A history of Texas and Texans, Part 163

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 163

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William Benjamin Wynne, or "Buck" Wynne, as he is more generally known, was born April 3, 1858, grew up about Pyrtle, in Rusk county, to the age of eighteen, familiarized himself with the "wagoning" business of the early seventies, driving a team from Hallville, then the end of the Texas & Pacific Railroad, to Henderson. Much of his education was acquired while thus engaged, and at the same time he gave instruction to a young negro. While a youth in his teens he began the study of law with his brother, Colonel R. N. Wynne, in Hen- derson, and in due time was admitted to the bar before Judge A. J. Booty, in 1878.

Mr. Wynne entered practice in a desultory sort of manner, making a few collections here and there, and for a year doing a little work in the courts. His first case was in the defense of J. P. Morgan, a farmer, who was being prosecuted for malicious mischief. Moving to Wills Point in 1879, his own legal career started prac- tically with the inception of the town, so that he has been the leading lawyer in that community while it was grow- ing to its present importance. Mr. Wynne early mani- fested an inclination for criminal cases, and as the ad- vocate of those charged with crime came into a consid- erable reputation. This branch of the law was gradually made his specialty, although civil business of a cor- porate nature has also claimed his attention. Of the one hundred and eleven men he defended when their lives were at stake, but four verdicts were returned against him, and eight years was the longest term of penal servi- tude given any of his clients. He has always represented

the shippers as against the railroads and has established precedents in a great many cases. Never in all the years of his legal activities has Mr. Wynne represented a cor- poration, except in the instances of one corporation ap- pearing against another. For twelve years he was a member of the firm of Wynne & Russell, Judge Gordon Russell going into congress from their office. Mr. Wynne has lately taken his son, Angus Wynne, into the office with him, and they maintain an office in Kaufman as well as in Wills Point. The firm represents practically all the corporate interests of Wills Point, including the banks, oil mill and light plant.

In polities Mr. Wyune has never sought an office, nor ever held one. He has been an active Bailey man, has sat in many state conventions, and is a man of some influence in the party in his locality. At the present time Mr. Wynne gives little attention to office affairs, rather devoting himself to the business of recuperating after a nervous breakdown. He fell exhausted at the elose of his argument in a case of unusual importance in May, 1913, a collapse due to a continuous activity in his profession for a period of ten years withont a rest or vacation. He is regarded as one of the noted lawyers of Van Zandt county, and his success has been well merited.

Mr. Wynne's identification with church affairs began when he settled down and established a home and fam- ily years ago, since which time he has taken a leading part in the work of the Methodist Episcopal church of Wills Point. For some years he was superintendent of the Sunday school and at different times has been a dele- gate to church conferences.

In Marshall, Texas, on September 25, 1879, Mr. Wynne married Miss Margaret Welch Henderson, daughter of J. B. Henderson, a Virginian by birth and a farmer. The children born to them are: Minerva, wife of Russell Montague, a Wills Point merchant; Angus G., a gradu- ate of literature and law of the Texas University, and now law partner of his father, who married Miss Mena Shellmore, daughter of Dr. Shellmore, of Dallas, and they reside in Kaufman, where the son looks after the practice of the firm in that vicinity; Margaret W. is the wife of Will Harrison, of Fort Worth; Benjamin J. is a graduate of the Wills Point schools and a student in the University of Texas; and Toddie L., Nancy Jud- son, Ada K. and Gordon Russell are the younger members of this family.

The family home of the Wynnes, located in a most at- tractive residence portion of the city, is one of the most charming to be found at Wills Point. Its magnificent lawn, with every ornamentation in the way of shrub- bery and flowers that the landscape gardener's art could insure, is a feature of the place, and the box hedge and cedars that line the road from house to gate attract the attention and admiration of every stranger in Wills Point.

HON. WILLIAM E. HAWKINS, associate justice of the supreme court of Texas, is a worthy representative of the dignity and greatness of the state in the domain of the law which he has honored for twenty-seven years. He comes of a family whose members have long been dis- tinguished at the bar and on the bench, especially in Tennessee, where an uncle, Alvin Hawkins, served three terms as a member of the supreme court, and later was governor of the state; another uncle, Albert G. Hawkins, was for many years chancellor of the district including Carroll county, Tennessee, while a third uncle, Jo Hawk- ins, was circuit judge and afterward for many years a practitioner at Huntington, Carroll county, Tennessee.

