USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. I > Part 40
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futurity. Yet I think we are engaged in the cause of justice and I hope the God of battles will pro- tect us. * * * I was born in the land of free- dom, and taught to lisp the name of liberty with my infant tongue and, rather than be driven out of the country or submit to be a slave, I will leave my bones to bleach on the plains of Texas. * * *
"Be not alarmed about my safety. I am no better, and my life no dearer, than those who gained the liberty you enjoy."
In 1838, Mr. J. D. Giddings, having completed his educational course at the Cassanovia Institute, New York, came to Texas to settle the estate left by his brother and, being pleased with the coun- try, located in Washington County. For about two years after his arrival he taught school, study- ing law during his leisure moments.
On a call for volunteers to avenge the raids of Vasquez and Woll and to rescue the prisoners held by the Mexicans, he promptly responded and re- mained with Gen. Somervell's army until it was officially disbanded, when he, with the great major- ity, returned home, thus escaping the slaughter at Mier.
As a means of support during the prosecution of his legal studies, he sought the office of district clerk, was elected, and served four years.
In 1844, he married Miss Ann M. Tarver, daughter of Edmund T. Tarver, a prominent farmer, who had moved to the State from Tennessee in 1841.
On the expiration of his terin of office as district clerk, he was admitted to the bar, where he achieved signal success, though numbering among his con- petitors many of the greatest minds in the State.
Of a genial disposition and possessing a wonder- fully retentive memory ; warmly sympathizing with the distressed and aiding the needy with kindly gen- crosity : charitable to the faults of others, yet con- trolling himself by the strictest code of moral princi- ples, his acquaintance became extensive, and ties
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of personal friendship, strong and lasting, were formed thus predisposing most juries to a favor- able consideration of any cause that he might ad- vocate. His intellectual processes were, however, distinctly logieal and, though impressing his hearers with the sincerity of his own convictions by the earnestness of his manner, he yet appealed directly to their reason by a masterly marshaling of his facts and the cogency of his arguments. His energy was indomitable and patience tireless, no detail of a case being considered unworthy of at- tention. This completeness of preparation, com- bined with cautiousness in the enunciation of legal prineiples or judicial rulings, gave him a mer- ited influence with the courts and the degree of confidence placed in his integrity and executive capacity is shown by the frequency of his name on the probate records as counselor or as the fiduciary agent of estates. Though thorough in the examina- tion of all questions, he was bold and progressive in the advoeacy of measures conducive to the advancement of his town, county and State.
He was thus among the first to pereeive the bene- ficial possibilities of railroads and in 1856, in con- nection with his distinguished brother, Hon. D. C. Giddings, he assisted in the organization of a com- pany for the purpose of construeting a railroad through Washington County and, to prevent the failure of the enterprise, the firm of J. D. and D. C. Giddings undertook the building of the road.
The self-abnegation, bravery and constructive energy of the pioneer settlers of America has made their history pleasant reading to all and their example has fired the hearts of many struggling for the political advancement of their race, but the promoters of the first railroads built in America are entitled to well-nigh equal admiration, for they have shown cqual ability, equal energy and equal conrage in grappling with difficulties and have, too, frequently sacrificed the earnings of a lifetime in their efforts to advance their own and the material welfare of the country. Though the line built by J. D. and D. C. Giddings was but a short one, yet the troublous times during which the work was completed and the faithfulness with which they complied with all their obligations to Northern creditors, not only clevated them to the highest plane of business capacity, but laid the foundation of Brenham's present prosperity.
Treasuring as a priceless jewel the liberty gained on the field of San Jacinto, Mr. Guldings took a lively interest in all political issues. His wide
acquaintance, knowledge of human nature, and executive ability made him a party leader of cx- ceptional power, but his fondness for the pleasures of home and his aversion to the turmoil of public life restrained his politieal aspirations and he refused offers of office on all but one occasion.
In 1866, when the disorganization consequent upon the cessation of the war between the States was most complete, when questions of vital impor- tance to the peace and happiness of his people were to be settled, and when many of our best men were dead or bowed down by diseonragement, he aceepted a seat in the legislature and served one term.
He was a religious man. His God was his friend and counsellor. His Bible was the source of daily comfort and aid.
