USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. 2 > Part 22
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After the inauguration of IIon. C. A. Cul- berson as Governor of Texas, Dr. Simpson was tendered and accepted the position of Superin- tendent of the State Lunatic Asylum at Austin, an- office which be is filling in a manner worthy of his high reputation as a physician. Dr. Simpson mar- ried Miss Ida B. Williams, daughter of Dr. Duke Williams, at Temple, Texas, in 1883. They have
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three children: Edna, Kennedy, and Kate. Learned in his profession, ripe in experience, firm yet kind, and possessed of rare executive ability,
the Governor could have selected no better man for Superintendent of the Lunatic Asylum, located at the capital city.
HENRY D. GRUENE,
GOODWIN.
Born July 25th, 1850, in Comal County, Texas, F. Simon (deceased) a well-known pioneer who son of Ernest Gruene, a venerable Texian pioneer still resident near New Braunfels ; grew up to stock- raising and trading, which he engaged in for several years after reaching maturity, shipping large num- bers of cattle to Kansas City and other Northern markets.
In 1872 he married Miss Bertha, daughter of
came to New Braunfels in 1846. He has four children, two sons and two daughters, viz. : Paula, Otmar, Ella, and Max. Since going out of the stock business he has resided near Goodwin, Comal County. Has engaged at various times in milling, merchandising and other enterprises and now owns valuable property interests.
ALVIN MORGAN,
ALVIN.
Alvin Morgan, an estimable citizen of South- eastern Texas, was born in Vermillion Parish, La, July 15th, 1812: moved to Texas in 1855, followed various occupations, and in 1879 was employed by the railroad company to run the pump at the water tauk situated at the point on the line where the thriving town of Alvin now stands.
Impressed with the natural beauty and the rich- ness of the soil of the surrounding country he, in 1882, purchased 1,280 acres of land from the State and twelve acres from a non-resident owner. Upon this tract the first part of the town of Alvin, named
in his honor, was built. Mr. Morgan was the first Justice of the Peace for the place, and was for two years engaged in merchandising. He married at Victoria, Texas, Miss Sarah E. Hayes, daughter of Rudolph Hayes, a stock-raiser of Brazoria County. She died in 1861, leaving two children, Olivia and Alvin Morgan, Jr. His second marriage was to Miss Ecephaney Hoffpaner. They have one child, a daughter, Mary Alice, now Mrs. T. M. Savell, of Alvin.
Alvin has become famous as the center and ship- ping point for the finest fruit-growing region of Texas.
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WESLEY OGDEN.
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WESLEY OGDEN,
SAN ANTONIO.
The late Judge Wesley Ogden, deceased June 16th, 1896, was for many years a prominent figure in Texas as pioneer, lawyer and judge. He was born in Monroe County, N. Y., the year 1817, and was the fifth child of Benjamin and Luey (Johnson) Ogden, both of Pennsylvania. His paternal grandfather was William Ogden, also a Pennsylvanian by birth, whose father was one of two brothers who came from England and settled in that State. The other brother located in New York State, where he became the founder also of a large and influential family. William Ogden was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, who finally located a large tract of land in Pennsylvania at the head- waters of the Ohio river. Judge Ogden's maternal ancestors were of German descent. His maternal grandfather, Moses Johnson, was born in Pennsyl- vania.
Benjamin Ogden was married in Pennsylvania and soon after settled in Monroe County, N. Y., then a new and almost uninhabited section of the country. There he pioneered as a famer. He served as an officer under Gen. Winfield Scott in the War of 1812 and participated in the battle of Lundy's Lane and other historic engagements. He died in the year 1833. His wife, Mrs. Luey Ogden, died while her son, Wesley, was yet an infant.
Born on what was then the Western frontier, of thrifty, yet humble parents, reared in a wild country as one of the common people, he proved, however, to be of no common mould. He was accorded and took full advantage of such schools as the country then afforded, after which he attended the local district school, then took an academic course of study, and later rounded off his studies with a brief course at Brockport College, N. Y.
He began life for himself as a school teacher in Summit County, Ohio. Later he studied law at Akron, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar of that State in the year 1845. Hle soon thereafter returned to New York and taught school in the city of Rochester from 1815 to 1849.
Owing to poor health, he then, upon the advice of a physician, sought a milder climate, and in so
doing landed at Port Lavaca, Texas, late in 1849. The change proved most beneficial and he there soon entered upon the practice of law. In 1866 he was appointed United States District Attorney for the Tenth Judicial District of Texas. He filled that position for about one year and was then made Judge of the District, the duties of which office he most ably and acceptably discharged until the fall of 1870.
