USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. 2 > Part 25
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located in the mountains of Bexar County, where he lived until 1860 and then removed to his present home. Ile has been twice married. By his last marriage he has two sons and two daughters, all single. He helped build the Catholic Church at New Braunfels and has been active in good works.
JAMES TALBOT,
ROBERTSON COUNTY.
James Talbot, deceased, for many years a resi- dent of Robertson County, Texas, was born in Morgan County, Ga., in 1805, and was & descendant of that old Georgia family of Talbots for whom Talbot County in that State was named. His father was William Talbot, a well-to-do planter, and was, it is believed, a native of Virginia, emi- grating to Middle Georgia about the close of the last century.
James Talbot was reared in, his native State and at about the age of twenty-one went to Alabama and settled in Pike County. There he resided a number of years and was twice married, moving thence to Texas. He came to this State first in 1849, remaining only a short time. He moved out and settled in 1852, stopping for a while in Wash- ington County, and settling permanently in the summer of 1853 in Robertson County, where he had in the meantime purchased land. Though a number of settlements had been made along the Brazos where he bought, still but little improving had been done, and he was one of the first to open a plantation in that vicinity. The old Talbot home- stead is about five miles from the present town of Calvert, and there Mr. Talbot spent all his subse- quent years in Texas. He was a plain farmer ; but, with a fair degree of success as such, fulfilled all the obligations of a good citizen, and left this world somewhat the better for having lived in it. He was for many years a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, and a Mason, joining one of the first Masonic Lodges organized in the county, that at old Sterling.
Mr. Talbot was three times married, and the
father of four children. He first married Miss Eliza Moore, of Pike County, Alabama, and after her death, Miss Hannah Herring of the same county. The issue of the former marriage was & daughter, Eliza, and of the latter, a son, Romanus, and a daughter, Ann. Eliza was twice married, first to Dr. Jones, of Alabama, and after his death to Dr. Ware, of Texas, and died in Robertson County, this State. Romanus Talbot lives on the old Talbot homestead in Robert- son County. Ann was married to Charles P. Salter, and is now deceased. Mrs. Hannah Herring Talbot died January 1, 1855, and someyears afterwards Mr. Talbot married his third and last wife, Miss Mary Rueker. A daughter was born of this union, Fannie P., now Mrs. John La Prelle, of Austin. Mr. Talbot had four brothers, Matthew, William, Greene and Hale, two of whom, Matthew and Greene, were in Texas in an early day, but never lived here. Ile also had two sisters, Mrs. Nunnelly, who lived and died in Georgia, and Mrs. John Harvey, who accompanied her husband to Texas in 1835 and settled on what was then the very outskirts of civilization, being a point near the present Talbot homestead in Robertson County where the same year the father, mother and a sou were murdered by the Indians, and a six-year-old daughter was taken into captivity and held for a number of years. The history of this captive child, Ann Harvey, afterwards Mrs. S. Briggs, who lived for many years in Robertson County, forms one of those thrilling episodes in which the early history of Texas abounds.
James Talbot died in 1862.
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539
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
HENRY PANTERMUEHL,
SMITHSON'S VALLEY,
farmer living on the Guadalupe river in Comal County, and a daughter, Augusta, who is the wife
Was born in the province of Pommeris, vieinity of Koitenhagen, March 19, 1842. Hisfather, Joachim Pantermuehl, a farmer by occupation, emigrated to of Benjamin R. Smithson, of Smithson's Valley. Ameriea in 1854, with his seven sons (subjeet of this notice ) and two daughters. Of these daughters Mary was at that time married to John Schultz, now a prosperous farmer, who accompanied her to the New World and now lives on the Guadalupe river, in . Comal County. Louise, the other daughter, is Mrs. Chas. Ohlrich, of Smithson's Valley, in the same county. A third daughter came to America a few years later with her husband, Fritz Wunderlich, and located at New Braunfels, where she died May 17th, 1878, leaving a son, Julius Wunderlich, now a The subject of this brief notice, Henry Pantermuehl, was twelve years of age when he arrived in this country. He lived on a farm during his earlier years, acquiring a thorough knowledge of the busi- ness and is now a prosperous farmer. He married, May 20th, 1874, and has three living children : Herman, born June 12, 1876; Emilie, born July 16th, 1878, and Richard, born November 9th, 1879. Mrs. Pantermuehl's maiden name Miss Pauline Startz. She is the daughter of Henry Startz, and was born January 9th 1856.
