A history of Texas and Texans, Part 152

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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practically no time away from home and family and was devoted to the charms of his own domestic cirele.

In 1877 Dr. Kyle married Miss Carrie M. Harper, who was horn in South Carolina, a daughter of John E. and Hattie A. (Harkness) Harper. Both her parents were natives of North Carolina. Her great-grandfather Harkness came from Ireland when her grandfather was three weeks old, and settled in South Carolina. John Harper, her father, grew up in South Carolina, and at the age of fifteen found a position in a store, and for many years was engaged in merchandising. He later moved to Homer, Georgia, where he had a store and lived there until the war broke out. He then joined the Confederate army in General Cummins' Brigade, and went through the entire struggle. At the close of the war he returned to South Carolina and engaged in husi- ness there until 1874, when he sold out and moved to Texas, settling in Denton county. For seven years he farmed there and then moved to the town of Pilot Point, where be was in the grocery business until his death, September 29, 1899. His widow still lives at Pilot Point. Mrs. Kyle was one of a family of ten children, mentioned as follows: William J., deceased; Mrs. Kyle; John B., who died, leaving a family of four children; James F., a druggist at San Antonio; Hattie, wife of W. B. Montgomery, of Pilot Point; Robert N., who died in infancy; Pearl, deceased; Hugh H., a druggist, of San Antonio; Annie Lee, who died in infancy, and Catherine, unmarried and living with her mother. Mrs. Kyle has her home at 3416 Cole avenue, in Dallas.

RICHARD P. PINSON. President of the City National Bank of Forney and the owner of extensive tracts of land near that town, Richard P. Pinson is an old-time Texan, a survivor of the Confederate veterans, and has made what many would regard as a remarkable material success, chiefly through the avenue of Texas farming. His agricultural operations are now considered the largest in his part of the state. Mr. Pinson has lived in Texas since 1862, when he came with his father's family from Jasper county, Missouri, settling in Falls county, Texas.

Richard P. Pinson was born in Allen county, Ken- tucky, on August 29, 1835. The Pinson family originally come from England, settling along the Atlantic coast, and finally emigrated to North Carolina, living in the Spartanshurg district. From that district Aaron Pinson and his seven sons entered the Revolutionary army, Aaron Pinson was the great-grandfather of the Forney banker and farmer. Some years after the war, Aaron and the sons moved into Kentucky, taking up land near Bowling Green. The family scattered from there, Aaron and six of his sons going into Tennessee, where they spent the rest of their lives. The oldest son, Gephaniah, remained in Kentucky, and it is from him that the Texas family have all descended. Aaron Pinson married a Miss Wells. Gephaniah married a Miss Venable, and among their several children was Rev. Josiah F. Pinson, father of Richard P.

Josiah F. Pinson moved to Missouri in 1841, making the journey with ox teams and buying a home in the country near Joplin postoffice. The location was on Center Creek, about twelve miles east of the postoffice, and there the family lived until the events of the Civil war caused it to seek a home in a country where there was greater uniformity as to political sentiment. Josiah F. Pinson was a Baptist preacher and was born in Allen county, Kentucky, in 1807. He was in every way a southern man and two of his sons became Confederate soldiers. Rev. Josiah F. Pinson married, first, Miss Drusilla Burton, a daughter of Drew Burton, a slave- holding planter of Kentucky. Mrs. Pinson died in Jas- per county, Missouri, in 1849. Their children were: Martha, who married Rafe Seott and died in Carroll county, Missouri; Jerry, who died of wounds received in the engagement at Yellow Bayou, Louisiana, while

a Confederate soldier; Eliza J. married Robert De Graffenried and spent her last years in Hill county, Texas; Richard P .; Helen, who became the wife of Jo Hailey and resides at Quanah, Texas; Virginia, who married John Joyner and died in Taylor county, Texas; Sallie, who married Phil Hailey, of Forney; and William H., a farmer near Forney. Aaron Pinson married for his second wife Millie Hunt, of Cooper county, Missouri, but they had no children. The home of Rev. Pinson continned in Falls county, Texas, until 1865 when he hought land near the Orphans' Home in Dallas county. There his career for a number of years was that of farming, with which he combined his active work as a preacher. He is remembered as a plain man of fair speech and good business ability and had no ambition to accumulate wealth. In 1884 he sold his estate and came to Forney to be near his son, and died here in 1900.

