A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I, Part 64

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 64

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

pletion of the dam and the protection of the rights of the citizens of both countries has been Mr. Weber's object from the beginning, and now that these seem in a fair way to be accomplished Mr. Weber may well feel satisfied with his labor and moreover he deserves the gratitude of the large farming population of the two countries that will be directly benefited thereby. Mr. Web- er is consul for the German government at Juarez and is thoroughly familiar with interna- tional trade matters. A gentleman of naturally strong intellectual endowments, of liberal culture and broad views, he has informed himself thor- oughly concerning many matters of interest to the commercial and agricultural world, and his labors have been attended with a success that makes him one of the distinguished residents of this section of the country.

JAMES W. LOCHRIDGE, the subject of this biographical review, has the credit and distinc- tion of having brought to the attention of the world the existence of the North Texas oil fields. Although purely accidental, the opening up of this region to oil operations, and the consequent influx of capital to that end, marks an important era in the development of the resources of Clay county and Northern Texas. While still in its infancy the busy spot where hundreds of barrels of oil are daily being pumped into the tanks for ultimate refining a few years ago was a broad undulating and uninhabited plain, save for the modest abode of him whose lucky star led to the recent startling discovery. While a recent settler of North Texas, Mr. Lochridge has passed a third of a cen- tury in the state, having come into it in 1870 and made his first location in Hill county. Two years later he took up his residence in Falls county, where he continued his occupation as a farmer, twenty miles southeast of the city of Marlin. He raised the usual Texas products near the village of Rosebud until it seemed the boll-weevil was bound to destroy the cotton crop annually, when he sold his farm and transferred his family and his interests to Clay county and purchased a ranch of four hundred and eighty acres prepara- tory to going into the stock business. It was

while digging a water well on this tract that oil was encountered in July, 1901.

In May following the discovery drilling opera- tions were begun in earnest by the Lochridge Oil Company, organized by Lochridge, Worsham and Wyatt. Twenty wells were drilled by them and are now producing oil. The Higginses en- tered the territory in August, 1904, and erected a thirty-seven thousand five hundred barrel tank and three smaller tanks, put in a pumping station and a pipe line three miles in length, all on the Lochridge holdings. The shallowness of the oil and the splendid quality of the product make the field an attractive one for investment and the towns of Oil City and Petrolia have both sprung up with mushroom rapidity.

James W. Lochridge was born in Cass, now Barto county, Georgia, December 3, 1842. His father, James Lochridge, was a slave owning farmer born in Abbeville district, South Caro- lina, in 1815, and died at the place of his settle- ment in Georgia in 1880. Likewise our subject's paternal grandfather was James Lochridge, born a Scotchman, was a Continental soldier in the Revolution, wounded in the neck during that service and died in Gwinnett county, Georgia.

James Lochridge, father of our subject, mar- ried Nancy Tumblin, who bore him ten children, nine of whom lived to maturity, among them be- ing: George W. and Mrs. Mary Lovelace, both in the old Georgia home; James W., of this no- tice ; John L., deceased; Samuel, who is with the subject of this sketch ; Thomas, of Atlanta, Geor- gia ; Lewis, of Canyon City, Texas, and Mrs. N. J. Kinnett.

The education of J. M. Lochridge was obtained in the country schools. He had nearly attained to man's estate when the war came on and he en- listed in the Confederate army, Jackson corps. He joined Company K, Fourteenth Georgia, Captain Jones' company and Colonel Brumby's regiment. He participated in the first battle of Manassas, in the fight at Laurel Hill, in the en- gagement at Seven Pines, the battles of the Peninsular campaign, Antietam, Harper's Ferry, the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and others of lesser importance. After Jackson's death Mr. Lochridge was at-

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tached to General Lee's command and, as forage- master for A. P. Hill's army, North Carolina," ended his military career.

Returning from the war Mr. Lochridge en- gaged in farming. He learned the blacksmith's trade and followed it, in connection with his farm work, for many years. When he was ready to come to Texas he had accumulated probably five hundred dollars. With this he purchased some land and equipped himself for successful farming in his new home. He has not amassed wealth, but has lived comfortably and reared his family to know industry and to do its bid- ding.

In 1866 Mr. Lochridge married Rebecca C., a daughter of James McGee. The children of their union are: Nathaniel L., Mattie, William T., Laura, James B. and Lena.

