A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 15

Author:
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 954

USA > Texas > Henderson County > A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 15
USA > Texas > Freestone County > A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 15
USA > Texas > Leon County > A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 15
USA > Texas > Anderson County > A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 15
USA > Texas > Limestone County > A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 15
USA > Texas > Navarro County > A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 15

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Among the county judges not previously mentioned are Presley Donaldson, T. J. Haynes, J. R. Loughridge, S. H. Kerr, Isaac Taylor, Sam Wright, J. L. Miller, W. R. Bright, J. L. Antry, R. C. Beale, and J. H. Rice, a list believed to be com- plete.

Not many counties are called upon to furnish the officers of lofty position in State and nation, but among that neces- sarily limited number Navarro county has been among the number honored. First upon the list is the great free-trader, Sena- tor Roger Q. Mills, who has been called from step to step until he now graces the national senate and holds an enviable posi- tion in the esteem of all parts and all par- ties of the nation. Another is the Hon. C. M. Winkler, now deceased, who was called to the bench of the Court of Ap- peals. Another member of that court was called from this county and is now serving -the Hon. E. J. Simpkins, who has also served as State senator. The Hon. F. M. Martin is a fourth, who was called to the position of both State senator and lieuten- ant-governor.

CLINTON MOKANY WINKLER (deceased), lawyer of Corsicana, Navarro county, and Judge of the Court of Appeals, was born in Burke county, North Carolina, Oct. 19, 1820. His father, David Tate Winkler, was a North Carolina farmer who emi- grated to Robertson county, Texas, in 1844 and died in 1849. Conrad Winkler, the progenitor of the family in America, was the grandfather of Judge Winkler, and came from Germany at an early date, settling in North Carolina, where he fol- lowed agricultural pursuits until his death.

The mother of Judge Winkler was La- vinia Gates Owen, a lady of many accom- plishments and possessed of much common sense, a native of North Carolina. She was a daughter of Harrison Owen, an edu- cator of great merit, celebrated in Carolina. Their ancestors came from England and

& M. Winkler.

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settled in Virginia and took standing with the first families in that State, were loyal to the colonies, and during the Revolu- tionary war assisted in the prosecution of the war for independence.

Judge Winkler's father moved to Indi- ana in 1835, where he remained until 1840, when he came to Texas to join his uncle, Harrison Owen, who resided at old Frank- lin, in Robertson county. This was a fron- tier settlement at that time, and he soon becaine identified with all that interested the people. A few days after his arrival he went with a company of minute men organized for defense against the Indians, and reached a settlement where the In- dians had massacred the family, and had danced around their victims, leaving their moccasin tracks in their blood on the floor of their cabin. He was thrilled with horror at the spectacle, and ever afterward felt that an Indian was the white man's worst enemy. While belonging to this company of minute men, under command of Captain Eli Chandler, he participated in several In- dian fights, that of Chandler's first expedi- tion in May, 1841, when they met the savages in the forks of Chambers and School creeks, where, after a gallant fight, the enemy was driven into the bottom and their horses, saddles, baggage, lead and powder were captured. The Indians ac- knowledged they numbered eighty-fonr, besides women and children, and lost eight killed, and ten or twelve wounded.

In June, 1841, Captain Chandler made another expedition in search of the hostiles, going up on the east side of the cross- timbers between the head waters of Aquilla creek of the Brazos, and Mountain creek

of the Trinity. Here another rencontre occurred, in which several were killed and wounded. They learned afterward there were three large Indian villages near Vil- lage creek, and they were to have started on a raid down the country in a day or two. They believed there was a much larger force of white men, otherwise they were strong enough to have destroyed Chan- dler's party .*

Again, in August, 1841, he accompanied Captain Thomas I. Smith upon an expe- dition into Johnson county, where in a fight one of their number, Abram Smith, was killed. They buried him under four feet of earth, rode back and forth over his grave several times to obliterate all traces of where he was buried, and made their way back to the settlement at Franklin, which was situated in the post oaks be- tween where Bryan and Calvert now stand.

