USA > Texas > A history of central and western Texas > Part 45
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JOHN W. COCHRAN .- The public officials of Childress county include John W. Cochran, the present county sheriff. He was born at Griffin, Georgia, in 1872, and at the age of seventeen, in 1889, he came to Texas and located first in Hamilton county. He came to Childress county in 1891, and he has since that time been one of its prominent citizens. Dur- ing several years he had charge of a ranch in this county, and he became well known in that time, but his acquaintanceship became further ex- tended when he took the position of deputy under Sheriff Bellah, and in 1906, when he made his first race for the office of sheriff, he easily won the election and was re-elected at the following term in 1908. Mr. Cochran is known not only in his home county as a highly efficient officer, but as well throughout northwestern Texas generally, and he' is a member of the Texas Sheriffs' Association and of the Knights of Pythias and Elks fraternities.
Mrs. Cochran was, before marriage, Annie Cunningham, born in San Saba county, Texas. They have a little daughter, Annie May.
OLIVER H. SMITH has become prominent as a stockman and horse breeder. He was born in Jackson parish, Louisiana, but was reared at Ruston in Lincoln parish. He was located at Monroe, Shreveport and other points in northern Louisiana until 1898, when he moved to Motley county, at the foot of the plains in western Texas, and there he embarked in the stock business, paying particular attention to the raising of horses and mules. Establishing a ranch in Motley county, he did well there. and, through close application to business and a natural aptitude for affairs, he became one of the best known horsemen in western Texas, and particularly in racing stock he has built up a stable of which he may well be proud, including specimens from some of the finest racing stock in the United States. His stable is headed by the celebrated Dean Patch, uncle of the noted pacer, Dan Patch, Mr. Smith having purchased Dean Patch at Lexington, Kentucky, and as the head of his breeding stock the animal has been a notable acquisition to the Smith stock farm. He also owns a number of fine fillies from Sam Grattan, the great show horse of Waxahachie, which has won all of the prizes in Texas in his class. He owns a daughter of the well known Charlie Embly, who trotted a mile in 2:1014 at the Dallas fair. In fact, both his race and show horse stock are all of the highest class and bring him a large amount of business from various parts of Texas and Oklahoma.
Mr. Smith also conducts a large and successful business in mules, during the winter of 1908-9 alone handling twenty thousand dollars' worth of mules. Although a young man, Mr. Smith has won a notable success in the horse business, and is thoroughly deserving of the liberal
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encouragement he has received in establishing this industry in Childress. He established his permanent residence in this city in 1908, building an attractive and substantial home in the southern part. He also owns valuable land in Childress county, his main pasture being three miles south of the city. He has taken an active and energetic part in building up the Childress Fair and Racing Association, whose annual races and exhibitions, held in July of each year, comprise a notable event in north- west Texas. He is superintendent of the track department, and this track is known as one of the best in the country.
Mr. Smith married Emma Robison, from Simmsboro, Louisiana, and their three children are Eugene, Helen and Wallace.
JOHN C. LISENBY .- After many years of active, aggressive labor in the business world, John C. Lisenby is now living retired, having amassed a comfortable fortune as a stockman. He was born in Itawamba county, Mississippi, in 1844. He was reared on a plantation, and in 1862, from Jackson county, he enlisted for service in the Confederate army, joining Company A, Magee's Regiment, Dobbins' Brigade of the cavalry service. He was engaged continuously in that service in the Trans-Mississippi de- partment in Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and along the Missouri-Kan- sas border, until the close of the war. During his military services he was largely engaged in scouting and rough service characteristic of the warfare in those regions, fraught with the constant hardships, depriva- tions and dangers such as only a strong, healthy youth of rugged con- stitution could withstand.
In 1868, while vet a young man and with hardly a penny of financial resources, but filled with the vigor and determination to succeed in a new country, he came to Texas and located in Grayson county. His first work there was with cattle, and he has been a stockman all his life, never branching off into any other line of business, and keeping his mind always on making a success in the cattle industry, he prosecuted the occupation during a long number of years and never failed to make money.
