A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 100

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: 972

USA > Texas > A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II > Part 100

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While a school teacher at Marshall, Captain Fields married, June 19, 1866, Miss Olive A. Tayler, daughter of Colonel James F. Tayler, a pioneer of that section of Texas. They have six children, five sons and one daughter, namely : James U., William R., Ernest L., Hol- lis E., Annis O. and Louis W. Also they had two sons and three daughters that died when young. Captain Fields was made a Mason in the '7os and has filled all the chairs in the sub- ordinate lodge. Since 1874 he has been a wor- thy member of the Christian church.

JAMES B. BADGER

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

JAMES B. BADGER, of the Payne-Badger Fuel Company, of El Paso, was born in 1856, in Harris county, Texas, in the old historic town of San Jacinto, where the famous battle of the Texas Revolution was fought. His parents were J. B. and Fannie (Jemison) Badger. The father, a native of Ohio, came to Texas about 1836 or 1837, as one of its pioneer settlers, but later returned to the Buckeye state and when he again came to Texas took up his abode at San Jacinto. He was a ship carpenter by trade and actively engaged in, steamboat building, which was an important industry on the lower Trinity river in early days. He departed this life several years ago, but his wife is still living at Houston and is one of the few and well known survivors of the Texas republic. She is a native of this state, having been born within its borders prior to the time when its independence from Mexico was achieved, an event which took place in 1836. She has therefore lived under the flag of Mexico, of the Texas republic, the United States, of the Confederacy and again under the stars and stripes. In her early child- hood her parents were both massacred by the Indians and she was reared for the most part in the family of the noted Gale Borden, the inventor of condensed milk, whose fame has spread abroad throughout the world. He lived in Galveston in those early years and after- ward removing to New York there promoted his condensed milk industry and became a very wealthy man.

James B. Badger spent the first thirteen years of his life at San Jacinto and then resided for seventeen years in Galveston. He located in El Paso in 1886, when it was still a pioneer city of western Texas and has lived here con- tinuously since. On taking up his abode in El Paso he embarked in the grocery business at the corner of San Antonio and Stanton streets, where he was located for seven years, when he sold out to John B. Watson. In 1897 he engaged in his present business in partner- ship with W. F. Payne and W. S. Mccutcheon under the firm of the Payne-Badger Company, dealers in coal, wood and building materials with yards and offices at the corner of West Second and Chihuahua streets, but recently Mr. Badger has purchased his partner's inter- est, and the business is conducted under the name of the Badger Fuel Company. Extend- ing his efforts into other lines, he is now the president of the Southern Independent Tele- phone Company which has inaugurated an ex-

cellent system of automatic telephones in El Paso. Not alone in business life is Mr. Bad- ger's connection with the interests of El Paso notable, for he has been connected with many important measures for the general good. He has been a member of the city council of El Paso for a longer period than any other alder- man, having first been elected from the third ward in 1889, while since that time he has rep- resented the second and first wards in the city council, being now a member from the first ward, while his connection with the council covers altogether a little more than fourteen years. He has acted on some of the most im- portant committees and has taken an active part in the legislation, furthering El Paso's prosperity, promoting its public utilities and advancing its substantial growth and progress. He is indeed one of the public-spirited citizens of the town and the efficiency and value of his efforts are acknowledged by all.

THOMAS EDWARD COPPAGE, civil engineer now in the employ of the Wichita Val- ley Railroad Company in the construction of its line between Wichita Falls and Stamford, Texas, was born in Falmouth, Kentucky, April 3, 1862, a son of William F. and Catherine (Keith) Coppage. The father was a farmer of Kentucky and in 1870 came to Texas, settling in Tarrant county about seven miles north of Fort Worth, where he lived for several years. He afterward took up his abode in the city of Fort Worth, where he has since followed con- tracting and building. The mother, however, died in that city in 1902.

