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 63

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 63
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 63

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Both families became greatly reduced by misfortune and bad management, and the Kendalls in consequence settled upon a small. mountain farm, which belonged to the heirs of Lord Fairfax, and there the subject of this sketch was born. The land was stony and the soil shallow and exhausted, so that only a bare living could be made on the farm by hard labor and strict economy. Opportunities for acquiring an education

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were few and not of the best. Young Ken- dall went to what he calls "an excuse for a country school," one or two months in the winter, during part of the twenty-one years spent on the farm "serving his time" with his father until he reached his majority. The young man, longing eagerly for an edu- cation, at once entered school, working during vacation and at other intervals dur- ing school term, to pay his tuition. After one year's schooling, he turned his face to- ward the West, and, as he says, "launched out into the great world of which I knew nothing, having never been out of sight of my Blue Ridge mountain home." Some idea may be formed of the pluck, energy and dauntless perseverance of this young Virginian, when we learn that he walked over the Alleghany mountains into Ohio. As he walked along a public road, tired, travel-stained, but buoyed up with hope and determination to succeed, he espied a notice on the door of a small house, "Teacher wanted." Rightly judging this to be the schoolhouse, young Kendall walked on to the nearest habitation and inquired about the needed teacher. By one of those chances that sound like romance, the inas- ter of the house was chairman of the board of trustees, and, pleased with the conversa- tion and appearance of the young applicant, the chairman assured him of his assistance, should he -- Mr. Kendall-be able to stand an examination. Esquire Roe was the township examiner, and after enjoying the kindly hospitality of his new-made friend, the young Virginian went to "'Squire" Roe's to stand his examination. "To my great relief," says Judge Kendall, in narra- ting this episode, "I found that the township examiner, like myself, knew but little; so I passed the examination, secured my certifi-

cate, and, on the following Monday, was duly installed teacher in Red Brush township. Fortunately for me my pupils were but little advanced. Their parents were small farm- ers, poor and unlearned, with apparently little ambition to become otherwise." While in Red Brush Mr. Kendall, by an- other of those turns in men's affairs that prove truth to be stranger than fiction, made an acquaintance that gave an impetus to his career, which years, otherwise, would not have brought him. This friend was principal of and teacher in the Martinsburg Academy, quite a noted institution of learn- ing in the adjoining county, and an enthu- siast on the subject of education. Delighted with the teacher's love of learning, studious habits and moral life, the professor offered him such low rates of tuition that he was able to afford one year's attendance at the academy.

"This," says Mr. Kendall, . "was the turning point in my life's uneventful history." By teaching, and practicing the strictest economy, he was enabled to remain two years at the academy. Teaching some time after this he earned the money to go to the Wesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio. Meeting here other young inen, who, like himself, were dependent upon their own re- sources, young Kendall occupied with them a cottage on the college grounds, where they messed together. By teaching school dur- ing vacation and practicing the most rigid economy all the year, Mr. Kendall was able to remain three years at the university. Close application and diligent study enabled him to graduate at the end of that time, when he returned to Virginia, where he was appointed Professor of Languages in Jordan Seminary, an institution of some note, near Winchester. After several sessions at the

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Seminary, desiring a wider field and warmer climate, he started southward, making his first stop of any length at Vicksburg, Mississippi, where, in conjunction with an old and experienced educator of that city, he founded what became known as the Hill City Institute. "Getting it well under way, I went North to secure competent assistants, having, myself, assumed the professorship of Greek and Latin." The institute became a success, but, in the midst of its upward progress, it was set on fire by a servant and burned down, being a total loss, although insurance had been sought, and the papers were, at the time of the fire, in course of preparation, but not completed.

During all the previous years of toil and privation, and intense study, before he left his father's house as boy, youth and man, Mr. Kendall has kept one end in view. All the endurance and trials in school or college, as teacher or pupil, had been for a goal to- ward which all those things led, as the ancient roads led to Rome. When, there- fore, this last venture as an educator was so suddenly and utterly cut off, Mr. Kendall determined to put his long cherished plans into operation, and turned his atten- tion to the law, "which," he says, "I had studied, as opportunity permitted." After two years' study in the office of a distin- guished lawyer of Mississippi, he was licensed by the Supreme Court of that State to practice law, and, shortly afterward started to Texas, to begin life as a lawyer in the great Lone Star State.

