A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I, Part 117

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 117

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Mr. Willet was born in Jefferson county, Illi- nois, April 1, 1844, and was reared without ed- ucational advantages, save what he received in the practical school of experience. He is a son of Enoch W. and Frances (Fagan) Willet, natives respectively of Tennessee and North Carolina. Enoch W. Willet was a son of Enoch

Willet, who in his younger days worked at his trade, that of blacksmith, and later ran a hotel. He passed his whole life in Tennessee, and died there. His children were: Elizabeth, Samuel, Enoch W., James, and Fletcher A. Enoch W. was born, reared and married in Tennessee ; moved from that state to Illinois, settling in Jef- ferson county, where he improved a farm and remained for some years, all his children being born in that county; sold out and went to Mis -. souri, where he began the work of improving an- other farm, but remained there only a few years. Selling again, he moved down into Arkansas and a year later came on to Texas, locating first at Pilot Point. A short time afterward he went to Cooke county. He lived on two different farms in Cooke county, making improvements on both, but, not being satisfied to remain there perma- nently, sought another location and came to Illi- nois Bend in Montague county. That was in the fall of 1862, and his was the fourth family in the settlement. The first was Mr. Anderson's family. Mr. Anderson was an Illinois man, and hence the name of the bend-Illinois. The others were the Hatfields and the Buchanans. Some im- provements had been made and a few soldiers had been stationed there for protection of the settlers. John F. Willet, the subject of this sketch, then a youth of eighteen, had been con- scripted and was detailed in a company of Col- onel Rowland's battalion for patrolling the valley and frontier against Indian depredations. Ten soldiers were camped at Illinois Bend. John had been sent for a doctor by his father, who was ill; other soldier boys had gone in different di- rections, and the few that remained ran and hid when the three hundred Indians appeared. The Hatfields all made their escape, also the Buchan- ans. Several of the Andersons were killed and Enoch W. Willet and his daughter Mary shared the same fate. Mrs. Willet and the other daughter, Lucinda, escaped and that night made their way to Saint Jo. The few settlers after- ward got together and buried the victims, some at Saint Jo and the others at Red River Station. Arriving home after his errand to the doctor's had been accomplished, John found the dead

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bodies of his father and sister and supposed the other members of the family had been either killed or captured. Later he learned they were in Saint Jo and joined them there; left his com- mand for awhile and remained with them until they went to the home of a friend in Cooke coun- ty, after which he rejoined his company and re- mained on duty until the following spring, when he with twenty-eight left the country and went to Kansas, encountering many difficulties on their journey north. In Kansas young Willet was em- ployed as teamster by the government for six months. Afterward he worked for a Kansas farmer, splitting rails, etc., and remained in that state until after Lee's surrender, when he with ten others at once started back to Texas. To him belongs the distinction of having brought the first United States flag to Montague county. Learning that his mother and sister had gone north with some friends, he gathered together some of the cattle that belonged to the family, and, in company with the friends who were mov- ing north, started on the return trip to Kansas. After considerable trouble he found his mother and sister, and soon afterward they were settled and living together again, on a homestead claim, to the development and cultivation of which he devoted his energies. About a year afterward his mother's father, John H. Fagan, joined them, and still a few years later both the subject of our sketch and his sister married. And now that hostilities had ceased and Indian depreda- tion in Texas was a thing of the past, Mrs. Wil- let, notwithstanding the great trouble she had sustained in this state, again turned her face Texasward, coming with her father and daughter and son-in-law, James Riley. John F. remained in Kansas, fairly prosperous, until some of his cattle sickened and died and he became discour- aged. Then he sold his home and stock and made a prospecting tour to Washington territory. But he was not favorably impressed with the 'northwest. His mother and the rest of the fam- ily had returned to Texas, and the same year he sold out, 1882, he came back to Texas. In the meantime, in 1880, his mother had died. His brother-in-law, James Riley, died since in Trinidad, Colorado. There was another sister, Elizabeth, who died in Missouri before the fam-

ily came to Texas. The father was reared a Methodist, and while not a member himself he affiliated with the church, and in his home the pioneer preacher always found a welcome. The mother was a member of the Christian church.

