A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I, Part 113

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 113

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Mr. Williams is a self-made man and as the architect of his own fortunes has builded wisely and well. He has placed his dependence on the substantial qualities of energy, determination and honorable effort. When he came to Montague county he had a team and wagon, a few house-

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hold goods and eleven dollars and sixty, cents in money, but he has labored persistently and as the years have gone by has added annually to his re- sources until he is now a substantial citizen of his community. He votes with the Democracy and is an active and valued member of the Chris- tian church, in which he is serving as one of the deacons. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge of Saint Jo, in which he has filled all of the chairs, and has attended the · grand lodge.

DR. SAM H. BURNSIDE has been actively engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in the city of Wichita Falls for the past twenty years, and is among the oldest established prac- titioners of the place. He was a young doctor when he came, possessed of a few years of practical experience and with a large and gen- erous ability and talent for his chosen pro- fession, and the subsequent years have shown him to be one of the leaders in practical affairs and in his own line of work in this part of the country.

He was born at Lancaster, Kentucky, in 1855, being a son of Josiah and Almira (Hiatt) Burnside, the former of whom was born in Kentucky and died there in 1875, and the latter was a daughter of a Virginia family and died in Kentucky. His father was a farmer and stock-raiser, and a successful and scrupulous and worthy gentleman. He was a descendant of the famous Wallace clan of Scotland, and his immediate ancestors came to this country at an early day and settled in Virginia and Kentucky. The Civil war soldier, General Burnside, is also from the same branch of the family.

Dr. Burnside came to mature years on a farm in Kentucky, and when he was grown he began to prepare for the medical profession. He at- tended the medical department of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, and. was graduated there with the degree of M. D. in 1882. In the same year he began practice in his native town of Lancaster, and continued there until the fall of 1884, when he arrived in Wichita Falls, which has been his residence and scene of activity ever since. The town was in its early stages of growth then, and Dr.

Burnside helped fill out the ranks of profes- sional men needed in every center of popula- tion. He has gained a splendid success in his work and has a large practice. He has estab- lished a fine reputation in the line of gynecol- ogy and the surgical diseases of women, which form a large part of the practice of himself and his partner, Dr. Walker.

Dr. Burnside is local surgeon for the Fort Worth and Denver Railway, and has held that position for the past seventeen years. He is also chief surgeon for the Wichita Falls and Oklahoma Railroad. He is a member of the Wichita County, the Northwest Texas, the Texas State, and the American Medical associations and societies, of the National Association of Railway Surgeons, and of the Medico-Legal Association of New York. He is also examiner for all the old-line life insurance companies doing business in Texas, and also for several of the fraternal orders. He is himself affiliated with the Masonic order and has attained the Knight Templar degrees.

Dr. Burnside was married at Fort Worth in 1887 to Miss Mary M. Grice, a native of Phila- delphia, and they have two children, Alice M. and Mary Margaret. Three children are de- ceased, Ellen, who died aged twenty-two months; Nellie G., who died at the age of five years, and Laura M., who died at the age of three years.

JOHN W. HONSSINGER, carrying on gen- eral agricultural pursuits in Cooke county, own- ing and operating six hundred and eighty-six acres of valuable land about three miles west of Marysville, was born in Bates county, Mis- souri, October 22, 1861. His parents were Jacob and Virginia (Salmons) Honssinger, the former a native of Missouri and the latter of Kentucky. The paternal grandfather, Jacob Honssinger, Sr., was born in Germany and when a young lad accompanied his father, who emigrated with the family from Germany to America, taking up his abode in Montreal, Can- ada, where he spent a few years. The great- grandfather later removed to northern Missouri, where he made his permanent home and reared his children, all of whom reached adult age. Jacob Honssinger, Sr., spent his youth largely

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

in Missouri and after his majority he removed . home. During the period of the Civil war Bates to Bates county, that state, becoming one of its pioneer residents. The country was then but sparsely settled and Indians still visited the neighborhood, while game of all kinds was plen- tiful. Difficulties and hardships constituted the lot of every pioneer settler, but as the years ad- vanced Mr. Honssinger overcame the obstacles in his path and as a prominent farmer carried on his work which netted him a good financial re- turn. His mother spent her declining years with him and died at his home. The children in the family of Jacob Honssinger, Sr., are: Jolin ; Jacob ; Frank; Boone; Margret, the wife of D. Young, and Rebecca, the wife of J. Hook. John and Frank entered the Confederate service at the time of the Civil war and it is supposed that they were killed as they were never heard from again.