Thomas E. Coppage spent his boyhood days on the home farm in his native state and though his time was largely given to the work of field and meadow it was not the occupation to which he wished to devote his life. He early became interested in civil engineering and eagerly em- braced every opportunity to broaden his knowl- edge concerning the subject. Through his own efforts and study he mastered the profession, and when a young man-hardly more than a boy-on coming from Kentucky to Texas he obtained employment on the survey and build- ing of the Santa Fe Railroad between Percilla and Galveston. There his capability and fidelity won ready recognition and before the road was completed he had charge of the surveying. Sub- sequently he was with the D. B. and N. O. Rail- road and afterward became assistant city engi- neer of Fort Worth, which position he filled for five years. On the expiration of that period he

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

was elected city engineer for the succeeding term of five years and upon his retirement from the office he became engineer for the Cotton Belt Railroad, for many years operating in Texas, Missouri and Arkansas. During, the year 1905 and up to the present writing he has been with the Wichita Valley Railroad Com- pany on the construction of its line between Wichita Falls and Stamford, Texas. All of Mr. Coppage's knowledge concerning civil engineer- ing has been gained through his own unaided efforts. He never attended any school of engi- neering, but today enjoys a reputation for pro- ficiency in all branches of the science and espe- cially in the locating and building of railroads, where his capability is of superior order, making his services in constant demand.

On the 21st of August, 1886, Mr. Coppage was married to Miss Leila Perry, a native of Georgia and a daughter of Madison and Mary (Bright) Perry. Her father was a prominent planter and slave owner before the war. Her people came to Texas in 1870, settling on a farm eight miles south of Fort Worth, where they lived for a few years and then took up their abode in the city, where her father and mother spent their remaining days. Both Mr. and Mrs. Coppage came from old southern families re- spected and honored by early residents of Texas and especially in Fort Worth and vicinity, where they were widely known. Mr. and Mrs. Cop- page have two interesting daughters, Nina and Florence, who are with them in their Fort Worth home. The Coppage household is justly noted for true southern hospitality and they have a very extensive circle of friends in Fort Worth. Mrs. Coppage belongs to Elelanar Temple, No. 36, of the Rathbone Sisters, of which she is past most excellent chief, and Mr. Coppage belongs to the Fraternal Mystic Circle. He has won creditable success in his business career and he takes great interest in all matters which are justly a source of civic pride.

JOHN A. BURRUS. Among the stockmen and farmers whose efforts have placed him in the category of successful men of Clay county and whose operations have given him a wide acquaintance over northern Texas, is John A. Burrus, of Hurnville, the worthy subject of this review. Except his birth, all he is and all he has comes' to him as a reward from Texas and to no other state or clime could he attribute the elements in his makeup which have been re- sponsible for his material achievements.

Henry county, Missouri, was the birthplace of

John A. Burrus and the date was February 24, 1854. His father, William O. Burrus, was an extensive farmer of that county until the out- break of the war, when, in sympathy with the Confederate cause, he came to Texas and joined the southern army. At the close of the war he sold his Missouri farm and in 1866 brought his family among his new friends in the south and settled in Cooke county, Texas. There he re- sumed his old mode of civil life with as much success as he had had in his old home before the war. He died near Gainesville in 1879, at sixty years of age, surviving Sarah Harvey, his first wife, many years.

William O. Burrus was of Tennessee origin. In his father's family was a brother, James Bur- rus, who served in the Confederate army, dying later at Springfield, Missouri, leaving a family of two sons and five daughters. Sarah Burrus passed away in Missouri just as the war closed, leaving a family of eleven children, and in time Mr. Burrus married Rebecca Wood for his sec- ond wife. Four children resulted from this union. Of the first family are Martin I., James Riley, William Y., Nancy S., Elizabeth, John A., Reuben W., George W., Lovina, Jeff Davis and Sarah O. In the second family were Re- becca E., Belle, Delphia and Lovina N.

Our subject's educational advantages were not good and he was forced to begin life poorly equipped along this line. Subscription schools were yet in vogue in his boyhood and not more than three months of each winter did he get to attend school. At about eighteen years of age he ceased to be numbered among the pupils of his district and soon thereafter commenced the real side of life. He went to work for Putnam and Cloud at Sugden, ranchmen, at wages of twenty dollars and twenty-five a month and finally four hundred dollars a year. He was with that firm four years and saved seven hun- dred dollars out of his wages, and on leaving them bought an interest in three hundred and sixty head of cattle with John Dobkins and ranched them near Terral, Indian Territory, two years, and two years on the old Vaden ranch, at which time the bunch brought fifteen thou- sand dollars. The next year Mr. Burrus stocked up with three hundred and twenty head and took a fourth interest in seven thousand five hundred acres of land near Iowa Park, and after holding the cattle there three years sold out his entire interest at a great sacrifice, the wire-cutting epoch having then begun. After dissolving with Dobkins all he had left was one hundred and fifty cattle, and fourteen horses, and these

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

he held on Red river four years. About 1891 he bought a quarter section of land and began raising feed. As his herd has increased he has extended his dominions until he now owns above eighteen hundred acres, under fence, with four hundred acres under plow. He handles some three hundred head of cattle all the time, and has been a shipper several years.

