A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 21

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 21

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In 1873 our subject's father, Andrew Gilmore, settled at Caddo Springs, the site of the old Cad- do village, and purchased land, upon which he passed his remaining years, dying in the late nineties at seventy-one years of age. He had re- sided in Texas since 1866, having settled in Parker county and been engaged in farming there until his advent to Young county. For nine years previous to his settlement in the Lone Star state he was a resident of Izard county, Arkansas, to 'which point he emigrated from Mississippi. He was an Arkansas soldier in the Confederate army during a portion of the Civil war era and was a horseshoer while in the service. He mar- ried first in Mississippi, and there his first chil- dren were born. His wife was Miss Lydia Byrd, whose people were from Albama and who died, being the mother of: Lucinda, wife of O. D. Goldson, of Young county ; Thomas, of Dickens county, Texas; James R., deceased; Sadie, of Greer county, Oklahoma, wife of E. Wooley ; William I., Zachariah, deceased, and John, a farmer of Young county.

William I. Gilmore was born in Izard county, Arkansas, January 31, 1857, acquired a country school education in Parker county, Texas, and began his career in Young county with a horse and a cow and a calf. In the early days he worked on the cow range in Palo Pinto and Young counties, at the same time gathering to- gether, out of his wages, a small herd of his own cattle. When he quit the stock business he sold his stuff and invested in the nucleus of his pres- ent home. This tract was a fractional quarter

section and was the settlement of J. A. Jowell, and under Mr. Gilmore it has come to be one of the valuable and well improved farms of the county.

In his experience as a farmer Mr. Gilmore has always merited success. Rarely has he plant- ed in the spring without reaping something in the autumn, and with the passage of time his condition has materially improved. His real estate holdings in the county embrace more than eight hundred acres, and it is well stocked with cattle.

July 27, 1877, Mr. Gilmore married Annie Fos- ter, a daughter of J. B. Foster. Mrs. Gilmore was orphaned at an early age and died at the home she helped to build up December 22, 1901, leaving two children, Thomas B. and May. In December, 1903, Mr. Gilmore married Mrs. Mol- lie Gibson, a daughter of Robert Haynes and widow of Lee Gibson. By her first husband Mrs. Gilmore is the mother of Bruce, Grace and Alice.

Mr. Gilmore has had no interest in politics further than the casting of his ballot. He in- variably supports Democratic candidates on na- tional and state issues and selects the most fit- ting candidate in local elections.

JOHN T. HONEA, for fifteen years an hon- ored resident of Tarrant county, is a man who has been conspicuously useful to his fellow citi- zens in an official capacity. He is now serving Tarrant county for the second term as sheriff, and it is only necessary to quote a brief news- paper item that appeared some time since to show the excellence of his record and his worth in public office. "'Conditions are distressingly good from a moral standpoint,' said Sheriff John T. Honea to-day to the Telegram, in referring to arrests that have been made during the past few months. At the present time there are only about thirty-five prisoners confined in the county jail, the smallest number in the two years of Mr. Honea's administration. Heretofore the small- est number confined in the jail has not been less than fifty. 'There is very little crime at this time,' added the sheriff. The commissioners' court took occasion yesterday to compliment the sheriff on the fact that during his two years of service not a single damage suit had been filed against him."

Born at Mckenzie, Carroll county, Tennessee, in 1864, Mr. Honea is the son of Dr. David F. and Martha J. (Roach) Honea. His father, a native of Alabama, lived practically all his life in Tennessee, where he was a successful medical practitioner. He died at his home in Carroll county, Tennessee, aged forty-six, in 1876. The mother died on the 26th of July, 1905, aged sixty-

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

seven years, and is buried beside her husband, in Carroll county, Tennessee. She is a sister of the late Judge Roach of Weatherford, Texas.

Mr. Honea first came to Texas when he was fourteen years old. He spent about a year at Clarksville on the Red river, then went to Weath- erford for about the same length of time, after which he returned to Tennessee. In .1884 he came back to this state and finally located in Ar- lington in Tarrant county in 1890, has ever since been a resident of this county. He began his official career as constable of Arlington, and was also marshal of that town during the time when it was noted for being a "tough" place, a condition which he did much to better. In 1896 he was appointed deputy sheriff of Tar- rant county, Sterling P. Clark being sheriff, and continued under Mr. Clark for two years, after which he was deputy constable for two years. In 1900 he was candidate for the Democratic nom- ination to the shrievalty, was defeated then, but in 1902 was successful both in the nominating convention and at the polls. So satisfactory was his work during the first term that he was nom- inated and elected, in November, 1904, for a second term. As indicated above he is the only sheriff in the history of this county who has not had a damage suit filed against his office, and this brought out the complimentary motion for him at the meeting of the county commissioners in November, 1904.

