USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. 2 > Part 60
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"Farewell, my peerless, unconquered old chief. " Your fame will go down the ages as the purest and grandest of mortals; and I do pray that your mighty spirit has found some beautiful spot on the ever shining river, where no beat of drum nor clank of chains shall mar the melody of golden harps when swept by angel fingers ; where no prison walls can bide the light of the throne, and where the smile of a loving God will fall around you for- ever."
751
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
THE HOUSTON AND TEXAS CENTRAL RAILROAD.
The Houston & Texas Central Railroad is known throughout Texas and the whole United States as the pioneer railroad linc of Texas. It was founded by men who took part in the early develop- ment of the State, and they gave to the location of this great line the results of their knowledge of its agricultural capacities, and the lay of the land affecting the movement of products toward the proposed line.
They planted this railroad at the head of tide- water on Buffalo bayou, at the city whose name is linked in song and story with that immortal day at San Jacinto, when the Lone Star of Texas rose resplendent over the ever glorious field of San Jacinto - Houston.
Here, where the flow of the Gulf of Mexico rests against the alluvial deposits from the great prairies on the divide between the Brazos and the San Jacinto rivers, was started, in 1853, that great rail- road which, in every stage of the development of Texas, since its first fifty miles was built, has dem- onstrated the wisdom of its ronte and its hold on the business of the State. It has the open sea at its base of operations, and the goodly land of Texas on each side to give it sustenance. The Trinity lies about sixty miles to the eastward, and the Colorado about 100 miles to the westward. It commands the rich lands of the Brazos for about 160 miles, and thence almost due north to Denison, making a total distance from Houston of 338 miles. As it leaves the waters of the Brazos, the Trinity, which has been on a line almost parallel to the east, now bears to the westward, and the road is soon among its tributaries. Then, touching the main stream at Dallas, it continues through a region thus watered, until it reaches the tributaries of the Red river, near its terminal point. These contiguous water-courses give the drainage and moisture that insure growth and constant sustenance to the crops. The bottoms of the rivers and creeks are subject to but occasional overflows, have rich alluvial, while the uplands of prairie and timber have a great depth of fertile soil, varying according to the peculiar features of the region, its elevation and geological formation. The trade of the prosperous cities on its line from Houston to Denison, and its close connections with Galveston, have made the cross lines, which have been built by other interests, feeders to an extent which more than overcomes competition.
At Austin the Houston & Texas Central connects with one of the new lines working harmoniously with its system, the Austin & Northwestern Rail- road. Tilis line penetrates the great county of Williamson, and thence through Burnet and Llano counties to its present terminus among the Granite Hills, from whence come the thousands of tons of rock for the Galveston jetties.
At Garrett, on its main line, 234 miles from Houston, another of its feeders, the Central Texas & Northwestern Railway, and Fort Worth & New Orleans Railway, pour into its lap the business of those rich counties, which lie between the main line and the famed city of Fort Worth, and the business which flows from and through to the Gulf.
The Lancaster Branch from Hutchins gives to the enterprising town of Lancaster, in Dallas County, an independent connection.
The Houston Direct Navigation Company, which carries out to the Gulf over 400,000 bales of cotton via the Houston Ship Channel, is one of the prin- cipal connections of Houston.
The lines of the Houston & Texas Central cover the richest agricultural region of Texas, embracing the timbered and rolling praitie region from 100 to 700 feet above the Gulf, resting upon the "Timber Belt" beds of sandstone and limestone, which al- ready are quarried to a considerable extent. The soils are red clay, red sand or mulatto, just as they are underlaid by sands or clays respectively. On many of the uplands there is a gray sandy soil, grading down into a red subsoil, which is especially adapted to the growth of fruit. This whole area from Houston to the Red river will compare favor- able with any region of the world in its combination of rich soil.
The controlling interest of this great line is princi- pally in the hands of capitalists connected with the Southern Pacific Company, and although under a. separate management, it is operated in harmony with the great Southern Pacific system of railways and steamships.
Since the Houston & Texas Central Railroad was completed in 1876, a number of new and important lines have been constructed, affecting, in part, the territory from which its main business comes, yet its advantageous position continues to assert itself. It carries to tide water annually about one-fourth of the entire cotton crop of Texas.