CHAS. GROSSGEBAUER,
GOODWIN, COMAL COUNTY,
Resident near New Braunfels, farmer by occupa- tion, came to Texas from the province and town of Brunswick, Germany, in 1857. Was born in Zil- feldt, Brunswick, November 7th, 1847. He was accompanied to this country by his mother, then a widow, who later married Henry Kellermann,
under whom this subject learned his trade, Em- barked in business for himself in 1875 and has since been quite successful. Married in 1874 Miss Caroline Warnecke, and has three sons and three daughters : Charles, Louise, Albert, Anna, Emma, and Jerry.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SMITHSON,
SMITHSON'S VALLEY,
Is a Texas pioneer and was the first settler in Smithson's Valley. He was born in Jefferson County, Ala., March 19, 1825. His father, William Smithson, a native of Virginia, and soldier in the War of 1812-14, came to Texas in 1837 from Ala- bama with his wife and nine children and died in 1844. Of this old family three members only, the subject of this sketch, Jane and Richard C., are now (1895) living. B. F. Smithson removed to
Comal County in 1851 and located on his present homestead, where he has since continuously resided. In 1842 he was a member of Capt. Belting's Company of Texas rangers, participated in the battle of Salado and later took part in many other skirmishes with the Mexicans and Indians. During the Mexican War he was a member of Bell's Regi- ment and was stationed on the Texas frontier. Ile was the first postmaster of Smithson's Valley and
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
assisted in building the first school house in that section of the country. He married, January 9, 1856, Miss Augusta Vogel, a daughter of Louis Vogel, an carly Texas pioneer. Mr. and Mrs. Smithson have four children, all born in Smithson's
Valley, viz. : Louise ( wife of Mr. Henry Wezen, of Smithson Valley), Sarah ( wife of Theo. Bose, of the same locality), Richard B. ( who married Miss ' Augusta Wonderlich), and Emma ( Mrs. Adolf Hoffeing, residing near Burnet, in Kendall County).
ARMISTEAD E. WATSON,
MARLIN.
Armistead E. Watson was born January 28, 1834, in Prince Edward County, Va., the seventh of ten children, whose parents were Joseph A. and Jane (Bruce) Watson. Joseph A. Watson, also born in Prince Edward County, was a son of Col. Jesse Watson, who served with the rank of Captain in the War of the Revolution and was subsequently appointed Colonel of State troops. He was a son of John Watson, who was a native of Virginia and of Scotch ancestry, and was among the early settlers in the colonies.
The worthy mother of Mr. Watson was the daughter of Alex. Bruce, and was born in Lunen- burg County, Va., as was her father, Alexander. His ancestors were from Scotland.
Armistead E. Watson was reared on a plantation and secured his education in the principal schools of that day, which were of superior order. In 1856 he decided to leave the Old Commonwealth. His course lay through Montgomery and Mobile, Ala., by rail, and thence by steamer to Galveston, Texas, via New Orleans. From Galveston he went to Washington County, where he purchased a tract of land, on which he settled. His slaves came by land and were about three months on the road. There, amidst new scenes, he commenced the building up of a new home for himself and to do his part in developing the grand resources of his adopted State ; but he was not long to remain in those pur- suits. The ominons war-cloud, long hovering over the land, soon broke in savage fury. Responding to a sense of duty, he promptly enlisted in Company G., Fourth Texas Infantry, commanded by Colonel, afterward General, Hood, took part in many of the great battles of the war, and bore himself as became a gallant soldier fighting in defense of his home and country. Among the battles in which he partici- pated may be mentioned Gaines' Mill, the Seven Days' battle around Richmond, and Malvern Hill.
At the end of two years, spent in almost continu- ous fighting, he was released from service on account of failing health, and returned home to Texas and again resumed his agricultural pursuits, which he followed until January, 1868, when he moved to Galveston and engaged in business as a cotton buyer. In 1870 he made another change, going to Falls County, where he engaged in plant- ing. Subsequently he became engaged in raising and dealing in stock, acquiring, from time to time, land interests. In the spring of 1892, he assisted in the organization and became president of the First National Bank of Marlin.
Mr. Watson possesses admirable business quali- ties and has been eminently successful in all his operations, at the same time doing much towards the development and growth of the country.
He was married May 25, 1869, to Amanda, daughter of the late Churchill Jones. To this union three children were born: Irene, Clara, and Armistead. Armistead, a bright and promising youth of eighteen years and the idol of his father, was untimely taken from this world by a stroke of lightning whilst pursuing his studies at Roanoke College, Va., June 27, 1892. This was a sad blow to his devoted father, inflicting a wound from which he will never recover.
