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 36
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 36
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teen years, serving as an overseer. In 1861 he enlisted in the Tenth Texas Cavalry, was consigned to the Army of the Tennessee, and his first fight was at Elkhorn. At Mur- freesborough he was wounded, being shot through his arm and into his breast, the ball still remaining beneath his ribs. He was then discharged on account of disability and returned home. Three months later he was fully recovered and again entered the service, being detailed as enrolling officer, and enlisted negroes for the army.
Mr. Yates had married the year before the war opened, and after its close he re- turned to his home. His wife in the mean- time had been with her mother. By his early years of honest and earnest toil he ac- quired a farm and stock, and was in a pros- perous condition at the time he entered the Confederate service. The ravages of war, however, swept everything away except his land, and after his return he had to make a new start. Soon he was again on the way to prosperity, and in 1872 a cyclone struck his place and left nothing but ruin. He then sold out and came from Shelby county to Tarrant county, first locating near Mansfield, where he bought a farm and re- sided three years. At the end of that time he disposed of his property there and bought another farm, near Arlington, on which he made his home until about 1891. That year he bought a house and four acres of ground in the corporation of Arlington; but before he got moved the house burned down. He then erected a commodious res- 2
idence, in which he has since lived and where he is now surrounded with all the comforts of life. At the time he purchased this place it had a small orchard upon it, to which he has since added. He also has a fine orchard on his farm, and is raising an excellent variety of choice fruits of all kinds. Since 1892 he has given considera- ble attention to improving the breeds of horses and mules. He has a fine Percheron and Copper Bottom stallion and two jacks, one a native of Tennessee and the other of Texas, all being fine stock. Several years ago Mr. Yates was largely interested in the cattle business, and for a time kept a dairy, and also for ten years operated a threshing machine. And at one time he owned and ran a sawmill an . cotton gin, which was destroyed by an explosion and fire.
Mr. Yates' father, John Yates, and grand- father, John D. Yates, were both natives of Georgia and both farmers. John Yates had a family of seven children, namely: David M., of Alabama; Arris, who died of measles while in the war; Sanford, the subject of this article; Ellifare, wife of John Mills, died and left a family of children; Elizabeth, wife of A. Venable, resides in Alabama; and John D., a resident of Alabama. The mother died at the old homestead in Ala- bama in 1890.
Sanford Yates was first married in 1860, to Miss Manerva Bolden, daughter of James Bolden, who came from Missouri to Texas with a colony and made settlement at Gon- zales, afterward removing from there to
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Shelby county, where he spent the rest of his life on a farm and died. Mrs. Yates died in 1873. She was a consistent member of the Baptist Church, and her life was adorned by many Christian graces. Of her seven children, we record that two died in infancy and that the others are William B., V. H. and Henry M., farmers of Tarrant county; Teda F , clerk in a dry-goods store in Arlington; and John D., who died at the age of six years. In 1875 Mr. Yates mar- ried Miss Nancy M. Vaught, a native of Tennessee, who was born in 1854, daughter of John Vaught, a native of Tennessee, who came to Texas about 1850 and settled in Shelby county, where he was engaged in farming the rest of his life and where he died. The children of this union are John F., Maggie, Sanford R., Dora, Mike, Pompy, and I. T. John F. is employed as clerk in Arlington.
Mr. Yates was formerly a Democrat, but is now independent in his political affilia- tions, voting for the man rather than the party. Mrs. Yates is a member of the Bap- tist Church.
I SAAC L. HUTCHESON, merchant and farmer of Arlington, was born May 15, 1826, in the lower part of east Tennessee, near Chattanooga. At the age of twenty years he engaged in the dry-goods trade, in company with his brother, and continued in that business, with the excep- tion of a few years, until the beginning of
the war, when he sold out and purchased a farm. In 1862 he enlisted in Rucker's legion, and continued in military service un- til his health failed and he was discharged. He was in many battles and skirmishes, in Kentucky and Tennessee, and was discharged before the fight at Chattanooga. At one time he was captured, and was compelled to. take the oath of allegiance to the United States. After his return home he was not able again to resume duty in the army, his ill health continuing until after the close of the war.
