USA > Texas > Burleson County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 22
USA > Texas > Travis County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 22
USA > Texas > Bastrop County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 22
USA > Texas > Lee County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 22
USA > Texas > Williamson County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 22
USA > Texas > Milam County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 22
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
which time he located on his present farm, having purchased it the preceding February. November 22, 1872, he first beheld Texas territory, Denison and Sherman being his objective points on first coming. He was there engaged in railroad work for several montlis, and was similarly employed at vari- ons other points in the State until 1877, working during that time for the Transcon- tinental, the Sonthern Pacific and the Inter- national & Great Northern. During the winter of 1877 Mr. Johnson was employed by W. Whipple near Austin. Having prac- ticed the strictest economy all these years, our subject was enabled to save from his small earnings sufficient money with which to buy him a home. In looking about for a location he cliose Williamson county, and cast his lot with her people. He bought 131 acres, and is now cultivating abont one-half of it. He lias it well improved, and has, besides liis farming interest, a surplus of stock, both cattle and mules, and of the latter probably the finest span to be found in the State.
Mr. Johnson was born in Sweden, Sandszo, Saken district, Yonkoping Land State, Sep- tember 22, 1845, son of Jolin and Annie (Gowen) Larson. His father was a fisher- man. Besides our subject, Mr. and Mrs. Larson had the following children: An in- fant, deceased; John Angust, of Henry coun- ty, Missouri; Charlotte Mary; Johanna Christina; Gostava Louisa, the wife of Peter M. Johnson; and Claus Otto, deceased.
November 22, 1871, Mr. Jolinson em- barked at Gottenberg, Sweden, via Hull and Liverpool, on the National Line steamer Egypt for New York. Proceeding to Chi- cago, he was engaged two months as a mason, helping to rebuild the city so recently de- stroyed by fire. lle then went to his brother's
in Missouri, remaining there until March 6, 1872, when he was employed on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, between Boone- ville and Sedalia. Six months later he went to Parsons, Kansas, whence about three weeks later he came to Texas, landing in Denison and Sherman as before stated.
Mr. Johnson was married in Anstin, Texas, March 2, 1878, to Anna Matilda Carlson, the oldest of a family of six chil- dren, the others being Mary, Carl, Lizzie, Angusta and Gustave. The wife of our sub- ject was born in the district of Skede, State of Yonkoping Land, Sweden, February 18, 1844. She left her native land in 1875, set- ting sail from Gottenberg on the 15th of September in that year, and arriving at Clii- eago, Illinois, on the 15th of October fol- lowing.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have three children : Albert Cornelius, born October 17, 1881; Alice Matilda, born Jannary 14, 1883; and Ellen Constance, born July 29, 1884. The family are members of the Lutheran Church.
OHN C. BARNETT, merchant, cotton factor and one of the men whose enter- prise has helped to make the town of Lyons, Burleson county, was born in Lafay- ette county, Missouri, June 15, 1842. Hle is one of a family of nine children born to Josiah and Elizabeth M. Barnett, who were natives, the father of Ilagerstown, Maryland, and the mother of Waverly, Missonri. On his father's side Mr. Barnett comes of Ger- man ancestry, the first settler of his name on this side of the Atlantic being his great- grandfather, a native German who came to America some time during the latter part of the last century and settled in Maryland.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
There, in Hagerstown, Jolin Barnett, the father of Josiah and the grandfather of John C. of this article, was born. He married Sarah Price, a native of that place, and a sister of Judge William Price, who was for many years a distinguished jurist of Balti. more, and by this marriage had a number of children, five of whom were sons, William, Arthur, Washington, John and Josiah, three of whom at a later date became citizens of Texas. Josiah Barnett went when a young man from Maryland to Missouri, where he met and married Elizabeth M. Clark, and subsequently moved to this State, settling in 1856 at Lockhart, in Caldwell county. IIe died at Brenham in 1867, during the yellow fever epidemic, in the forty-eighth year of his age.
Mr. Barnett's maternal ancestors came or- igiually from Virginia and were among the first settlers of Kentucky and Missouri. ITis moth- er belonged to the distinguished Clark family of these two States, the most conspicuous members of which were Governor Clark, of Kentucky, and John B. Clark, Sr., and John B. Clark, Jr., of Missouri, both representa- tives in Congress from Missouri and promi- nent in State politics for many years. She was also a relative of Governor Trigg, of Kentucky: she survived her husband a num- ber of years, dying at Lyons in 1883, near the sixtieth year of her age.
