A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 93

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 93

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Judge Ferguson fraternizes with the Masonic order, and is a popular member of the social and business circles of his town. He is a staunch

Democrat, and was elected and served the county as county judge in 1893-94, the county seat at that time being LaPlata, which has since lost its existence and surrendered its prestige to Hereford. Judge Ferguson's wife is Nannie (Tannehill) Ferguson, to whom he was married at Windsor, Missouri.

HON. H. B. PATTERSON, former presi- dent of the First National Bank of Snyder, and now devoting his attention to his farming and stock raising interests, comes in both the pater- nal and maternal lines from ancestry from Ten- nessee. His grandfather, James Francis Patter- son, was a native of that state and in 1856, with his family and some of his brothers, he left Ten- nessee and removed to Missouri, settling in Ripley county, where his death occurred in 1869, when he was sixty-five years of age. The Pat- tersons have always followed farming and stock- raising, and it was to those pursuits that the grandfather devoted his time and energies. He married Miss Pipkin, also a native of Tennessee, and they became the parents of three sons, Wil- liam, John and Bishop.

The last named was born in Macon county, Tennessee, in 1836, and was reared in the place of his nativity to the age of twenty years, when he accompanied his parents to Missouri. About 1868 he was elected probate judge of Ripley county and served for four years. Following his retirement from office, in the spring of 1872, he left Missouri and removed to Hamilton county, Texas, where he spent two years. He afterward went to Lampasas county, where he also remained for two years and then removed to Callahan county, where he resided for three years. In 1881 he came to Scurry county some time before its organization and has since made his home here. He was married in Tennessee to Miss Martha Bennett, a native of that state, who died in Nolan county, Texas, in 1881. By this marriage there were nine children, four sons and five daughters, namely: Houston Bennett ; Nancy Tennessee, the wife of J. W. Woody, a resident of Scurry county, Texas; James Hay- wood, also living in Scurry county; Elizabeth, the wife of Walter Wassen, whose home is in Scurry county; Mary Jane, the wife of Ernest Wright, of El Paso, Texas; Hettie Frances, the wife of Albert Morris, of Valparaiso, Indiana; Beecher, deceased; Martha Bishop; and John Hood, deceased.

Houston Bennett Patterson, whose name in- troduces this review, was born in Ripley county, Missouri, December 29, 1856, and lived in that

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS

state until about sixteen years of age, when, in 1872, he came to Texas with his father. His educational privileges were somewhat meager because of the disorganized condition of the schools, owing to the Civil war. He had to walk four miles to a country school, which was main- tained for only about three months in the year. Following the father's election to the office of probate judge of Ripley county the family re- moved to Doniphan, the county seat, and there the children were afforded better educational privileges, Mr. Patterson of this review pursuing his studies there for about seven or eight months, when, on account of illness in the fam- ily, they returned to the farm. After coming to Texas he attended a school in Lampasas county for a few months and it was about this time in his life that he began business operations by trading occasionally for a horse or two, and when he was twenty-one years of age he started out upon an independent business career. He never worked for wages except for a few months and all that he has possessed and enjoyed has been acquired through his own labors. He farmed for a time in Callahan county, having an interest in the crops with his father and he con- tinued in that business until 1884, carrying on general agricultural pursuits and stock raising. making a specialty of sheep.

In 1881 Mr. Patterson arrived in Scurry county, and upon his retirement from the stock business in 1884 he was elected county and dis- trict clerk, being the first to hold the office in this county, which was organized on the 28th of June of that year. He filled the position con- tinuously until the general election of 1896, so that his incumbency covered a little more than twelve years. He refused to again become a candidate, although urged to do so by many of his friends. In February of the. following year a vacancy occurred in the office of county judge, and at the solicitation of the board of commission- ers he consented to take his place on the bench. He filled out the unexpired term and at the gen- eral election of 1898 was elected to the same position, serving for nearly four years in all. Since then he has been out of office and has no further aspiration for political preferment as he desires to concentrate his energies upon his pri- vate business affairs. In 1889 a private bank was organized under the name of the State Bank, with a capital stock of twenty-five thou- sand dollars and Mr. Patterson was elected president. In 1900 this became under a reor- ganization the First National Bank of Snyder, with a capital stock of thirty-five thousand dol-

