A history of Texas and Texans, Part 60

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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Dr. Walker as a boy attended the Elliot Institute in Kentucky, and also a business course in the Draughon's Business College of Nashville, Tenn., finishing that por- tion of his education at the age of sixteen years. He had to work for all he got in his early days, and between the intervals of earning his way, took up and advanced himself in the study of medicine. He finally began practice on a certificate in Wichita Falls, in 1898. He entered the Medical Department of Fort Worth Uni- versity in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1897, and was grad- uated M. D. in 1900. His ambition has always been to keep abreast of all advances in the science and practice of medicine and surgery, and for this reason he has studied constantly and availed himself of the best opportunities since his graduation from medical college. In. 1909 he was at the Mayo Clinic and Hospital at Rochester, Minnesota, also attended the Clinic in 1912, and took a course in the Postgraduate School and Hospi- tal of Chicago in 1903 and another one in 1905. His first practice was at Wichita Falls, after which he spent one year in Fort Worth, and since 1901 has continued to be identified with the profession in Wichita Falls. He is considered one of the ablest physicians and surgeons of this city. He was first associated with Drs. Burnside and Coons, until Dr. Coons drew out of the firm and in 1911 Dr. Everitt Jones of Galveston became a member of the firm, which is now Burnside, Walker & Jones, Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Walker is local surgeon for the Fort Worth & Denver City Railway, having held that post since 1901, and is local surgeon for the Wichita Valley Railway, is medical examiner for several of the old-line life insurance companies of Wichita Falls, and for several of the fraternal orders. In 1901 occurred an out-

break of smallpox in Wichita Falls. Most of the phy- sicians in the city refused to administer their services to the victims, and Dr. Walker practically took charge of the situation, and handled it in an admirable fashion, during the course of the epidemic treating successfully some two hundred patients.

Dr. Walker is a member of the Wichita County, the Pan-Handle, and the Northwest Texas Medical Societies, being president of the last named at one time, also be- longs to the State Medical Society and the Southern and the American Medical Association. His fraternal affilia- tions inelude membership in the Masonic Order, Wood- men of the World, Modern Woodmen of America, the Modern Order of Pretorians, the Knights and Ladies of Honor, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His politics is Democratic. Since he was twelve years old he has attended and been a member of the Presbyterian church, and is now deacon in the church at Wichita Falls.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, June 3, 1908, Dr. Walker mar- ried Miss Mary Esther Howard, a daughter of John and Mary Ellen Howard, her father having formerly been well known in real estate circles in Tulsa. Both her parents are now deceased. The two children born to their marriage are: John Wade, born November, 1907, and died in May, 1908; and Mary Janette Walker, born in December, 1911, at Wichita Falls. Dr. Walker owns some valuable real estate in Wichita Falls, has one of the beautiful homes of the city, and has deservedly pros- pered in his profession.

JAMES WILLIAM LOWBER, Ph. D., Sc. D., F. R. G. S., F. R. A. S., etc., a resident of Texas since 1888, and for many years pastor of the Central Christian Church of Austin, Dr. J. W. Lowber is one of the most distinguished churchmen in Texas, and few men in the ministry of today have so fully realized the opportunities of their great profession, and have brought to it greater talent and accomplishments as scholars, teachers, pulpit ora- tors or church builders. A sympathetic account of the career of Dr. Lowber was written several years ago by Dr. R. J. Briggs, pastor of the First Congregational Church of Austin, and with some additions to bring the article down to date, the well phrased and interesting biography by Dr. Briggs is published in full as an ap- propriate narrative of the life and services of one whose place in Texas history can not be gainsaid :

