A history of Texas and Texans, Part 119

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

USA > Texas > A history of Texas and Texans > Part 119

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

His early life was spent on a farm, and his educa- tion was liberal, and he was able to complete the course at Trinity University at Tehuacana. While as- sisting his father he learned all the details of farming and stock raising, but chose a business career. His first position was as bookkeeper and manager for the Round Bale Cotton Company, a large concern operating branch plants at Gatesville, Waco, Belton, and Houston. In 1906 Mr. Mercer took a position as branch-house manager for Swift & Co., Chicago, and for two years was located at Abilene. From Abilene he came to Mineral Wells, and has since been closely identified with this great health resort and thriving commercial center. His first two years of residence here were spent as man- ager for the Mineral Wells Light, Power & Heating Company. This was followed by his election and serv- ice as city auditor, and general superintendent of the city water works in 1908, and his attention has since been closely directed to the large and responsible pub- lie affairs entrusted to his charge. The water supply of Mineral Wells comes from a large lake of seven hun- dred acres situated across the hills west from the town. Vol. IV-25

The water is pumped through mains through the town to a large standpipe, situated on an eminence east of the city, and this standpipe gives a pressure of eighty- seven pounds to the square inch. It is soft water, and of the highest quality for all purposes.

In politics Mr. Mercer has always voted and sup- ported the Democratic ticket, and as a citizen has given both intelligence and the most serupulous integrity to the discharge of all duties conferred upon him by his community. His Masonic relations are as follows: Member of the Blue Lodge at Mineral Wells, of which he is past master; past worthy patron of the Order of the Eastern Star; past high priest of the Royal Arch chapter ; past illustrious master of the council of Royal and Select Masters; a member of Dallas Consistory No. 2, of the Scottish Rite; and member of Hella Temple of the Mystic Shrine. Mr. Mercer is past ex- alted ruler of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and past chancellor commander of the Knights of Pythias; past grand in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He has long been interested in the work of public charity and benevolence. He is now presi- dent of the United Charities and Corrections of Min- eral Wells. He is treasurer of the Palo Pinto County Fair Association, and a director in the Mineral Wells Commercial Club.

Mr. Mercer is chaplain of the Volunteer Fire Depart- ment, and since the death of his father has acted as chaplain of the Stonewall Jackson Camp of Confed- erate Veterans. His church membership is with the Baptist denomination, in which he is a deacon and is secretary and treasurer of the Sabbath school.

Mr. Mercer is a bachelor, has always regarded his parents' home his own, and says that he has never missed a birthday dinner or a Christmas dinner that his mother has cooked or superintended during his life- time. It is his intention to make Mineral Wells his permanent home, and his relations with this community are of the most pleasant and agreeable kind, all his fel- lows having the utmost confidence and respect for his character and ability. Mr. Mercer has made himself the particular friend and guardian of the young men of his community. Wherever possible he endeavors to help younger people both by advice and by practical assist- ance. His favorite method of counseling his young friends is the distribution of printed slips, which he al- ways carries about him, and a quotation of the words printed on one of these slips will indicate what he con- siders practical and inspiring advice. The slip reads as

follows : "A man that's clean inside and out, who neither looks up to the rich or down to the poor, who can lose without squealing and win without bragging, who is considerate of women, children and old people, who is too brave to lie, too generous to cheat, and who takes his share of the world and lets others have theirs. "

JOHN SCHMIDT. More than thirty-five years have passed since John Schmidt became identified with the varied business interests of Nacogdoches, and during all this period he has been known as one of its most pro- gressive and reliable citizens. Time has but brightened his reputation in business circles and his life here covers one of the most important and interesting periods of the history of this part of Texas, while there are few large commercial and industrial activities with which he is not in some way or another connected. The sturdy German element in our national commonwealth has been one of the most important in furthering the substantial devel- opment of the country, for this is an element signally appreciative of practical values and also of the higher intellectuality which transcends all provincial confines. Mr. Schmidt is one who claims the Fatherland as the place of his nativity, and in his life he has displayed the strongest and best traits of character of the German race. He was born November 14, 1856, at Boos, near

1978

TEXAS AND TEXANS

the city of Kreuznach, in Rhein province, Germany, where his father, Philip Schmidt, was a farmer, and in which locality his forefathers had lived for many gen- erations. Philip Schmidt married Marguerite Coerper and they became the parents of ten children, of whom John was the fourth in order of birth. One other, Jacob F., came to the United States.

