A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 85

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 85

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Vance A. Dowlen was fifteen years of age when he accompanied his parents to Texas. He was a freighter during the Civil War and has been a man with many and varied avoca- tions since. He is a resident of Wallace, Ok- lahoma, at present, and has reared a large family by Julia A. Ragsdale, whom he mar- ried in Lamar county, Texas. Mrs. Dowlen was a daughter of Robert R. Ragsdale, an early . settler of that county who died at the advanced age of ninety-seven years in 1900. Mr. and Mrs. V. A. Dowlen's children are : Robert A., of Potter county, Texas; John W., of Clay county ; Charles M., of this notice; William A., of Oklahoma; May, wife of William Roberts ; Lucy, wife of Fulton Brown, of Canyon City, Texas; Thomas, of the same place; Mary who married Ural Brown and resides at Amarillo; Samuel H., of Oklahoma; Marvin, of Okla- homa; Lewis C., of Canyon City, Texas, and Belle, wife of Robert J. Lester, of Oklahoma.

Charles M. Dowlen acquired a smattering of education in the country schools of Lamar coun- ty and aided his father at farm and other work during his youth and early manhood. Upon reaching his majority he began life on his own account. By day's work he provided him- self with the means toward preparing him- self for his initial work on a rented farm and when he did begin to plow and sow for him- self it was as the owner of a team and a plow, largely bought on time. He broke sod at odd times to replenish his fading treasury and re- mained in Lamar county till 1891, when he went to western Texas and lived first in Ran- dall, then in Potter and finally in Deaf Smith county. He filed on a school section, worked it three years, with only fair success because of the droughty character of the seasons. He disposed of his real estate out west and came to Clay county in 1895 and two years later bought a part of his present farm. His first purchase was one of two hundred and ninety and one-half acres in conjunction with a broth- er, which was subsequently divided. He then purchased tracts of one hundred and five acres, and one hundred and eighty-five acres twice,

one hundred and sixty acres and two hundred acres, and from these holdings he sold one hun- dred and five acres, leaving him with six hun- dred and forty acres of rich alluvial soil. Stock and grain farming have been the chief occupa- tion of Mr. Dowlen. He broke out his farm and fenced it and the other improvements which are coming along in the course of time are convenient and appropriate. While doing . all the preliminary work toward farm cultiva- tion and improvement he also conducted a bach- : elor's establishment which grew more irksome and monotonous and unsatisfactory day by day. He tired of this condition about the opening of the new century and proffered his hand and half his estate to Miss Birdie Wade and they were married October 30, 1901. Mrs. Dowlen is a daughter of John K. and Gertrude (Phil- lips) Wade who came to Clay county, Texas, in 1900, from Pike county, Illinois. Mrs. Dow- len preceded them two years and made her home with the family of I. S. Lightle.

Mrs. Dowlen was born on the 3rd day of September, 1879, and is one of six children, namely : Birdie, Edna, wife of Henry Mus- grove, of Wichita county, Texas; Flossie, Lena, Eugenia and Celia. Mr. and Mrs. Dow- len's only child is Glenn Wade, born July 28, 1902. In their domestic arrangement they are industrious, thrifty and practice wise econ- omy. Their home is hospitable and comfortable and they divide their substance with their fel- lows with a wise liberality. They are pro- gressive within their means and expect nothing that their labor and a wise Providence does not bring them.

JOSEPH S. HIGHSMITH, of Hale Center, Hale county, has during the past years prose- cuted an enterprise of inestimable value to this section of the state, one which is not only of great practical and commercial value to its owner but has also been a means of conclu- sively demonstrating to the world at large the boundless resources and possibilities, potential and only awaiting development, which the country of west Texas has in store for the men of energy and purpose. Mr. Highsmith is the proprietor of a large nursery and com- mercial orchard at Hale Center, one of the most extensive and best conducted in this part of the state, and he is accomplishing a great work in extending the fruit-growing industry throughout this plains country, which less than twenty years ago was set down on the maps

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

and guide books as agriculturally worthless and barren.

