A history of Texas and Texans, Part 20

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 20

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Judge Duncan, who was the fifth of nine children, during his early life attended the country schools of Hopkins and Grayson counties. On leaving his school hooks he took up practical work as a farmer and stock raiser in Grayson and Montague counties, work which he followed until 1884. In that year he moved to Floyd county, which was then, as already stated, a portion of the vast cattle range which extended from Fort Worth to El Paso. In 1900 he was first induced to praetermit his close attention to business and accept public service. He was nominated for judge of Floyd county and elected. At the end of the first term he was again nominated and elected, and served nine successive terms, until 1906, at which time he felt an obligation to retire. Then in 1912 he was again prevailed upon to take the place upon the Democratie ticket, and was elected county judge and is now filling that important office in Floyd county. After he left office in 1906 he became identified with the real estate and abstract business, in which he still continues. He owns the only complete abstract of land titles in the 'county.

Judge Duncan has always taken a lively interest in the welfare of Floyd county. He was president of the school board of Floydada from 1908 to 1912, at which time he resigned that position on account of his re- election as county judge. He was also vice president of the First National Bank of Floydada, but sold his in- terest, believing that he could not consistently continue as an officer and stockholder of the bank while judge of the county court. Judge Duncan is a Royal Arch and Knights Templar Mason, well known in the circles of the craft, and has filled various official places in the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. His religious member- ship is in the Church of Christ.

In December, 1882, he was married to Miss Sarah K. Day in Montague ecounty. Her parents were Mathew and Sarah Day, both of whom were old settlers in Gray- son county, Texas, and her mother is still living at the home of Judge Duncan. The ten children of the Judge and Mrs. Duncan are as follows: Silas E. Duncan, born in Montague county, Texas, is married, a resident of Floydada, and has three children; Mrs. Maude E. Hol- lum, born in Floyd county, is a resident of Jourdanton, Atascosa county, and the mother of three children; Mrs. Emma L. Watkins, born in Floyd county, has four chil- dren and resides at Jourdanton, Texas; Mrs. Edith E. Pitts, born in Floyd county, lives in El Paso, and has two children; Mrs. Hope E. Hammond, born in Floyd county, is a resident at Floydada, and has one child. Mrs. Ruby E. Brown, born in Floyd county and now liv- ing at Floydada; Miss Mattie E. Duncan, born in Floyd- ada, and attending the local high school; Arthur B. Dun- can, Jr., is a Floydada native and attending the schools; Carroll V. Duncan and Mark W. Duncan, the two young- est of the family were born in Floydada and are both now in school.

Judge Duncan is what is known as a self-made man. He started out and for some years found the road some- what rough and beset with obstacles. He had no one to thank for his early successes but himself, and has al- ways evinced those qualities which produce success and

1657

TEXAS AND TEXANS

esteem in this world. He has the faculty of making friends, and has a great number of loyal associates and followers. Through all the years of his residence in Floyd county and West Texas his conviction has been in- creasing that the permanent prosperity of the country rests upon solid ground. With the introduction of irri- gation with appropriate diversifications in farming methods, and with the coming of the silo and the raising of high grade stock, all of which is a matter of only a few years, Floyd county and surrounding territory will become the garden spot of the southwest. Movements which must necessarily follow the above, and to which Judge Duncan has given his vigorous support, both in private and officially, are the promotion of good roads, better schools, establishment of social centers in rural communities, the extension of rural free delivery routes, and every other enterprise which means greater wealth or comfort and the better welfare of the country.

ANDREW M. CAMPBELL. Now rated as one of the ablest attorneys of Trinity county, Mr. Campbell was thirty years ago a raw country youth, had little educa- tion, some experience as a cowboy in the west, and his chief qualifications were a certain fearlessness and a capacity for hard work both physical and intellectual. He has had a varied career, served as sheriff, as district attorney, and in his private profession has represented many important interests. He is now one of the leading men in his section of the state. Andrew M. Campbell was born in Colorado county, in the town of Columbus, Texas, September 5, 1859. His father was William L. Campbell, and his grandfather Andrew M. Campbell. The latter was born in Tennessee, was educated in college, and later gave his own children the advantages of a liberal education. He was a prominent man in Colorado county before the war, served as county judge, an office he held for many years previous to the war, and after the war moved to Galveston, where he was in the com- mission business as head of the firm of Campbell & Clough. Judge Campbell was a large planter, and owned a plantation in Horseshoe Bend of the Colorado River, adjoining the town of Columbus. After his removal to Galveston he made himself an influence in local affairs, and died during the seventies at the age of seventy-four. He was married in his native state to Miss Neely who died in Columbus, Texas. Her children were William L .; John D., who died at Columbus; Mrs. Cynthia Wright, who died in Colorado county; Debbie, who married Eb Matthews and died in Galveston; Robert M., who died in Newton county while county and district clerk; Mary J., who married George E. Clothier, a Presbyterian minister, and who spent her life in Galveston.

