USA > Texas > Tarrant County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Tarrant and Parker counties; containing a concise history of the state, with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named counties, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families > Part 35
USA > Texas > Parker County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Tarrant and Parker counties; containing a concise history of the state, with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named counties, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families > Part 35
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His parents were Dr. A. S. and Martha (Garrett) Simmons, of Alabama. In the spring of 1872 his father discontinued prac- tice and engaged fully in the live-stock busi- ness. In 1886 he went to Mexico, where he engaged in the same occupation a year, then returned to Parker county and dealt in cattle here and in the Territory until 1892, since which time he has been in the livery business at Denison, Texas. He had five
children, all sons, two of whom died young. Of the living the subject of this sketch is the eldest; Daniel died at the age of seven- teen years, and James L. died in 1892, leaving a wife and one child. The mother of these children died in 1889, and their father has again married.
Mr. John F. Simmons married Miss Flora Barthold, a daughter of Charles Bar- thold, who is a prominent merchant of Weatherford. Mr. and Mrs. Simmons have one child, Fred, who is now nine years of age.
Mr. Simmons takes an active interest in public affairs, sympathizing with the views of the Democratic party, and he is a mem- ber of the order of Knights of Honor. He has seen much of the rough side of life in Texas, and has by his own energies and strict principles arisen from the humble position of cow-boy to his present enviable station in life, wherein he is prominently identified with the best interests of Weather- ford and seems well and comfortably settled for the remainder of his days.
R. WALLACE, one of the most enterprising and rushing farmers of Tarrant county, was born in Johnson county, Missouri, and reared to farm work. In 1855, when he was five years of age. his parents mnoved to Texas, settling near Waxahachie, where he grew up, acquiring a good education, partly at Mans- field College. When sixteen years of age
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his father started him to freighting, and in that business he would sometimes break an axle, and he would cut a piece of timber from a neighboring wood and with only what tools he happened to have along with him would make another axle and proceed on his way. He continued in the freighting business four years. At the age of twenty- two he engaged in the hotel business at Mansfield, with a feed stable in connection, and also a farm, which he ran at the same time.
October 28, 1875, he was married, and the next year he settled upon a farm in Tar- rant county, which he purchased by ex- change of other lands for it, two miles south of Johnson's Station. It comprises 270 acres, with 100 acres in cultivation, devoted to a diversity of crops. He has always dealt more or less in cattle and mules, feeding and marketing them; and he has also always been engaged to some extent as a dealer in farm machinery, as threshers, hay-presses, etc. (The larger portion of his right hand has been torn by a threshing machine. ) Besides, he has run brick-works at Mans- field for three years, and conducted a drug- store at Mansfield.
In reference to public affairs he takes a decided interest, and is benevolently dis- posed toward all local movements for the good of the community.
Mr. Wallace's parents were Erasmus D. and Delia A. (Wear) Wallace. His mother was a native of Alabama. His grandfather, John Wallace, moved from Kentucky to
Missouri in an early day. Erasmus D. Wallace was a farmer all his life, came to Texas in 1855, settling in Ellis county, and in 1870 moving to Mansfield, Tarrant county. He died February 14, 1874, a Master Mason and a Ruling Elder in the Cumberland Pres- byterian Church; and his wife survived him till February 28, 1888, also a member of the same church. They had eight children, namely: Rosa A., who married R. L. Gill and died a year afterward; the subject of this sketch was the next born; Mary A., who married Dennis Mahoney and resides at Houston; Lucilia J., who became the wife of W. D. Lane, and is now a resident of Mansfield; William T., also residing at Mansfield; Octavia B., who became the wife of John P. Graves, a farmer and cot- ton-gin proprietor in Ellis county; George W., a brick contractor at Houston; Dora, yet single, is an expert stenographer.
