A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 20

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 20

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Dr. LeMond has lost his wife, who bore the maiden name of Miss Alice Tate, but he has one son. He is a Knight Templar and has taken the higher degrees of Masonry and is also connected with the Mystic Shrine. He has also been an active member of various medical societies. In March, 1905, he returned to his native state, lo- cating at Fort Worth, where he was welcomed by the medical profession as a most worthy addi- tion to their number and where he will continue to make his home. He is a very warm-hearted man, a typical southern gentleman and attracts people to him in strong and enduring friend- ships.

DR. LEWIS C. TYSON is a prominent phy- sician and man of affairs of Wichita Falls, where during the past decade he has built up a large practice and taken first rank in his profession and also displayed his progressive and enter- prising spirit by engaging in up-to-date agricul- tural endeavors. He is a popular and public- spirited man, wielding a large personal influence, and is of the type of citizenship which is par- ticularly useful in the upbuilding of new com- munities like Wichita Falls.

Dr. Tyson is a son of Josiah and Mehaly (Me- Geehe) Tyson. His father was a native of North Carolina, whence early in life he moved down into Georgia and located in Merriwether county, where he became a wealthy planter and owner of an extensive plantation. He belonged to the state guards during the war. Dr. Tyson was born on this Georgia plantation November 26, 1849, and during the rebellion was a young lad old enough to realize the horrors of war but unable to take part in it. The family estate was on the edge of the fighting district through which the army of Sherman marched, devastating and really making "war hell" through all that belt of country. Dr. Tyson has many vivid recol- lections of those times, and years can ameliorate but not efface all the impressions he then re- ceived.

He received most of his early education at Milledgeville and after reaching manhood he decided to study medicine. He was graduated from the Washington University Medical de- partment of St. Louis, Missouri, in 1883, but previous to this he had practiced as an under- graduate at Harrison, Arkansas, and after grad- uation he went back to that place and con- tinued his successful practice until 1893. He was then obliged to move in order to find a more favorable climate, and in that year located at Wichita Falls, Texas, where he has since come into a profitable practice. He is president of the Wichita County Medical Society and is a member of the Texas State Medical Associa- tion.

The material welfare of Wichita county, es- pecially agricultural interests, has also attracted his attention. Several years ago he constructed and now operates a large irrigation plant, formed by a dam across the river from Wichita Falls. This plant irrigates two hundred and fif- teen acres of his big tract of one thousand acres, two miles east of Wichita Falls, and in the course of time it will also be used for irrigating other farms in the vicinity. He maintains on this farm an expert cotton-raiser. In addition to the large crops of cotton and alfalfa, a specialty

LEWIS C. TYSON

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

is being made of producing cantaloupes for the northern markets. Dr. Tyson is one of the pioneers in this industry in Wichita county, and the melons produced in this county bid fair to rival the famous Rocky Fords, and extensive preparations are being made to increase the pro- duct and make it one of the permanent resources of this region. Dr. Tyson is treasurer of the Wichita Valley Melon Growers' Association.

Dr. Tyson's first wife was Miss Nancy E. Keele, a daughter of Dr. G. C. Keele. She died in 1895, leaving six children, as follows: Walter Scott, Virgia Irene, Lewis Amos, Alice S., Goldie and Nancy Elizabeth. The present Mrs. Tyson was Miss Mattie Kerley, daughter of W. G. Ker- ley, and by this union there are four children : Joe Bill, Florence, Katharine and John.

JAMES DAVID MANNING. Scotch deter- mination and Irish wit make a combination of blood of which much of our vigorous American- ism is made and the resultant of its union in our counting houses, the professions, the shops and in the fields build into the fabric of our national life those dominant characteristics which distin- guish us as a republic. The Scotch-Irish amal- gam sails the seas, tunnels the earth, digs canals, wins battles and victories everywhere and is a race always to be reckoned with in a struggle for industrial supremacy. They are everywhere on our frontier building homes and establishing institutions which advance our civilization and from this great body of rural settlers much of the generations of the future will come. Incon- spicuous among this vast throng, though earnest and positive as a citizen in his sphere, is James David Manning, of Wise county, whose name in- troduces this personal sketch.

