A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 66

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 66

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December 2, 1888, Mr. Cearley married, at Chico, Texas, Effie, a daughter of Robert W. Dickinson, formerly from Obion county, Ten- nessee. Mrs. Cearley was born in Tennessee in 1870 and she and Mr. Cearley are the parents of: Maggie F., Ora T., and Hallie Geneva. Mr. Cearley is a Mason and a Knight of Pythias and a member, with his family, of the Mission- ary Baptist church.

CAPTAIN PETER B. KEYSER. For many years identified with the thoroughbred cat- tle industry of Jack county, Captain Keyser has accomplished a work which has resulted in the material advancement and positive improvement of bovine conditions within the range of his in- fluence. The introduction of fine blood into the county marks an epoch of improved conditions all around-better results in raising and better prices for handling-for those who properly fore- casted the future, and in this movement of cow regeneration the Durham blood, of which Cap-

tain Keyser's herd is made up, has maintained its ascendancy as a massive, vigorous and showy animal, the pride of the butchers' heart. That man who has been instrumental in removing from, the grass-covered plains of Texas the na- tive cow, with its unpromising future, and sub- stituting in its stead a new blood with great pos- sibilities and promise, can rightly be numbered among our benefactors and has won a place in the annals of time.

. The Keyser stock farm was established in 1883, when the Captain brought to Jack county a carload of Short Horns and a Denmark stallion and proceeded to the breeding, raising and sale of both fine cattle and fast horses. His efforts in this direction were effective from the begin- ning and for years his ranch has been the pride of the community of Bryson and a point of inter- est for all Jack county. His estate comprises two sections of land near the village of Bryson and from its tree and grass-coated surface some of the best animals ever registered have gone to all the cardinal points on their stock-improving mission.

Captain Keyser was bred and born in the healthful ozone of the Old Dominion state, and under its patriotic and martial influence he drank in the influences which shaped his future life. To be born in Virginia, the mother of presidents, has always been considered a distinction in itself but to have descended from those who upheld the banner of independence from that colony during the revolution is an honor not common to the generations of the present day and our subject is most fortunate in its possession. That the name "Keyser" is of German origin is nowhere disputed, and it is asserted that the ancestor who founded this branch of the family in Virginia was a young man from the Fatherland, now re- ferred to as the great-grandfather of the sub- ject of this review. Out of this family of farm- ers went patriots to drag down the banner of King George and to establish in its place the stars and stripes, the emblem of a new and independ- ent nation. His son Andrew, the grandsire of our subject, was born in 175-, served his coun- try in the armies of Washington as an officer, and died about the date of our subject's birth. His son Andrew was born in 1804 and passed his life in the state which gave him birth. He was surrounded with farm influences as he grew up and above all else he loved his native common- wealth. When it left the Union in 1861, although old in years, his influence went with it and he served in the commissary department of the Confederate army. For his first wife he married Mary, a daughter of John Brubaker, who died

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in 1834, having been the mother of the following children : Pamly A., who died in Virginia as the wife of Major Huddle; John W., of Henry county, Missouri; and Thomas J., who is with our subject, both fought in the Southern army; Betty, who married Thomas Brumback and died in Virginia; Joseph, who died in Henry county, Missouri, was a Confederate soldier ; and Captain Peter B. Julia Thompson became the second wife of Andrew Keyser and her children were: Sarah J., wife of Joseph Nalle, of Austin, Texas ; Euphemia, who married Captain Richardson, of Austin; Emma, widow of Minor Thompson, of Effingham, Illinois; and Henry B., of Stephen- ville, Texas. Andrew Keyser was a man of worth and influence in Page county, Virginia, where common courtesy gave him the title of "Colonel." He was a Democrat and represented his constituents in the Virginia legislature before the war. He was successful in business, belonged to the slave-holding class and passed to final rest in 1876.