Ilis wife died June 8th, 1874, at the age of thirty years. She was a member of the Baptist Church. He was subsequently married, February 18th, 1878, to Xeminia C. Powers, daughter of Joseph and Susan (Turner) Powers, who were among the old and prominent families of Alabama. To them has been born one child, Ximinia. Mrs. Watson is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
In 1884 Mr. Watson was elected by the Demo- eratic party to the Nineteenth Legislature, and filled that responsible position with credit to him- self and satisfaction to his constituency.
A. E. WATSON.
541
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
RICHARD KIMBALL,
MERIDIAN,
Richard Kimball, a leading lawyer and one of the most extensive planters in Bosque County, Texas, was born in New York City in 1845, the eldest of five children born to Richard B. and Julia C. (Tomlinson) Kimball. The Kimballs were a very old English family, tracing their genealogy back to remote times. The progenitor of the American branch, Richard Kimball (a name that has passed down from generation to generation in the family), crossed the ocean and settled in Massachusetts in 1635. The Tomlinsons were also an ancient English family, representatives of which came to America in colonial days. Both families contributed gallant soldiers to the patriot armies of the American Revolution and distinguished mem- bers to the learned professions in America in the earlier and later history of the country. The father of the subject of this memoir graduated with honors at Dartmouth College, studied law and began practice at Waterford, N. Y. ; shortly there- after moved to New York City, where he soon rose to eminence and became attorney for various rail- road corporations aud financially interested in railroad building ; in 1846 bought various tracts of land in Texas, aggregating more than 100,000 aeres, and about 1859 founded the town of Kim- ball on the Brazos river, in Bosque County. It was on the cattle trail and soon became a flourish- ing place. Its prosperity continued until railroads were built throughout the country and then, being
left inland, its fortunes declined. It is still a post- office. He was the leading spirit in the Galveston, Houston & Henderson Railway Co., organized about the year 1853. The road was completed from Galveston to Houston and he served as its president until the war between the States. After the war he disposed of his enterprises in Texas and thereafter devoted his time to a large corporation (principally railroad) practice in America and Europe. He was a polished and educated gentle- man of refined literary tastes and was the author of several books. He died in 1892 in New York. Ilis wife had died in 1879.
The subject of this notice graduated at Dart- month College in 1855 ; studied law at Poughkeep- sie, N. Y., and was admitted to the bar in 1867, and the following year came to Texas and located on a fine estate on the Brazos river, some 3,000 acres, which he proceeded to improve. In 1888 he moved to Meridian and engaged actively in the general practice of his profession and is now con- sidered one of the best lawyers in that section of the State.
Ile has ever been an active working Democrat, is chairman of the County Democratic Executive Committee and has for years been a delegate to the various party conventions.
In 1881 he married Miss Nannie A. Ogden, of Missouri. They have five children : Richard Hunt- ington, May, Julia, Harold Ogden, and Margaret C.
JOHN M. ZIPP,
NEW BRAUNFELS,
Oldest son of a Texas pioneer of 1847, the late John Jacob Zipp, was born in Germany and was about seventeen years of age when he came to Texas with his father and family.
Ife married in June, 1861, Miss Helen Hoffman,
daughter of a worthy Comal County pioneer. She was born in 1839.
They have a family of six children. Mr. Zipp is a prosperous fariner, a man of great thrift and in- dustry, and a fair type of Comal County pioneer.
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS
THOMAS HARVEY PUCKETT,
KENEDY.
T. H. Puckett was born March 2, 1825, near Terre Haute, Ind., where his parents, Isam and Edith (Garrett) Puckett, natives of North Car- olina, had settled at an early day. His mother died twenty-four hours after his birth, and his father April 7, 1835. In 1836, he, together with a brother, Micajah, and a sister, Hannah Puckett, were brought to Texas by a paternal uncle, Thomas Puckett, who moved to the infant Republic with his family in that year, and opened a small farm about twelve miles distant from the present city of Austin, which was founded and established as the seat of government under the laws of the Republic of Texas. Three years later, William Hornsby and William Gilleland were the nearest neighbors of the Pueketts. Gilleland was killed by the Indians about the year 1841.
Travis County in 1836 was situated at the ex- treme western limit of the settlements in the very heart of the wilderness, and was subject to well- nigh ineessant Indian raids. Upon many occa- sions the hardy pioneer family found it necessary to figlit the savages in defense of home and life, and met with the usual number of perilous adven- tures.