Mr. Highsmith was born in Sampson county, North Carolina, in 1867, a son of Noah and Ann (Alderman) Highsmith, both natives of North Carolina, and the former a farmer in Sampson county. Mr. Highsmith was de- prived by death of both his parents before he was eight years old, and he was then reared by his older brothers, passing his early years in farm work in Sampson county. At the age of twenty he left his native state and came to Navarro county, Texas. In the spring of 1890 he came out to the plains country, locating in Hale county, at Hale Center, which has been the center of his activities ever since. For eight years he was in the mercantile business at Hale Center, and at the same time carried on farming on his land adjoining the town on the north. In 1900 he established his nursery and orchard, which has since attained to a fine degree of success in all its departments. He has between 105,000 and 110,000 grafted apple trees alone. He makes a specialty of the Red Winter Cluster apples, which is a very fine fruit, especially adapted to the soil and climate of the plains country, is drought resisting, and is in every way a desirable variety of apple for this country. He also keeps large stocks of the Missouri Pippin, Jonathan and Cenitan, besides a large stock of peach, pear, plum and grape and other fruits. He has made a long and careful study and investigation with a view to furnishing varieties of fruit that would be successful in this section of the state, and has invested a large amount of money in the enterprise, which means much to the future pros- perity and comfort of western Texas. Besides the local market for his stock in Hale and adjoining counties, he is establishing quite a business in the Pecos valley of western Texas, where is a fine fruit country but which is not suitable for the growth of nursery stock. Mr. High- smith owns two sections of land at Hale Cen- ter, adjoining the town on the north, and forty- five acres of this is devoted to the nursery and orchard. His nursery establishment is laid out with an idea of beauty as well as for business purposes, and it is a pretty place and attracts a great deal of attention from all visitors to this section. One important fact in connection that should not be overlooked is that his nur- sery stock and orchard are all grown without irrigation, thus proving the adaptability, with- out artificial aids, of this region to successful fruit growing.

Mr. Highsmith is a member of the Baptist church and the Masonic fraternity. He was married in Hale county to Miss Morgie Bell, and they are the parents of six children, Mary, Charles, Noah, Joe, Beulah and one unnamed.

WILLIAM B. MARTINE, county and dis- trict clerk at Plainview, is one of the high- class, public-spirited and efficient public offi- cials of Western Texas, and the fact that he has been retained by repeated elections in his present office for over twelve years indicates the esteem and confidence which his fellow citizens cherish for him.

Mr. Martine was born at the old fort where Jacksboro now stands, in Jack county, Texas, in 1870, thus having begun his life in what was then a pioneer part of the state and having since remained and pursued his career prin- cipally in the newer country of the state. He was a son of R. W. and Julia E. (Box) Mar- tine. His father, a native of Italy, came to the United States with his parents when he was nine years old, living first in New York and later in Chicago, and thence came to Texas. After spending a few years in Jack county he took his family, in 1873, to Montague county. The father is now deceased, but the mother, a native of Alabama, and who married R. W. Martine in Texas, is now living in Hale county.

Reared during his early years principally in Montague county, Mr. Martine, in 1886, being then sixteen years old, came out to the plains country and began "punching cows" in Lamb county. He continued as a cowboy in the em- ploy of different cattlemen on the range until 1890, when he located in Hale county, which has been his home ever since. In 1892 he was elected county and district clerk, and has served as such continuously to the present, and in the fall of 1904 he was the candidate for and was re-elected to the office without any opposition whatever, showing to what extent he has the confidence of the citizens of Hale county. He owns a nice ranch in the county, northwest of Plainview, and has been uni- formly successful and prosperous since start- ing out in life on his own account. Fraternally he is an Odd Fellow.

Mr. Martine was married at Plainview to Miss Mary E. Bryan, a sister of Polk Bryan, and a member of one of the old-time families of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Martine have one son, Fred Martine.

