A history of Texas and Texans, Part 25

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 25

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).

From 1823 to 1828 Captain Murphy carried on mining and trading, selling beef to the lead miners in south- eastern Missouri and driving horses south and selling them to the planters in the lower Mississippi Valley. Subsequently he went to St. Louis and hired himself to the sheriff with a knife and wounded Captain Murphy board. Within a few months a negro highwayman killed the sheriff with a knife and wounded Captain Murphy himself. This event threw him out of employment, but gave him an acquaintance with Edward Bates, subse- quently Lincoln's attorney general. In 1833 Captain Murphy went to New Orleans to buy goods for a mer- chant at Farmington who declined to make the trip him- self because of the scourge of cholera in the Crescent City.

These are only a few of the many interesting events of his active career during the years before he came to Texas. In November, 1836, Captain Murphy married Miss Elizabeth Anthony, a daughter of Samuel Anthony of Madison county, Missouri. The children of that union are enumerated in a following paragraph.

Finally Mr. Murphy, becoming dissatisfied with his Missouri home, determined in 1841 to seek a new one. Having seen a statement in a newspaper published at Natchitoches that President Houston of Texas would hold a Treaty at the three forks of the Trinity, he de termined to be present at that negotiation, and set out alone, crossing the Red river at the mouth of Mill Creek. There he fell in with seven or eight others who were also going to the Treaty. The Treaty was held at Byrd's Fort near the present city of Dallas, and the only three white families in that locality were the Bryants, the Keenans and the Beemans. At this Treaty Mr. Murphy met General Houston for the third time. Some years previously, on taking a drove of horses through the Chero- kee nation, he first saw the ex-governor of Tennessee, then living in exile, at Webber's Store. At another time he had become a traveling companion of the great Texas statesman at Fayetteville, Arkansas, and their routes lay together as far as Natchitoches, where they separated, Houston going to Natchitoches and Murphy to Alexan- dria, Louisiana. To the end of his life Captain Murphy regarded Sam Houston as the greatest man he ever knew.

After the Treaty at the vicinity of Dallas, Captain Murphy and others visited other sections of the state along the Trinity, and the captain himself then returned home through Lamar county, where he rented a farm, and continued his journey to Missouri to arrange to bring his family to Texas. They all arrived at their new home in Lamar county in the fall of 1842. After one year in Lamar, Captain Murphy moved to Hopkins county, settling near Hargrove's Mills, fifteen miles from Tar- rant, which was then the county seat. In 1850 Captain Murphy moved to Kaufman county, first buying land near the mouth of East Fork, and a little later he moved to the vicinity of King Creek. While there he took an active and influential part in the second election for a county seat, and it was largely due to his activities that the vote decided in favor of Kingsboro. After about two years at Kingsboro Mr. Murphy moved to Old Trinidad, hut became dissatisfied on account of the unhealthful

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locality, and in 1855 hought a farm and established his home in the Crandall community, which knew him inti- mately during the remainder of his life. There he en- tered into the spirit of home building and made an indeli- ble impression upon his community. He was hopefully disposed, always bore a feeling of good will towards his fellows, entertained all with his ready wit and rich fund of stories and jokes, displayed au adaptability for business, and helped to fight some of the real battles and participated in many of the political skirmishes of the time.

During the war between the North and South, Captain Murphy was selected to raise a company in Kaufman county for Colonel Buford's regiment, and though past the military age succeeded in raising the full quota and was commissioned as the first captain. He served seven months, but saw none of the fighting, and his only acquaintance with the Yankees was with a few prisoners. When he resigned towards the end of 1862, Lieutenant Michaux became captain and the old captain returned to his farm. From the close of the war no event in his personal career occurred of special note. He lived quietly among his friends and neighbors until the death of his wife, after which he shared his time with his children until his own death in 1891.

By his marriage to Elizabeth Anthony, Captain Murphy had eleven children, named as follows: Ellen, who died unmarried; Amanda, who became the wife of Dr. Hen- ley, and her two children died in infancy; Lafayette, a sketch of whose career follows; Samuel, who lives in Mills county, Texas; Henderson, a resident of Brown- wood, Texas; Joseph, who died in Kaufman county; Wil- liam, who died in the Confederate army; Mary, whose first husband was Henry Boykin and her second P. M. Lewis, and she died at Forney, Texas; Eliza, who mar- ried .John A. Coleman of Kaufman; besides Barton and DuBart, both of whom died in infancy.

