USA > Texas > A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas, Volume I > Part 61
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In San Antonio was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Huth and Miss Theresa O'Farrell, of this city. They have two children, James Leo and Mary Theresa Huth. Mr. Huth is yet a young man but has already figured prominently in public life in the city and it is probable that the future holds in store for him still higher offices.
THOMAS E. GEORGE, a representative business man and real estate operator at San Antonio, was born in Limestone county, Texas, and is a son of E. B. and Susan Amelia (Sorrelle) George. The father, a native of Pennsylvania, became one of the early settlers of Texas and located in Limestone county, where he followed the profession of the law. He was killed in an accident two weeks before the birth of Thomas E. George, who is essentially a self-made man, having been thrown upon his own resources at a very early age, while upon him also devolved the duty of caring for his widowed mother. In all of his life he never received more than three or four months' training in school. His mother, how- ever, was a well educated woman and under her guidance he managed to acquire a fair education, not only in those things which are taught in the schools but also in the development of habits and principles which lead to honorable manhood. When a young boy he went to work in a lumber mill at Orange, Texas, which is the noted lumber region of the state, and in that vicinity remained for several years, giving the greater part of his time and attention to the lumber trade and kindred industries. In 1885 he removed to Lake Charles, Louisiana, where he lived for ten
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years and there laid the foundation of his fortune, for he was highly successful in his business enterprises there. It seemed that whatever he undertook prospered and he became president of the Lake Charles Car- riage & Implement Company, senior partner in the firm of George & Swift, conducting a livery, transfer and undertaking business, and inter- ested in other important enterprises of that flourishing city. His sound judgment and keen discrimination coupled with unfaltering purpose and industry enabled him to carry forward to successful completion whatever he undertook. He likewise became prominent in public life at Lake Charles and his fitness for leadership was recognized in his election to office. He served for six years as a member of the city council and at the time he left there to come to San Antonio he had entered upon another four years' term as city alderman.
Mr. George located permanently in San Antonio in 1897. He was one of the organizers of the Woods National Bank, which is mentioned elsewhere in this volume. The institution was established on a safe, con- servative basis and such a policy has always been maintained, so that it has become one of the strong financial concerns of the city. Mr. George is likewise interested in the Zizik Undertaking Company, being its presi- dent, and is interested financially in other business affairs. His largest ยท investments perhaps are in lands in Southwestern Texas and he has become one of the most extensive owners and operators in real estate in this portion of the Southwest. He organized and is one of the principal stockholders of the LaSalle County Irrigation Company, which purchased over seventy thousand acres of land in LaSalle County and divided it up into small tracts which are being sold for farming purposes. In fact the larger portion of this land has already been disposed of and has brought good prices.
Mr. George has been married twice. In Orange, Texas, he wedded Miss Mollie E. Price, who was born in Jasper county, this state. . To this marriage there were born three children, Edgar Bruce, Ruby and Edna. The wife and mother died at Bandera. Texas. in 1898, and on the 5th of July, 1905, Mr. George was married in San Antonio to Miss Elvena Degen, a daughter of Charles P. Degen, one of the oldest settlers of San Antonio, where he is yet living and where for a long number of years he has been engaged in business.
Without extraordinary family or pecuniary advantages at the com- mencement of life and in fact denied many of those educational and other equipments which are often regarded as essential to success, Mr. George has battled earnestly and energetically and by indomitable courage and integrity has achieved both character and success. By sheer force of will and untiring effort he has worked his way upward and stands today as a prominent figure among the representative men of the Southwest.
