USA > Texas > A history of central and western Texas > Part 47
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It is a noteworthy fact that Mr. Bumgardner laid the first cement sidewalk in Brady and installed the first sewerage system in Brady. He also is a pioneer in the mule business, having established the first and only mule barn to date (1910) in Brady.
OWEN DAVIS MANN has spent the greater part of his life in Texas, and he represents a family that have been prominent in the interests of the Lone Star state since an early period in its history. He was born in Smith county, Tennessee, in 1853, but in 1855 the family came to Texas, locating at the Cross Timbers in Tarrant county, they having been among the earliest of the pioneers of that section. and the old Mann homestead was located eleven miles from the old county seat. Birdville. But the family subsequently moved to Grayson county, and from there
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HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
in 1882 to Menard county, then the frontier of Texas. The late T. W. Mann, the father of Owen D. Mann, was a well known cattleman throughout the western Texas country, but in his later years he moved to San Angelo, and there both he and his wife died at an advanced age. One of their sons, Felix Mann, is a prominent land owner and citizen of San Angelo. The Hon. John Courtney, an uncle of Owen D. Mann, served as a member of the Texas legislature, and he took a prominent part in the removal of the county seat to Fort Worth. He was cowardly killed as a result of the perfectly honorable efforts he made to perma- nently locate the county seat.
Owen D. Mann lived in Menard county until about 1901, and in that year established his permanent home in Brady. While in Menard county he became quite extensively interested in farming, and introduced irri- gation in that section. Since coming to McCulloch county he has con- tinued his interest in farming and owns several fine farms in this county, including a valuable tract of five hundred and five acres near the city of Brady on the south, and others in the Lohn country in the northern part of the county. He has always been very successful in his farming opera- tions. In 1902 he with his two sons established the firm of O. D. Mann and Sons in Brady, a large wholesale and retail hardware, furniture, implement and vehicle house. The two sons of the firm are James T. and O. Duke Mann, who have active charge of the business, and they have, by honorable methods and a thorough understanding of their business, built up one of the largest and most successful houses of its kind in this section of the state. Mr. Mann also has a daughter, Mrs. Grace Bevans. His wife, who was before marriage Luella Duke, was born in Dyer county, Tennessee. She died at Brady in January of 1909. The Mann family are among the representative citizens of Central and Western Texas.
FRANK W. HENDERSON is widely known as a banker, as a capitalist and as a land owner. He is interested in various enterprises of impor- tance requiring large capital, and is one of the financial bulwarks that are making Brady the center of a rich country. He is a director and the vice president of the Brady National Bank, is the owner of the Henderson ranch, a rich and valuable tract of land lying west of the city, and is connected with various other important interests.
Mr. Henderson is a native born son of Texas, born, reared and primarily educated in Houston. He later took elective courses in Wash- ington and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia, being a student there at the time of the death of General Lee. He next took up the study of law, and graduating in the Cumberland University at Lebanon, Ten- nessee, he began the practice of the legal profession in his home city of Houston. But in 1880 he came to Brownwood to continue the practice, while subsequently he retired from the profession and located at Mason, in. Mason county, establishing there the first bank of the town-the Mason County Bank. After a time Mr. Henderson disposed of his in- terests in that institution, and in 1902 he came to Brady and established his permanent residence here.
His wife was, before marriage, Margaret Miller, born at Richmond, Kentucky.
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HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
SAN SABA COUNTY
San Saba county was created February 1, 1856, the act directing that the chief justice of Burnet county should organize the local govern- ment and should select sites to be voted on for the county seat, the one finally chosen to be called San Saba. The county officials in 1857 were : Joab B. Harrell, chief justice; G. B. Cook, county clerk; Eli Freestone, sheriff ; J. T. Davis, assessor and collector ; and Allen Sloan, district clerk.
In 1857 the estimated population of the county was 364. The gen- eral development of the county was rather more rapid during the suc- ceeding twelve or thirteen years than in adjacent counties. Before the war the settlers had brought a number of slaves with them, and consid- erable progress was made in agriculture as well as in stock raising.
