USA > Texas > Burleson County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 31
USA > Texas > Travis County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 31
USA > Texas > Bastrop County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 31
USA > Texas > Lee County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 31
USA > Texas > Williamson County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 31
USA > Texas > Milam County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 31
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56
E M. SCARBROUGHI, senior member of the firm of Scarbrough & Hicks, merchants of Rockdale and Anstin, was born in Calhoun county, Alabama, May November 7, 1877, Mr. Scarbrongh mar- ried Miss Ada R. Ledbetter, a daughter of Isaac and Julia Ledbetter, who moved to 19, 1846. IIe was reared in his native connty to the age of seventeen, when, in June, 1864, he entered the Confederate army, | Texas in 1853, settling in Milam county.
637
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Mrs. Scarbrough was born in this county, July 1, 1857, and was here reared. On the death of hier mother in 1864, she, with her twin sister, Ida, now Mrs. Dr. E. J. Powell, of Maysfield, Milam connty, was given to an older sister, Mrs. Lizzie Wilson, by whom both were reared, receiving every advantage that Mrs. Wilson's ample means and social position could obtain for them. After her marriage Mrs. Scarbrough entered at once, with all the ardor and devotion of an intelli- gent and affectionate nature, into the plans `and purposes of her husband, and for four- teen and a lralf years she bore him a faithful companionship. She died May 24, 1892. The canse of her death was an hereditary trouble developed by an attack of la grippe during the winter of 1890-'91. This attack left her with a cough, which, even under tlie best medical treatment and most skillful nurs- ing, refused to be cnred. Knowing of the hereditary Inng trouble in the family, steps were early taken to prevent the cough from running into an attack on the seat of vital- ity, two special examinations by the family physician and one by two of the most emi- nent physicians of the State being made, and other measures, including a trip north dur- ing the summer of 1891, being taken for her relief. Bnt ali efforts failed, and after a lingering illness covering several montlis, during which time she had every attention demanded by her condition, being attended constantly by the best physicians, by her family and numerons lady friends of Austin and Rockdale, she passed away. She left five children. The four eldest were born in Rock- dale: Emerson M., September 3, 1878; Jnlia McRay, October 25, 1879; Ada Pearl, February 17, 1881; John W., October 20, 1885; the youngest, Lemuel, was born in Austin, September 13, 1889.
Wherever he has resided Mr. Scarbrough has alway been identified with the best in- terest around him. Ile was a member of the Board of Aldermen of Rockdale, Mayor of the town, Chairman of the School Board, and active and liberal in his efforts in behalf of the public good.
Having met with more than the average measure of success, he appreciates and rates at their true valne his accumulations, and wisely uses them for his own and the good of others. He has given financial aid to a nm- ber of young men of his acquaintance, en - abling them to make successful starts in bnsi- ness, and lias in other instances leut aid to young men in securing educational advant- ages. He has thus created enduring friend- ships among young men of his acquaintance and opened the way to a number of success- ful and honorable careers.
丁 J. GASSAWAY, of Jones Prairie, Milam county, was born in Talbot county, Georgia, in 1829, and when eight years of age his parents removed to Harris county, that State, where he re- sided until nearly grown. He was a farmer's boy and secured only snch education as was afforded by the common country schools. At the age of twenty (1849) he went to Lonis- iana, locating in what was then Claiborne, now Webster parish, where he commenced life for himself as an overseer, which occn- pation he followed for four years. By economy and industry he was enabled to lay up a small sunt of money with which he embarked in farming, following the same peacefully until the tronblons times of 1861. The second year of the war he enlisted in the Minden Rangers, which was a company raised in
638
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Claiborne parish, and commanded by Cap- tain " Fed " Wimberly. This command was placed on detached service, doing body guard and eseort duty and hunting up deserters. On the expeditions nndertaken by this com- mand plenty of short, hot engagements at close hand were the order of the day for many eonseentive days in the enemy's vicinity. It was lneky enough to escape with the loss of only one man during the entire expeditions, that being at Inka, Mississippi, when the regiment was ent off and attacked singly. Their surrender occurred at the close of the war at Gainesville, Alabama. At the elose of the war Mr. Gassaway returned home and engaged again in agriculture. Desiring a more open country for his operations, he came to Texas in 1874, settling in Milam comity, where he has since resided.
