A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I, Part 45

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 45

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The Rock Island, after building lines in Ne- braska, Kansas and Colorado, was extended from Caldwell, Kansas, south into the Cherokee Strip to Pond Creek and through the Chickasaw Na- tion. Organizing under the laws of Texas as the Chicago, Rock Island and Texas, it built from Terral, Indian Territory, toward Fort Worth, and entered Fort Worth as other trunk line, and by its branch from Bridgeport through Jacksboro to Graham has given the two rich counties of Jack and Young railroad connection.

In 1879 the Texas Central began building from McLennan county northwest to Cisco, in East- land county, where connection was made with

the T. & P., and by the middle of December, 1881, the first train ran into Albany over this line. Stamford, the flourishing metropolis of Jones county, is now the terminus of the road. The building of the Texas Central was an impor- tant event in the development of all the country traversed by, and gave an especial impetus to Shackelford county and Albany, its county seat.

The rise of the well known town of Mineral Wells to its prestige as the principal health re- sort of North Texas was due largely to the building of the Mineral Wells and Northwestern road from Weatherford, which was put into op- eration in 1891 and which now transports thou- sands of passengers annually to and from that natural sanitarium. The name gives the clue to the origin of Mineral Wells. When the first mineral well was bored by Col. McClure about 1880, it was with difficulty that any one was per- suaded to drink the water for some time. Its medical qualities were discovered by accident, and the cures effected soon came to be considered as remarkable, if not miraculous, so that by 1882 there were thirty wells in the town and a popu- lation of nearly a thousand.

A railroad, now in process of construction, the completion of which will give several North Texas counties a forward impetus that no other agency than the railroad could pro- duce, is the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railroad, which is already built from Sweetwater in Nolan county to Sagerton in Haskell county. The history of this line is given in the sketch of R. L. McCaulley, of Sweetwater, vice president of the Orient Rail- road in Texas.

Perhaps it will not be outside the province of history to mention one projected line of railroad that, in the event of its comple- tion, will be an essentially. West Texas road, and will bind together all the fron- tier limits of that country. It is proposed to build this road from Kerrville, in Kerr county, through the terminus of the G. C. & S. F. at San Angelo, crossing the T. & P. at Big Springs, and thence across the eastern edge of the Staked Plains to Amarillo in the Panhandle.

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

HON. JAMES NATHAN BROWNING, prominent lawyer, ex-lieutenant governor of Texas, man of affairs and a dominating force in the politics of Northwest Texas, has spent most of his active life in Texas, and in the Panhandle country has not only worked out his own career to a most successful culmin- ation of prosperity and influence, but has also done as much as any other man for the devel- opment and progress of that really fertile and rich section of the state. Typical Texan en- terprise and industry have ruled the career of Mr. Browning, and he has been an avant courier of the hosts of civilization which for the past twenty-five years have been advanc- ing from the more populous eastern centers and taking possession of the last wilderness fastnesses of the broad Lone Star common- wealth.

Mr. Browning is a man of self-achievement, and while engaged in the difficult task of at- taining his own high goal of endeavor, he has likewise wrought well and usefully for many others. Born in Clark county, Arkansas, March 13, 1850, a son of William F. and Mary L. (Burke) Browning; his father a native of Alabama, whence he moved to Arkansas soon after it became a state, and was a farmer in Clark county until his death in 1854; accord- ing to tradition, the paternal ancestry traced to three Browning brothers who came from England and served in the American Revolu- tion under General Washington, from which worthy patriots many distinguished men have descended,-the brother from whom Mr. Browning descended having settled in North Carolina. Mr. Browning's mother was born in North Carolina, was taken to Alabama in childhood, later went to Arkansas, where she married William F. Browning, and after his death married J. H. Stegall, and in 1866 the family moved to Cooke county, Texas.

Mr. Browning, thus circumstanced as to birth and family connections, passed his young days on an Arkansas farm, and between the ages of seven and eleven had the opportunity of attending school for a few months, but the ravages of the Civil War in Clark county end-

ed further school advantages. His ambition and eager mind did not, on this account, fail of its desired nutriment, and night after night, when the day's work in the field was ended, he read and studied by the light of a pine knot, his studies being especially along his- torical lines. He came with the family to Cooke county in 1866, and remained with them there for one year, working for daily wages. He then set out for the "west," as it was then considered, to the range country, and he and his brother Joe settled at Fort Griffin in Shack- elford county, a place of historic interest in the annals of West Texas during the period of Indian warfare.

