USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. 2 > Part 34
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61
within the time specified, and he resumed his journey to the northern cities, the proudest man in America.
In this transaction he felt, and still feels, that, while it brought a paramount blessing to his county, he also rendered good service to the State. The position selected for the site of the college being central, healthy and attractive, and a great trunk line (the H. & T. C. ) railroad running through the grounds, which, with its various branches and multitudinons connections, affords convenient access to all parts of the State, make it an eminently fitting location for this great institution.
These services have secured for him many flatter- ing soubriquets, such as " Father of the County," etc., ete.
But his reminiscences are not all of a happy character. He has had many sad and sorrowful experiences. He was at one time, most unexpect- edly, reduced from comparative affluence to a con- dition bordering on destitution and dependence, while powerless to prevent it. He was made to witness the death of his aged father and mother and the passing away of a beloved sister and two brothers, who had left happy homes to follow and be with him in Texas. He was called upon to con- sign to their little graves four bright, loving and promising children within one short weck. He has been separated by death from the large majority of loved ones and intimate friends of the long, long ago, and is to-day one of the only two living men who were citizens of Brazos County when it was organized in 1841. But the supreme, heartrending grief of his life, was the surrender of his ever faithful, loving, angelic wife, to the cold embrace of death on the 3d day of June, 1885.
It brought a shivering, ponderous darkness to his soul, from which he shall never be released in this life, and now, as the thickening and lengthen- ing shadows of life's evening gather around him, his chief consolation is that, if it be truc that there is a blissful haven in the great beyond for the souls of the pure and good of earth's children, she is surely among the blest, and that ere long he will be with her, and all the loved ones that have pre- ceded him and are yet to follow.
596
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
JOHN T. MILLER,
AUSTIN.
The subject of this memoir was in his day one of Austin's most active, useful and esteemed citizens and, as such, was known throughout Central Texas. He was a native of Indiana and was born on the Wabash near Logansport, in Cass County, April 4th, 1820. His father, John Miller, was a farmer by occupation, late in life removed to and located at Fayetteville, Washington County, Ark., and there died in 1875 at ninety years of age. He was an honest and pious man, raised a family of thirteen children and left them the inheritance of an honor- able name.
John T. Miller, of whom we write, grew up on the farin and acquired a thorough knowledge of all the details of intelligent agriculture, which for several years he pursued. He located with his father near Fayetteville, Ark., and there married Miss Francis Cone, who bore him two children: Amanda, born May 22, 1841, now wife of M. M. Long, a farmer who lives near Austin, and Jefferson J. Miller, born January 22d, 1843, who married Hattie Spencer ; both of these are dead and left no children. Mrs. Miller died in 1843. March 4th, 1845, be married Miss Eliza Ann, eldest daughter of Rev. Wm. O. Speneer, at Fayetteville, Ark., and they embarked in life together by soon thereafter, in 1847, coming to Texas. They located at Bastrop, where lie en- gaged in the livery business. They soon, however, in consequence of Mr. Miller's ill-health, paid their Arkansas home & protracted visit and returned to 'Bastrop in 1849. They there remained and Mr. Miller prospered in business until 1855, when he transferred his business to and took up his resi- denee in Austin, where he was soon recognized as a safe and conservative, but enterprising business man. He opened and conducted business for many years at the Southwest corner of Congress avenue and Bois d'Arc, or Seventh street.
He soon purchased this and adjoining property, and, as the demands of business warranted, erected a substantial business block on the site of his stables and removed his business to the present location of the extensive establishment of his son, Monroe Miller, to whom he finally sold in 1874 and practi- cally retired from aggressive business life, only, from that time, looking after his property interests.
John T. Miller was a man of unpretentious ways and in his own quiet manner diligently planned and labored to accomplish a desired end. He was
aggressive in money-making, but was not avari- cious. Ile only sought in his business to supply a. public necessity and reap a legitimate profit thereby. He came to Austin when the growing seat of gov- ernment had the greatest need for a man of his stamp. He was a fair type of a successful early- day business man. Ile came to Texas with a young wife and four children, and absolutely without means. His sterling traits of character, his natural business tendencies and his inflexible honor, won for him the admiration and confidence of all with whom he was brought in contaet, and were really, with his great industry, the foundation upon which his successful career in life was based. He saw in Austin the nucleus of the beautiful city that during his lifetime it became, and practically evinced his faith in and materially contributed to her growth by the investment of his surplus means in substan- tial business blocks and other property.
