A history of Texas and Texans, Part 48

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 48

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JOHN HUMPHRIS. The real estate business of Presidio county and Marfa has no more enterprising business man than John Humphris, who does a general business in real estate, but does not confine his attention to brok- erage and handles a large amount of his own property. One of the old residents of this section of the state, although he is himself not an old man, but rather be- longs to the progressive and vigorous young generation of men who are doing big things in this part of the state.

John Humphris is a native of England, where he was born December 23, 1868. His parents were John and Mary (Walker) Humphris, both natives of England. The father came to Texas about 1871 and was engaged in the live stock and mercantile business for many years, his name being prominently associated with business af- fairs in Marfa. He took considerable interest in politics and was at one time sheriff of Duval county. He was an active member also of the Episcopal church, as is his wife, who now makes her home in Marfa. The father died in 1900 at the age of fifty-five years. There were five children in the family, John, being the oldest.

The first settlement of the family after arriving in the United States was in Maryland, where John Hum- phris attained to the age of eight years, and then accom- panied the family to Texas in 1874. He has now been a resident of this state for nearly forty years. The first home selected by the parents was at Corpus Christi, where they lived for about five years, thence removed to Duval county, where their home was for another five years and thence to Maverick county, and finally in 1883 to Presidio county. The early education of Mr. John Humphris was as the result of private instruction from his mother, who was a woman of unusual intelli- gence and great strength of mind and soul. Subse- quently he studied in the public schools, and had a high school course in San Antonio and a training in a business college. When he was fifteen years of age he left school, and attained his first position which paid him regular wages, as manager of the Commissary on a sheep ranch. Subsequent to this he worked in a mer- cantile establishment and continued in this way for about twenty years. During part of this time he was manager of the Shafter store, and subsequently cashier of the Marfa establishment. In 1908 he resigned and established his own office in the general real estate, abstract and insurance business, and his deals cover a wide scope of country in this part of Texas.

Mr. Humphris has a family of five children, three sons and two daughters, named Herbert, Hester, May, Oren and Robert. The family worship in the Episcopal church and he is a member of the Masonic order. He is also an active worker in the Marfa Commercial Club. In politics he is a Prohibitionist though he takes no active part in party affairs. In the list of county offi- cers of Presidio county, Mr. Humphris' name is found opposite the office of county treasurer, in which he served for one term. He is a supporter of the wholesome out- door sports, particularly of base-ball, and has the distinc- tion of having played on the first base-ball team organ- ized in Marfa. His tastes also run to music and gen-

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eral literature, and he has had a wholesome well-rounded development of character which enables him to sym- pathize with and take an interest in all the activities of his community.

DR. MARION R. MAHON. In Marfa and Presidio county the best medical practice is that possessed by Dr. Mahon, who has been identified with this locality since 1906, and in that time has built up a splendid business professionally and has acquired a foremost place in the civie life of this town and county.

Marion R. Mahon was born in Gonzales county, Texas, September 1, 1868, representing one of the old families in that section. All his life has been spent in Texas, and for his early education he attended private schools. His career has been one of self-advancement and he made his way from boyhood and followed different lines of work in order to pay for his medical education. After leaving high school, he attended Trinity University at Waxahachie, where he was a student for three years. At the age of nineteen he became clerk in a merchandise house. While a student in Trinity, and also while work- ing in the store, he pursued his medical studies and during four years of mercantile experience he was very thrifty and saved his money to enable him to continue his professional preparation in medical college. Then in 1905 he came out to Marfa and opened his office and soon attained his first cases. Dr. Mahon has a person- ality in whom people naturally repose great confidence, and his oft-quested ability as a physician has won him rapid advancement and as already mentioned he un- doubtedly enjoys the best practice in this section of the state. Dr. Mahon has been twice married. At Cuero, Texas, he married Miss Alice L. Heard, who died in 1903. His second marriage occurred at Austin in 1907 to Miss Lena Bishop. His four children are all by his first wife, and are named: Mabel C., Willie Mae, Alice L., and Eldnar, all being daughters. The doctor and Mrs. Mahon are both active members of the Methodist Church, and he is affiliated with Masonry in the Blue Lodge and Chapter and is also a member of the Wood- men of the World. As a public spirited citizen he has membership in the Marfa Chamber of Commerce, is a Democrat though not active in party affairs and since 1908 has been county health officer for Presidio county. For the past six years he has also served as local and examining surgeon for the Southern Pacific Railway at Marfa. Each year Dr. Mahon takes a trip for hunting and recuperation in the splendid outdoor country of western Texas. Among the various classes of amuse- ment and entertainments he enjoys particularly a good speech or lecture.

