A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 42

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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Mr. Youngblood has from an early age been possessed of great natural talent for business af- fairs, and despite meager educational advantages during his youth he has always been found in the ranks of the aspiring, enterprising and finally suc- ful men of his community. He lived at home for the first nineteen years of his life, that time being spent at the various places noted above. He came to Texas in 1876. He had been reared to farm life, but was ambitious to make a place for him- self in the mercantile world, and in the fall of 1878 he was able to start on a small scale a gen- eral mercantile establishment at Chico, in Wise

county. This business expanded rapidly, and in 1882 he moved it to Alvord in the same county, where, as mentioned above, his father joined him. The Youngblood merchandise establishment was carried on at Alvord until 1888, in which year Mr. Youngblood came to Vernon, which has proved his permanent location till the present time. On opening up in Vernon he discontinued the general features of his store and limited his goods to furniture, carpets and house furnishings, and in addition a high grade undertaking depart- ment. This house is now looked upon as the lead- ing one in this part of the country, and it prac- tically has no serious competition. Mr. Young- blood has been faithful to his adopted town through its adversity and prosperity, and has been rewarded by a large and permanent business. Since he came here he has seen five or six rival furniture houses start up and afterward fail or go out of business.

Mr. Youngblood has identified himself very closely with the public affairs of his county. For four years he served as county commissioner of Wilbarger county, and has been a member of the Vernon school board for a long time. He is likewise one of the foremost men in the Masonic fraternity at this place. He has held all the chairs in the blue lodge, the council, the chapter, and is now past commander of the local com- mandery of Knights Templar. While eminent commander he became a great favorite with the Masons on account of his ability in the work of initiation and other rites.

While a very young man, in Arkansas, Mr. Youngblood was married to Miss Mary C. Max- well, a native of Missouri and now deceased. She was the mother of his oldest son, Seba O. Youngblood, who is now associated with his father in the furniture business. After coming to Texas Mr. Youngblood married at Alvord Emma Cochran, who is his present wife and is the mother of the following children: Mrs. Stella Kimberlin, Miss Dema May, Ollie T., Blanche, Elzie, Oleta and Juanita.

JAMES FRANCIS LONG. Almost coexistent with the little city of Sunset, Texas, is the busi- ness career of James F. Long, whose name intro- (luces this personal record. When he came to it the town was still in its infancy and was only a hamlet, nestled among the scattered oaks, mark- ing the untamed wilderness of a few years before. With more experience than years and more cour- age than capital Mr. Long grasped the opportuni- ty to establish a business which was destined to grow and become one of the leading if not the chiefest mercantile enterprise of the place. From

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

his humble beginning has come the largest hard- ware and implement concern of Sunset, and since that eventful day its proprietor has achieved the most substantial success of his active life.

In 1879 James F. Long acted upon the advice of Horace Greeley, the noted American journal- ist, and came west. He had but little more than begun his business career and it was with the view of planting himself in a field of greater op- portunity that he sought the Lone Star state. The public schools of his native state had treated him to a liberal education and the brief years of his then business experience had established confi- dence in himself and stimulated his ambition to become a positive force in the world's affairs and to win success by his own efforts. Locating at Aurora, in Wise county, the principalship of its public schools furnished him the stepping stone to the career in which he was destined to win his success. That he was an efficient teacher is evi- denced by his employment for three years in the one place, and his compensation of one hundred dollars a month little more than maintained him while at work and carried him through each long vacation, so that when he decided to embark in mercantile pursuits his capital amounted to a small surplus above the actual freight on his stock.

In a little wooden building on Front street in the unpromising village of Sunset our subject shelved a handful of hardware and its accom- panying sundries and announced himself ready for business August 10, 1882. For six years he catered to his trade from that point and he then established his business on the site of his present store. The history of his growth is the duplicate of the story told of all men who win success be- hind the counter, and the key to it all lies in the makeup of the man himself. Honesty and up- rightness are universally recognized and its prac- tice in business brings its reward as surely as in politics or the law. While this has been Mr. Long's cardinal trait another significant one has been, in a large measure, responsible for his ma- terial growth. Without energy of mind and body no personal victories can be won and with this element, and that of industry strongly intrenched, Mr. Long has proven himself master of his situa- tion.

