USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. I > Part 44
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Col. Uriah Lott projected the Corpus Christi, San Diego and Rio Grande narrow gauge railroad from Corpus Christi to Laredo, Texas (163 miles), in 1876. Col. Lott called Capt. Kenedy and Capt. King to his assistance and together they built the road and sold it in 1881 to the Mexican . National Construction Company.
In 1884 a number of citizens of San Antonio projected the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Rail- way, from San Antonio to Arausas Pass on the Gulf of Mexico, organized and made arrangements with Col. Uriah Lott (whom they elected presi- lent) to prosecute thic work. Construction was commenced early in 1885, but languished for want of means after a few miles were built. Col. Lott called upon his friend, Capt. Kenedy, at Corpus Christi, in June, 1885, explained to him the situation, succeeded in interesting him in the enterprise and, as president of the company, con-
tracted with him to build the road. Capt. Kenedy supplied the money and credit necessary for the construction of the line and built 700 miles of road which are now in operation. He also supplied a majority of the motive power and rolling stock for the road.
The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway was constructed in a remarkably short time and with very little noise. It is the most remarkable road ever built in Texas, one of the most thoroughly equipped in the South, has opened up to settlement and commerce a magnificent section and has in- creased values iu San Antonio and the country tributary to the road fully $100,000.000.
After the sale of the Laurelas ranch Capt. Keuedy, in 1882, established the Kenedy Pasture Company, of which he was president and treasurer, and his son, Mr. John G. Kenedy, secretary aud general manager. The company's land lies iu Cameron County and is thirty miles in length by twenty in breadth - truly a princely domain.
At Brownsville, Texas, April 16, 1852, Capt. Kenedy married Mrs. Petra Vela de Vidal, of Mier, Mexico. To them werc boru six children, of whom only two are now living: John G. and Sarah Josephine (wife of Dr. A. E. Spohn, of Corpus Christi).
Capt. Mifflin Kenedy had also an adopted danghter, Miss Carmen Morell Kenedy, a native of Monterey, Mexico.
Although Capt. Kenedy spent a large portion of his life ou the Rio Grande frontier, and passed through the days when that section was infested with lawless aud desperate men, he never had a serious difficulty. This was due partly to the fact that his courage was well known and recognized ; partly to the probity that marked all his business dealings, and partly to his cool and even tempera- ment.
Capt. Mifflin Kenedy and Capt. Richard King made their way to the Rio Grande at a time when Southwest Texas was infested with Indians, Mexicans and men from the States who were a law unto themselves, or rather, who were without auy law except that of force, and who sub- sisted upon the fruits of marauding expeditions. Neither life nor property were safe and the sturdy immigrant, in search of a peaceful home, turned to more inviting regions.
From the close of the Mexican war they devoted their talents, means and much of their time to bringing about that reformation which eventuated in banishing from that part of Texas the despera- does, thieves and predatory savages that inhabited it. They shunned no danger in the defeuse of their
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neighbors' rights and in upholding the cause of law and order. Texas owes them no small debt of gratitude.
Capt. Kenedy died March 14, 1895, at his home
in Corpus Christi. His remains are interred at Brownsville, beside those of his beloved wife.
His name is indissolubly connected with the his- tory and development of Texas.
MRS. P. V. KENEDY,
CORPUS CHRISTI.
Mrs. Petra V. Kenedy was born in Mier, Mex- ico, June 29th, 1825. Iler parents were Gregorio and Josefa (Resendez) Vidal. Her first marriage was to Louis Vidal in December, 1840, by whom she had six children, Louisa, Rosa, Adrian, Guada- lupe, Concepcion and Maria Vincenta. The Vidal family was originally from Athens, Greece, and removed first to Spain and thence to Mexico, where a number of its scions figured conspicuously and honorably in local history. Her uncle, Marin Resendez, was Catholic Bishop of Zacatecas, Mex- ico, and her father, Gregorio Vidal, was Provincial Governor under the Spanish crown of the territory lying between the Nueces and Rio Grande rivers and had charge of all the Indian tribes in his province. He was killed by mistake, by a band of Indian warriors, under the chief Castro, in 1832, or 1833, at the Alamo ranch, in Texas. He was returning from one of his ranches ( Beteno) and on his way to Mier to attend to important business matters, when he was killed.
