A history of Texas and Texans, Part 56

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 56

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

"And, lastly, this place is to be a house of worship. Kipling say that 'single men who live in barracks don't grow into plaster saints.' They don't. Neither do sin- gle men who live in forecastles. But 'way down, under- neath the rugged exterior, 'way beyond speech, in the sailor's heart, is an appreciation of religion. And here he shall be taught the alphabet of religion. Every sailor is a man under authority. At sea or elsewhere you can't do anything with a man who won't obey. And if a man has been trained to obey his God, he'll obey his ship- master."

In considering the career of the late Mr. Adoue it should not be forgotten that his success was almost en- tirely the result of his individual efforts, beginning at a time when he was a boy. With an energy and ability much above the ordinary, he won a large success, and always honorably and in such a way that he continued to enjoy the esteem of his community to the closing years of his life. His charitable work was conspicuous for his breadth and nonsectarian character. To the Catholic hospitals, to the Episcopal church, to the Sea- men, and to his native town, while his personal unre- corded philanthropies were probably never influenced by any consideration of race or creed.

The late Bertrad Adoue married Miss Albertine Schneider of New Orleans. Mrs. Adoue, who survives her husband, is the mother of four children, as follows: Bertrad C., deceased; Pauline Eliza, who married G. F. McFarland of Toronto, Canada; Louis A., and Mimie Elaine of Galveston. The family home is at 1526 Post Office Street.

Louis A. Adoue, the only surviving son, since his fa- ther's death has taken over many of the large business affairs associated with the name. He is a member of the firm of Mistrot Brothers & Company, now known as Mis- trot & Adoue, wholesale dry goods. He is vice president of the Galveston Brewing Company, vice president of the Lasker Real Estate Association, vice president of the American Indemnity Company of Galveston, is a member of the Galveston Deepwater Committee, a trustee of the Rosenberg Library, and is vice consul for Sweden.

HON. ROBERT G. STREET. Probably no member of the Texas bar still in active practice is more widely known over the state and throughout the south than Judge Street, for more than ten years judge of the fifty-sixth district court, and a member of the Galveston bar since 1866. During his career on the bench his district has had

the satisfaction of knowing the judicial functions were being discharged with a degree of human and technical understanding that rarely comes to the public service. Judge Street is an able lawyer, a citizen whose career has in many places touched the public, and always bene- ficially, and, besides his other services, has contributed at least two important works to the literature of law.

Robert Gould Street was born in Greensboro, Alabama, December 12, 1843, a son of John Vernon and Elizabeth (Torrence) Street. A Virginian by birth, his father was a prominent physician, and engaged in practice in Ala- bama until his death, in 1854. The mother was a native of North Carolina, and died at Galveston in 1910, at the age of ninety-four years.

From the private schools of Alabama, Judge Street en- tered the University of Alabama, and was in his junior year when the war between the states came on. Enlisting as a Confederate soldier, he first served in Company I of the Twentieth Alabama Infantry, and later in Company H of the Fifty-First Alabama Cavalry. His highest rank was that of Sergeant Major. He went through the war from beginning to end; was out of active service nearly two years on account of imprisonment. On June 27, 1863, at Shelbyville, Tennessee, he was captured, and was confined at Fort Delaware until March, 1865. When the war was over, he went home and found work as a school teacher. Taking up the study of law, he was pe- culiarly fortunate in choosing his preceptor. His guide in his law studies was his colonel during the war, John T. Morgan, whose name in later years was one of the most familiar in national affairs, through his splendid work as United States senator from Alabama. Under Gen. Morgan he continued his studies, and, on examina- tion before the Supreme court of Alabama, was admitted to the bar in 1866.

In the following year Judge Street located at Galves- ton, and has now been a member of the local bar for forty five years. His first important public service was as a member of the Texas State Senate, to which he was elected in 1880, and served one term. In 1902 Mr. Street was elected district judge of the Fifty-Sixth Dis- trict. His first term ran to 1908, when he was re- elected, and in 1912 he was again elected. For many years Judge Street has been considered au authority on several branches of legal learning, and his writings have also been frequent on general economie subjects. He has been a regular contributor to the law magazines and has delivered many addresses on political, legal, and social topics. With his name on the title page as author and compiler, was published in 1909 "The Law and Personal Injuries in Texas," a work familiar to every Texas at- torney and a specially noteworthy publication, in that it was the first treatise on the subject from the stand- point of one state. Mr. Street is also editor of the sixth edition of "Shearman & Redfield on Negligence." These and other contributions to the science of law and sociology have made Judge Street's name familiar to thousands of lawyers and students outside of his home city.

