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 20

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 20
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 20
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 20
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 20
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 20
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 20

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ticularly in Masonry, in which he has be- come a Knight Templar of the thirty-second degree and is Past Grand Commander of his State.

June 15, 1870, while still residing at Calvert, Captain Garrity married Miss Emma Moore, then a resident of that place, but a native of Alabama and a niece of ex-Governor Moore of that State. In his elegant home, presided over by a wife whose tastes are singularly in keeping with his own, and surrounded by his friends, of whom he has many, Captain Garrity realizes the best phases of this life: peace and contentment, garnished with the ties of home and friendship.

The third bank to organize under na- tional laws was formed on July 27, 1888, as the City National Bank. The financial engineers back of their successful move- ment was Judge W. R. Bright, who be- came its president. The bank has paid annual dividends of $12,000 in cash, while collecting a surplus.

In this connection may be mentioned two institutions of a kind that rarely, very rarely, fails to be a material blessing of the first order to any town or city in which they are organized, namely, the building and loan association by which so many have been enabled to erect homes with almost the same amount of capital that they would have paid for rent. The first of these made its appearance in Corsi- cana in 1886.

These are sufficient to indicate her growth in financial and commercial lines.

In fraternal lines, too, she has had an un- usually interesting growth. The Masons and Odd Fellows, usually the earliest

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planted, have been remarkably partial to Corsicana. The venerable A. F. & A. M. lodge has placed its grand lodge temple here for its annual meetings, while the gen- erous I. O. O. F. society of the State has some tinie since chosen this as tlie site of their beautiful Orphans' Home, which over- looks the city. In this connection, too, may be mentioned another generous plant of the same kind, with which the State of Texas itself has honored Corsicana, namely, the State Orphans' Home, whose beautiful loca- tion is not far distant from the other. The other societies are numerous and varied: the Elks, the American Legion of Honor, the Knights of Pythias, a Jewishi society, the Woodmen of the World, the American Carpenters' Union, the Gun Club, the Corsicana Park and Lake Association, and the Fish Tank, No. 1, of another club, respectively two and five miles from the city as to the location of their well equipped grounds, the City Park Associa- tion, with its fine park of fifty-five acres, the Choral Club, the Cemetery Associa- tion, with some of the most pretentious grounds in Texas, the Public Library Society, which has grown up about the high school interests, the Fair and Driv- ing Park organization, with its large grounds; and these are all among the white people; while the colored people, according to their ability, have branched out into fraternities and clubs in vigorous style. In this line may be mentioned the opera house. This is one of the most striking buildings in the city, worthy of being classified with the courthouse, city hall, and the educational and religious

structures of the city, and is by far the most beautiful bitilding on Beaton street, its main thoroughfare.

The County Confederate Veterans' Asso- ciation makes this their headquarters, as also do the medical and farmers' associa- tions.

The fact that Corsicana wanted the two State and fraternity homes above referred to, shows an enterprise and character very interesting and admirable. As an exam- ple of the extent of these institutions a more extended notice may be given of the larger one.

Corsicana has bid successfully for two of the State eleemnosynary institutions, and one of these is the State Orphan Asylum. It is of but recent establishment, as the act providing for it was approved only on April 4, 1887. The three commissioners of location found that among the large number of competitors the city of Corsi- cana was the most liberal, and the beau- tiful site on the slightly elevated prairies a little west of the city could hardly be surpassed. About $20,700 was soon appro- priated, and buildings on the cottage plan were erected with a capacity of about 200 inmates, and opened to the public formally on July 15, 1889. Inside of a year about sixty boys and girls were ad- mitted. The expenses for the first sev- enteen months were nearly $14,000. The buildings are among the prominent feat- ures of the Corsicana landscape.

