USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. I > Part 41
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As a writer Dr. Becton is polished and forcible. He has made several contributions to current med- ical literature.
Ile was united in marriage to Miss Mary Eliza Dickson, November 17th, 1857. She died in 1866 leaving three children : Mrs. L. J. Wortham, Mrs. J. J. Nunnally and Dr. Joseph Becton. In 1867 he married Mrs. Olivia L. Smith, widow of Dr. P. L. Smith. She died at Sulphur Springs in 1891, leaving three children: Mrs. Mary A. Chandler, since deceased, Mrs. Ellie Y. MeDanell, of Sulphur Springs, and E. B. Beeton, Jr. She left by her former marriage two children, viz .: Mrs. Kate W. Garrett, wife of Dr. Garrett, of Sulphur Springs, and Mrs. Fannie Laura Sterling, wife of Dr. Stir- ling, of Sulphur Springs.
Dr. Becton is a Presbyterian, a Mason and a member of the I. O. O. F. ; also a K. of P. In
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politics he is a staunch and unwavering Demo- crat.
In January, 1825, he was appointed, by Governor C. A. Culberson, superintendent of the State Institu- tion for the Blind, at Austin, Texas, a deserved honor that met with the hearty approbation of the medical profession and people of Texas. The board of trustees of the institution, under date of November 1, 1895, in transmitting his official report to the Governor, said: " The report of the superin- tendent of the Institution for the Blind for the year ending November 1, 1895, is so full and accurate that we deem it unnecessary to supplement it with any suggestions or recommendations.
"The general health of the pupils has been ex- cellent for the past year, better, perhaps, than in many years, and the general management of Dr. Beeton entirely satisfactory in all departments. He entered upon the discharge of his duties, January 1, 1895, with a zeal and enthusiasm which he has steadily maintained ; and the good order, fine dis- cipline, and general progress and improvement of the institution have been such as to commend him and the institution to the continued favor of the people of Texas."
One of the first matters that claimed his atten- tion upon taking charge of the Institution was to thoroughly systematize all the details of its manage- ment, dividing the work into departments, over which he placed competent heads, to whom he delegated sufficient power for the discharge of their duties. He sought from the beginning to impress them with a proper sense of responsibility. He has met with their hearty co-operation. As a result, everything connected with the institution moves with the well-ordered regularity of clock-work. There is no friction or waste of energy and the highest state of efficiency has been attained in every department. The children regard him with the affection that they would a kind and beloved father.
The people of Texas have much to be proud of, but of nothing more than of the enlightened states- manship, wise foresight and tender human sym- pathy displayed by the founders of the common- wealth in making provision for the establishment and maintenance of such public benefactions as the State Institution for the Blind.
The absence of no other one of the senses is so keenly felt as that of sight; the deprivation of no other one, under ordinary circumstances, renders a person so helplessly and hopelessly dependent. Yet, thanks to the existence of this institution, the blind children of Texas are being taught useful trøles, by means of which, when they leave its
walls, they can take their places in the great army of bread-winners. Besides, they are receiving that culture that will enable them to participate with their fellows in some of the pleasures incident to higher mental and spiritual life. The delights of music are open to them and they are also fur- nished with the key to the golden treasure-house of literature. Thus, while it is denied to them to view the beauties of the visible universe, to note the changes wrought by nature with the progress of the seasons - to gaze upon the witchery of hill and wood and stream -yet, in being taught the science and art of the harmony of sound, they are taught that universal language of the soul that alone can give expsession to its highest longings and aspirations. They are being introduced to the thoughts of the great and good of all ages, in- structed in the principles of morality and religion, and taught the mysteries of the manual trades thought to be best suited to their natural capaci- tics. They will be sent out into the world patient, earnest, hopeful, useful men and women. It is a noble work that is being done. How deplorable would be their condition but for the existence and proper management of this institu- tion !
No Governor of Texas, be it said to their credit, has ever been influenced by partisan motives, or by the desire for personal aggrandizement, in making appointments to the superintendency of the Institution for the Blind. Their purpose has been to select men of high standing in the medical fraternity, superior executive ability and that firmness of character, warmth of sympathy for others and purity of life that will insure the efficient discharge of the duties of the sacred trust confided to them.
Dr. Becton is no stranger to the people of Texas. They expected much of him as the official head of this institution and he has not disappointed them. On the contrary he has come up fully to the measure of their expectations.
