A history of Texas and Texans, Part 89

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

USA > Texas > A history of Texas and Texans > Part 89

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James Harper Starr attended an academic school in Worthington but even during that time of his life was largely on his own resources, having to earn the money by teaching school in order to continue his education. Some medical text books which he managed to secure and read was the beginning of his education for the profession and after the establishment of a medical college at Worthington in 1830, he at once entered as one of the first students and was graduated with his degree in 1832. In the same year he went south and

located in Georgia, where he began the practice of med- icine at MeDonough, in Henry county. In that county he was united in marriage on February 21, 1833, to Miss Harriet J. Johnson.

Dr. Starr and wife emigrated to Texas in 1836, the same year with the winning of Independence from Mexico and the establishment of the Republic. How- ever, they did not arrive in Texas until January, 1837, at which time they located at Nacogdoches, the town which had been established by the Spaniards from Mexico early in the eighteenth century, and which is one of the oldest towns in the state. Captain Frank- lin J. Starr, a brother of the Doctor, had come to Texas in 1835, and taken a very prominent part in the Texas struggle for independence.

At Nacogdoches Dr. Starr began to practice medicine, and at about the same time began to purchase land. That remained his home for a third of a century, and along with material prosperity he was also favored with numerous honors in the public service under the Re- public. Soon after coming to Texas he was appointed surgeon in the Texas army. In January, 1838, he was appointed president of the board of land commissioners for Nacogdoches county. When in May, 1839, Presi- dent Lamar, chose him as his secretary of the treasury in the cabinet. He held that position under the Repub- lican government and at a time when his duties were especially taxing and responsible until September, 1840, at which date he resigned. A number of years later, during the Civil war between the states, Dr. Starr was receiver of the Confederate states court at Tyler, and in 1863 President Davis appointed him to the position of Assistant Post Master General in charge of the postal departments for the Trans-Mississippi states, with official headquarters at Marshall. This high post in the Confederate service he held until the end of the war. In 1870 Dr. Starr removed from Nacogdoches to Marshall, which was his home until his death on July 25, 1890. His wife died November 28, 1882.

Dr. Starr was one of the regents appointed by Gov. Roberts to establish the University of Texas, as pro- vided for by an act of the legislature. This was an honor and responsibility, however, which he was com- pelled to decline on account of other duties. Besides his medical practice he had for a number of years en- gaged in the land business, and was one of the largest individual owners of real estate in northeast Texas. As a land dealer he had begun business in Nacogdoches in 1842. Two years later Samuel Amory became asso- ciated with him in the business under the firm name of Starr & Amory. With the withdrawal of Mr. Amory in 1858 Dr. Starr continued alone for some years, until 1868, when his son, James F. Starr, became a partner in the business, which now assumed the title of J. H. Starr & Son. The business was removed, together with the homes of its proprietors, to Marshall, in April, 1870, and they soon afterwards added a private banking de- partment in connection with their real estate offices. The banking business was transferred to Raguelt & Fry in October, 1872; then, on June 16, 1873, the land business of James H. Starr & Son went under the management of Emory R. Starr, another son of Dr. Starr, and Emory Starr was its proprietor until his death. Since that time Mr. Harry M. McGee, a son-in-law of Dr. Starr, has been at the head of this important business.

THE TEXARKANA PIPE COMPANY is a factor to be con- sidered in the industrial and commercial activities of this city, and indeed of the Southwest for the output of its plant finds a market not only in the vicinity of Texarkana but also throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Arkan- sas, Louisiana and Mexico. The company was origin- ally known as the Post Pipe Company but in December, 1911, feeling that the success of the enterprise was due no more to the efforts of the management than to the loyal and enthusiastic support given to this home in-

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dustry by its southern neighbors, it was decided to show appreciation of this good-will by linking with the name of the company the names of those three states, Texas- Arkansas-Louisiana (Tex-Ark-Ana) of which the com- pany felt itself to be geographically as well as in spirit a part; and with January 1, 1912, the company took the name of the Texarkana Pipe Company.

