A history of Texas and Texans, Part 133

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 133

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).

The early educational training of Dr. John William Cook was secured at Emory College, Oxford, Georgia, where he spent three years in literary work, and follow- ing this returned to his home and for one year was em- ployed as a teacher. In 1877 he came to Texas, and after spending six months at Fort Worth moved on to Arling- ton, being deputy sheriff of Tarrant county for a period of three years. Following this he went to Bell county and spent another year as a teacher, and then entered mercantile pursuits as a elerk at Moody. After one year thus spent he embarked in business on his own account and had a successful business career covering a period of three years. He had always, however, entertained an ambition to follow a professional career, and at this time, finding himself in a position to gratify his desires, dis- posed of his mercantile holdings and took a course of lectures and studied medicine at the Atlanta (Georgia) Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1891. For three years after receiving his diploma he practiced in Coryell county, and then came to Marlin and estab- lished himself in a general practice, which he has car- ried on with much success to the present time. About the year 1895 he opened the first bath house here and the original sanitarium, and this has become one of the leading institutions of its kind in the state, its reputa- tion having extended to far-distant points in the country. The Doctor has been a close and earnest student, keeping fully abreast of the advancements continually being made in his calling, and in 1898 took a post-graduate course at the Chicago Polyclinic, in 1900 at New York, and again in 1901 at Chicago. He belongs to the various organizations of the profession, and is affiliated fra- ternally with the Masons, in which he has attained the Chapter degree, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World. His political views correspond with those of the -Demo- cratie party, and his religious faith is that of the Meth- odist church. He is devoted to his calling, and his prac- tice is of such an extensive nature that he seldom is allowed time for recreation, but when he is able to take vacations they are spent in hunting and fishing. He has been successful in a business way, and in addition to his residence and sanitarium, he is the owner of three houses and lots in Marlin and of 887 acres of fine ranch land in Jim Wells county, also a six-story hotel and bath- house combined.

On August 10, 1882, Doctor Cook was married at "The

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Grove, " in Coryell county, to Miss Ellen Torbett, daugh- ter of J. C. Torbett, of MeGregor, and three children have been born of this union: Laverge, who married W. A. Karns, a salesman of Waco, and has two children- Mary E. and Laverge; Jessie, who married L. M. Loring; superintendent of the Southwestern District for the Southwestern Telephone Company, and a resident of Little Rock, Arkansas; and May N., who is siugle and resides with her parents at Marlin.

JAMES OTIS CHANCE. A resident of Brazos county since he was six years of age, James Otis Chance is descended from one of the original Austin colony, and during the past thirty years has played a varied and im- portant part in his community as a business man, ex- tensive farmer, and manager of land, and in many nseful ways has advanced the prosperity and welfare of his locality.

James Otis Chance was born in Caldwell, Texas, Feb- ruary 9, 1862. When he was a child both parents died, and he grew up under the care of an uncle, Milton Parker, a brother to his mother. Grandfather J. B. Chance was a surveyor, and came into Texas as a fol- lower of Stephen F. Austin, settling in the vicinity of old Washington, where he died. He was a man of spirit, a hardy pioneer, and his character as a family man is well shown by his effort to educate his children much above the usual standards of the time, and he gave them all the advantages that were afforded by the schools of Independence and in his home. J. B. Chance and wife had the following children: William, who died when a young man; Cole, who spent his life in Caldwell and in Williamson county, where he died; Elijah J., and Martha, who married a Mr. Wyatt of Caldwell, where she died, leaving a family. Elijah J. Chance, father of James O. Chance, was born in Tennessee, but was a .small child when the family moved to Texas and settled in Burleson county. Some years later he devoted himself to the law. He died at a comparatively young age, from troubles contracted by exposure during the war. He was a Con- federate soldier, fought with the Tennessee army, operat- ing chiefly in Mississippi. After the war he devoted himself to his profession at Caldwell, where he died in 1868. His wife was Miss Frances Ann Parker, a dangh- ter of Rev. Samuel Parker, who came from Tennessee, and was a pioneer Baptist minister in Texas. Mrs. Chance died before her husband and the children who grew up were: John P., who left a family in Bryan; James Otis and Francis Alexander, both of whom are living. Two children died in infancy.

