A history of Texas and Texans, Part 18

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 18

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Mr. Park is an independent in politics. He was mar- ried in El Paso, October 29, 1911, to Miss Jo Wilson, who was born in Morrisonville, Illinois, a daughter of Joseph Wilson. Mr. Park has his offices at 400 North Oregon street. His chief diversions, aside from business, are hunting and fishing.

HARRIS KRUPP. One of the prominent figures in the mercantile circles of El Paso is Harris Krupp, a gentle- man of exceptional business discernment and managerial ability who very worthily represents the progressive spirit that characterizes the business activity of this thriving city of the southwest. He represents that type

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of the wellbred, foreign-born American citizen whose vigor, ambition and well-directed activities have added so much to the growth and prosperity of our nation. Mr. Krupp came to America a youth in his middle teens and for his progress in life he has relied on his own resources of an active mind, clear and ready judgment, a forceful purpose and fine principles of business and personal honor. He settled permanently in El Paso, Texas, twenty years ago and in that score of years he has shared the business growth and prosperity of this city, contributing the while his best energies and abilities to that end, and today he is one of the substantial men of El Paso.

Harris Krupp was born December 15, 1862, in Poland, of which country both of his parents were natives. Abraham Krupp, the father, deceased in 1911, spent his business career as a merchant in his native land and was fairly successful. Mary Krupp, the mother, is yet living and continues to reside in Poland.

Harris is the sixth of the seven children of these parents. He grew up to his sixteenth year in his native land and there received his education. On July 1, 1878, at New York City, he first stepped on the ehore of America, the land famed for opportunity, and after a three months' visit with an elder brother in that city he set about to try out his own fortunes. Securing em- ployment in a photographers' shop as a salesman for photo enlargements, he followed that line of busi- ness successfully for nine years, during which time he saved considerable money. He then came west, first settling in Illinois and then later in Kansas, but the spring of 1888 found him in El Paso, Texas. He re- mained but a short time, however, and from there went to Arizona, where continued his home some four years. In 1892 he returned to El Paso. With a small capital of $150 he opened up a small clothing store, the begin- ning of his present business at 107 San Antonio street, and of what is today one of the largest gents' furnish- ing establishments in the city of El Paso, with annual sales averaging $40,000. No magic wand has brought about this result, but it has come through an advantage- ous location and through years of untiring effort and wise and careful business management on the part of Mr. Krupp. He carries no outside interests but con- tinues to give his whole attention to this very successful business. In political views he leans toward the Re- publican party but he exercises his voting rights in ac- cord with his own progressive belief that power of effi- ciency and not party affiliations should determine the man for the office. He is prominently affiliated with the Masonic fraternity as a Noble of the Mystic Shrine and as a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and he is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Krupp is of the Jewish faith and is a member and a trustee of Mount Sinai Temple in El Paso.

The marriage of Mr. Krupp was solemnized at San Antonio, Texas, September 19, 1897, and united him to Miss Hulda Zlabovski, who was born in Russia and came to America at the age of eight years with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Zlabovski. Mr. and Mrs. Krupp have five children: Paul, born July 16, 1898; Ida, born June 11, 1900; Lester, born June 23, 1901; Ephraim, born January 29, 1905, and Leon, born March 4, 1909. The fireside of this family is in their own home at 326 Tipson street.

JOSEPH HILL MCCRACKEN, M. D. A career of useful activity largely devoted to the service of his fellowmen has been that of Dr. McCracken of Mineral Wells, where he located more than twenty years ago. Dr. MeCracken is now one of the oldest physicians in point of years of practice in his part of the state, and one of the best examples of that ideal type of the country doctor, whose services are marked by faithful character and a certain high ability and skill which give a physician his chief value to the community.

