USA > Texas > A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I > Part 65
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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.
at Fort Worth for the Santa Fe Railway and the Gould railroads.
Captain Beall has been married twice. He first wedded Miss Laura Wilson, a daughter of Col. Wilson, a prominent Brazos river planter, and by that marriage there is one daughter, Mary B. Beall. After losing his first wife Captain Beall wedded Miss Margaret Ragsdale from Aberdeen, Mississippi. By this union there are the follow- ing children : Susan, now the wife of E. E. Neff, a merchant of El Paso; Nancy, the wife of Joseph F. Williams, who is cashier of the First National Bank of this city ; Florence, the wife of John A. Covode, president of the Kent County National Bank at Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Thomas D. Beall, who operates the well known Riverside ranch.
Captain Beall is interested in community af- fairs and is now president of the board of trus- tees of the El Paso public schools, in which con- nection he has done much for the work of public instruction. Always a stanch Democrat, he was presidential elector from the fourth congressional district of Texas in 1868. He is one of the dis- tinguished representatives of Masonry in Texas and has filled the office of grand commander of the Knights Templar for this state. He has been honored by the bar of Texas by an election to the presidency of the Texas Bar Association, and thus his influence and labors are a potent fac- tor in development along various lines of modern progress and public interest.
D. A. STEPHENSON, the owner of an excel- lent cattle ranch in Donley county, Texas, but a representative citizen and resident of Ringgold, Montague county, although yet a young man has gained a creditable position in business circles. He was born in middle Tennessee, July 8, 1875, and after acquiring a common school education gave his attention to agricultural pursuits. His parents were William and Mary (Pickle) Stephenson, both of whom were natives of Ten- nessee, in which state they were reared and mar- ried. The father has devoted his life to agricul- tural interests and is now living in Tennessee, where he has a wide and favorable acquaintance. He is a veteran of the Confederate army, having
served throughout the Civil war. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party but he has never sought office, although he is interested in the welfare and upbuilding of his community and is remiss in no duty of citizenship. In 1890 he was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who was a devoted and faithful member of the Methodist church and a lady whose excellent traits of character endeared her to all who knew her. In their family were eight children: Cassie, the wife of H. Hopper; Nancy, the wife of R. H. Sherrin; D. A., of this review; Samuel, who is engaged in the transfer business in Ringgold; William, of Texas; Cooper, who is living at the old homestead in Tennessee; Newton, also of Texas; and Eula, at home.
D. A. Stephenson was reared to farm life, re- maining under the parental roof until 1892, when at the age of seventeen years he came to Texas, settling first at Temple, Bell county, where he was employed as a farm hand. He spent two seasons at cotton ginning and remained a resi- dent of Bell and Milam counties for four years. In 1896 he came to Ringgold, where he engaged in the transfer and livery business, which he yet owns. He is also owner of much property at Ringgold. The livery stable is well stocked and is a paying investment. He is likewise owner of the Commercial Hotel, which property he rents and he has business houses in that city and also a number of dwellings, the rental from which brings him a gratifying income. Recently, also, he has purchased a large ranch in Donley county, Texas, which he now has well stocked with cattle. It is a well improved place, all fenced and sup- plied with good buildings and the various im- provements and accessories known to the model farm. He is conducting a successful ranching business and his place is conveniently situated near Rowe on the Fort Worth & Denver Rail- road, about fifteen miles from Clarendon, the county seat of Donely county. He has always been interested in the stock business and is enthu- siastic about it, bringing to its premises practical experience and wise judgment, so that there is little doubt concerning the outcome of his ven- tures.
In May, 1904, Mr. Stephenson was married to
S.C. Stephenson and wife
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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.
