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 70

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 70
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 70
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 70
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 70
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 70
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 70

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Our subject was born in Williamson county, Tennessee, February 9, 1841, son of R. W. and Eleanor C. (Wilson) Cal- houn, grandson of Charles Calhoun, a prominent and well-known farmer of Ten- nessee. The father of our subject died be- fore his son, R. W., was born, and he was reared by his mother and stepfather, the former having married ten years after Mr. Calhoun's death. The latter had been a captain of militia, and a farmer and to- bacco raiser of Tennessee. The mother of our subject, Eleanor C. Wilson, was a daughter of Josiah Wilson, who was one of the pioneers of Tennessee. During the war of 1812 he started to New Orleans, but obtained a substitute, and was there- fore not obliged to go. He finally died in Tennessee.

R. W. Calhoun is the youngest of three children born to his parents, his two sisters being Mary, who married William Sheridan, now a farmer of Houston county, and Zela, who remained unmarried. The mother married James Cherry, with whom she came to Texas, and she bore him two children, but all of these are dead, the mother dying in 1866, and Mr. Cherry in 1878. Our subject was married to Miss Nancy Davis, a daughter of John A. Davis, a native of North Carolina, who came to Texas in 1866, settling in this county. Before coming here he liad been

a merchant, also a school teacher, but after coming to this State he engaged exclu- sively in farming. In 1885 he lost his wife, and he died soon after. He served through the late war. The marriage of our subject took place in 1884, but Mr. and Mrs. Calhoun have reared no family. While serving in the army our subject was advanced to the honorable rank of Lieutenant, having entered as a private. He is a member of the Masonic order, having been Master of the lodge; is also a member of the Knights of Honor. In politics he is a staunch supporter of the principles of Democracy.

LDRIDGE W. CALDWELL, a suc- cessful farmer of Navarro county, was born in Washington county, Arkansas, March 4, 1851, a son of A. B. Caldwell, a native of Tennessee. The latter removed to Arkansas about 1840, served as Colonel in the Black Hawk war, 1832, was a prominent farmer and slave- owner, and was respected by all who knew him. Both he and his wife died in the same evening, in 1857. He was married in Arkansas to Miss Irene Wilson, a native of that State, and they had ten children, our subject being the eighth child. He and his sister, Indiana, were the only ones of the family that came to Texas, and the lat- ter is now the wife of B. K. Duncan, of Corsicana.

Eldridge W. Caldwell was reared to farm life, attended the State University at Fay- etteville, Arkansas, and followed farming and carpentering about six years. In 1878

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HISTORY OF NAVARRO, HENDERSON, ANDERSON,

le came to Navarro county, Texas, and the first year farmed on rented land. He then began improving 100 acres of the G. V. Petty headriglit, paid for his land, erect- ed a dwelling, and then bought 305 acres where he now lives. There was no house on the land at that time, and he lived in the barn until a dwelling conld be erected.

Mr. Caldwell now has one of the best improved farms in the county, consisting of 415 acres, 240 acres of which is under a fine state of cultivation. He has raised as high as twenty-three bushels of wheat to the acre, and also cultivates cotton, corn, oats and barley. He raises a fine grade of cattle, and also has a fine Kentucky stallion, a Hambletonian, with a full pedigree for three generations.

Mr. Caldwell was married in 1880 to Miss Lena M. Andrew, who was born in 1865, a danghter of Captain S. D. Andrew, a native of Georgia. He came to Navarro county, Texas, in 1868, where he died in 1886. His widow still resides at the old homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell have four children, namely: Ethel, born in Jan- nary, 1882; Wilna, in April, 1884; Elmer, in January, 1888; and Dee in September, 1890. Our subject is a director of the Alliance store and cotton yard at Corsi- cana, has served as Secretary of the Ma- sonic order at Blooming Grove, and is a third-party man.

OHN M. HALLUM, one of the enter- prising citizens of Bradford, Texas, came to this State with his parents in 1856, when he was only five years old, he

having been born in 1850, in Sonth Caro- lina. He was the son of Richard A. R. and Margaret (Martin) Hallum, both na- tives of South Carolina. The father en- gaged in merchandising and farming, and was the owner of a store at the time of his death. Of the history of the ancestry of the fatlier bnt little is known. He was born in Abbeville district, South Carolina, May 24, 1809. In his veins flowed the proud blood of a Scotch-Irish ancestry, who were among the earliest and most prominent settlers of Anderson county. Before coming to Texas the father was a planter of Sonth Carolina and bronght his slaves with him. He is descended from a wealthy and influential family of the South. He married Margaret Martin, a native of Ireland, and but little is known of her ancestry. Our subject is the yonng- est living child of the nine children born to these parents. One child died in in- fancy, and the eight that grew to maturity are Robert, a farmer, who removed to l'al- estine, where he died in January, 1877; Bazil was killed in the Confederate serv- ice at Manassas; Snsan married Rev. Longlıridge, both deceased; Margaret mar- ried D. Milling, of Sonth Carolina, farmer; Richard R. now resides at Brownwood, where he is a practicing physician; Mary married Prof. J. C. Wood, but she is now deceased and he resides in Cherokee county; Edward J., now located at Oak Cliff, where he is a practicing physician; and onr subject.

