A history of Texas and Texans, Part 9

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 Franklin Shepherd was born December 11, 1879, at Tupelo, Mississippi, a son of Jeremiah George and Nancy Caroline Shepherd. His father, who fought on the side of the South during the Civil war and lost a leg at the battle of Atlanta, Georgia, was engaged from early manhood until 1885 in the practice of medicine, and in the latter year was elected district clerk of Hunt county, Texas, and held that office fourteen years. His death occurred March 5, 1906, at Clarendon, where his widow still lives.

Benjamin F. Shepherd was reared chiefly at Green- ville, graduated from a select school, and later, in 1898, took a business college course. His early experiences were such as happen to the average boy who lives at home with his parents and attends the local schools and is subjected to the usual influences of a small community. Through the influence of some friends, he was directed, after leaving school, into the printer's trade, and was employed in that line with more or less regularity until September 27, 1904. At that date, with his father, mother, two sister and two brothers, he moved to Clar- endon, and was employed as a printer on the Banner- Stockman until October 1, 1905. Mr. Shepherd then moved to Memphis and became foreman for the Hall county Herald, but about a year and a half later, on March 2, 1907, went to Hollis, Oklahoma, to take the position of editor and manager on the Post-Herald of that city. On September 15th of the same year he re- turned to Memphis, which has since been his permanent home. From his work as foreman on the Hall county Herald he graduated on December 15, 1908, into a half interest in the Memphis Democrat, a weekly paper, which was established July 8, 1908. Mr. Shepherd was its editor and business manager until October 13, 1913, when he bought the interest of his partner, and is now sole owner and proprietor.

After the election of Woodrow Wilson as president, Mr. Shepherd began an active campaign for the office of postmaster at Memphis, and secured an almost solid endorsement of the business men and citizens who were patrons of the office. Then, at his personal urging, the congressman from the district ordered a postoffice pri- mary, and seven candidates for the office were voted mnon. Out of four hundred and twenty-four votes cast, Mr. Shepherd received two hundred and four, only nine votes less than a majority of the total. This primary was held January 3. 1914, and his appointment was con- firmed by the United States Senate February 11, 1914, and he took office March 4th of the same year. Since devoting his attention to the Memphis postoffice, he has turned over the management of his paper to an editor and manager.

Mr. Shepherd served three years as a member of the Texas Volunteer Guards at Greenville. Politically, his stanch Democracy has always been in evidence, and Texas has no more enthusiastic supporter of Woodrow Wilson and his broad and beneficent policies, his states- manship and progressive political economy, than Mr. Shepherd. Since the age of fourteen he has been a con- sistent member of the Christian church, and for three years was church clerk, and deacon five years. Frater- nally, he joined the Pretorian Lodge in 1906, the Odd Fellows in 1907. the Maccabees in 1906, and the Ma- sonic Lodge in 1910. On July 2, 1905, at Clarendon,

Texas, Mr. Shepherd married Miss Barbara A. Pirtle. Their four children are all sous, as follows: Praetoria Ben Shepherd, born June 2, 1906; Ronnie James, born December 22, 1907; Donald Ellis, born January 25, 1910, and Eugene Claude, born October 11, 1911, and died October 10, 1912.

ANDREW STEPHENS LOWREY. One of the most pic- turesque figures among the citizens of Colorado county is Andrew Stephens Lowrey, an ex-ranger, for many years identified with practical business affairs, and now living retired at his home in Colorado. He was one of those brave and hardy men who risked their lives almost daily during the seventies in safeguarding the wild and dangerous frontier along the Rio Grande. Many of the adventures and exploits can be recalled by Mr. Lowrey, and his conversation is exceedingly interesting when directed to his experiences as a ranger. While talking of those days, his eye kindles with a light which indi- cates the fire and enthusiasm needed for a good soldier, and he was one of the best of his time.

