A history of Texas and Texans, Part 55

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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Columbus C. Cartwright, son of Matthew, was born in San Augustine in 1837, and died in 1902. He was en- gaged in the real estate business for many years, was

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a very worthy and highly respected citizen, and bore the same honorable relations to the business and social community which had characterized his father. Through- out the period of the war he served as a soldier, and his brothers A. P. and Leonidas were also in the army. Columbus C. Cartwright married Sallie Lane, and of their children, besides John Matthew, there are now liv- ing Robert L. Cartwright of Waco; A. H. Cartwright of San Augustine; Mrs. Mary Bewley; and Mrs. Ella Sharp, the latter two of San Augustine.

John Matthew Cartwright was born at San Augustine, in 1862. Reared in his native locality, with the excep- tion of a few years spent in Central Texas, he has al- ways had his home here. At the present time he is the owner of a fine farm of two hundred acres adjoining San Augustine on the south. This is a historie place, having been in possession of the Cartwright family since the earliest days of settlement, and some of the land has been in cultivation for nearly a hundred years. Mr. Cartwright still raises splendid erops of cotton and corn, and from his experience one may conclude that the fer- tility of Texas soil in San Augustine county cannot be easily exhausted. Some twenty-five or thirty acres of the Cartwright farm are devoted to pecan culture, and that pecan orchard is one of the most valuable assets of the farm. Mr. Cartwright is also owner of other valuable farm property in the county.

John M. Cartwright married Miss Emma Massey, a daughter of C. B. and Eliza (Jones) Massey, of Rusk, Texas, pioneers of this commonwealth. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright are Holman L., and Baxter Polk.

JUDGE HENRY KINSEY POLK. Among the old fami- lies of eastern Texas the Polks have had a prominent place from the time when eastern Texas was the battle- ground between the advancing American colonization and the resisting forces of Mexico. In ante-bellum days they were planters and slave owners and merchants, served with the Confederacy, and gave more than ordi- nary sacrifices of life and property during the war and during the subsequent half century. Their lives have been led along the paths of quiet industry and pros- perity and as good citizens and officials they have done their full share for the enrichment of community life.

Henry Kinsey Polk, now county judge of San Augus- tine county, was born at San Augustine in 1860, a son of Charles I. and Victoria (Thomas) Polk, in whose family were three sons-H. K., I. D., J. V. The grand- parents were Albert and Nancy (MeKeever) Polk, who came from Tennessee to San Augustine county in 1836. The late Alfred Polk settled on a farm four miles south- west of San Augustine. From the original stock of the Polk family was also descended President James K. Polk, and the history of the Polks goes back to the ear- liest times in Scotland. Alfred Polk was born in Ten- nessee, and for seventeen years was county judge of San Angustiue county, his records making a portion of the early history of that county, as his grandson's does in the later years. He married Nancy MeKeever, whose history proves that she was a remarkable woman. She reared ten children of her own, two sets of orphan chil- dren, kept house faithfully for sixty years, and her hus- band's death was the first that occurred in her family. Judge Alfred Polk died in 1889. Six of the sons of Al- fred and Nancy Polk served in the Confederate army, and one of them was killed in hattle.

Charles I. Polk, the father of Henry Kinsey, was born in Tennessee in 1831, and was five years of age when the family moved to east Texas. For many years he was a merchant at San Augustine, where he died in 1890. He was reared on his father's farm, near San Augustine, but at the age of nineteen became a resident in the town and spent the remainder of his years there. For seven years he was a clerk in the store of Thomas Payne, and then engaged in business for himself. Dur-

ing the war he entered the Confederate service and bore arms in the Southern cause for several years. He mar- ried Miss Victoria Thomas, who was born in San Augus- tine, a daughter of I. D. Thomas, one of the first set- tleis. 1. D. Thomas built at San Augustine what is said to have been the first two-story residence in Texas. He settled in East Texas, in what is now San Augustine county, in 1824, and established the first store on the site of San Augustine when that became the site of the city. For some years he held rank as one of the largest merchants in the entire state. Mrs. Victoria Polk is still living, and is an aunt of Seymour Thomas, the . famous portrait artist of Paris, who came to America in 1913 to paint the portrait of President Woodrow Wil- son, and several of his canvases have been hung in the Paris Salon.