Joseph Hill MeCracken was born in the little village of Springtown, Parker county, Texas, October 1, 1867. His parents were William M. and Elizabeth Jane (Doak) MeCracken. The doctor is of Scotch-Irish stock, and his father, who was a native of Tennessee, went with his parents in his early years to Washington county, Arkansas. The Doak family also moved to that same section, and there the two young people formed an ac- quaintance which ripened into a happy marriage. In 1858 they moved to Texas, and located at Springtown in Parker county, then on the extreme western frontier. In the years during the Civil war decade and for some time afterward, all of Parker county was exposed to the constantly recurring outrages of Indians and out- laws, and the residents had to be constantly vigilant to protect both their own lives and their property from the raiding bands which crossed the country every few months. At one time the MeCracken ranch was raided, and a large herd of fine horses and two hundred and fifty cattle were carried away. The only animals left to perform the farm labor were a few old steers, and one fine brood mare was kept concealed from the In- dians by tying her behind the bank of a creek. One night, in trying to get down to the water for drink, she became entangled in the rope, and was drowned. The doctor's father hauled lumber from eastern Texas in an ox wagon in order to build his first house in that part of Parker county. The father was a fine type of the old west Texas pioneer. During the early days he served as a guard under Captain Walker Baylor and did much to protect the early settlers from incur- sions of Indians and outlaws. During the Civil war he was a true friend to all the families whose husbands and fathers had gone away to fight the cause of the South. He supplied many a home with provisions, and his many kindly acts caused his memory to endure grate- fully long after his death.

Dr. MeCracken had many obstacles to contend with in his advancement toward a professional career. The country schools provided him with only limited educa- tion, and much of the time while school was in session, his services were needed on the home farm. His brother John W. MeCracken was the founder and builder of College Hill Institute, and for two terms the doctor at- tended that school. With that schooling he applied for the position of master of a country school, and was given the promise of the same upon condition that he could produce a second grade certificate. This certifi- cate was given him by the examiners, the trustees failed to live up to their promise, and then young MeCracken went on with his studies. He had already determined upon a career in medicine, and in the meantime took up the study of anatomy and physiology. under Doctors O. G. Peterson and John W. Liles. About that time, 1887, occurred one of the greatest droughts in west Texas, and as a result his father was unable to assist him to proceed with his studies in college. In such a situation he determined to get a country school. A school was promised him on the understand- ing that he should furnish under examination a first- grade certificate. The examination was given and was one of the most rigid ever held in Texas up to that time. Curiously enough the doctor failed of a first- grade certificate because of his marks on physiology, which at that time was a new branch recently introduced into the curriculum. However, the trustees finally em- ployed Mr. MeCracken at a salary of forty dollars a month for a three-months' term. When that was con- cluded, since the results of the previous droughts were still felt in the community, Dr. MeCracken determined not to go away to medical school, but to take six weeks' study in the Normal School at Decatur. For a time he rode back and forth under the hot summer sun in search of a school and as a result was taken ill and lost four weeks from his studies, and when he entered the normal it closed three days later. Turning in his examina-

Joseph N. M Trocken ML

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tion papers he told the professor that if he was not given a mark of one hundred on physiology it would be an act of injustice to him since he knew more on that branch than the entire faculty of instruction. His aver- age of studies was ninety-two and a fraction, and thus he obtained a normal certificate. After six months of teaching, the doctor took his savings and entered the University of Tennessee to attend his first lectures. On returning from the first year of medical college, his cash capital amounted to only fifteen dollars. It was a case of necessity with him that he should at once get into practical work, and so he applied to Dr. John Embry, member of the board of medical examiners at Decatur, who appropriated ten dollars from the total fifteen and after getting a promise of five dollars more gave the doctor a temporary license to practice.

Dr. MeCracken with his license then located at Willow Point in Wise county. No other doctor was located within five miles, and in that rural community, he started out to give his services and get his first fees. In a few months he had been able to collect some six or seven hundred dollars from his practice and determined to re- sume his medical lectures. A few days before setting out for school his wife, a brave and courageous young woman who had willingly endured the hardships en- countered by her husband, gave birth to a baby girl and that circumstance and the illness of his wife kept him from school for a time. Dr. MeCracken on resuming his lectures gave close attention to his work and was grad- uated in 1891, with the honor of M. D. Worthily gained and justly awarded.

After a brief period of practice in Wise county, Dr. MeCracken moved on February 20, 1892, to Mineral Wells, and on the ninth of May in the same year lost all his accumulations by fire. Nothing was left except his little family and seventy dollars and a few cents in cash, with a debt of seventy-five dollars against him. All the previous years of hardships had prepared the doctor for such reverses, and having always been a man of honor, ready to serve his friends and neighbors when in misfortune, he now found that the bread cast upon the waters had returned to him in the form of prae- tical helpfulness in his own misfortune. Dr. MeCracken has always been fortunate in his friends, and the ties of fellowship strongly knit in the early days still bind. In his professional career he has always been liberal, has worked conscientiously, and has served both the poor and rich without respect to his fees. It has been his motto from early life to meet all obligations and make every promise good.