In this article the Irish Manning and the Scotch Stephens is united in the authorship of our subject, and while their relationship with the pure bloods of each is a remote one, it is suffi- cient, even in the names, to identify the stock and to satisfy posterity of the genuineness of its origin. The paternal grandfather of our subject was a native of the state of North Carolina, and his vocation was that of a farmer. He lived in Alabama, at an early period of his mature life, and passed away in Mississippi. Among his chil- dren were: Robert, father of our subject ; David, Henry and yet others, and in 1837 the family ad- vanced a step farther west and settled in DeSoto county, Mississippi. In this vicinity Robert Man- ning met his future wife, and the union of the Mannings and the Stephens was made.

Robert Manning was born in 1812 and died in DeSoto county, Mississippi, in 1865. Farming

was his vocation also, and prior to the war over- seeing slaves was his station. He was not active- ly in the Confederate service during the rebellion, but was a militiaman and aided the southern cause as a Home Guard in his state. His wife was Sarah J. Stephens, a daughter of Pierce Stephens, whose other children were: George W., Eaton, Elijah and Ann, wife of Mr. Jennings. In 1869 Mrs. Manning brought her family of grown and growing children out to the Lone Star state and settled a farm north of Decatur, in Wise county. Until 1878 she was permitted to live among and guide and counsel her children, but that year she passed away, having been the mother of: Jane, wife of H. T. Bernard, of Wise county ; Narcissa, who died in Mississippi as the wife of Joseph Williams; Sallie, who passed away in Sebastian county, Arkansas, as the wife of Joe Tidwell ; Mary Helen, wife of Ben Shreves, of Jack coun- ty, Texas ; J. David and William, of Wise coun- ty: Nannie, who married Lawson Reeves, of Oklahoma, and Mattie E., wife of Jerre Adams, of Wise county.

J. David Manning was born in DeSoto coun- ty, Mississippi, July 27, 1852, and at the age of fifteen years he accompanied the family by rail to New Orleans, by boat to Galveston, and by rail again to Calvert, Texas. They reached De- catur in course of a long drive and found a few rude houses dotted about on the Proctor hill. Here he subsequently attended school three months, one Crowell being the master in charge. In a few years he joined George M. Stephens' Ranger company, which traversed the counties of Clay, Jack, Young and Archer while scouting for the red man, and not infrequently did they come into contact with their wily foe.

On August 3, 1873, nine of the scouts, includ- ing Mr. Manning, encountered three hundred and fifty Indians on the East Wichita river, in Archer county, and from eleven in the morning until sunset lay in a ravine and defended themselves with Winchester and six-shooter, making havoc among the band, killing the chief and driving them to cover with their dead. Captain Stephens was wounded in the fight and it was his advice that before the Indians' return from disposing of the chief the Rangers had better escape a charge and probable extermination by then strik- ing the trail, and this they did, later on hearing the blood-thirsty band, disappointed and in pur- suit. At another time thirty-seven Rangers fought some three hundred Indians in Loving's Valley, losing in the engagement two men and many horses, and in this little scrimmage Mr. Manning also participated.

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

When he located to himself and undertook the battle of civil life Mr. Manning settled farther north of Decatur, where he lived some fifteen years, and improved and ultimately sold a fairly good farm. He then added his presence to the community in which he is now an honored resi- dent, and began the grubbing out of a new farm and the building of a new home. He bought a hundred acres in the brush, built him a small box house out of lumber hauled from Sunset for the purpose. He began raising corn and cotton and prosperity came to him in proportion to the effort he expended. He bought other land from time to time and brought it under plow until two hundred and seventy of his three hundred and fifty-one acres bring him an annual crop.

August 25, 1875, J. D. Manning and Miss Mil- lie Guinn were married. Mrs. Manning was a daughter of John Guinn, who came to Texas from Louisiana, where she was born in 1857. Mr. Guinn married a Thompson, and Mrs. Man- ning was one of five children resulting from their union. The children born to J. D. and Millie Manning were: Carro, who died at the age of twenty-three as the wife of George Blythe, left issue, Earnest, Vera and Clarence; Dora, wife of N. G. McClain, is the mother of Hershell and Roy ; John R., Marion D., Dee, Homer J., Buford H., Thomas Merl, Calvin and Escal.

Mr. Manning has held no public office other than a member of the school board, is a Democrat and communes in the Baptist church.

