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 64

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 64
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 64

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The same year, in partnership with Dan

C. Smith and C. C. Wiggin, he established the Phoenix Iron Works at Houston, which were conducted jointly by them until 1874. At that date Mr. Smith sold his interest to Messrs Simpson & Wiggin, and after a few years' unsuccessful operation the business was discontinued, the partnership dissolved, and Mr. Simpson soon after founded the business which is now being conducted under the name of Simpson, Hartwell & Stopple.

Mr. Simpson was a man of industrious habits, good business methods and thorough- ly honorable impulses. His success was not phenomenal nor even exceptional, but it was such, nevertheless, as to mark him as a man of sound intelligence and thorough- going business ways, and this, supplemented by a character of highest integrity, makes his career amply worthy of this brief re- view. He was always devoted to business pursuits and never offered for, and could never be prevailed on to accept, any public posi- tion, except that of Trustee of the city schools. He was one of the first trustees of the public schools of Houston, and as such had much to do with founding the present school system of this city. He was a strong advocate of higher education and urged on all proper occasions and by all proper means the claims of the present and coming generations to reasonable pro- vision in this respect.

Mr. Simpson joined the Masonic fra- ternity in 1871, becoming a member of Holland Lodge, No. 1, of Houston. He was almost a lifelong member of the Pres- byterian Church, and to these two factors in the social economy, he always accorded a generous support, and in them took the liveliest interest. He was one of the first Deacons of the First Presbyterian Church

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of this city, and was alway regarded as a most valuable and exemplary member of this congregation.

'He married Miss Rebecca Wheeler, of this city, on the 30th of June 1873, this lady being a native of Houston and a mem- ber of one of the first-settled families of the city. Her parents were Daniel G. and Hester E. Wheeler, natives respectively of Worcester, Massachusetts, and New York city, New York, who came to Texas in 1839, settling in Houston. For many years they owned and lived on the block be- tween Main and Travis streets and Rusk and Walker avenues, and here Mrs. Simnp- son was born and still resides. Her father died in Houston in 1857, and her mother in 1891. Her father was wharfmaster at this place during the days of the Republic.

Mr. and Mrs. Simpson had two children born to them, both of whom are now grown: Fannie Wheeler Simpson and Ben- jamin Charles Simpson, Jr.

May 16, 1888, after a brief illness, Mr. Simpson died, surrounded by his family and many friends, and his memory was shown every appropriate mark of respect by the Masons, the church of which he was a member, and the people generally of this city.

J OHN W. WHITE .- The subject of this sketch, an early Texan, and for many years a resident of Houston, was a native of Norfolk, Virginia, where he was born in the year 1813. He was reared, in his native place and in 1834, being then in his twenty-first year, came to Texas. Ile was in the revolution of 1835-6, being a member of General Houston's staff, and after the battle of San

Jacinto settled in the city of Houston. In 1837 or '38 he married Helen Chapin, then a resident of Houston, but a native of Utica, New York, and about the same date began the mercantile business in this city, as a mem- ber of the firm of White, Pool & Company. He was successfully engaged in business here until 1850, when, disposing of his in- terests, he went to California. He remained there only a year, when he returned to Houston, but went again to California in 1852, and returned to Texas the following year, settling at Cane Island. He estab- lished himself in the hotel business as pro- prietor of the "White House," which he conducted at that place until his death, in 1859. His widow survived until 1877, when she, too, passed away. Of the five chil- dren born to them, the eldest four are still living, these being John W., of Houston; Kate V., now Mrs. C. S. Payton, of Hearne; Lizzie, the widow of J. L. Cox, residing in Gainsville; and Justin C., of Houston. The youngest of the family, Nellie, was married to William R. McKee, and died in 1893, in Gainsville.

