A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I, Part 23

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 23

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The little education LaFayette A. Wilson ac- quired was obtained in about eight months of school in Palo Pinto county and by riding some four miles to school. At seventeen years of age he ceased to be a part of his father's domestic es- tablishment and hired to Goodnight and Love, cattle drovers, from points in Texas to near La Junta, Colorado. In the two years he remained with them he made seven trips across the plains and he worked also for the Andersons, who handled cattle in the same way. Gradually he ac- quired cattle of his own and grew into a drover himself, first with a brother and afterward in his own name. In 1870 he took a bunch from Fort Griffin to La Junta, and when he disposed of them he located, in 1871, in San Saba county, Texas, where he pursued his vocation for two years, driving his stock then into Jack county, taking advantage of the open range here until 1880, when he began ranching in Crosby county. While he owned his ranch there fourteen years, closing it out by sale in 1893, in 1884 he took

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

much of his stock to New Mexico, sixty-five miles west of Santa Fe, and maintained a ranch there till 1890, returning thence to Crosby coun- ty, Texas, and finally, in 1893, going to Day county, Oklahoma, where in 1897 he exchanged his stock and land for cash and retired, after nearly a third of a century of strenuous existence as a cow man.

Having decided to locate in some good healthy point in Texas and among old friends and neigh- bors, he returned to Jacksboro and purchased the old home he built in 1883, large and roomy, with extensive lawn and attractive surroundings, one of the most homelike in Jacksboro. At once upon his return to the county seat Mr. Wilson joined Henry Hensley in the erection of a three- story hotel building in Jacksboro, of Jacksboro limestone, modern in appointment and the center of interest of all the attractive business houses of the town. For some time he was the proprietor of the hotel, but following his determination to live a less strenuous life and with responsibilities re- duced to the lowest ebb he leased the premises, and a land trade or a sale now and then furnishes him all the diversion he needs for the promotion of a long life.

November 2, 1880, Mr. Wilson married Chari- ty A. Hensley, born on Carroll creek, in Jack county, in 1862, and a daughter of the late John Hensley, mentioned somewhat extendedly else- where in this work. Their marriage being with- out issue, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have lived for each other and found happiness and contentment in their dual companionship.

DUFF H. PURVIS, commissioner of Tarrant county and a resident of Fort Worth, has been a resident of the county throughout his entire life, actively interested in all measures advanced for its good, and has performed his full share in its development and improvement. His birth oc- curred in Mansfield, Tarrant county, and he is a son of John L. and Sarah (Sublette) Purvis. The father was born in North Carolina, but was a well known character in the early history of Texas, having lived here when it was a part of Mexico, then under the Texas Republic, and finally as a state of the Union. These were strong

men and true who came to found the empire of the west-these hardy settlers who builded their rude domiciles and from the wilds evolved the fertile and productive fields which have these many years been furrowed and refurrowed by the plowshare. To establish a home amid such sur- roundings and to cope with the many privations and hardships which were the inevitable con- comitants, demanded an invincible courage and fortitude, strong hearts and willing hands. All these were characteristics of the pioneers, whose names and deeds should be held in reverence by those who enjoy the fruits of their toil. Mr. Purvis came to Texas in 1832, locating in what afterward became Shelby county. He took part in the Texas Revolution, and was also a soldier with Sam Houston at the battle of San Jacinto, being present at the capture of General Santa Anna. During the Mexican War he again proved a valiant soldier for his country, serving through- out that conflict. In 1847 he removed with his family to Tarrant county, and was the first set- tler and erected the first house in Mansfield. For the third time responding to the call of his coun- try in her hour of need, he served as a soldier in the Confederate army during the war between the states. His military career was one which will ever redound to his honor, one whose cour- age was that of his convictions. About 1865 Mr. Purvis removed to a farm eight miles southeast of Fort Worth, which remained the family home from that time forward, and there his life's la- bors were ended in death on the 3d of December, 1900, when he had reached the age of eighty- seven years. He was a farmer during all of his active business life. To those who knew him his memory will be cherished, not so much on account of the splendid success which he achieved in business, but because of his life of helpfulness, his broad sympathy and his deep interest in and labors for the benefit of his fellow men. His widow, who was born in Tennessee and was a member of the noted Sublette family of Mur- freesboro, is still living, making her home in Fort Worth.

