A history of Texas and Texans, Part 54

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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HORACE B. HAYES. Two fine drug stores in El Paso represent the business enterprise of Mr. Hayes, who came to El Paso about six or seven years ago, and in this brief time by his energy and business ability has succeeded and made progress such as few of his busi- ness contemporaries have equaled. He seems to possess the native ability of a merchant, at any rate his ex- perience and equipment has been such that as a retailer and business builder he is enjoying a most noteworthy success.

Horace B. Hayes was born at Hillshoro in North Caro- lina, October 29, 1873, a son of William A. and Susan B. Hayes. His early education was in the private schools of North Carolina, and after leaving school he took a position in a general mercantile establishment in that state. Two years there gave him experience and also afforded him the funds for his next move in life. From North Carolina he went to Baltimore, when he was about eighteen years of age, and by work on the side be paid his way through two years of study in the Maryland College of Pharmacy. After graduating in 1894, he began his regular work at the profession, and soon bought a share in a business, in which he had been a clerk during his college career. He was actively engaged in business at Baltimore, until he came to El Paso in 1906. After a few months Mr. Hayes bought an in- terest in a local drug store, and has since been the active manager of the business. The style of the firm is Hayes, Harp & Ponas. In 1907 Mr. Hayes opened a branch store, and now has two elegant drug establish- ments, well situated to command the best trade and carrying a complete line of drugs and druggists' sun- dries, surgical supplies and periodicals, and everything which should be found in the stock of a modern drug store.

Mr. Hayes was married at Hickory, North Carolina, October 3. 1900, to Miss Estelle Le Noir Clinard, a daughter of Frank C. Clinard of Hickory. They are the parents of one child, Charlotte. Mr. and Mrs. Hayes are both members of the Episcopal church, he is affiliated with the Masonic Order, and is a Democratic

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roter, although not an active partisan in party affairs, beyond that. Hunting and fishing and baseball are his favorite amusements when he can get away from busi- ness and he is a man of broad interests and takes pleas- ure in watching and helping when he can the upbuilding and development of his home city.

ARTHUR W. HOUCK. The distinctive prestige of El Paso among western cities, aside from its remarkable advantages in climate, has been the result of its splendid position with reference to the great mining resources of this vicinity. These mining industries have attracted to the city many men who have made reputations for themselves as practical miners and engineers and in the other technical pursuits connected with the industry, and one of these, who has been a resident of this city for more than ten years is Mr. Houck, who has had a quar- ter century's experience in assaying and who has an office and a large established practice in that profession in El Paso. His offices in this city are at 403 North Oregon Street. Arthur W. Houck was born at Lincoln, Nebraska, July 28, 1873, a son of George and Imogene Houck. The father died at Lincoln in 1875 and the mother is still living. The father was a farmer near Lincoln. Reared in Nebraska, Mr. Houck attained his early education in the public schools of that state, and following his inclination for scientific pursuit he then entered the school of mines at Golden, Colorado, where he was graduated B. S. in 1887, having given particu- lar attention to chemistry and mineralogy. He at once became identified with the active work of his profession, and was located at various points from 1888 to 1902 finally in the latter year coming to El Paso and estab- lishing his present business. In politics he is -Republican, but has always maintained an independent attitude and has voted for the man or the principle rather than the party. He is one of the charter members of the El Paso Country Club.

At Chicago, Illinois, June 2, 1895, Mr. Houck mar- ried Miss Agnes Withers, a daughter of Mary D. With- ers. Her father died when she was an infant, and her mother now lives with Mrs. Houck. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Houck have been eight in number, four of whom died in childhood, and the four now living are: Gerald W., Guenn M., Dorothy A., and Arthur W., Jr.

In ancestry Mr. Houck is of German origin on his father's side, while his mother was a descendant of May- flower settlers, with prominent connections with some of the early families of Pennsylvania. Mr. Houck has been very successful in his business and is a loyal citizen of El Paso. He has been especially impressed with the wonderful climate and the material resources of south- west Texas, and as a man of scientific knowledge and broad observation he has always tried to extend the information concerning this country to all who are in- terested in the vicinity as a possible place of residence.

JAMES GABRIEL SMITHER. The Smither family, of which Captain Smither is a member, has been identified with Montgomery and Walker counties and Texas since the establishment of the Republic. It has furnished many capable men and women to society, to business affairs, to professional and agricultural life, and many of the name served as soldiers in the various wars of the nation.

