USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. 2 > Part 12
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C. L. GOODMAN,
ORANGE.
Judge C. L. Goodman, of Orange, Texas, was born January 12, 1854, in Choctaw County, Ala., and educated in the common schools of Texas, and at Eastman's Business College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., graduating from the latter institution in No- vember, 1876. He then returned to Orange, Texas. He came to Texas in March, 1861, with his parents, who located in Jasper County, Texas ; resided first at Sabine Pass and later at Orange until 1876 and then went to New York to school. Ile returned to Orange in 1877 and began work with the Tribune, a weekly newspaper edited by A. P. Harris, helping to get out the first issue of the paper.
On his way home from New York, he stopped at St. Louis and was engaged for a time with Dr. W. G. Kingsbury in Texas immigration work. His connection with the Orange Tribune continued until 1878. In 1879 he became partner with Dr. Shalars, in the drug business at Orange, which he continued until 1883. In 1884 he was elected to the office of county and district clerk of Orange County and was re-elected for four successive terms. In 1894 he refused to again become a candidate
for the office. In his first election he defeated a man who had been clerk for cighteen years, by a large majority. After retiring from public life he engaged in the milling business, which he has since built up to large proportions. His bids fair to be one of the largest and leading mills in Southern Texas. His success in life has been due to good management, the exercise of sound dis- cretion and the possession of natural business abilities of a very superior order. He owns con- siderable realty in various parts of the State. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and Elks fraterni- ties. June 22d, 1887, he was united in marriage to Miss Beauregard Traylor, of Jackson County, Texas. She was born in 1862, in Jasper County, Texas, and is a daughter of J. C. Traylor, Esq., a prosperous stoch-raiser of Jackson County. Four children (all boys) have been born to them, viz. : Charles Riviere, aged eight ; Josiab Traylor, six ; John Willard, four, and Leland Keith, two years old.
Mr. Goodman has a lovely home in Orange, and is one of the most prominent and influential citizens of that part of the State.
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
D. THEO. AYERS,
GALVESTON.
The subject of this memoir was born in Ithica, N. Y., July 21, 1828, and in April, 1834, left his native State for Texas with his parents, David and Ann M. Ayers, and other members of the house- hold.
The party took passage in the brig " Asia." The vessel was wrecked on St. Joseph's Island, opposite Corpus Christi, and residents of the country, Mexicans from San Patricio, learning of the disaster, made their way to the island and eon- veyed the Ayers and other families in small boats up to the village of San Patricio. Mr. Davis Ayers went ahead to the point of destination that he had decided upon near Long Point in Washington County, secured transportation for his household effects, returned to San Patricio and then, loading his earthly possessions (family and chattels) upon wagons, set forth for the home he had selected, which in due time he reached in safety and withont adventure. He had previously come to Texas in 1832 and built what was known as "The Stone House " at the point indicated.
The family consisted of the parents and six children : The eldest, afterward Mrs. L. P. Moore, who resided and died at Temple (her husband, a participant in the battle of San Jacinto and in the war between the United States and Mexico, survives her and lives at Temple) ; Mrs. Rufus C. Camp- bell, now living at Burton, Texas (her husband was also a soldier at San Jacinto and handeuffed Santa Anna after his capture); Mrs. Eliza Alex- ander, who died at Chappell Hill in 1873 (her husband was the late lamented Rev. Robert Alex- ander, a noted Texian pioncer) ; Mrs Sarah Park, now living at Galveston (her husband, now deceased, was a well-known merchant of that city) ; Capt. F. Il. Ayers and D. Theo. Ayers. Capt. F. H. Ayers participated in the ill-fated Somervell expedition, with a few of his comrades gallantly effected their escape from their inhuman eaptors at Mier, Mexico, and returned to Texas.
During the war between the States ( 1861-5) he served a part of the time Quartermaster of Parson's Regiment and in service in the open field signalized ·himself for gallantry. He died at his home in Temple, Texas, January 10th, 1891, after a sue- cessful career as a civilian.
Of the parents, Mrs. Ann M. Ayers died in 1876 and David Ayers in 1878, at the bome of their son,
D. Theo. Ayers, in the city of Galveston. Mr. David Ayers being advanced in years and quite deaf could not enter active service during the war between the States and for these reasons consented to become one of those detailed by the Confederate government to remain at home and care for the fam- ilies of the soldiers doing duty in the field. He was the founder of St. James M. E. Church at Galveston. Both Mr. and Mrs. Ayers were devout Christians and greatly beloved by a wide circle of friends.
