A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 80

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 80

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

mained in business until 1808, when he settled in Wilkinson county, Mississippi, near Cold Springs. There he established the home in which his son and grandson were born. In 1800 he married Miss Mary Dorman, and to them were born fourteen children, of whom William D. White was the third son and fifth child. Again Andrew White rendered military aid, becoming a member of Jackson's famous Silver Grays, with which he participated in the battle of New Orleans in 1815. Two of his sons served in the Texas war for Independence in 1836 and three of his grandsons were sol- diers of the Confederate army in the Civil war, so that the family has made a splendid record for bravery upon the field of battle. Andrew White carried twenty-one scars, some of which were received on the battle-field, while others were caused by the attacks of wild beasts, for he was a great hunter in his day. He was a man of commanding presence, being over six feet in height, and was a notable figure in the history of several states, while his life record if written in detail would furnish many a thrill- ing chaper showing that "truth is stranger than fiction." The mother of our subject was born in Scotland and died at the old home in Mississippi in 1870.

James M. White, one of a family of twelve children, acquired the greater part of his learn- ing while sitting on the floor reading by the light of a pine-torch. At the age of thirteen years he entered the printing office of his brother-in-law at Woodville and learned the printer's trade. In 1884 he came to the west and until recent years has been engaged in journalistic work, having been a newspaper publisher in the Indian Territory, Texas, Ari- zona, California and New Mexico. Most of this time he has been on the frontier and he has had many of the exciting adventures which have attended newspaper publication in a new country. For a time he was in the federal serv- ice in the Indian Territory, being posseman to a United States deputy marshal in the Choctaw Nation. It was Mr. White who made the famous capture of the noted "witch killer," Solomon Hotena. It was also Mr. White who served the famous writ of habeas corpus just previous to the execution of the murderer, Goings, at Alikchi in the Choctaw Nation, July 13, 1899, Goings being the last man to be exe- cuted under the Choctaw Indian law. His condemnation whereby he was to be executed by the Choctaw Indian court was held to be il- legal by the federal court at Antlers and the

habeas corpus issued by the federal court and directed to the Indian sheriff of Eagle county was served by Mr. White, but without effect, as the prisoner was shot according to the rul- ings of the Indian tribunal.

About three years ago Mr. White returned to El Paso to locate permanently. He had pre- viously spent several years here, during which time he was connected with the El Paso Times. During his residence in Texas he also worked for the old Dallas Herald and at one time was one of the proprietors of the Mexia Ledger. He did a beneficient piece of jour- nalistic work while publisher of a paper at Cad- do, Indian Territory, for through the agency of the paper he broke up and ran out of town a very undesirable hoodlum population that was largely controlling affairs there in 1897. Mr. White is now engaged as employment agent in El Paso and has other interests here. The days of chivalry and knighthood in Europe cannot furnish more interesting or romantic tales than our own western history. Into the wild mountain fastnesses and upon the great plains of the unexplored west went brave men whose courage was often called forth in en- counters with the hostile Indians. The land was rich in all natural resources and awaited the demands of the white race to yield up its treasures, but there were many difficulties to be met, far from the confines of civilization, and the Indians also resented the encroach- ment of the pale faces upon their hunting grounds. The establishment of homes in the beautiful southwest region therefore meant hardships and oftentimes death, but brave men undertook the task of reclaiming the district for the purposes of civilization and today Western Texas has become a thickly settled district improved with all the business inter- ests and enterprises known to older sections of the country. No story of fiction contains more exciting chapters than may be found in the life record of Mr. White but space forbids an extended account here.

JAMES CHESTER GANN. The lapse of time and the spending of much energy has ac- complished a revolution in the affairs of James C. Gann within the past twenty-five years. Since the year 1881 his efforts as a farmer have brought him from a position of semi-mendi- cancy to one of absolute independence and it is as a tiller of the Wise county soil that these results have been attained. Industrious and thrifty as a citizen, a sincere and earnest man

MARION GREEN AND FAMILY

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

with Christian thought and practice, his life and achievements are as a shaft indicating the way to those seeking guidance in the future.

