, where the latter spent his last 
 days. Enoch afterward went to Georgia, 
 where in 1853 he married Miss Searcy and 
 then followed farming and carpentering in 
 that state until 1859, when he emigrated to 
 Texas, locating in Weatherford, Parker 
 county. The following year he came to 
 Erath county, settling on Berry's creek, a 
 mile and a half from where Bluff Dale now 
 stands. He embarked in stock-dealing, but 
 the Indians were so troublesome that many 
 of the stockmen were forced to leave their 
 homes and defend themselves and their cat- 
 tle from the savages. For four years Mr. 
 Flinn was with the frontier scouts, and in 
 the summer of 1867 he sold his stock, re- 
 moving to Carrollton, Arkansas, where he 
 conducted a hotel and also engaged in busi- 
 ness as a contractor. After a time he left 
 his family and went to California, where he 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 remained for a year and a half. He then 
 returned to Texas, where he was joined by 
 his wife and children. Purchasing an im- 
 proved farm on Richardson creek, he has 
 since carried on agricultural pursuits, and is 
 recognized as one of the leading farmers of 
 the community. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Flinn were the parents of 
 eight children, of whom Benjamin is the 
 eldest. The others are Sarah Elizabeth, 
 wife of J. L. Armstrong, of Hood county; 
 John P., of BlufT Dale; Alice, who died at 
 the age of three years; Emma, who married 
 George L. Gullage and is now deceased, as 
 is her husband; Nettie Ellen, wife of James 
 Choate; Frank P. and Lillie. The mother 
 was a member of the Christian church and 
 in that faith died June 8, 1881, at the age 
 of forty-seven years. Mr. Flinn belongs to 
 the Missionary Baptist church and to the 
 Masonic lodge of Bluff Dale. While in Ar- 
 kansas he served as magistrate for four years 
 and in Hood county held the same office for 
 six years, discharging his duties with 
 promptness and fidelity. 
 
 Benjamin Flinn was reared in Texas and 
 Arkansas and in the common schools ac- 
 quired a good practical education. After 
 attaining his majority he engaged in clerk- 
 ing and bookkeeping, and after coming to 
 Texas followed farming and school-teaching, 
 continuing in the latter profession until 1890, 
 when he came to Bluff Dale. Here he has 
 followed various pursuits and is now most 
 acceptably filling the office of magistrate, to 
 which position he was elected in 1888. He 
 is impartial in his office and his career is 
 alike creditable to himself and those who 
 chose him for office. His political support 
 is given the men and measures of the De- 
 mocracy. 
 
 Mr. Flinn was married February 3, 1886, 
 
 to Miss Belzora E. Keahey, a native of 
 Erath county and a daughter of E. J. and 
 M. O. (Hamilton) Keahey. They have 
 three children, but Byron Herbert died at 
 the age of eighteen months. The others 
 are Mabel O. and Ethel E. Mrs. Flinn is a 
 member of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
 Mr. Flinn is a valued and honored member 
 of Bluff Dale Lodge, No. 724, F. & A. M., 
 which he joined on its organization, and 
 since that time he has held the office of sec- 
 retary. 
 
 K^^ EV. HENRY JEFFERSON BUL- 
 I /^T MAN, a retired Baptist minister 
 M . F and one of the prominent farmers 
 of Hamilton county, Texas, was 
 born on the 2d of March, 1828, in Upton 
 county, Georgia, but when an infant was 
 taken by his parents, George Franklin and 
 Lucinda (Grubbs) Bulman, to Madison 
 county, Alabama. Thomas Bulman, his 
 grandfather, with a brother, came to the 
 United States from England before the 
 Revolutionary war, in which he participated. 
 He located in Virginia, where he was first 
 married and by that union had two children, 
 — Elizabeth and George Franklin. For 
 his second wife he wedded Mary Grubbs, 
 and to them were born seven children, 
 namely: Jane, Martha, Matilda, Susan, 
 Harriet. Sarah Ann and Benjamin Heze- 
 kiah. The grandfather, who was a mem- 
 ber of the Primitive Baptist church, died in 
 Alabama, in 1856, on his seventy-seventh 
 birthday. 
 
 In Madison county, Alabama, our sub- 
 ject spent the days of his boyhood and 
 youth, remaining under the parental roof 
 until he had attained his majority, when he 
 left home and operated rented land for one 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 year, but since that time has always owned 
 a farm. In July, 1861, he enlisted in Com- 
 pany E, Thirty-seventh Tennessee Infantry, 
 which company was formed of men from 
 Alabama. In the latter part of 1863 our 
 subject was captured and held a prisoner 
 for four months. For a time he was kept 
 at Stephenville, Tennessee, then at Nash- 
 ville, and later at Louisville, where he suc- 
 ceeded in making his escape. He then 
 joined General Meade's command, with 
 whom he served during the remainder of the 
 war. He saw much hard service, partici- 
 pating in the battles of Fishing creek, Shi- 
 loh and Murfreesboro. 
 
 After hostilities had ceased he made his 
 home in Alabama until February, 1867, 
 when he removed to Kaufman county, 
 Texas, where he made his home for one 
 year. After a year then passed in Hill 
 county, Mr. Bulman went to Bosque coun- 
 ty, where he purchased two hundred acres 
 of land. On selling out he came to his 
 present place, in the spring of 1871, pur- 
 chasing six hundred and forty acres on the 
 Leon river, twelve miles from Hamilton, 
 and there lived in a tent for a time, but 
 during the same year erected his present 
 residence. He now owns three hundred 
 acres, of which one hundred and twenty-five 
 are under a high state of cultivation. 
 
 Mr. Bulman was married November 16, 
 1848, to Emily Honey, daughter of William 
 and Rhoda (Martin) Honey. In 1884 she 
 was called to her final rest, at the age of 
 fifty-four years. They became the parents 
 of five children — George William, Rachel 
 Elizabeth, Mary Jane, Thomas Jefferson 
 and James Lafayette, all of whom are now 
 deceased with the exception of the eldest. 
 
 On the 26th of April, 1885, Mr. Bulman 
 was again married, his second union being 
 
 with Mrs. Martha Ann Franklin, widow of 
 Charles Franklin, by whom she had two 
 children — James William and Ada Jane. 
 She is the daughter of James and Elizabeth 
 Wann. Four children blessed this second 
 union, — Permelia Ann, Henry Jefferson, 
 John Huff and Lucinda. 
 
 Mr. Bulman has one of the finest farm- 
 ing tracts on the bottoms of the Leon river, 
 located near the Bulman bridge, which was 
 named in his honor, and the place is well 
 improved with excellent buildings and a 
 good system of water-works. Although 
 nearly threescore years and ten, our subject 
 is still in a good state of health, owing 
 largely to his temperate habits through life, 
 although he experienced all the hardships 
 and trials incident to the pioneer. In poli- 
 tics he is a Democrat, and served as county 
 commissioner and justice of the peace from 
 1874 until 1880. From early childhood he 
 has been a devoted member of the Mission- 
 ary Baptist church, and during his long 
 residence in Hamilton county has been act- 
 ively identified with it in a ministerial capac- 
 ity, filling appointments in that and Coryell 
 counties until 1892, since which time he 
 has lived retired. He may well be termed 
 a pioneer minister of that church in this 
 section of the state, and has ever been a 
 faithful worker in the Master's vineyard. 
 
 eDWARD AINS WORTH. — From 
 the earliest period of American 
 history one of the strongest and 
 most valued elements in the Amer- 
 ican nationality is that furnished by the 
 mother country, — England. The " merrie 
 isle" furnished to the United States the set- 
 tlers who founded New England and were 
 the chief promoters of civilization in the 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 New World. From that tune the represent- 
 atives of Great Britain have been import- 
 ant factors in the progress of this country, 
 and in our subject we have a representative 
 of that land who has come to the new world 
 and identifying himself with its interests is 
 now numbered among the valued citizens of 
 the Lone Star state. 
 
 Mr. Ainsworth, of Comanche county, 
 was born in Yorkshire, England, August 17, 
 1840. Thinking that he might better his 
 condition on this side of the Atlantic he 
 crossed the water in 1864 and from New 
 York, where he landed, made his way to 
 Will county, Illinois, where he enlisted in 
 the Union army and became a teamster. 
 He was attached to the army of the Cum- 
 berland until the close of the war, after 
 which he returned to the city of New York, 
 spending two years there. He then em- 
 barked for his native land, where he ar- 
 rived in due course of time, and soon after 
 he was united in marriage with Miss Eliza- 
 beth S. Tidwell, a lady of culture and re- 
 finement. 
 
 In 1870 he sailed with his bride for this 
 country and during a short period made his 
 home in New Jersey. In 1874 he removed 
 to Texas and is now residing some twelve 
 miles northwest of Comanche, where he 
 has carried on agricultural pursuits. He is 
 one of the extensive landowners of this 
 locality, his possessions aggregating one 
 thousand acres of choice land. He has 
 placed forty acres under cultivation and the 
 well tilled tract yields him good harvests, 
 supplying the needed grain for his own use 
 and for the stock. The remainder of his 
 farm is being used as pasture land for his 
 mules, which he is breeding in large num- 
 bers. His entire tract is under fence and 
 is well supplied with water, there being 
 
 numerous tanks situated at various points 
 on the farm. The home is a cosy, pleasant 
 cottage, surrounded by a beautiful lawn, 
 dotted here and there with fruit and orna- 
 mental trees. The barns and outbuildings 
 are substantial and commodious, furnishing 
 shelter for a large number of stock. There 
 are good granaries, the latest improved ma- 
 chinery and all the accessories and conven- 
 iences found upon a model farm, and the 
 Ainsworth home is one of the most desira- 
 ble in the county. He has a herd of some 
 forty Cashmere goats in addition to his other 
 stock. 
 
 Mr. Ainsworth takes little interest in 
 political affairs, preferring to give his atten- 
 tion to other matters. He is, however, a 
 deep thinker, a man of scholarly tastes and 
 keeps well informed on matters of general 
 interest. His career is that of a self-made 
 man. He came to this country without 
 capital and depending entirely upon his 
 own exertions has steadily and persistently 
 worked his way upward, overcoming the 
 obstacles in his path by determined effort, 
 and by good management and resolute pur- 
 pose acquiring the success which he so 
 justly deserved. 
 
 at 
 
 H. Mcculloch.— The sub- 
 ject of this biographical sketch is 
 a veteran of the civil war, has 
 long been a resident of Texas, 
 and for twenty years has maintained his 
 home at his present location in Erath county, 
 where he is ranked as a prominent and en- 
 terprising farmer. 
 
 Mr. McCulloch claims Mississippi as the 
 state of his nativity, his birth having oc- 
 curred there April 15, 1840; but he was 
 reared in Alabama and Arkansas, his par- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 605 
 
 ents removing to the former state when he 
 was two years old, and later to Arkansas. 
 He is a son of James and Mary (Blakely) 
 McCulIoch, the father a native of North 
 Carolina and the mother of Tennessee. 
 James McCulloch was a son of Isaac Mc- 
 CulIoch, a Revolutionary soldier, who at 
 the close of the war of independence settled 
 in North Carolina and subsequently took up 
 his abode in Alabama, where he died. The 
 McCullochs, as the name suggests, are of 
 Irish descent. James McCulloch was four- 
 teen years old at the time the family re- 
 moved to Alabama, which was then a fron- 
 tier state, where he grew up on a farm amid 
 rude surroundings, remote from schools and 
 with few advantages, and there he spent 
 eighteen years of his life. In 1839 he went 
 to Mississippi, in 1841 returned to Ala- 
 bama, in 1843 to Arkansas. In the latter 
 state he lost his wife, and in 1859 he came 
 to Texas, locating in Red River county, 
 where he passed the remainder of his life. 
 In 1 860 he married for his second wife Mrs. 
 Mary Wilkins, who survives him and is still 
 a resident of Red River county. He passed 
 all his life on a farm and brought up his chil- 
 dren to farming pursuits, and at the same 
 time was interested in a higher and better 
 work, — planting seeds in other fields and 
 preparing for other harvests. Mr. McCul- 
 loch was converted and joined the Baptist 
 church in 1848. The ne.xt year he began 
 to preach and from that time until his 
 death he was in the active work of the min- 
 istry, having under his charge at the same 
 time from two to four churches. Scores 
 were brought into the church through his 
 ministry. His children are all church mem- 
 bers and occupying honorable and useful 
 positions in life, and there is not a blot on 
 the character of any of them. At the close 
 
 of his busy, useful life, still eager to labor 
 on in the service of his Master, he was sub- 
 missive and his last words were, "If it is 
 the Lord's will that I shall die, I am 
 willing. " 
 
 The subject of our sketch came with his 
 father to Texas in 1859 and remained a 
 member of the home circle until 1872, the 
 time of his marriage. \\' hen the war be- 
 tween the north and south was inaugurated 
 he was not slow to show his colors and 
 prove his loyalty to the cause he believed to 
 be right and just. We find him in 1861 
 enlisting as a member of Forrest's battalion. 
 He was mustered in at Memphis, Tennes- 
 see, went from there to Hopkinsville, Ken- 
 tucky, for winter quarters, and continued in 
 that command until after the battle of Fort 
 Donelson, where no less than one half of 
 his regiment was captured. He was among 
 those who escaped and went to Huntsville, 
 Alabama. The captain of his company re- 
 turned to Texas and raised a regiment, was 
 joined by those who were left of Forrest's 
 battalion, young McCulloch included, and 
 thus was formed the Twenty-third Texas 
 Cavalry. This command was on duty in 
 Louisiana and Texas, aided in driving Banks 
 down Red river and in that hotly con- 
 tested fight at Yellow Bayou. At the close 
 of the war Mr. McCulloch was at Richmond, 
 Texas, where he received an honorable dis- 
 charge, and from there he returned to his 
 home in Red River county. In all his ser- 
 vice, arduous and dangerous as it was, he 
 was neither wounded nor captured. 
 
 Mr. McCulloch's return home from Rich- 
 mond, a distance of three hundred miles, 
 was made on foot. He resumed work on 
 the farm and also did odd jobs elsewhere, 
 cutting wood along Red river and working 
 some at the carpenter trade. A few years 
 
600 
 
 HIS TORT or TEXAS. 
 
 he was engflged in the grocery business. 
 Next he farmed, served as deputy sheriff and 
 tax collector, and again resumed farming. 
 In 1876 he disposed of his possessions in 
 Red River county and came to Erath coun- 
 ty. Here he bought a tract of wild land, 
 opened it up, and after a few years traded 
 it for the farm he has since owned and oc- 
 cupied, — one hundred and ten acres. Later 
 he purchased an adjoining seventy acres of 
 improved land, thus increasing his holdings 
 to one hundred and eighty acres, of which 
 one hundred and fifteen acres are under 
 cultivation. He raises the usual crops 
 raised here, and his farming and stock-rais- 
 ing are carried on not unlike that of his 
 prosperous neighbors. 
 
 In 1872 was consummated Mr. McCul- 
 loch's marriage to Miss Kate Benson, who 
 was born and reared in Mississippi, daugh- 
 ter of George R. Benson and niece of 
 Stephen H. Darden, the latter at one time 
 comptroller of Texas. Her father was a 
 prominent planter in Mississippi. On com- 
 ing to Texas he settled first in Red River 
 county and later removed to Fannin county, 
 where he died in October, 1892. He reared 
 a family of three children: Theodore, a 
 farmer of Erath county; Eugene, a farmer 
 in the Indian Nation; and Mrs. McCuIloch. 
 Mr. and Mrs. McCulloch have twelve chil- 
 dren, besides two that died in infancy. 
 Those living are James, Betty, Mary, Mag- 
 gie, Georgia, Willie, John, Annie, Shelby, 
 Edgar, Ray and Wea, — all of whom are at 
 home except two, — James, who is engaged 
 in farming in Coryell county, Texas; and 
 Maggie, wife of Ed. Flanagan, a farmer. 
 
 Mr. McCulloch has never wavered in his 
 support of the Democratic party. He has 
 always taken a laudable interest in public 
 afifairs, has served on juries since coming 
 
 here, — petit and grand juries, — and in all 
 the relations of life, both public and private, 
 has shown himself to be a man of the strict- 
 est integrity and one worthy of the high es- 
 teem in which he is held by his fellows. 
 Both he and his wife arc identified with the 
 Missionary Baptist church. 
 
 ^"^NOCH NEHEMIAH PRICE, one 
 B I of the leading and representative 
 ^^^ agriculturists of Hamilton county, 
 first opened his eyes to the light in 
 Rapides county, Louisiana, February 29, 
 1848, and is the son of William Washington 
 and Lounzie (Parish) Price, both natives of 
 Louisiana. The father spent his entire life 
 engaged in carpentering and died of yellow 
 fever in October, 1854, at the age of thirty- 
 eight years. The mother, who long survived 
 him, passed away at the home of our subject, 
 March 12, 1893. She was born in 1818, 
 and was the daughter of Enoch Nehemiah 
 Parish, for whom our subject was named. 
 He was a native of New York but emi- 
 grated to Louisiana at an early day, and 
 there wedded Mary Tally, by whom he had 
 five children, — Lounzie, Enoch, Emily, 
 Mary Ann and Martha Jane. The paternal 
 grandfather, William Price, was born in 
 North Carolina, and after his removal to 
 Louisiana married Alevia Frazier, and they 
 became the parents of eight children— Jo- 
 seph, Rece, William, Mary, Rebecca, Sarah, 
 Fountain and John. 
 
 Mr. Price, whose name introduces this 
 sketch, is next to the youngest in a family 
 of six children, the other sbeing: William 
 Drury; Hugh Emory, born November 19, 
 1842; Lewis Neal, born September 19, 1845; 
 Elizabeth and Rece. At the age of six 
 years he lost his father, but his mother kept 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 607 
 
 her family together, and brought them to 
 Texas, locating in Leon county, on Trinity 
 river, October lO, 1864, where his mother, 
 brother Hugh and our subject at first pur- 
 chased eighty acres of land, but added to 
 this until they had six hundred and forty 
 acres, one hundred and twenty of which 
 were under cultivation. In September, 1874, 
 they all came to Hamilton county, where 
 they bought three hundred and twenty acres 
 of unimproved land, on which Hugh is still 
 living. In April, 1878, our subject removed 
 to the place where his brother, Lewis N. , is 
 now residing and there engaged in the farm- 
 ing of eighty acres until July, 1882, when 
 he removed to his present farm. In the 
 previous February he had purchased five 
 hundred and nine acres of S. M. Edwards' 
 heirs, erected his comfortable dwelling the 
 same year, and now has seven hundred and 
 thirty-eight acres, sixty-five of which have 
 been placed under the plow. The improve- 
 ments which we see to-day have been ef- 
 fected by his industry and good manage- 
 ment, and he has an excellent grade of stock 
 upon the place. The buildings are neat and 
 substantial, and with their surroundings 
 present the picture of the complete country 
 home, where peace and plenty abound. 
 
 On the 7th of September, 1877, Mr. 
 Price married Miss Paulina Nippirt, who was 
 born in Panola county, Texas, in July, 1856, 
 and was the daughter of George and Bar- 
 bara (Wesley) Nippirt. After a brief mar- 
 riage life the wife passed away, February 
 17:^1^79, leaving one daughter, Elizabeth, 
 who was born January 27, 1878, and is now 
 at home. Mr. Price was again married Sep- 
 tember 29, 1887, his second union being 
 with Mrs. Rosa McCaleb, widow of J. K. 
 McCaleb, and daughter of Thomas and 
 Sarah ( Shipman ) McNealy. Mrs. Price 
 
 was born March 14, 1861, in O'Brien county, 
 Tennessee, and died on the iith of March, 
 1892. By the second marriage there were 
 two children: Sarah Louanza, born No- 
 vember II, 1888; and William Drury, who 
 was born November 28, 1890, and died May 
 25, 1892. 
 
 The Price men are numbered among the 
 most successful stock dealers of Hamilton 
 county. The family held their cattle and 
 property in common until 1880, when they 
 moved their cattle to Fisher county, Texas, 
 and shortly afterward disposed of that 
 branch of their business. They then di- 
 vided their land, each son engaging in farm- 
 ing for himself. Previous to the year 1892 
 our subject had always voted the Democratic 
 ticket, but since that time has been a strong 
 Republican. He is widely and favorably 
 known, and by all is held in the highest 
 esteem. 
 
 ©:■' 
 
 STIGLER, a respected citizen 
 and representative farmer of Erath 
 county, Texas, dates his birth in 
 Jackson county, Georgia, in the 
 year 1845. When very small he accom- 
 panied his parents from Georgia to Alabama, 
 where he was reared on a farm and had but 
 few educational advantages. 
 
 Mr. Stigler is of German origin. Many 
 generations ago some representative of the 
 Stigler family left Germany and came to 
 America, locating in the Old Dominion, 
 where they and their descendants figured as 
 useful and honored citizens. During the 
 Revolutionary war this family was well rep- 
 resented in the patriotic ranks. Abel Stig- 
 ler, the father of our subject, was born in 
 Virginia, while the mother, ncc Cynthia 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Miller, was a native of Georgia. Previous 
 to the late civil war Abel Stigler carried on 
 farming operations successfully and was in 
 good circumstances, but he, like many other 
 southern men, was practically broken up by 
 the adverse fortunes of that sanguinary 
 struggle. In 1881 he came to Texas, 
 accompanied by his aged companion, and 
 together they spent the closing years of life 
 at the home of their son T. L. Here the 
 father died in 1890, and the mother in May, 
 1 894. She was a member of the Missionary 
 Baptist church. Their family was com- 
 posed of the following named members: 
 J. Harvey, a veteran of the late war, died 
 in Tennessee in 1894; William J., also 
 a veteran of this war, died in Arkansas 
 in 1890; John L. was killed at the battle of 
 Cedar run; Elizabeth, wife of John Rose, 
 died in Arkansas; T. L. , the subject of this 
 review; Robert A., who died in Tennessee 
 in 1870; Elijah S., who died in Tennessee 
 in 1890; Newton J., a farmer of Coleman 
 county, Texas; Andrew M., a farmer of 
 Vandalia county, Texas; and Sarah C. , who 
 died in 1870. Thus only three are left of 
 this large family. 
 
 T. L. Stigler remained with his father, 
 assisting in the farm work, until 1863, when 
 he enlisted in the Confederate service and 
 went out as a private in Company E, Twenty- 
 fourth Mississippi Infantry, Walthall's bri- 
 gade. General Bragg in command. His first 
 service was at Lookout Mountain, and in 
 the engagement at that place he fell into the 
 hands of the federals and was taken to Rock 
 Island, Illinois, where he soon shipped in 
 the federal navy, and was there when the 
 war closed. His active service in the Con- 
 federacy was therefore of short duration, 
 and he received no wounds. 
 
 Returning home at the close of the war, 
 
 young Stigler was without means or a sur- 
 plus of good clothes, and he found his 
 father and family financially embarrassed. 
 However, he was wA the one to be dis- 
 couraged by this condition of affairs. He 
 went to work at once and soon replaced his 
 old clothes with new ones. The following 
 year, 1866, we find him in Mississippi, em- 
 ployed as overseer on a farm where free 
 negroes were hired, and he remained there 
 thus occupied until 1870, when he went to 
 Tennessee and bought a farm, which he 
 cultivated and upon which he resided until 
 1876. In the meantime, in 1872, he mar- 
 ried. In 1876, accompanied by his family, 
 he came to Texas and took up his abode in 
 Erath county, at first living on rented land, 
 for at the time he came to this state he had 
 no means with which to purchase property; 
 but he was successful in his operations from 
 the start, and in two years from the date of 
 his landing here he had accumulated a con- 
 siderable sum. Then, in 1882, he bought 
 eighty acres of his present farm, the place 
 upon which he has since maintained his 
 home, and to his original purchase he has 
 since added other land. He has eighty 
 acres under cultivation, raises the ordinary 
 crops of the locality, and has his farm well 
 stocked. This is all valley land and is lo- 
 cated between the mountains of Duffau and 
 Paluxy. 
 
 Mr. Stigler married Miss Kiddie A. 
 Hatchett, a native of Tennessee, her birth 
 having occurred in the year 1855. She is 
 a daughter of James M. and Sarah (Wasley) 
 Hatchett, both natives of Tennessee, and 
 both died and are buried there. Mr. Hatch- 
 ett was by trade a tanner and ran a tan- 
 ery in early life, but later settled down to 
 the quiet pursuits of the farm. Both he 
 and his wife were members of the Mission- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 609 
 
 arj'Baptist church. Their family comprised 
 nine children, of whom five came to Texas, 
 two of the five now being residents of Okla- 
 homa, namely: John, of Oklahoma; Joel, 
 middle Tennessee; Frederick, deceased; 
 Hulda, wife cf R. L. Stanly, Tennessee; 
 Mary, wife of Thomas Clippo, is deceased; 
 Lovey J., wife of F. Carvery; Sarah, wife 
 of John Moore, Oklahoma; Kiddie, wife of 
 Mr. Stigler; and James C, Grayson county, 
 Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Stigler have had 
 ten children sent to bless their home, eight 
 of whom are yet living, viz.: Molly A., wife 
 of John Haley; James Earl, a school-teacher 
 by profession; and the others, all at home, 
 are John C. , Myrtle M., Nora B., Malla 
 Floyd, Lonnie and Harvey. 
 
 Both our subject and his wife are stanch 
 members of the Christian church. For 
 years he has figured prominently in local 
 political circles. He was a Democrat until 
 1882, when he severed his connection with 
 the old party. The third party then re- 
 ceived his support and he has been loyal to 
 it ever since, serving as delegate to its con- 
 ventions, district and state. He had the 
 honor of helping to nominate Mr. Nugent 
 for governor of Texas. Mr. Stigler himself 
 has frequently been solicited to run for 
 office, but thus far has not shown any desire 
 for official preference and has declined all 
 such honors. 
 
 IHOMAS CRAIK PIERSON.— This 
 prosperous and intelligent farmer, 
 living on the old Pierson home- 
 stead in Hamilton county, which 
 is pleasantly situated on the Leon river, 
 was born on the 21st of December, 1854, 
 and is the son of J. H. Pierson, whose 
 
 sketch appears elsewhere in this work. On 
 attaining man's estate he was married, Oc- 
 tober 26, 1876, the lady of his choice being 
 Miss Lacy Genevra Smith, who was born 
 in Bell county, Texas, January 29, 1857, of 
 which county her parents, Gabriel and Lu- 
 cinda (Pool) Smith, were among the early- 
 settlers. Six children blessed this union, 
 namely: Johnnie Emma, born April 16, 
 1878; Stella May, February 24. 1880; 
 Thomas Craik, January 17, 1882; Maggie 
 Bell, November 23, 1884; Lelia Pool, who 
 was born March 6, 1889, and died on the 
 4th of June following; and Ocran Warren, 
 born February 23, 1893. 
 
 Mr. Pierson is one of the most substan- 
 tial men of the community, having a fine 
 farm, well improved, and supplied with all 
 modern conveniences. He met with a pain- 
 ful accident, which resulted in the loss of 
 part of one foot, but although somewhat 
 handicapped on this account still gives his 
 personal attention to the management of 
 his farm. A stalwart Democrat, he served 
 as clerk of Hamilton county from 1882 
 until 1886, and was deputy sheriff under G. 
 W. Gentry from 1878 until 1882. He was 
 reared in the Methodist church, and since 
 1 88 1 has been connected with Rock House 
 Lodge, F. & A. M. , in which he has taken 
 three degrees. Mr. Pierson enjoys the con- 
 fidence and regard of all who know him; 
 and as an enterprising, progressive farmer, 
 with ideas of his own, he has no superior in 
 Hamilton county. 
 
 HBNER CARROLL WOMACK, 
 whose pleasant rural residence is 
 adjacent to the town of Morgan, 
 Bosque count}', and who has 
 maintained his residence on this farm 
 
010 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 for more than a quarter of a century, is 
 classed foremost among the most intelligent 
 and prominent farmers of the county; and 
 it is therefore a matter of pleasure to pre- 
 sent to our readers a review of his career. 
 
 Abner C. Womack was born in Simpson 
 county, Mississippi, February 15, 1S35, and 
 is a representative of a family long resident 
 of America, although his ancestors were 
 originally from Scotland. Seven brothers 
 of the name came from the land of hill and 
 heather to this country about 1670, and 
 from them descended a large posterity that 
 settled in various parts of the Union and 
 figured prominently in every war that has 
 been waged on American soil, from the 
 Revolution down to the great civil strife of 
 1861-65. The father of our subject, A. P. 
 Womack, was born in Georgia in 1806, was 
 reared in Louisiana and at the age of twenty 
 was united in marriage to Miss Stacy Short. 
 In 1850 they emigrated to Texas, locating 
 in Polk county, where Mrs. Womack died 
 the following year. She left a family of 
 thirteen children, namely: Elbert W., Fe- 
 dora, Samantha J., Abner C, Calvin G., 
 Angelina, Henry C., Richard M., Julia A., 
 Nancy, Sally, N. B. and Naomi. In 1S53 
 the father of this family was again married, 
 his second union being with Mrs. Telitha 
 Furguson, by whom he had six children, 
 namely: Jacob P., "Doc," Stacy, Thomas, 
 Joseph W. and Mildred. The father of 
 this family died January 16, 1894, at the 
 home of his son, Abner. For many years 
 he was an honored member of the Method- 
 ist Episcopal church and to the last cher- 
 ished a loving faith in his Savior, dying in 
 the full hope of immortal life. Politically 
 he was a Republican from the time of the 
 organisation of the part)'. 
 
 Abner C. Womack was reared in Missis- 
 
 sippi, remaining there until 1850, when he 
 came to Texas, and in 1859 became a resi- 
 dent of Bosque county. During the second 
 year of the war he was conscripted and sent 
 to Austin in the regular army. Subsequent- 
 ly he was discharged and then entered the 
 frontier service, where he was on duty most 
 of the time until the close of the war. He 
 settled on his present farm in 1872 and here 
 owns a tract of one hundred and ninety-one 
 acres of land adjoining the town. He now 
 has one hundred and fifteen acres under 
 cultivation and has kept pace with the de- 
 velopment and progress that has been car- 
 ried during these years. 
 
 Mr. Womack was married May 9, 1861, 
 to Miss Susan Howard, a native of Lavaca 
 county, Texas, born April 26, 1845. Her 
 father was Philip Howard, one of the most 
 prominent men in the state in an early day, 
 represented elsewhere in this volume. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Womack have had ten children, 
 seven of whom are living, namely: Mrs. 
 Minta Ligon, Laura, Mrs. Sarah Belcher, 
 Phillip S., Elbert D., William S. and Mark 
 B. The three deceased are Adney, who 
 died at the age of three years; Eugene, who 
 died in infancy, and Mathew G. , who died 
 at the age of sixteen years. 
 
 Mr. Womack is a Republican. He cast 
 his first vote for General Houston and again 
 supported him in 1859. In 1861 he was 
 one of the four men of his voting precinct 
 who supported the Union ticket, and he has 
 never since had cause to lose faith in the 
 grand old party which then saved the coun- 
 try, so that he is still identified with its in- 
 terests and supports its candidates. He is 
 a Mason in good standing, having united 
 with the fraternit)' in Meridian in 1873, and 
 afterward becoming a charter member of 
 the Morgan lodge. 
 
HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 611 
 
 eDWIN THOMAS DABNEY, whose 
 devotion to those interests which 
 tend to produce the best citizen- 
 ship has made him a valued resi- 
 dent of the community, and whose well 
 directed agricultural pursuits have classed 
 him among the prominent farmers of the 
 community, was born in Christian county, 
 Kentucky, January 12, 1849, a son of El- 
 der Edwin Winston Dabney, an honored 
 pioneer of Texas, who was born in Louisa 
 county, Virginia, in 1821. His father, Al- 
 bert Gallatin Dabney, was born in 1799, 
 and was a representative of a prominent 
 family long resident in Virguiia. The orig- 
 inal American ancestors were French, and 
 the name was first spelled D'Aubigne, the 
 same as the celebrated author of the His- 
 tory of the Reformation by Luther, but 
 with the passing of years it has been angli- 
 cized into its present form. The grand- 
 father married a Miss Catlett, who also be- 
 longed to a leading family of the Old 
 Dominion, and from that state Mr. Dabney 
 removed with his family to Hopkinsville, 
 Kentucky. 
 
 Elder Dabney was reared in Virginia 
 and Kentucky, and was married in Hick- 
 man county, of the latter state, to Miss 
 Hannah G. Dabney, a cousin, whose father 
 was Isaac Dabney. She was a worthy 
 Christian lady, of many graces of character, 
 and died in Austin county, Texas, July i, 
 1895, at the age of seventy-eight years. He 
 is now living in Belton, this state, aged 
 seventy-five years; isa minister of the Chris- 
 tian church and has been a zealous and 
 faithful worker in the cause of his Master. 
 He had ten children, whose names are as 
 follows: Annie Eliza, Albert Gallatin, 
 Emma Juliette, Smith and Robert Winston, 
 deceased; and Hannah E., Edwin Thomas, 
 
 Cornelius Isaac, John Bledsaw and Louisa 
 Virginia, living. Louisa, the youngest daugh- 
 ter, moved to Brown county, Texas, in 
 1894, and is the wife of B. N. Brashear. 
 
 The gentleman whose name heads this 
 sketch was a child of only four summers 
 when brought by his parents to Texas, and 
 in Austin county he was reared to manhood, 
 acquiring his education in select and public 
 schools and in an academy. Since 1882 he 
 has been identified with the farming inter- 
 ests of Comanche county. He purchased a 
 valuable tract of land, consisting of four 
 hundred and twenty acres, and seventy 
 acres have been planted in crops. There is 
 an excellent dwelling there, on a natural 
 building site, good barns, outbuildings and 
 fences, a fine orchard and all the modern 
 improvements which go to make up a model 
 farm of the nineteenth century. Mr. Dab- 
 ney is a progressive and successful farmer 
 who through industrj', perseverance and 
 capable management has reached prosper- 
 ity. He also owns another farm, of four 
 hundred acres, near by, with seventy acres 
 planted in good products. 
 
 He was married June 13, 1872, in Aus- 
 tin, Texas, to Miss Nannie Gertrude Dick- 
 enson, daughter of Allen W. and Sallie A. 
 Dickenson, ncc Johnson, both natives of 
 Orange county, Virginia. They have five 
 children: Lucie Annie, Edwin Winston, 
 Allen Dickenson, Nettie Catharine and Han- 
 nah Gertrude. All the family are faithful 
 members of the Christian church, and in its 
 religious work, including the Sunday-school, 
 Mr. Dabney has been very prominent. The 
 cause of temperance also finds in him a 
 warm friend, and he does all in his power to 
 aid those movements which will promote 
 the morality and welfare of the county. In 
 politics he is a Democrat. He is a man of 
 
612 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 fine physique, weighing one hundred and 
 ninct}- pounds, and in his manner is genial 
 and frank, reliable and honorable, so that 
 he has many friends and is a favorite with 
 
 >Y'0HN HOGUE PIEI^SON, one of 
 m the honored pioneers of Texas, who 
 A J bore a prominent part in the devel- 
 opment of the sections of the state 
 in which he lived, was born April i", 1S17, 
 in Morganfield, Union county, Kentucky, 
 and came from an old southern family of 
 Scotch-English origin. His great-grand- 
 father, Robert Pierson, was born in Eng- 
 land, and with his family and brother, John 
 Pierson, Sr., and family, crossed the Atlan- 
 tic to America in 1774, settling at Fort 
 Cumberland, in Maryland. He and his 
 people were connected with the Presby- 
 terian church, and the family has furnished 
 several preachers to that denomination. 
 The paternal grandfather of our subject, 
 John Pierson, Jr., was born in England, 
 and when the yoke of British oppression 
 became unbearable he joined Captain Rich- 
 ard Dorsey's company of the First Battalion 
 of Artillery, Continental troops, commanded 
 by Colonel Charles Harrison, in the Revo- 
 lutionary war. This company was assigned 
 to Colonel Harrison's regiment by order of 
 General Washington, May 30, 1778. The 
 regiment was subsequently assigned to the 
 state of Virginia under the act of Congress 
 of October 3, 1780. Soon after the close 
 of the Revolutionary war he settled in Ken- I 
 tuCky, where he married Miss Elizabeth , 
 Goodloe, whose mother belonged to the , 
 Warren family. She was a lady of superior I 
 education, and was prominent in social cir- I 
 
 cles. Their children were John Goodloe 
 Warren, father of our subject; Hosea All- 
 mary, James Tilman, Willie and Benjamin 
 Hogue. The maternal grandfather of our 
 subject, Isaac Pennington, was of French 
 descent, and it was his daughter Purity who 
 became the mother of the gentleman whose 
 name introduces this review. John Pierson. 
 Jr., died about 1840. 
 
 John Goodloe Warren Pierson at an 
 early day left Kentucky, and with his fam- 
 ily, consisting of his wife and three children, 
 and accompanied by his brother, James 
 Tilman, journeyed across the country to 
 the Red river. He then proceeded up that 
 stream for some distance, and from that 
 year — 1824 — was prominently identified 
 with the development of the state, which, 
 however, at that time was under the rule of 
 Mexico. He first joined Austin's colony, 
 and later settled in the Nashville colony, 
 Sterling C. Robertson, empresario, and he 
 surveyor general. He was captain of a 
 company under General Somervell in the 
 campaign of 1842, to the Rio Grande. He 
 was captured at Mier, Mexico, December 
 26, 1842. Under an order of General 
 Santa Anna that every tenth man be shot, 
 and the victims to be those who drew black 
 beans, he was the third to draw and was 
 the first to get a white. Captains Eastland 
 and Cameron, who drew before him, drew 
 black beans. 
 
 By his first wife he had three children, — 
 Emeline, who became the wife of Johnathan 
 C. Pool, now deceased; John Hogue, of this 
 review; and Isaac, who died unmarried at 
 the age of twenty years. After the death 
 of his first wife Mr. Pierson married Eliza- 
 beth Montgomery and they had three chil- 
 dren: William M., Andrew V. B., and Eliza- 
 beth, wife of Etheldred Tarver. The third 
 
HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 613 
 
 wife of Mr. Pierson was Mrs. Narcissa 
 Slater, widow of Thomas Slater and daugh- 
 ter of Peter Cartright. Their children were 
 Benjamin Almary, and Edmond Goodloe, 
 both still living. He died at his home on 
 Grimes' prairie, April 7, 1849, fifty-four 
 years of age. Their mother, after the death 
 of Mr. Pierson, became the wife of Thomas 
 Roberts, and is living on the Brazos, at the 
 advanced age of seventy-nine years. John 
 Hogue Pierson was a supporterof the Democ- 
 racy and took an active part in politics. 
 He aided largely in opening this state to 
 civilization through his work as a surveyor 
 and through personal efforts. He was ap- 
 pointed as Indian scout by Sam Houston 
 and all the experiences of life on the wild 
 frontier were familiar to him. On the night 
 of August 26, 1836,. he was wounded 
 severely, in a night attack by the Indians. 
 He with four others had been following a 
 raiding band of Comanches, but despairing 
 of overtaking them turned homeward and 
 camped on the bank of the Calette. That 
 night the Indians made an attack from under 
 the creek bluff, killed two, wounded two and 
 one escaped unhurt. At this time, though 
 only nineteen, he was first lieutenant in the 
 ranger service. The killed were Robinson 
 and Robinette; the wounded, Whitaker and 
 Pierson; and De Orman was unhurt by bul- 
 lets or arrows; but as he could not get his 
 shoes in the night the cacti lacerated and tore 
 his feet. His part of his father's property was 
 the one-half of the Ruble headright, on the 
 Brazos river, comprising twenty-two hun- 
 dred and fourteen acres of land, all wild and 
 unimproved. To that place he removed in 
 August, 1 85 1, living under a tree until a 
 house could be erected. In 1852 he went 
 to Marlin, Falls county, where he engaged 
 in merchandising until 1854, when he 
 
 moved to his father's headright. League 
 No. I, just below the falls of the Brazos. 
 
 At the beginning of the war Mr. Pierson 
 foresaw the result of the struggle and sold 
 all of his negroes. In 1861 he enlisted 
 with Terry's rangers, and was stationed at 
 Bowling Green, Kentucky. On account of 
 the wound received in 1836, from the ef- 
 fects of which he still suffered, he was dis- 
 charged in 1862. Upon his return he as- 
 sumed the management of the property of 
 Cornelius Moore and lived there until 1865. 
 In 1862 he drove his horses to Hamilton 
 county, on Neil's creek, and in 1865 he 
 purchased of Judge McFarland eight hun- 
 dred and sixty acres of land, located on the 
 Leon river, in Hamilton county, and now 
 the home of his son, Thomas C. He moved 
 to this place in February, 1867, and opened 
 a store, but did not long enjoy his new home, 
 his death occurring on the 9th of June 
 of that year. His widow continued her 
 residence there until 1873. since which time 
 she has made her home in the town of Ham- 
 ilton. Indians were very troublesome in 
 those early days, committing great depreda- 
 tions, and stole from Mrs. Pierson some 
 eight thousand dollars' worth of horses. 
 On the 1 8th of October, 1838, was cel- 
 
 [ ebrated the marriage of John Hogue Pier- 
 son and Miss Nancy Hutchinson, daughter 
 
 I of William and Sarah (Park) Hutchinson. 
 Her grandfather, Robert Hutchinson, was 
 born in England, and wedded Mary Hunter 
 there, after which he crossed the Atlantic, 
 taking up his abode in South Carolina. He 
 afterward moved to Florida, where he died 
 at the age of sixty. His children were Mar- 
 garet, John, William, James and Jane. 
 Robert Hutchinson was a farmer by occupa- 
 tion. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. 
 Pierson, Andrew Park, was born in Ireland 
 
014 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 and there married Agues Simpson, an aunt 
 of ex-Governor Simpson, of South Carolina. 
 They were Protestants, the wife being an 
 ardent Presbyterian. They reared their 
 family in South Carolina, their children be- 
 ing Mary, James, Nancy, Isabelle, Sarah, 
 Elizabeth, Andrew and William. The 
 brothers and sister of Mrs. Pierson were 
 Robert, James, Andrew, and two who died 
 in infancy, unnamed. A half-brother, Will- 
 iam Evans, was born to the mother by her 
 second marriage. Mr. Hutchinson died in 
 1825, after which his widow went to Ala- 
 bama and later to Mississippi, where she 
 married James Evans, and shortly after 
 died. 
 
 Mrs. Pierson was born in Laurens dis- 
 trict in South Carolina, June 5, 1823, and 
 after her mother's death was reared by her 
 eldest brother, Robert Hutchinson. In 
 1837 the entire family came to Te.xas and 
 located on the Brazos river. The children 
 born to Mr. and Mrs. Pierson areas follows: 
 Warren Stroud, born December 22, 1839, 
 died March 20, 1843. Emma Elizabeth, 
 born October 2, 1844, "^'^d November 19, 
 1881. She married Dr. Thomas H. Will- 
 iams and after his death became the wife of 
 Captain A. H. Watson, now a business man 
 of Hamilton. Mary .\senath, born April 15, 
 1848, died on the 27th of September fol- 
 lowing. John Goodloe Warren, born July 
 10. 1850, is now in the land business at 
 Hamilton, Texas. Thomas Craik is repre- 
 sented elsewhere in this volume. The sons 
 were educated at the Texas Military Insti- 
 tute, at Austin, Texas, the elder, J. G. W., 
 having also attended the Solado College; 
 and the daughter at Waco and Marlin. 
 
 In 1 84 1 he and his wife became mem- 
 bers of the Methodist church and were ever 
 afterward consistent workers in its interests. 
 
 He was also a Royal Arch Mason, uniting 
 with the fraternity in Douglas, Texas. His 
 life was upright and honorable in all partic- 
 ulars, devotion toduty was one of his marked 
 characteristics, and he had the warm re- 
 gard and esteem of all who knew him. He 
 came of a family that was long and promi- 
 nently connected with the history of this 
 country, and he, like other representatives of 
 the name, was always an advocate of what- 
 ever would promote its interests, and took 
 an important part in making it the prosper- 
 ous, habitable region that it is to-day. His 
 widow is the only one of the older members 
 of her family now living. She resides at 
 her home in Hamilton and is familiarly and 
 lovingly known as '• Grandma Pierson." 
 She is now seventy-four years of age, and 
 possesses a remarkable memory for dates 
 and facts, and is authority on all events that 
 have transpired within her knowledge. We 
 are indebted to her for the data for this family 
 record, without which this volume would I)e 
 incomplete. 
 
 eMIL E. PRESCHER.— Amongthe 
 citizens of Bosque county who are 
 of German birth is the gentleman 
 of whom this narrative is written. 
 He was reared in his native land, and there 
 learned the traits of economy and frugality 
 which have been the source of his present 
 competency. Many of the best citizens of 
 the state are his countrymen, and they al- 
 most invariably merit and receive the esteem 
 and respect of the community to the same 
 degree that he does. 
 
 Mr. Prescher was born on the 20th of 
 October, 1863, to Julius and Anialie (Leuner) 
 Prescher, and was the third in their family 
 of twelve children. It was in 1884 that he 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 615 
 
 crossed the Atlantic to America, and for a 
 short time was a resident of San Antonio, 
 Texas, but later removed to Bosque county. 
 He now resides seven miles east of Clifton, ! 
 where he owns two hundred and twenty- 
 seven acres of farming land, eighty-seven of 
 which has been placed under a high state of 
 cultivation, and upon the place is a good 
 orchard. 
 
 Mr. Prescher was married in the father- 
 land, October 5, 1884, the lady of his choice 
 being Miss Emilie Kotte, and the same year 
 sailed to the New World. Four children 
 bless their union, namely: Paul, Ernest, 
 Martha and William. The parents are true 
 and sincere Christian people, faithful mem- 
 bers of the Lutheran church. In 1892 Mr. 
 Prescher was naturalized, and now exercises 
 his elective franchise in support of the men 
 and measures of the Republican party. Pos- 
 sessing the esteem and respect of the entire 
 community, he may well be ranked among 
 the honest and representative German citi- 
 zens of Bosque county. His honor and in- 
 tegrity are unimpeachable, his word being 
 considered as good as his bond. 
 
 'HOMAS J. SCOTT, one of the | 
 most energetic and progressive citi- i 
 zens of Comanche county, was 
 born in the city of Houston, Texas, 
 October 14, 1838, the state being at that 
 time a republic, and is a son of Moses and 
 Elizabeth D. (Pamplin) Scott, the former a 
 native of South Carolina and the latter of 
 Virginia. The marriage of the parents was 
 celebrated in Mississippi, and in May, 1837, 
 they crossed the Sabine river into Texas, 
 stopping first at Fort Tinnan, in what is 
 now Brazos county, but was then known as 
 Montgomery's Colony. The entire colony 
 
 made their homes either at Fort Parker or 
 Fort Tinnan, on account of the hostile In- 
 dians. The red men attacked the former, 
 killing twenty-one of the inmates, while 
 eighteen escaped to Fort Tinnan, but three 
 were taken prisoners, namely: Nancy A. 
 Parker, who later married an Indian chief; 
 Mrs. Plummer, who after a number of years 
 returned to her people; and the little son of 
 the latter, who died in captivity. 
 
 Mr. Scott remained in the vicinity of the 
 fort for some time, but later took his family 
 to Houston, where our subject was born, 
 and there remained for a year. Returning 
 to Brazos county, he purchased land, which 
 he developed into a good farm, and there 
 engaged in the stock business for eight years, 
 at the end of which time he took his stock 
 to Grimes county. Selling out in 1850, he 
 removed to Leon county, where he bought 
 land and engaged in the improvement of his 
 farm until his death, in 1858. For thirteen 
 years he served as class-leader in the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal church, but later in life be- 
 came a member of the Missionary Baptist 
 church, to which his wife also belonged. 
 To them were born five children, — Jacob, 
 Thomas J., Moses, Susan and David. Two 
 of the sons were in the Confederate service 
 during the civil war. The mother died in 
 1864. She was the daughter of William 
 Pamplin, who was a member of a prominent 
 Virginian family, but he spent his last days 
 in Tennessee. Previous to her marriage to 
 Mr. Scott she was the widow of a Mr. Bates, 
 by whom she had six children, — William, 
 Fanny, Elvira, Mathew, McCajor and Em- 
 mett. These children were cared for by 
 the father of our subject in the same man- 
 ner as if they were his own. 
 
 Mr. Scott, whose name heads this sketch, 
 attended the common country schools dur- 
 
616 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 ing his boyhood days, and early became fa- 
 miliar with farming and stock-raising, which 
 he has followed throughout much of his life. 
 On the 1 3th of October, 1864, he was joined 
 in wedlock with Miss Nancy Toby, who was 
 born in Leon county, Texas, and is the 
 daughter of George W. Toby, of New York. 
 As a young man her father came to Texas, 
 was here married and settled in Leon coun- 
 ty, where his death occurred. He had 
 three children, — Nancy, Maria and George 
 W. Nine children have been born in the 
 family of Mr. and Mrs. Scott: Charles A., 
 of Leon county; George M., of Lamkin, 
 Comanche county; Dena, wife of James H. 
 Wamble, a farmer; Walter M., who has 
 charge of his father's store; and Jack C, 
 Maria, Virginia, .\melia and Idella, all at 
 home. 
 
 On the 4th of October, 1861, Mr. Scott 
 enlisted in the Fifth Regiment of Texas In- 
 fantry for six months, and on the close of 
 that term re-enlisted in the Twenty-second 
 Texas Infantry, under Colonel B. B. Hub- 
 bard, and was consigned to Walker's divis- 
 ion in the Trans-Mississippi department, 
 serving mostly in Arkansas and Louisiana. 
 He took part in many skirmishes and in 
 several hotly contested battles, including 
 those at Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, but 
 was never wounded nor captured. The 
 regiment surrendered and was disbanded at 
 Hempstead, after which our subject re- 
 turned home. 
 
 In 1879, Mr. Scott purchased a farm in 
 Brazos county, where he made his home 
 until 1884, and then went to Bosque coun- 
 ty, there engaging in the cattle and sheep 
 business. It was the following year that 
 he came to Comanche county, locating at 
 Lamkin, where he engaged in blacksmith- 
 ing for two years. The next five years 
 
 were devoted to farming on the Leon river, 
 and in 1891 he removed to his present farm 
 of two hundred and seventy acres, which 
 he has greatly improved, and now has the 
 entire tract under fence and eighty acres of 
 the amount are highly cultivated. He has 
 erected good and substantial buildings, and 
 his place is now one of the model farms of 
 the locality. He gives his attention to all 
 branches of stock-raising, having Percheron 
 horses, Sampson, Durham and Jersey cat- 
 tle. Pig-bone, Gunnie and Berkshire hogs, 
 and a premium mammoth jack; and he also 
 raises chickens. In February, 1896, he es- 
 tablished a general store at Farmers' 
 Chapel, near Nell's gin, on the Comanche 
 and Gentry mill road, which is in charge of 
 his son, and our subject also conducts a 
 blacksmith shop at that point. He is a 
 first-class mechanic, able to do almost any 
 kind of work in that line, and in earlier 
 days devoted considerable attention to car- 
 pentering. 
 
 Mr. Scott and his estimable wife are 
 earnest members of the Missionary Baptist 
 church, in which he serves as deacon, and 
 socially is a Master Mason. He always 
 supported the Democratic party until 1890, 
 but has since joined the reform forces, with 
 the hope of seeing better times, and is 
 therefore now a Populist. He is a straight- 
 forward, upright business man, who gains 
 the confidence and esteem of all with whom 
 he comes in contact. 
 
 ORLANDO COLUMBUS COL- 
 LETT, a representative farmer 
 living near Pottsville. Hamilton 
 county, was born in Caldwell 
 county. North Carolina. His parents, James 
 Hamilton and Jane (Stewart) Collett, were 
 
HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 also natives of the same county, the birth 
 of the former occurring December lo, 1806, 
 and the latter October 31, 181 1. Their 
 marriage was celebrated December 15, 
 1829, and to them were born the following 
 children: Spangler, who was born Septem- 
 ber 18, 1830, and died September 28, 1834; 
 Margaret Orilja, who was born March 22.' 
 1834, and died in 1S86; Orlando C, of 
 this review, who was born August 31, 1837; 
 Harriet Elizabeth, November 25, ' 1840; 
 Mary Ann, who was born February 4, 1843,' 
 and died August 6, 1893; Rachel Co'rdeha,' 
 born April 21, 1845; Jane Amelia, June 29' 
 1847; Charles Alexander, July 14, 1849'; 
 James Hamilton, August 24, 185 1'; Sarah 
 Caledonia, October 15, 1853; and John 
 Hugh, June 13, 1856. The earthly career 
 of the father of these children was ended 
 December 6, 1893. 
 
 In May, 1861, our subject laid aside 
 personal interests joining the Confederate 
 service asa member of Company F, Twenty- 
 sixth North Carolina Infantry, but after the 
 seven days' battle of the Wilderness he was 
 transferred to Company E, Fifty-eighth 
 North Carolina Infantry, and participated 
 m all the engagements with his regiment 
 except when scouting or in the hospital. 
 Twice he was hit by a ball but was not seri- 
 ously wounded. He was numbered among 
 the gallant and brave boys who wore 
 the gray. 
 
 When hostilities had ceased Mr. Collett 
 returned to his North Carolina home, but in 
 March, 1869, came to Texas, locating first 
 in Dallas county, where he rented land for 
 four years, after which he came to Baptist 
 Cove. Here his father pre-empted one 
 hundred and sixty acres, eighty of which our 
 subject now has under cultivation, com- 
 prising one of the richest tracts of land in 
 
 617 
 
 the county, where he is numbered among 
 the leading and progressive agriculturists. 
 
 On the isth of January, 1861, Mr. Col- 
 lett was joined in wedlock with Miss Susan 
 Bristol, who was born in Burke county. 
 North Carolina, November 28, 1840, and 
 was the daughter of Benedict and Elizabeth 
 Graham (McCall) Bristol. Five children 
 blessed this union, namely: James Colum- 
 bus, who was born November 2, r86r, and 
 is now living in Dickens county, Texas; 
 Charlton Helloeize was born June 21, 1866,' 
 and died August 22, 1869; Augustus Birdsy 
 was born September 7, ,867, and died 
 December 22, 1887; Mary E., born March 
 25, 1869; and William Orlando, born Feb- 
 ruary 1,1871. The loving wife and mother 
 passed away on the ist of April, 1871, after 
 which his parents came to live with our 
 subject. 
 
 Politically Mr. Collett votes independ- 
 ently, casting his ballot for the man whom 
 he thinks best qualified to fill the position, 
 and has efficiently served as constable in 
 Hamilton county. Since the fall of 1865 
 he has been identified with the Missionary 
 Baptist church, is a man of the strictest in- 
 tegrity, and enjoys the confidence a;id re- 
 spect of all who know him. 
 
 /Y\ "• ^'NEAL, deceased, was for 
 ## I many years one of the leading 
 V\/^ citizens of Erath county. His 
 identity with the state dated from 
 his boyhood and from the year Texas was 
 admitted to the Union. As a representative 
 of a family that has long figured conspicu- 
 ously here and as one who by his own nerve 
 and valor was useful in protecting the 
 frontier settlers in times of Indian raids, it 
 IS of special importance that a memoir of 
 
(318 
 
 illSrORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 W. H. O'Neal be incorporated in this j 
 volume. 
 
 Mr. O'Neal was born in Tennessee No- 
 vember 19, 1835, son of George \V. O'Neal, 
 a native of Tennessee. George W. O'Neal, 
 imbued with a spirit of emigration, left his 
 old home in Tennessee in 1845, and, accom- 
 panied by his family, sought a new home in 
 the new state of Texas, landing in due time 
 in Titus county. He and his family lived in 
 Titus county until late in the '50s, when 
 they came to Erath county. Following are 
 the names of his children: Robert, C. M., 
 W. H., George R., J. S., I. S., Jane, Sally, 
 Margaret and Nancy, and of this large 
 family seven are still living, and in Erath 
 county, occupying useful and honored posi- 
 tions in life. At the time of their emigra- 
 tion to this state the subject of this sketch 
 was a boy of ten years. He grew up in 
 Titus county and followed farming there a 
 few years before coming to Erath county, 
 which was about 1858. He had married in 
 1855 and brought his wife with him, the 
 other members of the O'Neal family also 
 coming to Erath county at this time. Their 
 first settlement here was on Cow creek, but 
 the Indians soon became so troublesome 
 that life there had to be abandoned,— in 
 short, the red men ran the O'Neals out. 
 They then resided in Dublin until 1866, 
 when our subject went to Armstrong creek 
 and pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres 
 of land, which he opened up to farming. 
 When he first came to the county he engaged 
 in the cattle business, and on his removal to 
 Armstrong creek he took with him the stock 
 he had left, most of his cattle having been 
 stolen by the Indians. He carried on both 
 farming and stock-raising there until 1877, 
 when he rented his homestead and went to 
 Stephens county, ranging his cattle there 
 
 and greatly increasing his operations. In 
 the fall of that year he returned to Erath 
 county and located on the farm now owned 
 and occupied by his widow, near Highland, 
 and in 1878 he sold his Armstrong creek 
 farm. From that time on up to his death, 
 which occurred July 24, 1884, he gave his 
 attention to the improvement and cultiva- 
 tion of this place, carrying on diversified 
 farming and raising only enough stock for 
 the support of his farm. His purchase here 
 included three hundred and twenty acres, 
 but he afterward sold half of it. 
 
 During the late war Mr. O'Neal belonged 
 to the home guards, and had many fights 
 and exciting experiences with the Indians. 
 In 1866 he was in battle with the red men 
 near Dublin, where he distinguished himself 
 by his courage and won lasting gratitude 
 from the settlers. In this fight were eighteen 
 Indians arrayed against only a few white 
 men. The arrows flew thick and fast, some 
 of them piercing Mr. O'Neal's clothes, but 
 fortunately the whites all escaped uninjured. 
 Mr. O'Neal shot and killed one Indian. It 
 was not until 1870 that the Indian raids 
 here entirely ceased. Soon after the close 
 of the war, about 1866 or 1867, the subject 
 of our sketch was one of a party that went 
 to New Mexico prospecting for gold. On 
 the Pecos river they overtook some emigrants 
 who were surrounded by Indians and at 
 their mercy. Mr. O'Neal and his com- 
 panions at once took in the situation, drove 
 the red men back and made it possible for 
 the movers to proceed in safety. Mr. 
 O'Neal's last years were spent in quiet on 
 his farm, enjoying the comforts of home 
 and happy in the companionship of his wife 
 and daughter. In his death the community 
 sustained the loss of one of its most cour- 
 ageous men and best loved citizens. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 619 
 
 Mrs. Mary O'Neal, widow of this es- 
 teemed pioneer whose life we have just out- 
 lined, is a native of Texas, born in Shelby 
 county, September i6, 1839, when Texas 
 was a republic, her parents being Evan and 
 Matilda Shoemaker. Evan Shoemaker, who 
 was of Alabama birth, early in life went to 
 Tennessee and while yet a young man came 
 to Texas, landing here in 1835. By trade 
 he was a blacksmith, but much of his life 
 was spent in agricultural pursuits. Not long 
 after his arrival here he was married in 
 Shelby county. Later he moved to Titus 
 county, where he maintained his home for 
 many years, and where he died in 1863. 
 He was a man in whose personality were 
 combined many of the sterling traits of 
 character that distinguished the brave pio- 
 neers of this state, and his early experiences 
 were not unlike those of many other fron- 
 tiersmen. He fought under Sam Houston 
 in the Mexican war, when Texas gained her 
 independence as a republic. When a young 
 man he united with the Methodist Episcopal 
 church, of which his wife was a devoted 
 member. They had six children, namely: 
 Elizabeth, wife of H. Daflren; Mary O'Neal; 
 Martha J., who died at the age of twelve 
 years; James, who died when eight years 
 old; Joel, a farmer on Armstrong creek; and 
 Stephen, whose residence is unknown by 
 the other members of the family. 
 
 While Mr. and Mrs. O'Neal were never 
 blessed with any children of their own, they 
 adopted a little girl, Minnie L. Lookingbill, 
 whom they took at the age of sixteen 
 months, gave her their name, reared her as 
 their own child and made her their heir, re- 
 ceiving in return for their loving care the 
 kindness and affection of a dutiful daughter. 
 She was born August 17, 1877, and is now 
 the wife of W. T. Grisham, their home be- 
 
 ing on the farm with Mrs. O'Neal. Mrs. 
 O'Neal is a most estimable lady, possessing 
 more than ordinary business ability and ex- 
 ercising the best of judgment in conducting 
 her affairs, and is held in high esteem in the 
 circle in which she moves. 
 
 >T^ W. BOLTON.— In the number of 
 ■ Alabama's native sons who have found 
 A J homes in Texas is included this gen- 
 tleman, who to-day is classed among 
 the practical, progressive agriculturists of 
 Hood county. 
 
 He was born in Jackson county, of the 
 great " Cotton state, " December 20, 1839, 
 a son of Severe and Missouri (Rutherford) 
 Bolton. His father was born in Kentucky, 
 and at a very early day went to Alabama 
 with his father, Evan Bolton. The mother 
 was born in Jackson county, where her 
 father, James Rutherford, took up his abode 
 in pioneer times, removing to Alabama from 
 east Tennessee. In the usual manner of 
 farmer lads our subject spent the days of 
 his childhood and youth, aiding in the la- 
 bors of the old homestead until his marriage. 
 In the meantime, however, he joined 
 the southern army at the commencement of 
 the war, enlisting on the 28th of April, 
 1 861, as a member of Company I, Seven- 
 teenth Tennessee Volunteer Infantry He 
 participated in the battles of Fishing creek. 
 Stone river, Perryville and Chickamauga, 
 and was then with General Longstreet 
 through the campaign in east Tennessee. At 
 the battle of Chickamauga he was captured, 
 but while being taken to the north he suc- 
 ceeded in making his escape, but was cut 
 off from his command and for several 
 months was attached to General Pope's 
 command of secret scouts. In January, 
 
&20 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 1863, he joined his own company in Ten- 
 nessee, and in the following May was sent 
 to Richmond under Beauregard, participat- 
 ing in the engagements in front of Peters- 
 burg and being in constant service until the 
 surrender, at which time he was with Gen- 
 eral Lee's forces. At the battle of Stone 
 river he was wounded through the arm, 
 which disabled him for active duty for three 
 months. At Duvall's Bluff he was wounded 
 in the face and was then granted a thirty- 
 days' furlough. In 1862 he was commis- 
 sioned first lieutenant and during the last 
 year of the war had command of his com- 
 pany. He was a brave and valiant sol- 
 dier, ever true to the cause he espoused, 
 and his military record is one of which he 
 need never be ashamed. 
 
 When the war was over Mr. Bolton re- 
 turned to Alabama and engaged in farming 
 there until 1870, when he sought a home in 
 Texas, locating on the Brazos river in Jan- 
 uary. For four and a half years he lived 
 on that farm, and then went to Hill county, 
 whence he later removed to Lampasas 
 county. After three years spent in that 
 county and one year in Bell county, he was 
 live years a merchant in Coryell county, as 
 junior partner of the firm of J. M. Clements 
 & Company. He next went to Dallas, 
 where he resided two years, then to Fort 
 Worth, where he was a resident two years, 
 engaged in railroading. In 1893 he came 
 to Hood county, and with the capital ac- 
 quired through his own labors he purchased 
 his present farm of one hundred acres, of 
 which fifty acres is now under a high state 
 of cultivation. 
 
 Mr. Bolton has been twice married. On 
 the 28th of February, 1867, he was joined 
 in wedlock with Mi.ss Rhoda R. Starkey, and 
 they had three children, but only one is now 
 
 living, Delia, wife of G. F. Egle, who is 
 living near Fort Worth. The others were 
 Franklin, who died in infancy, and Joe K., 
 who died at the age of six months. While 
 residing in Hill county, Texas, the mother 
 of these children died, in 1877. In Lam- 
 pasas county Mr. Bolton was again married, 
 his second union being with Mrs. Mary 
 Duval, a native of Robertson county, Texas, 
 and a daughter of Lewis Harris, one of the 
 pioneer settlers of that county. Three chil- 
 dren were born by this marriage, — Willie 
 C, Jessie S. and Anis. 
 
 Mrs. Bolton is a member of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal church, and is an estimable 
 lady, whose many excellencies of character 
 have gained her a large circle of friends. 
 Mr. Bolton is a member of Paluxy Lodge, 
 No. 393, F. & A. M., and of the Farmers' 
 ' ' Grange. " Politically he is connected with 
 the People's party. Straightforward in all 
 business dealing and honorable in all life's 
 relations, he has the respect of all with 
 whom he has come in contact. 
 
 eLDER LOUIS BROCK has been 
 prominently identified with the 
 moral and material development of 
 Comanche county, and is numbered 
 among its valued citizens. His life is ex- 
 emplary, and his influence is felt for good in 
 the community where he makes his home. 
 
 He was born in North Carolina, Decem- 
 ber 21, 1842, and his parents, Hubbard and 
 Martha (Hardeson) Brock, were natives of 
 the same state. The grandfather, Thomas 
 Brock, of North Carolina, was of German 
 descent and served in the patriot army dur- 
 ing the Revolutionary war. He was a 
 noble man, deeply interested in religious af- 
 fairs, and his last days were spent in Geor- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 621 
 
 gia. Hubbard Brock was reared to farm 
 life, and on leaving North Carolina went to 
 Georgia, and later to Alabama. He married 
 Martha, daughter of Harmon Hardeson, a 
 prominent farmer of North Carolina. The 
 maternal grandfather of our subject was 
 also an earnest Christian man, and one of 
 Louis Brock's earliest memories is of going 
 to church with him. One of his sons, Joshua? 
 became an eminent minister of the Baptist 
 church. Hubbard Brock was also a mem- 
 ber of the Baptist church, and lived the 
 quiet life of a fanner. He was born in 
 1 8 1 1 , and died in Franklin county, Alabama, 
 in 1 87 1. His wife is now living with a 
 daughter in Arkansas, at the advanced age 
 of eighty-three years. Their children are 
 Mary A., widow of William Stone; Louisa, 
 wife of Lucius Chapel, of Alabama; Hep- 
 sey, deceased; Louis, subject of this sketch; 
 Henry, who served in the late war, and is a 
 farmer of Erath county; Elizabeth, widow 
 of James Davis; Daniel, who died at the 
 age of twelve; Harriet, wife of Joseph 
 West, an Arkansas farmer; and Amanda, I 
 deceased wife of James Rollins. ' | 
 
 Our subject was reared on his father's 
 farm and attended the common schools. In 
 the fall of 1862 he joined the Fifth Alabama 
 Cavalry under Colonel Patterson, the regi- 
 ment being attached to the Army of the 
 Tennessee. He remained at the front until 
 the close of the war; and participated in 
 many skirmishes and battles, but was never 
 wounded nor captured. When hostilities 
 had ceased, he returned home, having re- 
 ceived his discharge and parole at Pond 
 Springs, Alabama, May 21, 1865. 
 
 Mr. Brock was soon after married and 
 began hfe for himself. His possessions con- 
 sisted of some clothing and one mule, but 
 he has been industrious and energetic, and 
 
 has been blessed with a comfortable prop- 
 erty. He carried on a rented farm until 
 1873. when he came to Texas, reaching 
 Comanche county in February. Here he 
 rented land, and in connection with its cul- 
 tivation carried on a blacksmith shop. In 
 October he pre-empted one hundred and 
 sixty acres, his present farm, and erected a 
 home. He now has three hundred and six- 
 ty-seven acres, of which seventy- five acres is 
 highly cultivated, while the commodious 
 residence and excellent orchard add to the 
 value and desirabihty of the place. He also 
 has a good farm six mileseast of Comanche, 
 and in his business efforts has prospered. 
 
 Elder Brock wedded Miss Mary E. 
 
 Creamer, who was born in Georgia, April 
 
 23. 1845. a daughter of Josiah Creamer, 
 
 of South Carolina. Her father was a farmer,' 
 
 who in 1 87 1 came to Comanche county,' 
 
 being now numbered among its prominent 
 
 agriculturists. Mrs. Brock is the second in 
 
 a family of seven children, and the five yet 
 
 I living are residents of Texas. Our subject 
 
 and his N\'-ife have been blessed with nine 
 
 children, eight yet surviving, namely: Josiah 
 
 H., a farmer; Martha M., wife of W. B. 
 
 Denton; John L. and James S., who follow 
 
 farming; Henry C, William F., Sadie C 
 
 and Dilla M. 
 
 Elder Brock is an advocate of Democ- 
 racy, but has never sought office. He was 
 reared amid Christian influences, and in 
 May, i860, was converted. In October 
 following he united with the church, and 
 has since been an active, earnest worker in 
 Its interests. In the fall of 1873 he began 
 preaching, and after coming to Texas in the 
 fall of 1873 was licensed to preach. Three 
 years later he was ordained as a minister by 
 Rev. William Bates and E. B. Featherstone 
 at the Union Baptist church. He helped to 
 
622 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 organize the Union church, became its first 
 pastor, and thus served for six years, never 
 missing but two appointments during that 
 time. He has aided in organizing a number 
 of churches and has been the pastor of Cool 
 Spring church, Sardis church, Baggett 
 church, and now has charge of Friendship 
 and Liberty churches. He has solemnized 
 many marriages and officiated at many bap- 
 tisms. He never asks for financial aid from 
 churches, but by his farming interests has 
 gained a means of livelihood and has given 
 his services freely to the cause of the Master, 
 a faithful and earnest worker in his vine- 
 yard. 
 
 >T^OHN W. MOSS is one of the most 
 ■ prominent and progressive agricult- 
 A 1 urists of Erath county, and in con- 
 nection with general farming is also 
 engaged in horticultural pursuits. The suc- 
 cess of his business career is attributable 
 entirely to his own efforts and shows that 
 Prosperity, though a fickle goddess, may be 
 won by persistent purpose and dauntless 
 energy. 
 
 Mr. Moss was born in Wilson county, 
 Tennessee, on the 27th of September, 1837, 
 descending from an old Virginian family. 
 His grandfather, however, became one of 
 the pioneer settlers of Tennessee, in which 
 state William Moss, the father of our sub- 
 ject, was born November 21, 1788. He 
 married Sarah McDaniel, who was born in 
 the same state in 1806, while her people 
 were from North Carolina. They became 
 parents of ten children, seven of whom 
 reached adult age, while five are yet living. 
 During his early life William Moss engaged 
 in running a fiatboat on the river and 
 later turned his attention to farming, which 
 
 he continued to follow throughout his re- 
 maining days. He died November 14, 1869, 
 at the age of eighty-two years, and his wife 
 passed away on the 6th of December, 1882. 
 Mrs. Moss was twice married, her first 
 union being with Walter Carr, by whom she 
 had one son, Matthew Carr, who is now a 
 resident of Erath county. 
 
 At the parental home John W. Moss 
 was reared to manhood, and in field and 
 meadow had ample training in the work of 
 the farm. The pursuits of this quiet life 
 were interrupted, however, in September, 
 1 86 1, by his enlistment in the Confederate 
 service, as a member of Company F, 
 Twenty-eighth Tennessee Infantry, which 
 was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee. 
 He participated in the battles of Fishing 
 creek and Corinth and was in many skir- 
 mishes between Vicksburg and Baton Rouge. 
 He was in the battle of Murfreesboro in 
 1862 and was then transferred to a cavalry 
 command known as Steam's Fourth Ten- 
 nessee Regiment. They followed Sher- 
 man's army from Atlanta through the Car- 
 olinas, and his brigade acted as escort for 
 Jefferson Davis from Charlotte to the Sa- 
 vannah river. 
 
 When the war was ended Mr. Moss re- 
 turned to Tennessee, and on the loth of 
 October, 1865, was consummated his mar- 
 riage to Miss Mary Sanders, a native of 
 Sumner county, Tennessee, and a daughter 
 of Thomas and Mary (Mitchener) Sanders. 
 Her father was a native of Kentucky and 
 died when Mrs. Moss was only four years 
 old. The young couple began their domes- 
 tic life in Tennessee, where they continued 
 to make their home until the 15th of Sep- 
 tember, 1872, when they came to Texas, 
 locating in Honey Grove, Fannin county. 
 The journey to this state was made by 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 G23 
 
 teams and consumed four weeks. For a 
 )'ear our subject rented land and then re- 
 moved to Whitesboro, Grayson county, 
 where he resided for three years, when he 
 came to Erath county. His possessions at 
 the time of his arrival here consisted of two 
 wagons, four horses and twenty dollars in 
 money. With this small capital he began 
 life at his new home, determined to win 
 success if hard labor and honorable dealing 
 could accomplish it. For four years he 
 worked a rented farm, and then, in 1880, 
 purchased sixty-four acres of wild land. 
 His work thereon was to clear a tract and 
 plant a peach orchard, and he now has one 
 of the finest peach orchards in the entire 
 county, his fruit being unexcelled in size 
 andqualityand thus commanding the highest 
 market price. Mr. Moss now has one hun- 
 dred and thirty-one acres of fine land under 
 a high state of cultivation, and his farm 
 with its improvements is a monument to 
 his energy and thrift. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Moss had a family of ten 
 children, as follows: William T. , who 
 married Emma Hall; Matthew C, who 
 married Elathia Whitacre; Sally B., wife of 
 H. H. Tudor; James M., who wedded Alice 
 W. Whitacre; Susie May, Nancy W., John 
 Calvin, Edgar Wright, and Mary Estelle, 
 all at home; and Georgia, who died in in- 
 fancy. The parents are consistent members 
 and active workers in the Church of Christ; 
 and Mr. Moss has served as one of its 
 deacons. He was also a school trustee for 
 a number of years and has done most effect- 
 ive service in the interests of education, 
 which finds in him a warm friend. He is a 
 public-spirited and progressive citizen and 
 gives a stalwart support to all measures 
 which have for their object the general 
 welfare. 
 
 >pj»OHN DYER.— Among the promi- 
 ■ nent and progressive citizens of 
 A 1 Meridian, whose advent into the 
 state dates back to 1854, is the ge- 
 nial and pleasant gentleman above named, 
 who is now serving as tax collector of 
 Bosque county. He is one of those quiet, 
 unassuming gentlemen of the true southern 
 type, whom it is a pleasure to meet. He 
 has resided in the state for over forty years 
 and has the confidence and esteem not only 
 of his official colleagues but also of all with 
 whom he has dealings. His official career 
 extends over a period of ten years, during 
 which time the affairs of his office have 
 been carried on in a strictly business-like 
 and methodical way, showing conclusively 
 that a master hand is at the helm. 
 
 Through care and honorable business 
 transactions, outside of his official capacity, 
 Mr. Dyer has accumulated a competency, 
 sufficient at least to guarantee himself and 
 family their evenings of life in peace and 
 prosperity. He has associated himself with 
 and is one of the directors of the Lone Star 
 Commission Company, for the handling of 
 live stock. This company was organized 
 and incorporated in Texas in the year 1894, 
 with headquarters at Kansas City, Missouri, 
 with branch offices at Chicago and at other 
 important cities of the country, having large 
 stock-yards, fts capital stock is one hun- 
 dred thousand dollars, and from its incep- 
 tion it has done a safe, conservative and 
 constantly increasing business. It is well 
 known among stock dealers, not only in 
 this but also in surrounding states. The 
 directors and managers are as follows: 
 E. G. P. Kellum, of Valley Mills, Texas, 
 president; F. Kell, of Clifton, Texas, vice- 
 president; M. N. Baker, of Hamilton, Texas, 
 secretary; S. D. Felt, of I\ansas City, Mis- 
 
624 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 souri, treasurer; A. Wheeler, of Waco, 
 Texas; John Dyer and J. S. Rizer, of Merid- 
 ian, Texas; A. Y. Reeder, of Amarillo, 
 Texas; and R. A. Riddels, of Kansas City. 
 
 Our subject is a Georgian by birth, born 
 in Cherokee county, August 19, 1849, and 
 is a son of Simpson C. and Sarah A. (Bell) 
 Dyer, the former a native of Kentucky and 
 the latter of Georgia. The father is now 
 deceased, having died in August, 1876. Mr. 
 Dyer, of this review, was the seventh in a 
 family of ten children and accompanied his 
 parents to this state in 1854, locating first 
 in Hill county. From early boyhood he 
 has been actively engaged in the cattle busi- 
 ness, buying, feeding and shipping, and in 
 the year 1895 handled about three thousand 
 head. He has also farm property, consist- 
 ing of six hundred acres, fifteen miles east 
 of the city of Meridian, nearl}' all of which 
 is under cultivation. 
 
 Mr. Dyer was married in Louisiana, on 
 the 6th of June, 1866, the lady of his choice 
 being Miss Marie F. Wootten, a native of 
 Georgia, and five children have been born 
 to them who are now living, — Lucile, 
 Ernest H., Alma Pearl, Camille and Ruda- 
 sill. Eugene W., the eldest child, died 
 April 14, 1895. The family hold their re- 
 ligious membership in the Baptist church. 
 Mr. Dyer was elected tax collector on the 
 Democratic ticket in November, 1886, and 
 has been constantly in office since that 
 time, giving general satisfaction. 
 
 eLDERJOHN C. R. LOCKHART 
 has devoted the greater part of his 
 life to gospel work, untiring in 
 his labors in the interests of Chris- 
 tianity, and has been instrumental in bring- 
 ing many souls into the Master's vineyard, 
 
 and wherever he is known he has the love 
 and respect of all in the highest degree. 
 Such a life is a benediction to those who 
 come under its influence, and long after he 
 shall have been called to the home beyond 
 his memory will be cherished in the hearts 
 of those to whom he brought the hope of 
 immortality. 
 
 Elder Lockhart was born in Jones county, 
 Georgia, on the 3d of May, 1823, and is a 
 son of William and Marthia (Finney) Lock- 
 hart, both natives of the same state and of 
 English descent. They spent their entire 
 lives in Georgia, but during the early child- 
 hood of our subject removed from Jones to 
 Talbot county. There John acquired his 
 literary education and made his home until 
 1859, when he removed to Covington county, 
 Alabama. Subsequently he took up his 
 residence in Butler county, where he made 
 his home for ten years. Before leaving his 
 native state, however, he entered the min- 
 istry and began the labors which have 
 resulted in so much good to his fellow men. 
 He was baptized and became a member of 
 the Baptist church in 1839, and in 1841 
 was licensed to preach, serving one congre- 
 gation for a year. In 1846 he was ordained 
 by Elders R. H. Daniels, T. B. Cooper and 
 D. J. Apperson, and at once entered upon 
 the active work of the ministry. He was 
 given charge of the congregation in David- 
 son, Georgia, where he remained for ten 
 years, and was very successful in his minis- 
 terial work there. For fourteen years he 
 carried on his labors in Alabama, severing 
 his connection with the ministry of that 
 state in 1871, when he came with his family 
 to Texas. After a year spent in Navarro 
 county he removed to Limestone county, 
 whence he later removed to Dallas, Texas, 
 where he had charge of the Big Spring 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 625 
 
 Baptist church for one year, although he 
 continued his residence there for three years, 
 preaching all the time for different congre- 
 gations. From Dallas he came to Erath 
 county, locating at Bluff Dale, and through 
 the succeeding five years supplied several 
 pulpits. After removing to Hood county he 
 preached for three years in High Tower 
 valley and then went to Parker county, 
 making his home near Weatherford, where 
 he continued his ministerial labors until 
 coming to his present farm in Erath county, 
 in 1883. Since then he has been supplying 
 regular charges and at the same time has given 
 his personal supervision to his farm, which 
 comprises ninety acres of valuable land, all 
 under a high state of cultivation. 
 
 Mr. Lockhart has been thrice married. 
 In 1 84 1 he wedded Miss Caroline Stearns, 
 and to them were born three children, — 
 William H. H., Zachariah and one who 
 died in infancy. The mother passed away 
 in 1847, and for his second wife our subject 
 chose Mrs. Sarah Martha (Bates) Esom. 
 Of this marriage were born eight children, 
 as follows: John T., Savanna J., Joseph 
 P., Anna and Ella, twins, Mary, Carolina 
 B. and Laura. Mrs. Lockhart was called 
 to the home beyond this life, and Elder 
 Lockhart was united in the holy bonds of 
 matrimony with Lucretia Driver, in 1864. 
 The children of the third marriage were 
 Jesse A., Elizabeth, Vilula, David, C. R., 
 Sallie, R. P., James G., Charles R., Julia 
 A., Samuel H. P., D. B., George E. and 
 Benjamin O. Twelve of these children are 
 living. 
 
 To give a summarized account of the 
 labors of Elder Lockhart would require a 
 measurement for the influence that never 
 dies, but goes on through all time. His 
 work has been largely in the evangelization 
 
 field, and his labors have made the world 
 better. At one time, in payment for an 
 eight-days meeting, he was given money 
 and goods to the value of eighty dollars, — 
 a fact which shows that his services were 
 most highly appreciated. During his min- 
 istry he has baptized eleven hundred per- 
 sons and has received into the church about 
 twenty-five hundred. He baptized one 
 hundred and thirty-si.x into one church 
 alone, and has baptized fifteen men who 
 have become preachers of the gospel, eleven 
 of whom were converted under his preach- 
 ing. Por fifty-two years he has given his 
 labors to his holy calling, carrying the "glad 
 tidings of great joy " to all classes of people. 
 Through all these years he has been 
 blessed with most excellent health, and to a 
 remarkable degree retains the vigor of his 
 youth. He speaks with wonderful power, 
 has the closest attention of his auditors, and 
 the word of truth has sunk deep into many 
 hearts where in due time it has brought forth 
 abundant harvests of good works. He has 
 the respect of all the humble and great, the 
 rich and the poor; and the needy, the dis- 
 tressed and the unfortunate receive his 
 sympathy, his aid and assistance, — his help- 
 ing hand being ever extended to such. In 
 the field of politics he is often seen, advo- 
 cating the principles of the Populist party, 
 of which he is a stanch advocate. 
 
 ^^T-;^ AMP E. RICHARDS.— There are 
 1^^^ numerous fine farms in Bosque 
 \ . r county which will compare favora- 
 bly with any others in the state as 
 regards production and also as regards the 
 improvements which have been made upon 
 them. Many of these places are owned by 
 men comparatively young in years, who 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 started in life with but little more than an 
 unlimited amount of energy and persever- 
 ance, and who are succeeding to an eminent 
 degree in building up a comfortable home 
 in the Lone Star state. As a representa- 
 tive of this class of agriculturists, great 
 pleasure is taken in presenting the name of 
 the subject of this notice, whose farm is 
 pleasantly situated six miles south of Clifton. 
 
 Mr. Richards first opened his eyes to the 
 light in Trinity county, Te.xas, on the iith 
 of November, 1859, at the home of his 
 parents, William and Catherine (Birch) Rich- 
 ards, the former a native of Alabama and 
 the latter of Kentucky. Their family com- 
 prised seven children, of whom our subject 
 is the youngest. The earthly career of the 
 father was ended December 21, 1893. 
 
 In the early '60s Mr. Richards, of this 
 review, came to Bosque county, where he 
 now owns a valuable farm of one hundred 
 acres, eighty of which has been placed under 
 cultivation, and it is one of the model places 
 of the county, which attests the supervision 
 of a careful and painstaking owner. On 
 the 15th of November, 1883, Mr. Richards 
 was joined in wedlock with Miss Emma 
 Phillips, a native of Texas, and to them 
 have been born eight children — Pierce, Ol- 
 lie, Berty, Clarence, Oscar, Guy, Carl and 
 Walter. Our subject takes no active inter- 
 est in political matters other than as a stanch 
 advocate of good local government, his 
 time and attention being strictly devoted to 
 his farm interests. 
 
 HOMAS BROWN, one of the most 
 
 successful farmers of Comanche 
 
 county, who has been identified 
 
 with the interests of this locality 
 
 since 1874, was born in North Carolina, 
 
 May 30, 1844, ^nd 's descended from good 
 old Revolutionary stock. His grandparents 
 were John and Tena (Waggoner) Brown, 
 and the former aided the colonies in achiev- 
 ing their independence. They spent their 
 entire lives in North Carolina and lie buried 
 in John Brown cemetery. They had ten 
 sons, — Adam, Henry, Thomas, George, 
 Jacob, Joel, James, John, William and one 
 who died in childhood. 
 
 Joel Brown, father of our subject, was 
 born in North Carolina, reared on the old 
 homestead farm and after attaining to man's 
 estate married Elizabeth Waggoner, a 
 cousin, and daughter of John and Polly 
 Waggoner. They became parents of ten 
 children, namely: Mary, Louisa, Christina, 
 John, who was killed in the civil war at 
 Manassas Junction, Thomas, Susan, Nancy, 
 Martha, Elizabeth and Dinah. The mother 
 of this family died at the age of forty-five, 
 the father at the age of fifty-two years. 
 He was a farmer by occupation and in his 
 political views was a Democrat. 
 
 Thomas Brown of this sketch was reared 
 under the parental roof and early formed 
 habits of industry and energy that have 
 been important factors in his business life. 
 At the age of nineteen he entered the south- 
 ern army in the First North Carolina Bat- 
 talion of Sharpshooters, serving for two years 
 and participating in the battles of Peters- 
 burg, Richmond and the engagements in 
 the valley of Virginia under General Early. 
 He was on detached service for a time and 
 then did special duty. 
 
 When the war was over Mr. Brown re- 
 turned home and on the 7th of May, 1865, 
 married Frances Sparks, a native of North 
 Carolina and a daughter of Daniel Sparks, 
 who was born in the same state and was a 
 son of John and Rose Sparks, his father of 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 627 
 
 English and his mother of Irish descent. 
 Daniel Sparks married Kizziah Holloway, a 
 native of North Carolina and a daughter of 
 Daniel and Mary (Woodruff) Holloway. 
 To Mr. and Mrs. Sparks were born five 
 children, Jane, John, William, Frances 
 Brown and Daniel. The father died during 
 the early childhood of Mrs. Brown and the 
 mother died at the home of her daughter. 
 May 9, 1892, at the age of sixty-seven 
 years. Both were earnest Christian people, 
 devoted to the right. 
 
 In 1874 Mr. Brown came to Te.xas, mak- 
 ing the journey with teams and wagon. He 
 now has oae of the best farms in this sec- 
 tion of the state, owning a tract of four hun- 
 dred and ten acres of rich land, of which two 
 hundred acres are under a high state of cul- 
 tivation. Among the improvements on the 
 place are a comfortable home, substantial 
 barns and outbuildings, an orchard and well 
 kept fences. The owner is regarded as one 
 of the most progressive agriculturists of the 
 community, and by his well directed efforts 
 and capable management he has secured a 
 handsome competence. In politics he is a 
 Populist and believes in " free silver " and a 
 high protection on sugar, wool and other 
 commodities which are home-grown and are 
 a necessity in very family. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Brown have ten children 
 living, namely: Mary, William, Eliza, John, 
 Keziah, Susan, Bolivar, Boone, Lee and 
 Maggie. They also lost three who died in 
 infancy. They have now nine grandchildren. 
 
 >Y'AMES berry SMITH, who has 
 
 fl been a resident of Comanche county 
 
 A 1 since 1876, and dates his residence 
 
 in Texas from 1841, was born in 
 
 arroU county, Tennessee, November 2, 
 
 1 83 1. The grandfather of our subject, 
 Howell Smith, was a native of Kentucky 
 and of English and Irish descent. Mitchell 
 Smith, the father of our subject, was born 
 in Kentucky and there spent the days of his 
 boyhood and youth. When twenty-six 
 years of age he married Matilda Berry, who 
 belonged to one of the highly respected old 
 southern families, a daughter of William 
 Berry, who was born in Kentucky and was 
 of German lineage. He died in Lincoln 
 county, Tennessee. The parents of our 
 subject lived in Carroll county, Tennessee, 
 until 1 84 1, when they emigrated to Texas, 
 settling in Red River county, where they 
 made their home for five years and then 
 came to Hopkins county, where the father's 
 death occurred in 1884, when he reached 
 the age of eighty-three years. He was a 
 farmer and stock-raiser by occupation, was 
 a Democrat in politics, and in his religious 
 affiliations was a Methodist. His wife died 
 on the family homestead in Hopkins county 
 in 1864. She, too, was a consistent mem- 
 ber of the Methodist church and reared her 
 children in that faith. The members of the 
 family were Allen M., Martha, Mary A., 
 James Berry, John Wesley, Thomas M., 
 Jefferson S., Maria Jane and Joshua S. 
 Four of the sons were soldiers in the late 
 war. 
 
 The subject of this review was a child of 
 ten years when with his parents he came to 
 Texas. He was reared on his father's 
 ranch, and attended the public schools, but 
 has also learned many valuable lessons in the 
 school of experience. During the war he 
 served in the Sixteenth Texas Infantry, be- 
 ing a member of Company K, commanded 
 by Captain A. B. Minta, while the regiment 
 was commanded by Colonel Waterhouse. 
 He was in the quartermaster's department 
 
628 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana until the 
 close of the war, and when hostilities had 
 ceased returned to Hopkins county, where 
 he remained until 1867, when he went to 
 Collin county for a four-years residence 
 there. His next home was in Grayson coun- 
 ty, where he remained until 1876, when he 
 came to his present farm. He has now a 
 valuable property of four hundred and 
 eighty acres, of which one hundred and 
 twenty-five acres are under a high state of 
 cultivation, while an orchard covering an 
 acre and a half, together with many modern 
 improvements and accessories of conven- 
 ience, make this one of the valuable farms 
 of the county. 
 
 Mr. Smith was married January 11, 
 1855, to Miss Ellen Hoffman, an estimable 
 lady, whose culture and many excellent 
 traits of character have gained her many 
 friends. She was born in Sabine county, 
 Texas, a daughter of Dave Hoffman, an 
 honored pioneer of Sabine county and a na- 
 tive of Alabama, of German parentage. He 
 came to Texas in 1834 and was largely en- 
 gaged in the warfare against the Indians, 
 having many narrow escapes and being a 
 participant in much hard service. He mar- 
 ried Eliza Rebecca Campbell, who was born 
 in North Carolina and was of Scotch extrac- 
 tion. They had ten children, namely: Ann, 
 Marcella, Irene, Mary, Archibald, David 
 M., Henry, Ellen, Smith and Wolf Allen. 
 Archibald was a soldier in the Mexican war. 
 The father of this family was an extensive 
 and prominent dealer in land and stock, and 
 in his political associations was a Democrat. 
 The mother was a member of the Baptist 
 church and was a consistent Christian wo- 
 man. Her death occurred in 1859. The 
 children of Mr. and Mrs. Smith are Robert 
 Early; David Osro; Anna Berry, James 
 
 Rice, Maggie Louisa, A. J., Mack, John H. 
 and Maud Lee. They also lost two chil- 
 dren: Pleasant Allen, who died at the age 
 of six years; and Mary Ida, who died at the 
 age of four. 
 
 In his political belief Mr. Smith is a 
 Democrat and a strong advocate of "free 
 silver." He and his family are widely and 
 favorably known, are popular and highly 
 esteemed people, and their hospitable home 
 is a favorite resort with manv friends. 
 
 ^y^AVID CROCKETT HENDRIX, 
 
 I la worthy representative of the 
 /f^^_^ farming and stock-raising interests 
 of Hamilton county, pitched his 
 tent within its limits in the fall of 1868, 
 purchasing at that time one hundred and 
 sixty acres. He now has a valuable tract 
 of forty-eight hundred acres, of which two 
 hundred and fifty have been cleared and 
 placed under a high state of cultivation. 
 His comfortable home was erected in 1881. 
 He has watched the development of the 
 resources of the state with the interest 
 which every intelligent man feels in regard 
 to the section of the country where he has 
 spent the best years of his life, and should 
 feel satisfaction in the thought that he has 
 been no unimportant factor in bringing it to 
 its present condition. He experienced all 
 the trials and difficulties of frontier life, but 
 is now enjoying the reward of his labors, 
 being surrounded by all of the comforts and 
 many of the luxuries of life. 
 
 Mr. Hendrix was born in Pickens county, 
 South Carolina, December 26, 1840, and is 
 a son of John Bayliss and Julia (Hunt) Hen- 
 drix, also natives of that state, where their 
 marriage was celebrated. The former was 
 of Scotch-Irish extraction, and the latter of 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 629 
 
 English descent. In their family were six 
 children: David C, Abraham, Rosaline. 
 Relia Ann, Elmina and Mary Jane. From 
 South Carolina the parents removed to 
 Oktibbeha county, Mississippi, and in 1859 
 went to Prairie county, Arkansas. The 
 father later became a resident of Texas, 
 where his death occurred in August, 1893, 
 at the age of seventy-eight years. 
 
 David Hendrix, the grandfather of our 
 subject, was a native of South Carolina, 
 where he married Miss Hill, by whom he 
 had five sons and two daughters, namely: 
 George, Moses, Abraham, Bennett, JohnB., 
 Susan and Elizabeth. All lived to be old 
 and remained in South Carolina with the 
 exception of Bennett and John B. The 
 grandfather was a Revolutionary soldier, and 
 in politics was a Democrat, as was also the 
 father of our subject. One son, Moses, 
 served in the Confederate army during the 
 civil war. Lacy Hunt, the maternal grand- 
 father, died when our subject was a small 
 boy. He was also born in South Carolina, 
 was married there, and had seven children, 
 — Esley, Julia. John, Pilot, McDuffy, Orphy 
 and Rosa. 
 
 While living at home with his parents, 
 in Arkansas, the civil war broke out, and 
 Mr. Hendrix of this review joined Company 
 G, Fifth Arkansas Infantry, in March, 1861, 
 and became a member of Claiborn's divis- 
 ion, with which command he remained un- 
 til the last year of the war. At Murfrees- 
 boro he was wounded by a piece of shell, 
 and for about a month was in the hospital. 
 Near Corinth, Mississippi, he was again 
 wounded, this time in the right thigh by a 
 ball, and was in the hospital then for a 
 month. He was next wounded near Browns- 
 ville, Arkansas, by a ball passing through 
 his left leg, and at the same time was taken 
 
 prisoner, but managed to escape. He was 
 stationed at the mouth of the White river 
 in Arkansas at the close of the war, after 
 which he returned to his home, but in the 
 fall of 1865 came to Texas, where his uncle, 
 Bennett Hendrix, was engaged in black- 
 smithing, and three years later located upon 
 his present place. 
 
 On the 3d of May, 1867, was celebrated 
 the marriage of Mr. Hendrix and Mrs. Sarah 
 Griffith, who was born in Marion county, 
 Tennessee, and is the daughter of Charles 
 and Susan (Gray) Price. In her native 
 state, in September, 1857, she wedded 
 Amos Griffith, by whom she had two chil- 
 dren: Susan Irene, born October 26, 1858, 
 married John Livingston; and Jesse Frank- 
 lin, born February 8, 1862, married Cora 
 McCain, and is now living in Stephens 
 county, Texas. Mrs. Griffith came to Texas 
 soon after her first marriage, locating first 
 in Hamilton county, but during the war 
 made her home in Bell county. By her 
 union with our subject she has become the 
 mother of five children: Zelia Ann, born 
 February 8, 1868, died July 10, 1872; an 
 infant daughter, born December 12, 1874, 
 died a few days later; Malinda Adline was 
 born March 26, 1872; Corda Belle was born 
 April 12, 1876; and David Crockett was 
 born March 10, 1879. 
 
 Mr. Hendrix always supported the Dem- 
 ocratic party until 1896, since which time he 
 has been a Populist, and served as com- 
 missioner from 1890 until 1894. For 
 twelve years he has held his religious mem- 
 bership in the Christian church, has been a 
 Mason since joining Gatesville Lodge in 
 1870, and at Gatesville two years later be- 
 came an Odd Fellow. He served as dele- 
 gate to the grand lodges held at San Antonio 
 in 1 891 and Dallas in 1892, and is one of 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 the charter members of Hamilton lodge. 
 Few men during the civil war saw more ar- 
 duous service or were more brave on the 
 field of battle than Mr. Hendrix, and al- 
 though wounded three times it seemed that 
 he had a charmed life, as his comrades fell 
 thickly around him while he was spared. 
 
