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 38
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 38
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next in order of birth; Noah, cashier of the Fort Worth National Bank; Nannie Graves, of Calloway county, Kentucky; James H., who was drowned while in the army; Charles S., deceased; Henry W., in Kentucky; Clarence and Clarissa, twins, deceased; and Lucy B., wife of Eugene Irvin, of Kentucky.
The Captain's father died in 1878, aged seventy-seven years; he was the Moderator of the West Union Association a number of years. The grandfather of our subject, also named Enoch Harding, was a native of Vir- ginia.
Captain Harding was first married in Kentucky, July 31, 1878, to Miss Mary . Townsend, who died in 1887, leaving as her children the following: Mabel; Ray; Hor- ace, deceased; and Nora. For his second wife Mr. Harding married, December 26, 1888, Miss Lelia, a daughter of Mason Cuin- mings, a lawyer of Aberdeen, Mississippi, and their children are Beth, Baten and Enoch, Jr.
The Captain is a member of the Baptist Church at Fort Worth.
Q H. HIGBEE, deceased, one of the founders of the First National Bank, of Fort Worth, and one of the best men any country ever boasted of, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, November 16, 1837, a son of a well-to-do planter, John Higbee, who was one of the first set- tlers of Fayette county, Kentucky. He gave his children the best of advantages for
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procuring an education, and those oppor- tunities were most eagerly seized and im- proved, resulting in the perfect intellectual development of the children.
Mr. C. H. Higbee attended the uni- versities of Kentucky and Missouri, gradu- ating at both institutions. Choosing the law for his profession, he began his course of legal studies under the guidance of Judge Robinson, of Lexington, and completed his course in the law department of the Louis- ville (Kentucky) University. When ready for business he located at Independence, Missouri, and was building up a fine, pay- ing practice when the civil war came on and completely changed the course of events. He joined "Pop" Price's army and remain- ed faithful in the service of the Confederate cause until wounded in the engagement at Springfield, Missouri. Retiring from ser- vice, he located at Toronto, Canada, and was in business there and at Montreal five years. Returning to the United States, he settled in Franklin, Kentucky, engaging in merchandising. Finally he came to Fort Worth and took up his residence on Lamar street, where he built the first plastered house in the place. He was connected with the First National Bank a few years, when he decided to return to Kentucky to there educate his daughter, then well along in her 'teens. During his sojourn there he engaged in the wholesale hardware business as a member of the firm of Higbee & Seavers. Coming again to Texas to recuperate his failing health, lie bought up entries for 50, -
000 acres of western grass lands, which he afterward disposed of and then invested in about 20,000 acres in Parker and Tarrant counties; and was engaged in the live-stock business during the last years of his life. The business is still carried on by his family.
Mr. Higbee was passionately fond of books, was a great reader, and his mind, ex- ceedingly bright at all times, was simply a "library of useful information. " His con- versation was always happy, interesting and instructive. He frequently astonished his friends with his familiarity with rare subjects, almost wholly foreign to his own experience. He did not allow himself to be dragged into politics, as that field was distasteful to him. He was also a capital business man, no ven- ture with his sanction having ever failed; and he was a generous friend wherever his . kindness could be bestowed without ostenta- tion. In public he was a happy speaker, and he was a frequent contributor to papers and other periodicals on the subject of good roads, etc. He was the first to take active steps toward securing better roads for Tar- rant county. In his fraternal relations he was a member of the Masonic fraternity, of the Odd Fellows, and of the Knights of Honor, and he was also a member of the Traders' and Commercial Clubs. He was president of the Cattle Association of Mary- ville, of which his widow is now vice-presi- dent. He died July 13, 1891, from lock- jaw. When it was known that he had suc- cumbed a wave of sympathy for his bereaved family swept over the entire community,
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and each heart felt a throb of sorrow that he was no more. He was identified with all the progressive movements for the advance- ment of this city.
His father, John Higbee, was a native of Virginia, of Scotch descent, and married Pauline Caldwell. They had five children, as follows: Henry and John, who died when young; Alexander C., a merchant who died in 1893; Susan M., deceased, wife of Tom Fields: she was a writer of local note and a brilliant woman; and C. H., the subject of this sketch.
