USA > Texas > A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas, Volume II > Part 15
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In 1904 Mr. Puig was elected county commissioner of Webb county, representing Precinct No. 2, and he was re-elected in 1906. He is a good official as well as a thorough man of business, and he is thoroughly interested with all that tends toward the improvement and advancement of his city and county. His various interests are quite extensive and he has been very successful in all of his ventures.
Mr. Puig was married in Laredo, to Miss Bruna Ortiz, a sister of J. A. Ortiz and of Sheriff L. R. Ortiz, and in another portion of this work may be found appropriate mention of this family. Mr. and Mrs. Puig have four children, John, Valentine, Bruna and Joe.
EMETERIO FLORES, a stockman, who at the same time is active and influential in public affairs and is now serving as county commissioner, makes his home at Laredo. He was born in Ciudad Guerrero, Tamaul- ipas, Mexico, in 1875. His father, Juan Manuel Flores, a native of Mexico, was a resident of Texas more than a half century ago, living in Webb county, where he owned and operated a large ranch. He lived on this place with his family for many years, but in later life, because of impaired health, removed to the city of Guerrero, Mexico, where he still resides. He was born in 1836.
Emeterio Flores acquired his education in the public schools of Guerrero and in Laredo, Texas, whither he went in 1889 to attend the Laredo seminary. In 1890 he took a course in commercial education at the Capital City Business College at Austin, and in 1906 he estab- lished his residence in Laredo, where he has since made his home. Mr. Flores is a stockman of extensive interests, which are centered at his ranch at Las Albercas, in Webb county, lying south of Torrecillas and consisting of twenty-five thousand acres. This is a fine property and is the old "rancho" which was established by his father more than a half
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century ago. Mr. Flores also has valuable mining interests in Mexico, being connected with La Malinche mine, yielding gold and silver, at La Portilla, in Durango, Mexico, and also in other mines in Mexico.
Mr. Flores was married in 1894, in Laredo, to Miss Eloisa Martinez. a daughter of F. Martinez, a well known citizen. They have seven chil- dren, namely: Ernestina, Erasmo, Beatriz, E'aisa, Raul, Estela and Eulalia Mencia. Mr. Flores has a very wide acquaintance in Laredo and in the county, and his well known devotion to the general good, com- bined with his business qualifications and his public spirit, led to his selection for the office of county commissioner of Webb county in 1902. He filled the office so acceptably that in 1904 he was re-elected and again in 1906, so that he is the present incumbent. He is a man of well known devotion to any trust reposed in him, and in public office and business life is alike reliable and faithful.
FRED WERNER, who is engaged in blacksmithing and is also the owner of considerable real estate in Laredo, was born in 1854, near the city of Trier, in one of the Rhine provinces of Prussia. In early life he learned the blacksmith's trade, and in 1873, thinking to enjoy better business opportunities in the new world, he came to the United States, locating first at Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he followed blacksmith- ing until 1877. In that year he made his way to the Southwest, locating in San Antonio about two months after the first railroad had been com- pleted to the city. He there remained fourteen months and was em- ployed as a blacksmith by the United States government. In the latter part of 1879 he was sent as a Federal employe to Fort McIntosh, Laredo, to continue blacksmithing work, reaching his destination on the 2d of December, 1879. He continued to work at the post for about nine years, and by industry, thrift and economy he laid the foundation for the com- fortable fortune which is now his. He believed that there was a pros- perous future before Laredo and judiciously invested his money in real estate and houses. The first property he bought has since remained his place of business-the blacksmith shop and office on Hidalgo street. He gradually accumulated other real estate interests until now he has about eighteen or twenty houses, from which he receives a good rental, the most important of these being the Fred Werner business block, which is a two-story structure on Market Plaza and contains the Masonic hall, the store of the Laredo Drug Company and a barber shop. This is one of the most valuable and substantial pieces of business property in Laredo. Thus as the years have gone by and the city has become settled Mr. Werner has profited by his investments until he is now in possession of considerable valuable property and is accounted one of the substantial residents of the city. After he had left the government employ he estab- lished a blacksmith and horseshoeing shop of his own, which he still conducts.
