USA > Texas > Bastrop County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.1 > Part 55
USA > Texas > Travis County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.1 > Part 55
USA > Texas > Burleson County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.1 > Part 55
USA > Texas > Lee County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.1 > Part 55
USA > Texas > Williamson County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.1 > Part 55
USA > Texas > Milam County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.1 > Part 55
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In 1857 he married and removed to a home of his own, where he commenced operations for himself. This peaceful life was inter- rupted by the civil war which threatened to destroy the country. He entered the Con-
federate army in March, 1862, enlisting in Company F, Eighth Texas Infantry, and was consigned to the Trans- Mississippi Depart- ment, with operations in Lonisiana and Ar- kansas. Ile remained in the army until the close of the war and experienced some hard service, although he was never wounded or captured. Ile was stationed at Hempstead, Texas, when the war elosed, and the com- mand was disbanded.
IIe then returned to his home and resmined his farming and stock-raising. He soon after- ward bonght land and has resided in this neighborhood since 1848, with the exception of one year and when he was in the war. He has added to his first purchase and now owns 900 acres of fertile land. Most of this is under fence, 250 acres being in a good state of cultivation, devoted to mixed farming, mostly cotton and corn. He also raises and handles cattle and other stock, has a good range, and is particularly successful in the - raising of hogs.
Mr. Porter was first married to Miss Eliza- beth Duncan, a daughter of William and Dora Duncan, of Tennessee. Her parents came to Texas about 1854, and after a few moves they settled in Burleson county. where her father died in 1864, her mother stil! sur- viving in Hill county. By this marriage Mr. Porter had four children: William B .. resid- ing in Nolan county, is employed in a mer- cantile honse; Dora J. is the wife of J. B. Ilill, a thrifty farmer of Bosque county; John D., married, is a practicing physician of Burleson county; and C. C. is teaching school in Milam county. The devoted wife and mother of this family died December 10, 1866, leaving to the care of her husband their four small children. In 1867 Mr. Porter married Miss Ellen Gresham, dangh- ter of Edward II. Gresham of Georgia, who
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came to Texas in 1845. He was a natural mechanic and formerly did blacksmithing and built gins, etc., but is now in Milam connty. By the second marriage, Mr. Porter had three children: E. T., who is teaching; J. Doll, still at home; and Minnie, who died aged two years. This happy household was again invaded by Death, who again claimed the wife and mother of a sorrowing family. She died in December, 1881, lamented by all who knew her. In 1882 Mr. Porter married Miss S. Jennie MeKinney, born in Alabama, November 3, 1844, and a daughter of Jasper and Martha G. Mckinney, who came from that State to Texas in 1852, settling in Milam county. Her father was a leading member of the Baptist Church and an enterprising man. He died in November, 1880, and his widow still survives him, at the age of seven- ty years.
Politically, Mr. Porter is Democratic, like his father, and is actively interested in public welfare. He lias filled several minor offices in a satisfactory manner, has served six years as Justice of the Peace and acted three terms as County Commissioner. IIe holds stock in the Grange and Alliance stores at Cald- well. He and his wife or worthy members of the Baptist Church, and enjoy the highest regard of the community in which they have lived so long.
Carolinians by birth. He was reared in his native State to about the age of eighteen, when he emigrated to Georgia, where he mar- ried Sarah, a daughter of Lewis and Mahala Sherrill, and engaged in school-teaelring and in farming, which he followed successfully there till 1859. That year he moved to Texas, settling in Milam county, where he spent the remainder of his life engaged ex- elusively in agricultural pursuits. He died at his home near Maysfield, August 17, 1872. Ilis wife is still living, making her home with her son, J. E. Todd, in Milam county. Joli and Sarah Todd were the parents of eight children, all of whom became grown and most of whom are now living, being residents of this State. These are Engenia, the widow of N. O. MeCowen, of Milam county; Eliza, the wife of J. L. Ford, of Brown county; Harriet, the wife of G. C. Timmons, of Milam county; Robert, the subject of this sketch; Fannie, the wife of J. L. Ward, of Leon county; John Edwin, a successful farmer of Milam county; Jessie, the wife of D. B. Worcester, of Cameron; and Daniel D., a resident of Grimes county.
