A history of Texas and Texans, Part 14

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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After his settlement here, in 1850, Elijah Ray had about the experiences which were typical of life in that time of the fifties and the subsequent decades. Though he began comparatively a poor man, he lived to attain rank as one of the most successful stockmen in his part of the state, and his energy and fine character as a busi- ness man were the substantial elements in his successful career. On his arrival in Texas he had only about $300 in money, and used the greater part of this for ex- penses while in Port Lavaca. There he bought a yoke of oxen and a wagon, and journeyed across the country to his future home, in old Goliad county. However, he stopped in Victoria county, where he spent one year in farming, and the following year he became the first American settler on Escondigo Creek, and what is now Karnes county, but was then a part of Goliad county. In that isolated spot, which he had selected for his home and headquarters, he built a house of logs, covered with pecan boards, the logs of the structure having been hewn out of the native timber by a valued negro serv- aut, named John Ray, one of the slaves owned by his mother-in-law, Mrs. Davis. In the fall of 1851, with money realized from the sale of negro slaves, Mr. Ray bought his first cattle and thus secured a nucleus of about seventy-five or one hundred head with which to establish himself in business. Two years later he sold his improvements on the Escondigo and bought three hundred acres of land on the Ecleto, near Helena. Dur- ing his residence there occurred the death of his wife, on January 30, 1854. There were three children born to them, the first dying in infancy, the second being James F. Ray and the youngest being Martha, who, as the wife of B. B. Atkins, died in 1886. In 1856 Elijah Ray married Miss Mary Cox of Goliad county. By this union there were five children: George A., Emma H., Fannie F., who died in 1892, and Mary and Jennie.

During the decades of the fifties, sixties and the early seventies Elijah Ray was actively identified either with the cattle or sheep business. In 1864 he bought the es- tate of Steve Best, on Hoard Creek, in Goliad, including three hundred and twenty acres of land and a very good residence. To this comfortable home he removed his family and it was there he spent the remainder of his life. He continued as a stockman, not only looking after and managing his own herds, but also having charge of the brands of several other cattlemen. In 1873, owing to a succession of droughts, Mr. Ray sold prac- tically all of his cattle to W. A. Pettus for $10,000 in cash. A part of this capital was used in purchasing sheep and for several years he diverted all his atten- tion to the sheep industry. Then in 1880 having sold out his sheep he again resumed cattle raising and con- tinued in that industry until his death, being one of

the most successful. He made a specialty of the cross- ing of three breeds, namely, the Durham, the Davon and the Brahma. He later accumulated an estate of about 20,000 acres of land, besides larger herds of cattle, horses and mules, and was one of the most prosperous men in his section of the state.

In June 1902 occurred his marriage to Miss Maggie Smith of Beeville. Mrs. Ray survived her husband, who passed away at his old home in Goliad county on the 22nd day of February, in the eightieth year of his life. He had retained his activity and business energy up to almost his last years and was one of the enterprising citizens upon whom time set lightly and who continued good business men and public-spirited citizens until the end of their lives.

James F. Ray, who survived his father for only about a year, spent all his life in the vicinity of the old home- stead in Karnes county, where he was born. During the early seventies he had established his ranch head- quarters at what is known as the town of Pettus, in the northwest part of Bee county. Like his father before him, he had a successful career as a stockman and rancher and became the owner of a large estate of land and in affairs where his co-operation was re- quired he was always known as one of the most public- spirited men in the county. He had served as a director of the Commercial National Bank of Beeville for a number of years. By nature he was a quiet and un- assuming, though a good business man, he never sought honors or conspicuous place in public affairs. He was a man who possessed many friends, with the ability to draw many to him, and his life was deeply regretted not only by his immediate family and associates, but by hundreds of residents who had known him as a stock- man and a citizen. He had always been especially kind and generous to his family and his character and deeds will always prove an inspiration to his children.