Jacob Honssinger, Jr., was born and reared upon his father's farm in Missouri and there aided in the labors of the farm and also engaged in stock raising. During the days of the "squatter sovereignty" in Kansas when there was great agitation he was a witness of many events which occurred in that section of the country and saw blood shed on Kansas soil. Following his mar- riage he began farming in Bates county, Mis- souri, and continued successfully in that coun- try until 1861, when he responded to the call of the Confederacy for troops and enlisted under General Price. He took part in the campaigns in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Louisiana, was in many skirmishes and in a number of hotly contested battles, and in the engagement at Wilson's Creek was captured and sent to Se- dalia, Missouri, where he was held as a prisoner of war for a time. Upon being exchanged he rejoined his command and continued until the close of hostilities. . During the campaign in Louisiana his command was detailed to guard bridges and other property and to hold fort at Shreveport, and while he was stationed there the war was brought to a close and when the troops surrendered the Federal government fur- nished transportation to them and they pro- ceeded by steamboat to St. Louis, from which point Mr. Honssinger made his way to his

county was the scene of much agitation and the Federal government ordered all the families of Confederate soldiers to leave the county so that Mr. Honssinger's wife and children went to St. Clair county, Missouri, where they remained until the close of the war. Following the return of the father he went to Howard county, Mis- souri, and sent for his family to join him there. He rented a farm upon which he remained for five years and then returned to his old home in Bates county. where he continued until 1877, when he came to Texas, settling in Grayson county. Here he rented a tract of land and raised a crop, after which he purchased a farm upon which few improvements had been made. He began the work of further cultivation and development there and he yet owns the old homestead property, which has been greatly changed by means of the care and labor he has bestowed upon it.' In 1905 he was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died on the 7th of July of that year. He then abandoned housekeeping and now rents his farm, while he finds a good home among his children. He is now seventy-three years of age. For many years he was a merchant and enterprising agri- culturist and met with a fair degree of success. He has long been a consistent and devoted member of the Methodist church and his strong traits of character are such as command confi- dence and respect. His wife held membership in the Christian church. She was a daughter of John Salmons, who was born in Virginia and was early left an orphan. When a young man he removed from the Old Dominion to Kentucky, where he was afterward married and began farming on his own account. Subse- quently he removed to St. Charles county, Mis- souri, and became a prominent agriculturist of that locality, spending the remaining years of his life there. He served as a soldier of the war of 1812 and in politics he was a Democrat. His children were William, Joseph, Mrs. Amanda Journey, Mrs. Mary McWaters, Mrs. Virginia Honssinger and Mrs. Sarah Cannon. Of this family William Salmons entered the army for service in the Mexican war and is supposed to

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have been killed, as he was never heard from again. Joseph Salmons was killed while serving in the Confederate army.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Honssinger, . Jr., there were born eleven children: Joseph, who died at the age of fifteen years; Ellen, the wife of J. Bailey; Charles, who died at the age of eighteen years; Rebecca, who died at the age of eight years; John W., of this review; Jacob, who was formerly a cattleman, but is now en- gaged in business in Caddo, Indian Territory; Mrs. Ida Champion; Mrs. Nellie Chisholm; Mrs. Amanda Richardson; Mrs. Etta Kenne: Allen, an agent of Wellington, Kansas.

John W. Honssinger came to Texas with his parents in 1877 when sixteen years of age. He was reared to farm pursuits, was educated in the common schools and remained under the parental roof until eighteen years of age, when he started out to fight life's battles, in which he has come off victor. He was first employed at railroad work for a year. after which he secured a position on a farm and devoted his attention to the care of the fields and of the stock until twenty-eight years of age. In 1889 he was mar- ried, after which he leased land in Indian Ter- ritory, where he engaged in farming and in the cattle business, following those pursuits suc- cessfully for eight years. On the expiration of that period he sold out and came to Cooke county, Texas, purchasing the farm upon which he now resides, known as the Calhoun farm. It is three miles west of Marysville and is a fine and valuable farm comprising two hundred and ten acres. To this he has added the Bracken farm of one hundred and twenty acres and the Hough farm of three hundred and fifty-six acres, so that he has a total of six hundred and eighty-six acres, on which he raises some of the finest corn and cotton in Cooke county, having five hundred acres under a good state of culti- vation. He rents most of this, having six ten- ant houses upon his place. He has cleared some of the land, has re-modeled the farm and has placed it under an excellent state of improve- ment and cultivation. For his own use he has erected a commodious frame residence, large barn, mill and tank and he has many modern conveniences, everything about his place being

in excellent condition. There is also a good or- chard and he is numbered among the substan- tial agriculturists and stock-raisers.

