USA > Texas > Burleson County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 2
USA > Texas > Travis County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 2
USA > Texas > Bastrop County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 2
USA > Texas > Lee County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 2
USA > Texas > Williamson County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 2
USA > Texas > Milam County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 2
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J. II. Sparkman was born in Columbia, Manry county, Tennessee, February 5, 1837. IIe attended the common schools, and also spent two years in Jackson College, Colum- bia. At the age of seventeen years he en- gaged with his father in a tannery, and in 1870 opened a hide business in Sulphur Springs, Hopkins county, Texas. In 1874 he located in Rockdale, Milam county, where he was engaged as a dealer in hides until 1886, and since that year, under the firm name of Sparkman & Co., has been a con- veyancer, land and loan agent, life and in- surance agent and Notary Public. In 1861 Mr. Sparkwan joined Captain J. B. Bitte's company of cavalry, which became a part of the First Tennessee Cavalry, under Colonel Jaunes Wheeler. The summer of 1861 was spent on a camp of instruction, and in the foHowing fall was ordered into Kentucky, under Duckner. On account of the monotony of service Mr. Sparkman songht work in the secret service department, where he served during the remainder of the war or in prison. Ilis first Wip was in company with Alexander Todd. Er Brother of Mrs. Lincoln. He had many exciting and perilous trips within the enemy's Dnes, was captured several times, bat was always fortunate in being released. isse Mahaffey was born in Lincoln county.
Mr. Sparkman was married at Sulphur Springs, Texas, April 9. 1869, to Mallie S., a daughter of Dr. J. E. Robertson. The Robertsons are of Scotch descent, and settled in Virginia in an carly day, where Mrs. Sparkman was born and raised. Onr subject is independent in his political views, is liberal in religions matters, and, socially, is a mem- ber of the K. of Il. and the K. & L. of H. Ile is a stockholder and was formerly vice- president of the Rockdale Mining and Man- nfacturing Company.
W ILLIAM VANCE HIEFLEY, an old settler of Milam county and the head of a large and influential family of this county, is a native of North Carolina, born in the county of Haywood, July 25, 1820. Ilis American ancestors, who were early settlers in the old States, eame origi- nally from Holland and Ireland, Thomas Hef- ley, his paternal grandfather, being a native of Holland, who emigrated to this country in an early day and settled in South Carolina, whence he moved later to Haywood county, North Carolina. Both he and his wife died in that county, having lived to an advanced age, and passed their entire lives in the peace- ful pursuits of agriculture. Martin Hefley, the father of the subject of this notice, was probably born in Holland, being young when his parents came to America. Hle was reared in Haywood county, North Carolina. Ile married Clarissa Mahaffey, of Lincoln county, that State, she being a daughter of Joseph Mahaffey, a native of Ireland, who settled in the Catskill country of Pennsylvania toward the close of the last century, whenee he moved about 1780 or 1735 to North Carolina. Clar-
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North Carolina, in which county was sitn- ated the old family seat where her parents had for many years lived and where they died and were buried. Martin Ileffey and wife resided in North Carolina for a number of years after their marriage, but in 1829 emigrated to west Tennessee and settled near Lexington, in Henderson county, where they both died in November, 1841, each aged fifty-one years. They were plain, substantial people, up to the average in point of intelli- gence, wealth, industry and the household virtues, and reared a family of seven chil- dren, to whom they transmitted these posses- sions in a reasonable degree. The father, although not a public character, was a patri- otie citizen and discharged acceptably all the fmietions and duties of such. He was a volimteer in the war of 1812, but was never in active service, the war closing just as his company reached Wadesboro, North Caro- lina, and reported for duty. He was a Major in the local militia, and figured in the mili- tary annals of his county on " muster day," those great occasions of ginger-bread, hard cider and other semi-social and military fes- tivities.
The subject of this notice is the second in point of age of the seven children of Martin and Clarissa Hefley, the others being an older sister, Eliza, who was married to William Whittle and moved to Alabama, where she died, leaving a family; Joseph M., who died at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1834, at the age of thirty-one, unmarried; Phillip Jackson, who died in Henderson county, Tennessee, where his descendants now live; George W., a resident of Belton, Texas; Samuel M., a resident of Cameron; and Harriet Caroline, the widow of James Moflitt, living now in Henderson county, Tennessee.
