A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 16

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

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After a military career of over two years Mr. Maddox returned to his home, and was there en- gaged in agricultural pursuits until 1873, when he started west, without any particular objective place, but with a view of finding a new and good country in which to establish a home. He had previously married Miss Sallie Hightower, a native of Georgia, and on the journey he was ac- companied by his wife and their only child, Rosa, who is now Mrs. T. L. Brown, of San Antonio, Texas. They had a wagon and hack, with good horses, and were well equipped for the journey. On arriving at Fort Worth, at that time not much more than a frontier settlement, without railroad facilities, Mr. Maddox was at first not favorably impressed with the place, but on being shown about the town by Captain Paddock, who in those days, as he has ever continued to be, was a great "boomer" for the city, and was so enthusiastic in his predictions as to what it was destined to be- come that Mr. Maddox decided to locate. He accordingly established himself in the livery busi- ness, and immediately joined hands with Captain Paddock in booming the town. He prospered in his undertakings, and continued in the livery busi- ness until 1880, when he was elected to the office of sheriff, and so faithfully did he perform the duties connected with that official position that he was three times re-elected, being its incumbent for six years.

Mr. Maddox's record as sheriff is one of which he may be justly proud, and constitutes his chief title to fame in the Lone Star state. He assumed the duties of the office at a time when lawlessness had grown to such proportions that criminals

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

and disreputable characters were but feebly com- batted, and Fort Worth was almost daily sub- jected to fights, brawls, murders and many other depredations. But the lawless element soon found that Mr. Maddox was a man of determination, sterling worth and absolutely fearless, with a sole aim of preserving law and order and protect- ing citizens and their property. Surrounding him- self with a picked corps of deputies known for their bravery and devotion to duty, it was not long until Fort Worth was enjoying the peace and quiet of a law-abiding community. Several notable murder and other cases were handled by the sheriff and his force during his term of office, chief among which may be mentioned the Knights of Labor strike, principally among rail- road employes, in 1886, the last of Mr. Maddox's regime. This was the occasion of much rioting and public disturbance, and to quell this he swore in a force of two hundred men, among them be- ing many well known residents of the city, At the close of his term of office his official affairs were in such excellent condition that he was en- abled to close up all matters with the board of county commissioners in half an hour, leaving a clean and honorable record, for which he was given special credit and commendation by that board in a statement for the press which they prepared on that occasion. Up to that time he was the only man who had served the county as sheriff three terms.

During the year following his retirement from office Mr. Maddox was engaged in the real estate business, after which he became a partner with Mr. Ellison in the furniture trade, with the firm name of Maddox, Ellison & Company. After ten years of continued prosperity as a member of that firm Mr. Maddox sold his interest to his partner and became a member of the furniture firm of Fakes & Company, in which he remained about one year. On the expiration of that period on account of ill health he decided to withdraw therefrom and again take up the real estate business, in which he has ever since been contin- uously engaged, conducting a general real estate and rental business, with offices in the Wheat building. Some years ago he purchased for his residence the old Joe Brown home, one of the historic places of Fort Worth, and this he re- modeled and refurnished, making it an ideal home. He also owns considerable business prop- erty in the city, and prior to the depression of 1893, with his brother, Colonel Robert E. Mad- dox, he was one of its largest taxpayers. Ever since taking up his residence here he has been a generous contributor to all public enterprises de- signed to promote the city's growth and upbuild-

ing, one of his first benefactions being a liberal contribution to the Texas & Pacific Railroad to locate in Fort Worth. He possesses those quali- ties which constitutes true citizenship, and whether in public or civil life will serve his fellow men well.

Four children have been added to the family of Mr. and Mrs. Maddox in Texas, namely: Mrs. Emma Covey, Walter T., Jr., Mrs. Eula Bill- heimer and H. Clyde Maddox. Mr. Maddox is a member of R. E. Lee Camp, U. C. V., in which he holds pleasant relations with his old army comrades of the gray, also of the Masonic order and the First Methodist church.

THEODORE O. WILSON. For eleven years the business of the Fort Worth & Denver Railway Company at Sunset was conducted by the subject of this review. He performed its multifarious duties with a care and patience and loyalty that would have been commended even in his private affairs, and when he resigned his posi- tion on October 14, 1904, it was to retire from eighteen years of strenuous life devoted to rail- road work. Following a period of rest he was se- lected to manage the business of the Bank of Sunset and, as its cashier, is identified with the business of his town.