Lafayette Murphy, the oldest son of Captain DuBart Murphy, was born in St. Francis county, Missouri, De- cember 14, 1839. He received a limited education in Kaufman county before the war, during which he had been crippled for life. He joined Captain Chisholm's Company A, Colonel Stone's Third Texas Cavalry, and saw some service in Missouri and Arkansas in Ross's Brigade, and, while in winter quarters, in 1861-62, lost his right leg in an accident and was sent back home maimed for life. Acquiring a fairly good education, he became a trader and farmer, dealt successfully in cattle, horses, and mules, and demonstrated ability and business, leaving an estate of more than seven hundred acres at his death in November, 1887. He was ever interested in all matters that he considered for the benefit of his community, and as a member of the Christian church was faithful to its teachings.

Lafayette Murphy was married within a mile of his home on December 18, 1866, to Miss Virginia V. Wade, whose birthplace is a few minutes walk of her present residence. Mrs. Murphy was a daughter of Vincent A. and Phoebe (Utley) Wade, who came from Gallaway county, Kentucky, to Texas in 1845. Her father died in 1847, the year in which Mis. Murphy was born. Mrs. Phoebe Wade, who died in 1883, had been left with a family of young children to support and for years braved the difficulties and hardships of a frontier woman's life, and succeeded in rearing her children and giving them a good home and fair school training. After the dangers and hardships of her earlier career. she spent the evening of her life in the comforts of her children, and passed away in her seventy-sixth year. The ch'ldren in the Wade family were: William L., who died in Panola county. Texas; B. W., who died in Kaufman courty; Henry, who died before the family left Kentucky; Ann, who became Mrs. William Grubbs and later Mrs Orlando Anthony. and who also died in Kaufman county : John A., who died in Young county, Texas; Edward W., who spent his entire life in Kaufman county; Jacob Sanders, who was killed in Tucson, Arizona; Bannister, who died in Kauf- Vol. IV-6

man county; and Virginia V., who is the sole survivor of the family.

The children of Lafayette and Virginia Murphy were as follows: Amanda, the wife of Dr. T. A. Miller of Corsicana. Texas; Modena, who died in Kaufman as Mrs. E. E. Thompson ; Ed W., of Goldfield, Nevada; Wil- liam B., who conducts the family homestead: Joseph E., who was educated in the New York brauch of the East- man Business College, who closed five years of business practice in New York with a cleikship in the Fifth Avenue Trust Company, is now cashier of the First National Bank of Crandall, and who by his marriage to Miss Mary Gibbs, daughter of W. N. Gibbs, has four children named Mary V., Donald, Kathleen and Mil- dred; Polly the youngest child of Mrs. Murphy, who died when five years of age. All the children except W. B. and Joseph E. were educated in the Add-Ran College at Thorp Springs, Texas. The scholastic training of Joseph E. has been noted, while William B. received his education in Nashville, Tennessee.

Following the death of her husband, Mrs. Murphy as- sumed his place in the management of his affairs and carried on the business much as he had planned. She and her sons have added much to the productiveness of the farm by opening new land, building tenant houses and extending the domestic elements of farm life to their wide domain. They have aligned themselves with the spirit of advancement and are amongst the most sub- stantial and best esteemed people of Kaufman county. The Christian church has exercised its influence in the family in the rearing of the children, and Mrs. Murphy has been a faithful member of its circle since her mar- riage.

WILEY MORROW, M. D., of Trenton, Texas, is a son of Drs. James, Sr., and Fannie Morrow, practicing phy. sicians of Blue Ridge, Collins county, Texas. He was born in Hunt county, Texas, October 27, 1877, whence his father had goue as a youth of about eighteen years, in company with his parents from MeMinn county. Tennessee. He was boru near MeMinnville, in 185 -- , was a son of Matthew Morrow, a modest Tennessee farmer who settled near Pike, Hunt county, Texas, re- sumed farming, and died in that locality in 1888, at sixty-one years of age. The latter was a son of Cap- tain Morrow, who obtained his title as a soldier after the Revolutionary War. Matthew Morrow married a Miss Baker, and they became the parents of ten chil- dren, among whom was James Harrison, the father of Dr. Wiley. Other children to grow up were: Annie, who married Hans Parish of Leonard, Texas; Andrew, who is now deceased; Dr. John of Sontherland Springs, Texas; Thomas of Pike, Texas; Dr. William of Snyder, Texas; George of Pike, Texas; Benjamin of Souther- land Springs, Texas; Minnie, the wife of David Hope of Denton county, Texas; Sarah, who speut her life as Mrs. Jefferson Huckleby of Pike, Texas, and Cynthia, who married Hill Berry of that locality.