Some time after his return to Texas, John F. Willet bought a claim of school land, one hundred and sixty acres, of which about thirty- five acres were under cultivation, and had a cabin on it. To his original purchase he has added until his place now comprises one thousand three hundred and twenty acres, over two hun- dred acres being under cultivation. Soon after his settlement here Mr. Willet began to experiment in fruit culture, with the result that he has made a success with apples, peaches and numerous other fruits, and now has forty acres in orchard. Excepting two years of the twenty-two years he has been here he has always had plenty of fruit, and is justly entitled to be called the pioneer fruit grower of his locality. He finds a ready mar- ket at good prices near home. Since he came here Mr. Willet has always given more or less attention to the stock business, raising both cat- tle and hogs, and being successful with his stock as well as with his general farming. Everything about his farm, from his commodious residence and other farm buildings to his fine orchards and well cultivated fields, is indicative of com- fort and plenty.

Politically Mr. Willet is a Republican, and re- ligiously he is a Spiritualist, with broad and lib- eral views. He is a moral man of the strictest type, has never sued or been sued and has always met his obligations promptly. While in Kansas he was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is yet.

Mr. Willet married, in Kansas, Miss Julia H. Harrison, who was born in Chicago, Illinois, April 10, 1852, daughter of William and Mary E. (Hough) Harrison, her mother a native of the State of New York and her father of Eng- land. Mr. Harrison, after coming to this coun- try, farmed in New York for several years, where he married; went to Chicago, where he was on the police force some years; moved to southern Illinois, and then to Kansas, shortly afterward to California, four years later back again to Kansas, and in Kansas spent the even-

. MR. AND MRS. JAMES M. HATFIELD

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ing of his life and died, his death occurring in 1891, at the age of seventy-seven years. He was a man well known and highly respected. He served two terms as probate judge in Kansas and represented Butler county, that state, in the legislature one term. His wife died in 1862. He was the eldest of a family of three, and of his, two brothers, Thomas and James, we record that Thomas spent the greater part of his life and died in Kansas. Mrs. Harrison was the youngest of three sisters, the other two being Julia and Ann. In their family were ten children, name- ly : Emma, Charles, Sue, Franklin, Herbert, Julia H., Alice, Edward, William and John. John F. and Julia H. Willet have had five children, as follows : Mrs. Ella Polk, who died leaving three children; Alice, wife of J. Thomas ; Albert, Mil- licent and Hettie, all at home.

JAMES MADISON HATFIELD. The state of Alabama has performed a conspicuous part in the settlement of the Lone Star state and its contribution to the latter's population has in the main been from the industrious, thrifty and substantial element of society. They are everywhere represented in the industries of our great western commonwealth, and whether in the shops, the stores, the counting houses or the range and field we find them coping suc- cessfully and shoulder to shoulder with their contemporaries from other states. We present in this review a gentleman whose natural equip- ment for a successful rural life was endowed in his native Alabama and a glance at his achievements in his adopted home reveal him to have been at all times abreast of the march- ers to financial independence.

Cleburne county, Alabama, gave birth to James M. Hatfield, May 7, 1850, and in April, 1883, contributed him out of her citizenship to . passed he purchased three hundred and one become a settler of Texas. His father, Hans- ford Hatfield, a farmer, modest and unassum- ing for his day, was born in Kentucky and reared in that state and in Tennessee. His birth occurred in 1807 and his death in Decem- ber, 1885. As a citizen he was of manner quiet and reserved, and was many times chosen to be justice of the peace where he lived. He was opposed to the secession war and was a quiet agency for Democratic success in his county.