He possessed a warm and loyal heart, yet an in- tensely practical mind, and dealt in a very practi- cal way with the problems of life as they presented themselves to him from day to day. Mr. Miller, aside from the untimely death of his first wife, was very fortunate in his domestic relations, receiving as he did the loving counsel, and sympathetic encouragement of his wife, who was to him a true helpmeet, ever at his side in times of adversity, such as always must mar, at intervals, the career of even the most successful men. She was over ready to applaud and enjoy with him his achieve- ments and successes. This union was blessed with a family of seven children, a brief record of whom is herewith given in the order of their birth :----
First. Eliza, born June 20th, 1847, married W. HI. Millican. She died October 8, 1882, leaving three children, Minnie, Lilla and Willie. Minnie is Mrs. J. D. Randolph, of Travis County.
Second. Monroe, born Jan. 1st, 1850, married for his first wife, Miss Eliza Stringer, who died without. issue in 1882. His second marriage was to Miss Mollie Randle, a daughter of the late Senator Ed. Randle, and of the present Mrs. T. C. Westbrook. of Hearne. They have three children : Monroe, Jr .. Nelleen and Randle. He has by purchase suc- ceeded to and extended the business established by his father, maintaining in every way its honor and usefulness, and holds a big position in the business world.
-
597
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
Third. Miles, born August 22d, 1852, married Miss Imogene Coulson. They have one son, John T. He is a successful farmer in Travis County
Fourth. Emma, born April 1st, 1860, married Mr. George B. Westlake. She died September 22, 1890, leaving one orphan daughter, Lila May, whose home is with her parental grandparents at El Paso, Texas.
Fifth. Wallace R., born July 8th, 1862 ; unmar- ried. He is a farmer.
Sixth. Ella, born December 29th, 1865, married Mr. John Whites, of Austin, an accountant in the First National Bank. They have two children, Bessie and Eleanor.
Seventh. Clara, born November 29, 1869, mar- ried Mr. Joseph Shumate, of Austin, a member of the mercantile firm of Teagarden & Shumate. Mr. and Mrs. Shumate have one son, Harold.
Mr. Miller was a model husband and father. He was a member of fraternal societies, but was for many years a consistent and devout member of the Baptist Church. He left the impress upon society of a busy, honorable career and a valuable estate to his family.
He died at his home in Austin, February 18th, 1882. Mrs. Miller, still in the vigor of advanced years, lives at the family home, corner of Seventh and Brazos streets, in the city of Austin. Her children, all within easy calling distance, hold honorable positions in the business and social world.
Her father, the venerable Rev. W. O. Spencer, lives at Liberty Hill, in Williamson County, Texas. He is one of the pioneers of that county, having
come to Texas in 1847, from Fayetteville, Ark. He was born in Illinois, about two miles from Vin- cennes, Ind., September 10, 1809; a son of Wm. Spencer. He inherited mechanical genius, and, before reaching his majority, became a skillful car- penter and, later, a blacksmith, which occupation he followed for several years. Upon his arrival in Texas, he first lived at Bastrop. He has followed farming as his chief means of livelihood in Texas, however.
He has been twice married: first, in July, 1829, to Miss Amy Willcoxon, who died in 1852, leaving four children, of whom Eliza Ann ( Mrs. Miller ) was the eldest. Mrs. Spencer was born in Ash County, N. C., in 1810. For a second wife, Mr. Spencer married a widow. Spencer, whose maiden name was Margaret C. Smilie. She bore him three children, having, also, four children by her former marriage. Mr. Spencer has served in the itinerant Baptist ministry nearly all of his mature life ; has never engaged in polities to the extent of bolding office ; is a member of the order of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, and is an Andrew Jackson Democrat, firmly grounded in the faith. During the years 1861 to 1865 Indians became troublesome in Williamson and adjoining counties, and Mr. Spencer served as Captain of a minute company and ranged the country, holding the marauding Indians in check during that period. Mr. Spencer lives at his old home during his declining years, enjoying the esteem and respect of a wide-extended acquaint- ance, the affectionate regard of an appreciative community, and the love of his children and of his grandchildren, of whom there are fifteen.