On reaching New Orleans Mr. Kendall was charmed with the place where, he says, "The variety and beauty of the flowers, the semi-tropic fruits, orange, lemon, pome- granate, and the banana, with its great spreading leaves waving in the bright sun-

shine, all reminded me that I was indeed in the Sunny South. After spending ten days mnost pleasantly in the old historic city, I sailed down the great river and across the dreaded gulf to the land of the future great, reaching Galveston May 1, 1854."

Here new beauties attracted his eye and excited his admiration. The superb ole- anders growing everywhere, the verdant orange trees, with their fair bridal flowers filling the air with fragrance, the great vari- ety and beauty of the roses, the immense geraniums abounding in every inclosure, the perfume-laden jasmines, charmed the senses of this native of colder climes.

In Galveston the young lawyer met, in many pleasant hours' conversation, ex- President Burnet, General Sidney Sherman, General Rusk, Justices Lipscomb and Wheeler, and many of the leading lawyers of Galveston, all of whom gave him cordial welcome to the Lone Star State. From Galveston Mr. Kendall took a steamer, and, winding through the verdure-bordered and sinuous banks of Buffalo bayou, reached Houston, the head of navigation. Thence he went by stage-coach over some of the settled parts of the State, returning to Hous- ton, with the purpose of locating there, but meeting General Mirabeau B. Lamar, who was the third President of the Republic of Texas, and a most elegant and cultured gentleman, Mr. Kendall was induced to go to Richmond. They left together on the stage- coach, and General Lamar took his new acquaintance home with him. Mr. Kendall says: "The General introduced me to his amiable and gifted wife, and both became my warm and attached friends during their lives."

Obtaining license to practice law for the district court then in session in Wharton,

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Mr. Kendall opened an office in Richmond, where he soon acquired a good practice by hard study and close attention to business. He attended magistrates' courts in the vari- ous precincts, thus increasing his practice and getting acquainted with the people at the same time. He found them, he says, " kind and generous, many of them rich, raising from five to six hundred bales of cotton a year. Some of them, notably Judge Robert Campbell and Judge C. W. Buckley, were both planters and lawyers. Practicing then at the Richmond bar were Judge Sulli- van, Hiram B. Waller and Mr. Coopwood. All treated me very kindly, especially Judge Sullivan, who was a member of the Legisla- ture and had ine appointed Notary Public." At the next election for county offices Mr. Kendall was elected Magistrate, an office which he resigned after holding several terms on account of his large and increasing business which necessitated frequent trips to New York and Washington city, and occu- pied all his time. "Coming to Richmond almost penniless," says Judge Kendall, " I made enough the first month to pay iny board and office rent. By the end of the first year I had a nice office of my own and owned several lots in town; by the end of the second year I had built the largest brick business house in the place and three neat cottages for rent, and this as much to build up the town as for the rents I received."

About this time Judge Kendall's brother Charles came to Texas, and a law firm was formed under the title of Kendall & Ken- dall, which afterward became Kendall, Ken- dall & Buckley, and upon the death of Judge Buckley the firm became Kendall, Kendall & Harcourt. In 1857 the senior member, the subject of this sketch, went to New York

on important business, and while there made certain business connections, which placed hiin upon a sound financial basis, while the law practice became rapidly larger and more lucrative. Under these favorable circum- stances Judge Kendall concluded to take the first long rest of his life, and spend his leis- ure hours visiting historic scenes in Europe, Egypt and the Holy Land. Before leaving, however, Judge Kendall, finding it imprac- ticable to raise enough money by subscrip- tion to build an Episcopal church in Rich- mond, and, being a very devoted member of that denomination, built, out of his own means, a very neat frame church, and, se- curing the services of a minister, founded Calvary Parish.

In 1859, having deposited $5,000 in London, and made all other necessary ar- rangements, he left for New York, whence he sailed on the steamship Vanderbilt, on August 16th, visiting, before his return, in 1860, all the principal cities in Europe, the places of interest in the Holy Land and Egypt, and European Turkey. After his re- turn he published in book form some of the letters which he had written to his brother, while away, dedicating the little volume to his "highly esteemed friend," Judge James S. Sullivan. The following extracts serve to show the trend of the traveler's thought, the impressions made by the first sight of places of which he had read so much, and the simplicity and directness of his opinions. Writing from Paris he says:

"My letters will necessarily be written hurriedly, and when I am, as at present, surrounded by circumstances and scenes en- tirely new and strange to me, you need not expect to find them very elegant in style, or in any way perfect. It is very possible in- deed that some of them may be of that in-

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teresting class of specimens that you can 'make neitlier head nor tail of,' in which case I advise you in advance to begin in the middle and read both ways; it will make no difference. Never mind the 'connection,' for connection, sequence, etc., are things that I utterly abhor and renounce. I had as lief not write at all as to have to write that way." Quite a unique sort of a preface.

