History of Texas, together with a biographical history of the cities of Houston and Galveston; containing a concise history of the state, with protraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named cities, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families, Part 36

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing co., 1895
Number of Pages: 1532

USA > Texas > Harris County > Houston > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of the cities of Houston and Galveston; containing a concise history of the state, with protraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named cities, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families > Part 36
USA > Texas > Galveston County > Galveston > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of the cities of Houston and Galveston; containing a concise history of the state, with protraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named cities, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families > Part 36

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Dr. Jones left surviving him four chil- dren : Samuel Edward, resident at Hous- ton, Texas, where he is engaged in the practice of dentistry; Charles Elliott, a member of the Second Texas Volunteer In- fantry, Confederate States Troops, fell mortally wounded in the battle of Shiloh, April 7, 1862; Sarah Sophia is the wife of R. G. Ashe, a son of the late John B. Ashe, who was a meniber of Congress from Ten- nessee; Cromwell Anson, was admitted to the bar in 1871, was made Judge of Harris county in 1880, and died January 19, 1888, an able lawyer and accomplished gentleman.

UGUSTUS C. ALLEN .- Certainly. no other family has been longer, and probably none more promi- nently, connected with the history of the city of Houston than the Allen. Men- tion of several members of this family ap- pears within the pages of this work. It is the purpose of this article to place on rec-

ord the chief facts in the life of Augustus C., the eldest of the six brothers, and one of the two who figured most conspicuously in the founding of the city, in connection with which will also be given a brief memoir of his aged widow, now the oldest surviving settler of Houston.

Augustus C. Allen was born at Saratoga, New York, July 4, 1806. He grew up in Oneida county, and received what was for those days a good business education. He had some natural inclination for books, and for a time was professor of mathematics in the Polytechnic Institute at Chittenango. He then went to New York city, where he became interested in the banking business, and where he resided for four or five years. From that city he moved to Baldwinsville and there embarked in mercantile pursuits. At Baldwinsville he formed the acquaint- ance of Charlotte M., daughter of Dr. Jonas C. Baldwin, the founder of the town, and on May 3, 1831, married her.

In the spring of 1833, in company with his brother, John K., Mr. Allen came to Texas and established himself temporarily at Nacogdoches, where he launched out into land speculations, which he conducted profitably in that general vicinity for some- what over two years. It may be mentioned in passing that he and his brother were the pioneer real-estate dealers of Texas, and probably did more than any other two men of those times to direct attention to land values in this country. The boldness with which they invested their funds in certifi- cates, and their success in disposing of claims which they located, inspired among settlers and capitalists confidence in the future of the country, at a time when such confidence was badly needed.

After the battle of San Jacinto, -it is

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generally said in August, 1836,-Augustus C. and John K. Allen arrived on Buffalo Bayou with a well matured plan for a town, which they hoped to have made the tempor- ary capital of the new Republic. They se- cured the title from Mrs. T. F. L. Parrott to the lower half of two leagues of land which had been granted to her former hus- band, John Austin, and here they laid out a town. It was planned on a generous scale, and proper provision made in the way of donation of lots for school, church and otlier purposes. The question as to the naming of the town was debated for some time, but the matter was finally settled by Mrs. Char- lotte M. Allen, who decided on the one which it now bears, -being so named in honor of the first President of the Republic, General Sam Houston, who was then and ever afterwards a warm friend of the Allen family. Propositions were at once made to the Texas Congress, then in session at Col- uinbia, Brazoria county, for the removal of the capital of the Republic to this place, which overtures were accepted, and in May, 1837, Houston became the temporary seat of government. The Messrs. Allen built of their own means the first State house, which was a two-story wooden structure that stood on the corner of Main street and Texas ave- nue, on the site now occupied by the Capi- tol Hotel. Houston continued to be the capital of the Republic until October, 1839, when it was removed to Austin. During this time it attracted hither many settlers, traders and adventurers, who were then coming into the country, -a sufficient num- ber of whom remained to forin the basis of a stable population and to give the town a good start in growth. In 1838 Jolmn K. Allen died, but Augustus C. continued in charge of their interests in the town and

sought in every way to build it up and make a prosperous place of it. He was also in- terested in land speculations in other por- tions of the State and was in fact known all over Texas as a man with energy and pub- lic spirit combined with great business sa- gacity.

