A history of Texas and Texans, Part 157

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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BIRCH DUGGAN EASTERWOOD. Though established in business but a short time, Mr. Easterwood is regarded as one of the ablest young architects of central Texas. His offices are in the Amicable building at Waco. His career in Texas began as a farm hand, and by various promotions won at his own initiative and by his own efforts he ad- vanced from one thing to another, always getting a little further towards the goal of his ambition, and after a thor- ough course of private study of architecture engaged in practice for himself.

Birch Duggan Easterwood was born in Calhoun county, Alabama, January 2, 1888. His father, Pink Almond Easterwood, was born in Alabama in 1858, followed merchandising as his business, and died in 1893. The mother's maiden name was Nannie Duggan, who was born in Tennessee in 1868 and died in 1890. Their three children were Birch D., Hoyle S., and Eva. Hoyle married Cora Smith, has two children, Grace and Ber- narr, is a dairyman in El Centro, California; while the daughter, Eva, is unmarried and lives at the home of her brother in Waco.

Mr. B. D. Easterwood had a common school education in Alabama, which state remained his home until he was eighteen, and on coming to Texas his first location was at Bartlett in Milam county. The first summer was spent in farm labor, followed by a clerkship in a general store for a year and a half, after which he rented a hun- dred acres of land and got his start by three years of successful farming. All the time not employed in look- ing after his erop was devoted to the study of architec- ture and drawing, and having exceptional natural talent in this line he made rapid progress, and on moving to Waco in 1911 engaged in business for himself.

On September 5, 1909, Mr. Easterwood married Pearl Barker, a daughter of Mrs. Delia Barker of Milam county. They have one child, Kenneth. Mr. Easterwood is a member of the Baptist church, and was president of the Baptist Young People's Union. He takes consid- erable interest in political affairs, and during his resi- dence in Milam county was road superintendent one term. Since engaging in his present profession it has been his chief hobby and pleasure, and his success in his chosen field is assured.

CAPTAIN ROBERT B. SHAW. A record of a long and eventful life has been that of Captain Shaw, now living retired at Kemp in Kaufman county. For sixty years he has had his home in Kaufman county, where he was one of the early settlers and his span of recollection and reminiscence covers probably more varied and interest- ing events and personalities in this section of Texas than that of any other living citizen. He has exemplified the spirit of real citizenship, has given all his services to the public weal, and has participated in the commercial and agricultural affairs of the county during a long life.

Captain Robert B. Shaw came to Texas in 1853 from Chickasaw county, Mississippi. He was born in Perry county, Alabama, July 19th, 1833. His father, James Shaw, was a North Carolina man by birth, and a son of Benjamin Shaw. James Shaw acquired a moderate education, and followed the calling of his father as a farmer and planter, and in Mississippi became a mån of influence and financial prestige. He owned slave prop- erty which he brought with him into Texas, and suf- fered its loss by the emancipation during the war be- tween the states. James Shaw, in 1851, made a pros- pecting trip to Texas, and bought fifteen hundred acres of land in Kaufman county. Two years later with his

family he came across the country in wagons, a month's journey being required to reach his destination. Trans- planting his residence in the west he enlarged his scope of activity, and besides opening up a farm he multi- plied his stock and combined that industry with grain growing. He lived through the strenuous political times of ante bellum days and added his moral support to the cause of the South, one of his sons being sacrificed on the battlefield as a Confederate soldier. James Shaw died in 1866 at the age of eighty years, just at the dawn of a new era with the restoration of peace between the states. He professed no religion, but was everywhere known for his strict honesty and integrity. James Shaw married Katherine Elliott, who was reared an orphan, and who died in 1875. Their children were: Smith Shaw, who lived in Mississippi, and left a family there at his death; Fox, who died in Kaufman county, Texas; Julia, who married Jesse Franklin, and died in Kaufman county; Rhoda, who became Mrs. Henry Car- lisle, and died in Kaufman county; James F., who left a family at his death; William A., who died leaving a family at Clarksville, Texas; John A., who was killed in the Red River Campaign against Banks, during the war, and Captain Robert B. Shaw.

