A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 2

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 2

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mr. Poole was married in Bowie county to Miss Caroline Hayes, and they have eight living children, Mrs. Ola Keith, Mrs. Ora Jacobs, Mrs. Ina White, Mrs. Eddy Pitts, Mrs. Effa Cline, Oscar E., Otis H. and Mell. Mr. Poole holds membership in the Baptist church, while his fraternal relations are with the Ma- sons and in his life he exemplifies the benefi- cent spirit of the craft. For five years he was postmaster at Cleburne, being appointed dur- ing President Cleveland's second administra- tion. His business activity has been the lead- ing feature in a creditable success that makes him one of the leading merchants and sub- stantial citizens of Cleburne.

JOHN MEYER. In the settlement of our country the German has vied with the Anglo- Saxon in the accomplishment of substantial and tangible results. The opportunities here afforded and the sincere freedom here guaran- teed have attracted the hardy and thrifty emi- grant from King William's dominions, and the addition of this tongue and the infusion of this blood have worked beneficent results in the promotion of American institutions and in the formation of American character. Vigorous in

mind and body and strong in industrial ten- dencies, but with poverty of purse and self-con- ceit the typical German begins his career among us in a simple, honest and unassuming way. With this brief introduction as a tribute to their race we beg the indulgence of the reader of these pages while we narrate briefly the life story of one who was, for more than a quarter of a century, a subject of a German king.

John Meyer, one of the few pioneers yet re- maining in the Charlie neighborhood of Clay county, was born in the Province of Bavaria, near Baireuth, February 14, 1841. His father was George Meyer and his grandfather was John Meyer, both born in the same district as our subject. They were farmers and the latter was accidently killed, leaving three sons, viz : George, John and the other brother John Fred by name. George Meyer married Catherine Schaurer and was the father of these children, namely: John, Catherine, George, Frederick, Anna, Thomas, of San Francisco, California, and Margaret.

Our subject obtained a fair education in his native land and acquired a knowledge of farm- ing from his ancestry. At twenty-five years of age he left his old home bound for "the land across the sea." He sailed from Bremen on the ship Atlantic bound for New York and was eighteen days at sea. Heavy seas delayed and lengthened the passage (in 1872 the vessel sank near New Foundland with all on board). Dis- embarking at Castle Garden Mr. Meyer left the city in three days for Bay City, Michigan, where he secured employment in a shingle mill for a time. On coming farther west he located in Missouri while visiting an uncle. Hearing of the opening of the Osage Diminished Reserve in Kansas to actual settlers he made his way to that then frontier country and entered a tract in Montgomery county. He built a settler's shanty, returned to Missouri to better prepare himself for the ordeal of "proving up" on his land and while absent the party having charge of his claim sold it and John was elimin- ated from the situation.

Being thus shut out of a prospective home and cast upon the world to drift whither he would, Mr. Meyer sought work on the M. K. & T. Railway, then building south through Kan- sas toward the Indian Territory line. He worked on the track about Humboldt and fol- lowed its construction south for a few months and then went into the restaurant business in Chetopa. This location proved only temporary and he came to Texas on his next move.

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

It was in the year 1870 that he first beheld the Lone Star state. He found ready employ- ment at ranching and in 1872 he drove a herd of cattle from Fort Griffin to Colorado, in com- pany with others of Chris Pepper's men, and when his work was finished in that connection three of the party, himself included, equipped themselves for a buffalo hunt. From October till Christmas time they lay out on the great plains east of the Rockies and slew buffalo almost like birds, taking some three or four hundred hides and thousands of pounds of meat. Killing buffalo at a water hole was like killing rats in a trap and it was this method they used in snaring the bison mammoth of the plain. Soon after Mr. Meyer went to Las Animas, Colorado, and was employed as a clerk in a store there till his return to Texas in 1874. He joined the force of cowboys at Curtis's ranch in Clay county. Their Diamond Dale property was a well known one and with it our subject remained until 1878, earning a wage of twenty-five dollars a month and saving enough of it to put him in possession of a small bunch of cattle of his own. Deciding to engage in farming he bought a tract of land near the Wichita river and settled on it and began its improvement. His farm title coming into question and dispute on account of prior claim- ants, he was forced to compromise the trouble and bought some of his farm the second time.

