USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. 2 > Part 52
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large pasture that was ever established in the State. In 1870 this firm was dissolved, and J. M. & T. H. Mathis were the following year again associated in business by themselves. Sinee that time T. H. Mathis has been doing business on his own account, with the exception of the purchase of a one-half interest in about 24,000 acres of fine agricultural landin Wharton County, which he subsequently sold. He now owns about 24,000 acres of fine agricultural land in San Patricio County, on the Nueces river, well fenced and stocked with fine horses and cattle. On the same estate are several farms, orchards and vineyards. The town of " Mathis" is named for him, and is a portion of his original ranch. The growth of a town so near the body of his ranch can- not fail to appreciate the value of every acre of it. Even at the present low prices of land, this is a princely estate, while its prospective value is very considerable indeed. Mr. Mathis possesses an ordinary fortune, entirely aside from these fine lands. He owns one of the best homes in Rockport, besides thousands of dollars' worth of realty in different portions of that city. He is liberally in- sured, to the amount of $60,000 in old line com- panies. He is a principal stockholder in the First National Bank of Rockport, of which institution he is also president. Such is an imperfect statement of the material results attending a successful busi- ness career. But no correct inventory of Mr. Mathis' wealth can be made that does not include his character as the main part. He has not achieved financial success at the expense of character, which is too often done. He was well-equipped for his
eareer, both by nature and acquirements, and hence had no oceasion to resort to dishonest methods. His experience in the school room made an in- delible impression on his life. Possibly he would have made as much money without it, but he would not otherwise have held money in as strict subjec- tion to higher ends as he now does. Without sneh culture he might have been made the slave instead of the master of his large possessions. He is a Democrat of the Jefferson-Jackson-Cleveland type.
He is a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church. Religiously, as otherwise, his professions are not loud, and need not be. It would be hard to find a beneficent institution near him that has not been helped by him or that might not have been for the mere asking. He was married twice. In 1869 to Mrs. Cora C. Caldwell, of Gonzales County, Texas, who died two months afterwards, and in 1875 to his present wife (nee Miss Mary J. Nold), in Mur- ray, Ky. She was born in Goliad, Texas, July 15, 1856, and educated in Kentucky. Her parents were Henry and Mrs. E. M. Nold. Her father, an eminent educator, died at Murray, Ky., November 2, 1886. Her mother is still living. Mr. Mathis is the father of eight children: Walter N., Henry, May, Thomas E., Edgar, Arthur, Lizzie Belle, and Allie. Until a few months since it was an unbroken family, when little Allie, aged seventeen months and thirteen days, was taken from the bosom of the family, demonstrating that "our life is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away."
JOHN PRIESS,
FREDERICKSBURG,
Was born in Grosenbergan, Prussia, July 30, 1817, and came to America in 1846, as a member of the second company of emigrants sent out to Texas by the German Emigration Company. The party landed at Galveston and were almost immediately transferred to Indianola, reaching the latter port during the night of December 25, 1846.
Mr. Priess proceeded from Indianola to New Braunfels, and soon after, upon the platting of the town, moved to Fredericksburg, where he ever after resided.
He married Miss Elise Vogel, at Fredericksburg,
February 13, 1848. They had five children, viz. : Carl F., a resident of Fredericksburg, and dealer in live stock ; Louis, a prosperous merchant of Fred- ericksburg; Bertha, wife of Henry Pfeister, a farmer living on Bear creek, in Gillespie County ; Amelia, wife of Edward Kott, a farmer on Bear creek ; and George, a farmer on Bear creek. Mr. John Priess died at his home, in Fredericksburg, in June, 1882. His wife is still living at that place.
Louis Priess was born in Fredericksburg, Texas, January 20, 1852, and was reared upon his father's
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farm until about twenty-one years of age, when he went to Austin, where he clerked in a wholesale grocery store until 1876. IIe then formed a co- partnership with his brother, C. F. Priess, under the firm name of C. F. Priess & Bro., and engaged in merchandising, a connection that continued until 1887, when he withdrew from active business pur- suits for a time.
In 1888 he commenced business in his own name, and in 1895 he formed a copartnership with Mr.
