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 50
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 50
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74
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Germany, in 1845, and in 1860 emigrated to the United States in company with a cousin, the captain of an ocean vessel. His first employment in this country was in the service of Zimmerman & Company in New York city. In 1862 he went by water to California, and was employed by Eggers & Company, wholesale grocers in San Fran- cisco. Next he was with McPherson & Company (millmen), dealers in lumber. In 1867 he returned to New York, and also spent a brief period in the cities of Phila- delphia and Baltimore. From Baltimore he came to St. Louis, and, in 1870, engaged with Blanke Brothers as traveling agent and held that position nine years. In 1873 he came to Texas, and represented them in the trade until 1879. In 1880 he entered the service of the Anheuser-Bush Brewing Asso- ciation, representing them in Texas. His first place was in Weatherford, then Cle- burne, then Corsicana. In 1884, when An- heuser entered Fort Worth again, he was sent to that city by the company as perma- nent agent, which position he held until 1886, when Casey & Swasey received the agency, they keeping Mr. Steinfeldt as manager for the beer business.
When the Texas Brewing Company was formed, the Anheuser-Busch interests were not so well represented by Casey & Swasey. On the contrary they were allowed to lag. and the home product was pushed instead, and an effort made rather to supplant the Anheuser-Busch Company. Mr. Steinfeldt was again employed by Mr. Louis Reichen-
stein, the general agent, and new vaults were built, and the business of his company put into a healthy condition. The plant of the Artesian Ice Company was purchased and enlarged to a capacity of sixty tons daily, and the business of the Anheuser- Busch Company is now flourishing in this part of Texas.
Mr. Steinfeldt was married in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1869, to Miss Charlotte Fodde, and their children are Ida, Harry, Freddie and Della.
OM D. HARTNETT, of Weather- ford, Texas, almost a lifelong contractor of railroad and levee grading, is a brother of C. D. and D. D. Hartnett, herein mentioned, and is the old- est child of Daniel Hartnett, deceased, who was his ever present counselor and advisor.
Tom D. Hartnett was born in county Limerick. Ireland, in 1845. He was nine- teen years of age when he came to the United States, and upon his arrival here he Secured employment in the Elm Park Hotel, Staten Island. His first month's wages was $6. He remained in this employ until November 1, 1864, when he left New York city and went to work on the section for the Rock Island Railroad Company. The next year he engaged to do farm work at $30 per month, working until the fall of that year. He again became a section man for the Rock Island at Geneseo, Henry county Illinois. In the fall of 1866 he
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went to Iowa and did his first grade work in the construction of an extension of the line, and remained with this party until the grade was completed to Council Bluffs.
He took his initial contract with the Fort Dodge & Sioux City Construction Company, and after completing a sub-con- tract of a few miles, went to the Nebraska City & Lincoln road. He worked at Belle- view; on the Marysville branch; Quincy & Missouri Pacific; came to Texas and graded a portion of the Texas Pacific Railroad; was next at work on the Cairo & Fulton road, from Little Rock to Texas. He then tried farming one year, but it did not yield as well as he had figured it would, and after that he went to Dallas and secured a con- tract for grading a portion of the Dallas & Wichita Falls Railroad; then on Tyler & Texarkana narrow gauge; Texas & Pacific extension west, from Fort Worth to El Paso, Waco & Gatesville branch; had the contract to lay 150 miles of track for the St Louis Southwestern, from Pine Bluff to Texarkana; graded on the lower end of the Kansas City & Memphis Railroad; ten miles for the Illinois Central Railroad, near Aber- deen, Mississippi; thirty-five miles of grade from Wayne to Augusta, Arkansas; and also made some of the grade on the Santa Fe road. Mr. Hartnett began levee building in 1884, and for several years built miles upon miles of the largest and strongest dykes on both sides of the Mississippi river in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, winding up near Bayou Sara, Louisiana, in
1892. He built ten miles of the East Ten- nessee, Virginia & Georgia road below Birmn- ingham; did some work near Evansville, Indi- ana; completed a contract for a transfer com- pany of St. Louis; graded on the S. B. Rail- road; and constructed some grade for the Chi- cago & Eastern Illinois road, this being the last railroad grading and contract work done.
Mr. Hartnett was married in Tyler, Texas, in 1876, to Miss Catherine O'Brien, who was born in county Limerick, Ireland. Of their six children only one is living, - Katie, who is six years of age.
