A history of Texas and Texans, Part 156

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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The public schools of his native locality furnished Doctor Ferrell with his preliminary educational train- ing, and he early displayed a predilection for a profes- sional career. Accordingly, he entered Vanderbilt Uni- versity, at Nashville, Tennessee, and subsequently be- came a student in the University of Tennessee, where he was graduated in 1882 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In that year he embarked in practice in Bed- ford county, Tennessee, where he remained one and one- half years, and following this spent eight months at Nashville, with Dr. J. G. St. Clair, in specializing in dis- eases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. He next took a post-graduate course of four months in New York City, and this was followed by four months in Vienna, and upon his return to the United States he located in Waco, where he has since remained. He is in the enjoyment of an excellent practice, attracted to him by his skill,

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learning and sympathy, and since 1907 has been exam- ining physician for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Rail- way, and has held a like position for the St. Louis & Southwestern Railway since 1912. In the latter year he was elected to the position of general inspector of the school children of Waco for the Board of Education, the pupils being examined twice annually. Doctor Ferrell has never ceased to be a student and generally takes his vacations in trips to New York for post-graduate courses, when he is accompanied by his wife. He is a valued member of the various organizations of his calling, and his strict adherence to professional ethics have given him established standing among his fellow-practioners in the state. Fraternally, he is connected with the Woodmen of the World, and he was also a member of the Waco Light Infantry for four years. In a business way he has been successful, and at this time he is a stockholder in the Lumbermen's Security and Trust Company of Waco and owns several pieces of real estate in this city. Progressive in all things, he has given his support to the new political party of that name since its organi- zation in 1912. With Mrs. Ferrell, he attends the Chris- tian church.

On April 2, 1893, Doctor Ferrell was married at Car- lisle, Kentucky, to Miss Marie Fisher. They have no children.

FRANCIS M. MAXWELL. Among the strong and able members of the McLennan connty bar, one who has won merited distinction in the field of civil law is Francis M. Maxwell, who for twenty years has been located in practice at Waco. The predilection which he manifested at an early age for a professional career seems to have had a good basis in his natural tendencies and abilities, for in the calling to which he has devoted his life he has won substantial success and his position among the lead- ing legists of his adopted city is firmly established. Mr. Maxwell was born in Coosa county, Alabama, March +, 1861, and is a son of Francis M. and Alabama R. (Jor- dan) Maxwell. His father was born in Elbert county, Georgia, in 1826, and was a farmer and planter through- out his life, passing away in 1891 as one of the substan- tial men of his community. The mother, who was born in Coosa county, Alabama, in 1835, still survives and makes her home at Waco. There were twelve children in the family, namely: Reuben, who is deceased; Annie; Willie E .; Francis M .; Eugene; Thomas, Mary and Ora, who are all deceased; Cecil K. and Charles M., twins; Otis A. and Sidney T.

Francis M. Maxwell received his early education in the public schools of Coosa county, Alabama, which he at- tended until he was twenty years of age, and early de- veloped a strong desire for a professional career. Ac- cordingly, he began to read law in the offices and under the preceptorship of Col. W. D. Bulger, at Dadeville, Alabama, and at that place was admitted to the bar in 1884. After spending eighteen months there he removed to Waxahachie, Texas, where he spent eight years, and while there acted for two years as connty attorney of Ellis county. On leaving Waxahachie he went to Port- land, Oregon, where he remained two years, and in 1895 came to Waco, which city has continued to be his field of practice. He has confined himself to a general prac- tice of civil law, and has been very successful in this de- partment, at all times displaying a comprehensive knowl- edge of law and unfaltering fidelity to the interests of his clients. He maintains offices at No. 403 Amicable Building. Mr. Maxwell belongs to the various organiza- tions of his profession, and devotes much time to study, being thoroughly devoted to his vocation.

On June 6, 1902, at the home of his bride, in Fayette county, Texas, Mr. Maxwell was married to Miss Lucy Drisdale, daughter of William E. and Judith (Matthews) Drisdale, and four children have been born to this union: Edith, Edward D., Eunice and Francis M., Jr.

