USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. 2 > Part 38
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
620
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
1
those who found it necessary, on political grounds, to differ with him in nearly every essential particu- lar, have united in bearing testimony to his rectitude and purity of purpose and they would be among the first to resent any effort to cast a stain upon his honor as an official or as a private citizen. In 1866 he was appointed as Associate Justice of the Su- preme Court, and was a prominent member of the reconstruction convention of 1868 - in which he was the author and chief promoter of the Electoral Bill and Franchise measures, which were engrafted in the new constitution. In 1870 he was the Con- servative candidate for Governor, but was defeated by E. J. Davis, the Republican nominee, in a con- test so close as to give excuse for the intervention of and decision by the military authorities. Re- turning now to the seclusion of private life he eschewed any further active participation in the political events of the period and, falling into a de- cline of health, died in Austin during the month of April, 1875.
Governor Hamilton's decisions as a Judge
of the Supreme Court, while comparatively few. are noted for learning, dignity and force. Chief among these is his opinion on ab initio rendered in 1868 in the case of Luter v. Hunter, 30 Texas, 690, and in Culbreath v. Hunter, 30 Texas, 712, known as the Sequestration cases, in which he held that the States composing the Confederacy occupied a higher ground than the Confederate government, having been in their origin peaceful, legitimate and constitutional; that they continued to exist, notwithstanding the war, without a hiatus or interregnum, and that the United States govern- ment had not interfered with the mere civil laws of the States, whether enacted before or during the war, except as to such laws as naturally resulted from the war, and such as were unconstitutional or in hostility to the United States. It would have been well indeed if the doctrine enunciated in these cases had been accepted by the dominant party; the hostility of the heart would have ceased with the hostility of the sword.
SANTIAGO SANCHEZ,
LAREDO.
All history is centered in the lives and characters and the personal achievements of the people. No State in the American Union has furnished the his- torian a more prolific field for the employment of his pen than the Lone Star State, and the Rio Grande Valley has provided him with some of his most prominent historical subjects. The venerable Don Santiago Sanchez, the subject of this brief memoir, is a fine type of the successful Texas-Mex- ican pioneer and one of the most prominent and wealthy ranchers of Southwestern Texas. He is a native of the city of Laredo, where he was reared and bas lived for over half a century. He was born December 31st, 1838, and is a son of Don Antonio and Dona Jnana Mendiola Sanchez. The Sanchez name is one of the very oldest in Laredo's history. Captain Tomas Sanchez, the founder of the city, was also the founder of the family in Texas, and was a grandfather of Don Santiago Sanchez, our subject. Himself conspicuous in his day, his descendants have, several of them, held prominent positions of local trust, and have per- petuated and held in sacred honor the family name.
Our subject spent his boyhood and youth in Laredo. He early formed those habits of thrift and industry that have ever since characterized his life and have had so much to do with shaping his destiny. IIe attended the local schools of Laredo, and later pursued a course of study in the city of Monterey, Mexico, which was, however, interrupted by revolutionary movements of a serious character, in that country. From that time up to the year 1863 he was employed in various capacities, and by industry and the careful husbanding of his re- sources he was enabled to enter business. lle formed a copartnership with a friend, Don Ese- bano Salinas, and they entered merchandising in the town of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, the style of the firm being Sanchez & Salinas. The venture proved a most successful one, the house became widely known, its business covered a broad extent of country, and the firm gained an almost nulint- ited credit in the great commercial centers of the United States and Mexico, and ranked as the lead- ing mercantile house in the Rio Grande Valley. Sanchez & Salinas continued in business until 1877,
: لايرد ---- ...
$21
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
when Don Estabano died, and the affairs of the firm were wound up. Don Santiago then turned his attention to stock-raising on an extensive scale. He purchased lands in Ta- maulipas and Texas and stocked them with cattle and so successful has he been that lie now leads in that most important industry in the Laredo country. His progressive ideas, put into practical execution, have gained for him a wide reputation. He owns about 200,000 acres of land, a greater por- tion of which is in Mexico, and his ranch, La Jarita Sanchez, and Las Crevas are among the largest and most modernly equipped in Western Tamaulipas. He raises horses, eattle and sheep. He is one of the pioneers of the cotton-raising industry of Ta- maulipas and was the first to introduce the cotton- gin and corn-mill into that State. Don Santiago is typically a business man and has never allowed politics or any other side issue to divert his attention from his calling, his chief ambition having always been to attain success in his chosen occupation. He did, however, serve for about eleven years as Mayor of Laredo, giving to his people an honest and
successful administration. Don Santiago early learned the lesson of personal independence and self-reliance. He never received financial aid from any souree and entered business on capital of his own acquisition. He is therefore a self-made man and the great success he has attained and the elevated position he has acquired in the business world and in the estimation of his legion of friends is entirely due to his tireless energy and industry, his thrift and keen business foresight, his unswerving in- tegrity and his honorable business methods.