When Mr. Gann drove into Wise county it was with a pony team and wagon, laden with his few household effects and his family, and about two hundred dollars in cash stood be- tween himself and real necessity. He made a payment on the one hundred acres of land he bought in the woods north of Chico and housed his family in the wagon-box while he was getting his cabin ready for their reception. His pio- neer cottage was twelve by fourteen feet with a side room, and built of logs, and it served him, with occasional attempts at repair, until 1893, when the commodious and attractive resi- dence of today was erected and its worthy occupants permanently installed.

Clearing the timber and brush was the first act which led to the opening of a field and the annual planting and sprouting and "stumping" took place until only a spot of forest is here and there visible where once was nature's wil- derness of wood. Although cotton and corn raising has brought him a substantial surplus from year to year, not all of his energy has been saved, for misfortune has occasionally knocked at his door at the sacrifice of a horse or a cow or a swine until hundreds of dollars have probably been thus lost. His surplus prosperity he has invested in additions to his farm and now four hundred and twenty-five acres are listed to him for taxes instead of the hundred acre homestead as of old.

Cooke county gave James C. Gann as a por- tion of her quota to Wise county's settlement. About twenty miles northeast of Gainesville his parents settled in January, 1870, emigrating from Cherokee county, where our subject was born on the 15th of March, 1859. His father, Sampson M. Gann, was born in Washington county, Tennessee, August II, 1825, and, in 1853, brought his family westward to the Lone Star state and, for a time, resided in Harrison county, then moved to Cherokee and finally to Cooke county. He made a success of his efforts as a farmer, made a good property and divided the bulk of it among his children while he yet lived. During the Civil war he was in the employ of the Confederacy as a hatter, hav- having a shop on his farm and selling the prod- uct of his shop to the government as head- gear for the southern soldier. In politics he maintained himself a Democrat, served as a justice of the peace in Cherokee county, and is passing his years of rapid decline near the scenes of his late vigorous life.

Sampson M. Gann was a son of Marion Gann, a soldier of the Revolutionary war, a farmer and a man who reared a large family of children by two successive marriages. Many of his children came to Texas and their de- scendants are scattered about over many coun- ties of the state today. Mary A. Good became the wife of S. M. Gann. Her people were old Tennesseeans and her father was Manuel Good. The Ganns were Scotch-Irish in origin while the Goods claim the Dutch blood. In 1895 Mrs. Gann died at seventy years of age, having been the mother of: Margaret P., who married W. H. Rogers and died in Wise coun- ty; Sarah J., who married J. S. Wallace and died near Dexter; Mary M., deceased wife of A. J. Odom, of Indian Territory ; Melissa C., wife of J. M. Conaway, died in Wise county ; Nathan M., of Cooke county ; Susan M., wife of J. S. Wallace, of Wise county; Rachel T., wife of Bud West, of Indian Territory; James C., of this notice ; Phebe A., wife of J. W. Stad- ler, of Troop, Texas; Emma C., who married F. P. Blair, of Cooke county and Rebecca. wife of J. M. Conaway, of Cooke county, Texas.

James C. Gann came to maturity largely on the frontier and he joined it again when he took up his residence in Wise county. His educa- tion was obtained from the country districts and he made his parents' home his own until his marriage, September 15, 1881. His wife was Susan E. Coats, a daughter of Needham Coats, who came to Texas from Tennessee be- fore the Civil war. Mr. Coats married Miss M. A. Speer of Smith county, and Mrs. Gann was born in Smith county, Texas, September 26, 1858. She and her husband have children : Datus, Lonzo, Bulah A., George and Ola M.

While Mr. Gann has been passing an active and useful life he has not devoted any time to politics but has encouraged and promoted a higher moral sentiment and fostered Chris- tian and pious sentiments in his household. He is strongly favorable to national prohibi- tion and believes in the doctrine of the Mission- ary Baptists as promulgated by their organic law.

MARION GREEN. Fortune has ever fa- vored those who put forth systematic and per- sistent effort in whatever field of legitimate en- deavor and the farmer, as the man of com- merce, who navigates a craft with a safe rud- der and a strong sail weathers every gale and "brings to" with his cargo unimpaired. Figura- tive though this declaration is, it applies with

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

force to the gentleman in the introduction of this review, whose steady growth and final reaching of the goal of substantial success has followed in the footsteps of those who have blazed the trees and exposed the landmarks along the highway of victory. Marion Green has never ceased to labor and although wealth has not amassed itself on his hands lavishly his constant digging in the soil has placed him in view of the "home stake" marking the end of the course of his race with fate.

