A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 25

Author: Paddock, B. B. (Buckley B.), 1844-1922; Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing co.
Number of Pages: 972

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1856. Three sons have been the result of this mar- riage. viz: Samuel, a leading young farmer and ginner on Denton creek, who married Minnie Holbrook ; James, who is still connected with the family homestead and is married to Maggie Richardson ; and Isham, deceased, June 28, 1905, whose wife was Lee McDaniel, was associated with the farm and was interested with his brother in the gin. Mazie, a daughter, must be included in the list. She is the wife of J. R. Holbrook, of Sunset, and Miss Florence, the youngest child, is yet with the family circle.

Andrew Jackson's reputation as a citizen meets universal approval. He has found com- fort and satisfaction always in doing right and his circle of friends is limited only by the ex- tent of his acquaintance. Like his father, he believes in the efficacy of the Christian religion, but while the father was a Methodist he him- self is a Baptist of the Missionary school. What more need be added when it is said that he was among the first here; that he helped conquer the country ; that his life has been a success ; that he and his wife have reared an honored family and that in the approaching evening of life he maintains the good will and confidence of his fellow men?

BENJAMIN F. ERWIN, one of the prom- inent farmers of Montague county, Texas, was born in Pike county, Mississippi, March 14, 1854, son of John J. and Aly (Thornhill) Erwin, both natives of that state; and grandson of James Erwin.

James Erwin was a pioneer settler of Mississip- pi, where he spent most of his life as a prosperous planter. When well along in years he went to Louisiana, where his death occurred. He was

BENJAMIN F. ERWIN AND FAMILY

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

the father of six children, namely: Lucena, John J., Thomas A., Abner, James C. and Frank.

John J. Erwin grew up on his father's planta- tion in Mississippi, married and settled on a farm of his own, and was prosperous and happy when the Civil War broke out, He entered the Con- federate service at the opening of hostilities and was all through the war, in the Army of the Ten- nessee, taking part in many a fight and proving himself a valiant soldier. On one occasion he was taken prisoner, but was soon exchanged. Returning to his home after the war was over, he resumed farming on his land in Mississippi and remained there until 1885, when he sold out and moved to Texas. He bought a farm in Houston county, where he settled and where he passed the closing years of his life and died, his death oc- curring in 1892. He was successful in replen- ishing his depleted fortune after the war and at the time of his death had a competency. His life was that of the quiet, unpretentious farmer, with no aspiration for political preferment, and with a character above reproach. Both he and his first wife were devoted and worthy members of the Baptist church. She died in Mississippi in 1880. Her people, the Thornhills, were early settlers of South Carolina, from whence they moved to Mississippi, where they were promi- nent and highly respected farmers. She was the mother of five children, namely: Benjamin F., whose name introduces this sketch; Warren T., who died at the age of twenty-one years ; James B. and George H., at the home farm in Houston county, and Mary E., wife of John Chairs. After the death of his first wife, John J. Erwin married Mrs. Emily Alford. There were no children by this union. After she was left a widow she married again and is now a resident of Louisiana.

Benjamin F. Erwin, the direct subject of this review, was reared on his father's farm in Missis- sippi. Although young at the time, he remem- bers well the afflictions brought on the country by the war of the rebellion, also many advantages denied him in the way of schooling and other- wise. He being the oldest child, had to go to the front on the farm and take the lead in looking after affairs while his father was in the army. He remained under the parental roof until he was grown and married, in 1878, when he settled on a rented farm. Later he owned land in Missis- sippi, which he sold in 1885 and moved with his father and family to Texas. When the families were preparing to leave their native state, an old friend and neighbor and member of the state leg- islature, prepared a letter of credit, over his own official signature, recommending Mr. Erwin to whom it might concern, etc. Although Mr. Er-

win never had occasion to use this letter, he still treasures it among his keepsakes. On their ar- rival in Texas they all settled in Houston coun- ty. Benjamin F. bought land there and on it was successfully engaged in farming for six years, when he sold out and moved to south- western Texas, locating on land which he bought in Live Oak county, remaining two years with only fairly good success in his farming opera- tions. Then he drifted to the plains. In Crosby county he homesteaded land, but on account of the unfavorable seasons he had a failure of crops and remained there only two years, coming thence to Montague county in 1895, landing here with small assets. For four years he rented land, then he bought a small farm, poorly im= proved and with but little of it under cultivation. By subsequent additional purchase he has in- creased his farm to two hundred and seventy- two acres, all fine valley land, and as the result of his well directed efforts the whole of it is under a high state of cultivation, and his build- ings, including a commodious residence and two good tenant houses, are among the best in the locality. From his home, located on an elevated site, one has a fine view of the whole farm and Red river and can see over into Indian Terri- tory.

