A history of Texas and Texans, Part 91

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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Ward Bankhead was born January 23, 1887, in Parker county. His parents are G. J. and Georgia Ann Bankhead. Great-grandfather Bankhead came to Amer- ica from Ireland, while on the mother's side, Mr. Bankhead is of Scotch ancestry. The father was an Alabama man, while the mother came from Virginia. G. J. Bankhead moved from Alabama to Texas about 1870, first locating in, Dallas, where he was agent for the Texas Trunk railroad, and later took up farming and mechanical pursuits. His removal to Parker county occurred about 1880, where he has since continued farming and mechanical work. In 1904 he was hon- ored by election to the office of county clerk and held that position two terms. During the war among the states he was captain of company K, Fifth Alabama,

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Patterson 's Brigade of Cavalry, and went through the war from the early parts until its close. There were six children in the family, three sons and three daugh- teis, all of whom are living in 1913.

Ward Bankhead, second among the children, has lived all his life in Parker county, and was trained in the local public schools. In 1905 he completed a course in the Dallas Business College. His first regular work was as stenographer, with the Fisher Dry Goods House, and two years later he entered the courthouse at Weatherford as deputy county clerk, his work in that capacity beginning January 1, 1907. His service as deputy gave him a thorough familiarity with all the details of the office, and in 1912, when his name was placed on the ticket as candidate for the office, he was elected without opposition. He was admitted to the bar in October, 1913. Mr. Bankhead is a Democrat of the progressive kind, and has done considerable cam- paign work in Parker county. During 1910 to 1912, he was a precinct chairman. Fraternally his affiliations are with the Masonic order, in which he has taken the Chapter and Knights Templar degrees, and is also a member of the Mystic Shrine. Whenever possible, Mr. Bankhead is ready to support and cooperate with any local movement for the improvement of his locality, and he is one of the popular members of the Weather- ford Commercial Club. His church is the Presbyterian. As opportunity offers he spends his vacation hunting and fishing, and is one of the vigorous and public spirited younger members of this splendid west Texas county.

ROBERT LEE STENNIS. A former county judge of Parker county, Robert Lee Stennis has for twenty years been a resident of Weatherford, and during most of this time has beer in active practice as a lawyer. Judge Stennis is a leader in his part of the state, a man of wholesome influence in affairs, and has a splen- did record of accomplishment and attainment.

Robert Lee Stennis was born July 10, 1570, near Meridian, Mississippi, a son of A. T. and Julia (Ed- wards) Stennis. The Stennis family is of Scotch and Irish stock and Presbyterian in religion. There are large numbers bearing the name in the states of Missis- sippi and South Carolina, and most of them were slave holders and planters before the war and took an active part on the Confederate side. On his mother's side Judge Stennis is connected with the prominent old Edwards family, which came from Holland and settled in the Middle Atlantic and Southern states in the early days. The maternal grand mother was of English stock, thus uniting four different racial lines of ancestry in the judge. The judge's father was a planter and before the war a slave holder, and continued in that vocation until his death. During the war he became an officer in the Confederate army, having raised a company in Kemper county, Mississippi, serving as its captain, later was promoted to major of the Fifth Mississippi Infantry, and still later became lieutenant colonel. He went all through the war, and was one of the distin- guished southern soldiers. His death occurred in Missis- sippi in 1878, and his wife died in 1894. There were seven children, four sons and three daughters, all of whom are now living. Judge Stennis is the youngest son.

As a boy he lived on the Mississippi plantation, at- tending the local schools, and for five years was a stu- dent in the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Mis- sissippi at Starksville, while General S. D. Lee was presi- dent of the institution. In 1892 he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science. The following three years were spent in teaching in Mississippi and Texas, his resi- dence in the latter state beginning in 1893. Since that year his home has been in Parker county. While teach- ing he took up the study of law, and in May 1895 was admitted to the bar at Weatherford.