Judge Winkler's first employment was as deputy county clerk, in which he con- tinned one year, devoting every leisure honr to reading law under Charles H. Ray- mond, a gentleman of great renown in the early history of Texas as a pioneer citizen and public and professional man.

In 1843 he was appointed clerk pro tem. of the District Court, the duties of which office he discharged satisfactorily until ad- mitted to the bar in April, 1844, receiving his law license under the Republic of Texas.

He came to the county seat of Navarro county in 1847, as the second male inhabi- tant of the embryo city, engaging board

* Information furnished by Hon, John Henry Brown, of Dallas.

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with Rev. Hampton Mckinney, where he made his home until his marriage to Mrs. Louisa R. Smith in 1848. Early in 1848 he was elected a member of the second legislature after annexation, and presented the bill for permanently locating the county seat, yielding to Colonel Anto- nio Navarro the honor of giving the name, Corsicana, which being interpreted mneans Navarro the Corsican, when taken together with the name Navarro, as related else- where.

After his term of service expired he en- gaged in the practice of law, being retained in most of the prominent criminal cases, and by his fidelity to his clients and per- severing industry in preparation of his causes soon won the confidence of his peo- ple and gained for himself a most enviable reputation. A cotemporary said of him: " In trials he was always respectful to the court, kind ·to his colleagues, civil to his antagonist, but would never sacrifice the slightest principle of duty to an overween- ing deference toward either. In the con- dnct of litigation he was comprehensive and pointed, and had the mental faculty of perceiving what lawyers call the gist of the action."

In 1861, Judge Winkler, along with the leading minds of the South, saw the folly of longer averting the " irrepressible con- flict" between North and Sonth (being an original secessionist), and organized a company of 150 inen at Corsicana with the avowed intention of joining the army in Virginia. This company was composed of some of the best material of the county, strong, brave, young able-bodied men,- ready to do and dare everything in defense

of principles they considered right. C. M. Winkler was captain, Longhbridge first lieutenant, N. J. Mills second lieutenant. They repaired to Harrisburg, near Houston, to a camp of instruction, and with other companies were sent off to Richmond, Vir- ginia, to join the Virginia army. Captain Winkler's company, after their arrival at Richmond, became a part of the Fourth Texas Regiment, was organized and placed under command of Colonel John B. Hood, afterward renowned for turning the tide of battle at Gaines' Mill, their gallantry at second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Gettysburg, Wilderness and all the campaigns of Gen- eral Lee's army, surrendering at Appomat- tox only twelve muskets, gaining, along with other companies, a dearly bought repu- tation, second to no regiment in the Confed- erate army, and forming, together with the First, Fifth and Third Arkansas regiments, Hood's Texas Brigade-the only brigade of Texans in the Virginia army. General Lee said of them, " I rely upon the Texans in all tight places, and fear I have to call upon them too often. They have fought grandly and nobly, and we must have more of them. With a few more regiments, as Hood now has, as an example of daring and bravery, I could feel more confident of the campaign."

In the battle of Gettysburg. Judge Winkler was wounded in the thigh, the ball passing entirely through the limb, without breaking the bone. His first pro- motion was to the rank of major, subsequent- ly becoming lieutenant-colonel, which po- sition he lield when surrendered at Appo- mattox, but in command of a regiment after the battle of the Wilderness, and also after

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the death of General Gregg, below Rich- mond, in October, 1864, in command of a brigade until Colonel Bass, his ranking officer, recovered from a wound.

After the war was ended, in 1865, he returned to Texas, when, at the earnest solicitation of friends, he entered the race tor district judge of the thirteenth judicial district in 1866. He was declared elected and received his certificate of election, took the oatlı of qualification, received his com- mission and entered on the discharge of his duty. The third day after adjourning court it was called to his attention that his competitor, Hon. Robert S. Gould, had received the majority of the votes cast, and an official mistake made. He surren- dered his office and returned home. Said one of his friends: " He took no advice of counsel as to his legal rights. He in- terposed no special plea or technical ob- jection. It was enough for him to know, and he knew it by instinct, that the true title to the office did not consist in the certificate of election nor in the commis- sion, but existed in the people, and could not rightfully be held by any one except that person upon whom the people had, by their suffrages, cast the title. He scorned to take advantage of any quib- ble to hold as his own that which the peo- ple in their wisdom had seen fit to confer upon another."

