USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. 2 > Part 54
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716
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
A. HARRIS,
DALLAS.
Adolph Harris was born in Prussia, Germany, March 7th, 1812. In 1859 (June) he left the scenes of his native land and came direct to Texas. From 1859 to 1863 he attended the public schools of Limestone County; going from Limestone
Mr. Jake Harris, in 1886. In 1887 the firm then became Fellman, Grumbach & Harris, of Dallas. Mr. Harris was the only member of the firm who resided in Dallas. This copartnership was formed for five years. At the end of that time Mr. Harris
A. HARRIS.
County to Houston, where he formed a partnership with a Mr. Fox, and engaged in the wholesale dry goods business under the firm name of Harris & Fox. This firm continued until 1878, when it was reorganized ; Mr. Fox withdrawing, and Mr. Harris took his brother, Jake Hariis, in as a partner. The firm of Harris Bros. continued until the death of
bought out his partners' interest, and took liis nephew, Mr. S. Marcus, in as a partner. They have built up a business that few firms in the South enjoy.
Mr. Harris is now in the prime of his manhood, and by close attention to business has amassed a large competency. Surrounded with an interesting
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
R
family, his home is one of the most beautiful in Dallas, and noted for the hospitality there dis- pensed. While not a native of this State, his whole energy lias been directed to building up Texas. He is a liberal contributor to every worthy enterprise that tends to the advancement of Dallas.
On December 4, 1878, he was married to Miss Fannie Grumbach, of Galveston, a sister of Mrs. Sylvian Blum, of Galveston. They have four
children : Arthur, Leon, Camille and Marcelle. Arthur, the oldest son, is now a student under Prof. W. R. Abbott, of Belleville, Va.
Mr. Harris has a large and influential connection in New York. Soon after Mr. Harris arrived in this State, his father died in Germany, and his mother followed the fortunes of her son to Amer- ica. The venerable mother, now in her declining years, is still a member of his household.
ROBERT BOWDRE SAVAGE FOSTER,
NAVASOTA.
The subject of this sketch is a native of Augusta, Ga., born March 22, 1817. His father was Collier Foster, who was a native of Columbia County, Ga., and was a son of John Foster. John Foster was a planter and prominent State politician in Georgia, being elected eighteen out of the twenty- one times that he was a candidate for the State Legislature.
The mother of the subject of this sketch bore the maiden name of Lucinda Bowdre, and was a native of Columbia County, Ga., and a daughter of Robert Bowdre, of French descent, thongh bim- self a native of Georgia.
The subject of this sketch is one of eighteen chil- dren born to his parents, and the only one living. Subject was chiefly reared in Monroe County, Ga. Received an academic education at Jackson Insti- tute and his medical education at Transylvania University, at Lexington, Ky., from which he graduated in 1838. He began the practice of his profession at Brownsville, Ga., but remained there only a short time, when he moved to Forsyth, the county seat. He subsequently moved to Alabama, and thence in 1845 to Texas, settling in Washing- ton County, near the old town of that name. Ile brought with him to this State a considerable num- ber of slaves and some ready money, and, pur- chasing land, was soon engaged in planting and the practice of medicine, which he followed with equal success until the war. Dr. Foster was op- posed to slavery on principle, and foresaw that as an institution it was destined to give way before the onward march of civilization, and, for his part, favored surrendering the slaves for a money con- sideration such as he believed the Government would pay and such as was talked of at the time ;
and he opposed secession because he thought it un" wise and unnecessary. But when Texas went out of the Union he contributed of his means to sup- port the families of Confederate soldiers at the front and gave them his professional services with- out pay, or the expectation of it, and in other ways did what he could to promote the success of the Southern cause.
In 1862 Dr. Foster moved to Grimes County, locating on Roan Prairie, where he lived for twenty years, when he settled at his present place of resi- dence, three miles east of Navasota. He has been engaged all these years, until a comparatively re- cent date, in planting, and the practice of medicine, but is now retired from both. He has lived a half century in Texas, and has seen a great deal of ser- vice in the practice of his profession, the circuit of his calls in former days covering four counties, and remaining large even up to the date of his retire- ment.
He has had but little to do with politics, though always an interested spectator in all political con- tests. He is a veteran of the Seminole War of 1836, and draws a pension from the general gov- ernment for services rendered in that war.