While growing up the early years of James O. Chance were spent in Bryan, and he lived in a family and un- der the influance of a busy and thrifty man, whose suc- cess was of a marked character. Thus he had a good training for the practical work of life, although his edu- cation, so far as books were concerned, was much neg- lected. In young manhood he hegan an apprenticeship, and worked three years for a saddler, in Bryan, and then for some time was in the saddlery business for himself at Temple. Returning to Bryan in 1883, Mr. Chance opened a grocery, with his brother, under the name of Chance Brothers. This firm, which existed some ten or twelve years, was a prosperous establishment, and was finally acquired by Mr. Chance in 1891 and he conducted this business alone until 1895. On leaving merchan- dising Mr. Chance engaged in farming. In this line his enterprise is easily one of the most important in the Brazos Valley. When he started out he directed his at- tention to a great tract of virgin soil along the Brazos River, less than one hundred acres of which was then under cultivation. After twenty years of close applica- tion to farm development, Mr. Chance has achieved a re- sult worth while. Some thirty-five hundred acres have been brought into a productive state, and scores of homes for tenants have been built, and far and wide the

operations of successful husbandry are now carried on under the Chance management.

Mr. Chance was married in Brazos county, December 18, 1887, to Mrs. George Bessman. She is the only daughter of George Williams, who came to Texas in the early fifties. His original state was Connecticut, and he was born at North Stonington, in 1818. Growing up al- most entirely dependent upon his own resources and ability, he finally came west and engaged in the buying of furs, finally reaching Texas and establishing stores at different points along the Brazos River. In connection with his trading operations he wisely invested in land, and accumulated a vast amount of the virgin bottom lands. His later years were spent as a rancher, and his home and his pride was the famous "GG " Ranch, one of the best known of the older homesteads of Burleson county, and which in recent years, under the manage- ment of Mr. Chance, has become equally noted for its diversified agriculture as much as in earlier years for its live stock and cotton. George Williams died January 2, 1897. He married Mrs. Patience (Lawson) Loverin, who was a daughter of John H. and Sallie Richardson Dent Lawson. The Dents were of the old Georgia stock of that name, and both they and the Williams family went back to Revolutionary ancestry. Mrs. Chance was the only child of George Williams and wife. She grew up on the old ranch, but was educated in Philadelphia, and in Poughkeepsie, New York, and was married soon after leaving school. Mr. and Mrs. Chance have the follow- ing children: George G., born in 1888, now associated in business with his father, and by his marriage to Miss Lucile Williamson has a daughter, Eleanor Frances; Catherine Parker, who was born' January 4, 1892, and died in childhood; James Otis, Jr., a schoolboy, and now a student in the city of Philadelphia. The Chance fam- ily have membership in the Episcopal church. At West Anderson street, in Bryan, one of the new and splendid homes is that of Mr. Chance and family. It is a beauti- ful colonial residence and its broad and ample galleries are themselves typical of the generous hospitality which has ever been characteristic of this family.

A. MARCUS. Vice president of the People's Ice Com- pany of Wichita Falls, A. Marcus is one of the promi- nent citizens who have earned a place among local business men entitled to the honor of substantial achieve- ment and success. Although still a young man he has demonstrated his fitness to handle large concerns.

A son of the late Marx Marcus, A. Marcus was born at Gainesville, Cooke county, Texas, July 31, 1881. The public schools of Wichita Falls, where he has resided since infancy, furnished him his preliminary education, and he was for a time a student in the Agricultural and Mechanical College. Ambitious to begin a career of his own, he left before graduation, and became identi- fied with the cattle industry in Potter County, where his father was at that time operating. After five years lie sold his own interests there, and became associated with his father in the establishment of the People's Ice Company, of which he has since been vice president. This business, some description of which will be found on another page, has added materially to the commer- cial prestige of Wichita Falls, and its officials are all business men of known integrity.

In politics Mr. Marcus is a stanch Democrat, is a thirty-second degree mason and a shriner, and also a popular member of the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. On December 5, 1911, he was married at Waco to Miss Carrie Ettelson, who was born in this state, a daughter of Benjamin and Betty Ettelson. Her father is deceased and her mother now lives in Waco. Mr. and Mrs. Marcus have one child, Benjamin Marx, born July 20, 1913. Like most west- ern men, Mr. Marcus is a great lover of outdoor life, and

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has done a great deal of traveling, being well known all over the state.