Mrs. Nellie Kuteman, the widow of the late Robert B. Kuteman, who was born in Charleston, South Carolina, September 28, 1854, and was baptized into the Baptist church in 1857. He spent his youth in attending school and in en- joying the pleasuresinwhich boys of that local- ity indulged. His father, Mr. Kuteman, was of German lineage and was a business man of Charleston. Robert Kuteman became recognized as a business man of prominence and unques- tioned integrity in that city and was a most highly respected citizen. His children were: Ina, who became the wife of Dr. Howard, now deceased; Eona, living in Chattanooga, Tennessee ; Richard, deceased; Harry M., a prominent attorney at law in Weatherford, Texas ; and Robert B. Kute- man, who is the eldest son. The last named came to Texas when sixteen years of age, locating in the eastern part of the state. He found employ- ment in a saw mill and later hauled and delivered lumber with ox teams. At first his financial re- sources were extremely limited but his sagacity, enterprise and determination enabled him to climb the ladder of success. Eventually he be- came a mill owner, widely recognized as an active, sagacious and prosperous business man, who as the years passed accumulated a large for- tune. His judgment in business methods was scarcely, if ever, at fault and he carried forward to successful completion whatever he undertook. He was rather below the average size and he did not possess a strong constitution but his mental capacity was of superior order and through his diligence and persistency of purpose he made for himself an honored name in business circles. He gave little attention to politics and never aspired to office. His death occurred in Fort Worth, March 16, 1904. He was married in 1892 in Wood county, Texas, to Miss Nellie Meyers, who was born in Mercer county, Missouri, May 16, 1876, and is a cultured and intelligent lady. Her parents were John and Mary (Alexander) Meyers, both of whom were natives of Missouri, where they were married and took up their abode, the father devoting his energies to agricul- tuarl pursuits. The mother was a daughter of a Mr. Alexander who was a prominent and in-
fluential farmer and business man of Missouri, well known and highly respected. He filled many offices of honor and trust. The Alexanders and Meyers families came together to Texas, settling ont farms in Wood county and became actively interested in agricultural pursuits there. In that locality they reared their children to manhood and womanhood. The members of the Alex- ander household were: Mary, who married John Meyers; Richard; George; Emily; Ella; Thomas; and Alva. The parents of these chil- dren were devoted members of the Baptist church,
John Meyers was a native of Missouri, where he was reared and married, and he chose farming as a life occupation, devoting his attention to agricultural pursuits through many years. On coming to Texas he settled in Wood county on a farm, which remained his place of residence for a long period. He had one brother, William Wesley Meyers.
In the family of John Meyers were three chil- dren: Nellie, now Mrs. Stephenson; W. W., of Wood county; and Charles, who is connected with the transfer and livery business in Ringgold. Mr. and Mrs. Meyers were members of the Baptist church and in that faith Mrs. Meyers died in 1888.
By her first marriage Mrs. Stephenson had three children who will inherit a large estate from their father. These are: James E. Kuteman, born March 24, 1894; Robert B., born February 9, 1897 ; and Helen B., born September 24, 1899.
Mr. and Mrs. Stephenson are giving good edu- cational privileges to her children, thus qualifying them for the practical and responsible duties of life. Mr. Stephenson takes little active interest in politics but was reared in the faith of the Re- publican party. He has had many business inter- ests of varied kinds and in the control and man- agement of these has shown marked discrimina- tion and commendable purpose. He has based his dependence upon earnest and persistent effort guided by sound judgment and today he is a valued factor in business life of Ringgold as well as in agricultural circles in Donley county.
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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.
WILLIAM T. STEWART. One of the chief sources of income and of living in the southwest has been its mining interests. Through the de- velopment of the natural resources in this direc- tion many men have made fortunes, a large num- ber have secured comfortable competences and a still greater force have found profitable employ- ment. William T. Stewart, a resident of El Paso, connected with mining interests which are bring- ing him a desirable financial return, was born in White county, Tennessee, in 1839, his parents being Larkin Wisdom and Velara McDonald (Irwin) Stewart. The parents were also natives of White county and died in Ellis county, Texas. They came to this state in 1851, locating in the famous black land belt of Ellis county, now the richest agricultural district of the state, but in those pioneer days land was very cheap there. Larkin W. Stewart was a man of keen foresight and excellent business ability and through his indomitable industry and careful management accumulated a very gratifying competence. His wife was a daughter of William Irwin, of White county, Tennessee, who came to Texas in 1845. Mrs. Stewart was also a niece of President Zachary Taylor, who had a large number of rela- tives in White county, Tennessee.