Dr. Mahon's father was William T. Mahon, who was born in Virginia, and came to Texas when a boy of six- teen, and in 1861 entered the Confederate army serving as a loyal soldier of the South from the beginning to the end of the war. He also saw much service as a Texas ranger, belonging to that intrepid force of citizen sol- diery for a number of years. Stock raising and gen- eral farming were the business occupations to which he devoted his attention with much success. He was a member and deacon in the Presbyterian church and died in 1909 at the age of seventy a good Christian gentle- man. He is buried in Gonzales county. His wife's maiden name was Mattie Randle, who was born in Texas, where she married, and she now resides at the old home in Gonzales county. She is also an active member of the Presbyterian church. There were three children in the family, all sons, the doctor being the oldest and the other two named as follows: William E. Mahon, who is a rancher and makes his home in the doctor's family at Marfa; and Ernest Cliston, who runs the old home ranch in Gonzales county.

WILLIAM H. MONDAY, M. D. One of the most prom- inent surgeons in the state of Texas, William H.

Monday is widely known throughout this region, his home being in Terrell, Texas. Dr. Monday has been a practicing physician for the past forty-two years in Kaufman county, and each year has seen not only an increase in his clientele but the winning of more friends. He has been prominent in the public affairs of the city in which he has made his home for so long, and being a student and by nature progressive he has had a strong influence in shaping the eivie and political life of the community. Dr. Monday is a firm believer in the con- tinued prosperity of this section of the state and his belief in its prosperity is shown by his ownership of farm lands.

William H. Monday was born in Tennessee, in Law- renee county, on the 27th of April, 1843. His father, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1816, was the son of William Monday. He came to Texas with his family in 1857 and settled in Houston county. He was a slave owner and a plain, practical man, typical of the ante-bellum school, a man of limited education but a successful farmer. He was a member of the Methodist church and belonged to the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, being a Master Mason. He died in Kaufman county, Texas, in 1885, and his wife, who was born in South Carolina in 1818, died near Terrell, Texas, in 1878. Seven sons and two daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Monday, of whom Dr. Monday was the third in order of birth. The eldest, Isaphine, married J. C. Cantrell and resides in Swisher county, Texas; Columbus M. died at Lovelady, Texas, having served in General Walker's division of the Confederate army and after- wards living as a farmer until his death. He married Cornelia Ellis. William H. is the next. John C. was graduated from the medical department of Tulane Uni- versity, married Louise Smart, of Louisiana, and was practicing medicine in San Antonio when he died. F. M. Monday is a merchant of Temple, Texas, and is married. Josie married Joe MeCurdy for her first husband, but is now the wife of Rufus Braught, of Phoenix, Arizona. J. O. Monday is a banker, merchant and capitalist of Houston, Texas. Lonnie A., who was a farmer, married Willie Duesse and is now dead. Harvey D., the youngest, married Mattie Gray and is also dead.

William H. Monday received a limited education in Harden county, Tennessee, and came to Houston county, Texas, in 1858 with his parents, but left that locality to enter the ranks of the Confederate army with the outbreak of the Civil war. He became a member of Company "1," of the Fourth Texas Volunteers, which was under the command of Captain D. A. Nunn, of Crockett, and Colonel James Riley, of Nacogdoches. The command rendezvoused at San Antonio and then went to the frontier in New Mexico, to serve under General Sibley. After some time in the territories, dur- ing which the battles of Val Verde and Glorietta were fought, the army came back to Texas and the Fourth Regiment took part in the recapture of Galveston, then went into the Red River country and became part of the gallant little force that opposed General Banks' army in the famous Red River campaign. Dr. Monday took part in a number of battles, among them being those of Mansfield, Pleasant Hill and Yellow Bayou, the last named being the last important engagement in which the doctor had a share. He was third lieutenant of his company during the last eighteen months of his service and held that office when the command was dis- banded at Mosley's Ferry on the banks of the Brazos river in May, 1865.