On the old home farm in Tarrant county Duff H. Purvis was reared to years of maturity, and at an early age became a "cow puncher" on the

DUFF H. PURVIS

KHLEBER M. VAN ZANDT

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

plains of Texas and in the Indian Territory, in the days of the real cowboys. He worked for Sam Lazarus, the noted cowman, having taken the first cattle which the latter sent to the Chero- kee Strip, and for about eight years was engaged in that business, the remainder of the time being spent with the V Bar outfit. During Sheriff Euless' administration he served as his deputy in Tarrant county, and since 1893 has been engaged in the livery business in Fort Worth, a member of the firm of Purvis & Colp, conducting the largest business in that line in the city. He has served as school trustee of the Glenwood district, and in February, 1905, at the death of W. Z. Castleberry, was appointed county commissioner of Precinct No. I, to fill out his unexpired term, which extends to 1906. He was chosen for this position over twenty-five applicants, an indication of his sterling worth and ability.

Mr. Purvis was married in 1890 to 'Fannie Benning, a niece of General Benning, a leader of the Confederate forces at Gettysburg. They have one child, Frank H. Purvis, in school.

MAJOR KHLEBER M. VAN ZANDT, pres- ident of the Fort Worth National Bank, is a Tex- an by rearing and education and by almost life- long residence, so closely identified with the busi- ness and financial affairs of Fort Worth that he is considered almost the fountain head of much of its prosperity and pre-eminence as a trade cen- ter. It is a fact worthy of note that the Republic of Texas, by the great victory of General Sam Houston, came into existence in the same year in which Major Van Zandt was born, so that the two are coeval in years, co-partners in success, and as long as the Lone Star state has annals it will record and preserve the name Van Zandt.

The Major was born in Franklin county, Ten- nessee, in November, 1836. At that time his pa- rents were living in' Mississippi, but he was born while his mother was on a visit to Tennessee. Hon. Isaac Van Zandt, his father, was born in Franklin county, Tennessee, in 1813, moved to Mississippi in 1836, living there several years, and in 1839 came to the Republic of Texas, set- tling in what afterward became Harrison county

of the state of Texas, when it found entrance into the great Union of states. Isaac Van Zandt was a lawyer by profession, and became a prominent citizen of the new country. He was chosen a member of the Texan congress, and was sent as the minister of the Republic of Texas and nego- tiated the treaty by which Texas became one of the sisterhood of states. After the admission of Texas he was nominated for governor of the commonwealth, but while he was engaged in his successful campaign for that high office he was stricken with the yellow fever and died at Hous- ton October II, 1847, being at the time only thirty-four years old and practically at the com- mencement of a brilliant and eminently useful career.

Major Van Zandt's mother, Fannie Cooke (Lipscomb) Van Zandt, is still living at Fort Worth, being now, at the present writing, eighty- eight years of age. She is a remarkable woman, not only for her long life of beautiful deeds and sweet purity of living, but also for her family connections both past and present. At the death of her husband, fifty-seven years ago, she was left with five small children, all of whom are now living, and she has altogether fifty-nine living de- scendants, children, grandchildren, great-grand- children and great-great-grandchildren-four generations to rise up and call her blessed. She is a cousin of Judge Abner S. Lipscomb, deceased, who, with Judges Hemphill and Wheeler, were the first judges of the supreme court of Texas.