James Harrison Morrow acquired his professional edu- cation in Tulane University, New Orleans, graduating in 1880. He began practice at Nobility, Fannin county, but for many years has been located in Collin county. His political alignment is of Republican persuasion, his fa- ther having espoused the Uuion cause during the Civil War and acted with the republican party afterward. As between the candidates for the presidency in 1912, Dr. Morrow followed the fortunes of Mr. Roosevelt. In 1876 Dr. James Harrison Morrow was married in Fannin county to Miss Fannie MeCuistion, daughter of

- MeCuistion, who came to Texas at the close of the Civil War. Some years after her marriage Mrs. Morrow decided to prepare for a professional career, and did so in the American College of Medicine, St. Louis, graduating from that school in 1992, and for the past twenty-one years has actively and efficiently practiced her profession. She is affiliated with the local and State

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medical societies, and is one of the professional women of Texas who are honoring medicine in its application to human ills. She and her husband have had two chil- dren: Dr. Wiley, and Dora, wife of Hall Melugin of Sabinal, Uvalde county, Texas.

Wiley Morrow was a student of Grayson College, Writewright, Texas, after the public schools, and chose medicine for a career in 1896, when he entered the American Medical College. When equipped as a physi- cian, he hegan practice upon a certificate from the Dis- triet Board at Gainesville, Texas, in the community where he had grown up. He resumed the work of finish- ing his medical course in the Georgia College of Medi- cine and Surgery, Atlanta, and after graduating there, in 1901, resumed practice where he had left off. He lo- cated in Trenton in 1905, and in 1912 attended the Chi- cago Polyclinic for a course. He is a member of the state and national medical bodies, is Trenton's health officer, and local surgeon for the M., K. & T. Railway Company. In national politics, he is a progressive, and gives his support to Democratic candidates in Texas. Dr. Morrow is past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, past noble grand of Oddfellowship, and a Master Mason.

On January 6, 1897, Dr. Morrow was married at Tren- ton, Texas, to Miss Katie Stapp, daughter of John C. and Susie (Dodd) Stapp. Mr. Stapp came from Ala: bama, and is the father of Katie, Hugh, Hubbard, Dud- ley and Clyde, wife of Stanley Simpson. Dr. and Mrs. Morrow have three children: Lucile, Marguerite and Bennie.

JOHN H. BEAVERS. A distinguished member of the Wood county bar, John H. Beavers is a resident of Winnsboro, where he stands admittedly at the head of the bar and as one of the ahlest and most successful attorneys in Northeast Texas. The following brief sketch and estimate of his career was written by one who has known him long, both in the law and in pub- lic life.

He was born in Franklin county, Texas, March 6, 1870, where he grew up to early manhood on a farm. His father, W. H. Beavers-"Major Beavers"-who died in Franklin county in 1886, was a native of the old Volunteer state, and at one time a member of the Tennessee legislature from MeNairy county. While he did not enlist as a soldier, on account of advancing years, he nevertheless gave to the "Lost Cause" not only his moral support, but the services of three sons, one of whom died while wearing the gray. They were children of his first wife, who was Miss Cynthia Parker prior to her marriage, she dying in Tennessee. He later came to Texas and married the daughter of a Mr. Fitz- gerald, her death occurring in November, 1911. The surviving children of this union are: Dr. W. L. Beavers of Hawkins, Texas; and John H. Beavers whose name introduces this sketch.

The early life of John H. Beavers was uneventful, but he was patient, industrious, studious, and modestly ambitious. Yet, while struggling with life's problems, he lost no opportunity to read law, and managed many trials of minor importance for his neighbors in the justices' courts, even before his admission to the bar. In this line of amateur practice, his success was with- out a parallel and served to stimulate his young ambi- tion. He pursued his legal studies more ardently than ever and in due time was licensed to practice. He had been engaged in actual practice only a few years when he removed to Wood county and identified himself with the bar and fortunes of the thriving little city of Winns- boro. That was but little over a decade ago, and yet, in that comparatively brief period, he has won not only distinction as a lawyer, but commanding prominence as a useful citizen.