The population of the county in 1870 was 1,425; in 1880, 5.324 (140 negroes ) ; in 1890, 6,641 ; in 1900, 7,569 (61 negroes) ; and in 1910, 11,245. At the present time several thousand acres in the county are under irrigation. Irrigation is not a modern thing. A writer in the Texas Almanac for 1867 says: "There are large quantities of land irrigated from the Simpson, Rose and Barnett springs, as well as from many others in the county." The same publication gives this additional information : "The town of San Saba has several stores, hotels, mechanics' shops, two or three doctors, and two lawyers, a college and schools, a postoffice, but no postmaster. Cherokee has a postoffice, but no postmaster; one fine water mill. There are quite a number of com- mon schools in the county and one college, known as Masonic College, situated in the town of San Saba."
The value of taxable property in the county in 1870 was $420.506; in 1882, $1,630,253 ; in 1903, $3,355,600 ; and in 1909, $7,496,961. While nearly half the taxable property in 1882 was represented by livestock, and stock raising is still the largest single resource, the development of the county along other lines in the past thirty years has been promoted by the presence of natural facilities for irrigation and abundant water power. The numerous springs throughout the county are utilized to irrigate the adjacent lands, besides the pumping plants which more recently have been established along the streams. A strong spring in San Saba was used in 1880 to furnish power for a flour mill, sawmill and cotton gin, after which its waters irrigated a field of fifty acres, and the same power is now used for an electric light plant and other industries.
Cotton growing began in the county during the '70s, and, though lack of transportation facilities has been an adverse factor, the county has a very diversified list of agricultural products. .
JUDGE JOHN THOMAS HARTLEY, judge of San Saba county and a pioneer citizen, is one of the prominent men whose worth has graced the history of this county of San Saba. He was born in Mississippi in 1856, but in 1857 his father, W. C. Hartley, also a native of that state, came to Texas with his family, and as the judge was then but four months old he is practically a product of the Lone Star state. The family settled first in Robertson county, moving later from there to Coryell county, where the young son grew to manhood, and in the spring of 1876 they came to San Saba county, locating in its southern portion, three miles east of Cherokee. Judge Hartley has resided in this vicinity ever since,
J. J. Hartley
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HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
but in later years W. C. Hartley moved to Tom Green county, where he died in 1905, but his widow survives him and yet resides there.
Judge Hartley's home is about eighteen miles south of San Saba, within half a mile of the homestead which his father originally located, and he is a successful farmer and stock raiser. The Hartleys were among the pioneers in cotton raising in San Saba county, the industry in its earlier years having been given over almost exclusively to the cattlemen. He served six years as a county commissioner, representing precinct No. 3, and was also a justice of the peace at Cherokee during that period. His honorable record as a commissioner was recognized by his constitu- ents and won for him in 1908 the office of county judge, a position that he fills with the same careful efficiency that marked his course as a con- missioner. For the purpose of expediting his duties as a judge he estab- lished a home at the county seat in the fall of 1908. He is also an ex- officio county superintendent of schools.
Judge Hartley married Cornelia Coplin, who was reared in Tarrant county, and they have two children, Thomas E. Hartley and Mrs. Dora Pridgeon, and they live near the old homestead where they were born.
T. A. MURRAY was born in the city of San Saba in 1870, and he still lives at the old homestead in which he was born and where he laid the foundation for future activities. This old place was also the early home of his father, the revered pioneer, Wiley T. Murray, who died in this city in 1898, but his memory is cherished as a man of unusually fine charac- teristics and as one who did more for the town of San Saba than perhaps any other of its residents. He was one of the earliest pioneer settlers of San Saba county, but he was born in Alabama, moving from there to Williamson county, Texas, in 1854, and to San Saba county in 1856. During the earliest years of San Saba as a small frontier settlement, Wiley T. Murray embarked in the mercantile business, and he remained one of the prominent merchants of this part of that state during a long number of years, while at the same time he was also extensively engaged in the cattle business. Forming a partnership with T. W. Ward, another of the honored pioneers of this county, he became a member of the old firm of Ward and Murray, which is notable in the commercial history of San Saba. Their trade extended over a large extent of territory. They developed the Bank of Ward and Murray, established in 1883, and this was the first banking institution of San Saba county. From the time of the organization of this bank, Wiley T. Murray continued actively en- gaged in banking interests until his death, and, although his associate in business has also passed away, the bank which they founded and main- tained has remained continuously in business, being now conducted by the two sons of the original partners-T. A. Murray and Robert M. Ward -under the style of Ward, Murray and Company, unincorporated. This is a strong financial institution with individual responsibilities of half a million dollars, and through years of honorable dealing it has gained the complete confidence of the people of San Saba county.
