A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 19

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 19

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JAMES Q. MORRISON, late of Wichita Falls, who occupied the responsible position of traveling freight agent for the Missouri, Kansas

and Texas Railroad, at Wichita Falls, where he resided since 1884, was a much-esteemed citi- zen and made himself a factor of much influence and worth in the city and surrounding country. He was in different capacities identified with railroad business during the last forty years of his life, and his executive abilities enabled him to give a good account of himself under all circumstances and advanced him to a place of much importance in that department of enter- prise. He likewise proved his worth in civic affairs, and as a loyal son of the south gave four years and twenty days of service in the Confederate cause, much of the time as a com- missioned officer leading his company in battle.

Mr. Morrison was born near Selma, in Dallas county, Alabama, in August, 1835, being a son of William Allison and Mary Eliza (Gilmer) Morrison, the family on both sides being south- ern. His father was born in North Carolina in 1813, was reared in Alabama, and in the latter part of 1835, when his son James Q. was in infancy, moved to Mississippi, being a farmer near Water Valley until his death, which oc- curred in 1880. His wife was born in South Carolina, also in 1813, and she died in Missis- sippi in 1872.

Mr. Morrison was reared on his father's farm near Water Valley, acquiring his education at home and in the schools of that neighborhood. As soon as he was old enough he went to farm- ing on his own account, and for some years be- fore the war was successfully engaged in this occupation. Previous to the outbreak of the rebellion he was lieutenant colonel of the militia of his county. He was a Whig in political senti- ment and favored Stephen A. Douglas for presi- dent, but when secession and war became inevit- able he declared for his home and the sunny south. He enlisted at Water Valley, April 23, . 1861, in Company F. Fifteenth Mississippi In- fantry. He was first orderly sergeant, was later promoted to the command of his company, and in one battle, when all his superiors had been killed or disabled, he was in command of the regiment. His first service was in Kentucky, and he saw some rough warfare at Barboursville and other places in the state, receiving some bul- let wounds at Fishing Creek, January 19, 1862. He was also seriously wounded at Shiloh. His service extended down into the states of Ten- nessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama ; he was in the battle of Resaca and at the siege and fall of Atlanta; he was then in Hood's army on the movement back west, participating at Frank- lin and Nashville ; after the latter battle his regi-

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

ment went to North Carolina, and the final sur- render occurred at Greensboro of that state.

Following the conclusion of peace, he was for a time successfully engaged in the mercantile business at Water Valley. For the next seven- teen years he was in the railroad business with headquarters at Water Valley. His first con- nection with railroading was with the old Mis- sissippi Central before it became a part of the Illinois Central. He occupied various positions, starting in the engineering department as a draftsman, later was division purchasing agent. roadmaster, and general construction man, also being agent for a time. He had charge of the construction department on his division at the time the gauge of the entire road, from Cairo to New Orleans, was changed to conform to the gauge of the Illinois Central, which undertaking was accomplished throughout in the phenomenal short space of seven hours, and with very little interruption to traffic.

Mr. Morrison and his family started west to California in 1884 in order to find a climate more favorable to his health. He stopped off at Wichita Falls, was pleased with the country from every point of view, and lived here to his death. During the first year he was appointed agent of the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad at this point, which position he occupied for six years. With Wichita Falls as his headquarters, he was then traveling freight and passenger agent for the same road, and for several years before his death traveling freight and commercial agent for the M. K. & T. road, retaining his residence and headquarters in Wichita Falls.

Mr. Morrison's first wife, to whom he was married in Mississippi, was Miss Eliza A. Mat- thews, a native of that state. She died in Water Valley in 1874, and he was married there to . his present wife, formerly Mrs. Mary J. (Good- win) Reese, in 1876. There are three children : Thurston A. Morrison, of Dallas, Texas; Sam- uel Elbert Morrison, who is in business at Fort Worth ; and Mrs. Lola Kelly.