OTTO KOEHLER, the president and leading stockholder of the San Antonio Brewing Association, at San Antonio, is a representative of the substantial class of citizens that Germany has furnished to this portion of the state. A native of Hanover, he was there reared and received a good education and also thorough business and military training. He came to the United States in 1873, settling in St. Louis, whence he went to Arkansas and in that state represented large business interests in con-
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nection with prominent parties. In 1883 he came to San Antonio as the first manager of the Lone Star Brewery, then being built in this city. Subsequently he sold his interests in that enterprise and bought another brewery, which was later converted into the San Antonio Brewing Asso- ciation. He became its principal stockholder and president while Otto Wahrmund was chosen vice-president. This brewery for a long number of years was known and is still known as the City Brewery, although it has been rebuilt and enlarged far beyond its original conception. It is the most extensive brewery in the south and has a reputation throughout this part of the country. The plant is well equipped in every particular, being supplied with the latest improved machinery, and the output finds a ready sale on the market. All this is largely due to the enterprise and business discernment of Mr. Koehler, who enjoys the distinction of being the father of the brewing industry in San Antonio and in Texas, as his enterprise has resulted in making this city the brewing center of the state. He established the first commercial brewery in San Antonio.
In numerous other ways as a business man and capitalist Mr. Koehler has continually shown enterprise and public spirit in this city, often finan- cing enterprises that were not profitable to him personally, but were of value in advertising the city. He organized the Hot Sulphur Wells Com- pany, building a fine hotel and was the principal owner, and made it the famous health resort of the Hot Sulphur Wells adjoining the city on the south. This has been an element in attracting tourists to San Antonio and at the same time has been an important factor for medicinal uses. Mr. Koehler is president or director of about fifteen different corporations, in which connection he is a man of marked enterprise and keen discern- ment, seldom if ever making a mistake in matters of business judgment. in placing investments or controlling trade. He is successfully interested in the mines in Mexico, being the largest stockholder of the famous Jimulco mine, is president of the National Rubber Company, owning and operating a rubber factory at Torreon, Mexico, and president of Panuca Mountain Railroad, a fifty-mile road connecting their business interests with the famous Continental Mining Company, of which he is also presi- dent.
Mr. Koehler was married in Missouri to Miss Emma Bentzen, daughter of one of the most respected and oldest families of America. They reside in a most attractive and beautiful residence on Laurel Heights in San Antonio. It is a magnificent structure both in its architectural designs and in its interior finishings and furnishings, being supplied with all that wealth can secure and refined taste suggest. It is indeed the most costly private residence in the city and is the scene of many a de- lightful social function. Mr. Koehler is a valuable citizen, owing to his activity in advancing business which is of direct benefit in promoting the material welfare of San Antonio, and also by reason of the co-operation which he gives to many movements for the public good.
FRED H. LANCASTER, deputy United States marshal for the San Antonio district of Texas, was born at Mountain View, in Stone county, Arkansas, March 30, 1862, his parents being Fred S. and Lizzie (Pryor) Lancaster. The father was a native of Smith county, Tennessee, and became one of the pioneer settlers of Stone county in northern Arkansas,
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where he located when the Indians were still living in that locality, which was originally a part of the reservation of the Osage Indian nation. He was of English descent and a member of one of the families that composed the house of Lancaster. He was well fitted to cope with pioneer life and aided in planting the seeds of civilization in a frontier district, while as the years passed by he co-operated in many measures bringing about later day improvement and progress. He died in 1874, while his widow, a native of Alabama, is still living at the old home in Stone county.
Fred H. Lancaster remained under the parental roof of his native county until he reached the age of eighteen years, when he left home. In 1881 he located at Colorado City, Mitchell county, Texas, which was then a typical frontier district not yet free from the intermittent raids of the "bad man." Before becoming an officer he had considerable experi- ence in the cattle business, working for some time on the range for the Champion Cattle Company, one of the big companies, handling about sixty thousand head of cattle at that time. Not long after he took up his abode in Mitchell county, however, he was appointed deputy under Sheriff Dick Ware, one of the best known officers of the southwest, who is remem- bered as the sheriff that killed the desperado Sam Bass. While connected with the sheriff's office in Mitchell 'county Mr. Lancaster had a varied experience in the capture of men who were handy with the gun, there being several noted murder cases in Mitchell county and west Texas during the early 'Sos, so that it devolved upon him and his associates to apprehend the criminals.