In 1895 Dr. MeCracken took a post-graduate course in New Orleans, another in New York in 1901, and then attended the New Orleans school again. On the reor- ganization of the State Medical Society, Dr. MeCracken was one of the first councilors in the organization of that body, and organized the Thirteenth District into medical societies. For three years he served on the board of councilors, was the first president of the Palo Pinto County Medical Society, and was recently elected president of the Northwest District Medical Association. He is vice president of the State Medi- cal Association, and after the death of the lamented president, Dr. David Fly was chosen by the board of councilors to fill out the unexpired term. At the end of that term he was elected delegate to the American Medical Association. For six years Dr. MeCracken was health officer of Palo Pinto county, resigning to accept the post of city health officer, in which capacity he still serves.

In the public life of Mineral Wells and community Dr. MeCracken has long been an active factor. Frater- nally his membership is with the Knights of Pythias, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, he is a deacon in the Presbyterian church, belongs to the Com- mercial Club of Mineral Wells, and to the Ex-Presidents' Medical Association of Texas. The doctor is a director in the First State Bank & Trust Company of Mineral

Wells. His political support has always been given to the dominant party in Texas.

Dr. MeCracken 's first marriage occurred in Wise county, May 17, 1889, when Miss Nettie Greenfield be- came his wife. Her parents were Captain J. W. and Matilda (Bogy) Greenfield, who came from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and located at Willow. Point in Wise county, Texas. Her father before the war was a planter and slave owner. Mrs. MeCracken died in November, 1892, and was followed by her only child seven weeks later. On October 15, 1895, the doctor was married to Miss Marie Sue Willson, a daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Maggie L. (Loving) Willson. Her father was a na- tive of Tennessee, and her mother was born in Texas. During the war Thomas J. Willson was a soldier on the Confederate side. Two sons and two daughters have been born to the second marriage of Dr. MeCracken. Margaret is thirteen years of age; Joseph Hill, Jr., aged eleven; Tom Willson, aged nine, and Mary Sue, aged four. The three older children are now in school.

CYRUS COFFIN BALLINGER is one of the representative business men of El Paso, who may also be termed one of its pioneers, having first become identified with this city some thirty years ago and having been a continuous resident of it during the last score of years. He is of French descent and was born January 19, 1859, near Greensborough, Guilford county, North Carolina. Yan- cey Ballinger, his father, deceased at Greensborough in 1891, when sixty-six years of age, also was a North Caro- linian by birth and came of Quaker parentage. The latter was quite successful as a business man, was a stock dealer and large land owner, and at his death left a very comfortable estate to his children. Besides the heritage of a large plantation, which he still owns, Cyrus C. received from his father that practical business train- ing that is an asset of even more value as capital than is money. During the Civil war Yancey Ballinger was a Union sympathizer, but he did not participate in the conflict, for while he was not a member of the Friends church he had been reared in its faith and still held to its belief regarding war. Naomi Coffin, who became his wife, was born in the same state and county as her husband and grew to womanhood on a farm less than a mile distant from that on which he was reared. She died in 1888, at the age of sixty-three years. Seven children were the issue of this union.

Cyrus C., the fourth in birth in this family, grew up at the paternal homestead and spent his youth assisting his father in his farm work and stock business. To the age of nineteen he was educated at Guilford College, in his native North Carolina county, which institution was under the auspices of the Friends denomination. He began life on his own account at the age of twenty when he and an older brother engaged in the business of distilling turpentine. They operated in Moore county, North Carolina, and were quite successful, but in 1884 Cyrus C. determined to pursue his fortunes in the newer state of Texas and at that time removed to El Paso, which then boasted a population of about five thousand people. For the first twenty-five months in the west he was in the employ of Coffin & Seaton, which firm was engaged in the grain business at El Paso; then he pushed farther west to New Mexico, where for six years he was engaged in the stock business, raising cattle and horses. He returned to El Paso from there in 1893 and opened the El Paso Livery and Sales Stables, which establishment he continued to own and operate for five years. On disposing of that property he engaged in the transfer business and was thus identified until 1911, when he once more entered the livery business and established the Palace Stables at 307 South Santa Fe street, of which he is the sole proprietor and which is the largest livery and sales barn in El Paso. Mr Ballinger has most legitimate claims to success; for his assets in making his way in life have been largely those of his own resources,

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the employment of an alert and shrewd business acumen and a large capacity for hard work. Politically he is a Republican and his religious belief is expressed by mem- bership in the Presbyterian church.