Mr. Lowrey was born in Georgia, March 27, 1849, a son of Andrew P. and Margaret C. (Beaty) Lowrey, both natives of Georgia. The maternal grandfather, Robert Beaty, was a planter and slaveholder in that state. Two of the great-grandfathers were natives of Ireland. A special characteristic of the Lowrey family is its genius for mechanical accomplishment. Mr. Low- rey's father was a farmer all his life, but combined with that vocation great skill as a mechanic and millwright. In character his father was stern, of decided convictions, and lived a life of great usefulness both to his family and to the public community. For many years he served as justice of the peace, later was tax assessor of his county, and finally a member of the Georgia legislature. The parents moved to Texas in 1868, settling in Colorado county, where they purchased land upon which they lived the balance of their days. Mr. Lowrey has six brothers, all of whom are mechanics. Four of these brothers went through the war in the Confederate army, and all re- turned safely. These old soldiers are: R. H. Lowrey, of Lubbock, Texas; John A., a resident of Columbus, who was in the Virginia army under Lee and took part in nearly all the bloody battles of that state, serving at the Wilderness and at Gettysburg and many others : J. R. Lowrey of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and James C. Lowrey, of Weimar, Texas. The other living children are: George, of Eagle Lake, Texas; Frances Barto, of Graham, Texas; and Mrs. Margaret Thomas of Eagle Lake. The children, Sallie, Nancy, Martha, William, David and Eason, are all deceased.

As a boy Mr. Lowrey had very few advantages to ac- quire an education. Early in his childhood five months of rural schooling were given him and when he was sixteen years old he had the privilege of attending school four months longer. All the rest of his mental equipment, and he is by no means an unintelligent nor poorly informed man, was received from private read- ing, and close observation of men and affairs. He was nineteen years of age when the family located in Colo- rado county, and for the first few years he did farm labor. Always of a venturesome spirit, loving a life in the open, not unmixed with danger, he spent five years on the open range as a cowboy. In 1875 he joined the Texas rangers under the famous Captain MeNalley, who had gained the rank of captain by service in the Confederate army, and was one of the bravest men that ever lived. The territory patrolled by this command of rangers comprised the two hundred miles of wild region along the Rio Grande River. Those familiar with the history of South Texas forty years ago will recall that a wide belt of country existed as a zone for the opera- tions of outlaws, Mexican and Indian bandits, and all the riff-raff of the frontier. A complete account of all the outrages, thieving, murdering that went on in that zone during the seventies will probably never be com- piled. It was in that region that Mr. Lowrey gained

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bis experience as a ranger. At one time he was a mem- ber of a company of thirty men who went across the river into old Mexico after a band of cattle thieves. For two days they subsisted there, holding off an at- tacking army of three hundred men. In the end the Mexican raiders were brought to terms and the cattle recovered. These rangers were trained to endure long, hard rides, and quick and accurate shooting was of course a prerequisite of membership in the organization. Often Mr. Lowrey and his companions had no food ex- cept game killed on the plains. Many a batch of bread was mixed up on a saddle blanket and cooked on a stick before a fire. Mr. Lowrey was a ranger when the famous desperado King Fisher was captured. They took bim alive at Cuero, Texas, although the noted outlaw had vowed he would never be taken alive.

After leaving the ranger service Mr. Lowrey returned to Colorado county and took up farming. He next bought a blacksmith shop at Weimar, and lived and prospered there seventeen years. Selling out his shop, be took up carpenter work for three years until as a result of a fall he was badly crippled in the ankle and foot. He then bought a shop at Altair and followed the blacksmith's trade there thirteen years. On selling out that enterprise he was about four years proprietor of a boarding house at Eagle Lake. For the past four years his home has been in Columbus, and he is now largely retired.

In 1879 Mr. Lowrey was united in marriage with Miss Ora Walker, of Colorado county, a daughter of R. S. Walker, a native of North Carolina, and a pioneer Texan. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Lowrey were: Wallace Walker Lowrey, of Houston, and Charles Bar- nett Lowrey, living at home. After the death of his first wife Mr. Lowrey was married in 1898 to Miss Virginia Little. She was born in Georgia, a daughter of J. R. Little. She died at childbirth, and the child also died. The present Mrs. Lowrey before her mar- riage, which occurred February 5, 1900, was Miss Lulu Strahan. She was born in Colorado county, a daughter of J. R. and Cornelia Elizabeth (Walker) Strahan. Her father, also a native of Colorado county, is now living in Eagle Lake, and grandfather, Howard William Strahan, came from Scotland, was a pioneer physician and early planter in Texas. J. R. Strahan served as a Confederate soldier all through the war as a member of Company D of the Texas Mounted Infantry. Before the war he had a plantation and worked it with his slaves. He has lived a long and useful life, is a Democrat in politics, served as constable in Colorado county for many years, and is one of the best known local citizens. Mrs. Low- rey's mother died January 21; 1913. She came to Texas when but three years of age. The mother of Elizabeth Walker died soon after the family moved to Texas, a victim of cholera, and left five little children for her husband to look after. Mr. Walker did not break up his home, but took the children out to the fields with him while he planted and tended the crops, and then came home at mealtime and cooked and prepared food for them. Later he married Miss Polly Cone, who proved a kind and good mother to the children and reared them well. Mrs. Lowrey comes from a military family. Her younger brother Whit was a member of her father's company during the war. The other brothers were also soldiers, James and Edward, and died at Sabine Pass. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lowrey are members of the Campbel- lite church and are living lives consistent with their faith. They also belong to the Independent Puritans. For many years Mr. Lowrey has been affiliated with the Masonic order.

