A history of Texas and Texans, Part 92

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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In politics he was always a Republican, and of the Progressive type. His church was the Presbyterian. In San Antonio, on December 31, 1879, Mr. Millspaugh was united in marriage with Miss Sarah J. Sanderson of that city. Her parents were R. B. and Mary (Currie) Sauder- son. R. B. Sanderson was a well known sheep farmer in Tom Green county, and a very prominent man. He had come to Texas in 1876 from Wisconsin, having previously beeu a farmer in Columbia county of that state, and several times having represented his county in both houses of the Wisconsin legislature. After moving to Texas he was in the stock raising business, and so con- tinned until his death in 1887. His widow survived un- til 1902. Mrs. Millspaugh was the oldest of the six chil- dren in the Sanderson family, and the three others now living are: Robert C. Sanderson of Big Springs, Texas; Mrs. Charles W. Hobbs of San Angelo, and Frank G. Sanderson of Forth Worth.

To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Millspaugh were horn eight children, six of whom are living, mention of them being made as follows: Sidney Sanderson Mills- paugh, born in 1881, married Sarah C. Cunningham in 1908. Mary Bland now Mrs. Dwight L. Hunter, born in 1884; Emily, born in 1885, died in 1886; Dorah, now Mrs. L. F. Boulware was born in 1886 and married in 1909; Helen, Mrs. Frank S. Hodgins was born in 1888, and died in 1912; Jeanette, and Louise, twins, were born in 1590; the youngest child is Miss Minnie Frances, who was born in 1894. Mrs. Millspaugh on her father's side is of English descent, and Scotch on the maternal side. She is now living in the old home in San Angelo, near the site of old Fort Concho, in what is now the south half of the city. She is surrounded by her family and many friends, and is esteemed both for her own qualities of heart and mind, and also for the character and activities of her late husband who died November 13, 1908.

JOSEPH WILLIAM BCGAR. Abilene's leading mercan- tile enterprises include the dry goods house of Joseph William Bogar, who has been identified with this com- munity something over ten years, having begun here as a clerk and by attention to business and ambition to sneceed, and a thorough integrity has acquired a posi- tion as one of the largest independent merchants in the city.

Joseph William Bogar was born in Lawrenceburg iu Lawrence county, Tennessee, January 17, 1861. He was the second in the family of children born to Fletcher E. and Nancy (White) Bogar, natives of Tennessee, who moved to Texas in 1874 and located in Webberville, in Travis county. The father was a farmer and stock raiser in that locality and continued a career of honorable prosperity there until his death in 1902. His death oc- curred while on a visit to his old home in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. The mother passed away in 1880 in Bastrop county. Of the five children the other four are men- tioned as follows: Maggie, the widow of James W. Ireland, formerly a substantial farmer, her home now being in Bosque county; Hannah, wife of S. H. Gar- rison of Abilene; John G. Bogar, a business man at Ross- well, New Mexico; Nannie, wife of George Brown, proprietor of a cotton gin in Merkel.

Mr. Joseph W. Bogar received only a country school education in Travis county, his opportunities be- ing limited to the rural schools, which at the time had not attained the standard of efficiency now prevalent in the country schools of Texas. He went to school more

or less regularly until he was eighteen years of age and then determined to begin a business career and in merchandising. Dallas county was the scene of his first practical work, and he was clerk in a general store in that county for ten years, remaining there long enough to master all the details of merchandising, and accum- ulating some capital for future use. On leaving Dallas county he came out to Merkel in Taylor county, where he worked for one year as a clerk. Then in the fall of 1902 he came to Abilene, where he accepted a place as salesman with the firm of Morgan & Weaver, who at that time conducted the best dry goods establishment in Abilene. After being in their employ tor one year, he branched out on his own responsibility, and hecame or- ganizer of the firm of Bogar, Campbell and Sellars Com- pany, a company which founded and conducted a large and profitable business nnder Mr. Bogar's management. Mr. Bogar remained at the head of this firm until 1906 when he sold out his interest. He soon after organized Bogar & Company, and he is president, general manager and principal stockholder in this well known enterprise. He has built np a store which now employes during the busy season as many as twenty clerks, and its situation on one of the best corners in one of the main streets of Abilene commands for it a trade hardly second to any of the trading centers in the city.

