A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 111

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 111

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brick. The boilers are also heated by oil fires. The cost of improvements during the year amounted to five thousand dollars. A new dis- integrator of the latest pattern has been added. This machine pulverizes the shale to a sixty mesh, the product of which is used for the best quality of brick. A new press devoted to the manufacture of ornamental bricks of every de- sign has also been installed. The personnel of the company includes the following stanch and progressive business men: W. F. Robinson, E. Hewitt Rodgers, Edward Rodgers, J. H. White and W. J. Harris. Mr. Robinson is president and Mr. E. Hewitt Rodgers is secre- tary and treasurer.

Pleasantly situated in his home life, Mr. Rob- inson was married to Miss Bliss Witt, of Ysleta, Texas, a daughter of Captain Witt of that city, formerly of Dallas. They now have two daugh- ters, Louise and Mary. Mr. Robinson is a Knight Templar mason, in full sympathy with the teachings and tenets of the craft. Moreover, in El Paso he ranks among the men whose devotion to the general good is above ques- tion, and he gives his active and helpful co-opera- tion to many movements for the general good. His popularity is well deserved, as in him are embraced the characteristics of an unbending integrity, unabating energy and industry that never flags. He is public-spirited and thorough- ly interested in whatever tends to promote the moral, intellectual and material welfare of his city.

JOHN B. BLANTON, M. D. For forty years the late Dr. Blanton, of Chico, maintained the dignity and honor of the medical profession. For more than thirty years he practiced among the people of Wise county, where he laid down his life, and both as a physician and a citizen he won the friendship and merited the praise of a wide constituency and acquitted himself as be- comes a gentleman and a man. Coming from a family of doctors, as he did, he was peculiarly and especially fitted and equipped by nature to battle with disease and to encourage the af- flicted, and when he was taken away his roof alone did not cover the house of mourning.

Murray county, Kentucky, gave Dr. Blanton birth February 24, 1839. Dr. Jacob Blanton, his father, was a Virginia man and a Cumber- land Presbyterian minister, taking up active church work when he abandoned medicine and closing his life in Clay county, Texas, in the ministry in 1879. He was born in 1808 and stud- ied medicine thoroughly, graduating from two

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

colleges of the craft and pursued his profession with much success. He moved into Kentucky when it was new and before the rebellion settled in Arkansas. For his wife he chose Sarah Don- nell, who bore him three children, namely: Mary, the wife of John D. Smyth, of Parker county, Texas; James W., who died at Chico, and the subject of this sketch.

John B. Blanton acquired a liberal scholastic education, and the foundation for a professional career was well laid before he began his prepa- ration regularly for the work. He took lectures in the Virginia College of Medicine at Richmond and graduated in 1860. He had hardly begun his career when the war came on and he was made a surgeon in the Confederate service. General Cabell, of Dallas, was his commanding officer and he was also attached to the army of General Lee. After the war he located at Clif- ton, Texas, and, in 1874, he came to Wise county and established himself at Aurora. After prac- tising there a few years he removed to Decatur, and in 1880, came to Chico, where his death occurred April 25, 1904. In 1869 the Doctor took a course of lectures at Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, taking a diploma from the institution. He served many years as a member of the Board of Medical Examiners for Wise county, and was recognized everywhere as authority on matters pertaining to his pro- fession. He took no leading interest in politics, as doctors sometimes do, but held to the prin- ciples of Democracy with an abiding faith. The emoluments from his practice were considera- ble and he amassed property in real estate to provide comfortably for his family when he should be taken away. He encouraged his two sons to take up medicine as their life work and saw them strongly equipped and engaged in successful practice before his death.

Dr. Blanton first married Miss Frusie Peek, at Clarksville, Texas, but she passed away with- out issue. In 1867 he married Mattie J. Clark in Coryell county. She was a daugher of Will- iam D. Clark who settled there in 1855 from Bedford county, Tennessee, and died in 1893. Mr. Clark married Eliza R. Kelton, who passed away in 1896, the mother of James L., of Hico, Texas; Mrs. Dr. Blanton; Thomas, deceased; William, of Marlin, Texas; Anna, wife of Will- iam Kincaid, of Buffalo Gap, Texas; Newton, of Waco; Samuel, of Hico, and Finis, of Merkel, Texas. Four children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Blanton, viz .: Della, widow of Walter Tad- lock, of Chico; Dr. William P., of Crafton, a graduate of the Louisville Medical College, and