In the pursuit of his calling Mr. Wilson drifted into Texas from Glenwood Springs, Colorado, where he had been in the employ of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway as telegraph operator for a year. He took a position as operator for the Denver road in Fort Worth and after two years of service the company sent him to the station at Sunset. He learned telegraphy at Hancock, Mis- souri, and took service with the Frisco company for four years, leaving their employ at Dixon to engage with the D. & R. G. people at Glenwood Springs.

Mr. Wilson began his westward itinerary as a teacher, starting from his native state and teach- ing his first school at Newport, Tennessee, two years, and concluding his work as a pedagogue in Pulaski county, Missouri, with another two years' work. He was born in Gilmer county, Georgia, June 10, 1862, a son of a farmer, Barnett Wilson, a native of Cocke county, Tennessee. For his wife Barnett Wilson married Miss Martha Quil- lian, a daughter of B. B. Quillian. He passed away in Gilmer county, Georgia, in 1889, while his widow still survives and resides in Collins- ville, Texas. The issue of their marriage were: W. V. Q., who died in Fairmount, Georgia ; Leola K., wife of John Hutchinson, died in Geor- gia; Theodore O. and Theodotus A., twins, the latter of Collinsville, Texas, and Lawrence, who

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

died in Cooke county, Texas, in November, 1904. While W. B. Quillian was a farmer in early life he was later, for fourteen years, superintendent of the Georgia Deaf and Dumb Institute and sub- sequent to this he was agent of the Western At- lantic Railway at Cass, Georgia, and postmaster of that place. Theodore O. Wilson was provided with a liberal education and completed it in Elli- jay Seminary, at Ellijay, Georgia. He began his career at the age of nineteen years, when he opened his first school at Newport, Tennessee. His eighteen years of office work was a training preparatory for the work of his present position and when he took charge of it he and his friends had no misgivings as to the result.

The Bank of Sunset is a private bank owned by T. C. Phillips and A. E. Thomas, and was opened for business first in 1904, with Sam Furman as owner and proprietor. It has a capital of $10,000 and deposits of $30,000, and is regarded as a safe and conservative institution.

Mr. Wilson was married at Sunset first Octo- ber 30, 1895, his wife being Miss Birdie Hum- phrey, a daughter of W. H. Humphrey from Kentucky. Mrs. Wilson died March 9, 1899, leaving a son, Herschel. August 12, 1900, Mr. Wilson married his wife's sister, Miss Eura Hum- phrey, and has an infant son.

While Mr. Wilson has had no connection with politics, he casts his ballot at elections and on all national issues is in line with the Republican party.

BENSON LANDRUM. The gentleman named as the subject of this article is Bowie's leading wholesale and retail feed and grain dlealer and has been identified with the Lone Star state since 1868, when his father settled in Falls county, where the remaining years of his youth were passed. In the thirty years of active identi- ty, chiefly with industrial affairs of Texas, his achievements have been such as to mark his ca- reer a successful one and today we find him taking a leading part in the domestic commerce of the metropolis of Montague county.

The family of which our subject is a worthy representative is an Alabama one, constructively, but actually from the Palmetto state of South Carolina. Its most remote ancestor accessible, George I .. Landrum, grandfather of our subject, was not its American founder, but George L. Landrum was born in South Carolina in 1768, saw some service with the Continentals during the Revolution and fought the English again in thie war of 1812. He married and reared a fam- ily of sons and daughters, as follows: Amelia, Samuel, who died in Falls county, Texas ; George,

who passed away in Kentucky ; Frances, of Bar- ber county, Alabama, married Quinny Wood; Rebecca, who became Mrs. William Dickson and died in Austin county, Texas; Richard died in Kentucky; Paulina married John Manley and died in Austin county, Texas, and Benjamin .L., who died in Falls county, Texas. The parents of this family left the Palmetto state and became settlers of Barber county, Alabama, where the father plied his trade as a gunsmith and black- smith and where he and his wife lie buried.