Mr. Hartnett moved his family to Weatherford in 1892, where he owns a nice home, and a splendid farm near by. He has sufficient to "keep the wolf from the door" and may not engage again in active business of any character. He is a man of fine physique, full of vigor and mental activity- a typical business man. All his life he has dealt with facts and figures, and his judg- ment rarely proved at fault.
a HARLES BARTHOLD, whose fa- miliar figure has graced the streets of Weatherford, Texas, for almost a fifth of a century, is ranked with its lead- ing merchants.
Mr. Barthold was born in Saxony, a province now in the German Empire, March 30, 1827. He received a good education, and in 1849 came to the United States, landing in New York city. His first year in America was spent in Pennsylvania. From
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there he came South to New Orleans and thence up to Texas, stopping in Rusk county. He had some little money when he reached New Orleans, and in that city he was robbed of all he had. He was brought to Rusk county by a merchant, for whom he clerked for some years, or until he could save enough with which to embark in business on his own account, which he did in 1856. Rusk county was then comparatively new and offered any ambitious young man every opportunity for advancement. Mr. Barthold made the best of his opportunities. He remained there until 1877, when he removed to Parker county. Here he has since been a leading merchant. He carries a $15,000 stock,. does an immense business, and numbers among his customers many of the best peo- ple of Weatherford and surrounding coun- try.
Mr. Barthold is a stockholder and direc- tor in the Citizens' National Bank of Weath- erford, of which for several years he served as vice-president, and he has acquired a large amount of realty here. During the Civil war he served two years in the Quar- termaster's department of the Confederate army.
In Rusk county, Texas, in 1856, Mr. Barthold was married to Miss Jane Rettig, who was born in Arkansas of German parents. Her father, Dr. Rettig, is now eighty-six years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Bart- hold have children as follows: Flora, wife of J. F. Simmons; Charles; Paul; Edith, widow of James Simmons; Carrie, wife of
Frank Porter; Curtis; Oscar; Walter; Julia, wife of Bruce Milligan, -all residents of Weatherford.
Mr. Barthold joined the Masonic order many years ago. .
J AMES J. SCOTT .- Among the enter- prising and prominent men of Tarrant county, Texas, none. are more enti- tled to a place in history than is the gentle- man whose name heads this article.
James J. Scott was born in Raleigh, Tennessee, November 4, 1832. He spent his youthful days on the farm with his par- ents, and in 1847 came with them to Texas, first locating in Panola county, and nine years later removing to Tarrant county. For five years during this period of his life he was engaged in freighting, saving his spare money and investing it in cattle. About this time he also came into possession of a small farm, and the year before the outbreak of the civil war he was married.
As the war continued to rage he felt it his duty to enter the ranks and accordingly, July 20, 1862, became a member of Grif- fin's battalion, consigned to the coast of Texas. His services were at Houston, Gal- veston and Sabine Pass, and he was in three engagements, one of which was the retaking of Galveston. At the close of the war he was discharged, at Houston, and from there returned home.
Upon his return home Mr. Scott found his cattle all gone, his land (160 acres) being
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all that he had left. He was not discour- aged, however, and with renewed energy went to work. Prosperity attended his earnest efforts, and by 1868 he was enabled to purchase another 160 acres, the property upon which he now lives and to which he then moved. As the years passed by and he continued to prosper, he bought other lands and soon ranked with leading landholders and wealthy men of the county. He has given eighty acres to each of his children, and still has over a thousand acres left, 525 of which are under cultivation. He super- · intends the cultivation of about 200 acres, while he rents the rest. Wheat is his staple product, and for the past ten years his aver- age yield per year has been fifteen bushels per acre. With the exception of one year, his wheat crop has never been a failure. He also raises corn and gives considerable attention to the stock business, being the owner of a fine Norman-Percheron stallion. Mr. Scott's home place is beautifully situ- ated, ten miles and a half south of Fort Worth, and is in the midst of a magnificent farming country. His nice farm buildings, his good fences and his broad acres of wav- ing grain, all go to stamp the owner as a man who has attained success in life. And this success is due solely to his own efforts, for he is truly a self-made man.