Judge Hawkins was born at Greenwood, Caddo parish, Louisiana, September 26, 1863, and is a son of Rev. Samuel J. and Emmeline (Burke) Hawkins. His father, a native of Tennessee, was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and as such came to Texas in 1865, here helping to organize the North Texas Confer-

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ence, as the Trinity Conference, at Sulphur Springs in that year. He was presiding elder of the Sulphur springs district, associate editor of the Texas Christian Advocate, and curator of Southwestern University at Georgetown, at the time of his death at Sulphur Springs, in 1888. An extremely pious man, thoroughly devoted to the work of his Master, his life was one of usefulness to his fellow-men, and his influence, always for good, was felt in whatever community he was located. The mother, who was born in Ohio, of Virginia parentage, still survives at the age of seventy-eight years, and is making her home with her son in Austin.

William F. Hawkins secured his education in various schools of Texas, his father's calling making it neces- sary that the family frequently move from point to point. He later attended the University of Louisiana (now Tulane University), and finished his collegiate course at the Southwestern University at Georgetown, where he spent two years. He then taught school in Dallas county and afterwards in the city of Dallas. He was the first teacher of mathematics in the Dallas high school. Being financially unable to attend the law school of the University of Texas, he read law under the pre- ceptorship and in the offices of Shepard & Miller, of Dallas, the firm being composed of Judge Seth Shepard, now chief justice of the United States court of appeals in the city of Washington, and the late T. S. Miller. With this excellent preparation, Judge Hawkins was admitted to the bar at Dallas in 1887, and in that year began practice in that city as a member of the firm of McKammy & Hawkins. Subsequently with his brother, he formed the firm of Hawkins & Hawkins, and still later became associated with John R. and C. P. Haynes, under the firm name of Hawkins & Haynes. This latter association continued until 1905, when Judge Hawkins was appointed first assistant attorney general of the state of Texas, under attorney general R. V. Davidson, and held this position until December 31, 1909, when he resigned. Shortly thereafter he was appointed commis- sioner of insurance and banking of Texas, and retained that office until July, 1910, when he moved to Browns- ville, Texas, and became associated with Frank C. Pierce, in the general practice of law, under the firm style of Hawkins & Pierce, this partnership continuing until September, 1912.

In July, 1912, while living at Brownsville, Judge Hawkins was nominated in the state Democratie primary for the office of associate justice of the supreme court of Texas, by a majority which was officially reported as exceeding eighty-nine thousand, and in November, 1912, was elected to the position for the unexpired term of two weeks, and qualified January, 1913. There has never been cause for anyone to question Judge Hawkins' mental breadth and strength, or his determination, reso- lution and steadiness, in whatever field of activity he has elected to enter. As a jurist his decisious have indi- cated a strong mentality, careful analysis and a thorough kuowledge of the law, and although personally a man of positive views, it has yet to be found that, as a judge, he has ever been influenced by his private inclinations. He possessed that self-control so requisite to the true judicial temperament, the power to put aside all personal feelings and prejudices in order that he may impar- tially dispense justice. Judge Hawkins is a member of the Masonic order and the Kappa Alpha fraternity, as well as the Town and Gown Club of Austin. His re- ligious connection is with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of this city.

On November 11, 1886, Judge Hawkins was married to Miss Ella Dickason, a native of Tennessee, but a resi- dent of Dallas, and daughter of John S. and Mary L. Dickason. To this union there have been born five chil- dren, four of whom are living, as follows: Lyndsay D., of Dallas, a member of the legal fraternity, who re- cently returned to Texas from Phoenix, Arizona, where he was in partnership with his uncle, ex-Texas State Sen-

ator Albert S. Hawkins; Evelyn, who is the wife of Staf- ford G. Helm, a stockman and merchant of Dundee, Archer county, Texas; and two unmarried daughters, Marion and Eudora, who reside with their parents at 212 West Forty-third street, Austin.