William V. Hetley, of this article, was principally reared in Henderson county, Teu- nessee. He was brought up on the farm and received only the limited education offered by the schools of that date. On February 15, 1844, he married Miss Jane Emily Ren- shaw, a danghter of John and Martha (Walkup) Renshaw and a native of llender- son county, where her parents were early settlers. In 1854 Mr. Hefley came to Texas, leaving Henderson county, Tennessee, Oeto- ber 9, and reaching Cameron, Milam county, December 3 following. He came overland, the nsual, and in fact only mode of travel in that day, following the trails as they had had been established from point to point and meeting with such experiences as bofell the early immigrants. In Panola county, Mis- sissippi, he was joined by his father-in-law, John Renshaw, and his family. Their ronte lay by way of Helena, Arkansas, where they crossed the Mississippi river, thence to Harris' Ferry, where White river was crossed, thence to Camden, where the Washita was crossed, thence by way of Palestine to the Trinity, which was crossed at Bonner's Ferry and the Brazos at the falls.
It had been Mr. HIefley's intention to lo- cate on the Gaudalnpe, but, it being mid- winter, the roads became impassable, and he made a temporary stop in Milam county, where, liking the country, he decided to cast his lot. The first year he lived at Cameron. He then bought a tract of land consisting of 300 acres in the Lewis league, lying about a mile and a half north and west of Cameron, on which he took np his residence in 1855. When he purchased the place it was praetic- ally without improvements, all that had been done having been the breaking of some ten or twelve acres. Mr. Hetley selected as a building site a pecan grove, sufficiently high
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and rolling to give good drainage, which in ' Lay), Lula J. (deceased), Jeff D., Henry B. times past had been something of a meeting- '(deceased), and Emma V. (now Mrs. Hardy). place of the early settlers on publie occa- , Of the ten children living eight are residents sions, and which was indeed a very sightly of this county, and all are married. The sons are among the leading business men of Cam- eron, progressive, enterprising and public- spirited,-first in everything looking to the advancement of the interests of their town and county. Naturally Mr. Hefley takes great pride in his children and in his home, being a man of strong domestic tastes and gentle, sympathetic nature. His life has centered in these and he has stamped his convictions and character on them in no small measure. place for a residence. Here he erected a one-story, double log house. with an open porch between, finished as was the custom of finishing honses in those days,-chinked and pointed with clay, covered with rived boards and floored with puncheons. the chimneys being made of brick and clay. The house, for the kind, was neat, commodious and com- fortable, fully up to, if not ahead of, the average farm house of the times. Having been reared to farming, Mr. Hefley resumed it in his new home. For nearly forty years he has resided in the vicinity where he first located, and he is now tilling soil which he was the first to turn more than a third of a century ago. The country then was but sparsely settled, and of those who were his neighbors at the time all, with one exception, are gone. He recalls the names of the Hall brothers, James and Peter, living about seven miles to the southwest, being the nearest neighbors in that direction, and George Green, living about a mile east, and others, as his associates in an early day. all of whom have passed away, but are pleasantly remem- bered for their friendship and neighborly deeds.
Mr. Hefley and his wife, who yet abides with him, are now occupying the old home- stead almost alone, but one daughter being a member of their household, the remainder of the children having married and settler in life for themselves. Of their thirteen children ten are living, the full number being John M., Mattie A. (now Mrs. Batte), Hattie E. (now Mrs. Lott), Joseph W. (deceased),
Hle has never songht to fill the public eye, preferring the private walks of life with the certainty of a competence and an old age filled with pleasant recollections to the tur- moils of a political career and the disap- pointments which so often attend on such a career. He cast his first presidential vote for William Henry Harrison in the famons "hard cider and log cabin " contest of 1840, and from that date on voted with the Whig party as long as it maintained an organiza- tion, going with the Democrats on the dis- integration of the Whig party and voting with the Democratic party ever since. Both he and his wife are members of the Method- ist Church, and have been for many years, Mrs. Hefley coming of a family that has fur- nished a number of divines to that church, some of them having attained local promi- nence in their calling, and all of them hav- ing served well their day and generation.