ROBERT SHERMAN VAUGHAN. Among the prominent business men of Waco, Texas, may be mentioned the name of Robert Sherman Vaughan, who is the successful manager of the MeLennan County Abstract Company. Mr. Vaughan has spent practically the whole of his life within the boundaries of the state of Texas and is well known and highly respected as a business man throughout the state. He has devoted much of his life to the work in which he is now engaged and there is no man in this section who is more thoroughly capable of holding the position which Mr. Vaughan now occupies.

Robert Sherman Vaughan was born in MeMinn county, Tennessee, on the 27th of October, 1864, the son of Rob- ert Y. and Martha A. (Tripplett) Vaughan, both of whom were born in Tennessee. The paternal grandfather of Robert S. Vaughan was a native of Virginia and came to Tennessee about the time of the Revolutionary war. He became register of deeds for MeMinn county and in other ways was prominently identified with the public affairs of this section of Tennessee. Robert S. Vaughan's maternal grandfather was Joel Tripplett and he died in 1877 at the age of eighty-eight. Robert Y. Vaughan left his native state in 1857 and came to Hayes county, Texas, where he became in time a large stockman and land owner. at the outbreak of the Civil war he returned to Tennessee and entered the engineering corps in the Federal army. He served in this department of the army throughout the war, his entire service being in the state of Tennessee. He remained in this state after the close of the war until 1877, when he again came to Texas and settled in Grayson county, later moving to Bosque county. It was in 1880 that he came to McLennan county and here he lived for many years, widely known and highly respected. He always took a prominent part in local af- fairs, both political and civic, and his death on January 12, 1912, was a serious loss to the village of West, where he was then living. He was eighty eight years of age. His wife was born in 1836 and died in 1893, the mother of ten children, eight of whom are living. Those de- ceased are Thomas and Sallie J., who was the wife of E. W. Neilson. The living children are John M., Joe M., Robert S., Iradell Tennie, Flora, the wife of H. V. Aderhold, Mary, the wife of T. B. Terry, Barsha, who married R. E. Cook, and Mattie, who became the wife of W. J. McFarlen.

Robert Sherman Vaughan received his education in the public schools of West, being an attendant at the high school of the village. He came to Waco in 1888 and there engaged in the abstract business, being one of the first to compile the abstracts of property in MeLen- nan county. He was appointed deputy county clerk shortly after taking up his residence in Waco, and was reappointed at different times, his term of office covering in all a space of fourteen years. He was in charge of a court department during this time and in the course of his duties in this line he became fairly well acquainted with the law in the matters under his charge and by making it a special study he was an expert in this line when he resigned from this office. During 1900 and 1901 he was traveling inspector for the American Free- hold Land Mortgage Company, and carried out the duties of his office so successfully that he was brought to the notice of the officials of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, in consequence of which he was appointed claim agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in the state of Texas. He held this position from 1903 until August, 1912, when he came to Waco to become manager of the MeLennan County Abstract Company, resigning from his former position. This abstract com- pany has compiled the fine book of abstracts of the county which are now in use.

Mr. Vaughan was married on the 6th of December, 1903, to Miss Corinne Foreman, a daughter of the late W. Z. Foreman, of Waco, and they have one daughter, Dorothy.

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J. H. STURGIS. The city of Waco since its very begin- ning has had no more influential nor beneficent civic factor than those furnished by the Sturgis family. That a community should be what it is largely as a result of one man's or one family's life of activity is perhaps the highest possible tribute that can be paid to human enter- prise. None would dispute that the city of Waco, espe- cially during its earlier years, was deeply impressed with the character and influence of the late Edwin A. Sturgis, as in later years the city has also had among its most progressive citizens the son of this pioneer business builder and civic leader.