A log cabin was the first house to grace the surface of Mr. Meyer's farm and one of the first houses in the county above ground. It had one room and a kitchen and in it he did his own housekeeping while trying to farm. When he found the lady who has shared his joys and sorrows for more than a score of years he took her to this cabin and the real beginning of his existence dates from that day. They own one hundred and seventy acres of Clay's rich soil, devoted to grain, cotton and stock. Their improvements are substantial and ample for their needs and on the whole their combined efforts have brought under subjection and beautified one spot on our earth.

September 19, 1880, Mr. Meyer married Rachel, a daughter of Alexander Alls, a Mis- souri immigrant to Texas. Mrs. Meyer was born in Missouri March 3, 1859. The issue of this marriage is William, Emma, Margaret, Alexander, Ollie, Clarence, Hattie, John and Eunice.

John Meyer is a representative citizen. His life has been a busy one with his affairs and he has contributed a good example toward a peaceable and law-abiding community. Ile

and his wife have trained their progeny to in- dustry, frugality and honorable living and the praises of the youthful element of their house- hold go out to their parents unstinted and un- restrained.

SAMUEL M. DAVIS, a prominent farmer and dairyman, who is also public cotton weigher at Nocona, is numbered among the native sons of Texas, his birth having occurred in Fort Bend county on the 11th of September, 1854. He was reared to farm life and acquired a good common school education, which has been sup- plemented by the knowledge that he has gained through experience and observation. His par- ents, William A. and Anna (Green) Davis, were both natives of Mississippi, in which state they were married and in 1852 they came to Texas, settling first in Fort Bend county, where the father, who was an attorney at law, made his home for four years. He then re- moved to Fannin county and located at Sowells Bluff on Red river, where he engaged in gen- eral merchandising. He also spent four years at that place and then bought land and im- proved a farm, remaining there until 1862, when he entered the Confederate army as a member of Alexander's regiment. He was sent to the Indian Territory, where he saw some service, but later was discharged on account of his age. He then returned home and was soon afterward elected county judge. His inter- ests and sympathies were with the south, how- ever, and he aided in raising a company of home guards, of which he was elected captain. On the expiration of his first term as county judge he was re-elected and while he was act- ing in that capacity the war was ended through the surrender of General Lee. The period of the reconstruction then began and he was re- lieved of the office of county judge. He had held federal offices before the war, but during the reconstruction period he was disqualified from voting or holding office. In Fannin county he also served for several terms as county com- missioner. Before the war he was a slave owner and was actively identified with south- ern interests. Following his retirement from the bench he returned to his farm, but in 1867 he sold his property, for through the exigencies of war he lost the people who had done the active work of the farm. He then taught school for a number of years, after which he once more purchased land and improved another farm in Fannin county, remaining there until 1885, when he sold out and removed to Mon- tague county, where in connection with his

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

son Samuel he engaged in merchandising at Duxbury, remaining for two years at that place. He then discontinued his mercantile labors and again opened up a farm, whereon he remained until 1895, when he sold out and took up his abode in Nocona, retiring from active business life. Without his solicitation, however, the people elected him to the office of mayor and he served for two terms, giving to the city a business-like, progressive and public-spirited administration. While he con- tinued to make his home in Nocona he spent considerable time in visiting his friends and his children in other localities and while visiting a daughter in Collingsworth county, Texas, he became ill and died. Mr. Davis was a man of superior native talents and acquired ability. He had been liberally educated in Georgetown, Kentucky, and in other colleges and had pre- pared for the profession of law, becoming a capable member of the bar. In his business and professional life he made rapid and satis- factory advancement, owing to his ability, close application and devotion to the public good as well as his private interests. He was a man whom to know was to respect and honor and he was popular in every community in which he lived. Active in the work of the Methodist church, he served as one of its stewards and lived a life in harmony with his professions. He was also a member of the Masonic fraternity. His wife passed away in 1856. She was a daughter of T. J. Green, a native of the Old Dominion and a distant rela- tive of General Green of Revolutionary fame. Her father was a prominent planter of Missis- sippi and was murdered by his slaves. In his family were but two children: Thomas A., who spent his declining years in Texas, making his home with a son in Ellis county, where he died, and Mrs. Anna Davis.

