USA > Texas > A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas, Volume I > Part 40
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This writer found San Antonio still a Spanish town, "and the only one where any considerable remnant of Spanish life exists in the United States." "Many of the people," she continues, and now thirty years later it is still true to some extent, "proudly call themselves Spanish. and most of the Americans of the region find it necessary to speak their tongue easily ; a lawyer, indeed, could hardly practice his profession with- out knowledge of the language, which he needs in examining witnesses,
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in pleading and in recourse to the documents in the matter of land titles, many of which are in Spanish, while most of the local laws are founded on old Spanish usage. Land is still measured here by the vara, and the town has its alameda [now East Commerce street], its plazas, its acequias, the houses have their jalousies, and the stranger never loses a foreign feeling while he stays. It is true that there are large numbers of Germans, French and Poles here, that no shopkeeper em- ploys a clerk who cannot deal with at least two of these nationalities be- sides his own, and the place is in a manner cosmopolitan; but Spain is at the foundation of the whole of it. The secular buildings are such as those which the earthquakes had forced on the Spaniard in Mexico. and which, from habit, he brought with him-and wherever the modern builder varies the design he ornaments the galleries with a light wood- work, cut, doubtless unconsciously, in a Moorish pattern-and the church buildings are such as those which the Spaniard venerated in his mother- land. The cathedral of San Fernando has, indeed, been rebuilt, retain- ing only a fragment of the old building at the back ; but the other ancient church buildings, quainter and more picturesque, known as missions, although in ruins, have endured no alteration of design."
Alamo.
"The Alamo, the last of the missions, and one never quite com- pleted, is but a few steps from your inn, on a dusty plaza that is a reproach to all San Antonio. Its wall is overthrown and removed, its dormitories are piled with military stores, its battle-scarred front has been revamped and repainted, and market carts roll to and fro on the spot where flames ascended at the touch of the torch of an insolent foe over the funeral pyre of heroes. But yet the Texan visits it as a shrine, and thrills with pride in a history that is more to him than all the Mon- mouths and Yorktowns and Lexingtons of the Revolution; for, after all, Texas is a domain by itself, with a past of its own."
Resources and Industry.
Of San Antonio as a commercial center, this writer finds its con- tributing wealth to consist in the great cattle ranches, but more still in the sheep husbandry. The wool clip "makes San Antonio one of the leading wool markets of the world, while the amazing increase renders it probably that she will soon become the chief. Her trade in hides is also immense, and she has merchants who do a business in general mer- chandise running largely into the millions every year. She is now the natural entrepot of a vast trade, not only with the state, but with that great and rich region of country lying farther to the west, that region just beyond the frontier."
Western Texas, of which she finds San Antonio the type, is "a land of promise and of plenty; a land flowing in milk and honey; a land where the vagrant can sleep in comfort under a tent in open air all his lifetime, and may live in luxury, scarcely lifting his hands to labor, and where the energetic and intelligent bind fortune hand and foot and compel her to their service. Nearly three hundred thousand people entered it (West Texas) last year and sought permanent homes. And
Chico Muga
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their success is entirely in the measure of their endeavor; for with eggs selling from six to ten cents a dozen, and with beef from five to eight cents a pound, the cost of living is at its minimum. Rents are the only expensive item. . And never was any place more full of oppor- tunity to those that can seize occasion by the forelock."
CHARLES HUGO. In the death of Charles Hugo, which occurred September 14th, 1906, the city of San Antonio lost one of its most valuable and prominent citizens, for he had been identified with the development of its commercial and banking interests from an early period, having made his home here for more than four decades, during which time he had witnessed its growth from a town to a metropolitan city.