The late James F. Ray is survived by his wife, Mrs. Rachel (Smith) Ray, and five children, whose names are as follows: Norene is the wife of W. E. Mckinney and the mother of two children named Wallace Edwin and James Ray; Maggie M., who is the wife of J. J. Mckinney and is the mother of four children, whose names are Claude, Freeman, Margaret E., Jesse Edwin and Almeda; James Wilbur, who married Miss O. Thorn- ton a daughter of Joe Thornton, county sheriff of Bee county, and they are the parents of one son, James F. Ray, and a daughter, Eilane; Imogene, who is the wife of C. E. Hall and has one daughter, Eda Winona, and Miss Fannie Wallace Ray, who is the youngest of the family.

Mrs. James F. Ray, whose maiden name was Rachel Smith, is a native daughter of Bee, county, and belongs to one of the old families in this section of the state. She is a daughter of the late Judge Thomas Jackson Smith, who became a resident of Bee county in 1860 and whose death occurred in Beeville on the 27th of May, 1874. Judge Smith was born in Warren county, Georgia, July 27, 1815, and became a pioneer settler of southwest Texas, having moved to this state in 1853, and first lo- cated in Guadalupe county; in 1860 he removed to the northern part of Bee county, and six years later located permanently at Beeville, the county seat. Judge Smith was a prominent man in business and public affairs. For several years and at the time of his death he was serv- ing as district and county clerk. He also showed great interest in the public schools and gave valuable assist- ance in systematizing and promoting their efficiency. It was his distinction to have taught the first public school in his neighborhood at Beeville, Bee county. Mrs. Ray's mother, the wife of Judge Smith, was before her mar- riage Lugana Roberts, who was born in Blount county, Alabama, in 1821, and died in August, 1901, at Beeville. Judge Smith removed his family from his ranch in the northern part of Bee county in 1866 to a town residence

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in Beeville, and that continued his home until the end of his life.

Mrs. James F. Ray was reared and educated in Bee- ville and was married to the late Mr. Ray on the 18th day of December, 1878. After their marriage she took up her home on the Ray Ranch at Pettus, and that was the home of the family and herself until after her hns- band's death, since which date she has returned to Beeville. Mrs. Ray is an energetic business woman, and has shown great capability in the management of the large estate left to her by her father and husband. She has charge of large land and related interests in Bee county, and succeeded her husband as a director in the Commercial and National Bank of Beeville.

VERNOR E. WARE. Though comparatively new in the business in El Paso, becoming established as late as in 1910, the firm of V. E. Ware, contractors and builders, have carried on a highly successful enterprise and are well known to the building interests of the city. Many of the finer buildings erected here in the past two years were handled by this enterprising firm, and a bright future is everywhere predicted for the principals. Ver- nor E. Ware entered the firm with little or no actual experience in the building and contracting business, but he has demonstrated a splendid capacity for the work, and as manager of the business interests of the firm is quite as efficient as if he had been brought up in the business. Prior to his present business enterprise he was engaged in the fuel business in El Paso, and pre- vious to that time had for a number of years been prominent in railroad circles, attaining positions of no little prominence in the executive offices of various roads. His accomplishments, considered by and large, are cer- tainly worthy of a man of more mature years, but are wholly merited on his part by reason of the ardor and enthusiasm he has brought to bear in his work, wher- ever it was found to lie.

Vernor E. Ware was born in Pendleton county, Ken- tueky, on October 10, 1883, and is the son of Solomon G. and Ida F. (Petty) Ware, both native born Kentuckians, and of English ancestry, their less remote ancestors hav- ing been Virginians. The father is now a resident of Covington, Kentucky, where he is engaged in the oil busi- ness and is one of the successful men of the city. He is at present filling the office of city auditor. The mother also makes her home in Covington. They became the parents of six sons and one danghter, and of the number Vernor E. Ware is the third born.

The schools of Covington furnished the early training of Vernor Ware, and he finished with the enrriculum of the high school of that city when he was sixteen years old, soon after which he entered upon the duties of a clerkship with the Queen & Crescent Railway. He began his duties on a salary of $50 a month, and from that position worked his way by successive promotions to assistant chief rate clerk, when he resigned his position and came to El Paso in the Fall of 1902. For four years thereafter he was associated with the El Paso & Sonth- western Railroad as assistant chief clerk in the general freight office, and then withdrew from railroad service to engage in the fuel business on his own responsibility. He carried on a thriving business under the name of Ware & Company for four years, then disposed of his interests in that line and entered into a partnership with William G. Jolly, under the firm name of Jolly & Ware, general contractors and builders. They have carried on a busy trade in their line of enterprise, taking a leading place from the first among the older established con- tracting firms of the city, and their reputation for dependable work is not the least of their assets.

