USA > Texas > A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas, Volume II > Part 64
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James L. Trueheart came to Texas in the early part of 1839 with his brother John, who located at Galveston and was the father of the present representative of the Trueheart family in that city. James L. Trueheart, Sr., made his way to San Antonio and, locating there, became one of the prominent citizens and historical characters of this section of Texas at the time when were enacted the most thrilling incidents in the history of the city. Subsequent to the fall of the Alamo and the battle of San Jacinto
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the Mexican government, under Santa Anna's dictation, not fully recog- nizing the independence of Texas, continued to harass the Texans by throwing in troops and San Antonio was made the object of most of this
Capture of San Antonio in 1842.
fighting. In 1842, while James L. Trueheart, Sr., was clerk of the court at San Antonio, its sessions being held in a low adobe building at the corner of Main Plaza and West Commerce street where now stands the Kamp- man building, a regiment of Mexican soldiers entered the city, and Mr. Trueheart and other officials made their way to the top of the building and fired upon the soldiers. Mr. Trueheart, John Twohig, Sam Maverick and A. Colquohn were taken prisoners. Mr. Twohig later escaped by disguis- ing himself as a priest, but the other three were carried as prisoners to Castle Perote in the state of Pueblo, Mexico, where Mr. Trueheart was incarcerated for two years.
After returning to San Antonio he became closely connected with its business interests principally as a real estate dealer, being one of the pioneer real estate men of the city representing eastern interests. He was also elected a member of the Texas legislature and did much toward developing the country in the vicinity of San Antonio. Through his mar-
Garza Family.
riage to Miss Margaretta Garza his family became the owner of a large tract of valuable property on the San Antonio river, about ten miles south of the city, this being a part of the original grant from Spain to the Garza family, one of the original families in the colony coming from the Canary Islands to San Antonio in 1730. In this way Mr. Trueheart came into possession of the old Espada mission which was on this property and the estate is still owned by the family. Here Mr. Trueheart, Sr., made con- siderable improvements, building the first two-story rock house in this part of the state. The most important work he did, however, was the digging out of an old irrigation ditch on the property that had long since fallen into disuse, and thus introducing modern irrigation. He placed a number of families upon the property, which was all thoroughly cultivated, and he himself carried on farming operations there for quite a long period. He continued in close touch with the growth and development of the city, accumulating a gratifying fortune through his business affairs and giving to his children good educational privileges. His wife, who died in San Antonio in 1899, was, as mentioned above, a member of the Garza family, the first of the name in America being Jeronimo Garza, who came from the Canary Islands with the original sixteen families who settled at San Antonio by authority of the king of Spain in 1730. Through several generations the Garza family was among the most wealthy and prominent of the old Spanish regime, owning large tracts of valuable land, including both city and country property. They lived for the most part in the old Garza home, which is still standing at the corner of Main avenue and Veramendi street.
James L. Trueheart, of this review, was reared in his native city and acquired a good education, which was completed in the University of Vir- ginia at Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1876. As a young man he traveled
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quite extensively in Europe and although he has always maintained his home in San Antonio he has for the past twenty-five years had most of his interests in the mining industry in Mexico, with which country he is thoroughly familiar. He made two trips to the city of Mexico on horse- back before the advent of the railroad there. He has extensive holdings in that country, his mines being in the state of Jalisco. For about sixteen years he was foreign correspondent and financial agent in Mexico for the San Antonio Express, being the first correspondent of that paper in the southern republic.
Mr. Trueheart was married to Miss Minnie Cooke, a native of Con- necticut and a descendant of the well-known Abbott family of that state. They have two sons, Percy Lawrence and William Overton. Mr. True- heart is a worthy descendant of a distinguished ancestry and, like his father and others before him, continues in the work of developing the great natural resources of the south and thus contributing in substantial measure to its upbuilding and progress.
CAPTAIN EDWARD ALEXANDER STEVENS, late of San Antonio, so well known as a soldier of two wars, a ranger and a hardy pioneer, and at the time of his death, November 6, 1885, as the popular sheriff of Bexar county, was a native of Virginia, born in the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, in the year 1827. His father was a captain in the United States army and a graduate of West Point, being stationed at Harper's Ferry, with his family, at the time of the interesting event narrated above. On the paternal side Captain Edward A. Stevens was of Welsh ancestry, while on his mother's side he was Scotch, both, however, being old Vir- ginia families of planters.