Josiah and Elizabeth M. Barnett had nine children, three of whom, two daughters and a son, died young and were buried at the old Mount Hope Presbyterian Church in Lafay- ette county, Missouri, before the family's removal to Texas. The others are: John Clark, the subject of this sketch; William S., a resident of Caldwell. Burleson county; Bennett II., who was drowned in the Noda- way river, northwest Missouri, while on a
visit there in 1863, being then in his twenty- first year; George W., who died of yellow fever at Brenham in 1867; Hugh C., a resi- deut of Lampasas, this State; and Arthur, who lives at Lyons, Burleson conuty.
The eldest of this family, John C., the subject of this sketch, was in his fourteenth year when his parents moved to Texas. His youth was spent on the farm in Caldwell connty. Ile received only a fair common- school education. In the spring of 1861 he entered the Confederate army, enlisting in Company B. Twenty-fifth Texas Cavalry (Debray's old regiment), with which he be- gan active service along the coast in this State. He was in the battle of Galveston, and later the engagements on Red river, -Mans- field, Pleasant Hill, Yellow Bayon and Jenkins' Ferry. With the exception of a slight wound received at Pleasant Hill, he passed through the term of his service without injury, was never captured, and surrendered with his regiment at Houston, May 25, 1865.
His father having moved to Brenham dur- ing the war, Mr. Barnett went to that place and immediately turned his attention to the pursuits of peace, taking employment in the cattle business, which he followed for about three years from that. date. Those were the days when the cattle industry in Texas at- tracted the attention of the most enterprising citizens of the State and absorbed most of ite capital. Mr. Barnett drove north to Ne- braska and Kansas and east to the then great cattle markets of Shreveport and New Or- leans, and led the active, varied and interest- ing life of the " cow man," as he has since been pictured in the literature of the period.
In 1868 he began the mercantile business, taking charge of a business at Long Point, the firm being Craig & Barnett, which asso- I ciation continued there uutil the fall of 1880.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
In October of that year, when it became known that a town would be established on the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway, then under construction at or near where Lyons now stands, Mr. Barnett came to this place and opened a stock of goods for Pam- pell & Harrison, of Brenham, thus becoming the first merchant of the town. In fact he settled here before there was any town, the town site not being surveyed until the De- cember after he located. For two years he managed the business of his old employers, built np a large establishment for them, and then bought theni ont, and became inter- ested also in farining and in the cotton busi- ness, having been for a number of years the principal cotton-buyer of this place.
Mr. Barnett has always been regarded as one of the representative men of Lyons, and has taken an active interest in everything relating to the welfare of the place. He is well known throughout this entire section, having for twenty-eight years handled cattle, merchandise and cotton in the northern part of Washington county and the southern part of Burleson, among the people of which lo- cality his standing is of the best and his ability as a business man universally recog- nized. He has taken .but little interest in politics, and has never held any office. He affiliates with the Democrats and gives an earnest and active support to the nominees of the party, but has never yet asked for himself the suffrages of his fellow-citizens.
Mr. Barnett married Miss Mary Catherine Clark at Long Point, Washington county, in November, 1871, Mrs. Barnett being a na- tive of Tennessee and an orphan girl. Mr. and Mrs. Barnett have had eleven children, eight of whom are now living, these being Josiah Clark, Mary Elizabeth, Bennett Henry, Malcom Scott, John Arthur, Winnie
Davis. Frank Roberts, and Catherine Ruth.
Mr. Barnett was made a Mason in 1869, since which time he has taken an active interest in the order. Ile also belongs to the Knights of Pythias. The religions con- nection of his antecedents was with the Pres- byterian Church, toward which he leans in belief.
W JILLIAM H. JENKINS .- The States of the American Union where family influence and the potency of family names have been most felt, are undoubtedly Virginia and South Carolina; and from these two States have come some of the brightest intellects, some of the bravest and worthiest men that have ever figured in the history of this country. Texas which drew in her early days from all the older communities for her citizenship, has had to make frequent ac- knowledgment to the States here named.
