A history of Texas and Texans, Part 57

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 57

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In 1908 Mr. Carpenter retired from the office of sheriff, and for a time thereafter was engaged in various activ- ities. He invested in Paris real estate at a most timely season for his own well-being and pecuniary advantage, and in 1910 the situation was so favorable to his plans that he decided upon a venture he had been turning over in his mind for some little time, and engaged in the

furniture business in Paris. Prosperity has thus far at- tended his efforts, and he occupies the place of a suc- cessful business man in Paris today. Candor and fair- ness are qualities that shine resplendent in his every ac- tion, and no man in the county has a more stable or en- viable reputation for honor and integrity than has he. His career has been one of the most worthy order, and the success that has attended his efforts is well worthy of the name, and Lamar county will long remember him as an official who did much for her honor and distinction during the fifteen years of his service.

Mr. Carpenter has been twice married. On February 21, 1892, he married Miss Josie R. Thomas of Paris. She died on October 28, 1898, leaving two children- Bessie A. and Marcellus. His second marriage occurred on August 25, 1904, when Lola Phillips, the daughter of L. B. Phillips, became his wife. The children of the lat- ter union are John Mead and Clara Aileen Carpenter.

ROLLIN W. RODGERS. For nearly a quarter of a cen- tury Mr. Rodgers has been engaged in the practice of law at Texarkana, Bowie County, and he has won dis- tinction and success in his chosen profession. His close attention to business and integrity of purpose has caused him to be recognized as one of the representative mem- bers of the bar of Northeastern Texas. His loyalty to the fine, old Lone Star State is vitalized by his being one of its native sons and a scion of one of its old and honored families.

Mr. Rodgers is one of the progressive and public- spirited citizens of Texarkana, which has been his home since his boyhood days and which he has seen advance from a mere frontier hamlet to one of the most at- tractive and prosperous cities of this section of the state.

Mr. Rodgers was born at Jefferson, the judicial cen- ter of Marion County, Texas, on the 30th of September, 1867, and is a son of Colonel Robert W. and Frances (Montgomery) Rodgers, the former of whom was born in the state of Tennessee and the latter in Missouri. Colonel Rodgers accompanied his parents on their re- moval from Tennessee to Southwestern Missouri, and in that state his parents passed the residue of their lives, his father devoting the major part of his active career to agricultural pursuits. At the inception of the war he- tween the states, Colonel Rodgers subordinated all per- sonal interests to tender his aid in defense of the cause of the Confederacy. He was appointed by Governor Claiborne F. Jackson as Division Inspector of the Sev- enth Military District of Missouri on June 12, 1861. He was in the engagements at Oak Hills, or Wilson's Creek, Mo .; Pea Ridge, Ark., etc., and then went to Memphis, Tenn. Under orders of General Price, Col. Rodgers went to Jordan's Saline, now known as Grand Saline, in Van Zandt County, Texas, to establish and operate the salt works, the products of which were used by the Confed- erate armies. He handled this enterprise with vigor and efficiency and continued in active supervision of the works until the close of the war. On the lands then worked by him has since been developed one of the ex- tensive and important industrial enterprises of Texas.

After the close of the war, Colonel Rodgers, who had previously been engaged in the lumber business in Mis- souri, decided to establish his permanent residence in Texas, with whose resources, advantages, and attractions he had become much impressed. He accordingly located at Jefferson, Marion County, where he erected and equipped a sawmill, to which he continued to devote his attention until 1874. His success was on a parity with his energy and progressive policies. In the year men- tioned he removed to the new and promising little village of Texarkana, Bowie County, where he became a pioneer citizen and a leading business men. Here he engaged in the manufacture and sale of lumber, and with the rapid development and growth of the town he built up a substantial and profitable business. He personally con-

JR. Briggs

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tributed in generous measure to the social and material upbuilding of the town. His was the first frame house built in Texarkana, and the building is still standing, at the corner of Third Street and Maple Street.

Colonel Rodgers gave freely of time, effort, and means to fostering the development and progress of Texarkana, and his death, in 1884, was uniformly regarded as a great loss to the thriving little city, as well as being a source of deep regret and sorrow in the community, to whose every interest he had been signally loyal. His widow still survives, and resides in Texarkana. Of this family, there are now living two daughters (Mrs. W. J. Moroney, at Dallas, Texas, and Miss Frances G. Rod- gers, at Texarkana) and four sons. Besides the subject of this sketch, they are Thos. F. Rodgers of Collins- ville, Texas, engaged in the banking business; Joseph D. Rodgers, Manager of Moroney Hardware Company, Dallas, Texas, and Leo Rodgers of the Rodgers-Thomas Sales Company, Dallas, Texas, Manufacturers' Agents for electrical machinery, etc.