In 1839 the Stevens family left Harper's Ferry for Texas for the purpose of restoring the health of the father, who died, however, on the way hither. The remainder of the family completed the journey and located in Bastrop county, at that time a wild region infested with murderous Indians. Amid these surroundings of domestic misfortune and the dangers, privations and hardships of frontier life, Edward A. Stevens commenced a stern practical fight in early boyhood. He was soon thrown almost entirely on his own resources, and in a few years also be- came known as among the most skillful and brave of the rangers. The few families scattered throughout the country were obliged to band to- gether for protection against the Indians, and the government of Texas also organized ranger troops for the same purpose. In October, 1845, then a youth of only eighteen, Mr. Stevens first enlisted in this body of troops as a member of Capt. David C. Cady's Company, Texas Mounted Volunteers. In September, 1846, he received his honorable discharge from this command, and in May, 1847, joined the company of rangers in San Antonio, under command of Capt. Samuel Highsmith. Much of his Indian fighting was, however, done under the noted Capt. Jack Hays. He participated in the "cart war," and saw service in both the Mexican and Civil wars. At the outbreak of the war of the rebellion he was one of the first to volunteer for the Confederate army in Texas. He was chosen captain of the company which he organized, and throughout the Civil war fully maintained the reputation which he had already established as an efficient, brave and intrepid soldier, never flinching from the stern-
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est duty, whether one of homely service or a leader of his troops in the thick and front of battle.
Following the war Captain Stevens was for many years a prominent official of San Antonio and Bexar county. He served several terms as deputy sheriff, one term as city marshal, and was twice elected sheriff, being at the time of his death in 1885 an incumbent of the last-named office. His demise was directly traceable to a fight with horse thieves four years before, in which one of his arms was almost literally shot to pieces, necessitating an amputation at the shoulder. Captain Stevens was a most efficient officer, just to everyone and of the highest standard of honor. In his combats with the criminal element that infested southwest Texas dur- ing the seventies he became distinguished for his bravery, and many almost incredible stories are told by pioneers of his utter fearlessness under most desperate circumstances. It seemed to be in his blood to be a fighter and a soldier. And yet, as is usually the case, the brave man was gentle, considerate and kind in all his social and domestic relations, and his loss was therefore most deeply felt by a wide circle of warm friends and by his widow and children.
Captain Stevens was married in San Antonio in 1856 to Miss Eliza Fromanties, who, with six children, still survive him. Mrs. Stevens is a member of a French family of the best class, having been born in Paris in 1838, and in 1849 coming with her mother to San Antonio, which has ever since been her home. Her people were political refugees and her father was killed in the Paris revolution of 1848. Mrs. Stevens bears her years well, notwithstanding her long period of pioneer life and the severe hardships which she underwent. By the brave man with whom she lived as honored wife for nearly thirty years she became the mother of six chil- dren, as follows: E. O., C. F., O. A., Mrs. V. Jones, Mrs. A. Mueller and Miss Elizabeth Stevens.
Of the children mentioned, Charles F. Stevens, like his father, has long been an officer of the law in San Antonio, and he has inherited those traits of faithfulness and fearlessness in the discharge of his duties which have given him such a fine record in San Antonio. He served for some time as jailer under his father's administration, was deputy sheriff for one term under John W. Tobin, and in 1902 was elected constable for the city of San Antonio, having since filled the last-named position with the greatest efficiency.
JOHN BURNS. The life history of John Burns is closely identified with the history of San Antonio, which has been his home for many years, and throughout the years which have since come and gone he has been closely allied with its interests and upbuilding. He was born in County Donegal, Ireland, in 1842, a son of Daniel and Katharine (Cornwell) Burns, both also natives of that county, where his father died when he was a child. When eleven years of age, in 1853, the little lad came to America with his mother and his brothers and sisters, a family of six, they arrived at Seguin, Guadalupe county, Texas, in June, 1853. They had been pre- ceded to this state by their relatives, the Campbells, who became one of the most prominent families in Southwestern and Western Texas, ex- Mayor John P. Campbell of San Antonio being a member of this family,
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as is also Jourdin Campbell, a large stockman of Campbellton in Atas- cosa county.
