USA > Texas > A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas, Volume II > Part 4
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JOHN C. MONIER was for many years engaged in the stock-raising business but is now living retired in a comfortable home at No. 231 West Salinas street, San Antonio, having built this home in 1869 when it was situated in the northern boundary of the city. Mr. Monier was born in France, June 24, 1833, a son of Jacob Monier, who emigrated to America with his family in 1844, while in 1845 he located on the Medina river with the French colony that had been brought to the United States by Henry Castro, thus forming the colony of Castroville, which comprised one of the most interesting features of the early history of Texas. The
con le manier.
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father was engaged in stock-raising until his death, which there occurred in 1875.
John C. Monier was a lad of eleven years when he accompanied his father to the new world, the family home being established in Medina county when it was a typical frontier region. The son was here reared amid the exciting scenes of those early days when the Indians were still numerous in this country and were continually harassing the settlers by the depredations upon stock and property. It was in such a district that the early youth of Mr. Monier was passed. In 1856 he entered the busi- ness world by freighting, being employed by others for about three years. He then engaged in business on his own account, freighting from the Gulf of Mexico through western Texas to New Mexico and he made occasional trips to Old Mexico. These trips were fraught with much danger over the desolate plains and furnished ample opportunity for raids on the part of Indians and desperadoes. Mr. Monier, however, was very fortunate to escape such attacks, and although he had many narrow escapes he suffered only one small loss, this being during a fight with about one hundred Indians, who shot one of his mules and burned nine others so that they died. On this particular occasion there were about thirty men in the train, making their way to El Paso from Chihuahua. During the period of the war Mr. Monier operated mostly from San Antonio, being employed by the Confederacy to freight cotton and other goods, as well as freighting for the mercantile firm of H. Meyer & Com- pany, at San Antonio. He was engaged in this business altogether for about twenty years, while later he engaged in ranching at Fort Davis, keeping both cattle and horses. In 1869 he built his home at No. 231 West Salinas street, which was then in the northern limits of the city, and here he has continued to make his home to the present time. He has through his own efforts and capable business management made all that he now possesses, for he started out in life empty-handed and when starting in the stock business he had but one cow, this having been a gift from the well known physician, Dr. Cupples. He added to his in- terests until he became one of the largest ranchers of this part of the state but he is not now actively identified with business interests, for during the years of his former toil he accumulated a competence that now enables him to live in honorable retirement.
Mr. Monier was married in 1867, to Miss Kate Schwanderman, who was born in Castroville, her father having been a member of the colony that first settled here. Their marriage has been blessed with one daugh- ter, Amy Monier.
OSCAR BERNADOTTE BRACKETT SMITH is the representative of promi- nent pioneer families of San Antonio, his native city, where he was born November 20, 1854. The father, Samuel Sidney Smith, was one of the most prominent citizens in the history of the American settlement of San Antonio. He was born at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1810, and came to Texas in 1836, engaging under General Sam Houston in the struggle which was then being made for Texan independence. He made his home at Houston and the surrounding districts until 1840, in which year he came to San Antonio, where he continued to make his home until his death, which occurred August 17, 1882. He acted as mayor of the city