Three of his daughters, who accompanied him, were captured by the Indians. One was ransomed in San Antonio, another escaped from them about
sixty miles from the Rio Grande and made her way to friends, and the third, Paulita, was never heard from, although an uncle searched for her among the Indians for fifteen or twenty years.
The second marriage of our subject was at Brownsville, Texas, to Capt. M. Kenedy, April 16th, 1852. Six children were born of this union : Thomas, James, John G., Sarah J., William and Phoebe Ann, of whom two only are now living: John G. Kennedy and Mrs. Sarah J. Spohn.
Mrs. Petra V. Kennedy, died at Corpus Christi, March 16, 1885. Her remains were taken to Brownsville and laid in the family tomb. She was considered one of the handsomest women of her day. She was a woman of superior accomplish- ments and great natural intelligence and was highly respected for her womanly qualities. She possessed one characteristic for which she will ever be remembered in many a heart and home - her un- bounded charity. A friend of the poor and humble, none ever left her empty-handed, and she gave for the pure and unalloyed happiness she found in giving. She was a well-fitted help-meet to her husband and was a devoted wife and loving mother.
JNO, G. KENEDY,
CORPUS CHRISTI.
Jno. G. Kenedy is a son of the late Capt. M. Kenedy, who was one of the wealthiest cattle rais- ers in Texas in his day ; the man to whose energy, clear-sightedness, public spirit, and liberality, Southwest Texas is indebted for the construction of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass and other lines of railway within its territory. The subject of this
memoir was born in Brownsville, Texas, April 26, 1856, attended a private school at Coatesville, Penn., where he remained four years, returned to Texas in 1867, and attended St. Joseph's College at Brownsville for nearly a year and then entered Spring Hill College, Mobile, Ala., where he was a student during the succeeding four years. He
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completed a commercial course in 1873, spent a . owned 600 square miles of pasture lands, all under few months at his home in Corpus Christi, and then fence and supplied with windmills, tanks, and every modern convenience, and well stocked with cattle. In 1884, he became general manager and took entire charge of his father's ranch. This ranch has 100 miles of fencing, a water front on Baffins Bay, and Laguna Madre of sixty miles and fifty-one wind- mills, and is stocked with about 50,000 head of im- went to New Orleans, where he accepted a position with Perkins, Swenson & Co., bankers and commis- sion merchants. He remained with this firm for a year and a half, and then, in 1877, returned home. In April, 1877, he started on the cattle trail from Laurelas, his father's ranch, to Fort Dodge, Kan.,
JNO. G. KENEDY.
accompanying 18,000 head of cattle. He remained two months at Fort Dodge, drove a herd of 2,000 cattle to Ogalala, Neb., returned to Corpus Christi, worked for his father on the Laurelas ranch for six months and then went into the sheep business on his own account, in which he remained until 1852, when he sold out to Lott and Nelson. After the sale of the Laurelas ranch, Mr. Kenedy became secretary of the Kenedy Pasture Company, which
proved cattle, and 1,000 saddle horses, and employs seventy-five or eighty cow boys, and other helpers. Mr. Kenedy married Miss Maria Stella Turcotte, of New Orleans, January 30th, 1884, and has two children living: Jno. G. Kenedy, Jr., and Sarah Josephine Kenedy. Mrs. Kenedy is a daughter of the late Joseph Turcotte, a well-known merchant and prominent citizen of New Orleans. Mr. Jno. G. Kenedy has inherited the abilities of his father,
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who fully appreciated his capacity. He will add largely to the princely estate which has come to lum by inheritance, and, no doubt, be as great a factor
for good in Southwest Texas, in his day and gen- eration, as his father was in his and add new luster to the family name.
JOHN MARKWARD,
LAMPASAS.
The German element in Texas has been a very important factor in the history of the State, and in addition to the colonies which are mentioned at some length in this work there are many individual instances of intelligent enterprise and good citizen- ship deserving of notice as illustrative of the character of the men and women of that race who have helped to settle the country, found its insti- tutions, give direction to its energies and standing to its society. One of this number is John Mark- ward, for the past forty years a resident of Lampasas, being one of the oldest citizens of that place.