Robert Todd was abont seven years old when his parents came to Texas. His boy- hood and youth were passed in the vicinity of Maystield, where they settled. He grew up on the farin and has followed farming and stock-raising all his life. His early educa- tional advantages were limited, but he sue- cecded in securing the elements of a common- school training, which, supplemented by a plenty of practical experience, has enabled him to hold his own reasonably well in the battle of life. On reaching his majority he engaged in farming for himself, and followed this successfully for several years. He then
R OBERT TODD, a progressive farmer and stock-raiser of Milam county, was born in Polk county, Georgia, on the 18th day of September, 1852, and is a son of John Todd. who was born in Ander- son district, South Carolina, in 1521. John Todd was the younger of two sons born to turned his attention to the stock business, Andrew and Olive Todd, who were also South and gave this exclusive attention for a few
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years, when he again went on the farm, buy- ing 310 acres of land lying nine miles north of Cameron. He has been engaged in farm- ing and live-stock operations since, owning now about 1,500 acres, partly in this county and partly in Callahan county, this State. IIe handles a large number of cattle every year, and is known as an authority in live- stock matters. He has been Deputy Sheriff of Milam county for six years, but beyond the discharge of his official duties takes but little interest in public matters.
In 1872 Mr. Todd married Miss Ella Evans, a daughter of J. M. and Jannett Evans, who moved to Texas in May, 1869, from Louisiana. Mrs. Todd was born in Alabama, December 6, 1856, and is the youngest of four children born to her parents, the others being James L., Sarah, the wife of J. T. Miller, and Emenda, the wife of A. J. Williamson.
Mr. and Mrs. Todd have six children: Olive, Pearl, John, Giles, Stella and Wilbur Crawford.
Mr. Todd is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Cameron Lodge, and in politics is a Demoerat.
JOHN T. RANDLE .- The stock from which the subject of this sketch de- scended came originally from England and Ireland, or, broadly speaking, from the British Isles. Hlis progenitors emigrated to this country before the American Revolution and settled very probably in Virginia. Will- iam Randle, his paternal grandfather, was born in the " Old Dominion," whence he moved in pioneer days to Georgia, where he was for many years in later life a wealthy and influential planter. He seems to have been in early life a bold, adventurous spirit, having
much of the romantic and practical fused in his nature, but withal an industrious, patri- otie citizen and devoted friend and compan- ion. Hle penetrated the wilds of central and north Georgia early in the last century, and knew personally many of the heads of the In- dian tribes that roamed over that section. Mr. Randle has in his possession a watch the case of which is made of gold dng by this grandfather, in Georgia, in 1740. IIe died there and was succeeded in name and estate by a son, William, who was the father of John T. of this article. The second William Randle was born in Georgia in 1812 and reared there. About the time he reached his majority he married a Miss Durham of that State, who, however, died in a few years, leav- ing no issue. About 1839 he married Miss Frances E. Gibson, daughter of Churchill Gibson, an Alabama planter, and, with this lady and his family of six children whom he had by her, emigrated to Texas in 1850, set- tling on the Brazos river in Robertson county. Here he had the misfortune to lose this wife a year later, but married some time afterward a Mrs. Terrell, and moved to Wash- ington county and thence to Coryell county, where in 1885 he died, in the seventy-third year of his age.
IIis residence in Texas thus covered thirty- five years, and having come soon after the State's admission into the Union he wit- messed a large share of its growth and de- velopment, taking an active but unpretentious part in this work himself. By industry and good management he succeeded in accumul- lating considerable property before the war, Unt lost most of it in that great conflict, hav- ing sold his slaves and the greater part of his personal property for which he took notes that turned out to be worthless. He still had some land, however, and by the practice of
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
the same industry and frugal management that had characterized his career in early life he succeeded in making a comfortable living for himself down to his last days, and also rendered his children much aid as they came on and were settled off to themselves. lle had enjoyed in youth only very limited edu- cational advantages, but was a man of good general information and possessed very cor- reet habits and feelings. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity and in later life of the Methodist Church. By his second wife, Frances (Gibson) Randle, he had six children, all of whom became grown and were married. These are: William H., John T., Espie, Aurelia, Georgie and Ella. William II. died in Bryan, this State, September 27, 1878; John T. is the subject of this notice; Espie is now the wife of William Jenkins, of Ve- lasco, this State; Anrelia is the wife of Il. S. Pipkin, of Midland, Texas; Georgia is the deceased wife of Dr. L. J. Turner, of Milam connty ; and Ella is the wife of Frank Brink- man, of Velasco.