In 1866, after regaining his health, he came to Texas, locating at Alvarado, John- son county, where he opened a store. In May, 1870, he moved to Johnson's Station, where he again engaged in merchandising, and also purchased a farm and followed agriculture. He was also Postmaster for a time at Johnson's Station. When he first located at Johnson's Station the stage from Dallas to Fort Worth stopped there, and he kept the station. His mercantile business he closed in 1886. In 1891 he moved to Arlington, and in April, 1894, he purchased another store, a brick block, and again en- gaged in the dry-goods trade, in partnership with his son, W. T. Hutcheson, in which he still continues. He yet owns three or four farms, one of which comprises 700 acres. Broad mental capacity and unswerv- ing integrity have enabled Mr. Hutcheson to succeed in whatever he undertakes.
He is the son and sixth child of William Hutcheson, of Tennessee, who died in 1839.
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The children of Mr. William Hutcheson were: Philip S., who died in Tennessee; Charles, who came to Texas with the sub- ject of this sketch, and is yet living here; William C., a merchant, who died in 1892, in Tennessee; C. W., who came to Texas in 1851 and died in 1866, in Cherokee coun- ty; Fanny F., who married Dr. A. K. Mid- dleton and came to Texas in 1851, locating at Johnsonville, Cherokee county, moved to Alvarado in 1868, and to Johnson's Station in 1869, where she died in 1873: Dr. Mid- dleton was a member of the Legislature in 1878, and is now retired from practice; Isaac L., the subject of this sketch; O. P., who came to Texas in 1851, and is now in Callahan county: he served in the army three years and was once captured; Zorma, who became the wife of A. Day and emi- grated to Texas in 1858, settling in Denton county, where Mr: Day is a stock-raiser and farmer; Calvin L., who served through the war and came to Texas with Isaac L. (subject) in 1866, sold goods many years at Alvarado and later drifted into agricultural pursuits in that vicinity, which he still con- tinues.
The mother of the above children, whose name before marriage was Margaret Sigler, after the death of her husband, William Hutcheson, married a second husband, who died in the war, in 1863, and she came to Texas with her sons, I. L. and Charles, and died here in 1880.
The subject of this sketch, in 1849, inarried Miss Ruth Coulter, daughter of
Thomas Coulter, an extensive farmer and very hospitable gentleman who lived on the road from Chattanooga to Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Hutcheson have had nine children, one of whom died in infancy. They are: Charles A., who married and settled in Mansfield, engaged in mercantile business, and died in 1881, leaving a wife and two children: the wife and one son are deceased, and the other son is living with Mr. I. L. Hutcheson; Margaret R., who first married P. Sigler, who died, leaving two children, --- Maria and John Watson, -the latter a farmer near here; Catherine A., who mar- ried B. A. Mathews, now the Postmaster of Arlington; James W., engaged in the live- stock business at Decatur, Wise county; Emily M., who married her brother-in-law, B. A. Mathews, and died at the age of twenty-six years; Mary, the wife of Dr. W. H. Davis of Arlington; Fannie V., who married Henry Furman, a prominent attor- ney of Fort Worth, celebrated in criminal practice; William T., married and now en- gaged in the mercantile business with his father at Arlington ..
Mr. Hutcheson is a member of the Ma- sonic order, and both himself and wife have been members of the Cumberland Presbyte- rian Church for the last forty-six years.
S. ESSEX, a prominent and prosperous attorney of the Fort Worth bar, was born in Morgan county, Ohio, June 27, 1852. His father
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removed to Hocking county, that State, in 1862, and it was there that the subject of this sketch grew up. His literary training was obtained in schools of Logan, Hocking county, Ohio, and the University of Ohio, and this enabled him to teach, and on his arrival in Atchison county, Missouri, in 1876, he engaged in that profession, but rather as a stepping-stone to a higher sta- tion, namely, the profession of law. Ac- cordingly, in 1883, he began reading law at Rockport, Missouri, under the instructions of Lewis & Ramsey, and completed his preparation with a course in the law de- partment of the University of Missouri, graduating in the spring of 1882. After engaging in practice two years, in partner- ship most of the time with Walker Bascom, they qualified themselves still further for the profession by attending a course in the law department in the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, graduating there in 1885. Coming then to Fort Worth, they continued together in partnership in the practice of law until 1888. At the beginning of the next year Mr. Essex joined R. Y. Prigmore, which partnership lasted until January I, 1893; and January 1, 1894, Mr. Essex formed a partnership with Judge T. T. Nugent.