Mr. Higbee was married in Indepen- dence, Missouri, February 28, 1860, to Mrs. Mary B., widow of E. W. Miller, and daugh- ter of David Shanks, of Lincoln county, Kentucky. Her grandmother, a daughter of Colonel Whitley, was the first white child born in Kentucky. A detailed account of the old Kentucky home at Crab Orchard is here given:
Two miles south of Crab Orchard, in Lincoln county, where the eye beholds in the distance the blue outlines of the Cum- berland mountains, is situated an old brick house whose historical and traditional asso- ciations are intensely interesting. It is the old William Whitley house, and was con- structed during the dark days of pioneer life. Though its exact date is somewhat conjectural, yet history and tradition har- monize sufficiently to render unquestionable the assertion that this structure was the first brick house built in the State of Ken- tucky.
William Whitley, the famous pioneer, was born in 1749, in Virginia, of Irish de- scent, and in early life wedded a Miss Fuller, also a Virginian. He was a farmer by oc- cupation, and, according to the story handed down, he said one day to his wife: "Esther, I hear very fine reports of this territory,"- referring to the unsettled territority west of the Cumberland mountains. "If they be true, I think we can build up a home and make our fortune much quicker than here." In a short time they started for the perilous wilds of the new country, in company with George Rogers Clark, who was a cousin to Whitley. They made their journey on . horseback and on foot, their only pathway being the desolate and danger-beset "buffalo trail." Clark and Whitley each led a horse most of the way, the animals being heavily laden with bedding, cooking utensils and wearing apparel. Mrs. Whitley rode horseback, carrying one child in her lap and another behind her, while she transported her spinning-wheel tied to the horn of her saddle.
The third white habitation they found was at Boonesboro, where they met the great pioneer, Daniel Boone, his wife, daugh- ter and a white attendant. It was there that they learned that Mrs. Whitley was the third white woman to cross the Cumberland mountains, Mrs. Boone and daughter being the first two, which was in 1773. They re- mained at Boonesboro three years, and while there a daughter was born to Mrs. Whitley, the event occurring in the early
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part of 1774; this was the first white child born within the boundaries of Kentucky.
Whitley and his family went from Boonesboro to Harrod's Station (now Har- rodsburg) in 1776, and remained there till 1779, when they went to Logan's Station, near Stanford, and remained there till the fall of 1781. That year Mr. Whitley built a fort near Crab Orchard, known as Whit- ley's Fort. This they occupied until the spring of 1783, when, it is alleged, Whitley began the erection of the brick house.
If these dates be correct, -and nothing in history controverts them, -then it is un- questionably the first brick house built in that State. To look at the old building now, with no changes or modifications which materially alter its appearance, one is sur- prised that so unique a piece of architecture could have been produced in those days. No definite idea of its cost can be obtained, though it must have been immense. It is said that Whitley gave a farm of 500 acres in Lincoln county for the construction of the brick-work, and that the whisky which the men drank while at work on it cost him another fine farm. The window panes used were brought from Virginia on horseback. Every feature of the building exhibits the predominating idea of security and protec- tion. The floors are of heavy poplar and of double thickness; the windows are out about seven feet from the ground, the idea being to prevent Indians from shooting through upon the occupants; all the interior wood-work is of heavy timber. Leading
from the hallway entrance to the second floor is an old-time stairway. Thirteen broad, heavy wooden steps compose the flight, and on the outer end of each of these steps is the artistically carved head of an eagle with an olive branch in its beak. On one old-styled mantel-piece, -which extends about sixteen inches above the chimney board, -are carved thirteen S's, designating the thirteen original States. On the outer brick wall, immediately over the door to the main entrance are the letters W. W., made of glazed brick, which compose a part of the wall. The building is unique in ap- pearance, and is in a perfect state of preser- . vation. It has been continuously occupied since its completion.
If the walls of this old building could but echo all that has transpired within them, what a volume of untold legends, quaint and curious, it might reveal! It was in this magnificent palace of the wilderness, em- bellished by appointments then elaborate and ornate, that Col. William Whitley re- ceived and entertained his distinguished fel- low-pioneers, Boone, Clark, McDowell and Harrod. It was here that he often received the treacherous savage on missions of treaty and peace. Here it was, in the solitude of the wilderness, his hale and brown wife re- mained with her children while the husband was engaged in numerous Indian exploits. Here he applied the marksman's test to the hardy young yeomanry who often sought in marriage the hand of his daughters; but it was on the threshold of this historic struc-
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ture, where the brave Whitley, amid peace and plenty, bade his fond ones farewell, joined the army of his country and marched to the defense of its interests in the final struggle during the gloomy days of 1812-15.
