A history of Texas and Texans, Part 113

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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lands and stock raising in various parts of the State, and in this connection is widely known. Mr. Avis en- tered business life in Wichita Falls in 1891, when he became the proprietor of a grocery establishment, and this he conducted successfully until 1896, when he sold his interests therein and embarked in the hardware busi- ness. The Avis Hardware Company was established in September, 1909, and this has since developed into one of the leading ventures of its kind in this part of the State. He continues as president of this concern, is vice president of the First National Bank, in which he has held an interest for upwards of thirty years, and is a director in the Southern Wichita Life Insurance Com- pany, having in addition large interests in various other enterprises. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge, in which he is Past Master, Past High Priest and a Shriner, having reached the thirty-second degree of Masonry, and is connected also with the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. A stalwart Democrat in his political views, he has served as county commissioner from precinct No. 1 and during three terms has been a member of the city council. With his family, he attends the Presbyterian church.

Mr. Avis was married March 1, 1885, at Montague, Texas, to Miss Minnie Ollie Bush, native of Virginia, who was brought to Texas as a child by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Bush, pioneers of Grayson county. Mr. Bush met his death in a runaway accident. Four sons and four daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Avis: Frank P., born December 27, 1885, at Montague, a graduate of Wichita Falls Business College, now in busi- ness with his father, is married and has one child; J. Davis, Jr., born in Wichita county in 1887, a ranch owner of Wichita Falls, is married and has two children; Kathryn Lou, born in 1889 in Wichita county, who mar- ried W. F. Weeks; Lillian Grace, born in Wichita county in 1892; Albert W., born in 1894 at Wichita Falls, who is engaged in business with his father; Charles Robert, born in 1896 at Wichita Falls and now attending high school; Gretchen, born at Wichita Falls in 1900 and now attending the graded schools; and Ruby Cornelia, born in 1902. at Wichita Falls and also a student in the public schools.

HON. CLYDE DAVIS WRIGHT. The present county judge of Deaf Smith county, Mr. Wright is an attorney and has been a resident of the Texas Panhandle for the past twenty two years. Few men have had better opportunity for close study of conditions in this section of the state and having seen the Panhandle during its hardest times, he is more than content to stake his confidence and his all on the continued prosperity and development of the region.

Clyde Davis Wright was born January 19, 1879, in Ellis county near Milford, Texas. His paternal grand- father was one of the founders of this town, where Judge Wright was born. The father, John R. Wright, was born in Indiana, and came to Texas in 1852, the Wright family being among the pioneers of Ellis county. The family is of English descent and was founded in North Carolina early in the eighteenth century. The original immigrant served as a soldier of the Revolu- tionary war. Subsequently the Wrights crossed the mountains and located in Kentucky, and from there moved to Indiana. Great-grandfather William Wright was a resident of Indiana before the territory was ad- mitted to the Union, and was chosen as one of the prominent citizens of his community to be one of the committee which greeted General Lafayette on his visit to America during the twenties. William Wright was a farmer by occupation. On the maternal side Judge Wright's family were early settlers of Georgia, coming to that colony from England. They lived on the Sa- vannah river, where they were prominent planters and slave holders. John R. Wright, the father, was a farmer and also a surveyor. He served as county surveyor,

and also as county commissioner of Ellis county, and was one of the men of that county who was depended upon for leadership in public affairs. He is now living retired at Hereford, which has been his home since December, 1907. During the Civil war he enlisted in Company B of the First Texas Cavalry, serving as a private from beginning to end. Although he thus fought for the southern cause, neither be nor his father, Arvin Wright, had ever held slaves, did not believe in the institution, and opposed secession. John R. Wright married Florence Tate, who was born in Geor- gia, her family moving to Texas after the war, and she was married in Ellis county in 1874. Her death occurred in that county when thirty-eight years of age. One of the three children is now deceased.