The writer has visited many similar institutions and feels no hesitation in saying that the Texas Institution for the Blind, under the supervision of Dr. Becton, is one of the best of the kind in the country. He has, like every other worthy member of the medical profession who has been long en- gaged in practice, been the instrument uuder God for the accomplishment of much good; but, at no time in the past have his efforts been employed in a worthier cause or to better advantage than since his appointment to his present position. He has brought to the work the most earnest predelictions of his nature and the best energies of his heart and
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brain. What he has already succeeded in doing is a sufficient earnest of what he will yet accomplish in the interest of the unfortunates committed to his charge.
Although he is giving his whole heart and all his energies to the management of the institution he gives a large measure of the credit of its success to his teachers.
CARL HILMAR GUENTHER, SAN ANTONIO.
As the pioneer history of Texas is being written and put into print the fact is being developed that the German Empire has contributed more of its bone, sinew, and brain to the settlement and de- velopment of the Lone Star State, than all of the other nations of the world combined. The Ger- mans were among the very first pioneers who made their way into the region of country known as West- ern and Southern Texas and as a rule they were plain, honest people without means, who were ac- customed to hardship and a rigid economy in all of the affairs of life and were especially adapted to pioneering in a frontier country. The now vener- able Carl Hilmar Guenther, of San Antonio, is a fair type of the Texas pioneer, and a brief account of his career will, therefore, he of interest to the readers of this work.
Mr. Guenther was born in the town of Weissen- fels, Prussia, March 19th, 1826. His father, Gott- fried Guenther, was a successful business man of that town, who, in early life, was a merchant and later owned lands and pursued the avocation of a farmer. He was a man of property and . influence. Hilmar Guenther spent bis boyhood and youth on his father's farm, received a liberal schooling and learned the business of scientific milling in all of its branches, which in those days not only involved the operation of a mill, but also the arts of planing and millwright. After learning bis trade he held a responsible position as manager of the largest mill in the city of Zeitz, not far from his home. Upou the breaking out of the great German revolution of 1848, not wishing to be involved therein, he em- barked from Bremen for New York City on a sailing vessel and reached his destination after a tedious voyage of about nine weeks. He remained in New York about one month, where he took up and pur- sucd the work of a carpenter. He then went to the now old town of Racine, Wis., a port town on Lake Michigan. Wisconsin was then a new and unsettled State, Racine a small trading port, and
the present great cities of Chicago and Milwaukee were but small frontier towns. At Racine Mr. Guenther was employed as a miller a portion of the time. There was not wheat enough raised in that section to keep this, a merchant mill, in operation more than three or four months in the year. He therefore worked as a carpenter and builder when not employed in his position of miller. He remained at Racine something over a year and then pushed on west to the Mississippi river and took a steamboat for New Orleans. Water in the river was low, however, and the boat stranded at Lake Providence, La. Here Mr. Guenther disembarked and took a con- tract for building a residence for one Mr. Greeu, of Green P. O., not far from Lake Providence. He completed his contract in due time, drew his money therefor and returned to New York, took out his papers of citizenship, and made a trip to the father- land to visit his parents. He remained at his home abont three months and then, with the full consent and approval of his parents, returned to the United States to make his fortune and his future home. He landed this time at New Orleans where he pur- chased himself a full kit of carpenter's and mill- wright's tools and embarked for Texas, reaching the little gulf port of Indianola in January, 1852. While he had personally not much means, he had received assurances from his father that if he found a favorable opening for business in his line, the money would be furnished him to engage therein, and from Indianola he started on a prospecting tour. Ile drove with an ox-team from Indianola to San Antonio. Here for a time he worked as a carpenter and, not long thereafter purchased a horse and saddle and prospected for a business location at Fredericksburg, then a considerable settlement of German colonists. His coming to Fredericksburg was welcomed by the people of the colony and his proposition to build a mill met with much en- couragement and promises of support, as, up to
وموة.
JOIN STONEHAM.
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that time, the grinding of corn and wheat had all been done in small hand-mills at the homes of the settlers. Mr. Guenther located a water-power on Live Oak Creek about three miles from Frederieks- burg. He received means from home and ereeted the first saw mill and grist mill ever built in that section of country.
