USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. 2 > Part 20
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JOEL P. SMITH.
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
ter of Maj. James Hartwell Cocke. The marriage ceremony was performed at her father's house. Mrs. Lipscomb survives, and is now ( 1825) resid- ing at Hempstead. She was born December 23, 1810, at Old Point Comfort, Va. Maj. James H. Coeke was a Federal military officer stationed at Old Point Comfort. Later he lived at Mobile, Ala., as a civilian, and there speeulated and accumulated considerable property. Ile returned to Old Point Comfort in 1839, where he resided until 1840, when he brought his family to Galveston, where he served the government as Collector of Customs. His nextofficial position was that of United States Marshal, with headquarters at Houston. He later sold goods at Gay Hill and Independence, Washi- ington County. Maj. Coeke lived a short time at Chappel Hill, and then in 18- located in the Brazos Valley, near Hempstead, where he died.
Judge A. S. Lipscomb, as will be seen in his biog- raphy in Bench and Bar, was one of the Chief
Justices of the Supreme Court of Texas with Hemp- hill and Wheeler, and well known as sueh.
Judge A. G. Lipscomb, present Judge of Waller County, living at Hempstead, is a son of the sub- ject of this sketch. Other sons, J. C. Lipseomb and Frank, also with the widowed mother, reside there.
Judge A. G. Lipscomb was born in Waller County ; there received his early schooling; later attended Baylor University, graduating therefrom in 1878. He studied law under Judge T. S. Reese, present Judge of the Twenty-third Judicial District of Texas, and was admitted to the bar and eom- meneed practice at Hempstead in 1880. He was eleeted and filled with.honor for ten years the office of Prosecuting Attorney of Waller County, and is now (1895.) serving his third term as County Judge.
He was married in 1884 at Hempstead to Miss Katie Bedell, and they have two daughters, Abbie G. and Christiana.
JOEL P. SMITH,
MARBLE FALLS.
Joel P. Smith, an old settler and one of the lead- ing cattle men of Blanco County, was born at Nacogdoches, Texas, April 2, 1833. His parents were Francis and Naney Ann (Slaughter) Smith. Franeis Smith was a native of South Carolina and his wife of North Carolina. Their parents were carly settlers of Mississippi. They moved from that State to Texas in 1827, settling in Nacogdoches. At that time they had a family of five children, and seven inore were born to them. Of these six are now living : Mrs. Miranda Westfall; Zachariah, of Tom Green County ; Mrs. Sarah Smith, of Mason County ; Ruben B., of Blanco County; Mrs. Amanda Reams, of Llano County, and Joel P., the subject of this memoir. Mr. Francis Smith moved in 1811 from Nacogdoches to Fayette County, thenee in 1817 to Burleson County and in 1856 to Blanco County, where he died August 9th, 1867, at the age of seventy years. His widow survived him ten years, dying in Blanco County in 1877 at the age of seventy-five. He was a farmer, a man of moderate means and upright life.
Joel P'. Smith was principally reared in Fayette and Burleson counties, this State. Ilis early life differed but little from that of other youths of his time. He
was enabled to secure but a limited education, and at the age of nineteen was thrown upon his own resources. 1Je has been a " eowman," all his life, having grown up with the industry in the section of the State in which he resides. His start was made with a bunch of cattle consisting of ten cows and their calves, which were turned loose upon the open range. He has steadily prospered from the beginning and now owns a ranch in the Northwest corner of. Blanco County, consisting of 13,000 aeres, adjacent to which he has leased 5,000 acres, all well equipped and stocked with about 2,000 head of cattle. Having given his attention very closely to his own affairs, he has had very little time to devote to publie matters. Being on the frontier, he was in the ranging service during the late war and before that time and later, as long as the country was subject to Indian raids, held him- self in readiness to assist in the common defense. In 1870 Mr. Smith married Miss Annie E. John- son, then of Blanco County, Texas, but a native of Columbia County, N. C., a danghter of Dunean Johnson. Eight children were born to them : Franees, who married Dr. Reed Yett and is now deceased ; May, who died at about the age of
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
fifteen ; Oscar H., died at eighteen ; Ollie, wife of James C. Bacchus ; and Maud, Sidney, Carl and Joyce, the last four being still at home. Mrs. Smith died in 1890. Two years later, in Septem- ber, 1892, Mr. Smith married Miss Cynthia Hardin, daugliter of W. G. Hardin, of Blanco County.
One sou has been born of this union, Damon Philip, born June 21st, 1891. Mr. Smith is one of the most highly respected and influential citizens of the section of the State in which he resides and has been an active promoter of every enterprise inaugurated for its development.
