A history of Texas and Texans, Part 40

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 40

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).

Bruce C. Wallace was born October 17, 1868, and secured his early educational advantages in the public schools. He assisted his mother in the work of the home farm at Bethel, Anderson county, until the age of twenty-one years, when he entered the I. & G. N. Rail- way Hospital, at Palestine, Texas, to receive his first lessous in his student work for the medical profession. He acted as a prescriptionist and studeut there for one year, following which he entered Tulane University, New Orleans, in October, 1890, and one year later passed the examination for the certificate of practice. Locating at Emhouse, Navarro county, Texas, he continued there until 1892, and then came to LaRne and completed his course in medicine, at the Kentucky School of Medicine, graduating in 1893. In 1900 Doctor Wallace took a post-graduate course in the New Orleans Polyclinic, and has never ceased to be a close and careful student of his calling. He affiliates with the Henderson County Med- ical Society and the Texas State Medical Society, is widely and favorably known among his professional brethren, and through his success in a number of com- plicated cases has won the full confidence of the people of his adopted place. In the domain of agriculture, he has been responsible for bringing under cultivation some of the producing lands adjacent to LaRue. His home

1722

TEXAS AND TEXANS

is of his own building and is a splendid example of the architect's art of rural home, a roomy, one-story frame structure, with ample galleries, standing upon high ground almost at the doors of the corporation. Its white exterior can be seen for miles. Doctor Wallace is vice- president of the state bank of LaRue, is a Methodist in his religious belief, and affiliates with that church. He, like his father, is a Royal Arch Mason.

In February, 1896, Doctor Wallace was married to Miss Linna Campbell, daughter of Dr. S. E. Campbell, who settled at Fincastle, Henderson county, and prac- ticed medicine for forty years. Two children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Wallace, Bruce C., Jr., and Linna Laura.

THOMAS VOLNEY MUNSON. The great majority of men are honored for their ability to confer benefits-for the wealth, or influence, or power that they control. The late Thomas Volney Munson was a man who was rev- erenced and beloved, not for what he had, but for what he was. Probably no man ever lived in Texas whose character attracted greater admiration, or whose re- moval caused more general regret than did his, and the memory of his pure life, of his gracious presence and kindly deeds lingers like a sweet fragrance in the air. In the science of horticulture his name will live for gen- erations, for his contributions thereto were invaluable. He loved Nature, her trees, fields, fruits and flowers, and knew them well; and he loved his kind and was lavish in his benefactions to those, who, helpless, ap- pealed to his sympathy. When he passed away, Janu- ary 21, 1913, at his home in Denison, thousands mourned - not alone those who knew him personally, but those whom his life had impressed as a teaching.

Thomas Volney Munson was born on a farm near As- toria, Fulton county, Illinois, September 26, 1843, and was a son of William and Maria (Linley) Munson, the former a native of New Hampshire and the latter of Kentucky. Reared a farmer's son, he obtained his early education in the district schools, later went to the academy at Lewiston, subsequently took a course at the Bryant and Stratton Business College, and in order to make his way through the University of Kentucky boarded himself with his brother, the two doing their own cooking and practicing numerous small economies. This brother was William Benjamin Munson, now one of the leading capitalists of North Texas, the other brother and sisters being: Mrs. Louisa E. Douglass, of Tecumseh, Nebraska; J. T., a resident of Denison, Texas, and a member of the large real estate firm of Munson & Brother; and the Misses M. G. and T. M., of Point Loma, California. In 1870 Thomas V. Munson was married to Miss Ellen Scott Bell, of Lexington, Kentucky, and to this union there were born seven children: William Bell, of Denison; Mrs. A. A. Ache- son, of Hugo, Oklahoma; Roscoe W., of Denison, Texas; Miss Neva, of Denison; and Mrs. N. C. Calvert, Mrs. W. C. Green and Miss Marguerite Munson, all of Denison.