He married, September 10th, 1863, Dona Macaria, a daughter of Don Juan and Dona Tiburcia (Gon- zales) Ramos. Her father was then Collector of Customs at the city of Neuvo Laredo, and an influ- ential citizen. The issue of this happy union is three sons and six daughters. The Sanchez family mansion in Laredo is architecturally one of the most beautiful and imposing homes in the Rio Grande Valley. It is perfect in its appointments and exemplifies the fine diserimination and domestic tastes of its owner.
W. A. SHAW,
CLARKSVILLE.
Col. W. A. Shaw was born in Green County, Ala., the 15th day of April, 1827. His father was James Shaw, a native of North Carolina, and his mother, nee Miss Carolina Elliot, a native of Virginia. After their marriage they moved to Tennessee, then to Alabama, from there to Missis- sippi, and in 1852 to Kaufman County, Texas. where some of their children had preceded them. A majority of the others soon followed. The father, mother, and three daughters are buried in Kaufman County, Texas. One son, killed in battle, is buried in Louisiana. The oldest still lives in Mississippi. The youngest, Capt. R. B. Shaw,. a farmer, merchant and stock-raiser, lives at Kemp, in Kaufman County, Texas.
Col. W. A. Shaw received the rudiments of an education in the old-field schools in Monroe and Chickasaw counties, Miss., prepared for college at Aberdeen, Miss., under Prof. Reuben Nason and Richard Gladney, and entered the Fresh- man class at Dickson College, Carlisle, Penn., where he spent the Freshman and Sophomore
years. About that time a Mr. Kennedy, a citizen of Maryland, came to Carlisle to claim a runaway slave. The court awarded him his slave, but as the master attempted to start home, an abolitionist mob rescued the slave and killed the master, One of the professors of the college, Rev. J. D. Mc- Clintock, was charged with being the instigator of the mob. While the college was in the North a majority of the students were from the South, The students called an indignation meeting to condemn the professor for his conduct. Prof. Mcclintock was very popular with the students --- such students as J. A. C. Creswell, a member of Gen. Grant's Cabinet, and Barnes Compton, at present a mem- ber of Congress from Maryland, espoused the professor's cause and the meeting failed to pass the resolutions. But W. A. Shaw and a few other students from the far South took an active part against the professor and voted to condemn him. For this action, the subject of this sketch came to the conclusion that the faculty of the college became prejudiced against him and he left the institution
----
622
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
and entered Princeton College, New Jersey, where he spent his Junior and Senior years and gradu- ated in the class of 1850. After graduation hc read law in the office of Lindsay & Copp, at Aber- deen, Miss., and was granted license to practice by Judge John Watts, of the Fourth Judicial District of Mississippi.
As he returned home from college, he came through Washington City and spent ten days there. Congress was in session. The agitation of the slavery question was at its height owing to the recent acquisition of territory from Mexico, as a result of the Mexican War. The Nashville con- vention had been called. Daniel Webster had just
Col. Shaw heard Clay read his report and listened to the specches of these giant intellects for ten days. Ile then made up his mind to support the compromise and the Union and fought secession and disunion in every shape it afterwards assumed. The Mississippi Senators, Foote and Jefferson Davis, took opposite sides of the question and the next year became opposing candidates for Gover- nor of Mississippi. Col. Shaw took the stump for Foote against Davis. Foote was elceted by nine hundred and ninety-nine votes, and from that can- vass in Mississippi, the first after he returned from college, to the last in Texas, Col. Shaw has been an active participant in every political contest that
W. 1. SHAW.
delivered his great 7th of March speech and Foote, one of the Mississippi Senators, bad moved the formation of a committee of thirteen to prepare a plan for the compromise of all questions between the sections. The committee was composed of thirteen of as able and patriotic men as ever lived before or since in the United States. Henry Clay, who was no longer a party man, was chairman and had declared that he knew, " No North, no South, no East, no West" The balance of the committee was made up of Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts ; Dickerson, of New York; Phelps, of Vermont; John Bell, of Tennessee; Cass, of Michigan ; Ber- rien, of Georgia ; Cooper, of Pennsylvania : Downs, of Louisiana; King, of Alabama; Mangum, of North Carolina; Mason, of Virginia; and Bright, of Indiana.