Mr. Bogar and family are members of the Methodist church. He was married October 22, 1892, to Miss Hattie Floyd, who was born in Texas, a daughter of George aud Elizabeth (Bains) Floyd, her parents hav- ing been among the early families of this state. Four children have been born to Mr. Bogar and wife. The oldest is William, now eighteen years of age, and asso- ciated with his father in business; Eugene is sixteen years of age; Ruth is twelve; and Floyd is seven. The family reside in an attractive home, and Mr. Bogar owns other city real estate. He is one of the leaders in the Civic community, and has always interested himself in any movement which would bring larger benefit and de- velopment to Abilene or the vicinity.

THOMAS D. Ross. Senior member of the firm of Ross, Ross & Alexander whose offices occupy the entire see- ond floor of the State National Bank Building, Thomas D. Ross has been a member of the Fort Worth bar for a number of years, and is one of the oldest and best known lawyers of the city and north Texas.

Thomas D. Ross was born at Magnolia, Arkansas, Feb- ruary 22, 1861, a son of Zeno C. and Mary J. (Davis) Ross. He acquired liberal educational advantages, at- tended the University of Arkansas up to his junior year and then entered the University of Virginia, where he was graduated in 1882, with the degree of LL. B. He continned his studies for the law in the Yale University law school, where he was graduated Master of Law in 1883. In the same year he was admitted to the bar, and at once came to Texas, locating in Fort Worth. Fort Worth was then a comparatively small town, though right at the beginning of its great expansion as a com- mereial metropolis of all west Texas. He opened his office, and has practiced law from that year to the pres- ent, always enjoying a liberal share of the patronage in the local courts. He formed a partnership with his father Zeno B. Ross who continued in the firm until his death in 1894. Since then Zeno C. Ross, Jr., and Aubrey G. Alexander have entered the firm. Ross, Ross & Alexander have a large corporation practice, and rep- resent a great deal of home and foreign capital, the lat- ter principally English and Scotch.

Mr. Ross is president of the Texas Securities Com- pany, president of the Fort Worth and Tarrant County Abstract Company, and a director in the Fort Worth National Bank.

On October 24, 1859, he married Miss Clara G. Dunn, daughter of John B. Dunn of Kentucky. They have two daughters, Jeanne D. and Jessie M. Ross.

Fw. Shearer, Tur. O.

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ANDREW JACKSON MARBERRY, M. D. Since 1881 a member of the medical fraternity, Dr. Marberry has since 1900 practiced as physician and surgeon in San Angelo, where be is one of the best known members of the profession, and enjoys a splendid practice.

Andrew Jackson Marberry was born November 20, 1853, in Wayne county, Missouri, a son of A. J. and Mary E. (Robinson) Marberry, both formerly from Ten- nessee. Some of the Marberry family are represented in Washington, D. C., and the immediate branch of the family originated in the state of North Carolina, and were slave holders and planters in the early days. The ancestry on the paternal side is English, and Scotch and Irish in the maternal line. A. J. Marberry was likewise a physician, and for a number of years practiced at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. From Missouri he moved into Arkansas, about 1866, locating at Lonoke, where he remained in practice until his death in 1881. His wife survived him more than twenty years and passed away in 1903. Of the six children, five boys and one girl, the doctor was the fourth.

Dr. A. J. Marberry, Jr., was educated in the public schools of Arkansas, after which he took a medical course in the Missouri Medical College, and was gradu- ated M. D. in 1881. Since then, in line with his am- bition to keep abreast of the improvements and progress in this science, he has taken post graduate work in New York, Chicago and St. Louis. His first practice was in Lonoke, Arkansas, from 1881 to 1893. In the latter year he located in Ballinger, Texas, and was a pop- ular member of civic and professional circles there until 1900. In that year Dr. Marberry decided upon his per- manent location as San Angelo, and since that time has been in regular practice in this city. As to politics the doctor has always been a stanch supporter of Demo- cratic candidates and doctrine. He has taken the Knights Templar degrees in Masonry, and is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. On July 3, 1888, he married Miss Sarah Young, a daughter of Dr. F. R. and Martha E. Young of Arkansas. Her father was for many years a physician at Morrilltown, Arkan- sas, and was a man of distinction in his community. The doctor and wife have two children living, Lilla Ruth and Mary. Miss Lilla is now a student in the Univer- sity of Texas, and Miss Mary is in the public schools of San Angelo.