Mr. Hugo was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, the son of parents of noble birth, his mother having the title of baroness. He was but a boy when he accompanied his parents on their emigration to America, the year of their arrival in Texas being 1849, at which time they located at Cuero, Dewitt county. Mr. Hugo was reared to the life of a farmer bov, assisting his father in the operation of the homestead property, but when still a young man he entered business life, establish- ing with a partner one of the first mercantile enterprises of Dewitt county. Shortly after the close of the Civil war Charles Hugo came to San Antonio, where he formed a partnership with a Mr. Berry and en- gaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1871 he severed his connection with his partner, and in connection with Gustav Schmeltzer established a wholesale grocery business, under the firm style of Hugo & Schmeltzer. Later William Heuermann, who is now deceased, was admitted to a partnership, the business then being conducted under the firm style of Hugo, Schmeltzer & Company, by which name it has been known to the present time. The firm has been in existence for more than thirty years, during which time it has gained more than local reputation, being known abroad as well as throughout the southwest as a commercial institution of the highest standing. The success of the enterprise has been due in no limited degree to the efforts of Mr. Hugo, who was a business man of excellent ability and executive force, so that he soon won a place among the prominent and leading merchants of this section of the state. In addition to his commercial interests Mr. Hugo also found time and opportunity to extend his efforts in other directions, and be- came the founder of the Alamo National Bank of San Antonio, of which he became the head, serving as president of the institution for fifteen years. Under his capable management and sound business judgment the bank became one of the strong financial institutions of the city, its present high standing and prosperity remaining as a tribute to the skill and enterprise of Mr. Hugo. He was public-spirited in a marked degree and was identified with much of the development and upbuilding of this city, not only in commercial and banking circles, but in many other movements which were instituted for the benefit of the public at large. Every worthy cause that was presented to him received his hearty co- operation and support. while the poor and needy found in him a warm and helpful friend. He was an officer of the Business Men's Club cf
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this city and was a prominent and influential factor in many other organizations of like character.
Mr. Hugo always led a very busy and active life and in the micist of a prosperous business career he was called from this life, his death occurring in September, 1906, in Baltimore, to which city he had gone for medical treatment. The news of his death cast a gloom over the entire city of San Antonio, where he was so widely and favorably known in business and social circles; but his loss is most keenly felt in his immediate household, where he was a devoted husband and father. Mr. Hugo accomplished whatever he undertook by reason of his force of character, his perseverance and his industry. He conducted his busi- ness in the most straightforward and honorable manner, never making engagements that he did not fill or incurring obligations that he could not meet, and he therefore won the utmost confidence and good will of all with whom he was associated.
Mr. Hugo is survived by his widow, who in her maidenhood bore the name of Elise Haseloff. She is of German birth, but was reared in Texas, her parents locating in San Antonio when she was but a child. The children, seven in number, are: Victor, Ralph, Mrs. Lillian Chabot. Mrs. Viola McCarty, Mrs. Wanda Shell, Frieda and Lola Felice Hugo. The family are prominent socially and enjoy the high esteem of a large circle of friends.
Honored and respected by all, BEN S. FISK has been for many years prominently identified with the public affairs of San Antonio, and is now serving as a justice of the peace. He is also a native son of the city, born December 27th, 1862, his parents being Captain James N. and Simona (Smith) Fisk. On the maternal side he is the grandson of the
Deaf Smith.
noted Erastus Smith, familiarly known as Deaf Smith, who took such a prominent part in the early American history of Texas and in the fighting for Texan independence. He was born in the state of New York on the 19th of April, 1787, and at the age of eleven years camc to the Mississippi territory, while in 1817 he came to Texas, then a province of Spanish territory. When Green Dewitt in 1825 began settling a colony in what later became Dewitt county, Deaf Smith joined him. In 1835 he joined Stephen F. Austin's forces in the fighting that was then, beginning against Mexican rule, and became one of the most trusted spys and scouts of the Texas army. When the Texans began their attack on San Antonio under Ben Milam, Deaf Smith led the way as guide, and killed a Mexican sentinel at daylight on the outskirts of the town. He also went with Houston's army to the battle of San Jacinto, and one of the best known incidents of his career was when he, assisted by Moses Lapham, destroyed the bridge over Vince's Bayou to prevent reinforcements to General Santa Anna's army. In 1828, in San Antonio, Deaf Smith was married to Guadaloupe (Ruiz) Duran, a granddaughter of the Ruiz who was one of the Canary Island colonists who founded San Antonio. The death of Deaf Smith occurred at Rich- mond. Texas, on the 30th of November, 1837.