has been waged. He was a candidate for elector on the Filmore ticket in 1856 and also on the Bell and Everett ticket in 1800. Col. J. A. Orr was his opponent in 1856 and Dr. Richard Harrison. brother of Gen. Tom. Harrison, of Waco, Texas. his opponent in 1860. Ile opposed the secession of Mississippi in 1861. He took the position in the canvass that disunion would sound the death- knell of the institution of slavery ; that, were it possible to divide the Union and set up & sep- arate Confederacy without the firing of a gun, the institution of slavery would die a hundred years sooner than it would if the South remained in the Union with the protection and guarantees of the constitution, and that, were he an aboli- tionist and wished to abolish slavery, he wonli advocate disunion as a means to accomplish it. Hlv
-
623
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
was a planter on the Mississippi river when the war commenced. In 1803 he moved to Texas with his family and lived near Chatfield Point, in Navarro County, until the close of hostilities. After the close of the war, the levees ou the Mississippi river having been ent and his plantation there being subject to the overflows every year, he never returned to it, but rented land and became a tenant on Red river, in Bowie County, and continued to plant there until he bought bis landlord's plantation, which he now owns.
Ile moved his family to Clarksville, Red River County, in 1879, where he still lives. He was elected to the Thirteenth Legislature at the general election in 1872, from the district then composed of what is now the counties of Red River, Franklin, Titus and Morris, and was made chairman of the Committee on Enrolled Bills and was a member of the Committee on Internal Improvements, Public Lands and Counties and County Boundaries, and took an aetive part in all the legislation of the session. HIe favored every measure providing for internal improvements presented to the Legislature, favored exempting factories from taxation for a term of years and advocated a liberal policy toward rail- roads and aiding them by the donation of public lands. He has never been a candidate for any office since, but has been a delegate to every Demo- cratic State convention from 1874 to the Dallas convention of 1894, and is still a strong advocate of the " dollars of the daddies," and believes with Senator Carlisle when he said: " According to my view of the subject, the conspiracy which seems to have been formed here and in Europe to destroy
by legislation, and otherwise, from three-sevenths to one-half the metallic money of the world, is the most gigantic erime of this, or any other age."
Col. Shaw has been twice married. He first mar- ried Miss May Kate Shannon, of Pontotoc County, Miss., in the year 1857, by whom he had five children, three of whom died in infancy. Ilis eldest son, Dr. Thad Shaw, died in Bowie County. The only surviving son of this union, the Hon. Gus Shaw, lives at Clarksville, Texas.
His second marriage was to Mrs. C. A. Fain, whose maiden name was Miss Caladone A. Corne- lius, in 1867, in Bowie County, Texas, by whom he had one son, Dr. R. L. Shaw, who died at DeKalb, Texas. Col. Shaw gave all his sons good literary and professional educations.
Col. Shaw belongs to the Methodist Church and takes an active interest in its work and welfare.
He is possessed of an ample income. He and his wife have more than a thousand acres of Red river land in cultivation, besides some real estate in the town of Clarksville, enough to keep the wolf from the door.
He possesses a good library of some 150 or 200 volumes, consisting of miscellaneous, historical, political and religious works, which he puts to good use. While Col. Shaw is a Methodist in his religious beliefs, and belongs to that Church, one could never tell from the collection of religious books in his library to what Church he belongs.
No citizen of Red River County is more generally and highly esteemed, and he deserves the regard of his fellow. ejtizens, for his life has been full of activ- ity and good works.
E. TOM COX,
BRUCEVILLE.
