USA > Texas > A history of central and western Texas > Part 44
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ing the R 2 ranch some time in the afternoon. That night, with a party of men from the ranch, among whom was Dick Forsythe and Billy Ney, well known frontiersmen, they returned to the scene of the disaster and found the body of their late comrade scalped, mutilated and even burned. On the following morning they buried the body close to the spot where he had been killed, and this formed the beginning of the present Quanah graveyard, the deplorable incident having occurred on the site of the pres- ent city of Quanah, although at that time there was no sign of any habita- tion for miles around.
The two brothers then abandoned their trip to Colorado, and Fred Estes began work on the R 2 ranch. In 1880 he came to what is now known as Childress county and began work on the old O X ranch owned at that time by Mr. Forsythe, one of the large cattlemen of his day. The ranch headquarters were in Childress county, southeast of the present site of its county seat, and Mr. Estes worked out from that point. His home has been Childress since those early days, and there is none other of its citizens who can claim as long a residence. The old O X ranch ex- tended from the Red to the Pease river and from there the present town of Acme now is on the east to about where Carey now stands on the west. He continued there in various capacities of responsibility for about seven- teen years. He was made the first'assessor of Childress county after its organization in 1887, and after holding that office for six years he was for four years the county's sheriff, assuming its duties in 1898. He also served for about three years as a county commissioner. In about the year of 1905, having retired permanently from the cattle business, he be- came the senior member of the drug firm of Estes and Atkinson, druggists of Childress. He is a member of the board of city councilmen of Child- ress, a director of the Farmers and Mechanics State Bank and a member of the Masonic fraternity.
Mr. Estes married Lola Beaty, who was reared at Pilot Point, Texas, and they have had two sons, Fred Jr. and Jimmy Estes, but the last named died in September, 1909.
DR. ROBERT W. McFERRAN is one of the most successful practicing physicians of Childress, but perhaps he has attained his greatest success and popularity through his conduct of the Cottage Hospital, maintained for the treatment of cases in gynecology and gynecological work. Dr. McFerran is particularly well equipped for this work, having made it a special study in his post-graduate work in Chicago, New Orleans and in London.
He was born in Mobile, Alabama, but was reared at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and he received his education mainly in the Louisiana State University and graduated with its class of 1889. Coming then to Texas he later located in Dallas and matriculated in the Baylor University Med- ical College, from which he graduated in 1901. Following this he became house surgeon in the Dallas City Hospital. In 1903 he located perma- nently in Childress, and since about 1904 he has been conducting Cottage Hospital, which is maintained not only for Childress patients but for those of other towns within a radius of one hundred miles as well, and the hospital is in high standing with the medical profession. Its patronage in recent years has increased to such an extent that a modern new two-story brick structure of twenty-four rooms is contemplated to be erected on a
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slightly elevated location at the southeastern edge of the city, equipped with every modern facility for its purpose.
Dr. McFerran has membership relations with the County, State and American Medical Associations, and he belongs to the Elks and Odd Fel- low fraternities.
HON. GEORGE E. HAMILTON .- One of the most prominent lawyers practicing in the Panhandle of Texas is the Hon. George E. Hamilton, a legislator of prominence and a legal practitioner of the most pronounced success. His entire professional career has been spent in this state, but he was born in Chattooga county, Georgia, in 1871, and he was reared there and attended school at Calhoun, that state. It was in 1894 that he came to Texas, and locating first at McGregor he began the study of law there, and was admitted to the bar at Waco in 1897. His first practice was in Abilene, and he remained in that city for two years, moving in 1899 to Matador, Motley county, in the Panhandle country, and he prac- ticed his profession there with success until establishing himself perma- nently in Childress in 1907. Being already well known throughout the Panhandle as a successful lawyer, the Hon. George E. Hamilton soon secured a place of prominence at the Childress bar, and at the regular election in November of 1908 he was made a member of the Thirty-first legislature to represent the One Hundred and Fifth legislative district, which comprised the ten counties of Hall, Motley, Dickens, King, Cottle, Childress, Hardeman, Foard, Wilbarger and Wichita.