lars. Judge Patterson was made its first presi- dent, but has since sold his stock in the bank because of the close confinement which under- mined his health and led to his determination to live a life more out of doors. Since that time he has given his attention to his farming and stock raising interests, and his home is situated about a mile south of Snyder, where he has about eight hundred acres, of which seventy-five acres are under cultivation. He likewise has a ranch in the northeast part of Scurry county, about eighteen miles from Snyder, consisting of about five thousand acres devoted principally to stock. There is between fifty and sixty acres of this under cultivation, utilized in raising feed for the stock. He has about four hundred and fifty head of cattle and the original stock was crossed between the Herefords and Shorthorns. Later Judge Patterson has given attention to the rais- ing of a fine grade of stock from registered Red Polled bulls, erossing them with the Herefords and Durhams, and he now has the foundation laid for one of the finest herds in the country.

Judge Patterson was married in 1885 to Miss Lavina Hale, a native of Missouri, and a daugh- ter of Alexander Hale, who came to Texas with his family when Mrs. Patterson was a young girl. In their family there are now three chil- dren, Sarah Tennessee, Martha and Bennett. Since 1873 Judge Patterson has been a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church and he belongs to the Odd Fellows society and the Woodmen of the World. He has made his own way in life unassisted by any inherited fortune. He has been a faithful officer of public trust, filling both the position of clerk and county judge with credit to himself and satisfaction to his constituents. He has likewise prospered in his business affairs and at the present time he is one of the leading stock men of the western country.

T. F. BAKER. In a history of the banking institutions of Snyder and western Texas, men- tion should be made of T. F. Baker, cashier of the First National Bank of Snyder, and a man of excellent business ability and enterprise, who in his career is keeping in touch with modern progress characteristic of the times. A native of Tennessee, his birth occurred in Madison county on the 30th of May, 1875, and he was but eighteen months old when brought to Texas by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. James Henderson Baker. The former is now a prominent farmer and stock raiser of Jack county, Texas, where he located in pioneer times. He, too, was born in

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

Madison county, Tennessee, his natal year being 1832, and in the state of his nativity he was reared to manhood and there followed several different occupations. When a young man he was overseer of the negroes on a plantation be- longing to his uncle, Turner Fuller, a very wealthy man. Subsequently he engaged in mer- chandising in Denmark, Madison county, prior to the outbreak of the Civil war. When hostili- ties began between the north and the south, he entered the Confederate service in 1861, and re- mained with the army through the four years of the war. He was several times detailed for special service and was in a hospital corps for a while. At the beginning of the war he was in the division of General Beauregard and later was attached to one of the Tennessee regiments un- til the fighting was ended. He saw active ser- vice, and although he participated in many hot- ly contested engagements he was never serious- ly wounded. He took part in the battle of Look- out Mountain, and he was in nearly all of the engagements in Tennessee and Georgia. After the war closed he returned home and found his mercantile business entirely ruined. He had lost all that he had and was a poor man. He then purchased a small farm in western Ten- nessee and entered upon the attempt to retrieve his lost possessions, remaining there until his re- moval to Texas in 1876, when he established his home in Jack county, where he has since resided. He has now attained an advanced age and he spends his time in supervising his stock and other interests. Mr. Baker was married twice, first in Tennessee, before the war, and again in 1874 to Miss Sarah Brown, of West Tennessee, by which marriage there have been born five children: Turner F., James E., Wil- liam, Mattie Belle, and Egbert Ausburne. The daughter is now deceased.