WILLIAM TANNER. Among the pioneers to Clay county whose settlement here gave a dis- tinctively upward and forward impetus to its in- ternal development was the late William Tanner, whose achievements in his Texas home stand as a monument to his energy, industry and business sagacity. Although he lived here but a score of years, and much of that period at a time when farming didn't pay, yet he managed his affairs and so conducted his business as to become a prominent character among the home-builders of his county.

It was in October of 1874 that William Tanner brought his little family to Clay county and set- tled them in a rude but comfortable log house of two rooms, after the first winter, on his four hundred and eighty acre tract of raw land three miles northeast of Henrietta. He proceeded to the improvement of his farm by fencing it around with a rail fence, which the prairie fires afterward destroyed. His abode the first winter was a simple camp on the slough and his chief occupa- tion for the first few years was the growing of cattle, which gave way as the county settled up

to the raising of improved grades of horses, notably of the Percheron stock. He made a suc- cess of all his stock enterprises and shipped his horses to markets in Illinois and drove his cattle to the railroad at Hunnewell, Kansas. The profits from his efforts on the farm enabled him to double the size of his original purchase, and it was this desirable homestead, well improved and well stocked, that he left to his widow and chil- dren when he passed away January 7, 1894.

Mr. Tanner was a settler from Montgomery county, Illinois, where he located upon his advent to the United States in 1853. He was a farmer and stock-raiser there, and had made something of a start in life when he sold his possessions to come to Texas. He was born in Slone House Barracks, in England, his father, William Tan- ner, being a soldier in the king's army. His birth occurred March 24, 1826, and when four years of age his parents took up their residence in Ire- land, where the father died in 1838. His mother, nee Sarah Whaley, died at Tuskin Pass, Ireland, being the mother of William, Jane, wife of Nathaniel Henry, and Hannah, both in their native Ireland.

William Tanner's first endeavor on his own account was as a farmer in Ireland, and his last one there was as a merchant in Tuskin Pass. He came to the United States because of its numer- ous and varied opportunities and was accompa- nied on his voyage from Waring Point, Ireland, to Liverpool by his newly married wife. At Liv- erpool he took the sailer Jacob A. Westervelt for New York, and after a rough voyage of six weeks landed at Castle Garden. A visit of three weeks was made with friends and relatives in the metropolis and the young couple started on their long journey to Chicago and finally to Naples, Illinois. Stopping at Springfield en route Mr. Tanner entered government land, but passed his first winter in Hillsboro. The next year he got firmly settled in his new and frontier home, made all its substantial improvements and parted with it only to share in the development of the Lone Star state. On his trip south he came by rail to Sherman, where Dr. Eldridge, a promoter of western settlements, located him in Clay county. He provided himself with team, wagon and some farming implements-which latter he really brought from Illinois-and without notable inci- dent made his way out to his future home.

In March, 1852, William Tanner married Eliza A. Best, a daughter of Robert and Sarah (Thompson) Best, both of the parents dying in county Armagh, Ireland. Of their children Wil- liam lived in Macoupin county, Illinois, many years, was captain of a company in the Union

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

army during the war, went to Dallas, Texas, in 1874, was a merchant there many years and died there in March, 1904; John is in county Armagh and Sarah is married and resides in Belfast, Ire- land ; Joseph lives in Australia and James died in Ireland ; Mary married Mr. Porter and is in her native Armagh, while Robert lives in Fannin county, Texas ; Thomas is connected with a bank in Cork, and Eliza is at home with her sons in Clay county. Mrs. Tanner was born December 21, 1836, and her children are: Robert, born July 6, 1855; Thomas, born December 3, 1857, is in Hobart, Oklahoma, and has a son Harry ; William Henry, born February 28, 1860, died August 6 of the same year ; Charles, born March 22, 1862, died December 9, 1863; Patrick E., born May 28, 1864, died September 16 following ; John H., born September 2, 1865, married Alice Flippin and resides at Broken Arrow, Indian Territory, and has children, Samuel R., Thomas J. and Allice May ; Lucy, born February 19, 1868, resides on the old home, and is the wife of S. R. Bean ; Sarah May, born January 5, 1870, resides in Henrietta and is the wife of George S. Ellis, with one child, William Sanders; William, born December 25, 1872, died in September, 1881 ; Illi- nois J., born August 30, 1874, died April 3. 1903 ; Harry L., born November 10, 1878, operates, in conjunction with his brother Robert, the home- stead, and is an active participant in the affairs of the home. Like their father, the sons cling to stock as the surest profit winner of the farm and they also cultivate several hundred acres to grain and feed.