W. J. Moore, under the firm name of Priess & Moore, and continued in merchandising in his native town.
Mr. Louis Priess married Miss Anna Schoene- wolf, at Fredericksburg, January, 1893. She is a native of that place and a daughter of August Schoenewolf, a gentleman well known throughout Gillespie and adjoining counties. Mr. and Mrs. Priess have five children : Erwin, Alice, Hugo, Ed- mund, and Olga.
F. V. BLESSE,
EAGLE PASS.
F. V. Blesse, a leading citizen of Eagle Pass, and president of the First National Bank of that city, is a native of St. Louis, Mo .; was born August 16th, 1855. His father, August F. Blesse, was a stock-dealer and a successful business man. Mr. Blesse received his preliminary education in his native city, and later served as an accountant and clerk in the Union Savings Bank at St. Charles, Mo. He then attended school at the Westminster College, at Fulton, Mo., for three years, after which he returned to St. Louis, and soon thereafter came, in 1881, to San Antonio, Texas. He tray- eled over the State for about six months, and then went to Eagle Pass and entered the bank of S. P. Simpson & Co. as accountant and cashier, remain- ing in their employ for about five years, during the latter year of which time he secured a partnership in the business. He withdrew his interest in 1888, and in September of that year, with the co-opera- tion of leading capitalists of that city, organized the Maverick County Bank of Eagle Pass, cash capital $30,000.00. Ilis partners were L. DeBona, Wm. Nagley and J. A. Bonnet. This arrangement continued for about three years, and in 1801 the First National Bank of Eagle Pass, cash capital
850,000.00, was organized, absorbing the capital of the old institution. The First National Bank's cap- ital has since increased to $60,000.00. Its officers are: F. V. Blesse, president; Wm. Hollis, vice- president, and W. A. Bonnet, cashier. Directors : F. V. Blesse, Wm. Hollis, W. A. Bonnet, L. DeBona, Wm. Nagley, W. Kelso, and Dr. A. H. Evans. The institution does a general banking business, and is one of the solid financial houses of Southwest Texas.
Mr. Blesse married, at Eagle Pass, Miss Nits, daughter of J. M. Gibbs, and niece of Col. C. C. Gibbs, of San Antonio. She was born at Nava- sota, Texas, and is a lady of refinement and excel- lent domestic and social accomplishments. They have one son, Frederick.
Mr. and Mrs. Blesse affiliate with the Church of the Redeemer ( Episcopalian), of which he is a ves- tryman. Mr. Blesse is a sound money Repub- lican. Ile is considered one of the substantial and enterprising citizens of the town. He eschews pol- ities as a business ; but, as a citizen, is interested in political movements in so far as they promise to affect the well-being of his adopted city, county and State, and the country at large.
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M. BUTLER,
AUSTIN.
Michael Butler, one of Austin's leading business men, is a native of Ireland, born near the city of Limerick, February 17th, 1844, where his father, John Butler, at that time lived.
John Butler owned farms, was a contractor in the construction of public pikes, or roads, and was regarded as a substantial, well-to-do citizen. Our subject was the second youngest of five brothers ; received the rudiments of a good common school education in Limerick, and acquired good business habits and an irrepressible longing to accomplish something for himself in the business world. The opportunities offered there for advancement were not promising, and he, therefore, at the age of twenty-one, left his native home and sailed for New York, landing there in the spring of 1865. He remained in New York but a short time and, in harmony with the advice so freely given by Horace Greeley to young men of those days, went West, developed into a successful business man, and, in 1874, came to Austin, Texas, with a cash capital of about $10,000.00. He came to Austin to continue the contracting business. He found here a great need for brick to take the place, at least for some special purposes, of the native rock so generally in use, and in his usually thorough manner explored the country for a suitable clay possessing the neces- sary ingredients from which a good quality and color of brick could be produced. He soon accom- plished the object of his search, and opened his first brickyard in Austin. The brick theretofore used had been of poor quality, and were shipped from abroad and were expensive. His first efforts were experimental, and his methods of manufac- ture necessarily somewhat crude, but he had in- formed himself thoroughly in the matter of clays and, being of a naturally mechanical turn of mind, soon constructed the necessary appliances, and gratified his desire to show the people of Central Texas what a good and sound brick looked like. He then entered into the enterprise with his accus- tomed energy and push, and the result is that
Austin has one of the finest brick yards in the State. Houston has another which Mr. Butler established in 1893. Both are doing a large busi- ness, employ a large force of men, and annually distribute large sums of money broadcast in these communities. The results of Mr. Butler's work do. not stop here, however. His brick have so far taken the place of stone in building, that the public streets are now bordered with handsome brick blocks and beautiful architectural residences, a happy result that could have never been otherwise obtained.