After living in Grayson county for eight years, Mr. Lisenby moved to Clay county, his headquarters for several years, but in the meantime he had gradually worked his cattle westward, and in about 1889 he moved his headquarters to the foot of the plains in Motley county, making his home at Matador. In 1906 he established his permanent home in Chil- dress, and about that time he also retired from active participation in the cattle business, it being then largely taken over by his son, G. E. Lisenby, who retains the headquarters in Motley county. The senior Mr. Lisenby is one of the strongest citizens financially in Childress. He has made all of his money in the cattle business, and it has been earned by close application to duty through a long number of years, and he is well entitled to the rest he is taking. He is a Royal Arch Mason.
Mrs. Lisenby was, before marriage, Miss S. N. Boston, born in Mis- sissippi, and they have three children : G. Ed Lisenby, Mrs. Mollie Echolds and John C. Lisenby.
ERNEST D. HUNT is prominently known as a cattle dealer, as a former representative of the State Sanitary Board, and as a member of a family which has been identified with the interests of northwest Texas during
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many years. He was born at Darlington, in county Durham, England, January 15, 1877, a son of P. W. and Susannah (Mead) Hunt, both of whom were born in Ireland, but their ancestral home was England. They lived at Darlington until 1879, coming then to America. From New York they made their way to Galveston, Texas, by boat and located at Brenham in Washington county, and in 1889 the family came to north -. west Texas and established their home at Quanah, where the father became connected with the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad Company and continued in their service for some years. Later he became editor of the Teras Stock and Farm Journal. During later years he has made his home in Fort Worth, where he is engaged in the real estate business.
Ernest D. Hunt was reared in the cattle industry of Texas, and he has been connected with this vocation since his boyhood. He worked with cattle for the O X ranch for several years, later going into the live stock business for himself, and he has a ranch on the Pease river, south- east of Childress. He is a thoroughly qualified stockman and has been very successful in the business. For eight years he represented in this district the Texas State Sanitary Board as inspector, his duties being to inspect herds of cattle that were offered for shipment through the quar- antine line. He received that appointment through the Hon. M. M. Hankins of Quanah, a member of the State Quarantine Commission, and he performed his duties with signal satisfaction to all interests.
Mrs. Hunt was, before marriage, Effie Davis, and three children have been born to them-Lillian, Davis and Helen.
JOHN CZEWSKI is honored as one of the pioneers of Childress county, and he is well known as a farmer and stockman. Born in Austria in 1860, he came to America in 1883, landing in New York city, and in 1886 he came to northwest Texas and in the same year located in Childress county, in the southeastern part, about fourteen miles from the present city of Childress. But the county had at that time not been organized and the town of Childress was not thought of. The country. was very sparsely settled, used almost altogether for range by the big cattle outfits, and in this wilderness Mr. Czewski started to work to make a farm and raise some crops, principally wheat. He lived in that location for nine years, moving then to what is now known as the Cottonwood section, a fine farming community seven miles northeast of Childress. There he has a splendid farm of three hundred acres, which has increased- greatly in value with the rapid development of the country within the past six or seven years, and he also owns a farm a mile north of the city, which he conducted successfully for some time as a dairy farm, but he sold his dairy interests in 1909. In 1895 he rented a blacksmith shop in Chicago and conducted it for four years. He bought a wagon yard in Childress in 1898, which he conducted in addition to his farm and live stock interests, his home being also located in the city.
Mr. Czewski came to this country a poor young man, practically without a penny financially, and notwithstanding the very disastrously bad years which followed, memorable for their drouths, panics, etc., he remained in his chosen country and has achieved success. His wife, to whom he was married in 1888, and who was born in Germany, was, before her marriage, Charlotte Kupke, and they have seven children living:
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Rosa, Otto, Louise, Helen, Lena, Joanna and Charlotte. Rudolph died aged seven years, and one died in infancy.
FOARD COUNTY
Foard county was created from adjacent counties March 3, 1891, and organized the following April. The total population of the county in 1900 was 1,568; Crowell, the county seat, had 278. In 1903 the taxable values of the county were $1,614.770, and in 1909, $3,453-360.
