USA > Texas > A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas, Volume II > Part 26
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The Adams farms conducted under the name of W. B. Adams & Company and constituting twenty-five hundred acres of rich farming lands, lying a short distance north of Devine, have been of the greatest benefit in developing the material resources and demonstrating the possi- bilities of the country in this portion of the state. When Mr. Adams first located in Devine the few farmers who were in this district at the time were as a rule poor and making hardly any progress in the way of bettering their own financial conditions. Their efforts were confined to the raising of corn and cotton and the methods of farming were not
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productive of the best results attainable. A glance at the situation here now reveals almost pleasing prospect of highly cultivated fields with diversified crops, while the owners of the farms are contented and pros- perous and making more money every year. This is the result of Mr. Adams' successful efforts among his farms to demonstrate the possibilities of the diversified crops in this section. It has been his constant aim to build up and assist the growth of the surrounding country and the de- velopment and advancement of his own business has been followed by corresponding growth of the agricultural prosperity of this portion of the state. In fact all his interests are so closely interwoven with the interests of the surrounding community that they are practically one and the same.
In the settlement of the surrounding country it was Mr. Adams' aim to have the citizenship compose only men of character, stability and ambition, men who are desirous of forging ahead in the world and whose methods of advancement are commendable. His efforts in this direction have resulted in making the Devine country as nearly ideal as possible from the standpoint of a citizenship composed of straightforward, happy and prosperous people. Mr. Adams was an unusually exact judge of human character and it is said that he never made a mistake in "sizing up" a man. During the years he was in business here, conducting trans- actions amounting at times to hundreds of thousands of dollars, he lost less than one thousand dollars from bad accounts. With him the personal equation amounted to more in a business deal than mere collateral. He was peculiarly successful in surrounding himself with employes and assistants that were of the best type and who invariably proved their worth in a business transaction.
The Adams firm deals heavily in ranch lands which are subdivided into farms of practically one hundred and sixty acres though some are greater and some less in extent, thus giving the honest, well meaning purchaser an opportunity to secure a home and also extend their help and encouragement for him to get ahead and succeed. The firm also does an extensive business in live stock, dealing in horses, mules, cattle and hogs. The Adams mercantile, banking, farm and stock industries employ over one hundred people. In 1905 the Adams firm received nearly fifty thousand dollars from their crops. The firm has bought and cleared off more land than any other firm in Texas and the development of the surrounding country has been such that now, during an ordinary season, an average of one hundred bales of cotton per day (during the harvest season) are received at the local gins, which bring about fifty dollars per bale, giving an idea of the wealth of the community. All this is in addition to numerous other crops and to the stock interests. When the boll-weevil threatened the destruction of the cotton industry, Mr. Adams bought in hogs and dairy cattle and introduced speckled peas for a feeding crop. In this and numerous other ways he has been a most valued factor in building up the community and developing its natural resources. He has always worked in hearty co-operation with the International & Great Northern Railroad in developing this portion of the state.
Mr. Adams was an active participant in worthy local enterprises,
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HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS
particularly in behalf of the public schools, for the support of which he made generous contributions. He was treasurer of the present school board, which built the beautiful high school building at Devine, and no movement for the benefit of the city failed to receive his endorsement and co-operation.
Mr. Adams was married twice. His first wife, who died in 1893, was Miss May Crawford, of Texarkana, Texas, and they had two chil- dren, Walter F. and Fannie. Mr. Adams later married Miss Lizzie Cook, and they have one son, Temple Adams. Mr. Adams belonged to the Masonic and some other fraternal orders but his time and energies were concentrated upon the management of his business affairs, which indicate his splendid executive force, his keen discrimination and his wise and wide insight into business possibilities, and intricate business problems. His name is synonymous with the growth and development of his por- tion of the state and at all times he was the leading spirit here. At his death he was mourned and missed not only by his immediate family, but by hundreds of citizens who had learned to love and respect him for his generosity and love of his family, friends and his country. He was ever ready to help the needy. He was a kind and loving husband, father and friend, and his memory will long survive him in Devine where he was best known.
