USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. 2 > Part 30
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come better known, is due to the fact that he has always led a very quiet life and has concerned him- self about very few things, except his own personal affairs. Ile is a large planter, owning two large plantations and having in cultivation between 1,500 and 1,600 acres, which, with his other interests, occupy his time and attention to the exclusion of other pursuits and those diversions (including poli- tics) in which most men indulge themselves. Ile has never held public office, except some local posi- tions, such as every good citizen is expected to take when ealled on to do so by his fellow-citizens. During the late war he helped procure supplies
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for the soldiers at the front, and in this way lent the cause of the Confederacy substantial assistance.
Mr. Harlan, on the 30th of May, 1854, married Miss Bettie Jeffries, a daughter of James and Rebecca Jeffries, who emigrated from Kentucky to Texas and settled at Cameron, Milam County, in 1852. Mrs. Harlan was born in Glasgow, Ky., and was a young lady when her parents came to this State. Her mother died at Cameron in 1863 and her father at Port Sullivan, Milam County, in 1871.
Mr. and Mrs. Harlan have had born to them two dangliters: Ella, who was married to Dr. Henry Trollinger and is now deceased, and Maud, married to Jolin A. Green, Jr., an attorney at law, residing at San Antonio, Texas. The religious connection of Mr. Harlan's family is with the Baptist Church. Ilis wife's people belonged to the Church of the Disciples, in which she has for many years held a membership.
ALBERT KEIDEL,
FREDERICKSBURG,
Is known throughout the section of Texas in which he lives as an able and successful physician. His father, William Keidel, M. D., came from Hilde- sheim, Hanover, to New Braunfels, Texas, via Gal- veston, in 1845, and soon after located in Freder- icksburg, where he engaged in the practice of his profession. He was born at Hildesheim ; educated at Goetingen; married, in Fredericksburg, Mrs. Albertine Kramer, a daughter of an carly Texas pioneer from Hanover ; and died of typhoid pneu- monia in 1870, at Fredericksburg in this State. Only one child ( the subject of this notice ) was born
of the marriage, the mother dying a few days after giving birth to her child. Dr. Albert Kcidel was born in Fredericksburg, Texas, July 1, 1852; re- ceived a good literary education in the Hildesheim High Schools and perfected his medical studies at the University at Goetingen in 1874-78. IIe was married, in 1878, at Galveston, Texas, to Miss Matilda Eisfeld, of Goetingen, Germany, and immediately located in Fredericksburg, where they have since lived and he has built up an extensive and lucrative medical practice. They have four children : Victor, Felix, Curt and Werner.
CHARLES SAXON,
ORANGE.
Farmer and stock-raiser. Born November 17, 1823, in Ilinds County, Miss. ITis father, C. H. Saxon, was one of Napoleon Bonaparte's soldiers. His mother, Mary ( Hohnes) Saxon, was born in South Carolina. Educated himself by the old fire-place at the family home after working on the farm during the day. Came to Texas alone in December, 1842, and located in Jasper County, where he remained until 1848, then went to Brownsville on the Rio Grande ; lived there two years and then settled at Orange, Texas, where he has since resided. He was engaged for twenty years in the lumber business in this State and then
embarked in farming and stock-raising, in which he has been eminently successful, having acquired large property interests. Enlisted in Company B., Fourth Regiment, Confederate army, in 1861, and served in Texas, New Mexico and Louisiana, par- ticipating in many skirmishes and important battles, among others in those of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill and Yellow Bayou in Louisiana, which prac- tically put an end to Banks' raid up Red river. He is a charter member of Madison Lodge No. 126, and Orange Chapter, No. 78, A. F. and A. M., and also a member of the Knights of Labor and Farmer's Alliance Associations.
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He has been a Royal Arch Mason since 1858. Married three times. First in 1854 to Miss Delano, of Orange. Next to Miss Sue Swaingain, of Orange, in 1861, and third to Miss Elizabeth Cooper, of Orange, November 20, 1878. Has four children born to him, three of whom are now living, one son and two daughters, viz. : Mary E. Saxon, now wife of Thomas Andrews, of Orange; C. II.
Saxon, who is now living at the family home, and is a farmer and stock-raiser, and Abi Saxon, now wife of Joseph Cooper, a farmer and stock-raiser of Orange.
Mr. Saxon is as supple as many young men to- day and, at his ripe old age, is in the enjoy- ment of all his faculties. He is much esteemed in the community in which he lives.
CHARLES SCHWOPE,
BOERNE.
