A history of Texas and Texans, Part 103

Author: Johnson, Francis White, 1799-1884; Barker, Eugene Campbell, 1874-1956, ed; Winkler, Ernest William, 1875-1960
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 906

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Dr. Pyle, who was one of the younger members of the family, was liberally educated, first in the public schools and later at Burleson College in Greenville, where he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1897. He began teaching school at the age of seven- teen, teaching twenty-one branches. His medical studies were begun in Barnes Medical College, St. Louis, where in 1906 he received the degree of M. D. He located for practice at Wolfe City, Texas, but in 1907 interrupted his practice to continue his studies in the National Uui- versity at St. Louis and also took special courses at Chicago and in New York, after which, in 1911, he located at Mineral Wells. Dr. Pyle is well equipped both by talent and training for the treatment of all diseases in both medicine and surgery, and has a two- story sanitarium at Mineral Wells, with ample accom- modations, and with a staff of trained assistants and nurses. A fact worthy of note in this connection is that in the thirteen years which he has served at the operat- ing table he has lost but one patient.

As to politics, Dr. Pyle has always supported the Democratic principles. His fraternal affiliations are with the Woodmen of the World, the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias and his membership is also found with the Commercial Club of Mineral Wells. His church is the Baptist.

At Wolfe City, Texas, August 19, 1900, Dr. Pyle and Miss Ruth King were married. Mrs. Pyle is a daughter of John R. and Mary King, the father a prominent farmer and stockman at Wolfe City and now living retired in Mineral Wells. He came from North Carolina to Texas about forty years ago. Two children have been born to the marriage of Dr. and Mrs. Pyle, Miss Faula Juanita, born June 17, 1901, and Tom Short Pyle, born November 19, 1906. Both are now attending school.

Dr. Pyle, by reason of his professional experience, declares that no community has a higher average of health than that of Mineral Wells. He evidences the fact that few children die in this community, and the cemetery is filled with the graves mostly of the aged among the inhabitants, while the majority of deaths are found among the temporary sojourners, those who have delayed their coming to this resort too long. Dr. Pyle intends to make Mineral Wells his permanent home, and with a good practice and a high standing among the local citizenship has every reason to be satisfied with career.

WILLIAM H. WHISLER. Former mayor of Rosenberg, Mr. Whisler is an old-time railroad man of Texas, and is now one of the useful and energetic business men of Fort Bend county.

In Arcadia, Hamilton county, Indiana, William H. Whisler was born on September 18, 1863. When he was twenty-one years of age he came to Texas, and that great state has since had no more loyal citizen than he. He is the son of Benjamin and Mary (Stokes) Whisler, of German descent, and both natives of Pennsylvania. They moved to Indiana at an early day, and the father was a farmer all his life, first in Indiana, and later in Jasper county, Iowa, having moved there when his son William was three years old. The great-grandparents of the Rosenberg citizen came from Germany to Amer- ica, Benjamin Whisler lived an energetic and useful life, though he was a man who never sought applause. He and his wife are buried at Prairie City, Iowa. Very broad in his religious views as in everything else, the father late in life joined the Dunkards church, of which the mother was also a member.

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Coming to Texas at the age of twenty-one, William H. Whisler began working as a telegraph operator at Baldwin, now Dunley station, west of San Antonio. He had learned telegraphy when a young man, and is now one of the oldest operators in the state. Subsequently he was telegraph operator and agent at Lacoste, Hondo, D'Hanis, Kline, Uvalde, Spofford Junction, and Thurs- ton, for the Southern Pacific Railroad company. Later he came east of San Antonio, being stationed at Con- verse, and then at Marion for four and a half years. For some time he was employed at Weimar. While sta- tioned at that town, on April 22, 1891, he married Miss Detie Fisher, of Colorado county, a daughter of R. L. and Mary (Slack) Fisher. Her father was a native of Virginia, and her mother of Georgia, and both were old settlers of Texas, in which state they married. Mrs. Whisler's great-grandfather, was a German baron, named Von Fisher. For a number of generations her people on both sides were planters and slave holders in the sonth. Her father was a stock raiser on a large scale, and the paternal side of the family, include many merchants, all her uncles having followed that vocation. John H. Fisher of Waco was one of the leading busi- ness men of that city. Mrs. Whisler's father is de- ceased, and her mother is still living. The latter's father, Thomas Slack, lived to be ninety years old and was a very wealthy man.