Mr. Browning began his career in this part of the country as a cowboy, and later went into the cattle business on his own account, for some years being in partnership with his broth- ers, who are still remembered in this section for their prominence in the live-stock industry. During his nine years as a cattleman Mr. Browning had his headquarters near Fort Griffin, and although he was in the saddle almost constantly and was a typical trail fol- lower, he still retained his love for books and his old ambitions for professional usefulness. He accordingly took up the study of law at Fort Griffin, and in April, 1876, was admitted to the bar at Albany, Texas, the county seat. Since that year he has been engaged in active practice except when busied with public of- fice, which has absorbed no small part of his subsequent career.

He practiced at Fort Griffin for some years, and for three years held the office of county attorney of Shackelford county. He resigned that position in 1881 and came to the Panhan- dle, locating at Mobeetie, in Wheeler county. The Panhandle was in those days a frontier country and sparsely settled, and in order to attend court at some distant county seat Mr. Browning has driven for hundreds of miles through great lonely range and pasture lands, where now are supported thousands of thrifty farmers. When the Fort Worth and Denver road was completed as far as Clarendon Mr. Browning moved to that place from Mobeetie,

S. M. Browning

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

and made his residence there until 1896, since which year he has been located in Amarillo.

In 1882 Mr. Browning was chosen to repre- sent the forty-third legislative district, which was at that time composed of sixty-nine counties, and he was re-elected in 1884 and again in 1886. He refused to run in 1888, but in 1890 made the race and was again elected. Dur- ing the session of 1890 he was candidate for speaker of the house, and was defeated by just three votes, that being his only defeat for a public office which he sought. As a leader in the house of representatives he made his in- fluence especially felt as part of the so-called "free grass" element, which put up a consis- tent fight against the leasing of the school lands of Northwest Texas in large bodies to the big stock-raisers. Mr. Browning con- stantly contended that the Panhandle country, inasmuch as it possessed rich agricultural re- sources, was worthy of development and should be opened to settlement by actual set- tlers whose aim would be to make permanent stock farms. When he began his agitation the Panhandle had but three county organiza- tions, and it is due to his efforts that the entire country has been opened to settlement and made an attractive place for large and small farmers alike.

In 1898 Mr. Browning received the nom- ination for lieutenant governor of the Lone Star state, was elected, and after a term of two years was renominated without opposi- tion and was re-elected, Governor Sayers head- ing the ticket both times. Since leaving the lieutenant governorship . Governor Lanham appointed him a member of the board of re- gents, U. of T., a position for which his own educational ambitions and experience have well qualified him, and which he fills at the present writing. Mr. Browning has taken a leading part in Democratic politics for a num- ber of years, attending all the state and lesser conventions. He is a popular orator, having a clear, powerful and penetrating voice, and for this reason is one of the few men of his state who can make themselves heard in a

party convention, and wields a proportionately large influence among his fellow partisans.

.Mr. Browning was a member of the law firm of Browning and Madden, at Amarillo, for sixteen years, but now is in business alone, and has a large and successful practice. Mr. Browning is a member of the Methodist church, and in Masonry is a Knight Templar and a Shriner.

His first wife was Miss Cornelia Beckham, to whom he was married at Fort Griffin and who died two years later. In 1879 he was mar- ried at Fort Griffin to Miss Virginia Boze- man. Mr. Browning has eight living children, as follows: Mrs. Mittie Stevenson, James E., Joseph B., Mary, Morris E., Robert, Viola, and Florence.

COLONEL JOHN SMITH NAPIER, of Vernon, Wilbarger county, is, besides being an able and progressive business man, one of the famous Texas military men, and for eigh- teen, years of his career, including the four years of the Civil War, he has been more or less prominently connected with military affairs. He is well known in this state as well as in other parts of the south, and he is es- pecially identified with the life and progress of the city of Vernon, where he has made his home for the past fifteen years.