Justin C. White, the second son, and and youngest living of the above family, is a native of Houston, having been born in this city on November 27, 1855. He was reared here and learned the trade of .a printer and binder under W. H. Coyle, in this city. In 1892 he became associated with Mr. Coyle in business and is now a member of the firn of W. H. Coyle & Com- pany. His time has been given exclusively, until within a recent date, to business pur- suits. In April, 1894, he was elected As- sessor and Collector of Taxes for the city of Houston, since which time his attention has been wholly occupied in his official capac- ity. Mr. White is a Democrat in politics

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and was elected to the office he holds as the regular nominee of his party. He is recog- nized as a very successful man of business and a faithful, painstaking public official. He belongs to a number of social and benev- olent orders such as the Elks, Knights of Pythias, Knights and Ladies of Honor, Chos- en Friends, Woodmen of the World, and Royal Army of Relief, and in accordance with his means gives liberally to all worthy purposes.

On December 25, 1879, Mr. White married Jennie Dann, of Houston, and the issue of this marriage has been four children, three sons and a daughter: Andrew H., Margaret Helen, Justin C., Jr., and William McKee.

J UDGE ALEXANDER McGOWEN. -The subject of this memoir was a resident of the city of Houston from 1839 to 1893, a period of fifty-four years. During the greater part of that time he was a prominent figure in the city's history, a well-known character in public affairs, and a man of wide personal popularity. Any record, therefore, of the old citizens of Harris county, which did not include a notice of him would be signally lacking in interest and completeness, and would to that extent clearly be a reflection on the discernment of the compiler.

Alexander McGowen was born in Dup- lin county, North Carolina, July 5, 1817. He was reared an orphan, his childhood, and youth being passed mainly in Mont- gomery Alabama, to which place his foster parents moved when he was young. His educational advantages were nothing to speak of, being in fact very limited; but he was taught a useful trade, -that of a tinner, -and equipped with this, and a good set of

resolutions, reinforced by sober and indus- trious habits, he came to Texas in Septem- ber, 1839, being then in his twenty-second year, and settled at Houston. Here he shortly afterward opened a small tinshop, and in this unpretentious way entered on his business career. He prospered with the growth of the place, his tinshop being suc- ceeded by a hardware store, and this in time by a foundry. His foundry was one of the first, if not the first, ever started in Texas, and was no unimportant factor in the industrial development of the country. Mr. McGowen furnished the castings and heavy hardware, such as were in demand, to all the settlers from the up-country as far as Dallas, and Fort Worth, and west to San Antonio. He made the castings used by Gail Borden in the manufacture of his condensed-milk ap- paratus, and for all other purposes of this general nature.

The business which he thus founded still continues in existence, being the one now conducted by his son, Edmond F., on Rail- road street, near the junction of Buffalo and White Oak bayous. Mr. McGowen was connected with its management up to the time of his death, and took inuch interest in its success. But it was not for his connec- tion with the business interests of this city that he will be longest remembered. It was rather on account of his career as a public official. Few men in this section of the State were ever more continuously in public life than Alexander McGowen, or poseessed in such an unqualified degree the confidence of the people. He was elected to the first State Constitutional convention, in 1845, defeating, in the election, David G. Burnet, ex-President of the Republic; he was three tiines Mayor of the city of Houston, besides being several times Alderman; was Chief

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Justice of Harris county; County Assessor, and for six years County Treasurer, holding this last office at the time of his death. An incumbent of so many offices at different tiines in life, he, of necessity, had much to do with the making of the history of his adopted State, and it can be recorded to his honor, that his influence and best efforts were always directed to what he believed to be for the best interests of the people among whom he lived, and whom he was thus called to serve. His efforts in behalf of education in the Constitutional convention of 1845 are especially worthy of mention, since there he helped to lay the foun- dation of the present splendid public- school system of Texas, thus giving prac- tical meaning as well as the force of legal enactment to the wise saying that pub- lic knowledge is public virtue. Judge Mc- Gowen saw in the vast landed domain which Texas possessed the means of securing to every child in the State the benefits of an education, and he was a man of far too kind a heart and enlightened judgment to let such an opportunity pass. He espoused the cause of popular education in that convention, and the rights of the head of a family to reason- able exemptions as to homestead and per- sonal property, and he worked without ceas- ing until the claims of each were protected, substantially as he conceived they should be, by the organic law of the State. As a judi- cial officer Judge McGowen discharged his duties with marked impartiality and a strict regard for the law. So upright was his character, and so just were his rulings, that it is said that a jury was rarely ever called for in his court, and still more rarely were cases ever taken up from his court on ap- peal. As Mayor, Alderman, Assessor, and Treasurer he always discharged his duties