Mr. Essex's first practice before a dis- trict court was at Rockport, Missouri. His practice in Fort Worth is largely in civil cases, being confined to real-estate and commercial law. He now has a public po- sition, being Councilman from the Fifth
ward of Fort Worth, elected in the spring of 1894. He represents the Germania Building and Loan Association, the Mutual Savings and Loan Company, and the South- ern Building and Loan Association, of Knox- ville, Tennessee. The firm of Nugent & Essex represents a number of Eastern whole- sale houses in their important litigation in Texas. Mr. Essex is a stockholder in the above mentioned associations, and also in the National Live Stock Bank of Fort Worth. He laid out and now owns Live Oak addition to Fort Worth.
Fraternally he is a member of the I. O. O. F .; he aided in the organization of the encampment at Weatherford, and was once a delegate to the Grand Lodge of the State of this order. He is a member of the K of P., the F. M. C. and the N. R. A.
Mr. Essex was married first in Ohio, February 12, 1875, to Sarah L. Jones, who died three years later. February 5, 1888, he was married, in Fort Worth, to Mrs. Virginia. R. Tucker, a daughter of Mr. Mounce, formerly of Missouri. The only child by this marriage is Winfield S., now four years old.
Mr. Essex' father, Nathan H. Essex, was a native of Noble county, Ohio, a farmer, and died in 1853, aged fifty-three years. He married Elizabeth Morris, a daughter of John Morris, a Scotchman and once a manufacturer of cotton and woolen goods in the old country; he entered agricul- tural pursuits on coming to America. His children were: W. S., whose name heads
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this sketch; Charity Ann married; S. S. Rogers, of Vinton county, Ohio; Calvin, of New Straitsville, Ohio; Elizabeth, who married Thomas Cook, of Hocking county, Ohio; Orrin L., of Vinton county, Ohio; Zelda V., who became Mrs. Isaac Wolf and resides in Perry county, Ohio; Hamlin H., who resides in New Straitsville, Ohio; Hai- riet, now Mrs. Samuel Wolf, living in Wells county, Indiana; Sherman, who is a resi- dent of Athens county, Ohio; and Nelson S., of New Straitsville, same State.
Mr. Essex' paternal grandfather emi- grated from Pennsylvania to Ohio, was a millright and farmer, and died in Morgan county, Ohio.
B ENJAMIN P. AYERS, senior mem- ber of the law firm of Benjamin P. and Jefferson D. Ayers, Fort Worth, Texas, is one of the successful law- yers of the State.
Tradition says that nine brothers by the name of Ayers, who were Scotch-Irish, emigrated to America during Colonial times and engaged in building boats and in trading on the rivers. From one of these brothers is our subject descended. Benjamin P. Ayers, Sr., the grandfather of the gentleman whose name heads this article, was born in Tennessee and was a wealthy planter of Shelby county, that State, for a number of years. His mother was a sister of Benjamin Patton, a signer of the Declaration of Inde- pendence. From Shelby county, Tennessee,
Benjamin P. Ayers moved to Texas, as early as 1830, bringing with him his family, his son James H. at that time being quite small. When James H. Ayers was thirteen years old he left home and fell in with a company of Texas rangers and with them came to Johnson's Station, Tarrant county; and when the Mexican war broke out he enlisted in Colonel Bell's regiment, Company A, Texas Volunteers. During his service he received an injury from the effects of which he suffered all his life. After the war was over he settled near Fort Worth and engaged in farming and stock raising. In 1848 his father also moved to this county, and for several years thereafter he served as County Clerk. James H. Ayers married Louise Baer, who was born and reared in the city of Zurich. Her father, Jacob Baer, came to Texas in 1854. In 1859 he moved to Highland, Madison coun- ty, Illinois, where he died in 1867. James H. Ayers and his wife had four sons and four daughters, -Benjamin P., John B., Pauline L., James H., Emily A., Jefferson D., Ida F. and Mary E. The father died in March, 1885, and the mother passed away the fol- lowing year. He was a prosperous farmer and was well known and highly esteemed in this vicinity.
Benjamin P. Ayers, as also the rest of his brothers and sisters, was born on his father's farm two miles east of Fort Worth. He is one of two men now residing in this city who were born here. He and his brother Jefferson D. were educated in the
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schools of Fort Worth and at Adrian College, Thorp's Spring, Hood county, Texas, the former completing his schooling in 1878. After leaving college, Benjamin P. read law in the office of Hanna & Hogsell, of Fort Worth, from September, 1878, until May, 1880, when he was admitted to the bar. Jefferson D. was admitted to the bar in 1892. Since that date the brothers have been. as- sociated in the practice of law under the name given at the beginning of this sketch. Previous to 1892 Benjamin P. was for a time engaged in practice with Judge Stedman and also with N. H. Lassater. He was elected County Attorney for Tarrant county in No- vember, 1888, and served until the expira- tion of his term in 1890. "Since then he has given his time wholly to the practice of his profession.