In March, 1893, soon after the inauguration of Grover Cleveland as president of the United States, Sheriff Ware was appointed United States marshal for the western district of Texas with headquarters at San Antonio, the state at that time being divided into only two federal dis- tricts, the western district embracing a great scope of country covering southern and western Texas, including all of the Mexico border, in which vicinity nearly all of the crimes were committed in the early days, the Rio Grande country being a rendezvous for cattle thieves, desperadoes and bad Mexicans. Mr. Ware brought Mr. Lancaster with him to San An- tonio to act as deputy United States marshal and he has acted in that position almost continuously since, continuing in the office under Mr. Ware's successor, George L. Seibricht, and now under United States Marshal Nolte, who came into the office in the spring of 1906.
Mr. Lancaster has a splendid reputation as a brave and fearless officer and has made many notable arrests of criminals and other law- breakers, the full account of which would fill a volume of border history that is replete with reminiscences and thrilling adventure. He was in- strumental in bringing to justice a famous counterfeiting gang that operated in Southwestern Texas in 1896. He also made the arrest of the well remembered defaulting postmaster, J. B. Bullard, of Alabama. His entire record is one long account of deeds of courage displayed in discharge of his official duties. One of his most noted feats was in
Garza Revolution.
connection with the arrests which he and his associates made of a great number of Mexicans, who were involved in the Garza revolution in the
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carly 'gos. The revolutionist, Catarino Garza, organized mostly on Amer- ican soil in the vicinity of Brownsville and other points along the Rio Grande, an insurrection against the Mexico republic. These insurrection- ists crossed over into Mexico and had several fights with the Mexican army, notably the battle of San Ygnacio on the Rio Grande near the . Texas town of Carrizo. On being repulsed a great many of the revolu- tionary Mexicans made their escape back to Texas soil, where on request of the Mexican government they were arrested for violating the neutrality laws. These operations assumed international importance. It was in con- nection with the capture of some of those men that Mr. Lancaster has done much of his best work as a deputy marshal. Two of the most desperate of these revolutionists, Inez Rinz and Jean Duque, who were also noted border bandits of the most dangerous character, were captured through a plan of Mr. Lancaster's in conjunction with the Texas state rangers. Mr. Lancaster made the capture and arrest of George Dunn, the last of the counterfeiting gang, after a bloody fight in Southwest Texas. On this occasion Dunn was armed with a shotgun and was taken at great risk of his capturers.
Maximo Martinez, another notorious man of the Garza revolution- ists was captured by Mr. Lancaster and turned over to the Mexican authorities. In February, 1895, he also captured and arrested Robert Charlson, the defaulting United States commissioner of Alabama. This noted capture was made by him at Monterey, Mexico. There was a $500 reward on Charlson. He also succeeded in capturing James Murphy, the escaped convict from the Leavenworth (Kansas) penitentiary. An- other fierce outlaw, Albert Smith, from Indian Territory, after a bloody fight, was captured by Mr. Lancaster and the state rangers near Cotulla in LaSalle county. Many other sensational captures in the long history of crime on the Texas border stands to the credit of Fred H. Lancaster.
FRANKLIN OSCAR DEHYMEL. The name of F. O. DeHymel is a familiar one not only in Texas but throughout many of the southern states, for he is the inventor of the DeHymel water lift, a machine which is used for pumping water for irrigation, for drainage, and in fact is used for many purposes where water is supplied. Mr. DeHymel was born in LaFourche parish, Louisiana, in 1858, and as the name indicates, he comes of French ancestry. His parents were Leo and Rose (Dupre Boudreaux) DeHymel, the former a native of Louisiana, and of a French family. He was for many years a prominent and successful merchant of Thibodeaux, and was likewise mayor of that city prior to and during the Civil war. On the maternal side Mr. DeHymel comes of a famous French-Creole family, his ancestors having been shipbuilders in France before emigrating to America. They located in Louisiana, the year of their arrival in the latter state being about 1768. They came to this country from Saint Malo, France, and settled on a grant of land in the southern part of Louisiana, this tract having come into possession of the Boudreaux family through the land colonization scheme and thus their home was here founded. The maternal grandfather of our subject removed with his family in 1816, to Kaskaskia, Illinois, and the name was closely associated with the early history of the early French settle- ment of that portion of the Mississippi valley. His home at Kaskaskia
Fig. Destyrel
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HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS
was a two-story log structure. One daughter of the family, Susanne Boudreaux was a noted educator in the Catholic church, was Mother Superior General of all the convents of the Sacred Heart in the west at an early day, and her death occurred in New Zealand, where she was engaged in educational and missionary work and where she went to found a convent. Father Florentine Boudreaux, a cousin of Mrs. Rose De- Hymel, was in his day one of the most noted chemists in the United States and a distinguished man of letters, while during his later years he was president of St. Louis University, the principal Jesuit college of the west. A cousin of Mr. F. O. DeHymel, Henry Trorlicht, is well known throughout the south and west as a prominent wholesale merchant of St. Louis. In various ways the Boudreaux family was closely connected with the founding and development of the Catholic church in early days in the Mississippi valley, and were also pioneers in the commercial development of this part of the country. The Boudreaux family made frequent trips from Kaskaskia to their old home in Louisiana and it was during their temporary residence in the latter state that the mother of Mr. DeHymel was born, her natal year being 1819, and her birthplace on the Terre Bonne in that state. She was a lady of fine education and rare attain- ments, and her death occurred in San Antonio, in 1905, when she was in her eighty-sixth year.