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

CHARLES EDWIN WELCH. In every branch of professional or business life we find men who are representative of their particular department of labor. The merchant is a con- spicuous figure in every community, and much depends upon him in the matter of educating the public, especially in the more inland towns. Upon questions of modern improvement and progress, the enterprising merchant, with his visits to the city for the purchase of goods . keeps in touch with the march of progress and trade the new creations of modern science and invention for the inspection and adoption of his patrons. One of the most progressive and enterprising representatives of commercialism in Abilene is Charles Edwin Welch, a dealer. in harness and saddlery and manufacturer of various kinds of leather goods. He is a native of Madison county, Illinois, born on the 11th of October, 1856. His parents, John H. and Julia Ann (Rundle) Welch, were also natives of that state. The former, a harness maker by trade, left Illinois for Texas in 1870 and settled in Bonham, where he now makes his home. He opened up a business there, in which he continued until about five years ago, but at the present time is enjoying a well earned rest-the fitting reward of earnest labor in former years. His family at one time num- bered six children, four sons and two daugh- ters, of whom three sons are now living. The Welch family had been harness . makers for three generations back of the father, and it seems that natural predilection and inherited tendency led to the choice of an occupation by the subject of this review.

Charles Edwin Welch learned the harness making trade with his father in Bonham but after completing his apprenticeship he dropped the business for a time and took to the range as a cowboy, thus riding over a great portion of the western country. At one time he had herds of cattle grazing on land where Abilene now stands. There were periods in which he left the range and followed other pursuits, and early settlers of Abilene will remember him as a mail carrier between Albany and Fort Phantom Hill and also mail carrier between this place and Buffalo Gap in Taylor county. About the time that Abilene was making pre- tentions to being a town of some size, Mr. Welch began freighting from this point to San Angelo. He was frequently seen at Fort Griffin, then a lively stirring little place, and on one occasion was made a deputy by the

sheriff of the county and as his assistant main- tained order, keeping in subjection the ruffians and outlaws who infested that part of the country. Such a task was often a hazardous undertaking, for the district was largely un- settled and the desperadoes could range almost at will over the broad prairies. So wild was the country that large herds of buffaloes were frequently seen but they are now a thing of the past.

carries in stock and introduces through his , ford county, Texas, May 25, 1885, to Miss

Mr. Welch was married in Albany, Shackel- Edna Wolf, a native of Tennessee, but at that time a resident of Albany. Following his mar- riage he returned to Bonham, where he re- mained for thirteen months, but he had been so long in the west and became so imbued with its spirit of freedom that he returned to Albany, where he embarked in the harness making trade on his own account, continuing in the business there for four years. In 1894 he removed to Abilene and opened his store at his present location on Chestnut street. He carries a full line of harness, saddles and all kindred merchandise and is a manufacturer of and wholesale and retail dealer in leather goods. He has built up a large and lucrative business, which extends throughout the adja- cent territory and as far as Arizona and New Mexico.

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Welch has been blessed with three children, a son and two. daughters: Beula, Maude and Howard Lee. Mr. Welch has been a consistent member of the Christian church for about fourteen years, and for the past eight years has served on the official board of the church in Abilene. He is also an Odd Fellow, belonging to Abilene Lodge, No. 274, since 1899, and he is likewise affiliated with the encampment. He stands today as one of the progressive business men of the city and is a typical resident of Texas, familiar with its history and its development through the era of pioneer progress as well as of modern civilization and growth.

JAMES KERR WILLETT. The subject of this personal notice is actively connected with the rural development of Montague county, and. his position as a citizen places him among the industrious and ambitions young farmers tribu- tary to the village of Sunset. His new farm lies on the waters of Sandy, and its surface is grad- ually yielding to the civilizing touch of the hus- bandman and coming into subjection with the passage of time. From a youth in his teens to

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

young and vigorous manhood, with a career fairly inaugurated, Mr. Willett has gone to and fro in this county, looking the world squarely in the face and meeting the stern realities of life with confidence and commendable courage. .

It was in 1887 that James K. Willett came to Montague county, then a lad of fourteen, and in company with his parents who made settlement on the waters of Sandy, in sight of which spas- modic stream with liquid soil he has ever since remained. He came hither from Clear creek, in Cooke county, where the family first stopped on coming into Texas in 1882. His birth occurred in Washington county, Tennessee, March 18, 1873, where his father, Daniel Willett, was born in 1830. The latter passed the years of his mi- nority in his native county, but was married in Sumter county, Alabama, to Margaret M., a daughter of William Kerr. His life was a quiet one on the farm and he brought up his family in comfortable circumstances. On his advent to the Lone Star state he left the train with his lit- tle family at Gainesville, and the five years which he passed in the business of raising stock and tending the farm in Cooke county were prob- ably the most encouraging of his life. In Mon- tague county he pursued the even and unevent- ful course of his life, witnessed his children take their places as men and women of honor in their community, and himself passed away in 1902. His widow survives and finds a welcome home with her son, the subject of this review.