In politics William Tanner was a Democrat and his sons at home have yielded to the persuasions of the same faith. They entertain and have enter- tained a good citizen's interest in local and state affairs, and their convictions are nearly always expressed at the polls.

GEORGE W. CURTSINGER. The mer- cantile interests of Collin county were for many years ably served by the gentleman whose name initiates this brief sketch, and his commercial connections with that county, like his connection with the grazing industry of Clay county, were of a high order and placed him among the emi- nently representative citizens of his county. Since the early spring of 1890 his lot has been cast with the community of Joy, in Clay county, where his presence is effectively revealed by his works and where substantial contributions to the county's development have been made.

The years of Mr. Curtsinger's childhood and youth were passed upon his father's Kentucky farm, for it was in Washington county, that

state, that his birth occurred September 7, 1851. He was of an ancient family of the "Corn Crack- er" state, and Sanford Curtsinger, his father, was born in the county of Washington in February, 1821. The latter was a modest farmer, and when he came to Texas in 1876 he resumed the calling of his early life in Collin county. Since 1894 his residence has been maintained in Bolivar, Denton county, where he is in the enjoyment of a hearty old age.

The Curtsinger origin is presumably German and of Pennsylvania stock. Our subject's grand- father, John Curtsinger, migrated to Kentucky from the Keystone state in the forepart of the eighteenth century and founded this branch of the Curtsinger family. He settled in Washington county, aided in the first work of reduction of nature in the state of Daniel Boone and died there at about ninety-seven years of age. His wife was a Hickason and their children were Martin, John, James William, Sanford, "Doc," Louisa, wife of William Pool; Elizabeth, wife of William Cheshire; Lucinda married W. J. S. Huff, and Jane, who became Mrs. William Bishop.

Sanford Curtsinger married Mary A., a daugh- ter of Eleven White and Betsy (Hupp) White. Mary (White) Curtsinger was born in Washing- ton county, Kentucky, in 1830, September 14, and is the companion of her worthy husband to- day. Their children were: William H., of Qua- nah, Texas ; George W., of this notice; John L., of Bolivar, Texas; Jesse F., of Krum, Texas ; James D., of Hereford, Texas ; Richard, of Prior Creek, Indian Territory; Samuel, of Bolivar ; Emma, wife of Nat Pipes, of Collin county ; Bet- tie, now Mrs. William Coconougher, of Collin county, and Alice, who married James Stogner, of Denton county.

George W. Curtsinger acquired a liberal Eng- lish education in the country and village schools of his native county and remained an adjunct to the parental home till approaching his twentieth year. He became a farmer on beginning an inde- pendent career and continued it until his advent to Texas and the west, when he embarked in the mercantile business at McKinney, in Collin coun- ty. His means were limited, and his first stock was, consequently, a very modest and unpreten- tious one. The firm for several years was Curt- singer Bros., but lastly a change to Curtsinger & Lewis was made, and the business grew in im- portance and extent until the stock carried repre- sented several thousand dollars and the business done reached a total of $50,000 a year. Constant confinement told on our subject's constitution in time and, following the warning and advice of

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

a physician, he sold his interest in the store and sought rest and recuperation on his Clay county ranch.

For some years prior to his abandonment of mercantile pursuits Mr. Curtsinger had had stock interests in Clay county on a tract of wild land near Joy. When it was decided to change his residence to his ranch he erected a commodious cottage and other suitable structures and June 6, 1890, he took possession of his new permanent home. Grain and cattle raising constitute his chief interest and his herd of mixed stock cattle are approaching a high grade of White Faces, originating from registered stuff from the Blue Grove Stock Farm.

September 21, 1870, Mr. Curtsinger married in Washington county, Kentucky, Dicea, a daughter of Isaac and Rolanda ( McMannis) Lynch. Mr. Lynch died in 1884 at the age of fifty-four, while his widow survived until 1888, dying at the age of seventy-four. Merideth . Lynch, their first born, resides at Bloomfield, Kentucky : Mrs. Curtsinger, the second, was born April 30, 1853. The others were : Susan, of Wash- ington county, is the wife of William Baker ; James, who died in 1892; Andrew, of Marion county, Kentucky ; Bettie, of Nashville, Missouri ; wife of Stephen D. Crouch ; Isaac, of Springfield, Kentucky ; William, who died in Dallas, Texas, left a daughter, Birdie, of Waco; Jerome, of Shelby county, Kentucky, and Rolanda, wife of Henry Scruggs, of Washington county, Ken- tucky.