Robert B. Shaw brought from Mississippi all the education he ever acquired from schools. His youth was passed in the days when schools were conducted in log cabins, with the crude and primitive equipment which has been so often described, and when the curriculum consisted of the teaching of the fundamental principles of reading and writing, and figuring, and when the teachers themselves were most meagerly equipped for the work of instruction. He remained with his father, and aided in the management of the varied responsibilities of the farm until 1859, when he married and moved to a tract of land which he bought five miles south of Kauf- man. Only one year was spent at that home when the war broke out, and the call to arms brought him out as a volunteer as a Confederate soldier. He enlisted in company G of the Twelfth Texas regiment, com- manded by Col. Bill Parsons, who subsequently became a brigadier general. The regiment was rendezvoused at Houston, and was ordered north into Louisiana and Ar- kansas. It participated in the preliminary maneuvers prior to the campaign in which the engagement at Mans- field, Cottonplant, and Yellow Bayou were conspicuous. He was in the two latter battles, and also was in the operations against General Banks along the Red River. When the war ended he was attending the court-martial of Lieutenant Col. Burleson as a witness at Hempstead, Texas. He was mustered out with the rank of lieu- tenant, having held that official place since 1865. Through the four years of the war he went without wound or imprisonment, and returned to his wife and home in May, 1865. Captain Shaw then took up farming under the changed conditions and made a crop the first year following the war. He was soon approached with a proposition from the sheriff of the county to take a deputyship under him, and thus be in line for elec- tion to the office in 1866. Sheriff Alexander Wilson did this because he wished to make some sacrifice to the men who had exposed their lives and fortunes for the welfare of a lost cause, and he selected Robert B. Shaw as the proper person upon whom to bestow this confi- dence and honor. In 1866, the captain was elected sheriff of Kaufman county, and he continued in that capacity for twelve years, excepting the periods when removal from office by the military regime occurred, which occurred twice, and at each recurring oppor- tunity he was promptly re-elected by the citizens. In 1867, Captain Shaw engaged in merchandising at Prairie- ville, and continued there until in 1888, when he came to Kemp, and conducted business in his new location until 1897. His attention to mercantile affairs did not divert him from farming, and all the while his large country estate was being improved and brought under

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cultivation by tenants. Of the fifteen hundred acres he owned six hundred were made productive by the plow, and the rest has been for many years pastured for his stock. Captain Shaw has been one of the largest stock raisers in Kaufman county. His retirement from mer- chandising gave him opportunity to relax from the vigilant prosecution of business which had absorbed him for so many years, and since then he has lived at Kemp, watching the varied rural interests at the old home visible from the upper gallery of his village residence. Here there passes in review before him the entire pana- roma of the personalities and achievements of his long and active career, and few of the old men of Texas can enjoy with greater satisfaction the life of memory than Captain Shaw. He has in his possession a book that con- tains the memoirs and a sort of diary that Mrs. Shaw wrote in 1858, containing poetry and verse. Also dates of arrival and departure of her soldier boy husband. She was only 17 years of age at the time, and had only been married about a year, when he went away to the war. He regards and holds this diary above everything else that he owns, and money will not buy it.

In June, 1859, Captain Shaw married Miss Susan Vannoy, a daughter of Jesse Vannoy, who came to Texas from Tennessee, and settled in Anderson county. Cap- tain Shaw and wife took into their home Florence, a little orphan girl, whom they learned to love as their own, and whom they educated and cared for until she became the wife of William A. Taylor of Kaufman, and later visited her foster-father, bringing her own gen- eration with her. The Captain's own children are two sons, Fred and Bernard. Fred Shaw, is a Galveston citi- zen, and married Effie Randall. Mrs. Captain Shaw died in 1909, after having lived with her husband fifty years, and having impressed her individuality upon her community and her Methodist church to which they both belonged.

In San Antonio, Texas, on June 6th, 1912, Captain R. B. Shaw married Mrs. Mary E. Green, whose father came to Texas from Kentucky. Mrs. Mary E. Shaw, who was born in June, 1866, in Gerard, Ill., was only ten years of age when her father settled in MeLennan county, Texas. By her first marriage Mrs. Shaw had two daughters. The oldest is Mrs. Joe Muney, of San Antonio. Her husband, Mr. Percy P. Mney, an Eng- lishman, died in Chicago, Illinois, in 1908. The second daughter is Mrs. Marguerite Shepard, who lives in San Antonio. Her husband is in the insurance business, and is a son of Milton Shepard, a Confederate Soldier and a very prominent man of Toomsboro, Georgia. They have one son at school, John Milton Shepard.