Henry K. Polk spent his boyhood in San Augus- tine, attained his early education in the local schools, and afterwards was a student in the Agricultural and Mechanical College, at Bryan. In his business career he has been very successful. He is the owner of valuable land in the town of San Augustine, including a fine farm of two hundred and eighty-seven acres within the city limits, besides other town and country property.

Mr. Polk has given a number of years to the public service of his country. To his present office, as county judge, he was elected in November, 1912, entering upon his duties on the first of December of the same year. He previously held the office of county judge, and for six years was county commissioner, during most of which time he performed the duties of judge. Mr. Polk is af- filiated with Redland Lodge, No. 3, F. & A. M., and his father before him was an active member of the same fraternity.'

Judge Polk married Miss Ella Burleson, a native of San Augustine county and a daughter of James Burleson. She is a cousin of Ex-Congressman Albert Burleson, who is postmaster-general in the Wilson cabinet. Mrs. Polk was educated at Baylor University. They are the parents of seven children: Mrs. Jamie Gombert, Mrs. Hallie McFarland, John Alfred Polk, Kate, Carlo, Mamie and Henry.

JAMES H. HILL. With its growing importance as a railroad center, Galveston has become the home and headquarters of many prominent railway officials, and one of the best known members of railway circles in the city is James H. Hill, who recently became vice president, treasurer, and general manager of the Galveston, Hous- ton & Henderson Railway Company. Mr. Hill has been a resident of Galveston for the past seventeen years, and is a veteran railroad man, having taken up that line of work about as soon as he left school. His career has had all the interesting features of progress, from a position as minor clerk to oue of the highest officials of the service, his ability and personal character having won him a steady promotion from one grade to another

James H. Hill is a native of New York City, where he was born March 29, 1858. a son of Henry Hixon and Sarah (Hamilton) Hill. His boyhood was spent in his native city, where he attended grammar school, and when a young man went west, and had his first experience in railroading in Illinois, later going to Kansas, where he held several positions as a railroad man. In 1896 Mr. Hill came to Galveston to take the place of manager for the Galveston. Houston & Henderson Railroad. Later he was promoted to the place of secretary-treasurer and manager, and in June, 1913, was made vice president, treasurer, and general manager of this old and impor- tant Texas trunk line. Mr. Hill is also a director of the First National Bank of Galveston. He is well known in fraternal and social circles, is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, having affiliations with various bodies of the order. He belongs to Lodge No. 6, A. F. & A. M., at Lawrence, Kansas, being past master; with Lawrence Chapter, No. 4, R. A. M .; with De Molay

Harry P. Jordan

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Commandery, K. P., at Lawrence; El Mina Temple, at Galveston; A. A. O. N. M. S .; and Texas Consistory, No. 1, A. & A. S. R. He belongs to the Galveston Ar- tillery Club, the Oleander Country Club, the Aziola Club, and the Galveston Garten Verem.

In 1884 occurred the marriage of Mr. Hill to Miss Fanny Gillette of Buffalo, Illinois. They have three children: Marian, wife of L. M. Higgins; Gillette, a student in the Culver Military Academy, in Indiana; and Beatrice. Their home is at 1616 Sealy ave., Gal- veston.

LEWIS FISHER. Bearing an old and distinguished name in Texas, Lewis Fisher, now the mayor-president of the city of Galveston, has well performed the respon- sibilities and creditably lived up to the expectations of his family history. The history of modern Galveston begins with the year 1900, and in the reforms and im- provements which has rehabilitated and remade the greatest port on the Gulf coast Lewis Fisher, first as county judge of Galveston county and later as head of the municipal commission, has been one of the greatest individual factors. During his administration as county judge the great sea wall, one of the most remarkable constructive enterprises ever undertaken by any city, was begun and completed, and during his administration as mayor, Galveston has rapidly gone to the front, until it is now the second largest port on the American conti- nent, being exceeded in its commerce only by the port of New York City. Mr. Fisher is by profession a lawyer, and for a number of years has given all his ability as an attorney and as a practical executive and adminis- trator to his home city.