In October, 1859, Mr. Guenther removed to San Antonio and developed two water-powers on the San Antonio river in the city. His first mill, now known as the Lower Mill, was a modest two-run mill which was propelled by an under shot water wheel. In 1866-7 he built a second mill on the San Antonio on Arsenal street and nearer to the business center of the eity. This is known as the Guenther Upper Mill. As the country settled up the eity grew and Mr. Guenther's business increased. The Upper Mill has been converted into a hominy mill and grist mill and the Lower Mill equipped as a full-fledged roller flouring mill. The capacity of both mills is now four hundred barrels. Mr. Guenther has ever been an enterprising business man, always up to and fully abreast of the times and alive to the growing demands of a progressive eity. As he sueceded in business he invested his surplus in local business enterprises and San Antonio prop- erty. In 1870 he embarked in the manufacture of
iee on a small seale, and later organized the South- ern Iee & Cold Storage Company, of which he is president, and the enterprise has developed into large proportions.
Mr. Guenther married at Fredericksburg, in 1855, Miss Dorethea Pape, a daughter of Mr. Fritz Pape, one of the first settlers of the Fred- erieksburg colony. She has proved a loving and faithful wife and mother, and a genuine helpmeet, sharing cheerfully in all of her husband's reverses and enjoying with him his final prosperity.
Mr. and Mrs. Guenther have seven children. Mr. Guenther has afforded his family excellent school advantages. All are married and oceupy honorable positions in society and business eireles. Mr. and Mrs. Guenther live at their old home on Guenther street in the quietude of deelining years, enjoying the fruits of honorable, successful and well-spent lives, and in the enjoyment of the society of their children, grandehildren, and a wide eircle of friends and acquaintances.
Mr. Guenther never cared to enter public life or took especial interest in polities, but has been essentially a business man, only taking such interest in matters affecting the welfare of his city, country and State, as good citizenship re- quired.
THE STONEHAMS.
OF GRIMES COUNTY.
Bryant Stoneham, now in his eighty-eighth year, is the sole surviving representative of the first gen- eration of Stonehams that located on Grimes Prairie, in Grimes County, Texas. His grandfather, per- haps the first Stoneham that ever put foot on American soil, eame over from England in colonial days, and settled in what is now Amherst County, Va. He had four sons, George, Henry, Bryant, and James, and two daughters. The oldest son, George, enlisted as a private in the war of 1812 and was never heard of afterwards. His son, Henry, at the age of fourteer, ran away from home to serve in the Revolutionary War; he served five years in this war and was wounded at the battle of Guildford's Court House. Henry afterwards mar- rind, in Amherst County, Jane Dillard, a native of Fredericksburg, Va., Bryant and James died in
Hancock County, Ga., at the ages respectively of 108 and 110 years.
Henry Stoneham and his wife Jane ( Dillard) Stoneham moved from Virginia to Georgia in the year 1801. There were born to them eight sons, viz. : George, Henry, John, William, James, Bryant, Erastus, and Joseph, and seven daughters, Mary, Susan, Jane, Eliza, Martha, Sophia, and Hester. Henry Stoneham, the father of these children, died in Haneock County, Ga., in 1815. His sons, tak- ing their widowed mother, drifted westward from Georgia, locating for a time in Alabama, but all ultimately locating in Grimes County, Texas, except Joseph, the second oldest, who died in Alabama; leaving a number of small children. The minor children of Joseph were brought to Texas by their unele and guardian, George Stoneliam.
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Jane ( Dillard ) Stoneham, died on Grimes Prairie, June 3d, 1858, beloved and respected by all who knew her, at the extreme age of 105 years.
The Stonehams of this generation ( the children of Henry and Jane Stonehain ) and indeed for gen- erations back, were an exceptionally hardy people ; all owners of slaves, nevertheless hard workers themselves, the women manufacturing, by the crude means then known to Southern people, nearly all the cloth used for the household and the slaves. The men inured to much hardship, also actively participated in outdoor sports and grew to be splen- did examples of physical manhood. Their powers of endurance, capacity for labor, industry, perse- verance, integrity and manly deportment secured them wealth and the respect and admiration of their fellow-men, as well as accounted for their nn- failing cheerfulness and abiding hopefulness of dis- position, and their long and useful lives. The sterling integrity, industry, thrift, enterprise and hardiness of this generation of Stonehams may not improperly be said to have been largely inherited from' their mother, for in her industry and enter- prise were realized King Lemuel's description of the ways of a virtuous woman: "She considereth a field and buyeth it; with the fruits of her hands she planteth a vineyard."