William T. Stewart was reared amid the refin- ing influences of a good, Christian home, and the sterling lessons which were impressed upon his mind in his early life have borne rich fruit in honorable conduct and upright character. He has passed through many vicissitudes and has had many experiences, yet to the principles in- culcated in his boyhood he has always been true. He has ben a pioneer soldier, cattleman and miner, having spent his entire life out in the "open" and for the most part on the frontier. His father was one of the early cattlemen of Texas and Mr. Stewart of this review early became familiar with that pursuit while residing at Waxahachie, the county seat of Ellis county. While there he responded to call of the Con- federacy and enlisted in the army in 1861 as a member of Company E, Twelfth Texas Cavalry, under command of Captain Brown and Colonel WV. H. Parsons. This was one of the famous cavalry regiments of the Trans-Mississippi de-
partment, and although its record has been some- what obscured in history by the greater opera- tions of the armies east of the Mississippi it nevertheless won distinction on many important occasions and its members displayed great bravery and fearlessness in the performance of military duty. They made a splendid record in pursuit of Banks down the Red river and at McCreary's landing he was wounded, and was by General Green when he was killed; thirteen days later he returned to his regiment. In thirty- two days' fighting they participated in thirty- seven pitched battles. On the last day of this fighting at Yellow Bayou, Mr. Stewart was severely wounded by bullets to such an extent that he was disabled for further service for sev- eral months. A strong constitution, however, enabled him to recover from the disabilities thus inflicted.
The forages of war completely destroyed all that Mr. Stewart had gained in his previous busi- ness career, including the loss of a large herd of fine cattle which had been taken for the uses of the army. He thus had to begin life anew without capital save his earnest purpose and un- remitting diligence. After several years' resi- dence in Dallas, Texas, he made his way west- ward to Taylor county in 1873 and located where the city of Abilene now stands. Owning at that time several mule teams he engaged in teaming business, hauling buffalo hides for the buffalo hunters who were then engaged in hunting those animals upon the plains for the value of the skins. It was while thus engaged that Mr. Stewart learned of some valuable deposits of lead ore in the state of Texas where the buffalo hunt- ers had been in the habit of securing lead for their bullets. These deposits are still to be found in rich quantities, and when developed will add another excellent source of wealth to those which the state already enjoys.
After remaining in the western country for several years interested in his mining operations and in the cattle business, Mr. Stewart returned to Dallas where he conducted business for seven years and then in 1892 came to El Paso, where he has since made his home. He has throughout this period conducted mining enterprises in the
W. T. Stewart
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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.
great mining districts tributary to this city, prin- cipally in the state of Sonoro in Old Mexico. His principal mining properties are located eighty miles south of Nogales in the state mentioned and sixteen miles from the International Rail- road. His interests there are largely centered in three mines-the Cobriza, the Esmerelda, and the Three Sisters, all of which properties bear richly in gold, silver and copper. Mr. Stewart is vice president and general manager of the Cobriza Gold Mining Company, and vice president and superintendent of the Golden Cove Mining Com- pany, whose properties are in that same neigh- borhood. His many years' experience in mining makes his judgment of particular value in such matters. He spends most of his time at his mines, although maintaining his home in El Paso, and the properties are being operated along modern lines, the latest improved machinery and facilities having been secured for this purpose.
Mr. Stewart was married to Miss Mary J. Berry, a daughter of the Rev. Charles William 'Berry, a native of Missouri and a pioneer of this state. Her father was one of the notable characters of Texas in his day. A man of splen- did Christian principles, he for many years was active in the ministry of the Presbyterian church, yet never expected remuneration for his services, doing a work in the moral development of the state, the value of which cannot be- over-esti- mated. He was a gentleman of splendid educa- tion and natural attainments, and through his ability and honesty in business affairs built up a comfortable fortune. At one time he was the owner of the famous old flour mill at Mansfield, Tarrant county, Texas, one of the first industries of this kind in this part of the state. He pos- sessed not only excellent business capacity, but was a man of marked personal bravery and fear- lessness and with such intent of thought and spirit that he never hesitated to assert his prin- ciples under any circumstances. His was an eventful career. Born in Carroll county, Mis- souri, he was among the "49ers" who went to California in search of gold after the discovery on the Pacific coast and not long afterward made his way to Texas to become a factor in its pio-
neer development along both material and moral lines.