William L. Campbell, the father, was born in Ten- nessee, October 22, 1840, was liberally educated in the classics, graduated from Baylor University, and was admitted to the bar, but never practiced law. In 1866, he left Colorado county, and moved to Grimes county, where he taught school and for several years was county superintendent of schools. He owned a large farm, near Anderson, and died in that town February 13, 1912. He was a Methodist, but not prominent in church affairs. In politics, however, he was one of the men of his county, though of a reserved nature, and disposition which kept him in the rank and file until his services as a leader were actually needed and he then became in every sense a leader. He was a forceful speaker, and had great tactical ability in manipulating political forces and party affairs. Grimes county was for many years Republican, and he was one of the men who succeeded in converting the negro majority influence into a Demo- cratie plurality. Upon the issues of the war, both he and his father had opposed secession. His father owned one of the largest slave plantations in Colorado county, and the war caused the loss of more than one hundred and fifty black laborers and household workers. During the war, William L. Campbell was captain and enrolling Vol. IV-5

officer at Columbus, and his command did its most im- portant service in looking up deserters. His brother John was a soldier in the Confederate ranks. William L. Campbell was a member of the Odd Fellows Order. He married Sarah J. Kelley, a daughter of William Kelley, who was of Irish stock, and a prominent farmer of Grimes county, where his daughter and Mr. Campbell were married. Mrs. Campbell died January 17, 1886. Her children were: Andrew M .; Cynthia Lula, who mar- ried J. H. Scott and died in Grimes county; Mary J., who married L. H. Harrison, of Abilene, Texas; William L., of Abilene; Vance A., of Grimes county; John R., of Navasota; Sallie, wife of R. S. Wommack of Abilene; Lloyd C., who died unmarried; Lillian, who married Brown Kennard of Anderson; Ethel, who married Dr. D. C. Smith of Groveton; George C., assistant postmaster at Abilene; and Alice, who married J. M. Hensley of Anderson.

Andrew M. Campbell grew up on the family farm, five miles east of Anderson. As the oldest child in the family, his early education was considerably neglected, and his advantages were less liberal than those afforded to the younger members of the household. However, when he realized the deficiencies of his early training, he more than made up by individual application for those handicaps, and has long since put himself in the class of cultured and well-read men of large attainments. While still in his teens he went into west Texas, and his experience as a cowboy for the firm of Barry & Trant in Jones county from 1878 to 1879 tended to wear off the corners of a country yonth. Returning to Grimes, Grant county, at the age of twenty he was appointed deputy sheriff, and it was while in that office that he applied himself with vigor to the study of both books and men. He served four years as deputy sheriff, under Sheriff J. L. Scott, and was then elected justice of the peace for precinct No. I of that county. In that con- nection he had the honor of being the first Democrat elected after the Civil war. In the meantime he read law at Anderson, and was admitted to the bar in 1886. From that time forward his promotion to larger responsi- bilities was rapid. He was elected and served as county attorney for four years, and in 1900 was elected district attorney of the twelfth judicial district, comprising the counties of Grimes, Madisou, Leon, Walker and Trinity. His services as district attorney lasted for two terms, and he left office in 1904. Altogether he had served as prosecutor for a dozen years, and his service was at a time when crime and lawlessness were at a high tide in that district, and to his energetic work must be ascribed a large share of the credit for the restoration of law and order.

As a Democrat Mr. Campbell has done considerable work in the interest of state candidates, and was a supporter of O. B. Colquitt for the governorship. Fra- ternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of the Maccabees, and is a member of the Methodist church.

In Grimes county, on November 15. 1886, Mr. Camp- bell married Miss Carrie McIntyre. Jesse MeIntyre, her father, came to Texas from North Carolina, was a Confederate soldier, and later a large farmer and merchant at Roan's Prairie in Grinies county. Mr. Me- Intyre married Caroline Lindley, and their children were: Mattie, who married S. H. Garvin, and lives in Navasota ; William S., of Roan's Prairie; J. R., of Madisonville, Texas; Mrs. Campbell; Ada, who married George T. Morse of Houston: Florence, who married Hammond Norwood of Houston; Prindle C., postmaster at Anderson. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Campbell are: Rogers Mills, who died in infancy; Grace, a gradu- ate of Ursuline Convent at Galveston; Jessie, Leone and Pauline.