He was a son of James Hatfield, also of Ken- tucky origin and a farmer. The latter died in Tennessee at about ninety years of age, his birth occurring about 1778. His life was spent in the frontier settlements of Kentucky and Tennessee and he was the father of eight children by his two marriages.

Hansford Hatfield moved to Alabama about 1840 and settled in what was then Benton county, Cleburne county being afterward carved out of a portion of it. He married Ellen Smith, a Tennessee lady, who died in 1882. aged sixty-three years. Of their family were the following: Polly Ann, widow of Elijah Maner, of Alabama City; Eliza J., who died as the wife of M. B. Camp; Arminta, of Jack- son county, Alabama, wife of Albert Moore; William, who died when quite small; Eli, died aged forty-five; Mark, who died aged forty- three; George, who died when quite small; James M., and Peggy, deceased.

The major portion of our subject's education was obtained after the war and then it was of a limited character. He remained about the par- ental hearthstone until his twenty-second year when he pursued the occupation of a farmer independently and when he started for Texas his accumulations amounted to only a few hundred dollars. He rented a farm in Mon- tague county for a couple of years, after spend- ing one year with his sister in Ellis county as a farm hand, and when he drove into Clay county his team of ponies and eleven head of cattle constituted his chief earthly assets. He drove in west of Henrietta and "squatted" on a piece of Rains county school land, not yet on the market, and his house now marks the spot where his first permanent home in Texas was established. He began farming and as time

acres of land and it exhausted his funds to fence the tract. He had one neighbor about - a mile distant and no others nearer than the settlements about Wichita Falls. As time wore on and his stock of cattle multiplied and the products of his daily toil were gathered and marketed he found his confines too limited and a series of land purchases had to be made. He bought tracts of one hundred and forty-six, one hundred and ninety-six and finally three hun-

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dred and twenty acres, which totals him more than a thousand acres, all fenced, much of it under plow and the whole comfortably im- proved. For some seven years he was without school facilities, but this was during the grow- ing age of his children and a school house was located and erected a half mile from his resi- dence in time for the early training of his little ones.

March 11, 1883, Mr. Hatfield married Mary, a daughter of John M. and Josephine (Laster) Gilley, formerly of Carroll county, Georgia. Mr. Gilley was born December 24, 1834, and his wife was born October 23, 1840. Their children were: Amanda, of Cullman county, Alabama, married William Harris; John M., of Hopkins, Alabama; James, of Clay county, Texas; William, of Ardmore, Indian Territory ; Thomas, of Heflin, Alabama; Mrs. Hatfield, born May 23, 1868 ; Lue, wife of Oliver Daniel, of Randolph county, Alabama, and Cheed, Quillion and Wiley, of the last named county. Mr. and Mrs. Hatfield have children as fol- lows: Vernie, born December 11, 1886 ; Virgie J., born April 22, 1888; Aulice H., born March 4, 1890; James Arthur, born December 17, 1891; Ollie, born April 13, 1894, and Homer E., born January 8, 1898.

As regards politics, Mr. Hatfield is probably as little interested as any one. While he owns allegiance to Democratic tendencies he has had no aspirations for the public service or to be known as a worker in political battles. He is a member of the Christian church and strives for the performance of his whole duty toward his Maker and his fellow men.

JAMES P. BYFORD, interested in farming in Montague county, was born in Lawrence county, Alabama, March 3, 1845, his parents being John and Elizabeth (Guthrie) Byford. The grandfather, Quilla Byford, was a native of England and in early manhood came to America, where he married. He then began farming in Alabama, where he spent his remaining days as an upright and reliable agriculturist. His chil- dren were: Benjamin, William, Samuel, John and Polly.

