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 39
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 39
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Comanche county, then the extreme frontier, and selected a permanent location, in Palo Pinto county, bought a small farm on the old Freemont survey of the Texas Pacfiic Railroad, and engaged in the cattle and horse business. A few years afterward he was obliged to abandon that business on ac- count of the Indians. Mr. Couts next open- ed a small banking concern in Weatherford, under the firm name of Couts & Fain, which was succeeded by Hughes, Couts & Com- pany, and that in turn by J. R. Couts & Company. The Citizens' National Bank was the outgrowth of the last named com- pany, and was organized in 1881 with $50- 000 capital, and with J. R. Couts as presi- dent. The capital stock has since been increased to $250,000. Early banking in this county was exceedingly profitable. The country was covered with stock, and this point was headquarters for stockmen of large means. Deposits were enormous, rates of exchange good, and a large surplus soon filled the vaults. In addition to his banking interests, Mr. Couts owns about 24,000 acres of land in Parker and adjoining counties, most of which is under fence, and fronting on the Brazos river. He has both blooded horses and cattle.
Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Couts, namely : Mary, wife of S. B. Bur- nett, of Ft. Worth; Susan, wife of A. N. Grant, cashier of the Citizens' National Bank of Weatherford; Martha, wife of Rev. Putnam, of Brownwood, Texas; J. R. Jr., of Weatherford; Maggie, now Mrs. H. L.
Mosely, of this city; and Leah, wife of W. P. Anderson, of Weatherford. Mr. Couts took part in the frontier service before and during the war. He has been a Mason for the past thirty years, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
J OHN T. HARCOURT, a retired at- torney of Weatherford, was born in Paris, Bourbon county, Kentucky, June 9, 1825. The Harcourts are an old English family. They came to America during the Colonial period, settling in New Jersey, and from that family all the Har- courts of this country probably came. The father of our subject was Alexander Har- court, born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, and his death occurred at Georgetown, Texas, during the war, at the age of about sixty-three years. He married Miss Coates, a daughter of John Coates, of Virginia. They were the parents of seven children, four now living. One son, A. P. Harcourt, is a lawyer of Louisville, Kentucky, and has been a member several times of the Ken- tucky Legislature.
John T., the subject of this sketch, re- ceived his education at Taylorsville Acad- emy and St. Mary's College, Kentucky. He began reading law with Judge McHenry, at Shelbyville; was admitted to the bar in 1846, Judge Mason Brown, of Frankfort, on the bench; formed a partnership with the dis- tinguished lawyer and ex-Congressman, William J. Graves, of Shelbyville, and the
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business of the firm at Shelbyville was looked after by young Harcourt. Judge Graves died in 1848. Mr. Harcourt then practiced alone until 1850, when he started for Texas, coming by boat via New Orleans to Galves- ton and Houston, and thence by stage to Fayette county. He located and built up an extensive practice in the county seat of that county, but in 1859 removed to Column- bus, Colorado county, where, in the follow- ing year, he was chosen State Senator for the district embracing Fayette, Colorado, Wharton and Matagorda counties. He was re-elected to that position in 1863. In the Senate Mr. Harcourt found such men as Throckmorton, Stockdale and Hartley, each of whom dealt with the great State ques- tions growing out of the issues of the war, with honesty and rare ability. In 1873 our subject opened a law office in Galveston, and later formed a partnership with Major Frank Spencer, well known as criminal at- torney for the Galveston district. In 1883 Mr. Harcourt came to Weatherford, where he was a conspicuous figure at the Parker county bar for ten years.
Our subject was united in marriage with Miss A. M., a daughter of Thomas White, a Kentucky farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Harcourt have six living children, viz .: H. P .; G. M., employed in the bank of T. W. House & Company, of Houston; Lloyd V., in the same bank; Blanche; Lillian, wife of W. B. Wells, of Weatherford; and Mrs. Ingram Pyle, of Houston. In his social re- lations Mr. Harcourt has been Past Grand
Master of the I. O. O. F., and has also served as Representative to the Grand Lodge of the United States During the late war he was appointed volunteer Aide to General Hebert, but was not called into active service. He was exempt from mili- tary duty by reason of being a member of the Legislature. When he retired from the practice of law Mr. Harcourt had won the distinction of having tried more cases with prominent lawyers throughout the State and having his name appear as counsel in the Texas Supreme Court Reports, in more cases than any other lawyer in the State of Texas.
In politics he is a Democrat of purest type, but not an office-seeker.