After this he pursued the even tenor of his way at his home at Corsicana, aiding his people during the fearful scenes of reconstruction to rise superior to the heat and passion of the hour, and at no time displaying more bravery than when assist- ing in steering the bark of State out of

the troubled waters of factional frenzy. Between contending political parties he stood as a bulwark of safety, and became a tower of strength to his friends and neigh- bors wlio were ever ready to listen to his words of counsel. Perhaps this was more signally illustrated when men of Republi- can principles, boosted into office by brute force, got into trouble with Democratic citizens and called upon Judge Winkler to claim his protection as a good citizen. Then he rose to the magnitude of sublim- ity of conduct, and poured oil upon the vexed controversy. When the first elec- tion was held, as ordered at the county seat, guarded by negro State police, and each man required to stand in line and vote according to fixed rule, then he walked up and down that line, all day, en- couraging the men to " keep cool, boys; keep cool," as they muttered their discon- tent, cheering and pointing to the day not far distant when they would recover their political rights, saying he had fought four years, and now must admonish to " keep cool," which was harder to accomplish than to fight, but glorious results would follow. Often old men now recall that day with pride.

In 1872 he was made chairman of the State Democratic executive committee. His address to the Democracy of Texas has the ring of true patriotism, from which we give an extract: "That half civil, half military, half civilized, half savage, body, composed to a great degree, of irrespons- ible and ignorant inen, called State police, no longer lords it over the people. You are no longer required to dance a four days' attendance at your county seats in

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order that you may deposit your votes, but instead you have a fair election law, with precinct ballot boxes, guarded against frand in every conceivable manner. The people of Texas are once more free to manage their affairs in their own way according to the primary principles of Democracy.

" In national politics you need not ex- pect that Democratic ideas will be under- stood or appreciated so long as there is a majority interested in keeping alive the prejudices and animosities engendered by the past, or a powerful political organiza- tion fails to restore the confiscated prop- erty of non-combatants.

"Our principles, however, will survive the prejudices of the hour. The sober second thought must give reason her sway, or the work of centralization will go on to completion. Let us wait and hope for the best; meanwhile let us all, unmindful of past political differences, and inviting the co-operation of all good citizens, whether native or foreign born, unite as one man in building up our material interests, and securely guarding them by sound and wholesome laws, administered by honest and upright officials, in the interest of the people, with due regard for the protection of life, reputation and property, avoiding all unnecessary burdens and restraints in individual freedom consistent with the public safety."

During this year he had yielded to his friends that the State required wise legis- lators, and was elected, along with other most prominent leaders, to a seat in the Legislature, the 13th, which is famous for abolishing so many of the abuses which had grown up during reconstruction.

In 1876 he was elected Judge of the original Court of Appeals, together with Judges M. D. Octer and John P. White. As a judge the ten volumes of the pub- lished opinions of the Court of Appeals tell the story of his industry and devotion to duty.

Judge Winkler was one of the charter members of the Masonic lodge of Cor- sicana and Chapter No. 41, and organ- ized Bertrand du Gueslin Commandery of Knights Templar. He was made a Sir Knight at Wheelock when the lodge there was organized.

He was made Grand Master of Grand State Masonic Lodge in 1870, and hield that position until 1871; was Grand Cap- tain General of Grand Commandery, and took the thirty-second degree of Scot- tish Rite Masonry in April, 1882.

He was for many years a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South in Corsicana, his purse ever open to the calls of the work of Christianity, and his home the preacher's home. His life was pure and above reproach.

He was twice married, first to Mrs. Louisa Smith, in 1848. She died in November, 1861. During the war, while a soldier of Hood's Texas Brigade, he met Miss An- gelina V. Smith, at the house of a mutual friend. A correspondence was proposed by the soldier so far away from relatives and friends, which was entirely friendly for a year, when it ripened into a warmer attachment after the wound received at Gettysburg, and resulted in their marriage January 7, 1864.

Three children by the first marriage and six by the last (one of whom died in in-

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fancy), blessed these unions, which in both cases were singularly happy and congenial.

