A history of Texas and Texans, Part 72

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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At Fort Davis, May 15, 1895, Mr. Weatherby married Miss Lovey Chadborn, daughter of J. R. Chadborn of Fort Davis. They are the parents of five children, three daughters and two sons, namely, Early, Joseph, Lela, Dorothy and Jessie.

Judge Weatherby inclines toward the Presbyterian faith, while his wife is one of the very active mem- bers in the church of that denomination in Fort Davis. Fraternally he is a prominent York Rite Mason, being affiliated with the degrees from the Blue Lodge to the Commandery, and has filled all the chairs in the Blue Lodge. He is also a member of the Odd Fellows. His politics is Republican, and he has been for many years active in that party organization.

Among his diversions baseball is conspicuous and he also enjoys good entertainments in the theatrical line. Though a resident of Texas all his life, and with no basis for comparison with other states, it is the opinion of Judge Weatherby that as a place for a man to

settle and make a home, Texas is good enough for any one. He has himself been very successful and influen- tial, and it has always been his aim to promote the general progress of his community while forwarding his own prosperity.

LESLIE WAGGENER, eldest son of Stokley T. and Eliza- beth (Ross) Waggener, was born September 11, 1841, in Trenton, Kentucky, but spent the larger part of his life in the neighboring town of Russellville, where he graduated from Bethel College before entering Harvard. He graduated from Harvard with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1861, and soon after returning home enlisted in the Confederate Army.

He was a member of the famous "Orphan Brigade" with General John C. Breckenridge as commander. He was shot through the body at Shiloh and reported among those who were mortally wounded, but his life was saved by the faithful and devoted care of a family serv- ant whom he had with him. After a number of months he recovered sufficiently to rejoin his command and was present in the many battles in which it took part, being slightly wounded at Chickamauga. He took part in the one hundred days' march and fight from Dalton to At- lanta, Georgia. The brigade left Dalton May 7, 1864, with one thousand one hundred and forty men and reached Atlanta one hundred days later with two hun- dred and forty; there being only forty in the entire command free from a bullet mark.

After the surrender under General Joseph E. John- ston in May, 1865, he returned to his home in Kentucky, expecting to prepare himself for the practice of law. Changed conditions making this impossible, he accepted in 1866 the position of principal of the preparatory department of Bethel College.

On June 27, 1867, he was married to Miss Fannie Pendleton, daughter of Dr. J. M. Pendleton and Mrs. Catherine (Garnett) Pendleton. Dr. Pendleton was a prominent minister of the Baptist church, author of a number of books, and lived the greater part of his life in Kentucky.

In 1870 Dr. Waggener was placed at the head of the newly established school of English at Bethel College, and in 1873 succeeded Dr. Noah K. Davis, as chair- man of the faculty, Dr. Davis having been called to the University of Virginia. He was made president of the college in 1876, and held that position until the fall of 1883, when he resigned to accept the position of Professor of English and History in the first faculty of the University of Texas. A year later he was made chairman of the faculty, and was elected to this position each year for ten years. During the last year of his life he served as president. His death occurred at Manitou, Colorado, August 19, 1896.

Dr. Waggener was one of the most widely known and successful educators in Kentucky, and nearly every town or hamlet in that state has one or more successful professional or business men who are indebted to him for their education. The late Dr. Noah K. Davis of the University of Virginia, who knew him intimately during the time Dr. Waggener was connected with Bethel College, and was his life long friend, writes of him as follows:

"As a soldier he was patriotic, brave, devoted to duty and ever in the front. As a teacher he was dili- gent, faithful and successful. To his professorship he brought generous culture, broad scholarship, thorough acquaintance with English literature, a critical knowl- edge of languages, and an enthusiasm that awoke a lively response in his pupils. As a president he dis- played fine executive abilities and disciplinary skill, feeling a deep interest in the welfare of every student, and impressing upon all his own high standard of per- sonal honor. As a friend he was faithful and true; as a husband and father he was teuderly sympathetic and affectionate."'

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The best work of his life, that of his maturer years, was done in the University of Texas. Of this work there can be no better judges than those with whom he was closely associated, those who knew something of the difficulties that he met and overcame during those first hard years when the State University was young and its future uncertain.