Although a new member in the Thirty-first he was favored with some important committee appointments. He served as chairman of the committee on stock and stock raising, and among others on which he served the following are of the greater importance: Committees on con- stitutional amendments, judicial districts, reforms of criminal and civil procedure, public health and banks and banking, in the latter having charge of formulating the legislation establishing the state guarantee of bank deposits.
Mr. Hamilton is a member of the Methodist church. His wife was before marriage Miss Edna Cooper, a member of a well known North Texas family who have been identified with the cattle business through a long number of years. The two sons of this union are Howard and John Hamilton.
THOMAS ARNOLD WILLIAMS is one of the historic characters of Childress, an early pioneer of the Panhandle country and a present justice of the peace. He was born at Mauch Chunk in Carbon county, Pennsyl- vania, in April, 1845, but he was reared principally in Philadelphia and there learned his trade of shoemaking. At the beginning of the war between the north and the south he enlisted for service in Company D. Ninety-sixth Pennsylvania Infantry, and at the expiration of his term he re-enlisted in the Two Hundred and Second Pennsylvania, with which he served until the war closed. His services were almost entirely in Vir- ginia, and he took part in many of the great conflicts fought on that ground, his principal battles having been those of Chancellorsville, Fred- ericksburg and Antietam.
When the war had ended Mr. Williams came to the south, and as an expert shoemaker found no difficulty in procuring profitable work. After
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about five years at different points in Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri and other places along the Mississippi river he returned to his old home in Pennsylvania and married there Rebecca Raworth, a native of England, and the young couple then came to Texas and located at Brenham in Washington county. This was sometime in the early seventies, and in 1881 Mr. Williams came as a pioneer to Wilbarger county, and he made the first pair of boots ever manufactured in that county. He has lived in the Panhandle country since those early days, and in 1886 he came from Wilbarger to Childress county, this being about a year before the completion of the railroad to this town, and he bought a section of land two and a half miles west of the present town. Anticipating the coming of the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad, a small settlement was started at his place, consisting at first of only a few tents and some dugouts, and this became known as the town of Childress, which was made the county seat upon the organization of the county in 1887, and a court house was built on Mr. Williams' land. But about the time of the completion of the railroad what was then called the town of Henry was started in opposition to the town of Childress, with county seat honors in view, and this re- sulted in the usual fierce rivalry characteristic of those days. Before the danger point was reached, however, a compromise was effected whereby the two towns were merged into one on the site of the town of Henry, but taking the name of its rival, Childress, the court house being accord- ingly moved and the old site of Childress abandoned. Mr. Williams then bought a section of land about three miles south of town and began farm- ing operations on a large scale. The abundant crops of wheat and of other grains garnered during the first two or three years of his residence here encouraged him to acquire a large equipment of modern farm reap- ing and threshing machinery, first class buildings and other accessories, but there came a period of bad years beginning about 1892, and Mr. Williams finally in 1896 sold his farming interests and returned to the work of his trade in Childress. He again enjoyed his customary success, the greater part of his business in those days being the making of fine boots for the cowboys. He was elected a justice of the peace in Novem- ber of 1898, and has served continuously since in that capacity, efficient and capable in the discharge of his duties and giving the highest satisfac- tion to all. He was one of the organizers and was formerly a vice-presi- dent of the First State Bank of Childress, and he is a member of the Masonic order and of the Methodist church.
The seven children of Mr. and Mrs. Williams are: Mrs. Sallie E. Tilson, Charles Sumner Williams (a lawyer at Plainview), Rev. Thomas Edward Williams (a Methodist minister located in Oklahoma), Mrs. Ophelia Merrick and Dan, Dave and George Raworth Williams. The children have all enjoyed splendid educational advantages.
