USA > Texas > Burleson County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 32
USA > Texas > Travis County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 32
USA > Texas > Bastrop County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 32
USA > Texas > Lee County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 32
USA > Texas > Williamson County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 32
USA > Texas > Milam County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 32
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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
Nat. H. Tracy, with whom this article has mainly to do, was reared till he was sixteen years old in Murray connty, Georgia. He received a fair common school education, and while yet a lad, was placed in his father's store, where he spent the greater part of his early years. In 1859 he married Miss Mel- vina Herron, a native of Fulton eonnty, Ar- kansas, and danghter of Fielding Herron; and with the wifely counsel and assistance of this lady had begun to accumulate some prop- erty, and lay his plans for what promised to be a successful business career when the Civil war came on. He entered tlie Confederate army in April, 1861, going ont in the first company raised in the locality where he lived, this being Captain Pogne's company, Fonr- teenth Arkansas Infantry, commanded by Colonel Mitehell. His initial engagement was the first battle at Elkhorn. Following this, he was with that portion of the Mis- sonri and Arkansas troops transferred to the army east of the Mississippi and took part in the engagements at Farmington, luka and
Corinth, and in the subsequent operations in that vicinity until the surrender of Port Hudson in July 1863. He was transferred to Arkansas, and again in that State he ob- tained anthority to raise a company for the purpose of driving out the "Jay-hawkers" from Kansas and Missonri, of which com- pany he was elected Captain and at its head entered Fristo's regiment. With it he took part in the battles at Hartsville, Alder Creek Missouri, and at Angusta, Jackson Port and Miller's Church, Arkansas, besides numerous skirmishes and smaller expeditions where the serviee was hard, but the easnalties light.
When the war was over Captain Tracy re- turned home to find, as he had anticipated, that all his property had been swept away. He had but two horses left, twenty-five cents in money, the meat of less than two hogs, and corn to feed his horses and make bread for about three months. Four negroes, whom he had raised, remained on his place, and these promised to stay with him. With this stock in trade he began the arduous labors of "reconstrnetion" on his own plantation. At a couneil of war held by himself and wife it was decided, as he relates, to meet the enemy with the arms and stores then at hand with- out asking or accepting aid, either as a gratu- ity or as a loan, and with this excellent reso- lution, the good wife went to work picking ont cotton to make thread while the husband took to the field with the negroes to prepare the soil for the erop. Captain Traey says now.rather joeularly, but with an evident feel- ing of earnestness, that those were trying times. The first week passed off monotonons- ly. even gloomily enough, but sunshine was brought into the household on the first Sun- day morning by his bringing in two large deer, which he had shot in the woods near by. The rejoicing over this event, however, was
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brought to a sudden close when the fact was mentioned that there was no salt in the house, and none procurable, to save the meat with. Another counsel of war was held which re- sulted in directing attention to the dirt floor of the old smoke-house, which it was believed contained more or less saline matter mixed with mother earth. The dirt was dug up for several inches, leeched, the lye boiled, with the result, when the various processes were gone through with, of producing a half bushel of good salt, the color of light brown sugar. This saved the deer meat, and besides that furnished "seasoning" for the remainder of the year. The cotton crop was put in and made a good yield. By ginning time Cap- tain Tracy had sold enough peltry to buy bagging and ties, and when the crop was picked it was put on the market withont de- lay. It brought eighteen and three quarter cents per pound, and netted enough to buy supplies for the ensuing year and give a sur- plus of $875. The Tracy household was by this time fairly on its feet. Supplied with a goodly quantity of calico bought at a cost of twenty cents a yard, linsey at forty cents a yard, sugar at eighteen cents a pound and other things in proportion, the labors of a new year were begun much more hopefully than had been those of the previous year. And these things were appreciated too, for Captain Tracy relates that there was a spoon- ful of sugar or molasses nor a cup of tea, coffee or milk in his house from the time he came home from the war nntil he raised and marketed his first crop.
In 1868 Captain Tracy moved to Texas, settling at Davilla, Milam county. There he engaged in the mercantile business, and in 1874 moved to Rockdale, continuing in this and the banking business until 1880. Hav- ing rad law, he was admitted to the bar in
the last named year, and at once entered on the practice, since which time he has given his attention to duties pertaining to his pro- fession. He has served as County Commis- sioner of Milam county for six years, as mein- ber of the Town Council of Rockdale, on the City School Board, and has taken great inter- est generally in public matters in the con- munity where he lives. He is a Democrat, and has always stood ready to honor sight drafts on his time and services in behalf of his party.