The Ayers family resided and prospered at their home at Long Point until the advance of Santa Anna's vietorious army ( more merciless than that of Atilla or Hyder Ali), sweeping castward like a besom of destruction, compelled them and other settlers to abandon all they had and flee for life. They had reached the Trinity river, on their way to Louisiana, when they received news of the glorious and decisive victory won by the Texian army at ever-memorable San Jacinto. They thereupon returned to their home and re-established themselves, to be no longer agitated with fears of molestation by ruthless Mexican invaders.
In 1836 Mr. David Ayers moved to the town of Washington and thenee in 1812 to Center Hill, Austin County, where he was engaged in general inerchandise. During this time D. Theo. Ayers was attending school at Rutersville, in Fayette County, Texas.
In 1840 a band of Indians swept down upon and burned the neighboring town of Linnville and mas- snered many of the inhabitants. A wave of indig- nation swept through the settlement as news of this act of fiendish atrocity traveled from house to house. Volunteers were called for to take part in an expe- dition against the savages and the subject of this sketch and a number of other school boys, who owned saddle horses, were among the first to re- spond. The Indians were intercepted at High Hill, in Gonzales County, and were severely punished in the battle, known as the Plum Creek Fight, that followed.
On another occasion hostile Indians, raiding through the country, passed within four miles of Rutersville, attacked a family, killing a young man, Henry Earther, a member of the household. All the school boys who had horses went out to the residence and helped to bury the deecased, and then followed fast upon the trail of Indians
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
for twenty-four hours under the leadership of Capt. John H. Moore, when, not being supplied with provisions, the pursuing party were compelled to return to their homes.
From 1844 to 1847 young Ayers was employed as a clerk in the general merchandising establish- ment of Moses Park, at Independence, Texas, where the Mexican War being in progress he en- listed as a private soldier in Ben McCulloch's Com- pany, Hay's Regiment, Taylor's Division, U. S. A., and served in the army for six months; returned to Independence at the expiration of that time and clerked for Mr. Sparks for three or four months ; went to Corpus Christi and dealt in live stock until 1849 ; moved to Goliad and engaged in stock-rais- ing until 1854; then drove bis stock out on the Aransas and established a ranch, and sold out in 1855, and moved to Galveston. In 1855 he was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Hall, daughter of Campbell HIall, a well-known pioneer then resid- ing on the San Antonio river. Mr. Campbell Hall came to Texas with Austin's colony about the year 1828, and died at his home, ten miles below Goliad, on the San Antonio river, in 1868. Mr. and Mrs. Ayers have had eight children born to them, three of whom, T. C., W. F., and Emily, are now living, and have seven grandchildren. Mr. Ayers embarked in the dry goods business at Gal- veston during 1855, as a member of the firm of Riddle & Ayers, a connection which continued for twelve months, at the expiration of which time he sold his interest to his partner and moved to La Grange, where he formed a similar connection in the same line with James A. Haynie, and eighteen months later returned to Galveston and went into the grocery business under the firm name of Ayers & Perry, a partnership that continued until 1861, when Mr. Ayers sold out bis interest and moved to his father-in-law's place on the San Antonio river, and formed until the spring of 186i. In the latter year he enlisted in the Confederate army as a soldier, in Capt. A. C. Jones' Company, a part of Col. John S. Ford's famous regiment, a command that covered itself with glory on the Rio Grande, during the fateful struggle made for the Lost Cause. At the close of the campaign he par- tieipated in the fight at Palmetto Ranch, the last of the war, an engagement in which was fired the last shot exchanged between the blue and the gray. Throughout the campaign he won the confidence and esteem of his comrades in arms, by his soldierly qualities and intrepid gallantry. He returned to
Galveston during 1865 and went into the grocery business, in which he was continuously engaged until 1880, when he sold the business to Moore, Stratton & Co., and engaged in the general com- mission business in that city under the firm name of G. B. Miller & Co. Mr. Miller sold his interest to Mr. Ayers in 1891 and the business has since been conducted by Ayers, Gardener & Co.