Of course the city is incorporated. Like many towns, however, it had to try a couple of times before it was successful. There was an incorporation before the war, but the first successful one began early in

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the '70s, with the arrival of the Central Railway. The first elected mayor was Thos. J. Haynes, and among those that followed him have been J. L. Harle, Major J. L. Miller, ---- Irons, J. R. Smith, R. S. Neblett, C. H. Allen, J. F. Stout and Jink Evans, the present incumbent. The most vigorous work of the incorporation has been since the decade of the '80s be- gan. In 1881 it took hold of the free schools as an independent district, but that will be noted in the school chapter. In 1885 they secured gas for the city, and in 1886 both gas and electricity, using the latter in the tower form partly, with a large tower on Beaton and Collins streets. In 1888 three miles of street railway were put in and prospects are now for its change to electricity. About twenty-five miles of sewerage pipes have been put in at a cost of over $27,000, and pavements on Beaton and a couple of side streets were put in with the block form at a cost of about $60,- 000 and with excellent results. The fine brick city hall had been put up in 1886, at a cost of about $17,000, and a water sys- tem started back in 1882 by an artificial lake of 120 acres and a stand-pipe 125 feet high, all costing in the neighborhood of $80,000; and they now only await the complete success of artesian experiments in this region to turn the system into that channel. A garbage crematory has just been completed also, at a cost of $5,000. One other department remains to be noticed, namely, that of the fire and hose companies, which has been so suc- cessful and awakened so much local pride that its story may be told by its organ- izer and long-time chief.

" The Corsicana, Texas, fire department," writes ex Chief J. J. Strupper in a journal devoted to such interests, called Blazes, " began its existence in December, 1883, as the water works were nearing comple- tion." J. J. Strupper, the present chief of the department began the organization of a company, and having selected twenty-five men they met on the 29th day of Decem- ber, 1883, and perfected the organization by electing Mr. Strupper foreman and Abe Mulkey first assistant. A charter was procured for the company under the name of Corsicana Hose Co. No. 1. They ten- dered their services to the city as a volun- teer fire company, and in February, 1884, the organization was accepted. The coun- cil then agreed to grant the company's request to equip them for service by pur- chasing a hand engine and hose, providing the company would build a house to keep the apparatus in. The company accepted this proposition and had the honse com- pleted when the engine arrived. In those days the city council was opposed to spend- ing money on a fire department, or were at least disposed to be very economical as re- gards a fire department, and it was ex- tremely difficult to get an appropriation suf- ficient to equip one company for the serv- ice; but the boys started out to have a " fine " fire department and nothing short of an earthquake could stop them.

The first engine bought by the city, a small one-stream hand engine, proved wholly unsatisfactory. It was returned and another contracted for,-a two-stream crane-neck hand engine, which required forty men to handle and which necessitated an increase in membership of fifteen men,

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whom the city council refused to equip. With a determination to succeed, the fif- teen men were obtained and equipped at the expense of the company. The second engine arrived and was the subject of much discussion as to its utility, and it was final- ly returned to the manufacturers, the city conncil deeming the water works all that was necessary for the complete protection of the city. With the purchase of the second engine was bought a four-wheeled hand hose carriage for Alert Hose Con- pany, which had been organized with W. T. Wilcox as foreman, who was in a very short time succeeded by A. G. Lewis.

When the engine was returned it left the department composed of two hose com- panies, one with the carriage, the other with a two-wheeled jumper. Hose Co. No. 1, having forty men all equipped, and with that firmn determination to advance the interest of the department and convince the citizens and city council of the impor- tance and benefit of a good department, conceived and executed improvements look- ing in the near future to placing the city on a basis of first-class insurance rate. With this in view the company bought a first-class hook and ladder truck, fully equipped, to be drawn by horses, and had shafts put on their hand cart so it could be drawn by a horse. With this improvement Hose Co. No. 1 had spent nearly $1,400 of their own money, never asking any one outside of the company for a dollar. The company sent a representative to the State board of underwriters, and after an ex- amination of the water supply and pressure and the department, the underwriters granted the petition, provided the depart-

ment would elect a chief and supply some few minor requirements. As is often the case in volunteer fire departments, there had been a breach between the companies which had gradually widened, so when a call was made for the two companies to meet and organize a department by electing a chief and adopting necessary laws for the government of same, the climax was reached and " war declared." Corsicana Hose Co. No. 1 insisted that J. J. Strupper, who had organized the first company, and held the position as foreman withont opposition since the formation of the company, should also be the first chief of the Corsicana fire department, the Alerts as firmly contesting he should not. After considerable wrang- ling the Alerts disbanded, a new company organized in their stead, No. 1 dividing their company, part forming the hook and ladder company. Peace and harmony once more reigned, and on the 19th of August, 1886, Mr. Strupper was chosen the first chief of the Corsicana fire department and has been re-elected every year since.