Khleber M. Van Zandt spent all but the first three years of his youth in Harrison county, con- tinuing to live there until the outbreak of the war. He was a very small lad when his father died and was old enough to take considerable interest in the war with Mexico. He received a good edu- cation and had fairly entered upon the practice of his legal profession by 1861. He gave up all to enter the service of his beloved southland and became identified with the Confederate army dur- ing the first months of the Civil war. After or- ganizing Company D of the Seventh Texas Regi- ment he was elected its captain. He participated at the first Confederate reverses at Fort Donel- son, where he was among the surrendered garri-

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

son. He was held prisoner first at Chicago, then at Camp Chase, Ohio, and then on Johnson's Island in Lake Erie. He was exchanged at Vicks- burg September 16, 1862, and in August of that year he was promoted to major. He was with General Van Dorne at Holly Springs, Mississip- pi, and in the fight at Port Hudson, and at Ray- mond, Mississippi, had the hardest, most san- guinary conflict of his army life, losing over half the men in his command. He took part in the en- gagements around Jackson, Mississippi, in July and May of 1863, and was with General Johnston on the Big Black when Vicksburg surrendered. His command was sent to Bragg's army just be- fore the battle of Chickamauga, and he com- manded the Seventh Texas Regiment and took a pronment part in that famous battle, as is shown by the various designations placed in Chicka- mauga Park by the national government, indicat- ing the changing positions of both northern and southern forces on that battlefield. During the following winter, at Dalton, Georgia, his health failed, and he was ordered by the surgeon to leave field service, and from that time till the close of the war, in 1865, he was engaged in post service.

In August, 1865, Major Van Zandt returned to Texas and sought out a location in which to follow out his purposes as to his future career. He decided to settle at Fort Worth, which was then a frontier settlement, and, indeed, most of the development of North Texas has been accom- plished since Mr. Van Zandt became an active sharer in its events and business affairs. His first enterprise was merchandising. The first property that he owned was the block of land on which the Delaware Hotel stands, and he had his cow pen at the adjoining corner.

In 1873, without his consent and even against his expressed wish to the contrary, he was nom- inated for a member of the state legislature and was elected. That was the thirteenth session of the Texas state legislature and was the first ses- sion after the state had been "reconstructed," following a period that had been characterized by the grossest corruption and high-handed misrule and even thievery at the hands of the carpet- baggers.

In 1874 he discontinued merchandising and entered upon his long career as banker and finan- cier. He became a member of the firm of Tid- ball, Van Zandt & Co., the "company" consist- ing of Colonel J. Peter Smith and Major J. J. Jarvis. The bank was first located in a little frame building on Main street, near Weatherford street, but a short time later was moved to the Square, the main business concerns of the city at that time, according to the custom of most south- ern towns, being centered around the court house. In 1880 the bank took up other quarters in the well known two-story brick block at the north- west corner of Main and First streets, which as long as it stands will be known best to citizens as having been for twenty-four years the home of Major Van Zandt's bank. In March, 1884, the original institution was discontinued as a private bank and organized as the Fort Worth National Bank, with Major Van Zandt as presi- dent.

In 1903 was begun the work of erecting the new and beautiful Fort Worth National Bank building, which in itself is a monument to the solid and substantial institution which it houses and to the able and honorable career of Major Van Zandt in the business and financial affairs of the city. On April 11, 1904, the bank was moved into the fine quarters located at the corner of Fifth and Main streets. In erecting the bank building the heads of the institution were actuat- ed by motives of pride in the city of Fort Worth, as also for the purpose of founding an enduring and beautiful home for the financial enterprise to which they had given the best efforts of their lives and which for so many years had received the continued patronage and confidence of the citizens. They were successful in carrying out their high ideals, and the Fort Worth National now has one of the costliest and most elegant business structures in Texas, if not in the entire south. It is seven stories high above the base- ment, and is of modern style of architecture, an Americanized treatment of the French renais- sance, and of the finest type of arrangement and convenience. The first two stories are of buff Bedford stone, the next four are of silver gray pressed brick, trimmed with cream brick and

A. B. MEDLAN

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

cream terra cotta; and the seventh story has a facing of light court enameled brick and glazed terra cotta. The first floor, containing the vari- ous departments of the bank, has a marble mo- saic floor, with marble wainscot and columns, and has rich arched and paneled ceiling decorated with plastic reliefs and with beams and panels. The woodwork of the doors and the finish of the banking room are of genuine mahogany. The stories above are for office purposes, and all the corridors and halls have ceramic tile floors and white Georgia marble wainscot, with Florentine glass to the ceilings, resulting in a particularly bright and cheerful effect throughout the build- ing. Throughout the impression is of richness and elegance combined with greatest utility.