Mr. Butler also established a brickyard at Dallas in about the year 1882, built up a fine trade and disposed of it to a brother, Patrick Butler, who still owns it. Mr. Butler is a thorough-going business man, broad in his views, and public-spirited. He is a self-made man in everything that the term ini- plics. His success in life has been phenomenal and he has accumulated a splendid fortune. He is a t'iorough and firm believer in Texas' and Austin's future, and has practically demonstrated his faith by liberally investing his means in Austin realty and her business enterprises, until he is regarded as one of her most substantial property owners.
Mr. Butler is prominently identified with the banking interests of Austin as one of the promoters of and a stockholder and director of the American National Bank of that city, one of the strongest financial institutions in the State.
He married, in 1878, Miss Mary Jane, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Francis Kelly, of Austin. The union has been a most fortunate and happy one. They have two sons and one daughter, viz. : John Francis, Margaret Emma, and Thomas James.
The family mansion is one of the most elegant in proportions and architecture, and most complete in its arrangements and furnishings, in Austin, and occupies a commanding position, overlooking large portions of the city. Mr. Butler and his family are members of the Roman Catholic Church.
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WM. A. WORTHAM.
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MRS. W. A. WORTHAM.
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
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WILLIAM A. WORTHAM,
SULPHUR SPRINGS.
W. A. Wortham, Superintendent of the State Orphans' Asylum, situated near Corsicana, was born in Manry County, Tenn., November 3, 1830, and came to Texas in 1842, with his widowed mother, who settled in Harrison County. He was principally educated at Marshall. Desiring to be a printer, he placed himself in a printing office as a bound apprentice and served three years, at the end of which time he was an experienced journey- man printer. On the 11th day of June, 1852, he was united in marriage to Miss Adeline E. Ashcroft, daughter of Dr. Levy and Elizabeth Asticroft, of Tyler, Texas, and in 1854 settled in Sulphur Springs, where he now claims his home. They have five children: William B. (State Treasurer) ; Louis J., Albert A., Thomas, James, and Levy D. Wortham.
Col. Wortham has been a member of the M. E. Church South thirty-eight years, and his consis- tent deportment during the dark days of war, and since, is ample proof of his faith in the promises of God. As a soldier he was kind to all in distress with whom he came in contact, and on one occasion he stopped for a moment, in the midst of battle in August, and gave to a wounded and dying Federal soldier the last drop of water in his canteen, not knowing when or where he would get any more.
The greater part of Col. Wortham's life has been spent as a newspaper publisher and editor. In December, 1861, he was a volunteer in the Con- federate army.
At the organization of his company he was elected First Lieutenant and was attached to Crump's First Texas Battalion. The battalion. was afterward attached to Ector's Brigade. At the close of the war he was Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the Thirty-fourth Texas Cavalry. He participated in many of the bloody engagements of the war - Elk Horn, Richmond (Ky. ), Perryville, Murfreesboro, Jackson, Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, Yellow Bayou, and many other engagements or skirmishes of less note.
IIe has served as Justice of the Peace and Dis- trict Clerk; represented Hopkins County three times in the House of Representatives of the Texas Legislature; represented liis district during one term in the State Senate, and in 1801 was appointed by Governor James S. Hogg superintendent of the State Orphans" Asylum at Corsicana.
Col. Wortham is one of the oldest, most widely known and ablest editorial writers in Texas.
During the dark days that marked the recon- struction era he fought fearlessly, through the columns of his paper, the cause of civil liberty and honest government, while being daily threatened with incarceration in the Federal barracks, in Sul- phur Springs, where he was editing The Gazette, if he did not withhold his caustic criticisms of the conduct of those in authority.
He has always been a Democrat-taking the extreme Southern, view of the rights of the States as enunciated by Thomas Jefferson and advocated by the great Southern leaders in 1860 and 1861, and never abandoned that doctrine until it was set- tled by the arbitrament of the sword. When that was a fixed fact he counseled obedience to the altered condition of affairs, and earnestly desired to witness a complete reconciliation between the States.
