A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 136

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 136

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Mr. Lutz established himself in the land busi- ness at Vernon, and has been identified with that department of enterprise ever since with the exception of a few months that he spent as a mechanical expert on construction work for the M. K. & T. and the Santa Fe railroads when those lines were being built into Texas during the eighties. In addition to his private land dealings he is agent for and handles a large lot of the railroad lands in northwestern Texas belonging to the Houston and Texas Central Railroad. The real estate business affords not only a large field for individual business enter- prise but also great opportunities for public- spirited development and work in behalf of growing communities and expanding indus- tries. Mr. Lutz has been especially conspicu- ous in this phase of his work, and has spent freely to his time and money in advertising the advantages of Vernon and Wilbarger county, and has thus been a potent factor in bringing the population and prosperity of the country to a point where it will compare most favorably with any communities in Northwest Texas, having started in when no farming whatever was done in this section of the state. Mr. Lutz has also dealt extensively in Texas lands gen- erally, and during his busy career in this city he has promoted many large and important deals.

Mr. Lutz is a strong Republican in his politi- cal convictions, but his honestly felt and hon- estly expressed sentiments, while forbidding him a share in the life and affairs of the domi- nant party of the state, have none the less gained him the respect and esteem of all classes of citi- zens. As evidence of this and as a tribute to his worth his townsmen elected him to the of- fice of alderman, and he has continued in this position for several years, always being elected

S. E. Lutz

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

by a very large majority. As a Republican he has done much to preserve and increase the in- fluence of the party organization in this state. He was a delegate to the national convention in 1896, when Mckinley was nominated, and was also chosen a delegate to the party's na- tional convention in Chicago in June, 1904. He is senatorial chairman of the Republican state committee for the twenty-ninth senatorial dis- trict, and as such is a member of the state com- mittee.

In addition to land and real estate Mr. Lutz is in the insurance business. He has the abstract books for Wilbarger county. The country in this vicinity is thoroughly familiar to him, as he has been over it in every direction. He is a member of the executive committee of the Texas Real Estate and Industrial Association, with which he has been connected ever since its organization several years ago. At his own expense he prepared an attractive exhibit of the resources and productions of Wilbarger coun- ty for the St. Louis World's Fair, where he took the silver medals on wheat and on cantaloupes. At the Dallas Fair, 1905, he took first premium on the best county exhibit, and three first pre- miums on wheat, hard, soft, and winter wheat, and second on oats.

Mr. Lutz is a Mason with the Knight Tem- plar degrees and is connected with the local commandery.

He was married at Vernon, December 25, 1897, to Miss Maud Thurman, and they have three children: John, Robert and Mary.

JAMES M. McNABB, a veteran of the Con- federate army and one of the early settlers of Cooke county, is a man of strength of character, of firm purpose and of splendid qualities. He is now devoting his attention to farming and stock-raising. His birth occurred in east Ten- nessee, February 26, 1841, and he was reared to the honest toil of the farm, while the com- mon schools afforded him his educational privi- leges. His parents were James P. and Esther (Flanagan) McNabb, both of whom were na- tives of Tennessee, where they were married. The paternal grandfather, Nathan McNabb, was also a native of that state, and was of Scotch- Irish descent. The family was established in America at an early period in the development of the new world and representatives of the name became pioneer settlers of Tennessee. Nathan McNabb became a prominent farmer and en- joyed the trust and confidence of the people throughout the community in which he lived. He made his home in Tennessee up to the time of

his death. His children were: James P., father of our subject; Nathaniel, who died in Texas; Alford and Armstrong, who died in Tennessee ; Mrs. Lorina Stanley ; and Fode.

James P. McNabb spent his youth in the state of his nativity and was there married, after which he began farming among the Cherokee Indians, who still inhabited that section of the state. In 1851 he sold his property there and removed to Missouri, where he carried on gen- eral agricultural pursuits until 1858. That year witnessed the arrival of the family in Texas and they first located in Fannin county, where they raised two crops, coming thence to Cooke county in 1860. They located the homestead near the site of Marysville, although the village has been platted since that time. The father secured one hundred and sixty acres of land and later pur- chased eighty acres. This he transformed into a good farm whereon he spent his remaining days. The family all came together to Texas and the mother died in this county, after which the father returned to Missouri, where his death occurred in 1897. Both were members of the Methodist church and they were well known in the community where their many excellent traits of heart and mind gained them the friend- ship of those with whom they were associated. In their family were nine children: A. H., who yet resides in Missouri; Mathew, who died in that state at the age of eighteen years; James M., of this review; Theodore W., who is living in Nocona, Texas; Mary E., the wife of J. Thomas; Nathaniel, who died in this state, leav- ing a family; W. A., who died in Missouri; Rebecca J., who married and died in Missouri ; and Lucretia, the wife of M. Hoff, of this county.