 >^ WASH McCULLUM is one of the 
 ■ popular and esteemed citizens of 
 m 1 Comanche county, well deserving of 
 representation in this volume, whose 
 province is to record the life work of the 
 representative citizens of central Texas. He 
 was born in Floyd county, Georgia, Octo- 
 ber 19, 1853. and his parents, J. O. and 
 Hannah (Garner) McCulIum, were born, 
 reared and married in South Carolina. The 
 father was of Scotch-Irish descent, and 
 throughout life followed farming. In 1861 
 he joined the Fifth Alabama Battalion under 
 Stonewall Jackson, and served for four years 
 in defense of the Confederacy. At the bat- 
 tle of Fredericksburg he was wounded and 
 left on the field for dead. Reviving, he was 
 captured by the Union troops and held a 
 prisoner until Lee's surrender, suffering all 
 the hardships of prison life. 
 
 The war over, he returned home to find 
 much of his property had been destroyed. 
 In 1876 he removed from Georgia to Co- 
 manche county, Texas, where he died July 
 25, 1895. He was a stalwart Democrat, 
 and in religious belief his wife was a Meth- 
 odist. Her death occurred October 24, 
 1894. They had seven children: John, a 
 soldier of the late war, now a farmer of 
 Eastland county, Texas; Amanda, wife of 
 Jo Cashia; Mary, wife of T. P. Buckholter, 
 a farmer; W. D., of Cave Springs, Georgia; 
 
 J. W. ; Samuel, a farmer of Erath county; 
 and one who died in childhood. 
 
 Our subject was reared to farm life, and 
 in his youth received but meager school 
 privileges, but through practice, experience 
 and observation has become well informed. 
 At the age of nineteen he left his parents' 
 home and came to Comanche county, Texas, 
 where he has since resided. He was vari- 
 ously employed until 1874, when he joined 
 a ranging company in the state service, and 
 for three \-ears was engaged in active duty 
 on the frontier against the Indians. In 
 1876 he returned to Georgia and induced 
 his father to remove with his family to this 
 state. In 1878 he began farming for him- 
 self on rented land, and three years later 
 bought a tract of timber land, which he soon 
 began transforming into a good farm. His 
 realty possessions comprise four hundred 
 acres, of which one hundred and fifty-five 
 acres is contained in well-tilled fields. On 
 the place is a good orchard, a commodious 
 frame residence and substantial outbuildings, 
 and the farm, situated nine miles east of 
 Comanche, is a desirable property. Mr. 
 McCullum is also engaged in stock-raising. 
 
 In 1878 he married Miss M. J. Banner, 
 who was born in Virginia in 1856, a daugh- 
 ter of J. \V. Banner, of that state, who 
 came to Texas in 1871, and after spending 
 a year in Collin county removed to Co- 
 manche county in 1873. Here he devel- 
 oped a farm on which he yet resides. He 
 was a Confederate soldier during the late 
 war, and is a member of the Missionary 
 Baptist church. His wife, who also be- 
 longed to that church, died January 18, 
 1883. They had eight children, namely: 
 Jeff, Charles, Jacob, William, Winnie, M. 
 J., John and Amanda. Mr. and Mrs. Mc- 
 Cullum have five children, — Jack, John, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 681 
 
 James, Minnie and Charlie, and lost one in 
 infancy. The parents are consistent mem- 
 bers of the Primitive Baptist church, and 
 Mr. McCullum is a stalwart Democrat. 
 Both are highly esteemed, and their friends 
 throughout the community are many, while 
 the cordial hospitality of their home is ex- 
 tended to all. 
 
 EUGH C. FOSTER.— Among the 
 prominent and prosperous farmers 
 and stock-growers of central Texas 
 stands Hugh C. Foster. He has 
 been closely identified with the growth and 
 prosperity of this section of the state for a 
 number of years, and during this time the 
 family name has become well and favorably 
 known. 
 
 Mr. Foster first saw the light of day 
 October 13, 1844, in Jackson county, Ala- 
 bama, and is a son of Thomas B. Foster 
 and Eleanor itcc Cowen. The latter 
 was a native of Tennessee, while the 
 former was born in Virginia and traced his 
 genealogy back to the first families of the 
 Old Dominion. Hugh C. was the fifth born 
 in their family of eleven children, was reared 
 to farm life in his native state, and was yet 
 in his 'teens at the time the Civil war came 
 on. Of southern birth and education, he 
 naturally espoused the Confederate cause, 
 and in 1862 we find him enlisting as a pri- 
 vate in the Fifty-fifth Alabama Infantry, of 
 which he was a member until the close of 
 the war. He was with his command at 
 Vicksburg four months and during forty- 
 seven days of that time was in the ditches. 
 While there he was taken prisoner, but was 
 at once paroled, and at another time, at 
 Chattanooga, he fell into the hands of the 
 federal soldiers. 
 
 At the close of the war Mr. Foster re- 
 turned to his home in Alabama, where he 
 remained, engaged in farming, until 1869, 
 the date of his emigration to Texas. On 
 landing in this state he first located near 
 the city of Austin, where he spent some fif- 
 teen years in farming and stock-raising. He 
 removed to Comanche county in 1883 and 
 settled on his present farm, about twenty 
 miles northwest of Comanche, where he 
 owns a valuable tract of land, three hundred 
 and seventy-five acres in extent, which has 
 under his well directed efforts been devel- 
 oped into one of the finest farms in the 
 community. One hundred acres of its soil 
 have been furrowed and refurrowed and 
 brought under a high state of cultivation. 
 On a beautiful building site stands the resi- 
 dence, surrounded with ornamental trees 
 j of natural growth, and also fruits of various 
 kinds, including a family orchard, and 
 among other improvements are substantial 
 and convenient outbuildings for stock and 
 poultry. 
 
 Mr. Foster chose for his life companion 
 Miss Josie Jones, whom he wedded in Travis 
 county, this state, September 10, 1873, and 
 has since presided over his home. She is a 
 native of Texas and a daughter of Robert 
 Jones, one of the pioneers of the Lone Star 
 state, the date of his arrival here being in 
 1851. Mr. and Mrs. Foster have a family 
 of eight children, their names in order of 
 birth being as follows: Ella, Robert, Alonzo, 
 Walter F., Effie, Addie, Gussie and Hugh 
 M. Also they have an infant son not yet 
 named. 
 
 Mr. Foster has always been a supporter 
 of the Democratic party and its principles, 
 and socially he affiliates with the Masonic 
 order, Sipe Springs Lodge, No. 537, A. F. 
 & A. M. For a number of years he has 
 
032 
 
 HIS TOR r OF TEXAS 
 
 served on the school board of his district, 
 and is recognised as a friend to education 
 and to all measures and enterprises which 
 have for their object the advancement of 
 the best interests of his community. 
 
 IHOMAS R. PENINGTON, one of 
 the prominent and progressive farm- 
 ers of Comanche county, is a native 
 of Illinois, his birth having occurred 
 in Knox county, that state, November 13, 
 1834. His parents were Wesley and Mar- 
 garet (McCallester) Penington, both of whom 
 were natives of Kentucky and are now 
 deceased, the father having passed away in 
 1867, while the mother was called to the 
 eternal home in 1862. They were married 
 in Vincennes, Indiana, and after some years' 
 residence in Illinois they removed to Mis- 
 souri, settling in Polk county, where thSy 
 continued to make their home for two years. 
 They then started southward and for a num- 
 ber of years were residents of Te.xas. They 
 then returned to Missouri, and after the 
 mother's death the father subsequently 
 again came to the Lone Star state, living in 
 Comanche county for a time and spending 
 his last days in Washington county. 
 
 The subject of this review was reared in 
 his parents' home and early became familiar 
 with all the duties that fall to the lot of the 
 agriculturist. Since that time he has con- 
 tinued his labors in the fields and is now the 
 owner of one of the fine farms of Comanche 
 county. He resides on his father's old 
 homestead, situated about six miles north of 
 the city of Comanche, and there owns two 
 hundred and twenty-seven acres of land, one 
 hundred of which are under a very high 
 state of cultivation. The richness of the 
 soil and the careful attention which he pays 
 
 to his crops brings him a good yield. He 
 also has a very fine peach orchard of three 
 acres, and his farm stock is graded, his cat- 
 tle being of the Jersey breed. He is pro- 
 gressive, keeping abreast with all the im- 
 provements of the day, and is an energetic, 
 wide-awake business man, whose success is 
 well deserved. 
 
 Mr. Penington has always taken a deep 
 interest in educational matters and does all 
 in his power for the advancement of this 
 cause in his community. For fifteen years 
 he has been an efficient and valued member 
 of the school board and has labored untir- 
 ingly to raise the standard of schools in this 
 locality. He and his family are consistent 
 members of the Christian church, and in 
 politics he affiliates with the Populist party. 
 
 Mr. Penington was married in the year 
 1865, the lady of his choice being Miss 
 Frances Jane Whitaker, a native of Texas. 
 Ten children have been born to them, 
 namely: Margaret, Matilda, William H., 
 Ollie, Maud, John E. , Thomas. Claude, 
 James and Beulah. 
 
 ISAAC MOORE is numbered among 
 Hood county's leading citizens, be- 
 ing prominently connected with its 
 agricultural and milling interests, 
 and few men are better known or more 
 highly respected in central Texas. He is 
 also a representative of that patriotic band 
 of men who, reared in the south and true 
 to its principles and its teachings, went 
 forth in its defense at the time of the civil 
 war. He ever loyally upholds his princi- 
 ples and what he believes to be right, and 
 all who know him respect him for his ster- 
 ling worth. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 633 
 
 Mr. Moore is a native of Grayson county, 
 Virginia, born November 28, 1831, a son of 
 James and Lydia (Hanks) Moore. Tfie 
 Moores were an early colonial family and 
 the grandfather of our subject, William 
 Moore, was probably a soldier in the Revo- 
 lution. James Moore was a native of Surry 
 county. North Carolina, and when he had 
 arrived at years of maturity married Miss 
 Hanks, who was born in Virginia and was 
 a daughter of Joshua Hanks, who was also 
 born in the Old Dominion and aided the 
 colonies in the struggle which brought to 
 this country her independence. James 
 Moore was also found in the military serv- 
 ice of his native land, taking part in the 
 second war against England. He was a 
 farmer by occupation, following that pur- 
 suit throughout his business career. About 
 1843 he removed with his family to the 
 Cherokee purchase in Georgia, where he 
 spent his remaining days, his death occur- 
 ring at the age of sixty-five years. His wife 
 reached the advanced age of ninety-eight, 
 and her father was one hundred and two 
 years old at the time of his death! In the 
 family were eight children, seven of whom 
 reached adult age, while three are yet living. 
 Isaac Moore was reared on the old home- 
 stead and through the winter months at- 
 tended the public school, while in the sum- 
 mer season he aided in the labors of the 
 fields. When he had reached man's estate 
 he started out in life for himself, and as a 
 companion on the journey he chose Miss 
 Caroline Barton, the marriage being cele- 
 brated January 27, 1853. The lady is a 
 native of South Carolina and a daughter of 
 Joseph and Morning (Cannon) Barton. The 
 young couple began their domestic life in 
 Georgia and after three years removed to 
 Alabama, setthng in Marshall county, where I 
 
 Mr. Moore engaged in farming until the 
 commencement of the war. 
 
 Feeling that the call to duty on the field 
 of battle should be answered by all loyal 
 sons of the south, he enlisted, in 1862, as a 
 member of the Fourth Alabama Cavalry, 
 and served with the Army of the Tennessee. 
 Among others he participated in the battles 
 of Nashville, Parker's Cross Roads, Racine, 
 Strawberry Plains, and at the last named 
 was wounded in the right shoulder. While 
 serving on detail duty he was captured and 
 taken as a prisoner of war to Camp Chase, 
 in Ohio, where he was confined for nine 
 months and twenty days, or until the close 
 of the war. 
 
 When hostilities had ceased he returned 
 to Alabama and followed farming in that 
 state until his removal to Texas in 1869. 
 Coming to Hood county he settled on an un- 
 improved tract of land on Pony creek, and 
 to-day is the owner of three hundred and 
 forty-eight acres of land, of which one hun- 
 dred acres has been transformed into rich 
 and fertile fields that yield a good return for 
 his labor. In the early days the settlers ex- 
 perienced much trouble with the Indians, 
 but all that is now passed and Hood county 
 is the home of a contented, prosperous 
 people and is a monument to the thrift, en- 
 terprise and progressiveness of such men as 
 Mr. Moore. 
 
 To our subject and his wife was born a 
 daughter, Margaret Jane, but when she was 
 five years of age she passed away. Their 
 kindness and generosity, however, has 
 prompted them to care for two orphans and 
 therefore the home has not been ch:ldless. 
 These were Amanda Lane, who became the 
 wife of J. P. Jackson; and Robert Sexton, 
 of New Mexico. 
 
 Mr. Moore is an esteemed member of 
 
034 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Paluxy Lodge, No. 393, F. & A. M., and in 
 politics he is an uncompromising Democrat. 
 Both he and his wife are members of the 
 Methodist Episcopal church, and by all who 
 know them are held in high regard. 
 
 •^ J* W. BULL is numbered among the 
 J pioneers of Erath county, dating his 
 /» ^ residence here from 1859. He has 
 always lived in the south and is a 
 native of Grainger county, Tennessee, his 
 birth having occurred on the ist of June, 
 1 818. His parents were John and F. 
 (Bean) Bull, the former a native of Mary- 
 land, of English ancestry, while the latter 
 belonged to one of the old families of east 
 Tennessee. During the childhood of our 
 subject his parents removed to Alabama, 
 locating in Walker county, whence they 
 afterward went to Marion county, in the 
 same state. The father was a gunsmith by 
 occupation, but followed farming for many 
 years. He died in Alabama, at the age of 
 sixty-three years, after which the mother 
 came to Texas, her death occurring in Leon 
 county at the age of seventy. They were 
 members of the Methodist Episcopal church 
 and were people of genuine worth. Their 
 family numbered seven children, four of 
 whom are still living. 
 
 Our subject was reared on his father's 
 farm in Walker and Marion counties, Ala- 
 bama, and his education was acquired in 
 the common schools. He lived with his 
 mother and sisters until he was twenty-eight 
 years of age, when he was married and 
 went to a home of his own. In 1844 he 
 wedded Miss Jane S. Easterly, a native of 
 east Tennessee and a daughter of John 
 Easterly, who was of Dutch ancestry. Mr. 
 
 Bull turned his attention to farming in Ma- 
 rion county, where he made his home until 
 1853, wlien he came to Texas and opened 
 up a farm in Leon county. He there owned 
 and worked sixty acres of land until 1859, 
 — the year of his arrival in Erath county, — 
 when he took up his residence upon the farm 
 where John Meek now resides. In the fall of 
 1 86 1 he pre-empted one hundred and sixty 
 acres of wild land and at once began its devel- 
 opment, but through the next ten years his 
 labors were often interrupted by Indian 
 troubles, — a state of affairs which made 
 frontier life in Texas fraught with much 
 danger. Mr. Bull is now the owner of one 
 hundred acres of land highly cultivated, and 
 the rich returns derived therefrom afford 
 him a comfortable income. 
 
 By the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Bull 
 there were the following children: R. V., 
 of Stephens county, Texas; John E., who 
 died at the age of twenty-three years; Solan 
 A., who is living in Moore, Texas; J. E., 
 of Oklahoma; George W., of Greer county; 
 and Mary, wife of D. H. Smith, of Erath 
 county. The mother of this family died in 
 1883. The following year Mr. Bull mar- 
 ried Mrs. Mitchell, a native of Arkansas, 
 who was then living in Texas. She died 
 November 17, 1885, leaving one child. Ai- 
 mer. On the 1 8th of December, 1886, our 
 subject wedded Mrs. Long, whose maiden 
 name was Wilson. She was a native of 
 Georgia and came to Texas in 1878. 
 
 Mr. Bull is a member of the Methodist 
 Episcopal church, and in his political views 
 is a Democrat. During the late war he 
 aided in defense of the frontier and at the 
 battle of Concho was wounded in the thigh. 
 He is a public-spirited, progressive citizen, 
 deeply interested in the welfare of the com- 
 munity and all that pertains to its progress. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 635 
 
 BON. BALLARD WOHLFORD, 
 who has served his district in the 
 state legislature and has been 
 prominently connected with the 
 various enterprises and interests which have 
 developed the resources and aided in the 
 upbuilding of Hood county, is numbered 
 among the honored and representative citi- 
 zens of this section of the state. His identi- 
 fication with all that tends to promote the 
 county's welfare materially, educationally or 
 morally, has been most commendable, and 
 he is a citizen that Texas could ill afford to 
 lose. 
 
 Mr. Wohlford was born in Grainger 
 county, Tennessee, November 23, 1849, a 
 son of John Louis and Louisa (Coose) 
 Wohlford. His father was born in Wythe 
 county, Virginia, September i, 1826, a son 
 of Jacob Wohlford, who lived in Lancaster, 
 Pennsylvania, during his childhood, and 
 who was descended from German ancestry 
 that located in this country prior to the war 
 of the Revolution. The father of our sub- 
 ject went to Tennessee when about twenty 
 years of age and there married Miss Louisa, 
 daughter of William Coose, a pioneer of 
 Grainger county. Mr. Wohlford had learned 
 the cabinet-maker's trade under the direc- 
 tion of his father, and after removing to 
 Tennessee he studied medicine. During 
 the Mexican war he joined his country 
 service and went as far as Buena Vista, 
 participating in all the engagements in 
 which his command took part. In 1859 he 
 came to Texas, making the journey with ox 
 teams and reaching. Grayson county after 
 weeks of travel. He first took up his abode 
 in Kaufman county, and in 1862 went to 
 Ellis county, where he practiced medicine 
 two years, when in 1864 he removed to 
 Henderson county. He was not long per- 
 
 mitted to enjoy his new home, however, for 
 his death occurred that year. He left a wife 
 and four sons, of whom our subject is the 
 eldest, the others being John, of Stephens 
 county; Robert, who died in Hood county, 
 at the age of thirty years; and James, also 
 of Stephens county. The mother removed 
 to Johnson county, now Hood county, in 
 1 866, and there married Robert P. Crockett, 
 a son of the celebrated David Crockett, the 
 pioneer whose bravery and courage have 
 become a matter of history. The mother 
 of our subject continued to live with Mr. 
 Crockett until her death, which occurred in 
 1888, at the age of fifty-seven years. 
 
 Mr. Wohlford, of this review, accom- 
 panied his mother to Texas and resided with 
 her until her marriage to Mr. Crockett, 
 when he went to Acton and attended school 
 there for about two years. He was married 
 November 5, 1871, to Miss Margaret Hiner, 
 a native of Navarro county, Texas, and a 
 daughter of James Hiner, deceased. Mr. 
 Wohlford and his bride began their domes- 
 tic life on a farm six miles east of Granbury, 
 where in connection with general farming 
 he engaged in stock-raising. He lived there 
 for seven years, after which he purchased a 
 place three miles from his first home. Here 
 he has seven hundred acres of good land, of 
 which three hundred and seventy-five acres 
 is under a high state of cultivation. He is 
 progressive in his business methods, enter- 
 prising in all things and is recognized as one 
 of the leading and influential citizens of 
 Hood county. 
 
 Nine children are included in the family 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Wohlford, seven sons and 
 two daughters, namely: Charles A., James 
 L., Henry E'., W. B., E. N., J. B., Mar- 
 garet L., Martha P. and John Milton. The 
 home is noted for that gracious hospitality 
 
63(3 
 
 HISTORY OF TEX A3. 
 
 for which the south is so justly celebrated, 
 and their friends throughout the community 
 are many. 
 
 Socially Mr. Wohlford is connected with 
 Acton Lodge, No. 285, F. & A. M., and has 
 filled all the chairs. Both in principle and 
 practice he has always been a strong tem- 
 perance man and an earnest worker in the 
 interests of that cause, laboring earnestly 
 for its acceptance among all classes. He 
 and his wife belong to the Methodist Epis- 
 copal church, south, and he is now serving 
 as one of its trustees. He exercises his 
 right of franchise in support of the men and 
 measures of the Democratic party, and in 
 1893 he was elected to the legislature, prov- 
 ing an acceptable and valued member of the 
 house, where he served on a number of im- 
 portant committees, including the commit- 
 tee on land and land offices, mining and 
 minerals, insurance statistics and history 
 and county boundaries. He has the grasp 
 of mind that enables him to reach far be- 
 yond the exigencies of the moment and see 
 the needs of the future. This made him 
 an able state official, and his public career, 
 as well as his private life, commanded the 
 confidence and respect of all with whom he 
 came in contact. 
 
 >^ J. DAVIDSON, one of Erath coun- 
 J ty's esteemed and influential citizens, 
 /» 1 came to Texas from Mississippi, his 
 native state. He was born in Nox- 
 ubee county on the 26th of April, 1855, a 
 son of W. P. and Frances (Kellis) David- 
 son, the former a native of Alabama and 
 the latter of North Carolina. Both were 
 reared in Mississippi, and the father died in 
 Noxubee county, while the mother spent 
 her last days in eastern Texas. 
 
 J. J. Davidson spent the first fifteen years 
 of his life in the state of his nativity, and 
 then came with his mother and her family 
 to Texas, locating in Van Zandt county, 
 where our subject continued to make his 
 home until 1877, when he came to Erath 
 county and pre-empted one hundred and 
 sixty acres of wild land. The development 
 of new land in the midst of a frontier region 
 is an arduous task, but, undaunted by the 
 hard labor before him, he began to clear 
 and break his land, planted crops, and in 
 course of time good harvests were gathered. 
 He now has sixty acres under cultivation, 
 from which he gathers the cereals needed 
 for his own use and for his stock. He is 
 one of the extensive stock-dealers of this 
 section of the state, and his sales to the 
 home markets add largely to his income. 
 He is thoroughly versed in the best methods 
 of raising cattle, and his practical, progress- 
 ive ways bring excellent results. The boun- 
 daries of his farm have been extended until 
 he now owns five hundred and forty acres. 
 
 On the 5th of January, 1875, ^^'r- David- 
 son led to the marriage altar Miss O. A. 
 White, a native of Te.xas, born in Van Zandt 
 county, a daughter of Norton and Mary Ann 
 (Young) White, who came to the Lone Star 
 state from Alabama in an early day. Twelve 
 children were born to our subject and his 
 worthy wife, of whom eight are still living, 
 namely: Edgar E. , W. F., E. C, A. S., 
 John A., James K. , Roy C. and Jerome 
 Kearby. Their mother is a member of the 
 Methodist Episcopal church, and presides 
 with grace over her home, while bestowing 
 upon her children the tenderest care. Mr. 
 Davidson affiliates with the Populist party, 
 and in 1892 was elected to the ofiice of 
 county commissioner, in which he served 
 for one term with great earnestness and 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 fidelity to duty. He is a public-spirited 
 and progressive man, deeply interested in 
 all that pertains to the welfare and upbuild- 
 ing of the county which he makes his home. 
 
 K^/^^\ F- DANIEL, late ©f Bosque coun- 
 I I ty, Texas, was for a number of 
 ^^^ years one of the respected and 
 well-known farmers of the county. 
 He was born in Alabama August 23, 1823, 
 and died on his farm near Morgan, Texas, 
 July 22, 1890, at the age of sixty-seven 
 years. Mr. Daniel was descended through 
 the agnatic line from Irish ancestors, his 
 paternal grandparents having been natives 
 of the Emerald Isle and having emigrated 
 at an early day to this country and made 
 settlement in Georgia. In Georgia James 
 Daniel, the father of our subject, was born 
 and reared. He married Miss Rebecca Mc- 
 Danolds, and they became the parents of 
 the following named children: James, 
 Martha, D. F.^ Mary, Caroline, Henry, 
 John, Edward and William. The senior 
 James Daniel died and was buried at Canton, 
 Georgia. He was a man of no little promi- 
 nence in his day. He was for many years 
 an ardent and active Democrat and for a 
 period of sixteen years filled the office of 
 county clerk. His religious creed was that 
 of the Baptists. 
 
 D. F. Daniel was reared near Canton, 
 Georgia, when that part of the state was 
 regarded as a frontier district and was 
 inhabited chiefly by Indians. During the 
 Mexican war he was a soldier under Generals 
 Scott and Taylor and was a participant in 
 the engagement at Vera Cruz. He remained 
 in Georgia until his removal to Texas in 
 1854, settling then in Hill county, where he 
 continued his abiding place until 1879. 
 
 At that date he removed to Bosque county 
 and purchased 200 acres of land in the 
 vicinity of Morgan, on which he established 
 his home and to the cultivation and improve- 
 ment of which he devoted his energies, 
 meeting with fair success in his under- 
 takings. Here he spent the remainder of 
 his life and died. During the late civil war 
 he served twelve months in the Confederate 
 army, under General Magruder, his service 
 being principally in Texas. He was a man 
 of high moral and Christian character, and, 
 like his father, was a consistent member of 
 the Baptist church. Also he was an honored 
 member of the MaBonic fraternity, and was 
 buried by the order he loved, their beautiful 
 and impressive ceremony being repeated 
 over his grave. 
 
 Mr. Daniel was married in Cherokee 
 county, Georgia, December 24, 1849, to 
 Miss Mary A. Dyer, a native of that county, 
 born July 10, 1834, daughter of Simpson 
 and Sarah (Bell) Dyer, natives respectively 
 of Kentucky and Alabama. Mr. Dyer was 
 one of the first settlers of Hill county, 
 Texas, where he was for some years a 
 prominent mill man, people coming from 
 points west of him a distance of one hundred 
 miles to have their grinding done. He died 
 in 1876, at the age of seventy years. He, 
 too, was a member of the Baptist church, 
 and was an officer in the local organization 
 to which he belonged. His widow still sur- 
 vives him, has reached the advanced age of 
 eighty-four years and has for some years 
 past made her home with her children. 
 The children comprising their family are as 
 follows: Mary A., Martha, Edwin, Natty, 
 Louisa, John, Desmony, Cash and Josephine. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Daniel are blessed in the birth 
 of four children, namely: James S. , who 
 died at the age of twenty-three years; Wylie 
 
638 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 A., a resident of Cisco, Texas; William H. 
 and Melvin L., with their mother at the old 
 homestead in Bosque county. 
 
 '^Y* S. DAWDY, a farmer and stock- 
 J raiser of Erath county, was born in 
 A 1 Hickman county, Tennessee, on the 
 2d of February, 1840, a son of J. W. 
 and Mary (Hartley) Dawdy. The father 
 was born in Tennessee in 181 1 and was a 
 son of John Dawdy, who was a pioneer of 
 Kentucky, also of the Big Bend state. He 
 wedded Miss Bartley, who was born in 
 North Carolina in 181 1, a daughter of Sam- 
 uel Bartley, also a native of North Carolina 
 and a representative of one of the old fami- 
 lies of the state, that came to this country 
 in early colonial days. The parents of our 
 subject were married in Tennessee, where 
 the father followed agricultural pursuits un- 
 til 1850, when with his family he removed to 
 Arkansas, locating in Saline county, which 
 was then a frontier region. He there opened 
 a new farm and continued its cultivation 
 and development throughout his remaining 
 days. He passed away in 1864, respected 
 by all who knew him. His wife survived 
 him until June, 1875. They were parents 
 of nine children, all of whom reached years 
 of maturity. In his political views Mr. 
 Dawdy was a stalwart Democrat, and in her 
 religious faith Mrs. Dawdy was a Baptist. 
 
 The subject of this review is so well and 
 favorably known to the people of Erath 
 county that he needs no special introduc- 
 tion to our readers. He was almost eleven 
 years of age when the family went to Arkan- 
 sas, and upon a frontier farm in that state 
 he was reared to manhood, early becoming 
 familiar with all the hardships and difficulties 
 which fall to the lot of the frontier as well 
 
 as with the arduous labors connected with a 
 new farm. He remained with his parents 
 and gave his father the benefit of his serv- 
 ices until twenty-three years of age. 
 
 During the civil war Mr. Dawdy entered 
 the southern army, enlisting as a member of 
 Company K, Eleventh Arkansas Cavalry. 
 He was with the western army and his serv- 
 ice was principally along the Red river and 
 in the region between that stream and Little 
 Rock, Arkansas. He continued at the front 
 until the close of the war, bravely sustain- 
 ing the cause in which he so heartily 
 believed. 
 
 Returning to his home Mr. Dawdy was 
 united in marriage with Miss Nancy J. White, 
 on the 9th of December, 1866. The lady 
 is a native of Arkansas and a daughter of 
 W. W. and Elizabeth (Montgomery) White, 
 the former born in Georgia on the 13th of 
 December, 1822, while the latter was born 
 in Arkansas on the 13th of March, 1825, 
 her father, Thomas Montgomery, being one 
 of the pioneers of that state. Mr. Dawdy 
 and^his bride began their domestic life on a 
 farm in Hot Springs county, where he pur- 
 chased a partially improved farm, continu- 
 ing its further cultivation until 1875, when 
 he came to Texas. He spent the first year 
 in Coryell county and the second year in 
 Bell county. In 1877 he came to Erath 
 county and purchased one hundred and sixty 
 acres of land, upon which a few improve- 
 ments had been made in the way of clearing. 
 The arduous labor of making this cultivable 
 was at once begun and so vigorously prose- 
 cuted that within a few years the once use- 
 less tract was made to yield a good return. 
 Mr. Dawdy is very energetic and industrious, 
 and has met with a well merited prosperity 
 in his labors. He is now the owner of 
 seven hundred acres of rich land, of which 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 039 
 
 one hundred and seventy-five acresare under 
 a high state of cultivation. He raises a 
 variety of crops, but makes a specialty of 
 vegetables and fruit, for which he finds a 
 ready market in Thurber. 
 
 Mr. Dawdy and his wife are members of 
 the Christian church and are most estimable 
 people, having the warm regard of all who 
 know them. They are parents of seven 
 children, si.\ of whom are yet living: Mary 
 Elizabeth, born July 23, 1868, now the wife 
 of J. W. Spurlock; Susanna, born December 
 4, 1870, now the wife of Dr. William A. 
 Fraks, of Tennessee; Louisa M., born April 
 9, 1873, wife of J. B. Spurlock; William 
 T., born July 25, 1S75, and married Dora 
 Bridges; Sarah F., born April 7, 1878, wife 
 of W. H. Shelby; and John W., born Jan- 
 uary 28, 1883. 
 
 HUSTIN MUSICK has been identi- 
 fied with the interests of Hood 
 county, Texas, since the fall of 
 1882, and figures as one of its re- 
 spected farmers and stock-men. As such, a 
 review of his life is appropriate in this work, 
 and is as follows: 
 
 Austin Musick was born in Shelby coun- 
 ty, Alabama, April 15, 1826, son of James 
 and Harriet (Seale) Musick, the former a 
 native of North Carolina and the latter of 
 South Carolina. Early in life his parents 
 settled in Alabama, where they passed their 
 lives on a farm. Austin therefore was 
 reared to farm pursuits, and he received his 
 education in the common schools. His 
 mother died when he was sixteen. At the 
 age of nineteen he left home and started out 
 in the world on his own responsibility. He 
 rented a piece of land on the shares in Ala- 
 
 bama and made one crop there, and then in 
 the following December went to Louisiana, 
 where for four years he worked for wages 
 and cultivated rented land. While there he 
 married, and afterward he settled on a farm 
 in Union parish and followed farming there 
 and in Moorehouse parish until his coming 
 to Texas, which was in June, 1857, his first 
 settlement here being in Jasper county. 
 That year he rented a farm and the next 
 year he purchased a tract of unimproved 
 land. This he partially improved and sold, 
 then bought and improved another tract, 
 and was living on the latter place at the 
 opening of the civil war. During the war 
 he sold out and purchased a smaller place, 
 to which he moved his family, and soon aft- 
 er he entered the Confederate army, going 
 out as a member of Company G, Thirteenth 
 (dismounted) Cavalry. His service was 
 chiefly in southern Louisiana. He was in 
 the engagements at Ashton, Mansfield, 
 Pleasant Hill and Jenkins Ferry, the last 
 named in Arkansas, and from there he re- 
 turned to Louisiana and thence to Texas, 
 remaining in the service until the war 
 closed. 
 
 Mr. Musick continued to reside in Jas- 
 per county until September, 1867, when he 
 removed to Hill county and purchased a 
 tract of wild land, to the improvement and 
 cultivation of which he devoted his energies 
 and where he resided until his removal to 
 Hood county in the fall of 1882. The 
 first year of his residence in Hood 
 county he lived on rented land near 
 Lipan. Then he bought three hundred 
 acres of timber land, wholly unimproved, 
 and at once set about the work of clearing 
 away the forest and making a home. On 
 this place he has since resided. Now he 
 has fifty acres under cultivation, and in his 
 
640 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 farming and stock-raising is meeting with 
 that success which his earnest efforts merit. 
 
 Mr. Musick was married November 29, 
 1850, to Miss Jane Merreil, a native of Lin- 
 coln county, Tennessee, and a daughter of 
 Benjamin Merrell, who settled in Louisiana 
 when Mrs. Musick was a girl of twelve 
 years. They have had six children, four of 
 whom are still living: Henry, a farmer of 
 Hood county; Malissa, wife of N. C. Addi- 
 son, of this county; Sarah Ann, wife of 
 Jonathan Brown, of Hill county; and J. A., 
 of this county. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Musick affiliates with the 
 People's party. He is a man of broad views 
 and keeps himself well posted on the issues 
 of the day, and especially is he well informed 
 on all matters pertaining to the interest of 
 the farmer. For years he has maintained a 
 membership in the Farmers' Alliance. Mrs. 
 Musick is a member of the Missionary Bap- 
 tist church. 
 
 * | ^ ENRY MUSICK.— In the subject 
 yf "% of this resume is found a self-made 
 M . r man and one of the prominent and 
 enterprising farmers of Hood coun- 
 ty, Te.xas. 
 
 Mr. Musick is a native of Louisiana, 
 born October i, 1853, second son of Austin 
 Musick, honorable mention of whom is made 
 on another page of this work. In his in- 
 fancy he was brought by his parents to the 
 "Lone Star state," their settlement being 
 in Jasper county. Leaving Jasper county 
 in 1867 they moved to Hill county. He 
 remained at the parental home until he ar- 
 rived at the age of twenty-six years, after 
 which he came to Hood county, that being 
 in 1878. Here, on the Kickapoo creek, he 
 purchased a small farm. His well-directed 
 
 and honest toil was attended with success 
 as the years passed by, and in 1883 he 
 made another land purchase, this time two 
 hundred acres of wild land, covered with a 
 heavy growth of timber. To-day he has a 
 fine tract of land, three hundred acres in 
 extent, one hundred and twenty-five acres 
 of which are under cultivation; has good im- 
 provements upon his land and is comfortably 
 and pleasantly situated. 
 
 Mr. Musick was married July 26, 1877, 
 to Miss Eliza Burkett, a native of Missis- 
 sippi and a daughter of George Washington 
 Burkett, of Jasper county, Mississippi. Their 
 union has been blessed in the birth of nine 
 children, one dying in infancy and the oth- 
 ers being named as follows: John A., 
 James R., Elizabeth J., Mary Eliza, Henry 
 J., Martha I., Sarah L. and Joseph Mc. 
 
 Fraternally, Mr. Musick is both a Mason 
 and an Odd Fellow, and maintains a mem- 
 bership in Charity Lodge, No. 565, A. F. 
 & A. M., and Lipan Lodge, No. 298, I. O. 
 O. F. Politically, he does not adhere to 
 any of the numerous parties but is inde- 
 pendent in his views and casts his vote for 
 the man and the measure rather than the 
 party. Both he and his wife are members 
 of the Baptist church. 
 
 HOMAS M. POOL, one of Bosque 
 county's prominent and extensive 
 stock-raisers and landowners, re- 
 sides six miles southeast of the city 
 of Clifton. He is the owner of two thou- 
 sand three hundred and sixty-five acres of 
 valuable farming land, four hundred and 
 fifty of which are under a high state of culti- 
 vation. Upon his place is a fine orchard, 
 but he devotes a large portion of his landtg 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 641 
 
 grazing, as he handles large numbers of 
 cattle, sheep and hogs. 
 
 Mr. Pool is a native of Milam county, 
 Texas, the date of his birth being March i6, 
 1849, and is a son of John C. and Caroline 
 (Lane) Pool. He is the youngest of three 
 children, and was about seven years of age 
 when brought to Bosque county, where he 
 was reared by his parental uncle, Judge L. 
 H. Stretchfield, who is probably one of the 
 oldest living pioneers in this section of the 
 state. 
 
 On reaching his majority, Mr. Pool 
 started out in life for himself, and has been 
 very successful as a farmer and stock dealer. 
 His excellent business tact, coupled with his 
 mdustry, enterprise and good management, 
 are the only architects of his substantial and 
 handsome fortune. On the 23d of Decem- 
 ber, 1873, he was united in marriage with 
 Miss Millie Cutbirth, a native of Texas and 
 a daughter of Elijah Cutbirth, one of the 
 old and respected pioneers of the state, who 
 passed away in 1877. Her father was born 
 in Tennessee, but the birth of seven of his 
 ten children occurred in the Lone Star state. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Pool have become the parents 
 of ten children, four now deceased, namely: 
 John C, who died February 10, 1890; 
 Lowry T., who died September 20, 1877; 
 Lillian P., who died December 9, 1879; 
 and a son, who died in infancy. Those liv- 
 ing are George R., William C, Herbert M., 
 Tessie, Mary P. and Iva. 
 
 Mr. Pool has been prominently identi- 
 fied with political circles, being a stanch and 
 substantial Democrat of the old school. In 
 1886 and 1887 he served as county commis- 
 sioner and has also been a member of the 
 school board for many years, being at pres- 
 ent a member of the board for district 
 •No. 23. He has always taken a very active I 
 
 part in educational matters, and gives his 
 support to every worthy enterprise for the 
 good of the community. Fraternally, he is 
 associated with the Masonic order, holding 
 his membership in Meridian Chapter, R. 
 A. M. 
 
 BRITZ BERTRAND, Clifton. 
 Bosque county, Texas, is the 
 name of one of those thrifty, push- 
 ing and energetic German-Ameri- 
 can farmers who have done so much for the 
 improvement of Texas. Mr. Bertrand him- 
 self is a native of the Lone Star state, but 
 his parents were born in Germany, and he 
 retains many of the best characteristics of 
 his parental race. Our subject was born at 
 Galveston, January 13, 1849, and is the 
 oldest of a family of two children born to 
 Michael and Helena (Crouse) Bertrand. 
 His father came to America in the early 
 '30s, located in Texas, and served creditably 
 in the Mexican war. 
 
 Mr. Bertrand, our subject, was set to 
 learn the carpenter's trade, which he did; 
 but it was in his nature to get near the soil, 
 and for many years he has been identified 
 with farming pursuits. During the war he 
 was located in Colorado county, and for a 
 series of years was engaged in teaming to 
 Mexico. Some eight years ago he came 
 into Bosque county, located three miles 
 north of Clifton, and now resides on a ma"- 
 nificent farm of four hundred and eighty-one 
 acres, which is managed with something 
 like old-world thrift and industry. He keeps 
 eighty acres under active cultivation, and 
 has an acre or more devoted to various kinds 
 of fruit trees, — peach, plum and pear, — 
 making a fine family orchard. He is an 
 enthusiastic stockman, and his farm cattle 
 
04-2 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 are graded high with Jersey and Durham 
 blood. 
 
 Mr. Bertrand is a man of family and 
 social standing. He was married to Miss 
 Elizabeth Brader, November 23, 1878, and 
 six children have come to bless this union. 
 They bear the names of Thrasea, Adolph, 
 Francis, Josephine, Paul and Hattie, and 
 have done much to help their parents win 
 the high position they occupy in the com- 
 munity and in the business world. Mr. 
 Bertrand and his family are members of the 
 Catholic church, and are regarded as among 
 the leading people of the county. 
 
 ^>^ OBERT M. HOLLAND.— There 
 
 I ^Z is no class of biography that is more 
 £ W interesting to read than that of an 
 industrious, enterprising farmer's 
 boy who has risen unaided to a position of 
 affluence and comfort. Prominent among 
 the men of Comanche county who have thus 
 laboriously toiled onward and upward is the 
 individual of whom this sketch is written. 
 He is now a well-to-do farmer and stock- 
 raiser. 
 
 Mr. Holland was born in Macon county, 
 Tennessee, on the 24th of April, 1849, and 
 is the son of Stephen and Rebecca J. (Mar- 
 shall) Holland, the former a native of Vir- 
 ginia and the latter of Alabama. John 
 Holland, the paternal grandfather, who 
 served in the Revolutionary war, had set- 
 tled in Virginia at a very early day. When 
 eleven years of age the father left the Old 
 Dominion, going to Tennessee, where he 
 grew up and was married. On beginning 
 the struggle of life for himself he started out 
 as a farmer, and continued to follow that 
 occupation through life. His political sup- 
 port was ever given the Democracy. 
 
 In 1874 the father came to Texas with 
 the remnant of his family and located in 
 Denton county, where he harvested one 
 crop, but in the winter of 1874-5 settled in 
 Comanche county, on a tract of wild land 
 near De Leon, which he improved and cul- 
 tivated until after the death of his wife in 
 1 88 1. As his children had all married and 
 left the parental roof, he broke up house- 
 keeping, and now makes his home with 
 them. His wife was a member of the Prim- 
 itive Baptist church. Their family com- 
 prised the following children: Sarah E. first 
 wedded J. Y. Roark, and after his death 
 William P. Ferguson, but both are now de- 
 ceased; Charles W. was killed in the civil 
 war; Nancy died in childhood; Robert M. 
 is the next in order of birth; Henry died 
 when young; Fred is a farmer of Comanche 
 county; Mary E. is the wife of T. N. Ed- 
 monson; Joseph is an agriculturist; Martha 
 J. is the wife of Asa C. Sadberry, a farmer; 
 and the youngest died in infancy. 
 
 Mr. Holland, of this review, remained 
 upon the home farm in Tennessee until 
 twenty years of age, attending the common 
 schools as opportunity was afforded, but at 
 that time was married and started out in 
 life for himself. He first rented land for a 
 year in Collin county, Texas, and the fol- 
 lowing year was passed in Denton county. 
 In 1873 we find him a resident of Comanche 
 county, where, after raising one crop upon 
 rented land, he bought one hundred and 
 sixty acres of wild timber land, half of which 
 he cleared and developed, planted a good 
 orchard and erected substantial buildings. 
 In 1 894 he sold that property and purchased 
 three hundred acres on which he now re- 
 sides. At that time one hundred and 
 twenty acres had been broken, and to this 
 he had added twenty more, making one 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 643 
 
 hundred and forty acres under a good state 
 of cultivation. He lias a commodious and 
 comfortable dwelling, and a fine orchard, 
 and this desirable place lies four miles north- 
 west of De Leon. He gives his entire time 
 and attention to his farming and stock- 
 raising interests, and has met with well- 
 merited success. 
 
 In 1869 was celebrated the marriage of 
 Mr. Holland and Miss Sarah Roark, who 
 was born in Macon county, Tennessee, in 
 1849, and is the daughter of Reuben and 
 Sirina (Brown) Roark. Her father, who 
 was a farmer, died in Tennessee, after 
 which sad event his widow came to Texas, 
 in 1892, and found a pleasant home with 
 our subject and wife until she, too, was 
 called to her final rest in 1894. She held 
 her ecclesiastical membership in the Primi- 
 tive Baptist church. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Holland have become the 
 parents of four children: Willie J., who is 
 married and is engaged in farming; Yancy, 
 who died in childhood; Lulu T. , at home; 
 and Stephen F., who died in childhood. 
 The family are faithful members of the 
 Methodist church, and hold a high position 
 in the estimation of all who know them. 
 Mr. Holland always casts his ballot in sup- 
 port of the men and measures of the Demo- 
 cratic party. 
 
 at 
 
 W. HICKEY.— There is no class 
 of people on whom the prosper- 
 ity of the nation more largely de- 
 pends than upon the farmers, and 
 it is therefore of the greatest importance 
 that they are men of worth, of industry and 
 faithful to the duties of citizenship. A type 
 of this class is found in the gentleman 
 whose name heads this sketch, and who for 
 
 many years has been a prominent factor in 
 the development of Erath county, thus 
 bearing his part in transforming the broad 
 prairies of Texas into rich and fertile fields. 
 
 Mr. Hickey is one of the native sons of 
 Tennessee. He was born in Marion county, 
 on the 19th of September, 1822, a son of 
 John and Sarah (Meek) Hickey. His par- 
 ents were married in Tennessee, and during 
 the early childhood of our subject removed 
 to Henry county, that state, making the 
 journey on a flatboat. Two years later 
 they went to Gibson county, where in 1826 
 the father died. The mother afterward 
 went to McNairy county and was subse- 
 quently married to John Bibb. The next 
 home of the family was in Hardin county, 
 same state, whence they came to Texas in 
 1846, locating in Titus county, and later in 
 Wood county, where Mr. Bibb died. The 
 widow afterward came to Erath county and 
 died at the home of her son, W. C. Bibb, 
 in May, 1889, at the advanced age of 
 ninety-one years. She was the mother of 
 fifteen children, five of whom are still living. 
 Her church relationship was with the Mis- 
 sionary Baptist society. 
 
 W. W. Hickey remained on the home 
 farm until twelve years of age, when he 
 started out to obtain an education and seek 
 his fortune. * He worked for neighboring 
 farmers and during three months in the year 
 attended a subscription school. Thinking 
 that he might have better opportunities on 
 the frontier, he came to the republic of 
 Texas, in March, 1844, taking up his abode 
 in what was then Titus county, but is now 
 Franklin county. His means consisted of a 
 pony valued at about forty dollars, and fifty 
 cents in money. He followed any pursuit 
 that would yield him an honest living, en- 
 in trading and manufactured saddle- 
 
644 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 trees. In this way he secured his start. 
 He continued his residence in Titus county 
 until 1 85 1, when he removed to Hunt 
 county, where he lived for seven years and 
 then came to Erath county, dating his resi- 
 dence in Erath from 1858. His first home 
 was near Stephenville, but after fifteen 
 years he went to a farm on Alum creek, 
 where he resided until 1889, when he went 
 to California. After three months, how- 
 ever, he returned to Texas, locating in Tom 
 Green county, where he lived until 1891, 
 when he erected his present residence. His 
 farm and ranch comprise four hundred and 
 fourteen acres, and he also has a tract of 
 fifty acres in the suburbs of Dublin, and 
 three hundred acres two miles west of him. 
 
 Mr. Hickey has been twice married. In 
 Titus county, in 1846, he was joined in 
 wedlock with Miss Elizabeth Keith, her 
 father a native of McNairy county, Tennes- 
 see. They had four children, three of 
 whom are yet living, namely: Christian 
 Ann, the wife of A. P. Hickey, of this 
 county; John S., who is living on the old 
 homestead; and William M., also a resident 
 of Erath county. The mother of these chil- 
 dren died in 1854, and our subject was again 
 married in February, 1855, his second union 
 being with Mary U. Caudle, a native of 
 Kentucky and a daughter of Mark Caudle, 
 who came to Texas in 1842. By the sec- 
 ond marriage there were ten children, six of 
 whom are living at the time of this writing 
 in 1896, as follows: Martha J.; Amanda 
 P., wife of Thomas Stafford, of Erath 
 county; George Walter and A. B., who are 
 also residents of the same county; Dora L. , 
 wife of Dawson Blankenship; and Joseph O., 
 who is located in Erath county. 
 
 The parents are members of the Baptist 
 church and the family is one of prominence 
 
 in the community. Mr. Hickey, while re- 
 siding in Titus county, served as justice of 
 the peace one term, in 1846. During the 
 civil war he enlisted in the state service for 
 protection of the frontier of Texas against 
 Indians, and after a year, when the com- 
 pany was re-organized, he was appointed 
 assistant quartermaster and commissary of 
 the post. Being transferred to the Confed- 
 erate army, he served therein until the close 
 of the war, still on the frontier of Texas. 
 He was commissioned first lieutenant of his 
 company, and during the last year of the 
 war he traveled through the country seek- 
 ing supplies for the troops and animals and 
 meeting all his own expenses! In all the 
 relations of life he has been true to his duty 
 as he has seen it, and in business a well de- 
 served success has come to him as the re- 
 ward of earnest industry. 
 
 >Y*OHN C. HENSLEY is one of the 
 ■ popular citizens of Comanche county, 
 A 1 whose genial, jovial manner and 
 genuine worth has made him many 
 friends. He was born January 10, 1846, in 
 Gasconade county, Missouri, and descended 
 from one of the most prominent families of 
 that locality. His parents, William and 
 Sarah (Cowan) Hensley, were also natives 
 of the same state, and the Hensley family 
 came from Tennessee, the Cowans from 
 Kentucky. The father was reared in Mis- 
 souri, and in early life followed farm work 
 and rafting logs on the river. Soon after 
 his marriage he went to Arkansas, where he 
 developed a farm from the raw prairie, and 
 about 1850 came to Texas, locating in Van 
 Zandt county. He bought some good stock, 
 a fine jack and forty brood mares. Soon 
 
His TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 645 
 
 after he removed to Kaufman county, where 
 he developed a farm and engaged in the 
 stock business, but during the war, in which 
 he served, he traded his stock for slaves and 
 thereby lost heavily. He was in the army 
 for three years, and on his return resumed 
 farming, also raising cattle, horses and 
 sheep. Removing to Brown county, where 
 he lived ten years, and then resided in Mills 
 county, four years, — until his death, in 1892. 
 In politics he was a stalwart Democrat, and 
 served as justice of the peace in some local 
 offices, but v.-as not an active politician. 
 While in Missouri and Arkansas he held a 
 membership in the Cumberland Presbyterian 
 church, and after coming to Te.xas, as there 
 was no church of his denomination in the 
 locality, he joined the Missionary Baptists. 
 A religious man, he was deeply interested 
 in all that pertained to advancing the moral 
 interests of the young. His first wife died 
 in Arkansas, and his second wife still sur- 
 vives him, and is a resident of Mills county. 
 There were four children of the first mar- 
 riage, but two died in childhood, the others 
 being our subject, and Annie, wife of J. T. 
 Childers, a prominent farmer of Mills county. 
 The children of the second marriage are 
 Susan, Margaret, Elizabeth, Nancy, George 
 W. and Joe. 
 
 John C. Hensley was brought to Texas 
 by his father when only four years old and 
 early became familiar with the methods of 
 farming and stock-raising. His school priv- j 
 ileges were limited, but he has acquired a 
 practical education through experience and 
 observation. Whe" a young man he pur- 
 chased land, and after his marriage began 
 farming and stock-raising on his own ac- 
 count, in Kaufman county, where he lived 
 for four years. He then sold, removing to 
 Hamilton county, where he purchased wild 
 
 land and developed a farm. He also fol- 
 lowed sheep-raising, but found this unprofit- 
 able. In 1886 he sold his farm, removing 
 to Hamilton for the purpose of educating 
 his children. In 1888 he took some cattle 
 and horses to Haskell county, and leaving 
 them in charge of a man came to Comanche 
 county, where he purchased his present 
 farm of three hundred and twenty acres. 
 He afterward bought more land, but gen- 
 erously divided with his sons, although he 
 still owns three hundred acres, all under 
 fence, with one hundred acres highly culti- 
 vated. He has made all the improvements 
 in keeping with a model farm and now has 
 a valuable and productive property. He 
 also raises considerable stock and his well 
 managed business interests yield to him a 
 good return. 
 
 Mr. Hensley married Amanda Easter- 
 wood, who was born in Pickens county, 
 Alabama, May 21, 1855, daughter of John 
 B. and Eunice (Wilburn) Easterwood, the 
 former a native of South Carolina, and the 
 latter of North Carolina. Her father was 
 an overseer in his early life, and afterward 
 operated a mill and cotton-gin in Alabama. 
 In 1857 he came to Texas, and some time 
 later located in Henderson county, where 
 he followed farming. He served for a short 
 time in the Confederate army and died in 
 1873. In religious belief he was a Method- 
 ist. His wife also died in Texas. Their 
 children were Clara J., Silas D., Lucinda, 
 Clarissa, William, John T., Louis, Mrs. 
 Hensley, Ira J., George, Francis M. and 
 Chesley L. Mr. and Mrs. Hensley have 
 two children: Silas O., at home; and Naomi 
 A., who is married. 
 
 Our subject and his wife belong to the 
 Christian church. He has always been a 
 stalwart Democrat, but never an office- 
 
646 
 
 ti IS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 seeker. His keen appreciation of humor 
 and his genial manner make him a favorite, 
 and his hospitable home, presided over by 
 his estimable wife, is a favorite resort with 
 many. 
 
 HURELIUS KENNEDY. — Among 
 the influential members of the farm- 
 ing communityof Comanche county 
 is this gentleman, who is entirely a 
 self-made man in the truest sense of that 
 word, having been the architect of his own 
 fortunes. His birth occurred in Russell- 
 ville, Kentucky, June 7, 1849, on the farm 
 of his parents, Joe and Eliza (Kune) Ken- 
 nedy, who were natives of Virginia and 
 among the early settlers of that locaHty. 
 They were Presbyterians in religious belief 
 and in politics the father was a Whig. His 
 death occurred in 1853, and his wife passed 
 away in 1864. Eleven children constituted 
 their family, of whom one died in infancy. 
 The others are George, Margaret, Monroe, 
 Elnora, Llewellyn, Pressly, Susan, Emily, 
 Aurelius and Martha. Pressly located in 
 Tarrant county, Te.xas, in 1869, but now 
 makes his home in Grayson county. 
 
 Our subject received only a common 
 country-school education, and remained 
 upon the farm with his widowed mother 
 until her death. J. B. Grubbs was then 
 appointed his guardian, and he lived with 
 him until reaching his majority, when he 
 started out as a farm hand, which occupa- 
 tion he continued to follow until coming to 
 Texas in 1870. He was similarly employed 
 in Washington county, this state, for two 
 years. In 1872 he was married and began 
 the struggle of life upon a rented farm, but 
 four years later came to Comanche county. 
 
 where his wife owned a tract of wild land. 
 He has since added to that place and now 
 has two hundred and eighty-eight acres, 
 sixty-five of which are under a high state of 
 cultivation and improved with excellent 
 buildings. Besides his own commodious 
 residence and outbuildings he has a good 
 tenant house upon the place. The farm is 
 pleasantly situated two and a half miles 
 west of Hazel Dell. On starting out in life 
 he experienced many difficulties, but by per- 
 severance and energy he succeeded in over- 
 coming these, and is now the possessor of a 
 valuable property, the just reward of his own 
 labors. Since farming he has never had a 
 failure of all crops, and has also been quite 
 successfully engaged in stock-raising. 
 
 In 1872 Mr. Kennedy led to the marriage 
 altar Miss Narcissa Clark, who was born in 
 Washington county, Texas, September 12, 
 1856, and is a daughter of James and Eliza- 
 beth (Pillon) Clark. Her father died when 
 she was quite young and her mother is now 
 the wife of William E. Copeland, of Milam 
 county, Texas. She is a member of the 
 Cumberland Presbyterian church. In the 
 family were four children: Lavina, wife of 
 W. S. Wallace, of Washington county; 
 Narcissa, the wife of our subject; Eliza A., 
 wife of H. Goliher, of Burleson county; and 
 William E., of Rockdale, Texas. 
 
 Nine children honor the union of our 
 subject and his wife, namely: Elizabeth, 
 wife of Tom Hughs, a farmer; Mattie, wife 
 of James Hughs, also a farmer; Minnie, Ida, 
 Leslie, Sally, Edgar, Clark and Aaron. The 
 mother is a devoted member of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal church, south. Mr. Ken- 
 nedy takes a commendable interest in all 
 public affairs, votes the straight Democratic 
 ticket, but cares nothing for political prefer- 
 ment. 
 
HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 647 
 
 HLEXANDER WALKER, who is 
 one of the prominent and well-to- 
 do farmers of Erath county, Texas, 
 and who has passed nearly twenty 
 years at his present location, where he has 
 developed one of the finest farms in all the 
 country round, must assuredly be accorded 
 attention as one of the representative agri- 
 culturists of the county and as one well de- 
 serving of biographical honors. 
 
 Mr. Walker is a native of the "Old 
 North state." He was born March 25, 
 1842, third in the family of six children of 
 John and Elizabeth (Roberts) Walker, both 
 natives of North Carolina, the father a 
 prominent farmer and one of the public- 
 spirited citizens of the community in which 
 he lived. In 1842, shortly after the birth of 
 his son Alexander, John Walker moved 
 with his family to Mississippi, where he pur- 
 chased a tract of land, subsequently entered 
 more land adjoining it, and opened up and 
 improved a large farm. There for nearly a 
 quarter of a century he lived and prospered. 
 He was a man of many sterling qualities and 
 stood high in the esteem of the people 
 among whom he lived so long. He died 
 there in August, 1865. Religiously, he was 
 a Baptist, while his wife was a member of 
 the Methodist church; both were devoted 
 Christians and they reared their family in 
 the fear of the Lord, teaching more by ex- 
 ample than precept. Following are the 
 names of their children: William A., a 
 veteran of the late war and now a resident 
 of Grayson county, Texas; Mary A., widow 
 of John McKnight, has a family of five chil- 
 dren and is a resident of Texas; Alexander, 
 whose name graces this article; Elizabeth, 
 wife of J. T. Burnett, a prominent farmer 
 of Erath county; Nancy E., wife of Al. 
 Dean, a Texas farmer; and Amanda M., 
 
 wife of T. W. McClure, a farmer of Hill 
 county, this state. 
 
 Alexander Walker was taken in his in- 
 fancy to Mississippi, and on his father's farm 
 in that state passed his childhood and youth, 
 his educational advantages being limited to 
 the common schools of the frontier district. 
 In the spring of 1 862, at the age of twenty, he 
 enlisted in the Thirtieth Mississippi Infantry, 
 was mustered in at Granada, that state, and 
 at once went to the front. His service was 
 in Tennessee, under General Bragg. At 
 Chickamauga young Walker did his first 
 fighting, and at the battle of Missionary 
 Ridge nearly all his regiment, himself in- 
 cluded, fell into the hands of the federals, 
 and they were at once sent to Rock Island, 
 Illinois, where they were held until June, 
 1865, after the war was over. In referring 
 to his confinement at Rock Island, Mr. 
 Walker says that the first ten months spent 
 there he and his comrades had plenty to eat 
 and were well cared for, but during the rest 
 of their imprisonment they were neglected 
 and half starved. In June, 1865, the fed- 
 eral government gave him transportation 
 home. A short time after he arrived home 
 his father died, and Alexander remained 
 with his widowed mother until 1869. That 
 year he married and came to Texas. His 
 first location in this state was in Johnson 
 county, where he had his abiding place and 
 was engaged in agricultural pursuits nine 
 years. In the fall of 1877 he came to his 
 present location in Erath county and bought 
 four hundred and forty-four acres of school 
 land of Lavaca county, to the cultivation 
 and improvement of which tract he at once 
 devoted his energies with the result as seen 
 to-day. The whole farm is now well fenced, 
 one hundred and seventy acres are under a 
 high state of cultivation, the beautiful and 
 
648 
 
 Ht STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 commodious residence is attractive and in- 
 viting from every point of view, and the 
 other farm buildings, windmill and fine 
 orchard are features not to be overlooked. 
 Until recently Mr. Walker kept tenants on 
 his land, but now with the assistance of his 
 sons and some hired help he conducts his 
 operations, finding this a better plan. During 
 his early residence here he was engaged to 
 some extent in the cattle business. Of 
 recent years, however, he has found the 
 raising of horses and mules more profitable 
 and has given it his attention. 
 
 Mr. Walker was married in 1869 to Miss 
 Margaret E. Ramage, who was born in 
 Mississippi in 1850, daughter of Josiah 
 Ramage. Her father was of Kentucky 
 birth, was one of the early settlers of Mis- 
 sissippi, and was engaged in farming there 
 for many years, his death occurring since 
 the war. Mrs. Walker is one of a large 
 family of children, their names in order of 
 birth being as follows: J. H., a resident of 
 Texas; Jane, wife of A. Kerr; Parilee; 
 Samuel, deceased; J. L. ; Margaret E. ; 
 Mary, wife of O. C. McClure; Ara, wife of 
 L. E. Wickline; and Juel. The children 
 born to Mr. and Mrs. Walker are Thomas 
 L., Allie, John, Bulus, Floyd R., Maud and 
 Mabel, and all are living and at home with 
 one exception, John, who died at the age of 
 twelve years. 
 
 Mrs. Walker's parents were members of 
 the Methodist Episcopal church, in which 
 she was reared and to which she has ever 
 given her preference, being one of its con- 
 sistent members. Mr. Walker, while not a 
 member of any church organization, is broad 
 and liberal in his religious views, and is a 
 generous contributor to the support of all 
 worthy causes, his giving always being with- 
 out ostentation. Of his political views and 
 
 standing, it may be said that he has ever 
 been a steadfast Democrat, but that he has 
 never sought nor held office, having no de- 
 sire for political recognition and feeling that 
 his own private interests demanded his 
 whole time and attention. It has been his 
 ambition to strive to live an honest life and 
 to deal fairly and honestly with his fellow 
 men. That a man like Mr. Walker is highly 
 esteemed by his neighbors and associates is 
 a foregone conclusion. 
 
 >^AMES A. MURRAY, M.D.— Among 
 J the medical fraternity of Bosque coun- 
 (% 1 ty we are pleased to m.ake mention 
 of the above named gentleman. Al- 
 though comparatively a young practitioner, 
 he has already gained for himself a promi- 
 nent place among the medical advisers of 
 this section of the state, and has built up a 
 large and constantly increasing practice at 
 Walnut Springs. 
 
 The Doctor is a son of Dr. Thomas J. 
 Murray, a thorough and well-known practi- 
 tioner, who was born in the state of Arkan- 
 sas and emigrated to Texas over fifty-two 
 years ago. He is now located at Glen Rose. 
 Our subject is the eldest in the family of 
 eight children. His medical studies were 
 conducted under the able guidance of his 
 father, who ranks among the able and suc- 
 cessful physicians of the Lone Star state, of 
 which our subject is a native, born in Hill 
 county on the 25th of June, 1868. 
 
 The Doctor received his literary educa- 
 tion in the common schools, and his early 
 life was devoted to agricultural pursuits, but 
 later he chose the medical profession. He 
 attended lectures at Vanderbilt University, 
 of Nashville, Tennessee, and later at Louis- 
 ville, Kentucky. For a time he engaged in 
 
(^ 
 
 ^m^^md^. 
 
^M:^. 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 649 
 
 practice at Chalk Mountain, Eratii county, 
 Texas, but for the past year has been lo- 
 cated at Walnut Springs, where he has 
 established a lucrative and growing prac- 
 tice. He is well and favorably known 
 throughout Bosque and surrounding coun- 
 ties, where he enjoys the respect of his fra- 
 ternal brethren and the community at large. 
 
 ^y^ W. WILLIAMS, Sr., a resident 
 1 ^ of Eulogy, Bosque county, Texas, 
 £ is a highly respected and successful 
 
 pioneer farmer who has been iden- 
 tified with this county for the last twenty- 
 five years. He was born in Tennessee, 
 February i6, 1820, and was a son of Jesse 
 Williams, who also was a son of Jesse 
 Williams, a native of North Carolina. This 
 family was among the earlier settlers of the 
 south and played a prominent part in all its 
 history. They shared in the dangers and 
 glories of the Revolutionary struggle, par- 
 ticipated in the war of 1812, rallied to the 
 protection of their imperiled frontiers at 
 every Indian outbreak, and followed the 
 stars and bars in 1861-65. 
 
 Our subject's mother was Elizabeth 
 Winn, who was a member of an old and 
 honored Virginian family. She was the 
 mother of the following named children: 
 Hill, Jesse, P. W., Martha A., Thomas, 
 William B. and Maryetta. The husband 
 and father died at the age of thirty-five. 
 He was a farmer in his life work, a Demo- 
 crat in his politics and a Baptist in his re- 
 ligion. Mrs. Williams was a Methodist, and 
 both were highly regarded in every way. 
 
 Our subject was raised on a Tennessee 
 farm, where he had to work hard and en- 
 dure privations; but he can look back upon 
 these years with thankfulness, for in them 
 
 he learned lessons of honesty and industry 
 that have stood him in hand all his life. 
 As a young man he set himself to learn the 
 saddler's trade, which has been a good friend 
 to him. December 7, 1843, Mr. Williams 
 was married to Miss Elizabeth Headstream, 
 who has proved herself a good wife and 
 mother through fifty-three years of married 
 life. She was born in Hickman county, Ten- 
 nessee, December 28, 1828, where she was 
 raised and educated. Her father, J. P. 
 Headstream, was of Swedish origin, and 
 was a native of Stockholm, where he re- 
 mained until he was sixteen. At this early 
 age he struck out for the far West, and 
 finally located in Tennessee, where he was 
 married to Harriet Hassell, and they be- 
 came, the parents of John Z. , James W.. 
 Elizabeth (Williams), William, Mary Mar- 
 garet, Felix, Martha and Harriet. He com- 
 bined farming and saddlery, and did well. 
 He died at the age of seventy years, a mem- 
 ber of the Lutheran church. 
 
 Mr. Williams, our subject, came to 
 Bosque county in 1869 and fixed his home 
 on the farm where he now lives. He had 
 come to Texas many years before, in 1843, 
 first arriving in Dallas, where a farmer 
 offered him six hundred acres of land in ex- 
 change for a mare he had with him. He 
 lived for a time in Dallas county and in 
 Red Oak, and in 1869, as noted above, 
 came to his present home. It contained 
 about five hundred acres and he paid for it 
 twelve hundred dollars in gold. He re- 
 gards it as worth many times that amount 
 to-day. 
 
 Three of his children are now living: 
 P. W. , Jr., Mrs. Abbie Hall and Thomas, 
 who is in business in Bosque county. The 
 deceased were named as follows: Harriet, 
 Maryette, William B. , John Z. , Julia L., 
 
650 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Margaret, Jesse and Evarilla, which latter 
 died at the age of fifteen years. 
 
 Mr. Williams and his wife are members 
 of the Methodist church. He is regarded 
 as one of the wheel-horses of the Demo- 
 cratic party in this county, is uncompromis- 
 ingly devoted to the principles of his party, 
 and his advice is often sought and often 
 heeded. He is now seventy-five years of 
 age, and is a striking example of a well- 
 preserved and hearty manhood. 
 
 <y^ W. WILLIAMS, Jr., is a resi- 
 le W dent of Eulogy, Bosque county, 
 J Texas, and has already made 
 
 his mark as a thriving and push- 
 ing young man. He has made himself a 
 standing among the solid men of this part of 
 the state, and is highly regarded. He is a 
 son of P. W. Williams, Sr., whose sketch 
 appears above. 
 
 Mr. Williams, our subject, has had to 
 make way against many obstacles, but has 
 developed a broad and generous spirit that 
 has won him many friends. He was born 
 in Fannin county, Texas, October 5, 1846. 
 In 1 870 he came into this county and bought 
 a farm of three hundred and twenty acres, 
 in company with his father, and it has not 
 seemed necessary to divide it to this day. 
 Seventeen years later our subject came upon 
 his present farm, of which he is entire 
 owner and which is justly regarded as one 
 of the very best farms in this part of the 
 state. It has good buildings on it, is 
 thoroughly improved, and supports some 
 very valuable stock, among them Cleveland 
 Bays, Spanish Malta Jacks, a herd of Jer- 
 sey cattle and other good stock, making the 
 ' ' Andrew Chapel farm " one of the most in- 
 teresting and valuable in the county. He 
 
 has a landed estate of about eight hundred 
 acres, of which three hundred and fifty is in 
 cultivation. 
 
 Mr. Williams was married November i, 
 1876, in Dallas county, to Miss Emma 
 Winn. She was of a Tennessee family and 
 the daughter of Philip and J. N. (Houser) 
 Winn. Our subject has had three children: 
 Myrtle, wife of Walker Riddle, and twin 
 boys, Arthur and Luther, the babes. Mrs. 
 Williams having died in 1878, our subject 
 was married a second time, in January, 
 1880, to Ann E. Wales, a native of Missis- 
 sippi. Her parents were John and Rebecca 
 Wales. By this marriage our subject has 
 had four children, of whom three are still 
 alive: Bettie A., John T. and Thomas. 
 One child, Jesse, died a mere infant, at the 
 age of six months. 
 
 Mr. Williams comes of good old Demo- 
 cratic stock, and holds himself loyal to the 
 party. He is a popular man and a good 
 citizen. 
 
 u 
 
 ILLIAM C. CRAWFORD, to a 
 review of whose life we would 
 now call attention, stands con- 
 spicuously forward as one of the 
 enterprising and leading farmers of Erath 
 county, Texas, where he has attained to a 
 notable degree of success in a material way. 
 The history of the Crawford family in Texas 
 traces back to the early pioneer days while 
 Texas was yet under Mexican rule, every- 
 thing in an unsettled condition and the 
 people on the eve of declaring their inde- 
 pendence as a republic; and both as a 
 prominent citizen and a representative of a 
 family thus early identified with Texas, it is 
 eminently fitting that the life history of this 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 651 
 
 gentleman be accorded due consideration in 
 these pages. 
 
 William C. Crawford was born in Shelby 
 county, Texas, October 24, 1844, the son 
 of a farmer and Methodist minister. His 
 parents, William C. and Rhoda J. (Wat- 
 kins) Crawford, were natives respectively of 
 North Carolina and Alabama, and were 
 married in the latter state. The senior 
 Mr. Crawford was born in the year 1804, 
 was "bound out" when a boy and learned 
 the trade of tailor. For some years during 
 his early manhood he spent all his leisure 
 in study preparatory for the ministry, he 
 having been converted and felt a call to 
 preach the gospel, and in due time, in 1831, 
 was admitted on trial to the Georgia Con- 
 ference. Two years later he was trans- 
 ferred to the Alabama Conference and sta- 
 tioned at Pensacola, Florida, where he 
 remained one year. About this time, on 
 account of failing health, he sought a 
 change of climate, Te.xas being his object- 
 ive point. In January, 1835, he crossed 
 the Sabine river into Texas and settled in a 
 canebrake where the town of Shelbyville 
 now stands. 
 
 An event occurred soon after which 
 metamorphosed the young preacher first 
 into a lawyer and then into a statesman, and 
 affixed his name to the Texas Declaration 
 of Independence. It happened in this way: 
 By appointment to preach at a certain 
 house, Mr. Crawford took his wife on his 
 horse behind him and started. Arriving at 
 the house, he found the body of a murdered 
 man and a crowd of people with a man in 
 chains whom "Judge Lynch" was about to 
 dispose of, although as yet he had not been 
 tried for the murder. It was finally decided 
 the man should have a trial. The mur- 
 dered man was a member of an influential 
 
 family, and his friends insisted that Parson 
 Crawford, as they called him, should con- 
 duct the trial of the defense in the absence 
 of a lawyer, which Mr. Crawford did suc- 
 cessfully and with much credit to himself. 
 There was soon to be a convention at Wash- 
 ington, and his fellow citizens decided upon 
 Mr. Crawford as their delegate. This con- 
 vention met in March, 1836. The course 
 of the Romish priesthood of Mexico was 
 strongly condemned in Texas, and at the 
 convention a section was introduced into 
 the constitution of the republic to disfran- 
 chise all ministers and forever prohibit them 
 from occupying any office of profit or trust 
 in Texas; but through Mr. Crawford's ef- 
 forts the section was modified so that it 
 only excluded them from congress and ex- 
 ecutive office. The same was engrafted in 
 the state constitution in 1846. 
 
 Three Methodists who were fond of sing- 
 ing met at a certain house once a week for 
 song service. After a few meetings they joined 
 prayer with praise. People flocked to the 
 house and it soon became necessary to seek 
 larger quarters for their meetings. One 
 night a large crowd had gathered, among 
 them three local preachers, Crawford, En- 
 glish and Martin, and Mr. Martin, after he 
 had given an exhortation, called for mourn- 
 ers, a number responding and being con- 
 verted; and at a series of meetings in the 
 neighborhood there were about two hundred 
 conversions and additions to the church. 
 The above incident is taken from Thrall's 
 History of Methodism in Texas. 
 
 Mr. Crawford lived to a ripe old age, his 
 whole life replete with good works, and Sep- 
 tember 3, 1895, from the home of his son, 
 our subject quietly passed to his reward 
 above. He was the father of a large family, 
 now scattered, their names in order of birth 
 
G52 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 being as follows: Julia A., Mary E., Charles 
 W., Sarah J., William C. , Texana, Luis 
 F., Martha W., Louis A., Rhoda E., and 
 Alice C. 
 
 William C. Crawford, our immediate 
 subject, passed his boyhood days on his 
 father's frontier farm, brought up to honest 
 toil and with but few advantages. He had, 
 however, the influence of refined, Christian 
 parents, and the home training was not lost 
 on him. At the age of sixteen he left home 
 and enlisted in the Confederate army, where 
 he served four years. He was a member 
 of the Fourteenth Texas Infantry, under 
 Ed. Clark, ex-governor of Texas, and in 
 Walker's division, under Kirby Smith, these 
 forces operating in Arkansas and Louisiana. 
 During these years young Crawford saw 
 much hard service. Among the engage- 
 ments in which he was a participant were 
 those of Pleasant Hill, Mansfield and Jenk- 
 ins Ferry, and he was in much skirmishing 
 also; but, while often in the face of danger 
 and never shrinking when duty called, he 
 passed through the four years without being 
 either wounded or captured. At the time 
 of the surrender he was at Hempstead, 
 Texas. 
 
 Returning to Upshur county, where his 
 father lived at the time, Mr. Crawford re- 
 mained at home until his marriage, which 
 event took place early in 1867. Then he 
 rented land and farmed there. In 1875 he 
 moved to Hill county, where he carried on 
 farming operations on rented land until De- 
 cember, 1885. At that date he came to 
 Erath county and bought the farm upon 
 which he has since lived, two hundred and 
 five acres being his first purchase and sub- 
 sequently adding to it two hundred acres 
 more. This tract is part of the Lawhorn 
 survey, and was partially improved by a Mr. 
 
 Martin. Mr. Crawford cultivates one hun- 
 dred and forty acres, uses the rest of his 
 land for stock range, and is meeting with 
 uniform success in his operations, the gen- 
 eral appearance of his premises — the build- 
 ings, well-cultivated fields, good stock, etc. 
 — being indicative of the fact that intelli- 
 gence is back of the labor here expended. 
 
 Mr. Crawford was married January 17, 
 1867, to Miss Martha J. Rap, daughter of 
 John H. and Leah Rap. Her father came 
 to Texas in the fall of 1862 and settled in 
 Upshur county, and soon after entered the 
 army, where he was killed. Mrs. Rap is 
 still living, and makes her home with her 
 children in Hill county. She is a member 
 of the Methodist church, as also was her 
 husband. The names of the children com- 
 posing the Rap family are Martha J., Milla 
 A., Albertine, Mary E., John N. and Ann 
 L. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Crawford, we record that Alice, the eldest, 
 died at the age of thirteen years; Wesley 
 and John are engaged in farming, and are 
 married and settled in life; Carroll J. is at 
 home; William C, also at home; Minnie, 
 wife of D. B. Kirk, a prosperous farmer; 
 and Horace B., DeWitt, Mattie M., Freddie 
 L. and Littleton H., all at home. 
 
 Following in the footprints of their hon- 
 ored parents, Mr. and Mrs. Crawford are 
 devoted members of the Methodist church. 
 Politically, Mr. Crawford has always shown 
 a deep interest in affairs both local and 
 national and has given intelligent support 
 to the Democratic party and its principles, 
 but he has never aspired to official prefer- 
 ment, nor has he ever held office. While 
 his early educational advantages were 
 meager, he made up in later life for those 
 deficiencies by study, observation and con- 
 tact with the world, thus acquiring a knowl- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 653 
 
 edge that has enabled him to push forward 
 in life and attain to the proud position he 
 occupies among the representative farmers 
 of his communit}'. 
 
 eLDER JESSE J. JOHNSON, 
 whose identification with the ma- 
 terial and moral development of 
 Comanche county has been most 
 beneficial, was born in Georgia, December 
 26, 1830, a son of P. C. and Matilda 
 (Whatley) Johnson, natives of the same 
 state. The grandfather, Bartholomew John- 
 son, was a patriot in the Revolution, and 
 our subject now owns a gourd in which he 
 carried his powder during that war. Both 
 he and his wife spent their last days in 
 Georgia. She was a member of the distin- 
 guished Cartwright family. 
 
 In 1847 P. C. Johnson removed to Smith 
 county, Texas, where he bought land and 
 carried on a farm until 1859, when he sold 
 and went to Brown county. The same 
 year he started to Meridian for flour and 
 other market supplies, and while on the 
 way was killed by Indians in Bosque county, 
 near the mountain which has since been 
 known by the name of Johnson's Peak. He 
 was accompanied by a nine-year-old son, 
 whom they captured, and after keeping him 
 three days made him leave their camp. 
 After wandering around for a time he came 
 across a herd of cattle, and thinking that 
 the cows would go home he staid with them 
 three days, having nothing to eat but rosin, 
 which he obtained by chewing a certain 
 plant! At length he was found by a Mr. 
 Rough, but was so weak that he could not 
 tell his name. He is still living, in Coman- 
 che county. An attempt was made to over- 
 take the Indians, but it was unsuccessful. 
 
 The father of our subject was a farmer and 
 stock-raiser. His wife died in 1893, and 
 like her husband she was a member of the 
 Methodist Episcopal church. They had 
 thirteen children: Robert W., who served 
 in the Confederate army and is now de- 
 ceased; J. J., of this sketch; V. D., who 
 served in the war and died in 1866; Mary 
 A., wife of Thomas Drapper, now both de- 
 ceased; Elizabeth, deceased wife of James 
 Biffell; Sarah J., wife of C. Singleton; Ma- 
 tilda J., wife of F. M. Wood; Amanda, wife 
 of Jackson Parker; Emma, wife of James 
 Caswell, both now deceased; Edda, wife of 
 R. Everett; P. C. , whose capture by the 
 Indians is related above; and two who died 
 in early life. 
 
 Elder Johnson, of this review, was sev- 
 enteen years of age when he came to Texas. 
 He learned the methods of farming and 
 stock-raising while assisting his father, and 
 remained at home until his marriage, which 
 occurred in Smith county, in 1851. He 
 wedded Miss A. W. Ratliff, a lady of intel- 
 ligence, born in Missouri, November 15, 
 1834, a daughter of William and Susan 
 (Allen) Ratliff, the former a native of Illi- 
 nois and the latter of Virginia. They were 
 married in Illinois, and came to Texas in 
 1843, locating in Smith county. After the 
 death of Mrs. Ratliff the father removed to 
 Tarrant county, where he died in 1853. 
 He belonged to the Methodist church and 
 his wife was a member of the Baptist 
 church. They had seven children, — Mary, 
 Hester, Malinda, Arena, Gabriel, Lecy and 
 A. W. , wife of our subject. 
 
 Upon his marriage Mr. Johnson began 
 farming for himself, and in 1859 purchased 
 land in Brown county, where he engaged in 
 farming and stock-raising until 1S62. He 
 then entered the army, enlisting in Co- 
 
654 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 inanche county in Wilkes' cavalry regiment, 
 which was assigned to the Trans-Missis- 
 sippi department. At the battle of Arkan- 
 sas Post the command was captured, but 
 Mr. Johnson swam a bayou and succeed- 
 ed in making his escape. He then reported 
 to General Steele, and after a furlough 
 spent at home joined the general's es- 
 cort, serving with this command for two 
 years. He was never wounded or captured 
 in the four years of his service, yet his duty 
 was often arduous and he faced many dan- 
 gers. 
 
 In 1866, Mr. Johnson located on the 
 farm which has now been his home for 
 thirty years. He has six hundred and 
 thirty-seven acres of land, all under fence, 
 and one hundred and fifty acres are highly 
 cultivated. He has made many improve- 
 ments, including the erection of a pleasant 
 home and good outbuildings and the plant- 
 ing of an excellent orchard. The home is 
 surrounded by a fine oak grove and stands 
 in a beautiful situation. In addition to his 
 farm labor, Mr. Johnson is deeply inter- 
 ested in church work. He was reared in 
 the faith of the Primitive Baptist church, 
 but in 1852 joined the Methodist church, 
 and from that time has been a leader and 
 earnest worker therein. In 1878 he was 
 licensed and engaged in preaching four 
 years, and in 1882 he was elected elder, 
 being ordained by Bishop Key of the North- 
 west Texas Conference. He has labored as 
 a local preacher and now has charge of two 
 appointments. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have but one 
 child, Jesse M., who died at the age of three 
 years, but they have given homes to four 
 orphan children who came to them in in- 
 fancy, and to nine others who have become 
 inmates of their home at different periods. 
 
 He provided them with good educational 
 ' privileges, fitted them for life's duties by his 
 Christian counsel and all are now married 
 and in homes of their own with the excep- 
 tion of Mattie Starkey, a child of six years, 
 who is still tenderly cared for by her foster 
 parents. His early political support was 
 given the Democracy, but hesoon joined the 
 reform movement, voting with the Green- 
 back party, and is now a Populist. 
 
 ^^ A. JACKSON is the owner of a 
 •^^^hT good farm of four hundred acres 
 
 Ys^J pleasantly situated five miles north- 
 east of Stephenville, Erath county. 
 He is justly regarded as one of the most 
 enterprising and progressive agriculturists of 
 the community, and his cultivable land with 
 its excellent improvements gives indication 
 of his care and supervision. He has one 
 hundred acres under the plow, while much 
 of the remainder is used as pasture land for 
 his cattle, as he also carries on stock-raising 
 in connection with general farming. Indus- 
 try is the key that unlocks to the American 
 the portals of success, and it is this quality 
 that has made our subject one of the pros- 
 perous residents of Erath county. 
 
 The south has always been the home of 
 Mr. Jackson, and he is a true southern gen- 
 tleman, warm-hearted, true to his honest 
 convictions and hospitable. He was born 
 in Maury county, Tennessee, on the 6th of 
 December, 1841, a son of Andrew and 
 Nancy (HaysJ Jackson, who also were na- 
 tives of that county. On the old home- 
 stead farm he was reared to manhood, re- 
 maining at home until eighteen years of age, 
 when, with the bravery that marks the true 
 soldier wherever he is found, he offered his 
 services to the Confederate government and 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 655 
 
 went forth to battle for the institutions in 
 which he so firmly believed. He enlisted 
 in July, 1 86 1, and became a member of 
 Company E, Third Tennessee Volunteer 
 Infantry. He participated in the battle of 
 Fort Donelson, and during the charge at 
 that place captured one of the enemy, being 
 the only one of his command to capture a 
 Union man. At last the Confederate forces 
 were obliged to surrender, and with others 
 Mr. Jackson was taken to Camp Douglas, 
 at Chicago, Illinois, where he was incarcer- 
 ated until the fall of 1862, when he was ex- 
 changed and at once returned to active 
 service, and was in the battle of Chickasaw 
 Bayou, participated in the bombardment of 
 Port Hudson and the battle of Raymond, 
 Mississippi, where he was seriously wounded, 
 being shot through the thigh. This disabled 
 him for further service, so severe was his 
 wound, and by slow and weary stages he 
 wended his way homeward. Something of 
 his suffering may be imagined from the fact 
 that when he was wounded he weighed one 
 hundred and seventy-two pounds and when 
 he reached home he weighed only fifty-eight 
 pounds! For two years he was unable to 
 engage in any kind of manual labor. He 
 then engaged in farming in Mississippi until 
 1876, when he came to Texas. 
 
 Since 1877 Mr. Jackson has been a resi- 
 dent of Erath county. He rented land for 
 several years, and then, when his industry, 
 careful management and perseverance had 
 brought to him a handsome competence, he 
 purchased a tract of wild land, comprising 
 two hundred and eighty acres, which was 
 heavily timbered. This was in 1881, and 
 he at once began to improve and cultivate 
 the property. Trees were cut down, the 
 land was plowed and planted, and in course 
 of time abundant harvests were garnered. 
 
 As his financial resources increased he added 
 to his land until he became owner of his 
 present desirable farm of four hundred acres. 
 The political support of our subject is 
 given the Democratic party, and socially he 
 is connected with the Masonic fraternity of 
 Spring Hill, Tennessee. His religious be- 
 lief is that of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
 denomination, but his wife is a member of 
 the Baptist church. The lady who now 
 bears the name and shares the fortunes of 
 Mr. Jackson was in her maidenhood Miss 
 Emma G. Hurt, a native of Roanoke coun- 
 ty, Virginia, and a daughter of Patrick Henry 
 and Nancy (Dockwiler) Hurt, also natives of 
 the Old Dominion and now residents of 
 Obine Station, Tennessee. The marriage 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, celebrated Octo- 
 ber 31, 1873, has been blessed with ten 
 children, nine of whom are yet living, 
 namely: Maud Virginia, wife of Walter 
 Kiker, of Erath county; P. C, Wren May, 
 Andrew, Richard H., Joseph Hurt, Mark 
 O., Mabel Clare, William Dawson and 
 Anna White, who died at the age of sixteen 
 months. 
 
 J. DUNLAP is one of the honored 
 pioneers of Comanche county, lo- 
 cating here when the county con- 
 tained only six or seven families, 
 assisted in its organization and served as the 
 first justice of the peace, during which time 
 he performed the first marriage ceremony 
 in Comanche county. He has since been 
 identified with its growth and development, 
 and is now numbered among the prominent 
 and representative farmers. 
 
 Mr. Dunlap was born in Madison county, 
 Alabama, January 26, 1830, and was reared 
 upon the farm of his parents, Samuel and 
 
656 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS 
 
 Temperance (Bell) Dunlap, natives of South 
 Carolina, where they were married. Robert 
 Dunlap, his paternal grandfather, came to 
 America from Ireland, his native land, and 
 settled in South Carolina, where he became 
 a prominent farmer, reared his family, and 
 there died. The maternal grandfather, 
 Elisha Bell, was of Scotch descent. From 
 South Carolina he removed to Alabama, in 
 1819, then a frontier country, and became a 
 leading and popular citizen of that state. He 
 was a slave-owner and by occupation a car- 
 penter and farmer, while politically he was 
 a Democrat and religiously a Presbyterian. 
 
 The father of our subject also went to 
 Alabama in 18 19, and in the midst of the 
 wilderness developed a farm on which he 
 spent his remaining days, dying in 1852. 
 He was a prominent farmer and slave-owner, 
 and was well and favorably known through- 
 out the community. He was a consistent 
 member of the Primitive Baptist church, 
 while his wife was a Presbyterian. Her 
 death occurred in 1866. They reared a 
 family of si.x children, namely: Elisha, who 
 died at the age of twenty-one years; Robert, 
 who served in the late war and died in Ala- 
 bama; Sarah, who married E. Davidson, 
 and is now deceased; T. J., of this sketch; 
 Davis, who enlisted as private in the Con- 
 federate service, but retired as a lieutenant, 
 and is now a resident of Dallas, Te.xas; and 
 Francis, who also served in the late war and 
 yet makes his home in Alabama. 
 
 Mr. Dunlap, whose name introduces this 
 sketch, remained upon the home farm in 
 Alabama until he had attained his majority, 
 and then, being married in February, 1851, 
 he began the struggle of life for himself, for a 
 few years farming the old homestead. In 
 1854, however, he came to Texas, and for 
 one season engaged in farming in McLennan 
 
 county. He first came to this county in 
 August of the following year, and in Octo- 
 ber removed his family. In 1856 he helped 
 to organize the county, which at that time 
 contained not more than twenty voters. 
 While serving as justice of the peace he mar- 
 riedT. J. Holmsley and Betty Cunningham, 
 the first couple married in the county. 
 Both are yet living and are now the only 
 residents who were here at the time of his 
 arrival. At the regular election, Mr. Dun- 
 lap refused to serve longer as justice of the 
 peace, as public office had no charm for 
 him. 
 
 As a mechanic he worked throughout 
 Comanche county at an early day, taking a 
 job of any kind by which he could earn an 
 honest living for his family. Before the 
 land came into the market, he squatted on 
 public land, made some improvements, in- 
 cluding a cabin and outbuildings, and would 
 then sell out. This he did on several oc- 
 casions. In 1872 he purchased the land 
 where he now resides, securing it from a 
 squatter, and had the land filed in his own 
 name, receiving his title from the govern- 
 ment. The farm is situated six miles east 
 of Comanche and comprises one hundred 
 and sixty acres, of which one-half is now 
 under cultivation, and all the improvements 
 found thereon are the result of his own in- 
 dustrious efforts. Since locating perma- 
 nently in Comanche county, he has erected 
 a few houses, but otherwise has given his 
 entire attention to the cultivation and de- 
 velopment of the soil. At first the Indians 
 were quite friendly, but later became hos- 
 tile, and our subject went on several raids 
 in pursuit of them, but participated in no 
 fights. 
 
 In July, 1861, Mr. Dunlap enlisted in 
 the Fourth Alabama Cavalry, was commis- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 657 
 
 sioned third lieutenant and at the close of 
 the war was the only commissioned officer 
 left in his company. For two years he was 
 with General Forrest in the Army of the 
 Tennessee, and the following two years was 
 under General Wheeler. He was in active 
 service during the entire time, never receiv- 
 ing a furlough, and never on sick leave. Of 
 the one hundred and twenty-seven men who 
 entered his company only twenty-eight re- 
 turned! He was in many skirmishes and 
 hotly contested battles, was never wounded 
 or captured, and surrendered at Huntsville, 
 Alabama. 
 
 When hostilities had ceased, Mr. Dun- 
 lap returned to his family, who were visit- 
 ing in Alabama, and was unable to return 
 to Texas until 1868, when he located in 
 McLennan county, where two crops were 
 harvested, but since that time he has been a 
 permanent resident of Comanche county. 
 
 In February, 1851, Mr. Dunlap wedded 
 Miss Martha Duke, a native of Alabama, 
 and a daughter of Stephen Duke, a prom- 
 inent farmer and early settler of that state, 
 where he died in 1869. Her mother, who 
 bore the maiden name of Ditto, yet survives 
 and lives in the old homestead in Alabama, 
 at the ripe old age of eighty-four years. 
 Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Dunlap, three of whom died in infancy. 
 The others are Samuel, a farmer of Coman- 
 che county; Davis, a stockman and farmer 
 of Crockett county, Texas; Mary E. , who 
 died at the age of fifteen years; Sally, de- 
 ceased wife of D. L. Hardin; William B., a 
 mechanic of Comanche county; and Charley, 
 a farmer. The wife and mother, who was 
 a consistent member of the Presbyterian 
 church, died in March, 1873. In October 
 following, Mr. Dunlap was united in mar- 
 riage with Miss Susan Osborn, a native of 
 
 the grand old state of Georgia, and a daugh- 
 ter of David Osborn, who died there. Her 
 father was a farmer by occupation, and a 
 member of the Missionary Baptist church. 
 Two children were born of the second union: 
 Mattie, wife of C. W. Butler, a farmer; and 
 Elbert, at home. 
 
 Mr. Dunlap and his estimable wife are 
 members of the Missionary Baptist church, 
 in which he is an active worker and attends 
 all the associations held by that denomina- 
 tion in the community. Originally he was 
 was a Democrat, but about 1880 joined the 
 Greenback party, and has followed along 
 the reform line, being now a strong Populist, 
 and the first to advocate that doctrine in 
 Comanche county. 
 
 ,>^ C. LOUDERMILK.— The aggre- 
 I /^ gate endeavor which produces the 
 1 . P stability, prosperity and progress of 
 any locality is made up of the ear- 
 nest effort of individuals, who thus become 
 important factors in the welfare of a com- 
 munit}'. Our subject belongs to that class 
 that forms the best citizenship of Texas, and 
 is one of the valued residents of Comanche 
 county. He was born in Union county, 
 Georgia, November 5, 1842, and is there- 
 fore fifty-four years of age. His father, 
 George W. Loudermilk, was a native of 
 Virginia, — the cradle of the American na- 
 tion, — and his mother, whose maiden name 
 was Polly McNutt, was born in Tennessee. 
 They both belonged to prominent and influ- 
 ential families of their respective states. 
 
 Mr. Loudermilk of this review received 
 but meager educational privileges in his 
 youth, but in the school of experience has 
 learned many valuable lessons; and through 
 practical business life and through reading 
 
658 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 and observation he has become one of the 
 well-informed farmers of this neighborhood. 
 He remained at home through his childhood 
 and youth until he was seventeen years old, 
 when he went to Bartow county, Georgia. 
 He entered the Confederate service, serving 
 for three years as a private in the Thirty- 
 si.xth Georgia Infantry. In 1871 he came 
 to Texas, locating in Comanche county, 
 where he purchased six hundred and twenty 
 acres of raw timber land, which he immedi- 
 ately began to transform into a productive 
 farm. He now has one hundred and fifty 
 acres under a high state of cultivation, the 
 fields being planted with the various crops 
 so well adapted to this region, while one 
 acre constitutes a fine orchard, planted with 
 grapes and fruit-trees. His farm is one of 
 the best improved in this section of the 
 county, and with its excellent buildings and 
 its neat appearance well indicates the thrift 
 and enterprise of the owner. In the rear of 
 the commodious frame residence stand good 
 barns and outbuildings for the shelter of 
 stock and grain, a windmill and many other 
 conveniences found upon the model farm in 
 this latter part of the nineteenth century. 
 His home is located in the midst of a beau- 
 tiful grove of oaks, and is pleasantly situ- 
 ated ten miles north of Comanche, on Rush 
 creek. He has also purchased another 
 tract of land a half mile west of his home, 
 containing one hundred and fifty-six acres, 
 of which seventy acres are highly cultivated. 
 Mr. Loudermilk is likewise known as a 
 leading stock-raiser. He has large num- 
 bers of cattle, horses and hogs of good 
 breeds, and is now making a specialty of 
 raising the last named. No better farm or 
 finer stock can be found in the county, and 
 the owner may well feel proud of what he 
 has accomplished in this direction. He has 
 
 the distinction of being the first in Comanche 
 county to build and use E. H. Rice's pig- 
 tight combination fence, and is the sole 
 agent for the sale and building of the same 
 in the De Leon district. 
 
 Before leaving the state of his nativity 
 Mr. Loudermilk was united in marriage to 
 Miss Julia Taylor, a lady of intelligence and 
 good family. To them were born twelve 
 children, as follows: Fannie, wife of Louis 
 White; Sallie J., wife of Tom McGinnis; 
 Cora ; Lula, wife of James Whitlock ; 
 Robert; lana, wife of James Reed; Rillor 
 Blance ; Martha Adline, wife of John 
 Evans; Julia A., wife of John Read; and 
 Leah May, besides two sons who died in 
 infancy. Mr. Loudermilk is a member of 
 the Christian church, and in that faith he is 
 rearing his family. His political adherency 
 is to the Populist party, but he is not an 
 aspirant for political honors. He devotes 
 his attention to his business, in which he 
 has met with good success, and his friends 
 and neighbors have for him the highest 
 regard. 
 
 * y ^ ENRY C. LOUDERMILK, who 
 »''^k holds the responsible preferment as 
 \ , * treasurer of Comanche county, 
 Texas, is a veteran of the Confed- 
 erate army, and a man who is held in the 
 highest regard by the people of Comanche 
 county, where he has maintained his resi- 
 dence for more than a quarter of a century. 
 Mr. Loudermilk claims the "Empire 
 State of the South" as the place of his na- 
 tivity. He is the youngest in the family of 
 ten children of George W. and Polly ( Mc- 
 Nutt) Loudermilk, and was born in Union 
 county, Georgia, May 27, 1844. His father 
 was a Virginian by birth and his mother was 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 659 
 
 a native of Tennessee. They were for 
 many years residents of Georgia, and it was 
 on a farm in that state that the subject of 
 our sketch was reared. When war be- 
 tween the north and south was inaugurated 
 he enhsted in the Eighteenth Georgia In- 
 fantry, being among the first to respond to 
 the Confederate call, and was in active serv- 
 ice for a period of fourteen months, at the 
 end of which time he was discharged in con- 
 sequence of the loss of his right leg. Dur- 
 ing the seven days' fight near Gaines' Mills 
 in Virginia he was wounded, the wound ne- 
 cessitating the amputation of his limb. Re- 
 turning to Georgia, he continued his resi- 
 dence there until 1870, when he took up his 
 abode in the "Lone Star State." 
 