In Laredo. Mr. Werner was united in marriage to Miss Mena Funk. a, daughter of Joseph Funk, a jeweler and pioneer of Laredo. They have three children, Lula May, Miriam Marguerite and Elsie Earl. Mr. Werner is well known in Masonic circles, and in his life exemplifies the beneficent spirit of the craft. He has taken the degrees of the com- mandery and has been past eminent commander among the Knights Tem-
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plars of Laredo. He was also for four years deputy grand master of the state of Texas. He is a man of the strictest principles of honor and integrity and in his life has exemplified traits of character which in every land and clime awaken confidence and good will. He has refused to accept local political offices for the reason that he often furnishes work and supplies of different kinds to the city and does not believe that a man doing this should hold a political position.
MICHAEL BRENNAN, who is now filling his ninth year as city marshal of Laredo, was born in New Orleans in 1849, his father being a native of Ireland and his mother a native of New York. The son, Michael Brennan, was reared in Texas. At Indianola for several years he ran the packet and mail steamer which plied between that point and Corpus Christi, he being during this period in the employ of the Indianola and Corpus Christi mail line, in connection with the Morgan steamship line. He was living at Indianola at the time of the great storm and tidal wave of 1875, a most memorable event, and following this he lived in Corpus Christi, where he was chief of police for several years. He came to Laredo in 1886 and this place has since been his home. The year of his coming here he was appointed as inspector of customs at Laredo, this being under the Cleveland administration, and he remained in this re- sponsible position for a period of four years. Then for several years he was in charge of the Merchant Police of Laredo. His many excellent qualifications and his eminent fitness for duties of this character, coupled with his great personal popularity, led to his nomination and election as city marshal of Laredo, this occurring in 1898, and he has been re-elected for each succeeding term ever since, still serving in this capacity. This long period of faithful service is a testimony to his ability and efficiency, and he is universally acknowledged to be the right man for the place.
His force consists altogether of about sixteen men, and the city is regarded as well policed and protected, while it is a notable fact that crimes of all kinds are kept down to the minimum. Citizens always appreciate good police service, and the well known efficiency of the Laredo department is a matter of congratulation and appreciation here in this thriving and growing city.
Mr. Brennan is a man of observing character, and his wide experi- ence in Texas has not only made him a most capable official, but also given him a wide range of general knowledge and information. He is thoroughly in touch with public affairs and also possesses a truly re- markable fund of information regarding history of men and affairs in Southwestern Texas during the past quarter of a century.
While living at Corpus Christi Mr. Brennan was married to Miss Sussanna Pendleton, and they are the parents of eleven children.
DR. JOHN T. HALSELL, who is classed as the "coming man" among the younger physicians and surgeons of Laredo, has only recently entered his thirties, but he has had an unusually extended experience in his line, this experience also being preceded by the very best kind of an education. Dr. Halsell was born at Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 1874, his parents being Judge John E. and Carrie (Porter) Halsell of Bowling Green, both being now deceased. The father. Judge John E. Halsell, was for many years a leading lawyer and prominent citizen of Bowling Green
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and was a man of fine attainments. Besides many minor offices, he also represented his district. "the bloody third." in Congress.