Mr. Honea takes an active interest in the af- fairs of his county and city, and is a man of broad-gauge principles and of absolute integrity. He is a member of the board of trade, and has affiliations with the Woodmen, the Red Men and the Eagles.

Mr. Honea has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Maggie Parker, whom he mar- ried in Carroll county, Tennessee, in 1885. She passed away in 1897 leaving three children, Otis, Archie and Olga. Mr. Honea has since mar- ried Miss Laura Roak, in this county. Mr. Honea has distinguished himself by putting down all gambling in the city of Fort Worth, being the only man to ever succeed in so doing. He is a man of sterling worth, keen foresight, energetic to a marked degree and a man who prosecutes all criminals with firmness, and takes delight in seeing the law enforced.

JAMES ALEXANDER CUMMINS. In in- troducing the subject of this review we are deep- ly conscious of our inability, with the bare out- line of his career before us, to present the light and shade of a picture which grows in interest with the lapse of time and to little more than

mention the events which form the quarter-posts of his life course. A life so filled with dramatic history, so clouded with tragedy and so height- ened on the stage of comedy requires the genius of a Porter, a Muhlbach or a Stowe to portray it in its completeness and perfection, and the effort with which we shall acquit our subject we offer as being little more than an apology for the biog- raphy of James A. Cummins.

In the fiery atmosphere of Caldwell county, Kentucky, Mr. Cummins was born June 1, 1842. His ancestors were among the pioneers of the state, his grandfather, Simon Cummins, having become a settler of Christian county in the first fifth of the century just closed, for in 1821 his son, Elijah W., the father of our subject, was there born. Simon Cummins died at an advanced age and as a veteran of the Revolutionary war. He brought his family up in the pure atmosphere of a rural home and instilled into them that re- gard for honesty and integrity so universal with the citizenship of his day. Noah, his oldest child, was a soldier of the Confederacy, and died in his native state. Lemuel passed away in his Kentucky home in 1898, having had sons in the Federal army during the secession war; Irena became the wife of James Ramey and died with issue in Lyon coun- ty, Kentucky; Louisa married first a Sanders and second a Gillespie and left a family in Lyon county at her death; Sallie married Hezekiah Oliver, of Caldwell county, Kentucky, and Wil- liam and Simon are residents of Lyon county.

Elijah W. Cummins was his father's fifth child and his advantages in early life were simply those common to the country youth of Kentucky in that primitive day. He married Lydia, a daughter of Leven Oliver, a war of 1812 patriot and sol- dier who migrated to Kentucky from Virginia in an early day. Mr. Oliver's early life was passed as a flat-boatman on the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi rivers down to New Or- leans, but prior to that time he had also fought the British at the battle of New Orleans in 1812 and was one of only seventeen American soldiers wounded in that historic engagement. He mar- ried Sophia Barnett in his native state and reared his children in Kentucky. He came to Texas with the family in 1843, and died in Fannin coun- ty about 1874. His children were: Evaline, who died in Fannin county as the wife of Miles Davis ; Betsy, wife of Andrew Oliver, died in Fannin county ; Lydia, our subject's mother, who died in Fannin county in 1902; Sallie, who became Mrs. Talton Gray and died in Fannin county ; Marga- ret married James Pile, who lives in Fannin county ; Nancy, wife of Rev. Reece; Lee, of

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

Fannin county, and Robert, an ex-Confederate soldier, who died at Tahlequah, Indian Terri- tory. The family of Elijah W. and Lydia Cum- mins was composed of James A., of this review ; Sophia, wife of Lewis Jones, of Montague coun- ty ; George, who died in Fannin county, a Home Guard during the Civil war; Lucinda, who mar- ried Frank Ramey, of Fannin county ; Isaphenia, wife of Dan Ikard, of Fannin county ; William, yet in the old home county in Texas'; Mattie, now Mrs. Rube Lockler, of Kemp, Indian Territory, and Sarah, who died in Fannin county unmar- ried.