Judge Street has been a member of the Texas State Bar Association since its organization. His membership in the American Bar Association dates back to 1881. He is an honorary member of the Galveston County Bar As- sociation, and is an active member of the American Economic Association, the American Political Science Association, and the American Social Science Associa- tion. Fraternally, he is associated with the Temple of Honor, and in politics is an active Democrat.

In 1868 Judge Street married Miss Maria Ethelvide Lauve, daughter of Omer Lauve of New Orleans. Mrs. Street died in 1880, and their five children have also passed away. Judge Street resides at 1704 Avenue K, in Galveston.

JAMES B. STUBBS. For more than forty years a mem- ber of the Galveston bar, Mr. Stubbs easily stands in

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the very front rank of his profession in his home city, and in commercial, corporation, and admiralty law stands second to none in the state in ability and successful ex- perience. Very few of the present Galveston bar were practicing here when Mr. Stubbs opened his office and earned his first fees, and his reputation for ability and success has kept pace with the advancing years in prac- tice.

James B. Stubbs, who has lived in Galveston since he was three years of age, was born at Montgomery, Ala- bama, Angust 28, 1850, a son of Theodore B. and Ellen A. (Kirkpatrick) Stubbs. Moving to Galveston in 1853, Theodore B. Stubbs began a long career as a successful merchant. As a business man and citizen, he stood high in the community, and also left an honored record as a soldier. He served as colonel of the First Texas Volun- teers during the war, and was a volunteer on one of the steamers which took part in the capture of Galveston from the Federal forces on January 1, 1863. His death occurred March 26, 1896. The mother of James B. Stubbs died in Alabama in 1852.

The literary education of Mr. Stubbs was completed at Pass Christian College, in Mississippi, where he was graduated with the degree of A. M., and from that insti- tution he entered the Washington and Lee University of Lexington, Virginia, where he was graduated in the law with the degree of LL. B. In 1872 Mr. Stubbs was ad- mitted to the bar at Galveston, and in the same year took up active practice. In later years his work as a lawyer has been almost entirely confined to commercial, corpora- tion, and admiralty practice, and in these lines he is one of the best attorneys in the entire south. Mr. Stubbs is senior member of the firm of James B. and Charles J. Stubbs, counselors-at-law, with offices at 212 22nd Street.

Along with a large practice as a lawyer, Mr. Stubbs has for many years been prominent in political and civic affairs. In 1881 he was chosen to the state senate. Since 1904 he has been chairman of the Democratic county executive committee, and since 1908 has been a member of the Democratic state executive committee. From 1882 to 1885 he was city attorney, and held the same office from 1899 to 1901. In his profession he has been equally honored, and in 1902 was president of the Texas Bar Association. During 1910-11 he was presi- dent of the Galveston Bar Association.

In Masonie circles he has had an active part for more than forty years. He received his degrees as a Master Mason in Harmony Lodge, No. 6, A. F. & A. M., at Gal- veston, on September 9, 1872, and is a past master of that lodge. He also has membership in the Grand Lodge of Texas. Iu the York Rite he is a member of San Fe- lipe de Austin Chapter, No. I, R. A. M. In the Scottish Rite he has taken thirty-two degrees, and belongs to all the Scottish Rite bodies, including the Texas Consistory, No. 1, at Galveston, and El Minah Temple of the Mystic Shrine. Mr. Stubbs also affiliates with Oleander Lodge, No. 5, Knights of Pythias.

In 1876 occurred his first marriage, and in 1901 he married his present wife. His two children are: James B. Jr. and Janie A., widow of James B. Maupin of Washington, D. C. The Stubbs home is at 1724 Twenty- first Street.

ALBERT L. ANDERSON, M. D. Among the medical men of Brown county, Texas, one who has won deserved dis- tinetion as a practitioner in diseases of the eye, ear, nose, and throat is Dr. Albert L. Anderson of Brown- wood. Although he has been located here only since 1906, the recognition of his high attainments has at- tracted to him a large and representative practice. . among his professional brethren he has gained an euvi- able reputation for his strict observance of the ethics of his calling. He is a Texau by nativity and training, having been born at Marshall. Harrison county, February 19, 1867, and is a son of William V. and Asha E. An- .derson.