The support of his church, her ordinances and ministers, was with him not only a duty but a posi- tive pleasure and, though sparing of time and means for personal indulgence, neither were too valuable for the advancement of religion or the cause of charity. This religious element in his nature enabled him not only to fully appreciate the sublime beauties of the Masonic ritual, but prompted his aspirations to positions of honor in the order and, as in his church he was elected to the higbest honors possible to a layman, so he held the highest offices in the three grand divisions of Masonry.
In 1878 he was thrown from his buggy and, a few days afterwards, on the 25th of June, died from internal injuries.
In 1880, the old frame church (in which as superintendent of the Sunday school he ministered for over twenty years) was torn down and a hand- some modern building erected on a more beautiful spot and dedicated as the "Giddings Memorial Church."
With qualities pre-eminently fitting him for political leadership, he sought only the advancement of his friends and the good of his country. A great lawyer and skilled in all the subtleties of his profession, he was a willing friend and a chivalrous opponent of youthful attorneys.
Forgetful of self, but ever indulgent of others, a ready helper of those in need and denying ad- vice to none in distress, welcoming all with gen- erous hospitality, a devoted husband and father, a truc friend and good citizen, he will ever be held in remembrance, by those who knew him best, as a noble specimen of God's greatest work - a Christian.
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INDLIN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
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WILLIAM CROFT,
CORSICANA.
Judge William Croft, long a distinguished figure in Texas and the oldest praetieing attorney of the Navarro County bar, is a native of Mobile, Ala- bama, born February 9th, 1827.
His parents, William and Annie Willard Croft, were natives, the father of England and the mother of Pennsylvania. His father was for a number of years a cotton commission merchant of New Orleans, where he died when the subject of this sketch was an infant. Judge William Croft, of whom we here write, was reared in New Orleans and received his earlier education in the schools of that eity, finishing at Louisville, Ky. He read law under the Hon. Isaac T. Preston, of New Orleans, then Attorney-General and afterwards Judge of the Supreme Court of Louisiana ; came to Texas in April, 1847, and was admitted to the bar on May 5th, .1848, at Richmond, Fort Bend County, before the Hon. Joseph C. Megginson, of the First Judicial Distriet. He then entered the practice at Richmond and followed it in Fort Bend and adjoining counties until December, 1849, when he came to Navarro County and took up his resi- dence at Corsieana. He has since been a citizen of Corsicana and has been actively engaged in the praetiee of his profession at that place, except while in the Confederate army, a period of two and a half years. While the war was in progress there was little or no practice in the courts. The first session of the District Court, which Judge Croft attended in Navarro County, was the spring term of 1850. The county having been organized in 1846, there had been only two or three terms held prior to that time and the machinery of the court had not yet been put in good working order. The presid- ing Judge was Hon. Bennett H. Martin. Judge Croft attended all the sittings of the Distriet Court, as well as of the inferior eourts, from 1850 up to the opening of the war, receiving his share of the business, both eriminal and civil. He was young, vigorous, well-grounded in a knowledge of the law, skilled in the management of eases, and pursued his profession with enthusiasm. His suecess fol- lowed as a matter of coursc. For twenty-five years he never finally lost a criminal ease and, eon- sidering the great number of hard cases which he defended in those years, there is good reason for believing that many of the verdicts which he secured were rather compliments to his skill and cloquence
than the result of sober reflection on the part of juries. When the war eame on he responded to the eall for volunteers, enlisting in Capt. B. D. McKie's Company, which was the second raised in the county, Bass's Regiment. He had been afflieted with a throat trouble for some time and the exposure, which active service in the field rendered unavoidable, brought on a bad case of bronchitis, which soon necessitated his retiring from aetive duty. He was honorably discharged on account of this disability. Returning home, he entered the Quarter-master's Department, where he remained until just before the surrender. After the war he attempted to resume the practice of his profession, at Corsicana; but, on account of the unsettled condition of affairs there at that time, this was impossible. He accordingly moved to Houston, where the courts had not been disorganized and some show was still made of conducting public business according to established forms and usages. He practiced there and in the courts of that local- ity for about two years and a half and then returned to Corsicana and took up the praetiee therc, con- tinuing uninterruptedly there since. Judge Croft has devoted his entire life to his profession and his efforts have been rewarded with more than ordinary suceess. He had accumulated considerable prop- erty when the war came on, but it was swept away and he found himself, at the close, like thousands of others, empty-handed and confronted with new conditions which it was not easy to measure in all their relations, nor master when fully understood. But he survived it all and surveys the past as serenely now as if his whole life had been one long series of triumphs, thus displaying much philoso- phy and good sense. It would be hard to imagine a professional life better lived than his has been.
