A history of Texas and Texans, Part 160

Author: Johnson, Francis White, 1799-1884; Barker, Eugene Campbell, 1874-1956, ed; Winkler, Ernest William, 1875-1960
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 906

USA > Texas > A history of Texas and Texans > Part 160

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W. H. DOCKRAY. Among the prominent and success- ful men in Amarillo, Texas, is W. H. Doekray. He has been engaged in real estate and in the land business in this section of the state for a number of years and has won a reputation for keen business sense and a striet sense of honor that makes him a popular man to deal with. He has always taken an active part in the devel- opment of this section and has given both time and money to improving conditions in this part of Texas.

W. H. Dockray was born in Dallas, Texas, on the 6th of February, 1871. the son of I. G. T. and Pamthae (Morgan) Dockray. His father was born in the state of Alabama and did not come to Texas until after the close of the Civil war. He settled in Fannin county, Texas, where he became a farmer and a merchant. He was an active member of the Confederacy, serving in an Arkansas regiment. He took part in many of the im- portant battles of the war, among them being Shiloh and Vicksburg. His death occurred in 1896 at Rock Post, Texas, when he was sixty years of age. His wife was a native of Mississippi, who came to Texas in the early days. She is still living and makes her home in ('enter Point, Kerr county, Texas.

It was in the above locality that W. H. Dockray was reared. He attended the local schools and when he had outgrown their methods of instruction he entered the University of Texas at Austin, where he took the law course and was graduated in 1892. He never took up the practice of law, however, preferring a business career. He first went to Mexico City, and spent some time there studying conditions with an eye to engaging in business, but did not care for the outlook and so returned to Austin, where he engaged in the real estate business. He made a success of his business and felt free after a time to indulge a desire which had always animated him, that is to take a trip to the Old World. He spent some time journeying through Europe and upon his re- turn re-engaged in business, being interested in building and loan associations. He was on the road for the as- sociation until 1903 when he came to Amarillo and started here in the land business. He has been engaged in the general land business here ever since and has

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made a decided success, his business growing until it is now carried on on a large scale. He was among the men who founded the thriving town of Dalhart, Texas. He was one of the finance committee who financed the Woodmen of the World building in Amarillo, which is one of the best buildings in the state.

Mr. Dockray is a member of the Woodmen of the World and of the Knights of Pythias and has served as grand representative of the Palo Duro lodge. In poli- ties he is a member of the Democratic party, and is actively interested in the success of his party, though not caring for office.

Mr. Dockray was married in May, 1901, to Miss Lola Veck, the marriage taking place in San Angelo, Texas. Mrs. Dockray is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Veck, her father being deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Dockray have no children.

A. A. LUMPKIN. An Amarillo lawyer, a resident of the city for more than ten years, Mr. Lumpkin has en- joyed exceptional success in his practice, and in his present association with two other leading lawyers of the city is identified with what is regarded as the best legal practice in the Panhandle. Mr. Lumpkin has been a resident of Amarillo from the time it was a town of 2,500 people, until it is now a population of more than ten thousand, and whenever possible has given his own co-operation and help to promoting the prosperity of this remarkable young city of northwest Texas.

A. A. Lumpkin was born in Meridian, Texas, Septem- ber 30, 1878, the second of three children in the family of S. H. and Laura (Alexander) Lumpkin. The father was born in South Carolina, and the mother in Texas. S. H. Lumpkin came to Texas in 1874, settling at La- Grange. He was a teacher during his early life, then studied law with the firm of Brown & Lane at Houston, and is now living retired after a successful practice at Meridian, being sixty-two years of age. The mother was born, reared and educated in Texas, where she mar. ried. Her death occurred at Meridian in 1908 when fifty-five years of age. Of their children the oldest is Mrs. Otis Trulove, a resident of Plainview. Mr. Lump- kin is next to the oldest in order of birth. The second daughter, Mrs. E. B. Mayfield, is the wife of Mr. Mayfield, the present railroad commissioner of Texas, and one of the best known men in the public life of the state.