James Gabriel Smither has spent all his life in Hunts- ville, where he was born April 19, 1846. His father was Robert G. Smither, and his grandfather John Smither. John Smither, who spent his last years in Huntsville, was born May 27. 1779, in Richmond county, Virginia, was captain in a Virginia Regiment in the war of 1812, and died at Huntsville in September, 1860. He had a twin brother, William, and three other brothers. Lancelot. Gabriel and Richard, and three sisters, Pris- cilla, Lucy and Nancy, the last two being twins. John Smither's mother was Wilmoth Sydnor Routt, and her

mother was a Miss Sydnor, of Virginia. John Smither was married February 18, 1808, to Mary Patience Green- way, who also died iu Huntsville. Her grandfather, John Harper, lived in Alexandria, Virginia. Mary Patience Greenway's mother was Rebecca Harper, who married Charles Greenway. The children of John and Mary Patience Smither were as follows: Charles G., who died in Tennessee; Robert G .; Gabriel and William, both of whom died in Mississippi, leaving large families; James L., who also served in the Mexican war, in a Tennessee Regiment, and died in Huntsville, leaving one child; Julia Ann, who married Washington Viser and died in Madison county, Texas, leaving three children ; John R., who died in Huntsville, and left a large fam- ily; Joseph A., who died in Huntsville without children.

Robert Goodloe Smither, father of Captain Smither, was born at Washington, Rappahannock county, Vir- ginia, November 21, 1811, and died September 10, 1853. He was a man of ordinary education, and devoted his life to business. He spent some time in Mississippi, and came to Texas during the thirties, locating in the coun- try, a few miles from Huntsville. He later moved to the city and was one of the first merchants of the place. During the war for Texas independence, he served with the rank of major in the Texas troops, and participated in the campaigns in 1842 against Vasquez and Woll, who invaded Texas in spring and fall of that year. His death occurred at Grand-Ecore, Louisiana, while re- turning from New York on a trip to buy goods. He was a Democrat, an Odd Fellow and a church member.

Robert G. Smither married Elizabeth Emmeline Calmes, who was born February 9, 1817, in Fairfield dis- trict of South Carolina. Her brother, John Johnstone Calmes was born November 7, 1819; and her sister Mary Caldwell Calmes was born March 3, 1821. Their father was Marquis Calmes, who was born May 9, 1784, served in the War of 1812, moved to Tennessee in 1826, was first sheriff of Tipton County, Tennessee, and died in Covington, Tennessee, in November, 1841. His father William Calmes born near Winchester, Virginia, in 1761, served under Lafayette in the Revolutionary War. Marquis Calmes married Mary Ann Johnstone on June 28, 1810, at Fairfield, South Carolina. The children of Robert G. Smither and wife were: William Bowles, born October 10, 1839, at Oxford, Mississippi, was Lieu- tenant of Co. K, 31st Texas (Confederate) Cavalry, and died March 15, 1875, at Huntsville; Mary Aletha, born December 6, 1841, and who died in infancy; John Mar- quis, born January 7, 1844, in Montgomery county, Texas. now a resident of Huntsville, and who was a former county judge, a former judge of the district court, and saw service as a Confederate soldier in Lee's army. James Gabriel, who was born April 19, 1846; Juliette Ella, born October 13, 1848, and lives in Hunts- ville; Miles Temple, born April 21, 1851, who died Feb- ruary 2, 1881, without a family; Robert Elizabeth, born October 7, 1853, and who died February 15, 1870.

James G. Smither was educated largely by experience, since his youth was spent in the troublous days preceding and during the Civil war. He attended for a brief time Anstin College, while it was located in Huntsville. In the fall of the second year of the war he entered the service in Captain Hamilton's Company in Roundtree's battalion, and Colonel Brown's 31st Texas Cavalry regi- ment. With this command he remained until the close of hostilities, seeing much service in Texas and Louisi- siana. His regiment was in front of General Bank's army on its retreat and fought some of the battles of the Red River campaign. After that campaign the com- mand was ordered back to Texas and was disbanded at Independence, in Washington county. Captain Smither was on a furlough at the time the troops were disbanded.