ISAAC N. PARKER. A prominent merchant at Trinity, where he has resided since 1889, Isaac N. Parker is one

1658

TEXAS AND TEXANS

of the few active Texans who can claim the honor of being a native son of the old Texas Republic. He has had a long and active career, was a soldier in the Con- federate army four years, has been a farmer and mer- chant, and as a result of hard work has accumulated the means of prosperity and competence.

Isaac N. Parker was born within three miles of Hunts- ville, April 10, 1841, and reared in Walker county. His education was finished when he was sixteen years old at Austin College, and when he left school he applied himself to the occupations of the farm, and also had his full share of useful enjoyment in hunting, fishing and frolicing. When the war broke out he was twenty years old. He enlisted in Company D of the Fifth In- fantry in Hood's Texas Brigade, under Capt. Mike Powell, who was afterward promoted to colonel. His regiment was sent on to Richmond, Virginia, and his first fight was with a part of Lee's army at Yorktown in the Peninsular campaign. He was in the Seven Day Battle, the second battle of Manassas, Antietam, Gettys- burg, Chickamauga, was wounded at Chickamauga and at Gettysburg, and all told his service comprised twenty- seven battles. While on a scout in east Tennessee at Morristown, he was captured, spent thirty days in the jail at Knoxville, and was then sent to Camp Chase in Ohio, where he remained ten months and ten days as a prisoner, and was then paroled. While on parole General Lee sur- rendered. From the time he left his old home in Texas in 1861 until September, 1865, he did not return, and no man saw longer service in the southern army.

After the war, when he got back to Texas, there was nothing open in the way of a vocation except farming, and he took up that work in real earnest. He followed it for ten years, and then engaged in merchandising at Dodge, Texas. His beginning was on a small scale, and from Dodge he went to Riverside, where he spent five years, and in 1899 came to Trinity. In Trinity he huilt a store, and has since been a merchant with a growing trade in that center. His career as a merchant has been continuous since 1876. Mr. Parker has never allowed his name to be placed on a ticket as a candidate for public office, though he is a loyal Democrat, and one of the strongest advocates and workers for prohibition in the county. He belongs to the Methodist church, and affiliates with the Masonie Order.

Mr. Parker is a son of Jesse Parker, who came to Texas in 1833 from Louisiana, lived for a time on the Sabine River in east Texas, and subsequently settled on the farm where his son Isaac was born in Walker county, in 1836. He lived there until his death in 1849. He was probably born in Georgia, and he was twice married. His first children were: Sarah, who married James Schrier and who lived in Atascosa county, and died there; Matthew spent his career in Matagorda, Texas; Wiley died in Walker county; Elizabeth, married Phil Coe, and died in Gonzales county. The second wife of Jesse Parker, and the mother of Issae N., was Elizabeth Barker, who died in Huntsville, at the age of eighty-six. Her children were: Jesse, who died during the war as a Confederate soldier; Eliza, who married Richard Plum- mer, and died in Walker county in 1866; Mary Ann, whose first husband was Andy Cox, and her second was Richard Berry, and he died in Huntsville; Rebecca, who married Marion Brown of Dodge, Texas; Nancy, who married Daniel B. McMillan, and lives at Riverside, Texas; Isaac N., and David, who died at Huntsville, leaving a family.

Mr. Isaac N. Parker was married in Walker county, December 24, 1867, to Miss Mary C. Ashley, a daughter of Edmund Ashley, who came from Alabama just before the war. Mrs. Parker died in Trinity, leaving the fol- lowing children: Edmund C., of Roseburg, Texas, who married Lillian Lane; Frank P., a merchant of Trinity, who married Marcie Thompson; Claude, who died un- married; Robert I., who died in young manhood: Roberta, who died at the age of fourteen in 1889; and

Jesse P., who died when a young man. In October, 1905, Mr. Parker married for his second wife Miss Lucinda C. Palmer, a daughter of William Palmer. Be- fore her marriage Mrs. Parker was for sixteen years employed in the Parker store of Trinity.

WILLIAM H. BRADLEY. One of the leaders in business enterprise at Trinity is William H. Bradley, who since locating in that center of population and industry in October, 1911, has been identified with the real estate, hotel and banking business. His home has been in Trinity county since January, 1886.

