A history of Texas and Texans, Part 74

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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Outside of his profession the senior Dr. Graves made some highly successful ventures in business affairs. It was he who promoted and built the San Antonio Union Stock Yards, and also the packing houses now known as the Union Meat Company. Of the latter concern he was for a long time sole owner, but finally disposed of the Union Meat Co. and a one-half interest in the Union Stock Yards. He was one of the charter members. of the San Antonio Club, and had a prominent part in various other civic and social organizations, also was a member of the county and state medical societies. and the American Medical Association. An esteemed and representative citizen of San Antonio, his death after a short illness closed a career of great usefulness. Dr. Amos Graves, Sr., was married at Lexington,

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Missouri, in 1869, to Miss Georgia Riley Smith, who was born in Missouri and died January 16, 1914, at the age of sixty-five. There are three children: Dr. Amos Graves Jr., born in 1870; Miss Jane Smithie Graves; and Olive, wife of Major George Martin of the U. S. A.

Dr. Amos Graves, Jr., whose birthplace was Lexington, Missouri, spent his boyhood and youth at San Antonio, attended the public schools, and is a graduate in medi- cine from the University of Pennsylvania, having been a member of the class of 1892. For the past twenty-two years he has enjoyed a large and general practice as a physician and surgeon at San Antonio, and his of- fices are in the Moore building.

HOMER EADS. The training school of railroad system and discipline is constantly graduating men of excep- tional executive power into other fields of commercial affairs. It was from an eventful career in the railway service that Homer Eads, after resigning from the posi- tion of superintendent of the International and Great Northern Railway in the fall of 1911, turned his ex- perience and broad ability to insurance. Mr. Eads is now president and active head of the Southwestern Casualty . Insurance Company of San Antonio.

It should be said that it was the hardest task of his life to quit the railroad, with which he had been con- nected for more than thirty years. His high position in the railroad world was won entirely through his own efforts. A capacity for hard work and a determination to succeed took him from office boy to superintendent, and in that time he not only mastered the art of run- ning a railroad and managing men, but has always been successful in winning the admiration of his subordinates through his business ability and their friendship through the charm of his personalty. Beginning as an office boy at the age of nine, he became an expert telegrapher and dispatcher, was promoted through various positions to that of superintendent of the San Antonio Division, extending from Palestine to Laredo, four hundred and twenty-five miles, the longest and most important rail- road division in Texas. At the time of his resignation he received letters from Judge T. J. Freeman, then president of the road, and from all other officials and ex-officials of the company, all of them warm personal friends, many of them of long years standing. These letters express the sincere regret of the writers at Mr. Eads' resignation and contains words of the highest commendation for his ability and the unswerving fidelity and reetitude of his career as a railroad official. For the two years immediately preceding his resignation, there had not been a main line derailment on his division, a record practically unheard of in the history of railroad operation. It should also be stated that Mr. Eads never asked for a promotion or an increase in salary, these favors always came to him voluntarily from the higher officials. There was every reason why Mr. Eads could have gone much higher in railroad circles, but he had achieved the highest position possible that would permit him to live in his home city, San Antonio. He did not care to leave the Alamo city on account of the long years of association, both on the part of him- self and his family, with the business and social affairs of that community, the numerous and lasting friend- ships formed, to say nothing of the property interests which he had acquired and which he did not care to give up.

Homer Eads was born in Sumter county, Alabama, a son of Thomas and Clementine (Hight) Eads, who brought his family from Alabama to Texas in 1861, when the subject of this sketch was three months old, locating first at what was then the important river town of Port Sullivan on the Brazos in Milam county, but afterwards going to Caldwell in Burleson county. The father was a teacher by profession, and followed that calling a number of years in this state, dying at Bryan about forty years ago.

Homer Eads began his railway career as a messenger at Hearne in the office of H. M. Hoxie, who for many years had charge of the Gould railway interests in the Southwest. At that time Hearne was the southern terminus of the International and Great Northern. Mr. Eads in addition to running errands and performing the various duties of office boy, quickly learned the art of telegraphy, and was given his first responsible work as station agent at Riverside, and subsequently was promoted to the dispatcher's office in Palestine. As the construction of the road was pushed south toward the Mexican border, Mr. Eads became operator and ticket agent at Rockdale, and eventually handled the work of freight agent in the same place.

