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 61
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 61
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In 1868 Mr. Wilcox came back to Texas. Previous to the war he had located lands for other people and had acquired several tracts himself, and after his return he bought and sold considerable land. He now owns 637 acres of land, all under fence and 184 acres under cultivation, and besides his property in this State has some in California.
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He raises wheat, oats, corn and hay, and has for years given some attention to the stock business. When Mr. Wilcox first came to Texas he helped to drive the In- dians from the country, with Jack Brinston as leader, and has done his part toward paving the way for the present development and civilization of Tarrant county. Now in his pleasant home, surrounded with all the comforts of life, he is enjoying the fruits of his early years of toil and privation. His residence is located five miles north of Fort Worth.
Mr. Wilcox is the youngest of three children born to Morrison D. and Ann B. (Archer) Wilcox, natives of New York and Virginia respectively, their marriage occur- ring in Kentucky, to which State they had both emigrated in early life. The father was a dealer in real estate, and at his death, which occurred soon after the birth of his son Frank, he left to his family a large es- tate. They, however, were defrauded out of it. Frank Wilcox is the only one of the three now living, his brother, M. D., dying in Mississippi about the close of the war, and his sister, Lucy A., wife of H. Larkins, died, leaving seven children. Her husband is also deceased. Mrs. Wilcox afterward became the wife of Daniel Dennis, a native of New York State, and they had two chil- dren, Helen and Laura, the former now the wife of R. Howard and a resident of Brown- wood, Texas; and the latter the wife of W. Pruett, a Tarrant county farmer. The mother died in Kentucky in 1868.
Mr. Frank Wilcox has be en thrice mar- ried. In 1856 he wedded Miss Sophia A. Lacey, a native of Kentucky and a daughter of C. C. Lacey, already referred to as Dis- trict Surveyor. Mr. Lacey came to Texas in 1854. He passed the closing years of his life and died in Denton, this State. Mrs. Sophia Wilcox passed away in 1862, leaving three children, namely : Emma, wife of W. K. Gandy, Fort Worth; Laura, wife of William Krekow, Oklahoma; and Charles B., of Dublin, Texas. In 1865 Mr. Wilcox married Miss Victor Farley, a native of Georgia, who died in 1870, leav- ing two children : Elizabeth, wife of James McLeod, a farmer of this county; and Will- iam M. In 1874 he married Mrs. Kate Mitchell, a widow with two children. She is a daughter of James and Nancy Fridge, natives of Scotland and Ireland respectively, and both now about eighty-five years of age. Mr. Fridge was a British soldier in Canada, removed from there to the State of New York, thence to Iowa and next to Kan- sas, and in 1872 came to Texas, and has since been a resident of Tarrant county. Mrs. Wilcox is the eldest of their three children, the others being James E. and Isaac, both stock men of Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox have four children, Robert, Kittie, John and Sarah E., all at home with their parents.
Mr. Wilcox is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and both he and his wife are ident- ified with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically, he was formerly a Democrat, but now acts with the Populist party.
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0 R. ELIAS J. BEALL .- One of the most prominent members of Fort Worth's medical profession is Dr. Elias J. Beall, who has gained distinction in the practice of medicine and surgery, not only in Fort Worth, but also throughout the State of Texas, and whose reputation as a skilled practitioner and brilliant writer is well known to the profession all over the country.
Dr. Beall is a native of Georgia, born in Macon, that State, on the 5th day of February, 1834, and is the son of Dr. Jere- miah and Susan N. Beall. The father was a successful physician, and his son may be said to have inherited his talents and love of medicine.
Dr. Jeremiah Beall was a native of Lexington, Oglethorpe county, Georgia, and was born in 1809. His death oc- curred in Blanco City, Texas, in 1884, after a long life of usefulness and honor. He began preaching the gospel before he was twenty-one years of age, and la- bored in behalf of the Missionary Baptist Church until his dying day, and, in addition to his ministerial duties, practiced success- fully medicine and surgery over half of both the States of Georgia and Alabama. He graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1831, making the journey from his home to Philadelphia and return on horseback. While in Philadelphia he successfully passed the examination for the United States Navy, and was ordered to the Mediterranean sea; but his mother's opposition was so strong
against such a move that he abandoned it, and resigning, returned to his native State and engaged in his professional and relig- ious labors. He was a bright star in the constellation of eminent physicians and sur- geons of Georgia, both as a practitioner and contributor to medical literature. He re- sided successively in Wetumpha, Alabama, Talbertson and Macon, and again in Tal- bertson, Georgia, Hamilton, Georgia, and Shreveport and New Orleans, Louisiana, and in 1852 came to Texas, locating at Marshall. His wife was the daughter of James Neal, who was a planter and capital- ist, and a native of Pike county, Georgia. Her death occurred at Talbertson, Georgia, in 1843.