Although a citizen of Texas for the past thirty-one years Mr. Green has added his pres- ence to the rural community of Wise county only since the year 1890 and in these fifteen years has his financial victory been chiefly won. He turned the soil of Grayson, Hunt and Pan- ola counties, respectively, prior to his advent to Wise and it was in the last named county that he first established himself when received as a citizen by the Lone Star state. He left his native county of Conecuh, in Alabama, at twenty years of age, and farmed a year each in Choctaw counties, Alabama and Mississippi. He had obtained no education worth the name, and a body filled with industry was all the capital he possessed. When nothing better offered he sold it in the labor markets and used its earnings toward placing himself where he could, eventually, maintain himself as an inde- pendent farmer. In addition to the counties above named he also passed a few years in Col- lin and Denton, subsequent to his marriage, and it was from the latter county that he crossed the line into Wise.

The nucleus of his present farm embraced ninety acres of the Margaret Swift survey, but his two hundred and forty acre tract was com- pleted by additions from the Anderson and Moore surveys. With it all under fence and in culti- vation he is among the large farmers of his locality. His improvements are modern and permanent and his premises attractive and few homes offer greater satisfaction and content- ment to their owner than his.

Marion Green was born July 12, 1852, and was a son of Christopher C. W. Green, a farmer and a native of the same county and state. His father was born in 1818 and died where he had lived, in 1885. He was a son of John Green who was born in South Carolina, migrated to Geor- gia in early life and finally settled in Conecuh county, Alabama, where he passed away about 1882. The family is a distinguished one of colonial times and some of its sons fought in the patriotic armies of the American Revolu- tion. Christopher Columbus W. Green, great-

grandfather of our subject was one of these and he was under General Nathaniel Green, a relative and the hero of the battle of Guilford Court House and of a masterly retreat through Virginia during that war.

John Green married Jane Jones and was the father of seven sons and as many daughters. He accompanied his patriot father from South Carolina to Macon, Georgia, near which place the old Virginian lies buried. Christopher C. W. Green, one of his sons, married Frances Watson, a daughter of George Watson, who, with five brothers, was an Indian fighter of the early days and all but two of whom were slain by the red man's hand. The issue of this mar- riage were: Thomas L., who was killed in the Seven Days' fight in the Civil War; Alexander H., of Pensacola, Florida; Narcissa, Susana and George, who passed away unmarried; Marion, of this sketch; John C., of Florida ; Elizabeth, deceased, single, the youngest of the list. Mrs. Green died in 1871 and her husband took a second wife, nee Jane Rhoades, who bore him several children, now young men and women in Alabama.

C. C. W. Green, Jr., was a farmer in comfort- able circumstances and a citizen of standing in his county. He was reared a Democrat and believed in the justice of the cause of secession and filled a place in the ranks of the Home Guard during the Confederate war.

Marion Green was a single man when he reached Grayson county, but November, 1876, he married there, Margaret, a daughter of Charles Reddell, a native of the state of Arkan- sas. Of the issue of this union, Frank married Lue Morgan and resides in Denton county ; C. W. married Eva McNeal, and owns a farm joining his parents'; William A. still abides with his parents; Fannie was the wife of W. L. Wright and died in October, 1905, and Ida P. married Ellis Smith ; Thomas, Lillie A., Robert, Monroe, George Homer and Grady Cordell comprise the Rooseveltian family. Mr. Green is a Methodist and his wife a Baptist. Dem- ocracy is the political watchword of the whole family.

JAMES B. DUNN. A striking example of what industry, coupled with a tenacious ad- herence to well-laid plans and possession of acute business foresight, will accomplish when applied to agriculture and the general activities of the farm is seen in the brief life record of James B. Dunn, the subject of this notice. Few men have undertaken the battle for finan- cial independence with less capital or with

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

poorer prospects of success, and yet he actually ·carved out his own opportunities and turned them to his advantage so naturally and so com- pletely as to place him among the substantial men of his municipality. In the comparatively short space of twenty years has he accom- plished a task to which many men devote a whole lifetime, and are still far short of his material and substantial success.