. He has taken part, on the liustings, in many cam- paign3. He has no patience with the so-called "independentism " - another name, viewed in the most charitable light, for a want of settled con- victions, and, in the true light, for demagogy and a want of principle. The kind of independentism he has followed throughout his long career as a newspaper man, has been to freely criticise Demo- cratic leaders, when criticism was necessary to the preservation of party integrity, and its adoption of correct lines of public policy. Thus, helping to keep the grand old ship true to her course, he has been among the foremost when the enemy was to be met and victory won or defeat sustained. Believ- ing ardently that upon the ultimate triumph of the principles of political economy, that forms Demo- cratic faith, depends the preservation of a truly Republican government, and the protection of the rights, liberties and happiness of all the people, he has devoted himself with unselfish, patriotic zeal, to the cause of Democracy throughout his long, useful and honored life. As a member of the House and Senate of the Texas Legislature, he served on many important committees, took an active part in legislation, and made an excellent record. Ilis discharge of the duties of his position as superintendent of the State Orphans' Asylum has been characterized by great ability, and he has
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made the asylum what it was designed to be, one of the noblest and most useful of the State's insti- tntions. He attributes his success in the conduct of the asylum more to his estimable wife than to his own management. They have labored together to make it as near a model home for the State's help- less orphan children as possible. Every child
scems contented and happy. Col. Wortham and wife feel that they are most happily rounding off their long and useful lives in the care of helpless children and stimulating them with just pride to become useful men and women and to love God, themselves, Texas, and their whole coun- try.
JOSEPHUS CUMMINGS, M. D.,
AUSTIN.
The late Dr. Cummings was one of the leading physicians of the State, and an honored and useful citizen of Austin.
His father, Stephen Cummings, was a native of Maryland and his mother, Nancy G. (Rowe) Cum- mings, a native of North Carolina.
His father was a Texas pioncer, resident at Austin as early as 1840. Dr. Cummings was a native of Austin and was born November 30, 1849. During boyhood and youth he led an active outdoor life, which gave him a robust physique and he ab- sorbed the spirit of patriotism and valor that per- meated the atmosphere during these exciting days of struggle between the founders of Austin and hostile Indians. He attended the schools of his native city, took a course of study at Round Rock (Texas) Academy, was an apt and thorough stu- dent, and at the age of twenty years (1869) entered Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, Pa., and graduated from that institution with the high- est honors of a large class in 1871. August 5th, 1872, he married Miss Texas, danghiter of Thomas Glasscock, one of the bravest and most chivalrous defenders of the cause of the " Lone Star Repub- lic " in her struggle for independence. More ex- tended mention is made of Mr. Glasscock elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Cummings, like her husband, was born and grew up in Austin, and she there re- ceived an excellent education. She seems to have inherited from her parents that love of country, that zeal and patriotism which finally secured to the founders of this great commonwealth their rights, viz., their liberty and their happiness, and there are very few, if any, who hold in more grateful remem- brance the glorious and heroic deeds of her imme- diate ancestors and their allies, than does Mrs. Cummings. She lives, in the prime of womanhood, at her home in Austin, with a beautiful and aecom-
plished daughter, Miss Penina Browning Cummings, and a promising son, Josephus, in the enjoyment of a comfortable competency.
Dr. Cummings immediately after his return to Austin in 1872 entered upon the practice of his profession. He paid especial attention to surgery and was called to perform many difficult and won- derful operations and so phenomenal was his success in surgery that reports of his skillful work have been recorded in the works of medical science and will live in history to instruct these who seek to attain perfection in the science of surgery.
He, therefore, became prominent and essentially a leader of the profession in his section of the State, and later in the State at large. He was for three years secretary of the Travis County Medical Soci- ety, and afterwards president of the same. He was also a valuable and influential member of the Austin District Medical Society, and the Texas State Medical Association, before which latter body he read several valuable papers on surgical science. He held the responsible office of city and county physician, and it was mainly due to his influence that the spacious and comfortable city hospital was built. He was a busy man, with active brain and willing and ready hands. Aside from his various contributions to the medical journals of his day and papers read before the various medical associations of which he was a member, he was at the period of his untimely death collecting data and compil- ing material for a contemplated work on surgery, selections from which appeared from time to time in the St. Louis Courier Medical Journal. Few men took greater interest in the benevolent and fraternal interests of his city and State than he did, and he gave much of his valuable time to such organizations. He was a charter member of the orders of Knights of Honor and Knights and La-
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
dies of Honor ; held the office of Deputy Grand Dictator of the former, and at the time of his deatlı was active iu these societies. He was also an active member of the Ancient Order of Working Men, the Good Fellows, Knights of Dixie, Select Knights, and Lake City Camp, Woodmen of the World. Provisional Head Sovereign Frost, of Atlanta, Ga., in a communication to Lake City Camp, at Austin, said : " Woodcraft has lost a great sovereign and Austin a good man."