He was born in the most picturesque part of northern Alabama, at LaGrange, Franklin county, on July 29, 1840. He is descended from Scotch ancestors, the earliest of whom crossed to this country and located in Virginia. It may be said that he inherited his love for military life, for in several of the past gener- ations, various Napiers bore arms in their country's cause and found more or less con- spicuous mention in the annals of their state or nation.

Colonel Napier's father was John Smith Napier, who was born in Pittsylvania county, Virginia, in the early years of the past cen- tury, and who during young manhood located in Columbia, Tennessee, and in 1826 removed to northern Alabama. Franklin county of the

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

latter state was his home until 1870, when he brought his family to Waco, Texas, where he lived until the close of his very long and use- ful life in 1896. When a young man he had studied medicine and graduated in the pro- fession, but never took up active practice, and throughout the active period of his life was a prosperous planter. His wife was Mary Cur- tis (Myatt) Napier, who was born at Raleigh, Wake county, North Carolina, and died at Waco.

Colonel Napier spent his youth among the beautiful surroundings, of his father's estate at LaGrange, and as his father was one of the prominent citizens of the community he enjoyed correspondingly fine opportunities and advantages and moved in a circle of true southern refinement and culture. His educa- tion both literary and military was of the best. His first teacher, whom he recalls so well despite the lapse of years, was Miss Re- becca Kennerly, afterward the wife of George E Kumpe, both well known in northern Ala- bama. In 1854 he entered the preparatory class in LaGrange College, began the collegi- ate course in 1855, and when the institu- tion was changed to the LaGrange Military Academy, he became a cadet in the same. He graduated on July 4, 1861, having been thor- oughly drilled and instructed in military science ; the subject of his graduating oration was "The Confederate States of America," for which, indeed, he was so soon to perform such patriotic service.

Colonel Napier's alma mater, which so just- ly occupies a place of fond regard in his mem- ory, was founded in 1830, and, as the LaGrange Military Academy, was burned by the north- ern army in 1862 and was never resuscitated. Both the college and military school turned many men from its halls who have since be- come famous in different departments of ac- tivity and in different parts of the country. Dr. John H. Wyeth, the noted surgeon and medi- cal author of New York City, was of this num- ber, and it was through his efforts that a re- union of the survivors of the college and the academy was held on the spot where the in-

stitution formerly stood. This happy occa- sion and meeting of old schoolmates took place in May, 1904, and Colonel Napier was one of the speakers on the program.

Beginning with February, 1861, before young Napier was graduated and before the ominous cloud of civil war broke upon the country, he was detailed from the academy to prepare and drill soldiers for the southern army, in preparation for the inevitable. He himself enlisted regularly in Company K, of the Twenty-seventh Alabama Infantry, join- ing the command before the close of school, but returned to finish his course, and from then until the close of hostilities was continu- ally on duty. He was at first adjutant of his regiment with the rank of lieutenant, but as the colonelcy had been given to an older man, one of the prominent citizens of the commu- nity but without knowledge of military affairs, the actual details of the command devolved upon Mr. Napier. He commanded his regi- ment in the battle of Fort Hyman in Kentucky, whither the troops had first been sent, and was later at the battles about Fort Henry and Donelson. When the Confederate forces sur- rendered at the latter place Colonel Napier was one of the few to escape, nearly all his comrades being held in prison for eighteen months. He, however, returned to Alabama, was appointed drill master in the Confederate army, and reported to General John T. Mor- gan (now the venerable senator of Alabama). From that time throughout the rest of the war he was on detached duty, at first engaged in drilling regiments and later performing the various duties of military engineer, construct- ing railroads, bridges, block houses, etc., throughout the state of Alabama. Near the close of the war he raised a battalion of cav- alry in that state.

Colonel Napier returned to his home in northern Alabama after the war, and on Au- gust 25, 1865, was married to Miss Annie J. Morehead, at Memphis, Tennessee. He con- tinued to reside in Alabama until 1870, in which year he accompanied the rest of the family to Texas, all of them locating at Waco.

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

During the eighteen or twenty years while he made this city his home he was engaged first in the retail mercantile business, and then for several years was a commercial traveler over Texas territory as the representative of whole- sale houses located mainly in St. Louis.