After the war Dr. Monday took up his studies again in the Rockwell High School and after completing his literary course there entered the medical department of Louisiana University, the Tulane University of today, from which he was graduated in 1871. He then began the practice of his profession at Johnson Point, in Kaufman county, now Abner, Texas, but only remained

MAMonday. M. a.

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there a year and then he came to College Mound neigh- borhood, near Terrell, Texas, where he located. Here he engaged in farming as well as in the practice of medicine, taking a keeu interest in the developing and improving of the farm on which he located. After many years of this life, he found that he would have to aban- don farming or medicine and since his heart was in his medical work he gave up farming to devote himself wholly to his profession, and this necessitated his mov- ing to Terrell. He still owns the old home and also is the owner of two other farms in this section. Since coming to Terrell bis practice has grown in size and he has met with continued success. Dr. Monday has kept closely in touch with the advance in his profession, taking a post-graduate course in the medical department of Tulane in 1893 and another in 1912, and thus being enabled to give his patients the benefit of the latest scientific discoveries and methods. In 1888 Dr. Monday was made local surgeon for the Texas & Pacific Railroad Company and has held this position ever since. He was later appointed local surgeon for the Houston & Texas Central Railroad, and when this corporation was trans- formed into the Texas Midland he was made local surgeon of the latter road. In 1893 this railroad ap- pointed him chief surgeon and he has held this respon- sible position since that time.

Dr. Monday is a member and an Ex-President of the Kaufman County Medical Society and is also a member of the Texas State Medical Society. For a time he held membership in the National Railway Surgeons' Asso- ciation and he was president of the Texas Railway Surgeons' Association. His only fraternal allegiance is with the Knights of Pythias and he is a trustee of the local lodge.

In religious matters Dr. Monday holds allegiance to no one creed. He is a member of the Commercial Club and has rendered valuable services to the city through his chairmanship of the educational committee and as one of the directors of the club. He has always taken a very active part in all matters pertaining to the wel- fare of the general public, especially in educational matters. He has served on the common council of the city and for a long term of fifteen years was a member of its educational board, during which time he was president, and influential in all questions of education. He has always been a man of wide and deep thought and when the matter of a commission for Terrell was being agitated Dr. Monday was one of the foremost men in urging this departure from old ways. He was made chairman of the committee that framed the charter and was active in seeing the charter put into service. In polities Dr. Monday is a member of the Democratic party. He has served as one of the medical examiners of his judicial district by appointment of Judge Rainey.

On the 13th of September, 1873, Dr. Monday married in Anderson county, Texas, Miss Mollie J. Hamlett, a daughter of William J. Hamlett. She was born in Shelby county, Texas, and died in 1883. Three children were born of this marriage. The eldest of these, Dr. H. Albert Monday, married Miss Essie Duvall, and is a physician and mining man of Taviche, in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, being one of the successful and promi- neut Americans in the Mexican republic. Charles B. Monday, the second son, is a lumberman of Marlin, Texas. He married Miss Hannah Miller, of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and they have two daughters, Louise and Sybil. Jewell Monday, the youngest child, became the wife of Paul Wooten, of New Orleans. Dr. Monday married again in 1883, his wife being Miss Willie N. Roberson, of Cherokee county, Texas, and they have five children, namely, Mollie, Netta, William Luther, Nellie and Raymond. Mollie married J. H. Waters, of Terrell, Texas, employed by the Texas Midland Railroad.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BERKELEY, M .. D. Out in west Texas, at Alpine, resides a Texan who is one of the vital

factors in the industrial and eivie affairs of his state. Locally, Dr. Berkeley is a successful physician and banker, but has become known all over the state as an advocate and practical worker for various lines of civic reform, and more especially, perhaps, as president of the Texas Dry Farming Congress.