Mr. Gassaway is a son of James Gassaway, who was born in Georgia in 1782, where he became a large and snecessful farmer and at death left a good estate. He was an indus- trious, moral, good man and made a lasting and favorable impression on his descendants. He married Eliza, a danghter of David Lock- ett, of Georgia, whose wife was Mary Wom- maek. Mrs. Gassaway was one of nine chil- dren as follows: Abner, James, Kittie, Sallie, Tyra, Ellington, Eliza, (mother of our sub- ject), Mary and Martha. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Gassaway were as follows: David, who married Miss Rebecca Eaves, danghter of L. P. Eaves; John; Abner; Naney Ann, who was married to Freeman Rozier; and T. J., our subject. James Gass- away died in 1843, and his wife in 1855.
T. J. Gassaway married Susan Fuller, who was born in Georgia, a danghter of Elder James Fuller, then a resident of Claiborne, now Webster parish, Louisiana. Mr. and Mrs. Gassaway were the parents of the fol-
lowing children: James; Mary, wife of W. II. Smith, of Limestone county, and John. Mrs. Gassaway diel in 1885, and two years later Mr. Gassaway married Mrs. S. A. Pond, the widow of William A. Pond, who was born in Alabama and eame to Texas in 1858. Her maiden name was Howell. By her first mar- riage Mrs. Gassaway became the mother of these children: Rosy, wife of Henry C. White; Ency, wife of Samuel Smith; George; Enuna, who married W. J. Myriek; Tenn- essee, wife of Samnel MeCrary, of Robertson county; Minnie, wife of C. C. Cargill, of Jones prairie, and Monie. The family have a fine farm of 360 acres, 140 acres of whieli are in a good state of cultivation. In 1891 thirty-six bales of cotton were produced and in 1892 the same amount. Stoek is raised on this farin for home use only. The Bap- tist Church is the denomination with which the family are connected and in which they are efficient and prominent members.
**
H ENRY C. WHITE, a prominent farm- er of Joncs prairie, was born in Leon county, Texas, in 1846. He is a son of Joseph White, a large planter of Milam, and one of her most substantial pion- cers. Joseph White was born in Perry connty, Tennessee, in 1824. His father, Robert White, is quite fully mentioned in the sketch of Calvin C. White in this volume, and he married a Miss Coburn, and twelve children were born to them, as follows: Griffy, deceased; Naney, who married John Garrett; Hedley, deceased; Sarah, who mar- ried Jaeob Stigall; Henry, now living in San Saba county, Texas; Hester, deceased, mar- ried Jolin MeAdams; Elijah, deceased; Jos- eph; Siletha, deceased, married Jackson
O
639
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Jones; Mary, deceased, married J. R. Jones; Sanders, a resident of Leon county; and an infant who died.
The father of our subject, Joseph White, is not an educated man, in fact he grew up when school-houses were considered some- what of a novelty in Texas, and when priv- ate teachers were partakers of the hospitality of those only who could afford luxurics. At the age of seventeen Mr. White married, and undertook the battle of life with a few head of horses and cattle as his only capital. In . 1844 he settled where he now lives, on Jones prairie, making a hundred acre purchase. Ile has re-invested some of his profits in real estate, owning now 720 acres and cultivating 300 acres of it. He produces a large amount of cotton annually, enough to warrant his owning and operating a gin, with which lie does work for the public also.
Mr. White was very extensively engaged in the stock business botli before and after the war, closing out about 1868. Out of this he made his greatest profit. When he en- tered the army liis large herd of cattle was left without a protector and to shift for itself, and as a consequence many were lost, the year 1863 being especially disastrous be- cause of tlic severe drouth, his loss being 1,000 liead. The Brazos and Little rivers were the only streams furnishing water, and the cattle were worried out going the long distance to and from it.
In 1862 Joseph White went into the Con- federate army, entering Alfred Johnson's spy company, which was captured at Arkansas Post, at which time, luckily for him, Mr. White was absent, being at home on a fur- lough. Upon his return to service he joined Colonel Duff's regiment, which operated in the Indian Nation and the Trans-Mississippi Department generally. The only fight in
which he participated was one in Arkansas while he was connected with the spy com- pany.
In 1841 Mr. White was married to Miss Sarah, the daughter of William Comstock, of Lonisiana, and of this union were born the following children: Henry C., our subject; Albert; William; Robert; Elijah, deceased; James; Emma, the wife of Thomas Roberts; Mary, the wife of Dred Massengale; Adlee, the wife of Thomas Estes; and Sallic.