In addition to the house there is another interesting relic of primitive times at Crab Orchard which was the property of Col. Whitley; it is the old flint-lock rifle which he brought from Virginia and was his imple- inent of warfare in dealing with the native savage and which he carried in the war of 1812. It is the property of Mrs. Sallie A. Higgins, who is the only surviving grand- daughter of Col. Whitley. Mrs. Higgins is now very old, but bright and affable, and never wearies of recounting the valorous deeds of her illustrious ancestor. The gun is about five feet and a half long, elaborately ornamented with brass mountings for the support of the ramrod, and the stock is or- namented with neat carvings. On one side of the stock is an inlaid piece of silver about six inches long, on which are inscribed the letters W. E. W. The gun bears the name of Jacob Young as maker, but no date is in- scribed. An Indian belt and large powder- horn accompanys the old relic. The horn is large, being about four inches in diameter at the larger part. The larger end is closed by a piece of carved wood, and imbedded in this is a piece of silver about the size of a dollar. The horn is said to have been pro- cured by Whitley from the head of an Ap- paloosa steer. By dressing the horn down to a medium thickness a raised tablet was left on
one side, on which, in cut letters, is inscrib- ed the following doggerel:
William Whitley, I'm your horn; The truth I love, a lie I scorn; Fill me with the best of powder, I'll make your rifle crack the louder.
See how the dread terrific ball Make Indians bleed and Tories fall! You with powder I'll supply For to defend your liberty.
With this gun, it is positively alleged by many people, Whitley killed the renowned Indian chief, Tecumseh. This deed has generally been credited to Richard M. John- son, but Mrs. Higgins and others claim it was Whitley, giving a number of corroborating details. Colonel Whitley himself was killed in the same battle, that of the Thames, Octob- er 5, 1814. He was engaged in nineteen battles during the war, and on the day of his death he was in command of 100 volun- teers who denominated themselves the "Forlorn Hope Company." Not more than two hours before his death he shot two Indi- ans across the stream, and swimming his horse to them, took their scalps, which were returned to Kentucky in his gripsack. It is said that his last words were, as he led the final charge, "Victory or death, boys."
Mr. Stephen D. Willis, who furnishes the above account of the old house and of its distinguished owner, concludes with the fol- lowing pregnant reflection: " In reviewing the hardships, perils and privations through which Whitley and other Western pioneers passed, their fortitude, courage and perse- verance should stand as monuments brilliant and eternal to their memories; and it is only
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through intelligent comparison of the con- ditions that environed them with those which environ us to-day that the generous mind can comprehend the colossal debt of gratitude we should concede to them, those brave, hardy, roughly disciplined prototypes of Western pio- neer life who made the enjoyments of today possible, and who opened up the great terri- tory where so many destinies now converge."
Returning now to the biographical narra- tive of the Shanks family, we may add that Mr. Shanks married America Mckinney, and that they had ten children, only two of whom are living, -Mrs. Higbee and "Mother" Tay- lor, of Harrisville, Missouri. William (first) died at Pleasant Hill, Missouri; William (second) died in Jackson county, same State; and Col. David Shanks died from a wound in battle. The father died in 1844, and the mother in 1871. Mrs. Higbee's first child is E. W. Miller, a stockman of Parker county, who married Miss Works (deceased), and had by her a little daughter, named Carlton. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Higbee are the following: Anne, who mar- ried R. E. Maddox and is deceased; Birdie, wife of V. O. Hildreth, an attorney of Fort Worth; and Susie. Mrs. Hildreth was edu- cated in Hamilton College, Kentucky, and Susie in Louisville, Kentucky.
R. ALFRED K. MIDDLETON, now living retired near Johnson's Station, was born in McMinn county, East Tennessee, December 29,
1829, and was brought up on a farm. He received a good education, graduating at Hiwassee (Tennessee) College at the age of nineteen years. He studied medicine under the preceptorship of that competent phy- sician, Dr. M. R. May, and in 1849-50 at- tended his first course of medical lectures at Louisville, Kentucky. He then commenced to practice; and in 1850 -- I attended the last course, graduating in the latter year.