Judge Stennis has had an active part in public affairs,

and in 1904 was elected county judge of Parker county, holding office for two terms. When he was first elected to the office the custom still prevailed in Texas as else- where of a general distribution by the railroad of passes among state and county officers of all grades. The judge showed himself in advance of his time, and scrupulously lived up to the standards of civic and official conduct which may he said now to prevail generally over the state. When passes were sent to him as county judge, he returned them to the railroad companies, and soon after- wards in a county judges convention condemned the uses with all his power of utterance, and eventually secured the passage of resolutions prohibiting the acceptance of railroad passes by the county judges. It illustrates his fidelity to his convictions of right that he refused the passes and began the agitation at a time when his ac- tion would be of the greatest benefit, and when it could not possibly be misconstrued. The judge has always been a Democrat, is a very effective speaker, and has taken part in a number of campaigns. He was a delegate from his county to the state convention in 1900, and is a loyal supporter of the present Wilson administration.

Fraternally his associations are with the Masonic Or- der in which he has taken the Knights Templar degree, and belongs to the Mystic Shrine, and he is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World. As an active worker for local benefits, he has membership in the Chamber of Commerce of Weather- ford. His church is the Southern Presbyterian, in which for eighteen years he has served as an elder.

On December 12, 1900, at Waxahachie, Texas, Mr. Stennis married Miss Lu Rainey Nash, a daughter of John and Lu Rainey Nash, who came from Louisiana to Texas in an early day. Her father was an attorney at law, and died in 1881, while her mother is still living. The judge and wife have two children, a son and a daughter. Miss Rainey Lee Stennis, aged eleven and now a student in the public schools; and Robert Nash Stennis, aged three.

Judge Stennis is a steadfast booster of the resources and civilization of his section of Texas, and in support of his enthusiasm, he points to the excellent schools, the churches, the generally high standards of living among the people, and also the splendid material resources. It was Parker county to which was awarded the prize for the largest watermelon at the St. Louis Exposition, that prize melon weighing one hundred and fourteen pounds. Judge Stennis is well established in his profession and enjoys the confidence of all the people in his community. He has been too busy to take a vacation, and is always a worker, a genial personality, a good talker on all sub- jects, and has a career of large usefulness still ahead of him.

THEODORE F. TEMPLE. Twenty years ago Judge Temple was admitted to the Texas bar. Nearly all his professional career has been at Weatherford in Parker county, which he is now serving in the office of county judge. In the law, in public affairs, in education, and in business Judge Temple has been a real factor in the affairs of this county for a great many years. His ability and attainments are of that type which makes leaders of men, and it is in a position of leadership that he has worked for a number of years.

Theodore F. Temple was born October 27, 1861, at Greeneville, Tennessee, a son of William and Mary Temple. In ancestry the judge possesses the distinctive stock of the Irish, Scotch, and English. His father while a resident of Tennessee, was a slave holder and planter before the war, and there are a number of families of the Temples and related branches in that state. William Temple moved to Texas in 1881, and continued to farm in this state until his death on November 28, 1882. His widow survived until 1908. Of their eight children, four were sons and four were daughters, and the eldest son is Judge Temple.

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Judge Temple lived in Tennessee, the first twenty years of his life. The public schools were his introduction to learning, and later he was a student in the Edwards Academy, conducted by the United Brethren Church at Greeneville. After coming to Texas he was a student in the Granbury College, and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1889. School teaching was his profession for some years, and up to 1892 he was identi- fied with the Weatherford College. While teaching there he took up the study of law and in May 1893 was ad- mitted to the bar at Weatherford. Up to 1897 he was engaged in practice at Weatherford, and then went out to Toyah in western Texas, where he taught school for one year. Returning to Weatherford, Judge Temple formed a partnership with the late Col. J. L. L. McCall, which was only dissolved by the death of Col. McCall in 1904. Since then the Judge has practiced alone, and has enjoyed a large and distinctive patronage in both counsel and court work.