In politics Mr. Lochridge is a Democrat, but has no special interest in the doings of his party. He has no friends to reward and no ambition of his own to gratify.

W. FLOYD PAYNE, a successful business man and the promoter of various business inter- ests of importance in the development of El Paso and this section of Texas, was born in Prince George county, near Petersburg, Virginia, Sep- tember 17, 1861, his parents being David H. and Ann E. (Pace) Payne, both of whom were na- tives of Virginia, representing old families of Virginia. The father was born in Berkeley coun- ty, while the mother was born in the city of Petersburg. The Payne home was located almost between the firing lines of the two opposing armies in the operations around Petersburg in the Civil war, lying in that district known as the Crater, where thousands of soldiers rushed into the mines at Petersburg, and which took place on the Riddick farm adjoining the Payne home- stead. The residence of the Paynes was shot through with cannon balls and other missiles and had to be abandoned at the beginning of hostili- ties, the family first taking refuge in an old tobac- co factory at Petersburg and then going to Ab- ingdon, Washington county, Virginia. David H. Payne spent his last days in Denver, Colorado, and his widow passed away in El Paso.

W. Floyd Payne was a youth of ten years when he accompanied his parents on their re- moval to the west in 1872. He spent some time in Denver, Colorado, and on the buffalo range between 1872 and 1876. The family home was maintained in Denver during its pioneer exist- ence when it was a very small place. Although W. Floyd Payne is the youngest of the Payne brothers he was the first to locate in El Paso, arriving here in March, 1886, in company with his brother-in-law and sister, Mr. and Mrs. Wil- liam S. Mccutcheon. There are now four of the brothers in El Paso, Jesse B., Frank H., David M. and W. Floyd. One sister, Katherine, became the wife of Dr. Alward White, but both are now deceased. They left three children, who are liv- ing in El Paso: Dr. Alward H. White, who is surgeon of the El Paso Smelting Company ; Owen P. White, of the firm of Wise & White, and .Miss Leigh White, a prominent society young lady of this city. The second sister, Fran- ces D., is the wife of W. S. Mccutcheon, who resides at Mineral Wells, Texas, but retains his business interests here. The third sister living in El Paso is Ann Leigh, the wife of J. N. Hughes, and they have six children, Ernest P., Frank A., Ann, Frances, David and William.

On arriving here in 1886 Mr. Payne of this re- view was associated with his brothers-in-law in the firm of Mccutcheon, Payne & Company, the third member being Dr. Alward White, now de- ceased. They became wholesale dealers in grain, flour and machinery and from the beginning the enterprise prospered and soon a large and profit- able trade was accorded the house. Mr. Payne continued his connection with the business until 1902, when the firm was succeeded by Messrs. Wise & White. In the meantime he had ex- tended his efforts to many other lines. He or- ganized the Vinton Brick & Tile Company, in- corporated, whose plant is seventeen miles north of El Paso on the Santa Fe railroad, and which furnishes most of the white brick for the build- ing operations of the city at the present time. He is also a member of the firm of the Payne- Badger Company, dealers in fuel and building materials and one of the most prominent houses in this line in El Paso. He is a director in the

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El Paso Ice & Refrigerator Company, and local director of the Rio Grande & El Paso Railroad Company, a part of the Santa Fe System, presi- dent of the Mccutcheon-Payne Company, and a stockholder in the American National Bank and also in the Rio Grande Valley Trust Company recently organized. He and his brother-in-law, Mr. Mccutcheon, are among the largest owners of valley lands north and south of El Paso in the Rio Grande valley, which is to come under the ditches of the new irrigation works under gov- ernment direction and now in course of construc- tion, the dam being located at Elephant Butte, nearly one hundred and ten miles north of El Paso, in New Mexico. Mr. Payne was for some years vice president of the East El Paso Town Company, whose operations have resulted in building up what is now the thickest settled subdi- vision of El Paso. He was also the organizer and one of the directors of the North El Paso Town Company, which will probably place its lots on the market in 1906, being now engaged in the im- provement of that property. He is sole agent of the D. M. Payne subdivision in El Paso, which is being sold off very rapidly, and he represents the loan department, making loans in this terri- tory for the State Life Insurance Company of Indiana. In addition to all these business con- nections he has his individual operations in real estate, insurance, loans, mines, cattle, timber lands and ranches, and to his varied business in- terests devotes his time and attention, being today one of the busiest men of this section of the state. He is also a stockholder in the Shelton-Payne Arms Company.