James F. Long was born in Spencer county. Kentucky, September 15, 1851, amid rural scenes and under the environment of a country home. His father, M. J. Long, was born in the same county in 1825, became a large farmer and fine cattle grower and was widely known. The same energy that pushed him by his competitors in the race of life won him prominence as a citizen, and

it is not surprising that he should do his modest share in controlling the politics and the politi- cians of his county. He was a rugged example of honesty in all things and gauged his life along the virtuous teachings of the gospel and main- tained his church home with the Missionary Baptists. He was a son of Thomas Long, born in Virginia in 1780, who went into Kentucky at a time when he could have bought land on the site of Louisville for a dollar an acre. The latter died in Spencer county in 1870; his wife was Nancy Jackson, a cousin of General Stonewall Jackson.

Micajah J. Long was one of a family of ten children and married Miss Kate Beauchamp. He died in Sunset in April, 1893, and his widow now resides in Sunset, the mother of: Lula, wife of W. O. Yeager, of Sunset ; James F., our subject ; Nancy, wife of W. T. Dale, of Chico, Texas; Michael B., who died at Aurora, Texas; Lillie, who married J. W. Chenoweth and resides in Oak Cliff, Dallas; Vessie, wife of W. W. Barber, of Bridgeport, Texas, and Mary, Mrs. S. C. Sneed, of Fort Worth.

At eighteen years of age James F. Long sepa- rated from his father's home and took up the business of buying and shipping stock, with Louis- ville as his chief headquarters, and in this chan- nel of commerce he got his first practical business experience, and in it he remained some four years. Concluding his efforts in this vocation he acted upon his desire to try his fortunes in the west and he came to Texas in 1879. With what resources he began his career in Montague county we have already noted. His brick store, with its immense stock, and his farm near town where he is bring- ing up his young family, together with other sub- stantial assets show, when contrasted with his original condition, the results of his labors and the achievement of his early ambition.

April 25, 1889, Mr. Long was united in mar- riage, in Montague county, with Miss Alice Vow- ell, only daughter of the late Dr. J. L. Vowell, who grew up in Missouri, fought in the Confeder- ate army from that state, came to Texas in the early seventies and married, in Grayson county, his cousin's widow, Mrs. Martha Vowell, now a resident of Sunset. Dr. Vowell was the father of Charles L. Vowell, of Sherman, besides Mrs. Long, and died in Bowie, Texas, December 19, 1904.

Mr. and Mrs. Long's children are: Bulah, Robert, Lucile, Pauline, Thomas and an infant son.

In his political relations, limited as they have been, Mr. Long is a Democrat. His only public official service has been as road overseer and on

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

the school board, but in his sincere and earnest citizenship he has rendered even greater service than in public life.

DR. CHARLES W. JONES, of Canadian, who successfully and profitably combines the pro- fession of dentistry with cattle ranching, is a na- tive son of Texas and has been identified with its western and northwestern sections, participating in their varied conditions of living and industrial activities, throughout his career. He has been connected with the cattle industry from boyhood up, and it was only after he found himself sub- stantially established in this occupation that he turned his attention to his present profession, in which he has also made a marked success.

Dr. Jones was born in Polk county, this state, February 27, 1862, being one of the younger chil- dren of Charles and Mary A. (Williamson) Jones, the former a native of Mississippi and the latter born in North Carolina but reared in Mis- sissippi. The family moved to Polk county, Tex- as, in the fifties, and in 1861 the father enlisted in the Confederate service from that county, and died in the following year, when his son Charles was four months old. In 1869 the mother and her family moved from Polk to what is now Lampasas county, which was then on the fron- tier and strictly a range country, farming opera- tions not having as yet been introduced. About three years later the family moved into the ad- joining county of San Saba. In both these bor- der counties the older sons of the Jones family were frequently compelled, along with their neighbors, to battle with the marauding hands of Indians, who, until about 1875, continually har- assed the frontier settlements and greatly inter- fered with settled occupations. About 1877 most of the family left San Saba county, and the mother died in Robertson county in 1878.