Judge Croft has been twice married. In 1851 hc married Miss Roxana Elliott, of Navarro County, who died within a few months. He married again in January, 1851, Miss Rebecca A. Lockhart, a daughter of Charles J. C. Lockhart, an carly settler of the county. Two children now survive this union : Charles W., now his father's law part- ner, and Earnest T., still in school. Earnest T. is an accomplished musician and is said by some of the most competent judges in the county to pos- sess musieal talent of the highest order. This is already well cultivated and, with further develop-
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ment in this delightful field of art, there is no tell- ing what he might accomplish. Judge Croft has been a Mason since 1850, being one of the first members initiated in the mother lodge of Navarro County. He took his first degree in company with A. Beaton, James M. Riggs and B. L. Ham, soon after the lodge was organized, Gen. E. H. Tarrant
being the presiding officer. He is also a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church and, in accordance with his means, a liberal contributor to all worthy purposes. He has never voted any other than the Democratic ticket. Hc has long been a prominent figure in his section of the State and at the bar of Texas.
E. P. BECTON. M. D.,
SUPERINTENDENT STATE INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND.
The subject of this brief historical notice, Dr. Edwin Pinekney Becton is well known throughout tlic State as a pioneer Texian, leading physician and superintendent in charge of one of the State's most important eleemosynary institutions.
He was born in Gibson County, Tenn., June 27, 1834, and came to Texas in 1841 with his parents, who settled at San Augustine, where he was early placed at school and acquired the rudiments of a good literary education.
His father, Rev. John May Becton, was born in Craven County, North Carolina, January 8, 1806, and was a Presbyterian elergyman of the old school, much admired for his learning, piety and zeal.
His mother's maiden name was Eleanor Emcline Sharp. She was a daughter of James Sharp, and is now (1896) living, at eighty-six years of age, at Fort Worth with Mr. J. J. Nunnally, who married her granddaughter, Fannie.
Rev. Jolin May Becton's parents were Frederick Edwin and Fannie ( May) Becton, who moved from Craven County, North Carolina, when he was a little past twelve months of age and located in Ruther- ford County, Tennessee. There hic was given such school advantages as the county afforded, com- pleting his education at Pebble Hill Academy, located on Stone's river. Ile began life as a farmer, married Miss Eleanor Emeline Sharp, January 9, 1827, and in 1831 moved to Gibson County, Tennessee.
Ile was reared in the " Hard-Shell" Baptist faith ; in July, 1833, professed religion at a Metho- dist camp-meeting ; during the year joined the old school Presbyterian church, and in 1835 was licensed to preach the gospel by the latter denom- ination. In April, 1811, he was ordained and in November of that year came to Texas and located
at San Augustine, where he preached and taught school. In 1844 he moved to Nacogdoches County. He died at Church Hill, nine miles east of Hen- derson, in Rusk County, July 14, 1853. He was one of the early and most active pioneer clergymen of his church in Texas and it is believed organized more churches than any other member of the de- nomination in the State, among others the church at Douglass, in Nacogdoches County, in 1844; one in Henderson, in Rusk County, in 1845; one at Rusk in Cherokee County, in 1849, or 1850, and the church at Larissa, in Cherokee County, in 1849. At the same time he and the Rev. Daniel Baker organized the Palestine Presbyterian church, at Palestine, and organized alone the one at Gum Springs, Rusk County, in 1851, since known as the Danvilla chureh.
He organized the Presbyterian church at Church Hill in 1852, at which place he died, as above mentioned.
He is said by old people who knew him, to have been an elegant and fluent writer, and elo- quent speaker and pulpit orator.
He was liberal and broad in his views, and, be- ing a leader in church affairs in those days, drew about him a large following and a wide cirele of friends and supporters. He was associated in his work with such well-known pioneer clergymen as the Rev. Dr. Baker, Rev. Hugh Wilson, Rev. Peter Fullinwider, Rev. P. M. Warrener, and others of those who blazed the way for Presby- terianism in Texas.