Dr. Lowber was born in Nelson county, Kentucky. His early years were spent on a farm, face to face with nature, and in the midst of those healthful rural pursuits out of which has arisen much of the brain and brawn of our country. He early developed the faculty of observation and power of analysis, and a sensitiveness to all the objects in the world about him, which has been his distinguishing characteristics in the busy and successful career of his subsequent manhood. Blessed with a native intellect, acute and vigorous, and burning witli a passion for knowledge, he took to books as the bee takes to the flowers. The difficulties which environed his youth were transferred into the spurs of his progress, just as the head wind to the Atlantic liner gives new power to the engine by furnishing a bet- ter draught to the furnace. He soon mastered the course of instruction in the ordinary country schools of the time, and plunged into wider fields at his own instance and of his own choosing. Books of life, of art, of science, of philosophy aud of religion were eagerly sought and absorbed, his passion for knowledge being the kindling flame of his never-flagging energy. When he entered college the entire expense of which was met by himself in a most manly way, by manual labor, by teaching and preaching-so rapid was his progress and so accurate and thorough were his acquirements, that on entering the Junior class, by recommendation of the Professor of Greek, who pronounced him the most thor- ough Greek scholar among the students of the univer-

for. and Mrs. James William Lowber.

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sity, he was appointed tutor of the Greek class. With a passion for knowledge that deepened and widened by repletion, a faculty for detail and thoroughness which left no nook or cranny in the temple of any science unexplored, he laid the foundation for the clear, con- sistent, vigorous and comprehensive thinking of his after life. His scholastic attainments are somewhat amazing in this age of specialism, when the thorough mastery of one science or art is regarded as the work of a life- time. He is more or less familiar with seventeen dif- ferent languages, some of which he speaks with great accuracy and fluency. He holds certificates of gradua- tion from five universities and diplomas in the degrees of A. B., A. M., Se. D., Ph. D. and LL.D., all of which. came, not as honorary degrees in recognition of his at- tainments and his distinguished services as educator, preacher and author, but as the guerdon of his own toil, and his persistent determination to know the mean- ing aud relation of things in the wonderful universe in which God had placed him.

Though amply qualified for various professional pur- suits, on leaving the university career Dr. Lowber chose the Christian ministry as his life-work. In early life he had connected himself with the Christian church, known as the Church of the Disciples. The simplicity and efficiency of its policy, its liberal ideas, the large freedom of thought of which it admits in questions of ceremonial and dogma, made the ministry of this church an inviting field to one who was a student and investiga- tor, and who felt the moral imperative of freedom to preach and publish his conclusions.

As a preacher, Dr. Lowber has been eminently suc- cessful both as pastor and evangelist. He has been a church-builder, both as to the creation of commodious and elegant church structures, and in organizing, en- larging and compacting into permanence the congrega- tions that worshiped within them. For some years he was pastor of the Christian church in Scranton, Penn- sylvania, at which time he was also president of the Pennsylvania Christian Conference. He served most ac- ceptably and successfully the First Christian Church of Paducah, Kentucky, and the First Christian Church of Fort Worth, Texas. In this latter relation he continued for more than five years, during which time he built up one of the strongest and most flourishing Christian churches in the state. When he began his labors the membership numbered less than two hundred; when he concluded them, a beautiful church building had been erected at a cost of about thirty thousand dol- lars, the membership had increased to nearly eight hun- dred, and in addition there were two successful missions in operation.

In 1893 the American Christian Missionary Society invited Dr. Lowber to take charge of its mission in Galveston. He began his work in Galveston with but little more than a dozen members, his capital being his faith in God, his own personal energy, and the pledge of the society to stand by him. In two years he had built a central place of worship at a cost of about eight thousand dollars, and had gathered and organized a membership of one hundred and twenty- five. The officers of the American Board complimented Dr. Lowber very highly upon this work, pronouncing it the "most quickly developed work ever undertaken by the society, " and "a star in the crown of the Ameri- can Board."

In 1896 the Central Christian church in Austin invited Dr. Lowher to become its pastor. This invitation was seconded by a number of the leading Christian preachers of the state. It was the worthy ambition of the Chris tian church in Texas to build up a strong and growing organization in the capital city, the center of govern- ment and of learning in the state. For such work Dr. Lowber was regarded as being specially equipped. With the consent of the missionary board to release him, and after he had raised the last dollar of indebtedness on

the church he had built in Galveston, he accepted the call. He began his labors in Austin in March, 1897, and the whole machinery of church life and activity, taking on new power and enthusiasm, moved forward in such rapid and substantial progress, that in April, 1899, what had been considered an impossible under- taking, became a stately consummation before the eyes of the people-one of the handsomest and most commodious stone church buildings in the city, and even in the state, was dedicated.