The son, John T. Halsell, was reared in his birthplace, Bowling Green, but at an early age he was sent to Trinity University, which was then located at Tehuacana, in Limestone county, Texas, and it was here that he received his literary and classical education under his uncle, Dr. B. F. Cockrill, who was president of Trinity University at that time. The young man's training here was a thorough one and he graduated in 1894. He then matriculated as a student in the medical department of Fort Worth University, being one of the charter members of that educational institution, the medical department being founded in. 1896. Our subject graduated here with honor as a member of the class of 1898 and almost immediately thereafter was appointed assistant surgeon in the Fourth Texas Volunteer Infantry. for service in the Spanish-American war. This regiment did not go out of the state, but upon its being mus- tered out of the service Dr. Halsell was appointed acting assistant sur- geon of the Sixth United States Infantry, with which regiment he went to the Philippine Islands and was assigned for duty in the First Reserve Hospital at Manila, remaining in this position for a period of eight months. He then went to China as acting assistant surgeon for the Sixth Cavalry, and was in service in Gen. Adna R. Chaffee's army in that country during the troubles incident to the Boxer insurrection. These troubles being ended, Surgeon Halsell was returned to the United States and ordered to Fort McIntosh, Laredo, Texas, where he was post surgeon until 1904, when he resigned from military service and estab- lished a private practice in the city of Laredo. In this he has been re- markably successful, and he is recognized as a leading man in his pro- fession in this city and vicinity. In addition to a very large private practice. he is city physician of Laredo and is the surgeon for the National Railroad of Mexico and the Texas Mexican Railroad. He is a thoroughly painstaking and hard-working medical practitioner and he is widely known throughout Southwestern Texas as an accomplished and capable physician and surgeon.
Dr. Halsell was married in Laredo to Miss Emilie Sielski, of this city, and they have two children. John T., Jr .. and Emilie.
DR. MANUEL T. LEAL. In the life and career of Dr. Leal we have a worthy example of what may be accomplished by a young man who, although at first without pecuniary backing, is determined to obtain a first-class education and fit himself for the practice of one of the higher professions. He has accomplished his desire in this direction and today he is established as one of the leading and successful physicians and surgeons of the city of Laredo. He is essentially a self-made voung man, having acquired an exhaustive and thorough general and pro- fessional education through his own unaided efforts.
He was born at Brownsville, Cameron county, Texas, and is of Spanish ancestry, although both of his parents were Mexican born. They lived in Cameron county. in the lower Rio Grande country. when the son was born. although in his childhood they moved back into Mexico, making their home at Matamoros, which is across the Rio Grande from Brownsville. Our subject received the most of his pre-
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. liminary education in Matamoros, and from here, without having any money ahead with which to pay his way, he went to the City of Mexico to secure his medical education. Here he remained a student, paying his own way, for about seven years, working hard and accomplishing much in the way of acquiring the necessary technical education. Dur- ing this seven-year period he studied continuously in the Escuela Na- cional de Medicina de Mexico, a fine institution of professional learning, endowed by the Mexican government, and its faculty containing the most distinguished men of the medical profession in that country. The system of education here is patterned after that of the French, and it is most complete and thorough. Dr. Leal graduated here with honor in 1899, and soon thereafter he came to Laredo to establish himself, he having been licensed by the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners in September of 1900. Laredo has since been his home, with the excep- tion of the short period when he was physician for the coal company operating the mines at Minera, Webb county, above Laredo.
The young physician who is without funds does not escape from the attendant embarrassing experiences when he obtains his diploma and quits college, for in the medical profession there is always a "waiting period" in the first years of his professional career when he must bide his time, to make acquaintance and get a start in practice. This was the experience of Dr. Leal, but he was patient and courageous through it all and success finally knocked loudly at his door and a good general practice came flowing in. The years since he first came to Laredo have given him a good practical experience in his profession, which, added to his unsurpassed technical education, makes him a medical man who is thoroughly capable. He now has a good-paying practice which is thoroughly satisfactory from a physician's standpoint, and each year
sees additions thereto. Besides his general practice of medicine and surgery, Dr. Leal is a specialist in ophthalmology and has built up a fine practice in diseases of the eye. That his ethical standing is also of the highest is also evidenced by the fact that he is a member of the County, State and American Medical societies.
BONIFACE J. LEYENDECKER, district clerk for the district court of Webb county, is a member of one of the oldest and most highly respected families of Laredo, they having been residents here since the earliest days. Boniface J. Leyendecker was born here in 1866, his parents being Captain John Z. and Juliana ( Benavides) Leyendecker. The father was born in Germany and came with his parents in 1845 to Texas, landing at Galveston, from whence his parents and other members of the family, except John Z., proceeded to the German colony of Fredricksburg, in Gillespie county, while the young man himself went on to the Mexican border at Matamoros. In 1847 he settled in Laredo, Texas, which was his home until his death here in 1902. In Laredo he became a man of prominence and influence and established here a large merchandising business. He was postmaster for fifteen years, being appointed one of the first postmasters after Laredo was incorporated as a city, and he was city secretary and treasurer for a period of six years. He also had a most creditable military record as a soldier in the Confederate Army during the Civil war, serving in Texas, mostly at Laredo and vicinity.