Shortly after his marriage, Dr. Munson removed to the vicinity of Lincoln, Nebraska, from whence he came to Denison, and here all of his industrial, scientific and literary work was done. He established one of the most famous vineyards in the South, besides building up a reliable and well-known nursery business. He became the acknowledged authority on the native wild grapes of North America, and Bulleton No. 3, Division of Pomology, United States Department of Agriculture, "Classification and Generic Synopsis of the Wild Grapes of North America," which he wrote and which was published in 1890, is one of the most painstaking pieces of botanical work ever done in this country. It made the way for his later and greater work. "Foundations of American Grape Culture." His horticultural and sci- entific work in hybridizing and perfecting the American Vitis won for him a diploma from the French Govern-

ment in 1888 and the decoration of the Legion of Honor, with the title of "Chevalier du Merit Agricole," for the aid he had rendered France in viticultural matters. He was a member of the American Academy of Science, the National Agricultural Association of France, vice presi- dent of the American Pomological Society, member of the American Breeders' Association, the Association for the Advancement of Science, and president of the Texas Horticultural Society. In 1903-4 he was a member of the Texas World's Fair Association. He was a member of the jury of awards at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904, an honorary member of the American Wine Grow- ers' Association and also a vice president of the Society for Horticultural Science. The most complete botanical display of the whole grape genus ever made was pre- pared by Professor Munson and exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, in 1893. This collec- tion, now in the United States Department of Agri- culture, will ever be a sterling record of Dr. Munson's wonderful patience, painstaking care and skill. His splendid book, "Foundations of American Grape Cul- ture," is regarded as the most practical, complete and satisfactory account of the American grape yet issued, and is a lasting monument to his zeal, energy and sci- entific investigation. Such, in brief, is a cursory review of the life and some of the achievements of a man who has left his impress indelibly stamped upon the annals of science, literature and the hearts of his fellow men. It does not become the biographer unfamiliar with the science to which Professor Munson devoted his long and useful life, however, to write of his attainments. Such a task is more fittingly accomplished by one whose labors were conducted along the same lines, and for this reason we are allowed to quote from an article written for the Texas State Horticultural Society, which, in part, said as follows:

"Professor Munson is with us no more, and we sadly miss him. It is with mingled feelings of pleasure and regret that I respond to the assignment to present to the members of the Texas State Horticultural Society the short memoir of our friend and co-worker, the late T. V. Munson. Of pleasure we delight to revert to and honor his memory, who was a great man in natural en- dowments, in application and in grand achievements, a distinguished life member and one of the founders of this society, a true and faithful friend and a noble and useful citizen. Of regret because of his departure from life.

"The ordinary extravagances of eulogy do not ex- press our feelings and are not proper on this occasion, .but the sacred converse of the life labors and of the departure of our near and dear friend, co-worker and benefactor. All of you who enjoyed the acquaintance and friendship of Brother Munson will bear me out that it was a rare pleasure to have known him in his beautiful home, in his remarkable trial grounds, or- chards and vineyards, in our many horticultural and other conventions and in every form of intercourse. It was a rare treat indeed to walk with Mr. Munson in his trial grounds and have him unfold the fascinating, yet intricate, work of originating and improving the many thousands of new varieties which he has given to the world. The impression he made was of one thoroughly at home among his new creations, of one easily the complete master of the laws and knowledge of plant selection and reproduction. Not only was he a master of his line, to his great abilities were added the higher qualities of a courteous and cultured gentleman, kind and wise husband, warm and loyal friend and useful and broad-minded citizen.

"Mr. Munson was a deep and thorough student, going to the bottom of the subjects which he studied and prac- ticed. We may well class him as a student and investi- gator with such men as Huxley, Agassiz, Tyndal, Joseph Cook, Professor Bailey and the like, going further really than they in that he utilized his knowledge of

1723

TEXAS AND TEXANS

the deep things of nature in the production of new and rare plant creations, creations which should combine the best traits of the various parent plants which he chose to utilize in hybridization and in cross-pollina- tion.

"The love for pomological experimentation and the achievement dominated the life of Professor Munson, and our horticulture of the present day and of all fu- ture time has received a great blessing in his life and labors. We are fortunate indeed that Mr. Munson chose horticulture as his life work, rather than the pro- fessions or finance, in any of which he might have shone with distinction.

