A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 41

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 41

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Taking the result of the war philosophically Mr. Camp returned to the farm and took up the thread of peaceful industry where he had aban- doned it. His efforts in Grayson were attended with good results and he found himself fairly started in life when he "broke camp" to settle in Montague county in 1878. In his new home he began the improvement of his two hundred and seven acres of Limestone county school land, which he purchased cheap, and in the cattle, horse and general produce farming which he has since conducted prosperity has been generally on his side. His farm lies on either side of Victory creek, a small stream, and his residence stands

conspicuously prominent on the crest of the low hill overlooking his domains.

September 12, 1865, Mr. Camp married, in Grayson county, Caroline, a daughter of James and Nancy (Keeney) Henry, who were Tennes- see settlers in Texas. Mrs. Camp was born in Blount county, Tennessee, January 16, 1839, and is the mother of William J., of Rush Springs, In- dian Territory, who married Ella Cox and has a child, William ; Kate B., wife of W. W. Riggs, of Del Rio, Texas, has children, Sterling and Susie; Nannie, Mrs. Kelley Askew, who died on April 9, 1891, leaving a son, Sterling Camp As- kew; Sterling V., Jr., of Streeter, Oklahoma ; Center, of Clayton county, Texas ; Dorthola, who married William Brown, of this county, and Daisy A., a'school teacher at home.

Mr. Camp is a member of Stoneburg Lodge, No. 771, A. F. & A. M., and performs his Chris- tian duty as a member of the Christian church. In former years he was pleased to take some in- terest in Democratic politics in county campaigns, but his ambition never led to a personal desire for office and he has held none. In his makeup he is an even-tempered, peace-loving, agreeable gentleman, and a wide circle of close friends tes- tify to his neighborhood popularity.

WILLIAM M. LAY, who is one of the fore- most men in the financial and business circles of Amarillo, as a native son of the Lone Star state has been thoroughly identified with its history and activities from his youthful years to the present. He has been a prominent figure on the western plains for the past twenty years, and is con- versant with the details of the cattle and other industries as conducted in this section of the state.

Mr. Lav was born near Seguin, in Guadalupe county, November 24, 1847. Through his pa- rents, A. Wilson and Mary (Beard) Lay, he is connected with the earliest phases of Texas his- tory. His father, a native of South Carolina, came to Texas during the days of the Republic, establishing his home in Guadalupe county, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death oc- currino there in 1871. He had been a pioneer in the live-stock business, in which he continued successfully from an early day, and was known as one of the prominent farmers and stockmen of his part of the state.

Mary (Beard) Lay, the mother, accompanied her parents from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Guad- alupe county, where she was married to Wilson Lay. The arrival of her family in Texas ante- dated the Texas revolution of 1836. About 1842, while Mexico was still endeavoring to secure her

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hold on Texas, two of her brothers took part in the ill-fated expedition into Mexico, which began with the battle at Mier on the Rio Grande, where the Americans were forced to surrender. l'hence the entire band were sent to the city of Mexico, but before reaching there the Americans planned and executed a desperate escape, overpowering their guards and starting back for Texas. But they were in the end recaptured or compelled through fear of starvation to surrender, and were assembled to the number of about two hundred in the place where they had effected their previous escape. Here, through the order of the infamous Santa Anna, the historic "lottery of the beans" took place. Beans equal to the en- tire number of the men were placed in an urn, seventeen of them being black and the rest white. Those unfortunate enough to draw the black beans were led out and shot, while the others, hardly less unlucky, were sent on to the foul pris- ons of the city of Mexico, whence some escaped, some died, and others were finally released. The Beard brothers were of those who drew the white beans, but never reached home again, since one of them died in prison and the other was killed on his way to Texas.