Dr. Jones, however, remained in San Saba county until 1880, in which year he went to Throckmorton county, where he lived about five years. During all the years of his activity he had been continually in the cattle business, but, on leaving Throckmorton and going to Dickens county, he engaged in the mercantile business in Dickens City for a year or two. After leaving Dickens City he lived for several years at Plain- view, in Hale county. In the meantime his incli- nations had led him to the profession of dentistry, and he began attendance at the dental college of the University of St. Louis, where he was grad- uated in 1806. This training was later supple- mented by a post-graduate course in the South- western Dental College at Dallas, so that he is well grounded and equipped in his profession and

has deserved the large success which has come to him. For several years he practiced at Plain- view and other places in the south plains coun- try, and since 1900 he has been located at Canadi- an in Hemphill county. Besides the large dental practice which he enjoys at that point, he has ac- quired and operates a cattle ranch fourteen miles northeast of Canadian in Hemphill county, where he has about six sections of land and is doing a very profitable business.

While living in Throckmorton county Dr. Jones was married to Miss Joanna Hollis, who died in Dickens county, leaving two children, Walter and Arthur. At Plainview Dr. Jones was married to Bettie Pepper, and by this union there is another son, Fletcher. Dr. Jones and his wife are members of the Christian church, and he has fraternal affiliations with the Masons, the Odd Fellows and the Woodmen.

ENSIGN REXFORD is a farmer and stock- man of Wichita county, owning fourteen hundred acres of land. He is familiar with the early his- tory of the county, having resided within its borders from a period in which the greater part of the land was wild, unclaimed and unimproved. Many changes have occurred and with the work of improvement Mr. Rexford has been identified in a helpful way. He was born in Lee county, Iowa, in December, 1841, his parents being Wil- liam D. and Laura A. (Hamilton) Rexford. In the paternal line he is descended from Scotch- Irish ancestry. His father was born in Steuben county, New York, in 1800, and his mother was also a native of the Empire state. In 1838 Wil- liam D. Rexford removed to Iowa, settling in Lee county among its pioneer residents. He be- came a factor in the early development of that locality and there made his home until 1847, when he made a trip across the plains to Oregon. This was two years before the great tide of emigra- tion set in toward California. He was accom- panied by his entire family, including several children, among whom was Ensign Rexford, of this review. The emigrant train consisted of about fifty wagons and the party who thus trav- eled to the Pacific coast experienced all the hard- ships and trials incident to a journey of that character in the early days. They were in con- stant danger of Indian attack and various diffi- culties were to be encountered because of the lack of good roads and of settlements at which supplies might be obtained. They journeyed on until the days had lengthened into weeks and weeks into months ere they reached their destina- tion. For a year after their arrival in Oregon Mr. Rexford and his family remained near Salem and

1Kms Visions

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then removed to his tract of land six miles from Albany, Oregon, which became the family home- stead. Mr, Rexford was a successful farmer and stock-raiser and spent the greater part of his business career upon his land near Albany. A short time prior to his death, however, he re- moved to northern California for the benefit of his health and there he departed this life in 1875. His widow survived him for a number of years and died in Oregon in 1885. The surviving mem- bers of the family are: Ensign, Mrs. Martha Ross, who is now in Payette, Idaho, and Charles Rexford, who is living in Corvallis, Oregon.

Ensign Rexford was in his seventh year when he made a trip across the plains with his parents. He remembers many events of that journey and of early pioneer life in the Sunset state. His boy- hood days were spent upon the home farm near Albany and in that locality he acquired his educa- tion. Early trained to the work of the fields, he soon became of much assistance to his father in the cultivation of the old homestead and his practical knowledge and experience there ac- quired have proved of immense value to him in his later business career. In 1858 he left home and went to The Dalles, Oregon, and into eastern Washington, Idaho, through the mining regions of eastern Oregon and Washington territory, and participated in the development of some of the well known gold mines of that region. He also drove cattle there and led the life of the typical frontiersman. Indeed, if his history were written in detail it would present a vivid picture of the conditions in the far west when the Pacific coast was cut off from the old east by the long stretches of hot sand and high mountain ranges, there be- ing no railroad or telegraphic communications.