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for twenty months in 1840-41, and later acted as alderman and city treas- urer. In 1850 he was elected clerk of the county and district courts of Bexar county, serving continuously in that capacity until he was forced to leave the office on account of the changes made by the reconstructionists from the north, soon after the close of the Civil war. In 1873, however, he was once more elected to the position, serving in the office until the offices of district and county clerk were made separate, after which he was elected to the office of county clerk, in which he continued until his death. He ever discharged his public duties with promptness and fidelity and thereby won the confidence and good will of the public at large. There is perhaps no other citizen in the history of San Antonio who was so long and continuously honored and trusted by the people in a public capacity as was Samuel Sidney Smith. He was a member of the seces- sion convention at Austin early in 1861, and was one of the signers of the articles of secession. Mr. Smith was married in 1854, in San Antonio, to Miss Sarah Brackett, the daughter of Oscar Bernadotte and Emily (Wood) Brackett, who were pioneer settlers of Southwest Texas. The father was born in New York, where he conducted a mercantile enter- prise. In 1844 he removed with his family to this city, establishing a store on Main Plaza, and he became a very prosperous and highly re- spected business man of this section of the state, the town of Brackett- ville having been named in his honor. His death occurred in 1857. Mrs. Brackett was a daughter of General Thaddeus W. Wood, who was born in Lenox, Massachusetts, in 1772, and was a prominent military officer in the war of 1812. He located in Syracuse, New York, where he was a distinguished lawyer and citizen, taking a part in the public life of the city. The Wood family became wealthy landowners of the Onondaga valley, owning extensive interests in the salt industry and in other industrial enterprises, and at his death General Wood left an estate valued at several millions of dollars. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Patty Danforth, represented a well known Massachusetts family that was founded in America in 1634 by Nicholas Danforth, of England. His descendant, General Asa Danforth, married a niece of Israel Putnam, and was a distinguished officer in the Continental army during the Revo- lution, while several other members of the Danforth family were likewise representatives of military life. After the Revolutionary war General Danforth settled in the Onondaga valley of New York, where he became a man of prominence and affluence, his family becoming connected with the Wood family, thus forming the ancestry of our subject. Mrs. Samuel Sidney Smith died in San Antonio, March 20, 190I.
To Mr. and Mrs. Smith were born two sons and two daughters: O. B. B., whose name introduces this record ; Thaddeus W .; Georgia C., who married Joseph M. Olivarri ; and Minnie, who became the wife of Edward Flory, and died in this city July 7, 1903. The son Thaddeus W. succeeded his father in the office of county clerk, serving in that capacity for several years, and like his father, has been identified with the public interests of San Antonio and Bexar county through a long period.
O. B. B. Smith entered business life as an assistant to his father in the county clerk's office and for a long period has been identified with the public affairs of Bexar county. He has served as deputy or chief clerk
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in a number of county and city offices, and in the discharge of his official duties has ever been prompt and reliable. For several years he made his home on a ranch which he owns in this county, but since 1897 has resided in San Antonio.
He was married in this city to Miss M. Olivarri, a daughter of the late Placido Olivarri, who was an early settler of Bexar county. The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Smith was Jose Maria Olivarri, who was a Spaniard, and settled in Texas in the '30s. He was killed by the Comanche Indians in what is now the central portion of San Antonio, on Augusta street at the location of the old Ursuline Convent. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Smith has been blessed with two sons, and one daughter, Samuel Sidney, Oscar Joseph Smith, and Sarah who was born August 19, 1898, and died April 22, 1899, she being a twin of Samuel Sidney.
J. F. KLINE, of the Creamery Dairy Company of San Antonio, was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, in 1869, and came with his father, Dr. J. P. Kline, to San Antonio late in 1884. Dr. Kline was a practicing physician in Ohio but came to San Antonio for his health and never re- sumed the practice of his profession after arriving here, but for about six years was engaged in the dairy business with his son, J. F. Kline. He remained a resident of this city until his death.
