USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. 2 > Part 42
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Scotia, and came to Texas in 1850, at which date he settled in San Antonio. He was for a number of years a merchant in that eity, and died there February 1, 1883.
To Mr. and Mrs. Eagar three children were born - Florence (single), Blanche, who was mar- ried to F. J. Badger, December 17, 1890, and Fannie, who was married to E. J. McCulloch, Jan- uary 16, 1890.
SAM. M. JOHNSON,
CORPUS CHRISTI.
S. M. Johnson, a well-known citizen and lawyer of Southwest Texas, and ex-Postmaster of San Antonio, now residing at Corpus Christi. was born in Austin, Texas, September 10th, 1841. His father, Moses Johnson, was a native of Eastern New York, born about the year 1808. Moses Johnson was feared on a farm, but inclined to books and professional life and studied medicine. He went West, located near Knoxville, in Knox County, Illinois, practiced his profession, bought large tracts of land and made money, but suffered some financial reverses during the panic year of 1837. He married, at Knoxville, Miss Olivia Higgins, a daughter of David Higgins. Mr. Jobn- son after marriage completed his studies at Jeffer- son Medical College, at Philadelphia, Penn. He moved from Knoxville to Texas in 1837. Proceed- ing from Velasco to Washington on the Brazos. then the capital of Texas. Ile remained there until the seat of government was changed to Inde. pendence, and then moved to that place. He fol- lowed the final removal of the capital to Austin, and served by appointment under President Anson Jones as Treasurer of the Republic of Texas, and was afterward elected to the office. He was Sur- veyor of the Port of Lavaca in ists, and died af Lavaca in 1852, His wife died three years later. They left three children.
S. M. Johnson, subject of this notice, lived with his parents at Lavaen until 1854, and that year was sent to school at Peoria. Ill., and later completed his education at Wheaton College, near Chicago. In 1861 he enlisted in the Union army as a member of the Peoria Battery, attached to the Thirteenth Army Corps and served for three years, the period
of his enlistment, during which time he took part in the battles of Prairie Grove, Pea Ridge, Port Gibson, Champion Hill, Magnolia Grove, Jackson (Miss. ), Black River, and the sieges of Vicksburg and of Jackson, Miss., and in 1864 was honorably discharged from the service. After the war he came South to his old home at Port Lavaca, and engaged in shipping produce, wool and cotton to New York, in which business he continued until 1873. He was elected a member of the Constitu tional Convention of 1867 and took an active part in the deliberations and work of that body. There- after he went to Austin, Texas, where he served as Assistant Clerk of the Supreme Court for about a year, and in the summer of 1874 went to San Antonio, where he was appointed Deputy Collector of Customs for the District of Saluria, Texas. under C. R. Prouty, Collector.
In 1878 he was appointed by the President, Col- leetor of United States Customs for the Corpus Christi District, which office he filled for four years under the administration of President Hayes. IIc bad in the meantime studied law, and in 1878 went to San Automo and entered the office of Judge Wesley Ogden and his son, C. W. Ogden, and was admitted to practice in 1883. Mr. Johnson was appointed Postmaster at San Antonio in 1890 by President Harrison, and filled the office for four years with marked satisfaction to the people. Later he organized the Laguna Madre Horticultural Com- pany and is now its general manager. The com- pany owns a large tract of good land fifteen miles below Corpus Christi, on the coast of Corpus Christi Day, and raises choice tabl, grapes for early spring delivery in Northern markets. The enterprise y
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on a fine financial footing, and bids fair to be a source of great profit to those who inaugurated it.
Mr. Johnson married, at Port . Lavaca, Miss Helen, the accomplished daughter of Judge Wesley Ogden, ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of
Texas (from 1870 to 1872), and Mrs. Jane ( Church) Ogden, whose brother was a Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of New York. Mrs. Johnson is a lady of rare literary and domestic attainments. She was born at Rochester, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. John- son have two children, Ogden C. and Ethel.
MRS. M. W. PETERS,
BEEVILLE.
The following is from an obituary notice an- 1830 with her parents, who settled near where the nouncing the death of this excellent lady : --- .
" After a prolonged illness of several months, Mrs. Margaret Williams Peters, wife of Maj. Stephen Peters, died at the residence of her son-in-law, Mr. A. P. Rachal, in this city, last Tuesday morning, at 3 o'clock, July 3d, 1894, and her remains were in- terred at the Beeville Cemetery the following even- ing, attended by a large number of friends of her daughter, with whom she and her venerable hus- band made their home for a number of years.