S HADRACH MIMS, the popular and efficient secretary of the Texas & Pacific Coal Company of Fort Worth, was born in Autauga county, Ala- bama, June 6, 1837; was reared chiefly in Prattville, and received his education there and in a military academy at Fredonia and a college at Summerfield, in his native State.
On leaving school he secured a position in the employ of Tarlton, Whiting & Com- pany, cotton factors at Mobile. When the Confederate government was established at Montgomery and a call was made for troops, in April, 1861, he enlisted, joining the Prattville Dragoons, which was a part of the Third Alabama Cavalry, commanded by Colonel Hagan, of Mobile. Soon after
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muster his regiment was ordered to Pensa- cola, Florida, but returned North in time to engage in the battle of Shiloh, in 1862. Mr. Mims also participated in the battles of Chickamauga, Murfreesborough, Missionary Ridge and in the Atlanta campaign until the evacuation of Atlanta. He fought Sher- man's forces on their way to the sea, crossed the river into North Carolina and joined General Hampton's army, and was finally surrendered at Raleigh.
Returning to civil life at New Orleans, he took a position as general office manager for R. L. Adams & Son, extensive cotton factors. After remaining with them five years he came to Texas, in 1870, stopping first at Hallville, then the terminus of the Texas & Pacific Railway, and engaged in merchandising. He followed up the road in its progress of construction until he reached Longview, where he was burned out. He then went to Galveston, where he was engaged in cotton factorage and com- mission, in company with Moody & Jemison, until 1880, when he went to New York State and entered the employ of the great dry-goods king, A. T. Stewart, with whom he remained nearly two years. Represent- ing his interests in Texas, he came to this State, in 1884, and engaged in railroad con- struction with Morgan, Jones and Dan Carey. They completed the Santa Fe road to Purcell, and built the Fort Worth & Denver road from Quanamah to the Texas line, besides a section of the Cotton Belt from Maldin to Delta in southeastern Mis-
souri, Mr. Mims having charge of the finan- cial department, -furnishing supplies and handling the funds. The contract work ceased in 1888.
In 1888 the Texas & Pacific Coal Com- pany was formed, and officered as follows: R. D. Hunter, president and general man- ager; E. L. Marston, vice-president and treasurer; and S. Mims, secretary; he is now secretary and assistant treasurer.
Mr. Mims is a member of the Commer- cial Club, and in fraternal relations is a member of the order of the Mystic Shrine, of Fort Worth Commandery, Hela Temple, Red Cross, Knights of Pythias, Knights of Honor, and Legion of Honor.
Mr. Mims' father, also named Shadrach Mims, was born in Georgia, in 1802, moved into Alabama in 1819, and spent his life chiefly in manufacturing and merchandising. He was a prominent member of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church. He married Eliza- beth Dowsing, a daughter of William Dow- sing, of Columbus, Mississippi, and their children are: Catherine, who married T. W. Saddler; W. F., of Prattville, Alabama; Dr. Alexander D., deceased; Shadrach, of 1 this sketch; J. M., of Oxford, Alabama; Elizabeth, the wife of E. M. Davis; Frances, who married Holman Edwards; Jane, and Marie.
The Mims people are of Irish origin, while the Dowsings trace their lineage back to the fourteenth century history in France.
September 14, 1868, Mr. Mims married Mary J. Paxton, a daughter of Judge Will-
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iam H. Paxton, who is one of the oldest practitioners of New Orleans. Mrs. Mims was born in 1849. The children are: Ella M., wife of David M. Barrow, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Lillie B.
J AKE F. ZURN, city passenger and ticket agent for the Texas & Pacific Railroad Company at Fort Worth Texas, entered upon his railroad career in Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1871, with the Erie & Pittsburg Railroad Company, as operator and car accountant jointly. In the fall of 1 873 he severed his connection with that road and entered the employ of the Philadelphia & Erie, in the same capacity, at Warren, Penn- sylvania, where he remained until Septem- ber, 1876. In November of that same year he came South and joined the Texas & Pacific Company at Mesquite, Texas, as station agent. In 1878 he entered the employ of the International & Great Northern Railroad at Taylor, and was made joint ticket agent in 1881, when the Missouri, Kansas & Texas built its road to that point. He was trans- ferred to Fort Worth in 1887, where he opened a city ticket office as joint agent for the same companies. When the Missouri, Kansas & Texas went into the hands of receivers, the offices were separated and he had the choice of companies, his choice be- ing the Texas & Pacific, with which he has since remained, here as elsewhere discharg- ing his duties with the strictest fidelity and rendering entire satisfaction to all concerned.