Mr. Lay was reared on his father's farm, and became familiarized with the duties of stock farming at an early age. In 1864, when seven- teen years old, he enlisted in the Confederate service, joining Captain Nixon's Company of De- WVitt's Battalion. This battalion saw all its serv- ice in East.Texas, along and near the coast, where it was stationed until the close of the war, the most serious encounter being in repelling the in- vasion of the federal troops between Indianola and Victoria. Mr. Lav remained in Guadalupe county until 1882, when he went to Fort Worth and engaged in the oil business, which he contin- ued several years. In 1885 he came out to the plains country in West Texas, locating in Lub- bock county, where he became one of the pioneer cattlemen, 1885 being an early date in this his- tory of that county. He was a leading cattleman in that section of the state for about ten years. In 1891, upon the completion of the organization of Lubbock county, he was elected the first sher- iff of the county, serving as such by subsequent elections for six years. All this time, however, he was in the cattle business on his ranch west of Lubbock. On leaving Lubbock county he moved to New Mexico, and continued his cattle business in the eastern part of that territorv. In 1902, on disposing of his interests in New Mexi- co, he came to Amarillo, where his home and business affairs have since been centered. He built a pretty home on Polk street, between Sev-

enth and Eighth streets, also purchasing and making fine improvements on the rest of the block. He owns other valuable pieces of city and country real estate, and is vice president of the Amarillo National Bank. These and many similar interests give him a prominent place in the busi- ness life of Amarillo, of which he is a valued cit- izen.

Mr. Lay was married to Miss Anna Laura Dean, who was reared at Weatherford, Parker county. They both belong to the Methodist church in Amarillo.

JUDGE STERLING P. HUFF, district judge of the Forty-sixth judicial district of Texas, has for a number of years been a prominent resident of Vernon, Wilbarger county, and as a lawyer and citizen gained a position of marked esteem throughout the northwestern part of the Lone Star state. His legal career is especially note- worthy, for since his admission to the Texas bar some twenty-five years ago he has been connected in practice with a number of influential men and has participated, on one side or the other, in many of the important cases and legal business in North Texas.

Judge Huff was born in Greene county, Mis- souri, February 3, 1856, being a son of Dr. Al- pheus M. and Mary (Pipkin) Huff. His father was also a native Missourian, and by profession a physician. He brought his family to Texas in 1860, practiced for a time at Fish Creek, in Cooke county, then located in Whitesboro and during the remainder of his active career practiced there. His long and useful life came to a close at Whitesboro in January, 1897. At the breaking out of the Civil war he enlisted among the Tex- ans as a private soldier in the Confederate army, but after following in the rank and file for a time he was appointed surgeon in the hospital service, and was employed in that capacity during the rest of the war. Judge Huff's mother was born in Missouri, and is still living at her home in Whitesboro.

Judge Huff was four years of age when his home was transferred from Missouri to Texas, and he was reared and received his preliminarv education at Whitesboro. His first preceptors in the law were the members of the firm of Woods, Fears & Wilkinson, at Sherman, Texas. Of this firm, Captain J. D. Woods is now a state senator and A. E. Wilkinson is reporter for the state su- preme court. This prominent legal firm later be- came Woods and Wilkinson, under whom Judge Huff completed his studies. He was admitted to the bar at Sherman by Judge Bledsoe. in April, 1880. In the fall of that same year he located at

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Montague, the county seat of Montague county, and practiced there until his removal to Vernon in 1888, since which year his interests have been centered around the latter city.

Judge Huff has had some strong and able part- ners during his career in the legal arena. His first professional associate was .W. S. Jemison, at Montague, where he was later in partnership with Judge R. D. Rudgley. His last partner at Mon- tague was W. F. Bowman, who was afterward appointed third assistant attorney general under Attorney General Culberson, and became private secretary to the latter when he was governor. In Vernon Judge Huff practiced as a member of Huff, Wells & Wallers. He formed a partnership with Hon. John H. Stephens on the latter's locat- ing here in 1890, and this relationship existed un- til Mr. Stephens was elected to congress, in 1896, at which time the firm of Huff & Hall (R. W. Hall) came into being, and had a successful ca- reer until Judge Huff was chosen to his present position. In addition to the partnerships men- tioned Judge Huff has at various times had in his office as associates or students several young men who have since attained to successful posi- tions in the legal professions.

During nearly all this time of active connection with his absorbing legal practice Judge Huff has taken a prominent part in public affairs. Previous to his admission to the bar he was elected city at- torney of Whitesboro. In the fall of 1882 he was chosen to the office of county attorney of Mon- tague county, declining a renomination in 1884; but accepted the nomination again in 1886 and served a second term of two years. In 1896 he was presidential elector for the thirteenth con- gressional district of Texas, casting his vote for Bryan. At the time of his election to the district judgeship he was serving as mayor of Vernon. By the votes of the people he came to his present position of district judge in 1902, and is still serving as such. The forty-sixth judicial district embraces six counties-Wilbarger, Childress, Hardeman, Foard, Hall and Collingsworth. In June, 1904, he was chosen as a delegate to the state Democratic convention at San Antonio. For several years he has been a prominent figure in the party affairs in this portion of the state.

