A history of Texas and Texans, Part 85

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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BENJAMIN KOWALSKI. Conspicuous in business cir- eles and prominent in the public affairs of Brownsville, Benjamin Kowalski, an ex-mayor of the city, is a true type of the energetic and enterprising citizens who have been influential in advancing the best interests of this part of Cameron county, his enthusiastic zeal, unques- tioned ability and strong personality making him a leader among men. A son of Bernard Kowalski, he was born, in 1854, in New Orleans, Louisiana, of thrifty ancestry.

Bernard Kowalski, a native of Poland, was born in 1821 in Inowrazlaw, where he received excellent educa- tional advantages. Immigrating to the United States in 1841, he located in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he became highly successful as a business man and where in 1847 he was naturalized as an American citizen. He joined the Washington Artillery, a famous military or- ganization of New Orleans, in which he was much inter- ested. He subsequently enlisted for service in the Mexi- can War, and went with General Taylor's army into Mexico, on the way passing through Brownsville, Texas. He served with gallantry throughout the war, taking part in many engagements. In 1849 he went with the gold seekers to California, making an overland journey, but not meeting with the success he anticipated in that country he returned to New Orleans in 1850, and resumed business in that city. In 1861, being burned out, he came to Cameron county, Texas, and embarked in mer- cantile pursuits in Brownsville. On the breaking out of the Civil war he enlisted in the Confederate army, and having been commissioned major of artillery under Gen- eral Bee took an active part in the defense of Fort Brown (Brownsville) and when the fort was captured in 1864 by General Herron, Bernard Kowalski was taken prisoner and carried to New Orleans where he was kept a prisoner until the close of the conflict. Returning then to Brownsville, he resumed his business operations in this city, and was here an honored resident until his death, June 24, 1889.

While in California Mr. Kowalski was a member of Terry Vigilantes of that state and helped drive bad characters out of the state. He was intensely patriotic to the cause of the south, and was never "recon- structed." As a husband, a father, and a citizen, he was a man of the finest type, charitable and unselfish to an unusual degree, oftentimes taking greater interest in the troubles and discouragements of others than he did of his own. Beloved by all who knew him, his death was a cause of general regret. The maiden name of his wife was Sophia Bernstein. She was born at Posen, Poland, and survived him but eleven months, dying in May, 1890.

Acquiring his rudimentary education in New Orleans, Benjamin Kowalski subsequently attended Soula Busi- ness College and the Brothers' College in Brownsville. At the early age of fourteen years he began his busi-

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ness life, becoming a clerk in his father's store, and later was engaged in mercantile pursuits on his own account. Taking an interest in local affairs from early manhood, he was for many years prominently connected with various branches of the public service in Brownsville, from 1869 until 1877 serving as assistant postmaster under Edward Downey. Nine years later, upon the death of Postmaster Hopkins, Mr. Kowalski was appointed as his successor, his commission bearing date of Novem- ber 27, 1886. That was under President Cleveland's first administration, and Mr. Kowalski has the distinction of having been the first Democratic postmaster that ever Brownsville had. He served in that capacity for four years with conspicuous efficiency, and to the satisfaction of the public.

When Mr. Kowalski left the postoffice the first time, in 1877, he accepted a position at Fort Brown, first as army quartermaster's clerk, and later as paymaster's clerk. Subsequently he was employed as clerk to General Sutton, United States Consul at Matamoras, Mexico. He is quite talented and accomplished, and an excellent lin- guist, having conversational knowledge of Spanish, French and German, as well as of English. It was almost entirely due to Mr. Kowalski that Brownsville obtained its Fed- eral Building, his preliminary efforts in that direction having been hegun through a letter to Congressman Crane in 1888, and continue until successful. He has likewise served most acceptably as United States Commissioner, and as deputy district clerk for the Southern District of Texas.