As a preacher, Dr. Lowber is luminous and instructive, and not without a good degree of evangelical pungency and fervor. His style is terse and clear, possessing the elegauce of simple and dignified English, without any attempt at ornate coloring or that surface glitter which can in nowise enhance the intrinsic lustre of truth, or emphasize the potency of great thoughts. He seizes his subject with an acute and comprehensive analysis which masters it in all its relations from the ultimate ramifica- tions of its roots to the flowering out of its topmost branches. He can open a luminous pathway through the confused conceptions of a text, or the tangled under- growth of a continent of speculation, as few men can. No one can sit beneath his ministry and remain unen- lightened, or fail to see that truth is supreme and has the profoundest love and reference of the preacher. That great statesman, the late John H. Reagan, said: "I go to hear Dr. Lowber for two reasons: First, I can hear him. Second, I hear something when I go." Elder T. W. Caskey, who was a frequent attendant upon Dr. Lowber's ministry, both in Fort Worth and in Galveston, said: "I think I have heard some better sermons than I ever heard Dr. J. W. Lowber preach, but, taking his sermons as a whole, he is the best preacher I ever heard. He never preaches a poor sermon." There are thou- sands of others who would corroborate this witness as true, and who cherish both admiration and love for this consecrated and energetic and able minister of Jesus Christ.

Dr. Lowber has also been distinguished and very use- ful as an educator. In 1893, he was elected chancellor of Add-Ran University, and held this position most acceptably and with increasing popularity for five years, though at the same time engaged in active pastoral work. While chancellor at the university he conducted a post-graduate department, and among the students who pursued the courses under his direction and instruction were graduates from Oxford, England; Glasgow, Scot- land; Columbia University; the University of Indiana- polis; Drake University, and other leading institutions. He has devoted fully twenty years of his life as teacher in the classroom, from the public schools to the university. In all these relations he was distinguished by the same mastery of his subject, lucid exposition, reverent appre- ciation of truth, and conscientious devotion to his work which have distinguished and made eminent his ministry. When the chancellorship of Texas Christian University was abolished, Dr. Lowber was offered the presidency. He had also been tendered the presidency of several other colleges.

In 1880 Dr. Lowber delivered a course of lectures in Richmond, Virginia, which were so popular, and evinced such a profound and critical mastery of Biblical litera- ture, that Colonel Carey and Pastor J. Z. Tyler, of the Seventh Street Christian Church, offered to raise the money necessary for his maintenance if he would estab- lish a Bible school in connection with the University of Virginia, in harmony with Thomas Jefferson's views. Afterwards he received a formal proposition from the church at Charlottesville and the Disciples of Virginia to establish the Bible school, and accept, in connection with it, the pastorate of the church of Charlottesville. This very flattering offer he was compelled to decline because of other engagements. However, he became so interested in such work that when he removed to Austin he began a course of lectures specially designed for the students

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of the university, which he continued until the establish- ment of the present Bible Chair, which was mainly due to his initiative and personal influence. For many years Dr. Lowber has lectured regularly at the Texas Chris- tian University, on scientific, philosophie and religious subjects, and his coming is always an event in the student life of the university.

As a lecturer Dr. Lowber is characterized by lumin- ousness of arrangement, scholarly method, consecutive- ness of argument, felicity of illustration, and unity and sympathy in the completed product. Things that are huddled and confused in the students' minds, as they listen to him, hasten to fall into their right relations, and harmoniously adjust themselves to right laws and principles as soon as they feel the disposing touch of his organizing mind.