In Mississippi Mr. Erwin married Miss Lar- issa Smith, who was born in Pike county, that state, in 1859, daughter of Dr. Nual Smith and his wife Milessa, both natives of Mississippi. Dr. Smith had a large plantation and numerous slaves and was extensively engaged in agricul- tural pursuits previous to the war. During the war he practiced his profession. The close of the war brought a change in his affairs, and he sold out and moved to Texas. He located in Houston county, where he bought land, settled down to the practice of his profession and became a prominent factor in the locality in which he lived. There he remained until death claimed him, in 1886; his wife survived him only a short time, both dying at the homestead. They were consistent members of the Baptist church and he was fraternally a Mason. Of their family of six children, we record that Florence is a resident of Mississippi; Larissa, now Mrs. Erwin; Kirby and Clara are in Houston county; Pedro is in Mississippi; and Bridget lives in San Antonio.

Mr. and Mrs. Erwin are the parents of seven children, whose names and dates of birth are as follows: Ira H., born January 10, 1879; Myra M., February 3, 1882 ; Nola I., October 8, 1883 ; Hosa I., October 30, 1886; Elmar J., April II, 1894; Nellie S., December 23, 1896; and Nual C., September 13, 1898.

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Mrs. Erwin is a member of the Methodist church, but Mr. Erwin still holds to the faith in which he was reared, that of the Baptist church. He has served as school trustee four years and has filled some minor offices.

JAMES GRANVILLE MULLENS. The possibilities for a man of business genius in the mercantile field are beyond computation and every day furnishes striking examples of those who have started even below the bottom rung of the ladder and crept slowly toward its top until its very pinacle has been reached or a personal ambition has been gratified. As an example of a life of success in domestic com- merce under circumstances trying and difficul- ties discouraging, we cite that of J. Granville Mullens, of Antelope, the subject of this per- sonal article. Depressed and discouraged by the recent loss of his property resources, and hampered with a lack of funds to resume the business with which he had once made head- way, we find him deciding to enter merchandis- ing and establishing himself in a country vil- lage with no capital but his credit and the in- dustry which nature gave him at birth.

As a favorable augury of success Mr. Mul- lens' dominant elements of character were such as to attract trade and to inspire the public with confidence in his integrity, and it is not surprising that his star of destiny should start upward and continue to rise until the self-clos- ing of his business career. When he had fair- ly started and his store was a popular mart of trade his brothers Frank and Robert joined their capital to his and J. G. Mullens and Com- pany existed as a firm for one year. The style of the firm remained J. G. Mullens and Com- pany for fifteen years, when J. G. Mullens again assumed control and terminated his business career, in 1904, with the sale of his stock.

As the store yielded him profits not required for the proper conduct of its affairs Mr. Mullens entered again the cattle business, in which misfortune had overtaken him just prior to his becoming a merchant, and he laid the founda- tion for an industry which eventually won him from the store and is the reserve force and mainstay of his family today. His thou- sand acres of land, stocked, as it is, came to him out of the aggregate profits of a business whose percentages entered his cash box over the coun- ter.

Wayne county, Kentucky, gave J. G. Mul- lens birth March 6, 1851. William Mullens, his father, was sixteen years sheriff of that county and filled some other offices besides,

and was born there December 6, 1811. The latter's father was one of the first settlers of that county and opened a farm upon which he reared his family. He migrated from Vir- ginia and settled within a mile of Monticello when the Indians still occupied the woods of Kentucky. His first son was Charles Mullens, a Mexican war soldier and also a San Jacinto veteran who settled in Fayette county, Texas, and passed his last years there. There was also a son, Edward, who went to Alabama, and then William, who died at Antelope, June 17, 1895. There were daughters, Peggie, who married Cannon Worsham, and Nancy, who married a Williams.

William Mullens married Frances E. Allen, who was born in Casey county, Kentucky, November 13, 1825, and died in Antelope, Texas, October 10, 1901. They came to Texas in 1888 and were the parents of Mary E., wife of John Southwood, of Wayne county, Ken- tucky ; Frances A., of Tahlequah, Indian Terri- tory, wife of Shelby T. Stokes; James G., our subject; William G., of Frederick, Oklahoma; Dollie, wife of G. H. Fields, of . Antelope ; Laura, who married E. S. Roberts, of Fred- erick, Oklahoma ; B. F. C., of Antelope ; Emma, wife of Willis Wilkinson, of Grooms, Texas; Ermine I., who died single; and Robert, of Wayne county, Kentucky.