· J. M. BRIGHT, a veteran of the Confederate army, and a pioneer settler of Medina county, Texas, was born in Wilson county, Tennessee, July 1, 1830. He is a son of Harvey and Betsey Bright, of North Caro- lina, in which state they were married; he being of English descent, and the only one of the name known to our subject. The elder Mr. Bright moved from North Carolina to Tennessee, after his marriage, and settled on a farm, and here his children were born and reared, and he resided until his death. He was a consistent and worthy member of the Primitive Baptist church and was well known and highly respected in his com- munity. In politics he was a Democrat, but was never an aspirant for office or notoriety. His wife survived him for a number of years and devoted herself to her children, raising them at the old homestead, where she died at a ripe old age. She, in common with her husband, held membership in the Primitive Baptist church. Their children numbered three: J. M .: Joseph, who was killed at Richmond, Virginia while serv- ing in the Confederate army; and Benjamin, who served through the war, in the southern army, and received wounds in the fight at Murfreesboro which rendered him a cripple for life.
Mr. J. M. Bright remained with his widowed mother, in Tennessee, until past eighteen years of age; going, however, in 1849 to Oregon, and the following year to California, where he was employed, for a time in the mines, and later engaged in trading. This line he followed until the earlv part of 1854, when he joined a party of engineers engaged on a preliminary survey for the Southern Pacific Railway, continuing this sur- vey until they met the eastern party of engineers at the Rio Grande River, when both parties dissolved. From this point, his health having become broken from continued chills and fever, Mr. Bright went to San Antonio with the hope of recuperating, in which search for health he was rewarded by finding that the climate seemed adapted to his needs.
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At San Antonio he opened a mechanics' boarding house, which he ran successfully for one year. His next venture was stock raising and farming, which he followed until March, 1862, when he enlisted in Com- pany C, Thirty-second Texas Cavalry, in the Confederate service, going immediately into camp at San Antonio. He met with an accident Decem- ber 24, 1857, which resulted later in disability, and he was honorably dis- charged on that account. Recovering, however, he re-enlisted in the early part of 1864, and was assigned to the commissary department, with which he served until the close of the war.
At the conclusion of the war, Mr. Bright resumed his farming and stock raising, devoting most of his time to the latter branch, and having fine herds of horses. Later he moved to Chicon Creek, two miles from the site of the present town of Devine. The range was then free, and the feed good, so that his stock flourished and his herds increased, but in 1867-8 hostile Indians began a series of raids, which materially diminished his herds and those of his neighbors. These Indians were an almost constant source of annoyance for some time, and Mr. Bright relates that they had many fights with them, during which the Indians carried off a number of white scalps to show to their tribe as evidence of their prowess; and that in one fight, which occurred a few miles east of where Devine now stands, the white party were very nearly am- buscaded, but fortunately managed to surround the red-skins and killed all but one of them.
In 1875 Mr. Bright bought out a squatter, who had made some small improvements on his property, and later pre-empted the tract, which consisted of 160 acres, as a homestead, and began making permanent improvements. A portion of this tract he still owns, and here he con- tinued his stock raising until 1896, when he sold out the business. In
Town of Devine.
1881 the I. & G. N. Railway built through a portion of Mr. Bright's ranch, and the company started the town of Devine. In 1885 Mr. Bright plotted Bright's First Addition to Devine, and in January, 1907. he has plotted Bright's Second Addition. He has been very successful in the sale of lots and improved property in that location, retaining, however, much that is a source of good income, in the way of rentable property. His lots are meeting with a ready sale, the town being a growing one, and the surrounding country settled by thrifty farmers. In 1895 he retired from active farm work and has since given his time to his prop- erty interests.