The Texas Sanitarian, a medical periodical pub- lished at Austin, his native city, refers to him in a published sketch as strictly ethical in all of his professional relations, and also paid him the most graceful of all tributes in saying that "he was a friend to the poor."
Dr. Cummings was, withal, a practical and suc-
cessful man of affairs. Hc eschewed politics as a means of self-aggrandizement, or profit ; but, as a loyal Democrat and a patriotic citizen, his vote, his good counsel, and wide influence could always be obtained, and, when given, was found to be on the side of good government. He was for a time United States Pension Examiner, served several terms as city and county physician, and was sev- cral times Alderman ( when very young), and in that position was the promoter of nearly all of the early sanitary means adopted by the city. Dr. Cummings was a man of strong intellect, splendid physique and presence, and great personal magnetism, and was bound by ties of lasting endearment to his thou- sands of loyal and admiring friends, embracing not only members of his profession, but men in nearly every other walk of life.
JOHN T. CRADDOCK,
GREENVILLE,
John T. Craddock was born in Henry County, Ala., December 14, 1855. His parents were Hin- ton and Elizabeth Craddock. He was reared in Wood County, Texas; received his preliminary education in the common schools of that county and for about two years attended Mansfield Col- lege, in Tarrant County ; six years was County Clerk of Wood County ; read law under Judge L. W. Crow, of Quitman, Texas, where he was licensed to practice; served in 1889 and 1890 as assistant to Attorney-General Hogg in the Attorney-
General's office ; has resided at Greenville, Texas, since April, 1801, since which date he has been General Attorney of the East Line & Red River Railroad Company, now known as the Sherman, Shreveport & Houston Railroad Company ; married Miss Sarah Hart, daughter of V. T. Hart, of Mineola, Texas, February 22, 1882; is a lawyer of distinction and is widely known to the members of his profession and men who take an interest in public affairs throughout the State.
A. L. MATLOCK,
FORT WORTH.
Hon. A. L. Matlock, one of the brightest orna- ments of the Texas bar and a political leader, whose white plume has led the way in more than one hotly-contested political campaign, was born in Roane County, Tenn., on the 23d of April, 1852. His parents were Col. A. and Mrs, Margaret ( Rus- sell) Matlock, who were also born in East Tennessee.
The former was a son of Jason Matlock, of Welsh and Scotch descent, a pioneer of that State. Rep- resentatives of the family formed a settlement in America at an early day. The mother of Mr. Mat- lock was a daughter of William Russell, of Irish descent, also a decendant of a pioneer family of Tennessee.
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The childhood and youth of A. L. Matlock were passed in Blount County, Tenn., to which county his parents moved during his infancy. He grew up on a farm ; attended school and completed his education at Ewing and Jefferson College, Tenn., from which institution he graduated with the class of 1870. Desiring to qualify himself for the bar, he proscouted the study of the law under Judges Green and Carruthers at the law school at Leba- non, Tenn., from which he graduated with distinc- tion in 1872. In the same year he was admitted to practice, being at that time twenty years of age, and located in Loudon, Tenn., where he opened an office and pursued his profession until the fall of 1873, and then moved to Texas and settled at Mon- tague, where he soon built up a large and paying prac- tice and gave evidence of those superior qualities of mind and that thorough grounding in the principles and practice of law which have since enabled him to achieve eminence in the profession. Mr. Matlock continued to reside in Montague until 1889, and then moved to Fort Worth, where he has since been successfully engaged in practice, winning with the passage of each year brighter laurels. He has had to meet the best forensic talent in the legal arena, but the most redoubtable have found him a foeman worthy of their steel. He is considered a conscien- tious, painstaking, learned and able lawyer.
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