Captain James N. Fisk, the father of Ben S., was born at Swanton,
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Vermont, and came to Texas in 1835, establishing his home in Bexar county, about fifteen miles from San Antonio, where he resided for a long number of years. In addition to his duties as a stockman he was extensively engaged in the freighting business, operating about one hun- dred ox-team carts between this city and the Gulf coast. At the begin- ning of the Civil war he raised a company of soldiers which later became a part of the First Texas Cavalry, the only organization of Union soldiers that went from Texas into the war, and which was commanded by Colonel Edmund J. Davis, later provisional governor of Texas. Mr. Fisk was made captain of his company and served with it throughout the war, and after its close was appointed sheriff of Bexar county, while some time later he was elected county recorder. His death occurred in 1876, while his wife, Simona (Smith) Fisk, who was born in San An- tonio, died in the city of her birth in 1891. Two of their daughters are now living, Susan (Fisk) Roach and Mary (Fisk) Ross ; also two sons, Sam H. Fisk.
The other son, Ben S. Fisk, spent the early years of his life in this city and on the old Fisk farm in Bexar county, receiving his education in the public schools. For several years after reaching his majority he was engaged in the abstracting and title business, also doing considerable work in the county clerk's office in that capacity, and in the summer of 1906 he became a candidate for the office of justice of the peace in San Antonio to fill the place vacated by Thad Adams, being elected to that position at the regular election of November following. In San Antonio Mr. Fisk was married to Miss Belle Hernandez. There are two children, Cordelia and Susan.
HON. HENRY TERRELL, a distinguished lawyer of the San Antonio bar and former United States district attorney, was born on a farm in Floyd county, Indiana, in 1860, his parents being General Charles M: and Sarah I. (Speake) Terrell. He is a member of the well known Ter- rell family which was established in Virginia in early colonial days and the members of which have achieved such distinction in events and af- fairs relating to Texan history. General Charles M. Terrell was a brother of Hon. E. H. Terrell, now a resident of San Antonio, who at one time was minister to Belgium and for a long period has been a promi- nent factor in Republican circles in Texas. The ancestry of the family can be traced back to Henry Terrell, who was a very prominent and influential citizen of Hancock county, Virginia, and removed to Ken- tucky in 1787, becoming closely identified with the early history of the latter state. His son, Captain John Terrell, great-grandfather of our subject, was a gallant and conspicuous officer in the campaigns against the Indians shortly after the Revolutionary war and was present in the engagement known as Harmer's defeat in 1790 near the present site of Fort Wayne, Indiana. He also participated in General Wayne's victory over the Miamis at Maumee Rapids, the present site of Toledo, Ohio. He married a sister of Chilton Allan, one of Kentucky's famous lawyers, who represented the Ashland district in Congress for many years after Henry Clay had been promoted to the senate.
Rev. Williamson Terrell, son of Captain John Terrell, was one of
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the most popular and widely known ministers in the Methodist church in Indiana a number of years ago.
General Charles M. Terrell was a member of the regular United States army for forty years, most of which time he spent in Texas. He entered the army as paymaster June 30, 1862, and during the Civil war was in the service in the west, being connected with the Army of the Cumberland. Following the close of hostilities he was stationed at New Orleans, from which city he came, in 1867 to San Antonio, where he was stationed for practically all of the remainder of his army life, only a brief period being spent at the posts at Omaha, Nebraska, and Detroit, Michigan. On the 30th of December, 1888, he was promoted to lieu- tenant colonel and deputy paymaster general and on January 6, 1893, was promoted to colonel and assistant paymaster general. He was re- tired under the army regulations in 1896 and later, under the act of Congress going into effect April 25, 1904, he was commissioned briga- dier general on the retired list. He died in San Antonio, November 22. 1904. He was a man of the highest standing in military and social circles and public life and was an influential and wealthy citizen of San Antonio, respected and honored by all. He left to his family a com- fortable fortune as the result of well placed investments. His wife bore the maiden name of Sarah I. Speake. They were married in New Al- bany, Indiana, in 1853, and she still survives him, making her home in San Antonio.
