A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 26

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 26

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).

Rev. Mulkey was in many ways a remark- able character. Beginning life without educa- tional advantages whatever, having been taught to read by his first wife, he having been twice married, he became in later life a man of splen- did intellectual attainments, and collaborated with Dr. Walker in the authorship of the pho- netic system in teaching. He also became the author of several books, mainly on orthoepy subjects as relating to the English language.

122

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

Among other things he wrote and published the New Testament in purely phonetical language, by which means many unlearned persons be- came able to read, he teaching the sounds in- stead of the letters. Physically he was a man of sublime courage, a typical frontiersman, fond of the open life, and his fearlessness was such that it was often said of him that he "could fight a saw-mill and whip it." Notwithstanding all this, he was a man of the highest spiritual qualities, and his life was entirely devoted to the elevation of his fellow men. In his memory the Mulkey Memorial church was built in Fort Worth in 1891. One of his sons, Rev. Abe Mulkey, is also a noted minister and evangelist of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. Mrs. Mulkey, the wife of this revered pioneer minister, was born in Lexington, Kentucky.

George Hill Mulkey had his nativity in Hempstead county, Arkansas, where he was born July 1, 1847, but in April, 1861, came with his father to Texas. During his boyhood days he had the interesting experience of car- rying the mail on the route from Waxahachie to Fort Worth for the government contractor, George Marchbanks, there being no railroads here at that time. In 1864, before reaching the age of seventeen, he enlisted in the Confeder- ate service for the Civil War, entering Company B, Colonel Bates' Regiment, and was on special detail duty under Captain G. W. Harris in Texas and Louisiana, until the close of hostilities. On the expiration of his military career he at- tended school at Mckenzie College, in Red River county, one of the well known educa- tional institutions of those days, and there many of the now prominent men of Texas received their early mental discipline. In 1871 he re- moved to Fort Worth, which has ever since been his home. His first work here was as pro- prietor of a small corn and feed mill, later be- coming connected with a planing mill and sub- sequently was elected clerk of the district court of Tarrant county, but resigned this official po- sition to accept a more desirable one in the bank of Boaz & Ellis, known as the Texas & California Bank, one of the pioneer financial institutions of Fort Worth, originally started by Captain Loyd. This afterward became . known as the City National Bank. In 1882 Mr. Mulkey was one of the promoters of the Trad- ers' National Bank, with which he has ever since been connected, and is now its vice-presi- dent. About 1891 he purchased a paint and paper business, which has since been incorpor- ated as the Texas Paint and Paper Company, of which he was president for many years and of

which his sons, K. A. and W. W., are now presi- dent and treasurer, respectively. This is the largest establishment of its kind in Fort Worth, conducting a prosperous and successful busi- ness.

Mr. Mulkey's benefactions to church and college institutions have been bestowed with a spirit of philanthropy that is certainly unusual, and for every dollar he has made in business he has practically given a dollar to church and school, thus going far beyond the usually prescribed "tenth." He practically built with his own hands the Methodist church in the Third ward, and the Mulkey Memorial church, built by the Mulkey family principally,was most generously favored by him with funds. At the present time this church is being rebuilt as a much finer and larger structure. He represent- ed the Methodist Episcopal Church Society in its American Conference and in the General Conference, and had the honor of being ap- pointed to the Ecumenical Conference held in London, England, in 1890, during which time he toured the Continent in company with his son, Homer T. In all church work he ap- peared as a lay representative. He was one of the founders and has been the largest individual contributor to the Polytechnic College, to which he has given over ten thousand dollars, and is treasurer of the institution. He served as city alderman from the First and Sixth wards, one term in the First and two terms in the Sixth. He was also largely instrumental in the build- ing of the Fort Worth Fire Department, and was chief of the Volunteer Fire Department. In the general upbuilding of Fort Worth he is a public-spirited and enterprising citizen, and in all life's relations is found true to the duties which the day may bring forth.

Mr. Mulkey was first married to Miss Minnie Graves, now deceased, and they had two sons- W. W. and Karl A. Mulkey. His present wife was in her maidenhood Miss Frances Ander- son, a member of one of the old-time families of Fort Worth and a sister of Mrs. W. J. Boaz. To this marriage have been born six children, namely : Homer T., Young J., Madge, Ethel, George F. and Abe, the last named now de- ceased.