Mr. Beavers' wonderful success in the management of a noted murder case brought him prominently to notice as a criminal lawyer of exceptional ability. In

the first trial of this case (known in Texas court his- tory as the "celebrated Wallace case") the defendant got a death sentence. The brief filed by Mr. Beavers on appeal in the court of criminal appeals was declared by one of the ahle associate justices to have been one of the strongest and most exhaustive ever filed in that court, and yet he knew that it marked Mr. Beav- ers' first appearance in that august tribunal. The case was reversed. On a second trial in the district court, Wallace got a life sentence to the penitentiary. Again the case was appealed, with the same result-a rever- sal. Then a mistrial, and finally an acquittal. The theory upon which Mr. Beavers fought and ultimately won his famous cause, saving his client's life, involved some of the most intricate and vital features of the law of evidence that had up to that time ever perplexed the criminal courts of the state, and the opinion handed down in this case is now the settled law of the state on the questions involved.

The result of this famous trial, after two or three years of royal conflict in the courts, brought Mr. Beav- ers into immediate prominence. However, his career in this line of practice was at that time of short dura- tion. The people saw the value of his services, and in 1906 he was elected district attorney over a very able opponent, by an overwhelming majority in the judicial district composed of the counties of Wood, Smith, Van Zandt and Upshur. He polled 2,144 of the 2,316 votes of Wood county. As a public prosecutor, he made a record of convictions with few parallels in the judicial annals of the state, exhibiting the same ahility in the prosecution of men charged with crime that he .had formerly displayed in their defense. During the last of his four years' service in this office, Mr. Beavers was urged by his host of friends to become a candidate for Congress on the Democratic ticket, and to vindicate their confidence and partiality, he consented to make the race. He made a spirited campaign before the people of the district, but was defeated by a rival candidate who held a commanding geographical advantage in the contest. The primary vote showed Mr. Beavers to have lost only one precinct in Upshur county and only two in Wood county, where he polled 1,250 votes to the other's 781. Although he lost the nomination, Mr. Beav- ers made a wide acquaintance and established himself among men of influence in the district. The following is a clipping from a comment made by some of his friends at the time he made the race for Congress. "We have known Hon. J. H. Beavers, and have been closely identified with him since his boyhood days, and know him to be a man of the highest moral qualities, a pro- found, painstaking and qualified lawyer, and a man of exalted character and lofty ideals, possessing, in the highest degree, those qualifications and requisites so necessary to befit him for the place to which he aspires." Also it has been said of him by those who know him best that he embodies all of the higher traits of South- ern citizenship.

His term of office as prosecutor having expired, he resumed the general practice of law. Since that time figured as leading counsel on one side or the other of nearly every important case tried in the district court of Wood county, both civil and criminal, besides often appearing in leading cases in other counties. He has conquered the struggle of the past and is splendidly equipped to grapple fearlessly with the future. With not a spot or blemish on his publie career or private life, in the prime of life and in full possession of every faculty of mind and body, unimpaired by a single vice or weakness, it is but reasonable to foretell that the future of his life will be even more conspicuously successful than the past.

JUDGE D. R. PEARESON. For a number of years prom- inent in the official affairs of court and county, a former county judge, Mr. Peareson is one of the citizens whose

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long residence, success in profession and business, and high personal character entitled them to the best dis- tinction in public life, where their previous record in- sure faithful and intelligent service in behalf of the publie welfare.

D. R. Peareson, who was born in his home town of Richmond, Texas, August 2, 1869, is a son of the late Hon. Philip E. Peareson and a member of a family which has been conspicuous in citizenship, in the law, and in its performance of military duty for several gen- erations in the south. The late Philip E. Peareson was born in Talladega, Alabama, and he married Minnie Rugeley.

