A history of Texas and Texans, Part 46

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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"It is said that the joke was considered so good, and the new judge having some knowledge of the Colonel, did, in a more regular way, remit the fine.

"No man ever lived in Seguin who left more pleas- ant remembrances among his friends than did Col. French Smith. He was known far and wide for his openhearted generosity. No neighbor in distress ever appealed to him in vain. We do not believe he was ever a communicant of any church, but he occasionally at- tended divine worship. Often we have seen him sitting among the congregation of the faithful in the little log church near his home, listening with grace and dignified demeanor to the words of the preacher, and woe to the person, old or young, who disturbed the service. At one time he caused the Grand Jury to indict two young men who engaged in a quarrel near the church during services. He often entertained preachers in his home, the only drawback to the entertainment being the neces- sity of frequent apologies for unique swearing in the presence of his guest. But the preachers all liked Colonel Smith and never slighted him when money was to be raised for religious or charitable purposes.

"Colonel Smith was of the same type as Wash Jones and Phil Claiborne. He had the mannerisms of a by- gone age. His dress and manner reminded one of the days of Clay and Webster and Calhoun. He had a mag- nificent face and head and his face in profile looked as though it might have served as a model for a Greek cameo. "

It is not possible, with the space available, to quote further from the article from which the above is culled, but enough has been written to indicate something of the bluff frankness of the old pioneer, and to show in a measure what his life was in Texas and in what ways he was endeared to the people of his time. He lies buried within the limits of Seguin, on the bluff of the Guada- lupe, along whose banks his feet wandered eighty years ago, when the great state of Texas was not yet a part of our domain, and was just emerging into independence from her Mexican bondage.

Guy French Smith, the son of Colonel French Smith and the father of Judge Garland Smith of . this review. was born on the old homestead in Guadalupe county, and in 1884 he took his family from his native county into Uvalde county, in southwest Texas. He located on a ranch in that county on the line where it joins Zevalla county. There he was engaged in farming and stock rais-

ing for a number of years, but in 1896 he moved his home to east Texas in Jasper county, where his death occurred on March 30, 1906. Mrs. Mary J. (Johnston) Smith is still living.

Garland Smith attended school at Uvalde and after coming to Jasper county at the age of fourteen entered the high school in Jasper. He took up the study of law at Jasper and in January, 1905, at the age of twenty- three, was admitted to the bar. During 1907-08 Judge Smith served as county attorney, and in 1912 was worth- ily honored by the people of the county in his election to the office of county judge for a term of two years. It thus comes about that the grandson of Colonel French Smith actually takes his place on the bench as the duly accredited judge of the district, with the authority to remit a fine, should he feel so disposed, and none to dis- pute his ruling.

Besides his official duties, Judge Smith conducts a large law practice in the higher courts, and is a capable and efficient lawyer, and splendid type of the young public-spirited citizen. Judge Smith married Miss Jessie Swann, a native of Sabine county, and they have one daughter-Miss Garland Smith.

HON. JOHN R. MCGEE. The oldest established lawyer of Lubbock is John R. McGee. He has been identified with the Texas bar for more than twenty years, and about thirteen years ago located in Lubbock. The career of Mr. McGee contains many chapters of instructive ex- perience. Left an entire orphan when but five years of age he had to make his way as only a poor orphan boy can. The Civil War came on about three years after the death of his mother, his father having died in the second year of his age, and under the prevailing con- ditions during the war and for several years thereafter afforded him rather meager opportunities for obtaining an education. He attended probably half a dozen terms of the country schools of those times and this was the extent of his schooling. Having a thirst for knowledge he formed the habit of reading good books in his young manhood and has been a close student all his life. He purchased the school text books after he was a grown man and took a curriculum course in them with himself as teacher. Being dependent on his own efforts for a means of support he did whatever his hands found to do in honorable pursuits. In 1875 he accepted a posi- tion as clerk in a general mercantile store at a salary of ten dollars per month with board and lodging fur- nished. From this small beginning he eventually be- came one of the leading merchants of Brady, Texas, but being ambitious for a learned profession put in most of his spare moments in close study until the year 1891 when he gave up the mercantile business and took up the law. Read law in the office of Walter Anderson, one of the leading attorneys of Brady, until 1893 when he was granted temporary license and the following year admitted to practice in all the courts of the state. John Ralph McGee, the subject of this sketch, was born April 25th, 1853, in Polk County, Texas, three miles west of Patrick's Ferry on the Trinity River. His father was a neighbor of Governor George T. Wood, second governor of Texas after it became a State, who lived in the same locality. Mr. McGee says that he has a more vivid recollection of Gov. Wood's pet bear than of the Governor. On the paternal side the ancestry was Scotch-Irish and on the maternal side Welsh. His grandfather, Ralph McGee, came to Texas in 1834 and first settled on the west bank of the Trinity River near what is now known as Point Blank in San Jacinto County and later moved to Moscow in Polk County. His grandfather, Isaac Jones, came to Texas in 1832 and settled on the west bank of the Trinity River in what is now the northern portion of San Jacinto County. Grandfather McGee was born in Alabama in 1795, and Grandfather Jones was born in North Carolina in 1793, and they lived neighbors after coming to Texas. Grand-