Clyde Davis Wright, partly through the advantages supplied by his father and partly on his own account, secured what would be accounted a liberal education, first in the public schools and then in Clarendon College. The first twelve years of his career he spent on a farm, and then began reading law in the office of Ware & Smith at Clarendon. By close attention to his studies he was admitted to practice in 1902 in all the courts of Texas. His professional career began at Silverton, where he was in general practice for three years. In December, 1907, he opened his office in Hereford, and has been in general practice there until elected to the office of county judge in 1910. He is now serving his second term, and the citizens have given him their hearty support, and recognize him as one of the most capable officials Deaf Smith county has ever had. Mr. Wright has also served two terms in the office of county at- torney of Briscoe county, one term by election and one by appointment.

He is a worker for the Democratic party, is a mem- ber of the Masonic Blue Lodge and the Knights of Pythias, and he and his family worship in the Pres- byterian church. He was married June 15, 1910, in Hereford to Miss Lelia Gregg, who was born in Cali- fornia, but was reared in Indiana, a daughter of Austin W. Gregg. The two children of their marriage are Elva Lee Wright, born at Hereford, May 26, 1911, and Arvin Gregg Wright, born August 26, 1913, in Hereford. Judge Wright devotes all his time to his official duties and his profession. His chief recreation is the game of tennis, and he is a thorough student of general literature, and of current affairs. He is also interested in agriculture and stock raising.

HENRY J. COLLINS. The El Paso Tent & Awning Company, Incorporated, of which Henry J. Collins is manager and president, is the largest concern of the kind in the southwest, and does a very extensive busi- ness in El Paso and over all the country tributary to this commercial center. The store and factory is lo- cated at 312 South El Paso Street, and in the work- shop and store rooms floor space of 4610 feet in dimen- sions is occupied. Some half dozen workmen are em- ployed and the output has become standard, and the name denotes highest quality in trade circles.

Henry J. Collins, the head of this business, who has been identified with El Paso citizenship for ten years and previous to that was one of the pioneers in the development of the Pan Handle country of Texas, was born at Henderson in Rusk county, July 29, 1861. His father was Anderson B. Collins, a native of Tennessee, who came to Texas about 1848. His career was remark- able in many respects, and he was one of the settlers of the county who bore a full share in the burdens of pioneer life. He had served through two wars, the Mexican and the Civil war, and in the latter went through from beginning to end, a full period of four years and was a commissioned officer in the Confed- erate army. For a number of years he was a merchant at Henderson, where he died in 1884 at the age of eighty-four years. The mother, who was born in 1834

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in North Carolina, now makes her home in Henderson, and is a consin of General Fitzhugh Lee. Seven chil- dren were born to the parents, and Heury J. was the fourth.

His education was attained in the public schools of Henderson, and he graduated from high school in 1882. Ou taking up practical life, his first position was as a fireman with the Fort Worth & Denver Railway, and he contiuned railroading for three years. He was among the first trainmen to run a train along the route of the Fort Worth & Denver Road up to the Pan Handle country, and on leaving the railroad service he estab- lished a store at Texline, and spent seven years there in general merchandise business. Then moving to Fol- som in New Mexico he continued as a merchant and also in the live stock business for six and a half years. Then on January 1, 1902, he arrived in El Paso, and established a grocery store at 204 San Antonio Street. This business was conducted under the title of the Pio- neer Grocery and he did very well for two years. At the end of that time he transferred his attention to the furniture business and also the tent and awning trade. The latter branch of enterprise he has continued ever since and is largely responsible for the success of the El Paso Tent & Awning Company.

In polities a Democrat, Mr. Collins has been very active in public affairs, especially during his residence in the Pan Handle. He was one of the organizers of Dalham county, and was honored with election as first treasurer of the county, an office which he held for six years. He was also appointed to the office of post- master during the second Cleveland administration. At Texline, on December 16, 1895, he married Miss Helen MeCrary, daughter of Thomas MeCrary, who was one of the pioneer settlers of Comanche county, this state. Eleven children were born to Mr. Collins and wife, of whom ten are still living, one having died in infancy. Their home is at 1520 N. Campbell Street in El Paso.

WILLIAM L. BROWN, M. D. Since 1902 a physician and surgeon of El Paso, Dr. Brown came to this city thoroughly equipped by training and experience for his professional work, and since coming here has made a splendid reputation as a skillful and successful physi- cian and surgeon.

