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 46

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 46
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 46

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

but it was not to the taste of Thomas to do so. The trade of rope-maker seemed to him too tame and promised too little of grand achievement for his ambition. Accordingly he ran away from home, and having decided on a sailor's life, boarded a brig bound for Philadelphia, arriving at whichi place he made straight for the Government docks, where he presented himself to the com- mander of the United States cruiser, "Con- stitution," for enlistment in the marine serv- ice. Having stood the necessary examina- tion, he was mustered in, and entered on a career which was destined to be a source of honor and wealth to him. His strict ob- servance of the rules of the service, his alertness in executing orders, and his oblig- ing yet commanding manner soon attracted the attention of the ship's officers, and he was appointed coxwain of the admiral's brig, a position which at once brought him into general notice and afforded him an ex- cellent opportunity to show the mettle that was in him. For four years he remained at sea without communicating with his rela- tives. He was supposed to have been lost, all efforts at his recovery proving unavailing.

But at the end of the term of his enlist- ment he paid "the old folks at home" a visit and created genuine consternation in the Chubb household by turning up after having been so long mourned as one dead. He was now a youth of fifteen, well de- veloped, one who had seen a great deal of the world for his age, and, having taken good care of his earnings, was the possessor of some means. It will be worth mentioning that his slender salary had been consider- ably augmented by the addition of the suin which he was allowed as "grog-money," he having refused to take grog, and receiving the money instead.

With a capital of about $500 he organ- ized a company and embarked in the cod- fishing business, in which he was engaged for some time when a wider field was offered him in the coffee trade between the ports of New York and Boston and those of South America. Securing the necessary financial backing he fitted out two ships, with which he put out for the coffee plantations of the West Indies. He conveyed several cargoes of coffee to the cities of Boston and New York, on each of which good profits were made, both for himself and his associates. While in the West Indies he learned that there was an active demand there for slaves to be worked on the coffee plantations, and to meet this demand he made a cruise to the Congo country of Africa, where he se- cured about 400 negroes,. most of whom he disposed of to good advantage to West In- dian planters, taking some, however,-the better ones,-to Boston and New York, where they were sold for domestics in wealthy families.

While in the West Indies he also heard of the struggle then going on between the set- tlers of Texas and the government of Mexico, and learning that there was great need of arms and supplies to carry on the war, he returned to the North and loaded a vessel with these sinews of war and sailed for the Southwest. He landed at Velasco about the time the army under General Houston began the retreat from the Colorado, and being advised of the situation immediately tendered as a gift to the cause of freedom, through the commanding officer, General Houston, his entire cargo. The gift was of course gladly accepted, and it is said that a good deal of the powder was burnt on the field of San Jacinto. The friendship which sprang up between General Houston and

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Commodore Chubb in consequence of that act of generosity was lasting, and in partial recognition of his eminent services to the cause of freedom in the great hour of need, General Houston subsequently had Com- modore Chubb made Admiral of the Texas navy.

The Commodore had much to do in dif- ferent capacities with the shipping interests. He was one of the stevedores that did busi- ness over the Boston docks, and it is said that he invented and introduced the system with horse-and-pully power.

Commodore Chubb was a man of varied parts and led a very varied career. He at one time owned and managed a circus, at that time one of the largest on the road. He also built the old Federal Street Theater in Boston, and opened it with Fannie Esler, the then world-famous dancer, who at that time made her first appearance in this coun- try, having been brought by Commodore Chubb from London to open his play-house. The same year he built and furnished throughout an elegant church edifice and presented it to the Baptist denomination of his native city.

Commodore Chubb came to Galveston in 1839, as commander of the brig Cecilia, which he then owned in partnership with his brother, now Captain Jolin Chubb, of Gal- veston. The Cecilia was loaded with house framnes and other building material. For some time after coming to Galveston, his occupation was that of pilot, and it was a frequent saying of old-time seainen that he was " always on deck," and the same might have been said of him at all times up to his death, as he was always on duty, full of hope, energy and physical vigor.