Mr. F. R. Wallace was first married Oc- tober 28, 1875, to Miss Martha E. Elliott, daughter of John M. and Sarah (Baker) El- liott, of Missouri. Mr. Elliott emigrated to that State from North Carolina in pioneer times; and thence in 1847 to Texas, locating in Tarrant county; and his wife was a native of Missouri, a lady of German descent, whose first American ancestors settled in Pennsylvania, as "Pennsylvania Dutch." They had seven children, all of whom came to Texas and are now prominent citizens of Tarrant county. Mr. and Mrs. Wallace had three children, -Walter V .; Sally A .; and Jason Mahoney. The mother of these chil-
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dren was born March 17, 1857, and died April 17. 1886, a sincere and exemplary member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. August 9, 1888, Mr. Wallace married Miss Minnie House, a daughter of B. B. and E. J. (Ramsey) House, her father a native of Tennessee and her mother of Arkansas, and they both came to Texas when young, with their parents, locating in Johnson county. Mr. House was a Justice of the Peace and Notary Public for many years, and died in Johnson county, January 5, 1882, and his wife survived him till March 11, 1888, dying in the same county; John J., who died in 1891; and Gula, who finds a good home with her sister and is yet single. By the present marriage there are two chil- dren: Mary G. and Finas Bell.
Mr. Wallace is a Royal Arch Mason, and has been Master of Arlington Lodge for six years. He and his wife are sincere members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, in which body he is also a Ruling Elder. In his political principles he is a Democrat.
RS. B. M. BURCHILL .- In every community there are men and women whose excellent quali- ties of mind and heart have made them benefactors of their race. Many of them have had their pathway beset with difficul- ties and discouragements; and in every case trial and opposition have only served to intensify their natures and make them more and more useful. The life of Mrs. B. M.
Burchill illustrates this fact. She is a wo- man of marked ability and indomitable will, and has succeeded in her undertakings where many a one would have met with utter failure. Following is a brief sketch of her life; and, although brief and im- perfect, it will serve to show something of what she has accomplished, and in what favor she is held by the people of Fort Worth.
Mrs. Burchill is a native of New York State and a daughter of Augustus and Mariah (Phelps) Murray. The Murrays are descended from Lord Andrew Murray, and came from Scotland to America about the year. 1794. Her grandfather, James. Wallace Murray, a prominent educator, was associated with two of his brothers in con- ducting a medical school in Edinburgh, Scot- . land, prior to coming to America. His two brothers, Jonathan and Thomas, also came to America, but they subsequently returned to their native land. Augustus Murray be- came a prominent lumberman in New York State and there reared his family. He had two sons and two daughters. The oldest .son, Hayden Wallace, died when young, and the second son was also named Hayden. He, too, is deceased. Kate Belle Murray was named for her two grandmothers, Katherine and Bellsa. The other daughter, Emily Gertrude, died when young. Thus the subject of our sketch is the only survi- vor of the family. Her father died when she was eight years old, and her mother lived until 1880, her death occurring at the
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home of Mrs. Burchill in Fort Worth. He was a Scotch Presbyterian while she was of the Episcopal faith. Both were devoted Christians and were highly esteemed for their many excellent traits of character.
Kate Belle Murray attended the public schools of her native State in her girlhood, and finished her studies in the Watertown Institute of that State, graduating with honor in 1862. After her graduation she became a teacher in the public schools of Watertown, where she taught for four years, and was alike popular and successful. In 1865 she went West to Bloomington, Illinois, and for seven years she was employed as teacher in the graded schools of that place. While there she met and married George S. Burchill, their marriage occurring in 1872. He was at that time connected with the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company.
Mr. Burchill was born December 25, 1840, son of Joseph Burchill. His father was a native of Ireland, was reared in Can- ada, and later in life was a resident of New York State. George S. was reared in the faith of the Episcopal Church, and finished his education in the Episcopal college at Davenport, Iowa, and after completing his education he learned the trade of car builder. When the war broke out he was among the first to respond to the call for troops, enlist- ing, in 1861, in the Second Iowa Infantry. He was in the army for three years, partici- pating in many of the prominent engage- ments, among which were Fort Donelson, Shiloh and Corinth, and at the end of that
time was honorably discharged. During the whole of his service he never received a wound, although he was often in the thick- est of the fight, with the shot and the shell fly- ing all about him. Upon his return from the ariny, he entered the employ of the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company, and, as above stated, was thus engaged at the time of his marriage
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Bur- chill came to Texas, Mr. Burchill having secured a situation with the International & Great Northern Railroad Company, that road then being constructed. His head- quarters were at Hearne, where they ar- rived in April, 1872. He was in poor health at the time, and soon found that the climate of Hearne was far from beneficial to him. He accordingly started out on horseback to seek a more favorable location, and finally decided upon Fort Worth. In October of that same year they removed to this place, and here, in February of the following year, their first child, Clara M., was born. Fort Worth was then a mere village, times were hard, and the young couple had a struggle to procure the necessaries of life. The average young woman would have said re- turn to a land of more promise, but not so with Mrs Burchill. She was determined to remain and make a success of life here. · It was at this juncture that she began teaching a private school.