In 1875, the year following his removal to Rockdale, Captain Tracy lost his estimable wife who died at the age of thirty-one years, a devout Christian and sincere, good woman. Two children survive her, Belle, the wife of J. F. Copeland of Springfield, Missouri, and Nat. H. Jr., of the same place. Three chil- dren died young, William P. at the age of eleven, James F. at the age of fifteen and Melvina at the age of five. Captain Tracy married a second time in 1876, when he was united to Miss Sallie Pipes, a daughter of John H. Pipes of Greensburg, Louisiana. To this union five children have been born, Engene HI., Claudie, Kittie, Leonard and Nattie. He and his wife are members of the Christian Church, as was also his deceased wife. He is a teacher of a Bible class in the Sunday schools, and exhibits a commendable interest in all church work. He is a mem- ber of the Masonic order belonging to the blue lodge and chapter.
Captain Tracy's life has not been all sun- shine, as this record shows, but he acknowl- edges having succeeded in getting a great deal of gennine pleasure ont of it, and through all the trials and vicissitudes of his career he has preserved unimpaired his confidence in the existence of his Creator, in the justice and expedieney of the scheme of society as it
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now exists, and in the honesty and correct impulses of his fellow-men. Of even temper, frank, open nature, and genial, affable ways, he has a host of friends, to all of whom he is known, and by no other title addressed than that of "Nat."
D R. WILLIAM R. KENNARD, for twenty-two years a practicing physi- cian of Milam county, was born in Sninter county, Alabama, September 29, 1834. His parents were James P. and Minerva Kennard, natives of Tennessee, who moved to Alabama about 1832, settling in Sumter county, where they subsequently lived and died, the mother dying in 1843, at the age of thirty, and the father in 1873 at the age of seventy. The father spent most of his life engaged in agricultural pursnits and merchandising, being also for sixteen years Clerk of the District Court of Sumter county.
William R. Kenward was reared in his native county in the select schools in which he received his early mental training. He graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1860, and located for the practice of his profession in Miller county, Missouri. On August 7, 1861, he married Miss Josephine L. Dixon of that county. At the opening of the late war he entered the Confederate army enlisting in a Missouri regiment which became part of l'rice's army with which he served in the capacity of field and hospital surgeon until the close of hostilities.
After the war he resided for six years partly in Missouri and partly in Alabama, engaged in the practice of his profession. In the fall of 1871 he came to Texas, and located in Milam county, west of the town
of Cameron where he resided until 1878, at which time he took up his residence iu Rockdale which has since been his home. He has been chiefly interested in the prac- tice of his profession and incidentally in the drug business. He has met with reasonably good success in both. He has served as Mayor of Rockdale, has been a member of the local School Board, assisted in organizing the Milam County Medical Society of which he was the first president, has been medical examiner of Rockdale Lodge, Knights of Honor, since 1878, and was for several years a member of the Board of Medical Exami- ners of Milam county, when the law creating that board first went into operation. He belongs to the Odd-Fellows, and for thirty years has been a member of the Masonic fra- ternity.
Dr. Kennard's wife was born in Miller county, Missouri, in 1840, and was there reared, receiving her education in the schools of that county, and at Palmyra and Coluu- bia, that State, graduating from the Chris- tian College of the latter place. She tanght one of the first public schools of Milam county. Her parents were William P. and Minerva Dixon who were born, the father in North Carolina in 1812, and the mother in Tennessee in 1824. The mother died iu 1868 at the home of her brother, L. B. Wilkes, at Lexington, Kentucky, whither she had gone for medical treatment, and the father in 1893, at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Kennard, with whom he had made his home for a number of years. Mrs. Kennard has two brothers, Thomas E. Dixon, living in' Vernon county, Missouri, aud William Price Dixon, of Kansas City, Missouri, and two sisters, Mary Luella, the wife of George Golden, residing in San Autonia, Texas, and Nannie, the wife of A. Spake, of Johnson
Emiy Taylor.
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connty, Missouri. Dr. Kennard has two half- brothers living: John and Nat Kennard of Sumter county, Alabama; and one sister, Sarah. the widow of M. C. Kennard, now making her home with her son, Prof. A. W. Kennard, at Longview, Texas.