When the war between the States began he entered the Confederate army, enlisting

in the marine service and serving on the coast. He commanded several vessels, building and owning the Royal Yacht of Confederate fame. He was captured in Galveston harbor while in command of this vessel, in a desperate conflict with the Fed- eral forces, and taken North, where he was condemned to be executed, but saved from this fate by the intervention of President Davis, who notified the Federal authorities that he would retaliate ten-fold if the judg- ment was carried into execution. Incidental to the circumstances of his release it may be mentioned that an exchange was made after his transfer from Fort Delaware to Fort Lafayette, but he afterward related that he would certainly have escaped had the ex- change not been made, as all arrangements had been made for that purpose. After his release he made his way by a circuitous route to Baltimore, where the Confederate cause had many sympathizers, and there he was royally received and entertained, being furnished on his departure from that place with everything necessary for one in his con- dition. It should have been stated that the Royal Yacht was built by Commodore Chubb in Baltimore, for pilot service at Galveston, and presented by him at the opening of the war to the Confederate gov- ernment. He also built the Sam Houston and presented it to the Confederacy about the same time.

Commodore Chubb held the position of Harbor Master, at Galveston, for several years, a position the duties of which he was eminently qualified to discharge, and which were most congenial to him.

Commodore Chubb was twice married, his first marriage occurring in 1828, when he was seventeen years old. The lady whoin he wedded was thirteen and a half,

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an old playmate, Phobe Briggs, a daughter of Captain Barney Briggs, of Bath, Maine. The offspring of this union was five children, namely: Abbie, who was married to General Thomas J. Chambers; Thomas H. Chubb, fish-rod manufacturer, of Alston, Massachu- setts; Cecilia, who was married to Harry Duble, of Galveston; John E. Chubb, now of Galveston; and William H. Chubb, now of Boston, Massachussetts. Mrs. Chubb died in the city of Galveston, in 1867, and in 1869 Commodore Chubb married Mrs. Martha A. Sturgis, widow of Col. F. B. Sturgis, who was a gallant officer in the Union army during the late war. He died in 1867.

Commodore Chubb died at his summer home at Post Mill, Vermont, August 26, 1 890.

LBERT BALL was born Septem- ber 13, 1810, in - Albany, New York, a descendant in the seventh generation from Edmund Ball, who was born in 1640, in Wales, emigrated to America in 1664, and, with twenty-five oth- ers, settled in 1665 on the ground where the city of Newark, New Jersey, now stands.

Albert Ball grew to man's estate in his native place, and thence moved to Pongh- keepsie, where, in 1833, he married Susan M. Depew, and resided there until coming to Galveston in 1840. He had been pre- ceded to this place by his brother, George, who came out in 1839. The, two brothers were engaged in business in this city to- gether, under the firm name of A. & G. Ball, until 1854, when the partnership was dissolved, George becoming the head of the banking house of Ball, Hutchings & Com- pany, since so great, and Albert opened a

business of his own on the corner of Strand and Twenty-first street. For a number of years he was engaged in the mercantile business on this corner, and by his indus- trious, upright course, aided somewhat by circumstances, he succeeded in accumulating a considerable amount of property. In the meantime the Union Marine & Fire Insur- ance Company, of this city, was organized, and he was made its president. This was the first organization of its kind in Texas, and perhaps the most successful. It owed much of its success to Mr. Ball, who was long its directing spirit.

After the great fire, which swept the Strand and destroyed his business house, Mr. Ball, having received what he consid- ered a liberal offer ($25,000) for the lot, and, being in independent circumstances, concluded to close up and retire from busi- ness. He resigned the presidency of the insurance company, and was for a time in- active. But he soon grew weary of repose, and, on the organization of the Galveston Insurance Company, he accepted the presi- dency of the company, in which office he continned until his death.

Mr. Ball wished to be known as only a plain man of business, and really was such. Politics had no allurements for him, and he never figured prominently in any public ca- pacity. During the war he was a member of the County Court, and on him almost alone depended the duty of supplying the wants of the many women and children de- prived of the means of support by the ab- sence of husbands and fathers in the army. He felt all the responsibility of the trust, and devoted himself actively to the work, though often having to take direct issue with the officers of the army, who, neglect- ing the means to supply troops with rations,

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sometimes wished to seize those provided by him for the women and children.

Mr. Ball may alınost be said to have been the founder of the first regular fire- company in Galveston. At his instance the law was enacted exempting firemen from jury service. He was empowered by the city to purchase the first engine it ever owned, and he was himself an active fire- man for many years.