The same year he married and came to Texas, first stopping at Rusk. Desiring to become more acquainted with the various localities in the State before deciding upon a permanent location, he with some others made a prospecting tour throughout Texas. On his way he found Colonel Johnson here at Johnson's Station feeding the Indians. Concluding to locate at Jacksonville, Cher- okee county, he practiced medicine there until 1869, when he moved to Johnson's Station, and has remained here ever since, following his profession, with magnificent success, until he retired in 1893, to rest at his farm, which he purchased upon his first arrival here.
Dr. Middleton hasalways taken an active part in public affairs. In 1873 he served as. a member of the Fourteenth Legislature of the State, but since then has never taken any public office. In fact, he has never de- sired political office in his life, but he ac- cepted that position at the time rather in order to satisfy his friends. As a member of the Legislature he obtained the adoption of many measures for the benefit of Fort
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Worth. At his home place he owns 240 acres of land, of which 140 are in culti- vation, rented. He enjoyed a large. practice since the war, until about eight years ago, and also ran a drug-store. At the opening of the war he was appointed Conscript Sur- geon, in which position he served until he was tired of it. He afterward was trans- ferred to the regular service, where he re- mained until the close of the great struggle.
The Doctor is the son of John and Re- becca (Callison) Middleton, his father of Scotch ancestry and his mother of Irish, and both born in the old country and died in Tennessee. The father was all his life a farmer, served with Jackson in the war of 1812, and was at the New Orleans engage- ment. Of his eight children the subject of this sketch was the youngest son, and he was the only one of the family to come to Texas. The children in order were: Hugh L., John J., James, Alfred K., Easter (who married Joshua Bond), Mary (who married James Stanton), Abigail (who died unmarried), and Rebecca (who married B. Eldrige).
Dr. Middleton first married Miss Fran- ces Hutchison, daughter of William Hutch- ison, of Tennessee, and by this marriage there were six children, namely: the first- born, W. O., who lives in Dallas; J. C., a traveling salesman for a St. Louis house; G. W., a lawyer, who died in his twentieth year; Margaret, the oldest daughter, died aged four years; Mollie A., second daughter, wife of Willis M. Timmermon; and Mattie L., the wife of Frank Mcknight. The
mother of these children died in 1874, an honored member of the Cumberland Pres- byterian Church. December 8, 1875, the Doctor married Miss Margaret E. Coupland, a native of Alabama and a daughter of A. J. Coupland, a pioneer of this State, who for many years was in public service, filling many positions of public trust, which were universally given him without his solicita- tion, and he always filled them so faithfully that he became exceedingly popular, -the reverse of a "politician's" career. He died in Cherokee county, his wife surviving a few years, dying in the same county. By the Doctor's last marriage there was one child, Maggie Males.
Dr. Middleton is a Royal Arch Mason, and he has filled all the offices of the lodge from Senior Deacon to Worshipful Master. . In his political principles he has been a life- long Democrat, and both he and his wife are zealous and faithful members of the Cuin- berland Presbyterian Church.
DWARD RUDD, an extensive cat- tle raiser and farmer of Tarrant county, was born in Halifax coun- ty, Virginia, December 25, 1825, and brought up on a farin with but a limited school education.
At the age of twenty-two he left home and was employed as overseer in Alabama. He afterward went to Georgia, where in 1846 he was married. In 1848 he moved to Arkansas, locating on Red river thirty miles
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above Shreveport, where he purchased a farm and before the war owned a large number of slaves. He cleared the land and made a nice farm, and was well fixed at the time of the outbreak of the war.
In 1861 he entered the army, joining the Second Regiment of Arkansas Infantry and being assigned to the Army of Tennes- see. He participated in some of the most important engagements. At Fort Donelson he was captured and carried to Columbus, Ohio; and six months afterward to Johnson's Island, and in September was exchanged at Vicksburg. While at the latter place he was detailed to return to Arkansas and re- cruit for his regiment, and while engaged in this duty his command was captured again, near Port Hudson. Then he enlisted in an- other cavalry regiment and served under General Price during the remaining years of the war. He saw much hard service in Arkansas and Missouri; was in Price's raid through Missouri and Kansas, fell back to Arkansas and skirmished and marched around until the close of the war. In the first command he was a Lieutenant, but in the last regiment was in the ranks. He was in Texas at the time of the final surrender.