In 1889 Mr. Honssinger was married to Mrs. Jane Morris, who was born in Navarro county, Texas, in 1858, the widow of Joseph Morris. Her first husband was born and reared in Ten- nessee and from that state went to Illinois, but after a short period came to Texas, prior to the Civil war. He was married in Cooke county and later turned his attention to farming and stock- raising in the Indian Territory. He was quite successful there and raised stock on a large scale, so continuing until his death. He com- manded the respect of all who knew him and by his well directed labors gained a fair measure of success. At his death he left a widow and four children: Sina, the wife of H. T. Miller ; Lemuel, a farmer in the territory; and Joseph and Vin, who are farmers in Cooke county. After his marriage Mr. Honssinger cared for these children, giving them good educational privileges. His wife is a daughter of Nathan H. Hobbs, of Virginia, who, on leaving the Old Dominion went to Alabama and then came to Texas at an early day, first settling in Navarro county, where he carried on farming very suc- cessfully. He afterward took up his abode in Cooke county, where he engaged in farming, becoming one of the prosperous agriculturists of the community, his attention being given to his farm work until his death, which occurred July 5. 1897. He was a veteran of three wars, first serving in the Seminole Indian war, after- ward in the Mexican war and subsequently in the Civil war, but he was never wounded nor made a prisoner. His wife died in 1868 in the faith of the Methodist church, of which she was a consistent member. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hobbs have been born nine children: Jasper, a farmer: Mrs. Sarah Clary; Mrs. Mary Wells; America, who died at the age of eighteen years ; Mrs. Eliza Jane Honssinger ; Cynthia, who be- came Mrs. May and after the death of her first husband became Mrs. Calhoun; Mrs. Tenna Worley; Mrs. Julia Stallcup; and Vin, a farmer. For his second wife Mr. Hobbs chose Mrs. Mat- tie White and they had two children: Charles, a farmer; and Mrs. Minnie Hill.

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Honssinger has been born but one child, William H., whose birth occurred July 25, 1891. In politics Mr. Honssinger is a. Democrat without aspiration for office, as he prefers to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs His large and well improved farm is the visible evidence of his life of thrift and industry and shows how earnestly he has carried on his work, his labors being guided by sound judgment and supplemented by excellent executive ability, so that he is today one of the prosperous agriculturists of the county.

DR. ROBERT D. DURON, engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Bulcher, his knowledge and practical skill being such as 10 gain him recognition as one of the leading members of the medical fraternity in Cooke county, was born in Hardin county, Tennessee, February 27, 1857, a son of Mannon J. and Su- san (Churchwell) Duron, the former a native of Alabama and the latter of Tennessee. The ma- ternal grandfather, Robert A. Churchwell, was a resident of middle Tennessee, where he suc- cessfully carried on farming and enjoyed a rep- utation for business integrity that was unassail- able. He not only followed farming, but was likewise a minister of the Primitive Baptist church. His children were: Nancy, Mrs. Susan Duron, John, George, Eliza, Polly, Ann, Eli, Andrew, Jane and Amis.

After his marriage Mannon Duron settled on a farm seven miles north of the battle-field of Shiloh, where he remained as a successful agri- culturist until the inauguration of hostilities be- tween the North and the South, when he joined the army, serving until the close of the war. He was under General Joe Johnson and General Hood in the Army of the Tennessee and took part in many campaigns, in much skirmishing and in various important battles, meeting the usual experiences and hardships of a soldier's life. When the war was over he returned to his home and undertook the work of improving his farm, which had been almost completely devas- tated by the ravages of the two armies. He still lives upon the old homestead there and is a re- spected and worthy citizen of his community. His fellow townsmen, recognizing his ability

and trustworthiness, have called him to the of- fice of tax collector and justice of the peace, his incumbency in the latter position covering sev- eral years. He belongs to the Primitive Baptist church. In October, 1870, he was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, and he later mar- ried Miss Emarillis. By his first marriage he had five children: Robert D., of this review ; Mrs. Sarah J. Harris; Molly, the wife of J. Ser- ratt; George, and Andrew. All with the excep- tion of Dr. Duron yet remain in Tennessee and are farming people there. By the father's ser- ond marriage there were four children: B1-1 . ton, John, Eli and Elmer.