In 1852 Elijah W. Cummins headed a small colony of emigrants from Lyon county, Ken- tucky, to the Lone Star state and located in Fan- nin county. Ladonia was the little village near where they settled and with the exception of the years from 1867 to 1870 passed in Benton county, Arkansas, he was a resident of that county until his death, in September, 1903. He took part in the Confederate war as an infantryman and as a citizen maintained himself a quiet, industrious and modest farmer. He identified himself with Christian sentiment and was a member of the Christian church. He took little account of pub- lic affairs and had no interest in politics other than to vote with the Democrats on election day. He was a gentleman with high ideas of morality, of undoubted integrity and was a soldier under General Taylor in the Mexican war.

In Lyon county, Kentucky, and in Fannin coun- ty, Texas, James A. Cummins passed from in- fancy to the near approach to man's estate. As a knight errant in the army of his beloved South- land he rounded out his majority, and as a civ- ilian after the war his nomadic career embraced the best thirty years of his business life. The schools provided him with an introduction to the three R's only in boyhood, but the corners of a very angular intellectual equipment have all been rounded off and smoothed down by the friction of years of hard and varied experiences. As his start in life was made in the saddle and with a gun at his side it is fitting to present briefly the scenes of his military adventures at this time. At sixteen years of age he joined Captain Wood's company of Texas Rangers operating against the Comanche and Sioux Indians, depredating the Texas frontier for so many years, and took part in the battle which resulted in the destruction of Nocona's band, the death of the great chief and the capture of his wife, Cynthia Ann Parker and her son, Quanah. When his service with the Rangers was concluded he followed his inclina- tions and continued a life in the saddle among the early cowboys of the southwest. But when

the politicians of the north and the south aroused their respective sections of our country, arrayed them against each other in open denunciation and actually launched the dreadful conflict young Cummins was ready to make any sacrifice for his country's welfare, and when the invitation was made he cast the die. He enlisted first in 1861 in Company F, Eleventh Texas Cavalry, and served under Colonel W. C. Young till 1862 and in the Thirteenth Texas, under Colonels Bob Taylor and James Stephens in the Trans-Missis- sippi Department of the Confederate army. His first engagement of note was the fight at Elk. Horn and, without attempting details, he went through the Louisiana campaign, taking part in the engagements at Mansfield, Yellow Bayou, etc., being wounded in the latter battle while aid- ing a comrade to the rear after being disabled. He was ever ready for duty as long as there was service to perform and when the surrender of Lee ended the war he was paroled at Milliken, near Hempstead, May 27, 1865.

On resuming civil pursuits the saddle offered Mr. Cummins the most remunerative and pleas- urable occupation, and he soon became foreman for John Rhodes and Milt McGee, cattle drovers from Texas to Kansas City, Missouri. During his two years' service in this capacity, driving thousands of head of genuine "long-horns," camping on the trail in all sorts of weather, swim- ming swollen streams and surmounting other difficulties of his employers and of his own, he made acquaintances and formed associations which shifted the course of his life into a channel turbid with riffles and whirlpools and encounter- ing sandbars and eddies until the climax of a strenuous existence was actually reached. Hav- ing saved some money from his employment with Rhodes and McGee and from a similar service with John Sponable, of Johnson county, Kansas, he decided to try mining in the Rockies, and he accordingly went to Idaho and prospected in the Leesburg region of that territory for several months, in a vain effort to locate a vein of fabu- lous wealth. Returning to Texas in 1869 he turned his attention briefly to the farm, but freighting offered proper financial inducements and a life more to his turn, and he hauled goods from Jefferson to North Texas points until the railroads reached Denison and Sherman and cut off much of the business in his line. He put up the first tent on the townsite of Denison and was for a time a clerk in one of the early stores of the town. Later he became a traveling salesman for a marble works there and eventually drifted into the patent-right business. In this latter vo- cation he was associated with Henry T. Davis

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

and James N. Touchstone, and while he was connected with many other and varied operations during the interval this claimed his attention in the main till 1897, when he finally settled down in Bowie and embarked in the less adventurous, less strenuous, more commonplace and more sub- stantial business of real estate and insurance. In 1903 he formed a partnership with Charles B. Downs, and the firm of Cummins & Downs is one of the most substantial and reliable in the city.