The following January he was appointed an Asso- ciate Judge-of the Supreme Court of Texas by Gov- ernor E. J. Davis. He sat on the Supreme Bench four years, the last year as Presiding Justice.
He then retired from the bench and in 1874 loca- ted at San Antonio and there successfully practiced law until the year 1888 when he retired to the shades of a quiet, peaceful and attractive home in that city. Judge Ogden was twice married, first in 1845 to Miss Jane Church, of Albion, N. Y., a sister of Hon. Sanford E. Church, for many years the Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of New York. She died in Texas in the year 1853, leaving three children, viz. : HIelen, who is the wife of Hon. Sam. M. Johnson, of San Antonio ; Henry, who died in 1865, and Hon. Charles W. Ogden, an able mem- ber of the Bexar County bar, resident at San Antonio.
His second wife was Miss Elizabeth Chester, of New York, whom he married in 1858. Of this union five children were born, viz. : Lillian, who is the wife of Mr. Edward F. Glaze, of San Antonio ; Miss Mary S., who is living at home; Alma. who is the wife of Lieut. Wm. Brooke, United States army, a son of Gen. Brooke; Wm. B., in the Governivent employ in the Alaska Sealing Service, and Miss Ida, living at home. Judge Ogden was a life-long and consistent Republican. His father a member of the old Whig party, he imbibed its doctrines and faithfully adhered to the main features of its political faith to the last. He began the practice of law with ample qualifications and steadily advanced to the attainment of high professional eminence. Ile was a lawyer of splen- did abilities and a judge of clear and profound discrimination.
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CHARLES W. OGDEN,
SAN ANTONIO.
A leading member of the Bexar County bar, was born in Calhoun County, Texas, April 6th, 1852, and is a son of the late Judge Wesley Ogden, a biography of whom appears elsewhere in this work.
Mr. Ogden completed his literary education at the Texas Military Institute at Austin, afterwards read law in his father's office, and was admitted to practice in 18 . He located in San Antonio in 18 , and is one of the foremost lawyers of Sonth- west Texas. He is a Republican in polities and one of the leaders of his party in the State.
Mr. Ogden was united in marriage to Miss Cora Savage, a lady of domestic and social culture, who presides over one of the finest homes in San Antonio. They have two children, Ira Charles and Herbert Savage.
No citizen of San Antonio is more highly re- spected than Charles W. Ogden and his influence in matters of public concern is always exerted in the interests of good government and modern advancement. .
L. H., D. H., AND W. A. ROWAN,
BRAZORIA COUNTY.
Pleasant Bayou Rancho is situated in Brazoria County, twenty-five miles southwest from the city of Galveston, and fronts upon the bay. It is bounded upon one side by Hall's bayou and on the opposite side by Chocolate bayou, navigable for twenty miles. Ten and one-half miles of the best wire fence, running from Chocolate to Hall's bayou, completes the inclosure, which embraces 31,540 acres of land, 3,000 of which are heavily timbered. A number of never-failing streams water the place, among the number Pleasant bayou, from which it derives its name.
The line of the Mexican Central R. R. passes directly through the estate, and a depot is situated six miles distant from the dwelling house, which is a typical and beautiful old-time Southern home. The barns, sheds, corrals, cross-fencing and all other appurtenances are fully up to the best employed by the most scientific and progressive stock-raisers in other sections of the country. The land consists of a variety of soils, from sandy loam to dark, rich, chocolate-colored alluvial soil, adapted to the growth of sea-island cotton, corn, oats and all kinds of grasses, grains, vegetables, berries and fruits known to a semi-tropical clime. Oranges, lemons and bananas could be grown. Each month of the year could be made to yield its delicious fruits.
The rancho is eentrally situated in the famous sugar-raising district of Texas, than which there is none better in the Southern States. . The topog- raphy of the country is practically level, the ground rising from the sea toward the interior with gentle slope. The drainage is superb, the mean temperature about 68° and, in conse- quence of these facts and there being no local causes for disease, the rancho is considered one of the most salubrious spots in the State. The nights are always cool, and a grateful and refreshing breeze throughout the warmest summer days blows continuously from the Gulf of Mexico. Shell fish and game are abundant. Boats land within a short distance of the mansion house, and from the balcony of its second story can be viewed wide ex- panses of Galveston Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico beyond, with ships passing and repassing, with their snowy sails spread to favoring gales like the wings of swift-flying and graceful birds.
