USA > Texas > Burleson County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 7
USA > Texas > Travis County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 7
USA > Texas > Bastrop County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 7
USA > Texas > Lee County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 7
USA > Texas > Williamson County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 7
USA > Texas > Milam County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.2 > Part 7
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the land purchased by his father in 1857, having received from his father 225 acres, on which he settled in 1868, and which he has improved. Mr. Bozeman also owns a half section in Tom Green county, suitable for grazing.
In 1864 he married Miss Sallie Pylant, a daughter of John A. and Mary Pylant, who were then residents of Alabama. Mr. and Mrs. Bozeman have had eight children, all girls; Mollie, now wife of W. J. Smilie, of Milam county; Emma J., wife of D. P. Will- iams, of Dallas county, Texas; Minnie L .; Lurline E., wife of J. D. Stoncham, of Falls county; Willie E. and Jessie R., still at home. The religious connection of the family is with the Baptist Church, most of them holding or having held membership in Caddo Church, in the vicinity of Baileyville.
C H. YOE .- Since the days when the adventurous Captain Henry Hudson first pushed his explorations up the romantic stream that bears his name, and on the banks of that stream planted the seeds of one of the thriftiest colonies on this con- tinent, down to the present time, the nation under whose flag he sailed, Holland, and the more populous and stronger nation, Ger- many, which he may be said in some measure to have represented, have furnished to this country a large portion of its people, and what is better, some of its sturdiest, thriftiest, most intelligent and best citizens. These two conntries have sent to the New World repre- sentatives who have illustrated, both in war and peace, the characteristics of their people. being no less distinguished for their valor in one than for the triumphs of their genins and industry in the other. And it can be said
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without disparagement to the numerous other people represented in the American body politie that those communities where the Dutch and German settlers predominate are withont exception in national faith and unity the soundest, as they are in the common af- fairs of life in the healthiest and most pros- perons condition.
The subject of this sketch is a native of Germany and comes to the strong German stock here referred to. He was born Jnly 23, 1844, and is a son of John and Lizzie Yoe, both natives also of Germany. The parents never came to America, but have al- ways resided in their native country, where they are leading the quiet, nseful lives of the respectable and fairly well-to-do middle class of citizens to which they belong. C. H. Yoe left Germany a sixteen-year-old lad in 1860, and came to this country making his first stop at Baltimore, In that city he apprenticed himself to a blacksmith and learned the trade which he followed there and in Washington city until after the close of hostilities between the two sections in 1865, when he came South and for a year or more lived at New Orleans.
IIe came to Texas in 1868, and a year later to Milam county. For a year after coming to this county he worked on a farm; then he took up his residence in Cameron, where he again went at his trade and followed it steadily for nearly ten years. By industry, thrift and economy he managed to save some from his earnings, and being desirous of venturing into a new field of employment he purchased a small stock of goods in 1878 and engaged in the mercantile business in Cam- eron.
Ilis venture proved successful, he en- larged his stock from time to time as de- manded by the trade and for a number of years did a large and snceessful business. He
sold out his mercantile interests in January, 1892, and, having already made several con- siderable investments in farm lands, extended his operations in this direction and has since given his attention actively to improving his holdings. Ile owns some desirable real estate in this county, having over 600 acres of farm land under enltivation, on which he raises an abundance of Texas' sovereign product, cotton. He also owns good town property in Cameron and is regarded as one of Cameron's solid men of means.
