USA > Texas > A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I > Part 59
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fortune through his successful law practice. He was likewise recognized as a leader of public thought and action here, and was called to rep- resent Johnson county in the state legislature in 1870-71. On arriving in Cleburne in 1869 he formed a partnership with Captain Ben Bledsoe under the firm style of Bledsoe & Bledsoe, the relation being maintained until the latter's death in 1875. These gentlemen were not broth- ers, but were distantly related, being descended from the same ancestry. Ben Bledsoe won his title as captain in the same regiment in which Scott Bledsoe served as major, and he married a sister of Mrs. Scott Bledsoe, so that the part- ners were brothers-in-law. After the death of Captain Ben Bledsoe, D. T. Bledsoe, another distant relative, joined Major Bledsoe in the law practice, and thus the firm style of Bledsoe & Bledsoe was continued until the death of the senior partner on the 14th of February, 1877. D. T. Bledsoe remained in active practice in Cle- burne until 1890, when he removed to Abilene, where he practiced for about two years, his death occurring, however, at Brenham, Texas, on the 1st of July, 1893, when he was visiting there. Major W. Scott Bledsoe was married in early manhood to Susan Harrison, who was born in Overton county, Tennessee, and is now living at the home of her son Albert: There were three children of that marriage, the others being Nellie, now the wife of Quincy Temple- ton, ex-district clerk of Johnson county, and William H. Bledsoe, a prominent lawyer of Cleburne, practicing as a member of the firm of Brown & Bledsoe.
Albert S. Bledsoe was born September 16, 1872, and was a student in the schools of Cle- burne and pursued his preparation for the pro- fession under the direction of the firm of Crane & Ramsey, composed of Hon. M. M. Crane, ex- attorney general of Texas and now living in Dallas, and Judge W. F. Ramsey, who is still practicing law here and is also the president of the National Bank of Cleburne. In 1894, hav- ing been admitted to the bar, Albert S. Bled- soe and his brother reorganized the firm of Bledsoe & Bledsoe, which continued until April, 1902, when it was dissolved on account of the
ill health that forced Albert S. Bledsoe to re- tire temporarily from his chosen life work. He has since, however, resumed active practice in- dependently and has a liberal clientage. He was city attorney for four years and city re- corder for three years, but his attention has ¿chiefly been given to his legal work. He throws himself easily and naturally into the argument with a self-possession and deliberation that in- dicates no straining after effect, while a pre- cision and clearness in his statement and acute- ness and strength in his argument bespeaks a mind trained in the severest school of investi- gation and to which the closest reasoning has become habitual and easy.
Mr. Bledsoe now occupies the old family homestead, a mile and a half southeast of the city. It is a fine farm, originally containing three hundred acres, and is now a valuable property, well improved. He has a very wide and favorable acquaintance in social as well as professional circles and his lines of life have been cast in harmony with the record of a dis- tinguished and honorable ancestry.
On December 8, 1895, Mr. Bledsoe married Miss Nettie McQueen, a native of Moore coun- ty, North Carolina. Their children are: Albert McQueen and Nettie Sue.
MAJOR CAMPBELL DICKSON. The commercial interests of Cleburne find a worthy representative in Major Campbell Dickson, the president of the Dickson Hardware & Furni- ture Company, who is a man of action rather than theory, and he has brought to successful accomplishment a large mercantile enterprise and at the same time has been closely and bene- ficially connected with important public af- fairs whereby the welfare of the state has large- ly been augmented. He came to Texas from the state of New York, his birth having there oc- curred in Ripley township, Chautauqua county, near Westfield, his parents being William and Elizabeth (Campbell) Dickson. Their respect- . ive families were established in America in colonial days and both the father and mother came of Scotch-Irish ancestry.