Dr. Duron was reared to the occupation of farming and began his education in one of the old time log school houses. He commenced reading medicine when quite young and in 1883 he entered the Kentucky School of Medicine at Louisville, where he pursued a course of lec- tures. He afterward located at Jimtown, where he practiced successfully for seven years, when in 1890 he returned to his alma mater and was graduated. He then again practiced in Jimtown, where he remained for a short time, and in No- vember, 1890, he came to Bulcher, Texas, where he has since followed his profession. In 1899 he pursued a post-graduate course in Louisville, Kentucky, and thus he has kept in touch with modern scientific methods of practice. He is, moreover, a close and discriminating student at all times and keeps in touch with the advanced thought of the profession and is quick to adopt the improved instruments and appliances which are of such great value to the physician and sur- geon in his practice.

In 1874 Dr. Duron was married to Miss Josie Jackson, a native of McNairy county, Tennessee, born in September, 1858, and a daughter of Joseph and Margaret (Cox) Jackson, the former of North Carolina and the latter of Mississippi. The parents were married in Mississippi, whence they afterward removed to Arkansas, later to Tennessee and subsequently became residents of Cooke county, Texas, where the father's death occurred. He was a farmer by occupation and preferred giving his attention to his business interests rather than to seeking office. His wife yet survives at the advanced age of seventy-four

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years and finds a good home among her children, who are seven in number, namely: Jessie, Thomas, Edward, Andrew, Minter, Mrs. Jennie Hilterbrand and Mrs. Josie Duron. Mrs. Jack- son is a member of the Missionary Baptist church, to which her husband also belonged.

Dr. and Mrs. Duron have an interesting fam- ily of ten children: Susie, now the wife of Eli Dennis; Callie, the wife of W. S. Gosdin ; Dora, the wife of P. Williams ; Joseph, a farmer ; Ethel, Winnie, Mason and Myrtle, all at home; and Elmer and John, who are also under the parental roof. Both Dr. and Mrs. Duron are members of the Primitive Baptist church, and he belongs to the Masonic fraternity and the Woodmen of the World, while professionally he is connected with the Northern Texas Medical Association. In his practice he has attained prominence and is to-day a most capable physician, who manifests a deep interest in everything that tends to bring to man the key to that complex mystery which we call life.

ALFRED CHARLES SCHNEIDER. In the subject of this review we present the brief life record of the oldest established hardware merchant in the city of Bowie and a gentle- man who has contributed not only to his own substantial upbuilding, but to the material up- building and prosperity of his favorite county metropolis as well.

Since the year 1883 Mr. Schneider's identity with Bowie has been positive and his faith in its future never failing. It was that year that he cast his fortunes with the then infant metropolis of Montague county and with his accumulated capital of one thousand dollars engaged, in company with his brother, in a small hardware business on Tarrant street. The business prospered and in time the brother dropped out of it, but Alfred C. kept on in his steady upward tendency, enlarging his stock, adding other departments and features and in- creasing his trade until it became one of the most important places of business in Bowie. As he grew in financial strength and the con- dition of his business warranted he invested in business property adjacent to his store until one-half of the block in which his business house stood belonged to him. This he im-

proved by the erection of five store rooms, on as many lots, the first five west of the First National Bank. His residence on Cowan street he also built, and thus has he unconsciously added substantial beauty and material wealth to his adopted town.

Alfred C. Schneider was born in New Or- leans, Louisiana, December 3, 1854. His father, John Schneider, a native of Switzerland, died in Galveston, Texas, in 1856. The latter was a hotel man and married a Swiss lady, Sophia Bock, who passed away in Galveston in 1895. The issue of their marriage were two sons, Oscar C., of Montague county, and a farmer, and Alfred C., of this record.

Private schools largely furnished Alfred C. Schneider with a fair education and he re- mained with his mother, an aid to her hotel ventures until his separation to establish him- self in business in Bowie. In 1874 the family located in Texarkana, where the mother was proprietor of the William Tell house for a number of years, going there from Houston where she was also a hotel keeper. She ulti- mately returned to Galveston and there passed away just forty years after her first entrance to the city.