In personal appearance Mr. Hefley is large of mold, being fully six feet in height and weighing nearly 240 pounds. llis physique is well rounded ont, presenting no unpleas- Lafayette J., James S., William T. Laura .A. ant angles. His character, marked for firm- (now Mrs. Wallace), Mollie R. (now Mrs. ness, determination, persistence in that which
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shaven face, the square jaw and the promi- nent chin. To the home-born virtues of honesty, industry and love of family and fire- side, inherited from his sturdy Dutch ances- tors, have been added in full measure the genial wit, love of knowledge and relish for the lighter graces of life characteristic of the sons of the " Emerald Isle," back to which he traces his ancestry on his mother's side. Ile is a type of the American citizen, now too fast disappearing amidst the rapid influx of foreign immigration and the de- velopment of character along lines not pur- sued by the " early fathers."
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he believes to be right and for the best, can . MeManns, who died in Maury county, Ten- be easily traced in the lines of the clean- nessee. Mr. and Mrs. John O. Howell have had twelve children. namely: Aaron, de- ceased; William A. B., our subject; Thomas J., deceased; Mary Jane, wife of Heury Oliver, of Jones county, Texas; Parlee, wife of Jackson Howell, of Travis county; George W .. also of this county; Minerva, wife of William Fuller, of Williamson county: John, a resident of Travis county; Maggie, wife of Frank Fuller, of Williamson county; Fannie, deceased when young; Sarah, wife of William Bell, of Manor; and the youngest child died at the age of twelve years.
William Allen B. Howell, the subject of this sketch, was born in Manry county, Ten- nessee, in 1848. At the age of eighteen years he engaged in farming and merchandis- ing, which he continued four years, and in the fall of 1872 located in Washington county, Illinois. In the fall of 1878 Mr. Ilowell engaged in farming and stock-raising three miles from Manor, Texas, but one year later sold his interests there, and in 1883 came to his present location. Our subject began life for himself at the age of eighteen years, with comparatively nothing, and he now owns 165 acres of land, 100 acres of which is under a fine state of cultivation, and well stocked.
W ILLIAM ALLEN B. HOWELL, a successful farmer of Travis county, is a son of John O. Howell, who was born in Maury county, Tennessee, in 1824. In 1872 the latter moved to Nash- ville, Washington county, Illinois, and in 1878 located near Manor, Travis county, Texas, where he still resides. He is a re- tired farmer, affiliates with the Democratic party, and has been a member of the Christian . Church since eighteen years of age, being In 1866 he was united in marriage to Minerva Weatherford, who was born in 1840. They had twelve children, four being de- ceased. The surviving are: Mary E., wife of John Free, of Jones county, Texas; William T., a resident of Travis county; John M .. of this county; Minerva Jane, wife of James Foster, of this county: Mac, of Travis county ; and Artie, Cora and Xena, at home. The wife and mother died in 1887, having been a a son of Jesse C. and M. (Oliver) Howell, natives of North Carolina, who moved to Temersee in an early day. Jesse C. Howell was a son of John Howell, a native of North Carolina, who afterward moved to Tennessee. lle was a farmer by occupation. The Howell family are of Irish descent. The mother of our subject, me Eliza McManus, was also born in Manry county, Tennessee, in 1825, a danghter of Thomas and Barbra MeManus, constant member of the Methodist Episcopal natives of North Carolina. Both died in Church. Mr. Howell was afterward married Tennessee. Thomas was a son of Aaron in Maury county, Tennessee, to Mary Bar-
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nett, a native of that county, and a daughter of Pink and C. Barnett. natives also of Ten- nessee. To that union was born one child, which died in infancy. Mrs. Howell died in 1889, and in 1890 onr subject married Ella Ashmore, a native of Lawrence county, Ten- nessee. and a daughter of J. B. and Nannie (Bell) Ashmore, also natives of that county. Mr. and Mrs. Ilowell have one child, Erna. In his political relations, Mr. Howell affiliates with the Democratic party, and has served as School Trustee. Both he and his wife are members of the Christian Church.
R EV. JAMES M. LITTLE, of Milano, is a native of Georgia, of which state his parents were also natives. His father, Forester Little, was born in 1778 and resided in his native State nntil his death, which occurred in 1844. He was a son of Forester and Sarah Little, natives of Ireland who emigrated to America in 1777, land- ing at Charleston, Sonth Carolina, whence they went to Georgia, where they settled and spent the remainder of their lives. The younger Little was a planter by occupation, a man of some means, possessed a fair Eng- lish education, was well informed on the his- tory of his country and devoted to all of its interests and institutions. He was for years a member of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, of which he was a Ruling Elder, a man of kindly nature, exemplary habits and zealons Christian life. The mother of the subject of this notice, whose maiden name was Sarah Ann Williams, was born in 1800, and was a danghter of James and Polly Ann Williams, who were natives of North Caro- lina but for many years residents of Georgia, where they died. Mrs. Little died in 1849.