In August, 1890, Mr. Burrus married in Clay county Miss Belle Gibson, a daughter of W. P. Gibson, originally from Kentucky, thence to Missouri, and finally to Texas. Mr. Gibson was married in Cooper county, Missouri, and Mrs, Burrus is the first of his children, the others being, Nora, Dow, David, Mattie, Ella, Bulah, and Ethel. Mr. and Mrs. Burrus' children are: Ivy, who died in infancy ; Austin Dale; Loma; Charlotte, who died in 1902; Fay ; and Alice.

The foregoing review has barely touched upon a few points in the life of Mr. Burrus. It is in- tended to mention those events which, in a gen- eral way, unfold and present to posterity an outline of his career, leaving the details relating to the minutiae of life to the field of unwritten history and eventually to become tradition it- self.

ROBERT OLIVER WEST. Among the leading fruit growers of Montague county, and one whose orchard lies against the townsite of the prominent shipping point of Fruitland and possesses the largest bearing area of the fruit district, is Robert O. West, whose name is men- tioned as the subject of this sketch. He has not been a resident of the county since pioneer days, but came to it only in 1899, at which time he purchased the small farm of thirty-one acres, nearly twenty of which is devoted to the profit- able and interesting vocation of fruit culture.

Mr. West came to Texas in 1888 from Cald- well county, North Carolina, and for five years he was stationed on a farm in Tarrant county. In 1893 he located on a farm in the southwest corner of Clay county and was identified with agriculture in that county until his entry to Montague. He was born in the Georgia county above named April 22, 1846, and passed the years of his minority there on a farm His father was Hiram West, a blacksmith, who settled on Little river, east of Lenore, in that county, when a young man. He was born in the county in 1812, and passed all except the last three years of his life there, dying in Wautaga county in 1892. Alexander West, grandfather of our subject, settled in that same Caldwell county neighborhood in his early

life, and died there about 1862 at the age of about eighty years. His wife was Patience Allen, and their children were: Ananias, who moved out to Missouri and died; Isaac, who died in Caldwell county, N. C .; Elizabeth, wife of Clisby Cobb, resides in North Carolina; Har- vey, a Baptist minister who dropped dead in his pulpit in North Carolina; and Hiram, our sub- ject's father.

Hiram West married Juliana Haas, a daugh- ter of Abraham Haas, who died in Wautaga county, North Carolina. The issue of their union were: Robert O .; Caroline, who died in North Carolina, single; Malinda, of Lincoln county, North Carolina, widow of Thomas Williams; Louisa, of Wautaga county, wife of John Wil- liams; Abigail, died unmarried; Ananias, died without marriage; William, of Lincoln county, North Carolina, and Harriet, wife of John Oxen- tine, of Wautaga county, North Carolina.

Robert O. West came to his majority in the country where he was born and obtained little knowledge from the prevailing schools. In 1864, he enlisted in Company G, Third North Carolina Infantry, Captain Bristow and Colonel Hindace. His regiment joined General Johnston's army near Wilmington, North Carolina, and fought at Kenston and Bentonville. He was surren- dered at Bush Hill and got back home in May of 1865. As soon as he was sufficiently recuper- ated to do so he took up farming and followed it with some degree of profit while he remained in the state.

In December, 1866, Mr. West married his first wife. She was Miss Mary C. Beach, a daughter of Rufus Beach. His wife died in 1880, leaving children as follows: George, Avery, Lola, Mattie, and Walter. Mr. West married Mrs. Louisa Story, a daughter of Robert Green. She died in Tarrant county, Texas, and Mr. West married his third and last wife in the same county. His present wife was Mrs. Ida Adams, a native of the state of Georgia. By this marriage Mr. West is the father of Cecil, Grace and Murrell.

Mr. West holds a membership in the Mission- ary Baptist church, and contents himself in poli- tics in voting the Democrat ticket. He affiliates with the "boys in gray" and belongs to Bowie- Pelham Camp, U. C. V.