JAMES O. LUBY,
SAN DIEGO.
Judge James O. Luby was born in London, En- gland, June 14, 1846. His father, Daniel Luby, of Cork, Ireland, died when he was an infant. In 1854 Mrs. Luby ( nee Miss Kate Smith) came to New York City, where the subject of this sketch received his education in the public schools.
In 1858 Mrs. Luby was united in marriage to Mr. A. R. Feuille, and in 1860 went with him to Ha- vana, Cuba. Judge Luby visited his mother at Ha- vana in the early part of 1861, and in March of that year took passage for New Orleans, where he entered the Confederate army as a soldier in Company B., First Louisiana Infantry (Gladden's regiment ) ; was stationed at Warrington Navy Yard in 1861 and the early part of 1862 participating in the attack on Wilson's Camp at Santa Rosa Island, on the 8th of October, 1861, and the bombardment at Fort Pick- ens, November 22, and the engagement with the Richmond and Niagara, Battery Lincoln and Fort Pickens, January 1, 1862; was stationed with his regiment at Corinth, Miss., and belonged to the first brigade, Wither's division of Bragg's corps at the battle of Shiloh.
After the battle of Shiloh, having served out his term of enlistment, he was discharged, went to New Orleans and joined the Pickwick Ritles, Fourteenth Louisiana Infantry; was at New Orleans during the exciting period of the passing of Forts Jackson and St. Philip by the Federal fleets; was paroled
by Gen. B. F. Butler, and in September, 1862, went to Brownsville, Texas, where he accepted a posi- tion in the County Clerk's office. At the close of hostilities Judge Luby served under Col. John S. Ford and took part in the fight at Palmetto Ranch.
In 1866 he moved to San Diego, Duval County, and clerked for N. G. Collins until 1869, when he moved to Corpus Christi, and in 1870 merchandized near Fort Ewell, in LaSalle County. From 1871 to 1876 he was Justice of the Peace and a mer- chant at San Diego, where he has since resided. He was the first postmaster appointed at San Diego, and served as such continuously from 1867 to 1884 : was elected County Judge of Duval County in 1876 and filled that office until 1882; was Collector of Customs for the district of Brazos Santiago in 1884-5, and County Judge of Duvall County from 1886 to 1890.
Judge Luby was admitted to the bar in 1879, and enjoys an extensive practice, devoting himself mainly to land law. He was married to Miss Mary JIoffman in 1871. They have five children. Judge Luby is a member of the Masonic fraternity - a Select Master. He has taken an active part in every movement having for its object the develop- ment of Southwest Texas. Politically he is a mem- ber of the Republican party. He is one of the leading men of his seetion - a representative citi- zen of Southwest Texas.
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
C. W. BOERNER,
COMFORT,
A typical German pioneer of the Guadalupe Valley, came to Texas in 1851. He was born in Hanover, Germany, September 3, 1829. Ile first landed on Texas soil at Galveston and proceeded thenee to the port of Indianola and overland to New Braunfels, where he remained for about six months, after which he went into the upper Guada- lupe Valley and engaged in the manufacture of eypress shingles, an important industry in those days, affording, as it did, employment to many of the pioneer families during the time they were pre- paring their lands for the first planting. Mr. Boerner asserts that, but for the eypress of the Guadalupe Valley, it would not have been possible for a large majority of the first settlers of that portion of Texas to have maintained themselves until they could obtain a foothold in the country. The beautiful banks of the Guadalupe river were dotted every three or four miles with shingle camps, the products of which were shipped to Fredericks- burg, San Antonio, New Braunfels and other points, and exchanged for supplies. Mr. Boerner made shingles about two years. Ile then engaged in freighting with ox-teams, hauling timber and sup- plies to Forts Mason, Concho and Clarke. He also, from time to time, made trips to Indianola and Port Lavaca on the coast. By industry and economy he was ennbled to gradually work into
farining and stock raising eight miles northwest of Comfort, where he has about nine hundred aeres of good farming and grazing lands.
Mr. Boerner's father, Christoph Boerner, eame from Hanover, Germany, in 1855, bringing one son and three daughters, viz .: Louis; Lina, who became Mrs. William Huermann; Dorethea, now Mrs. Charles Dinger, of Bourne; and Minnie, who married Fritz Saur. Christoph Boerner was a shoemaker and followed his trade for many years at Comfort. He died at San Antonio. His wife died on the voyage to this country and was buried at sea.