John T. Randle was born in Coweta county, Georgia, June 10, 1842, and was in his seventh year when his parents moved to Texas. On the death of his mother the year after the family came to this State he went to live with an aunt, a Mrs. Snsan Daniel, of Washington county, with whom he made his home until his father's marriage the third time. Ile then returned to his father's house and lived there, thus passing his early years on the farm. Ile attended Baylor Univer- sity, then located at Independence, Washing- ton connty, from which he received a reason- ably good education.
where he entered Price's army and served for about six months, taking part in the raids of that date. He then returned to Texas, hav- ing heard that active steps were being taken by the people of the State to send Confeder- ate troops to the front, and entered Company A, Captain Thomas Harrison, Eighth Texas Cavalry, commanded by Colonel John A. Horton. Joining General Albert Sidney Johnston's army, under this command he got to Shiloh just before the engagement at that place, participating in it, and was with his command from that time on until the sur- render, taking part in the battles of Perryville, Kentucky, Murfreesborongh, Stone River, Chickamauga, the siege of Knoxville and all of the Georgia campaign, his regiment being one of the detachments that linng on the wing of Sherman's army and gave it all the annoyance possible in its march to the sea.
Returning home in 1865, Mr. Randle farmed for about a year and a half in Wash- ington county, when he came to Milam county, and in 1868 married Miss Frances L. Rogers, daughter of Michael and Frances Rogers, then of this connty, and settled on a seetion of land which his father had given him, where he took up farming pursuits. Not content with his holdings then, he be- gan to branch ont as his means would allow, buying unimproved land for which he went partially in debt, paying out from year to year as he made the money to do it with. In this way he came to own a farm of 2,100 acres lying in the Little river valley in the west part of the county, all rich land and about one fourth in cultivation. He farms largely by the tenant system, having some ten or a dozen families living on his place. Ilis farm is well-stocked and conductel in a thoroughgoing. business like way. In addi-
At the opening of the war in 1861, before any forees had been organized in this part of the State for the Confederate service, he in company with eight others went to Missouri, I tion to this he owns valuable property in
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Cory malone
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Rockdale, including a handsome residence, |above statements we need not go far to find which he recently erected there, having moved to that place for the better education of his children.
Ile has a family of eight. one being de- ceased, all of whom are still at home with their parents, these being: Lillian II., For- rest, Minnie, Ozell, John T., Intitia (de- ceased), Edna, Brinkman, and Gibson. Mrs. Randle and two of her oldest danghters are members of the Baptist Chinreh, toward
which church Mr. Randle inelines in behef . and determined spirit, has won a merited re- but is not a member. Ile is liberal in his charities both toward this organization and all others, and is a stanch supporter of the schools.
EORGE W. MALONE .- With all the heterogeneous elements that enter into the constituency of our national life there is no foreign land that has per- haps contributed more effectively to the vital- izing and vivifying of our magnificent com- monwealth, with its diverse interests and its cosmopolitan make-up, than has the Emerald Isle, the land of legend and romance; the land of native wit and honest simplicity of life; the land of sturdy integrity and resolute good nature. To Ireland we owe the incep- tion of many of our most capable, most hon- ored and most patriotic families in these latter days, and there has been no nationality that has been more readily assimilated into the very fabric of complex elements that go to make up one and the best nation ever spread beneath the blue vault of heaven; no class of people that has been more thoroughy in touch with the spirit of progress that is typical of our national existence.
instances, and in a review of the life of George W. Malone and a reference to his lineage will it be shown again that onr statements have not been incongruons. One of the most prominent and prosperons planters of Travis county, Texas, is he whose name initiates this sketch. The American " self-made man " is an original and interesting type, and such an man is Mr. Malone, who, by his own industry and exertions. coupled with sound judgment ward in the aceninulation of a large property.
Several generations ago the ancestors of our subjeet emigrated from Ireland to the United States, originally locating in North Carolina, and later on removing to Tennessee. Upon attaining the age of maturity our sub- ject followed in the footsteps of his progeni- tors by hying him to a new and undeveloped section of the Union, and there setting val- iantly to work to reclaim from nature's hands the benefices she had withheld unto the hour of being thus importuned. Thus the subject of this sketch became a pioneer of the Lone Star State.
