A history of Texas and Texans, Part 114

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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Thomas Albert Thurston was born at Quiney, Illinois, April 23, 1869, being the oldest of four children born to Eugene and Emma A. (Butts) Thurston. The father was born in New York State and the mother in Ohio, and they moved to Illinois at a very early time. The father, whose death occurred at the age of fifty- two in 1898, was for many years a successful railroad man and became a resident of Tennessee in 1883. The mother is now living in New York City at the age of sixty-four.

Mr. Thurston attended the public schools of Kansas City, being a student of the high school in that city and also of Palmer Academy. After leaving school he followed in the footsteps of his father by taking up railroad work, and for five years was clerk in a railroad office in Tennessee. Subsequently for several years he was with a live stock commission company in Kansas City; he then engaged in business for himself, with Mr. H. T. Bruce as partner, and they carried on an extensive business dealing in horses and mules. His connection with that enterprise continued for twelve years and at the end of that time in March, 1907, he located at El Paso and established the offices and be- gan practice as a publie accountant. He now has four assistants and a large force of office employes.

Mr. Thurston is prominent in Masonry, having at- tained the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite, hav- ing also passed through the grades of York Rite, and is a member of the Mystic Shrine. His other fraternal affiliations are with the Woodmen of the World. In polities he is a Democrat and is a member of the Volunteer Firemen Association of El Paso and the Busi- ness Men's Club of Memphis. At Memphis, Ten- nessee, June 7, 1892, he married Miss Fannie W. Palmer, who was born at Crystal Springs, Mississippi. The two children born of their marriage are Eugene B., born at Memphis, Tennessee, November 5, 1896, and now a Vol. IV-24

student in the high school at El Paso; Charles A., born at Memphis, October 18, 1899, and also attending school in this city.

WILLIAM ELMER DAMERON. A young college man who has found large opportunities for work and publie serv- ice in Deaf Smith county, Mr. Dameron is now serv- ing as county attorney, also as city attorney, and is one of the leading lawyers of Hereford.

William Elmer Dameron is a native Texan, born at Bloomfield in Cooke county, February 28, 1887. His father was a settler in Cooke county in the latter six- ties, and is now living retired after a long and suc- cessful career in Hereford. William Bruce Dameron, the father, was born in North Carolina, and after lo- eating in Cooke county was engaged in the merean- tile business until July, 1900, when he came out to Hereford in Deaf Smith county. For several years in this Panhandle county he was engaged extensively in stock raising, and is still a man of large property interests. He is a Democrat, and a member of the Christian church. His ancestry was Scotch-Irish, and the first of the name settled in Virginia, before the Revolutionary war, later moving into North Carolina. Sarah Elizabeth (Barnard) Dameron, the mother, who was of English descent, was born in Cooke county, Texas, a daughter of Gilbert Barnard, one of the pioneers of that vicinity, and a large planter. The mother is still living and six of her seven children sur- vive.

William Elmer Dameron having the advantages of a good home and reared in prosperous circumstances, at- tended the public schools of Gainesville and of Here- ford, and also the Hereford College. He later went east and was a student at Washington & Lee University at Lexington, Virginia, until his graduation LL. B. in 1908. He later entered the State University of Texas, but his election as county attorney of Deaf Smith county in 1911 proved an interruption to his studies, so that he lacked several months of completing his course. He was re-elected county attorney in July, 1912. Besides his official duties, he has a private satisfactory prac- tice, and for the past two years has represented the city of Hereford in a legal capacity. He is also di- rector and attorney for the Panhandle Oil Development Company. Since his college days he has been a vig- orous worker in the Democratic interests, and is a broad minded student and observer of the course of modern polities and eivie affairs. He has membership in the County Bar Association and in Hereford Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and is secretary to the Board of Elders and Deacons in the Hereford Christian church. During his second year in the Washington & Lee College he was chosen president of the Washington Literary Society and was anniversary orator on Washington's birthday.

In April, 1908, he was a member of the Washington and Lee debating team which debated with the University of Tennessee. His chief recreation is tennis, and he has been very skillful in this game since his college career.

