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 57

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 57
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 57

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R OBERT RAILTON .- Energy and perseverance are leading essentials to hiim who would succeed, and Robert Railton liad these attributes in good measure when he left his native country, England, where he was born in Manchester, December 11, 1830, and when a lad of but sixteen took passage for America . He sailed in the ship United, States and landed in Boston, Massachusetts, where he spent very little time but made his way direct to Lowell, that State. There he found . employment and completed the machinist trade, which he had commenced

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in his native land. His father, William Railton, was a machinist, as were many of his relativs and ancestors, and our subject obtained a partial knowledge of the trade at his home.

In the United States he completed his trade in the well known Hinckley Locomo- tive Works. Later he worked at Taunton, Massachusetts, Providence, Rhode Island, and Fall River, Massachusetts, and then traveled through the Northern and West- ern States, working at his trade in the lead- ing cities. Two years after landing in this country, in 1848, he came to Galveston via New York city on board the brig Mary, commanded by Captain Norris. He readily found work with Hiram Close, then the only foundryman, of Galveston, and con- tinued with him until the opening of the Civil war. Early in the conflict Captain Renshaw's flag ship, Westfield, was sunk in Galveston harbor, and as the Southern forces were short of guns, Mr. Railton, un- der detail, lifted her main shafts out and manufactured them into rifled cannon. These shafts were of hammered iron, thir- teen inches in diameter, and as there was no machinery in Galveston capable of swinging and handling them, Mr. Railton designed and superintended the construction of suitable appliances for doing so. made the tools with which he turned out three guns, five and three-fourth inch bore, ten feet, six inches in length, well mounted on trunnions, and wrought-iron breech jackets weighing 7,000 pounds each. One of these guns was mounted at South Bat- tery, one at Fort Point and another at Pelican Spit,-all in the vicinity of Galves- ton. They were known to throw an ciglity- pound shot a distance of five miles, "stand- ing off" the Federal gunboats. During the

last year of the war Mr. Railton ran the blockade as engineer on the "Denbigh." When the war closed he returned to Galves- ton, and to the employ of Hiram Close, but later was in the employ of the latter's suc- cessors, the Lee Iron Works. In 1887 he decided to embark in business for himself, and is now located at 1901 Strand. Mr. Railton married, in 1868, Miss Emma Juliff, and they have three bright children, John Henry, Alice F. A. and Maud E.

EON DURR was born in Wurtem- berg, Germany, in 1806, was there reared, and in Stuttgart learned the trade of a cooper, which he fol- lowed in his native country for a number of years. He married Marie Batch, of Wurt- emberg, and, accompanied by her and their large family of children, emigrated to Texas, in 1846, and settled at Galveston. During the first few years of his residence in Gal- veston Mr. Durr had a hard struggle to support his family, on account of the scarcity of work at his trade, but by persevering in- dustry, and strict economy, he managed to get along, and in time accumulated some means, being thus enabled to spend his later years in comparative case. He was a man of strict probity, quiet and unassum- ing, and for years a consistent member of the German Lutheran Church of Galveston. He and his wife both died in 1872, each aged sixty-seven years.

To Leon and Marie Durr sixteen chil- dren were born, fifteen in Germay and one after their removal to this country. Six of these died in Germany, in childhood or early youth. The others were Carl, Mary, Alexander, Rose, Caroline, Fredricka, Louis, Gottlieb and William. Carl died in 1890,

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

in Mexico, whither he went a number of years ago, and where he accumulated con- siderable wealth; Mary was married to Max Williams, and resides in Gaudelupe county, .Texas; Alexander lived for a number of years in Marlin, Falls county, Texas, where he died in 1891; Rose was married to Alexan- der Hinkeldy, at Galveston, in 1852, and after his death, in 1871, to Ernest Engelke, who died in 1883; Caroline was three times married, first to Fred Schneider (no chil- dren), second to F. Tomeick, by whom she had two children, -Lulu and Fred, -and third to Carl Busch, by whom she had two children, -Rose and Carrie; Fredricka was twice married, first to Albert Groth, and after his death to John Weiler: she died in May, 1890, at Houston, and is buried at Palestine, where her second husband now lives; Louis Durr resides in Palestine, being a merchant of that place; and William, the youngest of the family, and the only one born in Texas, died at Galveston during the yellow-fever epidemic of 1867, while yet a youth.

