A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 37

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 37

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Mr. Smith is a prominent member of several fraternal orders, having affiliations with the

Masons, the Knights of Honor and the Frater- nal Mystic Circle. He is a member of the su- preme lodge of the Knights of Honor and is chairman of the committee on appeals and grievances.

Mr. Smith was married in South Carolina November 27, 1867, to Miss Ellen Peguese, a native of that state. She died at Navasota, and he was subsequently married at that place to Miss Emma Adela DeMaret, who is a native of Louisiana and a member of one of the French families of St. Mary's parish. Mr. Smith's children, five in number, are as follows: Will- iam C. Smith, lawyer and in partnership with his father; DeMaret Smith, also a lawyer and is in the office of C. H. Yoakum, Texas attor- ney for the Frisco System ; Selwyn Smith, Felix Smith and Ellen Peguese Smith.

STERLING P. CLARK. Born in 1861, on his father's farm in the northern part of Tarrant county, Sterling P. Clark has been identified by almost lifelong residence with this part of Texas and as one of the leading exponents of the cattle industry, as also by reason of the prominent part taken by him in public affairs, he is one of the best known and most honored citizens of Tarrant county and the city of Fort Worth.

Mr. Clark is a son of the late Pressley H. and Jane Blakely (Johnson) Clark. His father and mother were both born and for many years lived near Hopkinsville, Christian county, Kentucky, came with his family, wife and one daughter, Sarah Ann, now Mrs. D. E. Wolf of Hemphill county, Texas, to this state in 1856 and became one of the pioneer settlers of Tarrant county. Three children were born in Texas: John W., Mattie T., now Mrs. T. D. McLaughlin of Sny- der, Oklahoma Territory, and our subject. Their first home was near Birdville, the old county seat, and later they removed to the northern part of the county, on Henrietta creek, six miles northeast of Blue Mound, to the farm on which Sterling P. was born. A successful farmer and stockman, the father lived in Tarrant county during a period which would class him among the pioneers, and along with other settlers, in the early days had many a brush with the Indians, on one occasion being captured by the redskins ; Dr. Barkley, the father of Lon Barkley, of Fort Worth, being his fellow victim in this incident. During the Civil War Pressley H. Clark enlisted from Tarrant county in the Sixth Texas Cavalry for service in the Confederate army. John W. Clark, a brother older than Sterling, who died in 1883, was a member of the famous Texas Rangers and saw service against the Indians in

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

West Texas. Both the parents spent the latter years of their lives in Tarrant county, the father dying at the age of seventy-seven and the mother at eighty.

The son Sterling was reared in the really primitive environments of Tarrant county, at a time when the country had advanced little from its pioneer status, and he received only what schooling was available in the northern part of the county when he was a boy. One of the inci- dents of his early boyhood reveals in a striking way the rapid progress and development that in the course of less than forty years have trans- formed this part of Texas from a wilderness into one of the principal industrial and commercial points of the great southwest. Reference is made to an adventure which he and another boy of similar age experienced in being chased by a band of Indians when they were only a short distance from their homes, and, although they made good their escape, the incident was one not likely to be forgotten. This occurred in 1869. Mr. Clark has had a full quota of experience as a cowboy in West Texas, and the cattle industry is familiar to him in every detail. At the age of twenty-one he engaged in the drug business at Keller, Tarrant county, but, his health failing him in this occupation, he soon engaged in the cattle business and has made this his permanent vocation. Of late years his interests have ex- panded to such a degree that he is now ranked among the largest cattlemen of Tarrant county. He owns nearly two thousand acres of Tarrant county land and a ranch of ten sections in Hemp- hill county in the Panhandle, besides leasing sev- eral sections in Runnels county. As one of the prominent cattlemen of the state, he served for some time as vice president of the North Texas Live Stock Commission Company at North Fort Worth, and is a member of the Texas and the Panhandle Cattle-Raisers' Associations.

Influential and active in the public life of his county, Mr. Clark has given his services to the public welfare in a way that marks him as one of the larger men of affairs. After serving sev- eral years as deputy sheriff of Tarrant county he was elected sheriff in 1896, and by successive re- elections, in 1898, 1900, served till November 17, 1902. During this time he was president of the Sheriffs' Association of Texas, and while in of- fice it was his duty to hang the only white man ever legally executed in Tarrant county-a train robber.