She and her husband were the parents of four children. only two of whom are now liv- ing, the subject of this notice and a sister, Sarah Jane, who is now the wife of James Davis and resides in Bastrop county, this State. The eldest danghter, Mary Ann, was married to King II. Mullins, and died in Texas. The second, Margaret F., was mar- ried to Robert Little and died in Georgia.
James M. Little of this sketch was born in Jefferson county, Georgia, September 20, 1828. His parents moving to Stewart county, that State, when he was eight years old, he was reared principally in that county. Hle received a good education in his youth. In 1849 he married Miss Martha A. Pend- rey of Georgia, a danghter of John and Mar- tha Pendrey, and in 1860 moved to Alabama, settling at Andalusia, Covington county, where he engaged in the practice of the law. Hle was a resident of the last named place until 1876, when he came to Texas, locating in Milam county, which has since been his home. Ile was gen- gaged for sixteen years in the practice of law in Alabama, but on coming to this State abandoned the profession and began the min- istry in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian . Church, to which and farming he has since devoted his time and attention. Without as- piring to public life he has been honored with many local offices, the duties of which he has always discharged acceptably to his fellow-citizens and has honored the office quite as much as the office has honored the man. Beginning with the office of Justice of the Peace, to which he was elected in Stew- art county. Georgia, at the age of twenty- two, he held the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in Covington county, Afa- bama, for two years; was Proseenting Attor- ney of his distriet for nine years; was Justice of
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the Peace in Milam county for five years. County Commissioner for four years, and School Trustee for ten years. He has given nineteen years active work to the ministry, having been a Ruling Elder since he was eighteen.
In 1892 Mr. Little lost his wife by death, she having borne him eight children, but four of whom survive. The two eldest were Sarah Ann Ruhama and Mary E .: the latter was married to C. C. Thomasson, and died; Mary F., now living, is the widow of David Bullock and resides in Covington county, Alabama; Susanna Jane is the wife of An- drew Beard, of Milam county, Texas; James E. is deceased; Sam G. is still at home; Frances Lonisa is deceased; and John Low- ery is yet with his father. Mr. Little was married a second time in 1892, to Miss Su- sanna Mitchell, of Ilardin county, Texas, a native of Alabama and daughter of Albert Mitchell. All of his family belong to the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and like himself are zealons in all church work.
year. His command being assigned to duty in the Army of Northern Virginia, he saw service mostly in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, serving under Hood and Long- street. He was wounded at Gaines' Mills in 1862 by a gunshot in the face and shoulder, and by this wound was disabled from duty for over a year. Recovering, he joined his command again, and was again three times wounded in the battle of the Wilderness, being shot through the right thigh, the left ankle and left foot. The last wounds dis- abled him for the remainder of the war and he remained in the hospitals in Virginia nn- til the summer of 1865, not reaching his home in Texas until September of that year. For eight months after the war closed he went on erntches and was able to do but lit- tle active work. In the meantime, however, he took charge of his father's farm in Milam county and directed operations on it. In 1863 he married, and having come into pos- session of some property by the death of his father, he engaged in farming and stock- raising, at which he has continued since. He owns 700 acres of land four miles west of Cameron, most of which is devoted to stock- raising. Mr. Huffman is an enterprising and public-spirited man, prominent in local matters and greatly respected as a citizen. He is the only representative of his name in Milam county, being an only child and his parents being now deceased. His mother died in this county in 1858 and his father in 1866, aged sixty.
OSEPH A. HUFFMAN, an honored Confederate veteran, bearing many wounds and known as an enterprising and successful farmer of Milam county, was born in Alabama, December 8, 1842, the only child of Joseph and Jennette Cameron Huffman, natives of South Carolina. In 1852 the parents moved to Texas and after a year's residence in Bastrop county they set- tled in Milam county. Here Joseph A. passed his youth on his father's farm, receiv- ing a meager connnon-school edneation. In W ILLIAM M. TAYLOR, the sub- ject of this notice, more familiarly and better known in this county as 1861 he entered the Confederate army. en- listing in Company G, Fifth Texas Infantry, being then but little past his eighteenth "Tup" Taylor, was born in Martin county,
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North Carolina, in 1838, where his father, ! Olivia, John. Parthenia, deceased, Louisa MeClem Taylor, was also born, in 1800. The and Edward. Mrs. Taylor, the second, died in February, 1879. latter was a son of Richard Taylor, who was born in North Carolina, in 1773, and there became a large planter, accumulating much property in land and slaves, dying at the age of sixty-seven. He reared a family of seven children, of whom McClem, the father of William M. of this article, was the third in age.