Richard P. Pinson was reared to man's estate in Jasper county, Missouri, which was his home from the time he was six years of age. Schools were poor and widely scattered in that section of Missouri before the war and his educational privileges were therefore limited. He was well trained in the practical affairs of life and has never suffered any particular handicap when com- peting with his fellow men. In September, 1861, his services were offered to the Confederate militia of Mis- souri and he saw six months of service in southwest Missouri under General Raines, in Livingston's Guards, whose business it was to watch the Kansas Jay-Hawkers and prevent inroads into the state. He was on the bat- tlefield of Oak Hills, or Wilson Creek, the day after the battle was fought and witnessed the great destruction of life and property in that vicinity. He was also in hearing of the battle of Carthage at a later date.

On March 25, 1862, Mr. Pinson left Missouri with the Pinson family and drove across the Indian Territory with the stock and other property, finding eventually a place in Texas well removed from the hostilities of war. Here he became identified with farming and continued that vocation in Dallas county until 1874. In that year came his first purchase of land in Kaufman county, and his home has been in the locality of Forney for nearly forty years. For his first land be paid sixteen dollars an aere and it was considered an improved farm. His capital when he came to Kaufman was barely sufficient to pay for this land and the success of his life has been attained by concentrating his energies and keeping his faith centered on farming. He soon started to buying and dealing in land, and some of the fine black land in Kaufman county was bought by him at a price as low as four dollars an acre. Farming and farm making have been the chief industry of Mr. Pinson for forty years and he has been responsible for the turning of hundreds of acres of prairie grass into fertile and pro- ductive fields. Miles of fences have been built under his supervision, modest homes have been erected on his land for the use of his tenants, and with the accumula- tion of many hundreds of acres of uplands and bottom along the east course of the Trinity he has come to be regarded as the largest farmer of this locality. Mr. Pinson remained in the market for land until it reached fifty-five dollars an acre, the highest point to which he believed it possible for land values to go, and since then has practically ceased to add to his land capital.

Mr. Pinson was one of the organizers of the City National Bank of Forney in 1902, and has since served as its president. The vice president is A. F. Duke and its cashier is James Rhea, with Ed D. MeKellar as assist- ant cashier. Besides the bank, Mr. Pinson assisted in promoting the establishment of the oil mill at Forney and is vice president of the company operating that local plant.

The only political service of Mr. Pinson has been as alderman of Forney, having been one of the first after the incorporation of the town. He is a Democrat and

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has attended a few political conventions. His church is

the Baptist.

In August, 1874, was solemnized in Dallas county the marriage of Mr. Pinson with Miss Alice E. Widman, a daughter of Thomas Widman, who came to Texas from South Carolina before the war. Mrs. Pinson died in 1902 at the age of forty-two. Her children are: Pearl, the oldest child, who died at the age of fifteen; Thomas, of Forney, who married Ione Gaston; Alice, wife of Dr. Hudgins, of Forney; Cora, who married E. A. Stallings, of Terrell-Alice and Cora being twins; James, of Forney; and Miss Vesta.

CLYDE .S. KARKAEITS. A young business man whose ability has secured him rapid promotion and who is now identified with one of the largest mercantile establish- ments of Midland, Clyde S. Karkaeits was born in East- land county, Texas, January 18, 1884. His parents were J. A. and Amanda Karkaeits. His father, who was of an Austrian family, came to Texas about 1878, locat- ing in Eastland county, where he was engaged in farm- ing until 1890. He then moved to Cisco, where he en- tered the firm of John T. Creech as clerk in the drug and grocery business. In 1894 he was elected county clerk of Eastland county, and that election caused his removal to the county seat in Eastland. In 1897 he returned to Cisco and engaged in the grocery business there until 1901. He then went on the road as traveling salesman, and has continued one of the Texas commercial men ever since. The mother of Mrs. Karkaeits is of an American family.