He attended school at Georgetown and in the State University of Texas at Austin, graduating from the law department of the latter institution in 1899. He began his practice at Meridian, where he remained for two years, and in 1902 located in Amarillo. He became a partner of Judge H. H. Wallace, and had special op- portunities for acquiring a practice in that association, which continued until the death of Judge Wallace in Jan- uary, 1909. Until September 1st, 1913, he has been as- sociated in practice with Mr. S. R. Merrill, and Mr. H. H. Cooper. These three gentlemen are regarded as among the ablest attorneys of the Panhandle. Their law library is probably the most extensive and best se- lected owned by any law firm in the northwestern sec- tion of the state.

Mr. Lumpkin is a Democrat, is a member of the Potter County Bar Association, is affiliated with York Rite Masonry through the Knights Templar Degrees, and the Mystic Shrine, and with the Woodmen of the World and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He was married at Meridian, Texas, June 5, 1907, to Miss Ada Dunlap, who was born in this state, a daughter of T. L. and Lou (Hall) Dunlap, both her parents being now residents of Meridian. The three children in the Lump- kin family are named as follows: Simon, born at Ama- rillo, July 23, 1909; Cynthia, born at Amarillo, Septem- ber 22, 1911; and Hugh, born at Amarillo, February 13, 1913.

GEORGE STEWART MURPHY, M. D. A distinctive and valuable contribution to the facilities for health and serv- ice to the sick in Amarillo and vicinity has been contrib- uted by Dr. Murphy, who some years ago located in this city and established a sanitarium which now has a reputa- tion all over this section of the state. Dr. Murphy is a physician and surgeon of broad experience, having had a number of years' practical work in hospitals and sani- tariums of Chicago and elsewhere, and being one of the most competent men of his profession in the Texas Pan- handle.

George Stewart Murphy was born at Chicago, Illinois, November 28, 1868, a son of John A. and Katherine Louise (Wright) Murphy. The parents were both na- tives of Ontario, Canada, the mother having been born at Glengarry, and came to Chicago in 1863, where the father was in the general contracting business until his death in June, 1911, when seventy-two years of age. The mother passed away in December, 1910, at the age of sixty-one. They were the parents of three children. The doctor's sister, Mrs. R. A. Bell, is a resident of Helena, Montana.

Dr. Murphy, the oldest of the children, attended the public schools of Chicago and for his medical training was a student in the Creighton University at Omaha, Nebraska, where he was graduated in medicine in 1896. He began his practice in Iowa at Macedonia, where he remained two years and then moved to Chicago, where he took post-graduate work and was associated with some of the most eminent practitioners of the state in hospital experience. After four years he took charge of a hospital in the vicinity of Chicago and conducted the institution for eight years. At the end of that time he came to Texas and established the Lubbock Hospital, running the same for three years. He then removed to Amarillo, establishing the Amarillo Hospital with an equipment of twelve beds and every convenience and facility which are found in modern first-class hospitals and sanitariums. Dr. Murphy is a member of the County and State Medical Societies, and the American Medical Association, is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protect- ive Order of Elks, and the Blue Lodge of Masons. He has served as city health officer at Lubbock, Texas. In politics he is a Democrat and belongs to the Episcopal church. At Omaha, in Janary, 1897, the doctor married Miss Grace E. Bartlett, a daughter of E. C. and Mary J. (Moore) Bartlett, of Omaha. Her father died at Seymour, Missouri, in 1905, and her mother is now liv- ing at Greenfield, Idaho. The two children of the doc- tor and wife are John Bartlett Murphy, born at Mace- donia, Iowa, June 16, 1898, and now a student in the high school; and Mary Louise Murphy, born Decem- ber 29, 1900, at Chicago, and also attending school.

JAMES T. MONTGOMERY. A member of the strong and successful law firm of Carrigan, Montgomery & Brittain, with offices in the Kemp-Kell Building in Wichita Falls, Mr. Montgomery has been identified with the legal profession in Texas for thirty years, and as a citizen has witnessed and taken a part in the develop- ment of the country of northwest Texas from its pioneer time. He practiced in the country to the west of Fort Worth in the days when a court district comprised from half a dozen to a dozen counties, and when the popula- tion consisted almost wholly of cattlemen, with only a sprinkling of farmers and homesteaders. Mr. Montgom- ery has been in practice at Wichita Falls for nearly twenty years, and is one of the older members of the Wichita county bar.