Aside from individual and corporate interests resulting in personal profit Mr. Payne has di- rected his labors into lines of activity that have been of marked benefit to the city. He is one of the directors of the Providence Hospital, the finest institution of this character in El Paso. He was at one time a member of the El Paso city council and served for a portion of a term as mayor, filling out the unexpired term of Robert Johnson. During the period that he was mayor no public gambling was tolerated, and Mr. Payne has always taken an active part in the fight against gambling, there being no public gaming

places in the city of El Paso at this time. He gives his official duties the same careful con- sideration and keen discrimination that are shown in the management of his private business interests and the city has profited along many lines by his active co-operation and substantial support. He has served successively as president of the Border Wheelman's, El Paso Athletic, and Franklin clubs, which succeeded each other in the order named.

Mr. Payne was married in Denver, Colorado, to Miss Lena Allen, a native of Maine, who, after being a resident in New York, removed west- ward to Denver. They have a daughter, Miss Carolyn Kathryn Payne.

In various other ways Mr. Payne has been prominent in the social and business life of the city and is one of its most valuable and public- spirited promoters. His life has been one of con- tinuous activity in which has been accorded due recognition of labor. His interests are of thorough benefit to the southwest and at all times he is ready to lend his aid and co-operation to any movement calculated to benefit this section of the country or to advance its wonderful de- velopment. He has won well merited distinction through the extent and scope of his operations, his recognition of opportunity and his promotion of interests of varied nature and mammoth proportions. A life of such intense and well directed activity well entitles him to rank with the "captains of industry" in Texas.

ARTHUR EDWARD STILWELL. As financial and executive promoter of the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad, the remarkable railroad that crosses West Texas through the center of the stock-growing territory, Mr. Stil- well is one of the latest, though by no means the least, of the men of enterprise and broad busi- ness judgment who in thirty years have net- worked North and West Texas with railroads and, in solving the problems of transportation, have laid the foundation for an unlimited devel- opment and prosperity.

Born in Rochester, New York, October 21, 1859, of English descent, it is an ancestral fact worth recording in this connection that Mr. Stil-

ARTHUR E. STILWELL

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

well is the grandson of Hamblin Stilwell, who was one of the builders of the Erie canal and also a founder of the Western Union Telegraph Company, both being of transcendant impor- tance in the history of American transportation and communication.

Mr. Stilwell came west while still a young man and went into the printing business in Kansas City. Afterwards he removed to Chicago, where he spent several years as special agent of the Travelers' Insurance Company in Illinois, later going to Rhode Island with the same company. Being a firm believer in the future greatness of Kansas City, he returned to that place in 1886, where he formed the Missouri, Kansas and Tex- as Trust Company. This company was instru- mental in financing the Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf Railroad, which cost over twenty-three mil- lion dollars, and which Mr. Stilwell financed through the panic of 1893. This road (now the Kansas City Southern), the completion of which gave a short line between Kansas City and the Gulf, became a successful reality largely through the persistence and energy of Mr. Stilwell. The natural obstacles were stupendous, but in addi- tion to those he had to contend against the op- position of rival interests. Finally, having se- cured the co-operation of some Holland bankers, he built and equipped the road.

Since 1900 Mr. Stilwell has directed his ener- gies to the building of the "New Way to the Pa- cific," as the Orient road is called. This railroad, which is described elsewhere, will have about 550 miles of main track in Texas, a third of the entire line between Kansas City and Topolobampo Bay, and as another trunk line it will have an immense influence on the future of West Texas. During the year 1906 it is expected that one thousand miles of the road will be in operation. A large subsidy has been granted by the Mexi- can government to aid in the building of the road, the value of which is recognized by the president of Mexico and his cabinet. Mr. Stil- well also organized in 1901 the United States and Mexican Trust Company, which acts as the fiscal agent for the railway company. The plan- ning and building of the Orient road is by far the greatest enterprise that Mr. Stilwell has under-

taken, although he has devoted practically all the years of his active career to the development of the interests of the west and southwest and has figured prominently in many great constructive and development enterprises.