Turner Fuller Baker, whose name introduces this review is practically a native son of Texas, for, with the exception of the first eighteen months of his life, he has always lived in this state. He remained in Jack county until fifteen years of age, and during that period attended the public schools. He then went to Hill county, Texas, where he spent two years in the employ of his uncle, Baalam Sanford, during which time he saved from his earnings a sum sufficient to enable him to continue his educa- tion, and being ambitious in this direction he spent two years at what was known as the North Texas Baptist College at Jacksboro, Texas, an institution which has since surrendered its char- ter. When he had completed his two years'

course of study there Mr. Baker, then nineteen years of age, began teaching school, which pro- fession he followed for three years in Jack county and for one year at Snyder, Texas, com- ing here in 1897. On his retirement from the teacher's profession he entered mercantile life in the employ of L. D. Grantham, with whom he remained for nearly two years, and on the organization of the First National Bank at Snyder he became bookkeeper. This was in October, 1900, and in October, 1902, he was ap- pointed assistant cashier, so serving until Janu- ary, 1905, when he was made cashier, which is his present connection with this strong and re- liable financial institution. He is also one of the directors of the bank and is a popular offi- cial, his unfailing courtesy and helpful support, which he manifests to the patrons of the institu- tion, winning him the friendly regard of many with whom he has been associated.

Mr. Baker was married August 25, 1897, to Miss Lulu Antoinette McMath, of Seymour, Texas, a daughter of Mrs. N. E. McMath. This union has been blessed with three children, Augustus Grayum, Turner Fuller and Ralph Henderson.

Mr. Baker is deeply interested in local prog- ress and advancement, and co-operates in many measures that have been of direct and tangible benefit in the material, intellectual and moral progress. He has been a member of the Chris- tian church for about five years, and fraternally is connected with the Woodmen of the World and the Knights of Pythias. He was council commander of the former for about four years. He has always taken a deep interest in school affairs and was one of the prime movers in the organization of an independent school district for Snyder. He is a member of the school board and is now its treasurer. He built the telephone exchange at Snyder, which is an independent enterprise and after operating it for about eigh- teen months he sold the plant to other parties. He is a good business man, thoroughly capable of filling the responsible positions he holds.

HON. JAMES LYCURGUS LIVING- STONE McCALL, deceased, was for a number of years a distinguished and representative member of the bar of McLennan and Parker counties. He was a son of James and Anne ( Valandingham) McCall, and was descended from honorable Scotch-Irish ancestry. His birth occurred at Mount Vernon, Rock Castle county, Kentucky, September 30, 1823, and in his native state he was reared to manhood, acquiring his educa-

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

tion in Center College at Danville, Kentucky, from which institution he was graduated in the early forties.

On the 16th of November, 1845, Judge Mc- Call was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Anna Strum, who was born in Blountville, Sullivan county, Tennessee, on the 4th of February, 1825, and was a daughter of Jacob Strum, who was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, December 6, 1774, and died in Blountville, Tennessee, April 13, 1834. His wife bore the maiden name of Alice James, and was a daughter of Walter James. Her birth occurred February 27, 1796, and she passed away in Rogersville, Tennessee, April 7, 1850. It was on the 26th of February, 1815, that she gave her hand in marriage to Jacob Strum.

Having taken up the study of law, Judge Mc- Call was admitted to the bar in 1845, and for eight years engaged in the practice of his pro- fession in his native state. He then removed to Texas with his young family, arriving in Waco in December, 1853. There he opened an office and entered upon the practice of law, be- ing connected with the courts over the greater part of northwestern Texas for twenty years. Prior to and during the period of the Civil war he was district attorney of the old nineteenth district of Texas, which then included McLen- nan county. While in Waco he entered into partnership with James Norris, under the firm name of Norris & McCall, and this became one of the distinguished law firms of the state, espe- cially in connection with criminal law practice. Thirteen years after the organization of the firm, Judge Sleeper was taken into partnership and the firm style of Norris, McCall & Sleeper was then adopted. Not only was Judge McCall ac- tively associated with the practice of his pro- fession in Texas, but also left the impress of his individuality upon the public life, thought and action of the state. He was a member of the Texas convention which voted for secession and during the war he held the position of re- ceiver under the Confederate government. In 1873 he removed with his family to Weatherford, Texas, from which point he continued his prac- tice throughout the northwestern part of the state. There he entered into partnership with his son, George A. McCall, who is now one of the leading lawyers of Weatherford. Called to the county bench of Parker county, he served from 1894 until 1896, and with the exception of that period was actively engaged in practice from 1845 until within a few days of his death. He was a man of broad legal learning, and of

thorough familiarity with the principles of juris- prudence and in the presentation of his cause was logical, strong and forceful.

