A history of Texas and Texans, Part 53

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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Paso is the logical business center. The office and plant of the establishment are at the corner of Octavia and San Antonio streets, and the plant which Mr. Camozze owns and which he erected cost $15,000. He is also the owner of a large amount of other real estate and owns his beautiful residence at 1211 San Antonio street.

In polities Mr. Camozze is a Socialist, with progressive ideals and yet thoroughly practical and commonsense principles along political lines. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Wood- men of the World at El Paso and was brought up in the faith of the Catholic church. At Denver, Colorado, on November 29, 1890, he married Miss Belzameer Giguere, who was born in Quebec, Canada, of French parentage. Mr. and Mrs. Camozze have no children.

JAMES GUINN HUDSON. The late James Guinn Hud- son was a resident of Gainesville, Texas, for upwards of ten years when death claimed him in 1899, and in the years of his residence here and elsewhere in the state he had accumulated a goodly portion of property. His residence in Gainesville was marked by his iden- tification with the restaurant business, in which he was particularly successful. Born in Tennessee in 1839, Mr. Hudson was a son of Andrew and Martha Hudson, both natives of Tennessee, where they passed their lives. The father was a farmer in that state, and the subject was one of the six children born to the parents. The others are: Mary, living in Tennessee; Felix, who died in Texas; Elizabeth, unmarried and living on the old home place at Camden, Tennessee; Henry and Chris- topher also live on the old home place.

James Guinn Hudson grew up on the old home place and there gained such education as he was permitted to acquire. He was rather young when he started ont for himself in life, but he made his way success- fully, first venturing at one task and then at another, until he found himself in full-fledged manhood. He was forty-seven years old when he married, and then he bought a farm of his own and settled down upon it, continuing thus for six years. He then moved to Texas, settling in Gainesville, and starting up in the restaurant business, in which he continued successfully until he died on March 13, 1899. He left a fine farm of several hundred acres, which his widow has since sold, but she still retains a two story building on North Commerce street and six acres of land near to the city.

Mr. Hudson was a Democrat in his polities, and was tax collector in his home county in Tennessee for six years, although he never held any office during the years of his residence in Texas. He was a quiet man, devoted to his home and home life, and there found his greatest pleasures. He was a man of enterprising business habits, and was known for a publie-spirited man, and one who concerned himself in the interests of his community, always shouldering his full share of the responsbility when any worthy work was in progress, either civie, social or otherwise. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Knights of Honor.

In 1887 Mr. Hudson married Miss Mary Bell, a daughter of John and Lucy Ann (Blackwell) Bell. Both parents were natives of Tennessee, and both died when Mrs. Hudson was a small child. She is one of the five children of her parents, the others being: Nar- eissus, James, Sarah and John, all of whom are de- ceased.

No children came to Mr. and Mrs. Hudson. The lat- ter makes her home at No. 211 North Commerce Street.

ALFRED GOLDING. Since 1889 a resident of El Paso, where for many years he was engaged in the painting and decorating trade, Mr. Golding in 1904 established a business as contractor in papering and painting, and maintains a fine store and office at 110 South Stanton street. He has the largest business of the kind in the

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city, and is a successful man from the material point of view and is also a public-spirited citizen and one who is willing to corroborate in any movement for the ad- vancement and welfare of El Paso. Alfred Golding is a native of England, born June 12, 1860, in London. His father, Alfred Golding, was born in England and for the greater part of his life was connected with the railroad service. For twenty-one years he was super- intendent of the London, Chatham & Dover Railroad. He died at Hastings, England, in July, 1907, when seventy-four years of age. The maiden name of the mother was Mary Elizabeth Quick, who died at Hast- ings in January, 1909, also at the age of seventy-four. She and her husband had been married for fifty-three years and she was the mother of ten children.

Alfred Golding, the oldest of the family, attained his education in the public schools of London until he was fifteen years of age, and then began to prepare for the practical work of life. He was apprenticed to learn the painters and decorators' trade, and passed a six years' apprenticeship in that work. In July, 1884, when twenty-four years of age, he came to the United States and continued to work at his trade as a journeyman until 1904, in which year be established his present busi- ness. He took up his residence in El Paso in September, 1889, and has been here long enough to have witnessed practically all phases of the growth and improvement of this city.

