A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 94

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 94

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Mr. Williams is a native of the state of In- diana, born near Greensburg, Decatur county, in 1863, his parents, Louden and Harriet Emily (Evans) Williams, being natives of the same state and now residents of the Panhandle. The entire family moved to Texas in 1880, locating near Lawrence in Kaufman county, and four years later went out into the western country and located on a ranch in Fisher county,

where the father was engaged quite extensively in the cattle business. Mr. Louden Williams lived in Fisher county for sixteen years, his sons in the meantime going up into Northwest Texas in the newer country, and in 1900 he followed them and moved to Dallam county, he and his good wife now residing on one of the Williams ranches seventeen miles east of Dalhart.

In 1886 Mr. Charles E. Williams left his father's ranch in Fisher county and took a contract with the Capitol Syndicate Cattle Company (X I T ranch) to dig a number of wells on their ranch. At that time the X I T was the biggest ranch in the world, extending over several counties in the Panhandle and comprising three million acres of land. In the fulfillment of his contract Mr. Williams drilled wells in Hockley, Lamb, Floyd and other counties, and he has been extensively engaged in this line of business ever since 1886. He was drilling wells for the X I T company south of the Canadian river until 1888, when he came up to Hartley county and drilled a well at Hartley for the Fort Worth and Den- ver road, which was completed through this county in 1888. For several years thereafter he was drilling wells along the line of the Fort Worth and Denver from the city of Fort Worth to Pueblo, Colorado.

When the Rock Island System graded their El Paso line through Dallam and Hartley coun- ties early in 1901, Mr. Williams entered into a contract to drill wells along the line, and since that time has put down thirteen wells for that company. Since the town of Dalhart was started in 1901 he has made his home at this place, where he has built a nice, comfortable residence, identifying himself thoroughly with the life of the town. In July, 1901, he drilled a well in Dalhart three hundred and sixteen feet in depth, and established the Dalhart water works, which has ever since that time supplied first-class water to the residents and has proved one of the most important additions in making Dalhart a flour- ishing, up-to-date little city. In September, 1904, Mr. Williams sold this plant to a company known as the' Dalhart Water Works Company, and since that time he has continued his occupa- tion of drilling wells for railroads and private individuals in this section of the country.

Mr. Williams has three brothers who are suc- cessful cattle ranchers in this part of the state. Sam and Otto W. are in Dallam county, and F. S. is in Hartley county. Mr. Williams was married in October. 1896, to Miss Anna Atkin-

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

son, a daughter of George F. Atkinson, a promi- nent old-timer of Texas who was born and reared in Jack county and for several years has lived in the Panhandle. Mr. Williams was elected and served as treasurer of Hartley county when it was first organized, in 1891. Mr. Williams affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, and his wife is a member of the Methodist church.

JOSIAH M. CARTER, of Plainview, Hale county, was the first permanent settler of this West Texas town, and has been prominently engaged in the real estate business and in ranch- ing in that locality for more than fifteen years. He is a public-spirited, enterprising and ener- getic man, capable in all lines of his endeavors, and has made and deserved a fine success in his career.

Mr. Carter was born in Lincoln county, Ken -. tucky, in 1849, a son of Champe and Mary (Montgomery) Carter. Both parents were na- tives of Virginia, whence they moved to Lin- coln county, Kentucky, after their marriage. The mother died at Stamford in that county in 1856. Champe Carter was county clerk of Lin- coln county for a number of years, and also practiced law at the county seat of Stamford. In 1859 he brought his family to Texas, locating at Milford in Ellis county, where he was a prom- inent and widely known lawyer for a long num- ber of years. His later years he passed at dif- ferent places, living with his children, and he died at Chapel Hill, Washington county, in 1874.

Mr. Carter grew to manhood at Milford, this state, but got most of his education at Stamford, Kentucky, to which place he returned, some years after the family moved to Texas, and at- tended school there for four years. After finish- ing his schooling he came back to Ellis county, where he was engaged in farming for some time. During the past twenty years he has been en- gaged quite extensively in the land business in Western Texas. He has been a resident of Hale county since 1887, and on coming to this county he took up some land north of where Plainview is now located. However, the county was not organized nor the town started until August, 1888, and when he arrived here there was only one house in the county that was constructed of lumber, and that belonged to Horatio Graves at Hale Center. Hale county was thus entirely new and unsettled, and Mr. Carter has borne a prominent part in all its subsequent develop- ment and progress. At the present time he owns a fine lot of land in the county, west of

Plainview, where he has had special success in alfalfa growing, and has handled all his ranch- ing and farming enterprises with a great deal of success. His home and his land business are at Plainview, and he is one of the prominent citi- zens of that town, where he has lived from the inception of the town.

