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ENDALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02282 4582
GENEALOGY 976.4 P13H V.3
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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HISTORY OF TEXAS
FORT WORTH
AND THE
TEXAS NORTHWEST EDITION
EDITED BY CAPT. B. B. PADDOCK
VOLUME III
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1922
VOL. III-1
COPYRIGHT, 1922 THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
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1157723
7
K.m Van Zandt
Fort Worth and The Texas Northwest
KHLEBER MILLER VAN ZANDT was born in Franklin County, Tennessee, November 7, 1836. His father was a native of that county, but in early life moved to Yallobusha County, Mississippi, thence to Harrison County, Texas, where he practiced law. In 1840-41 he was a member of the Texas Congress, and in 1842 he was appointed minister from the Re- public of Texas to the United States, where he remained until Texas was admitted into the Union. He was a member of the first convention that framed a constitution for the State of Texas in 1845. He was the author of the "Homestead Provision" of that consti- tution. He died at Houston in 1847, at which time he was a candidate for governor. Mr. Van Zandt has one brother, Dr. Isaac L. Van Zandt, and three sisters, Louisa V., widow of Col. J. M. Clough ; Fannie C., widow of Dr. E. J. Beall; and Ida V., widow of J. J. Jarvis, all of whom are still living in Fort Worth.
In 1839 the family moved to what is now Harrison County, Texas, locating near the spot where the City of Marshall was after- ward founded, in 1842. Here K. M. Van Zandt spent his early boyhood and attended the common schools of that place. At the age of fifteen he was sent to Franklin Col- lege, Tennessee, where he graduated at the age of eighteen years.
After spending one year in the employ of the Vicksburg and Shreveport Railroad he re- turned to Marshall and began the study of law in the office of Col. J. M. Clough, who subsequently married his sister Louisa and who was killed in Fort Donelson, in 1862.
He was admitted to the bar in 1858. and began the practice of law with Colonel Clough, where he remained until the com- mencement of the Civil war, when he recruited and organized a company for service in the Confederate Army, and of which company he was made the captain. His company was a member of the Seventh Texas Regiment. which received its baptism of fire at Fort Donelson. where the regiment was surren- dered. He was sent to Camp Chase. Ohio, and afterward was transferred to Johnson's Island, where he remained a prisoner until
September 16, 1862, when he was exchanged at Vicksburg. On the reorganization of the regiment Captain Van Zandt was made major, and from that time until the surrender he was in command of the regiment, the colonel and lieutenant-colonel being absent from the service. The writer of this sketch has always felt that great injustice was done Major Van Zandt by his superior regimental officers who, failing to serve themselves, stood in the way of his deserved promotion.
The regiment was sent to Port Hudson, Louisiana, and participated in the defense of that place until its capitulation, when it was ordered to Mississippi and there it took part in the several engagements between Vicks- burg and Jackson, notably Raymond and Jackson. The latter was the most sanguinary in the experience of the regiment, more than half the command having made the supreme sacrifice of the soldier. After the surrender of Vicksburg the regiment was sent to Braggs' Army before Chattanooga. In the battle of Chickamauga the Seventh Texas, led by Major Van Zandt, made the farthest advance against the enemy of any engaged in that sanguinary strnoole. as is shown bv "markers" placed on the field by the national government.
During the winter. 1863-4, Maior Van Zandt's health becoming impaired bv expo- sitre and arduous service in the field. the chief surgeon ordered his transfer from active serv- ice to less arduous and exacting duties, and from that time until the close of the war he was engaged in post service. No officer in the army enioved the confidence of his super- riors and the devotion of his men more fully than Maior Van Zandt.
The results of the war wrought many changes in the aspirations, ambitions- and destinies of the vonno men engaged in the stritggle, and Maior Van Zandt's prospective career was no exception to this almost invari- ahle rile. The practice of his chosen profes- sion offering but little encouragement as a means of livelihood or as a field for his talents and energies, he sought a new location. After a careful examination he decided to locate in Fort Worth, which he did in 1866. Fort
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FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
Worth was then an unpretentious hamlet, but Major Van Zandt's vision saw that its future was bright with promise. His first business venture was merchandising. Possessing no capital, but what was more valuable, a good name, boundless energy and the confidence of the business world, his credit was unlimited, and he experienced no difficulty in obtaining a stock of merchandise adequate to the de- mands of the sparsely settled section which he had selected for his home.