In 1910 Mr. Kowalski was elected mayor of Browns- ville, and served the regular term of two years with credit to himself, and to the honor of his constituents, rendering the city service of inestimable value, his achievements having been noteworthy in every respect. Among those of especial value to the community are the following named: The granting of franchise and build- ing of spur line by the Saint Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway from West Brownsville, extending around the northeastern part of the city, to the Little Indiana Canal Company's property; the extension, improvement and enlargement of the Municipal Water and Light Sys- tem, putting in entirely new machinery with double units for all motive power, including new and larger water mains, fire hydrants and street lights, also new buildings and sheds for water and light plants and boiler sheds; the building of an up-to-date Filtering Plant, water ninety-eight pre cent pure; the building of a new market and city hall, with sheds to Fire Department Building; the extension of water and hydrants to the City Cemetery ; the building of over twenty-five blocks of street paving, and the levy of a tax of one-third on the first paving district on all streets paved, to continue the street pav- ing; the building of more than fifteen miles of concrete sidewalks; the grantiug of a franchise, and the building of the Robertson Street Railway; the granting of a franchise, and building a new street railway on Twelfth street, from the International Bridge to the Rio Grande Railroad Depot; the granting of a franchise, and building a spur line of the Saint Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway on Fronton street for the business houses; the building of a drainage pipe line for surface and over- flow water; the purchase of a fire wagon, and three thou- sand feet of fire hose; and there is still on the docket, and to be voted on, a measure for three thousand dollars for the erection of a slaughter pen. During the two years, from May, 1910, until May, 1912, that Mr. Kow- alski was at the head of the municipal government, there were more buildings erceted in Brownsville, both for busi- ness and residence purposes, than at any other equal length of time in its history. The sewerage plant was also completed under his regime.

Mr. Kowalski married Miss Corinne Wilson, a daugh- ter of Dr. A. H. Wilson, who came to Brownsville from Georgia, where she was born. A woman of culture and refinement, whose purposes are in harmony with his, Mrs.

Kowalski has proved herself a worthy helpmate in every sense implied by the term, cheering him in his hours of discouragement, and aiding him by kindly words and acts in the many struggles that inevitably come to every enterprising, progressive and conscientious publie serv- ant. Six sons have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski, namely: M. B., a graduate of the N. M. Col- lege, is a civil engineer in' Dallas, Texas; G. L., county attorney of Kleberg county, is a university graduate; Dave, in the abstract business; Paul O., teller in the First National Bank of Brownsville, is a college gradu- ate; Alexander, with Cooper Grocer Company of Waco, is a college graduate, and Clarence, a student.

Fraternally Mr. Kowalski is a member, and past master of Rio Grande Lodge, No. 81, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; a member, and past patron of Hope Chapter, No. 124, Order of the Eastern Star; a member of Texas Consistory, No. 1, Ancient and Ac- cepted Scottish Rite, of Galveston; of El Mina Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Galveston; a member, past chancellor and commander, of Brownsville Lodge, No. 339, Knights of Pythias; and a member, past consul, and commander of Acacia Camp, No. 690, Woodmen of the World. Mr. Kowalski is promi- nent and active in each of the orders to which he belongs, being especially active in Masonry, in which he has taken the thirty-second degree. All the sons are mem- bers of the Masonic Order with the exception of the youngest.

REV. ERNEST SEVERIN, The one Swedish newspaper in the state of Texas is under the management of Rev. Ernest Severin, who came to Austin in 1911 to take charge of the paper at the request of its proprietors, who recognized in Rev. Severin those qualities that were best calculated to bring enduring success to the paper. Rev. Severin served in the ministry of the Swedish Methodist Episcopal church for a number of years, until 1901, and though his work among his people was effective and highly creditahle from every standpoint, it is generally conceded that in his present position his influence is of a more far reaching and penetrating character than ever before, so that he is best serving the Scandinavian peo- ple of the state as manager of the Texas Posten.

Rev. Ernest Severin was born on September 7, 1872, in Roda, Sweden, and is a son of A. G. Peterson, an architect of that place and a man of considerable promi- nence. When young Peterson came to Chicago in 1892 he found so wide an array of men of his same family name as his own that he considered it advisable to change his surname, and he accordingly took the name of Sev- erin, under which he has since been known. Rev. Severin had his early education in the public and private schools of Sweden, and his parents gave careful attention to the matter of his training. He was twenty years of age when he came to America and going at once to Chicago, Illinois, he entered the Swedish Methodist Theological Seminary at Evanston, remaining there for a year, when illness prevented further attendance to his theological studies. Soon after that time young Severin came to Texas and entered Fort Worth University, which he at- tended for three years. He was ordained to the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1898, following which he held pastorates in the Swedish Methodist churches of Fort Worth, Hulto, and Taylor, all in Texas, the time of his service being three years in the Fort Worth church and one year in each of the others.