The grandfather of our subject was Gen- eral' Elias Beall, for whom he was named. General Beall commanded the State mili- tia at the battle of Loachapoka, Ala- bama, whipping and capturing the Indian chiefs, and thus ending the Creek and Cherokee war. General Winfield Scott was at Columbus, Georgia, at the time of battle, with 5,000 regulars. This ended the Creek and Cherokee war in East Ala- bama and West Georgia. During the war of 1812 General Beall served with distinc- tion as Captain, and his title of "General" was conferred upon him by the Georgia Legislature. General Beall was a native of North Carolina, born in 1780, and died in 1864. During his active business life he was a prominent cotton dealer of Macon, Georgia. He was also prominent in poli-
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tics, and came within a few votes of being elected to Congress. He was a fluent pub- lic speaker and took part in the political campaigns, and was also a Baptist exhorter of great power. He was a man of strong prejudices, great personal courage, a good hunter and a fine shot, and during the last year of his life, while hunting, killed three deer at one shot!
Dr. Elias J. Beall is the eldest of his parents' children: one son, Captain Thomas Beall, is a prominent attorney of El Paso, Texas. He served as Adjutant of Hood's Brigade, Ninth Texas Infantry, and was captured at Fort Donelson. Afterward he served on the staff of General Gregg. An- other son, Captain O. B. Beall, of Kendall county, Texas, served in Waul's Legion, Confederate army, as Captain at the age of nineteen years. A half-sister of the brothers, Mrs. Alice Balet, resides in Kendall county, Texas.
Dr. Beall, the subject of this sketch, ac- companied his father to all his various places of residence, in all of which he attended school, with one exception, probably the last named. He completed his literary edu- cation at Collingsworth Institute, near Tal- bertson, Georgia, and after choosing medicine as his profession began reading with his father as his preceptor. He entered the University of Louisiana while his father resided at Shreveport, Louisiana, and con- tinued his medical studies there and in New York city, with Dr. P. A. Aylett, for four years, graduating in 1856. He then engaged
in active practice with his father at Marshall, Texas, and upon his father's retirement in 1859, succeeded to the practice of the firm. He took the ad-eundum degree in St. Louis in 1877. He was made an honorary mem- ber, M. D., by the Missouri Medical College, and took a course at the Post-Graduate Medical College in St. Louis. He has also taken two courses at the New York Poly- clinic, a course at Bellevue Medical Col- lege, and a course at the Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital. In 1890 he went abroad, spending the summer and fall of that year pursuing his professional studies in various hospitals in Europe and informing himself upon the latest and most improved methods in medicine and surgery, particularly the latter. He studied clinical surgery, gyne- cology and medicine in St. Thomas, Char- ring Cross, King's College, St. George, Bartholomew, Royal, Great Ormand Street Hospital for Children, the Middlesex Hospital in England; Hotel Dieu, Saltapetrie and St. Louis Hospitals in Paris; and in hospitals at Geneva, Berne, Dresden, Berlin, Brussels, Edinburg and Liverpool. During his stay in Europe Dr. Beall kept copious notes of his observations, many of which have al- ready been given to the medical profession in the shape of valuable contributions to Daniels' Medical Journal.
In 1860 Dr. Beall was married to Miss T. C. Van Zant, a daughter of Isaac Van Zant, the Texan statesman.
In 1861 he entered the Confederate army as Regimental Surgeon of the Fifteenth
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Texas Cavalry, and saw his first service in Arkansas. Ninety days afterward he was promoted as Chief Surgeon of the First Division, First Army Corps, having been recommended by an examining board before whom sixty-three competitors appeared and were examined, the Doctor receiving the highest grade. His appointment was made by General Hindman. He served three years as Chief Surgeon, and also acted as Medical Director for General Dick Taylor. He took part in the battles around Vicks- burg, in Banks' raid, Jenkins' Ferry and many others.