A prominent farmer and stock-raiserin MeLennan County, was born in Tennessee, October 2, 1829, the fourth of ten children born to James and Eliza- beth (Green) Cox, natives of North Carolina. They went as colonists to Tennessee before mar- riage, locating in Carroll County. The father was a successful farmer in that State until his death, which occurred in 1853. The mother died in 1877, aged seventy-nine years.
E. Tom Cox at the age of eighteen years com- menced life for himself. In 1849 he began farin-
ing in Marshall County, Miss., two years later went to Dallas County, Ark., and during the following two years lived in various places in the southern portion of the State, principally engaged in raft- ing; in 1858 traveled with a friend into Texas as far west as the Brazos river; then returned to Tennessee, but the following year came to Texas and engaged in farm'ng and stock-raising in Bell County. In 1861 Mr. Cox located in McLennan County, where he purchased several aeres of unin- proved land and opened a farm. He has added to
624
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEX.LS.
this place until he now owns one thousand aeres under cultivation and a large body of pasture and timbered lands. In the last eighteen years he has been engaged in the ginning business, having ereeted the first gin ereeted in the portion of the country in which he lives, in 1867 or 1868. During the war, he was a soldier in Smith's Battalion, stationed at Houston, but participated in no engagement. He was elected Lieutenant of the second company in Bell County, but was exempted from active duty on account of being a eripple. After the close of hostilities, he found himself worth only about one- half of what he was at the beginning of the war and immediately resmined farming and stock-raising, at which he has since greatly prospered. He was appointed the second postmaster at Martensville, now Bruceville, the name of the town having been changed after the completion of the Mississippi, Kansas and Texas Railroad.
Mr. Cox was married in 1856 to Mrs. Mary C.
Harris, a daughter of H. H. and Mary J. (Tubb) Holeomb. Her first husband died September 1, 1855, leaving one child, G. B. Harris, now a prac- tieing physician, born February 4, 1856. Eleven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cox, viz. : R. M., a railroad agent at Morgan; Bettie G., wife of 1 .. G. Fields, a merchant at Waco; George F., a physician and merchant at Bruceville ; Mattie B., William R., Zella P., Mary T., and five who died in infancy.
Mr. and Mrs. Cox are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He is a member of Belton Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He served as Justice of the Peace of his precinct for one term and also served as County Commissioner for two years. He is a member of the Peoples Party. He is an active, progressive and sub- stantial farmer and a citizen thoroughly represen- tative of the best interests of his section of the State.
ROBERT SNEAD KIMBROUGH,
MESQUITE.
Robert S. Kimbrough was born near Madison- ville, East Tennessee, September 19, 1851.
He came to Texas in 1874 and first settled in Clay County, but eighteen mouths later moved to Mesquite, in Dallas County. Mr. Kimbrough is a member of the Baptist Church, and Knights of Honor. In 1873 he was united in marriage to Miss Fannie Wesson, at Little Rock, Ark. His wife lived only a short time, and in 1878 he married Miss Jennie Curtis. In 1881 he established the Mes- quiter, and it wielded a potent influence in local and general polities during the four years he con- ducted its columns.
He was elected to represent Dallas County in the Nineteenth Legislature, by 1, 111 majority over his colleague, and two other opponents. In that body be made a good record, and on November 4th, 1888, was elected to the State Senate (long term) from the Sixteenth District. In the latter body he was Chairman of the Committee on Roads and Bridges.
Mr. Kimbrough was a member of the sub- committee of the Senate Committee on Internal Improvements, to which was assigned the duty of
framing a Railroad Commission Bill. IIe intro- duced, among others, a bill to amend the law as to attachment and garnishment, so as to allow any, or all, creditors to intervene in attachment suits, prove their claims, and get a pro rata share of the assets of debtors. He is a clear reasoner, a good speaker, and was one of the ablest men in the Senate. He took an active part in the canvass against the constitutional prohibition in 1887; and in 1890 was one of the leaders in the fight for the nomination of James S. Hogg, by the Democratic party, for Governor, and the adoption of the amendment to the constitution that provides for a State Railroad Commisson, Senator Kimbrough was the author of the " dirt road " amendment to the constitution, which was adopted by the people at the general election in 1890. He made a strong fight in the Senate against State uniformity of text-books, holding that State uniformity was im- practicable, and a species of governmental tyranny that should not be tolerated in any country where the doctrine of local self-government prevails.