Mr. Bradley came from Troy, Alabama, where he was born October 15, 1876. He was thus ten years of age when the family located in Texas. His father, Andrew J. Bradley, a farmer of Pennington, Trinity county, was born in 1851, in Pike county, Alabama, and who married Sophronia Wilson, a farmer. The children of Andrew J. Bradley and wife are: William H .; Laura, wife of John W. Lewis of Batson, Texas; and Emma, who married Oscar Jordan of Batson. The Bradleys came originally from Ireland, settling in Abbeville district of South Carolina, and from that locality Grandfather Henry M. Bradley moved to Alabama. Grandfather Bradley married Mary Cowart, and Andrew J. was one of seven children, all of whom came out to Texas, and located in Trinity and Houston counties.

William H. Bradley was brought up on a small farm in Trinity county, and had only a common school educa- tion as his preparation for a business career. Leaving home at the age of sixteen he began the study of law at Groveton with the firm of Bean & Nelms, continuing his reading for several years. Other affairs have attracted him rather than the law, and has never formally entered the profession. In 1900 he was appointed postmaster of Groveton by President Mckinley as the successor of A. M. Stevenson. His service as postmaster continued for twelve years, and he resigned to engage in business. On coming to Trinity Mr. Bradley opened and conducted as proprietor for two years the Gibson Hotel, and then turned all his attention to the real estate business. In 1912 he became an officer of the Southwest Company, heing secretary and treasurer of this well known real estate concern, the other members of which are Hayne Nelms of Groveton and J. D. Freeman of Trinity. It is the purpose of this company to promote immigration, and the settlement of the "cut-over" lands and other lands in this vicinity. They own or control several hundred thousand acres in various counties of east Texas. Mr. Bradley is one of the directors of the First National Bank of Groveton.

Politically he has always been a Republican, is county chairman of his party in Trinity county, has attended a number of state conventions, and in 1904 was a dele- gate to the Chicago National Convention which nominated Roosevelt. Fraternally he is a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Methodist church. Mr. Bradley was mar- ried in Trinity county, July 23, 1901, to Miss Lulu Magee, a daughter of Abe Magee, an old pioneer settler of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley have no children.

ROBERT ELMER MINTON. As a lawyer Mr. Minton is one of the ablest in southeast Texas, and associated with R. O. Kenley in the firm of Kenley & Minton, representing some of the largest financial and industrial interests in Trinity county and vicinity. Mr. Minton took the bar examination at Austin in 1906, and at once located for practice at Groveton. From the beginning their practice has been of an important character. The first case in which he was an attorney was for the prosecution of a claim for some heirs. The firm have represented the Southern Pine Lumber Company, the Trinity County Lumber Company, the Thompson Brothers Lumber Com- pany, The Groveton, Lufkin & Northern Railroad Com- pany, the Texas Southeastern Railroad Company, and the Beaumont & Great Northern Railroad Company.

Robert Elmer Minton was born in Sabine county,

1659

TEXAS AND TEXANS

Texas, October 8, 1878, a son of William Henry Minton, and a grandson of William Minton. William Minton came from Troy, South Carolina, the family having owned the land on which that town was built. William Minton when about forty years of age married a Miss Wolam, a sister of "Unely" Johnny Wolam, the famous pioneer Methodist preacher who came to Texas in 1836 as a mis- sionary, and spent his life in east Texas, was at one time chaplain of the Huntsville prison, and died at Crockett in 1891. William Minton and wife had the following children: James, a Confederate soldier, who died at Corsicana, about 1885, leaving no children; William Henry; John P., of Nacogdoches; Francis M., of Alto; Thomas, of Sabine county; Martha B., who married Frank Errington, and lives in Sabine county; and Beauregard of Sabine county.

William Henry Minton, who has been a farmer all his life, came to Texas from Shelby county Tennessee in 1859. He was born in Tennessee in November, 1849, and has thus lived in Texas since he was ten years of age. The family first settled near San Augustine where Grand- father William Minton was a shoemaker. The Grand- father died in 1878, having been born about the beginning of the century. William Minton is a Democrat, has seldom left the quiet activities of the farm for public affairs but held the office of county commissioner and is a deacon in the Baptist church. He was married in Sabine county in 1875 to Miss Cena Maddox. Her parents were John J. and Rebecca ( Reeves) Maddox. Her father was a farmer and came to Texas from

Alabama and had given service with the rank of Captain in the Confederate army. William H. Minton and wife had the following children: John William, a lawyer in Sabine county, who married Florence Dean; Robert E .; Sallie, wife of Austin Mason, of San Augustine county ; Roscoe Henry, of Sabine county, who married Miss Corrie Arnold; J. M., of Houston; Protis. of Houston ; and Vivian, who married a Mr. Buttler.