THOMAS W. SHEARER, M. D. Thirty years of success- ful practice as a physician and surgeon are not the full measure of the accomplishments and activities of Dr. Shearer. While devoted to his profession, he is in a peculiar sense a business man and has been identified with the organization and development of several im- portant business concerns in South Texas. He was one of the first to take up on a commercial scale the culti- vation of rice in Chambers county. The honors of public office have also come to him.

A lineal descendant of Robert Bruce, the liberator of Scotland, Dr. Shearer bas an interesting genealogy and derives some of the hardy and keen business quali- fications from his Scotch parents. Thomas W. Shearer was born at Janesville, Wisconsin, in 1856, a son of Robert Bruce and Elizabeth MeKinnon Camphell (Me- Dougall) Shearer. Both parents were born in Scotland, the father in Glasgow, where during his early career he was identified with a sash and blind manufacturing con- cern. The parents emigrated from Scotland to the United States in 1848, and after a residence for a brief time in New York City, then in Philadelphia, and later in Chi- cago, finally located in Southern Wisconsin at Janesville. About that time occurred a great migration from Scot- land to that section of Wisconsin and the Shearer family were among the Scotch colonists who did so much to de- velop the country in the southern belt of Wisconsin counties as pioneers. The father was a tradesman at Janesville the rest of his active career.

Dr. Shearer received his education in the public schools of Wisconsin and Iowa. He was a student in the Iowa Industrial School at Ames, where he graduated in 1881 with the degree of Bachelor of Science, and in 1883 as Master of Science. After taking his Bachelor's degree he was assistant professor in chemistry at Iowa Industrial School, and at the same time studied medi- cine. His early inclinations and talents were all along a scientific bent and he won many honors of scholarship. Dr. Shearer in 1884 graduated M. D. from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the University of Illinois, at Chicago. His practice began at Des Moines, and while there he was professor of chemistry and toxicology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Iowa, now the medical department of Drake University. After three years his health began to fail and he came to Texas to visit his brother and recuperate. He had not been in the state long before he determined to make it his perma- nent home, and in 1887 settled in Chambers county. He took up active practice and during the twenty years of his residence in that county was prominently identified with public and business affairs. For twelve years he was honored with the office of county treasurer. As al- ready mentioned, he was one of the business men who utilized the opportunities presented by the rice industry in the coast district of Texas. In 1903 he became one of the organizers of the Old River Rice Irrigation Com- pany, and was president and manager until he sold his interest in 1907. He was also secretary of the Moore's Bluff Rice Irrigation Company. Since moving to Hous- ton in 1907 Dr. Shearer has continued in the practice of medicine, and at the same time has interested himself in several business concerns. His offices as a physician and surgeon are in the Beatty building.

Dr. Shearer was organizer of the New Era Gravel and Development Company of Houston and has been presi- dent and manager. This company has extensive gravel pits at LaGrange, Columbus and at Alleyton.

On June 17, 1885, occurred the marriage of Dr. Shearer and Miss Hannah Hutton, a native of Windsor, Canada. Mrs. Shearer, who is of English pareutage, was a fellow student with the Doctor at the Iowa Industrial College of Ames, and holds the degree of Bachelor of Science from that institution. To their marriage have been born a fine family of seven children, as follows: Thomas Rodney Shearer, who graduated from the Ag- ricultural and Mechanical College of Texas in 1912 with the degree of Bachelor of Science of Agriculture, after completing the course in three years and having been captain of Company K in the college, is now secretary and active manager of the New Era Gravel and Develop- ment Company; Elizabeth Emma Shearer is a graduate of the Houston High School; Gerald Shearer is now a student in the Fannin School, in Houston, and is adju- tant of the Fannin School Cadets; Hannibal Shearer is a member of the class of 1914 in the Fannin School; the three younger children are Robert Bruce Shearer, Hutton Shearer and Ross Sterling. The family home is at 3103 Louisiana street.

COL. JAMES H. PARRAMORE. Out in Runnels county, in what was then the exclusively range cattle era of Western Texas, a little more than thirty-four years ago James H. Parramore began his career as a cattle man, a career which took bim through all the ups and downs, the vicissitudes of cold weather and drought, and the fluetations of markets, and until finally he had ad- vanced to a place among the cattle kings of this state. He has been for many years one of the prominent lead- ers in the Texas Cattle Raisers Association, a member of its executive committee, and in many ways identified with the organized efforts of the cattle raisers of the state.