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in the position of quartermaster, with the rank of captain. This position he filled with such great efficiency that it led to his appointment after the close of the war, and when the Federal troops occupied Fort McIntosh, in Laredo, as quartermaster for the United States army at this post, and for some time he filled this important position with credit. His wife, Juliana Leyendecker, mother of the subject of this review, still lives in Laredo. She is the sister of the late Cristobal Benavides, whose bio- graphical sketch appears elsewhere in this work. The children of Captain John Z. and Juliana Leyendecker are as follows: Boniface J., the subject of this review, Peter P., Joseph, Michael, Thomas, Alfonso, Elizabeth, Lucy, Pauline (the wife of Judge J. F. Mullally ) and Magdalene. An- other daughter, Miss Mary Leyendecker, died in 1896.
The son, Boniface J. Leyendecker, was reared in Laredo and re- ceived an excellent education. He was in the railroad business for four- teen years, principally in train service on the Mexican National, and for nearly ten years he was a passenger conductor for that company in Mexico, running out from Laredo. In 1898 he was elected city alder- man to represent his ward, the Third, upon the city council. In 1902 he discontinued railroading and in the same year was elected as clerk of the district court for Webb county, which position he has, by subsequent elections, held ever since. His principal business interests are now in farming, and he and his brother-in-law, Judge Mullally, comprising the firm of Leyendecker & Mullally, own a fine farm sixteen miles up the Rio Grande from Laredo. The place consists of 2,150 acres of fertile land, of which 250 acres are under systematic irrigation and devoted exclusively to farming. The owners have gone quite extensively into sugar cane growing, having experimented with and developed on this soil the best varieties of Mexican cane, and they have made a marked success with the same. They are pioneers in this industry in the Laredo country, and it is to be naturally expected that the whole region will benefit greatly from their experiments, for it is a great money-making product and the other farmers are sure to follow the example thus set. In this way much material wealth will be added to this part of the state. It is the purpose of Leyendecker & Mullally in 1907 to establish ma- chinery and equipment for the manufacture of the cane into syrups and molasses for commercial purposes.
Mr. Leyendecker was married in Laredo to Miss Cecilia Dallmer, a native of Galveston, and they have seven children: Louis Lawrence, Pauline, Boniface J., Jr., Cecilia, John Z., Henry George and Ernest Abbott.
JOSE MARIA GARCIA. The Garcia family is an old one in Laredo and its members have always been thoroughly identified with the business interests of the city, as well as being large landowners and interested largely in the ranching and stock lines. One of these is the gentleman named above, Mr. Jose Maria Garcia, who is a native of Laredo. He has spent his entire life here and in the immediate vicinity of the city and he has taken an active part in the growth and development of the place. He received his early education here and then engaged in the mercantile line, in which he was very successful. For a period of nearly eighteen years he was one of Laredo's foremost merchants, although all the time
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possessing valuable outside interests. He disposed of his mercantile interests in 1901, since which time he has devoted his entire attention to his landed interests. He has an exceedingly fine ranch at Torrecilles, in Webb county, about forty miles from Laredo, in an easterly direction. He is the possessor of about twenty thousand acres of valuable land, thoroughly stocked and with many improvements. It is devoted to stock and grazing purposes, mainly, and is considered as one of the finest ranches in this part of the state.
Mr. Garcia has been successful in his various lines of business and he is recognized as one of Webb county's wealthiest and most influential citizens. He is a prominent member and officer in the Spanish-speaking Masonic orders of the York Rite, with which he has been connected for many years. He owns considerable city property and has a com- fortable home at No. 516 Lincoln street. Mr. Garcia was married in this city to Miss Felip Guerra, and they have five children: Hortensia, Alfreda A., Maria, Daniel and Christina. These children have all re- ceived the very best of educational facilities and advantages, and Alfreda A. is a graduate of the Jones Commercial College at St. Louis. The eldest daughter, Hortensia, is the wife of Pablo B. Juarez.