Wiley T. Murray married Elizabeth Sloan, a member of the Sloan family, which was also among the earliest pioneers of this county.
T. A. Murray, their son, has spent his entire life in San Saba. He was educated principally at Bingham School in North Carolina, and since Vol. 1-28
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HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
early youth has been connected with the extensive business interests- live stock, land and banking-established by his father. He is thoroughly identified with the varied interests and with the development of the rich resources of San Saba county, and he took a leading part in the movement that resulted in bringing to San Saba her long desired first railroad, the Santa Fe, the construction for this road having been begun in 1909. He is president of the San Saba County Fair Association, and is connected financially with the San Saba Water Company, with the Cotton Oil Mill and other local interests.
Mr. Murray married Ethel Badgett, and they have two children, Ethel and Wiley Murray.
LEIGH BURLESON is a lawyer and one of the pioneer citizens of San Saba, and he is a member of the Burleson family of Texas, whose name has added luster to the history of the commonwealth. General Ed. Burle- son, his grandfather's cousin, commanded a regiment at the battle of San Jacinto in 1836, and it was in his honor that Burleson county was named. Dr. Rufus Burleson, an uncle of Leigh Burleson, was the famous educator, founder and for many years president of Baylor University, while Albert Burleson, present congressman from Texas, is a grandson of the General Ed. Burleson above mentioned.
Richard and Sallie (Leigh) Burleson, the parents of Leigh Burle- son, were born in northern Alabama, and coming to Texas in its early history they settled first in Washington county, but later moved from there to McLennan county. It was at the latter place that they reared their son Leigh, and his educational training was received in the old Waco University which was later merged into Baylor University. He was born in Washington county, Texas, in 1847. He studied law in the office of Coke, Herring and Anderson at Waco, one of the most promi- nent law firms of Texas in those days, and admitted to the bar in 1873 he began practice in that city. But in 1876 he came to San Saba on ac- count of impaired health, and for several years was engaged successfully in cattle ranching in San Saba county, owning a fine ranch at the mouth of Brady Creek, twenty miles west of San Saba. But in the meantime he had continued his interest in the legal profession, and after selling his ranch he devoted his efforts principally to the practice of law, and has achieved success in his profession. In addition he is prominently identi- fied as a public spirited citizen in the commercial and agricultural develop- ment of his county, being associated with such enterprises as the building of the new railroad and the promotion of the great irrigation project which is being carried out by the San Saba River Irrigation Company, and for which Mr. Burleson is the attorney.
The San Saba River Irrigation Company was organized in February, 1909, succeeding an older company whose agitation for the development of irrigation and water power from the San Saba river in San Saba county was begun as early as 1892. The present company, however, put the pro- ject in practical shape, and at this writing is carrying it to a successful completion. The project involves the construction of an immense dam on the river at Doran's Canyon, about seventeen miles southwest of San Saba, the dam to be reinforced concrete seventy-two feet high and, by backing up the water, forming a lake covering about two thousand acres, with average depth of thirty feet. There are from forty to fifty thousand
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T. A. SLOAN
N. R. SLOAN
C. N. SLOAN
J. C. SLOAN
M. M. (SLOAN) CAMPBELL
W. P. SLOAN
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HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
acres of rich land that can be irrigated from this lake. But before in- augurating construction on the dam and other works it is necessary that contracts guaranteeing co-operation be had with owners representing a minimum of twenty thousand acres of land. At present fifteen thousand acres have been contracted for. The project has been investigated by James D. Schuyler, the eminent hydraulic engineer who was selected by President Roosevelt to pass upon the Gatun dam. Mr. Schuyler's formal report on this project is favorable and highly commendatory, and besides his technical observations it is interesting to note his general conclusions as follows :
"My general impressions are entirely favorable to the enterprise, which appears to be destined to achieve an immediate success and to ac- complish a rapid transformation in the San Saba Valley, bringing wealth, population, railways and good roads. The soil is unexcelled, the water supply ample and the slopes of the land are just about right for easy dis- tribution of water. The climate is healthful, and the district bids fair to become populous and prosperous. From every point of view the enter- prise appeals to me as a safe and desirable investment."