The issue of the marriage of Alexander and Rose Hinkeldy was three children: Julia, who was married to H. Limke; Rose, who was inarried to P. Lossow; and Augus- ta, now Mrs. C. D. Holines.

Ernest Engelke, second husband of Rose Durr Hinkeldy, was born in Hanover, Ger- many, in May, 1831, and resided there until his removal to Texas in 1850 or '51. He was a tinner by trade, and followed his trade for some time after settling in Galveston, later engaging in mercantile pursuits, which he was following at the time of his death. He was a man of good business and social standing, and met with a fair degree of suc- cess. He was quiet and unobtrusive in his ways, never held any public positions,

but was a member of a number of societies, among them the Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and Gerten Verein. He had been married previous to his union with Mrs. Hinkeldy, but left no issue by either marriage.

Mrs. Rose Engelke, now the last mem- ber of her father's family residing in Gal- veston, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, and was only a girl when her parents settled in this city in 1846. She has resided in Galveston for nearly fifty years, during which time she has witnessed all, or nearly all, of the changes by which the Island City has come to be one of the chief cities of this great commonwealth, and the strug- gle through which it has risen from a strag- gling village on the salt marshes, to the grand metropolis that it is, not inaptly represents on a large scale what she has seen many of the city's wealthiest citizens go through with in attaining the positions which they occupy. In fact, her own life, controlled somewhat by the conditions with which her father's family were hedged about, has not been all sunshine. Beginning with nothing, left

twice a widow, she brought up a family of three children of her own, and is now rear- ing two adopted nieces, all of whom she has educated, has trained or is training to habits of industry and usefulness, meanwhile exer- eising a motherly care and solicitude. Mrs. Engelke is a woman of sound, practical sense, and possessed of a large amount of executive ability. For her opportunities, she may be said to have met with unquali- fied success, for she has not only brought up a family upon which she has spent consider- able money, but has managed to accumulate some besides, her name appearing on the tax-rolls as one of the substantial taxpayers of Galveston county.

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

OBERT KUHNEL, deceased. - In the year 1839 the original of this notice left the land of his birtli, Saxony, Gerinany, and, thinking to better his financial condition, crossed the ocean to America, and settled in Galveston, Texas, where he expected to follow the saddler's trade. However, upon reaching that city, he turned his attention to the up- holstering business (carpets and house-fur- nishing), and continued this with fair suc- cess until the year 1876. At that date he became an invalid, and retired from the active duties of life, and died in the year 1877. Having served in the German army; he was well drilled in the military tactics of that country, and, at the beginning of the war in the States, 1861, drilled many of the first companies that left Galveston for the field of action. Mr. Kuhnel was never in the regular Confederate service, though his sympathies were with the South. So- cially he was prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity in this city, and was one of the charter members of the first lodge of that body here. During his entire residence in Galveston, he always took a deep interest in enterprises tending to the progress and development of the city, and was well-known for his integrity and up- rightness. Especially was he prominent in church matters, and, though a Lutheran by faith and education, he was an attendant at most of the churches in the city, and held the position of organist in several of them, where he remained for many years. His wife, who came with him to this country, survived him until 1879. They left five children, three sons and two daughters, who were named, in the order of their births, as follows: Richard; Theckla, wife of J. C. Kirchner; H. Clem; Ernest; and Edna;

the last is the wife of John Delaney. All these children reside in Galveston, where they are well and favorably known. The third of these, H. Clem Kuhnel, was born in Galveston, March 13, 1861, and gradu- ated at Burgess' Business College, that city, in the year 1878. From that date until 1885 he engaged in the drug business, but since then he has been following the liquor business. On the 8th of April, 1889, he married Miss Ricka Lachmund, a native of Germany, and two daughters have been given them: Edna Grace, and Hazel Clem- entine Theckla Camille. Mr. Kuhnel be- longs to Oleander Lodge, No. 139, Knights of Pythias, of which he is the father, and a member of the Grand Lodge, and is a member of Oleander Council, No. 27, Chosen Friends, of which he held the office of Sec- retary twelve times, serving until 1894, and in both of which orders he has taken great interest, and maintains a high standing among his associates and co-workers.