J. F. Kline was only sixteen years of age, when on the Ist of March, 1885, he started in the dairy business on a small scale. He has continued in this line of activity without interruption to the present time and the business has grown to large proportions, being now conducted under the name of the Creamery Dairy Company, Mr. Kline, however, being sole owner. For many years past the headquarters of his dairy business were at the dairy farm on the San Antonio river on the Concepcion road, south of the city limits. This farm is stocked with a fine herd of Jerseys, Mr. Kline having for many years owned cows of the highest grade unsur- passed by any in Southwestern Texas. In the spring of 1906 he removed the headquarters of the Creamery Dairy Company to a new plant at the corner of Eighth and Austin streets in San Antonio. The main room of this building, which is forty-four by eighty feet is used principally for the manufacturing part of the creamery, being equipped with the best and most modern machinery for separating, filtering and pasteurizing the cream and manufacturing it into butter of the highest quality. The capacity of the creamery is four thousand pounds of milk an hour. A well equipped ice cream factory is also conducted in connection with the creamery with a capacity of five hundred gallons of ice cream a day, while the daily out- put of butter averages about one thousand pounds. He has recently en- tered into a contract whereby the milk from the great herd of registered Jersey cattle at the St. Cloud Farm has been sold to the Creamery Dairy Company for one year. The recent improvement of the plant was accom- plished at a cost of thousands of dollars and without doubt is the finest enterprise of the kind in the state. Having built and equipped the plant the Creamery Dairy Company has completed arrangements to add to its already great supply of first class milk. As Professor Scoville, the well known head of the Kentucky Experiment Station recently said, "A good quality of milk cannot be obtained by taking a poor article and boiling
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or pasteurizing it," but the milk in the first instance should be from healthy and well fed cows and be handled all the way from the cow to the consumer in a proper and sanitary manner. Mr. Kline has long been the owner of the largest dairy in San Antonio, and has for years been selling the milk from about four hundred cows, and the fact that his business has been constantly successful is proof that it has been properly managed and that it has satisfied the demands of the public. At the present writing he is receiving from the St. Cloud Jersey Farm three quar- ters of a ton of milk per day. Mr. Kline has the agency in this section for the DeLaval separator, which he has furnished to the farmers in large numbers, thus insuring a sufficient supply of cream for his dairy purposes. In the Austin street plant is also maintained a retail milk department and the business office of the company. His patronage is now very extensive, and as the output of the dairy is of a very superior quality in every par- ticular the trade is constantly growing and has already become a very profitable business. In its management Mr. Kline displays a thorough understanding of the work in every department and keeps in touch with modern progress in the line of dairying.
Mr. Kline was married in this city to Miss Elma Brooks, who was born in Kansas.
THOMAS TERRELL JACKSON, M. D., physician and surgeon of San Antonio, was born in Noxubee county, Mississippi, in 1868. His parents, Terrell and Anna (Stewart) Jackson, were both natives of Mississippi. The father died in the year 1904, and the mother is still living. Terrell Jackson came with his family to Texas in 1869, settling in the central part of the state, becoming one of the well known citizens of McLennan and Falls counties.
Dr. Jackson acquired an excellent literary education to serve as the foundation upon which to rear the superstructure of professional learning and his medical education was acquired as a student in the medical de- partment of the University of Texas, at Galveston, where he was gradu- ated in the class of 1893. He spent some time as resident physician of the John Sealey Hospital at Galveston, after which he practiced medicine at Bosque county until 1895, when he came to San Antonio, which has since been his home, although he spent considerable time in the army as sur- geon. For two years he was assistant superintendent of the Southwestern Asylum for the Insane-a state institution at San Antonio. When the Spanish-American war was inaugurated he received the commission of first assistant surgeon of the Second Texas Regiment, and later was given the same rank in the First Texas and went with the army to Cuba. His most extensive experience in connection with military affairs, however, was as surgeon in the Volunteer army in the Philippine Islands, where he was located two years, when he resigned his commission to return to San Antonio and engage in private practice. He is a general practi- tioner of medicine and surgery although his military and other connec- tions have rather tended to make him a specialist in surgerv. For the past five years he has been division surgeon for the Southern Pacific Rail- road Company ; is secretary of the Texas state board of medical exam- iners ; and is examining surgeon of a number of prominent insurance companies. He is ex-president of the West Texas Medical Society, which
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was merged into the county association, and he now holds membership with the County, State and American Medical Associations and with the American Association of Railway Surgeons. Dr. Jackson was married at Austin, Texas, to Miss Mamie E. Davis. Almost his entire life has been passed in this state and his liberal educational facilities well qualify "him for a profession in which advancement depends upon individual merit. With thorough understanding of the responsibilities which devolve upon him he discharges his duties with a sense of conscientious obligation, and with a conformity to a high standard of professional ethics, whereby he has won the good will and confidence of his professional brethren as well as the general public.
