A history of Texas and Texans, Part 83

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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After Mr. Gillett had finished his hard won college course, he engaged in the sheep business, and continued in that work for about four years, when he turned his attention to the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1891, and soon thereafter began the practice of law in Silver City, New Mexico, where, as has already been mentioned, he was associated in practice with one of the most eminent New Mexico lawyers, Hon. Harvey B. Ferguson. It was in 1903 that he returned to Texas, locating at once in El Paso, and here he has achieved a success in every way worthy of the name, and one that has gained him a prominence and position that is in- dicative of the possession of a high order of ability. He has won distinction as one of the most noted criminal lawyers in the state, and it is a fact of record that during all the years of his practice in El Paso the jury only once returned a verdict of "Guilty." A remark- able instance of his unusual ability and success in crim- inal practice was an occasion when he was called to defend a man charged with a serious crime. Evidence against the accused was almost overwhelming, and Mr. Gillett was called on so short a notice that he had prac- tically no time to prepare himself for the trial. It was the belief of the court and attorney for the prosecution that the man was guilty as charged, and they were con- fident that no other verdict could be returned, but the verdict of that jury was "Not guilty." The judge himself congratulated Mr. Gillett and assured him that if he ever had the misfortune to require the services of a criminal lawyer, Mr. Gillett might consider himself retained in advance.

Mr. Gillett is a stanch Democrat and takes an active part in the activities of that body, being recognized as one of the party leaders in this section of the state, although it is a part of his plan of procedure that he never accepts publie office himself. His residence in . El Paso has been fraught with activities in the best interests of the city, and as a member of the local school board he has performed worthy service in behalf of the educational system. No more enthusiastic Texan will be found when questions of its comparative oppor- tunities are raised, and Mr. Gillett is prepared at all times to respond to any inquiries with reference to pos- sible and certain opportunities that are to be found within the border lines of Texas.

Mr. Gillett is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and bas filled all chairs in the local lodge, as well as having served as representative to the Grand Lodge of Texas. He has been twice married. His first wife died in New Mexico, and is there buried. His second

marriage took place at Silver City, New Mexico, on January 30, 1893, Miss Ruth Phelps becoming his wife, she being a native daughter of the state of Illinois. Five children were born to them-fonr sons and one daughter, named as follows: Idus, Rena, Clyde and Claude, who are twins, and Knox. The family are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church South, in El Paso, and take prominent places in the many good works of the church with which they have affiliated since lo- cating in El Paso.

Three generations of the Gillett family, which has long been identified with Texas in no uncertain manner, are thus established in El Paso, and while the activities of the subject are of a nature entirely different from the work that dominated the lives of his honored sire and grandsire, yet he is taking his place as an honored and honorable advocate of the law and as a citizen whose every instinet is in harmony with the growth and de- velopment of the best interests of his city.

J. SWAIN AYRES. Among the men who by their ac- tivities in the field of business have added to the com- mercial importance of Amarillo, J. Swain Ayres, presi- dent of the J. S. Ayers Ice Cream Company, holds prominent position. Coming to this city a poor man, less than ten years ago, he has during this time built up one of the leading industries of its kind in the Lone Star state, the business of which extends not only through- out Texas but into Oklahoma and Mexico. Mr. Ayres is a Westerner by birth and training. He was born in San Saba county, Texas, January 14, 1880, and is a son of W. E. and Josephine (Webster) Ayres.

W. E. Ayres was a native of Mississippi, and when two years of age was brought to Texas by his parents, the family settling on a ranch in Goliad county. There Mr. Ayres grew to manhood, following in the foot-steps of his father and adopting agricultural pursuits, ranch- ing and stock raising as his life work. He is now re- tired from active pursuits and is living at Clarendon, Texas, being sixty-five years of age. He was married at Goliad, Texas, to Josephine Webster, who was born and educated in Texas, and who is still living at the age of sixty-two years. She and her husband have had four sons and three daughters, J Swain being the fourth in order of birth.