Robert E. Minton spent his boyhood near Geneva, Texas, on the farm, and after the local schools was a student in the Geneva high school. One summer was spent in Baylor University, and a year in the law department of Texas University. His self-supporting career began as a school teacher in the country of Sabine county, where he worked three years in the school room, and for two years was at Pennington and two years in the city schools of Groveton. His ambition was definitely centered upon the law, and in 1905 he left the school room, and prepared himself for the ex- aminations which he successfully passed in the following year.

As already noted his career in the law has been one of exceptional success. One of the most noted cases in which he and his partner have been identified was the suit brought by the Consolidated Louisiana & Texas Lumber Company, against the Southern Pine Lumber Company. This was a case in the federal court jurisdie- tion, and involved a claim of nine hundred thousand dollars damages, for the removal of timber by the Southern Pine Lumber Company from a league of land, which the plaintiff claimed to own. The case went to the federal court, Mr. Minton being one of the active attorneys throughout, and at the end a judgment of fifteen thousand dollars was handed down in lieu of the nine hundred thousand dollars which had been claimed. The award is still pending on appeal before the circuit court of New Orleans. Various other suits involving title and important values in civil cases have absorbed much of Mr. Minton's time and ability in the district courts. He practices before the supreme court, having been admitted to that court at the same time as to the lower courts. Mr. Minton is one of the stockholders of the Guaranty State Bank, and represents it as attorney. He has general supervision of the sale and settlement of the "cut-over" land of the Southern Pine Lumber Company. These lands are being advertised and set- tlers from northern and eastern states are rapidly taking

possession and converting the original site of this pine forest into productive fields. Mr. Minton is a Democrat, . but has avoided all practical politics. He is affiliated with the Knights of the Maccabees, and an active worker in church and Sunday school. He is a deacon of the Groveton Baptist church, superintendent of the Sunday schools, and of the men's bible class, and inter-denomina- tioual class for the study of the bible, has been a delegate to Baptist associations, and was clerk of the Sabine County Association at one time.

Mr. Minton was married at Groveton in February, 1905, to Miss Lucy Kenley, a daughter of George White- head Kenley. Mr. and Mrs. Minton have three children : Robert E., Rachael and Marjorie.

George Whitehead Kenley, father of Mrs. Minton, was born at San Augustine, Texas, September 28, 1841. His father, Thomas H. Keuley, founded the family in Trinity county from San Augustine county. He was born in Kentucky about 1813, and died near Old Sumter, in Trinity county, in 1871. A man of ordinary education, he spent his life as a farmer, was honored with the office of sheriff of Trinity county, and held that position at the time of his death. He was an early settler of Texas and went out from San Augustine county as a soldier for the Mexican war, being with General Taylor's army. He was a Democrat, a Methodist, and a Master Mason. By his marriage to Elizabeth Potts of Kentucky, he had the following children: Rachael, who first married a Mr. Hallmark, and later Mr. Morgan, and had children by both unions; George Whitehead; Mary J., who mar- ried Daniel Murphy, and lived in Cherokee county ; Philip D., of Coleman county ; Thomas H., of Henderson county ; Lucinda, who married Coleman Ashworth, and spent her life in Trinity and Montgomery counties.

George Whitehead Kenley grew up with only a limited education, and his career was spent as a farmer. He came to Trinity county about 1849, settling near Old Sumpter, where he married and later lived on East Prairie and Nogales Prairie. During the war he entered the Con- federate army, saw a great deal of service but was never wounded or captured. Later he was affiliated with the United Confederate Veterans. As a Democrat in politics he succeeded his father to the office of sheriff of Trinity county. He was very successful as a farmer, and did a great deal for his children, whom he educated and pre- pared for successful careers as teachers and workers in the world. He was married on March 4, 1869, to Paralee Chandler. Her father, Carroll T. Chandler, came to Texas from Perry county, Alabama, first settling in Cherokee county, where he was a farmer. He died while a Confederate soldier in the fall of 1861. His wife, whose maiden name was Amanda Welch of Perry county, Alabama, subsequently married a Mr. Duncan, who soon died, and she passed away May 19, 1913, when almost eighty-two years of age. Her children were: Mrs. Ken- ley, born January 29, 1852; Sarah J., who first married Dennis Young, and second Jo Lester, and died in Angelina county, Texas, in 1910; Richard, who was a farmer of Trinity county, and died during the nineties, leaving children; Joseph, who died in Trinity county in 1902, and left six children; Thena, who married Charles War- ner, and died in Trinity county with four children.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A history of Texas and Texans, Part 20

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