The most conspicuous fact in his career, however, is not so much the ultimate success which he attained, as the condition of its beginning. Mr. Parramore is like most successful men, who have won their way fairly

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and honestly, very modest about his own ability, and achievements, and really gives most of the credit for his successful performance to the kindly cooperation and counsel of his wife. Mrs. Parramore died several years ago, and her husband is still devoted to her memory, and esteems her as one of the best and noblest women that ever lived. When he took his family out to Run- nels county many years ago his first home was a dugont dwelling, standing out isolate on the prairie. A few months later they moved into a two-room Inmber house he had built. That day Mr. Parramore characterizes as one of the happiest of his life. In that shelter hare of all the luxuries and nearly all the practical necessities of comfortable living. Mrs. Parramore lived contentedly with her six children during the years of hardships and discomforts imposed in getting a substantial start in the cattle business. She not only did much to soften the hard conditions of living for the family, and pro- vided for their wants, but at the same time instilled in her children the principles of Christian life and virtues of manly and womanly character which are now evi- denced in the young men and women who represent and do credit to her rearing.

Col. James H. Parramore was a son of William War- ren and Rebecca Jane (Norwood) Parramore. Both parents came from old and highly respected families who were among the early settlers of Florida and Geor- gia. In ancestry the Parramores were of French origin, and the family history is that three brothers prior to the Revolutionary war came from France, one settling in Kentucky, one in Florida, and one in Virginia. The Norwoods are of Irish descent, and were prominent citi- zens of Georgia. Both parents lived to the age of fifty- four years and died in Gonzalez county, Texas.

James H. Parramore was born in Early county, Georgia, August 13, 1840. When he was two years old his father moved to Mississippi, and the family lived in that state until December, 1848, when they moved from there to Gonzalez county, Texas, arriving there the last of January, 1849. Mr. Parramore grew to manhood in Gonzalez county, and what education he at- tained was acquired in Gonzalez college.

Mr. Parramore is a veteran of the Civil war. He en- listed September 4, 1861, in Company I, of Perry's Texas Rangers better known as the Eighth Texas Cavalry. This regiment was attached to General Albert Sidney Johns- ton's army. Mr. Parramore went through the war and was wounded at the Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on January I, 1863. A few months later he returned to the regiment and was again wounded on July 30, 1864, so seriously that he was compelled to retire from the service, holding at the time the rank of Fourth Cap- tain of Company 1. He did not get home until 1865, in the month of July, and was crippled up for some months after the war. He finally was able to work and began as a farmer, an occupation which he continued until 1875. He owned a farm of one hundred acres and as it was his nature to be ambitious and energetic he overworked in managing this estate, and was finally told by his doctor that he could no longer live in that sec- tion of Texas, and that he must go out into the west- ern portion of the state in order to keep his health. For a time he was engaged in the cattle business in Gon- zalez county, and then in 1879 came out to Runnels county. There was no trans-state railroad in existence at the time and Runnels county was really on the frontier. The only inhabitants of the entire regions were ranchers and traders and some of the few remaining buffalo hunters. In Runnels county his beginning as a cow man was on a very small scale, but he succeeded almost from the start and has long since been known as one of the largest operators in west Texas, owning many thousands of acres of ranch and grazing lands, and every year being one of the largest shippers of cattle and other live stock out of this state.

Mr. Parramore is now living largely retired from ac-

tive service in Abilene, where he built a beautiful resi- dence some years since. It was in that home that his beloved wife passed away on February 26, 1908. Before her marriage she was Miss Mary Jane Goodson, and their marriage occurred on October 28, 1866. Ten chil- dren were born to their marriage, three of them now being deceased and the others mentioned as follows: Hugh C., a cattle man at Ballinger, Texas; Eunice, liv- ing at home in Abilene; Doc Dillworth, who is a rancher in Sterling county; John Norwood, a rancher and large cattle raiser in King county; Sue, now Mrs. E. V. Sellers, a rancher of King county; Mary, wife of E. W. Douthit, a cattle man of Big Springs, Texas; and James H., Jr., who is a rancher in King county. The sons Doc D. and John N. are twins. Mr. Parramore has always been a Democratic voter, but has never accepted any official honors. The family are all active members of the Baptist church and he is affiliated with the Masonic Order through the various degrees of the York Rite and is a member of the Mystic Shrine.