THOMAS FRANKLIN, whose death occurred December 22, 1906, was a noted civil engineer in San Antonio. He represented a prominent family of Maryland, of English ancestry. The Franklin family was founded in America in 1642 by Thomas Franklin, who received a grant of land in what is now called Anne Arundel county, Maryland, the deed, which is still in possession of the family, having been executed by Leonard Calvert, the representative of Lord Baltimore, proprietor of Maryland. The estate was situated eighteen miles from the city of Annapolis and remained the home of the family through seven generations, the eldest son in the direct line in each generation bearing the name of Thomas. The Franklins were closely associated with the early history and develop- ment of Annapolis, and the paternal grandfather of our subject was president of a bank in Annapolis for fifty years. George Edward, the father, was a sea captain from early youth and in early life commanded a clipper ship on the Atlantic. His wife bore the maiden name of Maria Johnson, who came of a family prominent in Baltimore, her father having served for twenty years as mayor of that city, receiving no remuneration for his services. He occupied the position of chief executive of the city at the time when General Lafayette paid a visit to this country. The maternal great-grandfather of our subject was a surgeon in the British navy. Mr. Franklin's sister, Anna Franklin, is the wife of Admiral Schley, who won fame during the Spanish-American war.
The late Thomas Franklin was born on the old Franklin homestead in Anne Arundel county, near Annapolis, Maryland, November 15, 1842. He acquired his education at St. John's College and the Maryland Agri- cultural and Mechanical College, at Annapolis, being graduated from the latter institution, in the department of civil engineering. His services in this connection have extended over a wide area in the United States, Mexico and South America. During the Civil war he went to Brazil and was engaged in civil engineering in that country. In early life he supple- mented his college course by study under Benjamin H. Latrobe, from whom he gained practical and valuable information, Mr. Latrobe having in charge the construction of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad through the Alleghany mountains. Mr. Franklin was located in the city of Wash- ington for some years, where he was engaged in engineering work, act- ing as city engineer for three years under Mr. Shepard. In 1875 he made a topographical survey of the capitol grounds but his principal work in that city was in designing and originating the construction. of what is known as the long bridge across the Potomac, which is still standing.
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This work was done for the Pennsylvania Company, with which he was connected for seven years, the company being noted for employing only the highest class of engineering talent, which is proof of Mr. Franklin's expert workmanship. During his service with that company he built three hundred bridges on their various lines and he also did other work as well. For a time he was located in Chicago, where he made the surveys and began the construction work for the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, extending from that city to Danville. In 1880 Mr. Franklin went to Mexico, where he was employed by the Mexican National Railroad Com- pany, which was projected by the Palmer-Sullivan syndicate to extend southward from Nueva Laredo to the city of Mexico. Subsequently he was appointed engineer in charge of the construction of this line for the northern division, being thus engaged for about two years. In March, 1882, he took up his abode in Texas, establishing his home in San An- tonio, and was then employed in the construction of the Southern Pacific Railroad, taking the contract for this work. He engaged in engineering work of various kinds, building sewers, water works, cement sidewalks, race tracks, etc., and was considered an authority on topographical en- gineering. He constantly studied the needs and possibilities in his par- ticular line of work and gained more than local reputation as a civil engineer, possessing excellent business ability and sound judgment and an expert workmanship that gained for him many important contracts.