Mr. Markward is a native of Prussia, born in the province of Pomerania on the Baltic Sea, in the year 1834. His boyhood and early youth were spent in his native place, in the schools of which he received what would, in this country, be the equivalent of a good high school education. At about the age of seventeen having heard a great deal of Texas through the different colonization enterprises then on foot in Germany, he determined to try his fortunes in the New World. He sailed from Bremen aboard the Diana, a vessel then exten- sively engaged in the transportation of emigrants, and landed at Indianola, this State, on the 2d of November, 1852. . IJe eame in company with a considerable number of his countrymen. perhaps 150 or 200, none of whom, however, he knew, and not having come out as a member of any colony be immediately struck out for himself, going from Indianola to Gonzales. At Gonzales he found em- ployment in a few days and remained there some months, going thenee to De Witt County, where he remained the better part of three years. This time was spent in the employ of a Frenchman named Guichard who was a merchant and trader residing on Peach creek. Young Markward was variously engaged while with Guichard peddling, elerking and doing carpenter's work ; but, in all, advancing himself in a knowledge of the ways and means of
getting on in the world, and saving some means from his earnings.
In the fall of 1856 he concluded to go to the " up-country," and in company with an acquaint- anee, went to Coryell County, where he had in- tended to locate, but on account of the drouth and bad crops left at the end of the first year, and, in the fall of 1857, settled in Lampasas, then a frontier town in a newly organized county. His first employment at Lampasas was in the capacity of miller for George Scott, whose little grist-mill situ- ated on the outskirts of the town was one of the chief industries of the place and liberally patronized throughout that section. Scott and his mill have both long since passed away but arc remembered by many of the old citizens. Mr. Markward worked for Scott until a short time before the open- ing of the late Civil War, when on account of a failure of health he was forced to seek other pur- suits. Joining two of his acquaintances he bought up several hundred pounds of bacon which he hauled overland with wagon and ox-teams to Alex- andria., La, where he sold.it at a good profit and, reinvesting the proceeds in tobacco, brought that back to Texas and sold it at a still better profit. . Then the war came on, and in the spring of 1862, he entered the Confederate Army, enlist- ing in Gurley's Regiment, Gano's Battalion, with which he was in active service in Arkansas and Indian Territory till the elose of hostilities. Soon after enlistment Mr. Markward was made the apothecary of his regiment, his knowledge of bot- any and drugs, acquired as part of his education in his youth, together with his steady habits, qualify- ing him in a special degree for the discharge of the duties of this responsible position. He was more than & mere "pill-mixer." In difficult eases he acted as nurse and sometimes in the absence of the physician of the regiment he prescribed in such cases as he felt sure he could apply proper reine- dies. An amusing incident is told of the way he
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cured three ehronie cases of rheumatism which had baffled the skill of the regimental physician for nearly three years. There were three brothers (their names will be omitted) who had been trying, almost from the time of their enlistment in the service, to get discharged on account of feigned rheumatie troubles, one being afflicted with the trouble between the shoulders, another with it in the baek, and third in the hips. The doetor had' treated them until he had beeome satisfied that there was nothing the matter with them and had tried other means to arouse them to a sense of decency, but had signally failed, and finally in the presence of the captain of the eom- pany to which they belonged, said: " Markward, I am done with those fellows. If you think you ean do anything with them, take charge of their cases." Mr. Markward replied that he did not know what he could do, but that he would try and see. Calling the patients up he informed them that the doctor had turned them over to him for treatment, and that he proposed to resort to heroic ineasures. He told them that eupping was the thing for rheumatism, and that he was going to begin to operate on them at onee. So, making each one bare his baek, Mr. Markward got out all the cups he had, heated them, and slapping on four eups to the patient gave each a first-elass cupping. As a result all of them had sore baeks for several days, and the joke getting out in eamp and the patients, not knowing what next to expeet in case they continued their complaining, coneluded to "give under." They did so with as much graee as the nature of the ease admitted of, and after that till the close of the war made very good soldiers. Mr. Markward met one of them some years afterwards, and the conversation turning on the incident the latter confessed to the fraud which he and his brothers had been guilty of, and laughed beartily over the very effectual way the "pill- mixer" of the regiment had eured the three chronic eases which had set at defiance the pro- fessional efforts of the regiment's physician.
At the close of the war Mr. Markward embarked in the mercantile business at Lampasas, the money which he had made in his Alexandria venture, about $600, constituting the capital on which he began. His beginning though unassuming, was auspicious, and it was not many years until liis establishment came to be one of the first in the town wherehe was located, and he took rank as one of the solid men of the community. That he has been successful much beyond the average man la well known to those familiar with his career and the manner of his building up equally well known. It was by the observance of a few simple
rules : Employing strict integrity in all his deal- ings, living within his means, never leaving to others what he could do himself, treating all eour- teously, and extending aid where he eould without injury to his business, avoiding debts of a spec- ulative nature and shunning the ruinous pastimes of youth and early manhood, which destroy first one's business, and afterwards his eharaeter.