To Mr. and Mrs. William A. Davis were born four children: Juliette, the wife of J. M. Whistenhunt; Eliza R., the wife of W. S. White, of Montague county; Samuel M .; and Walter F., who died at the age of twenty-one years. The mother of these children was a devoted member of the Methodist church and a most estimable lady. Following her death the father married again, his second union be- ing with Sarah J. Tackett of Fannin county, a native of Illinois, representing one of the lead- ing families of Fannin county, where her father followed the occupation of farming. Mrs. Davis still survives and is now living in Collings- worth county, Texas. By this marriage there

were seven children: William, John, Sidney, Anna, Emma, Alice and Sarah.

Samuel M.Davis, whose name introduces this review, is a native son of Texas and is imbued with the spirit of enterprise and progress that has been the dominant factor in the Lone Star state in recent years. Having acquired his education in the public schools and gained a good knowledge of agricultural pursuits while living upon his father's farm, he came to Mon- tague county in 1878 and here turned his at- tention to the tilling of the soil. Later he joined his father in a mercantile venture, which was continued for two years and subsequently he engaged in teaching school for two terms. In 1884 he returned to Bonham, where he was married, after which he brought his bride to Montague county. They began their domestic life upon a farm, where they remained until 1889, when Mr. Davis sold that property and in 1890 bought where he now lives near No- cona. This was then a tract of raw land upon which he has since made all of the improve- ments, placing his farm under a good state of cultivation and adding all the modern equip- ments and accessories of a model farm of the twentieth century. In the fall of 1890 he be- came the public cotton weigher of Nocona, which position he yet holds. He has been successfully engaged in the dairy business for twelve years and he follows diversified farm- ing, being successful in his varied lines of busi- ness.

Mr. Davis wedded Mrs. Anna McElroy, the widow of George McElroy, who had been a clerk in a mercantile store in Bonham and at his death left four children, whom Mr. Davis has reared and educated, doing a good part by them. These are: Mrs. Sadie Reed; Oscar, who is now a cotton buyer of Ardmore, Indian Territory; George, who is in Oklahoma, and Jennie, yet at home. Mrs. Davis is a daughter of H. L. Dewitt, a native of Kentucky, who became a pioneer settler of Texas and died while serving as a soldier of the Confederate army in the Civil War. Seven children have been born to our subject and his wife: Samuel E., who is now clerking in a dry goods store ; William, attending school; Emma, a student in the schools of Bonham; Sidney and Ruth, twins ; Kate and Lucy. Mrs. Davis is a worthy member of the Christian church, while Mr. Davis has adhered to the faith in which he was reared-that of the Methodist church. He has a wide and favorable acquaintance and is held in high esteem by all who know him. In politics he is a stanch Democrat, but he has never

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

sought political or public preferment, desiring rather to give his undivided attention to his business affairs, in which he is meeting with a fair measure of success.

ZEB JENKINS. Representing as he does two of the oldest families of this section of the state, the Jenkins and Duuns, Zeb Jenkins is well en- titled to an honored place in the records of Texas. In years of residence he is the oldest citizen of Grapevine, where he is well known and most highly esteemed. Year by year he has watched with deep interest the results of man's labor and enterprise, as he gradually transformed the unin- habited places into thrifty, fertile homesteads and flourishing settlements. The Lone Star state also claims him as one of her native sons, his birth occurring at Jefferson in 1854, his parents being E. M. and Ellen (Dunn) Jenkins.

E. M. Jenkins was a native of North Carolina, buit was reared in Alabama, from which state he removed to Greenwood, Louisiana, and thence to castern Texas, locating at Jefferson in 1854. In the spring of 1859 he came with his family to Tarrant county, taking up his abode on Grape- vine Prairie, where the town of that name now stands. and here he opened a small country store, the first business enterprise of Grapevine. He haule 1 lumber from eastern Texas to build a house, and for a number of years he conducted his mercantile enterprise in connection with his farming interests, his being the only store in the place until after the Civil War. The town derived its name from Grapevine Spring, four miles east, and the surrounding country has been called Grapevine Prairie as far back as within the memory of any inhabitant. Grapevine Spring was possibly named by the Indians, to whom it was a well known place, and at this spring Presi- dent Sam Houston of the Texas Republic nego- tiated a treaty with the Comanche Indians. Mr. Jenkins' death occurred in 1878, and that of his wife in 1872. She was a daughter of J. C. Dunn, who located on Grapevine Prairie as early as 1851 or 1852. Ile built a log house and therein made his home for several years, and when set- tlers began to locate here the neighborhood was for some time called Dunnville, this being before the mute Grapevine was given to the little village. Mr. Dunn was a Virginian by birth, but was reared in Alabama, coming thence to Texas in 1848 and first locating near Marshall. in Harri- son county.