It is undeniably as an author that Dr. Lowber is most widely known, for through his books he has stood upon a coign of vantage from which he has reached thousands who never heard his voice, and it is by his books that he shall speak long after his voice has been silenced in death. Dr. Lowber is a voluminous writer on subjects of art, poetry, philosophy, science, history, morals and religion, and his books have received favorable notice and comment, not only in America, but also in England and on the continent of Europe. "The Struggles and Triumph of the Truth," "The Devil in Modern So- ciety,"" "The Who and What of the Disciples of Christ," "Cultura, " and "Macrocosmus" are among his more notable works. (Since this written Dr. Lowber's latest book, "Thought and Religion," or "Contributions of Philosophy and Theology,"' has been published simul- taneously in Boston and in London.) In all his books, treating of a wide range of subjects, he evinces a perfect mastery of his subject. His analyzing intellect leaves no phase of it unilluminated, and his clear and cogent reasoning carries with it the force of conviction to the mind of the reader. While discussing so vast a range of subjects, and subjects upon which there is so wide and manifest a diversity of opinion, he is never warped by prejudice, nor made narrow by partisanism. If, when treating of great social evils, some righteous indignation burns through his terse and compact sentences against the moral apathy of society, in the presence of such in- excusable wrongs, they are never degraded by any tone or color of moral malignity. Indeed, in reading Dr. Lowher's books, one would judge that in his formative period one of the mightiest masters who exercised his great influence in forming his method of thought, was Cousin. In all his books we encounter a passion for general principles and that eclecticism which seeks to do justice to every philosophie thinker by placing his leading thought into its right relations with the results of the whole philosophie world. His effort is to interpret rather than denounce opinions which are at variance with his own, feeling that opinions will stand or fall as they are, or are not, rooted in truth of things. One has but to read his books to see that he regards the simple revelation of the truth as the one sufficient and effectual exposure and denunciation of error. It is the blazing shield of Prince Arthur, that was only to be unveiled to strike blindness to the eyes and terror to the hearts of all the Orgoglios and Duessas of evil. Some of his books have reached the seventh edition, and there is yet no appearance of any decrease in the demand for them.

Dr. Lowber's varied and accurate scholarship, and the merit of his contributions to different departments of science and literature, have been recognized and highly commended, not only in his own country, but abroad. A. Wilford Hall, who was an able and original writer on scientific and philosophie themes, and so long editor of the Microcosm, thus speaks of Dr. Lowber as one of his valued contributors: "He became an early contribu- tor to the Microcosm, and his terse and elegantly written, philosophie papers we are proud to point to still, as

among the finest specimens of logical reasoning to be found in those volumes. "

In 1896, Dr. Lowber was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and in the same year was elected a Fellow of the Royal Educational Institute of Scotland. In 1897 he received the degree of Doctor of Political Science, with the highest honors, from the University of Wooster, Ohio. He is also a Doctor of Philosophy of Syracuse University, New York. He was a member of the Congress of Arts and Sciences which met in connection with the Universal Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1904. In 1905 he was elected a mem- ber of the Royal Societies Club of London, England. This is the most noted literary and scientific club in the world. (Dr. Lowber in July, 1913, was elected for mem- bership in the Authors Club of London, England.) In 1906 he was made a Fellow of the American Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science. During the same year he was elected a member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. In March of the same year he was elected a member of the Italian Mathematical Society. In November of the same year he received the diploma of the Astronomical Society of France. In 1907 he was made a Fellow of the Society of Antiquarians of Scotland, a society established by royal charter, and one of the oldest and most noted in the world. In 1908, at the annual meeting of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, out of fifty new members elected, Dr. Lowber was one of only four who were awarded the diploma of Fellow. This diploma is consid- ered of equal value to Doctor of Science in any one of the great universities. Dr. Lowber is also a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a member of the Royal Society of Arts in London. (Dr. Lowher is a life member of Hill City Lodge, A. F. & A. M .; is Ex-prelate of the Knights Templar; a thirty-second degree Scot- tish rites Mason, and a member of Ben Hur Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He is an Ex-chief Patriarch of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a Past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, and an ex-Chaplain and Life member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.)

