A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 82

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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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

sippi, he was born in Smith county July 9, very successfully for some years. He moved into Fort Worth in 1878 and for a time con- ducted a wagon yard. Those were busy days for Fort Worth, which was then growing with phenomenal rapidity and gaining the numbers and the wealth of resources which are now its chief pride. In the cotton picking season Mr. Rea has seen the streets crowded day after day with wagons loaded with cotton brought from many miles around to this market.

Mr. Rea was married in Tarrant county, in 18-, to Miss Laura Blue. They have four children : Mrs. Rhoda E. Hill, Mrs. Ida Rogers, Mrs. Caroline Jackson and Mrs. Easter Wells.

JUDGE C. H. EARNEST, who has left and is leaving the impress of his individuality upon the judicial history of western Texas and has gained special distinction as a land lawyer in Mitchell county, was born in San Marcos, Texas, on the 9th of April, 1859, and in the paternal line comes of German ancestry. His grandfather was a resident of northern Ala- bama and one of his sons, William Earnest, was born in that state in 1822. When a mere boy he went to Tennessee to live with his uncle, as he was left an orphan by the death of his parents and until 1852 he continued a resident of Tennessee, after which he came to Texas, settling in San Marcos. He was one of the first merchants of that place, handling a general stock of goods and continuing in busi- ness there for about fifteen or sixteen years, subsequent to which time his eldest son, J. W. Earnest. became his successor. Mr. Earnest, the father, continued to make his home in San Marcos until 1871, when he removed to Aus- tin, where he is now living at the venerable age of eighty-three years, while his wife has attained the age of eighty-one years. His mar- riage occurred while he was living in Ten- nessee when about twenty years of age, the lady of his choice being Miss Martha Wil- liamson, who was born in that state and was of Scotch Irish descent. Her father and mother came to Texas about the same time the Earn- est family did. They settled in the San Mar- cos country, where her parents lived to a good okl age, their home being at Purgatory Springs, about twelve miles from San Marcos. In the family of William Earnest there were twelve children, eight sons and four daughters. Of this number four have passed away, while the remainder are residing in Texas, the family record being as follows: Fannie, deceased ;

Jo W., who is residing in San Marcos; A. Reams, who is living in Colorado, Texas ; James M., of Austin, this state; A. Clay, who makes his home in San Antonio, Texas; Rob- ert, deceased; Tennie, the wife of R. P. Wright, of Austin ; Charles H., of this review ; Emma and Henry, both deceased; David C., who is living in Dallas; and Walter L., who resides at Austin.

Charles Houston Earnest acquired his early education in San Marcos and in 1871 upon his father's removal to Austin he entered the Texas Military Institute conducted by John G. James and was graduated from that school in 1877 with first honors in his class. Later he was engaged as a sub teacher in that school for about one term and afterward taught in a German American school conducted by Pro- fessor Jacob Bickler at Austin. In the year 1879 he went away to school, pursuing one course in the law department of Vanderbilt University at Nashville, Tennessee, in the ses- sion of 1879 and 1880. He afterward obtained a license to practice in the courts of Ten- nessee, which was also recognized by the court of Texas, and he was admitted to practice here. He first located in Austin for a few months but afterward removed to Runnels, the county seat of Runnels county, which had just been organized. There he opened an office in the spring of 1881 in connection with A. G. Wills in the land business, which partnership con- tinued for two years. He then returned to , Austin and spent about a year there and in March, 1884, came to Colorado, where he en- tered into partnership with Judge J. L. Shep- herd in the land business, in connection with which Mr. Earnest also practiced law. This partnership was continued until January I, 1901, and was attended with a gratifying measure of success.