Dr. Foster married Miss Charlotte Elizabeth Pine- kard. in Monroe County, Ga., in 1838. She was born in that county July 5, 1819, and was a daughter of Thomas and Sarah Pinekard, natives of Virginia. The issue of this union was six children, who lived to maturity : Thomas C., a physician and farmer ; Sarah Lucinda, who married Robert Blackshear ; William J. ; Georgie E., who married William O. Edwards; Robert Bowdre Savage, and John Frank- lin, all, except Mrs. Edwards (who is deceased), residents of Grimes County, the sons being among
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
the foremost men in the county, and all well-to-do. Mrs. Foster died December 1, 1882.
Thomas C. Foster, A. M., M. D., eldest son of the preceding, was born in Forsyth, Ga., February 7, 1839. He was brought by his parents to Texas in 1845, and reared and educated in Washington County, where he attended Soule University and Baylor College. His medical education was se- cured at the new school of medicine at New Or- leans, La., which institution he was attending at the opening of the war. He entered the Confeder- ate army on the commencement of hostilities as a private in the Tenth Texas Infantry, commanded by Col. Roger Q. Milis, but was soon made Assist- ant Surgeon of the regiment, and served as such until the general surrender, when he returned to Texas and engaged in the practice of his profession
and in farming and the stock business, gradually relinquishing medicine and giving more and more attention to farming and stock-raising, until these pursuits have come to occupy his entire time and attention. He has greatly prospered at both. A staunch Democrat, he takes great interest in polit- ical matters. Has served as Chairman of the County Democratic Executive Committee and as a member and Corresponding Secretary of the Na- tional Democratic Committee. He has attended all of the county conventions and most of the Con- gressional and State conventions for the past twelve or fifteen years.
In June, 1865, he was united in marriage to Miss Annie Blackshear, a daughter of Gen. Thomas Blackshear.
H. M. GARWOOD,
BASTROP.
Hon. H. M. Garwood was born in Bastrop, Texas, January 11th, 1864, and is the son of C. B. and Mrs. F. B. Garwood. He received a thorough education at the University of the South, at Sewa- nee, Tenn., graduating with the class of 1883. After leaving college he selected the practice of law as bis profession, and under the guidance of HIon. Joseph D. Sayers, Congressman from the Tenth District, prepared himself for the bar, to which he was admitted in November, 1885. IIc at once began to practice in Bastrop, has since re- sided there and now enjoys a lucrative practice and occupies a position in the front rank of the legal profession in Texas. He was elected to the House of Representatives of the Twentieth Legislature, and although the youngest member of that body, took a prominent part in the legislation enacted, and won for himself not only the confidence and high regard of his fellow-members but a State-wide rep- utation. In the Twentieth Legislature he was a member of Judiciary Cominittee No. 2, the Com- mittee on Constitutional Amendments and, as a special trust, was put on the special committee to which all the educational bills of the House were referred. In 1888 Mr. Garwood was elected County Judge of Bastrop County and a member of the State Democratic Executive Committee. In 1890 he was nominated by the Democracy and
elected to the Senate of the Twenty-second Legisla- ture from the Thirteenth District, composed of the counties of Fayette, Bastrop and Lea.
He was chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, and although it is generally conceded that in no previous Texas Senate ( for many years) were therc so many men of brill- iant talents and superior mental strength, he was considered the peer of the most intellectual and in- fluential of his colleagues. He is a member of the Episcopal Church, Knights Templar Degree in Ma- sonry, and Independent Order of Odd-Fellows. At the dedication of the State capitol he was chosen to deliver the Masonic address, a duty which he dis- charged in a manner that fully sustained his repu- tation as a finished, forcible and eloquent speaker. His talents are recognized ou every occasion and he is put forward as a representative man of his see- tion and people. In the Twentieth Legislature he was a leading advocate of the creation of a railroad commission ( a pioneer worker in that direction ) and in the Twenty-second Legislature he introduced a bill providing for the creation of a commission to regulate the freight and passenger charges of rail- ways in this State and exercise general supervision over those corporations. From this bill and the one introduced by Senator Cone Johnson the Sub- committee on Internal Improvements prepared the
II. M. GARWOOD.
719
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
measure which was favorably reported to the Senate. Among other important bills, of which he was the author in this body, was one requiring every county in the State to conform as to public schools to what is known as the district system.
August 9th, 1890, Mr. Garwood was married to Miss Hattie l'age, daughter of Col. Page, a promi- nent lawyer of Bryan, Texas.