James M. McNabb accompanied his parents on their various removals until he became a res- ident of Texas. Here he assumed the manage- ment of his father's land and had erected a cabin and secured some of the comforts of life, at the same time placing a part of his land under cul- tivation. He was married on the 30th of Decem- ber, 1865, and was making arrangements for a permanent settlement when in 1862 he enlisted for service in the Confederate army as a mem- ber of the Twenty-ninth Texas Cavalry under command of Colonel DeMoss. The regiment was assigned to the Trans-Mississippi department and did service largely in Arkansas and the Indian Territory, taking part in many skirmishes and some fights. After reaching Fort Wichita, Mr. McNabb was granted a thirty-days furlough and this saved his entire family from being massacred

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

by Indians. It was in the fall of 1863 and while at home he heard that the red men were on a raid. That night all the family left the cabin and went to a neighbor's a few miles away. The following morning Mr. McNabb returned to the house alone with a saddle horse which he hitched in the yard. He was looking about the cabin when he saw the red men and as he left the house he discovered that he was almost sur- rounded, but noticing a vacant space he mounted his horse and made his escape. The Indians helped themselves to whatever they wanted, burned the house and all its contents and left the family with only what they wore. The Indi- ans then went to the next house, that of Mr. Potter, but they, too, had gone to the Saunders home where the McNabbs had taken refuge. There they pillaged and burned the place, after which they started for the Saunders' home, where the settlers had congregated and were making ready to fight. As the Indians approached Cap- tain Bowland also came with a part of his fron- tier company and a battle ensued, three white men being killed, after which they were buried in blankets. The killed among the Indians was not known, for according to their custom they carried off their dead. They continued on in the direction of Gainesville and picked up a large herd of horses with which they made across the Red river. This was the only fight with the Indians in which Mr. McNabb took part.

Owing to the unsettled condition of the coun- try and the constantly threatened dangers, he re- moved his family to Fannin county, where they remained until after the war was over. All of his personal property-horses, household goods, clothing and provisions-had been taken and either used or destroyed by the Indians and the family were therefore in a sad plight. After set- tling in Fannin county Mr. McNabb returned to the army and joined his command in Arkansas on the Red river, where the troops were en- camped for the winter. The following spring they started in pursuit of the Federal troops which they followed to Camden, where a fight had taken place, known as the Saline river en- gagement. Later Mr. McNabb with his regiment took part in the campaigns through Arkansas and eventually reached Hempstead, Texas, where news of Lec's surrender was received. The

regiment then disbanded, its members returning to their homes. Some time before they had been dismounted and all were compelled to make their way home as best they could, most of them cov- cring the distance on foot. Mr. McNabb had participated in many skirmishes and some hotly

contested battles but was never wounded nor captured. He saw hard service and underwent many deprivations and trials incident to warfare.

When hostilities were over he joined his fam- ily in Fannin county and they soon afterward re- turned to the old homestead in Cooke county in 1865. The conditions that met them would have utterly discouraged many a man of less resolute spirit, for he had everything to make and nothing to lose, owing to the depredations of the Indians and the devastation of war. He built a cabin, made boards to cover it and for a short time slept on the dirt floor. Later he obtained poles which he inserted into holes bored into the logs in the corner of the cabin and also into a post set in the ground and thus he made a bedstead. The Indians continued their hostilities and depre- dations for some time and Mr. McNabb remained upon the farm until 1867, when he sold out and removed to Missouri, but made no permanent settlement in that state. He did freighting and other such work as he could secure to make an honest living and in the fall of 1870 returned to Texas, locating in Grayson county, where he rented land and carried on farming for seven years. In 1877 he came to Montague county, where he purchased land and yet makes his home. He first became owner of two hundred acres in the cross timber and built thereon a small box-house. Within a short time he had placed some of his land under cultivation and as the years have gone by the farm has become self-supporting and as his finan- cial resources have increased he has added to the property until he now owns six hundred and forty acres. He has removed the house from its original to its present site, has added to it and remodeled it and now has a commodious frame residence. There are also good barns and out- buildings on the place, a wind-mill and water for all purposes. There is likewise a bearing orchard and the farm is a well improved property with two hundred acres under cultivation devoted to the raising of various crops. He has also given considerable attention to stock raising and has had some very fine horses. As the years passed by he prospered in his undertakings and now that his children are all married and he and his wife are left alone they are spending the evening of life in the enjoyment of the fruits of their former toil, Mr. McNabb having rented his farm lands and retired from active labor.