Mr. Carter's wife, who is deceased, and to whom he was married at Milford, was Miss Amanda McGilton, who left three children, namely : Eli M., Thomas B. and Ellis B. Mr. Carter affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and may be found supporting every movement for the general welfare and progess of his community.

THOMAS E. LEWIS, of Fort Worth, Texas, is a native of Moultrie county, Illinois, and a son of Dr. T. Y. and Cordelia (Elder ) Lewis.

Dr. T. Y. Lewis was born in Shelbyville, Illi- nois ; studied medicine and became a prominent physician at Sullivan, where he lived for many years; came to Texas with his family in 1881 and located at Dublin, in Erath county, where he is still in the active practice of medicine and is a well known citizen, having besides his profes- sional interests a fine ranch stocked with Nor- man horses and Durham cattle. His wife, a native of Sullivan, Illinois, is a member of a Tennessee family who were for the most part merchants.

Mr. Lewis' paternal grandfather was born and reared in Boston. He was descended from the Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame, the original progenitors of the family having come to this country from England, settling in Massachusetts Colony, where they figured prominently in com- mercial affairs, invariably being successful. An- cestors of Mr. Lewis were owners of the Long Wharf at Boston in Revolutionary times. Grand- father Lewis pioneered to Illinois at an early day, making the journey by way of canal boats, stage coaches, etc., and settled at Shelbyville, where he was a prominent merchant.

Thomas E. Lewis received his education at Sullivan, and was a young fellow when the fam- ily came to Texas. In those days cattle being the paramount industry in this portion of Texas, he engaged for some time as manager of a cattle and horse ranch. When still quite a young man he went into the hardware business at Dublin, and was successfully engaged in the same for four years. Being ambitious and wishing to conduct larger operations, he went to Corpus Christi, Texas, on the gulf coast, which was then in the incipient throes of a boom, and com-

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

menced dealing in real estate. In this ven- ture he was successful until the panic of 1893 caused a collapse. He was there about two years, and then he took the general south- ern agency for the Torshon Balance Scale Com- pany of New York. Following this he went on the road for a buggy manufacturing company, selling buggies in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Indian Territory, and Oklahoma. About this time the discovery and application of acetylene gas came to his attention, and he was one of the first in the United States to introduce acety- lene gas and sell machines for generating same, introducing it all over Texas and adjacent ter- ritory. Previous to going into the gas business he had spent a short time as right-of-way and town-site agent for the Denison and Northern Railway, which was projected to be built north- ward from Denison through the Indian Terri- tory.

After discontinuing the acetylene gas busi- ness, Mr. Lewis cast about for a suitable home and business in or near Forth Worth, which has been his headquarters for some time, and after driving over considerable country around the city he decided to locate at what he subse- quently named Sagamore Hill, about four miles east of the Fort Worth courthouse. Here he purchased some land. In 1903 the Fort Worth and Dallas interurban electric line was com- pleted, which runs directly by his property, mak- ing it an ideal place for suburban residence, with the quick and easy transportation thus afforded. Since the completion of the road the adjacent property as far out as Handley is becoming settled with pretty suburban residences, and has greatly enhanced in value. Mr. Lewis' own home site is ideally situated, being on the high- est point between Dallas and Fort Worth, and commanding a magnificent view of the latter city. Besides his home place, Mr. Lewis has ad- joining valuable acreage and platted residence lots which he is selling to home builders. Saga- more Hill will undoubtedly be one of the most attractive suburbs of Fort Worth.

Mr. Lewis married Miss Hattie M. Brown, who was born and reared in Mexico, Missouri, and they have one son, Thomas Y.