In the terrible epidemic of 1864, al- though his own family and all his immedi- ate friends were absent or exempt from the disease, he watched and nursed among the sick and suffering with the same assid- uity that lie exhibited in other epidemics where the sufferers had more immediate claims upon his kind offices. He had not arrived in Galveston when the first epidemic, in 1839, occurred, though his brother, George, arrived in the midst of it, and voluntarily remained until its termination; yet the deceased was a faithful and assid- uous nurse in every other visitation of the kind until the last, in 1867.

There are a few old citizens still living in Galveston who came here about the time Mr. Ball did, and who were familiar with all his subsequent career. They were thrown in daily contact with him for more than a third of a century and marked his course in all the relations and vicissitudes of life, -amid the trials of the period of Mexican hostility, when the island was con- tinually menaced with attacks by sea, the times when general want and poverty pre- vailed, and the needy daily plead for aid, when the fatal vomito decimated the popu- lation again and again until the number of the dead almost equaled that of the living, and during the sorrow and suffering of the late war. Such old citizens as survived these

terrible ordeals bear witness that in none of them did Mr. Ball fail in any of the duties of humanity, manly firmness and intelligent assistance, wherever want and suffering were to be relieved. Quiet, unostentatious and undemonstrative, he made no exhibi- tions of his public service, but his personal effort and silent influence were always thrown on the side of justice and humanity. Precise, methodical and prosperous in busi- ness he was free from all the tricks of the professional speculator, and would have pre- ferred to be over-reached to the suspicion that he would be guilty of any sharp prac- tice himself.

He died in Galveston August 8, 1875. Surving him he left a widow, one daughter, -Mrs. Emily B. Sanford; and two sons, - Fenno D. and Albert, Jr.

USTAVE A. FORSGARD .- The subject of this brief sketch was born in Forserum, Sweden, Feb- ruary 3, 1832. His father was a progressive farmer and prominent in his dis- trict, having represented it in the Riksdag at the crowning of Oscar I.

Early in 1848 (in company with Anders and Gustave Palm and their families, the pioneer Scandina vians of Anstin), he took pas- sage aboard the sailing vessel Augusta at Gothenburg for Boston, which place he reached, after a rough and exciting voyage of three months. He made his way from Boston by steamboat and rail (traveling over one of the pioneer railway lines of this con- tinent), to New York city, where he took the sailing vessel Stephen F. Austin, bound for Galveston, Texas. From Galveston he took the steamer Reliance, for Houston, which place he reached November 22, 1848.

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He shortly afterward went to Fort Beud county, where he worked on a farm for a short time, being, as he thinks, one of the first white boys who ever picked cotton in the Brazos bottom. In 1849 he returned to Houston, where he secured employment as a general-service hand in the store of B. A. Shepherd, situated on the east corner of Main street and Congress avenue. His faithfulness to his duties soon won the friend- ship of his employer, who, seeing in the lad the possibility of a good man, decided to educate him and give him a chance in life. Young Forsgard was accordingly sent to school at La Grange in this State, where he received good mental training in the com- mon English branches, which was followed by a commercial course in Dolbear's Com- mercial College, at New Orleans. Again taking his place in Mr. Shepherd's store, he was in the employ of that gentleman until the latter disposed of his mercantile interest to Burke & Perkins, with whom Mr. Fors- gard continued in the capacity of bookkeeper for a period of about three years. From Burke & Perkins he went to James H. Ste- vens, for whom he served as bookkeeper for a year, when he decided to engage in busi- ness for himself. Having but limited means on which to begin, he sought the advice and assistance of his friend Shepherd, who gen- erously gave liim a letter of credit to J. HI. Brower & Company, of New York, armed with which Mr. Forsgard went on to New York and Boston and purchased a neat stock of books and stationery. Returning with this to Houston he opened a store on Main street, on the site now (1894) occupied by the Planters & Mechanics' National Bank. He was successfully engaged in business until the opening of the war, when, with the gen- eral dissolution of all business interests, he