His career after the war was identified with farming for several years. The most important of Mr. Smither's positions has been in connection with the state prison at Huntsville. He was appointed assistant superintendent

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of the Huntsville penitentiary in 1888 by Governor Ross and had charge of the prison there until 1903. His service really began in the prison in 1878, when he was made a sergeant by Major Goree, and served as an under officer for ten years. During his administration the service was kept up at the highest point of efficiency, and all those who know anything of Captain Smither 's adminis- tration will recall that he ruled more by love and pa- tience than by a rigid discipline which has been all too common in penal institutions. Kindness was his uni- versal practice with convicts, and they all admired and obeyed implicitly his jurisdiction. Outside of his prison work, Captain Smither has been officially identified with the town of Huntsville or Walker county. In politics he has done some important work, having attended all the big conventions as a delegate and having helped to nominate all the governors up to the present time. In Congres- sional conventions and judicial and other local conven- tions he has seen a broad and intimate service. He has helped to build up Huntsville, and is one of the most substantial and best known citizens of that old Texas city. In Walker county on January 12, 1870, Captain Smither married Miss Mary A. Walker, a daughter of Oliver Hazard Perry Walker and Elizabeth (Walton) Walker. Her father, who was born in Montgomery county, Alabama, came to Texas as a boy with his uncle, and became a merchant in Huntsville and died at Waxa- hachie, Texas, and is buried there. His wife died in Huntsville, and her children were: Mrs. Smither; Thomas E. of Walker county; John I. H., who died young; and Sarah Ellen J., who died unmarried. After the death of her first husband, Mrs. Walker married Martin Gibbs, and her children by that union are Wil- liam Rufus; Jeff Davis; and Bessie Martin, who married J. D. Nance of Huntsville. Mr. and Mrs. Smither have the following children: Robert, of Huntsville, who mar- ried Maggie Davenport, and has a child, Mary Irene; Walton Calmes, of Burrwood, Louisiana, who married Ella Robinson, and has two children, Evelyn Calmes and Jimmie Waldron. Captain Smither is fraternally identified with the Knights and Ladies of Honor, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Home Circle. He is not a church man, but his family attend and sup- port the Baptist denomination.

WHITAKER KEESEY. Only unusual character and activity can command such high personal esteem as is paid on all sides to this venerable retired buisness man and pioneer citizen of Fort Davis. It is no inconsider- able distinction that he beeame identified with Fort Davis soon after the war and from the early seventies until his retirement was a factor in the development of one of the most flourishing commercial houses of West Texas. There are hundreds of people, beneficiaries of his spirit and practice of loving kindness, who would claim that all the fruits of his vigorous con- mercial efforts, excellent though they are, should be estimated as inconsiderable against the finer products of his generosity, his practical christianity. While others may point to institutions founded and organized benevolences supported, the charity of Mr. Keesey is still finer and better. Scores of men are prosperous and occupy a creditable place in their community as a result of financial aid and business counsel from Mr. Keesey. In the country about Fort Davis during the last forty years it is said that he has helped nearly everybody. When loans were refused by everybody else, a certain resort in time of need was this kindly Fort Davis merchant. And the result of his experience with men has increased rather than lessened his faith, for almost invariably men have eagerly sought to repay him out of the first fruits of a renewed prosperity.

Only in a broad outline it is possible to sketch the career of Whitaker Keesey. He has been too busy to keep a record even in memory of the many changes and vicissitudes of bis experience, and these are, as already

stated, inconsiderable and of no great importance as measured against the gratitude for his life and services which is impressed in the hearts of men in various sections of West Texas. Whitaker Keesey was born September 4, 1843, at Lancaster, Ohio, and was reared in the city of Steubenville on the Ohio river. His parents were George and Nancy (Thomas) Keesey, his father a drayman, who in 1851 went west to California, and never returned to his family. There were six children thus left without adequate means of rearing and sup- port, three sons and three daughters, and Whitaker was the youngest son. His grandfather Keesey, who was born in Ireland and married a Miss Miller, a native of Germany, after coming to America settled in Penn- sylvania and from that place in 1804 emigrated to Ohio. There is a record that grandfather Keesey took out his naturalization papers in 1806. Grandfather and grandmother Thomas were both natives of Scotland, the latter's maiden name being Rufner and they emi- grated from Virginia to Ohio in 1812.