Remaining on the old farm and engaging act- ively in its work until nineteen years of age Zeb Jenkins entered his father's store, which, as stated above, was the pioneer store of the place. At

that time the goods were purchased at Galveston, the nearest wholesale market, and to which place Mr. Jenkins made periodical journeys on horse- back. This part of the state was then but sparse- ly settled, Dallas being only a small village, while Fort Worth was yet to come into existence. He remained in his father's store until the latter's death, when he took charge and continued the business. Subsequently the firm became Jenkins & Yates, and in 1896 Mr. Jenkins retired from the business, selling his interest to this partner,

who still continues the enterprise. Mr. Jenkins was one of the founders and is vice-president of the Grapevine National Bank, a flourishing insti- tution founded in 1900, and of which G. E. Bu- shong is the president. He is also the owner of two fine farms, one three-fourths of a mile and the other two miles from the city, where he makes a specialty of the raising of hogs, in which he has become very successful. Although his busi- ness interests have been extensive, he has yet found time to devote to public affairs, and for a number of years has been well known in Tarrant county politics, having frequently been called upon to serve as delegate to the county and state Democratic conventions. In his fraternal rela- tions he is a Mason, belonging to the Blue Lodge in Grapevine and the chapter at Fort Worth.

In Grapevine Mr. Jenkins was united in mar- riage to Miss Florence Dorris, a daughter of Dr. W. E. Dorris, another well known old pioneer citizen of Grapevine, and they have one daughter, Edna, at home. Two children are deceased. El- len, who died when twelve years old, and Eli M. Jenkins, who died at the age of eighteen.

ANDREW RAMSEY RICHARDSON. It is our purpose to portray, in this article, the chief incidents in a life wholly devoted to the domain of industry and to present a brief genealogical outline of a family which has borne a modest share in the work of home- building in Montague county. Its recognized head, the subject of this sketch, dates his ad- vent to the county in the year 1881 and his career here has been a living exemplification of the trite old adage-"strike while the iron is hot."

Andrew R. Richardson learned to work and to recognize the value of labor when a boy below his teens and it would be a mystery indeed if this important part of his education had not, in a quarter of a century, brought him direct and substantial returns. He secured only a peep into the house of knowledge and the vocation of his fathers was accepted as his own. llis parents died when he was a child

ZEB JENKINS

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

and his uncles looked after his welfare and, after a fashion, shaped his destiny until he was eighteen years old. At that age he came to Texas and stopped first near Centerville, in Leon county, from which point he drifted into Freestone county and remained about there ten years. As he states it, "he managed to keep even with the world" until his majority was attained, when he went back to Alabama after his legacy. As so frequently occurs with the management of estates of minor heirs, his was so well managed that it showed a shrink- age of about two-thirds and he brought back to Texas a little over a thousand dollars as his portion of his father's estate.

Unaccustomed to the handling of a large sum; Mr. Richardson's start on an independ- ent career proved to be a backward one, in- stead of forward, and in a short while he found himself without means to proceed. By the time he had learned how to win in the battle of life he had found "bed rock" and then the climb up hill began slowly to take place. When he came to Montague county he had been drifting a little and he continued it for some years afterward. He located first at Queen's Peak, where, as he expresses it, "he lived on the wind for six years" and, in 1887, he located three miles east of Bowie and rented land for four years. Having had some substantial success and being now nerved up to the point, he bargained for one hundred and fifty acres of his present farm, succeeded in paying it out and has added fifty-five acres to his original domain. Only a mere hint of what the family passed through in its journey from indigency to in- dependence is herein possible, but the mis- fortunes and disappointments were theirs with- out number, but everything was endured but the pangs of hunger, and with the wolf lying in sight of the cabin door for months matters along the road to independence often had a desperate look.

Andrew R. Richardson was born in Sumter county, Alabama, March 12, 1853. The state of North Carolina gave birth to his father, Fernie Richardson, who died at some forty years of age. Fernie Richardson married Mar- garet Ramsey, whose death occurred prior to that of her husband, leaving a family of orphan children, as follows. Bryant, who was killed in the Confederate army ; Alexander, who died in Leon county, Texas, leaving a family ; Andrew R., of this notice; William C., of Sa- lona, Texas, and Margaret, who died in Free- stone county as the wife of John Gale.