married to Piety Borden, with children, J. Bur- gess, B. F. and Pancoast; Emma, who married E. A. Wells, of Wellington, Collingsworth coun- ty, Texas, and has issue, Ruth, Blanton, Mor- ris and Eddie; Dr. John J., the youngest, was born in Wise county, Texas, in 1876, and gradu- ated from the University of Nashville, Tennes- see, in 1900. He succeeded to the practice of his able and worthy father and is already re- ferred to as a foremost practitioner of Chico. He married Miss Cue McCurdy in 1901.

WILLIAM A. MCCUTCHEON is by all odds one of the most prominent figures in the business and financial activity in Wichita Falls. He is now president and devotes all his time to the Wichita Falls Implement Company, but since the town began its period of great growth some twenty years ago he has been identified in num- berless ways with important enterprises pro- moting the upbuilding of town and country. No stancher advocate of the city can be found than Mr. Mccutcheon, and he is public-spirited in an eminent degree. In character he is a most affable and genial gentleman, and has friends wherever he goes.

His own career and the history of several gen- erations of his forefathers have been centered in the sunny southland, and enterprise and ability have distinguished all the Mccutcheons. His paternal grandfather was the Rev. Mark Mccutcheon, who was a fine and brave old char- acter, and was a pioneer minister of the Metho- dist church in Georgia, at a day when even a minister of the gospel was obliged to carry a rifle in his itinerant labors and his goings to and fro among his parishioners. The ancestry of the family is Scotch-Irish.

Mr. Mccutcheon is himself a native of Shreve- port, Louisiana, where he was born in 1855, being a son of William M. and Elizabeth (Nicholson) Mccutcheon. His mother was a member of a prominent family of Shreveport, and died in that city during the sixties. His father was born at Columbus, Georgia, but when a young man he moved to the vicinity of Shreveport, Louisiana, where he became a wealthy planter and slave- owner. His plantation was situated on the Red river and was one of the largest cotton-producing farms in the state. During the war his fortune was largely sacrificed to the Confederate cause through his liberal contributions and through the general havoc wrought to all industries by the demon of war. He was comparatively poor when peace was finally restored, but he was a man of great ability and resources, and at once began all over again and before his death was well to

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

the top in material success. After the war he moved to Anderson county, Texas, and made a comfortable fortune as a cattleman and farmer in that county. He died there in 1873, aged sixty- five years.

Mr. William A. Mccutcheon was a lad at the time the family moved to Anderson county, Tex- as. He was reared there, and his education was as good as could be obtained from the facilities of those times and in that community. About his first employment away from his father's home was as bookkeeper in the store of his uncle, W. A. Haygood, at Magnolia. There were then no railroads in the vicinity, and Magnolia, being at the head of navigation of the Trinity river, en- joyed a large trade for miles around. The head- quarters of this trade was the Haygood store, which was a large establishment and carried everything needed by anybody in the surrounding country. In this place young Mccutcheon re- ceived a fine training in mercantile life and in bookkeeping and accounting, and he remained with Mr. Haygood about three years.

In 1880 he went to Shreveport and took a po- sition in the office of another uncle, S. B. Mc- Cutcheon, who was then a large cotton factor there and is now a banker of that city. S. B. Mc- Cutcheon withdrew from the enterprise after a time, and his nephew William then bought a half interest in the business, the firm becoming Perrin & Mccutcheon. For several years they handled about one-seventh of the entire cotton output of the Shreveport district, which is one of the largest producing regions of the south. From this ex- tensive business Mr. Mccutcheon was compelled to withdraw in 1883 on account of the climate not agreeing with his health, and he therefore sold out his interests as factor and came to the new town of Wichita Falls, which only the year before had been incorporated and which was just then beginning its rapid growth.