 Ever since coming to Te.xas Mr. Loud- 
 ermilk has been more or less interested in 
 farming operations. His present farm is lo- 
 cated some eleven miles northwest of the 
 city of Comanche and comprises a fine tract 
 of one hundred and sixty acres, one hundred 
 and five acres of which are under a high 
 state of cultivation, the rest being utilized 
 for stock purposes. Among the improve- 
 ments on this place is a fine orchard, one 
 acre in extent and producing the choicest of 
 fruit. 
 
 For some years past Mr. Loudermilk has 
 given his support to the Populist party, of 
 which he is a stanch member. He. was in 
 1886 elected treasurer of Comanche county, 
 and served two years, and in 1S92 he was 
 again elected to the same office, which he 
 has since filled, and as the incumbent of this 
 office has given general satisfaction to all 
 concerned. 
 
 Mr. Loudermilk is a man of family. 
 May 17, 1875, in the state of North Caro- 
 lina, was consummated his marriage to Miss 
 Annie Forister, a native of that state and a 
 
 most amiable and estimable woman. They 
 are the parents of an interesting family of 
 five children, namely: Alexander, Laura 
 L., Eliza J., Arthur and Val. 
 
 HOMAS J. COURTNEY is one of 
 the leading and progressive agri- 
 culturists of Comanche county. 
 The prosperity and development of 
 this vast prairie state is due to its farmers, 
 and through coming years future generations 
 will have reason to feel deeply grateful to 
 those who transformed the wild land into 
 beautiful homes and rich farms, thereby ad- 
 vancing civilization with rapid strides. Mr. 
 Courtney belongs to this class of represent- 
 ative and valued citizens and is now the 
 owner of one of the best farms of Comanche 
 county. He took up his abode thereon in 
 1887, becoming owner of a tract oi wild land 
 of three hundred and eleven acres. Of this 
 seventy-two acres has been placed under the 
 plow and planted with good crops. Among 
 the many improvements is a comfortable 
 residence, in the rear of which stands a sub- 
 stantial barn. Wells and tanks furnish an 
 abundant supply of water for the stock, and 
 the excellent pastures yield an abundant 
 food supply for them. An orchard gives its 
 fruit in season, and other improvements add 
 to the value and attractive appearance of 
 the place, and the Courtney farm is now 
 one of the most desirable properties to be 
 found in the counties. 
 
 Mr. Courtney was born in Milam county, 
 Texas, January 15, 1858, and belongs to an 
 old Louisiana family. His grandfather, 
 Jonathan Courtney, was of Irish lineage and 
 became one of the early settlers of Louisi- 
 ana. Isaiah Courtney, the father, was born 
 in Baton Rouge, that state, and is numbered 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 among the pioneers of Comanche county. 
 In his native state he was married to a Miss 
 Springer, a cultured and intelligent lady, 
 and subsequently removed to Milam county, 
 Texas. Later the entire family went to 
 California, and the journey, made overland, 
 consumed twelve months. They traveled 
 with a party under command of Captain 
 Jack Cureton, and experienced many hard- 
 ships and dangers, but also shared in many 
 pleasures on that long trip. The father of 
 our subject died in 189 1. He was a Dem- 
 ocrat in politics and was a Baptist in relig- 
 ious belief. After the death of his first wife 
 he was again married and by his second 
 union had two children, Amanda and 
 William. 
 
 The subject of this sketch spent his boy- 
 hood days in his father's home, being reared 
 to manhood on the farm in Texas and Cali- 
 fornia. He acquired his education in the 
 public schools and by reading and business 
 experience, thus becoming a practical man 
 of affairs. He came to Comanche county 
 in 1873 and has since been identified with 
 its interests, becoming especially prominent 
 as a representative of agriculture in this sec- 
 tion of the state. 
 
 Mr. Courtney was married on the 4th of 
 November, 1884, to Mrs. Maggie Jones, 
 widow of S. M. Jones, who died leaving two 
 children, Samuel E. and Nettie. The lady 
 was born in Washington county, Texas, 
 and is a daughter of E. A. and Eliza (Fos- 
 ter) Elliott, the former now deceased, while 
 the latter is still living. By the marriage of 
 our subject and his wife there are four chil- 
 dren, Harvey Reuben, who was born in 
 Comanche county, Texas; Margaret Jane, 
 Carrie May and Katie Irene. Mr. Courtney 
 and his wife hold a membership in the 
 Church of Christ, and he is deeply interest- 
 
 ed in all that pertains to. the upbuilding of 
 the community and to the uplifting of 
 humanity, being a special friend to the 
 cause of education, religion and temperance. 
 His political support is given the Democ- 
 racy. His honorable life and his frank and 
 cordial manner have won for him the confi- 
 dence of many, and his circle of friends is 
 limited only by the circle of his acquaint- 
 ances. 
 
 ,y^ETER MOODIE.— The prosperity 
 I m and welfare of a city are due to its 
 \ progressive and energetic business 
 
 men, — ^men who keep the wheels of 
 commerce in rapid motion and thus with 
 each revolution add to the material welfare 
 and substantial advancement of the com- 
 munity with which they are connected. It 
 is impossible for a man to live unto himself 
 alone if he be engaged in any legitimate 
 trade transactions, and he who successfully 
 controls extensive business interests pro- 
 motes the general prosperity while advancing 
 his individual success. Mr. Moodie is recog- 
 nized as one of the most prominent business 
 men in Comanche county and the interests 
 with which he is connected form an im- 
 portant feature in the commercial supremacy 
 of the county seat. Denied many of the 
 privileges which are now the common lot of 
 the youth of to-day, he has nevertheless 
 improved every opportunity and has attained 
 that honorable measure of success which 
 crowns earnest, persistent labor and un- 
 daunted perseverance. 
 
 Mr. Moodie was born October 12, 1843, 
 in Glasgow, Scotland, a land noted for its 
 brave men and good women. His father, 
 Robert Moodie, was a lowlander by birth 
 and a successful veterinary surgeon by pro- 
 
HiSTORr OF TEXAS. 
 
 fession. He married Elizabeth McDonald, 
 who came of a good family of the highlands. 
 Her people were prominent in the wars of 
 Scotland, furnishing several chiefs who were 
 renowned for their honor and valor. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Moodie became the parents of 
 seven sons and five daughters, Peter being 
 the sixth in order of birth. The father and 
 mother had both passed the seventieth mile- 
 stone of life's journey when called to their 
 home eternal, and were people who had the 
 respect and esteem of all who knew them. 
 They provided their children with good 
 educational advantages, and early instilled 
 into their minds lessons of uprightness and 
 of industry, thus fitting them for the practical 
 duties that come to all as they pass from the 
 realm of childhood into that of mature life. 
 In his youth Peter Moodie learned the 
 stone-mason's trade and became an expert 
 workman, being able to execute the most 
 delicate details in connection with the trade 
 with a nicety that enabled him to occupy a 
 front rank among the most skilled workmen 
 in his line. He served a five-years ap- 
 prenticeship, and after working at his trade 
 in his native land for a time he bade good- 
 by to relatives and friends, and in 1864 went 
 to Liverpool, England, where he took pas- 
 sage on a steamer to Boston, Massachusetts. 
 From there he went to Chicago, and later 
 to Omaha, and Cheyenne, Wyoming, and 
 Fort Laramie, then the terminus of the 
 Union Pacific railroad. He then proceeded 
 by stage to Carson, Nevada, and on to 
 Sacramento and Oakland, California, and 
 later to Portland, Oregon. He next went 
 up the Willamette river, in Oregon, and 
 after some time spent on the Pacific coast 
 returned eastward. From Omaha, Ne- 
 braska, he went to Duluth, Minnesota, and 
 subsequently to Quincy, Illinois, to Fort 
 
 Scott, Kansas, and to St. Louis, Missouri. 
 Later he resided for a time in Memphis, 
 Tennessee, and in Louisville, Kentucky, 
 returning thence to St. Louis, where he 
 took a train on the Missouri, Kansas & 
 Texas railroad, in 1869, to Checotah, In- 
 dian Territory. By stage and team he went 
 to Heron, Robinson county, Texas, where 
 he engaged in erecting railroad shops and 
 railroad buildings for the Texas & Pacific 
 Railroad Company. From that time on for 
 a number of years he was one of the most 
 prominent contractors and builders in cen- 
 tral Texas and has erected many of the 
 most substantial structures in this part of 
 the state. He erected a number of elegant 
 public buildings, including the court-house 
 at Clairsville, Jasper, Rusk, Montgomery 
 county, Crockett, the last costing sixty-five 
 thousand dollars; the one at Granbury, 
 which cost seventy-eight thousand dollars; 
 the Comanche court-house, which was 
 erected at a cost of seventy-five thousand 
 dollars, and an eighty-thousand-dollar court- 
 house at Shreveport, Louisiana. He has 
 also built a number of jails and many private 
 buildings, and was ranked among the most 
 efficient contractors in the central portion of 
 the state. 
 
 Mr. Moodie came to Comanche in 1890 
 built the courthouse here, in 1 890-1. He 
 then turned his attention to other business 
 enterprises and has been a most important 
 factor in the commercial interests of the 
 city. In 1893 a company was formed for 
 the establishment of an oil-mill, which is now 
 one of the leading industries of the place. It 
 has a capacity of fifty tons per day and in 
 1895 seven thousand tons of seed were 
 brought to be utilized in the production of 
 oil. Employment is furnished to fifty men 
 during the busy season, and the business 
 
History of texas. 
 
 is steadily increasing. The present officers 
 of the company are H. R. Martin, presi- 
 dent; T. C. Hill, vice president; and P. 
 Moodie, secretary and general manager. 
 This company owns and feeds between 
 three and four thousand head of cattle, and 
 Mr. Moodie is the individual owner of five 
 hundred head. His powers as an organizer 
 and controller of e.xtensive business interests 
 is above the average, as he possesses excel- 
 lent ability, forceof character and undaunted 
 industry. 
 
 Mr. Moodie was married in Marshall, 
 Texas, in 1875, to Emily Hudson, a daugh- 
 ter of James Hudson, deceased, who was 
 one of the early settlers of Marshall. Four 
 children were born of this union,. — Lizzie 
 Mae, Maggie Louise, James Robert and 
 Peter. Their mother died in 1887, and 
 Mr. Moodie was married in November, 1892, 
 to Miss Ridly Sanford, a lady of culture 
 and refinement belonging to one of the old 
 and prominent families of Georgia, where 
 she was reared and educated. Her father, 
 Theodore Gordon Sanford, was a leading 
 and influential citizen and a relative of ex- 
 Governor Sanford, also of General John A. 
 Sanford, who served as attorney general of 
 the state of Alabama for twelve years. 
 Mrs. Moodie was reared in Milledgeville, 
 Georgia, and by her marriage has one son, 
 Theodore Sanford. In his political views 
 Mr. Moodie is a stanch Democrat and in his 
 social relations is a Royal Arch Mason. 
 
 m. 
 
 LLIAM J. MORRIS is a suc- 
 cessful farmer of Bosque county, 
 Texas, who receives his mail at 
 Eulogy. He was born in Stewart 
 county, Tennessee, April 15, 1839, and has 
 been in the county for twenty-three years. 
 
 His father was William Morris, also a native 
 of Tennessee, but of Irish origin. He was 
 reared to manhood in that state, and took 
 Sally Pigram for his wife. She was of an 
 old English family that had but recently 
 come into Tennessee. To the parents of 
 our subject, William and Sally Morris, were 
 born fourteen children, of whom nine grew 
 up to maturity: Lucinda, Susan, Maria, 
 Sally, Jeptha, William J., Thomas, Jamie 
 and Ben. Jeptha, William J. and Thomas 
 were soldiers in the late war. Five are 
 dead. The father died at fifty-six. He 
 was a farmer all his life, a Populist, a Demo- 
 crat, and a hard-shell Baptist, of which 
 church he was a deacon. His wife, the 
 mother of our subject, died at fifty. 
 
 Mr. Morris, our subject, was raised in 
 Stewart county, Tennessee, where his boy- 
 hood and early youth were passed on a farm, 
 and was trained by hard experiences for 
 a life of honest labor. He had little op- 
 portunity for schooling, but kept his eyes 
 and ears open and has managed to learn 
 much of life's meanings and uses. When 
 the war broke out in 1861 he espoused the 
 Union cause and enlisted in the Twenty- 
 seventh Infantry of the Missouri troops. He 
 was in the service five months, when he was 
 taken down with severe and debilitating 
 sickness, and was discharged from the serv- 
 ice for serious disability. He betook him- 
 self to Illinois and found a home in Mc- 
 Donough county, where he lived for four 
 years. But the cold north not agreeing 
 with him he journeyed south, was one and 
 a half years in Barton county, Missouri, and 
 three years in Benton county, Arkansas, 
 finally •' bringing up " in Bosque county, 
 Texas. He was here at Kimball for five 
 years, and then established himself at his 
 present location. He bought fifty acres. 
 
His TORT OP TEXAS. 
 
 and was the first settler in this neighbor- 
 hood. Wolves, wildcats and other unpleas- 
 ant animals were numerous and neighbors 
 were far away. But he was industrious, 
 attended strictly to business, and saved 
 money, so that from time to time he was 
 ^ble to add to his original purchase until he 
 now has a fine farm of two hundred and 
 sixty acres, well cultivated; one hundred 
 acres being under the plow and the remain- 
 der closely cared for. He has, all his life 
 been much interested in fruit, and upon this 
 place he has many fruit trees, — two acres 
 of apples, plums, peaches, apricots, cherries, 
 and all the small fruits being very abundant. 
 His achievements in fruit show the possibili- 
 ties of this country. 
 
 Mr. Morris was married at the age of 
 twenty-five to Miss Ann Robertson, a woman 
 of much intelligence and a good family. 
 Her parents, Richard and Elizabeth (Mc- 
 Claney) Robertson, were from the state of 
 Kentucky, but are both buried in Illinois. 
 Our subject and his wife have seven chil- 
 dren: O^ella Thompson, Rosetta James, 
 Clara, Jeptha, John, Addie and one deceased, 
 — Martha. He is a Republican and a mem- 
 of the Christian church. In this church are 
 also enrolled his wife, and three of his chil- 
 dren. He is a man interested in education, 
 religion, temperance and good morals. He 
 is plain in speech and manners, but clear in 
 his thought and firm in his belief, and is 
 highly respected by his neighbors. 
 
 IHOMAS C. WHITE, who is num- 
 bered among the early settlers of 
 central Texas, dating his residence 
 from 1865, while since 1879 he 
 has been identified with the interests of Co- 
 manche county, is a native of Missouri, his 
 
 birth having occurred in Lawrence county. 
 His father, E. P. White, was born in Ten- 
 nessee and belonged to one of the old and 
 prominent families of that state, descended 
 from Irish and German ancestry. He was 
 reared and educated in Tennessee and after 
 arriving at man's estate he married Miss 
 Eliza Higdon, who was born in the same 
 state. Soon afterward they removed to 
 Missouri, locating in Lawrence county. Sev- 
 eral years later Mrs. White died, leaving 
 three children, J. L. , Martha A. and T. C, 
 then an infant. The father afterward mar- 
 ried Susan Berry, and to them were born 
 twelve children. He removed to Benton 
 county, Missouri, about the time of the 
 close of the war and took up his residence 
 near Warsaw, where he made his home 
 until his death, which occurred when he 
 was sixty years of age. He made farming 
 his life work. In his political views he was 
 a Democrat, and his religious belief was in 
 harmony with the doctrine of the Christian 
 church, in which he held his religious 
 membership. 
 
 The subject of this review was reared by 
 J. B. Higdon, his maternal uncle, spending 
 his childhood and youth in Lawrence and 
 Jasper counties, Missouri, largely engaged 
 in farm work and learning the lessons of in- 
 dustry and perseverance which have been 
 important factors in his progress in later 
 life, accelerating his actions until they have 
 encompassed that success for which he has 
 striven. He was numbered among the 
 "soldier boys" of the late war, entering the 
 army when a youth of fifteen as a member 
 of Buster's battalion, which was engaged in 
 Missouri and Arkansas. Mr. White served 
 mostly on detached duty as a courier and 
 participated in the battles of Mansfield, 
 Louisiana, Pleasant Hill and others. 
 
664 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 After the war Mr. White sold his horse 
 and came on foot to Texas, locating first in 
 Cooke county, where he remained for four 
 years. During the succeeding ten years he 
 was engaged in the stock business, and in 
 1879 he came to Comanche county, where 
 he purchased of F. M. Brown the old Sweet- 
 water ranch, which in the early days of the 
 county's history was a noted camp-ground 
 for the Indians and pioneers, because of its 
 big spring which furnished a never-failing 
 supply of good water. Mr. White purchased 
 three hundred and forty-nine acres of land, 
 but has since sold two hundred and twenty 
 acres to his son-in-law, C. L. Co.x. He now 
 has one hundred and twenty-nine acres, 
 which is well improved with a very pleasant 
 home, biiilt in a modern style of architecture, 
 good outbuildings, fences and the other ac- 
 cessories of a model farm. An orchard 
 yields its fruit in season and the well kept 
 grounds that surround the home add to the 
 beauty and attractive appearance of the 
 place. 
 
 In December, 1865, Mr. White was 
 united in marriage to Mary E. Bard, a na- 
 tive of Lincoln county, Missouri, and a 
 daughter of James and Rachel (Quinn) 
 Bard. Her father is now deceased, but her 
 mother is living in Comanche county. She 
 had nine children, namely: Sam, Eliza Jane, 
 Letitia, Jennie and Amanda (twins), Mrs. 
 White, Margaret Ann, Rebecca and George 
 W. The father of this family was killed at 
 Pilot Point, Texas. He was a member of 
 the Baptist church and his upright life was 
 in many respects worthy of emulation. Five 
 children were born to Mr. and Mrs. White, 
 namely: Mrs. Martha A. Orbanks; Mary, 
 wife of C. L. Cox; George B., of Comanche 
 county; Sarah Louisa, married; and Rhoda 
 E., who died at the age of fourteen years. 
 
 In his political views Mr. White is a 
 Democrat. He and his family hold a mem- 
 bership in the Christian church, and he is 
 now serving as a member of the board of 
 trustees. He is an energetic, progressive 
 business man, thoroughly reliable in all 
 things, and both in public and private life^ 
 has so faithfully performed his duties as to 
 merit and receive the high regard of neigh- 
 bors and friends. 
 
 at 
 
 ILLIAM C. DEAVER, a farmer 
 and stock-raiser of Hood county, 
 is one of the worthy sons of Ten- 
 nessee. He was born in Polk 
 county, that state, on the 9th of July, 1850, 
 a son of Lewis and Mary Deaver. The 
 father was a native of North Carolina, but 
 belonged to an old Virginia family that was 
 founded in America prior to the Revolu- 
 tionary war by ancestors who came from 
 England. The great-grandfather was one of 
 seven brothers who crossed the Atlantic to 
 establish homes in the new world. The 
 Chandlers are also of an old English family, 
 with an admixture of Dutch blood in their 
 veins. The great-grandfather was General 
 Chandler, who won his title by valiant serv- 
 ice in the war of 181 2. 
 
 After the marriage of Lewis and Mary 
 Deaver, they removed to Tennessee, where 
 for many years the father followed farming, 
 continuing his residence in the Big Bend 
 state until 1877, when he came to Texas, 
 locating in Bell county, where he died in 
 1894, at the age of eighty-four years. His 
 wife passed away in 1869. During the 
 civil war he served for two years in the Con- 
 federate army with the cavalry troops of the 
 Army of the Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Deaver had a family of ten children, all of 
 
ti IS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 whom except one reached years of maturity, 
 while four sons and a daughter are yet 
 living. 
 
 With the duties anc> labors of farm life 
 William C. Deaver early became familiar, 
 aiding his father in the labors of the home 
 farm. At the early age of fifteen, when a 
 mere boy, he went forth as a soldier in de- 
 fense of the south, becoming a member of 
 a Tennessee battery, and was with Wheel- 
 er's cavalry. At the close of the war, 
 with his command, he surrendered at Au- 
 gusta, Georgia, and then returned to his 
 home. Although a boy in years he had the 
 courage and loyalty of the old soldier and it 
 was often the case that the bravest deeds 
 were performed by the younger members of 
 the wearers of the gray or the blue. When 
 hostilities were over Mr. Deaver went to his 
 home in Tennessee and later removed to 
 Arkansas, whence in 1876 he came to Texas, 
 settling first in Bell county, where he en- 
 gaged in agricultural pursuits until his re- 
 moval to Smith. He afterward went to 
 Bosque county, and in 1880 to Limestone 
 county, locating in Mitchell Bend, eight 
 miles north of Glen Rose, where he lived 
 for three years. In 1882 he came to his 
 present farm, and he is to-day the owner of 
 two hundred and eighty acres of rich land in 
 the Brazos valley, of which one hundred 
 and sixty acres is under a high state of cul- 
 tivation. He has devoted his entire life to 
 agricultural pursuits, and the neat and 
 thrifty appearance of the place indicates his 
 careful supervision and numbers him among 
 the practical and progressive farmers of the 
 community. 
 
 Mr. Deaver was married June 6, 1877, 
 to Miss Mary C. Sims, a native of Tennes- 
 see and a daughter of James M. Sims, who 
 belonged to one of the old families of Lin- 
 
 coln county, Tennessee. In 1868 he re- 
 moved to Walker county, Texas, and thence 
 to Bell county. Mr. and Mrs. Deaver are 
 the parents of an interesting family of nine 
 children, namely: Nora L. and Dora B., 
 twins, William Hubbard, Monroe S. , Louis 
 C., Raymond L., Beulah, Charles S. and 
 Jesse Earl. The parents are members of 
 the Missionary Baptist church, and Mr. 
 Deaver belongs to Granbury Lodge, F. 
 & A. M. His political support is given the 
 Democracy. 
 
 I A. NEEL, one of the wide-awake 
 and enterprising farmers of Comanche 
 county, is a native of Texas, his 
 birth havingoccurred in Smith coun- 
 ty, on the 20th of September, 1849, and is 
 a son of J. H. and Sarah F. (Daniels) Neel, 
 the former a native of Tennessee and the 
 latter of North Carolina. The family was 
 early founded in the Lone Star state, the 
 paternal grandfather of our subject, W. M. 
 Neel, locating in Smith county in 1846. He 
 was of English descent and a farmer by oc- 
 cupation. In 1855 he came to Comanche 
 county, before it was organized,- and settled 
 about two and a half miles south of the 
 forks of the Leon river. He and the father 
 of our subject assisted in the organization of 
 the county, and were regular attendants at 
 the courts, as jurors, etc., as at that early 
 day it required the services of all of the 
 more prominent men of the county to hold 
 a session of court. The grandfather, in 
 connection with his farming interests, was 
 also extensively engaged in the stock busi- 
 ness. In religious belief he was a Method- 
 ist and in politics was a strong Democrat, 
 taking a leading part in public affairs but 
 not caring for political preferment. He lost 
 
666 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 his wife while a resident of Smith county, 
 and his death occurred in Comanche county, 
 about 1875. In his family were eleven 
 children,— J. H., J. L., Louisa, C. W., T. 
 D., D. M., Drew, W. E., Mat, Mary A., 
 and one who died in infancy. 
 
 The parents of our subject were united 
 in marriage in Tennessee, where they began 
 their domestic life, but emigrated to Texas 
 with the grandfather's family in 1846. Aft- 
 er a time spent in Smith county, J. H. 
 Neel brought his family to Comanche coun- 
 ty, where he carried on the occupations of 
 farming and stock-raising, and developed 
 a good farm on Restless creek. A promi- 
 nent member of the Democracy, he took a 
 deep interest in the success of his party, 
 and was actively identified with the settle- 
 ment and growth of Comanche county, 
 where he endured all the privations and 
 hardships of pioneer life in order to make a 
 home for his family, and during the late 
 war served as a member of the home guards, 
 while in the early days he shared with the 
 other settlers the annoyance of the Indians. 
 An earnest Christian gentleman, he was a 
 faithful member of the Methodist church, in 
 which he served as class-leader, and died in 
 that faith on the 26th of December, 1885. 
 His wife, however, still survives him and 
 finds a pleasant home with our subject. 
 She was born in 1820, the daughter of 
 Thomas and Lizzie (Daniels) Daniels, who 
 were second cousins, and belonged to a 
 prominent North Carolina family. Nature 
 has dealt kindly with her and she is still en- 
 joying excellent health. Like her husband 
 she is also a consistent member of the 
 Methodist Episcopal church. Five children 
 were born to them, four of whom reached 
 years of maturity, namely: John D., of Co- 
 manche county; Isaac A., of this sketch; 
 
 Florence O., wife of C. \V. Ewell, a farmer 
 of Comanche county; and Flora B., wife of 
 J. B. Smart, of Callahan county, Texas. 
 
 As soon as large enough, Isaac A. Neel 
 was put into the saddle, and thus early be- 
 came familiar with the stock business, which 
 he continued to follow exclusively until 
 1 87 1. In that year he commenced farming, 
 opening up a tract of land, which he con- 
 tinued to improve and cultivate until 1886, 
 when he sold out and removed to his pres- 
 ent place, at that time all wild land. His 
 farm is now all under fence, forty-five acres 
 have been placed under the plow, an 
 orchard has been set out, and in 1893 he 
 erected his present comfortable residence. 
 He also owns an interest in a couple of cot- 
 ton fields, which in good seasons turns out 
 about eight hundred bales and raises stock 
 for his own use. 
 
 Mr. Neel led to the marriage altar Miss 
 Mary J. Woods, who was born in Hill county, 
 Texas, September 10, 1856, but when only 
 two years old was brought to Comanche 
 county by her parents, M. A, and Mary A. 
 (Farmer) Woods, the former a native of 
 Ohio and the latter of Tennessee. Her fa- 
 ther, though not a member of any church, 
 was a moral, upright man, and a farmer and 
 stock-raiser by occupation. He died in 
 1870, and his wife, a worthy member of the 
 Methodist Episcopal church, now makes 
 her home with her children, at the age of 
 sixty-four years. 
 
 Nine children have been born to Mr. 
 and Mrs. Neel, namely: Ida B., wife of E. 
 H. Allison, a farmer; James A., an agricult- 
 urist; Gertrude, wife of Doc McDonald, a 
 farmer; Joe, Mack, George, Fannie, Bertha 
 and Vera. The parents still adhere to the 
 faith in which they were reared, that of 
 the Methodist church, are highly respected 
 
tl IS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 667 
 
 members of the community where they have 
 so long made their home, and are genial, 
 hospitable people. Mr. Neel cast his first 
 vote in support of the Democratic party, 
 but since 1893 has been a stalwart Populist. 
 
 HJ. DAUGHTRY, to whom pros- 
 perity has come as the reward of 
 indefatigable industry and unwa- 
 vering perseverance in his business 
 pursuits, was born in Marion county, Geor- 
 gia, July 19, 1846, a son of Allen and Eliza- 
 beth (Giles) Daughtry. The father of our 
 subject was a native of North Carolina and 
 a descendant of one of the old and influen- 
 tial families of the south. He was a farmer 
 by occupation, following that pursuit through 
 many years of his life. He served in the 
 state militia of Georgia and died near Au- 
 gusta during the late war. His wife was a 
 native of Maryland and died in 1875. 
 
 Mr. Daughtry, of this review, spent the 
 days of his boyhood and youth in his par- 
 ents' home, but when a youth of sixteen 
 entered the Confederate service in defense 
 of the south, which had always been his 
 home and was in consequence very dear to 
 him. He joined the boys in gray of the 
 Second Georgia Cavalry, and with that com- 
 mand did valiant service until the close of 
 the war. He was twice wounded, first at 
 the battle of Chattanooga and later during 
 the siege of Atlanta. His wounds, how- 
 ever, were not of a very serious nature, and 
 he continued at the front, participating in 
 many of the most important engagements 
 of the late war, — one of the valiant soldier- 
 boys, whose bravery equaled that of the 
 time-honored veterans. 
 
 Mr. Daughtry continued his residence in 
 the state of his nativity until in the year 
 
 1 87 1, when he came to Texas, locating in 
 Yates county, where he remained until 
 1886. He then came to Comanche county, 
 locating on his present farm, which is situ- 
 ated about twelve miles west of Comanche. 
 His possessions in real estate comprise one 
 hundred and sixty acres of good land, of 
 which one hundred acres is divided into 
 fields and placed under a high state of cul- 
 tivation. He has upon the place a good 
 orchard and substantial buildings, and the 
 many improvements that are found upon 
 the model farm of the nineteenth century. 
 
 On the 1 2th of November, 1865, Mr. 
 Daughtry was united in marriage with Miss 
 Elizabeth Hilmon, a native of Georgia, and 
 their family numbers the following children: 
 Allen W. ; Charles; Ida, wife of August 
 Henry; Wilbur, Lena, Ellis, Dollie and 
 Ross. They have lost two sons: Hiram, 
 who died at the age of five years; and 
 Thomas, who died in infancy. 
 
 Mr. Daughtry is a Democrat, having 
 supported the men and measures of that 
 party since attaining his majority. Socially 
 he affiliates with Blanket Lodge, No. 645, 
 F. & A. M., and he and his family are 
 worthy members of the Baptist church. 
 
 ' w * M. DAVIS has been a resident of 
 
 I I Erath county for more than a third 
 
 [ ^ of a century, having taken up his 
 
 abode here in 1861, when the 
 
 region was wild. He was born in Hickman 
 
 county, Kentucky, September 8, 1S29, a son 
 
 of Gabriel and Mary (Depoister) Davis, also 
 
 natives of Kentucky. The grandfather, 
 
 Abner Davis, was born in North Carolina, 
 
 and was of Welsh lineage, his ancestors 
 
 having come to this country prior to the 
 
 Revolution. The grandfather of our subject 
 
608 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 located in Kentucky among the pioneers of 
 that state and was killed at the battle of 
 Tippecanoe during the war of 1812. The 
 maternal grandfather, John Depoister, was 
 also a native of North Carolina, was of 
 Scotch ancestry and became one of Ken- 
 tucky's pioneers. He aided the colonists 
 throughout their struggle for independence 
 and spent his last days at the home of his 
 daughter, where he died at the age of ninety 
 years. 
 
 The parents of our subject were married 
 in Butler county, Kentucky, and at a very 
 early day removed to Hickman county, 
 where the father followed agricultural pur- 
 suits for a number of years. In 1846 they 
 again emigrated westward and this time 
 took up their residence in Butler county, 
 Missouri, where Mr. Davis carried on farm- 
 ing until his life's labors were ended by 
 death. His wife also died in that county. 
 They were the parents of seven children, 
 all of whom are now deceased excepting the 
 subject of this sketch. The father died in 
 the fall of 1857, at the age of fifty-seven 
 years, and the mother passed away in 1859, 
 when fifty-five years of age. 
 
 Our subject was reared in his native 
 county until si.xteen years of age, and took 
 advantage of the opportunities afforded by 
 the common schools to acquire an educa- 
 tion. He accompanied his parents on their 
 removal to Missouri and assisted his father 
 in clearing and improving a frontier farm. 
 He remained under the parental roof until 
 he had attained his majority, and then 
 started out in life for himself. As a com- 
 panion and helpmeet on life's journej' he 
 chose Miss Catherine Watson and their 
 marriage was celebrated March 14, 1850. 
 The lady was born in Montgomery county, 
 Tennessee, and is a daughter of Foster and 
 
 Susan (Hargraves) Watson, who were from 
 Kentucky and settled in Missouri in the fall 
 of 1849. 
 
 Upon his marriage Mr. Davis purchased 
 a tract of wild land and again improved a 
 farm. He also engaged in flatboating 
 and rafting on the Mississippi river until 
 1853, when he disposed of his business in- 
 terests in that locality and removed to Col- 
 lin county, Texas. A year later he re- 
 turned to his Missouri home and again 
 bought his old farm. He resided there un- 
 til June, 1858, when he once more came to 
 the Lone Star state, spending a month in 
 Jack county, then buying a farm in Parker 
 county. He sold that property the follow- 
 ing spring and went to Wise county, where 
 he improved a farm, remaining there until 
 the fall of 1 86 1, when he arrived in Erath 
 county and bought two hundred and thir- 
 teen acres of land, of which only si.x acres 
 were improved. He now has two hundred 
 acres, and one hundred and twenty-five 
 acres are under high cultivation. The rich 
 soil yields abundant harvests in return for 
 the care and labor he bestows upon it. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Davis have twelve children, 
 as follows: James Carroll, a merchant of 
 Bridgeport, Texas; Mary Ann, who became 
 the wife of Dow Dunnigan and died in 1884; 
 Benjamin F., who follows farming in Clay 
 county; Gabriel Marion, a farmer of Clay 
 county; Martha, wife of James Dever, of 
 Taylor county, Texas; Thomas J., of So- 
 noma county, California; Catherine, wife of 
 Frank Ashworth, of Erath county; Cordelia, 
 wife of Jonathan Lewis, of Erath county; 
 Elizabeth Frances, who for twenty years 
 has been blind and was educated in the 
 School for the Blind at Austin, Texas, and 
 is now a music teacher in Lipan, Hood 
 county; Charlie Stonewall and Joseph, who 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 669 
 
 are still on the home farm; and Naomi, also 
 a music teacher. 
 
 During the war Mr. Davis served on the 
 frontier, but with the exception of that pe- 
 riod has remained continuously in Erath 
 county since locating here in 1 86 1 . Socially 
 he is connected with Bluff Dale Lodge, No. 
 724, F. & A. M., and in politics he was for- 
 merly a Democrat, but now gi\es his sup- 
 port to the People's party. 
 
 Sj— ^ ENRY KING is the senior member 
 
 1^^^ of the firm of King & Smith, who 
 
 It P successfully conduct a general 
 
 blacksmith, wagon and repair shop 
 
 at Meridian. The firm is one of the oldest 
 
 and probably the most reliable in their line 
 
 of business in the city, and all work done by 
 
 them is guaranteed to be up to the average 
 
 both in mechanical and wearing qualities. 
 
 They have met with good success, which is 
 
 well deserved, and own their present place 
 
 of business. 
 
 Mr. King was born in McNairy county, 
 Tennessee, January 10, 1855, his parents 
 being Armor and Louisa (Sipes) King, also 
 natives of the same state, and are now both 
 deceased, the former having died in 1866, 
 and the latter on the 3d of November, 1894. 
 Their family consisted of nine children, of 
 whom our subject was the sixth in order of 
 birth. The father came to Texas in 1855, 
 but after a residence of two years removed 
 to Arkansas. After his death, however, the 
 mother with her family returned to this 
 state, where our subject learned the black- 
 smith's trade, and later began business on j 
 his own account. He is entirely a self-made 
 man, and has succeeded through his own 
 efforts in securing a good property, own- 
 ing at the present time a fine farm of on? 
 
 hundred and forty acres, all of which is 
 under improvement with the exception of 
 twenty acres. 
 
 The lady who now shares the name and 
 fortunes of Mr. King was in her maidenhood 
 Miss Minnie Johnson, a native of Illinois, 
 and a daughter of J. H. Johnson, a Baptist 
 minister, who came to Texas some twenty- 
 five j'ears ago, and they were united in 
 marriage on the 5th of May, 1885. Five 
 children were born to them, but Eunice T., 
 the eldest, is now deceased. Those living 
 are James L., Ola Lee, Bessie Myrtle and 
 an infant daughter. 
 
 In politics Mr. King is a Democrat and 
 a firm believer in the principles of his party, 
 while religiously both he and his wife are 
 esteemed members of the Baptist church. 
 They are highly respected in the society 
 that surrounds them, and enjoy the confi- 
 dence and regard of all who know them. 
 
 ai 
 
 ILLIAM E. M. PICKLE is 
 a gentleman whose seven years' 
 residence in Bosque county has 
 convinced him that this part of 
 the country as an agricultural district is 
 nowhere excelled. He holds front rank 
 amongst its most prosperous and enterpris- 
 ing farmers, and as such is to be considered 
 biograpically in this work. 
 
 Mr. Pickle is a native of South Carolina 
 and a representative of a family long resi- 
 dent of that state. He was born June 25, 
 1853, and was reared at Williamston, a 
 town on the Cumberland railroad, where 
 he received a fair English education. His 
 parents, C. W. and Elizabeth (Murphy) 
 Pickle, were both born in the Palmetto 
 state. William Pickle, the father of C. W., 
 was reared and passed his life there, being 
 
070 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 a slaveholder and prominent farmer, and 
 dying in that state at the extreme old age of 
 ninet3--one years. His father had emigrated 
 to this country from Holland and made set- 
 tlement in South Carolina at a very early 
 day. The maternal grandfather of our sub- 
 ject — Grandfather Wilson — was a native of 
 the Emerald Isle, came to America about 
 the time of the Revolution, or before that 
 period, and was a surgeon in the patriot 
 army. He also settled in South Carolina. 
 C. W. Pickle was for many years a promi- 
 nent merchant in his native state, remain- 
 ing there until 1868. During the late war 
 he was postmaster of his town, acted as a 
 commissary for the soldiers' widows, and 
 conducted a shoe manufactory for the Con- 
 federacy. The war broke him up, as it did 
 many others, his store and dwelling being 
 burned and his slaves freed, the total loss 
 amounting to over $20,000. And soon 
 after this loss, in April, 1867, he had another 
 and greater loss in the death of his wife. 
 The year following her death he came to 
 Te.xas, accompanied by his children, and 
 made settlement in Anderson county, on a 
 farm, where he spent the evening of life in 
 agricultural pursuits. He died in Septem- 
 ber, 1 88 1. His wife was a Missionary Bap- 
 tist, while he was a member of the Christian 
 church; and in his political views he was 
 Democratic, taking an intelligent interest in 
 all public affairs, but never aspiring to of- 
 ficial position. His family comprised the 
 following named members: Elizabeth, who 
 was married in South Carolina to Dr. Pall 
 Williams, is now a resident of Anderson 
 county, Texas; Fanny, wife of Pall Will- 
 iams, is also a resident of Anderson county; 
 William E. M., whose name graces this 
 article; Savanna is the wife of Mr. Murphy 
 Gore, a farmer of Hill county, Texas; Ida 
 
 is the wife of T. Sterman, a merchant of 
 Athens, Henderson county, Texas; and 
 Charles, who is a farmer of Collin county, 
 this state. 
 
 From this succinct review of his ances- 
 try, we would now turn to the life of our 
 immediate subject, William E. M. Pickle. 
 His boyhood days were passed in his native 
 town and at the age of sixteen he accom- 
 panied his father to what was then regarded 
 as far-off Texas, arriving here, as already 
 stated, in 1868, and settling on a farm. 
 Ever since that date, with the exception of 
 1887 and 1888, when he was a clerk at 
 Palestine, Texas, the subject of our sketch 
 has been engaged in agricultural pursuits. 
 In February, 1889, he came to Bosque 
 county and bought the land he has since oc- 
 cupied, five hundred acres of rich prairie 
 located three miles southeast of Iredell. 
 There were no buildings on the land at that 
 time and only fifteen acres of the soil had 
 been furrowed. To-day a marked change 
 is observed. The whole tract is well fenced, 
 one hundred and twenty acres are under 
 cultivation, there is a commodious residence 
 and also a good tenant house, a fine orchard 
 is loaded with fruits, the fields are well tilled 
 and in the broad pastures is found a high 
 grade of cattle and horses; in short, every- 
 thing about the premises gives evidence that 
 both means and intelligent labor have been 
 expended here. Mr. Pickle is especially in- 
 terested in grading up his stock, horses, mules 
 and cattle. He has raised some fine horses 
 of the Steeldust and Norman breeds, which 
 have sold for handsome prices. Kis exten- 
 sive farming and stock operations require 
 the whole of his time and attention, and he 
 has never sought or cared for office. He, 
 however, takes a commendable interest in 
 public affairs and keeps himself well posted 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 671 
 
 on the issues of the day. He affiHates with 
 the Democratic party and favors the free 
 coinage of silver. 
 
 Mr. Pickle was united in marriage in 
 1874 to Miss Augusta Davis, a native of 
 Alabama. Her father, Bradley Davis, was 
 of South Carolina birth and moved from that 
 state to Alabama when a young man, where 
 he was engaged in farming until the opening 
 of the late war. He died while in the Con- 
 federate service. He was twice married and 
 had three children by each wife, Mrs. Pickle 
 being the youngest child by the first mar- 
 riage. Mr. and Mrs. Pickle have been 
 blessed in the birth of nine children, of 
 whom six are living, namely: Murphy, Eula, 
 Brad, Meda, Vera and Betty, — all at home. 
 One child died at birth, and the names of 
 the other two were Crawford and Alma. 
 
 Fraternally, Mr. Pickle is identified with 
 the Masonic order and the Knights of Honor. 
 Much more might be said of him, but enough 
 has already been given to serve as an index 
 to his character and show that his influence 
 has ever been directed along the line of 
 progress and for the good of the community. 
 
 at 
 
 ILLIAM CLAYTON POE is a 
 
 representative of one of the early 
 pioneer families of Hood county, 
 Texas, and a descendant of an- 
 cestors who settled in America in colonial 
 days. Stephen Poe, his great-grandfather, 
 was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, go- 
 ing into that war with his nine brothers 
 and rendering valiant service until the 
 struggle was ended. He and his brothers 
 became separated in the war and never 
 afterward saw or heard of each other. He 
 settled in the south, where he was a re- 
 spected citizen and where his posterity have 
 
 occupied useful and honored positions in 
 life. An uncle of W. C. Poe served in the 
 Mexican war. 
 
 William Clayton Poe was born in Louis- 
 iana, May 20, 1848, son of William and 
 Elizabeth (Stuart) Poe, the former a native 
 of Georgia and the latter of South Carolina. 
 His parents were married in Alabama in 
 1835, resided for a time in Louisiana, and 
 from the latter state came in 1848 to Texas, 
 locating first in Rusk county. Two years 
 later they came to Wood county, where 
 they remained seven years. At the expira- 
 tion of that time the family, consisting of 
 parents and seven children, started for San 
 Saba county, but before they reached their 
 destination the father died. The widow 
 and children went on and made settlement 
 in San Saba county, where they were for 
 ten years engaged in stock-raising and farm- 
 ing. Owing to the many depredations 
 committed by the Indians there about that 
 time, they left that part of the state and 
 came to Hood county, where they located 
 and where they have since figured as repre- 
 sentative citizens. The aged mother, now 
 eighty-one years old, is kindly cared for in 
 the home of her son William C. , from whom 
 she has never been separated since the death 
 of her husband. 
 
 The immediate subject of our sketch, 
 William C. Poe, was an infant when brought 
 to this state and knows no other home than 
 a Texas one. In his boyhood days he at- 
 tended for a short time the subscription 
 schools of the frontier community in which 
 they resided, where he learned little more 
 than to read and write; but by home read- 
 ing and study later in life he acquired a 
 wide range of useful information, and keeps 
 himself well posted on current topics. On 
 arriving at the age of twenty-one he began 
 
C72 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 life on his own responsibility, his training 
 and experience standing him in good stead, 
 and he then launched out as a farmer and 
 stock dealer. In 1880 he purchased his 
 present farm, one hundred and fifty-four 
 acres, to the cultivation and care of which 
 he has since devoted his energies and with 
 marked success, his place now being well 
 improved and giving evidence of the intel- 
 ligence that has been back of the labor here 
 expended. 
 
 Mr. Poe is of a generous and public- 
 spirited nature, interested in all that goes to 
 promote the welfare of his community. In 
 politics he is a Democrat. Socially he is 
 identified with the Masonic order, having 
 membership in Granbury Lodge, No. 392, 
 A. F. & A. M. 
 
 He was married November 25, 1877, to 
 Miss Ailie A. Roach, a native of Tennessee, 
 but reared from childhood in Texas, daugh- 
 ter of James and Malinda (Cornell) Roach. 
 It was in 1847 that the Roach family came 
 to this state, their settlement being in Red 
 River county, where the parents died. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Poe are consistent mem- 
 bers of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
 
 <>^ EV. SHELBY KING.— In a speech 
 I /^T delivered before the Home Mission- 
 1 . y ary Society of the Presbyterian 
 church in February, 1896, Presi- 
 dent Cleveland said, in part: "No one 
 charged with the duties and responsibilities 
 which necessarily weigh upon your chief 
 executive can fail to appreciate the import- 
 ance of religious teachings and Christian 
 endeavor in the newly settled portions of 
 our vast domain. It is there where hot 
 and stubborn warfare between the forces of 
 good and evil is constantly invited. In 
 
 these days the vanguard of occupation in a 
 new settlement is never without its vicious 
 and criminal element. Gambling houses 
 and dram-shops are frequently among the 
 firit establishments in a new community. 
 It must also be confessed that removal from 
 old homes and associations to a new and 
 more primitive home has a tendenc}' among 
 honest and respectable settlers to smother 
 scruples and to breed toleration of evils and 
 indifference to Christianizing and elevating 
 agencies." No one has been more active 
 in counteracting the bad influences peculiar 
 to a new country, and in spreading the gos- 
 pel, than has the pioneer preacher of the 
 Missionary Baptist church of central Texas; 
 and of this class Rev. Mr. King is a good 
 representative. As such, the history of his 
 life forms an important link in the chain of 
 local historj'. 
 
 Rev. Shelby King was born in Shelby 
 county, — the county for which he was 
 named, — in Alabama, May 13, 1835, son 
 of Edmund and Nancy (Reagan) King. He 
 was educated in the Masonic Institute of 
 Selma, Alabama, at Howard College and 
 in the Alabama University, spending three 
 years in the last named institution and 
 nearly completing its classical course. His 
 life work has been farming, teaching and 
 preaching, combining the three and crowd- 
 ing usefulness into every moment. His first 
 twenty-seven years were spent in Alabama. 
 At the age of twenty he purchased a farm 
 of seven hundred and sixty acres, which he 
 owned and superintended until his removal 
 to Texas in the fall of 1862, his first settle- 
 ment in this state being in Ja.sper county. 
 There he bought six hundred and forty 
 acres of land. He made that place his 
 home eleven years, carrying on farming 
 operations extensively, and it was while 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 673 
 
 there, in 1865, that his career as a teacher 
 began. After several removals and much 
 travel, he came, in September, 1882, to the 
 farm he now owns near Carlton, Hamilton 
 county. Here he at first purchased one 
 hundred and sixty acres of land on the A. 
 J. Taylor survey, to which by subsequent 
 purchase he added until now he owns four 
 hundred and twentj'-eight acres. Previous 
 to the late war Mr. King was a large slave- 
 holder, but since then his operations have 
 been carried on with the aid of hired help. 
 After he had been on his present farm two 
 years he decided to engage in the sheep 
 business, and accordingly bought about 
 seven hundred head of sheep in the vicinity 
 of Johnson's Peak in Bosque county and 
 brought them to his ranch. In this enter- 
 prise, however, he met with strong opposi- 
 tion. There was then an element here, 
 known as "stock men," bitterly opposed to 
 the sheep industry and determined by all 
 means, foul or fair, to drive it from the 
 country. After enduring their mobs and 
 their raids and suffering the loss of many of 
 his sheep, Mr. King disposed of his flock. 
 He now has tenants on his land and is him- 
 self practically retired. 
 
 Among the educational institutions with 
 which Mr. King has been at different times 
 connected, we note the following: Head's 
 Prairie Academy in Robertson county, a non- 
 sectarian school, employing three teachers; 
 Clifton Academy, Clifton, Bosque county, 
 where four teachers were employed and 
 about two hundred pupils enrolled ; a private 
 school in Newburg, where he had one hun- 
 dred and seventy pupils. Also he taught 
 here in Carlton and in other places. 
 
 Mr. King was converted and joined the 
 Baptist church when he was about twenty 
 years of age, soon felt that he had a call to 
 
 tell the glad tidings of salvation, and when 
 he was twenty-one began preaching. His 
 ministerial work has ever been character- 
 ized by earnestness and devotion. His ef- 
 forts have been over a large extent of 
 territory and among all classes of people, 
 whenever and wherever duty called; and 
 always with the courage of his convictions 
 has he proclaimed the truth and pointed out 
 the straight and narrow path. In early life 
 he preached at various points in Alabama 
 and Mississippi. In Texas he had regular 
 charges sixteen years, has traveled and 
 preached in no less than eighty counties in 
 this state, and during this period of active 
 ministration has baptized as many as two 
 hundred people in a single year. Recently, 
 although retired, his voice is heard occa- 
 sionally from the pulpit. Personally, Mr. 
 King is large of stature, rugged in appear- 
 ance, fearless in speaking and acting what 
 he believes to be right, and always pos- 
 sessing that manner which commands at- 
 tention and respect. At the time of the 
 trouble alluded to above, between the stock 
 men and the sheep men, when law and order 
 were set aside and riot ran high, and when 
 even Mr. King's own life was threatened if 
 he did not remove his sheep, he boldly 
 stood up in his pulpit and denounced their 
 actions, raising a mighty voice against mobs 
 and mob law; and he was the first man in 
 Hamilton county who had the courage to 
 publicly denounce mob law. "Brother 
 King," as he is affectionately called by his 
 acquaintances, has always stood high in his 
 church. When disputes arise in the church 
 at various points in the adjoining counties, 
 he is usually called in to settle the difficul- 
 ties, and his decision is generally accepted 
 as final. 
 
 Turning now to the more purely domestic 
 
C74 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 page in the history of our subject, we find 
 that May 3, 1855, he was united in mar- 
 riage to Miss Mary Catharine McClennay, 
 daughter of S. G. McClennay, a Baptist 
 minister, and his wife, whose maiden name 
 was Miss Woodfin. Mrs. King was born 
 May 29, 1836, in Alabama, and died in 
 Texas, July 28, 1888. She was a lady of 
 many excellent qualities of heart and mind, 
 by her sweet and amiable life endeared herself 
 to a large circle of friends, and by her counsel, 
 sympathy and devotion was a helpmate in- 
 deed to her husband in his busy and useful 
 field of action. Of their family, brief 
 record is as follows: Betty Reagan, who 
 died in infancy; Mary Catharine, wife of 
 Prof. W. C. Jones, Cooke county, Texas; 
 Nanny Reagan, who died at the age of two 
 years; Sally McClourin, wife of Dr. Harry 
 Brown, Yorktown, Texas; Lelia McClennay, 
 wife of Hugh Armstrong, Stephenville, 
 Texas; Cleo Marcella, wife of Prof. J. B. 
 Jones, of Ranger Academy, Ranger, Texas; 
 Shelby James, who died at the age of two 
 years; and Edward Selma, at home. De- 
 cember 19, 1889, Mr. King wedded for his 
 second wife Mrs. Martha Elizabeth McCul- 
 lough, widow of J. W. McCullough and 
 daughter of Larkin and Frances Forbes. 
 Mrs. King is a native of Macon county, 
 Alabama, born February 25, 1837, and is a 
 woman of culture and refinement. She has 
 one child by her first marriage, C. E. Mc- 
 Cullough, now of Mills county, Texas. 
 
 HN DREW JACKSON, a highly 
 esteemed citizen of Hood county, 
 whose connection with its inter- 
 ests covers a period of thirty-nine 
 years, dating from 1857, claims North Car- 
 olina as the state of his birth, which oc- 
 
 curred in Burke county. May 18, 1822. His 
 parents, Eli and Tabitha (Hodge) Jackson, 
 were also natives of the same county and 
 were of Irish lineage. 
 
 Our subject was reared in North Caro- 
 lina until thirteen years of age, and then 
 accompanied his parents on their removal 
 to Georgia, the family locating in Rabun 
 county, where Andrew remained until he 
 had attained to man's estate, while the par- 
 ents made their home in that locality until 
 called to their final rest, the father passing 
 away at the age of seventy-six, while the 
 mother died a few years later at the same 
 age. On starting out in life for himself 
 Andrew Jackson secured employment as a 
 farm hand and after his marriage began 
 farming on his own account, following that 
 pursuit in Georgia until 1857, when he re- 
 solved to seek a home. Accordingly he 
 started westward and after several weeks of 
 travel arrived in Hood county, locating 
 three miles from his present home. His 
 first farm, on the Paluxy, is now owned by 
 J. Nutt. He continued its cultivation until 
 1859, when he purchased one hundred and 
 sixty acres of partially improved land, which 
 he operated until the time of the war, when 
 he entered the service for the protection of 
 the frontier. When the war was over the 
 settlers had great trouble with the Indians 
 for several years, but at length the latter 
 were driven westward and the farmers were 
 enabled to continue their labors uninter- 
 ruptedly. 
 
 Mr. Jackson was married February 25, 
 1847, to Miss Mary M. Osborn, a native of 
 North Carolina and a daughter of Newman 
 and Judith Osborn, who settled in Georgia 
 in an early day, living in Gilmer county. 
 To our subject and his wife were born seven 
 children, six of whom are living, namely: 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 675 
 
 George E., J. P. ; Nancy Jane, wife of J. A. 
 Ducket; N. O. ; Judith A., widow of George 
 Dike; S. M., wife of W. G. Ingle; and 
 Sarah, deceased wife of A. J. Clark. The 
 mother of this family died January 8, i860, 
 and Mr. Jackson was again married in De- 
 cember, 1 86 1, his second union being with 
 Nancy Ingle, whose maiden name was An- 
 drews and who was a native of Louisiana. 
 One daughter has been born of the second 
 marriage, Mary L. , now the wife of J. M. 
 McCluskie. Mr. Jackson and his wife are 
 consistent members of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal church, in which he has served as 
 steward for many years. His political sup- 
 port is given the men and measures of the 
 Democracy. His has been an upright life 
 and his sterling worth and strict integrity 
 have won the confidence and regard of a 
 large circle of friends. 
 
 >Y* P- JACKSON.— One does not have 
 J to carry his investigation far into the 
 (% 1 record of Hood county to find that 
 the name of Jackson occupies a con- 
 spicuous place among the pioneers. Our 
 subject is a worthy representative of one of 
 the early families of central Texas and is a 
 wide-awake, progressive citizen, who gives 
 his support to all measures calculated to 
 prove of benefit to the community. 
 
 Born in Gilmer county, Georgia, on the 
 6th of December, 1850, he is a son of An- 
 drew Jackson, whose sketch appears above. 
 The first seven years of his life were spent 
 in the place of his nativity and then he ac- 
 companied his father to Texas, since which 
 time he has been a resident of Hood coun- 
 ty. He resided with his parents until 
 twenty-five years of age, assisting his father 
 in the labors of the field and meadow and 
 
 faithfully performing his share of the farm 
 work. 
 
 On leaving home Mr. Jackson was united 
 in marriage with Miss Amanda E. Lane, 
 the wedding being celebrated on the 18th 
 of November, 1875. The lady was an or- 
 phan and came to Texas in 1869 with the 
 family of Isaac Moore, by whom she was 
 reared. Seven children were born to Mr. 
 and Mrs. Jackson, as follows: Nora Rox- 
 anna, who died at the age of nine months; 
 Mary Lillian; Susan Ida; William Oscar; 
 Stella Elizabeth, who died in infancy; Hor- 
 ace Aimer; and Sidney Osborn. 
 
 After his marriage our subject purchased 
 three hundred acres of wild land on which 
 not a furrow had been .turned or an improve- 
 ment made, and at once began to clear and 
 cultivate it. There is now a tract of one hun- 
 dred and five acres under the plow, and in 
 connection with general farming Mr. Jack- 
 son is successfully engaged in stock-raising, 
 making a specialty of the breeding of Clydes- 
 dale horses, of which he owns some very 
 fine specimens. He has done much to ad- 
 vance the grade of horses in this locality 
 and in all his business he follows progress- 
 ive, up-to-date methods. His strict regard 
 for commercial ethics and his straightfor- 
 ward dealing and his energy have won for 
 him the confidence and respect of all with 
 whom he has come in contact and at the 
 same time have gained for him a handsome 
 competence. 
 
 In 1892 Mr. Jackson was called upon to 
 mourn the loss of his wife, who died on the 
 1 6th of July, at the age of thirty-three 
 years, her birth having occurred on the ist 
 of May, 1859. She was a worthy member 
 of the Methodist Episcopal church and many 
 friends mourned her loss. Mr. Jackson 
 also belongs to the same church and is serv- 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 ing as its steward. Socially he is connected 
 with Paluxy Lodge, No. 393, F. & A. M., 
 in which he has filled all the offices, and in 
 politics he is a "free-silver" Democrat. 
 
 ^j'OHN LEVI SPURLIN, general man- 
 ■ ager of the mercantile firm of Will- 
 A 1 iam Maxwell, of Hamilton, Texas, 
 was born at Chatfield Point, Navar- 
 ro county, Texas, September 17, 1853, and 
 is a son of Levi Balding and Sarah Rosanna 
 (Reagan) Spurlin. At the age of sixteen he 
 began life for himself, entering the service 
 of the International & Great Northern rail- 
 road, as freight clerk at Palestine, Texas, 
 and remained with .the company for six 
 years, during which time his efficient service 
 was rewarded by promotions from time to 
 time, holding the positions of terminal 
 agent, assistant auditor, as well as others of 
 like responsibility. While in the employ of 
 that road he was also engaged in merchan- 
 dising at Palestine, other parties being in 
 charge of his business. 
 
 On the 23d of December, 1878, Mr. 
 Spurlin came to Hamilton as business man- 
 ager for the mercantile firm of S. W. 
 Hearne & Company, with whom he re- 
 mained until the death of Mr. Hearne in 
 1884, when the mother of our subject, Mrs. 
 S. R. Scoggin, bought the business and he 
 still continued as manager. In 1890 he be- 
 came owner and conducted the store under 
 his own name for two years, when he sold to 
 Messrs. Horton & Maxwell, but continued 
 in their employ as general manager. Later, 
 after Mr. Maxwell became sole proprietor, 
 he continued with the establi.shment in the 
 same capacity, and still remains there. The 
 business carried on by the firm is one of the 
 largest in this section of the state, and has 
 
 grown to its present proportions under the 
 able management of Mr. Spurlin, as when 
 he took charge in 1878 the stock carried 
 was very small, but is now valued at thirty 
 thousand dollars, while the sales reaches 
 nearly one hundred thousand dollars an- 
 nually. The building occupied is a large, 
 commodious stone structure, erected in 
 1890, prior to which time business was con- 
 ducted in the room now used for the grocery 
 department. The firm also buys and ships 
 stock, and our subject is associated with Mr. 
 Maxwell in dealing extensively in real es- 
 tate, having between ten and eleven thou- 
 sand acres of land in Hamilton county. 
 
 On the 20th of July, 1881, was celebrated 
 the marriage of Mr. Spurlin and Miss Mag- 
 gie Vedder, who was born at Galveston, 
 Texas, October 25, 1854, and is the daugh- 
 ter of Jacob Sedam and Margaret (King) 
 Vedder. Two children grace this union: 
 Margaret Eleanor, born May 6, 1890; and 
 John Levi, born August 4, 1893. 
 
 Mr. Spurlin organized the first bank at 
 Hamilton, known as the First National 
 Bank, but although it received its charter it 
 never did business, and gave place to the 
 Hamilton National Bank, organized shortly 
 after, of which he acted as vice-president 
 until the election of the present incumbent, 
 J. T. James. He is noted for his energy 
 and progressive business methods, and al- 
 though he has met with misfortunes these 
 did not occur through any fault of his. The 
 fact that he has continued so long in his 
 present position is proof that he holds the 
 confidence of his business associates and the 
 public as well. The name Spurlin is synony- 
 mous with the large business with which he 
 has been connected for almost twenty years. 
 Politically, he is an ardent Democrat. At 
 the Democratic county convention of Ham- 
 
HISTORY OP TEXAS. 
 
 677 
 
 ilton county held August 8, 1896, he was 
 elected county chairman for said county; 
 and at the Democratic state convention 
 held at Fort Worth, Texas, he was elected 
 chairman of the twenty-seventh senatorial 
 district. Socially he is connected with 
 Ivanhoe Lodge, No. 15, K. P., of Pales- 
 tine, Texas, which he joined in 1875, and 
 still holds his membership there; and is a 
 charter member of Hamilton Lodge, No. 
 3021, Knights of Honor. 
 
 ^V^HILIP PREACHER is one of the 
 1 m honored and successful pioneers 
 1 who have helped to rescue Hamil- 
 
 ton county from the wilderness 
 and make it fair as a garden of the Lord. 
 He was born November 7, 1824, in the 
 Bluford district, of the state of South Caro- 
 lina, his parents being John and Sucie 
 (Lea) Preacher, who took him to Coffee 
 county, Alabama, before he was sixteen 
 years old, and there they both died. Our 
 subject early began life for himself and 
 worked at the trade of carpentry for fifteen 
 years, and lived in that county up to the 
 time of his coming to Texas. He served in 
 the war, and came to Texas in the month of 
 December, 1870. He farmed rented land 
 in Collin county for five years. In 1875 
 moved to Hamilton county and rented land 
 on the Bosque river, and next moved to his 
 present location, where he had purchased 
 three hundred and twenty acres. All was 
 then wild land, and he has built everything 
 on the place, and now has one hundred 
 acres in cultivation. 
 
 Mr. Preacher was married in 1848, to 
 Harriet Journeykin, who was about his age 
 and has become the mother of these chil- 
 dren: Nancy was born June 27, 1849, mar- 
 
 ried John Atkinson. Henry Daniel was born 
 July 17, 1 85 1, and is now living in the coun- 
 ty, unmarried. Sarah Ann Samantha was 
 born March 26, 1854; and also an infant 
 child, which died very soon after birth. This 
 lady died in the summer of 1857, and our sub- 
 ject was married, for a second time, to Sarah 
 Barden, daughter of Woodward and Martha 
 Barden. She was a native of Stewart county, 
 Georgia, where she was born August 6, 1833. 
 She is also the mother of a large family. 
 John Woodward was born September 5, 
 1858, and was married October 31, 1886, to 
 Amanda Fulford, lives on a farm and has 
 these children: Genie Ella, Hattie May, 
 Tennie Leona, Fida (deceased) and Ethel. 
 Susan was born February 22, i860, became 
 the wife of J. T. MacGuire, and is the 
 mother of Tudy, Samuel, Amanda, Alice 
 and George. Elizabeth was born May 27, 
 1 861, and has been twice married. To her 
 first husband, Harris Burney, she bore two 
 children, — William and Sally, — and to her 
 second husband, P. A. White, six children, 
 —Walker, Dorsey. Chloe, Myrtle, Randall 
 and Rada. Philip Marion was born August 
 5, 1862, and was married February 11, 
 1885, to Julia Fulford, and is now living on 
 the place. They are the parents of five chil- 
 dren, — Oscar, Delia, Lula, May and Willie 
 Roy. William Joseph was born November 
 2, 1864, and was married November 29, 
 1888, to Lizzie Harris, and is living on the 
 place. He has always been of a delicate 
 constitution, and has given more time to 
 books and study than to manual labor. He 
 has served in the interests of several eastern 
 detective bureaus, and could now command 
 a lucrative position did his health permit. 
 Martha Ann Missouri, born December 19, 
 1868, was married September 20, 1893, to 
 Jefferson Beauregard Carter, is the mother 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 of two children, — Pauline and Frederick, — 
 and is at home on the place. Caledonia 
 was born January 6, 1870, married Allen 
 Albert Hensler, January 6, 1892, and is the 
 mother of one child, Basil Lockhart. Mr. 
 Hensler was a widower with two living chil- 
 dren, — Judson and Annie, — and one child, 
 Irene, dead. Mary Eliza was born April 1 1, 
 1875, and has been in delicate health, and 
 never quite right from infancy. Luther was 
 born August 14, 1879, and died July 22, 
 1890. 
 
 The father of our subject owned a grist- 
 mill, sawmill and cotton-gin, and was a 
 mechanic of more than usual ability. His 
 son, the subject of this writing, has built at 
 least fifty houses in this county. He has 
 three sisters and one brother: Eliza Ann, 
 Elizabeth, Lavinia, and Jacob. The grand- 
 mother of our subject died in 1865, aged 
 about seventy-two. She had four children, 
 — Sukie, Lavinia, Lovisa and Kissie. 
 
 Our subject was in his earlier life a mem- 
 ber of the Methodist church, but in 1875 
 transferred his membership to the Baptist 
 church. Formerly he was a Democrat, 
 but in later years has been acting with the 
 Populist party. Preacher is an English 
 name, but the family has long been resident 
 in this country, the grandfather having had 
 an honorable part in the Revolutionary 
 struggle. His wife was of Dutch extraction, 
 and was the mother of but two children, 
 Christopher and the father of our subject. 
 
 u 
 
 ILLIAM DAWS, Sipe Springs, 
 Comanche county, Te.xas, landed 
 in this county over twenty years 
 ago, and has since been identified 
 with its interests and ranked as one of its 
 most respected citizens. To a brief review 
 
 of his life we would at this point invite 
 attention. 
 
 William Daws is of Tennessee birth, 
 born in Rutherford county, January 26, 
 1834. Isaac Daws, his father, was born in 
 the Old Dominion, was of English descent, 
 and a representative of one of the primitive 
 families of Virginia. On a farm in his na- 
 tive state Isaac was reared, and was there 
 married to Miss Susan C. Roberts, a native 
 of Virginia, her people having emigrated to 
 that place from Ireland. Not long after 
 their marriage they moved to Rutherford 
 county, Tennessee, later went to Talladega 
 county, Alabama, and in 1855 sought a 
 home still further west and took up their 
 abode in Dallas county, Arkansas, where 
 they passed the remainder of their lives and 
 died, each being about seventy-five years of 
 age at the time of death. They were ear- 
 nest Christians and active members of the 
 Methodist Episcopal church. By trade he 
 was a shoemaker, but for many years fol- 
 lowed agricultural pursuits; and in politics 
 he was a Whig, and a great admirer of that 
 grand old statesman, Henry Clay. Of their 
 five children, we record that Elizabeth is 
 deceased; William is the subject of this 
 sketch; John is the next in order of birth; 
 Joel is a resident of .\rkansas; and Sally Ann 
 is deceased. 
 
 The boyhood days of our subject were 
 spent in work on his father's farm and in 
 attending the common schools near his 
 home, and about the time he attained his 
 majority he accompanied his parents on 
 their removal to Dallas county, Arkansas, 
 where he was engaged in farming at the 
 time the civil war was inaugurated; and, 
 like most men of his age, he has a war 
 record. It was in Captain Blackwell's com- 
 pany, and in the Third Trans-Mississippi 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 679 
 
 Division, under Colonel Pleasant, that he 
 went to the front. He was on many a long 
 march and in numerous engagements, suf- 
 fered the pangs of hunger and the loss of 
 blood, and can relate many exciting and in- 
 teresting incidents connected with his army 
 life. At the battle of Prairie Grove he was 
 wounded in the left arm by a minie ball; 
 also he received a flesh wound just over the 
 stomach from the same kind of ball, and 
 was left on the field and reported as dead. 
 He had not tasted food for three days be- 
 fore being wounded, and it was in all proba- 
 bility owing to this fact that his life was 
 saved. 
 
 At the close of the war Mr. Daws re- 
 turned to his home in Arkansas, where he 
 continued to reside until 1875, that year 
 coming to Texas and settling in Denton 
 county. The following year he removed 
 to Comanche county, and since 1880 
 he has resided on his present farm, one 
 hundred and sixty acres, in the vicinity 
 of Sipe Springs. He has his land all 
 under fence and seventy-five acres of 
 it in cultivation, producing as fine crops 
 as can be raised in this part of the country, 
 and among the improvements on his farm 
 may be mentioned the residence, tenant 
 house, orchard, etc. Having thus briefly 
 referred to his parentage, army life and 
 farming operations, we now turn to that 
 page in the life of our subject which is of a 
 domestic character. 
 
 Mr. Daws was first married, December 
 20, 1859, in Dallas county, Arkansas, to 
 Miss Sarah Overman, a native of Talladega 
 county, Alabama, and a daughter of Will- 
 iam and Harriet (Johnson) Overman, both 
 natives of Alabama. Their union was 
 blessed in the birth of two children, name- 
 ly: Betty, wife of William Littlefield, of 
 
 Sipe Springs; and one deceased. This 
 wife and mother died in February, 1892, 
 and in July of that year Mr. Daws wedded 
 Miss Sarah M. Pyle, a native of Parker 
 county, Texas, and a daughter of John 
 Wesley and Frances (Lee) Pyle. 
 
 Mr. Daws adheres to the faith in which 
 he was reared and is among the substantial 
 members of the local Methodist Episcopal 
 church. He has always taken a commend- 
 able interest in all public issues, gives his 
 support to the advancement of educational, 
 temperance and religious interests, and 
 exerts an influence that is felt for good in 
 his community. He casts his franchise with 
 the Democratic party. 
 
 at 
 
 ALTER BRALEY GLENN, who 
 was identified with the commer- 
 cial and agricultural interests of 
 Hood county for about thirty 
 years, is now living retired at Acton. A 
 man of great energy and more than ordi- 
 nary business capacity, his success in life 
 has been largely due to his own efforts and 
 the sound judgment by which he has been 
 enabled to make wise investments and take 
 good advantage of his resources. 
 
 Mr. Glenn is a native of middle Ten- 
 nessee, where he was born August 25, 1830, 
 and is of Irish descent on the paternal side, 
 while his mother's ancestors were English. 
 His grandfather Glenn, who was probably 
 the founder of the family in the New World, 
 was a resident of South Carolina, and served 
 as a soldier in the war of the Revolution. 
 
 The parents of our subject were James 
 Edward and Sarah (Braley) Glenn, the 
 former a native of South Carolina, and the 
 latter of Wilson county, Tennessee. In the 
 latter state they were married, and when 
 
680 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 Walter was about four years of age removed 
 to Alabama, where the father engaged in 
 farming and died in the year 1847. The 
 mother's death occurred in Texas in 1868. 
 Their family consisted of four sons and four 
 daughters, all of whom grew to maturity, 
 and are as follows: Walter B., of this 
 review; Mary, who wedded William W. 
 Bolding and died in Arkansas, leaving a 
 family; Sarah E. A., deceased; James 
 Alfred, who was in the Confederate service 
 and died at Columbus, Mississippi; Caroline 
 Catherine, now Mrs. Massey, of Hood 
 county; Angeline, deceased; Andrew Jack- 
 son, who was also a Confederate soldier and 
 died in Mississippi during the civil war; and 
 Francis Marion, a resident of Johnson 
 county, Texas. 
 
 After the death of his father nearly the 
 entire management of the home farm de- 
 volved upon Walter B. Glenn, as he was 
 the eldest of the family. His early educa- 
 tional advantages were very limited, but by 
 reading, observation and in the school of 
 experience he has become a well informed 
 man. He grew to manhood on the old 
 homestead, and in 1851 married Miss Fran- 
 ces Caroline Weatherby, a native of Ala- 
 bama and a daughter of Moses and Sarah 
 Weatherby, who were both born in South 
 Carolina. Mr. and Mrs. Glenn have be- 
 come the parents of nine children, but one 
 died in infancy. The others are Columbus 
 B., a merchant of Crescent, Texas; Frances 
 P., wife of Joseph M. McPherson, of John- 
 son county, this state; Andrew Jackson and 
 James Moses, twins, the former of whom 
 died leaving four children; Sarah C, wife 
 of Edward Graham; Charles Marion, a 
 farmer of Johnson countj'; Benjamin F., a 
 merchant of Acton; and Alice, wife of 
 Charles Wohlford, of Hood county. 
 
 In 1853, Mr. Glenn with his wife and 
 child came to Texas, making the journey 
 with a team of horses and wagon, the trip 
 taking about six weeks. On his arrival he 
 located in what is now Parker county, but 
 was then a part of Tarrant county. Here 
 he settled among the Indians and acquired 
 three hundred acres of land by the right of 
 pre-emption, upon which farm he lived for 
 six years, when he sold out and moved to 
 Erath county, with the intention of engag- 
 ing in the stock business, taking with him a 
 number of horses. Owing to the Indian 
 depredations he remained there but one 
 year, when he returned to Parker county 
 and resumed farming and stock-raising, 
 giving most of his attention to the latter 
 business. 
 
 In 1S62, Mr. 'Glenn enlisted in the Con- 
 federate army, as a member of Tom Green's 
 old regiment, and followed the fortunes of 
 that command until after Lee's surrender. 
 Though in a number of engagements he es- 
 caped uninjured, and at the close of the war 
 returned to Parker county, again taking up 
 farming and stock-raising. In the winter of 
 1866-7, he was on the frontier with cattle 
 in Shackelford county, and while there par- 
 ticipated in a battle between the white set- 
 tlers and Indians, and was wounded by an 
 arrow. It was in 1867 that he first came 
 to Hood county, locating at that time ten 
 miles south of Granbury, on the Brazos 
 river, where he purchased three hundred 
 and twenty acres of new land and developed 
 a farm which he successfully cultivated 
 until 1 88 1, when he removed to Acton and 
 opened a general store. He engaged in the 
 mercantile business until the fall of 1895, 
 also meeting with fair success in this under- 
 taking. 
 
 For several years Mr. Glenn served as 
 
BISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 681 
 
 postmaster of Acton, and has also been 
 school trustee. All his life he has been a 
 consistent and conservative Democrat, 
 taking an interest in public affairs, but has 
 never been an office-seeker. Socially, he 
 holds a membership with Acton Lodge, No. 
 2S5, F. & A. \f., in which he has served as 
 worshipful master for several j-ears, and 
 has taken the chapter degrees. Religiously, 
 both he and his wife are consistent mem- 
 bers of the Christian church. Mr. Glenn 
 still owns a good farm of two hundred and 
 fifty acres in Johnson county, about one 
 hundred and fifty acres of which are under 
 cultivation. He may well be called a self- 
 made man, who by industry, perseverance 
 and strict integrity has won success through 
 the legitimate channels of trade, and is 
 spending the evening of his life in compara- 
 tive ease and the enjoyment of the confi- 
 dence and respect of his many friends. 
 
 EUGH W. WOODS has for twenty 
 years been a resident of Hood 
 county and is numbered among its 
 substantial farmers and stock- 
 raisers. From humble surroundings he has 
 worked his way upward and by his own ex- 
 ertions has become one of the leading and 
 successful men of the community. He was 
 born in Perry county, Tennessee, March 27, 
 1847, a son of Hugh and Delilah (Woods) 
 Woods, who were formerly from I^entucky. 
 His father died when he (our subject) was a 
 small boy, and his mother afterward mar- 
 ried again. 
 
 Mr. Woods of this sketch resided with 
 his mother until si.xteen years of age. After 
 leaving home he worked for farmers in the 
 neighborhood until his marriage, when he 
 began farming on his own account in Ten- 
 
 nessee. There he resided until 1875, when, 
 hoping to better his financial condition by 
 removing to the frontier, he emigrated to 
 the Lone Star state, reaching Hood county 
 in the month of December. He located on 
 what was then known as Gunnell's farm and 
 rented land. His cash capital consisted of 
 thirty-four dollars, and in true pioneer style 
 he began life in Texas. He purchased a 
 yoke of oxen, but one was killed soon after- 
 ward. With the remaining one he plowed 
 his land and the first year raised a cotton 
 crop, which he sold for one hundred and 
 twenty-nine dollars and fifty cents. He also 
 raised enough corn for his own use, besides 
 a small quantity for sale. He worked 
 earnestly and long in those early days to get 
 a start, and after renting land until 18S0 he 
 made purchase of two hundred and forty 
 acres of timber land, having acquired the 
 capital during his five years' residence in the 
 state. The first year he and his family slept 
 in a wagon and endured all the hardships 
 incident to life on the frontier, but energy 
 has at length triumphed over difficulties and 
 success has come as the reward of untiring 
 effort and good management until to-day 
 Mr. Woods is the owner of six hundred and 
 fourteen acres of land, of which one hundred 
 and three acres are in a fine state of cultiva- 
 tion He follows general farming and in 
 addition raises some stock of good grades. 
 
 His honorable, upright dealing has ever 
 won him the confidence and regard of those 
 whom he has met, and his friends are many. 
 
 Before coming to Texas Mr. Woods was 
 married, on the 22d of November, 1S72, to 
 Miss Rebecca Taylor, a native of Tennessee 
 and daughterof Joseph and Cynthia (Canada) 
 Taylor. Her parents removed to Tennessee 
 at the time Davy Crockett, the well known 
 pioneer, became a resident of that state and 
 
(\S-2 
 
 HI STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 resided near him until his removal to Texas. 
 Mr. Woods and his wife became parents of 
 three children, — John H., Effie Agnes and 
 Joseph; the last named died at the age of 
 two years. The mother of these chi'dren 
 died on the i6th of February, i88r, at the 
 age of twenty-seven years. Mr. ^^'oods was 
 again married. May 15. 1S83, his second 
 union being with Sallie Bulliver, who was 
 called to the home beyond January 29, 1 893. 
 On the 15th of September, 1895, he mar- 
 ried Miss Nettie Guen, a native of Hood 
 county and a daughter of B. J. and Emma 
 (Bunt) Guen. Her grandfather, Jeremiah 
 Guen, was killed b}- the Indians. Mr. 
 Woods has been called to offices of public 
 trust, where he has discharged his duties with 
 promptness and fidelity. He was appointed 
 deputy sheriff May 30, 1885, by Sheriff B. 
 W. Morris, and served two years. He was 
 then elected bailiff and served two years. 
 In politics he is independent. 
 
 Ky'^ (M^.EKT ANDREWS KOOKEN, 
 I z*^ M. D. , practicing physician at 
 \ , y Hamilton, Texas, was born April 
 30, 1862, at Ferris, Ellis county, 
 his parents being Brotherton and Jane (An- 
 drews) Kooken. He remained at home 
 until he had passed his twentieth year, and 
 then, being well advanced, was able to 
 complete the classical course at Trinity 
 University, Tehuacana, Texas, in two years. 
 Two years more were given to medical 
 reading, under the direction of Dr. Albert 
 Welch, at Ferris, and the active and ener- 
 getic young student was ready for the med- 
 ical department of the University of Louis- 
 ville. From this institution he received his 
 degree March i, 1888, and immediately 
 opened up his office at Ferris, where he 
 
 had many friends and liiought to make his 
 permanent home. But the season was un- 
 fortunate, the country was intensely malarial, 
 and the young doctor was sick for some ten 
 months. This long illness caused him to 
 change his location, and he found what he 
 considered to be an inviting opening at Palo 
 Pinto. Here he was practicing for four 
 years, when he decided to come to Hamil- 
 ton, and on the 2d day of March, 1892, he 
 i "suspended his shingle " before the public 
 in this city. Here he has been highly suc- 
 j cessful, and in a comparatively brief time 
 I has built up a practice among the very 
 I largest in the county, and is regarded by 
 the community as an able and trustworthy 
 physician. He is a member of the Board 
 ] of Medical Examiners, being recently re- 
 appointed to the same position by Judge 
 Straughn. He is an insurance examiner, 
 I and is a member of the Northwestern Med- 
 l ical and Surgical Association. 
 I Dr. Kooken is a prominent secret society 
 
 ! man and is a member of several orders, 
 1 being a Mason, holding his membership in 
 Rock House Lodge, No. 417; an Odd Fel- 
 low, a member of Wennett Lodge, at Brazos, 
 and a Knight of Pythias, a member of Santo 
 Lodge, at Santo. 
 
 The father of our subject, a native of 
 
 Columbus, Ohio, came to Texas in 1S48, 
 
 making his first brief location in Dallas 
 
 county, and soon afterward moving on to 
 
 Ellis county. Here he remained for many 
 
 years, and was married about the year 1855 
 
 to Miss Jane Andrews, b}' whom he has had 
 
 j the following children: Clara (Mrs. John 
 
 j H. Smith), deceased; our subject, the second 
 
 I child; John .^dolphus, now at school at 
 
 I Valparaiso, Indiana; Charles Edward, a 
 
 clerk in Dallas; Maggie, umnarried and at 
 
 home; Lizzie Earl, wife of Joseph W. Hoi- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 683 
 
 lovvay, at Waxahachie. The senior Mr. 
 Andrews is now the proprietor of a large 
 stock and grain farm in Ellis county. His 
 wife also is still living. She is of Scotch 
 origin, though her parents have long been 
 settled in Ellis county. 
 
 "arj" A. PEARCE.— Among the leading 
 H and influential farmers of Bosque 
 A 1 county who thoroughly understand 
 their business and pursue the duties 
 of their chosen calling in a methodical 
 and workmanlike manner, is the subject of 
 this biography. In connection with his 
 brother Frank he owns and cultivates five 
 hundred and si.xty acres of rich and valua- 
 ble land, upon which is a comfortable and 
 substantial residence and many other good 
 improvements, which stand as monuments 
 to their thrift and industry. 
 
 Mr. Pearce claims the distinction of be- 
 ing the oldest native son still a resident of 
 Bosque county, where his birth took place 
 on the 1 2th of February, 1856, and is a son 
 of A. C. Pearce, now deceased, who was 
 one of the early settlers of Te.xas and was 
 officially connected with the interests of 
 Bosque county. The father was born in 
 northern Illinois in 1823, and was of Irish 
 ancestry. When but a boy he came south, 
 locating first in Louisiana, where he worked 
 at the brick and stone mason's trade, and 
 was there married to Miss A. M. Bowman, 
 a native of Pennsylvania, who was of Ger- 
 man extraction, .'\bout 1853 he came to 
 Meridian, Texas, where he conducted one of 
 the best taverns of the place. Later, how- 
 ever, he went to Comanche county and 
 worked at his trade for a time, and then re- 
 moved to Williamson county. Returning 
 to Bosque county he cultivated a farm on 
 
 Chillis creek, east of Meridian, for one year, 
 at the expiration of which time he purchased 
 the farm on which our subject is now loca- 
 ted. He immediately began its improve- 
 ment and converted it into one of the best 
 and most highly cultivated farms of the 
 county. 
 
 By his first marriage, A. C. Pearce had 
 the following children: W. W. , of John- 
 son county, Te.xas; Mrs. Mary A. Talla\ar; 
 John A., of this review; Frank, who is in 
 partnership with our subject; Terry, of El 
 Paso, Texas; Josie, wife of Ben Cooper; 
 Eula and Alice, now deceased; and two who 
 died in infancy. The mother of these chil- 
 dren, who was a faithful member of the 
 Methodist church, died in 1871. For his 
 second wife, Mr. Pearce wedded Mrs. Tip- 
 ton, who had one child by her former mar- 
 riage, and of this union three children were 
 born, namely; Fannie May, Maud and 
 A. C. 
 
 In political sentiment the father was a 
 strong Democrat, in 1856 was elected 
 sheriff of Bosque county, and at the time of 
 his death was a candidate for the same of- 
 fice. Socially, he was identified with the 
 Masonic fraternity and the Independent Or- 
 der of Odd Fellows, and religiously was a 
 consistent member of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal church. He won his way to the re- 
 gards of the people with whom he came in 
 contact and had the respect of all. 
 
 John A. Pearce obtained his education 
 from the conmion schools of Bosque county, 
 and early became familiar with agricultural 
 pursuits upon the home farm. Besides 
 general farming he has also been engaged in 
 the stock business for many years, and in 
 both lines has met with remarkable success. 
 On the 26th of F'ebruary, 1896, he led to 
 the marriage altar Miss Lulu A. Cooper, a 
 
(5S4 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 lady of education and refinement, who conies 
 of a most vvorlhy family. At their pleasant 
 home they always cordially welcome their 
 numerous friends. 
 
 In his political views, Mr. Pearcc firmly 
 adheres to the principles of the Democratic 
 part)', and is one of the most active and 
 progressive men of the county, taking great 
 interest in all matters that are calculated to 
 enhance its value or to benefit his fellow 
 men. 
 
 ^^"^ICOKGE W. McKINZIE is a rep- 
 ■ ^^%k rcsentative of one of the pioneer 
 ^^^^9 families of Comanche county. He 
 was born in Murray county, Geor- 
 gia, July lo, 1852, and when a year old was 
 brought by his parents to Texas, the family 
 locating in Bell county. In 1852 they went 
 to Coryell county and in 1853 came to 
 Comanche county, which at that time was 
 not organized. When our subject was a lad 
 of seven his father was killed by the Indians, 
 on the 1st of March, i860. Two years later 
 his mother married J. W. Jenkins, and in 
 1 866, on account of tlie hostile attitude of 
 the Indians, the family went to Arkansas. 
 In less than a year, however, George W. 
 McKinzie returned lo Texas, where he en- 
 gaged in the cattle business, with which he 
 was familiar from his earliest boyhood. To 
 that industry he devoted his attention until 
 he entered the ranging service, with which 
 he was connected until 1876, doing duty 
 under Captain B. S. Foster. In 1869 he 
 was married, but after five years secured a 
 legal separation. He had two children, 
 William Kenneth, who is now twenty-three 
 years of age; and John G. S., who died in 
 childhood. The former resides with his 
 mother and conducts a farm. 
 
 Our subject owns an improved farm, 
 which he is now renting. In 1880 he em- 
 barked in merchandising at Ruble's Bridge, 
 and also had charge of the toll-bridge across 
 Leon river. The same year he took the 
 census of his district, and in addition to his 
 other work he has followed carpentering at 
 Dublin and Abilene, being a skillful mechanic. 
 He married Miss Melinda C. Ratliff, a 
 daughter of Gabriel and Martha Ratliff. 
 
 In his political views George W. McKin- 
 zie is a stalwart Democrat, having always 
 adhered to the principles of that party. In 
 1874 he was elected school director, and 
 served for one term under Republican rale, 
 but has never been an aspirant for office. 
 
 It will be interesting in this connection 
 to note something of the family of which 
 Mr. McKinzie is a representative. His 
 parents, Kenneth and Mary McKinzie, 
 belonged to prominent families of Georgia, 
 where they were married, soon after emi- 
 grating to Te.xas. The former was a son of 
 Charles McKinzie, who married a Miss 
 Johnson. Her death occurred in Georgia, 
 and later he was married in that state to 
 Stacey Murray. In 1859 he came to Texas 
 and took up his abode in Comanche 
 county, where he engaged in farming and 
 stock-raising. He was a public-spirited 
 man, full of enterprise, and took an active 
 interest in the welfare of the community. 
 The Indians became hostile, and in 1863, 
 while working near his home, he was assas- 
 sinated by the savages. An avenging party 
 soon started in pursuit but failed to overtake 
 them. Some time afterward Mrs. McKin- 
 zie became the wife of Henry Martin, Sr. 
 
 Mrs. Mary Jenkins, the mother of our 
 subject, was born September 23, 1829, and 
 was a (laughter of Henr}- Martin, of North 
 Carolina, who in an early day removed with 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 685 
 
 his family to Georgia, where he became a 
 prominent farmer and stock-dealer. In 
 1852 he came with a small colony to Texas, 
 spending two years in Bell county, and then 
 removed to this section of the state. Here 
 he aided in the organization of Comanche 
 county, locating within its borders when it 
 contained not more than si.\ families. 
 Among the early settlers here were David, 
 James and William Cunningham, sheriffs of 
 this county and good Indian fighters, and 
 John and George, sheriffs of other counties, 
 besides Aaron, Richard, Joseph and Thomas, 
 also good men for that office. Successfully 
 he carried on farming and stock-raising, 
 and until his death continued a prominent 
 resident o[ Comanche county. He had 
 nineteen children, twelve of whom reached 
 mature years, namely: William, Dicia, 
 James, Mrs. McKinzie, Henry, Rebecca, 
 Margaret, Lucy A., Sarah A., Jessie, Calvin 
 and Nanc}'. In early life the parents were 
 members of the Methodist church, but after 
 coming to Te.xas joined the Baptist church. 
 Kenneth McKinzie, father of our sub- 
 ject, was reared in Tennessee and married 
 in Georgia, and as before stated came to the 
 Lone Star state in 1852, and in 1854 to 
 Comanche county, driving stakes in the 
 ground to indicate his ownership of land. 
 He was a blacksmith, and in addition to his 
 farming operations worked at that trade. 
 He located on Indian creek, about five 
 miles east of the present site of Comanche, 
 although no town e.xisted there at the time, 
 only a small log fort, in which the settlers 
 took refuge in 1 860 when the Indians became 
 hostile. As the white people were ileeing 
 to the fort a fight ensued, and James and 
 Kenneth McKinzie were wounded. The 
 former, however, finally recovered, but the 
 latter died the next day. He was a very 
 
 influential and useful citizen, and was a 
 consistent member of the Baptist church. 
 He left a widow and two small sons, the 
 brother of our subject being John D., who 
 died later. He was at one time captured 
 by the Indians, but was returned the same 
 day. Mrs. McKinzie suffered the loss of all 
 her stock, which was captured by the red 
 men. After two years she married John W. 
 Jenkins, a Tennessee farmer and stock 
 dealer, who located in Coryell county in 
 1851, and came to Comanche county in 
 1854. He was a faithful member of the 
 Methodist church, and died in October, 
 1893. Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins had three 
 children, — Henry, Sarah and William, — 
 but the first two are now deceased. The 
 mother has been a member of the Methodist 
 church since the age of thirteen years, and 
 her consistent Christian life is most worthy 
 of emulation. 
 
 aAPTAIN P. C. BUCHANAN, de- 
 ceased, was one of the prominent 
 and well-known citizens of Bosque 
 county. He was born in Wythe 
 county, Virginia, on the iith of August, 
 181 1, and was the son of George Buchanan, 
 a native of the same county. The grand- 
 father, John Buchanan, was of Scotch- Irish 
 lineage and a relative of President Buchanan. 
 The father married Miss Agnes Lammie, 
 who was born and reared in Wythe county, 
 and was the daughter of Andrew Lammie, 
 also a native of the Old Dominion, who was 
 of French extraction and participated in the 
 early Indian wars. Our subject was the 
 sixth in order of birth in a family of seven 
 children, five sons and two daughters, only 
 one of whom is now living, — George W., a 
 
(),S() 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 prominent attorney and politician of Inde- 
 pendence, Missouri. 
 
 During his boyhood and youth the Caji- 
 tain received a good education. On the 
 17th of October, 1839, he was united in 
 marriage with Miss Rachel Graham, a highly 
 educated and refined lady, whose birth oc- 
 curred August 14, 1822, and their wedding 
 was celebrated in Smyth county, Virginia. 
 Her father, Samuel Graham, was born at 
 sea while his parents, Robert and Mary 
 (Craig) Graham, were coming to America 
 from Ireland, and they became early settlei^s 
 of Wythe county, Virginia. At the age of 
 twenty-five years Samuel Graham wedded 
 Miss Rachel Montgomery, a native of Wythe 
 county, and a daughter of John Montgom- 
 ery, also of Irish origin. To this worthy 
 couple were born thirteen children, — five 
 sons and eight daughters, — namely: Nancy, 
 Mary C, Amanda, Eli2;a, Margaret, Helen, 
 Catherine, Rachel, John M., Robert C, 
 Samuel I., James Monroe and William L. 
 Five of the family are still living. The 
 father, who was a merchant, served as ma- 
 jor in the war of 1812, was a Democrat in 
 politics, and a member of the Presbyterian 
 church. He died at the age of si.\ty-one 
 years, and his wife was sixty-three when 
 she too was called to the final home. 
 
 For seven years previous to the civil war 
 Mr. Buchanan served as captain of the 
 militia, and during that struggle held the 
 same office. In civic affairs he also took a 
 leading part, being a i)rominent and active 
 member of the Democratic party and served 
 as presiding justice. In 1875 he became a 
 resident of Bosque county, locating near 
 Iredell, where he owned a good farm, and 
 there made his home until his death, on 
 the nth of February, 1886. He was a 
 man of the strictest integrity and honor, 
 
 acting as elder in the Presbyterian church, 
 and was one of the most highly respected 
 and esteemed citizens of the community. 
 
 To the Captain and his estimable wife 
 were born eleven children, as follows: S. A., 
 born November 21, 1840, enlisted early in 
 the war, was taken prisoner at the battle of 
 Waynesburg, Virginia, February 2, 1865, 
 and died at Fort Delaware June 20 follow- 
 ing; Louisa M., born March 26, 1842, died 
 of scarlet fever August 2, 1847; George C, 
 born December 23, 1843, was wounded at 
 the battle of Dry Creek, Virginia, and is 
 still a cripple; he married S. C. Gillespie, 
 has an interesting family of two sons and 
 nine daughters, and is living in Scurry 
 county, this state; John Graham, born Oc- 
 tober 17, 1845, died August 12, 1847, of 
 scarlet fever; Nancy A., born May 18, 1847, 
 died April 3, 1849; James M., of New Mex- 
 ico; William F., born April 8, 1850, ex- 
 postmaster of Iredell and a popular teacher 
 of the county; Amanda, born December 17, 
 1852, first married Charles Fipps, had two 
 sons, — James B. and William F. , — and is 
 now the wife of S. F. Marshall, of Iredell; 
 Montgomery C, born July 14. 1855, mar- 
 ried Mattie Myres and lives in Bosque coun- 
 ty; Helen M., born December 14, 1856, 
 is the wife of S. S. Barry, of Iredell; and 
 B. R. , the subject of this sketcli. The last 
 named is one of the popular and representa- 
 tive citizens of Bosque count}-, where he ar- 
 rived in 1875. His birth occurred on the 
 iSth of December, 1859, in the Old Do- 
 minion, where he was reared and acquired 
 a good education, which well fits him for 
 the practical and responsible duties of life. 
 In I S84 he went to the Panhandle district, 
 where he engaged in the stock business for 
 a time. He now owns a fine farm of fi\e 
 hundred and sixty acres in Bosque county, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 687 
 
 sixty-five of which is under a hi^h state of 
 cultivation, and besides genera! farming he 
 is also extensively engaged in the raising of 
 stock, including cattle, sheep and hogs. 
 
 In March, 1885, was solemnized the 
 marriage of B. R. Buchanan and Miss 
 Emma Strawn, a native of Georgia and a 
 daughter of Albert and Julia Strawn, the 
 former now deceased. Socially Mr. Buch- 
 anan is deservedly popular, as he is affable 
 and courteous in manner and possesses that 
 essential qualification to success in public 
 life, — that of making friends readily and of 
 strengthening the ties of all friends as time 
 advances. In his political views he is in 
 sympathy with the Democratic party. 
 
 V^OHN MUNN, one of the prosperous 
 ^ and respected farmers of Comanche 
 A jl county, where he has made his home 
 since January, 1882, was born in 
 Carroll county, Tennessee, September 28, 
 1827. His father, Edward Munn, was a 
 native of North Carolina and a son of Dun- 
 can Munn, who was of Scotch parentage. 
 The latter served in the war of 1812 under 
 General Jackson. He married a Miss Mc- 
 Collom, also of Scotch descent, and her 
 death occurred in De Soto county, Missis- 
 sippi. His last days were spent in Nevada 
 county, Arkansas. Edward Munn was 
 reared in North Carolina and in Tennessee 
 married Millie Butler, who was born in 
 South" Carolina, a representative of one of 
 the honored families of that state. In 1S43 
 they removed to Nevada count}', Arkansas, 
 becoming pioneer settlers of that locality, 
 where they spent their remaining days. 
 They had thirteen children, named Dave, 
 John, Betsy, Mary, Neill, James, George, 
 Caroline, Sallie, Edward, Green, Zack and 
 
 Webster. Green Munn was a soldier in 
 the late civil war. The mother of these 
 children had one child bj' her first marriage, 
 named William C. Cordle. 
 
 Mr. Munn, of this sketch, was reared in 
 Tennessee and educated in the subscription 
 schools. In 1852 he went to California, 
 making the trip overland with teams. The 
 Indians stole his oxen on the way, but after 
 a five-mile chase he succeeded in recaptur- 
 ing them. For six years he engaged in 
 mining in the Golden state, and then re- 
 turned by way of the isthmus of Panama, 
 Cuba and New Orleans to Arkansas. 
 