October 24, 1834, Peter B. Keyser was born, and in Page, his native county, he grew up. Until 1852, he was attached to his father's farm, but that year he took the steamship "Star of the West," at New York, and disembarked at Nica- ragua, where he crossed the isthmus and com- pleted the journey to San Francisco on the "Cor- tez." In Tuolumne county, California, he en- gaged in mining and followed the fortunes of a gold digger for sixteen years. He was one of a party of six who turned the Stanislaus river from its course and just as their work was com- pleted a flood swept away the results of two years' labor, returned the stream to its old chan- nel and lost the Captain and his comrades thot- sands of dollars in two hours' time. He did all kinds of mining and acquired interests in many different properties, some of which ultimately proved of much value, but beyond the value of his experience and the accumulation of that which provided him with a good home when he finally returned east he achieved little by his pro- longed stay on the Pacific coast.

Returning home in 1868, Captain Keyser took up farming in his native place, purchasing a plantation and conducting it till 1876, when he turned his face again toward the west, this time stopping in Cooper county, Missouri. There he remained until 1883, when he sought Texas and cast his lot with the county in which he now re- sides.

During the war there was much sympathy for the Southern states in California and the authori- ties at Richmond encouraged the formation of commands to strike a blow for the Southern

cause. Mr. Keyser joined one of these com- panies, was made its Captain and had a few skir- mishes with the Federal troops.

In the month of January, 1884, Captain Key- ser married, in Clay county, Texas, Miss Mary Cullers, a daughter of John R. Cullers, who pioneered to Texas from Cooper county, Mis- souri, but was originally from Virginia. Mrs. Keyser was born in Cooper county, Missouri, in 1865, and is the mother of Gussie, Lee, Harold and Edgar.

Those who have taken a hand in Jack county politics know Peter B. Keyser. When there has been anything ordered from headquarters he al- ways gets fresh news and when candidates begin their preliminary rounds they pitch camp near his farm. The man that he is for never fails to get before the people right and seldom fails to "land" at the counting of the votes. During the "wire-cutting" times Captain Keyser was a spe- cial object of attack of those who opposed the fencing in of the public domain. He was the first to string wire around any considerable pasture and his fence was not only slashed but his stock was attacked, his calves being killed and their carcasses left within plain view from his house. With rigid measures by the enforcers of the law these practices were broken up but not until seri- ous losses had been inflicted and some depreda- tors had met a deserved fate.

CHARLES W. HOBBS, whose name fig- ures conspicuously on the commercial records of San Angelo, where he is operating as a wool commission merchant and banker, was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, his parents being Edmond and Arabella (Lamby) Hobbs. The father was born in England, and when twelve years of age came to the United States, making his home for some time thereafter at Wheel- ing, West Virginia. He became a steamboat and steam engine builder on the Ohio river at that point and was connected with the con- struction of many of the old steamboats run- ning between Pittsburg and New Orleans. He died in the year 1902, and his wife, also a na- tive of England, has likewise passed away.

Charles W. Hobbs acquired his education in Wheeling, and came to Texas when only seven- teen years of age, arriving in this state in 1882. He turned his attention to the sheep industry in Tom Green county, where he has since made his home. The territory adjacent to San An- gelo has been for many years a sheep-raising district and Mr. Hobbs was quite successful in the business, which he carried on extensively in the range country west of San Angelo. Sev-

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

eral years ago he retired from the live stock business and has since been actively engaged as a wool commission merchant, especially active in financial operations with men engaged in the sheep industry, and he also makes loans, this constituting a large part of his business. He is a prominent representative. of financial affairs of this locality, being the vice president of the San Angelo National Bank. He is also the secretary and treasurer of the San Angelo Water and Electric Light Company, which furnishes water and electric light to the city of San Angelo. The waterworks system was es- tablished in 1884 and has since been greatly enlarged and improved.

Mr. Hobbs was married to Miss Minnie Sanderson, a daughter of the late B. R. Sander- son, one of the old-time settlers of Tom Green county, who came here from Wisconsin in the early days. They have two children, Edmond and Mary. Mr. Hobbs' residence is a beautiful structure of two stories, built in a modified style of the old mission of architecture which is so prevalent in southern California. He is indeed one of the prominent residents of the city and has so directed his business affairs with keen discernment and marked enterprise that he seems to have realized at any one point of his career the possibilities for successful ac- complishment at that point.

JOSEPH WOLF is the owner of a valuable farm of eight hundred acres, of which he has broken five hundred and sixty acres, placing it under a high state of cultivation. In the midst of his farm stands a commodious house and there are also good barns and outbuildings. He annually raises good crops, wheat, corn and other cereals, and there is fine stock upon his place. Mr. Wolf is regarded as one of the enterprising agriculturists of the community, practical in all that he does, his labors proving resultant factors in bringing him creditable suc- cess.

