USA > Texas > A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas, Volume I > Part 57
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In 1871 the firm of Lackey & Stayton was reinforced by association with Major A. H. Phillips, of Victoria, under the firm name of Phillips, Lackey & Stayton, and immediately thereafter Mr. Stayton removed with his family to the charming town of Victoria, which from that time forward was always considered by the Staytons as their home. In 1878 the firm of Phillips, Lackey & Stayton was dissolved by the retirement of Major Phillips from the active practice of his profession and the old style of Lackey & Stayton was then used until March, 1880, when R. J. Kleberg and Robert W. Stayton, son of Judge Stayton, were added to the business partnership and the firm name of Staytons, Lackey & Kleberg was as- sumed. This firm did as large a business as any in the southwest, their practice extending from San Antonio to the gulf and Rio Grande. Judge Stavton's practice not only brought him fame but friends and prosperity -the rewards of his unremitting industry and his fine personal qualities and his broad knowledge of the law.
In 1881, greatly to his surprise, he received a telegram from the governor tendering him an appointment as associate judge of the supreme bench of Texas to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Chief Justice Moore and the promotion of Judge Gould to that position. Mr. Stavton accepted, and in 1882 the Democratic party selected him as a candidate for associate judge of the supreme court, with Hon. Asa H. Willie for
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chief justice and Hon. Charles S. West for the other associate. This strong ticket was elected by an immense majority. He served as associate justice until the death of Chief Justice Willie, when he was appointed by Governor Ross to fill the vacancy. In 1888 he was elected by the people to the chief justiceship and sat upon the bench, administering justice with an impartial mind and heart until called to appear before a higher tribunal.
As a lawyer Judge Stayton was eminently a case winner. He first satisfied himself as to the justice of his cause and then by toil and in- dustry collected his evidence to bring out the salient points on which the contest turned. Next he prepared the legal authorities so as to have them at his immediate command for the enlightenment of the court and the instruction of the jury. He was not content to study and master his own side of the case; he investigated that of his adversary with no less diligence and skill. No matter what turn the evidence might take he was prepared for the emergency and was never surprised or disconcerted.
From the first case in which he wrote the opinion of the court-that of Mccrary & Barlow versus Gaines, 55 Texas,-down to the last case,- Winston versus Masterson-through thirty-four volumes of reports his opinions showed the wealth of a clear and original mind, thoroughly im- bued with legal learning and permeated with an intense love of justice. His opinions are easily understood and easily digested. During his thirteen years on the bench he delivered more than one thousand written and reported opinions beside as many or more reports that were oral and unreported. Very few of them have ever been overruled and most of them stand out like landmarks in the jurisprudence of Texas, for the guidance of a profession in this and coming generations. No considera- tion of friendship, popularity, personal advantage nor any ulterior pur- pose could swerve him a hair's breadth from the line marked out by the plummet and his absolute sense of justice.
Robert W. Stayton, son of Judge Stayton, acquired most of his pre- liminary education in Victoria, in which city he was reared. He com- pleted his preparation for the bar by pursuing the course at the University of Virginia, at Charlotte, and was admitted to practice in Texas, at Cuero, Dewitt county, March 4, 1880. He then entered into partnership with his father as mentioned in the foregoing account and lived at Victoria, practicing law, from March, 1880, until October, 1888. He then located at Corpus Christi, where he engaged in active practice until October, 1893, when he located in San Antonio, becoming a law partner of Judge J. H. McLeary. Here he has since made his home and he is now a member of the firm of Stayton & Berry. He also maintains a law office and practices at Corpus Christi, where he is a member of the legal firm of McCampbells & Stayton. He has a large general practice, extending over southern and western Texas and in addition to making somewhat of a specialty of land litigation he has for the past sixteen years been a local attorney in San Antonio for the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway.
In 1881 occurred the marriage of Robert W. Stayton and Miss Annie Vineyard, and their family embraces the following: John W. Stayton, R. W. Stayton, Jr., George K. Stayton and Annie Louise Stayton.