Benjamin L. Landrum, father of Benson of this notice, was born in Edgefield district, South Carolina, in 1818, and accompanied his parents, as a child, in their removals to the westward, first into Georgia, and finally into Henry county, Alabama, where he reached maturity and ac- quired a fair education. He chose the medical profession and prepared himself for his duties in the Philadelphia Medical College, graduating in 1841. He came to Texas and engaged in practice in Montgomery county, where he married, but soon returned to Alabama and practiced in Mont- gomery county until 1866, when he went to Loundes county, from which point, in 1868, he returned to Texas and identified himself with Falls county four years, then to Madison, then, in 1877, he located at New Ulms. in Austin county, where he remained nine years and then returned to Chilton, Texas, his former and last home.

During the rebellion Dr. Landrum was peti- tioned to remain with his profession as a citizen and this he was permitted to do, although having a desire to serve the state in the armies of the Confederate government. He was a man with positive opinions and maintained his position on questions at issue against all comers. He was a Democrat, but never sought nor filled office. His first wife was Mrs. Lizzie Page, a daughter of Mr. Park, a farmer of Madison county, Texas. Mrs. Landrum died in Loundes county, Alabama, in 1867, being the mother of: Nettie, deceased wife of Thomas Bentley, of Falls county, Texas ; George, of Madison county, Texas; Elmo, of Falls county ; Benson, our subject; Elizabeth, wife of Gus Tomlinson, of Falls county; Ella, Mrs. L. Tomlinson, of the same place; Carrie, wife of Jack Petitt, of Madison county, and Jo- seph, who died in LaSalle county, Texas.

In Austin county, Texas, Dr. Landrum mar- ried Miss Ferribe Lee, who survives him and re- sides in Falls county. The issue of this marriage is Louise, wife of J. J. Jones, and Benjamin, Jr., both of Falls county, Texas.

As Benson Landrum came to maturity he ac- quired a very good education and he discharged his obligation to his father by remaining a use-

W. L. CATE

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

ful adjunct to the family home till he was twenty- two years of age. At the opening of his inde- pendent career he ran cattle for a Falls county stockman for four years, following which he bor- rowed $250 and equipped himself with a team and implements for farming. He rented his father's place, kept bach, and cultivated it seven years. With the profits of this bachelor era he purchased a hundred acres, with which he busied himself for a few years, when he purchased the interests of the heirs in the old home and settled down to farming right. This gave him three hundred and twenty acres and, March 30, 1881, he took a wife to his possessions, where she was truly a "better half" until her death in 1889. In 1894 he sold all but fifty acres of his farm, came to Bowie, and, for nearly a year, was employed in the Waples-Painter lumber yard and in the confectionery business. In 1891 he purchased two hundred and in 1896 three hundred acres at Petrolia, in Clay county, which proved to be oil territory upon development later on. This he farmed until 1904, when he sold one hundred acres at a good price, came back to Bowie and bought out the grain and feed business and prop- erty of C. R. Morgan, where he is now conduct- ing a successful business.

Mr. Landrum first married Miss Eugenia Smith, a daughter of Samuel Smith. At her death, February 12, 1889, she was the mother of Nettie E., wife of Herman O. Cunningham, of Petrolia, Texas; Harvey B. and Dora, of Bowie, and Eugene, of Falls county. In November, 1891, Mr. Landrum married Miss Anna Hankins, a daughter of F. G. Hankins, who came to Texas from Arkansas. Roy, Willie, Eva, Bernice and Lewis are the issue of this union.

Unlike his father, Mr. Landrum is a quiet citizen, with strictly business tendencies and with a flood of good-nature oozing from every pore. He is a Mason, Odd Fellow and a Woodman, and a member of the Missionary Baptist church. His political beliefs are those of the dominant party in his state, but he is without political ambition and the casting of his vote is his share in political frays.

CHARLES J. McKENNA, county auditor, who since 1901 has been a resident of Fort Worth, was born in Toledo, Ohio, a son of John and Mary (Sullivan) McKenna. His father was for many years a citizen of Toledo and there his death occurred, while the mother still makes her home in that city.