J. A. DRYDEN is closely identified with the new city of North Fort Worth, where he is well known as a successful business man and active as a citizen. Mr. Dryden is a native of Jackson county, Missouri, where he spent the first four- teen years of his life, and then accompanied his parents to a farm near Coffeyville, Montgomery

123

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

county, Kansas, where they still live, the father being a successful farmer. Mr. Dryden is a son of Marion and Isabel (Archer) Dryden, the for- mer of whom was born and reared in Missouri, and the mother was born in Tennessee and mar- ried in Missouri.

Reared on a farm, and educated in the country schools, Mr. Dryden followed the pursuits of farming for some years after he had attained his majority and embarked on an independent career. Leaving Coffeyville in 1896 he came to Fort Worth and engaged in the coal and wood business as a member of the firm of Mugg and Dryden. This firm conducted the fuel business in Fort Worth on a large scale, having several yards in different parts of the city, but in May, 1905, Mr. Dryden withdrew from the partnership in order to continue the same line independently in North Fort Worth, where he has had his home since 1902. To this prosperous young city he now confines his business interests, and, with a faith in its future fully justified by its present rapid growth, owns valuable real estate interests there. Public-spirited as a citizen, he has been chosen to serve as secretary of the North Fort Worth school board, and is promoting the educational welfare of his city in proportion to its progress in other lines. In 1905 funds were voted for the erection of a splendid new central and high school, and its completion will give the town one of the best in- stitutions of the kind in this portion of the state.

Mr. Dryden and his wife, who was Miss Grace Gilmore, have two children, Allison and Mary Belle. Mr. Dryden affiliates with the Masonic and several other fraternities, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist church.

OLIVER P. POE, representing business in- terests of Denton as an insurance agent, has likewise been a co-operate factor in public affairs and has rendered signal service to the city while acting as mayor and as a member of the city council. He gave tangible support to many measures for the general good during his connection with the offices and his adminis- tration received the loyal support of the great majority of citizens, who recognized his worth began in Fayette county, Alabama, on the 14th of November, 1849, his parents being Thomas and Mirium R. (Reynolds) Poe. The father was born in Alabama and removed to Saline county, Arkansas, in the '5os, spending his re- maining days there, his death occurring in 1861. His wife, who was also a native of Alabama, continued to live in Saline county until her death in 1874.

Oliver P. Poe was a young lad at the time of the removal of the family to Arkansas and maintained his residence in Saline county until 1876, when he came to Texas, settling on a farm in Denton county, where he devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits for five years. On the expiration of that period he took up his abode in the city of Denton and gave his at- tention to merchandising, while later he em- barked in the hotel business. In 1891 he es- tablished his fire insurance agency and to the building up of a clientage has since given his attention. He represents sixteen of the leading fire insurance companies of the country and does the principal insurance business in Denton and the county, this work claiming his entire time and attention, save for the public-spirited support and active part which which he takes in furthering measures for the general welfare.

For many years Mr. Poe has been prominently identified with civic affairs in Denton. He was called by his fellow townsmen to the office of city alderman, and while a member of the council as a stanch advocate of free public schools he aided in securing the establishment of the Central Public School. In April, 1884, he was elected mayor, in which office he re- mained for four years. Again he was chosen to that position in 1891 to fill out the unexpired term of Judge Carroll and at the next regular election was once more chosen by popular suf- frage, serving until 1894. Then after an inter- val of two years he was elected in 1896 and at each biennial election was the popular choice for the office until 1904, when he declined to make the race again. No other incumbent has been so long retained at the head of the city government as has Mr. Poe, and he gave to the city a business like and progressive administra- tion, bringing to the city's affairs the same promptness, dispatch and accuracy that char- acterizes his private business interests. Many of the beneficial public improvements that have made Denton a beautiful home city were in- augurated during his administration, including the building of the North Texas State Normal School in 1891 at a cost of thirty thousand dol- acres of land were deeded to the state for the present building, which was completed in 1900.

and public-spirited devotion. His life record , lars. It was also while he was mayor that ten

Mr. Poe was united in marriage to Miss Liz- zie Owens, who died on the 9th of April, 1899, while only a few months previous their son, Richard B. Poe, had passed away, his death occurring on the 2nd of January of that year. There are now three living children: Ross E., Eva C. and Oliver P. Poe. Mr. Poe is a valued

124

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

member of several fraternal organizations, be- ing a Knight Templar, a Knight of Pythias, an Elk and an Odd Fellow. He is thoroughly in sympathy with the benevolent spirit which con- stitutes the basic element of all these organiza- tions and he is likewise a faithful member of the Baptist church.