William L. Brown was born September 23, 1873, at. Coffeyville, Kans. His parents were William V. and Katherine A. Brown. His father gave four years of soldier service in the Union army during the Civil war. He was a native of North Carolina and his ancestors were early settlers of that state. On the mother's side Dr. Brown is descended from English ancestry. William V. Brown died at El Paso, November 20, 1911, having come to this city to spend the winter with his two sons, Dr. W. L. and C. P. Brown. He was seventy- four years of age at the time of his death.

Dr. W. L. Brown as a boy attended the common and high schools at Centerville, Iowa. On determining to prepare himself for the medical profession he selected as his school probably the strongest and certainly the oldest and best known medical college of the middle west, the Rush Medical College of Chicago. He was graduated there M. D. in 1896. Following his gradna- tion he took a competitive examination for the posi- tion of house physician and surgeon in the Cook County Hospital at Chicago. He passed this examination sue- cessfully, and remained for one and one-half years as house physician and surgeon at the hospital, a period during which he obtained broad and valuable experi- ence in the practical work of medicine. From Chicago Dr. Brown moved to Unionville; Missouri, where he was engaged in practice for two years, and then in 1902 located at El Paso where he has enjoyed a fine success. Dr. Brown now devotes himself almost exclusively to the practice of surgery, and has done a large amount of experimental work, especially in the line of bone

surgery, and he is a careful student and observer and plans to make the results of his experimental work valuable not only in his own practice, but for the bene- fit of the entire profession. Dr. Brown worked his way through school, paying his tuition by his own earnings from outside work, and has always been an ambitious and energetie member of his profession. He has taken a very active part in the work of the medical societies and has been honored on different occasions by the fra- ternity. He is a member of the County & State Medical Society, and in 1911 and 1912 was state dele- gate to the American Medical Association.

Dr. Brown has always voted for principles rather than party, and is entirely independent in his political affiliations. Socially he is a member of the El Paso Country Club and the El Paso Social Club, and his church is the Presbyterian.

On June 2, 1906, at El Paso, Dr. Brown married Miss Katherine A. Murphy, a daughter of David M. and Katherine Murphy, who were formerly residents of Corpus Christi, Texas. Mrs. Brown's father was one of the pioneer settlers of Corpus Christi and one of the best known citizens of the entire state. For many years he was a leading business man engaged in the transportation business both by ship and rail- road at Corpus Christi. All over that section of the state he was known among his thousands of acquaint- ances as "Honest Dave." He served four and a half years as a soldier of the Confederacy. His death oe- eurred October 14. 1913, an honored veteran of the war and esteemed among all whose fortune it was to know him. From 1903 Mr. Murphy was a resident of El Paso, and was well known in the citizenship of this city. Dr. Brown and wife have one adopted daughter, Lonise Bridges Brown, age three years. She is a danghter of Pierce and Alice Bridges, former resi- dents of Luling, Texas. During ten years of residence and active practice in western Texas Dr. Brown's faith in the resources and comforts of Texas has continually increased, and he is a firm advocate of his section of the state as a home for all classes of people who need a healthful climate and splendid natural resources and wholesome large-hearted citizenship.

EDWARD R. TAFT. General Agent for the Wells Fargo & Company Express at El Paso, Mr. Taft has been identified with the express business all his active career, having begun as a boy of fifteen years, and having by industry and reliable service worked his way from one position to another until he now has one of the most responsible places in the service in Texas.

Edward R. Taft was born July 16, 1881, at Ballston Springs, New York, a son of Gurdon A. and Carrie Elizabeth Taft. His father before him has been in the express business for more than thirty years, and with his wife now makes his home at Houston, Texas. There were five children in their family, four sons and one daughter, one son having died in childhood.