Several of Henry and Jane ( Dillard ) Stoneham's children lived to a remarkable old age. Their son Henry, long to be remembered for his Christian character, his charity, his love for children and his exalted integrity, died in Grimes County at the ad- vanced age of ninety-five years. Their daughter, Susan, never married, remarkable for her industry, respected and loved for her noble character, died in Grimes County at the age of ninety-seven years. Another daughter, Mrs. Thos. J. Shackelford, died in Jackson County, Ga., in 1895, at ninety-one years of age.
None of the sons of this generation of Stonehams are now living except Bryant, and none have left issue, to any extent, except Joseph. He married Rebecca Crowder near Milledgeville, Ga., after- ward moved to Alabama, and both he and his wife died in Coneculi County in that State in 1835, leay- ing six sons and two daughters. The two daugh- ters (Caroline and Martha) married in Alabama. The two youngest sons ( William and Sebron) died in Alabama in boyhood. The remaining four boys, George, John, Henry, and Joe, are the minor chil- dren referred to as having been brought to Texas hy their uncle and guardian, George Stoneham.
John Stoneham, a son of Joseph Stoneham, and of the second generation of Stonchams that came to Texas, was born in Conecuh County, Ala.,
December 20, 1829. When a small boy he attended school at Evergreen, Ala. His uncles being slave owners, and desirous of obtaining richer and cheaper lands than could be readily procured in Alabama, left that State in 1845 and in preceding years, taking him with them and his orphan broth- ers in 1845. Most of them made their way overland with wagons and teams and camp equipage enough to make the party comfortable. Those that came with the orphans arrived on Grimes Prairie in 1845. They found on Grimes Prairie and vicinity, upon their arrival there, the following well-known people : Judge Jesse Grimes, for whom Grimes County was named ; Mrs. Margaret McIntyre and her two sons ; Franklin J. Greenwood and family ; Maj. Pierson and family ; Gwyn Morrison and family ; Andrew and Edley Montgomery and their families. What an inviting prospect this section of country must have presented to the energetic and enterprising Stonehams! Rieli lands of marvelous productive capacity, well timbered and watered; sleek cattle on every hillside and an abundance of game were all found there. Indeed this was a land flowing with milk and honey and after over half of a cen- tury of constant tillage these lands yield bountifully to the hand of industry.
John Stoneham and his orphan brothers, under the influences of pioncer life, grew to manhood on Grimes Prairie. Here they were sent by their guardian to such schools as from time to time the people of that sparsely settled country were enabled, in that primeval day to secure. Upon John at- taining to his majority, his guardian, who had judiciously managed his father's estate, placed him in possession of his portion. He at once invested in lands and began to follow farming, the vocation of his father. He was married to Evaline Green- wood, daughter of the venerable Franklin J. Green- wood, on the 20th of October, 1853. John Stone- hamn and his brothers George, Henry, and Joe, served in different capacities on the Southern side in the late war. Joe was killed at the battle of Mansfield in Louisiana. He left a widow and four sons, all of whom are dead. George never mar- ried ; he died the 12th of July, 1874. Henry died in Milam County, Texas, leaving a family of girls and boys, most of whom are married and live in dif- ferent counties of the State. Since the war John Stoneham actively engaged in farming, and, to some extent, stock-raising, and, for about ten years prior to his death, merchandised. He lived till his death in the vicinity of Grimes Prairie and during his long and useful life a large family of children grew up about him. By frugal and judicious management he acquired large bodies of valuable
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land. As a citizen he was liberal and public- spirited. Upon the building of the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railway through Grimes County (in which he actively interested himself in a financial way, giving the project his hearty support) a station was built on lands he owned and named for him.
The life of John Stoneham was characterized by a rigid simplicity. The sincerity and lionesty of his deeds and words were transparent, and felt and appreciated by all worthy people that knew him. He was a devoted member of the Methodist church and gave liberally to churches and schools. The beautiful little church at Stoneham and the school at that place stand as monuments to his zeal for
the cause of Him whose whole life was one of com- plete, loving self-sacrifice for the benefit of others. His unselfishness, integrity, good will for his fellow-man, his charities, and especially his loving self-sacrifice for his family, will ever cause his memory to be honored and revered and, above all, will it be sacredly enshrincd in the hearts of his widow and children. He died at Stoneham, Texas, on August 3d, 1804, in his sixty-sixth year, and friends from far and near came to pay their last tribute of respect and love when he was laid to rest in the old burial grounds on Grimes Prairie. He left a widow and eight sons, who have inherited his estate. His sons are among the most thriving and respected citizens of Grimes County.