John Schmidt attended the public schools until eleven years of age and then became a student in the gymna- sium, which corresponds with the American high school. When he was fourteen years of age he entered upon his business career, becoming an apprentice to the mercan- tile business, and when three years had been thus spent he came to the United States with his friend, Abram Mayer. Mr. Schmidt secured employment in New York City as a salary boy, and continued in that capacity for three years, then coming to Texas, in 1877, where he secured a position as a clerk at Henderson. In the meantime, his friend Mr. Mayer had come to Henderson, Texas, in 1876, and in 1878 Mr. Schmidt joined him and under the firm name of Mayer & Schmidt they embarked in a small grocery business at Nacogdoches, Texas, on March 15th of that year. Their first place of business was located on the public square in a frame building, on the west side, and there they remained nearly two years. They then moved to the north side of the square and after another move located on Main street, the present site, where in 1882 they built a large mercantile house in order to accommodate their rapidly growing trade. In 1908 this building was destroyed by fire, but in 1909 the present handsome structure, modern in every detail, was erected. The firm drifted slightly into the jobbing business with the country stores and the firm finally became in a measure a department store. This was incorporated in 1909, capitalized at $75,000, and the present officers are B. M. Isaacs, president ; H. P. Schmidt, vice president; C. C. Rhein, treasurer ; and Albert M. Brewer, secretary. In 1910 Mr. Schmidt withdrew from this business.

Mr. Schmidt's outside interests have been large and of a varied character. He was one of the promoters of the Nacogdoches Grocery Company, and has been president thereof for eight years; he aided in the organ- ization of the Nacogdoches Oil Mill Company and the compress company here; is vice president and a director of the Commercial Guaranty State Bank of Nacog- doches; a director and vice president of the firm of Cason, Monk & Company, hardware dealers; a director of the Crain Furniture Company; president of the big house of Mayer & Schmidt, at Tyler, Texas; a stock- holder in the firm of Titche-Goettinger & Company, of Dallas, and of Schwartz-Landauer Company, of Dallas, the Guaranty and Trust Company, the Southwestern Life Insurance Company of Dallas, the Fort Worth Elevators Company of Fort Worth (of which he is also vice president), the Lufkin National Bank, of Lufkin, Texas, the Paunee Land and Lumber Company, of Paunee, Louisiana, and the Wadel-Dickey Hardware Company, of Tyler, Texas.

Mr. Schmidt 's political activities have not been large. He was a delegate to the famed "car-shed" convention at Houston, when the democratic party split, and was a Hogg supporter there. In 1892 he was an alternate to the Democratie National Convention, when Mr. Cleve- land was nominated the third time for the presidency. He was a gold Democrat in 1896, when he supported Palmer and Buckner, but voted for Mr. Bryan the next two times. In addition he has served as alderman and city clerk of Nacogdoches for two years and has served as school trustee here. In fraternal circles he is con- nected with the Blue Lodge and Chapter of the Ma- sonic fraternity, is a Pythian and an Elk, and also belongs to the Hoo Hoos. He is a life member of the State Historical Society. He was reared in the faith of the Lutheran Protestant church. Mr. Schmidt has erected many residences of Nacogdoches adjacent to his

North street home and has also built numerous brick stores here, including the postoffice building, with Mr. Blount, and the block on Main street, between Church and Fredonia streets. He also erected the Mayer-Schmidt business house in Tyler and is one of the owners of a four-story brick building in Dallas, at Main and Austin streets. He is fond of travel and has visited his native country on four different occasions, in 1887, 1899, 1907 and 1912.