The Anderson family is of Scotch descent and was founded in Texas many years ago, the father of Doctor Anderson having been born in this state. He was reared to agricultural pursuits, and the family owned numerous slaves prior to the war between the North and the South. In that struggle William V. Anderson enlisted as a Con- federate soldier and served throughout the war, making a record as a gallant and faithful soldier. Although he was wounded at Franklin, Cumberland Gap, and in a minor engagement, he never asked for nor received a fur- lough. Upon his return from the war, he again took up farming and stock raising, settling in Hopkins county, and still resides in the vicinity of Sulphur Springs and carries on operations, being remarkably active for his seventy-five years. His wife, also a native of Texas, ( about the year 1886, having been the mother of eight children, of whom Doctor Anderson was the first-born.

Albert L. Anderson received his early education in the public schools of Texas, and subsequently went to Central College, at Sulphur Springs. Following this, he was en- gaged in teaching school in Hopkins county until 1892, when he entered the University of Texas, at Galveston, and was graduated in 1896 with his medical degree. His first field of practice was the city of Eddy, McLennan county, but after ten years there came to Brownwood and established himself in a general practice, which he successfully carried on until 1911. In that year he gave up his general practice to devote himself exclusively to the treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose, and throat, and as a specialist along this line has gained wide distinction. With the acquirement of his degree, Doctor Anderson did not give up his studies, but has continued to be a most assiduous student and each year has taken a post-graduate course for the past four years in the Chicago Polyclinic. He holds membership in the varions large medical organizations and in every possible way keeps himself fully abreast of the advancements made in his calling, a large portion of his leisure time being given to personal research.

On January 27, 1897, Doctor Anderson was married at Galveston, Texas, to Miss Tillie Emmett of that city, daughter of W. P. and Josephine Emmett. The father received an appointment under the United States Gov- ernment at Panama, but his death occurred during the month of September, 1913. The mother died in 1910. One child has been born to Doctor and Mrs. Anderson: Kathryn Ellen, born January 20, 1900, and now attend- ing the public schools of Brownwood. Mrs. Anderson is of Irish descent. Doctor and Mrs. Anderson are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In polities, he is a stanch Democrat, but his connection with polit- ical matters has been limited to working for his party's interests, as he has never sought personal preferment. He is a Knight Templar of the Masonic order and a member of the local lodge of Elks. He is an enthusiast in regard to the healthful elimate, progressive citizen- ship, and unrivaled opportunities of his adopted locality. and has done much to attract ambitions men to this sec- tion, and thus and in other ways has assisted in its ad- vancement and development.

JOHN WESLEY DOBKINS. In the death of John Wes- ley Dobkins which occurred at his home in Gainesville on January 17, 1908, North Texas lost one of its oldest settlers, and one who had been especially identified with the earlier growth and development of Gaines- ville and Cooke county, where the family was first established more than sixty years ago. The father of the late John W. Dobkins helped survey the first town site at Gainesville, and Mr. Dobkins himself, during the early days, before the construction of the railroads, helped to hanl the first wood and assisted in the con- struction of the first store at St. Jo, Texas, and brought many loads of goods from Fort Smith, Arkansas, and Shreveport, Louisiana, overland bv wagon to Gaines- ville in the early days. Mr. Dobkins, was one of the

J. M. Telkens

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largest land holders and most successful farmers of Cooke county, and was a man of exceptional ability and influence throughout his lifetime. John Wesley Dobkins was born in Tennessee, in 1839, a son of Jacob and Rachael (Speaks) Dobkins, both parents natives of Tennessee. Their five children; all now deceased, were: Ann, James, John Wesley, Lazarus, and Minerva.

