USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. 2 > Part 11
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Mr. Oscar Brackett had a store on Main Plaza at San Antonio. He died in 1857 and his wife in 1893. Both were highly respected and greatly beloved and rest side by side in the cemetery at the beautiful Alamo City.
CONSTANTIN HAERTER,
COMFORT,
A venerable old settler of Kendall County, Texas, came to this country from his native home, in 1850. He was born near Gotha, in Saxon-Co- burg-Gotha, in 1819. Mr. Haerter came directly to Fredericksburg, and lived there about five years, since which time he has lived on and developed a fine farm of one hundred and sixty-five acres, at
Comfort. He has never married. He is quiet and unobtrusive in manner, and interests himself little in matters outside of his own domains. He is the president of the German Evangelieal Church of Comfort, established in the year 1891. It may be truly said of him that he is a good citizen and successful farmer.
L. W. CARR,
HEARNE,
Was born in Lenore County, N. C., February 7, 1824. ITis father was Matthew D. Carr, a native of Virginia, and paternal grandfather, Lawrence Carr, a Virginian, who served on a patriot pri- vateer during the Revolutionary War of 1776. Lawrence Carr emigrated to North Carolina soon after the closc of the colonial struggle for inde- pendence, and there his son, the father of the subject of this sketch, was mainly reared ; married Sallie Murphy, a native of that. State, and, estab- lishing himself as a planter, spent the greater part of the remaining years of his life, dying at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. Mrs. Mat- thew Carr survived some years, dying at about the same age. They had seven children who reached maturity, of whom Lewis Whitfield, of
this article, was second in age. Their eldest son, Joshua Carr, died in Florida when a young man. The others were Patsie, who was twice married, and still lives in North Carolina ; James, who died in North Carolina; Susan, who was married to a Mr. Cox, and is deceased; Alexander, who died in North Carolina; Titus, who came to Texas and died in Hill County; and Matthew, who lives in North Carolina. Three of these, James, Alexan- der, and Titus, were in the Confederate service in the late war. Lewis Whitfield Carr was reared in North Carolina, and went to North Mississippi when a young man (in 1847), when that section was a comparatively unsettled portion of the State. Married Mrs. Sidney A. Westbrook at West Point, Miss., 1854; engaged in planting there until 1858;
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INDLIN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
in January of that year came to Texas ; stopped for a time in Washington County, and in Decem- ber, 1858, bought and settled on a tract of land in the Brazos bottom, in Robertson County, about eight miles south of the present town of Hearne. Here be opened a plantation and engaged in farm- ing, which he has since followed. Where he settled there were about sixty acres in cultivation. He immediately put in more, and has developed oire
of the best plantations in the bottom. Ile now owns two plantations, aggregating about 2,700 acres, most of which are in cultivation. He has seen the country grow from almost a wilderness to its present condition, and has been a leading factor in its development. When he settled in the bot- tom, his trading place was Houston, one hundred and twenty-five miles distant, and his post-office,
Wheelock, seventeen miles distant. He helped to build the Hearne & Brazos Valley Railway, of which he is vice-president, and to organize the First National Bank of Hearne, of which he is vice-president. He was made a Free Mason at West Point, Miss., in 1849 ; has since been a mem- ber of the order, and is the present Master of Golden Circle Lodge No. 361, at Hearne.
Ilis wife died in 1883. One daughter (widow of B. W. Beckham), now residing at Hearne, was born of this union. Mrs. Beckham has three chil- dren, daughters : Misses Lee and Floy, and Beverly Beckham. He has never been in public office, but has served the public in other ways. For twenty years he has been a member of the grand jury. He is now the administrator of three large estates. No man stands higher in Robertson County.