ERDINAND FLAKE .- In the edi- torial room of the Galveston News, where the management of that great daily has industriously gath- ered and carefully preserved files of a num- ber of newspaper publications, are to be found copies of a paper called Flake's Bulle- tin. These files, not complete, but well preserved as far as they go, are all that is left to tell the story of the life and struggles of the man who was the founder of the first daily newspaper in Galveston, Ferdinand Flake. Though not a pioneer Texan, Mr. Flake was in a sense a pioneer in the field of journalism in this State, and some ac- count of liim and his newspaper ventures properly belongs in this volume.

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Ferdinand Flake was a native of Got- tingen, Germany, a son of a Lutheran min- ister, Rev. Henry Flake, who gave his son the advantages of a good education and trained him to habits of industry and sobri- ety. Both of Ferdinand's parents died be- fore he attained his majority, leaving to his care a younger brother and sister. The estate left him was small, if indeed it amounted to anything, so that, to mneet his newly acquired responsibilities and earn a livelihood for himself, he had to look to the fruits of his own industry. The immigration to Texas from Germany was very great at that time. Young Flake had heard a good deal of this country, and he made up his mind that the most promising field for him was on this side of the Atlantic. He came to Texas about the early '40s, the exact year not being known. For a time he lived among the German colonists in the interior part of the State and was variously engaged, following whatever he could get to do that would afford him the means of living. But he was not content simply to live, nor in- deed to live and accumulate. He desired a career, and as he extended his acquaintance with the language, history, customs and needs of the country, he began to cast about for some settled pursuits and a place where he' might reasonably hope to grow into something. He came to Galveston. Here in a short time he engaged in the seed busi- ness, at which he met with very good suc- cess. Then he turned his attention to newspaper work. His first venture in the field of journalism was as editor and proprietor of a German weekly called the Union, which he purchased in 1855. This paper, then an inconsiderable sheet, was published in a sinall two-story structure located on Market street, about where the

Bank Exchange now stands. After Mr. Flake bought it he moved the outfit to a. building, since torn down, on the corner of Market and Center streets. From there in about a year he moved the office to the third floor of the Berlocher building on the north side of the Strand, east of Tremont, since burned, where he had the company of the Civilian and Gazette, and used its press to print his paper. His journalistic duties did not interfere with his mercantile inter- ests, and he carried on a lively seed business on the south side of the Strand, between Twenty-first and Twenty-second streets, where, in fact, he did his editorial work, and finally removed his printing outfit to this place, dividing off space in the rear of the structure for the use of that part of his bus- iness. In 1858 the Union was changed to a tri-weekly.

By 1860 politics were getting pretty warm and Mr. Flake did his share to furnish the heat. He espoused the Union and op- posed secession, and one fine morning, after the publication of a particularly obnoxious communication against secession, he came to the office and found it wrecked, the type scattered over the floor, yard and alley, but the press intact. The job had been done under cover of a false fire alarm. But he was not to be downed so easily. He had a sufficient stock of type in reserve to enable him to proceed with the publication, not missing an issue. This new material had been kept hidden at his residence. The "pied" type was sorted out as time was found and put to good use again. Mr. Flake was a stanch Union man during the whole of war, but like a good politician kept on fav- orable terms with the Confederate authori- ties. With the breaking out of actual hos- tilities the publication of the German paper

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was discontinued, and a semi-occasional news-sheet under the name of Flake's Bul- letin was started, being issued whenever any news was to be had, either by wire, pony express, hand-car or other means. Its size was determined by the amount of news to be had, generally between two and four col- umns of proportionate length. When the celebrated pony express was established be- tween Shreveport and Houston, news was received with more regularity, was trans- initted by wire from Houston, generally re- ceived by about eight or nine o'clock in the evening, put in type by a tallow candle or two, and issued next morning; and had a good sale among the few inhabitants left and the many soldiers of the garrison. This was the birth of the morning newspaper in Gal- veston, set up by one inexperienced composi- tor, made up into form, worked on a small Washington hand-press on one side of the paper, and the paper of any color that could be had, white being out of the market. To- day it takes ten Mergenthaler machines and presses, that deliver 15,000 copies an hour folded.