"Few citizens, other than natives, are credited with a longer residence in Texas than the deceased. Of her seventy-six years, sixty-four were spent in Texas, she having emigrated from Tennessee in
city of Paris now stands. While a resident of that part of the State she was united in marriage to Maj. Stephen Peters, himself a pioneer, and who, a decade past the scriptural allotment of three score and ten years, still survives her. Their wedlock was also blessed with more than the usual allotment of years, their married life having extended over a period of fifty-six years.
"Since 1859 Mrs. Peters was a resident of this section of the State. Early in life she joined and ever after remained a devout and consistent member of the Methodist Church. Three of eight children survive her."
STEPHEN PETERS,
BEEVILLE.
The following is an extract from a notice pub- lished at the time of Maj. Peters' death : -
" Maj. Stephen Peters, an old citizen of South- west Texas, died at the residence of his son-in-law, Mr. A. P. Rachal, in Beeville, Wednesday after- noon, August 7th, 1895, and was buried the follow- ing morning at 10 o'clock with Masonic honors.
"The deceased had led an eventful life, and ' notwithstanding the hardships incident to the resi- dence of a pioneer in the West, survived to the ripe old age of eighty-four. He was born in the State of Tennessee in 1812, when that State was regarded as the frontier of American civilization.
"IJe removed to Texas early in the 30's with one
of the colonies that were induced by the indhente of such prominent Tennesseeans as Crockett to cast their fortunes with the nucleus of Americans who had already settled in Texas, and had begun a revolt against the authority of the Mexican autocracy. Settling in that portion of the State which is now known as Lamar County, he assisted in laying out the town of Paris, which of late years has become a prosperous city. As a natural consequence, life in Texas at that time was fraught with exciting incidents, and Maj. Peters experienced his share of the hardships incident to repelling the Indians from the young colony of which he was a member. " On the declaration of war between Mexico and
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
the United States over the admission of the young Republic to the Union, he joined a company of vol- unteers sad rose to the rank of Major under Gen. Rusk, serving throughout the entire campaign.
" At the close of the war he settled in Grayson County, shortly after which he was attracted to California by the discovery of gold in that seetion. Returning to Texas he went to Madson County where he resided until 1859 and then removed to St. Mary's, then a prosperous shipping point on the coast, and has since resided in this section of the
State. Maj. Peters was married in 1837 to Miss Margaret Williams, whom he survived but little more than a year.
"During his years of active life, Maj. Peters was a man of strong individuality. Having lived through and observed the making of the greater part of the political history of the country, he always took a lively interest in public affairs and, though an invalid for the past few years, he always exercised the privilege of voting when his health permitted of his reaching the polls."
F
DANIEL MURPHY,
TAYLOR.
The subject of this brief memoir was a pioneer settler in the now thriving town of Taylor, Texas, one of its most enterprising and successful business men, and one of its most highly esteemed citizens. He was a native of Ireland and was born of humble but respected parents. His father died about one month before Daniel's birth. When our subject was about two years old, his widowed mother came with her infant son and daughter to America. At an early age he was by force of circumstances thrown upon his own resources and drifted into railroad work. He was a partner of Mr. Burkitt, of Palestine. Texas (a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume) for about twenty-five years. His carly struggles in Texas were manfully made and from the beginning his sterling character and great business sagacity rendered it certain that he would carve out for him- self a successful career. A man of great ambition and tenacity of purpose, be pursued his business with a method and determination that brought to him his financial success. He foresaw the possibili- ties of Texas in the line of material development and thoroughly identified himself with the work of build- ing up the waste places of the State.
He and his partner. Mr. Burkitt, as contractors, were active factors in the building of the M., K. & T., and International & Great Northern railways, and built almost entirely the Austin & Northwestern road-bed. Upon the dissolution of the firm of Burkitt & Murphey, Mr. Murphey located at Taylor and laid the foundation for the fortune which, by business taet and enterprise. he has amassed. More than any other citizen of Taylor he aided in inaug-
urating useful enterprises and local improvements and, when his tragie and untimely death occurred, was Taylor's foremost business citizen. He owned a half interest in the Taylor Ice & Water Company, was a stockholder and director in the Taylor Inter- national Bank, owned the La Grande Hotel Block, besides much other valuable property in and about the city, and valuable mining properties in Mexico.