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father McGee died in 1856 and Grandfather Jones died in 1876.

Mr. McGee's parents were Absolom and Melissa (Jones) McGee. They were married in 1849 and lived happily together until 1855 when his father died and in 1858 his mother died. There were two sons horn of this union, Henry and John, the latter being the sub- ject of this sketch. Henry died in early childhood. Absolom McGee and his wife spent their married life on a two hundred acre tract of land presented to the latter by her father, Isaac Jones, and followed the pursuit of farming and were quite successful.

John R. McGee, after the death of his mother, lived with his relatives in Polk County for about two years when he was placed with Richard Foster, first cousin, who moved with his family to De Witt County where they resided about four years returning to Polk County in January, 1864. In March of this year his grand- father, Jones, "moved out west," taking Mr. MeGee along when he was but a lad eleven years of age, stopping a few months in Williamson County; thence they moved to Hays County where they lived nearly four years. Running away from his grandfather in the spring of 1865 he spent the balance of his stay in Hays county with distant relatives of his father and strangers. In 1868 he went to live with an unele, W. W. Jones, at Fort Mason in Mason County where he spent ten years of his life. During eight years of that time the wild Indians made frequent depredations in Mason and adjoining counties stealing horses and often killing and scalping the settlers. He had some of the exciting experiences of frontier life during that period- going after and frequently running from the Indians. Served four months as a Texas Ranger under Capt. James M. Hunter in 1870.

In 1878 Mr. David Doole, a merchant of Mason, es- tablished a branch store at Brady, Texas, and sent Mr. McGee there in charge of that business. In 1882 he purchased Mr. Doole's interest in that store and con- tinued the business until 1891 when he sold his mercan- tile interests and turned his attention to the law. He continued to reside in Brady until 1901 when he re- moved to Lubhock where he now resides.

At Mason, Texas, on June 18th, 1879, he was mar- ried to Miss Cassie Davis, who was born in Llano county, a daughter of Ben. F. Davis, an old settler of that county. Their four children are named as follows: G. R. McGee, a prosperous druggist of Dalhart; Ethel, de- ceased, who was the wife of H. B. Earnest, her death occurring March 9th, 1908, at Lubbock; Hattie, wife of C. O. Collins, a traveling salesman, and Phillip, who died in infancy.

Mr. McGee has made some advancement in Masonic circles. He was made a master mason in McCulloch Lodge No. 273, A. F. & A. M., at Mason, in December, 1880; was a charter member of Brady Lodge No. 628; his chapter degrees were conferred in Lubhock Chapter No. 248, R. A. M., in 1904; has taken the Cryptic de- grees in the Council; he is affiliated with Lubbock Com- mandery No. 60 of the Knights Templar, having been dubbed a Knight Templar in Plainview Commandery No. 53 in 1909; served five years as district deputy grand master of the ninety-third Masonic district; Mr. McGee is an elder in the Christian Church.

He is a Democrat in politics and served several years as county chairman in McCulloch county. In 1878 he was elected county treasurer of McCulloch county and filled that office for nine terms, eighteen consecutive years. In 1906 he was elected county judge of Lubbock county and served in that office three terms, six years.