Mr. Rexford was always interested in cattle- raising, and, desiring to devote his time and ener- gies to this industry, he made his way to Texas in 1879, regarding it as the portion of the coun- try best adapted to the business. He secured a tract of land upon which he now resides in Wichi- ta county, about twelve miles north of the city of Wichita, but neither the town nor the county had been organized at that time and the country was wild and unimproved. Mr. Rexford purchased the squatters' rights to adjoining tracts of land until he owned a large ranch. He did not give his attention immediately, however, to the raising of cattle, but became identified with the construction of new railroads that were being built in Texas at that time. He was thus engaged until 1882, when he returned to his home and began the im- provement of his farm, which today comprises fourteen hundred acres of valuable land devoted partly to general farming and partly to stock-

raising. He is especially interested in the latter branch of his business and makes a specialty of the breeding and raising of pure-blooded Here- ford cattle and good horses and mules. He an- nually makes extensive sales of stock, and be- cause of superior grades finds a ready sale upon the market and realizes a good profit for his la- bor.

In 1873 in Albany, Oregon, Mr. Rexford was united in marriage to Miss Amanda Wylie, whose parents also crossed the plains in early pioneer times, although at a date subsequent to the re- moval of the Rexford family to Oregon. To our subject and his wife have been born two chil- dren, Burk and Mrs. Ruth Nix. A quarter of a century has passed since Mr. and Mrs. Rexford came to Wichita county, and no history of this portion of the state would be complete without mention of this worthy pioneer couple. Mr. Rex- ford has borne an active and helpful part in the work of public progress and in reclaiming the wild lands for the purposes of civilization. He who battles with and subjects the forces of na- ture is usually a man of strong purpose, of stal- wart interest and commendable resolution and these qualities are found as salient characteristics in the life work of Ensign Rexford.

Mr. Rexford is proud of the fact that he has always been a temperance man and an advocate of its principles, and is at this writing advo- cating a ticket on a temperance platform for the coming county election.

DR. KENT V. KIBBIE. As one of the foremost members of the medical profession in North Texas Dr. Kibbie has gained a splendid reputation not only as active practitioner, but in the field of medical instruction and journal- ism. Born at Osceola, Missouri, but reared and educated largely in Illinois, he comes of a family which has furnished more than one eminent dis- ciple of Aesculapius. His father, Dr. H. C. Kibbie, a native of Connecticut, has for many years been a prominent physician in Illinois and is now a specialist in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat at Chicago. Also Dr. George K. Kibbie, a cousin of Dr. H. C. Kibbie, dis- tinguished himself in this profession. From his home in New York City he went, during the yellow fever epidemic at New Orleans in 1878, to that city to devote his services to the afflicted and while engaged in that noble hu- manitarian self-sacrifice succumbed to the dread disease. He was the inventor of the Kibbie cot for yellow fever patients, and with this, and his hydropathic treatment, he achieved great success at that time.

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

Dr. K. V. Kibbie received his education at Princeton, Illinois, at Merom College, Illinois, and finished at DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, where he graduated in 1896 with the degree of B. S. His preparation had been very thorough, especially in chemistry and the bio- logical sciences, and after his graduation he came to Fort Worth to accept the chair of chem- istry and biology in Fort Worth University, at the same time having charge of the department of chemistry in the medical department of that institution. While engaged in his work as uni- versity instructor he also matriculated as a stu- dent in the medical department, from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1899. Then entering Rush Medical College in Chicago, he completed his preparation by graduation in 1900, and with a professional equipment such as few young physicians are privileged to have, re- turned to Fort Worth and began active practice. His private practice at Fort Worth has been con- stantly increasing, while at the same time his use- fulness in the profession has been extended to other fields. During 1900-1901 he was chief demonstrator of anatomy in the medical depart- ment of Fort Worth University, also held the chair of physical diagnosis and hygiene. In 1902 he was elected to the chair of anatomy in the medical department of Baylor University, at Dal- las, which position, requiring in the discharge of its duties only part of his time, he still holds, his home remaining in Fort Worth. As a teach- er Dr. Kibbie has shown unusual powers both in effective demonstration and also in inspiration, retaining the confidence and affection of his pu- pils both during and after their period of prepar- ation. He is editor and publisher of the Texas Courier of Medicine, the oldest medical journal in the state, and through its columns carries on the same effective work for professional progress and improvement to which his personal efforts are devoted in the class room. He is a member of the Tri-State, the State, and the Tarrant Coun- ty Medical associations, and for two years was city chemist of Fort Worth.