Mr. Ware is a Democrat in his political tendencies, and has done good work for the party in the years since he reached his majority. His fraternal relations are with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Masons, in which he is a member of the Shrine at El

Paso. He has membership in the Country Club, and is affiliated with the Baptist church.

On August 4, 1900, Mr. Ware was married to Miss Mary Spanton, the daughter of T. W. Spanton, a resi- dent of Spring Lake, Kentucky, of which place Mrs. Ware is a native. They were married in Covington, Kentucky, the old home of Mr. Ware. Two sons have been born to them-Vernor E. Jr., born on September 2, 1906, at El Paso, and Alfred Spanton, born on August 17, 1909. The family home is at 1509 Cotton Avenue.

DR. ALEXANDER MADISON DENMAN. Dr. Alexander Madison Denman, who died at Lufkin, Texas, on Octo- ber 1, 1908, was a distinguished physician and surgeon of East Texas, and his days were cut short in the midst of a busy and active career in the practice of his pro- fession. He was born in Angelina connty, on July 30, 1858, and was a graduate of Roanoke College, Virginia. He later was gradnated in medicine from Tulane Uni- versity, at New Orleans, in 1883, and in that year began the practice of his profession at Lufkin. Previous to this, in the early part of 1882, he had removed from his country home, some five miles north, to the newly established town of Lufkin, and there established a drug store, being one of the first business men in the new town. In Lufkin he enjoyed a continued snecess in his profession. He established the Denman Hospital and became widely known as a learned and skillful surgeon. Very progressive, he kept well to the forefront in the march of progress along the line of his profession, and he took four post-graduate courses, three of them in New York City and one in New Orleans. He was a man of the most generous and philanthropic impulses and was one who always did much for the poor and helpless. He was esteemed by all, and greatly beloved by many who with excellent reason knew something of the great heart of the man. He served as mayor of Lufkin in 1903-04, and proved himself one of the most capable mayors the city ever had. During his administration the city water works were built and the city was kept in the pink of sanitary condition.

Dr. Denman was a son of Colonel W. L. and Algie (Swaggerty) Denman. The father was born in Georgia and came to Angelina county in 1863, locating north of where Lufkin was later established. He was a large land owner and a prosperous and successful man all his days. A lawyer of prominence, he served in the Texas Legislature, and as a man of affairs was widely known in State politics and in business circles as well. Through- out the Civil war he served with distinction in the Con- federate army.

Dr. Denman met his death as the result of an unfor- tunate accident, a switch engine striking an automobile in which he was riding. His death followed shortly after. His widow, prior to her marriage, was Mary Caroline Walker, born in Angelina county, five miles from where the town of Lufkin later reared its head. There she met and married her husband when he was only twenty years old. She is a daughter of Thomas and Emily Z. (Briscoe) Walker, both now deceased. The father was born in North Carolina and the mother in Georgia. Thomas Walker was one of the earliest settlers of the State, coming to Angelina before county lines were drawn, and as early as 1840. He made his first settle- ment on the Neches River. He was a citizen of promi- nence in his district, and served as sheriff of Angelina county for seventeen years. Seven children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Denman, all of whom are yet living, and are here named as follows: Dr. Peyton R. Denman, a noted surgeon of Houston, Texas; Archie Lovell, Olive Lillian; Kester Walker, concerning whom further men- tion is made in the following paragraphs; Dr. Linwood H .; Mary Nell, and Byford Harvey.

Kester Walker Denman was born in Lufkin in 1889, and he was there reared and had his preliminary ednea- tion in the schools of that district. He was graduated

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from Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Vir- gina, with the degree of B. A. in 1909, and he later studied law in the law department of the University of Texas, finishing his studies there in 1912, when he was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He began his practice immediately at Lufkin, and already he has made an excellent showing in his profession, taking his place among the foremost men of the community. He is now city attorney for Lufkin, as well as the legal repre- sentative in local circles for the Cotton Belt Railway, and he has in many ways demonstrated his fitness and capac- ity for the profession of his choice. Dr. A. M. Denman, together with Judge E. J. Mantooth, organized the first telephone system in Lufkin, in which the family now owns a half interest.