WILLIAM T. MOWDY, D. D. S., M. D. Known as a specially able representative of a vocation that is to be considered both as a profession and a mechanic art, Dr. Mowdy is engaged in successful practice in the city

of Cameron, Milam county, and his large and important professional business denotes the popular estimate placed upon him as a man and as a skilled practitioner of both operative and laboratory dentistry. He has not only been most successful in the work of his profession but has shown also great circumspection in connection with capitalistic investments and business affairs, the while he stands exponent of loyal and liberal citizenship, as one of the progressive men of Milam county and its fine capital city or county seat.

Dr. Mowdy was born in Perry county, Alabama, on the 5th of April, 1858, and of the same county his par- ents likewise were natives, his father, William Mowdy, having been born on the 20th of November, 1823, and his mother, Mrs. Melinda (Laginer) Mowdy, having there been born on the 28th of October, 1826. William Mowdy came with his family to Texas in 1868, passing the first year in Panola county and then removing to Milam county, where he passed the residue of his life, the greater part of his active career having been devoted to the basic industry of agriculture, in connection with which he achieved definite success. He was one of the honored pioneer citizens of Milam county at the time of his death, which occurred February 9, 1900, and his wife survived him by about six years, her death occur- ring in 1907. They became the parents of nine chil- dren-Nancy E., Melinda E., Margaret F., John G., William T., Mary A., Allen W., Martin, and one who died in infancy.

Dr. Mowdy attended school in his native county, in Alabama, until he was ten years of age and he then accompanied his parent's on their removal to Texas. He continued his scholastic discipline in the public schools of Milam county and in pursuance of higher training he then entered the University of Tennessee, in the de- partment of dentistry of which institution he was grad- uated in 1888, with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. For the purpose of fortifying himself further for his chosen profession he completed also a course in the medical department of his alma mater, the Univer- sity of Tennessee, from which he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1890. He has given his attention principally to the practice of dentistry and has kept in touch with all advances made in its scientific and me- chanical phases. As a student in the university he had the distinction of winning a handsome gold medal, valued at fifty dollars, this having been the Founder's medal, awarded for the best evidence of proficiency on all subjects. He has also another medal, valued at twenty-five dollars, this being awarded him for making the best record of his class in his first course in the dental department of the university.

After his graduation Dr. Mowdy was engaged in the practice of dentistry in Hays county. Texas, for eight months. He then, on the 10th of May, 1890, estab- lished his residence at Cameron, Milam county, where he has since continued in the successful practice of his profession and where he has gained recognition as one of the representative dental surgeons of Texas. The Doctor is a stockholder and director of the Texas Fidel- ity Bonding Company, of Waco, also the Peerless Fire Insurance Company; he was formerly vice-president of the Gaston-Sprinkle Mercantile Company, of Cameron, with which he continued to be thus identified from 1901 until his retirement, in 1908; he is the owner of 400 acres of improved farming land in Milam county, 5,500 acres of coal and timber land in Tennessee, and 962 acres of oil and agricultural land in Mexico, and also has real estate property in Long Island, New York. His residence in Cameron is one of the most attractive in the city, even as it is one of the most hospitable of homes. He and his wife are members of the Christian' church in Cameron and he is affiliated with the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

On the 8th of October, 1881, Dr. Mowdy wedded Miss Josephine Parker, daughter of William S. Parker, of

WT Money MADDS

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Milam county, and she died in 1884, as did also their only child, Charles W. On the 26th of February, 1890, was solemnized the marriage of the Doctor to Miss Adelia Barnes, daughter of Dr. William C. Barnes. Of this union were born four children, of whom three are living- Charles W., Bettie M., and Thomas J. Susan A., the third child, died in infancy.

HARVEY L. RIX. The merchandising and business en- terprise of Big Spring has no larger and more pros- perous establishment than that of the Rix Furniture & Undertaking Company. The members of the Rix fam- ily connected with this company have shown themselves to be business builders of remarkable ability, and have not only established a large concern, but have carried it through all the preliminary difficulties to permanent prosperity. The business supplies furniture, house fur- nishings, musical instruments of all kinds, and prac- tically everything that goes into a home from cellar to garret as permanent furnishings, and a separate branch of the business offers the most complete undertaking service and equipment to be found in all this part of Texas.