James Granville Mullens learned farming on his father's homestead in his native state and ob- tained a fair education in the common schools. When he took up the responsibilities of life alone it was as a teacher in the public schools. Terminating this work he came to Texas and took up farming in Collin county, made some progress, acquired a small bunch of cattle and brought them to Antelope in 1884 and soon lost them by death. Thus reduced to the point of taking up manual labor he conceived the idea of adopting merchandising and opened a store under the circumstances and conditions al- ready noted.

November 1, 1877, Mr. Mullens married, in Collin county, Laura J. Noble, a daughter of John S. Noble from Wayne county, Kentucky. Mr. Noble married Lucy T. Willock, was the father of twelve children, and died in Pilot Point, Texas, while his widow is passing her last years in Leonard, Texas.

Mr. and Mrs. Mullen's first child, William N., died at past eight years of age, and their second and third, Mary and Taylor Francis, still survive.

In the organization of the Jacksboro Nation- al Bank Mr. Mullens subscribed to the stock of

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the institution and is one of its board of direc- tors. He has no special interest in county poli- tics but votes with the dominant political party, and is a steward and trustee of the Antelope Methodist church.

CHARLES W. BEAN is junior member of the real estate firm of Anderson and Bean, the most progressive and wide-awake business men of Wichita Falls. They have the largest volume and value of business of any real estate firm in Wichita county, and are gaining a great success individually and also doing a great work in developing and bringing before the people the resources of the county. They un- derstand fully the virtue of a good advertise- ment, and their circulars and pamphlets de- scriptive of the charms and worth of this coun- try as a place for settlers find their way all over the states, and have resulted in bringing in many estimable and industrious citizens and home-builders. They have used their capital liberally in this advertising of the agricultural possibilities of Wichita county, especially the irrigated lands. Mr. Bean is one of the fore- most citizens of Wichita Falls, takes an active part in public affairs, and is a level-headed and public-spirited business man.

Mr. Bean was born at Jackson, Michigan, in 1866, being a son of O. W. and Jennie (But- ler) Bean. His father was born in western New York, but at the age of three years went with his parents to Jackson county, Michigan, which was then a wilderness. His youngest brother, in fact, was the first white child born in Jackson county. After attaining to manhood he became a manufacturer in Jackson, and lived there until the spring of 1884, when he brought his family to the new town of Wichita Falls, Texas, where he engaged in the mercantile business, and where he lived till his death. His wife, who was born at Niagara Falls, New York, now lives at Wichita Falls.

Mr. C. W. Bean was reared and received his education at Jackson and Tecumseh, Michigan. He became acquainted with the details of the mercantile business while still a boy, and was in the mercantile business until 1894 with the exception of four years spent as assistant in the county tax collector's office. In 1894 he and Mr. A. D. Anderson became partners in the real estate business, which has been carried on with such excellent results to the present time.

In January, 1900, Mr. Bean was elected the first mayor of Wichita Falls following the adop- tion of the new incorporation charter, which went into effect at the same time. In April

of the same year he was elected at the regular spring election to the mayoralty, and by suc- cessive re-elections served in 1901, 1902 and 1903, his last term expiring in April, 1904, at which time he was compelled to relinquish official cares because of the press of his private business.

Since coming to Texas Mr. Bean has mar- ried. Mrs. Bean was in her maidenhood Miss Maud Chilton, and she is one of the popular ladies of Wichita Falls. They have three chil- dren: Jennie, Kenneth and Ethel.

JAMES W. SHIRLEY, a stock farmer and real estate owner of North Fort Worth, was born in Abbeville county, South Carolina, while his parents, Maston and Rachel (McAdams) Shirley, were natives of Virginia. They re- moved from South Carolina to Pontotoc coun- ty, Mississippi, in 1854, and the parents both died in that state.

James W. Shirley, however, was reared upon a farm in Mississippi and after attaining his majority was engaged in farming pursuits there. He first came to Texas in 1876 upon a prospecting tour, and in 1880 he removed to Fort Worth, where for two years he was em- ployed in a grocery store. He afterward en- gaged in the grocery business for himself at Roanoke, Denton county, for three years and in 1885 again came to Tarrant county and bought a farm of about one hundred acres where North Fort Worth now stands. At that time, how- ever, the surrounding country was so sparsely settled that there were not enough children to form a school district.