QUITMAN FINLAY. A native Texan, Quitman Finlay has been engaged in the practice of law, in the railway service, and the varied interests of a successful career for the past thirty years. As a lawyer, he ranks at the head of the MeLennan county bar, and is a citizen deeply interested in matters of social welfare in his home city of Waco.

Quitman Finlay was born in Jackson county, Texas, July 21, 1865. His father, George P. Finlay, who was born in Rankin county, Mississippi, in 1828, was a prom- inent attorney, practiced law for more than half a cen- tury, and died in 1911. His mother, whose maiden name was Carrie Rea, was born at Boonville in Howard county, Missouri, in 1837, and now lives at a venerable age in the city of Galveston. The three children are: Julia, Vir- gilia and Quitman. The daughter Julia married Hart H. Settle, of Galveston, and their two children'are George F. and Julia Finlay. Virgilia married D. E. Simmons of Houston, Texas, and has two children, Finlay and An- drew. Quitman Finlay was married at Waco, November 6, 1889, to Alice Downs, a daughter of Oscar J. Downs, an old-time planter and well-known citizen of Texas. Mr. Fiulay and wife have one child, Dorothy.

Quitman Finlay was educated in private schools as a

boy, and in 1883 graduated from the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. His college career was in- terrupted by ill health, and his study in the University of Texas was broken off in order that he might recuper- ate, and two years were spent in Old Mexico working as a cowboy. Returning to Galveston, he took and energet- ically pursued his studies of the law in his father 's office until admitted to the bar in 1886. Mr. Finlay practiced law from 1886 to 1900, and then entered the railway service with the Santa Fe Company for two years, and for eight years was with the Texas Central Railway. When he resigned in 1908 he was head of the claim de- partment of the latter company, and since then has ap- plied himself closely to his practice as a lawyer at Waco.

Mr. Finlay is a member of the Episcopal church, is a Democrat who has been at various times interested in party affairs, and from 1893 to 1897 served as special deputy collector of customs in Galveston. In 1898 he joined the Texas' Volunteer Guards, and was a member two years of that organization. He belongs to the Young Men's Business Leagne of Waco, and has inter- ested himself especially in the Y. M. C. A. and the City Mission, and through those organizations has done a great deal of religious and philanthropie work. Mr. Fin- lay owns his own residence at 602 S. Fourth street in Waco.

JAMES W. EDENS. There are good reasons for the sne- cess of James W. Edens as a real estate dealer at Waco. He knows Texas as a lifelong resident and son of one of the first families. A number of his years were spent as a practical agriculturist and on his farm in MeLen- nan county he has raised some very fine staple crops and knows all that is profitable to know about Texas soil, seasons and erops. Besides farming and business, his experience also includes educational work, and he was an exceptional teacher in his time.

James W. Edens was born in Houston county, Texas, January 19, 1855. His father, John Silas Edens, wbo was born in South Carolina in 1821, was brought to Texas when a small boy by his parents, and grew up and followed the occupation of agriculture. He was in Texas at a time so early that he was one of the boy volunteers in the Texas army which fought off the Mexican forces sent to subdue the rebellious province. He bears a name. which is familiar to those who have read the early Indian annals of Texas, and one of the tragic events during the early days of Honston county was what was known as the Edens or Madden massacre. At the time of that calamity John S. Edens was away from bome at school, and for that reason he escaped the slaughter meted out to other members of the family. His death occurred in 1892. When the Edens family came to Texas they set- tled in Honston county seventeen miles north of Crockett. John S. Edens married Amanda G. Adams, who was born in Indiana in 1825, and the Adams family likewise found an early residence in Texas. Her death occurred in 1863, and her husband subsequently married Mrs. Sarah Thompson about 1865, and sbe died in 1870. The eight children by the first wife were: John N., Mary C., Geor- gia A., James W., Silas B., Amanda E., Lucinda G., and one that died in infancy.