To South Carolina the subject of this sketch traces his ancestry on his father's side, and to Virginia his descent on his mother's side. The Jenkins were among the first settlers of South Carolina. They figured in the early wars, and as far as is known, they were brave soldiers and discharged their duties well. The paternal grandfather of William H. Jen- kins and a son fell at the battle of King's Mountain, one of the decisive engagements of the Revolutionary period, while still oth- ers of his progenitors, William and Henry Robertson, were soldiers in the colonial war for independence and fought under Washing- ton. His paternal grandparents, Jesse and Nancy Jenkins, were among the early settlers of Tennessee, moving there abont the first decade of this century, where the grandfather was for many years engaged as a surveyor and was prominent in local land matters.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
On his mother's side Mr. Jenkins' people came from Virginia. His grandfather, Hern- don Green, was born in Virginia, and for many years was a resident of Tennessee, be- ing a member of one of the largest and most prominent families of that State. His brother, Judge Natlian Green, was a distinguished jurist and a legal educator, and in addition to having served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of that State, probably prepared more young men for the profession of the law than any other man of his day and generation in the Southwest. He was the father of the la- mented General Tom Green, who was long prominent in Texas history. Herndon Green was a soldier in the war of 1812, a planter of wealth and a man of sterling character.
James N. Jenkins, the father of William H. of this article was born in Winnsboro, South Carolina, but was reared in middle Tennessee, whither his parents moved during his childhood. He married Susan A. Green of Franklin county, Tennessee, about 1837, and eleven years later in 1848, died at the early age of thirty-six. His widow and three sons, William H., Jesse T. and Alpheus G., were taken into the family of Mrs. Jenkins' father, by whom they were brought at a later date to Texas. It was in 1854 that the first move was made by Herndon Green to estab- lish himself on Texas soil. He came out that year at the head of a party made up of himself, his son Stephen T. and his three grandsons, the Jenkins brothers, with about thirty slaves, and he stopped for about one year at LaGrange. In 1855 he moved to Burleson connty, where he purchased land and settled. The same year the remainder of the family was bronght out, and a plantation opened where he located about two miles north of Caldwell. There he spent the re- nrainder of his life, dying in 1878, at the age
of eighty-eight. Mrs. Jenkins died in this county about ten years later, aged seventy- two. Jesse T. Jenkins died here in 1881, from the effects of disease contracted in the Confederate army during the late war. Will- iam H. and Alphens G. are still residents of the county.
William H. Jenkins was born at Win- chester, Tennessee, March 31, 1838. He was sixteen when he was brought to Texas. After three or four years spent in this connty, he was sent on account of ill health in 1859, to sonthwest Texas, where he secured a position as clerk in the mercantile house of Ulrich & Jones, of San Antonio. In 1860, he went in the interest of his employers to Parras, Mex- ico, where they had a branch establishment, and was there in their employ when the late war opened. He returned to Texas at the opening of hostilities, and offered himself for service in the Confederate army. He was ac- cepted and put on frontier duty under Gen- eral Henry McCulloch, and spent the first eight months of the war in service against the Comanche Indians along the Pecos, Neuces, Rio Grande, and the head waters of the Colorado river. He then returned to cen- tral Texas, and in October, 1861, enlisted in Company G, Eighth Texas Cavalry (Terry's Rangers), with which he went at once to the forces operating in Tennessee and Kentucky. Beginning with the engagments at Woodson- ville, Kentucky, where General Terry fell, he was in the service continuously until the sur- render, taking part in all the campaigns and engagements in which his command partici- pated, the last being the fight on Haw river, near Guilford Court House, North Carolina, on April 14, 1865. Hle entered the service as a private; was later made Commissary upon petition of his regiment, and served as Com- missary during the greater part of the war,
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
doing duty also as a private in ranks.
When the war was over Mr. Jenkins re- turned to Texas, reaching his home in Burle- son county on July 5, 1865. Accepting the results of the war in good faith, he turned his attention at once to the problems of peace. Ilis first move was to purchase a tract of 200 aeres of land on the Brazos bottoms, on which he began farming. In 1866 he married Miss Mary R. Lipscomb, and extending his farm- ing operations, in which he met with good success, lte purchased other land which he opened to cultivation. For seventeen years he pursned actively and energetically his agri- cultural enterprises until 1882, when he moved to Caldwell, where a year later he en- gaged in the Inmber business. In 1884, his brother Alpheus G. became interested with him in this, under the firm name of Jenkins & Jenkins, and the business has been conducted in their joint name since. Mr. Jenkins is also president of the Caldwell Cotton Oil Mill Company, which he helped to organize in 1890, and has other local interests. His career has been that of a business man strict- ly; he never sought any office, and has held only a few minor official preferments, such as have been placed upon him by his fellow- citizens. He has met with good success as a business man, which may be attributed to those qualities which always win under favor- able conditions: industry, economy and meth- od. He has made it a rule throughout life to have bnt one business at a time, and to give that close and undivided attention. Knowing the value of promptness in discharg- ing one's obligations, he has endeavored to observe a strict compliance with every prom- ise, whether verbal or written. He was made a Mason at the age of twenty-two at Athens, Georgia, under a dispensation from the Grand Lodge of Texas, and has been an active
and zealons member of the order ever sinee. He is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, and has raised his family of five children under church influences. These are: Edward G .; Susan A., wife of E. HI. Bar- nett; Mary B., Jessie B. and Winnie S .- all educated at Baylor College.