Whitaker Keesey, partly as a result of the compara- tive poverty of his widowed mother and partly from the circumstances of the times, had an extremely limited schooling, although his native abilities and intelligence have proved a good substitute for some of the book knowledge which he otherwise might have acquired. His attendance at school was limited to two years, for one year and four months he was in the schools of Steubenville, during his seventh and eighth year. Al- most as soon as his strength permitted he was put to work on a farm for bis board and clothes, and during the two years thus employed he attended school three months of each winter. Following that he began earn- ing regular wages, being employed on an adjoining farm for eighteen months at five dollars a month for the first year and five dollars and a half a month for the succeeding six months. With such variety of work and with experience that contained many hardships be went on to the age of sixteen. At that time he began learning the trade of baker, and followed that business for a number of years. To those who know the kindly traits and character of this Fort Davis citizen, it will increase the respect and esteem in which he is held to record the fact that in his early life, in additoin to the hardships of poverty, he had to endure severe treat- ment from supposedly christian people in whose homes he lived or for whom he was employed. The prejudices thus aroused and deep set in his mind he has never succeeded in entirely overcoming. In his earlier years he was exceedingly devoted to a kindly Sunday school teacher, whose kindness to the little boys of her class will never be forgotten, but his own rugged bat- tles and struggles with the world made it impossible for him to retain his belief in many of the rules of christian conduct which he learned from that teacher.

Mr. Keesey was still a youth when the war broke out between the North and the South. At the second call for three months' volunteers he enlisted and was with the Eighty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and later served twenty months in the Fifth Ohio Volun- teer Cavalry in Company F, being discharged with the rank of sergeant.

Not long after the war Mr. Keesey set out for the Southwest. Leaving his old home at Steubenville, Ohio, February 5, 1867, he found employment under General J. S. Mason in the care of his two small boys as they were then, and also three horses. The little party ar- rived at San Antonio March 6, and on May 25, 1867, there being no railroads in that section of Texas, Gen- eral Mason secured for young Keesey a position as baker to accompany the troops to Fort Davis, then under command of General Wesley Merritt. The dis- tance of four hundred and seventy-five miles from San Antonio to Fort Davis was accomplished in a journey by wagon roads in thirty-one days. When he arrived Mr. Keesey had travelled sixty-two days between Steu-

yours Truly Fort Davis Texas

Mannen f. Kerry

ONE OF THE FINEST HOMES IN WEST TEXAS, BUILT IN 1911, WIELE THE FINE OLD TREES WERE PLANTED BY MR. KEESEY IN 1871. NOTEWORTHY FEATURES OF INTERIOR FURNISHINGS ARE ELECTRIC LIGHTED ELEVATORS, SPACIOUS LIBRARY, BREAKFAST ROOM, AND EVERY MODERN FACILITY FOUND IN METROPOLITAN RESIDENCES.

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benville and Fort Davis. It is a matter of interest to recall the fact that this trip, though a long one, can now be accomplished in four days, and that is a graphie illustration of the remarkable advance made in transportation and in all other living conditions during modern times. Mr. Keesey's early years in and about Fort Davis were of the real frontier life, with all its pleasures and hardships, and after some years of that experience he and a hrother engaged in merchandising in 1873. Their stock of goods was one of the first opened for trade at a military post, which was in the midst of a great wilderness occupied only by the range cattlemen. The brother finally withdrew from the busi- ness, and Mr. Keesey continued it alone until 1907, in the meantime establishing and building up one of the oldest and most successful commercial houses in all West Texas. When he retired in 1907 from the active cares of life it was with a satisfying degree of success, and now at the age of seventy-one he enjoys and deserves to enjoy the contentment and prosperity of a career that has brought him material good and has resulted in encouragement and support for so many others. His career seems to illustrate the truth of the aphorism that to the one who is least regardful of his selfish pros- perity shall be returned the greatest abundance, and it is certain that Mr. Keesey prospered beyond all his expectations, and he affords the credit for that to his Divine Father, and as a result of reliance upon the virtues of prudence, truthfulness and honesty in all his business relations.