In polities Mr. Golding is a Socialist. He has fraternal relations with the Woodmen of the World and the Maccabees. In November, 1900, at El Paso, he married Miss Fannie Alexander, a daughter of Solomon Alexander, who was born in Baden, Germany. They are the parents of no children and their home is at 1314 North Kansas street, where Mr. Golding owns an at- tractive home of his own.

CHARLES G. McDow. A young business man of El Paso who has made a notable success during the last few years, Mr. McDow represents an old family in this part of the southwest. He was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, December 18, 1886, a son of Charles L. and Refugio (Contreras) McDow. His father was a native of Illinois, who came to Mexico in an early day, and became prominent as a cattle man of that country, and is still living in old Mexico at the age of fifty-four years. In Mexico he married a member of one of the well known old families, and the mother is also still living, being now forty-two years of age. There were four children in the family and Charles G. was the oldest.

His early schooling was in the public schools of El Paso, after which he entered the New Orleans College of Pharmacy, where he studied up to the junior year and then entered the University of Illinois, where he was graduated from the department of pharmacy in 1906. In that year he returned to El Paso and began work as a licensed pharmacist for Kelly & Pollard, with whom he continued for four years. Having in the meantime acquired a thorough practical experience in the business, and having a small amount of capital, he established a business and has since built up one of the best drug houses in the city, with a large local and outside trade. Mr. MeDow has membership in the Ellianza Hispano Americano Society, the Sociadad Mutualista la Protectora and the Sociale Catholic Society. In politics he is independent and is a member of the Catholic church.

On June 10, 1909, at Juarez, Mexica, Dr. MeDow married Miss Marguerite Rodriguez, daughter of Isadore and Marguerite Rodriguez, both parents heing still resi- dents in El Paso. The one child born of their union is D. Wilhelmina, who was born April 14, 1910, in El Paso. Mr. MeDow owns his own home and other property and though he began his career without influential aid or capital, has gained a gratifying degree of prosperity.

HUGH S. WHITE, M. D. An El Paso physician and surgeon of high standing, now serving as county phy- sician, Dr. White has gained most of his professional experience in west Texas, and has won a secure place through his thorough training, his native endowments and enthusiasm for everything he undertakes.

At Lexington, the county seat of Rockbridge county, Virginia, Hugh S. White was born on a plantation October 14, 1875. The family has long been identified with the Old Dominion, where his parents, Thomas S. and Sallie (Cameron) White, still live. The old home- stead is two miles from Lexington and has long been noted for its well ordered management and as a stock farm is one of the best known in the county. Its specialty is fancy imported hogs, and the home is also characterized for the hospitality that pervades the best of old Virginia homes. Thomas S. White is an honored veteran of the war between the states, was twice wounded and bears scars from his encounters on many fields. He was for a time under the famous leader, Stonewall Jackson. As a Democrat he has long taken much part in local affairs, and is a member of the United Con- federate Veterans.

The third in a family of five, Dr. White grew up on a Virginia plantation, went to the public schools in Lexington, was a student of the Washington and Lee University in the same city and then hegan preparation for his profession in the University Medical College at Richmond. After his graduation as Doctor of Medicine in 1900 he acquired valuable clinical experience by one year spent as interne in the Richmond hospitals.

With this equipment he came into the southwest and first located at Pecos, in Reeves county. He also prac- ticed for a time at Toyah, in the same county, and from there moved in January, 1906, to El Paso, where he has found a field more in keeping with his abilities. Dr. White enjoys a large and profitable practice, bas served several years as county physician, is secretary and treasurer of the El Paso Pasteur Institute, is also secretary and treasurer of the El Paso County Medical Society and a member of the Texas State Medical So- ciety and the American Medical Association. He has been a student ever since entering practical work, and has done considerable post-graduate work. He affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, is a Democrat and a mem- ber of the Southern Presbyterian church. His wife is a member of the Episcopal church.