The issue of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Curtsinger are: Laura E., wife of Arthur R. Clerihew, of Antelope, Texas, with children, Willie. Morris, Arthur J., Flo and Mildred ; Lucy S., wife of E. A. Hicks, of Joy, Texas, with chil- dren, Eileen and Ruth: Ivan J., class of 1004. graduate law department of the State University of Texas; Walter, of Dallas, Texas, married Rena Webster, and Eugene, a student in Palm- er's Studio of Music at Denton. Stanley and An- drew are two sons who died in early childhood.

After twenty-eight years' residence in the Lone Star state, living a strenuous and industrious life, in the pursuit of an honorable competence for his declining years, we find George W. Curtsinger in the near approach to the evening of his career with ample provision for his future domestic needs, with honorable offspring taking their sta- tions and doing their part in the affairs of men and with an untarnished name and a character unimpeached or unassailed.

DR. FRANK D. BOYD, oculist for the State and Masonic Orphans' and Widows' Home at

Fort Worth and lecturer on hygiene and physical diagnosis in the medical department of the Fort Worth University, while in his private practice he is an eye, ear, nose and throat specialist at Fort Worth, was born in Rusk, Cherokee county. Texas, his parents being John A. and Amy (Har- rison) Boyd. The father is now living in a coun- try home three and a half miles from Fort Worth. He was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and came to Texas in 1852, locating in Cherokee county, since which time he has followed mer- cantile pursuits, becoming a substantial merchant. It was in that county that he was married to Miss Amy Harrison, who was born in Selma, Ala- bama, and came to Texas in 1854.

Dr. Bovd was reared upon the home farm in Cherokee county, near Rusk, and completed a high school course at that place by graduation, after which he became a student in the State Agricultural and Mechanical College. He began his professional studies rather early in life, his first preceptor being Dr. Gracey, a prominent physician of Waxahachie. Subsequently he en- tered the medical department of the University of Louisville at Louisville, Kentucky, where he was graduated in 1890. He had decided upon becoming a specialist in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat and, following his graduation at Louisville, he pursued post-graduate work in the above mentioned branches in a post-graduate medical school and hospital of New York City. For the purpose of acquiring still further knowl- edge, experience and proficiency he then returned to Louisville and became assistant in the office of Dr. Cheatham, a noted specialist of that place. Later he became assistant in the office of Dr. E. Fletcher Ingals of Chicago, from which city he removed to San Antonio, Texas, where he prac- ticed as a specialist for five years. In June, 1896, he removed to Fort Worth, where he has since followed his profession with gratifying success, resulting from an ambitious effort to acquire the best training and preparation possible. His la- bors have been most efficient, being attended by excellent results in the line of scientific work and in addition to the duties of a large private practice he is now serving as oculist for the State Masonic Orphans' and Widows' Home at Fort Worth and is lecturer on hygiene and phys- ical diagnosis in the medical department of the Fort Worth University.

Dr. Boyd has contributed largely to the litera- ture of ophthalmology and otology and devotes as much of his spare time as possible to preparing articles for the technical journals, usually upon subjects in connection with his specialty. He is an original thinker and investigator and his

JOHN T. HONEA

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

labors have brought valuable knowledge to the profession. He is a member of the various med- ical societies of Texas and the American Medical Society, including its specialized branches, while his fraternal relations connect him with the Ma- sonic lodge, chapter and commandery.

Dr. Boyd was married in Louisville to Miss Mattie E. Callahan, and they have a little daugh- ter, Amy Margaret. They lost their oldest child, a boy, Frank Douglas, Jr., at the age of five years.

WILLIAM IRVIN GILMORE. The sub- ject of this sketch represents one of the families who settled early on the Caddo Reservation in Young county and for more than thirty years he has been identified with its stock and agricultural interests. The history of his business career re- veals him, in youth, starting out under the usual humble circumstances and in twenty-five years showing such ability and achieving a success that place him in the class of substantial and inde- pendent farmers in his valley.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 20

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