THOMAS L. BALL. The interests of prime importance in any community of our common country is that of the United States mail. With- out exception every citizen is a patron of it and is vitally interested in its efficient care and con-

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

duct and, therefore, in the person who fills the position of postmaster in the community. Our modern mail facilities and our modern methods of handling the mails guarantee safe and ex- peditious transit and delivery of matter posted within the federal jurisdiction and the postmaster whose care and watchfulness adds to this effi- ciency and serves his patrons with the least pos- sible friction is the right man in the right place, and the office at Decatur is presided over by just such an official in the person of Thomas L. Ball, the subject of this review.

Mr. Ball represents a family of pioneer inter- est to the citizens of Wise county, for it was founded here in 1854 by Moses Ball, our sub- ject's grandfather, who settled a farm just north of the county seat and there passed the re- mainder of his long and active life. The latter was born in 1813, reached Texas with an ox team and a log chain, articles of prime import- ance then, and did a frontierman's share of the hunting and Indian fighting that went on the first twenty years of his residence here. He married and his family comprised: Carlo B., father of our subject ; Annie, wife of Zan Rieger, of Decatur; Mrs. Jane Carroll, who died in Wise county; Adaline, wife of Joseph Marlette, of Montague county; Emma, wife of William Dixon of Dimmit county; Eliza, who married Fred Olson; and Julia, wife of Ed Ray, of Wise county ; Moses, of Oklahoma; Letitia, wife of Joseph Brown, of Wise county; "Bud," who was stolen by the Indians in childhood and held in captivity two years, was the youngest, and died leaving a family in Wise county.

Carlo B. Ball was born in 1839, in Kentucky, in the mountain country of that turbid state. He was twelve years of age when the family caravan pulled across the frontier toward its place of destination on Sandy, in Wise county, and here he grew up without educational privi- leges, and resided until 1904, when he took up his abode in Canadian, Texas, where he now resides. As a farmer and stock man he was modestly successful, brought up his family to become useful and honorable citizens, and took a good citizen's part in the civil affairs of his county. He was a Ranger in the days when that service was necessary as a protection against thieving and murderous bands of red men, but evaded military duty in the Confederate service during the Civil war. He was against secession and in favor of the Union, and when party lines were drawn after the war he espoused the prin- ciples and endorsed the policies of the Republi- can party. He married Clarinda Conley, a

daughter of Jackson Conley, a settler from Illi- nois. Mrs. Ball was born in Illinois in 1843, and at fourteen years of age accompanied her parents to Wise county, Texas. Her father built the first flouring mill in the county and owned and operated it several years. Of the issue of the marriage of Carlo B. and Clarinda Ball, Alice married Ed Outler and resides in Oklahoma City; Jackson is a resident of Texmo, Oklahoma; Mahala and Emma, twins, wives of A. B. Full, of Wise county, and W. G. Cook, of Canadian, Texas, respectively; Thomas L., our subject; Nettie, wife of Bernard Day, of Elk City, Oklahoma; Clara, who married Will Dyer, of Vernon, Texas; Delia, now Mrs. Frank Smith, of Decatur; and Carlo B., Jr., of Cana- dian,, Tex.

The country surrounding his birthplace and the rural schools and those of the city of De- catur were the scene of the rearing and educat- ing of Thomas L. Ball. His birth occurred Sep- tember 24, 1874, and he finished his school days with two years in the Baptist College of his town. He chose the teacher's route as a means of getting off properly in life and was engaged in this and student work almost to the time of his entering the government service. He was ap- pointed postmaster in March, 1902, and suc- ceeded H. H. Little at once in the office.

April 13, 1902, Mr. Ball married Mattie Standley, a daughter of W. G. Standley, formerly from East Texas, near Livingston. Mrs. Ball was born in Texas, and she and Mr. Ball are the parents of a daughter and a son, Ruth and Gene. Mr. Ball is, of course, a Republican, and is a Master Mason.