The doctor and his wife are both mnem- bers of the Christian Church to which they have belonged for thirty years. They have had no children, but have brought up several nieces and nephews, two of of whom, James P. Kennard, a nephew of the Doctor, and Miss Minnie J. Barnett, a niece of Mrs. Kennard, were taken in infancy. The former is now a successful teacher of Milam county and the latter a recent graduate of the Rock- dale high school.
C APTAIN EMZY TAYLOR, president of the First National Bank of George- town, and one of the city's most pros- perons and highly respected citizens, was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, October 7, 1841, a son of Josiah and Catherine (Lee) Taylor. Emzy Taylor, the second child in order of birth, has resided in Georgetown since 1849. His education was received prin- cipally in Georgetown, where he clerked in his father's store for a time. In 1861 he en- listed for service in the late war, in Colonel, later General, J. B. Hood's Regiment. He went from Texas to Virginia, and on account of failing health was discharged December 4, 1861, but lay in the hospital at Dumfries until in March, 1862. When he entered the service he weighed 166 pounds, but at Dum- fries, Virginia, he was weighed and found he had lost eighty-four pounds. Ilis disease was pronounced by the physicians to be con- sumption, and his papers were signed by
General J. B. Hood, with whom he was in- timately acquainted. The latter gentleman had that happy faculty of knowing all his men. He associated the name and the face, and his memory of persons and countenances was such that he rarely ever lost sight of either. After leaving for bome, in 1862, Mr. Taylor never saw General Ilood until several years after the close of the war, when, as he was passing the hotel in Georgetown one day, the latter, who was a gnest there, recognized and called him by name, while he was more than twenty feet away. In May, 1862, Mr. Taylor enlisted in the Sixteenth Texas Vol- unteer Infantry, known as Flourney's Regi- ment, was elected Second Senior Lieutenant of his company, later promoted to First Lieu- tenant, and subsequently, after the death of Captain Chalmers, at Mansfield, Louisiana, was made Captain of his company, serving in that capacity until the close of the war. He was in the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant IIill, taken prisoner and confined ten days at Grand Ecore, and also took part in the battle of Milliken's Bend and many skirmishes.
After the close of the war Mr. Taylor be- gan merchandising in Georgetown, and later became a partner of J. L. Brittain. That partnership continued two years, and our sub- ject then continued business alone until the latter part of 1881, when he sold his store to Rucker & Montgomery. In 1882 Mr. Tay- lor embarked in the banking business in Georgetown, conducting a private bank until June 2, 1890, when it was organized as a national bank, with a capital stoek of $50,- 000. The officers are: E. Taylor, president; Andrew J. Nelson, vice. president; Lee M. Taylor, cashier; and F. W. Carothers, as- sistant cashier. In 1876 Mr. Taylor started the project of a railroad from Georgetown to Round Rock, which was built, operated one
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year, and then, in 1877, turned over to the International & Great Northern Railroad. They now have on hand a railroad from Georgetown to Granger, have the right of way, depot and grounds, and fifteen miles of grading completed. Mr. Taylor was also in- strumental in starting the water works of Georgetown, which were sold to the city in a later day; was secretary of a company who organized to have the Southwestern Univer- sity located in this city. The valuation of $150,000 was donated to the Southwestern University, and from $75,000 to $100,000 of this amount came from Georgetown. In company with others, our subject organized the Texas Chantanqua, located within one- half a mile of the city, giving $10,000 and 200 acres of land to have it placed in its present location. They have the finest lec- turers in the United States during the college vacation. The grounds are beantiful, and easy of access from the city.
Jnly 7, 1864, Mr. Taylor was united in marriage with Miss Margaret C. Henderson. Her parents died when she was a mere child, and she was reared in Tennessee by lier ma- ternal grandmother, Mrs. Martha Mayes, a widow. They came to Texas in 1856. Our subject and wife have two children living: Lee M., cashier of the First National Bank; and Corinna, wife of R. T. Cooper, collector in the same bank. They have three children: Madge, Bessie Bell and Corinna. Lee M. Taylor married Fannie Talliferro, whose grandfather, Rev. Talliferro, preached the first sermon in Williamson county, at the residence of Freeman Smalley, on Brushy creck. Mr. and Mrs. Lee Taylor have one child, Mabel. Our subject and wife are mem- bers of the Baptist Church, in which the former holds the office of Treasurer. Politi- cally, Mr. Taylor is a Democrat, and takes an | personal encounter with Indians in 1845,
interest in all home enterprises. He is a man of refinement and an estimable citizen, pos- sesses superior business qualifications, and his integrity of character, honorable and upright dealings and kind consideration of his fellow man, have won for him the highest regard of the community and the county in which he lives.