One of Kendall County's prosperous farmers, was born in Germany, June 27, 1851, and came to Texas in 1857 with his parents ( Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Schwopc) and Annic, Helen, Gottlieb, Julia, and Louise, the other children constituting the family.
The father was born in Germany, April 9, 1816, and died at Boerne, Texas, in 1889, at seventy- three years of age. The mother was born in Ger- many, November 19, 1824, and died at Boerne, in 1884, at sixty years of age.
The family first located at Comfort but later on a farm near Boerne in the same county, where the sub- jeet of this notice grew to manhood. December 1, 1874, Mr. Chas. Schwope, Jr., married Miss Matilda, daughter of Chas. Adams, who came from Germany
and located two miles from Boerne and engaged in farming. He came to this country single ; married, and in 1879 died, aged forty-seven years. Mrs. Adams died in 1887 when forty-seven years of age. They left six children, viz. : William, who lives near Boerne; Matilda, who is the wife of the subject of this sketch ; Louise, now Mrs. Charles Ranselben, of Fredericksburg; Anna, now Mrs. Helman Ransloben, of Fredericksburg; Freda, now Mrs. Christian Schader, of Boerne, and Hugo, a citizen of Boerne.
Mrs. Schwope was born April 18, 1859. Mr. and Mrs. Schwope have eight children ; viz. : Adolf, Charles, Bertha, Julia, Freda, William, Hilmar and Fritz.
J. D. SANER,
BOERNE.
Judge J. D. Saner was born in Davidson County, N. C., March 28, 1822, moved to Tenne- pec in 1832, with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Saner, and came to Texas with them and their other son, T. A. Saner, in 1849; located in Upshur County, and moved thenec to San Marcos, Hays County, and thence to Boerne in 1853, and engaged in farming. Jacob Saner was a hatter, and worked at his trade until he came to Texas. His wife, whose maiden name was Miss Mary Donthitt, was born near Salem, N. C. Jacob Saner died in 1873, at eighty-four years of age,
and his wife in 1871, at cighty-two years of agc.
Judge J. D. Saner, subject of this notice, located near Boerne, in Kendall County, upon emigrating to Texas; rented land near that place and engaged in farming, and, later, purchased an ox-team and followed freighting between Boerne and San Antonio. In 1856 he was elected Constable of the Boerne precinct of Comal County; 1857 was elected County and Distriet Cierk of Bandera County; filled the latter position from 1858 to. 1865, and then returned to Boerne, where he was
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elected County Judge of Kendall County for four successive terms. He was followed by a sucecs- sor for two ternis, and then again elected to the office in 1888, and filled it until 1890. In 1892 he was appointed Justice of the Peace, and served in that capacity for two years.
In April, 1894, he was appointed Postmaster at Boerne, and now (1895) holds that position. He was married in 1849 to Miss Elizabeth Maness. She died in 1863, leaving four children : James M.,
a Deputy Sheriff of Kendall County for ten years past; Rosilla, now Mrs. Judge W. K. Jones, of Del Rio; John J., a school teacher of Blanco, Texas, and Thomas A., deceased. Judge Saner married, in 1873, Mrs. Sarah Davis, widow of the late James Davis. Her maiden name was Miss Sarah Butler ; she died in 1888. One child, Lizzie M., was born of this union. Judge Saner owns the old family homestead established by his parents on their settlement in the town of Boerne, 1853.
M. S. MUNSON,
BRAZORIA COUNTY.
It is to be doubted whether there is another man in the State who has lived in Texas anything like so long as the subject of this memoir, Col. M. S. Munson, of Brazoria County. He was born near Liberty, Liberty County, in this State, at his par- ents' home on the banks of the Trinity river, April 24th, 1825. His father, Henry W. Manson, a Mississippian by birth and a planter by occupation, died in 1833 and is buried at Peach Point, on Gulf Prairie. His mother, whose maiden name was Ann B. Pierce, was born in Georgia. After the death of her husband she, in about the year 1885, mar- ried, at Gulf Prairie, James P. Caldwell, of Ken- tucky, and moved to near San Mareos, where she died a number of years thereafter.