His business foresight indicated real estate as the best source of investment, and he at once be- gan dealing in property. He was highly success- ful, and consummated many deals in quick succes- sion. Besides realty he also bought stocks of goods, and he often, in earlier years, doubled his money in his transactions. At one time he had both a drug store and a grocery on his hands, and both proved profitable invest- ments. In 1888, at the earnest solicitation of a number of the stockholders, he bought an inter- est in and took charge of as cashier the Pan- handle National Bank of Wichita Falls (now the First National). His business training and finan- cial ability were the most valuable assets of this institution during the time of the panic of '93,

and he saved the bank's credit while other banks were going to pieces all over the country. Through his efforts and influence the bank obtained a line of credit at Fort Worth and Galveston, and by this means the Panhandle was saved from any embarrassment and not a dollar was lost to its depositors or stockholders. He was cashier of the bank from 1888 to 1894, and during that time its deposits increased from twenty-five thousand dollars to between one hundred and fifty and two hundred thousand dollars. There is no safer and more reliable financial institution in North or Northwest Texas than the present First National Bank, and this is due in large measure to the poli- cy and management inaugurated in its early his- tory by Mr. Mccutcheon.

After leaving the bank he again devoted all his time to real estate operations. With Colonel Specht, he bought several thousand acres of land in Wichita county, about ten miles north of Wichita Falls, and organized the Illinois Colony, which was the means of settling these lands with substantial farmers, mostly from the north, who are now well fixed and enjoying great prosperity. The town that has grown up at this place con- tains residences, churches and other improve- ments surpassing those in many large towns. The postoffice of the colony is called Thornbury, but it is better known as Illinois Colony. Mr. . McCutcheon himself owns one of the finest ranches in this part of the country, consisting of twenty-five hundred acres of land north of the Illinois Colony, on the Red river. This is a fine property, and special attention is given to the raising of Hereford cattle and Shetland ponies.

In October, 1903, Mr. Mccutcheon became owner by purchase of the controlling interest in the Wichita Falls Implement Company, incorpo- rated, of which he is president and to the man- agement of which he devotes all his time. This establishment was instituted in the early days of Wichita Falls by the Jackson Brothers, and has from the first done a large and successful busi- ness. Its trade now amounts to a hundred thou- sand dollars annually. It is one of the most im- portant mercantile houses of the city, and sup- plies the demands of many miles of surround- ing country.

Mr. Mccutcheon has a fine record of business successes and has never made a failure. He is a wealthy man and a valuable citizen. One rea- son for the happy results of his life work is to be found in his broad-mindedness. He has usual- ly found something to learn from every circum- stance and from everybody, and has thus been able to adapt himself readily to the changing rela- tions of a busy and progressive career. He has

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

served his city several times on the board of al- dermen, and as such, in co-operation with.several other public-spirited men of the board, succeeded in redeeming the city from debt and putting its affairs on a substantial basis. For several years he has been treasurer of the Episcopal church of Wichita Falls, and is also treasurer of the Ma- sonic lodge.

Mr. Mccutcheon was married at Columbus, Georgia, January 4, 1884, to Miss Evelyn G. Rooney. Her father, Lawrence Rooney, was originally a Yankee furniture manufacturer in New York, but came to Columbus, Georgia, where he married a southern lady. Miss Brown, and in that city built up a large furniture busi- ness, one of the most important establishments of the place. Mrs. McCutcheon received her college education in Virginia, and later was a student in a music conservatory of New York City. She is a highly cultured lady, and a leading influence in the social circles of Wichita Falls, although she is pre-eminently domestic and cares most to keep bright and happy her own home circle. Mr. and Mrs. McCutcheon have four sons, Willham L., Clarence M., Melville M. and Herman H.

HENRY H. WALKER, well known as a stock farmer and early settler of Montague county, was born in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, October 18, 1847. His father, Harbert Walker, was a native of South Carolina and the grand- father, Joseph R. Walker, was likewise born in that state. The latter was a planter and slave owner, respected in his community as a reliable business man of broad mind and kindly disposi- tion. In fact, he was a typical gentleman of the old school and his entire life was passed in the state of his nativity, where he was esteemed by all with whom he came in contact. In his family were ten children: John A., Robert, Golifan, Alexander, Harbert, Harriet, Elizabeth, Sarah, Mrs. Ann Holmes and one whose name is for- gotten.

Harbert Walker was born in 1810 and died March, 1866, was reared in his father's home, spending his boyhood days under the parental roof. In early manhood he was united in mar- riage to Miss Mary C. Martin, a native of Ala- bama. Little is known concerning the history of her family. She was the third in order of birth, however, in a family of four children, the others being: John, William and Mrs. Ann Bledsoe.