William Dickson was descended from an-
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other William Dickson, who came from Lon- donderry, in the north of Ireland, and was among the founders of the town of Londonder- ry, New Hampshire, as was Samuel Campbell, who likewise came from Londonderry. The family has been represented by many distin- guished personages as the years have gone by, beginning with the illustrious ones of the Camp- bell clan of Scotland. The Dicksons and Camp- bells are connected in various degrees of re- lationship through several generations. From New Hampshire representatives of the two fam- ilies removed to Cherry Valley, New York, a place which has become celebrated as the scene of an Indian massacre, which occurred on the 11th of November, 1788, at which date the In- dians, induced to the movement by the British, swooped down upon the little settlement and murdered most of the inhabitants, among whom was Mrs. Dickson, the paternal great- great-grandmother of Major Campbell Dickson of this review. The red men carried away as captives the women and children of two fami- lies, those of John Moore and Colonel Samuel Campbell, selecting these on account of their prominence. Colonel Samuel Campbell was the great-grandfather of Major Dickson and won his title by service in the Continental army, being away from home at the time of the mas- sacre. The Indians took his wife and three children, together with members of the Moore family, to Canada, where, after meeting with great hardships and vicissituder, they were re- leased after the close of the war. William Dick- son, father of Major Dickson, was born at Cherry Valley, New York, and was married in the state of New York to Miss Elizabeth Dick- son, who belonged to the Campbell branch of the family, the mother having borne the maiden name of Eleanor Campbell.
In the public schools of Chautauqua county Major Dickson began his education, which was continued in Westfield Academy. He entered business life as a representative of commercial interests. He was quite young, when, in 1857, he became imbued with a desire to enter the sheep industry, having become convinced that it would prove profitable, and with this end in
view he started westward, making his way to Hannibal, Missouri, whence he continued his journey to Texas, bringing with him a large flock of sheep, which he had procured mostly at Springfield, Illinois. This was in 1858. He drove his flock through the Indian Nation and across long stretches of country uninhabited by white men. The trip was fraught with dangers and hardships, but he eventually reached Hill county, Texas, in safety and there made his real start as a sheep rancher. He soon won the es- teem and friendship of the hospitable southern people who were his neighbors and in his busi- ness venture he prospered. In 1860 he sold his stock and arranged with a Texas friend to re- turn north, planning to bring another herd of sheep to the state in 1861. After he reached New York, however, Mr. Dickson received a letter from his friend advising him to defer his return because of the growing hostility be- tween the north and the south, and he made his way to his old home in the Empire state, where, following the outbreak of hostilities, he offered his services to the government, enlisting in Sep- tember, 1861, at Westfield, New York, as a member of Company I, Ninth New York Cav- alry. He was with the cavalry department of the army throughout his service of three years, but was compelled to leave the army before the close of the war on account of shattered health, resulting from the rigors and hardships of military life. He enlisted as a private, but his bravery and meritorious service won him promotion and he was given three commissions within a year and a half. He became successive- ly second lieutenant and first lieutenant and was then promoted over the heads of several others to the captaincy, and it was while in command of his company that he saw most of his hard service. He was in most of the early battles of the Army of Virginia. He command- ed a body of troops at the battle of Beverly Ford, which is remembered as one of the most noted cavalry engagements of the war, every fourth man being killed or wounded. He was also in the hard fight at Gettysburg and many other engagements in northern Virginia. The most notable scene which he witnessed was the
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engagement between the Merrimac and Mon- itor while on shipboard at Hampton Roads be -. fore his regiment had disembarked to take part in the Peninsular campaign. When he became disabled he resigned his commission and re- turned to his native state.
After about a year spent at his old home in New York Major Dickson went to the oil re- gions of Pennsylvania, where he began specu- lating and operating in the coal oil lands, being a neighbor of the celebrated "Coal Oil Johnny." In his early operations there he was quite suc- cessful, but later he lost heavily and when a year had passed he left Pennsylvania and en- gaged in farming and stock-raising in Buchan- an county, Iowa, adjoining the town of Inde- pendence. He did well there and became a pros- perous and influential citizen, retaining his residence in that county from 1866 until early in the year 1878.