This service was discontinued by reason of his de- elining health, and in 1901 he retired from the ministry, and when he had recovered sufficiently to make it pos- sible for him to resume work of any sort, he engaged as a bookkeeper for a mercantile house in Taylor, Texas, continuing thus for four years. His health again began to play truant, and the young man withdrew from his clerical activities and retired to a ranch in MeCullash county, where, after a period of roughing it, he felt

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himself so far renewed in physical well-being as to be able to accept, in 1898, a call to his former Fort Worth pastorate. He resumed his work there in the year named and continued in active and effective service for three years, when he came to Austin and assumed charge of the Texas Posten, as has already been mentioned. Concerning this popular and constantly growing publica- tion, fuller details of an interesting character will be found in the life sketch of Rev. John M. Ojerholm, of this city, so that further details on that point are not requisite at this writing.

Rev. Severin was married on March 10, 1900, to Miss Ida Christina Johnson, of Fort Worth, a daughter of C. W. Johnson. She was born in Sweden, as was also her husband, and she was but one year old when her parents emigrated to these shores. They settled first in Rockford, Illinois, but later moved to Texas, where they still reside.

To Rev. and Mrs. Severin four children were born: Evelyn Victoria, Ernest Oliver, Alice and Walter Henry.

Rev. Severin is interested in educational work along various lines, and in addition to his other activities he is a director of the Texas Wesleyan College, a Swedish institution, of which more extended mention is made in the sketch of Dr. Ole Olander, also of Austin. Rev. Severin is a member of the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica, with affiliations in Congress Camp No. 11929 of Austin. He has no other fraternal association, being one who devotes his best attentions to his work and having scant leisure for social activities. His work in the state has been a praiseworthy one thus far, and it is expected that he will make continued progress along the line of his present endeavors.

REV. JOHN M. OJERHOLM. The life and work of Rev. John M. Ojerholm, editor of the Texas Posten, the only Swedish newspaper ever established in the state, was devoted without a break to the ministry of the Swedish Methodist Episcopal church, in which he began his serv- ice as early as 1881, in his native land. He was born in Nykoping, Sweden, on July 29, 1858, and is a son of Andrew Ojerholm, who was long engaged in the iron industry, and who came to America in the year 1882, settling in Worcester, Massachusetts, in which place he passed the rest of his life, death coming to him there in the year 1910.

John M. Ojerholm had his early education in the public schools of Sweden, followed by attendance at the State College of Sweden, after which he began his ministry in his native land in 1881. He continued there for two years, and then followed his father to America. He had been in America but a short time when he entered the ministry of the Swedish M. E. church and he filled the following appointments in a creditable and praiseworthy manner: Providence, Rhode Island, one year; Lindsborg, Kansas, one year; Rock- ford, Illinois, two years. In the autumn of 1887 he came to Waco, Texas, for a time filling the pulpit of the Swedish M. E. church at that place, but later being transferred to the Fort Worth church, and still later to Georgetown, Texas. He was two years in the Decker, Texas, M. E. church, and in 1896 came to Austin to assume the editorship of the Texas Posten which had heen established a short time before. Rev. Ojerholm is still head of the editorial department, and has a finan- cial interest in the paper as well. Under his editorial direction the paper has grown in prominence and pop- ularity with the Scandinavian population of the state, and he is ably seconded in his work by the offices of Rev. Ernest Severin, who is the manager of the publica- tion, and who is mentioned at greater length in a sketch devoted to him elsewhere in this work.

Rev. Ojerholm was married in 1881 to Miss Mathilde Wiel, a daughter of Truls Wiel, a native of Norway. She was one of thirteen children born to her parents, and was highly educated. She was the author of a

number of Swedish poems which have been brought be- fore the public in a volume that has met with consid- erable favor among people of her nation. She died in 1903. In 1906 Rev. Ojerholm married Miss Olga Olsen of Austin, Texas, who came to this country from Sweden when she was about fourteen years old, in company with her father, Ole Olsen, who is now a resident of Austin. They have three children: Julia, Elizabeth and James.

