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 80

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 80
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 80

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During his eight years' service Mr. Ellis has had a great deal of experience in deal- ing with criminals of all classes, and has made a number of important arrests. One of the most noteworthy was that of W. H. Bohanan, who escaped from the Texas pen- itentiary in 1890. In addition to the pro- clamation and reward offered by the authori- ties, Governor Ross, then the chief execu- tive of the State, sent Mr. Ellis a special letter and private proclamation, urging him to take the case in hand. Mr. Ellis com- plied, and within thirty days from the time Bohanan made his escape he was captured by Mr. Ellis, at Omaha, Nebraska. An- other important case was that of Clarence Skipper, a postoffice employe, charged with robbing the mails in the Houston post- office. Through a confidential friend of Race, the postmaster, Mr. Ellis learned that the absconder was about to leave the city; and the fellow boarded a sailing vessel

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. for Galveston, when Mr. Ellis, knowing that a certain tug was on the river that could overtake the sailing vessel, would; at a given time, pass Lynchburg, which was thirty-six miles distant by water and only twenty-one by land, jumped upon his horse and made that point fifteen minutes before the tug arrived. Chartering that vessel, he soon overtook the sailer and caught Skip- per in less than forty-eight hours after his crime had been discovered.

Mr. Ellis is one of the most popular and efficient officers Harris county has ever had. He is a Knight Templar Mason, and also a member of the A. O. U. W.

He has eight children : William E .; Itasca, now the wife of E. Cole; John J .; Maggie; George W., Jr .; Louisa; Waldo, and Henry. Besides, Mr. and Mrs. Ellis liave the care of two adopted children, Minnie and George R.

Q OLONEL PHILIP W. HUDSON. -The philosophy of success in life is an interesting study, and affords a lesson from which others can

profit. In choosing a pursuit in life, taste, mental gifts, opportunity and disposition to labor, should be considered, as any young man who has a disposition to become a re- spectable and useful citizen desires to suc- ceed therein.

On January 21, 1842, a boy was born in Manchester, Hartford county, Connecticut, who grew up to sturdy manhood, ambitious to excel, and possessing much energy and determination, attributes which are essential to success in any calling. This boy was Philip W. Hudson, his parents being Me- lancthon and Mary C. (Austin) Hudson, who were born in the same county as their son,

the former of whom followed in the foot- steps of his worthy sire, Henry Hudson, and became a paper manufacturer. The pa- ternal great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was Brazillia Hudson, an officer of the Revolutionary war. The maternal grandparents, George and Mary (Olinstead) Austin, were born in the city of New York, but afterward became residents of East Hartford, Connecticut.

Philip W. Hudson was the elder of two children, the other being William E., who is the owner of a large orange grove near Orlando, Orange county, Florida. He re- ceived a high-school education, and in his business career was reared in his father's paper mill, the details of which business he very thoroughly learned, and to which his entire attention was given up to 1879, with the exception of the time when he was a soldier in the Union army during the civil war. He made the first sample of postal cards that was ever made in the United States, and so satisfactory was his work that he was given the contract for four years. He also made bank-note paper and paper for Government bonds, and his work showed a degree of artistic finish that made it very popular. When the great civil war came up he cast aside personal considera- tions to espouse the cause of the Union, and in April, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company A, First Connecticut Regiment of Infantry, for three months, and after serving his time re-enlisted in Company B, Tenth Regiment, with which he served until the war closed. Through his own merits he rose to the rank of Captain, and made a brave, faithful and efficient officer. After the war closed he became Colonel of the First Connecticut Militia, and is now Post Commander of George B. McClellan Post,

HISTORY OF TEXAS.

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No. 9, G. A. R., Houston. While in the service he was wounded in the thigh at New- berne, but not seriously.