Mr. Markward did not marry till late in life. His marriage took place at Lampasas, and was to Miss Adelphia Florence White, a daughter of Maj. Martin White, an old and respected eitizen of Lam- pasas. Mrs. Markward died, May 22, 1894, leav- ing three ehildren, two daughters and a son, two children having preceded her to the grave.
Of Mr. Markward's publie career there is but little to be said. He has been solicited to run for office many times but has persistently refused to do so, and the only public position which he has ever occupied was that of postmaster at Lampasas, which he held for eight years, immediately after the war. But whatever has been suggested as being of publie necessity or publie benefit has always found in him a willing and able supporter, and this is especially trne of all those aids to order, law, morality, edu- eation and good society. Mr. Markward's eonnee- tion with one enterprise is especially worthy of note, that being the railway that now traverses the county in which he lives. When the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway was projected through that seetion of the State it fell to his lot to seeure the right of way for the road through Lampasas County. He spent the better part of two years in the under- taking, meeting with many obstaeles, but was finally successful, securing the right of way for a dis- tanee of seventy-five miles at the nominal eost of $2,100.00.
Mr. Markward is a man of considerable individu- ality of character. He is thoroughly self-reliant. He is not a member of any order and, though he votes and aets with the Democratie party, he is not in any sense a partisan. He was reared in the faith of the Lutheran Church, but is a contributor to all denominations, being bound by none. He believes in every one enjoying the fullest measure of individual liberty consistent with the rights of others.
In disposition he is genial and pleasant, full of life and possessing a keen perception of the humor- ous side of things.
In December, 1894, Mr. Markward retired from aetive business pursuits, sinee which time he has devoted his attention to the training of his children, all of whom are still small, and to the supervision of his estate, one of the largest in the county where he resides.
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
JOHN RICHARDSON HARRIS.
HARRISBURG.
John Richardson Harris was born October 22d, 1790, at Cayuga Ferry, now East Cayuga, N. Y., and May 7th, 1813, married Miss Jane Birdsall, daughter of Mr. Lewis and Mrs. Patience ( Lee) Bird- sall, of Waterloo, Seneca Falls, N. Y., and for several . years thereafter resided at East Cayuga. During the war of 1812-14 he volunteered and commanded a company in the line; and with his father, Col. John Harris, is honorably mentioned by Gen. Win- field Scott in his memoirs of the campaign. Hc emigrated to Missouri, and in 1819 was living at St. Genevieve, where he was joined by his wife and two children, aud where his third child, Mary Jane, was born August 17th, 1819. Here becoming acquainted with Moses Austin, who was contemplating the col- onization of Texas, then a possession of Spain, he determined to embark in the enterprise. In July, 1820, providing his family with a fine team suitable for making the long overland trip back to Cayuga, he accompanied them on horseback as far as Vin- cennes. Having taken a contract to build a State house at Vandalia, he returned to complete this en- gagement, and then, visiting Texas, selected a loca- tion for a home in the colony. In 1824 he received a grant of land from the Mexican government of 4425 acres, which he located at the junction of Buf- falo and Bray's bayous, about twenty miles from Galveston Bay; iu 1826 laid out a town at this point called Harrisburg ; soon after brought out machinery for a steam saw-mill and purchased a schooner called the " Rights of Man," which, under the command of his brother David, plied between this place and New Orleans, supplying the colonists with provisions and other necessary arti- cles, which were kept for sale at his store at Harris- burg. Holding the post of Alcalde, or local judge, from the Mexican government, it was said he was accustomed to hear causes seated under the spread- ing branches of a large magnolia tree, situated on a picturesque point of land separating the two bay- ous. The country was too unsettled to admit of his family moving to Texas at first, but in 1829 every thing promised well for their early removal to their new home. There were no saw-mills in the colony until his was created. The machinery was on the ground ready to be put in place in August, 1829, when he found it necessary to make a trip to New Orleans. There he was taken sick with yellow fever and died August 21st,