Mr. Burleson married Bee Moore, a daughter of Woods Moore, a noted pioneer of Bastrop county, and she is a sister of James Moore, a prominent business man of Galveston. The Moore family is otherwise prominently connected with the commonwealth of Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Burleson have five children : Russell Burleson, for many years connected with the Murray and Ward Bank at San Saba ; Lieutenant Richard Bur- leson, a graduate of West Point and now captain of the ordnance depart- ment in the Philippines; Worth Burleson, manager of the San Saba Oil Mill; and Wade Burleson and Mrs. Mary Leigh Price.
N. RICE SLOAN is prominently associated with the industrial history of San Saba county as a land owner and capitalist, and he descends from one of the best known pioneer families of this section of the Lone Star state. He was born in Tishomingo county, Mississippi, in 1845, and in 1849 his parents, Dr. Allen and Nancy G. (Hester) Sloan, with their fam- ily of ten children, came to Texas, establishing their home in Rusk county. Five years after this, in 1855, they came to San Saba county, then the extreme western frontier, arriving here on the 5th of March of that year. Thus they enrolled their names among the county's earliest settlers and began life in this then pioneer wilderness. Dr. Sloan attained prominence here as a physician, and he died in the year 1857, while his wife passed away one year previously, in 1856. The Doctor was born in North Caro- lina, of Irish and Scotch ancestry, and the most of his early life was spent in Tennessee and Mississippi, coming from the latter state to Texas as above noted. He took part in the organization of San Saba county. Of the children born to Dr. Allen and Nancy G. ( Hester) Sloan the following sons are living : William, John, Joseph C., N. Rice and Calvin N. Thomas A. Sloan died in this county ; Archie Sloan died at Arkansas Post, Arkan- sas, while in the Confederate service during the Civil war; and Joseph C. Sloan was badly wounded and permanently crippled in one of the battles in Louisiana. All of the sons who were of sufficient age took part in some branch of the Confederate service. Elizabeth J. (Sloan) Murray, a dangh- ter, is the widow of the late W. T. Murray, pioneer merchant and banker of San Saba. Mary M. married G. W. Campbell, of San Saba, and Sarah E.,
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HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
deceased, married D. C. Woods. The Sloan family have been closely identi- fied with the history of San Saba county beginning with its pioneer settle- ment and continuing through the terrible Indian period, through the days of the cattle thieves and desperadoes, through the short-lived reign of the "mob," as it was called, to the more recent modern development of the county's splendid resources. Their original settlement in the county was ten miles west of San Saba, this being within three miles of Sloan post- office, which was established some years ago and where the family still have interests.
N. Rice Sloan was engaged in his earlier years in the cattle business, a part of the time in association with some of his brothers, but during several years past he has lived in San Saba, where he has a beautiful home. He owns among many other interests the large stone business block now occupied by J. M. Carter, and during some years he has occu- pied this building himself as a general merchant. His wife is Mrs. Alice R. (Henderson) Sloan.
WILLIAM S. SANDERSON, M. D., has gained distinctive prestige in the practice of medicine and surgery, and is one of the pioneer physicians and surgeons of San Saba county. Born in 1851 in Cherokee county of North Carolina, near Hayesville, the present county seat of Clay county, and which county was carved out of Cherokee and Macon counties, he was reared there and studied medicine in the Atlanta Medical College, of which he is a graduate with the class of 1875. He descends from a prominent old family of the Carolinas on both the paternal and maternal sides, and he is a son of William M. and Arminda (Ledford) Sander- son, who reared a family of eleven children, several of whom are living in San Saba county, and one of his brothers, Dr. G. H. Sanderson, is another of the physicians of its county seat, where he located in 1884. Two others, E. T. and J. M. Sanderson, are successful farmers and stock- men, while still another, U. M. Sanderson, is a San Saba banker. A sister, Mrs. J. M. Carter, also lives in San Saba, as likewise does Miss Mollie Sanderson, residing with her brother, G. H.