Judge Winkler died at Austin, Texas, May 13, 1882, after an illness of only five days, while engaged in his official dnties. The people were shocked at his sudden death in the vigor of life, in the midst of a busy career, the whole State uniting in lamenting one who had proved a true son of Texas in so many and tried positions. The Central railroad tendered a special train from Hearne to convey the remains of this distinguished child of his State back to his home for interment, while judges, lawyers, Masons and Knights Templar came from different portions of the State to pay the last sad tribute to a life which had been nobly lived.

Immediately upon the assembling of the court, Attorney-General J. H. MeLeary addressed that body as follows:

" May it please the court: A sorrowful task has fallen to my lot. In the name of the bar of Texas, it is my duty to offer for the consideration of this honorable court a tribute of respect to the Hon. Clinton M. Winkler, late Judge of the Court of Ap- peals of this State.

"On the 13th inst. he was summoned to appear before a tribunal from which there can be no appeal, and to hear from the Judge of all the earth the merited plaudit of, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.'"

At a meeting of the bar, held on the day of his death, these resolutions were adopted:

" WHEREAS, The Hon. C. M. Winkler, Judge of the Court of Appeals of the State

of Texas, has departed this life, in the midst of his usefulness, and while engaged in the faithful discharge of the responsible duties entrusted to him by the people of the State; be it

"Resolved, 1. That the bar now in attendance not only give utterance to their own sentiments, but echo those of their brethren throughout the State of Texas, in deploring the death of the deceased judge as a public calamity of no ordinary mno- ment.

"2. That so long as unselfish patriotism, unsullied integrity and fidelity to every trust and duty, whether public or private, shall be held in esteem, that long will the name and memory of C. M. Winkler be enshrined in the annals of Texas and the hearts of her people.

"3. That we tender the family of the lamented deceased our most heartfelt sym- pathy in their bereavement and sorrow, and the secretary of this meeting is in- structed to communicate to them these resolutions."

Over his remains, resting in the Corsi- cana cemetery, the marble letters say: "Living with faith in an overruling Provi- dence, dying in the strength of manhood, in the discharge of his official duties, ever ready for the Master's call, he was true to himself, true to his people, and true to his God."

THE COURTS.

A Texas judge said recently in regard to the courts of the State in 1850, that they " consisted of the supreme court, the district court, the county court and infe- rior or justices' courts. The several or- ganized counties of the State were subdi-

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vided into judicial districts, provision being made for the election of a district judge and district attorney by the voters of each district. The judge, attended by the district attorney, was required to hold a district court in each county semi-aunu- ally, at a time and within jurisdiction de- fined by the law. The county court con- sisted of a chief justice, with jurisdiction over all matters of probate, and four county commissioners, who with the chief justice had jurisdiction over all county matters. They, together with a sheriff, district clerk and county clerk, were county officers elected by the people. Each county was subdivided also into justices' precincts, each precinct having authority to elect a justice of the peace and constable, with limited jurisdiction."

Many of the men who practiced in these. courts, however, were admitted to the bar under the republic, and such were some of Navarro's first lawyers. Her first law firm was that of Tarrant & Henderson, Col. W. F. Henderson living at what is now Navarro and General E. H. Tarrant's residence in what is now Ellis.

It was the second lawyer, however, who became more permanently and actively identified with the county, namely, Colonel Clinton M. Winkler, who was admitted to the old Franklin bar by Judge R. E. B. Baylor on the 27th of April, 1844, at a time wlien scarcely the first settler had fixed his abode in Navarro's present bounds.

Says the document: " Republic of Texas: To all men to whom these presents shall come greeting: Know ye, that Clin- ton M. Winkler, having applied to me,

Judge of the District Court of the Repub- lic aforesaid, for license to practice law in all the courts of the said Republic, and satisfactory proof being made that the said Clinton M. Winkler is of good moral character and possesses the qualifications necessary to entitle him to a license, thiis is therefore to authorize him, the said Clinton M. Winkler, to practice in all the various courts of law and equity in the Republic of Texas, and he is hereby en- titled to all the privileges incident to the profession as an attorney and counsellor at at law, solicitor in chancery and proctor in admiralty.