Colonel Napier had made his home in Vernon since 1889. His removal to this city was occa- sioned by his appointment as land sales agent by the Houston & Texas Central Railroad, his duty in that connection being to dispose of the alter- nate sections of land owned by the railroad com- pany in Clay, Wichita, Wilbarger, Hardeman, Childress, Cottle, King, Haskell, Knox and Bay- lor counties. By personal examination Mr. Na- pier classified all these lands, priced them, and during the six or seven years of his connection with the enterprise he sold about four hundred and twenty-five thousand acres. He then took up the land business on his own account, operating not only in this section of Texas, but also in Oklahoma, having an office in Granite. Of recent years he has devoted most of his time to the leas- ing of oil lands and in the mining industry. He has been very successful in business and has many extensive interests in Northwest Texas.

Colonel Napier's connection with the military did not cease with the Civil War. When the State Militia of Texas was organized in 1880 he was elected colonel of the Third Regiment, composed of ten companies, receiving this election over Colonel Parrott, of Waco, who was also an aspirant for the office. The com- mission of colonel was given him by Governor O. M. Roberts, and he served as such for nearly five years. Previous to his appoint- ment as colonel he was captain for a time of Mills' Sharpshooters. At the time of the re- union of Confederate veterans held at Dallas, he raised a regiment of veterans numbering about five hundred, whose participation in the event was one of the most picturesque and striking features of the celebration. Colonel Napier was made lieutenant colonel of the Fourth Regiment of the Uniform Rank of the Knights of Pythias. He has been affiliated with the Masonic order since 1861, and was made a Royal Arch Mason in 1870.

It will soon be forty years since Mr. and Mrs. Napier began their life together, and their happy marriage has resulted in a large family, seven of whom are still living and fill- ing useful places in their various spheres of activity. The living children are, Walter L., of Dallas, Mrs. Hattie C. Shive, of Vernon, . Ernest V., of Davidson, Oklahoma, J. Myatt, of Vernon, R. Coke, of Wichita Falls, Joseph A., of Vernon, and Sam M., of Vernon.

ROBERT W. HALL, mayor of Vernon and . a leading lawyer of that town, is a native son of the Lone Star state and one whose connec- tion with the commonwealth, both in family relationship and personal career, is especially close and worthy of mention.

Mr. Hall's father, also Robert W., by name, is still living at Henderson in Rusk county, of this state, and is one of the oldest and most interesting of the pioneers who have remained from the days of the republic. He was born in Alabama in 1824, so that he is now an octo- genarian but only recently retired from the active affairs of life. He came to the Texas republic in 1841, at the age of seventeen, dur- ing the presidency of General Sam Houston. At that time the military post of Fort Worth was the western terminus of settlement, and less than seventy-five thousand people made up the total population. When about twenty years old he joined Colonel Giles S. Bogges" regiment of Texas Rangers who were detailed to clean out the pestiferous Comanche In- dians, and during his service of some months he campaigned all along the Wichita and Pease rivers where Wichita, Wilbarger and adjoining counties now lie. Congress recently voted a pension appropriation for the benefit of these Texas Rangers, and Mr. Hall's father is one of the very few survivors of the famous or- ganization to be affected by the ruling. Since those early days he has spent his life in Rusk county, where he was a farmer and planter until 1871, and from that date till 1903 was in the drug business at Henderson, where, after retiring from business, he now makes his home.

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

Mr. Hall's mother, Mary E. (Wingfield) Hall, is likewise an aged and esteemed resi- dent of Henderson, and her connection with Texas history dates back further even than her husband's. She was born in Tennessee in 1828, being the daughter of Judge W. W. Wingfield, who came from Tennessee to what was later made Nacogdoches county, Texas, in the year 1831, thus being one of the early settlers of that county, which is, however, one of the very oldest and most historic sections of the state. Mr. Wingfield was county judge of Nacogdoches county, and was among the founders of the old Nacogdoches Academy, a well known educational institution of the early day, now in ruins, and Judge Wingfield's name appears on the corner stone in the list of founders. His daughter, Mrs. Hall, has thus witnessed the most stirring scenes of Texan history, having been a girl of eight years at the time of the Alamo battle and a young lady of twenty when the war with Mexico was ended.