Thus the honors of his own and of other lands have rained upon this accomplished man of letters, and con- sistent champion of the truth, almost "as thick as leaves in Valombrosa." These are commanding testimonials to the merit of his works, and to his worth as a man, and a sufficient guarantee that his work shall live after him. Dr. Lowber wears this vast and glittering accumulation of honors with all the guilelessness of a child, and no one could ever suspect, on encountering him in the daily and devoted discharge of his pastoral duties in Austin, that his name is mentioned admiringly in the great lit- erary and scientific societies over half the civilized world. But it is here that we discover the chief attraction of the man. The man is ever greater than his work. Char- acter is the culminating dignity and glory of human life. And Dr. Lowber has so long looked into the mirror of the Master that he has caught the same image, and grown into it from glory to glory, as by the spirit of the Lord. Every attribute and faculty of the man, every honor and distinction which have come to him by the just and admiring recognition of his fellows, have all been woven into a votive wreath, and hung upon the cross of Christ. He is first of all a Christian man, a devoted disciple of Jesus Christ, exclaiming, as Paul did: "I count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ my Lord. "

In his book "The Struggles and Triumphs of the Truth, " is found the following dedication by the author : "To my wife, Maggie P. Lowber, who sympathizes with and assists me in all my literary work." And opposite the title page of that same book appear the likenesses of Mrs. Lowher and Dr. Lowber. There is a fitness in this association which finds its explanation in the ancient law: "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make

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a helpmate for him." She has been his right hand in all his vast and diversified labors. She has sat by his side far into the small hours of the night, reading aloud from pondrous volumes of art, literature, philosophy and science, pouring their varied grist into the ever-waiting and capacious hopper of his intellect, to be ground out into fresh products of evolution and of beauty, until she has become almost as learned as her distinguished hus- band. Though she shares not the fame of his books in the world's eyes, yet she is vitally interwoven with them all, so much so that had Mrs. Lowber never been, per- haps the books should not have been. She has been of vital help to him also in his pastoral work, and on the lecture platform has won more plaudits by her grace- ful and animated elocution than the Doctor has by his lectures, so brimming with facts and useful knowledge, and so inspiring in their appeal to all that is best and noblest in humanity. (Mrs. Lowber's maiden name was Maggie Pleasant DeBaun, and she was born in Kentucky. She received the degree of Master of Arts from the Texas Christian University while Dr. Lowber was chancellor of that institution, and has taken post- graduate work in the University of Texas, being also a graduate from the Texas School of Oratory.)

In 1907, these two, Dr. and Mrs. Lowber, made an extensive tour through Europe, visiting nearly all the leading countries and cities of Great Britain and the Con- tinent. They were both eminently fitted, by their wide and varied reading, to enjoy and profit to the full by the great privileges and opportunities of such a trip. They returned in the fall to resume their work in the Central Christian Church, where they are both honored and beloved, and where they have accomplished a work that shall abide the test of the last day.

Although Dr. Lowber has taught from the common school to the presidency of a college and chancellor of a university, and has been a pastor more than thirty years, he was never a candidate for any position in his life. The colleges and churches have sought him, and not he them. Thus far he has added to the church (up to the close of 1913) 12,437 persons, more than one-half of whom were by baptism or restoration. Several years ago he started a social reform movement, which has met with encouraging success. More than thirty thousand persons have accepted his social reform pledge (up to the close of 1913), and resolved to live higher social and spiritual lives. He is now a lecturer at different colleges and universities.

OTTO STEHLIK. Mr. Stehlik is one of Wichita Falls progressive and energetic business men. He started out in life a poor boy, and then went into the business world without any capital. Since then through his energy he has become one of the leading real estate brokers of Wichita Falls, and is very loyal and energetic in behalf of every movement for the betterment and im- provement of this splendid commercial center of North Texas.

Otto Stehlik was born at West, McLennan county, Texas, December 26, 1881. He belongs to a family of Bohemian-Americans, a class of people who are noted for their sturdiness, industry, and strong mental char- acteristics. Joseph Stehlik, his father, was born in Moravia, Austria, and came to America at the age of nineteen years settling in Colorado county, Texas. He married Miss Theresa Marek, who was born in Bohemia, was twelve years old when her parents came to Texas, in which state she was educated and married. Her death occurred in 1895 at the age of forty-two years. The father was engaged in stock raising in Colorado county, later moved to McLennan county, which was his home until 1911, and now resides in Wichita Falls at the age of sixty, being retired from business. Of the three chil- dren, Otto was the second. He attended school in Mc- Lennan county, but when a boy lett his books in order to take up the practical work of life, and filled various

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 60

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