The parents of our subject located on the land that is now occupied by himself, and here he grew to manhood, on the farm, learning to till the soil. His edu-

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cation was obtained at Dallas, Tehuacana and Neches, and he is well educated. In addition to his other studies he pursued the study of medicine for three years, and in 1880 returned home and has remained here ever since. After the deatlı of his father he bought the interests of the other heirs and now owns 1,000 acres of land, 400 acres of which he rents. On this farm he has six tenant houses for the ac- commodation of those to whom he intrusts the management of his land. In addition to these he has erected a large and com- modious residence and a barn, with all necessary out buildings. He gives some attention to horses and mules, also has a well-graded herd of cattle, and he raises cotton and corn. Mr. Hallum did not in- tend to be a farmer, as he had prepared himself for a professional life, under his brothers, and had entered the medical col- lege at New Orleans, in 1875, but was recalled home to the death-bed of his father; and as he was the youngest child he was obliged to abandon his profession and take charge of the farm, and he has since confined his efforts to agricultural pursuits.

Two years after he had taken charge of the homestead, in 1877, he was married to Cornie Erwin, a daughter of Colonel S. A. and Elizabeth J. Erwin, of Tennessee, bat both married after coming to Texas, where they emigrated at an early date. Mr. Erwin was a lawyer by profession, prac- ticed for many years at Rusk, served as Colonel in the Mexican war and has made his home at Dallas for the past four years, engaged in the real-estate busi- ness. He is a very prominent citizen of

Dallas. Mr. and Mrs. Erwin had eight children, and Mrs. Hallum was the fifth child. Mr. and Mrs. Hallum had eight children, namely: Stuart E., born Novem- ber 15, 1878; John C., born August 12, 1881; Robert P., born March 24, 1883; Vera E., born January 21, 1885; Claud E., born September 27, 1886; Ray L., born August 1, 1888; Ralph B., born Oc- tober 7, 1890; and Everett C., born August 23, 1892. The mother was born October 23, 1858.

Mr. Hallum and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and are very prominent persons in that body. In politics Mr. Hallum is a stanch Demo- crat, and he and his family are among the best in the county.

AMES AUSTIN GRAHAM, one of the pioneer settlers and stockmen of Navarro county, was born at Inde- pendence, this State, May 4, 1835, the eldest of three children born to Joshua and Matilda A. (Clemmons) Graham, natives of Kentucky. Both families left different portions of the State and met on the way to Texas, and the parents of our subject were married in Washington county, in 1834, by a Mexican alcalde, under the Re- public of Mexico. Joshua Graham was a soldier in the war of 1835-'6, in the bag- gage department, and her father, as well as her brother, took part in the same struggle. Those indeed were troublesome times for the Graham and Clemmons families. Joshua Graham came with his father and family to Texas in 1833. He was a blacksmith and

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HISTORY OF NAVARRO, HENDERSON, ANDERSON,

gunsmith by trade, and was accidentally killed while repairing a gun, in 1844; his wife departed this life September 29, 1842.

James A. Graham, the only one of his parents' three children now living, received a fair English education, and at the age of twenty-one years commenced life for him- self, having lived with his maternal grand- father after the death of his parents until that time. In his twenty-second year he married and engaged in farming in Fayette county, where his grandfather had moved some years previons. Mr. Graham resided there until in October, 1857, when he moved to Limestone county, now Navarro connty, having been a resident of both counties without moving. He settled on his father's league and labor right, on Pin Oak creek, of which he now owns 2,040 acres, with 150 acres under a fine state of culti- vation. Mr. Graham deals quite extensively in stock, cattle and horses, although not to such an extent as formerly. During the late war he served from 1864 until the close in Captain Peel's company, Brad- ford's regiment of cavalry, and was prin- cipally at Galveston.