J. W. WOODS. A law firm with a large and repre- sentative practice, and regarded as one of the ablest combinations of legal talent at Houston, is that of Woods and Harris, well known attorneys with offices in the Lumherman's National Bank Building. J. W. Woods, the senior member, has practiced in Texas since 1896, and formerly served as county attorney and county judge of Robertson county. Judge Woods, who represents an old Texas family, located here since the days of the Republie, is a successful man through his individual efforts. He earned a living by teaching school, and studied law at the same time, and having effected an en- trance into the profession, has pursued the goal of his ambition steadily and with marked success.

Born in Robertson county, Texas, December 11, 1873, he is a son of James A. and Fanny (Parker ) Woods.

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Both the father and mother were born in Texas, and Grandfather John Woods was a native of Ireland, came to Mississippi as a young man, and during the closing years of the Texas Republic emigrated to this frontier country, settling at Wheelock, in Robertson county. He was one of the earliest settlers in that locality, and was for many years a general merchant. The father, who was born and reared in Robertson county, gave his active career to agriculture and stock raising.

J. Will Woods received his education in the common schools, and qualified and taught school in his native county, at the same time carrying on his studies in the law, beginning in the office of Hon. C. F. Cohron. Ad- mitted to the bar in 1896, he began practice at Bremond, and was there until 1900. His election as county attor- ney of Robertson caused him to take up his residence at Franklin, the county seat. He was county attorney until November, 1904, when he was elected county judge of Robertson county, and administered the duties of that position until November, 1908. In the fall of 1908 he was one of the presidential electors on the Demo- cratie ticket. At the close of his official term, in Novem- ber, 1908, he moved to Houston, and has since been a popular member of the Harris county bar. Upon moving to Houston he formed a partnership with Guy Graham, making the firm of Woods & Graham, which continued until January 1, 1911, when Mr. T. J. Harris became a member of the firm, which then became Woods, Graham & Harris. Since October 15, 1912, the firm has been Woods & Harris.

Mr. Woods is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, Knights of Pythias, and the Woodmen of the World. He was married February 12, 1899, to Miss Lena George, daughter of W. R. George of Robertson county, who was born in this state, and was a substantial farmer in Robertson county. To their marriage have been born three children: Roy Woods, Bessie Woods, and Joe Worth Woods, The family reside at 1101 Cortland street in Houston Heights.

WILLIAM A. TAYLOR. For many years a successful merchant and farmer of Kaufman county. William A. Taylor of Kaufman is now living a somewhat retired life, although' his financial interests still bear a close relation to merchandise and banking, in addition to which he is extensively connected with agriculture. He came to Kaufman county in 1872, a young man of twenty-three years, with a poor education and only the experience in business secured on the farm. He was in company with his brother, George B. Taylor, and the twain drove through in a buggy from East Texas, seek- ing a place to engage in business where their small cap- ital would win some favor and be able to compete suc- cessfully in the marts of country trade. They selected Prairieville, in Kaufman county, as suitable for them, and there opened a store with three hundred dollars' worth of goods, the business being established under the style of Taylor Brothers.

It was not long before the brothers discovered that their limited means were a source of embarrassment to them, and for a few years the utmost faith in their suc- cess seemed not to'lie in the patrons of their community. It was impossible for them to buy everything the people needed and called for, and this tended to popularize their competitors there or elsewhere. But they did es- tablish a standing for good intentions which was worth much more, and the economy they practiced enabled them to reach a point where a full stock could be carried and all the wants of the neighborhood supplied. From that time forward their success was assured. Their first stock was housed in a building 18x20 feet, which prem- ises gradually lengthened to 180 feet by the year 1885 and housed a stock that was a satisfaction for the brothers to contemplate.

The success of their merchandise venture led the Tay- lor brothers into the cattle business, and after a number

of years they gathered together a bunch of cattle for the free grazing adjacent to their location. The gradual expansion in this industry led to the purchase of the cheap grass lands about Prairieville, and they became dealers and traders as well as growers of beef, and ulti- mately shippers to the St. Louis market. This branch of the brothers' business was encouraged, and continued until 1886, when they curtailed their business and in- vested their profits in lands and in the expansion of their business interests in Kaufman.