During the first fifteen years of his experience in railroading, his superiors had found that Mr. Eads could be depended upon, and possessed not only the ability to obey without question, but in a case where orders were vague or lacking entirely, had the courage to go ahead on his own responsibility and do the work or get the business. In 1887 he first became a resident of San Antonio, having been transferred to that city as com- mercial agent, with the later addition of general live stock agent. Mr. Eads has made his home in San Antonio since that time with the exception of about two years when he was called to Palestine to assume charge of the car service department with the title of assistant to the general manager and superintendent of car service. Not being satisfied to live in Palestine, at his own request he was transferred again to San Antonio, and given the title of assistant general freight agent in charge of commercial freight and live stock with headquarters at San Antonio. This position brought him very closely in touch with the great live-stock inter- ests of Southwestern Texas, and during the following years he exerted every effort to perfect conditions for the transportation of live stock, and is said to have been as much a part of the live stock interests in South- western Texas as any other one man. During his man- agement International & Great Northern originated more live-stock shipments than any other road in the state.

In February, 1907, Mr. Eads was promoted from as- sistant general freight agent and general live stock agent to the office of superintendent of the San Antonio Division of the I. & G. N., which gave him charge of the four hundred and twenty-five miles of track from Palestine to Laredo. This was one of the heaviest and most important divisions of the Texas railroad, and during the following four years Mr. Eads occupied a correspondingly increased place of influence in South- west Texas affairs. In the many years of continued service with the International & Great Northern, Mr. Eads had filled many positions, telegraph operator, sta- tion agent, train dispatcher, commercial agent, assistant general freight agent and superintendent of car service, assistant to the general manager, and later superintend- ent of the longest division of the road.

In 1911 the Southwestern Casualty Insurance Com- pany of San Antonio was organized and Mr. Eads was offered the presidency and general managership of the company, and after many months' consideration decided to accept, both for the reasons which have already been enumerated and also because of his confidence that the company had a great future. Though the company began business at the close of the year 1911, it has since made remarkable strides, and in the insurance in force, the surplus to policy holders and in the general strength and resources of the company organization it stands as one of the best companies occupying the in- surance field of the Southwest. Mr. Eads is also presi- dent of the Home Insurance Association of San Antonio and is vice president of the Southern Surety Casualty Conference.

The career of Homer Eads has not been one alto- gether of business achievements. San Antonio has no

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more enthusiastic or persistent worker for the welfare of the city, and while devoted to the growth and grow- ing prestige of the Texas metropolis, he has worked untiringly for the development of every section about San Antonio. In his position as a railway official he had many opportunities to favor San Antonio, and never neglected one and many times originated plans which would further advertise the city to the world and would be the means of bringing about improvements commer- cially and municipally. He was instrumental in getting two conventions of the Texas Cattle Growers Associa- tion held in San Antonio. The San Antonio Fair Asso- ciation numbers him as one of its organizers and a prominent official, and for some time he had charge of the Mexican features of the fair, in 1905 having gone to the city of Mexico as chairman of a committee to extend an invitation to President Diaz to participate in the fair and make an exhibit. He has also been prom- inently identified with Carnival Association, the Casino Association, and many other civic and social bodies. It was Mr. Eads who helped to bring the Hot Sulphur Wells south of San Antonio into notice as a resort and sanitarium. For eight years he served as member of the board of managers of the Southwest Insane Asylum, located near San Antonio, and devoted much time to bringing that institution to its model conditions as a publie philanthropy. In 1906 he was appointed a mem- ber of the executive committee in charge of the Chapel and Library building presented to the military post of Fort Sam Houston of San Antonio by the residents of that city, and was one of the leaders in the campaign for the raising of twenty-five thousand dollars neces- sary to complete that enterprise. Mr. Eads has done much valuable work in connection with the associated charities of San Antonio, was chairman of the finance committee two years, and on January 1, 1914, was unanimously elected president of the associated char- ities, filling the place voluntarily vacated by Dr. Frank Paschal. Prominent in Masonic circles, Mr. Eads is a Knights Templar in the York Rite and has taken thirty- two degrees of the Scottish Rite, and also affiliates with the Woodmen of the World and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He belongs to the Travis Club and the Chamber of Commerce of San Antonio. Mr. Eads has one of the beautiful homes in San Antonio, and his wife is an active leader in social circles. He has two sons and a charming daughter, Miss Helen G. Eads.