"The fullness of the life and labors of Professor Munson will probably never be fully known. His great mind was a rare storehouse of knowledge. His library is rich, a treasurehouse. His observations and writings would fill volumes, which, while they would make a rich heritage for the horticulturists of cominig generations, may never be published.

"These productions have been carefully classified and filed by him, with the aid of his son, William B. Munson. The writer has been accorded the privilege of entering the sacred precincts of his study, his great workshop, and of examining these treasures which he left. And let me suggest here that the Texas Horticultural So- ciety, of which he was a founder and president for many years, combined with the American Horticultural Society, of which he was a life member, and the Ameri- can Pomological Society, of which he was vice president for many years, would do well to appoint a joint com- mittee to confer with his family as to the practicability of formulating such a biography of this great man which should contain or utilize much of the unpublished life work of Mr. Munson. One volume especially upon which he spent a great deal of time and careful thought and investigation is a thesis prepared on the "Native Trees of the Southwest," and which was done under the direction of the Department of Agriculture at Wash- ington.

"Mr. Munson's life work was, however, well done. He stated at his death that he was well satisfied with his life work. He had no regrets; he was ready to go. The results of his labor are a rich heritage to our horti- culture. They constitute a monument to his great life more enduring than shaft of marble or granite, and increasingly blessed as time goes on. Thousands of carefully bred new varieties have been given to the world, especially of grapes, but also of many other fruits and ornamental plants, by him.

"Mr. Munson's last book, 'The Foundation of American Grape Culture,' is a fit and characteristic product of his life. It is a gem of classic literature, as well as rich and valuable to the viticulturist. It should be in the library of every home in the land. The writ- ings of Mr. Munson are gems of deep thought and of exquisite culture, and are much sought after by the leading journals, both domestic and foreign.

"On account of great services done by Mr. Munson in producing and furnishing phylloxera-resistent stocks with which to restore the phylloxera infested vineyards of France and for other valuable services rendered the viticulture of France, he was given the highest honors that could be awarded, viz., membership in the Legion of Honor, with the title of Chevalier du Merit Agri- cole. Really, there is scarcely a vineyard in the world that is not now or will some time be benefited by the work of Mr. Munson. On account of the thesis on the 'Forests and the Trees of Texas,' as has already been mentioned, the Kentucky Agricultural College in 1883 conferred upon him the degree of Master of Science.

"Professor Munson was for many years an active member and honored officer of the American Pomological Society, of the American Horticultural Society, a mem- ber of the Texas State Horticultural Society, the So- ciety of Horticultural Science, of the American Breed-

ers' Association, and other scientific and useful organi- zations, and was everywhere highly esteemed for his deep learning, his philanthropie spirit and his practical utility. Everywhere Professor Munson will be greatly missed, for his words were those of wisdom.

"In his home life and in his own community, Mr. Munson shone with greatest lustre. In his own family he was loved to devotion by his wife and seven children, all of whom survive to honor his memory and lament his absence. In his own community Mr. Munson, while naturally retiring, never desiring any political prefer- ment, yet had decided opinions in all public matters, and was always found on the side of conservative ad- vancement, especially in matters of higher education. He was a valued member of the Denison school board for eight years."

At the time of Professor Munson's death numberless expressions of admiration for the man and his work, and regrets for his departure, were sent by mail and telegraph from all parts of the world, the press all over the country paid him eulogies, and his funeral was one of the most largely attended that Denison or adjoining cities has known. From the beautiful suburban family residence just south of the city of Denison, the body was borne tenderly to the spacious auditorium of the XXI Club, which had been donated by his brother, J. T. Munson. There the funeral services were held before a congregation that filled the auditorium to over- flowing. The services were simple and brief. Mr. R. L. Legate, a warm personal friend of the deceased, read the funeral oration, "Philosophius' Funeral Oration, Made Over His Own Grave," which had been written by Professor Munson when still in good health, and which he had requested to be read at his funeral. From the auditorium the funeral train moved to Fairview Cemetery, where Mr. W. B. Munson, brother of the deceased, read the following beautiful tribute, with which we shall close this all too brief sketch:

"Dearest Brother: We now surrender you back to the bosom of the great universe into whose mysteries during life you so loved to delve. Your life has been an inspiration to your family and friends, and will be an example to all as the happy results of a life well spent. You fell asleep like a child on its mother's bosom, without a struggle, your every feature indicating the satisfaction of having earned the plaudits of your fellowmen. 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant.'