Judge Huff is also popular and active in fra- ternal circles, and is a Knight Templar Mason, a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Wood- men, and belongs to the Methodist church. He was married at Montague to Miss Ellen Martin, and they have three children: Agnes, Mary and Vance.

LOUIA B. BROWN, a representative agricul- turist and stock-raiser of Tarrant county, resides near Smithfield, where he owns and operates a valuable and productive farm of three hundred and forty acres devoted to general agricultural pursuits and stock-raising. He is a native of Lib- erty county, Missouri, born on the 3Ist of July, 1858, and is a son of Louis E. and Lou (Perry) Brown, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. The father, accompanied by his family, left Mis- souri in the year 1861 and removed southward to Tarrant county, Texas, and in due course of time made a permanent settlement near Smith- field, locating there when the district was largely wild and unimproved, few settlements having been made in that locality at the time. There Louis E. Brown continued to make his home up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1868. He had become widely known in the locality, followed the occupation of farming and was the champion of many progressive measures for the general good.

Louia B. Brown was a little lad of only three years when brought by his parents to Texas and was reared to manhood in Tarrant county, where he pursued his education in the public schools, at- tending the schools of Birdville and also the Grapevine Academy. Experience, observation and reading likewise greatly broadened his knowl- edge and made him a well informed man of good business ability and executive force. He has always been identified with agricultural in- rerests and stock-raising, having been reared to that pursuit, early becoming familiar with all the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the farmer. Since 1800 he has been engaged in the handling of registered stock of various breeds, in- cluding short-horn cattle, of which he now has about seventy-five head, all registered. He took up his abode on his present farm in 1901, and previous to this time he resided at Smithfield, where for a number of years he had been en- gaged in merchandising, but at the same time had carried on his agricultural pursuits. For a num- ber of years he served as postmaster at Smith- field. He is particularly well known, however, as an agriculturist and stock-raiser and there is no better judge of stock in all the countryside than Mr. Brown.

On the 5th of September, 1886, Mr. Brown was united in marriage to Miss Halcie C. High- tower, a daughter of J. H. Hightower, formerly county commissioner of Tarrant county, Texas, and a leading and representative farmer of this portion of the state. Five children grace this union : Lewis B., a graduate of Baylor Univer-

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sity at Waco, Texas; Morris J., Walter H. and Raymond N. Burney.

Mr. Brown is a stalwart Democrat and fra- ternally is connected with the Woodmen of the World. His interest in the public welfare is deep and sincere and results in hearty co-operation for the general good. His home farm contains three hundred and forty acres of land and is one of the best improved properties in the northern part of Tarrant county. He also owns additional acre- age, so that his total landed possessions aggre- gate six hundred acres. .

JOHN S. HAGLER, of Fort Worth, one of the distinguished lawyers practicing at the Texas bar, the exercise of his native talents and his acquired ability gaining him prominence, is a native of Montague county, Texas, born March 4, 1867, his parents being Captain David S. and Sallie M. (Dennis) Hagler. The father was born in Alabama but in early youth came to Texas, arriving in this state in 1836. He located first in Lamar county, where he lived until July, 1858, when he removed to Montague county, be- coming one of its first settlers and organizers. Captain Hagler was one of the old-time Texas Rangers and organizers, and was the captain of a company of Rangers that was in service on the Texas frontier for several years. He built the first plank house in Montague county, haul- ing the lumber all the way from Jefferson, Texas, and guarding it from the Indians, who would have taken it from him. He was a very promi- nent and influential citizen in Montague county, exercising strong influence in behalf of improve- ment and progress and there he resided until his death, which occurred in 1873. His wife was a native of Lamar county, Texas, and her father, a native of North Carolina, was one of the hon- ored pioneers of the Lone Star state. Mrs. Hag- ler is still living.