In 1886 the brothers moved their stock to Kaufman, Texas, and subsequently erected the business house on Houston street in which W. W. Baird & Company are now doing business. They continued business until 1895, when they sold to Erwin, Spikes & Company. After three years of rest, Taylor & Company engaged in bnsi- ness and witnessed another prosperous business era of seventeen years, when they sold their interests to A. Miles & Company and retired to a less strenuous life with the management of their personal affairs.

The influx of settlers into Kaufman county necessi- tated the abandonment of grazing and the opening of farms, and Taylor Brothers entered upon a period of farm-making which has not yet been finished, although a large amount of their former pasture is now producing cotton and grain. They have under cultivation two thou- sand acres, with ample provisions for tenants, and are buying and selling lands from time to time. The thirty families which do the work involved in the proper care and cultivation of such a domain as theirs forms a pop- ulation sufficient for a healthy country school, and the situation is in agreeable contrast with the "old-time"' cow ranch of which the lands of the brothers were once a part.

William A. Taylor is himself a director of the First State Bank of Kaufman and was one of the organizers of its predecessor, the Citizens' National Bank, which came into existence in 1890 and continued until 1910. He is a member of the mercantile firm of W. W. Baird & Company. His home, on Houston street, the popular and exclusive residence street of the city, was erected by him and his brother, and George owns an elaborate modern home of his own planning and building not far therefrom.

William A. Taylor was born in Marshall county, Texas, August 27, 1849. His father, R. P. Taylor, went there as a boy from the state of Mississippi in 1838. The latter was a "runaway" youth, and eventually ac- qnired capital sufficient to engage in mercantile pursuits fourteen miles west of Marshall. He became the pos- sessor of a farm there, and owned more than twenty negroes, which exempted him from service in the Con- federate army during the war. He won financial inde- pendence, but permitted his good nature to allow him to endorse for others, and died in 1865 minus his former estate.

R. P. Taylor was born in 1818, possessed unusual na- tive ability, had a fair education, and was one of six children of his parents. He had a half-brother, James F. Taylor, who spent his life as a farmer six miles east of Marshall and who was once a member of the Legis- lature. He left a family of five children. The children of James F. Taylor were as follows: Sallie, who married Eugene Horton and resides at Shreveport, Louisiana; and Ophelia, the wife of Capt. W. W. Fields of Haskell, Texas. The sons of Mr. Taylor were: Dr. Howard, of Marshall, Texas; and Hollis and Lewis, also of that city.

William A. Taylor was married in Prairieville, Texas, November 1, 1875, his wife being Miss Florence Anglin, whose parents came to Texas from Louisiana and died leaving two daughters: Florence and Mattie. Mrs. Taylor grew up in the home of Capt. R. B. Shaw, one of Texas' nobleman farmers and merchants, of Prairie- ville, once sheriff of Kaufman county, and for four years a Confederate soldier. His life impressed itself upon his community indelibly and was an example worthy of

Tra Tay for-

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emulation. Mrs. Taylor was educated as Captain Shaw's own child. She and her husband have been the parents of the following children: Eddie G., who is the wife of C. B. Harton, of Kaufman, and the mother of the fol- lowing children: Jean, Carolton and Bill Taylor, Gladys and Nina are the younger children. Mr. Taylor has kept away from political entanglements. He has been a member of the Methodist church for forty years, doing his duty as a lay and official member thereof.

George B. Taylor was born in Harrison county, Texas, April 26, 1851, and was given the same educational ad- vantages as his brother, whom he has accompanied through all the vicissitudes of a long and honorable business life. His mother was Almeda Sanders, daughter of Richard Sanders, and passed away before her hus- band. Their children were as follows: Mrs. Frances King, whose death occurred at Weatherford, Texas; Mrs. Virginia Cole, a resident of Hallville, Texas; Mrs. Eugenia Lee, who makes her home at Gilmer, Texas; Mrs. Nona Davis, a resident of Longview, Texas; Robert P. who died without issue; and William A. and George B. of Kaufman. Robert P. Taylor, Sr., the father of the foregoing children, married Jennie Ford for his see- ond wife, and she now resides in Gregg county, Texas, and is the mother of Engenia and Nona.

George B. Taylor was married in Prairieville, Texas, in 1876, to Miss Mattie Anglin, who was reared to wom- anhood in Louisiana. The children who have been born to this union are as follows: Cornelia, who became the wife of Gregg Powell, of Terrell, Texas; Miss Alma, who resides at Kanfman; Essie, who is the wife of Paul Bond, of Terrell; and Robert Paul, who died at the age of eleven years.

