A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I, Part 110

Author: Paddock, B. B. (Buckley B.), 1844-1922; Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing co.
Number of Pages: 968

USA > Texas > A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I > Part 110

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

Veda and Almoa. She and Mr. Whitaker are the parents of: Bryan, Jo Bailey and Daniel Boone, three young and growing sons to pro- vide for father and mother in age and extremity ..

Mr. Whitaker became a Democrat with a vim when political conditions settled down after the war, and voted for Isham G. Harris for governor . of Tennessee, when only eighteen years of age. He did not try to keep out of local politics when he came to Texas, and he has been a delegate to every Democratic convention held in Jack county in the past twenty years. He has been justice of the peace of his precinct for sixteen years, and executes the duties of his office in the best interest of peace and harmony every- where. He was made a Mason in his native state, and took the chapter and council degrees and, in church matters, his name is on the rolls of the Cumberland Presbyterians.

1831. His parents were John M. and M. M. (Jameson) Love, native Virginia people who immigrated to Tennessee in early life where the wife and mother soon passed away. Their fam- ily consisted of George J., once a quartz mill man in California where he died, leaving a child in San Francisco; Martha died in Tennes- see as the wife of S. E. Browder; John W. B. who died in Texas; Nancy M. married Mat- thew Potter and died in Benton county, Texas; and James R., our worthy subject.

James R. Love acquired a fair education in the country district of his day, and assumed the serious responsibilities of life at about eighteen years of age. Having been a farmer's son he

JAMES R. LOVE. Well known as a suc- cessful farmer of Red river and esteemed as a citizen of the Riverland community is James R. Love, whose name appears at the introduction to this brief sketch. For a quarter of a century have his labors contributed to his own material expansion as well as to Clay county's develop- ment, and his presence here has given an im- petus to the promotion of the public weal. Thirty-six years in the Lone Star state, con- nected with its agricultural interests and con- tributing to its intelligent population, is the rec- ord of James R. Love. He reached the state in 1867, a settler from McMinn county, Ten- nessee, where his birth occurred September 5, . rebellion, being situated so that his services as a civilian were of more import to his community than they would have been as a soldier. In early life he was a Whig, but became a Demo- crat on the issues of slavery and the war, and 'has remained so since, but yielding to the de- mands of the public service and supporting the best qualified men for local office. He managed the election in his precinct in Clay county for fifteen years and has served as school trustee. In domestic matters he has been a home-stayer, not even attending as much as all the important sessions of his Masonic lodge, but went to the meetings of the Methodist church, where he holds a membership regularly, unless ill health prevented.

began life as a farmer himself, working for wages until his accumulations enabled him to at- tempt a more independent life. He was sober, industrious and ambitions and worked year after year without loss of time. In 1861 he married Annis, a daughter of Absalom Armstrong, a native of old Virginia, and with his young wife made his time count, as best he could, during and after the Civil war. When they cast their fortunes with Texas they invested their small means in Collin county land and were indus- trious farmers there till 1880, when he sold his farm and came to Clay county. Here Mrs. Love died in 1890, after helping to make a home on the raw but fertile prairie on Red river. Their first residence was a mere "dugout" and in this they lived just as happily and as contented as they did after their new and more modern home was erected. Corn, cotton and wheat have been the chief products of their farm. His tract of five hundred and fifty acres is an estate worthy many years of effort and on it he has lived well and made farming pay.

Mr. and Mrs. Love were companions together for twenty-nine years. She was born in 1837 and died leaving an issue of John A., of south Texas, a locomotive engineer; Robert S., of Motley county, Texas; Florence A., wife of J. W. Owens, of the same county; George F., of Beaver county, Oklahoma; and Sallie K., who married Alfred M. Smith and resides in Canon City, Texas.

Mr. Love did not do military duty during the

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

MARVIN W. STANTON, practicing at the bar of El Paso, with a large and distinctively representative clientage that has placed his name prominently upon the judicial records of the county, was born in Whitfield county, Georgia, February 13, 1862, his parents being John W. and Lucinda (Hale) Stanton. He comes of the same ancestry as Hon. E. M. Stanton, secretary of war under President Lin- coln, the latter being a cousin of John W. Stanton. The family originated in the south of Ireland and emigrated to America about the time of the Robert Emmett troubles. One of the brothers finally located in Ohio and found- ed the branch of the family to which E. M. Stanton belonged, while the other two brothers settled in Virginia and South Carolina respect- ively.