ROBERT HENRY NORRIS. In the death of Robert Heury Norris on March 17, 1911, Childress lost a business men and citizen who had been a very efficient factor in making his home city one of the best commercial centers of North Texas. He was in business there as a banker and mer- chant from the pioneer days until permanence and pros-

perity became a surety, and none were more zealous, more public spirited, more practical in promoting that end than the late Mr. Norris.

In Franklin parish, Louisiana, he was born July 22, 1866, and was less than forty-five years of age when he died. His parents were Tolbert Wallace and Thekla (Patten Dobbs) Norris. Tolbert Wallace Norris was a son of Thomas Lane Norris, who was born in 1800 and came to Mississippi from the Carolinas, locating in Franklin parish, Louisiana, some time between 1830 and 1840, and died there in 1852. He was a prominent planter. Tolbert was the second in a family of ten children. He first married Miss Laurena House, and three children were born, two of whom died in infancy, while Lizzie grew to maturity and married Dr. J. A. Holloway, a prominent physician of Round Rock, Texas. Tolbert W. Norris for his second wife was married in Franklin Parish, March 8, 1860, to Thekla Patten Dobbs. She became the mother of twelve children, most of whom lived to maturity, and the late Robert H. Norris was fourth among them. The father died April 30, 1890, and the mother is still living in Childress.

Robert Henry Norris received his early education in the parish schools of his native locality, until he was twelve years of age, and assisted in the work of the home plantation until he was eighteen. At that time he went to Georgetown, Texas, spent one year on a farm, was then employed in a drug store at Round Rock, after which a brief employment in a bank gave him his first experience in that business, but the work proved too confining, and he left it for the hardware business in Round Rock. Two years later he took charge of a store at Elgin, Texas, from there moved to Belton, was in the hardware business there for two years, and then, on September 1, 1891, arrived at Childress, which was to be the scene of his most successful efforts and influence as a business man and citizen. In partnership with Dr. Holloway, who, as previously mentioned, married his half-sister, he bought the business of the Swift Hardware Company. It was from an humble beginning, with a limited education and with no assistance from anyone, that Robert H. Norris grew to be one of the leading men of North Texas. After four years in a partnership he bought Dr. Holloway's interest, and the business was thereafter conducted as the Norris Hardware Company. He built up an establishment which was the pride of the community, and considered the largest store of its kind in all this section of the State. He was also one of the organizers of the City National Bank of Childress, was vice president of that substantial institution, and was president of the First State Bank of Kirkland. He organized the Norris Implement Company, which is also a big concern, and had many other relations with the commerce of his locality.

The late Mr. Norris was affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, was a Democrat, served his community as a school trustee, and his support was always offered to any move- ment toward the public good. From early childhood he was a church worker, and when only nineteen years of age was made a deacon in his church and at the time of his death was an elder of the Southern Presbyterian Church and superintendent of the Sunday school. He was president of the board of directors of the Young Men's Christian Association at Childress. His religion was of the kind that finds its way into all the business and social affairs of the world, just as it was exempli- fied in church and Sunday school. The result was that no man ever had cause to doubt his sincerity and absolute integrity.