DR. L. LEE DYE, the well known and suc- cessful physician and druggist at Plainview, Hale county, where he has been established al- most throughout the history of the town, was born in Russell county, Virginia, in 1854. His career has been wrought out along practical lines of endeavor, and he has gained success by industrious application of his energies and tal- ents to whatever undertaking he has had in hand. He possesses the entire confidence of the people of Hale county, both in his professional and business capacity, and is widely and favor- ably known and esteemed throughout his section of the plains country of Texas.

Dr. Dye was a son of William and Nancy (Smith) Dye, his father a native of North Carolina, and his mother, who is now deceased, a native of Virginia. His father has lived in the Old Dominion state from the time of his early boyhood, and is now in the declining years of a long and useful career. He has been a suc- cessful farmer and stockman in Russell county, and still resides on the old homestead there, although retired from active pursuits.

Dr. Dye received his primary education in the schools of Russell county, and is an alum- nus of the State College of Virginia at Blacks- burg, from which institution he was graduated in 1879. In the meantime he had been studying medicine under private preceptors, and after passing the examinations entitling him to a cer- tificate he engaged in practice in his native county for about two years. Then for two years he practiced at Falls Branch, Tennessee, in which state he also obtained a certificate. He then took the regular course in the medical department of the University of Tennessee at Nashville, from which he was graduated in February, 1891. In the fall of the same year he came to his present home at Plainview, and has lived here and enjoyed an extensive and profitable practice ever since. In this plains country medical practice often takes a doctor on long journeys, and the practice of the pro- fession is indeed arduous, but the conscientious physician is thereby the more of a public bene- factor and an influence for good in the world. On coming to Plainview Dr. Dye bought a drug store, and this he, with his son, still con-

ducts, the firm being Dr. L. Lee Dye & Son. Their business is very large and prosperous, and they maintain a branch establishment at Hale Center. Dr. Dye has a very pretty home in Plainview, with a nice garden and abundance of shade and fruit trees, and he also owns a. ranch in the county, where he raises some fine cattle and horses.

Dr. Dye is a member of the Hale-Swisher- Lubbock-Floyd Counties Medical Association, and also of the Texas State Medical Society ; member of the American Medical Association; president of the Board of Health of Hale county, Texas. He is also one of the directors of the First National Bank of Plainview. He is a member of the Methodist church, and has fraternal affiliations with the Knights of Pyth- ias, the Masons and the Eastern Star. He was married at Falls Branch, Tennessee, to Miss Mary Vincen, and they have two children, Everett Lee and Belle.

Dr. Everett Lee Dye, Ph. G., M. D., graduate of the Llano Estacado Institute, Plainview, Texas ; graduate of St. Louis College of Phar- macy, class of 1900; graduate of Fort Worth Medical College, class of 1904; member of Board of Pharmacy sixty-fourth judicial dis- trict of Texas; member of Hale-Swisher-Lub- bock-Floyd Counties Medical Society; also member American Medical Association ; is now associated with Dr. Barnes, of Tulia, in the drug business and in the active practice of medicine and surgery. He was recently mar- ried to Miss Minnie Donohoo, of Canyon City, the youngest daughter of Mr. J. N. Donohoo .. They now live at Tulia, Texas.

Belle, the only daughter of L. Lee Dye, is a graduate of Llano Estacado Institute, Plain- view, Texas, attended school at Nashville, Ten- nessee, and Kidd-Key College, Sherman, Texas. She married Mr. Robert Tudor, in Plainview, Texas, and they now have a baby girl, Roberta Lee, and live at Plainview.

NELSON KECK, a pioneer settler on Farm- er's Creek and a prominent farmer of Mon- tague county, Texas, is a native of the "Hoosier State."