A manufacturing plant of this sort is of marked ad- vantage to the territory in which located, in contrast with a mercantile establishment, because instead of sending to foreign markets for merchandise to be dis- tributed in the territory, the manufacturing plant on the other hand secures all its raw material, as well as labor, upon the ground, and reverses the operation of the mercantile establishment by sending its product abroad, and distributing the proceeds therefrom at home, in the purchase of such raw materials as clay, fuel, lumber, brick, etc., as well as supporting a large pay-roll, through which means a vast amount of money is released among retailers and others.

MAJ. AUGUSTUS C. ALLEN. An honored old age has from time immemorial been one of the best distinctions bestowed upon the individuals of mankind. But when to length of years are added achievements of varied and remarkable character and a long record of useful citizen- ship, the honor and esteem paid to such a life are of more than passing importance. Such a career of long and eventful years has been that of Maj. Augustus C. Allen, now retired, and one of the best loved citizens of Texarkana, where he has resided for more than thirty years. Major Allen was a soldier in two wars. He has long been identified with the cotton business of Texas and his citizenship in the Lone Star state is more than half a century old.

Major Allen was born in Pike county, Georgia, on March 6. 1836. His father was both a planter and a lawyer. In 1840 the family removed to Holmes county, Mississippi, but a short time later took up their resi- ilence in New Orleans, where the father long practiced his profession and was one of the honored citizens.

Major Allen was a school boy in New Orleans, but at an early age entered a large mercantile house of that city as a clerk and there laid the foundation of a thorough and extensive business experience, which he applied in later years for his own great success in Texas. A distinction which now belongs to few living men is the possession of Major Allen in that he is a survivor of the famous filibustering expedition of General Walker into Nicaragua. In December, 1856, when he was just twenty years of age and at the most adventurous time of life he enlisted in what was designated Company B, under Capt. Bob Harris, for service in Nicaragua, in the revolutionary forces led by Gen. William Walker. The unfortunate fate of that expedition is well known and Major Allen was one of the fortunate ones to escape the fate in which many of the number participated. At Graytown, on the coast of Nicaragua, he arrived with his company aud went up the San Juan River, their object being to relieve General Walker, who was at that time in very close quarters on the Pacific side of the Peninsula. Young Allen in the meanwhile received pro- motion to the rank of lieutenant in his company, having heen recommended for that promotion by Maj. Robert Ellers, who was Walker's chief recruiting officer at New Orleans. For several months his service continued in Nicaragua and was filled with adventure and escapes that would adorn the pages of the most romantic tale, and finally with a few comrades he made his escape from the country on the British sloop of war Tartar. This vessel carried him to Aspinwall, whence he con- tinued his homeward journey on the American vessel Granada as far as Hanava, and from there to New Orleans on the steamer Empire City. Though his ex- perience as a Central American revolutionist had con- tinued for only a few months, he had displayed the Vol. IV-19

qualities of the absolutely fearless soldier and officer, and because of these qualifications had repeatedly been detached from regular duty to serve as scout and in reconnoitering expeditions which were even more dan- gerous than the main body of Walker's troops were subjected to.

Having returned to New Orleans, he again entered mercantile employment in 1857 and was thus engaged until 1860, at which year he removed to Jefferson, Texas, where he established himself independently in business. Then soon followed his next military experience. With the breaking out of the war he joined the Confederate army, enlisting in the Nineteenth Texas Infantry, a regiment of which R. Watterhouse was colonel and E. W. Graham was lieutenant colonel. Most of his service with this regiment was in the Transmississippi depart- ment, chiefly in Arkansas and Louisiana. In 1863, in Pointe Coupee parish, Louisiana, he was captured and held prisoner in New Orleans for four months. Rejoin- ing his regiment at the end of that time, he was then promoted to major. Near the close of the war, upon the request of General Magruder, he was put in com- mand of the post at Hempstead, Texas, and remained there until the dissolution of the Confederacy. Major Allen was a strict disciplinarian and yet was exceed- ingly popular and influential with the soldiers and civilians, and it was largely due to his tactful and firm conduct at Hempstead that he was able to subdue the turbulent conditions that existed both among the sol- diers and the populace in that vicinity. Few of the Texans in the Civil war made a more gallant or more distinguished record than did Major Allen, and among all his old associates he is considered one of the bravest and most efficient soldiers and officers remaining from the old army of the Confederacy. He had two twin brothers, known as the "Allen Twins," who served with distinction in General Lee's army in Virginia. A very important part of the business career of Major Allen was during the noteworthy boom period at Jefferson, extending from 1865 to about 1874. During those years Jefferson became the largest and most important shipping and commercial center of northern and central Texas, aud its prosperity was so great that in population and diversified enterprise the city was much greater at that time than it has ever been since. Major Allen was the moving spirit in all this enterprise and for some time was agent for the Carter line of steamboats at Jefferson. Later he became manager of a cotton com- press at Jefferson, and it was for the purpose of super- vising the erection of the first cotton compress ever put up in Texarkana that he first came to this city in 1879. He has been a resident through all the subsequent years and has been prominently connected with the cotton business during a great part of that time. In about 1893 he retired from active business, though he still re- tains large and valuable property interests in this vi- cinity. His home is on the Texas side of State Line avenne.