In August, 1880, Mr. Schneider married, in Texarkana, Mrs. Maggie M. Lynch, nee Martin, whose father came to Texas from Illinois. Mrs. Schneider was born in Illinois in 1853 and by her first husband has a son, Wil- liam Lynch, of Bowie. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Schneider has been without issue.

Mr. Schneider is a stockholder in the First National Bank of Bowie, is a Knight of Pythias and a Democrat. His career has been purely one of business and the integrity with which he has conducted his personal affairs has placed him in high esteem among a wide circle of the citizenship about Bowie.

WILLIAM H. STANFIELD. One of the most extensive and certainly the most valuable cattle ranch in northern Texas, is the one in Clay county owned by Stanfield Brothers, of which firm the subject of this re- view is the active head. This baronial estate came into the possession of this firm in 1902 by purchase from J. E. Greer, of Chicago, and

ALFRED C. SCHNEIDER

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

with the exception of a recent addition of three thousand acres, its boundaries are iden- tical with those of the old Greer ranch, so well and favorably known throughout northern and western Texas, and a property whose owner- ship to covet is one of man's natural and un- doubtedly pardonable sins.

The firm of Stanfield Brothers is com- posed of William H. and Leander G. Stan- field, the former born June 6, 1845, and the latter February 24, 1848, and both natives of Graves county, Kentucky. They are sons of the Rev. John P. Stanfield, whose life, from the age of twenty-one to eighty-three, was given to gospel work, and from 1861 to his death he was a member of a Texas Confer- ence. The latter was born in Halifax county, Virginia, April 8, 1806, and died in Whites- boro, Texas, April 4, 1889. In 1818 his parents moved into West Virginia (as it is now), and later in life settled in Kentucky, where, in Graves county, he married Mary E. Boone, a lineal descendant of the famous Daniel Boone. His wife was born in Davidson county, Ten- nessee, in 1833, and died in Haywood county, that state, August 24, 1858.

Rev. Stanfield was one of ten sons of his parents who reared families, there being thir- teen children in all. On his advent to Texas Rev. Stanfield took up work in south Texas, on the Brazos river, where he labored a num- ber of years, passing then to the North Texas Conference and being identified with the work of its jurisdiction until his superannuation. He passed the last fifteen years of his life' at Whitesboro, and went to his Maker happy in the consciousness of having devoted himself wholly to the regeneration of man.

As already stated, Mrs. Stanfield was a Boone, a family of frontier and historic interest in Kentucky and Tennessee. Their property, when sold on their departure for Texas, real- ized a small fortune for their children. Not being in immediate need of money the family loaned it on personal security in Kentucky and Tennessee, and felt that it was secure on call. When the Civil war had ended and the family presented their notes for payment scarcely a

'dollar could be realized, and the children's patrimony was entirely wiped out. Of her children, Isadora E. died in youth, Alpheus was killed in the battle of Sharpsburg, Mary- land; Harvey died as a young man ; Joseph A. is in business in Sherman, Texas; Mariana, widow of John Mays, is with her brothers at the ranch, and Thomas E. and Henry R., twins, died in infancy.

William H. Stanfield was a youth of thir- teen years when he accompanied his father and family to Texas, and he approached manhood with only a country-school education. In 1862 he enlisted as a recruit for Company A, Fourth Texas Infanty, Colonel Hood, Captain John Keys commanding the company. His older brother, Alpheus M., who was killed at the battle of Sharpsburg, was a member of the same company. William H. joined his regiment, camped around Richmond, and his first fight was at West Point. He was in the Peninsular campaign, and at the battle of Gaines' Mill was wounded, but was away from his command only ten days, and then started in with the army to invade Maryland. He was in the hos- pital for treatment when the battle of Sharps- burg was fought, but was on duty again and participated in the engagements at Fredericks- burg and Gettysburg on Lee's second invasion of the north. In the latter battle his regiment fought from Chambersburg to Gettysburg, and at the close of the third day Colonel Hood called for a lieutenant and ten men to recon- noitre the Federal lines and locate its extreme right wing and report results to him when they had done their work. Mr. Stanfield was one of these ten men to undertake this danger- ous task, and the squad had not proceeded far when it ran into a bunch of Federals and was made prisoners. On the fourth they were for- warded + Baltimore, where they were paroled with the understanding that they were to be sent to the mouth of James river and lib- erated, but, instead, were taken to Fort Dela- ware and held as prisoners of war till June 7, 1865, when they were liberated, and our sub- ject returned to his Texas home.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I, Part 113

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