James T. Montgomery is a native of Mississippi, born in Chickasaw county, March 2, 1861. His father was a physician, Dr. J. P. Montgomery, a native of Sonth Carolina, who moved to Mississippi in 1838. He was a veteran in both the Mexican and the Civil wars and served in both wars as surgeon. His death occurred in Chickasaw county, in 1892, at the age of seventy-six

Ofval Cleveland

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years. The mother, whose maiden name was Regina Taliaferro, was a native of South Carolina, and a mem- ber of one of the old and best known southern families. She was married in Mississippi, and became the mother of seven children, of whom Mr. Montgomery was the third. She died in Houston, Mississippi, at the age of sixty-two, in 1892. Her father was Dr. R. D. Talia- ferro. The paternal ancestors of Mr. Montgomery were Scotch, and they came to America and were among the early settlers in Delaware. The great-grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. On the mother's side the ancestry is English, and the Taliaferros settled in Virginia many years before the Revolutionary war.

James T. Montgomery has made his own success. He started out with a cash capital of forty dollars, and is uow considered one of the most prosperous men as well as most successful lawyers of Wichita Falls. He was edu- cated in the country schools of his native county, and finished with two years in the University of Mississippi, where he was graduated LL. B. in the fall of 1883. He then came out to Texas, locating in Seymour, a town at that time without railroad facilities, and lived there until 1894, and enjoyed a liberal share of the local prac- tice. In the latter year he located in Wichita Falls, and has been connected with much of the most important liti- gation conducted in the local court. Mr. Montgomery is a member of the county bar association. He has never filled any public office, and is a Democrat of the Wood- row Wilson type. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and belongs to Wichita Falls Commercial Club.

At Wichita Falls, on March 25, 1896, he married Miss Nellie Darnell, who was born in Indiana, a daughter of Allen and Martha Darnell. The two children born to their marriage are Allan and Louise.

Mr. Montgomery has a distinctive position in business circles of Wichita Falls, as president of the First State Bank of this city. He is also a director in a number of other local corporations.

JUDGE J. STEWART CLEVELAND. Until death laid its restraining finger upon him no man stood higher by the quality of his character and sum of his achievements in Brown county than the late Judge J. Stewart Cleveland. While many felt a personal loss in his death, a multitude had cause to rejoice in his life. Untiring industry, great and varied enterprise, conspicuous ability, conscientious public service, fearless defense of his own rights and scrupulous regard for the rights of others, were the characteristics that made him not alone one of the best known men of his community, but the best beloved. Thirty-six years old at the time of his death on May 6, 1890, he had made his mark in the world, and the regret was not so much for lack of perfection in his own career as for the interruption of an ever increasing beneficent service to his community.

Jesse A. H. Cleveland, grandfather of Judge J. Stewart Cleveland, was born at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, about the year 1801, was reared in his native state, and married Sarah Lander. Subsequently he moved to Ken- tucky, lived for some time on a plantation in that state, then went to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1833, leaving which place he made his way overland to Texas, where he took up a large tract of land in Brazoria county, buying a large number of slaves from African slave traders, cul- tivating great plantations of cotton, in the fertile region along the lower courses of the Brazos. Later he sold his interest in the country and moved to Galveston, where he was appointed deputy United States Marshal for his district, an office which he held for some years. A man of generous impulse he gave liberally to the poor, but the state has reason to remember his name for other causes than for his private philanthropy. At the time of the great yellow fever epidemic, he gave up his pri- vate home for use as a hospital. More than that he lent his personal efforts in caring for and in treating

the victims of that dread disease. Three hundred patients were quartered at his home and he took entire charge of the impromptu hospital. His skill as a nurse made him as valuable as any physician, and he also inaugurated a system for caring for yellow fever patients which became known as the "Cleveland treatment," and in time was adopted in many fever districte as one of the surest methods of ameliorating the effects of the disease. By reason of these services, he was frequently called Dr. Cleveland, as well as by his just title through public services, Judge Cleveland. He was a man of great breadth of soul, and charity of temper, and during the war a sick soldier was treated with equal consideration whether he wore the uniform of the blue or of the gray. He was a man of no mean literary attainments and wrote several poems of merit. He continued to be prominently connected with the city of Galveston as a business man, up to the time of his death in 1876.