with strict regard to the public welfare, seek- ing to protect the interest of the individual taxpayer, while infusing into the public serv- ice, as far as consistent, a spirit of enter- prise and general advancement. His hon- esty was beyond question and his liberality well known. He not only gave generously, for one of his means, but he was liberal in his opinions, his inind offering a warm hos- pitality to the thoughts of others. He was always willing to discuss differences in poli- tics, religion, or social affairs, and, where he could, to learn from others. No stronger proof of the humanity that pervaded his na- ture could be offered than the fact that he stood at his post during every yellow-fever epidemic that ever visited the city of Hous- ton, and at the peril of his own life minis- tered to the wants of his suffering fellow- men. His unselfish devotion to the people among whom he lived, and his uniform kind- ness and courtesy were among the great se- crets of his popularity, and made the people rally to his support on every occasion when he asked their suffrage.

In politics Judge McGowen was a life- long Democrat, and he not only believed profoundly in the principles of his party, but he insisted on an observance of the es- tablished forms and methods by which those principles are put in force. It was not suf- ficient with him to be right on the "main question." He made loyalty to tlie consti- tuted authorities of the party a test of sound- ness as well as devotion to principle. He took but little interest, on the other hand, in fraternity matters. He was a charter member of Lone Star Lodge, No. 1, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, of this city, and he kept up his membership in this lodge until its charter was forfeited by lapses. But when it was subsequently reorganized

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he did not identify himself with it. He joined the Methodist Church in this city, and, in connection with the late Judge Charles Shearn and the late T. W. House, he was for years one of the chief financial stays of this congregation. For twenty- five years before his death, he was a Trustee in this church, and took an active part in all church work.

Judge McGowen married Mrs. Sarah Christopher, of Houston, in 1841, and by this union had eight children, all of whom became grown, but only two of whom, -a daughter, Mrs. Kate Brashear, and a son, Edmond F. McGowen, -are now living. On the 14th day of July, 1873, Mrs. Mc- Gowen died, and, some two years after her death, Judge McGowen married Miss Flor- ence Abbey, to which union one son was born, Walter McGowen.

Judge McGowen died on the 26th day of December, 1893, after a brief illness. News of his death fell with universal sorrow on the community in which he had so long lived, and every possible mark of respect was shown to his memory. The Commis- sioners' Court and the bar each passed appropriate resolutions, all the courts then in session in the city adjourned, and a largeconcourse of citizens attended his funeral and followed liis remains to their last resting place at old San Felipe ceme- tery.

In the formative era of a new State like Texas, it is hard to estimate the influence for good exerted by a man like Judge Mc- Gowen. First impulses last long, and when those impulses are given in the right direc- tion they are the source of incalculable good. Of such an one it may be said with all truth and reverence, that, though dead, he yet liveth.

THOMAS M. BAGBY, deceased, who stood in his lifetime as a highly honored citizen of Houston, hav- ing been one of the early mer- chants of this place, was a native of Vir- ginia, where he was born on May 18, 1814. His parents, Daniel and Lucy Bagby, were also Virginians by birth, migrating from their native State about the year 1822, when Thomas M. was a lad of eight, to

west Tennessee, settling in Montgomery county. In that county Thomas M. was mainly reared, receiving only such slender educational advantages as the then sparsely settled condition of the country afforded. He began doing for himself while still young, entering a store at Clarksville, the principal trading point in that locality, and here he picked up considerable knowledge of the mercantile business. In 1837 he came to Texas and located at Houston, where he soon secured employment, and subsequently engaged in business for him- self. He was engaged in active business pursuits in this city up to the time of his death, some thirty years later, thus going through all of the early growth and develop- inent of the place, in which he took an act- ive and effective part. He was engaged in the general commission business, receiving and forwarding goods, and later in handling cotton. He had partnerships at different times with H. D. Taylor and Samuel L. Allen, and was also alone for a considerable timne. He was widely known throughout in- terior Texas, as Houston was in those days the trading point for all of the up-country, and wherever known he was respected for his honorable business methods. Mr. Bagby did not rank as a man of great shrewdness. He was rather distinguished for his indus- try, convervatism and plain straightforward