In 1890 Mr. Earnest was elected county judge of Mitchell county and served for one term of two years, after which he declined to be a candidate for re-election. Since the ter- mination of his partnership with Judge Shep- herd he has been alone in the practice of law and in real estate dealing. His practice is largely along the line of land litigation and thus his entire work is largely in connection with realty operations. The lands which he has in charge are both improved and unim- proved and lie in Mitchell and adjacent coun- ties. He is also agent for the Texas & Pacific Railroad lands in this section of the country. Judge Earnest is a highly educated man and in

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

the course of his long residence in this country and in association with its public and business interests he has had splendid opportunity for the development of his best faculties and tal- . ents. A gentleman of pleasing address and a fine conversationalist, his words always elicit attention and interest. He has a remarkably keen insight into the current affairs of the day. In the road that he has traveled he has met many disappointments and also many victories and at length he has reached the goal of pros- perity, not through any fortunate combina- tion of circumstances but because of his sin- cere and laudable ambition and straightfor- ward course. He has consecrated all of his energies to one purpose and he now enjoys the reputation of being one of the most successful and capable land lawyers in Mitchell county.

Judge Earnest was united in marriage May 25, 1886, to Miss Fannie Craig, a native of Pennsylvania, who resided in Lynchburg, Vir- ginia, prior to her arrival in Colorado, Texas, where she resided at the time of her marriage. They now have two sons and three daughters : Charles Reams, Martha Agnes, Jeannette, Mable and Jo. Judge Earnest is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, being affiliated with the lodge at Abilene, 'Texas. In a life of intense and well directed activity he has gained an honored name and stands to-day as one of the representative men of western Texas, who has ever been the champion of progress, reform, improvement and substantial development.

HON. W. B. CROCKETT, judge of the county court of Mitchell county, occupies a posi- tion of distinction as a representative of the bar of western Texas. He has been engaged active- ly in practice since September, 1888, and with a laudable ambition to attain success and promi- nence he has made a close study of the principles of jurisprudence, resulting in a ready mastery of the points in litigation that have come before him. He makes his home in Colorado, where he is esteemed as a citizen as well as a member of the bar, his personal char- acteristics endearing him to a large circle of friends.

In tracing back the ancestry of the Crockett family it is generally supposed that there were originally four brothers of the name who came to this country from Ireland and were progeni- tors of the various branches of Crocketts now found in the United States. Judge Crockett is a fourth cousin of David Crockett, the noted

scout and Indian fighter, whose experiences and discoveries in the west did so much to open up this great region for the purposes of civilization. His paternal grandfather, Samuel Crockett, re- moved from Tennessee to Marshall county, Mis- sissippi, in 1836, and settled on a farm near Holly Springs, where he lived and died. He was a slave owner and planter prior to the Civil war, and was a well known and influential resi- dent of his community. He died in 1878, dur- ing the yellow fever epidemic in Holly Springs, at the age of seventy-nine years. In his family were five sons and five daughters: William Samuel, Henderson, Nathaniel, Columbus, Sally, Nancy, Mary, Martha and Betsey. All were married and reared families, except Martha and Samuel.

William Henderson Barnett Crockett, father of Judge Crockett, was born in Tennessee and went to Mississippi with his parents in 1836. ever afterward making his home in that state. He was a planter and successfully managed his agricultural interests. He died at Forest City, Arkansas, in 1874, while on his way to Texas. He had been an interested student of Texas his- tory, its progress and development and for many years had desired to come to this state. Finally he made arrangements to visit Texas, but death claimed him ere he reached his destination. He married Sally Elizabeth Newsom, who at the time of their marriage was a resident of Missis- sippi. She died in 1890 near Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, where several of her brothers and some of her own children were living. She was the mother of fifteen children, and five of her sons still survive. One daughter lived to be grown, but has since passed away. The sons are : Thaddeus, Lafayette, Samuel Edwin John- son and Robert Sterling Lee, twins. Of this. number, Thad, Lee and Edwin are residents of Arkansas and the others of Texas.