HOMER T. WILSON, JR., M. D. This is a name with prominent associations in Texas. The senior is Rev. Dr. Homer T. Wilson, noted as a minister and lecturer and one of the most prominent platform orators and public speakers in the country. The junior of the name is a young physician and surgeon of San Antonio.

Rev. Dr. Homer T. Wilson was born at Bardstown, Kentucky, March 29, 1850, was reared in that locality, and was educated in the University of Kentucky at Lexington, the university then being known as Tran- sylvania University. In that institution he prepared for the ministry, and on leaving college began his active work as a preacher and pastor of the Christian denomin- ation and occupied a number of importaut positions in the church in Kentucky. Since 1895 his home has been in Texas, and be became especially well known at Fort Worth, where he was for some time pastor of the First Christian church, and later upon the organization of the Third Christian church of the city became its pastor. Since 1901 Dr. Wilson has lived in San Antonio, having moved to that city to take charge of the Central Chris- tian church. That was a flourishing congregation and enjoyed his services as its pastor until 1905. Dr. Wilson then retired from active church work as a minister in order to enter upon what must be regarded as a larger career on the lecture platform. His work as a Chau- tauqua and Lyceum lecturer has brought him a fame Vol. IV-16

and popularity in every section of the United States, and it would be impossible to estimate the wholesome influence which emanates from a man of his power and ability. A fine orator, possessed of a magnetic pres- ence, a master of beautiful English, Rev. Dr. Wilson has chosen for the subject of most of his lectures moral and religious themes, and the titles of his best known addresses are: "America's Uncrowned Queen, "' "The Christ of History," "The Man of Galilee," "Sparks from the Anvil," "If We But Knew" and "Sculptors of Life." His work has brought him a wide circle of friends and acquaintances throughout the United States, and he is particularly popular with the traveling man. Dr. Wilson is now and has been for several years Na- tional Chaplain of the Travelers Protective Association of the United States.

Rev. Dr. Wilson married Annie Fitzgerald, aud both have their home in San Antonio. Their seven children are as follows: Dr. Homer T. Wilson, Jr., physician and surgeon at San Antonio; Edwin Barrett Wilson, who at this writing is a medical student in the University of Pennsylvania; Florence, wife of Talbot O. Bateman, well known as an artist and cartoonist with the "Dallas Morning News: " Annie, wife of Alfred Dieckmann of San Antonio; Mamie, wife of Dr. A. L. Curry, of San Antonio; Lucile, widow of Victor Hugo of San Antonio; Corinne, wife of Dr. Frank C. Beall of Fort Worth.

Dr. Homer T. Wilson, Jr., who was born at Harrods- burg, Kentucky, has enjoyed the highest of educational advantages in preparation for the practice of his pro- fession, which he began in San Antonio in 1912 and which has already brought him unusual success. He at- tended the high school at San Antonio, graduating from that school, and finished his studies in the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1906. His medical educa- tion was acquired in the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia. By competitive examination after grad- uation he was appointed on the staff of Bellevue Hos- pital in New York City, which position he held for two years.

Dr. Wilson has membership in the County and State Medical Societies and the American Medical Association.

CAPTAIN TITUS CARR WESTBROOK. One of the strong and noble characters of Robertson county was the late Captain Titus Carr Westbrook, who here maintained his home for forty years and who represented Texas as one of the valiant soldiers and officers of the Confed- eracy in the Civil war. He came to the Lone Star state as a youth and here he achieved noteworthy success as well as inviolable place in the confidence and esteem of all who knew him. He died at his home in the city of Hearne, Robertson county, on the 17th of September, 1898, and his memory is revered in the community that long represented him home and the stage of his produe- tive activities.