The house is surrounded by a magnificent grove of fig trees that bear two crops a year. There are about three thousand head of cattle on the place. The rancho was established by Stephen F. Austin, the father of Texas, and was purchased by the present owners, Messrs. L. H., D. N. and W. A. Rowan, from his heirs. He had all the country, from Red river to the Gulf and from the Sabine to
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
the Rio Grande, to select from. He chose this fer- tile and ideally romantic and bcantifnl spot in preference to others, which he considered less at- tractive.
The early Texians confined themselves mainly to raising stoek and such crops as were absolutely es- sential for the subsistence of man and beast. They little dreamed of the possibilities of the soil of the section in which Pleasant Rancho is situated. It and all the country contiguous to the town of Alvin has developed within the past five years into a hortienl- tural region more wonderfully prolific than any in California. Thousands of dollars have been in- vested, fortunes have been and are being made in this line of industry, and it is probable that the days of Pleasant Rancho as a stock farm are numbered, as orchards, strawberry fields and the establishments of florists who raise rare flowers for Northern markets are eneroaching upon it from all sides except that laved by the languorous waters of the Gulf. L. H., D. N. and W. A. Rowan are sons of Mr. James and Mrs. Janc Rowan (of Irish parentage and natives of Lisbon, St. Law- rence County, New York), and were born respect- ively in Newburg, Lenox and Adlington connties, Canada. Mr. James Rowan was a member of the Lisbon Rifles, and as such participated in the battle of Ogdensburg during the War of 1812. He was for a time the owner of a saw mill and flouring mill plant and engaged in general merchandising in Canada, and thereafter moved to New York, where he engaged in the manufacture of lumber at Wood- hull, Oneida County, and conducted a wholesale and retail lumber business in the city of Brooklyn.
His wife's father was Maj. Armstrong, a gallant soldier of the War of 1812, who, like himself, faced the British and burnt gunpowder at the battle of Ogdensburg. In 1876 D. N. Rowan, a lawyer in the city of New York, where he still resides, visited Texas and, seeing Pleasant Bayou Rancho, was mueh pleased with its situation and various advan- tages, and bouglit an interest in the property from the heirs of Austin for himself and brothers L. H. and W. A. Rowan, and later purchased the re- mainder of the traet.
L. H. Rowan, also an able lawyer, came to Texas in 1877, and so well pleased has he been with his new home that, save for occasional trips to the North, he has since remained here and practiced his profession. His wife was a Miss Gray, of Lisbon, N. Y. They have one child, a daugh- ter, Mrs. G. B. Philhower, now living at Natley, N. J.
W. A. Rowan moved to Texas with his family in 1878 and has since made this State his home. He has been twice married, first to Miss Golden, of Virginia, by whom he had one child, a daughter, who died in Alvin, Texas, in 1894; and second to his present wife, Miss Ford, a native of Texas and a daughter of Judge Spencer Ford, of Bryan. She has borne him four children : Spencer Ford, Charles Louis, Robert Livingston, and Archibald Hamilton Rowan.
The Messrs. Rowan arc wide-awake, progressive men who are thoroughly in sympathy with all movements designed for the upbuilding of the country, and few gentlemen land-holders in South- castern Texas have a wider circle of friends.
ANDREW FISCHER,
COMFORT,
A well-known and esteemed citizen of Comfort, is a son of Andrew Fischer, deceased, a native of Prus- sia, who came to Texas in 1868, bringing with him his wife and five children, viz. : Caroline, Fritz, Dora, Amelia and Angusta. His other children, William, Elizabeth, and Andrew, came in 1871. William and Andrew (the latter the subject of this sketch) were soldiers in the Prussian army, and therefore could not come with the family in 1868. The journey was made by sea from Bremen to Gal- vestou and Indianola and overland to Sisterdale,
Texas. One year later the family moved to the present Fischer home near Comfort. Andrew Fischer, Sr., died in 1874, at about fifty-six, and his wife in 1883, at sixty-three years of age. Caro- line Fischer married Joseph Guissler. She is now a widow and lives at Waring. Dora is Mrs. Charles Ochsc, of San Antonio; Amelia is Mrs. Charles Roggenbneke, of Comfort, and Elizabeth is Mrs. Gottleib Fellbaum, of Comfort. Andrew Fischer, Jr., was born June 27, 1848. Fle married, March 8, 1875, Miss Willhemina Boerner, daughter of
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2.
Henry Boerner. She was born in Texas, February 25, 1857. They have three sons and one daughter, viz. : William, born December 6, 1875 ; Hemy, born
September 29, 1876; Lena, born March 3, 1880, and Alexander, born December 4, 1882. Mr. Fischer has a good farm of 145 acres.