DURANT MOTIER DANSBY. Alabama is the native state of Durant Motier Dansby, his birth occurring there in Macon county on September 16, 1841, and he was but eight years old when he came to Texas with his parents. He is a son of Daniel M. Dansby, who died in Brazos county, this state, in 1879, when he was seventy-seven years of age. The father was born in Fairfield District, South Carolina, and there he was reared, getting a fairly good education, and himself engaging in teaching for a term or two in his native community. He came to Ala- hama with his widowed mother, Winzey (Barker) Dansby, the widow of Isham Dansby, who died in South Carolina in early life, leaving children as follows: Daniel M., father of the subject; John, who died at Barber county, Alabama; Isham, who died in Alabama, near Bladen Springs; Catherine, who married Jesse Johns and died in Cass county, Texas; and a daughter who married Jacob Minshew and died in Union county, Arkansas.

Durant M. Danshy had his early training in Cass county, town of Douglassville, and when the war broke ont he enlisted in Dallas on June 6, 1861, in Company I, Third Texas Cavalry, the command making a forced march to Missouri soon after, where it participated in the battle of Oak Hills, or Springfield, on August 10, 1861. The young soldier came through his first battle without suffering more than a good scare, and the com- mand remained in that section until winter set in, when it went into winter quarters at Camp Wigfall, near Van Buren, Arkansas. When spring came the battle of Elk- horn came on and through this experience also he passed without injury. The enemy drove the command back to the Arkansas River, where it was dismounted at Little Rock and sent across the Mississippi to Corinth. there to participate in the Mississippi campaign. Mr. Dansby's company there joined in the general work of that locality and in the battle of Iuka he was shot through the left shoulder, the shot tearing away the humerus bone and rendering him a cripple for the rest of his days. He was taken prisoner by the Federals, but later escaped, and was taken by an uncle to Mobile, Alabama, and there had his wounds treated, remaining in the hospital for about two months. He reached home on June 1, 1863, and was then appointed by the Confederate government as tithe agent for Cass county, in which office he served until the close of the war.

When the war was over, Mr. Dansby settled down to farming. He made one crop, then disposed of all his Cass county lands and moved to Brazos county, settling there in Jannary, 1867. He engaged in farming four miles east of Bryan, buying land at a figure of $2.50 an acre. Later he was so fortunate as to pick up other lands, which seemed to him to be fairly desirable, at a figure as low as forty cents the acre. His capital was small when he settled in Brazos connty, and he purchased a com- paratively small tract of land, to which he applied him- self diligently in the expectation that he would make a farm out of it. He devoted himself rather closely to sheep raising, and in that line his success was excellent. He increased his herd from season to season until the drove aggregated several thousand head, and the clip from this drove he sold at forty cents the pound. He paid close attention to the quality of his breed, and his flock held a goodly number of choice Merinos, from which he improved the herd until a sheep would shear from five to eight pounds annually. With wool at that figure, Mr. Dansby prospered, and he gradually acquired more lands. He continued to operate until the results of his industry made it possible for him to retire about ten years ago. About twenty years ago he moved to Bryan and here has since maintained his residence.

Mr. Dansby is one of the popular and prominent men of Bryan. He is a Democrat, active in the work of the

party, a stanch Baptist, and he has been a Master Mason since the war.

Mr. Dansby was first married in Brazos county, on De- cember 14, 1871, when Miss Laura C. Todd, a danghter of Atha Todd, from Lowndes county, Alabama, became his wife. On October 30, 1892, Mrs. Dansby passed away, leaving three children. Marshall F., the eldest, is a retired merchant and farmer of Bryan; Miss Icy married Edgar Peters and lives in Brazos county; D. Paul lives in Bryan. On May 17, 1894, Mr. Dansby married Mrs. Eliza C. Lee, a daughter of J. Irwin Bar- ron, a native son of Louisiana. Concerning him a few brief facts are wholly consistent with the spirit and pur- pose of this work, and it should be said that he was born in Alabama in 1811 and died in the year 1866. He was a man of rather limited education and was all his life a farmer. He was a small slave holder in his native state, and served in the southern army under General Forrest. He was a son of James Wingate Barron, of Union Parish, Louisiana, and the family was one of Irish ancestry. The father of Mrs. Dansby was one of four brothers: Jorid Irvin, John, James and William. Jorid I. married Amelia Soles, a daughter of Joseph Soles, of Lowndes county, Alabama, a farmer and large slave holder, and the issne of their union were Sarah Ann, Caroline E., Mary Frances, James Wingate, Elmina, John M. and Pink L. Of these, Caroline E. first married George W. Lee, and her second husband is Durant M. Dansby. The children of Mrs. Dansby by her first mar- riage are Samuel Irwin, of Neuces county, this state, and Dr. George Francis of Welborn, Texas.