In 1879 Mr. Hudson came South, and until 1883 was a resident of Dallas county, Texas, then came to Harris county, and pur- chased a farın of about 3,000 acres near Lynchburg, where he has since given much of his attention to the raising of blooded stock, making a specialty of fast trotting and pacing horses and Polled Angus and Jersey cattle. He has done much to raise the grade of stock in Harris county, a fact for which he deserves the greatest credit; and in numerous other ways he has done hercu- lean work in making Harris county one of the most important and prosperous counties in the Lone Star State. Mr. Hudson re- sided on his farm until 1889, when he moved to Houston to educate his children, since which time he has been extensively and suc- cessfully engaged in the real-estate business, and has shown his confidence in Houston and Harris county by investing largely in country and city property. He has infused into his work the enterprising and energetic spirit inherited from his Northern ancestors, together with their practical and shrewd business views, and naturally there could be but one result, -that of success.

He has shown such undoubted public spirit that the citizens of Harris county have come to repose the utmost confidence in him. He has never been known to violate his word, and, as he is of a kind and gener- ous disposition, his friends are legion. He has ever been active in the political affairs of the section, is a Democrat in his views, and, while he has never hield any political office, he has been chairman of the county and city committees, and is a well-posted man on the political questions of the day. 38

He is a Knight Templar in the Masonic or- der, belongs to the Knights of Pythias, and the Woodnien of the World. In every re- spect he has proved an acquisition to the section in which he resides, and is himself much pleased with the people, climate, and prospects of Harris county. He has a fam- ily of three sons and three daughters.

3 AMES M. BOYLES, M. D .- The value of a professional man to any community is marked not merely by his learning and skill, his proficiency in medical and surgical practice, but also by his character, both private and professional, his honorable adherence to medical ethics and his personal integrity and benevolence of purpose. The aim of the modern phy- sician is high, and it is no longer possible for a person to pick up a smattering of medi- cine here and there, nail up his shingle and strike out, hiit or miss, when called upon to prescribe in cases of illness. The demand of the age is for gentlemen of culture, re- finement and scholastic finish, who shall add to literary education a thorough course of professional education in some established institution of recognized authority.

Dr. James M. Boyles, of Houston, Texas, has inet these requirements most fully and beyond what is expected or fulfilled in most cases. This intelligent young practitioner has prepared most fully for the noble pro- fession, having, in fact, used every possible agency for the equipment of himself for the successful practice of medicine, and has al- ready built up a desirable practice as the re- sult of his superior attainments.

Dr. Boyles first saw the light in Baldwin county, Alabama, March 1, 1858, his par- ents, James M. and Eliza (Munnerlyn)

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Boyles, having been born in the Palmetto State, and died at the ages of forty and fifty- nine respectively. The father was a minis- ter of the Baptist Church, and in this faith he reared his children, four of whom sur- vive him at the present time: Laura, wife of J. M. Earle, of Baldwin county, Ala- bama; Nannie, widow of Dr. O. S. Holmes; Thomas H., a resident of Baldwin county, Alabama; and Dr. James M., the subject of this sketch. Dr. Boyles was reared to the happy and healthful, even if rather arduous, duties of farin life, and in addition to ob- taining a good scholastic education in the district schools near his home, he learned lessons of energy, economy and perseverance while following the plow and wielding the hoe on his father's farm in Alabama. In 1880 he removed to Houston, Texas, and began the study of medicine under Drs. Stuart & Boyles, with whom he continued to pursue his studies, and practiced in their infirmary until the winter of 1882-3, when he went to Mobile, Alabama, for the purpose of taking a course of lectures in the Alabama Medical College. In the spring he returned to Houston, resumed his practice in the in- firmary and his medical investigations until the next winter, when he again went to Mo- bile and took another course of lectures. At the close of the terni of 1884 lie returned to Houston, resumed his former occupation and continued to remain there until the fall of 1884, when he once more entered the Alabama Medical College, from which he graduated in March, 1885, having attended three full courses, and practiced the medical profession in the meantime. He gave special attention to surgery, and immediately upon his graduation he opened an office in Hous- ton, where he now commands a satisfactory patronage. From 1890 to 1892 he was City

Health Officer under Mayor Scherffius and rendered valuable service to the city by his strenuous and successful efforts to keep the smallpox from becoming epidemic in 1890, there being a number of cases in the city at that time.