In Pittslyvania county, Virginia, James B. Dunn was born July 21, 1865. His father, Thomas H. Dunn, passed his life in Virginia and North Carolina as a farmer and died in 1901 at the age of seventy-seven years. He was taken prisoner by the Federals while serving in the Con- federate army and was held at Point Lookout, Virginia. He was a plain citizen with an eyel. and rather uneventful life and was devoted to his family and to his farm. He was born in Henry county, Virginia, and was married there to Fannie M. Crogan, a daughter of Rob- ert Crogan, of North Carolina, where his wid- ow still resides. The eight children of their union are: Addie, Rena, Jesse, Thomas, James B., John, Allen and Ruth. All make their home under the parental roof, save John, who is de- ceased, and James B. of this review.

The educational opportunities of James B. Dunn were such as the country school afford- ed, many times having four miles to walk to at- tend school. He attended spasmodically until near his majority when he left home and sought a place in the world of affairs in Clay county, Texas. He came out by rail with all his be- longings in a small grip-sack, so to speak, and found employment on a farm. He landed in Texas in 1887 and the next year he bought the Red river ferry boat of Robert P. Grogan on easy terms and took immediate charge. He had a contract with the government and with the stage line which yielded him fifteen dol- lars a month whether he crossed the river or not, and the transfer business during high water times netted him a fair compensation for his labors. His government and stage contracts terminated in March, 1893, when the Rock Island built through the territory, and he sold the ferry soon after this event. As he made money he bought cattle and later land. His first land cost him seven dollars an acre for three hundred and twenty acres. He next bought two hundred and sixty-five acres at $6.25 and $10.00 an acre; and three hundred and twenty acres more, where he makes his home, at $14.25 an acre. Later he bought two hundred and sixteen acres from Byers Bros. at $21.00 an acre, and then two hundred acres ad-

joining his first land on Red river, at $32.50 per acre, in all making 1,422 acres of rich and fertile prairie, some of it the choicest on Red river. He farms himself about two hundred and forty acres to grain and cotton and keeps a small amount of stock about him-from seventy-five to one hun- dred and twenty-five head of cattle-all the time.

January 12, 1893, Mr. Dunn married Dora Zigler, a daughter of Samuel and Maggie (Al- len) Zigler, of North Carolina. Of the Zigler children Samuel V. and E. May, wife of Lee Lauten, live near the old home and mother, while Mrs. Dunn is between them in age and concludes the family. Mr. Zigler died April 20, 1891. Mr. and Mrs. Dunn's children are : Bethel; Addie May; Maggie Lee; Thomas Clay ; John Zigler, and Jesse Allen.

In politics Mr. Dunn holds allegiance to the time-worn principles of Democracy, and while he seldom fails to cast his vote, he works poli- tics from no mercenary standpoint and desires no opportunity to enter official life. As a citi- zen his achievements show him to be progres- sive and his popularity at home shows him to be a good neighbor and a firm friend.

WILLIAM G. NEWBY. As president of the American National Bank at Fort Worth Mr. Newby is a member of that coterie of men who both guard and guide the financial current of North Texas. The banks of Fort Worth are remarkably prosperous, their clear- ings have shown an almost phenomenal growth within the last few years, and their stability reflects the substantial prosperity of the coun- try from which they receive their streams of golden wealth.

The president of the American National was born in St. Charles, Missouri, March 11, 1859, a son of John H. and Mary A. (Broadhead) Newby, natives of Virginia but married in Missouri. His father was a tobacco manufac- turer in St. Charles many years, in 1871 came to Texas and engaged in the mercantile busi- ness in Bowie county, three years later became a farmer in Parker county, and, finally retiring in 1887, moved to Fort Worth, where his death occurred the same year. His wife died in 1890. Of their six children two. live: Dr. James B. Newby, of St. Louis, Missouri; and W. G.

