A history of Texas and Texans, Part 2

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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In the public schools of Shelby county Charles T. Paul obtained his early training, and after his graduation from the high school at Timpson in 1901, entered the University of Texas, where he pursued his studies for three years in the academic and law departments. Dur- ing his university career he was president of the Soph- omore class, was president of Athenaeum Literary Society, and was a charter member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity in the University. His first business venture was in real estate in San Angelo, where he opened his office in 1904. Since then he has added an abstract and general rental business under the firm name of the Paul Abstract and Title Company. In a period of only a few years real estate has advanced from one hundred to one hundred and fifty per cent in price and the trend

is still steadily upward. From April, 1909, to April, 1911, Mr. Paul served as mayor of San Angelo, and was earnestly solicited to make the race for a second term, but his accumulating interests in business led him to decline the offer. For three years he was one of the directors of the San Angelo Bank & Trust Company, one of the largest financial concerns of west Texas, with a capital stock of a quarter of a million dollars.

Mr. Paul has always been a stanch Democrat, and fraternally is well known in Masonry, having taken the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite. He also has membership affiliations with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His church is the Presbyterian.

On the 28th of March, 1911, Mr. Paul married Miss Minnie Elizabeth Hunter, of San Angelo, a daughter of Mrs. M. E. Hunter. After the death of Mr. Hunter in 1905 the family came from Memphis, Tennessee, and Mrs. Hunter, who was born in Canada, is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Paul have one child, Minnie Lila Paul, born on the 12th of February, 1913, at 335 West H avenue, San Angelo, Texas.

Mr. Paul stands foremost among those who thor- oughly believe in and advocates to all comers the re- sources of western Texas, both in climate and soil. He is thoroughly familiar with the resources of the country as a stock region and recommends it as a good place for any ambitious man with the grit and industry to take his part of pioneer responsibilities and hardships, before enjoying all the success and prosperity which he well might anticipate.

ROBERT MERIWETHER BROWN. At Wharton for the past quarter of a century one of the ablest lawyers and foremost citizens has been Robert Meriwether Brown. Judge Brown has served as special district judge, has represented his county in the state legislature, is com- mander of his local camp of Confederate Veterans and is regarded as one of the ablest lawyers of south Texas. He is local attorney for the Santa Fe Railroad and represents other large interests in this part of the state.

Robert Meriwether Brown was born in Amherst eounty, Virginia, December 24, 1845, and was one of six children born to Robert M. and Sarah (Whitehead) Brown, both of whom were natives of Virginia, and of old and prominent families of that state. Grandfather Benjamin Brown came from England and both he and his son Robert practiced law in Virginia. The maternal grandfather, John Whitehead, was prominent as a banker at Lynchburg. Grandfather Benjamin Brown married a Miss Lewis, who was a first cousin of Colonel Meriwether Lewis, whose name is first in American history as the first of the two noted explorers and path- finders who left on the annals of history the name of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The grandmother on the maternal side was Anna Mahoney, who was a noted Irish beauty in her time. Both grandfathers were planters and slave holders and men of more than ordinary ability and influence. Judge Brown's father was at one time commonwealth attorney in Virginia and for years served as an elder in the Presbyterian church. He was a forceful and able man and did much to impress his personality on his community. Of the six children of Robert M. Brown and wife, Thomas L. and Alfred L. are now deceased. The living, besides Judge Brown, are: Mrs. Collin Stokes, a widow, living at Covington, Vir- ginia; A. D. Brown of Amhurst county, Virginia, and Benjamin W., a surgeon in the United States Marine Hospital and Health Service, who spent two years in China and now has charge of the United States Station at Yokohama, Japan. Judge Brown comes of a long- lived family. His father lived to be eighty-two and his mother died at the age of ninety-one years, she passing away in January, 1914. William P. Gorsuch, a son of his sister by a former marriage, is now professor of oratory in the University of Chicago.