JUDGE WILLIAM G. GROSS .- The name of Judge William G. Gross is a familiar one in political and professional circles in the Panhandle coun- try of Texas, and throughout the entire history of the city of Childress he has been a distinguished member of its bar. He was born at Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1865, and in 1869 he came with his parents to Texas and they settled in Grayson county. The son William attained to mature years on a farm there and he prepared for his chosen work in the legal profession in the law department of the State University at Austin and graduated
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with its class of 1886. In that same year he came to northwestern Texas, and in 1887 he came from Vernon, where he had first located, to the new town of Childress. This was the year of the founding of the town and the completion of the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad to this point.
Judge Gross has lived in Childress ever since those first days of its history, a talented and successful member of its bench and bar and a pub- lic official of proved worth and efficiency. He was made the first attorney of Childress county and in 1896 was elected its county judge. He served in that high official capacity by successive elections until 1902, when he retired voluntarily to resume his private law practice exclusively, but in 1908 he was again made the judge of Childress county and is the present incumbent of that office.
Judge Gross has been a participant in the history of Childress from its beginning, and he is one of the city's most highly esteemed and useful citizens. By his first marriage, which was to Emma Russell, he became the father of three children. The three children are Grady, Russell and Willie. His second marriage, to Miss Annie Krohne, has been without issue.
BENJAMIN T. WILLIAMS stands at the head of the agricultural in- terests of Childress county, and he has engraved his name on the pages of its history in this vocation. To him belongs the credit of raising the first wheat in Childress county, this having antedated the days of harvesting machinery here, and he cut his wheat with a cradle, and he was the first to bring in a self-binder harvester. He has been "first" in many things pertaining to the upbuilding and development of this community, and he is honored as one of Childress county's most progressive and influential citizens and as one of its real builders.
Mr. Williams was born near Chillicothe, Ohio, but his young life was filled with changes and adventures. At the age of ten he came west to Missouri with his parents, the family locating in Franklin county, and in 1869 he went to Kansas City, but soon thereafter he went into central Kan- sas, in what was then the buffalo frontier country in Russell and Ellis counties. From there he went, in 1874, to Colorado, living in that state until 1883, and while there he was at Leadville and various other of the large mining camps of those days. In the meantime he became identified with contracting and building, following these occupations in Colorado in connection with mining. He had gained considerable experience in farming in central Kansas and to a small extent in Colorado. The year of 1883 witnessed his arrival in Texas, and for the three following years he lived at Georgetown in Williamson county. In 1886 he came into the Pan- handle country and located in Childress county, although this particular division was not organized until the following year, and he acquired a large amount of the cheap lands that were to be had in those days with keen foresight as to its future value. His former experience in western farming had shown him what could be done in what then appeared to be a semi-arid country, and he entered into farming operations here without any misgivings for the future. And he has continued on with the result that he is now the largest and most successful farmer in the county, be- coming more and more prosperous with each passing year. This is no doubt the result of intelligent study of local conditions and an industrious application of the teachings of experience. Mr. Williams' principal crop
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BTWilliams
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is corn, and it is in this that he has met his greatest success. His original farm, the one on which he located on coming to the county in 1886, a year before the railroad was completed to this point, is six miles west of Child- ress, and he has several sections of fine land in that vicinity. He also has a splendid section adjoining Childress on the west, where he carries on additional farming operations, and there he built his home in 1909, a beautiful brick structure on an elevation overlooking the city and sur- rounding country, one of the county's finest homes. He has done much building in Childress and its surrounding country, and he has always handled more or less stock, but his principal business has been farming:
Mr. Williams married Emma Wolf, who was born in Piatt county, Illinois, and their nine children are Albert, Kit, Mrs. Bessie Cain, Mattie, Earl, Daisy, Benjamin, Wilbur and George.