Captain Westbrook came to Robertson county in 1859, in company with his mother and stepfather, the latter having been Lewis Whitfield Carr, who established his residence on lands in the rich alluvial bottoms of the Brazos river, near Hearne. Captain Westbrook was born at West Point, Clay county, Mississippi, on the 1st of October, 1842, and was a son of Moses L. and Sidney (Carr) Westbrook. Moses L. Westbrook was born in Greene county, North Carolina, in 1812, and he passed the closing years of his life in the state of Mississippi. Of his children Charles A. came to Texas and was a resident of Lorena, McLennan county, at the time of his death; Captain Titus C., subject of this memoir, was the next in order of birth; and Moses L. is a resi- dent of the city of Waco, Texas. After the death of her first husband Mrs. Sidney (Carr) Westbrook became the wife of Lewis W. Carr, and they became the parents of one daughter, Sidney, who is the widow of Beverly Beckham and who resides at Hearne, Robertson county. The original American progenitors of the Carr family

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immigrated from England and settled in the South prior to the war of the Revolution. The widow of Cap- tain Titus C. Westbrook likewise is a representative of the Carr family and her husband was of distant kin- ship. Her paternal ancestor who first came from Eng- land to America settled in Nansemon county, Virginia, whence his descendants later removed to Greene county, North Carolina.

Captain Westbrook gained his early educational dis- cipline in his native state and supplemented this by at- tenting the military school at Frankfort, Kentucky, an institution in which he was graduated in 1859, the year that marked his arrival in Texas. When the Civil war was precipitated on a divided nation he was moved by definite patriotism and by loyalty to the cause of the Confederacy, with the result that, in the spring of 1862, he enlisted in Company B, Fifteenth Texas Regi- ment, commanded by Colonel Speight, M. D. Herring having been captain of Company B. Mr. Westbrook was commissioned lieutenant of his company, and his regiment, in the earlier period of its service, was sta- tioned in turn on Galveston Island and at Camp Speight, at Millican, Texas. It was thereafter ordered to Arkansas, where it was stationed at Camp Daniels until the summer or early autumn of 1862, and in October of that year he proceeded to the city of Little Rock, where it remained until just before the fall of Arkansas Post. It was then ordered to Fort Smith, Arkansas, from which point it next proceeded, under orders, to Camp Kiamish, Indiau Territroy. In 1863 the Fifteenth Texas, with its associate troops, was or- dered to Louisiana and to join the command of Gen- eral Taylor in repelling the advance of General Banks. The brigade was commanded by General J. W. Speight, Sr., General King and General Polignac, and it partici- pated in the engagements at Fordoche Bayou Road, Bayou Bourdeau, Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, Marksville, and Yellow Bayou, besides taking part in other en- gagements, of minor order, in that campaign. Captain Westbrook was slightly wounded at the battle of Mans- field, and he continued with his command until the close of the war. He was mustered out at Houston, Texas, with the rank of captain, and was acting adjutant of his brigade at the time of the final surrender of the Confederate forces, his record having been marked by utmost gallantry and by much ability as an officer. His friend and comrade, Dr. Wallace, of Waco, paid to Captain Westbrook's memory the following tribute to his status as a man and a soldier: "In camp he was modest and unassuming, kind and jovial; in the thickest and hottest of the raging battle he was cooler than most men on dress parade. Prompt to act and utterly fearless, he enjoyed the respect and confidence of his men and superior officers. Knowing him as I did, I can truthfully say that he was a friend as true and tried as Damascus steel; as a soldier and patriot, as brave and devoted as any man that wore the gray.''

In the climacterie period leading up to the war be- tween the States Captain Westbrook was an ardent supporter of the cause of his loved Southland, and he believed thoroughly in its institutions, under the in- fluence of which he had been reared, as his had been a slave-holding family and his original financial resources were derived from the sale of the negroes and other assets of the family estate after the death of his father. His entire life was one of impregnable integrity and his devotion to principle was as insistent as was his courage in defending his convictions and opinions, his nature having been essentially positive, though marked by the gentleness and consideration that typified fine breeding and the lack of bigotry and intolerance.