The town of Devine has, apparently, a fine outlook for the future, numbering, already, 2,000 inhabitants, and possessing a fine graded school ; five churches, including Baptist, Methodist Episcopal, Christian, Catholic, and Mexican Methodist ; one national bank, and one state bank; three large cotton gins. It has everything that goes to make up a thriving town with future possibilities, and the outlying district is a fine agricultural section, and raises a variety of fruits in profusion. Mr. Bright states that when he first came to this section there were but few settlers, and that the majority of them were raising stock, without attempting to raise anything but corn, not knowing anything else would mature here. Those who planted grain, however, and gave it proper attention, were amply
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repaid, and it has been demonstrated that corn raising can be made a success here, as all crops can be raised without irrigation.
Mr. Bright has seen the development of this section from its primi- tive state, and, pardonably, looks with pride upon the present evidences of prosperity, for this state of affairs was made possible only through the hardships and deprivations that the pioneer settler underwent in building the foundations on which this present prosperous town was erected.
Mr. Bright's wife was a Miss Sarah A. Lackey, a lady of culture and refinement, and a daughter of John Lackey of Tennessee, who in an early day moved to Texas and settled near San Antonio where he engaged in the stock business, following that successfully until 1849 when his death occurred as a result of cholera which was then prevalent in that section. Mrs. Bright was a worthy helpmeet and devoted her life to her home and community. She died March 15, 1904. She was an honored mem- ber of the Christian church.
JAMES R. EVANS, M. D., engaged in the practice of medicine and also in the conduct of a drug store at Devine, Medina county, was born in Tazewell, Claiborne county, Tennessee, in 1845, his parents being Walter R. and Judith (George) Evans. The father was also a native of Tazewell, born January 13, 1800, and the paternal grandfather, Walter Evans, was the first clerk of Claiborne county. The family is of Welsh and Irish lineage, and representatives of the name have been associated with the history of Claiborne county and East Tennessee since the days of pioneer settlement in that section of the country. Judge Walter R. Evans, the father of our subject, was in his day the most famous lawyer of Claiborne and surrounding counties, leaving the im- press of his individuality indelibly stamped upon the history of juris- prudence there. He died in Tazewell, July 5, 1871, and a remarkable tribute to his character and ability was bestowed, when, on the 30th of May, 1899, twenty-eight years after his death, a monument was dedi- cated to his memory by the bar association and representative citizens of the county in which he had lived and labored. He was admitted to the bar January 31. 1830, and practiced law in the courts of Claiborne, Campbell, Union, Granger and Hanover counties for more than forty years. During this period, one of the most momentous in the history of the state and nation, he was connected with almost every important case that came up for trial within the territory named. He maintained the "old fashioned" standard of honesty and his sense of honor was such that he would not accept a fee or case wherein in his judgment there was not a just cause. Chief Justice Micholson and other promi- nent members of the Tennessee bar paid him the tribute of being one of the best and ablest lawyers in his day.
Dr. Evans, after acquiring a good literary education, took up the study of medicine in the college in Louisville, Kentucky, from which he was graduated. That year he came to Texas, locating first in Wil- liamson county, and in 1875 he came to the southeast part of Medina
Beginning of Devine.
county, locating at his present home, where the flourishing little city of Devine now stands. It was then a frontier country and the Doctor Vol. II. 13
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recalls that the last Indian raid, in which one man was killed, took place after his arrival here-in 1876. In 1881 the International & Great Northern Railroad was completed through this section of the country, and about 1882 the town of Devine had its beginning. Its substantial growth and its high class of citizens are justly matters of pride to those who, like Dr. Evans, have been connected with the town since its be- ginning. He has enjoyed prosperity in his profession and business interests and has been a generous giver to the town, rendering substan- tial assistance in various ways from year to year. He is proprietor of . the Lion drug store, established in 1900, and has a large and growing business, and he has real-estate interests in addition to which he con- tinues in general practice of medicine with an extensive and important patronage. He belongs to the various medical societies, keeps in touch with the onward trend of thought and practice and ever maintains a high standard of professional ethics.
Dr. Evans was married to Miss C. B. Word, of Kentucky, and they have a daughter, Katie Evans. The doctor and his wife have a wide acquaintance in Devine, while their own home is the center of a cul- tured society circle and its social functions are the delight of many friends.