 He was married in Nevada county, that 
 state, November 3, 1859, to Susan Ed- 
 mondson, a lady of culture and many ex- 
 cellencies, who has proved a true helpmeet 
 to her husband. She is a native of Ten- 
 nessee and a daughter of Albert and Sallie 
 (Leggen ) Edmondson, also natives of Ten- 
 nessee and of Scotch descent. They had 
 twelve children, — seven sons and five daugh- 
 ters, namely: Eliza, John (a soldier who 
 died in the war), Henry, Madison (who died 
 in infancy), William, Susan, Jarrett (also a 
 soldier in the late war), Jacob (who died in 
 the army). Martha, Amanda, Mary and 
 Thomas. The family has an exceptional 
 record. Neither the father nor any of the 
 sons was addicted to the use of intoxicants, 
 but all were moral, honorable men, .and 
 valued citizens of the communities in which 
 they lived. The mother of this family died 
 in 1865, at the age of fifty years. The 
 father was afterward married again anil had 
 three sons and three daughters by that mar- 
 riage. By occupation he was a farmer, and 
 was a prominent member of the Methodist 
 church, in which he served as class-leader. 
 His death occurred in 1882. 
 
 During the war Mr. Munn, our subject, 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 was a member of the Thirty-third Arkansas 
 Infantry, commanded by Colonel Grim- 
 stones, and participated in the battles of 
 Mansfield, Prairie Grove, Saline river and 
 others, also in the capture of a fort and one 
 thousand negroes. Through the greater 
 part of his life he has followed farming. In 
 1882 he came to Comanche county, where 
 he purchased three hundred and twenty 
 acres of unimproved land. This he has 
 transformed into a valuable property, of 
 which one hundred and sixty acres are highly 
 cultivated. On the premises is a good 
 orchard, a substantial residence, occupied 
 by the family, a good tenement house and 
 other necessary buildings for the shelter of 
 stock and storage of grain. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Munn have had seven chil- 
 dren, of whom five are now living, the 
 names of all being Henry, Sarah, William, 
 Thomas, Rosa, Millie and Alice. The first 
 two are deceased. 
 
 Mr. Munn gives his political support to 
 the Democracy, and favors free silver at 
 the present ratio. He also believes in pro- 
 hibition of the liquor traffic, in popular ed- 
 ucation, in religion and in all those agencies 
 which tend to elevate man and make him 
 nobler and purer. He and his wife are 
 zealous and active members of the Meth- 
 odist church, in which he has served as 
 class-leader and steward. 
 
 >rr*OHN H. ALLEN.— In the subject of 
 ■ this review is found a gentleman 
 A 1 whose life has been a somewhat 
 varied one; his career includes a war 
 record; his travels have taken him from the 
 Atlantic to the Pacific, and he has been 
 identified with Hood county, Texas, for 
 nearly a quarter of a century, residing at his 
 
 present location, where he has one of the 
 most delightful rural homes to be found in 
 all the country round, and where he devotes 
 his energies to agricultural pursuits and also 
 to the work of contractor and builder. To 
 these salient points in his history we would 
 now briefly allude. 
 
 John H. Allen was born in Person 
 county, North Carolina, March 18, 1834, 
 son of Grant and Mary (Coleman) Allen. 
 The Aliens are of Scotch origin, our sub- 
 ject's grandfather, William Allen, having 
 emigrated to this country from Scotland at 
 an early day and made settlement in North 
 Carolina. Mrs. Mary Allen was a daughter 
 of an Englishman, Alexander Coleman, who 
 
 I settled in the Old North state about the 
 time Grandfather Allen landed there. Grant 
 Allen was a farmer and millwright by occu- 
 pation. About 1S39 he moved from North 
 
 I Carolina to Henderson county, Tennessee, 
 where he passed the rest of his life, and 
 where at the age of eighty-five years he was 
 accidentally killed on a mill wheel. His 
 wife died in her forty-fourth year. 
 
 John H. was a small boy at the time his 
 father moved to Tennessee. He was reared 
 on a farm in that state, receiving a common- 
 school education and remaining at the pa- 
 rental home until reaching his majority. 
 Then he went to Memphis, Tennessee, 
 where he served a four-years apprentice- 
 ship to the carpenter's trade, after which he 
 worked as a journeyman for some time 
 before commencing to take contracts. He 
 was engaged in contracting and building 
 when the c\\\\ war came on. At the very 
 beginning of the war his patriotic ardor 
 determined him upon contributing his quota 
 for the support of the southern cause, and 
 in 1 86 1 we find him enlisted as a member of 
 Company B, Second Mississippi \'olunteer 
 
<^^. 
 
 ymu/i^. 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 Infantry. His service was in the east. 
 Among tlie engagements in which he par- 
 ticipated were those of Manassas, Bull Run, 
 Seven Pines, seven days' fight in front of 
 Richmond, and Malvern Hill. At the last 
 named battle he was shot in the hand, the 
 wound resulting in amputation and ending 
 his active service. Previous to this he had 
 been wounded a number of times, not seri- 
 ously, howe,ver. At Manassas he received 
 a scalp wound in the forehead, at Seven 
 Pines he was wounded in the ankle and leg, 
 and in the engagement before Richmond he 
 received three slight wounds, — seven in all. 
 After the amputation of his hand he was 
 unable for further duty and was honorably 
 discharged, that being in r863. 
 
 As early as 1854 Mr. Allen had come to 
 Texas, at that time locating in Belton, 
 where he worked at his trade for two years. 
 From Belton he went to Waco, remained at 
 the latter place until 1859, and that year 
 went to Mississippi, where he was engaged 
 in work at his trade when the war broke 
 out. After leaving the army he sought his 
 fortune in California, locating in Salinas, 
 but remained only about one }-ear, after 
 which he came back to Texas and settled 
 in McKinney, where he was engaged in con- 
 tracting until 1872. That year he came to 
 his present location in Hood county. Here 
 he purchased one hundred and sixty acres 
 of wild land and at once began the task of 
 bringing it under cultivation. As a result 
 of his well-directed labors throughout the 
 years that have intervened his tract of land 
 now presents the appearance of a well-im- 
 proved farm, sixty acres being under culti- 
 vation, three acres devoted to orchard pur- 
 poses, and not the least of its attractive 
 features being the beautiful home. This 
 residence he erected in 1880. 
 
 Mr. Allen's marriage to Miss Sally Ellis 
 was consummated November 14, 1872. 
 Mrs. Allen is a native of what was Bartow 
 county, Georgia, and is a daughter of Jesse 
 Ellis, who came to Texas about 1869, set- 
 tled in Hood county in 1872, and died in 
 this county in April, 1S87. Mrs. Ellis is 
 still living and resides with her daughter, 
 Mrs. Allen. Mr. and Mrs. Allen have had 
 four children, three of whom are now liv- 
 ing, — Ella Pearl, Nannie May and Lawrence 
 Henry. Ella Pearl is the wife of Mr. E. B. 
 Thornover, of Tolar, this county. Willie D. 
 died at the age of sixteen years. 
 
 In connection with his farming oper- 
 ations, Mr. Allen also carries on contract- 
 ing and building. He served one term as 
 county commissioner since his location here, 
 and he has also been a notary public. Fra- 
 ternally, he is identified with both the Odd 
 Fellows and the Masons, his membership in 
 the latter order being in C. T. Bond Lodge, 
 No. 339, A. F. & A. M., of Mississippi. He 
 and his wife are active and consistent mem- 
 bers of the Methodist church, south, and he 
 has for some time served as class-leader and 
 steward. A man of more than ordinary in- 
 tellectual force, careful and conscientious in 
 all his dealings, generous and kind-hearted, 
 Mr. Allen is as highly respected as he is 
 well known. 
 
 BRANK P. SMITH, clerk of the 
 district court, is a prominent and 
 highly respected citizen of Bosque 
 county. He needs no special in- 
 troduction to the citizens of this community, 
 inasmuch as he has resided in the county 
 for over thirty years, and for the past eight 
 years has occupied the position which he 
 now holds. During his incumbency he has 
 
600 
 
 JIISTORT OF TEXAS 
 
 filled that important office with due credit 
 to himself and to the satisfactiwii of the 
 court and community. 
 
 Mr. Smith is one of Texas' native sons, 
 born in Burleson county, March 4, 1853, 
 his parents beinfj Joseph and Elizabeth 
 (Bailey) Smith. The birth of his father 
 occurred in Cumberland county, Kentucky, 
 in 1S13, and he was the son of Ezekiel 
 Smith, who married the daughter of Philip 
 Eden. The Edens descended from the old 
 colonial family of that name. The father 
 of our subject emigrated to Texas in 185 r, 
 and engaged in trading and merchandising. 
 He came to Meridian, Bosque county, in 
 1855, and continued in mercantile business 
 up to the time of his death, which occurred 
 in May, 1873. His wife, who was a native 
 of Tennessee, passed to her reward on the 
 2 1st of January, of the same year. 
 
 Our subject is the oldest in their family 
 of seven children, and he was reared and ed- 
 ucated in the state of his birth, attending 
 the public schools until twelve years of age, 
 and about 1871 entered the Texas Military 
 Institute at Austin. On completing his 
 studies there he returned to Meridian, where 
 he engaged in merchandising with his father, 
 under the firm style of Smith & Son. They 
 also conducted two branch houses, one at 
 Stephenville and the other at Comanche. 
 He continued in that line of business after 
 the death of his father until 1S88, being as- 
 sociated at one time with H. B. White for a 
 year, but at the end of tiiat tunc J. W. 
 Standifer purchased Mr. White's interest, 
 and for two years he was the partner of our 
 subject. 
 
 At Meridian, on the loth of November, 
 1 88 1, Mr. Smitii led to the uKirriage altar 
 Miss Rittie A. Whitworth, a native of 
 Graves county, Iventucky, and they have 
 
 become the parents of five children, — Josie 
 E., Edgar F. , Maggie, Joseph and Nellie. 
 Mr. Smith has two brothers still living: 
 Walter C, who resides at Morgan, Texas; 
 and Robert U., of Haskell county. 
 
 Politically, our subject is an active and 
 stanch Democrat, and through that party 
 was elected to the office which he is now so 
 capably and acceptably filling. Socially, he 
 is connected with the Masonic fraternity, 
 and has filled all the chairs of the blue 
 lodge, at the present time serving as junior 
 warden. He has also taken the Royal Arch 
 degrees. He and his estimable wife hold a 
 membership in the Presbyterian church. A 
 man of great intelligence and force of charac- 
 ter, he occupies a prominent and influential 
 position in the community, and has gained 
 the confidence and esteem of all with whom 
 he has come in contact. 
 
 *y'^\^ A. MASSEY, who is recognized 
 
 I B as one of the most prosperous and 
 
 \ p representative farmers and stock 
 
 men of Bosque county, has his 
 
 post-office address at Walnut Springs, and 
 
 his abiding place on his fine farmstead where 
 
 he settled two decades ago. In him is found 
 
 an excellent illustration of the self-made 
 
 man. He is a native of Tipton, Tennessee, 
 
 and was born December 13, 1838. 
 
 Looking to the ancestry from which Mr. 
 Massey sprang, we are able to trace the an- 
 cestral succession back to the Emerald Isle, 
 where we find that several generations ago 
 the Masseys lived and flourished. George 
 Massey, the grandfather of our subject, was 
 a native of America and a southern gentle- 
 man, and his son James, the father of N. 
 A., was born in Alabama. James Massey 
 married Miss Patsy Miller, who was of Ger- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 691 
 
 man descent. They resided in Tennessee 
 for a time, and from there in 1840 moved 
 to Arkansas, where they both died in the 
 prime of life, his death occurring in 1843 
 and hers shortly afterward, the last resting 
 place of both being near Danville, that 
 state. They lett two sons, N. A. and John 
 S., the latter now a resident of Arkansas. 
 
 Early in life deprived of the love and 
 care of both his parents, the subject of our 
 sketch was taken into the home of an uncle, 
 where he remained until he was nearly thir- 
 teen years of age, then launching out on his 
 own responsibility, and thenceforward " pad- 
 dling his own canoe." He had no educa- 
 tional advantages whatever in his youth. 
 By nature, however, he was from his early 
 boyhood quick in observing and applying 
 what he learned, and as he has gone through 
 life he has picked up a valuable store of 
 useful information. About the time he 
 reached his majority Mr. Massey came to 
 Te.xas, stopping first in Parker county, where 
 he was for one year employed by Dr. Icord 
 in the stock business. Then in i860 he 
 went to Somervell county, and there he 
 spent the next sixteen years in farming and 
 stock-raising. Twenty years ago he came 
 to his present location in Bosque county, 
 purchased a tract of wild land, settled down 
 upon the same and earnestly directed his 
 energies to the task of making a farm. That 
 he has succeeded in this undertaking none 
 can deny. Two hundred and fifty acres of 
 his seven-hundred-acre tract have been fur- 
 rowed and re-furrowed, and haxe produced 
 some of the finest crops in the vicinity. The 
 whole farm is well fenced. The buildings 
 and other improvements and conveniences 
 have the stamp of thrift and success upon 
 them. And in connection with his farming 
 Mr. Massey has for years made a specialty 
 
 of the stock business, raising, buying and 
 shipping, and operating extensively and 
 successfully. 
 
 Mr. Massey became a benedict not long 
 after the close of the war. In September, 
 1866, he was united in marriage to Miss 
 Mary C. Sanders, a native of Lamar county, 
 Texas, and a daughter of William and Ann 
 E. (Ragsdale) Sanders. Mr. Sanders was 
 a Tennesseean by birth and figured as one 
 of the early settlers and highly respected 
 citizens of the Texas commonwealth. As 
 the years passed by sons and daughters came 
 to bless and brighten the home of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Massey. One little daughter was per- 
 mitted to remain with them only four brief 
 years, her death resulting from a snake-bite. 
 The others are all living, and are as follows: 
 James S., Charles P., William L. , John A., 
 Thomas O., Walter S. and Henrietta. 
 James S., a bright and promising young 
 man, is at this writing a candidate for the 
 office of county clerk. 
 
 During the late civil war the subject of 
 our sketch spent three years and nine months 
 in the Confederate service, under Colonel 
 Nelson. In the engagement at Arkansas 
 Post he was captured by the Federal forces, 
 was exchanged shortly afterward, and from 
 that time on was on detached duty in the 
 Southwestern Department. He affiliated 
 with the Democratic party until about three 
 years ago, when he espoused the principles 
 of the Populists, to which he has since given 
 unwavering support. 
 
 >Y» AMES R. BRYSON, one of the pros- 
 
 ■ perous stockmen of Comanche coun- 
 
 (• / ty, whose well-directed efforts and 
 
 capable business ability has brought 
 
 him success, is a native of North Carolina. 
 
6Di 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 He was born in Jackson county, that state, 
 October 26, 1863, a son of Coleman and 
 Louisa (Bumgardner) Bryson, who also were 
 natives oj the same state and were descended 
 from prominent and influential families of 
 the south that had long been connected 
 with this section of the country. 
 
 James R. Br3'son is the seventh in order 
 of birth in a family of eight children. He 
 was reared in North Carolina and is indebted 
 to its public schools for the educational 
 privileges which he enjoyed. Throughout 
 his entire business career he has engaged in 
 farming and stock-raising, having become 
 familiar with those pursuits during his boy- 
 hood da3-s through his assisting in such 
 labors on his father's farm. He is one of 
 the expert stock-raisers of central Texas, 
 his perfect familiarity with the business and 
 his knowledge how best to care for his stock 
 bringing him excellent results in his en- 
 deavors. He came to Texas in 1888 and 
 has since been numbered among the promi- 
 nent stockmen in this locality, buying, rais- 
 ing and selling stock, making a specialty of 
 cattle. He has at the present time seven 
 hundred head of market cattle upon his 
 farm and the magnitude of his operation 
 well entitles him to the name of "cattle 
 king." His home is situated about fourteen 
 miles northwest of Comanche, and aggre- 
 gates thirteen hundred and fifty-eight acres. 
 Of this one hundred acres are. under a high 
 state of cultivation, but his farming inter- 
 ests are secondary, the greater part of his 
 attention being devoted to his stock. 
 
 On the 2 1 St of December, 1893, Mr. 
 Bryson was joined in wedlock with Miss Ada 
 Oberthier, a cultured, intelligent lady, by 
 whom he has one child, Goldic. Their 
 home, recently completed, is a pleasant 
 frame structure built in a modern style of 
 
 ' architecture and containing five rooms. It 
 , is supplied with modern conveniences and is 
 j tastefully furnished. Mr. and Mrs. Bryson 
 have many warm friends throughout the 
 community. In his political associations 
 our subject is a Democrat, but has never 
 been an aspirant for political honors, pre- 
 ferring to give his attention to his business 
 interests. In the legitimate channels of trade 
 I he has accumulated a handsome competence, 
 and the magnitude of his operations makes 
 hirn one of the leading stock dealers of 
 Comanche county. 
 
 HOMAS J. RHODES.— The gen- 
 tleman whose name introduces 
 this brief biography is one of 
 Bosque county's prominent, pro- 
 gressive and prudent merchants, one who 
 keeps abreast with the times, and always 
 ready to aid public enterprises that have for 
 their object the development of the re- 
 sources of the state and county. 
 
 Mr. Rhodes' birth took place in Wilcox 
 county, Alabama, on the i6th of August, 
 1858, at the home of his parents, William 
 and Martha (Philen) Rhodes, who were also 
 natives of Alabama, and are now both de- 
 ceased. The father died while serving in 
 the Confederate armj' under General Lee's 
 command in Virginia, and his mother he 
 never knew, as she never reco\ercd health, 
 and died very soon after his birth. 
 
 Mr. Rhodes was the younger of two chil- 
 dren, and having been left an orphan at an 
 early age he has learned the lessons of life 
 through the school of experience. Until 
 eight years of age he made his home with a 
 maternal aunt, and later lived in the family 
 of an old Scotch gentleman named McLaugh- 
 lin. On coming to Texas he was for a time 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 engaged in farming, but soon entered the 
 mercantile business as a salesman for a few- 
 months at Mexia, Limestone county, and 
 from there went to Waco, where he engaged 
 in teaching school. He followed the same 
 occupation for about two years in McLennan 
 and Bosque counties. 
 
 From 1887 until 1891 Mr. Rhodes was 
 engaged in merchandising at Gholson, under 
 the firm style of Weaver & Rhodes, and in 
 the latter year located at his present place 
 of business, eight miles northeast of Clifton, 
 at what is now known as the Chase post- 
 office. He erected a store building at this 
 point, where he carries a large stock of gen- 
 eral merchandise for a general store and 
 has established a good trade by fair dealing 
 and courteous treatment of his customers. 
 In April, 1893, he succeeded in getting a 
 post-ofifice established here, it being a fourth- 
 class office with tri-weekly mails. 
 
 On the loth of February, 1S89, was 
 celebrated the marriage of Mr. Rhodes and 
 Miss Mattie Prather, a most estimable young 
 lady, who was born in the Lone Star state. 
 They have become the parents of three 
 children, but lost two in infancy; the one 
 living is Jessie. They occupy a pleasant 
 social position among the people of the 
 community, by whom they are respected 
 for their intelligence and heartily liked for 
 their frank, open-hearted hospitality and 
 genial, kindly manners. 
 
 EP. KAY, a leading and successful 
 farmer of Comanche county, who 
 has ever taken an active interest 
 in the moral and physical develop- 
 ment of his county, was born in Cobb 
 county, Georgia, on the 25th of May, 185 i, 
 and after making several moves arrived in 
 
 Texas, where he grew to manhood, being 
 reared to the occupations of farming and 
 stock-raising, which he has since followed 
 as a life work. His early education was 
 limited, but by Sabbath-school training and 
 study since reaching manhood he has ac- 
 quired a practical knowledge of affairs. 
 
 His parents, H. K. and Sarah (Dunn) 
 Kay, were natives of Alabama, where their 
 marriage was celebrated, later removed to 
 Georgia, and went to Arkansas about 1857. 
 By profession the father was a phj^sician. 
 On the second call for troops, he entered 
 the Confederate service, but was discharged 
 on account of ill health and returned home. 
 At anotlier call, he again responded, and a 
 second time was discharged and returned 
 home. He later offered his service a third 
 time, and was sent home to practice his 
 profession among the needy war widows in 
 connection with another physician. For 
 such service he received no pay. After the 
 close of the war, in 1865, he came to Texas, 
 buying land in Falls county, where he spent 
 the remainder of his days. For four years 
 he engaged in freighting with a mule team, 
 and later established a country store, carry- 
 ing general merchandise, which he conducted 
 until his death in November, 1S90. After 
 coming to this state he never practiced medi- 
 cine. He was a Democrat in politics, and was 
 a leading member and active worker in the 
 Missionary Baptist church, in which he 
 served as deacon and superintendent of the 
 Sabbath-school, being one of its most earnest 
 advocates. His wife, who was a member of 
 the same church, departed this life in 1871. 
 They had six children: James, who served 
 through the Civil war, and died soon after 
 its close; Thomas, deceased; H. P., of this 
 sketch; Mary, wife of S. F. Brown, of Co- 
 manche; David C, deceased; and Samuel 
 
004 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 D., of Tom Green county, Texas. After 
 the death of the mother of these children, 
 the father was again married and by the 
 second union had two children, — Fleetwood 
 and Saleta, both of Tom Green county. 
 
 On reaching manhood our subject was 
 married, in Falls county, in 1873, to Miss 
 Mary J. Dardin, a daughter of Richard and 
 Elizabeth (Soders) Dardin, who were born 
 in Tennessee, but were married in Harrison 
 county, Texas. In 1855 her parents re- 
 moved to Falls county, where the father at 
 first purchased a small tract of land, but 
 later extended the boundaries of his farm, 
 and there his death occurred in May, 1876. 
 His wife survived him several years, dying 
 in January, 1887. Both were consistent 
 members of the Methodist church, in the 
 affairs of which he took a leading part, 
 serving as both steward and class-leader. 
 In his family were five children, all daugh- 
 ters: Mary J., wife of our subject; Sally S., 
 wife of D. A. Kidgway; Su?au E., wife of 
 Edmond Stone; Rhoda L. ; and I,ella B., 
 wife of E. L. Wise. Five children bless 
 the union of Mr. and Mrs. Kay: Alonzo, a 
 farmer; Theodocia, Richard A., Esther and 
 Fay. 
 
 During his youth Mr. Kay assisted in the 
 work of the home farm, and at times helped 
 his father in the store. He rented a farm 
 for three years after his marriage, but in 
 1876 came to Comanche county and pur- 
 chased two hundred acres of raw land near 
 Proctor, which he continued to cultivate 
 and improve until 1894, when he sold out 
 and removed to his present farm. This 
 place comprises two hundred and twenty 
 acres of land, one hundred of which are j 
 highly cultivated and improved with excel- i 
 lent buildings and an orchard, and is pleas- 
 antly located ten miles east of Comanche. I 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Kay enjoy the friendship 
 of a large circle of acquaintances, and are 
 members in good standing of thd Missionary 
 Baptist church, in which he is serving as 
 deacon and takes an active interest in the 
 Sabbath-school. He was a Democrat in 
 politics until 1888, since which time he has 
 been with the reform element, and is now 
 a true Populist. P'or two years he served 
 as bailiff, but cares nothing for the honors 
 or emoluments of public office, preferring to 
 devote his entire time and attention to his 
 business interests. 
 
 >j»OHN A. WOMACK, deputy sheriff 
 ^ of Bosque county, is a leading and 
 A 1 well known citizen of Meridian. He 
 has been a resident of the state for 
 over thirty years, and during that time has 
 been prominently identified with the growth 
 and prosperity of the section in which he has 
 resided. For several years he has accepta- 
 bly filled public office. He was elected 
 justice of the peace in 1882, served two 
 years as constable, and since 1892 has been 
 chief jailer. 
 
 Mr. Woniack was born in Jackson parish, 
 Louisiana, on the 29th of Jul}', 1855, 'i"'! 's 
 a son of Daniel and Carolina (Tullos) 
 Womack, the former a native of Ste. Helena 
 parish, Louisiana, and the latter of Franklin 
 county, Mississippi. The father was by oc- 
 cupation a farmer, and to that calling our 
 subject was reared. He came with his par- 
 ents to Texas in 1866, the family locating at 
 Brazos Point, where the father's death oc- 
 curred December 26, 1878. 
 
 The family consisted of ten children, of 
 whom Mr. W'omack of this review is the 
 eldest. He was engaged in agricultural 
 pursuits up to the time of his election U-> the 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 G95 
 
 office of constable in 1890. His political 
 views are Democratic, and he may always 
 be found identified with the profijressive ele- 
 ment of that party. Socially he affiliates 
 with Meridian Lodge, No. 205, I. O. O. F. 
 At Brazos Point, on the 17th of Septem- 
 ber, 1879, Mr. Womack was united in mar- 
 riage with Mrs. E. J. Walls, iwc Howell, 
 who had one daughter by her former union, 
 — Mary T. Walls. The children of the last 
 marriage are six in number, namely: Ida 
 May, Sophronia Anna, Frances Elizabeth, 
 Laura Lucile, Jewel Maude and Ruby 
 Lumpkin. 
 
 at 
 
 'ALTER COLOUITE WILL- 
 IAMS. — The gentleman with 
 whose name we introduce this 
 sketch, and who is familiarly 
 known as "Tobe" Williams, is classed with 
 the retired farmers of Dublin, Texas. Texas 
 has. been his home for more than a quarter 
 of a century, and as one of its representa- 
 tive citizens his life history is appropriate in 
 a work of this character. 
 
 Mr. Williams is a native of the " Bayou 
 state." He was born in La Fayette county, 
 Mississippi, January 21,1 844, son of Thomas 
 and Mary (Patton) Williams. There his 
 childhood and youth were passed. At the 
 time the great civil war cloud gathered and 
 burst upon the country he had not yet 
 emerged from his 'teens, but young as he 
 was he was among the first to don the gray 
 and go out in the interest of "the southern 
 cause. It was at Oxford, Mississippi, in 
 May, 1 86 1, that he enlisted as a member of 
 Company E, Nineteenth Mississippi regi- 
 ment, commanded by Dr. John Smith. This 
 regiment left Oxford on the twenty-se\-enth 
 of the same month and went to the front. 
 
 Young Williams remained in active service 
 throughout the war, on several occasions 
 was slightly wounded by spent balls, escap- 
 ing, however, all serious injury, and at the 
 time of Lee's surrender was at home on 
 furlough. 
 
 At the close of the war Mr. Williams 
 engaged in farming at his old home in Mis- 
 sissippi, was thus occupied there for three 
 years, and then sought a new field of action, 
 coming thence to Texas and landing in Gal- 
 veston in January, 1870. From there he 
 came to Calvert, — the terminus of the rail- 
 road at that time, — crossed the river to 
 Milam county and rented land of William 
 Poole. After two years spent in Milam 
 county he came to the county of Erath and 
 located on the Bosque river, at the mouth 
 of Green's creek, where he bought three 
 hundred and twenty acres of land. Four 
 years later he sold this property to W. C. 
 Bishop, and moved to the farm he has since 
 owned, one hundred and sixty acres on 
 Cottonwood creek, three miles east of Dub- 
 lin. He maintained a residence on his farm 
 until September, 1S91, when he removed to 
 Dublin in order that he might keep his chil- 
 dren at home and at the same time afford 
 them educational and business advantages; 
 and while living in town and practically re- 
 tired, he still has a personal supervision over 
 his farming operations. 
 
 Mr. Williams was married May i, 1S66, 
 to Miss Sarah Kathlene Higginbotham, who 
 was born in Mississippi, December 18, 1846, 
 and died April 20, 1895. I^'^rs. Williams 
 was a daughter of John James and Lucy Ann 
 (Taylor) Higginbotham, and the eldest of 
 their large family of children, the names of 
 her brothers and sisters being as follows: 
 Bolivar Taylor; Martha \'irginia, deceased 
 wife of Frank Oldham; John Willis; Mary 
 
090 
 
 HTSTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 Jane Eiidora, wife of JohnF. Jackson; Ben- 
 jamin Shadrach; Susan Rebecca, wife of 
 Daniel Fry; Nancy Lually, wife of G. W. 
 Smith; Rufus Wilson; Joseph Martin; Lucy 
 Robert Lee, wife of Prof. W. J. Clay; and 
 Eula Blanche, wife of John Robert St. Clair. 
 John James Higginbotham died in Dublin, 
 Texas, March 22, 1883. He was born in 
 Alabama, August 27, 1823, son of Willis 
 and Rebecca (Higginbotham) Higginbotham, 
 distantly related, both natives of Alabama 
 and of Irish descent. Looking to the ma- 
 ternal ancestors of Mrs. Williams, the Tay- 
 lors, we find them also to be of Irish origin 
 and for generations residents of America. 
 Mrs. Lucy Ann (Taylor) Higginbotham is 
 still living. She was born in Pike county, 
 Mississippi, February 27, 1827. 
 
 To Mr. and Mrs. Williams were born 
 eleven children, namely: Stewart Eugene, 
 who was born February 15, 1867, and died 
 March 3, 1877; Eudora Gertrude, born 
 August 14, 1869, died January 11, 1894; she 
 was the wife of William Wiseman, and left 
 one child, Guthrie, which was born January 
 7, 1894, and died on the tenth of the follow- 
 ing April; Robert Taylor, born October 2, 
 1872, married Miss Cora Alday, and is a 
 resident of Stephenville, Texas; Thomas 
 Jackson, born April 2, 1874; Walter Bishop 
 and William Hudson, twins, March 20, 
 1876; Lee Deerwood, April 30, 1879; Mary, 
 May I, 1 881; Myrtle, August 31. 1883; 
 Blanche, December 19, 1885; and Grace, 
 September 30, 1887. 
 
 Mr. Williams is identified with the Ma- 
 sonic order. Eighteen years ago he was 
 made a member of Armstrong Lodge, F. & 
 A. M., and now has his membership in the 
 Dublin Lodge. While taking no active part 
 in politics, he has always kept well posted 
 on political issues and given his support to 
 
 the Democratic party and its principles. Re- 
 ligiously, he is a Baptist. He united with 
 this church during the war, in 1863, and has 
 ever since remained a consistent member of 
 the same. 
 
 (D 
 
 \JOR LEVI ELLIOTT GIL- 
 LETT, a lawyer and real-estate 
 broker, of Dublin, Texas, has for 
 more than twenty years figured as 
 a prominent citizen of this place. 
 
 Major Gillett is a native of Tioga county, 
 Pennsylvania, born December 16, 1831, 
 son of Charles Randall and Nancy Libby 
 (Elliott) Gillett. The Gilletts are of Eng- 
 lish origin. Two brothers of that name 
 came to this country from England at an 
 early day and settled in Connecticut, and 
 one of these brothers was the great-great- 
 grandfather of our subject. Charles Ran- 
 dall Gillett was born in Connecticut, January 
 8, 1795, and died May 24, 1857. The Elliotts 
 came from Maine. Major Gillett's mother 
 was born in Maine, October 10, 1795, and 
 died July 15, 1880. Of the children of 
 Charles Randall and Nancy Libby Gillett, 
 we record that Mary Ann and Eliza married 
 and lived in Pennsylvania; Nancy, wife of 
 Henry Young, died at Goliad, Texas, De- 
 cember 8, 1892; Charles Randall died in 
 Texas, December 15, 1892: and the young- 
 est and only one now living is the subject of 
 this article. In 1S33 the parents left Penn- 
 sylvania and moved to Ashtabula county, 
 Ohio, whence two years later they removed 
 to Bureau county, Illinois. A few years 
 later the spirit of emigration again seized 
 them, and on Christmas day, 1852, the 
 father, mother, Charles R., Nancy and Levi 
 E. landed at what was later known as Har- 
 mony Hill, Rusk-county, Texas. That town 
 
klSTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 697 
 
 was named by Major Gillett. He erected the 
 first business house there, and made that 
 place his home until 1859. That year he 
 moved to Grand Bluff, Panola county. 
 While at Harmony Hill he was employed as 
 a house carpenter, but after his removal to 
 Grand Bluff he was made assignee for Mr. 
 Frank Lewis, in the arrangement of whose 
 business he was occupied at the time the 
 late war came on. Also at this time he 
 was postmaster of Grand Bluff, having re- 
 ceived his appointment under John H. Rea- 
 gan, postmaster general of the Confederate 
 states. Both positions he resigned that he 
 might enter the army. His enlistment was 
 May 14. 1 86 1, in Captain Cook's Company 
 of cavalry, in Indian Territory, known as 
 Texas Cavalry. On the battlefield at Elk- 
 horn he was appointed orderly sergeant; at 
 Fort Washita was elected captain by the 
 company; was re-elected at the expiration 
 of the first year; and was made major in the 
 fall of 1863. The first two years of the war 
 his company was an independent one, but 
 from that time on was a part of Colonel 
 Wells' regiment. 
 
 When the war broke out Major Gillett's 
 wife returned to Rusk county, and at its 
 close he joined her there. Subsequently 
 they removed to Hill county and settled at 
 what afterward was known as Prairie Valley, 
 the Major having named the town. He 
 farmed there and also owned and ran a corn- 
 mill, sawmill and cotton-gin, and made that 
 place his home until 1875. ^n February of 
 that year he moved to the old town of 
 Dublin. Here he established a mercantile 
 business, which he conducted successfully 
 until 1892, when he closed out, and since 
 then he has given his attention to law and 
 the real-estate business 
 
 Major Gillett was first married Septem- ' 
 
 ber 20, 185s, to Mrs. Ruth Myrtle (Jones) 
 Grear, widow of John Grear and a native of 
 Tennessee. She died June 15, 1880, leav- 
 ing no children. April 30, 1881, the subject 
 of our sketch wedded Arizona Vera Leslie, 
 daughter of Robert and Adeline (Reeves) 
 Leslie. Mr. Leslie was one of the well 
 known early settlers here, and his death was 
 a sad blow to his family and friends, he 
 having been murdered by the Indians in 
 1873. Mrs. Gillett was the first white child 
 born in Dublin, the date of that event be- 
 ing November 28, 1862. The children of 
 their union are: Leonard Earl, born March 
 14, 1883; Merlin Marcus, December 14, 
 1884, died November 2, 1885; Vera Inas, 
 August 26, 1889; and Rupert Warren, De- 
 cember 5, 1893. 
 
 The political views of our subject have 
 always been Democratic. He served two 
 years as justice of the peace at Dublin, and 
 in 1S73 he was honored by a seat in the 
 state legislature, representing Hill, Navarro, 
 Kaufman, Ellis and Hood counties, and 
 serving one term of five months. The Major 
 has for nearly twenty- five years been iden- 
 tified with the Baptist church. Also he has 
 a membership in the Masonic and Knights 
 of Pythias orders. He received the first 
 degree in Masonry at Grand Bluff before 
 the war and took two other degrees during 
 the war. For years he has affiliated with 
 Dublin Lodge, F. & A. M., No. 504, and 
 Lodge No. 107, K. of P., of this place. 
 
 a APT. WALTER TERRY SAXON, 
 the county surveyor of Hamilton 
 county and one of the leading citi- 
 zens, is numbered among the gal- 
 lant soldiers of the late war who "wore the 
 
008 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 gray," bravely defending the principles in 
 which he so firmly believed and making for 
 himself a military record unsurpassed in 
 those qualities which indicate true heroism. 
 
 He was born April 20, 1 836, in Autauga 
 county, Alabama, a son of Benjamin Wads- 
 worth and Mary Collingsworth (Terry) 
 Saxon. His grandfather, James Saxon, a 
 native of North Carolina, had five brothers 
 and a sister who were hung by Tories dur- 
 ing the Revolution, only himself and brother 
 Yancy of the family escaping! He married 
 a sister of Frank Elmore, who was Calhoun's 
 successor in the United States senate. The 
 maternal grandfather of our subject, Eli 
 Terry, was a native of Anson county. North 
 Carolina, and married a Miss Pickett, by 
 whom he had four sons, — John, William, 
 Todd and James, and three daughters. The 
 Terry family removed Ironi Virginia to North 
 Carolina. 
 
 The father of our subject was born in 
 South Carolina, and went to Alabama, 
 where he became owner of a large planta- 
 tion. He afterward removed to Florida, 
 where also he had extensive landed inter- 
 ests and many negroes. By profession he 
 \vas a physician, but abandoned practice 
 after going to Florida. He was sent as a 
 representative to the secession convention at 
 Tallahassee, and' cast his vote for that 
 movement, January 11, 1861. His death 
 occurred the same night! To Mr. and Mrs. 
 Saxon were born the following children: 
 James Randolph, born in 1832, married 
 Dora Whittaker, and at his death left one 
 child. He served as a member of Com- 
 pany C, Third Florida Infantry, and while 
 acting as color-bearer at Missionary Ridge 
 was killed; Theodora Mary, born April 12, 
 1834, wedded Captain Felix Simmons, who 
 served through the war in the Eighth Fior- 
 
 I ida regiment and afterward engaged in mer- 
 chandising at Newport, Arkansas; they had 
 six children; our subject is the next younger; 
 
 ' Frank Elmore, born in 1840, served in the 
 
 ! Third Florida regiment, has filled the office 
 of state representative and count}' judge, 
 and is now clerk of his county, his home 
 being in Brookville, Florida; he wedded 
 Marina Mays, daughter of General Mays, 
 and after her death married Miss Hope, by 
 whom he had seven children; Ben, born in 
 1844, entered the army at the age of fifteen 
 and served through the war in the Third 
 Florida regiment; he died in 1872; Antoi- 
 nette, born in 1846, married Captain H. C. 
 Simmons, of Clay county, Alabama, who has 
 
 I served his district in the legislature; and 
 Jessie died at the age of sixteen j'ears. 
 
 Captain Saxon, of this review, went to 
 Hernando county, Florida, in 1854, and 
 there made his home with his parents, who 
 spent their remaining days in that place. 
 He pursued the civil engineering course in 
 the Southern Military Institute in Fredonia, 
 Alabama, pursuing his studies from 1854 
 until 1856, when he accompanied a survey- 
 ing party to Kansas. He was in Florida at 
 the time of the outbreak of the civil war, 
 and raised one of the first companies for ser- 
 vice. He had three brothers who joined 
 this company, which was organized on his 
 twenty-fifth birthday, he becoming its cap- 
 tain. For three months he was in the state 
 service and then went to the front. Five 
 times was he wounded and on two occasions 
 was taken prisoner. At the battle of Perry- 
 ville, a ball struck him in the left side; he 
 was wounded in the head at New Hope 
 Church, and though hit with two balls he 
 valiantly commanded his regiment. He re- 
 ceived a slight wound at Atlanta, and was 
 wounded in the hip at Joncsboro. He was 
 
mSTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 captured at Perryville, Kentucky, was sent 
 to the hospital at Bardstown, then to Louis- 
 ville, and later to Vicksburg, and after four 
 months' imprisonment was exchanged. He 
 was also captured at Atlanta, but succeeded 
 in making his escape the same night. Near 
 the close of the war the First, Third, Fourth 
 and Seventh Infantry Regiments of Florida 
 were consolidated with the First Cavalry 
 Regiment, and he was made its major, but 
 saw no active service under that title. 
 There were few soldiers on either side who 
 saw more arduous duty than Captain Saxon. 
 He suffered all the hardships of war, but 
 with a courage born of true heroism, e\cr 
 stood at his post in the thickest of the fight, 
 defending his principles at whatever cost. 
 
 When the war was over the Captain 
 returned home, and was twice honored by 
 his fellow citizens by an election to the 
 state legislature of Florida. He came to 
 Hamilton countj^, Texas, in April, 1874, 
 and began surveying. He served as deputy 
 county surveyor under S. G. Forrester for 
 one year, was elected county surveyor in 
 1878, and has served continuously since, — a 
 fact which indicates in no unmistakable way 
 the confidence reposed in him and his effi- 
 ciency in the discharge of his duties. He 
 has practically done all the surveying in this 
 county, and has done much outside of the 
 county. It would be difficult to find a man 
 in all this region who is better versed on the 
 subject of land, its value and location than 
 Captain Saxon. 
 
 The Captain was married June 10, 
 1864, to Sue Burns Simmons, daughter of 
 Holman Freeman and Eliza (Burns) Sim- 
 mons. They had seven children, but only 
 two are living: Troup Elmore, born May 28, 
 1874; and Bessie Cowden, born April 29, 
 1878. Those deceased are Robert Lee, 
 
 Holman Felix, Dixy and an infant son and 
 daughter. 
 
 In politics Captain Saxon is a stalwart 
 Democrat. In 1875 he became a member 
 of Hamilton Lodge, No. 216, I. O. O. F., 
 and is also a member of the American Be- 
 nevolent Association. He is a man of 
 sterling worth, of strict integrity and stead- 
 fast principle, and has the high esteem of all 
 who know him. 
 
 at 
 
 ILLIAM BENTON McANELLY, 
 
 familiarly known as "Squire," 
 owns one of the finest farms on 
 the Leon river, in Hamilton 
 county. A native of the Lone Star state, 
 he was born near Chireno, in Nacogdoches 
 county, July 20, 1842, but when quite 
 young was taken by his parents, John and 
 Margaret (Davis) McAnellj', to Angelina 
 county, where the father died about 1848, 
 leaving his widow with eight children: 
 James Lewis; Margaret, deceased; Caroline; 
 Willis, deceased; Julia and John, deceased; 
 William B. and George, who is living near 
 Hico. The oldest son looked after the fam- 
 ily, keeping the children together. Later 
 the mother became the wife of Simpson 
 Burkes, by whom she had one daughter, 
 Sally Adelaide. Her third husband was a 
 Mr. Davis. She was of German descent, 
 while the father of our subject, who was 
 born in middle Tennessee, was of Scotch 
 lineage. In his native state he was mar- 
 ried, and about 1S32 became a resident of 
 Illinois. It was in 1836 that he came to 
 Texas, locating in Nacogdoches county, 
 where he secured six hundred and forty acres 
 of land. By trade he was a blacksmith, and 
 religiously was a member of the Presbyte- 
 rian church. 
 
roo 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 In i860 our subject began life for him- 
 self upon a farm in Angelina county, but 
 the following year laid aside personal inter- 
 est, joining Company I, Fourth Texas Cav- 
 alry, and went on the Sibley expedition into 
 Arizona. At Santa Fe, New Mexico, he 
 was taken prisoner, and it was seven months 
 before he was exchanged. The regiment 
 was disbanded in Burleson county, Texas, 
 in May, 1865. 
 
 Returning to Angeline county, Mr. 
 McAnelly there made his home until 1872, 
 when he went to Collin county, but in De- 
 cember of the following year came to Ham- 
 ilton county, where for a year he rented 
 land. For five jears he then leased seventy- 
 five acres, after which he purchased one 
 hundred and sixty acres, where Ambrose 
 Oglesby now lives. He next owned twenty- 
 two hundred acres, which he sold and for 
 the following three j-ears rented. In 1S89 
 he purchased three hundred and eight acres 
 of the Wilkerson, Vaughn & Forrest sur- 
 veys, comprismg a part of his present farm, 
 and there erected a house, into which he 
 moved his family in 1891. He now has one 
 thousand acres of bottoai land, two hundred 
 and sixty acres of which are under cultiva- 
 tion, and also three hundred and twenty 
 acres of prairie land, one hundred of which 
 have been placed under the plow. A part 
 of his land he rents, and devotes much of 
 his time to clearing and breaking new tracts, 
 which lie rapidly improves. His place is 
 supplied with a comfoitable and convenient 
 residence, good and substantial outbuildings, 
 and in fact everything that goes to make up 
 a model farm of the nineteenth century. 
 He was one of the most progressive and 
 wide-awake agriculturists of the county, and 
 what he now possesses has all been acquired 
 through his own industry and careful man- 
 
 agement, being a self-made man in the broad- 
 est sen.se of that term. 
 
 On the 1 6th of January, 1866, Mr. Mc- 
 Anelly led to the marriage altar Missouri 
 Orlina Pate, who was born in Alabama, in 
 1850, and was the daughter of Charles Pate. 
 She was called to her final rest February 5, 
 1880. To them had been born six children: 
 Julia Samantha, born March i, 1867, is 
 now the wife of Hugh W. Elliott, a teacher 
 of Hico, Texas; John Benton, born July 5, 
 1869, married Miss Ida Sharp, and is en- 
 gaged in farming his father's place; Mar- 
 garet Eugenia, born in 1871, died at the age 
 of two years; Charles Pate, born February 
 '7. '873. married Annie Salter, and is also 
 living on the home farm; James Emmitt, 
 born January 4, 1875, married Fannie 
 Mason, and lives on the old homestead; and 
 Sallie Orlena, born January 31, 1877, is at 
 home. Mr. McAnelly was again married 
 July 20, 1879, his second union being with 
 Martha Webber, who was born in Missouri, 
 in i860, and is the daughter of Simpson W. 
 Webber. They have become the parents 
 of the following children: George Lafay- 
 ette, Rosie, William Penn, deceased, Grover, 
 Katie, Ever and Walter Monroe. 
 
 Mr. McAnelly allies himself with the 
 Democratic party, served as county com- 
 missioner from 1884 until 1886, and has now 
 been justice of the peace for seventeen 
 years. For thirteen years he has been a 
 member of the Missionary Baptist church, 
 and at one time belonged to the Independ- 
 ent Order of Odd Fellows at Jonesboro'. A 
 native Texan, he takes a deep and abiding 
 interest in the welfare of his state and 
 county, doing all in his power for their ad- 
 vancement and prosperity, and is a highly 
 respected and esteemed member of the 
 society which surrounds him. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 701 
 
 EON A. J. HART, whose career, pub- 
 lic and private, has won him the 
 confidence and highest regard of 
 all with whom he has come in 
 contact, is to-day one of the most honored 
 citizens of Somervell county. Since 1855 
 he has been identified with the interests of 
 this section of the state, has been a promi- 
 nent factor in the upbuilding and develop- 
 ment of this region and has been active in 
 his co-operation with all interests calculated 
 to enhance the prosperity of the region and 
 to materially promote the general welfare. 
 Mr. Hart is a native of Arkansas, born 
 in Scott county, on the 14th of May, 1832, 
 a son of Meredith and Mary (Riley) Hart, 
 the former a native of Kentucky and the 
 latter of Indiana. The maternal grandfather, 
 Isaac Riley, removed with his family to Ar- 
 kansas at an early day, and in pioneer times 
 Josiah Hart, the paternal grandfather, also 
 located there. The ancestors of our sub- 
 ject were also among the early settlers of 
 Kentucky, and Hart county in that state 
 was named in their honor. The father of 
 our subject was born in Kentucky in 181 1, 
 and after his removal to Arkansas married 
 Miss Mary Riley. In 1834, accompanied 
 by his family, he came to the republic of 
 Texas, locating in Fannin county, and the 
 next year went forth to participate in the 
 war with Mexico. He joined General 
 Houston's command and continued with the 
 army of brave Texans until the independ- 
 ence of the Republic was achie\'ed. He 
 then returned to his home in Fannin county, 
 where he extensively and successfully en- 
 gaged in the stock business until 1S55. 
 Then he came to Johnson county, where he 
 followed the same pursuit until 1863, when 
 his life's labors were ended and he was 
 called to the home beyond. On taking up 
 
 his residence in Johnson county he located 
 seven miles south of where Cleburne now 
 stands, on the Mustang creek. He also 
 owned a ranch three miles north of that 
 city, on Buck creek; one in Somervell 
 county, on the Brazos river, and one in 
 Comanche county. In 1838 he moved his 
 cattle to Duffau, Erath county. At the 
 breaking out of the late war he was brand- 
 ing each spring one thousand, five hundred 
 and twenty calves, together with a large 
 number of horses, and ten herders were em- 
 ployed in their care. One of the men in 
 Mr. Hart's employ. Berry Bills, erected the 
 first cabin in Cleburne. Mr. Hart purchased 
 his ranch of one thousand, two hundred and 
 eight acres of William Chambers, having 
 had his choice of the land on which Cleburne 
 is now standing for two dollars and a half 
 per acre. The place purchased has water 
 flowing from a fine spring, making it one of 
 the most desirable ranches in the county. 
 In 1853 he sold a number of beef cattle for 
 one hundred dollars per head. During the 
 late war he lost much of his stock, and he 
 also sold a herd of cattle for counterfeit 
 Confederate money, called Payne money, 
 and consequently lost very heavily. 
 
 When Mr. Hart first came to this state, 
 Indians were living throughout this section 
 and he with other settlers had frequently to 
 go forth to battle with them in order to pro- 
 tect their families and their property. He 
 was a member of the Texas Rangers, an 
 organization formed for mutual protection. 
 Although not a politician he always took an 
 active part in the politics of the day and was 
 a life-long Democrat. His sympathies were 
 with the south, altiiough he was originally 
 opposed to the severance of the states. To 
 the parents of our subject were born six 
 children, four of whom are yet living, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 namely: A. J., of this notice; LaFayette, 
 of Somervell county; Iredell, of Johnson 
 county; and Nancy, wife of Thomas Pollard, 
 of Montague county. After the death of his 
 first wife Mr. Hart was united in marriage 
 with Miss Cassandra Wilkins, and they had 
 three children, — Miles, a prominent farmer 
 of Johnson county; Meredith, deceased; and 
 one who died unnamed. Mrs. Hart passed 
 away in 1868. Mr. Hart was a Royal 
 Arch Mason, and one of the most prominent 
 stock dealers in central Texas. 
 
 The gentleman who is the subject of 
 this review was a child of only two years 
 when brought by his parents to Texas. He 
 assisted his father in the stock business and 
 remained on the old homestead until his 
 marriage. His education was obtained at 
 McKey's Institute in Red River county and 
 his extended reading and his observation in 
 later years have made him a well informed 
 man. 
 
 In 1854 was celebrated the marriage of 
 Mr. Hart and Miss Theodocia Reeves, a 
 native of Bedford county, Tennessee, and a 
 daughter of Dr. John H. Reeves, who came 
 to Texas in 1845. The young couple began 
 their domestic life near the old Hart home- 
 stead, and our subject continued to care for 
 his father's stock, following this pursuit 
 until after the breaking out of the civil war. 
 He joined the Confederate service October 
 13, 1862, as a member of Company B, 
 Stone's Cavalry, in the Trans-Mississippi 
 department, and participated in the battles 
 of Yellow Bayou, Pleasant Hill and Marsh- 
 field. He was first commissioned lieutenant 
 and was afterward promoted to the rank of 
 captain of his company. At Yellow Bayou 
 he was captured and for two months and 
 four days held as a prisoner of war in New 
 Orleans. He continued at the front until 
 
 after the cessation of hostilities and then 
 returned home, resuming his stock-dealing. 
 
 Mr. Hart's service in the war cost him 
 considerable financial loss, but he gathered 
 together as much of his herd of cattle as re- 
 mained and continued in this industry until 
 1869. On the 25th of December of that 
 year he took up his abode at his present 
 farm and purchased six hundred and fifty- 
 three acres of land. He at once began the 
 arduous task of developing a new farm, and 
 to day has tv^o hundred and sixty-six acres 
 in a good state of cultivation. It is located 
 on the east bank of the Brazos river, which 
 furnishes a good supply of water, and his 
 property is now one of the best farms in this 
 section of the state. Artesian wells also 
 supply water, and all the improvements of 
 a model farm add to the value and attract- 
 iveness of the place. The home is a fine 
 brick residence, where true southern hos- 
 pitality abounds, and both the Judge and 
 his wife take great delight in entertaining 
 their many friends. 
 
 With the public affairs connected with 
 central Texas our subject has been promi- 
 nently identified. He was the first presid- 
 ing officer of the second election in Johnson 
 county, in 1854, and in 1874, on the ear- 
 nest solicitation of many citizens, who signed 
 a petition to him, he consented to become 
 a candidate on the independent ticket for 
 the office of representative. He was tri- 
 umphantly elected, running four hundred 
 and forty votes ahead of any other candi- 
 date on the ticket, — a fact indicating his 
 great personal popularity as well as the con- 
 fidence reposed in his ability and fitness for 
 legislative honors. For three successive 
 terms he filled that office, a valued and hon- 
 ored member of the general assembly. He 
 served on a number of important committees, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 including penitentiary, county organization, 
 public grounds and buildings, etc. He was 
 a member of the house at the time that 
 Somervell county was organized. He la- 
 bored earnestly for the best interests of the 
 people whom he represented, and his career 
 as a legislator was most honorable. In 1884 
 he was elected judge and served four years. 
 His decisions were the result of careful de- 
 liberation, and he was particularly free from 
 judicial bias. Justice was his. watchword at 
 all times, and his course on the bench won 
 the commendation of every citizen who be- 
 lieves in law and order. His public career, 
 like his private life, is above reproach, and 
 the confidence reposed in him by his fellow 
 citizens has never been betrayed. Socially 
 the Judge is a Royal Arch Mason, and in 
 politics is a Democrat. 
 
 ai 
 
 F. REEVES is a native son of 
 the Lone Star state and since 
 1870 has been a resident of Hood 
 and Somervell counties. It is 
 therefore fitting that mention of his life, and 
 a history of his pioneer parents, both of 
 whom have passed away, should be given 
 prominence in this record of representative 
 men and women. 
 
 W. F. Reeves was born in Clarksville, 
 Red River county, Te.xas, September 28, 
 1852, youngest son in the family of ten 
 children of Dr. J. H. and Mary (Holt) 
 Reeves. Dr. Reeves was a native of Geor- 
 gia, born June 10, 1808, son of John Reeves, 
 who was of Irish birth and settled in Amer- 
 ica in colonial dajs. When the father of 
 our subject was a child the family removed 
 to Tennessee and located near Shelbyville, 
 Bedford county, where he grew up, studied 
 medicine and married, his marriage to Miss 
 
 Mary Holt occurring in the year 1833. She 
 was a native of South Carolina, born in 
 18 1 2, and a daughter of Michael Holt, who 
 traced his origin back to the Dutch. When 
 Mrs. Reeves was a child she was taken by 
 her parents to Tennessee, where she was 
 reared and married. Dr. Reeves practiced 
 his profession in Tennessee until 1845, at 
 that time removing with his family to Te.xas 
 and locating in Red River county, where 
 for many years he ministered to suffering 
 humanity on the frontier and at the same 
 time was interested in all that pertained to 
 the development of the country and its re- 
 sources In 1 87 1 he came to Hood county 
 and settled on the banks of the Brazos, in 
 what is now Somervell county, where he 
 continued the practice of his profession un- 
 til his death, August 25, 1S85. After com- 
 ing to this county he kept in his residence a 
 drug store, conducting the same in connec- 
 tion with his practice. His wife survived 
 him two years, her death occurring February 
 2, 1887. They were the parents of ten 
 children, nine of whom arrived at adult age, 
 namely: Harriet, wife of E. Clement, died 
 in Red River county one year after her mar- 
 riage; Theodocia A., wife of Judge A. J. 
 Hart, a prominent citizen of Hood county, 
 honorable mention of whom is made on an- 
 other page of this work; M. Holt, a resident 
 of Fannin county, Te.xas; Mrs. J. J. Mc- 
 Cowen;John Henderson, who died in the 
 late war, at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, at the age 
 of twenty-one years; Egbert Radford, of 
 Ennis, Ellis county, Texas; Oval Cadmus, 
 who resides on the old homestead in Somer- 
 vell county; W. F., whose name heads this 
 article; and Mary Izona, wife of J. B. Tur- 
 ner, of Young county, Texas. The Doctor 
 and his wife were members of the Methodist 
 Episcopal church, in which he took an act- 
 
704 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 ive part for many years. Also he was a 
 member of the Masonic fraternity, and in 
 his political views he was in harmony with 
 the Democratic party. 
 
 From this succinct sketch of hisiionored 
 parents, we turn now to a brief glimpse of 
 the enterprising son, W. F. Reeves. His 
 boyhood and youth were passed in the rural 
 districts of his native county, his education 
 was obtained in the common schools, and 
 he remained with his parents until their 
 death. In 1886 he was elected county 
 sherii? and tax collector, was re-elected in 
 1888 and again in 1890, and served as the 
 incunibent of that office for six years. In 
 February, 1894, he became associated with 
 John Montgomery in the mercantile business 
 and they have since prospered, doing a busi- 
 ness which averages about $10,000 per an- 
 num; and in connection with running the 
 store they also do a large business in real 
 estate. 
 
 Mr. Reeves is prominent in fraternity 
 circles. He is a member of the A. F. & 
 A. M. at Glen Rose, Lodge No. 525, in 
 which he has passed most of the chairs; and 
 in the K. of P., Glen Rose Lodge, No. 168, 
 he is Past Chancellor. Also he is Deputy 
 Grand Chancellor of the Grand Lodge of 
 the state. Politically, like his father before 
 him, he is a stanch supporter of the princi- 
 ples of the Democracy. 
 
 *y ^ ENRY JONES CARTER, a pio- 
 If^^ neer of Texas, is one of the largest 
 \ . p landowners of Hamilton county, 
 where he is actively and prosper- 
 ously engaged in agricultural pursuits. The 
 flourishing condition of this county, with 
 its splendid farms, many comfortable dwell- 
 ings, fine churches and substantial school 
 
 buildings, is a monument to the perserver- 
 ance and labors of the brave men who, 
 like our subject, patiently endured the trials 
 of a pioneer life that they might develop 
 the wonderful and varied resources of this 
 region, and make for themselves and their 
 children a pleasant home in this fruitful and 
 goodly land. 
 
 He was born in Monroe county, east 
 Tennessee. September 4, 1826, but in 1839 
 was taken by his parents, Wesley and 
 Sophia (Hill) Carter, to McNairy county, 
 in the western part of the state. The 
 father's birth occurred in Virginia in 1800, 
 and in Greene county, Tennessee, he mar- 
 ried Miss Hill, who was born in North 
 Carolina, in 1802. They became the par- 
 ents of eight children: Renie, Phoebe Jane, 
 Henry J., James A., Drusilla, Lucinda, 
 John W. and Margaret. The mother died 
 in 1858, and during the civil war the father 
 went to Missouri, since which time nothing 
 has been heard of him. His father, Caleb 
 Carter, was also a native of the Old Do- 
 minion, and married Miss Williams, by 
 whom he had three children: Wesley; Na- 
 thaniel, the author of Carter's spelling-book; 
 and Mrs. John Frazier. For his second wife 
 the grandfather wedded Miss Templeton, 
 and to them were born several children. 
 Pleasant Hill, the maternal grandfather of 
 our subject, married Sally Rippetoe, and 
 they had a number of children, among 
 whom were Alfred, Pleasant, Jasper, Bur- 
 ton, Polly and Sophia. 
 
 On reaching man's estate, Henry J. Car- 
 ter was married, May 14, 1848, the lady of 
 his choice being Miss Mary Caroline Pres- 
 ton, who was born in Tennessee, in June, 
 1830, and is the daughter of Jack Preston. 
 Eleven children blessed this union: James 
 Wesley, John Quincy, Joseph Henry, Sarah 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 705 
 
 Jane, Mary Gussie, Frances Harriet, de- 
 ceased, George Ra3'mond, Alexander Lee, 
 deceased, Francis Marion, deceased, Alfred 
 Lafayette and David Mitchell. 
 
 With his wife, Mr. Carter left Tennes- 
 see, March, 1849, for Texas, going by water 
 to New Orleans, then up the Red river, 
 landing at Shreveport, Louisiana, thence by 
 land to Harrison county, Texas, thence they 
 went to Smith county, where he rented land 
 until 1856. On the 15th of September of 
 that year he became the first settler on 
 Cowhouse creek, in what is now Hamilton 
 county, their nearest neighbor being his 
 brother, James A., who lived seven miles 
 distant, at what is now Evant. At about 
 twelve miles distant resided James Rice and 
 Henry C. Standefer, the first settlers on Leon 
 river in Hamilton county, who were con- 
 sidered neighbors. For sixteen years (for 
 which he received nothing but two percus- 
 sion caps), Mr. Carter engaged in skirmishes 
 with the Indians, being in the fight at Dove 
 creek, where twenty-seven white men were 
 killed and seventeen wounded. This cam- 
 paign was one of the most severe and lasted 
 for thirty days, during which time men not 
 used to cold weather spent a large portion 
 of the time wading in snow several feet 
 deep. The settlers were also reduced to 
 dire extremities for want of food during 
 this service. 
 
 On the Cowhouse, Mr. Carter pre- 
 empted one hundred and sixty acres of land 
 in 1873, and during those trying early days 
 lost $500 in the cattle business, which proved 
 a sad misfortune at that time. However, 
 to-day he is the owner of thirty-four hun- 
 dred acres in Hamilton county, five hundred 
 of which are under a high state of cultiva- 
 tion and well improved, his property being 
 valued at one hundred thousand dollars, all 
 
 accumulated through his own individual ef- 
 forts. He comes of a most highly respected 
 family, and he is a credit to the worthy 
 name he bears. That he has made his ca- 
 reer a grand success is due to his untiring 
 energy, affability, integrity and judicious 
 conduct as a business man. He always 
 supported the Democratic party until lately, 
 now voting independently of party ties. In 
 religious relations he is a member of the 
 Christian church. 
 
 ^^UDGE J. J. MATTHEWS.— In the 
 H present connection we shall revert to 
 A 1 the life of one who has long figured 
 prominently as an honored resident 
 of Texas, and who is conspicuous, in a 
 further sense, as a representative of one 
 of the leading pioneer families of the Lone 
 Star state. The history of the Matthews 
 family is prolific in interest and instruction 
 and is well worthy of prominence in a work 
 which has to do with the representative men 
 and women of this section of the Texas com- 
 monwealth. 
 
 J. J. Matthews was born in Madison 
 county, Alabama, July 5, 1828, and in his 
 sixth year was brought to Texas by his par- 
 ents. Dr. M. W. and Sarah A. (Gahagan) 
 Matthews. Before proceeding, however, 
 with the history of the Judge we would speak 
 at length of his parents and ancestry, the 
 latter tracing back to England and dating in 
 America from the colonial period. 
 
 Walter Matthews, the great-grandfather 
 of our subject, was born in England, came 
 to America before the Revolutionary war 
 and was a soldier in that war, serving as a 
 commissioned officer. At the close of the 
 Revolution he made a settlement in Georgia, 
 which was then a wilderness inhabited 
 
7Ut) 
 
 HI STOUT OP TEXAS. 
 
 chiefly by Indians and wild animals, and in 
 that frontier district he passed his life and 
 reared his family. His son Joseph, the 
 Judge's grandfather, was born, reared and 
 married in Georgia, the lady of his choice 
 being Miss Pannia Crisp, likewise a native of 
 that state. At an early day they removed 
 to Kentucky, where he developed a farm 
 and where he resided for a number of years. 
 It was in Kentucky that his son, Dr. M. \V., 
 was born. Dr. M. W. Matthews grew up 
 on a frontier farm, like his father before him, 
 and on attaining to young manhood fol- 
 lowed his father's example in leaving the 
 parental home and seeking his fortune in a 
 locality more remote from civilization. He 
 went to Alabama, in which state he was 
 married to Miss Sarah A. Gahagan, a native 
 of Virginia, and a daughter of James Gaha- 
 gan and wife, ncc Vivian, her parents having 
 emigrated to this country from Ireland and 
 made settlement in Virginia, where her 
 father died. After a short residence in Ala- 
 bama Dr. Matthews removed to Gibson 
 county, Tennessee, where his father's family 
 had previously settled, and lived neighbors 
 to David Crockett. They continued their 
 residence in Gibson county until the fall of 
 1835, when they emigrated to Texas and 
 settled in Red River county, near where 
 Clarksville now stands. As soon as he 
 could get his family .settled the Doctor 
 joined the brave Texans who were fighting 
 for the liberty of their land, and was a par- 
 ticipant in the memorable battle of San 
 Jacinto. He was sitting by the side of 
 General Houston when Santa Anna was 
 brought in after the battle. Soon after- 
 ward Dr. Matthews returned to Red River 
 county and joined his family and there di- 
 rected his energies toward opening up a 
 farm. In many respects he was a remarka- 
 
 ble man, one of great versatility; was always 
 ready for any emergency and capable of 
 filling most acceptably all the positions to 
 which he was called. He was elected to 
 and served in the first and second congresses 
 of Texas, and he was president of the board 
 of land commissioners of Red River county 
 four years. 
 
 While in Iventucky he began the study 
 of medicine, and he practiced his profession 
 in Tennessee; but after coming to this state 
 he turned his attention to law and soon after 
 formed a partnership with David Sample, 
 with whom he was associated in legal prac- 
 tice for some time; and he practiced law, 
 more or less, up to the time of his death. 
 Nor were these the only professions he 
 adopted. When only about eighteen years 
 of age he began preaching in the Christian 
 church, and preached at intervals all his 
 life, traveling about over the Texas frontier, 
 frequently giving his time and labor and 
 paying his own expenses. His ministry re- 
 sulted in the salvation of many souls. The 
 influence of his life can never be measured 
 here; only eternity can compute the good 
 accomplished by such a man. About 1846 
 he removed to Lamar county and settled 
 near where Paris now is, then a district un- 
 inhabited save by red men and wild beasts, 
 and there he opened up another farm, at 
 the same time practicing law and medicine 
 among the scattered settlers whenever occa- 
 sion offered, and on the Sabbath meeting his 
 preaching appointments. At the close of the 
 civil war he removed to Limestone county; 
 he maintained his residence there about ten 
 years and from thence he went to Mills 
 county, where he died in April, 1895. His 
 wife had died in 1872, at the age of sixty 
 years. They were the parents of eleven 
 children, of whom five are still living. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 707 
 
 Reverting to Dr. Matthews' removal to 
 Texas, we would further state that his 
 father and mother came here at the same 
 time he did, and in Texas passed the 
 residue of their lives and died, his death 
 occurring six years before hers, while he 
 was eighty-seven and she eighty-six years of 
 age. For over sixty years they had trav- 
 eled life's pathway together. Grandfather 
 Matthews was an old-line Whig, and for 
 manyyears served as magistrate in the several 
 communities in which he lived. He was a 
 man of learning, above the average of his 
 day and place, and taught some of the first 
 schools in Texas. By many a pioneer is 
 his memory revered. 
 
 J. J. Matthews, the immediate subject 
 of this review, spent his boyhood on his 
 father's farm, assisting in the work of the 
 farm and in the caring for the stock, and 
 remained with his parents until the time of 
 his marriage. While his educational ad- 
 vantages were limited to the " rude log 
 seats of learning " in the frontier com- 
 munity in which he lived, he had what was 
 better, namely, the influence of refined, 
 educated and Christian parents. After his 
 marriage, which was in 1851, "he located in 
 Hawkins county. During the late war he 
 was stationed in Carnp Colorado, in the 
 frontier service, and was efficient in afford- 
 ing protection to the border settlers. Pre- 
 vious to the war he gave his attention 
 chiefly to the stock business, at various 
 places, and in 1861 he settled in Johnson 
 county, in the vicinity of which he has since 
 lived, and here he continued the stock busi- 
 ness until the country became more thickly 
 settled and Hood county was organized, 
 when he turned his attention more especially 
 to farming. He assisted in the organiza- 
 tion of Hood county and also Somervell 
 
 county, and thus without moving from his 
 locality he has during the past thirty-iive 
 years lived in three different counties; and 
 during his residence in Texas he has lived 
 under four different governments. He now 
 has a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, 
 nicely improved and under cultivation, and is 
 pleasantlysituated to enjoy life in this favored 
 clime. About the time Hood county was 
 organized he was elected a justice of the 
 peace and county commissioner, in the lat- 
 ter office serving one term. In 1878 he 
 was elected county judge, his office holding 
 until 1884, and in 1888 he was again elected 
 to the same position for another term of 
 six years. At the end of his last term, 
 having completed his twelfth year as county 
 judge, he refused to allow his name to be 
 used again in this connection, notwithstand- 
 ing the fact that he was earnestly urged to 
 run for a third term. 
 
 Judge Matthews was married January 
 23, 185 1, in Grayson county, Texas, to 
 Miss Laura Milam, a native of this state and 
 a daughter of Jefferson Milam, of whom 
 mention is made elsewhere in this volume. 
 They have had eight children, of whom 
 three sons and two daughters are now living, 
 viz. : Jennie, wife of Samuel Waters, of 
 Waco; Jefferson M., who resides in Harris 
 county; J. W. , in the lumber business in 
 Cleburne; Eliza, wife of M. A. Curry, of 
 this county; and Collins, at home. One 
 son, M. W., died at the age of thirty-four 
 years, leaving a widow and four children; 
 the others died in infancy. 
 
 The Judge and his wife are identified 
 with the Christian church, having been 
 consistent members of the same for many 
 years. His father was both a Mason and 
 an Odd Fellow, took all the degrees in 
 Masonry that could then be conferred in 
 
ro8 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Texas, and the Judge has been a member of 
 the Masonic order since 1S59, when he was 
 initiated into its mysteries at Gainesville. 
 For some years past he has had a member- 
 ship in Glen Rose Lodge, No. 525, F. & 
 A. M. His political views are those advanced 
 by the Democratic party. 
 
 ^^COTT MILAM, M. D., Glen Rose, 
 •^^^k* Texas. — This gentleman is distinct- 
 
 K^^y ivcly a pioneer and comes from a 
 race of people distinguished for 
 pioneer proclivities. His grandparents, both 
 paternal and maternal, figured as frontier 
 settlers of Kentucky, and before the third 
 decade of the present century was com- 
 pleted we find his parents and maternal 
 grandparents leaving their Kentucky homes 
 and seeking to better their conditions by re- 
 moval to far-off Te.xas, then a part of the 
 Mexican domain. Their long identity with 
 Texas and the prominent and influential po- 
 sitions occupied by them here combine to 
 make their history both interesting and in- 
 structive and of special importance in this 
 connection. 
 
 Dr. Scott Milam was born in Bowie 
 county, Texas, January 8, 1840, the young- 
 est son of Jefferson and Eliza ( McKinney ) 
 Milam. Jefferson Milam was a native of 
 Kentucky, born in 1802, son of one of the 
 prominent early settlers of that state, — 
 Archie Milam, — who had removed to that 
 place from some point in the east and there 
 passed the rest of his life and died. Jeffer- 
 son spent his first twenty-two years in Ken- 
 tucky. In 1824 he set out for Texas and 
 landed in due time in Bowie county, where 
 he made a settlement and followed the land 
 and surveying business, and where he was 
 married a few years later to Miss Eliza Mc- 
 
 Kinney, a native of Kentucky and a daugh- 
 ter of Collin McKinney. Mr. McKinney was 
 a native of Delaware, born in 1766, early in 
 life pitched his tent in Kentucky, assisted 
 in driving the red men from the hills and 
 fertile valleys of that state and in develop- 
 ing the resources of the country, and after 
 some years' residence there came, in 1824, 
 
 j to Bowie county, Texas, where he again 
 was a pioneer. He was a man of much in- 
 telligence and great force of character, and 
 his worth as a citizen was early recognized 
 by the scattered settlers among whom he 
 dwelt. When Texas declared her inde- 
 pendence and assumed a republican form of 
 government, Mr. McKinney's services were 
 called into action as one of the framers of 
 the constitution of the new republic. Some 
 years later he removed to northern Texas 
 and located in what afterward became Col- 
 lin county, the county and the county seat 
 — McKinney — both being named in honor 
 of him. He died there in 1861 at the ven- 
 erable age of ninety-five years. Mr. Jeffer- 
 son Milam continued his residence in Bowie 
 county up to the time of his death, which 
 occurred in 1844, when he was in the prime 
 of life. His widow is still living on the 
 homestead on which she located in 1 849, is 
 now eighty-three years of age and is vigor- 
 
 j ous both physically and mentally. She has 
 long been a constant and devoted member 
 of the Christian church, with which her 
 husband also was identified. They were 
 the parents of ten children, eight of whom 
 reached adult years, and of this number five 
 are still living. 
 
 Dr. Milam, whose name initiates this re- 
 view, moved with his mother in 1846 to 
 Grayson county, this state, where he was 
 reared and received the rudiments of his 
 education in the common schools. He re- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 mained with his mother until he was twenty- 
 one. Shortly after he attained his majority 
 the civil war-cloud gathered and broke upon 
 the country in all its fury. Naturally he es- 
 poused the southern cause. September lo, 
 1 86 1, he enlisted in Company D, Sixth 
 Texas Cavalry, and went forth in the 
 strength of his young manhood to fight for 
 a cause he believed to be just and right, and 
 his service, which extended to the close of 
 the war, was characterized by true bravery. 
 During the latter part of his military career 
 he was first lieutenant of his company. To 
 recount in full his army life would be to 
 cover much of the late war, which, how- 
 ever is not our purpose here; even to name 
 the engagaments in which he participated 
 would require more space than can be al- 
 lotted here, for in all he took part in no less 
 than one hundred and twenty-seven battles 
 and skirmishes! Suffice it to say that in all 
 he acquitted himself creditably and came 
 out of the war with an honorable record, 
 notwithstanding he fought for a lost cause. 
 The war over, he received his parol from 
 General Canby at Jackson, Mississippi, and 
 from there returned to his home in Texas. 
 On his return home, the subject of our 
 sketch took up the study of medicine under 
 the preceptorship of Dr. James LaFayette 
 Leslie, of Collin county. Later he went to 
 Alvarado and entered the office of Dr. John 
 C. Weaver, where he continued his studies 
 for a brief period, and from there in 1866 
 came to what is now Somervell county and 
 settled where Glen Rose afterward sprang 
 up, and here and then he began the prac- 
 tice of his profession. As one of the pio- 
 neer physicians of this frontier community 
 he soon built up a large practice that ex- 
 tended over a radius of thirty-five miles. 
 The unsettled condition of the country and 
 
 the Indian troubles at the time rendered the 
 life of the early phj-sician by no means an 
 easy one, but Dr. Milam was untiring in his 
 efforts to relieve the sufferings of humanity, 
 responding as readily to the call of the poor 
 man ten, twenty or thirty miles away as he 
 did to the rich one near by. He confined 
 himself to his profession until 1882, when 
 he opened a drug store, which he has since 
 conducted in connection with his other in- 
 terests. Also he owns a fine farm of three 
 hundred acres. 
 
 From his first settlement here Dr. Milam 
 has manifested a deep interest in everything 
 pertaining to the welfare of th2 community 
 andhisheartysupporthasbeentenderedevery 
 measure and enterprise he believed to be 
 for the good of the town and county. He 
 assisted in the organization of the county of 
 Somervell, was its first regularly elected 
 treasurer and was the incumbent of that 
 office for a period of eight years. Politically, 
 he has always given his stanch support 
 to the Democratic party. He maintains fra- 
 ternal relation with Glen Rose Lodge, No. 
 525, F. & A. M., in which he has for many 
 years served as treasurer. 
 
 Dr. Milam was married December 24, 
 1868, to Miss Bettie Knott, a native of 
 Franklin, Tennessee, and a daughter of 
 James Knott, who came to Texas in 1867 
 and settled in Somervell county, where he 
 died. To the Doctor and his wife three 
 children were born, namely: Pearl, now the 
 wife of William Felder of Glen Rose; Lue, 
 at home; and Robert, who died in infancy. 
 The devoted wife and loving mother de- 
 parted this life in February, 1895, at the 
 age of forty-three years, mourned by her 
 husband and children and a large circle of 
 admiring friends. She was a member of the 
 Christian church, as also is the Doctor. 
 
"10 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ,V^^ C. ADDISON.— For nearly twenty 
 1 ■ \ears has this gentleman been iden- 
 \ I tified with the interests of Hood 
 county. He is one of its enter- 
 prising and prosperous farmers and self-made 
 men, and to a brief sketch of his life would 
 we now invite attention. 
 
 N. C. Addison is a native son of the 
 Lone Star state. He was born in Jasper 
 county, June i, 1848, his parents being 
 Nathaniel and Peggie Ann (Low) Addison, 
 the former a native of Mississippi and the 
 latter of Kentucky. Nathaniel Addison 
 came to Te.xas prior to the Te.xas war and 
 was a soldier under Sam Houston in the 
 battle of San Jacinto. He settled down to 
 farming, and is still a resident of Hill coun- 
 t}', where he is well known and highly 
 respected. Mrs. Addison came to Texas 
 when a girl, accompanying her father, Bar- 
 ney Low, and his family to this state when 
 it was a republic. 
 
 The youth of our subject was spent not 
 unlike that of other Texas boys of those 
 days, fishing, hunting and taking care of 
 stock occupying his time. There were few 
 schools here then and his educational ad- 
 vantages were consequently limited. In 
 1869, having reached his majority, he left 
 the parental home and pushed out to make 
 his own fortune. The next four years he 
 was engaged in farming in Hill county, then 
 he was similarly occupied for four years in 
 Tarrant county, and from the latter place he 
 came to Hood county, landing here in 1877 
 and at once purchasing two hundred acres 
 of wild land; later he bought an adjoining 
 tract of one hundred acres. Here he set- 
 tled in true pioneer style and went earnestly 
 to work to develop a farm, and as the years 
 passed by and he toiled on the forest gave 
 way to fields of grain. To-day he has 
 
 eighty acres under a high state of cultivation 
 and raises a diversity of crops. 
 
 Mr. Addison was married December 25, 
 1876, to Miss Malissa Musick, daughter of 
 Austin Musick, to whom we have referred at 
 length elsewhere in this volume. They have 
 been blessed in the birth of eight children, 
 namely: Austin Nathaniel, Henry La Fay- 
 ette, Barney Columbus, William Kellog, 
 Annie Jane, Mary Malissa, Nettie Elizabeth 
 and Francis Marion, — all of whom are living 
 except Annie Jane, who died at the age of 
 three years. Mrs. Addison was reared in the 
 faith of the Baptist church and is a member 
 of that denomination. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Addison casts his fran- 
 chise with the Democratic party. Genial 
 and progressive and of the stanchest integ- 
 rity, he has long held a high position in the 
 I respect and confidence of the community. 
 
 HM. MEEKER, although a resident 
 of Hood county only four 3-ears, is 
 thoroughly identified with its inter- 
 ests, and deserves recognition as 
 one of its representative citizens. He is a 
 native of Ohio, born in Delaware county 
 March 4, 1840. His parents. Grove and 
 Phoebe (Payne) Meeker, came from Europe 
 to this country and settled in Ohio, and 
 when the subject of our sketch was an in- 
 fant they removed to Smith county, Ten- 
 nessee, where they resided until 1846, that 
 year going to Arkansas and taking up their 
 abode at Independence. The father was a 
 Methodist minister and farmer, dividing his 
 time between these vocations, and preach- 
 ing as long as he lived. He died at the ripe 
 old age of eighty-five years, his wife follow- 
 ing him three years later, her age at the time 
 of death being the same as his. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 711 
 
 A. M. Meeker was reared to farm life in 
 Tennessee and Arkansas, and remained with 
 his parents until the war between the north 
 and south was inaugurated. He espoused 
 the northern cause, enlisted as a member of 
 Company C, Second Arkansas United States 
 Cavalry, and went out to fight for the old 
 f^ag. His command operated in Missouri 
 and Mississippi. • Among the engagements 
 in which he participated was the battle of 
 Blue Ridge, Missouri, and he was with the 
 force that brought Hood's skirmishes in 
 check at Nashville. He remained on active 
 duty until the close of the war, when he was 
 honorably discharged. During his service 
 he received an injury by his horse falling, 
 from the effects of which he has never fully 
 recovered. 
 
 Early in the year following the close of 
 the war Mr. Meeker was married; and after 
 his marriage he purchased a farm near the 
 town of Cushman, Arkansas, where he was 
 engaged in agricultural pursuits until his re- 
 moval to Te.xas, in 1892. On his arrival 
 here he bought his present farm, two hun- 
 dred acres, at the head of Squaw creek, and 
 here he has ninety acres in cultivation and 
 is carrying on diversified farming and stock- 
 raising. 
 
 Mr. Meeker was married February 17, 
 1 866, to Miss Nancy Wren, a native of 
 Tennessee and a daughter of Henry Wren. 
 Their happy union has been blessed in the 
 birth of nine children, all of whom are liv- 
 ing, namely: G. H.; Nellie, wife of R. S. 
 Sanders, of Hood county; Dora, wife of W. 
 S. Wier, Hood county; Annie, wife of Perry 
 Price, also of Hood county; and Sally, 
 George, Nettie, John and Daniel. 
 
 In church circles Mr. and Mrs. Meeker 
 are prominent and active, both being mem- 
 bers of the Methodist church, south, in 
 
 which he is now serving as Sunday-school 
 superintendent. Fraternally he is identified 
 with the I. O. O. F. , and his political affil- 
 iations are with the Republican party. 
 
 
 S. HELM, proprietor of 
 Merchant and Exchange 
 
 Mills of Clifton, Texas, 
 figures as one of the prosperous 
 and leading men of the city, where he has 
 made his home since 1888. In this connec- 
 tion a sketch of his life is of interest, and is 
 as follows: 
 
 Willis S. Helm is a native of Kentucky, 
 born in Lincoln county, March 19, 1847. 
 second of the seven children of Fielding 
 and Dorcas G. (Hocker) Helm, both na- 
 tives of that state. His father a farmer, 
 Willis S. was reared to farm life and was 
 educated in the schools near his home. He 
 remained in Kentucky until 1871, when he 
 emigrated to Texas, the family following 
 him the same year, and his first location 
 was on the Brazos river, where he was en- 
 gaged in farming until 1888. That year he 
 came to Clifton and turned his attention to 
 the milling business. Here he purchased 
 property and built the first steam flour mill 
 of the place, its capacity being seventy-five 
 barrels daily. Not being a practical miller 
 himself, he employed one for eighteen 
 months, and after that Mr. Helm took full 
 charge himself, conducting the business 
 successfully and accumulating considerable 
 means. But in the midst of this prosperity 
 misfortune overtook him. The plant was 
 destroyed by fire in 1894, and as it was 
 uninsured the loss was total. Nothing 
 daunted, however, he rebuilt on a much 
 larger scale, and that same year resumed 
 business. The present plant is a three- 
 
71: 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 story structure, with basement, and con- 
 tains five double-stand rollers, four of them 
 being nine by twenty-four feet and the other 
 nine by thirty feet. Its capacity is two 
 hundred barrels daily. It has two flour 
 and one bran packer, combined elevators, 
 etc. The engine is one of seventy-horse 
 power and the boiler is of the same strength. 
 Indeed, the whole establishment is substan- 
 tially and handsomely equipped with ma- 
 chinery, the latest and best, and in every 
 respect the mill is ranked first-class. 
 
 In addition to the property above re- 
 ferred to, Mr. Helm owns farm land in this 
 county, having two hundred and twenty 
 acres located two miles south of Clifton. 
 One hundred acres of this land are under 
 cultivation. 
 
 Mr. Helm was married in Hill county, 
 Te.xas, February 28, 1866, to Miss Ellen 
 Lowe, a native of Missouri, and they have 
 five children living, viz. : Betty E. , Molly Z. , 
 William, Fielding ami Ralph. They have 
 one son deceased. 
 
 Mr. Helm is a Democrat of pronounced 
 type, stanch and active in the support of 
 party principles, and as a citizen and busi- 
 ness man his sterling worth is well known. 
 
 eH. CH.-\NDLER is conspicuously 
 id jtitilicd with the business and ma- 
 terial interests of Bluff Dale and 
 to-day is at the head of a good lum- 
 ber and drug business in this place. The man 
 wiio enters commercial life and wins success 
 'must be possessed of several qualifications. 
 He must be energetic and persevering, indus- 
 trious and of resolute purpose, and must 
 have the ability to see and utilize favorable 
 opportunities or to make them where none 
 e.xist. These qualifications are salient points 
 
 in the character of Mr. Chandler, who ranks 
 deservedly high in commercial circles and at 
 the same time is prominent in other public 
 affairs. 
 
 Mr. Chandler traces his ancestry back 
 to one of the Revolutionary heroes. His 
 great-grandfather served in the struggle that 
 happily ended in the establishment of this 
 republic and was a representative of one of 
 the old Virginia families of colonial dajs. 
 The father of our subject, Henry F. Chand- 
 ler, was born in Manchester count}', Vir- 
 ginia, and when he had arrived at years of 
 maturity married Fannie Harbin, a native 
 of Pickens county. South Carolina. Her 
 father was a native of Scotland and her 
 mother lived to the advanced age of ninety- 
 seven 3'ears. Mr. and Mrs. Chandler were 
 the parents of twelve children, eleven of 
 whom reached years of maturity, while 
 seven are still living. The father died at 
 the age of seventy-two years, the mother at 
 the age of fifty-eight. 
 
 Mr. Chandler was a very prominent and 
 influential citizen in the community in which 
 he lived and was honored with offices of 
 public trust. In the years 1852, 1853, 1S54 
 and 1855 ^^ was county judge of his coun- 
 ty. In 1856 he was elected member of the 
 state legislature and served continuously 
 through 1859. He labored earnestly for 
 the best interests of the district which he 
 represented and was an honored member of 
 the house. On the bench his rulings were 
 models of judicial soundness, ever impartial 
 and just, and he had the highest respect of 
 ell who knew him. He and his wife were 
 consistent and valued members of the Bap- 
 tist church and for thirty-three years he 
 served as clerk of the Tugaloo Association, 
 being the incumbent for twenty-eight con- 
 secuti\c years. At the close of his service 
 
 V 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Ut 
 
 the editor of the Anderson (South Carolina) 
 Gazette stated in his paper that he had pub- 
 hshed the minutes of the association for 
 twenty-eight years and had never found an 
 ungrammaticai expression or mispelled word 
 in the matter furnished by Henry T. Chand- 
 ler, — which is certainly a high tribute to his 
 scholarship. 
 
 E. H. Chandler is a native of Georgia. 
 He was born in Franklin county. May 21, 
 1840, and was the youngest son of the 
 family. His youth was spent on his father's 
 farm and his educational privileges were 
 limited to the opportunities offered by the 
 common schools. He resided with his par- 
 ents until he had reached his majority, and 
 on the 20th of August, 1861, became a 
 member of Company A, Twenty-fourth In- 
 fantry, which was joined to the Army of the 
 Potomac. Soon afterward he was trans- 
 ferred to the Third Georgia Battalion of 
 Sharpshooters and participated in many hard- 
 fought battles, which called forth the bravery 
 of the men on both sides. Loyal to the 
 cause which he enlisted to defend he partici- 
 pated in the battles of Yorktown, Williams- 
 burg, Seven Pines, Gaines' Farm, Savage 
 Station, Malvern Hill and the second battle 
 of Manassas. The regiment of which he was 
 a member was next sent to Chickamauga, 
 and after the battle at that place met the 
 union troops at Ringgold, Georgia, and par- 
 ticipated in the siege of Kno.xville, after 
 which they spent the remainder of the win- 
 ter at Gordonville, Virginia. In 1864 Mr. 
 Chandler participated in the battles of the 
 Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Horse Shoe and 
 Hanover Junction, and afterward proceeded 
 to Richmond, thirty miles distant. So con- 
 stant was his service that from the 12th day 
 of May until the 3d of June Mr. Chandler 
 was never able to laj' aside his clothing as 
 
 he sought a night's repose, being constantly 
 ready for duty at a moment's notice. He 
 was in the service around Petersburg until 
 the surrender of that city, and after receiv- 
 ing his parole started for home, making the 
 long weary journey of four hundred and fifty 
 miles on foot. He received his first com- 
 mission from General Lee, May i, 1862, 
 when he was promoted to the rank of second 
 lieutenant, and later he was commissioned 
 first lieutenant. 
 
 When the war was over Mr. Chandler 
 went to Atlanta, Georgia, where for eight 
 months he was engaged in teaming. He 
 was married May i, 1866, to Miss Mattie 
 Mintz, a native of that state and a daughter 
 of Major M. and Joyce (Anderson) Mintz, 
 the latter a daughter of General Anderson, 
 of Florida, who was one of the most brilliant 
 commanders during the late war. Major 
 Mintz was a native of Virginia. On the 
 1st of September, 1866, Lieutenant Chand- 
 ler and his bride started for Texas with a 
 horse and wagon, and on the 27th of Novem- 
 ber reached the Brazos river at the place 
 where Granbury is now located. He pur- 
 chased three hundred and twenty acres of 
 land from Major Boyd and began the task 
 of transforming it into rich fields, placing 
 one hundred acres under the plow. In 1870 
 he removed to Glen Rose and bought a 
 tract of Milam county school land, and 
 improved one hundred and seventy acres 
 and followed farming until 1888, when he 
 came to Bluff Dale and entered the lumber 
 business, establishing the yard which he 
 still conducts and building the first house in 
 the place. He has a good trade as a lum- 
 ber merchant, and in addition to his opera- 
 tions in this line he has, since 1895, owned 
 and conducted a drug business, having the 
 only drug-store in the place. Courteous 
 
il4 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 treatment and well-known honesty in all 
 transactions have secured liim a good patron- 
 age, and he is recognized as one of the lead- 
 ing business men of the count}-. 
 
 The children of Mr. and Mrs. Chandler, 
 four in number, are as follows: William B. , 
 Fred H., Emma F. and T. E. The Chand- 
 ler household is noted for the hospitality 
 which is so truly a southern characteristic, 
 and the friends of the family form an ex- 
 tended circle. In his political views Mr. 
 Chandler is a Democrat, zealously advo- 
 cating the principles of the party. In 1881 
 he was appointed to the position of deputy 
 sheriff of Hood county and was later elected 
 sheriff of Somervell county, acceptably 
 serving in that position for a term of si.x 
 years, ever discharging his duties with 
 marked fidelity and promptness. He is 
 connected with several civic orders, includ- 
 ing the Masonic lodge at Glen Rose and the 
 Odd Fellows society at Bluff Dale. His 
 wife is a member of the Methodist Episco- 
 pal church and a most estimable lady. 
 
 Q.\RK HERRING, whose identifi- 
 cation with the agricultural in- 
 terests of Erath count}' covers a 
 period of thirty years, was born 
 in Fayette county, Georgia, May 3, 1844, a 
 son of Thomas and Mary Ann fMoore) Her- 
 ring, the former a native of South Carolina, 
 and the latter born in Georgia, both of 
 Irish lineage. 
 
 During the greater part of his youth Mr. 
 Herring attended school. His father died 
 when Mark was eight years of age and he 
 lived with his mother until the breaking out 
 of the civil war. He joined the "boys in 
 gray" in July, 1861, becoming a member of 
 Company E, Thirteenth Alabama Volunteer 
 
 Infantry. The regiment was attached to 
 the Army of Virginia and participated in the 
 battles of Yorktown, Williamsburg, the 
 seven-days battle of the wilderness, Sharps- 
 burg, Gettysburg, and the campaign in 
 western Virginia to Petersburg, where Mr. 
 Herring was wounded. His skull was frac- 
 tured, which necessitated the removal of a 
 piece of the bone two inches square. On 
 account of his wound he was granted a fur- 
 lough and returned home, where he was at 
 the time the war was brought to a close. 
 
 With his mother Mr. Herring had re- 
 moved to Alabama about 1856. When 
 hostilities had ceased he went to Mississippi, 
 %vhere he conducted a blacksmith and car- 
 riage shop for two years. In the fall of 
 1866 he came to Te.xas, and after a year 
 spent in Hood county took up his abode in 
 Erath county, which was then a frontier 
 locality, the land being wild and unimproved, 
 while the Indians who visited the region 
 were far more numerous than the white 
 settlers. He located on Buck creek and 
 engaged in the stock business. The settlers 
 had to be constantly on the watch in order 
 that the Indians should not make away with 
 their cattle and horses, and through the 
 I depredations of the savages Mr. Herring 
 [ lost a number of horses. He continued in 
 t the stock business until 1881, when he 
 began the task of improving his present 
 1 farm. He now has one hundred and si.xty 
 acres of land, one half of which is now 
 highly cultivated. His success is all attrib- 
 utable to his own energy and capable 
 management and shows what can be accom- 
 plished by determined effort. 
 
 While in Alabama Mr. Herring was mar- 
 ried, October 30, 1864, to Miss Melissa F. 
 Hightower, a native of Alabama and a 
 daughter of Josiah and Nancy (Collier) 
 
BISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 ?15 
 
 Hightower, the former a native of Georgia 
 and the latter of North CaroHna. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Herring have eleven children, as fol- 
 lows: Lulu, wife of Henr}' Goodman, of 
 Erath county; Joshua F., of Erath county; 
 Lena, wife of Frank Huffman, of Erath 
 county; John W. ; Laura; Lamorah; Robert; 
 Franklin A. ; I^illian M. ; one who died in 
 infancy, and Lester, who died at the age of 
 four years. Mrs. Herring is a member of 
 the Baptist church and presides over her 
 household with gracious dignit}-. In politics 
 Mr. Herring upholds the principles of De- 
 mocracy. 
 
 w 
 
 LONG, a farmer and stock- 
 raiser of Erath count}-, Texas, 
 .'as born in Rutherford county, 
 North Carolina, on the 6th of 
 April, 1834, a son of W. J. and Mary (Mor- 
 rison) Long. Oh both sides he comes of 
 famihes that have long been identified with 
 this country. The Longs are of Dutch and 
 English ancestry, and at an early day in the 
 history of the state the great-grandfather of 
 our subject removed from Pennsylvania to 
 North Carolina, where W. J, Long was 
 born. The latter's wife was also a native 
 of North Carolina and a daughter of John 
 Morrison, who was taken to McDowell 
 county. North Carolina, when an infant, by 
 his father, who was a native of Ireland and 
 crossed the Atlantic to America in colonial 
 days. The maternal grandfather of our 
 subject was one of the heroes of the Revo- 
 lution, and on the day that he was si.xteen 
 years of age he took part in the battle of 
 King's mountain. 
 
 The parents of W. T. Long were mar- 
 ried in Rutherford county, North Carolina, 
 and resided there until 1851, when they 
 
 moved to what was then Gilmore but is 
 now Pickens county, Georgia, where Mr. 
 Long carried on agricultural pursuits. They 
 had four sons and three daughters, and 
 three of the number are yet living. Mr. 
 Long served as a captain in the militia for 
 twenty years, and was a man of considerable 
 prominence in the community in which he 
 resided. He and his wife were consistent 
 members of the Presbytarian church. They 
 continued to reside in Georgia until 1871, 
 when they came to Texas, making their 
 home with their son W. T. until called to 
 the eternal home. The father died in 1886, 
 at the age of eighty-three years, and the 
 mother passed away in 1888, at the age of 
 eighty years. 
 
 Mr. Long of this review was reared on 
 his father's farm and remained under the 
 parental roof until twenty-two years of age, 
 when he began business on his own account. 
 The work with which he had been familiar 
 from boyhood became his manhood's occu- 
 pation, and he is now a successful agricul- 
 turist and stock-dealer. He chose as a 
 companion on life's journey Miss Rebecca 
 Williams, their marriage being celebrated 
 on the 2d of October, 1856. The lady is a 
 native of North Carolina, and a daughter 
 of William and Jane (Wellborn) Williams, 
 who were reared in Surr\' county. North 
 Carolina. In 1848 the family moved to 
 Georgia, where the daughter formed the 
 acquaintance of the gentleman who became 
 her husband. 
 
 Mr. Long continued to cultivate his land 
 until after the civil war was inaugurated, 
 when, on the 19th of October, 1861, he 
 joined Company D, Twenty-third Georgia 
 Infantry, which was sent to Virginia and 
 stationed at Yorktown. After the retreat 
 from that place the regiment was with Gen- 
 
716 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 eral Joseph E. Johnston, returning to Rich- 
 mond, and later joined the -forces of Lee, 
 participating in the battles of Seven Pines, 
 Bull Run, South Mountain, Sharpsburg, 
 Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. At the 
 last named the Twenty-third Georgia was 
 left to hold the enemy in check, while the 
 corps passed and then the regiment surren- 
 dered. Our subject, who at the time was 
 performing some detached service, succeeded 
 in making his escape and after the battle 
 he went to North Carolina, where he joined 
 his command two months later. He then 
 spent two months in Newman, North Caro- 
 lina, after which he went to Williamsburg, 
 thence to Charleston and for eight months 
 participated in the bombardment of that 
 place. On the 1 2th of February, 1863, the 
 troops left Charleston and went to Jackson- 
 ville, Florida, and after two months to 
 Richmond, Virginia. They also stopped at 
 Petersburg and on the i6th of May partici- 
 pated in the battle of Duvall's Bluff. Re- 
 crossing James river they returned to Pe- 
 tersburg, where Mr. Long was stationed at 
 the time of the great explosion there. On 
 the 28th of May he was captured and 
 taken to Fort Delaware, where he remained 
 until hostilities had ceased. 
 