Mr. Allen made Houston his home until about 1852, when, having been appointed United States Consul at Minatitlan, Isthmus of Tehuantepec, he transferred a consider- able part of his interests to that place, and was there engaged in business and as a rep- resentative of the General Government about ten years. During this time he es- tablished, in connection with a Mr. Welsh, an Englishman, a trade from Minatitlan to Europe, through a line of sail vessels, ship- ping largely and profitably, vanilla, cochi- neal, dye-woods and mahogany. After the war opened between the North and the South Mr. Allen went to Washington to settle his accounts with the Government, resigning his office and engaging in the banking business in New York. But his health, which had been declining for two or three years, now rapidly grew worse and, although he made a tour of several months through the West Indies in search of restoration, he returned to Washington no better; and at the Willard Hotel in that city he died, in 1863.

His wife, who had remained in Texas during this time, having heard of his con- tinued ill health, started to him, but was de- layed on account of the blockade, being forced to go around by way of Mata- moras, and reached him after he had breathed his last, but in time to see his re- mains laid to rest in the beautiful Green- wood cemetery, at Brooklyn, New York, in' the soil of his native State.

Mr. Allen came to Texas in the darkest

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hour of her history. That his example of taking vigorous hold of the business interests of the country inspired others with confidence in its future, there can be no doubt, and that he felt a deep concern for her political welfare, is equally certain. He and General Houston were always warm friends, the General making his home under Mr. Allen's roof for more than three years. Like many others of the early settlers he reaped but little advantage from his early toils, but his plans were nevertheless well laid and his work well and faithfully done.

Mr. Allen is described as being small in stature, of closely knit frame, full of energy and possessing a cool, level head. He was not a leader of men but a well trained man of business, especially noted for his far-sight- edness and his enthusiastic confidence in the future.

Mrs. Charlotte M. Allen, widow of Augustus C. Allen, now stands as the oldest surviving settler in Houston, and is justly entitled to the distinction of being called one of the mothers of Texas. She was born in Onondaga county, New York, July 14, 1805. She was married to Mr. Allen, as stated, in 1831, and came to Texas in 1834. She resided at Nacogdoclies until after the town of Houston was laid out, when she came to this place, of which she has since been a resident. She has seen the place grow, as one may say, from a town on paper to the splendid city that it is, and during all this time has been its stead- fast friend, and indeed the friend of all who needed her friendship. With the hundreds of avenues now open to those in search of employment, with scores of hotels to ac- commodate the wayfarers, with hospitals and infirmaries to care for the sick, and boards of charity to help the poor, and all the

other multiplied comforts and conveniences of this advanced age of living, it is difficult for us to understand how poorly the early set- tlers were equipped for dealing with the ever- pressing problems of want, sickness and destitution, and it is especially hard for us to fully appreciate the heroic self-sacrifice which many of them underwent to aid those in distress. Houston had at all times its share of . homeless wanderers, -its sick, poorly clad and poorly fed, -who con- stantly appealed to the charity and ben- evolence of its people; and to the women, -the noble motherhood of the city, -as is always the case, these appeals were chiefly made, and upon their shoulders the burden mainly rested. Many who are now aged men and women have told the writer that the door of the Allen homestead always stood open, and that the hungry, the sick and the destitute were always welcome, were fed, clothed and nursed without money and without price. Its mistress was the friend of the needy and the comforter of those in distress. At the mention of her name many do, and have just reasons to, breathe blessings on her memory.

Mr. and Mrs. Allen had born to them four children, only one of whom, -a daugh- ter, Martha Elizabeth Warner, -ever reach- ed maturity. She was born in Houston on the 18th of July, 1838, and in this city married F. B. Chase, on April 19, 1859, and was made a widow by his death on the 20th of November following. She was married to James Converse, at Houston, September 21, 1863, and died at San Antonio April 14, 1886. She left one son, Thomas Pierce Converse, now the only de- scendant of the honored pioneers, Augustus C. and Charlotte M. Allen.