In December, 1869, Mr. Cummins married Susan, a daughter of Bird Sherrill, of Fannin county. ' A son and a daughter, Leon B. and Winona May, are the issue of this union, the former a railroad conductor on the Frisco road and the latter a resident of Dallas, Texas. March I, 1888, Mr. Cummins married, at Glenn Elder, Kansas, Mary E. Carroll, born in Sullivan coun- ty, Tennesee, July 15, 1866. Their residence is one of the beautiful, modest little homes of Bowie and the plans and expense of its preparation were provided by its present owners.

Aside from his dealing in real estate himself Mr. Cummins has demonstrated his faith in his works by acquiring, not only urban, but rural possessions, as well. While he has not amassed great wealth he has kept the prowling wolves a safe distance from his door-step, and every con- tract that he makes, either verbal or written, is as good as its face on the day it is due. He main- tains a liberal attitude toward all worthy benev- olences and lends his substantial aid to any intel- ligent effort directed toward the material or so- cial advancement of his county. No miserly charge can ever be laid at his door nor no act of extortion or frenzied money-getting will ever be charged against him. He is sympathetic with the unfortunate and lives in an atmosphere of "good- will toward men."

In anything political Mr. Cummins is always a Democrat-the same principles by any other name would not suffice-and he has been deputy sheriff in Texas and was once city marshal of Glen Elder, Kansas. He leaves the drama of active politics to others while he feasts on the good things that come to him as an enthusiast among the old veterans of the Lost Cause. He has attended the annual reunions of the United Confederate Veterans for years and has been three times commander of Camp 572-Bowie Pelham Camp, Bowie-U. C. V., and was adjutant and chief of staff two years of the Fifth Brigade, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and is now aide de camp to General W. L. Cabell, with the rank of colonel, of the Trans-Mississippi Depart- ment. He is a Royal Arch Mason and took five

degrees of Odd Fellowship in 1866. From the opening of the rebellion until the close of his nomadic life Mr. Cummins treaded the soil of every state and territory in the American union. The north, south, east and west are as familiar to him as to the most traveled nabob of our coun- try, and the history of his trail from the outbreak of the rebellion to the opening of the Centennial at Philadelphia would be impregnated with inci- dents challenging the pen of the novelist to prop- erly portray. His acquaintance with the world is intimate and his knowledge of humanity is per- fect. When his piercing eye strikes yours you instantly feel its power, and a character without the genuine ring wins no confidence nor sym- pathy from him. He has been one of the charac- ters of tragic history in post-bellum days, and with his passing few of the old guard will remain.

WILLIAM ANDERSON WILSON. In the year 1880 Mr. Wilson established himself on a tract of Bell county school land, eight miles southeast of Sunset, in Montague county, and set about the task of clearing up a farm and building him a humble home. His capital was small, like his family then, and the work which he and his industrious wife did then laid deep and well the foundation for their present-day prosperity and independence.

The farm of one hundred acres which Mr. Wil- son first bought was covered with timber, and the task which presented itself to their young minds might have appalled less stouter hearts and less industrious hands. The countless strokes neces- sary to bring this tract under subjection and to class it among the improved places of the locality were all .spent, in time, and additional efforts were directed upon other purchases of land, and corresponding improvements made until pros- perity has crowned their labors with an estate of three hundred and sixty acres of land and all their successes have not yet been achieved. Cap- ping the brow of an elevation some eighty rods back from the Sunset and Uz road stands the family domicile, protected by forest and orchard, and bidding a silent welcome to friend and neigh- bor to its hospitable portals. These substantial tokens tell of the reward for years of intelligent toil, spent by the domestic circle, and indicate the possibilities of success under properly directed and continuous effort.