The family home is at 807 East 14th street, Austin, Texas.

RT. REV. GEORGE HERBERT KINSOLVING. The present bishop of the Diocese of Texas of the Episcopal church was elevated to this high position twenty years ago, and is one of the best known and ablest churchmen of his denomination in America. A member of an old Virginia family which has stood high in professional, business and public life in that state for generations, Bishop Kinsolving was reared in an atmosphere of fine ideals and was liberally educated. His father before him made a notable record as a minister in the same church, and a half-brother, Lucien L. Kinsolving, has for a number of years been missionary bishop of the Brazilian Episcopal church.

George H. Kinsolving was born in Bedford county, Virginia, April 28, 1849, and is a true son of the old Dominion. His parents were Rev. Ovid A. and Julia Heiskell (Krauth) Kinsolving. His father, who was born in Albermarle county, Virginia, and was graduated from Kenyon College, at Gambier, Ohio, was for over fifty-three years an active clergyman of his church in Virginia, and died in 1894. The Kinsolving family

dates back to the early Colonial epoch of Virginia. Mrs. Kinsolving, mother of our subject, who died in 1858, was of a family which originated in Germany. Her father, Charles Philip Krauth, who was of the second or third generation in this country, was president of the Pennsylvania College and of the Theological Sem- inary of the Lutheran Church of Gettysburg, Pennsyl- vania, while his son, Charles Porterfield Krauth, was Vice-Provost of the University of Pennsylvania.

Bishop Kinsolving finished his literary education and graduated from the University of Virginia, being a student there from 1868 to 1870. In 1874 he gradu- ated from the Protestant Episcopal Theological Semi- nary of Virginia, and has since received, in 1892, the degree of S.T.D. from Griswold College of Iowa, and in 1893 the degree D.D. from the University of the South. Made a deacon in 1874, he was assistant in Christ church, Baltimore, Maryland, during 1874-75. In the latter year he was ordained a priest, and was rector in St. Mark's church in Baltimore from 1875 to 1878. From the latter year to 1881 he was rector in St. John's church at Cincinnati, and then became rector of the Church of the Epiphany of Philadelphia, where he re- mained from 1881 to 1892. He served as a member of the Standing committee of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, and in 1892 was a delegate to the general convention of the Protestant Episcopal church. While at Philadelphia he also served as Overseer of the Protestant Episcopal Divinity school.

In 1892 he was elected assistant bishop of the Diocese of Texas, and in that year removed to Austin, which city has since been his home. On July 11, 1893, he suc- ceeded the late Bishop Gregg as Bishop of the Diocese of Texas, and his work has thus been continued in that office for more than twenty years. The journal of the church reports a steady progress and large growth of the Episcopal church in Texas during his administra- tion and probably no protestant bishop in the country stands higher in the esteem of both the clergy and the laymen than Bishop Kinsolving. He is the author of both "Church's Burden," published at New York in 1902; and "Volume of Memorial Sermons, " published at Ogden in 1912, besides being author of various ad-

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dresses and notable sermons preached on special occasions.

Bishop Kinsolving was married at Cincinnati, Ohio, October 8, 1879, to Miss Grace Jaggar, a daughter of Walter Jaggar. Her father was a native of New York and during his lifetime one of the prominent bankers of that city. Mrs. Kinsolving is a sister of Bishop T. A. Jaggar, of the Southern Ohio Diocese. To their marriage has been born one son, Walter Ovid Kinsolv- ing, who is now a curate at the Church of the Inter- cession in New York City. Bishop Kinsolving's resi- dence is at 2607 Whitis avenue, Austin.

HON. CHARLES H. JENKINS. Since 1910 an associate justice of the court of Civil Appeals for the third supreme judicial district of Texas, Judge Jenkins has filled this high position with admirable efficiency and with credit to his' long career as a lawyer and citizen. Judge Jenkins still has his legal residence at Brown- wood, where he was one of the early members of the bar, and where he gained his reputation as a lawyer and public official. At Brownwood Judge Jenkins is regarded as one of the men who has done most for that city, especially in the improvement and development of its educational system. Before he gained recognition as a lawyer he was a surveyor, did a great deal of practical work in his profession in northern and west- ern Texas, and there is probably not another member of the higher state courts who possesses a more thor- ough and exact knowledge of land boundary laws and conditions than Judge Jenkins.

