Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. I, Part 30

Author: Brown, John Henry, 1820-1895
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Austin : L.E. Daniel]
Number of Pages: 922

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"The procession on its way to the cemetery passed the Ball School building, which was draped in mourning. While the funeral cortege was pass- ing through the streets the bells of St. Mary's Cathedral. Trinity Church and St. John's church were tolled. The streets were lined with people along the whole route and at the cemetery the strect was crowded with old and young. The flags of the societies, all draped in mourning, were stationed in a square around the grave. The casket was lowered into its final resting-place, a feeling prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Scott, and the floral offerings were deposited in the grave, and the tributes were ended.

" While most of the children of the Grammar school were busily engaged in making the floral tributes placed by them on the casket, several of them passed resolutions of respect to the memory of Mr. Ball. After the committee had finished their work they collected all the pupils in one room, read the resolutions to them and they were unanimously adopted. They are as follows :---

"' WHEREAS, God having taken from us our friend and benefactor, Mr. George Ball, we the children of the Grammar school, as the immediate recipients of his kindness, offer the following resolutions : ---

"' 1. Weheartily sympathize with the family in the act of Providence, which has deprived them of a kind husband and father and us of a true friend.

" $2. We, the children to whom he has endeared himself by this, the crowning work of his life, can only regret that it was not the will of God that he should live to see its completion, and our daily efforts to show our appreciation of the benefits he has placed within our reach.

"'3. That his name shall be forever cherished among us as that of one to whom it will be said : ' Well done thou good and faithful servant.'

"' 4. That a copy of these resolutions be pre- sented to the bereaved family, and published in the Galveston papers.

''LEWIS SORLEY. " ' (Ninth Grade) Grammar.'

"' Fannie A. Stephenson, Maud F. Royston,

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Waters S. Davis, Jr. (Ninth Grade) ; Anna M. Swain, Virginia M. Sanford, Mamie Boyd ( Eighth Grade) ; Maggie A. Maher, Marie Foeke, Sebas- tian Tinsley, Harry Martin (Seventh Grade).'"

Elsewhere in the News of the same issue appeared the following: " To-day all that was mortal of a man whose memory will be cherished as long as the city stands, will be consigned to the tomb to be seen no more forever in the eity in which he was an important member for more than forty years. Re- tiring and quiet in his tastes and habits, his name was yet as familiar as that of the city itself, and the notoriety which he shunned was supplanted by the substantial respeet and friendship of the peo- ple, who admired his virtues and integrity of char- acter and felt the benefits of his designs and far- reaching publie spirit and charity. In the presenee of the chaste and severe simplicity of such a char- acter the ordinary forms of praise are out of place, and only those who know perfectly - and none knew more than partially - the beneficent acts which he performed under a eold demeanor or con- cealed even from the beneficiaries, ean realize to a fair extent the admirable equipoise of his character. As a man of business, he was as methodieal and regular as a machine. In his charities, he would, if possible, have been so, but in the impossibility of discriminating in all demands upon it, he doubt- less erred in being too liberal rather than too rigid. The great commercial house of which he was the senior member has doubtless given far more for religious and charitable purposes and aided more in enterprises for the public good than any other in Texas. There is probably not one among the many churches of Galveston which has not been aided by them. Hospitals and asylums for the orphan and afflicted have been equally remembered, while steam- ships and railroads have been greatly aided by their ample means. Mr. Ball himself was the reputed owner of about one-eighth interest in the famous New York and Galveston Line of steamships. The house of which he was a senior member was doubt- less the main instrument in making the Santa Fe Railroad, what it has proved, the most important element of its kind in the prosperity of Galveston. Hotels and city railroads have received important aid at their hands, and no enterprise for the benefit of the city has asked help from the firm in vain, while the business men of the city, whether mer- chants or mechanics, have often been sustained and encouraged by the house. It would be hard to name a worthy objeet needing aid which has not received it at their hands. But, besides this, Mr. Ball's private charities are known to have been large though even his nearest friends do not know