Mr. Morrison was a Knight Templar Mason. He was clected mayor of Wichita Falls in 1892, and had also served as mayor of Water Valley. He made the interests of his city his own, and through his business connections and by personal effort often enhanced the welfare of Wichita Falls. He died August 31, 1905, respected by all who knew him. Mrs. Morrison by her first husband had six children : Susan, now Mrs. Mc- Farland of Pauls Valley, Indian Territory ; Em- ma, Mrs. Bland of Bevier, Missouri ; Dixie Reese, of Birmingham, Alabama; Ephraim Reese, of Bridgeport, Texas; Thomas Reese, of Wichita

Falls, assistant cashier of the City National Bank.

JACOB M. BACK. Since the admission of Texas into the Union of states the family of which Jacob M. Back is a representative has been influential in its development and gradually in- creasing prosperity. He was born on his father's farm near Mansfield, Tarrant county, March 9, 1861, being a son of Major Jacob and Nancy (Murphy) Back. From his native state of Ken- tucky Major Back came to Texas in 1843, and two years later, in 1845, took up his abode with- in the borders of Tarrant county, three miles from the city of Mansfield. He was thus num- bered among its very earliest settlers, dating his arrival here just three days too late to secure six hundred and forty acres of pre-emption land. He, however, secured three hundred and twenty acres. Throughout the intervening period of his life his name was indissolubly connected with its annals. His life occupation was the tilling of the soil, and he continued to reside on his old home- stead near Mansfield until his life's labors were ended in death, August 6, 1881. Major Back served as a soldier in the Confederate army dur- ing the Civil war, enlisting at Mansfield as a member of Colonel Darnell's Regiment, and served throughout the entire struggle with dis- tinction. He is well remembered by all the old soldiers and officers of this section of the state. He was also one of the early officers of the coun- ty, having held the offices of justice of the peace, deputy sheriff and many others of trust and im- portance.

Jacob M. Back, a son of this worthy old Tex- an pioneer, spent the period of his boyhood and youth on the old home farm, receiving his edu- cational training at Mansfield, and after enter- ing upon his business career he became exten- sively engaged in the live stock business in con- nection with his farming interests. He buys and ships all kinds of live stock, but makes a special- ty of hogs, of which he is the most extensive deal- er in Tarrant county. His farm is located five miles east of Mansfield, and consists of one hun- dred and seventy acres of rich and productive land. Early in the year 1902 Mr. Back em- barked in the mercantile business in Mansfield, establishing the firm of Back & McLean, hard- ware and implement dealers, and since 1894 has maintained his residence in the city and devotes his attention to his large and constantly increas- ing business, although he still retains his farming and stock-raising interests. He is a very suc- cessful business man, and has prospered in his various financial undertakings.

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS. 89

Mr. Back married Miss Alida Munsey, a native daughter of Illinois, but reared in Texas, and they have three children-Claude V., Col A. and Nannie Lu. In his fraternal relations Mr. Back is past master of Mansfield Blue Lodge, A. F. & A. M., No. 331, and a Royal Arch Mason.

CHRISTIAN H. BOEDEKER. That man whose youth was hampered by unfavorable en- vironment and yet wins every engagement in his battle of life with the nation's industries pos- sesses a genius for human affairs. Nature so endowed him in compensation for his misfor- tunes in childhood and her guardian eye shapes his course and guards his destiny like a sentinel at his post. To be orphaned in infancy, to be separated from the maternal fireside in early youth and to cross, alone, the briny deep separat- ing two continents and to take one's station in the ranks of labor, amid new scenes and in a new world, requires a rare human courage, but to pass creditably through successive stages of industry, to enter commerce and win confidence and position in its domain, and to maintain a social and civil standing obscuring all his other achievements, displays talent akin to genius and cap-sheafs one's career and gives to his life the glittering crown of public approval.

The history of the frontier settlements of the west is spiced with instances of rare human achievement worked out in the course of years by persons whose early lives were without prom- ise and whose destiny seemed that of a humble citizen in one of life's honored vocations. Thou- sands of young men have made fortunes in the west and multitudes of them have won fame and fortune in Texas, but it remains for Montague county, in the person of Christian H. Boedeker, of Bowie, to provide its posterity with a life so hampered in childhood, so circumscribed in youth, so ordinary in early manhood and so filled with material, civil and spiritual successes in middle life as to be without accurate parallel in the annals of our day.