His first landed acquisition was the block bounded by Main and Houston, Third and Fourth streets, which he made his home. He subsequently acquired a farm west of the Clear Fork, on a portion of which Camp Bowie was located and which became of great value.
His only political experience aside from be- ing a leader in counsel and advice was in 1873, when without solicitation and against his ex- pressed desire, without leaving his place of business for a day, he was unanimously chosen to represent Tarrant County in the Thirteenth Legislature, and this being the first Legislature after the reconstruction period there were many vexed questions of policy and procedure confronting that body. His wisdom and con- servatism were early recognized by his fellow members, and his advice and counsel sought and accepted. He was importuned to serve in · succeeding Legislatures, but steadfastly de- clined.
He discontinued merchandising in 1874 and entered the field of finance. In conjunction with John Peter Smith and T. J. Tarvis he pur- chased the interest of J. B. Wilson in the banking firm of Tidball and Wilson and formed the copartnership of Tidball, Van Zandt & Company, which continued for ten vears. when it was merged into the Fort Worth National Bank, of which Maior Van Zandt was made president, the position he holds at this time. This bank has been recog- nized for three decades as among the leading financial institutions of this section of the Southwest, much of which is due to the recog- nized conservatism and financial ability of its president.
Notwithstanding the exacting duties de- volving upon him as president of the Fort Worth National Bank he always found time to devote to civic matters. For nearly twenty vears he was a member of the Board of Trus- tees of the Fort Worth public schools, which he assisted in establishing. as is related else- where in these pages. He was one of the organizers and most active and devoted mem-
bers of the First Christian Church, one of the strongest churches .of that denomination in the state, and much of its growth and success may be attributed to his active and persistent work.
Of his domestic life volumes might be writ- ten, and every word of praise and commenda- tion. He has been married three times. His first wife was Minerva J. Peete, the daughter of Richard Peete, of Harrison County, to whom he was married in April, 1857. Five children were the fruits of this union: Mary L., now the wife of George B. Hendricks; Florence, the widow of Hyde Jennings; and Khleber, now a citizen of Mexico City, where at one time he was United States consul and vice president and manager of the Mercantile Banking Company and who had the fullest confidence and esteem of the Mexican authori- ties in all the varied and trying experiences of that afflicted country. The other two chil- dren of that marriage are dead.
In July, 1869, he married Mattie V. Peete, the sister of his first wife. By this marriage he had five children : Ida; Richard, now gov- ernor of the Federal Reserve Bank of the Twelfth District; Isaac; Annie and Elias Beall, the latter of whom died February 11, 1920, and who at the time of his death was vice president of the Fort Worth National Bank, and regarded as one of the representa- tive younger business men of the city. The third wife of Major Van Zandt, whom he married October 8, 1885, was Miss Octavia Pendleton, and five children have blessed this union : Edmund P., Alice, Francis Cooke, Margaret and Albert Sidney. Edmund P., though exempt from service, enlisted and served his country in France as a member of the Tank Corps of the American Expedition- ary Forces.
That Major Van Zandt has done his full duty in obeying the Biblical injunction to "multiply and replenish the earth" is found in the fact that at one time he had thirty-two children and grandchildren in the public schools of Fort Worth.
He has been an active member of the United Confederate Veterans' Association from its inception until this time. He was commander of the Texas Division for ten years, and after that was made commander of the Trans-Mis- sissinpi Department. At the reunion in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1918, he was chosen as com- mander in chief of the association, was re- elected at the reunion at Atlanta in 1919 and again at Houston in 1920. He was never a
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FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
candidate for any of these positions, adhering to the idea that the honor should come un- sought and without solicitation by himself or personal friends, which it has in every in- stance. In this service to the surviving mem- bers of the Confederate Army he has shown the same liberality to and interest in his com- rades that has actuated and inspired him in every walk of an active life as business man and citizen. There is no man who enjoys and deserves the confidence and respect of his business associates and fellow men more than Khleber M. Van Zandt.
GEORGE THOMPSON is a prominent Fort Worth lawyer whose practice from the time he came to the city more than thirty years ago. He is head of the well known firm of Thomp- son, Barwise, Wharton & Hiner, the two senior partners having been associated for many years and each occupying a command- ing position among the lawyers of the South- west.