JOHN A. MICHEL,
BROWNSVILLE,
Escaped from New Orleans, where he was a pris- oner of war in May, 1863, and came to Brownsville, having been promised a position on his staff by Gen. Magruder, whom he had known in Virginia. Is a son of Edward A. Michel, a native of Charles- ton, S. C., who came to New Orleans in 1810 at the age of ten years, and although but a boy, par- ticipated in the battle of New Orleans, January Sth. 1815.
Edward A. Michel was of French descent, his father, Lazarus Michel, having been a Lieutenant in
the French navy under Napoleon the First. Ed- ward A. Michel married Miss Sulamite Benit, a daughter of Capt. J. B. Benit, who commanded a military company at the battle of New Orleans, where he lost his life.
Hon. John A. Michel is the fourth-born of a fam- ily of seven children. Upon coming to Texas he identified himself with the material and political interests of Cameron County and soon became an influential and popular citizen. In past years he has hell the office of Assessor of Cameron County
598
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
two terms; has served as City Tax Collector of Brownsville one year; served as Alderman of the city of Brownsville several terms and served as act- ing Mayor of Brownsville one year. He has been an active worker in the development of the excel- lent school system which Brownsville possesses. Ile now holls the responsible position of Collector of United States Customs at Brownsville, the du- ties of which office he has shown himself well qualified to discharge. 1
Mr. Michel married, in 1857, Miss Louise Des- forges, a native of New Orleans, a member of one of the oldest families of the Crescent City. Her grandfather, Adolphe Desforges, served as a soldier at the battle of New Orleans, where he was severely wounded.
Mr. and Mrs. Michel have four children - three daughters and one son.
.Mr. Michel is one of Brownsville's most highly respected citizens.
B. H. NORSWORTHY,
ORANGE.
Occupation, farmer. Born November 26th, 1838, in Alabama. Father, E. Norsworthy, of North Carolina. Mother, Rebecca (Hargrave) Nors- worthy, of Alabama. Educated at Tuscaloosa College, Als.
Came to Texas in April, 1860; located first at Jasper, Jasper County ; left Jasper in January, 1868, and went to Morehouse Parish, La. ; remained there until 1873 and then came to Orange, where he has since resided. While at Jasper he was engaged in merchandising, and while in Louisiana in raising cotton principally. Upon locating in Orange he embarked in merchandising, which he continued to follow until 1892, when he engaged in rice-farming, three miles from the city, which has proven a very profitable business. At the beginning of the war between the States, in 1861, he organized a cavalry company in Jasper County known as the Lone Star Rifles and reported to Gen. Ben MeCul- loeh about the 15th of August, 1861, in North Arkansas and was thereupon attached to Whitfield's Battalion. The company took part in the battle of Elk Horn the following April and was then trans- ferred to the branch of the army east of the Missis- sippi river, with which it served during the remain- der of the war, and participated in many hard
fought battles, among the number, those at Corinth. Iuka, Thompson's Station, Franklin and the heavy fighting around Atlanta, during the latter being sixty-four days under fire and wounded four times. Three of these wounds were received at Thompson's Station.
He had thrilling experiences while on picket duty just south of Atlanta on the Chattahoochie river, riding very unexpectedly upon two companies of Federals, who ordered him to halt. His horse was shot from under him, his coat perforated with seven bullet holes, but he succeeded in making good his escape, He was promoted to Major later on, near the elose of the war, was promoted to Lieu- tenant-Colonel of Whitfield's Legion.
Maj. Norsworthy has now in his possession the battle-flag of Whitfield's Legion. Although tat- tered and torn by shot and shell it is still the pride of his heart.
He is a member of the Baptist Church and Masonic fraternity, holding the Royal Arch degree in the latter. Married, May 9th, 1866, to Miss Mattie Wingate, in Newton County, Texas. He was elected Mayor of Orange in 1880 and served until 1884, his administration meeting with the hearty approval of ins fellow-citizens.
599
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
WILLLIAM NEALE,
BROWNSVILLE.
The Hon. William Neale is now eighty-five years of age, but with the exception of a partial loss of ยท vision, retains the powers of vigorous manhood.
He sits now in his arm-chair, surrounded with - every comfort, attended by relatives, gazing with dim eyes at the well-filled book eases lining the walls and containing those friends, the books, over which he once burned the midnight oil; but they are silent now, forever, and he turns inward to his wonderful memory for solace in bis declining years. Mr. Neale is the acknowledged oldest inhabitant of Brownsville, and possesses the faculties of the chronologist and narrator in an eminent degree, coupled with a most engaging manner.