"Your heart was as loving and tender as the flowers you grew; your resolution in the discharge of duty as strong as the oak and as firm as steel; your energy was tireless, your patience most wonderful; your character and conduct spotless and clean; your love of nature was only surpassed by your love of man. You found your greatest happiness in the bestowment of lasting benefits upon your fellowmen.

"You will live in the moral fibre of your posterity, in the impress your life has made upon those who knew you, in the finer fruits of vines you created, and in the wider intelligence your writings have wrought. The world will be better and happier for your having lived. "Rest in peace."

J. REX STEGALL. As cashier of the Texas State Bank of Farwell, Parmer county, and as a large cattle owner, J. Rex Stegall is in close touch with the activities of his locality and is representative of the younger sons of the "Lone Star State."

Mr. Stegall was born at Vernon, Wilbarger county, Texas, September 8, 1889, and is a son of John A. and Mary E. (Lafferty) Stegall. On the paternal side he comes of Scotch Irish descent. The Stegalls were early settlers of Tennessee, and J. J. Stegall, the grandfather of J. Rex, was a veteran of the Civil war, having ren- dered service in the Confederate Army. John A. Stegall was born in Tennessee, spent his early years in that State, and in 1877 came to Texas and settled down to

1724

TEXAS AND TEXANS

ranching. For seven years he was general manager of a ranch. During that time he gained a wide acquaint- ance throughout Ford and Wilbarger counties and proved himself to be made out of the kind of material they needed for sheriffs. As the choice of the Democrats, he was elected Sheriff of the counties of Ford and Wil- barger, both at that time being under one government, and for eight years he filled that responsible position, with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of his constituents. On his retirement from public office, he engaged in the live stock business on his own account in Ford County, and he is still identified with this in- dustry, now being the leading and controlling spirit in a company composed of twenty-six members. This com- pany owns seventy-six sections of land besides having large leased holdings. They have approximately 30,000 head of live stock. The mother of the subject of this sketch, Mary E. (Lafferty) Stegall, is a native of Texas and a daughter of J. A. Lafferty, a pioneer settler of Hall county, this State. She is the mother of eight chil- dren, of whom J. Rex is the second. The parents are identified with the Methodist Church and have reared their children in its faith.

The educational training of J. Rex Stegall was re- ceived at Clarendon, Texas, and Fayetteville, Arkansas. He spent his boyhood vacations on the range, where he thoroughly learned the stock business, and following his graduation at Clarendon College, he engaged in the cattle business on his own responsibility. He is still interested in the business and is the owner of a herd which num- bers no less than 2,300 head. In the mean time, in April, 1907, young in years but with training and ability to match the work, he became cashier of the Texas State Bank, of which he is a stockholder, and this position he has since filled.

Politically, young Stegall has followed in his father's footsteps, and ever since he has been a voter he has taken an active part in Democratic politics in his locality. He has a membership in the church in which he was reared, and he enjoys fraternal relations with the B. P. O. E. and the F. and A. M., his work in the Masonic Order including the Royal Arch degrees. Mr. Stegall is un- married.

CECIL A. KEATING. In the life of affairs of Texas as a whole, Mr Keating's name is best known as a whole- sale dealer in agricultural implements and as a manufac- turer of plows, having for many years been head of one of the large industries of Dallas, and he is also well known for his work, continued for more than twenty years, in connection with the great project of canalizing the Trinity river and converting it into a navigable stream from Dallas to the Gulf.