Mr. Garwood is one of the most promising of the able young men that the South can boast. The future holds for him many bright possibilities and he can rise to nearly any eminence, either in his chosen profession or in the walks of public life, that he may desire. He commands the unbounded confi- dence of the people of his section and of the Democracy of Texas.
CHARLES ESSER, SR.,
WESSON,
Was born on the Rhine, in Germany, May 1st, 1827, and emigrated to America in 1849, when twenty-two years of age. Landing at New York City he proceeded West, and for about two and a half years lived on a farm at Burlington, near Racine, Wis. He also lived for a time in the city of Milwaukee. He left Chicago, January Ist, 1853, for Missouri, and from that State came to Texas in 1854, and drove a team in the first government train-load of supplies sent from San Antonio to Fort Belknap. Later he worked for two years for B. F. Smithson, herding cattle in the Smithson's Valley
country. In the fall of 1857 he bought 207 acres of mountain farm lands, and the following year married Miss Henrietta Knetch. They have seven sons and two daughters, viz. : William, Hermann, Minnie, Paul, Clara, Henry, Charles, Jr., George, and Richard. He now owns 400 acres of good land.
Charles Esser, Jr., was born on the home farm, January 6th, 1871, and married Miss Amelia, daughter of John Krauser, of Kendalia, Kendall County, Texas. They have one child, Cora, born December 20th, 1894.
WILLIAM B. EDGE,
KENDALIA,
Was born in Madison County, Ala., April 13th, 1825, and reared in Georgia, where his father, Thomas Edge, was a well-known and prosperous farmer. The subject of this notice followed farm- ing in Georgia until 1854 ; then came to Texas and, after a brief sojourn, went to Arkansas, where he lived until 1861, when he bought land from a Mr. Pruett and opened a farm near Kendalia, in Ken-
dall County, Texas, where he has since resided. He now owns 3,000 acres of fine farming, grazing and timbered land. He married Miss Josah C. Carter, a daughter of Paul Carter, in Oglethorpe County, Ga., in 1850. Mrs. Edge was born in that county, February 12th, 1833. They have four children : William T., George W., Francis M., and Elizabeth, now Mrs. Charles Dessler.
720
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
BARNETT GIBBS,
DALLAS.
Hon. Barnett Gibbs, ex-Lieutenant-Governor of Texas, cx-member of the State Senate and now, and for many years, a prominent figure in public life in Texas, was born in Yazoo City, Miss., May 19, 1851. His parents were Judge D. D. and Mrs. Sallie Dorsey Gibbs, of that State. He is a grand- son of Gen. George W. Gibbs, of Tennessee. He received his literary education at Spring Hill College, Mobile, Ala., and at the University of Virginia, and his professional education at the Law School at Lebanon, Tenn. He came to Texas in 1873, and located at Dallas, his present home. The citizens of Dallas early showed their appreciation of Mr. Gibbs' legal talent by electing him City Attorney. This position he held during a period of six years. He was then elected to the State Senate, made a splendid record, and was later nominated by the Democracy and elected to the position of Lieutenant-Governor. This office hc filled from 1882 to 1886, during Ireland's administration.
Col. Gibbs is the youngest Lieutenant-Governor Texas ever had, the youngest acting Governor, the youngest Senator, and represented the largest sen- atorial district in the State. His friends, recogniz- ing in him the requisite qualities to represent the State with creditable ability, brought him out for Congress, and he made the race for the Democratic nomination against IIon. Olin Wellborn. The con-
test resulted in locking the convention, and, as usual, a compromise was effected by bringing in the traditional "dark horse," named by Gibbs, who withdrew in favor of Hon. Jo Abbott, who received the nomination.
Col. Gibbs is a prominent Odd Fellow, being Past Grand Master of the order in Texas.
His wife was Miss Sallie Haynes, a daughter of the late J. W. Haynes. He was one of the princi- pal and most effective workers in the movements that resulted in Deep-Water conventions being held in Fort Worth, Denver, Topeka and elsewhere, and the Federal Congress making suitable appropria- tions for securing deep-water harbors on the Texas coast. He has been a liberal contributor to rail- roads and every worthy enterprise designed for the upbuilding of his section and the State at large. As a lawyer, he stands deservedly high, and through his practice and good financiering, he has accumu- lated a comfortable fortune.
Enjoying a large personal and political following, possessed of remarkable qualities as a statesman and politician and being a powerful and magnetic speaker and a polished and trenchant writer, he has wielded a wide influence in shaping the course of public events in Texas. He has at all times shown himself a friend of the people and a champion of the cause of good government.