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In 1892 Mr. Stayton, who has long figured prominently in political circles, was presidential elector from the eleventh congressional district of Texas. His opinion has more than once been a decisive one upon matters having direct effect upon the welfare of the state. For a number of years he has been prominently connected with the Texas State Militia, served as captain of the Corpus Christi Light Guards, and later became judge advocate with the rank of major and now holds the position as assistant adjutant general with rank of lieutenant colonel. He is also a Knight Templar Mason and a Mystic Shriner and is popular in these various organizations. Nature and culture have vied in making him an interesting and entertaining gentleman whose circle of friends in Texas is a wide one.
SIGMUND S. BURG, M. D., city physician of San Antonio, is a native of Austria and a son of Samuel and Esther F. (Friedman) Burg. The father, also a native of Austria, came to the United States in 1880, settling in San Antonio, where he engaged in business as a tailor. He died in this city in 1894 and is still survived by his wife, who was born in Austria and yet makes her home in this city.
Dr. Burg acquired a good literary education in his native country and served in the Austrian army. His medical training was received under unusually favorable auspices and advantages in the city of Vienna, which is perhaps the seat of highest learning in the medical and surgical science in the world. He was graduated in 1887 from the medical de- partment of the University of Vienna, having had during his student days the advantage of access to the clinics of the Algemeine Krankhaus and the other hospitals of that city. Dr. Burg displayed such ability and skill in his studies and investigations and received such high averages and ยท testimonials from his professors in the university that in 1887 he was appointed assistant surgeon in the Imperial Hospital Wieden of Vienna, which position he filled until 1889.
In that year Dr. Burg came to San Antonio, the home of his father, and has since been accounted one of the most distinguished and successful physicians of this city. He has made a specialty of gynecological and general surgery and practices medicine as well. He is connected with the Physicians and Surgeons Hospital of San Antonio, a comparatively new and thoroughly modern institution, of which he is a stockholder and one of the organizers. In 1903 he was appointed city physician by Mayor John P. Campbell and his satisfactory service led to his re-appoint- ment by Mayor Bryan Callaghan in June, 1905. He belongs to the County, State and American medical associations.
Dr. Burg's wife, to whom he was married in Vienna, is Antonia (Scharfmesser) Burg, who is of English birth but of German ancestry. During their residence in this city the doctor and his wife have been received into the best society circles. He has, however, little leisure for interests outside of his profession, which is constantly making greater and greater demands upon his time and energies as his superior skill and ability become recognized. His success came 'soon because his equipment was unusually good and he possesses all of the indispensable elements of the capable physician, his broad scientific knowledge being
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supplemented by a spirit of humanitarianism without which the most learned can never expect to achieve the highest measure of success.
GEORGE F. STUEMKE, who has figured prominently in official circles in San Antonio and is equally well known in business circles, was born in this city, May 6, 1859, his parents being August C. and Magdalena (Insellman) Stuemke. His father was born at Anklam, in the province of Pomerania, in northern Prussia, or "Swedish Pomerania," as it is sometimes called, being the home of one of the old and aristocratic families of that province, bordering on the Baltic sea. In 1845 he came to Texas, having as a traveling companion Herr Klappenbach, the burgo- master of Anklam, and they located in San Antonio. August C. Stuemke was then only eighteen years of age. He became one of the prominent pioneer settlers of Texas and in the course of years a successful business . man of large affairs, being at one time one of the wealthiest residents of San Antonio. In the days of his early manhood he was a noted traveler and not long after his arrival here he made an overland trip to Mazatlan in Sinaloa on the western coast of Mexico, a trip that was filled with most thrilling adventures. From Mazatlan he proceeded to California prior to the days of the discovery of gold and its attendant excitement and from California he continued on to Honolulu, afterward returning to the Golden state. He thence made a trip to Central America, visiting Honduras and continued his journey to Panama, after which he returned to San Antonio in 1848.
Pioneer Lumber Business.