WILLIAM H. LONG is a representative of the business life of El Paso, being secretary and treasurer of the El Paso Brewing Associa- tion. A native of Pennsylvania, born in Cham- bersburg, he is a son of Jacob Long, who died in the Keystone state. When a youth of thir- teen years William H. Long came west with his mother, settling first at Mount Carroll, Illinois, where he secured employment in a bank. His fidelity and capability are indicated by the fact that he remained in that institution for fifteen years, receiving several promotions to responsible positions in the First National Bank of Mount Carroll, his connection there- with being that of assistant cashier when he left that institution. In 1875 he went from Mount Carroll to Chicago and for some time was engaged in the produce commission busi- ness on South Water street. He next accepted

WILLIAM H. LONG

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

the position of manager of a zinc mining com- pany at Knoxville, Tennessee, where he re- mained for two years, when he went to San Francisco, California, to join his family who had gone from Chicago to the Pacific coast. There he remained in business until 1886, when he located in El Paso, which has since been his home. He has always been exten- sively interested in real estate operations here and has been the promoter of various business enterprises of the city, making careful and ju- dicious investments in different business con, cerns that have resulted profitably to the stock- holders and have been a factor in the com- mercial and industrial development of El Paso. He is to-day one of the large taxpayers here, owning valuable business property. For about eleven years after his arrival he conducted an abstract business in connection with his other interests, having a large patronage in that line. He also established a wholesale cigar business, being proprietor of the El Paso Cigar Manu- facturing Company, but he has recently dis- posed of both of these interests. He still con- ducts, however, the storage and warehouse business at 218-222 South Kansas street and is one of the owners and the secretary and treas- urer of the El Paso Brewing Association, which is capitalized for two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars and which owns a large, modern plant, this being one of the leading and successful industries of the city.

Mr. Long was married to Miss Julia A. Marston, a native of Maine, and a representa- tive of a prominent family there. Her mother was a sister of the Coburn brothers, who at- tained wealth in the lumber business, and one of the brothers, Abner Coburn, was governor of Maine in. 1863. Mr. Long has been called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died in El Paso, leaving a son, Ralph W. Long, and a daughter, now Mrs. Nina D. Grayson. Mr. Long has a beautiful summer home at Cloud- croft, New Mexico, which he calls Eagle Eyrie. He has also taken an active interest in the welfare of the city and in local government, standing for progress, reform and improve- ment in the management of municipal inter- ests. His business career is such as any man might be proud to possess, being characterized by consecutive advancement and successful achievement. His fidelity to any obligation which he incurs, his ready understanding of business complications and his utility of op- portunity have been the salient features in a business career which is as admirable as it is gratifying.

THOMAS GRANVIL LASITER. The busi- ness of the farm has known Mr. Lasiter during the twenty-one years of his independent career and Wise county witnessed his first efforts in the full flush of man's estate. He came hither in the year 1883 and, having limited means, pur- chased forty acres of land, the nucleus of his present home, and at once took up the task of grubbing out a farm and laying the foundation for his future comfortable home. Continuous and unremitting toil have surmounted difficul- ties and accomplished for him the chief aim in: every rural life, the acquirement of a. retreat where one can "recline under his own vine and fig tree."

Cannon county, Tennessee, was the native- place of Thomas G. Lasiter, and he was born: September 22, 1864. His father William Mc .. 'Lasiter, died a young man of twenty-eight, in. the year 1866, just after having passed through the Civil war as a Confederate soldier. The latter was also a Tennesseean, and a son of Brinkley Lasiter, who settled in Smith county, Texas, in an early day, and died there. Grand- father Lasiter was of Irish origin. His wife died while the family yet lived in Tennessee, and their five children were: Angelina, wife of William Good; Susan, who married Jacob Good; William Mc., our subject's father; John, of Smith county, Texas; and Maria, who married Dock York, and resides in the same county.

William Mc. Lasiter married Mary E. Wither- spoon, who was born in Tennessee, in 1841, and she lived a widow while her children were grow- ing up and then married, in Wise county, Ste- phen Tunnell. A daughter and a son, by her first husband, were her only children and they were Susie, who died unmarried, and Thomas G., of this review.

Thomas G. Lasiter was eleven years of age when he came to Texas and the first seven years the family lived in Ellis county. His life has ever been rural and the country school con- tributed limitedly toward his education. He and his mother remained companions until after his own marriage, and the establishment for them of a permanent home. As his circum- stances warranted he added a forty acres to his. first purchase of land until three of them had found their way into the square forming the quarter of a section he now owns, and the com- bined labors of the family have been attended with pleasing and happy results.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 100

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: 972

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: 972