To Mr. and Mrs. Stewart have been born three sons and three daughters. The eldest, New- ton Stewart, was assassinated in El Paso in Feb- ruary, 1900, while city jailer, by a mob of negro soldiers from Fort Bliss, who came to the jail for the purpose of releasing a negro prisoner that he was guarding. Another son, Thomas L. Stew- art, a young man of twenty-five, is in the mining business in Mexico and is rapidly reaping a for- tune there. The other members of the family are: Charles Stewart ; Mrs. Ola Moore, of Wax- ahachie; Mrs. Ida Held, and Effie Stewart.
Mr. and Mrs. Stewart are members of Trinity Methodist church, South, of El Paso, and in its work he has been especially interested, contrib- uting generously to its support. Pioneer life in the west, with its varied experiences and dangers, together with all of the experiences of the cattle- man .and miner in the development of the re- sources of the southwest, are known to Mr. Stew- art not as a matter of record but from actual con- tact therewith, and while advancing his individ- ual success he has also promoted the general welfare and contributed to the prosperity of his adopted city.
W. P. HARDWICK. To those who travel- and their number is legion and ever increasing- the hotel is the hub around which all the rest of the community revolves. Rows of splendid busi- ness blocks, public buildings, schools and churches, all summed together, will not compen- sate for inferior accommodations to the tran- sient public. By its hotels is a town judged. As New York would not be New York without a Waldorf-Astoria, so among that countless multi- tude of sojourners who tarry but a night, Fort Worth awakens anticipations of comfort and re- freshment mainly through the presence of its Hotel Worth. Though not the oldest hotel in the city, and though the Trans-Continental and the El Paso were bright and conspicuous in the public eye thirty and twenty years ago, for the past ten years the Hotel Worth has been the favorite ho- tel home for the best class of traveling men.
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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.
This reputation is the result of the efforts of the late W. P. Hardwick, and the success of the hotel is closely associated with that name.
In the death of Mr. Hardwick October 18, 1902, North Texas lost one of its best known ho- tel men. He was known by name and feature, if not by the closer tokens of strong friendship, from the extreme limits of the Panhandle and the Rio Grande border to the Panther City, which for years has been gathering ground for the stockmen and business men of that vast region. It is related by those who knew him best that his strongest friendships were with the more promi- nent men of the state and business world, that while he had a smiling welcome for all who sought his hospitality, his character was such that it found its true level in association with the leading factors of business and public life. Coupled with this capacity for forming true and lasting friendships, was a reserve and modesty that absolutely forbade any participation in pub- lic life or any ostentation. He was devoted to his business, in which he displayed his progressive spirit even in the days when failing health was causing him to relinquish his burdens, and as he had always been planning something larger than the present, so at the time of his death he was looking forward to the accomplishment of broad and generous designs in the line of his business. Such are some of the estimates which those who knew him intimately place upon his life work and character, and from these just words of appre- ciation we proceed with a brief sketch of a man who lived a simple, unostentatious, yet very suc- cessful, life.
Born in Merrimac, Wisconsin, September 4, 1854, he was the son of a hotel man, who had ac- cumulated a fortune in business, but later lost both health and fortune, and it was the lot of the son, at the commencement of his career, to shoul- der the burdens of more than his individual ca- reer, and it is a merited compliment to his youth- ful integrity that he helped to support his father's family and also paid off a considerable indebted- ness that resulted from his father's failure. He began life, therefore, without a dollar, and it is creditable to his own ability that he accumulated a comfortable competence for his family before
his death. He got his common schooling at Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, where the family home was for many years, and he had been in attendance at the University of Wisconsin at Madison for one year when his father failed and he was compelled to assume unusual responsibilities for one of his age. He began his career as hotel man in connec- tion with the Vilas House at Madison, and later with the Park Hotel in the same city. His health failing, he sought the outdoor life of the west, and for eighteen months conducted a sheep ranch near Elk Falls, Kansas, where he and his young wife "roughed it" under the blue Kansas skies until he had more than regained his former health and was ready to resume his regular ca- reer. In partnership with W. S. Forey, now de- ceased, he ran the Glenn House at Harper, on the southern border of Kansas, and a little later became sole proprietor of the New Patterson House in the same place. In 1886 he took charge of the Hardwick House at Kiowa, Kansas. This was the great era of development for western Kansas, Oklahoma and western Texas, and Mr. Hardwick, following the trend of this great movement, came to Texas. He had previously, in 1883, driven a flock of sheep from Elk county, Kansas, south through the Territory into this state, crossing the Red river with Henrietta as his destination. It required eleven weeks to make this journey, and it was not without difficulties and danger from the Indian tribes that he reached the end of his trip. Especially at Red river, where a ferry transported the live stock and him- self and family across, the Indians proved them- selves traditionally hostile and resisted the passage as far as they were able. But in 1889, after his experience in Kiowa, Mr. Hardwick went out to that interesting young city of the Panhandle, Amarillo, which had only recently been founded. Elsewhere in this history it is re- lated how that enterprising citizen, Mr. Sanborn, transferred bodily the old town to its new site which he had determined upon. The hotel which Mr. Sanborn erected for his town found in Mr. Hardwick its first proprietor, and for five years the Amarillo House remained under the direction of Mr. Hardwick.