their extent. He studiously concealed many of them. Even the crowning gift that became publie before his death was made to take effeet during his life with much reluetanee, because he dreaded the talk and notoriety it would cause. It is under- stood that he had last year or before made pro- vision by will for the appropriation of $100,- 000.00 out of his estate to provide a home for aged women, but on reflection he concluded to give half of the amount for the erection of the public sehool building which is now arising as a fitting monument to his fame, which is destined to rise higher after his long and useful life has ended. * * * Though a strietly business man and supposed to look mainly to profitable results, he loved a good name better than riches, and would have preferred any peeuniary loss to a tarnished reputation or any violence to bis own conscienee. * Mr. Ball's was in every sense of the word a remarkable and admirable character. Indeed he may have been taken as the type of the ideal business man. Of a fine and im- pressive personal appearance, with a massive and well-shaped head and keen, yet kindly eyes, his outward appearance rightly indicated his mental and moral qualities. It has been said by good judges, themselves able business men, that, in their opinion, Mr. George Ball was the most sagacious business man in the State and, perhaps, in the South. He was possessed of an eminently eon- servative turn of mind, of a sharp insight into men and affairs, and, when vecasion demanded it, he aeted promptly and decisively. The admirable blending of these two qualities, caution and decision of character, gave him the key to that sueeess which he invariably commanded.

" By a wise management of his affairs, Mr. Ball acquired a large estate.

" No man will ever know the amount of unosten- tatious beneficence that is surely eredited to this self-poised but truly modest and kind-hearted man. * lle ever and conscientiously de- * clined cleetion to publie office. His life was wholly oeeupied by his business and his family, and, dying, he left no enemies, no animosities, no heart-burnings behind him. His self-reliant and yet retiring disposition shaded him, as it were, from publie notoriety, but those who knew him well will not think it at all extravagant when we say that he possessed abilities that would have enabled him to fill any position in the country with dis- tinetion. And that as a symmetrical character and an upright man we do not know of his superior."

It is a hard struggle to fight one's way to finan- cial independence and harder still to achieve that

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independence and at the same time maintain a philanthropic interest in the welfare of others, even those who are contemporaneous, and almost im- possible as regards posterity ; yet, Mr. Ball was one of the few who succeeded in spite of all obstacles, and, notwithstanding the many chilling influenees that every successful man must en- counter, entertained a genuine love for his fellow- men and a deep interest in the future welfare of his country and his kind. He did not care for money in itself, but simply for the power it gave him for good. His benefactions were many and continuous, but perhaps the most permanently beneficial was the donation for the public school building in Galveston. In a free country where every eitizen is intrusted with the privilege and invested with the duties of suffrage the question of popular education, above all others, is the most vitally important, for the reason that the sole hope of constitutional freedom and good government

must ever rest upon the intelligence of the citizen. It is almost impossible to estimate the ultimate value of this donation, equally notable for the wisdom and enlightened and noble spirit that inspired it -- a donation worthy of all praise and of emulation. It is sufficient to say that it is fraught with blessings to the State. In every walk of life he was a potential factor. He left his impress deep upon the times in which he lived.

Subsequent to Mr. Ball's death, Mrs. Ball had the school building beautifully remodeled and a handsome mansard roof put on it, at an additional cost of $40,000.00, and spent $10,000.00 more in suitably furnishing it. She was one of the organiz- ers of the First Presbyterian Church established in Galveston and is the only survivor of those whose names appear upon the first roll. A cultured, gracious and exceptionally talented lady, she is one of the brightest ornaments of the refined society of the Oleander City.

GEORGE SEALY,

GALVESTON.