In the early '50s the father of our subject made a permanent location in LaFourche parish, Louisiana. removing there from Thibodeaux parish, and it was there that our subject was born. He has one sister, Zella. now the wife of Hamilton Bee, Jr., the son of General Hamilton Bee, deceased, who was one of the most noted characters in the history of Texas and the Confederacy. Mr. DeHvmel was reared in his native state, where his early education was received. He later pursued a course in the Uni- versity of Louisiana, which was located at Alexandria, but the building was destroyed by fire and the university was then located at Baton Rouge, in which city Mr. DeHymel studied civil engineering. Soon afterward he came to Texas and was engaged in surveying land on the frontier. At that time there was a great demand for competent teachers on the frontier and Mr. DeHymel engaged in teaching for a time, principally in Brazos, Bosque, Robinson and Bexar counties. Later he located in San Antonio, continuing his profession as a civil engineer, devoting especial study and investigation to hydraulic engineering. He foresaw the need of irriga- tion in the south and therefore turned his attention in this direction. After careful study and investigation he devised and patented the machine known as the DeHymel water lift, which is used for pumping water for irrigation, drainage, deep mines, for pumping water from stock wells and for all purposes where water is supplied. One of the principal features of this machine is that it economizes in fuel, is simply operated and is of durable construction. It has a great advantage over many other pumping machines in view of the fact that it will revolutionize the irrigation indus- try, which is so much needed in the dry sections of country throughout the south and west. The power, capacity, durability, simplicity and par- ticularly the percentage in the decrease of running expenses of the DeHymel water lift recommend it as a most practical, effective and economical machine used for irrigating purposes. For the manufacture
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and exploiting of this machine Mr. DeHymel organized and is a member of the DeHymel Water Lift Company, of which J. J. Donaldson, of Havana, Illinois, is president. Mr. DeHymel has also invented a sub- marine boat, and may well be classed among the successful inventors of modern times.
Mr. DeHymel is an enterprising and energetic citizen, and he stands as one of the leading representatives of industrial interests in San Antonio. His success is richly merited, having come to him through keen foresight, capable business management, unfaltering industry and close application. He is prominent in both business and social circles, being widely and favorably known throughout the southwest as well as in San Antonio.
Mr. DeHymel is related by marriage to one of the prominent Spanish families of San Antonio, his wife being, before her marriage, Katharine de la Garza DeWitt, a granddaughter of Don Jose Antonio Garza, who was one of the original Canary Islanders who began the original settle- ment of San Antonio.
JOHN R. BLOCKER, of San Antonio, is another representative of the cattle interests of Texas. This industry has since the days of early Spanish occupation been a chief industry of the state and in this line of activity many men have attained wealth or a competence. Successfully conducting his interests along this line is Mr. Blocker, who for more than a half century has resided in the Loffe Star state. He was born in the Edgefield district of South Carolina, in 1851, and the following year - was brought to Texas by his parents, A. P. and Cornelia (Murphy) Blocker. The father was born in South Carolina and with his family came to Texas in 1852, locating in Austin. He was engaged in the cattle business in the pioneer days and followed that occupation during the greater part of his life. He died in 1890, while his wife, a native of Alabama, passed away at the Blocker home in Texas in 1900.