Clyde S. Karkaeits received his education in the public schools of Texas, and his first employment was with the Wells-Fargo & Company express. Four years of that experience prepared him for his next work, and in 1906 he took a position with the Rockwell Brothers & Com- pany at Cisco. This business is one of the largest mer- cantile houses in west Texas, and in 1907 Mr. Karkaeits was promoted and given charge of the branch house at Midland, having the management of the bookkeeping for the next two years, and in 1911 became the sole manager of the business at Midland. Much of the success of this firm in Midland is due to the capable management of Mr. Karkaeits. In politics he is a Progressive Demo- crat and expresses much pleasure at the present national administration of the party. Fraternally he is affi- liated with the Masons, the Knights of Pythias, and the Woodmen of the World. At Midland he is espe- cially prominent in church work as a member of the Baptist church. He is deacon and treasurer of the church and is superintendent of the Sunday school. The Baptists have the largest and most flourishing congrega- tion and the finest church edifice in Midland, their mem- bership being over four hundred, and the Sunday school enrollment being over two hundred and fifty. There is also a vigorous Baptist Young People's Union of the church.

Mr. Karkaeits was married on September 12, 1905, to Miss Ethel Patterson, of Cisco, Texas, a daughter of John F. and Sarah Patterson, her father being now a retired business man at Cisco. The four children of Mr. Karkaeits and wife are named Louise, Burette, Clyde S., Jr., and Jules.

FRANK C. MCCORKLE, who has recently identified him- self with the citizenship and business affairs of Midland, has spent most of his life in this state and is a young man of much enterprise and successful accomplishment. He was born June 5, 1880, at Santa Fe, New Mexico, being the second in a family of five children born to Henry and Emma B. MeCorkle. His father is a master mechanic in the railway shops at Tyler, Texas, and has lived in this state since 1881. He has followed his trade at Tyler for twenty-three years and has a place of esteem in the citizenship of that city. The mother is also still living. The MeCorkle family is of Scotch-

Irish ancestry, the great-grandfather having immigrated to America from the north of Ireland, and during the Civil war having served as a member of the Home Guards in the Confederate army. He was prominent in politics and for three terms was county attorney of Catawba county, North Carolina.

Mr. McCorkle was educated in the public schools of Tyler and his first business after leaving school was as clerk in a grocery store at that city. He subsequently served an apprenticeship in the Southern Pacific Railway Shops at Houston as a blacksmith, and later studied embalming at the Barnes School of Embalming. He first followed his profession in Tyler, then moved to Oklahoma, where he was in the undertaking and furni- ture business, and, selling out his interests there, he located on January 1, 1912, at Midland, where he is now engaged in the undertaking business with Mr. T. J. Powell. He is a Democrat in political faith, is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Knights of Pythias, the Yeomen, the Knights of the Maccabees, and is asso- ciated with the business men of the city in the Com- mercial Club of Midland. He and his family worship in the Baptist church.

On Christmas Day of 1906, Mr. MeCorkle was mar- ried to Miss Mamie E. Justice, of Chappell Hill, Texas, a daughter of John J. and Mary E. Justice, her father being a pioneer settler of Washington county. Her father was a planter and also a merchant at Chappell Hill. Mr. and Mrs. McCorkle are the parents of two children, a daughter and a son, namely, Martha Mae and Francis Marion.

DAVID W. BRUNSON. Among the thriving cities of west Texas which have grown up and gained prosperity since the construction of the Texas and Pacific Rail- road through this country some thirty years ago, Mid- land undoubtedly could present as many substantial proofs of prominence and solid prosperity as any of its cities along that route of transportation. There have been a number of progressive and enterprising families and individuals in Midland, who during the past years have contributed largely to this present rank and stand- ing of the city, and of these probably none has done more in a business way and in public-spirited citizenship than the Brunson family. Mr. David W. Brunson, presi- dent of the Midland National Bank, is one of the vital forces in the progress of this community, and Midland owes much to his public-spirited leadership. The Midland National Bank, of which he is president and of which he was one of the organizers, is the strongest financial institution in Midland county, has a capital stock of $75,000 and a surplus of half that amount, and is a United States depository.