In addition to his other business interests Mr. Hagler was largely interested in cattle and John S. Hagler was practically reared in the saddle, running cattle as a cowboy. He attended school in Montague county until he was seventeen years of age and from that time until he attained his majority he was a cowboy on the plains of Texas, making a trip or two with cattle over the trail to Montana. On attaining his majority he was married to Miss Sallie C. McLain, a daughter of L. L. McLain, at one time sheriff of Montague county.

About this time Mr. Hagler turned his atten- tion to the real-estate business in Montague, Texas, and his marked enterprise, close appli- cation, and keen business discernment, soon

gained him success and thereby was laid the foundation of his present prosperity. While he was engaged in that business his wife died, passing away on the 4th of May, 1892, leaving three children : Lura, Marina and David S. Theirs had been a most happy married life and Mrs. Hagler's many excellences of character had also endeared her greatly to a large circle of friends as well as to her immediate family.

Following the death of his wife Mr. Hagler entered upon the study of law in the law depart- ment of the University of Texas, at Austin, and completed the course by graduation in 1894. He then took up law practice at Bowie, where he remained until 1899, when he removed to Fort Worth, where he has since lived. While still a resident of Montague county and even prior to the time that he entered law school he had formed a partnership with Judge Silas Hare, of Wash- ington, D. C., who at that time was a member of congress. It was through Judge Hare's efforts, assisted by Governor Throckmorton, that a bill was introduced and passed by congress providing for the adjudication of the Indian depredation claims of Texas citizens. When the Federal sol- diers stationed along the Texas frontier were withdrawn the Indians of New Mexico, Indian Territory, and other government reservations continually harassed the people along the Texas frontier. They began their work of depre- dation in 1865 and not only stole horses and cattle valued at millions of dollars but also jeop- ardized the lives of the citizens and many mur- ders resulted. This constant warfare of the red men against the white race was continued until 1874, when the government brought them into subjection. These Indian depredation claims are for cattle and horses stolen and for other dam- age done during those years and their payment by the government, in accordance with the bill introduced by Judge Hare is in Mr. Hagler's opinion one of the most beneficent pieces of legis- lation ever enacted for the Texas people, as it has been the means of distributing more than a million dollars among a class of people who were instrumental in opening up, settling and im- proving the great frontier, many of whom have become poor and are deserving of this restitution. Mr. Hagler's law practice is almost entirely taken up with these Indian depredation claims. He is still associated with Judge Hare, who lives in Washington and attends to the manage- ment of their legal business in that city.

As the years have passed Mr. Hagler has made judicious investment in real-estate and is now the owner of a ranch in Foard county, in Montague county, and in Tarrant county. He

JOHN S. HAGLER

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has herds of cattle upon these ranches and his stockraising business is a source of gratifying income to him. He also figures in financial cir- cles as the president of the First National Bank, at Crowell, Foard county. His chief business, however, is the practice of law.

Nature bountifully endowed him with the pe- culiar qualifications that combine to make a successful lawyer. Patiently persevering, pos- sessed of an analytical mind, and one that is readily receptive and retentive of the fundamen- tal principles and intricacies of the law; gifted with a spirit of devotion to wearisome details ; quick to comprehend the most subtle problems and logical in his conclusions; fearless in the advocacy of any cause he may espouse, and the soul of honor and integrity, few men have been more richly gifted for the achievement of suc- cess in the arduous difficult profession of the law.

NELSON M. THOMPSON. The rural community of Bridgeport has numbered the sub- ject of this personal record among its industrious citizenship since the year 1874, and the simplicity and sincerity of his conduct have won him an abiding place in the esteem of his fellow men. From 1871 to the present, first in Parker county and then in Wise, he has acknowledged fealty to the Lone Star state, and his little bark has navi- gated the billowy deep and come into the placid waters of the harbor with rudder strong and al- most unstripped of sail.

The life of Mr. Thompson begins with his birth in Transylvania county, North Carolina, June 14, 1837. He was a son of Nelson Thompson, father and grandfather being men of industry and small means and humble citizens in their respect- ive communities. The former was born in Tran- sylvania county, and the latter spent his early life in Rutherford and Henderson counties, entering Transylvania later and passing away there. Nel- son Thompson was the only son of his father, and when the latter died his mother married a Fletcher, to whom was born a son, John Fletcher, who passed his life in the Tarheel state.

