USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. I > Part 55
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requested his wife to mend their tag, which she readily consented to do. Being well acquainted with the prominent citizens such as Sam Houston, Burnet, J. S. Hill, J. P. Borden, Judge Waller, and many other distinguished citizens of that day, Mr. Kleberg's services in the War for Independence and his ability were soon recognized by the young Republic and as early as 1837 he was appointed by President Sam Houston as Associate Commissioner of the Board of Land Commissioners. In 1838, lie was appointed President of said commissioners by J. P. Borden, Commissioner of the General Land Office. In 1841, he was commissioned by Mira- beau B. Lamar, President of the Republic, Justice of the Peace, which was then an important office as there were few lawyers, and few law books, and important and perplexing snits to be decided in these courts. In 1846 he was elected Chief Justice in Austin County, and commissioned by Sam Houston, Governor. In 1848 he was elected County Commissioner of De Witt County, and commissioned by Governor G. S. Wood.
In 1853 he was elected Chief Justice of De Witt County, and commissioned by Governor Bell. He was re-elected as Chief Justice of De Witt County in 1854. When the war broke out he became a strong Confederate and raised a com- pany of militia, but was on account of his ad- vanced age not received in active service, but finally commissioned as collector of war taxes, which position he ocenpied during the entire period of the war, and administered with skill and fidelity. After the war he accepted the situation and filled several positions of trust and honor, such as mem- ber of the county school board, etc. Upon his arrival in DeWitt he found but few settlers, among them the following prominent citizens : John Pet- tus, the Yorks and Bells, Judges Wofford and Baker, Dr. Robert Peobles, Capt. Dick Chrisholm, Judge Young and others. At that time there were hardly any schools and churches in De Witt County and Judge Kleberg, together with Messrs. Albrecht v. Roeder, John Pettus, the Bells, and Yorks, erected with their own hands a log cabin on the Colita creek, near the old York and Bell farm, which was probably the first school-house in the county.
Hostile Indians still made their accustomed raids on the settlements and as late as October, 1848, the pioneers of De Witt County had a fight with the savages, in which Judge Kleberg participated, and of which he gives the following account :-
"One October morning Capt. York and Mr. Albrecht v. Roeder and my brother, Ernst Kleberg, summoned me to go with a party of volunteers to
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figlit a tribe of hostile Indians, who were depredat- ing in the neighborhood of Yorktown. We were soon mounted and equipped and off for the place of rendezvous. We reached the Cabesa that same night, where our troops, consisting of some thirty men, eamped and eleeted Capt. York as commander, and Messrs. William Taylor, Jno. Thomlinson and Rufus Taylor were detailed as spies and skirmishers. Next morning the company, as organized, started to meet the foe, whom we encountered about three o'clock p. m. on the Escondido east of the San
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Antonio river, about fifteen miles west of the present town of Yorktown, just as our company filed around a point of timber. The Indians, about sixty to seventy strong, lay in ambush.' Our company was not marching in rank and file, but in an irregular way, not expecting to meet the enemy so soon. Capt. York and Mr. Bell were in front, followed immediately by John Pettus and myself. The Indians raised the well-known and hideous war-whoop and immediately opened on us with a terrible fire of musketry. The majority of our men took to flight and left not more than ten or twelve of us, who made a stand, taking advan- tage of a little grove near by, where the Texians returned a sharp fire upon the Indians, who still remained in ambush, only exposing their heads now and then as they fired, thus having a decided advantage over the men who were only protected by a few thin trees. It was here that Mr. Bell and Capt. York were killed. The former, a son- in-law of Capt. York, was shot at the first fire and mortally wounded, but he was carried along to the little mott, where Capt. York and myself bent over him to dress his wounds, but he died in our hands. At this juneture Mr. Jim York, son of Capt. York, was shot in the head. Capt. York ealled me to assist him in dressing his son's wounds. I tore off a piece of his shirt and band- aged his wounds as well as possible. Capt. York, overcome by grief, ran continually from his son to his son-in-law, and thus exposed himself to the fire of the enemy, notwithstanding I kept warning him, and was soon struck by the fatal ball which instantly killed him. A counsel of war was now held by the remaining troops, consisting of eight or nine men all told, and we decided to proceed to a little mound or elevation near by, where we might flank the Indians in their ambush. In attempting to gain this point the Indians kept up a continuous fusillade, which we returned, and by the time we reached the elevation and directed our fire from behind a cluster of large live -aks on the exposed flank of the savages, they soon retired from their position and disappeared from the field. Thus
ended probably the last Indian fight in Southwest Texas, and such were the stirring seenes of that time."
Mr. Kleberg had the good fortune to outlive this period of romanee and adventure, and to see his adopted State and country developed to grand pro- portions in population and wealth under the magic wand of civilization.