C. W. Boerner learned his father's trade at home in Germany, but did not follow it as a ealling in this country until the breaking out of the Civil War, and then only to support the needs. of his friends and neighbors on his farm. Shoemakers being exempt from military duty, he eseaped the necessity of fighting for a cause with which he was not thoroughly in sympathy. He married, in 1859, Miss Minnie Shellhase. Her father was Gottlieb Shellhase.
Mr. and Mrs. Boerner have five children : Bertha; now Mrs. Julius Karger; Helen, now Mrs. E. Flasch; Louise, now Mrs. Henry Spenrad ; Lina, now Mrs. Ernest Karger, and William, who is single and lives in the city of Austin.
D. C. REED.
RUNNELS COUNTY.
David Clark Reed, an early settler of Burnet County and father of Mr. T. S. Reed of that county, was born in the "lead mine distriet " of Missouri, October 25, 1814. His parents were Thomas and Rebceca Reed, who moved from Ten- nessee to Missouri carly in the present century, whence, after a residence of some years, they moved to Arkansas and settled in Hempstead County. There David C. was principally reared and in 1847, married Miss Elizabeth Howard Russell. After his marriage Mr. Reed settled on a farm in Hempstead County and resided there until March, 1854, when he came to Texas. For a short time after coming
to this State he remained at Austin, and then settled permanently in the eastern part of Burnet County, where he made his home for about thirty years and with the history of which locality he was identified more or less prominently during that time. Mr. Reed was one of the first settlers of Burnet County and experienced many of the hardships incident to the settling of a new country. With his family. consisting of his wife and two sons, Albert S. and Thomas S., the latter mere ehildren, and his slaves, he pitched his tent in the woods, some thirty-odd miles from Austin, the nearest supply point, and opened a primitive " patch " in the wilderness,
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
first constructing a corral for his cattle, in order to keep them out of reach of the Indians, and after- wards erceting & log cabin to house his family. He arrived early enough to get in a erop, planting in the woods without a fence. The Indians were a source of annoyance from the start. They made frequent raids into the country and committed many depredations, the Comanches being especially troublesome. Nearly every member of the com- munity lost stock, and many their lives. One family in the neighborhood, that of Wafford John- son, was almost wiped out, only one, a little girl, being spared.
With the gradual improvement of the country Mr. Reed's fortunes improved until the opening of the late war, when, as was the case with many others, he lost a great deal, but these losses he afterwards repaired in a considerable measure and always lived in the enjoyment of plenty and gave his family every advantage in the way of schools, churches, good society, etc., within his reach. Mr. Reed and his wife were among the first members of the Methodist Church organized where they settled (Hopewell Settlement) and was also a member of the first Masonic Lodge in that community, Mt. Horeb Lodge, Williamson County. He was a zealous member of that order during the greater part of his life, becoming a Royal Arch Mason. He was also an Odd Fellow, joining the lodge at Georgetown. He was County Commissioner of Burnet County eight years and Postmaster at Hopewell about the same length of time. He had good educational advantages, being a graduate of
Kenyon College, Ohio, and was among the fore- most in his community in all educational matters. His sons, four in number, and a nephew and niecc, who were also members of his household, were sent to the best schools in the State, and three of them afterwards became teachers.
Mr. Reed was past the age for military service during the late war and was also incapacitated by physical infirmities, having had the misfortune to lose au eye in early life, but he was a strong sym- pathizer with the Confederacy and assisted in caring for the families of soldiers at the front.
Mr. Reed died in Runnels County, Texas, February 4, 1886, whither he had moved a few ycars previous. Surviving he left a widow, who is still living, and four sons: Albert S. Reed, now a banker at Ft .- Worth ; Thomas S. Reed, a merchant and banker at Bertram and Marble Falls ; Theodore Reed, a merchant of Haskell ; and James W. Reed, a bookkeeper at Marble Falls. His nephew by marriage, David Morgan, whom he raised as a member of his family, resides in Ft. Worth, and his niece, Nannie K. Reed, was married to Lon B. Parks and is now deecased.
Mrs. Reed, the widow, was born in Tennessee. Her parents were James and Elizabeth (Howard) Russell, who died when Mrs. Reed was a child. She was reared by her sister, Mrs. Morgan, in Virginia, whose family she accompanied to Arkan- sas, where she met and married Mr. Reed.
All of Mr. Reed's sons are doing well, showing that the care which was bestowed upon them is bear- ing good fruit.
CHARLES AMSLER,
HEMPSTEAD.