George Sealy, than whom no other man in Texas has contributed more to the development of the commerce of the State of Texas or to the develop- ment of its general resources, and than whom in this commonwealth there is none who has made a deeper impress on the times in which he lives, was born in the famous Wyoming Valley, Luzerne Co., Pa., on the 9th day of January, 1835. His parents, Robert and Mary (McCarty ) Sealy, were born in Cork, Ireland. They were married and eame to America in the year 1818. His father was one of eight children - four sons and four daughters. Quite a large family estate was owned in Ireland, but it was entailed and his father, being the fourth son, received only what the eldest brother was willing to eoneede to him. This, however, at the time of Robert Sealy's marriage, amounted to several thousand dollars, which he brought with him to America. He had also learned a trade (which was customary at that time), to fall back on if nec- essary. The trade that he selected was that of a locksmith. It was well that he learned a trade, for be found it useful in later life. He settled down in Pennsylvania but engaged in no active business, content, apparently, to live on bis capital, instead

of endeavoring to increase it. As his capital de- creased his family increased and, as time rolled on, he became the father of ten children - eight daugh- ters and two sons. Next to the oldest ehild eame his son John and next to the last, the subject of this memoir, George Sealy. His family having thus grown and his money gone, he applied himself, from necessity, with energy and patience to the trade he had learned in his younger days, in order to carn a support for himself, wife and children. When reduced to this condition he ceased all cor- respondence with his family in Ireland and his older brother, supposing him dead, and having no male offspring of his own, broke the entail, and gave the property to his nephew. This put an end to all Robert Sealy's claims to the estate.

These facts are mentioned to show that he had apparently little desire for the acquisition of wealth. He died in 1855, when sixty-six years of age. All that he left to his children was a name as an honest man and a reputation as a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church. His wife was also a member of the same church and a most devout Christian woman. Her influence over the children was mueli more effective in mold-

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ing their after lives than that of the father: Her for no other reason, because of expense. He spent constant prayers and advice to them was to be industrious, economical, honest, and truthful. Example and precept were all she had to give them.

Very early in life the subject of this memoir felt the necessity of caring for himself and experi- enced an ambition to, at some future time, become independent. He attended common sehools until twelve years of age, and then undertook to take care of himself. His first earnings were gained by working for ten cents per day and his board, his employment being to sit on the end of a plow beam to hold the point of the plow iu the ground when- ever the plowman had to cross gravel beds. He would walk from one streak of gravel to another and mount the end of the plow beam until it was passed. He next worked on a farm for five dollars per month and board and went to school three months during the winter season, working during these three months, nights and mornings, for his board. The three following years he worked in a country store, selling goods, sweeping out and keeping books nine months in the year at five dollars per month, and the other three months attending the Wyoming Seminary, at Kingston, Pa., working mornings and evenings for his board. When eighteen years of age the Lackawana and Bloomsburg Railroad was built into the Wyoming valley - the first railroad to enter the great coal valley of the Wyoming - and he accepted the posi- tion of station agent at Kingston and held it until he was twenty-two years of age. At that time his salary had been increased to fifty dollars per month and he had saved eleven hundred dollars. In the spring of 1857 he decided to come to Texas, and, to better his chiances for a position in a busi- ness house, went to Pittsburg, Pa., and took a course in a commercial college.

After graduating there be took one hundred dol- lars of his money to pay his expenses to Texas and left one thousand with his mother for her use in case of necessity, or for the use of his unmarried sisters. He reached Galveston in November, 1857, during the great panic of that year, with $25 in his pocket. His ambition, as already stated, was to become financially independent, and this ambition could only be accomplished by hard work and economizing in every way. Ilis idea was that any boy or young man, with good health and with no one but himself to care for, could save enough of his earnings to eventually become independent of others, but to thus succeed he must deprive bim- self of what might be considered the luxuries of tobacco, cigars and liqnors of all kinds, simply, if

no money on these articles until late in life. His advice to all young men has been never to decline work on account of the salary offered, and never to abandon a situation unless another is offered at an increased salary. A living should be the first con- sideration of every poor boy or man, and if his services are valuable, his present employers will testify their appreciation of that fact by offering him proper compensation therefor, or others will discover his qualities and engage his services.