DAVID M. LEVEL,
LAREDO.
The subject of this brief memoir is one of the few Texas veterans who still survive to relate to the historian for the benefit of coming generations the experiences of pioncer life on the Southwestern frontier. With the rapid flight of years they have one by one been passing away and if the story is not gleaned now it will soon pass out of human memory. Col. Level came to Texas at a time when there was great need for young men of his stamp. He is a native of the Old Dominion (State of Virginia) and was born at White Sulphur
Springs, in a portion of the State since set off as West Virginia, January 1st, 1824.
His father, James Level, was a mason by trade, a native of County Down, Ireland, and came to America at about twenty-one years of age a single man and located in Virginia. He married Miss Nancy McClure, a daughter of David MeClure, at her father's house in Green Briar County, where she was born in the year 1798.
Mr. and Mrs. Level had two sons and two dangh- ters, of whom the subject of this notice was the
DAVID M. LEVEL.
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
second born. Margaret was the eldest. She mar- ried Robert Patten, and they located in Green Briar County, Va., where she reared a large family and there died. George was the third born. He located in Calloway County, Mo., where he mar- ried and reared a family of children. He served in the Mexican War in 1846 as a volunteer from White Sulphur Springs, Va., under Capt. Caldwell; landing at Vera Cruz, and marching to the city of Mexico under Gen. Winfield Scott. Ile re- ceived a wound at National Bridge which resulted in the loss of his left eye. He draws a Mexican veteran's pension of $25.00 per month. Elizabeth was the youngest of the family. She marricd Washington Black, and located with him in Kan- sas, near Council Grove, where they reared a fam- ily of twelve children.
Col. Level lived at and in the vicinity of his native home until 1846, when he came to Texas on a prospecting tour. He found the country in an unsettled condition, and in active preparation for war with Mexico. He immediately identified himself with the cause of its people and volunteered for service against Mexico as a soldier in Capt. Wilder's company, Col. Wood's regiment, which was known as the Eastern Regiment of the Texas Mounted Rangers. The regiment immediately proceeded to the front, crossing on their way to join Gen. Taylor the ground of the recently fought battle of Palo Alto on the Resaca, in what is now Cameron County, Texas, where, Col. Level relates, the partially decomposed bodies of dead Mexican soldiers lay in large numbers.
The rangers crossed the Rio Grande, joined Tay- lor's forces at Marine, Mexico, and advanced to and took part in the storming and capture of Monterey. Col. Level served through his term of enlistment, & period of six months, and received an honorable discharge from the service. Col. M. B. Lamar was recruiting a company of picked men from the dis- charged men at Monterey for one year and in the spring of 1847 was ordered to Beuna Vista; but, owing to sickness, Col. Level did not go. After leaving the army he went to Washington County, Texas, and there spent one year raising cotton. When the gold excitement of 1849 broke out in California, Col. Level prepared to go to the gold fields and proceeded as far as San Marcos, Texas, and there, owing to business miscarriages, abandoned
his purpose. In the fall of that year he rejoined the ranger service, enlisting under Col. Rip Ford, and spent three years in active campaigning along the Rio Grande frontier, participating in numerous Indian fights and skirmishes. Col. Level was wounded in a fight with Comanche Indians and also had his horse twice shot from under him at a point about forty miles east of Corpus Christi. After a continuous service of three years, Col. Level tried farming on the Rio Grande above Laredo, with indifferent success, however, owing to over- flows of the river which ruined his crops, and the theft of his stock by Indians. He next worked one year for Chas. Webb, who had a contract for fur- nishing the United States garrison at Fort Ewell with supplies. About the year 1856 he received the appointment of mounted inspector of United States customs at Laredo, at the hands of his former ac- quaintance, Hon. E. J. Davis (later Governor of Texas) and held the position until 1861. The war between the States then broke out and he served on the Rio Grande until late in 1863 and then opened a wagon-making shop in Laredo and conducted it - successfully for a period of about twelve months, when he sold out and successfully associated himself with Thomas Ryan in the ranch business, raising sheep and cattle, in which business he is still engaged.