W. T. MANRY. The Manry family origin- ally emigrated from England to Georgia and thence to Tennessee. The great-grandfather of W. T. Manry was familiarly known as Jack Manry and was the first representative of the name in this country. One of his sons was Edward Manry, a native of Georgia, and the

latter had a son who was called Richard and who was born in McMinn county, Tennessee, in 1828. He was the father of W. T. Manry of this review and he left Tennessee in 1861, making his way to Missouri, residing in the southern part of that state until 1876. He then removed to Texas, locating in Denton county and he died there in the fall of 1887. He was a farmer by occupation, devoting his entire life to general agricultural pursuits. In McMinn county, Ten- nessee, about 1851 or 1852, he was married to Miss Mary Jane Rue, a native of that state. She is still living and makes her home in Snyder, Texas. In their family there were nine children, five sons and four daughters, who lived to ma- turity. The eldest son is now deceased, but the others yet survive.

William Taylor Manry, son of Richard and Mary Jane Manry, was born in McMinn county, Tennessee, November 26, 1857. He spent his boyhood days on his father's farm and removed with the family to Missouri, and afterward to Texas, coming to the latter state in 1876 when nineteen years of age. His educational privi- leges were very limited and the only opportuni- ties in that direction that he enjoyed were offered by the common country schools. When twenty- one years of age he arranged with his father and raised a crop upon his father's place. In fact he carried on farming in this way for two years, when he purchased a tract of land in the same neighborhood in Denton county and there devoted his attention to farming until 1889.

On the 6th of August, 1886, Mr. Manry was married to Miss Mary Louisa Liggon, a native of Titus county, Texas, and daughter of James Liggon. They have but one child, Lillian Louise, born January 23, 1890, in Scurry county, the parents having removed to this county the previous year. They located at Snyder, where Mr. Manry, in connection with his brother, J. R. Manry, opened a grocery store. They con- ducted the business together for five years, when in 1894, Mr. Manry purchased his brother's in- terest and continued the trade alone for the suc- ceeding four years. In 1898 he added a stock of dry goods, and a year later closed out the grocery department, putting in a full line of dry goods, clothing, notions and furnishing goods. His business has constantly increased until at the present time, in order to meet the growing demands of the trade, he carries the largest stock of goods between Abilene and El Paso.

Mr. Manry is an enterprising citizen of Snyder who has witnessed almost the entire

MR. AND MRS. HENRY H. WELLS

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

development of the town and has for the last sixteen years taken an active part in supporting and promoting any enterprise tending to the public good. In business matters he has been eminently successful and is rated with the wealthy men of this immediate section. The lessons which he learned in early life-lessons of industry, perseverance and determination- have been of inestimable value to him in all of his dealings in later years, and by strict economy and diligent attention to his business, even to the minutest detail, he has steadily worked his, way upward until he ranks today with the most prosperous business men of this part of the state. His life record offers a splendid example to the young men who would win success, for his career proves that prosperity and an honored name may be gained simultaneously. He has lost but twenty-one days from business during his sixteen years residence in Snyder and is now in control of one of the largest mercantile houses of western Texas. His methods neither seek nor require disguise but have been wrought out along original lines that indicate his excel- lent judgment, keen foresight and ready adapta- bility.

HENRY HARRISON WELLS. In the year 1895 the community of Crafton received among its thrifty and forehanded population a settler whose course during the succeeding decade has been marked by a steady and material pecuniary advance and who has established himself in the goodwill and confidence of a wide circle of Wise county's business men. He came as a quiet citi- zen without bluster or trumpet's blast, seeking a location and an opportunity for the exercise of his industry and intelligence to the end that, in the evening of life, he and his might be pro- vided with those substantial elements so con- ducive to the real enjoyments of retired exist- ence.

Mr. Wells chose his location on the George R. Craft pre-emption and his fertile and productive farm lies against the site of the village of Craft- ton, of which its owner is a leading and influential spirit. He came hither from Thackerville in the Chickasaw Nation, where for eleven years he plied his vocation as a farmer as a lessee of the lands of "Poor Lo." Ardmore was his chief trading point and while there he was informed by the judge of the peace court that he signed the first bond given at that place in an assault and battery case. He went to the Indian country as a poor man in the hope the title to its lands might soon be gained by the whites, but, in time.

he despaired of this event and although pros- perity regularly came to him, he decided to change his location to the fertile and titled soil of Texas and at once acquire a home.