In April, 1909, Dr. White married Miss Annie Perrin Kemp, who was born and reared in Texas and belongs to one of the old and well known families of El Paso. Her parents were Judge Wyndham and Mary Lewis (Maury) Kemp, who were both from Virginia and early settlers in Texas. The late Judge Kemp gained large distinction as a lawyer and judge, and his career is sketched elsewhere in this publication. Dr. White and wife have one child, Wyndham Kemp White. Mrs. White is an active worker in church and society, and together they take a great deal of pleasure in their home and in travel, and occasionally return to his old home in Virginia. Dr. White is a broad-minded and public-spirited citizen and through his profession and in private lends his support to every movement that will tend to advance the destiny of western Texas.

HENRY C. TROST. All that is most distinctive in the architecture of El Paso is the product of the skill and genius of Henry C. Trost, who, in his field, is undoubtedly the premier architect of the southwest. . During many years of practical work in the southwestern states and territory, Mr. Trost has designed and created buildings which are the most conspicuous in many cities, and which are characterized by a successful combination of the utilitarian and the artistic in all their exterior lines and general arrangement and accomodation of sym- metry and proportions to practical usefulness. El Paso is fortunate in possessing this prominent architect, who

N.S. Sterling

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in many ways has been able to influence the standards and ideals of the business and residence construction of a permanent beauty and benefit of the community. While Mr. Trost has always been a diligent student of tradi- tion in architecture and has followed the old and ap- proved models, he has never slavishly copied from his predecessors and contemporaries, often displayed a strik- ing originality in his conceptions, and has taken into consideration the surroundings and has endeavored to harmonize building construction with both the natural environment and the uses for which it is designed.

Henry Charles Trost was born in the city of Toledo, Ohio, March 5, 1860, a son of Ernest and Wilhelmina (Frank) Trost. His parents, both natives of Germany, came to America in the early fifties and settled in Toledo, where his father became a successful contractor and builder. Both parents are now deceased.

Reared in Toledo and with an education derived from the public schools, Henry C. Trost gained a thorough working knowledge of his craft from his father and early evinced special inclination and talent for archi- tecture, to which he has been devoted as a student and a practitioner since reaching manhood. At the age of seventeen he had graduated from an art school and had a thorough skill and knowledge of the fundamentals leading into his profession. During the three years following his graduation from the art school he was employed as a draftsman by architects at Toledo and then at the age of twenty entered upon independent practice.

Mr. Trost's first field of independent operations was in Pueblo, Colorado, where for several years he was the best equipped and most original architect and designer in the city. Until he left Pueblo in 1884 his services were employed in drawing the plans for many of the best business and public structures erected in those years. Two years were then spent in travel through the west and south, and also employed by the state government of Kansas to design the senate chamber for the state capitol. This senate chamber has been re- ·garded as one of the best in exterior lines and internal arrangement among all buildings of its purpose and kind in the country, and it did not a little toward estab- lishing Mr. Trost's permanent reputation as an architect. When it was completed in 1885 he traveled in various ·other states for a time and in 1886 opened an office for practice in Chicago, which was his home for twelve years, and a considerable list might be drawn up of his work in that western metropolis.

From Chicago Mr. Trost again went west and after about a year in Colorado Springs moved to Tucson, Arizona, which was then one of the most thriving towns in the entire southwest. In a short time he had acquired a large practice as an architect, extending through many cities besides Tucson. Architecturally considered Tueson in all its modern aspects is practically the crea- tion of Mr. Trost's genius, and during his residence there he made many handsome additions, including the buildings for the University of Arizona, the Carnegie Library, the finest hotel in the city and many other notable buildings. It was in Tucson that he established a reputation since maintained for thorough and beautiful work. His home was in the Arizona city for six years and on moving to El Paso he organized the firm of Trost & Trost, comprising Henry C. Trost and his two brothers, G. A. Trost and A. G. Trost, and their nephew, G. E. Trost.