After the war the Bulletin assuined larger proportions, regular publication days and white paper, but had up-hill work in gain- ing a foothold, the lines between the Union and Confederate sentiment being rather sharply drawn. But Mr. Flake was not so blind a partisan as to accept anything offered by the Union side, as is proved by the fact that the military commander of Texas saw fit to send a file of soldiers around to his office at one time to arrest him on a charge of disloyalty. Mr. Flake had by this time bought a lot with a small two-story frame house, on the north side of Mechanic street, cast of Twenty-second, and moved the printing office into it. Mr. Selim Rinker,

his son-in-law, now became his partner, and the paper seemed to be in a prosperous con- dition. At any rate it was said at the time that it was "nip-and tuck" as to which of the two papers, the News or Bulletin, would get the upper hand in the struggle. The Bulletin was said to have the financial and moral backing of the business eleinent of the city, the banks, and "the Strand."

On March 22, 1872, Mr. Flake transferred his interest in the Bulletin, and the German Union to the Bulletin Publishing Company, of which he was elected president. In the summer of the same year he went East to procure new printing material, and one day a dispatch was received at Galveston that he had been found dead in his hotel in New York city. His death occurred July 19, 1872, and was supposed to be due to sun- stroke, though, as was afterward ascertained, he had been a sufferer for some time from a kidney trouble.

The Bulletin, after Mr. Flake's death, lingered awhile longer and finallly suspended publication, and with it, the German Union, which had been rehabilitated after a four- years' suspension during the war, and issued daily.

Mr. Flake had a wide political and busi- ness acquaintance throughout the State. He interested himself in all public matters, maintained pronounced views on all public questions, and wielded a strong influence. He was high-spirited, clean-handed and aggressive in the promulgation of that which he believed to be right.

At Galveston, on December 27, 1847, he married Mrs. Anna Margaret Buchholtz (maiden name Olichslager), a native of Denbaugh-Auchin, on the Rhine, Germany, who survived him only a few years, dying October 14, 1878. Their family consisted

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of a number of children, but six of whom became grown: Two daughters, Mary, who was married to Selim Rinker, and is de- ceased, and Anna, who was married to Herman Teichman, and is now deceased; and four sons, -Oscar, Otto, Emil M., and Ferdinand, -the eldest son, residing on Bolivar Point, in Galveston county, the other three in the city of Galveston.

After establishing himself at Galveston, Mr. Flake sent for his younger brother, Adolph, then a lad of thirteen, who, settling here, became a substantial citizen of this city, where he recently died. The sister, Lina, was also brought over, and here subse- quently lived and died, being twice married, first to August Winkleman, and, after his death, to Antone Billet.

ERMAN MORWITZ was born in Magdeburg, Prussia, September 30, 1831, being a son of. Gottfried and Louisa Morwitz, both of whom were also natives of Prussia. The father, a manufacturer of crockery, a man of small means but industrious habits, and a good citizen. The mother bore the maiden name of Patte, and was of French extrac- tion.

Herman Morwitz received a fair com- mon-school education in his native place, and, after leaving school, served five years as an apprentice to the grocer's business. Then, at the age of twenty, in 1851, he came, in company with a younger brother, William, to Texas, settling at Galveston. Mr. Mor- witz' possession when he reached Galves- ton consisted of $50. His first employment was as a gardener, at $3 per month. Later he hired to F. W. Schmidt to learn the butcher business, receiving $5 per month,

for about ten months. He then entered the employ of Captain L. M. Hitchcock in the butcher business, and was with him some two years, saving his earnings, which varied from $8 per month at the beginning to $20 later on, the latter being the maxi- mum wages paid butchers in those times. With the money so saved, Mr. Morwitz joined one of his countrymen, Louis Plitt, and, going to Anderson, Grimes county, en- gaged in the butcher business on his own account. A year and a half spent at this, resulted in but little financial good to the two ambitious young Germans, and, at the end of that tine, they gave up the butcher business and turned their attention to the . general stock business. Mr. Morwitz was so engaged, buying cattle, sheep and hogs, . which he drove from the interior to the Galveston market for several years. In 1860, he purchased the grocery business of George Schneider at Galveston, and em- barked in the retail grocery trade. This was stopped by the war in 1862, when he entered the Confederate army, enlisting in the Sappers and Miners, and served on detail duty until the surrender.