Mr. Clark married Miss Sophia Putman, a daughter of J. J. and Julia (Moore) Putman, August 9. 1899. Her father came from Wiscon- sin to Texas in 1872 and settled on one of the

oldest ranches in the county of Tarrant, the Cap- tain Loyd ranch. Mr. Clark and wife have two living children, Mabel and Sterling P., Jr., their first child, Mattie Belle, having died at the age of one and one-half years. Mr. Clark is a mem- ber of the Masonic Order, No. 145, Fort Worth, also the Knights of Pythias and Woodmen of the World.

LEE BIVINS is one of the most successful individual cattlemen in the Panhandle country, and a highly esteemed and well known citizen of Amarillo. He has been an active factor in the affairs of this portion of the state since 1890, and has carried on his ranching oper- ations on a large scale, comparable even to those of the large cattle corporations of this part of Texas.

Mr. Bivins is a Texan by birth, and is by early training and natural predilections a cat- tleman and rancher. He was born at Sherman. Grayson county, October 7, 1862. His father, O. C. Bivins, is one of the best known men in that part of the state and has had a most suc- cessful business career. He was born in In- diana, and came to Grayson county in 1854, be- ing still a resident of Sherman, that county, although retired from active life. During most of his active career he was a miller, having been the first miller of Grayson county, and he ran the old mill at Farmington during and subse- quent to the Civil war. He at present owns valuable farming lands in Grayson county. Mr. Bivins' mother is Elizabeth (Miller) Bivins, a native of Tennessee.

Mr. Bivins received his early education in the public schools of Grayson county. He was sixteen years old when he entered upon his career as a cattleman. In those days Grayson county was still to a great extent a cattle country, with large ranches, and it was on his father's ranch in the southwestern part of the county that he began the cattle industry. He later went into the mercantile business at Farm- ington, and also at Sherman, and continued his career of merchandising until 1890. The lat- ter year was the date of his arrival in the Pan- handle, and his first location was at Claude, in Armstrong county. He went into the cattle business at that place, and in his continued operations along that line he has since been uniformly successful. When he came here he made large investments in lands and city prop- erty, and their subsequent marked rise in value has brought him most of his fortune. He has almost universally made his investments with great skill and foresight, and this business

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

sagacity has been many times rewarded in the course of a few years. He now owns about thirty thousand acres of land in Potter and Carson counties, and he leases about that much more in order to afford range for his cattle. He confines most of his operations to the raising and handling of steers, and his individual suc- cess in the business has been very great. For the past few years he has made his home in Amarillo, and is at the present writing a mem- ber of the city council. While living in Arm- strong the people elected him county commis- sioner, and wherever he lives he proves him- self a solid and substantial citizen of the com- munity. Besides his ranch lands, he owns some valuable city property. Mr. Bivins is a mem- ber of the Panhandle and of the Texas Cattle- Raisers' associations, and fraternally is af- filiated with the Elks and the Knights of Pythias.

Mr. Bivins' wife is Mary E. (Gilbert) Bivins, and they have two boys, Miles and Julian Bivins, and they reside in one of the most beau- tiful and modern homes of Northwest Texas.

WILLIAM S. DOUGLASS. The firm of Douglass Brothers is a well known quantity in the domain of ranch and farm in Clay county, and its operations, near Bellevue, cover a con- siderable extent of territory and embrace a large amount of personal property. It is com- posed of William S. and Alexander Hamilton Douglass, whose advent to the county dates from 1882.

The Douglasses came to Texas from Wilson county, Tennessee, where, on August 3, 1837, the subject of this notice was born. William C. Douglass was the father of our Texas branch of this family and he was also born in Tennes- see. His father was James Douglass, of North Carolina birth, who moved up into Tennessee and died near Gallatin about 1848 at nine y- two years of age. The latter married Cathe .. ne Collier and their sons and daughters were: Al- fred, James, Henry, Robert, Young, Isaac, Will- iam and Edwin; the daughters, Matilda and Louisa.