Rollin W. Rodgers was a lad of about seven years at the time of the family removal from Marion County to Texarkana, and to the schools of the new village he is indebted for his early education, which was supplemented by an effective course in College at Bowling Green, Ken- tucky. In preparation for the work of his chosen pro- fession he began reading law under the able preceptor- ship of the well-known firm of Todd & Hudgins of Tex- arkana, and later he continued his studies in the law department of the historic old University of Virginia, at Charlottesville. Upon passing a most creditable exam- ination, Mr. Rodgers was admitted to the bar of his na- tive state at Texarkana in the year 1889, and here he began the active practice of his profession. He was first associated with the firm of Todd, Hudgins & Rod- gers (afterwards Todd & Rodgers) until 1897. He has appeared in much important litigation in the courts of this section of the state and has handled some of the hardest fought cases, involving the construction of the Interstate Commerce Act, in the U. S. Courts of this District.

He is now senior member of the well-known and repre- sentative law firm of Rodgers & Dorough. Mr. Rodgers was for six years the efficient and valued incumbent of the office of City Attorney of Texarkana, and while he has been a zealous and effective worker in behalf of the cause of the Democratic party, he has not sought public office of political order.

In the year 1892 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Rodgers to Miss Mattie Lee Hudgins of Marshall, Texas, her birthplace. Mrs. Rodgers is a daughter of the late Captain William P. Hudgins and Harriet (Kirk) Hud- gins. Captain Hudgins was a son of Colonel Thos. Hudgins of Mathews County, Virginia. At the begin- ning of the Civil war he was conducting an Academy in Northumberland County, Virginia, from whence he en- listed in the Army of Virginia. He was wounded at Malvern Hill, Virginia, and while convalescing in Rich- mond became acquainted with Hon. Jno. H. Reagan, Postmaster General of the Confederate States of Amer- ica, who had Captain Hudgins appointed to a position in the Postoffice Department and directed him to estab- lish at Marshall, in Harrison County, Texas, the Post- office Department's headquarters for the Trans-Missis- sippi division of the Confederate Government. After the war, Captain Hudgins opened an Academy at Mar- shall, and for many years was one of the leading edu- cators of this part of the state. He was Special Agent of the U. S. Treasury Department under both of the administrations of President Cleveland, with headquar- ters at Galveston and San Antonio, Texas.

Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers have one son, Rollin W. Jr., who is a member of the class of 1915 in the University of Texas, at Austin, and who is a popular factor in the so- cial activities of his home city. Mrs. Rodgers is a gra- cious chatelaine of the attractive family home, and the

same is a center of generous and unostentatious hospi- tality.

JOHN RALEIGH BRIGGS, M. D. For more than twenty years a practicing physician and surgeon of Dallas, and the founder and proprietor of the Briggs Sanitarium at the corner of Jefferson and Tyler Streets, in Oak Cliff, the life of Dr. Briggs was a benefit and an inspiration to the people of his community, and in his untimely passing out, on December 28, 1907, Dallas and north Texas lost a man who could hardly be spared from the ranks of her valuable and admirable citizens. His life and work among the people of the community, in which he had been a familiar figure for so long, was of an order eminently calculated to win to him the respect and love of all, and in those qualities his life was richly endowed.

John Raleigh Briggs was born in Meigs county, Ten- nessee, March 3, 1851, and was fifty-six years of age at the time of his death. His early education was received in private schools in his native state, and at an early age he entered the Nashville Medical College, where he was graduated M. D. at the age of twenty-two. In 1874, a year after his graduation, he located at Savoy, in Fan- nin county, Texas. He soon took rank as a man of ex- ceptional ability, and built up a large general practice in Fannin county. His energy and ambition did not al- low him to remain in the ranks of the average doctor, however worthy their service, and there were frequent interruptions to his regular work in order to better per- fect himself for higher accomplishments. In 1880 he took a post-graduate course in the Missouri Medical College, at St. Louis, specializing in diseases of the eye, ear, throat, and nose. In 1882 he located at Gainesville, and the following year moved to Fort Worth, and from there to Dallas in 1886. With the exception of time spent in various medical institutions and hospitals, both in this. country and Europe, he continued in the practice of med- icine at Dallas until his death.