Lewis Fisher was born at Austin, Texas, October 28, 1872. It is only necessary to refer to the early pages of Texas history, particularly in the era which made an independent republic of what had been a province of Mexico, to perceive the early prominence of the Fisher name in Texas annals. S. Rhoads Fisher, grandfather of Judge Fisher, was one of the delegates to the conven- tion which met at Washington on the Brazos on the first of March, 1836, and was one of the fifty-eight dele- gates who adopted and signed the Declaration of Inde- pendence for Texas on March 2, 1836. After Texas be- came a Republic, he served as secretary of the navy until his death, in 1838. The parents of Lewis Fisher were Rhoads and Sophia (Rollins) Fisher. His father was born in Matagorda county, Texas, March 13, 1832, and had a long career in the real estate business, and for eighteen years served as chief clerk in the land office at Austin. During the war between the states he saw service as a Confederate soldier. The mother of Judge Fisher was a native of Mississippi and died February 5, 1889.

Lewis Fisher spent his boyhood and early youth in Austin, where he attended the public schools, also St. Edward's College, and was graduated from the law de- partment of the University of Texas in 1895 with the degree of LL. B. In the same year he came to Galveston and took up the practice of law. In 1900, the year in which occurred the great disaster which nearly destroyed Galveston, he began his first important public service in the office of county attorney of Galveston county, and served until 1902. His term of county attorney was fol- lowed by his election as county judge in 1902, and he served nearly four years. As county judge, he was ex officio chairman of the county commissioners court and had supervision of the construction of the sea wall, which was completed during his administration, at a cost of one and a half million dollars. On one of the granite pillars marking the westeru end of the sea wall are inscribed the names of the county officials and others prominently identified with the construction of the en- terprise, and the name of Judge Fisher appears at the head of this list.

Judge Fisher resigned his office as county judge to ac-

cept the appointment given by Governor Lanham as judge of the Tenth Judicial District, his name having received the indorsement of the entire Galveston bar for this office. As district judge, his services were performed with credit until the year 1909. In the municipal elec- tion held in May of that year he was the expressed choice of many prominent citizens of Galveston for the office of mayor, or president of the commission. Up to that time there had been no changes in the personnel of the commission from its inception, under the new char- ter, and Judge Fisher became a candidate to succeed H. A. Landes. Judge Fisher's individual name on the municipal ticket proved stronger than the name of the rival candidate, though the latter was supported by the entire press of the city and by the exertions of the city clubs. His campaign and election were a most note- worthy feature of the year in municipal politics and were a practical demonstration of the power of a popular personality in any political contest. He was re-elected in 1911, and again in 1913, withont opposition.

Judge Fisher maintains his law offices in the Trust Building, and there transacts a great deal of his duties as mayor. Mayor Fisher is always accessible to citizens of Galveston and in every way is really the head of the city administration. Outside of his profession and his official affairs, he is well known and prominent in social circles. Judge Fisher has attained to the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite Masonry, and belongs to Tucker Lodge, No. 297, A. F. & A. M., of Galveston; El Mina Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and the Texas consistory, No. 1, of Galveston. He is also affiliated with Humboldt Lodge, No. 9, K. of P., being past chancellor of the same, and member and past exalted ruler of Galveston Lodge, No. 126, B. P. O. E. He belongs to the Galves- ton Commercial Association and the Galveston Garten Verein.

In 1901 Judge Fisher married Miss May Masterson, a daughter of Branch T. Masterson of Galveston. Her ma- ternal grandfather was Wilmer Dallam, who is distin- guished as having prepared the first digest of the laws of Texas, known to all lawyers as "Dallam 's Digest." Lewis Fisher and wife are the parents of four children : Lewis Dallam Fisher, Wilmer Rollins Fisher, May Mas- terson Fisher, and Rebecca Branch Fisher. Their resi- dence in Galveston is at 1703 Thirty-First Street.

HARRY PHILLIP JORDAN. In the field of civil, com- mercial, corporation and insurance law, Harry Phillip Jordan has won merited distinction at the har of Waco. He is also prominent in military and Masonic affairs, and is well known in public life, being the representa- tive of the Sixty-first District in the legislature of the state. Still a young man, his achievements have been noteworthy and he is recognized as one of his city's virile and helpful citizens, who has ever displayed a conscientious regard for the responsibilities of citizen- ship and the highest ideals of his learned calling.

