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 32

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 32
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 32
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 32
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 32
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 32
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 32

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battery. Three other cases were brought in of the same nature. At the next term Hon. Amos Clark was judge.

Although the first two judges were not Anderson county men, the first one to serve any length of time-a regular term -- is said to have been Judge Bennet H. Martin. The county continued then to furnish her own district judges down to war times, in the persons of Hon. John H. Reagan, whose public career is now so well known, especially as national senator, and Supreme Court Judge R. A. Reeves, now of Dallas, who has also served in the eu- preme court of New Mexico. Judge Reeves served two terms, and was one of those numerous judges that the military govern- ment of reconstruction days removed. It was this veteran judge, who now lives in retirement at Dallas, that has been called the Nestor of the Anderson bar, of which he was its oldest Anderson lawyer up to the time in recent years of his removal to the Texan metropolis. This is not to say that Judge Reeves was the first lawyer to arrive in the new county, for he was not; that honor belongs to an attorney who lo- cated in the country near Fort Houston in 1846, namely, John B. Mallard. Mallard was but a few months ahead of the time in the same year when Judge Reeves located at Fort Houston as Anderson's second law- yer, while the location of the county seat was being made and the Parkers were cele- brating their old home village of Palestine in Crawford county, Illinois, in its naming.

From this judge onward the county waited a long while for an Anderson man, and he came only in the person of Judge Reeves' nephew, the present young occu-

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pant of the bench, Judge W. I. Reeves, although it is said that Judge Scott was at one time a resident of Anderson. The other judges, as recalled by one of the veterans, were W. M. Taylor and L. W. Cooper in war times, S. L. Earle, John W. Scott, A. J. Fowler, M. H. Bonner, R. S. Walker, Jas. I. Perkins, Peyton F. Edwards, now of El Paso, Frank A. Williams down to the present judgeship.

After the two lawyers before mentioned located in the county a host of young law- yers came and went, both before and since the war. Among those who became more permanent or prominent were Judge Rea- gan, who bought and now owns the historic old site of Fort Honston; two brothers -- Ferd and Fred Fauntleroy; A. I. Nix; Thomas J. Word, a Mississippian, who had been a congressman from that State with the famous brilliant orator S. S. Pren- tiss, and who became one of Anderson's most prominent citizens, and died a few years since at Palestine; A. T. Raney, who became a senator; J. S. Porter, now of North Texas; Thomas B. Greenwood in later years removed from Athens to Pales- tine; and Judge A. J. Fowler of the district bench became one of her well-known legal veterans.

The present bar embraces twenty mem- bers: W. I. Reeves, W. H. Gill, T. B. Greenwood, A. G. Greenwood, T. T. Gam- mage, E. L. Gaminage, J. J. Word, T. S. Word, A. W. Gregg, S. A. Mc Means, J. N. Garner, Milton O'Quinn, W. H. Holli- day, J. L. Fletcher, P. W. Brown, A. W. Ewing, J. R. Burnett, B. H. Gardner and Arthur Webb. The colored people have one representative also-T. T. Murchison.

According to the estimate of some of the most prominent members of the Anderson bench and bar, the practice of the district court has been of a remarkably mild and mixed nature. No line of practice has been of sufficiently striking interest to make it a characteristic of the county's practice. This has been thought to be due to the somewhat notable homogeneous feature of the population, which was made up of people largely from the eastern south, of similar purposes and customs. The criminal features of the practice have at- tracted less public attention than in most counties, and that prolific mother of litiga- tion-Texas land titles-seems to have been far less of her usual reputation in An- derson county. Most of the titles were settled before the war; indeed the settle- ment of them was so quiet that probably none but the Anding league attracted any particular attention. Probably the only sort of practice that assumed noticeable proportions was that on contracts in their various forms, but probably this has not been sufficiently prominent to be worthy of special mention.

Probably the most striking feature of the legal history of Anderson county is the absence or removal of most of the older located lawyers, and the arrival of an al- most entirely new bar in recent years.