1829. His widow, Mrs. Jane ( Birdsall ) Harris was deseended from a family of Birdsalls who emi- grated from England in 1657-60, and settled on Long Island, N. Y. Her grandfather, Ben- jamin Birdsall, was a Colonel in the Revolu- tionary army, living at that time in Duchess County, N. Y. He and Gen. Washington were warm friends and the General usually stopped at his house when in the neighborhood. Lewis, son of Benjamin Birdsall, married Patience Lee and emigrated to western New York, settled first at Penn Yau and afterwards near Waterloo on a farm, and in 1829 or 1830 emigrated to Texas, where he lived on Buffalo bayou until the time of his death, which occurred in March, 1843. Mrs. Jane ( Bird- sall) Harris, daughter of Mr. Lewis Birdsall, was a woman of rare courage and determination. These qualities she displayed in traversing the wild, un- settled regions intervening between her home near Waterloo, N. Y., and St. Genevieve, Mo., at a time when there were few white settlers, and in her experience in the early days of the colonization of Texas, which alone would suffice to fill a book of interesting matter. In 1833, she, with lier son, De Witt Clinton Harris, removed to Harrisburg, Texas, and participated not only in the hardships of colonial life in the wild country, but also shared dangers of the struggle for independence from Mexico in 1835-36. From March 19th to April 16th, 1836, the home of Mrs. Harris was the head- quarters of the provisional government of Texas. When she heard of the near approach of the invad- ing Mexican army, she and her household went on board a schooner, which conveyed President Burnett, Vice-President Zavala and others to New Washington, and herself and other refugees to Anahuac. The next day she was conveyed to Galveston Island and with many others was en- camped there when the news of the glorious battle of San Jacinto, fought April 21st, 1836, reached them. About the first of May she and her two sons, Lewis B. and De Witt Clinton Harris ( who had arrived at Galveston, April 21st, for the pur- pose of joining the Texas army), returned to Har- risburg to find that every house had been burned to the ground by the Mexicans under Santa Anna. Her house was rebuilt of logs, hewn by the Mexican prisoners and with various additions and improvements stood nntil October 11th, 1888, when
ANDREW BRISCOE.
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it was destroyed by fire. Upon the organization of counties in the Republic of Texas, the territory em- bracing a large tract of land was named Harris in honor of John Richardson Harris. Mrs. Jane Harris, his widow, could never be prevailed upon to leave her homestead and lived there until her death, which occurred August 15th, 1869. She left four children, De Witt Clinton Harris, who
married Miss Saville Fenwick, Lewis Birdsall Harris, who married first, Miss Jane E. Wilcox, and, after her death, Mrs. Amanda C. Dell ; Miss Mary Jane Harris, who married Judge Andrew Briscoe, and John Birdsall Harris, who married Miss Virginia Goodrich. The only one of her children surviving her is her daughter, Mrs. Briscoe.
ANDREW BRISCOE,
HOUSTON.
Judge Andrew Briscoe was the son of Mr. Par- menas and Mrs. Mary (Montgomery ) Briscoe. He was descended from a cavalier family of England. Four brothers of this family emigrated to Virginia about the year 1655, in Cromwell's time. His grandfather, William Briscoe, married Miss Eliza- beth Wallace in Virginia and, in 1785, emigrated to Kentucky. Soon after becoming of age, Mr. Par- menas Briscoe emigrated to the Mississippi Terri- tory where, on December 18th, 1809, he married Miss Mary Montgomery, daughter of Mr. Samuel and Mrs. Margaret ( Crockett ) Montgomery. He was commander of a company in the Creek War, and also in the war of 1812-14. He was for several years General of militia of Mississippi and served as a member of the Territorial Legislature and the State Senate. While a member of the latter body he introduced a bill which urged an investigation of the status of the numerous. banks which were doing business without a substantial capital. It resulted in breaking them up. Bris- coe's bill was famous in Mississippi, as the measure aroused very bitter feelings. In 1843, he was re- eleeted to the State Senate by a larger majority than ever and was urged to allow his name to go before the people as a candidate for Congress. This he refused to do, but continued a recog- nized leader of Democracy up to March, 1851, when he went to California. He died on his return trip in 1851 aboard ship near Acapulco, Mexico, and was buried at sea. His son, Judge Andrew Briscoe, subject of this memoir, was born November 25th, 1810, in Adams County, Mississippi ; emigrated to Texas in 1834, carrying with him a large stock of goods, and established himself at Anahuac, the chief port of entry on Galveston Bay. His resistance to the
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