The children of Daniel and Margaret Willett are: Zadoc W., a well known farmer on Sandy ; Elizabeth, wife of U. A. Wilson, of Sandy valley ; James K .; Susan M., of Montague county, wife of M. A. Chambers; Elbert, who died in infancy ; Katie, who died young; and Olive P., wife of W. T. Denney, of Rubottom, Indian Territory.

The rural schools where he happened to live provided James K. Willett with his limited edu- cation. His father's home was his own until past his twentieth year, when he married, and with his team and a cow set up his establishment in a humble home in sight of his present abode. Until 1902 he was a tenant on rented land, and whatever property he gathered together as his own in those years came to him after the pro- ducts of his yearly labors had been tithed by others. However, he made some substantial progress and in 1902 he purchased one hundred and sixty-four acres of the Harriet Brown sur- vey, the improvement and cultivation of which he and his industrious family are now occupied with. His surroundings are entirely new and the labor of clearing his farm of its postoak

growth and of bringing the soil into complete harmony with the implements of agriculture is successfully going on.

March 12, 1893, Mr. Willett married Miss Lillie Chambers. Mrs. Willett is a daughter of Spence Chambers, of Park Springs, Texas, who came to this state from Sand Mountain, Ala- bama. The issue of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Willett are: Buford, Minnie, deceased, Carlie, Vida, Ewen and Margaret.

J. K. Willett is a positive and integral part of his community and the character of his citizen- ship has won him an influence in excess of his years., While industry is yet his chief capital, and is the lever by which he is prying up grad- ually the increments of a modest and comforta- ble competence, he has made some progress al- ready on the journey toward success and final independence. Along with his desire to pro- mote his personal interests he feels an interest in the public weal and aids it with his purse and tongue to the extent of his ability.

CHARLES J. SHUMAKE. Honest effort in every legitimate calling meets its just and sure reward. Well matured and industriously followed plans work out results the achieve- ment of which is the certain and unmistakable earmarks of a successful career. He who di- rects his efforts in whatever department of human affairs so as to become a recognized power for good is a citizen worthy the name and his efforts deserve recognition in a work devoted to representative citizenship in his commonwealth. With these general observa- tions, inspired by the life and deeds of a civil career, we introduce, as the subiect of this bi- ographical review, Charles J. Shumake, a large and progressive farmer, of Thornberry, in the Big Wichita valley.

August 6, 1857, Mr. Shumake was born in Perry county, Alabama. His father was a gin- ner, and later a shoemaker, born in Georgia, April 18, 1825, passed the years of his young manhood in Alabama, located in Washington county, Texas, in 1871 and now resides at Biz Springs, this state. During the Civil War he served in the ranks of the Confederate army about eighteen months when he was detailed as a carpenter, in which service he finished his soldier career. He owned slaves, did some business as a planter prior to the war, but left Alabama in reduced circumstances to make a home in the Lone Star state.

Jeremiah Shumake, grandfather of our sub- ject, was a native son of one of the Carolinas, was a planter by occupation, had two sons,

MR. AND MRS. CHARLES J. SHUMAKE

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

Martin and Jeremiah, Jr., the latter subject's father, and a daughter, Lizzie, who was first married to Mr. Bishop and later to Mr. Fagan.

Jeremiah Shumake's (Jr.) wife was Martha C. Smith, the daughter of Luke Smith, a North Carolina gentleman. She died in 1902 with the following issue : William L'., of Big Springs, Texas; James DeV., who died young, and Charles J. of this notice.