William Barnett Crockett was born in what was then Green county, but is now Craighead county, Arkansas, January 29, 1855, and when a year old was taken to Mississippi, where he was reared to manhood. His early education was obtained in the country schools, but his op- portunities for intellectual development were somewhat limited prior to his twentieth year. He then asked his time of his father, saying that if he could obtain it he wuold educate himself. The first year he earned some money and then with what he had saved paid his expenses while attending a country school for three or four months. Later he worked as a farm hand in the vicinity of his old home, and as soon as he saved money enough matriculated as a student in a:

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

Methodist school in Montezuma, Tennessee, where he spent one term. He then obtained a license to teach and entered upon the active work of the profession, which he followed for a term or two and in this way earned the funds that enabled him to continue his own education in the Arkansas Industrial University at Fayette- ville. He had spent five or six months in that institution when he became ill and was forced to return home. Later he again engaged in teach- ing and pursued a course of study in T. A. Led- din's business college at Memphis, Mississippi. He did not quite complete the course there but later at Iuka, Mississippi, finished a course and received his diploma. This was a normal school and he took the normal course in teaching in addition to completing his course in bookkeep- ing. Subsequently he had charge of the village school at Haynes, Arkansas, for three years and during the summer he attended the National Normal University of Lebanon, Ohio, where he pursued a scientific course. Before entering that school he had done special work in rhetoric, letter writing, drawing, penmanship, debating, phonics and diacritics. His object in pursuing the course at Lebanon was to prepare himself for the teacher's profession, but a death in the family interferred with his plans and he returned south

About that time Judge Crockett entered the law office of Judge R. S. Stith of Holly Springs, Mississippi, and was admitted to the bar in Sep- tember, 1888, at that place. He practiced with his preceptor for about a year and was then ap- pointed deputy clerk of the chancery court of Marshall county, Mississippi, retaining the posi- tion until the first of January, 1892, when he re- signed to come to Texas on account of his health, arriving on the 29th of April, 1892, in Mitchell county, where he has since remained in the active practice of law. He was elected county attorney soon after coming here and held the position for four years. Later he was chosen county judge and has served upon the bench for five years. He is also ex-officio county superin- tendent of schools in Mitchell county by reason of his judgeship. His practice is now confined to the district and higher courts of the state. He has a keen analytical mind, is logical in his de- ductions, strong in his reasoning and seldom, if ever, at fault in the matter of the application of a legal principle to a point at issue and his course on the bench is in harmony with his rec- ord as a man and lawyer, being distinguished by unswerving fidelity and a masterful grasp of every problem that is presented to him for solu- tion.

In 1882 Judge .Crockett was married to Miss Penelope Branch, who resided near Holly Springs, Mississippi. They have no children of their own but are rearing and educating a nephew and niece of Mr. Crockett and the chil- dren of his brother Edwin, namely: Winnie Davis and. W. B. Crockett, Jr. Judge Crockett has been a member of the Methodist church since 1876, and is ever an advocate of reform, im- provement and progress. He holds member- ship relations with the Knights and Ladies of Honor, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in both the subordinate encampment and Re- bekah lodges and with the Grand Fraternity. The salient elements of his character were early manifest in his determination to educate himself and to-day he is a well informed man with broad literary and general knowledge, as well as thor- ough understanding of the principles of juris- prudence. He has risen steadily in the ranks of his profession from the initial step in his career to the present time and has most efficient- ly conducted the school affairs of Mitchell county, making a close study of the needs and requirements of the public school system and laboring for the uplifting of the standard of pub- lic education. He is well versed in the law and his decisions as county judge have met with gen- eral approval not only from his professional brethren in Mitchell county, but in the higher courts of the state as well.

ROYAL WESLEY GROGAN. The sub- ject of this biographical review holds the dis- tinction of being the oldest surviving settler of the Red River portion of Clay county. He identified himself with it when it was hazard- ous for a white man to establish his residence so near the murderous and thieving Comanche as his location brought him, but he came to this new country to settle and help in its develop- ment, and not to make reprisals on the red man, and his operations here and the conduct of his business were not seriously interfered with.

In the spring of 1874 a few new settlers drifted into Clay county from eastern points and selected locations upon the bleak and un- broken stretches of prairie, the home of the prairie dog, the coyote and the cowboy. They came with peaceable intentions and quietly went about their vocations, as tamers of the frontier, winning the confidence and high regard of their isolated neighbors and making for themselves and their posterity a name and a local fame as enduring as the sand of the sea. Among these settlers was the gentleman named in the introduction of this article. He was a settler

ROYAL W. GROGAN

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

from Kanawha county, West Virginia, and in- troduced into the Lone Star state the youth, the vigor and the pure blood of one of the best families of North Carolina, for it was in Rockingham county, that state, that its early American history was made.