 The war having ended Mr. I-ong returned 
 to his home, where he found his family in 
 an almost destitute condition, owing to the 
 country having been ravaged by both arnn'es. 
 He followed (arming there until 1870, when 
 he emigrated to Johnson county, Texas, 
 and a year later came to Erath county. In 
 the fall of 1872, in company with his father 
 and brother-in-law, he purchased six hun- 
 dred and thirty-eight acres of wild land, and 
 at once began the difficult task of clear- 
 ing and developing the land, and now has 
 one hundred acres under a high cultivation. 
 
 His land property comprises four hundred 
 and twenty-five acres, and he is now doing 
 a profitable business as a general farmer 
 and stock- raiser. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Long have nine children: 
 Mary O., who became the wife of F. M. 
 Coleman and died in 1S80, leaving one 
 child; Jane A., wife of W. R. Killian, of 
 Erath county; William T. , who died at the 
 age of eighteen years; Henrietta, who died 
 January 11, 1895; one who died in infancy; 
 James O., who died at the age of sixteen 
 years; R. A., a teacher of Erath county; 
 Wilbur Harden and John A. The parents 
 belong to the Cumberland Presbyterian 
 church and in everything that pertains to 
 its upbuilding and advancement are deeply 
 interested. Their friends throughout the 
 community are many and their home is the 
 abode of that true hospitality for which the 
 south is so justly noted. In politics Mr. 
 Long is a conservative Democrat. 
 
 >^OHN W. TATE, one of the vener- 
 ■ ble and honored citizens of Coman- 
 ^ 1 che and an extensive landowner and 
 leading agriculturist, was born in 
 Tennessee near the old homestead of James 
 K. Polk, February 20, 18 18, and is a son 
 of George Tate, who was born in Orange 
 county, North Carolina. His grandfather, 
 James Tate, was born in Ireland, and many 
 of his descendants have been prominent in 
 public and business life. George Tate was 
 reared on a farm in his native state and 
 married Nancy Wertz, daughter of J. 
 Wertz, also of North Carolina. In 1807 
 he removed to Maury county, Tennessee, 
 making the journey with pack horses and 
 cart beds and carrying little with him be- 
 I sides clothing on account of the difficulties 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 717 
 
 of the trip. In 1825 he went to Carroll 
 county, Tennessee, and our subject saw the 
 ground cleared for the first courthouse there. 
 In I 841 the family went to Pontotoc county, 
 Mississippi, arriving there soon after the de- 
 parture of the Indians. Mr. and Mrs. Tate 
 had eight children, namely: James, Mar- 
 garet, Sarah, Jenny, Michael, Polly, Nancy 
 and John. Their father died in 1842, at the 
 age of seventy-si.x years. He had been a 
 planter throughout life and in his political 
 views was a Democrat. He allied himself 
 with no church, but his wife was a member 
 of the Presbyterian church. 
 
 John W. Tate was reared on a farm in 
 Tennessee and acquired his education in a 
 log schoolhouse with dirt floor, slab seats, 
 huge fireplace and other primitive furnish- 
 ings. He aided in caring for his father's 
 family until all the children were able to 
 maintain themselves, and his life has been 
 one of industry. He was married in Pon- 
 totoc county, Mississippi, to Caroline Hamp- 
 ton, daughter of Thomas and Rena Hamp- 
 ton, relatives of the renowned Wade 
 Hampton. Her parents both died in Mis- 
 sissippi. 
 
 Mr. Tate served in the civil war for one 
 year and participated in the battle of Selma, 
 Alabama. After the war he lived in Missis- 
 sippi, first in Pontotoc county and later in 
 De Soto county, near Memphis, where he 
 purchased three hundred and twenty acres 
 of heavy timber land, which he cleared and 
 developed from it a good farm, later selling 
 the same at a good profit. In 1890 he 
 came to Comanche county, where he pur- 
 chased a section of land, of which five hun- 
 dred acres are now under cultivation. This 
 is one of the highly improved and valuable 
 properties in this section of the state. 
 In 1894 Mr. Tate raised two hundred 
 
 bales of cotton, and in 1896 has three hun- 
 dred acres planted to cotton. In 1895 one 
 man through thirty- one days' work raised 
 one thousand bushels of corn. He has an 
 orchard of three hundred trees, substantial 
 buildings, and a comfortable residence, good 
 fencing and all the improvements and ac- 
 cessories of a model farm of the nineteenth 
 century. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Tate are the parents of six 
 children: Jefferson; John; Charles; Ann, 
 wife of S. Morrow; Mollie, wife of S. 
 Counts; and Etta, at home. One of the 
 greatest sorrows thaL has ever visited this 
 household came in the death of their son 
 George, a young man of promise who died 
 at the age of twenty-one. 
 
 In politics Mr. Tate is a Democrat, but 
 political office has had no attraction for 
 him, he preferring to give his attention to 
 his business interests. He has met success 
 in his undertakings, and his property has all 
 been acquired through his own energy and 
 industry. 
 
 ^^AMUEL HANBY. — Through the 
 f^^^kf era of greatest development in cen- 
 J\.^ _y tral Texas this gentleman has been 
 a resident of Brown and Comanche 
 counties and has been a leading factor in 
 the work of progress and development that 
 has brought material prosperity to the local- 
 ity. He was also one of those who wore 
 the blue for the perpetuation of the Union 
 and truly deserves the recognition of a grate- 
 ful nation. 
 
 Mr. Hanby was born in Virginia and 
 reared in Kentucky, — a state noted for its 
 brave men. His father, John Hanby, was 
 born in the old Dominion and served his 
 country in the war of 1S12. His grand- 
 
ri8 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS 
 
 father, Jonathan Hanby, was of English 
 descent, and was one of the heroes of the 
 Revohition, so that the family has ever been 
 noted for its loyaky anil valor at a time 
 when the country needed aid of her true 
 sons. 
 
 The mother of our subject bore the 
 maiden name of Nancy Gaines, and was 
 born in \' irginia, a daughter of George W. 
 Gaines, one of the prominent officials of 
 that state. He served as magistrate and 
 justice of the peace, and his home was al- 
 ways headquarters for military training. 
 The parents of our subject died on the old 
 home farm in Kentucky, the father at the 
 age of sixty-three, the mother when seventy 
 years of age. In politics he was a Demo- 
 crat. They had nine children, namely: 
 Susan, James, Samuel, Polly Ann, Louisa, 
 Thomas, Joe, Sarah Jane and one deceased. 
 
 Our subject was reared in the biue-grass 
 region of Kentucky, and in that region, 
 famous for its good stock, early became an 
 excellent judge of the same. When the 
 civil war came on he joined the Third Ken- 
 tucky regiment in defense of the republic 
 which his grandfather had helped to found 
 and his father to preserve. Afterward he 
 was a member of the state home guards in 
 Wayne and Pulaski counties. 
 
 When the war was over Mr. Hanby 
 came to Texas and for six years engaged in 
 handling cattle in Tarrant county. In 1872 
 he c'ame to the region comprised in Brown 
 and Comanche counties, where he engaged 
 in stock dealing for some time. Subse- 
 quently he purchased a farm and now has a 
 valuable place of four hundred acres, of 
 which one hundred and fifty acres is under 
 a high state of cultivation, eighty-five acres 
 being planted to cotton. His fine orchard 
 comprises sever) hundred trees, and in addi- 
 
 tion to this property he owns a block of val- 
 uable lots in West Comanche, improved 
 with good cottages, which he rents, deriving 
 therefrom a good income. 
 
 When twenty-six years of age, Mr. 
 Hanby was married, in Nashville, Tennessee, 
 to Sally Hudson, a relative of Daniel Boone, 
 the honored Kentucky pioneer. They had 
 four children, — Brenda T. , William, Calla 
 and Velma, the last named living in Texas 
 with her grandmother. The mother of 
 these children died in 18S6, mourned by 
 many friends. Mr. Hanby is a stalwart Re- 
 publican, unswerving in his support to the 
 party. He has traveled all over Texas in its 
 pioneer days, and has witnessed its wonder- 
 ful development. He is a highly esteemed 
 man, as true to-day to his duties of citizen- 
 ship as when he followed the old flag that 
 stood for the defense of the nation. 
 
 >-T*AMES A. WYATT is the owner of 
 m one of the valuable farms of Co- 
 A J manche, and is numbered among 
 the leading agriculturists of this 
 community. In 1884 he located at his 
 present home, where he owns one hundred 
 and sixty acres of valuable land, of which 
 one hundred and thirty acres are in a high 
 state of cultivation. The farm adjoins the 
 corporation limits of De Leon, and is most 
 highly improved, with a comfortable resi- 
 dence, substantial barns, cribs and other 
 necessary buildings, and a fine orchard 
 yields its fruits in season. The neat and 
 thrifty appearance of the place well indi- 
 cates the careful supervision of the owner 
 and tells of his energetic labors. 
 
 Mr. Wyatt is a native Texan, his birth 
 having occurred in Jefferson, Upshur coun- 
 ty, October 18, 1853. He comes of one of 
 
HIS Ton r OF TEXAS. 
 
 19 
 
 the old families of Mississippi, his grand- 
 father, a native of that state, being of 
 Scotch ancestry. His wife, Salhe Wyatt, 
 was also a representative of one of the old 
 families of the state, and both were Bap- 
 tists in religious faith. Dr. Joseph Wyatt, 
 father of our subject, was born in Missis- 
 sippi about sixty-eight years ago, and ac- 
 quired a good education for those days. 
 He married Serena J. Wyatt, a cousin, who 
 was born in the same state, and was a 
 daughter of Reuben Warren Wyatt. By 
 this union were born eleven children, name- 
 ly: Mary Ellen, James A., Sarah Frances, 
 Reuben, Warren, Joseph, Nancy, Mattie, 
 Ada and two who died in infancy. The 
 parents removed to Upshur county, Te.xas, 
 in 1852, and afterward went to Fannin 
 county, then to Comanche county. The 
 mother died near De Leon, at the age of 
 forty-four years. She was a lady of rare 
 Christian \-irtues, and her kindness and 
 charity made her beloved of all. The father 
 is a local minister of the Methodist church, 
 and is now living in the Indian Territory. 
 He was one of the pioneers in the service of 
 the Master in this state, and his well-spent 
 life is worthy of emulation. 
 
 Our subject was reared on the frontier of 
 Texas, working on the home farm and ex- 
 periencing the usual hardships of pioneer 
 life. He acquired a good education in the 
 public schools. He came to the site of 
 De Leon before the town was founded and 
 engaged in merchandising and in conduct- 
 ing a hotel at this point. In 1884 he re- 
 moved to his farm, and has since given his 
 time and attention to the improvement of 
 his property, meeting with good success in 
 his underta'kings. 
 
 At the age of twenty-five Mr. Wyatt was 
 piarried, in a log cabin where De Leon now 
 
 stands, to Miss Martha Ellen Crawford, a 
 lady of intelligence and good family. She 
 was born in Tennessee, and is a daughter 
 of Thomas and Ann (Ferguson) Crawford. 
 Her father is now deceased and the mother 
 now lives with Mrs. Wyatt. Our subject 
 and wife have six children, — Leathie Flor- 
 ence, Sue Myrtle, Sarah Julia, Katie A., 
 Loretta Jane and James Hayden. The 
 parents and two of their children are mem- 
 bers of the Methodist church and are deeply 
 interested in its welfare. Mr. Wyatt is a 
 Democrat in politics, and is a progressive, 
 public-spirited citizen, deeply interested in 
 all that pertains to the welfare of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 QAJORJ. B. THOMPSON.— The 
 soldierly qualities of this well- 
 known resident of Comanche 
 county were fully demonstrated 
 through a number of years of arduous serv- 
 ice on the western frontier, where he faced 
 danger and death in an effort to quell the 
 rebellious Indians. Thus prominently con- 
 nected with the early history of this section 
 of the country as a defender of the homes 
 and rights of the pioneers of his own race, 
 he well deserves honorable mention in this 
 volume. 
 
 Born in Botetourt county, \"irginia, on 
 the 2d of July, 1S34, the Major is a son of 
 Bartlett Thompson, a native of the Old 
 Dominion and a grandson of John Thomp- 
 son, who was also a native of the same 
 state and one of the patriots who fought for 
 the independence of the nation in the Revo- 
 lutionary war. He was wounded at the 
 battle of Guilford Court House and died 
 during the war. He came of Scotch-Irish 
 lineage and the family of which he was a 
 
720 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 representative was prominent in public 
 affairs in Pennsylvania and Virginia. He mar- 
 ried a Miss Mills, of the latter state and of an 
 old Virginian family, and both died in the 
 Old Dominion. The Major's father was 
 reared there, and when he had attained to 
 mature years he wedded Matilda L. Tuck, 
 a native of the same state. He was a 
 planter and an engineer and assisted in lo- 
 cating the old Stone Pike Road. In his 
 business dealings he was successful and was 
 a most reliable man. Socially he was a 
 Master Mason; religiously he was a Baptist, 
 and in the church to which he belonged 
 served as deacon. His death occurred at 
 the age of fifty-nine. His wife was a faith- 
 ful Christian woman, loved by all who knew 
 her, and at her death, which occurred at the 
 age of sixty, was mourned by her many 
 friends. They had eight children, namely: 
 Sarah, Virginia, John B., Nathan G., Sam 
 C, Jane M., Francis and Ben P. 
 
 J. B. Thompson was reared in the state 
 of his nativity and acquired an excellent 
 education, — obtained in the public schools, 
 an academy and college, — and when a young 
 man entered upon his business career as 
 clerk in a store in Fincastle, and later was 
 employed in a similar capacity in Lynch- 
 burg, Virginia. In 1856 he entered the 
 army. With the blood of Revolutionary 
 forefathers flowing in his veins, and with a 
 brave and loyal spirit he wished to do some 
 service for his country and entered the mili- 
 tary department which was engaged in fight- 
 ing the Indians in the southwest, mainly in 
 Texas, New Mexico and Indian Territory. 
 He was a member of the First Regiment 
 Mounted Rifles, a command which was 
 particularly noted for its courage and fight- 
 ing qualities when on the field of action. He 
 was wounded by the savages in New Mex- 
 
 ico and had many fierce encounters with 
 Apaches and Comanches on the plains of 
 that region, fighting the foes who are more 
 dangerous to meet than the well drilled com- 
 panies of a civilized race, for their methods 
 are treachery, deceit, ambush and strategy. 
 In 1 86 1 Mr. Thompson returned to Virginia 
 and was commissioned major of the Twenty- 
 seventh Virginia Battalion. He led his 
 regiment over many a hotly-contested 
 battlefield, participating in the engagements 
 of Morristown, Knoxville, Bull's Gap and 
 Janesville, where a large force of the enemy 
 was captured, and the seven-days fight be- 
 fore Richmond. On one occasion he was 
 wounded in the forehead. 
 
 When the war was over Major Thomp- 
 son returned to Washington county, Vir- 
 ginia, and afterward removed to Crawfords- 
 ville, Indiana, where he engaged in teaching 
 school. Later he returned to his native 
 state, where he remained until coming to 
 Texas in 1872, taking up his abode in Col- 
 lin county. In 1878 he came to Comanche 
 county, where he is now carrying on farm- 
 ing and stock-raising as the proprietor of a 
 valuable property known as the Logan Val- 
 ley Holstein Farm. This comprises three 
 hundred and twenty acres, of which one 
 hundred acres are devoted to the raising of 
 those crops needed for the provision of his 
 home and for the feeding of his stock. He 
 has one of the best herds of Holstein cattle 
 to be found in the state, including a number 
 of very fine representatives of this breed. 
 His pastures rival those of the famous blue- 
 grass region of Kentucky, and the improve- 
 ments upon his place include a good orch- 
 ard, barn and substantial residence. 
 
 The Major was married August 20, 1862, 
 in Virginia, to Miss Sarah E. Miller, a lady 
 of culture and intelligence, who was reared 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 n\ 
 
 and educated in Virginia, a daughter of 
 John and Mary (Musek) Miller. They have 
 four children, namely: Fannie, wife of 
 S. O. Tuper, of Brown county; J. B. ; 
 Sarah J., wife of J. F. Smith, of Comanche 
 county; and Mary, wife of B. B. Forehand, 
 of Comanche county. 
 
 In his political affiliations Major Thomp- 
 son is a Democrat and for two years served 
 as county assessor in a most creditable 
 manner. He belongs to the Masonic fra- 
 ternity, having united with the order in 
 1862. Frank and genial in manner, he has 
 won many friends, and his military career 
 and his private life have been characterized 
 by those qualities which everywhere insure 
 respect. 
 
 • HOMAS J. HOLMSLEY, president 
 of the Comanche National Bank, 
 Comanche, Te.xas, has for over 
 twenty years been a resident of 
 Comanche county, has figured conspicuously 
 in various honored positions and is to-day 
 ranked with the wealthy and influental citi- 
 zens of the county. It affords us pleasure 
 in this connection to make personal mention 
 of him, and also of the important financial 
 institution of which he is at the head. 
 
 The Comanche National Bank was es- 
 tablished si.\ years ago. It opened its doors 
 for business March 17, 1890, with the fol- 
 lowing named officers: Thomas J. Holms- 
 ley, president; R. V. Neely, vice-president; 
 W. B. Cunningham, cashier; and F. H. 
 Oberthier, assistant cashier; and since that 
 date there has been no change in the official 
 management of the institution with the ex- 
 ception that Mr. Neely has been succeeded 
 by H. L. Oberthier as vice-president. The 
 bank has a paid up capital of fifty thousand ' 
 
 dollars and a surplus of ten thousand dollars, 
 is in correspondence with the principal cities 
 of the state, and has from the start done a 
 conservative and prosperous business. 
 
 Mr. Holmsley is probably one of the 
 heaviest taxpayers of Comanche county. 
 During his more than twenty years of resi- 
 dence here he has from time to time made 
 profitable investments, acquiring large tracts 
 of land and entering extensively into the 
 stock business. At this writing his landed 
 estate comprises thousands of acres, and in 
 the immediate vicinity of Comanche he has 
 no less than eight hundred acres under cul- 
 tivation. In public life, as stated at the be- 
 ginning of this sketch, he has figured promi- 
 nently. He at one time was clerk of 
 Uvalde county and also he has the distinc- 
 tion of being the first sheriff of Comanche 
 county, having been elected to the latter 
 office in 1856. His public service was char- 
 acterized by the strictest fidelity to every 
 trust reposed in him, and in his private life 
 he has always borne a character above re- 
 proach, his every transaction on the square 
 and his word as good as his bond. 
 
 Mr. Holmsley is a native of Arkansas. 
 He was born September i, 1834, son of 
 Burl and Lucinda (Wagner) Holmsley, the 
 former a native of South Carolina and the 
 latter of Indiana. Burl Holmsley first 
 came to Texas as early as 1834. He has 
 been deceased for man}' years. In their 
 family were nine children, Thomas J. being 
 the second born. Thomas J. Holmsley was 
 united in marriage, in October, 1856, to 
 Miss Elizabeth Cunningham, a native of 
 Texas and a daughter of Captain James 
 Cunningham, a Texas pioneer of the early 
 '40s. With the passing years sons and 
 daughters to the number of nine came to 
 bless and brighten their home, their names 
 
7-22 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 being as follows: Mary, wife of M. B. Pullin; 
 William L. ; Clara, wife of James Meddovvs; 
 Lou, wife of Willis Johnson; Mintie, wife of 
 R. E. Chandler; Amanda, wife of F. H. 
 Oberthier; Fannie, wife of Robert Afoore; 
 Thomas R. and James. Besides these 
 named they have two daughters deceased. 
 Fraternally, Mr. Holmsley has a mem- 
 bership in both the F. & A. M., and the 
 I. O. O. F. 
 
 aOLONEL WILLIAM C. BURNS, 
 whose residence in Brown county 
 dates from 1875, has been promi- 
 nently identified with the develop- 
 ment and progress in this region during the 
 period of its greatest advancement, and his 
 name is inseparably connected with its his- 
 tory. He is a man of remarkable ability, 
 whose well-conducted business interests are 
 crowned with success because they are care- 
 fully managed. He is energetic, tireless 
 and progressive, and no man in the commu- 
 nity takes more interest in the welfare of 
 Brown county than he. 
 
 The Colonel was born near Waynes- 
 boro, Wayne county, Tennessee, June 15, 
 1829, and was of Irish lineage, coming of 
 a family whose men were brave in war and 
 prominent in times of peace. His ancestors 
 came to America at an early day in the his- 
 tory of this country and settled along the 
 shore of the Atlantic in the southern states, 
 following the occupation of farming. In 
 religious belief they were Baptists and Meth- 
 odists. 
 
 The father of our subject, William 
 Burns, was born in South Carolina and 
 spent his youthful days there. He was a 
 soldier in the early wars and was married in 
 North Carolina to Elizabeth Biffle, a native 
 
 of that state and a daughter of Jacob Bififle, 
 a successful planter of German descent. 
 After their marriage William Burns and his 
 wife removed to Giles county, Tennessee. 
 The father died in Wayne county when our 
 subject was only two years of age, leaving 
 to his family a good plantation and twenty 
 negroes, so that they were well provided 
 for. In the family were thirteen children, 
 namely: Jacob J., E. D., S. L., William 
 C. , Allie, Polly, Nancy, Susan, Millie, 
 Elizabeth, Ellen, Esley and Cathie. In his 
 political views William Burns was a stalwart 
 Democrat and served in county offices, also 
 represented his district in the state legisla- 
 ture with credit and honor. He was one of 
 Wayne county's most prominent and valued 
 citizens, and was active in club work. His 
 wife died at the age of sixty-six years, a 
 consistent Christian woman who instilled 
 into the minds of her children the precepts 
 and principles which if followed make hon- 
 orable men and women that command the 
 highest respect everywhere. 
 
 Colonel Burns, whose name introduces 
 this notice, was reared on the old Tennes- 
 see plantation in Wayne ccJunty and his 
 careful training developed those traits of 
 character which make him to-day the hon- 
 orable, staightforward man that all know 
 him to be. He received a good education 
 which fitted him for life's practical duties, 
 and entered upon his business career a farmer 
 and stock dealer. Being an excellent judge 
 of stock he was very successful in this ven- 
 ture and thereby acquired the means to pur- 
 chase property later on. During the war 
 he was a zealous advocate of the Confed- 
 eracy and served for a time in the Second 
 Tennessee Cavalry under Colonel Biffle, 
 who was a relative. Later he was ap- 
 pointed government agent, with the rank of 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 723 
 
 colonel, and was stationed at Waynesboro, 
 where he was engaged in purchasing stock 
 for the Confederacy. He was ever true to 
 the interests of the cause he espoused, was 
 wise in council, brave and energetic in ac- 
 tion, unflagging in zeal and ever watchful 
 of the trust reposed in him. 
 
 Mr. Burns continued his residence in 
 Tennessee from the close of the war until 
 1873, when he cKme to Texas, and in 1875 
 settled in Brown county, which was then 
 new and wild, being a frontier region. In 
 1882 he moved to his present farm, where 
 he has a valuable tract of two hundred acres 
 of land, of which eighty acres is valley 
 land, and is highly cultivated, having been 
 transformed into rich and productive fields. 
 His comfortable home is situated on a natu- 
 ral building site which commands an excel- 
 lent view of the mountains and valley, — a 
 scene which an artist might well wish to 
 place upon canvas. He has good stock and 
 owns a fine thoroughbred saddle horse, — 
 Tom Hal, — one of the best horses to be 
 found in the country. 
 
 When twenty-four years of age the Col- 
 onel was united in marriage with Miss Mary 
 W. Tyree. a cultured lady who was born in 
 North Carolina and is a daughter of Cyrus 
 and Emily (Pitts) Tyree, both of whom 
 were natives of North Carolina and are now 
 deceased. To our subject and his wife have 
 been born the following children: Arthur, 
 Nat, William C, James H., Samuel Thomas, 
 John L. , Lizzie Coffey, Sally Wilks, de- 
 ceased, Nannie, Jennie and Patty. The 
 children have been carefully trained to the 
 responsibilities which rest upon each indi- 
 vidual, and have become useful and re- 
 spected members of society. The parents 
 and family are members of the Methodist 
 church of Turkey Peak, 
 
 Mr. Burns belongs to the Independent 
 Order of Odd Fellows. His sixty-seven 
 years rest lightly upon him and he is still 
 of a military bearing, with a bright eye and 
 pleasant voice and the vigor that belongs to 
 a man much his junior. He is well in- 
 formed, a good conversationalist, and the 
 latchstring on the hospitable home of the 
 Burns family is always out. 
 
 <>^ ANIEL S. HANDY, M. D.— There 
 I I is no fisld of endeavor that should 
 J^^J yield its harvests in return for abil- 
 ity to a greater extent than the 
 medical profession. Success in curing the 
 sick can be attained only through merit. It 
 cannot be secured by purchase, by gift or 
 by the aid of influential friends. Careful 
 study and preparation must be supplemented 
 by accurate judgment and a keen sympathy 
 for one's fellow man, and those qualities 
 combined with indefatigable industry make 
 the successful physician. Such is the char- 
 acter of Dr. Handy, one of the most able 
 medical practitioners of central Texas, a 
 man whom to know is to respect and honor. 
 Dr. Handy was born in Shelby county, 
 Indiana, on the 3d of September, 1843, a 
 son of A. C. and Marietta ( Stone) Handy. 
 The father was a native of Kentucky, born 
 in Scott county in 1812, and a son of Will- 
 iam Handy, who was a native of Maryland 
 and of English descent, belonging to one of 
 the old colonial families. He became one 
 of the pioneers of Scott county, Kentucky, 
 and took an active part in its development. 
 There the Doctor's father remained until he 
 had attained his majority, and for seven 
 years was a machinist's apprentice in Lex- 
 ington, Kentucky. When he had arrived at 
 man's estate he went to Indiana and assisted 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 in erecting the first capitol building in that 
 state. He was married in Shelby county, 
 Indiana, to Marietta, a daughter of Ashbei 
 Stone, a native of New York, born of 
 Scotch parentage. When the Doctor was a 
 child of seven summers his parents removed 
 to Wisconsin, where the mother died in 
 1868. The father afterward returned to 
 the Hoosier state and spent his last days in 
 Hancock county, where he departed this 
 life in 1890. 
 
 During the days of his childhood and 
 youth Dr. Handy worked on the home farm 
 and attended the public schools in the neigh- 
 borhood. In 1859 he went to Mercer 
 county, Kentucky, where he attended school 
 until the breaking out of the civil war, when 
 he put aside his text-books and became a 
 soldier. In the spring of 1861 he enlisted 
 in Company D, First Tennessee Cavalry, 
 which was attached to the first battalion of 
 cavalry that was formed in Tennessee for 
 the war. His first duty was to aid in cover- 
 ing a retreat of the infantry troops. Later 
 he received a thirty-days furlough, and later 
 re-enlisted for three years' service or "dur- 
 ing the war," and was attached to General 
 Breckenridge's body guard. Subsequently 
 he joined Morgan's command, with which 
 he was connected until after the cessation of 
 hostilities. In Jul}', 1863, near Lancaster, 
 Kentuck}', he was taken prisoner and most 
 of the time was held at Camp Douglas, in 
 Chicago, Illinois, receiving his liberty in the 
 spring of 1865. While incarcerated there 
 he suffered a severe attack of brain fever, 
 which almost terminated his life. But fate 
 had decreed that many years of usefulness 
 were yet to form a part of his career. 
 
 When the war was over the Doctor re- 
 turned to his native state. He had pre- 
 viously spent some time in the study of 
 
 I medicine and now continued his preparation 
 for the profession under the preceptorship 
 of Dr. J. G. Wolf, of Morristown, Indiana. 
 He took his first course of lectures in the 
 winter of 1858-9, in the University of Michi- 
 gan, at Ann Arbor, obtained his degree in 
 the spring of 1866, in the medical depart- 
 ment of the Western Reserve University, at 
 Cleveland, Ohio, and located in Flat Rock, 
 Shelby county, Indiana, where he engaged 
 in practice for two years. On the expira- 
 tion of that period he removed to Arkansas, 
 locating twenty-five miles from Little Rock, 
 where he continued for three years. 
 
 It was in the spring of 1871 that Dr. 
 Handy came to the frontier of Texas, locat- 
 ing in Erath county. He made the journey 
 on horseback, for no railroads had then been 
 constructed in this part of the state, and 
 settled on Burton's creek. It was not long 
 before the people recognized that an able 
 physician had taken up his abode in their 
 midst, and soon he was enjoying a very 
 extensive practice, extending over parts of 
 Erath, Eastland, Palo Pinto and Hood 
 counties. The region was wild and the 
 rougher element that always infests frontier 
 settlements was found here in a degree, but 
 the passing of years brought an excellent 
 class of people and his business grew in pro- 
 portion. He has always been a student of 
 his profession, keeping abreast with the 
 progress made in the science of medicine, 
 and his abilities well entitle him to the suc- 
 cess that has crowned his efforts. In addi- 
 tion to his practice he has also engaged in 
 farming and stock-raising and is now the 
 owner of one hundred and eighty acres of 
 valuable land, of which forty acres are in a 
 good state of cultivation. 
 
 In 1872 the Doctor was united in mar- 
 riage to Miss Eugenia Steffe, a native of 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 725 
 
 Texas, and a daughter of Clayburn and 
 Sara (Hane) Steffe. The father, a native of 
 Pennsylvania, was of German descent, and 
 the mother was born in Canada. Their 
 marriage was celebrated ii Indiana, where 
 for many years they resided. Dr. and Mrs. 
 Handy had seven children, four of whom 
 are living, namely: William, John Morgan, 
 Bazil Duke and James Earnest. The parents 
 are members of the Christian church, and 
 are most highly esteemed people. Our sub- 
 ject is a member of Barton Lodge, No. 564, 
 F. & A. M., and served as its master for 
 one year. In politics he is a stalwart Demo- 
 crat, but has neither time nor inclination for 
 public office, preferring to devote his ener- 
 gies to the interests of his profession. He 
 was one of the organizers of the West Texas 
 Medical Association, and is an important 
 factor in all that will promote the calling 
 with which he is connected. 
 
 I A. HARRIS.— In a brief sketch of 
 any living citizen it is difficult to do 
 exact and impartial justice, — not so 
 much, however, from lack of space 
 or words to set forth the familiar and pass- 
 ing events of his personal history as for want 
 of the perfect and rounded conception of his 
 whole life, which grows, develops and 
 ripens, like fruit, to disclose its true and 
 best flavor only when it is mellowed by 
 time. Daily contact with the man so 
 familiarizes us with his many virtues that 
 we ordinarily overlook them and commonly 
 underestimate their possessor. Neverthe- 
 less, while the man passes away his deeds 
 of virtue live on, and will in due time bear 
 fruit, and do him the justice which our pen 
 fails to record. There is no man in central 
 Texas who has the higher regard of his fel- 
 
 low citizens or is more worthy their esteem, 
 for his life has ever been honorable and up- 
 right and his record is unclouded by any 
 shadow of wrong. 
 
 Mr. Harris was born in Heard county, 
 Georgia, on the 17th of February, 1838, 
 and is a son of John and Nancy (Hastings) 
 Harris. The paternal grandparents were 
 John and Sarah (Smith) Harris, who were 
 probably natives of South Carolina, and the 
 former died three months before the birth 
 of his son John. The maternal grandfather 
 was born in Europe and emigrating to Amer- 
 ica in colonial days he identified himself with 
 the interests of the colonists and aided in 
 the struggle for American independence. 
 The parents of our subject were married in 
 Georgia, where the father carried on agri- 
 cultural pursuits until 1867, when he re- 
 moved with his family to Mississippi, where 
 his death occurred in 1869, at the age of 
 fifty-five years. His wife survived him un- 
 til 1876, when, at the age of sixty-five, she 
 was called to the eternal home. This 
 worthy couple were the parents of eleven 
 children and with one exception all reached 
 years of maturity, while five are still living. 
 
 The member of the family in whom our 
 readers are most interested is I. A. Harris, 
 and we now give attention to his personal 
 career. He was reared on the old home 
 farm and early became familiar with all the 
 duties that fall to the lot of the agriculturist, 
 spending the greatest part of the time in the 
 fields in assisting his father in the cultiva- 
 tion of the land. When he was twenty years 
 of age his father gave him his time and 
 he secured employment with farmers in the 
 neighborhood for a year. In March, 1859, he 
 went to Mississippi, where he followed agri- 
 cultural pursuits until the country became 
 involved in civil war, the sectional differences 
 
72(5 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 culminating in the struggle which showed 
 forth the bravery of men of both the south 
 and the north. 
 
 In the spring of 1 86 1 Mr. Harris joined 
 an independent cavalry company, with 
 which he continued for about a year, when 
 he became a member of C. H. Skiilford's 
 Company, which was attached to Colonel 
 Alpheus ISaker's Regiment and joined to the 
 western army. The command to which he 
 belonged participated in the battle of New 
 Madrid and Island No. lo, and at the latter 
 place were obliged to surrender. The 
 troopswere first sent to Madison, Wiscon- 
 sin, and later were held as prisoners of war 
 at Camp Douglas, Chicago, Illinois, for si.x 
 months, when they were taken to Vicks- 
 burg and exchanged. With his old colonel 
 Mr. Harris then joined the Fifty-fourth 
 Alabama Regiment and participated in the 
 battles of Baker's creek, Atlanta and Peach 
 Tree creek. At Atlanta he was wounded in 
 the right breast and left hip, and for twenty- 
 two months carried the ball in his person, 
 suffering severely from the wound during the 
 greater part of the time. Being thus in- 
 capacitated for service he went to the home 
 of his uncle in Georgia and there remained 
 until the close of the war. 
 
 Mr. Harris was married on the 29th of 
 June, 1865, to Mrs. Fannie Sa.xon, a daugh- 
 ter of Thomas and Mary Ann (Moore) Her- 
 ring, a most estimable lady and a member of 
 the Baptist church. By her first marriage she 
 had one son, Robert B. Saxon, now of 
 Stephenville, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Harris 
 were the parents of eight children; Loring 
 Tullalor, wife of S. A. Barham, of Erath 
 county; Ida, who died at the age of four 
 years; I. C, of Erath county; Ida, John, 
 Yulla Claud and Earl, all yet at home. 
 
 After his marriage Mr. Harris returned 
 
 to his" old home in Mississippi and there 
 followed farming for four years, when he 
 decided to try his fortune in the Lone Star 
 state and forthwith took up his residence 
 near Stephenville. For six years he rented 
 land and then purchased a tract which was 
 wild and unimproved, not a furrow having 
 been turned or an improvement made 
 thereon. He now has a fine farm of two 
 hundred and twelve and a half acres, of 
 which ninety acres are in a high state of 
 cultivation. He is a progressive and practi- 
 cal farmer, follows improved methods and 
 utilizes every possible means for advance- 
 ment. Thus he has become the possessor 
 of a handsonie competence and is numbered 
 among the substantial citizens of the com- 
 munity. He has neither time nor inclina- 
 tion for public office, but is a stalwart sup- 
 porter of the Democratic principles and 
 always casts his ballot for the men and 
 measures of that party. Socially he is con- 
 nected with Stephenville Lodge, No. 167, 
 A. F. & A. M.. His name is synonymous 
 with honorable business dealing and in all 
 the relations of life, whether public or pri- 
 vate, he has been found as a straightforward 
 honorable man, commanding the confidence 
 and respect of all with whom he come in 
 contact. 
 
 J. SHEFFIELD is the owner of a 
 good farm of two hundred and 
 seventy-six acres in Erath county, 
 and is one of the influential and 
 progressive agriculturists of the community. 
 He was born in Morgan county, Georgia, 
 February 11, 1837, a son of Jacob and 
 Mary (Hollis) Sheffield, both natives of the 
 same, state and of English ancestry. The 
 father was a farmer and wheelwright, and 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 721 
 
 died in Georgia at the age of sixty-five 
 years. The mother spent her last days in 
 Texas, her death occurring at the age of 
 seventy years. 
 
 Our subject was reared on a farm and 
 resided with his parents until the father's 
 death, after which he continued to make his 
 home with his mother until he had arrived 
 at years of maturity. His early educational 
 privileges were supplemented by two years' 
 study at Newborn, Georgia, and after leav- 
 ing school he went to Florida, wh°re he en- 
 gaged in farming for five years. In i860 
 he came to Texas, locating in Grimes coun- 
 ty, where he followed agricultural pursuits 
 until after the commencement of the civil 
 war. 
 
 On the ist of October, 1861, Mr. Shef- 
 field enlisted in Company A, Tenth Texas 
 Infantry, and was mustered into the service 
 on the 20th of the month. His regiment 
 was attached to the Trans-Mississippi army 
 until after the fall of Arkansas Post, and 
 then transferred to Bragg's army. Mr. 
 Sheffield participated in the battle of Arkan- 
 sas Post, was captured and sent to Camp 
 Douglas, Chicago, where he was held as a 
 prisoner of war for three months. He was 
 then exchanged, and later was in the battles 
 of Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge, and 
 at the latter was wounded in the right arm 
 by a minie ball, which necessitated the am- 
 putation of the arm in 1863. This disabled 
 him for further service, and he went to 
 Florida, spending the succeeding five years 
 in that state. 
 
 Coming to Texas, Mr. Sheffield pur- 
 chased an improved farm in Navarro coun- 
 ty, where he continued farming until com- 
 ing to Erath county in 1890. While in the 
 former county he was elected county treas- 
 urer, serving most acceptably for three 
 
 years. Six years have passed since he pur- 
 chased his present farm, — -j'ears in which he 
 has made many excellent improvements 
 upon his place until it is to-day one of the 
 finest farms in the locality. He raises prin- 
 cipally cotton and corn. 
 
 Mr. Sheffield has been married twice. 
 On the iith of December, 1865, he was 
 joined in wedlock to Miss Martha A. Odom, 
 a native of Georgia and a daughter of John 
 and Maria Odom. Three 'children were 
 born of this marriage, namely: John, Lela, 
 who died in childhood, and Fletcher, who 
 also died in early life. The mother of these 
 children was called to her eternal rest on 
 the 9th of February, 1872, and many friends 
 mourned her loss. On the 17th of Septem- 
 ber, 1872, Mr. Sheffield was again married, 
 his second union being with Miss Ella G. 
 Beauchamp, a native of Alabama, born in 
 Barbour county, and a daughter of J. C. and 
 Sallie S. (Blount) Beauchamp, the former 
 born in Alabama and the latter in Georgia. 
 Mrs. Sheffield c^me to Texas in 1873, and 
 their marriage was celebrated in Freestone 
 county. Twelve children have been born 
 to them, as follows: Ida, wife of S. T. Pat- 
 terson; Edwin, who is living in Erath coun- 
 ty; Charlie and George, who aid in the cul- 
 tivation of the home farm; Sallie M., who 
 died at the age of one year; Mattie Susan, 
 Mary Emma and Birdie E. , all with their 
 parents; Ella May, who died at the age of 
 four months; William Henry, Delia and 
 Roy. 
 
 The parents belong to the Methodist 
 Episcopal church and take an active interest 
 in its work and upbuilding. Mr. Sheffield 
 belongs also to the Order of Chosen Friends, 
 and in his political adherency he is a Demo- 
 crat. All his property has been acquired 
 through his own labors. He is energetic 
 
72S 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 and persevering, and though he suffered the 
 loss of his arm in the war he has not allowed 
 the misfortune to prevent him from secur- 
 ing a competence, and is now the pos- 
 sessor of an excellent property. 
 
 >j'ACOB C. WRIGHT.— There may 
 
 m be found in almost all American com- 
 /• 1 munities quiet, retiring men who 
 never ask public office or appear 
 prominent in public affairs, yet who never- 
 theless exert a widely felt influence in the 
 community in which they live and help to 
 construct the proper foundation upon which 
 the social and business world is built. Such 
 a man is Mr. Wright, who for almost thirty 
 years has been identified with Erath county 
 and its best interests. He is one of those 
 honored pioneer settlers who have aided in 
 opening up the region to civilization and 
 have left the impress of their own honor- 
 able individuality upon the community. It 
 is with pleasure therefore that we present 
 to our readers the record of his career, 
 knowing that it will prove of interest to 
 many. 
 
 Mr. Wright comes of an old southern 
 family, his ancestors in both the maternal 
 and paternal lines having located in North 
 Carolina at an early day in the history of 
 that state. His father, Dr. James Henry 
 Wright, was a native of Tennessee, and in 
 the Big Bend state married Miss Elizabeth 
 Cody. Not long afterward he removed 
 with his wife to Alabama, where he en- 
 gaged in farming until his death, which oc- 
 curred when Jacob was a small boy. 
 
 Our subject was born in Marion county, 
 Alabama, on the 17th of December, 1841, 
 and after his father's death lived with his 
 mother until the civil war was inaugurated. 
 
 He was among the first to offer hjs services 
 and become a member of the boys in gray, 
 enlisting in May, 1861, as a member of 
 Company G, Sixteenth Alabama Volunteer 
 Infantry. He served under General Bragg 
 in the Army of the Tennessee and partici- 
 pated in the battles of Fisher's creek, Per- 
 rysvilie, Murfreesboro and Chickamauga, 
 and at the last named was shot in the neck 
 and also wounded in the leg, which incapac- 
 itated him for service for three months. 
 When he had sufficiently recovered he 
 joined the cavalry service and was engaged 
 in Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi until 
 the war was ended. He manifested the 
 bravery and fidelity to duty which marks 
 the true soldier everywhere, and the war 
 record which he made was an honorable one. 
 Returning to his old home Mr. Wright 
 then made preparations for business life and 
 for a year engaged in farming in Mississippi. 
 In 1867 he arrived in Texas and spent one 
 year in Hood county, while his residence in 
 Erath county dates from the ist of Januar}', 
 1868. He purchased land in the northern 
 part of the county, but a flaw in the title 
 afterward caused him to lose all he had in- 
 vested. He then became owner of one 
 hundred and ninety-five acres, pleasantly 
 located four miles east of Stephenville, to 
 which he afterward added eighty-eight acres, 
 transforming the whole into a fine farm, 
 upon which he resided until November, 1890, 
 when he effected the sale of this property 
 and bought his present farm. His present 
 landed possessions aggregate five hundred 
 and fourteen acres, of which two hundred 
 and twenty acres are in a high state of culti- 
 vation, being divided into fields of convenient 
 size, and their richness yielding a good return 
 for the labor he bestows upon them. His 
 farm is neat and thrifty in appearance and 
 
History of texas. 
 
 729 
 
 its improvements are in keeping with the 
 progressive spirit of the owner. 
 
 The home of Mr. Wright is shared by 
 an interesting family. He was married 
 November i8, 1871, to Miss Martha 
 J. Riggers, a native of Mississippi and a 
 daughter of John Biggers, who came to 
 Erath county in 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Wright 
 are the parents of ten children, nine yet 
 living, one having died in infancy. The 
 others are Lizzie, wife of C. F. Roberts, of 
 Stephen ville; Mary H.,wifeof O. G. Roberts, 
 of Erath county; James R. , John W. , Ira 
 J. , Robert Lee, Lola, Samuel Earl and Etta. 
 Mr. Wright is a valued member of the 
 Masonic fraternity of Stephenville, in which 
 he has taken the Royal Arch degree and also 
 belongs to Stephenvilbe Lodge, No. 166, 
 I. O. O. F., and the Farmers' Alliance. 
 Politically he is a Populist. 
 
 *y-* F. GORDON, one of the leading 
 I I and influential citizens of central 
 B j^ Te.Kas, is at the head of a large 
 general mercantile store at Bluff 
 Dale. He belongs to that class of Ameri- 
 can citizens, progressive and enterprising, 
 who promote the public welfare while ad- 
 vancing individual prosperity, and in this 
 volume, devoted to the best residents of 
 central Texas, he well deserves representa- 
 tion. For almost a quarter of a century he 
 has been a resident of this locality and his 
 name is synonymous with honorable dealing 
 and with all that is commendable in private 
 life. 
 
 Mr. Gordon is a native of Georgia, his 
 birth having occurred in Barton county on 
 the 31st of August, 1852. He is the third 
 son and youngest child of William and 
 Emeline (Padon) Gordon, both natives of 
 
 South Carolina, the former of Scotch and 
 the latter of Irish lineage. They lived on a 
 farm and there our subject was reared, 
 making his home with his mother until 
 coming to Texas, when a young man of 
 eighteen. It was in 1871 that he bade 
 adieu to his old home and came to the 
 west, locating in Hood count}', where he 
 embarked in the grocery business in con- 
 nection with his brother, A. P. Gordon. 
 Thus was formed the well-known firm of 
 A. P. & L. F. Gordon, which has since 
 been so prominently identified with com- 
 mercial interests in this section of the state. 
 They continued in the grocery trade alone 
 for four years and then opened a general 
 mercantile store, which from the beginning 
 has been attended witli success, owing to 
 the high reputation which the proprietors 
 bear. Their trade grew and in 1890 justi- 
 fied the establishing of a branch house, 
 which was opened in Bluff Dale in the spring 
 of that year, our subject taking charge of it, 
 while his brother continued in charge of the 
 store in Granbury. In both stores they 
 have a large and well selected stock, and 
 their courteous treatment of their patrons 
 and their straightforward dealing insures 
 them a liberal patronage. Their efforts 
 have not been confined alone to merchan- 
 dise, but have been extended in other direc- 
 tions. They own and operate a cotton gin 
 both in Granbury and in Bluff Dale, and 
 have large landed interests, including four 
 hundred acres of rich land under cultivation. 
 On the 13th of November, 1873, was 
 celebrated the marriage of L. F. Gordon 
 and Miss Fanny Love, a native of I\en- 
 tucky and daughter of William Love. Her 
 father was an invalid, and with the hope of 
 restoring his health he and his daughter 
 traveled extensively, spending some time in 
 
730 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 thirteen different states of the Union. Three 
 children were born by the marriage of Mr. 
 Gordon and his estimable wife, a son and 
 two daughters, iiamelj : Lena Loeta, born 
 December i6, 1876; Fred, born December 
 19, 1885; and Kittic, born July 16, 1890. 
 The parents holt! a membership with the 
 Methodist Episcopal church and are deeply 
 interested in ail that will promote its wel- 
 fare. In social circles they occupy an 
 enviable position and their home is noted 
 for its hospitality. Mr. Gordon is a valued 
 member of several civic societies, including 
 the Granbury Lodge, No 327, I. O. O. F., 
 and Myrtle Lodge of the Knights of Pythias 
 fraternity. In his political views he is a 
 Democrat, having supported that party since 
 attaining his majority. 
 
 Mr. Gordon has not circumscribed his 
 enterprise and progressive spirit within selfish 
 and narrow boundaries, but has ever stood 
 ready to lend influence and tangible aid in 
 furthering such interests as will be of benefit 
 to the city and its people, being broad- 
 minded and public-spirited and a business 
 man whose value to the community is not 
 to be lightlv estimated. 
 
 *» ^ B. WRIGHT.— Everywhere in 
 
 1'^^^ our land are found men who have 
 \ ^ P worked their own way upward from 
 humble beginnings, achieving suc- 
 cess and becoming recognized as important 
 factors in the communities in which they re- 
 side. It is one of the glories of our nation 
 that it is so. It should be the strongest in- 
 centive and encouragement to the youth of 
 the country that it is so. Prominent among 
 the self-made men of central Texas is the 
 subject of this sketch, — a man honored, 
 
 respected and esteemed wherever known, 
 and most of all where he is best known. 
 He is co-day ranked among the leading agri- 
 culturists of Erath county, one of those who 
 have taken advantage of the resources which 
 nature has provided here, and secured 
 through his own labor a handsome home 
 and property. 
 
 Mr. Wright is a native of Kentucky, his 
 birth having occurred in I'emberton county, 
 on the loth of October, 185 r. The family 
 is of English origin and his first American 
 ancestors came to the New World at an 
 early da)'. The grandfather of our subject, 
 Lewis Pemberton Wright, removed from 
 Virginia to Kentucky during its pioneer era, 
 and during the war of 1812 he entered his 
 country's service and helped to maintain the 
 dignity of the new republic by his loyal 
 defense. The parents of our subject were 
 Lewis Pemberton, Jr., and Susan Margaret 
 (Newell) Wright. They passed their entire 
 lives in Pemberton county, Kentucky, and 
 became the parents of eight children, six of 
 whom are jet living. 
 
 No event of special importance occurred 
 during the childhood and youth of H. B. 
 Wright. He had the careful home training 
 of wise parents and formed habits of indus- 
 try and energy through the assistance given 
 to his father in the work of the farm. At 
 the age of twenty years he started out in 
 life for himself, and the obstacles and diffi- 
 culties that have blocked the path to suc- 
 cess he has overcome through persistent 
 effort, unfaltering purpose and well-directed 
 energy. He chose as a companion and 
 helpmeet on life's journey Miss Cordelia 
 Lewis, a native of Hickman county. Ken- 
 tucky, a daughter of W. C. and Susan Lewis, 
 who prior to locating in Kentucky lived in 
 Tennessee The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS 
 
 731 
 
 Wright was celebrated on the 14th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1S76, and five children were born by 
 that union, of whom four are still living, 
 namely: William O., Susan Margaret, Ella 
 and Adolphus. 
 
 In 1S80 Mr. Wright bade adieu to his 
 old home and with his family came to Texas. 
 His first purchase of realty made him owner 
 of a tract of eighty-nine acres of wild land, 
 on which stood a cabin. He at once began 
 to clear and improve the place, and it was 
 not long before the farm showed that one 
 who thoroughly understood his business had 
 the matter in hand, for richly cultivated 
 fields took the place of the once non-pro- 
 ducing waste, and the accessories and con- 
 veniences of a model farm were added. The 
 boundaries of the place were also extended 
 until it now comprises two hundred acres, 
 one-half of which has been placed under 
 the plow and yields to the owner a good re- 
 turn for his labor. His residence, one of 
 the finest country homes in the county, 
 stands on an eminence that commands a 
 fine view of Stephenville and the surround- 
 ing country. An orchard, covering an acre 
 and a half, also adds to the delight of the 
 premises, and the place is justly considered 
 one of the most desirable throughout the 
 region. 
 
 The Wright household is noted for its 
 hospitality, and the latchstring always hangs 
 out. The friends of the family are many, 
 and our subject and his wife hold an envia- 
 ble position in social circles. In politics 
 Mr. Wright is a Democrat, and is a mem- 
 ber of Stephenville lodge. No. 166, I.O.O.F. 
 
 His activities during his entire life have 
 been such as to distinctively entitle him to 
 a place in this publication, and, although his 
 career has not been filled with thrilling in- 
 cidents, probably no biography published in 
 
 this book can serve as a better illustration 
 to young men of the power of honesty and 
 integrity in insuring success. 
 
 SI 
 
 G. GENTRY, ex-county com- 
 missioner of Erath county, Texas, 
 and one of the prominent farmers 
 of the community where he has 
 had his abiding place for a period of twenty 
 years, is, by virtue of his high standing here, 
 entitled to biographical honors. 
 
 W. G. Gentry is a native of Alabama 
 and dates his birth in Jackson county, June 
 12, 1S50, his parents being Calvin and 
 Polly (Thorp) Gentry, both natives of Ala- 
 bama. In the year 1854 Calvin Gentry 
 brought his family to Texas. He at first 
 sojourned in Titus county, where he culti- 
 vated and gathered a crop. The next year 
 he moved to Wood county, secured a tract 
 of land, improved a portion of it, and made 
 his home there until the fall of 1869, when 
 he sold out and took up his abode in Tar- 
 rant county, and there he has since lived, 
 enjoying the respect of all who know him. 
 His good wife, the mother of our subject, 
 passed away in 1889. She was a faithful 
 member of the Baptist church for many 
 years, and in her religious devotion was 
 joined by her husband, who is still an act- 
 ive and zealous worker in the church. Dur- 
 ing the civil war Calvin Gentry spent two 
 years, 1863 to 1865, in the Confederate 
 service. He was at heart a Union man. 
 Circumstances, however, forced him, as 
 they did many other Union men of the south, 
 into the Confederate ranks, and being un- 
 able physically to do active service he was 
 on post dut}'. He was at Alexandria, 
 Louisiana, at the time of General Lee's 
 surrender, and from there returned to his 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 home and family in Texas. Of his children, 
 seven in number, we make the following 
 record: W. G., whose name appears at the 
 head of this sketch, is the eldest; Moses N., 
 the next born, died in 1881; Mary J., wife 
 of Martin Kizer; Arean, wife of William 
 Douty; Laura, wife of M. I\eynolds; Sarah 
 E. , wife of Porter Greer; and Ambrose L. , 
 — the sons all farmers and the daughters all 
 wives of farmers. 
 
 At the time the Gentry family came to 
 Texas the subject of our sketch was very 
 young. Here he grew up amid frontier sur- 
 roundings, was early inured to various kinds 
 of farm work, and had very limited educa- 
 tional advantages. When he married he 
 left his father's home and rented a farm in 
 Tarrant county. He farmed rented land 
 there till 1876, the year he purchased his 
 present farm of one hundred and sixty acres 
 near Dublin, then all unimproved land. 
 Here he has made substantial inprovements, 
 including a good residence and outbuildings, 
 and has about sixty acres under cultivation, 
 his crops being diversified. He raises only 
 enough stock for the support of his farm. 
 For the most part he has been successful in 
 his operations, but a few times his crops 
 have been cut shori by frost and drouth. 
 
 Mr. Gentry was married in 1868 to Miss 
 Mary I. Grogan, whose birth occurred in 
 Georgia in 1852. She is a daughter of 
 Henry and Ann (Lemon) Grogan, natives of 
 Georgia. The Grogan family came to Texas 
 in 1853, first settled in Harrison county, 
 from there moved to Fannin county, and 
 subsequently to the county of Wood, where 
 the father died. He was a good business man, 
 public-spirited and generous, and was highly 
 esteemed by the people in whatever com- 
 munity he made his home. During the war, 
 like the senior Mr. Gentry, he was a Union 
 
 man, and was forced by circumstances to 
 enter the Confederate service, where he per- 
 formed post duty. Both he and his wife 
 being members of the Baptist church, they 
 reared their family in that faith. The 
 mother is still living, owning and occupying 
 the old homestead in Wood county. Her 
 children are Mary I., wife of Mr. Gentry; 
 Sally, deceased wife of J. H. Fra^ier, left 
 one child; Jane, wife of William Lemon, a 
 farmer; Georgia, wife of G. W. Cowan, a 
 teacher and merchant; Aary, wife of B. Ed- 
 wards; Ettie, wife of J. H. Frazier; and 
 William H. Mr. and Mrs. Gentry are the 
 parents of twelve children, viz.: Henry B., 
 a resident of Dublin; Polly A., wife of 
 Henry Alexander, a farmer; David L. , a 
 farmer; Laura J., who married W.W. Hood, 
 a farmer; Jessie, wife of W.W. Hudson, also 
 a farmer; Robert L., who died at the age of 
 eleven years; John A., who died at the age 
 of eight years; and George S., Hinton, Sally, 
 Josie and Samuel, at home. 
 
 Mr. Gentry has always affiliated with the 
 Democratic party and been a stanch sup- 
 porter of its principles, and while he never 
 sought official preferment he has been twice 
 honored by election to the office of county 
 commissioner, which office he filled from 
 1884 to 1S88, rendering intelligent and ap- 
 preciative service. Mrs. Gentry is a member 
 of the Baptist church. 
 
 ■^^ P. I\UCKEI-i is a typical American, 
 C starting out in life a poor young man 
 A 1 with no other capital than a strong 
 physique and a determination to suc- 
 ceed, and by honest toil and the exercise of 
 good judgment in managing his affairs, ris- 
 ing step by step until now we find him oc- 
 cupying a place in the front ranks of the 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 733 
 
 prominent and wealthy farmers of Erath 
 county, Texas. As such his Hfe history is 
 both interesting and instructive and well de- 
 serves a place in this biographical record. 
 
 J. P. Rucker dates his birth in Franklin 
 county, Georgia, March 15, 1837, his par- 
 ents being Jepsa and Alea (Moldin) Rucker, 
 both of Georgia birth. George Rucker, 
 the grandfather of our subject, was a \'ir- 
 ginian of Irish descent, who moved from 
 the Old Dominion at any early day and 
 made settlement in Georgia, where he was 
 engaged in farming for many years and 
 where he reared his family. He died in 
 Georgia. Jepsa Rucker moved west to Ar- 
 kansas in 1857, where he bought a mill and 
 was engaged in both milling and farming the 
 rest of his life, dying there in i860. He 
 was identified with the Missionary Baptist 
 church, in politics was a Democrat, and in 
 every way was a man who stood high in the 
 esteem of all who knew him. Richard 
 Moldin, the maternal grandfather of J. P. 
 Rucker, was a resident of Georgia and an 
 early settler and prominent and respected 
 farmer of his locality. He had three sons, 
 — Epps, Hal and Mordecai, — none of whom 
 ever came to Texas. After the death of his 
 father the widowed mother of our subject 
 kept her family together for a time and 
 about 1868 moved with her children to 
 Texas, locating in Wood county, where she 
 bought a farm. Subsequently she came to 
 Erath county, and here in 1877 she died at 
 the ripe age of seventy-seven years. Fol- 
 lowing are the names in order of birth of 
 her children: J. P., whose name forms the 
 heading of this sketch; George R., a resi- 
 dent of Arkansas; Lindsay, a farmer of 
 Erath county, Texas; Elizabeth C., unmar- 
 ried; Emily, wife of J. P. Swaner; Oliver 
 J., a farmer and stock man of Callahan 
 
 county; Lucy, wife of Abram Bailey; and 
 Calvin, who owns and operates a mill and 
 gin at De Leon, Texas. 
 
 The subject of our sketch was reared on 
 his father's farm in Georgia, removed with 
 his parents to Arkansas, and remained a 
 member of the home circle until the second 
 year of the war, when he severed home ties 
 and went out as a private in the Confederate 
 ranks. It was in 1862 and as a member of 
 the Twelfth Arkansas Infantry that he en- 
 listed. He was with General Bragg in the 
 raid through Kentucky, and was at Port 
 Hudson during the siege of that place; was 
 captured there, paroled, and came home. 
 The latter part of his service, which ex- 
 tended until the close of the war, was on the 
 west side of the Mississippi. 
 
 In August, 1865, Mr. Rucker came to 
 Texas, making his way as far west as Cooke 
 county in his search for employment and a 
 desirable location, but did not remain long 
 in Cooke county. Returning to Wood coun- 
 ty, he located there, and the following year, 
 1866, married and settled down on a rented 
 farm. Farming has ever since claimed his 
 attention. He continued to reside in Wood 
 county until 1873, when he came to Erath 
 county, first stopping at Dublin, then a 
 small place, and remaining there one year. 
 In 1874 he purchased three hundred and 
 twenty acres of unimproved land, where he 
 has ever since lived, and to which he adcied 
 by subsequent purchase one hundred and 
 sixty acres of land adjoining it. Also he 
 now owns another farm, two hundred and 
 forty-four acres, eighty-five acres of which 
 are under cultivation. Of his home farm he 
 cultivates one hundred and forty acres. 
 Thus it is seen that in the twenty-odd years 
 of his residence in this county he has accu- 
 mulated over seven hundred acres of land, 
 
734 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 nearly a third of which is under cultivation; 
 and besides this propertj' he has other in- 
 terests. Both he and his wife are stock- 
 holders in a co-operative merchandise busi- 
 ness at Dublin. During the early years of 
 his residence here Mr. Rucker gave much 
 of his attention to the raising of cattle and 
 horses, but of late it has been his intention 
 to keep only stock enough with which to 
 carry on his farming operations. 
 
 Mrs. Rucker was formerly Miss Martha 
 Thomas, and their marriage, as already 
 stated, occurred in Wood county in 1866. 
 She was born January 20, 1845, and, al- 
 though Tennessee is her native state, Texas 
 is the only home she has ever known, as it 
 was the year following her birth that she 
 was brought to this state by her parents, 
 Elijah and Eliza (Long) Thomas, natives of 
 Tennessee. Their first location in Texas 
 was in Upshur county, where they opened 
 a fartn and remained for several years. Then 
 they sold out and removed to Wood county, 
 where they pushed forward the work of im- 
 proving another farm. Mr. Thomas re- 
 mained in Wood county the rest of his life. 
 He was a great hunter in his day. Many a 
 deer and bear did his unerring shot bring 
 down. Game here was plenty then, and 
 this new, wild life had many fascinations for 
 him. He died in 1875. His good wife 
 shared with him the pleasures and priva- 
 tions of pioneer life, and survived him three 
 years, her death occurring in 1878. Both 
 were earnest, active Christians and members 
 of the Missionary Baptist church. Of their 
 large family we make the following epito- 
 mized record: James T., a member of the 
 Seventh Texas Infantry, died in Kentucky 
 during the war; Mary is the wife of George 
 Martin; Martha, now Mrs. Rucker; Julia 
 A., married; George W,, deceased; Mar- 
 
 garet, wife of Colonel Thacker; Alice, now 
 Mrs. Winnis; Sunda, now Mrs. Combs; 
 Laura, who also married a Mr. Combs; Lot- 
 tie, wife of H. Winkle; Virginia A., wife of 
 James Sims; and Robert, a resident of 
 Wood county. Mr. and Mrs. Rucker have 
 been blessed in tlu' birth of ten children, 
 two of whom died in infancy, the others 
 being as follows: Lucy A., wife of Frank 
 Dotson, died August 9, 1890; James, a 
 prosperous farmer; Almeda, wife of Joseph 
 Cathcart; Elizabeth, wife of H. E. Hutson; 
 and Dora, William J., McKinney and Rob- 
 ert E., — all at home. 
 
 Of his political views, we would state 
 that Mr. Rucker has always been an advo- 
 cate of the Democracy. In local affairs he 
 has been more independent than many, 
 never himself aspiring to office and always 
 casting his vote for the man he believed best 
 fitted for the office, regardless of party lines. 
 Both he and his wife are members of the 
 Missionary Baptist church. 
 
 QG. JONES, Highland, Texas.— 
 No biographical record of the 
 representative people of Erath 
 county would be complete did it 
 not include honorable mention of this 
 wealthy and influential farmer and stock 
 man, M. G. Jones, who has been a resident 
 of the county for over twenty years and 
 whose identity with the state dates back to 
 1857. A resume of his life is as follows: 
 
 M. G. Jones was born in Oglethorpe 
 county, Georgia, September i, 1835; was 
 reared on his father's plantation, and in the 
 common schools of the vicinity received a 
 fair education. His parents, Moses and 
 Martha , (Mathews) Jones, were Georgia 
 people, as also were their parents before 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 735 
 
 them, all occupying prominent and useful 
 positions in the communities in which they 
 lived. Moses Jones and his father were 
 large landowners and slave-owners. Both 
 took part in the Creek and Cherokee Indian 
 wars, the elder Mr. Jones serving as a cap- 
 tain in the Creek war and in one engagement 
 being wounded in the shoulder. Moses 
 Jones was given the rank of lieutenant, and 
 he too was wounded, a ball piercing his 
 thigh. Both men were public-spirited and 
 courageous, were by nature suited to the life 
 of frontiersmen, and acted well their part in 
 their day and place. Thomas Mathews, the 
 maternal grandfather of our subject, was 
 likewise a wealthy planter and a man inter- 
 ested in all measures intended to advance 
 the public good. He served in some im- 
 portant official capacities, distinguished him- 
 self for his ability and won the favor of all 
 with whom he was associated. He was a 
 Democrat. The Joneses also have long given 
 their allegiance to this party, our subject 
 not excepted. Moses Jones and his first 
 wife had children as follows: Toliver M., a 
 brigadier general in the late war, was killed 
 in battle at Vicksburg; Mary H., wife of 
 John Jackson; M. G., whose name graces 
 this sketch; Caroline, wife of Dr. Haley; 
 Charles, a veteran of the civil war, died in 
 Ellis county, Texas; Jane, wife of A. Milli- 
 gan, an attorney of Alabama; Martha E., 
 'wife of John Court; M. O., a veteran of the 
 late war and now a prominent farmer of 
 Erath county, Texas; C. T., wife of Isaac 
 Prinn, of Alabama; Berry T., a Baptist min- 
 ister of Alabama; Fayette, also a resident 
 of x\labama; and .A.lford M., a prominent 
 citizen of Erath count}'. The mother of 
 this large family died in 1852. By a sub- 
 sequent marriage the father had other chil- 
 dren, namely: Robert, a farmer of EUis 
 
 county, Texas; Forest, also engaged in 
 farming in Ellis county; Minnie; and one 
 who died at the age of thirteen years. The 
 father was a man of deep piety, was a mem- 
 ber of the Missionary Baptist church, and 
 sought both by teaching and example to 
 rear his children in the straight and narrow 
 way. His wives also were members of this 
 church. 
 
 M. G. Jones remained with his parents 
 until after he was of age and in 1857 left 
 the old home and its associations and came 
 to Texas to make his fortune. In Upshur 
 county he secured a position as overseer on 
 a large farm, remained there two years, and 
 at the end of that time purchased a small 
 tract of land in Comanche county, on the 
 Leon river, where he settled and gave his 
 attention to the cultivation and improve- 
 ment of his place. Game of all kinds 
 abounded through this part of the country 
 then, and Indians, too, were not infre- 
 quently seen, their raids being a source of 
 dread to the scattered settlers. And here, 
 farming and hunting and keeping a lookout 
 for the red men, was Mr. Jones when the 
 civil war came on. In the fall of 1861 he 
 enlisted as a member of Company D, Wal- 
 ler's company, Hopp's regiment, which 
 was assigned to the Department of Mis- 
 souri and Arkansas. He was at different 
 times under command of Generals Price, 
 Marmaduke, Fagan, Cooper and Hineman; 
 was in numerous battles and skirmishes, a 
 record of which would cover much of the 
 history of the war in the west; and on one 
 occasion was wounded in the thigh by a 
 minie ball, th"e bone being broken, and from 
 the effects of this wound he was laid up in 
 hospital four months. His whole service 
 was characterized by courage and faithful- 
 ness; he never shirked a duty; and his waf 
 
786 
 
 HISTORr OF TEXAS. 
 
 record is one of which he may be justly 
 proud, although the cause for which he 
 fought was lost. 
 
 At the close of the war Mr. Jones was at 
 Shreveport, Louisiana. From there he di- 
 rected his course to Upshur county, Texas, 
 where he married, and, accompanied by his 
 wife, went back to his land in Comanche 
 county. This land was all he had left when 
 he returned from the army. He continued 
 his residence in Comanche county until 
 1875, when he sold out and came to Erath 
 county, choosing a location on Armstrong 
 creek and purchasing three hundred and 
 twenty-five acres, he being the outside set- 
 tler on the creek. Here he commenced 
 opening up a farm, prospered from the first, 
 and from time to time was able to purchase 
 other lands. Soon his acres ran up to a 
 thousand and ere long more than doubled 
 that amount. His several purchases in- 
 clude tracts containing the following num- 
 ber of acres: 325, 493, 246, 646, 324, and 
 400, amounting in all to 2,434. Of this he 
 has cleared and put under cultivation six 
 hundred and thirty acres. And all these 
 years he has been more or less interested 
 also in the stock business, usually keeping a 
 large number of cattle and horses. His in- 
 vestments in real estate have not been con- 
 fined to farm lands. He has valuable prop- 
 erty in Dublin and elsewhere, speculates 
 whenever he finds a good opportunity, and 
 thus makes his means bring in the largest 
 possible returns. In all his business trans- 
 actions he has been straightforward and up- 
 right and his word has ever been as good 
 as his bond. Recently he 'entered suit 
 against the Dublin bank. With this excep- 
 tion he never brought suit against any one, 
 nor was he ever sued. Few men who have 
 bad as extensive business dealings and come 
 
 in contact with as many different classes of 
 people as has Mr. Jones, can say as much. 
 Mr. Jones was married at the close of 
 the war to Miss Mary H. Crowder, who was 
 born in Georgia, August 24, 1846, daughter 
 of Dr. O. W. Crowder. Dr. Crowder was 
 a native of South Carolina, was married in 
 Georgia, and in 1857 came from the latter 
 state to Texas, settling in Upshur county, 
 where he opened up a farm and at the same 
 time practiced his profession, continuing his 
 abiding place therefor eight years. In 1865 
 he moved to Comanche county, where he 
 died the following year. He was the father 
 of eleven children, viz. : Lucretia, wife of 
 C. Jones, a resident of Ellis county, Texas; 
 William, a farmer and Baptist minister of 
 Erath county; Mary H. ; Joseph, who died 
 when young; Louis F., deceased; Henry, 
 who died at about the age of twenty years; 
 John, who died in early life; Frances, wife 
 of J. Vestel, Ellis county; Sarah, wife of F. 
 Parrish, a farmer of Ellis county; Street, a 
 farmer of Ellis county; and Rachel, wife of 
 j James Perkins, also of Ellis county. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Jones have nine children, namely: 
 Henrietta, wife of James Jones; Street, a 
 farmer; Rachel, wife of Samuel Chipman; 
 Ella, wife of Robert Burnett; Moses, a 
 farmer; and Eppa, Warren, Minnie, and 
 Carmine at home. 
 
 Both Mr. and Mrs. Jones are members 
 of the Missionary Baptist church, her par- 
 ents, like his, having been active and zeal- 
 ous workers in that church, and thus are 
 our subject and his estimable wife following 
 in the footsteps of their honored parents and 
 bringing up their own children in the same 
 religious faith. Mr. Jones has always been 
 liberal in the support of the church and has 
 also contributed freely of his means for the 
 advancement of educational interests. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 r37 
 
 HLFORD M. JONES.— Owning and 
 occupying a fine farm in the vi- 
 cinity of Highland, Erath county, 
 Texas, and figuring as one of the 
 leading farmers of the county, is found the 
 gentleman who constitutes the subject of 
 this biographical mention. His iyentity 
 with his present location covers a little 
 more than the past decade. 
 
 Mr. Jones is a Georgian by birth and 
 traces his ancestry back to the Emerald 
 isle. His parents, Moses and Mattie 
 (Mathews) Jones, were natives respectively 
 of Virginia and Georgia, Moses Jones being 
 a son of Alford Jones, who had come to this 
 country from Ireland at an early day and 
 made a settlement in the Old Dominion. 
 From Virginia Alford Jones moved with his 
 family to Georgia, then on the frontier, and 
 in the newer state took front rank with the 
 leading men of his day, becoming a large 
 slaveholder and owning and operating a 
 farm, gristmill, sawmill, distillery and cot- 
 ton-gin. He was the father of the following 
 named children: Henry, Moses, William, 
 Alford, Emma and Martha. Moses grew 
 up on the farm and in the mill, and when he 
 married and settled in life for himself it was 
 as a farmer. Later, however, he turned his 
 attention to merchandising, which he fol- 
 lowed successfully for many years. He was 
 a participant in some of the Indian wars, 
 had not a few e.xciting experiences with the 
 red men, and met with some narrow escapes. 
 In ante-bellum days he owned a large num- 
 ber of slaves. He died in 1880, at an ad- 
 vanced age, and left a large family of chil- 
 dren. By his first wife, nee Mattie Mathews, 
 he had sixteen children, fi\e of whom died 
 in infancy, the names of the others being 
 Toliver M., Mollie, Mason G., Carrie, 
 Charles W., Jennie, Alford M., Warren F., 
 
 Berry T., Talitha C. and Allie. The mother 
 of these children died when our subject was 
 about ten years of age. Their father was 
 married twice afterward, the second wife 
 dying without issue, and the third bearing 
 him five children, — Forrest, Robert, Mattie, 
 Minnie and Grace. Altogether he had 
 twenty-one children, and he sent seven of 
 his sons to the war, — a remarkable record, 
 indeed! From this sketch of his ancestry 
 we would now direct attention to the life of 
 Alford M. Jones, our immediate subject. 
 
 Mr. Jones was born in Heard county, 
 Georgia, October i, 1840, and as the son of 
 a prominent and well-to-do man received 
 good educati jnal advantages. He remained 
 at home until he attained his majority, and 
 at that important period of his life the civil 
 war broke out. He at once enlisted in the 
 Fifteenth Alabama Infantry, was mustered 
 in as a private at Fort Mitchell, Alabama, 
 and from there went to the scene of action 
 in Virginia. Bull Run was his first battle. 
 There he fought under " Stonewall " Jack- 
 son, and remained in his command until 
 that great hero fell at Chancellorsville. To 
 give a detailed account of the army life of 
 Mr. Jones would be to write a history of 
 much of the war. Suffice it to say in this 
 connection that he perhaps saw as much 
 hard service as any man in that sanguinary 
 struggle; that he participated in no less 
 than twenty- seven battles, and that he was 
 slightly wounded and twice taken prisoner. 
 He was first captured at the battle of Cedar 
 Run, and was paroled on the spot. At 
 Knoxville, Tennessee, he, with a number of 
 others, was captured and taken to Nash- 
 ville, from there to. Louisville, and a month 
 later to Rock Island, Illinois, where he was 
 held eighteen months, at the end of that 
 time being released on parole of honor and 
 
7'SS 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 given transportation to the mouth of the 
 James river. At Lynchburg he sojourned 
 three months before he was enabled to get 
 home. 
 
 In the fail of 1865 Mr. Jones married 
 and took charge of a large plantation be- 
 longing to his father-in-law. This planta- 
 tion he superintended for five years. In 
 that time he made and saved enough money 
 to buy a farm, to which he moved and on 
 which he remained the ne.xt five years. 
 Then he sold out and went to Troy and en- 
 gaged in merchandising, remaining there and 
 doing a successful business ten years. Thus 
 was he occupied up to i<S85, when he came to 
 Texas and bought his present farm. His 
 purchase here comprised three hundred and 
 si.xty acres and had some improvements 
 thereon, but he has since sold some of this 
 tract, now retaining two hundred and 
 twenty-nine acres, of which one hundred 
 and thirty are under cultivation. Mr. Jones 
 has built a comfortable home, planted an 
 orchard and made other impro\ements, and 
 gives his attention to diversified farming and 
 stock-raising. 
 
 Turning now to that page of his history 
 which is more purely domestic, we find that 
 Mr. Jones has been married three times, 
 each time to a widow. He first married 
 the widow of Dr. Worthing, a cultured and 
 most amiable woman whose life was blended 
 with his for more than twenty years, her death 
 occurring October 8, 1887, two years after 
 their removal to this state. She was a de- 
 voted Christian and a member of the Bap- 
 tist church. Her father, the Rev. P. M. 
 Caloway, prominent for many years in Ala- 
 bama as a preacher, lawyer, merchant and 
 farmer, is still living in that state, having 
 attained the ripe age of eighty-seven years. 
 At one time he was the owner of many 
 
 slaves. He served two terms in the Ala- 
 bama state legislature, and at the end of his 
 second term refused further honors of that 
 kind. Of his eight children, Mrs. Jones was 
 the only one that came to Texas. By this 
 wife Mr. Jones had seven children, viz. : 
 Charles A. and Lee, both engaged in farm- 
 ing; Dora, wife of Stephen Kirth; He, wife 
 of George Allison; Buna, wife of George 
 Kirth; and Whipple and Mamie, at home. 
 July 2, 1 89 1, Mr. Jones married Mrs. Fan- 
 nie L. Copeland, daughter of Rev. John 
 Copeland. This union proved unsatisfact- 
 ory and a separation followed. Then, Jan- 
 uary 13, 1895, he vvedded Mrs. L. E. Moss, 
 of W^aco, Texas, daughter of D. M. and 
 Sarah F. (Bragg) Lewis, natives of Ala- 
 bama. Mr. Lewis and his family moved to 
 Texas in 1892 and located in Coryell coun- 
 ty, where he died in March of that year. 
 Mrs. Lewis is a resident of Arlington, Tar- 
 rant county, Texas. By her first marriage 
 Mrs. Jones has one child. Miss Fannie Moss. 
 Mr. Jones and his family are all members 
 of the Baptist church. Politically, his sup- 
 port has always been tendered the Demo- 
 cratic party. 
 
 *y» EWIS COMER SMITH, for more 
 I r than a quarter of a century a resi- 
 1 ^ dent of Texas and now a well- 
 known citizen and farmer of Ham- 
 ilton county, dates his birth in Humphreys 
 county, Tennessee, July 26, 1826. His 
 parents were Joel and Lydia (Davis) Smith. 
 At the age of eighteen he began work for 
 his brother John, a tanner, of whom he 
 learned the trade and with whom he was 
 associated in business for about twenty-two 
 years, the brothers being in partnership 
 most of that time. In 1858 the subject of 
 
HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 739 
 
 our sketch went to White county, Arkansas, 
 where, with Mr. William Petty as a partner, 
 he started a tannery. He remained in that 
 business there until 1864, when he turned 
 his attention to farming. In the fall of 
 1870 he left Arkansas and came to Texas, 
 landing in McLennan county on the 8th of 
 December. There he purchased land and 
 farmed until December, 1876, when he re- 
 moved to Hamilton county and bought three 
 hundred and fifty acres near Carlton, which 
 continued to be his home until 1886. liis 
 next move was to a farm two miles north of 
 Carlton, in Erath county, and in October, 
 1895, he came from there to his present 
 home, five miles east of Carlton. His land 
 purchase here comprised five hundred and 
 fourteen acres. Recently he has divided 
 this tract up among his children. 
 
 Mr. Smith was first married in Tennes- 
 see, July 24, 1852, to Melvina D. Parker, 
 daughter of James and Anna Parker. She 
 was born December 7, 1833, in Tennessee, 
 and departed this life December 28, 1862. 
 The children of their union are as follows: 
 Amanda Victoria, born June 14, 1853; 
 Eudora Caroline, June 14, 1854; John Dan- 
 iel, January 14, 1856; James Lawrence, 
 March 14, 1858; William Samuel, Decem- 
 ber 25 i860; and Benjamin Lewis, Febru- 
 ary 14, 1862. All are living except Will- 
 iam S., who died August 28, 1868. Febru- 
 ary 26, 1863, Mr. Smith was married in Ar- 
 kansas to Miss Zenobia Kirkland, who was 
 born in Humphreys county, Tennessee, 
 February 7, 1840, daughter of Aaron and 
 Nancy (Allen) Kirkland. Her father died 
 when she was four years of age, and her re- 
 moval to Arkansas was only a few years 
 previous to her marriage, being in January, 
 1 86 1. Following are the children of this 
 marriage: Robert Adolphus, born September 
 
 16, 1865; Joel Aaron, July 2, 1867; Ida Jane, 
 October 12, 1869, died August 20, 1870; 
 Jackie Nora, May 18, 1871; Mary Frances, 
 February 14, 1873; Nancy Emma, December 
 31, 1874; Claudius Comer, February 10, 
 1878; Eugene D., May 17, 1879, and Otis 
 Allen, February 5, 1882. 
 
 In the various localities where he has lived 
 Mr. Smith's influence has ever been directed 
 on the side of truth and right. For forty- 
 six years he has been a consistent member 
 of the Methodist church, of which religious 
 denomination his family also are members. 
 Politically, he has during the past three 
 years been a supporter of the Populist party. 
 His identity with the Masonic fraternity dates 
 back to 1852, when he was initiated into the 
 mysteries of that order in New Portland 
 Lodge, Tennessee. On his removal to Ar- 
 kansas he affiliated with a lodge in that 
 state, and his name is on the list of charter 
 members of two Texas lodges, his present 
 membership being at Carlton. 
 
 >^OHN CONWAY, one of the most 
 M prominent and representative men of 
 A 1 Hood county, was born at Montreal, 
 in the province of Quebec, Canada, 
 March 22, 1845, and is of Irish descent. 
 His parents, David and Bridget (McRory) 
 Conway, had' a large family of children, 
 most of whom died in early life, our subject 
 and his sister Mary Ann being the only 
 ones that arrived at maturity. The latter 
 became the wife of Michael Keefe, and died 
 in Montreal, August 20, 1876, leaving three 
 children, — David, Mary E. and Joseph; but 
 the last named is now deceased. 
 
 When Mr. Conway was four years of 
 age his father died, and one year later 
 death deprived him of the tender care of his 
 
740 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 mother, after which he made his home with 
 his aunt, and received a good education in 
 the public schools of St. Bridget, Quebec. 
 He grew to manhood on a farm, but was 
 always rather delicate physicall}-. Owing 
 to ill health he took a trip to the Rocky 
 mountains, in 1S69. He was in the employ 
 of the Western Union Telegraph Company, 
 and assisted in constructing telegraph lines 
 in Utah, Idaho, Montana, and other west- 
 ern territories. In 1873 he came to Texas 
 and for about a year and a half followed the 
 same line of work, during which time he 
 superintended the construction of the tele- 
 graph lines from Marshall to Sherman and 
 from Longview to Fort Worth. 
 
 In 1874 Mr. Conway bought one hun- 
 dred and twenty-six acres of land in Hood 
 county, about seven miles north of Granbury, 
 where he now resides, and began its im- 
 provement and cultivation. He has con- 
 tinued the business of farming and stock- 
 raising ever since his settlement in the 
 county with the exception of one summer, 
 when he built the telegraph line from Whites- 
 boro to Fort Worth. In his undertakings 
 he has prospered, and from time to time 
 purchased additional land until he now owns 
 one thousand acres situated on Long Creek, 
 about one hundred and twenty of which is 
 under cultivation. His pleasant and attract- 
 ive country home is presided over by his 
 niece. Miss Mary E. Keefe, and is the abode 
 of genuine, open-handed hospitality, all of 
 the surroundings bearing evidence of the 
 thrift and enterprise of the owner. 
 
 Mr. Conway is a quiet, unobtrusive man, 
 of wide and varied reading, and has always 
 taken an interest in the affairs of men and 
 always keeps himself well informed on the 
 public questions of the times. In politics he 
 is a stanch Democrat, and a recognized 
 
 leader in the counsels of his party. In 1886 
 he was- elected county commissioner, to 
 which position he was three times re-elected, 
 acceptably filling the office for eight consecu- 
 tive years, and for about five years of that 
 time served as justice of the peace, both by 
 election and appointment. In the various 
 positions he has been called upon to fill, he 
 has proved himself true to every trust re- 
 posed in him, and as a private citizen his 
 straightforward business methods and ster- 
 ling integrity have won for him the confi- 
 dence and respect of the entire community. 
 Enterprising and public -spirited he gives his 
 support to every measure for the public 
 good. In his religious opinions, as in all 
 things else, he is broad and liberal, but ad- 
 heres strictly to the faith of the Roman 
 Catholic church, in which he was reared. 
 
 aHARLES CRESSON STEWART, 
 is a citizen of Hamilton, Texas, 
 where he is greatly respected not 
 only on account of his editorial 
 ability but also for his personal character. 
 Mr. Stewart is a native of the City of Broth- 
 erly Love, having been born in Philadelphia, 
 where he was a student in the public schools 
 until the age of sixteen. He then struck 
 out for himself, and when he had reached 
 the age of eighteen dared to go to Chicago, 
 where he set up in business as a printer, 
 making use of a printing-press which he had 
 received from his grandparents when a mere 
 boy. What he used at first as a mere play- 
 thing presentl}' became an instrument of 
 business, and was the determining agent in 
 marking out his life career. He continued 
 in Chicago for some two years, and then 
 found his way back to Philadelphia, where 
 he remained for some months. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 The east, however, was not to receive 
 the devotion of a life of labor, and on the 
 1 1 th day of October, 1876, our subject made 
 his appearance in that state which has been 
 to him a home land. He was employed for 
 some four years in the printing-office of 
 B. B. Paddock, in the city of Fort Worth, 
 Texas, where he was regarded as a capable 
 and trusty job printer. He then found 
 work at Weatherford, where he was engaged 
 for a portion of the time in conducting a 
 small newspaper. In 1884 he left that city 
 for Shreveport, Louisiana, where he en 
 gaged with the Shreveport Times to travel 
 in its interests in the states of Louisiana and 
 Arkansas, in which occupation he was busy 
 until 1887. In that year Mr. Stewart re- 
 moved to Galveston, and was for a time in 
 the employ of Clark & Courtz, proprietors 
 of the most extensive printing-house in the 
 state. After this engagement the fortunes 
 of our subject bore him to Houston, where 
 he was with J. J. Pastareza, and onward to 
 Lampasas in 1890. Here he found the po- 
 sition of foreman in the ofifice of the Lam- 
 pasas Leader vacant, and, securing it, made 
 himself so essential to the business that he 
 became established in the city to that e.xtent 
 that he was able to marry and become the 
 head of a family. 
 
 Mr. Stewart had been identified with the 
 Democratic party until this time, but in the 
 year 1891 he came out as a pronounced 
 Populist, and was instrumental in the estab- 
 lishment of the Lampasas Journal, in the 
 interest of that movement, associating him- 
 self first with J. P. Wood, and afterward 
 with Will Moore, who finally became sole 
 possessor of the newspaper. Our subject 
 was next engaged with the Gatesville Voice 
 for some six months, and in the first part of 
 the year 1894 purchased the Hamilton Prog- 
 
 ress, which he renamed the Hamilton Jour- 
 nal, and has conducted it to the present 
 time as an able and interesting advocate of 
 the principles of the Populist party. In the 
 month of August of the next year he started 
 the Hico News, in company with Captain 
 W. H. Hawkins, both papers being pub- 
 lished from the Hamilton office. Mr. 
 Stewart has proved himself a man of much 
 more than usual business ability, having 
 bought the Progress on time and paid for it 
 .entirely out of its earnings. Both of these 
 papers have grown into important publica- 
 tions, and are good paying property. 
 
 Mr. Stewart has been twice married, 
 choosing for his first wife Mamie Levy, 
 daughter of T. L. Levy, a prominent con- 
 tractor and architect of Worthington. She 
 was the mother of two children, both of 
 whom are now dead, and died herself in 
 1884, after a married life of only three 
 years. He was married a second time in 
 Lampasas, February 18, 1890, to Miss Lulu 
 McWhirter, daughter of J. C. and Josephine 
 McWhirter, by whom he has had three chil- 
 dren, — Frank, Grace and Cresson. 
 
 He has associated himself with the Epis- 
 copal church, and is superintendent of its 
 Sunday-school, and is regarded as a reliable 
 supporter of that order. His voice is wide- 
 ly heard and heeded, and he is a man of 
 much influence not only with his immediate 
 party but also with the community gen- 
 erally. 
 
 ,>^OBERT S. WHITEHEAD, a 
 
 I /^ thorough and skillful farmer, pleas- 
 
 1 . y antly located six miles southeast 
 
 of Granbury, in Hood county, is a 
 
 native of Virginia, born in Pittsylvania 
 
 county, November 11, 1846, and is a son of 
 
:4-2 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 Raleif,'h and Elizabeth (Rossor) Whitehead, 
 also natives of the Old Dominion. The 
 family is of English origin and was founded 
 in America during colonial times. His pa- 
 ternal grandfather, James L. Whitehead, 
 had two brothers who valiantly aided the 
 colonies in their struggle for independence. 
 His maternal grandfather was Colonel Jack 
 Rossor, of Virginia. From their native 
 state the family removed to Polk county, 
 Georgia, where the father engaged in farm- 
 ing and where both parents spent their re- 
 maining days. To them had been born 
 three children: John R., deceased; Robert 
 S., of this sketch; and Martha, who also 
 died in Georgia. 
 
 Mr. Whitehead grew to manhood upon 
 his father's farm, receiving a good education 
 in a private school, and remained at home 
 until December, 1862, when he enlisted in 
 the Confederate army and was assigned to 
 Company A, First Georgia Cavalry, Wheel- 
 er's corps, with which he served until the 
 close of the war. When that terrible strug- 
 gle was over he returned home, but in 1866 
 sold out his interests in Georgia and came 
 to Texas, stopping for a few months in 
 Panola county. Later he was engaged in 
 the cattle business farther west, which he 
 continued for four years. 
 
 On the 17th of September, 1874, 
 Mr. Whitehead led to the marriage altar 
 Miss B. E. Moore, a native of Lincoln 
 county, Tennessee, and a daughter of A. 
 E. Moore. Eight children have been born 
 to them, namely: Raleigh M., Dolly B., 
 A. E., R. R., N. N., Rosa K , Henry G. 
 and R. S. The same year of his marriage, 
 Mr. Whitehead returned to the old home- 
 stead in Georgia, which he had in charge 
 about ten years, when he settled up his 
 father's estate and again came to Texas, 
 
 since which time he has been successfully 
 engaged in farming in Hood county, having 
 a tine place of two hundred acres, a half of 
 which he has placed under the plow. No 
 man takes a deeper interest in the prosperity 
 of his adopted county, and it is safe to say 
 that few have contributed in a larger degree 
 to bring about its results. He is an ardent 
 Populist in politics, taking a lively interest 
 in the success of his party, and religiously, 
 both himself and estimable wife are faith- 
 ful members of the Missionary Baptist 
 church. 
 
 A. E. Moore, the father of Mrs. White- 
 head, has been identified with the interests 
 of Hood county since 1872. He was born 
 in Lincoln county, Tennessee, on the 15th 
 of February, 1821, and is a son of Andrew 
 and Kindness (Meek) Moore, the former a 
 native of North Carolina and the latter of 
 Tennessee. The maternal grandfather of 
 Mr. Moore left Virginia and located in the 
 wilderness of Tennessee as early as 1806. 
 Andrew Moore conducted a grist and saw 
 mill, also a gin, and managed a farm. By 
 his marriage to Kindness Meek he became 
 the father of ten children, eight of whom 
 grew to maturity, and six are still living. His 
 death occurred in 1826, and his wife's a year 
 later. 
 
 A. E. Moore was reared by his uncle, 
 Captain John Clark, until twelve years of 
 age, during which time he became familiar 
 with agricultural pursuits, and then entered 
 upon a five-years apprenticeship to the tan- 
 ner's trade under his oldest brother. While 
 with him he was able to attend the common 
 schools, and when his apprenticeship had 
 expired he worked as a journeyman for nine 
 years. 
 
 In 1849 Mr. Moore was united in mar- 
 riage with Miss Nancy J. Motlow, a native 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 743 
 
 of Tennessee and a daughter of Zadock 
 Motlow, who was from South CaroHna. 
 Four children were born to them: Mary 
 Elizabeth, the wife of Robert S. White- 
 head; Andrew Zadock, who died at the age 
 of two years; Kindness R. , at home; and 
 Granville Jones, of Coke county, Texas. 
 
 After his marriage, Mr. Moore continued 
 to engage in farming in Tennessee until 
 coming to Texas in icS/a, when he purchased 
 two hundred acres of partially improved 
 land on the Brazos river, where he has since 
 been identified with the agricultural inter- 
 ests. In politics he is a Jacksonian Demo- 
 crat. 
 
 ^-t'C'SIAH CLINTON GOODWIN, 
 fl whose residence in Hood county 
 /• 1 dates from i860, has been identified 
 with the region through the import- 
 ant era of its development. When he lo- 
 cated within its borders, the lands were 
 wild and there was little promise of develop- 
 ment. Long stretches of unimproved 
 prairies, broken by the forests which bor- 
 dered the streams, were the haunt of wild 
 game and were frequently traversed by the 
 Indians. The work of reclaiming this re- 
 gion was an arduous one, but resolutely the 
 pioneers began the task and the rich fertil- 
 ity of Hood county, its many natural re- 
 sources and the advantages added by man 
 have made it a most desirable place of resi- 
 dence. Among the worthy pioneers is num- 
 bered the gentleman whose name introduces 
 this review, and his name is inseparably 
 linked with the history of this locality. 
 
 His parents, Newton and Jane (Wake- 
 field) Goodwin, were natives of North Caro- 
 lina, the former born February 21, 1804, 
 and the latter November 6, 1807. They 
 
 were married in Tennessee and afterward 
 removed to Talladega, Alabama, where they 
 lived for twenty-six years. It was during 
 that time that Josiah C. was born, on the 
 23d of January, 1844. They left Alabama 
 in 1859 and started to Texas, but before 
 reaching this state spent one year in Arkan- 
 sas. Their first home in the Lone Star 
 state was in Hood county, then a part of 
 Johnson county, they effecting a settlement 
 a mile east of Acton, in i860. There Mr. 
 Goodwin improved a farm and planted an 
 orchard. He was also engaged in merchan- 
 dising for two years in Acton, and of this 
 county continued a resident until 1874, 
 when on account of impaired health he re- 
 turned to Alabama, his death occurring 
 there January 2, 1875. His widow is still 
 living and makes her home with a daughter 
 in Arkansas. 
 
 Mr. Goodwin, of this review, was reared 
 under the parental roof, acquired his educa- 
 tion in the common schools near his home, 
 and at the age of fifteen became a resident 
 of Hood county. Among the soldier boys 
 of the civil war he is numbered. They 
 were boys in years, but men in fearless de- 
 votion to duty, and he made for himself an 
 honorable military record. In 1861 he 
 joined the Confederate service and became 
 a member of Company I, Tenth Texas In- 
 fantry. After the capture of that command 
 at Arkansas Post he was assigned to the 
 Thirty-first Cavalry and took part in all the 
 engagements of the regiment. He was 
 loyal to the cause which he espoused and 
 no time-honored veteran could have been 
 more faithful than the boys who with reso- 
 lute courage followed wherever duty led. 
 
 When hostilities were over Mr. Goodwin 
 returned to his home and in 1866 and 1867 
 he was a student in Oakland College, in 
 
HJSTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 Johnson county, under the direction of J. C. 
 Collin. When his education was completed 
 he entered upon the more serious duties that 
 come to each one as he lays aside his text- 
 books. He was married and began farming, 
 which occupation he has since continued in 
 connection with stock-raising. He has 
 labored energetically and his work has 
 brought to him a good income, making him 
 one of the substantial agriculturists of the 
 community. 
 
 In his political views Mr. Goodwin is 
 a Democrat, but has never sought office, 
 preferring to devote his attention to his busi- 
 ness interests and the enjoyments of home 
 life. He was married December 19, 1867, 
 to Sarah Margaret Cornelius, a native of 
 Arkansas and a daughter of Dr. J. C. Cor- 
 nelius. They had four children, namely: 
 Jackson C, Josiah Newton, Charles Augus- 
 tus and Hartwell Albert. Mrs. Goodwin 
 died April 3, 1879, and many friends 
 mourned her loss. Mr. Goodwin is a mem- 
 ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
 south, and his excellencies of character gain 
 him high regard. 
 
 The Goodwin family is of Scotch origin 
 and was founded in America during colonial 
 times. Two great-grandfathers of our sub- 
 ject were heroes of the Revolution, and 
 William Goodwin, an uncle of our subject, 
 was a defender of the coimtry in the war of 
 1 8 1 2, serving under Jackson. His death oc- 
 curred at New Orleans, during the battle 
 there in our war with Great Britain. 
 
 >j»OHN MANOAH WILLIAMS is a 
 m representative of the pioneers of 
 A 1 central Texas and now one of the 
 largest landowners and the wealthi- 
 est man in Hood county. He was born in 
 
 west Tennessee, January 23, 1832, a son 
 of David and Nancy Ann (Brock) Williams, 
 the former a native of North Carolina, the 
 latter of Alabama. His paternal grand- 
 father was Isaac Williams, a soldier of the 
 war of 181 2. The mother of our subject 
 died during his early childhood, leaving two 
 sons, the older brother being William V. 
 Williams. The father of this family was 
 again married and seven children were born 
 of the second union. His death occurred 
 in Brazos county in 1895, at the age of 
 eighty-nine years. 
 