Leaving the army at Navasota, he re- turned to Marshall and at once entered into active practice. Upon locating in Fort Worth, Dr. Beall at once took rank with the leading physicians and surgeons of the city, and since that time he has met with more than ordinary success, both, in medi- cine and surgery, establishing a reputation for skill second to no physician in the State. He is a member of both the Tarrant Coun- ty and Texas State Medical Associations, has served as vice-president of the latter associa- tion, and has also represented the same as a delegate to the American Medical As- sociation.
Dr. Beall has ever been an enthusiastic practitioner. Thoroughly in love with his profession, fully alive to its grave responsi- bilities and great opportunities, lie has ever kept pace with the wonderful advancement of the science of medicine and surgery, and is to-day as much a student as he was when
preparing for his life's work. Deserved success and honor have come to him in his professional work, as they naturally will to all men of talent, energy, perseverance and ap- plication. It is said of him that he was the first American surgeon to use successfully the sponge graft, and in many other in- stances has he demonstrated his skill and progression. He is a prominent and valuable contributor to medical periodicals, treating in his writings of rare and difficult cases of surgery coming under his own treatment.
The Doctor has been no less prominent as a citizen than as a physician and surgeon, and Fort Worth has cause to honor him as one of her leading men. He is progressive in his views, enterprising and ambitious, be- lieves firmly in the future of his adopted city, and stands always ready to lend his aid and influence to all public improvements having for their object the building up of the city and the development of her indus- tries and institutions.
EORGE P. ALBRIGHT, druggist, of Childress, Childress county, Texas, was born in Missouri in the year 1848. Early in life he camne to Texas, and first stopped in Lamar county, but went back to Missouri and remained there until 1872. That year he returned to Texas, and settled in Arlington, Tarrant county, where he engaged in the drug busi- ness and continued successfully until 1888, since which time he has been at his present
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location. Since coming to Childress he has not confined himself to the drug business, but has also dealt in real estate, carried on farming, and been interested in other en- terprises, in all of which he has been suc- cessful. He owns some rental properties at Childress.
Mr. Albright was married in 1885 to Miss Juda Trigg, who was born February 16, 1866, daughter of Daniel C. and Mar- tha (Hall) Trigg. Mr. and Mrs. Trigg, both natives of Tennessee, came to Texas in 1858, and settled on the farm in Tarrant county, where they still reside. To them individual reference is made on another page of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Al- bright have three children: Bula, born February 21, 1887; Clay D., May 5, 1888; and Fannie B., July 10, 1891.
Politically our subject is a Democrat, and fraternally is a Mason and an Odd Fel- low. Both he and his wife are members of the Baptist Church, and by all who know them they are held in high esteem.
ON. A. L. MATLOCK, Fort Worth. - The bar of Texas is ably represented by this gentleman, who has justly gained a foremost place among his professional brethren in the Lone Star State. He was born in Roane county, Tennessee on the 23d of April, 1852, and is a son of Colonel A. and Margaret (Russell) Matlock, who were also born in eastern Tennessee. The former was a son of Jason
Matlock, a pioneer of that State and of Welch and Scotch descent, although the family was founded in America at an early day. The mother of our subject was a daughter of William Russell, who also be- longed to a pioneer family of Tennessee and was of Irish lineage.
The childhood and youth of A. L. Mat- lock were passed in Blount county, Tennes- see, whither his parents removed during his early infancy. He lived on a farm and ob- tained his education in the Ewing and Jef- ferson College, Tennessee, at which institu- tion he was graduated in the class of 1870. Desiring to enter the legal profession and make the practice of law his life work he began reading under the preceptorship of Judges Green & Caruthers at the law school in Lebanon, Tennessee, where he was. graudated in 1872. In the same year he was admitted to the bar, being at that tiine twenty years of age. A young man, possessed of a laudable ambition and desir- ous of winning the success which is achieved by merit, he located in Loudon, Tennessee, where he opened an office and continued in practice until the fall of 1873.