William C. Douglass' life was passed in his native state until about 1844, and it was as a farmer that he started in life. He married Lucy Anna, a daughter of William and Nancy (Mabry) Seawell, in Wilson county and, in 1844, emigrated to St. Clair county, Missouri. where, as a trader and farmer, he became well known. In 1858 he brought his family to Texas and first settled in Grayson county, passing the Civil war period there and removing into Cooke

county in 1875. In 1883 he came a step farther west and joined his sons in Clay county, where his death occurred in 1884. He was a man of strong personality, vigorous and active to the last, and of commanding influence among men. He commanded a company of Home Guards during the rebellion and was a strong adherent to the principles of early-day Democracy. While he lived in St. Clair county, Missouri, he was elected county judge and served as such for a time.

The Seawells were Tennessee people by adoption, but went to Wilson county, that state, from North Carolina. William and Nancy Sea- well had one son and three daughters, as fol- lows: Lucy Anna, Gerry, Nancy W., wife of A. L. Hamilton, and Adelaide, who married Jasper Ashworth. Lucy A. married William C. Douglass and died near Bellevue, Texas, in October, 1887.

Nine children constituted the family of Will- iam C. and Mrs. Douglass, namely; William, our subject ; Matilda, of Dallas, Texas, wife of Judge J. M. Hurt; Adelaide, who died in Clay county as the wife of Hiram Spencer ; Elbridge G., state superintendent of the Rusk peniten- tiary for many years ; Katie, who died in Gray- son county in 1863; Alexander Hamilton, born at Osceola, Missouri, in 1852; Ellen, wife of J. F. Alcorn, of Clay county ; Alfred, who passed away in Cooke county, and Jessie, wife of Walter Hubbard, of San Bernardino, Califor- nia.

William S. Douglass grew to manhood in St. Clair county, Missouri, and was liberally edu- cated in the Lebanon (Tennessee) Academy and in a similar institution in Osceola, Mis- souri. He adopted the livelihood of his father, in the main, and has passed his life with the varied interests of a well conducted farm. When he reached the grazing country of Texas he embarked in the cow business and has gradu- ally grown to have an interest in that industry. During the war he enlisted in the Thirty-fourth Texas infantry, Colonel Alexander, and spent one year in the Indian service. The regiment had a few brushes with the Indians near Tahle- quah and was afterward dismounted and served as infantry in the Western Department. Mr. Douglass participated in the battles of New- tonia, Prairie Grove, Mansfield, Pleasant Hill and Yellow Bayou, returning thence to East Texas, where the regiment was disbanded on the break-up of the Confederacy.

Alexander H. Douglass was six years of age when he was brought into Texas and he was educated in the primitive schools of Grayson

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county. He attained his majority there and on engaging seriously in the battle of life allied himself with his brother William and for many years their interests have been identical. Stock- raising and farming have been pursued by him with success and the Douglass ranch of two thousand acres, fenced and cross-fenced and substantially and conveniently improved, repre- sents the reward which has come to the brothers for the efforts they have put forth. They are raising Durham cattle and horses and mules, and in feeding and shipping they have also limitedly engaged.

In 1881 Alexander H. Douglass married Miss Mattie Brown, a daughter of Samuel P. Brown, a Virginia gentleman, who died in Grayson county. As a result of their marriage the fol- lowing children have been born: Yula, Jessie, Fannie, Ida, Vera, Warren and Margaret, all of whom still abide under the parental roof.

While Douglass Brothers are known as Dem- ocrats, they are best and most widely known as industrious stock farmers and in this domain exclusively have they achieved their success. Their ranch lies three miles west of Bellevue and their commodious home caps a conspicuous elevation covered with native oaks and is visible for miles around. By nature they are prompted to the substantial encouragement of whatever promises good to their community or county and are unreservedly classed among the repre- sentative men of Clay county.

JUDGE EMMETT W. NICHOLSON. During a long period Judge Emmett W. Nich- olson has practiced at the bar of Jack county, and during that time his rise has been gradual, but he today occupies a leading position among the representatives of the legal profession in Jacksboro. His reputation has been won through earnest, honest labor, and his high standing is a merited tribute to his ability. His birth occurred at Dallas, Texas, on the 24th of August, 1858, his parents being Colonel Ed- mund P. and Elizabeth (Griffin) Nicholson, the former of whom was born in Jackson, Missis- sippi, but came to Dallas in the early '50s. En- listing for service in the Confederate army dur- ing the Civil war, he became an officer in Gen- eral Gano's regiment, rendering distinguished service throughout the struggle between the north and south. He, too, was a lawyer by pro- fession, and was a broad-minded, progressive man and public-spirited citizen, in all life's re- lations having been found true to the duties of professional and social life. In 1865, with his family, he left Dallas and went to Kansas City,

where the succeeding ten years were spent, go- ing thence, in 1875, to St. Louis, and in 1877 took up their abode in Weatherford, Parker county, Texas. His life's labors were ended in death on the Ioth of January, 1903, and his wife, who was a native of New Orleans, has also passed away.