The department at present has one look and ladder truck complete, two two-horse hose carriages, six fine horses, 2,300 feet of hose, good fire station, with a 1,600-pound fire-alarm bell, three paid drivers, who are on duty day and night, chief, assistant chief, and sixty men,-all volunteers.

Insurance lias been reduced 15 cents a hundred and all clauses taken off the poli- cies, and the citizens and council recognize the department as the most important or- ganization in the city.

The present chief is F. N. Drane, who began his services in 1892.

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Such a spirit as the various features of this chapter indicate, was bound to show itself in a literary line also, and in a vig- orous newspaper press. Before glancing at the present press of Corsicana, it will be of interest to follow some reminiscences of one of Corsicana's most well-known literary characters:

" The Prairie Blade was the first paper started in Corsicana, a creditable sheet, well patronized by the people. The Ob- server was established by Richard Van Horn; Navarro Banner, edited, in 1873, by E. J. Simkins and George Morris.

" In March, 1876, Major John L. Miller, who married a daughter of Rev. Hampton Mckinney, began the publication of The Odd Fellow, a monthly magazine devoted to Odd Fellowship and literature, which was a welcome visitor not only to ()dd Fellows but outside the craft into inany families of the State. Major Miller was a native of Tennessee, where he represented his county in the legislature. He came to Texas for his health, settling at Corsicana in 1850, where he has lived ever since. He has occupied positions of trust at the hands of the people, having been county judge many years, prominent in his order of Odd Fellows, and has written many fine articles. He managed the magazine very well for a year, assisted by Mrs. A. V. Winkler in the literary department, and containing also some charming contribu- tions from the pen of Mrs. Hadden, of Bellaire, near Dresden, Navarro county. This lady's poems are gems of pure thought. She has taken several prizes at different times.

" Because of ill health Major Miller was compelled to discontinue his publication.

"In July, 1882, Mrs. C. M. Winkler began the publication of a literary maga- zine devoted to the pure, the true and the beautiful, six weeks after her husband's death.

" It was altogether an individual enter- prise, but as the people were familiar with her writing, her own and her husband's friends rallied to her support, and very soon the periodical became welcome in the homes of her subscribers. Two weeks of each month she traveled to secure subscriptions, attended to mailing, reading proof and contributing monthly much matter of her own composition. The magazine flour- ished for three years, when a financial crisis in the State compelled its suspen- sion, much to the sorrow of its editor, who was devoted to Southern literature.

" Angelina Virginia Winkler was born at Richmond, Virginia, June 2, 1842. Her father, John Walton Smith, was a prominent merchant of that place for fifty years. He was a descendant and heir of Lady Mary Hamilton, near Manchester, England. Her mother was a member of the Tate family of Virginia and inherited a large slave property. She was educated at Richmond Female Institute when under the presidency of Rev. Basil Manly, one of the finest educators of the South.

"Her first articles were published dur- ing the Civil war in the Southern Illus- trated News, a paper ably sustained by the Confederates as the only literary medium of the people shut out by blockade from the literature of the world.

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"She married at Richmond Jannary 7, 1864, Lieutenant Colonel C. M. Winkler, commanding the Fourth Texas Regiment, Hood's Texas Brigade, and shared with him as much of camp life as was practical during the cessation of hostilities.

" After his surrender at Appomattox, having lost parents, brother, friends, valu- able papers proving her claim to the English estate and her slave property, she came to Texas with her husband, made a home at Corsicana and reared a family of five children, losing one bright boy when an infant. After Judge Winkler took his place on the bench of the Court of Appeals, she spent a portion of each term at Tyler, Galveston and Austin, and after his death published Texas Prairie Flower. She had contributed to papers and magazines of Texas and the South, from the date of her residence in the State and was well known by her writings.

"She has prepared a work entitled 'The Confederate Capital, and Hood's Texas Brigade,' which has received the approval of the historical committee of brigade, is in the hands of the publisher and will appear very soon. Before its preparation she spent much time and research.