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business methods. He never indulged in speculation or sought to make unreasonable profits out of anything he handled. He was ' content with small profits and believed in giving free and full meaning to the old say- ing, "live and let live." Ambition, except of that kind that prompts a man to do well what he undertakes, he had none. He was never in politics, never sought public favor of any kind, and never manifested any over- weening desire for wealth. He was at one time a member of the Board of Aldermen, but he never held any county or State of- fices and never showed any more interest in public matters than such as might be ex- pected of one who wished to see the laws en- forced, and order and good government maintained. He was an associate, however, of many of Texas' leading men, by whom he was held in high esteem, among thein being General Houston, whom he numbered as one of his warmest personal friends, and whose political fortunes he watched with much interest throughout the General's en- tire career.

On February 23, 1848, in the city of Houston, Mr. Bagby married Marianna Baker, a daughter of Asa and Hannah Baker, and a sister of William R. Baker, who was for many years a prominent citizen of this place. The offspring of this union was six children: William G .; Emily G., now Mrs. F. C. Usher; Eleanor B., now Mrs. W. J. Hancock; Lucy B., now Mrs. R. E. Tankersley; Mary B., wife of Andrew B. Richardson, both now deceased; and Bessie B., now also deceased. The widow and three surviving children are residents of Houston. Mrs. Bagby is numbered among the oldest citizens of the city and is a most estimable lady. She comes of pioneer an- cestry, her people helping to settle the New

England and Eastern States, and she and her brothers and sisters settling in Houston when it was only a primitive patch in the wilderness. Her two brothers, William R. and George, died here, as did also her mother, while three of her sisters, Mrs. Emily Taylor, Mrs. Julia W. Clark and Mrs. Harriet M. Szabo, have resided here for more than forty years.

In this city, while still a young man, Mr. Bagby was made a Mason, joining Hol- land Lodge, No. 1., and from that time on, as long as he lived, he took great interest in the order. He was also a member of the Presbyterian Church, the pioneer organ- ization of this city, and was zealous in the discharge of his Christian duties. He was a man of even temper, quiet tastes, devoted to his home and family, strong in his friend- ships and thoroughly loyal to all the inter- ests of his adopted State. He died May 12, 1868.

ON. ISAAC WRIGHT BRA- SHEAR, for many years a resident of Houston, being one of the early settlers of this city, was a native of Guilford county, North Carolina, where he was born in the year 1811. His parents, who were also natives of North Carolina, moved from that State about the year 1815, to middle Tennessee and settled in Ruther- ford county. In this county Isaac W. was reared. His early lot was by no means an easy one, for his father died when Isaac W. was as yet a child, and the family being left in straitened circumstances, he was early thrown on his own resources. He began the serious duties of life for himself at the age of twelve, finding a home among the farmers of Rutherford county, for whom he worked

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during the spring and summer months, and received the privileges of the local schools in winter. He thus acquired the elements of a cominon English education, and formned the useful habits of industry and self-reliance. February 13, 1833, he married Sarah Trott, a native of Rutherford county, and settled on a farm, which he carried on with only moderate success for about six years. In 1839 he moved to Texas in company with his father-in-law, Henry Trott, who had previously visited the country and selected a location in the vicinity of Houston. Here Messrs. Trott and Brashear purchased a large tract of land, being that now included in the suburbs of Chaneyville and Houston Heights, on which they settled and engaged in farming. . Subsequently Mr. Brashear moved into the city of Houston and em- barked extensively in land speculation. He was a man of energetic nature and sound business ideas, and he soon acquired prominence, and laid the foundation for what has since proved to be a very large estate. He was a member of the Constitu- tional convention of 1845, serving with the late Alexander McGowen, from Harris county. He advocated, in that body, the insertion in the organic. law of the State of a liberal provision on homesteads and personal property exemptions, and the set- ting apart of a reasonable share of the public domain for school purposes. It is to the credit of Harris county that both her repre- sentatives contended sturdily for these meas- ures, and that it was largely through their efforts and influence that the success of each was attained. In 1852 he was elected to the State Senate from his Senatorial district, becoming a candidate chiefly on account .of his friendship for General Houston, who, it was known, would be a candidate at the en-