Mr. Keck was born in Davis county, Indiana, December 16, 1842; son of Philip and Orpha (Cooch) Keck, the former a native of Ten- nessee, the latter of Indiana. Philip Keck was a son of a Tennessee farmer. When a youth of eighteen he went north to Indiana, where he subsequently married and settled on a farm, and where he carried on agricultural pursuits. for many years. During the days of "general

125

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

muster" he was captain of a company. Later in life he rented his farm and engaged in mer- chandising at Teck Church, and was thus oc- cupied up to the time of his death, Politically he was first a Whig and afterward a Republi- can. While he filled several local positions such as township trustee, etc., he never aspired to public or official life. He was a consistent member of the Christian church, as also was his wife and both were highly esteemed by all who knew them. Some years after his death she became the wife of A. Storms, a farmer. She died in 1895. The children of her first mar- riage are : Alford of Kansas, John and Christian of Oklahoma, Nelson, Wilson of Oklahoma, and Amanda, Mary A. and Lurinda. By her second marriage there are two children: Alice and Laura.

Nelson Keck was reared to honest toil on the farm and had only limited educational advan- tages. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company C, Ninety-first Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under Colonel John Marion, and was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland for three years, or during the war, and he remained in the ser- vice until the war was over. While he was a participant in many hotly contested fights and endured many hardships incident to army life, he was never wounded or captured. At the time of General Lee's surrender Mr. Keck was at Raleigh, North Carolina, and Tuly 3, 1865, he received an honorable discharge at Indianapo- lis, after which he returned home. In 1867 he married and settled on a farm. In 1870 he made a prospecting trip to some of the western country and to Northern Texas, and so well pleased was he with the latter place that the following year he returned and has since made it his home. He settled on school land, in true pioneer style began the making of a farm, and here he has since lived and labored, today being in the enjoyment of a competency as the result of his years of toil. When the land was placed on the market in 1886 he bought four hundred and forty acres, chiefly timber land. For some time after his settlement here the Indians were hostile, making frequent raids through the country, stealing stock, but they never molested his property. As the Indians stole the horses, the early settlers were com- pelled to do their farming with ox teams and some of their mills were run by oxen. Mr. Keck had his milling done at Marysville, twenty-five miles away, and Sherman and Deni- son, seventy miles distant, were his market places. There was a variety and abundance of game here then, including deer and turkeys,

and the frontier life had its pleasures as well as its hardships. While his farming is now diversified, Mr. Keck makes a specialty of corn and cotton, and at present is experiment- ing with alfalfa.

Both Mr. Keck and his wife are worthy mem- bers of the Christian church. Politically he is a Republican.

Mr. Keck married, in 1867, Miss Catherine Woodruff, a native of Davis county, Indiana, born June 30, 1846, daughter of John and Anna (Holt) Woodruff. The Woodruff family went from North Carolina to Indiana at an early day and were among the pioneers of Davis county. John Woodruff, a prominent and highly re- spected farmer of Davis county, is still living, having reached a ripe old age. His children are : Mrs. Susan Mathews, Mrs. Catherine Keck, Sarah J., Mrs. Candiss Herrington and Hester. Mr. and Mrs. Keck have ten children, namely : Newton, the eldest, a native of Indiana, the others having been born in Texas; Lilburn and Oloway, farmers in Texas; Elbert, of Okla- homa; John W., of Indian Territory; Viola, wife of C. Hanson ; Mrs. Pearly Kemp; Bessie and Keely, at home ; and Armetta, who died in August, 1904, at the age of eleven years.

JAMES P. WILLIAMS. The narration, in brief, of the career of the gentleman whose name introduces this review, reveals him to have been, during his connection with Texas, a modest force in her internal development and sincere and loyal in his devotion to her welfare. While Clay county has known him as a resident only since 1901 the state has claimed him for more than a third of a century, for he was just beyond the age limit when he settled in Denton county in 1873.

February 10, 1849, James P. Williams was born in Johnson county, Missouri, and his boy- hood and youth were passed ten miles north- west of Holden, the county seat of his county. His father was Jesse Williams who settled in that county among the early ones and who, as a carpenter, was connected prominently with the actual building improvement of the county. He entered and improved his farm where he passed the remainder of his life and died August 13, 1897. The latter's birthplace was Grayson county, Virginia, and his natal year 1811. He accumulated some property and was considered a successful man. His wife whom he married in Missouri was Anne, a daughter of Ebenezer and Ruth Lundy, and she still lives at the old homestead at the age of eighty-seven.