DR. ASA HOXEY,
INDEPENDENCE,
Was born in Savannah, Ga., February 22d, 1800, and received a good literary education in the select schools in the town of Washington, Wilkes County, in that State, whither his parents moved during his youth. He graduated with honor at the University of Georgia, in 1820. Ilis medical education was secured in the University of New York, from which he graduated with distinction in 1822. He began practice at Montgomery, Ala., about the year 1823 and resided there until 1833, when he moved to Texas, bringing with him about thirty negroes and $10,000 in money and located in "Cole's Settle- ment," afterwards Independence, Washington County, where be opened two large prairie plant- ations and, later, two in the Brazos Bottom. The latter he abandoned, however, on account of over- flows, and confined his farming operations to bis up- land property. Ile also engaged in merchandising at the town of Old Washington for a time with Messrs. Bailey and Gay, under the firm name of Bailey, Gay & Hoxey, but lost instead of miade money by the venture, from which he accordingly withdrew. He was a prominent figure and active participant in the political movements that led up to the Texas revolution and in the revolution itself, being a delegate to the convention that issued the declaration of Texas Independence, to which his name is affixed with that of the other patriots who
composed that historie body. He was for a while medical censor of the Republic of Texas during the presidency of Gen. Sam Houston. He did not practice medicine after coming to Texas, but never- theless, at all times manifested a lively interest in matters pertaining to the profession. He was a staunch 'supporter in the cause of education and contributed liberally to the support of Baylor Uni- versity, during its early years at Independence, and to other institutions of learning.
He owned one of the finest private libraries in Texas and his home was a favorite resort of the great men of the times. He was an omnivorous, but discriminating reader, had an unusually reten- tive memory and was a brilliant and delightful con- versationalist. Of dignified and courtly presence, possessed of an intellect of uncommon strength and clearness, his society was sought by the able men and true patriots that were his compeers, associates and friends. Before leaving Alabama for Texas in 1833, he was married to Mrs. Elizabeth Bennett, a New York lady, who accompanied him to his new home, which she graced with her beauty, refinement and noble matronly qualities for many years, dying November 16, 1865. Two children were born of this union, Thomas Robert Hoxey, who died of yellow fever at Galvestou, September 16th, 1564. while a soldier in the Confederate army, and Mrs.
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INDLIN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
Sarah Ann Williams, now residing at Independence, Washington County. Texas. Dr. Hoxey died May 20, 1863.
He was a member of the Masonie fraternity, join- ing the first lodge organized at Independence, one of the first established in Texas. As a Democrat he belonged to the South Carolina school, and was a warin and steadfast supporter of the political views.
of John C. Calhoun. Dr. Hoxey belonged to a race who studied deep the principles of civil gov- ernment and to whom personal honor, human liberty and free institutions were dearer than life itself.
He rests in peace with the spirits of Texas' great departed and his name deserves a place beside theirs in the annals of his country.
FRANKLIN W. SHAEFFER,
CORPUS CHRISTI.
Born in the State of Ohio, August 4, 1825. Mar- ried to Rowena Davidson, of Galveston, Texas, August 7th, 1877. Died at San Diego, Duval County, Texas, October 25th, 1886.
The progressive, energetic and successful citi- zen, whose name appears at the head of this brief biography, was a type of the enterprising American, who by industry, integrity and intelligence, achieves success in life, and enjoys every hour of the years allotted to him by his Creator.
Franklin Wingot Shaeffer came from that sturdy stock that originally settled and peopled the State of Pennsylvania. His father was Frederick W. Shaeffer; born in that State on the eighteenth day of October, 1792. A trade was an honor as well as promise of thrift in the period in which he grew up; and after a faithful apprenticeship, be became master of his trade at nineteen; married early Mary Boose, a worthy and industrious helpmeet ; and, lured by the promises of an extended sphere for his business, went West, and settled permanently in the town of Lancaster, Ohio, where to him were horn several children, and amongst others he, of whom we write, Franklin W. Shaeffer.
The good and Christian mother lived long enough to implant in the growth-structure of her children, by teaching an example, a reverence for all sacred things, high moral principles, and staunch integrity. She died in the year 1844, when Franklin was about nineteen years old. The father survived her for many years afterwards, dying at the ripe age of over righty-six years, in the year 1879, honored and loved by all who knew him or were his neighbors.
The subject of this notice was what may be terined a self-educated man. True, he acquired a common school education, a knowledge of the rudi- Ments as the period of his youth afforded.
The same breadth of desire to carve for himself, as possessed by his father, was the inheritance of Franklin W. Shaeffer. The discovery of gold in California turned thither those in whom was fos- tered a spirit of restlessness, and at the age of twenty-four he was one of the " Argonauts," one of the "Forty-niners," whom the pen and genius of Joaquin Miller, and the original humor of Bret Harte, have made historically famous.