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3 OHN KIRBY ALLEN. - Young, handsome and intellectual, full of enterprise, keen-sighted, suave in manner, faultless in dress, an asso- ciate of the first statesmen, soldiers and patriots of the land, and still holding him- self to be only one of the plain people, is the briefly sketched character of John Kirby Allen, one of the founders of the city of Houston, and a man to whom the people of this city perhaps owe as much, and about whom they probably know as little, as they do of any man who ever figured in its history.

In view of Houston's present position as the railway center of Texas, with all the multifarious interests dependent thereon, it . will be no exaggeration to say that John K. Allen showed a knowledge far beyond his day and generation, wlien, standing fifty- seven years ago on the banks of Buffalo Bayou, he pointed to the street along which the Houston & Texas Central Railroad now runs, and predicted that along that street in time would run one of the great trunk lines of Texas, and that Houston, by reason of its geographical position and many natural advantages, would one day be the railway metropolis of the great Southwest. Mar- velous, prophetic words these were for a young man of twenty-seven to utter, but they were in keeping with his keen insight and his natural grasp of mind.

John Kirby Allen, third son of Roland and Sarah Allen (see memoir of Allen fam- ily elsewhere in this work), was born in Orrville, four miles from the present city of Syracuse, New York, in the year 1810. He was a precocious child, and a bright and interesting boy. Being one of the older members of a family of seven children, he did not enjoy the best educational advan- tages, but it is doubtful whether he would

have taken a college course, as did two of his brothers, even if the opportunity had been offered. - His was one of those natures that sought the quickening impulse to thought and the occasion for action by con- tact with men. He was born for action rather than reflection, and his naturally acute powers of intuition made up for all deficiency of book knowledge.

The bent of his mind was displayed even in childhood, and he began at a time when most children are the objects of parental care to show his eagerness to get out and do for himself. At the age of seven he ob- tained the consent of his parents to apply for a position as call boy in a hotel in Orr- ville, and in this capacity began the strug- gle for existence, a struggle, however, which was more a pleasure than a pain to him. His constant attention to his duties, his polite manners and courteous treatment of the guests were the subject of general re- mark, and soon won him favor, not only with his employer, but with all with whom he came in contact.

After quitting the hotel at Orrville he clerked for a while in a store, at the age of sixteen formed a partnership with a young man named Kittridge and began business for himself, opening a hat store in Chitte- nango, New York. The hat store was sub- sequently merged into a general dry-goods store and conducted successfully for two or three years, when he parted with his in- terests in it and went to New York city, where he joined his brother, Augustus C., then in the mercantile house of H. & H. Canfield, of that place. On the failure of this house in 1832 the Allen brothers came to Texas, and, locating at Nacogdoches, be- gan that series of operations by which they subsequently became known throughout

John K. allen.

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Texas, and in fact the entire Southwest. They bought, located and sold and traded land certificates, at which they made con- siderable money, being so engaged mostly in east Texas until after the battle of San Jacinto. Neither served in the field before that battle, although both were warm sup- porters of the cause of the colonists, were in active correspondence with many of the leading patriots, and Augustus C. soon after the battle entered the army, while John K. went as commissioner to New Orleans to solicit aid in behalf of the struggling settlers. Later John K. was a member of the Con- gress of the Republic, served also with the rank of Major on General Houston's staff, and in all things looking to a speedy termi- nation of hostilities between Texas and Mexico, and the establishment of a per- manent peace, he was one of the foremost both in counsel and in action.