Mr. Franklin was married to Miss Mary Bowie, representing a Maryland family, whose representatives have become distinguished both in Maryland and in national history. Her birth occurred in Prince George county, a daughter of Colonel W. W. Bowie, who was lieutenant governor and the owner of a large estate that was noted among other things for its fine imported stock. Colonel Bowie was the cousin of Odon Bowie, who was governor of Maryland from 1868 until 1872, and in fact seven members of the family have acted as governor of that state. The mother bore the maiden name of Snowden, and came of an English family. she being a niece of the Earl of Fairfax. Hon. Reverdy Johnson, a lawyer of international reputation, who became a noted diplomat, succeeding Charles Francis Adams as. ambassador to England in 1866, was through marriage related to the Bowie family, while Mrs. Franklin is a niece of Dr. Grafton Tyler, a surgeon of prominence and one of the old-time noted characters of Washington. Mrs. Franklin accompanied her husband as a bride to the city of Washington, and during his work in connection with civil engineering has been compelled to establish a home in many frontier regions, particularly in Mexico, where she was the only American woman. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Franklin, eight in number, are: Captain Thomas, Walter, Amy, Mrs. May Bartlett, George E., Claud, Ruth How- ard and Todd Lowrie ; also an adopted daughter Adelina Maurice, child of his wife's niece.
The eldest son, Captain Thomas Franklin, has made a notable record as a soldier. After completing his education he assisted his father in his work of engineering, after which he joined the regular United States army as a private. He was promoted to sergeant. During the Spanish- American war he went to Manila with the Twenty-second Infantry, where, by his courage and bravery he won the high esteem of General Lawton,
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and thereby promotion to the position of second lieutenant and subse- quently to first lieutenant, becoming a member of the staff of General McArthur. From the Philippines he was transferred to service in the Boxer rebellion in China, where he not only won his title as captain but attracted the notice of the officers of the other armies then stationed in China. He is now stationed at West Point Military Academy, having the rank of major and is second in command in that noted institution, it being a somewhat remarkable fact that a non-graduate of West Point should have this honor conferred upon him.
ALBERT MEYER, at one time closely, actively and successfully con- nected with the live-stock interests of Texas but now living retired at San Antonio, was born in Berlin, Germany, February II, 1839. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Xaver Meyer, were also of German birth. On coming to America the father located near San Antonio at a date prior to the Mexican war and continued to make his home in this city through- out his remaining days, although he died at Galveston during the yellow fever epidemic there.
Albert Meyer came from Germany to the new world in 1854, accom- panied by his mother, and for a year remained in San Antonio, after which he entered the employ of a Mr. Eastland, a stockman of Bastrop, Texas, for whom he handled cattle until the early spring of 1858, wheni he joined a party composed of Texas and Missouri citizens bound for California. There were altogether about eighty families, among whom were eighteen or twenty youths of about Mr. Meyer's age and all ani- mated by the spirit of adventure. The train left Pecan Bayou, on the San Saba river, on March 26, 1858, and proceeded by way of Fort Chad- bourne, the Guadalupe Mountains and the Pecos country, the lower staked plains to El Paso, thence through New Mexico, Arizona, and over the Colorado desert of Southern California. They arrived at their
destination, Visalia, Tulare county, California, about the middle of De- cember, 1858. It is needless to say that this was a long, tiresome, tedious trip fraught with many dangers because of the Indians and desperadoes who infested the country and enlivened with adventures such as are met with by only those possessed of the true pioneer spirit.
After reaching California Mr. Meyer began herding cattle in Tu- lare county for the well known old California firm of Hildreth & Dumph- ley extensive land and cattle owners of that portion of California, re- maining there mostly in the stock business until 1872, when he returned to San Antonio. From this city he went to Uvalde county and pur- chased what was then known as the Knox ranch, a beautiful place of about eight thousand acres in Frio canyon and from that time for- ward was engaged quite extensively in the stock business.
As is well known, Frio canyon and vicinity was the scene of some of the most disastrous and murderous Indian raids, perpetrated by the Kickapoos and the Lipans, that are recorded in the Indian history of Texas, these troubles reaching their most aggravated form between the years 1872 and 1880. Mr. Meyer had to keep on hand a large number of horses used for herding purposes and these were constantly the object of attack from the Indians on their periodical raids. When we hear the stories of theft, murder and child abduction it seems almost incredible
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that events of such horror could have happened not more than thirty years ago in a district which is now populated so densely and with a class of people representing the highest type of civilization. It indicates, however, the character of the men who settled the district-men who were brave, self-reliant and determined to crush out lawlessness and stood for order, for progress and for honor.
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