Turning for a glimpse of the ancestry of Mr. Scott, we find that his parents were Martin P. and Elizabeth C. (Killough) Scott, and that the former was a native of Ken- tucky and the latter of Tennessee. Martin
P. was a son of Joshua and Jane Scott, of Kentucky. Joshua Scott served for twenty- one years as County Clerk of his county, and after an active and useful life died in Kentucky. His wife survived him, living to be eighty-four years of age, and died of small-pox at Hernando, Mississippi. Mar- tin P. Scott spent some twenty months in Arkansas previous to his coming to Texas, as above stated. He was a farmer and slave-holder and was a man of some promi- nence in the community where he lived, serving for several years as Justice of the Peace. He passed to the other world in 1869; his wife in 1886. Two of their eleven children died in infancy. Of the others, we make record as follows: ' James J., whose name heads this sketch, is the oldest; Cynthia J. became the wife of E. L. Snyder, both deceased; Madison F. died in the army; Felix W. died in the army; Prudence is the wife of John Russell; Mary A. is the wife of William Gregory; Elizabeth is the wife of Joel East; Judith is the wife of J. B. Wadkins; John is the youngest. Both parents were members of the Baptist Church.
Mr. Scott's marriage has already been referred to. The lady of his choice, Miss Priscilla East, was born in Mississippi, July 4, 1832, daughter of James and Elizabeth (Smith) East, her father a native of Vir- ginia and her mother of Georgia. They came to Texas in 1856 and spent the rest of their lives on a farm in this State, her death occurring in 1860 and his in 1889. Both were Baptists.
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Mr. and Mrs. Scott have had six chil- dren, four of whom are living and all well settled in life, their son being a farmer and all their daughters the wives of prosperous farmers. They are as follows: Mary E., wife of J. T. Gantt; Martha J., wife of Louis Lochridge; James M. married Mittie Hudson, a daughter of John D. Hudson, of Tarrant county, and Laura C., wife of M. A. Small. The grandchildren number fifteen. Mr. and Mrs. Scott are now rearing an orphan girl, Florence Gosney, and doing a good part by her.
Mr. Scott has all his life taken more or less interest in public affairs, and while he has never aspired to official position he has been called to fill several important places and has ever performed his duty with strict fidelity. He was a delegate to the last Democratic State convention at Dallas. In 1888 he was elected County Commissioner, and served two terms of two years each, be- ing re-elected at the expiration of his first term. His father was a member of the Masonic order, and to this fraternity he, too, belongs.
3 R. LEWIS, jobber and retail dealer in hardware, Weatherford, Texas, is a young man whose energy, enter- prise and fair dealings have built him a mag- nificent business and an enviable reputation. As one of the representative business men of the county, it is appropriate that personal
mention be made of him in this work, and a sketch of his life is herewith presented.
J. R. Lewis was born in Oneida county, New York, November 16, 1854, son of B. Lewis, who is now a retired resident of Weatherford. B. Lewis, also a native of the Empire State, was born in 1822. He and his wife have a family, as follows: Julia, wife of T. J. Shuck, Lincoln, Ne- braska; R. E. and W. P., hardware mer- chants, of Fort Worth, Texas; Edward A. and H. H., also of Fort Worth; R. B., Weatherford; Ellen, a graduate of the Texas Female Seminary; and Jennie, who gradu- ated at the 1894 term of the Weatherford Female Seminary.
In 1859 the father of our subject moved, with his family, to Minnesota, and in that State J. R. was reared and received a com -. mon-school education. He grew up on a farm, and was engaged in agricultural pur- suits until he came to Texas. Upon his arrival in Texas his first stop was in Tarrant county, where he was engaged in well-drill- ing. He preceded the construction of the Texas Pacific Railroad, drilling for their water supply through the western part of the State. Afterward, for two years, he ran a gin in Tarrant county, but a fire de- stroyed his gin, and he sustained a total loss, being left with only $20 to begin anew in the world. He secured a position with D. M. Osborn & Company as an expert ma- chinist, and continued in their employ two years. Being of an inventive turn and handy with tools, he decided to try the tin-
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ner's business, and came to Weatherford in 1884 and opened a shop for repair work, having in stock only a handful of material. As he prospered he added hardware to his stock, and in a few years was numbered among the hardware merchants of Weather- ford. In 1891 he began doing a jobbing trade with merchants in the counties of Parker, Wise, Jack, Palo Pinto, and Hood. His stock will average $15,000, and his an- nual sales amount to $64, 000.
Mr. Lewis is a public-spirited and gen- erous man, and takes a commendable inter- est in the affairs of his town. He has served as a member of its City Council and School Board. He is also a Trustee of the Texas Female Seminary.
At Fort Worth, Texas, December 8, 1885, Mr. Lewis married Miss Alma Light- foot, daughter of W. U. Lightfoot, of Ken- tucky. They have had five children, - Ethel, Jessie, Annie, Clara, and Rowland. Clara and Rowland are deceased.