Franklin made successfully the long, weary and hazardous journey across the plains and over the Rockies to the " El Dorado." Here he met with all the kaleidoscopic changes that the drift of days in that country afforded, learning day by day those lessons of endurance and self-reliance so valuable to him in after years. What little he accumulated, he preferred to invest in something that had less of the feverishness of gold-seeking, and for the few years of his stay in the far West, he was alternately engaged in mercantile pursuits, and in the manage- ment and ownership of a transportation line, en- gaged in the conveyance of mining machinery and supplies from the immediate Pacific Coast, to the mining camps in the interior.
Gradually, the aggregate of corporate wealth en- croached upon his business, and having a favorable opportunity to dispose of all his interests, he did so and came East, and for many years, in New York. carried on a mercantile business. In 1857 there was a tide of emigration to another land of golden promise, the domain of Texas; and the subject of our memoir was amongst those who in good earnest adopted the Lone Star State as home.
Ife located in a beautiful region, near Boerne. He purchased lands and sheep, and entered into the rearing and breeding of the latter, and the growth of wool, and, with George Wilkins Kendall,
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
was one of the pioneers of the sheep industry of Western Texas. Finding the winters of that region north of San Antonio less favorable to the increase of his flocks than he had anticipated, and not free from some of the contagious diseases that are seri- ous to sheep, he made a personal visit to the section of Texas further south, and with excellent judgment settled upon the Agua Dulee (sweet water) valley, as the field of his future operations; and here he settled permanently, beginning with his own pre- emption, and gradually, by labor, economy and thrift acquired by purchase the magnificent pasture of seventy thousand aeres, under one inclosure, and now valued at half a million of dollars, that bears his name.
Franklin Shaeffer was in all he essayed to do an exemplifier of the principle, that whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well. He supplied the natural deficit of the region an abundance of water by an extensive and judiciously distributed system of wells and windmills, the latter of the largest and most approved pattern. These were supplemented with tanks, some of which are veritable lakes. He was one of the first to fence, thus reducing his losses from straying flocks to the minimum, as well as economize in employing a less number of shepherds.
From the close of the war up to 1880 he was eminently successful, and not only amassed. wealth, but had the proud satisfaction of knowing that the finest floeks of the West, and the best and highest priced wool, were the products of his sheep ranch. He led in the industry ; and the millions invested by others marked them as but followers, encour- aged and stimulated by his remarkable success and prosperity.
With keen foresight as to the depreciation of values in sheep, and a desire for a relief from the attention to details in their management, requiring constant personal labor, he gradually changed his business from that of sheep-raising to the rearing and breeding of cattle and fine horses. In this line he was as markedly successful as in the sheep in- dustry ; and in this pursuit he was engaged at the time of his death. His death was the proximate result of an accident, in which he was thrown from his family carriage and one of his limbs broken, and at which same time his wife was injured, but subsequently recovered.
Franklin Shacffer was a man of striking phy- sique, and commanded attention wherever he went. Ile was never ostentatious, and his manners were winning, and there was a hearty, genial frankness in them that brought him pleasant companionships, and sincere and enduring friendships. He was broad of heart and generous-often impulsively
so - and his charities were abundant, and well bestowed.
As a citizen of this Commonwealth, he was an exemplar. He was a model in the strictness of his integrity and carefulness in business matters. He was to the fore in support of the principles of law and order, even in turbulent times.
In politics he was never a partisan, but a free- thinker, and fearless in the open expressions of his opinions, matured from a careful study of the prin- eiples of our government, of political economy, and the blended relations of capital and labor.
On national issues, he leaned to Republicanism, but being an earnest believer in an intelligent suf- frage, he voted as his reason dictated.
He is a subject of note in this volume because he was of prominence in the region of Southwest Texas, and established one of its leading industries. He had the love and confidence of all those amongst whom he lived, and had he been spared, and be- come an octogenarian as did his father before him, he would have been a patriarch, and lived to see the land of promise he had loved and adopted, fulfill all his predictions of its golden future.
His union with Miss Rowena Davidson was a very happy one. She was the daughter of Capt. John Davidson, a wortby pilot of the port of Gal- veston, who lost his life in an heroic endeavor to save the crew of a vessel, wrecked near that place.