During this time he was also busy with enterprises of a private nature, and in con- ection with his brother laid the foundation for what, but for his untimely death, would unquestionably have proved one of the most colossal fortunes in Texas. As time and chance have determined, the city of Houston was the most important of these enterprises, but it was only one of the many. The Allen brothers, at the time they projected the town of Houston, owned a controlling in- terest in the town site of Galveston, an in- terest in a town site to be made the county seat of Fort Bend county, and certificates to more than a hundred leagues of Texas land. They were stockholders in the Texas Railway, Navigation and Banking Company, chartered by the Congress of the Republic, December 16, 1836; and John K. was a partner in interest with J. Pinckney Hender- son in a shipping business to be established

between Texas and England. A mass of correspondence left by him and still pre- served by one of his relatives, shows how many and varied were the enterprises in which he had an interest, and the measures which he had on foot in the early years of the Republic. The following document, taken from this source, will be of interest to the citizens of Houston of this date, and will give some idea of the practical views, and the clear-cut business methods of the subject of this sketch.

"To the members of the Senate and House of Representatives of the Congress of the Republic of Texas: As it is proposed to locate temporarily the seat of government of the Republic of Texas, I have the honor to propose for your consideration the town of Houston on Buffalo Bayou, conscien- tiously believing that it is decidedly the most eligible place for the seat of government, under the existing state of things.

"Texas is now in the midst of a revolu- tion contending for national existence, and, although we have thus far successfully and gloriously maintained the contest, still we should recollect the fearful struggle in which we are engaged and remember that we have once been driven to the field of San Jacinto; that the Brazos country has once been in possession of the enemy and may by possibil- ity be so again. We should remember that during the last campaign almost everything of a movable character was lost, and even the proceedings of the convention were saved with great difficulty. The great prob- ability is that a new invasion of the country will take place, and if so it will be with a force that will require our whole united energies to resist; and although I have no doubt that we will manfully drive the invader back, still I at the same time consider that

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we should legislate as though danger and misfortune might come on us, and that we. should, in locating the seat of govern- ment, have an eye to the comparative safety of the archives of the government. I con- sider that although the seat of government in times of peace ought to be on the west side of the Brazos, still that in so long as the revolution continues it ought to be to the east of it.

"I consider that the seat of government ought to be on the coast, because it com- bines the advantage of a safe and speedy communication with the United States and the interior of the country at the same time; because we will have more speedy and cer- tain information of the operations of the enemy on the sea, and because the govern- ment will posses so many more facilities of communicating with the army and furnish- ing it with the necessary supplies.

" What place, I would inquire, possesses more advantages in this respect than the town of Houston? I boldly assert, None. It is one of the most healthy places in the lower country, as the experience of those who have lived for years in the neighborhood proves. It is a most beautiful site for a town, with most excellent spring water, and the most inexhaustible quantity of pine tim- ber for buikling. The bayou is navigable at all times for boats drawing six feet of water, and is within ten hours' sail of Galveston Island, and there is no place in Texas that can be more easily supplied with everything desired from the United States. Fish, oysters and fowl can be had there in any abundance; and the country around is capa- ble of supplying the town with all the sub- stantial necessaries of life.

"This town is situated at the head of navigation-in the very heart of a rich

country. It was selected as a town which nist become a great interior commercial emporium of Texas. The trade of upper Brazos, and Colorado, of Trinity and San Jacinto rivers, of Spring and Lake creek settlements, must find its way into Galves- ton bay through the town of Houston.

"Capitalists are interested in this town, and are determined to push it ahead by the investment of considerable capital, and at this moment contracts exist for the sending of 700,000 feet of lumber there; and I can assure the members that several stores of much capital will very soon be established there. A steamboat for the place has already been ordered out, and Colonel Ben- jamin F. Smith is now engaged in getting cut the lumber for a large house of public entertainment, and within four months from this time I can safely say that comfortable houses for all necessary purposes will there be erected.

"Should the Congress see proper to lo- cate tlie seat of government at Houston I offer to give all the lots necessary for the purposes of the government. I also offer to build a State house and the necessary offices for the various departments of the govern- ment, and to rent them to the government on a credit until such time as it may be convenient to make payment. Or, if the government sees proper to erect the build- ings, I propose when the seat of govern- inent is removed to purchase the said build- ings at such price as they may be appraised at.

"In conclusion I assure the members that houses and comfortable accommoda- tions will be furnished at Houston in a very short time, and if the seat of government is there located no pains will be spared to render the various officers of the govern-

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ment as comfortable as they could expect to be in any other place in Texas.