George W. Malone was born in Orange county, North Carolina, October 6, 1830, being the third son and sixth in order of birth of the eight children born to Isham and Elizabeth (Cheatham) Malone. While George was still a child only three years old the family emigrated to Tennessee and settled in Manry county. There our subject grew to mature years, receiving incidentally such educational advantages,-limited, it must be said,-as were afforded in the rural districts of a section yet in the process of develop- ment. Being. however, a boy of quick per- ceptions and inheriting that acute native wit characteristic of the Irish blood, he gained
As an exemplification of certain of the , from his subsequent contact with the world a
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
practical knowledge which has stood him per- haps more in hand than would a mere theo- retical education. Ilis father was a mechanic and farmer in Tennessee, and was a man of no little prominence in the community, hav. ing served for thirty years as Postmaster at Ashwood, Tennessee, where they resided. Of the eight children born to Mr. and Mrs. Isham Malone it is relevant that a brief record be incorporatedl in this connection: Mary, Bazil Y., William and Catherine are all deceased; Martha is the widow of J. J. Bryant and re- sides in Bosque county, Texas; George W. is the subject of this review; Joseph B. is de- ceased; and Elizabeth is the wife of Dr. Mc- Canly, of Sweetwater, Texas. The parents continued to reside in Maury county, Ten- nessee, and there died in the fullness of years, the father passing away in 1886, at the age of ninety-two years, and the mother in 1889, at the age of ninety-three years.
Our subject assmned the responsibilities of life at the early age of fifteen years. He first found employment in a drug store, where he remained for about a year, after which he was concerned in merchandising until he attained his majority, when he eut loose from the associations of his boyhood home and came to Texas, reaching Travis county in March, 1852. At that early day the county was sparsely settled, but at the thriving little settlement of Webberville he foand employment as a clerk in the store of B Sexton, subsequently being employed for one year in a similar capacity in the mercan- tile establishment of Timothy Mckean. At the expiration of the time noted he went to Corpus Christi, where he clerked for one year. Ile finally determined that there properly should be more satisfaction and ad- vantage in working for himself than in de- voting his efforts to advancing the interests
of others, and he promptly prepared to fol- low ont the dictates of said conviction. He returned to Travis county, and, as preliminary to his life of independence, took unto himself a wife, espousing Mrs. David Manor, a dangh- ter of Dr. U. D. Ezell. This ceremonial took place at Webberville, September 18, 1855, his bride being a native of Rutherford county, Tennessee, and having been a resident of Texas since 1849. After his marriage Mr. Malone leased, for a term of three years, a tract of land on Gilliland creek, and npon the expiration of- the lease he purchased 400 acres of the best type of land in that favored section of the Union. IIis farm is located twelve miles cast of Austin and three miles south of Manor. Of this fine farm 150 acres have been brought to a high state of cultiva- tion, and, in connection with his agricultural operations, he has been extensively engaged in stock-raising, and also owns and operates a cotton gin. Mr. Malone has put forth most zealous and well-directed efforts, and they have been crowned with consistent suc- cess. While now just in the virile prime of life he has already provided a competence to sustain him in his declining years, and by his many years of honorable and upright deal- ings lie has won the confidence and esteem of all who know him. He is generous, charit- able and public-spirited, and has ever been among the foremost to contribute of his means and to lend his influence to every landable enterprise tending to the conserva- tion of the best interests of the community in which he lives. He is a man of broad in- telligence and much business and exeen- tive ability. At the time of the secession movement Mr. Malone, like Sam Houston and many other discerning men. opposed most vigorously the extreme policy porten- tons of national disintegration, believing
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that the people were better protected in their slave property under the old constitution than they could be by a new one, and when the culmination came and Texas passed resolu- tions of secession he took no part until he was drafted, when he served one year as a member of Tate's battalion of the State troops.
Mr. and Mrs. Malone have had five chil- dren born to them, and of this number three survive: Elizabeth is the wife of William E. Turner, of Austin, Texas; Annie is deceased; Mary B. is the wife of Hon. Thomas II. Wheeless, a prominent lawyer and member of the Legislature, residing at Austin; Ada is deceased; and Joseph is a resident of Orange, Texas.
Mr. Malone takes a great interest in fra- ternal societies, and before he was twenty years of age was Past Grand, and had taken the royal purple degree in the encampment of the I. O. O. F., and now has his member- ship in the Capital Lodge at Austin. Soon after his twenty-first birthday he was made a Master Mason at his old home in Tennes- see, joining the Euphemia Lodge, No. 96, at Columbia, that State. He is the only charter member now affiliating with Parsons Lodge, No. 222, and is Past Master of the same. He was made a Royal Arch Mason in the Lone Star Chapter at Austin, but is now a member of the Manor Chapter, No. 127. He is a member of the Colorado Commandery, No. 4, at Austin, and of the Ben Hur Temple Mystic Shrine, being also identified with the Knights of Honor. Ile is a communieant of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and is prominent in the work of the parish of which he is a member. Mr. Malone votes with the Democratic party. but is liberal in his views touching the political questions and issues of the day.