Nelson Thompson took up the trade of a black- smith, and while he stood over the anvil and brought in the means wherewith to bring up his large family in a modest way, the children were trained to the farm and began their lives as farm- ers, and humble and unpromising that beginning was. He married Rosa Fletcher, who died in 1862. Of their children, Jesse died in Livingston county, Kentucky; Elizabeth married Charles Baxter, of Transylvania county, North Carolina ; Matilda became the wife of G. W. Holden, of

Buncombe county, North Carolina; Margaret, wife of John Hefner, of Cooper's Heights, Geor- gia; Robert, who died in Wise county, Texas ; James W., who was killed in the battle of Mal- vern Hill; Tabitha, wife of Samuel Raxter, of Transylvania county, North Carolina ; Nelson M., our subject ; William P., of Buncombe county, and Henry, who died in the Confederate army during the war.

Nelson M. Thompson was brought up in a home that was never flush with the substantial things of life, and he had learned little within the walls of. a regular school when he reached his twenty-first year. When the war broke out he en- listed in Company E, Twenty-fifth North Caro- lina Infantry, Colonel Clingman regimental com- mander. They became a part of the Virginia army and took part in the Seven Days' and Mal- vern Hill fights of the Peninsular campaign. He was in the engagements at Sharpsburg, Freder- icksburg and then back to the vicinity of Rich- mond and was around there and at Petersburg until the place was evacuated and was with the army of Lee when it capitulated to General Grant at Appomattox. He was wounded in the ditches in defense of Richmond, being shot in the head and had his leg injured by a piece of shell at Elizabeth, on the Roanoke, North Carolina.

So reduced were his circumstances after the war that he resumed farming with a single ox and lived off the soil of his native county until 1869, when he took up railroad work as foreman of a crew of men on the western extension of the Air Line and when he left this work he brought his little family to Texas and resumed farming in Parker county. There he had not succeeded in paying for the farm he contracted for and in Wise county he rented two years before he bought. Forty acres comprised his homestead in 1876, and it was a new tract with nature's garb still on, and it stretched his credit and taxed his resources to the limit to prepare him a humble and primitive home on it. Wise economy has marked his pathway in his slow but sure rise to independence and fortune has so favored him as to enable him to add one hundred and sixty-two acres more, making him a modest and productive farm of two hundred and two acres.

December II, 1870, Mr. Thompson married Mary Davis, whose father, Henry J. Davis, still lives in Buncombe county, North Carolina. Mrs. Thompson passed away at her home in 1897 at the age of fifty-two years, having been the mother of William, of Oklahoma; John, of Bridgeport, Texas ; Laura, the managing head of her father's home ; Emma, wife of Richard Baugh, died in 1899 ; George, of Amarillo, Texas; W. A. T., of

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Oklahoma; Arthur and Luther, twins, of Fort Worth and the old home, respectively; Callie, who married Ralph Chilton and resides in Okla- homa ; Stella, wife of Yater Rone, of Wise coun- ty; Bertha, who became Mrs. Isaac Swain, of Wise county, and Mattie and Allene.

While Mr. Thompson eschews politics he owns fealty to Democracy, and his name is on the rolls of the Methodist church.

THOMAS J. YOUNGBLOOD is a leader in Vernon as far as mercantile operations are con- cerned. He has the most extensive furniture es- tablishment in the town, with a large and profit- able trade branching out in all directions over Wilbarger county and even further. He has made this place his home and business center since 1888, so that he is really an old settler, and in business associations and social connections is well known and highly esteemed by his fellow citizens.

Mr. Youngblood was born at Berryville, Car- roll county, Arkansas, February 20, 1857, being a son of Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Dunlap) Youngblood. His father was born in Illinois and sprang from the Youngblood stock of which Judge Francis Marion Youngblood, of Carbon- dale, that state, was such a prominent representa- tive. Jeremiah Youngblood spent his active and useful career in various parts of the middle west. He went to Arkansas in an early day, and in 1862 moved from that state to Missouri, where he lived until 1866; then returned to Arkansas and re- mained until 1881, when he came to Tex- as to join his son Thomas in the gen- eral mercantile business at Chico; in the following year the business was moved to Alvord, in which town he died in 1886. His occupation previous to coming to Texas had been farming, and he was considered a successful and worthy citizen in all affairs. Mr. Young- blood's mother, Elizabeth Youngblood, was a native of Tennessee, was married in Missouri, and her death occurred in Arkansas in 1902.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 41

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