WILLIAM A. WATKINS, M. D. With a name honored and distinctive through nearly eighty years of Texas History, Dr. Watkins represents the third generation of the family in the republic and the state, and has for forty years been prominent as a physician and citizen. During most of his professional activities his home has been at Kemp in Kaufman county. In the family mem- bership will be found doctors, ministers of the gospel, farmers, soldiers, judges and lawyers, and all have made useful records in their relations with state and society.

The grandfather of Dr. William A. Watkins was Dr. Jesse T. Watkins, likewise a physician, born at Murfrees- boro, Tennessee, and established his residence at Nacog- doches, Texas, about 1836. He was a man of strong in- tellect, of virtuous purposes and righteous life, and was selected by General Houston to make treaties with the Indians whose hunting grounds were adjacent to the white men on the Texas frontier. In 1836, he set out from Nagodoches on this mission, with a pack train of twenty Auadarko Indians. From the day of his depar- ture to the west no news came from the little band, but in after years it was ascertained on reliable information that all the party had been slain by Mexicans. Dr. Jesse Watkins married Mary McCorkle, who died at Nacog- doches in 1862. There was a family of five sons and two daughters, namely: Rev. Archibald H., who was a minister of the gospel and labored for his church in Texas more than forty years, dying in Rusk county about 1888; John M., who settled in Kaufman county in 1852, and left a large family at Kemp when he died, having served his county as judge from 1856 to 1860; Rev. Richard O., father of Dr. William A. Watkins; Robert, who died at Nacogdoches and left a large family ; and Hon. Jesse J., who died at Douglas, Texas, in 1911, having served his county in the legislature and as county judge; Sallie, wife of Col. Robert Smith of Henderson, where she died; Mary, who married Col. Wynne of Rusk county, where she died.

Rev. Richard O. Watkins, father of Dr. Watkins, was born near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in 1816. His educa- tion was received at Shannon, Mississippi, and in Leb- auon, Tennessee, and he entered the ministry of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. For many years he was prominent as a pastor in Texas, and was stationed at different times at Austin and Waco, and was also closely identified with the work of the church school at Tehuacana. He was a member of the board that located that noted old Trinity University, which now has its home in Waxahachie. The University was founded at Tehuacana in 1868. Rev. Watkins gave liberally to it for endowment purposes, among his contributions being the dormitory of twenty rooms for the housing of young men studying for the ministry. Rev. Watkins preached all over the inhabited part of Texas, and was active in the work for forty-five years. While the war between the states was in progress, he carried on his ministerial du- ties, and at the same time showed his loyalty to his south by his active advocacy of its cause, and through the service of his own sons. He fed the wives of those fighting under the "Stars and Bars" and was a friend and counselor during the dark hours of trouble. He did a splendid work in every field of intellectual activity, and passed on the sceptre of the church to those who came up under some influences he had set in motion.

In 1855, Rev. R. O. Watkins followed his brother to Kaufman county, and there maintained his home. Of his family of six sons two served in the Confederacy as soldiers and are now deceased, while four are active and successful men of business or of professions. Rev. Wat- kins married Miss Amanda Polk, a daughter of John

Wracaskins MQ

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Polk of Memphis, Tennessee. They were married at San Augustine, Texas, where the Polk family has been among the most prominent in that section of the state. Mrs. Watkins died at Kemp in 1912 at the age of ninety-two, having survived her husband for many years. Their children were: John P., who belonged to Col. Par- sons' Twelfth Texas Cavalry, lived the life as a farmer, and died at Kemp at the age of sixty-nine; Jesse A., who served in the same command with his brother, was a farmer and died at the age of sixty-eight; Richard O., a successful farmer near Kemp; William A .; Robert S., who lives retired at Waxahachie, Texas, and whose his- tory is given in greater detail, elsewhere; and Judge A. B., of Athens, Texas, who was born in 1858.

Dr. William A. Watkins was born at Nacogdoches, June 4, 1849. Since 1855 his home has been at Kemp, and he grew up on a farm, received probably more than ordinary educational advantages, and graduated from the old Trinity University at Tebuacana in 1870. Choosing medicine as his profession, he graduated from Tulane University in 1873, and his first years of practice were spent at Prairieville. In the course of forty years many changes have been introduced into the science of medi- eine and its practice, and Dr. Watkins has been one of the progressive men who has endeavored to keep pace with all improvements. He has taken several post- graduate courses in the New Orleans Polyclinic, and has fraternized with the various medical associations. He belongs to the County and State Medical Societies, the Dallas District Clinic, and the American Medical Asso- ciation.