Henry C. White was only partially cdu- cated, the common school system being yet in its infancy. Until the age of eighteen he might have been seen the most of his time armed with a whip and spur astride of a Texas pony. At this age he entered the army, under Captain Wayman and Colonel Duff, and his service was on the Rio Grande until the fall of 1864 and the spring of 1865, when he was transferred to the eastward as far as Missouri. One little engagement at Cabin ereek, was all of the real glory our sub- ject obtained out of his service. The com- inand was disbanded at, or near, Port Sulli- van in Milam county. Since the war Mr. White has devoted liis time to agriculture. He purchased a 200-acre tract and upon this lie now resides, and 170 acres of this he lias under cultivation, getting, in 1891, sixty- four bales of cotton and an increase of six- teen bales in 1892.
In 1871 Mr. White married Miss Rlioda, the daughter of Rev. Mr. Mellorse, of Will- iamson county. There are no living chil- dren of this union, and Mrs. White died in 1873. One year later Mr. White married Miss Harriet Aun Stockman, of Alabama, and no children of this union yet survive, and in 1876 our subject again mourned the loss of a companion. Ilis third and last marriage occurred in 1878, to Miss Rosy, a daughter
£
1
610
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
of William A. Pond, whose widow is now Mrs. T. J. Gassaway. Mr. and Mrs. White's children are: William A., deccased; Anna; Sallie; Joseph; Ora, deceased; Robert; Rosy ; and Henry. Mrs. White is connected with the Baptist Church.
W ILLIAM E. BOUCHIELLE, a farmer of Williamson county, Texas, was born in North Carolina, February 3,
1832. IIis father, Dr. Thomas S. Bonehelle, also born in that State on June 25, 1802, was a physician by profession, and his death oc- curred in Marengo county, Alabama. He was a son of Dr. Thomas Bonchelle, a native of Maryland, whose father was a surgeon in Washington's army during the Revolutionary war. The mother of our subject, nee Clar- inda J. E. Finlay, was a native of North Carolina, and was a danghter of Major John Finlay, a native of Pennsylvania. Dr. and Mrs. Thomas S. Bouchelle had seven chil- dren, two of whom came to Texas, one of these (John M.) being now engaged in farm- ing near Killeen, Bell county.
William E. Bouchelle, the subject of this sketch, lived with his widowed mother until nineteen years of age, after which he clerked in a store in Boone county, Missouri, six months. In November, 1851, he arrived in Texas, coming by water to Houston, and by stage to Bastrop, where he followed carpen- tering two years. He next followed the same occupation in Austin until 1854, in which year he came to Georgetown and bought, land. In the same year he returned to Ans- tin, and in 1855 came again to Williamson county, where he began improving his farm on Berry's creek, Unt shortly afterward sold that place, and in 1859 purchased and moved to his present farm.
On the outbreak of the war, in 1861, he was one of the first to enlist in a company to take the forts of the frontier, entering the army for three months, and was elected Sec- ond Lientenant. He afterward resigned his position and returned home, where he assisted in raising a company for the Confederate regular army, of which he was elected Sec- ond Lieutenant, and which was ordered to Waco to a .camp of instruction. This com- pany afterward became a member of a cav- alry regiment raised by Colonel William H. Parsons, which was the first mustered into State service and was subject to the Gov- ernor's orders, and which, after much drill- ing, was ordered to Sim's Bayou to guard the railroad below Honston. In the spring of 1862 it was mnstered into the Confederate service for twelve months, as the Twelfth Texas Cavalry, and took up the line of march for Little Rock, Arkansas. where it reported to General Holines, who had orders to reduce the numbers of the overflowing cavalry com- panies, reorganize and muster in for the end of the war, and to encourage the enlistment of infantry. Mr. Bouchelle, with some other officers and privates, after seeing that the companies were full, took advantage of the situation to come home to look after the wel- fare of their families and help to raise more troops for the end of the war. He enlisted again as private in Company C, Seventh Tex- as Cavalry, Sibley's brigade, afterward better known as Green's brigade, and, being ordered to Houston, was present at the retaking of Galveston, when the steamer Harriet Lane was captured. Ordered thence to Louisiana, he took part in nearly all the battles and skirmishes in which this regiment was en- gaged in that State. Ile was in the battles of Mansfield, or Sabine Cross Roads, and Pleasant Hill, and participated in all of that
641
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
notable Red River campaign, until the close of the great struggle. In this engagement he served his company as Orderly Sergeant, and at the time of the surrender he was As- sistant Regimental Commissary Sergeant.