Mr. Wilson established himself in the Lone Star state in 1877, taking up his first residence in the east portion of Tarrant county. Four years there sufficed to convince him that conditions were not favorable for his greatest agricultural achievement and he sought the scene of his pres-

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

ent location, and with the results as mentioned above. He migrated to Texas from Hardenian county, Tennessee, where his birth occurred No- vember 3, 1841. He was brought up in a country district and obtained little education because of the character of the schools of that day. During the Civil war he was in sympathy with his coun- try as against the Confederacy and he enlisted in the Union army in 1862, his command being Company A, Sixth Tennessee Cavalry, un- der Colonel Hurst. His regiment was first under General A. J. Smith and then under General Thomas and the only battle in which he participated was the one at Nashville, in which the Confederate General Hood's army was destroyed. His command re- mained in Tennessee during the remainder of the war and his company was mustered out at Pulas- ki at the end of the war.

William A. Wilson is a son of Ingram and Louisa (Hunnell) Wilson, both native Tennessee people, farmers and immigrants to Montague county, Texas. The parents died here. Their children were: William A., our subject; Mary, Permelia, Jesse, Martin, Sarah A., Martha, Mar- garet, Eliza, Nancy, Parley, Miranda and Mandie.

Tracing up the genealogy of the Wilson family of this branch we find our subject descended from William Wilson, a soldier of the war of 1812, who passed his life as a Tennessee farmer and passed away there about 1870 at about seventy- five years of age. By his marriage he was the father of Nancy, wife of John Ross; Delilah, wife of Philip Deaton ; Squire, of Fannin county, 'Texas ; Anderson and Ingram ; William, of Run- nells county, Texas ; Sallie, wife of Henry Hatch ; Solomon and James, both killed in battle during the rebellion; Lottie, who died in Arkansas, was the wife of Nelson Huddleston ; Jesse, Jason and Martin.

December 18, 1870, Mr. Wilson married Jo- sephine Haultom, only child of Charles and Martha (Russell) Haultom, the former of Ten- nessee and the latter from North Carolina. The issue of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are: Jessie, who died at four years of age; Marion A., of Clay county, Texas ; Malanie, wife of Manley Wilson, and Lurilda, wife of Jesse Gee; Leona, Elisha, Julia, Cora, Myrtle and Charles complete the family circle.

Mr. Wilson learned his politics during the days of Lincoln, for whom, in 1864, he cast his first vote and through the campaigns since he has supported the presidential candidate of the Re- publican party. In local matters he is in accord with Democratic doctrines and casts his vote for white supremacy and common decency in local

affairs. In matters pertaining to the county's welfare and his own it has been mutually good for him to be here. His family as a whole has filled a positive niche in the county's industrial, civil and social fabric and as part of the great mass of the plain people who give stability to our civil institutions and control the destiny of our nation honor and credit is justly due.

WILLIAM BENJAMIN WORSHAM. In this review it is our pleasure and privilege to present the life work of one whose identity with North and West Texas has spanned almost a third of a century and one whose connection with the vital affairs of this section has been at once prominent and conspicuous. The various. phases of his diversified career mark him as one of the real and stable characters of this territory, and it is pride of achievement which prompts this modest reference to him whose name initiates this notice. In youth and early manhood accustomed to the rough usages of hard work, in middle and later life evolving and executing successful schemes for the promotion of his vast and growing financial interests, toward the evening of his career is still busy and in the enjoyment of the fruits which destiny ordained.

It was not ordered that Texas should give W. B. Worsham birth, it is sufficient that his con- quests should occur in this state. His natal day was February 8, 1843, and his place Callaway county, Missouri. He is a son of William Tal- bert Worsham, who migrated to Missouri about 1835 from near Petersburg, Virginia, where his birth occurred in 1811. He devoted his life to the farm and died in Callaway in 1883. He married Minta Ann Stokes, who passed away in 1893, being the mother of the following children : Henry S., of Comanche county, Oklahoma; Wil- liam B .; Ditreon V., of Ada, Indian Territory. A son, Joseph A., died in Henrietta as post- master of the city under the first Cleveland ad- ministration. Two daughters, Mrs. Mary Wiley and Mrs. Eliza A. Johnson, died in Lawrence county, Missouri, leaving families.

A country school education was all that seemed in store for young Worsham on the farm, and the first year of the war he enlisted in the Fifteenth Missouri Cavalry-as did also his older and younger brothers-for service in Capt. Samuel Roberts' Company, United States troops. He saw service around Springfield, Missouri, and in Arkansas and the Cherokee Nation and was dis- charged in 1865, being mustered out June thirtieth of that year.

The first half a dozen years succeeding the war Mr. Worsham spent on the farm in his native

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 21

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