El Paso is deservedly proud of its many fine and handsome buildings, business blocks, its churches, schools and libraries and other semi-public institutions, and its residences. It is not too much to say that Mr. Trost bas drawn the plans for practically the better class of buildings in El Paso since he located in that city, and the harmonious architectural lines which visitors com- ment upon with admiration are due to his work. Among prominent buildings that the firm has erected in El

Paso may be mentioned the Mills building, which cost three hundred thousand dollars; the Paso Del Norte hotel, erected at a cost of half a million dollars; the new Masonic Temple, which was completed in 1913 and cost one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, and many others of less importance. Mr. Trost at the same time has done a large business in New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona, and his firm has practically a monopoly on all classes of the finer and costlier building con- struction in the State of Arizona and other parts of the southwest. While he has been devoted to his profession in its practical aspects, Mr. Trost has always been a student, and has never allowed himself to lag behind in his professional attainments. A part of nearly every year is spent in the east, where he enjoys association with the best known architects of America, and where he has opportunity to learn all that is new and note- worthy in his field. Mr. Trost owns one of the beautiful homes of El Paso, and has other valuable property in the city. In politics he is a member of the Progressive party and enthusiastic in its support.

ROSS SHAW STERLING. A thorough Texan, whose ancestors were prominently identified with the early struggles of this now thriving commonwealth in the days before the existence of the Republic, Ross Shaw Sterling is one who by his own efforts has become an active and substantial citizen of, the state, and whose commercial and financial interests are large and exten- sive. He has always been a leader in the development of southeastern Texas, and much of the credit for the advanced conditions iu these parts today is due in gen- erous measure to Mr. Sterling, who has regarded the fortunes of the state as identical with his own at all times and has conducted himself in accordance with that idea. His connection with the R. S. Sterling Company, wholesale and retail dealers in grain and feed, is but one of the places where he is found to be officially promi- nent and active, a full list of his business connections being given at a later point in this brief sketch.

Born in Anahuac, Chambers county, Texas, on Feb- ruary 11, 1875, Ross Shaw Sterling is the son of Capt. Benjamin F. and Mary Jane (Bryan) Sterling. The father was born in Monticello, Mississippi, where he followed the trade of a cabinet maker, until he came to Texas in 1849, where he settled in what is now Cham- bers county and there engaged in farming. During the war between the states he served as a captain in Wahl's Texas Legion. Of Scotch ancestry, Mr. Sterl- ing's American progenitors came to America in the days prior to the Revolution, and men of that name and family were prominent in Scottish history for many generations, as all will affirm who are in any wise conversant with Scottish history. The mother was born at Liberty, Texas. She came of Irish ancestry, her an- cestors having come from Ireland to the United States when the United States was in her infancy. The fam- ily settled in North Carolina, and came to Texas in about 1830, locating in Liberty. During the Texas revolution they were prominent in the upheaval, and Luke Bryan, an uncle of Mrs. Sterling, was a partici- pant in the battle of San Jacinto.

Ross Shaw Sterling was educated in the common schools of Anahuac to the age of twelve years, when he began the active work of his career by taking serv- ice as a clerk in a mercantile business in Chambers county. In 1896 he started up in the mercantile busi- ness for himself, since which time he has been very prominent in the commercial and financial activities of the state.

In 1903 Mr. Sterling moved to Sour Lake, Texas, where he became interested to some extent in the grain business, and in 1904 he moved to Houston, which city has since been his headquarters for his varied and many sided interests. In Houston is located the main office of the firm of R. S. Sterling & Company, Whole-

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sale Grain and Feed, and they conduct branch retail stores at Saratoga and Humble, Texas. Mr. Sterling in addition to his commercial activities, above named, is president of the Dayton Mercantile Company, of Dayton, Texas, as well as being president of the Day- ton Lumber Company of the same place, and of the Humble Oil Company at Humble. Texas. He is secre- tary of the Harris County Navigation District, better known as the Houston Ship Channel, and in addition to these he has large real estate investments in the city of Houston. He is president of the Trinity Valley Northern Railroad Company, and in a financial way is also deeply interested as president of state banks at Dayton, Humble, Weimer, Sour Lake and Saratoga, Texas. These varied interests occupy his time and at- tention to such an extent as to exclude him from many activities of a social nature, and beyond his member- ship in the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World and the Houston Club and the Houston Country Club, he has no social or fraternal affiliations.