A native of Pike county, Illinois, he was born on the 21st of October, 1865, a son of J. C. and Eliza, (Eakin) Wolf. The mother was likewise a native of Illinois, but the father was born in Saxony, Germany, on the 6th of Sep- tember, 1828. ' He came of a prominent old Protestant family of that country. The pater- nal grandfather was an extensive miller, own- ing and operating several mills and was widely known and highly respected. Both he and his wife died in Germany.

Their son, John C. Wolf, was reared to the milling business and became a fine mechanic

in that line. He had two brothers, Henry and Charles, and other brothers and sisters, but he is the only one who came to America. In 1855 he crossed the Atlantic, bringing with him a small amount of money. Making his way into the interior he secured employment in a mill in Alton, Illinois, where he remained for a short time and afterward spent brief periods in different localities. Eventually he purchased a mill in Pike county, Illinois, that was operated by water power. This venture did not prove successful, however, and he lost all that he had invested. He then turned his attention to farming, following that pursuit throughout his remaining days, meeting with a fair measure of prosperity. He died November 13, 1901, respected by all who knew him. He was reared in the faith of the Lutheran church and was always one of its devoted followers. He was himself honest, truthful and worthy of all trust and he believed others to be the same. He was short in stature, stout in build with a strong and rugged constitution and of sturdy, thrifty habits. He commanded the re- spect of all who came in contact with him and his genuine worth was recognized by his many friends. His wife, who was born in Greene county, Illinois, January 24, 1833, survived him for only a few months, passing away in Febru- ary, 1902. Both died upon the old homestead in Pike county. Her father was Joseph Eakin, who was a native of Virginia, was of Scotch- Irish descent and was a wheelwright by trade. After following that pursuit for some years in early life he engaged in merchandising for a short time, but subsequently built a mill at Montezuma, Illinois, where he died. The mem- bers of his family were: R. S. Eakin, a me- chanic, who has filled various offices in his home locality ; Mrs. McEvers, Mrs. Eliza Wolf, Martha, who became Mrs. Thompson, and after losing her first husband married John Starrett. Unto John C. and Eliza (Eakin) Wolf were. born seven children: Henry, a farmer of Ne- braska, who is also a partner of his brother Joseph in the ownership of the farm in Clay county, Texas; Joseph E., of this review ; Anna, the wife of L. Bauer, of Illinois; Christian F., who is living on the old farm homestead in Pike county ; Charles L., a resident farmer of Clay county, Texas; Ellen, who is single and lives with Christian F. on the old homestead, and Martha, who died in childhood.

Joseph E. Wolf was reared in Pike county, Illinois, early becoming familiar with the duties and labors which fall to the lot of the agricul- turist, and his education was obtained in the

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common schools. He remained under the parental roof until twenty-four years of age and in 1890 he went to Nebraska with his brother, where he rented and operated a farm for four years. In 1894 he came to Texas, go- ing first to Wichita Falls, but soon afterward he purchased the tract of land upon which he now resides, comprising eight hundred acres. There were no improvements of any conse- quence upon it, but Mr. Wolf at once began its development. He was connected in his pur- chase with his brother, who returned to Ne- braska, where he yet resides, but Joseph Wolf remained here and at once began breaking the land. He has since placed five hundred and sixty acres under the plow and the fields re- turn good crops. He has also erected substan- tial buildings upon the place and he raises good grades of stock, having a number of Clyde horses and also a fine herd of cattle and good hogs. He has been quite successful in his work here. He inherited a small sum from his father's estate, but otherwise is entirely a self- made man and all that he owns and enjoys has been acquired through his earnest labor and perseverance.

Mrs. Dobbs is a member of the Christian church. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Dobbs were born ten children: William C., Mack F., Claud L., Conley H., S. J., Allen L., Mrs. Minnie Mc- Ninch, Mrs. Georgia Burson, Mrs. Eunice Wolf and Dee Clay.