Our subject was married in 1857, to Miss Adelaide Stansill, a native of North Carolina, and a daughter of B. B. and De- lila (Hagan) Stansill, also natives of North Carolina. They came to Texas in the spring of 1834, and were the first settlers of the city of Houston. The father assisted in the erection of the first house of any de- scription in the city, built for a Mr. Ashby. They were on Galveston island at the time of the battle of the San Ja- cinto. Mr. and Mrs. Stansill were the par- ents of eight children, seven of whom lived

to be grown, viz .: Adelaide, wife of our subject; Saralı, now Mrs. T. J. Ilamilton; Julius, deceased; Mary, wife of Henry Qualls, of Gonzales, Texas; William, de- ceased; James, of Navarro county; and Elizabeth, wife of G. W. Hughes, of La- vaca county, Texas. The father died in 1867, and the mother about twenty-one years afterward. Mr. and Mrs. Graham have eight children, as follows: William, deceased; A. C., of Corsicana; Louis II., of Emmett; Mary A., deceased; Ida, wife of Dr. II. M. Matthews, of Dawson; Genia, wife of J. W. Wilson, of this county; and James and May at home. Mr. Graham is a member of no church, but never attended a horse-race, never used cards, or has never bet a cent in his life; and he has a gun that was in the battle of San Jacinto.

OBERT HOLLEMAN, of Raymond, Leon county, Texas, was born in San Angustine county, Texas, in 1840. He has resided chiefly in Leon county, and received a limited English education there. He was reared on a farm and grew up a strong and vigorous young man. When the Confederacy needed soldiers it was his good fortune to serve her until disabled by an enemy's bullet. In 1862 he enlisted in Captain Patrick's company, Gould's battalion, General Walker's division, and participated in the battle of Mansfield, and was wounded at Pleasant Hill, where he received a hip wound, which ended his career as a soldier. He suffered from this for a long time, and even yet is unpleas- antly reminded of the fact. In 1868 our

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subject inherited 270 acres of raw land, where he has made a nice home and where he has added 327 acres of pasture land. In 1890 he put up a gin mill, in partnership with his brother, and 300 bales of cotton were ginned in 1891. The capacity of the mill is 200 bushels per day.

Mr. Holleman has served his school dis- trict many times as its Trustee. In 1868 lie was married to Molly, the daughter of Ed- ward Thompson, a pioneer of Leon county, who made his appearance there in 1851. He was born in Georgia, in 18- and was the son of Joseph Thompson, who was born in the same place, in 1777, and died in Alabama, in 1835. He married Nancy Duke and had six children, one of whom is now living. The father of Mrs. Holleman married Miss Sinclair and had three chil- dren, two daughters and a son: the lat- ter died in front of Vicksburg. Mr. Thompson was a Commissioner of Leon county for five or six terms before the war. Was a Democrat then and is a Republican now. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Holle- man are: Ed. T., Robert, Rebecca Lizzie, Fannie and Josie.

J. LAUDERDALE, a successful young farmer of McBay Prairie, Limestone county, was born in Montgomery county, Texas, February 2, 1861, a son of J. T. Lauderdale, who came to this State with his parents in an early day. Jeremiah Lauderdale, the grand- father of our subject, was the founder of the family in Texas. He came from Ala- bama, his native State, and made his first

stop in Limestone county, then unorgan- ized. But finding the place too far out for those days of Indian troubles, he sought a safer place to follow agricultural pur- suits. He performed his part in all front- ier service, and had time left in which to add to his fortune. His large family of children were reared without educational advantages. His wife was a Miss Lauder- dale, and they are both buried in Lime- stone county. J. T. Lauderdale married Miss Frances, a daughter of Henry Coe, another of this county's pioneers, who died in Montgomery county, at the age of eighty-four years. He was the father of twenty-four children. Mr. and Mrs. Lau- derdale reared the following family: Pal- estine, wife of - Plummer; Larissa, deceased; E. J., our subject ; James; An- nie, wife of A. M. Willis; Ophelia; Romo, wife of Frank Baker; Lemuel George, de- ceased, and a brother and two sisters now deceased.

E. J. Lauderdale attended school a few months in the year, and succeeded in ob- taining a fair English education. His father died in 1873, and he was then thrown on his own resources. He was em- ployed at farm work, receiving salaries ranging from $9 to $20 a month, and after becoming of age he owned a sınall farm, almost clear. By a continued practice of economy and industrious habits, he has added to his original purchase until he now owns 200 acres, 145 acres of which is under plow, and the place is well stocked. Mr. Lauderdale is not a politician, but is strictly a private citizen. At nineteen years of age he married Miss Bettie, a daughter of W. H. Lansford, and they have had

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HISTORY OF NAVARRO, HENDERSON, ANDERSON,

three children: James Thomas, deceased; Hattie B. and Horace N. The mother died January 3, 1891, and July 5, same year, Mr. Lauderdale married Miss Dora, a daughter of William Hines, of Hill county. One child has been born to this union, Maude Vistula. The family are inembers of the Christian Church.