Hon. Henry Terrell was but seven years of age when in 1867 he was brought by his parents to San Antonio, where his boyhood and youth were passed. He received excellent educational facilities, attending the old Asbury College (now DePauw University) at Green Castle, Indiana, and also the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, while his law course was pursued in Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1886. He then returned to his home in San Antonio to enter upon the active practice of his chosen profession. He was assistant United States dis- trict attorney for the western district of Texas from 1889 until 1894 and in 1898 he was appointed United States district attorney for this dis- trict and served as such until the spring of 1906. In politics he is a Re- publican but not a partisan and his character and worth as a citizen, lawyer and federal official. are recognized and appreciated by all. A tribute to Judge Terrell upon the announcement of his retirement from office in February, 1906, was paid by the San Antonio Express, the lead- ing paper of San Antonio, and other journals published equally favor- able notices. The Express said : "There does not seem to be any justifi- cation or excuse for the rumored attempt to supplant United States At- torney Henry Terrell. It would appear that the principle of a Civil Serv- ice based on merit which underlies and sustains the various departments of the Federal government in efficiency should be recognized in favor of this officer and of the public service. To fulfill satisfactorily the duties of this office requires not only an intimate acquaintance with the in- tricacies of the law and its procedure generally, but more particularly with the Federal statutes and the decisions of the various Federal courts. A knowledge so extensive and so profound is not acquired by a lawyer
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who has not made the subject a special study, and who has not had the time and opportunity to apply, in practice, the results of his study. The cases which this officer is called upon to prosecute are frequently of the greatest importance, particularly to the fiscal operations of the general government, and he has, generally, opposed to him lawyers of the highest standing and ability- skillful in fence.' Mr. Terrell has the special knowledge and has enjoyed the special opportunities which make for ef- ficiency in office, and by means of both has earned an enviable reputa- tion throughout the entire southwest. He has held the offices of United States attorney and assistant United States attorney for more than thir- teen years and, in the intervals of his work, has been able to prepare for publication a monograph of great value to the bench and bar upon crimes arising under the National Banking Acts. Mr. Terrell's incumbency has been marked by uniform courtesy to the members of the bar and the people generally, and his application for re-appointment will doubtless have the support of the best citizens of the district, irrespective of party. We do not believe that President Roosevelt, with his well known views of the civil service, will make the mistake of placing this important trust into new and untried hands."
Judge Terrell has devoted his leisure time aside from the practice of law and the discharge of his official duties to literary work, mostly of a legal nature and is author of Crimes by National Bank Officers, now a well known work upon crimes arising under the National Banking Acts and the volume has proved of great value to the bench and bar. After leaving the position of district attorney he resumed the private practice of law in San Antonio and is widely recognized as one of the distinguished and able lawyers of Texas. In his practice no dreary novitiate awaited him. He secured almost immediately a large clientage and has been connected with much of the important litigation tried in the courts of his district and state.
Mr. Terrell was married in San Antonio to Miss Kate Rivers Bra- han, a representative of an old Virginian family. In the maternal line she is descended from the prominent Haywood family of North Carolina and Tennessee. Her great-grandfather was Judge John Haywood of the supreme bench of North Carolina and later of Tennessee. Further back in this line of ancestry was Colonel John Haywood, prominent in affairs of North Carolina and a brother of Sir Henry Haywood, English- man, who was governor of Barbadoes Island. Judge and Mrs. Terrell have four children : Lieutenant Frederick Brahan Terrell, of the United States army, now stationed in the Philippines; Nellie Terrell Keefer, the wife of Major F. R. Keefer, also of the regular army ; Robert Weakley Brahan and Henry, who are students in Philadelphia.