Harvey L. Rix, the active head of the business, was born in Cedar Creek, Wisconsin, on January 30, 1880. His ancestry is full blooded American, the first mem- bers of the family having come from England in 1645, and through the many generations have furnished men of prominence in affairs and business. The parents of Mr. Harvey L. Rix are Barnett and Eliza M. Rix, of Washington county, Wisconsin. His father was engaged as a farmer in that county before coming to Texas, and he brought his family to this state in 1887, first locating at Colorado in Mitchell county, and in 1890 came to Big Spring. While in Mitchell county he was engaged in stock raising and on coming to Big Spring opened a stock of hardware, which in 1896 he sold and then in 1905 joined his son Harvey in the furniture and un- dertaking business.

In 1910 the business was incorporated under the name of the Rix Furniture & Undertaking Company with a capital stock of $20,000. The stock of goods carried by the firm values at from eighteen thousand to twenty thousand dollars, and three buildings are occupied with the stock and the display rooms, besides the barns and other houses for the horses, hearses, vehicles and other equipment. One of the buildings was constructed es- pecially for undertaking, and all the goods of that elass are kept in that special building. Among other features of its equipment it contains a reception hall and chapel and morgue, and as undertakers the Rix Brothers con- trol nearly all the business for a distance of one hun- dred miles about Big Spring. Both Harvey L. and his brother J. A. Rix are licensed embalmers.

Mr. Harvey L. Rix received his early education in the public schools and subsequently attended the Metropoli- tan Business College at Dallas, where he was graduated August 28, 1896. In politics he has always voted the Democratic ticket, and fraternally is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World, and the Modern Order of Pre- torians. His church is the Methodist South. On June ' 15, 1904, he married Bertha Deats of Big Spring, daughter of L. T. and Elizabeth Deats. Her father is now mayor of Big Spring and a well known financier, being vice president of the First State Bank of the city. Mr. Rix and wife have five children, three sons and two daughters, whose names are Ralph W., Lewis R., Paul A., Elizabeth Maywood and Lorena Lucile, whose ages range from eight to two years.

GREENLEAF L. BROWN. The live stock industry and general business interests of West Texas have had no more capable nor more successful representative during the past thirty years than Greenleaf L. Brown, now and for many years a resident of Big Spring. Mr. Brown is the owner of thousands of acres of this west Texas

county, and has his herds scattered over country which is almost an empire in extent. He is a banker, and having had his ranch headquarters in the vicinity of Big Spring before the building of the railroad and the founding of the town, his interest has always been de- voted to the progress of this locality and he has prob- ably done as much as any other individual citizen for the advancement and welfare of the community.

Greenleaf L. Brown represents a family which has been prominent in Texas since the time of the Republic, and Brown county, where Mr. Brown was born, at Brownwood, on February 2, 1861, was named in honor of this family. His parents were William Franklin and Elizabeth (Gilliland) Brown, both of whom were born at Atlanta, Georgia. William F. Brown, now one of the most venerable old residents of Texas, was mar- ried first in the 'thirties and his wife, the mother of our subject, died when her son was about eight years old. The father married again at Atlanta, and in 1867 brought his bride in a wagon drawn by ox teams the en- tire distance from Georgia to San Augustine county, Texas. The first born children, Martha and John, came with them. Subsequently he moved into the Brazos Valley, and finally in 1857 located permanently in Brown county, where he still resides retired in peace and com- fort at the age of ninety-three years. He is a hale and hearty man for all his varied experiences and career and usefulness. He has one sister, Eliza Gilham, who resides at his home and is eighty-eight years of age. The wife of William E. Brown died in 1872, and he sub- sequently married Miss Talitha Harris, who died Decem- ber 5, 1912, at the age of eighty-seven. William F. Brown served in the Indian wars of Georgia and Ala- bama during the campaigns of the 'thirties which finally subdued the native tribe in the southeastern state. When he was seventy-five years of age, his application for a pension in reward of these Indian war services was finally approved and he received $1,100.00 in back pay and is now enrolled on the regular pension list. He is probably one of the oldest Indian fighters in the United States and his services are receiving only a just recog- nition, belated though it is, from the national govern- ment.