The Ayers brothers are perfect gentle- men in every respect and are held in high esteem in social circles.
ILLIAM F. ELLIOTT, Arling- ton, Texas, is one of the well- known and highly respected citi- zens of Tarrant county, and we take pleas- ure in presenting the following sketch of his life in this work:
William F. Elliott was born in Cape Gi- rardeau county, Missouri, February 21, 1847, third in the family of seven children of John H. and Sarah (Baker) Elliott. John H. Elliott was a native of the Old Dominion, and when a boy removed with his father,
John Elliott, and family, to Missouri, where he grew to manhood and married. John Elliott, also a native of Virginia, came from Missouri to eastern Texas in 1851, and after his son John H. came to Tarrant county, which was in 1853, he, too, came to this vicinity, and both he and his wife died here and are buried at the old homestead near Johnson's Station. John H. Elliott bought two sections of land in Tarrant county, pay- ing $1.25 per acre for one and $1.00 for the other. This land is now worth $40 per acre. He was engaged in farming and stock rais- ing, handling cattle extensively, and also did a freighting business. From 1869 until 1872 he was also engaged in merchandising at Johnson's Station. He died April 1, 1872, and his wife survived him several years. She was born March 17, 1820, and died June 11, 1889. A member of the Pres- byterian Church, and a most amiable wo- man, she was loved by all who knew her. Following are the names of their children: Susan J,, deceased wife of M. L. Meek; Amanda C., deceased wife of John C. Roy; William F .; Sarah I., deceased wife of James Watson; John M .; Ellen, deceased wife of F. R. Wallace; and Joseph A., a stock dealer of Arlington, Texas.
William F. began freighting about 1870, and since then has been engaged in farming, stockraising and freighting. His farm he rents, -200 acres of which are under culti- vation, devoted to corn and cotton. In 1890 he purchased a livery establishment at Arlington, which he ran in connection with
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a partner for a short time and which he has since conducted alone. He also owns a nice residence in Arlington and is a stock- holder in the Arlington Bank.
Mr. Elliott has been twice married. November 10, 1868, he married Miss Susie Dalton, daughter of George and Mary A. Dalton, who came to Texas at an early day and settled in the eastern part of the State, and in 1855 came to Tarrant county. The only child by this marriage died in infancy, and the wife and mother died soon after, March 7, 1875. In June, 1876, Mr. Elliott wedded Miss Mary G. Massey, daughter of James Massey, a native of Tennessee, who went from there to Arkansas, where he and his wife both died. Mrs. Elliott came to Texas with a sister.
Politically Mr. Elliott is a true-blue Democrat, always taking an active interest in public affairs, not, however, aspiring to official position. Fraternally he is identi- fied with the I. O. O. F. Mrs. Elliott is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
OHN C. ROY, a prominent and wealthy farmer of Tarrant county, Texas, came to this county with his parents when a boy and has been identified with its interests ever since.
Mr. Roy was born in Cape Garardeau county, Missouri, March 27, 1841, and came with his parents to Texas in 1853, settling at Johnson's Station, Tarrant county, where
he grew to manhood, receiving only a lim- ited education, his time being spent in work- on his father's farm. When the great war between the North and South came on he enlisted, in 1861, in the First Texas Cavalry. He spent one year in service on the frontier and was then transferred to the Trans-Mis- sissippi Department. He was in the Banks raid on Red river, saw much hard service in Arkansas, Louisiana and on the coast of Texas, and continued in the army until the close of the war, at that time being in Louisiana, from whence he returned home. In all his service he was never wounded or captured.
In the fall of 1865 Mr. Roy married, and settled down on a rented farm. As soon as he was able he began to buy land and from time to time has made purchases until now he owns four farms, comprising 1,700 acres, about 600 acres of which are under cultivation. He has five tenant houses and rents his land. His operations, however, have not been confined to farming, and whatever he has undertaken he has always made a success of it. For years he has been more or less interested in the stock business, and at one time he ran a dry- goods store at Arlington. And a fact worthy of note is that in all his career he has never sued any one nor has he ever had a law suit of any kind.