Charles Lander Cleveland, father of Judge J. S. Cleve- land, was born in Kentucky, being brought by his par- ents to Brazoria county, Texas, when seven years old. In early life he decided upon the law as his vocation, and studied under the preceptorship of Judge T. Branch in the town of Liberty where he was admitted to the bar. He began practice there and continued until 1872 when he moved to Galveston and became law partner of Judge Asa H. Willie, who left his lucrative practice to his partner and represented his district one term in the United States congress. Judge C. L. Cleveland while living at Liberty represented his county in the state legislature for two terms, and for several years held the office of district judge. In 1886 came his appointment as United States federal judge for the special criminal district composed of the counties of Galveston and Har- ris, over which office he presided with characteristic ability and efficiency until his death on February 9, 1892. His wife, who was a Hardin, and of the family of that name, in South Eastern Texas, where the Hardins were prominent from the days of early settlement, died October 26, 1882. There were nine children in their family, eight sons and one daughter.

J. Stewart Cleveland, born December 18, 1854, at Liberty, Liberty county, Texas, was the third son of Charles Lander and Mary A. (Hardin) Cleveland. The family to which he belonged has had conspicuous mem- bers and rendered splendid service to Texas since the years immediately preceding the Revolution which freed this state from the Mexican rule. He received his early education in private schools in this state and subse- quently was a student of literature at Roanoke College, in Virginia. He completed his studies in preparation for the law, under his father and Judge Willie at Gal- veston. After being admitted to the bar he practiced in Galveston until October 31, 1879, when he came to Brownwood and opened office making that city his home during the remainder of his life. About the year 1880 Judge Cleveland was elected county judge of Brown county. It is a matter of biographical interest that each member of the three successive generations mentioned in this sketch bore the title of Judge, and that was a distinction of service, not merely an honorary title. He was three times judge of the Brown county court, and then resigned at the solicitation of his friends, to make the race for the office of District Judge. His straightforward and fearless administration of affairs, and particularly his stand on the temperance and other moral questions had in the meantime aroused strong enmity among the classes of people who profit most by the liquor traffic and from general laxness of law and morals, and that opposition was sufficiently strong to defeat him as candidate for the district judgeship. Judge Cleveland for several years may be said to have lived in constant danger of death by violence, since he was again and again threatened with assassination at the hands of lawbreakers, but he went on undeterred by either threats or actual violence, and continued bis

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general practice as a lawyer up to the time of his death.

Judge Cleveland was always a stanch Democrat in his political views and supported the party in every pos- sible way. Aside from his operations in the field of law he was prominent in business, and socially was one of the best known men in his section of the state. Com- ing to Brownwood before the railroad reached that place, he became one of the active builders of the community and interested himself actively in every good work for its advancement and improvement.

In common with most families of affluence wine and liquors were always found in the boyhood home of Judge Cleveland, but early in life he decided that the use of intoxicants was destructive to the body and deterimental to the development of his highest ideals of manhood, so he resolutely turned from their use and to the day of his death be kept the vow of total abstinence and not even physicians could induce him to break it. Unit- ing with the Presbyterian church, he was true to the teachings of the faith and a liberal contributor to all church causes. Devout and resolute in his inner nature, none were more earnest in their support of morality and christianity. With him there could be no middle course; right was right-wrong was wrong. Absolutely fear- less in his support of everything which his judgment told him to be just and beneficial, he incurred the hostility of the lawless class, and especially during the period when he stumped Brown county with the temperance workers in their efforts to put down the whiskey traf- fie, living hourly in the presence of menace and danger. It was common rumor at the time of his defeat for the district judgeship that many who voted against him had stated as their reason for so doing that "he was too fine a Christian man." Once at least his wife and several times his friends saved his life, and only those who un- derstand the conditions of thirty years ago in West Texas and realize how keen were the animosities separat- ing the different classes of society can appreciate how difficult was the course of such a character.