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752
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
The traveler cannot see Texas without journey- ing over the line of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad. Galveston is but fifty miles distant upon the Gulf. Houston, Austin, Plano, Mckinney, Corsicana, Ennis, Dallas, Sherman, Denison, Wax- ahachie and Fort Worth are directly on its lines. On every side, as its trains course through the land, are to be seen fields heavy with the reward of the farmer; town after town evidences the thrift and progress that has followed its construction and sustains its fortunes.
The Houston & Texas Central Railroad, which
has it southern terminus in Houston, has its prin- cipal repair shops there, valued at about $250,000. The Southern Pacific Company also has its principal repair shops there, valued at $650,000. In the shops of these two companies, 1875 skilled laborers are given constant employment, and the monthly pay-roll of those two companies, in the shops alone, amounts to about $56,000. The Houston & Texas Central also has at Houston one of the finest and most complete depot buildings in the South, with such splendid facilities that most of the other roads depot with it.
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
0 COTTON SCENE REPRODUCED PROM PHOTOGRAPH OF H. & T. C. YARD, IN FRONT OF GRAND CENTRAL DEPOT, HOUSTON, TEXAS. Taken at 2:30 p. m., October 22, 1894, without special preparation, just as the yard appeared at that time, after the principal cotton received for the day had been switched to compresses and connecting les.
January 9, 1895, the HI. & T. C. brought to Houston a Train of Seventy-Three Cars of Cotton, 4,000 Bales, Value, $100,000.00.
753
754
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
J. P. SMITH,
FORT WORTH.
A perusal of this work will disclose many native Kentuckians who have settled in Texas and made successes of life, but we doubt if any of the sons of the "blue grass" region have made a more remarkable success than Col. J. P. Smith, of Fort Worth. Owen County, Kentucky, is his birth- place, and September 16, 1831, the date. His father, Samuel Smith, was also a Kentuckian, having been born at Ghent, in Carroll County, in 1798. He was married to Miss Polly Bond, of Owen County, the sumne State, in 1828. Miss Bond was born in Scott County in 1808. They resided in Owen County until 1838, when they removed to Obio County, near Hartford, where they both died in 1844, leaving six sons, as follows: H. G., Louis, R. T., J. H., Samuel and J. P., our subject.
Col. J. P. Smith was born and raised on a farm, and after the death of his parents he took up his residenee with his cousin, W. H. Garnett, of Owen County, whom he selected as his guardian. He worked on his cousin's farm, attending the best schools during the winter months. He kept this up until 1849, when he entered Franklin College, Indi- ana, where he remained ten months. In September, 1850, he entered Bethany College, Virginia, where he took first honors in his elasses of ancient languages and mathematics, graduating from this institution in 1853. Ilaving finished his studies, in Novem- ber, 1853, he left Kentucky for Texas, and in De- cember of the same year reached Fort Worth. He opened the first school ever taught in Fort Worth. The close confinement of the school-room so seri- ously impaired his health, however, that he was forced to close bis school, after a short session of three months. He devoted his time and attention to surveying, which occupation he followed at inter- vals until the year 1860. While engaged in survey- ing be read law with A. Y. Fowler, of Fort Worth, and without attending a law school, was admitted to the bar in 1858, since which time he has practiced in the State and Federal courts. He was distinctly opposed to secession and voted against it in 1861. When war broke out, however, he gave his services to bis State and assisted in raising a company of 120 men, with whom, as Company K, Seventh Texas Cay- alry, he was mustered into service at San Antonio, under Col. Win. Steel, Sibley's brigade. This brig- ade served principally in New Mexico, Arizona and Western Louisiana. He was at the recapture of Galveston from the Federals, January 1, 1863, was
severely wounded on June 23, 1863, near Donald- sonville, and slightly wounded at the battle of Mansfield, Louisiana. In 1864 he was promoted to Colonel of his regiment, which he disbanded on the Trinity river, in Navarro County, Texas, May 18, 1865. The regiment then numbered something like 600 well armed and thoroughly equipped men, and at the time of disbandment was on the march from Louisiana to Texas. The Colonel, in 1865, returned to Fort Worth and resumed his law practice, buy- ing and selling real estate on the outside.