Mr. Ayers is a member of the Masonic fraternity and Democratic party.
Having come to Texas when it was still a Mexi- can province and since lived in the country under all succeeding governments - Provisional, ad interim, Republic of Texas, State of Texas, Con- federate States, re-construction and State, he has witnessed - the many and strange vicissitudes to which the Commonwealth has been exposed, and through them all, seen the beloved lone star move through light and shade from its nadir proudly up- ward toward the zenith and the high destiny decreed by Providence. Amid all these changing scenes he has not been a passive and indifferent looker- on, but a patriotic actor, his heart beating strong and warm with affection for the land and its people.
Every worthy movement designed to pro- mote the happiness or prosperity of his fellow- citizens, has met with his hearty indorsement and support. Having from the beginning to rely solely upon his own resources, he has made a success of life in a financial way and while that is an end commendable in itself and that must necessarily be accomplished as an aid to wider and more unselfish ends, he has done far more, he has preserved under all temptations and trials an un- sullied integrity, an unpolluted mind and an un- hardened heart. Now with a mind well trained in scholastic lore, stored with the spoils of time that literature has hoarded for those who will think and read, and enriched and disciplined by experience (mother of Wisdom) ; at the head of a leading mercantile establishment of the Oleander City, with his beloved life-companion still by his side and surrounded by children and grandchildren. looking back over his eventful career there must be little, if anything, for him to regret. He is still vigorous and actively engaged in business pursuits and many years of active usefulness apparently await him. A stalwart survivor of the early Tex- ians (a band that would have graced the halcyon days of the Roman Republic) he is honored by all who know him and loved by a wide circle of friends extending throughout the State.
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
LEVIN P. BAUGH, BROWN COUNTY.
The subject of this sketch, while not a native Texian, may virtually be considered as such, since he has resided on Texas soil from early infaney and developed in the conflicts of the Texas frontier the qualities which characterize him as a man. Mr. Baugh is descended from sturdy Scotch stock. His first ancestors in this country settled in Vir- ginia, whence some of them moved to Georgia, probably about the beginning of the present cen- tury. His father, David Baugh, was born in Georgia, as was also his mother, whose maiden name was Pensey Collins. These two as members of their parents' families were early immigrants to Mississippi, met and were married in Tippoo County, that State, in 1832, and moved from there in 1844 to Texas. The senior Mr. Baugh first set- tled in Kaufman County ou coming to Texas, but moved from there in the early spring of 1858, and settled in Brown County. At that time Brown County was on the extreme western frontier of the State, had only a little more than a year before been created hy act of the Legislature, and was as yet unorganized. Mr. Baugh assisted in its organ- ization in the summer of 1858, and became one of its first commissioners. The population was very sparse, being confined to a few settlements along the streams, embracing those well-remembered pioneers, W. W. Chandler, Ichabod Adams, T. D. Harris, W. F. Brown, Archie Roberts, Moses Anderson, William Connell Brooks, W. Lee, H. C. Knight, Richard Germany, the Hannas, and possibly a few others whose names can not now be recalled. Stock-raising was the only industry, and it was the excellent range which the country afforded at that time that induced most of the settlers to take up their abode in that section. The elder Mr. Baugh was engaged in the stock business, and never found it necessary afterwards to move, but made his home in Brown County till his death, which occurred in 1867, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. His widow survived him a number of years, dying there in 1895, aged sixty-seven.