Mr. Bouchelle drafted the constitution and by-laws of the ex-Confederate Association of Williamson connty, and has great respect for honest, patriotic soldiers, whether they wore the blue or the gray.
Mr. Bonehelle takes an active interest in the Democratic party, and has held the office of Justice of the Peace three years, and that of County Commissioner two years.
He has been thrice married; first, to Mary Williams, a daughter of John Williams, who came to Williamson county, Texas, in 1848. She died in 1865, before Mr. Bouchelle re- turned from the surrender. In the same year he married Bethany E. Duley, who died in 1867. April 12, 1870, he was united in marriage to Margaret Mastin, a native of North Carolina. Mr. Bonchelle has two adopted children, aged respectively nine and eleven years.
Socially, he is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and religiously both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.
with the banking interests of this place. Ile began his career as a banker here in the usual way, taking the position of bookkeeper in the private banking house of Tracy & Brother, and holding such preferment until that house went out of existence. Then for six years he was bookkeeper and for eight years manager of the Rockdale bank, when, in Jannary, 1890, in company with a number of the business men of Rockdale, he organ- ized the First National Bank of this place, of which he became cashier, and has since held this position. The First National is the only bank that Rockdale now has, tlie Rockdale bank, the pioneer institution of the town, having gone into voluntary liquidation on January 1, 1892. For some time before the movement that resulted in the organization of a new bank here took any definite form there had been noted among the merchants and business men of the community a grow- ing demand for better banking facilities, and the present bank was the practical response of a few of the more enterprising men of the place to this demand. The bank was organ- ized with a paid-up capital of $75,000. This was subscribed for in varying amounts by the principal mercantile firmns of the town, and the bank started off propitiously. Its pro- gress since has been all that was anticipated. Its average deposits have risen from nothing to $100,000 annually, reaching as high as $125,000 during the cotton season. It lias declared a dividend of five per cent. semi- annually, and it numbers among its patrons all of the business men of Rockdale, with a fair share of the larger farmers and stockmen in the western and southern part of Milam county. Its facilities and equipments are ample, and it enjoys, to the fullest extent, the confidence of all classes of citizens. For
E. LONGMOOR, cashier of the First National Bank of Rockdale, Milam county, was born in Kenton county, Kentucky, January 14, 1854. He was reared in his native State and West Virginia, in the schools of which he received his early edu- cation, finishing in the Virginia Military In- stitute at Lexington, Virginia. In 1874 he came to Texas, and the year following located at Rockdale, which has since been his home. For eighteen years he has been connected | this condition of things it is indebted in a
·
·
642
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
large measure to Mr. Longmoor, who lias given to its affairs his unreserved attention since it first opened its doors for business. Mr. Longmoor's experience has been eneh as to qualify him in an eminent degree for the successful discharge of his duties in this po- sition, while lris reputation as a man is be- yond reproach. He is well known to many of Texas' leading bankers and monied men, among whom his standing is of the first rank. Ile assisted in organizing the Texas State Bankers' Association in August, 1885, and was elected Secretary in 1892 and re- clected in 1893. He has always taken an active interest in the banking and monetary affairs of the State, and he read before the Bankers' Association at Waco in 1892 an essay on the subject of country banks and cotton buyers, for which he received many flattering encomimins, both for the soundness of the views expressed and for the literary merits of his paper.
Mr. Longmoor has manifested an cqual interest in matters of concern to the locality where he lives, giving such aid as his means would allow, and lending his personal efforts to the promotion of all enterprises calculated to stimulate the industry of his town and county and further its general welfare. To say that he is a Kentuckian is equivalent to saying that he is, at least to some extent, somewhat of a politician. He has been a delegate to the usnal number of county and district conventions, and was also a delegate to the Democratic State convention held at Houston in August, 1892, that nominated Governor Hogg for a second term, and was an active and enthusiastic supporter of the Governor, as well as the rest of the State ticket throughout the late licated campaign. Hle has served as a member of the Demo- eratic committee of Milam county, and was
president of the Rockdale Democratic Club. Ile is the treasurer of Lodge No. 507, Knights of Honor, of Rockdale, and a mem- ber of the uniform rank of the same order iu the United States Commandery No. 1, this being the first chartered order of this kind in this degree in the United States.
December 20, 1877, Mr. Longnoor mar- ried Miss Bessie Joynes, daughter of Colonel J. R. Joynes, thien residing in Rockdale, but originally from Virginia, in which State Mrs. Longinoor was born and reared, coming of old Virginia ancestry. An account of her parentage appears in the sketch of Solon Joyues, her brother, elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Longmoor have had born to then four children: Hugh W., J. Earle, Stanley A. and Grace.