Chas. / Paul

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Robert Meriwether Brown when a boy attended school at Higginbotham Academy until he was fifteen years old. Then, like many other Virginia boys, his youth was in- terrupted by the outbreak of the great war between the states and he was at once thrown into the most serious responsibilities of existence. At the age of six- teen he volunteered in Company E of the Second Virginia Cavalry, under General Mumpford and also served under Fitzhugh Lee and under Judge J. E. B. Stuart, and fought all through the war in the army of Northern Virginia. Altogether his army record comprises twenty- one engagements and among these he fought at Cold Harbor, the Wilderness, Seven Pines and at Yellow Tavern. At Yellow Tavern a bullet struck him in the head and for three months he lay critically ill in a hospital. How near he came to being a sacrifice to the cause of the south is indicated by the deep scar which still plows his forehead.

At the close of the war Mr. Brown returned home, still a young man, though a veteran soldier, and took up the study of law. He afterward practiced in his native state from 1867 to 1885. In the latter year he moved to Texas, locating in Jackson county, where he remained two years. Then on March 27, 1887, he estab- lished his office in Wharton and in the past quarter of a century has enjoyed a position second to none in the local bar. While Judge Brown is in no sense a politician, he represented his county in the state legis- lature during the twenty ninth and thirtieth assemblies and altogether has served three terms as special district judge, his appointment having been made by the local bar. For four years he served as city attorney for Wharton.

On February 16, 1888, Judge Brown married Miss Nina Warren of Brook Haven, Mississippi, a daughter of Jesse Warren, circuit clerk of Lincoln county, Mis- sissippi. Mrs. Brown died in 1897. Their two children were Nellie and Alfred P., both of whom died in infancy. Judge Brown is one of the best known Masons in south Texas. He is past master of Wbarton Lodge, No. 621, A. F. & A. M .; past king of Wharton Chapter, R. A. M .; belongs to Ruthven Commandery, K. T., at Houston, and is past district deputy master of the Grand Lodge of Texas. He also affiliates with the Order of the Eastern Star and is a past chancellor commander of the Knights of Pythias. Among his fellow veterans he has a popular place and at the present time is serving as commander of Buchel Camp, No. 228, of United Confederate Veterans at Wharton. Religiously he inclines to the Presbyterian faith.

CLEM DYER MYERS. Representing the younger genera- tion of business enterprise in Fort Bend county, Mr. Myers is proprietor of a first class mercantile establish- ment in Richmond and besides his business career bas also been prominent in the public life of this county, having served two terms as county clerk. He belongs to a family whose members have been intimately asso- ciated with the development of Texas since pioneer times.

He was born in Richmond, January 8, 1879, and is a son of the venerable August Myers, who for many years was in business at Richmond and is now living in honor- able retirement at Richmond. August Myers was born in Germany and came alone to America when eight years of age. At the age of fourteen he located in Fort Bend county, which has ever since been his home. It was given to him to accomplish a generous success in life and yet it is said that he never failed in business and that from first to last his word was as good as his bond. He came to Texas about 1842, when Texas was still a Republic, and has lived here throughout the state- hood period. It bas been his privilege to know Texas under three flags. His first work in Fort Bend county was as manager of a stock ranch and he subsequently got into the general mercantile business, which he con-

tinued until 1905, at which date he retired. At one time he was given official honor as treasurer of Fort Bend county. When the Civil war came on he enlisted in the cause of the south and served as a brave and efficient Confederate soldier.

The maiden name of the mother of C. D. Myers was Florence Dyer, a daughter of Judge C. C. Dyer, her father being a native of Tennessee, and her mother a native of North Carolina. Judge Dyer was a son of a planter and slave owner, and also a lawyer, who came to Texas and settled in Fort Bend county about 1826, only four or five years after the first Austin colony was planted in this state. His daughter Julia, a sister of Florence, is said to have been the first white female born in Fort Bend county, among the American settlers. Judge C. C. Dyer had the distinction of serving as one of the first county judges of Fort Bend county. There were four children in the family of August Myers and wife, one daughter, Mrs. J. E. Winston, being deceased, and the others being Leon A. and J. V.

Mr. Myers in 1904-5 was associated with his father in business and then took a place as bookkeeper for J. T. Dyer for one year. This was followed by his election to the office of county clerk of Fort Bend county, in which he served for two terms or four years. After the expiration of his official term he bought a grocery business and has continued that enterprise ever since, building up and extending the trade throughout this section of the county, having one of the largest stocks in Richmond.