OBERT B. JOHNSTON. - Among the leading old settlers of Navarro county, Texas, few, if any, occupy a more prominent part in the history of said county than does the subject of this sketch. He was born in Greene county, Alabama, October, 1829, and was the youngest son in a family of five children born to George and Elizabeth (Caufield) Johnston. Both Mr. and Mrs. Johnston were natives of Ireland, and their first child was born in Ireland and the next one on the ocean on the way to America. George Johnston settled in Alabama and there engaged in mercantile trade, mostly with the Indians. He accumulated considerable property, but died in 1832, of consumption, in the island of Cuba, where he had gone for the benefit of his health. He was a man of con- siderable education and considerable means. Of his family, William B. is deceased, leaving a family in Kentucky; Henry G. died, leaving a family in this State and Louisiana; David J., deceased; John was a physician of this county, and the fifth of the family was our subject. The Johnston family came to America in 1822. At the time of his death Mr. Johnston was a prom- inent Knight Templar Mason. After the

death of Mr. Johnston, Mrs. Johnston mar- ried Mr. Gresham in Alabama, and in 1847 came to Texas, dying in Leon county, in 1858.

Our subject attended the common schools of Alabama, and came to Texas with his inother and stepfather, in 1847, settling in Leon county. In 1848 he and his old- est brotlier started a store at Centreville, Leon county, the county soat, and here sold goods for a number of years, under the name of W. B. Johnston & Bro. This was the first store of the place, and the busi- ness was continued until 1856, when our subject engaged in farming, his brother William having been elected County Clerk, and who after marriage returned to Kentucky.

On first settling in Centreville our sub- ject and his brother were among the first men to clear up and open the streets. The little town of Leona was seven miles south- east, and it was the original county seat. Our subject assisted in opening up the first road between the two towns after the re- moval of the county records to Centreville. He assisted materially in the development of the resources of the said county. After leaving the mercantile business in 1856, Mr. Johnston engaged in farming until 1863, in the spring of which year he joined the company of R. S. Gould, Confederate army, as Second Lieutenant, but upon re-organization he was elected First Lieu- tenant of Company E, J. F. Haflin, cap- tain, a part of Gould's battalion. Soon after reorganization Captain Haflin re- signed and our subject was promoted to the Captaincy. This position he held for eight months, when he was obliged to re-

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LIMESTONE, FREESTONE AND LEON COUNTIES.

sign and return home on account of ill health. During the remainder of the war he was employed as Confederate War Tax Assessor for Leon and Madison counties. He also assessed the State and county taxes for some time. In 1866 he was appointed County Tax Collector of Leon county. During the year 1867 he engaged in farni- ing, but some time in that year removed to this county, where he purchased his pres- ent farm of 900 acres, which had 160 acres under cultivation. He has a one-half in- terest in a large steam cotton gin, and be- sides this 900 acres of land is the owner of 750 acres in pasture, and has improved fifty acres of the latter. At the close of the war he was not in a very prosperous finan- cial condition. Later he acquired some property by the death of a relative, but the greater portion of his possessions he has ac- quired by his own exertions.

He was married in 1853, in Sumter county, Alabama, to Miss Martha A. Swil- ley, a daughter of S. S. and M. A. (Newton) Swilley, natives of Georgia; Mr. Swil- ley had been a soldier in the war with the Indians in that State. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston have had a family of eight chil- dren, namely: Samuel S., married Miss Lilly Pullian, of this county and has five children; George E., a resident of this county, has been married twice, his present wife having been Miss Carrie Mahoney; W. B. married Miss Bettie Eason, of Mis- sissippi; W. H., died at the age of twenty- two; Robert B., Jr., is at home; Emma B. is the wife of Charles C. Walton, of Corsicana; and H. C. is at home. Mrs. Johnston, a very estimable lady, is a mem- ber of the old-school Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Johnson is a member of A. F. & A. M., and politically is a prominent Democrat. Although he has never desired any office at the hands of the people, he has always taken a very active interest in po- litical matters.