The people of the South naturally had no good will for a Yankee; and besides this both Mr. and Mrs. Burchill were avowed
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Republicans. Thus the opening of her school was under the most unfavorable cir- cumstances, to say the least. Her thorough ability as a teacher and her charming man- ner and great amiability soon brought her into favor, and the attendance at her school , increased from two to thirty-seven the first term. That was in 1874. The building she occupied was rented of Mr. King, father of the present County Clerk, the latter be- ing one of her pupils. The success she at- tained induced her to organize a public school, which she did in 1876. It was pre- dicted that few would attend it, such schools being unpopular in the South; but, contrary to allexpectations, she opened school with 230 pupils, and at the end of the four months' term the attendance had increased to 337. She received at that time pay for only two months' work, the State failing to appropriate the necessary funds, and it was not until 1887 that she received the rest of her salary, -$1,200- and then without in- terest. In 1876, after completing this term of public school, she resumed private work, having erected her own school building that year, and she followed teaching with increas- ing success until 1881. That year she was appointed Postinistress at Fort Worth, by. President Garfield, and proved as efficient in organizing the force of a postoffice and in carrying on its business as she had in the school room. In 1886 she was removed by the Democratic administration, but was re- instated by President Harrison in 1889. She continued in office until April, 1894, when a
Democrat was again given the place. Dur- ing her first term she organized the free de- livery of mail in the city. That was in 1884. Even her political opponents speak of her in terms of highest praise.
While Mr. Burchill's time has not been given to educational matters, he has been in full sympathy with his wife's earnest work and has aided her in many ways. Both have done much to advance the interests of the city in which they live and which has had such a wonderful growth during their residence here. They were the prime mov- ers in securing the Government Building at Fort Worth. Mr. Burchill now has charge of their stock farm near the city.
Seeing and feeling a need for a home for the children of incompetent and unworthy parents, Mrs. Burchill organized, in 1887, the Fort Worth Benevolent Home. To this in- stitution she gave not only her time and parental care, but also donated to it $800 of her hard-earned money. At her request the court appointed as trustees of the institu- tion representatives of the various religious creeds, the board being composed of the following members: H. C. Edington, presi- dent; J. W. Spencer, vice-president; and W. J. Boaz; treasurer. At this writing there are eighty-four children being kindly cared for in the Home. Many of the facts herein stated were obtained from a prominent gen- tleman of the city who is deeply interested in this benevolent institution, and who speaks of Mrs. Burchill's grand work in terms of highest praise.
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Mrs. Burchill is president of the local as- sociation of Woman's Suffrage, and she is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Their residence, a beautiful and com- modious one, surrounded by an attractive lawn, is at No. 926 West Weatherford street, and the hospitality of both Mr. and Mrs. Burchill is unbounded. Edna M., a fine artist, is their only child, Clare and Carl having died in infancy. They also have an adopted daughter, Lillie B., a bright little girl.
ICHAEL C. HURLEY .- One of the most prominent of Fort Worth's representative citizens is M. C. Hurley, president of the National Live Stock Bank and second vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Hurley was born in county Clare, on the river Shannon, Ireland, on the 12th day of Octo- ber, 1851. His father, Simon Hurley, mar- ried Mary Lewis, and in 1853 brought his family to the United States, locating first at Davenport, Iowa. He was one of the first men to do construction work on the Rock Island Railroad, his work in that line being between Davenport and Iowa City. His death occurred in 1858. His wife died on the 14th day .of February, 1876. Both parents were members of the Catholic Church. To them nine children were born, six of whom are living, as follows : Mrs. Mary Gorman, of Tacoma, Washington; Mrs. Bridget Whelan, of Fort Worth; Mrs.
Margaret Murphy, of Council Bluffs, Iowa; Mrs. Susan Maloney, Tarrant county, Texas; J. P. Hurley, of Fort Worth; and our subject.