arrival was a small place without railroads, questions, but votes with his Democratic
Major Dickson had always felt a deep interest in Texas, however, and he returned to this state, since which time he has made his home in Cleburne. Here he embarked in the hardware business and has since been closely identified with the growth, progress and substantial de- velopment of the town, which at the time of his goods having to be hauled from Fort Worth. From the beginning the enterprise proved prof- itable, many of his old friends and neighbors from Hill county going to Cleburne to give him their patronage and spending thousands of dollars in his store. The business was at first conducted under the name of C. Dickson & Company, and is now the Dickson Hardware & Furniture Company, Incorporated, with Major Dickson as the president. This is one of the largest and strongest business institutes of Cleburne, the company including competent and reliable business men, so that Major Dick- son no longer finds it necessary to devote all his time to the business and in recent years has enjoyed much leisure and the benefits and pleasures of travel. The business has grown to substantial and profitable proportions, bring- ing him a splendid financial return. Through his efforts it was developed along modern com-
mercial lines and ever watchful of the indica- tions pointing to success he labored so untir- ingly and efficiently that he developed an en- terprise hardly equaled in this section of the state.
Major Dickson has always been helpful and generous in his contributions toward the city's progress and support, and his labors have been far-reaching and beneficial in promoting the welfare and upbuilding of Cleburne. His ef- forts have been a potent element in securing the building of the railroads to this city and also other public projects. He is now the presi- dent of the Carnegie Library Association and was largely instrumental in having the splendid new library erected here. He has been a mem- ber of the city council and he has erected and owns several substantial brick business blocks in Cleburne which have added to the upbuilding of the city. He is likewise a director of the Na- tional Bank of Cleburne. Mr. Dickson is one of the prominent Republicans of Texas and was a delegate to the national convention of his party in 1904 and was made a member of the committee that notified Fairbanks of his nom- ination for the vice presidency. He always supports the Republican party on national friends in local and state affairs.
Major Dickson has an interesting home life and is a man of domestic tastes, devoted to his family. He was married in 1867 to Miss Lucy E. Tracy, of Onondago county, New York, who died at Cleburne in 1896, leaving five children. Captain Tracy Campbell, the eldest, is a grad- uate of the West Point Military Academy and is now a captain of ordnance, stationed at Washington. He has distinguished himself on every occasion where soldierly qualities have been required and is a gentleman of the highest standing among military officers. Fred D. Dick- son is a member of the Dickson Hardware & Furniture Company. Professor Leonard E. Dickson, who occupies the chair of mathemat- ics in the University of Chicago, is a brilliant young man, who received the Doctor of Philos- ophy degree before he was twenty-two years of age, while other degrees have since been con-
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ferred upon him. His student life has been largely devoted to the mastery of the science of mathematics, on which subject he has already written a number of authoritative volumes and also articles for the scientific journals. He was provided with splendid educational opportuni- ties, studying not only in this country but also with the great mathematicians of Paris and Leipsic. Eva Dickson has become the wife of R. A. Thompson, who is the expert civil engi- neer on the Texas railroad commission, living at Austin. Frances, who completes the family, is with her father in Cleburne. Major Dickson belongs to the Loyal Legion, has membership relations with the Masonic and Elks lodges and is also a member of the Cumberland Pres- byterian church.
CAPTAIN OLIVER T. PLUMMER. The analytical mind and argumentative power of Captain Oliver T. Plummer have gained him distinction as a lawyer of the Cleburne bar and of this portion of Texas and he is therefore en -- titled to mention with the representative citi- zens of the Lone Star state. He was born in Lewis county, Tennessee, March 17, 1839, and is a son of James H. and Martha C. (Tarrant) Plummer. His father died in Lewis county at the beginning of the Civil war, while the moth- er's death occurred in 1890. She was a member of the well known Tarrant family, prominent both in Tennessee and in Texas, and was a cousin of Captain Tarrant, in whose honor Tar- rant county in this state was named.
Biographical history presents as a notable fact that the great majority of the men who have risen to prominence in commercial, profession- al, military and political life have been reared upon farms. Mr. Plummer spent his youth in this manner in his native county of Lewis, and when a boy left home, making his way to Mc- Kinney, Texas, where he arrived on Christmas Day of 1857. In the spring of 1858 he located at Fort Worth, where he resided until January, 1859. During the summer of that year there was a severe drought in Texas and water be- came very scarce, so that Captain Plummer, in accordance with the desire of his friends,
bought a yoke of oxen, borrowed a wagon and began hauling water in barrels from the Terry Spring, about a mile below the city, and in that way supplied the people with water during the summer and fall of 1858. There was but one well in Fort Worth at the time, it being a pub- lic well on the old square. The town was then quite small, consisting of a few stores, which were clustered around the court house yard with a number of residences near by. In later years it has been laughingly remarked that Captain Plummer was the originator of Fort Worth's water.supply system.