Levin P. Baugh, of this article, was born in Tippoo County, Miss., October 28, 1812, was the fifth in age of his parents' seven sons and seven daughters, being the baby of the family at the time of the removal to Texas. He was in his six- teenth year when his father settled in Brown
County. He received practically no education, and what he has accomplished is to be attributed solely to native energy, force of character, per- sistent industry and mother wit. Growing up on the frontier he early became familiar with all its ways, its perils and pleasures forming his chief pursuits. He has gone through all the border . warfare in Brown County from the first " brushes " with the Indians to the " fence-cutting troubles " of later years, and it would probably be no exaggeration to say that his experiences dur- ing the thirty years' conflict from 1858 to 1888, when the county was finally rid of such troubles would make a very respectable volume of itself, if given in detail. An instance or two, only, will be men- tioned. About a year after the Baughs had settled in Brown County the Indians came into the com- munity on one of their monthly raids. The family was aroused one night by the barking of the dogs, and Levin, knowing from the signs that Indians were about, hastily took down his gun and disap- peared through the back door in an opposite direc- tion from where the redskins seemed to be. Circling around he came upon the scene from the rear and pieking his way cautiously got within gunshot dis- tance of the Indians without being discovered. He singled out one whose general form he could see fairly well by the starlight and drawing a bead on him fired, at the same time yelling and dodging through the brush on the lookout for others. None, however, showed up elose enough to be shot at, though he could hear them scampering through the thicket. He saw the Indian he fired on fall and, returning to the place, found his body. Seiz- ing the redskin by the leg he dragged him to the house and threw the body over the yard fence where he proceeded to examine it at his leisure, and later removed the sealp. An examination next morning showed that there were several Indians in the party, and young Baugh could only account for their flight by the supposition that they thought themselves surrounded by several whites and ran without waiting to find out how many whites there were.
Again, in 1865, Mr. Baugh was cow hunting in . Comanche County, when word was received that a family of movers had been murdered by the In- dians in Hamilton County. A party of eleven, himself one of them, was hastily formed to go in
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L. P. BAUGH.
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
pursuit. The Indians were supposed to be Coman- ches and were returning to their reservation on the head-waters of the Brazos. Prominent geographi- cal points by which they would direct their course were watched and the intervening country surveyed with field-glasses, from one elevation to another. At last the rangers discovered the Indians some six miles behind them. Taking the back track they struck the trail about a mile in the rear, from which point riding rapidly on they saw a short distance ahead of them, emerging on to a prairie, two bucks and a squaw, each well mounted. A considerable ravine lay between the Indians and their pursuers and not being able to pick their way in the ebarge, all of the rangers' horses beeame for a minute or two " ditched " . except that of Mr. Baugh. He, by aceident, struck the ravine at a narrow place and bis horse jumped it. This threw him in advance of his companions and his horse going at full speed soon brought him up with the Indians. He was armed with an Enfield rifle and a braee of pistols, and having made the charge with his gun drawn, be fired as soon as he was within range, on the old buck who was riding with the squaw and fanning her with a fan made of eotton-wood leaves. The ball struck the Indian at the base of the brain and went entirely through his head. He fell instantly from his horse and expired. Dismounting, Mr. Baugh drew one of his pistols and opened fire on the other buck. His first shot struck the Indian in the shoulder, the sceond missed and the third took effeet in his bip. The Indian held on to bis borse which, taking fright, ran forward and carried his rider out of range of pistol shot. Remounting, Mr. Baugh unwound his lariat and took after the squaw, intending to rope her, but at this juncture the main body of the Indians, some twenty-five or thirty, who were traveling in advance, having heard the firing, turned about and appeared on the scene. About the same time also the rangers came up, and for a few seconds the indications pointed to what prom- ised to be a lively fight; but one of the white men appearing on an eminence at some distance yelling, gesticulating and waving his hat, led the Indians to believe that there was a large body in pursuit, and without waiting to assure themselves of the num- her by whom they were attacked they took to their heels and were soon out of sight. Mr. Baugh took possession of the aceoutrements of the Indian he had killed, which consisted of a bow, a well tanned buck-skin arrow case, filled with arrows, a raw-hide shield, a pair of silver tweezers and a pocket-knife, which trophies he after- wards gave away to a gentleman traveling through the country, but would like very much now to have.