Charles J. McKenna was reared in Toledo and acquired his education in its public schools. Hav- ing a natural ability in mathematical lines he be-

came an expert accountant and among other po- sitions of a responsible nature that he held in his native city was that of assistant city auditor, in which position he served for three years. He came to Fort Worth in 1901 and has since made his home here. For some time he was connected with the Rock Island system as commercial agent, while subsequently he took charge of the book- keeping and accounting of the Rosenbaum Grain Company at Fort Worth, which position he was filling when in the latter part of April, 1905, he was appointed to the position of county auditor of Tarrant county by the board of county com- missioners. This is a recently created office, es- tablished by enactment of the legislature provid- ing for the auditor in a county having a city of more than twenty-five thousand population. Mr. McKenna's previous experience well equipped him for the office, and has enabled him to systematize and properly conduct the affairs of the position. Everything connected with the office is now working smoothly and his promptness and fideli- ty are notable features in his official service. A charter member of the local lodge of Elks, he is popular with his brethren of the fraternity and is well known in social and business circles here where his personal traits of character and abili- ty have gained him recognition and secured for him warm and favorable regard.

WILLIAM L. CATE, assistant superintendent of the railway mail service and a resident of Fort Worth, is a native of Bradley county, Ten- nessee, and a son of Andrew J. and Nancy (Sim- mons) Cate. The father, who was a farmer and mill owner, was numbered among the early settlers of Bradley county in eastern Tennessee, . where he located ere the Indians had left that part of the country, and there he spent the remainder of his life, his wife's death also oc- curring there about 1885.

William L. Cate spent the days of his boy- hood and youth on his father's farm and in the sawmill, usually spending the winter months in the latter, while his summers were devoted to farm labor. He received a good education as far as the facilities of those days afforded, and in his young manhood began teaching school, be- ing thus engaged in McMinn county when the Civil War was inaugurated. The family were Unionists, bitterly opposed to secession, and were naturally drawn into the strife which that section of the country had to undergo on ac- count of the contending sentiments of its citi- zens, often neighbors and even families being divided on the great question. Mr. Cate went to Kentucky to enlist in the Union army, joining

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

Company A of the Fourth Tennessee Cavalry, in October, 1862, which was attached to the Army of the Cumberland. His service was of the try- ing and hazardous sort which most of the Ten- nessee and Kentucky cavalrymen underwent dur- ing the war, extending to nearly all the states of the south, and in the winter of 1864 they were sent on what is known as the General Smith expedition to Mississippi, while in June and July of the same year they went on a similar trip into Alabama, under General Rousseau. Mr. Cate went with the cavalry to Georgia, under General McCook, where he was engaged in the fighting near Atlanta, was captured and taken as a pris- oner of war to Charleston, South Carolina, but was released after two months of incarcer- ation and joined his regiment at Nashville, thence being taken to Louisville and remounted, and returned to Nashville just in time to march to Franklin, Tennessee, to take part in that battle, one of the most sanguine of the war, waged on both sides by experienced, seasoned and deter- mined soldiers. At the battle of Nashville, fol- lowing, he was at the extreme left, and thus clid not get into the thickest of the fight. Pur- suing Hood to the Tennessee river, Mr. Cate was engaged in numerous minor skirmishes, and af- ter that campaign his regiment was ordered to the Department of the Gulf, going to Vicksburg, New Orleans and thence across the bay to Mo- bile, joining the expedition against Forts Span- ish and Blakely, the destruction of which pre- ceded the taking of Mobile proper. They. then campaigned across the country to Baton Rouge, and after the close of the war returned to Nash- ville, Mr. Cate being mustered out of service at Edgefield, across the river from that city, July 11, 1865. Mr. Cate enlisted as a private in . an organized company, was soon promoted to orderly sergeant and later to first lieutenant and captain, cach promotion following an arduous campaign. His company was complimented on the battlefield at Sugar Creek, Alabama, Decem- ber 26, 1864, by the brigade commander for the gallant stand made in resisting the charge of Hood's retreating army. His army record is one of which he may be justly proud, for it is the record of a brave soldlier, faithful to the least as well as to the greatest of his duties, prompt, reliable and self-sacrificing.