David W. Brunson was born in Lee county, Georgia, October 1, 1856, a son of Almorane and Eliza (Wood- ard) Brunson, natives of Georgia, his father having been a prosperous planter and slave owner. Prior to the war he lived on a generous scale and in true Southern style. He was a soldier in the Confederate army, and some years after the war moved out to Texas, locating in Stephens county in April, 1877. He engaged in stock raising in that vicinity and lived there until 1887, at which time he came to Midland county, which continued to be his home until his death in 1898, at the age of eighty-six. His wife had passed away in 1890, and both now rest in the Midland cemetery. The father, although he had suffered reverses, especially during his early career and during the war, recouped his fortunes and gained a considerable degree of success as a stockman in Texas. Of the seven children in the parents' family the following are now living: D. T. Brunson, who is a prominent farmer at Rosboro, Arkansas; Nancy, wife of J. G. Pollock, of Rome, Georgia; Mary, wife of William Barnes, of Olkahoma; Susana, widow of T. A. Wright, of Midland; W. H. Brunson, and David W., the Midland banker.

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Mr. Brunson attained his early education in private schools in Georgia, and in that state learned all the duties of farming as conducted on a Georgia plantation. He was about twenty-one years of age when he came with the family to Texas, and here became associated with his father in stock raising. He continued that partnership actively until his father's death, at which time he disposed of most of his ranch interests as con- ducted jointly, and then located on a ranch of his own and became very successful and prominent as a stock raiser. He and his brother, W. H. Bronson, are the owners of several large ranches in Glasscock county. Mr. Brunson became one of the organizers of the Mid- land National Bank, and he took a prominent part in the erection of the Llano Hotel, Bank, Office and Store Building, a structure which cost $140,000 and is a building which would be a credit to a city twice the size of Midland. It is a handsome modern structure of five stories, and is by all means the most conspicuous landmark in the business district of Midland. Mr. Brunson is one of the principal owners of the company which put up and still owns this building. Mr. Brunson and family also reside in one of the finest homes in Midland, and is a director in the Home National Bank at Stanton.

Fraternally he is affiliated with Masonry, in which he has attained the Royal Arch degree, and is a mem- her of the Woodmen of the World. His family are members of the Baptist church. Mr. Brunson was first married in 1880 to Miss Elizabeth MeCarver, who was born in Floyd county, Georgia, and died in 1882. Their one son was William W. Brunson. In 1890 Mr. Brunson married Miss Lulu Veale, a native of Texas and a daughter of Carroll and Amanda (Abel) Veale. The six children born to their union are named as follows: Lawton A .; Susie L., a student in Simmons College; Gilbert C., Lula May, Henry W. Brunson, and David W., Jr.

Mr. Brunson is first and foremost a friend of educa- tion. He himself had no opportunity to secure anything more than a common school training, but does not for that reason think his own children should be thus limited, and has spent his means liberally in providing the best early training for his family. As to Midland county and this section of west Texas in general, Mr. Brunson believes its prospects are such that in the course of a few years this section will rank as one of the most prosperous in the entire state. From fifty to one hun- dred feet below the surface there exists an nnexhausti- ble supply of water, and that fact alone is one of the best assets of the country, and with such an abundance of water Midland county will become a garden spot, blessed with one of the finest climates to be found any- where. This belief concerning the fertility and possi- bilities of Midland county on the part of Mr. Brunson is not a vain assertion by any means. He has himself planted . an orchard, and twenty years ago at that, and from his trees and vines has obtained such yields as would convince almost any one of the great possibilities of this region. His grapes in particular are remarkable, and single bunches of the Tokay variety frequently weigh from three to four pounds. He also raises many fine peaches. As an example of the publie spiritedness of Mr. Brunson, it should be stated that he presented the city of Midland with the land from which is de- rived the present municipal water supply.

CHARLES A. TAYLOR. Among the merchants and business men of Midland, Mr. Taylor holds a distinctive position by reason of his being the pioneer and by many vears the oldest druggist in the city. He came to Mid- land only a few years after the Texas and Pacific Rail- road was constructed through this region, and when all the country around about was devoted entirely to stock raising. He has been with the town from almost its beginning, and along with every stage of progress has

been willing to put his shoulder to the wheel and ad- vance, not only his private prosperity, but the general welfare of the entire community.