January 12, 1880, Andrew R. Richardson was

married, in Freestone county, Texas, to Miss Alabama Presswood, a daughter of Mrs. Mary Presswood, an Alabama lady, in Sumter county of which state Mrs. Richardson was born in the month of February, 1861. The children of this union are: Maggie, wife of James Jackson, of near Denver, Texas, with children, Luella, Lala and Clifton; Sudie, Wil- liam, Bryant, Alvin, Samuel, Fenton and Eddie. Adda Lee and John are deceased.

Mr. Richardson's life has been active and upright and his face has been always toward the world. That he has had a fair measure of success has been shown and that he is a repre- sentative citizen his neighbors amply testify.

EDES E. GRAVES. A substantial contri- bution to Clay county's citizenship has come from the empire of Missouri, a state whose natural resources are nowhere surpassed and a commonwealth rich in the character, intelli- gence and standing of its citizenship. In their adopted states her emigrants reflect these sterl- ing qualities and take their places abreast of the procession of the enterprise and thrift wherever present in our broad land. In this category of representative citizenship of Clay county is enumerated the subject of the fol- lowing brief sketch, Edes E. Graves.

Spottsylvania county, Virginia, was the American home, originally, of this branch of the Graves family and it was founded there by some remote ancestor who was born a sub- ject of the British crown. Colby Graves, the grandfather of E. E. Graves of this review, was a native Virginian, a farmer and slave owner who had sons: Edwin, Colby and John, who died in their native state, and William F., who passed away in Cooper county, Missouri, dur- ing the Civil War.

William F. Graves was born in 1811, grew to manhood among comfortable rural sur- roundings and married Ellen Thomson, of Louisa county, Virginia, birth. Mrs. Graves' natal day was January 3, 1824, and her father was William Thomson, also a native of Louisa county, but who died in Cooper county, Mis- souri, where he settled in 1838. The grand- father of Mrs. Graves was Major Thomson, an Englishman, who had children: Jacob, David, William, Annie, who married a Mr. Goodwin; and Mary, who became the wife of Dr. White. William Thomson married Rebecca N. Ellis, who also died in Cooper county, being the mother of: Frances, who first married Thomas Woolfolk and afterward became the wife of Arthur McCracken; Mary married Spottswood

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

D. Smith; William died in Morgan county, Missouri; James died in Boonville, Missouri ; Alfred died in Virginia; Mildred married Al- fred Baker and passed away in Virginia ; Ellen, Mrs. Graves, Sallie, wife of Horace Ferguson, and Lucy, of Kansas City, Missouri, widow of Nicholas Lewis, passed away November 26, 1905.

William F. Graves emigrated from his na- tive Virginia when a young man and became a settler of Cooper county, Missouri. He mar- ried there and pursued the life of a farmer and there all his children were born. He was a southern man in sentiment and, while he was not in the conflict actively, the ultimate success of southern arms would have pleased him most and it was known that he entertained such sentiments. Toward the end of 1864 he met his death at the hands of Federal soldiers at Otterville, Missouri, leaving his widow a young family to support. His children were: Edwin E., of Sulphur Springs, Indian Territory ; Emma, wife of C. D. Cheaney, of Gainesville, Texas; Emes, Mrs. J. F. Jackson, of Ryan, In- diani Territory, and Edes E., of this review.

Bereft of father in infancy and being the youngest of the family, E. E. Graves was destined to become and remain the companion of his widowed mother. His education was limited to the country schools and he cannot remember when work was not his chief occupa- tion in life. In February, 1879, the family settled near Sherman, Texas, but three years later removed to Cooke county, where stock- raising and farming became his chief diversion. In 1883 the family home was established in Clay county where his early occupation has been continued. He owns a farm and pasture of six hundred and forty acres, stocked with one hundred and fifty head of cattle. In 1893 he moved into Bellevue, being one of the first residents of the south part of town. As a citizen he has been identified with much of the enterprise requiring public spirit to carry out, in Bellevue, and has contributed of his private means to whatever destined to promote the welfare of his community. He has been prominently identified with Clay county politics, his face being a familiar one in county con- ventions, and for nine years he was deputy sheriff. He has gone through Odd Fellowship, subordinate, encampment and Rebekah, and has twice been district deputy, and as many times sent as a delegate to the State Grand Lodge, an unusual honor and the only mem- ber of his lodge upon whom this distinction has been conferred.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 2

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