Col. Level has never married. His life has been one of continued activity. As a soldier he was brave and aggressive and was a stranger to fear. The State never had a more genial, courtly and respected citizen. Now in the sunset of an active and successful carcer, the writer finds him at old Monterey, Mexico, surveying the scenes of his old stamping ground where, a full fifty years ago, he fought for and materially contributed to the defeat of his country's cnemies. Col. Level is a venerable looking man of stalwart and erect physique and bears with becoming grace and fortitude the slight in- firmities that have come to bim with the advancing years. He has the esteem and full confidence of a wide circle of old-time acquaintances who are ever delighted to meet him and recount the experiences of by-gone days. He is a splendid type of the Texas veteran and the author takes pleasure in presenting herewith a life-like portrait of one whom all Texian and Mexican War veterans delight to honor.
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INDLIN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
JOHN HOWELL,
BOERNE,
A thrifty and enterprising farmer of Kendall County, was born in Kerr County, Texas, November 16, 1855, and was reared to farming and stock-raising near the town of Waring. His father, Levi W. Howell, was born in Wales, led a sea-faring life for five years, and then, in 1848, when twenty-two years of age, located on the Texas coast in Goliad County and engaged in stock-raising. He married, in 1853, Miss Sarah E. Nichols, daughter of George Nicbols, then of Kerr, and now of Kendall County. They
had two children : John, the subject of this notice, and Mattie, widow of Charles Bierschwald. She lives at Waring.
Mr. John Howell was united in marriage to Miss America J. Layton, in 1875. They have six chil- dren : Monroe, Thomas Levi, John Murry, Minnie, Elton Ray, and Henry.
Mr. Howell's mother died in 1886 at forty-eight years of age.
LAWRENCE J. HYNES,
BROWNSVILLE,
Is a well-known and substantial citizen of the city of Brownsville, and one of the pioneers of Cameron County. He came to Texas at a time when the re- sources of the country were undeveloped and when Cameron County was in the infancy of its material growth.
Mr. Hynes was born in Philipstown, County Kings, Ireland, May 15th, 1842. His father, Thomas Hynes, was a well-to-do farmer, who reared a fam- ily of ten children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the youngest. Lawrence Hynes came to America with a sister in 1850 and went to Utica, N. Y., where two brothers, who had preceded them to this country, had located. Here he spent his boyhood and youth, and learned the carpenter's trade with one F. D. Fish, for whom he worked a considerable time. From Utiea he went to Mis- souri, and there worked at his trade. Later he went to Mississippi, and pursued his calling in the erection of cotton-gins. He went to Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas, in the year 1861, to erect houses that had been manufactured in and
shipped from the East. After completing this con- tract and doing other contract work for a time, he, in 1859, engaged in ranching, stock-raising and merchandising at Santa Maria, where he continued extensively and successfully building up a large business until 1893, when be sold his mercantile in- terests and a portion of his ranching interests, and has since lived a comparatively retired life at his elegant home in the city of Brownsville. Mr. Hynes is a practical and successful man of business. He is self-educated, well-read and well-informed upon all of the important issues of the times. He owns and occupies one of the most commodious, attract- ive and completely equipped homes in the city, and is a genial and hospitable gentleman, who delights in entertaining his friends. Mr. Hynes has always led a quiet and unostentatious life, and has never sought political honors or dabbled in politics, and has strictly at all times confined himself to his own personal affairs.
His standing as a citizen is of the highest order.
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[ MICHAEL SCHODTZ.
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
JAMES B. THOMPSON,
CORPUS CHRISTI,
Has for over forty years been a resident of the Lone Star State. He came to Texas in 1853 from Louisville, Ky., where he was born July 23d, 1837. His parents were Capt. James and Mrs. Nancy (Baird) Thompson. Capt. James Thompson was a native of Brimtield, Mass., and came West when a youth, and pioneered as a steamboatman on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. His wife, nee Miss Nancy Baird, was of Scoth antecedents and born in. Pennsylvania. Our subject was about sixteen years of age when he came to Texas. He was rest- less and ambitious to accomplish something for himself in the world, and landing at Port Lavaca, entered the commission business at that place as a partner with S. J. Lee, and remained there until the war between the States, when he learned of the or- ganization of Walker's Battalion at Hempstead, in Waller County, Texas, and made his way to that point and enlisted in the battalion. Thereafter he served three years in the Confederate army in Louisiana and Arkansas, during which time he par- ticipated in the series of brilliant engagements that characterized the Red River campaign and resulted in the defeat and rout of Banks' army. After the war Mr. Thompson returned to Fort Lavaca and associated himself in business with R. D. Blossman, a Texas pioneer of prominence in his day, of whom mention is made elsewhere in this volume. The new firm did business at Port Lavaca until 1871
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