Dr. Briggs studied abroad at various well-known medi- ical centers, including Edinburgh, Berlin, Paris, and elsewhere, most of his studies abroad being directed to the treatment of tuberculosis. He was an ardent advo- cate of the tuberculine treatment. It was as a result of this preparation and post-graduate studies that Dr. Briggs established at Oak Cliff his sanitarium in 1896. This institution, through his ability and effective man- agement, was listed high above the ranks of private san- itariums, and during the eleven years of his management thousands of cases came under his supervision. About sixty per cent of the curable cases resulted in recovery. The location of the sanitarium was on the highest point of beautiful Oak Cliff. The building formed three sides of a court, around which ran an unbroken veranda eight hundred feet in length. This inclosure made a safe- promenade for patients in all kinds of weather. The grounds were beautified with forest trees, shrubbery, and flowers and was a veritable bower of two acres in extent. A fine orchard supplied a variety of fruit in season. The architecture was perfectly adapted to the most modern ideas of sanitation, with perfect and free ventilation both day and night. From its beginning the institution. was increased from a dozen rooms to sixty, and but for the early death of its founder the sanitarium's useful- ness to the community would have been indefinitely pro- longed. While the material facilities of the sanitarium were regarded as almost perfect, it was the magnetic personality of Dr. Briggs which acted as a continual inspiration to his patients and was the prime factor in his success. In 1909, two years after death of Dr. Briggs, the sanitarium was completely destroyed in the- great fire that swept the Oak Cliff district of Dallas, de- stroying, in all, 65 residences.

Dr. Briggs served as vice president of the National Tuberculosis Association, and was for many years prom- inent in the membership of that association. During his early residence in Dallas, and previous to his European

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trip and the founding of the sanitarium, Dr. Briggs served several terms as a member of the Dallas City Council. For two terms he was president of the council and on numerous occasions acted as mayor pro tem. How- ever, he gave up politics, saying in his humorous way that he "Couldn't mix medicine and politics." Dr. Briggs established the Texas Medical and Health Jour- nal, and for a number of years was its editor. In 1886 and again in 1NSS he was awarded the prize of one hun- dred dollars in gold offered by the State Medical Society for the best essay submitted to the committee empowered by that body as judges.

In 1877 Dr. Briggs was married to Miss Annie Carson Cooke of Cleveland, Tennessee. Of the five children born of their union, one died in infancy and John Roy in early manhood. Those still living are: Raymond, Stella, and Willie Cooke, the only son. Miss Raymond Briggs is now the wife of Dr. H. H. Ogilvie of San An- tonio, and Miss Stella Briggs is now wife of W. A. Boatman of Dallas.

Dr. Briggs, during his long practice, did an unusually large amount of charity work. It is said that he never turned away a patient on account of inability to pay. Notwithstanding his liberality in this way, he was stead- ily prosperous and made a modest fortune from his practice. For a long number of years he was a faithful member of the Baptist church, was a devout Christian, and in his community as well as in his family exemplified the finest traits of manhood and Christian character. Fraternally, he was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.

LOUIS J. CHRISTEN, City Superintendent of Schools, Laredo, Texas, is one of the active, public-spirited eiti- zens of the place, interested generally in its varied affairs. He is thoroughly qualified both by nature and training for the responsible position he holds as edu- cator in this up-to-date, progressive city.

Mr. Christen is a native of New Orleans. He grad- uated from the high school of that city, and then went to Europe, where he spent six years in study, two years in Germany, in the University of Bonn, and four years in France, a student in the Besancon, near Paris.

Laredo, Texas, has been Mr. Christen's home since 1882. He was Mayor of the town for ten years pre- vions to becoming Superintendent of the City Schools, which latter position he has held since 1904. Under his administration the public schools of Laredo have made great progress. This is especially notable in the new high school building, which was built in 1910, at an approximate cost of $35,000, one of the bandsomest and best equipped in the State. It is constructed of brick and stone and is thoroughly fireproof; has two stories and basement and contains eighteen large reci- tation rooms, besides an office and a library, and accom- modates an aggregate of one thousand pupils. The citizens of Laredo have just canse to feel proud of their handsome school building and the wholesome con- dition of their schools.

Mr. Christen has for some years been interested in agriculture, special lines of which he has made scientific study. He owns and supervises a fine onion farm near Laredo.