Major Allen's domestic life has been peculiarly for- tunate and happy. In November, 1858, he married Miss Virginia Adams, a daughter of Dr. Charles Adams, of Copiah county, Mississippi. Their two daughters are Mrs. Lucy Mabry, of Texarkana, widow of the late Gen. William Haywood Mabry, and Mrs. Jessie, wife of D. (". Wise of Jefferson. There are also a number of grand- children and great-grandchildren, and the Allen home in Texarkana is a favorite gathering place for this family at different times, and nothing in his later years has given Major Allen more pleasure than the society and esteem of his children and his children 's children.

JOHN L. WORLEY. As president of the John F. Worley Printing Company of Dallas, Mr. Worley is at the head of a commercial enterprise which throughout all the years of its existence has stood for character as well as mere business success. The Worley Printing

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Company is more than a house for the production of a varied class of high-grade printing and for a service in all the kindred arts of the printing trade. It is also an institution, one of those central enterprises which every city recognizes as all important through its standing and success as a commercial center. The Worley Printing Company is a monument to the busi- ness character and wholesome integrity of its founder, the late John F. Worley, who was one of the ablest and most admired of Dallas citizens and business builders.

The late John F. Worley, whose death occurred in 1910 was born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in 1832, learned the printer's trade in a newspaper office in that city, was compositor, contributor and publisher, then became connected with the old Chronicle at Pitts- burg, and in 1876 came to Dallas, Texas as a traveler and visitor, rather than as a home-seeker. Perhaps he saw something more than the superficial surroundings which then characterized the town in its early years of growth, and it was this which caused him to remain and become one of the most active factors in its sub- sequent progress. He set up a small printing shop in the city, and for a time printed the old Dallas Herald. In 1890 he began the publication of the Dallas City Directory, and this plant has kept that business ever since. The late Mr. Worley was especially interested in the civic and benevolent institutions of his home city. He was chairman of the board of directors which built the Young Men's Christian Association building, com- pleted in April 1909, and made the largest individual contribution to this building fund. John F. Worley married Miss Mary Belle Lewis, and their four children were John L., Mary, Edward and Margaret.

Mr. John L. Worley, son and successor in business of his honored father, was born in Dallas February 16, 1884, received his education at Cole's Select Prepara- tory School and entered the University of Texas in 1900, graduating in 1904. In 1905, by post-graduate work he won the degree of M. A. His fellowship record was beyond the ordinary, and on leaving college he engaged in the work of teaching, and subsequently be- came an instructor in history at the University of Texas. He held this position up to 1910 at which time he re- turned to Dallas to take charge of the business which the death of his father left without a head. He be- came president of the John F. Worley Printing Com- pany, and has since directed its business in the spirit and along the lines which made it so successful under the management of his father. Iu 1905 the John F. Worley Printing Company incorporated with a capital of $50,000. The late John F. Worley was supervisor for the taking of the census at Dallas in 1910. The John F. Worley Printing Company has a great volume of business in printing and blank book manufacture, and has the largest job plant in the state.

Mr. John L. Worley was married October 10, 1911, to Miss Lillian Aaron, a daughter of A. E. Aaron of Dallas.