The founder of the family in Texas was the paternal grandfather, Dr. E. A. Peareson, who brought his family to Texas when the late Philip E. was a boy of five or six years. Their first settlement was in Victoria county, whence they moved to Matagorda county, where Dr. Peareson died. Until the outbreak of the Civil war, Dr. Peareson was engaged in the practice of his profession, but then organized a company and went to the front as its head. Philip E. Peareson was a lieu- tenant under his father in that same organization, and came out of the war with the straps of cap- tain. He also was a member of General Granbury's staff. He was taken prisoner at Arkansas Post, but was subsequently exchanged, and then in the great battle of Franklin was again captured, and this time sent to John- son 's Island, the Federal Prison in Lake Erie, and was held in confinement there until the close of the war, and he suffered many hardships. On going out for service, he had been a member of Pat Cleburne's Division. Among other battles in which he was a participant was those of Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. On returning to Matagorda county, after the war, Philip E. Peareson married, and then moved to Richmond, where his death occurred in 1895. The late Mr. Peareson was one of the big lawyers and prominent citizens of South Texas. At one time he was a candidate for congress against W. H. Crain, and subsequently made a gallant fight for the office of attorney general of Texas against Gov- ernor Hogg. He had made a splendid record as a soldier of the Confederacy, was a courageous and useful citizen, and had few equals among his contemporaries in the law. His father, Dr. Peareson, had died soon after re- turning home from the war. Minnie Rugeley, the mother of Judge Peareson, was a daughter of Alex Rugeley, who was a prominent planter and one of the pioneer set- tlers of Texas. He had come to this state, Texas, shortly after the close of the Mexican war, becoming a settler in Matagorda county. During the war between the states he saw service in a home-guard company com- manded by his brother, Captain E. S. Rugeley. Mrs. Minnie Peareson passed away in 1896.

Judge Peareson was one of the five children in the family. His brother, E. A. Peareson, now deceased, was a major in the Spanish-American war, in the First Texas Cavalry, whose commander was Col. Luther Hare, and he also was at one time tax collector of Fort Bend county, and was serving in the office of sheriff at the time of his death. The other children are Mrs. M. C. Andrus of Richmond; Thomas B. Peareson, the present county attorney, who at one time was a member of the legis- lature, and Mrs. P. G. Huston of Bay City, Texas.

Judge Peareson became a practicing lawyer in 1890. and in 1895 took up the large practice left in his hands by the death of the eminent father. His early education was attained at St. Mary's Preparatory School in San Antonio, and subsequently at the Agricultural & Me- chanical College of Bryan. In the office of his father he continued his law studies until admission to the bar, and since the year 1895 has been in constant practice, with a large and growing patronage, not only that in- herited from his father, but much that has been won through his own pronounced ability as a lawyer. In 1904 he was elected to the office of County Judge of Fort

Bend county, that position having been tendered him without any solicitation on his part. He remained in- cumbent of the office for two terms, a total of four years, the limit imposed under the rule of the Jay Bird Democratic Association. Previous to this time he had been elected county surveyor, but did not qualify for that office. He has also served as president of the school board for more than six years, and for four years was president of the Jay Bird Association. Much public im- provement in his home town and county may be credited to the administration of Judge Peareson. The present school building in Richmond was erected while he was a member of the board, and the new courthouse and the new bridge at Rosenberg were practically completed dur- ing his administration as county judge.

He showed himself an administrator with rare execu- tive ability, and made his administration a high standard in the annals of county government.

On June 15, 1892, Judge Peareson married Miss Mary Sargent of Matagorda county, a daughter of Jno. F. Sargent. Their only child is Philip E., who is now in college at Lebanon, Tennessee. Judge Peareson and wife are members of the Episcopal church of Richmond, and he has served as warden for eighteen years. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, and Mrs. Peare- son is an active member in the Daughters of the Con- federacy.

Judge Peareson is one of the best known and promi- nent men of his county; has been urged to run for the office of District Judge, but refused to make the cam- paign. He has gained material evidences of success, as well as the high esteem of his community, and occupies an enviable place in his home county.

GAYLE TARVER SNEDECOR. One of the ablest as well as one of the most energetic of the younger generation of Fort Bend county citizens, Mr. Snedecor is a former dis- triet clerk of the county, is one of the leaders in the Democratic party, and is soon to take up active practice as an attorney.

Gayle Tarver Snedecor was born in Fort Bend county, Texas, March 9, 1881, and is a son of Bolivar G. and Sallie (Tarver) Snedecor. His father was born in Greene county, Alabama, and his mother in Texas. The father came to Texas in 1868, and now resides upon a splendid farm on the Colorado River in Fort Bend county. The Snedecors are an old and prominent south- ern family, who before the war owned slaves, and Boli- var Snedecor has long been a man of high standing in Fort Bend county, possessing an alert mind and keen intelligence.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 25

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