Farming and stock raising were his regular pursuit until he retired. In the early days he frequently took herds of cattle from Brown county across the country to Shrevesport, La. A successful business man he was always high in the esteem of his community, and was honored with various county offices. His politics is the old school Democracy. William E. Brown was the father of twelve children and four are now living. W. H. Brown, his oldest son, was killed in western Texas by the Comanche Indians in 1875. John P. Brown, the oldest living son, is a retired farmer in Brownwood; Missouri is the wife of Rev. W. D. G. Anderson, a Bap- tist minister in Comanche county; G. L. Brown is the next in age of the living children and Emma is the wife of Samuel Tipton of Brown county.

Mr. G. L. Brown received his education in the pub- lie schools of Brown county, and left school when seventeen years of age. His earliest associations were with ranch life, and he was a cowboy almost as soon as he would ride a horse. He went out to Mitchell county, after leaving school, and worked as a cowboy in that county for ten years. Saving his earnings he finally began in the cattle raising business on his own account. During the early years of his operations in what are now Mitchell and Sterling counties there was no settle- ment at Big Spring, although the springs attracted sev- eral cattle outfits to that vicinity. After the railroad station was established there in 1881, Mr. Brown became one of the first permanent settlers of the town. He aft- erwards sold out his interests in that locality, then trans- ferred his operations to the panhandle and to New Mexico, but finally returned to west Texas and located in Howard county in 1897. From year to year his busi-

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ness grew in magnitude, and his herds increased until he was running from 2.500 to 25,000 head of cattle over his various ranches in Howard, Sterling and Ector counties. Mr. Brown recalls the fact that he bought full grown cows in Texas some years ago at $6.25 per head, while at the present time he is paying $31.00 per head for calves. In an experience of thirty years he has weathered all the ups and downs of stock raising, and in the final result has acquired such a success as few men in the state can exhibit as a result of their life's work. Mr. Brown is now the owner of eight thousand acres of land in Ector county and five thousand acres in Howard county.

As already stated, Mr. Brown has been a leader in the upbuilding of Big Spring. He organized the west Texas National Bank in 1903, and was the principal member of the company which constructed the finest bank and office building in the city, a modern fireproof structure, steam heated, and a credit to the city. Mr. Brown has been president and the largest stockholder in the bank since its organization and is also a large stockholder in the bank of Coahoma. He and his family enjoy the comforts of a beautiful home in Big Spring.

Mr. Brown is a Royal Arch Mason, has been affiliated with the order for some fifteen years, and is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was married in El Paso, April 18, 1888, to Miss Eddie Lee, who was born in Lampasas county, daughter of Andrew Peter and Matilda (Masters) Lee. Her father was a native of Missouri, and her mother of Texas. Mr. Lee, her father, now deceased, was one of the old stockmen of west Texas, and during the time of the Indian wars served as captain of a company of minute- men. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Brown are as

follows: Burton, who has already taken his place as one of the leading stockmen of Ector county, with resi- dence at Odessa; Ethel, who is a student in the Texas Christian University; and Eula, also a student in the same university.

HON. JAMES R. HARPER. The first public office that Hon. James R. Harper ever held was that of Justice of the Peace, to which he was elected in 1892, and which office he held for one term. Since that time he has filled numerous offices calling for a higher quality of service, and today is serving as Chief Justice of the Court of Civil Appeals of the Eighth Supreme Judicial District, with J. F. MeKenzie aud E. F. Higgins as associate judges.

Judge Harper was born in Jacksboro, Texas, on May 28, 1869, and has lived in his native state all his life. He is the son of William R. and Sarah Elizabeth (Ayres) Harper, natives of Illinois and Kentucky, respectively. The father came to Texas from Illinois in the early fifties, here engaging in the business of farming and stock-raising. He was a carpenter and builder by trade, and though he gave some little attention to the work in Texas, he achieved his greater material pros- perity as a result of his acquaintance with the soil and with the stock business. He died in 1871 and is buried in Jacksboro, Texas. His widow survived until 1904, and is resting by his side. They were the parents of six children, and of that number James R. Harper of this review was the fifth born child and the youngest son.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 46

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