On July 3, 1901, in Childress, he married Miss Nannie Edgerton, a native of North Carolina, and a daughter of T. M. and N. D. Edgerton, of North Carolina, a family which settled in the Texas Panhandle in the early days, her father having become one of the well-known stock- men of his section. Her father enlisted from North

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Carolina in the Civil war, and went throughout the con- fliet in the Confederate army. Both her parents are now deceased, her mother having passed away in June, 1909, in Childress, at the age of sixty-eight, and her father died there at the age of seventy in 1899. Mrs. Norris, who was fifth in a family of eight children, was reared in Texas, attended the Childress high school, and it was after graduation from that school that she became acquainted with Mr. Norris. She is a member of the Baptist church. The four children of Mr. Norris and wife were: Nannie N. T. Norris, born at Childress, April 28, 1902, and now attending school; Robert H., Jr., born at Childress, June 1, 1904, and in school; Tol- hert Norris, born June 12, 1906, in Childress, and in school; Janet Irene Norris, born in Childress, January 9, 1909. The late Mr. Norris built and owns the large building in which his hardware business was conducted, and the Norris home in Childress, which is one of the most attractive and comfortable residences of the city, in which his widow and children now live.

His church, the lodges of the Elks and Knights of Pythias, all paid his memory high tributes, showing that no ordinary man had been taken from their brotherhood. It will serve to supplement, at the risk of some repe- tition, the above general review of his career to quote some sentences from some editorials in the two local papers, written by men who were closely familiar with his activities in the community :

"Starting his business in Childress in a small way some years ago, Mr. Norris' unusual qualities gradually attracted to him the best trade of the country, and for many years his name and goods were household words for hundreds of miles around on every side. His strict hab- its, honesty and high business ideals caused his business to grow year by year, until the firm became one of the best known in all Northwest Texas. Of recent years the retail trade of the firm had been somewhat circum- scribed by the advent of more railroads into the country, but in lieu thereof they have built up a large wholesale trade with surrounding towns, and the business still remains one of the largest in the country.

"Ever since coming to Childress Mr. Norris has taken a leading part in the social and religious life of the city and was ever ready to give his labor and money to any worthy cause that had for its purpose the advance- ment of the city in any laudable direction. He was a natural leader of men, and his influence was felt in all the affairs of Childress. Not many of the permanent improvements of the city were ever accomplished in which he did not perform a leading part, both with means and safe counsel, and it has often been most truthfully said of him that he was one man of means that was always willing to use it for public benefit as well as personal use. He will be missed in the business and social life of our town and county, but above all he will be missed in the religious life, especially in that of his own church. He was always at his post of duty, letting nothing interfere with the performance of his obligations to his God. He assisted in the organiza- tion of the Presbyterian Sunday school, and was the only superintendent it ever had up to the time of his death. "

Another editorial reads in part as follows: "R. H. Norris was a man among many thousands. He was heloved and highly respected by all, no matter what their manner of life might have been. He was looked upon as one of the highest type of a business man. He was prompt and truthful in his business dealings, and it is doubtful if there was ever a man who had a larger acquaintance among the farmers and ranchmen of the State than he, and each one of these men had the most implicit confidence in the integrity of Mr. Norris.

"Not only was he attentive to business, prompt in all its demands, but he found time to work for the churches and the schools of the town and county. He was a mem- ber of the First Presbyterian Church of this city, and had

been superintendent of the Sunday school since its organi- zation. He was liberal with his money for the cause of the church, and there never was a subscription list pre- sented to him calling for money with which to build a church but what his name was placed upon the list, and the amount was among the largest given. He was a mem- ber of the Knights of Pythias Lodge of this city, being made a knight on December 30, 1891. In the early years of the order in this city he was one of the hardest work- ing members of the lodge. He rarely missed a meeting, it is said, and took delight in assisting in the work. When the Elks were organized in Childress he went in as a charter member, and has been a friend of the lodge ever since.

"In the work of building up the schools Mr. Norris had few equals among our people. He has been a mem- ber of the board of trustees many times, and held that position at the time of his death. He was a strong advo- cate of the building of the first brick school building of the city, and when the question of voting taxes for this purpose came up, he not only advocated the tax, but got out and worked for it. The same way in building up the town. He was ready and anxions to give of his money and time to any enterprise that was for the betterment and upbuilding of the place. He was a man of strong views, and did not hesitate to express them, but gave to others the same courtesies that he asked and did not fall out with a man because he did differ with him. "He will be missed not only among his business asso- ciates, by his customers, but by the people of the town and county, irrespective of their calling or vocation. He was the leader among the people and they will miss that leadership and it will be a long time, we are afraid, before another man takes his place."