Hon. B. H. Gardner, a lawyer and citizen of Palestine, Texas, member of the firm of Burnett, Gardner & Webb, was born in Montgomery, Alabama, June 10, 1854. He is a grandson of the Rev. Thomas Gardner, an able divine of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, who was for many years a prominent figure in church

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HISTORY OF NAVARRO, HENDERSON, ANDERSON,

circles in the State of Georgia. The father of the subject of this sketch was a promi- nent lawyer of Alabama, and a stanch Whig in politics. Previous to the late war, he owned and edited the Southern Shield, of Eufaula, for a number of years, and was subsequently one of the proprietors and editors of the Alabama Journal, the leading Whig paper of that State. He was also a member of the Legislature for several terms. He served in the late civil war as Captain of the Quitman Guards, of Troy, Alabama. In 1872 and 1873 he was At- torney General of his State. He still sur- vives, at the age of seventy-eight years, but is almost blind from cataract, and, after many good and useful years, now rests from his labors. He possesses great intellectual force, is independent and clear-cut in his views, and yet of kindly, gentle manners, a broad charity, pure life and conversation. As a sequence of the possession of these cardinal qualities, he has extended a wide influence for good in the localities in which he has lived. He has been for many years an earnest and useful member of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, Sonth. He has been married several times and has a large family of children. His wife, Mrs. Harriet L. Gardner, the mother of the subject of this sketch, who died in 1861, at the age of thirty-eight years, was a lady of unusual spiritual strength, with a rare gift of good influence over young and old. Her pres- ence brought healing to the stricken heart, and to all an inspiration of goodness and love. She also was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Mr. Gardner, whose name heads this sketch, was reared and educated in Ala-

bama. Hle read law under his brother, John D. Gardner, of Troy, and also pur- sned his studies with his father, being ad- mitted to the bar of Alabama in 1875. He at once commenced practice with his brother, with whom he remained one year. HIe then, in 1876, removed to Fairfield, Texas, where he was successfully engaged in the practice of his profession for a num- ber of years. He was their appointed Coun- ty Attorney by the Commissioners' Court, and afterward elected to the same office. He served ably in that capacity for three years. During the last eighteen months of his residence in Fairfield he was also engaged in the banking business. In Jan- uary, 1892, he came to Palestine and formed the present partnership. His firm have a large general practice, extending over several connties.

Mr. Gardner was married in 1881, to Miss Carrie Bonner, daughter of Rev. T. J. Bonner, now of Palestine but formerly of Bonner, Freestone county, Texas, which town is named in his honor. William Bonner, Mrs. Gardner's grandfather, and his brother, Dr. John Bonner, were two wealthy planters who came ont from Wil- cox county, Alabama, before the last war, to Texas and settled in Freestone county. The two brothers had several grown sons and daughters, with families. Among them was Rev. T. J. Bonner, who also came out about the same time. Both William and John Bonner died about 1876. Will- iam was a very influential member of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. They have six children: Harriet Lucile, de- ceased at the age of nineteen months; An- nie-Joe; Carrie-Lou; Flossie Belle; Mat-

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tie-Cad, and Willie Pearl. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gardner are church members, the former of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the latter of the Refornied Presbyterian Church.

Politically, Mr. Gardner is Democratic, and takes a lively interest in public affairs, but in a quiet way. Socially, he is a mem- bor of the Masonic order and of the Knights of Honor.

Of unusual legal acumen and untiring energy, Mr. Gardner has gained an envia- ble position in his profession, while his thor- ough integrity and great fidelity of charac- ter, have gained for him the confidence and esteem of his fellow men.

Waltus H. Gill, attorney at law in Pal- estine, Texas, is a man well and favorably known in this city and although a man young in years he has already made for himself a name. He was born in Todd county, Kentucky, November 25, 1860, and he was reared and educated in the select schools of that locality and finished his general education with a course in Eastman's Business college at Poughkeep- sie, New York, and he then selected law as a profession and read under Judge James H. Bowden of Russellville, Ken- tucky, afterward Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Kentucky.

Mr. Gill attended the law lectures at Cumberland University at Lebanon, Ten- nessee, graduating there in the law de- partment in the spring of 1882. He came at once to Texas and locating at Palestine entered at once upon the prac- tice of his profession. In April, 1884, he was elected City Attorney of Pales- tine, which office he held for two years.