Of the four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Whisler, one Enid Marguerite, died at the age of thirteen. The living are: Benjamin Hudson, who is employed at Texas City; Florine Dillard, and Norma, both at home.

Mr. Whisler came to Rosenberg September 12, 1892, and began service as joint agent for the Galveston, Har- risburg & San Antonio, the New York, Texas & Mexico, and the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad. He held that position for ten and a half years, after which he was engaged in the mercantile business at Rosenberg, until December 8, 1911. On the latter date he estab- lished his office in real estate, insurance and loans, and has been very successful along that line. While he sells all kinds of property, he deals chiefly in farm lands, and has also some large ranch tracts in Mexico. Mrs. Whis- ler adds to the resources of the family in the occupation of millinery.

In 1904, Mr. Whisler was chosen by the citizens of Rosenberg as mayor, and hy reelection he was retained in this important municipal office for six years. For twelve years he was a member of the school board. While not a member of any church, he is active in the International Bible Student Association. Fraternally he is a Mason and is master of the local lodge, and also a past master of Richmond Lodge. He has membership in Richmond Chapter of the Royal Arch, and is one of the board of managers of the Woodmen of the World. He has affiliations with the Modern Order of Pretorians, of which he is past recorder. Mr. Whisler owns consid- erable land in Fort Bend county, and much city real estate. His wife is one of the prominent social members of Rosenberg, and a member of the Ladies Afternoon Bridge Club. Her brother, Thomas D. Fisher, has been the moving spirit in the development of the well known Texas Coast city, El Campo.

JEFF T. KEMP. The present efficient incumbent of the Milam Connty Clerk's Office needs no introduction to the citizens of this section, whose representative he has been and whose interests he has so ably conserved during a period of ten years. Born in St. Helena par- ish, Louisiana. March 29, 1869, he is a son of Dempsey and Mattie (Taylor) Kemp. His father was also a native of that parish, where he was born March 19, 1845, was reared there, and entered the Confederate army at the age of sixteen, becoming a member of the Twenty-seventh Lonisiana Regiment, which took part in the siege of Vicks- burg. After the war he became a merchant and farmer in Tangipahoa parish, Louisiana. In 1881 he came to

Texas, locating at Cameron. At this time he lived at Houston, where he is a member of the clerical force of the Texas Company. He comes of an old and honored family of St. Helena parish, which was founded there by Jonathan Kemp, the great-great-grandfather of Jeff T. Kemp, who fought as a Revolutionary soldier in the battle of Bunker Hill and afterwards went to Louisiana, where he took up a farm which is still owned by mem- bers of the family. Mattie (Taylor) Kemp was born in Washington, District of Columbia, in 1842, and passed away in 1910, having been the mother of eight children, of whom seven survive; Ada, who married C. P. Dodge, secretary of the Texas Company, at Houston; Rosa, who married F. L. Adams, a lumberman of Eunice, Louisiana ; Moe, who married Milton J. Tucker, a salesman of Hous- ton; Demmie M., who is a land broker at Eugene, Ore- gon ; Louis W., manager of the paving department of the Texas Company at Honston; Lucille, who is engaged in teaching school at Burlington, Texas; and Jeff T., the subject of this sketch.

Jeff T. Kemp was given good educational advan- tages in his youth, first attending the schools of his native state, then the public school of Cameron, and later Southwestern University, at Georgetown, Texas. After leaving the latter institution, at the age of twenty-one years, he became a bookkeeper in the mer- cantile establishment of his father, and was thus en- gaged for a period of fifteen years, or until elected County Clerk of Milam county, in 1904. He subse- quently received re-election in 1906, 1908, 1910, 1912 and 1914, and his entire service has been characterized hy conscientious devotion to duty and a high regard for the responsibilities of public office. Mr. Kemp is the owner of a residence and of some valuable farm lands in Milam county. He is a stalwart Democrat, and among the leaders of his party is recognized as one of the county's most influential men, his first public service being as president of the Hogg Democratie Club, organ- ized in 1892 to promote the interests of the illustrious patriot, James Stephen Hogg. Fraternally he affiliates with the Masons, belonging to Temple Commandery and Hella Shrine, of Dallas, and is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World and the Knights of the Maccabees. He has an acquaintance throughout the county and numbers his friends by the score. Mr. Kemp has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church South since 1885 and has served the church in many capacities. For thirteen years he was superintendent of the Sunday school and has been a member of the Quar- terly Conference since 1890. He is a regular attendant upon the Texas Annual Conference and served as an alternate delegate to the General Conference in 1914, which met in Oklahoma City.