HON. JAMES C. THOMPSON, landowner, farmer and stockman of Devine, Medina county, has always resided in the south, his birth hav- ing occurred in Amite county, Mississippi, January 14, 1861, his parents being William and Eunice Elizabeth (Young) Thompson. His father and his maternal grandfather first came to Texas during the latter part of the Civil war and located temporarily on the Red river. William Thompson had been the owner of a large plantation but his property had been devastated by the contending armies. He and his father-in- law afterward returned to Mississippi, but in 1866 came to Texas with their respective families and located on the Blanco river about four miles from San Marcos. They lived there for two years, and in 1869 removed to San Antonio, while in 1871 they located on Chicon creek in Medina county, three miles from the present site of Devine. There the Thompson family homestead was maintained for many years and upon that place William Thompson died in 1895. He was a gentleman of fine character and a very able man intellectually. He possessed, moreover, excellent business ability and executive force, and was a suc- cessful stockman. His widow, a native of Mississippi, is still living. One of the sons of the family, W. F. Thompson, is a prominent mer- chant and banker at Pearsall, Texas.
Hon. James C. Thompson was reared amid pioneer surroundings in the southeastern section of Medina county, which has always been his home. This region was the hotbed of trouble during the days of the Indian raids in the 'zos, and he remembers many incidents of those thrilling times. The present cemetery site in Devine was dedicated by the burial of three white men who had been killed by the Indians. Mr. Thompson's early youth and young manhood were spent in the cat- tle business and as a cowboy he worked all over the range of western Texas and made three trips with stock over the trails, one of them taking him through Indian Territory, Kansas, Nebraska, Dakota and
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Montana into the Powder river country of northwest Wyoming. His pioneer surroundings having deprived him of suitable school facilities, ne determined to supply this lack in later years and spent some time as a student in Baylor University. He also studied law, first in the office of Hon. Columbus Upson at San Antonio, and later as a student in the law department of the University of Texas, from which he was gradu- ated in 1888. In that year he was elected county attorney of Medina county. He built up a successful practice as a member of the bar and was county attorney for six years altogether. Although he made rapid and substantial advance as an able practitioner at the bar and seemed peculiarly fitted by nature for that profession he decided to discontinue professional labors and engaged in larger and more remunerative opera- tions in land and the stock business. He has shown somewhat remark- able acumen in buying and developing farming land and has sold sev- eral tracts near Devine for one hundred dollars or more per acre-record prices in Southwest Texas, which is still a new country agriculturally. His land operations have made him a wealthy man and he owns several fine farms near Devine, his home place being one mile south of the town.
Mr. Thompson was married in 1896 to Miss Abbie Brown, a daugh- ter of Ed Brown, a well known Texas pioneer, who lives in Devine. They have three sons, Homer, Leslie and Wallace. The life history of Mr. Thompson illustrates most happily what can be accomplished through determination and the utilization of opportunities. He has studied conditions and possibilities, has come to a comprehensive under- standing of the natural resources of the state and by looking forward to the future has placed his investments judiciously and has realized a splendid income therefrom.
GEORGE W. BROWN, serving as postmaster at Devine, Medina county, was born in New York city in 1843, and was reared and edu- cated there. In 1860, having relatives in western Illinois, he made his way to that portion of the state in order to work on a farm with them. After the outbreak of the Civil war he went to Quincy, Illinois, and, joining one of the early regiments that was organized in response to Lin- coln's first call for troops, became a member of Company E, of the Sixteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. These were the first troops of four hundred men sent into northern Missouri over the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. On the Ist of January, 1862, Mr. Brown with his regiment left St. Joseph and went to Cairo, Illinois, whence they afterward proceeded to New Madrid and Island No. 10, reinforcing Halleck's army after the battle of Shiloh. Thus they continued in that part of the country to the second battle of Corinth, Mississippi, and sub- sequently went to Tuscumbia and to Nashville, where they joined the Army of the Cumberland. The Sixteenth Illinois became a part of the Fourteenth Army Corps under General Thomas. As a member of this army Mr. Brown fought in the battles of Murfreesboro, Tulahoma, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and all of the battles of that campaign. He afterward participated in the long siege that resulted in the battle and eventually the fall of Atlanta, ending in September, 1864. He thence went with Sherman on the march to the sea, into the Carolinas,
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to Washington and participated in the grand review, after which he proceeded to Springfield, Illinois, where he was honorably discharged, subsequently returning to his old home in New York city. Mr. Brown had been promoted to the rank of first lieutenant of his company and before the war closed he was brigade quartermaster. On the march to the sea he commanded General Sherman's regimental foragers.