 John M. Williams received but limited 
 school privileges and since seventeen years 
 of age has been dependent upon his own 
 resources. Within the first year of its state- 
 hood he came to Texas, locating in Chero- 
 kee county, where he engaged in farming. 
 He was one of the first settlers of that lo- 
 cality and had to endure all the hardships 
 incident to pioneer life. In his business 
 dealings he was successful and continued to 
 make his home in that locality until i860, 
 when he came to Hood county, which then 
 formed a part of Erath county. He owned 
 a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in 
 Cherokee county, which he traded for cat- 
 tle, bringing the same to Hood county to 
 graze on its broad prairies. He engaged in 
 the stock business and at one time was largely 
 interested in cattle, having about eight hun- 
 dred head. He also had thirty horses. 
 When he arrived in this locality there were 
 but few settlers on Squaw creek, and the 
 country abounded in game and wild animals. 
 Like other early settlers Mr. Williams suf- 
 fered losses through Indian depredations and 
 for about four years most of his time was 
 passed in assisting to drive away the sav- 
 ages. He participated in several different, 
 battles, in one of which his party lost twen- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 m 
 
 ty-one men. On different occasions he lost 
 his entire stock of horses, — atone time five 
 head, one of which he had refused two hun- 
 dred dollars for. At another time the Indi- 
 ans drove his horses away in broad daylight 
 and Mr. Williams could only look on pow- 
 erless to prevent them, for had he attempted 
 resistance he would undoubtedly have been 
 killed. -He had to content himself with going 
 about on foot until he had secured money 
 enough to purchase others. In 1864 the In- 
 dians killed Mr. Bryant and a negro, and Mr. 
 Green and Dr. McBride died from injuries 
 sustained in the battle. Mr. Williams took 
 part in the killing of the seven Indians, six 
 men and one squaw, at Star Hollow. Dur- 
 ing these troublous times his wife remained 
 at home and not only had to care for her 
 children but also had to look after the cattle 
 and was in constant fear that the Indians 
 would come and murder the entire family. 
 
 At length the days of trial, danger and 
 hardship passed, and Mr. Williams, assisted 
 by his good wife, has met with marked suc- 
 cess. From time to time he has added to 
 his property until now his landed posses- 
 sions aggregate two thousand acres, most 
 of which is either under cultivation or is 
 capable of being cultivated. His large es- 
 tate has been acquired through his own in- 
 dustry, perseverance and capable manage- 
 ment, and he has earned the right to the 
 proud American title, a "self-made man." 
 
 In Cherokee county, Texas, September 
 5, 1855, Mr. Williams married Miss Sar.ah 
 Ann Prestidge, who was born in Mississippi, 
 but came to the Lone Star state in early 
 childhood with her parents, Obadiah and 
 Mary Prestidge, who located in Cherokee 
 county, whence they came to Hood county 
 in 1870, and here spent their remaining 
 days. Both have now passed away. Mr. 
 
 and Mrs. Williams have had nine children, 
 two of whom died in infancy, while John M. 
 died at the age of eighteen years. Those 
 living are Mary, wife of Thomas Cruce; 
 Sarah A., wife of Gordon Trammel; David, 
 who is married and follows farming in Hood 
 county; James, a farmer, also' married; 
 Nancy A., wife of Bradford Mitchell; and 
 Larkin, who is unmarried. Those who 
 have left the parental roof are living on 
 Squaw creek, near the old homestead. 
 
 In his political views Mr. Williams is a 
 Democrat, but has no aspirations for office. 
 He has always taken an active interest in 
 those things which pertain to the public 
 good, and as far as lay in his power has 
 aided enterprises for the promotion of the 
 public welfare. He has witnessed the en- 
 tire growth and development of this region 
 and borne his share in the pioneer labors. 
 It requires a courageous, energetic spirit to 
 meet the hardships of frontier life, especially 
 when they are accompanied by the danger 
 of losing one's life at the hands of hostile 
 savages; but those troublous times at length 
 passed, wild land was transformed into good 
 farms, towns sprang up, the comforts and 
 conveniences of civilization were added, and 
 the pioneers may well feel a just pride as 
 they think of their labor which has changed 
 this from a wild western region to a pros- 
 perous, productive locality, peopled by 
 happy, contented men and women. 
 
 ^"V* ERASTUS UMPHRESS, one of 
 •^^^^ the extensive landowners of Hood 
 
 K^ J county, is a representative and 
 
 leading farmer, possessed of the 
 
 true progressive spirit of the age, which is 
 
 so rapidly transforming this state from a 
 
74G 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS 
 
 wild, uninhabited region into beautiful 
 homes and farms and placing; it on a par 
 with the states that have been much longer 
 settled. He comes from the peninsular 
 state of the Union, — Florida, — his birth 
 having occurred there, in Jefferson countj-, 
 on the 4th of June, 185 1. His parents, 
 Mitchell and Martha (Horton) Umphress, 
 were both nati\-es of Georgia. They had 
 five sons and three daughters, only four of 
 whom are living at this writing (summer of 
 1896), namely: Artemissa, wife of Levi 
 Horton, of Dallas county, Texas; John, a 
 farmer of that county; Arphaxad, who car- 
 ried on agricultural pursuits in Dallas county ; 
 and the gentleman whose name introduces 
 this notice. 
 
 S. E. Umphress was reared to farm life 
 on the old homestead, and what little edu- 
 cation he acquired in his youth was under 
 the instruction of his parents. The father 
 died in Florida in March, 1859, but the 
 mother is ntnv living in Dallas county, 
 Texas, with her daughter, Mrs. Horton. 
 Our subject continued under the parental 
 roof until nearly twenty-two years of age 
 and then started out in life for himself, 
 without assistance from relatives or friends. 
 In 1872 he came to Texas, a poor young 
 man, and being unable to purchase a farm 
 he rented land in Dallas county, on which 
 he raised two crops. He then removed to 
 Hood county and purchased one hundred 
 acres where he now lives, about nine miles 
 south of Granbury. He has since profitably 
 followed farming and stock-raising, and as 
 his financial resources have increased has 
 bought other property, until his landed 
 possessions now aggregate nine hundred 
 acres, seven hundred of which are in one 
 body, with two hundred and eighty acres in 
 a good state of cultivation. The well-tilled 
 
 fields indicate his careful supervision, and 
 the many excellent improvements stand as 
 monuments to his thrift and enterprise. 
 He has a handsome frame residence, good 
 outbuildings, a wind pump and the latest- 
 improved farm machinery. He raises stock 
 of good grades, and his capable manage- 
 ment and earnest efforts have brought to 
 him a comfortable competence. 
 
 On the 25th of October, 1872, was cele- 
 brated the marriage of Mr. Umphress and 
 Miss Maggie Grubbs, daughter of John and 
 Rebecca (Kinsey) Grubbs, both natives of 
 Florida. They had an interesting family 
 of eight children and have lost one. Those 
 who still survive are Lola, wife of C. W. 
 Jones, of Hood county; William, Rollins, 
 Augustus, Lela, Olen and Maggie. The 
 parents are members of the Missionary Bap- 
 tist church, and contribute liberally to its 
 support and do all in their power for its 
 promotion. Their home is a hospitable one 
 and their friends throughout the community 
 are many. Mr. Umphress belongs to the 
 ancient and honored society of Masons, his 
 membership being in Granbury Lodge, No. 
 392, F. & A. M. His political support is 
 given to the Democracy, but he is by no 
 means a politician, caring not for the hon- 
 ors or emoluments of public office, content 
 to faithfully discharge his duties of citizen- 
 ship in ia quiet way. He is an intelligent 
 and broad-minded man, public-spirited and 
 progressive, and takes a commendable in- 
 terest in all that pertains to the welfare and 
 upbuilding of the community. Churches 
 and schools find in him a friend, and during 
 the quarter of a century that he has resided 
 in Hood county he has ever been known as 
 the champion of right and order. In man- 
 ner he is social and genial, and is highly 
 esteemed for his sterling worth. 
 
HISTORY OP TEXAS. 
 
 747 
 
 %^/'\ K- G. B. WALKER, who is living 
 I I '^ retired life at his pleasant home 
 /^^_^ in Hood county, comes of an hon- 
 ored family that has been promi- 
 nent in the military history of the country. 
 His great-grandfather, John Walker, was 
 a native of the Emerald Isle and reared 
 seven sons and several daughters. In co- 
 lonial days he crossed the broad Atlantic to 
 America, taking up his residence in Penn- 
 sylvania among its early settlers. He and 
 his sons served in the Revolutionary war 
 and were fearless patriots, ever loyal to the 
 cause of independence and of liberty. John 
 Walker also became the possessor of con- 
 siderable wealth, and when he refused to 
 disclose the hiding place of his fortune to the 
 Tories he was arrested and tortured. His 
 thumbs were pulled in a vise and his feet 
 were burned, but he possessed a fearless de- 
 termination that physical suffering could not 
 quell and he told his captors that they 
 might kill an old man, but he would die be- 
 fore he would yield. Finding that they 
 could gain nothing by this torture, the 
 Tories finally released him and he lived 
 to a good old age to enjoy the freedom for 
 which he had so bravely battled. His death 
 occurred in Pennsylvania. 
 
 The grandparents of the Doctor were 
 
 John and (Wright) Walker, natives of 
 
 Georgia, whence they removed to Dallas 
 county, Alabama, where they spent the re- 
 mainder of their lives. They had two sons, 
 one of whom served under General Jackson 
 in the war of 1812 and more firmly estab- 
 lished the reputation of the family for valor 
 in times of their country's danger. 
 
 The Doctor's parents were William W. 
 and Elizabeth (Green) Walker, natives of 
 Georgia, and in 1818 they removed to Ala- 
 bama. For many years they were residents 
 
 of that state, where the father engaged in 
 the work of the ministry as a preacher of 
 the Baptist denomination. At length he came 
 to Texas, in 1853, settling in Leon county, 
 where he made a permanent home, purchas- 
 ingland on which he spent his remaining days. 
 He brought to the state with him his wife and 
 five children, namely: Jefferson, Betty, 
 Reuben,, George and Frank. Three other 
 children, G. B., John W. and James, did 
 not accompany the parents at the time, and 
 John lived and died near the old homestead 
 in Alabama, but the others afterward became 
 residents of Te.xas. Rev. William Walker 
 was a man of fine intellectual talents and a 
 preacher of great force. He did much to 
 raise the standard of Christian excellence 
 among the people wherever he lived and 
 worked, and his noble life left its impress 
 for good upon all with whom he came in 
 contact. Old and young, rich and poor 
 were his friends, and his death was deeply 
 mourned by all who knew him. He passed 
 to his final home in 1863, at the age of sixty 
 3?ears; and his wife, who was born in 1805, 
 was called to her final rest in 1864. 
 
 Dr. Walker, of this review, is one of the 
 worthy citizens that the Cotton state has 
 furnished to Texas. He was born in Dallas 
 county, Alabama, in 1822, and acquired his 
 primary education under the tutelage of 
 private instructors. Determining to enter 
 the medical profession he began his prepar- 
 ation for that work by reading in the office 
 of Drs. Eddings and Schaffer, who were his 
 preceptors for three years. He had pre- 
 viously read medicine for a year under 
 another physician, and practiced with his 
 preceptors for a brief time in Greenboro, 
 Alabama. Removing to Jefferson, Alabama, 
 he opened an office and continued the active 
 prosecution of his profession from 1846 until 
 
748 
 
 NISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 January, 1850, at whicli time he removed to 
 Arkansas, locating near the boundary Hne of 
 Louisiana, where he practiced until 1857. 
 Since that year he has been identified with 
 the interests of Texas. 
 
 Making his home in this state he was 
 soon recognized as one of its most capable 
 and progressive physicians and enjoyed a 
 large patronage. He afterward practiced 
 in Johnson county for two years and in 1872 
 came to Hood county, locating at Thorp 
 Spring. He is now living upon his excellent 
 farm, which comprises three hundred and 
 twenty acres of rich land, of which two 
 hundred and forty acres are under a high 
 state of cultivation and yield to him a good 
 income in return for the care and labor be- 
 stowed upon it. The improvements are 
 modern and well kept and indicate the en- 
 terprise and thrift of the owner. 
 
 In 1853 was celebrated the marriage of 
 Dr. Walker and Miss Rachel Kennedy, who 
 died on the 9th of March, 1889, at the age 
 of fifty-seven years. They had ten children, 
 seven of whom reached adult age, while six 
 are now living. 
 
 The Doctor has now laid aside the cares 
 of active business life and is resting in the 
 enjoyment of the fruits of his former toil. 
 He has always been a deep and earnest stu- 
 dent, not only of his profession but also of 
 many other topics, and is especially well in- 
 formed on all matters of general interest, 
 incUuling the current events of the day. As 
 a converser he is entertaining and instruct- 
 ive, and his hospitable home is a favorite 
 with many friends. To do good has been 
 the motto of his life, yet those acts of kind- 
 ness, generosity and charity which have won 
 him the gratitude of many and the respect 
 of all have ever been performed in a most 
 unostentatious manner. In his political 
 
 views he has ever been a Democrat of the 
 Jacksonian school. Every enterprise hav- 
 ing for its object the promotion of the best 
 interests of the county is sure of his co- 
 operation and support, and he is a valued 
 citizen that the community could ill afford 
 to lose. 
 
 aL. McELHANEY is one of the 
 progressive, well-to-do citizens of 
 Erath county, who has won a com- 
 fortable competence as a farmer. 
 He is now the owner of a valuable and de- 
 sirable country home, comprising three hun- 
 dred and thirty acres of land, pleasantly 
 situated about three miles from Stephenville. 
 One hundred and sixty-two acres of the 
 farm are under a high state of cultivation 
 and give evidence of abundant harvests. 
 The improvements upon the place consist 
 of good fences and substantial and commo- 
 dious barns and other outbuildings, together 
 with a comfortable residence, and all are 
 indicative of the enterprise and thrift which 
 are so characteristic of the owner. 
 
 Mr. McEIhaney well deserves to be 
 numbered among the leading farmers of 
 Erath county, and it is with pleasure that 
 we present the record of his life to our 
 readers. He was born in Marshall county, 
 Tennessee, in 1 844, a son of James and 
 Paulina M. (Reed) McEIhaney, natives of 
 the same state. The father died in Ten- 
 nessee, but the mother is still living. 
 
 The early life of our subject was passed 
 on the old family homestead, where he 
 received such educational advantages as 
 were afforded by the common schools of the 
 neighborhood. When the civil war was in- 
 augurated he went forth in defense of his 
 beloved south, and the principles which had 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 140 
 
 been familiar to him from earliest boyhood, 
 enlisting in 1861 as a member of Company 
 A, Forty-fifth Tennessee Infantry. It fell 
 to the lot of few gallant southerners to take 
 part in more daring charges and hard-fought 
 engagements than did Mr. McElhaney. He 
 served for a long time in General Hood's 
 army, and under command of that intrepid 
 leader he met the Union forces in battle at 
 Shiloh, Chickamauga, Vicksburg, Baton 
 Rouge, Murfreesboro and participated in the 
 daily encounters that took place between 
 Dalton and Jonesboro. In the latter battle 
 he was taken prisoner, sent to Camp Doug- 
 las and there incarcerated until the war was 
 ended, — a period of nine months. 
 
 On his return home he took up his resi- 
 dence in Tennessee and was married there 
 on the 1 2th of August, 1869, to Miss Nannie 
 McCrory. He afterward removed to Ken- 
 tucky and for four years was a resident of 
 Calloway and Graves counties, following 
 farming. In 1875 he emigrated to Texas, 
 and was a resident of Johnson county until 
 1890, which year dates his advent into 
 Erath county. Purchasing his present farm 
 he has continued its further development 
 and cultivation, and his home is now most 
 pleasant. This is partly due to the efforts 
 of the estimable wife whose delight in her 
 domestic duties has made her home the 
 abode of good cheer, and true hospitality 
 also abounds there. The parents have nine 
 living children, — Willie L., Otho, Mertie L., 
 Walter B., Eddie, Charles, Luther, Babe 
 and Patrick. 
 
 In his political views Mr. McElhaney is 
 a stanch Democrat, unwavering in his sup- 
 port of the party principles. His life has 
 been that of the practical business man, 
 and he is a worthy representative of that 
 class upon whom the stability and welfare 
 
 of the country depends. His friends are 
 many and his friendship is prized most by 
 those who know him best. 
 
 ^ y' W. BISHOP, whose residence in 
 M Comanche county covers almost a 
 A 1 quarter of a century, is a popular 
 citizen, having many friends, and we 
 therefore feel assured that this record of his 
 life will prove of interest to many of our 
 readers. He was born in Hancock county, 
 Georgia, on the 8th of September, 1833, 
 and is a son of Asa Jones Bishop, who was 
 born in North Carolina and was a repre- 
 sentative of one of the old colonial families 
 of English origin. In the state of his na- 
 tivity he was reared, and when a young 
 man removed to Georgia, where he met and 
 married Miss Elizabeth Breedlove, a native 
 of Virginia, whose mother belonged to the 
 prominent Foster family of the Old Domin- 
 ion. Her people were wealthy and exten- 
 sive planters and very influential citizens. 
 To Mr. and Mrs. Bishop were born five 
 children: Martha, Sarah E. , Francis, 
 George W. and J. W. The father was a 
 blacksmith and wagon-maker and possessed 
 considerable mechanical ingenuity. In poli- 
 tics he was a Whig and a warm admirer of 
 Henry Clay. His death occurred in Wilkin- 
 son county, Georgia, when he had reached 
 the age of fifty-two years. His wife long 
 survived him and passed away at the ad- 
 vanced age of eighty-five. She was a faith- 
 ful Christian woman, possessed of many 
 virtues, and was loved by all who knew her. 
 The boyhood days of our subject were 
 quietly passed on his father's farm in Georgia, 
 where he early became familiar with all the 
 duties that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. 
 
750 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 He also worked at the blacksmith and car- 
 penter's trade for ten years, and in his child- 
 hood learned the lessons of industry and 
 energy which have been followed throughout 
 his entire life and have led to his success. 
 He made for himself an honorable record as 
 a brave soldier during the civil war, enlisting 
 in the Twenty-second Georgia Infantry, 
 under Captain Johnson and Colonel Baird. 
 He participated in a number of skirmishes 
 and battles, and during the engagement at 
 Mansfield was struck by a ball in the left 
 shoulder, which was afterward taken out of 
 the right side. He was also wounded in the 
 right arm. He faithfully defended the cause 
 under whose banner he enlisted, and at the 
 close of hostilities went to Louisiana, v;here 
 he resided until 1874, the year of his arrival 
 in Texas. 
 
 Mr. Bishop came at once to Comanche 
 county and has since been identified with its 
 agricultural interests. He has two good 
 farms of two hundred and forty acres, and 
 one hundred and twenty acres is planted to 
 crops which yield him a good return. He 
 has modern improvements upon his place 
 and "in his operations is meeting with a fair 
 degree of success. In politics he is a Demo- 
 crat, but has been contenj: to let others hold 
 office, while he gives his attention to his 
 business interests. 
 
 Mr. Bishop was married in Georgia to 
 Nancy Dupree, a lady of refined and cultured 
 tastes who has been a faithful companion 
 and helpmeet to her husband. She was 
 born in Georgia, a daughter of John and 
 Mary (Taylor) Dupree, the former of French 
 extraction and the latter of an old Georgian 
 family. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop have six chil- 
 dren, as follows: Aurora, Talitha, Melissa, 
 Elizabeth, Sienna and Fanny. Mr. Bishop is 
 a wide-aw£ike, enterprising man, keeping up 
 
 with the progress of the time, and the ster- 
 ling worth of his character has won him the 
 respect of all. 
 
 at 
 
 ILLIAM THOMAS BYRD.— Ina 
 country where any avenue of busi- 
 ness is open to all men and where 
 the humblest born may aspire to 
 the highest position, it is not unusual to find 
 men who have worked their way steadily 
 upward; yet success in America, as in every 
 country, is the outcome of persistent effort, 
 good management and perseverance. These 
 three qualities are prominent points in the 
 character of the gentleman whose life is 
 now under review; and they have brought 
 to him prosperity, while his straightforward 
 dealing and unimpeachable conduct have 
 won him the respect of all with whom he 
 has been brought in contact. 
 
 Mr. Byrd, a well known farmer of Co- 
 manche county, was born in Lincoln county, 
 Tennessee, April 2, 1833, and comes of one 
 of the old Virginian families of Irish lineage. 
 The paternal grandfather was a native of 
 the Old Dominion, and both he and his wife 
 lived to the unusual age of about one hun- 
 dred years. His father, William Byrd, was 
 born in Virginia and was reared in Scott 
 county, near the Tennessee line. He mar- 
 ried Nancy Blakemore, who also was born 
 and reared in Scott county and belonged to 
 one of the prominent families of the state. 
 She was a daughter of Joseph Blakemore 
 and a sister to Joseph Blakemore, Jr., and 
 T. J. Blakemore, — both of whom were in 
 Texas as early as 1835, participated in the 
 battles of Hempstead and Houston in this 
 state, and were also in the Mexican war; 
 Joseph was a commander in the latter. 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 751 
 
 Mr. William Byrd was a planter and was a 
 man of sterling worth. His wife was for 
 forty years a member of the Methodist 
 church, dying in the faith. He died in 
 1865, at the age of sixty-si,\ years, and she 
 in Virginia, at the age of seventy-nine years, 
 passing away in the 5'ear 1869. They had 
 nine children, eight of* whom reached years 
 of maturity, namely: Francis Jehu, Joseph, 
 Letitia, Narcissa, Daniel, Minerva, William 
 Thomas, Helen and one who died in infancy. 
 
 The subject of this biographical notice 
 was reared on a farm in the state of his na- 
 tivity, spending his youth at work in the 
 fields or in attendance at the public schools 
 of the neighborhood, where he acquired a 
 common-school education. In 1861 he en- 
 tered the southern army and first was with 
 General Johnston but later with the fearless 
 and gallant Stonewall Jackson; and still 
 later he was under Longstreet. During his 
 service he participated in many battles and 
 was seriously wounded in the right thigh 
 during one of the engagements, where he 
 was under the command of General Vaughn, 
 near Ivnoxville, Tennessee. 
 
 After the war Mr. Byrd lived mostly in 
 Virginia, until 1871, but spent two years in 
 California, to which state he went in 1872 
 and engaged in mining until 1874. Return- 
 ing, he located in Comanche county, Te.xas, 
 where he has since maintained his residence. 
 From his parents he inherited some five 
 hundred acres of land, but he disposed of all 
 that excepting about two hundred and fifty 
 acres of wild land, which he has transformed 
 into a valuable farm, with one hundred acres 
 under a high state of cultivation, richly im- 
 proved and with all the modern accessories 
 and conveniences of a farm well cared for. 
 This very valuable property is a monument 
 to his thrift and enterprise, for his posses- 
 
 sions have all been acquired through his own 
 efforts. 
 
 In September, 1880, was celebrated the 
 marriage of Mr. Byrd and Miss Marianne 
 Elizabeth Yarbrough, a lady of intelligence 
 and culture. She was born in Alabama but 
 educated in Texas. Her parents were Isaac 
 E. and M. A. (Priestj Yarbrough, of East- 
 land county, Texas. Their family included 
 the following named: James W. , Moses, 
 William F. Charles Lee, Wiley O., Sabra 
 C. , Francis, Joseph, Elisha, Joel and Elza, 
 who died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Byrd 
 have two sons and two daughters: Francis 
 Jehu, William Isaac, Joseph Robert and 
 Mary Narcissa Maria. 
 
 In his political adherency Mr. Byrd is a 
 Populist, and in religious belief a Methodist. 
 He takes an active interest in church work, 
 having served as steward and trustee and 
 also as superintendent of the Sunday-school. 
 He is a man of intelligence, of broad and 
 progressive views and gives a hearty indorse- 
 ment to educational, religious and temper- 
 ance movements and all other interests that 
 have for their object the uplifting of human- 
 ity. In manner he is frank and cordial, 
 possessing the true southern hospitality 
 characterizing the best people of the south, 
 and in every way he is a very popular man. 
 
 eD. R. STANLEY is one of the 
 worthy farmers of Texas. Long- 
 fellow wrote, "We judge ourselves 
 by what we feel capable of doing, 
 while others judge us by what we have al- 
 ready done." If this golden sentence of the 
 New England poet were universally applied 
 many a man who is now looking down with 
 haughty stare upon the noble toilers on land 
 and sea, sneering at the cut of his neigh- 
 
752 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 bor's coat or the humbleness of his dwell- 
 ing, would be voluntarily doing penance in 
 sackcloth and ashes, at the end of which 
 self-chastisement he would handle a spade, 
 or, with pen in hand, burn the midnight oil 
 in his study, in the endeavor to widen the 
 bounds of liberty or to accelerate the ma- 
 terial and spiritual progress of his race. A 
 bright example of one of the world's work- 
 ers is the man whose name introduces this 
 review. The oldest industries, and those 
 which have been the means of bringing 
 prosperity and plenty to every nation that 
 has been so blessed, he is now following, — 
 for he is engaged in farming and stock-rais- 
 ing in Comanche county. 
 
 Mr. Stanley was born in Alabama, No- 
 vember 22, 1844, a son of Andrew H. and 
 Martha (Mose) Stanley. His father was 
 born in Tennessee, and was a son of Na- 
 thaniel Stanley, a native of North Carolina, 
 who descended from the Puritan stock that 
 early settled on American shores. The fam- 
 ily has furnished many prominent repre- 
 sentatives to the country, including General 
 Stanley, of Revolutionary fame. The mother 
 of our subject was born in Virginia, and be- 
 longed to a leading family of that state. 
 To Mr. and Mrs. Stanley were born fifteen 
 children, eleven of whom reached years of 
 maturity, namely: E. R. , William A., 
 James M., Albert Sidney, Lewis Pinkney, 
 Joseph Bolinger, Martha Frances, Susan, 
 John W., Emmand and Walter. Four of 
 the family died in early childhood, and Ann 
 Eliza died at the age of ten years. The 
 father was a farmer by occupation and spent 
 his last days in Alabama. His political sup- 
 port was given the Democracy. He held 
 membership in the I^aptist church, in which 
 he was a deacon and ordained minister, and 
 was a most prominent Sunday-school worker, 
 
 lecturing before many Sunday-school asso- 
 ciations and in other ways laboring in this 
 branch of the Lord's work. His wife, who 
 died in Alabama, was a noble Christian 
 woman, and was his able assistant in his 
 work. 
 
 Mr. Stanley, of this review, was reared 
 on a farm and acquired his education in the 
 public schools. In 1861 he enrolled his 
 name as a member of the Sixteenth Ala- 
 bama Infantry under Colonel U. B. Woods, 
 and for four years followed the flag of the 
 south. He participated in the hard-fought 
 battles of Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Farming- 
 ton, Chickamauga, and at the last named 
 was three times wounded by grape-shot, a 
 ball striking him in the right thigh, the left 
 side and the left heel, — all within fifteen 
 minutes! He was then sent to the hospital, 
 and afterward returned home on a three- 
 months furlough. When he again joined 
 the army he took part in the battle of Nash- 
 ville, and on the close of the war he was 
 paroled as second sergeant of Company B, 
 Sixteenth Alabama Infantry. 
 
 Mr. Stanley continued to make his home 
 in Alabama until 1873, when he removed to 
 Arkansas, living in Sebastian county, then 
 in Norton and later in Woodruff county until 
 1883, when he went to Brown county, Texas. 
 His present farm comprises six hundred and 
 eight acres of land. When it came into his 
 possession a log cabin stood upon it, but he 
 has since erected a comfortable stone resi- 
 dence, at a cost of twenty-five hundred dol- 
 lars, standing on a natural building site. 
 He has placed one hundred and fifty acres 
 of land under a high state of cultivation and 
 has made his farm a very valuable property, 
 owing to the man}' modern improvements 
 he has placed upon it. 
 
 When twenty-five years of age Mr. Stan- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 753 
 
 ley was married, in Arkansas, to Miss Luella 
 J. Hammond, a native of Alabama, and 
 reared and educated in Arkansas. Nine 
 children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Stanley, namely: Martha Esther, Hattie 
 L., Ed Don, Dudley Monroe, William A., 
 Anna, Grover, Berta Lee and Tabitha. Mr. 
 Stanley is a member of the Masonic frater- 
 nity, and in politics is a Democrat, having 
 voted with that party since attaining his 
 majority. He holds a membership in the 
 Baptist church, and both he and his wife 
 are very active in Sunday-school work. He 
 has served as superintendent of the school, 
 and is untiring in his efforts to instill into 
 the minds of the young those lessons which 
 shall serve as guides on life's journey and 
 make them honored men and women. His 
 life furnishes many examples that are worthy 
 of emulation, and his sterling integrity and 
 noble career, entirely free from ostentation, 
 has won him the esteem of all with whom 
 he has come in contact. 
 
 m 
 
 [LLIAM MOSES JOHNSON.— 
 Occupying a representative posi- 
 tion as identified with the ginning 
 interests of Bibb, and also as one 
 of Comanche county's farmers, stands the 
 subject of this review, William Moses John- 
 son. 
 
 He is a native of Dallas county, Te.xas, 
 born August lo, 1851. Thomas Nelson 
 Johnson, his father, was by birth a Carolin- 
 ian, born ill the Old North state, and a de- 
 scendant of one of the first families that set- 
 tled there. When quite young he went to 
 Missouri, where he grew up on a frontier 
 farm, whence at the age of si.xteen he came 
 to Te.xas, stopping in Dallas county. In 
 this state he wedded Miss Susan Snider, a 
 
 native of Iowa and of German extraction, 
 whose untimely death occurred when she 
 was only twenty-seven years of age. She 
 left three children, — William Moses, Albert 
 and Francis Marion, the eldest, our subject, 
 being six years old at the time he was de- 
 prived of a mother's loving care. His fa- 
 ther also died in the prime of life, he being 
 forty-one at the time of death. His life had 
 been -passed in farming and stock-raising, he 
 was in politics a Democrat; and as an hon- 
 orable and upright man he enjoyed the con- 
 fidence and respect of the pioneer community 
 in which his lot was cast. 
 
 The son of a farmer and stock dealer, 
 young Johnson, as he grew up became 
 familiar with every detail connected with 
 farm work and the care of stock, and his 
 education was received in the common 
 schools of his native county and in the dear 
 school of experience, chiefly in the latter. 
 In 1870, at the age of nineteen, he went to 
 Hamilton county, where he then spent one 
 year. The next year he was in Dallas 
 county. That was followed by another 
 year in Hamilton county; from there he 
 went to Erath county, and subsequently he 
 came from the latter place to Comanche 
 county, with which he has ever since been 
 identified. He has since 1892 maintained 
 his home on his present farm, a tract located 
 near Bibb and comprising one hundred and 
 sixty acres, nicely improved with comfort- 
 able residence, good barn and orchard, and 
 having seventy acres of the land under cul- 
 tivation. And while he is successfully car- 
 rying on farming operations he gives his 
 chief attention to his gin and mill, in which 
 he does a good business and has gained an 
 enviable reputation as a gin man. 
 
 Mr. Johnson was married March 31, 
 1869, to Rebecca Humphrey, a most estim- 
 
HISrORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 able woman and a member of a good family, 
 her parents being Horatio and Mary (Key) 
 Humphrey. Mrs. Johnson is a native of 
 Tennessee. Their children are: Mrs. Kox- 
 ana Jackson, of Sidney, Te.xas; Thomas A., 
 Charles W., Nora Josephine, Anta Custa, 
 and Essie Pearl. Also they have two de- 
 ceased: Warner William, who died at the 
 age of one year, and an unnamed infant. 
 
 Like his father before him, Mr. Johnson 
 is a supporter of the Democratic party. 
 Personally, he is frank and genial, is fair 
 and square in all his business dealings, and 
 has the happy faculty of making friends 
 with all with whom he comes in contact. 
 
 >Y»UDGE C. W. CARNES, one of 
 C Comanche's most highly esteemed 
 A 1 citizens and a pioneer of the county 
 of 1858, comes of a family of brave 
 pioneers and soldiers of Irish blood. He 
 was born in Carroll county, Georgia, Jan- 
 uary 6, 1832, descending from one of the 
 heroes of the Revolution. His grandfather, 
 Joseph Carnes, aided the colonies in their 
 struggle for independence, and had one son, 
 James, who was a soldier in the war of 18 12 
 and was a major in the United States Army. 
 Johii Carnes, father of our subject, was 
 born in North Carolina and was reared in 
 South Carolina and Georgia, living on his 
 father's farm. He wedded Mary Small- 
 wood, a native of Georgia and a daughter of 
 J. Smallwood, who was of Dutch descent 
 and belonged to one of the old families of 
 Georgia. The town of Carnesville, Georgia, 
 was named in honor of the family of which 
 our subject is a representative. His parents 
 had the following children, namely: David, 
 Gene, Brooks, Shipley, Clinton V., C. W., 
 Rachel, Elizabeth, Mary and Nancy. The 
 
 father followed the occupation of farming 
 and died in Polk county, Georgia, in 1857, 
 at the age of si.xty-five years. In politics he 
 was a Democrat. The mother came to 
 Comanche county with her daughter, Nancy, 
 and died at the age of sixty-five. She was 
 a member of the Primitive Baptist church 
 and was a sincere Christian woman, who 
 had the regard of all. 
 
 The subject of this review passed his 
 youth at his parents' home and acquired his 
 education through attendance on the public 
 schools of the neighborhood and by private 
 study. He also studied medicine, and when 
 he had prepared himself for practice was 
 thus engaged in Georgia from 185810 i860. 
 During the war he joined the Confederate 
 troops of Texas — which was noted for its 
 valiant soldiers — and served until the close 
 of hostilities, holding the rank of first lieu- 
 tenant. He led his company in many a 
 movement against the enemy, and was under 
 the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Gid- 
 dings, Colonel G. W. Carter and General 
 Marmaduke. With his lieutenant colonel 
 he was captured at the battle of Helena, 
 and taken to St. Louis, where he was soon 
 after exchanged and then returned to the 
 service. 
 
 When the war was over Mr. Carnes 
 turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, 
 developing a farm of one hundred and fifty- 
 four acres on Rush creek. On selling that 
 property he bought two hundred and ninety- 
 four acres of rich bottom land lying along 
 Savannah creek, and he now has one hun- 
 dred acres under a high state of cultivation. 
 He has upon the place three tenement 
 houses and good buildings for the care of 
 grain and stock. He also owns nineteen 
 acres of land adjoining the old town of 
 Donoton, which is also cultivable land. Hi§ 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 755 
 
 land is particularly adapted for the produc- 
 tion of vegetables and fruits of all kinds, 
 and the fine crops which he raises, selling 
 readily on the market for the highest prices 
 given, afford him a good income. 
 
 In May, 1872, was celebrated the mar- 
 riage of Judge Carnes and Miss Eleanor 
 Taylor, daughter of M. Taylor, who belonged 
 to one of the prominent old Georgia families. 
 They became parents of ten children, seven 
 of whom are living, namely: Smallwood, 
 Edna, Elizabeth, wife of John Rhodes, 
 Shipley, Brooks, Mary and Thomas P. The 
 other three children died in early life. 
 
 In his political views the subject of this 
 sketch is a Democrat. Before the war he 
 served as county judge, discharging his 
 duties with strict impartiality and in a man- 
 ner that reflected credit upon himself and 
 his constituents who chose him for the office. 
 Judge Carnes is now sixty-four years of age, 
 but is much younger in appearance and 
 manner, and his genial, social disposition 
 makes him very welcome to his many friends. 
 
 >Y* C. BRANNAN, proprietor of a good 
 ^ farm of three hundred and twenty 
 A 1 acres in Bosque county, is one of its 
 most substantial and thrifty farmers 
 and stock-raisers. He settled upon his pres- 
 ent place in 1881, and from the uncultivated 
 soil built up a valuable homestead, which 
 will remain as a monument of his industry 
 and enterprise for generations to come. He 
 has been particularly wise in his investments 
 and possesses e.xcellent business capacity, 
 making the most of his opportunities, and 
 all through the changes of a busy life and 
 while laboring for his own interest has in 
 no wise set aside the interests and well- 
 
 being of the community around him. He 
 has labored in common with other intelli- 
 gent men of Bosque county to advance its 
 interests, and make it a point of attraction 
 for immigration and settlement. 
 
 Tennessee, which has given so many of 
 its sons to the building up of Texas, was 
 the birthplace of our subject. He was born 
 December 4, 1825, and is the son of Robert 
 Brannan, a native of South Carolina. James 
 Brannan, the paternal grandfather, was 
 born near Dublin, Ireland, of Scotch-Irish 
 ancestry, and was a Protestant. He wed- 
 ded Elizabeth Hood, whose birth occurred 
 in South Carolina. Her ancestors were 
 from Ireland, and her brother, George Hood, 
 aided the colonies in their struggle for in- 
 dependence. 
 
 Robert Brannan was united in marriage 
 with Miss Elizabeth Carson, a native of 
 Williamson county, Tennessee, and a daugh- 
 ter of Thomas Carson, who was born in 
 Virginia, and served as a soldier in the war 
 of 1 81 2, under General Jackson. Nine 
 children were born of this union: J. C, 
 Thomas C, H. K., W. H., Willis, Robert, 
 Molly, Henry and Albert. The mother 
 died at the age of forty-four, and for his 
 second wife the father chose Elizabeth 
 Swann, by whom he had one daughter, — 
 Rebecca. He was a farmer, a Democrat 
 and member of the Baptist church, and died 
 at the age of sixty years. 
 
 Our subject was reared -on a farm and 
 received a good education in his native 
 state, where for a time he was successfully 
 engaged in teaching after leaving school. 
 He also carried on merchandising there for 
 a number of years. On the 4th of Decem- 
 ber, 1 86 1, he enlisted in the Forty-fourth 
 Tennessee Infantry as a member of Company 
 B, under Colonel McDonald, and was mus- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 tered in as private, but was soon promoted 
 as quartermaster and later as captain, for 
 gallant conduct and bravery on the field of 
 battle. He led his company at Shiloh, 
 where in making a charge he was wounded 
 by aminie ball in the left arm, which 
 caused him to resign his commission and 
 return home. Later, however, while in 
 company with some Confederate soldiers, 
 he was taken prisoner, between Chatta- 
 nooga and Nashville, Tennessee, and was 
 sent to Rock Island, Illinois, where he was 
 held for eleven months. 
 
 Returning to his home in November, 
 1864, Captain Brannan continued to reside 
 in Tennessee until 1872, when he came to 
 Te.xas, spending the first year in Red River 
 county, but since that time has made his 
 home in Bosque county. Most of his land 
 is used for-pasture. the Little Bosque run- 
 ning through the entire farm, making it an 
 excellent place for stock-raising; but he also 
 Jias eighty-five acres in high cultivation. 
 
 On reaching his majority, Mr. Brannan 
 was married, in Tennessee, August 9, 1846, 
 the lady of his choice being Miss Martha J. 
 Nichols, a most estimable lady, who has 
 been a true wife and partner to her husband 
 on life's journey. She was born in Jackson 
 county, Alabama, June 4, 1826, and is the 
 daughter of William and Elizabeth (Hedges) 
 Nichols, who were the parents of the fol- 
 lowing children : John, James, William, 
 Polly, Joseph, Terry, Frank, Betsy, David, 
 Martha J. and two who died in infancy. 
 Their father was of Irish and English lin- 
 eage and was the son of John Nichols, who 
 served for seven years in the continental 
 army during the war of the Revolution. 
 Their mother died at the age of fifty-eight 
 years, but he lived to be one hundred and 
 ten! Both were active members of the Bap- 
 
 tist church, and he was an ardent Democrat 
 in politics. 
 
 There came to the home of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Brannan nine children, six of whom are still 
 living, namely: Sarah, Emily, Thomas, Will- 
 iam, H. King and W. C. Elizabeth died at 
 the age of si.xteen years, Ann at the age of 
 thirty-three, and Albert C. ut the age of 
 twenty-one. The parents are earnest and 
 conscientious Christians, faithful members 
 of tile Baptist church, and have gathered 
 around them numbers of friends composed 
 of the best people of the community, by 
 whom they are held in universal respect. 
 
 ^VAMES M. FULTON.— Among the 
 ■ substantial and enterprising agricul- 
 
 A 1 turists of Bosque county whose 
 names are scattered through the 
 pages of this volume, none are more worthy 
 of mention than the gentleman whose name 
 heads this brief biographical notice. A na- 
 tive of Illinois, his birth occurred in Moul- 
 trie county, August 12, 1841, and he is a 
 son of Thomas Fulton, who was born in 
 the blue-grass region of Kentucky, — noted 
 for brave men, beautiful women and fine 
 horses. 
 
 On reaching manhood Thomas Fulton 
 was married, in Kentucky, to Miss Patsy 
 Hayes, also a native of that state, and to 
 them were born eight children: Jane, Mar- 
 garet, Elizabeth, John, William, Amelia, 
 James W. and Patsy. When our subject 
 was only three years old his mother died, 
 and his father later wedded Elizabeth 
 Fletcher, also of Kentucky, by whom he had 
 six children: Zerrilda, Thomas, Amy, Isaac, 
 Robert, and one that died in infancy. The 
 father, who was one of the early settlers of 
 Illinois, took part in the Black Hawk war. 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 757 
 
 and as a life work chose farming, which he 
 continued to follow until his death, at the 
 age of seventy-five years. His political 
 support was ever given the Democratic 
 party, and he was a member of the United 
 Brethren church. 
 
 In his native state, James M. Fulton 
 passed the days of his boyhood and youth 
 upon the home farm, and there acquired a 
 practical but rather limited education. At 
 the age of twenty-three he was joined in 
 wedlock with Miss Mildred Ann Humble, 
 who has been a most faithful and devoted 
 helpmeet to her husband. She was born 
 near Louisville, Kentucky, and belonged to 
 a good family, her parents being Paul and 
 Mary (Criest) Humble. The father died in 
 Illinois, but the mother passed away at the 
 home of her daughter in Texas. The three 
 brothers of Mrs. Fulton are Henry, who 
 died in Fannin county, Texas, in 1895; 
 Grondeson, of Stephens county, this state; 
 and Oliver, of Dublin, Texas. 
 
 Shortly after his marriage, Mr. Fulton 
 emigrated to Texas by team and wagon, 
 and at first located on the Dysit farm in 
 Bosque county, which he operated for two 
 years. He then purchased his present 
 place, which is now considered one of the 
 best farms in the locality. He has placed 
 two hundred and fifty of his four hundred 
 acres under a high state of cultivation and 
 the land mostly lies in the Bosque valley. 
 The soil is rich and very productive and yields 
 a ready return for the care and labor ex- 
 pended upon it. He makes a specialty of 
 raising hogs and now has a fine drove of 
 seventy-five head. His comfortable home is 
 surrounded by an excellent orchard, good 
 barn and other outbuildings, and the fields 
 are all well fenced. 
 
 Five children bless the union of Mr. 
 
 Fulton and his most estimable wife, who in 
 order of birih are as follows: Thomas, who 
 is married and living in Bosque county; Sa- 
 mantha Jane, wife of Jack Phillips, a rail- 
 road man; John B. , who is a student in the 
 college of Hillsboro, Texas; James W. and 
 Nettie Elizabeth. The family occupies a 
 prominent position in the esteem and confi- 
 dence of the community, and the parents 
 are both earnest members of the Christian 
 church. In manner Mr. Fulton is frank 
 and genial, and his sterling qualities com- 
 mand the respect and confidence of all and 
 have secured for him the high regard of a 
 large circle of friends. During his resi- 
 dence in Bosque county he has been num- 
 bered among its valued citizens who have 
 been devoted to the public welfare. 
 
 eW. SANDERS, a thorough and 
 skillful blacksmith, and a business 
 man of more than ordinary capac- 
 ity, is now living upon a one-hun- 
 dred-and-fifteen-acre tract of land near Ire- 
 dell, where he has a pleasant home and 
 good orchard upon the place, and is also 
 engaged in the raising of cattle and hogs. 
 Being an excellent workman, his shop se- 
 cures a large share of the public patronage. 
 He is recognized as an important factor in 
 preserving the reputation of the county as 
 one of the best in the state. 
 
 Mr. Sanders was born in Oglethorpe 
 county, Georgia, November 20, 1845, of 
 English ancestry, and is the son of Arglus 
 and Sally (Williams) Sanders, also natives 
 of the same state, where they both died, at 
 the age of sixty years. By trade his father 
 was a carpenter, but he also engaged in 
 farming. For many years he served as 
 deacon in the Baptist church, of which he 
 
75S 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 was a devout member, and his wife was 
 also a good Christian woman, who reared 
 her children to " fear the Lord and "keep his 
 commandments." In the family were eight 
 children, two sons and six daughters. 
 
 During early life, our subject early be- 
 came familiar with agricultural pursuits upon 
 the home farm, but his literary training was 
 more meager. However, he learned readily, 
 studied at home, and through travel and 
 business has secured a practical education. 
 He was reared in F"loyd county, Georgia, 
 and though a mere boy when the civil war 
 broke out he joined the Confederate forces, 
 becoming a member of the First Georgia 
 Cavalry, under Colonel Morrison, with 
 which he served for three years, during 
 which time he participated in the important 
 battles of Richmond, Lookout Mountain 
 and Kno.xville, Tennessee. At Murfrees- 
 boro he was wounded in the left leg by a 
 ball. 
 
 \\'hen hostilities had ceased, Mr. San- 
 ders went to Paulding county, Georgia, 
 where at the age of twenty-three he married 
 Miss Leander Moody, who belonged to one 
 of the old and highly respected families of 
 that state. Three years later he removed 
 to Floyd county, the same state, where he 
 remained until 1885, when he came to his 
 present home. Eight children came to 
 gladden the household, namely: Thomas 
 Jeffer.son, John Green, Josephus, Ellen, 
 Sarah Jane, Cassie Viola, Samuel Elijah 
 and George Homer. The family is one of 
 prominence in the community, where 
 its members are widely and favorably known, 
 and the oldest five are now married and lo- 
 cated in homes of their own. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Sanders is a stalwart 
 Democrat. Himself, wife and six children 
 hold a membership with the Baptist church, 
 
 of which he is serving as deacon, and has 
 ever been quite active and zealous in all 
 church work, while socially he is connected 
 with the Masonic lodge No. 405, F". &A. M., 
 of Iredell. He is a man of unquestioned 
 integrity, upright and honorable in all 
 things, and his frank and cordial manner 
 has gained him a host of warm friends. 
 
 HNDREW JACKSON GLENN.— 
 He whose name is at the head of 
 this article, is distinctively one of 
 the most progressive and foremost 
 business men of Bluff Dale and Erath 
 county, and has by his enterprise and ener- 
 getic methods contributed in a material way 
 to the advancement of the locality, and is 
 regarded as a representative citizen in every 
 sense of the term. Of keen discernment, 
 he has in the course of an honorable busi- 
 ness career been most successful in the en- 
 terprises with which he has been concerned, 
 and is well deserving of consideration in this 
 connection. He is deserving of much credit 
 for his success, for his childhood and youth 
 were entirely without advantages of any 
 kind. He well merits the proud American 
 title, a "self-made man." 
 
 Mr. Glenn was born on Cane creek, 
 Pickens county. South Carolina, on the 15th 
 of January, 18 17, and was left an orphan 
 when eight years of age. He was then 
 bound out and the next eight years of his 
 life were filled with many hardships. He 
 received little consideration from his em- 
 ployer and at last he determined to run 
 away. He went to the gold mines of Geor- 
 gia, where he arrived without a cent. He 
 accepted a position to work in the mines for 
 the meager salary of six dollars and a half 
 per month, but saved his earnings and after 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 759 
 
 a year and a half he opened a small grocery 
 store, continuing in the business for nine 
 months, during which time he made five 
 hundred and fifty dollars. On the ist of 
 December, 1836, he entered the army un- 
 der Captain William E. Doth and General 
 Wool, serving one year. After a period of 
 fifty-seven years he was granted a pension 
 by the government of eight dollars per 
 month. He was mustered out of the serv- 
 ice November 30, 1837, and then pur- 
 chased a plantation of one hundred and 
 sixty acres in Gilmer county, Georgia, turn- 
 ing his attention to farming and stock-rais- 
 ing, which he carried on successfully for 
 some years. He also established and oper- 
 ated a tan-yard, and during the civil war he 
 carried on the tannery in the interests of the 
 Confederate government. His son, Andrew 
 J., Jr., was captain of a company in the 
 Twenty-third Georgia Infantry, which com- 
 pany our subject clothed at his own expense. 
 On the 3d day of May, while in his own 
 home, he was captured by the federalists, 
 and his stock and goods were all taken from 
 the place and destroyed. He was sent to 
 Jeffersonville, Indiana, where he remained 
 until the 12th of May, 1865. While held 
 within the Union lines he was not idle. He 
 engaged in building houses on leased land 
 and these he sold at a good profit, so that 
 on his return home he was the po.ssessor of 
 twenty-three hundred dollars. 
 
 On reaching Georgia once more Mr. 
 Glenn found that his slaves and stock were 
 gone and that nothing was left to him of all 
 the accumulations of many years; but with 
 characteristic energy he began life anew. 
 He rebuilt his tannery and in three years 
 had made fifteen thousand dollars, which 
 he brought with him to Texas in 1881, in- 
 vesting the same in land in Hood, Bosque 
 
 and Erath counties. He made his home at 
 Bluff Dale and gave the railroad the right of 
 way through three farms, also ten acres of 
 land to locate the town of Bluff Dale. He 
 has a landed property of twelve hundred 
 acres, of which two hundred are under a high 
 state of cultivation. 
 
 Mr. Glenn was married on the 3d of De- 
 cember, 1835, to Miss Lucinda Langandon, 
 who was born in South Carolina and reared 
 in Georgia. They were the parents of nine 
 children, seven of whom lived to be grown, 
 while four still survive Louisa became the 
 wife of John Halden and died leaving six 
 children; C. V. makes his home in Bosque; 
 Captain A. J. died in 1865, in Richmond, 
 Virginia, while in the service of the south 
 during the civil war; Malinda became the 
 wife of H. V. Sterns and died leaving one 
 child; Clarissa Lucinda is the wife of Frank 
 Harris, of Erath county; Milliam is the vvife 
 of Joseph Pickett, of Bosque county; and 
 J. W. makes his home in Glen Dale. 
 
 The parents are members of the Mission- 
 ary Baptist church, in which Mr. Glenn has 
 held the office of deacon for sixteen years, 
 and in the work of tjhe church they are very 
 active. In politics he is a supporter of 
 Democratic principles and into the myster- 
 ies of the Masonic fraternity he was initiated 
 in Alleghany, Georgia, in 1850. 
 
 •"-r* ARS OLSON. — A considerable 
 
 I i number of the leading and repre- 
 [ ^ sentative citizens of Bosque coun- 
 ty are of alien birth, and have 
 transported to this land of fertility and 
 plenty the thrifty habits of their native 
 country. Among these there is no one 
 that is better known or more widely re- 
 spected than the gentleman whose name 
 
7G0 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 appears at the head of this sketch. He is 
 an extensive farmer and stock-raiser now 
 residing near Iredell. 
 
 The birthplace of our subject was at 
 Hede Marken, Norwaj-, where he first 
 opened his eyes to the light on the 30th of 
 October, 1830, and his parents, Ole and 
 Carrie Olson, were also natives of Norway. 
 In the family were ten children, four of 
 whom are still living in their native land, 
 and in that country the father died when 
 Lars was seventeen years of age. 
 
 Having received a good education, Mr. 
 Olson of this review began teaching in Nor- 
 way, but at the age of twenty resolved to 
 seek his fortune on this side of the Atlantic, 
 where he understood that better opportu- 
 nities were afforded enterprising young men. 
 At a southern port of Norway he took pass- 
 age on a vessel bound for New Orleans, and 
 on his arrival in that city went direct to 
 Galveston, Texas. On foot he made his 
 way to Kaufman county, where he worked 
 on a farm until the civil war broke out, 
 when, in 1862, he joined Company B of the 
 Thirty-fifth Texas Cavalry, and did service 
 in Arkansas and Louisiana. He participated 
 in the battles of Prairie Grove, Mansfield, 
 Louisiana, and Pleasant Hill. 
 
 After the close of the war Mr. Olson lo- 
 cated in Bosque county, near Clifton, where 
 he improved a good farm, on which he re- 
 mained until 1884, when he came to his 
 present place of one hundred acres near 
 Iredell. Here he has a substantial and 
 comfortable home, furnished with excellent 
 taste, and in keeping with it are the good 
 outbuildings and the neat and thrifty ap- 
 pearance of the place. He also owns three 
 hundred acres near Cransfill's Gap, in the 
 same county. 
 
 Near Clifton was performed a wedding 
 
 ceremony which united the destinies of Mr. 
 Olson and Miss Mary Olson, also a native 
 of Norway, and was eight years of age at 
 the time of her arrival in America, where 
 she was reared and eJucated. She is a 
 daughter of James Olson, who died in 
 Bosque county in 1894. Our subject and 
 his wife have become the parents of nine 
 children: August Leonard, a railroad man; 
 Anna K. ; Knute J., of Iredell; James T. , a 
 member of the drug firm of Cox & Olson, of 
 the same place; John L. , who is attending 
 school; Palmer L. and Louisa, at home; 
 and two who died in infancy. The children 
 have all been supplied with excellent school 
 privileges, and the family hold a prominent 
 place in the social circles of the community. 
 Mr. Olson is an intelligent and enter- 
 prising citizen who keeps fully abreast with 
 the times, is straightforward and honorable 
 in all business dealings, and has the respect 
 and confidence of all with whom he comes 
 in contact. In religious belief he is a 
 Lutheran. 
 
 ^j'AMES WILSON McKENZIE, Sr.— 
 m It is the pleasure of the biographer 
 (%J at this point to direct attention to 
 the life history of one whose identity 
 with the Lone Star state covers four dec- 
 ades, and who now occupies the important 
 position of postmaster of Carlton, — James 
 Wilson McKenzie, Sr. Before presenting a 
 review of his own life we would look back 
 over the record of his forefathers; for the 
 life of no man can be correctly portrayed 
 without some knowletlge of the ancestry 
 from which he sprang. 
 
 The McKenzies were many generations 
 ago residents of Scotland. In the Scotch 
 home, at the most remote period we are 
 
HISTORY OF TEXA^. 
 
 7(51 
 
 able to trace them, we find a family of eleven 
 stalwart sons. About the year 1676 one of 
 these sons emigrated to America, landed at 
 Cape Hatteras, and from there went inland 
 and made permanent settlement. He was 
 the progenitor of the family of McKenzies 
 in this country. The grandfather of our 
 subject, Daniel McKenzie, moved to Pike 
 county, Mississippi, in 18 ti, where the rest 
 of his life was spent and where he died. He 
 and his wife, whose maiden name was Lewis 
 and whom lie wedded in Georgia, had a 
 family as follows: James, a farmer, who 
 lived and died in Mississippi; Susanna, wife 
 of James Wolf, passed her life in Pike 
 county, Mississippi; Eliza, who also married 
 a Mr. Wolf, lived in Pike and Lawrence 
 counties and died in the latter county; Alex- 
 ander W., the father of our subject; Will- 
 iam, who lived and died in Louisiana; Mar- 
 tha, who never married; John Benjamin, 
 who died in Walker county, Texas; and 
 Emily C, wife of Elbert Kelly, is still living 
 and a resident of Louisiana. Daniel Mc- 
 Kenzie, the grandfather, had a brother 
 David, who lived in Marion county, Mis- 
 sissippi. 
 
 Alexander W. McKenzie, the father of 
 the gentleman whose name graces this arti- 
 cle, was born in Pike county, Mississippi, 
 November 19, 18 13. He was a man whose 
 life was replete with great usefulness. At 
 the age of twenty-five he became a minister 
 in the Baptist church, and as long as he 
 lived continued to preach the gospel, labor- 
 ing both in Mississippi and on the frontier 
 in Texas, and winning many souls for the 
 Master. His first wife, ncc Albany Blount 
 Carr, was born in Darlington district. South 
 Carolina, June i, 181 1, daughter of Will- 
 iam Carr, likewise a native of that state. 
 The children born to them were ten in num- 
 
 ber, five sons and five daughters. The 
 daughters all reached maturity and married, 
 but only two of the sons grew up, James 
 W. , our subject, being the younger. Some 
 time after the death of the mother of these 
 children tne father married again, and was 
 living with his second wife at the time of 
 their removal to Texas, in 1856. It was 
 November 30, 1856, that they left their old 
 home in Mississippi and started for Galves- 
 ton, Texas. Coming on through to Burle- 
 son county, they selected a location seven 
 miles from Independence, in a newly settled 
 district, stock men being the principal set- 
 tlers. There the father bought four hun- 
 dred and forty acres of land, at one dollar 
 per acre, and upon it resided until August of 
 the following year, when he moved to 
 Walker county. In 1859 he changed his 
 residence to Galveston. He died in Walker 
 county in November, j88i. He was a 
 slaveholder for many years, and when he 
 came to Texas brought three slaves with 
 him. 
 
 Having thus traced out the family his- 
 tory of Mr. McKenzie, we turn now to his 
 own life. James Wilson McKenzie was 
 born in Lawrence county, Mississippi, No- 
 vember 19, 1839. He accompanied his 
 father and family to Texas in 1856, as above 
 recorded, and remained with them until 
 1859, when he left home and took up the 
 burden of life on his own responsibility, 
 working for a time in Walker county and 
 later going to Madison county, where he 
 cultivated land belonging to his father. 
 During the war he made his home in Walk- 
 er county, but afterward returned to Madi- 
 son county and purchased land, one hundred 
 and eleven acres at first, and other lands 
 later, amounting in all to four hundred and 
 thirty-six acres. He continued to reside in 
 
762 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Madison county till November, 1879. He 
 was elected and served as the first sheriff of 
 that county after the war, under the recon- 
 struction regime. In 1879 he moved to 
 Erath county and bought one hundred and 
 six acres of land located half way between 
 Dublin and Carlton, and December 6, 1889, 
 he moved to Carlton, or, rather, to a farm 
 near town, he having purchased one hundred 
 and nine acres a mile and a half northeast 
 of Carlton. On this place he maintained 
 his home and carried on farming operations 
 successfully until April, 1S93, at which 
 time he mo\ed into the town. In May of 
 that year he was made postmaster, and has 
 since filled the office, performing its duties 
 promptl}' and faithfull}- and rendering satis- 
 faction to all parties concerned. Also, soon 
 after this last move, he formed a partner- 
 ship with Dr. J. H. Tull, started a drug 
 and stationery store, and in this business is 
 still interested. 
 
 Mr. McKenzie was first married, Sep- 
 tember 13, i860, to Mary Ann Miller, a na- 
 tive of Yazoo county, Mississippi, born July 
 8, 1845. But their happy married life was 
 of brief duration, ending with her untimely 
 death at HuntsviUe, Walker county, Texas, 
 December 9, 1864. She left no children. 
 November 21, 1866, in Madison county, 
 Texas, was consummated Mr. McKenzie's 
 marriage to Emeline Winn, daughter of 
 Burwel! Green and Syrena (Spillers) Winn. 
 She was born in Walker county, this state, 
 September 30, 1848, and during the past 
 thirty years has shared with him the vicissi- 
 tudes of life. The names of their children 
 in order of birth are as follows: Lauren 
 Frances, John Alexander, James Wilson, 
 Jr., Martha Ophelia and Mary Orelia 
 (twins), Burwell Winn, Jackson Carter, 
 Walter Hale, William Burton and Clara. 
 
 The eldest daughter, Lauren Frances, born 
 February 18, 1868, was married in 1886 to 
 George Washington Johnson, and is now 
 living in Erath county. They have one 
 child, James Washington. John A. Mc- 
 Kenzie is a farmer of Erath county. Martha 
 Ophelia was married in 1893 to J. D. Up- 
 ham and has one child, Ernest Hugh. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Upham reside on a farm in this 
 county. The other children of Mr. and 
 Mrs. McKenzie are at home. 
 
 Besides the offlces already referred to as 
 having been filled by Mr. McKenzie, there is 
 another, thai of justice of the peace, in 
 which he served two terms, having been 
 appointed to the office the first time and 
 elected for the second term. Since June, 
 1895, he has been a notary public. 
 
 In the dark days of the civil war Mr. 
 McKenzie was not slow to show his colors 
 and prove himself a true southern man. 
 He first enlisted in July, 1861, under 
 Captain John Cleveland. However, at the 
 time Captain Cleveland and his company 
 went to the front in Virginia our subject was 
 left behind on account of severe sickness, 
 and subsequently he was discharged from 
 ! that command. March 25, 1862, he again 
 I enlisted, this time as a member of Company 
 j I, Twenty-sixth Texas Cavalry, of which 
 I X. B. De Bray was Colonel. In speaking 
 [ of this, Mr. McKenzie saj's: "On being 
 , made a regiment by having several com- 
 panies of scouts attached to the battalion, 
 General Hebert, who was in command of 
 the Western Division of the department at 
 the time, announced by special order that 
 Samuel Boyd Davis was to be our colonel. 
 The men stacked arms and refused to serve 
 under any appointed officer, and were then 
 allowed to select as their colonel X. B. 
 De Bray, the choice being unanimous." 
 
BISTORT OP TEJ^AS. 
 
 Mr. McKenzie served as high private, and 
 operated principally on the coast of Texas. 
 For two years he did picket duty between 
 Texarkana and Orange. The winter of 
 i863-4hespent near the mouth of the Trinity 
 river, doing courier service, working about 
 four hours every other day. His wife was 
 with him at this time, his leisure was 
 passed in hunting and fishing, and he refers 
 to it now as one of the happiest periods of 
 his life. His young wife, on the return to 
 Huntsville, contracted her fatal illness. He 
 nursed her through this sickness, and after 
 her death rejoined his regiment at St. Augus- 
 tine, Texas, January i. 1865; was made 
 company clerk the same day. Shortly after- 
 ward he was elected orderly sergeant, in 
 which capacity he was retained until the 
 close of the war. During his army life he 
 wore out three good horses. 
 
 ^^AMES ADDISON ROWLAND, a 
 m well known Snd successful manager 
 p J of a cotton-gin and a farmer of no 
 mean reputation, lives near the Carl- 
 ton post-office, in Hamilton county, Texas. 
 Our subject was born December 7, 1846, 
 in Wake county. North Carolina, and was 
 the son of James and Ann Bryan (Atkinson) 
 Rowland. In the month of March, 1872, 
 he came to Texas by way of Galveston and 
 Austin, to Cornhill, Williamson county, 
 where he settled on a farm of three hundred 
 acres, and held his residence here until De- 
 cember, 1S83, when the family moved to 
 Hamilton county and purchased one hun- 
 dred and sixty acres of the Henry Fuller 
 survey. Later on our subject bought 
 another place of one hundred and seven 
 acres adjoining the first purchase, and still 
 later a third purchase of one hundred and 
 
 twenty acres, brought his holdings of land 
 up three hundred and eighty-seven acres, — 
 an elegant and prosperous farm for any man. 
 
 Mr. Rowland associated himself with 
 Charles Smith in the summer of 1885, in 
 the building of a cotton-gin of twenty bales' 
 capacity. Mr. Smith sold out the next 
 summer to his partner and J. S. McLean. 
 Mr. McLean did not long remain in the bus- 
 iness, but presently sold out his share to 
 Daniel M. Hooland. This gentleman re- 
 mained in the gin until June, 1895, when he 
 sold his interest to his partner, and Mr. 
 Rowland became the sole proprietor of the 
 enterprise. It is an extensive affair for a 
 rural neighborhood, and in a single season 
 has packed as high as eleven hundred and 
 thirty-eight bales for the cotton market. 
 When the gin was first opened the cotton 
 seed was regarded as mostly waste and was 
 sold to sheep men, but since 1893 it has all 
 been taken by the Dublin oil mill. 
 
 Our subject was married December 6, 
 1877, to Miss Martha Jane Walker, daugh- 
 ter of Thomas Jefferson and Elvira (Cole) 
 Walker. The names and birthdays of 
 their children are here given: Anna Bryan, 
 December 16, 1878; Herbert Ora, Decem- 
 ber 12, 1880; Andrew James, December 18, 
 1882; and Hat tie Atkins, October 18, 1888. 
 He has been a member of the Missionary 
 Baptist church since his fourteenth year. 
 He is a Democrat in his political affilia- 
 tions. In common with thousands of others 
 our subject has had a military experience, 
 which on account of his extreme 30uth did 
 not involve much actual service in the field. 
 He was a seventeen -year-old boy conscript 
 and was enrolled in the first regiment of the 
 North Carolina Reserve in May, 1864, but 
 did no fighting in the field. 
 
 James Rowland, the father of our sub- 
 
7C4 
 
 til STORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ject, died Jul)' 31, 1S86. He was born No- 
 vember 24, 1 8 10, in Wake county, North 
 Carolina, and died, as appears from this 
 statement, at the age of seventy-six. The 
 mother of our subject was born February 
 24, 1806, in Cumberland county of the 
 same state, and died at the advanced age of 
 eighty-one. She was themotherof these chil- 
 dren: Anna Jane, born December 12, 1838, 
 married William Henry Holland, and died 
 November26, 1871. Mary Elizabeth, born 
 November 21, 1840, and has been twice 
 married, to lea Matthews, who died July 
 1 1, 1884, and is now the wife of Asa Waller. 
 Sarah Frances, born February 22, 1843, 
 died August 5. 1876, and was married to 
 J. Walker. Edith Isabella was a mere in- 
 fant when she died, leaving her life story to 
 be told in these two phrases: Born April 
 2, 1845, and died December 9, 1846. Her 
 next child was the subject of this writing. 
 He was followed by two boys, who died in 
 the year of their birth: Lewis Henry, March 
 23, and August 20, 1S49; Archibald Alex- 
 ander, May 25, 1851, and died September 3. 
 1851. The parents of our subject were mar- 
 ried May lo, 1836. His mother was twice 
 married, her first husband being Call Mc- 
 Lean, by whom she had two children: John 
 Alexander, who was born June 14, 1829, and 
 died June 27, 1891, Mary Ann Rowland be- 
 ing his wife. Richard A., the second child, 
 was born July 22, 1831, and died October 
 14, of the same year. 
 
 The grandfather of our subject died 
 shortly before the latter was born. He had 
 the following named children: Bennett, 
 Isaac, James, William Ira. Mary, Louisa 
 and Sarah. The family is of Scotch nativ- 
 ity, and have the genuine Scotch charac- 
 teristics of sturdy manhood and rugged 
 honesty. 
 
 ^y^R. FRANCIS MARION CARL- 
 I 1 TON, of Carlton, Texas, is thegen- 
 J^^_y tleman in honor of whom this 
 town was named. As such it is 
 of specific importance that biographical men- 
 tion be accorded him in this volume, and we 
 are pleased to here present the following 
 sketch: 
 
 Dr. Carlton traces his ancestry back to 
 the Emerald Isle. His grandfather Carlton 
 was born in Ireland, came to America in 
 early life and lived for many years in the 
 south, his death occurring in Georgia at an 
 advanced age, when the Doctor was about 
 fifteen years old. One of the sons of this 
 worthy sire was Jack Carlton, of Atlanta, 
 who served through the war, was a promi- 
 nent Georgia politician and state senator, 
 and who accidentally shot himself. Another 
 son, Benjamin, was a respected citizen of 
 Georgia, as also was James, the Doctor's 
 father. James Carlton was born in North 
 Carolina, where his father had first settled 
 on coming to this country; was married in 
 Georgia to Miss Mary Jane Aiken, a daugh- 
 ter of Hilliard Aiken. Grandfather Aiken 
 died in Mississippi. Of his children other 
 than Mrs. Carlton we record that Isom was 
 for years a resident of Bell county, Texas; 
 Rhoda was the wife of Oliver Nelson, of 
 Mississippi; and Amanda, wife of John 
 Spence, was a resident of Texas. James 
 Carlton and wife had eight children, — four 
 sons and four daughters. In 1834 the par- 
 ents left Georgia and moved to Cherokee 
 county, Alabama, where they resided on a 
 farm until 1841, removing thence to Ita- 
 wamba county, Mississippi. In 1859 the 
 father came to Texas, bringing with him two 
 of the children, Samuel and Ellen, and lo- 
 cating in Rusk county. Subsequently he 
 returned to Arkansas, where his wife had 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 ("65 
 
 died in 1853, and there he continued his 
 residence until 1877, when he came back to 
 Texas, and from that time until his death in 
 1884 he made his home with the Doctor. 
 
 Francis Marion Carlton was born in 
 Coweta county, Georgia, April 5, 1831. He 
 remained a member of the home circle until 
 his twenty-second year, after which he 
 started out on his own responsibility and 
 for a time was employed in farm work. In 
 1854 he took up the study of medicine, with 
 Dr. R. E. Burton of Carrollton, Mississippi, 
 as his preceptor. In 1856 and 1857 he at- 
 attended lectures at the Memphis Medical 
 College. After this he began the practice of 
 medicine in Mississippi, and at the same 
 time ran a small farm with hired help, re- 
 maining there until 1861. That year here- 
 moved to White county, Arkansas, where 
 he farmed and practiced his profession till 
 January, 1 876, at that time coming to Texas. 
 His first year in this state was spent in 
 Coryell county. About the middle of No- 
 vember, 1876, he moved to Hamilton 
 county and bought one hundred and sixty 
 acres of land of Zachariah Taylor. This 
 tract was originally surveyed for E. A. Bol- 
 ton, but the patent was made out to Dr. 
 Carlton. A part of the farm is now in 
 Carlton township. The greater part of the 
 town site of Carlton was patented to J. M. 
 Evans. At the time Dr. Carlton took pos- 
 session of his land its only improvements 
 consisted of a small log cabin and ten acres 
 of land that had been broken. He soon 
 had one hundred acres under cultivation 
 and subsequently purchased an adjoining 
 one hundred and sixty acres, sixty of which 
 he improved, forty having already been 
 under cultivation. He has disposed of all 
 this land except one hundred and twenty 
 acres. The little cabin served for his home 
 
 a few months, or until he built his residence, 
 which was in 1877. In 1880, in partner- 
 ship with Mr. Henry Hendricks, he started 
 a general store, and after three years they 
 discontinued business. In 1886 we find the 
 Doctor disposing of his Texas property and 
 removing to Yoncalla, Douglas county, 
 Oregon. The Lone Star state, however, 
 still had its charms for him, and after a year 
 spent in the far west he returned to Carlton, 
 took back his property and has since made 
 this place his home. It was in the fall of 
 1877 that the citizens here organized their 
 village, and, as already stated, named it 
 Carlton. 
 
 During the war, in April, 1862, Dr. 
 Carlton enlisted in the southern army, at 
 first in cavalry service and afterward being 
 dismounted. At the end of four months he 
 was discharged and returned to Arkansas to 
 do medical service, being the only physician 
 in his section of the country. 
 
 He was married August 4, 1852, to Miss 
 Mary Jane Williams, a native of Alabama, 
 born December 23, 1836, daughter of Sprat- 
 ley and Elizabeth Williams. The children 
 of this union are as follows: Susan Fidelity, 
 born June 25, 1854, died September 7, 
 I S 56; Georgia, born July 26, 1855, died Oc- 
 tober 2, 1855; Robert Burton, born Novem- 
 ber 18, 1856, died May 16, 1857; George 
 Morrow, born September 14, 1858; James 
 Spratley born March 31, i860; Benjamin 
 Hardy, September 2, 1862; Dell, March 16, 
 1864, died July 6, 1893; Ed, September i, 
 1866; Robert Nicholas, October 7, 1870; 
 Thomas, October 7, 1873; John Rufus, De- 
 cember 10, 1875; and Evans, August 3, 
 1878. 
 
 In religious, political and fraternal circles 
 Dr. Carlton has ever proved himself a valued 
 factor, enthusiastic in whatever he under- 
 
Hisronr of texas. 
 
 takes. He has been a devoted and consist- 
 ent member of the Missionary Baptist church 
 siiice 1849. Politically, he was a Demo- 
 crat until 1890, since which time he has 
 cast his vote and iniluence with the Popu- 
 lists. While in Arkansas he served as dele- 
 gate to the State Democratic convention. 
 He was made a member of the Masonic 
 order in Center Hill Lodge, No. 114, Arkan- 
 sas, in 1862, and for eight years was master 
 of that lodge. He served seven years as 
 master of Carlton Lodge, No. 519, of which 
 he is a charter member. Also while in Ar- 
 kansas he was initiated into the mysteries of 
 Oddfellowship, but has never affiliated with 
 this order since his removal from that state. 
 
 >^AMES ERVIN WELCH, a promi- 
 fl nent farmer, near Carlton post-office, 
 A J Hamilton county, Texas, was born 
 February 17, 1848, in Mississippi 
 county, Missouri, his parents being James 
 and Elizabeth (Blocker) Welch. At the 
 age of eighteen he began working for wages 
 and continued in this way until he was 
 twenty-two. About this time the Missouri, 
 Kansas & Texas railroad was being built 
 and attracted into its service many of the 
 most active and energetic young men of the 
 new south. Among them was found our 
 subject, who was associated with a party of 
 engineers in Missouri and Indian Territory 
 for something more than a year. In Octo- 
 ber, 1874, he entered Texas and located in 
 Marshall county, and spent a winter in a 
 sawmill on the Texas & Pacific railroad. 
 For two years he was connected with the 
 bridge department of this railroad. He 
 then transferred his services to the "Sunset 
 Route." In Comanche county he took up 
 one hundred and sixty acres of school land, 
 
 which he held for a short time, and sold 
 out in 1882 at a handsome profit. In June, 
 18S3, he moved his family into Hamilton 
 county, and while the agricultural possibili- 
 ties of his farm seemed promising there 
 were as yet no improvements, with the ex- 
 ception of the clearing of five acres. They 
 lived at first in a small box house, the pres- 
 ent handsome and commodious farm house 
 not being erected until 1892. Mr. Welch 
 has worked hard on this farm, and now has 
 over one hundred acres in high cultivation. 
 
 Our subject was married February 13, 
 1878, to Miss Susan, daughter of G. W. 
 and Susan (Walker) Roberts, and is now the 
 father of Chase Edwards, who was born 
 January 5, 1879, and is still at home; Mar- 
 cus Lee, October iS, 1880; Maggie Bell, 
 April 9, 1884; Georgia Celia, December 20, 
 1887; and Ervine Duval, September 7, 1891. 
 Mrs. Welch was born August 27, 1855, in 
 Cleburne county , Alabama. The father of 
 our subject died in 1866, aged fifty-three 
 years. He first saw the light in Tennessee, 
 and was married in Missouri. His children 
 were John, Nancy, Elizabeth, Celia, Re- 
 becca, Jasper, Sarah and our subject. He 
 was married a second time to Miss Emeline 
 Williams, who has borne him seven chil- 
 dren: Joshua, Eliza, Gatza, William, Jacob, 
 Clay and an infant girl. The grandfather 
 of our subject was Elijah Welch. 
 
 Mr. Welch, the subject of this sketch, 
 has been a member of the Missionary Bap- 
 tist cnurch for many years, and is regarded 
 as a creditable and helpful member of that 
 organization. Politically he is a Democrat, 
 and is highly esteemed by his neighbors as 
 a good citizen and a man of honor. He is 
 also a Mason of considerable standing, 
 having been initiated into the order by 
 Wolf Island Lodge in the spring of 1869, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 767 
 
 in Mississippi county, Missouri, and is now 
 a member of Carlton Lodge. He is also 
 associated with the Knights of Honor at 
 Hico. 
 
 ©EORGE WASHINGTON TABOR, 
 a furniture dealer of Hico, Texas, 
 and one of the earl}' settlers of this 
 part of the state, was born in Scott 
 county, Mississippi, July 12, 1838, his par- 
 ents being William Washington and Susan 
 Elizabeth (McGee) Tabor. He lived in the 
 county of his nativity until 1S41, when he 
 accompanied his parents on their removal 
 to Houston, Texas. He then went to 
 Grimes county, then a part of Montgomery 
 county, and after two or three years passed 
 there the family returned to Mississippi. In 
 1846 our subject went with his parents to 
 Mobile county, Alabama, and in 1858 he 
 took up his abode in Chambers county, 
 Texas, whence he went to Galveston, Texas, 
 where he was living at the time the civil war 
 was inaugurated. 
 
 Mr. Tabor enlisted in the Confederate 
 service as a member of Ashville Smith's 
 company, of the Second Texas Regiment. 
 He enlisted with young Sam Houston, and 
 after ten months was transferred to Com- 
 pany G, Tenth Texas Infantry, with which 
 he was connected until hostilities had ceased. 
 Soon after entering the service he went to 
 Arkansas and participated in the battle of 
 Arkansas Post, where he was captured and 
 sent to Fort Douglas. In the spring he was 
 exchanged and joined Bragg's army, with 
 which he continued until May 27, 1S64, 
 when he was wounded at New Hope Church, 
 Georgia, the ball entering the wrist. 
 
 When the war was ended Mr. Tabor 
 went to Austin county, Texas, where his 
 
 mother was then living, and in September, 
 1869, he opened a store in Coryell county, 
 Texas, where he remained for a year. On 
 the expiration of that period he went to 
 Valley Mills, Bosque county, where also he 
 spent a year, after which he hved for ten 
 years in Duffau, Erath county. He came 
 to Hico, Hamilton county, in November, 
 1 88 1, and established a general store, which 
 he conducted for a year. On the 15th of 
 May, 1895, he opened his furniture store, 
 which he still maintains, and in that line is 
 enjoying a good trade, his liberal patronage 
 adding materially to his income. He erected 
 the store building in which he is now lo- 
 cated, and also put up two other business 
 houses, which were destroyed by lire at the 
 time of the burning of the town, March 6, 
 1 891. His residence was erected in 18S2. 
 Mr. Tabor was married in August, 1868, 
 to Margaret Malinda Wood, daughter of 
 John D. and Annie (Inman) Wood. Their 
 children are William Woodson, Lula, John 
 W., Ira Nathan, Laura and Cora. They 
 have a pleasant home in Hico, and are 
 numbered among its most highly esteemed 
 residents. In politics Mr. Tabor is a Demo- 
 crat. Seventeen years ago he joined Ire- 
 dell Lodge, F. & A. M., and is now a mem- 
 ber of Hico Lodge of Masons. In 1873 he 
 joined the Odd Fellows Lodge at Stephen- 
 ville, and is now a member of the Knights 
 of Honor. 
 
 eLIAS L. DEATON.— More than 
 fift\' years a resident within the 
 Texas border, an active participant 
 in many of the stirring events 
 which mark the early history of the Lone 
 Star state, one of the few remaining Indian 
 
768 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 fighters of the frontier, and an authority on 
 these subjects, this worthy pioneer, Elias 
 L. Deaton, now living retired in Carlton, is 
 one to whose biography the writer reverts 
 with no little satisfaction. 
 
 Elias L. Deaton was born on a farm in 
 McNairy county, Tennessee, August 4, 
 1833, son of John and Catharine (Stewart) 
 Deaton. That same year shortly after his 
 birth, the family removed to Henderson 
 county, Tennessee, and a year later to Fay- 
 ette county, Mississippi, where their home 
 was maintained until their removal to 
 Texas. They emigrated to Texas in 1843, 
 crossing the Red river at the mouth of Pine 
 creek, Lamar county, on the 25th of March. 
 The emigrant party consisted of the parents 
 of our subject; H. H. Deaton, wife and 
 child; Stephen Jennings, who married Bar- 
 bara Deaton; and the other Deaton children, 
 — Thomas, Elias L. , Calvin S., Delilah, 
 Rachel, Esther, Martha and Sarah. These 
 all remained in Lamar county until after 
 they had made a corn crop. Their grain 
 gathered, they removed to Rains county 
 and located on the Sabine river, that being 
 in the month of September. There the 
 father of our subject, as a member of the 
 Mercer colony, received land to the amount 
 of six hundred and forty acres, and there 
 he passed the remainder of his life and 
 died. 
 
 At the time of their emigration to Texas, 
 Elias L. was a boy of ten years. He re- 
 mained with the home folks in Rains 
 county until the spring of 1852, and as a 
 matter of course having but few advantages 
 in his youth. Of advantages, however, he 
 thought little then, enjoying as he did the 
 novelties and adventures of the frontier. 
 After leaving home in 1852, he remained a 
 short time in Rains county and worked for 
 
 wages. Next he went to Fort Gates, Cory- 
 ell county, and secured employment on the 
 farm of Judge Tyler, and later drove a team 
 hauling supplies for the government. Judge 
 Tyler being the contractor. Subsequently 
 we find Elias L. and his brother Thomas in 
 charge of cattle belonging to the Judge, in 
 Bell county, and in 1855 ''^^y moved the 
 stock for him to Comanche county. Our 
 subject's next employer was Mr. Isaac Will- 
 iams, for whom he herded cattle until 1857. 
 About this time, having taken a pre-emption 
 claim to one hundred and sixty acres, near 
 the town of Comanche, he made a home on 
 it and settled down to farming and stock- 
 raising for himself. At the time the civil 
 war broke out he had six hundred head of 
 cattle, all of which were stolen by the In- 
 dians. The unsettled condition of the coun- 
 try and the danger from the red men at that 
 time made it necessary for him to move his 
 family into town, which he did, while he 
 entered the frontier service. Early recog- 
 nized as a man of more than ordinary 
 strength of character and courage, he be- 
 came a leader among the early settlers, and 
 when he went out in the frontier service it 
 was as captain of a company; before his re- 
 turn he was promoted to the rank of first 
 lieutenant. While he lost all his cattle, as 
 stated above, Mr. Deaton managed to keep 
 up his ranch during the war period. 
 
 At the close of the war the whole coun- 
 try was in a most unsettled state here. Cat- 
 tle thieves were numerous, and there was 
 no end to their work. Men who had lost 
 cattle would go out and herd and drive home 
 any stock they could find to the amount of 
 what they had lost, and sometimes they 
 took more than had been lost by them. It 
 was a "grab game:" the strongest and most 
 dishonest came out ahead. Although one 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 of the most successful Indian fighters, and 
 a man who was thoroughly prepared to 
 rough it and hold his own in such a game, 
 Mr. Deaton determined not to join in it. 
 He had a family of boys who were then in 
 their 'teens and he did not care to start them 
 in life on such a career, as they would neces- 
 sarily have been called to the help of the 
 father. So he abandoned his cattle, settled 
 up his business in Comanche county, and 
 moved to Clifton, Bosque county. Two 
 months later he went to Gaudalupe county, 
 where he cultivated a crop, and after a year 
 spent in that county again sought a change 
 of location, next going to Travis county and 
 purchasing one hundred acres six miles from 
 Austin. This land he improved and on it 
 made his home six years. Again thinking 
 to improve his condition by a change of lo- 
 cation, he came to Hamilton county and 
 purchased one hundred and twenty acres of 
 land on Honey creek, this being a portion 
 of the \V. B. Caleb survey, and bought by 
 Mr. Deaton of J. J. Duncan. He has since 
 increased this by additional purchase to 
 about two hundred acres. Here he lived 
 from November i6, 1S75, until November 
 12, 1895, when he moved to Carlton, where 
 he has since lived retired, having his farm 
 rented. 
 
 From the migration of the Deaton fam- 
 ily into Texas we passed on rapidly to the 
 history of our immediate subject, following 
 him through the different localities in which 
 he sojourned, and at this point we turn 
 back for further account of his parentage. 
 The Deatons are of Scotch origin. Grand- 
 father Deaton, whose name it is thought 
 was Thomas, emigrated from Scotland to 
 this country, accompanied hither by two 
 brothers, all settling in North Carolina. 
 John Deaton, our subject's father, was born 
 
 in La Fayette county, North Carolina; was 
 married in his native state, and some years 
 later, with his wife and several children, 
 removed to McNairy county, Tennessee. 
 At the time of his death, which occurred in 
 1858, and in Rains county, Texas, as stated 
 above, he was sixty-four years of age. Per- 
 sonally, he was a man of fine physique, 
 weighed one hundred and seventy pounds 
 and measured nearly six feet, and his whole 
 bearing was that of a gentleman. While a 
 farmer all his life, he devoted his closing 
 years chiefly to the work of the ministry, 
 and was known and welcomed as one of the 
 leading Baptist preachers of the frontier. 
 Politically, he was a supporter of the Demo- 
 cratic party and its principles. The mother 
 of our subject died in the spring of 1844, 
 aged about sixty-three years. Of the chil- 
 dren of this worthy couple, we make an 
 epitomized record as follows: Philip, who 
 died in Arkansas in 1S79, left a family; 
 Branson married and settled in Tennessee 
 and never came west; Prety married a Mr. 
 Stewart and located in Tennessee; Dana 
 likewise married and settled in Tennessee; 
 Barbara, wife of Stephen Jennings, died in 
 Hopkins, Texas; Esther, wife of a Mr. 
 McClintock, came to Texas a short time be- 
 fore her death ; Martha, who married Isaac 
 Lea, died in Falls county, Texas; Delilah, 
 wife of James McBride, died in Hopkins 
 county, Texas; Elizabeth married Mr. Stew- 
 art and lived in Tennessee; the tenth born, 
 a daughter, died in early life; Hiram High- 
 tower and Thomas, both men of families, 
 died in Hopkins county, Texas, the latter a 
 man of considerable prominence, having 
 served two years as sheriff of Comanche 
 county, and the same length of time in the 
 same office in Hamilton county; Elias L. 
 was the fourteenth in order of birth; and 
 
710 
 
 HISrORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 the j-ounfjest, John Calvin, is a resident of 
 Erath county, near Gordon. 
 
 EHas L. Deaton was first married Oc- 
 tober 25, 1856, to Mary Emily Wright, 
 daughter of John F. and Una (Wheeler) 
 Wright. She was born in Kentucky, Oc- 
 tober 2, 1832, and died March 4, 1880. 
 Following are the names of their children: 
 William Douglas, born October 3, 1857. 
 He was married in the fall of 1880 to Miss 
 Ludy Oats, and is now a resident of Lewis- 
 town, Fergus county, Montana. He served 
 as sheriff of that county for some time but 
 at this writing is engaged in the stock busi- 
 ness; Thomas Jarvis, born January 2, i860, 
 was a young man of ability and bright 
 promises, and serving as deputy. sheriff un- 
 der A. P. Shockly, sheriff of Hamilton 
 county, at the time he met his death. 
 While attempting to arrest a desperado, 
 known as Jim Jones, at Fairy, Hamilton 
 county, December 8, 1893, young Deaton 
 was shot by Jones and instantly killed, the 
 murderer making his escape and thus far 
 avoiding apprehension, although every pos- 
 sible effort has been made to secure his 
 arrest; David Calvin, born April 20, 1865, 
 was married in January, 1894, to Miss 
 Georgia Webb, and is engaged in che livery 
 business in Lewistown, Montana; Joseph, 
 born February 19, 1867, died May 22, 1870; 
 Mary Emily, born November 13, 1870, was 
 married in October, 1888, to J. E. Arnold, 
 a descendant of Benedict Arnold, and they 
 are living in Ellis county, Texas; Kate 
 Catharine, born June 11, 1873, is the wife 
 of W'aldon J. Henderson, and resides on 
 Honey creek, in Hamilton county. The 
 subject of our sketch married for his second 
 wife, July 18, 1880, Mrs. Harriet Olivin 
 McCarty, widow of James Wesley McCarty 
 and daughter of Amasa and Elizabeth (Har- 
 
 mon) Nelson. Mrs. Deaton was born May 
 20, 1832, in Greene county, Alabama; was 
 married to Mr. McCarty May 23, 1850, and 
 following are the children of their union: 
 Mary Elizabeth, born February 15, 1851, 
 died October 18, 1S94; John Amasa, born 
 July 24, 1852, died July 12, 1883; Henry 
 Wallace, February 2, 1855, is a resident of 
 Comanche county, Texas; Emma Catharine, 
 born April 10, i860, is a widow and a resi- 
 dent of Hamilton county, her husband, who 
 was a member of the Twenty-seventh Ala- 
 bama Infantry, having been killed during 
 the last year of the late war; and James 
 Franklin, born March 26, 1863, died Sep- 
 tember 6, 1869. Mrs. Deaton dates her 
 arrival in Texas in February, 1877. 
 
 For nearly twenty years Mr. Deaton has 
 been a consistent member of the Baptist 
 church, and for some time a deacon in the 
 church. When the Grangers flourished 
 here he was identified with that order. 
 Early in life he espoused the principles of 
 the party with which his father had always 
 affiliated, and remained a stanch Democrat 
 until two years ago, when he became a Pop- 
 ulist. On changing his political views, he 
 felt called upon to let the people know why 
 and where he stood. This he did by out- 
 lining his political creed as follows: 
 
 " First, that all civil officers of the gov- 
 ernment be elected by a direct vote of the 
 people. 
 
 "Second, that any officer so elected 
 may be removed by a two-thirds vote of 
 those who elected him, and that his suc- 
 cessor be elected by a majority vote. 
 
 "Third, that the veto and appointive 
 power be taken from the president of the 
 United States and governors of states and 
 placed in the hands of the people. 
 
 " Fourth, that congress alone be allowed 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 71 
 
 to propose a general law, and the people 
 ratify or reject it." 
 
 And these principles Mr. Deaton defends 
 at length with able argument, which we 
 have not space for here. He is naturally 
 well qualified for the position of leader or 
 presiding officer, and in the various meet- 
 ings held in the county he is, when present, 
 usually honored with election to the chair. 
 
 As stated above, Mr. Deaton is one of 
 the few remaining Indian fighters of the 
 Texas frontier. Possibly no one living is 
 better posted than he in regard to Indian 
 raids and massacres in this section. He is 
 the author of a work entitled ' ' Indian Fights 
 on Texas Frontier," it being a " history of 
 exciting encounters had with Indians in 
 Hamilton, Comanche, Brown, Erath and 
 adjoining counties." This work is published 
 by C. M. Boynton, is in paniplet form and 
 sells at fifty cents per copy. Many exploits 
 and encounters he relates were those in 
 which he was personally engaged. The 
 accuracy and care shown in collecting and 
 editing the work is indeed to be commended, 
 and the stamp of truth is plainly visible in 
 every incident related. It is the author's 
 purpose to revise and enlarge this work at 
 no distant day. 
 
 aORNELIUS MAJORS O'NEAL, a 
 retired farmer of Dublin, Texas, is 
 one of the oldest and most re- 
 spected citizens of Erath county. 
 Like many of the prominent early settlers 
 of this state, he came here from Tennessee. 
 Mr. O'Neal was born in McNairy county, 
 Tennessee, October 15, 1832, son of George 
 Washington and Mary (Majors) O'Neal, the 
 former of Irish and the latter of Welsh de- 
 scent. The O'Neals, however, have for 
 
 many years been residents of America. 
 Grandfather Robert O'Neal was born on the 
 ocean, or shortly after their arrival in this 
 country, and the first home he ever knew 
 was in Virginia. Subsequently the family 
 removed to east Tennessee and later to the 
 western part of that state. In the early 
 part of 1843 George Washington O'Neal 
 started with his family for Texas. In Ar- 
 kansas he left them for a short time while 
 he came on horseback alone to what was to 
 be their new home, his choice of location 
 being in Franklin county, formerly Red 
 River county, and to this place he brought 
 his family in February. Cornelius M. was 
 then a small boy. He remained with his 
 parents in Franklin county until 1856, when 
 he went to Hunt county, this state, and en- 
 gaged in farming and stock-raising, remain- 
 ing there until November, 1858. At that 
 date he took up his abode on Cow creek, 
 eight miles west of Dublin. 
 
 The winter of 1858-9 was one long to 
 be remembered by the early settlers of this 
 part of Texas on account of danger from 
 the Indians. In order to secure mutual 
 protection the few settlers came close to- 
 gether. The O'Neal family was reunited, 
 and they together with the family of Will- 
 iam Keith, about twenty souls in all, spent 
 the winter at what has since been known as 
 Dublin. Here they purchased land, in 
 seven-acre tracts, from James Tucker, and 
 here the subject of our sketch has ever since 
 maintained his residence. The town was 
 named by Mr. O'Neal's father. His Irish 
 ingenuity was quick to use the name Dublin, 
 he no doubt thinking at the same time of 
 the town of that name in the old country 
 and the fact of their having to " double up " 
 here in order to protect themselves from the 
 raids of the red men. Soon other settlers 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 joined them and in time a prosperous town 
 grew up. 
 
 The following summer occurred the mar- 
 riage of Mr. O'Neal to a daughter of Will- 
 iam Keith, the date of that event being July 
 4, 1859, at a place four miles north of Dub- 
 lin. Mrs. Sarah Eveline O'Neal is likewise 
 a native of Tennessee, and was born June 
 28, 1839. Her mother's maiden name was 
 Nancy King. While Mr. and Mrs. O'Neal 
 have had no children of their own, they 
 have reared two adopted children. 
 
 During the dark days of the late war Mr. 
 O'Neal was not one to shirk duty or avoid 
 responsibility. A southern man and true to 
 the institutions of the south, he entered the 
 Confederate army in July, 1862, as a mem- 
 ber of Company G, Thirtieth Texas Cavalry, 
 and remained in the service until the close 
 of the war. At the time of the surrender 
 he was at home on furlough. He has long 
 been a member of the Masonic order and is 
 a charter member of the Dublin Lodge. 
 Recently he united with the Baptist church. 
 Thus briefly is outlined the life history of a 
 worthy citizen of Erath county, one in ev- 
 ery way entitled to the high esteem in which 
 he is held by all who know him. 
 
 ■>T-' OHN MEEIv is one of the very oldest 
 ■ citizens in the entire state of Texas. 
 nj He has witnessed almost the entire 
 passing of a century, living through 
 every presidential administration since the 
 time Thomas Jefferson was the chief execu- 
 tive of the nation. He has witnessed the 
 introduction of the railroad, of steam nav- 
 igation and the many inventions which have 
 revolutionized trade, and to-day he lives to 
 see the completeness of man's work in this 
 last decade of the century, when the west is 
 
 peopled with a contented, prosperous peo- 
 ple enjoying all the advantages of the cast, 
 and when the old world acknowledges that 
 it has a formidable rival in the new. Ninety- 
 one years have come and gone since he first 
 opened his eyes to the light of day, yet he is 
 now a well preserved old man, possessing a 
 vigor that enables him to superintend his 
 own farm. 
 
 John Meek was born in Mecklenburg 
 county. North Carolina, on the 26th of No- 
 vember, 1805, a son of Josiah and Mary 
 Margaret (Edmundson) Meek. His father 
 was also a native of North Carolina and a 
 son tjf Moses Meek, who came from the 
 Emerald Isle to America in colonial days 
 and aided the colonies in their struggle to 
 throw off the yoke of British tyranny, re- 
 maining with the army until the desired re- 
 sult was obtained. The maternal grand- 
 father of our subject was also one of the 
 heroes of the Revolution. In 1806 Josiah 
 Meek removed with his family to Tennessee, 
 locating in Dickon county, which was then 
 situated almost beyond the pale of civiliza- 
 tion. 
 
 Upon the frontier farm at his parental 
 home John Meek was reared to manhood, 
 sharing with the family in all the experiences 
 and hardships of pioneer life. The father 
 died in 1821 and the mother passed away 
 when about sixty years of age. They had a 
 family of eight children, four sons and four 
 daughters, three of whom are still living. 
 
 When Mr. Meek of this sketch, had ar- 
 rived at years of maturity he chose as a com- 
 panion and helpmeet on life's journey Miss 
 Mahala Tidwell, a native of Tennessee and 
 a daughter of Edmund Tidwell, who had re- 
 moved to Tennessee from South Carolina. 
 The marriage of our subject and his wife 
 was celebrated November 30, 1831, and 
 
msrour of Texas. 
 