The marriage of Mr. Ballinger took place in El Paso, Texas, February 26, 1899, and united him to Miss Phoene Wereklre, a native of Indiana and a daughter of John Frederick Wereklre. Mrs. Ballinger died Nov. 28, 1913. The family residence is at 1115 West Kansas street and their family circle includes four sons, Paul, Joseph, Philip and John, all of whom were born in El Paso.

NUMA G. BUCHOZ. A prominent and long established real estate man of El Paso, Mr. Buchoz has been identi- fied with this city in a successful and public spirited manner for many years, and is numbered among the citi- zens who have been instrumental in helping promote many projects for the upbuilding and progress of the community.

Mr. Buchoz, though born at Ann Arbor, Michigan, November 11, 1875, represents one of the oldest American families of the southwest. His mother, Marguerite R. Buchoz was born in Messilla, New Mexico, and his father, Alfred J. Buchoz, born in New York City, came to Texas as a post trader at Fort Davis in the very early days of western Texas, a number of years before any railroads or other evidence of civilization except a few military posts and a few range cattlemen had appeared in this western country. Alfred J. Buchoz was married while making his headquarters at Fort Davis, and after the marriage he returned east and located in Michigan. His death occurred at Las Cruces New Mexico, in 1895 when sixty years of age. The mother is still living in El Paso, being seventy-five years of age.

Mr. Numa G. Buchoz, who was the sixth in a family of eight children, was reared in the southwest, and at- tained most of his education at the A. & M. College at Messilla Park, New Mexico. He graduated from col- lege in a general course in 1894, and as soon as he left school his active career began. He became deputy dis- triet clerk at Las Cruces, New Mexico, and held that office for two years. Subsequently he engaged in mer- cantile lines being employed with a store for a year, at the end of which time he came to El Paso to take charge of the Union Clothing Company's business. He was connected with that firm for a total period of seven years, and developed the store to be one of the largest and most popular in this city. On leaving this business he entered the customs service, as special deputy col- lector, and was identified with this branch of the Federal service for five years. At the end of that time he en- gaged in the real estate business with Mr. Schuster and Mr. Kinne. Their association has been productive of a large and prosperous business, and their firm is now regarded as in the front ranks of real estate companies in Western Texas. Their speciality is the handling of Mexican and Valley lands.

Mr. Buchoz in polities is a Republican, and is affili- ated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He was married at El Paso, July 23, 1901, to Miss Alice Maple, who was born in Warrensburg, Missouri. Her father is now deceased, and her mother's name is Levina P. Maple. Mr. Buchoz has a large acquaintance over the western part of Texas and is a strong advocate of all movements for the development and improvement of this region.

J. O. WYLER. As superintendent of the firm of Baumgarten & Wyler, manufacturers of brass specialties, machine and boiler shop work, their plant at Virginia and Sixth Streets, Mr. Wyler is a fine type of the indus- trial worker and organizer, and has a record of business building in El Paso which is highly creditable.

John O. Wyler was born in Switzerland, May 23, 1867, a son of Otto and Carolina (Bosshart) Wyler, both

natives of that country where they were married. The mother belonged to a very prominent old Swiss family, her grandfather having been a trusted officer under Emperor Napoleon, accompanied that great commander on his expedition to Moscow, and was sent back to France on an important mission. It was to this fact that he probably owed his life being spared from the terrific hardships of that campaign. Otto Wyler and wife came to America in 1880, locating first in Kansas City, where the father engaged in the boiler manufac- turing business. His death occurred in Kansas City in 1898 when he was fifty-four years of age. The mother, who was born in 1844, was reared, educated and married in her native land, is still a hale and hearty woman, and makes her home with her son in El Paso. There were seven children in the family, four of them now deceased and the others are Mrs. Emma Gamble, a resi- dent of Los Angeles, California, and Otto J. Wyler of Grants Park, Oregon.