On September 14, 1899, Mr. Myers married Miss Mattie McElwee, daughter of D. C. and Mattie (Foster) MeElwee. Her grandfather, Ran Foster, was one of the very earliest pioneers of Texas. The four children born to their marriage are named Florence, Dorothy, Clem D. and Randolph Foster. Mr. and Mrs. Myers are members of the Episcopal church. Besides his business Mr. Myers owns a nice home in Richmond and has other property interests.

JUDGE WILLIAM I. McFARLANE. One of the ablest men in the public life of Fort Bend county, Judge McFarlane is now administering the fiscal affairs of this county in the office of county judge. A native of Fort Bend county and having been identified with this section practically all his life, Judge McFarlane is known to the entire citizenship, and by his fine record as a citizen and business man has commended himself for promotion to the larger offices.

William I. McFarlane was born in Richmond April 10, 1869, a son of Isaac McFarlane. Isaac McFarlane was a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, and was eight years of age when brought to America by his father. The paternal grandfather first located in the West Indies, where he secured some valuable estates and later went on with his family to Boston, where they remained a short time and from there to Richmond, Texas. The grandfather was a physician during his career in Scot- land and his death occurred soon after locating at Richmond. Isaac McFarlane continued to make his home in this town after the death of his father, and when the Civil war broke out he cast his fortunes with the South and went to the front as a member of Terry's famous Texas Rangers. As a member of that splendid body of cavalrymen he participated in many of the hardest fought engagements of the war and made a fine record as a soldier, having never been sick or in- capacitated and never absent a day from active service. He fought at Bowling Green, at Charlevoix, at Murfrees- boro, at Perryville, at Chickamauga, at Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, at the battle around Atlanta and in practically every engagement in the Mississippi Valley from the beginning to the end of the war.

After his gallant service as a soldier Isaac McFarlane returned to Richmond and established a general mer-

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cantile business, which he continued up to 1894. He then became a cotton buyer and continued in that work until 1899, at which time ill health forced him to retire. Two years later occurred his death, and he was esteemed as one of the finest citizens and most upright business man of Fort Bend county. The maiden name of his wife was Sarah Higham, who was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and she and her mother had come to Texas just before the war and located at Richmond. Mrs. McFarlane is still living and makes her home in Houston. Of her nine children, three died in infancy and the others, except the judge, are named as follows: Lenn R. of Houston, S. E. of San Antonio, Mrs. Stewart Clark of Stanton, Illinois, Mrs. L. C. Perkins of Houston, Mrs. R. E. L. Wessendorf of Richmond.

Judge McFarlane received his early education at St. Mary's institute in San Antonio and at St. Mary's at Galveston, completing his higher education at Baylor University in Waco. With the completion of this liberal education he engaged in business with his father until 1896, at which time began his career as a public official with his election to the office of tax-assessor. He re- mained in the office for two terms, and his health failing towards the end he retired from routine business for a time and spent much of his time on the outside, looking after the various business interests which were entrusted to his management. In 1906 occurred his election to the office of tax-collector, and he held that post for four years. Prior to that time he had management under Cap- tain Bassett as tax collector for four years. In 1912 came his preferment to the highest and most important distinc- tions in county official honor with his election as county judge, there being no opposition after his nomination was announced. He is also at the present time president of the Jay Bord Democratic Association, the most im- portant organization in the county, and has been at the head of this civic and political organization for five years.

In 1891 Judge McFarlane married Miss Fannie Booth, of Mississippi, daughter of Robert Booth. Mrs. McFar- lane's father died in Mississippi and her mother resides at her home in Richmond. Their one child is Clarence I. McFarlane, who at the present time is a student in the University of Texas at Austin. Judge MeFarlane is affili- ated with the Knights of Pythias Lodge and the Ma- sonic Lodge, and is one of the popular members of the society and all classes of citizenship in this county.

Judge McFarlane is a man of striking appearance, has a magnetic personality, and on the performance of the past has a large promise of future usefulness in the public and business affairs of his home state. He con- trols one of the fine farms in the county, situated just east of Richmond, and among his other valuable prop- erty interests is a handsome new residence in Richmond, where he and his family reside.