On January 13, 1880, MIr. Schmidt was married in Nacogdoches to Miss Elizabeth K. Voigt, a daughter of a pioneer settler, Henry Voigt, who came from Westphalia, Germany, to the United States in 1846. He was a baker by trade and for some years was engaged in business at Nacogdoches. There were four children in the Voigt family: William F., who died in 1888 in Nacogdoches, where at one time he served as postmaster; Mrs. Mena Mergenthal, of Palestine, Texas; Mrs. Elizabeth Schmidt ; and Mrs. Angusta Schuh, of Tacoma, Washington. To Mr. and Mrs. Schmidt have been born six children, as follows: Alice M., the wife of W. F. Gintz, secretary of the Nacogdoches Grocery Company; Philip Henry, who died in infancy; Louise, who married C. C. Rhein, with the firm of Mayer & Schmidt, Inc., of this city; Emma A., the wife of C. H. Johnson, of Fort Worth; Herbert J., with the Nacog- doches Grocery Company, married Maud Sloan; aud August Carl, who is working for the Titche-Goettinger Company, of Dallas.

T. S. RICHARDS. Every one of the eight thousand in- habitants of Mineral Wells and many thousands of the annual visitors to that famous resort know and esteem the genial old pioneer Uncle Tom Richards, proprietor of the Star Wells. Mr. Richards came to Mineral Wells over thirty years ago, when its population was less than one hundred people, and when the Wells had a repu- tation only among the people living within that imme- diate vicinity. Mr. Richards bought and developed the Star Well, and his enterprise and the many facilities provided at his direction for the entertainment of vis- itors have been a very important factor in making Mineral Wells a resort city second to none in the southwest, and the mecca for thousands of visitors every year.

T. S. Richards was born July 30, 1830, in Troup county Georgia, a son of T. S. and Elizabeth (Jordan) Richards. The Richards family, of English descent, was established in America during the colonial period by the great-grandfather of the Mineral W'ells citizens. Grandfather was a soldier on the American side dur- ing the Revolutionary war, and came out of that struggle with the rank of major. The military record of the family goes back to the father of Mr. Richards, who was a soldier during the war of 1812, and fought Indians, in Alabama and Florida. Mr. Richards him- self has a military record, and during his long resi- dence in Texas has seen much of pioneer existence, ex- perienced an occasional Indian raid, has seen the plains covered with herds of buffalo, and has also hunted deer, elk, wild turkeys, and other game when it was plentiful, in regions now covered with towns and well ordered homesteads. His father moved from Georgia to Alabama, and became one of the large planters and slave owners and also operated a mill in that state. The father died in 1846, and his widow survived nearly half a century until 1890, and was a second time mar- ried. There were three children by the first marriage, and seven by the second, Mr. Richards being the third child of the second wife. His opportunities for getting an education were necessarily limited, when in Ala- bama, where his youth was spent, there being few schools excepting a private institution here and there, and in consequence his learning has been largely acquired by individual training and experience. His father died when he was sixteen years of age, and at that time the burden of responsibilities for managing the homestead was

1979

TEXAS AND TEXANS

fargely shifted to his shoulders. Later he located at Lonnie, Alabama, and established a general merchan- dise store, built up a large trade, and at the beginning of the war bis property was worth at least thirty thou- sand dollars. Practically all of it was swept away dur- ing the long conflict among the states, and he himself raised a company of cavalry and fought on the side of the Confederacy. His company was in the Sixth Ala- bama Cavalry, but most of its service was as independent scouts. Captain Richards was captured at Bluffs Springs in Florida, on March 25, 1865, by the army under General Steele, was taken to prison at Ship Island, and guarded by negroes until his exchange at Vicksburg. About that time peace was declared and he returned home.

In January, 1867, Captain Richards came to Texas, spending a short time in Williamson county, and then locating on a farm in Coryell county. That was his home for ten years, and as a farmer and stock raiser he became one of the substantial men in that vicinity. The ill health of his wife was the cause which prompted him to move to Mineral Wells. He and his wife went there on November 19, 1881, and the drinking of the waters from the Star Well cured his wife of Bright's disease. With this happy outcome of the visit, Mr. Richards was so pleased with the location that he de- termined to become a permanent resident, bought the Star Well, and also a hotel, and conducted it as thé Richards House. When Mr. Richards bought the Star Well the water was drawn up by an old-fashioned rope and bucket. Since then many improvements have been introduced, and the water is now pumped to the sur- face by an electric motor, and is served at counters in a large pavilion surrounding the well. This pavilion is the regular resort for visitors and residents, and has naturally developed as the social center for the city. Thousands of people who never entered the limits of the city of Mineral Wells are familiar with and can testify to the virtues of the Star water, which as a health drink rivals the famous waters imported from abroad. The Star water is shipped by thousands of cases to all points in the United States.