The family are popular and prominent in Bryan, where they have had a residence since 1894, and they have a host of stanch friends throughout the county, where they have long been favorably known.

T. W. PARKER. One of the best known newspaper men in the state and one who has done much to promote the best interests of Iowa Park, Texas, and the sur- rounding communities, is T. W. Parker, long identified with publicity work in these parts, and a most success- ful and enterprising young man. It was in 1909 that he located in Iowa Park, and since he took over the paper, then known as the Wichita County Herald, its successor the Iowa Park Herald, has reached a high state of effi- ciency and popularity in and about the county. Mr. Parker has shown himself to be a capable newspaper man and one who appreciates to the full the functions and responsibilities of a country sheet.

T. W. Parker was born in Noble county, Indiana, on January 18, 1871, and is a son of Asher Snow and Cloe (Wadsworth) Parker, the latter a cousin of William Wadsworth Longfellow, of poetic fame and name. The father was a native of New York state, and he came to Indiana as a young man. He was a well known physi- cian in Noble county, and a noted Democrat, participat- ing largely in the political activities of his time. Later in life he identified himself with newspaper interests and became well and prominently known in those circles, being located for twenty-six years in Kendallville, In- diana, and the editor and proprietor of the Kendallville News. He died there in 1904, at the age of seventy-two years. The mother, it may be of interest to note, was the first white child born in Noble county, Indiana, her birth occurring in 1839, and she died in Kendallville, Indiana, in 1882, when she was but forty-three years old. She was a woman of many excellent attainments and worthy qualities of heart and mind. A rarely edu- cated woman, she was ever the greatest help to her hus- band, and shared alike in his successes and his disap- pointments. They became the parents of five children, of which number T. W. Parker of this review was the youngest.

T. W. Parker attended school in Noble county as a boy, and he was nineteen years old when he was gradu- ated from the high school of Kendallville. He then went

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straightway into the newspaper offices of his father in Kendallville, and remained there for nine years. In 1905 he went to Oklahoma, settling in Shawnee, that state, and remaining for two years. Thence he came to Na- cona in 1908, and for a year at that place he conducted a newspaper. In 1909 he came to Iowa Park, where he proceeded to buy out the Wichita County Herald, the publication becoming known as the lowa Park Herald upon his assumption of the enterprise, and it has since expanded into a most creditable paper and a decided boon to the community, in comparison with its former newspapers. Today the Herald enjoys a wide circula- tion and is patronized by the business men of the county to a pleasing degree, its methods and its guaranteed cir- culation verifying the support which the merchants and other advertisers have accorded to it.

Mr. Parker is a Democrat, and his paper voices his opinions on political subjects. He is a Master Mason, a Pythian Knight and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His churchly affiliations are with the Episcopal church.

Twice has Mr. Parker been married. His first mar- riage took place on December 24, 1896, at Montpelier, Miami county, Indiana, when Miss Carrie Rice became his wife. She was a daughter of C. D. Rice and his wife, and the parents still reside in their Indiana home, though Mrs. Parker died in 1900, leaving two children; Ryal Bryan Parker, born in July, 1897, and Paul Parker, who died in infancy. The first named is now in business with his father. On April 14, 1903, Mr. Parker married Miss Hazel Starr, who was a native daughter of Peru, In- diana. No children have come of their union.

ANTONIO W. TOBIN. A life long resident of the Lone Star state, who has witnessed the wonderful development of the Southwest from a wide open ranch country, given over entirely to the raising of cattle, to one of the great- est commercial and industrial sections of the country, Antonio W. Tobin has contributed materially to the progress and development that have brought this desir- able condition about. Mr. Tobin was for a number of years personally engaged in cattle raising, and still owns a ranch in Jim Wells county, but during the past several years has made his home in San Diego, where since 1908 he has acted efficiently in the capacity of sheriff of Duval county.