W. ATKINSON, of Williamson conn- ty, Texas, is a member of one of the oldest families in America. As early as the middle of the seventeenth century the Atkinsons resided in North Carolina, and our subject now has in his possession a copy of a will given in 1760, by his great-grandfather, Richard Washington, and also one given by his great-grandfather. Samnel Atkinson, Sr., in 1762, in which year he died. J. W. At- kinson's grandmother, Sarah Washington, was a second cousin of George Washington; she was the wife of Samuel Atkinson, Jr. The family continued to reside in North Car- olina until 1797, when Samnel Atkinson, Jr., grandfather of our subject, died, and his widow and family then moved to Geor- gia. After her death her descendants scattered through several States. Samuel W. Atkinson, the father of our sub- ject, was born in North Carolina in 1797, abont the time of the death of his father. The mother then moved to Georgia, where he was reared to manhood. In Morgan county, that State, October 28, 1818, he married Nancy Jordan, and they then lived in Frank- lin county until 1838, in that year moved to Pontatoc county, Mississippi, and in 1850 came to Texas, locating on the Colorado river at Webberville, eighteen miles from Austin. The mother died there June 3, 1871, aged
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
eighty years, and the father then made his home with our subject until his death, which occurred July 27, 1872. He was a hatter by trade, also tanght school many years, was a member of the Methodist Church and the Masonie order, and was a Democrat in his political views.
J. W. Atkinson, the only survivor of his parents' seven children, was born in Franklin county, Georgia, September 10, 1829. In 1849 he came to Texas, and, after a short stop at Webberville, Travis county, located in Williamson county, and has lived in the vi- cinity of Florence since 1851. During the first five years after locating in this State he was engaged in farming, but in 1856 em- barked in merchandising at Florenee. After continuing that occupation thirty-two years, Mr. Atkinson retired from business. He owns 1,500 acres of agricultural land, 500 aeres of which is under a fine state of culti- vation and the balance pasture.
In Tippah county, Mississippi, September 20, 1849, at the age of twenty years, onr sub- ject was united in marriage to Sarah M. Stanley. The Stanley family first lived in South Carolina, afterward in Tennessee, next, in Mississippi, and then came to Texas. The father of Mrs. Atkinson now lives in Lam- pasas county, this State, being eighty-seven years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Atkinson have had thirteen children, viz .: John W., a mer- chant of Florence; William H., a physician of Killen, Bell connty; Cordelia, wife of A. J. Hoover, a farmer and stockman also of that city; Benjamin F., a fariner near Florence; George C., a drnggist of Florence; Emily E., wife of L. G. Babo, a merchant of Florence; Lucy P., wife of John M. Stryhorn, a physi- eian of Bartlett. Texas; Luln, deceased; James F., a druggist of Florence; Mattie E., wife of W. F. Casey, a merchant of George-
town; Ozias, a physician of Florence; May, deceased; and Isadore, at home.
In his political views, Mr. Atkinson snp- ports the principles of the Democratic party, is a Royal Arch Mason, and has served as Worshipful Master in the Masonic order; was formerly a member of the Odd Fellows order, and is a Deacon in the Missionary Baptist Church. He came to this State be- fore Florence was started, has been a potent factor in its development, and has gained the reputation of being a conservative and safe business man. He has always been foremost in every good work in his community.
AMES HENRY FAUBION, a promi- nent business man of Williamson conn- ty, is a son of T. A. and Margaret (McSween) Faubion. The great-grandfather of our subject was a native of Holland, but located in Pennsylvania before the Revoln- tionary war. He afterward located on what was then known as the territory of Franklin, in Tennessee, and the family lived in Cocke county until just before the opening of the Civil war, when they settled in different parts of the country. The father of our subjeet was born, reared and married in that county, and remained there until 1865, when he lo- eated in Milam county, Texas. He now re- sides near Marble Falls, Burnet county, and is engaged in agricultural pursuits. While residing in Tennessee he followed merchan- dising. He is a staunch Democrat, and a member of the Cmunberland Presbyterian Church, The maternal grandfather of our subject was a native of Scotland, and eamne to Ameriea abont 1820, locating in Tennes- see. IIe raised his family in Coeke connty. Mr. and Mrs. T. A. Fanbion were the parents
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
of eight children, namely: James Henry, the subject of this biography; William, of Ter- rell, Texas; Sophronia, wife of J. F. Pangle, Tax Collector of Burnet county: Samuel H., Joseph and Alexander, of Marble Falls, Texas; Sallie, wife of J. B. Pangle, of Burnet coun- ty; and Fred, also a resident of that county. The wife and mother died in 1885.