He possessed a logical mind of keenest mental grasp. Acquainting himself with the world's finest literature, studying his father's and his own extensive law libraries, left him no time for light literature, but important current events were always followed closely. He was a man of unusnal grace of carriage and gesture; of such dignity of manner, that though all knew of his ready wit, only his most intimate friends dreamed of his wonderful powers of mimicry. When he did display this talent, giving his old negro mammy's crooning lullaby, or revival hymns, imitating birds, beasts or man his small audiences would be moved to tears or laughter at his will. Children loved him; animals responded to his affection and ran to meet him. His reverence for all good women was marked and his mother, wife and child were almost idolized.

Judge Cleveland made judicious investments from time to time, leaving his family in good circumstances, and no man can say there is taint or blemish on one dollar of it. On November 15, 1877, Judge Cleveland was married in Galveston to Miss Marie Louise Ritchie, daughter of Timothy and Katherine Ritchie. Mrs. Cleveland's father was a contractor, in several large cities. He possessed the highest classical education, a profound student to the day of his death. Mrs. Kath- erine Ritchie was a woman of education and culture, receiving her education in Paris and having traveled extensively. She was a woman of extreme refinement and piety. Judge and Mrs. Cleveland were the parents of three danghters: Mary Katherine, and Francis Pearl, who died in infancy; and Yrma Louise, who is the wife of Guy L. Jones, who is engaged in the abstract and loan business in Brownwood, where they reside with Mrs. Cleveland. Like her husband, Mrs. Cleveland has superior education and intellectual attainments, is a woman of culture and is familiar with the world's best

literature and art. She belongs to the most exclusive circles of Brownwood society and for years was promi- nently identified with club work.

Judge Cleveland's funeral was conducted by his pastor at the Brownwood Presbyterian Church, and the services were attended by people from all walks of life. Those who had known bim professionally and in a business way; those who had appreciated his services as an honored, upright judge, those who had admired him for the courageous manner in which he bad adhered to what he considered right; and last, but not least, those who had benefited by his generosity, his great-hearted- ness, his benevolence,-widows and orphans who knew in his death they had lost a friend who could never be re- placed-all these felt a deep sense of individual bereave- ment in the death of this sterling and upright lawyer and citizen.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN WHITEFIELD. Among the various commercial enterprises that give special character and prominence to Midland as a trade center, one of the most noteworthy is the Midland Mercantile Company, a large general, store, which has a trade throughout the county, carries an unusually complete stock of goods and main- tains as its motto "The Standard of Excellence." The business organization of this company is composed of the ablest commercial talent in the city, and the suc- cess of the concern is largely due to the general manager and treasurer, Mr. B. F. Whitefield. Mr. Whitefield has been identified with Midland and vicinity for fourteen years, and has become successful both as a farmer and merchant.

Benjamin F. Whitefield was born in Ellis county, Texas, September 15, 1876, a son of George and Eliza (Brack) Whitefield, both of whom were natives of Ten- nessee, and came to Texas before the Civil war. Judge Brack, the father of Eliza (Brack) Whitefield, was the first judge of Ellis county. Mr. George Whitefield, the father, was a farmer and stockman, and during the Civil war served four years in the Confederate army under General Beall. He located at what was known as Mackey Springs, in Ellis county, and spent thirty-five years as a farmer and stock raiser in that locality. He owned several hundred acres of land near Waxahachie, in Ellis county, and was engaged in the improvement of one thousand acres of this land at the time of his death. He was sixty-eight years of age when he died and during his life time he had built up a generous material pros- perity and was a man of influence and leadership in Ellis county. His widow still resides at a comfortable home in Waxahachie. There were seven children in the family and two are now deceased. John W. Whitefield, is owner of the old homestead in Ellis county; the Mid- land merchant, is the next in order; Albert; Sidney Whitefield lives on a ranch at Waxahachie; George W. is at home with his mother; Charley, who is now de- ceased. Lucy was the wife of W. D. Morton, of Glen Rose, Texas, who is now deceased.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 160

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