Sheriff Tobin was born in the city of San Antonio, . Texas, in 1858, and is a son of Dan and Josefa (Na- varro) Tobin. His father passed away in 1872, but his mother is still living, and makes her home at Naco, Ari- zona. She is a daughter of Colonel Navarro, who he- longed to one of the prominent families of the early history of the state and was one of the signers of the Texas declaration of independence. The education of Antonio W. Tobin was secured in St. Mary's College, in his native city, and there he was reared to manhood. He was but fourteen years of age at the time of his father's death, and he soon learned to be self-supporting, securing employment among the cattle men of that vi- cinity. When he was twenty years of age he went to Zapata county, on the Mexican border, and there was elected to the office of county clerk, in which he served two years, following which he spent two more years in that locality, and in 1882 removed to Nences county. The location in which he made his home became Jim Wells county, by enactment of the State Legislature, May 9, 1911, and there his handsome ranch is still situated. He had been well and thoroughly trained and possessed inherent business ability, and as a result was able to make a success of his business ventures, accumu- lating a large tract of land and many head of cattle. In 1908 he became the candidate of the Democratic party for the office of sheriff of Duval county, and in the election which followed received a handsome ma- jority. In 1910 he again made the race and was the choice of the people, and in 1912 was once more re- Vol. IV-28

elected, and has continued to give the people excellent service. A man of determination, energy and unbounded courage, he has won the confidence of the law-abiding citizens, while the criminal element has a wholesome fear of his vigilance and ability. His long residence in this section has made him known all over this part of the state, and he is respected, not alone as a conscien- tious and hard-working public officer, but as a man who has ever been loyal to his friends.

Mr. Tobin was united in marriage with Miss Geronimo Canales, who was born at Mier, Mexico, and to this union there have been born six children: Oscar, Beatrice, Agnes, Dan, Antonio, Jr., and Jesus. The family re- sides in a handsome modern home in San Diego.

JOHN T. THREADGILL, who recently moved to the town of Deport from his farm in the vicinity of the place, has been identified with the community adjacent to this village since 1896, and with Red River county since 1880. He is a fine example of independence and modest thrift after a period of dependence covering a generous part of his married life, and the story of his rise in fortunes is but another chapter out of the general compliment paid to the black land section of Texas by the wealth it brings to those who will cultivate its acquaintance as- siduously and husband its luxurious growths.

Mr. Threadgill came hither from Henderson county, Tennessee, where his birth occurred, in the vicinity of Lexington, on December 16, 1848. He is the son of Allen J. Threadgill, who passed his life at the black- smith's forge and in the business of farming at Cru- cipher, that county, and died there in 1888, when he was something like sixty-five years of age. The father was born in North Carolina and came from the laboring classes. He contributed little to the public weal save his excellent citizenship, which is a quality of which too much may not be said in praise. As a boy, Allen J. Threadgill accompanied his father to Tennessee from North Carolina, and the elder Threadgill spent much of his time in business activities in Lexington. He was a major in the militia in his early days, and a man of some education and much usefulness in his county. He was one of the few Masons in the country in his time and was prominent in the order and active in his mem- bership in the Methodist church. He died when he was about seventy-five years old. His first wife was a Miss West, who bore him the following children: Elizabeth, who died as Mrs. Wadley; Whit, who spent his life in Arkansas; Mrs. Sallie Brewer, who died in Tennessee : Allen J., who became the father of the Deport citizen; Julia, who died unmarried; Eveline, who married Mr. Kingery, and Clinton, who spent his life in Tennessee.

Allen J. Threadgill was a loyal citizen, surrounded by warring elements in Henderson county, but he main- tained his position in that region while the war raged, and came out with honor and dignity, despite his posi- tion. He early married Mary A. Cawthon, a daughter of John B. Cawthon, a Methodist minister, who came out of North Carolina, and whose wife was a Miss Elizabeth Holtom. Mrs. Threadgill died in October, 1904, the mother of six children, as follows: John T., of this review; Alice E., who died as the wife of W. H. Fesmire, in Tennessee; Laura Ann, who married James McDaniel and resides in Tennessee, where also reside Allen W., Joseph and Mattie.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 133

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