January 6, 1841, Henry H. Wells was born in Tippah county, Mississippi. His father, Rev. Joseph Wells, founded the family there when a young man, a settler from Giles county, Ten- nessee, where his birth occurred in 18II. For fifty years the latter was a Methodist minister and when the rebellion came on he was made colonel of the . Twenty-third Mississippi Infan- try. He was a doctrinal preacher and worked chiefly as a supply and was known widely for many years prior to his death, which occurred in Prentiss county in 1895. In early life he was a Whig, but later a Democrat, and was a son of John Wells, who died in Tippah county. John Wells was born in Virginia, passed his life in rural pursuits and lived in Tennessee a few years on his way from the Old Dominion state to his final location in Mississippi. He married Miss Livingston, who bore him: William, Levi, John, Pleasant, Miles, Rev. Joseph, Mrs. Dr. Biggs, Mrs. Dr. Harrison, Mrs. Elizia Bennett and Mrs. George Miller.

Rev. Joseph Wells married Sarah, a daughter of John Burns, of Maury county, Tennessee. Mr. Burns was a native Irishman and lived and died on his farm in the state of Mississippi. Mrs. Wells passed away in 1881, the mother of: Pink- ney, who died young, and Miles, who died a prisoner of war in Chicago; William died in Mississippi; Mary, wife of John A. Stokes, of Prentiss county, Mississippi; Nancy, deceased wife of John Bartlett, of the same county ; Aman- da, wife of J. K. Bartlett, of Tippah county, Mississippi ; Henry H., of this sketch; John, who died in the military prison of the Federals at Chicago; Watson, of Hall county, Texas; and Wilson, of Union county, Mississippi.

A limited education in the district school came to Henry H. Wells as he grew up on the farm in Tippah and Prentiss counties, Mississippi, and he was just past his majority year when the dif- ferences between the north and the south broke into open hostilities. In 1862 he joined Company H, Thirty-fourth Mississippi Infantry, Colonel Benton, and became a part of the Army of the Tennessee. He was in engagements at Farring- ton and Murfreesboro, in the Missionary Ridge campaign and on south to the defense of Atlan- ta. August 3, 1864, he was captured near At- lanta and taken to Camp Chase, Ohio, and held a prisoner of war until March 17, 1865, when he was paroled at Richmond and permitted to return home.

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

As he had been reared a farmer Mr. Wells re- sumed the vocation on returning to civil pur- suits and continued it in the state almost twenty years, when he cast his fortunes with the Indian country of the west and added his vigor and strength and that of his family to the civiliza- tion of the frontier.

In August, 1860, Mr. Wells married Martha J. Handcock, a daughter of Benjamin and Ma- tilda (Ramsey) Handcock, and they began life modestly and on a rented farm. The issue of their union are: Mary, wife of William Hayes, of Bowie ; Effie, wife of Z. B. Shurbet, of Mon- tague county ; Annie, who married Dr. Hunt and died in Crafton; Arthur B., an employe of the mercantile firm of Robert Weil, of Bowie; Joseph B., of Crafton, married Lula Harris; Ida, widow of Mark Miflan ; Henry B., married Ella Under- wood who resides near Crafton ; Marvin, who was accidentally killed at Thackerville, Indian Ter- ritory ; Amy, wife of Rome Harrisy, and Miss Tisha, the only child yet at the old home.

Mr. Wells has affiliated with the Democratic party from his first vote and while in the Terri- tory he was deputy United States marshal and also a notary public. In wise county he has filled the office of notary and that of justice of the peace of Precinct No. 3. He is a Mason of Crafton Lodge No. 617, and the family hold al- legiance to the Cumberland Presbyterian church.

F. J. GRAYUM, cashier of the Snyder Na- tional Bank at Snyder, Texas, was born in Jas- per county, Missouri, May 9, 1860. His father W. J. C. Grayum, was also a native of Missouri, born in the central portion of the state near Jefferson City, in 1825. He was a farmer by occupation and followed that pursuit during the greater part of his life. In the fall of 1861 he emigrated to Texas, settling near Waco in Falls county. On account of his southern proclivi- ties he was a refugee from the north to this country, and in the following spring he enlisted in the Confederate service but had been at the front for only a short time when he was excused from active participation in the movements of the army, and commissioned to look after the interests of the widows whose husbands had fallen in battle. He also operated a grist-mill on his own account and on some occasions fur- nished supplies to the troops which passed by in their line of march. He lived in Falls county for about twenty-two years and in 1884 removed to Anson, Jones county, where he resided up to the time of his death, which occurred on the Ist of October, 1904. He was familiar with the de- velopment of this country and he lived to see