A resident of Dallas for nearly forty years, Cecil A. Keating was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, March 20, 1850, and comes of English and Scotch families long prominent in the military and civil life of England and her colonies. Mr. Keating's ancestors were at dif- ferent times stationed in India, Ceylon, the West Indies, South America, Central America, Canada and elsewhere. William Henry Keating, his father, was born September 26, 1807, in Manchester, England, a son of John and Ann (Hall) Keating. John Keating was a son of Cap- tain John Keating, of the British army, who in 1758 was married in North Carolina to Mary Wayne, whose uncle was Anthony Wayne, the brilliant American sol- dier. Grandfather John Keating was a merchant in Eng- land, and in 1812 started with his family on a sailing vessel for Philadelphia, but before reaching his destina- tion war broke out between England and the United States, and the vessel turned south and went to Surinam in South America, where John Keating died of yellow fever on October 22, 1813. William Henry, his son, was sent to England to receive his education, while his mother remained at Surinam and married Captain Alex- ander Johnston of the British army. Some years later

Captain Johnston took his family to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he served with his regiment and died iu 1849.

William Henry Keating studied law at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, was admitted to the bar in 1828, for a number of years held the office of judge of probate in the county of Yarmouth, also master in chancery, represented the United States government as consular agent, and in 1839 was appointed deputy provincial secretary at Hali- fax, filling that place with distinction until 1863. He then was made Register of Deeds of Halifax, and con- tinued a man of prominence in public affairs in Nova Scotia until 1887, when he moved to California and died in that state in 1898.

At Yarmouth, July 17, 1837, William H. Keating mar- ried Eliza Walford Forbes. She was born February 25, 1819, at Gibraltar and died in California, December 15, 1902. Her father, Captain Anthony Somersall Vau Crosen Forbes; born in 1792 at St. Kitts in the West Indies, and educated in England, was given a commis- sion in the English army, was stationed at Annapolis Royal in Nova Scotia, later was ordered to Europe to take part in the campaign against Napoleon, and after the battle of Waterloo returned to Nova Scotia, and was later in command at Gibraltar, where his daughter Eliza W. was born. He finally returned to Nova Scotia, and after retiring from the army became collector of cus- toms at Yarmouth, where he died in 1838. The Forbes family ancestry is traced back to Salvathius Forbes, who married Moravilla, daughter of Gregory the Great, King of Scotland. Captain Forbes was married in Nova Scotia in 1815 to Susan Gloriana Davoue, a daughter of Fred- erick Davoue, a British citizen of Huguenot descent, who had come to America and settled in New York, but being a Royalist his farm was confiscated during the American Revolution and he emigrated to Nova Scotia. In this connection it is of interest that his farm was given by the state of New York to Thomas Paine as a reward for the latter's services to the American colonies.

The enterprise displayed by his forefathers as soldiers and in civil affairs was transmitted to Cecil A. Keating. His youth was spent in Nova Scotia, among the scenes made famous by Longfellow in his "Evangeline" and for a time he followed the sea. In 1870 he went to Chicago, was there during the great fire of 1871, and as an employe of a large implement factory received his first experience in the business which he made the found- ation of his success in Texas. Mr. Keating came to Dallas in 1875, soon after the first railroad had reached that city, and engaged in business under the name of Stone & Keating in a canvas tent at the corner of Elm and Jefferson streets, where subsequently arose the large buildings housing his implement company. In 1882 he bought out his partner and continued the business under the name of C. A. Keating until 1884, when it was in- corporated as the Keating Implement and Machine Com- pany, for many years the largest establishment of its kind in the southwest. In 1905 Mr. Keating retired from the active management and his brother, H. S. Keating. assumed the personal supervision of the company's af- fairs. Mr. Keating was also the founder and president of the Texas Disc Plow Company, organized in 1894, to manufacture and put on the market a type of plow then new and known as Disc plows, for which he bought the patent. It was the Disc plow that revolutionized plowing in the dry lands of Texas, and made plowing by steam or other than horse power practical and success- ful. The business grew rapidly, and the demand for the Disc plows caused shipment all over the United States and many foreign countries. In 1898 northern plow fac- tories appropriated the disc principle, and Mr. Keating had a long drawn out litigation in the United States courts to defend his rights under the patent laws. Mr. Keating withdrew also in 1905 from the active manage- ment of the Disc Plow Company, which also came under the active control of his brother.

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 40

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