In 1896 Judge McCall was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died on the 5th of January of that year. He afterward married Miss Josie Bowles of Dallas, Texas, in 1897, and she still survives him. Judge McCall died at his home in Weatherford, February 26, 1904, when more than eighty years of age. He had become the father of fourteen children, seven sons and seven daughters, of whom ten are now living, namely: Judge George A. McCall, of Weatherford; Mrs. Edward Rotan, of Waco, Texas; J. S., of Colorado, Texas; James, of Weatherford; Mrs. Frank Gallagher, of Austin, Texas; Mrs. Charles C. Barthold, of Weather- ford; Rev. John V. McCall, of Cleburne; Will S., of Waco; Miss Mary McCall, of Austin, Texas; and Samuel K., who is living in Norman, Oklahoma.

Judge McCall, at the time of his death, was and for sixty years had been a consistent mem- ber of the Presbyterian church. He joined the church of that denomination at Weatherford on its organization and was also a charter mem- ber of the First Presbyterian church of Waco, Texas. All through his life he lived in harmony with his professions, maintaining a high stand- ard of professional and social conduct and of citizenship and of his means he contributed lib- erally toward the support of the church, not only when he was possessed of a competence but also in the early days when he was endeavoring to lay the foundation for his own prosperity. His individuality and mentality were in keeping with his wonderful physical strength and great stature. In his profession he displayed untiring devotion to the interests of his clients, and guarded their affairs with the same zeal that he displayed in the care of his own interests. He possessed all the essential qualifications of a great lawyer and as an advocate and practitioner had few equals and no superiors in practice in western Texas in his day. An exalted sense of profession honor ever characterized his bearing and conduct toward his professional brethren, and if he had faults they were rather the exag- geration of his virtues and it may be said as it was of Goldsmith's "Village Teacher" that "E'en his failings leaned toward virtue's side." While his devotion to his clients' interests was proverbial, he never forgot that he owed still greater allegiance to the majesty of the law, and he never placed a witness on the stand that he did not believe was speaking the truth. Judge

ALBERT G. ARNOLD AND FAMILY

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS. 463

Nugent said of him "he was the most natural lawyer he ever saw and it is impossible to trip him in the trial of a suit." He won a notable reputation in cross examination and was quick to detect any note of insincerity or untruthful- ness. In politics he was an old line Whig, and cast his first presidential ballot for Henry Clay. A man of the people he was always willing to take up the cause of the populace and stood in defense of the masses as against the monopo- lies. Charitable to a fault, his benevolent spirit was often detrimental to his own financial in- terests. In the early history of Texas he at one time belonged to a company of rangers under command of Captain G. B. Erath, and made one or two trips of considerable duration seek- ing for Indians on the frontier. Faultless in honor, fearless in conduct, and stainless in repu- tation, his life record covered a long period of usefulness and activity, and his name is inscribed high on the roll of eminent lawyers of Texas.

ALBERT GALLATIN ARNOLD. Among the little settlement of pioneers who gathered about Queens Peak, in Montague county, in the early seventies, a few still linger under the influ- ences of that silent, rugged landmark and are numbered with the substantial and permanent home-builders of the county. Of such is Albert G. Arnold, the subject of this personal notice. The footprints of the savage had scarcely been blotted out and his blood-thirsty yell had hardly died away when Mr. Arnold brought his little family to the Peak that September day in 1873 and added the influence of his presence to the de- termined colony already established there. Al- most a third of a century has passed since that eventful day, and its years have been filled with successes and reverses, yet his faith in the ulti- mate future of his county prompted him to hold fast and enjoy the presence of the harvest time which is now actually upon us.

He drifted to Texas from Clinton county, Mis- souri, whither his mother and her children went in 1859 and where the vocation of the farm occu- pied them for nearly fifteen years. In 1856 the family left its native state and accompanied a brother-in-law to the Omaha Indian Reserve, in Nebraska, where the latter was the government farmer in charge of the agricultural efforts of the tribe of Omahas. The accidental death of this relative severed the tie which held the family to the frontier and all hands turned their faces east- ward and took up their abode in Clinton county, Missouri. The year of their departure for Texas the two brothers, Cassius M. and Albert G., load- ed their families andtheir effects into proverbial

"prairie schooners" of that day and made their slow way over the intervening distance, stopping at Bonham as their first point of lookout in the Lone Star state. Being directed westward they prospected the country all the way to Queens Peak and when our subject reached the point overlooking the beautiful valley from the east he remarked to his brother, "In that valley I intend to locate," and he kept his word.