Mr. Wyler, who was the oldest of the children, spent part of his youth in Switzerland, where he attended the schools, and after coming to America continued his edu- cation at Palmers Academy in Kansas City, where he was graduated in 1882. In 1883 he went to work in the boiler shops of the Union Pacific Railway, and com- pleted his apprenticeship in that trade in 1887. After working as a journeyman at various places he came to Texas in 1891, but in the following year returned to his old home in Kansas City. There he was employed by the Kansas Smelting & Refining Company for seven years, at the end of which time he returned to El Paso Texas and took charge of the Boiler Shop of the EI Paso Foundry & Machine Company. He remained the Foreman of that shop for eleven years, and during this time the business of this department increased from twenty men to 150 men. Then in 1911 be decided to go into business for himself, and in that year he and Mr. J. F. Baumgarten invested their capital in the Union Iron & Brass Works, an enterprise which at that time was just about to become defunct. With the new energy and management of these two capable part- ners the company has been rapidly expanded, so that the staff of employes has been increased from five to twenty-five and they now have their business and themselves as well in a very prosperous condition.

Mr. Wyler is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Knights of Maccabees, and the Modern Woodmen of America. His polities is Independent. He is unmarried · and makes his home with his mother in an attractive residence of their own. For his recreations he spends some time as opportunity permits in fishing and other outdoor diversions. He is one of El Paso's loyal citizens and sees a great future in store for this metropolis of the west.

IRA J. BUSH, M. D. Within the limits assigned for this sketch of the life of an active and eminent member of the medical profession, it will be impossible to give even a cursory notice of his many notable achievements or of the military episode of his life which would alone. entitle him to a place among those who are making our present-day history. It must suffice to make allusion to those incidents of a long life and active career, which will afford an insight into the salient points of his rise from obscurity to a position of prominence among the professional men of the Southwest. Ira J. Bush, M. D., was born July 21, 1865, in Lawrence county, Mississippi, and is a son of Thomas D. and Emily (Price) Bush, the latter a member of the family which gave to the Confederacy that great soldier, Gen. Sterling Price. Thomas D. Bush was born in Mississippi, where he was reared and educated, and at the outbreak of the Civil war enlisted in the Confederate army, under Gen. Jack- son. During a charge at Kenesaw Mountain, Mr. Bush, then a lad of a little over sixteen years, was severely wounded, and subsequently went to Port Hudson, where

John Valentine

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he was present during the siege and at the surrender. On the close of hostilities, he studied for the ministry and became a Baptist preacher, continuing as such for upwards of thirty years in Mississippi and then removing to Louisiana, dying in that State, at Lake Charles. His widow, who was born at Monticello, Mississippi, still survives, making her home at Louisiana and being sixty- six years of age. They were the parente of ten children, of whom Dr. Bush was the eldest.

Ira J. Bush attended the public schools of his native State, following which he became a student in the Uni- versity of Mississippi, and after leaving that institution attended Louisville (Kentucky) Medical College, where he received his degree with the class of 1890. At that time he entered into practice in Louisiana, but two years later came to Texas and settled at Pecos, where he re- mained until 1899. That year saw his advent in El Paso, which has since been the scene of his endeavors. These years, although comparatively few, have been long enough to place him in the lead among his professional brethren, and to manifest the beneficent influence which knowledge, guided by high motives, exerts upon the welfare of the community. He has been identified with every important movement which has interested the medical fraternity or concerned the public health, and in the meantime has built up a large professional business. As a close and careful student, alive to every advancement made in his profession, he values his membership in the El Paso County Medical Society, the Texas State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and this member- ship is equally valued by his confreres, who have recog- nized in him a man who is representative of the best ethics of the science. At the outbreak of the recent Mexican Revolution, Dr. Bush's reputation having at tracted attention outside of the field of his practice, he was proffered and accepted the position of chief sur- geon of the army of General Madero, who subsequently became president of the Mexican Republic and later met death at the hands of the troops under General Huerta. On the close of the revolution, Dr. Bush returned to El Paso, and has since devoted himself to the care of his large and ever-increasing private practice. He has long been a writer whose contributions have been eagerly sought by leading publications, and his articles have not been confined to medical subjects, for big game hunting, fishing, camping and out-of-door life, on all of which he is a recognized authority, have furnished him with themes for a number of interesting manuscripts. At the present time he is preparing an authoritative article relating to the Mexican Revolution. He has also been interested in investments in mines and lands in Texas and Arizona, and at the present time is president of a company owning an undeveloped gold, silver and cop- per mine in Mexico, for which he has been offered, and has refused, $300,000, by an Eastern capitalist. Dr. Bush has been too busy to enter the political arena, but has supported Democratic principles and candidates, and has has not been unmindful of the duties of citizenship. His fraternal connections are with the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 18

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