Until the completion of the Orient railroad through the center of the county, in 1909, the nearest shipping points were at Quanah and Vernon. The development of the county has only begun during the. last few years. This is the wheat region of northwest Texas, and cotton, fruit and other farm products contribute to the wealth of the people.
The progress of the county is reflected in the growth of the county seat town from a country hamlet, before the railroad came, to a new-built little city, with many of the municipal and business facilities of older and larger cities. A recent magazine article describes its advantages as fol- lows:
"Crowell has five churches; an electric light plant under construc- tion ; waterworks system being installed; large dam under construction; three large cotton gins ; four large lumber yards; three large implement houses; over forty business houses; two substantial banks; four office buildings ; up-to-date opera house ; most beautiful streets of any town in the West ; up-to-date telephone system; good drainage; twenty-six first class automobiles ; garage; over five hundred residences, many of them palatial homes, most of them built recently, and others under construc- tion ; over one dozen brick business houses now under construction, many of them already leased for from one to three years ; new $60,000 court- house under construction ; site purchased and plans submitted for $30,000 hotel ; elevator with capacity of 1,500 bushels per hour just completed ; good school buildings ; $17.000 bonds voted and accepted for building of brick high school; over one hundred and fifty car loads of building ma- terial have been received at this place within the past ninety days. Five years ago the taxable valuation was $10,000; today it is near $1,000,000."
JUDGE ROBERT COLE holds and merits a place among the representa- tive legal practitioners and citizens of Crowell in Foard county, Texas, an eminent jurist, an able judge, and an honored pioneer. He was born in Panola county, Mississippi, but came when a boy with his parents to Texas in 1869, landing in the city of Galveston, while later they located in Grimes county. Dr. R. A. Cole, the judge's father, died at Rockport, this state, in 1907. He, had been a surgeon in the Confederate army during the war, and he was a practicing physician during many years.
Judge Cole was reared in Grimes county, but before he became of age he left home and came to the then frontier of Texas, locating in 1876 at Breckenridge, in Stephens county. Fort Griffin, the noted frontier post of those days, was located in that county. The young lad worked with cattle outfits for a time, but that occupation not proving congenial he began the study of law and as soon as the opportunity offered he com- pleted his legal studies under the Hon. T. B. Wheeler, ex-lieutenant gov- ernor of Texas, at that time a resident of Breckenridge, but now living
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in Arkansas Pass. Robert Cole was admitted to the bar in February of 1880, and he came to what is now Foard county, then a part of Harde- man county, in 1885, and this county has remained his home ever since and he is numbered among its well known and honored pioneers. This community at that time was given up almost entirely to large cattle ranges, and only a few widely scattered settlers were then farming the land. Mr. Cole, however, turned his attention to farming, twelve miles east of the present town of Crowell, on Paradise creek, and he remained there until 1892. The county of Foard had been organized in 1891, and the town of Crowell, its county seat, founded in the same year, and there its future judge located to begin his law practice. He was elected the judge of Foard county some time after this, and he filled that office for four years, and for some time he also served as the county attorney by appointment of the county commissioners. Judge Cole is a successful lawyer and thoroughly familiar with conditions in Ford county and this section of the state. He is also a member of the firm of Massengill and Cole, real estate dealers.
Judge Cole married Fannie Lockhart in Stephens county in 1881, but he has recently suffered the loss of this companion, her death occur- ring in 1908 while on a visit to her old home. There are six children in his family: Grover. Crutcher, Kinlock, Warwick, Robbie and Lottie. Judge Cole is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias and a mem- ber of the Christian church.
JOE W. BEVERLY has been identified with the growth and develop- ment of Crowell and of Foard county since the days of their infancy, and his lineage traces back to the pioneers of the Lone Star state. John Beverly, his father, and who is now deceased, was one of the most promi- nent of the early residents of Collins county, whither he went with his father in 1845. The latter was from Tennessee, but came to Texas from Illinois, and in early years he was prominent in Collin county affairs and was one of its first commissioners. The old Beverly home is a farm in the southern part of the county, near Plano, and there the mother of Joe W. Beverly. Isabel (Russell) Beverly, has lived continuously for sixty years and more, and there her son Joe was born in 1850.