It was on the 30th of December. 1860, that Mr. McNabb was married to Miss Eliza A. Chapman, who was born in Knox county, Ten- nessee, in 1843. Her parents were Aciel P. and

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

Margaret E. (Hood) Chapman, both of whom were natives of Tennessee. The father was a son of James T. Chapman, who resided at Mem- phis, Tennessee, and on one occasion all of the members of the family who were at home were stricken and died of yellow fever, save the father, who afterward removed to Knox county, where his death occurred. His children were: Addeberry, Aciel, William, Charles and. Mrs. Malinda Landis.

Aciel Chapman was reared to manhood in Knox county, where he married, and later he removed to Roan county, while subsequently he became a resident of Missouri, where he was en- gaged in farming. He afterward took up his abode in Tennessee and was a river man, act- E. F. BUSH is a representative of the indus- ing as captain of some boats on the Ohio, Ten- . trial life of Denison, being engaged in the opera- nessee and other rivers for many years. In Mis- tion of a stone quarry and in the sale of lime and stone. He was born in Illinois in 1847, his parents being Charles D. and Emily (Dodge) Bush, in whose family were eleven children, of whom four are yet living, but E. F. Bush of this review is the only one in Texas. In early life the father was a farmer and his last years were spent in Illinois and Kansas, where he de- voted his time and energies to the raising of fruit. He died in southern Illinois at the age of fifty-eight years, while his wife passed away at the age of forty-four years. One of their sons, Melville Bush, was a soldier of the Civil war and was wounded at Lookout Mountain, after which he spent a year in the hospital. He is now deceased. souri he devoted four years to farming and in 1859 he removed to Texas, settling in Jack coun- ty, where he purchased land and began its im- provement. While on a deer hunt he was killed by a band of Indians, in July, 1860, being then forty years of age. His early manhood had been spent in steamboating, but later he de- termined to give his attention to farming. This plan, however, was frustrated by his early death. His wife raised one crop in Parker county and in 1862 removed with her family to Cooke county, where she afterward became the wife of G. W. Kitchen. To avoid the war troubles and the In- dian depredations they settled south of San An- tonio, where they remained, until called to their final rest, Mrs. Kitchen passing away in August, 1905. She was a consistent member of the Bap- tist church. By her first marriage she had nine children : James T., who is living in Dallas, Texas; Mrs. Eliza McNabb; Mrs. Mandaily Sweeton; Frank T., a farmer of western Texas; Mark, who was killed by Indians in Cooke county in 1867; Mrs. Candace Langley ; Josephus, a far- mer; John, a farmer and stock man, who died leaving a wife and two children; and Charles, a farmer and butcher.

Mr. and Mrs. McNabb have become the pa- rents of seven children: Joseph P., a resident farmer of Oklahoma; A. L., who is following agricultural pursuits in the Indian Territory ; Mary E., the wife of S. Carpenter; Ed. L., a farmer of the Territory; Lilly A., who became Mrs. Tucker and after his death married Mr. Patterson, their home being now in the Choctaw Nation ; Rosa A., the wife of J. H. Goodpas- ture, of Whitesboro, Texas; and Ina M., the wife of T. S. Goodpasture, a farmer of the In- dian Territory. The family circle yet remains

unbroken by the hand of death and all of the children are well settled in life.

Mr. McNabb, as the architect of his own fortunes, has builded wisely and well. He has had only the assistance of his wife, who has been to him a faithful companion and helpmate on life's journey. Together they have lived and la- bored and have created a good estate, all be- ing made in Montague county. Many hardships, trials and difficulties fell to their lot in their early married life but as the years have gone by their labor and perseverance have overcome these and prosperity has now crowned their ef- forts.