EMIL LOCKE is familiarly known to the people of San Antonio and vicinity as one of the large land dealers and developers in this part of the state, and also as the general manager and originator of the Alamo Heroes Association, a movement that was organized in 1913 for the purpose of building a magnificent $2,000,000 monument to the heroes of the Alamo in San Antonio on the Alamo battlefield. The Locke family is one of the oldest connected with the Prince Solms-Braunfels col- ony, famous in the German history of Texas. The parents of Emil Locke were Otto and Johanna (Schulze) Locke. The father was born in New Braunfels in 1859, and there he has passed his days. He is the son of Joseph and Maria (Claussen) Locke. They were members of the famous Solms-Braunfels colony who arrived at and settled the town of New Braunfels in 1845, and they passed their remaining days in that community, both having lived to a fine old age.

Otto Locke, who still lives in the house in which he was born, is one of the wealthy land owners of the region and has extensive property interests in New

Braunfels and Comal county.' The maternal grand- father of Emil Locke was Karl Schulze, also a New Braunfels colonist, who arrived here from Germany in 1846 and who has spent all his life in this place. He, it is said, established the first brick yard in New Braunfels, and was one of the prominent and pros- perous men of the colony.

Emil Locke was born in New Braunfels, Texas, Feb- ruary 18, 1882, and received his early education in the public schools of his locality. He was still young in years when he engaged in business enterprises on his own account. He was in business for some time in the City of Mexico, also in Karnes county, Texas. In 1907 he came to San Antonio, which city has since rep- resented his home and the city of his principal activ- ities. One of the greatest pieces of work with which he has been identified is that of an irrigation project that will reclaim more than fifty thousand acres of semi-arid land located within a few hours ride of the city of San Antonio. The plans call for two dams, one across the Cibolo creek, three miles distant from the town of Bracken, and the other over the Dry Comal at a point two and a half miles from the town of Corbyn. The project at this time is being held in abeyance tem- porarily on account of numerous land suits against the Medina Valley Irrigation Company, but that the project will eventually be carried out is the determina- tion of Mr. Locke and his associates.

Another of the activities with which he has identified himself is the Alamo Heroes Monument Association, the same having been organized by him in 1913 for the purpose of bulding a monument to the heroes of the Alamo. Mr. Locke, the orginator of the project, planned all the details of the extensive state-wide scheme for financing the project, and at the present time is actively engaged in the management of the enterprise. The monument is to be an immense affair, some eight hundred feet high, and will be erected on the Alamo Plaza in San Antonio, at a cost of $2,000,000. Mr. Locke has proven himself a true son of Texas, and one who is concerned in developing the natural resources of the state, as well as in perpetuating the memory of historical events of note.

In 1903 he was married to Miss Ora May Layton, who was born in Hallettsville, Texas.

RIGHT REV. N. A. GALLAGHER. For more than thirty years bishop of Galveston, a diocese which during the first eight or nine years comprehended the vast area of the state of Texas, the Right Rev. Bishop Gallagher is not only eminent as a churchman and administrator of a great religious organization; he has been for years an energizing force working for civic and social better- ment through all the populous region over which his episcopal supervision extends. To the observer and student of men, Bishop Gallagher appears as one in whom are combined in excellent proportion the qualities most needed for his complex office. He is the broad minded man of action, a forceful executive, a scholarly judge of the world and its affairs. His life for forty-five years has been devoted to his church and humanity, and from parish priest to bishop his record has been one of unremitting work and service. Not alone the members of his church, but citizens of all classes speak with affection of the good bishop who for so many years has had his home at St. Mary's Cathedral and has lent his influence and energy to sustaining the city in its crises and promoting its welfare in its years of prosperity.