In 1894 he came to Fort Worth and began his
HENRY F. DOWDY
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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.
connection with the Hotel Worth. The north end and the principal part of this building, as is well known to older citizens, was put up for an office building, and the south wing, containing the offices and dining room, was added when it was decided to convert the structure to use as a hotel. The Pickwick (formerly the El Paso and now the Delaware) and the Mansion, just across the street from the Pickwick, were then the only other first-class houses in Fort Worth. Despite the hard times during the nineties, and from which the business of the hotel man was one of the first to suffer, the Hotel Worth may be said to have enjoyed a career of prosperity from the beginning. Mr. Hardwick was especially popular among cattlemen, and it is doubtful if there was a leading cattleman in West Texas whom he did not know as a friend.
Mr. Hardwick married, in 1881, before leav- ing Madison, Miss Ellen G. Goodwin. Mrs. Hardwick is a native of England, whence her father, John Goodwin, came to New York, where he was soon joined by his family, and from there moved out to Middleton, Wisconsin. He was a successful stock farmer, and spent the greater part of his life at Verona, Wisconsin, where he died in 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Hardwick had two sons, Wilbur, a young man of twenty-three, con- nected with the management of the hotel, and Stanley. Mr. Hardwick was a thirty-second de- gree Mason; a Shriner, a member of Worth Commandery, No. 19, K. T., and the blue lodge, A. F. & A. M., No. 148. He was also a member of the Hotelmen's Mutual Benefit Association. In politics he was a stanch Republican.
HENRY F. DOWDY. One of the more re- cent arrivals among the progressive and pros- perous settlers of Clay county and one whose foresight has located him on a most fertile and desirable tract of land, is H. F. Dowdy of this review. His ranch is located near Charlie, Texas. He was born in Stoddard county, Missouri, near Bloomfield, January 14, 1863. The Dowdy family was founded in America by English emigrants who came to the new world with the early Eng- lish colonists, settling in Virginia before the Rev- olutionary war. Representatives of the name
fought in the war for independence and their descendants have been represented in all of the wars in which the United States has since been engaged. Though of English descent they were strongly opposed to the Tories and were ever champions of the American cause. Soon after the close of hostilities and the establishment of peace Thomas Dowdy, the great-grandfather of Henry F. Dowdy, removed from Virginia to North Carolina, locating near Hillsboro, in Chat- ham county. He there accumulated considerable wealth through farming and stock-raising and he was also a slave holder. He died several years before the Civil war and in his family were a daughter and three sons, the youngest son being Allen Dowdy, grandfather of Henry F. Dowdy.
In the year 1840 Allen Dowdy left North Carolina, removing to Stoddard county, Mis- souri. He, too, was a farmer and stock-raiser. He became the father of three children, a son and two daughters, the former being Joel Wes- ley Dowdy, Sr. He, too, gave his attention to the cultivation of the soil and raising of stock, and, in fact, those pursuits have been the chief occu- pation of most of the Dowdys for one hundred and twenty-five years. The family has been noted in large measure for longevity, possessed with unusual hardihood and power of endurance. They have ever been men who have stood for what they believed to be right, and most of them have been Baptists in religious faith and Democrats in political views.
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