Edward R. Taft, the oldest in the family, was edu- cated chiefly in the public schools of Texas, and when fifteen years of age began learning the express husi- ness under the supervision of his father. His first work as an employe was at Honston as an express messen- ger, and he was a railway express messenger for seven years on the Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe Rail- way. In 1903 when he was twenty-two years of age, his steady promotion began when he took the agency at Amarillo, Texas, after having acted as relief agent at Yoakum and San Angelo for some time. At Ama- rillo he remained until July, 1907, at which time he was transferred to the agency at Bisbee, Arizona, and two years later took the appointment of Route Agent for the same company, with headquarters at Ash Fork, Arizona, remaining there one year. In April, 1910, he took the appointment as agent of El Paso, and was promoted to the larger responsibility of General Agent

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on January 1, 1911, sinee which date he has continued in his position to the satisfaction of the company and the public patronage. His offices are at 312 Mills Street.

Mr. Taft during 1903 and 1904 was a member of the Texas Volunteer Guards. His father before him has been a stanch Republican all his adult life, and the son was reared in these principles and has given steady adherence to Republican doctrines and policies. Fra- ternally he is affiliated with the Elks and has been active in the work for the good of the order.

On June 20, 1903, he married at Houston, Texas, Miss Helen Green, a daughter of Alexander B. Green and wife. Mr. Green for a number of years held the office of county clerk at Giddings, Texas. Both her parents were formerly from Mississippi and among the early settlers of Texas. Mr. Green died at Houston in 1912, and Mis. Green is still living in the old home at Houston. Mr. and Mrs. Taft are the parents of one child, Mary E., age four years.

JAS. L. Dow. A schoolboy and printer's devil at the same time; promoted to the "case, " and by practical doing learning the art preservative; then a journeyman, and gradually accumulating, in spite of reverses, the means for independence; and now editor and manager and largest stockholder in the best country newspaper and printery in west Texas-such in brief, suggestive phrasing, has been the career of Mr. Dow of Lubbock.

James L. Dow is a Texan, born in Hamilton county, September 25, 1878. His father, James Dow, came from his native Scotland to America in 1870 and direct to Texas, locating first in Collin county, near Mckinney. He was a farmer and stock raiser, but prior to coming to America followed the sea as a sailor. In Texas he served for a term as connty treasurer of Gaines county and took a very prominent part in school matters. He is now a resident of Gaines county, having gone there in 1904. He is a Democrat and a member of the Methodist church. Of late years he has engaged in the telephone business, being one of the principal stockholders and directors of the Seminole Telephone Company of Gaines county. The maiden name of his wife was Margaret G. Nisbett, who was born in Scotland, and followed her husband to America as soon as he had established himself in this country. Her five children are all now living. She died at Seminole, Texas, at the age of sixty-four on March 6, 1911.

The third child of the family, James L. Dow, had his education in the public schools of Lampasas and Borden counties, and attended high school in Colorado City, Texas, where he was graduated in 1897. His early career was spent on a ranch and farm, and at the age of twen- ty-one he started out for himself. His first practical training for his career was during his school days, when he was attending school and working between times in a printing office, where he first learned the technical de- tails of printing. He completed his apprenticeship with Colorado Spokesman, and his first wages was not more than ten dollars a month and board. He was connected with this paper for more than two years, and for one year was with the Stockman Publishing Company. After that. having saved some money, he bought the paper on which he had served his apprenticeship, and conducted the plant with success, and finally sold it at a good ad- vance on the purchase price. He then bought the Weekly Review. which proved disastrous, owing to a fire which consumed the building and destroyed all its equip- ment. There was little or no insurance, so that Mr. Dow was practically at the beginning of his career once more. He was then employed some time on the Merkle Mail and the Brownwood Bulletin. He persevered, and finally with his savings he moved to Lubbock and became foreman and associate editor with the Avalanche Publish- ing Company. After two years he bought out the estab- lishment. and since April, 1906, has conducted the Ara-

lanche as a paper with a very large circulation, a strong list of advertisers, and a news gatherer and publisher of exceptional influence and ability. The mechanical plant has few equals among the country papers of Texas. Mr. Dow has improved it from a three thousand dollar plant to one in which twelve thousand dollars is invested, that representing the capital stock of the incorporation, of which Mr. Dow controls the largest interest. He is president, editor and manager of the Avalanche Pub- lishing Company. The Avalanche has a weekly issue, a twelve to sixteen page paper, and the offices and ma- chinery are housed in a new and modern structure twenty-six by eighty feet in ground dimensions. The company has introduced the best and latest machinery and does a large amount of business in job work.