AJOR B. G. BIDWELL, attor- ney for the western 600 miles of the Texas & Pacific Railroad Company, and one of the prominent citizens of Weatherford, Texas, was born in Robin- son county, Tennessee, February 19, 1837.
His father being a wealthy planter, Major Bidwell was in early life surrounded with all the advantages and luxuries of a well-directed Southern country home. Up to the time he was sixteen he attended the
village school. Then he entered Cumber- land University at Lebanon, where he took an irregular course and from whence he went to the University of Nashville. In the latter institution he studied medicine, and graduated in 1858. Not, however, desiring to make medicine his life profession, he re- turned to Cumberland University, studied law, and in 1860 received his degree. He entered upon the practice of law at Spring- field, Tennessee; but this was just on the eve of the civil war, and he, being loyal to his State, closed his office and tendered his services to the Confederacy.
He was commissioned Captain of a com- pany in the Thirtieth Tennessee Infantry, was detached and put in command of a bat- tery of heavy artillery at Fort Donelson, and was engaged with the Federal gunboats there. At the exchange after the surrender of this fort the Thirtieth Regiment was re- organized and Captain Bidwell was elected its Major. Major Bidwell did not meet the fate of many of his comrades at Fort Donel- son. On the surrender of the fortification he made his escape and went South and was connected with the cavalry service until his regiment was exchanged at Vicksburg. Major Bidwell took part in the engagements at Chickasaw Bayou, Port Hudson, Ray- mond, and in many other engagements with the Federals, as a part of General Johnston's army, outside of Vicksburg, trying to effect General Pemberton's release. When their services were no longer needed in the West, the regiment went East and participated in
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all the engagements from Chickamauga to the winding up of the Atlanta campaign. For several months just prior to the surren- der of Lee, Major Bidwell was commander of the military post at Macon, Mississippi.
On resuming civil life, he removed to Paducah, Kentucky, and engaged in law practice, and during his residence there he was a member of the State Legislature four years, from 1873 to 1877. In 1879 he came to Weatherford, Texas, and practiced before the bar of Parker county until 1883, when he was appointed attorney for the Texas & Pacific Railroad Company, and since then he has given his time exclusively to its business.
Major Bidwell's ancestors settled at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1630. They were Puritans, and consequently were victims of the religious persecution of that day. Major Bidwell's father, Charles Bidwell, was born in Connecticut in 1779, and about 1810 moved South and settled in Tennessee, where he was a prominent and highly respected planter and miller. He was Major of militia during the old training days, and was in the battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815. He died in 1848. The mother of our subject, née Martha Binkley, was a daugliter of Jacob Binkley, a native of North Carolina and a descendant of German ancestors, who removed from that State to Tennessee, where he was a pioneer.
Major Bidwell is the sixth of eight chil- dren, four of whom survive, namely: A. F. and Mrs. Sarah B. Frey, of Robinson
county, Tennesse; Julia A., wife of Dr. T. P. Crutcher, of Nashville; and Major B. G. He was married in Kentucky, in 1872, to Ellen P. Flourney, whose mother was a Calhoun, of the famous John C. Calhoun family, her grandfather being John C. Cal- houn's cousin. The Flourneys are of French origin, and were early settlers of Virginia, removing from there to Tennessee. Major Bidwell's children are: H. L., with the Texas & Pacific Railroad, at Van Horn, Texas, and Miss Nellie, at home.
The Major is a member of the State Bar Association of Texas. He is a gentleman of many estimable qualities and is a favorite in social circles.
OLONEL J. W. BURGESS .- Few of the many stock-men of Texas are as prominent and well-known at home and abroad as successful breeders of fine and blooded cattle as Colonel J. W. Burgess, of Fort Worth, proprietor of Blue Mound Blooded Stock Farm and herd of registered shorthorn cattle.