He received the Democratic nomination in the primaries of July, 1912, for the office of county judge and in the following November his election was approved by the people. The career of Judge Temple in politics has experienced some changes. In 1894, during the Pop- ulists movement, he supported that cause, and continued an advocate of the doctrines as long as W. J. Bryan up- held populistie views. However, in recent years, he has been a stanch Democrat, seeking, voting and working for the good of the party. In 1910 he was a delegate to the Democratic State Convention at Galveston. In 1912 bis support was actively given to the Wilson cause, and the judge regards the present Wilson administra- tion with much favor and satisfaction. Fraternally his associations are with the Knights of Pythias, the Wood- men of the World and others. He has each succeed- ing year been a delegate to the annual convention of Woodmen, since the organization of the order. He also belongs to the Columbia Woodmen and to the F. M. C. His public spirited citizenship is always manifest in every cooperative undertaking for the advancement of the interests of the town, and he has an active men- bership in the Chamber of Commerce of Weatherford. In religion his interest is very closely identified with the Methodist Episcopal church south, with which denomina- tion he has been identified since he was ten years of age. He is a member of the board of stewards of the district conference, a teacher in the bible class for the past fifteen years, and was a delegate to the general conference at Asheville, North Carolina, in 1910.

The first marriage of Judge Temple was on Christ- mas Day of 1890 at Rockport, Texas, when Miss Mary A. Davis became his wife. Her parents were Hugh W. and Darthula K. Davis, of Weatherford. Her father, who was a cotton buyer, died in March, 1897, having survived his wife several years. Hugh W. Davis was a Confederate soldier, serving in the Infantry branch, and in one of the many battles in which it participated he was captured. After being held in Federal prison for a number of months, he managed to make his escape and though fired upon finally reached the Confederate lines and rejoined his company, continuing actively with his command until the close of the war. Judge Temple lost his first wife in September, 1897. There were two sons: Theodore W., now in a business college at Weather- ford, is preparing to enter the Agricultural and Mechan- ical College at Bryan and take a course in civil engineer- ing. Hugh W. Temple, is a student in the public schools of Weatherford. On December 14. 1899. Judge Temple married Miss Sarah E. Estes, a daughter of Dr. J. H. Estes of Hood county. Dr. Estes and wife both died in 1901. The judge and wife have one child, a daughter, Maggie Estes Temple, aged seven.

GEORGE W. HARDY. A Brownwood business man with a fine record of success, one who began in this city ten or twelve years ago, with very modest capital, Mr.

Hardy has spent practically all his active career in Texas, and has great faith in the state as a region of unlim- ited natural resources, and a place where the industrious and ambitious may be sure of the satisfactory rewards of life.

George W. Hardy is a native of Kentucky, born in Logan county, August 23, 1862. He was the oldest of the ten children, seven of whom are now living, born to John H. and Frances Hardy. The family is of English and Irish stock, and the grandfather of Mr. Hardy on his mother's side was a slave trader and planter in Ken- tucky. There are several families of the name in Ken- tucky and Virginia, and also in Mississippi. The father, who was a painter by trade, left Kentucky in 1882, and settled in Sherman, Texas, from which city he moved in 1899 to Brownwood, where he and his wife still reside. He has been in the painting business since moving to Brownwood.

George W. Hardy grew to manhood in the decade of the Civil war and the reconstruction period following, and this part of the country and the circumstances of the home did not permit of liberal educational advan- tages, although he made the best of his opportunities and is a man of thorough practical skill and well in- formed on all the vital problems of the day. When a boy he learned the painting and paperhanging trade, aud followed it as a workman for about eighteen years. In 1901 he engaged in the wallpaper and painting busi- ness on a small capital, and in a very small shop. Suc- cess has come to him in generous measures since that time, and owing to his ability to fill contracts readily and reliably he has never lacked an abundance of cus- tom. In 1911 his business had increased so that he or- ganized the Hardy & Denney Paint & Wallpaper Com- pany with a capital stock of fifteen thousand dollars. He has since been president of this company. The storeroom of the company is one hundred and twenty- five by twenty-five feet, and it is stocked with a com- plete line of all grades of paints and papers. Mr. Hardy is also a member of the Brownwood Oil & Devel- opment Company, his faith in the resources of this see- tion of Texas leading him to support every enterprise that looks to better development of its resources.