CAPT. EDGAR SCHRAMM. To the struggle for more liberal government in central Europe, which had its culmination in 1848 in the suppression of the patriots and in the self-expatriation of many of their leaders, the United States owes some of its hest citizenship. Capt. Edgar Schramm, one of San Antonio's most dis- tinguished citizens, was still a child in Prussia when the revolt against the Bavarian government was suppressed, and five years later was brought to America by his parents. Here his career has been one crowded with interesting experiences and notable achievements, and as an early Texas ranger, soldier, merchant, publisher and diplomat he has attained unqualified distinction in the land of his adoption. He was born in Prussia, in 1841, and is a son of Ernest von Schramm and Apolonia (von Wyschetzki) von Schramm.

The paternal grandfather of Captain Schramm served with the Prussian army throughout the Napoleonic wars as a military surgeon, and achieved eminence both as an officer and in his profession. Ernest von Schramm was born in the beautiful and historic city of Danzig, Prus- sia, on the Baltic sea, in 1808, soon after the edict of Napoleon declaring Danzig a republic. He received ex- cellent educational advantages in the Universities of Bonn and Berlin, and in 1853 came to the United States with his family and located at New Braunfels, Texas, having cast his fortunes with the colony founded hy Prince Solms-Braunfels. About one year later he re- moved to Gnadaloupe county, locating on a farm on the San Geronimo river, about six miles from Seguin, and there spent the remainder of his life. His wife was the Countess Apolonia von Wyschetzki, who was born in Poland, a member of a distinguished family of the nobility and a beautiful woman of rare talents. She died in Prussia, to which country she had returned in her latter years.

Capt. Edgar Schramm's interesting, varied and event- ful career began during a time of great hardships to the early settlers of Texas, arising from lack of money- making crops, high prices for the bare necessities of life, depredations by the hostile Indians and numerous other adverse conditions. One of his earliest occupa-

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tions was driving ox-team freight wagons from Indian- ola, on the coast, to the interior of Texas, a journey fraught with great danger and numerous hardships. Prior to the outbreak of the war between the South and the North he had joined the volunteer Ranger service for protection against the Indians, and in that capacity patrolled the frontier from Red river to the Rio Grande. When hostilities were declared between the states, in April, 1861, he entered the Texas State troops, becom- ing a member of the First Texas Regiment of Mounted Volunteers, which had been organized mainly for pro- tection against the Indians. He remained with this organization for nearly a year, and then joined the regular Confederate army, receiving a lieutenant's com- mission in Company F, Thirty-second Texas Cavalry, Gen. X. P. DeBray's Brigade, Wharton's Cavalry Corps. This company, of which the dashing young lieutenant later became captain, was recruited at New Braunfels, and was noted for the men in its ranks who could lay claim to nobility, and many of whom had seen active service in the Prussian army. Captain Schramm com- manded his company throughout the campaign against Banks, in Louisiana, and among others participated in the sanguinary engagements at Mansfield, Pleasant Hill and Yellow Bayou.

On the close of his military service Captain Schramm engaged in the mercantile business at New Braunfels, and subsequently went to Galveston, where he was the proprietor of a wholesale grocery enterprise until 1870, iu which year he transferred his operations and activi- ties to San Antonio. He disposed of his mercantile in- terests in 1888, when he established the first Democratic German newspaper in San Antonio, the Texas Staats- Zeitung. Under his direction and editorship this be- came one of the important influences in Texas politics, and contributed materially to the success of a number of Democrats who rose to high position. At this time Cap -. tain Schramm became himself a prominent figure in San Antonio polities, and was nominated and made the race for mayor against Bryan Callaghan, but was defeated by a small majority. In 1893, during President Cleveland 's second administration, Captain Schramm's abilities and talents were recognized by his appointment to the post of consul-general to the Republic of Uruguay, South America, a position he held until 1897. Captain Schramm is now living a somewhat retired life, having disposed of his interests in the Staats-Zeitung to his son-in-law, Albert Hohrath, the present publisher and editor. How- ever, he still retains the vice presidency of the Equitable Life Insurance Company, of San Antonio, and daily attends to his property interests in this city. A man of strong and dominating personality, he has made his influence forcibly felt in the various fields of endeavor in which he has been engaged. He has borne a useful and honorable part in the conduct of public affairs, has adorned social life by his genial spirit, and set before the community an example of enterprise in business, integ- rity in office and moderation in the conduct of life.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 9

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