August C. Stuemke established the first lumberyard in San Antonio, his place of business adjoining his home on North Flores street near Houston street within a block of where the old First Presbyterian church now stands. It was in the lumber industry that Mr. Stuemke acquired most of his fortune and for years he was the largest lumber manufacturer and dealer in the state, his principal lumber mill being located at Bastrop, the settlers for many miles around hauling logs long distances to that mill. This was one of the few sources at which the settlers had to make a living in those days. Mr. Stuemke became a large contractor in lumber before, during and after the war and in the course of years accumulated extensive business interests. Aside from his business affairs he was thoroughly associated with the pioneer life of the early days and prior to the Civil war was one of the United States Rangers under authority of the United States military forces, and a special service was organized for protection against the Indians. Subsequently he became a Texas State Ranger, being for some years a member of this noted body which did such valiant service in protecting the settlers from the Indians and desperadoes. Mr. Stuemke was also one of the original volunteer fire- men, belonging to Volunteer Fire Company No. I. In many other ways he was identified with the life and interests of San Antonio and South- western Texas and was a most valuable citizen in every respect. He died here in the year 1883.
Mrs. Magdalena Stuemke was born in Denmark and was married in San Antonio. Since the death of her first husband she has become the wife of Captain Dan Bonnett, who was formerly city marshal of San
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Antonio and sheriff of Bexar county, while more recently he served as postmaster at Del Rio, Texas, where he now makes his home. Captain Bonnett is one of the noted officers and distinguished representatives of western Texas from its pioneer days.
George F. Stuemke was reared in San Antonio, his native city, and received exceptionally valuable educational advantages. After acquiring his preliminary knowledge in the schools of San Antonio he was sent to Europe to complete his education and in his father's own home, the city of Anklam, he spent nearly six years as a university student. The city of Anklam has for a great many years been a noted seat of learning in northern Prussia, and at the college there Mr. Stuemke was associated with students from families high in official life in Germany and in the nobility. He graduated in the spring of 1876, having achieved special distinction as a linguist, and is considered a master of modern languages. In the fall of that year he returned to San Antonio and accepted a clerk- ship in a grocery store, while later he became a clerk for W. W. Gamble & Company, owners of the largest stationery house in the city at that time. He afterward went west on what was to be the most interesting period of his life. He went as a clerk for F. W. Young, a post trader at the United States military posts in western Texas. His first service in this connection was at Mr. Young's trading post at Fort Stockton, Texas, in 1878. Beginning as a clerk he finally became a post trader himself as a partner of Mr. Young and was identified with that business in western Texas altogether for ten years, or until 1889. It was while at Fort Stockton and vicinity that he had the most thrilling experiences of his life in encounters with Indians and desperate white characters of those days. He was a witness of many a scene of scalping, murder and blood- shed that seem almost incredible in this late period in the history of the state, were they not founded on actual occurrences by eye witnesses of undeniable veracity.
Mr. Stuemke returned to San Antonio in 1889 and has held some responsible positions in official life here. He was deputy county tax collector under Jose Cassiano, under the Mayor Hicks administration, in which he was elected by the city council as city assessor, and during the administration of Mayor John P. Campbell he was elected by the city council as city clerk of San Antonio, in which position he served con- tinuously for a little more than two years, in 1903 and 1904, making a splendid record as a city official.
Mr. Stuemke has important land and real estate interests in San Antonio and Bexar county. Most of his time is occupied with the supervision of his real estate interests and he maintains an office in the Kampmann building:
Mr. Stuemke was married in the city to an accomplished young woman, Mrs. Hermine Tesch-Fletcher, who was born in Wisconsin. He is a prominent member of the Elks of San Antonio and is socially highly esteemed, while in real estate and official circles his position is one of prominence.
W. CARLTON FARMER, M. D., who in the practice of his profession has made a specialty of tuberculosis and is the founder of the San Antonio Tent Colony, was born at Bloomington, Indiana, in 1866. When he was
Q. Barton Farmer M.S.
SAN ANTONIO TENT COLONY
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ten years of age he accompanied his parents on their removal to Texas and was largely reared and educated in Lamar county. He acquired a good common school education and took up the study of medicine in the Hospital Medical College at Louisville, where he was graduated with the class of 1891. He practiced for a time in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and in 1893 located at Paris, Texas, the county seat of Lamar county and an important commercial center of the northern part of the state. There he practiced successfully for twelve years, making a splendid record as a physician and a citizen and enjoying the friendship as well as the patronage of the best people of that section of the state.