WILLIAM DIETERT,
BOERNE,
The late William Dietert, of Boerne, was borne June 21, 1830, in the province of Bradenburg, Germany ; landed at Galveston in 1855, with his brother, Christian, and at once proceeded from that place to Comfort, in Kendall County, where they found work as wheelwrights. Two years later Mr. Dietert went to Boerne, where he established a saw- mill and grist-mill, run at first by water power, which he developed by the construction of dams across the stream and later by steam. The mill burned some years sinec. In his milling enterprise he was joined by a younger brother, Henry, still a resident of ' Boerne. The later years of Mr. Dietert's life were devoted to agriculture. His father was Frederick Dietert, a wheelwright, who came to this country from the Province of Bradenburg in 1856, bringing
with him four sons: Christian, now a resident of Kerrville, in Kerr County ; William, the subject of this notice ; Fritz, a citizen of Comfort, Henry, a citizen of Boerne; and a daughter, Lena, now Mrs. Joe Wiedenhammer, of San Antonio, all born in Germany.
William Dietert married, in 1860, Miss Rose Berg- man, a daughter of Joseph Bergman, a deceased pioneer of Kendall County, mentioned elsewhere in this work. Mr. Dietert died in March, 1894, leav- ing a wide circle of friends, a bereaved widow and nine children to mourn his departure. His children are: Theodore, Annite, Ida, Edward, Ernest, Olga, Minnie, Alma, and Rosa, all born in Kendall County, this State. Ida is the wife of Joe Dinger, a merchant of Boerne.
FREDERICK HOLEKAMP,
COMFORT,
Came to Texas in 1845 as a passenger aboard the " Johann Dethard" on her first voyage to this country, with one of the first party of German eolo- nists who settled in Texas. The ship was laden with two-hundred and twenty-eight passengers, gathered from the kingdom of Hanover, and other portions of Germany, by the German Emigration Company. which was then under the direction of Prince Solms, who accompanied the voyagers to their new homes. Frederick Holekamp was born in Hanover, January 22, 1812. After completing his education at the Uni- versity he engaged in the manufacture of brick, and farming, in his native land. His father, Daniell Holekamp, a builder and contractor, never eame to America. Frederick Holekamp, subject of this notice, married, March 17, 1814, Miss Betty Wilheli-
mena Abbethern, a daughter of Heury Christian Abbethern, who was a member of the household of King Ernest August, then King of Hanover, holding the position of Ministerial Accountant, which he filled until the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Holekamp set sail for America in the full glow of youth and hope to make for themselves a home in the new world. They landed at Galveston, Novem- ber 24, 1844, and proceeded overland to New Braunfels, where Mr. Holekamp was among the first to have a head-right allotted to him by the colony. Dere he remained for about two years and then went to Fredericksburg, where he also lived for two years. He later lived for three years at Sister- dale and still later for a time near San Antonio on a farm. In 1854 he located with his family at
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
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Comfort, which has since been his home. During the late Civil War Mr. Holekamp served the Con- federaey as a member of Capt. Kampman's Con- pany and died in September, 1862, of wounds received in the service. His remains were interred near the camp ground where he expired. The exact spot is now unknown. He left a widow and seven children : George, Justice, Daniell, Dora, Ernest, Johanna, and Bettie. George now lives at Comfort and is one of Kendall County's most pros- perous and influential farmers. He was born at New Braunfels, Comal County, August 7, 1846 ; married Miss Fannie, daughter of Oscar Von Rog- genbuske in Kerr County, in 1871, and has eight children : Ida, Dora, Fritz, Moritz, Elsie, Oscar, Kurt, and Richard. Mr. Von Roggenbuske was an early Texas pioneer and died in 1887.
Julius, the second oldest of the family, was born at Sisterdale, June 10, 1849. He married Miss Susan Fricke at Roundtop, Fayetteville, in 1876, and has eight children: Paul, Bodo, Norman, Louis, Ella, Alma, Erna, and an infant. He is a farmer and lives at Comfort.
Daniell, a well-known and influential business man at Comfort, was born at San Antonio, April 13, 1851. He married Miss Frames, a daughter of Theodore Wiedenfeld, of Comfort, in 1884. They have five children: Otto, Edgar, Clara, Agnes, and Daniell, Jr.
Dora was born August 9, 1854, in New Braun- fels. She married Paul Karger, a farmer living near Comfort, and they have five children: Otto, Elizabeth, Alfred, Bettie, and George.
Johanna, born at Comfort, August 21, 1856, is now the widow of the late F. G. Harner, and lives at Comfort. She has three children : Alex, Minnie, and Chester.