Speaking.of icebergs seen on the voyage across the Atlantic, the author says: "They looked wonderfully majestic, standing in their lonely grandeur upon the water, from one to three or four hundred feet high, re- flecting the bright sunbeams like mountains of glass. Very beautiful to see, but they're not good company; cold, you know, and dangerous." This American traveler found the statesmen of England, whom he saw in Parliament, and heard speak, "inferior, both as speakers and in appearance, to the average members of Congress." But that was a long time ago. Among the curiosities seen in Paris, this irreverent democrat num- bers the Emperor and Empress of France and the Prince Imperial.

Of the fete day of Louis Napoleon and Eugenie, he says: " Napoleon's arrange- ments for celebrating the day were of the most extensive and extravagant kind, suited in all respects to pamper and gratify the tastes and wishes of the great masses of the people, of whom the present royal family appear to be the only objects of adoration; but, as the changeable disposition of the French people causes them to adore their rulers one day and behead them the next, it is uncertain how long this fortunate fam- ily may hold its exalted position. Of the splendor of the illuminations and fireworks, no language would convey an idea. The gardens of the Tuilleries looked like a scene

in fairy land. The national colors of the empire, in red, white, and blue fire, were interwoven in a style that charined the be- holder and illustrated the superior genius of the French people in such matters. Finest of all was the empress' vases of flowers, at the close, when the air for miles around was filled with flowers of fire of every size and color. This is said to have been seen by three millions of people." Cologne seems to have impressed our traveler, as it has many others, in regard to the famous eau de Cologne. "It is curious that this sweet-sinelling stuff, which has scented the pocket handkerchief of every civilized land, should come from such a bad-smelling place."

Of Italy, his American mind is prophetic. "To-day has been a gala day with the Flor- entines, in taking down the flags of the pro- visional government, hoisting those of Sar- dinia and Parma, and declaring for Victor Emanuel, amid the booming of cannon and general rejoicing, in which I heartily joined, and hope and believe there is a better day dawning for Italy." In another place, he says: "The bloodless revolution of Italy still progresses, and has progressed so far as to need only the sanction of a European Congress to make it one of the independent kingdoms of Europe, which, from the signs of the times, it will be soon."

Again, speaking of Greece, he says: "Since the Greeks have thrown off the yoke of the Sultan, they are gradually, but slowly, arising from the degrading condition incident to their long oppression. May we not hope that our own American mission- aries who are so earnestly employed there, may soon reap the fruits of their self-deny- ing labors."

Thus we see a inan traveling, not only

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for pleasure or rest-though getting both- but observing and studying earnestly the people among whom he sojourned, in their religious and political, as well as personal relations, and forming conclusions from such study, which time has proven correct.

The impressions upon entering Rome are well described: " No place on earth has so much interest for the thoughtful traveler. No one can enter the gates of Rome without a thrill of enthusiastic pleasure, now that the bright visions of his early dreams, and the vague and undefined forms of history, upon which his imagination loved to dwell, are to become in some degree realities to him."

The lawyer speaks in this extract: " But by far the most interesting and attracttive, to me, in all the works of greatness is the Forum, which was the great heart, not only of Rome but of the vast empire, -the scene of many of the most thrilling events in the great drama of human life. There were manifest the first dawnings of legislative wisdom; there were framed and enacted those laws which were the source of Roman power, the beneficial and controlling in- fluence of which was demonstrated by her great statesmen and early masters; these laws were the focus and nucleus of Roman strength."

The pretty word sketch of Naples con- cludes with this characteristic sentence: "A little to the right rises hot-headed and hot- ter-hearted Vesuvius, towering over all."

Passing into Greece and thence to Asia Minor, he makes this original, if somewhat irreverent, comment upon the great epic: "If Helen had been a virtuous woman, and the Iliad had never been written, who would have been the 'father of poetry,' I wonder?"