John W. Stanton was born in Tennessee, but his parents were from South Carolina. Removing at an early day to Georgia he spent the greater part of his life in that state, living first in Whitfield county and afterward in Gor- don county. He was a soldier of the Confed- erate Army, which he joined at the beginning of the Civil war and eventually he became the captain of a company which was first under command of General Stonewall Jackson and later under General Lawton. Prominent and influential in political life as well he left the impress of his individuality upon the legisla- tive history of the state and for ten years was a member of the general assembly of Georgia during the strenuous re-construction period, serving in both the upper and lower houses and taking an active part in framing the im- portant legislation of that epoch. The name of Stanton street in El Paso was given in honor of Lieutenant Stanton, a West Point graduate and a cousin of John W. Stanton, who served in the Indian warfare in the southwest in the early '50s and was killed by the red men about 1857. Fort Stanton, New Mexico, was named in his honor and the street of that name in El Paso is so designated from the fort.

John W. Stanton was united in marriage to Lucinda Hale, a native of Virginia, and was a member of the Hale family of the Old Do- minion, which, with other relatives comprised

an entire company of Confederate soldiers in the Civil war known as the dare devils, having distinguished themselves for remarkable cour- age and bravery at the first battle of Manassas. John W. and Lucinda Hale Stanton had six sons, and three daughters, the eldest being William L., of Los Angeles, California, who for a time was lieutenant under General Joseph Wheeler; 'Peyton L., living in Jerusalem, an author and man of letters; Edwin M., a promin- ent minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, Atlanta, Georgia; Judge C. Q., one of the early pioneers of El Paso, hav- in come here in 1880 before the advent of railroads and was a prominent practitioner for several years, but left the city on the Ist of January, 1889, and is now living in Los Angeles, California; N. H., a government official in the internal revenue department; Celia married Captain Sylvester Watts, who served under General Joseph Wheeler for a time; Sarah J. married S. S. White, of Walnut Springs, Basque county, Texas; and Miss Mary Stan- ton, instructor in the El Paso High School and founder of the El Paso Library.

Although born in Whitfield county, Georgia, Marvin W. Stanton was reared in Gordon county and largely acquired his education there. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia, in which institution he prepared es- pecially for the practice of surveying and civil engineering. He arrived in El Paso on the 12th of August, 1883, two years after the build- ing of the railroad, and was engaged in survey- ing in this city and the adjacent territory. In 1884 he went to St. Louis, Missouri, to com- plete his legal studies in the law department of the Washington University, of which Wil- liam G. Hammond, a distinguished legist, was then a dean. In due course of time Mr. Stan- ton was graduated and in the meantime he re- ceived practical experience in law in the office of Medill, Hitchcock & Finklenberg, one of the prominent firms of that city, and was admitted to the bar at St. Louis in 1885. He first prac- ticed there, but on the 8th of June, 1886, re- turned to El Paso, where he has since engaged in law practice. He is thoroughly familiar with all departments of jurisprudence and has

M. M. Hanlow

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

a large, general practice, extending to all the "John W., who died in Colorado; George K., of courts of Texas and into New Mexico and Ari- zona as well. He prepares his cases with great precision and thoroughness, and in argument possesses a strength of logical deduction and clear, cogent reasoning that never fails to im- press court or jury and seldom fails to win the verdict desired.

ELIJAH STITH CUSENBARY. In the subject of this sketch we have the founder of Murray, a modest farmer and one of the widely known citizens of Young county. His advent to the county dates from 1876 when he pur- chased the tract of land upon which the hamlet of Murray is situated and upon which his mod- est efforts at farming and stock raising have been since directed. , The store is presided over by his thorough-going and industrious wife and she is the postmistress of the office founded in 1880, and named in honor of J. J. Murray, a leading citizen of the community of the early days.