Thus has Mr. Malone attained to a high measure of success in temporal affairs; by his own efforts has he secured to himself a position of honor and of firmly established prosperity; to his family he has given the accessories which add much to the enjoy- ments of life; to his children has he gladly offered the best of educational advantages, thus fortifying them for the duties of life, while he has not been unmindful of the wants and the sorrows of others, but has dispensed charity with a liberal and open hand. To him is accordingly rendered but what is justly due, the highest respect and esteem of all who have known of him and his exemplary life.
D R. V. E. II. REED .-- Among those sturdy pioneers who at an early date sorght homes in Texas, being attract ed by reports of its genial climate and fertile soil, was Michael Reed, a native of Tennes- see, who came in 1833 as a member of Robertson's colony. He was a type of his kind,-strong of heart, simple in faith, sturdy in purpose, adventurous, self-reliant and skillel in all the ways of getting on in a new country where the arts and industries of civilization were but little known. He made his first stop near old Franklin in Robertson county, where he resided until after the victory over the Mexicans at San Jacinto, and the border had in a measure been cleared of the marauding bands of Indians and Mexicans. He then settled on the waters of Little river, in what was at that time part of Milam Land District, now Bell county. There he passed his remaining years, and, together with his good wife, who shared the labors and privations of his life, was buried on the okl homestead. His children, six in number
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four sons and two daughters .-- settled, with one exception, around him, and lived and died in that vicinity. His sons were: John, Wilson, William, and Jefferson; and the danghters: Sallie, afterward Mrs. W. C. Sparks; and Harriet, who was successively the wife of Wiley Carter, Charles M. Hen- derson, and King Fisher.
company, with which they served till inde- pendence was won. They were not in the battle of San Jacinto, being in charge of important stores of provision and army sup- plies at that time, but served as part of the detachment which buried the bones of Fannin's men at Goliad, and were in active sympathy with and support of all the other measures and operations of those stirring days.
The third of these, William, was well known to many of the citizens of Milam county with whom at an earlier date he had At the close of hostilities young Reed returned to the settlements east of the Brazos and spent several years in that locality, mostly in Robertson county, where he was engaged in farming. In 1841 he married Emeline Cobb, of Robertson connty, and three years later, in company with his relatives, moved ont and settled on his claim. At that time the locality where he settled was part of the Milam Land District, and was very sparsely settled. The nearest town of any consequence was old Nashville on the Brazos, and it was but little more than a trading post. The records were kept there, and the courts were held there, and snch supplies as the settlers needed or were able to afford were obtained from the two or three small stores at that place. Wl:en Burleson county was created by act of the Legislature in 1846, and Milam county as now defined was erected into a separate organization, and the seat of justice fixed at Cameron, this became the chief place of consequence to the settlers living to the northwest, and hither most of them came npon matters of public interest and to buy their wares and supplies. Mr. Reed was a frequenter of Cameron in those days, and knew all of the public characters who figured freqnent business and official intercourse, and with some of whom he remained on terms of intimate friendship until his death. A more extended notice of him therefore will be ap- propriate in this volume. He was a native of Bedford county, Tennessee, and was born January 23, 1816. As can be gathered from the dates he was only a lad when his parents came to Texas. Ile was old enough, how- ever, to carry a rifle, and this he did, acting as scont and guard on the journey West, dis- charging his duties as such to the satisfaction of the older members of the company and to the gratification of his youthful ambition. After his father had taken up temporary quarters in Robertson county, William, in company with his brother, Jefferson, joined Moses Cummings' surveying corps, in which they became chain carriers, and for several months were engaged in laying off lands in the Robertson grant for the new settlers. As early as December 25, 1833, they selected and ran off claims for themselves, locating them on Little river, in what is now Bell county. No actual settlement was made on these until a much later date on account of the disturbances then in progress on the frontier. When the war came on with in the history of the county. He was pres- Mexico both brothers and a brother-in-law. ent at the sitting of the first district court Wiley Carter, enlisted in the defense of the over held at Cameron, being in faet a mem- settlers, joining Captain L. H. Mabbett's ber of the first jury ever impanneled to serve
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