Mr. Thomas Puekett drove a herd of esttle to Coles County, Ill., in 1858, and, owing to the hardships and exposure incident to the trip, died soon after reaching there, at the home of a married daughter, who ministered to his last wants. He . left eight children, four boys and four girls.
The subject of this notice, T. II. Puckett, who had then about reached manhood, went to Indiana on a visit at the commencement of the war between the United States and Mexico, and there met and enlisted under Capt. Black, who was raising a com- pany for service in the United States army. Three older brothers, William, Richard, and James P. (who were afterwards killed at the battle of Buena Vista), also went out with this company. T. H. Puckett passed through the war without serious
mishap, and received his discharge at New Orleans in 1847, and returned to his home in Travis County, where he remained until 1849, when he aceepted em- ployment with a Mr. Ewing and drove a herd of eattle overland with him to California, having numerou sharp encounters with Indians along the route. After remaining in California for more than a year, Mr. Puckett and about twenty other young men associated themselves together and went to Chili, for the purpose of buying land and engaging in raising wheat, flour then commanding about one dollar a pound on the Pacific slope. After spend- ing a few months in Chili, however, they abandoned this purpose, made their way to the Amazon river, and later after visiting a number of English and Freneh ports, landed at New York, from which city Mr. Puckett proceeded to Texas by way of New Orleans and settled on the San Antonio river, in what was then (1852) a part of Goliad, but since 1853 a part of Karnes County. Here, near the present town of Kenedy, he has sinee resided. He has been twice married, first in Karnes County, January 15, 1857, to Miss Elmira Archer, who bore him eleven children (six boys and five girls ) all of whom are living and nine of whom are married, and second, December 20, 1892, to Mrs. Hannah Cook. There were no children by the second marriage. Mrs. Elmira Puekett died August 27, 1886, and Mrs. Hannah Puckett, September 3, 1894. Mr. Puckett served in Company H., Twenty-fourth Texas Regiment, during the war between the States, until captured at Arkansas Post, where he made his escape by swimming the Arkansas river, after which he returned home and entered the frontier service, in which he remained until the elose of hostilities.
His sister, Hannah Puckett, who married William Rush, died without issue. His brother, Micajah, was lost sight of in 1845 or 1846, and is supposed to have fallen in the Mexican War, as did three other brothers of the family.
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543
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
JOSEPH E. HERNDON,
CALVERT,
Was born in Spottslyvania, Va., May 5, 1816. At the age of eighteen, he went to Georgetown, Ky., where, December 17, 1840, he married Miss Mary A. Briscoe, a native of Scott County (of which Georgetown is the county seat), and lived there until 1857, when he came to Texas and settled in Robertson County. He lived there until his death, June 27, 1881. He opened and successfully oper- ated a large Brazos-bottom plantation, and was a citizen above reproach and much admired for his
many virtues. His wife died November 19, 1877. They had five children, only two of whom, however, lived to maturity. A son, Jacob W. Herndon, who entered the Confederate army at the opening of the late war, enlisted in Company C. (Capt. Town- send ), Hood's Brigade, and was killed at the battle of Gettysburg, July 3, 1863. A daughter, Lucy G., married Robert A. Brown, and is now a widow residing in Calvert, Texas.
ROBERT A. BROWN,
CALVERT.
The late Robert A. Brown, of Calvert, was an esteemed Texas pioneer of 1851, and few men in this State, in his day, led a more active life and accomplished more as a business man. Coming to Texas at seventeen years of age, full of the vigor of youth and just merging into manhood, the Lone Star State had use for many young men of his stamp in the development of its natural resources.
Mr. Brown was a native of Virginia, and was born at Culpepper County, near Brandywine Sta- tion, February 22, 1833. Upon coming to Texas he located at Galveston, where he found employment as a salesman in the mercantile establishment of Gen. Ebenezer Nichols.
At the commencement of the war between the States he returned to his native State and county and there volunteered in the defense of the cause of the Confederate States as a member of the famous Black-Horse Cavalry of Virginia, and as a soldier served with distinguished bravery in the various thrilling engagements incident to the defense of the Confederate capital until his capture with many of his comrades in the Valley of the Potomac in 1864. He was confined as a prisoner of war, first at Fort Delaware and afterwards at Washington, D. C., until the conflict ended, when he was released and returned to Galveston.
At Galveston, in company with an uncle, John Shackelford, he engaged in business as a cotton
factor and commission merchant under the firm name of Shackelford & Brown, doing a successful business.