Of Constantinople the writer says: "But all my magnified notions about the splendor

of the city of Sultans immediately went to the thinnest of thin air when I went ashore and found narrow, crooked, filthy streets, thronged with all sorts of human beings, dogs and donkeys in horrible and impossi- ble mixture. I shall depart, convinced that one who wishes to leave Stamboul with a favorable impression should take an ex- ternal view only, and be careful never to enter the city."

Mr. Kendall viewed the Holy Land from the standpoint of an earnest believer in the book which makes sacred ground of that favored soil on which so many Scripture characters have trod, and which is the inother country of the Savior of mankind. He lingered long in this most interesting of all countries, and writes of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Mount of Olives, and other spots, enshrined in the hearts of every Chris- tian, with simple and reverent eloquence.

The sketches of Egyptian habits and cos- tumes, and graphic word picture of Cairo are vivid and full of color. The Great Des- ert, Mount Sinai, the pyramids,-in short every object of interest in the cradle of civilization, "mysterious Egypt," is seen with observant eyes and imprinted on a re- ceptive mind.

His remarks on the Sphinx might have suggested Mark Twain's beautiful descrip- tion, -having been written many years be- fore the "Innocents" went abroad, -so like are the two in sentiment. Mr. Kendall should visit Egypt again and see the "sub- lime enigina" since the magnificent pedestal has been exhumed.

Of the Nile Delta, Mr. Kendall says: "There huinan effort and nature's immuta- ble laws appear to vie with each other in bringing together the most striking and won- derful contrasts. The beautiful, green val-

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ley of the Nile, abounding in most varied and luxuriant vegetation, is skirted by the great African desert, spreading far and wide its dreary scenes of desolation. In the in- mediate vicinity of monuments that have defied the ravages of time, and withstood the storms of thousands of years, the princely structures of yesterday are mould- ering away. Where plenty abounds, where the fertility of the soil is unequaled, the poor Egytians are half-naked and starving."

The island of Malta is especially inter- esting to the traveler and he writes enthusi- astically of its historic associations.

But it is Paris, which so fascinates and absorbes the writer that he neglects his cor- respondence. His judgment, after the gay season has closed, is this: "The French peo- ple, in all that pertains to the social enjoy- ments of life, surpass all others. They ap- pear to be careless and indifferent about the common affairs of life, and to attend dili- gently to those things which contribute to their gay and giddy pleasure. In short, everything that a vivid fancy can suggest, calculated to delight the eye and please the mind, the fitness and adaptation of all to harmonize, proves the superior genius and unequaled skill of the French in such ar- rangements." "Of the Empress Eugenie he says: "She appears quite youthful and is much the handsomest personage I have seen in Europe; the Prince Imperial is a noble- looking boy. As to Louis Napoleon, this de- ponent sayeth not."

All the delights of foreign travel, however, do not prevent the American from rejoicing over his return to his native land; do not hinder his entering into the business and in- terests of his Richmond home. Without os- tentation he resumed his law practice and pursued it diligently until 1861, when he

cast his lot with the Confederacy, and went to Virginia, where he did effectual but "ir- regular service," as he modestly calls it, "in connection with the army." Frequently he acted as guide through the Virginia moun- tains, with which he was thoroughly fa- miliar, and as messenger to points not known by the officers, and also occasionally accompanied Mosby on his raids. His widowed mother, who still lived in her moun- tain home in Virginia, was not neglected, and part of his time was devoted to the care of her affairs and the protection of her home.

Mr. Kendall gave much time and atten- tion to the sick. Among those who shared his kindness was a young man named O'Farrell, who was shot through the body in a skirmish near the residence of Mr. Ken- dall's uncle, and carried to the house by his comrades, who left him there to die. The surgeon of the regiment examined his wounds and pronounced his case hopeless, and left asking the family to see that he had decent burial and that the grave be marked for fu- ture identification. But Judge Kendall was too deeply interested in the bright young man to let him die without an effort to save him, and devoted himself to nursing him back to health. He succeeded and his former patient is now (1894) Governor of Virginia!