The educational training of Emmett W. Nicholson was received principally in Kansas City. He studied law in his father's office, and was admitted to the bar at Weatherford July 24, 1879, at once beginning the practice of his chosen profession with his father. On the 31st of December, 1880, he came to Jacksboro, the county seat of Jack county, which place has ever since continued as his home, and here he has won distinction as a practitioner at the bar. At the time of his arrival here the town was but a small settlement, and his interests have grown with the progress of the place and the surrounding country. In 1886 Mr. Nicholson was the choice of his fellow citizens for the of- fice of county attorney, re-elected in 1888 and in 1892 was their choice for the high official position of county judge, again receiving a re- election in 1894. He is well informed on the subject of jurisprudence in its various depart- ments, his arguments are forcible, his reason- ing sound, his deductions logical, and he has won many notable forensic triumphs.

Mr. Nicholson was united in marriage at Gainesville to Miss Annie E. Aynes, whose father, D. S. Aynes, was a prominent merchant of Gainesville. They have three sons, Clarence William, Eugene H. and Frank. Mr. Nicholson is the owner of a large and valuable library. and his name is inscribed high on the roll of legal practitioners in Western Texas. His re- ligious views are indicated by his membership in the Presbyterian church, while his fraternal relations are with the Knights of Pythias.

LEWIS JUDSON MOYER. Horticulture is rapidly taking the place of agriculture in the fruit section of Montague county and Lewis J. Moyer of this review is among those who bids welcome the sudden and sure transformation from the old staple to the new. For twenty- one years he has followed the custom of culti- vating "King Cotton" and with a degree of success that has brought satisfaction on the whole. While his means were by no means burdensome when he came to the county, they were not quite a minus quantity, and with them he has had a rather handy and useful lever in prying up the obstacles under which substantial additions to his future wealth were hidden. In

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

the fall of 1885 Mr. Moyer bought the claim " miles southwest of Stoneburg, which has lately interest of a party on a tract of Pinola county been sold. school land between five and six miles north- east of Bowie. Not much had been done on the place to make it habitable, but a log house of rude structure offered shelter to his family while conditions were shaping for our subject to replace it with something better, and he moved his family in. He was from the north, where good houses and barns and other sub- stantial improvements were common, and it was his ambition to make his new farm a dupli- cate of those of the scenes of his childhood at the earliest possible date. Now, when his early hope has been realized, the comfortable mod- ern cottage, the modest stock barn, the clean- appearing premises and general air of his sur- roundings tell the story of his achievements.

Lewis J. Moyer was born in Wabash county, Indiana, May 3, 1852. His father, Henry Moyer, accompanied his father, Matthias Moyer, into Wabash county from Ohio at ari early day, and upon their arrival there planted the seed and engaged in the nursery business. Both were identified with that industry until their deaths, the father dying in 1866, at forty- two years of age. Henry Moyer married Rachel, a daughter of John Bowman. Orlando. who died aged four years; Andrew, who died aged five years; Lewis J .; Alonzo, of Colorado; Oliver M., who died aged three years, and Henry A. were the issue of this union. Mrs. Moyer married Benjamin Ulsh in Kosciusko county, Indiana, and in 1885 came with him to Texas, and died in Montague county in 1894.