Albert G. Arnold was born in Lorain county, Ohio, July 18, 1848. Albert G. Arnold, his father, was an early settler in that county and was from Chautauqua county, New York, where his birth occurred in 1799. The family was estab- lished in New York state by Elisha Arnold, our subject's grandfather, a Scotch farmer and jus- tice of the peace, whose family numbered eight children, the sons of whom were: Hiram, Hor- ace, Thomas, Chauncey, William and Albert G. The names of his two daughters are not now accessible.

Albert G. Arnold, Sr., came to maturity in his native county and his educational advantages were those of the rural school. In early man- hood he went to Ohio and in Lorain county he married Sylvia, a daughter of Freeman and Eunice (Gillett) Richmond, whose family num- bered ten children. Sylvia Richmond Arnold was born in Lorain county, Ohio, and died in Clinton county, Missouri, in 1872, aged forty- nine years. Her children were: Orpha, who first married Newton Tucker, who was killed by accident as Indian farmer in Nebraska, and whose second husband was James Force, died in Clinton county, Missouri, without living issue ; Cassius M., a well known farmer of Montague county, and Albert G., Sr., of this review.

Fate willed it that the subject of this sketch should pass his life on the frontier and he began it at eight years of age. The stay on the Indian Reservation served to give him a lively exper- ience for a child and the family home in Mis- souri was among the scattered habitations of a pioneer community. He began contributing to his own support so early that his career seems always to have been in his own hands. He became a farmer from the first and while his resources amounted to naught then, his condition and his prospects warranted him in buying a farm be- fore he left Missouri and upon this the first years of his married life were spent.

Having reached Queens Peak, he first located in Adaire, the first town attempted at the Peak, but when this hamlet seemed doomed to die he bought a forty-acre tract southeast of nature's landmark and laid out the village of Queens Peak. Lots sold readily and the place grew to be a respect-

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

able little town in a short time. It had seven stores, two gins, two blacksmith shops, a hotel and a schoolhouse and was the leading business point in the south end of Montague county un- til Bowie outstripped it and finally drew off its substantial support, when it went the way of Adaire and is now only a memory.

While Queens Peak was in existence Mr. Arnold was one of its general merchants and built and operated a gin, and was one of the last to abandon the town to its fate. Early in the eighties he resumed farming and raising stock in which his success has been marked and constant. His dominions embrace five hundred and fifty acres of land, extensively farmed and amply stocked with cattle, horses and mules, the breeding of which latter he has lately made a special feature of his varied affairs.

In Clinton county, Missouri, December 7, 1871, Albert G. Arnold married Frances Leinhart, a daughter of Eli and Malinda (Biggerstaff) Lein- hart, who settled in Missouri from Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Arnold's children are: Nora Or- pha, wife of Dr. Clark, of Salona, Texas; Fred Lawrence, who married Stella Stephens, re- sides in Oklahoma and has issue, Cleo, Vorce and Opal ; Woodie, of Marlow, Indian Territory ; Trula Pearl, wife of Aldo Culberhouse, of Sweetwater, Oklahoma; Quinton Milo, Essig Lorain, Roland C., and Turney M., and Lester, who died at the age of two years.

The Arnolds of the earlier time were affiliated with the Whig and Republican parties, but our subject has allied himself, from his majority, with the Democrats, but has manifested no po- litical ambition. He has served as school trus- tee, he believes in religious teachings and is a member of the Christian church.

CHARLES E. WILLIAMS, of Dalhart, during the last fifteen or twenty years has probably drilled as many wells in the Pan- handle country as any other one man, and in this industry, so indispensable to the welfare and progress of this part of the state, he has been unusually successful, and he is recognized as a business man of large ability and a citizen of eminent public spirit and personal worth.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 93

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