Mr. Shackelford died in 1886 and Mr. Brown continued the business with Mr. George Walshe under the firm name of R. A. Brown & Co., with marked success until 1886 when he moved to Robertson County, located at Calvert, invested large amounts of money in Brazos Valley farming lands and Calvert city realty and became one of the most enterprising and progressive citizens of that town. He, also, devoted a large share of his time to farming.
Robert A. Brown was pre-eminently a business man, in the strictest sense and use of the term. In early life he received a good business education and was an expert accountant. He early learned the lesson of self-reliance, was fertile in resources and was never lacking in the promptitude and energy necessary to a successful business career.
Mr. Brown was known through his extensive business relations in Galveston and later at Calvert, as a social. genial gentleman and drew about him a host of warin personal; friends. He was a man of the strictest integrity, possessed a [high sense of honor and enjoyed the confidence of the entire business public.
Mr. Brown married in 1867 Miss Lucy, daughter of the late Col. Joseph E. Herndon, a Texas
544
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
pioneer of whom biographical mention is made elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Brown and eight children survive him.
Robert Herndon, the oldest son, engaged in the stock business at Waco. The other children are : Frederick Watts, actively engaged in farming near Calvert ; Lucy Summerville, Herndon, Mand, Nettie, and John Brown, all of whom reside at the family home at Calvert.
Mr. Brown in his domestic relations and home- life was a model husband, a kind and indulgent
father, and delighted in contributing to the happi- ness and welfare of his family and friends.
He died at Bremond while on a visit to his almost life-long and trusted friend, John C. Roberts.
His funeral obsequies were attended by a large concourse of sorrowing friends. The banks and business houses closed on the day of his burial as a testimonial of the respect and esteem iu which he was universally held.
He left a large and valuable estate and an honor- able name as a heritage to his family.
HENRY BENDER,
SPRING BRANCH,
Owner of Spring Branch Ranch, one of the most pieturesque and valuable farm properties in Texas, was born near the city of Worms, in Hesse-Darm- stadt, Germany, February 15, 1842, and came to America when about nineteen years of age, landing at New York in May, 1861. From that city he went West, where he enlisted in the Union army in 1864, at Wabash, Ind., joining Company G., One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Indiana Volunteer In- fantry, which was immediately ordered to the front; joined Sherman and participated in the fa- mous " march to the sea." After the elose of the war Mr. Bender returned to Wabash and resumed his former position as elerk in & store. His health failing, he came to Texas on a visit to his brother, Charles Bender, now of Houston, but then residing at New Braunfels, remained with him for a time and then, later on, settled on his present place on the Guadalupe river and engaged in farming. IIe now owns 2,200 acres of the choicest farming and grazing lands in the State. On the property is located the famous head of Spring Branch, a spring under the bluff in front of his residence, that gushes
forth several hundred thousand gallons of pure cold water every hour. With its lovely valleys, hills and lofty mountain peaks in the background, sparkling springs and trout brooks, wonderful growth of cypress and other shade trees, abundance of timber and fertile soil, Spring Branch Ranch is, without question, as valuable and attractive a piece of property as can be found in Texas. Mr. Ben- der has his entire estate under fence, several miles of which is of solid stone; 115 acres are under cultivation. Mr. Bender's father, Peter J. Ben- der, was a farmer and wine grower in Germany, sold his wine product to the royal family and no- bility of the empire, enjoyed a handsome income, and gave his ten sons and two daughters excellent educational advantages. Mr. Bender married Miss Harriet Sayers, daughter of Jacob Sayers, at Wabash, Ind., August 10, 1865. Her father was formerly a planter, merchant and mill-owner in Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Bender have four sons and four daughers : Louis II. (deceased), Freder- ick H., Mary Alice, Rose K., Henry P., John F., Lillie N., and Wm. M. Bender.
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
ALFRED S. GARDNER,
CALVERT.
Judge Alfred S. Gardner, the venerable subject of this sketch, is a Texas pioneer of 1844, a Mexi- can War veteran of 1846, and one of the oldest liv- ing citizens of Robertson County. He is a native of Hart County, Ky., born near Munfordsville, in the year 1822, where he grew up and lived until twenty-two years of age. Anticipating the war that two years later broke out between the United States and Mexico, he came to Texas as above stated and almost immediately identified himself with military movements that were being put on foot. He found his way by degrees to Wheelock, now in Robertson County, then in Old Leon County. Here he fell in with Capis. Eli Chandler and Jack Hays and engaged with them in skirmishing with the Indians that were then more or less troublesome along the Brazos River Valley.
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