EDWARD H. CARY, M. D. As a specialist in the eye, ear, nose and throat diseases, there is no more eminent authority both in theory and practice in the state of Texas than Dr. Cary of Dallas. Dr. Cary entered upon his preparation for his profession with the intention of pursuing general practice, but his abilities during his collegiate career were strikingly manifested in the line of his present specialty, and when he began practice in Dallas some ten years ago he was already an acknowl- edged authority and expert in the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, and has since had a large private practice and various honors and distinctions in the profession.

Dr. Cary came to Dallas when a boy, a little more than twenty years ago, to take up a career in business, and it was only after several years of experimenting that he discovered his inclination and abilities for

medicine and devoted himself to study and preparation for his real life work. Edward H. Cary was born at Union Springs, Alabama, February 28, 1872, a son of Joseph M. and Lucy J. (Powell) Cary. The family is of old Virginia stock, from which original seat, its members migrated first to Georgia and then into Ala- bama. Dr. Cary came to Dallas in 1890 to become a business associate of his brother A. P. Cary, with whom he remained for several years. In 1894 his bent for the profession of medicine having become fully demonstrated, he went to New York and entered the Bellevue Hospital Medical College (a famous institu- tion, which in 1899 became the medical department of the University of New York City). In 1598 he grad- uated M. D. and his work as a student had won him the honor of appointment as medical and surgical interne. He not only had a term of clinical experience at the Bellevue Hospital, but also served an interne-ship in the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary. Soon afterward he established himself in practice at New York City, as a specialist in the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. He also served as an instructor of ophthal- mology at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College and at the New York Polyclinic, and was visiting ophthal- mologist to the Bellevue Dispensary and assistant in the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary.

Dr. Cary returned to Dallas in 1901, and soon after- ward was appointed to the chair of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat in the medical department of the University of Dallas. He was elected Dean of the faculty of this school in 1902. In 1903 the school be- came the medical department of the Baylor University, the chief seat of which institution is at Waco, the name of the medical department becoming the Baylor University School of Medicine. Dr. Cary continued as Dean of the faculty, and is still in that position. The medical department is closely affiliated with the Baptist Memorial Sanitarium in Dallas, and Dr. Cary is ophthal- mologist and otologist of the clinical staff of the sani- tarium. Dr. Cary has membership in all the various medical societies, has served as president of the Dallas county Medieal Society, and is now president of the Medical Society of the Southwest, an organization in- eluding five states. He is also president of the A. P. Cary Company, dental and surgical depot. He is one of the active members of the Dallas Club, and the Dallas Country Club.

Dr. Cary married, April 19, 1911, Miss Georgie Schneider a daughter of the late Jules E. Schneider of Dallas. Her father was one of the old citizens and member of the well known firm of Schneider, Davis & Company. Dr. Cary and wife reside in an elegant home on the Lakeside Drive, at the corner of Gillon Avenue, Highland Park.

THOMAS R. ERWIN. One of Parker county's oldest pioneer families is represented by Thomas R. Erwin, who a number of years ago started in business in a very small way as a dealer in groceries at Weatherford. His enterprise has since been expanded by his own energetic management and by the confidence which a community comes to have in a merchant of strictest honor and commercial integrity, and his is now the largest estab- lishment for the sale of groceries, hardware and farm implements in Parker county. The Erwiu family has been identified with Texas since the close of the Re- public, and two of its older members sacrificed their lives during the pioneer days of Parker county, while the entire family had to endure the hardships and dangers incident to life on the frontier.