W. A. GAULT, M. D. One of the well known and promi- nent physicians of this section of the state, and a resi- dent of Electra, Texas, since 1912, where he has been engaged in practice, is W. A. Gault, M. D., who has been identified actively with the profession since 1898, when he was graduated from the Barne's Medical Col- lege of St. Louis. Dr. Gault is a son of Ralph T. and Martha (King) Gault, and he was born in Austin, Texas, on June 30, 1867.

Robert T. Gault was born in Tennessee, and it is presumed that the mother's birth state is Texas. In 1852, when he was twelve years of age, the father came to this state with his parents, who settled twelve miles north of Austin, just west of Merrilltown, there estab- lishing what became known as Gault Place, and settling up some twelve thousand acres of land. There Robert T. Gault was reared, for the most part, and when he reached young manhood he took up active farming, continuing there until 1882, when he moved to Coryell county, Texas, and there died in 1906. He was born in 1840, and was thus sixty six years of age when death claimed him. Mr. Gault served in the Civil war as a member of General Greene's brigade, and he entered the service when he was but eighteen years of age, in com- mon with many another of the heroic youth of the land. The mother of the subject died in Texas, in 1868.

W. A. Gault was one of the two children born to his parents, he heing the eldest. As a hoy he attended the country schools of Coryell county, then entering Barne's Medical College in St. Louis, from which he was duly graduated with his well earned degree of Doctor of Medi- cine in 1898. He began the active practice of his pro- fession prior to that time, however, practicing under a certificate in 1896 at MeNeal, in Travis county, and after he received his degree from Barne's, he practiced in Killeen in Bell county until 1899. From 1899 until 1902 he practiced at Pidcoke in Coryell county, Texas. In 1902 Dr. Gault took up his practice in Spindletop Oil Fields in Beaumont, Texas, there remaining until 1903, after which he went to Batson, Texas, remaining for one year. His next move took him to Himble, Texas, where he continued until 1907, and from then un- til 1912 he was engaged in practice in Pidcoke, Texas. In 1912 he located in Electra, and to his work here he has brought a generous fund of experience and knowl- edge, gleaned from his various activities in former years in his profession, and from his well conducted studies along lines of scientific research. Dr. Gault is a post graduate of the Chicago Clinical School in 1901, and he is a member of the Wichita County Medical Association.

Dr. Gault is now serving as city physician, and is a member of the Wichita County Medical Association, and the State Board Medical Association, in both of which he is rendering a valuable service to his community. He

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is a Democrat in his political faith, and is fraternally connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World and the Modern Woodmen of America.

In November, 1898, Dr. Gault was married to Miss Lizzie Rancier, of Temple, Texas, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Rancier, now both deceased, and two children have been born to them: Miss Highland Gault, born in 1900, now attending school at St. Mary's Immaculate Academy in Wichita Falls, and Robert Edwin Gault, born in 1902 in Hillsboro, Texas, now attending school in the southern part of the state.

The brief period of their residence here has been amply sufficient to establish the family firmly in the esteem and confidence of the community, and they are accorded the sincere regard of a wide circle of the best people of the place.

ALEX KAHN is an active factor in the commercial life of Wichita Falls, Texas. He has been in business here as a merchant for more than two decades and is substantially identified in many ways with the city.

Mr. Kahn's career in Texas covers nearly the whole of his life. He was born in Washington, D. C., July 1, 1866, and when he was nine years old his parents moved to this state. Sol Kahn, his father, a native of Ger- many, came to America when a boy. He was a suc- cessful merchant of Washington, D. C., for a number of years and later of Dallas, Texas. He is still living, now being retired. During the Civil war he served as a Confederate soldier in a Tennessee regiment and was once wounded. His services lasted throughout the war. His wife, Anna (Graf) Kahn, also a native of Germany, died at Dallas, Texas, in July, 1910, at the age of sixty-six years. She was a resident of America from her early girlhood, having come to this country with her parents, and she bore a family of ten children, Alex being the second born.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 92

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