In the meantime Dr. Farmer had been doing considerable post- graduate work in order to become better qualified for the onerous and responsible duties of his profession. He had been a student in the Post- Graduate School of Medicine and the Polyclinic in New York city, at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, and for six months carried on his investigations and study in the leading universities and under the most eminent specialists of Europe at London, Paris and Berlin. Most of his post-graduate work was in connection with diseases of the lungs. for he had determined to become a specialist on tuberculosis. About 1900 he began devoting his entire time to the treatment of that disease and on the Ist of January, 1906, he established in San Antonio what has already become famous as the San Antonio Tent Colony, an institution for the treatment and cure of consumption. Dr. Farmer selected this city as the seat of his sanitarium after thoroughly investigating and analyzing the merits of other localities throughout the west. He found that this city possessed by far the best advantages in climate and in other ways. It has been thoroughly demonstrated during the past few years that tuberculosis is a curable disease and scientific men have been endeavoring to find those means by which they may attain this end most quickly and most certainly. It has been found that tuberculosis requires an equable climate, pure air and wholesome food, that outdoor life is absolutely essential to checking the ravages of disease and that the best tonic is sunshine.
Tent Colony.
The San Antonio Tent Colony, for diseases of the lungs and throat. is located five miles northeast of San Antonio, on beautiful Alamo Heights, two hundred feet above this quaint old historic city, and nearly one thou- sand feet above the sea, and occupying the highest eminence of this beauti- ful suburb. There is a large administration building splendidly equipped in all particulars, in addition to which there are many sanitary tent cottages which give the superior advantages of the open air day and night. These tent cottages have curtains on three sides and the climate of San Antonio is such that the curtains are left up most of the time day and night. The tents are comfortably furnished with due regard to the patients' needs and all care possible is paid to thorough cleanliness and sanitation. The treatment room is thoroughly equipped with apparatus for the scientific treatment of all diseases of the lungs and throat, includ- ing consumption, bronchitis, catarrh, asthma, tubercular laryngitis, ton- sillitis and all other affections of the air passages. Careful study is made
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of each individual case and the necessary treatment prescribed therefor. The institution has already secured a large patronage and the work being done is of a most excellent character, for Dr. Farmer, by reason of his wide study and investigation and his ready adaptability, is well qualified for the work that he has undertaken, being regarded by the public and the profession as one of the best known authorities on tubercu- lar diseases in the southwest.
Dr. Farmer was married at Paris, Texas, to Miss Anna L. Watts, and he has a little daughter, Katharine.
FRANK R. NEWTON, filling the position of county clerk of Bexar county, resides in San Antonio, his native city. His parents were Captain Frank McCarty and Clorinda (Sibert) Newton. The father, Captain Newton, who died at his home at No. 632 North Flores street, April I, 1902, was one of San Antonio's oldest and most prominent residents. He was born March II, 1827, at Dwight Mission, in Osage, Indian nation, which now forms the southwest part of the state of Missouri. His father was the Rev. Samuel Newton, of New Haven, Connecticut, and his mother in her maidenhood was Mary McCarty, of Dover, New Jersey. He was also closely connected with the Trowbridge and Dana families of New York and the Richard and Hogelan families of New Jersey. Rev. Samuel Newton was a college-bred man, a minister of ability and culture, and he gave to his son, Frank McCarty Newton, liberal educa- tional privileges. In early pioneer days Rev. Newton came to the west as a missionary to the Osage Indians, and thus it was that his son, Captain Newton, was born in the old Osage nation. Before reaching the age of thirteen the latter had sufficiently mastered the Cherokee Indian language to assist in translating tracts and selections from the Bible and printing them in the Cherokee tongue on a small old-fashioned printing press that his father had brought from the east, with consider- able difficulty and expense, the Cherokee being the only language among the American Indians that has printer characters.