His was one of the pioneer families in north Texas. Judge Charles H. Jenkins himself was born in Dallas county May 17, 1852, a son of Colonel Jonathan E. and Mahala R. (Bonner) Jenkins. His father, a native of Alabama, was a surveyor and merchant in that state, and while living there served with the rank of colonel in the state militia. In 1851 he came to Texas, settling first in Dallas county, and in 1854 moving to Parker county, where he followed his profession as a surveyor, and at the same time was one of the early ranchers and stock raisers in that then frontier county. He moved to Dallas county in 1861, and early in the war between the states enlisted in the Confederate army and re- mained with the forces of the south until the end of the war, when he returned home broken in health and died soon afterwards. His widow survived him nearly half a century and died in November 1912 aged eighty- two years.

Judge Jenkins as a boy attended a private school conducted by Rev. Mr. Carlton in Dallas until the fall of 1866. In that year, being fourteen years of age, he was sent to Cedar Springs and placed under the instruc- tion of W. R. Smith. While there he studied the pro- fession previously followed by his father, of surveyor, and perfected himself both in the theoretical and prac- tical phases of this work. His ambition was soon directed to the law, and in 1870 he began its study in the office of Kendall & Ault at Dallas. His studies were interrupted in 1871 when he was placed in charge of the surveyor's office of Dallas county. The duties of that office kept him quite busy for a year and a half, and early in 1873 he was made city engineer of Dallas, being associated in this work wtih Commodore S. W. C. Duncan and Major John H. Brown. It will be re- called that Dallas at that time had recently become the terminus of its first railroad, and was rapidly develop- ing as a commercial center, so that city engineer Judge Jenkins had a great deal to do with the planning and introduction of many municipal improvements. While serving as surveyor and city engineer, he managed to keep up and continue his studies in the law, and in March, 1874, was admitted to the bar.

While Judge Jenkins began his practice in Dallas, he remained there only about five years, and in 1879 moved to Brownwood, which was then a frontier city, just

about to become a point on a railroad, and at the be- ginning of its real growth and development. Judge Jenkins has accordingly been identified with Brown- wood through practically its entire progress from a frontier hamlet to one of the best cities in central west Texas. His public services there comprised several terms as an alderman and one term of Mayor. It was during his administration of the city as mayor that his leadership and influence were important elements in bringing about the construction of the Brownwood waterworks. However, his fellow citizens regarded his most important achievement his faithful, enthusiastic and self-sacrificing labors as a member of the school board. He served as a member of the board for twenty- six consecutive years, and during fourteen years was president of the board. When he first came into this relation with the public schools of Brownwood, there was a small frame building of two rooms, where all the educational facilities of that community were centered. Judge Jenkins with several of his loyal associates re- alized and took the lead in the matter of securing proper school buildings, not only to accommodate the immediate population, but to provide and look ahead for the future. Under his leadership the board went ahead and erected a stone school house, known in that city as the "Coggin school." The finances of the city did not justify the expenditure of sufficient funds to erect such a building, and the members of the board took the matter upon their own responsibility, and gave their own individual notes aggregating about six thousand dollars to provide for the erection and finish- ing of the school. It was the second school building and the first modern building of its kind in Brownwood. The board at the same time also increased and re- modeled the original school, known as the Central school, by the construction of an addition which converted the house into one of five rooms instead of two. The board went still further, secured a large lot of ground, and erected a modern high school building at a cost of sixteen thousand dollars. The city appropriated for this purpose six thousand dollars, while again the individual members of the board gave their notes to secure the balance, ten thousand dollars. These notes were sub- sequently paid off from year to year as the board was able to save from the school funds. Then in a few years the Central school had been outgrown, and the board determined to replace the old structure with a new at a cost of twenty thousand dollars. The city allowed the board ten thousand dollars, and once more the former process of financing was resorted to, and the board members made themselves individually responsible for the balance of ten thousand dollars, an indebtedness which was finally cleared off in the same manner as had been done in the former case.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 85

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