Royal W. Grogan was born December 8, 1828, in Rockingham county, North Carolina, and his parents were Robert and Serena (Har- ris) Grogan, native to the same county and state as our subject, and of Irish ancestry. The father was born about the year 1800, was a car- penter and died at the age of fifty-six years, while his wife died at about fifty years of age. Of their family of eleven children Royal W. is the third. He was schooled in the rural district schools and his education was up to the aver- age of his day and time. He began life in- dependently as a tobacco manufacturer in his native state and after a year went into West Virginia, Kanawha county, and engaged in the manufacture of salt at Malden. He conducted the business with success till the emancipation of the negro deprived him of his help, when the business fell into sudden decline. From this event until his advent to Texas, a period of some dozen years, no business connection engaged him and the stocking of his little ranch and the grazing of his herd were the acts which again brought him into full fellowship with the business world.

The first decade of his experience on the range was attended with little effort beyond that required in applying the brand and count- ing the herd. Stock roamed the unlimited and boundless grassy sward without molestation until the season of "rounding up" when each owner scoured the plains for and gathered unto himself his own. Mr. Grogan was one of the small growers of the county and has continued so, having a ranch of four hundred and eighty acres.

Mr. Grogan was married in Kanawha coun- ty, West Virginia, in 1859, to Miss Fannie Sum- merfield, a daughter of Samuel Summerfield. Mrs. Grogan died February 2, 1898, being the mother of Robert P., one of the leading young ranchmen of Clay county; Edward W., also a prominent ranch and stockman and farmer, near Byers, and widely known as a successful business man of Clay county ; Serena, Helen, John, Ida, Jesse and Moses.

In his relation to his county Mr. Grogan has been a plain, unassuming gentleman. His busi- ness obligations have always been met and his methods have stood the scrutinizing eye of nearly a third of a century without suspicion of

evil. His social nature has brought him into contact with all his neighbors and his universal popularity is the result. His family have taken honorable places in the busy world and he manifests a pardonable pride in their success.

A. G. PERSON, M. D. In the paternal line the ancestry of Dr. A. G. Person, of Snyder, can be traced back to Thomas Person, in whose honor Person county, North Carolina, was named. He was a general in command of American forces in the Revolutionary war. His native state was Virginia and the place of his birth was probably Southampton county. He lived for many years in what was known as Dodge county, North Carolina, but this county was afterward divided into Wayne, Greene and Lenore counties. General Person continued a resident of the old North state throughout his remaining days. He was the great-grandfather of Dr. Person of this review. He had several sons, of whom Josiah Person was the next in line of direct descent to our subject. The father, Dr. A. G. Person, was born in 1816 and became a practicing physi- cian of Fremont, Wayne county, North Caro- lina. He was a native of that county and made his home there throughout his entire life, passing away in July, 1856. He married Miss Arabella T. Handley, who long survived him and died in 1895 at the age of sixty-four years. In their family were six children, three sons and three daughters, but the daughters all died in infancy. The sons are: W. B., a resi- dent of Goldsboro, Wayne county, North Carolina ; Dr. J. E. Person, a practicing physi- cian of Wayne county ; and Addison Garland.

The last named was born in Nahunta, Wayne county, North Carolina, August 12, 1856, but the name of the town has since been changed to Fremont. His father having died and his mother married again he was reared principally by his guardian who sent him to school to Fremont Academy in his native state. This was after the close of the war and prior to that time he had very little op- portunity for obtaining an education. In 1868 or 1869 his mother and stepfather were living at Wilmington, North Carolina, and he went there and became a student in Cape Fair Mili- tary Academy, then in charge of General J. B. Coleston, afterward the general in charge of an expedition which crossed the desert of Sahara and which was sent out by the Khedive of Egypt. Charles B. Alfrend was also a pro- fessor in that institution. Dr. Person's step-