At the time of their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Harbert Walker settled on a cotton plantation in Louisiana and he became a prominent and

prosperous planter and slave owner of that lo- cality. He gave his entire attention to the super- vision of his business interests and there lived quietly and happily until after the outbreak of the Civil war, which took from him much of the earnings of a lifetime and caused a marked depreciation in the value of his estate, owing to the depredations and ravages of war. He was a secessionist and used his influence in behalf of the Confederacy, but was too old to enter active service as a soldier. In his political affilia- tion he was a stanch Democrat, but was never an aspirant for office, preferring to give his attention to the management of his plantation. He possessed many sterling traits of character, which won him confidence and warm friend- ship and he was one of the leading residents of his parish. He died at the old homestead in Louisiana in 1866, while his wife passed away in 1863. They had become the parents of eight children: John, who died in early man- hood; Sarah E., the wife of D. T: McDade; Harbert and Edward, both deceased; George W., who served throughout the Civil war as a member of the Confederate army; Jane and Ann, who have likewise passed away, and Henry H., who is now the only surviving member of the family. By a third marriage, to Miss Mary Embry, Mr. Stinson had one son, Charles.

Until seventeen years of age Henry H. Walker remained under the parental roof and then in 1864 joined the state troops of Louisiana for the support of the Confederacy. His services were confined to that state, where he did guard, reserve and patrol duty. At length he was paroled at Natchitoches, Louisiana, and returned home. He then resumed work on the old plan- tation, where he remained until 1867, in which year he was married, the lady of his choice being Miss Ann J. Stinson, who was born in Louisi- ana in 1850, her parents being Mr. and Mrs. Alexander T. Stinson of Alabama. Her father conducted a grist and saw mill, giving his undi- vided attention to his business affairs. He also carried on farming to some extent and never divided his time with political office, having no aspiration in that direction. His children by his first wife, Elizabeth Lampkin, were: William, John, Samuel, George, Primmie, who became Mrs. Carlton, and after the death of her first hus- band married Mr. Stone; Eliza, the wife of R. M. Lewis; Ann J., now Mrs. Walker ; Thomas and Zeno. Samuel died while serving in the Civil war as a Confederate soldier and George was also in the service of the south during that war.

A. T. Stinson's second wife was Martha Lewis

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Singleton, the mother of five children-Robert, Mollie, Willie, Oscar, David.

Following his marriage, Mr. Walker settled upon the farm which was a part of the old family homestead and later lived upon other farms until 1874, when he came to Texas, first locating in Grayson county. Later he removed to Cooke county and in August, 1881, took up his abode in Montague county, where he was employed by Mr. Belcher, an extensive cattle rancher, as su- perintendent of his large cattle ranch. In this business he continued for a number of years and in 1883 he purchased three hundred and ten acres of land from Mr. Belcher, to which he afterward added until he now has four hundred and sixty acres, all purchased from the Belcher ranch tract. It is nicely located, the soil is pro- ductive, the fields are well fenced and he has made substantial improvements on the property, having now a commodious residence, good barn and all necessary buildings for the shelter of grain and stock. One hundred and twenty acres of the land is under a high state of cultivation and in connection with general farming he also handles some cattle. He annually harvests good crops and in both his farming and stock-raising interests he has met with a fair measure of suc- cess. He has firm faith in the future develop- ment of Montague county and he has taken an active part in bringing it up to its present high standard of cultivation. In politics he is a strong Democrat and though well qualified to fill any office within the gift of his fellow townsmen in the county he has always preferred to give his time and energies to his business interests. He was, however, once a candidate for county assessor, but did not make much of a canvass and was defeated by a small majority. He is a past master of Belcher Lodge, A., F. & A. M., and has taken the Royal Arch degrees of the chapter. He belongs to the Missionary Bap- tist church and both he and his wife are held in high esteem in the community where they re- side and where they have a circle of friends almost co-extensive with the circle of their ac- quaintance.

JOHN ROBERT DAVENPORT. The effi- cient treasurer of Wise county, named as the subject of this personal record, was born at Rienzi, Mississippi, May 7, 1851, and passed his childhood and youth around Booneville, Pren- tiss county, where rustic scenes were his famil- iar haunts. His father, William Davenport, was a Georgian and his grandfather, Henry Daven- port, was a native of Virginia.