In St. Charles College at his birthplace, Mr. Newby received his education, and, coming to Texas in 1873, two years after the arrival of his father, was at once introduced to the typical Texas industry of ranching as an em- ploye of the late C. L. Carter on his noted ranch in Young county. Eighteen months lat-

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er he entered the employ of the Joseph H. Brown wholesale grocery house, the pioneer wholesale business of Fort Worth and in its day the most extensive concern of its kind in North Texas. Mr. Newby was identified with this institution, in various capacities, for six- teen years, and his withdrawal from it was in- duced by his entrance into banking. From 1890 he was cashier of the Traders National Bank of Fort Worth, and passed from that position into the presidency of the American National Bank, where he has since served.

December 14, 1883, Mr. Newby married, in Fort Worth, Miss Etta O. Price, who was born in Mississippi, a daughter of W. S. and M. S. Price. Fraternally Mr. Newby is a mem- ber of the various Masonic bodies, and has filled all the offices in the commandery.

OSWALD WILSON. There is no citizen of Texas who deserves greater credit for what he has done for agricultural development and progress of the commonwealth than Oswald Wilson, who is now secretary of the National Cotton Association and statistical agent for the agricultural department at Washington with headquarters at Fort Worth. His life has been devoted largely to benefiting the agri- cultural classes of the state and often at a personal sacrifice. He has labored untiringly and persistently to bring before the people a knowledge of methods and of measures that would contribute to the welfare or promote the farming interests of this great section of the country. He has studied along practical and scientific lines and has perhaps broader knowledge of the needs and possibilities of Texas for agricultural development than any other one man.

Mr. Wilson was born at Grooversville, Brooks county, Georgia, October 27, 1860, his parents being Dr. A. H. and Sallie (Groover) Wilson. In 1865 the father with his family came to Texas and cast in his lot with the early settlers of Bryan, Brazos county. He was a native of Kentucky and was a physician by profession. In 1870 he returned to Georgia with his family where he lived for two years, remainnig part of the time in Savannah and a part of the time at the old family homestead in that state, but in 1873 he again came to Texas and later es- tablished his home in Dallas, where he em- barked in the drug business, conducting his store in addition to practicing his profession. His wife was also a native of Georgia and both died in Texas.

Mr. Wilson acquired his education at Bryan

and in one of the well-known preparatory schools at Savannah, Georgia. When not yet sixteen years of age he began teaching, holding sway over a little school that convened in a log cabin in Coryell county, Texas, his salary being twelve dollars per month. He afterward be- came connected with his father in the drug business in Texas. On the 23rd of July, 1884, he was united in marriage to Miss S. Eva Glascock of Hays county, Texas, a young lady whom he had met in Austin. Subsequent to his marriage he became connected with the Southwestern Telegraph & Telephone Com- pany, and helped to obtain for that corporation a concession from the Mexican government to build a telephone line across the Rio Grande river into Mexican territory. When this was accomplished Mr. Wilson built the telephone exchange at Brownsville and the southern ex- tremity of Texas, it being the first telephone line into that country. Later he located in Lampasas county, where his energies were de- voted to agricultural pursuits and school teach- ing.

The greater part of his life, however, since he has attained manhood has been devoted to the work of promoting and organizing associations for the advancement of agriculture in the south, rendering distinguished service in that line. While he was teaching school in Parker county in 1879 the first Farmers' Alliance in the state was organized there on the 29th of July by Mr. Wilson's associate in school work, W. T. Baggett. He became prominent in Texas in organizing farmers' alliances and in May, 18874 he went to Georgia for the same purpose and subsequently extended his efforts into Florida. In October, 1887 he organized and was elected the first presi- dent and manager of the Florida State Farmers' Alliance with headquarters at Jacksonville. In February, 1888, he returned temporarily to Texas and in connection with C. W. MacCune he for- mulated the plans whereby the National Farmers' Alliance Exchange was organized but in March of the same year he returned to Florida, remain- ing at Jacksonville until January, 1890, actively engaged in the discharge of his duties as presi- dent of the State Farmers' Alliance there. In the last mentioned year, however, he went to New York City to take charge of the business affairs of the National Alliance. On the occasion of his leaving Jacksonville he was presented with a gold headed cane by the employes in his office there and again in January, 1891, on the occasion of his retirement from the presidency of the Florida State Alliance, he was presented with a gold

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 80

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