Returning home he found most of his slaves yet on hand, and he told them that they were free. The Freedmen's Bureau, however, started trouble and for a year the country was in confusion; and many persons, both white, and black were killed. Mr. Rudd worked his farm with ex-slaves, on
the halves. His place was on the public road where mule drovers from Missouri passed before the war, and he also kept a mule yard for the accommodation of the drivers, and was well known throughout the country. In 1869 he sold his plantation, with stock and fixtures, for $16,000, and came to Texas, stopping first in Hill county. In 1870 he purchased his present place, at the point then known as Johnson's Station. Col. Johnson established the out-station here after he returned from the Mexican war, and Mr. Rudd's house stands over the stump of the tree under which the treaty was signed with the Comanche Indian tribe. Mr. Rudd bought the Johnson tract of land, , containing over a thousand acres, of which 500 acres are in cultivation and rented. He also purchased another farm, of 200 acres, . which also is in cultivation.
Soon after acquiring his land he engaged in the live-stock business, raising and dealing in cattle extensively, and bringing up his sons to the cattle business. In 1875 he moved his stock to Shackelford county, and several years later he and his sons estab- lished another ranch, on the Pecos river, and they yet hold both ranches. Mr. Rudd also owns property in Arlington.
Mr. Rudd is the son of Joshua and Susan (Culberson) Rudd, both of Virginia. Mr. Joshua Rudd died when the subject of this sketch was very young. In the family were eleven children, namely: David, James, E. (subject), Elizabeth (who married and her husband is now deceased), William,
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Lorenzo, Elisha, Willis, Anderson, Martha (who died young), and Mary (who married a Mr. Smith). Mr. E. Rudd married Miss Sarah. Harriss, daughter of Samuel Harriss, a missionary Baptist preacher. Mr. and Mrs. Rudd have four children, viz .: Elnora, now the wife of W. G. Lee, who is engaged in the live-stock business in Shackelford county; Eugene, who died in 1870; Sidney, now on the home farm; and Thomas A., who is at the ranch near Albany. The mother of these children died in 1883, a sincere member of the Baptist Church. In his views of national questions Mr. Rudd has always been a Democrat. He has ever been interested in public affairs, but has never aspired to office.
J R. COUTS, president of the Citi- zens' National Bank of Weatherford, and probably the wealthiest man in Parker county, was born in Robinson coun- ty, Tennessee, April 6, 1833. The blood of the thrifty, industrious German courses through the veins of this family. . During the days of Colonial unrest, when an infant republic had been born in the new world, an emigrant from the Fatherland took up his abode in one of the Southern common- wealths, probably North Carolina. John Couts, the grandfather, was born in North Carolina. He moved into Tennessee when a youth, there grew to manhood, married, and was a farmer in moderate circumstances. One of his sons was James Couts, father of
our subject. He was born in Robinson county, Tennessee, August 12, 1803. His life was devoted to the cause of agriculture, and he remained a citizen of his native State until 1834, when, in response to a de- sire to make his home in the West, he moved his family to Lawrence (now Randolph) county, Arkansas. He settled on a new farm, which he improved, and in 1858 came with his son, J. R., to Texas. Here he spent his declining years, dying in 1890, Mr. Couts was a man of few words, pleasant and affable, with a strong sense of right and justice. He married Polly Johnson, a daughter of Henry Johnson, the first survey- or of Robinson county, Tennessee. Her death occurred in Randolph county Arkan- sas, in 1856. Mr. and Mrs. Couts had five children, -Henry J., who was killed by a Jayhawker in north Arkansas; Nancy, de- ceased, was the wife of H. M. Sloan; Susan, deceased, was the wife of William Hardin; Margaret, widow of James H. Sloan; and J. R., the subject of this sketch.
Our subject received poor school advant- ages. At the age of nineteen years he mar- ried Martha Hardin, with whom he lived happily until 1894. when she died. Their first home was on a small farm in Arkansas, which supported them until their removal to Texas, in 1858. They came by team, cross- ing Red river, at the mouth of Mill creek, and as they came Westward were on the lookout for a location. Stopping in Kauf- man county, Mr. Couts inspected the west- ern counties on horseback as far west as
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