Of this family John Byford was born in Ala- bama and there followed farming for a few

years. Subsequently he removed to Arkansas, casting in his lot with the early settlers there. His attention was given to general farming, which he was successfully carrying on up to the time of the outbreak of the Civil war, when he joined the Confederate service. His pos- sessions were greatly depleted through the exi- gencies of war and soon after the close of hos- tilities he removed to Texas. He married Eliza- beth Guthrie, a native of Tennessee and her death occurred soon after the removal to Texas. Later the father again married and made various removals subsequent to that time. He died in Texas, where he had lived the life of an unos- tentatious, honest farmer. His first wife was a Missionary Baptist and was a devoted Christian lady. In their family were seven children : James P .; Stephen, a farmer of this county ; William and Samuel, both deceased; Benjamin, of Arkansas; Emily, the wife of Joshua Barrett ; and Columbus.

In his early youth James P. Byford was taken by his father from Alabama to Arkansas and remained under the parental roof there until the latter part of the Civil war, when he enlisted in Hester's company for service in the Confed- erate army. Soon afterward he was detailed as a scout and did varied service to forward the interests of the cause he espoused. He was con- nected with the exchange of prisoners in Louis- iana, Texas and Arkansas, and was at Tyler, Texas, at the time of General Lee's surrender, the regiment then disbanding. Not long after- ward Mr. Byford found employment in Texas as a farm hand and it was not long after this that he was married. A few years later he re- turned to Arkansas, where he rented a farm and subsequently purchased land, continuing its cultivation until 1888, when he returned to Texas and rented a farm in Montague county for a year. He then purchased eighty acres which he yet owns and subsequently bought the adjoining one hundred and five acres. Few improvements had been made upon it and he at once began its further development and cultivation, erecting a commodious residence, good barns and outbuild- ings. He also sunk wells and set out an orchard. Later he added eighty acres, making a total of two hundred and sixty-five acres and now has a

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good farm, well improved, of which one hundred and sixty acres is under cultivation. He raises some stock and in fact produces on the place nearly everything that is needed by the family for consumption. His business discernment and unfaltering energy are the strong and salient features of his career and have made him a sub -. stantial resident of this part of the state.

Mr. Byford has been married twice. He first wedded Louisa Edwards, who was born and reared in Texas. Her father, William N. Ed- wards, was an early settler, prominent farmer and a minister of the Christian Union. He was recognized as a local preacher of force and abil- ity and was untiring in his work for the church. He was also an exemplary member of the Ma- sonic fraternity. His last years were spent in the home of his daughter, Mrs. Byford, in Ar- kansas, and there he passed away. His children were: Joseph, James, Richard, George W., John. W., Mrs. Mornin Epperson, Mrs. Mary Holland, Louisa, Mrs. Sarah McCay and Mrs. Ellen New- ton.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Byford were born eight children : Joseph, a farmer of Montague county ; Mrs. Elizabeth Stepp; Monroe, a farmer; Sarah the wife of W. M. Duncan; Mary, the wife of L. L. Duncan; Minnie, the wife of A. Smith; Mrs. Lulu Ellis ; and Hester, the wife of Thomas Parsons. The mother of these children was called to her final rest May 25, 1892. She was a member of the Methodist church and her loss was deeply deplored by those who knew her. On the 22d of August, 1893, Mr. Byford married Mrs. Cynthia Scott, the widow of Staunton Scott," who was a prominent farmer and at his death left five children: John, Clyde, Ina, Fred and Ruba. Mrs. Byford is a daughter of Enoch Burcham, who was born in Indiana and afterward removed to Jasper county, Illinois, where all of his children were born and where he successfully carried on farming until 1879, when he became a resident of Grayson county, Texas. In 1898 he removed from this state to Idaho, where his death occurred. His children were: Milton and Ely, of Illinois; Nancy, the wife of J. Todd; Mrs. Byford; Mrs. Sarah Salliard; John and Thomas, in the Indian Territory; Mrs. Lou Mullen ; and Mrs. Pearl Chaney. Unto the sec-

ond marriage of Mr. Byford four children have been born: Otha, born October 27, 1894; Alva, May 1, 1897; Esther, September 6, 1899; and Etta F., March 10, 1902.