After attending the public school at Mason, Texas, Mr. Ayres took up ranching, but subsequently turned his attention to dairying, which he followed at Cleburne, Texas, for one year. During the next year be divided his time between ranching and attending school, and then went to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he was engaged in dairying for two years. After six months spent in central Texas, in 1904 he came to Amarillo, where he purchased a dairy business, and this he con- ducted two years. During this time Mr. Avres became convinced that there was a field for a concern which could furnish a first-class grade of ice cream, and ac- cordingly in 1906, he began to manufacture this delicacy. His business grew so rapidly, that in 1910 he became the organizer of the Ayres Ice Cream Company, and erected the present modern buildings, which are equipped throughout with the most highly improved machinery for the manufacture of ice cream. His associate, J. W. Collins, secretary of the company, is one of the capable business men of the city, and ten experts are employed in manufacturing an excellent and wholesome confec- tion. The business is conceded to be the largest of its kind west of Kansas City, and every precaution for sanitation is observed. The credit for the growth and development of this business lies with Mr. Ayres, not only because he was able to realize an opportunity and had the courage to grasp it, but because he also has had the perseverence, enterprise and inherent ability to build it up to extensive proportions. The greater part of his attention is centered in this business, but he has also interests in stock-raising operations, for he firmly believes

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this to be one of the greatest sections for stock in the country. Like all typical Westerners, he is fond of out- door life and sports, and is never happier than when on an expedition with rod or gun. His fraternal associa- tions are with the local lodges of the Woodmen of the World and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Po- litically, he gives his support to Democratic principles and candidates, but he has had no publie aspirations. With his family, he attends the Christian church.

On April 25, 1906, Mr. Ayres was married to Miss Mary E. Baker, daughter of John Baker, of Amarillo. To this union there has come two interesting children, Ralph H., born October 22, 1907, at Amarillo, and Ruth, born September 4, 1913, at Amarillo, Texas.

REV. ROBERT E. VINSON, D.D. LL.D. As one of a family that has been distinguished by its services in the Presbyterian ministry, Rev. Robert E. Vinson, D.D., LL.D., has especially gained prominence in the work of the church, not only through his activities in a minis- terial capacity, but as president of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, to which office he was elected in May, 1909, after seven years of work in the seminary as an instructor in various branches.

Robert E. Vinson was born in Winnsboro, Fairfield county, South Carolina, on November 4, 1876, and is a son of John Vinson, a South Carolina merchant and cot- ton buyer, born in that state in Sumter county, in 1839. Andrew P. Vinson, grandfather of the subject, was a Virginian by birth, who moved to South Carolina when a boy, and who was a very prominent lawyer in the Ante Bellum days. He died in 1846. John Vinson served in the Confederate army under General Beauregard. He enlisted at the beginning of the war from Citadel Acad- emy where he was a student, and served throughout the entire four years. He was taken prisoner at Fort Sum- ter, but barring a few months imprisonment, was active in the service throughout the entire period of hostilities.

The Vinson family, it should be said, is one of the oldest in America today, the first of the name to settle on American soil having come from France in company with General LaFayette and they rendered valiant ser- vice during the revolutionary war.

John Vinson, father of the subject, married Mary Brice, who was of Scotch-Irish descent, her people hav- ing come originally from the North of Ireland, settling in the Piedmont section of South Carolina. Two of Mrs. Vinson's brothers fought under General Longstreet throughout the war, and two brothers of Jolin Vinson also gave service to the South during that unhappy time. Walker Vinson was killed in Pickett's Brigade at Gettys- burg and the other, A. P. Vinson, still lives in Sumter, South Carolina. He served with the rank of Major during the war, and is still known by his military title. Another brother, W. D., was for twenty years a profes- sor of mathematics in Davidson College, North Carolina.

To John and Mary (Brice) Vinson were born the fol- lowing children: Walter H., a lawyer of St. Paul, Min- nesota; William A .. also a lawyer, engaged in practice in Houston, Texas; John W., missionary to China; T. Chalmers, a missionary in Luebo, Belgian Congo. Africa ; Mrs. W. J. Culver, of San Antonio, Texas; Mrs. W. A. McLeod, of Austin, Texas; Miss Brice Vinson, teaching in the public schools of San Antonio; and Rev. Robert E. of this review.