When Mr. Richards located in Mineral Wells in 1881 there were but eight houses, and only two wells in opera- tion, the Lynch and Star Wells. Some twenty-five or thirty families were there and most of them living in tents in order to drink the water. The approach to the city at that time could only be gained by taking a hack or stage at Millsap on the Texas and Pacific Railroad, and riding across the rough country for ten miles. At the present time two railroads enter Mineral Wells, the Texas & Pacific and the Gulf Western, and there is an electric street railway line in operation. The population at the present time is about eight thou- sand.

In politics Mr. Richards has always been a Democrat and since twenty-one years of age has been affiliated with the Masonic Order. His church is the Primitive Baptist. In Chambers county, Alabama, on June 19, 1861, Mr. Richards married Miss Mary Jane Lawson. She was an orphan girl, and was reared in the home of her grandfather, W. B. Knox, a prominent planter and stockman before the war. Ten children have been born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Richards, six sons and four daughters, and six are still living, mamely: W. L. Richards, who is a cattleman and banker at Dickinson, North Dakota; Mary, wife of Dr. Lutrell, of Mineral Wells; Martha R., wife of A. J. Thomas, cashier of the Mineral Wells Bank; Lavisa Elvira, wife of Augustus Wicklong, an engineer on the Mineral Wells Northwestern Railroad; Alice Iva, wife of W. T. Hiles, a commercial salesman for the McCord- Collins Company of Fort Worth; and Frank, a land and stock trader of Mineral Wells. Mr. Richards is of the opinion, based upon long experience and close observation, that Mineral Wells has no superior as a

health resort in the entire United States. He has lived here thirty-one years, has reared a large family and his aggregate doctor bill throughout that time has been only seven and one-half dollars. He is himself now eighty-three years of age, is hale and hearty, and has many reasons besides those of material advantage to feel grateful to the wonderful well of which he is proprietor.

JAMES B. BADGER. The business career of James B. Badger has been a varied one, and has embraced many lines of activity from the time when he began his active independent career until he established himself in bis present business in 1897. Mr. Badger was born in San Jacinto, Texas, on December 6, 1856, and is the son of James B. and Fannie (Jameson) Badger.

James B. Badger, father of the subject, was born in Ohio, and came to Texas in the early days with the pioneers. He was a ship carpenter by trade, and fol- lowed that and other occupations during his active business life. He died in 1863. His wife, who, as before mentioned, was Fannie Jameson, was born in Texas, and she has the unique distinction of having lived under four different flags, namely: the Mexican, Texan, United States and Confederate flags. She met and married her husband, James B. Badger, in Galves- ton in 1850, and she died in 1911. They were the par- ents of eight children, of which James B. of this review was the fourth born.

James B. Badger has lived in Texas all his life. Here he received his early education in private schools, there being no public schools in his early boyhood. His edu- cation, however, did not extend past his thirteenth birthday, and at that age he started out to do battle with the world upon his own responsibility. He went to Galveston at about that time, and for sixteen years made his home in that city. His first work there was in a cigar store, where be worked for one year, and he later clerked in a grocery store for a similar period. His next position was with the L. C. Hirschberger Com- pany, and he later served a four-year apprenticeship as a sheet metal worker with the above firm. At the com- pletion of his apprenticeship he continued in this line of work for eleven years, and it was in 1886 that he came to El Paso and engaged in the grocery business, with which he was identified for the following seven years. At that time he sold out the business, and after a short rest established his present business, which con- sisted of the dealing in coal, feed and building material, and he is today one of the largest dealers in these lines in El Paso.

Mr. Badger has been identified with some of the leading business enterprises of El Paso. At one time he was a stock holder and officer in the Automatic Telephone Company, and he maintained this connection with the company until it sold out, when he withdrew from all participation in its affairs. He has always manifested a lively interest in the welfare of the city, and in the days when El Paso maintained a volunteer fire department he was a member of it for years and they still maintain the organization and are subject to call in emergency cases. He is now its secretary and was president for a number of years. Mr. Badger wears a very handsome medal that was presented to him by the department for long and faithful service in the work. He is a Democrat and takes an active interest in local political affairs, and has served on the city council for more than thirteen years. During that time he has been instrumental in bringing about some very important changes in the administration of the city, and his service has been one of a highly valuable nature to the community.