William S. Sanderson began the practice of his chosen profession near his home in North Carolina, but in the fall of 1875 he came to Texas, stopping first in Dallas, and in the latter part of the following December he came from there to San Saba county, making the entire journey on horseback and arriving here with only eight dollars in cash and a pony and saddle. The country was then so thinly settled that his first three years here showed meager results from a financial standpoint, but by this time the community had grown considerably and Dr. Sanderson having in the meantime established a splendid reputation for efficiency as a physician, he soon built up an excellent practice, which in the days of the frontier extended not only through San Saba county but through the surrounding counties as well, his visits to patients often involving long horseback rides to distant ranch headquarters. During twelve years he was also in the drug business, in partnership with Dr. G. H. Sander- son, his brother, and during his first year in this county he was located at Upper Cherokee, sixteen miles south of San Saba, but since that time he has lived at the county seat and is still actively engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery. He is interested financially in a number of local enterprises, and is an enthusiastic supporter of the growth and
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development of the county. He is a director of the First National Bank and a stockholder in the San Saba Ice & Light plant, as are also his brothers, G. H. and U. M .; and he has two valuable farms near San Saba, while in former years he was quite prominently connected with the cattle business.
Dr. Sanderson married Miss A. T. Hanna, on November 28, 1878. She is a daughter of D. S. Hanna, and their five children are: Mrs. Mattie Allison, Mrs. Elsie Gose, Mrs. Willie Moore, Carrie and Mary.
JOHN KELLY is a man of the commonwealth, a leader in the indus- trial activity of San Saba county, a pioneer citizen, ranch owner, and above all the president of the San Saba River Irrigation Company, a project of the greatest importance to this section of the state. Born in 1848 in Washington county, Virginia, where he was also reared and edu- cated, John Kelly came to the west in 1869, locating for a year in south- western Missouri, and from there he came in 1870 to Texas. His first home here was at Whitesboro in Grayson county, moving from there to Cooke county, and in 1875 he came to San Saba county, his home since those early pioneer days. Throughout his identification with the life of the Lone Star state, his interests have been in the live stock and agri- cultural industries, and he has a fine farm of about two hundred and forty acres eight miles northeast of the city of San Saba, as well as a beautiful home on the hill in the southwest part of the city.
Mr. Kelly is greatly interested in the development of San Saba county's agricultural resources through means of irrigation, and taking hold of the old project for irrigating the San Saba valley that had been agitated in a desultory way for about fifteen years, in February, 1909, he and his associates organized the San Saba River Irrigation Com- pany, of which he is the president, and began at once to work system- atically and energetically to carry the project to successful completion. At the present time the preliminary work has progressed sufficiently to prac- tically insure the financiering of the project, involving the issue of some- thing over a million dollars in bonds. This sum will mean the successful consummation of the project and a consequent revolution in the agricul- tural resources of San Saba county, for there are from forty to fifty thousand acres of rich land that can be irrigated from the lake to be formed by an immense dam on the river at Doran's Canyon, about seven- teen miles southwest of San Saba, the dam to be of reinforced concrete, seventy-two feet high, thus backing up the water and forming a lake to cover about two thousand acres, with an average depth of thirty feet. The project has been investigated by James D. Schuyler, the eminent hydraulic engineer who was selected by President Roosevelt to pass upon the Gatun dam. Mr. Schuyler's formal report on this project is favorable and highly commendatory.
In addition to his other interests Mr. Kelly is the president of the Kelly Dry Goods Company. He is a Mason and an honored member of the Methodist church, of which he has been a member of the board of stewards since 1879. His parents were James Edmonson and Margaret (Buchanan) Kelly, both from Washington county, Virginia, and members of old families there, of Irish and Scotch descent. Mr. Kelly married, at Marysville, in Cooke county, Texas, Sallie Smith, and she died at San Saba early in the year of 1909, the mother of ten children, seven of
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