Mr. Cusenbary came to Texas as a Missouri settler. On his way hither from eastern Texas he picked up a small bunch of cattle which he placed upon the open range here-some of them unprotected by brand-with the conse- quent loss that always prevailed under the practices of cattle men of that time. His early hopes led him to plan a career of stock raising on the open range indefinitely, never expecting to need any more land of his own than the quarter section he bought, but time changed this frontier, as it has all others, and within a few years the open range was closed and there seemed nothing better than to turn his atten- tion to farming. Born in Jackson county, Mis- souri, December 25, 1850, Mr. Cusenbary was a son of Daniel Cusenbary who settled there very early, improved a farm and cultivated it successfully, and who was killed on the street in Independence by a federal soldier in 1863. The latter was born in Logan county, Ken- tucky, in 1800, entertained southern senti- ments during the war and left a good estate at death. He was twice married and by the first wife had issue: Harrison D., of Arcadia, Ok- lahoma; James D., of Independence, Missouri;

Los Angeles, California; Mary, who died in Jackson county, Missouri, as the wife of Thomas Funk; and Vincent C., deceased. For his second wife Daniel Cusenbary married Celia F. Robinson, a daughter of Colonel Wil- liam Cogswell, originally from Kentucky. Mrs. Cusenbary passed away at the home of her son in Young county in 1904, having been the mother of William B. Robinson, who was killed during the war by federals and E. S. Cusenbary, the subject of this sketch.

Our subject grew up in Jackson county and knew the work of the farm from actual prac- tice from boyhood. His educational advant- tages were fair and he came to his majority with a knowledge of the cardinal principles of an education. He first came to Texas at the age of eighteen and was employed on the cow range in Bosque county, and it was from this

experience that his independent career can be said to date. Upon his marriage he at once settled in Cass county-he was then living in Missouri-and embarked in the business of raising hogs for the markets, but misfortune and losses so harrassed him that he was glad to quit the business, and he then decided to return to the Lone Star state.

With wife and two orphan children he set out by wagon and followed the trail down through Kansas and the Indian Territory, crossing Red river at Denison and coming leis- urely along out to his destination on the head waters of Fish creek. Believing there was an opening for a store at the postoffice of Murray, Mrs. Cusenbary took active charge of the same when it was established and she is responsible for its conduct as Mr. Cusenbary is that of the farm.

January 5, 1873, Mr. Cusenbary married Mary Catherine Hopper, a daughter of John Henry Hopper, originally from the state of Kentucky. Mrs. Cusenbary was partially reared by her husband's mother, having been orphaned in childhood, and she has a sister, Mrs. Nora Atterbury, of Collingsworth county, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Cusenbary have chil- dren: Mary L., wife of E. M. Tankersley, of Graham, with children, Ernie, Elijah, Andrew,

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

David Raymond, and Ewell Profit; Zephyr Rose, Daniel David, Caldwell C., a student in the Metropolitan College of Dallas.

Mr. Cusenbary has been one of the active men of the Murray community in the matter of church work and influence. The Baptists held meetings first in a log school house (in which Mrs. Cusenbary taught school when they first came), but this has been succeeded by a church edifice which Mr. Cusenbary helped to build.

WILLIAM J. MANTON. In the settle- ment of the far southwest, conservative New England has contributed sparingly of her vig- orous young manhood, and the ready assimila- tion of those of her sons whose courage and fortitude enabled them to exchange the society of bosom friends and the comforts and con- veniences of a model home for the barren waste of a practically unclaimed region on the frontier into one homogeneous social fabric peculiar to the occident alone. In the settle- ment of Clay county Rhode Island has fur- nished the worthy subject of this article, and for a score of years have his efforts wrought in the substantial improvement of a home.

In 1879, William J. Manton left his native state and sought the prairies of the Lone Star state, establishing himself first in Fayette county where, near LaGrange, he devoted himself to pioneer farming. When he left that locality, three years later, he joined a force of linemen of the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway Company constructing telegraph line and he remained with this employment a year and a half, quitting the force at Quanah and returning to Bellevue, Texas, and soon there- after taking possesion of and beginning the work of improvement of his present farm. He purchased a section of raw land four and a half miles southeast of Bellevue, and the crude shanty he erected upon it for the habitation of his family was a two-room box house with dimensions fourteen by twenty-four, and this makeshift provided him with shelter and sum- mer comforts until 1893, when it was remod- eled and enlarged to the commodious farm cot- tage of the present. Fences enclosed his acres

in time, and the soil responded to the touch of the plow and yielded abundantly in season, and his animal industry became varied and numerous and included draft horses, cattle, hogs and sheep. His position among his brother farmers is one of thrift and substantial independence, and the inherent qualities of the man himself render his social position equally as conspicuous as that of his financial.