Ile was a man of domestic tastes. Mr. Murphey married at Austin, Texas, January 9th, 1877, in St. Mary's Church, Mrs. Hanna Boyle, widow of Mr. Michael Boyle. She proved a most affectionate and faithful wife and helpmeet, sharing with him with great fortitude, all of his cares and reverses and, with great pleasure aud gratification. his many and signal successes. As a widow she brought to the household one infant daughter, Miss Grace, now grown and finely educated. Later. two sons were born to the happy union, viz. : Daniel George, born in Houston, January 29th, 1878, and Joseph, born in Palestine, October 26th. 1880. George is now ( 1896) eighteen years of age, has bech given excellent educational advantages and. having also been schooled by his father in business matters, is practically the manager of the Taylor Ice and Water Company. Joseph, too, is a young man of fine business judgment and has given some attention to his father's mining interests in Mexico.
Mr. Murphey's death occurred at the Pacific Hotel in Waco, Texas, Sunday, September 13th, 1826. The remains were brought to Taylor for intermest. and it is said to have been the largest funeral in the history of Taylor.
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEX.IS.
647
WILLIAM M. HARRISON,
FORT WORTH.
Col. William M. Harrison was born in Bourbon County, Ky., April 26, 1819. His grandfather, James Harrison, immigrated in an early day from Ireland to Pennsylvania, and settled near Philadel- phia, and there married a Miss Carlysle, an English lady of fine educational accomplishments, by whom he had ten children, in the order named, viz. : Hugh, James, William, Hcttic, John, Mary, Robert, Carlysle, Joseph, and Thomas.
John moved to Kentucky, where he married Eliz- abeth, daughter of William and Elizabeth (nee
the education in the country schools of that county. At sixteen he started ont for himself, leaving Mis- souri for Arkansas, and engaged as a clerk in his brother James' store, in Washington, Hempstead County, in 1835. After remaining in this position eighteen months. upon a moderate salary, he went. in the fall of 1836, to Jonesboro, then in Miller County, Ark., now Red River County. Texas, where he commenced mercantile business on his own account, on a capital of about $1,500 and credit for any amount he wanted. Ile left Jonesboro and
WILLIAM M. HARRISON.
Newman) McClanahan, both of whom were natives of Virginia, where they were married before their advent into Kentucky. AAfter his marriage John Harrison, in consequence of bis limited means, engaged in various kinds of manual labor, one of which was the building of post and rail fences. After accumulating some means he engaged in dis- tilling. In 1819 he moved to Iloward County, Mo., and settled near where Glasgow now stands.
Col. Harrison's mother died in the year 1815, about sixty years of age. Ilis brothers, of whom the late well-known James Harrison, of St. Louis. was one, all became wealthy. He was raised to farm life in IToward County, Mo., and received all
went to Clarksville in 1844, where he continued merchandising until the breaking out of the war. Ife purchased a plantation of 1500 acres (600 in cultivation) in Red River County in 1849, com- meneed planting and continued this business, in connection with his mercantile operations, during the same period, when the mercantile business was discontinued, but the planting continued until the surrender. After having served as Quartermaster in the Confederate army, with the rank of Captain, about eighteen months, he returned from Corinth, where he had been stationed, and was elected to the Legislature from Red River County, serving one term.
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The accumulations of his life, up to the begin- ning of the war, which were not less than $150,000, consisting largely in negro property and assets due in mercantile pursuits, were swept away by the results of the struggle. After the surrender he sold his plantation for ten thousand dollars in gold (not half its real value prior to the war), and on this capital and twenty thousand dollars, which be bor- rowed, commenced the warehouse. wholesale gro- cery and commission business at Jefferson, Texas, as partner in the firm of Wright, Harrison & Co. Afterwards Mr. Wright retired, having sold out his interest to his partners, when the style of the firin was changed to J. W. & J. R. Russell & Co. In this company and business he continued until the partnership was dissolved by the death of J. W. Russell. After the firm's dissolution Col. Harrison became one of the original charter members of the First National Bank of Jefferson, which began business in March, 1871, and was elected its first president, a position that he continued to fill until he removed to Fort Worth. He was one of the projectors of the East Line and Red River Railway, now extending from Jefferson to Mckinney, which, after languishing for several years as a corporation in name only, was taken in hand by him, and mainly by his efforts pushed to successful comple- tion. Desiring a more extended field of operations. he moved to Fort Worth in 1884, where he estab- lished the State National Bank. He was president of the State National Bank at the time of his death. The estate hi'e left to his widow and children was estimated at $500,000.