Like his brother, Mr. Taylor has eschewed practical polities, giving his support to democratie policies with- ont much ado. He has ever been affiliated with church work as a Methodist, and has served the congregation in Kaufman many years as a steward. He is a Master mason and a member of the Chapter, and Past Noble Grand of Oddfellowship.

GEORGE A. STAMBAUGH. The death of his father when George A. Stambangh was abont five years of age made it necessary that the latter should devote a large por- tion of his early youth and young manhood to provid- ing for his widowed mother and other members of the family. He has therefore experienced necessity and hard- ship from an early age, and from that early experience of doing more than was actually necessary for his own support, has derived a splendid discipline and practice which has no doubt been largely responsible for his present position as head of the largest mercantile house of Hereford in Deaf Smith county.

George A. Stambaugh was born in Collin county, Texas, April I, 1864. His father was Jacob R. Stam- baugh, a native of Pennsylvania, who came to Texas in 1852, from Illinois, where he had been a resident for ten years, and was one of the pioneer settlers of Schuyler county. Farming and stock raising was his ocenpation and he enjoyed a fair success. He was a Democrat and member of the Methodist church. During the Civil war he was exempt from service owing to ill health. His death occurred in 1869, when forty-one years of age. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Ann Hopkins, whose father was Dr. G. V. Hopkins, a native of Ken- tueky, from which state he moved to Illinois, locating in Fulton county, where Mrs. Stambaugh was married in the town of Astoria, in 1851. She is still living, being now seventy-nine years of age and residing on the old home place in Collin county. Of the seven children, one died in infanev and the others are still alive. The paternal ancestry of Mr. Stambaugh was German, the first mem- bers of the family having located in Pennsylvania. On the maternal side the grandfather was a Kentuckian and the grandmother a native of Ohio.

George A. Stambaugh was the fourth in the family

of his parents. When a boy he attended school in Collin county. As already stated, he was at work from almost the earliest time he can recollect, and from the age of sixteen to twenty-eight he engaged actively in farming in the northwestern part of Collin county. He then made up the deficiencies in his early education and re- ceived a course in the academy in Collin county when twenty-eight years of age. During four years he was merchandising in Collin county, between 1895 and 1899, at Roseland, Texas, and in January of the latter year moved to Deaf Smith county. For three years he was in the grain business and then entered into a partnership in the present establishment, his three partners in the concern being W. H. Patton, J. M. Garner and A. J. Lipscomb. All the other partners have since dropped ont and Mr. Stambaugh is now sole proprietor and con- duets what is easily the largest store with the largest stock of general merchandise, dry goods, notions, men's and women's furnishings and millinery in Hereford and Deaf Smith county. The store has floor space of thirty by one hundred and sixty feet and six clerks are em- ployed in attending to the trade. Mr. Stambaugh is also financially interested in the Dallas Dry Goods Company, which is a new wholesale firm whose stockholders are merchants in Texas and surrounding states.

Mr. Stambaugh is a Democrat without official aspira- tions. He is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a deacon in the Christian church. In 1895 in Collin county he married Inez Harris, who was born in Illinois, reared in Missouri, being a daughter of James T. and Lovisa Harris. Their one son is George V. Stambaugh, born in Deaf Smith county, June 14, 1901.

ALFRED R. HAMBLEN. One of the oldest and most distinguished names in the Harris county bar is that of Hamblen. The late Judge W. P. Hamblen made a dis- tinguished record both as a lawyer and as a jurist and was a man of exalted character and his name stood for the finest qualities of the able attorney wherever it was known, and that was all over southern Texas. Two sons of the late Judge Hamblen now continue the relations of the family name with the legal profession at Houston. Of these, Alfred R. Hamblen is the senior member of the firm of A. R. and W. P. Hamblen, whose offices are in the Stewart Building at Houston. Mr. Hamblen has had a number of distinctions in the course of his practice as a lawyer, and particularly from his numerous appointments as special judge.