Lewis J. Moyer's boyhood life was a rural one and his education was obtained from the proverbial country school. At fifteen years of age he shook himself free from what he felt to be the tyrannical hand of his stepfather and went over into Illinois, where, in Will, Macon and other counties, he worked by the month on a farm. He was absent from home three years and on returning he engaged in ditching in summer and cutting cord wood in winter, which labor he followed for two years. Having saved sufficient to provide himself with a plug team he engaged in farming rented land. He found his circumstances improving as time passed and when he decided to locate in Texas he came here with about nine hundred dollars in cash. A flashlight of his early years here has already appeared to the reader and it is suffi- cient to disclose his substantial accumulations by mentioning the addition of two farms to his original one of sixty-five acres, on which a son- in-law resides, and another of eighty acres three

Mr. Moyer was married, in Kosciusko county, Indiana, February 20, 1872, to Rachel A. Dan- ser, a daughter of Asa and Julia (Smith) Dan- ser. Mrs. Moyer was born in Kosciusko county March II, 1852, and is the mother of Cora, wife of Samuel Williams, of Montague county ; Maggie, who married William Mar- tin, and has a daughter Ora, and her second husband is George Martin; Frank, of Temple, Oklahoma, and Asa and Earl, still at the family home. While Mr. Moyer has been drawing into his larder some of the substantial things. of life, he has devoted little time or attention to matters affecting the state. On national is- sues he belongs to the dominant American political party, but in local matters he has been pleased to ally himself with the interests of his neighbors and friends in his county. He be- lieves in the Christian religion and communes with the Methodist congregation,

EUGENE C. ORRICK. For a number of years past Eugene C. Orrick has practiced at the bar of Fort Worth, and during that time his rise has been gradual, but he today occupies a leading position among the representatives of the legal profession in the county. His repu- tation has been won through earnest, honest labor, and his high standing is a merited tribute to his ability. He was born in Canton, Missis- sippi, in 1864, a son of Nicholas C. and Mary (Semmes) Orrick, natives respectively of Vir- ginia and Georgia. The father located in Mis- sissippi in 1859, where he followed merchan- dising, and as a Confederate soldier served throughout the period of the Civil war, in which he was wounded in 1863. His death occurred in Canton in 1897, and in that city his widow yet resides.

In the schools of Canton Eugene C. Orrick received his first school training, there also studying law under F. B. Pratt. He was ad- mitted to the bar in 1884, having taken his course in Notre Dame University and received his diploma for civil engineering, which he fol- lowed several years. After practicing for about a year in Canton he removed to Sunflower county, in the Delta country, where he was en- gaged in the active practice of his profession until 1891, and during his residence there also served as county superintendent of schools with notable ability. In the year mentioned, 1891, he came to Forth Worth. Gradually his practice here has increased, as he demonstrated his ability to successfully handle the intricate

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problems of jurisprudence, and today he has a large clientage which connects him with the leading litigated interests of the circuit. His professional life has been somewhat exceptional for the lasting character of his partnerships, of which he has had but two since coming to this city, the first being the Hon. J. Y. Hogsett, their firm name being Hogsett & Orrick, and this was dissolved only by the retirement of Mr. Hogsett from practice, and the second J. C. Terrell, Jr., the present firm name being Or- rick & Terrell. For three years Mr. Orrick served as a member of the city council, repre- senting the Eighth ward, and at the time of his election the issue of a better water supply for the city was the leading question before the people, there being two plans proposed, each having its advocates, one being to secure a sup- ply of water by damming Trinity river, the other to get the supply by digging artesian wells. In making his canvass Mr. Orrick advo- cated the latter theory, and after his election ably seconded and assisted Mayor Powell in carrying out the artesian well policy, which was highly successful and which has resulted in giving Fort Worth as pure and as ample a water supply as any city in the country. In November, 1902, the council elected him city attorney of Fort Worth, which office he has ever since filled with credit and distinction, and it was due to his investigation and de- cision as city attorney that the first asphalt pavement was laid in this city. He is an ener- getic and successful lawyer, and in addition to his duties connected with his office he enjoys with his partner a large and lucrative private practice.

Mr. Orrick was married in Canton, Missis- sippi, to Miss Ellen Mhoon, of that city, and they have four children, Mary Mhoon, Eugenia Semmes, Elizabeth Bailey and James Nicholas. Mr. Orrick is a member of the Catholic church, and is also identified with the Knights of Co- lumbus.

A. C. REYNOLDS, a veteran of the Confed- erate army, actively and successfully interested in agricultural pursuits in Montague county, was born in middle Tennessee October 21, 1832, and was reared upon the home farm of his pa- rents, Henry and Mary (Brown) Reynolds, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Virginia. The father was descended from an honored old Virginian family and was one of nine children : William, Benjamin, James, John, Hen- ry, Betsy, the wife of A. Campbell; David, Rich- ard and Andrew.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 37

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