THOMAS C. NELSON of San Antonio, county road superintendent, in which position there devolve upon him important public service and heavy responsibilities, was born in the city which he yet makes his home, Feb- ruary 27, 1853. his parents being Gouveneur H. and Melvina A. (Elder) Nelson. His father, who was descended from General Nelson of Revo- lutionary war fame was born in Buffalo, New York, while the grand- father, Joshua Nelson, was a Virginian by birth and was descended from a family of Irish ancestry. On leaving the Old Dominion, Joshua Nel-
Vol. I. 20
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son made his way to Texas in the days when it was a Republic and in- vested extensively in lands in the new country. He died here in the - early '40s and it was largely for the purpose of settling up the estate and looking after these lands that Gouveneur H. Nelson came to Texas in 1845. Soon after he arrived the Mexican war began and he joined a Texas regiment as a member of the company of Captain Gillespie, of which he was second lieutenant. At the battle of Monterey, Captain Gil- lespie was fatally wounded, but before he breathed his last he handed his sword to Lieutenant Nelson and placed the command of the com- pany in his hands. Thus becoming captain, the latter had charge of the company during the remainder of the war, the well known "Big Foot" Wallace, of Indian fighting fame, being his first lieutenant.
When the war with Mexico was over Captain Nelson settled in San Antonio and was married here to Miss Melvina A. Elder, whose family came to Texas in 1836. He was identified with business interests in the state until after the beginning of the Civil war, when he organized one of the first companies that was raised for the Confederacy in Texas and with it joined Colonel McCulloch's regiment, with which he was sent to the western frontier in General Sibley's expedition to protect the country against the Indians and resist the Federal forces concentrated in New Mexico and the extreme western part of this state. After more than a year's active service Captain Nelson's health gave way and he returned home, his death occuring in San Antonio in 1864.
Thomas C. Nelson received the advantage of the best educational facilities of the state during the period of his youth. He attended the public schools which were established in San Antonio just after the war and completed his studies by a classical and literary course in St. Mary's College, the well known educator, Brother Charles Francis, being one of the teachers at that institution. He left St. Mary's at the age of six- teen and for about two years thereafter studied civil engineering under Francis Giraud, the well known engineer of those days, who came to Texas from Charleston, South Carolina. When eighteen years of age, Mr. Nelson started west as a surveyor with a surveying party, going to Fort Stockton, Fort Davis and El Paso. In the latter place, which was then called Franklin, he was appointed deputy surveyor of the El Paso district, which at that time included about all of the vast territory west of the Pecos river. Mr. Nelson remained on this western trip for three years, returning to San Antonio in 1874, after which he was ap- pointed deputy surveyor of Bexar county. In 1875 he again went west, making his way to Fort Stockton and while there was elected county surveyor of Pecos county, in which he continued to reside until 1882. It was while there in 1881 that he superintended the building of the first irrigating ditch in the Pecos country, constructing a ditch seven and a half miles long at the riffles above the big falls. Subsequently he en- gineered the construction of two other ditches in that country, one on Tovah Creek and another along the wagon road between Fort Stockton and Horse Shoe Bend. His western life was enlivened by numerous ad- ventures and incidents common to frontier life and in. 1877 he was wounded in a fight with the Indians. He retains vivid memories of many incidents of those early days, which, however, are not so far distant in the
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matter of years but which seem to represent a remote period, as there is no longer a trace of a frontier, for the seeds of civilization have been planted and have brought forth fruit in the commercial and industrial ac- tivities of the towns and cities which have sprung up and in the fine farms and ranches into which the once wild country has been converted.
In 1882, upon returning to San Antonio, Mr. Nelson engaged in the real estate business, but in 1883, again feeling the fascination of western life, he returned to Fort Stockton and engaged in the cattle business, re- maining on the frontier until 1885, when he once more came to San An- tonio, where he has since lived. In 1886 he engaged in surveying in Southwestern Texas for the New York & Texas Land Company, a firm that had acquired large holdings of the lands granted to the International & Great Northern Railroad. He next became connected with the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad, which was then being constructed by Uriah Lott. Mr. Nelson was the civil engineer for this company on town site surveys and among other towns which he laid out was the now prosperous little city of Yoakum, which he founded in 1886 upon a bare prairie. He was with the railroad company until 1888. In 1892 he was elected county surveyor of Bexar county, was re-elected in 1894 and again 1896-a fact which is incontrovertible evidence of the prompt- ness and fidelity with which he discharged the duties of the office. About the beginning of his fourth term, however, he resigned to accept the po- sition of assistant city engineer of San Antonio under city engineer True- heart and remained in that capacity for about two years.
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