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Wolf has been blessed with one son, Frank D., born April 17, 1903. In his political views Mr. Wolf is inde- pendent. He belongs to Wichita Lodge, I. O. O. F., but his chief attention is given to his farm and its development. He is widely and favorably known and his enterprise in business, his reliability in all trade transactions and his genuine personal worth have gained him many warm friends.

EDWARD C. WELLESLEY. For the past two years the active management of the ex- tensive interests of the Windthorst Cattle Com- pany devolved upon Edward C. Wellesley, the subject of this brief notice. Of English na- tionality and still a subject of the British king, he is in concord with American methods as they affect the important industry with which he is connected and with the American idea of progress in our everyday affairs. He is a representative of one of the oldest and purest of honored English families, and much of the glory and the military greatness of the Island Empire is due to the loyalty and genius of this ancient house.

On the 20th of April, 1902, Mr. Wolf was united in marriage to Miss Eunice Dobbs, who was born in Clay county, Texas, January 13, 1880, and has been a devoted wife and help- mate to him. She is a daughter of W. D. and Rhoda (Dockary) Dobbs, both of whom were natives of Alabama, but their marriage was Pembrokeshire, Wales, was the birthplace of Edward C. Wellesley and his natal day was September 7, 1876. Richard Wellesley, his grandfather, was a colonel in the British army and was killed in the war of the Crimea. He was a grandson of the Marquis Wellesley, a brother of the "Iron Duke" of Wellington, who was governor general of India in the eighteenth century. The family was originally from Ire- land and is related by marriage to the Colleys, Sir Richard and the rest. celebrated in Fannin county, Texas. Her grandfather, David Dobbs, was also a resident of Alabama and a Baptist minister through life. His sons, William D., Jonas and Jabez, served as soldiers in the Confederate army. William David Dobbs enlisted in the army from Texas in 1861 in the First Battalion, Texas Sharpshooters, Company B, Maxey's Brigade, and served east of the Mississippi river. Later David Dobbs removed to Arkansas, where his last days were passed. In his family were eight For many years his son and the father of our subject, Courtenay E. Wellesley, was connected with important business concerns of the United States, and only in the past two years has he severed his active connection therewith and re- turned to Old England to enjoy a quiet home life. The latter was born in Hampton Court pal- ace, near London, some fifty-eight years ago and the county of Surrey now claims him as her own. He was educated in Wellington College and at Heidelburg, Germany, and sought the United States first in 1873, when he located in Colorado Springs and engaged in the real estate children: William D., Isom, Jonas, John and Jabez, Mrs. Mary Payne, Jennie and Kate. Both William D. and Isom served with the Confederate army in the Civil war. W. D. Dobbs removed to Arkansas with his father and later went to Fannin county, Texas, where he was married. He there followed farming for a time and in 1880 came to Clay county, Texas. He now owns and operates a farm in Oklahoma. He is an honest, upright man and a stanch advocate of the Populist party. He married Miss Dockery, whose father was a farmer of Fannin county, but is now deceased. business. Losing his wife soon after his ad-

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vent to this country and being cast companion- less again upon the world, he wandered briefly upon the earth and visited South American countries, bringing up again in the United States, where, in 1883, he helped organize and became manager of the Texas Land and Mort- gage Company, chartered to transact business in Dallas, Texas. For twenty years his was the voice which controlled the destiny of this important investment concern and in 1903 he severed his connection with it only that he might return to his family and live a more quiet life.

Courtenay E. Wellesley first married Cather- ine Carrow, a daughter of Richard Carrow, of Johnston Hall, Pembrokeshire, Wales. His wife represented a very ancient Welch family, dating back to the sixteenth century. She died in Colorado Springs in 1879, the mother of a son, our subject, and a daughter, now in Eng- land. By his union with Nora Rowena Scovell Mr. Wellesley has two other children, Rich- ard and Winnifred A., inmates of their parental home.