Mr. Jordan was born at Warrington, Virginia, Feb- ruary 16, 1875, and is a son of Powhatan and Bertie (Edwards) Jordan. His father, a native of Portsmouth, Virginia, born in 1827, was a well known physician and surgeon of Virginia, where he practiced for many years, and in 1876 was appointed federal quarantine officer at New Orleans, being an expert along the line of yellow fever and smallpox. He remained in the Louis- iana city until 1881, in which year he came to Texas and established himself in practice at Beaumont, where he continued to reside until his death in 1904. He was widely and favorably known in his profession and be- came a prosperous man of his community. Doctor Jor- dan was married (first) to Bertie Edwards, who was born at Tallapoosa, Alabama, in 1844, and she died in 1877, the mother of four children: Lena, who is deceased; Charles, who died in 1891, at the age of twenty-three years; Otelia, who married Pat C. Byrne, a merchant at Duncan, Oklahoma; and Harry Phillip,

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of this review. Doctor Jordan was married (second) in 1885 to Miss Ada Hoskins, who died without issue in 1890.

Harry Phillip Jordan was educated in the public schools of Beaumont and at Beaumont Academy, follow- ing which he took a course in civil engineering at the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College and was graduated from that college in 1895, with the degree of B. C. E. He next took up the study of law as a student in the University of Texas, from which he was grad- uated in 1898, with the degree of LL. B., and in that same year was admitted to the bar and established him- self in practice at Waco, where he has offices at No. 801 Amicable building. He has steadily advanced in the ranks of his calling, and in his special lines of civil, corporation, insurance and commercial law has heen connected with a number of noted cases. The corpora- tion lawyer who would win a full measure of success must not only be an alert and broad member of his pro- fession, but a keen and far-seeing business man. His is pre-eminently the domain of practical law, in which solid logie and hard fact, fertility of resource and vigor of professional treatment are usually relied upon, rather than ingenious theory and grace of oratory. Mr. Jor dan is possessed of these traits in marked degree. That he is a successful business man is shown by his con- nection as stockholder and director in the Texas Fidelity and Bonding Company and stockholder in the Guarantee and Trust Company, the MeKnight Sundries Company and the White Rock Sand and Gravel Company, and he is also the owner of much realty in Waco, including his residence at No. 2021 Austin avenue and about twelve other pieces of business and residence property. Politi- cally a Democrat, he was secretary of the Democratic county executive committee for several years, was as- sistant county attorney from 1898 until 1902, and in 1912 was elected to the legislature of the state to rep- resent the Sixty-first district, from McLennan county. For twenty years a member of the Texas National Guard, in 1913 he was elected colonel of his regiment, and he also takes a keen interest in Masonry, being a thirty-second degree Mason, a Knights Templar and a Shriner. He helongs to the Young Men's Business League and the Chamber of Commerce, and has associ- ated himself with other earnest and progressive citizens in forwarding movements for the betterment of busi- ness conditions. With his family, he attends the Epis- copal church.

On June 9, 1908, Mr. Jordan was married at Waco to Miss Vera Higginson, daughter of Cyrus H. Higgin- son, a planter of Waco, and to this union there have been born two children, namely: Margaret, who was born August 20, 1909; and Harry Phillip, Jr., born May 18, 1912.

BERTRAD ADOUE. For more than forty years probably no name in all Texas was more thoroughly significant of business ability and finest commercial integrity than that of Adoue. In the early years of railroad extension after the war the late Bertrad Adoue's mercantile enterprise followed the line of the Houston & Texas Central north- ward. He then concentrated his efforts at Galveston, where in the financial and wholesale distriet there was no more familiar figure. The world admires the success- ful business builder, but admiration becomes honor and esteem when the proceeds of commerce are diverted ju- diciously to the welfare of the community. Probably no citizen of Galveston was more quietly efficient in his business undertakings, and his broad philanthropy was characterized by the same spirit. Few distinctive mon- uments proclaim his beneficence, but those who have some familiarity with practical charities and the larger institutions which are conspicuous in that city are well aware of the sturdy helpfulness afforded by Mr. Adoue during his lifetime and his valuable bequests at his

death. He was one of Galveston's finest business lead- ers and most loyal friend.