Joe W. Beverly lived in that home until 1885, coming then to what is now Foard county, but which then formed a part of Hardeman county, and here he has ever since remained, one of its honored early pioneer settlers, one of its largest land owners and real estate operators and one of its most active citizens. In his own life on the northwestern Texas frontier he has repeated the experiences of his father and his grandfather as pioneers in Collin county. Following his arrival here, Mr. Beverly began the development of a farm four miles northeast of the present town of Crowell. The few settlers of the community at that time were scattered over a wide expanse of country, it being for the most part occu- pied by the large cattle firms for range. The county of Foard was de- tached from Hardeman county in 1891 and organized as a separate divi- sion, and in the same year the town of Crowell was started and was made the county seat. Mr. Beverly located in the new town and erected its first livery barn and conducted it for seven years. In 1898 he embarked in the general real estate and abstract business, and he has since con- tinued a successful representative of those vocations, and in later years
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he has been joined by his brother, Tom W. Beverly, who came from Collin county for that purpose, and he is the present mayor of Crowell. The firm of Beverly and Beverly transact a large business both in town property and farms, and, associated with C. C. Hemming of Colorado Springs, they purchased the well known McDonald property near Ray- land, about fifteen miles east of Crowell, in Foard county, which they divided into farms, improved and are selling to experienced farmers. The firm also has the Beverly and Martin addition to Crowell, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres adjoining on the northwest, a splendid residence subdivision. Joe W. Beverly owns and conducts some fine farming land of his own. Owing to his long residence and practical experience he is thoroughly familiar with the rich and varied agricul- tural resources of Foard county, and is exceptionally well qualified to give advice and the benefit of his experience to prospective settlers. He is the secretary of the Crowell Independent School District, and a member of the Masonic order and of the Methodist church.
He married Laura Reed, a daughter of the late R. M. Reed, of a Georgia family, and one of the first merchants of Crowell. He died in 1893, and his widow is living with her daughter, Mrs. Beverly. The five children of Mr. and Mrs. Beverly are Joe Russell, Lee Allen and A. Y. Beverly, and Mrs. Lizzie Roberts and Mrs. Mattie Hutchinson. Joe R. Beverly, the eldest son, has charge of the abstract department for the firm of Beverly and Beverly.
MCCULLOCH COUNTY
McCulloch county, named in honor of Captain Ben McCulloch, was created by the legislature August 27, 1856. The county court, when elected, was directed to choose sites to be voted on for county seat, and the court was to select a name for the town thus founded. A meager population of stockmen had settled in this region, chiefly along Brady's creek, before the war, but no organization of a county government was attempted until 1862. The county officials for that year were: E. Woodall, chief justice; A. T. McMurtrie, county clerk; R. D. Bedwell, assessor and collector. In 1866 the officers were: J. Beasley, judge ; J. K. Sloy, county clerk; J. A. Crews, district clerk ; A. B. Conner, sheriff ; J. W. Dump, assessor and collector.
Persistent Indian hostilities during and after the war prevented any- thing like permanent settlement, and the few who remained, though of the hardy class of frontiersmen, did little or nothing to develop the coun- try. County organization was allowed to lapse, and the county was not organized on a permanent basis until 1876. Brady, the chief settlement, was made the county seat.
The county had only 173 inhabitants at the census of 1870. The rapid influx of stockmen to western Texas during the next decade brought the population in 1880 to 1,533 (22 negroes). In the meantime Camp San Saba had been established in the southern part of the county, origi- nally as a temporary frontier post, and soon became a center of settlement. A description of the county in 1877 stated that Brady City had a popu- lation of about 100 and "Camp San Saba, Dugout and Bradshaw's Mill are beginning to be thriving little villages, more especially San Saba, which is located in a very favorable portion of the county.
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They all have good schools and churches." The same publication men- tions the establishment during the preceding year of many sheep ranches. In 1882 there were about 29,000 cattle, while the number of sheep was about 52,000. Stock raising is still the large industry, though the breaking up of the large ranches began less than ten years ago. In 1909 the tax rolls showed about 33,000 cattle, 8,000 horses and mules and about 10,000 sheep.