J. B. POLLEY,
FLORESVILLE.
J. B. Polley, of Floresville, Wilson County, Texas, was born in Brazoria County, Texas, in 1840. His father, J. H. Polley, and his mother, Mary (Bailey) Polley, were natives respectively of New York and North Carolina. J. H. Polley left New York in 1818, made his way to St. Louis and there joined Moscs Austin and made a trip to Texas in 1819. Then, returning to St. Louis, he joined Stephen F. Austin as one of the original threc hun- dred who came to Texas in 1821. Subsequently, he married Miss Mary Bailey, whose father, J. Britton Bailey, had settled on the Brazos river, op- posite Columbia, in the year 1821. The couple lived at the edge of Bailey's Prairie until 1847 and then moved to the Cibolo, about thirty miles east of San Antonio - the husband dying in 1869 at the age of seventy-three, the wife dying in 1888 at the age of seventy-eight. Eleven children were born to them, of whom J. B. Polley was the sixth.
The subject of this sketch, J. B. Polley, gradu- ated at the Florence Wesleyan University at Flor- ence, Ala., in 1861, returning home just in time to
avoid the blockade of the Texas coast. Enlisting in Company F., of the Fourth Texas, he served four years in Hood's Brigade, participating in most of the important battles in which that command was engaged. Wounded in the head during the first real battle, that of Gaines' Mill, he lost his right foot in the last real battle in which his regiment participated, on the Darbytown road near Rich- mond, October 7, 1864.
Marrying Miss Mattie LeGette in 1866, Mr. Polley read law and was admitted to the bar in 1868, but did not begin its practice until 1876, when he moved to Floresville, the county seat of Wilson County. He was County Attorney in 1877 and 1878, served as a member of the Sixteenth Legis- lature in 1879, and since has been engaged in the practice of his profession.
His children are: Josephine Goldstein, the wife of E. M. Goldstein, of San Antonio, Texas ; Hortense Rudisill, the wife of L. O. Rudisill, of Fort Worth, Texas; Miss Mattie Polley, Joseph H. and Jesse Polley, the latter born in 1881.
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THOMAS J. DEVINE,
SAN ANTONIO.
The lamented Judge Devine was born of Irish parentage, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the 28th of February, 1820. His early opportunities for an education were liberal and in addition to his En- glish studies he acquired considerable proficiency in the Latin and French languages, but he was in early life thrown upon his own resources, and when but fifteen years of age emigrated to Florida and was there employed as clerk and salesman in a mercantile house at Tallahasse, but his aspiring genius found little congeniality in the mental re- straints and fettering routine of a life of trade. The cravings of his mind and the soaring flights of his youthful ambition impelled him to exertions to reach a more compatible sphere, and, in 1838, he began the study of law in the office of Trexton Davis, a prominent lawyer of Woodville, Miss. In 1840 he went to Lexington, Ky., where he continued his studies and attended lectures in the law department of Transylvania University, from which he graduated in 1843 and in the same year obtained his license to practice from the Supreme Court of Kentucky.
During that year he emigrated to Texas and located at La Grange, in Fayette County, and he soon thereafter removed to San Antonio, where he established himself in the practice of his profession and lived until his death in 1890.
Judge Devine acquired a high reputation as an able and thorough lawyer. In 1841 he was elected City Attorney of San Antonio and held the office by successive re-elections until 1851, when he was elected District Judge of Bexar County. He was re-elected to the bench in 1856 and held the posi- tion until the outbreak of the war between the States. Ile was a leading member of the Texas secession convention in 1861, and was a member of the committee of public safety, appointed to con- fer with Gen. Twiggs, the commander of the United States troops in Texas, and demand the surrender of all the government arms, ammuni- tion and military stores and the immediate re- moval of the Federal troops from the State. This, in conjunction with two other gentlemen of the committee, he accomplished with the skill of a thorough diplomatist and received the commendation and thanks of the convention. Being an ardent devotee and supporter of the Southern cause and a lawyer of eminent ability, he
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