Robert E. Vinson came with his father's family to Sherman, Texas, in 1887. He had his education in the public schools, followed by attendance at Austin College, from which he took his B.A. degree in 1896. In 1899 he had his B.D. degree from Union Theological Seminary of Virginia, after which he became Associate Pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Charleston, West Vir- ginia, continuing until 1902 in that connection. In 1902 Rev. Vinson took a special course in Hebrew and Archae- ology in the Divinity School of Chicago University, under Dr. Harper, and in September, 1902, he came to Austin,

Texas, as professor of Old Testament languages and Exegesis. In 1906, at his own request, he was trans- ferred to the Chair of English Bible and Practical The- ology, which he still holds, and in May, 1909, he was elected president of the Seminary, his present office.

In 1905 Austin College conferred upon him the degree of D.D., and in 1910 the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by Southwestern Presbyterian University of Clarksville, Tennessee.

Too much credit cannot be accorded to Dr. Vinson for his work along educational lines in the state of Texas. In 1909 he formulated the plan under which the Pres- byterian church in Texas has since operated its educa- tional work, and he has been chairmen of the executive agency of the Synod since 1909. This commission has under its jurisdiction seven schools in the state, and Dr. Vinson has been field secretary since that time, raising all the money for the support and equipment of the schools-a work that has won for him especial prominence in the church and out of it.

Dr. Vinson was married on January 3, 1901, to Miss Katherine Kerr, of Sherman, Texas, a daughter of John S. Kerr, a nurseryman who has been prominently iden- tified with the horticultural and agricultural interests of the state of Texas for the past quarter century. The Kerrs came originally from Scotland, as the family name would inevitably indicate, and they made their first settlement in Mississippi. The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Vinson was one of the earliest settlers in Collins county, Texas, and that district is still the recognized seat of the family. Her maternal grandfather, of the family name of Murray, was a pioneer Presbyterian Missionary to the Trans-Mississippi country of Arkan- sas and Texas, and her maternal grandmother was a Rutherford, also of Scotch descent, and a native of South Carolina.

The children of Dr. and Mrs. Vinson are Elizabeth, born December 26, 1901; Helen Rutherford, born July 9, 1906; and Katherine Kerr, born April 5, 1911.

JAMES HARVEY DAVIS. This publication will contain few more suggestive and interesting biographies of living Texans in public life than the following sketch of "Cy- clone" Davis. It is an appreciative tribute and de- scription well justified by its contents, and requires no further editorial comment.

In the domain of politics the name of James Harvey Davis, of Sulphur Springs, has a renown far beyond the limits of Texas. Mr. Davis regards himself as a private citizen and yet none of the conspicuous leaders in public affairs better deserves the distinctions and honors which have come to his career. He is a man who has reached his zenith of political influence, after years of fighting against special privilege, unfair competition, political bossism and trickery, and may properly take to himself a goodly share of the victories won in the renovation of politics during recent years. He takes special personal satisfaction in the enthronement of a national adminis- tration pledged to the execution of policies of govern- ment of which he is and has been for twenty years a leading, active and forceful exponent. Victory does not always come to the brave, nor is the race always to the swift, but a combination of the qualities of courage and speed avail much when enlisted for humanity and di- rected toward the destruction of political and economic evils. "Cyclone" Davis, as he is familiarly known, is a man of rare qualities and services in these modern times of politics.

The remote ancestors of Mr. Davis were Welsh, and the family name was originally "Davies," when intro- duced into the colonies of the south. The exact rank and station of the Welsh progenitor is not a matter of knowledge, but appeared in the Carolinas as a subject of the English king and lived to raise up a small army of posterity to help beat back the soldiers of his sove- reign. They fought under Francis Marion and with

OH Davis

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other squads and troops engaged in the Revolution, and seven great-uncles of William B. Davis, father of James H., were all engaged in the struggle for national inde- pendence.

As a family they have been civilians by nature, soldiers only to meet a publie necessity and to defeat a public calamity. The industry of the farm and conformity to the established customs of the south seem to have afforded the regular channels of their energies. As planters of the old school, they employed the labor of the bondmen, and when their title to this property was threatened they met the emergency with an offer of their lives. Strong convictions were a feature of every char- acter, and "love their neighbor" as themselves was a ruling principle of every nature.