The following, taken from the report of a committee of the faculty, composed of Dr. Morgan Callaway, Dr. David F. Houston, and Hon. R. L. Batts, gives some idea of his work as a teacher, a writer, and the executive head of the university.

"When he first came to the University of Texas, Dr. Waggener was professor of history as well as of English literature. And, although this continued but a few years, it lasted long enough to give Dr. Waggener an unusually wide knowledge of history, a knowledge that enhanced his mastery over English literature, in which latter subject, of course, he did his chief work. While deeply read in English literature as a whole, Dr. Waggener was in a very special sense a profound student of Burke, Ruskin and Carlyle among the prose writers, and of Shakespeare, Milton, Browning and Ten- nyson among the poets. Each year he gave a course of lectures on two or more of these bis favorites, and his hearers were always enthusiastic in their commendation. He left a set of lectures upon these and other authors that, had he lived, he would doubtless have revised and published.

"Despite the pressing duties of his dual position as professor and chairman, Dr. Waggener managed to publish a number of lectures and addresses. But excel- lent as these works are in their way, they do not ade- quately represent the powers of their author, who was forced to give to the chairmanship almost as many hours as to the professorship. But great as were Dr. Waggener's services as professor of English, they were overtopped, the committee thinks, by his services as chairman of the faculty, an office that, with the excep- tion of one year, he held for the last eleven years of his life. The position was peculiarly difficult, owing to the fact that the holder was vested with responsi- bility without corresponding authority. Another draw- back was this: the chairman was elected annually; and although Dr. Waggener was chosen for ten successive years, he could not foresee that such would be the ease, and if he could have foreseen it, he had not the authority definitely to plan for the future. Presiding over faculty meetings, delivering addresses, caring for the discipline of the institution, conducting the cor- respondence, preparing reports for the board of regents, responding to special calls for information and for sug- gestions concerning the policy of the university-all these duties made heavy demands upon him. but de- mands that were always promptly met. When Dr. Wag- gener was first elected chairman the university was in its infancy, and naturally his mind was occupied with questions of organization. Among the specific measures with which Dr. Waggener was especially identified, and which have greatly contributed to the upbuilding of the university, may be mentioned the following: The aban- donment of the practice of diverting five thousand dollars from the university fund for the support of the State Agricultural and Mechanical College; the pay- ment by the state of one hundred and twenty-five thou- sand dollars to the university in settlement of a long standing indebtedness; the appropriation of a portion of the general revenue to the support of the university; the appropriation of a part of the indemnity fund received from the United States to the construction of the university buildings, the constitution inhibiting ap- propriations from the general revenue for this pur- pose; the substitution of the presidency for the chair- manship; the turning over the management of the uni- versity lands to the board of regents; the establish- ment of the system of affiliated high schools; and the enlargment of the academic faculty.

"Highly intellectual was the cast of his mind. He was ever thoughtful, and could always give a reason for the faith that was in him. He had definite aims and expressed them forcibly. Few writers have been blessed with a clearer style; few have pressed their measures with equal persistency; and fewer still have been so successful in having their measures enacted into laws.

"As to traits of bis character, one must have been im- pressed with Dr. Waggener's remarkable self-control. Amid the many vexations of his executive duties he held himself well in hand-a result at once of his strong com- mon sense and his high ideal of justice. He was co- operative, too, with colleagues, regents, and all who had at heart the interests of the public schools. As often as possible be attended conventions, wrote for the jour- nals, and delivered addresses. One of his colleagues, that knew Dr. Waggener most intimately, writes; 'His modesty seems one of his finest traits, and the finer be- cause of his worth in so many ways. His daily life was an embodiment of the high principles and pure virtue inculcated by the religion that he professed. No wonder, then, that, when he felt himself in the valley of the shadow, he talked as deliberately and trustfully as if in the high noon of his strength; for in the words of his favorite author, he was

" ' "One who never turned his back but marched breast forward,

Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph,

Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, Sleep to wake."' ' ">

JOHN P. KNUDSEN. Among the successful men of Gainesville, Texas, and of this vicinity may be mentioned the name of John P. Knudsen. Coming to this country as a young man, a stranger in a strange land, with little money and no prospects, undeterred by the unfamiliar conditions, Mr. Knudsen set to work to make his for- tune. He has worked hard all of his life, and wherever he has been he has added to the value of the country, for he is constructive and has owned and improved many farms in different parts of the country. He is now retired and holds a position of respect in Gaines- ville.