Major Van Zandt was a member of the board of education of Fort Worth for about twenty years. He is very prominent in the United Con- federate Veterans, and is commander of the Tex- as Division, with the rank of major-general.

He is the father of fourteen children, all of whom are an honor to his name and to the most honorable family history. His oldest son, K. M. Van Zandt, Jr., is United States consul at Man- zanillo, Mexico, where he has lived for several years, and the Mexican government has given him valuable contracts in the construction of the Manzanillo harbor. Another son, Richard L. Van Zandt, has been in the government service in Manila, but is now the receiver of a bank, by government appointment, at Abilene, Texas, and is national bank examiner.

ARCHIBALD B. MEDLAN. Away back in the dead and distant past when there was nothing old in Texas but her tradition and her soil and when the armed minions of the govern- ment enfortressed on the frontier stood in de- fiance of the public enemy and shed their bale- ful influence over the few palefaces who had the courage to sow the seed of civilization where naught but nature held sway, there came to the grassy sward and ancient hills of the upper Brazos country a little company of young men bent on missions of agriculture adjacent to and under the walls of Fort Belknap. Attracted

by the opportunity to raise forage for Uncle Sam's body guard at a good profit they laid their lives on the altar of fate while striking the blows which dedicated Young county to pastoral pursuits and demonstrated the adapta- bility of its soil to agricultural purposes.

Archibald B. Medlan of this review was one of this little guard of frontiersmen and the distinction of being the oldest settler now re- siding in Young county belongs to him. As heard from his own lips, the story of this first settlement begins in Navarro county, where Mr. Medlan, P. S. and H. B. George and L. L. Williams united interests to try their fortunes in the wilderness of the west. At Fort Belknap they were joined by Jesse Sutton and William Marlin and two hired men and the eight com- prised the first determined band to introduce the civilized agency of farm labor into a coun- try now furrowed by the plow or perforated by the foot of the bovine kind.

The little masculine settlement congregated about three miles south of Fort Belknap and on a farm now owned by S. R. Crawford Mr. Medlan struck his maiden licks on a west Texas farm. He was without equipment and had lit- tle funds with which to support him while making and marketing the first crop, but P. S. George furnished him team and the plow irons and he did the rest himself. He had a Texas- cast plow, which he stocked and handled from the timber at hand, a wooden-tooth harrow and a "bull-tongue" plow to cultivate with, which he bolted to a stock and fastened the handles on with cut nails. He made two crops on the halves, pocketed his five hundred dollars profit and dropped down the river three miles and, with H. B. George as a companion, pre-empted the one hundred and sixty acres of land which constituted the nucleus of his present estate. Mr. George likewise took a claim and they built a cabin astride the common boundary and thus held both tracts with a single house. George sold out and Medlan and Bowers continued to- gether a few years and farmed jointly until their dissolution of partnership.

Farming on the frontier soon ceased to be an

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

experiment with our pioneers and seemed to prove a profitable undertaking from the first. Having acquired ample equipment of his own, Mr. Medlan applied himself with diligence and wise economy and early in their history he and his partner made about four thousand dollars a year at an expense of about one hundred dol- lars, all indicating that the seasons were not lacking and that the industry to win a victory on a new farm was ever at hand.

With the lapse of years and the gradual ac- cumulation of wealth, Mr. Medlan stocked .his accessible open range and grew into the cattle business. His brand of "AM" was not suffi- cient, after a time, to protect his herd from the "cow thief" and he added "44" on the hip so that the dishonest mavericker could not add another letter to the "AM" and claim the prop- erty with the audacity of a pirate and the bold- ness of a counterfeiter.

After the war Young county received much immigration from the young men of the east, and this influx opened the eyes of the old set- tler to the fact that it was time to take on more land. At this juncture our subject began buy- ing real estate and with each successful busi- ness conquest he added tract after tract until his holdings now embrace more than five thous- and acres and his ranch and farm is one of the large ones of his county. His two-story brick residence crowns the summit of an incline com- manding much of his farm and the valley of the Brazos to the westward and was erected in 1875 from brick made on the farm. His home is a welcome retreat to neighbor and stranger and the hospitality of the olden time abounds therein. His friends are limited only by the extent of his acquaintance and the regard in which he is held is most fittingly indicated by the affectionate "Uncle Archie" with which every- body greets him.