Col. Harrison became a mason in 1842, in Friend- ship Lodge. No. 16, Clarksville. and afterwards took the Chapter and other degrees. He was also a member of the Legion of Honor.
He was raised an ardent Henry Clay Whig, but acted with the Democratic party after the sur- render. He was opposed to secession, but went with his people, feeling it his doty to aid them. both by contributions and service.
He first married, in Clarksville, Texas, July 1, 1845, Miss Elizabeth Shields, who was born in Giles County, Tenn., September 7, 1820, daughter of William Shields, a farmer, and niece of Col. Ebenezer J. Shields, at one time a member of Congress from Tennessee. She died September 11. 1853. By this marriage, Col. Harrison had three children, all born in Red River County, Texas : Medora, born September 12, 1848, died September 17, 1864 ; Mary E., born December 20, 1850, died October 25, 1851; and Elizabeth Louise, born October 17, 1852, still living.
Col. Harrison married, in Clarksville, Texas, January 18, 1855, Miss Elizabeth Ann Epperson, a native of Tennessee, born October 11, 1835, daugh- ter of Cairo Epperson, a planter, and a scion of a South Carolina family. By this marriage Col. Harrison had six children, all born in Clarksville, viz. : Mary, born March 19. 1856 ; William B., born January 13, 1858; John C., born June 25, 1859 ; Sally (now Mrs. Gov. C. A. Culberson), born July 25, 1861; James, born September 17, 1863, and Amanda, born September 28, 1865, the latter of whom died June 21, 1866.
Col. Harrison was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
He was one of the clearest-headed and ablest financiers ever in the State; enterprising, public- spirited, and generous in his support of every worthy cause. He is remembered lovingly hy thousands of friends and admirers.
CONRAD MEULY,
CORPUS CHRISTI.
It is doubtful if Texas ever had a more brave, loyal and patriotic pioneer than the late Conrad Meuly, whose home during a greater portion of his life was at or in the vicinity of Corpus Christi.
He was born in Canton Graubunten, Switzer- land, April 12, 1812, and there lived until twenty- one years of age and then came to America. His father was an office-holder, a man of affairs and a
well-to-do citizen. Conrad, with others of the family, grew up under good business and soria! influences and was accorded s good education. Upon coming to America he landed at New York City, and at once set about the study of the English language, which in a short time he so far masterai as to speak and write it with intelligence and fluency.
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INDLIN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
In New York he heard of the wonderful resources of Texas and the opportunities offered there to young men to make fortunes ; purchased a stock of silk dress-goods and laces and started with them for the Lone Star Republie. He reached Texas just in time to join the Santa Fe expedition, taking along with him his stock of merchandise, which was valued at $1,600, and upon which he sus- tained a total loss. The outcome of the ill-fated expedition is well known to the readers of Texas history.
Mr. Meuly was among those who marched on foot to Mexico as prisoners, condemned to be shot for intriguing against the Mexican government, and required to draw beans in the lottery of death that decided who were and who were not to be executed. Hle drew a white bean and escaped with his life. " Those who drew black beans were shot. Upon be- ing released from imprisonment he started for Texas with John Rahm, and, after suffering almost indescribable hardships, reached San Antonio. From San Antonio he went to Houston, where he met and made the favorable acquaintance of the late T. W. House, whose confidence he gained and whose aid he secured in opening a bakery and con- fectionery business. The business prospered, and Mr. House was ever after his staunch friend. Mr. Menly married, in New Orleans, June 13, 1847, Miss Margaret Rahm, sister of his friend John, German by birth, and a lady of superior intelli- gence and education. The year following they located in Corpus Christi, where they embarked in the bakery and confectionery business ou Water street. When Gen. Taylor's army was on its way South Mr. Meuly furnished him quantities of the
produet of the bakery, for which Gen. Taylor paid him well.