Jobn P. Knudsen was born in Denmark in 1850, the son of Knud Nelson and Andrea Dorothea (Yepesen), Knudsen. Both of his parents lived all of their lives in Denmark and died there. They were the parents of eleven children and his father was a miller and farmer. Mr. Knudsen is the only member of the family who lives in Texas.

Growing up in Denmark on his father's farm, young John Knudsen was always animated by the desire to go to America. . He, however, attended school and worked on the farm until he was twenty-one years of age, when he left his home and his family and came to New York. He stayed there for a time and then went to Fair- field, Connecticut, where be worked at various things for two months. He next came to Texas and settled in Galveston, where he worked on a compress for a short time. He next came to Van Alstyne and entered the employment of the railroad company here. After a time he rented a farm near by and for a few years was engaged in farming. He saved his money carefully and, being successful, he was able soon to buy a farm in Collin county. He operated this farm, which consisted of 160 acres, for six years, then sold this place and came to Cooke county, where he bought a farm near Gainesville. He did not live on this farm very long, but sold it and bought another, where he lived for twelve years. He improved all of these places, greatly en- hancing their value, and, after selling the last men- tioned place, he bought, improved and sold a number of other farms. He has now retired from all active busi- ness, except for buying and selling a little stock oc-

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casionally. He is the owner of 600 acres of good farm land and also owns three houses and lots in Gainesville, two of which he rents at a good price. In politics Mr. Knudsen is a Democrat.

Mr. Knudsen has been twice married, his first wife being Sarah Arder, of the state of Missouri. They were married in 1882 and eight children were born of the union, namely: William, of Hardman county, Texas; Andrea, wife of Edward Robinson, of Gainesville, Texas; Thomas, who is dead; John, of Olkahoma, and Robert, James, Albert and Walker all of whom live in the latter state. In 1909 Mr. Knudsen was married for the second time, his wife being Miss Elsie Smith, who was born in Tennessee, a daughter of Chris Smith. Both of her parents were natives of Tennessee and both are dead. No children have been born of this marriage.

EUGENE C. GORDON, M. D. A physician and surgeon whose practice in different sections of Texas has been continuous for thirty years, Dr. Gordon is now a resi- dent of Columbus, is regarded as the leading surgeon and one of the ablest general practitioners in Colorado county, and is a man of exceptional capabilities and prominence both in his profession and in his civic affairs.

Dr. Eugene C. Gordon was born in what was then Tishomingo county, Mississippi, August 18, 1861. His parents were Dr. John and Mary (Henderson) Gordon, the former a native of Caswell county, North Carolina, and the latter of the vicinity of Huntington, Tennes- see. The mother's family was especially prominent in the ministry of the Presbyterian faith. Ramsey Henderson, the maternal grandfather, was active as a preacher in Tennessee, and the son of Dr. Robert Henderson of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, one of the noted divines of his time. This branch of the Henderson family is prob- ably related to J. Pinckney Henderson, who was the first governor of the state of Texas. The Hendersons moved to Tennessee at an early time, and during the early fifties settled in Tishomingo near the Mississippi where Ramsey Henderson had charge of the church. It was in that locality that John Gordon and Mary Henderson met and were married. Grandfather Gordon was a school teacher and educator. Dr. John Gordon moved with his family to Milam county, Texas, in 1878, and practiced his profession there for some years, later moving to Lorena in McLennan county, where he re- mained in active practice until his death. The mother is still living at Lorena. The late Dr. John Gordon both professionally, and in his character ranked far above the ordinary men of his day. His medical educa- tion was received at Jefferson Medical College in Phila- delphia, and he was always a great reader and thinker, possessed a very sturdy character, and was a man of strong influence in every community of his residence. Though he graduated from one of the best medical schools in the country, he had practically educated him- self during his early life. During his residence in Mis- sissippi, he took an active interest in Democratic politics and in all public affairs. He served as chairman of the county committee for more than four years and was candidate for both state senator and representative, but was defeated owing to a peculiar local condition relative to a division of the county into three counties. During the era of reconstruction he was a power for law and order and the establishment of peaceful industries in his state. During the war he went into the southern army as surgeon, and was later detached from duty and commissioned to remain at home where his services were greatly needed. His house became a hospital, in which were many sick and wounded soldiers, both of the north and south. One of his brothers served as a private in the Tennessee army.