Benjamin Franklin Berkeley is a native of Mercer county, Kentucky, where he was born February 2nd, 1875. He attended the common schools of his native state; then was in high school, and later in the Hoggsetts Academy, at Harrodsburg, Kentucky. He was a student at Transylvania University, in Lexington, Kentucky, and soon afterwards came out to Texas, spending about a year in Sutton county. He then entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at San Francisco, California, where he was graduated M. D. in 1902. Immediately after his graduation he located at Alpine, where he has enjoyed a large practice in medicine.

The Alpine State Bank was organized in 1907, and a little later Dr. Berkeley became a member of its board of directors. In 1911 he was chosen president, and has directed the affairs of this substantial financial institu- tion to the present time. In the line of his profession, he is local surgeon for the Southern Pacific Railway, and. while bis private practice is of a general nature, he is recognized as probably the ablest surgeon in Brewster county.

Dr. Berkeley was married at Tucson, Arizona, Febru- ary 2, 1903, to Miss Clara Louise Dugat, a daughter of C. C. Dugat, who, with his wife, is now a resident of Al- pine, ' , Texas. A son and daughter comprise the home circle of Dr. Berkeley and wife, the names of the chil- dren being Ralph Gordon and Frances Louise Berkeley. The family worship in the Christian church, of which the doctor is a member of the board of trustees. His fra- ternal affiliations are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and he has filled all the chairs in the Lodge of Odd Fellows, and at the present time is deputy district grand master. He is an ex-president of the Alpine Commercial Club and now a member of its executive committee. In politics, is a Democrat. He is a man of wide reading and broad information on political questions and events, and, while not in practical party polities himself, is an influential factor in local good government, and also in the public affairs of the state. His favorite recreations are tennis and hunting, and he also enjoys the social amusements and the pleasures afforded by his private library.

Dr. Berkeley has for some years been a well-known speaker at various conventions, press associations, and large farming congresses, and, by reason of his thorough study and practical knowledge, is always listened to with close attention by his audience. In May, 1913, he deliv- ered the address of welcome at Galveston in the annual convention of the Texas Bankers Association, and on February, 17, 1912, at Del Rio, before the Ballot Puri- fication League of Texas he delivered an address on that specifie subject, of ballot purification, which made an un- usual impression, not only on the audience, but through- out the state at large, following the general publication of the address in the newspapers all over the state. Dr. Berkeley thoroughly believes in the great destiny of Texas, and points to its geographical location, its varied resources, its immense area, and the general fertility of the soil as reasons for his confidence that Texas is and will always be the greatest state of the American Union.

HAL C. DUNBAR. Although till a young man, and one whose subjective modesty has made him refrain from thrusting himself into the limelight, Hal C. Dunbar has so directed his activities that his career has been one of signal usefulness to his community. He has been con- nected with the county tax collector 's office of Henderson county for a number of years, and his management of the affairs of his responsible position is vindicating the coufidence reposed in him by his fellow citizens. Mr.

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Dunbar is a native of the Prairie State, having been born in Greene county, Illinois, January 28, 1882, and came to Texas at the age of ten years, locating at Palestine, Anderson county, where his father, the late Peter Dun- bar, was a conductor on the I. & C. N. Railroad.

Peter Dunbar was born near the city of Dublin, Ire- land, in October, 1849, and was five years of age when he left his native Erin and accompanied his parents to the United States. He was one of five children, three of whom are milliners, now located in Indiana, while the other is a brother, Charles Dunbar of Buffalo, New York. Peter Dunbar grew to manhood in Indiana, and in his youth received only limited educational advantages, as the family was in modest circumstances and his as- sistance was needed in the family support. He early chose railroading as his field of endeavor, and some time prior to the outbreak of the war between the North and South came to the Lone Star State and secured employ- ment with the I. & G. N. Railroad at Palestine. Some years later he went to Illinois and entered the employ of the Chicago & Alton Railroad at Roodhouse. While there, he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Hud- son, and to this union there were born two children: Minnie, who became the wife of C. L. Murff of Athens, Texas, and Hal C. In 1892 Peter Dunbar resumed his connection with the I. & G. N. at Palestine, Texas, and ten years later, after thirty-nine and one-half years of railroad service, retired from all work, came to Athens, and here passed the remainder of his life, dying in 1912. His widow, who survives him, still lives at Athens, where she has a wide acquaintance.