Not far from Providence, Rhode Island, William J. Manton was born May 14, 1855. Crawford J. Manton, Senior, was his father and Esther Wilbur was his mother. The father was the only child of William J. and Freelove (Jencks) Manton and in early life was cashier of the Lime Rock National Bank of Lime Rock. In later life he was foreman of the lime-burning plant of a Providence con- cern and he died in 1892 at seventy years of age. He was a native of Rhode Island and his father and his wife's father, David Wilbur, were early settlers there and of English an- cestry. Esther Manton died in 1886, being the mother of: Freelove, wife of Frank Draper, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island; William J., of this review; Daniel, of Lime Rock, Rhode Island; Lydia, who married Thomas Angell, of Riverside, Rhode Island; Crawford, of Sales- ville, and Thomas, of Berkeley, Rhode Island.

William J. Manton was brought up in the country and the public schools, Scofield Com- mercial School and Amherst College gave him his educational equipment. He was a sopho- more when he left Amherst and thus liberally equipped he turned his attention to the real sober issues of life. Vivid accounts of the op- portunities in the southwest for young men beginning life enlisted his interest and induced him to come hither and it is now more than a quarter of a century since he was first enu- merated with a Texas census. He was first married in LaGrange, in 1882, his wife being Lucy Manton, a daughter of Edward Manton and a sister of Mrs. Dr. Gault, of Bellevue, Texas. Mrs. Manton survived until 1889, when she passed away, leaving children : Sarah M., wife of Professor C. A. Cooper, of Belle- vue; Crawford, Esther, Edward and Catherine. October 22. 1903, Mr. Manton married Mrs.

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M. H. Fowler, a daughter of W. J. and Mintie. of his own foundry, the supplies from which (Hern) Briggs, the father of New York birth and the mother born in Maine Mrs. Manton was born in Rock county, Wisconsin, and was married in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Mr. Fowler. She came to Texas in 1892 and the same year Mr. Fowler died. For six years she was head nurse in the Fort Worth sani- tarium of Doctors Walker and Adams, leaving the institution in 1903. She has a daughter, Helen Fowler, and by her presence the do- mestic life of Mr. Manton has been strength- ened and sustained and an atmosphere of good cheer and good will ramifies and pervades his household.

went to the Confederacy. When his resources were exhausted and he failed, he was ordered to the front, and was being marched away when he made his escape. He remained with the Federal army for protection until the close , of the war, and never took up arms on either side. After the close of hostilities he returned home to find devastation on every hand. He resumed farming and remained in Tennessee until 1869, when he sold out for what he could get and gave the proceeds to friends who had helped him in time of need, and he rigged up a two-horse team and moved to Davis county, Indiana. There he rented a farm. Four years later, in 1873, he moved to Texas, and located in Red. River valley above Spanish Fort, where he continued farming on rented land and in that way raised four crops. Then he and his eldest son, Isaac, bought land and improved a farm, and later, he purchased his son's inter- est, and remained at the homestead during the rest of his life, surrounded by comfort and plenty in his old age, the result of his years of toil. He died in December, 1891. He was a man of sterling worth and in the several communities in which he lived he enjoyed the confidence and respect of all who knew him. His widow is living at this writing, on the homestead, which is in charge of her son John. She is a daughter of Isaac Shawn, of German descent, by occupation a farmer, and relig- iously a Baptist, who spent his life in Ten- nessee. His children were Adam, Peter, Betty, Albert and Rebecca. James C. and Susan Howard had ten children, namely : Mollie, wife of C. Holt of Montague county; Mrs. Eliza- beth Humphrey; Isaac H., a prominent farmer; Samuel E., a well-known stock farmer ; Mrs. Emmer Utley ; Noah J., also en- gaged in the stock business; Albert C., who died at the age of twenty-two years; Cornelius H., the direct subject of this review ; John C., who has charge of the home farm; and Mrs. Ida Dumford.