Mr. Neale is an Englishman, and calls himself a cockney, from the fact of his having passed his youth in London, where he was " raised " accord- ing to Yankee parlance. He ran away from home and went to sea when quite a lad, but he had already acquired such stability of character that he at once began the keeping of a diary, and continued the habit throughout his rambles over the world. He had in this manner amassed a fund of information which would have been of infinite valne to posterity, had it not been destroyed by the insatiable Cortina, when that much dreaded chieftain drove Mr. Neale and his family from their home and burned it to the ground.
Mr. Neale's career on this side of the Atlantic began with his service on board the first frigate in the Mexican navy of 1821. The vessel was par- chased in England, the ammunitions of war and arm- ament being placed on board secretly. The boxes that apparently contained dry-goods were opened after putting to sea, and found to contain cannon- ades and other articles for fitting ont a warlike expedition. The ship was run into a convenient but isolated harbor, where she was pierced for forty- four guns, and in a short time set sail for Mexico. The frigate captured Castle Ulloa, a Spanish for- tress guarding the harbor of Vera Cruz and per- formed good service in the cause of Mexican independence.
After the country had passed from under its 300 years of Spanish rule Mr. Neale traveled extensively through Mexico and met and formed the acquaint- ance of many prominent men of the time, which outlasted all the political convulsions through which the country passed.
Upon completing his travels in Mexico he settled in New Orleans, where he learned the trade of house, sign and ornamental painter, pursued the business there for several years and then in 1834, went to Matamoros, Mexico, established only a few years previous.
At that time there was not a habitation of any kind on the present site of Brownsville, and when Gen. Taylor occupied the point in 1846, there were not more than a dozen jacals (huts) scattered about the vicinity among the fields of cotton and corn. Wild horses and eatlle roamed over the whole country, and hostile Indians were numerous, Mr. Neale met men who were conspicuous as leaders in the Texas Revolution and being a British subject was enabled to befriend some of them. Mr. Neale lived at Matamoros for seven years. Barney Blannerhassett - a young man of excellent family, who had strayed into the Southwest in the train of Aaron Burr, not getting fight enough in the com- pany of that individual, had sought greater excite- ment on the border, was indebted to Mr. Neale for saving his life at a critical moment. Young Blan- nerhassett had been seized by the Mexicans and was pretty roughly handled, when Mr. Neale passed the spot. Blannerhassett was tightly bound and threatened with speedy death and begged Neale for laudanum, in order that he might cheat his captors ; but, instead of giving him the drug, Mr. Neale interceded for him with the officials, and secured his release.
A few years after the Texas Revolution, and before the Mexican War, Mr. Neale established a line of stages from Matamoros to Point Isabel, starting from the present location of Brownsville. Mr. Nenle's stages were pressed into service by Gen. Taylor as ambulances, were captured and it was in his attempt to recover them that he first met the General and had an interview with him. These events occurred after the bombardment of Fort Brown, which Mr. Neale witnessed from the top of a windmill that stood between the two Mexican forts built by Gen. Ampudia, for the defense of Matamoros, on the right bank of the Rio Grande, one at Santa Cruz Point, called Fort Conejo, and the other at the upper extremity of the city, called Fort Paredes. From his elevated position Mr. Neale eould plainly trace the shells as they sailed. through the air, and had a bird's eye view of the
600
INDLIN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
battle waged between Fort Brown and the Mexican forces, in the early days of May, 18.16.
After the Mexican War Mr. Neale established bis stage line and did a good business for a number of years. He had been identified with the route for twenty years, when he was forced to abandon it by the unsettled state of the border. There was a marked contrast between the early days of his stag- ing and those near the close. He carried a great deal of silver coin, having sometimes a hundred thousand dollars on a single wagon. The money was packed on open-work bags made of grass and the metal glittered in the sunlight or reflected the ray's of the moon, as the case might be, but he was never attacked for the treasure and did not lose a single dollar by theft, although he would frequently miss buckles and parts of harness. The bad state of the roads sometimes compelled him to pile up thousands of dollars on the wayside and leave it until the next day, when he would find it as he left it.