In 1841 MeClem Taylor left North Caro- lina and took up his residence in Mississippi, where he resided four years, when he moved to Claiborne parish, Louisiana, and thirteen years later to Texas, settling in Milam connty, where he bought land and opened np a farm on the Brazos river. The title to this land being defective, Mr. Taylor lost his home some years after locating in this county. Ile never songht or held office and had no military record, having been too old to take any part in the late war, but fur- nished three sons for that cansc. He was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church for more than thirty years, and always ob- served the strictest integrity. He contributed liberally of his means to all laudable pur- poses when in condition to do so, and when his death occurred suddenly in April, 1892, a sorrowing community followed him to his last resting place near Caddo Church. He was first married to Miss Sarah Banks, by whom he had the following children: Jennet, Louisa, deceased, who married J. M. Cargill; James II .; Eliza, died young; Mary, deceased, first married John Leatherman and after his death James Scoggin; William M., of this article; Alexander; Sallie, deceased, who mar- ried David Allday. In 1845 Mrs. Taylor died, and three years later Mr. Taylor mar- ried Mrs. Cynthia Ann Peters, nec Cargill, and by this union there were five children:
W. M. Taylor was raised mainly in Clai- borne parish, Louisiana, accompanying his father, in 1859, to Texas, locating in Milam county. where he worked with and near his father until the opening of the late war. In the spring of 1861 he enlisted in Company F, Captain Stinnett, Eighth Texas Infantry, Colonel Young. With this command he re- mained during the war. He served west of the Mississippi river. The first fight was at Young's Point on the Mississippi river. Af- terward he took part in the battles of Mans- field, Pleasant Hill, Jenkins' Ferry and Yel- low Bayou. The command then returned to Texas and were disbanded at Hempstead, May, 1865.
Mr. Taylor returned home at once and re- sumed work on the farm, one pony being all he had left with which to make his first crop. The second year he bonght a small tract of land near Jones Prairie on Pond creek, and this he retained two years, when he made several removals, but finally, in 1878, bought 500 acres near Wilderville, unimproved, on which to settle and to which he has added by purchase until his holdings amount to 700 acres, 350 acres of which are in cultivation. Abont eighty-five bales of cotton annually are grown, besides grain and stock products in proportion.
Politically, Mr. Taylor is a Democrat, but takes only a casual interest in partisan poli- tics. He is a valued member of the Masonic order, holding membership in the lodge at Rosebush.
In 1867 Mr. Taylor married Mary B., daughter of Peter Allday. She was born in 1845, in Georgia, and is a sister of David Allday, in whose sketch in this work a full
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history of the family will be found. With her family she is attached to the Baptist Church. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Taylor are: Lena, who is now deceased; David; Florence; Charles, deceased; Clem : Peter; Berta; Milton; William and Theoso- phis, known as " Sid."
R B. HUTTO, a prosperous young farmer of IIntto, Williamson county, is a son of J. E. IIntto, a pioneer of Texas. J. E. Ilutto was born in Ala- bama, June 8, 1824, and was reared on a farm in his native State. Upon his arrival in Texas in 1847 he engaged in farming and stock-raising in Travis county. Abont 1855 he moved to Williamson county, settling near where Hutto has since been built, this town having been named in honor of him. Ilere for twenty years, between 1855 and 1875, he was one of the wealthy cattle-men of this section of the country. He continued to reside here nutil 1885, when he took up. his residence in Waco, Texas, where he is now engaged in the hardware business. He was in the Confederate army three years. It was not until after he came to this State that he was married, the lady of his choice being Miss Margaret Hughes, of Alabama. They have had the following named children: J. R., a gin man of Hntto; J. E., a prosperous farmer of Williamson county; W. T .; C.W .; R. B .; H. E .; Ellen, who married J. S. Mon- day; Nettie, who married J. A. Blanton; and an infant that died at the age of three years.
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