Alfred R. Hamblen was born in Houston in 1877, a son of the late William P. and Isabella T. (Miller) Hamblen. William P. Hamblen, who died in April, 1911, was born in Indiana in 1834, came to Texas in the Spring of 1848. locating in Houston, where he studied law, and with his admission to practice on June 21, 1855, began a career which for nearly half a century kept him in the foremost ranks of Houston lawyers, and brought him many enviable successes. In 1902 came his election to the office of judge of the district court of Harris county, and he presided over that court with a splendid dignity and a ripeness of judgment which made the sessions of his court notable for their exemplification of the finest qualities of court-room practice. The widow of Judge Hamblen is still living.

Alfred R. Hamblen received his education in the Houston schools. His studies in preparation for the practice of law were carried on under his father's diree- tion and in the office of Hutchinson & Sears, and later with Hutchinson, Campbell & Sears. The latter was one of the most distinguished legal combinations of its time in south Texas. His admission to the bar came in 1897. He at once began practice in partnership with his father, under the firm name of W. P. and A. R. Hamblen. The elevation of Judge Hamblen to the bench in 1902 interrupted their active relations as part- ners, and at that time W. P. Hamblen, Jr., came into

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the firm and it has since been continued under the title of A. R. & W. P. Hamblen.

Probably no other member of the Harris county bar has been so frequently selected from the private walks of the profession for duty as special judge. Mr. Ham- blen has served in all the local courts in that capacity, three times in the county court, and four times in the district court. He is well known fraternally, belonging to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Houston Turn Vereiu, and the Loyal Order of Moose. Mr. Hamblen was married in 1904 to Mrs. Minnie E. Matthews, a daughter of John Lynch of Galveston. They have their home at 1920 Leeland Street.

HON. CORNELIUS WARE ROBINSON. The present judge of the criminal district court of Harris county got his training in the law while engaged in farming in one of the south Texas counties. He has been a hard worker all his life, and it was a steadfast ambition which led him from the restricted field of agriculture to the higher sphere of the law and life.

Born November 22, 1863, at Point Blank, in Polk county, but now in San Jacinto county, Texas, Judge Robinson is a son of Henry Ware and Annie (Goodall) Robinson. He is a descendant of prominent Alabama and Tennessee families. His great-uncle was Judge Todd Robinson, who rose to distinction as a member of the Texas bar, from this state moved out to California, where he was elevated to the bench and became chief justice of the supreme court of California. Henry Ware Robinson was born in Alabama, came to Texas about 1855, settling at Point Blank in what was then Polk county, and as a business man was a planter and stock raiser. During the war he went to the front with a Texas regiment, and after the struggle was over re- turned and took up the quiet vocations of country life. Annie (Goodall) Robinson was of a Tennessee family, whose members were long prominent in that state.

Judge Robinson was educated at the Agricultural and Mechanical College in Bryan and in Baylor University while located at Independence, Texas. He became a farmer, and while looking after his farm and providing for his little household he applied himself diligently to the study of law at night, and at all leisure inter- vals, and by continuing this dual occupation was quali- fied and admitted to the bar in March, 1887. He at once began practice at Cold Springs in San Jacinto county, and was a member of the bar there until 1903. Since then he has had his home and practice in Houston, and became associated with the law firm of Hume, Robin- son & Hume. His partnership continued until April 1, 1910, when Governor Campbell appointed him judge of the criminal district court of Harris county to fill the unexpired term of Judge Ed. R. Campbell. Such was his record on the bench during those two years, that in 1912 he was chosen at the regular election for the term of four years. Judge Robinson enjoys a repu- tation for broad learning and absolute impartiality as a judge, and is held in high esteem by all the members of the Harris county bar.

Fraternally he is a Master Mason, and belongs to the Knights of Honor, the Knights and Ladies of Honor, the Woodmen of the World, the Lodge No. 151 of Houston Elks, the Loyal Order of Moose, and the Houston Turn Verein.

At Galveston in 1882 Judge Robinson married Miss Annie Bell Dorroh, daughter of Dr. John Dorroh of Mississippi. Her mother was a descendant of Caesar Rodney, who was one of the signers of the declaration of independence. The judge and wife have two daughters, Jimmie Lea, who is the wife of E. L. Stephens of Houston; and Mary Louise, who married Fagin Burch of Houston. The home of the Judge and family is in Montrose.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 114

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