Mr. Kemp was married at Cameron, December 25, 1894, to Miss Lina Reed Rogers, daughter of Jefferson C. and Martha (Reed) Rogers, and five children have been horn to this union: Dempsey, who died December 16, 1912, at the age of sixteen; Jeff Thompson, Jr .; Ruth Rosemary, and two others who died in infancy.

Mrs. Kemp was educated in the public schools of Cameron and graduated from Baylor Female College of Belton in 1891. She taught school until her marriage in 1894. Since her marriage she has taught in the pub- lic schools of the county and served as Deputy County Clerk and office assistant to her husband.

Jefferson C. Rogers was a native of Lawrence county, Tennessee, and as a young man went to Tippah county, Mississippi, where he enlisted for service in the Ameri- can army during the Mexican war. He returned to his home after the expiration of his term of service, and in 1852 came to Milam county, Texas, and located on the Sneed farm on the Brazos river, where he soon became well known as a man of worth. In 1854 he was elected Sheriff of Milam county, a position which he held for four years, and in 1858 was made District

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Clerk of the county, holding that position until 1860. At the outbreak of the Civil war he cast his sympathies with the South and became the organizer of the Milam County Greys, of which he was elected captain, the com- pany being assigned to the Fifth Texas Regiment, Hood's Brigade. His service during the struggle be- tween the North and South was notable for its gal- lantry, and his deeds of valor on a number of principal battlefields of the war won him promotion first to the rank of major and later to that of lieutenant colonel. While serving in the latter capacity, in charge of his regiment at the battle of Chickamauga, he received a severe wound. At the close of the war he returned to Milam county, and in 1866 was elected County Clerk, but owing to conditions brought about by the war was not allowed to serve. In 1872 he was elected to the bench as Chief Justice, and served as such until 1875, when he was again elected County Clerk, and continued in that office until 1850. Colonel Rogers died in 1885, when Milam county lost a citizen whose life had done much to promote its interests in every way.

Martha Reed Rogers was born in Brazos county, Texas, in 1844, her parents being pioneer settlers of Texas, coming from Tennessee to Texas with Robert- son's Colony and later settling on Little river, in what is now Bell county, of which her father, William Reed, was the first sheriff. Her father was a member of Sam Houston's army in 1836. She still survives Colonel Rogers and makes her home at Cameron with her son- in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Kemp.

MADISON JAMES POOLE. The incumbent of the office of sheriff of Falls county since 1906, Madison James Poole, has established an admirable record, both be- canse of his fearlessness as an officer and his high executive talents, and through his services has proved markedly the value and necessity of long practical train- ing for the higher officials of county government. Al- though born in Alabama, he is by long residence and training a thorough Texan, with all the energy and practical ability which that name implies.

Sheriff Poole was born in Lauderdale county, Ala- bama, August 20, 1870, and is a son of James M. and Josephine (Garner) Poole. His father, also a native of Lauderdale county, born in 1836, moved to Tennessee in 1873, and there passed the remainder of a long and useful career in agricultural pursuits. His death oc- curred in 1902. The mother was born in Tennessee in 1839, and died in 1900, there having been nine children in the family, as follows: Minnie, who is a resident of Ardmore, Oklahoma; Madison James, of this review; Lula, who is the wife of W. White, marshal of Mans- field, Oklahoma; Ida, who married W. S. Rogers, a pros- perous farmer of Mansfield, Oklahoma; George, who is a salesman and resides at Gulfport, Mississippi; Hattie, Bennett and Lillian, who are deceased; and Nellie, who is the wife of E. T. Cain, a dairyman, and resides at Dallas, Texas.