James W. Edens spent his early years in Houston county, and the second school he attended was taught in a little log house which had been put up by his father and James Miller, largely to afford educational advan- tages to their own families. In 1868 the family moved to McLennan county, and here he continued attending school, the teacher being paid by the patrons of the school according to the old subscription plan of school support. Subsequently he was in the public schools in Houston county, and had one year in Baylor University of Waco. Some years of his earlier career were actively employed in the work of the schoolroom, and it was while teaching and partly from the money earned in. that way that he bought his first laud, couprising one bundred

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acres, and spent ten years upon it as a successful farmer. On account of his father's health he finally returned home and spent several years in the management of the old farm, after which he moved to Waco and in 1907 en- gaged in the real estate business as an immigrant agent. He represented a corporation for the colonization of va- cant Texas land for three years, and then opened an office for himself and in 1912 took as a partner O. J. Hadden, and the two together now conduct a flourishing business.

Mr. Edens on October 14, 1896, at Crockett married Lizzie Ellis, a daughter of J. B. Ellis, a Houston county farmer. The three children born to their marriage are: Lois E., deceased; James W. Jr .; and Berkleyine E. The family are members of the Missionary Daptist church, and Mr. Edens serves the society as deacon. In polities he is a Prohibitionist. While it is many years since he abandoned the work of the schoolroom, he has never given up his interest in young people, and his hobby is teaching boys. At the present time he is in- structor of a special class of boys called the Royal Am- bassadors, as a part of his church activities. Mr. Edens owns two hundred and thirty-two acres in McLennan county, and his management and labors have brought one hundred and ninety acres of it under successful eul- tivation, raising fine crops of cotton, corn and oats. Outside of business, home and church Mr. Edens occa- sionally takes recreatiou through a fishing trip.

JOHN F. ROWE. Among the progressive and enterpris- ing citizens of Waco, none have contributed in greater degree to the advancement and progress of this thriving and prosperous city than has John F. Rowe, a real estate broker with offices at No. 611 Amicable building. Dur- ing his long and industrious career he has been engaged in a variety of pursuits, all tending to promote the prom- inence of whatever community he has found himself in, and his versatile talents have enabled him to make a success of each of his undertakings. The growth and development of any locality is largely dependent upon the exertions of those individuals who devote themselves to the exploitation of real estate. Without their energy, perseverance and progressive ideas no section will move out of the rut of mediocrity; outside capital will not be attracted to it, and property will find little incentive for increasing in value. It is invariably found that with the advent of an enterprising, experienced man, well versed in the realty business and realty values, comes a growth that is remarkable. Many years have passed since the initial work in this line was done in Waco, but the needs of this growing city have made necessary a constant expansion of the outlying territory, while a maintenance of the value of property already built is extremely important. So it is that the work of the realty dealer is counted as being among the potent factors in the life of this city. One of the men who have been most prominent in this work of recent years is Mr. Rowe, who is widely known as a business man of energy and ability.

John F. Rowe was born at Camphill, Tallapoosa county, Alabama, June 24, 1861, and is a son of John F. and Elizabeth (Heard) Rowe. His father, a native of For- syth county, Georgia, was born in 1828, and was reared in a rural community, where he early adopted the voca- tion of agriculturist. At the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in the army, but contracted sickness in camp, and died in August, 1861. Mrs. Rowe was born at Da- derville, Alabama, about the year 1831, and survived her husband for many years, her death occurring May 29, 1911. They were the parents of three children, as fol- lows: William E., Alfred A., and John F., of this review.

The public schools of Daderville, Alabama, furnished John F. Rowe with his preliminary educational training, but at the age of sixteen years he entered West Point College, in Lee county, Alabama, and there he spent two years. On leaving this institution he found it necessary that he make his own way in the world, and he accord-