The father was a farmer by ocenpation and when his son John W. was twelve years old, immigrated from Tennessee to Texas, locating two and a half miles north of the present city of Gainesville. He took up government land, on what was then entirely the domain of the Indians and the buffalo. Fort Worth had been established barely four years, and the Dobkins bome was one of the very few in the expansive country be- tween the Trinity and the Red Rivers. Gainesville had not yet been platted as a town, and the only residents were the few farmers and ranchers who had ventured out into a country still infested by the Indians. The Indians were very troublesome in the early days, but the Dobkins family was one of those that remained in spite of all difficulties and hardships, and it was in such pioneer conditions and surroundings that John Wesley Dobkins grew to manhood. He was well trained for his part in life, and was far beyond the average successful in all his enterprises. He was a stockholder in the First National Bank of Gainesville, having as- sisted in the organization and establishment of that institution. He was still one of the large holders of in the institution at the time of his death, and his widow maintains that interest to the present time. The late Mr. Dobkins was especially well known as a stock raiser, and was the owner of some three thousand acres of farm land in North Texas. Mrs. Dobkins owns half of this land, and the rest has been divided among the children. The late Mr. Dobkins was a Democrat in polities, was active during his early life in the Meth- odist church, and was especially devoted to his home and family, for whom he provided very liberally. The family residence, where Mrs. Dobkins now lives, is at 311 North Taylor Street.

Mr. Dobkins was married in 1865 to Miss Susan Ben- ton, a native of Tennessee, and a danghter of William and Ursula (Wilson ) Benton. The children of the Ben- ton family were: James, deceased; Sarah Jane, widow of John Parsons, of Rhine, Oklahoma; Mrs. Dobkins; and William, a stock dealer in Belcher, Texas. The six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Dobkins were: One that died in infancy. Rachel, is the wife of J. B. Hin- ton, a farmer of Cooke county, and their three children are Weldon, William and Beattie. Jonathan, is a suc- cessful farmer in Cooke county, and has one child named Horace. Ida, now deceased was the wife of Arthur MeCann, of Deedsville, and she left a family of eight children. Dovie is the wife of J. B. Burch, one of the largest farmers and stockmen and dealers in cattle in Cooke county, where he has nine hundred acres of land, two hundred of it in cultivation. Mr. and Mrs. Burch are the parents of two children, Laey and Raymond.

MARCELLUS S. CARPENTER. As a ciitzen of wide infor- mation, unbounded popularity, and unquestioned good standing in Lamar county, as well as a business man of the most successful type, Marcellus S. Carpenter enjoys a foremost place in the ranks of the prominent men in this section of the state. Fifteen years of connection with publie life in the county served to fully acquaint the citizenship of his district with the many excellent qualities that mark him, and no publie official has ever retired from service in Lamar county after years of of- ficial position leaving a more worthy record or with a more secure place in the hearts of his fellow men. In the office of county sheriff and in others of a subordinate nature he proved his worth as man and official, and the

approval of the public voice is the just reward of his faithful work.

Born in Smith county, Tennessee, on March 18, 1868, Marcellus S. Carpenter is the son of Edward C. Carpen- ter of Dixon Springs, Tennessee, whose life has been passed as a successful farmer and stockman. The father was born in Kentucky, in which state the Carpenter fam- ily is widely and favorably known. Concerning the ear- lier American ancestry of the Carpenters, it may be said at this point that the family had its Kentucky origin in the settlement of four brothers Carpenter, namely-Jobn Adam, Bernard, and George. These brothers came from Virginia in 1779 and settled in Lincoln county, Ken- tueky. There they built a blockhouse, and the place was called Carpenter's Station. Soon after they located there they were joined by the Depeers and Barnnetts, and for the next twenty years concerted efforts on the part of the Indians to break up the little settlement proved un- availing. They were located three miles west of the town of Huntwell, in Lincoln county, and there carried on farming activities. In the winter of 1779-80 one of the brothers made a trip through the wilderness, despite the terrors of the region at that time, the journey being made for the securing of provisions at Booneville. When he returned, he brought also with him a bushel of corn, and from that the first corn produced in their section was raised. A daughter of George Carpenter, Margaret by name, figured prominently in an Indian attack. She was sitting in the lap of a negress servant in the yard when they were fired upon by Indians, the negress being killed immediately. The child ran to the house, seized a gun, and fired upon the red men. The shots aroused the men folk, and they gave chase to the Indians. Mar- garet Carpenter subsequently married Lindsay Powell, and the Kentucky Powells of the present day are the direct descendants of that heroie young woman. One of her daughters married George Carpenter, the grand- father of Marcellus S. Carpenter of this review. The father of George Carpenter was John, whose other sons were Owen, Jacob, and Mack. George Carpenter 's son, Edward, was born in Kentucky in 1837 and is now a resi- dent of Smith county, Tennessee, the town of Dixon Springs being his home place. The father, George, spent his remaining days in Wise county, Texas. He married Sallie Powell in his early manhood, and soon after the Civil war removed to the place named above, where he employed himself in the business of a farmer and stock- man. His children were Lindsay, George F., Edward C., William H., Lou, who became the wife of James Gill; Lizzie, who married Willis Montgomery, and James.