Until he reached the age of seventeen years, Madison J. Poole attended the public schools of Tennessee, to which state he had been taken by his parents as a child of three years. He then spent- three years in agricul- tural pursuits, and when twenty years of age came to Texas and located on a farm in Bell county, in which vicinity he continued as a tiller of the soil for one year. Mr. Poole then accepted a position working on the county roads, and after four years' experience in Bell county was placed in charge of a convict road gang, in Falls, where he had his first experience in dealing with criminals. He was thus employed for ten years, and in 1896 came to Falls county. His reputation as a man who could accomplish results had preceded him, and here he was given entire charge of the grading crew and of the convicts of Falls county, and for ten years acted in the capacity of deputy sheriff. His faithful, fearless and efficient service in this office won him uni-

versal commendation and in 1906 he became the suc- cessful candidate of the Democratic party for the office of sheriff of Falls county. Re-elections have since been given him in 1908, 1910 and 1912, and he has always shown himself the kind of an officer to be depended upon in the solving of knotty problems, of which he has taken hold with determination, vim and bravery. Sheriff Poole is an active and energetic Democrat, and a hard worker in the ranks of his party in Falls county. His fraternal connections are with the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and he has a large acquaintance and many friends throughout this section, among men of all ranks and conditions of life and of all political parties. Ile owns his own residence at Marlin, and has always supported beneficial measures, taking an active interest in business affairs as a member of the Chamber of Commerce. When he takes a vacation from his ardnous duties, he is usually accompanied by his fishing rod or his gun, and it is seldom that he returus from an excursion withont he bears some trophy of the woods or stream. Sheriff Poole's family is iden- tified with the Baptist church, to the movements of which he has been a liberal donator.

On August 29, 1906, Sheriff Poole was married at Lott, Falls county, to Miss Mattie Cain, who was an orphan. To this union there has come one son, -- Gar- ner C.

L. M. BALLOWE. Not yet thirty years of age, Mr. Ballowe has achieved a position which reflects credit upon his steadfastness of character and purpose. He is a young man of able qualities of mind, and has the courage of his thought. Coming of an old and illustri- ous family on both sides of the house, his career gives promise of being in accord with that of his fathers and others whose names and efforts have been identified with much that is worthy in the Texas past.

Leigh Millican Ballowe was born in Brazoria, Texas, October 14, 1884, and is the son of John A. and Lillian Millican Ballowe, both parents being natives of Texas. The paternal grandfather, Samuel Leonard Smith Bal- lowe, was one of the early settlers of Brazoria county, and a prominent figure in his community. He was pres- ent at the first Masonie meeting ever held in Texas. He was a veteran of the Mexican war, and subsequently served throughout the Civil war with the rank of cap- tain. In Fort Bend county, he was owner of a large plantation, and operated with slave labor. The paternal ancestry is of English origin, and a large estate in the Ballowe name is now and for many years has been in chancery in England.

Lillian Millican, the mother of the Richmond attor- ney, was a daughter of C. C. Millican, who was born in North Carolina. He went overland to California in '49, and remained on the coast for four or five years digging gold. He returned to Texas, and another side of his experience was in driving cattle along the famous ('his- holm trail. He was very successful in his operations, both in mining and in the cattle business, and finally settled on a large plantation in Brazoria county, where he was engaged in the raising of fast horses and in farming with his large retinue of slaves. He bred and raised on his estate the famous running mare, Queen Esther, who broke the world's record in the early eighties. He was elected county treasurer of Brazoria county, during the reconstruction era. His death occurred in 1897. C. C. Millican was a direct descend- ant of Col. Andrew Millican of Revolutionary fame, and one of seven brothers who came to America from Scot- land, and founded the family on this side of the Atlan- tic. These brothers were all members of the noted Scotch clan of Millican. The maternal grandmother's father was named Spencer, and was a very large slave holder in Texas during the war, and three hundred of his negroes were released by the emancipation act.

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John A. Ballowe, the father of L. M. Ballowe, was an attorney during his active years and one of the best known in his part of the state. His ability in private practice brought him prominently to the front in public affairs. In his youth he had taught himself to a great extent since his father's death had caused the burden of caring for his mother to fall upon his shoulders, and he had to contribute to the education of three younger brothers and a sister. In 1885 he was elected judge of Brazoria county, and served four years. After that he moved to Richmond, where he was engaged in law prac- tice with Col. E. P. Peareson. During the administra- tion of Governor Hogg, he represented Fort Bend county in the legislature serving two years. In 1895 he was elected county judge of Fort Bend county, giv- ing an excellent administration during four years, and dying towards the close of his term of office. He was one of the men who drafted the original constitution of the Jay-Bird Democratic Association of Fort Bend county. Fraternally he was a Mason and had member- ship in the Episcopal church.