Bertrad Adoue was born near Aurignac, France, Sep- tember 9, 1841, and died when past seventy, November 17, 1911. Educated in France, he came to the United States in 1859, first locating in New Orleans. In 1863 he went to Brownsville, Texas, where he was engaged in the general merchandise business. In 1866 was formed the partnership with Joseph Lobit, an association which has been one of the oldest and closest in the commercial history of the state. This partnership was continued until the death of Mr. Adoue, forty-five years later, the firm name being Adoue & Lobit. They were at first engaged in general merchandising at Bryan and at other places along the Houston & Central Texas Railroad while that road was being slowly extended northward from Houston. As the road progressed and new towns were established, they also moved their store, and thus afforded their mercantile facilities as pioneers in a num- ber of now thriving cities in central and north Texas. In 1874, the railroad in the meantime having been con- pleted to Dallas, the partners moved to Galveston, and in 1875 discontinued the general merchandise business, en- gaging exclusively in banking. As bankers, the firm oť Adoue & Lobit is one of the oldest in the financial dis- triet of Galveston, and its connections extended to all the fiancial centers of the world. At the death of Mr. Adoue, in 1911, the other partner, Mr, Lobit, retired from active business.

The late Bertrad Adoue was not only very promi- nently identified with business in Galveston, but was also one of the public-spirited citizens. He was president of the Texas Brewers Association, was president of the Gal- veston Brewing Company, active vice president of the Lone Star Brewing Company of San Antonio, active vice president of the American Brewing Assn. of Hous- ton, president of the Galveston Maritime Association for many years until his death, was president of the Galves- ton Dry Goods Company, a member of the firm of Mistrot Brothers & Company of Galveston, vice president of the Lasker Real Estate Association of Galveston, and first vice president of the Galveston Hotel Company.

His activities in connection with enterprises, either of public or semi-publie nature, were equally notable. He was for a number of years a member of the Galveston Deep Water Committee. He was president of the Oster- man Widows & Orphans Fund, and for many years served as vice consul for Sweden. At his death he left many bequests, among which may be mentioned the fol- lowing: A fund to enable ward patients at St. Mary's Infirmary to have private rooms where necessary for their comfort and benefit; a fund to Trinity church of Galveston to be used by the rector in a nonsectarian manner as he sees fit. Mr. Adoue owned consider?' property in his native country of France, and this, com- prising farms and improvements valued at about twenty thousand dollars, was left to his native town to be used for charitable purposes. His most notable bequest was for the erection and maintenance in Galveston of a sea- men's bethel. This practical charity has been established and was presented by his family to the board of trustees of the Seaman's Friend Society on June 9, 1913. The fund for the maintenance of this institution, at the latest report, amounted to fourteen thousand dollars. The dedication and presentation of the bethel made one of the interesting events in the history of Galveston pub- lie institutions, and, as the scope and value of the philan- thropy may not be thoroughly appreciated by a great many people living in Texas, the following paragraphs are quoted from the principal address of the evening, de- livered by an eminent New York social worker and official in the American Seaman's Friend Society. This speaker described the purposes of the local Bethel as follows:

"Three things this house stands for-a house of ref- uge, a house of happiness, and a house of worship. As a house of refuge, it will shelter between thirty-five

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thousand and forty thousand of the birds of passage we call sailors who annually visit this port, natives of all nations, brought to your doors from all the seven seas. You've built a splendid place for a house of refuge.

"As a house of happiness, it embodies the things de- sired by the sailor folk-those people who are made with a 'wanting heart'-wanting those things which are com- mon to you, but far too uncommon to them. I'm glad you built the interior and made it bright and cheerful. The sailor doesn't want your dim, religious light when he gets ashore. He gets all the dim, religious lights he wants in his dim and none too religious fo'e'sle. Put yourselves in the sailor's place. You'll understand his joy in this house that is going to bring joy to the hearts of thousands of sailors. What a sailor wants when he comes ashore isn't a prayer meeting. 'Way out yonder on the sea, when the sun has been blazing hotly, he has promised himself a long, cool drink the minute he gets ashore. He's human. When he lands, and steps off the dock, there the saloon confronts him. It's bright. His fo'e's'le hasn't been bright. There's a piano-out of tune. What does that matter when he hasn't for weeks seen a piano? There are the foaming steins of ale; there are the mahogany sandwiches, over which the flies disport themselves. But the ale looks good to him, even if it isn't good for him; and who cares for a few flies when he has been shaking the weevils out of his food? That's why I'm glad this hethel is bright and cheerful.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 55

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