James Henry Sturgis, who has been actively identified with business affairs in Waco for more than a quarter of a century, was born in this city January 26, 1867, a son of the late Edwin Anson and Rosalie P. (White) Sturgis. The father was born in Maryland and the mother in Virginia. James Sturgis, the paternal grand- father, moved from Maryland to Hillsboro, Texas, during the early fifties, The late Edwin A. Sturgis attained his education and was reared in Maryland, whence he ac- companied the family to Arkansas and subsequently to Hillsboro. He became a citizen of Waco in 1859, a year which practically marks the beginning of growth and business enterprise in that town. He was married in Texas, and brought his bride to Waco, and began his career there as a general merchant. He had all the qualities of a successful business man and at the same time was a civic leader, whose name and support were considered necessary to the success of every general movement for the upbuilding or welfare of a community. He was also frequently honored with the conspicuous offices at the gift of the community. He served as one of the first Mayors of Waco. Nearly all the early public schools were built under his supervision, and on his own account he organized a fire protection service, an almost unique example of civic service, since the matter of fire protection rests more immedately upon community co- operation than almost any other public necessity. He was also the originator of the beautiful Oakwood Cem- etery, and was the active spirit in a number of less im- portant enterprises. His death occurred in 1895 at the age of sixty-three years, after a life of long and honored usefulness. His wife passed away in 1882 at the age of thirty-eight. Of their children, besides James H. the following survive: Edwin A., Jr., of Waco; Littleton; Rowena S., wife of A. B. Cowan of Waco; and John N. of Lexington, Missouri.

Mr. James H. Sturgis received his early education in a private school at Waco, and subsequently studied in Baylor University of this city, and from here went east and matriculated in the Washington & Lee University at Lexington, Virginia. He was graduated from this old institution in 1886, and soon afterwards returned to his home in Waco, where his residence and business activity have since been centered. He engaged in the fire iusur- ance business, and also for some time was general book- keeper in the Provident National Bank at Waco. Since 1906 his entire time has been devoted to the real estate loan business, and he has a large record of important transactions and a steady patronage through these ave- nues of commercial practice.

Mr. Sturgis in 1887 married Miss Jennie W. MeCrumb, whose death occurred in 1899. The one daughter of their marriage is named Rowena. The present Mrs. Sturgis was before her marriage Miss Lulu Carroll of Waco. Their three children are James H., Jr., Carroll White and Anna Elizabeth. Mr. Sturgis is a member of the Y. M. B. L.

JAMES S. KONE. A prominent attorney at Denison since 1897, Mr. Kone has enjoyed a large private prac- tice, and has served several years in the office of city attorney.

Mr. Kone, who was born July 24, 1874, at Chetopa, Kansas, is of Scotch-Irish descent, and the only one of

his immediate family in the state of Texas. His parents were O. B. and Nora S. (Standifer) Kone. His mother was a sister of I. M. Standifer,.one of the noted political leaders of Texas. She was related to the family of Mad Anthony Wayne, of Revolutionary and Indian war fame. The father was born in Maryland and the mother in Mississippi. The former served as a soldier in the Confederate army, and was all through the war and fought in many of the best known battles. Later he was engaged in the insurance business for a number of years, and had previously represented as traveling salesman a wholesale house in St. Louis. His death oe- curred in January, 1913, while his wife passed away in 1883. There were three children in the family of the parents, and the Denison lawyer was second in order of birth.

He grew up in Denison, attended the public schools there, later was a student in the Agricultural and Me- chanical College of Bryan, and studied law with the firm of Standifer & Epstein of Denison, With his ad- mission to the bar in 1897 he began active practice, and has since built up a large clientage in Grayson county. In 1902 he was elected city attorney, an office which he held for two years. In 1905, he was appointed to fill out an unexpired term in the same position, and again in 19II the city council appointed him city attorney, and he performed the duties of that office until April, 1913.

In political affairs Mr. Kone has been a worker for the Democratic party since attaining his majority. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Woodmen of the World. On June 7, 1905. at Sherman, he married Miss May Evans, a daughter of J. F. and Lizzie Evans. Her father is in the real estate business in Sherman. Mr. and Mrs. Kone have one child, James S., Jr., seventeen months old at this writ- ing. Mr. Kone is a lover of fishing and hunting and spends his vacations as a rule in pursuit of those sports. His home is at 819 West Gandy Street, and his office in the Security Building in Denison.