In 1840 the Newton family removed to Cane Hill, Washington county, Arkansas, where Frank M. Newton attended school in a little, old-fashioned log schoolhouse on the edge of the prairie. Early in 1847 he took charge of a wagon train, carrying apples from Arkansas to Texas. Coming toward San Antonio, at the Austin road crossing, he met F. Guilbeau, a prominent merchant of San Antonio, who bought Mr. Newton's apples at a dollar a dozen, delivered in San Antonio, and on this mission he made his way to the place which was to be his future home, for after arriving here he decided that he wished to remain permanently. Accordingly he returned to Arkansas, and induced the others of the family to accompany him to San Antonio, which they did, making the trip in wagons and arriving on the 20th of November, 1848. They finally secured an old adobe dwelling back of where Joske's store now stands on Commerce street.
In 1849 Rev. Samuel Newton and his son Frank joined a party of New Yorkers and went to the California gold-fields, where the father and son turned their attention to the lumber business. They were not pleased with the new location, however, and soon returned to San Antonio by way of the Isthmus of Panama and New Orleans. Soon afterward
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they built a woolen mill on Salado creek but the building was partially washed away before the factory was put in operation. The remaining part, however, was used as a mill for many years thereafter.
Frank McCarty Newton was married at Port Lavaca, Texas, April 29, 1860, to Miss Clorinda Sibert, of Shenandoah county, Virginia, who still survives him. Returning to San Antonio he and his wife began housekeeping in a cottage at the corner of Salinas and Flores streets. A short time later, however, he purchased the homestead at 632 North Flores street, which remained his place of residence until his death. At the outbreak of the Civil war he was commissioned a captain in the com- missary department of the Confederate army, department of Texas, with headquarters at San Antonio in the well known building that is now Mahncke Hotel, at the corner of Houston and St. Mary streets. In 1863 his headquarters were changed to Hempstead, Texas, near the Brazos, in order that he might be in closer touch with the forces, and he re- mained in charge of the commissary department there until the close of the war.
After the war Captain Newton opened a large grocery store in San Antonio in partnership with Thomas Johnson and later, when Mr. John- son retired, the firm of Frank Newton & Brother opened a business at the corner of Soledad and Veramendi streets opposite the old post- office, where he remained in business for several years. In 1877 he was appointed county tax collector to fill a vacancy, and was elected by popular suffrage to that office in 1878, and again in 1880. Following this he re-entered business life for a time but afterward again entered political office as public weigher, which position he filled under the administration of Mayors Paschal, Elmendorf and Callaghan. In 1898 he was elected county clerk of Bexar county, was re-elected in 1900, and died while in that office.
Captain Newton was a charter member of the First Presbyterian church at San Antonio, of which he served as elder from 1866 until his death. He was also a member and Master Mason in 1851, took all the degrees up to and including that of Knight Templar, and was prelate of the San Antonio commandery for twenty years. A gentleman of the most exemplary character, he was honest and upright in all his dealings with his fellow men, kind and charitable, never turning a deaf ear to the supplications of the poor. On the contrary he was ever prompt to help in any benevolent cause and was a man of most generous spirit. Beside his widow there are ten children surviving, namely: Mrs. T. O. Murphy, Mrs. A. M. Patterson, Mrs. W. S. Whitworth, Mrs. L. F. Price, Mrs. C. H. Jackson, Mrs. Bessie Springall, H. Lee Newton, Frank R., Joe S. and Charles M. Newton.
Frank R. Newton, reared in his native state, began his education at the usual age and passed through successive grades until he had com- pleted the high school course. He learned the printer's trade in San Antonio, and the money earned in following that trade enabled him to pursue a law course in the University of Texas, from which he was graduated with the class of 1897. He then engaged in the practice of law in San Antonio, and on the Ist of April, 1902, he was appointed county clerk to succeed his father, who died on that date. He filled the
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office so acceptably to the people and made such a good record that he decided to become a candidate for the office of county clerk at the regular November election of 1902, and was elected. He was re-elected in 1904, again became a candidate in June, 1906, and was re-elected in November, 1906. He has made a very popular and efficient officer, his record re- flecting credit upon a family name which has long been an honored one in San Antonio.
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