On his arrival in Galveston in November, 1857, he offered his services to Ball, Hutchings & Com- pany, with the understanding that he would work one year and accept such salary, if any, as they might determine upon.

His duties during the first year included those of shipping clerk, opening the office, sweeping out the store and any other work at which he could make himself useful. He neglected no opportunity to gain all the knowledge he could of the busi- ness. "He made it his business to volunteer to do the work of any of the clerks who were sick, or were allowed a vacation. In this way he soon became competent to fill any position in the office. To perform this extra labor he would commence work at six o'clock in the morning and often remain at his post until as late as eleven o'clock at night. His willingness to work and eagerness to make himself competent and valuable constituted the basis of his after success. "The great error," he has often said, "that young men make, is being content to perform the only duties they are paid for, aud having no ambition to advance themselves through the means of extra labor for which they get no pay. As a result, they are not competent to fill higher positions and they, perforce, go through life receiving small salaries and doing as little work as they possibly can."

His salary was advanced from year to year, but without any demand on his part. During the year 1859 he was offered a partnership in a large grocery house, which was being considered by him, when Mr. George Ball heard of the offer and said to him that the firm of Ball, Hutchings & Co., would not allow him to leave their employ and that all he had to do was to name a salary that would be satisfactory and it would be cheerfully given. A satisfactory arrangement was made aud the partnership iu the grocery business abandoned. Mr. Sealy's first vote was cast for John C. Free- mont for President of the United States in 1856. He was opposed to the extension of slavery into new territory, but recognized the constitutional

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right of the then existing slave States to own negroes as property ; not because he approved or was in favor of the system of slavery, but because it was the acknowledged law of the land and only by war or by purchase of the negroes by the general government /eould that law be rightfully abrogated. War came and slavery was abolished. The election of Mr. Lincoln as President of the United States in 1860 brought about the secession of the Southern States. The question then came up in the mind of Mr. Sealy, what was his duty to himself? He decided that, as be came to Texas to make it his home, he would obey the laws of the State of Texas and take his chances with the other people of the State, even in war, although he was opposed to secession. He continued his connection with Ball, Hutchings & Co., but it became necessary in 1862 for him to join some military organization or be subject to conscription. He accordingly enlisted as a volunteer in the independent company of cavalry organized by the late Col. II. B. Andrews as one of its original members. Mr. Sealy says he has always entertained a high opinion of the military qualities of Col. Andrews, as the Colonel's inde- pendent company was attached to perhaps eight or ten battalions or regiments during the war; the Colonel had a kind heart and was always willing to allow his company to be attached for the time being to a battalion to create the office of Major for some military friend of his deserving the position, or to be attached to a number of companies to form a regiment so as to make a Colonel of a friend of his. It, however, never reported to any Major or Colonel to complete the organization and thus saw no active service.

The company, as a matter of fact, was composed of such valuable material that the members were all detailed for the discharge of special and im- portant duties, and the Colonel could never get his men together in time to perfect a battalion or regi- mental organization. The result was that the war lid not last long enough to give the Colonel an opportunity to lead his men to the front for targets. They all survived the war and have been grateful for the strategy exhibited by him during the war for the purpose of securing their comfort and safety. Mr. Sealy enlisted for three years, as the law required in 1862. Being opposed to secession lie was consistent in not accepting anything in the way of pay from the Confederacy for his services as a soldier and lived at his own expense. He was detailed to serve in the office of Gen. Slaughter, commanding the Western Division of Texas, at Brownsville, and in 1865 performed the last official service that was rendered the Confederacy, signing