"Mrs. Winkler is now associate editor and business manager of the Round Table, a literary magazine published at Dallas, but continues to make her home at Corsi- cana among her old and tried friends."

There are other facile pens in Corsicana, although not so prominently local. Of conrse Colonel Roger Q. Mills, once a local editor here, has since gone wide beyond the sphere covered by this article. Major Beaton, also, and Mr. B. F. Giltner,

William Croft, L. T. Wheeler and others might be mentioned, but space forbids.

The press of Corsicana has as its senior paper the Courier-Observer.

"The Observer," wrote Judge A. B. Norton, of Dallas, on the thirtieth anni- versary of that paper, "was the successor of the Express, which came after the Blade. The Prairie Blade was a Whig and American newspaper published in 1855-'56-'57, and edited by D. E. Bartley, and other gentlemen of that faith. Judge Martin W. O. Shook, having conie into ownership of the office, ran it for a time and then disposed of the material and good will to R. A. Van Horn, a typo, who, with his brother, C. E. Van Horn, had emigrated from Tallahassee, Florida, in 1854, and had procured an outfit, a news office, with which they had published the Central Texan, at Anderson, Grimes county, and also by contract had published the Texas Baptist. R. A. Van Horn in, I think, 1857, had married a Navarro county girl and moved up there, and in 1858 established with the old Blade mate- rial another paper called the Express, and during the war it was issued as paper could be procured, and on snch kind as could be obtained by R. A. Van Horn. After the ' break-up' in 1865, he gave to this paper the name of the Corsicana Observer, and continned its publication regularly until his death in May, 1877. Dan Donaldson, William Croft and L. T. Wheeler at times wrote for the paper. After R. A. Van Horn's death his son Frank C., with the assistance of his uncle,

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HISTORY OF NAVARRO, HENDERSON, ANDERSON,

C. E. Van Horn, ran the paper three years, when it was sold to Miller and Tarver."

The Observer was under the sole owner- ship of G. P. Miller in 1881-'82, when it was very successful, and his hand has been at its helm at various times ever since, although often with a partner. It now belongs to W. L. Sargent. It is both daily and weekly, and amply upholds the dignity of a senior.

The Democrat, a weekly, was established November 7, 1885, by C. Dalton, who sold it to W. F. Colquitt in September, 1887. In 1890 Pierce Colquitt secured a half interest and no change has since been made in the management. This makes it the secoud paper in age now in the city. It has given individual attention to the features of a local weekly and has a large country circulation. It is also a vigorous Democratic organ, devoted to what Gov- ernor Hogg and the appointive commis- sion represents.

The third paper in age is the Corsicana Daily and Weekly Light, which began its career in September, 1888, under the man- agement of Messrs. Lewis and Whipkey. It made a hard fight to gain a place with one daily in the field before it, but suc- ceeded. In 1889 it bonght out the Expo- nent, another local paper which had gained a footing. Probably its most notable edi- torial fight has been against the third party, and Mr. J. F. Lewis, always its guiding spirit, feels that he has good ground for resting on his laurels, since the close of the recent campaign.

The new People's party with their hearty enthusiasm determined to have an

organ of their own in Corsicana, and on November 12, 1891, they issned their first number, with J. L. Harle as editor and manager. Under the name-The Truth- the new venture showed its nerve and fight- ing power to the satisfaction of a constit- uency of abont 3,000. It is backed by a stock company chartered at $5,000.

The Christian Advance is another of the press representatives located here, and is the only paper here devoted exclusively to religious and educational purposes.

It may not be generally known that Corsicana is the sixteenth Texas city in rank of population, as given by the census of 1890. The first, of course, was Dallas, and following this came in order San An- tonio, Galveston, Houston, Fort Worth, Austin, Waco, Laredo, Denison, El Paso, Paris, Sherman, Marshall, Tyler, Gaines- ville and Corsicana, which comes sixteenth in thirty-three Texan cities and towns hav- ing 3,000 or more inhabitants.

MERITT DRANE, of Coriscana, Texas .--- Whoever labors toward the developing up of his country and bringing out its latent resources; who is devoted to the general welfare and interest of the people; who seeks to promote the cause of justice and morality and advance our civilization through educational, religious and com- mercial channels, becomes a public bene- factor, and is worthy of a special mention on the pages of history.