E. F. Bush, accompanying his parents on their various removals, pursued his education in the schools of Illinois and Kansas and in the fall of 1873, when twenty-six years of age, came to Denison, Texas. He had previously had practi- cal experience at farm work and in the cultiva- tion of fruit through the assistance which he rendered his father, and on reaching this city he engaged in the fruit business and market gardening, raising berries, grapes and peaches on land which is now within the corporation lim- its of the city. Upon this land is also a good stone quarry, which he is now operating, having taken out over one thousand tons of stone. He makes large sales of lime and stone annually and in fact has the controlling trade for stone work of all kinds, including the foundations for buildings as well as street work. At the present time he has a contract with the city of Denison to furnish limestone for its public highways.

At the time of the Civil war Mr. Bush served for nearly two years as a private of Company I, in the Eleventh Kansas Regiment and was a

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

brave soldier, loyal to the cause he espoused. In 1875 he wedded Mary Campbell, who was born' in Red River, Texas, and they have four living children. Oliver, who was born in Denison and' is a blacksmith by trade, wedded Mary Titrow and has one child, Oliver, born in Denison. El- len is the wife of J. W. Williams and has one child, Delma. James and Isamay are at home.

Since coming to Texas Mr. Bush has continu- ally enlarged the scope of his business operations and is today in control of an extensive trade, so that his annual income is gratifying. He has placed his dependence upon the substantial quali- ties of industry and untiring diligence and in ac- cordance with the precept of the old Greek phil- osopher, "Earn thy reward; the Gods give naught to sloth," he has so managed his business interests with perseverance and energy that he is today one of the substantial residents of Den- ison.

REV. WILLIAM JAMES GREGORY. Perhaps no life in Northwest Texas surpasses, in its beautiful simplicity, in the extent and ef- fectiveness of its labors, in the divine origin of its purposes and in the glory of its achieve- ments that of the venerable gentleman and aged minister whose name introduces this per- sonal record. A disciple of God's word from youth, a fountain of His bounteous grace and a patriarch in His public service, we behold him today ripened in the service of the Master and ready for the harvest which shall bring him unto his glorious reward.

A pioneer of the Lone Star state, Rev. Greg- ory has ministered to the spiritual wants of sev- cral generations of its worthy citizens and, in the counties of Grayson, Denton, Cooke and Wise, where his work has been chiefly done, his name is a household word and his virtues and excellences are chanted to every prattling tongue. One of the founders of the Cumber- land church, he has wielded a strong influence in its affairs in Texas and has proved a pillar of strength in winning souls to God and in adding members to his fa- vorite organization. Calvinism permeated the spiritual thought and action of his Scotch- blooded paternal grandfather and a zealous

regard for sacred things seems to have possessed the family down through the suc- ceeding generations. Orphaned in infancy by the death of his father, yet the influences under which he came to mature youth were pure and righteous and at the age of eighteen years his own conversion occurred and soon afterward

a call to gospel work was felt. From admonish- ing the people to exhorting was only a step and to filling the pulpit in regular ordination was but a few years removed from his conversion and for more than sixty years it can be said he has proclaimed the mission of Christ to a fal- len world.

As stated above, the origin of the Gregorys, and of the Clarkes-his mother's people-was Scotch. William Gregory, his grandfather, came out of North Carolina and founded the family some forty miles east of Louisville, where he is said to have opened a farm. He married Caroline Muse, a lady of wealth from Virginia, who bore him only James and Eliza- beth, wife of William Hatfield. He came down into Kentucky immediately succeeding the Revolutionary War, in which he was a patriot soldier, for James Gregory, his son and our sub- ject's father, was born in the new state of Daniel Boone in 1787. He was born in 1742, lived a model life and died in 1832, while his wife passed away in 1855.

James Gregory, as it will be noticed, grew up in the wilds of Kentucky and he married Nancy, a daughter of William and Nancy (Kirk) Clarke, old Virginia folks who settled at Louisville, in Nelson county, when only two or three rude huts marked the site of the now metropolis of the Corn Cracker state. Mr. Gregory died in 1822 and his widow remained unmarried until 1836, when she married David Evans, bore him two children who both died without surviving issue, and herself passed away in 1855.