While his zeal and efforts have been chiefly bestowed upon his profession, Dr. Watkins has likewise also been prominent. in democratie politics in Texas. He served as chairman of the county executive committee twice, attended many state party conventions, and was a dele- gate to the famous Hogg-Clark convention, to which he went as a supporter of Mr. Clark, but returned a cham- pion of Governor Hogg. In local affairs he did a helpful part in assisting to locate the public school at Kemp, and for twenty years served the cause of public educa- tion as a member of the local school board. His chil- dren have all profited by splendid opportunities for edu- cation, the older ones in Trinity University, his own alma mater. and the youngest is now a student in the Denton Industrial Normal.

On October 27, 1876, Dr. Watkins was married in Kemp to Miss Jane Noble, a danghter of George W. Noble, who came to Kaufman county from Mississippi in 1852. with his father, Levi Noble. George W. Noble married Mary Lacy, and their only child is Mrs. Wat- kins. The children of Dr. and Mrs. Watkins are: Gene- vieve, wife of R. R. Reierson of Kemp, they having one son, Royal Watkins Reierson ; Chaille C., a railroad man, who married Miss Alma Baker, of Ada, Oklahoma, and their one daughter is Eugenia: Miss Mary P., a kinder- garten teacher of the El Paso City Schools; Miss Bessie, a graduate of Peabody Normal, and a teacher in the public schools of Corsicana; and Billie Jane of the Den- ton Industrial Institute.

Dr. Watkins was brought up under religious influence and has been a member of the Presbyterian church since boyhood. He has represented his church in the Presby- teries, Synods and General Assembly. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, to which his father belonged. and is a member of the Kaufman Chapter of Royal Arch Masonry. His other affiliations are the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World. Dr. Watkins is a man of large and vigorous physique, an active mind, and has employed his resources and abilities in many ways to benefit his community. He owns and operates through tenants considerable farm property, and has city real estate in Kemp besides his own home.

HON. OLE EDWIN OLANDER, D. D. President of the Texas Wesleyan College of Austin, Hon. Ole Edwin Vol. IV-34

Olander has from early manhood been conspicuously identified with the ministry of the Swedish Methodist church. He began his career in the ministry at the age of twenty-three, immediately after his ordination accept- ing his first call to service, and has filled numerous ap- pointments since that time, each succeeding charge bring- ing added duties and responsibilities until he reached his present position of service that brings his influence as a Christian educator to hundreds of young men and women preparing for useful careers.

Dr. Olander was born in Norway on December 31, 1858, a son of Andrew Olavson, a Methodist minister. The change of the surname was made after the family emigration to America. The father came to America in 1868, settling in Minnesota, and in that state Ole Edwin Olander was reared and had his early training.

After finishing with the public schools, he entered the Swedish Methodist Theological Seminary at St. Paul, Minnesota, an institution since moved to Evanston, Illinois. Owing to lack of means, he was unable to finish his course until graduating, but has since received his diploma from the seminary, and on account of his faithful and splendid work for the Methodist church and its institutions several colleges throughout the country have since rewarded him with honorary diplomas and with the title of D. D.

Dr. Olander was ordained to the ministry at the age of twenty-three, and his first call was to the church at Escanaba, Michigan, and his second was at Trade Lake, Wisconsin, where he served a pastorate of two years. Then going out to Seattle, Washington, he was made presiding elder of the district, in spite of his youth, a post he continued to hold for six years, discharging its duties in a manner that won him high praise from the officials of the church. For twelve years Dr. Olander was pastor of the Central Swedish Methodist church of Austin, Texas, and for the past twelve years has been district superintendent of the Austin district of the Southern Swedish Methodist Conference. During the first six years of his term he was both pastor and distriet su- perintendent. These duties have since been increased by the additon of his work as president of the Texas Wesleyan College, of which he was the founder.