Mr. and Mrs. Byford hold membership in the Missionary Baptist church and are interested in its work and contribute generously to its support. In politics he is a Democrat but has always preferred to leave office holding to others and give his attention to his business interests. The success of his labors results from his close and earnest application and the determined manner in which he has put aside all of the difficulties and obstacles that have barred his path.

LEVI PERRYMAN. The memory of states- men may fade and perish, the victories of soldiers may be forgotten and the song of authors may grow dull and stale, but interest in the lives and deeds of the pioneers will never lag but grow in intensity until the last frontier has been obliterated and the last forerunner of civilization has gone to his long home. In every American age they have always been with us and for nearly four hundred years they have accomplished their missions and told their stories to the delight, the interest and to the profit of an appreciative pos- terity. The red man of the forest and plain is invariably associated with the memory of the pioneer and the scenes of the frontier and it is the story of the bouts between savagery and civ- ilization that enlists our interest in and sympathy for the pioneer.

In the subject of this sketch we have one of those rugged types of the Texas frontier of the days preceding and during the Civil war. It was from choice-deliberate choice-that his lot was cast almost without the sphere of the white man and within the sphere of the red race. On approaching manhood he announced to his uncle who had reared him that he would seek the wilds of the west, where land could be had for the taking, and go into the stock business when he should begin life. His uncle proposed a part- nership with him on the halves, the latter furnish- ing the cattle and our subject seeing to their care. In preparation for his change of locations he selected his future home in Montague county in 1859, and the following year his uncle accom-

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panied him hither, with one hundred head of cattle and under an oak tree about three miles west of Forestburg his solicitous relative handed him a bill of sale of fifty head of the cattle, pre-' sented him with a saddle horse equipped and a ten dollar gold piece and said to him: "Now, my son, root hog or die."

From that eventful day Levi Perryman's inde- pendent career began. He selected the site for his future home, erected a log shelter for himself, and in that lonely and dangerous spot pursued the vocation of his choice. During the Civil war period he permitted his business to rather take care of itself while he spent three years in the ranks of the Confederate Army.

He enlisted at Gainesville in Capt. Gilbert's company which was ordered into the Indian Ter- ritory for some particular service and there broke up. He then joined Marshall's squadron of cav- alry, which was dismounted over in Arkansas, and after helping fight the battle of Prairie Grove he again returned to Texas and, at Kiawitchia, became a member of the Thirty-first Infantry which was in Polignac's Brigade. The army fol- lowed General Banks and intercepted his prog- ress at Fordosche and harassed him all the way back to the Mississippi river where the federal commander again assumed the offensive and the battles of Pleasant Hill and Mansfield followed, in both of which Mr. Perryman took part. In the spring of 1865, he was ordered to report at Galveston, but at Houston he applied for and re- ceived a furlough home and before he reached No absence without leave and no hospital record Mr. Perryman was ever subject to duty's call. his destination Lee had surrendered and the war was over. During those three years of army life were charged against him, no Yankee prison cell knew him and no federal bullet ever bruised his body. He was in the service for the sake of the cause itself and believed he was right then and thinks so still, yet he has no sentiment of hos- tility to utter against our common country but is proud of our national progress and achieve- ment under the flag and rejoices in being a citi- zen of the greatest nation and the grandest gov- ernment on earth.

While raising cattle and horses and protecting his stock, as best he could, against the red and

white thieves that infested his frontier com- munity, Mr. Perryman found some time to de- vote to matters outside of his dominions. He was in the ranging service for a time and spent a few months among the Texas boys whose duty it was to clear the border counties of Indians, and when he was again at home he was trading horses, buying yearlings and doing any other le- gitimate work in which there was a profit and which tended to lift him another round up the ladder of success.