A good literary or commercial education was out of the question with C. J. Shumake. The elementary principles of a country school training sufficed him while of school age and he took hold of the serious things of life with much more courage than real equipment. He was intensely observing of the speech and ac- tions of his superiors and by natural absorp- tion and extensive reading he acquired a vocab- ulary and a fund of general information most creditable to one with his opportunities. At the age of eighteen years he assumed respon- sibility for his own maintenance and began learning the trade of book-binder in Austin, Texas. He finished his trade with the well- known binder, R. Von Boeckman, of the capi- tal city and remained in his employ seventeen years without a single jar or an unkind word. Having obtained and laid up some means he decided to become a farmer and purchased a small farm in Ellis county, but sold this soon and bought again in Travis county. He worked the latter place two years when he sold it at double his purchasing price and again sought his trade with his old friend, Von Boeck- man. Having had a taste of the freedom and in- dependence of rural life, after a few years he again deserted the bench and brought his family to the famous Wichita valley. He laid the foundation of his fine estate by purchasing seven hundred two and one-half acres of land from the American Land and Trust Company of Kansas City, and some time later added to this purchase one hundred eighty-eight and one-half acres. His last purchases were a quarter section from Specht and Mccutcheon, another of two hundred ninety-one and eight-tenths, another of eighty, the whole making him a farm of about one thousand four hundred and twenty acres of sandy loam, a princely estate, beautiful, rich and productive. He took possession of his new home in the month of December, 1889, and set about raising grain, hogs and cattle. He was a tireless worker himself and the grass roots soon gave way to the golden harvest of small grain. To his success his wife has contributed no less than himself. He could al- ways depend upon her encouragement, and her

advice and counsel were elements in their co- partnership which anchored him to the rock of safety. As the profits came from the farm substantial improvements took the place of the temporary affairs until the home stands to- day one of the attractive spots on their terres- trial landscape.

May 23; 1882, Mr. Shumake married nine miles east of Austin, Miss E. Nettie Hill, a daughter of J. William Hill, who was formerly from Effingham county, Illinois. Mrs. Shu- make was born in July, 1861, and was the youngest of five children. Mr. and Mrs. Shu- make's children are: Max W., twenty-one; James Lee, nineteen ; Clara J., seventeen ; and Charles J., Jr., seven.

In politics Mr. Shumake is a Democrat. He was chosen Commissioner of the Second dis- trict and served two years, being a member of the most economical board the county ever had. The family are Baptists and its head is an Odd Fellow, a Blue Lodge Mason, and Woodman of the World.

While Mr. Shumake and his estimable wife have achieved unusual and somewhat remark- able material success their substantial accumu- lations do not weigh in comparison with their personal worth. They are endowed with bright, alert and cultivated intellects and are friends of advanced educational ideas. They have made sacrifices in behalf of their children's mental training and manifest a pardonable pride in the results of these sacrifices. Their home is pervaded with an air of cheerfulness and universal good will, not the dominating characteristic of every well regulated fireside, and their hospitality toward stranger as well as friend is sincere and unbounded. Without the presence of company to entertain existence would seem to them full of monotony and the oasis of the desert would seem to have dried up. Progressive to a marked degree, charitable and sympathetic toward the deserving unfor- tunate and with hearts full of the real humanity toward man we commend them and theirs to the giver of all good.

JAMES P. McDANIEL, who since 1883 has been associated in mercantile enterprises with D. O. McRimmon, and who in 1900 established the present business in Stamford, came to Texas in 1861. His connection with the state has been continuous to the present time save for the pe- riod of his services in the Civil war, and his ef- forts in behalf of public progress, as well as of the individual advancement have been crowned with a creditable and gratifying measure of suc-

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

cess. A native of Saline county, Arkansas, he was born on the 21st of November, 1844. His father, Jordan McDaniel, was a native of Bibb county, Alabama, and was married there to Mary Shuttleworth, also a native of that county, born near Tuscaloosa. They removed from Ala- bama to Arkansas shortly after their marriage and resided in the latter state until 1860, when Mr. McDaniel came to Texas, leaving his family in Arkansas. He then purchased a farm in Col- lin county, on which he remained for about a year. In 1863 he removed his family to this state and a home was established upon a farm in Collin county. In the meantime the Civil war. was in progress and Mr. McDaniel entered the Confederate service, enlisting at Magnolia, Ar- kansas, in Fagan's regiment of Price's army, with which he served for about three years, or until the close of hostilities. He afterward made his home for a short time in Collin county, Texas, and then crossed the line into Grayson county, where he resided up to the time of his death, which occurred in the spring of 1902. His wife passed away about the same time. In their family were seven children, three sons and four daughters, who lived to mature years.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 85

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