At his death he left three sons and one daughter, the latter of whom, Isabella, died in 1862. One son, Joseph S. Becton, was a gallant soldier in the Confederate army during the war between the States and finally lost his life at the skirmish at Spanish Fort, near Mobile, Ala., April 9, 1865,
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the day of the final surrender of the Confederate forces. He enlisted from Rusk County at seven- teen years of age, and went to the front as a mem- ber of Thompson's Company, Lock's Regiment.
John A. Beeton, the second son, lives at Sulphur Springs, Texas, and the third son is Dr. E. P. Becton, the subject of this sketch.
Dr. Beeton was but little more than six years of age when his parents came to East Texas. He spent his boyhood in San Augustine, Nacogdoches, Cherokee and Rusk counties, attending the com- mon schools of that day, and took a partial course of study at Austin College, at Huntsville, Texas. He then determined to adopt the practice of medi- cine as a profession, and aeeordingly, entered the office of Dr. A. R. Ilamilton, at New Danville, Texas (where the family had located), and Jan- uary, 1855, began a course of systematic reading and examinations preparatory to entering college. In the winter of 1855-6 he attended lectures at Nashville, Tenn., and at the close of the session went to Murfreesboro, Tenn., where he read in the office of James E. and Robert S. Wendel, physi- cians of prominence in that State, continuing his studies under those instructors until the opening of the next regular session of the University of Ten- nessee, when he entered the medical department of that institution of learning and took a full course of lectures. He graduated therefrom Mareb 2, 1857, carrying off the honors of his class, one of the prizes in anatomy, for the highest standing in the department of anatomy. Dr. Becton com- menced the practice of medicine at New Danville, Texas, the year of his graduation. Later he attended medical lectures at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, 1874; at the University of Maryland, at Baltimore, 1879-80; at Tulane Uni- versity, Louisiana, 1886, and in 1891 at the Poly- clinic, in New York. He continued practice at New Danville, in Rusk County, from 1857 to April, 1862, at which time he entered the Confederate army as a private soldier in Capt. J. A. Pegue's Company, Waterhouse's Regiment. He was appointed Assistant-surgeon of Fitzhugh's Regi- ment. McCulloch's Brigade, Walker's Division, and was soon thereafter recommended for promo- tion by Chief Surgeon of Division Beall, examined by the Army Medical Board, passed to the rank of Sur- geon, and assigned to duty with the Twenty-second Regiment of Texas Infantry, commanded by his warm personal friend, Col. R. B. Hubbard ( since Governor of Texas and United States Minister to Japan ). and attached to Walker's Division. Dr. Bec- ton remained at his post of duty until the war was ended and then returned to Texas, and in February,
1866, located at Tarrant, in Hopkins County, and resumed the practice of his profession. In March, 18744, he moved from Tarrant to Sulphur Springs, in the same county, where he continued to reside until appointed to his present official position.
Always a elose and enthusiastic student of the science and practice of medicine and surgery, he has taken only that interest in matters outside his profession that good citizenship required. Some- what contrary to his tastes and wishes, he was, how- ever, ehosen to represent his district in the House of the Twelfth Texas Legislature. He acquitted himself in that body in a manner highly acceptable to his large and intelligent constituency and that won for him a place among the ablest and most patriotic of his colleagues.
Dr. Becton is known throughout the State as unalterably opposed to the liquor traffic and as a supporter of its suppression by constitutional and statutory prohibition. In the exeiting State can- vass on that issue in 1887 he took the stump in favor of the prohibitory amendment to the State constitution thien pending before the people and delivered a number of ringing addresses that will be long remembered and that are destined to bear good fruit in the future when the public conseience arouses itself to the necessity for adequate action upon this vitally important question.