" In testimony whereof I hereunto set my liand and seal, at Franklin, this the 27tli of April, 1844.

[SEAL.] "R. E. B. BAYLOR."

"I, G. M. Broadwell, Clerk of the Dis- trict Court of Robertson county, hereby certify that Clinton M. Winkler appeared this day in court and took the oath re- quired by law as an attorney and counsel- lor at law. In testimony whereof, I here- unto set my hand and affix my private seal, having no seal of office, at Franklin, April 27, 1844.

G. M. BROADWELL, Clerk District Court of Robertson Co."

At this date the vast Trinity-Brazos- Colorado region above the Nacogdoches and San Antonio road, as has been seen, had first after the day of San Jacinto the honor of being the first county created by the republic, in 1836, and two years later was divided, giving the Trinity-Bra- zos region the name of Robertson county,

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with Franklin as its capital, the place where young Winkler became a full-blown Texas attorney in 1844.

The days of annexation to the United States now came on and the act was hardly finished when the flood of American im- migration to this favored region compelled the new young State to carve out counties with such prodigality as she never experi- enced before or after. Among these new counties were Navarro, Limestone, Leon, Anderson and Henderson, most of theni controlling much larger territory than at present. One of the largest of these was Navarro, to which the young counsellor- at-law made his way, destined to be its first representative, and aid in locating her seat of justice, as has been noticed in a previous chapter.

As Navarro then included the present territory of Ellis, where there was a larger settlement in the region of the village of Forreston, the site of the homestead of the first settler, William R. Howe, the county seat had been temporarily located there. Consequently it was in the old Howe home that the first courts were held, a place now owned by Mrs. M. P. Vanlear, the daughter of Mrs. S. R. Forrest.

It may be fairly concluded that in these two or more years, while Texas's right to statehood was being fought for, the dis- trict court had little business in its ses- sions at the Howe home. The war once over, in 1848, and young Winkler, Navar- ro's representative, took measures, as shown previously, to locate the perma- nent seat of justice, and the young lawyer drew up the act and pushed it through, placing it at the old Mckinney tavern.

General Tarrant and his friends, dissat- isfied with the arrangements as inconven- ient to the old settlement above Chambers' creek, made a close canvass of a given district, and secured a hundred names to a petition for a new county to be called Ellis. They succeeded, and on December 20, 1849, they had a county in which they could have their own county seat.

On the passage of Colonel Winkler's act in 1848, the three log cabins comprising Rev. H. Mckinney's tavern, had to furn- ish a room for temporary quarters for the courts. " It was in the home of Rev. Mc- Kinney, when only comprising the three cabins above mentioned," writes Mrs. C. M. Winkler, " that the first district court was held." It is most unfortunate that the courthouse fire of 1855 left none of the records of these first few years' pro- ceedings of Judge Baylor's court, for the district court records did not fare so for- tunately as those of the county court, as all were destroyed.

"Our first district court," says Colonel Croft, " was held in an old log house north of the public square, and for several terms thereafter the sessions were held in differ- ent places until a nice, framed, two-story house was built in the center of the public square, perhaps in 1853, when the courts seemed permanently located, but in No- vember, 1855, succumbed to the incen- diaries' torch. The land and deed records were saved by the citizens, but the records, papers and indictments of the district court went up in fire and smoke before the people had time to remove them from the second story.

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" This was a great misfortune and caused an infinite amount of trouble to the local bar in substituting records and papers, as well as incalculable loss to liti- gants.

"Judge Bennett H. Martin presided here at the spring and fall terms of the district court in 1850. He was a good lawyer, but sometimes could not refrain from indulging in a little wit while on the bench. At the spring term, 1850, one of our present attorneys, then a very young man, was representing John Treadwell in a suit against Thomas Wright. The case was on trial and young Mr. Wright was on the witness stand undergoing a scathing cross- examination, when old man Wright stepped up to the witness as if to prompt him what to say, when the young attorney objected to his interference. The old judge rose np, and in a savage tone put on for the occa- sion said, 'Stand back there, old man; let the boys have it out: they are about the same age!'

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Author: Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 954

Author:
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 954