Some time before the outbreak of the Civil war he returned to his native county and early in the progress of that conflict raised a com- pany. In fact, it was the first one organized in Lewis county, and he was elected its first lieu- tenant. It became Company H of the Third Tennessee Infantry and Captain Plummer went with his command to the front, but resigned his commission in October, 1861, in order to return home on account of the death of his father. Later, when the army was driven out of Ten- nessee, he accompanied that command to Mis- sissippi and served as drill master for the Forty- eighth Tennessee Regiment, and upon its reor- ganization he was elected captain of Company A, serving under General Pat Cleburne until the latter part of the year 1863. 'He was then de- tached from the army and placed under General Pillar, doing conscript duty in Mississippi and Alabama. In the spring of 1864 he was ordered to middle Tennessee, where he did scout duty for the army until the latter part of 1864. He was with Hood in middle Tennessee and closed his service as a cavalryman under the com- mand of General Forrest at Sumterville, Ala- bama, on the 11th of May, 1865, having spent the last part of his military service in the cav- alry. Captain Plummer is mentioned with commendation in Colonel J. B. Hill's official report of the battle before Richmond, Ken- tucky, where he commanded his company, and as the result of his charge in that battle the ene- my was repulsed. Captain Plummer was in- deed a brave and fearless soldier, and his own courage often inspired his men to deeds of
LEASIL B. HARRIS
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heroism. He has been equally loyal to every cause that he has espoused in private life, this. an early day, and from that time to the present being one of his strong characteristics.
Following the war Captain Plummer re- turned to Lewis county, where he remained un- til 1875, when he became a resident of Cleburne, Texas. Here he has practiced law continuously since. He had prepared for the profession in his native county subsequent to his military ex- perience and had been licensed to practice there. In 1882 he was elected county attorney of Johnson county, Texas, and for six years filled the office, discharging his duties without fear or favor. His preparation of cases is thor- ough and exhaustive. He seems almost intu- itively to grasp the strong points of law and fact, and his authorities are cited with accuracy and his reasoning is presented cogently and un- answerably so as to leave little doubt as to the correctness of his views or of his conclusions.
A pleasant home life for Captain Plummer began by his marriage in Wayne county, Ten- nessee, to Miss Molly Hardin, a member of the Hardin family prominent in that city and in Texas. They now have six children: Mrs. Oc- tavia, wife of William M. Battle; Professor A. H. Plummer, one of the teachers in Fort Worth high school; Miss Mattie Plummer, Miss Eva Plummer, R. W. Plummer and O. T. Plummer, Jr. Captain Plummer belongs to the Methodist church, to the Masonic fraternity and is one of the charter members of the United Benevolent Association which was organized at Fort Worth. His fraternal and church relationships indicate the character of the man and the prin- ciples which underlie his life and permeate his conduct. He has the ability to win and retain strong friendships, and while recognized as one of the able members of the Cleburne bar, in pri- vate life he receives that genuine regard which . arises from true nobility of character, kindli- ness, geniality and deference for the opinions of others.
LEASIL B. HARRIS. No citizen in the community enjoys the confidence and high es- teem of his associates and neighbors in a great- er degree than does this honored old pioneer,
Leasil B. Harris, who came to San Angelo in
has taken an active share in the development of the resources of this locality. Since he became a permanent resident of this city he has mate- rially aided in all its enterprises, and has ever used his influence in behalf of everything mak- ing for good citizenship. He was born in Ma- con county, Georgia, February 18, 1827, a son of Walter and Barbara (Thomas) Harris, the former of whom spent his entire life in his na- tive state of Georgia, where the mother was also born, but her death occurred in Texas.