The first real estate he purchased in the county was the one hundred and sixty acre tract upon which stands the historic oak under whose boughs he received his uncle's parting admoni- tion, "root hog or die." While the range was open he prospered well with his stock but as the advance of civilization reached out and gathered in the grass land the cattle industry began to fade and it finally died out altogether. Selling off his stuff and reducing his cattle and horses to a small bunch, Mr. Perryman invested exten- sively in farm lands and accumulated some twen- ty-five hundred acres. To his children he has deeded some thirteen hundred acres, fixing them comfortably and encouraging them to successful careers, and the old homestead, where he lives alone, with its twelve hundred broad acres, he clings to for its sacred memories and as a pro- tector in his declining years.

Levi Perryman was born in Lamar county, Texas, March 29, 1839. His father, Alex. G. Perryman, came to Texas from Alabama and secured a headright from the republic, which our subject laid in Montague county after the war. On his way to the Lone Star republic he stopped in Arkansas and there married Elizabeth Farmer. They soon afterward established them- selves in Lamar county, Texas, and there, a few months subsequent to the birth of their only child, they both passed away. Mr. Perryman left two surviving brothers, Jack and Austin Perry- man. The former took our subject into his home, when he was left an orphan, and reared and edu- cated him just as earnestly and concernedly as if he had been his own child.

The primitive country school environment of the early time confronted Levi Perryman as he came to maturity and a few months in the school

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in Paris when he was about grown completed his education. The knowledge he acquired then and the training that a varied experience gave him in after years amply equipped him for any position he would be likely to accept and has made life easier and happier to live.

September 13, 1866, Mr. Perryman married , where, for the sake of his health he is forced to Mrs. Josephine Price, widow of Pleasant Price . abide. and a daughter of William Milam. Mr. Milam was a Virginian, reared in humble circumstances and married Betsy French whose family was one of the aristocratic ones of the county. The Frenches made their wealth a sort of social bar- rier to young Milam and his high and inde- pendent spirit rebelled and he left Virginia for Texas and never advised his wife's people of his whereabouts. En route to Texas Mrs. Milam died, somewhere in the Indian Territory, leaving four children : Mrs. Perryman, who was born in Mercer county, Virginia, August 1, 1843, and passed away at her home in Montague county July 4, 1884; Mrs. Electra Harper, of Fannin county, Texas ; Napoleon, who died at Red River Station leaving a family ; and Victoria, who mar- ried Emsy Harris and died in Lamar county, leaving a daughter, who is married and living in the Nation; and a son in Missouri.

Mrs. Perryman was a quiet, industrious Chris- tian woman, which qualities attracted Mr. Perry- man and he took her to his home to be his wife. She had a son, Pleasant Price, Jr., whom Mr. Perryman reared and educated just as carefully as he did his own children and who has shared . from him and charged to the Indians was really

of his step-father's property just as liberally as the younger children. He remained with the family home till past his majority, and after his mother's death instructed his little sisters in con- ducting and caring for the home. In 1885 he sought the far northwest and married, and is rearing his family at Hinsdale, Montana.

The children of Levi and Josephine Perryman were: Napoleon, who died young; William J., who died at Seymour, Texas, in 1894, unmar- ried; Elbert W., who married Lucy Grant, re- sides on a part of the Perryman ranch and has children, Josephine, Charles, William, Baylor and Margaret; Kate, who is the wife of Henry Cald-

well, of Denton, Texas, and has a son, Henry ; Linnie, who married Ed Stallworth, and re- sides in Montague county and has children, Levi, Adda Jo and Bob; Charley and Sarah Perry- man, who died in infancy ; and Bob, the youngest child, who resides at Hagerman, New Mexico,