On the 17th of February, 1887, Dr. Boyles married Miss Maggie Campbell, a native of Walker county, Texas, and daughter of Dr. F. Campbell, who is now deceased, but who was for many years one of the eminent physicians of that county. To their union two little children have been given, -Edward and Ella. Dr. Boyles is of a social and friendly disposition, and has shown his approval of secret organizations by becoming a member of the Knights of Pythias, in which he has attained to the Uniform Rank; the Modern Woodmen of the World, and the Chosen Friends. He and Mrs. Boyles are worthy members of the Presbyterian Church.

RANCIS M. COLLINS, who has been a locomotive engineer for thirty-six years, and has been run- ning an engine on the Houston & Texas Central Railroad for twenty-three years, was born in Allegheny City, Alle- gheny county, Pennsylvania, October 2, . 1840, a son of James and Susan (Thomp- son) Collins, both natives of Glasgow, Scot- land. James Collins emigrated to the United States in 1829, and after remaining here about seven years, returned to his native land and married. In 1836 he came with his wife to the United States, settling in Allegheny City. Afterward he moved to Clarington, Monroe county, Ohio, where he died in 1865. His wife then returned to the old home in Pennsylvania, and died there, at the age of seventy-one years.

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

Mr. Francis M. Collins, the second of six children living (Robert, Francis M., Jennette, Ella, Mary Jane, and Calvin), left home at the age of sixteen years, went to Nashville, Tennessee, and November 28, 1857, began as a locomotive fireman on the old Nashi- ville & Chattanooga Railroad, now the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad, and remained in the employ of the company to the breaking out of the war. He then joined Company F, in the Confederate serv- ice, under Captain Butler, and among other engagements he participated in the battles of Shiloh, Stone River and Perryville, but was never wounded or captured.

After the close of the war he returned to work on the road mentioned as engineer, and had charge of an engine until 1871, at which time he came to Houston. In the fall of that year he began running an engine for the Houston & Texas Central Railroad Company, and for the last twenty years has been running a passenger train. It is great- ly to his credit that it can be said that dur- ing the long thirty-six years of his life as engineer, no one has ever received an injury by his oversight, he has never been in any serious wrecks, and in the comparatively in- significant accidents that have happened in connection with his train, no one has ever been hurt; and besides, not as much as $50 damage has been caused to the railroad property in his charge by any inattention on his part. This is a record of which any en- gineer would be proud. Mr. Collins is a member of Gray Lodge, No. 329, F. & A. M., and of the Brotherhood of Engineers, Division No. 139. Mrs. Collins' social rela- tions are in the Presbyterian Church.

November 17, 1876, is the date of Mr. Collins' marriage to Sue L. Achey, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, and daughter of

P. H. and Rebecca R. (Moore) Achey. Her father was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1817, and died in 1890; and his father once owned land where now stands the great city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Re- becca R. Moore was born at Orange Court House, Virginia, near Richmond, March 21, 1821, a daughter of William and Susan (Day) Moore, her parents having married June 2, 1803. Concerning the death of Mrs. Re- becca R. Achey, a Chattanooga, (Tennessee) paper had the following:

"FUNERAL OF A REMARKABLE WOMAN.

"Rebecca R. Achey (née Moore), was born in 1821, February 15, at Orange Court House, near Richmond, Virginia. Mrs. Achey was a direct descendant of President Madi- son, a cousin of President Taylor and a relative of Jefferson Davis' first wife. Her parents removed to Nashville, Tennessee, when she was quite young. The 14th day of May; 1846, she married P. H. Achey, the private secretary of Governor Andrew Johnson. She was the mother of five chil- dren. One son, the eldest, lives in Chat- tanooga, Tennessee, and is an engineer on the Lookout Mountain Broad-Gauge Rail- road. She had been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for fifty years. Her death occurred at the lome of her son, in St. Elmo, Thursday, June 6, and she was buried in Forest Hill cemetery Friday, June 7, 1889. Rev. J. Wesley Smith preached the funeral sermon."

Mrs. Collins has three brothers, -Will- iam H., John H., and James M. The last named is an engineer on the Austin branch of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad. Mr. and Mrs. Collins have had five children, namely: John T., born September 27, 1878; Francis Moore, March 11, 1880; Earl Wil- bur, born January 14, 1884, and died April 5, 1887; Allen Bruce, born June 25, 1886; Robert A., born August 7, 1889, and died June 21, 1891.