He was married in Tarrant County, Texas, on October 16, 1807, to Mrs. Mary E. Fox, widow of Dr. F. A. Fox, of Mississippi. Mrs. Smith was born in Carroll County, Miss., of English-American parentage. Of this union there are five children : James Young, born October 15, 1869; Peter, born May 19, 1873 ; Florence, born November 14, 1875, William Bealle, born December 8, 1878, and Samuel C., born June 15, 1885. Mrs. Smith is an unassuming, domestic lady, a charming conversa- tionalist and a most popular member of society.
Col. Smith has the distinction of being an original charter member of the Masonic Lodge established in Fort Worth in 1854. In 1838 he became a Royal Arch Mason, and served two years as High Priest of the Chapter.
Col. Smith has always been an earnest Democrat. He is very often referred to by the older residents as " the father of Fort Worth." He was elected Mayor of the city in April, 1882. Some idea of the benefits accruing to Fort Worth during Col. Smith's term of office may be had when it is known that the city did not have a paved street at his inauguration. Col. Smith was elected to a second term as Mayor, and before the expiration of his second term was urged all over the State to accept the nomination of Governor, but prefeering not to sacrifice his extensive private interests, which the acceptance of this nomination would have entailed, he declined. Nearly, if not all, of the large eattle companies of Northwest Texas are under more or less obligation to the enterprising ability of Col. Smith for their organization.
On August 12, 1890, Col. Smith was again almost unanimously elected Mayor of Fort Worth. He is universally liked and esteemed for his noble character, generous disposition and impartiality of opinion, and Fort Worth points with pride to his name on her list of honored citizens.
W. H. GETZENDAUER.
MRS. GETZENDAUER.
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
755
W. H. GETZENDANER,
WAXAHACHIE.
W. H. Getzendaner was born May 14, 1834; in Frederick County, Maryland. His father, Abram Getzendaner, was a farmer, as were his thrifty Swiss ancesters for several generations before him. The family settled in Maryland in 1730, when it was a wild and sparsely inhabited conntry. His mother, Mary, was born in Frederick City, Mary- land, in 1814, and was the daughter of Peter Buckey, a tanner and farmer. Her mother's' maiden name was Mary Salmon, whose father was an officer in the Revolutionary army, though before the war began he was a retired officer of the British army.
W. H. Getzendaner was reared on the farm until he was nineteen, when he attended Frederick Acad- emy for two years. In 1855 he was sent to Dick- inson College, Carlisle, Pa., to complete his educa- tion, and gradnated in that institution with the degrec of bachelor of arts in 1858. During the senior year of bis collegiate course he pursued the study of law, which he more fully mastered in the office of W. J. Ross, in Frederick City. Thus pre- pared to enter upon the practice of his profession, he went to Huntsville, Texas, in the latter part of 1858, where he remained six months. In 1859 he removed to Waxahachie.
In the latter year he was admitted to the bar at Tyler, and practiced in Waxahachie from 1859 to 1875, except during the Civil War and two years following. The latter period he devoted to improv- ing and cultivating his farm. His practice was re- munerative from the beginning, and he acquired a high character as a lawyer and advocate.
In 1861 he recruited and organized Company E, Twelfth Texas Cavalry, for the Confederate army. In this company he was a Lieutenant ; but after the fighting was over he was assigned to duty as Quar- termaster of the regiment, with the rank and pay of Captain. He was also for a time Adjutant-General of Parson's cavalry brigade. During the war he was in more than thirty engagements, and was wounded both at Cloutierville and Yellow Bayou. After the war he turned his attention somewhat to agriculture, but in 1867 returned to Waxahachie.
In 1872, at the solicitation of his fellow-citizens, he accepted the office of Mayor of the city, organ- ized the corporation, drafted the ordinances and set in motion the municipal machinery. After one
year's service he retired, his health, from overwork. having partially failed.
July 1, 1868, the firm of Ferris & Getzendaner, composed of J. W. Ferris and W. H. Getzendaner. opened a private banking house in Waxahachie, continuing also their business as lawyers. This partnership continued for eight years. In 1876 Capt. Getzendaner withdrew from the law firm and Judge Ferris from the banking house, the latter leaving his son, Royal A. Ferris, in charge of his banking interests. The firm name they changed to Getzendaner & Ferris. This bank was established on a capital of $6,000; but in twelve years, so greatly had the operations of the bank inercased, the capital had grown to $100,000. It has for cor- respondents S. M. Swenson & Son, New York : Ball, Hutchings & Co., Galveston ; Louisiana Na- tional Bank, New Orleans ; Continental Bank, St. Louis; First National Bank of Houston, and the City National Bank of Dallas. The partnership and individual property of this banking house amounts to about $200,000. It is, therefore, on a safe basis and enjoys the confidence of the business men of Texas.