Levi Perryman was reared a Democrat and with his passage through life he has not deserted its time-honored principles. Early in his career the citizenship of Montague county recognized his worth and they proposed him for a public office. He possessed a ripe and safe judgment, was always fair and was honest, and his frontier training had inspired him with a courage that knew no fear. All these traits were essential for an efficient sheriff in the early time and, in 1873, he was elected to that office for a term of four years. Before his term expired the legislature changed the law so that he served three years instead of four. He declined a re-election, but, in 1878, he was petitioned by more than three hundred voters to become a candidate for the office and he consented, made the race and was elected. During his five years as peace officer of the county he made a record for captures of horse thieves and other "bad men" and cleared the locality of many characters whose services became useful at Huntsville. He despised a horse thief more than any other criminal, because he believed many of the horses which were taken the work of white men and he vowed vengeance on this class if he ever got to be sheriff of the county. His heavy and avenging hand was laid on "Wild Bill" McPherson and it brought Bob Simmions back from Kansas and lodged him in prison and it reached out after Ike Stowe and made him suffer for his crimes.

In the discharge of his duty he was in the saddle all the time. While his official office was at the county seat he maintained his home on his farm and his private affairs were left to his faith- ful wife and his young sons. When he turned the office over to his successor it was with a consciousness of having contributed something

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toward the peace and well-being of his county. He set a pace that was difficult to surpass, as he has done in his private affairs, and above all he entrenched himself in the hearts of the people ' so that only time will efface his memory.

Mr. Perryman joined the Odd Fellows at St. Jo, Texas, became a Mason in Gainesville and is a member of the Methodist church.

ROSWELL G. HALL. Among the early set- tlers who came to Abilene in the primitive days of the county is Roswell G. Hall, now an honored pioneer scttler of Taylor county. His parents were natives of Virginia, his father, Daniel C. Hall, having been born in Warren county, while his mother, Mrs. Virginia (Rixley) Hall, was born in Fauquier county. She was a grand- daughter of General Churchill Gibbs of Revolu- tionary war fame. The parents were residents of Abilene, Texas, and recently celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary. The father died on the 13th of April, 1905. In February of 1883 the family removed to Missouri, settling in John- son county, but the climate did not agree with their general health and they accordingly left that state for Texas, where they arrived in March, 1884, locating in the newly established town of Abilene. The city had just taken on an exis- tence apart from the old tent habitation. Here and there frame structures were being erected and from that primitive period in the history of the city the Hall family have witnessed its prog- ress to the present day of modern improvement and substantial development, when Abilene is a city of excellent business houses, handsome resi- dences and all of the equipments known to the older cities of the cast.

Roswell G. Hall was born at Front Royal, Warren county, Virginia, September 28. 1857. and acquired a good public school education prior to the removal of the family to Texas. It was

his intention upon arriving here to engage in the cattle business, which he followed for several years. This gave him an excellent opportunity to learn something of the western country and the characteristic habits of the old-time cowboy. He herded cattle over various portions of the country, driving them into the Sierra Madras mountains in old Mexico and also making ex- tended trips into Colorado. On one occasion some of the boys who were with him had en- counters with the Indians and in one of them two of his companions were killed. There was wild game of all kinds to be had, including bear, deer and wild turkeys, while large herds of antelopes were also frequently seen. After engaging in cattle herding for some time Mr. Hall, in 1887, embarked in the livery business on his own ac- count and continued therein for fifteen years. From this he extended his efforts to his present business on Chestnut street as a dealer in ve- hicles of all kinds, making a specialty of high- class goods, including the manufactured products of the Columbus Buggy Company of Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Hall has succeeded in building up a large and lucrative trade which extends through- out western Texas, his sales being represented by an extensive figure annually. For six years he was cattle inspector for Taylor county, his term of office expiring in November. 1904.

On the 15th of January, 1896, Mr. Hall wed- ded Miss Catherine Yeiser, of Danville, Ken- tucky, and they now have four children, three sons and a daughter. Mr. Hall is a member of the Elks and also of the Masonic lodge of Abi- lene, having been identified with the latter organ- ization for about fifteen years. Personally he is popular, having many warm friends in this part of the country, and his business reputation is one that has commended him to the confidence and respect of all.

每之

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I, Part 117

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