Hal C. Dunbar commenced his educational training in the public schools of Greene county, Illinois, and con- tinued them in Palestine, Texas. It was the ambition of his father that he become a civil engineer, and he ac- cordingly entered the University of Texas, at Austin, where he was graduated in the engineering course when but twenty years of age. Following this, he secured a po- sition in the civil engineering department of the Southern Pacific Railway, and, after four years spent in doing special engineering work with the Houston & Texas Cen- tral Railway, abandoned his profession and came to Athens. Here he entered public life as a deputy to Tax Collector A. C. Hart, whom he served five years, suc- ceeding which he acted in a like capacity during the term of Hart's successor, A. Scott. Feeling himself qualified for the duties of tax collector of Henderson county, Mr. Dunbar then entered the race on his own account. His political belief was in accord with that of the dominant party of Texas, and, despite the fact that he had four competitors, he won the nomination in the first primary with 318 more votes than the opposition combined. All along the line of his duties Mr. Dunbar has shown him- self able, faithful, and conscientious, and, as the past is generally conceded to be a fairly good criterion of the future, it is reasonably safe to predict that he will prove one of the most capable and popular officials who has yet filled the county tax collector's office. His courteous, obliging nature has won him numerous friends in the county among all classes and political parties.

Mr. Dunbar was married at Athens, Texas, August 22, 1909, to Miss Winifred Larkin, a daughter of Dr. Percy Larkin of this city. They have had no children.

ELIAS BARRY. The Fort Stockton Pioneer, of which Mr. Barry is editor and publisher, is one of the best ed- ited and best written papers in the state. The character of its news and editorial column and the influence of its contents rank the paper far above the position usually occupied by the smaller journals of the state, and its po- sition is well indicated by the fact that its circulation enters into thirty-seven states of the Union, and it is also read in Canada, Mexico. Central America, and in Cuba. The editor and owner, Mr. Barry, is a man of excep- tional education, and has unusual qualities, both as an editor and as a citizen. He has been identified with Fort

Stockton for about four years, but previous to that was well known in the newspaper life of Kentucky.

Elias Barry was born in Sumner county, Tennessee, November 15, 1849, and when he was seven years of age his parents moved to Benton, Kentucky, which state was his regular home until January, 1909. He then came to Texas, and for the first fifteen months was proprietor and editor of the Colorado Citizen. He then sold out and moved to Fort Stockton, where he bought his present business. The Pioneer office is thoroughly equipped with modern facilities for newspaper and general printing business and is quartered in a fine two-story stone busi- ness block, which Mr. Barry built especially for the office.

As a boy, he was reared in Kentucky, attended public schools there, and at the age of sixteen began his prac- tical career. He had few resources and not enough money to take him continuously through school to the point which he desired as his educational goal. He worked on a farm until he was nineteen, and then attended the Marshall county Seminary ten months. After that, he tanght each year in his home county for five months and for another five months attended school. He kept this up for five years, and at the end of that period was prin- cipal of the Marshall County Seminary, and was then elected county school superintendent. After serving two terms in that office, he was chosen county judge, an office he held for one term of four years. He then went on the road as a traveling salesman, and was in commercial life six years. Twenty months of that period were spent in Alaska, after which he returned to Kentucky and en- gaged in the newspaper business in his old home town. He first bought and was editor and proprietor of the Marshal County Democrat, and subsequently of the Ben- ton Tribune, continuing to be identified with journalism until his removal to Texas. During that time he served one term in the Kentucky legislature.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 48

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