F RANK M. LITTON, a prominent farmer of Bastrop county, was born in this county, September 6, 1839, a son of Adison and Mary (Owen) Litton, natives of Missouri and Alabama, respectively. The parents were married where Bastrop now stands, in 1833, under the Mexican Govern- ment. The father was one of the pioneer settlers of old Bastrop, was a member of Captain Belligsley's company of rangers, and participated in many engagements against the Mexicans and Indians. During the stampede from this place, Mr. Litton took his family to the Nacogdoches river, and immediately returned to the army. He served as guard over a wagon train during battle of San Jacinto, and after peace was de- clared he returned to his home in this county, only to find the Indians had burned his house and all the improvements, had driven off his stock, and left nothing with which to begin work but the land, very little of which was then under cultivation. Mr. Litton continned to be a member of the ranger service until 1845, and took part in the battles of Brushy creek, Plum creek, and many others. Dur- ing the time when he was away from home his faithful wife took care of the home in- terest, suffering all the horrors and dread of an attack by the Indians during the absence of the men. Mr. Litton was killed in a
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leaving a widow and four children: David, born in this county in 1834 or 1835, is a res- ident of Colorado; Mahala, married Frank Yost, and both are now deceased; Frank F .. our subject; and Mary A., widow of Charles Woolfingbarger, and a resident of Bastrop county. In 1850 the mother married Chris- topher Strauther, and they had one child William Strauther. The wife and mother died in 1859.
Few people were obliged to undergo more hardships ineident to the early settlement than did Mr. and Mrs. Litton. The former was nearly always away from home, engaged in fighting the Indians from his own and his neighbors' homes, and few men ever gave more of their time to their country than Mr. Litton. He was a fearless man in point of personal danger, always ready to assist in re- pelling the invasions of the country by In- dians and Mexicans. During the early days the families were frequently compelled to go to the forts of Bastrop, Wilbarger, or higher up the Colorado river. On such occasions the men would seonr the country for the enemy, leaving their wives, daughters and inothers at the forts, protected only by a few men. While working on his farin Mr. Litton was obliged to have a guard stationed at the house to prevent the Indians from assassinat- ing him, or capturing and carrying the family into captivity, which was more dreaded by the women than death.
Frank M. Litton received only a limited education, and remained with his mother on the old homestead until her death. He still resides on this farm, where he was born and raised. On account of being crippled in his right hand, he did not take an active part in the late war, although his sympathy and means were freely given to the cause of the South. At the opening of the struggle he the year 1750, and were prominent partici-
was extensively engaged in the cattle busi- ness, but at its close his stock was nearly all gone, and, like many others, he was obliged to begin life anew. Mr. Litton purchased the interests of his brothers and sisters in the homestead, and he now owns 800 acres of land on Cedar creek, with 175 acres under a fine state of enltivation. Ile also has a grist mill and a steam cotton gin, where he gins about 600 bales of cotton annually, about fifty per eent. of the same being raised on his own place.
Mr. Litton was married in 1860, to Miss Sarah Glass, a native of Tennessee, and a daughter of Hector Glass, who came to Texas abont 1850. To this union were born three children: Adison, of this county; Heetor, of Colorado; and William, a resident of Bastrop county. The sons are engaged in farming and stoek raising. The wife and mother died in 1873, and in the following year Mr. Litton married Miss Bettie Thompson, a native of Virginia. IIer parents died in that State, and she came to Texas with two other ladies in 1874. Mr. and Mrs. Litton have eight children, as follows: Sallie, Rosa, Lemma, Frank, Kenneth, John Hearn, Bettie, and a babe, David. Mrs. Litton is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
JUDGE Z. T. FULMORE, of Austin, Texas, was born in Robeson county, North Carolina, November 11, 1846. His parents were Zach. and Sallie (Bethea) Fulmore, the latter a native of Marion coun. ty, South Carolina, and the former of Robe- son county, North Carolina, where he was born Jannary 10, 1808. His ancestors on both sides immigrated to that section about
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pants in the revolution of 1776, and were all stanch Whigs. The father of this sketch is still living in North Carolina, in the enjoy- ment of all his faculties, at the advanced age of eighty-five. He has been actively engaged in farming for about fifty years, and is still personally supervising his farin. At the early age of twelve he became afflieted with deafness, from which he never recovered. The mother died July 8, 1854, at the age of thirty-two.