Mr. Longmoor's parents were natives of Kentucky, the father, Hugh P. Longmoor, having been born in Boone county, that State, in 1824, and the mother in Mason county in 1827. They were reared and mar- ried in their native State. The father served in the Mexican war and in some minor expe- ditions against the Indians, but never sought any high military or civil honors. He was trained for a banker and was engaged for some years in early life in banking, but, hav- ing a natural taste for studies in physics and clicmistry, he turned his attention while yet. a young man to the investigation of the natural resources of his native State, and in time became an oil refiner and producer of wide repute. This was before these products had elicited the interest of scientific investi- gators or excited the cupidity of money- makers. The processes of producing and re- fining and the methods of distribution were yet in their infancy. Mr. Lougmoor did a vast deal toward developing the coal fields of Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
643
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
He had a large circle of friends and business associates in these three States, and he died greatly lamented by these. His death oc- curred in 1878, and his remains were buried at Covington, Kentucky, where rest those of his parents. He met with a reasonable de- gree of financial success, but did not reap tlie rewards from his labors which he might have done had he been less conscientious and more thrifty (as others were) in using his oppor- tunities for personal ends. He was a man of chivalric sense of honor, great integrity and lofty aspiration. Ile spent the latter part of his life amidst conditions that tried men's principles.
Elizabeth (Slack) Longmoor, wife of Hugh P. Longmoor, and mother of the subject of this notice, was a daughter of Colonel Jacob A. Slack, of Mason connty, Kentucky, a highly-respected citizen, and in his day a prominent politician of his State, being a stalwart Jackson Democrat. He served in both branches of the Kentucky Legislature. Mrs. Longmoor was a lady of great intelli- gence and refinement and a devout Christian, being for many years a zealous member of the Presbyterian Church. She died at Parkersburg, West Virginia, in 1864.
Both the Longmoors and the Slacks were among the first settlers of Kentucky, and have long been among the most substantial and potential citizens of that great common wealth.
C APTAIN N. II. TRACY .- While there are a few incidents of a sensational or even novel character in the ordinary lives of professional men, there are yet in every successful career points of interest and an underenrrent of character well deserving of careful thought. However much lives
may resemble one another, each inst differ from all others, and preserve an identity truly its own. The life-history of N. Il. Tracy while it lias many phrases in common with others of his profession, yet discloses an energy, a perseverance, an integrity and per- sonal characteristics, which acting together as a motive power have enabled him to at- tain, and maintain, a standing of respect- ability and an esteem professionally, which are essentially and distinctively his own.
Captain Tracy is a native of Georgia, born in what was then Murray, now Whitfield county, April 3, 1842. His parents were James T. and Eliza A. Tracy, the former a native of South Carolina, and the latter a na- tive of Georgia. The mother's maiden name was Fulcher, and she was a daughter of a re- spectable and well-to-do planter of northi Georgia. The parents moved to Texas in 1856, stopping in Titus county, where, low- ever, they remained only a short time, leav- ing on account of the severe drouth of that year and going to southwest Missouri where they spent the winter, and in the following spring moved into northwest Arkansas, set- tling on the horse shoe bend of the north fork of White river. There the father en- gaged in mercantile and agricultural pur- snits, which he followed till his death in 1861. He died in middle life, being in his forty-fourth year, having been born in 1817. The mother survived him till 1878, dying in the fifty-sixth year of her age. For many years she was a consistent member of the Bap- tist Church. The father, while not rich, ac- emulated some property, and was in a fair way to become the possessor of considerable wealth at the time of his death. Such ad- vantages in the way of education as his means would allow and his situation with respect to schools afforded he gave to his children, sup-
611
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
plementing these with good counsel and a per- sonal example in his own life that was al- ways marked for patient labor, cheerfulness, pnrity and self-denial.
There were five children in the family of which the subject of this notice was a mem- ber. Harry was the eldest. He is now a resident of Dallas, this State, a prominent Populist leader, and a man who has attained much distinction lately as a lecturer on the principles of the Farmers' Alliance. Nat. II. of this article was the second. Joseph and William were two that died, respectively in youth and early manhood, the former at the age of sixteen and the latter at the age of twenty-six. Ollie, the only daughter, is now the wife of William Grissan, and lives in Fulton county, Arkansas.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.