Mr. Badger has been twice married. His first mar- riage took place at Galveston, Texas, when Miss Harriet Mannin became his wife. She died in 1880 without issue. His second marriage took place in 1895 when

1980

TEXAS AND TEXANS

Mrs. Mary F. Lane became his wife. She was a widow with a family of five children when he married her, they being named as follows: Walter, Alice, Florence, Bessie and Edward. Since the passing of his second wife and helpmate, Mr. Badger has maintained the care and direction of the lives of these young people, and has looked upon them in the same manner he would as if they had been his own, showing them every care and attention that a kindly parent would give to his own offspring. He is a man who enjoys the highest regard and esteem of the best people in El Paso, where he is well and favorably known for his many excellent qualities of heart and mind.

HORACE A. LAY. After a quarter of a century as a traveling man, during which time he had covered all portions of the country from one coast to the other, Mr. Lay has his permanent home and business headquarters in the splendid country of western Texas, and for some years has been located in El Paso. Mr. Lay is General agent of the Capital Life Insurance Company of Den- ver, one of the old and substantial life companies of the country. The Capital Life Insurance Company has large investments in Texas, and of the outside compa- nies now operating within the state, its volume of busi- ness in recent years has probably not been excelled by any other organization.

Horace A. Lay was born in Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania, June 6, 1859, a son of Michael and Elizabeth Lay. The father died in 1863 at the age of thirty-six, and the mother is now a resident near Philadelphia. Mr. Lay attained his early education in the public school of Philadelphia, and was thirteen years of age when he began the battle of life on his own account, at which time he took a position as a traveling sales- man. Two years later he left the road and entered a store in order to gain a thorough knowledge of the hardware business in its retail aspects. Then two years later he again took a position as traveling salesman, and did not leave the road for any length of time during the next quarter of a century. His home was in Phila- delphia until he was about twenty years of age, and after that in Ohio, his residence and headquarters being at Sidney, Ohio.

On resigning from his place as a traveling salesman Mr. Lay first located in the Pecos Valley, at Roslyn, where he remained about two years, and established an office in the insurance business. Then in the fall of 1905 he moved to El Paso, where he has since had his headquarters' and office. As general agent for the Capi- tal Life he covers all of west Texas, New Mexico, and a part of Arizona.

At Sidney, Ohio, July 23, 1883, Mr. Lay married Miss Clara E. Kirkley, daughter of Cyrus Kirkley of Sid- ney. They are the parents of two children named Horace G. and Louis R., both of whom reside in El Paso. The family worship at the Methodist church, and Mr. Lay is a well known and prominent Mason. He was master of the work in the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite and is now chairman of the reception committee of the Consistory. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias. His politics is Republican, al- though in local affairs he is usually independent. He enjoys hunting and fishing, and has excellent equipment for following both sports with profit and pleasure. Mr. Lay believes that the undeveloped possibilities of Texas are beyond any adequate description, and says that the resources are so remarkable that people in order to ap- preciate them must come and see for themselves.

ROBERT A. CHILDERS, M. D. Practicing medicine in Floydada since 1903, Dr. Childers is a Texan by birth, a physician of ability and serviceful ideals, and in all a man whose presence is a good thing for a community.

Robert A. Childers was born in Cooke county, Texas, September 3, 1877, the son of an early pioneer family,

John W. and Martha (Gunter) Childers. His father, a native of Kentucky, came to Texas when a young man, settling in Wood county, where he was engaged in farming and stock raising. From there he moved to Cooke county, where he followed his chosen vocation for a number of years. A few years ago he retired and has since lived in Abilene, being now seventy years. During the Civil war he enlisted with the Confederacy and saw a great deal of hard service in a number of the noted battles of the war, and went through without wound or other serious results. The mother was born in the state of Georgia, went to Texas with her par- ents who settled in Wood county, where she grew up and received her education and was married. She is now sixty-four years of age.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A history of Texas and Texans, Part 119

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