Our subjeet is the eldest of a family of three children, and is the only survivor-his brother, John B., having died in June, 1882, at the age of thirty-three, and his sister, Ella Florence, in 1872, at the age of twenty-one. Judge Fuhnore has had excellent advantages in the way of education, having at the age of seven been placed under the training of teach- ers of character and education in the inme- diate vicinity of his home. Early in 1861, he was sent to the North Carolina Military Institute, at Charlotte, then under the super- vision of the late General D. H. Hill. When Fort Sumter was attacked, this school sus- pended, and all its professors-among whom was General James H. Lane and Colonel Charles C. Lee-went to the front. The subject of this sketeh, who was only fourteen years old, then went to the Olin high school, in Iredell county, North Carolina. In March, 1862, the demand for volunteers for the Confederate army induced all the teachers of this school to go to the front, and he was again forced to go in search of another school. He then went to the justly celebrated Bing- ham school, in Orange county, North Caro- lina. He remained at this school until March, 1864, when he left it to join the army. He enlisted as a private in Company D, first bat- talion of North Carolina Artillery. He was engaged in but two battles: the first, Fort son.
Fisher bombardment, December 23, 24 and 25, 1864-the heaviest bombardment in the world's history-and later, on January 15, 1865, in the second Fort Fisher bombard- ment. HIe was here taken prisoner of war and carried to Point Lookout, where he re- mained until May 16, 1865, when he was re- leased and returned home.
As early as possible, within a few months, he returned to Bingham's school to finish his eonrse there, and in 1867 went to the Uni- versity of Virginia. Ilere he took a literary course for two years and a law course of one year.
In the fall of 1870 he came to Texas, lo- eating at Austin, December 24th, and has lived continuonsly here ever since. He has held various positions of honor and trust both of a private and public nature. The first po- sition to which he was ever appointed he still holds, viz .: Trustee for the Institution for the Blind, at Austin, he having been appointed by Governor Coke, in 1875. He is now chairman of the Board of Trustees for that in - stitution. At the age of thirty-three he was elected County Judge of Travis county, and was snecessively elected to the position for three terms, when he refused to accept a nomination for another term, preferring to return to the practice of law.
In 1887, the Legislature having provided for the establishment of an institution of learning for the deaf, dumb and blind colored youth of the State, Governor Ross appointed him one of the three commissioners to select a site for the institution and organize it. In 1891 he was selected by Governor Hogg as one of three commissioners to codify the laws of Texas, which duty he has performed in connection with his co-commissioners, Hon. H. G. Robertson and Governor Wells Thomp- In politics he is an uncompromising
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Democrat, and has invariably taken an inter- est in all public questions, though never fig- nring conspicuously in conventions.
He has paid, perhaps, more attention to the formulation of laws by which an efficient system of public schools might be attained in the State than to any other public question which affects the politics of Texas, and has actively participated in almost every discus- sion which has affected this interest, and for many years has been connected with the prac- tical operations of the educational system of the State. He is a prominent member of the Masonic order, having been twice High Priest of the Chapter of Royal Arch Masons at Austin. In religious belief he is a Presby- terian, being a member of the Southern Pres- byterian Church at Anstin.
April 4, 1877, he was married to Luclla Robertson, of Salado, Bell county, Texas, a daughter of the late General E. S. Robert- son. He has five children: Ella Florence, Sterling Robertson, Z. T., Jr., Frank and Im- ogene Fulmore, all of whom are still living.
A G. MAY .- As some mighty monarch of the forest, whose head has bowed to the blasts of numerous winter storms, and basked in the refulgent rays of many summer suns whose refreshing shade has afforded welcome relief to man, bird, beast and herb alike, and still lives on, fulfilling its beneficent mission, thus stands the subject of this sketeli, a patriarch, bless- ing all within the influence of his power and the recipient of universal admiration and estecm. This old pioneer, whose life has been passed on the frontier, and who has been in- strumental in developing the resources of this country, making possible the thousand bene-
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