Mr. Yoe's energies have been concentrated in the pursuit of his own business and his efforts have yielded him a rich reward. He has never held public office but once, when he was induced to take for a short time the office of County Treasurer, which he filled acceptably until his successor was elected and qualified. Ile has taken an active part, however, in all matters relating to the development of the town and county, and has been foremost both with his money and personal efforts to promote all enterprises looking to their improvement. He is also identified with the best social interests of the place, being a member of the Knights of Honor and the Masons, in which last order he is a Knight Templar, and has filled all the
positions in the blue lodge and chapter to which he belongs. He adheres to the religious faith of his fathers, being a member of the Lutheran Church, but is liberal both in opinion and with his means as respects the support of church organizations. In 1871 Mr. Yoe married Caroline Meyers, a daughter of Frederick and Rose Elizabeth Meyers, who were among Milam county's early settlers, and who are most pleasantly remembered by many of the older citizens of this day. They were natives of Germany and came to America about 1844 or 1845, settling in
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Milam county a year or two later. The father died in Cameron in 1870, aged fifty- three, and the mother in 1872, at the same age. Of their twelve children only five are now living,-Caroline (Mrs. Yoe), Albert, Charles, Lu and David,-three dying of yel- low fever in Houston shortly after the family came to the State, and four in Cameron. It would be depriving this sketch of part of its interest and robbing a good woman of her just deserts, not to add that much to the success which Mr. Yoe has attained has been dne to the kindly connsel and efficient aid which he has received at the hands of the lady whom he selected now more than twenty years ago for a companion, and who during all these years has borne him a faithful and affectionate companionship.
P HILIP DANIEL KOONTZ, a stockman, residing tweve miles north of Georgetown, in Glasscock valley, is the only son of W. A. and Lonisa (Counts) Koontz, of German descent. The inother's name is but the English spelling of the father's name. The paternal family lo- cated in Rockingham county, Virginia, in an early day. and the grandfather of our subject afterward moved to Madison county, Ohio. W. A. Koontz was born in Virginia, was reared to manhood and married in Ohio; taught school in that State several years, and then began a broker's business, which, in con- nection with banking, he followed until late in life. Ile then, having made a fortune, retired from active life, and now resides in Sedalia, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Koontz had two children. and the daughter, now deceased, was the wife of J. M. Stroup, a prominent and successful merchant of Sedalia.
P. D. Koontz was born in Madison county, Ohio, April 21, 1849, and was edneated at the Ohio Wesleyan College, at Delaware, Ohio, and at the Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, same State. Much of his early life was given to travel and recreation. Raised in the Buckeye State by indulgent and well- to-do parents, and educated at the best of northern schools, Mr. Koontz yet saw fit, in his young manhood, to cast his lot among the people of Williamson county, where, for twenty years, he has successfully tried the virtue of Texas soil and climate. He was in- duced to come to this county by the father (now deceased) and an unele of Captain J. A. Rumsey, of Corn Ilill. Arriving in this neighborhood in the fall of 1872, Mr. Koontz purchased 100 acres of improved land in the Glasscock valley, known as the Tremble farm. This was the beginning of his Texas life, and, although he lias spent a part of the intervening time at his boyhood's home, he has ever since maintained his residence here. To the original purchase he has gradually added until he now owns 2,000 aeres, 600 acres of which is under a fine state of culti- vation. This is one of the best farms in Williamson county. Mr. Koontz gives spe- cial attention to the raising of Poland-China swine.
In this county, in 1872, our subject was united in marriage to Miss Emer Marrs, who died four years later. They had two chil- dren: Iosa Winetka, wife of John E. King, Jr., of Williamson county; and Emola Glen, wife of Thomas S. King, also of this county. May 2, 1881, Mr. Koontz married Fannie 1. Orebangh, a daughter of John L. and Emily (Jones) Orebangh. Her ancestors were of German descent, located in the same county in Virginia as did Mr. Koontz's people, and afterward moved to Ohio. Jolm L. Ore-
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bangh, a merchant by occupation, was born and passed his entire life in Highland county, Ohio, and died of disease contracted while serving as a Union soldier. Mrs. Koontz was left an orphan at the age of thirteen years, with two sisters: Mary, wife of J. Il. Van Pelt, a prosperous farmer of Madison county, Ohio; and Ella, now Mrs. E. B. Col- lier, of Dayton, that State. Mr. and Mrs. Koontz have had the following children: Texas Belle, Carlo Serena, and Ernest Sam- nel, aged respectively (1893), eleven, nine and seven years.
D R. JOHN THREADGILL, Second Vice President of the First National Bank of Taylor, was born in Anson county, North Carolina, September 28, 1847, a son of James and Eliza (Panl) Threadgill, who were born and reared there, the father being of English and the mother of Scotch extraction. The father was a speculator and was favorably known all over the Southwest. For over thirty years he was a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a good man and foremost in the conflicts of the times for the betterment of the condition of the masses. He took a broad view of his personal responsibility and his active years were all mnost earnestly given to the promo- tion of the canse of goodness under a high impulse that makes life great and often very effective. IIe died January 1, 1880, aged sixty-five years.