ingly entered the brokerage business at Atlanta, Geor- gia, thus receiving his introduction to an occupation in which he was later to meet with his greatest success. After two years spent in Atlanta, in ·1882 he came to Texas, and here, having decided to take a venture into the vocation of agriculture, rented a farm. After two years he decided that the stock business offered better opportunities for his abilities, and accordingly for the next five years he was engaged in raising cattle and mules, with some degree of success. Following this, he embarked in business as a merchant, opening a general store at Elm Mott, McLennan county, but after three years disposed of his enterprise at that place and re- moved to Montcalm, Hill county, where he also engaged as a merchant. Four years later Mr. Rowe sold his Montcalm establishment and made his advent in Waco, here engaging as credit man for the Rotan Grocery Com- pany, a concern with which he remained until October 5, 1912. During his connection with this business he was constantly advanced because of his fidelity, his energy and his industry, and when he resigned he was acting in the capacity of secretary, a position which he had held for several years. Mr. Rowe then again entered the brokerage and real estate business, and in this has con- tined to the present time, making a specialty of lands, brokerage and mercantile jobbing. Mr. Rowe's abilities are of much more than ordinary character, and are ver- satile in their nature. Among his associates he is ac- counted shrewd, far-sighted and level -- headed, instantly conscious of the presence of an . opportunity-openly alert to grasp it. He has various extensive business con- nections in Waco and elsewhere, and is secretary and manager of the Farmers Investment Company of this city and a stockholder and director of the First National Bank of Montealm. He is the owner of his own resi- dence, a modern structure at Fourteenth and Bernard streets, and here finds his greatest pleasure, although he is distinctively a "man's man," enjoys the companion- ship of his fellows, and is a popular member of the Knights of Pythias, the Masons and the Woodmen of the World, as well as several social organizations. Along the line of business, he belongs to the Commercial Club and the Young Men's Business Club. His realty holdings are large, including 1000 acres in Bosque county, 819 acres in Hill county, 293 acres in the southern part of McLennan county, fifty acres in the northern part of that county, and 20,000 acres of plains in different parts of the state. In political matters he is a Democrat, but public life has not tempted him, and he has been too busy with his private affairs to enter the political field, al- though on numerous occasions he has proved his good citizenship and willingness to promote the welfare of the community. With his family he is connected with the First Baptist church, where he is serving as a dea- con, and as superintendent of the Sunday school. For twelve years he has been a trustee of Baylor University.

On March 30, 1888, Mr. Rowe was married at the home of the bride, in McLennan county, to Miss Addie L. Rice, daughter of Jonathan Rice, a farmer of that county, and to this union there have been born two chil- dren, namely: Herman, a successful practicing attorney of Waco, who married Nonie Jones and has one child, Mabel E .; and John F., Jr., who is studying medicine at Vanderbilt University, married Ethel Alexander.

ARTHUR MACARTHUR PRESCOTT. As chief of the Waco fire department since December 10, 1886, until the present time, Mr. Prescott has a record of public service probably not excelled for length of years nor for efficiency in the state, and there are few parallel cases anywhere in the country. He belonged to the old volunteer fire depart- ment years ago, when the apparatus was drawn by hand, and has witnessed and been influential in installing the many successive improvements by which the expeditions handling of fire has been brought to a maximum of ef- ficiency. The Waco fire department has no superior in Texas, either in the personnel of its members, or in in-

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dividual and organized effectiveness. This fact is well illustrated by the records of insurance rates prevailing at Waco, which are as low as any to be found in the state, and indicate a minimum of fire losses.

As organizer and present chief of the modern fire de- partment of Waco, Mr. Prescott has a civic and personal record that belongs in any history of the state.

Arthur MacArthur Prescott was born in San Antonio, Texas, February 27, 1854. His parents were William and Rachael (MacArthur) Prescott. His father, who was born in Lancaster, England, in 1818, came to America; was one of the pioneer settlers in Florida, where he was granted land from the government, and saw active serv- ice during the Seminole war in that state. About 1847 he moved west and settled at San Antonio, Texas, which was then on the extreme southwestern frontier, and con- tinued to live in Texas until his death, on December 10, 1888. The mother, who was born at Pacley, Scotland, in 1822, died in 1899. Their five children are mentioned as follows: Aransas, who died in 1902; William, who died in 1888; Mary, who died in 1911; Arthur; and Albert.

Arthur MacArthur Prescott, like many southern boys of his age, had very limited opportunities to train for life except through the most practical schools of expe- rience. The period of the Civil war covered some of the years of his boyhood, and altogether his school training might have been comprised within a few months. During the progress of the war he and his brother were kept to work "pinching cartridges" for the Confederate army, and received a very meagre wage for the work. After the war for one year he was employed in a photographic shop; then learned the tinner's trade, and about two years later went out to the frontier and became a home- steader and settler for nine years. Mr. Prescott has lived in Waco since 1876, and is really one of the oldest residents of this thriving central Texas metropolis. While cultivating a traet of land in MeLennan county, he was also a member of the volunteer fire department of that time, and was honored with all the positions in the vol- unteer service up to 1886, when he was elected chief of the Waco Fire department. Mr. Prescott is now in the twenty-eighth year of his continuous service as chief, and his interesting recollections of experience as a fire fighter would fill many pages.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 157

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