In 1868 Mr. Baugh married, and after that, though a great deal on the range, he became more eautious in his dealings with the Indians. After the war, as is well known, the settlers along the frontier were greatly annoyed by cattle and horse thieves, and the people living in Brown County had this very troublesome elass to deal with for several years. Mr. Baugh was a sufferer from their depre- dations, and was frequently ealled on to run down these lawless characters and reeover property taken by them. It is perhaps true, as elaimed by old set- tlers, that the law was not always the most effective means to use in dealing with these characters; at any rate it was not in all eases called into requi- sition, summary punishment being dealt out by the citizens when there was a prospect of a defeat of justice by the law's delay. Mr. Baugh, however, always insisted on allowing the law to take its way unless the personal seeurity of a citizen was threat- ened, but when this was the case he too became an advocate of the use of those important adjuncts of the courts, the rope and six-shooter. Being a large landholder he was forced to take an especially active part during the "fence-cutting troubles." His troubles with the fence-cutters began by their posting the following notice in a conspicious place on his ranch: " Mr. Baugh, take down this fence ; if you don't we will cut it, and if we eut and a drop of the cutter's blood is spilled, your life will pay the penalty." He wrote underneath it: "You cowardly cur! This is my fence and you let it alone." To which he signed his name. This was equivalent to a declaration of hostilities on both sides, and the war began. The fence was eut and put up several times in succession till at last Mr. Bangh eaught the parties in the act. Being boys he told their parents and offered not to prosecute, provided the depredations ceased ; but he met with no encouragement along this line, and he then turned to the law. He applied to the local author- ities but got very little satisfaction, and at last adopted measures of his own, still, however, within the law. He hired a man, a stranger in the com- munity, to go live among the fence-cutters, furnish- ing him with money to buy a small place and means to live on, and instructed him to fully post himself on all the doings of the gang and to keep him (Baugh) advised of these. It took time to accom- plish this, but it was done. Then when a list of the fence-cutters had been obtained and a general raid was being planned a company of rangers which had been sent up from Austin by Gen. King, the Adju- tant-General, with whom Mr. Baugh was in corre- spondence, appeared on the scene and at an oppor- tune time were turned loose on the fence-eutters,
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
who were caught in the act of destroying long strings of fences. A fierce fight followed and sev- eral of the cutters were killed or wounded, the rest leaving the country, which finally put an end to their depredations. The county was thus rid of one of the worst troubles with which it had ever been afflicted and all good citizens were heartily glad of it. Such were afterwards permitted to enjoy the fruits of their industry unmolested, and there was a marked increase in the industrial growth of the county as well as a change for the better in the moral tone of the community.
Mr. Baugh abandoned stock-raising, after the old style, when the country began to settle up, and turned his attention to farming. He began investing in land just after the war, and owns at this time a ranch of 10,000 aeres, all lying in one body, about five miles north of Brownwood, nearly half it valley land lying about Pecan Valley, all of it under fence, 4,000 aeres being surrounded by a five-foot rock fence, making it the finest farm in Brown County, and one of the finest in the State. All of it is utilized for farming and stock-raising, and is conducted according to modern methods. To the task of acquiring, protecting and improving this place, Mr. Bangh has devoted the best years of his life, and is still following up his early labors
with the most persistent and arduous efforts. In- cidentally, and in a general way, he has interested himself in public matters in the community where he resides, but has filled no offices, nor had other pursuits than those mentioned. He has contrib- uted to the upbuilding of some local enterprises, helped to foster a spirit of industry, encouraged the school interest, and lent his influence to every thing of that nature calculated to benefit the coun- try in which he lives.
On September 23, 1868, Mr. Baugh married Miss Frances E. Moseley, a daughter of Capt. Daniel H. Moseley, of Brownwood, Mrs. Baugh being a native of Cherokee County, Texas, where her father settled on first coming to the State at about the age of eighteen. He was from Georgia, and married in Cherokee County, Texas, residing there some years. He was all over the frontier, traveling as far as Arizona, but settled at Brownwood in 1862, and lived there the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1892. He filled the offices of Sheriff and County Clerk of Brown County, and both as an official and citizen was well liked.
Mr. and Mrs. Bangh have six children living : Arizona Isabelle, John Morgan, Mary Blain, Frances E., Levin P., Jr., and Urolla.
E. M. SCARBROUGH,
AUSTIN.
E. M. Searbrough, though still in the vigor of mature manhood, may truthfully be called a Texas pioneer. He comes of a pioneer stock - people who cut their way through the cane-brakes of the South- cast and fought the savages in the early part of this century. His father, Lemuel Scarbrough, died on his old plantation, near White Plains, Calhoun County Ala., in 1850, leaving a widow with the care of twelve children - seven sons and five daughters. E. M. was then four years old, there being one younger boy. The mother, like the brave, strong woman that she was, took up the affairs of her hus- band and began the personal management of her plantation and slaves. IIer fortitude and good sense bore her bravely and business prospered. She saw her older children settled in life and her younger bidding fair to enter manhood and woman- hood as become the children of such a parentage.
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