Mr. Roy's parents, John S. and Jane (Peterson) Roy, were natives, respectively, of North Carolina and Tennessee. His grandfather, George Roy, came to this
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country from Scotland and settled in North Carolina, from whence, at an early day, he removed to Missouri, where he passed the closing years of his life and died. By occu- pation he was a farmer. John S. Roy was a farmer and also a dealer in horses, and while in Missouri he served as a Justice of the Peace. The Petersons were a wealthy and influential family of Tennessee. John S. Roy and his wife were the parents of six children, viz : Andrew H., who was all through the late war and died soon afterward, at the age of thirty-five years; John C .; Mariah, wife of S. I . 'ly, is deceased; Uz, deceased; Joseph, a Tarrant county farmer; and Mary, who died at the age of nineteen years. The father departed this life in 1856. The mother survived him un- til 1880. She was a devoted Christian woman, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and was loved by all who knew her.
John C. Roy was married in 1865 to Miss Amanda Elliott, daughter of John El- liott. The father moved from Missouri to Texas in 1852. They became the parents of nine children, one of whom died in in- fancy, the others being as follows: Laura, wife of Joseph McKnight, a Tarrant county farmer; Robert, a lawyer and member of the Texas State Legislature in 1895; Mary S., wife of Emmett Rankin, a hardware dealer of Arlington, Texas; and William, Polk, Burnie, Mattie and Sul. Ross, at home. The devoted wife and loving mother passed away in March, 1890. She was a consistent member of the Presbyterian
Church and her life was adorned by many Christian graces.
Mr. Roy is a Mason and an Odd Fellow, and has passed all the chairs in both orders. His political views are in harmony with the principles of the Democratic party and he has always taken an active interest in pub- lic affairs, not, however, aspiring to official position. Few men in the county of Tar- rant are better known or more highly re- spected than is John C. Roy.
HARLES HERBERT SILLIMAN. -One of Fort Worth's most promi- nent and influential citizens is Mr. C. H. Silliman, president of the Chamber of Commerce and manager of the Land Mort- gage Bank of Texas (Limited). He is a. native of Monroe county, New York, born on the banks of Lake Ontario, on the 30th day of January, 1852. His father, La Fa- yette Silliman, a native of the State of Con- necticut, followed farming until 1862, and then engaged in the manufacture of agricul- tural implements, as a member of the firm of Silliman, Bowman & Company, at Brock- port, New York. Subsequently he sold his interest in the manufacturing business to the Johnston Harvester Company, and is now a resident of Albion, Michigan. He mar- ried Miss Caroline, daughter of Samuel M. Porter, a well known manufacturer of Holly, New York, who, at his death, in 1880, at the age of ninety years, was one of the old- est Free Masons in the United States.
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The father of our subject is a relative of the noted Professor Silliman, of Yale Col- lege, and both the Silliman and Porter an- cestors were Revolutionary patriots, and among the original settlers of Connecticut.
Mr. Silliman spent much of his time while a boy in his father's factory at Brock- port, receiving considerable practical in- struction in mechanics as applied to motive power. He attended the Brockport Acade- my during the school year; always spending his summer vacations in the country, on one of his father's farms, where the free open air and exercise would remove any tendency of the physical system to an unhealthy development, and where his mental facul- ties could recover their normal vigor after a year of hard study. The Brockport Acad- emy, in 1867, was converted into a State Normal School, and young Silliman was a member of its second graduating class, de- livering the first graduating oration, in July, 1869, his subject being : "Men the World Demands." He then went to Albion, Michi- gan, where his parents had removed, and there engaged in teaching the intermediate department of the public schools. In 1871 he went to New Orleans, where he was ap- pointed first assistant in the Fisk Grammer School, and afterward, in a competitive ex- amination, was awarded the professorship of natural sciences in the Boys' High School of that city. After filling the duties of that position successfully until 1874, he resigned the same and went to Santa Barbara, Cali- fornia, the desire to see the Pacific coast
country prompting the change. Here he was for a year engaged as professor of mathematics in Santa Barbara College. The following year he went to Oakland to fill a chair in the California Military Acad- emy, then under the direction of the Rever- end David McClure, the founder and pro- prietor. In 1877 he was elected assistant in the Boys" High School of San Francisco, a position he held for four years. During this time Mr. Silliman took a complete course in Hastings College of the Law, and in 1881 was graduated from that depart- ment of the University of California with the degree of L. L. B., being a member of the first graduating law class of that institu- tion of learning.
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