Mr. Hall, the Vernon lawyer, was born in Henderson, Rusk county, June 19, 1863. He was reared in his native county and received his education in the college at Henderson, his chief instructor and the one from whom he drew most inspiration being Professor O. H. Cooper, one of the prominent educators of this state. He later studied law in the law depart- ment of the State University at Austin, and was graduated in 1886. He at once began prac- tice in Henderson in partnership with W. C. Burford, one of the distinguished lights of the east Texas bar. Mr. Hall continued in his profession at Henderson until 1890, since which year he has been a resident and lawyer of Vernon, in Wilbarger county.

He has attained to rank as one of the fore- most lawyers of Northwest Texas, and has a very extensive and profitable business. He is the attorney for the Forth Worth and Den- ver Railroad, with jurisdiction in Wilbarger and several other counties to the northwest, including Armstrong county ; also attorney for the Frisco system, which makes Vernon the terminus of one of its lines. In addition he

enjoys a large private practice of a general na- ture over a wide territory. He is the possessor of one of the largest and most complete law libraries in Northwest Texas. Mr. Hall is a public-spirited citizen who takes much pride in local institutions and gives unstintingly of his efforts for the promotion of the welfare of Vernon. He is at the present writing mayor of Vernon and has served as such for the past two years. He is a popular member in several local fraternities.

Mr. Hall was married at Henderson to Miss Sarah E. Neal, who was reared in that town, being a daughter of Dr. A. C. Neal, one of Henderson's prominent physicians and who is also well known in politics and public life in east Texas. Dr. Neal came to Texas from Georgia, where Mrs. Hall was born, and his first residence was in Carthage, Panola coun- ty, whence he later came to Henderson. Mr. and Mrs. Hall have five children, Clio, Neal, Marcialete, Elise and Mary.

R. L. McCAULLEY. The name of R. L. McCaulley is inseparably interwoven with the history of Western Texas, for he has left the impress of his individuality upon the material development and progress of this part of the state. His excellent business ability and native genius for the management of extensive and im- portant business concerns has made him a most prominent factor in commercial circles and as a promoter of enterprises that have had far- reaching effect in the development of the state. He is a native Texan, having been born in Mc- Lennan county near Waco on the 6th of August, 1856. His father, Dr. D. C. McCaulley, was a native of Mississippi and arrived in Texas at an early epoch in its improvement and upbuilding. He is a physician by profession and was actively engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery throughout the greater part of his life, but now at an advanced age makes his home on a farm near Whiting, Bosque county. His wife, who was in her maidenhood a Miss Parker, died during the early youth of R. L. McCaulley.

The son was reared upon a farm, spending his youth largely in Navarro county, to whichi

R. L. McCAULLEY

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

locality his father removed during the early boy- hood of our subject. He attended the com- mon country schools, his educational privileges, however, being somewhat limited. He went to school barefooted and studied in the old blue- back spelling book and other primitive text- books such as were common at the time. Later he had the advantage of a short period of in- struction in a private school at Corsicana, Texas, and subsequently attended Baylor University, conducted by Dr. R. C. Burleson, a capable edu- cator of that time. In his business career Mr. McCaulley has followed agricultural pursuits and kindred industries and also various other lines of business. He entered upon his business career as an employe in a store at fifteen dollars per month and when his wage was raised to twenty-five dollars he thought that he was pro- gressing rapidly. Later he engaged'in merchan- dising on his own account in Navarro, conduct- ing a general store about fifteen miles from Cor- sicana. The year 1883 witnessed his arrival in Nolan county, where he has since made his home, and during this period he has been closely con- nected with banking interests in Sweetwater. In 1883 he established a private bank in connec- tion with Thomas Trammel under the firm style of Thomas Trammel & Company, and was associated therewith until 1904. He was en- gaged in merchandising in Sweetwater for about three years and he likewise invested in land in- terests in Nolan county, his judicious purchases enabling him to make profitable sales. In for- mer years he also gave some attention to stock- raising, making it, however, only a side issue. For ten or twelve years he was also representa- tive of the New York Life Insurance Company in this part of the state and in the contest among the company's agents in Texas he won a prize for selling the most insurance, being awarded a fine gold watch. His business interests have ever been capably conducted and in any under- taking he has displayed great energy, keen dis- crimination and marked enterprise.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I, Part 45

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