 773 
 
 they began their domestic life upon a Ten- 
 nessee farm where they Hved until their em- 
 igration to Texas in 1847. Mr. Meek pur- 
 chased a partially improved farm in Upshur 
 county, and later removed to Collin county, 
 where he lived until i86[, when he took up 
 his abode in Erath county, living in Stephen- 
 ville for three years. On the expiration of 
 that period he settled on his present farm 
 and from time to time has purchased land 
 until his possessions now aggregate eleven 
 hundred and fifty acres, of which three hun- 
 dred and seventy-five acres are under a high 
 state of cultivation, yielding to him a hand- 
 some income. He yet superintends the man- 
 agement of his property and displays a vigor 
 and energy that are not often possessed by a 
 man who has passed the seventieth milestone 
 on life's journey, while he has almost 
 reached the century post. 
 
 Mr. Meek lost his first wife in 1851 and 
 afterward married Elizabeth Freeman, who 
 died two years later. He afterward mar- 
 ried Mrs. Byron, who is now also deceased. 
 He had ten children, eight daughters and 
 two sons, namely: Orlenia, wife of Benjamin 
 Earp, of Erath county; Rachel, widow of 
 Eutis Brooks; C. C, who is living in Galves- 
 ton county, Texas; C. J., also of Galveston 
 county; Caroline, wife of James Wood, of 
 Kent county; Charlotte, deceased wife of R. 
 V. Bull; Margaret, wife of M. S. Elbridge; 
 Eugene, wife of William Graham; Arte- 
 mesia, wife of W. A. Yone, of Pomona, 
 California; and Elizabeth, wife of Samuel 
 King, of Morgan Mill, Texas. The first 
 nine children were born of the first mar- 
 riage, the others of the second marriage of 
 Mr. Meek, and he now has one hundred and 
 forty direct descendants. 
 
 Our subject is a valued citizen, actively 
 interested in all that pertains to the progress 
 
 and upbuilding of the county in which he 
 lives, and has served in a number of official 
 positions. While in Tennessee he was con- 
 stable, in Erath county was elected and ac- 
 ceptably served as county clerk, while in 
 Collin county he was magistrate. He was 
 one of the first commissioners of Hood 
 county and assisted in the organization of 
 the county and the location of the county 
 seat. In fact he has been a prominent 
 factor in public affairs in this locality, and 
 his co-operation has been given to all 
 measures calculated to prove of public ben- 
 efit. In his political views he is a Demo- 
 crat and his religious convictions connect 
 him with the Christian church. 
 
 ,.>^EV. JOHN R. NORTHCUTT, 
 1^^ Dublin, Texas. — This gentleman, 
 M . P to whose life history we now turn, 
 stands conspicuously forward as 
 one of the first settlers of his locality and 
 as one who has been closely identified with 
 the physical, moral and religious develop- 
 ment of the country. He is distinctively a 
 pioneer. His parents and grandparents be- 
 fore him were pioneers; their history shows 
 a succession of migrations and a people 
 occupying leading and representative posi- 
 tions in the various frontier settlements in 
 which they cast their lots. The biography, 
 therefore, of our subject is of special inter- 
 est in this connection. 
 
 John R. Northcutt was born in Tennes- 
 see, January 21, 18 14, and when a child was 
 taken by his parents to Georgia, where he 
 was reared in frontier settlements and with 
 no other educational advantages than the 
 primitive schools of the community afforded. 
 His parents were Alexander and Lucy (Rob- 
 
774 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS, 
 
 iiison) Northcntt, the former a native of the 
 Old Dominion and the hitler of North Caro- 
 lina. 
 
 The Northcutts arc of Scotch origin. 
 The grandfather of our snbjcct came to this 
 country from Scotland at a date prior to 
 the Revolutionary war and made settlement 
 in Virginia, where he resided a number of 
 years. He left his wife and three little sons 
 there while he joined the army and fought 
 for independence. Returning home on a 
 furlough, he found his wife had died and his 
 little ones were scattered, and while at home 
 he suffered much abuse at the hands of the 
 Tories. He shortly after went back to the 
 army, and continued in the service until the 
 war closed. Subsequently he married again, 
 and by his second wife had two children, — 
 a son and a daughter, — the son being 
 Ale.xander, the father of our subject. When 
 Alexander was a youth of sixteen the fam- 
 ily moved to Georgia, and there the Revo- 
 lutionary veteran passed the residue of his 
 life and died. Alexander Northcntt married 
 and moved to Tennessee, and a few 3'ears 
 later, when a treaty was made with the In- 
 dians, he returned to Georgia and located 
 in Jasper county, where he was a prominent 
 pioneer. While in Tennessee he served in 
 the war of 1812. He was in the battle of 
 Talladega, and also the Horse Shoe battle, 
 the latter in the Creek war. After the 
 treaty had been made with the Indians and 
 another new territory opened, he moved 
 west to the Ocmulgee river and pioneered 
 again, opening up a farm and taking the 
 lead in the new settlement. But even there 
 he was not satisfied. The spirit of emigra- 
 tion again seized him, and his next migra- 
 tion was to Campbell county, on the Chatta- 
 hoochee river, where he settled among the 
 Creek Indians and opened another farm. 
 
 His next and last move was after the Chero- 
 kee purchase, when he selected a location 
 in Cobb county. There, with the aid of 
 his sons, he reclaimed from nature his last 
 farm, and there the stalwart pioneer passed 
 his closing years and died. Both he and 
 his wife were members of the Primitive Bap- 
 tist church. When the church was divided 
 he left it, while his wife went with the Mis- 
 sionary church and remained a consistent 
 and devoted member of the same until her 
 death. Captain Northcutt, as that worthy 
 pioneer was called, earned the title during 
 his military service. He filled various po- 
 sitions of trust and prominence in the dif- 
 ferent localities where he had his abiding 
 place, was public-spirited, frank and gener- 
 ous, and was as highly respected as he was 
 well known. 
 
 From this succinct review of our subject's 
 paternal ancestry we pass now to some men- 
 tion of the Robinsons, his mother's people. 
 John Robinson, his grandfather, was a 
 wealthy farmer and slaveholder of Georgia, 
 and died there. His son Luke, an uncle of 
 Mr. Northcutt. was a noted Primitive Bap- 
 tist preacher in Georgia for over forty years; 
 and John Robinson, a brother of Luke, dis- 
 tinguished himself as a member of the 
 Georgia legislature, where he served twenty- 
 two terms, at the end of that time refusing 
 to serve longer on account of his age. He 
 was a very wealthy man, an owner of many 
 slaves, and was well known and greatly es- 
 teemed throughout Georgia. J. J. Robin- 
 son, the youngest son, was a lawyer of 
 marked ability. He came to Texas about 
 1826 and located in Sabine county, where 
 he remained through life, and where he died 
 during the late war. He never married. 
 He accumulated a large amount of wealth, 
 and at one time was the owner of many 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 slaves. He, however, had given all his 
 slaves their freedom before the war came on. 
 
 The children born to Alexander and 
 Lucy Northcutt numbered twelve, their 
 names in order of birth being herewith 
 given: Elizabeth, Nancy, William, John R. , 
 Elijah, Alford, Jesse, Alexander, Luke, Lucy, 
 Frances and James. 
 
 John R. Northcutt remained with his 
 father, moving about from one frontier 
 settlement to another as above recorded, 
 until April 5, 1835, when, having attained 
 his majority a short time before, he lei't the 
 parental shelter and started out to make 
 his own way in the world, with no assistance 
 and with nothing to lose and all to gain. 
 After changing his location once or twice, 
 he settled in the Cherokee Indian country 
 before the Indians had been moved from 
 that section, and in Chattahoochee county 
 bought land and made a farm. For nine 
 years he made that place his home. Then 
 he returned to Cobb county, where he fol- 
 lowed farming and merchandising until Jan- 
 uary, 1 85 3, at that date removing to Alabama, 
 maintaining his residence in Alabama sixteen 
 years, until his removal to Texas in 1868. 
 In 1851 he was converted and joined the 
 Missionary Baptist church. Soon afterward 
 he began to take an active part in church 
 work, his interest never flagged, and after 
 his return from a hard service in the late 
 war he was ordained a minister and dedica- 
 ted his life to the service of the Lord. His 
 first regular charge was Pine Grove, where 
 he served as pastor until his removal to 
 this state. Before proceeding to his life 
 in Texas, we would revert briefly to his 
 army experience. 
 
 In 1 86 1, at the very beginning of the 
 war, Mr. Northcutt raised a company, and 
 as its captain marched to the front. There 
 
 were few, if any, companies in the south- 
 ern army that were composed of braver, 
 truer men, or commanded by a braver cap- 
 tain than this. They made some long, 
 hard marches, including one beyond Mobile, 
 and were participants in the battle of Cor- 
 inth. Ill that noted battle this company 
 lost in killed and wounded about one-half 
 its number, among the latter being the cap- 
 tain who received a bullet wound in his 
 right thigh, the bone being badly fractured. 
 As a result of this wound he was a great 
 sufferer for six months. He at once re- 
 signed his commission and returned home, 
 and it was immediately after his recovery 
 that he was ordained for the ministry. After 
 this he took no further part in the war. 
 
 On coming to Texas in 1868, Mr. North- 
 cutt stopped first on the Brazos river in 
 Hood county, where he remained two years 
 before deciding upon a permanent location. 
 In 1869 he bought a section of wild land in 
 Erath county, and to this place he moved 
 in December of the following year. Here 
 he developed a farm and in this same lo- 
 cality he still lives. Some five or six fami- 
 lies were already settled within a few miles 
 of the land he purchased, but he was the 
 pioneer of the immediate vicinity. Stephen- 
 ville was for some time the nearest trading 
 and milling place. He sent to the Brazos 
 for his first bread-stuff, and he recalls having 
 paid as high as one dollar and twenty-five 
 cents peFbushel for corn. As soon as pos- 
 sible he brought his land under cultivation, 
 and all these years he has been more or 
 less interested in farming, raising some 
 stock too, not, however, making a specialty 
 of the stock business. From time to time 
 he assisted his sons in obtaining land near 
 him, and of recent years he has divided his 
 holdings with his children, until now of his 
 
776 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 original six hundred and forty acres he re- 
 tains only one hundred and sixty, this in- 
 cluding the family residence. 
 
 But farming was only a "pot-boiler" 
 with him. While he carried forward the 
 improvement of his land and cultivated his 
 crops of grain, he was at the same time at 
 work in other fields, sowing other seed. 
 During his sojourn in Hood county he 
 preached some twenty m'les from home, at 
 a church called Kimble. After his removal 
 to Erath county he at first preached wher- 
 ever opportunity offered. The pulpit of 
 Round Grove, the church nearest his home, 
 was then filled bj' Brother Ross. Mr. 
 Northcutt preached in different churches, 
 near and far, going whenever and wherever 
 called and allowing nothing to hinder him 
 from his appointments. He helped to or- 
 ganize Zion Hill church, and occupied its 
 pulpit two years. Next, he helped to or- 
 ganize Rock Dale church, where he pro- 
 claimed the gospel at regular intervals for a 
 period of five or six years; also assisted in 
 the organization of the Flat Creek church, 
 and preached there two years. Later he 
 went to Green Creek, and there he at first 
 preached under the trees, the result being 
 an organized church, over which he served 
 as pastor four years. He organized Wal- 
 nut Creek church and was its regulr min- 
 ister four years. Also he organized Cop- 
 eras Creek church, where he served an- 
 other four years as pastor. The last 
 church he helped to organize was at the 
 head of Barton's creek, but he never offi- 
 ciated as regular pastor there. His last 
 charge was at Live Oak church, which 
 he filled four years, and since then, on 
 account of the infirmities of age, has not 
 been in active work, preaching only oc- 
 casionally, where invited. F"or a number 
 
 of years Mr. Northcutt belonged to the 
 Bosque association, of which he served as 
 moderator two years. With the develop- 
 ment of the country this organization grew 
 until it was necessary for a division and 
 eleven churches withdrew from it, forming 
 what has since been known as the Comanche 
 association, of which Mr. Northcutt is a 
 member. His long service in the ministry 
 has ever been characterized by devotion to 
 the cause. His own experience in the vari- 
 ous new settlements where he lived from 
 time to time early gave him an intimate 
 knowledge of the needs of frontier people; 
 and this knowledge, together with his ear- 
 nest desire to benefit mankind and honor 
 God, has made him a power for good. As 
 an organizer of churches and an expounder 
 of the gospel, he has exerted an influence 
 here in Texas that can be measured only by 
 eternity. 
 
 In conclusion, we would speak of Mr. 
 Northcutt's domestic relations. For more 
 than half a century he was blessed with the 
 companionship and loving devotion of one of 
 the truest and best of wives, death separa- 
 ting the aged couple April 23, 1886, when 
 the wife and mother was summoned to her 
 last home. Mr. Northcutt was married in 
 his youth to Miss Annie Dorsett, a native 
 of South Carolina, born January 21, 1821, 
 daughter of Elijah and Anna Dorsett, both 
 natives of that state. Her father was a 
 prominent farmer and died in Georgia. A 
 brother of Mrs. Northcutt, Elijah Dorsett, 
 came to Texas at an early day and became 
 prominent in Houston county, where at one 
 time he served as county sheriff. He died 
 in Crockett. As the years passed by sons 
 and daughters to the number of fourteen 
 were given to Mr. and Mrs. Northcutt. 
 Three of these children died in infancy and 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 Til 
 
 eleven grew up to occupy respected and use- 
 ful positions in society. Briefly, their re- 
 cord is as follows: Elijah, who was killed 
 in the battle of Chickamauga; Charlotta, 
 who has been twice married, first to a Mr. 
 Ganes, who was killed in the late war, her 
 present husband being I. S. Mason, whom 
 she wedded after coming to Texas; John R., 
 who died at the age of twenty-eight years, 
 left a wife and two children; William M., a 
 resident of Dublin, Texas; Alford and Jesse, 
 twins, both farmers of Erath county; Luke, 
 a farmer of this county, died and left a wife 
 and five children; F. P., deceased, left a 
 widow and four children; Thomas E., de- 
 ceased, left a widow and five children; Emma 
 E. is the wife of A. Jones, a farmer; and 
 Robert, also a farmer. Mr. Noithcutt now 
 makes his home with his son Jesse. 
 
 @EORGE C. McDERMOTT.— This 
 gentleman is to be individually con- 
 sidered as one of the representa- 
 tive citizens and farmers of Erath 
 county and also as a representative of one 
 of the pioneer families of the Lone Star 
 state, of which he is a native. He was 
 born in Hill county, June 4, 1852, son of 
 Thomas and Deborah (Smith) McDermott, 
 the former a native of Pennsylvania and the 
 latter of Illinois. 
 
 Thomas McDermott moved with his par- 
 ents from Pennsylvania to Tennessee at an 
 early day, remained with them there until 
 he grew up and then, about 1845. left the 
 parental home and started out to make his 
 own way in the world. It was then that he 
 came to Texas. In Bowie county he so- 
 journed until the following year, when he 
 enlisted for service in the Mexican war. He 
 was a participant in all the battles com- 
 
 manded by General Taylor. At the close 
 of the war he returned to Texas, a veteran 
 and a victor, and soon afterward was mar- 
 ried and established his home on a farm 
 which he bought. For some years he had 
 his farming operations carried on and he 
 himself engaged in freighting, hauling 
 freight with ox teams from Houston to the 
 interior towns. Thus was he occupied when 
 the civil war broke out. He enlisted in 
 1 86 1 in the Confederate service and went 
 to the front, leaving his family on the farm. 
 He was with the forces that operated in 
 Louisiana and Arkansas, was on duty 
 throughout the war and saw much hard serv- 
 ice, escaping, however, both capture and 
 serious wounds. At the close of that san- 
 guinary struggle he returned to Texas. 
 Since then he has made his home in Erath 
 county. He continued freighting while it 
 was profitable, handled stock to some ex- 
 tent, and lastly devoted his attention to ag- 
 ricultural pursuits, he having bought land in 
 this county. His children grew up, married 
 and scattered, and in 1893 his wife died, and 
 since then he sold his farm and retired from 
 active work. He now makes his home 
 among his children. In many respects his 
 life has been an eventful one. From boy- 
 hood his home has been on the frontier; he 
 is a veteran of two wars, he has lived out 
 his threescore years and ten, and is now en- 
 titled to the rest and comfort which he en- 
 joys. All these years he has been a stanch 
 Democrat. He never aspired to official 
 honors, but he was elected county commis- 
 sioner and served as such with credit to him- 
 self and also to the county, and in all public 
 matters he took a laudable interest. His 
 wife was a member of the Baptist church. 
 Of their family of nine children we make 
 brief record as follows: William, a resi- 
 
HIS TORT OP TEXAS. 
 
 dent of Callahan county; Cora, wife of D. 
 Arnold, a farmer; George C. , whose name 
 forms the heading of this sketch; Charles, 
 Coleman county, this state; Hugh, Crosby 
 county, Texas; Mary, wife of A. Davis, of 
 Erath county; Frank, Eastland county, 
 Texas; Samuel, a livery man of Hico, 
 Texas; and Josephine, who died when 
 young. 
 
 George C. McDermott was reared in 
 this state, and while his frontier home was 
 without school advantages he has acquired 
 through his own efforts a practical educa- 
 tion which has enabled him to successfully 
 conduct his own business affairs. At the 
 time of his marriage, which was when he 
 was twenty-two years of age, he left the 
 parental home and settled at his present 
 location, and here he has since resided, with 
 the exception of seven or eight years when 
 he left the farm in order to afford his chil- 
 dren better educational advantages. He 
 now owns about five hundred acres of fine 
 prairie land, all under fence, and one hun- 
 dred and eighty-five acres in a good state of 
 cultivation, most of it rented. His build- 
 ings and other improvements here are all 
 first-class. Also he owns a ranch in East- 
 land county. Formerly he was largely 
 interested in the stock business, buying, 
 trading and shipping, and he is yet some- 
 what of a trader. At his home place he 
 raises only enough stock for the support of 
 his farm. 
 
 Mr. McDermott, in October, 1874, wed- 
 ded Mrs. Luhama Longacre, a widow with 
 six children. She is a daughter of Jesse 
 Caraway, a native of North Carolina, who 
 went to Tennessee in early life, and in 1859 
 came to Texas, locating on the Paluxy, 
 where he spent the rest of his life and 
 where he died, in May, 1893. During the 
 
 war he served on the home guard, and on 
 one occasion, while in battle with the In- 
 dians, received an arrow shot through his 
 shoulder blade. His widow survives him, 
 is now seventy-four years of age, and still 
 resides at the old homestead. She is a 
 devoted Ciiristian and faithful member of 
 the Methodist church, as also was her 
 worthy husband. Ten children constituted 
 their family, namely: Louis, Adeline, Bry- 
 ant, Luhama, Adam, John, Nancy A., 
 Amanda, Archie and William H. All grew 
 up and married, and the children, grand- 
 children and great-grandchildren now num- 
 ber one hundred and fifteen. The six chil- 
 dren of Mrs. McDermott by her first mar- 
 riage are Mary E., wife of George Huster; 
 Martha J., wife of James Crawford; Robert 
 E., Thomas J., John C. and Benjamin F. 
 Mr. and Mrs. McDermott have three chil- 
 dren, — William E., Delia and Alice. 
 
 Politically Mr. McDermott is a Demo- 
 crat. Mrs. McDermott is a member of the 
 Christian church. 
 
 St 
 
 ELTON HUMBERSON.— A res- 
 ident of Texas from his childhood 
 and for the past twenty-odd years 
 identified with the agricultural 
 interests of Erath county, and figuring as 
 one of its representative citizens, Welton 
 Humberson is one whose life history should 
 be reviewed in this work; and to this re- 
 view the writer would now direct attention. 
 Welton Humberson looks to Alabama 
 as the place of his nativity, his birth having 
 occurred there March 25, 1837. When he 
 was about five years old he was brought to 
 Texas by his parents, Alexander and Fran- 
 ces (Winn) Humberson, both natives of 
 Alabama. Alexander Humberson, on his 
 
HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 77^ 
 
 emigration to this state, — or, rather, to this 
 republic, for that was about i S42 and be- 
 fore Texas had been admitted into the 
 Union, — located in Leon county, where he 
 improved several farms, and where he died 
 August 31, 1895, at the advanced age of 
 eighty-three years. He did not, however, 
 confine his operations wholly to farming. 
 Early in life he was in a mercantile business; 
 and at one time he embarked in the cattle 
 business, took a large herd of cattle to a 
 western range and remained with them 
 about three years. Returning to Leon 
 county he opened up a grocery business and 
 conducted it for a time. Later he retired, 
 spent some time in traveling in Colorado, 
 and finally returned again to his home in 
 Leon county, where he died as above re- 
 corded. He wife passed away in 1861. 
 Their religious belief was that of universal 
 salvation. Their family was composed of 
 twelve children, ten of whom attained to 
 adult age, namely: Welton, whose name 
 graces this article; Amanda, wife of \V. A. 
 Scott; Lavina, wife of James Marshall; 
 Wade F. , who died soon after the close of 
 the war; Francis M., a resident of Madison 
 county, Texas; Thomas J., who died some- 
 where in the west; George, a resident of 
 Leon county; Martha J., wife of William 
 Whitton; Adeline, wife of James Sterling; 
 the tenth and eleventh born died when 
 young; and John H., a resident of Colorado. 
 The subject of our sketch, like most men 
 who grew up on the Texas frontier, had but 
 few advantages for obtaining an education. 
 His training was all received from his father. 
 At seventeen } oung Humberson left home 
 and went west in the employ of a cattle 
 rancher, and after his return home engaged 
 in freighting, in which he was occupied four 
 years. During the war he was detailed un- 
 
 der Kirby Smith to hunt up and drive beef 
 cattle, was placed at the head of a foraging 
 outfit, and rendered service in this way until 
 the close of the war: then he resumed freight- 
 ing. He hauled freight from Houston for 
 four years, up to the time of his marriage, 
 when he bought a farm in Leon county and 
 settled down to the quiet agricultural pur- 
 suits. On that farm he remained from 1869 
 until 1873. when he sold out and came to 
 Erath county. There was then but little 
 land on the market in Erath county. He 
 purchased his present farm, later found that 
 his title to it was not good and purchased it 
 again. He built a house, made other im- 
 provements and spent considerable time and 
 some means in getting his land under culti- 
 vation, and after all this found that still his 
 title was not valid. He was sued on the 
 title, lost the suit, and a third time had to 
 pay for his place or give it up. He paid 
 the price and has since held undisputed pos- 
 session. This farm comprises two hundred 
 and eighty acres, sixty of which are under 
 cultivation. Mr. Humberson has always 
 been a lover of fine horses, has given con- 
 siderable attention to them, and has at 
 different times been the owner of some good 
 race-horses. The Indians have been in this 
 county since he settled here but he has 
 never experienced any trouble with them. 
 
 Mr. Humberson was united in marriage 
 in 1869 to Miss Frances A. Simpson, a na- 
 tive of Louisiana, the date of her birth 
 being June 17, 185 1. Her father, A. J. 
 Simpson, a native of Alabama, moved from 
 there to Louisiana, and about 1856 came to 
 Texas, settling first in Navarro county, in 
 i860 removing to Leon county, and subse- 
 quently to Llano county. In these various 
 locations he followed the vocation of a 
 farmer. He died in Llano county. He was 
 
780 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS 
 
 twice married am] had a larj^e mitiiber of 
 children, ten by his first wife and four by 
 the second. The members composing the 
 first family, of which Mrs. Humberson is 
 one, are as follows: David, Frances A., 
 Hohn and William (twins), Martha J., 
 Nasha A., James D., Samuel, Ned and An- 
 drew J. Mr. and Mrs. Humberson have 
 been blessed in the birth of ten children, 
 four of whom died in infancy; those living 
 are Martha, James L., Hinchie W., Birtie 
 L. , John and Mirtie, and all are at home 
 except the eldest daughter, Martha, who is 
 the wife of H. F. Havin, a farmer and 
 teacher. 
 
 Mr. Humberson was for many years a 
 loyal member of the Democratic party; but 
 "new times demand new measures and 
 new means," and he left the Democratic 
 ranks to affiliate with the third party, and 
 recently has become an uncompromising 
 Populist. He is not, however, an office- 
 seeker, nor has he ever had even aspirations 
 for official preferment. Mrs. Humberson is 
 a member of the Christian cliurch. 
 
 HDAM A LACKEY, who figures as 
 one of the respected farmers of 
 Erath county, Texas, and who has 
 occupied his present location since 
 1890, is a native of Alabama, born in Talla- 
 poosa county July 4, 1849. His parents, 
 Thomas J. and Sarah A. (Saxon) Lackey, 
 were born in Tennessee and Georgia re- 
 spectively, and with their parents removed 
 to Alabama when that state was considered 
 the frontier. Thomas J. Lackey is a son of 
 Adam A. Lackey, a native of North Caro- 
 lina, who moved west to Tennessee at a 
 very early day and made his home in the 
 
 wilds and among the Indians. As the conn- 
 try around him became settled up he was 
 again a victim of the emigration " fever," 
 and this time sought a home in Alabama, 
 where he became a prominent farmer and 
 leading citizen. He was a zealous member 
 of the Methodist Episcopal church, and a 
 Royal Arch Mason, and such was his whole 
 life that none knew him biit to honor and 
 respect him. He settled in Alabama while 
 the Indians were still numerous there, was 
 a prominent factor in developing the re- 
 sources of the country, and lived to see the 
 marvelous change which has been wrought 
 in this last quarter of the century. He 
 died about 1891, after having passed his 
 ninetieth milepost. 
 
 The father of our subject was reared and 
 married in Alabama, and has all his life fol- 
 lowed the quiet pursuits of the farm. He 
 took no part in the late war. In 1878 he 
 moved to Texas and settled first in Coryell 
 county. Subsequently he removed to Erath 
 county and settled on the farm he still owns 
 and occupies. Both he and his wife are 
 members of the Methodist church, and he 
 is a Master Mason. To them were born 
 ten children, four of whom died young, the 
 others being as follows: .^dam A., the sub- 
 ject of this article; Nancy J., wife of .J. S. 
 Roden, of this county; H. C , a popular and 
 prosperous young man of Texarkana, Texas, 
 who died there in August, 18S1 ; and Daniel 
 W. , James L. and John E., at home. 
 
 Adam A. Lackey was reared to manhood 
 on his father's farm in Alabama, with the 
 advantages of the common schools only, 
 and at the age of twenty left home to take 
 a position as clerk in a store. He clerked 
 and also collected taxes for his employer, 
 and on quitting this service returned home. 
 October 16, 1873, he purchased a small 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 rsi 
 
 farm in Alabama, settled on it at once, and 
 the next six years devoted his energies to 
 its cultivation. Then in 1879 he came to 
 Texas and located in Coryell county, where 
 he followed farming on rented land until 
 1890, the time of his removal to Erath 
 county. In 1895 he purchased his present 
 farm, two hundred acres in the vicinity of 
 Duffau, his land being partly under cultiva- 
 tion and having good buildings at the time 
 of purchase. He now cultivates about fifty 
 acres. 
 
 Mr. Lackey was married in Alabama to 
 Miss Sarah V. Ryan, a native of Georgia, 
 born May 3, 1851, daughter of Thomas and 
 Lucinda Ryan. Her father was a native of 
 the Emerald Isle, was by trade a cabinet- 
 maker, but later in life was a farmer, and 
 died in Alabama in 1889. His widow sur- 
 vives him and resides at the old home in 
 Alabama. Their family comprised eight 
 children, namely: Albert M. and William 
 T. , both of .Alabama; Mrs. Lackey, John S. 
 and Hiram A., also of Alabama; Napoleon 
 B., who died when 30ung; Malvina, wife of 
 E. V. Ritchey, Erath county, Texas; and 
 Isaac N., of Alabama. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Lackey have been blessed in the birth of 
 eight children, viz. : Alonzo T. , Anderson 
 E., Oscar N., Henry C, James M., Deffa 
 L. , John and Lucinda L. All are at home 
 except the eldest son, who is a farmer of 
 this county. 
 
 Like his grandparents and parents before 
 him, Mr. Lackey has embraced the religion 
 of Christ as taught by the Methodist Epis- 
 copal church, and in this he is joined by his 
 companion, she, too, having been reared by 
 Methodist parents. Also in politics, as well 
 as religion, he agrees with his father, both 
 being stanch Republicans, but without any 
 aspirations for official preference. 
 
 >Tr*AMES L. HAYES.—Among the en- 
 m terprising and well-to-do agricultur- 
 A 1 ists of Comanche county who are 
 identified with its material interests, 
 is the gentleman whose name heads this 
 sketch. He was born in Alabama, Septem- 
 ber 26, 1835, and was reared on the farm 
 of his parents, Madison T. and Malinda 
 (McLaughlin) Hayes, also natives of that 
 state, where they were married. His grand- 
 father, James Hayes, was born in Tennes- 
 see, and there married Susan Tanksley. 
 Later he removed to Alabama, where he be- 
 came a prominent farmer and respected citi- 
 zen. Religiously, he was a member of the 
 Cumberland Presbyterian church. 
 
 In Alabama, Madison T. Hayes was 
 reared to the honest pursuit of farming, 
 which he always continued to follow, and 
 became one of the leading agriculturists and 
 slave owners in his locality. He died in 
 Alabama, at the advanced age of ninety 
 years. Himself and wife held a member- 
 ship in the Cumberland Presbyterian church, 
 in which for many years he served as elder. 
 They had eleven children, of whom our sub- 
 ject was the only one to come to Texas. 
 They are as follows: Mrs. Margaret Fow- 
 ler; Susan, who has been a second time 
 married; James L. ; Mary, who first wedded 
 a Mr. Thurston, but is now Mrs. Houston; 
 Mrs. Sarah Moxley, Mrs. Matilda J. Cald- 
 well, Mrs. Eliza Lawson, Mrs. Julia Moxley, 
 John M. and Thomas. 
 
 In his native state our subject obtained 
 his education, and remained with his father 
 until twenty-three years of age, being mar- 
 ried in 1858 to Miss Mary Blassingann, who 
 was born in northern Alabama, in May, 
 I 841. and is a daughter of Jesse and Mary 
 (Walker) Blassingann, who died in that 
 state. She w^as the fourth in order of birth 
 
782 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 in a family of ten children, the others being 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Harris, Mrs. Adelaide Ice, 
 Mrs. Sarah Elrod, Mrs. Sophronia Ealy, 
 Mrs. Diana Harrison, Mrs. Missouri Ward, 
 Gust, Joe and William. Fourteen children 
 have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hayes: 
 Polly, wife of A. H. Cox, of Comanche 
 county; Emma, deceased wife of J. E. Man- 
 ning; Ann E. , widow of P. G. Cox; William 
 T. and James M., of Comanche county; 
 Sudie, wife of W. H. Lester, of Indian 
 Territory; Diana, wife of W. S. Cox; Newt 
 W. ; Emmett; Cordelia, wife of J. C. Dan- 
 iels, of Erath county; Victoria, wife of J. C. 
 Neel; Dolly, Jesse and Lewis, all at home. 
 The sons and sons-in-law are all farmers. 
 
 In 1862 Mr. Hayes joined the Confed- 
 erate service, enlisting in the Thirtieth Ala- 
 bama Infantry, Harding's corps, Stephen- 
 son's division, of the Army of the Tennessee, 
 with which he remained until the close of 
 the war. He was in many skirmishes and 
 hard-fought battles, including the siege of 
 Vicksburg, where all surrendered and were 
 soon paroled. After a thirty-days leave of 
 absence our subject rejoined his command, 
 and took part in the battle of Lookout 
 mountain. He was slightly wounded, but 
 was always able to be at his post of duty, 
 and was with his regiment at Bentonville, 
 North Carolina, the last engagement of the 
 war. After Lee's surrender he returned 
 home. 
 
 Joining his wife and three children, Mr. 
 Hayes began life anew with no capital, and 
 engaged in farming in Alabama until 1869, 
 when he sold out and came to Texas. After 
 looking around for a time he decided to 
 locate in Bell county, where he raised two 
 crops upon rented land. In 1870, in con- 
 nection with another gentleman, he pur- 
 chased a lot of cattle and started for Cali- 
 
 fornia, taking his family with him. On 
 reaching the Green river they found that 
 they could not proceed further, and he 
 therefore disposed of his stock and returned 
 by way of Denver. In that city he bought 
 an outfit and came across the country to 
 Texas, again locating in Bell county, -where 
 in 1872 he purchased land. After cultivat- 
 ing that farm until 1883 he disposed of the 
 same and came to Comanche county, where 
 he has since made his home. To his origi- 
 nal purchase of three hundred and four 
 acres he added one hundred and eighty-five 
 acres, and later one hundred acres. He 
 still owns four hundred acres, sixty-five of 
 which are under a high system of cultiva- 
 tion and improved with a commodious frame 
 dwelling, good and substantial outbuildings, 
 a windmill and orchard. It is one of the 
 most desirable farms of the locality, situated 
 one mile from Farmers' Chapel, and its neat 
 and thrifty appearance indicates the owner 
 to be one of the most wide-awake, ener- 
 getic and progressive farmers of Comanche 
 county. 
 
 Becoming dissatisfied with the Demo- 
 cratic party, which he had always supported, 
 Mr. Hayes was one of the first advocates of 
 reform, and in 1888 joined the Greenback 
 party. He is now an earnest supporter of 
 the People's party. Formerly both himself 
 and wife were Presbyterians, but are now 
 earnest and consistent members of the Holi- 
 ness church. 
 
 J. HAMICK.— To the life history 
 of another one of Erath county's 
 prominent and enterprising farmers 
 would we now invite attention. 
 T. J. Hamick was born in Pike county, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Arkansas, November 13, 1844, and was 
 reared to farm life in that county. He 
 received his early traininf^ in the little coun- 
 try school -house near his home, and after 
 the war, when he was a man grown, was 
 for eight months a student in a Louisiana 
 school. That completed his education. 
 Mr. Hamick's parents were William G. and 
 Mary (Brock) Hamick, the former a native 
 of Georgia who emigrated from there to 
 Arkansas at an early day, where he devel- 
 oped a farm on which he passed the rest of 
 his days and died, his death occurring in 
 1859. He was for many years a Primitive 
 Baptist preacher, preaching and carrying on 
 farming -operations at the same time and 
 exerting a potent influence for good in the 
 pioneer community in which he lived. The 
 maternal grandfather of our subject, Napo- 
 leon Brock, was a native of Tennessee, a 
 prominent farmer in his day, and moved 
 from Tennessee to Arkansas and later to 
 Texas, landing in Texas soon after the close 
 of the civil war. He died in this state. 
 William G. Hamick and his wife had eight 
 children, four of whom died in infancy, the 
 others being as follows: William J., who 
 died in hospital at Rock Island, Illinois, 
 during the late war; T. J., whose name 
 commences this article; Hester A., wife of 
 D. J. Howard, a farmer of Arkansas; and 
 John M., who died at the age of fourteen 
 years. 
 
 After the death of his father the subject 
 of our sketch remained with his widowed 
 mother until early in 1863, when he left 
 home and entered the Confederate army. 
 He went out as a member of Company D, 
 Monroe's regiment of cavalry, Pagan's divis- 
 ion, and saw much hard service, being in 
 numerous skirmishes and battles and with 
 General Price on his last raid. Among the 
 
 engagements in which he participated were 
 those of Lexington, Wilson's creek and Pilot 
 Knob. At Wilson's creek many of his com- 
 mand were captured. Mr. Hamick, how- 
 ever, escaped both capture and wounds. 
 At the close of Price's raid through Missouri 
 he returned to Arkansas, where he was soon 
 afterward taken down with smallpox, and 
 did not again enter the service. 
 
 At the close of the war Mr. Hamick went 
 to Louisiana and attended school, as above 
 stated, and there in 1 866 was married. The 
 summer of that year he spent on a farm, and 
 in the fall he came to Texas, landing in 
 Collin county in December. There he pur- 
 chased a farm on which he made his home, 
 and to the cultivation of which he directed 
 his energies the next four years. Then for 
 two years he ran a store, and the following 
 two years gave his attention to railroad con- 
 tracts, working on the Texas Central and 
 Texas Pacific lines. About 1874 he moved 
 to Hood county, where, with Mr. Lanan:, 
 he built a mill, and lived there and ran 
 the mill until 1880. His next move was to 
 his present location in Erath county, at the 
 foot of Chalk mountain, where he bought 
 eighty acres of improved land and again 
 settled down to farming. He subsequently 
 purchased other land until now he is the 
 owner of a fine tract comprising four hun- 
 dred and forty-five acres, one hundred and 
 fifty of which are under cultivation, devoted 
 to the usual crops made in the county; 
 and he is also interested in the stock busi- 
 ness. About 1886 he commenced raising 
 sheep, which he has since continued, and 
 now has a fine flock of Merinos. 
 
 Not long after Mr. Hamick settled here 
 he and his neighbors felt the need of a post- 
 office and put forth efforts to secure one, 
 the result being that in 1882 he was ap- 
 
r84 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 pointed postmaster of an office to be known 
 as Chalk Mountain, and which he placed in 
 his home. He kept the office at his resi- 
 dence until about 1887, when he erected a 
 store building and opened out a full stock of 
 groceries, at the same time moving the post- 
 office to the store. He continued as post- 
 master until the spring of 1893, when he was 
 succeeded by L. B. Howard, the present in- 
 cumbent, Mr. Howard having purchased the 
 store previous to his appointment to the 
 office. Since 1893 Mr. Hamick has devoted 
 his entire attention to his farm and stock. 
 
 He was married soon after the close of 
 the war to Miss Josephine White, a native 
 of Alabama, born in April, 1847, daughter 
 of Nicholas T. and Miriam (Newton) White, 
 also natives of Alabama. When she was 
 very young Mrs. Hamick removed with her 
 parents to Louisiana; and in 1866 they all 
 came together to Texas, locating in Collin 
 county, where her father still resides, now 
 being seventy-five years of age. He is a 
 prominent farmer in that county, and also 
 owns a large herd of cattle in the west. 
 Religiously he is a Methodist and politically 
 a Prohibitionist. His family comprises ten 
 children, two of whom died when young, 
 and of the others we make record as follows: 
 Ellen O. is the wife of G. W. Puckett ; 
 Sarah J., now Mrs. Hamick; John, a Meth- 
 odist minister; Frances, wife of K. Burron; 
 Lou, wife of Ed. Gray; L G., deceased; 
 T. A., a Collin county farmer; and M. T. , 
 who is engaged in the cattle business out on 
 the plains. The mother of this family 
 passed away in October, 1893. Eight chil- 
 dren have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Hamick, viz.: Molly M., wife of A. Tutt, 
 a mail contractor; William T., a farmer; 
 J. Claud, also engaged in farming; Charles 
 C, at home and working at the trade of 
 
 blacksmith; and the others all at home — 
 John T. , Luellen, George and Annie. 
 
 Mr. Hamick has always shown a com- 
 mendable interest in all public issues, es- 
 pecially those of his locality, and any meas- 
 ure intended to promote its welfare is sure 
 to receive his hearty support. He voted 
 with the Democratic party until 1882, when 
 I he went over to the People's party and has 
 since affiliated with it. Both he and his 
 wife are members of the Episcopal church, 
 in which he has served as a steward for a 
 number of years. 
 
 H 
 
 LFRED COX has been a resident 
 of Texas from his boyhood, is 
 familiar with the various phases of 
 life in this state from its early 
 settlement to the present time, and is now 
 ranked with the prominent farmers and stock 
 men of Erath county. It is therefore of 
 signal consistency that a rcsuiiu- of his life 
 history be given place in this volume. 
 
 Mr. Cox is by birth a Missourian. He 
 was born November 21,1 833, son of Edward 
 and Hannah (Williams) Cox, his father a 
 native of Tennessee and his mother of Ken- 
 tucky. Edward Cox was a farmer all his 
 life. About 1849 he emigrated to Texas 
 and settled in Hopkins county. Later he 
 moved to Johnson county, spent six years 
 there, and then came td Erath county, this 
 county at that time being on the frontier 
 and having but few settlers within its bor- 
 ders. Here he engaged in the cattle busi- 
 ness, started with a fine herd and had excel- 
 lent success until the opening of the war. 
 During the war he sold beef cattle to the 
 government, took Confederate money in 
 payment and in the end lost heavily. For 
 several years during the war and following 
 
HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 it the Indians were troublesome on the 
 frontier. They made numerous raids on the 
 unprotected settlers, stole their cattle and 
 horses, killing or driving them off, and some- 
 times even killed the settlers themselves. 
 After one of these raids had been made and 
 a number of cattle stolen Mr. Cox was one 
 of a party, composed chiefly of boys, who 
 went out in pursuit of the red men and to 
 secure the stolen stock, and while on this 
 mission bent he was killed by the Indians, 
 and his horse, saddle and bridle stolen by 
 them. At the same time they killed a 
 young man by the name of Mollis. That 
 was in July, 1S65, in Hamilton county. He 
 was buried in that county. After his death 
 his family sold the stock they had left and 
 quit the business. He had been married 
 twice. His first wife, the mother of our 
 subject, had died in Johnson county in 1855, 
 and his second wife survived him. The 
 children of his first marriage, eight in num- 
 ber, are as follows: Alfred, who is the 
 subject proper of this review; Sarah E., 
 deceased, was the wife of Gasham Bills; 
 Ann, wife of E. Miller; Jane, who became 
 the wife of Mr. Bills after her sister's death; 
 Alzai, wife of Daniel Moore; Zilsa, wife of 
 Thomas Lane; Derinda, wife of L. Evans; 
 and Lucy, wife of J. Lane. His second 
 wife bore him four children: Mary, wife of 
 John Dowty; and John, Hall and Frank, — 
 all farmers. 
 
 Alfred Co.x was in his 'teens at the time 
 his parents emigrated to this state. Here 
 he found novelty and adventure enough to 
 satisfy even the most- daring nature. His 
 youth was spent in the saddle in caring for 
 his father's stock and in consequence he had 
 but little opportunity for securing an educa- 
 tion. However, he picked up a varied and 
 valuable knowledge of men and business as 
 
 he passed along and on arriving at mature 
 years he was better qualified to do business 
 than are many whose advantages were 
 superior to his. He remained with his fa- 
 ther until 1853, when he married and made 
 a home for himself. It was at that time that 
 he bought the land upon which he now lives, 
 or, rather, a part of it, for his first purchase 
 was of one hundred and seventy-seven acres. 
 To this he has since added an adjoining one 
 hundred acres, and now his farm comprises 
 two hundred and seventy-seven acres, one 
 hundred and forty of which are under culti- 
 vation. He gives his whole time and at- 
 tention to farming and stock-raising and his 
 efforts are being rewarded with fair success. 
 
 Mr. Co.x married Miss Martha Bills. She 
 was born in Tennessee, February 2, 1837, 
 daughter of Daniel and Martha (Walker) 
 Bills, natives of North Carolina who removed 
 from there to Tennessee and in 1846 to 
 Texas. Their first settlement in this state 
 was in Hopkins county. In i860 they came 
 to Erath county and subsequently removed 
 to Hood county. He died on his farm in 
 Hood county in 1866; his wife passed away 
 in 1879. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Bills were ten children, namely: Ellen, 
 Mary, Jonathan, Asa, Walker, Susan, 
 Thaney, Deborah, "Viley and Martha. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Cox have been blessed with a large 
 progeny, thirteen children in all, three of 
 whom died young. Those living are as fol- 
 lows: Daniel; Elizabeth, wife of B. Havens; 
 Susie, wife of Ed. Jackson; Ed. ; Reed; Vio- 
 let, wife of A. Shaw; Robert. William, and 
 Cy and Ellen at home. The sons are all 
 farmers and the daughters are farmers' 
 wives. 
 
 The parents of both Mr. and Mrs. Cox 
 were members of the Christian church and 
 both maintained a membership in the church 
 
rsG 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 in which they were reared. Of Mr. Cox's 
 political affiliations, it may be said that he 
 is a Populist. 
 
 ^VOSEPH W. GAINES.— This pros- 
 m perous and intelligent farmer is one 
 « 1 of the most public-spirited men of 
 Comanche county. He was born in 
 Georgia, May 29, 1850, and is a son of 
 Frank and Fannie (Brown) Gaines, the 
 former a native of South Carolina, and the 
 latter of North Carolina, but were married 
 in Georgia. His grandfather, Thomas 
 Gaines, who was born in Virginia, was of 
 Scotch and Welsh descent, and was a tan- 
 ner by trade. Himself and wife, who were 
 members of the Presbyterian church, passed 
 their last days in Georgia. 
 
 Although reared upon a farm, the father 
 of our subject learned the carpenter's and mill- 
 wright's trades, which he followed through- 
 out much of his life up to the time of the 
 war. He was a Whig politically, and a 
 Union man (opposed to secession), but upon 
 the outbreak of the war joined his country- 
 men and for four years served in the Con- 
 federate army. At the battle of Baker's 
 Creek he was captured and taken to Fort 
 Delaware, where he was held until near the 
 close of the war. Later he was recaptured, 
 and this time carried to Rock Island, where 
 he was imprisoned at the time of Lee's sur- 
 render. Returning home, he worked as a 
 mechanic until 1870, since which time he 
 has engaged in farming, and has resided in 
 Comanche county since 18S5. He has 
 taken an active interest in all public affairs, 
 and has held a number of offices, including 
 that of justice of the peace. Formerly he 
 was a Univcrsalist in religious belief, but 
 now holds membership with the Missionary 
 
 Baptist church. He votes with the People's 
 party. By his first wife he had nine chil- 
 dren, but six died in childhood. Those 
 living are: Caroline, wife of a Mr. Hamil- 
 ton, of Alabama; Joseph W., of this sketch; 
 and James, a resident of Rock Run, Ala- 
 bama. In 1856 the mother of these children 
 died, and the father later wedded Miss 
 Eliza Graham, who was born in South Car- 
 olina, but was reared in Georgia. They 
 became the parents of nine children: 
 Thomas, Charles, John C, Lucinda, Henry, 
 Chetam, Walker, Frederick and one who 
 died in infancy. Only three are now living. 
 
 The boyhood and youth of Joseph W. 
 Gaines were passed in Summerville, Georgia, 
 and although his school training was limited 
 he has acquired a good practical education 
 since reaching manhood. Having a step- 
 mother he became dissatisfied at home 
 while his father was in the army, and in 
 1863 started northward, joining the federal 
 troops then stationed at Nashville, Tennes- 
 see, as a bugler in Company D, Twelfth 
 Tennessee Cavalry, and being consigned to 
 the Army of the Tennessee. He was with 
 Thomas' division on the Hood raid through 
 that state, and followed Hood across the 
 Mississippi river. His regiment was later 
 sent west to guard a train over the plains. 
 They went as far as Fort Kearney, Kansas, 
 and then returned to Fort Leavenworth, 
 where Mr. Gaines was discharged in Octo- 
 ber, 1865. 
 
 Returning to his home in Georgia, he 
 commenced work for himself, but in 1869 
 went to Arkansas, and the following year 
 came to Texas, stopping first in the eastern 
 part of the state. In February, 1874, he 
 went to Erath county, where he was em- 
 ployed as a farm hand until his marriage in 
 the following October. Since that time he 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 has carried on farming on his own account in 
 Comanche county, renting land for six 
 years. In 1880 he purchased one hundred 
 and sixty acres of his present farm, later 
 added eighty acres, and still owns two hun- 
 dred and five acres of the amount, of which 
 sixty-five are under cultivation. He has 
 made many substantial improvements upon 
 his place, which at the time of his purchase 
 was all raw land, including a commodious 
 dwelling, good outbuildings and an orchard. 
 In connection with general farming he gives 
 some attention to stock-raising. 
 
 Mr. Gaines was united in marriage with 
 Miss Ellen Randall, alady of intelligence and 
 good family, who was born in Alabama, 
 January 6, 1857, and is the daughter of 
 Smith and Mary (Claxton) Randall, both 
 natives of South Carolina, but were mar- 
 ried in Alabama. Her father, who is a 
 farmer by occupation, served through the 
 late war, and came to Texas in 1869, living 
 for three years in Limestone county, but 
 since that time in Comanche county. He 
 settled on a tract of land which he pur- 
 chased on Mustang creek when there were 
 only three other families living along its 
 borders. He has a large farm, two hundred 
 acres under cultivation, and is one of the 
 prominent men of his locality. Formerly 
 he was a Democrat, but is now a Populist, 
 and religiously is a Baptist. His wife, who 
 died March 15, 1888, was also a faithful 
 member of the same church. In their fam- 
 ily were five children, — Ellen, John, Will- 
 iam, Sally and Homer. 
 
 To Mr. and Mrs. Gaines were born nine 
 children, one of whom died in infancy. The 
 others are Eddy, an attorney of Comanche; 
 Elizabeth, wife of John Currie, a farmer; 
 and Beulah, Arthur, Maggie, Fannie, Ham- 
 ilton, Joe and Austin, — all at home. The 
 
 parents hold a membership in the Mission- 
 ary Baptist church, and are earnest Chris- 
 tian people, who have the respect of all who 
 know them. At national elections, Mr. 
 Gaines supports the Republican party, but 
 on local affairs he votes independently. He 
 takes a business view of all political situa- 
 tions, and is alive to all interests for the 
 public welfare, but has never aspired to 
 office. 
 
 >pj*OHN WALKER is a valued and es- 
 ff teemed agriculturist of Comanche 
 A 1 county, where he has one hundred 
 and seventy- five acres of good table 
 land on the Leon river, of which seventy- 
 five acres are under excellent culture and 
 well improved. The buildings upon the 
 place are of a neat and substantial charac- 
 ter, betokening thrift and prosperity, and a 
 good orchard supplies fruit in season. He 
 is meeting with merited success in his farm- 
 ing operations, and bids fair to achieve an 
 easy competence, so that in his declining 
 years he may rest peacefully from the cares 
 of life. 
 
 The birth of Mr. Walker took place De- 
 cember 8, 1853, in Pontotoc county, Mis- 
 sissippi, and he was reared upon a farm, 
 receiving a limited education in the schools 
 near his home. His parents, Japheth and 
 Susan A. (Kidd) Walker, were natives of 
 Tennessee. Before marriage his father had 
 engaged in school-teaching, but after that 
 event always turned his attention to farm- 
 ing. In 1 87 1 he brought his family to 
 Texas, locating upon a three-hundred-and- 
 twenty-acre tract of wild land in Comanche 
 county, which he at once began to clear, 
 and placed one hundred and sixty acres un- 
 der cultivation. Upon that homestead he 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 continues to reside, at the age of seventy- 
 six years. In his family were eleven chil- 
 dren: Louisa, wife of T. E. Gilmer, a 
 farmer of Comanche county; Priscilla, wife 
 of D. F. Gilmer, also an agriculturist; Eliza, 
 who first wedded John Griffin, and after his 
 death Gus Richardson; Francis \V., of In- 
 dian Territory; William D., a farmer; Jo- 
 sephine; John; Stephen A., a farmer and 
 agent for tombstones; Japheth, deceased; 
 Robert D., of Ellis county; and Susan A , 
 whose husband is a commercial traveler. 
 For three years during the late civil war the 
 father served in a Mississippi regiment, was 
 a Democrat in politics until a few years 
 ago, but now votes with the People's party. 
 He is an earnest member of the Missionary 
 Baptist church, to which his estimable wife, 
 who died in 1891, also belonged. 
 
 Until eighteen years of age, Mr. Walker, 
 of this review, remained with his parents, 
 and then started out to fight life's battle for 
 himself, his first employment being the 
 making of rails. He next cleared a tract 
 of land, but the following three years he de- 
 voted to rail-splitting. After worlcing as a 
 farm hand or at any employment he could 
 find, in 1880 he purchased a tract of ninety- 
 three acres of wild land, to which he has 
 since added until it comprises his present 
 fine farm of one hundred and seventy-five 
 acres. Besides general farming he has for 
 seven years ran a threshing-machine, and 
 also works some at the carpenter's trade. 
 
 In April, 1891, was celebrated the mar- 
 riage of Mr. Walker and Mrs. Sarah F. 
 Goodwin. She is the oldest in a family of 
 seven children, the others being Martha B., 
 William J., John, Miller, Lilly and one 
 who died in infancy. Her father. Miles C. 
 Huckabee, was born in Mississippi, but was 
 reared in Arkansas, and since 1874 has | 
 
 made his home in Texas, at first locating 
 in Erath county. For several years, how- 
 ever, he has now lived in Comanche county, 
 where he carries on farming. In politics 
 he is a Populist, but formerly supported the 
 Democratic party, and religiously both him- 
 self and wife are members of the Missionary 
 Baptist church, as were their parents be- 
 fore them. 
 
 Mr. Walker cast his first vote in sup- 
 port of the Democracy, but joined the re- 
 form movement and is now a stalwart Pop- 
 ulist. Both himself and wife belong to the 
 Missionary Baptist church. 
 
 ^y^ANIEL P. PINKARD, a pioneer 
 I B of Texas and an enterprising 
 ff^„J farmer of Comanche county, was 
 born in Perry county,- Tennessee, 
 January 28, 1848, a son of Harris and Lydia 
 (Pcrrj) Pinkard. His parents were born 
 and married in Tennessee. The paternal 
 grandfather, when a boy of seven, left home 
 and went to sea, never returning until after 
 he had become a man. He was then mar- 
 ried and had two children. Harris Pinkard 
 followed farming in Tennessee until 1852, 
 when he went to Arkansas, living in several 
 places in that state. He served in the civil 
 war, and died in Arkansas in 1872. His 
 wife died in Temiessee when our subject 
 was only three weeks old, leaving one other 
 child, — Marj', — who became the wife of Mr. 
 Frizzcll and died a year later. Harris 
 Pinkard was a second time married and by 
 that union had three children, — Addie, 
 William and Jo, — all living in the Cherokee 
 Nation. 
 
 Our subject received but a limited 
 school training, but through his own efforts 
 has acquired a good practical education. 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 789 
 
 When a child of four he went with his fa- 
 ther to Arkansas, and a year later accom- 
 panied an uncle to Texas. They spent the 
 year 1853 in Coryell county, then removed 
 to Fort Shadburn. There his uncle, 
 Jonathan Watson, a native of Tennessee, 
 engaged with the company that furnished 
 hay and feed to the government and oper- 
 ated the hay ranch for sometime. In 1855 
 he came to Comanche county, where he 
 opened up a farm and engaged in cattle- 
 raising. He is now one of the representa- 
 tive and prominent citizens of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 Mr. Pinkard assisted his uncle in farm- 
 ing and stock-raising and resided with him 
 until his marriage. The Indians occasioned 
 great trouble to the settlers between 1858 
 and 1870, and he took part in many raids 
 against them. In 1866 he was with a com- 
 pany of four men who were hunting stock 
 when they became engaged in a fight with 
 the Indians, and Mr. Pinkard narrowly 
 escaped, holes being shot in his clothes in 
 various places. With a company under 
 command of D. Cunningham, he followed a 
 band of over thirty Indians and fought 
 them. Frank Brown and three other men, 
 while engaged in teaming, were attacked by 
 the savages, and thisso aroused the neighbor- 
 hood that Captain Cunningham and twenty- 
 one brave followers started with blood- 
 hounds in pursuit. They had a battle on 
 Hog creek in Brown county, and completely 
 routed the Indians, killing seven of the 
 number. Of the white men Freeman Clark 
 was killed and several were injured, but the 
 mules and horses which had been stolen 
 were secured, together with the Indian sup- 
 plies, pistols, bows and arrows and some 
 Indian horses. The last raid against the 
 Indians in which Mr. Pinkard took part was 
 
 in 1874, since which time no trouble has 
 been experienced with the red men. 
 
 In 1869 Mr. Pinkard purchased a farm, 
 buying a squatter's claim of one hundred 
 and sixty acres and securing the title from 
 the land office. He now owns five hundred 
 and eighty-six acres of valuable land, much 
 of which he cleared of a growth of heavy 
 timber. He now has two hundred and fifty 
 acres in a superior state of cultivation, has 
 planted a good orchard, and has a substan- 
 tial residence and outbuildings. In earlier 
 days he was extensively engaged in dealing 
 in cattle, horses, mules and hogs, and also 
 dealt quite extensively in real estate. He 
 is now making a specialty of the breeding 
 of Poland-China hogs. For three years he 
 operated a cotton-gin at Comanche, and in 
 the business interests of the county he has 
 been an important factor. 
 
 Mr. Pinkard was married January 25, 
 1868, to Sarah C. Barcroft, who was born 
 in Smith county, Texas, in 1S49, a daughter 
 of Elisha Barcroft, of Tennessee, who loca- 
 ted in Smith county, this state, in 1842, and 
 came to Comanche county in 1857. Here 
 he operated a farm until his death in Janu- 
 ary, 1896. He was an active member of 
 the Methodist church, serving as its stew- 
 ard, and during the late war he was tithing 
 tax collector for the government. He also 
 served as postmaster and county commission- 
 er. His wife is yet living, and thiir children 
 are Lorenzo; Marinda; William and Tur- 
 ner, who died in the army; James, who was 
 also in the war; Margaret J., Sarah J., 
 Fisher, Elizabeth and Asbury. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Pinkard had eleven children, of whom 
 two died in childhood, the others being 
 Clara, wife of William Franklin, a farmer; 
 Alma, who became the wife of T. Stewart, 
 and died in 1894, leaving one child; Ervin, 
 
790 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 at home; Marietta, wife of W. Starlan, a 
 farmer; Walter, a Methodist minister, sing- 
 ing teacher and farmer; Paul, Maggie, Per- 
 ry, Rufus and Eva, all at home. With 
 them also resides a grandchild, Alvis Stewart. 
 In politics, Mr. Pinkard is a Democrat 
 and advocates prohibition principles. Since 
 1868 he has been a consistent member of 
 the Methodist Episcopal church, and has 
 filled all the church offices, including that 
 of steward and trustee. 
 
 >-t'OHN W. LUKER is the owner of 
 J one of the most valuable farming 
 A ¥ properties of Comanche county, his 
 real-estate holdings comprising seven 
 hundred acres of good land, entirely sur- 
 rounded by fence, while one hundred and 
 fifty acres are divided into fields of conven- 
 ient size and placed under a good state of 
 cultivation. Upon the place is a comforta- 
 ble residence and substantial barns and out- 
 buildings, together with the latest improved 
 machinery and all the accessories to be 
 found on one of Te.\as' model farms. There 
 is a good orchard and broad pasture lands, 
 and the stock which is raised is of good 
 grades. He has a fine jack and is raising 
 mules as well as cattle. Careful attention, 
 capable management and industry have 
 brought to him success, and by his own 
 efforts he has accumulated a comfortable 
 competence. 
 
 Mr. Luker, who is numbered among the 
 leading farmers of Comanche county, was 
 born in Choctaw county, Alabama, April 
 14, 1841, and is a son of James and Eliza- 
 beth (Edwards) Luker, who were married 
 in Alabama. The former was a son of 
 Joshua Luker, al.so of the same state, a so- 
 cial Methodist minister, and a farmer by 
 
 occupation. He served in the Seminole 
 war, aiding in subduing the rebellious In- 
 dians of the Seminole tribe.. In politics he 
 was a Democrat, but never sought office. 
 His death occurred in his native state. 
 James Luker was reared and educated in 
 Alabama, was married and spent his entire 
 life there. He died in 1862, and his wife 
 pa.ssed away in 185 1. He, too, gave his 
 political support to the Democracy, but was 
 never an aspirant for political honors. In 
 religious belief he was a Methodist, while 
 his wife was connected with the Baptist 
 church. Their family numbered eight chil- 
 dren, four of whom died in infancy, while 
 four reached years of maturity, namely: 
 Mary, deceased wife of L. Ingram, who died 
 in the Confederate service during the late 
 war; Susan, now deceased, who married 
 James Buckler, and came to Texas in 1876 
 with our subject, after which she married 
 again; Joseph E., of Alabama; John W. ; 
 George W., who came to Te.xas in 1876, 
 and is now a prominent farmer of Comanche 
 county; Benjamin F., who came to Te.xas 
 in 1872, and died in Comanche county; 
 James B. , who arrived in Texas in the same 
 year, and is now a Methodist minister of 
 Cherokee count}', belonging to the East 
 Texas conference; and Sarah M., who be- 
 came the wife of Joseph Graham, and died 
 in Alabama. 
 
 Mr. Luker, of this sketch, spent his mi- 
 nority in his parents' home, remaining with 
 his father until after the beginning of the 
 war, when in 1862 he enlisted, becoming a 
 member of the Twenty-second Alabama In- 
 fantry, of the Army of the Tennessee. He 
 saw much hard service, and in the battle of 
 Shiloh was captured and taken to New Al- 
 bany, Indiana, where he was held a prisoner 
 for eight months. He was then exchanged, 
 
BISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 791 
 
 returned home and never entered the serv- 
 ice again. He was also slightly wounded 
 in the engagement at Shiloh. 
 
 Mr. Luker resumed work on the home 
 farm and was thus employed until 1869, 
 when he was married and started out in life 
 for himself. He cultivated a rented farm, 
 giving half the products for the rental of the 
 place. He afterward purchased a tract of 
 land and continued his farming operations 
 in Alabama until 1876, when he arrived in 
 Texas. He purchased a small farm in 
 Comanche county, with fifty acres broken 
 and improved with a small cabin. His 
 energy, perseverance and good management 
 have led to an increase of his financial re- 
 sources, and he has thereby been enabled 
 to e.xtend the boundaries of the farm to its 
 present extensive proportions. His political 
 support has been unswervingly given the 
 Democracy, but he has had neither time nor 
 inclination for public office. He was reared 
 in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal 
 church, has served as steward and class- 
 leader and has taken an active and effective 
 part in church work. 
 
 Mr. Luker has been twice married. He 
 wedded Sarah J. Ewing, a native of Ala- 
 bama and a daughter of W. A. N. Ewing, 
 also of that state and a farmer by occupa- 
 tion. He was known as Captain Ewing, 
 having won his title in the state militia. 
 He came to Comanche county, Texas, in 
 1875, purchased a farm and died in October, 
 1878. His political support was given the 
 Democracy and he was an active member 
 of the Methodist church. His family num- 
 bered nine children, namely: James, de- 
 ceased; Sarah J., who became Mrs. Luker; 
 William, who served through the war but 
 died soon after his return from the army; 
 Martha, Mary, Annie, Alexander N., Jo- 
 
 seph, Julia. To our subject and his wife 
 were born six children, namely: Robert; 
 William, who is engaged in farming; Frank, 
 Turner, Julia and Mack, who are at home. 
 The mother of these children died October 
 24, 1885. Slie was a faithful member of 
 the Methodist Episcopal church and a lady 
 highly esteemed for her many excellencies 
 of character. On the 7th of September, 
 1890, Mr. Luker was again married, his sec- 
 ond union being with Miss Sally H. Cassel- 
 berry, a native of Mississippi and a daughter 
 of James Casselberry. a prominent farmer 
 of that state, who died there. His wife 
 survived him and came to Texas, where she 
 spent several years; she then went to Ar- 
 kansas, where she yet makes her home. 
 They were members of the Primitive Bap- 
 tist church. By the second marriage there 
 are two children, one of whom died in child- 
 hood, while Melissa is at home. 
 
 S^ H. MYERS, Iredell, Texas, is identi- 
 ■ fied with the agricultural interests of 
 ^ 1 Bosque county, owning cind manag- 
 ing a farm three miles from the town 
 in which he lives. Both he and his wife are 
 natives of Texas and representatives of pio- 
 neer families of this county. 
 
 J. H. Myers was born in Cherokee coun- 
 ty, Texas, January 13, 1850. His father, 
 A. Myers, was of German descent and a 
 native of Giles county, Tennessee, born in 
 1824; came when a young man to Texas, 
 and in this state was united in marriage to 
 Miss Rachel Smith, with whose life his was 
 blended until her death in 1S55. She left 
 four children, namely: Mrs. Mary E. Kay, 
 Dublin, Texas; J. H., whose name forms 
 the heading of this sketch; Mrs. Laura B. 
 Turnbull; and Sarah C, wife of Jefferson 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Bel!, of Erath county, Texas. For his 
 second wife Mr. A. Myers wedded Mrs. Mc- 
 Donald, a widow with three children, — 
 Caroline, Thomas and Elizabeth, — and her 
 union with Mr. Myers was honored by the 
 birth of five other children, as follows: 
 Georgia T., wife of a Mr. Hester; Mrs. 
 Josephine Wilson; Charles M. ; Mrs. Mattie 
 N. Buconan; and Mrs. Emma Wilson. In 
 i860 Mr. Myers settled on a farm in Bosque 
 county, where he lived until his death in 
 1 88 1, at the age of fifty-seven years. He 
 was a man of sterling integrity and great 
 strength of character, was public-spirited 
 and generous, and his counsel and advice 
 were often sought and followed. He was a 
 justice of the peace here for some years and 
 he also filled the office of county commis- 
 sioner. Politically he was a Democrat, and 
 he maintained fraternal relations with l^oth 
 the I. O, O. F. and the F. & A. M. 
 
 The direct subject of this review, J. H. 
 Myers, was reared on the frontier, spending 
 his boyhood days in the saddle while caring 
 for his father's cattle; and as a matter of 
 course his early education was neglected, 
 but since grown he has acquired a practical 
 education. He was married in this county 
 December 5, 1872, to Miss Mary R. Hester, 
 daughter of K. A. Hester, one of the early 
 settlers of Bosque county. 
 
 Mr. R. A. Hester was born April 25, 
 1826, and in 1849 came to Texas and set- 
 tled on government land near Iredell, where 
 he resided until his death, in 1869. His 
 wife, iicc Jane Medford, was born January 
 I, 1 83 1, and died July 29, 1871. They 
 had a large number of children, eleven in 
 all, three of whom died in infancy, the others 
 being as follows: J. F., S. J., Mary R., 
 S. H. (deceased), R. A , Laura, Amanda 
 and Young. The father, R. A. Hester, 
 
 came to an untimely death by the act of a 
 neighbor. The tragedy, briefly given, is as 
 follows: The Indians had been making 
 raids through this part of the country and on 
 various occasions had caused much excite- 
 ment. Some of the boys in the neighbor- 
 hood thought Mr. Hester would not stand 
 fire and would be greatly frightened should 
 the red men make a raid on him; and to test 
 his courage the boys planned a little sur- 
 prise and scare for him. He, however, was 
 made of a different kind of material from 
 what they had suspected, at once opened 
 fire and killed one of the boys, a son of one 
 of his neighbors. It was, of course, the 
 boy's fault and was at once recognized as 
 such, no one blaming Mr. Hester for pro- 
 tecting himself against what he believed to 
 be an enemy. But the father of the boy 
 secretly cherished a grudge against Mr. 
 Hester, and one day followed him to church 
 and shot and killed him on the spot, also 
 shooting Mr. Hester's little son, James A., 
 a child of six years, who sat beside him in 
 the church. It was all over in an instant, 
 and the man disappeared and has never 
 since been heard from! 
 
 After his marriage, the subject of our 
 sketch settled down to farming on his father- 
 in-law's homestead. Later he bought out 
 the interest of the other heirs and came into 
 possession of the whole estate. His wife 
 lived on that place for thirty-five years; but 
 some years ago he sold out and moved to 
 Iredell, where he has a pleasant residence 
 and where he still resides, remaining in 
 town in order to give his children the benefit 
 of educational advantages. He is still in- 
 terested in farming. Since coming to Ire- 
 dell he purchased an improved farm, located 
 three miles from town, where he is suc- 
 cessfully carrying on agricultural pursuits. 
 
His TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 793 
 
 having sixty-five acres of his land under 
 cultivation. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Myers are the parents of 
 five children, viz.: W. R., Annie J., Mary 
 E., Charles A. and Kossuth G. All are at 
 home except Annie J., who is the wife of 
 Mr. George Gordon. Also Mr. and Mrs. 
 Myers lost one child, their fourth born, a 
 daughter, at the age of thirteen years. 
 
 Mr. Myers is Democratic in his political 
 affiliations, and he and his wife and their 
 eldest son are members of the Baptist 
 church. 
 
 >VESSE H. MOORE, an ex-county 
 J commissioner of Bosque county and 
 «J^ one of the enterprising farmers and 
 sheep men of his section of the coun- 
 try, is one to whose life history we would at 
 this point direct attention. 
 
 Jesse H. Moore dates his birth near 
 Knoxville, in Hawkins county, Tennessee, 
 December 17, 1844. His father. Colonel 
 James N. Moore, and brothers, were among 
 the early settlers of that county, and Moores- 
 burg, one of its thriving towns, v.-as named 
 in honor of them. The Moores are of Eng- 
 lish extraction. Colonel Moore married Miss 
 Mary B. Cobb, who was born and reared in 
 Tennessee, daughter of a prominent planter 
 of that state, and their union was blessed in 
 the birth of eight children, of whom five are 
 still living, viz.: Hugh A., Jesse H., John 
 P., William O. and Stephen D. James 
 was killed in Mexico, and the other two de- 
 ceased were Mrs. Carrie R. Williams and 
 Mrs. Maggie Taylor. The father of these 
 children died in 1861, at the age of fifty-one 
 years. He was engaged in merchandising 
 for a period of thirty years, was a man of 
 the strictest integrity with a character above 
 
 reproach, and was successful in his business 
 career. For several years he was colonel 
 in the state militia, and politically he was a 
 firm adherent to the principles of Democ- 
 racy. The mother of our subject died at 
 the age of sixty-six years. Hers was a 
 beautiful Christian character and she was a 
 devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal 
 church. 
 
 The direct subject of this sketch attended 
 school up to the time he was sixteen years 
 of age; then the war came on. His friends 
 and young companions all around him en- 
 rolling for the service, he, too, fired with 
 patriotism, was eager to enter the ranks. 
 Thus at the early age of sixteen he be- 
 came a member of the Second Tennessee 
 Cavalry, and his service extended from the 
 beginning to the close of the war. During 
 three months of that time he was held pris- 
 oner at Newport News, Virginia. 
 
 At the close of the war Mr. Moore en- 
 gaged in mercantile business in Morristown, 
 Tennessee, and later at Flat Gap, that state, 
 his sojourn in both places being brief. In 
 1868 he went to Cass county, Missouri, 
 where he sold goods two years; from there 
 he went to Kansas, and in 1873 came from 
 the latter state to Texas, locating in Bosque 
 county. The first three years of his resi- 
 dence here he spent in teaching school. 
 Then he purchased a farm and settled down 
 to agricultural pursuits, remaining on his 
 first purchase until 1886, when he sold out 
 and bought his present fine farm, a tract of 
 nine hundred acres on Meridian creek. Two 
 hundred acres of this farm are under culti- 
 vation. The rest is utilized for stock pur- 
 poses, Mr. Moore being largely interested in 
 the sheep industry and keeping an average 
 of one thousand sheep in his flock. 
 
 Mr. Moore is a public-spirited man. He 
 
r94 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 has always taken a deep interest in the de- 
 velopment of Bosque county, and during his 
 incumbency of the office of county commis- 
 sioner, in which he served two years, he was 
 instrumental in securing a number of im- 
 provements. Especially to the improvement 
 of the county roads did he direct attention, 
 and with good results. He has long been a 
 supporter of the Democratic party; frater- 
 nally, is a Mason, having been initiated into 
 the mysteries of Freemasonry in the J-iarris- 
 ville Lodge, in Missouri, in 1872; and, re- 
 ligiously, both he and his wife are Methodists. 
 Mr. Moore was married April 6, 1887, 
 to Miss Anna E. Hannah, who was reared 
 and educated in Texas, daughter of John 
 Hannah, deceased. Her father was at one 
 time sheriff of this county. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Moore have had four children, three of 
 whom are living, namely: Jesse Cobb, John 
 H. and Alice J. The one deceased is Carrie 
 Belle. 
 
 f^ DWARD S. NEAL.— It is now priv- 
 B I ileged the biographer to touch briefly 
 ^^^ upon the life historj' of one who has 
 for more than twenty years figured 
 as a representative farmer of Erath county, 
 Texas, and whose success and marked pop- 
 ularity here entitle him to biographical 
 honors. 
 
 Mr. Neal claims Tennessee as his native 
 state, and looks back to the Old Dominion 
 as the place where his forefathers settled on 
 coming to America. He was born in 'Giles 
 county, Tennessee, May 10, 1848, son of 
 William and Harriet (Apperson) Neal, both 
 natives of Virginia. William Neal went to 
 Tennessee in 1830, bought land in Giles 
 county, and v.'as engaged in farming there 
 the rest of his life, ranking with the promi- 
 
 nent and most respected men of his com- 
 munity. He died there in September, 1865. 
 His widow survived him until about 1884. 
 Both were members of the Christian church. 
 They were blessed with a family of twelve 
 children, eleven of whom grew to maturity, 
 namely: Annie; Elizabeth, deceased, was 
 twice married, first to C. Brinkle, and 
 after his death to William. Wood; she left 
 five children; Mattie, who died in Novem- 
 ber, 1895, was twice married, and by her 
 first husband, Samuel Payne, who died in 
 the army, had one child, her second hus- 
 band being John Carter; John R., a prac- 
 ticing physician of Tennessee; Adeline P., 
 wife of Z. W. Mitchell, a farmer of Erath 
 county, came to Texas about 1845; M. C, 
 wife of L. J. Payne; George, who died in 
 the army, at Fort Donelson; Andrew, who 
 served all through the late war, died Octo- 
 ber 24, 1895, his death being caused by 
 wounds received in the army thirty years 
 before; James K. P., also a war veteran; 
 Edward S., whose name heads this article; 
 and Virginia E., who married Colonel Brow- 
 ley. All of the family, with the exception 
 of Mrs. Mitchell and the subject of our 
 sketch, reside in Tennessee. 
 
 Edward S. Neal was reared on the farm, 
 spending his boyhood days in arduous toil 
 in his father's fields, and on account of the 
 war times, which came on as he was enter- 
 ing his 'teens, his advantages for obtaining 
 an education were limited. But after he 
 grew up he obtained a practical education 
 which has helped him on to the success he 
 has attained. Mr. Neal remained at the old 
 farmstead in Tennessee until he was twenty- 
 six, in 1 874, when he came to Texas. Two 
 years before he had married, and on his re- 
 moval to this state was accompanied by his 
 wife, their first location being on rented land 
 
HIS TORT OP TEXAS. 
 
 795 
 
 in Bosque county, where he cultivated one 
 crop. The next year he came to Erath 
 county and purchased one hundred and 
 sixty acres of land, receiving a patent from 
 the state. This land, however, proved to 
 be Lavaca county school land, and his title 
 to it was not valid. Later, when it was 
 placed on the market, he bought it again. 
 Here he carried on both farming and stock- 
 raising, opened up about one hundred acres 
 of his land to cultivation, and was very suc- 
 cessful in his operations. His next land 
 purchase was two hundred acres where he 
 now lives, then all covered with timber, a 
 mile and a quarter from Duffau. To this 
 tract he has added by subsequent purchase 
 three hundred and twenty acres more, has 
 one hundred and twenty acres under culti- 
 vation, and has expended no little means 
 and labor in the improvement of his farm. 
 He has three good houses on his land, and, 
 like most of the prosperous farmers here, 
 has his acres let out to renters. His crops 
 are the usual ones of the county. From his 
 first settlement here he has been more or 
 less interested in stock-raising, now keeping 
 only enough stock for the support of his 
 land, and paying more attention to quality 
 than numbers. In November, 1895, Mr. 
 Neal purchased a drug store at Duffau, 
 which he still owns. And all this property, 
 or nearly all, has been the result of his labor 
 and good management since he came to 
 Texas, for at the time of his arrival here he 
 had less than a thousand dollars. 
 
 Mr. Neal was married March 14, 1872, 
 to Miss Martha C. Tidwell, also a native of 
 Giles county, the date of her birth being 
 March 24, 1851. She is a daughter of C. 
 H. and Lea (Tucker) Tidwell, both natives 
 of Tennessee, her father a farmer and for 
 many years a justice of the peace, having 
 
 resigned that office on account of old age. 
 He is still living, retired on his farm in 
 Giles county, but has the supervision of his 
 place and speculates some in securities. In 
 early life he figured prominently in local 
 politics, and was a stanch Democrat, and 
 besides filling the office above mentioned 
 served as deputy sheriff, assessor and tax 
 collector, and at one time took the census 
 of Giles county. In slavery days there 
 were not a few negroes who were proud to 
 claim him as their owner. His wife died in 
 1888. She was a member of the Methodist 
 Episcopal church and was a devoted Chris- 
 tian woman. He also has long been iden- 
 tified \\ith that church. They had eleven 
 children, a brief record of whom is as fol- 
 lows: Nancy J., wife of James Douglas, 
 died in McLennan county, Texas, January 
 15, 1895, leaving seven children; Margaret, 
 wife of Thomas Puryear, resides in Tennes- 
 see; Betty, wife of Solon Hamlet, lives in 
 Tennessee; William, a farmer and stock- 
 dealer of Throckmorton county, Texas; 
 Martha C.; V. M., a farmer and stock-man 
 of Eastland county, Texas; Malissa, wife of 
 J. W. Reed, resides at Robert Lee, Cooke 
 county, Texas; Alice, wife of T. Reed, Ten- 
 nessee; Mary W., wife of Dr. C. W. William- 
 son, Tennessee; Charles W., a resident of 
 Texas since i89i;andOraH., of Texas. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Neal have never had any children 
 of their own, but have reared and educated 
 an orphan boy, bringing him up as their 
 own son. This young man, R. L. Ross, 
 was born in Freestone county, Texas, 
 March 30, 1876; lost his mother when he 
 was two years old and his father a year 
 later, and was taken into the home and 
 hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Neal when he was 
 five. Thus far he has shown himself wor- 
 thy of the affection and care they have be- 
 
796 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 stowed upon him. Mr. Neal has placed 
 him in charge of the drug store above men- 
 tioned in Duffau, and in this the young man 
 has already displayed marked abilit3' for 
 business. Both Mr. and Mrs. Neal are con- 
 sistent members of the Christian church and 
 active workers in the same. Politically he 
 remains a steadfast Democrat. Such, in 
 brief, is outlined the life of one of Erath 
 county's best citizens. 
 
 eDWARD G. P. KEI^LUM, Valley 
 Mills, Bosque county, Te.xas, is 
 one of the prominent stock dealers 
 and representative business men of 
 the place. He needs no introduction to 
 any one at all familiar with this county, as 
 he is one of the city's foremost figures and 
 a prominent and positive character. With 
 every measure that looks to the progress 
 and improvement of the city he is closely 
 identified. Gifted with a keen discernment, 
 he has met with large success in various en- 
 terprises into which he has thrown the en- 
 thusiasm of an active and earnest nature, and 
 in the course of the years has accumulated 
 a handsome competence. The wonderful 
 opportunities which the Lone Star state has 
 presented to men of industry, honesty and 
 ability have often been the subject of com- 
 ment, but as long as men have hopes and 
 the determination to advance and succeed 
 in life, the theme will never be exhausted. 
 The great southwest, and particularly the 
 cotton region, has produced more success- 
 ful men than any other part of the state. 
 Its boundless resources are being continu- 
 ally exhibited to the civilized world. The 
 subject of this sketch is a striking example 
 of what industry can accomplish. 
 
 Mr. Kellum is a native of Mississippi, 
 
 and was born in Chickasaw county, January 
 9, 1851, his parents being William R. and 
 Jane (Cooper) Kellum. The father was a 
 native of Alabama, and the mother of North 
 Carolina. They came to Texas in 1854, 
 where the mother died a year later. The 
 father survived until i.Sgo. Our subject 
 passed his boyhood in McLennan county, 
 where he was brought up on a farm, and 
 endowed with that vigor and constitutional 
 endurance that seem possible only to farm 
 lads. He has mainly, followed farming in 
 his maturer days, although of late years he 
 has undertaken several important enter- 
 prises. He first came to Bosque county in 
 1874, and some three years later took up 
 his residence in the city of Valley Mills, 
 and from that time the story of his life has 
 been indispensable to the history of the city. 
 At the present moment he is one of the 
 "city fathers." 
 
 Mr. f\ellum owns some two thousand 
 acres of land in this immediate vicinity. 
 While but about one hundred acres of that 
 is under active cultivation, the remainder is 
 used as pasture atid grazing land for his 
 stock. He is a heavy dealer in live stock, 
 and at this writing has some twenty-six 
 hundred head of sheep on his ranch, be- 
 sides many head of cattle. He is president 
 of the Lone Star Commission Company, of 
 which a short account may be seen on 
 another page of this work. He is also sen- 
 ior partner in the lumber firm of Pool & 
 Kellum of this city, and is a stockholder in 
 the city water works. 
 
 Our subject has been twice married. 
 The first union was on May 18, 1873, when 
 Miss Irene Davis became his wife. She 
 was a daughter of Hon. J. F. Davis, one 
 of the early pioneers of Texas. The sec- 
 ond marriage was to Miss Eliza Leonard, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 797 
 
 December 23, 1887, and they have an in- 
 teresting family of three children, — Mary 
 P., Janie M., and W. A. The family are 
 consistent members of the Baptist church, 
 and Mr. Ivellum is also a highly regarded 
 member of the Masonic order. Recently 
 he has erected a beautiful frame residence 
 inside the city limits, fortunately located on 
 a natural building site above the city level. 
 Here he has a fine view of the city, and se- 
 cures a natural drainage. It commands a 
 broad sweep of the Bosque river valley 
 and presents a most charming landscape. 
 The building contains twelve well ventilated 
 rooms, with bath and all modern conven- 
 iences. The interior is finished throughout 
 in natural woods, and the exterior in beauty 
 and design indicates that the architect was 
 a man of no mean ability. While this ele- 
 gant home in which our subject dwells is 
 not marked by extravagance anywhere, yet 
 good taste rules throughout, and for real 
 comfort and convenience it is probably not 
 surpassed in Bosque county. 
 
 ^"V* W. WAGNER is closely identified 
 •^^^kT with the farming and stock-raising 
 j^_3 interests of Bosque county. He is 
 a native of Mississippi, the date of 
 his birth being January 6, 1S36. His par- 
 ents, William and Julia (Emery) Wagoner, 
 were both natives of Tennessee, and with 
 their family removed to Missouri in 1844, 
 and later to Crawford county, Arkansas, 
 where our subject was reared to habits of 
 industry and obtained his education. He 
 was the seventh in the family of eleven 
 children. 
 
 In 1854 Mr. Wagner first came to Te.xas, 
 but later returned to Arkansas. Since 1 882, 
 however, he has permanently resided in the 
 
 Lone Star state, some five years being spent 
 in Coryell county and the remainder in Bos- 
 que county, now residing seven miles north 
 of Clifton. He owns two hundred and 
 thirteen acres at his home place besides 
 some timber land, and has one hundred and 
 fifty acres placed under a good system of 
 cultivation. While struggling with the prim- 
 itive soil and bringing about the improve- 
 ments which he has reason to view with 
 satisfaction, he has also watched with the 
 deepest interest the growth and development 
 of this portion of the state, and in the es- 
 tablishment of one of its most valuable 
 farms has contributed his quota to its prog- 
 ress and prosperity. He has a small peach 
 and plum orchard and his farm is well 
 stocked with horses of the Percheron breed. 
 In March, 1855, in Arkansas, was cele- 
 brated the marriage of Mr. Wagner and 
 Miss Lydia Wagner, a native of that state, 
 and their family now consists of five chil- 
 dren, — Susan, Jessie, William, Ora and 
 Katie. Two others are now deceased. So- 
 cially, Mr. Wagner affiliates with the Masonic 
 fraternity. He has been an important factor 
 in securing the present excellent school sys- 
 tem in his section of the county, and has 
 been a member of the school board. He is 
 eminently worthy of the trust and high re- 
 gard in which he is held by his fellow-citizens. 
 
 @EORGE W\ WALKER.— Among 
 the prominent and prosperous 
 farmers and stock-raisers of Co- 
 manche county stands the subject 
 of this sketch, who was born in .\dair 
 county, Kentucky, October 9, 1847, and at 
 the age of eleven years accompanied his 
 parents to the Lone Star state, where he 
 early became faniiliar with agricultural pur- 
 
70S 
 
 IIISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 suits. His education lias practically been 
 obtained since reaching manhood, and he is 
 now numbered among the intelligent and 
 wide-awake farmers of the county. 
 
 John B. Walker, the father of our sub- 
 ject, was the son of George W. Walker, a 
 prominent physician of Virginia and later of 
 Kentucky, where the son was reared and 
 engaged in farming. He there wedded 
 Mary Ann Ba.xter, and in 1849 removed to 
 Carroll county, Missouri, where he managed 
 a farm for ten years, and then came to 
 Texas, locating first in Victoria county. 
 There he purchased land and engaged in 
 farming and raising horses until 1863, then 
 was in Lavaca county two years, and was 
 next a resident of Bell county, where he 
 rented land and engaged in dealing in cattle 
 for a few years. The year 1878 found him 
 a citizen of Comanche county, where he 
 purchased a tract of unimproved land, on 
 which he raised cattle. On selling out he 
 located at De Leon, in 1889, and now finds 
 a pleasant home with our subject. His 
 wife passed away in 1891. For many 
 years they belonged to the Methodist Episco- 
 jKii Church, south. In politics Mr. Walker 
 is an ardent Democrat, but never cared for 
 office, though he served six years as justice 
 of the peace in Kentucky. He entered the 
 Confederate army during the late war, but 
 on account of age and infirmity was dis- 
 charged. 
 
 The parental household included the fol- 
 lowing children: Samuel, who died leaving 
 a wife and two children; George W. , of this 
 review; William W., a farmer and stock- 
 raiser of Bell county, Texas; Maggie, who 
 became the wife of J. S. Whilely, and died 
 leaving four children; Benjamin F., an agri- 
 culturist of Comanche county; and JohnH., 
 who died leaving a wife and four children. 
 
 Of this family Samuel was for two years a 
 member of Marmaduke's brigade during the 
 civil war. 
 
 The early life of our subject was mostly 
 passed in the saddle, herding stock for his 
 father, and after quitting that business came 
 to Comanche county, where for eight years 
 he conducted a blacksmith shop at De Leon. 
 On selling out he purchased a tract of wild 
 land, to which he later added thirteen acres 
 under cultivation and improved with a 
 house and other buildings. The first pur- 
 chase comprised two hundred and six acres, 
 but he has extended the boundaries of his 
 farm until it now includes three hundred 
 and seventy-six acres, one hundred and fifty 
 of which are well cultivated. He has a 
 commodious two-story frame house, also a 
 good tenant house, barns and outbuildings, 
 and a fine orchard has been set out. The 
 place is a valuable one, situated four miles 
 east of De Leon, and is well watered by 
 Armstrong creek. Mr. Walker is now 
 giving his attention to the improvement of 
 his land and to stock-raising, having some 
 fine Holstein, Durham and Jersey cattle, as 
 well as thoroughbred horses. He has also 
 engaged in drilling and boring wells, which 
 business has added materially to his income. 
 
 In 1870, Mr. Walker led to the mar- 
 riage altar Miss Amanda Donaho, who was 
 born in Navarro county, January 22, 1854, 
 and is the daughter of Isaac Donaho, who 
 was of Irish, Scotch and English descent. 
 On coming to Texas her father located in 
 Cherokee county, where he married a Miss 
 Edwards and later located in Navarro 
 county, whence he removed to Bell connty. 
 For two years he served in the Confederate 
 army, after which he went to Mexico, where 
 he remained until the close of the war, when 
 he returned to Bell county. While on a 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 799 
 
 visit to Cherokee county he died, in Septem- 
 ber, 1870. He was a leading member and 
 class-leader in the Methodist church, to 
 which his wife also belonged. In their fam- 
 ily were five children, — Jennie, Annie, Bud- 
 die, Amanda and Lucinda. 
 
 Nine children honored the union of our 
 subject and his wife: Mary, wife of Isom 
 Green, an agriculturist; John I., who is 
 married and is engaged in farming at home; 
 Katie, Phelia and George C., — all at home; 
 and Barbara E., Charles, Lulu J., and 
 Sarah A. , — all deceased. 
 
 Mr. Walker is above the average size, 
 is pleasant and genial in manner, and wins 
 many friends. Politically he is identified 
 with the Democratic party, has served as 
 deputy sheriff and constable for three terms, 
 and is capable of filling any office, but pre- 
 fers to give his time and attention to his 
 business interests. 
 
 >T^ AMES SINCLAIR, a leading and in- 
 g fluential member of the agricultural 
 ^ f community of Comanche county and 
 a veteran of the civil war, was born 
 in North Carolina, March 9, 1844, and dur- 
 ing his early life lent his assistance to his 
 father in carrying on the labors of the home 
 farm while not attending the country schools 
 where his education was secured. He is 
 the son of D. A. and Effie (Mclntire) Sin- 
 clair, also natives of North Carolina, where 
 they married and reared their family of 
 seven children: Daniel, of Texarkana; John, 
 deceased; Peter, v.ho died while serving in 
 the civil war; Mary, deceased wife of N. C. 
 Caldwell; Arch R., deceased; James, of this 
 sketch; and George, who was accidentally 
 killed. 
 
 Peter Sinclair, the grandfather of our 
 
 subject, was also a native of North Caro- 
 lina, where he was living during the Revo- 
 lutionary war, but was too young for serv- 
 ice. By occupation he was a farmer, and 
 was a leading member in the Presbyterian 
 church. The father remained in his native 
 state until his family was nearly grown, 
 when, in 1859, he came to Texas, locating 
 in Bell county, where he planted a crop, but 
 the following year went to Arkansas. There 
 he died six years later, at the age of sixty- 
 seven. His political support was given the 
 Democratic party. After his death the 
 family returned to Texas, and at Dublin the 
 mother passed away, in 1877. She was a 
 faithful and consistent member of the Pres- 
 byterian church. 
 
 Mr. Sinclair, whose name introduces 
 this narrative, remained at home with his 
 parents until 1862, when he enlisted in 
 Monroe's regiment of cavalry, serving in the 
 Trans-Mississippi department. He went 
 into camp at Fort Smith, and later went on 
 long raids through Missouri with General 
 Price, seeing some hard service and partici- 
 pating in several hotly contested battles. 
 He belonged to Cabil's brigade, and the 
 commander of his company v/as Captain 
 Albert Alexander. He was never wounded 
 or taken prisoner, and gallantly served until 
 the close of the struggle, his last engage- 
 ment being at Moss' Mill, in Arkansas. 
 
 Returning home, Mr. Sinclair resumed 
 work upon the farm, and in 1S6S again 
 came to Texas, locating in Bell county, 
 where he was married in 1871, the lady of 
 his choice being Maria Cynthia Steel, who 
 was a mem.ber of the Methodist church 
 and a daughter of Samuel Steel, who came 
 from Tennessee to Texas in 1854, settling 
 in Comanche county. He served through 
 the civil war, and is now living in Indian 
 
800 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Territory. By this union one daughter was 
 born, — Minnie. Mr. Sinclair was engaged 
 in milling at Sulphur Springs when the 
 death of his wife occurred. He was later 
 engaged in the same business at Gatesville, 
 Jonesboro and Dublin. 
 
 At the latter place in 1879 Mr. Sinclair 
 wedded Miss Molly Conway, daughter of 
 Judge Conway, of Arkansas, by whom he 
 had three children, but all are now deceased, 
 and this wife died in 1885. In 1882 he had 
 returned to Jonesboro, where he engaged in 
 farming, which occupation he has since 
 continued with good success, and also owns 
 a valuable farm in Hamilton county, Texas, 
 both well improved. In Palo Pinto county, 
 in 1888, Mr. Sinclair was united in marriage 
 with Miss Ada Stewart, daughter of G. W. 
 Stewart, of that county, and to them were 
 born two children, one yet living, — Collie, 
 — who was born January 9, 1 8S9. The 
 wife and mother died in 1891, and in Au- 
 gust, 1894, in Comanche county, was cele- 
 brated the marriage of Mr. Sinclair and 
 Mrs. Caldwell, widow of N. C. Caldwell, by 
 whom she had one son, Wilber. Her fa- 
 ther, Peter Whisnant, was born in Georgia, 
 of German lineage, and is now engaged in 
 farming in Comanche county. With the ex- 
 ception of his first wife the others have been 
 members of the Missionary Baptist church, 
 to which he also belongs. In politics, Mr. 
 Sinclair is a straight and stanch adherent of 
 the principles formulated in the platforms of 
 the Democratic party, and in the exercise 
 of his elective franchise almost invariably 
 supports the candidates offered by that or- 
 ganization. He is one of the representative 
 men of the county and merits and receives 
 the warmest confidence and esteem of his 
 fellow citizens. 
 
 From infancy our subject has reared two 
 
 children of his brother, A. R. Sinclair, who 
 died in 1882. Their mother, who bore the 
 maiden name of Ellen Gallager, was born in 
 Mississippi, and came to Texas with her 
 father, J. E. Gallager, who is a mechanic. 
 She died in 1880, leaving her two sons; 
 Emmett, who was born September 17, 
 1878; and Carr, born February 26, 1880. 
 From Mr. Sinclair they have received the 
 care and attention that a parent would be- 
 stow, and have been provided with a good 
 education. They fully appreciate the kind- 
 ness of their uncle and he has performed his 
 entire duty by rearing and training them to 
 be honorable and useful citizens. 
 
 at 
 
 ILLIAM MORRISON, deceased, 
 was one of the early settlers of 
 Comanche county, where he was 
 prominently connected with its 
 agricultural interests. He was a native of 
 Tennessee, born in Henry county, January 
 16, 1829, and was the son of A. J. Mor- 
 rison, of the same state, who was a farmer 
 and stock-raiser. As early as 1836 the 
 father brought his family to Texas, locating 
 in Red River county, whence he later re- 
 n)oved to Titus county, and there died in 
 the early '60s. He was an active and 
 worthy member of the Methodist church. 
 In his family were nine children, namely: 
 James, William, Ann, Alabama, Andrew, 
 Thomas, John, Caroline and George W. 
 
 The earl}' life of our subject was mostly 
 passed in Texas, where he secured a limited 
 education and became familiar with the 
 duties that fall to the lot of the agricultur- 
 ist. He remained under the parental roof 
 until grown, and in 1853 went to Cali- 
 fornia, where he engaged in mining and 
 farming for three years. 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 801 
 
 In 1856, soon after his return to Titus 
 county, Texas, Mr. Morrison was united in 
 marriage with Miss Sallie O'Neal, who was 
 bom in Hardin county, Tennessee, June 24, 
 1836, and when eight years old c.ame to 
 Texas with her parents, G. W. and Mary 
 (Majors) O'Neal, who were married in Ten- 
 nessee. At one time her father lived at 
 White River, Arkansas, but he later re- 
 turned to Hardin county, Tennessee, where 
 he served as justice of the peace several 
 years. Although his principal occupation 
 was farming, he also engaged in school- 
 teaching to some extent. In 1842, with 
 his family, he emigrated to Texas, settling 
 in Red River county, later removed to Erath 
 county, and died in Dublin, in 1865. He 
 was quite a religious man, a devout mem- 
 ber of the Missionary Baptist church, to 
 which his wife also belonged. Her death 
 occurred in December, 1873. Their family 
 constituted the following children: Jane, 
 Robert, Cornelius, William H., Sallie, Eliz- 
 abeth, Margaret, Nancy, James L. and John 
 G. ; the last two are engaged in stock-rais- 
 ing at Pagosa Springs, Colorado. 
 
 In 1859, Mr. Morrison came to Coman- 
 che county, where he purchased land on 
 Armstrong creek, and there engaged in the 
 stock business, but at once began having 
 trouble with the Indians. The family had 
 to move several times on account of the In- 
 dian raids, always going farther east. The 
 families of the early settlers would always 
 journey together for protection. After 
 repeated efforts Mr. Morrison opened up a 
 small farm which he had purchased, on the 
 site of the present town of Dublin. In 1862 
 he entered the Confederate army, becoming a 
 member of Gurley's regiment, and was 
 stationed at several points in Texas. At 
 Fort Smith, Arkansas, he was taken ill, and 
 
 was discharged there. On returning home 
 he served as a member of the state militia. 
 