The mother of onr subject belonged to a fine old Scotch family. the Mckinneys of North Carolina. She was a deeply pions wo- man and reflected the power and beauty of a Christian life in relation to her family. the church and the community. These parents
had twelve children, all of whom lived to mature years, and ten are living at the pres- ent writing.
Our subject was educated in the common schools and studied medicine under the tutel- age of Dr. E. F. Ash, of Wadesborongh, North Carolina, and attended a course of medical lectures in the Baltimore Medical College during the winter of 1867-'68. Ile then returned to North Carolina and began the practice of medicine in a country town, remaining there until the summer of 1870, when he came to Washington county. Texas, and practiced there until May 1, 1875, then located near Circleville, in Williamson cous- ty, and practiced there until the town of Tay- lor started, and ever since that time has been located there.
His practice continued until 1880, when he entered into the real-estate business, continu- ing until 1890, when he went into the bank- ing business. IIe was elected to his present position in 1891. The other officers of the bank are: John R. Hoxie, President; J. P. Sturgis, Vice President; Dr. John Threadgill, Second Vice President; C. H. Welch, Cash- ier; F. L. Welch, Assistant Cashier. This bank has a capital paid in of $150,000, with a surplus of $25,000, and it does a general banking business.
Our subject owns much real estate in Tay- lor, Williamson and in other counties in the State. He was the first physician that prac- ticed in the town, and owned the first drug store, which is now conducted by his brother, J. G. Threadgill. From August, 1877, to Angust, 1879, he condneted this store. IIe was also the first Notary in the town and erected the third dwelling, and since that time to the present has been very active in all of the enterprises for public improvement. Either as Mayor or as Alderman he has been
At Holegeland
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connected with the city government ever Nashville, where he became overseer for since the organization of the place, serving as Mayor from 1885 to 1889, when he refused the office longer.
The Doctor has been married three times, esponsed Martha, a daughter of Captain his third wife having been Miss Fannie Fal- well of Memphis, Tennessee. By his second marriage he had one danghter, Jennie, and one by his third, Mary Fannie.
Mrs. Threadgill is a valued member of the Episcopal Church, believing in the beautiful tenets of that church. The Doctor is a blue , tract of land in what was then the unsur- lodge Mason, a member of the I. O. O. F., . in which he has held the chairs, and is also a member of the Knights of Pythias. He takes a great interest in local politics and is a strong supporter of the State administration. Ile is one of the prosperons and successful business inen of the county, and his life for- nishes a good example of what will and per- severance can accomplish when coupled with honesty and strict integrity.
AMES H. HOLTZCLAW .- In the sun- mer of 1835 Major Sterling C. Robert- son, the empresario, then engaged in his scheme of founding a colony in Texas, made an extensive tour of Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Kentucky in the interest of his enterprise. He succeeded in inducing a large number of settlers to ac- company him ont that year, and these took np claims what was then known as " Robert- son's grant." One of this number was War- ner Bernard Holtzclaw, the father of James HI. Holtzclaw of this article. Warner Bern- ard Holtzclaw was a native of Virginia, born in the first year of this century. He was reared in his native State and when a young man migrated to Tennessee, locating near albeit his earlier years had not been spent in
General Andrew Jackson, and where he mar- ried and resided until his removal to Texas. Ilis marriage ocenrred in 1831, when he James Leach, then of Davidson county, Ten- nessee, but originally from Virginia, a vet- eran of the Revolution and an early immi- grant to the West.