closed out, and volunteering in the Confeder- ate army, gave the greater part of the succeed- ing four years to the " Lost Canse." Mr. Forsgard's military service was rendered en- tirely on Texas soil. For a while he was under Captain Hargrove, being in the cavalry, but was soon transferred to the signal service and stationed at and near Galveston, and later on the beach at the mouth of the "Old Caney," being there at the time the Federals landed about 7,000 men on Matagorda peninsula. He was ap- pointed lieutenant of engineers at that time, and ordered to fortify Old Caney, having at his disposal a force of about 200 negroes armed with about a hundred spades and hoes. The fortifications were constructed of sand, and the work was done in such an imposing manner that, although from five to eight Federal gunboats bombarded them continually for a period of thirty-three days (Sundays excepted), not one of the 7,000 Federals ever passed off the peninsula, but all finally boarded their transports and left Texas. "The negroes worked all night,": said Mr. Forsgard, in speaking of this, "and retired to the woods some three miles dis- tant to eat and sleep during the day." Questioned further on this subject, Mr. Fors- gard said: "No, I do not say that I pre- vented the invasion of Texas on that occasion; but it is my honest conviction that the negroes and spades did; for if the Federals had got off the peninsula half their number could at that time have laid Texas waste as easily as Sherman marched through Georgia. The only white men who remained through all that siege besides myself were J. P. Har- rell, long since dead, and Louis Stiles, still living, being now my neighbor." "Yes, I wish it to go on record that the negroes were loyal to their homes and the Southern peo-

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ple, as I had, upon the occasion in question, as well as upon many other occasions, good opportunities to learn; and I give it as my opinion that the negroes would always have been true to the whites had it not been for carpet-bag politicians and philanthropically blind but well-meaning Northern friends."

Mr. Forsgard's last service to the Con- federacy was as Signal Officer on the iron steamer Three Maries, this vessel being the reconstructed Granite City, captured from the Federals by Dick Dowling's men at Sabine Pass. It was run round to the Brazos river and up to Columbia, loaded with cotton (to be exchanged for clothing and ammunition), ran the blockade at Velas- co and reached Tampico, Mexico, in safety, but only to learn of Lee's surrender and the collapse of the Confederacy. The vessel and cargo being delivered to King & Com- pany, Mr. Forsgard, with a few of the crew, made their way back to Texas and overland to Houston.

Questioned as to his early impressions, his change of sentiments and mature opin- ions, Mr. Forsgard said: " Years ago, having seen slavery only through the long-range telescope of hearsay and reading, I thought that the main difference between the races was color. Forty-five years' actual observ- ation has caused me to change iny views. I am now firmly convinced that in natural in- stincts and attributes the races are as dis- tinct as water and oil. The Southern peo- ple and the negroes of the South are natural allies and friends, and, in my judgment, they will solve the race problem between themselves amicably and advantageously to each other if they are let alone." "It is the friction produced by the constant agita- tion of the subject that irritates and inakes it so difficult of handling." "Yes," said

Mr. Forsgard, "I was in favor of the last war, and am still in favor of its being the last war. No, I do not belong to any mili- tary organizations designed to keep alive the memory of those times, my military enthu- siasm and aspirations ended with the war."

Soon after the surrender Mr. Forsgard again embarked in mercantile business in Houston, this time as a pioneer in a specialty, by opening a boot and shoe store. He was engaged in this business for some six or eight years. Retiring from mercantile pur- suits he engaged in experimental gardening, and has since been connected with this and the agricultural interests in this section of the State in various ways, for many years being manager of the Farmers' Alliance Exchange in Houston. Meanwhile he has given considerable attention to the subject of immigration, which has resulted in bring- ing in a large number of substantial, law- abiding and industrious settlers, many of them being his own countrymen from the Western States. He is a thorough Texan, a firm believer in the great agricultural re- sources of the State, and is keenly alive to every interest of the great commonwealth which he has so long made his home.

In 1866 Mr. Forsgard married Miss Jen- nie M. Lusk, a native of Harris county, and a daughter of R. O. Lusk, a Texas veteran. The issue of this union has been six children, two are living: Anna B., wife of Dr. J. W. Scott, a practicing physician, of Houston; and Oscar Lee, now (1894) nine years old.

In 1867 Mr. Forsgard began to improve a small tract of land just south of the city of Houston, on which he settled at that time and has since resided, being now sur- rounded by an abundance of shade and fruit trees and flowers, many of them of exotics, even from the tropics.