Dr. Kibbie married Miss Mary Tumlin, the daughter of Rev. Tumlin, a minister of the Bap- tist church, and of an old Georgia family. They have one son, Horace C. Kibbie.

JUDGE BEN DUDLEY TARLTON is one of the prominent figures of the Fort Worth bar, a man of commanding and interesting personali- ty, great ability as a pleader and a counsel, with a fine record of success, both on the bench and in the court room, and withal a public-spirited and eminent citizen such as would grace and give

honor to any community. He is a polished gentle- man in society, has a reputation as an effective orator, and in common every-day life is a friend and neighbor with some word of encouragement or deed of kindness for all around him, so that it is no wonder he is popular and a man of the masses as well as of the classes.

Judge Tarlton comes of a fine family, and the lives of its members in the past generations and the present have never been sullied or brought into disesteem. He was born in St. Mary's par- ish, Louisiana, October 18, 1849, being a son of. Dr. John Tarlton and Frances Ann (Caler). Tarlton. His father was born in Maryland in 1800. He was reared in Scott county, Kentucky, received his literary education in that state and graduated as a physician at Transylvania Uni- versity at Lexington. He was a physician in active practice during many years. About 1827 he went to South Carolina; thence to Mobile, Alabama, and in 1846 took up his residence in Louisiana. He came to Texas in 1873, and died at Hillsboro in 1882. He was of English extrac- tion.

Judge Tarlton's mother was born in the old town of St. Stephens, Washington county, Ala- bama, in 1822. She was a granddaughter of Judge Harry Toulmin, an Englishman, who came to Kentucky late in the eighteenth century and became a prominent man 'of affairs there. He was one of the promulgators of what was known as the "Resolutions of 1798-99," modeled after the original draft of Thomas Jefferson and which embodied the principles of state govern- ment and constituted what was about the first po- litical platform in the new nation. Judge Toul- min was Kentucky's secretary of state at the time these resolutions were adopted by the state. About 1810 he was appointed by President Madi- son as judge of the federal court for the territory of Alabama, which was then a part of the terri- tory of Mississippi, the separate territory of Ala- bama not being organized until 1817. In the pub- lications of the Historical Society of the State of Alabama Judge Toulmin is biographed as one of the most conspicuous figures in the early history of that state, a distinguished pioneer and jurist. Judge Tarlton's mother died at Waxahachie, Texas, in 1876.

Ben Dudley Tarlton spent the first thirteen years of his life in St. Mary's parish, and from then until he was grown lived in the parish of St. Landry. His early education was obtained both from the public schools and from private instruction. He graduated from St. Charles Col- lege, Louisiana, in 1868, after which he studied law in the office of Hon. George Hudspeth, of

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Opelousas, Louisiana, and also in the law depart- ment of the University of Louisiana (now Tulane University), where he graduated in law in 1872. He came to Texas in 1875, locating first at Wax- ahachie, and in 1876 began practice at Hillsboro. His first practice in this state was as a member of the firm of Abbott & Tarlton, the former Judge Jo Abbott, late a member of congress from Tex- as. Later he was associated as partner, at differ- ent times, with his brother, Mr. Greene Dake Tarlton, with Colonel John H. Bullock, with Mr. George I. Jordan, and with Judge Wright C. Morrow, and at this time with Hon. B. P. Ayres, of Fort Worth.

In 1880 he was elected a member of the seven- teenth general assembly from Hill county. In 1882 he was a member of the Democratic execu- tive committee for the state of Texas. In 1885 he was again chosen to the legislature for the nineteenth general assembly as a "floater" repre- sentative of Hill, Ellis, Navarro and Johnson counties. In 1891 he was appointed by Governor Hogg as a member of the court of commission of appeals of Texas. In' 1892 he was elected chief justice of the court of civil appeals, the seat of which is at Fort Worth, and he removed to this city in that year and has made it his place of resi- dence ever since. He was on the bench in the court of civil appeals for six years, and since the expiration of his term he has been engaged in active practice in this city. He is an able jurist, and his standing among the legal fraternity is shown by the fact that he is the president of the Fort Worth Bar Association. He is also a fore- most and influential leader in Democratic poli- tics. He is a member of St. Patrick's Catholic church of this city and is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 42

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