At the age of twelve years M. C. Hurley was obliged to go to work and contribute to- ward the support of his widowed mother and her children. The only school he attended was that of the Christian Brothers at Iowa City, and that for only a brief time. But the lad was ambitious to learn and get on in the world and made the best of his oppor- tunities for acquiring knowledge then and in after years, and before he had reached his majority he had by his own exertions se- cured more than an ordinary education, to which he has continued to add year by year.
Mr. Hurley's first employment was driv- ing oxen for a prairie breaker, near Grin- . nell, Iowa, for which he received fifty cents per day. He next worked in a brick-yard near his home, bearing off brick, and at this occupation he continued until he had saved some money, which he invested in a team of horses and a wagon. We next find him employed on his own account at Boones- boro, hauling coal a distance of five miles at seven cents per bushel. Within two years his earnings enabled him to purchase an addi- tional team and wagon, and thus equipped he did a good business.
In the spring of 1868, when but seven- teen years of age, Mr. Hurley engaged in railroad construction, securing a contract from the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company, between Dennison, Iowa, and
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Council Bluffs. During the winter of 1868-9 he assisted in the completion of the Rock Island railroad to Council Bluffs. Following this he received a contract on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad be- tween Plattsmouth and Lincoln, Nebraska. His next work was in partnership with his brother-in-law, Mr. Murphy, and they con- structed about fifty miles of the St. Joseph & Denver City Railroad between St. Joseph and Kearney.
In 1872 Mr. Hurley, representing him- self and brother-in-law, went to Sedalia, Missouri, to bid on a piece of heavy rock- excavating work which had been given up and abandoned by an old contractor. His bid being accepted, the engineer, when ready to sign the contracts and other papers, asked where Mr. Hurley, of the firm of Hurley & Murphy, the successful bidders, was; and on being apprised that he was then talking to that gentleman, the engineer refused to enter into a contract with a "mere boy" for the execution of a task so difficult. In order, however, to satisfy himself as to how much the "boy" knew about excavation the engi- neer plied young Hurley with questions, all of which he readily and intelligently an- swered, convincing the doubting engineer that for a youth he possessed a surprising amount of knowledge on the subject in hand, and the papers were duly signed, the engi- neer being satisfied that in awarding him the contract he was making no mistake. Subsequent events proved the judgment of the engineer sound, as the work was finished
on time and in a satisfactory manner. After completing the above work Mr. Hurley commenced his railroad contracting in Texas, grading a part of the Transcontinental branch of the Texas & Pacific Railroad, twenty-six miles of the Houston & Texas Central, between Navasotaand Montgomery; thirty miles between Texarkana and Sulphur Springs; 130 miles on the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe; sixty miles on the Austin & Northwestern Railroad; and seventy-five miles more on the Houston & Texas Cen- tral and its branches.
In 1885 Mr. Hurley organized a com- pany, of which he was made president, and built the Fort Worth & New Orleans Rail- road, from Fort Worth to Waxahachie. The Roach Brothers were his associates in the enterprise. Before the road was com- . pleted he arranged with C. P. Huntington, the great railroad magnate, to lease this road, and subsequently sold it to him. This road added the most important line of rail- road to Fort Worth, and placed the city in direct coinmunication with Houston and. Galveston over that system.
Mr. Hurley next built fifty miles of the St. Louis & Texas Railroad, between Corsicana and Hillsboro. As a member of the firm of Hurley, Tierney & Lynch he built eighty miles of the Fort Worth & Rio Grande Raiload. In 1888, he, with other Fort Worth citizens, organized a company to build a road from Fort Worth through the coal fields of Jack and Young counties in the di- rection of Albuquerque, New Mexico. This
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line was located between the Texas Pacific and Fort Wort & Denver roads, he subscrib- ing for a good block of stock, to be paid for by constructing the grade. Mr. Hurley was elected president of the company. There are about twelve miles of this road graded, but when it came to the test of putting in money as an experiment, the courage of a majority of the promoters of the scheme failed, and the line remains incomplete. Parties, however, are now endeavoring to get the enterprise in good shape, with a fair prospect of success.