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father, William R. Bass, died in 1871. The following year Dr. Person entered Wake For- est College, at Wake Forest, North Carolina, where he spent two years, acquiring the greater part of his literary education in that institution. He afterward engaged in teaching school during the winter of 1874 at Watery Branch schoolhouse in Wayne county and in 1875 he entered the drug store of Cox & Per- son (the junior partner being his brother) in Fremont, where he remained as a clerk for about twelve months. He next entered the employ of Aycock & Edgerton, general mer- chants of that place in the capacity of a sales- man and bookkeeper, remaining with them until December, 1877.

It was on the 12th of that month that Dr. Person was married to Miss S. Fannie Wood, who was born in Guilford county, North Caro- lina, and was a daughter of Penuel and Ca- lista Wood, both natives of that state. Mrs. Person's home at the time of her marriage, however, was in Montgomery county.

After his marriage Dr. Person went to Wil- son county, where he purchased a farm, which he operated for about a year. He then re- moved to the town of Wilson and was engaged with Branch & Hadley, general merchants from 1878 until 1883. During that time he be- gan reading medicine in his leisure hours with the intention of becoming a member of the medical profession. He attended lectures in 1883 at the College of Physicians and Sur- geons at Baltimore, Maryland, and was grad- uated from that institution in 1885. Following his graduation he returned to Fremont, his old home town, opened an office for practice and remained there until December, 1889.

In that year Dr. Person came to Texas, set- tling first at Nixon, Guadalupe county, where he practiced until November, 1891, when he returned to Fremont, North Carolina, there remaining until February, 1893. He then again came to Texas, going to Hico, Hamilton coun- ty. In 1893, while living at Hico, Dr. Per- son, his wife and one of their sons, were taken ill and in order to regain their health they made their way to the prairies of Cooke county, being much benefited by the change. They afterward returned to Nixon, continuing there until July, 1897, when they again went to Hico, where the following year Dr. Person formed a partnership with Professor J. H. Wy- song, one of nature's noblemen and a noted chemist of the state. This partnership was continued until October, 1899, when on ac-

count of ill health Dr. Person was again forced to leave Hico. Seeking a higher altitude and the free air of the western country he removed his family to Snyder, Texas, where he has since remained, here enjoying perfect health himself as have his entire family.

In his profession he has made continuous advancement, being an earnest student of the principles of medicine and keeping abreast of the times with all modern research. He took a post graduate course at the New Orleans Polyclinic in 1903, pursuing special lines of study concerning the treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. He has built up a good paying practice, receiving a patron- age from some of the best families in this sec- tion of the state. He was first licensed to prac- tice medicine by the state board of medical ex- aminers of North Carolina in May, 1885, was elected a member of the board of health of Wayne county in September of the same year and was chosen president of that board in 1889. He was a member of the Caldwell county, Texas, Medical Society from 1894 until 1899 and he was licensed to practice by the fifth district board in 1898 and afterward by the state board of medical examiners in 1902. He was one of the organizers of the Southwest Medical Society of El Paso in 1901, in 1902, he became county health officer of Scurry county, while since 1902 he has also been president of the board of health of Sny- der. He joined the State Medical Association of Texas in April, 1903, at San Antonio and the American Medical Association at New Orleans in May, 1903. He was also one of the organizers of the Mitchell, Scurry, Kent and Dickens Counties Association in 1903 and is at present president of the county organiza- tion. He was a member of the house of dele- gates of the State Medical Association, which authorized the publication of its proceedings in journal form, known as the Texas State Journal, at present published at Fort Worth.

Dr. and Mrs. Person are well known socially and have a large circle of warm friends. They are the parents of four living children, Affleta Belle, Fay Burkhead, Addison Garland and Benjamin Vale. They have also lost one son, the eldest of their children, Edgar Bascom Person, who died in Wilson, North Carolina, in 1880, at the age of one year and ten months.

Dr. Person has not only been actively inter- ested in the progress of the medical fraternity but has also been instrumental in the promo- tion of various enterprises for the general

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 82

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