Mr. Shirley has lived upon his original place continuously since, although since that time he has divided his farm into city lots, com- prising Shirley's Addition to North Fort Worth. He has sold many of these lots but still retains some and the growth of the city, con- sequent upon the opening of the new stock yards and packing houses, has greatly en- hanced the value of his property. He also owns a fine stock farm of five hundred and twelve acres near Benbrook in Tarrant county on the Clear Fork, where he carries on a general stock farming business, being very successful in this undertaking. For several years after locating on his original place at North Fort Worth he conducted a dairy farm. His business interests have been well directed by sound judgment and keen discernment and these qualities in connection with his executive ability have gained for him a gratifying measure of pros- perity.

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Mr. Shirley was married to Miss Belle Dar- ter, a sister of W. A. Darter, of Fort Worth, and a daughter of Francis and Mary (Boyd) Darter, the father a native of Virginia and the mother of Kentucky, where they were married and raised a family of nine children. They came to Tarrant county in 1859. She is a rep- resentative of one of the pioneer families of western Texas. Seven children have been born of this marriage: Lottie May, Fred, Marietta, Jim Bob, Mark, Mittie Belle and Violet. Mr. Shirley and most of his family are members of the Christian church and he is one of the sub- stantial citizens of the country. He has been greatly interested in the establishment and suc- cess of the public school system of North Fort Worth and has seen the schools developed from their earliest nucleus to their present advanced state, demanding the employment of twenty teachers in the different districts of the city. He has acted as a school trustee of his district, and aided in organizing the independent district in which his home is situated. He is pre-eminently public spirited and his co-opera- tion has been of marked benefit in the promo- tion of public measures of progress here.

JAMES ANDREW GRAHAM. It is our privilege to present as the subject of this brief mention a representative of one of the pioneer Texas families whose ancestry played a pa- triot's part in winning the independence of the Lone Star republic and whose efforts in civil life have been directed chiefly along industrial and commercial lines. His antecedents were of the blood of Irish patriots and it was to the liking of the honored founder of this family to take up arms against a tyrant monarch and to help set up on a portion of his dominions a government of liberty, freedom and absolute in- dependence.

Andrew Graham, the patriot founder of this family and the grandfather of our subject, was the oldest son of James Graham, a Scotchman with large estates near Dublin, Ireland, where he was stationed as commanding officer of a British garrison. His birth occurred in 1798 and in 1812 he came to the United States. He eventually established himself in Tennessee, Loudon county, where his son C. J. E., the father of our subject, was born in the year 1829. About 1833 he brought his family into the Texas province of the republic of Mexico and settled in Fayette county, where he passed his remaining years as a farmer and where his death occurred in 1867. For his wife he mar- ried Miss Sibbie Skinner, a sister of Hon. Sam-

uel Skinner, prominent in Arkansas affairs for many years. Of their issue Colonel J. F ... was the oldest; Margaret became the wife of James Ross and died in Fayette county ; Dorcas mar- ried Theodore Howell, and died in Fay- ette county ; Lue, who first married George Slack and then a Mr. Anderson, who left a child at her death in Fayette county, and Andrew K., of Bas- trop county, Texas.

C. J. E. Graham came to man's estate on his father's farm in Fayette county and became in early life a farmer himself. During the war of the rebellion his company was stationed along the Texas coast where guard duty consti- tuted the chief feature of his service. In 1879 he located his family at Tehuacana, in Lime- stone county, to give his children the advan- tages of a college education. As a means of support during the years of his residence there he engaged in mercantile pursuits until his death, passing away in 1895. He was a Demo- crat, a Mason and a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. In Fayette county he married Miss Marian W. Burleson, a daughter of Joseph and Allie (Seaton) Burleson. Joe, Aaron and Jonathan Burleson were brothers who identified themselves with Texas in an early day and were cousins of General Edward Burleson of Texas revolutionary fame. Mrs. Marian W. Graham died in Bastrop county, whither the family had migrated from Fayette, in 1878. She was the mother of Eskridge N., who died at Gainsville in 1903; Sibbie A., wife of Frank Smith, of Tehucana ; James A., of this article; Anne M., who died at sixteen years; Susan M., wife of Rev. J. E. Aubrey, of Sterling, Colorado; Sarah J., now Mrs. P. N. Davenport, of Shreveport, Louisiana ; Martha W., who mar- ried J. H. McCollum, of Bastrop county ; and Murray T., wife of J. D. Roberts, of Beaumont, Texas.