Born at Cat Springs in Anstin County, July 12, Hempstead he built a cotton-seed oil mill which he 1836. Son of Charles Conrad Amsler and Mary operated successfully until his death and which still continues to do a large business. By industry and good management he accumulated a consider- able estate and left his family well provided for. Surviving him he left a widow, two sons, John C. and Louis D., and three daughters, Mrs. Theo- dore Ahrenback, Mrs. Penn B. Thornton, and Miss Julia S. Amsler, all residents of Hemp- stead, except Mrs. Ahrenback, who lives at Hearne. Lowenberger Amsler, who were natives of Switzer- land and came to Texas in 1834. Subject of this memoir was reared in Austin County. On July 11, 1861, married Miss Julia Meyer, daughter of J. D. Meyer, an carly settler of Fayette County. Mrs. Amsler, was born in Houston, February 20th, 1844. Soon after his marriage Mr. Amsler moved to Montgomery County, where he engaged in the sawmill business until 1885, when he settled in Hempstead, where he subsequently lived. At
Mrs. Amisler's father, J. D. Meyer, was a native
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INDLIN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
of Strasburgh, born December 15th, 1806. Hc came to America in 1826 and, after two years' resi- dence in New York, four in Mexico and twelve in
California, came to Houston, Texas, in 1813, from which place he moved to Fayette County, where he subsequently resided.
LOUIS T. FULLER,
CALVERT.
During and immediately following the days of re- construction, Texas, with many others of the late Con- federate States, may, in a business sense at least, be said to have passed through her second pioneer period. The flower of her mature manhood had been laid on her country's altar, her government had been disorganized, her finances exhausted, her once splen- did system of local development disrupted. All was chaos, and seldom, if ever, did a rising generation of young men face a darker outlook, a more forbid- ding prospect for future achievement, than did the young men of the Sonth, in those days. L. T. Fuller, the subject of this brief sketch, was at this time nearing manhood and coming on to the stage of active life and responsibility. He was born May 3d, 1852, in the city of New Orleans. On the break- ing out of the war between the States young Fuller, then nine years of age, came with his widowed mother and her father, Louis C. Trezevant, to Texas from Memphis, Tenn. His father, James T. Fuller, was by occupation a planter and engaged also in various other lives of business. He was a military man, a graduate of West Point Military Academy and, upon the opening of hostilities, in 1861 promptly esponsed the cause of the Confederaey, but died before the close of the struggle between the States. Mr. Fuller's mother, though advanced in years, is living in the enjoyment of good health, a beloved inmate of the home of her son.
Upon coming to Texas the family located at Cold Springs, in Polk County, the grandfather engaging in agriculture and young Fuller for a brief time attending school, after which he sought and obtained employment of the late venerable Samuel L. Allen, of Houston, and William Pool, a Texas pioneer and one of the first settlers of Galveston. He drove cattle for the then widely known cattle firm of Allen, Pool & Co., along the coast from the Trinity River to Matagorda. This he continued for a pe- riod of about cighteen months. Seeing in this character of labor slim profits for financial advance- ment he sought other employment and soon obtained
a situation with the firm of Bird & Harrell, of Bryan. There in 1868 he learned the tinner's trade. He next accepted a position as salesman in the hard- ware store of Day & Burt, doing business at Bryan and Calvert, and later at Marlin, Falls County. He continued with Messrs. Day & Burt until 1873, and the following year, 1874, formed a partnership with Mr. James Connaughten, and engaged in the tinner's and hardware business in Calvert. The connection continued under the firm name of Fuller & Connaughten for about ten years (until 1884), when Mr. Fuller purchased his partner's interest, since which time he has developed the business into one of the most extensive and successful of its kind in Central Texas.
Viewing the fact that the material development of the various resources of the State of Texas dates from about the time that Mr. Fuller and others of his day came on to the seene of action, he must be classed among the successful pioneer business men of this section of the State, having ever been one of the chief promoters of its business interests. He has done much for the upbuilding of Calvert, which has become the center of a wide extent of rapidly developing country. Anticipating the needs of a growing inland city, Mr. Fuller has at various times set about in a business-like and methodical way to supply them. He was one of the chief pro- moters of the iron foundry established at Calvert in 1879, put on foot as a stock company, but sinee become his sole property, and now known as The Fuller Engineering Company.
In 1880 he was active with his time, influence and money in establishing the first cotton oil mill at Calvert which was sold to the National Cotton Oil Mills.
In 1887 Mr. Fuller inaugurated the movement which has given his city its present efficient water works system, of which he is the principal owner. He was the moving spirit, and is half-owner in the Calvert City Ice Factory, which has been in suc- cessful operation since 1889. In 1892 he estat-
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
lished the electric light system in use in Calvert. All of these enterprises have come to Calvert almost in the nature of benefactions, as without them, both singly and collectively, Calvert eould not have attained her present standing and repu- tation as a prosperous, thrifty, pushing business town.