The history of the Texas Wesleyan College is, in brief, as follows: On August 9, 1907, a meeting was held in Central M. E. church in Austin, attended exclusively by men who were interested in plans for a school to be located in Texas, and designed principally for young people of Swedish birth or ancestry. Among those pres- ent at this meeting were the pastors of the Southern Swedish Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

The deliberations at that meeting took form in resolu- tions to found an academy or college in Texas. Trustees were elected and various committees appointed, and it was decided to lay the matter before the Swedish people of the state. The appeal to the people was not made in vain. There was an immediate and hearty response. Not only did the Swedish people of the state show a healthy interest in the project, but many others, and especially the citizens of Austin, looked with favor on the plan. Austin was wisely selected as the most suitable place for the location of the institution, and Dr. Olander undertook, on his personal responsibility, to purchase for the sum of six thousand three hundred dollars a twenty-one acre tract of land in the city of Austin for a building site. The money was raised almost imme- diately by the business men and other citizens of Austin, through the Business League. Work on the school was commenced in the summer of 1911, and on January 1, 1912, the work was completed. On January 9, 1912, Texas Wesleyan College opened its doors, with ten teach- ers on duty and in readiness for class work. At the close of the first semester, on May 11, 1912, the school had a total enrollment of forty-seven pupils, an excellent record for an institution in the first year.

The college is most advantageously located, and with

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its twenty-one acre campus presents an attractive appear- anice. The campus itself is a natural park, covered with groves of ancient oaks and pecans, is situated about a mile and a half from the main business section of the city, and less than a mile from the capitol building, while it is only four blocks from the campus of the University of Texas.

To Dr. Olander is due much of the credit for the or- ganization and present existence of this ideal denomina- tional school. The plan had its conception in his mind, and his hand guided the affairs of the institution from conception into materialization, and the position of presi- dent, which he has held from the beginning, is one for which he is especially well fitted by nature and training. His life has been one of the highest devotion to duty, and his influence has been the inspiration of many a young Scandinavian who has set out to reach a high mark in life, taking the work and precepts of Dr. Olander as his guide and ambition. Dr. Olander's work as a Christian teacher aud minister has brought him a host of friends, and no better evidence of this could be cited than his election to the Thirty-third Legislative Assem- bly of the State in 1913, in which office he is now serv- ing, and through bim the best interests of his district and the state are being well considered.

HERMAN ROWE. The ordinary, everyday man in the business avocation which brings him his means of liveli- hood is fairly representative of the nation's citizenship. In the professions, and especially in the law, the oppor- tunities for public usefulness and personal advancement depend almost entirely upon the individual, natural en- dowment being as essential as is thorough preparation. The bar of Waco, a representative body of the state, has its full quota of able men.

Mr. Rowe is a native son of Texas and of McLennan county, where he was born, June 20, 1888. His father, John F. Rowe, was born at Camphill, Tallapoosa county, Alabama, June 24, 1861, aud for a number of years has been prominent in business circles of Waco, where he is at the head of an extensive brokerage enterprise. His mother, Addie L. (Rice) Rowe, is a native of McLen- nan county. A complete review of the parents' lives appears on another page of this work. They had two children : Hermau and John F., Jr.

The early education of Herman Rowe was secured in the public schools, following which he became a student in Baylor University, an institution which he attended until he was sixteen years of age. At that time he en- tered Trinity University, where he spent two years, and then, having decided upon a legal career, he entered the law department of the Cumberland University, and was graduated therefrom with the class of 1913, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Almost immediately he began practice in Waco, and this city has continued to be the scene of his labors. He holds membership in various organizations of his calling.

Mr. Rowe was married at Waco, September 23, 1908, to Miss Nonie Joues, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. Jones. The father, who served as county clerk of Mc- Lennan county for several years, died in 1901, at Waco. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Rowe: Mabel E., born October 8, 1909. Mr. Rowe is a devotee of hunting and fishing, but rarely finds time from the duties of his calling to indulge in his favorite sports. He is devoted to his home, and has a comfortable residence on Cameron Park Terrace. He and Mrs. Rowe are consist- ent members of the First Baptist Church of Waco, where they have numerous friends, as they have also in social circles of the city.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 163

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