For one term he has served as city alderman, and is a loyal Democrat, and supporter of Democratie policies, especially as exemplified by the present administration. He has affiliation with the Masonic and Knights of Pythias Order, and is Grand Representative of the lat- ter order, and is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Hardy is a member of the Presbyterian church south. On April 17, 1883, he married Miss Loca Bell Benton, of Sherman, Texas. Her father was a stock man for many years, and continued in that line until his death. Her mother, Amanda E. Benton, died in 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Hardy became the parents of five children, only one of whom is now living. Miss Virginia Morton Hardy was born March 1, 1888, graduated from the Daniel Baker College of Brown- wood, and now lives with her parents.

JOSEPH BECTON, M. D. In a profession that was sig- nificantly dignified and honored by the character and ministrations of his distinguished father, Dr. Becton bas himself gained marked priority and is one of the representative physicians and surgeons of his native state. Engaged in practice in the city of Greenville, he is here conducting a well equipped private hospital and is devoting his attention almost exclusively to the surgical branch of his profession, He has achieved special suc- cess and reputation in surgery, as well as gynecology, and holds secure place in the esteem of his professional confreres and in the confidence and high regard of the general public in his field of activity. A scion of one of the sterling and influential pioneer families of the Lone Star state, Dr. Becton is a son of the late Dr. Edwin P. Becton, to whom a specific memoir is dedicated on other pages of this work, so that a repetition of the family

JOSEPH BECTON

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history and other personal data is not demanded in the sketch here presented.

Dr. Becton was born in the village of Kilgore, Gregg county, Texas, on the 19th of October, 1865, and the major part of his preliminary educational discipline was acquired in the public schools of Sulphur Springs, Hopkins county, to which place the family removed in 1874. Later he completed an academic course in Austin College, at Sherman, this state, and in preparation for his chosen profession he availed himself of the ad- vantages of the same institutions in which his honored father had been a student. His earlier profession studies were pursued in the medical department of the University of Louisville, at Louisville, Kentucky, and he completed his technical course in the medical department of the University of Tennessee, in the city of Nashville. In this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1890 and from the same he received his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. In August of the same year he established himself in practice at Quanah, the county seat of Hardeman county, Texas, and there he continued his zealous labors until 1897, when he re- moved to Greenville, in which thriving and important city of Northern Texas he has since continued in active and successful practice. Dr. Becton has counted as satisfactory to himself none but the highest possible standard in his profession, and for several years past he has given time to effective and advanced post-graduate work in the leading medical colleges and hospital clinics of the City of Chicago. Since 1900, with full recogni- tion of the expediency of concentration in the work of his profession, he has limited his practice almost ex- clusively to surgery, aud in this field of endeavor he has gained distinct precedence as a skilled operator in both major and minor surgery, with many delicate and critical operations to his credit. For the proper care and treatment of his surgical cases the Doctor maintains his admirably appointed private hospital, and the same affords the best of facilities in furthering the success of his work. He is identified with the American Medical Association and its various adjunct or subsidiary or- ganizations; has served as vice-president of the Texas State Medical Society, and as president of each the Hunt County Medical Society, the Northeast Texas Medical Society, and the North Texas Medical Society, besides which he has the further distinction of having held the office of vice president of the Southwest Medical Association, covering the states of Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Dr .· Becton is a loyal and progressive citizen and takes special interest in all that tends to foster the civic and material advancement of his home city. He is un- wavering in his allegiance to the Democratic party and is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows.

On the 14th of January, 1891, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Becton to Miss Anna Sayles, daughter of Dr. Robert Sayles, a representative physician of Greenville, and the three children of this union are: Mary, who is the wife of B. V. Collier, of Greenville; Anna Olivia, who is the wife of Jesse Boyken, of Greenville, and Joseph, Jr. The family is one of prominence in connection with the representative social activities of Greenville.