That Mr. Denman has shown an unusual capacity for his profession is not a cause for wonderment when it is understood that he is a direct descendant of the line that produced Thomas Denman, Lord Chief Justice of England, born in 1779 and who died in 1854. The Den- man family is distinctively of English origin, and was established on American shores in the beginning of the eighteenth century, members of the family settling in New York and Georgia. The branch from which this particular family springs located in Georgia, near Car- tersville, and members are yet resident there. Colonel M. L. Denman is a large property holder of Angelina county and he was instrumental in getting the Houston, East & West Texas Railroad through East Texas, while A. M. Denman did much for the cause of prohibition in Angelina county and throughont East Texas.

Mr. Denman is a member of the Sigma Nu and Phi Delta Phi fraternities, the former academie in its nature and the latter a law fraternity. He is also a member of the Elks.

On March 25, 1913, Mr. Denman was married to Miss Cleo Lydia Mantooth, a daughter of Judge Edwin J. Mantooth, mentioned above as the associate of Dr. A. M. Denman in a creditable piece of public utility work in Lufkin, and concerning whom extended mention is made on other pages of this work, as befitting one of his prominence.

CAPTAIN JAMES J. HALL. Among the veterans of the Confederacy in south Texas probably none is better known and more highly esteemed than Captain James J. Hall, who for the past three years has been com- mander of the Dick Dowling Camp, U. C. V. at Houston. The Dick Dowling Camp is one of the strongest and most effective organizations of Confederate veterans in Texas and its membership includes many notable figures in the life and affairs of this state, not least among them being the present commander, who has spent almost a lifetime in Texas, who has been successfully identified with business affairs and who is now living retired in the city of Houston.

James J. Hall was born in Christian county, Ken- tucky, October 11, 1840, and is a son of C. G. and Eliza- beth (Jones) Hall. His father was a native of Ken- tucky and his mother of Tennessee. During his resi- dence in Kentucky the father was a farmer and tobacco raiser and in December, 1849, he brought his family to Texas. The trip was made by river to New Orleans at which point they embarked upon the steamer Palmetto. This boat was wrecked at Pascavallo and all the posses- sions they brought were lost and they barely escaped with their lives. From the point at which they escaped from the waters of the Gulf they made their way over- land in wagon to the old town of Indianola and sub- sequently to Victoria, where they began life in the new country without money. The father finally established a hotel business in Victoria and was known as the pro- prietor of the Hall House for fifteen years. He was then elected county judge of Victoria county, an office he filled with credit for a number of years. During his residence he had bought lands and was both a farmer

and stock raiser during the days of free range. He was known as a cattleman and substantial citizen up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1884. Throughout a large community he was popularly known as "Uncle Charley."' He was a member of the Baptist church. His wife died in Victoria in 1872. Captain Hall is now the only survivor of the three children. C. A. Hall was for a number of years editor of a paper at Sulphur Springs and Mrs. Maria E. Ripley was the only daughter.

During his boyhood James J. Hall attended school at Victoria and had just arrived at manhood when the war between the states broke out. In October, 1861, he enlisted at Victoria in Company C of the Fourth Texas Cavalry, under Captain J. A. Hampton, in Green's famous brigade. These troops were first sent into New Mexico and he participated in the Val Verde and later in the engagements at Fort Craig and Glorietta. The army was then moved to El Paso and Captain Hall and his comrades were sent to San Autonio, where the regiment was disbanded until they could be equipped with fresh liorses. The next period of eventful service took Captain Hall to the eventful exploit which will always remain glorious in Texas history. That was the capture of Galveston from the Federals, and the capture of the "Harriet Lane, " the Federal gunboat in Galves- ton Bay the bell tower of which is now a trophy in Sam Houston 's Park in the city of Houston. Subsequently be accompanied the troops into Louisiana, where he took part in several skirmishes leading up to the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill. Next came the battle of Blair's Landing, where General Green was killed, and then the battle of Berwick 's Bay, where Mr. Hall and his comrades crossed the bayou on sugar kettles. Tip- pedoe Mills was an engagement soon after and he was among the troops which attempted the capture of Fort Butler, but, owing to the failure of reinforcements from Vicksburg, this attack did not succeed. At Cox's plantation the tables were turned on the Federal army, which, a thousand strong, was badly defeated and nearly all killed or made prisoners although the Confederate force numbered only about eight hundred. Captain Hall was also in the battle of Vermillion Bayou and then came the bloody battle of Yellow Bayou, which was practically the last of the war.