Ernest is a merchant of Johnson City, Texas. He was born at Comfort, March 2, 1859, and mar- ried Miss Dora Muegge at San Antonio, in 1835. They have four sons: Julius, Edwin, Walter, and Conrad.
Bettie was born at Comfort, February 14, 1862, and is now the widow of the late Henry Schmelter. She lives at Comfort and has two children : Matilda and Mjrtha.
To Mrs. Frederick Holekamp belongs the dis- tinction of having made the first American flag that floated to the breezes at the old colonial town of New Braunfels. It was made from the cloth of various old garments of suitable colors, gathered from settlers. It bore the lone star in the blue field and was about two yards long and of proper- tionate width. Its unfurling on the public square gave offense to Prince Solms, the then governor and dictator of the colony, indicating as it did the appreciation of the fact by the immigrants that they had found a home in a free and independent coun- try.
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Mrs. Holekamp still survives, a quiet old lady whose life has been devoted to the welfare of her children and grandeliildren and crowned with their love and veneration.
Her home is in the peaceful and romantic little town of Comfort, where she has passed so many years of a busy life.
WILLIAM WEIDNER,
BULVERDE,
I one of the substantial farmers of the moun- tain .strict of Comal County. His father, Frede- riek Weidner, came to Texas in 1854 from Saxony, Germany, where he was born, reared and learned the trade of a weaver of linen fabrics. After coming to Texas he engaged in farming on rented land near New Braunfels until 1858 and then pur- chased 160 acres of land, a portion of the present ome of his son, Charles Weidner. Here the family grew up. William Weidner, the subject of this notice, had already attained manhood when his parents came to Texas.
The names of the children of Frederick Weidner (all born in Germany except Joseph, who was born in New Braunfels), are as follows: William, Christine Liberecht, Adolf, Charles, Emilie, Auguste, and Joseph. Auguste died at twelve years of age in 1855.
Frederick Weidner was twice married. William, Christine Liberecht and Adolf are children by his first wife, whose maiden name was Christine Waner. She died in Germany in 1848. His second marriage was to Miss Frederica Lombatch.
William Weidner was born in Saxony, April 20,
.
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
1835, and was over eighteen years of age when he came to Texas with his father in 1854. After com- ing to Texas he worked as a laborer on farms for a time and later went to San Antonio, where he worked for Herrmann Kampmann. He served as a soldier in Capt. Kampmann's Company from the fall of 1861 to. 1865 during the war between the States, spending one year in La Grange in a hat factory established by the Confederate States government. After the war he located in New Braunfels and manufactured hats for a year, and later formed a partnership with three others, for the manufacture of sash, doors and blinds, a connection which lasted for three years.
Mr. Weidner located on his present farm in 1871.
It now consists of 400 acres of good farming and grazing lands. He had a fine home and an inter- esting family. He has been for years trustee of the public free schools and has served as County Commissioner of Comal County.
Mr. Weidner has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Cora Reuder, to whom he was mar- ried in January, 1868. She died in November of that year leaving him one child, Hermann Weidner, as a pledge of her affection. He married his second wife, Mrs. Marie Kram, widow of Henry Kram, and a daughter of Andrees Langbeen, of Sisterdale, in Kendal County, 1871. By this union five children have been born : Clara, Natalie, Alvine, Gustav, and Bertha. Three children are deceased.
JEROME C. KEARBY,
DALLAS.
Jerome C. Kearby, nominee of the People's party for the office of Governor of Texas, was born in Arkadelphia, Ark., on May 21st, 1848. His father, Dr. E. P. Kearby, who now resides in Rains County, moved to Texas in 1856, stopping first in Hunt County and in 1857 located in Denton County, where the subject of this brief sketch was reared. His early boyhood was spent on a horse ranch.
At the age of thirteen years he entered the Con- federate army, as a private in Capt. Otis G. Welch's company, Cooper's regiment, which was composed of two white and eight Indian companies. He remained in this service one year. In 1862 his company attached itself to the Twenty-uinth Texas Cavalry, commanded by Charles De Morse as Colonel, with Welsh as Lientenant-Colonel, and the late Judge Joc Carrol as Major. With this regi- ment he served until the close of the war, in Com- pany E., commanded by Capt. Matt Daughtery.
After the war he began the study of law at Me- Kinney, under Judge R. L. Waddill, and continued under him until his death, which occurred in 1867. He then continued his studies under Col. Otis G. Welsh at Denton.
In 1869 he obtained license to practice law and began the study of his profession iu Van Zandt County in that year. In June, 1875, he located in Dallas, where he has since resided and prac- tieed his profession.
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