In the Privince of Westphalia, in the village of Buende, Christian H. Boedeker was born on the twenty-second of January, 1852. Fred Boed- eker, a blacksmith, was his father and Julia Well- man was his mother. In 1857 the father died and the rearing of his three sons, and their proper training, fell to their mother and a stepfather. Christian H., the oldest, came to the United States in 1867 and Gustav and Fred followed later on. Gustav is a machinist residing in St. Louis and Fred owns a confectionery and cold- storage business in Dallas, Texas.

The compulsory education laws of the German Empire guarantee the education of the youth up to the age of fourteen and it was the province of Christian Boedeker to become a blacksmith's apprentice. From his stepfather he gained that knowledge of the trade which assured his suc- cess at the forge and when he landed at Castle Garden, New York, it was in compliance with the urgent invitation of an uncle to cast his lot with Americans where the door of opportunity stood wide open to the sincere and industrious youth. His first employer was Mr. Burch, a car- riage-maker in St. Louis, Missouri, in whose factory he remained four years. . Two years more were passed in other factories in that city before he abandoned his trade for the alluring promises of farm life on the Texas frontier. The few hundred dollars he had amassed from his wages as a mechanic he invested in a farm ten miles west of Gainesville and entered the new and untried domain of agriculture.

As a farmer Mr. Boedeker's maiden efforts were without encouraging results. But when he paid less attention to cotton and more to cat- tle the smiles of fortune came his way. Desiring a wider and freer range he brought his stock to Montague county in 1878 and purchased a tract of grass land six miles west of where Bowie was afterward founded. Salem was a postoffice and store nearest to him and for twelve years his successful identity with the stock busi- ness was a matter of common report. As he prospered he extended his landed domain, and two thousand acres of farming lands are now listed to him in Montague county. Although he has abandoned the active supervision of his ag- ricultural interests, or that of his stock, he keeps in touch with them both and it furnishes him with a pleasant diversion from the multifarious and wearing duties claiming his attention at the bank.

With the growth of Mr. Boedeker's grazing and agricultural interests came the positive evi- dences of his commercial genius. He became in- terested in banking and his rare grace of man- ner and business acumen, coupled with his equable temperament and recognized mental bal- ance, suggested his selection for an officer of the City National Bank. He moved to Bowie in 1800 and took the place of assistant to Cashier Wade Atkins and was made cashier when Mr. Atkins was promoted. January 1, 1903, the di- rectory elected him president of the bank and for more than two years the bank's growth and its good name have lain nearest to his heart.

While not a politician, and yet in politics, Mr. Boedeker disclaims any thought of personal ad-

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

vantage from the public expression of his neigh- bors which made him mayor of their city. He was first elected in 1901 and again in 1903 and as chief executive of Bowie his aim and desire has been to improve and strengthen its physical and financial condition. After his two terms in office the streets are in order, the water serv- ice shows vast improvement, the fire depart- ment has become efficient and city scrip has passed from a discount of seventy-five per cent to par. As an additional evidence of his sin- cere interest in his town he has aided in and encouraged the organization of a company to build the Oklahoma and Texas Railway, project- ed from Nocona to Bowie, of which company he is treasurer.

January 28, 1891. Christian H. Boedeker and Miss Kate Dietz were married in St. Louis, Mis- souri. Mrs. Boedeker is a daughter of George Dietz, a gentleman of German birth, and she and her husband, having no issue, are rearing and educating an adopted son, Paul Boedeker, born in 1805.

The life of our subject has been an exemplary one. His identity with moral questions is well known and his substantial contribution to all Christian endeavor is never withheld. The sub- scription list for the building of a public build- ing in Bowie or out of it always finds its wav, early, to his liberal hand. A religious man in thought and action himself, he leads others by his example and influence into more moral and upright lives. His name is on the rolls of the Cumberland Presbyterian church and he is hon- ored with an eldership by his congregation.

W. S. THURSTON, a prominent and exten- sive implement dealer of Nocona, is numbered among the citizens that Alabama has furnished to the Lone Star state. He was born in Ala- bama, February 20, 1850, but was reared in Virginia. His parents were William S. and Emily (Eaves) Thurston, the former a native of Virginia, and the latter of Alabama, in which state their marriage was celebrated. The Thurs- tons were among the prominent and aristocratic families of the Old Dominion, were large land- owners and extensive slave holders.