In November, 1886, he was elected County Attorney of Anderson county, which office he held for two years. In November, 1888, he was called upon by his fellow citizens to become District Attorney for the judicial district com- posed of the connties of Henderson, An- derson and Houston. To this office he was re-elected, which was the best proof of his qualifications. The place lie filled until December, 1892, refusing to beconie a candidate for the position again.

The marriage of our subject took place in Palestine, Texas, August 28, 1890, to Mrs. Callie Mangum. Mr. Gill is re- garded as one of the most promising young men of the bar in eastern Texas. There has been much legal talent in this part of the State and no slight knowledge will be recognized in the young aspirants. The rise of our subject at the bar has not been rapid, nor marked by any startling displays of wit, eloquence or dramatic qualities. What success he has attained has been reached by perseverance and energy, joined to a fair measure of natural apti- tude for his calling, and by a conscientious discharge of his professional and official duties. In accepting cases he is deliber- ate, exacting sincerity from his clients; in the preparation and conduct of canses on trial he is diligent and painstaking, courte- ous to adverse counsel, respectful to the court, logical, clear, compact and convinc- ing to the jury, possessing that skillful generalization which readily seizes upon the strong points of a subject, that happy condensation of thought, which at once ex- tracts the substance of an opponent's argu- ments, and that clear foresight and compre-

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hension which immediately grasp the an- gularities of the most intricate cases. Our subject is plain in speech and easy of un- derstanding, making manner subservient to matter and subduing that manner to pleasant speech. His mind is vigorous and active; its researches rich and varied and constantly at his command. Al- though making no pretentions as an ora- tor he is yet a most entertaining speaker and a splendid conversationalist, possessing a copious flow of language and a style that is chaste, unique and spirited. He enjoys great popularity and as a social, or as a business man he is to be admired.

THE LATE WAR.

Men who have that comprehensiveness of view and organizing ability that make them acknowledged leaders in civil and commercial life are generally to be seen in a similar capacity when the exigencies of war arise. In glancing over the list of leaders in Anderson connty's life and af- fairs, one will find a large number of those who took the initiative when Texas made calls on her citizens for the conflicts of the civil war of 1861-'65.

Before taking note of these, however, let a cnrsory view of the connty's condition as affecting that great question during the decade preceding the opening conflict be taken. In the first place, Anderson was a wealthy county, and especially a planta- tion county, and in any struggle the wealthy are always powerful. In the next place, this wealth was largely in slaves, indeed, these were the great bulk of the wealth; it was so even in 1850, and it was doubly so even in the middle of the decade

before the war opened, when there were 1,917, nearly 2,000, slaves, -valned at over $1,000,000, more exactly, $1,085,760,- not very much less than donble the entire land, horse and cattle wealth of the county combined! In the third place, this wealtli was yearly increasing at marvelous strides, with comparatively small increase of pop- ulation, that is, compared with the ratio that now exists between wealth and in- crease of population; for all these eastern connties that were back a little from the Sabine were, even more than old Mexico, a sort of asylum in which the owner of large slave properties sought to preserve the great bulk of his wealth, the right to which was the heart and kernel of the im- pending conflict which these far-seeing men saw afar off. This influx continued far into the later years of the war, result- ing often in the negroes staying and their former owners leaving-a very pregnant secret of the present large negro popula- tion of the county.

These conditions indicate that there was but little of the Sam Houston sentiment in Anderson county, as in many other counties, -so little that it need scarcely be taken into account. The Trinity Advocate, published by Ewing & Dale, was more in the attitude of a ways and means committee than a committee of the whole, as were such pub- lic speakers as Colonel Rainey, J. B. Stew- art, Mr. McClure, Colonel Laurence, and many others. No persuasion was needed; they all began to get their ballots ready, and clean up their guns almost at one and the same time. The vote showed it, for out of about 1,500 votes cast in the entire county, only seven were cast against se-

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AND LEON COUNTIES.

LIMESTONE, FREESTONE

cession .. It is most unfortunate that Ad- vocate files of those exciting hours have not been preserved; they should have been, so that the younger generation could know what war means.