Mr. Burns of this review was reared to farming and stockraising pur- suits, and was a stockman all his life until ill health, caused from service in the Civil war, required him to retire from active life. His experience on the frontier from the time he came here until it was wiped out by ad- vancing civilization covered a wide range of western country and its romantic history. His interests in the cattle business took him all over Southwestern and Western Texas, up over the trails to Kansas, Nebraska, Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado, and at one period he spent three years with stock in North Dakota. Those early days were replete with ad- venture with the Indians and other adverse elements, and it is needless to say that Mr. Burns has plentifully had his share of the struggles of pioneer life.
On the 20th of April, 1861, responding to the earliest call for troops for the Civil war, Mr. Burns enlisted at Seguin in the Confederate army, becoming a member of the First Texas Mounted Rifles for the twelve months' service, it being the general belief then that the war would be of brief duration. After serving out his prescribed time in this organization he received his discharge and in May, 1862, re-enlisted in the Thirty- second Texas Cavalry, under Colonel Woods and in General X. B. De- bray's Brigade, in which he served throughout the remainder of the war in the Mississippi department, mainly in Texas and Louisiana. Among other campaigns in which he participated he served in that against Banks in Louisiana, engaging in all the battles of that campaign except Mans- field. These operations were carried on under General Dick Taylor, and among the other sad incidents of the war which he witnessed was the kill- ing of General Green. After the war had ended Mr. Burns returned to Seguin, and for several years thereafter continued in the cattle business, making his home and headquarters at Seguin until 1877, when he came to San Antonio and has ever since resided in this city. He is one of the well-known members of the local camp of United Confederate Veterans.
The mother of Mr. Burns died at their home in Seguin. He has never married. but in his household in San Antonio he has his sister, Margaret Burns, and his nephew and niece, John Edgar and Miss Katie Edgar.
CAPTAIN JOHN W. WOMACK. An honored soldier of the Civil war, and at all times a loyal citizen, true to the interests of county, state and nation, Captain John W. Womack is numbered among the representative business men of San Antonio, where he is well and prominently known as a paint manufacturer. He was born in Butler county, Alabama, in 1845, his parents being John M. and Elizabeth (Watts) Womack. The father, a native son of Georgia, removed with his parents to Alabama in the early days of that commonwealth, and there assisted in fighting the Indians in that country. He died at his home in Butler county of that state, but is still survived by his wife, who is a sister of Governor Tom Watts of Alabama, who was attorney general of that state during the Civil war, and the family are otherwise prominently known. Both the Womacks and Watts are of Scotch-Irish ancestry.
Captain John W. Womack was reared as a farmer lad, and his Vol. II. 31
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parents had decided to send him away to school to receive an excellent education when the Civil war broke out, and putting aside all personal considerations the young son enlisted in Company F, Eighteenth Alabama Infantry of the Confederate Army. He has a remarkable military record, notable not only for his many acts of bravery, which brought him well- deserved promotion, but for numerous narrow escapes as well. He par- ticipated in nearly one hundred engagements, including some of the noted historic battles of the war, and was four times severely wounded, at Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, McLennan Cave and Franklin, Ten- nessee. His regiment was a part of the Army of the Tennessee, and he served in that state, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, while for four months he was a prisoner at Camp Chase, Ohio, also had several hand-to- hand encounters, and at one time nearly had his head cut off with a heavy sabre, the scar from which he still carries. For his bravery on the field of battle in picking up and throwing out of danger a bomb ready to ex- plode at Kenesaw Mountain, thus saving many lives, including that of his commander general, he was promoted to the rank of captain.
After the war had ended and with a military record of which he has every reason to be proud, Mr. Womack returned to his home and to the quiet and peaceful pursuits of the farm. In 1873 he came to the Lone Star state and took up his abode in Freestone county, where for some time he was engaged in farming and other business operations, principally at the town of Fairfield. During the following sixteen years he resided in Travis county, at Austin and vicinity, where he was engaged in business, and in that county he is perhaps better known than in any other part of the state. From there he removed to Type, in Bastrop county, and in September, 1905, came to San Antonio, which has ever since remained as his home. His present business is that of a paint manufacturer and con- tractor.