William S. Thurston was born and reared in Virginia and when a young man went to Ala- bama. where he was married. After a number of years, however, he returned to his native state for the purpose of settling up an estate. The only living member of the family at that time was his great-grandmother, who died while he was arranging to settle up the estate, being at that time one hundred and six years of age.

About that time the Civil war was inaugurated and within a short time his wife died in Ala- bama. After the war the family was completely broken up. William S. Thurston had two broth- ers, George and Henry, all of whom went to Ala- bama. Henry never married and George married and left one son, who is now living in Hunt coun- ty, Texas, and he and our subject, W. S. Thurs- ton, are the only surviving members of the old Virginia family. Little is known concerning the ancestral history.

When William S. Thurston returned to the Old Dominion he was accompanied by the son, W. S. Thurston, then eight years of age. The father died, the slaves were all liberated, the property was devastated and the estate has never yet been settled. W. S. Thurston was taken into the home of an old Virginian and he well remem- bers all the horrors of war and the devastation caused to property. He would have to get the mail in those early days and was often sent to see if the Yankees were coming. He likewise as- sisted in the labors of the farm, but he had few educational privileges. In 1865, when fifteen years of age, he left the farm and went to Rich- mond, Virginia, where he secured employment, learning the blacksmith's trade. On leaving that . place he made his way to Mississippi, where he followed his trade, and subsequently he came to Texas. Learning that the government was clear- ing a raft out. of the Red river and needed a blacksmith he made his way to Shreveport and secured employment that he sought. There he remained until yellow fever drove him away, when he came to Cooke county, Texas, where he opened a blacksmith shop. Later he was em- ployed as a clerk in a store, remaining three years there, and then, after some time spent in various other places, he settled at Red River Station, in Montague county, where he estab- lished and conducted a small store and shop, con- tinuing at that place until the railroad was built, when he removed to Nocona.

This was in 1887, and in the new town Mr. Thurston built a shop and was the first black- smith here. He also added a stock of machinery, and after a few years he abandoned blacksmith- ing and built a large business house, in which he carries an extensive line of all kinds of farm im- plements and machinery, wagons, carriages, har- ness and other like merchandise. His business is now extensive, his sales amounting to about twenty-five thousand dollars annually.

While living at Red River Station Mr. Thurs- ton was married to Mrs. Jane A. Hood, a widow. She first married a Mr. McGrady, becoming his wife in Missouri. They removed from that state

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

to Texas, and by this marriage there were four children, namely: Lee McGrady, a cattleman ; Mrs. Ena Myers, who is now in Illinois; Mrs. Laura Campbell, who after her husband's death returned home to live with her mother, Mrs. Thurston; and Charles, who is assisting Mr. Thurston in his business. After losing her first husband, Mrs. McGrady became the wife of Thomas Hood, a pioneer farmer of Montague county, Texas. They had one son, Clark Hood, who was reared and educated by Mr. Thurston, and is yet at home assisting him in his business. Mrs. Thurston was born in Alabama and in her early girlhood removed to Missouri, where she was reared and married. She was a lady of intel- ligence and worth of character and a worthy member of the Christian church. This union has been blessed with a daughter, Anna, who is yet at home. Mrs. Thurston departed this life in 1897. Mr. Thurston, with his daughter and step- children, reside in Nocona and is accounted one of its most enterprising and progressive business men, meeting with splendid success in all that he undertakes.

ROBERT FIELDS LeMOND, M. D., a spe- cialist on the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, is successfully engaged in practice in Fort Worth. His ambition to secure an education in his youth and early manhood is typical of his entire life's progress, for his career has been permeated by a desire for advancement and im- provement and he stands as one of the most dis- tinguished representatives of his specialty in the practice in Texas. Born in Springfield, Lime- stone county, this state, he is a son of C. M. and Mary (Fields ) LeMond. His father was a native of North Carolina and belonged to an old Vir- ginia family. Coming to Texas about 1855, he lo- cated in Limestone county, whence he afterward removed to Gonzales county, where he lived until 1875, in which year he took up his abode in Van Zandt county. Subsequently he removed to Qua- nah, in Hardeman county, which was his home for nearly twenty years, and there he passed away in June, 1904, at the age of seventy-eight years, respected by all who knew him. During his active life he was a successful farmer and was a man of the finest character and personal attributes. His wife, who died many years ago, was a native of Mississippi.