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HISTORY OF TEXAS

RITZ ROHDE, the subject of this sketch, was born in Prussia, Ger- many, March 5, 1845, and is a son of Anton and Christina Rohde. The father came to the United States in 1849 and settled at Houston. In his native country he was a brewer, but after coming to this country he worked as a laborer. Earn- ing money in this way, in 1853 he sent for his family, consisting of a wife and two young children. The mother died and the father brought up the children, training them to habits of industry and usefulness and giving them such educational advantages as his limited means would allow. The eldest daughter, Frances, was married to Louis Tail and resides on a farm in Harris county. The other daughter, Tena, was born in Houston, and died in infancy.

Fritz, the only boy of the fainily, and the subject of this sketch, was a lad only eight years old when his parents settled in Houston. At the age of thirteen he began to learn the butcher's trade under Henry Schultz. He worked at this trade until the closing years of the war, when he entered the Confederate armny, serving in the Home Guards. Resuming work at the butcher's trade at the close of hostilities, he worked on a salary for two years, when he em- barked in business for himself, opening a butcher's shop in Houston, in the old city market house. Through all the business changes, trade depressions, fires and finan- cial disturbances, he has steadily pursued his calling, and by industry, economy and inethod has gradually accumulated from year to year, until he now owns between 400 and 500 acres of land in Harris county and valuable city and suburban property in and around Houston. He still gives his personal attention to business, having for

twenty-seven years had a stall in the market house, where for six days out of every week in these twenty-seven years lie has been, rain or shine, hot or cold, excepting only when prevented by sickness, ready to supply his customers. He has established a repu- tation for honesty and fair dealing second to none, and has risen from the position of a common apprentice to that of a man of solid means, and from poverty to a place of ease. Mr. Rohde has made it a rule through life to consider well before taking a decisive step, especially has he found it advantage- ous to act on his own judgment, holding himself responsible in all cases for the con- sequences of his actions and accepting all results uncomplainingly.

In 1867 Mr. Rohde married Miss Mary Froenn, of Houston, and by this marriage has had four children, the eldest of whom, Tena, is deceased. The three remaining children, John, William and Joseph, are associated with their father in business and render him valuable assistance.

Mr. Rohde is an enthusiastic Mason, having taken all the degrees in the ancient York rite, up to and including that of Knight Templar, being a member of Gray Lodge, No. 329, F. & A. M., Washington Chapter, No. 2, R. A. M., Ruthven Commandery, No. 2, and is also a member of the A. O. U. W.

Although Mr. Rohde weighs 230 pounds, he is as active as a boy yet in his'teens, and is the picture of health. He accounts for his well-preserved condition by saying that he has always led an active out-door life, abstained from the runious practices by which so many young men break down their constitutions, and has lived a moral, tem- perate life during his mature years. He is in every way a worthy representative of that

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sturdy German stock which has helped to people the rich agricultural districts and filled all the avenues of trade in this great Re- public.

0 ANIEL C. SMITH, present Post- master at Houston, ex-Mayor of the city, and for thirty-six years a resident of Harris county, is a na- tive of Carroll county, Ohio, where he was born April 30, 1836. His boyhood was passed on the farm, and his early educa- tional advantages were restricted to the local schools. In 1852, just after having turned into his sixteenth year, he went, at his own suggestion, but in accordance with the wishes of his father, to Cincinnati, where he was duly apprenticed to the trade of a machinist, in the Niles Locomotive Works, of that place. His apprenticeship was to last four years, which period he served out faithfully to the end. In the meantime, by attending night schools, he supplemented the meager mental training which he had received in the schools of his native county, so that, by the time he had inastered his trade, he was also master of a good share of practical knowledge in the way of mathe- matics, book-keeping, business forms and the like. He remained about a year as a journeyman in the Niles Locomotive Works after completing his apprenticeship, when he accepted a position as locomotive en- gineer on the Marietta & Cincinnati Rail- road, which he held until August; 1858. At that date he came to Texas, and, locating at Harrisburg, in Harris county, -then the end of a division of the Buffalo Bayou, Bra- zos & Colorado Railway, at which were located the machine shops and round- houses, -he secured employment, where he worked till the opening of the war.