After the battle of Gettysburg, Judge Kendall, in common with most others, lost all hopes of Confederate success, and made his way to his old home in the mountains, where he remained until the surrender of Lee and the close of the war. "Return- ing to Texas," he says, "I resumed the practice of law, but found the condition of affairs greatly changed; negroes free, land greatly reduced in value, the country in the hands of the military, carpet-baggers, and

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no money, except a limited amount of green- backs, at a discount of thirty per cent. for gold. Cotton being high, and land low, I concluded to collect what was left of my fortune, buy a plantation, and try cotton- planting. Almost any other man would have been utterly disheartened by the re- verses, trials and losses of the first year of this venture; but Judge Kendall met his losses calmly, and next year was signally success- ful, more so the third year, and finally be- came a successful cotton-raiser, which he is to this day. Meantime, he continued to prac- tice law until 1874, when the death of his brother and partner, C. H. Kendall, occurred, and Judge Kendall retired from practice.

On June 26, 1867, Judge Kendall was united in marriage with Miss Belle Sherman, second daughter of General and Mrs. Sidney Sherman, a woman of fine acquirements and most winning and charming in manner, who made a well rounded sphere of her hus- band's hitherto hemispheric life, being his complete complement and gifted mate.

After six months, spent in travel, Judge and Mrs. Kendall settled in a handsome new residence in Richmond, where elegant hospitality, that reminded one of ante- bellum days, was dispensed to all who came. Six sons blessed this union: Sherman, Charles, William, Odin, Clarence, and Francis Fenwick. To give their children the advantages of a good education, Judge Kendall, in 1879, purchased a delightful suburban residence, near Houston, where he now lives, with his lovely family, which includes a charming niece, Miss Margery Kendall. The same hospitality that reigned in their Richmond home is transferred to their Houston residence, which they have enlarged and beautified into a most delight- ful home.

But their lives have not been devoid of the sorrows that come to all humanity. Their second son, Charles, died in infancy, and the eldest, Sherman, at nineteen years of age, on the eve of graduating in the law department of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. In the early bloom of youth, giving promise of a brilliant career, noble, generous, and honorable, his death was a terrible blow to his parents, which they bore with Christian courage. But time has kindly cast its tender glow over these dark hours, and the parents find solace and joy in the affection of their four re- maining boys.

Thus, after passing through many vicis- situdes, after conquering every obstacle to success, after acquiring an education and a profession by self-denial, perseverance and indomitable pluck and energy, Judge Ken- dall is spending the evening of his life in elegant comfort, surrounded by a charming family, and enjoying the respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens.

Judge Kendall has been a Royal Arch Mason nearly forty years, and a member of the Episcopal Church about the same length of time.

ENJAMIN CHARLES SIMPSON, son of Charles and Fannie (Mat- thews) Simpson, was born in Roch- ester, New York, June 7, 1837. His parents were natives, of north Ireland, . where they were born about the beginning of this century, coming originally of Scotch stock, and being Covenanters in religion. They immigrated to the United States about 1830, and after a brief residence in Pennsyl- vania, settled in Rochester, New York, where they subsequently lived and died.

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Benjamin Charles was reared in Rochester. The educational advantages open to him in his boyhood and youth were limited, but such as they were lie availed himself of them, and supplemented the learning so received by attending night schools during the term of his apprenticeship as a machinist. At the age of twenty-one (1858) he came to Texas through the influence of James A. Cushinan, a Rochester man then residing at Galveston. Accompanying Mr. Cushinan to Houston shortly afterwards, he worked for him in this place until the opening of the war, when he entered the Confederate ariny, enlisting in July, 1861, in company A, Fifth Texas Infantry, Hood's Brigade. He participated in all the vicissitudes of war with this celebrated command up to Gettys- burg where, July 2, 1864, he was captured and taken to Fort Delaware. He was held in imprisonment at Fort Delaware some months, when he escaped and made his way to New York city, walking most of the dis- tance, from which place, with the aid of a Mr. Eddy, whose brother he had known in the Confederate service, he got to Roches- ter, New York. He remained here a short time on a forged furlough, and then when it began to be noised around that he was an escaped rebel prisoner, he went to Canada and there worked as a stationary engineer, overhauling and repairing Confederate boats. From Canada he went to Havana, Cuba, and assisted in repairing gunboats to be used as blockade runners, and finally he took passage on a vessel bound for Texas, intend- ing to again enter the army. The vessel on which he sailed was wrecked at the mouth of the Brazos, and a short time after he got back to Houston, Lee surrendered, and the war closed.

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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