Fraternally he is identified with the B. P. O. E., of which he is a past Exalted Ruler. His religious faith is that of the Catholic Church. Mr. Christen's wife was formerly Miss Stella M. Burbank. She is a native of Southwest Texas and they were married at Laredo.

GEORGE WALTON LANIER SMITH. There are probably few individuals in Texas who during their careers have been intimately associated with more of the great fig- ures in our national political history of the past several decades than has George Walton Lanier Smith, post- master at Henderson and a citizen of Texas sinee 1874. Although he himself has not been a seeker after prefer-

ment in the political arena, save as an influence, he is nevertheless widely known in the ranks of the Republican party in Texas and his aid is eagerly sought by those whose ambitions have led them to desire the honors of office. Mr. Smith was born at Quitman, Mississippi, September 27, 1857, and passed through the youthful or- deal of securing an education before he left his native state. His father, the Hon. Charles A. Smith, was a distinguished citizen of that commonwealth for many years and, as a scholar and gentleman, measured up to the standard of elegance represented by the personali- ties of the Lees, the Gordons, the Davis's, and other great leaders of the chivalrous age of the South.

Judge Charles A. Smith was born in Maury county, Tennessee, iu 1826, and was a son of Richard F. Smith, an affluent planter of the Old Dominion, who went into Maury county, Tennessee, from Virginia about the year 1800. The latter belonged to the royalty of the South, his intellectual attainments, his many negroes, and his great wealth combining to give him such a distinguished classification. He married Miss Lucy Lanier, his social and intellectual counterpart, and they passed their lives in the enjoyments of their independence, their friends, and their own family. Their children comprised four sons and two daughters. Charles A. Smith early displayed an inclination to explore the fields of learning, and his parents accordingly supplied him with a tutor and kept him in the classical centers of Europe, especially in Athens, until he became a renowned scholar. He knew Greek, Latin, and Hebrew as only the masters know these languages, and when he reached his majority it was with a thorough and finished education. He chose as his life work the law, and studied the subject under old Judge Nicholson of Tennessee, and was required to confine hin !- self to the Bible, Shakespeare, Webster, and Blackstone, and no man came to know them better than did he. Judge Smith first selected his home at Jackson, Mississippi, where he was admitted to the bar. He attained to such heights in his profession as to win the admiration of leaders of thought and action all over Southern Missis- sippi, where he practiced his profession, and when the clash between the two opposing sections of our country came he threw himself into the fray as one of the "fire- . eating" class of secessionists and acquired a leadership in formulating the plans for the confederation of the slave states. His advice and counsel were invaluable, and it was his province to serve the South rather in minis- terial or ambassadorial capacities than in the military arm of the Confederacy. When the struggle ended he was found by the military government of the United States occupying the office of district judge and was deposed when he refused to take the ironclad oath and subsequently suffered imprisonment at Dry Tortugas because of his lack of allegiance. Upon being restored to his liberty, Judge Smith resumed his profession, and for a time was a partner of Admiral Raphael Semmes, of the Confederate navy, in the practice of law at Mo- bile. In 1874 he came to Texas and settled in Hen- derson, a physical wreck from overwork and exposure. He died in 1875, an unreconstructed man.

Judge Smith married Miss Lucy Arrington, a daugh- ter of Dr. A. S. Arrington, who moved to Mississinni about the year 1851, and died in 1886, when ninety-two vears of age. Doctor Arrington was a native of North Carolina, and married there. Mrs. Smith died in 1886, at the age of fifty-five years, having been the mother of these children: Bettie, the widow of O. W. Dodson, who founded the Rusk County News, and is now a resi- dent of Henderson, Texas; George Walton Lanier, of this review; and Lucy, who is the wife of Lee Me- Knight and makes her home at Minden, Texas.

George Walton Lanier Smith has passed his life in the railroad service. He entered therein with the I. & G. N. Railway Company in 1874, as an agent, and was with the company that constructed the Overton & Hen- derson branch of the road, and during the twenty-nine

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years that he was connected with this transportation com- pany served as dispatcher, conductor, agent and traffic man at Dallas. He left the service of the company and abandoned railroad work in 1904 and returned to Hen- derson, with which town he had kept in touch during all these years. From 1904 until his entry of the Hen- derson office as postmaster in 1912, he was engaged at Dallas, Texas.

Notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Smith was brought up under an influence at swords' points with Republic- anism as viewed from the standpoint of the war, he chose his political home with the Republican party be- cause of the American principle of protection, and east his first presidential vote for General Garfield in 1880. At every national election since he has maintained his allegiance to that party, and dropped his ballot for each quadrennial nominee. It was his inclination to partake of the excitements of political campaigns that led him to accept place on state and national delegations for conven- tion work, and few conventions in Texas during the last thirty years have deliberated in the interest of the party and the nation without his presence and his voice. He was a member of the state committee for fifteen years and was the nominee for Congress for the 3rd distriet in 1906 and opposed Judge Gordon Russell with the usual Republican results in Texas.

In national politics Mr. Smith soon came to know many of the leaders personally, for he began his attend- ance upon national conventions as early as 1880, when he heard the speech of Conklin, placing General Grant in nomination for the presidency for the third time and the classic effort of Garfield performing in a like honor for John Sherman-which effort caused Conklin to send him a note of congratulation as the "dark horse of this convention." He was a delegate to the conven- tion of 1884 which nominated "that great warrior, that plumed knight from Maine," who fell a victim to "rum, romanism and rebellion," and Grover Cleveland went into the White House chair. He also attended the con- ventions of 1904, when he assisted to nominate Theo- dore Roosevelt, and 1908, when he did a like service for Mr. Taft. Although he has rubbed elbows with national personages, has advised with the leaders at Washington and has done big things politically, Mr. Smith is an unobtruding man and dislikes to put himself forward. Personally a well-preserved man, rosy and rugged with health and evidently standing for the good things of life, he is an interesting conversationalist and a man well informed upon a wide range of subjects.

Mr. Smith was married at Henderson, Texas, January 15, 1880, to Miss Mary Claiborne, daughter of James C. and Sarah (Akin) Claiborne, people from Tennessee. Mr. Claiborne was a farmer and merchant, and six chil- dren comprised his family. Mr. Smith's children are as follows: Lanier Charles, a civil engineer at Alvin, Texas; James C., a conductor on the I. & G. N. Rail- way, at Mart, Texas; Ben W., assistant postmaster at Henderson; and Sarah W., wife of E. Arnold MeManus of Houston; Lenore and Ada.

WILLIAM A. HINNANT. sheriff of Jim Wells county, a position which he has held since the county came into existence May 9, 1911, is one of the most progressive and prominent citizens of Alice, Texas, one who has pros- pered in business, and has earned success in publie life by his enterprise, natural sagacity, and well-established reputation for integrity and courage. It is a pleasure to bear testimony to his real worth, a testimony that unmistakably voices the sentiments of the entire com- munity .. Mr. Hinnant was born in Gonzales county, Texas, in 1852, and is a son of John and Naney (Hund- son ) Hinnant.

John Hinnant was born in North Carolina, and there spent his early years, in young manhood moving to Mississippi, where he met and married Nancy Hudson, who had been born and reared in that State. About

1844 or 1845 he came to what was then the Republic of Texas, locating in Gonzales county, and there took up the lite of a cattleman on the wide open range. He con- tinned successfully in Gonzales county until 1857, at which time he moved to Nueces county, and settled on the range on the Nueces river, about twelve miles from the county seat of Corpus Christi. He continued his operations in raising and shipping cattle, became sue- cessful in his business, and when he died was known as one of his community's prominent and highly re- spected citizens.

William A. Hinnant secured instruction in the public schools of Gonzales and Nueces counties, and was reared to the life of the range. When still a lad he began assisting his father as a cowboy, making long trips over the trails with large herds of cattle, often as far as Kansas. He was an active participant in the stirring history of the cattle business in the days of the great open range, ending in the early '80s, and assisted in no small manner in the development and progress of his section of the country. He continued to have his home in Nueces county until the present county of Jim Wells was formed out of the western portion of Nueces, when the geographical change made him a resident of the new county. Jim Wells county was organized and began its existence on May 9, 1911, and on that date Mr. Hin- nant became, by election, the first sheriff of the new county. Subsequently, in the regular election of Novem- ber, 1912, he was elected to succeed himself for the regular term of two years. A man of courage, sagacity and high ideals as to the responsibilities of publie serv- ice, he has given the publie splendid service, and his record is one to which he may point with pride. He has had at all times the support and co-operation of the law-abiding element, and his success in bringing male- factors to justice has made him justly feared by the criminals of this section. In addition to the duties of sheriff, he combines those of tax collector, and his serv- ices in this office have also been above reproach.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 57

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