JAMES LOUIS MILLSPAUGH. That a community should be what it is largely as a result of one man's life and activities is perhaps the highest tribute possible to pay to human individuality. None would dispute that the flourishing city of San Angelo bears in its present com- mercial and municipal organization the impress of the character and influence of the late James Louis Mills- paugh, who will long be remembered as a business builder, a civic leader and a man of splendid personal character. Mr. Millspangh came here in the days of old Fort Concho, more than forty years ago, was post

trader and general contractor and otherwise connected with the government establishment here, and was thus on the ground and became a pioneer in the development of the little city, which has since become a metropolis of central west Texas.

James Louis Millspaugh was born at Middletown, New York, August 28, 1841, the youngest in a family of seven children born to Virgil Millspaugh and Hannah Mc- Weigh. The family on the paternal side was Holland Dutch, and on the maternal was Scotch Irish, and many of the names still live in New York state. In the pub- lic schools of New York the late Mr. Millspaugh had an education better than the ordinary, and qualified him- self and taught school in New York for several years. He was just at manhood when the war between the states broke out, and he then enlisted in Company F, of the eighty-third New York Infantry. On July 22, 1862, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant of Company C of the Fifty-third New York Infantry. Not long after that he was wounded and so incapacitated that he was given his honorable discharge and returned home. He did not remain long in New York, and went out west and became connected with the railway contracting busi- ness during the construction of the Union Pacific Line from the Missouri River west. After that he moved around considerably in the western country, and finally came to Fort Concho, in 1871, at a time when permanent settlement had not advanced within many miles of that point, and the only occupants of the entire region were the soldiers and cattlemen. At Fort Concho he was ap- pointed post trader, and for many years was postmaster there. He did an extensive business for the government, being a government contractor for supplies not only at Fort Concho, but for other government posts in Texas, and this business made him very well known and placed him in a position to be of great service to the country when it should begin to develope. Thus a few years later he assisted in platting the town site of San Angelo, near Fort Concho, and he must be given credit for the fact that the city has its streets one hundred feet in width, and that in other respects San Angelo is one of the best planned cities of the state. As population came and the town increased, he showed much enter- prise in taking the lead in those undertakings, which are for the general welfare of all citizens, and among other things he built the first ice factory, operated the first electric light plant, and also organized the water company, which supplies the municipality with a gen- eral water service. In late years much has been heard and said in Texas about city beautifying, and special emphasis has been placed upon the necessity of planting trees in the streets. It is interesting in this connection that Mr. Millspaugh took the lead at San Angelo, and many of the trees which now give their grateful shade to the passer-by were set out and cared for as a result of Mr. Millspaugh in local citizenship. In this and in every other matter affecting the general improvement of the city he was foremost in advice and practical work. Mr. Millspaugh was one of the active members of the railroad committee which secured the construction of the Santa Fe Railroad to San Angelo as its terminus, a point at which it remained for so many years, and which gave San Angelo its first great impetus as a com- mercial center. He also constructed the dam across the Concho River, and thus provided for power and a per- manent water supply.

The late James L. Millspaugh was a man of indomit- able energy and of singular originality. He possessed a mind very fertile in expedient and enterprise, and had the courage of his convictions and the resourcefulness to put his plans into effect. He is remembered as one who took great delight in reading and study, and his re- tentive memory enabled him to employ the varied in- formation to effective purpose whenever he needed it. He was a very interesting conversationalist, and withal one of the most popular men San Angelo ever had among

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its citizens. His ambitious and thought were all inter- twined with the welfare of San Angelo, and to him perhaps more than to any other individual in this sec- tion does San Angelo owe its present success and prestige. The late Mr. Millspaugh was one of the organizers of the Concho National Bauk of San Angelo, the first finan- cial institution in the city, and of which he was one of the first directors.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 91

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