Col. Harvey Davis, grandfather of James Harvey Davis, was born after the Revolution and passed his life in South Carolina, his home being in the Pickens District. He manifested strong characteristics as a citizen, was an enthusiastic follower of Andrew Jackson, and his posterity have brought up their sons in the same polit- ical faith. He married a Miss Barton, a daughter of one of the pioneer families of the Palmetto state, and six sons and two daughters were born of their union. Young Davis, his oldest son, was a Confederate colonel and was a member of the Georgia State Senate many years.

William B., founder of the Texas branch of this family, was born early in the century in Pickens District of South Carolina, and was married there during the forties. He reached Texas in 1857, after the manner of the early settlers of that time. He was uneducated as the manner of education is today, but had learned the essentials and was fond of reading. He possessed no ability as a speaker and evinced no ambition for a political office. He asserted an independence that is strongly reflected in his descendants, and though not a Christian in the accepted sense of the word, was a veri- table "blue stocking" in the observance of the Sabbath day. He held slaves and was a planter when the war came on. He used his influence for the success of the Confederacy, and saw his sons offer themselves as a sacrifice in the army of the gray. Although old and feeling the weight of years, he did some service upon the "old men's call" toward the end of the war. He died at Winnsboro, at the age of eighty-three, while the mother of James H. died in 1859.

William D. Davis married Miss Salina Moore, a daughter of James S. Moore, who owned a water-mill near Raleigh, North Carolina, where Mrs. Davis was born. Their children were David B., who died in the hospital as a Confederate soldier; Commodore Decatur, who at the time of his death at Anson, Texas, was dis- triet attorney; James Harvey; Warren L., of Abilene, Kansas; R. Sampson, of Sonora, California; Dr. Jeff D., of Roby, Texas; John and Jarrett, who both were cruelly slain when young men engaged in the cattle busi- ness in New Mexico; and Mrs. Ritta McGee, of Anson, Texas.

James H. Davis, subject of this sketch, was born in Pickens District, South Carolina, December 24, 1853. His memory of events did not begin until his parents reached Texas and settled near Winnsboro. This period of the war furnished a serious obstacle toward the acquirement of an education, since at that time he was giving his youthful strength toward the support and maintenance of his mother and younger children. His part in bread-winning and the situation during and fol- lowing the war called for more serions work than attend- ing school. In spite of these handicaps, he applied him- self with such vigor to study and the knowledge of books that he was in time qualified as a teacher himself. His work as school-master was as educative to himself as to his scholars, since he found it necessary to train himself thoroughly in advance of his pupils over all the ground covered by them. When finally relieved of the burdens

of home, he gave his energies full play in making up for lost time and eventually had mastered the common branches, had prospected some in the field of general literature, and also possessed himself of the basic prin- ciples of the law. The tallow candle and pine knots had served him while a student, until the invention of the oil lamp, and it is said he purchased the first glass lamp for the use of kerosene that came to Winnsboro.

He found himself ready for examination for the bar in 1879, and took his examinations before Judge B. T. Estes at Mount Vernon. Among the local talent who composed the committee of examiners, were the chair- man, Judge Baldwin, now one of the leading lawyers of Rock Port, Texas; Judge W. P. MeLean, of Fort Worth, one of the first railroad commissioners of Texas; and Hon. S. O. Moody, now of Colorado, Mr. Davis was already serving as county judge of Franklin county when admitted to practice law. After his admission he won a unique victory in the very first case with which he was connected as counsel. This case was tried before a justice and Mr. Davis was defending a man charged with drunkenness. He set up the claim in behalf of his client that the defendant owed the state nothing, and that there was no proof of "intent" to commit crime. He owed the state nothing because the state had col- lected its dues for the license which permitted the saloon- keeper to sell the liquor and make the defendant drunk and that fact, coupled with the fact that the fellow did not intend to get drunk when he took the drinks, ought to clear his client of the charge and, to the astonishment of the defense itself, it did.