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Mr. Forsgard has taken a becoming in- terest in everything relating to the welfare of the city, county and State, and has help- ed, so far as his means would allow, or his personal efforts were required, whatever has tended to promote that welfare. He was an active member of Protection Fire Company, No. 1, for about twenty years; was a direc- tor in the first national bank ever organized in Houston, with Thomas M. Bagby as president and William Cook as cashier; so- cially he is a member of the Masonic frater- nity, being Past Master of Holland Lodge, No. 1, of Houston, and was a member of the first Scottish Rite Lodge organized in Houston, there being but one other member (Colonel Robert Brewster) of this first or- ganized lodge now (1894) living. In poli- tices he is a Prohibitionist. He believes that the saloon is the cause of much of the corruption that prevails in politics, and says he will never vote for any party that legalizes, sanctions or winks at that which corrupts. He was reared in the Lutheran Church, but soon after coming to Houston he joined the Presbyterian Church, of which he has ever since been a consistent member.

Mr. Forsgard confesses not to have made a success in a wordly way, but he is content, and thinks he has got a reasonable amount of happiness out of this life, and it is a part of his religious faith that this happiness will continue in an increasing ratio as time inerges into eternity.

0 R. NICHOLAS D. LABADIE .--- The subject of this brief memoir was an early settler of Texas. He rendered distinguished service to the cause of freedom in the colonists' strug- głe with Mexico and took an active and effi-

cient part for many years in the subsequent history of the county. Like many of his compatriots, he has received but little con- sideration at the hands of those who have assumed to write of the events in which he figured, while his private life, which was most exemplary in all respects, is even without mention in the mortuary rolls of the pioneers of the State. The memory of Dr. Labadie certainly deserves a better fate, and the ends of justice will, in a meas- ure at least, have been subserved if this notice helps to gain for him that recognition to which it would seem he is so abundantly. entitled.

Nicholas D. Labadie was born in Wind- sor, Canada West, December 5, 1802, and was a son of Antone Louis Labadie and Charlotte Barthe, ne Raume, the latter, the daughter of Pierre and Charlotte Chapaton, and the widow of Lieutenant. Louis Raume, of the British army. His ancestors on each side came originally from France, the line on his father's side having been traced back to Francois Labadie, who was born in the diocese of Xanites in 1644 and who when a young man went to Canada, where he mar- ried and settled. Some of Francois Laba- die's descendants returned to France, among them the immediate ancestors of the sub- jeet of this sketch, but the name has been known in Canada since about the middle of the seventeenth century, the family having furnished many voyageurs and soldiers to the Northwest service. Antone Louis Labadie, the father of Nicholas D. and Pierre Descomptes Labadie, his grandfather, "settled on the western frontier at an early date," says an old record published at De- troit, Michigan, "and subsequently, in company with several members of their family, moved to Detroit, after retiring

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from military service, where they spent the remainder of their lives." Antone Louis Labadie was three times married and was the father of thirty-three children, Nicholas D). of this article being the youngest of the number.

Nicholas D. Labadie was reared on the frontier in Canada West, and received but meager educational advantages in his youth. Ilis home training, however, was good. He had pious parents, the family being devout Catholics, and he was fully instructed in all religions observances and in his duties to his fellow-men. At about the age of twenty-one he left Canada for the United States, mak- ing his way across the country to Missouri. From 1824 to 1828, as appears from old letters written by him at that time, he was at a Catholic institute at Barrens, in Perry county, Missouri, studying for the priest- hood. Here he enjoyed his first real educa- tional advantages, and by constant associa- tion with the fathers had his early impres- sions of piety perceptibly deepened and strengthened. But for some reason or other he gave up his intention of entering the ministry, and about the year 1829 went to St. Louis, where he began reading medicine, earning the means with which to defray his expenses by clerking in a ' store. Learning of the advantages of the lower Mississippi country, through traders and adventurers whom he met in St. Louis, he was induced to try his fortunes further down the river, and accordingly is next heard of, in the summer of 1830, at Fort Jessup, Louisiana. By this time he had progressed sufficiently far with his medical studies to be able to engage to some extent in the practice, and was dividing his time about equally between the "calls" he received and his duties as clerk in a store at the post. He was still

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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