CORNELIUS H. HOWARD, who figures as one of the leading stock farmers of Mon- tague county, Texas, was born in Johnson county, Tennessee, September 5, 1865, son of James C. and Susan (Shawn) Howard, both natives of Tennessee. , Samuel Howard, the grandfather of Cornelius H., also born in Ten- nessee, was the son of a native of Ireland who. had emigrated to this country and pioneered in Tennessee. Samuel Howard was a soldier in the war of 1812. By occupation he was a farmer and iron worker, and also owned and ran a saw mill. He was a Union man and dur- ing the war of the Rebellion had to hide in the mountains for safety. Both armies foraged his estate, destroying his property by fire and theft, and he found his fortunes sadly depleted when the war was over. He owned only one slave and to him he gave a farm. For many - William, Caleb, Susan, Alexander, Catherine, years Samuel Howard was a deacon in the Primitive Baptist church. His children, ten in number, were as follows: Mary, James C., William, Rachael, David, Sarah, Matilda, Sam- uel, Barbara and Joseph. James C. Howard . spent his boyhood days assisting his father on the farm and in the mill and iron works, and also carried the mail on horseback, his father having mail contracts. After his marriage he settled on a farm his father furnished him, and was engaged in farming and running a foun- dry and was prospering when the war came on. Cornelius H. Howard moved with his pa- rents to Indiana and to Texas. His first em- ployment away from home after he was grown During the war he took government contracts and was detailed, with thirty men, as manager

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

was at Henrietta, in a livery stable, where he worked for Mr. Utley. Later he went to In- dian Territory. He had bought a few cattle which he took with him, and there commenced the real struggle for himself in 1887. He worked on a ranch for wages two years, all the time looking after his cattle, and saving his money and adding to their number. At the end of two years he leased some land and did some farming, and in 1891 he married. He remained there until 1901, successfully raising and dealing in cattle, and farming. In 1901 he returned to Texas and located near Spanish Fort in Montague county. His first purchase of land was seven hundred and sixty-one acres, to which he has since added until now he owns one thousand and four acres. He has remod- eled and erected buildings, including a large and comfortable residence ; has planted an or- chard, etc., and made various other improve- ments, and has one hundred and forty acres under cultivation, most of it rented. He raises stock now not only on his farm but also grazes cattle in the territory. His whole attention has been given to farming and stock raising, and he has never aspired to anything in the way of political or public life. He casts his franchise with the Democratic party, and he and his wife worship at the Methodist church, of which they are worthy members.

Mr. Howard married, in 1891, Miss Anna 4 E. Lovett, who was born in Texas, daughter of Taylor and Betty (Cox) Lovett, now resi- dents of Oklahoma, her father a native of Mis- sissippi and her mother of Texas. Mrs. How- ard is the eldest of seven children, the others being Robert E., Laura, Andrew, Julia, Cloud and Elsa. The children of Cornelius H. and Anna E. Howard are: Bertha, born Nov. 3, 1891; Osa, September 15, 1893; Albert, De- cember 2, 1895; Valentine, February 14, 1898; William, September 15, 1901 ; and Leska, No- vember 3, 1903. They lost one child, Ida, the fourth born, at the age of one year.

JOHN D. MORRIS, interested in farming on Postoak Prairie in Montague county, was born in Polk county, Texas, January 6, 1839. He comes of good old revolutionary stock. His pa-

ternal grandfather was Demorris Morris, a native of Georgia, who espoused the cause of the colo- nies in the war for independence. He married a Miss Enlo, who belonged to a prominent family of Georgia. Among their children was Burl Morris, who was born at Atlanta, Georgia, and was reared in that state. He afterward went to Alabama and subsequently to Mississippi, where he was married to Miss Mary Gibbs, a native of Alabama and a daughter of John L. Gibbs, who came to Texas in 1851, settling in Trinity county, where he was successfully and exten- sively engaged in farming until his death. In politics he was a stanch Democrat, filled various county offices, including that of deputy sheriff. He was also justice of the peace for a number of years and constable for some time. He be- longed to the Baptist church and his life was ever honorable and upright. He took great en- joyment in hunting in early days and was a crack shot. His children were: Mary, who be- came Mrs. Morris; Stephen, who served in the Confederate army; Thomas, who was killed in .the war; Richard, who died of illness in the army: Daniel, who was also a Confederate sol- dier; Zelpha; Susan; Martha; and John, who likewise served with the Confederate troops.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I, Part 110

Author: Paddock, B. B. (Buckley B.), 1844-1922; Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing co. Number of Pages: 968

Author: Paddock, B. B. (Buckley B.), 1844-1922; Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing co.
Number of Pages: 968