Captain Womack was first married in 1874, near Fairfield, to Miss Bettie Harris, who lived but a few months after her marriage, while his present wife, to whom he was married at her home in Comal county, was Miss Emma Speed, the daughter of Captain F. W. and Hettie (Langston) Speed, representing two of the oldest and most prominent families of Mississippi, from which state they removed to Texas in 1872. Captain Speed was especially well known for his military service in the Indians affairs of early Mississippi history. Captain and Mrs. Womack have three children, Daisy, Ernest and Zella. They lost one son by death, James Bennett Womack.
JONATHAN SIMON CAMERON, M. D., who since 1902 has engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in San Antonio, was born at Kings- ton, Jamaica, his father being a Scotchman and his mother an English- woman from the East Indies. His father was in the British colonial gov- ernment service for many years, occupying prominent and responsible positions.
In his early youth Dr. Cameron accompanied his parents on their re- moval from Jamaica to Chihuahua, Mexico, and thence came to the United States to attend school, becoming a student in Marion Williams College, at Salem, Massachusetts, which he entered in 1882 and from which he was graduated in due course of time upon the completion of the regular work.
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He then studied pharmacy, completing a course by graduation, after which he matriculated in Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee, where he was graduated in 1889. Later he came to Texas and located for practice in Corsicana, whence he afterward returned to Chihuahua, Mexico. He was in practice at the latter place for several years and in 1902 again came to the Lone Star state, opening an office in San Antonio, where he has since been successfully engaged in general practice, having secured a liberal patronage. He is a member of the American Medical Association, and keeps in touch with the onward march of progress through the perusal of leading medical journals. He is conscientious and earnest in his professional work and has gained a well-merited reputation as a most able member of the medical fraternity, his previous training in pharmacy being of excellent service to him in the profession which he now follows.
Dr. Cameron was married in Galveston, Texas, to Miss Ida Patter- son of that city. They have four children : Edna, Fay, Julius and George W. The doctor is a gentleman of world-wide travel and experience and a man of attractive social qualities whose friends are many, while the number is constantly increasing as the circle of his acquaintance broadens.
FELIX M. SHAW, a prominent citizen of San Antonio, from which point he superintends his extensive stock interests in Webb county, where he owns sixty thousand acres of valuable land, bordering on the Rio Grande river, is a native son of Texas, born in Travis county in 1859, a son of J. H. and Fernetta (Motlow) Shaw. The parents were both natives of Tennessee and in 1847 the father removed with his family to Travis county, Texas, locating the place on which he still makes his home. He has been a stock farmer throughout the period of his active business career and is numbered among the prominent pioneers of his portion of the state. The wife and mother died in the spring of 1906.
Felix M. Shaw early became familiar with the stock-raising in- dustry, being trained to the duties of this pursuit by his father, with whom he worked during the period of his boyhood and youth, and through the years which have since come and gone he has seen this industry develop from the time of the free range to the present period of individual owner- ship of finely irrigated tracts of land, on which are raised high grades of stock. Starting out upon an independent business career, Mr. Shaw chose the occupation to which he had been reared, and establishing his headquarters in Dimmit county, he was for a long period engaged quite extensively in raising stock, becoming one of the most prominent stock- men of the state. In 1905 he disposed of the greater part of his land in that county, at the present time retaining ownership of some fine farm- ing land in the vicinity of Carrizo Springs. He is likewise the owner of sixty thousand acres of land in Webb county, this being his headquar- ters for his stock-raising interests at the present time. This land is well located, bordering on the Rio Grande river, from which it is irrigated, and which has every promise of becoming a very valuable tract of land, which will be developed into rich and arable farms.
Mr. Shaw was married in Dimmit county, Texas, to Miss Florence Terry, and they have become the parents of four children, Ruth, Adele, Hazel and Felix, Jr.