She is an accomplished and cultured lady ; and since the death of her husband has managed the large estate, left entirely to her disposal, with pru- dence and business skill. She has devoted herself to the education of her children, four of whom survived their father. For several years she was virtually compelled to live upon the ranch and supervise its management ; but latterly she has been enabled to place the same under lease, and with her children and mother, las removed to San Antonio, and purchased a residence there, pretty and com- fortable in all its appointments, and in proximity to the educational institute, where her daughters can obtain its benefits.
Franklin Shaeffer came to Texas a compara- tively poor man. When he settled in the Agua Dulce Valley, the great Southwest was a primeval wilderness, subject to the incursions of hostile and predatory Indians, and filled with a lawless element. HIe established himself in that section, and did much to redeem it and encourage peaceful pursuits and industries, and render possible the civilization of to-day that therein abounds.
He was successful in all that makes life desirable, and has left behind him a name that is a priceless
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS. 449
legacy to his children, and will be to his children's children. The beneficial effects of his life-work will long be felt in that part of the State, with whose growth and history it is identified. It affords ' the writer genuine pleasure to aeeord to him a
place in this volume, the object of which is to preserve in imperishable form, to coming genera- tions, a brief recollection of the men who, amid trials, perils and adversities, have accomplished mueb for Texas.
AUGUSTA PERRY DRISCOLL,
NAVASOTA.
Few men were better known in Grimes County than the late Capt. A. P. Driscoll. He was & native of Arkansas and was born in 1829.
It is not known just when he first came to Texas, but it is known that he located at Huntsville, in Walker County, in the early 40's, and that he was stage agent in early times along the route between Shreveport, La., and El Paso, on the Mexican border. He was one of the first station agents for the Houston & Texas Central Railway Co. at Cypress Station, in Harris County, and in 1867 was appointed station agent at Navasota, in Grimes County, which position he filled for many years. Upon the breaking out of the late war he organized a company of soldiers and was elected their Cap- tain. Owing to physical disabilities, however, he resigned his commission and was made Commis- sary at Cypress Station, where he remained until
the close of hostilities in that eapaeity, and after- ward as railway station agent and telegraph opera- tor until he removed to Navasota, where he eon- tinued in the service of the H. & T. C. R. R. Co. until 1879, having served this company for twenty years. He died in 1880. He was married in Harris County, Texas, in 1860, to Miss Lydia Morton, of Louisiana, who with five daughters and one son survive him. The children are: Bettie, now Mrs. John Hamilton, of Navasota; Katie, now Mrs. F. Chimene, of Houston; Jennie, now Mrs. Walker Humphries, of Pensacola, Florida; Wave, now Mrs. Max Otto, of Houston; Eva, residing at home with her mother and John W. Driscoll, of
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---. Capt. A. P. Driscoll served one term as
Mayor of Navasota and was honored and beloved by all who knew him. He was the grandson of Col. Martin Parmer.
JAMES M. WILLIAMS,
INDEPENDENCE.
Capt. James M. Williams was born in De Soto Parish, Louisiana, March 28th, 1833. His father, Rev. M. E. Williams, was a prominent Baptist minister of Northern Louisiana. 1
The subject of this memoir completed his educa- tion at MeKinzie College, Clarksville, Texas, a famous institution of learning presided over by Rev. Dr. McKinzie, and was a fellow-student of Hon. J. W. Herndon, of Tyler, for many years a member of the United States Congress from Texas. At the be- ginning of the war between the States, Capt. Williams eulisted as a private in Drew's battalion, the first
command organized in his native State; served for a time in Florida, and then, under Gen. J. Bankhead Magruder, in Virginia, where he was transferred to the Second Louisiana, commanded by his cousin Col. (afterwards Brigadier General) Jesse Williams, participating in the great battles fought in front of Richmond and many minor engagements, in which he bore himself with conspicuous gallantry. When Gen. Magruder was sent to assume command of the military district of Texas. Capt. Williams ae- companied him, and was assigned to the transport- ation department and stationed at Houston. Hle
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INDLIN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
was subsequently promoted to the office of post quartermaster, with the rank of Captain, and stationed at Tyler, where he continued in charge until the close of the war. When the war closed he was serving as quartermaster at Brenham, under Gen. Robertson.
July 16, 1864, he was united in marriage to Miss Sallie A. Huhert, daughter of Dr. Asa Hoxey, an early and distinguished Texas pioneer. Very soon after Dr. Hoxey's death it became necessary for Capt. Williams to administer on the large estate left by deceased, which he did with marked ability and entire satisfaction to all parties at interest. His own affairs were managed in an equally system- atic and skillful manner and he left a fine property to his beloved wife.