After the close of his long and gallant military career Captain Westbrook returned to Mississippi, where he collected what he could of his portion of his father's estate, which had suffered from the ravages of the war, his guardian having also loaned much of the money of

the estate. The funds which he received he invested in land in the Brazos river bottoms of Robertson county, Texas, where he became associated with his stepfather to a large extent in development and reclamation work, as much of his land was entirely unimproved. He be- came a successful cotton-grower, and with the passing years large and worthy success attended his earnest and well ordered endeavors. He had admirable executive and initiative ability and mature judgment, and he gained rank among the wealthy and representative agriculturists of the Lone Star state. He was one of the early farm- ers to employ convict labor in Texas, and it was a source of enduring satisfaction to him that he was able to show kindness and consideration to the unfortunate men in his employ, for his humane spirit was always in evi- dence and showed itself in both words and deeds. His military education and service made him a stickler for system and order, and the officials of the penitentiary system in Texas declared that Captain Westbrook's plantation was the best ordered and managed from the head of the Brazos river to its mouth. The Captain was most liberal and public-spirited as a citizen and he contributed much to the development and progress of central Texas, along both civic and material lines. He was the acknowledged leader in effecting the construc- tion of the Hearne & Brazos Valley Railroad, and was president of the company at the time of his death.

In politics Captain Westbrook never wavered in his allegiance to the Democratic party, and he was an ef- fective exponent of its principles. His high eivie ideals caused him to take an active part in electing good men to publie office and to support all measures making for effective government, both state and national. He was a frequent delegate to the state and county conventions of his party in Texas and was more than once impor- tuned to become a candidate for the legislature, but he invariably declined to consider such overtures with favor, as he preferred to devote himself to his personal affairs and to enjoy the associations of his ideal home.

On the 4th of December, 1878, was solemnized the marriage of Captain Westbrook to Mrs. Jennie (Carr) Randle, widow of Edward Thomas Randle. They had no children, but the Captain accorded the highest pa- ternal solicitude to the only child of his wife by her previous marriage, this child having been Mary Randle, who became the wife of Monroe Miller and who died in 1895, at Austin, Texas. She is survived by three children, all of whom reside at Hearne, Robertson county,-Monroe, Nelleen, and Randle Westbrook. The elder son chose as his wife Miss Hazel Wood.

Mrs. Jennie (Carr) Westbrook survives her honored husband and still resides in Hearne, where she presides most graciously as chatelaine of her beautiful home. She is a woman of distinctive culture and literary talent and is a most popular figure in the social circles of her home community, as well as in the organization of the Daughters of the Confederacy, in which she has been president of T. N. Waul Chapter since its organization, in 1903, besides which she is vice president of the Texas State division of the same noble fraternal order. Mrs. Westbrook is a daughter of Allen and Elizabeth (Wooten) Carr, her father having been born in Greene county, North Carolina, in January, 1807, and having removed soon after his marriage to Loundes now Clay county, Mississippi, where he became a successful planter. In 1858 Mr. Carr came with his family to Texas, and he brought with him 100 slaves. He settled near the old town of Washington, in Washington county, and there he continued extensively engaged in agricul- tural operations until just before the outbreak of the Civil war, when he sold all of his slaves with the excep- tion of a few house servants. He died before the close of the war and his remains were laid to rest on his old homestead place, in Burleson county. His wife died in Mississippi, in 1857. Concerning their children the fol- lowing brief data are available. Robert, the eldest of

Frank L. Carroll

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the number, was in California at the inception of the Civil war, but he forthwith returned to the East, after the battle of Bull Run. At St. Louis, Missouri, he gave such strenuous statement of his loyalty to the South that he was imprisoned by the Federal authorities. After his release he raised a company in Arkansas, and after a few months' service with this command he came to Texas, where he became a member of the regiment commanded by Colonel John S. Ford. With this regi- ment he served until the close of the war. He passed the closing years of his life at Hearne, Robertson county, having previously lived for many years at Bryan, Brazos county, where he was an influential citi- zen and public official. He married Mary Fahrenholt and is survived by two daughters. Martha Carr passed her life in Mississippi, where she became the wife of William MeMillan, of Aberdeen. Elizabeth Carr be- came the wife of Thomas Miller and died at Houston, Texas. Titus Carr, who died at Bryan, this state, was a soldier of the Second Texas Regimeut in the Civil war. Mrs. Westbrook was the next in order of birth. Allen B. Carr likewise served as a member of the Second Texas Regiment in the war between the States, and was orderly to Colonel William P. Rogers at Shiloh, at the time of the historic capture of the Robinett battery. He became a prosperous agriculturist of Texas and died at Bryan, Brazos county, where he had served twenty-two years as city secretary. He left a number of children. William Wooten Carr, who was for many years in the mail service in Texas, married Miss Turner, and died at Fort Worth, in 1885, leaving one son.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 74

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