On returning to Milam Captain Hall was discharged and then returned to his home in Victoria. There, in 1865, he married Miss Elizabeth Dunlap, who was born in Ohio, and was a daughter of J. M. and Lavina (Lock- wood) Dunlap. Her parents came to Texas at an early date and her father was a cattleman of Bee county. The two sous of Captain Hall and wife are both living in Houston, namely, W. W. Hall, who is secretary of the Big Tree Lumber. Company, and J. L. Hall, who is a contractor and builder.

In the fall of 1866 Mr. Hall was elected sheriff of Victoria county and filled the office for four years. After that failing health obliged him to spend three years in recuperation in Colorado. On returning to Texas he located at Linden, in Cass county where he spent four- teen years and was a well known contractor of that vicinity. Then for a short time he lived near the mouth of the Brazos and from there came to Houston, which has since been his home. He is now serving his third year as Commander of Diek Dowling Camp, No. 197, U. C. V., of Houston, and he is also brigadier general of the First Texas District, U. C. V. This latter posi- tion he has also held for three years. For a long time he has been prominent in the state and national re- unions of the Confederate veterans, and the cause of the survivors of the great war is very dear to his heart. He is a member of the Methodist church, South, and enjoys the esteem and respect paid to all the old soldiers of the Confederacy.

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W. C. KELLY. Now a retired resident of Houston and one of the prominent members of Dick Dowling Camp of Confederate Veterans Mr. Kelly is a Texan who saw a long and arduous service during the Civil war and gave the hest years of his young manhood to the cause of the south. For nearly a generation after the war he was connected with the railroad service in this state and finally retired after a career of much usefulness and prosperity and thoroughly esteemed among a large circle of friends and acquaintances.

W. C. Kelly was born in Russell county, Alabama, October 17, 1843. His parents were John W. and Caroline (Martin) Kelly. His father, a native of Pennsylvania, came South at the age of eleven years and was married in the state of Georgia. During his boyhood he had been bound out as an apprentice to a saddler, but be- came dissatisfied with his employer and occupation and ran away. Embarking on a boat at Pittsburg he came down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans and finally reached Appalachicola, Florida. Here he became connected with one of the boats which plied on the Chattahoocheeiver and was a riverman for thirty- seven years. He then retired and made his home at Columbus, Georgia, but died during a visit to Hempstead, Texas when he was sixty-eight years of age. His career as pilot and subsequently as captain of the river boat had been fraught with many varied experiences includ- ing sharp encounters with the Indians, who at that time inhabited the extreme southeastern part of this country. He was a man of superior attainment and took an active part in all measures for development and improvement. He was too old to enlist during the Civil strife, but his sympathies were all with the South. The mother's peo- ple, the Martins, were among the oldest of Georgia families and were slave owners and planters. The mother died at Leadbetter, Texas.

Mr. W. C. Kelly is the only survivor of three children. His sisters, both now deceased, were Mary Virginia MeMannus and Carrie Elizabeth Walker. During his youth in Georgia he attended the common schools, which at that time and place were of a very primitive char- acter. Subsequently he attended Duff's Commercial College in Pittsburg. In Pittsburg lived his uncle, George A. Kelly, whose death occurred in that city in 1902 and who for many years had been among the most wealthy and prominent men of the city. He bad served on nearly all the important Civic boards in- cluding the Western Penitentiary of Pennsylvania, the Western Insane Hospital, the Smallpox and Ship Channel Committee, the Commercial Club and he had for many years been connected with the United States Marine service. Mr. W. C. Kelly's father during the stirring days of '49 had joined a caravan of three hundred persons who went overland to California, but he was not successful in the gold fields and soon returned.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 14

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