M. S. Munson took a primary course at Hopkins- ville, Ky., and then went to Rutersville, Fayette County, Texas, where, as he says, he did little except hunt Indians on the frontier for two or three years. The capture of San Antonio by the Mexi- ean General, Adrian Woll, in 1842, was followed by his defeat at the battle of Salado and retreat from the country, and the subsequent organization of what is known as the Somervell expedition, designed for a descent into Mexico for the purpose of making reprisals. In this expedition the sub- ject of this notice participated. The command marched into and took possession of Laredo without the necessity of a gun being fired, camped at a point three miles below town and then moved six or seven miles and camped at a water-hole. The remaining five hundred bore down the country until they came to the mouth of the Salado river, opposite and six miles from Guerrero. This was on the 14th of December, 1842, a clear
but cold day. A crossing was speedily effected by means of flat-boats found there. Gen. Canales, with seven hundred rancheros, appeared on the neighboring hills but manifested no disposition to fight. The command camped that night in an abandoned Carrizzo village. The Alcalde of Guer- rero, accompanied by a Frenchman who spoke En- glish, appeared in camp and tendered the surrender of the town, but begged that the Texians would camp outside its limits, where he would furnish food, blankets, shoes and other things for which the troops were suffering. To all this Gen. Somervell agreed, and during the afternoon of the 15th moved up and camped on a hill-side, near the town, per- fectly commanded by surrounding hills. During the day a scanty supply of flour, a few refuse old blankets and a dozen or two pairs of shoes were sent to camp. Late in the day they were counter- marched and reerossed the river into Texas. The 17th and 18th were spent in this position, sufficient cattle being found to furnish meat for all. On the sueeceding morning, December 19th, an order was read directing all to prepare for a return home. Three hundred men made their way down the river. their horses being driven down overland; subse- quently penetrated into Mexico, engaged in the fight at Mier, surrendered at last as prisoners of war to the treacherous Mexicans and were thrown into prisons. Their subsequent fate is well known to all readers of Texian history and need not be recounted here. The other two hundred (among the number the subject of this notice) marched toward San Antonio with Somervell. Capt. Flaco, the gallant Lipan chief, an old deaf-mute of his tribe, the other Lipans, Rivas, a Mexican companion, and an Apache,
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
Luis, who had co-operated with the Texians, having confiscated a herd of Mexican horses, had already started in that direction. Somervell and his com- panions had great difficulty in making their way through the chaparral and consumed a number of days in reaching the Nueces river. They found that stream much swollen, but crossed it on the morning of January 1st, 1843. Many of the horses stuek in the bog and died from excessive cold dur- ing the night. Some of the party who had gone on ahead reached San Antonio and sent back beeves and other supplies to their companions who were in a well-nigh starving condition. The main body then proceeded to San Antonio, from whence the men dispersed for their respective homes. A number of horses were left behind on the mareh and some of the men made a contraet with Capt. Flaco for him to go baek over the road and gather up these animals and keep them until they were able to be driven into San Antonio, promising to pay him liberally for his trouble. After Somer- vell's command arrived at San Antonio and were encamped in the vicinity, Flaeo and the mute were basely murdered by Rivas and the Mexican, who drove the horses into Eastern Texas and Louisiana and sold them. The act caused a thrill of horror throughout the country, but the confusion of the times prevented pursuit. Flaeo and the Lipans had always been friendly to the whites. They sup- posed the murder to have been committed by some of Somervell's men, retreated into Mexico, became the implacable enemies of their former allies and subsequently committed many killings and depre- dations on the Western frontier.
After returning from the Somervell expedition, Col. Munson went to La Grange College, North Alabama, spent two years there. returned home on a short visit and then entered the University st Lexington, Ky., where he graduated with the first honors of his class. After leaving Lexington he
studied law under Judge Bullard, president of the law school at New Orleans. Returning to Texas and securing admission to the bar he practiced his profession for about thirty years in Brazoria and adjoining counties under the firm name of Munson & Lathrop and later of Munson & Garnett, ranking as one of the most learned and successful practi- tioners in that seetion of the State. He is now retired from business, has a large plantation and stock-ranch and is in very comfortable cireum- stances. During the war between the States (1861- 5), he served first in a command on Galveston Island under Gen. De Bray and then in Gen. Waul's command, as a member of which he served during the siege of Vieksburg and participated in various engagements up to the close of hostilities. He was married on February 6th, 1850, to Miss Sarah K. Armour, of Tennessee, and has eight children : Henry W. and Geo. C., who are farming in Brazoria County ; J. W., an attorney at law at Columbus, Texas; Walter B., practicing law at Houston ; Hillan Armour, manager of his planta- tion ; M. S., Jr., practicing law at Brazoria ; Emma, wife of Rev. J. L. Murray, who resides near Angle- ton, Brazoria County ; and Saralı, wife of Walter Kennedy, of Brazoria County. Mrs. Munson died at twelve o'clock the night of January 31, 1887. She is buried in the family tomb at her home in Brazoria County. Mr. Munson has always been a staunch Democrat and served during three sessions of the Legislature as representative from his dis- trict with that ability, fidelity and patriotism that has distinguished him through life. He has for many years been a member of the M. E. Church South and of the Masonie Fraternity. An enterprising citizen and thoroughly identified with the soil, he has contributed liberally in time, influenee and money to the upbuilding of his section of the State.