George Thompson was born near Winches- ter, Tennessee, November 10, 1857. He com- pleted his literary education in Carrick Acad- emy at Winchester, and was licensed to prac- tice law in November, 1880. He was well equipped by training and knowledge of his profession when he came to Fort Worth in February, 1887. Not long afterward he was put in charge of the Justice Court cases in- volving the Texas & Pacific Company, and a few months later was made attorney for the company in all the courts of Tarrant County. He has, therefore, been associated with the legal department of this pioneer North Texas Railway for over thirty years. In 1914 he was made general attorney; July 1, 1918, was ap- pointed general solicitor for the Federal man- ager of the lines, and on March 1, 1920, became general solicitor for the Texas & Pacific Railway, which position he now holds. His firm are also general attorneys for the Fort Worth & Denver City Railway, and sev- eral other North Texas railway companies. In addition to the corporation practice his firm also conducts a general practice, ranking with the leading firms of Texas.
In November, 1885, Mr. Thompson married Anna B. Baker, of Houston, Texas. They have four children, Mary Louise, George, Jr., Beverly and James McRobert. The daughter is the wife of B. N. Honea, assistant business manager of the Star-Telegram of Fort Worth. The oldest son, George, is associated with his father's law firm. Mr. Thompson gave all
three of his sons to the Government in the World war. Beverly, in May, 1917, enrolled in the Officers' Training Camp at San Antonio, later was transferred to the aviation branch, finished in the training school at Austin in September, 1917, and was then sent to Mineola, Long Island, where he was commis- sion a first lieutenant. James, the youngest son, enlisted as an aviator in January, 1918. George volunteered in the hydroplane service of the navy. Mr. Thompson is a member of the Fort Worth Club and other civic and social organizations in his home city.
JOSEPH H. BARWISE, JR., a member of the law firm, Thompson, Barwise, Wharton & Hiner, has been a citizen of Fort Worth since 1902, having come from Wichita Falls, Texas, where he was reared. His father, J. H. Bar- wise, Sr., came to Dallas, Texas, from St. Charles, Missouri, in 1877, but moved to Wichita County in 1880.
Mr. Barwise was born March 19, 1869, was admitted to the bar in 1892, and has since been continuously engaged in the active practice of law. He studied law at Wichita Falls, and at the time he was admitted to the bar was elected county attorney of Wichita County, which was an unusual tribute to a young lawyer.
Mr. Barwise was married in December, 1896, at Brenham, Texas, to Lucy Mayfield. Their only child, Seth, was born on May 14, 1900.
WILLIAM MONNIG, who now holds secure vantage-ground as one of the foremost figures in the commercial field of Fort Worth, came to this city in 1889, and here became asso- ciated with his brothers, Otto E. and George B., in the founding of what is now one of the largest and most important department stores in this section of the Lone Star State. Since the death of his brothers, Mr. Monnig has continued as the executive head of this exten- sive and important mercantile business, which is now of both wholesale and retail order, and the broad extent of which is indicated by the statement that the annual business has reached an average aggregate of about six million dollars. The metropolitan department store is eligibly situated with an aggregate floor space of 95,000 square feet, and with every depart- ment of the highest modern standard in equip- ment and service. In this representative mer- cantile emporium of Fort Worth is retained an average force of about 250 employes. It is
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FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
needless to say that in the development and upbuilding of this great mercantile concern Mr. Monnig has brought to bear not only dis- tinctive initiative and administrative powers, but also the fair and honorable policies that ever beget popular confidence and support.
Mr. Monnig was born at Hermann, Mis- souri, on the 18th of May, 1866, and is a son of Otto and Emma (Sauer ) Monnig. He was reared in his native state, where his educa- tional advantages were those of the public schools, and prior to coming to Fort Worth he had made an excellent record in connection with the general merchandise business in his native town. In 1889, as before stated, he came to Fort Worth and associated himself with his brothers Otto E. and George B. in the founding of the business of which he has continued the head since the death of his brothers, who were his able coadjutors in the development of the large and prosperous en- terprise. Mr. Monnig now holds commanding position as one of the most successful and in- fluential merchants of Fort Worth, and his activities have done much to further the com- mercial prestige of this city. He is a director of the Farmers and Mechanics National Bank of Fort Worth, is president of the Mutual Home Association, a director of the W. B. Fishbaum Company, is president of the Citi- zens Hotel Company, and is at the time of this writing, in 1920, president of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. All of these alliances clearly mark him as one of the liberal, loyal and progressive citizens of Fort Worth, and he is always ready to lend his influence and co-operation in support of enterprises and measures projected for the general good of the community. He is a popular and appreciative member of the Fort Worth Club, the River Crest Country Club and the Glen Garden Country Club, besides which he is affiliated with the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is actively identified also with the Rotary Club.