Now, there arise the leaders. Captain J. W. Gardner was the first to form a com- pany and leave for the field; this was made up of cavalry and was soon on the way to Arizona. Cherokee nnited with Anderson to supply men for a second company of cavalry, under Captain Aycock, later suc- ceeded by Captain Glenn. Then came a battalion nnder Colonel Raincy and Cap- tain Bedford Parks, which went East to the battle-fields of Virginia. This was soon followed to the same scenes of operations by a company under Captain Woodward, the last, it is believed, to leave during 1861. These Virginia companies were in the famous Hood's Texas brigade, which bore so much of the brunt of battle and suffered so great loss, probably the great- est of all in which Anderson county soldiers took part.

The next year was equally generons in its supply for companies. The first to go out was that under Captain B. F. Park, of which Mr. Ewing, of the Advocate, became first lieutenant-a large company. These recruits operated in Louisiana and Arkan- sas. Captain W. H. Tucker raised another company, for the coast service, and still an- other was raised, for the Louisiana cam- paign, by Captain J. S. Hanks. Captain John Bussey's company went out that year. Its first lieutenant was J. Conno- way. Two other cavalry companies for tlie Missouri service completed the list of or- ganized companies, it is believed; these

were made up by Judge R. A. Reeves, as captain of one, and County Judge W. G. W. Jowers, as captain of the other. Of course, there were many scattered recruits furnished by Anderson county, of which no account will ever be obtained probably. It has been estimated by editor Ewing and others that the entire number furnished was not far from between 700 and 1,000 men, many of the companies not being full companies. There is no means of reach- ing any more accurate estimate of it.

To those companies that first went off to Virginia, the county itself voted theni money and supplies; but that procedure was limited to the Virginia companies. Supplies of all kinds, however, were con- stantly voted to all parts of the service dur- ing the entire war.

In any such numbers of men entering on war service there generally arise among them certain ones which the fierceness of conflict brings to the higher and more responsible positions. Some of these may have gone out as mere privates, or in some subordinate office, or as captain. Of the Anderson recruits there were three that rose to positions above that of captain, namely, Colonel Rainey, who succeeded to that title, Major B. F. Park, who went out as captain, and Major Mat. Dale, of the Advocate, who went out in a subordinate position in Captain Woodward's company.

The large number of negroes that were brought in during the war and, so to speak, let loose in a strange country, led to their becoming very excited, although not harm- ful. They would gather at Palestine by the thousands. This gradually quieted

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HISTORY OF NAVARRO, HENDERSON, ANDERSON,

down, however, and no trouble of any amonnt has ever been had between the races.

Reconstruction, too, came and aronsed a good deal of warmth, but there was no bloodshed and open riot, and it finally set- tled itself, and attention was directed with more than usual vigor to developing and . repairing the waste and decay of war. This county was especially vigorous in leading off in agitation for a railway, and "there was no inore war."

The old soldiers are fast dying off, and the old veterans who remain-a numerous body in Anderson county-recently, in 1891, formed themselves, about 100 strong, into a camp of the United Confederate Veterans, of which Captain Ewing, of the Advocate, has been the post commander from the first.

James W. Ewing, senior editor of the Palestine Advocate, of Palestine, Texas, an able man and cultured scholar, was born in Memphis, Tennessee, April 4, 1830. His parents were Wilson E. and Hannah (Dispain) Ewing, both natives of Tennes- see, where the former was born in 1800 and the latter in 1802. All the Ewings in this country are members of this family, the descendants of which now number 300 persons. Prominent among these are Gen- eral Tom Ewing and Andrew Ewing, the latter residing in Nashville, who is a cousin of Wilson E., father of the subject of this sketch. Wilson E. Ewing, a farmer by oc- cupation, was a good and worthy man, such a person as gives character to a commuity. His father, Edley Ewing, was the first Sheriff of Davidson county, Tennessee, of which county Nashville is the county seat,

and served efficiently in the Indian wars of the times. In 1834, he removed to San Augustine county, Texas, where he made his home until his death in 1846, at the age of sixty-nine years. Wilson E. Ewing came to Texas in 1835, and was well ac- quainted with frontier life. He lost his worthy wife in 1865, who died at the age of sixty-three years. They had fifteen children, fourteen of whom attained ma- turity and five now living. All of the surviving reside in Texas and are as fol- lows: The subject of this sketch, the oldest of those living and sixth in order of birth; Emily, the next oldest, resides in Vernon; Henry, the next, lives in Floyd; Thaddeus, in Cooper; and Edley, residing near Vernon.