Of such is the character, and such has been the aim, of one of the later pioneers of Texas, who forms the subject of this memoir. He was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, April 14, 1837, and is the son of Stephen T. and Bertha (Ford) Drane,

An Drave

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both of whom are yet living, at the ripe old age of eighty-five. The former was born January 25, 1808, and his good wife, Bertha, daughter of Spencer Ford, October 30, same year. They were married May 1, 1828, and became the parents of nine chil- dren: Edward, born February 3, 1829; Albert G., born November 18, 1834; Richard, born March 31, 1831, died July 13, 1834; Stephen, born January 14, 1840, died October 20, 1846; Leonard born May 9, 1843; Mary B., born November 1, 1847; Florence, born January 1, 1850, died November 19, 1867, and William P., born August 12, 1854. The elder Drane was, and is yet, a prominent man in Kentucky and an extensive farmer and tobacco-grower, owning and cultivating several hundred acres of land in the blue.grass region of that State. He was the son of Stephen Drane, Sr., who was born in Prince George county, Maryland, September 4, 1768, and died in Shelby county, Kentucky, Decem- ber 4, 1844. He married Percilla Sprigg Crabb, December 26, 1793, who was born June 11, 1765, in the same place as her husband, and died November 14, 1831, in Shelby connty, Kentucky. They raised a family of seven children: Edward C., Theo- dore S., William, Elizabeth, Eleanor C., James H., and Stephen T. The Dranes are of Scotch descent, the founder of the family having emigrated from Scotland to this country in early colonial times, set- tling in Maryland.

Stephen T. Drane, the father of the sub- ject of this notice, was a native of Ken- tucky, and took an active part in the affairs of that State. He was a leader in his sec- tion of the country, was captain of the

militia, held the position of justice of the peace, and was a member of the legisla- ture. Spencer Ford was a native of South Carolina, from which State he removed to Kentucky, where he met, wooed and mar- ried Susan Bright, by whom he had six children: Cynthia, Catherine, Preston, Lin- nie, Bertha and Albert.

The subject of this sketch was raised and educated at home, where lie assisted his father in his agricultural operations until 1860. Believing that Texas afforded a better field for his ambition and energies, he, in March of that year, started for that State. He shipped at Louisville on one of the Mississippi packets for New Orleans, thence up the Red river to Shreveport, Louisiana, and from there overland to Navarro county, where he settled, and has since made his home.

While en route to Texas, the first guns of the rebellion were fired on Fort Sumter, and not long after Texas seceded from the Union. Subsequently the blockade of the Confederate forts was established, which exiled him and his wife completely from home and loved ones during the four years of that memorable conflict.

Thus was ushered in their new married life, amid the trials and privations of a frontier, which was intensified by the war and the gloomy, desolate feeling of absolute exile. But for the hope that this darkness would be soon removed, and the sunshine in the near future would light up their lives, Mr. Drane says life would have been intolerable. Mr. Drane, though prevented by disability from joining the army, was in sympathy with and an earnest supporter of the Confederate canse until the war

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ended. In 1860, he settled on the 640 acres of land seven miles west of Corsicana given to him by his father, on the waters of Brier creek, a tributary of Richland creek, and at once began improvements. It was what is known as black-waxy soil, and was the first land of that character cultivated in the county. To his farming he added stock- raising, both of which he carried on exten- sively and successfully. He clearly demon- strated the fertility of the black-waxy and upland soil and the profitableness of work- ing it, and did more toward the develop- ment of the present high state of cultiva- tion than any of Navarro county's earlier citizens. He thins continued his farming and stock operations nntil 1874, when he removed to Corsicana in order to secure better educational facilities for his large and growing family. As a result of his love for agriculture, a partnership was formed with Jolin S. Gibson, to deal in agricultural implements and machinery. They succeeded R. V. Tompkins by pur- chase, and later, S. J. T. Johnson pnr- chased Mr. Gibson's interest. The busi- ness was carried on in this way nutil 1885, when Mr. Johnson retired, and Mr. Drane took his son, Frank N., into the partner- ship, under the firm name of M. Drane & Son, which style has since continned.

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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