Mr. Kimbrough is a Democrat true and tried and has done loyal service.
625
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
THOMAS J. OLIVER,
DALLAS.
Thomas J. Oliver was born in Hardeman County, Tenn., September 15, 1834.
His parents were Roderick and Temperance (Darley) Oliver, the former a native of North Car- olina and the latter of Kentucky. They came to Texas in 1846 with their family. consisting of eight children (four boys and four girls), and located in Limestone County, where they thereafter resided. The mother died in 1853, and the father in 1857, and are buried at Fairfield, Texas. The children were : Narcissa, Ellen, Rosina, John E., F. C., W. W. and T. J., all of whom are deceased except Ellen, widow of M. M. Miller, of Limestone County ; Narcissa, widow of M. Stroud, of Hillsboro ; F. C., engaged in the hardware business at Groesheck. and Thomas J., the subject of this brief sketch.
2
Mr. Roderick Oliver opened the first farm in what is now Freestone County, Texas, and put in a cot- ton gin there in 1847. The Indians at that time and for years subsequent thereto committed numer- ous minor depredations, but the settlers had no serious trouble with them.
Thomas J. Oliver had but limited educational advantages, was reared on his father's farm until twenty years of age; clerked in his brother's store for a year ; worked in the district land office as a clerk under Jesse J. Cunningham, until 1856, and was then elected and served as Surveyor of the Robert- son land district for two years, after which he and his brothers, John E. and W. W., engaged in mer- chandise and stock-raising until the beginning of the war between the States, and then entered the Confederate army. He took twenty-nine men to , 1883 to Prendergast & Smith, and moving to Dallas Milligan to organize them into a company, but they purchased a private banking business at that place, which they conducted until 1887, and then merged into the Fourth National Bank, organized by thein- selves and others with a capital of $200,000. Mr. Griggs was elected president but died in November of that year, and Mr. Oliver was elected to and filled the position for one year. Thereafter, while he remained a large stockholder, he did not devote much attention to the institution until 1890, when he was elected its cashier, an office that he filled until 1891. In 1892 he took charge of another national bank as president, but found its affairs in bad condition and resigned in October. became dissatisfied and went on to Honston and enlisted in Terry's Texas rangers. He did not enlist, but accompanied Company C. of that regi- inent, as a volunteer. After the battle of Fort Donaldson he was detailed by Gen. Johnston to return to Texas and make arrangements for cloth- ing and arms for certain Texas troops who had escaped from Fort Donaldson and some of whom were in the hospital. He remained in Texas about two weeks and returned to the army just in time to participate in the battle of Shiloh. Among many other battles, he took part in those of Chickamaugua, Dalton and on to Atlanta. After Mr. Oliver is one of the leading and most pro- gressive men in the section of the State in which. " resides. Hood assumed command, he was detailed as Ole of the scouts under Capt. Shannon. The
Shannon scouts were to report at head-quar- ters every day. After the fall of Atlanta, Gen. Hood wheeled down toward Newman, and Shan- non was ordered to Stone Mountain on the left . wing of the Federal army to report the movements of the enemy in that direction, got lost, hovered around Sherman's forces until after the Federal army reached Savannah and then rejoined the Con- federate army and reported to Gen. Wheeler, who had assumed command. The Shannon scouts continued actively employed until the final sur- render.
Mr. Oliver bad three horses shot from under him and many perilous adventures and narrow escapes, but was never captured or wounded.
His brother, W. W., died in February, 1865, shortly before the close of the war. T. J. Oliver reached home July 22, 1865; engaged in merchan- dising and stock-raising and the land business with his brother, John E., at Springfield, and in Septem. ber of that year was married to Miss Alice Peeples, daughter of R. D. Peeples, of Limestone County. They have six children, viz. : Mattie, widow of the late J. W. Webb, of Dallas; Lila, Kate, Emily, Dick and Fannie. The brothers moved their busi- ness to Weatherford in 1870. The following year John E. died in that place and the survivor sold out the stock and returned to Springfield in 1872, and shortly thereafter established a private bank in Mexia, in copartnership with a Mr. Griggs, under the firm name of Oliver & Griggs, and built up a prosperous business, which they sold in
40
.
626
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
JOHN W. CRANFORD,
SULPHUR SPRINGS.
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.