The issue of James and Nancy Gregory were : Caroline, who married John Bailey and died in Louisville, Kentucky; Elizabeth became the wife of Burr Herndon and died in Nelson county ; Joseph, who passed his life as a Methodist minister and died in Kentucky : Millie married Isaac Johnson and passed away in her native state; Rev. William J., our sub- ject ; and Nancy, wife of Samuel Crumbaker.

William J. Gregory left his mother's home when she remarried and made his home with his sister near Louisville and acquired his education within the dark and gloomy walls of a windowless log cabin. His old masters were Webster's blue-back, Ray's arithmetic and Smith's grammar, and while he was not tied to the farm he was wrestling with the problems presented by two of these ancient authors. As he approached mature years he returned to the neighborhood of his mother's home, in Muhlen- burg county, and there he was converted and

W.g. (дляgory

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

met and soon afterward married the woman who has been the light of his life for 'sixty- six years.

The early years of his married life Mr. Greg- ory passed as a farmer, while at the same time filling appointments and growing yearly into the gospel work. Ill health forced him to leave Kentucky and, in company with Felix Grundy, his brother-in-law, he left by wagon for Texas, crossing the Mississippi at Memphis and start- ing the journey October 13, 1852. They traveled without incident-always observing the Sabbath, at rest-and reached their future home, a pre-emption six miles west of Sherman, November 27th following. After six years passed there in the subjugation of Nature he settled in the south part of Cooke county and again moved, to Denton county, in 1864 and lived there nine years, being then engaged in regular ministerial work.

In 1876 he again sought the frontier and settled a new farm in Wise county, now near the village of Chico. He hauled the lumber from Dallas to build his new home and his farm of four hun- dred and eight acres is on the Leftwich survey. Here he resumed his church work and organ- ized the first church in the village near by, and was its pastor for thirteen years. For many years he has been heard in the governing bodies of the church and whether in presbytery, synod or assembly his ripe judgment and his experi- ence has been a valuable aid in choosing and shaping a course which promoted church fel- lowship and church harmony 'throughout a remarkable era.

Rev. Gregory was born in Nelson county, Kentucky, November 29, 1820, and November 28, 1839, he married Millie Grundy, who was fifteen days younger than himself. Mrs. Greg- ory was a daughter of William and Ruth (Os- born) Grundy and has been a strong support to her worthy husband in his ministerial and social work. Their union has been blessed with issue as follows: Isaac, of Cooke county, who married Mary Copenhaver, and Joseph, also a farmer of that county, married Sarah Strahan; Drusilla became the wife of William Cannon and died in Cooke county ; Nancy, wife of Julius Griffis, of Wise county; Mary died in Denton county as Mrs. Ben. Donnell; Caroline married Noah Carnes, of Collingsworth county, and she will return to the old home to take care of her parents in their age; Samuel married Docia Brawley and resides in Cooke, and Laura is the wife of Charles Ward, of Canyon City, Texas.

HON. CHOICE BOSWELL RANDELL, member of congress from the fourth congres- sional district of Texas, is a man of high attain- ments, of profound erudition and practical ability as a lawyer, and is one who has achieved success in his profession. He was born in Murray coun- ty, Georgia, January 1, 1857, and of that com- monwealth his father, James Lawrence Randell, was also a native, the latter's birth having oc- curred on the 16th of February, 1816. During his active business career he was a planter and educator, and he is now living at Conway, Ar- kansas. His wife, nee Louisa A. Gartrell, was born in Wilkes county, Georgia, May 22, 1825, and her death occurred at Conway, Arkansas, on the 31st of May, 1904. In their family were four. sons and three daughters, of whom the Hon. C. B. Randell, was the fifth child in order of birth. The eldest, George Gartrell, located in Denison, Texas, in 1873, and there became a prominent and successful legal practitioner, be- ing well known in his profession throughout Grayson county. His death occurred on the 23rd of July, 1897. James Hoke is a well known law- yer in Denison, having prepared for his profes- sion under the preceptorship of his brother, Choice B. He removed from Sherman to Deni- son in 1888, and has there achieved success as a lawyer. Artemas Coleman was also an attor- ney, but in recent years has discontinued practice and is now located on a ranch in Indian Ter- ritory. The three daughters reside in Arkansas, the Misses Nellie G. and Bessie L., living with their father at Conway, while Mamie Lou be- came the wife of Edward A. Tabor, of Little Rock, where he is serving as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, South.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 136

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