JOHN WESLEY DOWNS. A soldier, planter, journalist. Major Downs has had a long and active career in central Texas, and is one of the most eminent citizens of Waco. Waco has been his home for nearly sixty years, and he is probably the oldest living resident in point of years of this splendid city of central Texas. He is one of the few men now living who have witnessed its growth from a pioneer community on the banks of the Brazos River, until it has now become a center of many railroads and great commercial, educational and civic enterprise.

John Wesley Downs was born at Mount Hope, Ala- bama, November 15, 1838, a son of William W. and Henrietta (Sparks) Downs. His father was a native of North Carolina and his mother of Georgia. They moved to Alabama in 1820, and in 1854 brought their family to Texas, coming up into what was then the frontier border and locating at Waco. For many years his father was the proprietor of the largest general merchandise store in that town, and also conducted a blacksmith shop, and was a leader among business men and citizens of this lo- cality. He was a strong man, had the quality of true leadership, and it was natural that many followed his example implicitly, with complete confidence of the sue- cess of any undertaking to which he put his hand. He accumulated a large amount of property, and lived to enjoy its income and the general esteem paid him by all who knew his life. He and his estimable wife attained the age of eighty years, and they reared a family of twelve children, among whom Major Downs was the seventh, and he is one of the three now living.

Eighteen months after the family moved to Waco, John Wesley Downs, in company with L. S. Ross, who subse- quently became noted as a general and as governor of Texas, set out on horseback aud made the trip across the country through rough and uncertain ways to Flor-

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ence, Alabama, where both these young Texans entered college and pursued four years of instruction in the Wesleyan University. Major Downs graduated from that institution in July, 1860, and returned home to Waco for a short time before the troubles of Civil war devastated the country. During this brief interim, he was a member of the mercantile firm of S. C. Downs Brother & Company. The father devoted his time to other pursuits, such as the supervision of his plantation and large other enterprises, while the sons had active management of the store. Only a few months were al- lowed for this qniet mercantile enterprise, and then the war was precipitated and every civil condition and rela- tion and occupation disturbed and thrown into confusion in which it remained for four years. Major Downs re- signed his home business interests to his father, joined an independent company, and from October, 1862, gave two years of faithful and efficient service to the Confed- eracy. In the engagements at Corinth, Mississippi, in the famous charge at Battery Robenet, he was wounded in the groin, and so disabled that he was soon afterwards discharged. However, he was appointed under the Con- federate government to office as an assessor and tax col- lector, and in this way continued his service in behalf of the South until the close of the war.

Upon his return home, Major Downs received from his father a gift of three thousand acres of land. As this relieved him from the necessities of close attention to business and the hard work of providing for the necessi- ties of living, he was somewhat free to give his time to the satisfaction of his literary inclinations and tastes. He therefore established at Waco the leading Democratic paper in north Texas for many years, the Waco Examiner, which in time became the official organ of the party in this section of the state, and one of the most influential newspaper organs, especially among stockmen and farm- ers, in the entire southwest, and the official paper of the Stockmen's Association. The Waco Examiner, both as a business enterprise and as a great journal, must always be considered a monument to the best years of Major Downs' career, since for thirty years he was proprietor and active manager of the Examiner. The wounds in- flieted during the Civil war eventually compelled him to retire from the desk as manager of this publication, and he gave up active newspaper work in 1903. Since then, so far as he has been able, he has devoted his time to the management of his plantation and farm, but as a matter of fact, is living practically a retired life in his home in Waco. Major Downs some forty years ago acquired much note in political and agrarian circles of Texas as the of- ficial organizer for the State Grange. Major Downs married Miss Fannie L. Sparks, a daughter of C. A. and H. (McCann) Sparks, of Waco. Their children are John Wesley, Latham and Grace, all of Waco.

DANIEL AUSTIN KELLEY. Forty years of active prac- tice have constituted Mr. Kelley not only one of the pio- neers of the Waco bar, but one of the oldest and most esteemed representatives of the legal profession in the state of Texas. Mr. Kelley was not only one of the early lawyers, but among the early settlers of the present city of Waco, which he has witnessed developed from a small town, before the days of the railroads. He has always enjoyed a high prestige and influence as a lawyer, for many years has had his choice of the better class of legal business, and at the same time has exercised a publie- spirited and worthy influence in the life and affairs of his community and state.