FELIX MARTINEZ, controlling important investments and real estate interests, is well known in El Paso as a capitalist and as the chairman of the Executive Committee and secre- tary of the El Paso Valley Water Users' Associ- ation. His business interests are largely of a character that have been of material effect in advancing progress and improvement in this sec- tion of the country, at the same time bringing him success which ranks him with the foremost men of the Lone Star state. He has for many years been a prominent capitalist of New Mexico and El Paso, identified with various enterprises in the Rio Grande valley. He has made a close study of the possibilities and needs of the country and his main efforts for the past year or more have been extended in the promotion in the great irri- gation project of the Rio Grande valley above and below El Paso which is now being brought to a successful consummation.

Mr. Martinez is a native of New Mexico, born of Mexican parentage and coming from Spanish ancestry. After attaining his majority he lived in New Mexico for several years, spent ten years in Colorado and for a number of years has been a resident of El Paso. Here he has engaged largely in making investments and in the conduct of real estate operations, and while he has ad- vanced his individual success he at the same time belongs to that class of representative American men who are promoting general progress while controlling individual interests and gaining per- sonal wealth. As stated, his energies are now concentrated upon the development of the irriga- tion project which is generally known as the Engle irrigation movement and which is being carried out under the provisions of the reclama- tion law passed by the United States Congress under date of June 17, 1902, and under further legislation which has since been effected by the state of Texas and the territory of New Mexico. The dam which will impound and preserve the

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HISTORY' OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

waters of the Rio Grande for this irrigation pro- ject will be constructed by the government at Engle, New Mexico, about one hundred miles north of El Paso. An estimate made by govern- ment engineers of the cost of the dam fixed the value at forty dollar per acre on all the land in the valley that will bo brought under irrigation by the waters of the dam, and the act of Con- gress referred to requires that the land in ques- tion shall be placed in escrow with mortgage sufficient to guarantee the payments to the gov- ernment in recompense for construction of the dam, the landowners being given ten years after the completion of the works in which to pay their pro rata of forty dollars per acre.

For the purpose of expediting the matter the landowners in the valley were organized into two water users' associations, one in Texas and one in New Mexico, those in the El Paso terri- tory, both up and down the river for some miles, comprising the El Paso Valley Water Users' Association of which Mr. Martinez is the chair- man of the Executive Committee and secretary. It has taken time, patience and a great deal of hard work to secure the co-operation and signa- ture of all the landowners, ranchers, and other residents of the El Paso territory which com- prised in all about forty-five thousand acres, but this work is now about completed and in fact has been carried forward to such an extent already that it insures the successful consummation of this great project which will no doubt be the means of bringing many thousands of new set- tlers to the El Paso territory, starting the city upon another period of rapid progress and growth that will make it the great city of the southwest. The dam will be two hundred and twenty-five feet high and two hundred and seventy-five feet wide at the base and the canal sysem will cover about two hundred and fifty miles of territory.

Mr. Martinez has been a leading spirit for the last eight years in furthering this project, work- ing most earnestly in order to secure its adoption. He has also been a leading spirit in other public enterprises, being instrumental in securing Stone & Webster to take hold of the local street car lines in El Paso and transfer them into electric

lines. Hitherto mules had been used as the motive power but electric lines were installed four years ago. Mr. Martinez also insisted in getting the waterworks system established here to furnish a pure supply of water and under the Mayor Hammett administration was appointed a committee to advertise for and correspond with bidders for the establishment of such a system, which has now resulted in giving to El Paso her first supply of pure water for all purposes. Mr. Martinez belongs to the group of distinctively representative business men who have been the pioneers in inaugurating and building up the chief industries of this section of the country. He early had the sagacity and prescience to discern the eminence which the future had in store for this great and growing country, and, acting in accordance with the dictates of his faith and judgment he has garnered, in the full- ness of time, the generous harvest which is the just recompense of indomitable industry, spot- less integrity and marvelous enterprise, and the worth and value of his work are widely acknowl- edged and should bring him the grateful support and praise of all who have regard for the im- provement and upbuilding of Western Texas.