Mr. Fuller married, January 24th, 1874, Miss Mary J. Rice, daughter of Dr. U. A. Riee, for- merly of Maeon, Ga., and sinee 1884 a resident of Marlin, Falls County, Texas.
Mr. and Mrs. Fuller have seven children : James T., Louis H., Marion D., Margaret A., Mary F., Luey T., and Mabel.
GEORGE L. PERRY,
COLORADO COUNTY.
George L. Perry was born in Franklin County, N. C., February 22, 1825 ; moved to Tennessee with his parents, John E. and Nancy Perry, in 1832, and came to Texas in 1841 and settled in Colorado County, where he has since resided. November 16, 1855, he was united in marriage to Mrs. Mary Ann Sapp. Four children have been born of this union :
Erastus, who died April 19, 1858; Lulu V., now Mrs. Charles Taylor, of Columbus ; John and Geor- gie, now Mrs. J. W. Witington, of Yoakum. Mr. Perry is a member of the Masonie fraternity.
He is one of Colorado County's wealthy farmers and sterling citizens and a power for good in his section.
GEORGE K. PROCTOR, M. D.,
CALVERT,
Was born September 8, 1851, near Centerville, in Leon County, Texas, on his father's farm, and there received the rudiments of a good education. He sindied medicine in New Orleans and St. Louis; graduated at the St. Louis Medical College in 1875, and located at Calvert in the same year and com- menced the practice of his profession, but retired from active practice, however, in 1877, and entered the mercantile business, and in 1883 became junior member of the well-known firm of Parish & Proc- tor, in which he has since continued.
Ile was also from 1876 to 1881 a member of the drug firm of Mclendon & Proctor. Dr. Proctor married, February 21, 1884, Miss Lou Ella Gardner, daughter of Judge Alfred S. Gardner, a venerable pioneer of Leon County, of whom further mention is made elsewhere in this work.
Dr. and Mrs. Proctor have five children : George
A., Reetor G., Jewell K., Frank Cleveland, and an infant not named.
Dr. Proetor's father was born in North Carolina ; was carly left an orphan and thrown npon his own resources ; grew up in an bumble way on a farm. While a boy moved to Alabama, where he married and engaged in farming; emigrated to Texas in 1849 and purchased and settled on a farm in Leon County with his family, consisting of a wife and eight children, the subject of this sketch being the youngest that lived to maturity ; was successful in his agrienltural pursuits and at his death in 1880 left a comfortable estate and an honorable record.
Dr. Proctor's mother died in 1877, full of years and good works.
Dr. Proctor is a man of quiet and unassuming manners, of sound learning and abilities and is greatly esteemed.
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
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THOMAS J. MORRIS,
COLUMBUS.
Rev. Thomas J. Morris, the well-known farmer and minister of the gospel, of Colorado County, was born in the State of Florida, December 30, 1843 ; completed his education at the University of the South ; served as a soldier in the Confederate army in Company B., Eighth Florida Regiment, during the war between the States, participating in the battles of the Wilderness and Gettysburg, etc. (in both of which he was severely wounded). In 1867 he moved to Texas, and settled in Colorado
County in 1874, where he has sinee resided. After coming to Texas he married Miss Mary B. Hunt, adopted daughter of Capt. William G. Hunt. This union has been blessed with six children : William HIunt, Howard C., Mabel, Mary E., Thomas J., and Francis Wilmans Morris.
Rev. Mr. Morris is one of the most progressive and truly representative men of his county, and deservedly ranks high as a citizen and Christian gentleman.
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RICHARD KOTT,
COMFORT,
Was born February 12, 1846, in Saxe-Gotha, Ger- many. His father, Ernest Kott, one of the carly German settlers of Texas, came to America in 1854, landing at Galveston in that year, from which place he proceeded almost immediately to Freder- icksburg, via Indianola, New Braunfels and San Antonio. He was a bookbinder by trade and, although the active years of his life were spent in farming, did during the last ten years of his life more or less work at his trade on his farm in Gillespie County. He was born in Saxe-Gothe, Germany, in 1816; followed his trade there, and there married Miss Louise Deetzel. They brought four children with them to this country, viz. : Her- mann, who was a soldier in the Confederate army and lost his life at the battle of Mansfield, Louisi- ana, in 1863; Lena, Richard, and Julius. Erna, Edward and Clara (the latter now deceased) were born to them in this country.
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