In the first quarter of the nineteenth century Henry Davenport journeyed on horseback, with his young wife, from their Virginia home into the southland and began life near Americus, Georgia. As farmers they maintained them- selves and there they reared their family and finally passed away. Their children were: Amanda, Henry, Smith, Robert, Thomas, Will- iam and Elizabeth.

A more detailed account of the family his- tory is thus given :-

The great-great-grandfather was (I) Cenus Davenport, a Revolutionary soldier from Vir- ginia, who had two sons, Henry and Thomas (perhaps others and daughters, too, though no knowledge of them is now extant).

(2) Thomas settled on a farm near the town (now city) of Petersburg, Virginia, and it is said that much of the site of the city once was part of his farm. He reared two sons, Thomas and Henry.

(3) Henry came to Georgia when a young man and settled on Oconee river, then Clarke coun- ty, now Oconee county. By help of the Indians and one or two negroes hired from the few white settlers, he built him a log house, crib and stables, then, mounting his fine horse, rode back to Virginia, where he married Elizabeth Easley of his native county. The wedding over, both rode horseback all the way south to his Georgia farm, bringing his slaves, wagons, horses, deerhounds, fighting cocks, etc. The huntsman's horn that he brought with him, also the identical coffeemill that he used on that trip and later put up in his cook room, where it was in constant use until two years ago, are still treasured as heirlooms in the family of H. T. Davenport of Americus, Ga.

The grandmother died at about thirty-seven years of age, and is buried on the old first settle- ment in Oconee county near Candy postoffice, with one daughter, who died very young. Grandfather afterwards married a Miss Ward of Kentucky, sold out and moved to Salem cross- roads in Oconee county, and lived and died and is buried there side by side with his last wife. This couple never had any children, and after grandfather Davenport's death his widow mar- ried a Judge McWhorter of Athens, Ga., whom she survived a few years and at her death in- sisted on being buried beside her first husband on their little farm at old Salem.

Of Henry (3) Davenport's children: Amanda married Hampton Watts, who died, leaving his widow with Mary, Thomas, Fannie, William, Harrison, Sallie and George (the last an infant),

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without home or money, but from assistance fiom their Uncle Henry they received fair edu- cations and married. The first four are now dead, but have children and grandchildren. Harrison Watts lives in Sumter county, Geor- gia; Sallie Shockley lives on a farm in the same locality and is a widow with two grown daugh- ters; George Watts married and has one daugh- ter.

Thomas lost the wife of his early years, and his daughter Mary married a prosperous Dr. Bently of Leatherville, Lincoln county, Ga., who left her, at his death, four thousand acres of land and seven or eight children, all grown. She is still living. After the death of his first wife Thomas lived a widower thirty-one years and then married a young widow, by whom he had two sons and three daughters-Robert, Olivia, Mattie, Carrie and William.

Elizabeth married J. H. Maddox, and left children, Mattie and Josiah. Mattie married Barton Middlebrooks and reared a large family of boys and girls, and they live in Oconee coun- ty. Josiah married a Miss Clark and lives near Greensboro, Ga., having a large family.

Smith married Miss Mattie Hillsman, and of their twelve children the following grew up: Edward, who died in the army in 1862; William R., who married his cousin Fannie Easly Dav- enport (Daughter of Robert), and she, now a widow, lives on a farm in Gonzales county, Teaxs; and Bettie, the only one now living, who married a lawyer, Thomas H. Pickett (deceased), and has a family of children.

Henry married Miss Julia Caroline Rymes. He died at the age of sixty-four, and his wife survived him a quarter of a century to the age of eighty-nine years and past. Their six children : Josephine married J. W. Shropshire, both de- ceased, with three daughters living. Rymes died at the age of four years. Victoria married J. A. Shields, by whom she had one son, J. A., and married second, J. W. F. Lowrey, a merchant of Dawson, Georgia. H. T., of Americus, Georgia, who married Miss L. E. Harrold and has two children. Lavonia died at the age of sixteen in 1862. Maria Rymes, who married S. J. Wal- ters, of Sumter county, Ga., is a widow with a daughter thirteen years old.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 111

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