Renewing his business connection after the war with the New Orleans merchants, who had previously furnished him goods, he again embarked in mercantile pursuits, open- ing a grocery and feed store on Church and Twenty-second streets. This was subse- quently merged into a grocery and ship- chandlery establishment, and conducted with marked success until Mr. Morwitz's retire- ment from business in 1891.

Mr. Morwitz's name has been coupled with most of the public enterprises that have been set on foot in Galveston for the past twenty-five years, and he has aided liberally with his means in the development of the

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city's resources and the upbuilding of its various interests. The number of such en- terprises and interests would include the Street Railway Company, of which he was for three years president, two or three of the principal banks in which he was not only a stockholder but also a member of the di- rectory, different compress companies, and industrial and financial concerns.

In 1857 Mr. Morwitz married Miss Ber- tha Plitt, a native of Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany, born July 9, 1840, and a daugh- ter of George and Elizabeth Plitt, who came to Texas and settled, with their family, at Galveston, in 1846. Mr. and Mrs. Mor- witz have had but one child, Ida Mary, . now Mrs. John R. Gross, of Galveston.

Mr. Morwitz, was an active member of the German Benevolent Society during the existence of the association, the object of which was to build up German schools and churches, and to assist German immigrants to secure homes and a start in business in this country. He is now a member of the Garten Verein, and he and his wife both hold a membership in the Lutheran Church of this city.

3 OHN MEIER was born in Germany January 7, 1851. He came to Gal- veston, Texas, without means, but he possessed the native German pluck and energy, attributes which are bound to bring success to the possessor. In his laudable ambition to gain a com- petency for himself and family he was quite successful, and, as a means to this end, he first labored in various capacities, and, by the exercise of much economy and undevia- ting industry, he soon accumulated some capital. In 1865 his means enabled him to

enter the grocery business, and he continued to follow this useful employment until about 1880, and became well known for his honest business methods, and his desire to please those who patronized him. On the ist of December, 1866, he wedded, for his wife, Mrs. Seigle, whose place of nativity was Wurtemberg, Germany, and who came to this country while still a miss. Some of the experiences .passed through by Mr. Meier are exceedingly interesting, and, in illustra- tion of the hard times experienced by people in the South during the progress of the great civil war, he quoted some of the prices of the staple products at that time, in contrast with the present prices. He distinctly remembers having paid $23 per bushel for corn, and at one time paid $407.75, in Confederate money. for one hundred and seven pounds of flour. During the progress of the great strife he served in the local militia for some time, being on duty at Galveston the most of the time. Notwithstanding his long absence from Ger- many, he recently spent eighteen months there, for he still retains a warm affection for the land that gave him birth; but he re- turned to his adopted country in 1875, con- tent to here spend the remainder of his days, surrounded by the many friends he has made. He and his worthy wife are now living in retirement at 2827 Church street, Galveston, and their comfortable and pleasant home is the result of many years of active labor.

a L. BIEHLER. - This well-known citizen of Galveston, Texas, was one of the first settlers of the place, and has been one of the most ac- tive and industrious of her business men.

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He is a product of Freiburg, Baden, Ger -. many, where he first opened his eyes, May 22, 1826, and while growing up, besides re- ceiving the education of the usual German boy, he acquired a thorough knowledge of the butcher's business, an occupation which was followed with reasonable success by his father. Having heard of the opportunities which were afforded young men of energy and pluck, in this country, he determined that in this country he would seek his for- tune, and in 1842, arrived in the Crescent City, from the Vaterland. He followed the butcher's trade in that place about three years, after which he camne to the Lone Star State, and the 16th day of April, 1845, found him quartered in the city of Galves- ton. Knowing no other occupation, he turned to his trade as a means of livelihood, and for a time he operated the first sausage factory in the city of Galveston.

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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