many changes here as the work of progress and improvement was carried forward. He was a man of especial religious nature, a faithful mem- ber of the Baptist church and strictly moral and upright in all his habits and belief. He married Miss Derinda Gist, a native of Missouri, in which state the wedding was celebrated and she now makes her home at Stamford, Texas. In the family were three children, who are yet living: Ellen, now the wife of D. J. Olinger, of Luders, Jones county, Texas; Emma, the wife of J. S. Morrow, of Stamford, Jones county ; and Frank Jonah, whose name introduces this review. There were also three other children, a son and two daughters, who are now deceased.

Frank J. Grayum was only about a year and a half old when his parents came to Texas and was reared upon a farm in Falls county. He be- gan his education in one of the old-time sub- 'scription schools and later attended the public schools of the neighborhood with the exception of one year spent as a student in the Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia, dur- ing the session of 1881-82. In the autumn of the latter year he returned to Falls county, Texas, and after spending a year and a half on his father's farm removed to Jones county with his father in 1884. He there became connected with agricultural pursuits which he followed for five years.

On the 2d of December, 1885, Mr. Grayum was married to Miss Sallie Penick, of Windsor, Missouri, a daughter of W. B. Penick, now of Stamford, Texas. On the Ioth of December, 1889, Mr. Grayum with his family removed to Snyder, Scurry county, where he has since made his home. Here he opened a drug store under the firm name of Auten & Grayum, his partner being L. K. Auten, and in April, 1890, he estab- lished a private bank under the firm name of F. J. Grayum & Company, which was the first banking institution organized in Scurry county. The drug business has been continued down to the present time, and the only change that has occurred of any note was effected January I, 1905, when the business was incorporated under the laws of Texas as the Grayum Drug Com- pany with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars all paid up. This is one of the largest drug con- cerns in western Texas, doing a splendid busi- ness that far exceeds the sales of most enter- prises of this character. On the 13th of March, 1905, the private bank of Mr. Grayum was converted into a national bank with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars under the name of the Snyder National Bank, and the officers

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

of the new institution are: W. A. Fuller, presi- dent ; E. W. Clark, vice president; F. J. Grayum, cashier; and O. P. Thrane, assistant cashier. The present bank building was commenced about the Ist of June, 1905, and was completed for occupancy on the Ist of November of that year. The building is a handsome brick structure, two stories in height and the furnishings are of the latest pattern of design both for elegance and convenience. The cost of the building, includ- ing the site and furnishings, was over eight thou- sand dollars.

Mr. Grayum is a practical business man and it is through his earnest endeavors and capabil- ities that he has won success and is now at the head of largely increasing business interests. In addition to his business concerns in Snyder he also owns a farm of three hundred and fifty-five acres in Ellis county, the most of which is under cultivation.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Grayum have been born four daughters : Ida, Edna, Mary and Alice. Mr. Grayum belongs to the Baptist church, with which he has been identified for twenty-eight years. He is a progressive and public-spirited citizen, interested in all that pertains to the wel- fare and upbuilding of the county along material, social, intellectual and moral lines.

DAVID NATION. In every community are found men who are leaders in the public life and business circles of the city and are therefore the real founders and promoters of the town that they have chosen as a place of residence. In the thriving little city of Snyder, Texas, there are a number of good business houses, but prominent among them is that of the Snyder Mercantile Company and of this organization David Nation is the president and manager. Mr. Nation is a genial, whole-souled man whose life largely exemplifies the spirit of western enter- prise. He also displays many of the strong southern traits and comes of a family from north- ern Alabama. His father, David Nation, left Blount county, Alabama, in the fall of 1865, just after the close of the Civil war, removing thence to Mississippi, where he spent two years. In 1867 he became a resident of Smith county, Texas, there he remained for a year and then removed to Ellis county, Texas, where his death occurred about 1885. He was a farmer by oc- cupation and followed that pursuit throughout his entire life, save for the period spent in the Confederate service during the war, covering about three years. During a part of this time he acted as conscript officer. In his religious

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume II, Part 94

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