At two years of age Edward C. Wellesley was taken back to England, orphaned by the death of his mother. He had been in the United States then two years and his English playground was in Cheshire. Charter House school and the Colonial College provided his mental training, the latter an agricultural and mechanical college. At the age of twenty years he finished his course and the following autumn left England for the United States to identify himself with the cattle industry of our country. He reached Texas in October, 1897, and as a partner with Richard Carrow began his career as a ranchman on the Texas plains. The Windthorst ranch was once a part of the Ikard ranch, was fenced by the Ikards and contains now fifty-five thousand acres of land, lying on both sides of the Clay-Archer county line. With this property Mr. Wellesley was associated for the past seven years and in 1903 his selection as manager of its large interests marked the confidence which he has inspired. Clark and Plumb acquired the ownership of the ranch following the Ikards and now it is the property of Henry J. Scott, K. C., of Toronto, Canada. Mr. Wellesley held a half interest in the cattle of the ranch and twenty-five hundred head of three and four year old steers consti- tute its stock. The ranch is one of the best fattening pastures in Texas and from one thou- sand to two thousand steers are turned to mar- ket annually from its grassy sward. From June to November the ranch is a busy place, when

"rounding-up," branding and shipping are car- ried on. Mr. Wellesley, however, recently sold his interests at Windthorst and moved to San Diego, Duval county, Texas.

In American enterprise and American thrift the interest of Mr. Wellesley never flags. In his bachelor den he is surrounded by his library, his magazines and his dailies, and any import- ant thing, industrial or political, catches his wary eye. He has become almost a real west- erner and the frankness and openness in deal- ing which characterizes the typical man of the west finds a responsive chord in his makeup.

BAYLUS CLAYTON ALLGOOD. Sep- tember 6, 1843, Baylus C. Allgood was born in Blount county, Alabama. DeForest Allgood, his father, was born in Pickens county, South Carolina, in 1819, and died in Blount county, Alabama, where he migrated soon after his marriage. The latter was prominent in his lo- cality in which he passed his long life, for he was a Baptist preacher and was engaged in ministerial work for sixty-three years. He brought up his children in the country upon his modest farm and gave them such educa- tional advantages as were accessible to people of limited means. He was a son of an English- man, Barnett Allgood, who married and died in South Carolina. He owned slave labor and worked it upon his plantation, and for his wife he chose a Miss Dean. Their issue consisted of sons and daughters as follows: Bannister, De- Forest, Alvin, Jennie, who married Ellis Mur- phy ; Nancy, wife of Jerry Ellis ; Fannie became the wife of George Miller and Patsy married Stephen Ellis. Rev. Allgood married Temper- ance, a daughter of Stephen Clayton, of Pickens county, South Carolina. Death car- ried away this wife in 1843, and in time he mar- ried Arena Tidwell. The issue of his first mar- riage was: Miles, who died in the Confederate army, leaving a family in Alabama ; Rev. S. C., of Blount county, Alabama, and now county treasurer; Elvira, who died as Mrs. Cassandra Moody; Barnett, a physician of Chepultepec, Alabama, and Baylus C., of this review. By his second wife Rev. Allgood's children were: Francis, deceased; Jane, wife of James Burn- ham, of Blount county ; John B., of Abilene, Texas, and Rufus A., of Birmingham, Alabama.

The farm, as above indicated, felt the impress of Baylus C. Allgood's infantile hand and his father's home was his until his entry into the service of the Confederacy in 1861. He joined Company K, Nineteenth Alabama, and be- longed to Wheeler's Infantry, Army of the

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Tennessee. In the fight at Shiloh he was serious- ly wounded in the thigh and after his recovery he was wounded in the left leg in the engage- ment at Chickamauga, retiring him again from the ranks for some time. He was with his com- mand, however, when the war ended and was at Jackson, Mississippi, when the breakup finally came. The first thing to claim Mr. All- good after the war was a ten months' term in school, after which he taught two years himself. He then took up farming, beginning modestly, as was necessary by the character of his layout and the exigencies of the situation, and he continued this vocation in his native heath until 1869 when he gathered together his few effects and immigrated to Texas.

Coming to the Lone Star state he stopped in Bosque county and passed eight years near the Hamilton and Bosque line. He took a pre- emption then in the former county and was occupied with its improvement and cultivation, when he exchanged it for a Wise county tract,. the nucleus of his present extensive agricul- tural estate. Stock-raising and farming have proven profitable to him and from time to time his domain has suffered expansion, other lands, being acquired by purchase and added until a thousand acres, with nearly three hundred un- der plow, tell the story briefly of the effects of his Texas toil. Horse and mule raising has added its material portion to his gradually in -. creasing wealth and an ever-wise management of finances has placed him upon an independent plane today.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 66

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