In the year 1891 was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Monnig to Miss Alma Wandry, and they have three sons-Otto, William, Jr., and Oscar W. The two elder sons are actively associated with their father's business, and as vigorous and resourceful young business men are well upholding the honors of the family name, the while they are proving effective and valued assistants to their father in the con- trol of the extensive mercantile enterprise which has made the name of Monnig a fa- miliar one throughout the territory normally
tributary to Fort Worth as a distributing center.
WILLARD BURTON. A purpose in life is as the helm of a ship, it shapes direction to the goal. It stirs ambition, arouses determination, and is the mainspring of success. To. have some definite aim, some target to shoot at, no matter how modest it may be, is already to be well on the way to achievement. Destination has much to do with destiny. Purpose is something for which men endure difficulties and hardships; take blows and rebuffs; tol- crate disappointments. No man can hope to reach a high position among his fellows with- out he lives up to the above qualifications, and when he does, and selects some line of indus- try peculiarly adapted to the region in which he has seen fit to locate, his ultimate pros- perity is assured. Such has been the experi- ence of Willard Burton, president of the Burton-Lingo Company of Fort Worth and one of the best-known men in this part of Texas.
Willard Burton was born in Delaware, a son of Wolsey and Hettie (Waples) Burton, who moved to Missouri when their son was a child, and there he was reared on a farm until 1873, when he came to Texas. For fourteen years he was associated with William Cam- eron, for half of that time as an employe and for the remaining seven years as a partner. In 1888 Mr. Burton established his present business, of which Mr. Lingo was the first president. He was succeeded by John G. Waples, and finally Mr. Burton was elected to the office. The territory covered by this concern extends from Fort Worth to El Paso on the Texas & Pacific Railroad. and they own and operate several yards along the line of the Santa Fe Railroad. Mr. Burton is also con- nected with the Burton Lumber Company, another important enterprise, with yards at Dallas and Houston. He is also president of the Kemp Lumber Company, and he has aided in developing many tracts and ventures, for he is a man of big ideas and knows how to make them practical. The Fort Worth Club and the River Crest Country Club hold his membership. He is also a director in the Lumberman's Association of Texas. Relig- iously he is a Presbyterian.
Mr. Burton has been thrice married, first in 1884, second in 1899 and third in 1918. He has no children. Mr. Burton is one of the largest lumber dealers in Texas, and his oper- ations are carried on in a manner which has
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CS.
Willard Burton
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FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
won for him the approval and support of the best element in the state.
VAN ZANDT JARVIS A native of Fort Worth, Van Zandt Jarvis, who inherited wealth and the best traditions of the old South, has devoted himself to an intensely practical career as a rancher, stock man and banker, and has thereby honored the two dis- tinguished family names he bears, Jarvis and Van Zandt.
His father was the late Major James J. Jarvis, whose career will always be closely associated with the history of Fort Worth. Major Jarvis, who died January 20, 1914, was born in North Carolina April 30, 1831, son of Daniel and Lydia (Jones) Jarvis. When he was a child his parents moved to Tennes- see and thence to Illinois, and he studied law at Urbana, Illinois, and was admitted by the Illinois Supreme Court in 1856. One of his examiners was Abraham Lincoln. He soon came south and from Shreveport, Louisiana, walked to Wood County. He settled at Quit- man in Wood County for practice, and while there served two years as county judge and two years as district attorney. In 1861 he joined the Confederate army, serving in Com- pany A of the 10th Texas Cavalry, as brigade adjutant with the rank of major. He was at first under General Beauregard but after the battle of Corinth was under General Kirby Smith. He was slightly wounded at the battle of Murfreesboro, and at the close of the war was home on a furlough and was not present at the surrender of his command.