James A. Graham was born near Fayette- ville, in Fayette county, Texas, February 18, 1862. His boyhood was passed on the farm in Fayette and Bastrop counties. The country schools and Tehuacana College furnished him the ground-work of a liberal education and he prepared himself for his life work in the law department of the State University, where he graduated with the class of 1886-7. In the autumn of 1887 he located in Burnett, Texas, where his first case in court which he won was on the defense of a person charged with crime and tried before the justice court of Burnett. In 1890 he was elected county judge of Burnett county and in the fall of 1892 was elected to represent that county in the state legislature. He rep-

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resented the Fifty-third district, which also in- cluded Lampasas county. The legislature of that session was occupied chiefly with the pas- sage of the stock and bond laws, advocated so prominently by the Hogg faction of the Dem- ocracy of that time, and Mr. Graham gave them his support. He submitted a resolution calling for an amendment to the constitution providing for a reduction in the representation to the legislature and substituting a legislative salary instead of a per diem, as at present. Among the committees on which he served were those of Finance and Judiciary No. 2, and when the legislative session closed he resigned his office and moved to Fort Worth. In the latter place he was a member of the firm of Graham and Altman for two years, but again changed his location, and in August, 1895, he cast his for- tunes with Bowie.

In recent years Mr. Graham's law practice has trended toward corporation business, in which department of law he has shown splendid capabilities. He represents the Katy, Rock Isl- and and Fort Worth, and Denver Railroads as their attorney, and aided in the management of the Rock Island's interests in the renowned Rosa Langston damage suit, in which the first trial resulted in a judgment for the plaintiff for $25,000.00. Before the case was finally con- cluded in the courts it was settled by a com- promise, costing the road in the neighborhood of $9,000. Mr. Graham does the court work of the Bowie banks and has been connected with much of the strongly contested litigation of Montague county. As a pastime and to gratify a personal inclination he is growing into the blooded horse and pure-bred hog business. His favorite strain of horses is the Wilkes and he is encouraging the introduction of this speedy strain into the best stables of the community, having a promising young roadster in training on the Bowie track himself. His little nucleus in the line of swine embraces the Poland Chinas, of which there are none finer or purer bred in Texas.

September 3, 1888, Mr. Graham was married in Burnett county, to Bernice Alice, a daughter of Frank Thomas, a Burnett merchant and a Kentucky settler in Texas since 1856. Mrs. Thomas was Elvira Roundtree, whose family is one of the well known of South Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Graham's children are: Catherine, Marian, James S., Bernice and Frank Thomas. Mr. Graham is an active Democrat and a Royal Arch Mason.

GEORGE HILL MULKEY, vice presi- dent of the Traders' National Bank, is a repre- sentative of a prominent old family of this state and a son of Rev. William and Annis ( Pinker- ton) Mulkey. The father was born in Georgia in 1796, there being but one generation between George H. Mulkey and the time of George Washington. Rev. William Mulkey was one of the most noted characters in the pioneer history of the southwest, and as a minister and mission- ary of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, was an extensive traveler, and was a soldier in the war of 1812. In his early life as a young minister he lived in many of the principal cities of the United States, including Washington, Baltimore, Annapolis, Boston and Nashville, and was living in Tennessee at the time the government removed the Cherokee and Choc- taw Indians from Georgia and Alabama to the Indian Territory, this being in the early '30's. Rev. Mulkey had for some time been interested in the education and enlightenment of the In- dians, and on the occasion of their removal re- ceived a commission from the church, approved by the Federal authorities, to accompany them as a missionary and teacher. He remained in that work for several years, making his home during the time in Sevier county, Arkansas, on the border of Indian Territory, for the pro- tection of the state in case of possible hostilities on the part of the red men. In April, 1861, he removed with his family from Arkansas to Tennessee, and then to Texas, locating at Wax- ahachie in Ellis county, engaging in ministerial and evangelistic work throughout the state. One of his sons, Stephen H. Mulkey, had pre- ceded him to this state, locating here in 1854. and he is now living in Fort Worth. On one of his trips from his Arkansas home Rev. Mulkey had visited Texas as early as the thirties. In 1870 he was called upon to lay down life's labors, passing away quite suddenly on a train on the Texas Central Railroad at Hearne, Texas, but his memory will long remain with those who knew him, because of his life of helpfulness, of broad sympathy and his deep interest in and labors for the benefit of others.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 25

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