Mr. Dow is a Democrat in politics and has always in- terested himself in local affairs and in promoting good government. He has never sought any public office, and at the present time, as a member of the school board, is filling about the only public place he has ever been will- ing to accept. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Woodmen Circle, the Modern Order of Pretorians, and the Knights of Pythias. He belongs to the Lubbock Cham- ber of Commerce and is a member of the Methodist church and Superintendent of its Sunday school.

On May 1, 1905, in Mitchell county, Mr. Dow married Miss Lila Dorn, a native of Alabama, but reared in Texas from childhood. Her father was J. M. Dorn of Mitchell county. The two sons born to their marriage are : James Rankin Dow, who was born in Sweetwater, Texas, June, 1906; and Melvin Nisbett Dow, born at Lubbock,. March 10, 1908.

J. H. SMITH. During a quarter century's residence in El Paso, Mr. Smith has witnessed the growth of this city from 9,000 population to 50,000 and cor- responding development in every direction. Mr. Smith has been a very prosperous and enterprising business man during this time, and in later years has handled a large amount of the real estate transactions in this vicinity, he having the distinction of being the third oldest real estate man in El Paso.

Mr. J. H. Smith comes of an old Missouri family, and was born in Randolph county, that state, May 21, 1849, a son of Robert and Martha J. (Dameron) Smith. Both parents were natives of North Carolina and their respective families became residents of Randolph county, Missouri, in the early thirties, during the pio- neer epoch of that state. The father, who was long a prosperous farmer, died in Missouri, January 2, 1889, at the age of eighty years. The mother died in 1870 at the age of fifty, and she was married in Missouri. Seven children were born to their union, Mr. J. H. being the third in order of birth.

His early life was spent on a Missouri farm, and in the meantime he received unusually good educational advantages, attending the public schools, and subse- quently Pritchett Institute, one of the best known schools of central Missouri. On leaving school, he en- tered the mercantile business for himself in Randolph county, and for eighteen years was a merchant of his native county. He was then associated with his father on the farm until October, 1888, at which date he moved to Texas and located at El Paso, then a com- paratively small city with only a tithe of the industry and business which it now possesses. In El Paso he was first engaged in the fuel and feed business, and after four years became actively identified with public affairs, serving for eight years as city collector and as city treasurer for two years. At the end of this political service he established himself in the real estate business and now handles general transactions in that line. Mr. Smith is also treasurer and vice president of the Consumers Ice Company of El Paso. During

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the period of his other service for the city, he was also a school trustee, and has always been active in local polities and has been a publie spirited citizen always ready to give his aid and earnest work for the betterment of local institutions.

In polities he is a Democrat, and his wife is a mem- ber of the Baptist church. His fraternal affiliations are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World, and he has filled all the chairs in the Odd Fellows Lodge. On May 18, 1885, in Randolph county, Missouri, he married Miss Lelia Sears, daughter of Alfred Sears, of a well known old family of Missouri. The seven children born to their marriage are named as follows: Jennie, born in 1886, died in 1889 in Randolph county; Grover Cleveland, born in Randolph county August 25, 1885, is a gradu- ate of the El Paso high school and was a student in both the Missouri and Texas State Universities, and is now in business with his father; Lucile, born in Ran- dolph county, February, 1887, is a graduate of the El Paso high school, and is now engaged in teaching; Juan and Juanita, twins, born in Fort Worth in 1890, and the son is a graduate of the Uiversity of Texas and of the El Paso high school, and is now a practicing attorney; Robert, born in El Paso, July, 1892, is a graduate of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, and is employed in the Rock Island Rail- road offices.

THOMAS ALBERT THURSTON. The leading firm of pub- lie accountants in El Paso and west Texas is that which was established in the spring of 1907 by Mr. Thurston. The profession of accountancy is comparatively modern in its present features and scope and yet has been de- veloped to be one of the most important adjunets of modern commerce. Mr. Thurston has a splendid equip- ment and expert knowledge of his business, and it has been reinforced by a long and varied experience in business affairs.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 113

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