He is a Master Mason and a communicant of the Episcopal Church. Up to the war he was an " Old Line " Whig, but since that time has voted and acted with the Democrats. He voted for the ordi- nance of secession after his return from the expedi- tion in Clay, Archer and Jack Counties against the Comanches in 1860-61.
Capt. Getzendaner was married, in Ellis County. Texas, August 2, 1865, to Mrs. Willie Neel, widow of Ilon. T. C. Neel, formerly State Senator, who died in 1862. She was born in Hancock County. Ga., August 29, 1832, and is the daughter of John B. Latimer, a large planter and slaveholder. She is the granddaughter of Maj. Gonder, of Georgia, and related by marriage to Judge Thomas Linton Stephens, and other distinguished families of that State. Her brother, Mark Latimer, was formerly a banker at Ennis, Texas. By her first husband she has one daughter, Mattie, born in Hancock, Ga., educated at Emmetsburg, Md., in St. Joseph's Academy, and married to Frank Templeton, for- merly editor of the Waxahachie _Irgus, and now a farmer in Ellis County. Mrs. Getzendaner is a member of the Baptist Church.
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS. .
Partly as revealing a prominent characteristic of the man and partly as a lesson to young men who may read this biography, it may be stated that when Capt. Getzendaner arrived in Waxahachie be had but five dollars and was forty dollars in debt. He at once went to work, in no way disheartened by his impecunious condition, and by diligence, study, application and economy, dealing fairly and honorably with all men and thereby gaining their confidence, lie attained success in his profession and accumulated property. He is now owner of a residence and several business houses and lots in town, a farm of 1,400 acres in Ellis County, 9,000 acres of unimproved land in Ellis and other counties, besides his bank stock, bonds and notes.
In appearance Capt. Getzendaner is rather pre- possessing, standing five feet eight inches in height, with blue eyes and prominent features, and weigh- ing 155 pounds. In form he is broad, muscular
and strong, the physical corresponding with the intellectual man. His manners are retiring, but he is an active and energetic business man.
He is a man growing in the estimation of the people and rising to prominence. As a business man, he is a success, making money rapidly by bis energy, tact and capacity. His moral worth is un- excelled. He is social and companionable, but his principal characteristics are firmness, pride of opinion and financial ability. He is an independent thinker, and does not always follow a beaten track. He is grateful to those who have done him a favor, and is a liberal and charitable citizen.
Mr. Getzendaner represented his district in the State Senate from 1882 to 1884, and since then has often been urged to canvass . the State for Gover- nor, but having no taste for politics he refused all importunities, preferring the enjoyment of the fruits of his well-spent life around his fireside with his family.
JOSEPH CHRISTOPHER TERRELL,
FORT WORTH.
Joseph Christopher Terrell was born in Sumner County, Tenn., October 29, 1831, while his father's family were en route from Virginia to Missouri to make a new home. His paternal grandfather was a Virginian, and his grandmother, whose maiden name was Johnson, was of the same State. They were Quakers, and when they died left two chil- dren. Dr. C. J. Terrell, the elder, was a graduate of Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, emi- grated and settled in Boonville, Mo., in 1831, and died there in 1832, leaving a large estate to his three children. These children were: A. W. Ter- rell, now State Senator, and formerly Judge of the Capital District at Austin, Texas; Dr. John J. Terrell, of Campbell County, Va., and Joseph C. Terrell, the subject of this sketch.
Joseph C. was reared on the farm near Boonville, Mo., left by his father as part of his estate. Hav- ing wealth, and, therefore, no necessity to work, his boyhood was spent in idleness and in doing what- ever his fancy dictated. He had no taste for books and despised study, a disposition which contrasts strangely with his subsequent application and stil- dious habits. Notwithstanding his antipathy to the acquisition of knowledge, he was sent to school, his
teacher being Prof. F. T. Kemper, of Boonville, one of the most finished scholars, strictest disciplina- rians and accomplished instructors in the West - accurate, methodic and energetic. From his teacher, therefore, young Terrell learned useful lessons in system and order, which he has appropriated and made useful in his later life. Although his educa- tion thus forced upon him had little effect at the time, yet Prof. Kemper, who is still ( 1881) teaching in Boonville has influenced his entire life. Though considered " wild" in bis youth, the young man was never led into the dissipation that usually ac- companies such a life, but studiouly advoided gam- bling and the use of intoxicants.