He was kind, benevolent and helpful to those in
distress, a steadfast champion of temperance and a consistent member of the Baptist Church. He died at Burnett's Well, near the town of Luling, Texas, September 11, 1881, where he had gone in hope of restoration of health. He manifested a deep interest in county, State and national affairs, and all that pertained to the. welfare of the country. He was. a delegate to the national convention held at St. Louis, in 1876, which nominated Samuel J. Tilden for President. He was a member of the Masonic and Patrons of the Husbandry fraternities and an active worker in both organizations. He left four children: James Hozey ; Emma, wife of E. Hoffman, of Brenham; Nettie, wife of C. L. Anderson, of Ardmore, I. T., and Asa M. Hoxey, who is living with his mother at their home at Independence.
THOMAS D. WILSON,
BRAZOS COUNTY.
Born in North Carolina, and partly reared there ; ran away from home when a boy and went to Ten- nessee, where he lived a number of years ; returned to North Carolina, married, and engaged in mining for gold; again went to Tennessee, where he en- gaged in planting ; then, after stopping a year or two in Arkansas, came to Texas, locating in what is now Harrison County, where he engaged in farm- ing until the fall of 1851, when he removed to the Brazos bottom, in Brazos County, then in the heart of the wilderness, where he opened a plantation, on which he employed his hundred or more negro słaves profitably until the war between the States ; during the war hauled cotton to Mexico and brought back merchandise, greatly adding to his wealth ; continued to make his home on his plant- ation from 1865 to the time of his death in 1879, at the age of seventy-eight years; was four times married, and raised eight children to maturity, seven of whom, Laura, Ruth, Alfred F., Pattie, now Mrs. M. W. Sims, Mary, Alice, and Thomas D., were born in Texas of his marriage to Miss Rachel Flournoy, a daughter of Dr. Alfred Flour-
noy, who fought in the battle of New Orleans under Gen. Andrew Jackson ; was a man of strik- ing appearance, being six feet, two inches in heigbt, and weighing 225 pounds ; had light hair, fair complexion, and clear blue eyes, the steady gaze of which was equaled by that of few men ; was a man of marked individuality of character, reserved, strong willed, well informed, rather im- perious, though courteous, in manner ; courageous to a fault ; had devoted friends, and enemies too, who both disliked and feared him ; in faet, was a typical Southern planter of the old regime, widely known and widely influential in his day. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity from early manhood. His son, Alfred F. Wilson, was born in Harrison County, Texas, December 16, 1847 ; was taken to Brazos County with his parents in 1851 ; has always lived in this State, and for many years has been engaged in planting and stock- raising ; now resides in Robertson County, Texas ; married Miss Fannie Gleaves, daughter of Frank Gleaves, Hermitage, Tenn., and has three children : May Herbert, Alice Ray, and Thomas D. Wilson.
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
451
WM. C. ROBERTS,
ALVIN.
Wm. C. Roberts was born in Matagorda County in 1862. He is a son of Columbus W. Roberts, deecased (also a native of the same county), whose father, Ransome Roberts, deceased, was a pioneer of 1836. Ransome Roberts located in Matagorda County on coming to Texas, located on Caney Creek, where he established himself as a farmer and stoek-raiser and raised a family of ten children, three of whom survive and live at differ- ent points in Texas. He was a native of Georgia. Columbus W. Roberts, father of the subject of this notice, married Miss Mollie Harris, a daughter of Parson Harris, a widely known clergyman of the M. E. Church South, and like his father, located on Caney Creek. Here he reared a family of six
children, of whom Wm. C. Roberts is the oldest. These are well settled in life in various parts of the State and are useful and honored citizens of the communities in which they reside. Mr. Roberts is a contractor in Alvin, where he also conduets a livery business. He married Miss Sallic O'Connor in Houston, February 1st, 1888, and has one child, a daughter named Flora. Mrs. Roberts is a native of Mobile, Ala., and was born December 4, 1867. Sbe is a most estimable and accomplished lady. Mr. Roberts is a pushing, clear-headed business man, who has done much toward aiding in the up- building of the thriving town of Alvin and the development of the resources of the surrounding country.
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