His business increased ; to his stock were added groeeries and dry goods, and he continued there until 1862. Mr. Meuly was a brave and patriotic man and made no concealment of his pronounced loyalty to the Union and, when the war between the States broke out, he openly predicted failure for the Confederacy, and for this he was unpopular and made to suffer in various ways; but even threats of hanging and the confiscation of his property failed to intimidate him and he continued in trade until the bombardment of Corpus Christi in Aug- ust, 1862, and then moved to ltis ranch, twenty-five miles distant in the country. He is said to have owned 15.000 head of cattle on this ranch. Many were confiscated by the Confederacy, however. Mr. Meuly, later, near the close of the war, con- tracted under the United States Government to deliver supplies and, while on one of his business trips, died in Brownsville of yellow fever, July 10, 1865. Hle left a large estate in lands, stock and property in Corpus Christi to his widow and family. Mrs. Meuly still survives, lives at the old home in Corpus Christi, and of her twelve children, six are still living, viz. : Herman, Charles A., Alexander H., Margaret, Amelia A. and Mary E., the latter of whom is now .Mrs. Charles F. H. Blucher. Ursula, the eldest, married William II. Daim- wood. She died May 14th, 1895, leaving five ehildren.
Mr. Meuly was a kind-hearted and benevolent man, always in sympathy with the worthy poor.
He was honest and upright in all his dealings and was highly respected by all who knew him.
*r
JAMES LAWLOR,
HOUSTON.
Capt. James Lawlor was born in the city of Limerick, Ireland, November Ist, 1855. Spent. his early boyhood days in Clontarf. Dublin, and came to America in 1870, landing at Boston, Mass., where he remained for a short time ; then procceded west to Chicago, and from that city on to Colorado, where he worked as a miner and engaged in various business pursuits. From Colorado he went to St. Louis, Mo., where he engaged in the hotel business. About ten years ago Capt. Lawlor moved to
Houston, Texas, where he is the proprietor of the Lawlor Hotel, and has identified himself with the business and social interests of that city.
Always deeply interested in the movement being made in this country in behalf of Irish self- govern- ment, Capt. Lawlor's name, at every stage of his busy life, has been associated with those of the men who have done most in behalf of down-trodden and maisgoverned Ireland. Pressing business engage. ments, however, kept Capt. Lawlor from the New
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INDLIN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
Movement Convention, recently held at Chicago, but his genial friend, Mr. Patrick Berry, of Galves- ton, Texas, suggested his name as a member of the Executive Board of Nine, and he was unanimously elected to that position by the convention.
Capt. Lawlor is in command of the Emmet Rifles, a crack company of the Texas Volunteer Guard, and is also president of the Emmet Council and Benevolent Association, of Houston, Texas. He is an exemplary citizen, a steadfast Irish Nationalist,
a friend of the oppressed of all countries, a man of commanding appearance ; whole-souled, generous and genial, and has many thousands of friends throughout Texas.
Before leaving Colorado Capt. Lawlor married Miss Anne McNally, a resident of St. Louis, but claiming Ireland as her native land, and with his handsome wife and a lovely daughter, just growing into young womanhood, Capt. Lawlor's domestic life leaves nothing to be desired.
GREEN A. RABB,
CORPUS CHRISTI.
It is seldom, if ever, that the writer of local his- tory has occasion to chronicle the life of a more successful and popular citizen than that of the sub- ject of this brief memoir.
A member of one of Texas' oldest and most respected families, a great-grandson of a member of the first colony of American settlers of the State, his life reflected those strong traits that have char- acterized his ancestors wherever known. Prior to the year 1819 data concerning the Rabb family is quite meager, and to various pioneers of Texas and also to old records and published documents the writer is indebted for the following briefly stated facts touching this pioneer family :---
The founder of the Rabb family in Texas was Wm. Rabb, who was a Pennsylvanian by birth and of Dutch descent. His family lived at the time of his birth in Fayette County. They later came West and located in Illinois on the Mississippi river, nearly opposite St. Louis, Mo. There Mr. Rabb erected a water-mill for grinding flour, operated it successfully for a time, sold out, and with his fam- ily removed to Washington, Ark., where he resided until the year 1819. Hle theu, with a son, Thos. J. Rabb (known as Capt. Robb), made a prospecting trip to Texas, exploring quite an extent of country, including the Colorado and Guadalupe valleys. In 1821 they put in a crop of corn on land included in what is familiarly known as Rabb's Prairie. This is conceded to be the first corn raised by an Amer- ican in all that region of country. Returning to his home and family in Arkansas they prepared to take up their journey to their newly selected home in Texas, and joined Austin's first colony of 300, arriving in December, 1821. Early in 1822 Wm.
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