He is a staunch advocate of organization in medicine, is a member of the county and district soeieties where he resided, and of the State and national associations. As an evidence of the high regard in which he is held by his confreres in Texas, he was elected first vice-president of the Texas State Medical Association at its meeting at Belton, in 1884, and president at the subsequent meeting in the city of Houston, in April, 1885, and presided as such at the Dallas meeting the following year. That meeting marked a crisis in the life of the association. It was just before the Ninth Inter- national Medieal Congress was to assemble in Washington City and the question came up on the adoption of a resolution, instructing the delegates to indorse and ratify the action of the American Medical Association at New Orleans, with referenee to the exclusion of new-code men as delegates to the congress by appointment by the committee on organization.
Pending a discussion of this resolution, Dr. Beeton resigned the chair to the first vice-presi- dent and, eoming upon the floor, made a speech strongly endorsing the resolution and favoring instructing the delegates. The report was adopted.
Ilis administration fell upon a stormy time in the history of medicine in this country. Sentiment
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was somewhat divided in medical ranks in Texas and great care and discretion were necessary in dealing with this question, to avoid alieuating cer- tain members, and thus disrupting the cherished organization. Dr. Becton took a bold stand for ever preserving the purity and integrity of honorable, rational medicine, uncontaminated by affiliation with those who would break down all barriers and throw to the dogs the code of medical ethics, the "bulwark and palladium of the profession; " and yet the meeting was con- ducted to a peaceful termination and all elements were harmonized. In the course of his speech he said, among other things: " We are in the midst of the battle, and it is a grand sight to see the old regulars presenting a solid front, standing like a "stone-wall' against those who would break our rauks. * * * Doubtless there are some good and true men who honor the American Medical Association and live up to the code, who question the expediency of the action taken by the associa- tion at its meeting in New Orleans last year ; but, because of this, they are not willing to see it dis- membered. With these we have no quarrel, but are willing to meet them in a fraternal spirit, with the view to an honorable and amicable adjustment of the pending difficulty. But there are those who, tired of salutary and needful restraint, seize upon this as a pretext for destroying the association and trampling under their feet the Code of Ethics, thereby removing the last barrier between them- selves and medical quackery. *
* The Texas State Medical Association occupies a proud position before the medical world on this question. It has firmly planted itself upou the eternal principles of truth and justice and, strong iu the consciousness of its own rectitude, fears not the consequences. It has flung its banner to the breeze, and upon its glittering folds is inseribed in letters of living light : ' The perpetuity of the American Medical Asso- ciation ; the bonor, dignity, purity of Ameri- can medicine; for these we live, for these we labor.' *
* These must and, with the bless- * ing of God, shall be preserved. Then let us con- tinue to stand together ; let us give our hearts and hands to this great work, encircling the good and true of the profession in that chain of sympathy that binds us together as one common brotherhood. Trusting to the justness of our cause and the sanetion of a just God, let us have the courage to do our whole duty.
"Courage, the highest gift, that scorns to bend
To mean device for sordid eud.
Courage! An independent spark from heaven's bright throne, [alone.' "
By which the soul stands raised, triumphant, bigh,
As an orator, Dr. Becton stands deservedly high and his voice is in frequent request, both in and out of the medical meetings.
December 12, 1889, on the occasion of the burial of Jefferson Davis, when memorial services were held throughout the South, he was chosen by his fellow-citizens of Hopkins County to deliver the oration at the meeting held by them at Sulphur Springs, and this he did in a thrillingly eloquent and touching manner .
At the twenty-fourth annual session of the Texas Medical Association held at Tyler, April 26th, 27th, and 28th, 1892, he was called upon suddenly to de- liver the closing address at the memorial services held in honor of deceased members. Although he had no adequate time for preparation, his oration was pronounced a masterpiece, his references to the tragic death of Dr. Reeves calling tears to every eye. Dr. Reeves had been superintendent of the State Insane Asylum at Austin and, without a moment's warning, had been shot down by an in- sane assassin. Dr. Becton's beloved wife had been recently removed from his side by the hand of death. In the early part of his remarks he took occasion to say : "To me this is a solemn hour ; the afffictive hand of Providence has rested heavily upon me ; I know what sorrow is ; I know how to sympathize with those who are in trouble. One year ago four of our fellow-members were with us in the enjoyment of health, of happiness and of the privileges and pleasures that we this day enjoy. Now, they sweetly sleep beneath the shade of the trees on the other side of the river. Life's duty done, they have no more to do with the things of earth; " and then followed the address - one of the finest tributes ever paid before the association to departed worth.
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