CAPTAIN THOMAS J. BEALL, a distin- guished lawyer representing various corporations in El Paso, was born at Thomaston, Georgia, on the 12th day of May, 1836. The family came originally from Virginia. His parents, however, Dr. Jerre and Susan B. (Neal) Beall, were both natives of Georgia. The father prepared for practice of medicine and in 1850 came with his family to Texas, settling in Marshall, where for many years he was a successful practicing physi- cian, who so conducted his labors and invested his means that he accumulated a comfortable for- tune and gave to all of his children excellent educational privileges. His death occurred in Kendall county, Texas. His son, Dr. E. J. Beall, of Fort Worth, has for many years been one of the best known physicians of Texas and in his home city is looked upon as the "father" of his profession.

Captain Beall of this review acquired his class- ical education in Tulane University at New

J. J. Beall.

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Orleans and prepared for the legal profession in that famous law school, the Cumberland Univer- sity at Lebanon, Tennessee, from which he was graduated as a law student in February, 1858. The same year he entered upon practice at Mar- shall and was admitted to the supreme court of the state in 1859. He is thus one of the oldest lawyers in Texas and the firm of Davis & Beall, established at Bryan shortly after the war and still continued as Beall & Kemp, at El Paso, is probably the oldest law firm in the state of Texas. Mr. Beall served as a staff officer on the staff of General John Gregg and several other of the celebrated military commanders of the south. He took a leading part at Marshall, Texas, in the organization of a company for the Confederate service of which he was elected captain. This rank, however, he resigned in order to join the Marshall Guards and was mustered in as a private of Company A, Second Texas Infantry, of Col- onel John Gregg's command at Hopkinsville, Kentucky. He was on duty in that state in the winter of 1861-62 and was one of the force that joined the Confederate army at Fort Donelson for the troops holding that point against the advance of the Federal forces under General Grant. In the battle in February, 1862, at Fort Donelson, Captain Beall took part in the charge upon Schwartz Battery which was supported by General John .A. Logan, and there Captain Beall was wounded in the hand and head. Following the surrender of the fort he was held as a pris- oner of war on Johnson's Island for seven months and on being exchanged he rejoined his regiment at Jackson, Mississippi, and there, Colonel Gregg having been promoted to brigadier general, Mr. Beall was appointed to his staff with the rank of captain. He took part in the defeat of Sherman at Chickasaw Bayou in front of Vicksburg and was under fire at Port Hudson, Louisiana, when General Farragut's fleet passed the batteries and Dewey's boat, the Mississippi, was sunk. He participated in the gallant fight made by Gregg's brigade against General McPherson's Corps at Raymond, Mississippi, the Confederate troops being under command of General Joseph E. Johnston. After the close of that campaign Gen- eral Gregg's brigade joined the army of the

Tennessee and participated in the battle of Chick- amauga, where General Gregg was seriously wounded. On his recovery he was assigned to the command of Hood's old Texas Brigade in the army of old Virginia with Captain Beall a staff officer, and thus served during the remainder of the war in Longstreet's Corps under General Robert E. Lee. He was in the famous charge of the Texas Brigade at the battle of the Wilder- n'ess, in which his horse was shot from under him and he himself was seriously wounded. At the battles of Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Peters- burg 'and in numerous engagements in the fall of 1864 he participated until General Gregg was killed in the battle north of the James river in the month of October. Save for his military experience Captain Beall has throughout his entire life given undivided attention to the prac- tice of law, in which he has achieved success and distinction often refusing the honors of public life which have been offered him. He was three times endorsed as a candidate for Congress, once in the campaign which resulted in the election of Roger Q. Mills, but on each occasion he declined the nomination. Soon after the war he took up the practice of law at Bryan, Texas, organizing the law firm of Davis & Beall, his partner being Major B. H. Davis, a brother of Captain Charles Davis of El Paso, who is represented elsewhere in this work. Later Judge Wyndam Kemp was admitted to this firm at Calvert, the latter repre- senting the firm in the branch office of that place, at which time the firm style of Davis, Beall & Kemp was assumed. Captain Beall came to El Paso in 1881, the year of the completion of the railroad, being preceded by B. H. Davis who had established an office here, and later joined by Captain Beall and still later by Judge Kemp. The firm was the same as at Bryan and Calvert until the death of Major Davis, since which time the firm style of Beall & Kemp has been in use. Captain Beall represents the legal interests in El Paso of the Southern Pacific Railway, the New York Life Insurance Company, the Western Union Telegraph Company and the State Na- tional Bank. From 1884 until 1887 he main- tained temporary professional interests at Fort Worth and during that period was the attorney

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I, Part 64

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