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PORFIRIO P. GARCIA, vice president and manager of the International Live-Stock Company of San Antonio, was born in the Garcia home on Commerce street in this city in 1869. His father, Jose Maria Garcia y Villareal, was born in Mexico and was a noted citizen of the republic of Mexico and later of the state of Texas. He became a prominent factor in the political revolution that made Benito Juarez the president of Mexico and the predecessor of President Diaz, who represents the same political party established by President Juarez. Mr. Villareal was ap- pointed to the position of private secretary to President Juarez and filled that position with such distinction that later, after he had removed to Texas, he was tendered the office of secretary of state under the same administration but declined the honor. Following his arrival in Texas he became a noted stockman, owning great ranches throughout the south- western part of the state and making his home at San Antonio. He died at the home of his son Porfirio in this city. His wife, Florencia (Leal) Garcia, was a member of that branch of the Leal family that is descended from one of the colonists from the Canary Islands who were the founders of San Antonio.
Porfirio P. Garcia was reared in San Antonio and was graduated from St. Mary's College in this city in the class of 1887. He then be- came a student in the City of Mexico, where he was graduated from the School of Technology and Agriculture, having made during his college course a special study of live stock. On the completion of his education he was appointed manager of the immense stock ranch of Governor Celso Gonzales in the state of Chihuahua, one of the largest in the world. It was there that he obtained the practical knowledge of the requirements of the stock industry in Mexico that has been of such great advantage to him in his later business enterprises. He remained as manager of this place for nine years, having in the meantime established a live-stock business of his own with headquarters in San Antonio. This was the be- ginning of the present International Live Stock Company, incorporated, of which he is vice president and general manager. This company is the largest of its kind in the purchase and exportation of high-grade and registered stock from the United States to Mexico, Cuba and the Philip- pine Islands. Its general offices are in San Antonio. The raising and feeding of live stock has become a great industry in Mexico, the success- ful and enterprising stockmen of that country having of late years created a large demand for high-grade stock. To supply this demand there is required an expert and technical knowledge of stock and of the varied climatic and other conditions of the different sections of Mexico in order that judicious selections may be made of the proper kind of stock suited for each section, and shipment to Mexico made at the right time of the year in order to secure absence from disease and other elements that would result disastrously if the business was not properly conducted. This knowledge Mr. Garcia possesses in the highest degree because of his long experience both in Mexico and in this country, and it is the cause of his success in the building up of a large and profitable business.
In San Antonio Mr. Garcia was married to Miss Mercedes Schu- chardt, the daughter of Hon. William Schuchardt, who is now a resident
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of San Antonio but has for many years been a prominent representative of the United States diplomatic service as consul in various countries.
THOMAS J. LARGEN, M. D., representative of the medical fraternity in San Antonio, was born at Hillsville, in Carroll county, Virginia, and his parents, James and Thursa (Hawks) Largen, were also natives of that state. Several years prior to the Civil war they removed with their family to Georgia and after three years went to northwestern Arkansas, located at Fort Smith, where both Mr. and Mrs. James Largen died.
Dr. Largen was a youth of nine years when he left the Old Domin- ion. He was practically reared at Fort Smith and the first event in his life out of the usual order was his enlistment for service at Fort Smith in the Confederate army. He joined Captain Carroll's company, known as Company A, acting as General Cabell's bodyguard, accompanying that commander on his expeditions throughout the Trans-Mississippi country, particularly in Arkansas, where Dr. Largen was engaged in some of the notable battles and skirmishes that marked the warfare in the north- western part of that state and in southern Missouri. He was in the bat- tles of Pea Ridge and Oak Ridge, or Wilson's Creek, as it is known in the north, and other engagements which occurred in that part of the country. In a skirmish about eleven miles above Van Buren, Arkansas, he was dangerously wounded by a bullet in the leg near the knee, which, according to the dictum of several surgeons who attended him, necessi- tated amputation, but this Dr. Largen forbade. His wound incapacitated him for service for a long while but in the latter part of the war he was again in active duty on the firing line as a member of an independent troop of cavalry, unofficially attached to General Cabell's forces. Much of his service was in connection with a very bitter warfare that was waged along the border of northern Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri.
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