JUDGE AMOS J. FIRES was born in Clay county, Indiana, in 1864, but coming to the Lone Star state in 1886 he has become a leading member of the bench and bar of the Panhandle country, and is honored as one of the founders of Childress. He was reared and educated primarily at Worthington in Greene County, Indiana, but he was a student also at the Northern Indiana College at Valparaiso and studied law at Jeffersonville, that state, completing his legal studies in the law department of the Uni- versity of Louisville, of which he is a graduate with the class of 1886.
In the fall of that year Judge Fires came to the southwest to carve out his fame and his fortune, and locating in what has since been organ- ized as Childress county in the Texas Panhandle, he settled on a section of land where the town of Carey now stands, eight miles west of the pres- ent city of Childress. The Judge's life here is coincident with and forms an important part of the history of Childress and of Childress county. On first locating here in 1886 there were then not only no town or rail- road but there was no settlement of any kind west of Quanah, but antici- pating the coming of the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad the few citi- zens then living in Childress county, the voters numbering less than a hundred, decided by election in the spring of 1887 to organize the county, and they accordingly established the county seat and built a court house, a small box structure, at the little town of Childress, which had in the meantime begun to spring into existence. This was the original town of Childress, the site of which was four miles west of the present city. But in the meantime another little town with the name of Henry had sprung into life, located on the present site of Childress, and this place was favored by the railroad which was then being built into the county as the proposed location for their station, switch, etc. And between the two little towns the usual county seat rivalry sprang up, but the town of Henry took advantage of the decision of the board of county commission- ers of Donley county, to which Childress county had been attached, that this election of 1887 was not legal, and in order to effect an amicable compromise all parties agreed to hold another election, which was done in September of 1887 and resulted in the county seat being located at Henry, but the name of Childress, however, was adopted for the new county seat town, the court house and the few buildings being moved to the new location, the old town of Childress dropping out of existence and off the map.
At the time of the organization of the county and at the election of
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1887 Judge Fires was elected the county judge, serving in the office one term, and he thus has the honor of being the first judge of Childress county. From that time on he has been practically "first" in every worthy enterprise for the upbuilding and development of his chosen city and county. On retiring from the county judgeship he entered upon a suc- cessful law practice and business career. He has been the attorney for the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad Company since about 1894, and he was one of the organizers and the leading spirit in the old First National Bank, which he moved to Quanah and sold to parties of that city. In 1902 he organized the Childress National Bank, of which he served as president, until he sold it in 1907, and the bank was consolidated with the bank now known as the City National Bank. In May of 1909 Judge Fires assisted in organizing and placing in operation the Farmers and Mechanics State Bank of Childress, with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars. He has been very successful in all his financial enter- prises and has an extensive law practice. The Judge has long been looked upon as the leading spirit of the town, and he has been the fore- most figure always in inaugurating new enterprises and industries for what has become one of the most thriving and substantial cities in North- west Texas. With Elbert Howard, a prosperous agriculturist living four miles west of Childress, Judge Fires sowed the first wheat in Childress county.
Mrs. Fires was before marriage Miss Maggie Warnick, born in Bloomfield, Greene county, Indiana, and they have three children, Callie, Irby and Chester. The family home, a magnificent residence erected in 1909, is located in the southeastern part of the city. Judge Fires is well known throughout the state as a prominent figure in Democratic politics, as a delegate to state conventions and in other high positions.