I26

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

There were nine children in the family of which J. P. Williams is a member, as follows : Susan, who died in Johnson county, married William C. Martin; James P .; Joshua M., at the old Missouri home; Martha, wife of George Wakeman, of La Fayette county, Missouri; Amanda, wife of D. T. Boisseau, of Holden, Missouri; Henry, of Odessa, and Cyrus, his twin brother, at the Johnson county home ;. George, of Odessa and Eliza, who passed away in childhood.

James P. Williams came to maturity with little more than the rudiments of an education, his advantages in this line being confined en- tirely to the rural schools. His life as a youth had to do exclusively with the farm and when he came of age he made no change in his sur- roundings. He made two crops in Missouri after attaining his majority and then turned his footsteps toward the south.

He joined a few neighbors for the trip to Texas, came overland and crossed Red river at Colbert's ferry and ended their journey in Denton county where Mr. Williams hired to a farmer at eighteen dollars a month and board and "keep" for his horse. Later on wages dropped to fifteen dollars, but he saved money anyhow and this he invested in yearlings. His employer, J. R. Sullivan, allowed him pasture for his little bunch of cattle and when he left the latter, after six years, he had some one hundred head of cattle. These he sold for two thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars and the proceeds he re-invested in both stock and land in Jack county, and he devoted himself to the cattle industry purely and on his own ac- count. He prospered in his investment and in 1899 disposed of his cattle and his land, near Antelope, and then purchased and stocked a ranch of one thousand and thirty-nine acres on Duck creek in Clay county. He maintains his family in Henrietta where educational facilities are superb and his farming and his stock claim his time as their own.

November 12, 1890, Mr. Williams married, at Antelope, Texas, Ellen, widow of John Carter, and daughter of Josiah and Sarah (Wagner) Harrell. The Harrells came from Washington county, Arkansas, to Texas and their first settlement was made in Lamar county. They afterward removed to Jack county, where Mr. Harrell died, near Antelope, in 1884, at sixty- two years of age. His widow, who was a Mrs. Curry, when she married him, vet lives among her children near Antelope. Her first child was John Curry, of Johnson county, Texas; Jane Harrell was her second child and she was

twice married, first to John Cothran and second to Monroe Shipman, and she died in Lamar county, Texas, in 1897; Albert Harrell resides in Jack county; Joel died in Lamar county, leaving a child; William resides in Memphis, Texas; Elajah, of Chickasha, Indian Territory ; Mrs. Williams, born March 17, 1857; and Robert Lee, died in Greer county, Oklahoma, leaving a family. Mrs. Williams' first family consists of children: Nora, wife of Paul Chris- tian, of Antelope, Texas, with issue, Pauline and Harold; Chloe, married Harry Woodward, of Jack county, and has a child, Eva; Jennie and Wallace, the two latter still with their mother. Mr. and Mrs. Williams' family are: Grace, born March 12, 1893; James C., born May 16, 1897, and Henry W., born November 10, 1899. Mr. Williams claims affiliation with the Republican party.

COLONEL ENNIS WARD TAYLOR was born at Greenville, Alabama, September 15, 1839, and in 1846 emigrated with his parents, Dr. M. B. K. and Sarah Elizabeth (McDaniel) Taylor, to Texas, settlement being made at Jefferson, in the eastern part of the state, and his youth was spent in agricultural pursuits, plowing, hoeing and picking cotton. He at- tended school three months. Entering the em- ploy of J. C. Preston & Company, druggists at Jefferson, in January, 1855, he studied the U. S. Dispensatory completely and a year and a half from that time was placed in charge of a new drug store being instituted by Dr. R. W. Walker, remaining in his employ about two years. He then started in business for himself with Dr. H. Witherspoon, under the firm name of Taylor and Witherspoon, beginning with a cash capital of seven hundred and fifty dollars, and the first year in business, 1860, young Tay- lor earned six thousand dollars, which he invest- ed in Confederate property. In 1861 he sold his drug business and enlisted in the Army of the Confederate States, Company A, Nineteenth Texas Infantry, being elected major upon its organization, and in a few months succeeded Colonel R. H. Graham, resigned, as lieutenant colonel of the regiment. After the battle of Jenkins' Ferry, Arkansas, Colonel Richard Waterhouse was made brigadier general, and Mr. Taylor was then promoted to the colonelcy of the regiment.

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 26

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