Seeking a wider field of usefulness, Mr. Matlock came to Texas at that time, settling in Montague, and soon built up a large and lucrative practice. Those who heard him before judge and jury recognized in the pleas and arguments of the young lawyer promise of power that would win him prominence. From the beginning his clientage grew, tak- ing in the best class of citizens, and among
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his professional brethren he gained a reputa- tion which made him feared by his opponents and envied by all. Powers grow by use and the promising features in the work of the young attorney strengthened until his abili- ties were second to those of none in the State in his chosen profession. Mr. Matlock continued in Montague until 1889 and then came to Fort Worth, where he has since successfully practiced, winning laurels at the bar. He is considered one of the most eminent advocates in the State and is at the same time one of the best known.
In 1876 Mr. Matlock was united in mar- riage with Miss Annie Herbert, of Denton, daughter of Dr. C. L. Herbert and a native of Tennessee. She died a year later and, in 1879, Mr. Matlock was again married, his second union being with Miss Alice Hyatt, a native of Missouri, and a daughter of Smith and Clara (Weaver) Hyatt, who came to this State in 1878. The lady is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and throughout the community is held in the highest regard, her warm and admiring friends being many.
Our subject has been honored with pub- lic office, and the trust reposed in him has never been betrayed. In 1880 he was elected a member of the State Legislature from the district comprising Wise county and the district north of the Texas & Pacific Railroad. He served as chairman of the Land Committee and was successful in secur- ing the passage of many land bills which have proven of great benefit to that section
of the State. In 1882 he was elected to the State Senate serving for two years. In 1884 he was made a Presidential Elector, sup- porting Grover Cleveland, and during the Clark and Hogg gubernatorial contest, as chairman of the Clark Democracy, he gained a national reputation. Since 1887 he has represented the Capital Syndicate and other large interests, which at once indicate the importance of his practice. As a lawyer he has few equals and his life may well be termed a success. Through his useful and prosperous career he has maintained an hon- orable, straightforward course and all who know him esteem him.
Q APTAIN SAMUEL EVANS, one of the most worthy and best known citizens of Tarrant county, was born in Garrard county, Kentucky, October 28, 1831, the fifth of thirteen children born to Hezekiah and Nancy (Cole) Evans. The father was a son of Elijah Evans, a native of North Carolina. In an early day he inoved to Kentucky, where he followed teaching, surveying and farming. The
maternal grandfather of our subject, Jesse Cole, was a native of Virginia. He moved from that State to Kentucky, and afterward to Indiana, where he purchased and located the land on which the city of Indianapolis now stands. He served in the Legislature of Kentucky and Indiana, and his death oc- curred at Vernon, in the latter State, at the age of eighty-three years.
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Hezekiah Evans, father of our subject, spent his entire life on the place where he was born. He was a successful physician for forty-two years, was active in the Con- federate army, and was assassinated within four miles of his home in 1862. The old homestead is still in the hands of the Evans family, it having been owned by them since the grandfather entered it over one hundred years ago, and is now occupied by a brother of our subject. Three of Hezekiah Evans' sons came to Texas, and one is now living in Johnson county, one in Tarrant county, and the third, Swapsher, died in this county. The three served in the same company dur- ing the late war. At his death, Mr. Evans left a wife and fourteen children.
Samuel Evans, subject of this sketch, completed his schooling at the age of fifteen years, after which he taught for a time, and remained with his parents until coming to Texas in 1853. In the same year he located in Tarrant county. He assisted in bringing William Miller, a criminal, to this State, and during the first three months served as Deputy Sheriff of Robinson county. He next went to Brownsville, where he pur- chased a' herd of ponies, brought them to this county, and has ever since made his home here. Mr. Evans purchased and located on a tract of land he still owns, which he improved and farmed until the opening of the late war. He was the first to take a cargo of hides from this county, drove the first herd of sheep from Tarrant county to New Orleans, and brought the 16
first drove of Mexican ponies to this local- ity. In 1853, when the Weatherspoon family were massacred by Indians, Mr. Evans organized a company of sixteen men and followed them to the Twin mountains, where a fight took place, also in Erath county, at Ball mountain, at the head of Stroud's creek and in Palo Pinto county. Darkness then overtook them, and the In- dians were lost sight of. A number of men were killed, and two men and several horses were wounded, but they succeeded in get- ting nine scalps. Mr. Evans rode a horse which was a half brother to Grafton, the first horse ever sold for over $10,000 in the United States. His horse was slightly wounded.