Mr. Sterling was married in 1899 to Miss Maud Gage the daughter of Fred Hamilton Gage, of Illinois, and they have five children, as follows: Walter Gage; Mil- dred; Ruth; Ross Shaw, Jr., and Norma Sterling.

The home of the family is located at 224 Faun Ave- nue, and is one of the hospitality and social centers of the city.

WALTER S. CLAYTON. Since 1888 a resident of Texas and during most of that time at El Paso, Mr. Clayton is one of the citizens of this city whose long residence, success in business and high personal character entitles them to the best distinction in public life, and their pre- vious records insure faithful and intelligence service in the public interest. Mr. Clayton has, during his long career at El Paso, built up a large wholesale flour and feed business, and at the present time is one of the city aldermen. The people of El Paso have come to appre- ciate his work and realize that when his name is asso- ciated with any undertaking for the public welfare that the enterprise is already well upon its way to successful accomplishment. Although one of the most prominent business and civic leaders of the city he is in every re- speet an unassuming gentleman who accomplishes results without any aggressive display of energy and with a quiet effectiveness which is a patent characteritsic of a really strong personality.

Walter S. Clayton is a native of the city of New Orleans where he was born July 19, 1867. His father, William Clayton, was a Virginian by birth, moving to New Orleans, where he died in 1872. Throughout his active life he was engaged in railroading. The maiden name of his wife was Jane Hozey, and she was born in New Orleans where they were married and where she died in 1876. The parents are buried side by side in one of the cemeteries of New Orleans. There were three children, Walter being the second and only son.

He spent the first twenty-one years of his life in his native state and then came to Texas in 1888. Since then he has resided in this state. His first location was near Fort Stockton, and during his year's residence there engaged in the cattle and live stock business. On com- ing to El Paso he took a position with the Mexican Cen- tral Railroad as a clerk, and remained with that trans- portation company for about eight years during which time he filled various executive positions at different points in old Mexico. On resigning he established a flour, feed, hay, grain and similar supplies depot, and has built this up to one of the largest commercial concerns of the kind in western Texas, now engaging in a general whole- sale and retail business.

Mr. Clayton's early schooling was obtained in Louisi- ana, first in the public schools, and then in a private college at New Orleans. During the latter period of his schooling he worked in the day time and attended to his studies at night, and in this way fitted himself for

a career of usefulness. After leaving college he took a position with a wholesale dry goods house at New Orleans, continuing with that for one year, and was then a clerk with a firm of English cotton buyers, continuing in the latter place until he left for Texas.

At New Orleans July 16, 1895, Mr. Clayton married Miss Rose Gaines, a daughter of Col. Lucius Gaines, of an old Virginia family. Five children, three sons and two daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Clayton, namely: Rose M., Walter G., Frances, Frank B., and William E. Mr. Clayton and family are communicants of the Unitarian church. He is affiliated with the Elks and Beavers Fraternities, with the Toltec Club, has membership in the T. P. A., was president during 1912 of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce, and since 1909 has been president of the Business Men's Protective Association of El Paso. Politically he is a Democrat, and interests himself to a considerable extent in party affairs, and always in good government. As a member of the hoard of aldermen, he is one of the most progres- sive and energetic of the present municipal administra- tion, and his presence in the city government is good grounds for confidence among the majority of citizens as to the wholesome integrity and efficiency of the city administration. He is now serving his second term as an alderman. Outside of his business and civic relations, Mr. Clayton has great fondness for horses and all out- door sports. His esthetic tastes run especially to music, though he is almost equally fond of literature and takes great pleasure out of his well selected private library. He is the type of citizen who is doing most for the up- building of the city of El Paso and is one of the strong- est individual influences for good government and for continued material prosperity along all lines.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 53

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