Major Jarvis came to Fort Worth in 1872, four years before the first railroad was com- pleted to the town. His name is linked with that group of courageous and far-sighted men who actually made a city out of a frontier town. He practiced law, acquired great tracts of land and developed ranches in several coun- ties, and was one of the first to introduce the highest grades of cattle and horses to his sec- tion of the state. Major Jarvis achieved wealth, but was chiefly distinguished by the wisdom with which he distributed his gener- ous share of this world's goods. The Texas Christian University at Fort Worth was par- ticularly the beneficiary of his means and influ- ence. He acquired the property of the famous Add-Ran University at Thorp Springs, and donated it to Texas Christian University. When the buildings at Thorp Springs were destroyed in 1904, the institution was trans- ferred to its new home at Fort Worth. He
was a charter member of the directors of the university and one of the buildings on the campus at Fort Worth is Jarvis Hall. Mrs. Jarvis established the Dome tic Science School of the university. She also founded Jarvis Institute, a negro indu trial school in Wood County, Texas.
Major Jarvis was elected to the State Sen- ate in 1886 and was always a stanch democrat. In 1866 he married Miss Ida Van Zandt, daughter of Isaac Van Zandt, who was a sol- dier of the Texas Revolution, was minister from the Texas Republic to the United States, and had a large share in the negotiations by which Texas was -admitted to the Union. Mrs. Tarvis inspired much of the practical philanthropy of her husband, and her life was one long continuous devotion to religion and social reform. Major Jarvis had two sons, Van Zandt and Daniel Bell Jarvis, and a daughter, Lennie Flynn Burgess.
Van Zandt Jarvis was born at the home of his parents at the corner of Main and Fourth streets in Fort Worth, March 26; 1873. His birthplace is now the site of the Westbrook Hotel. He was educated in the public schools of his native city, and graduated in 1895 from Texas Christian University, and on leaving college became associated with the manage- ment of the Jarvis ranches in Tarrant, Hood and Erath counties. There he continued work in which his father was much interested, the breeding of registered Shorthorn and Here- ford cattle and blooded horses. He is a for- mer president of the Texas Shorthorn Breed- ers Association. The Jarvis home ranch is a large tract of land about twelve miles north of Fort Worth on the upper waters of the west fork of the Trinity and near Blue Mound, east of Hicks, Texas, where Van Zandt Jarvis has a beautiful country home. Mr. Jarvis has carried on an extensive real estate busi- ness and is also a director in the Fort Worth National Bank, and a stockholder in the First National Bank of Fort Worth. He is a demo- crat and he and his wife are members of the Christian Church. In 1901 he married Miss Anne Dora Burgess, member of one of the old substantial families of Tarrant County, a daughter of John W. Burgess. The five chil- dren of Van Zandt and Mrs. Jarvis are Van Zandt, Jr., Priscilla Anne, Jane Innis, Mary Cook and John Lycurgus.
WILLIAM BRYCE has been a resident of Fort Worth thirty-seven years, has continuously been identified with the building and contract-
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FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
ing business, and the record of his work would present a satisfactory sketch of the building growth and improvement of this city during this period of nearly four decades. The Bryce Building Company, of which he is president, is one of the leading organizations of its kind in Texas.
Mr. Bryce was born in Scotland, February 14, 1861, son of John and Jean (Gray) Bryce. In 1868 the family crossed the ocean to Can- ada. William was then seven years of age, and he grew up in Canada and lived there until twenty, when he came to the United States and in 1883 located in the then lively cattle town of Fort Worth. During the next few years, when Fort Worth hardly boasted of a building more than two stories in height, Mr. Bryce was doing his share of business as a building contractor .. He has increased his facilities apace with the growth of the city and finally, in 1907, incorporated the Bryce Build- ing Company, the better to handle the exten- sive business. Many of the largest and most important business buildings in Fort Worth were erected by Mr. Bryce as an individual contractor or by his company. Some of these that might be mentioned are the building of the Texas Brewing Company, the Burris Mill and Elevator, the Hendricks Building, one of the large plants of Armour & Company, and the Exchange Building at the stockyards, the power houses of the Northern Texas Trac- tion Company, and also the six-story Fort Worth Club Building on Main and Sixth streets.
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