No old Texian is better known
SAMUEL FOSSETT,
MERIDIAN.
Samuel Fossett was born in the State of Maine in 1831; came to Texas in 1856; made his way to Bosque County; shortly thereafter joined the ranger service; followed that calling for several years as a private, part of the time under Col.
" Rip " Ford, and before he left the service com- manded a company of his own ; leaving the rangers, he engaged in the grocery business at Meridian until 1862, when he entered the Confederate army as a volunteer in Capt. Ryan's Company (Com-
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
pany E. ), Fourth Texas Infantry, Hood's Brigade, and participated in nearly all of the important battles fought by Lee's army after that date; was severely wounded in the battle of the Wilderness ; was in Lee's army at the surrender in 1865; went to Richmond, and thence to Galveston and on to his home at Meridian, where he at once engaged in general merchandising and stoek-raising which he followed successfully during the following fifteen years, and in 1870 was elected Sheriff and served one term and made an able and acceptable public officer. He is still engaged in the stoek business, principally raising horses. His ranch, consisting of seventeen hundred acres of good land, part of
it under cultivation, is situated seven miles from town.
He was united in marriage to Mrs. Eliza Fuller in 1870. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. frat- ernity and Democratic party. A gallant ranger. brave soldier, capable county officer, for many years a leading merchant of Meridian, and now thoroughly identified with the best interests of Bosque County, he is an honored and truly repre- sentative citizen of his seetion. He has witnessed many stirring scenes and encountered many vicissi- tudes and doubtless now enjoys the retired and peaceful life that his active labors in other years has made possible.
PUTNAM B. CURRY,
ORANGE.
Merchant and lengaged in the general insurance business. Born September 16, 1835, at Owego, Tioga County, N. Y. Father, Col. B. B. Curry, born 1799 at Sugar Loaf, Orange County, N. Y. Died in 1875, at Baileville, N. J. Mother, maiden name, Arminda Totten, of Owego, N. Y., born 1801; died in 1842. Parents were married in 1820 and had teu children, six girls and four boys, six of whom are still living. Putnam B. Curry was edu- cated in the public schools of Owego, N. Y. ; came to Texas in January, 1860, reaching Galveston on the 3d of July of that year; left Galveston in 1867, and went to Navarro Landing, Leon County, where he engaged in the mercantile business and remained until 1870, and then moved to Orange, Orange County, Texas, and engaged in merchan- dising, in which he has since continued and pros- pered. From 1875 to 1890 he was proprietor of the leading hotel in Orange.
Enlisted in Company D., First Texas Regiment of Heavy Artillery of the Confederate States' army, in 1861, under Col. J. J. Cook, and participated in the battle of Galveston, January Ist, 1863. A portion of this company were employed sharp- shooters and the rest were in charge of the twenty- two-inch rifled gun on the bow of the gun-boat, " Bayou City." At the third shot the gun exploded, killing Capt. A. R. Wier and three privates. Mr. Curry was among the foremost in capturing the Federal steamer, " Harriett Lane."
lle was later transferred from Galveston to Sabine
Pass as purser of the gun-boat " Clifton," and after- wards to the " Sachem " and to the " J. II. Bell." He remained in the gun-boat service until the close of the war, when he received his discharge from the Confederate army. He claims to have received the last official act of the Confederates in Houston just before the " break-up."
He was sent to Matagorda with important mes- sages, and on his return to Houston found the Con- federaey broken up and the soldiers returning to their homes. After considerable searching he found Capt. J. J. Taylor, A. D. C., who then gave him his discharge, signing Maj .- Gen. J. Bankhead Ma- gruder's name, saying it was his last official act as an officer of the Confederate government.
He is Past High Priest of Orange Chapter, No. 78, R. A. M., P. M. of Madison Lodge, No. 126, A. F. & A. M., and commander of A. L. of II.
Married June 14th, 1863, to Miss Eliza A. Ochil- tree, eldest daughter of Col. Hugh Ochiltree, who came to Texas in 1842, and was a soldier in Col. T. C. Wheeler's Company of Texas Volunteers in the Mexican War. She was born in San Augustine, Texas, December 10th, 1845.
They have four children, two girls and two boys, viz. : Maggie A. Curry, now wife of W. O. Brice, of Orange ; Ollie J. Curry, now wife of J. B. Brooks, of San Antonio; Hugh B. Curry, bookkeeper in the First National Bank of Orange; and P. B. Curry, Jr., bookkeeper for the Orange Ice, Light & Water Works Co., of Orange.