"JOHN K. ALLEN, for A. C. & J. K. ALLEN."

It was the logic of this document that inade Houston the temporary seat of govern- inent, which it became in May, 1837. With this temporary advantage and what he be- lieved to be its many permanent advantages, Mr. Allen entered, heart and soul, as was his wont, into the task of building up the place, and making it a great interior com- mercial emporium of Texas. To demon- strate that the bayou was navigable for large vessels he and his brother chartered the Constitution, one of the largest steaniers plying on the gulf, and ran it up to Hous- ton, whence by the way originated the name Constitution Bend, this name being given to the wide place in the bayon some four miles south of the town, where the steamner was backed to before it could be turned around on its way out to Galveston. Liberal donations in the way of lots for schools, churches and public buildings were made, and the town soon entered on an era of great prosperity. Hither flocked numbers of settlers, speculators and adventurers, re- presentatives of many nationalities and men of the most diversified tastes, interests and pursuits. As spokesman of the Houston Town Company and the one to whoin all outside interests were entrusted, John K. Allen moved among this miscellaneous popu- lation with the ease and grace of a born leader and diplomat. A familar picture of him, as some of the old settlers were accus- tomed in former years to draw it, was that of a man of youthful appearance, slight build, dressed with the most scrupulous care, of cordial but confident air, wending his way from place to place about the town, ever ready to dilate on the rising glories of

the "great commercial emporium" and producing from the green bag which he always carried well filled with titles, papers, deeds to lots, which he would present to any actual settler on condition that he make the necessary improvements. The faith of such a man in the future of the town in- spired faith in others, and the interest he created was contagious. He was personally popular, - and he made popular whatever measure he undertook to champion. He was on terms of intimate friendship with most of the distinguished men of those times, many letters being now found in his correspondence from such men as General Houston, Thomas J. Rusk, J. Pinckney Henderson, Samuel M. Williams, James Collingsworth and others.

Pity, one can not help but say, that a man with such gifts of inind and graces of person, such associations as he enjoyed, and such opportunities as he had by his own industry helped to make, was not per- initted to live to finish thie work so auspi- ciously begun. But it was not ordered by fate that he should, nor did any one ever fully realize the hopes by which he was in- spired. In the closing days of the sultry month of July, 1838, he returned from the old cemetery, whither he had walked as one of the pall-bearers of his friend, Collings- worth,. and complaining of a heavy head and a feeling of exhaustion, remarked that he would never make that trip to the ceine- tery again until he was taken there. Seized with a fever the same day, he died three days later, and was buried beside the la- mented Collingsworth. He died at the early age of twenty-eight. His bones have long since mingled with the dust of mother earth, and, so far as the writer knows, his name cannot be found on the map of his adopted

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State or county, but that he was a man who if he had lived would have left the imprint of his genius upon the history of the country which he was proud to call his own, and that, too, in characters which would have been known and read of all men, there can be but little doubt. He was never married.

Accompanying this sketch will be found a portrat of this gifted man.

ENRY FRANK MATTHEWS .- The recent death of the subject of this sketch removed from the streets of Houston one of its most familiar figures, and a man who twenty to forty years ago was active in its business affairs. Mr. Matthews had lived in Houston since 1855, and though not conspicuous in public matters, or more than moderately suc- cessful in business, he was a man who was highly respected, lived a sober, industrious and useful life, and deserves a brief mention in this record among the old citizens of Houston.

He was a native of Virginia, born in Greene county, in the year 1818. He was reared mainly in Mississippi, his father mov- ing to that State about the close of the first quarter of this century. He was one of a family of six sons and three daughters, all of whom became grown. It was to provide for this large family that the parents left Virginia while the children were still young, and started to the Mississippi country. The mother died on the summit of the Blue Ridge mountains on the way out, but the family came on and settled at Columbus, Mississippi, which they made their home until the sons and daughters became grown,

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Author: Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing co., 1895 Number of Pages: 1532

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing co., 1895
Number of Pages: 1532