Mr. Davis practiced law regularly until 1904, although the law had apparently always been more of a secondary matter with him. Nature endowed him with strong powers of speech, and his ability in debate and argu- ment and in forceful, logical presentation of facts, and native rugged eloquence, has found expression through the press and also in public debate. To bring his ideas and utterances directly before the people he bought a newspaper at Mt. Vernon, the Franklin Herald, a Demo- cratie paper, and while he affiliated with the old party he was the mouthpiece of that organ. In early life he joined his brother in making a study of the politics of the country through the leading dailies of the United States. They read the New York World, Brick Pome- roy's Democrat, and several other metropolitan newspa- pers of both political parties, and for several years his own political convictions were shaped and ripened by the assimilation of the editorials of able students of government. Between his ownership of the Herald and the Vindicator at Sulphur Springs, Mr. Davis become a Populist, and he closed his fourteen years of newspaper work there as the editor of the latter paper. He also spent a year in Greenville, as the editor of the Greenville Herald, and soon afterwards came to Sulphur Springs to practice law and carry on his political propaganda.

His interest in the Farmers' Alliance Movement and his sympathy with it were made practically useful through his services as a political leader and debater, in explanation and defense of its economic policies. Following the Ocala convention of the Alliance, the National Grange, the National Farmers' Alliance, the Knights of Labor, and the Federation of Labor issued a call for the presence of all who believed in the prin- eiples of government as announced in the Ocala demands of the Farmers' Alliance, to meet with them in Cincin- nati. Mr. Davis was one of the five lawyers in the United States to respond to that invitation. Ignatius Donnelly of Minneapolis and Mr. Davis were of the party, and became a member of the committee on plat- forms. Meeting with different bodies organized with grip and password, but with a common purpose, was a new situation for lawyers, apostles of the law and against the practice of clandestine gatherings for polit- ical purposes, but they put themselves in harmony with the situation by organizing themselves into a similar

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body, adopting a sort of schedule of "demands," made the "hand strike" their grip, and added the sixteenth beatitude, "Blessed is he that expects nothing for he shall not be disappointed." They agreed to defend the platform made at that conference, and pledged each other to come to the relief of either who chanced to come into conflict with the law while carrying on their campaign.

The platform prepared by that conference formulated the doctrines most prominent in the platforms of the Democratie and Progressive National parties today, and they included some principles as physical valuation of railroads, popular election of United States senators, initiative, referendum and recall, graduated income tax, a stock and bond law, and other planks, now thought to be progressive but not radical. With the formation of the Populist party, Mr. Davis spent five years in its organization, covering the United States from Pennsyl- vania west and from Baltimore south, speaking in nearly every county seat in the whole territory. During the life of that political party he was a factor in all its councils and conventions, and infused confidence and courage into his associates by the clearness of his con- ception of government and the sincerity with which he advocated its cause. He was one of the populist com- mittee of six along with such men as Thomas Patterson, of Colorado; Ignatius Donnelly, of Minnesota; Harry Tracy, of Texas; Herman Taubeneck, of Illinois; Colonel Harvey, of Florida; and Col. John G. Rankin, of Indi- ana, treasurer of the party. It was Senator Tom Pat- terson who wrote the first plank into a national platform demanding the free coinage of silver at the ratio of sixteen to one. Mr. Davis opposed the methods of stat- ing the ratio because it necessitated an explanation to the average voter and proposed instead that the language be changed to read "Free and unlimited coinage as per the Coinage Act of 1873, and expressed in the credit- strengthening act (25 8-10 grains of gold to 412 1-2 grains of silver)," which is the ratio of sixteen to one. His suggestion was voted down, and his prophecy as to the effect of the "Sixteen to One" declaration in the campaign came true.

In 1896 the Democrats made a bid for popular support of their ticket by offering to take Mr. Sewell's name from their ticket and substitute James H. Davis for vice-president as a running mate for Mr. Bryan. Hav- ing determined to accept no honors for himself, but to devote his energies to the welfare of popular principles, he declined the offer and advised his Populist friends not to indorse Bryan as they afterwards did, but to nominate a presidential candidate along with Watson, and make a combination with the Democrats in the divi- sion of electors. This program he contended would save two hundred thousand votes in doubtful states, which would give the fusionists control of the electoral college and result in the choice of Mr. Bryan for the presidency. The result of the election of that year shows that if his advice had been followed, Mr. Bryan instead of Mr. McKinley would have been the successor of Grover Cleve- land in the White House.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 83

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