James H. Faubion was born in Newport, Cocke county, Tennessee, August 20, 1844. In 1861 he enlisted as a private in Company C, Twenty-sixth Tennessee Infantry, and served until the surrender. With 13,000 others, he was captured at the battle of Fort Donelson, spent eight months in Camp Mor- ton prison, was then exchanged, and the reg- iment was reorganized. Mr. Faubion then participated in the battles of Murfreesboro, Chickamanga, Lookout Mountain, Mission- ary Ridge, the Atlanta campaign, returning with Hood to Tennessee, served in the battle of Franklin, and then went into the Caroli- nas, when the war closed. He held the po- sition of First Sergeant at the time of the surrender.
Our subject came to Texas with his father in 1865, and in 1870 came to his present farm of 200 acres, seventy-five of which is cultivated. The place is located two miles south of Leander." In addition to his farming interests, he also carries a large stock of lum- ber, hardware and furniture. Mr. Faubion is a staunch Democrat in political matters, and in 1884 was elected by his party as Rep- resentative of the Seventy-eighth district in the Legislature and has held that position ever since, with the exception of one term. The district is now known as the Seventy-first, and composed of Williamson county. While in the Legislature Mr. Faubion gave much of his attention to the laws governing the public lands of the State, was instrumental in
framing the law throwing open the same to settlement, requiring the cattlemen to take out a regular lease, and also gave muel at- tention to school matters. He assisted in establishing the present system of county su- perintendents. The convict question also became an important one during his term, he having opposed the present lease system.
Mr. Fanbion was married near where he now lives, December 22, 1868, to Margaret C. Mason. They have had seven children: Earl M., Mary L., Addie B., Margaret M., Lola, Kate and Oran. The eldest son has charge of his father's store. Mr. Faubion is president of the Farmers' Insurance Com- pany, is a member of the I. O. O. F., and is an Elder in the old-school Presbyterian Church.
JOHN MUNRO, of Williamson county, is a son of David and Isabella (Munro) Munro, natives of Ross county, Scot- land, where the family have lived for many generations. The father of our subject was a blacksmith by occupation, but for many years had charge of the water works in the city of Dundee. His death occurred in the county of Ross, in 1877, and the mother died at the same place about 1872. They were the parents of five children: John, the subject of this sketch; Alexander, a farmer of Manitoba, Canada; David, railroad sta- tion agent at Motherwell, Scotland; James, deceased; and Collin, a blacksmith, of Liberty Hill, Texas.
John Munro was born in Dundee, Scotland, March 16, 1846, and early in life learned the blacksmith's trade. At the age of twenty years, he emigrated to America, landing at Galveston, Texas, in February, 1867, and for the following four years was engaged in
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
farming. near Austin, Travis county. He first began work at his trade, but as he was obliged to use charcoal instead of stone coal, as he had been taught, he was not able to satisfy himself and gave up the shop. Since 1871 Mr. Munro has made his home at Liberty Hill, where he was engaged in blacksmith- ing until 1883, and in that year embarked in the hardware business. He now carries a stock, amounting to $2,500, and is also en- gaged in farming.
December 22, 1870, in Travis county, Texas, our subject was united in marriage to Jennie Ross, who came with her parents to America in the same vessel as did Mr. Munro, and who was raised within five miles of his home. They became acquainted after locat- ing in Travis county. She was a daughter of William and Mary (Campbell) Ross. The mother is deceased, and the father still resides in Travis county. Mr. and Mrs. Munro have eleven children: Mary J., David, Jennie, Fan- nie, William, James, Maggie, John O., Lnh J., Dora L. and Horace Nelson. Politically, our subject affiliates with the Democratic party, is Treasurer of the Board of Directors of Liberty Norinal and Business College, and a Trustee of the free school. In his social relations lie is a Master Mason, and relig- iously is a member of the Methodist Church, in which he holds the position of Superin- tendent of the Sunday-school.
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