A. FULLWOOD, one of the lead- ing farmers of Navarro county, was born in South Carolina, in 1825, a son of W. J. and Lavinia (Ringle) Full- wood, natives also of that State. The Fullwood family came to America with General LaFayette, settling among the French Huguenots in South Carolina, where they were among the prominent settlers. They were planters by occupa- tion. The Ringle family came from En- gland prior to the war for independence, settling also in South Carolina. The pa- ternal great-grandfather of our subject was a soldier in that war. W. J. Full- wood, a prominent farmer, stock-raiser and slave-owner, died at the age of about forty years. He and his wife reared a family of four children: J. A., our sub- ject; Elizabeth A., deceased, was the wife of J. H. Aycock; and Lenora, deceased, was the wife of Warren Wilder.

J. A. Fullwood grew to manhood in his native State, where he acquired the rudi- inents of a common-school education. His mother died when he was fourteen years of age, after which he began life for himself, as a farmer, on land inherited from his father. In 1873 he purchased 320 acres of his present farm in Navarro county, to which he has since added until

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HISTORY OF NAVARRO, HENDERSON, ANDERSON,

he now owns 640 acres, with 150 acres under a fine state of cultivation, a good lionse, barns, etc. Like most of his neigh- bors, Mr. Fullwood lost most of his stock and all his slaves at the opening of the late war. Politically, he affiliates with the Democratic party, his first presidential vote having been cast for Zachary Tay- lor. Socially, he is a member of the A. F. & A. M.

Our subject has been three times mar- ried, first in 1847 to Miss Mary M. Per- ritt, a danghter of Peter E. and Mary (Blakely) Perritt, of Irishi descent. To that union were born three children: Ed- ward Ashburn, deceased; Martha L., de- ceased, was the wife of A. W. Brown, and had three children-J. A., Elizabeth M. and Ethel E.,-the first mentioned living in South Carolina, and the other two in Texas; W. J., who married Dora A. Frier- son in 1882, in Lynchburg, South Car- olina; she died in October, 1889, and he is now residing with his father.

Mr. J. A. Fullwood, the subject, was married to Miss Henrietta S. Mahony in 1855, to whom were born eight children: Robert W., who married Miss Annie Cas- tles in 1880, had two sons, only one living, James A .; the wife and mother is now deceased; J. H., deceased; Percyval D., who married Miss Mary Etta Brown in 1886, and liad three children, one of whom is now dead, Neville and Travis now liv- ing; Barto Bee, who in 1888 married Miss Della F. Brown, sister to Mary Etta, all living near their father; S. P., deceased; F. V., who married Miss Phena Boyd in 1891, and has a daughter, Mabel F .; lie also is living near his father; Iola E., who

married S. F. Stokes in 1886, and they lived near her father until the winter of 1891, when they moved to Lampasas county, where they now reside; William A., at home; J. P., deceased; and Etta A. and Minnie Lee, at home.

In 1881 J. A. Fullwood married the third time, this time wedding Mrs. Emma A. E. Stokes, nee (Brown), widow of Sam- uel W. Stokes, of Meridian, Mississippi, who died near Dresden, Texas, in 1875, leaving five children: Bettie S., wife of W. B. Armstrong; Sarah Ella, wife of A. G. Dubose, deceased; Sam Forest; Jolın Callie and Everitte G. Mrs. Emma A. E. Fullwood was the daughter of John and Elizabeth S. Brown, nee (Fountain), of Darlington, South Carolina. Her great- graudparents were French and English, and her Fountain ancestors came, as Mr. Fullwood's, over from France with the Hngnenots, and after the war of the Revo- lution settled in Darlington, South Caro- lina, where her grandfather, William Fountain, died. Her grandfather, George Brown, was an Englishman, aud a minister of the Baptist Church.

Mr. and Mrs. Fullwood are members of the Missionary Baptist Church, as was also his second wife.

T. McCALLON, a successful farmer of Navarro county, was born at Ten Mile Stand, Meigs county, Tennes- see, in 1858, a son of J. J. and E. (Brady) McCallon, natives also of that State. The father, a farmer by occupation, was a non- commissioned officer in the Confederate

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army during the late war. After the close of the struggle he resumed farming in Tennessee, but in 1880 began the same occupation in Dallas county, this State. In 1890 he came to Richland, Navarro county, where he engaged in the mercan- tile business and farming, and in 1891 was appointed Postmaster of this city. Mr. and Mrs. McCallon were the parents of nine children, six of whom still survive, viz .: H. T., our subject; Elizabeth, wife of P. A. Deal; Sarah, wife of J. M. John- son, Postmaster of Welmer, Dallas county; F. E., engaged with the Houston & Texas Central Railroad; and Charles and El.jah, of this county. The mother is a member of the Primitive Baptist Church.

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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