A statistical publication of 1882 described the towns as follows : "Brady City has from 150 to 250 inhabitants, two hotels, two livery stables, several stores and a substantial and handsome court house and jail, built of native stone. Camp San Saba has about 100 inhabitants, three stores, a postoffice and a good stone building used for church and school purposes. Voca, a small village, has one store, a postoffice and a cotton gin and grist mill, run by water power. The scholastic population for the year 1882-83 is 215, for which public free schools are provided. The Methodist and Disciples, or Christian, denominations hold religious services at several places in the county, and church conveniences, as yet scant, are improving."
The population of the county in 1890 was 3,217; in 1900, 3,960; and in 1910, 13,405. In 1881 the taxable values of property were $588,754, of which about $220,000 represented the assessment of live stock. In 1903 assessed valnes were $2,080,960; and in 1909, $5.754,804.
The extension of the Fort Worth & Rio Grande Railroad from Brownwood to Brady, in 1902, was the most important commercial event of recent years. Hitherto all the live stock was driven out of the county to railroad markets, and outside towns were the distributing points for all necessities consumed here. When Brady became the terminus of the railroad, it at once became and has since continued to be the shipping and distributing point for a vast area to the west and south. Brady claims to be surrounded by the largest range and to be the largest cattle shipping point in the world, over one hundred thousand cattle being collected here for shipment every year. The same cause has built up some large mer- cantile houses, which supply the local trade for many miles around. The Brady Commercial Club summarizes the resources of the town as follows : . "Largest shipping point in the world for cattle, cotton and pecans (combined). More than 50,000 bales of cotton marketed from wagons, season 1908-09, and 100,000 head of cattle shipped from Brady, 1908-09. Center of a trade territory fifty miles square ; finest farming land in Texas. Brady has two $100,000 oil mills, one compress, four gins, waterworks, electric lights, telephones, ample banking facilities, several wholesale con- cerns, four newspapers, prosperous, self-sustaining Fair Association, etc."
A branch of the Santa Fe is now being built from Lometa through Brady, and other lines are proposed to develop this section of the state. The population of Brady in 1890 was 560; in 1900, 690. In 1890 San Saba had a population of 36; Voca, 53; Waldrip, 47. Waldrip is located in the coal mining region, and in 1900 its population was 127.
THOMAS H. MARSDEN was numbered among the old time cattlemen of Central and Western Texas, and became one of the large property owners of McCulloch county. He was born in the city of New York, July 27, 1846, but in 1854 he came with his parents to Texas, and locating in Brazoria county the family lived there for many years. From Brazoria
I. H. Marsden
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county Mr. Marsden went to Beeville, in Bee county, and was there at the time of the inauguration of the Civil war. He served in the Con- federate army throughout that struggle, having enlisted at Beeville in the Thirty-second Texas Cavalry, Wood's Regiment, Company D, under Captain W. L. Foster, and his military services were in the Trans-Missis- sippi department and principally in Texas.
When the war ended Mr. Marsden returned to Bee county, and in 1871 he was elected its sheriff, serving in that capacity until 1874, and in 188I he came to McCulloch county, and bringing his cattle with him he established his headquarters at Brady and worked cattle over adjacent ranges for several years. He later acquired a large pasture joining Brady on the west, and he still owns eight hundred acres of the tract, and owing to its close proximity to the city it has become a very valuable property. The home is located on this land, in the western part of the city, and during the last years of his life he lived practically retired from active participation in the cattle business. He was the first to erect wire fence in the vicinity of Brady.
Mr. Marsden's wife was, before marriage, Fannie A. Jones, born in Grimes county, and their nine children are: Mrs. Katie Jones, Allen C. Marsden, Mrs. Lillie Jones, T. T. Marsden, W. H. P. Marsden, Crosby Marsden, Clara D. Marsden, Duke Marsden and Dick Marsden. Mr. Marsden was at the time of his death colonel on the staff of the com- mander of the Mountain Remnant Brigade, an organization of Confed- erate soldiers in central southwestern Texas, and he was a member of the Knights of Honor. He was called from this life on the 19th of February, 1910, and thus passed away one of the honored pioneers of Central and Western Texas.
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