Nicholas Aloysius Gallagher was born in Temperance- ville, Belmont county, Ohio, February 19, 1846. His parents were John and Mary Ann (Brinton) Gallagher. The grandfather was Edward Gallagher of County West- meath, Ireland, who was identified with the revolutionary party of 1798, and had to seek refuge in America. He lived in Chester county, Pennsylvania, where his son, John Gallagher, was born, grew up to the career of

+ NAGallagher Bjs. of Galveston

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farmer, and afterwards moved to Ohio, locating first in that portion of Guernsey county, which afterward be- came Noble county, and finally in Belmont county, but in 1856 returned to Noble county, where his death oc- eurred in 1866. Mary Ann Brinton was a native of Pennsylvania, and died in Noble county at the age of eighty-six years. Both were industrious farming people, were good Catholics and active both in the word and practice of their religion.

During the first ten years of his life, Bishop Gallagher lived in Belmont county, and attended the public schools of Temperanceville. When the father returned to Noble county he was placed under the care of Rev. Father Jacquet, who lived on property given to the church by Edward Gallagher. Under that tutor he studied Eng- lish, grammar, -Latin and Greek, and the ordinary sebool branches until 1862. Then, at the age of sixteen, he began his active preparation for the priesthood, entering Mount St. Mary's of the West at Cincinnati, where he pursued the regular seminary course, including studies in Latin and Greek, higher mathematics, philosophy, and theology and English literature. He completed his course at the Seminary in 1868. Already he had received the tonsure and the minor orders from Archbishop Purcell. In 1868, when the diocese of Columbus, Ohio, was formed from the archdiocese of Cincinnati, with Right Rev. Sylvester Horton Rosecrans as first bishop, Father Gal- lagher was the first priest to be ordained by the new bishop, the ceremony taking place in the Holy Cross Church at Columbus on Christmas Day of 1868. For a number of years he served as a priest of the Columbus diocese. From 1868 to 1871 he was assistant to St. Patrick's church in Columbus, and in the latter year was appointed president of the St. Aloysius Seminary of Columbus, an institution which had been established by Bishop Rosecrans for the education of the priests of the diocese. In 1876 he returned to St. Patrick's church as pastor. The death of Bishop Rosecrans in . October, 1878, was followed by the appointment of Father Gal- lagher by Archbishop Purcell as administrator of the vacant diocese, that appointment being confirmed from Rome. He discharged the duties of this office with rare prudence, energy and ability. On the appointment in August, 1880, of the Rt. Rev. John Waterson as bishop of Columbus, Father Gallagher returned to the pastorate of St. Patrick's church, but at the same time was given the appointment of vicar general of the diocese by the new bishop.

The predecessor of Bishop Gallagher at Galveston was Rev. C. M. DuBois, who after many years of devoted service in his post as Bishop of Galveston, resigned in 1881. On October 19, 1881, Father Gallagher was appointed Titular Bishop of Canopus, and Administrator of the Diocese of Galveston. The brief for this appoint- ment was dated January 10, 1882, and he was consecrated in office April 30, 1882, by Bishop Edward Fitzgerald of Little Rock, Arkansas, in the St. Mary's Cathedral at Galveston. Bishop Fitzgerald had previously been a pastor of St. Patrick's church in Columbus. The diocese of Galveston as constituted at the time Bishop Gallagher took charge was a vast and unwieldly territory, extend- ing almost a thousand miles north and several hundred miles west of the Cathedral city. With the increase of population, the duties of the episcopal office became in- creasingly onerous, and at Bishop Gallagher's request in 1890, the diocese was divided and two-thirds of the original territory was constituted as the diocese of Dallas, where the bishop of that diocese has since resided.

On December 16, 1892, the title as well as the office of Bishop of Galveston was bestowed on him. For thirty- two years Bishop Gallagher has remained at the head of the churches of this diocese, his spiritual supervision extending over a territory forty-three thousand square miles in extent. In the original diocese, when he came to Galveston in 1882, the Catholic population was about

thirty-five thousand. In 1900, nine years after the separation of the Dallas diocese, there were about thirty thousand communicants in the Galveston area, and at the present time it is estimated that the Galveston diocese has a Catholic population of about sixty-five thousand.

RICHARD J. OWEN. For more than twenty years a resident of El Paso, Mr. Owen is one of the foremost representatives of the profession of civil engineering in the southwest. His services have been retained on many large projects, and capitalists and promoters of large constructive enterprise throughout this part of the country have come to regard him as one of the best authorities on all matters pertaining to general engineering.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 2

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