In the early time when Indian raids were frequent he added his presence, occasionally, to the Ranger service, yet while he lived in the county during twenty years of spasmodic Indian occupation and depredation he never got sight of a hostile brave and seldom felt the

pressure of his heavy and thieving hand. With the troops at Fort Belknap he became some- what familiar and with its commander, George H. Thomas, he had an acquaintance which en- dured to the abandonment of the post.

In February, 1853, Archibald B. Medlan came to Young county, and in 1855 he located upon his present farm. His advent to the state dates from 1851, when he came hither from Morgan county, Alabama, working his way out with friends, crossing the Mississippi river at Vicksburg and making his first stop in Cher- okee county. In Navarro county he made his first crop and from that point the interesting chapter of his history begins. He was born in Morgan county, Alabama, January 8, 1825, of poor parents whose ancestry figured simply but industriously in the settlement of the southern states. His father was Isaac Medlan of Scotch lineage while his mother was Susan, a daughter of Edward Frost, of English stock and of Vir- ginia ancestors. The father was born in North Carolina and died at about twenty-six years of age-during the infancy of our subject-while the mother was born in Tennessee and died in Parker county, Texas, as Mrs. James Brogdon, in 1867. Of the Medlan children, Eliza, who died in Young county as Mrs. William Duck, was the oldest; and Archibald B. the younger. There were three Brogden children, viz: Dow, who died in Parker county ; James, who passed away in Young county in 1865, and P. H., who left a family here at his death in 1893. Their father died in North Alabama before the family journey to Texas.

Mr. Medlan came to maturity with little knowledge of school books, but he has met and mastered conditions with the success of a trained mind and his life can be denominated a success. He was married in Young county in 1866 to Ellen Timmons, a daughter of Alex- ander Timmons and a sister of J. Worth Tim- mons mentioned in this work. Mrs. Medlan died without issue in 1878, and in 1879 Mr. Medlan took in marriage the hand of Mrs. Bet- tle Willis, widow of George Willis and a daugh-

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ter of George Rogers, of Jackson county, Ala- bama.

Young county has been twice organized and at each organization A. B. Medlan was made its treasurer. He has been a county commissioner also, and the county has profited by his advice as both official and private citizen. The Primi- tive Baptist church, of which he is a member, has been the recipient of great favors at his

hand and the power of the organization in his community is due largely to his influence and support. The erection of their stone church building, the founding of a parsonage and its endowment with two hundred acres of land, one-half of which is in cultivation, were all the gift of his liberal and Christian nature, and are an enduring monument to a practical and use- ful life.

CHAPTER V.

THE RANGE CATTLE INDUSTRY.

In our historical survey, the development of the country inaugurated by the Peters Colony was the first important act in the civilization of North Texas. That movement encountered the adverse element of barbarism, and the resulting scenes of blood and destruction, though holding the center of attention for many years, were gradually moved aside, appearing dim and infre- quent beyond the western borders. The recuper- ation of state and society from the effects of civil and Indian strife, the filling out of the old limits and the revival of trade and industry, form another chapter in the story. And now, before the arrival of the railroads and preceding the industrial and agricultural occupation of the country, there intervenes what is doubtless the most romantic of all phases of North and West Texas history-the range cattle industry.

There occurs nowhere in literature a happier description of the position of the range cattle business in the history of our country than in the following terse and characteristically vivid words of Alfred H. Lewis :

"With a civilized people extending themselves over new lands, cattle form ever the advance guard. Then come the farms. This is the pro- cession of a civilized, peaceful invasion; thus is the column marshaled. First, the pastoral ; next, the agricultural; third and last, the manufac- turing ;- and per consequence, the big cities. where the treasure chests of a race are kept. Blood and bone and muscle and heart are to the front ; and the money that steadies and stays and protects and repays them and their efforts, to the rear. Forty years ago about all that took place west of the Mississippi of a money-making

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I, Part 23

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