In the family of the parents were five children, four now living, the others than L. M. Ballowe being men- tioned as follows: Annie Masterson Ballowe, who is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and who was married in June, 1913, to E. L. Lancaster of Dallas; John Adriance Ballowe, who is private secretary to John M. Moore, congressman for the eighth district, and is also a lawyer by profession, now practicing law in Houston; Philip Pearson Ballowe, who is a member of the Law and the Art graduating class of the State Uni- versity of 1913, and was quiz master in the Law Depart- ment in 1914, and Elmo Ballowe, who died in infancy.

Leigh Millican Ballowe, attended the public schools of Richmond, then at St. Edward's College in Austin, and later the law department of the State University. Prior to his regular law course he read in the offices of D. R. Peareson, and S. C. Russell at Richmond. Having been admitted to the bar he began the practice of his profession in Richmond, August 11, 1908, and has always practiced alone. While he enjoys an extensive and growing practice in all courts, he prefers the erimi- nal branch of the law and is specializing in this line. From his early manhood, he has been active in Demo- cratie polities, and at the present time is secretary of the Jay-Bird Democratie Association of Fort Bend county. In 1912 he made a strong race for the office of district attorney of the twenty-third judicial district, being defeated by only a small margin. Mr. Ballowe was a member of the board of school trustees of the independent district of Richmond, and while in that position he took a prominent part in the election and in the business negotiations connected with floating the bonds for the erection of the splendid new school build- ing in Richmond now in course of construction. Mr. Ballowe did all the work connected with this enterprise. He resigned from his place on the school board, in order to make the race for district attorney.

On November 24, 1910, Mr. Ballowe married Miss Sue May Gregg, only daughter of Hon. A. W. Gregg, congressman for the seventh congressional district with residence at Palestine. Their two children are Mary Sue Ballowe and John Gregg Ballowe. Fraternally Mr. Ballowe is a Royal Arch Mason, and he and his family belong to the Episcopal Church. He at one time was superintendent of the Sunday school, and was also for several years choir director in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He takes much interest in music, dating from his college days, when as a member of the College Male Quartette he traveled all over the state after his gradua- tion from university. In 1908-1909 Mr. Ballowe was editor of the Texas Coaster at Richmond, and in April 1, 1910, bought and established his own paper, the Rich- mond Hornet. He gave up the publication of this jour- nal while making his campaign for district attorney.

In January, 1914, he removed to Cuero, Texas, and is now engaged in the law practice at that place.

HON. JAMES B. GIBSON. One of the most prominent men in the business and political world of Pecos, Texas, is the Hon. James B. Gibson, the present mayor of that place. He is one of the prominent lawyers of Reeves county and has been a resident of Pecos for many years. He comes of pioneer stock, his ancestors having not only been early settlers in Texas, but further down the line they were early settlers in the central states and still earlier in the history of the country were pioneers when the known western hemisphere was a narraw strip along the Atlantic seaboard. Mr. Gibson was himself born in Texas and is therefore even more deeply interested in the welfare of the state than are most of her citizens. As a public official he has given great satisfaction and he has shown that he possesses no small amount of executive ability.

The father of James B. Gibson was Robert A. Gibson and he was a native of Tennessee. He came to Texas in 1845 and joined the army of General Taylor, serving in his command throughout the war with Mexico. After the close of the war he located in Burnet county and was there married. He engaged in stock raising and farming there until 1861, when he moved to Gillespie county. Here he followed stock raising for a time but when the call to arms was issued by the Confederate government, Mr. Gibson, although he was fifty years of age at the time, volunteered his services and joined a battalion of frontier troops, serving with them until the end of that war. Just after the close of the war he, with a band of twenty-five men, crossed the border to Mexico, and here they were arrested as spies and thrown into prison. After much cruel treatment, such as being put into stocks and chained in their prisons, Mr. Gibson who was a fluent speaker of Spanish, managed in some way to make his escape. . Although he was handicapped by a ball and chain he was almost safe, but in attempt- ing to cross the Rio Grande he was shot and killed by a Mexican soldier.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 103

Author: Johnson, Francis White, 1799-1884; Barker, Eugene Campbell, 1874-1956, ed; Winkler, Ernest William, 1875-1960 Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society Number of Pages: 906

Author: Johnson, Francis White, 1799-1884; Barker, Eugene Campbell, 1874-1956, ed; Winkler, Ernest William, 1875-1960
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 906