Dr. LeMond was reared upon the home farm, and from his earliest boyhood had ambition to secure a superior education. From the time that he entered school he was an earnest and devoted student, applying himself assiduously to the tasks assigned and winning many honors in his later

school life. His primary education was obtained in the schools of Gonzales county and in Van Zandt county and when about eighteen he passed an examination whereby he secured a teacher's certificate, subsequent to which time he taught school for two years. He then entered upon fur- ther study at Cedar Grove College in Kaufman county, where he was graduated with the highest general average that had been made in that school for eleven years and was given a certifi- cate to that effect by the faculty. Returning to Van Zandt county Dr. LeMond received appoint- ment as a member of the board of examiners for the county and again engaged in teaching school for about a year. In the meantime an examina- tion was held at Tyler for the Peabody scholar- ship, and in the competition were about three hundred applicants from ten counties. There were two scholarships to award and Dr. LeMond, taking the examination, was awarded the first place in the contest. This scholarship gave him admittance and tuition in the University of Ten- nessee at Nashville, where he was graduated with the degree of master of arts, while later the degree of doctor of law was conferred upon him.

Returning to Van Zandt county, Dr. LeMond resumed the profession of teaching, but regarded this as an initial step to other professional labor, devoting his leisure hours to reading medicine under a private preceptor. Subsequently he matriculated in the Hospital College of Medicine at Louisville, where he was graduated in 1885. His first practice was in Van Zandt county, and later he practiced at Wolfe City. In 1887 he de- cided to make a specialty of the diseases of the eve, ear, nose and throat, and with this end in view he took up post graduate work at St. Louis and later in New York City, where he pursued the courses in ophthalmology and otology in the Post Graduate Medical College. There he made such an excellent record personally and profes- sionally that he received the complimentary award of an appointment as interne in the Man- hattan Eye and Ear Hospital. That proved an excellent training for him, adding greatly to his experience, and, returning to Texas, he began practice as a specialist at El Paso.

Dr. LeMond's ability and success were such that he was recommended by the State Medical Society for the professorship of diseases of the eye in the medical department of the University of Texas at Galveston and went to New York to get some letters of endorsement from his former professors for the purpose of prosecut- ing his application for the position. While in the east, however, he was offered another posi- tion as lecturer on diseases of the eye in Gross

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

Medical College at Denver, Colorado, being espe- cially recommended for the position by Dr. St. John Roosa, president of the faculty of the Post. Graduate Medical College. Deciding to accept the latter position Dr. LeMond accordingly located at Denver, where he lived for eleven years with the exception of a short time spent in California. He became professor of diseases of the eye and ear in Gross Medical College, attending ophthal- mologist to the Arapahoe County Hospital and the Deaconess Hospital, ophthalmologist to the Herman Strauss Free Clinic and other positions of a similar nature in Denver. In addition to these he enjoyed a most lucrative and successful private practice as a specialist, performing many remarkable cures in diseases of the eye and ear and in the performance of operations along that line that received the commendation of the medi- cal profession throughout the United States. He contributed quite extensively to medical literature on subjects connected with his special branches and in reporting his cases and his investigations. These articles have appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Society, the Annals of Ophthal- mology and Otology and other publications of the day. Dr. LeMond also delivered the address to the graduating class of the Hospital College of Medicine at Louisville June 20, 1894, and he en- joyed the highest friendship and esteem of the general medical profession in Denver.

About 1898 Dr. LeMond became interested in the movement for municipal reform in Denver, principally in connection with the water works, and allying himself with the Democratic party of that city he made a number of speeches that brought him into such political prominence that he was offered the Democratic nomination for congress, but after some consideration of this he declined the honor. He was, however, a public spirited citizen, interested in all that pertained to the welfare of the municipality and he enjoyed the friendship of the business men of Denver as well as his professional contemporaries.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 19

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