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
Mr. P. B. Curry, Sr., is at present (1896), vice- president, secretary and treasurer of the Ice, Light & Water Works Co., of Orange.
Upon the organization of the Citizens' Committee in 1887, he was elected president and served for two years. In 1889 the Board of Trade of Orange was organized with Mr. Curry as president. He was re-elected five successive years, and was again re-elected president, January, 1896, of that body.
He was the owner and publisher of the Orange Leader from 1892 to 1895.
It seems impossible that any man could have been of more worth to a city than has Mr. Curry to Orange. He has labored unceasingly to promote its growth and prosperity.
Although he is not a member of any church, Mr. Curry contributes largely and freely to benevolent causes.
JOHN C. CARPENTER,
SHERMAN,
Rev. John C. Carpenter, a well-known minister of the Baptist Church, and Right Eminent Sir Knight, Grand Prelate of Texas, of the order of Knights Templar, a man well known as a Christian worker and in Masonry, was born in Canandagua, N. Y., November 4, 1816. He left New York State while yet a child and moved to Tennessee in 1836 and from that place went to Jackson, Miss., where he was engaged for several years in general merchandising and also served as secretary and treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the State Insane Asylum. It was here he fitted himself in part for entering the ministry of the Baptist Church. In 1859 he moved to New Orleans and was regu- larly ordained. He immediately entered upon what he intended should be his life work, but, in 1879, owing to a throat trouble, his speech failed him and he embarked in the insurance business, in which he is engaged at the present time. He moved to Sherman in February, 1875, and has since made that pleasant little city his home. For the past twenty years, as was recently remarked by one of the local pastors in a sermon delivered to a large congregation, he has been loved and respected by all members of the community, both high and low, both rich and poor. No meritorious person ever applied to him for relief and was turned away without being given assistance. Ilis Masonic life began with his initiation into Jackson Lodge in 1842. He received the Chapter degrees in Jackson Chapter and took the Royal Arch degree at Jack- son, Miss., in 1812. He received the orders of the Temple in Jackson Commandery in 1843, at which meeting Albert Pike, Sovereign Grand Inspector- General of the Thirty-third Degree, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the Southern Masonic
Jurisdiction of the United States, presided. At New Orleans he was elected prelate of Indivisible Friends' Commandery No. 1, located in that city, and filled that office for a number of years. In 1865 he was elected Grand Prelate of the Grand Com- mandery of Louisiana and continued as such until he moved to Texas in 1875. He was also Grand Chaplain of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons and Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana of Free and Accepted Masons, and is at present Grand Representative of the Grand Com- mandery of Louisiana.
In 1878 he was elected Grand Prelate of the Grand Commandery of Texas, an office that he has since filled. Indivisible Friends' Commandery, No. 13, was instituted under dispensation on the second day of February, 1877. Sir Knight J. C. Carpenter was the First Eminent Commander, and on the fifteenth day of March, 1877, the Commandery was duly organized under a charter from the Grand Com- mandery of Texas and he was installed in that position, a position to which he was elected for three years in succession. Ilis connection with this Commandery extended over a perio:l of nine- teen years. His Masonic life covers a period of fifty-four years. He has probably delivered more speeches and addresses on important Masonic oc- casions than any other man in the fraternity in Texas.
If it is true that every man is a missionary to the future, the influence of his life will be pro- duetive of great good long after this generation has passed away, a generation with which he has labored and that he has sought to benefit by every means within his power and by the example of a truly noble Christian life.
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS
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GEORGE C. PENDLETON,
BELTON.
Hon. George Casity Pendleton, ex-member of the Texas Legislature, ex-Lieutenant-Governor and ex-member of Congress, was born April 23d, 1845, in Coffee County, Tenn. His mother was a daughter of Gen. William Smartt, a soldier of the War of 1812. The entire family eame to Texas and settled in Ellis County when George C. Pendleton was twelve years of age. The ambition of his early life was to enter the legal profession. The war between the States first interfered with this purpose. Hle entered the Confederate army at seventeen and served the Trans-Mississippi Department as a soldier in the Nineteenth Texas Cavalry, commanded by Col. D. W. Watson. At the close of the struggle he returned home and entered eollege at Waxaha- chie, intending to graduate, secure admission to the bar and practice law ; but this time, ill-health compelled him to forego his purpose, and to seek some employment that would furnish an abundance of outdoor exercise, and he, therefore, for ten years followed the migratory life of a commercial traveler with beneficial results. In 1870, Mr. Pendleton
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