Mr. Zurn was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, October 23, 1855. His father, also named Jacob, was born in Wurtemburg, Germany, and emigrated to the United States in his youth , locating in Erie county, Pennsylvania. There he subsequently mar- ried Dorothy Dieter, who died in 1881. He has reached the advanced age of eighty- seven years and is now living retired. They reared two children, the subject of this sketch and George, the latter having died in Erie when thirty-four years of age.
Jacob F. Zurn received his education in the city schools of Erieand in a business col- lege of that place, and picked up telegraphy at night in the office of the Western Union while clerking in his father's store. He was married September 5, 1876, in Warren, Pennsylvania, to Miss Agnes Lacy, daugh -. ter of Henry Lacy, a lumber dealer of that place.
Mr. Zurn has taken the various degrees in Masonry, is past Eminent Commander of the Commandery, and is an officer in the Grand Commandery of Texas. He is also a Knight of Pythias and a member of the O. L. of H., being P. C. C. of the former. Personally he is genial and courteous, and is as popular as he is well known.
ON. AUGUSTUS M. CARTER, of Fort Worth, Texas, is a native of this State, born in Panola county, in 1848. His father, Barney Mckinney Carter, was a prominent planter, a native of North
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Carolina, born in 1809, and a son of David Carter, a Virginian.
The Carters have been residents of America ever since Colonial days, being of English origin. Barney Mckinney Carter married Lucy Melvina Wylie, a daughter of Thomas Wylie, a native of Ireland. They came to Texas in 1847, and here he en- gaged in farming, more for pleasure than for profit. His family was composed of eight children, five sons and three daughters, all of whom are deceased except the subject of this sketch and one sister. The father pass- ed away in 1859 and the mother in 1893.
Augustus M. Carter attended such schools as this country afforded in his boyhood days and completed his education with a course at Alexander City, Alabama. At the age of seventeen he was left an orphan with the care of the younger brothers and sisters de- volving upon him, his older brother, Joseph, having died, while in the Confederate serv- ice, at Camp Moore, Louisiana.
Choosing the law for his profession, young Carter began his legal studies under the in- struction of Captain A. W. DeBerry (Sec- retary of State under Governor Richard Coke), and on June 9, 1871, was admitted to the bar at Carthage, Panola county, Texas. There he practiced his profession for several years. In 1878 he removed to Fort Worth, and continued in the practice, and his ability, energy and affability enabled him to become associated in his practice with the ablest talent and to rapidly grow in favor through- out the surrounding country.
In 1890 he yielded to the solicitation of his large constituency and permitted his name to be used for Senator to represent the counties of Tarrant, Parker, Wise and Jack in the Texas Senate, where he ably represented the constituency of 100, 000 people.
Mr. Carter is an active member of the several fraternal societies, namely: the Ma- sonic bodies, Knights of Pythias, and Knights of Honor. He was married to Miss Rieka Tally, daughter of Fred. and Elizabeth (Fite) Tally. Her parents are both de- ceased. Mr. and Mrs. Carter have had eleven children, eight of whom are living: Lizzie Lee, Fred. Augustus, John Temple- ton, Alfred Mckinney, Sawnie Robinson, Louise, Tally and Robert Emmet. Three, - Lucy Maude, Eliza, and Clay, -died in infancy.
J OHN F. HOVENKAMP, the efficient and popular Tax Collector of Tar- rant county, was born in Birdville, the first county seat of this county, Septem- ber 19, 1858.
His father, Edward Hovenkamp, was born in New Jersey in 1824, reared on a farın, moved to Kentucky in 1850, was ad- mitted to the bar in that State, practiced in Macon and Fleming counties, and came to Tarrant county, Texas, in 1854. He was a member of the law firm of Hovenkamp, Hol- land & Blair, and Hovenkamp, Holland &
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Cummings. He was a prominent lawyer, possessing peculiar strength in working up his case and in selecting juries, and wise in counsel. During the war he was elected District Attorney. He was married in Ma- son county, Kentucky, to Belle Arthur, a daughter of James Arthur, a farmer from Indiana. The mother, a native of Ken- tucky, died March 19, 1890, leaving as her children: J. A., of Tarrant county; John F., whose name heads this sketch; T. D., a res- ident of this county; M. W., a farmer and stockman also of this county; and Ed., a farmer. The father of these children emi- grated to Mason county, Kentucky, thence to Texas, and died here in 1886.