When peace had been restored Mr. Cate quiet- ly took up the ordinary duties of life in his old home in Bradley county, farming and teaching school. He remained there about twelve years, being most of the time engaged in teaching in Chatata Seminary. In 1880 he entered the gov- ernment railway mail service, beginning at the

bottom of the ladder'in the classification of "helper," on the Little Rock & Fort Smith Rail- road, running between those two cities. He soon became a regular man on the route, and was later transferred to the run between St. Louis and Texarkana, in the Iron Mountain Railroad, while subsequently, in 1888, he was promoted to district chief clerk at Little Rock. From the beginning of his life in the mail service the fast mail was his especial hobby, and after becoming chief clerk he urged this with all his energy. The first regular fast mail on the Iron Mountain was established about 1893. Mr. Cate remained at Little Rock in the position of chief clerk about six years, his jurisdiction being a part of the Eleventh Division, extending over Ark- ansas and on the Iron Mountain into St. Louis. He was then transferred to St. Louis as chief clerk of the St. Louis & Texarkana Railway postoffice and other Eleventh Division interests. Remaining in that position about three years, he was then promoted to assistant superintendent of the Eleventh Division and assigned to duty at Fort Worth, which city has ever since been his home. The office of the Eleventh Division at Forth Worth has jurisdiction over Arkansas, Indian Territory, Oklahoma, Western Louisiana and Texas.

Mr. Cate married Elizabeth Julian, and they have four children,-Clifford J., Roscoe S., An- na Lea and Rose E. In his fraternal relations Mr. Cate is a member of the Masonic order and the Knights of Honor. He is widely known among the men on this division of the railway mail service, and has many friends among them and also among the people of Fort Worth.

WILLIAM HENRY MYERS. We intro- duce as the subject of this article one of the mid- dle-era cowmen of Texas, whose passing from a tenderfoot and a habitue of the range to a solid ranchman, with a permanent abiding place, and widely known as a breeder of and dealer in high- grade cattle, is here recorded. His advent to the state and his identity with the range date from a dozen years after the close of the Civil war and while the conditions and the methods then in vogue were very similar to those of ten years be- fore, the beginning of a revolution in the great grazing industry was on and William H. Myers' appearance on the scene was in ample time to participate in it.

Mr. Myers was no novice in the cattle busi- ness when he threw his first lasso on the Texas plains, then the common name for all of frontier Texas, for his youth and early manhood had been passed on stock farms in the Blue Ridge

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

mountains, where his father was engaged largely in the cattle business. Rockingham county, Vir- ginia, was his native place, and his birth occurred in November, 1853. His was an old-settled fam- ily in the valley of the Shenandoah. Rudolph Myers, his father, was born in Augusta county, Virginia, in 1821, and his father and brothers were the founders of the family in the Old Do- minion state. The grandfather was from Penn- sylvania and the pure blood of the German race coursed through his veins.

Rudolph Myers was widely known as a large farmer and stockman in his county of Rocking- ham, and during the war he was connected with the military establishment of the Confederacy for a time. He married Eveline Cromer, a daughter of Joseph Cromer, a slave owner and a farmer and stockman of Rockingham county, where he was also reared. Rudolph Myers died in 1896 and his wife passed away in 1900 at seventy years of age. Of their issue, Joseph G. Myers is county surveyor of Rockingham county ; William H., our subject ; St. Andrew, of the old home county ; Semantha, who married R. H. Dudley, of Augus- ta county, and Robert E. Lee, a cattle dealer of the latter county.

William H. Myers received his education in the schools common to the times in his rural sur- roundings and his interests in business matters were identical with those of his father until past his twenty-first year. Desiring larger opportuni- ties for the exercise of his talents in his chosen field than the old state offered, he sought Texas, landed at Fort Worth in 1878 and secured work with Frank Goodin on the Little Wichita river in Clay county. When Belcher and Easley bought. out Goodin they inherited young Myers as a part of the paraphernalia of the ranch. Next we find him working for the Ikards by the month, look- ing after their cattle and at the same time keep- ing an eye on his own small herd. Eight years after his advent to the state he was the lessee of a ranch on Duer creek and the beginning of his independent career was on.

In his career as a cowboy Mr. Myers was not long numbered among the tenderfeet. He soon learned to cinch and pack a pony and sat his sad- dle as firmly as a barnacle on a boat hull. Time nor distance made no difference with him on the "round-up," and when he rolled up in his blank- ets to sleep it mattered little whether it was in a cabin or in the open air. Out in the rain and the sleet and the snow, amongst the wild-eyed long- horns gathering mavericks, and in a country in- fested with beasts of prey, he plied his vocation, looking oftenest on the humorous side of life, and all the time laying the foundation for his own

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 16

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