Leaving the Kemper school, he began the study of law in the office of his brother, A. W. Terrell, and after two years' reading was admitted to the bar at St. Joseph, Mo., in 1852. Immediately after re- ceiving his license, he set out on a visit to the l'a- citic Coast. In 1853-54 he practiced law in Santa Clara, Cal., and in Monterey in the same State in 1854-55. But he had as yet no fixed purpose in life and was rather drifting on the surface of occasion. He had gone to the West rather for adventure than for work, and steady employment in a fixed place
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
was exceedingly distasteful to him. In 1855-56 be wandered in Oregon, and, though he could scarcely be said to have had a habitation there, he occasionally practiced his profession there, and now and then picked up. a stray fee. He returned to " the States " in 1856, and spent some months in Virginia visiting relatives and friends. In 1857 he visited his brother, Judge Terrell, at Austin, Texas, and thence set out to return overland to California.
He reached Fort Worth in February, 1857, where he met his old school-mate, D. C. Dade, who was then practicing law in that place. He was per- suaded to pitch his tent in Fort Worth and form a partnership with his old schoolfellow. This part- nership was continued several years and until the Civil War began. Mr. Terrell opposed secession and concurred with Gen. Houston in his plan to effect the co-operation of Texas with the North- ern border States in an armed neutrality. When the war could no longer be avoided, he recruited a company in Tarrant County for the Confederate service and joined Waller's battalion in Greer's Cavalry Brigade. He took part in the battles of Yellow Bayou, Camp Bisland, Foedoche, etc., and was present at the capture of the gunboat " Diana" and when Col. Waller received her surrender. When the war closed, lie returned to Fort Worth and resumed the practice of law among a people impoverished by the war, and there and in the sur- rounding country he has continued to pursue his profession ever since. Twenty-four years have thus elapsed since he first opened an office in Fort Worth, and during all that time his place of busi- ness has always been on the same street.
In May, 1871, Capt. Terrell was married to Miss Mary V. Lawrence of Hill County, Texas. She is the daughter of David T. Lawrence, formerly of Tennessee, a successful farmer and large land- holder, who died in 1867, leaving four daughters and several sons. Her family relatives are very numerous and most of them reside in Dallas County. Mrs. Terrell was born February 26, 1812, in Marshall County, Tenn., and was the elfest daughter of D. T. and Anga B. Lawrence. She was educated in the common schools of the coun- try, but having from childhood a taste for learning and books, she has been a close student and a reader of general literature. At the age of eighteen she taught the village school of Covington, Texas, where she grew to womanhood. She continued to alternately teach and attend school for a period of five years. Privately she was pursuing the study of the higher branches. She was for three years first assistant in the female department of the Port Sullivan School, and for two years first assistant in
Waco Female College. While at Covington teach- ing and attending school, she took a thorough course in Latin and higher mathematics, besides giving considerable attention to French, Spanish and Greek. Her education has been both classical and practical, and as her disposition has always been retiring, her ambition is to embellish home and perform home duties, rearing her family in such manner as to make them worthy of the coun- try in which they live and an ornament to the society in which they move. She is regarded as one of the best educated women in Texas. Roared in the cross-timbers, and self-educated, she is devot- ing herself to training her children for usefulness in the world, and at the same time cultivating in them a taste for the true, the beautiful and the good. In solid scholarship, dignity and grace, this noble lady is the peer of the highest, and is at once the delight of her social circle and the pride of the city of her residenee.
Capt. Terrell and wife have five children: Sue A., born May 13, 1872; John Lawrence, born August 1, 1873; Joe C., born May 31, 1875; Mary V., born January 12, 1877, and Alexander W., born December 26, 1878.
In politics, Capt. Terrell was originally an old line Whig, voted against secession and since the war has had nothing to do with politics, but has voted an independent ticket, generally, however, with the Democrats. He is not a Church member, though he recognizes the influence an early Chris- tian training has had upon his life and character, and contributes liberally to all benevolent objects. and to the support of ministers and Church enter- prises. Mrs. Terrell is a member of the Methodist Church. Capt. Terrell is a Mason and has taken the council degrees.
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