James W. Ewing, of this biography, is one of the oldest residents of Anderson county, having come here in 1849. He came to Texas with his parents in 1835 and was reared on a farm in San Augus- tine county. He afterward went to Nacog- doches county, where he worked on a farm until 1845, then removing to the Red river, in what is now, Titus county, where he worked three years. He then went to Bonham, where he learned the printer's trade, remaining there until 1848, at which time he went to Rusk. Here he was em- ployed by his uncle on the Cherokee Sen- tinel, the first newspaper published in that county, which was started by his uncle. In the fall of 1849, Mr. Ewing of this sketch went with his uncle to Palestine, where the latter started the first paper ever pub- - lished in Anderson county. In January, 1851, the subject of this notice took pos- session of this paper, and, excepting a few

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years spent in the war, has ever since con- tinued its publication. Mr. Ewing enlisted in the war in March, 1862, and served for three years. He was seriously wounded in the battle of Mansfield, where he was shot through the ankle. From this wound fifty pieces of bones were at various times extracted. This injury rendered him un- fit for further service in the war and he is still slightly crippled from its effects. On the close of the conflict, he resumed his editorial duties, in which he lias ever since been successfully engaged. He is a man of ability and upright character, of wide experience and strong convictions, and ex- erts, in his responsible position, an ex- tended and beneficial influence.

Mr. Ewing was married in 1854 to Miss Eliza J. Rogers, an intelligent lady, daugh- ter of W. R. and Joicey (Hanks) Rogers. Mr. Rogers, a farmer by occupation, came from Mississippi to Texas in 1846. He was the second sheriff of Anderson county, in which position he did effective service. He died in that county in 1882, aged about seventy-two years, having been be- reft of this wife by death in 1861. Of several children, only two now survive, of whom Mrs. Ewing is the older; Mrs. S. H. Neal, the other one, resides in Ellis county, this State. Mr. and Mrs. Ewing have one child, A. W., now the county at- torney of Anderson county.

Politically, Mr. Ewing has always up- held the principles of the Democratic * party, in the welfare of which he takes a deep interest. Socially, he belongs to the A. F. & A. M. and to the I. O. O. F., being Past Senior Warden of the former

and having held all the chairs in the lat- ter. Mrs. Ewing is an earnest and useful member of the Christian Church.

The great influence wielded by the press, renders it exceedingly desirable that only responsible men should be in charge of the varions departments. Among the many who fail to uphold a high standard, it is gratifying to note an exception in favor of the gentleman whose name heads this sketch.

TOWNS AND RAILROADS.

PALESTINE.

As far as the town history of Anderson county is concerned, there are few counties that show a greater transformation from a a single cause. The arrival of the Inter- national Railway early in the '70s has di- vided the career of the county into two periods so widely separate, with one so thoroughly taking the place of the other that scarcely a vestige of the old order of things remains except the reminiscences of " Old Town" about the public square in Palestine. The first period is so thor- oughly past and of the past that it has been considered a part of the chapter on settlement in this volume, and the old towns have been laid away there among the Indian tales and Trinity navigation days of the past.

The present period is the period of the International Railway and of Palestine. As France has been said to be Paris, so An- derson county may be said to be Palestine. The census of 1890 gave no separate men- tion of any other towns or villages in An- derson county, which means that there were

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none large enough to receive separate men- tion-not that there were none at all. The people are proud of Palestine; it is spoken of as " our town," as though there was none other in the county. It is not strange that they should, for it is the eighteenth city in size in Texas. Dallas comes first with a population of 38,067 in 1890; then followed San Antonio, Galves- ton, Houston, Fort Worth, Austin, Waco, Laredo, Denison and El Paso, all above 10,000; then came Paris, Sherman, Mar- shall. Tyler, Gainesville, Corsicana, Browns- ville, and Palestine, the last but one to have above 5,000, her's then being 5,838, a gain of nearly 95 per cent. over her cen- sus of ten years before. This makes her population over one-fourth that of the en- tire country, which the census gave 20,923, a proportion that is unusually large, and abundantly accounts for the esteem with which Palestine is held by the people of the county.

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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