Edward C. Carpenter was born in Kentucky, and there acquired a liberal education. After his marriage, to Miss Bettie Feagan, he settled down to the business of farming, and in that industry he enjoyed a generous measure of success. His wife died in 1875, with the following issue: John M. of Paris, Texas; Marcellus S. of this review, and Mamie, who became the wife of J. C. Haley of Wellington, Texas.

Marcellus S. Carpenter was one of the two of his fa- ther's children who chose the hardships of the unknown world in preference to those of what should have been a happy home, but which failed to contain that element. He was early inured to hard work on the home farm and gave much of his youthful strength to that business he- fore he left home. He went to Texas, where he secured work on a farm at a remuneration of $12.50 a month. Always ambitions, and with a hunger for the education that had been denied him as a hoy, he saved sufficient from his earnings to make possible a course of study under Professor Butler and Professor Walpole at Blos- som, Texas, and it may well be said that this added training, incomplete as it was, yet gave to him strength and fitness for the duties of citizenship and the responsi- bilities of public office that came to him in later life.

The second year that Marcellus S. Carpenter passed in Texas was on a ranch in Jones county, where he re-

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ceived for his services $25.00 a month, and when he had retired from his ranch duties he came to Paris and took a position in the office of Sheriff Hammond of Lamar county. His duties were somewhat in the nature of those of an office boy at first, but, whatever they might have been, he served a thorough apprenticeship in the duties of the higher office, and for years he continued in the position, filling every niche in the department, from the most insignificant duties to those of chief and managing

deputy of the office. While he was serving his em- ployer in the whole-souled manner that has ever chala terized his performance of duty, Mr. Carpenter was in- advertently drawing to himself a host of friends through- out the county and unconsciously creating a strong senti- ment in his own favor. Thus it was that when Sheriff Martin announced his candidacy for a third term in the office, contrary to his expressed intention some time pre- vious, Mr. Carpenter was prevailed upon to enter the race for the office of sheriff. In the primary election following he received more votes than both his competi- tors, and in the November election he was elected to the office by a flattering majority, and succeeded to the du- ties of the office in 1902. He was twice re-elected, and retired after a period of fifteen years of active public service, honored of all and secure in the confidence and regard of every honest man in the county.

The administration of "Sel" Carpenter, as he is fa- miliarly known, as sheriff of Lamar county was notable for the rugged persistence with which it followed crim- inals and lessened crime. Paris in his official regime was prominent as a federal court town and was scourged with the open saloon, with gambling, and with other at- tendant forms of vice. It might almost be said to have been as wide-opened, as "wild and wooley" as an early- day frontier town, and it offered an ideal opportunity for a sheriff to make a record for efficiency and capability. To preserve order and maintain a standard of decency came entirely within the purview of the sheriff's oath of office, and Mr. Carpenter proved himself to be the man who possessed the firmness and the conscientious deter- mination to make the law supreme in his bailiwick. He entered upon his campaign of reform with the avowed purpose of putting offenders behind the bars or else causing them to seek other quarters. He forced the liquor men to a strict observance of the regulations gov- erning their business, and, in ordinary parlance, put a "crimp" in the activities of the criminal habitues of these places. Sheriff Carpenter faced almost as formid- able a problem throughout the county as he did in the city of Paris, for the county at that time was the ac- knowledged rendezvous for horse thieves and other un- desirables of the "hide and seek" variety from the In- dian territory, near by. He was able to break up this illicit and shameful traffic in stock, and put stripes on many who were found to be implicated in the work, as well as on those who actually carried it on. Men who in the stress of passion or in more calculating moods took human life found in him a relentless pursuer, and few offenders there were who failed to be summoned to the bar of justice during the regime of Marcellus Carpenter. Counterfeiters no longer pursued their nefarious busi- ness with any degree of safety of success, and many of the most noted gangs in the history of the state saw their undoing as the result of his well-directed activities. These constituted some of the chief features of one of the busiest and most successful administrations of the office of sheriff in Lamar county and gained for Mar- cellus Carpenter a leading place among the strongest peace officers of the state.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 56

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