Smuggling was carried on most openly in the early forties. Vessels would arrive off the bar, without any manifest or clearance papers whatever, and from that vantage ground the owners of the goods would bargain for the best figures. The merchants soon got rich. Mr. Neale built a house in Matamoros in which the nails eost him fifty cents a pound. At the same time you could buy a good
mule for $10.00, a cow and calf for $1.50, and mares for $1.50 each. When the English offered a dollar a piece for hides, it was considered such a good price that guus were brought into service to slangh- ter the animals, and beef, or jerked meat, was such a drug in the market, that, when a customer asked for a picayune's worth, he was handed a knife and told to help himself. Up to 1852 there had not been a pound of butter made in the country, and many of the inhabitants had never seen any. In 1852 Mr. Neale took up a raneh at Santa Maria, twenty- five miles up the river from Brownsville. During Cortina's raid, Mr. Neale was forced to abandon a large amount of live stock, a store filled with valu- able goods, and a furnished house, fleeing with his family to save their lives. A little later his son was one of Cortina's victims in the Brownsville raid. Mr. Neale then settled in Brownsville, and was there at the outbreak of the war between the States.
In November, 1863, he went with his family to Matamoros, after narrowly escaping the machina- tions of Gen. Cabos; remained there a short time, sent his family back to Brownsville, and, later, returned there himself. Since the summer of 1865, Mr. Neale has lived in Brownsville, in peace and quietude. He is now enjoying the confidence and high esteem of four generations who surround him with well merited honors.
FERDINAND HARZ,
BOERNE,
A well-to-do farmer living at Boerne, Kendall County, Texas, came to America in December, 1852, landing at Galveston, January Ist, 1853, accompanied by a friend, Otto Frederich; went from Galveston to New Braunfels via Indianola, spent two months at New Braunfels and one year in San Antonio, where he worked at gardening and then, in 1851-6, served as wagon-master from Port Lavaca to El Paso, making occasional trips into the mining districts of Arizona. In 1861-4 he served the Confederacy as a ranger on the Texas frontier under Col. Jones. Ile was married 1861, to Miss
Mary Beyer, of Bexar County. They have three children : Clara, now Mrs. Henry Clemmens ; Bertha, now Mrs Adolph Weyrick, of Boerne, and Adolph, who married Miss Ida Phillip, of Boerne. Mr. Harz was born October 22, 1821, in Saxony. Mrs. Harz' father, Antone Beyer, a German by birth, came to America in 1844 from Bohemia. where he owned a woolen factory. He devoted his attention to farming after coming to America. Mrs. Ilarz was born in Bohemia, February 5, 1814, and was two and one-half years of age when her family reached this country.
INDLIN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
691
JOHN YORK.
This gallant pioneer, whose name was long fa- miliar in every cabin in the land, was an early set- tler and ever ready to meet a public enemy, whether Indian or Mexican. He was, physically, a man of portly and commanding presence, a pure, blue- eyed blonde, with a native suavity and dignity deemed by book worms and cloistered scholars un- attainable attributes to men of cabin and forest life -- a complacent assumption disproven by many of the early and buckskin-attired defenders of in- fant Texas.
Capt. York was one of two brothers (Allison York being the other), besides several sisters, who first settled on the Lavaca and afterwards west of the Brazos in Austin County. He partici- pated in numerous expeditions against the Indians and always exhibited the ability to lead. In com- mand of a company in the citizen army before
Bexar in 1835 he and all his men volunteered to follow the intrepid Milam in storming that strongly fortified place, defended by Gen. Cos and about 1,500 Mexicans. The contest lasted from the 5th to the 10th of December, though Milam fell on the Sth, and terminated in the capitulation of Cos to his three hundred assailants. No royal insignia of merit or valor bestowed ever conferred greater honor on a body of men than was won by the citi- zen heroes who triumphed at Bexar, and none of that gallant band exhibited more determined cour- age than Capt. John York.
In 1846 he removed to the Colleto creek, in De- Witt, where the pretty village of Yorktown per- petnates his name.
His death, in command of a company west of the San Antonio river, in 1848, in a contest with ambushed Indians, is elsewhere narrated.
JAMES H. CALLAHAN'S FIGHT IN MEXICO.
This modest but gallant man was a volunteer front Georgia and one of those who escaped slaughi- ter in the Fannin massacre in March, 1836. He long lived at the exposed frontier village of Seguin . and from 1838 to 1855 was in most of the expedi- tions from that section against both Indians and Mexicans, frequently serving as commander of a company or detachment. In March, 1842, he com- manded a company in the retreat from San Antonio before the Mexican column of Vasquez, the writer of this being a subordinate officer under him. He also commanded a company in the battle of Salado, September 18th, 1842.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.