Dr. Eugene C. Gordon is one of six children. Johnnie died in young manhood. A. M. Gordon is a druggist at Eddy, Texas; Dr. R. A .; and Preston Gordon live in

Lovena; Mrs. W: D. Whitset is the wife of a lumber- man at Victoria. As a boy Dr. Gordon attended school in Corinth, Mississippi. His medical studies were be- gun under his father's direction, after which he took a course of lectures in a Missouri medical college at St. Louis, an institution which is part of Washington Uni- versity. He then went away to his father's old school, the Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, where he was graduated M. D. in 1882. His first practice was in Free Stone county, and after two years he moved to Rockdale, and later to Falls county, where he acquired a large practice and remained twenty-four years, part of the time at Lott, and the rest at Duraugo. For three years he was at Brownwood in west Texas, for the pur- pose of recovering his health. After that he removed to Columbus, and now enjoys a large practive in this city and in Colorado county. Dr. Gordon believes in keeping up with the time in his profession. He has taken six post-graduate courses since leaving college thirty years ago, and in equipment may well stand by any of the modern practitioners of medicine. Five of his post- graduate courses were taken at Tulane University in New Orleans, and recently he completed a hospital course in New York and Philadelphia. Dr. Gordon has one of the best equipped offices, and one of the best professional libraries in Colorado county. While he has a general practice he specializes in gynecology and surgery. He has membership in the Colorado county, the Texas state and the district Medical Society and while a resident of Brown county was secretary of the County Society.

Outside of his profession, Dr. Gordon takes much in- terest in educational affairs, and is well informed on civic and social matters. He served on the Falls county school board for six years as secretary, was a member of the Board of Aldermen at Lott, and on the board of examiners for pharmacy two years. In 1885, Dr. Gordon was united in marriage with Miss Rilla White of Mis- sissippi, a daughter of I. N. White, a soldier of the Con- federacy. Mrs. Gordon's mother is now living at Temple, Texas, at the age of eighty-five. The two daughters of Dr. Gordon and wife are: Mrs. James H. Wooten of Columbus, and Miss Mary Gordon. All the family wor- ship in the Presbyterian church. Mrs. Gordon has mem- bership in the Shropshire-Upton Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Fraternally Dr. Gordon is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Wood- men of the World, being medical examiner for both orders.

I. M. PUTNAM. The two largest cities of the states of Oklahoma and Texas have many reasons to be grate- ful to I. M. Putnam for his work and his influence as a citizen and community developer. For a number of years Mr. Putnam was one of the leading public men and business executives of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City, and though now devoting most of his time and euergy to the development of properties at San Antonio and in Southwestern Texas, still retains large and im- portant interests in the former state.

While living in Oklahoma City, Mr. Putnam in 1905 bought the Hot Wells Hotel and the surrounding grounds, consisting of thirty acres, adjoining the city of San Antonio on the south. He associated with him- self others, and since 1905 they have purchased addi- tional land surrounding the original hotel site, and now have 1,000 acres, extending from the fair grounds on the north to the state's property on the south, and from the San Jose Mission on the west to the Goliad road on the east. This is a magnificent property, as any one who has ever visited San Antonio will under- stand, and it is chiefly due to the farsighted aud original plans of Mr. Putnam that its development has been undertaken on a scale which will prove extremely profit- able to the entire city as well as to himself and asso- ciates. Since 1911 he has spent most of his time in the San Antonio section and with the Hot Wells project,

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and the development of tributary territory about San Antonio have both received a large share of his busi- ness energy and attention. Mr. Putnam, in pursuance of his typical manner of handling real estate property, has waited since 1905 for an opportune time to bring the Hot Wells Hotel and surrounding land before the public. With unbounded faith in the future of San Antonio as a business center and climatic resort, Mr. Putnam awaited necessary developments on the part of the city in the building of paved streets, sewers, sidewalks, and other facilities. San Antonio has done much along those lines in recent years, and in 1913 approved issues of bonds by which millions of dollars were voted to insure the complete system of public improvements that will enable San Antonio to measure up to its reputation and its splendid opportunities as a great resort and business center of the southwest.