Thomas R. Erwin was born in Parker county. Aug- ust 23, 1872, a son of W. A. and Martha (Stinett) Erwin. The Erwins are a Scotch family, who settled in Virginia, during the colonial epoch, later moved to Tennessee and from there to Texas in 1844. Their journey to the Texas republie was accomplished by

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wagon drawn by oxen. The first settlement was in Grayson county, and later they moved to Parker county. Grandfather Erwin was born in Virginia, in 1804, lived in Tennessee as a farmer for some years, and then came to Texas. W. A. Erwin, the father, is still living and engaged in farming in Eastland county. His wife is also alive. During the Mexican war, W. A. Erwin was a soldier, and later in the Confederate army, and for years he fought the Indians on the frontier of Texas in all the counties adjoining that of Parker. Grandfather Stinnett and Grandfather Erwin were both killed by the Indians in the early days. W. A. Erwin helped to build the first courthouse in Parker county, and took part in the organization of the county govern- ment. A detailed record of this family would be a chapter in the pioneer and Indian annals of northwest Texas. There were twelve children, nine sons and three daughters, ten of whom are living and the Weatherford merchant was the sixth in order of birth.

Thomas R. Erwin started in life with a public school education, acquired in Parker county. As a grocery- clerk he got his first experience in practical business, and eventually opened a small stock of goods for him- self. At the present time Mr. Erwin does an annual trade aggregating a quarter of a million dollars in value. His stock of goods, in groceries, hardware and farm implements is valued at fifty thousand dollars. His establishment comprises both a large general store and a warehouse.

Mr. Erwin has been not only a successful merchant, but a public spirited citizen. For several years he has served as a member of the city council, and was chair- man of the finance committee. His political support has always been given to the dominant party in Texas. His fraternities are the Masonic and the Elks. Mr. Erwin believes in religion and religious institutions, and as a successful young business man has done much to promote the cause of church and morality in his com- munity. His membership is in the Presbyterian church of the United States, he has been an elder in the Weatherford church for twenty-two years, and super- intendent of the Sabbath school for nineteeu years. During all that time not half a dozen Sundays have been missed from his regular attendance and work, and he is a trustee of the Fairmount Seminary of Texas, a girls' school.

Mr. Erwin was married October 8, 1901, in Weather- ford to Mrs. Benoni Henry Porter, a daughter of Ben C. and Bell Henry. Her father, who was a soldier on the Confederate side during the war, was wounded at Gettysburg, but continued practically without interrup- tion from the beginning to the end of the struggle, and two of whose brothers were killed in the war has for the past thirty years been a traveling salesman, and though seventy-four years of age is still on the road representing the Burris Mill and Elevator Company of Fort Worth. Mrs. Erwin's mother died in 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Erwin have one boy, Ben Henry Erwin, aged nine and attending school, his name having been given in honor of his grandfather.

CAPTAIN FRANK JOHNSON. A. former captain of the Texas rangers, and with a long record of official serv- ice in west Texas, Captain Johnson is a son of a Con- federate soldier, and is in many ways typical of the strong and rugged character of the older generation of Texans. He has traveled extensively, has come to know men and affairs, and has recently settled down as a prosperous business man of Weatherford.

Frank Johnson was born February 8, 1869, in Harts- ville, Tennessee, a son of N. B. and Sarah Johnson. His father was a printer and newspaper man, and for more than twenty years served as postmaster at Weath- erford. He moved from Tennessee to Texas in 1870, and his residence was at Weatherford up to the time of his death in 1901. During the war he enlisted from

Tennessee, became soldier in General Morgan's famous troopers, and served from the early months of the war until its close. His widow is still living, be- ing now about seventy years of age, with her home in Weatherford. There were seven children, two daugh- ters and five sons, two of whom are now deceased.

Captain Johnson the oldest of the family, had a public school education in Texas. His first important position was that of deputy sheriff of Dickens county, after which he was deputy sheriff in Kent county, and was a special ranger under Captain MeDonald, who is now United States Marshal for the northern district of Texas. During his service as ranger Captain Johnson was inspector for the cattlemen's association of Texas, and also inspector for the live stock sanitary company several years. In 1901 came his promotion by appoint- ment as sheriff and tax collector of Mitchell county, Texas. In March 1908 he was appointed captain of the Texas rangers, giving valuable service in making an excellent record with the state military organiza- tion until his resignation in November 1910. His career as captain of the rangers was followed by his taking a position as inspector for the live stock sanitary com- pany, during which time he was located at Wichita Falls. In September, 1912, Captain Johnson went to South America to oversee a ranch in that country. On his return to Weatherford in May, 1912, be established an automobile tranfer business, and has conducted it successfully to the present time.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 89

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