EPHRAIM LITTLE BIGGERSTAFF is one of the prominent business representatives of Childress. He came with his father to this city in 1887, having had several years' experience in business life, beginning in California, and soon after uniting his interests with those of Childress county he entered mercantile life. Since that time he has been continu- ously successful, never failing in his business ventures to make a good percentage of profit on his investments, and at the same time he has been prominent and energetic in the upbuilding of his chosen home place. Going to Estelline, Mr. Biggerstaff was for about ten years the manager of the Estelline Supply Company, and he also bought an interest in the Johnson Hardware Company of that place, a profitable venture, and was in the banking business there. Returning to Childress he became one of the organizers and was made the cashier of the First State Bank, which started in business in September of 1907, but later he retired from that office and organized the Wright-Biggerstaff Hardware and Furni- ture Company, which opened for business in December of 1908 in the new Biggerstaff building erected by him for that purpose on Main street. This is one of the finest business structures in the Panhandle country, of modern construction in every way, a handsome, substantial brick two stories high, with ornate front seventy-five by one hundred and ten feet, while the store equipment and fixtures are of the newest design and afford every facility for carrying on the firm's large retail business in hardware and furniture. The second floor is devoted to office rooms, of which
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there are sixteen. The style of the firm now (1910) is the Biggerstaff Hardware and Furniture Company, not incorporated, E. L. Biggerstaff and H. J. King being the owners, and they are also pioneers of Childress.
E. L. Biggerstaff was born at Albany, in Clinton county, Kentucky, a son of R. W. and N. J. (Williams) Biggerstaff. R. W. Biggerstaff, who lives in Childress, was born in Monroe county, Kentucky, in 1826, and he lived in that state during a long number of years, principally in Monroe, Barron and Hart counties. Going to California in the early 'zos, he lived there for seven years, but in about 1880 turned his face eastward and located in Parker county, Texas, living for some years on the well known old Figure 3 ranch, sometimes called the C. H. Higbee ranch, at Aledo. In 1887 he came to Childress county, establishing his home on a farm a mile and a half northeast of Childress, and although he still owns his farm there he has lived in town during the past several years. He is one of Childress county's best known pioneers. Ephraim L .. his son, was reared principally in Barron and Hart counties, Ken- tucky, and going to California in 1873 he came from the latter common- wealth to Texas in 1880, and two years afterward embarked in the gro- cery business on Tucker Hill in Fort Worth. He assisted his father in conducting the Higbee ranch at Aledo from 1883 until 1887, and in the latter year he came to Childress county. He is a Knight Templar Mason, an Elk, and also a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity.
Mrs. Biggerstaff was, before marriage, Ida May Neville, from Barron county, Kentucky, and their four children are Mary, Ethel, E. L. Jr. and Katie.
HARRY BARNES is one of the most prominent and successful con- tractors of Childress county, a young man of unusually varied experi- ences as a builder, adaptable and capable of taking hold of any part of his chosen vocation. He was born at Epsom, England, in 1876, and coming to America with his parents they located first at New Orleans, and from there came to Texas. William Barnes, his father, and who is now living in southern Texas, has been a large contractor and builder during a long number of years. During the early development of Childress he came to this city and was the contractor for the building of several of the prominent business blocks, including the Masonic Temple, the Bates building, the ice plant and many others.
Harry Barnes served his apprenticeship in carpentering and building construction with the well known building company, the Taylor-Buchanan Contracting Company of Galveston, and was also connected for some time with the Taylor-Moore Construction Company, and for the latter corporation he superintended the erection of the Texas State Building at the World's Fair at St. Louis in 1904. He also had valuable experience in construction work in Colorado on the Gunnison project, an irrigation canal carried on by the government, Mr. Barnes having charge of the excavation work and the erection of machinery and equipment for carry- ing on that work. He is particularly apt in setting up and operating all kinds of modern mechanical devices used in building and construction. He was located in Dallas at different times for several years, and while in that city was superintendent of the construction of the wood and steel work on the Stone and Webster plant. He was also engaged in con- struction work for nearly two years with the Iola Portland Cement Com-
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pany, and helped to erect their large plant in West Dallas. Mr. Barnes located permanently in Childress in March of 1908, and has been engaged in most of the leading construction work in this city since that time, a notable example of which is the splendid residence of Judge A. J. Fires. He is a good draughtsman and a practical architect in the making of designs and drawings, and by working from his own drawings and plans he is able to do much more intelligent and satisfactory work than other- wise. Mr. Barnes married at Dallas Miss Marie Brundrett, who was born at Corsicana.
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