HERMANN M. SCHMIDT has been a resident of Laredo since 1880, when he was attracted to the place by its location and evident promising outlook for future growth and development. It was a mere border town at that time, without even a railroad, but Mr. Schmidt possessed sufficient foresight to believe that the future would make it one of the best cities of Southwestern Texas, a prediction which has come true in every respect.
Mr. Schmidt was born in Friedland, in the Baltic province of Meck- lenburg, in 1840, and he was reared and received his early education in his native town. Here he began learning his trade of tailoring, and from here, also, like all other German young men, he served several years in the Prussian army, being a participant in two wars being the years 1861 and 1864. After coming out of the army he finished learning his trade in some of the larger cities of Prussia, and in 1866 he left his native country, going to London, England, where he lived for several months, learning the English language and acquainting himself with the business methods and customs of the country. Then, in 1867, believing that America held forth better advantages for progress, he sailed for New York city, joining a brother who had come previously. Here he entered upon his business as a tailor and met with unqualified success therein. establishing a good business and becoming identified with the social and business affairs of the city. True to his early military training, he became interested in the state militia and for a long number of years was in the Thirty-second Regiment of New York, serving for ten years as captain in this regiment. He had received a thorough training in his native country, not in military matters alone, but also in athletics, and this training stood him in good stead in many ways. Even today he possesses the true military bearing, erect, active and healthy, and much of his success he attributes to his early drill in this line.
In 1880 Mr. Schmidt came to the southwest, locating first at Mata- moras, Mexico as cutter for Peter Bush a merchant tailor. It was his intention to engage in business there, but not being favorably impressed
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with the place, he came in February, 1881, to Laredo, Texas, which, as previously mentioned, was then of slight commercial importance, but had a bright future. For the first four years of his stay Mr. Schmidt made the headquarters of his tailoring business at New Laredo, across the Rio Grande, in Mexico, but at the end of that period he moved all of his equipment and belongings to Laredo, where he has since remained. Here he has established a fine trade, his establishment being widely known as the leading merchant tailoring headquarters of the two cities. He has been thoroughly successful, has made money and has built himself a fine residence in this city.
Mr. Schmidt was married, in New York city, to Miss Elise Schnur- bursch, and they are the parents of one son, Karl Schmidt. Mr. Schmidt is known as a representative business man and he is deeply interested in all that pertains to the city's welfare. He has numerous social and fraternal relations, including membership in the Order of Hermann's Sons and the A. O. U. W.
JOSE MARIA VELA owns and controls ranching interests in Webb county and is also county superintendent of roads. He was born in Laredo, where he still makes his home, in 1847. His parents were of old families, prominently connected with the early history of Laredo, particularly on his mother's side. She was a granddaughter of the noted Captain Tomas Sanchez, who came to the present site of Laredo in 1755 and who was instrumental in laying out the town and obtaining its charter in 1767.
Throughout his entire life Mr. Vela's principal business has been stock ranching and farming and he is one of the well-known stockmen of this part of the state. His present place, lying about four miles east of North Laredo, consists of about five hundred acres and is devoted to the raising of stock and crops. He makes a specialty of corn, cotton and garlic and raises considerable amounts of each, for which he finds a ready sale. During the '7os he was engaged in merchandising in Laredo in addition to his other business interests.
Mr. Vela has long been prominent in connection with city and county interests and has been an earnest worker in political circles. As early as 1875 he was elected a member of the city council, in which he served for several terms. He wa's also a justice of the peace for a long time as well as city assessor and tax collector, and at the present writing he is a member of the city council and also superintendent of county roads. No trust reposed in him has ever been betrayed in the slightest degree. On the contrary he has been a faithful official, loyal to the interests of the community, and his efforts in behalf of the general good have been effective and far reaching.
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