He has been honored with civic office as often as he could spare the time, he held the position of hide inspector four years, was treasurer of the county four years, was county commissioner eight years, and has always participated in matters for the benefit of the locality. In politics he has voted with the Republican party, hut believes in independent action in such mat- ters and supports the qualified honest man regardless of the party label. Since his admission on December 2, 1891, Mr. Keesey has been affiliated with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows He is a member of the T. P. A., a commercial men's accident insurance order, and also with the Benevolent League, a branch of the T. P. A. He is a member of the National Geographic Society of Washington, a member of the Texas State Historical Association, and an honorary member of the Luther Burbank Society. Mr. Keesey has no regular church membership and confesses to a variance with the views expressed and held by many with church membership. He believes that all churches are good regardless of denomination, and has steadfastly sup- ported and endeavored to have some investment in all new church buildings erected in his part of Texas. It is his view that no one can predict the scope and breadth of the influence for good that may result from churches in after years. Oue improvement, he holds, would do much to strengthen the churches and stop the increase of membership in fraternal orders, and that would be the establishment of a regular branch of the church for the care of the poor, the sick and dis- tressed members and for the upbringing of the father- less orphans.

On April 14, 1892, at Wellsburg, West Virginia, Mr. Keesey married Nannie J. Carmichael, daughter of J. W. M. and Mary Carmichael of Wellsburg. Mrs. Keesey became a member of the Presbyterian church at the age of fourteen, and lived a devoted and active chris- tian life, ever ready to assist the needy and distressed and orphan children. She was an untiring worker in the Rebekah branch of the Odd Fellows order, and on the evening after completing a term of one year as president of the Rebekah Assembly she was stricken with paralysis. After three years of suffering she died December 5, 1910, at the home of her parents in Wellsburg.

In his earlier years Mr. Keesey had to struggle and work hard for every advancement, and as a rule his Vol. IV-12

honest and truthful methods of dealing commended him to the confidence of all who employed his services. When he established a business of his own, he insisted upon the same principles of incorruptible integrity, and his business standing was from the first unques- tionable. Thus he huilt solidly for himself, and was also able to care for and protect the interests of many poor cattlemen who needed his assistance from time to time. Thus between his endeavors to gain for himself sufficient means in the declining years, and accomplish- ing his purpose of hringing a little sunshine into the dark places for the more unfortunate, his career has heen an exceedingly husy and useful one, and there have been few more beneficent lives although his deeds of kindness must of very necessity go largely unrecorded except in the hearts of those who will cherish gratitude for his deeds as long as life lasts. Many men now prominent in West Texas owe their start to Mr. Keesey, and in the course of twenty years he has again and again advised boys and young men in such manner as to start them properly on worthy and useful careers. It is for this influence of an upright christian life that Mr. Keesey will deserve lasting memorial among the citizenship of West Texas.

JOHN MATTHEW CARTWRIGHT. It is an unusual dis- tinction of a Texas family to have been represented through five successive generations in the state, but that distinction belongs to the Cartwrights. John Cart- wright the pioneer settler at what is now San Augustine in the year 1819, two years before Stephen Austin planted the first permanent American colony, and seven- teen years before Texas gained her independence from Mexico. In the family of John Matthew Cartwright, the well known land owner and planter at San Augustine, are two children, who represent the fifth generation of the family. 'There are several collateral branches of the Cartwright family in different sections of Texas, but the descent of the one now under consideration is through the original settler, John Cartwright, Matthew Cart- wright, Columbus C. Cartwright, to John Matthew Cart- wright, and the last named's children.

Concerning the original John Cartwright there is little information at hand. Concerning his son Matthew, however, it is known that he was born in Wilson county, Tennessee, November 11, 1807, and came here when a boy with slaves. He started a mercantile business and traded with the Indians, also opened up a farm and worked his slaves thereon. The farm was three miles east of the present site of San Augustine, and there he continued in farming and merchandising until 1833 or 1834. A short time after Matthew came his father and family also came. Three miles northwest of San Augus- tine at that time lived the family of Col. Isaac Holman, who had come from Lincoln county, Tennessee about 1833. Matthew Cartwright was married in 1836 to Amanda Holman and of their family of children two are still living. Matthew Cartwright after his marriage be- came a merchant in San Augustine, with his father as a partner, later was in business by himself until 1847, and then up to the time of the war was engaged in locating and dealing in Texas land, for which work he rode horseback throughout all the settled portions of the state. He had one horse on which he rode over 20,000 miles. He was a man of great liberality and justice in all his relations, and again and again granted extensions to the families of settlers who were unable to meet the strict terms of agreement, concerning their land pur- chases. After the war he resumed merchandising, but soon turned the business over to two of his sons. His death occurred April 2. 1870. His wife survived him twenty-four years, dying at San Augustine in her seventy- seventh year.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 54

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