suing session of the Legislature for the United States Senate, and whom he wished to support for that position. He was ac- tively engaged in business pursuits, and to* some extent in politics, up to his death, which occurred September 13, 1859. He died in the prime of life, and at a time when his career gave promise of much usefulness and success, but not, however, until he had left in distinct outline the imprint of his character and talents upon the life and con- dition of the people among whom he spent the last twenty years of his life. It would probably not subserve any useful purpose to speculate now as to how a man of the gifts and standing of Isaac Wright Brashear would have conducted himself in the great civil commotion of 1861-5, nor what part he would have played in the era of industrial development following that period, but speaking from the later achievements of others, with whose success his own com- pared most favorably at the time of his death, it may safely be said that, had he been spared, he would not only be num- bered among the pioneers of this locality, but would rank as one of the builders of the commonwealth. Opportunity has much to do with achievement, and opportunity is what was denied many of Texas' most tal- ented men.

Mr. Brashear left surviving him a widow and five children. His widow is still living, being now in her seventy-eighth year, and one of the oldest settlers in Houston. The children who became grown were two sons, John and Henry, and two daughters, An- nexa and Sallie; one daughter, Bettie, dy- ing at the age of fourteen, John Brashear, born in Rutherford county, Tennessee, Feb- ruary 20, 1837, was reared in Houston; filled a number of public positions here, in-

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cluding those of County Clerk and Chief Justice of the county; served in the Con- federate army during the late war, and practiced law up to the time of his death, November 17, 1886. Henry Brashear, the second son, resides in Houston; has been County Judge of Harris county, Clerk of the District Court of the same; is vice-president of the South Texas National Bank, and otherwise prominently connected with the political, business and social life of the city. The daughters are both married, the former being the wife of Charles Miller, a farmer of Harris county, and the latter the wife of Colonel J. W. Jones, of the Houston bar. The descendants of Isaac Wright Brashear now number between twenty and twenty- five, and all are worthy of the name they bear, and without exception are filling use- ful and honorable places in society.

ENRY STUDE .- Since the tide of emigration first set toward America, perhaps no class of people who have found homes in this country have done more to build up its interests or contributed more to its cominercial impor- tance and national prosperity than the sturdy, honest-hearted, industrious Germans, and certainly to no class is Harris county · more indebted for its present proud position and future promise, than to that of which the subject of this sketch is a worthy and honored representative.

Mr. Henry Stude is a native of Prussia, Gerinany, born December 29, 1824, and is a son of Anton and Mary Stude, both of whom were natives of Germany, in which country they passed their entire lives. Of the five sons born to this worthy couple, the subject of this sketch is the only one who

ever came to the United States. He sailed from Bremen for America in a vessel carry- ing 800 passengers, in 1849, and after a voyage of over nine weeks arrived in New York city, where he remained but a short tiine, going thence to Kalamazoo, Michigan. When he reached New York city he had just $50. On reaching Kalamazoo he worked on a farm near the city for a year .. From there he came to Houston, Texas, reaching this city with just $25. Here he secured work at gardening, a trade he had learned in the old country, and continued this for some time for a Mrs. Sherman. About the year 1852 he married Miss Hen- rietta Menger, and this union was blessed by the birth of three children, as follows: Frances, Hedwee and Alphonse, only the latter now living. Alphonse married Miss Louisa Bartollet, and is the father of five children: Henry, Emilie, Alphonse, Hen- rietta and Louis. He is in the wholesale and retail bakery and confectionery busi- ness, and is a wide-awake, prosperous young business man. When Mr. Stude began gardening at Houston, he and his wife ped- dled the produce of the garden from door to door in baskets, and as soon as they had accumulated sufficient means they bought a cow and began selling milk. Later they bought more cows, and carried on the dairy business in connection with their gardening. Fortunately both had good health and saved what they made. Mr. Stude came to Houston when it was in its infancy and has grown with the place. He has never specu- lated, but has kept his money safely invested, and is now the owner of much valuable city property. He still owns the truck farm and gives his attention to it and to his other business interests. Mr. Stude came to this region when it was in a primitive condition,

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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