Mr. Hurley became a stockholder in the Farmers & Mechanics' National Bank of Fort Worth, and when the affairs of that bank became entangled and in a bad shape he was made a director and its vice-presi- dent; and subsequently, during the illness of Mr. Hoxie, served as acting president. His management of the affairs of the bank was such that it was relieved of much of its embarrassment, and he was thus of great service both to the stockholders and the city. Again did he demonstrate his ability as a financier and manager in the case of the Fort Worth Packing House. Being finan- cially interested in this enterprise, when it began to totter and a collapse was threat- ened, he was selected to take charge of its affairs and if possible devise means of put- ting the concern on a paying basis. As president he went to Boston and succeeded in interesting capitalists of that city to look to Fort Worth for investments profitable and permanent. The packing house plant and
stockyards were purchased by them and put in successful operation. The value of the plant and yards amounted to about $700, 000. Had this enterprise failed the credit of Fort Worth would have been sadly impaired, if not destroyed, abroad.
In 1893, while the Rock Island railroad was in process of construction, Mr. Hurley rendered Fort Worth a service which earned him the deserved thanks and gratitude of his fellow-citizens. It was proposed that this road would build to Fort Worth, -not- withstanding it had been refused by the citi- zens certain concessions about price of right-of-way which came near loosing it this valuable road. Mr. Hurley made a trip up the line, where he found everything point- ing to the city of Dallas.
When he came back to Fort Worth he attended a meeting of the Chamber of Com- merce, called for the purpose of discussing that question, and laid the facts before that body. By Mr. Hurley and other citizens action was at once taken which secured the completion of the road to Fort Worth in- stead of to Dallas. This was during a period of depression in this section, and the bringing of the road here was a means of furnishing employment to a great many unemployed workmen and of placing in the channels of trade a vast amount of money, which was of great benefit to the community, and which would otherwise have been lost but for the action of Mr. Hurley and other public- spirited citizens.
Besides being the president of the Live
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Stock Bank and being second vice-president of the Chamber Commerce, Mr. Hurley is president of Southwestern Investment Con- pany, president of the proposed Fort Worth & Albuquerque Railroad Company, and direc- tor and member of the executive board of the Fort Worth Packing Company.
As a citizen now in Fort Worth there is none more prominent or popular than Mr. Hurley. Believing firmly in a greater Fort Worth," he has always labored for the advancement of the city and for the develop- inent of her industries and the building up of her institutions. As a member of that valuable organization, the Chamber of Com- merce, he has been most active, giving freely of his time and means to advancing the work of that body. He is considered one of the city's leading financiers, a position he has won by his actions and not by theories. He is progressive, broad-minded and liberal in his views, industrious and hardworking, · and no one man has done more than he to- toward the advancement and improve- ment of Fort Worth and Tarrant coun- ty, and for the opening up and the de- velopment of West Texas and the Pan- handle country. He has always been active in the support of the city's benevolent in- stitutions, and responds liberally to all calls for charity, both organized and individual. He is Chairman of the Parochial Society of Fort Worth, one of the leading charitable organizations of the city, and is a prominent member of St. Patrick's Catholic Church.
Mr. Hurley was married, at Austin,
Texas, on November 1, 1882, to Eliza- beth Spencer, daughter of Oliver Spen- cer, a pioneer Texan. Mr. Spencer was formerly of Illinois. He now resides at Liberty Hill, Texas, and is in his eighty-fifth year. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hurley, namely: Paul Simon, Charles Oliver, Mary Louise and Michael Christopher.
Mr. Hurley has twice been nominated by the Republican party of Tarrant county as its candidate for the Legislature, but de- clined each time to accept the honor and would not make the race.
S ANFORD YATES, another one of the representative citizens of Tar- rant county, Texas, and a resident . of Arlington, is a man who has met with various reverses in life, but whose undaunted courage has been equal to every occasion. The following personal sketch is appropriate in this work.
Sanford Yates was born in Washington county, Georgia, August 4, 1835, and the greater part of his life has been spent in agricultural pursuits. When he was quite small he was taken by his parents to north- ern Alabama, where soon afterward the father died. The mother married again, and after her marriage young Sanford left home and came to Texas. That was in 1849, he being then fourteen years of age. In Shelby county he entered the employ of a Mr. King, with whom he remained thir-
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