When hostilities were declared between the North and South he entered the Con- federate army, enlisting in . Company B, Second Texas Infantry, with which he reached the field in time to take part in the battle of Shiloh, and was in all the subse- quent operations in Mississippi, up to and in- cluding the fall of Vicksburg. Being paroled at that place he returned to Texas, and was placed on detail duty as master mechanic of the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos & Colorado River Railway, now part of the Southern Pacific system, where he remained until the close of the war. With the disintegration of the Confederacy, and the unsettled con- dition of the railway business which fol- lowed, he gave up active connection with the railway interest for a time, and, coming to Houston, formned a partnership with B. C. Simpson and C. C. Wiggin, with whom he established the machine shops here, which were conducted by them until 1874. At that date Mr. Smith sold his interest in the business to Messrs. Simpson & Wiggin, and became manager of W. G. Bagby's foundry in this city. He held this place for six years, when, in 1880, he received the ap- pointment of master mechanic for the Louisiana division of the Southern Pacific Railway, holding this place also for six years.

In the meantime, and in fact from the date of his first settling in Houston, he had taken an active interest in matters pertain- ing to the welfare of the city, had always been known as an advocate of liberal meas- ures with respect to the city's development, and had testified to his faith in the future of the place by investing his earnings in real estate, which he improved in accordance with his means and the demands of the property. His friends and those interested

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

in a good city government saw fit, there- fore, in the spring of 1886, to have him inade the Democratic nominee for the office of Mayor, to which office he was elected in April of that year. He served from that date until 1890, being re-elected in 1888. It is the general judgment of the thoughtful, law-abiding people of this city that he made one of the best Mayors Houston ever had. While his administration was vigorous and progressive, and was especially marked for the inany improvements set on foot and car- ried through, the rights of property owners were duly protected and the public welfare promoted in every fair and reasonable way. It is a fact that the city's finances were in a deplorable condition previous to his election as Mayor, the city bonds being quoted as low as sixty cents on the dollar and payment of the interest on part of the city's indebted- ness having been entirely stopped. The ad- ministration of which he was the head took hold of the finance question, and before the expiration of the four years the city's credit had been fully restored, and to-day its bonds are quoted at 106., It would be folly, of course, to say that this, as well as all the other important acts of reforni, adjustment and improvements, was due to Mr. Smith's unaided efforts. He had the hearty co- operation and assistance of an earnest, in- telligent and public-spirited Board of Alder- men, with whom it is proper to say that a number of the most important ineasures originated. But the general direction of the work, of necessity, fell to the Mayor, and it was his unflagging zeal for the public good and his sincere desire to see the city placed on the high vantage-ground of per- fect solvency and general efficiency in all de- partments that prompted his action as liere indicated.

In November, 1893, Mr. Smith was ap- pointed Postmaster at Houston, and his friends make the statement without any lies- itancy that his administration of this im- portant office will be quite as successful as was his administration of the office of Mayor. Certainly in a city the size of Houston and growing at the rapid pace it is, there will be plenty of room for the exercise of executive ability of the better sort, and for the display of zeal in the public service such as has here- tofore characterized his public career.

Mr. Smith has been a Democrat from his earliest years. He has taken an active in -. terest in politics for the last quarter of a century, having served on local committees and as delegate to the usual number of county, district and State conventions. He recalls the fact with some pleasure that he was a delegate to the Congressional conven- tion at Waco, in 1870, that nominated Hon. Roger Q. Mills for a seat in the lower house of Congress the first time, and cast his vote for that gentleman.

In 1867 Mr. Smith married Miss Lydia Barnard, then a resident of Galveston, but a native of England, reared in New York city. The result of this union has been four chil- dren: Sidney J., Edward C., Ella M., and Daniel C., Jr. Mr. Smith's immediate fan- ily constitute all of his kin that reside in this State. His parents died in Ohio, where they settled in the early half of this century. His father, Patrick V. Sinith, was born in north Ireland in the year 1793, and was brought to America some three years later, being reared in Philadelphia. Mr. Smith's mother's maiden name was Sarah Trotter, and she was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, of Scotch ancestry. Mr. Smith had two brothers, John C. and James T., who were carly immigrants to California, the former

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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