Daniel Austin Kelley is a native of Wharton, Texas, and his parents were John and Anna (Moore) Kelley, natives of Georgia. The parents were among the early settlers of south Texas, locating at Wharton in 1846. Subsequently, when their son Daniel Austin was a small boy, they moved into Grimes county, where the parents spent the remainder of their lives. Daniel A. Kelley at- tained his education largely from private schools, and

subsequently entered the University of Virginia at Char- lottsville, where he studied law and was graduated B. L. in 1871. Fresh from college and with all the ideas and ardor of the novitiate in law, he came back from the east and chose the town of Waco as the scene for his practice and achievements. It has been his fortune in subsequent years to cap the aspirations of that early period with much distinctive and creditable achieve- ments. Waco when he first located there was a town of thirty-five hundred people, and its chief landmarks in those days were the old suspension bridge across the Brazos river and the MeClelland Hotel. Practically every change in the town and every improvement which has marked the subsequent history of this locality, Mr. Kel- ley has witnessed, and as a good citizen has done his most to promote. Mr. Kelley has during his many years of practice at Waco given very limited attention to criminal law, and has confined himself largely to civil practice and counsel, and it is in this field of jurispru- dence that his special achievements have been. He has also served as special county and district judge.

In 1874 Mr. Kelley married Miss Georgia Townsend, and the children of their marriage were John T. of Waco; James T. of Bryan; and Daniel A. of Brown county. Mrs. Kelley, the mother of these children, passed away in 1902. Mr. Kelley afterward married Miss Anna West of Waco.

BERNHARD H. SCHROEDER. One of the enterprising and progressive business men of Waco, Bernhard H. Schroe- der, is one of those for whom this country is indebted to Holland. He has been a resident of the United States only since 1908, but during the six years that have elapsed he has risen to a high place in business eir- eles, and today holds distinct prestige in Waco as treas- urer of the Banker's Trust Company. Mr. Schroeder was born in Holland, June 5, 1865, and is a son of John H. and Sophia Schroeder. The father, who passed his lite in his native country, was a merchant by vocation, and died in 1901, at the age of sixty-five years, while the mother passed away in 1899, when fifty-one years of age. They were the parents of three children: Bernhard H .; Herman, who is deceased; and Alfred.

Bernhard H. Schroeder attended the schools of his native land until reaching the age of eighteen years, and at that time became a correspondence clerk, a ca- pacity in which he acteu from 1883 to 1886. In the lat- ter year he was made manager of a colonial banking company in Holland, occupying that position until 1895, when he accepted the office of manager for an industrial concern, and from that time forward until 1908 filled similar positions. During this period he had for seven- teen years served as consul from Japan to Holland, with headquarters at Amsterdam. He still retains, and on occasions wears, a decoration presented to him by the Emperor of Japan as an appreciation of his excellent services in that capacity. Mr. Schroeder came to the United States in 1908 and settled at „ aco, in the vicinity of which city he was engaged in prospecting for some- thing more than a year. In 1910 he founded the Central Texas Loan and Investment Company, of West MeLen- nan county, with a capital of $25,000, and in 1911 this capital was increased to $100,000. In 1913 the company 's business was assumed by the Bankers' Trust Company of Waco, and Mr. Schroeder was made treasurer, a position which he has continued to hold. Mr. Schroeder is widely known in financial circles of Central Texas, and in addi- tion to being a member of the directing board of the Bankers' Trust Company, is a stockholder in the South- ern Traction Company and the National Bank of the West. His religious connection is with the Holland Lu- theran church. A man of education, culture and refine- ment, he takes much pleasure in travel, and has visited many of the countries of the earth. He has found no time to engage in political activities, but has shown his willingness to contribute to the general welfare in bene-

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ficial movements and to shoulder his full share of the duties of citizenship in his adopted land.

Mr. Schroeder was married in Holland, in 1889, to Miss Marie De Neufville, who was born in Holland in 1866, and she died in France in 1909, having been the mother of one child, Hermance.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 156

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