In 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil war, our subject organized and drilled a company of cavalry, afterward left his com- pany and went to New Orleans, thence to Montgomery, Alabama, after which he re- turned home, and was the only one to raise a company of infantry in Tarrant county. Mr. Evans first served in the Twenty-first Texas Regiment, Trans-Mississippi Depart- ment, took part in a number of battles, had many narrow escapes from death, and served until the close of the struggle. He was at Galveston at the time of the sur- render, and he then brought his command to Robinson county, where they disbanded.
After returning home, Mr. Evans bought a drove of sheep on credit, which he shipped to New Orleans, and sold at a loss of $800. While returning on the boat to Galveston,
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he made the acquaintance of a Jew cotton buyer, and engaged with him to buy cotton, and at the end of two months he had made $2,800, the Jew having shipped the money to him in nail-kegs, and for which he never asked security or a receipt. During his four years' service Mr. Evans never drew but two months' pay, and he gave that to two boys to return to their homes. He paid a short visit to his mother, also spend- ing some time in Chicago, and then re- turned to this county. He next took a drove of cattle to Kansas, shipping them from there to St. Louis, Chicago and Phila- delphia, and they were the first cattle bought and driven from Tarrant county.
In 1866 Mr. Evans was elected to rep- resent his county in the Legislature of Texas, and after the reconstruction served as a Senator four years, his term in the lower house being in the Eleventh, and in the upper house in the Twelfth and Thir- teenth Legislatures. After witnessing the corruption of the parties, he denounced them both, and still refuses to be a believer in the principles of either. In 1877 he joined the call for a Greenback convention to be held at Memphis, to which he was the only dele- gate from Texas, and at that convention there were only seven delegates to repre- sent the fifteen Southern States. This was the first call for a convention to quell the contraction of currency. Mr. Evans has attended most of the reform conventions since. At the Cincinnati Greenback con- vention he was nominated for vice-president
but declined. He now affiliates with the Populist party. In the Eleventh Legisla- ture he made an attack on the Galveston wharf, thereby saving the State over $2, 000, - . 000, annually and caused a reduction on all wharfage. He was instrumental in locating the first seven railroads to Fort Worth, and no man has ever done more to start and keep the wheels of progress rolling about Fort Worth than he. Mr. Evans was the first to denounce the Interstate Commerce act, and also opposed the Railroad Com- mission bill. While making a speech at a Union Labor convention at Music Hall in Cincinnati, Ohio, he was asked by a gentle- man to tell the assembly what the political question of the day was. His answer was: "Is New York, or Tammany, and Lombard street, London, the Government, or are the people of the States?" Another question asked was: "What is the difference between the Democrat and Republican parties?" "The Democratic party is in league with whisky trusts and can always be told by its odor, and the Republican party is in league with the European syndicates and corpo- rations and their propensity for stealing and being in favor of bonds, and both are controlled by those influences."
Mr. Evans has bought and sold a great deal of property, and yet owns 1,000 acres of land around and adjoining the city of Fort Worth. He has 800 acres under cul- tivation in Tarrant county. He was in the dry-goods business in Fort Worth for four years. Mr. Evans has never taken a drink
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of any kind of intoxicating liquor, has never used tobacco in any form, has never danced, nor has ever belonged to a church.
In February, 1864, our subject was united in marriage with Miss Sarah E., daughter of Otis and Sarah (McAllister) McGaffin, natives of New York; and of Scotch descent. The parents grew to years of maturity in Michigan, and in 1845 came to Texas, locating in Jefferson county, and both still survive. The father has been a life-long merchant. Mr. and Mrs. Evans had ten children, namely: Thomas O., a farmer of Tarrant county; Elizabeth, wife of W. O. Millican, of Louisville, Kentucky; Frankey, deceased; Mary, deceased at the age of sixteen years; William, a farmer of this county; and David, Nanny, Charles, and E. Morgan, at home. Mrs. Evans de- parted this life in April, 1887. In 1892 our subject married Miss Fanny L. Sever- ance, a native of Louisiana.
RS. JANE FARMER, widow of the late George P. Farmer, was the first white woman of Fort Worth, Texas, and her children were the first white children born here.
Mr. and Mrs. Farmer were married in 1844, and three years later, in 1847, emi- grated from their native State (Tennessee) to Texas, first settling in Fannin county, where they remained two years and whence they came, in 1849, to Fort Worth. They reached here three weeks before the arrival
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