In 1866 Mr. Brown again left home and went to Texas locating on a ranch in Medina county, two and a half miles west of Castroville. He has since been a citizen of Medina county and when the town of De- vine was started on the completion of the railroad in 1881 he removed to this vicinity and has since made his home here. For some years he lived on his ranch four miles west of the town but later took up his abode within the corporation limits. He has been postmaster of Devine almost continuously since 1889, and the office was raised from fourth to third class on the Ist of October, 1906. Previous to becoming post- master he had been justice of the peace, deputy sheriff and deputy United States marshal. In the latter position he served under United States Marshals Hal Gosling and John Rankin and assisted in the cap- ture of many notorious criminals of those days. He has also had ex- perience in the numerous Indian troubles of Medina county from 1866 until 1876 and has braved the dangers of pioneer life. His has been a career in which there have been many exciting chapters and incidents but at all times he has displayed the qualities of a manly man, cour- ageous in the face of danger and always loyal to his duty.
Mr. Brown was married in Medina county to Miss Hettie A. Moore, who was born in Mississippi but was reared in Texas.
JOHN A. KERCHEVILLE, a stockman of Devine, who is filling the position of deputy sheriff in Medina county, was born in Blanco county, Texas, in 1857, his parents being A. J. and Mary (McCrocklin) Kerche- ville. The father, a native of Mississippi, came to Texas about 1845. He served as a soldier of the Mexican war, joining the army in 1846. He was a farmer and stockman and was identified with much of the early progress and improvements of the localities in which he made his home. He married in Washington county and later moved to Blanco county and now lives at Kyle. His wife was born in old Washington county, the seat of Texan independence. Her father, Colonel Jesse L. McCrocklin, was a noted Texas pioneer and soldier, who came to this state in 1835 from Kentucky. He settled in Washington county and became associated with General Sam Houston and Ben Milam, in their efforts to secure Texan independence. He fought in the battle of San Jacinto and participated in other military movements, resulting in the overthrow of Mexican rule. Later he participated in the war between Mexico and the United States. He was a typical pioneer who had many thrilling adventures in the wars and in fighting against the Indians for the control. of this great state. He aided in subduing the wilderness and extending the frontier, and the part which he bore in reclaiming the district for civilization makes him worthy to be ranked with the honored pioneer settlers to whom is due a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid.
John A. Kercheville's present home-in Devine, Medina county-
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goes back to 1878, at which time he came here although the town had not yet been started and it was not until the railroad was built that it had its inception in 1881. He spent several years as a cowboy on the open range and trails both in Mexico and over the northern trails to Kansas and Nebraska. During several years he drove cattle for Cap- tain John T. Lytle, the noted stockman, and for some years he also ran cattle of his own on the range. About 1896 he established a retail meat business in Devine, in which he has since been engaged with growing success, and in 1905 he built his present business block, a substantial brick structure, which is used for his meat and cold storage business and which also contains the new postoffice.
Mr. Kercheville was married in 1883 to Miss Mattie Perkins, a native of Hayes county, Texas, and they have two sons, John Ira and Gus C. Kercheville. Mr. Kercheville is interested in matters of local progress and improvement, and his efforts have been effective forces in advancing the general good. He is a member of the board of school trustees of Devine and for the past twelve years has served as deputy sheriff of Medina county, holding the office under Sheriff Joe Ney. He is well known all over Southwestern Texas as a representative pioneer citizen and progressive business man and his labors have been an in- fluential factor in promoting the best interests of this part of the state.
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