 After the close of the war, Mr. Morrison 
 sold his Dublin home, and removed to land 
 which he afterward bought, but at that time 
 was not in the market. He erected a dwell- 
 ing there and engaged in the stock business for 
 a number of years. About 1869 he sold the 
 most of his cattle and purchased the tract 
 of four hundred and forty-two acres in Co- 
 manche county where his family is now lo- 
 cated and where he made many valuable 
 improvements and continued the cultivation 
 of the land until called from this life, hav- 
 ing at that time seventy acres under the 
 plow, a fine orchard upon the place, a com- 
 fortable residence and good outbuildings. 
 He was a faithful member of the Missionary 
 Baptist church, as is also his estimable wife, 
 and his career was an honorable and up- 
 right one, well worthy of emulation. 
 
 The household included nine children, 
 namely: James R., who is now engaged in 
 farming in Colorado; Walter, a farmer of 
 Erath county, Texas; Oscar, also an agri- 
 culturist; Lucy, who became the wife of J. 
 Ross, and died in February, 1893, leaving 
 two daughters; Hardin O. and Neill, both 
 farmers; George W. , who died at the age 
 of eighteen years; Lemuel M., also a farmer; 
 and Ernest B. , who is yet single and is re- 
 siding on the old homestead with his mother. 
 
 >T^OHN SAMPLE LONG, A. B., M. D. 
 K — Prominent in the medical frater- 
 /• 1 nity of the Lone Star state we chron- 
 icle the above named gentleman. In 
 fact our work would be incomplete without 
 at least a passing mention of those who have 
 come to the front in the noblest calling of 
 the professional world. Dr. Long is cer- 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 tainly entitled to mention ainong that class. 
 Although a young man, comparatively speak- 
 ing, he has through his own exertions 
 reached the top round of the ladder of fame 
 in his chosen profession, and in justice to 
 him we may stale that to-day he ranks 
 among the most able and progressive med- 
 ical and surgical advisers of this common- 
 wealth. He is also entitled to the fraternal 
 grip of fellowship among our leading schol- 
 ars and local educators, in consequence of 
 having devoted several years of his life to 
 the training and moulding of the youthful 
 minds in the higher branches of literary at- 
 tainments and knowledge. 
 
 The Doctor is of German extraction, the 
 Long family having been founded in Amer- 
 ica by three brothers who came from Ger- 
 many about 1796, and from one of these was 
 descended John Long, the father of our sub- 
 ject, who was born in the Keystone state 
 and taken by his parents to Tennessee when 
 only a child, where he grew to manhood. 
 He espoused in marriage Miss Victoria Dis- 
 meeker, a native of Missouri, and to them 
 were born five children, the subject of this 
 sketch being the eldest. The three male 
 representatives of the family are professional 
 men. 
 
 The Doctor's birth occurred at Harris- 
 burg, Mississippi, October 12, 1855, and he 
 obtained his early education in the public 
 schools of his native state. He completed 
 his literary training at the University of 
 Kno.wille, Tennessee, in 1850, receiving the 
 degree of A. B. On the completion of his 
 collegiate course, Dr. Long engaged in 
 teaching at Aberdeen, Mississippi, becoming 
 the principal of the public schools, where he 
 remained for two years, and was then 
 elected president of the Okolona College in 
 the same state. Three years later he re- 
 
 signed his position in that institution, and 
 went to Florida, locating at Dade City, 
 where he became interested in orange cul- 
 ture. There he began reading medicine, 
 but later had charge of the schools at Shef- 
 field, Alabama, up to 1889. He graduated 
 in medicine and surgery at the University of 
 New York city in 1892, and has had much 
 valuable clinical experience in the hospitals 
 of that city and Jersey City, where he was 
 elected house physician and surgeon. Re- 
 signing his position there at the end of a 
 year, he turned his face westward, and took 
 up his residence at Crete, Nebraska, where 
 he soon built up a practice that brought him 
 six thousand dollars a year. 
 
 On the 2d of July, 1895, Dr. Long was 
 united in marriage with Miss Nora Streeter, 
 a most estimable young lady, who was born 
 in Wisconsin. Owing to the extreme cold 
 climate of Nebraska, November, 1895, found 
 the Doctor and his wife located at Meridian, 
 Texas, where he has already established a 
 fair and constantly increasing practice. Po- 
 litically, he is allied with the Democratic 
 party, and religiously is a communicant of 
 the Methodist church. 
 
 HARON CUNNINGHAM.— As a rep- 
 resentative man and honored pio- 
 neer of Comanche county the gentle- 
 man whose name heads this sketch 
 stands pre-eminent, and he is one of the 
 most public-spirited and enterprising farm- 
 ers and stock-raisers of the locality. Since 
 1855 his home has been in this county, so 
 that he has witnessed almost its entire de- 
 velopment and progress, and has been no 
 unimportant factor in promoting its welfare. 
 His birth occurred in Alabama, April 8, 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 803 
 
 1836, but since the age of three years he 
 has been a resident of the Lone Star state. 
 
 His father, Captain James Cunningham, 
 was born and reared in Tennessee, but when 
 a young man went to Alabama, where he 
 married Susan Tate, a native of that state, 
 a daughter of Aaron and Ehzabeth (Conley) 
 Tate, both natives of Kentucky, where 
 their marriage was clebrated. The Tate 
 family was one of prominence in Virginia, 
 and its representatives served in the Revo- 
 lutionary war. The paternal grandfather of 
 our subject, Jonathan Cunningham, was of 
 Irish descent, and was a leading farmer of 
 Tennessee, where his death occurred. 
 
 Captain Cunningham engaged in farming 
 in Alabama until 1839, when with his fam- 
 ily he emigrated to Texas, moving overland, 
 and when he arrived at Titus county had 
 but thirty dollars remaining. There he 
 harvested two crops, after which he removed 
 to Travis county, and at the end of four 
 years went to Williamson county, where he 
 remained until 1855, which year witnessed 
 his arrival in Comanche county. There 
 were only five families in the county at that 
 time, and he pre-empted one hundred and 
 sixty acres of land two miles south of New- 
 burg. He also purchased another claim so 
 that he had three hundred and twenty acres, 
 which he at once began to improve, and as 
 he brought a herd of cattle with him also 
 engaged in the stock business. He added 
 to his original tract from time to time until 
 he became one of the large landowners of 
 the county, and placed two hundred acres 
 under cultivation. Around his entire farm 
 he placed a stone fence. 
 
 Captain Cunningham became one of the 
 leading men of the county, which he helped 
 to organize, and was one of the commission- 
 ers to locate the county seat. During the 
 
 late war he entered the state service, be- 
 coming captain of a company of rangers, 
 and was always ready and on hand when 
 needed. He was in many raids and in some 
 hotly contested battles with the Indians, 
 among the number participating in the Dove 
 creek light, but was never wounded. A 
 brave and fearless commander, he partici- 
 pated in several raids against the Indians 
 after his enlistment had expired, being in 
 the engagement on Brown's creek, in Mills 
 county, in 1868, and also in 1870 punishing 
 their outrages. He was a strong Democrat 
 in politics, fraternally was a Mason, and re- 
 ligiously was a consistent member of the 
 Missionary Baptist church for many years. 
 He was born in 18 16, and died on the 8th 
 of July, 1894, willing to submit himself to 
 the care of Him who doeth all things well. 
 He faithfully discharged every duty that de- 
 volved upon him, was said to be the first in 
 the chase of the savages, and the first in 
 hospitality and charity and in the hearts of 
 his neighbors, always willing and ready to 
 lend aid to the suffering and alleviate the 
 distressed. At his death he divided his 
 money among his children, but left the re- 
 mainder of his estate to his faithful wife, 
 who still survives him. She is also an act- 
 ive worker in the Baptist church. 
 
 In their family were twelve children, all 
 of whom are yet living and are numbered 
 among the most prominent and public-spir- 
 ited people of this portion of the state. 
 Aaron is the oldest. Elizabeth is the wife 
 of T. J. Holmesly, a banker and stockman 
 of Comanche count}', and they were the 
 first couple married in the county. David 
 H. is a well known farmer and stockman of 
 this county, as is also Richard T. John V. 
 is a leading citizen of Taylor county, where 
 he served as sheriff for sixteen years. Will- 
 
801 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 iam H. and James W. are also farmers and 
 stockmen of Comanche county. Joseph J. 
 carries on the same pursuit in Mills county. 
 Thomas A. is also engaged in farming and 
 stock- raising. George W. is now engaged 
 in the grocery business in Mills county. 
 Mary J. is the wife of Joseph Neely, an ag- 
 riculturist. Una, the youngest, is the wife 
 of James R. Lewis, a farmer of Mills county. 
 One hundred and three grandchildren have 
 been born, of whom eighty-eight still sur- 
 vive, and fifty-one great-grandchildren, forty- 
 one of whom are living. 
 
 Upon Te.xas soil Mr. Cunningham, 
 whose name heads this sketch, was reared, 
 and he remained at home with his parents 
 until he was married, in i860, to Martha 
 J. Montgomery, a native of Mississippi, and 
 a daughter of Dr. George and Martha J. 
 (Norton) Montgomery, who came from that 
 state to Texas in 1857. Here the Doctor 
 practiced his profession, and also purchased 
 land and engaged in the stock business with 
 most gratifying results. He took an active 
 interest in all public affairs, voting with the 
 Democratic party, and was called upon to 
 fill a number of important positions, includ- 
 ing that of county judge. He died about 
 1879, and the mother of Mrs. Cunningham 
 passed away in 1855. They were both 
 earnest members of the Christian church, 
 for which he often preached. They had 
 four daughters, — Frances, Martha, Rebecca 
 A. and Mary E. For his second wife Doc- 
 tor Montgomery chose Mrs. Gurley, a 
 daughter of Joseph Hicks, an early settler 
 of Comanche county, and to them were 
 born five children: Sally J., William H., 
 Georgetta, James A. and Henry A. 
 
 In 1861, with his father, Mr. Cunning- 
 ham joined the ranger service and took 
 part in many important engagements, but 
 
 was never wounded. After the close of the 
 war he also engaged in a number of raids 
 after the hostile Indians, being in the fights 
 at Salt mountain and Brown's creek, and 
 while in the service left his family in Co- 
 manche county, where he had previously 
 engaged in farming and stock-raising. He 
 continued in the latter occupation until 
 1874, when he purchased si.x hundred and 
 forty acres, on which he still makes his 
 home, and which he has transformed into 
 one of the most highly cultivated tracts in 
 this section of the state. Besides general 
 farming, he has also been extensively en- 
 gaged in the stock business, and has added 
 to his possessions until he now has about 
 two thousand acres of land, three hundred 
 acres of which are excellently improved, 
 while the remainder is under fence and used 
 for pasture. It is divided into three farms, 
 on which are good and substantial buildings 
 and all the conveniences of modern farms, 
 including wind-pumps, which supply an 
 abundance of water. The land is pleas- 
 antly situated on Mercer creek, nine miles 
 southwest of Comanche. 
 
 Mrs. Cunningham, who was a faithful 
 member of the Christian church, died in 
 1883, leaving six children, who are still liv- 
 ing: Martha Susanna, wife of George A. 
 Chilton, of Comanche; Andrew J., a mer- 
 chant of that place; George A., David H., 
 Berty M. and Thomas J. In 1884 Mr. 
 Cunningham was again married, his second 
 union being with Mrs. Amanda J. Henson, 
 who was born in Missouri, May 27, 1853, 
 and is a daughter of Hezekiah McPherson, 
 deceased, who came to Texas in 1862 and 
 engaged in farming and stock dealing. 
 Five children grace this union: Joseph 
 Cleveland, Mary E., Florence A., Leroy 
 and James R. The wife and mother is a 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 805 
 
 devoted member of the Baptist church, 
 while Mr. Cunningham is connected with 
 the Masonic order and adheres to the prin- 
 ciples of the Democratic party. 
 
 >^AMES S. HARLOW, the proprietor 
 ^ of a cotton gin at Sipe Springs, 
 A 1 Comanche county, is a worthy rep- 
 resentative of the industrial interests 
 of this section of the state. As he is widely 
 known in this locality and is held in high 
 esteem by all, we gladly give him a place 
 amoiigthe leading citizensof the community, 
 knowing that the record of his life will 
 prove of interest to his many friends. 
 
 Mr. Harlow claims Georgia as the state 
 of his nativity, his birth having occurred 
 February i8, 1861, and his parents being 
 John and Sarah (Hopkins) Harlow. His 
 father, also born in Georgia, was a mer- 
 chant by occupation. His mother was a 
 native of the same state and their famil}' 
 consisted of five children, of whom James 
 S. is the third in order of birth. He passed 
 the days of his boyhood and youth in 
 Georgia and attended the schools near his 
 home, acquiring a good practical education. 
 He has added to this by reading, observa- 
 tion and experience and is now a well in- 
 formed man. He was nineteen years of age 
 when he arrived in Texas, taking up his 
 abode in Johnson county in 1880. Here- 
 sided there for three years and on the ex- 
 piration of that period came to Comanche 
 county, where he has since made his home. 
 
 In this country where cotton-raising is 
 one of the principal occupations of the 
 people the ginning of that produce has be- 
 come an important industry, and it is to this 
 work that Mr. Harlow devotes his energies. 
 He has a well equipped cotton-gin at Sipe 
 
 Springs, about twenty-two miles southwest 
 of Comanche, which was erected in 1888, 
 and has a capacity of fourteen bales of cot- 
 ton daily. He has two stands of fifty saws 
 each, and the mill is operated by steam 
 power. The machinery is modern in con- 
 struction and the work which he turns out is 
 most satisfactory and has thus gained him a 
 good trade. He handles the cotton crop 
 raised within a radius of many miles, and 
 in addition to this he is also operating a 
 gristmill. He is a wide-awake, energetic 
 business man and his labors are bringing to 
 him a good income. 
 
 Politically Mr. Harlow exercises his 
 right of franchise in support of the men and 
 measures of the Democracy and has been 
 allied to that party since attaining his major- 
 ity. He takes an active part in its work 
 and is now presiding as chairman of the 
 precinct committee. In manner he is frank, 
 courteous and genial and all who know him 
 have for him that high regard which is 
 universally paid to manly virtue and worth. 
 
 aHARLES V. BRYSON.— The man 
 who faithfully performs his duty to 
 his country, his neighbor and him- 
 self belongs to that class of citi- 
 zens who stand for the true strength and 
 safety of the nation; and such a one is the 
 subject of this review. His life is not 
 marked by events of startling interest, but 
 is that of an honorable, upright man, whom 
 to know is to respect. 
 
 Mr. Bryson is a native of North Caro- 
 lina, born May 9, 185S, his parents being 
 Coleman and Louisa (Bnmgardner) Bryson. 
 The parents also were born in North Caro- 
 lina, and the mother is still living in that 
 state, but the father has been called to the 
 
80G 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 home beyond, his death occurring in 1866. 
 The famil}' numbered eight children, — six 
 sons and two daughters, — the fifth in order 
 of birth being the subject of this review. 
 He was reared to farm Hfe, early becoming 
 familiar with all the duties that fall to the 
 lot of the agriculturist. He came to Texas 
 in the fall of 1878, then being a young man 
 of twenty years, and located in Comanche 
 county, where he has since maintained his 
 residence. He now lives nine miles south- 
 west of the city of Comanche, and has ac- 
 cumulated an extensive property, his landed 
 possessions aggregating fourteen hundred 
 and sixteen acres, of which three hundred 
 acres are under a high state of cultivation. 
 The fields are well tilled and the yield is a 
 merited reward for the care and labor he 
 bestows upon his farm. He also has a one- 
 acre orchard planted with peach and other 
 fruit trees. His farm stock is well graded, 
 his cattle being of the Durham and Hol- 
 stein breeds, while his beef cattle are of the 
 Texas breed. He deals largely in cattle, 
 and at this writing has many on hand for 
 market purposes. 
 
 On the 27th of November, 1890, was 
 celebrated the marriage of Mr. Bryson and 
 Miss Minerva Forehand, a young lady of 
 culture and refinement. She is one of 
 Texas' native daughters, her parents being 
 Blake and Elizabeth (Stanley) Forehand. 
 Her father, who is now deceased, became a 
 resident of this state in 184S. The happy 
 married life of Mr. and Mrs. Bryson was 
 soon terminated, for the young wife died on 
 the 1st of September, 1891. 
 
 In his political views Mr. Bryson is 
 allied with the progressive wing of the 
 Democratic party. He is a public-spirited 
 citizen, alA'ays ready and willing to encour- 
 age all public measures tending toward the 
 
 development of the county and state. In 
 his business affairs he has prospered, owing 
 to his perseverance and capable manage- 
 ment, and his honorable dealing has won 
 him the confidence of all with whom he has 
 come in contact. 
 
 ai 
 
 ILLIAM C. WEAVER, a promi- 
 nent and prosperous farmer of 
 Comanche county, was born in 
 Alabama on the 2d of August, 
 1845, his parents being William W. and 
 Mary (Lewis) Weaver, both of whom were 
 natives of Virginia but have now passed to 
 the home beyond, the father having died in 
 1S90, while the mother's death occurred in 
 1892. Mr. Weaver was by occupation a 
 builder of carriages and buggies and carried 
 on that business up to the time of his death. 
 In the state of his nativity William C. 
 Weaver spent the days of his boyhood and 
 youth and attended the public schools near 
 his home, thus acquiring a good English edu- 
 cation, which has fitted him for life's prac- 
 tical duties. Having arrived at years of 
 maturity he was married, in 1869, in Mis- 
 sissippi, the lady of his choice being Miss 
 Annie Green, a native of Alabama. She 
 has been to her husband a faithful compan- 
 ion and helpmeet and presides with gracious 
 dignity over their hospitable home. 
 
 It was in the year 1882 that they came 
 to Texas, taking up their abode in Connnche 
 city, where Mr. Weaver followed the car- 
 penter's trade for a number of years, having 
 previously learned the business in Alabama. 
 He afterward turned his attention to farm- 
 ing and stock-raising, and for the past four 
 years he has resided upon his present farm, 
 which is situated nine miles northwest of 
 Comanche. Here he owns two hundred 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 807 
 
 acres of choice farming land, of which 
 eighty acres are under cultivation, planted 
 with cotton and grain. He also has a one- 
 acre peach orchard, which with the well- 
 tilled fields indicates the thrift and enter- 
 prise of the owner. His farm is well 
 stocked with Texas cattle, graded with the 
 Durham and Holstein breeds, and in this 
 branch of his business he has been success- 
 ful, adding not a little to his income thereby. 
 He is a sagacious, far-sighted business man 
 whose energy and resolute purpose have 
 been the means which he has employed to 
 raise himself to a position of affluence. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Weaver have an interest- 
 ing family of six children, five sons and a 
 daughter : Mary I., William M., Frank 
 G., Robert L., Eddie L., Oliver J. The 
 parents and children are consistent members 
 of the Methodist church and take a deep in- 
 terest in its work and advancement. In his 
 political views Mr. Weaver is a Democrat, 
 and takes an active interest in political af- 
 fairs and the success of his party, but has 
 never sought or desired office for himself. 
 
 at 
 
 ILLIAM N. Mccarty.— Te.xas 
 with its great area furnishes un- 
 limited opportunities to the agri- 
 culturist, and rapidly its wild 
 lands are being transformed into fine homes 
 and rich farms which vie in productiveness 
 with those states that have always been con- 
 sidered leaders in this industry. Among 
 those who have aided in developing the re- 
 sources of Brown county is the gentleman 
 whose name introduces this review, and as 
 a worthy representative of its farming inter- 
 ests he well deserves mention in this 
 volume. 
 
 Mr. McCarty was born in Rusk county. 
 
 Texas, on the 8th of December, 1853, his 
 parents being Thompson and Nancy B. 
 (Baxter) McCarty. The father was a native 
 of Alabama and emigrated to the Lone Star 
 state in 1835, making his home here until 
 his death, which occurred in 1S82. His 
 family numbered ten children, of whom 
 William was the fourth in order of birth. 
 When he was a lad of seven summers his 
 parents removed to Smith county, Texas, 
 and some years later went to Van Zandt 
 county, where William was reared to man- 
 hood and acquired his education. He came 
 to Brown county in 1879 and is now pleas- 
 antly located fourteen miles southwest of 
 Comanche. His desirable farm, well culti- 
 vated, comprises two hundred acres of rich 
 land, of which one hundred and ten acres 
 has been transformed into fertile fields, 
 whose harvests furnish him a good income. 
 He also has a two-acre orchard, largely 
 planted with peach trees. He engages ex- 
 tensively in the breeding of fine stock of the 
 Percheron and Morgan bloods, and owns 
 one of the finest stallions in central Texas. 
 His cattle are also well graded and are of 
 the Durham and Holstein breeds. He is 
 systematic in his business, progressive in his 
 methods and keeps fully abreast with all the 
 improvements of the times. 
 
 In Bosque county, Texas, in February, 
 187-5, ^Ir. McCarty married Miss Matilda 
 Williams, who died April 5, 1877, leaving 
 one child, Jerome. He afterward wedded 
 Adelia Reynolds, by whom he had four chil- 
 dren, — Brown, Eli, Walter and Ella. His 
 present wife was in her maidenhood Miss 
 Louisa Harris, a native of Mississippi. They 
 have two interesting children, Willie and an 
 infant daughter. 
 
 In his political associations Mr. McCarty 
 i is a Republican and warmly advocates the 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 principles of that party. In 1889 he was 
 appointed postmaster of Blanket and for 
 four years faithfully and efficiently discharged 
 the duties of that position. Socially he 
 affiliates with the Masonic fraternity. His 
 support is given all measures calculated to 
 prove of public benefit, and he is known as 
 a straightforward business man and upright 
 citizen, whom to know is to respect. 
 
 HXDY E. GREEN is one of the 
 popular citizens of Comanche coun- 
 ty, his genial manner and his ster- 
 ling worth gaining him many friends. 
 He resides upon one of the fruitful farms of 
 this section of the state, where his enter- 
 prise and industry are indicated by the 
 thrifty appearance of everything on the 
 place. 
 
 Mr. Green is one of the native sons of 
 the Lone Star state. He was born in Free- 
 stone county on the 1 7th of February, 1856, 
 a son of T. W. and Nancy J. (Brentfield) 
 Green, both of whom were natives of Ten- 
 nessee and are now deceased. His father 
 was a physician by profession and in 1847 
 removed to Texas, locating in Smith coun- 
 ty. His death occurred in 1867, and his 
 wife, surviving him many years, passed 
 away in 1885. Their family numbered 
 thirteen children, our subject being the 
 twelfth in order of birth. He spent the first 
 fourteen years of his life in the county of his 
 nativity and was reared to farming and 
 stock-raising, early becoming his father's 
 assistant in those pursuits. That work has 
 been his life occupation and it is the calling 
 to which he now devotes the greater part of 
 his time and attention. 
 
 After residing in several counties in the 
 state, Mr. Green came to Comanche county. 
 
 where he has resided for the past eighteen 
 years. His real-estate interests comprise 
 nine hundred acres of valuable land, and 
 the farm is situated fifteen miles northwest 
 of the county-seat of Comanche. He has 
 three hundred acres of land under a high 
 state of cultivation, including a three-acre 
 orchard, mostly planted with peach-trees. 
 The remainder of the cultivated tracts is 
 divided into fields of convenient size, where 
 are seen the various crops best adapted to 
 this climate, and in times of harvest there 
 is ample indication of the labor he bestows 
 upon them in the rich returns he gathers for 
 his labor. He is also engaged in the breed- 
 ing of thoroughbred stock, making a specialty 
 of draft and running horses. He owns an 
 imported English Norman stallion and also 
 a famous jack. His domestic cattle are well- 
 graded Durham and Jersey stock, while his 
 market or beef cattle are of the finest Texas 
 grades. He also makes a specialty of rais- 
 ing Poland-China hogs. Although farming 
 and stock-raising has always been his chief 
 pursuit, he is a man of broad capabilities 
 and his efforts are not confined to those 
 lines. He has business interests in the city 
 of Comanche, being proprietor of the Rose 
 Bud Mine House, where are supplied all the 
 best beverages that are to be found on the 
 market. 
 
 On the 17th of February, 1S76, was 
 celebrated the marriage of Mr. Green and 
 Miss Sarah H. Wyatt, the ceremony being 
 performed in Hill county. The lady is a 
 native of Texas and a descendant of F. H. 
 Wyatt, a well-known Texas pioneer. He 
 was a native of Alabama and entered the 
 Confederate army at the beginning of the 
 war, serving until near the close, when he 
 was killed near Franklin, Tennessee. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Green have nine children, namely: 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Edna F. , Myrtle M., Lucinda E., Flenny 
 W., AmyE., Herbert E., Rex C, Alice E., 
 Andy B. and two daughters deceased. 
 
 In his political connections Mr. Green is a 
 stanch and steadfast Democrat, who warmly 
 advocates the principles of his party. He 
 has been a member of the school board for 
 several years, and in 1884 he was elected 
 for a two-years term as county cattle and 
 hide inspector, — an office now abolished. 
 Socially he affiliates with Sipe Springs 
 Lodge, No. 537, F. & A. M., also with the 
 Knights of Pythias fraternity of Comanche. 
 He is recognized as one of the representa- 
 tive men of the county and has a large circle 
 of friends. 
 
 'irj'OHN H. THORNTON.— The com- 
 fl monwealth of Tennessee has furn- 
 A W ished Te.xas with many of her lead- 
 ing citizens, and among the promi- 
 nent men of Comanche county who hail from 
 that state, and to a rcsiniic of whose life 
 we would at this point invite attention, is 
 John H. Thornton, the Populist nominee 
 for county sheriff. 
 
 Mr. Thornton was born in Sumner coun- 
 ty, Tennessee, June 14, 1849, son of Joseph 
 and Amanda (Lane) Thornton, both natives 
 of that state; and of their family of five 
 children he is the eldest. His father a 
 farmer by occupation, the subject of our 
 sketch was brought up to that calling, and 
 remained in his native state until he emerged 
 from his 'teens. Then, in 1S69, at the age 
 of twenty, he left the old home and its as- 
 sociations and sought his fortune in Texas, 
 landing first at Waco, where he continued 
 to reside for some three years. Since then 
 he has been a resident of Comanche count)'. 
 His present home is located on his farm 
 
 sixteen miles northwest of Comanche, Gap 
 being his post-office address. Here he owns 
 a fine farm comprising one hundred acres, 
 about sixty of which are under cultivation 
 and producing excellent crops, and among 
 other improvements which have enhanced 
 the value of his place may be mentioned a 
 family orchard and vineyard. Mr. Thorn- 
 ton also owns and operates a cotton-gin on 
 his farm, which was erected in 1891, has 
 two stands of sixty rows each, and a ca- 
 pacity of sixteen bales per day. Both in 
 the operation of his gin and in his agricult- 
 ural pursuits he is meeting with that suc- 
 cess which his earnest efforts merit. 
 
 Mr. Thornton was married March 7, 
 1877, the lady of his choice being Miss Mis- 
 souri E. Young, a native of Alabama, with 
 whose life his was happily blended until her 
 death, July 2, 1889. She left two sons, — 
 Robert C. and Carley A. 
 
 Public-spirited and progressive, Mr. 
 Thornton takes a commendable interest in 
 all measures and movements intended to 
 promote the growth and development of the 
 county. It was largely through his efforts 
 that the post-office was established at Gap, 
 and to him belongs the distinction of being 
 its first postmaster. He has tor some years 
 past given a stanch support to the Populist 
 party, is at present the nominee of this 
 party for the office of county sheriff, and 
 prior to this has been honored with nomina- 
 tion for public office. His popularity in the 
 county is well established. We would 
 further state that he is a friend to schools 
 and all educational interests, and that for 
 several years he has been one of the efficient 
 members of the school board of district No. 
 13. He affiliates socially with the Masonic 
 order. Much more might be said of his 
 busy, useful life and his high standing in 
 
SlO 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 the community, but the above epitome will 
 suffice to show his standiiijj and serve as an 
 index to his character. 
 
 y^T>^ACK MATTHEWS. — In this 
 ■ IB young man is found one of the 
 X £ ^ enterprising and progressive na- 
 tive sons of the Lone Star state. 
 He was born in Comanche county, Decem- 
 ber 25, 1870. and thus was a Christmas 
 present in the Matthews home. His par- 
 ents, both now deceased, were Thomas W. 
 and Came (Carnes) Matthews, who were of 
 Georgia birth and who landed in Te.xas 
 about the year 1861. Thomas W. Mat- 
 thews was a wheelwright by trade, was an 
 honorable and upright man, and such was 
 his life that it won him the confidence and 
 respect of all with whom he came in con- 
 tact. He was for nearly thirty years an 
 honored resident of Te.xas. He died July 
 7, 1890,' and his good wife passed away in 
 1879 Their family consisted of nine chil- 
 dren, the subject of our sketch being the 
 sixth in order of birth. 
 
 Mack Matthews grew up in his native 
 county, receiving his education in its public 
 schools, and at the age of seventeen began 
 handling stock, which vocation he followed 
 for several years. Also he became inter- 
 ested in farming and at an early age carried 
 on agricultural pursuits on his own account. 
 For some six years he has been engaged in 
 business, as an employee in the wine house 
 of A. E. Green, of Comanche, and at the 
 same time he has given a portion of his at- 
 tention to the breeding of game fowl. 
 There is probably not a man in central 
 Texas who is a better judge of game birds 
 than Mack Matthews. He is at this time 
 making a specialty of crossing the English 
 
 Dominick and Irish Gray fowl for pitting 
 purposes, now has some two hundred young 
 beside the best grades of parent birds, and 
 can supply the sporting fraternity with un- 
 equaled birds of sta3'ing qualities. 
 
 Mr. Matthews is a taxpayer. He owns 
 residence property in Comanche, takes an 
 active interest in all public measures in- 
 tended to advance the growth and develop- 
 ment of the town and county, and is popu- 
 lar in the circles in which he moves. Polit- 
 ically, he is allied with the progressive wing 
 of the Democratic party, although he takes 
 no active interest in political matters. As 
 he is yet only a young man, the most of his 
 life's career lies ahead of the present date. 
 
 * y ^ UE R. LACY is one of the bright 
 
 1''^^ and promising young business men 
 
 M. . r of his native state, and at this 
 
 writing is to be found dealing out 
 
 general merchandise and acting as deputy 
 
 postmaster at the prosperous little town of 
 
 Sidney, Texas. He is a son of one of the 
 
 early settlers of the Lone Star state, and of 
 
 him and his family we make brief record as 
 
 follows: 
 
 Hue R. Lacy was born in Rusk county, 
 Texas, August 27, 1871, his parents being 
 James B. and Elizabeth (Howerton) Lacy, 
 the former a native of Tennessee and the 
 latter of Texas. The senior Mr. Lacy left 
 his old home in Tennessee as early as 1845 
 and made his way to this new state which 
 had that year been admitted into the Union, 
 here made settlement on the frontier, and is 
 now ranked with the prominent and pros- 
 perous farmers of Comanche county. He 
 was married in this state to Miss Elizabeth 
 Howerton, a native of Texas and a daugh- 
 ter of William and Mary Howerton, who 
 
HISTORY OP TEXAS. 
 
 811 
 
 were among the pioneers of Rusk county. 
 William Howerton died in 1866, and his 
 widow survived him until 1895, when her 
 death occurred at Sidney. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was the sec- 
 ond in a family of si.\ children. He was 
 brought up on his father's farm, had the ad- 
 vantage of an ordinary education only, and 
 early showed a preference for a business 
 life. He is now engaged in general mer- 
 chandising at Sidney, where he is deserved- 
 ly successful, and popular both as a mer- 
 chant and as deputy in the post-office. 
 
 While he is not active in politics, Mr. 
 Lacy takes an intelligent interest in all pub- 
 lic affairs and gives his support to the Dem- 
 ocratic party. He is unmarried. 
 
 *y-» M. SMITH, the well-known sta- 
 I i tion agent of the Texas Central 
 1 \ railroad at Walnut Springs, and 
 one of the native sons of this state, 
 was born in Cass county, December 7, 1867, 
 and was reared and educated here. His 
 parents, P. B. and Julia A. (Whetstone) 
 Smith, were both natives of Alabama, and 
 they had eleven children, of whom our sub- 
 ject is the tenth in order of birth. By occu- 
 pation the father was a farmer, and on 
 coming to Texas in 1853 first located in 
 Cass county, but subsequently removed to 
 Hill county, where he was extensively en- 
 gaged in farming and stock-raising. 
 
 In the usual manner of farmer lads, Mr. 
 Smith of this review spent his boyhood and 
 youth until seventeen years of age, obtain- 
 ing his education in the common schools of 
 Hill county, and remained at the parental 
 home until that time, when he began the 
 battle of life on his own account. For two 
 
 years he was engaged in clerking, and in 
 the meantime studied and gained consider- 
 able knowledge of telegraphy. He was 
 was then an employee of the Atchison, To- 
 peka & Santa Fe railroad for several years, 
 and resided at Whitney and Morgan, Texas, 
 prior to locating at Walnut Springs. Dur- 
 ing his residence of two years at Morgan he 
 accumulated some property, and at this 
 writing still owns the Ross House at that 
 place. While Mr. Smith is the owner of 
 the property, he has never conducted the 
 hotel. Three years ago he came to Walnut 
 Springs, where he has since served as sta- 
 tion agent, and is also agent for the Wells- 
 Fargo Express Company. Socially he be- 
 longs to the order of Knights of Pythias at 
 Whitney, and to the Masonic order at 
 Morgan. 
 
 In the latter city, on the ist of January, 
 1 89 1, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. 
 Smith and Miss Lottie C. White, a native 
 of Texas. Her father, John L. White, came 
 to this state in 1861, and is a well-known 
 stockman and also deputy United States 
 marshal. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two 
 children, — Julia E. and Marguerite. This 
 young couple have gained many warm 
 friends since locating at Walnut Springs, 
 and have the esteem and respect of all who 
 know them. 
 
 ■Sp-VAMES p. miller, M. D.— Promi- 
 J| nently identified with the medical fra- 
 A J ternity of Bosque county is he whose 
 name heads this notice, and who is 
 now successfully engaged in practice at 
 Walnut Springs. His birth occurred in Hill 
 county, Texas, on the 28th of October, 
 1864, and he is a son of Dr. Robert Miller, 
 a native of Alabama, who came to this state 
 
812 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 in 1864. The mother of our subject was 
 born in Arkansas. 
 
 In their family, consisting of seven chil- 
 dren, the Doctor is the third in order of 
 birth. He began his professional studies in 
 18S7, his father being his preceptor, and at- 
 tended his first course of lectures at Louis- 
 ville, Kentucky. He graduated at the 
 Louisville Medical College in 1892, and on 
 his return to Texas located at Peoria, Hill 
 county, where he engaged in practice for 
 two years. He also followed his profession 
 at Vaughn, Texas, prior to locating at Wal- 
 nut Springs. He is now enjoying a large 
 and lucrative practice, which is constantly 
 increasing, at Walnut Springs, the scene of 
 his present labors. The Doctor is widely 
 and favorably known in Bosque and adjoin- 
 ing counties and has the confidence and re- 
 spect of the community. He has that true 
 love for his work without which there can 
 be no success, and is one of the most pro- 
 gressive physicians of the state. 
 
 a LAY FRANCIS.— The gentleman 
 whose name heads this brief sketch 
 is a native of the Lone Star state, 
 born in the city of Meridian, on the 
 1 2th of June, 1873, and is the son of Ed- 
 ward and Lucy (Bdingsly) Francis, the 
 former of Louisiana and the latter of Ar- 
 kansas. The father came to Te.xas as early 
 as 1S56, where he engaged in agricultural 
 pursuits, and upon the home farm our sub- 
 ject was reared. 
 
 When still in his 'teens, Mr. Francis, of 
 this review, learned the trade of a black- 
 smith, and after completing his apprentice- 
 ship he worked as a journeyman for a few 
 months, after which he opened a shop and 
 
 began business on his own account. He 
 does general blacksmithing and wagon- 
 repair work, and being a splendid mechanic 
 receives a fair share of the public patronage. 
 Although a young man he is rapidly grow- 
 ing into the esteem and respect of the com- 
 munity, is of studious and industrious hab- 
 its, and is a faithful member of the Meth- 
 odist church. He belongs to no secret 
 organizations and takes but little interest in 
 political matters. 
 
 ai 
 
 ILLIAM W. HINES.— Among 
 the practical and well-to-do farm- 
 ers of Bosque county, none per- 
 haps are more worthy of honora- 
 ble mention than he whose name heads this 
 brief sketch. His residence here dates back 
 some thirteen years, and during that time 
 he has been regarded as one of the most 
 progressive citizens of the community. He 
 is always ready and among the first to re- 
 spond to public enterprises, particularly 
 those calculated to advance and upbuild the 
 county and state. In short, he is a public- 
 spirited man, and not one who prefers to 
 clog the wheels of progress. 
 
 Mr. Hines was born in Louisiana, near 
 Shreveport, April 5, 1849, and is a son of 
 Welford B. and Margaret F. (Carnes) 
 Hines, also natives of Louisiana. His 
 father came to Texas about 185 1, and lo- 
 cated in San Jacinto county, where our sub- 
 ject was reared and followed farming. Since 
 1883 he has lived in Bosque county, his 
 present farm property being located eight 
 miles east of Clifton. The place comprises 
 two hundred and forty acres, one hundred 
 and thirty of which is under cultivation and 
 is supplietl with a line orchard of joung 
 trees. He takes great pride in his stock 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 813 
 
 and has some fine grades of Holstein and 
 Jersey cattle. 
 
 In Harris county, Texas, on the 20th of 
 December, 1873, Mr. Hines led to the mar- 
 riage altar Miss Martha A. White, a native 
 of South Carolina, and a daughter of N. J. 
 White, one of the early settlers of this state. 
 Twelve children were born of this union, 
 but seven are now deceased. Those living 
 are Frank E., Georgia, WilfordT., William 
 P. and Ruby. The family are consistent 
 and faithful members of the Methodist 
 church. Politically Mr. Hines is an earnest 
 advocate of the principles of the People's 
 party. Educational affairs have always 
 found in him a friend, and he has accepta- 
 bly served as a member of the board of 
 school trustees. 
 
 @EORGE W. MAY. -Prominently 
 identified with the farming inter- 
 ests of Bosque county is the above 
 named gentleman, who is a native 
 of east Tennessee, born September 13, 
 185 I, and is a son of John J. May, whose 
 birth occurred in North Carolina. In Ten- 
 nessee was the birthplace of the mother. 
 The parental household included twelve chil- 
 dren, of whom our subject was the fifth in 
 order of birth. 
 
 Like most farmer boys, Mr. May aided 
 in the labors of the fields upon the home 
 place and acquired his education in the dis- 
 trict schools of the neighborhood. He en- 
 gaged in agricultural pursuits in Tennessee 
 until 1872, when he arrived in Texas and 
 made his first location at Bonham, in Fan- 
 nin county, where he resided about three 
 years; thence he went to Grayson and 
 Cooke counties. Two years later he went 
 to Hill county, where he remained seven 
 
 years, and also spent two years in Johnson 
 county. Finally Mr. May located perma- 
 nently in Bosque county, where he owns a 
 fine farm pleasantly situated six miles east 
 of Clifton, comprising six hundred acres, 
 and of this amount four hundred and forty 
 acres are in good cultivation and well im- 
 proved. He also has a nice orchard upon 
 his place, and the surroundings indicate 
 thrift and progress. He also makes a 
 specialty of graded stock, having some fine 
 specimens of the Holstein and Jersey breeds. 
 He is prompt and reliable in business 
 transactions and has the respect and confi- 
 dence of all with whom he comes in contact. 
 While a resident of Hill county, Texas, 
 Mr. May was united in marriage, on the 
 5th of January, 1879, with Miss Ollis J. 
 Piper, a native of Tennessee, and a daugh- 
 ter of Samuel Piper, who emigrated to 
 Texas in 1866. Five children were born 
 by this marriage, but Annie died on Christ- 
 mas day, 1884. Those who still survive 
 are William, Ora P., George and Samuel. 
 Politically, Mr. May affiliates with the 
 Democratic party, which he always sup- 
 ports by his ballot, and is at present serv- 
 ing as a member of the board of school 
 trustees in district No. 2. He became a 
 prominent member in the community where 
 he made his home, and well deserves the 
 high regard in which he is held. 
 
 aHARLES P. BAIRD is the popu- 
 lar and efficient manager of the 
 Cheshire Improvement Company 
 of New York, which owns some 
 eighteen thousand acres of land in Bosque 
 county. Their main ranch, consisting of 
 seventy-two hundred acres, is located seven 
 miles southeast of the city of Meridian, and 
 
814 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 about one hundred acres of this have been 
 placed under the plow. There is also some 
 fine fruit upon the place, consisting of 
 peaches, plums, mulberries and blackber- 
 ries. The company also deals in stock, 
 both market and blooded stock, and upon 
 this ranch in 1896 are forty-five hundred 
 head of sheep, three hundred and fifty head 
 of cattle, seventy head of trotting stock and 
 twenty head of draught horses. The barn 
 upon the place is a magnificent structure, 
 with a capacity sufficient to stall forty-two 
 head of horses on the main floor, and the 
 basement is utilized for the same purpose, 
 while the mow has a capacity for storing 
 thirty tons of hay and thirty thousand 
 bundles of sheaf oats. The sheep sheds are 
 two hundred and eighty-six feet in length 
 by forty in width, and will shelter over two 
 thousand head. The residence and office 
 building are equipped with all modern con- 
 veniences. There is water in all the build- 
 ings, supplied from mammoth tanks, which 
 in turn are constantly fed from wells oper- 
 ated by windmills having their power-wheels 
 si.xteen feet in diameter. 
 
 About ten miles south of this property 
 the company own ten thousand acres of 
 fine farm land, four hundred acres of which 
 have been placed under cultivation, and one 
 hundred and fifty more will be developed 
 during the summer of 1896. Forty-five 
 hundred head of sheep are kept upon this 
 place, also six hundred head of steers, fat- 
 tening for the market. The other tract of 
 one thousand acres owned by the company 
 is adjacent to Meridian, a portion being in- 
 side the corporate limits of that city. Only 
 forty acres of this have been placed under 
 cultivation, and there are also cattle upon 
 this place. This ranch is supplied with 
 water from an artesian well four hundred 
 
 feet deep, which throws a two-inch stream. 
 All three of these places are superintended 
 by Mr Baird, who goes from one to the 
 other as occasion requires and faithfully 
 looks after the interests of the company. 
 
 Mr. Baird was born in Red River parish, 
 in Louisiana, December 17, 1858, and is the 
 son of William L. and Mary A. (Low) Baird, 
 both of whom were natives of Mississippi 
 and are now deceased. The father, who 
 served in the war of 181 2, came to Texas 
 in 1S71, and died at the age of eighty-six 
 years. Their family comprised ten chil- 
 dren, six of whom are still living and reside 
 in Texas. Our subject is the sixth in order 
 of birth. 
 
 For many years Mr. Baird had been en- 
 gaged in merchandising in the city of Cle- 
 burne, Johnson county, Texas, but has held 
 his present position since 1892. He was 
 joined in wedlock January i, 1882, with 
 Miss Ettie Hart, a native of Illinois, and 
 two children now honor their union, — 
 Charles O. and Ethel E. The parents, 
 who are earnest Christian people, are 
 worthy members of the Methodist Episco- 
 pal church. Mr. Baird is an intelligent, well- 
 informed man, possessing superior business 
 tact and sound common sense, which make 
 him an invaluable member of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 'Srj'AMES K. BASS, one of the promi- 
 ■ nent and progressive citizens of Clif- 
 A J ton, is a native of North Carolina, 
 his birth having occurred in Duplin 
 county on the 19th of March, 1846. His 
 parents, Killy and Jane (Smith) Bass, were 
 members of old and well-known families of 
 that state and were both born there. The 
 father removed with his family to Washing- 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 815 
 
 ton county, Texas, in the year 1S49 and 
 located on a farm, where James K., the 
 third in order of birth, was reared to man- 
 hood. His time and attention were given 
 to agricultural pursuits until the outbreak of 
 the civil war, when he enlisted in the Con- 
 federate army, becoming a member of the 
 well-known Terry regiment, with which he 
 served until the close of hostilities, when he 
 resumed farming. 
 
 Early in life Mr. Bass took up the study 
 of law under the preceptorship of T. C. 
 Bass, was admitted to the bar in 1874 and 
 followed his chosen profession in Clay and 
 Washington counties for ten years. He 
 then abandoned the law to engage in mer- 
 chandising in the city of Clifton, becoming 
 a member of the firm of Lockett & Bass. 
 For three years they did a successful busi- 
 ness, enjoying a good trade, and then their 
 building with all its contents was destroyed 
 by fire. After suffering this loss Mr. Bass 
 accepted a clerkship, which occupied his 
 time for five years, at the expiration of 
 which period he purchased the cotton-gin 
 which he now owns and operates. The 
 plant was established by his brother Amos, 
 now deceased; it is well equipped, having a 
 twenty-five-horse-power engine and a capac- 
 ity for ginning twenty-five bales of cotton 
 dail}-. 
 
 In 1874 Mr. Bass was united in mar- 
 riage to Miss Helen Hocker, a native of 
 Virginia, and they have five children. He 
 and his family are consistent members of 
 the Baptist church. In politics he is a 
 stanch and active Democrat and has been 
 honored by his fellow citizens who have 
 called him to public office. He has filled 
 the city civic chair, having been elected 
 mayor of Clifton in 1893, and while the 
 incumbent of the office he most capably 
 
 conducted the affairs of the city, proving a 
 most efficient ofBcer. He has also served as 
 deputy county tax collector. Prominent 
 and progressive in all public movements 
 that have for their purpose the development 
 and advancement of the county's interest, 
 he is a worthy and valued citizen. 
 
 ^-t'oseph edmond arrington 
 
 ■ dates his residence in Hood county 
 /© J from its early pioneer epoch. Long 
 before the county had a separate ex- 
 istence — while it was yet a part of Johnson 
 county— he established a home upon an un- 
 broken tract of land within its borders and 
 has since been closely identified with its 
 interest. He has taken an active part in its 
 progress and development and given sub- 
 stantial aid to the enterprises calculated to 
 aid in its upbuilding. Thus his name has 
 become indelibly inscribed on the pages of 
 its history, and it is therefore with pleasure 
 that we present his sketch to our readers as 
 that of one of the representative and promi- 
 nent citizens. 
 
 Mr. Arrington was born in Scott county, 
 Arkansas, September 26, 1826, and belongs 
 to a family that was founded in America by 
 his great-grandfather, a native of the Emer- 
 ald Isle, whence he sailed to the New 
 World. His parents, Claiborn and Nancy 
 Elizabeth (Fisher) Arrington, removed from 
 Arkansas to Texas in December, 1839, and 
 in 1855 came to Hood county, which was 
 then a part of Johnson county. Here the 
 father located one hundred and sixty acres 
 of land, whereon he followed farming and 
 stock-raising until his death, which occurred 
 in 1885. His wife had long preceded him 
 to the final home, passing away in 1865. 
 
 Mr, Arrington was reared on the home 
 
81G 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 farm, and received but meager educational 
 privileges, attending a private school for a 
 short time. His training at farm labor, 
 however, was not limited, and he also 
 learned all about the care of stock. The 
 country abounded in wild game and furnished 
 ample opportunity to indulge a taste for 
 hunting, while the gun of different members 
 of the family frequently supplied the table 
 with meat. Our subject shared with the 
 others in the hardships and obstacles of 
 pioneer life, and as he grew up took his part 
 in the farm work. The Indians were 
 troublesome in those earlier days and like 
 many other settlers he suffered the loss of 
 some of his property- — cattle and horses — 
 at their hands. 
 
 On the 28th of December, 1854, was 
 celebrated the marriage of Mr. Arrington 
 and Miss Louisa Newby, a native of Clinton 
 county, Missouri, born August 24, 1838. 
 The wedding occurred in Hillsboro, Hill 
 county, Texas. Mrs. Arrington is a daugh- 
 ter of Jonathan and Dorothy (Debury) New- 
 by, both of whom were natives of Illinois, 
 and were among the first settlers of Hill 
 county, where they removed from Lavaca 
 county, Texas, being also pioneers of that 
 place. They had eleven children, but the 
 only ones living are Mrs. Arrington; John, a 
 resident of Young county; and Mrs. Martha 
 Rice, of Collin county. Our subject and 
 his wife were parents of six children, but 
 the third child, Claiborn Alfred, died at the 
 age of twenty-one, and another died in in- 
 fancy. Those still living are Nancy Eliza- 
 beth, wife of Joel C. Orchard, a farmer and 
 stock-raiser of Hood county; Hannah Lu- 
 cretia, wife of D. J. Williams, of Wichita 
 county, Texas; Charles Henry, a resident 
 farmer of Hood county; and Louise Melissa, 
 at home. 
 
 Upon his marriage Mr. Arrington bought 
 a certificate and located one hundred and 
 sixty acres of land five miles west of Gran- 
 bury, also secured another forty-acre tract. 
 During the civil war he served in the home 
 guards in Carmichael's brigade. During all 
 these years he has followed farming and 
 stock-raising and now has a good farm, 
 highly cultivated and well improved. In his 
 political views he is a Democrat, but has 
 never sought or desired public office. He 
 and his wife are members of the Christian 
 church. 
 
 aHARLES MILTON BOYNTON, 
 editor of the Hamilton Herald, was 
 born April 25, 1836, on the St. 
 Francis river, in Canada East, ten 
 miles from Sherbrooke, and was the son of 
 William and Harriet (Curtis) Boynton. His 
 father died December 25, 1838, but his 
 mother, a woman of strong character, was 
 able to keep the family together. 
 
 In the spring of 1857 Mr. Boynton, the 
 subject of our sketch, went to Davenport 
 Iowa, and shortly afterward to Will county, 
 Illinois, where he taught school for half 
 a year. He then removed to Bourbon 
 county, Kentucky, where he continued in 
 the work of teaching until the spring of 
 i860, when he came to Rusk county, Texas, 
 and taught for six months. He took 
 another school near Crockett in the same 
 county, where he was engaged until June, 
 1 861. By this time the war was fairly on, 
 and as he did not wish to be separated 
 from his mother, who was living in Ken- 
 tucky, he returned to Bourbon county, that 
 state, after the surrender of Fort Sumter. 
 After teaching school there for some time he 
 engaged in mercantile pursuits, in company 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 811 
 
 with his brother, J. N. Boynton, at Millers- 
 burg. After a somewhat unprofitable ex- 
 perience, he sold out, moved to Carlisle and 
 took charge of the city schools, and was 
 there for some three years. He then re- 
 turned with his family to Atlanta, Illinois, 
 where he remained^about a year. Return- 
 ing then to Carlisle he taught a high school 
 there for two years, in company with Hugh 
 B. Todd. Disposing of his interest in this 
 institution, he engaged in teaching a public 
 school at London for two years. 
 
 In August, 1875, he came to Hamilton, 
 Texas, where his brother was already estab- 
 lished in business. When he first arrived, 
 however, he had no intention of locating 
 here, but, being offered a school at good 
 figures, he accepted it, and from that time 
 to the present he has seen no opportunity 
 and even felt no inclination to forsalie the 
 Lone Star state. 
 
 The Hamilton Herald was started in 
 May, 1876, by W. T. Saxon and Tom 
 Neel. In company with J. S. Sparkman, 
 he purchased the paper in the month of 
 January, 1877, and, buying out his partner 
 in about a year, became sole proprietor. 
 About this time he suffered a painful and 
 serious accident, the spraining of an ankle, 
 and was a cripple for fifteen years, using 
 crutches most of the time. He now walks 
 without them, but has had a long and pain- 
 ful experience. 
 
 Mr. Boynton has received signal honors 
 from his party in the state. In 18S1 he 
 was elected second assistant secretary of 
 the senate, on the Democratic ticket. At 
 the end of the term he was made first as- 
 sistant, and later secretary of the senate. 
 He is a Democrat of the sound-money order, 
 and stands stanchly for an honest dollar. 
 
 He was married in Kentucky March 12, 
 
 1862, to Sarah Louisa, daughter of John M. 
 and Sarah J. (Wilson) Irvin. She was 
 born October 17, 183S, in that state, and is 
 now the mother of six children, namely: 
 John William, born March 19, 1863, and 
 now at St. Angelo; George Henry, Septem- 
 ber 5, 1865, and now in Llano, Texas; 
 Charles Irvin, August 12, 1869, is with his 
 brother, George H., engaged in the publica- 
 tion of the Llano Times; Carrie, October 
 25, 1S72, married B. F. Scroggs, a merchant 
 in town; Lizzie Frances, December 12, 
 1875, is at her parental home, as is also 
 her younger sister, Hattie, born June 2, 
 1879. 
 
 The father of our subject was one of 
 nine children, — six boys and three girls. 
 He was a farmer and a lumberman, and 
 died when only about forty-six years of age. 
 His children were Emily, Lucina, John 
 Wesley, Alonzo, George, William, Alpheus 
 Smith, Henry, Robert, Alva Fletcher, 
 Charles Milton (subject of this sketch), and 
 Julius Nelson; the first three mentioned are 
 deceased, and the living are all residents of 
 the United States. The mother of these 
 children died in 1878, aged about seventy- 
 five years. She was a native of New Hamp- 
 shire and a woman of energy and fortitude. 
 The Boyntons belong to a very old family in 
 history, tracing their ancestry back to Sir 
 Mattheiv Boynton, who lived in the time of 
 William the Conqueror. General Hershell 
 V. Boynton, of Cincinnati, is a member of 
 this family. 
 
 i^/^ EUBEN N. PHILLIPS. — The 
 
 1 /^ gentleman to a retrospect of whose 
 
 \ _ P life we would now call attention, 
 
 Reuben Phillips, is another one of 
 
 Bosque county's enterprising farmers who 
 
818 
 
 HIS TOR r OF TEXAS 
 
 points with pride to the Empire state of the 
 south as the place of his birth and for many 
 jtars the home of his ancestors. 
 
 Mr. Philhps was born in Meriwether 
 county, Georgia, December i6, 1S45, a son 
 of Jonathan and Eliza (Nail) Phillips, both 
 natives of Georgia. Jonathan Phillips was 
 a highly educated man, followed the pro- 
 fession of teaching for some years, and from 
 teaching turned to merchandising, in which 
 he was engaged at the time of his death, 
 his home then being in Vienna, Lincoln 
 parish, Louisiana. His death, however, 
 occurred at Columbia, Louisiana, where he 
 was stricken with yellow fever and cut 
 down in the prime of life, that being in 1S52, 
 when Reuben was a child of seven years. 
 Jonathan Phillips was a man of high moral 
 and Christian character, was public-spirited 
 and whole-hearted, and was not unfrequently 
 looked to from various sources for counsel 
 and advice. In his church, the Methodist 
 Episcopal church, south, he was active and 
 efficient. His untimely death left his family 
 without support and with only a limited es- 
 tate, and they were taken into the home of 
 his father, Reuben Phillips, where they 
 were kindly cared for. Mrs. Eliza Phillips, 
 the mother of our subject, survived her 
 husband a number of years, her death oc- 
 curring at Iredell, Texas, in July, 1889, 
 at the age of sixty-five years. She, too, 
 was a devoted member of the Methodist 
 Episcopal church, south. Of their family 
 of five children, we record that Reuben N. , 
 whose name initiates this review, is the eld- 
 est; Sarah E. is the widow of David Sutpen 
 and has one child; Mary E. is the wife of 
 John H. Phillips, her second cousin, a 
 farmer of Rusk county, Texas; William W. 
 is a resident of Iredell; and J. C, also of 
 Iredell, is postmaster of that place and is the 
 
 proprietor of a drug store and livery estab- 
 lishment. 
 
 Reuben Phillips, the grandfather of our 
 subject, was born in Georgia, July 18, 1804, 
 a son of Reuben Phillips, Sr. , and his wife, 
 whose maiden name was Elizabeth Howell, 
 both natives of Georgia. The elder Reuben 
 Phillips was of Irish descent, served all 
 through the war of 181 2, and by occupa- 
 tion was a farmer. He and his wife were 
 the parents of eight children, Reuben being 
 the eldest son and second child. This 
 younger Reuben Phillips was married at the 
 age of twenty-three years to Miss Sallie 
 Burroughs, daughter of Philip Burroughs, 
 of Georgia, and their only child was Jona- 
 than, the father of our subject. About 1845 
 Grandfather Reuben- Phillips removed with 
 his family to Louisiana, where he owned a 
 large number of slaves and was a prominent 
 planter. Previous to his going to that state 
 he had been engaged in gold-mining in 
 Georgia. In 1S59 he moved to Texas. 
 While in Louisiana his wife had died, and a 
 few years after his settlement in Texas, in 
 1 866, he wedded Miss Lucy A. Bowman, 
 daughter of Asa Bowman. No children 
 were born of this union. On first landing 
 in Texas, Grandfather Phillips settled in 
 Shelby county, subsequently removed to 
 Rusk county, where he remained until 1870, 
 and that year came to Bosque county. He 
 still resides in Iredell, this county, where he 
 has for some time been retired. He has 
 passed his ninety-second milestone, is re- 
 markably well preserved for one of his 
 years, and the passer-by not infrequently 
 sees him in his well-kept garden, where he 
 spends much of his time. In his old age he 
 clings more firmly than ever to the Book of 
 books and he is stanch in his devotion to the 
 Methodist church, in which he was reared. 
 
HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 
 
 819 
 
 After the death of his father the subject 
 of our sketch, with his mother and other 
 members of the family, went to live with 
 Grandfather Phillips, as already stated; and 
 on a farm the boy was reared, attending 
 school between the ages of ten and fourteen 
 years, and after that their removal to a new 
 state and the oncoming of civil war put out 
 of the question any plans he might have 
 had for further schooling. He was with his 
 grandfather in Rusk county at the time war 
 broke out. In 1862 he enlisted for the 
 Confederate cause and went out as a mem- 
 ber of the Eighth Texas Infantry, Walker's 
 division, General Kirby Smith in command, 
 and was on duty in Arkansas, Louisiana and 
 Missouri, participating in some of the most 
 important engagements in those states; and 
 notwithstanding he was often in the hottest 
 of the tight and never flinched or shirked a 
 duty, he passed safely through and came 
 out at the close of the war without a wound 
 and without ever having been captured. His 
 regiment was disbanded at Hempstead, 
 Texas, in June, 1865, and from therehe re- 
 turned to his home in Rusk county. 
 
 Early in the year 1867 Mr. Phillips mar- 
 ried and settled down to farming in Rusk 
 county on land owned by his father-in-law, 
 which he cultivated for three years. Then 
 he purchased a farm there and made his 
 home on it until 1883, when he sold out 
 and came to Bosque county, where he has 
 since maintained his residence. Here for 
 ten years he rented land. In 1893 he 
 bought his present farm, one hundred and 
 fifty-one acres, in the vicinity of Iredell, to 
 the improvement and cultivation of which 
 he has since devoted his energies. The 
 whole tract is now well fenced, ninety acres 
 under cultivation, and the buildings are sub- 
 stantial and modern including a commodi- 
 
 ous residence, good barn and outbuildings, 
 and among other conveniences is a wind 
 pump. Mr. Phillips raises the usual crops 
 of the county and gives some attention to 
 stock-raising, keeping sufficient stock for 
 the maintenance of his farm. When a 
 young man he was for a time employed to 
 operate a mill, in connection with which 
 was a wagon and furniture factory, but with 
 this exception has always been engaged in 
 farming, and as a farmer has'proved himself 
 a success. 
 
 January 31, 1867, Mr. Phillips was uni- 
 ted to Miss Terissa Phillips, his second 
 cousin, daughter of Joel W. Phillips, of 
 Georgia formerly but for some years a resi- 
 dent of Rusk county, Texas, where he was 
 engaged in farming and where he died. Joel 
 W. Phillips was a man of prominence in 
 his day. While in Georgia he filled numer- 
 ous positions of trust and responsibility and 
 was for two or three terms honored with a 
 seat in the state legislature. In religion he 
 was a Methodist, earnest and zealous in his 
 service for the Lord. He and his wife 
 reared ten children, and she survives him 
 and is still a resident of Rusk county, re- 
 spected and loved by all who know her. 
 Junes, 1870, after three brief years of happy 
 wedded life, the subject of our sketch was 
 called to mourn the loss of his companion, 
 she leaving him and an only child, Arthur, 
 who is now a farmer of Rusk county. In 
 January, 1872, Mr. Phillips married Miss 
 Arabella Phillips, a sister of his first wife, 
 and by her had five children, viz. : Joel, 
 who is now a high-school student at Iredell; 
 John C., who died March 7, 1884, at the 
 age of nine years; and Conrad, Willie and 
 Arabella, — at home. The mother of these 
 children departed this life August 14, iSSi, 
 I and thus was the home of our subject again 
 
820 
 
 HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 made desolate by the deatli of wife and 
 mother. Mr. Phillips was married to his 
 present wife, Mary C. Shumate, May 12, 
 1882. She is a native of Arkansas and a 
 daughter of Wylie H. Shumate, late of Rusk 
 county. Mr. Shumate served through the 
 civil war as a Confederate soldier, and at the 
 close of the war came to Texas and settled 
 in Rusk county, where he passed the rest of 
 his life and died, the date of his death being 
 January, 1885. Like others whose names 
 figure in this sketch, he was a true Christian 
 and a stanch Methodist. His good wife sur- 
 vived him until 1887. They were the par- 
 ents of nine children, all of whom are now 
 respected and honored citizens of Rusk and 
 Nacogdoches counties. Mr. Phillips and 
 his present wife have two children, — Bertha 
 and Bessie. 
 
 Reared under Methodist influence, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Phillips early became identified 
 with this church, and are consistent mem- 
 bers of the same. His other wives also 
 were members of the same denomination. 
 In his political views he has always been 
 Democratic. 
 
 ^j'OHN LUDWIG.— Many of the most 
 m enterprising and prosperous farmers 
 /• ^ of Bosque county have come from 
 the land beyond the sea, and espe- 
 cially is this true of the many who have left 
 their homes in the German empire and 
 sought in this land of freedom a refuge from 
 the military despotism and the poverty so 
 rife in their native land. Among these a 
 prominent figure is the gentleman whose 
 name heads this sketch, who is living four 
 miles south of Clifton, engaged in general 
 farming and fruit-growing. 
 
 Mr. Ludwig was born April 22, 1848, 
 
 amid the beautiful scenery along the Rhine 
 in Germany, and is the third in order of 
 birth in the family of seven children born to 
 Peter and Elizabeth (Wellberg) Ludwig. 
 He was reared to man's estate in the father- 
 land and received a fair education, so char- 
 acteristic of the German youth. In 1881, 
 with the laudable intention of bettering his 
 fortunes in life, he made up his mind to 
 emigrate to the New World, and on his ar- 
 rival here located at New Philadelphia, in 
 Wharton county, Te.xas, where he resided 
 for four years. The following seven years 
 were passed at Crawford, McLennan coun- 
 ty, this state, and about three years ago he 
 settled upon his present farm, where he 
 owns a valuable tract of three hundred and 
 twenty-six acres of land, seventy-five being 
 in a fine state of cultivation, while the rest 
 is devoted to pasture. Upon his place he 
 has a fine peach orchard of three acres and 
 the product of this adds materially to his 
 income. 
 
 In Germany, Mr. Ludwig was joined in 
 wedlock with Miss Josephine Melhen, and 
 they have seven children, namely: Leona, 
 Charles, William, Benedict, Mary, John 
 and Louisa. Public-spirited to a great de- 
 gree, Mr. Ludwig takes considerable inter- 
 est in every measure calculated to benefit 
 the community. 
 
 (H^O J. R( 
 ^^y^ anion 
 
 iOSS. — This gentleman is one 
 stands distinctively forward as 
 imong the truly representative men 
 of the Lone Star state, as one who 
 has attained marked success in temporal 
 affairs, whose patriotic services to tiie coun- 
 try have been unstinted, and whose posi- 
 tion in the respect and esteem of his fellow- 
 men has been assured. In all the various 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 walks of life he has made for himself an 
 honorable career, and it is therefore with 
 pleasure that we present a review of his life 
 to our readers. 
 
 Mr. Ross, like many another esteemed 
 citizen of Texas, claims Tennessee as the 
 state of his nativity, his birth havinp; oc- 
 curred in Bradley county on the ist of No- 
 vember, 1826, and his parents being Na- 
 thaniel and Margaret (Anderson) Ross. His 
 father was born in South Carolina and was 
 of Scotch-Irish ancestry, while his wife was 
 born in White county, Tennessee. Na- 
 thaniel Ross removed to the Big Bend state 
 when a young man, was married there and 
 followed the hatter's trade until a change 
 of occupation classed him among the farm- 
 ers of the community. In that way he 
 spent his remaining days, his death occur- 
 ring there at the age of eighty seven years, 
 while his wife died at the age of eighty-six. 
 She was the mother of fourteen children, 
 two of whom are still living, the sister be- 
 ing Amanda G., of Fort Smith, Arkansas. 
 The father served as justice of the peace 
 for twelve years and discharged his duties 
 with the utmost fidelity. He belonged to 
 the Baptist church, while his wile was a 
 member of the Presbyterian church. 
 
 T. J. Ross spent his boyhood days upon 
 his father's farm and acquired his education 
 in the common schools. He remained un- 
 der the parental roof until the breaking out 
 of the Mexican war, when he offered his 
 services to the government, becoming a 
 member of the Fifth Tennessee Regiment 
 and remaining at the front until after the 
 cessation of hostilities. His service was 
 performed in the region between Santa Cruz 
 and the city of Mexico, and on his return 
 he continued in his father's home for about 
 a year. 
 
 Mr. Ross was married, on the 14th of 
 February, 1850, the lady of his choice being 
 Miss Sarah Witt, a native of Tennessee 
 and a daughter of James and Sarah Witt. 
 The young couple began their domestic life 
 on a farm adjoining the old homestead, and 
 there our subject continued to be engaged 
 in agricultural pursuits until coming to Te.xas 
 in 1872. He made the journey by railroad 
 to Waco, thence by wagon to Stephenville, 
 where he located and followed farming for 
 four years. On the e.xpiration of that 
 period he purchased two hundred acres of 
 land, and the following spring erected his 
 present residence, hauling the lumber from 
 Fort Worth, about eight days being con- 
 sumed in making the trip. He now has 
 two hundred and eighty acres of improved 
 land under a good system of cultivation and 
 his farm is one of the most desirable and 
 best improved in the county. 
 
 Mr. Ross was called upon to mourn the 
 loss of his wife in 1857, her death occurring 
 on Christmas day of that year. They were 
 parents of five children: Amanda, wife of 
 Henry McKinney, of Erath county; George 
 W. and Sarah Elizabeth, both deceased; 
 Andrew Jackson, who died at the age of 
 nineteen years; and Sarah Emeline, now 
 Mrs. Purdy, of Parker county. On the 14th 
 of January, 1859, Mr. Ross was again mar- 
 ried, his second union being with Miss 
 Louisa McKinney, a native of Tennessee 
 and a daughter of Jesse and Matilda (Har- 
 vey) McKinney. They have eight children, 
 namely: Nancy, wife of Alexander Garrett, 
 of McLennan county, Texas; Thomas J., of 
 New Mexico; Nat, of Erath county; James 
 Monroe, of New Mexico; William, Charles 
 and Rosa, at home; and Marilla, wife of 
 Stephen Keith, of Erath county. 
 
 During the civil war Mr. Ross manifested 
 
822 
 
 HISTORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 his loyalty to the Union by joining the federal 
 forces, becoming a member of Company A, 
 Eighth Tennessee Infantry, in 1861. He 
 did not believe that it was right to withdraw 
 from the Union and through the long war, 
 which fully tested the bravery of both the 
 "boys in blue " and "the boys in gray," he 
 followed the stars and stripes, participating 
 in seventeen hard-fought battles and for 
 fifty-eight days participating in the Georgia 
 campaign with Sherman. He served until 
 the close of the war and was then honorably 
 discharged in North Carolina. His service 
 in two of the wars of the nation indicates a 
 strong trait in Mr. Ross' character, — his 
 absolute fidelity to any cause or principle 
 which he believes to be right. In politics 
 he is a stalwart Republican. His wife is a 
 member of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
 and both are people of the highest moral 
 worth, having the genuine esteem of all 
 with whom they have come in contact. 
 
 >Y»AMES TRAVIS SHIRLEY.— Among 
 J many other residents within the 
 /• 1 bounds of Texas who started out in 
 life with naught but an abundance 
 of determination and indefatigable industry, 
 and a strong and healthy constitution, and 
 who have succeeded through their own dili- 
 gence, energy and economy, we classify the 
 gentleman whose name stands at the head 
 of this sketch. He is actively engaged in 
 agricultural pursuits in Hood county, rais- 
 ing upon his extensive farm corn, wheat, 
 oats and cotton. 
 
 Mr. Shirley is a native of South Caro- 
 lina, born February 6, 1844, and descended 
 from Irish ancestry. His parents, Robert 
 C. and Elizabeth (Posey) Shirley, were 
 born, reared and married in South Carolina, ' 
 
 where the father followed farming. When 
 our subject was nine years of age they re- 
 moved with their family to Mississippi, mak- 
 ing their location in Choctaw county, where 
 they spent their remaining days. The 
 great-grandfather Shirley aided the colonies 
 in their struggle for independence. 
 
 Under the parental roof our subject re- 
 mained until February, 1862, when he 
 joined the Confederate army, enlisting in 
 Company C, First Regiment of Mississippi 
 Artillery, and served until the close of 
 the war. He participated in all the 
 engagements in which his regiment took 
 part, with the exception of the siege of 
 Vicksburg, during which time he lay ill in 
 the hospital with typhoid fever, and was a 
 conservative soldier, always found at his 
 post of duty. 
 
 On returning to his home in Mississippi, 
 Mr. Shirley worked as a farm hand for some 
 time. There he was married, on the 25th 
 of January, 1868, the lady of his choice be- 
 ing Miss Mary Fair, also a native of South 
 Carolina, who had come to Mississippi when 
 quite young. Ten children were born of 
 this union: Beulah, wife of J. T. Estes; 
 Walter, at home; Arthur; Ella, wife of 
 Frank Burnett, a farmer of Hood county; 
 Ethel, wife of Frank Forest, of the same 
 county; James, Vivian, Carrie, Nannie and 
 Claude. 
 
 After his marriage, Mr. Shirley pur- 
 chased land in Mississippi, where he engaged 
 in farming until November, 1878, when he 
 sold his property there and removed to 
 Hood county, Te.xas. Here he first bought 
 two hundred and eighty-five acres, on which 
 he still makes his home, but has increased 
 the boundaries of his place until it now 
 comprises fifteen hundred acres in one body, 
 four hundred of which he has placed under 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS, 
 
 a high state of cultivation. It is the old 
 Davy Crockett farm, as twelve hundred and 
 eighty acres of it were patented to the heirs 
 of that gentleman for his services. Mr. 
 Shirley also owns five hundred acres in 
 Jones county, and in addition to general 
 fanning is also extensively engaged in stock- 
 raising. Although he started out in life a 
 poor man, he has acquired his large estate 
 through his own well directed efforts, and is 
 now numbered among the wealthiest men 
 of Hood county. 
 
 In politics, Mr. Shirley is an ardent 
 Democrat, taking a deep interest in the 
 success of his party, but cares nothing for 
 political preferment. For two years he 
 served as county commissioner but declined 
 a re-election. He earnestly gives his sup- 
 port to our public-school system, and has 
 supplied his children with excellent educa- 
 tional advantages. Religiously, with his 
 estimable wife and family, he is an active 
 member of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
 church. Financially, he has reason to be 
 satisfied with the result of his labors, and 
 his course as a citizen has been such as to 
 commend him to the people among whom 
 he lives. 
 
 ^rj^AMES FERGUSON, deceased, was 
 S one of the pioneer settlers of Texas. 
 A ■ The student of Texan history does 
 not have to carry his investigation 
 concerning this section of state very far 
 before he finds that the name occupies a 
 conspicuous place on its annals, for Mr. 
 Ferguson became a resident of Erath coun- 
 ty in 1858, and from that time until his 
 death was regarded as one of the leading 
 and influential citizens of the community. 
 He was a native of North Carolina, was 
 
 married there, and afterward moved to Ten- 
 nessee. Later he removed with his family 
 to Missouri, where his first wife died. He 
 then married Elizabeth Boucher, who ac- 
 companied him on his emigration to the 
 Lone Star state. 
 
 Mr. Ferguson took up his residence on 
 a tract of land two miles southeast of Ste- 
 phenville,- — the farm now owned by his 
 son C. E. The land was wild, but he at 
 once began to clear it, and soon had a small 
 portion planted. Acre after acre was added 
 to the improved tract as time passed, and 
 to- the development of the farm he devoted 
 his energies throughout his remaining days. 
 Both he and his wife were exemplary mem- 
 bers of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, 
 and in its work were deeply and actively 
 interested. Their sterling worth and many 
 excellencies of character won them the high 
 regard of all, and the circle of their friends 
 was limited only by the circle of their ac- 
 quaintances. Mr. Ferguson, who was born 
 in 1799, died in the spring of 1876, and his 
 wife, whose birth occurred in 1820, was 
 called to her final home in 1883. 
 
 John Ferguson, a son of the first mar- 
 riage, came to Texas in 1858, and entered 
 the Confederate service during the civil war, 
 becoming a member of Captain Wallace's 
 company. He was killed at the battle of 
 Mansfield, thus giving his life in defense of 
 the principles in which he so truly believed. 
 He left six children, and James, the only 
 one now living, makes his home in Erath 
 county. The mother and the other chil- 
 dren have all been called from life. 
 
 C. E. Ferguson, one of the prominent 
 farmers of Erath county, and a worthy 
 representative of the honored pioneer fam- 
 ily, was born in Missouri in 1853 and was 
 therefore five years of age when his parents 
 
824 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 came to Texas. He acquired his education 
 in the pioneer schools, but in the school of 
 experience has learned many valuable les- 
 sons, which have made him a practical man 
 of affairs. When he was married he located 
 upon the old family homestead, where he 
 has since lived, owning here two hundred 
 acres of good land, of which ninety acres 
 are highly cultivated. There are substan- 
 tial ^buildings upon the place, and its neat 
 and thrifty appearance well indicate his 
 careful supervision. 
 
 Mr. Ferguson was married in 1875, the 
 lady of his choice being Miss Sarah I., 
 daughter of G. W. Hazelwood. She is a 
 member of the Presbyterian church and an 
 estimable lady who extends to her many 
 friends the welcome of a hospitable home. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson are now the parents 
 of seven children, — Arthur, Ollie, Ila, 
 Thomas, Mettle, Carl and Minnie. One 
 child, Olin, is now deceased. 
 
 It will be interesting in this connection 
 to note something concerning the family to 
 which Mrs. Ferguson belongs. Her father, 
 George W. Hazelwood, now deceased, was 
 also an early settler of Texas, coming with 
 his family to the state in 1855. He was a 
 native of Mississippi, where he resided until 
 his removal westward. Locating in Tar- 
 rant county he purchased land seven miles 
 west of Fort Worth, where he lived for ten 
 years, removing thence to Stephens county, 
 Texas. He was largely interested in cattle 
 dealing, having extensive herds grazing on 
 the prairies, but the Indians were very 
 troublesome in those days, carrying off the 
 stock and other transportable property of 
 the settlers, who had to be constantly on 
 the watch in order to defend themselves and 
 their possessions from the savages. On one 
 occasion Mr. Hazelwood was engaged in a 
 
 fight with the Indians and was killed by 
 them. This occurred in 1868, when he was 
 about forty years of age. 
 
 While in Mississippi he had married Miss 
 Eliza Meridith, a native of Alabama. They 
 had two children at the time of their re- 
 moval to Texas, — Fredonia Ann, now Mrs. 
 Cain, and John M. The family circle was 
 increased by the birth of four children in 
 Texas, — Tom; Joshua; Belle, now Mrs. 
 C. E. Ferguson; and George W., who re- 
 sides in Texas. The mother of these chil- 
 dren died in 1892, at the age of sixty-five 
 years, and was buried in Stephenville, while 
 Mr. Hazelwood was laid to rest in Stephens 
 county. 
 
 Sr-» ORENZO DOW WOOD, deceased, 
 I I was for twenty jears a resident of 
 1 A Texas, and one of its valued citi- 
 zens, taking an active part in all 
 that pertained to the welfare and upbuild- 
 ing of the community in which he resided. 
 He was born in Spartanburg district in South 
 Carolina, April 6, 1805, and was a repre- 
 sentative of one of the old families of the 
 state. His parents, Robert and Rebecca 
 (Tralor) Wood, took up their residence in 
 South Carolina previous to the war which 
 gave to America her independence. 
 
 In an early day Mr. Wood removed to 
 Hall county, Georgia, and was there united 
 in marriage with Miss Louisa McCluskie, a 
 native of that state, and a daughter of 
 Major D. H. McCluskie, who died in Ala- 
 bama in the ninety-sixth year of his age. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Wood began their domestic 
 life in Georgia and remained there until 
 1852, when they went to Alabama, settling 
 in what was then Marshall county, but is 
 now Ottawa county. Mr. Wood carried on 
 
HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 
 
 825 
 
 agricultural pursuits there for seventeen 
 years, and in 1869 emigrated to Texas, 
 making his home on the Paluxy creek 
 throughout his remaining days. 
 
 To our subject and his wife were born 
 nine children, as follows: Eliza Ann, who 
 became the wife of Captain Stephen Dun- 
 nigan and died in Mexico; Robert, who was a 
 member of the Twenty-eighth Alabama In- 
 fantry of Bragg's division during the war, 
 and has never been heard from since the 
 close of the struggle; Zemuly, widow of 
 Pickins Buffingham, of Alabama; Benson, 
 who died in childhood; David Morton, of 
 whom mention is made in the next sketch; 
 Martha, widow of George Dunnigan, who 
 died in Texas in 1872; Thomas A. ; George 
 W., of Hood county; and Sallie, deceased 
 wife of W. W. Stokes. The mother of 
 these children died in 1873, at the age of 
 fifty-three years, and Mr. Wood's death oc- 
 curred on the 7th of December, 1889. His 
 was a noble Christian life, in which he was 
 constantly doing' good to others. He was 
 for many years a leading member of the 
 Methodist Episcopal church, south, and for 
 a long period served as class-leader. He 
 was ready to extend a helping hand to the 
 needy or distressed and he had the confi- 
 dence and deepest respect of all. 
 
 kJ^'\ ''^^'ID MORTON WOOD, who rep- 
 i 1 resents a family that has been long 
 ^^^ and closely identified with the in- 
 terests of Hood county, and who 
 was one of the gallant defenders of the 
 south during the war between the two sec- 
 tions of the country, was born in Hall 
 county, Georgia, on the nth of February, 
 1836. With his parents, Lorenzo D. and 
 Louisa Wood, he lived through the period 
 
 of his boyhood and youth, accompanying 
 them on their removal to Alabama in 1852. 
 He was reared on a farm and early became 
 familiar with all the duties that fall to the 
 lot of the agriculturist, so that when he 
 entered upon the same pursuit in his own 
 interests he was well prepared for his labors 
 by practical experience. 
 
 When starting out on life's journey for 
 himself Mr. Wood chose as a companion 
 and helpmeet Miss Mary E. Read, and their 
 wedding was celebrated in Marshall county, 
 Alabama, on the nth of December, 1856. 
 The lady is a native of North Carolina, a 
 daughter of George and Eleanor Read. 
 Taking up his residence upon a farm in 
 Marshall county, Mr. Wood successfully 
 continued its cultivation until after the civil 
 war had been inaugurated, when he went to 
 the defense of the south. He was a southern 
 man by birth, training and interest, and 
 early in 1862 he joined the "boys in gray " 
 of the Fourth Alabama Infantry, commanded 
 by Colonel Russel. The regiment was 
 joined to the Army of the Tennessee and 
 with it he remained until hostilities had 
 ceased, participating in many engagements. 
 He was a brave soldier, loyal to the cause 
 which he advocated and made for himself 
 an honorable military record. 
 
 Returning to his home and family when 
 the war was over, Mr. Wood carried on 
 farming in Alabama until 1869, when he 
 removed to Texas and purchased three hun- 
 dred and twenty acres of land on Paluxy 
 creek. This was in its primitive condition, 
 not a furrow having been turned or an im- 
 provement made, but with characteristic 
 energy he began its development and acre 
 after acre was placeH under the plow until 
 the cultivated tract comprised eighty-five 
 acres of rich and productive land. 
 
826 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Wood hnve a family of 
 eight children, si.\ of whom are still living, 
 namely: Delva Jane, wife of Ezekiel Dun- 
 nigan, of Erath county; Mary Louisa, wife 
 of N. O. Jackson; Kizzie Emma, wife of 
 George Henley, of Hood county; Isabella 
 Ray, wife of Archie Caraway, of Hood 
 county; Martha Ellen, wife of W. J. Law- 
 ing, of the same county; George W., who is 
 living on the old homestead; Robert E. , who 
 died in infancy; and Elizabeth, who died at 
 the age of thirteen. Mrs. Wood died on the 
 I 5th of Sejjfember, 1894, at the age of si.xty- 
 four years. She was a consistent Christian 
 lady and for many years was a member of 
 the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Wood 
 has also long been connected with the same 
 church and is an active and tireless worker 
 in its interests. For twenty-five years he was 
 superintendent of the Sunday-school, aiding 
 in the work of training the children to lives 
 of uprightness and honor and planting in 
 the young minds the seeds of truth which in 
 due time will bring forth fruit. Socially 
 Mr. Wood is connected with Paluxy Lodge, 
 No. 393, F. & A. M., and in politics he is 
 a Democrat. 
 
 eLLAS SPIVEY, one of the exten- 
 sive landownersof Hamilton county 
 and a progressive farmer, was born 
 December 11, 1832, in McNairy 
 county, Tennessee, his parents being Enoch 
 and Zilpha (Allen) Spivey. They removed 
 to Te.xas in the fall of 1841, locating in 
 Nacogdoches county, and subsequently went 
 to Henderson county, where the death of 
 the' father occurred. 
 
 Our subject spent the first nine years of 
 his life in the state of his nativity and then 
 accompanied his parents to Texas, assisting 
 
 his father in the cultivation and improve- 
 ment of his land in the days of his youth, 
 then turning his attention to farm work, 
 which should more directly benefit himself. 
 All business cares, however, were put aside 
 in 1 86 1, for he felt that his duty was to the 
 south which he loved, and he went forth to 
 defend the principles with which he had 
 been familiar from earliest boyhood. He 
 enlisted in Captain G. W. Manion's company 
 and Colonel Darnell's regiment, and later 
 was assigned to an ordnance company. His 
 service was in Texas and Arkansas and at 
 the time of the surrender he was in Tyler, 
 this state. On one occasion he svas slightly 
 wounded by a shell striking the ground near 
 him, and all his companions were severely 
 injured. 
 
 When the war was over and peace had 
 been restored between the two sections Mr. 
 Spivey returned to Henderson county, 
 Texas, and began working for others. He 
 took up his abode near Spivey's ferry and 
 continued his residence there until 1879, 
 when he removed to Hamilton county and 
 purchased one hundred and sixty acres of 
 unimproved land near School Land Cove. 
 i As his financial resources have increased 
 and he has found opportunity to judiciously 
 invest his capital, he has added to his realty 
 until he now has one thousand three hun- 
 dred and twenty acres of good land, of 
 which three hundred and twenty acres are 
 highly cultivated and yields to him a golden 
 tribute. 
 
 Mr. Spivey has been twice married. In 
 1866 he was joined in wedlock with Eli- 
 ciph Burton, of Texas, who died in 1878, 
 leaving three children, — Elias, Ephraim and 
 Ella. In 1883 Mr. Spivey married Miss 
 Mary Alice Culifer, a native of Alabama, 
 and their children are Enoch, Alice Pearl, 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 827 
 
 Anna Myrtle, Jeff and Austin. Mrs. Spi- 
 ve3''s parents were James William and 
 Susan A. (Curry) Culifer. 
 
 Mr. Spivey formerly gave his political 
 support to the Democracy, but since 18S2 
 has been identified with the Populist party. 
 He has neither time nor inclination for pub- 
 lic office, preferring to devote his energies to 
 his business interests. He is numbered 
 among the prominent farmers of the county, 
 and although now well advanced in years 
 he is vigorous and strong and may still be 
 found at work on his farm overseeing its 
 operations. He has been very successful, 
 accumulating a handsome property through 
 diligence, perseverance and capable man- 
 agement, and his prosperity is certainly 
 well deserved. 
 
 BI^ANCIS MARION BERRY.— It is 
 only a small portion of the citizens 
 of a countr\- who become promi- 
 nent in military or political affairs. 
 The great majority are those who quietly 
 devote their energies to business pursuits, 
 performing each day's duty as it comes and 
 are thus ready to perform the task that the 
 morrow brings. It is this class of citizens 
 to whom the country owes its stability and 
 prosperity, and it is to this class that our 
 subject belongs. He is an energetic, enter- 
 prising farmer and stock-raiser, whose 
 career is unmarked by events of startling in- 
 terest, and yet who faithfully performs his 
 duty to his country, his neighbor and 
 himself. 
 
 A native of Montgomery county, Ala- 
 bama, Mr. Berry was born August 24, 1 848, 
 a son of Elijah and Candace (Thompson) 
 Berry. His parents were among the early 
 settlers of Alabama, and in 1849 emigrated 
 
 to the Lone Star state, locating in Travis 
 count}-, where the father taught school for a 
 time and is still living. 
 
 The mother of our subject died when he 
 was but a year old and he was reared by a 
 maternal aunt, Miss Mary Thompson. 
 When thirteen years of age he was taken by 
 her to Smith county, where he grew to man- 
 hood on a farm, remaining with his aunt un- 
 til twenty-five years of age. He then 
 started out in life for himself and chose as 
 a companion and helpmeet on life's journey 
 Miss Stacy Kelly, a native of Tennessee, 
 who came to the Lone Star state when a 
 child. Their marriage was celebrated Feb- 
 ruary 27, 1870, and they began their do- 
 mestic life upon a farm in Wood county, 
 Te.xas, where Mr. Berry continued agricul- 
 tural pursuits until his removal to Hood 
 county. His wife died May 2, 1872, and he 
 was again married February 12, 1875, his 
 second union being with Mary Catherine 
 Kelly, a sister of his first wife. She died 
 and Mr. Berry was married December 17, 
 1876, to Miss'L. C. James, a native of 
 Tennessee and a daughter of Elijah James, 
 who came to Texas in an early day. The 
 children of this marriage are Elijah, who 
 was born in December, 1877, and died Sep- 
 tember 2, 1891. The mother died in 1877 
 and for his next wife Mr. Berry chose Miss 
 Sarah Gifford, a native of Wood county, 
 Texas, and daughter of Jesse Gifford, who 
 came to Texas in pioneer times. There was 
 one son of this marriage, William Adolphus, 
 who was born July 17, 1879. Mrs. Berry 
 died and on the 7th of February, 18S2, was 
 celebrated the marriage of Mr. Berry and 
 Mrs. Drusilla Turner, a native of Tennessee 
 and a daughter of John and Sarah Ann 
 (Rogers) Burton, who were probably na- 
 tives of Virginia and came to Erath county 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 when Mrs. Berry was a child. The children 
 of this marriage, four sons and a daughter, 
 are Julia C. , born May 23, 1884; Robert D., 
 June 23, 1887; Addison L., October 27, 
 1888; Hubbard O., March 17, 1890; and 
 Iva Marsh, October 14, 1892. 
 
 In the spring of 1877 Mr. Berry came to 
 Hood county, locating on Squaw creek, 
 where he purchased a tract of land upon 
 which but few improvements had been made. 
 There he lived for a year and moved twice 
 more before coming to his present farm in 
 1893. He has one hundred and sixty-six 
 acres of land, of which sixty-five acres are 
 under cultivation. He has acquired his 
 property entirely through his own efforts 
 and is truly a self-made man. Jle started 
 out for himself with no capital but a deter- 
 mination to succeed, and has steadily and 
 persistently worked his way upward, making 
 the most of his opportunities. In his deal- 
 ings he has been so straightforward and 
 honorable that he has gained the confidence 
 and regard of all with whom he has been 
 brought in contact, and throughout the com- 
 munity he has many friends. 
 
 >pj» C. JACKSON is a well known citi- 
 K zen and leading farmer of Bosque 
 A J county, Texas, where he has resided 
 for about twenty years. A native of 
 Georgia, he was born in Greene county on 
 the 20th of December, 1849, a son of John 
 S. and Frances (McBride) Jackson. His 
 father was born in South Carolina and was 
 of Irish Hneage. His mother was a native 
 of Macon. Georgia. They had eight chil- 
 dren, namely: Lena, John H., Eliza, Lizzie, 
 deceased, J. C, Mary, Milton and Willie. 
 Their father, who was born in 181 8, died in 
 1 87 1, and their mother has also departed 
 
 this life. He was a farmer by occupation 
 and followed that pursuit throughout his 
 business career. In politics he was a Demo- 
 crat and in religious belief was a Baptist. 
 
 J. C. Jackson, whose name introduces 
 this review, was reared on a farm in 
 Georgia and there obtained a liberal edu- 
 cation, but business experience and observa- 
 tion have made him a well informed man. 
 He came to Bosque county about 1876 and 
 has since been identified with its agricultural 
 interests. 
 
 Mr. Jackson married Mrs. Margaret 
 Pierce, a native of Alabama and a daughter 
 of John Lattimore, a native of Tennessee 
 and a descendant of the prominent Lattimore 
 family of England. He married Elizabeth 
 Stripling, a native of Georgia. Her people 
 were descendants of the famous Stewart 
 family of Scotland, and the great-grandfather 
 of Mrs. Jackson was a soldier in the Revo- 
 lutionary war, valiantly aiding the colonies 
 in their struggle for independence. During 
 that war her grandfather hid in a hollow 
 log to escape capture by the British soldiers. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Lattimore became the parents 
 of ten children, five sons and five daughters. 
 The father died in Cherokee county, Texas, 
 in 1870, and the mother died in 1872, at 
 the age of fifty-four years. 
 
 Margaret Lattimore was married in 
 Cherokee county, Texas, when twenty-three 
 years of age, to George Tipton, a native of 
 Georgia and a soldier in the civil war. He 
 died in October, 1871, leaving one daughter, 
 Mrs. Georgia Chambers. On the iith of 
 August, 1872, Mrs. Tipton was married to 
 A. C. Pierce, by whom she had three chil- 
 dren: Mary, now the wife of John Barry; 
 Maud and Alfred C. Mr. Pierce died No- 
 vember 3, 1878, and his widow afterward 
 married Mr. Jackson, with whom she is now 
 
HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 829 
 
 living. They have one son, Ro}', about 
 two years of age, and have also lost one 
 child, Claude. Both Mr. and Mrs. Jackson 
 are honored and respected people and have 
 many friends in Bosque count}'. Mr. Jack- 
 son is in politics a supporter of the Populist 
 party. 
 
 ^^^ W. SHELTON, who has been 
 ■ ^^ identified with the interests of 
 ^^^9 Erath county since 1875, is now 
 engaged in general merchandising 
 in Huckabay and is one of its prominent 
 business men. A native of Kentucky, he 
 was born in Union county, March 16, 1845, 
 a son of William L. and Elizabeth Shelton, 
 also natives of Kentucky. The grandfather, 
 Elijah Shelton, was born in Ireland, a son of 
 Joel Shelton, who with his family emigrated 
 to America prior to the Revolutionary war, 
 settling in South Carolina. When a young 
 man Elijah Shelton entered the service of the 
 colonies and fought for the independence of 
 the nation. After the war he married and 
 removed to Kentucky, being one of the 
 pioneers of that state, where he lived until 
 his death, which occurred when he had at- 
 tained the age of ninety-nine years! The 
 maternal grandfather of our subject was 
 a native of Scotland, and also located in 
 Kentucky at an early period in its history. 
 His wife reached the advanced age of ninety- 
 eight years. 
 
 William Shelton followed farming and 
 merchandising in Union county, Kentucky, 
 until 1852, when he removed to Vernon 
 county, Missouri, v.'hich was then a wild 
 and undeveloped region. He still resides 
 in the county and retains the mental and 
 physical vigor of youth to a remarkable 
 
 degree, although now seventy-seven years 
 of age. His wife die.d in 1850, and he 
 afterward married Lydia Halmon. He had 
 five children by the first marriage, two of 
 whom are now living, and thirteen by the 
 second marriage. Mr. Shelton is a promi- 
 nent citizen of the community where he 
 makes his home, has served his county as 
 magistrate for eight years, and after the 
 war served as deputy sheriff for several 
 years. 
 
 G. W. Shelton remained on his father's 
 farm until the breaking out of the civil war, 
 when, at the age of si.xteen, he enlisted in 
 February, 1S62, in Captain Gatewood's 
 company, of the Third Missouri Cavalry, 
 Shelby's brigade and Marmaduke's division. 
 He participated in the battles of Springfield, 
 Wilson's creek, Lone Jack and Cape Girar- 
 deau, where he was twice wounded and 
 thus disabled for further service, but al- 
 though badly injured he rode with his com- 
 mand back to Arkansas. After his recov- 
 ery he took part in the battles of Cane Hill, 
 where his horse was shot under him, Coon 
 creek, Prairie Grove, Parsons' Springs, Jen- 
 kins Ferry, and Marks' Mill. He was cap- 
 tured and for a short time held as a prisoner 
 in Missouri. He served until the close of 
 the war and surrendered at Shreveport, Lou- 
 isiana, in June, 1S65. He then went to 
 Cave Rock, Illinois, where his father was 
 then located, reaching home in August. 
 There he remained until the following Feb- 
 ruary, when he went to Shreveport, Louisi- 
 ana, where he was employed in the gas 
 works for twenty-three months. On the ex- 
 piration of that period he went to Mississippi, 
 where he operated a farm for two years, 
 after which he once more went to Arkansas. 
 
 Mr. Shelton was married near Hot 
 Springs, October 22, 1869, to Miss Mis- 
 
880 
 
 HISTORY OF TEXAS. 
 
 souri Hyde, a native of Hardin county, Ten- 
 nessee, and a daughter of N. R. P. and 
 Martha Ann (Holt) Hyde, who were born 
 in Tennessee. After his marriage Mr. 
 Shelton located in what is now Grant 
 county, where he followed farming until 
 1 8/ I, when he removed to Lamar county 
 and thence to Coryell countj'. On coming to 
 Erath countj"in 1875 he rented a farm for 
 one year and the following year secured a 
 homestead claim of one hundred and sixty 
 acres of wild land, where the village of 
 Huckabay now stands. This place he im- 
 proved and followed farming until 1886. 
 On the 2 1st of April, 1890, he began his 
 present business, which he purchased of J. 
 A. Huckabay, since which time he has suc- 
 cessfully conducted his general merchandis- 
 ing establishment. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Shelton are the parents of 
 seven children, namely: Professor William 
 Henry, of Stephenville College; Sarah 
 Alice;]. E., a druggist of Huckabay; Laura 
 Ann, Robert P. , Cora Lillie and Benjamin. 
 Mr. Shelton, his wife and four children, are 
 members of the Christian church and in the 
 
 work thereof take a deep interest. He is 
 now serving as clerk of the church. In 
 politics he is a Democrat. 
 
 
 E PIONEER EXPONENT, a 
 weekly publication issued at Co- 
 lanche, Texas, is the official Pop- 
 ulist journal of Comanche county: 
 Messrs. W. H. and Frank Chancellor, pro- 
 prietors. The Exponent has had an existence 
 for nearly ten years, having been established 
 in 1887, and since that date has been an im- 
 portant factor in local politics, being true to 
 its name and ably representing the cause 
 for which it was instituted. Its editorial 
 and business management has, since 1894, 
 been under control of Mr. Frank Chancel- 
 lor, a journalist of marked popularity and 
 ability and of some years' experience, and 
 under his wise directions its standard of ex- 
 cellence has been raised and its circulation 
 largely increased. At this writing it has a 
 circulation of three thousand copies, besides 
 exchanges, and goes into all parts of Co- 
 manche and surrounding counties. 
 

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