On coming to Texas in 1835 Warner Ber- nard Holtzclaw "laid a head-right " on a
veyed and unsettled San Gabriel and Little river country, now Milam county. No actual settlement on his " head-right" was at- tempted by him at that time on account of the transitional state of affairs on the fron- tier at that time. Like many others he spent the time between that date and the final emancipation of Texas from Mexican author- ity, in prospecting, hunting and sconting. Ilis family came to Texas in 1836 and settled at Nacogdoches, where they remained during the troublons times of the Revolution. In 1837, with the gradual forward movement of the settlers toward the west and southwest he moved his family to the town of Wash- ington, where he embarked in the hotel busi- ness, which he followed at that place for about two years. He was the pioneer hotel-keeper of Washington, and furnished accommoda- tions for man and beast to many of Texas' early settlers and most distinguished men. He died in Washington county, in 1842, meeting a violent death at the hands of an assassin who shot him from ambush as he was returning home to his farm, which was about three miles from town. Hle was taken away in the prime of life, at a time when his career gave promise of greater activity and usefulness than he had theretofore known,
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idleness nor in unprofitable labor. He was one who was well formed by nature for the duties that fell to his lot, and he discharged those duties creditably to himself and with advantage to the community in which he lived. Strong in body, courageons, self- reliant, expert in the use of fire-arms and skilled in wood-craft, he combined all the ele- ments of the frontiersman with the better qualities of the sturdy, industrions, home- loving commonwealth builder. To these en- dowments were added habits of temperance and sobriety, charity for the foibles and short- comings of others, and a generosity toward all his fellow creatures, hardly equaled in those times, now celebrated as the golden age of the household virtues and man's love for man. During his residence in Tennessee he interested himself actively in politics, being a Democrat and trained under the eye of the great apostle of Democracy, General Jackson, to whom he was greatly attached both per- sonally and politically. Politics playing but little part in the affairs of the people of Texas when he took up his residence here, his mind was concerned with the more weighty prob- leis incident to the founding of the new government of the Republic, and the further- ance of the measures by which it should be sustained. He left at his death a widow and two children. The widow was married a second time, in 1846, to V. P. Ackerman, of Washington county, and died a year later. The elder of the two children was James Il. Holtzelaw, of this article, and the younger a danghter, Martha, who was first the wife of L. M. Minor, and after his death the wife of R. II. Sanford, both of Milam county.
ps II. Holtzclaw, with whom this sketch is mainly concerned, was born at Gen- eral Jackson's famous country seat, " The Hermitage," near Nashville, Tennessee,
March 20, 1833. His recollections, however, are entirely of Texas, as he was brought to this State by his parents at the age of three. Ile was reared principally in Washington county. On the death of his mother he was bound ont, at the age of fourteen, to William Rutledge of Washington county, to learn the blacksmith's trade, but before completing his indenture ran away and joined an expedition bound for New Mexico in search of gold. With this party of adventurers, composed of 116 men under the leadership of Rev. Stew- art, a Methodist minister, he spent several months prospecting in New Mexico. The expedition broke up in the fall of 1852, hav- ing failed in its object, the finding of gold. Its members separated and followed their in- dividual inclination, scattering into diverse sections of the Union. Mr. Holtzclaw located at El Paso, Texas, which was on the route to California, and along which there was a large amount of travel in those days. There he secured work at his trade and followed it profitably for a period of two years. He then returned to Texas, and going to his old home in Washington county, passed a short time there and then came, in 1855, to Milam county. Here he was married, February 4, 1857, and then settled down to farming ou the head-right located by his father, between the San Gabriel and Little rivers. He has since continnonsly resided here. ILe has been engaged in farming on his present place nearly forty years, and thus has not only one of the first located head-rights, but one of the oldest actually settled farms in the county. Hle has added to the old homestead by pur- chase until his holdings now embrace 2,300 acres, all lying in the black land district, and abont 400 acres of which is under enlti. vation. It is a splendid body of land and one that is yearly growing in vahe.
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Mr. Holtzelaw filled the nsnal number of the unanimous testimony of those among local offices, and was a volunteer in the Con. , whom he has so long lived and labored. federate army, serving from May, 1862, until An incident of a local interest and illustra- the surrender as a member of Company B, tive somewhat of the character of the man, is Brown's regiment, with which he did duty along the coast and at interior points in the State.