the parole, under official authority, of the soldiers of the lost eause who surrendered at Brownsville on the Rio Grande -- the last to lay down their arms. He served his full three years without pay, but not without honor, as he was repeatedly offered higher positions which he declined. The position he took, from necessity, was that of a private, and he would not do himself the injustice to accept, voluntarily, any higher position, as he had promised himself to comply simply with the existing laws of the land and this he did faithfully. During the years from 1862 to 1865 he was also representing Bali, Hutchings & Co., at Matamoros, Mexico, in receiving and shipping cotton from Texas to Liverpool and cotton-cards from Europe. Ball, Hutchings & Co. had a contract with the State of Texas to deliver 20,000 pairs of cotton cards. A part of the consideration was, that they were granted by the State the privilege of exporting a certain number of bales of cotton free from any in- terference on the part of the Confederate officers. The war ended in May, 1865, and, after the army at Brownsville was disbanded, Mr. Sealy signed his own parole, having been authorized so to do, took passage on a government transport and went to Gal- veston. The city was still under the domination of . the Federal military authorities. Business was allowed to go on unimpeded and Ball, Hutchings & Company opened their office again as bankers.

This firm was established in the year 1855 and was composed at that time of Geo. Ball, John H. Hutchings and John Sealy. It is not necessary to say anything of the members individually here, as suitable biographical notices are to be found upon other pages of this volume. When the firm was established their business was that of wholesale dry goods and commission merchants. In 1860 they sold out their dry goods business and continued the cotton commission business. It was during this year, 1860, that the subject of this memoir con- ceived the idea of adding banking to the business of the firm on his own responsibility ; demonstrated the propriety and advantage of the step, had blanks printed and distributed among the members of the local business community and, in a short time there- after, put into successful operation a regular bank- ing business. From that time forward the firm of Ball, Hutchings & Company became known as bankers as well as commission merchants. It can be truthfully said that the firm never solicited patronage. That which came to it came voluntarily. The firm has enjoyed from its beginning to the present time an unbroken reputation for liberality and fair dealing. In the year 1865 Mr. George Sealy became interested in the business, being

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allowed a percentage of the profits, and in 1867 became a full partner and has since so remained, having active management of the banking depart- ment. Mr. Sealy has ever been a public-spirited citizen. "He, and all the members of his firm, have been called upon to lead in nearly every public enterprise inaugurated in Galveston. It has fre- quently been said that if Ball, Hutchings & Co. declined to subscribe to any public enterprise, it would necessarily fail. Consequently, Mr. Sealy has always been expected to take an active part in and use his influence for the promotion of such movements. In 1873 the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Co. was chartered and in 1877 about fifty miles of road had been built, or rather, track had been laid that distance, but the company had no rolling stock, as there was no business on the road. It extended into Fort Bend County, but the company had neither money nor credit to extend the line further, and the work therefore ceased. Galveston County had contributed five hundred thousand dollars, and its citizens had contributed about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in stock of the company, and this amount (seven hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars) had been expended on the road. There was great depression in Gal- veston on account of discriminations in railroad rates, and in 1878, Mr. Sealy, seeing the great necessity of protecting the interests of Galveston merchants by further extending the Gulf, Col- orado & Santa Fe road, by his unaided efforts organized a syndicate to purchase and extend the line into the interior. This movement was suc- cessful. The line was extended wholly by the capital and credit of Galveston people, mainly through the influence of Mr. Sealy and the other members of the firm of Ball, Hutchings & Co. By 1886 the road was built to Fort Worth, to San Angelo and to Dallas, about seven hundred miles, when Mr. Sealy, seeing the necessity of making a connection with some system through which to reach the great Northwest, entered into negotia- tions with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Co. to make an exchange of Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe stock on a basis satisfactory to both parties, and the result of this action upon his part was that the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Co. completed its road to Paris, Texas, to a connection with the St. Louis & San Francisco road and to Purcell, I. T., to a connection with the Atchison Company, making a total of 1058 miles of Gulf. Colorado & Santa Fe road. Mr. Sealy remained president of the company until this mileage was completed and the management was transferred to the Atchison Company.

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Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. I, Part 30

Author: Brown, John Henry, 1820-1895 Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Austin : L.E. Daniel] Number of Pages: 922

Author: Brown, John Henry, 1820-1895
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Austin : L.E. Daniel]
Number of Pages: 922