John R. Blocker was reared to the industry of cattle raising and has gone through the usual experiences of the frontier. He has been in business constantly since his early boyhood, being an old-timer on the open range and on all the old trails from Texas up through the Indian Nation, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana, and in his time has handled most extensive herds of stock. He was reared at Austin, which city remained the home of the Blocker family for many years. In Febru- ary, 1887, he established his home in San Antonio, where he has since resided, although his life has been spent mostly out in the open. At the present writing he owns three ranches in Texas, one in Maverick county near Eagle Pass, another in Webb and LaSalle counties near Encinal, and another in Webb county near Laredo. He is also interested quite heavily in an extensive cattle ranch proposition in the republic of Mexico. He has been on the frontier all his life and is thoroughly familiar with the experiences which this means. He has watched the growth of the county as the years have passed by and rejoices in what has been accomplished as Texas has emerged from frontier conditions and taken on all of the evidences of an advanced and modern civilization.
Mr. Blocker was married at Austin to Miss Anna Lane, a daughter
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of Dr. R. N. Lane of that city, and they have four children: W. B., Richard Lane, Laura and Susie Blocker.
GEORGE W. MALTSBERGER has had an unusually interesting and adventurous life as a Texas pioneer, Indian fighter, soldier and stockman, and the stories he relates of combats with the adverse elements that sur- rounded the frontiersman of these early days give to the present genera- tion a true picture of Texas before, during and a few years succeeding the Civil war. He was born in Greene county, Tennessee, in March, 1830, a son of Michael and Nancy (Newman) Maltsberger, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Tennessee. When but five years of age the father was brought by his parents to America, the family first settling in Pennsylvania, but later removed to Greene county, Tennessee, where they were numbered among the earliest pioneers. Mr. Malts- berger's death, however, occurred in Texas, where he had come to join his son some years after the latter's arrival in this state in 1855.
George W. Maltsberger was reared on a farm and early in life engaged in that occupation for himself. In 1855 he came to Denton county, Texas, where he established a home of his own and embarked in the farming and stock business. A short time previous to the Civil war he was one of the first to take a herd of cattle through the Indian nation to Kansas, his herd consisting of seven hundred and twenty beeves, for which he paid twelve dollars a head, and they were sold in Kansas for thirty dollars each. In fact he was almost universally successful in his live-stock operations, continuing to take herds over the trail even after the close of the war. Although a young man, his live stock and landed interests in Denton county had made him a comfortable fortune by that time, but the ravages of the war left him practically penniless.
One of the most interesting and thrilling periods of Mr. Malts- berger's life was as a Confederate soldier and Indian fighter in northern Texas during the Civil war. He first enlisted in Pyron's Regiment, coming to San Antonio for that purpose, but later returned to Denton county and joined Bowlin's regiment for service against the Indians on the Texas frontier. Thus he was engaged during the greater part of the struggle in Cook, Montague, Clay, Jack and surrounding counties, the part of the state that suffered the most distressing and murderous results of the Indian warfare. Before the war ended Mr. Maltsberger was one of the men under command of Captain Throckmorton who went up the Red river near the Kansas line and treated with sixteen different tribes and bands of Indians and recovered twelve white children. Before the war commenced, however, Mr. Maltsberger had had some experience with the Indians, particularly in Jack county, and at the time he joined Bowlin's regiment he was particularly well equipped for this service, prov- ing by his skill and bravery to be one of the best Indian fighters in the Con- federate army in Texas. On one occasion that is well remembered by those who took part in it he assumed command of a squad in a charge against the redskins in place of the lieutenant of the company, as the latter declined to lead the charge, fearing slaughter. The murder and mutilation of bodies of white people by the Indians were most revolting during this time. On different occasions while alone out hunting for deer and other game he had narrow escapes from the savages, and but
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