Colonel Burgess was born in Mason county, Kentucky, on the 29th day of March, 1837, and both by blood and mar- riage is related to many of the oldest and most influential families of the Bluegrass State, such as the Warfields, Worthingtons, Beattys, Marshalls, Greens and many others. His ancestors on both sides were all En- glish, and were among the early settlers of Maryland, and later of Kentucky. Among
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the numerous emigrants who came to Amer- ica and settled in Ann Arundel county, Maryland, while one of the family of Lord Baltimore was the proprietor of that estate, were the Burgesses, Dorseys and Worth- ingtons. The Dorseys and Worthingtons had intermarried in England and were wealthy families. A strong friendship sprang up between the titled proprietor of Mary- land and the head of the Burgess family, and he was given a 10,000 acre tract of land in Ann Arundel county as a result. One of theDorseys -- Basil -- married Achsah Worthington, in Maryland, sometime about the year 1730, and the third daughter of this union-Sally-married John Burgess, who was the great-great-grandfather of Colonel J. W. Burgess. John Burgess was sent to England when a young man to be educated, and upon his return became a tutor in the family of Basil Dorsey, where he met and married his wife. Of the chil- dren of this marriage was Joseph Burgess, great-grandfather of Colonel Burgess, who had a family of eighteen children, nine sons and nine daughters. Eight of these sons fought in the Revolutionary war, one of the sons being Captain Joshua Burgess, the grandfather of our subject. Captain Joshua Burgess was one of the pioneers of Mason county, Kentucky, whither he removed from Maryland, and settled near Limestone (now the city of Maysville) in 1800. He had a family of ten children, the fourth of whomn was John, the father of our subject.
John Burgess was born in Ann Arundel 10
county, Maryland, in 1798, and died at the age of seventy-six years. He married Lydia M. Wise, a native of Kentucky, and a mem- ber of one of that State's most prominent families. Six sons and four daughters were born to John Burgess and wife. One son, T. J. Burgess, was for several years a Judge in California, and is at this time a promi- nent and successful merchant of St. Joseph, Missouri, being the senior member of the Burgess-Frazier Iron and Hardware Com- pany of that city.
Colonel Burgess, our subject, was reared in Mason county, Kentucky, finished his education at the Masonic College in Lexing- ton, Missouri, and a coincidence of the Colonel's war service is that he was at the seige of Lexington and fought behind the hemp bails which formed breastworks around the college buildings where he had spent many happy days as a student. For a num- ber of years Colonel Burgess carried on farming and stock-raising in the blue grass region of Kentucky, near Lexington, and at this time owns a fine farm in that region upon which are many head of fine stock.
In 1884 he came to Tarrant county, Texas, and engaged in stock-breeding and farming. He purchased 4,000 acres of the finest land in Texas, situated twelve miles north from Fort Worth, and there he car- ried on farming and the stock business on a magnificent scale. His farm is known as Blue Mound Blooded Stock Farm, and it and his herds of registered shorthorn cattle are famous the South over. He spent sever-
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al thousand dollars in experimenting with fine cattle before he succeeded in getting them acclimated to Texas, but is now being well paid for his outlay; for he receives nearly double the price for his cattle that others get for common stock. As showing the extent of his farming operations and the fertility of the soil of his farm it may be stated that Colonel Burgess harvested the present year (1894) 10, 000 bushels of small grain,-wheat, oats, millet, etc. He gives no attention to growing cotton, and his crops are used chiefly as feed for his stock. He employs white labor exclusively, preferring the help of educated men and boys of good moral character, with whom his sons can safely associate, one of which sons is super- intendent of the stock and another superin- tendent of the agricultural departments of his large farm.
In the light of past events, and measured by results and the methods employed in pro- ducing those results, it may be safely claimed, without fear of contradiction, that Colonel Burgess is not only one of the most exten- sive but is the most scientific farmer and stock-breeder in Tarrant county or in the Panhandle country.
Colonel Burgess was married near Lex- ington, Kentucky, in 1868, to Miss Sue, the daughter of John P. Ennis, Esq., a member of a prominent Virginia family. Mrs. Bur- gess' grandfather went to Kentucky prior to 1800 and purchased 3,000 acres of land, six miles north from Lexington, for fifty cents an acre, which land is now worth more $100
Burgess have an acke, Colonel and Mrs Burg - Male four sons and three daughters, as follows: Lydia, wife of W. H. Smith, of Louisville, Kentucky; William Warfield, John Ennis, James B., Anna, Dora, Duke and Mary.
Colonel Burgess is a member of the American Herd Book Association, and in his library the many handsome volumes issued by that association occupy a conspicuous place. He is prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity, and is an exemplary member of the Christian Church. He is a man of broad information, sterling traits of character, unassuming manner, genial, kind- hearted and approachable by all, as becomes a native of old Kentucky. With his family he occupies a spacious residence on Belknap street, in the city of Fort Worth, and among his fellow citizens he is respected and es- teemed for his excellent characteristics, and for the enterprising and progressive spirit he has ever shown and the deep interest he has manifested in the growth and development of the city and her industries and institu- tions. All are proud to own him as a citi- zen, and take pride in pointing him out to the sojourner as the model farmer and stock- breeder of the county.
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