Mrs. Iloltzclaw, like her husband, is a na- tive of Tennessee, born in Williamson county, in 1834. Her maiden name was Elizabeth T. Sanford, she being a daughter of Ruben and Mary Sanford, who moved to Texas in 1854. She was reared in Williamson county, Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Holtzelaw are the parents of three children: John E. of Belton, Bell county, this State; Martha R. wife of Lewis Davis, of Port Townsend, Washing- ton; and James, a farmer of Milam county. Mrs. Holtzelaw is a member of the Christian Church. Mr. Holtzelaw is a Universalist. In politics he is an independent. Both, as might be expected, are greatly devoted to Texas and all its interests and institutions.
Mr. Holtzclaw's life is suggestive of a his- torical perspective that is full of interest, a perspective that is crowded with stirring in- cidents and events of surpassing moment. It really embraces all of the history-making period of the State's existence,-five different governments, three wars of national conse- quence, besides numerous Indian forays and expeditions, the expulsion of the red man, the era of railway development, urban develop- ment, internal improvement, and all the wonders wronght by steam and electricity, brains energy and money. In this marvel- ons change, which seems more like the work of the enchanter's wand than the steady prog- ress of human events, he has performed, in his humble and unpretentious way, the part which time and chance have assigned to him; and that he has done it faithfully and well is of the citizens whom he had caused to be
told of Mr. Iloltzelaw by one of his neigh- bors. In the summer of 1865, while a mum- ber of regiments of United States troops were on their way to San Antonio as an army of occupation, one of the regiments halted for refreshments one day on the San Gabriel river near Mr. Holtzelaw's place. Mr. II. happening to pass that way at the time noticed their colors (a splendid flag said to have been presented to them by the ladies' of the town in New York where the regiment was raised) standing in the bed of the river at some distance unprotected, but in full view of the camp. Slipping down unseen to where the flag stood he marriedly took off the large silver spear-head and cord and made away with them, leaving the staff and flag. As soon as the loss was discovered there was consternation in the camp. An immediate search was in- stituted; several citizens were arrested and threats of severe punishment indulged in. Among others arrested was a tenant on Mr. Holtzelaw's place, Alexander Phillips, whom it was reported. the soldiers were treating with considerable indignity. Seeing that his neighbors were suffering unjustly and that the search then going on was liable to develop into a sort of persecution, Mr. Holtzelaw concluded to " make a clean breast of it " and face the consequences whatever they might be. Hle therefore went down to the camp and asked to see the officer in com- mand. This at first was denied him, but after some parleying he was conductor to the presence of this gentleman. le informed the officer that he had come to say that none
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apprehended or was then in search of had the missing trappings; that those coveted articles were at that moment in his (Holtzelaw's) shrinking from the glare of public gaze it is possession, where they had been since he had sometimes very difficult to do one justice in a personal notice like the present, especially when the biographer is compelled in some degree to depend on the man himself for much of his personal history. William P'. Branch, who for nearly twenty years has been a resident of Rockdale and whose business career, and. in faet, the greater part of whose life has been identified with the history of the place, is one to whom the foregoing ob- servations apply with some force. taken them from the staff a day or so before. The officer asked Mr. Iloltzclaw what he meant by such condnet, and in the same breath desired to know if he was fully aware of the nature of the offence he had com- mitted. Mr. II. replied that he had just come out of the army where he had given up four years of valuable time, and that if he did not bring home with him some knowledge of the rules of war, his four years' service might be considered as lost, for he certainly had not, brought anything else. Then, look- ing the oflieer steadily in the eye, he said: "Colonel, when a flag is left unprotected isn't it the property of the enemy, provided the enemy can get it?" The officer winced a little, but replied that it was not supposed that there was an enemy in that vicinity. Mr. Holtzclaw answered that if there was not. then there would not sem to be much need for any soldiers around. The officer then asked him what he had intended to do with the things he had taken. Mr. H. said that his intention was to make the finest bridle in Texas ont of the rope, and to decorate it be- comingly with the silver spearhead. After some other remarks of a desultory but re- spectful nature on the part of each, Mr. Holtz- claw took his departure without being after- ward threatened or molested. The spear- head and cord was turned over to a soldier who was sent after them, and no more was heard of the matter.
W P. BRANCH .- The warp and woof of historical narrative is made of facts and no retiring dislike for the ; world's plaudits, therefore, should be allowed
to shade one's virtues of character. Yet when these veil themselves in a sensitive
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