Charles A. Taylor was born July 10, 1852, at Oxford, North Carolina, and comes of an old and honored South- ern family, with the best characteristics and culture of the Southern lineage. His parents were Dr. Leonidas and Fannie (Worthington) Taylor, the father a native of North Carolina and the mother of Virginia. As a citizen and physician Doctor Taylor has a place of pe- culiar esteem in Oxford, where he was engaged in prae- tice for sixty years. He lived to the age of eighty- nine, and besides his splendid work as a doctor, he was also prominent in polities and in Masonry, having been a member of one lodge for sixty years. His wife passed away at the age of seventy-two, and both are now in- terred at Oxford, North Carolina. They were the parents of five children. The first born was William R., who was a farmer; Charles A .; Lena, who married I. B. Hines; James Archibald, who was a merchant at Oxford and is the father of thirteen living children; Richard Pelham Taylor, another son, is in business at Oxford, North Carolina.

Charles A. Taylor completed his preparatory educa- tion in Professor Horner's College, in his native town of Oxford. He left school when seventeen, contrary to his father's wishes, which were that he should pursue a university course. Instead he entered a drug store in his native town, and by practical methods acquired a thorough knowledge of pharmacy. He was subsequently located in Petersburg and Danville, Virginia, and spent ten years as a drug clerk. In 1879 he acted on his de- termination to come west, and, after arriving at Waco, his first joh was on a sheep ranch in that part of the state. Two years later he left the ranch and became employed as pharmacist at Colorado, where he remained for five years. Mr. Taylor in 1886 came to Midland and opened a stock of drugs, his heing the first exclusive drug business in the town. He has kept his store in advance with all the progressive stages of progress, and his es- tablishment is not only the largest and best of its kind, but is in a manner one of the landmarks of the city, and practically everybody in the county knows Taylor's Drug Store. Besides this prosperous business he is the owner of valuable real estate, including a comfortable residence for himself and family.

Mr. Taylor is a Democrat and an active worker for his party's interests in Midland county. He served as chairman of the Central Committee for two years, but himself has never aspired to any public honors. He has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows since 1872 and his church is the Methodist. In 1882, at Colorado, Texas, he married Miss Irene Wood, who was born in Erath county, a daughter of I. T. and Elizabeth (Hooper) Wood. Her parents were among the pioneer settlers of the state and Mrs. Taylor was a cousin of Hon. Thomas Hooper of San Antonio. Mrs. Taylor, now deceased, was the mother of five children, namely: Thomas W., who is associated with his father in the drug business; Hayes, who was accidentally shot and killed while hunting in Midland county in 1908; Fannie Bess, who is a high school graduate and is now in charge of her father's home; Cordelia, and Lena, who died when three years of age. Thomas Wood Taylor, the oldest son, and the partner of his father, was married on June 3, 1909, to Miss Leta Fair, daughter of William J. and Carlie (Ferguson) Fair. Thomas W. Taylor is an active member of the Commercial Club and the Woodmen of the World, and also a Democrat. His wife belongs to the Methodist church. The Taylor fam- ily represents the best citizenship and social qualities of Midland, and their home is a center of social ac- tivities and pleasures.

D. J. YOUNG. The men who control the monetary institutions of the Lone Star state have been recruited

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from almost every section of the Union and have received their training under varied conditions and in various walks of life. It will be found, however, that almost invariably these masters of finance resemble one another in at least one particular-they have the point in com- mon of having been the architects of their own fortunes. In this respect, D. J. Young, president of the First National Bank of Canadian, is no exception to the rule. A Chicagoan by birth, he cast his fortunes with the developing southwest when still little more than a lad, and subsequently has worked his way up the difficult self-made road to prosperity, sturdily surmounting the obstacles which have appeared in his path. His career is but another instance furnished by Texans of well- directed and persevering effort culminating in deserved success. Mr. Young was born October 24, 1865, in Chi- cago, Illinois, and is a son of David S. and Mary (Short) Young, natives of Canda. The father came to Chicago from his native Dominion during the days of the Civil war and took up the grain business, but in 1867 removed to Wyandotte, Kansas, and was there engaged in farming until 1880. In that year he estab- lished himself in the real estate and loan business at Kansas City, Kansas, and he was so engaged until his death, which occurred in 1898, when he was seventy-six years of age. Mrs. Young was reared and educated in her native country and still survives her husband, living at Kansas City, Kansas, at the age of seventy-seven years. She and her husband were the parents of six children, four daughters and two sons, and of these D. J. was the third in order of birth.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 152

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