Mr. Hovenkamp, of this sketch, was ed- ucated at Birdville and Thorp's Spring, taking a commercial course at Mahan's Col- lege there. For an occupation he then en- gaged in the live-stock business, as a raiser of stock and trader in the same, being suc- cessful, until his election to his present office. For this position he was nominated in 1892 against three competitors, and was elected with a majority of 2,900. At pres- ent he is the nominee of the Democratic party for re-election. He cast his presiden- tial vote for Cleveland, and for Governor he voted for Roberts. He owns a farm near Blue Mound, Tarrant county, of 900 acres, of which 100 is cultivated.
October 25, 1885, is the date of his mar- . riage, at Keller, this county, to Miss Mildred Wallace, daughter of Dr. J. R. Wallace, a native of Fauquier county, Virginia, who
came to Texas in 1849, settling in San Augustine county, and afterward coming to Tarrant county, in 1853. Dr. Wallace is a graduate of a medical college of Phila- delphia, and is to-day one of the oldest prac- ticing physicians in Tarrant county. He was engaged in merchandising in Jefferson, Texas, some years, as a member of the firm of Waterhouse, Wallace & Company. He mnoved back to Tarrant county in 1860. He married Elizabeth Satterwhite, and they had five children, namely: Mrs. Hovenkamp; John H .; Mary W., who married J. O. Meacham; Virginia and Daisy. Mrs. Wal- lace's brothers are: John W. Satterwhite, who died in San Bernardino, California, a . prominent attorney who represented that county in the Legislature ten years, and was State Senator at the time of his death; T. D. Satterwhite, of Tucson, Arizona, who held a Government position in Washington under President Cleveland's first administra- tion. He was Probate Judge at Tucson one term; he is now serving as Territorial Judge of that Territory.
Mr. Hovenkamp's children are: Pansy Belle, who was born August 12, 1886, and died May 30, 1889; Elizabeth W., who was born October 17, 1888; Robert E., who was born September 20, 1892; and Maud, born March 20, 1893. The parents are members of the Christian Church. This is a very prominent representative family of this sec- tion of the Lone Star State, deserving their high station in the esteem of the community by their intelligence and integrity.
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J OHN L. GOFORTH, one of the wealthiest farmers of Parker county, Texas, was among the first white men to settle on Bear Creek and is now the oldest of the old pioneers of this vicinity. As he is well known throughout the county a sketch of his life is appropriate here, and is as follows:
John L. Goforth was born in North Carolina, July 30, 1829, third in the family of eight children of M. A. and Elizabeth (Patillo) Goforth, of North Carolina. M. A. Goforth was a planter and a slave owner and was a prominent man in his day, taking an active part in public affairs and serving in several local offices. His father, Ezekiel Goforth, also a native of North Carolina, was a participant in the Revolution. The Patillos were likewise wealthy planters and · slaveholders of North Carolina. John Pa- tillo was the name of our subject's mater- nal grandfather. Following are the names of John L. Goforth's brothers and sisters: Matilda, wife of James Wilson, is a resident of Georgia; Mitt P. has been a resident of California since 1850; Sarah, widow of a Mr. Neilley, resides in Georgia; Rebecca is the wife of M. Jackson and lives in Georgia; Mary M., who married a Mr. Jackson, re- sides in California; A. J., a resident of Tennessee; and M. A., of Oregon, the sons being farmers and mechanics.
The subject of our sketch spent the first twenty years of his life on his father's plan- tation. He then turned his attention to work at the carpenter's trade, and followed 4
that until 1857. In 1856 he came to Texas, and the following year took up his abode in Parker county. In 1859 he purchased 320 acres of land, a portion of the tract he now owns and occupies. This was known as the Jenkins Survey, and at the time he made his purchase a part of it had been broken. He at once began the work of improvement and cultivation. In 1863 he commenced adding to his original tract and from time to time made additional purchases until now he is the owner of 2,000 acres of the finest land in the county, nearly all prairie land, and 600 acres of it under cultivation. Two hundred acres of it he rents, and with the assistance of hired help he cultivates the rest himself. Wheat is his principal product. He, however, raises a diversity of crops, and has all along given considerable attention to stock-raising,-hogs, cattle, mules and horses. He keeps on his farm a fine jack. During the whole of his career as a farmer here he has never failed to make a crop of some kind. Wheat on his land averages from sixteen to eighteen bushels per acre, and he has raised as high as forty-two bushels to the acre. Last year, 1893, he had 150 head of cattle and sold $800 worth of hogs.