Following this enterprise on the part of the city as a whole, Mr. Putnam in 1914 brought his own project onto the stage of public attention. The thousand acres of land surrounding the Hot Wells Hotel is now being subdivided into beautiful resident districts, with streets and driveways from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet in width, a number of them boulevarded with parking in the centers, and the park areas being planted with palms. All modern improvements are being in- stalled. The plans of the owners contemplate making the property equal in beauty and attractiveness to the widely advertised district of California and other famous resort centers, and many people who prefer the climate of Southwest Texas to that of California and Florida will thus find here opportunities of residence suitable to their tastes and means.

Mr. Putnam, aside from the enterprise at the Hot Wells district, has for several years been directing his energies toward the making of San Antonio a great resort center, occupying a relative position in this respect to Los Angeles, in California. San Antonio has some- what the same geographical position as is enjoyed by Los Angeles. To the northwest of San Antonio are situated the magnificent and healthful Guadalupe moun- tains, with their many beautiful mountain streams, within only one to three hours' ride by rail or automobile, while to the southeast are the resorts and attractions of the Texas Gulf coast, only a half day's ride away. Thus San Antonio, besides its own unrivaled attrac- tions, offers a variety of climate and advantages suit- able to all tastes, giving every variety desired from the mountains to the sea. Mr. Putnam and associates are owners of Mt. Alamo and some other points of interest in the Guadaloupe mountains. The San Antonio and Fredericksburg Railroad was recently constructed so as to give Fredericksburg, one of the old centers of population and trade, an outlet by railway to the rest of the world, and, by means of a tunnel over nine hun- dred feet in length through the main ridge of the moun- tains, this railroad has become not only one of the picturesque highways of the state, but a magnificent railway engineering enterprise. It is the only tunnel of any note in the entire state. Near the tunnel is the townsite of Mt. Alamo, located on one of the highest points of the Guadaloupe mountain range. This is being improved as a mountain resort for Texas people. and with the completion of railway facilities it will become accessible to business men in practically every part of the state. One feature of the townsite is that every possible means have been taken to safeguard it. for the purposes of a resort for people seeking a healthful location and normal recreation, while at the same time restricting it against occupancy by tubercular patients, whose presence would endanger and detract from the value of the Mt. Alamo resort for the average visitor.

Israel Mercer Putnam was born on a farm in Early county, Georgia, December 29, 1873, a son of Jesse Mercer and Zenia (Lofton) Putnam. On his father's side he is descended from the Putnams of Revolutionary

war fame. About 1800 his great-grandfather, Israel Henry Putnam, moved from Massachusetts to Georgia, and established a plantation in what is now Putnam county and on which in 1810 was born James Madison Putnam, grandfather of I. M. Putnam. Mr. Putnam has won his success by vigilant cognizance of opportuni- ties and by exceptional energy in his important field of business activity. Until he was fifteen he lived mostly on a farm and grew up in Early, Calhoun, Miller, Pike and Coweta counties of Georgia, his native state, mean- while attending a school conducted in a one-room build- ing typical of the public school system of the rural and small town districts throughout the country at that time. Left an orphan at the age of eleven, he had to make his own way and pay for his own education, ex- cept when assisted by relatives. When fifteen he began work in an insurance office at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and a year later became a news agent, working on trains. After two years of varied employment, he re- turned to the office of his cousin, L. D. Drewry, at Chattanooga, and for the latter's assistance then and at various other times Mr. Putnam owes much of his subsequent success. He used all the intervals of his leisure time to perfect himself in his preparation for life, and finally in 1899 was graduated from Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Tennessee. After a year spent in newspaper work, Mr. Putnam took up the study of law in the University of Georgia, and graduated with his degree LL. B. in June, 1901.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 72

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