When but three years of age Leasil B. Har- ris was brought by his mother and her brother to Alabama, from where they later removed to Tipton county, Tennessee, and in 1835 came to Texas, but which was then a part of Mexico, their first permanent location having been made in what is now Gonzales county, near the town of that name. They came to this state as a member of a Tennessee colony. From that place they were compelled on account of the war between Texas and Mexico to refu- gee from that place in what was known as the "Runaway Scrape." Mrs. Harris and her four children then lived for a time in Grimes county, on Grimes Prairie, but later returned to Gon- zales county. Under the Republic of Texas Leasil Harris volunteered as a soldier in the frontier service, although he had at that time not attained his eighteenth year, but when Texas was annexed to the Union he was mus- tered out of the frontier service only to enter the United States service in the Mexican war, serving in Taylor's army and going out as far as Monterey. At the close of that struggle he was ordered back to the frontier service in Texas, in Colonel Ben McCulloch's Brigade, in which he served for about three years. About this time Mr. Harris secured a start in the cattle business, which was just beginning to be an industry of importance in Texas, and moving his family to San Antonio, operated for many years as a cattleman in Atascosa and neighboring counties, with headquarters at San Antonio. At one time he was the owner of three large ranches in that part of the state.
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HISTORY OF NORTH. AND WEST TEXAS.
In May, 1877, he came with a bunch of cattle to Tom Green county, and until within a few years ago was actively engaged in that indus- try, but is now retired, although he still owns a valuable farm on the Colorado river, near Robert Lee in Coke county, twenty-eight miles north of San Angelo. Since 1880 the family have resided in San Angelo. Mr. Harris was one of the organizers and the first president of the Concho National Bank, the first institu- tion of that kind in San Angelo, established in 1882, and in 1902 its name was changed to the First National. He is now living retired from the active duties and cares of life, enjoying the fruits of his years of toil in the past. His name is inseparably connected with the history of this locality. He hauled lumber with an ox team from San Antonio for one of the first per- manent buildings in the town of San Angelo, and at one time was numbered among the most extensive stockmen of Texas, having on one occasion in San Angelo sold two hundred thou- sand dollars' worth of cattle to one party. He suffered greatly from the Indian depredations and lost a great deal of stock in the last Indian raid in 1882.
Mr. Harris married Mary Isabelle Mckenzie, and their two sons, Frank and Ralph, are both prominent cattlemen in San Angelo, with ex- tensive interests in Tom Green county. Be- sides the two sons, there are three daughters, Mrs. Mary Childers, Mrs. Nancie Cortledge, and Clara.
JUDGE HOWSON H. WALLACE, of Am- arillo, is one of the longest established and most prominent lawyers of the Panhandle country. He was here before organization had hardly been attempted except in a general way, and his early practice and duties as a judge covered a region almost imperial in extent. No railroad had yet shoved its way out into this country, which was given up to vast cattle ranges, and indeed only old residents like Judge Wallace can in any measure appreciate the changes that have been wrought in the last twenty years. Judge Wallace has made a most honorable and successful career in his profession. He is a
man of much erudition combined with execu- tive ability and a thorough understanding of men, and continuously for two decades he has been an influence and a force in the affairs of the Panhandle.
Judge Wallace was born near the famous old town of Fredericksburg, Stafford county, Vir- ginia, December 3, 1858, being a son of Thomas and Anne (Coffman) Wallace. He has some an- cestors who played a worthy part in the history of this nation, and, as one might surmise from the name, the family goes back for its origin to the land of the hills and heather, where in the days of the clan they played a glorious historic drama, and whence later this particular branch emigrated to America and established its home in Virginia. Judge Wallace's grandfather, John H. Wallace, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, as also were five of his brothers, one of whom served as a colonel in a regiment under Washington. The military achievements of the family also descended to Thomas, the father of Judge Wallace. He was also born in the liis- toric locality of Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1797, and when a boy of sixteen he enlisted for service in the war of 1812. Thomas Wallace was a planter by occupation, and in the pioneer days settled in Kentucky, and later near Selma, Alabama, where he was a successful cotton planter. About 1850 he returned to Stafford county, Virginia, where his home remained un- til his death, which occurred in 1883. Judge Wallace's mother was born in the Shenandoah valley, and died in 1889.
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