Mr. Goforth was married in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1854, and he and his wife have had seven children, four of whom died when young. Those living are William S., Joan and Stonewall J. Stonewall J. is married and settled on a farm.
Politically Mr. Goforth has been identi-
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fied with the Democratic party all his life. He has filled the office of School Commis- sioner and has served eight years as Justice of the Peace. In 1861 he entered the Con- federate service, as a member of the Elev- enth Texas Cavalry, and went on duty in Arkansas and Missouri. The following year he returned home and soon afterward joined Baylor's regiment, serving with it in Texas and Indian Territory, and remaining in the army until the close of the war. During all his service he was never wounded or cap- tured, although he was often in the thickest of the fight, true to the cause he believed to be right.
Such is a brief outline of the life of one Parker county's venerable pioneers.
R. R. B. GRAMMER, a successful and prominent physician of Fort Worth, is a descendant of a French ancestor who sought refuge in America in Colonial times and made his home in Vir- ginia, in which State Pleasant Grammer, the Doctor's grandfather, was born, .. Among his immediate relatives and dsceendants were editors, ministers and farmers. He resided in Dinwiddie county, where Dr. R. J. Grammer, our subject's father, was born. The latter was educated at Richmond, and graduated at the old Hampden-Sidney Col- lege, being a classmate with Hunter Mc- Guire, the world-renowned physician and surgeon. Dr. R. J. Grammer finished his course of medical studies in 1852, and prac-
ticed his profession in Virginia until 1878, when he came to Texas, establishing liim- self in Upshur county. Some years later he moved to Hopkins county, and he died near Sulphur Springs in August, 1891, aged sixty years. He was a surgeon in the Confeder- ate army, yet but little is known of his serv- ices there because nearly his whole family of brothers, etc., were killed during the war, and he himself maintained a strict silence concerning it. He married Miss' M. E. Greene, a direct descendant of General Nathaniel Greene, and a daughter of James W. Greene, a planter of Sussex county, Virginia .. In their family were the follow- ing children : Dr. R. B. (our subject), born near Petersburg, Virginia, April 23, 1861; N. E., a druggist of Fort Worth; William P., a merchant of Pittsburg, Texas; and Dr. J. F., of Fort Worth.
Dr. R. B. Graminer was reared in the village of Coman's Well, Virginia, and at- tended the public schools, finishing his liter- ary education at the Giliner (Texas) high school. He began the study of medicine in the Shreveport (Louisana) Hospital, where he spent one year, entering the Louisville (Ken- tucky) Medical College one year later, at the age of twenty years. At this college he won two medals, one for proficiency in sur- gical anatomy, the other for obstetrics and diseases of women. He graduated in Feb- ruary, 1883, and came direct to Fort Worth, where he entered upon the practice of his profession. His specialty is medical and surgical diseases of women and children.
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The Doctor is senior medical examiner for the New York Life, Home Life of New York, the Netherlands and several others of the leading insurance companies of the coun- try. He is a member of the State, County and North Texas Medical Associations, and altogether is regarded as one of the leading physicians and citizens of Fort Worth.
He was married in Mount Vernon, Texas, December 26, 1886, to Leila Rogers, a daughter of L. Rogers, a farmer. Their only child is Robert Rogers, six years old. The Doctor and his wife are members of the Methodist Church, and he belongs also to the Knights of Pythias, the Mystic Circle and the Society of Chosen Friends.
J OSEPH TOLLIVER, one of the prominent and highly respected farm- ers of Tarrant county, Texas, was born in Lawrence county, Indiana, Novem- ber 15, 1833.
Mr. Tolliver was reared on his father's farm in Indiana, receiving a common-school education only, and remaining at home until he attained his majority. Then, in 1855, he came to Texas, making the journey by water to New Orleans, thence up the river to Shreveport, and from the latter place came on foot to the locality in which he now re- sides. The first year after coming South he cultivated a crop on rented land, and after that turned his attention to freighting, haul- ing merchandise from Houston and Jeffer- son, and lumber from the pine mills. He
also hauled barley to Camp Cooper for the Government, and continued thus employed up to the opening of the war. In 1861 he enlisted in the Ninth Texas Cavalry and went to the front, first serving in the Trans- Mississippi Department and afterward being transferred to the Army of Tennessee, under General Bragg, and later under General Hood. He was in the battle of Corinth and in numerous other engagements, includ- ing scouting raids, and continued in the service until the close of the war, after which he returned to Texas. During the whole of his service he was never wounded or captured and only came home on furlough once.
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