In polities Judge Kleberg was always a eon- sistent and intelligent Demoerat; a strong be- liever in State rights and local self-government, and an ardent admirer of the American system of government, and in his severest trials as an early settler, and in the gloomiest hour of the Republic and State of his adoption he never faltered in his faith in the free institutions of this country, and spurned the idea of returning to a monarchical form of government. In religion he was free of all orthodoxy and most tolerant to all denominations ; candid and firm in his individual eonvietions, yet respectful and considerate of the opinions of others. Pure and lofty in sentiment, simple and frugal in habit, honest in motive, and positive and decided in word and deed, his charac- ter was without reproach, and indeed a model among his fellow-men.
Mr. Kleberg was a man of deep and most varied learning. Besides & knowledge of Greek and Latin be eontrolled three modern languages and read their literatures in the originals. Reading and study were a part of his daily life, and he enjoyed a eritieal and discriminating knowledge of ancient and modern literature. In field and eamp and the solitudes of frontier life his well-trained mind ever found delight and repose in the contemplation of its ample stores of knowledge and the graces of a refined eivilization under which it was developed were never effaeed, or even blurred by the roughness or crudities of border life. A man of urbane manners and courtly address, his intereourse with men, whether high or low, edu- eated or ignorant, was ever characterized by a plain and noble dignity, free of assumption or vanity.
The principles which found expression and ex- emplifieation in his long and eventful life rested upon a broad and comprehensive philosophy of which absolute honesty of mind was a controlling element, and when the shadows of death gathered around him he met the supreme moment with a mind serene and in peaceful composure. He died at Yorktown, De Witt County, October 23, 1SSS, in his eighty-sixth year, surrounded by his family, and was buried with Masonic honors. His wife, Mrs. Rosa Kleberg, and the following children sur-
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M. KOPPERL.
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vive liim: Mrs. Clara Hillebrand, Mrs. Caroline Eckhardt, Miss Lulu Kleberg, Hon. Rudolph Kle- berg, Marcellus E. Kleberg, and Robert J. Kleberg.
His eldest son, Otto Kleberg, who served with distinction in the Confederate army, preceded him in death in 1880.
MORITZ KOPPERL,
GALVESTON.
The history of other countries as well as our own bears ample evidence to the fact that great abilities displayed in the higher walks of commerce have been employed, on occasion, with equal effective- ness in other directions.
The merchants of Venice, when the Venetian Republic was mistress of the seas and controlled the commerce of the civilized world, were not only traders, but many of them also lawmakers, navi- gators, cunning artists, leaders of armies, and com- manders of navies. Instances are not wanting in our own country and later time where successful merchants have become projectors of large enter- prises, have filled positions requiring a higher order of executive ability, have accumulated wealth and at the same time have assisted in making the laws and carrying on the affairs of the State and nation. Such men would distinguish themselves in any avo- cation because of their strength and breadth of mind, versatility of talents and those qualities that enable them to surmount difficulties and command success. The subject of this brief notice, while strictly a business man, would have made himself felt in almost any pursuit.
Moritz Kopperl was born October 7, 1826, in the town of Trebitsch, Moravia, where he was reared and received his early mental training. First a student at the Capuchin Institute at Trebitsch he completed his education by taking a classical course at Nicholsburg, Moravia, and at Vienna, Austria. In 1848 he came to America on the invitation of his uncle, Maj. Charles Kopperl, of Carroll County, Miss., whom he succeeded in business, and with whom he resided for a number of years in Mis- sissippi.
In 1857 Mr. Kopperl came to Texas in company with A. Lipman, with whom he had been associated in business in Mississippi and engaged at Galveston in merchandising as a member of the firm of Lip- man & Kopperl, a connection that existed until a period during the war between the States. With the closing of the port of Galveston by the Federal
blockade in 1861, all business at that place practi- cally ceased and many of the city's most prosper- ous and promising houses were ruined, the house of Lipman & Kopperl being of the number. It is to tlie credit of Mr. Kopperl, however, that although all debts due by Southern merchants at the North were supposed to have been settled by the war he .hunted up his creditors after the surrender and paid them their claims in full.
In 1865 he resumed active business pursuits in Galveston, engaging first in the cotton commission business and later taking up the coffee trade, which latter he developed into large proportions, making the city of Galveston one of the largest importing points for this article in the United States. In 1868 he was made president of the Texas National Bank when that institution was in a failing condition, and by his good management, aided by a few stock- holders, placed the bank on a solid footing and made of it one of the soundest and most prosperous financial institutions in the city. In 1877 he was made president of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad and served that corporation as its chief executive through the most critical period of its history. When he took hold of the road the line had been built only a few miles out of Galveston, was without means, eredit or prospects, and was har- assed by the tax-collector, who threatened to sell it for past due taxes, yet by his untiring energy, and at the sacrifice of his time and health, and at the risk of his private means and reputation, he contracted for the construction of the road and, in order to save its charter, carried it through the storm until a syndieate of prominent and public- spirited citizens was formed, who, co-operating with him, placed it on a safe basis. The work and re- sponsibility which this task imposed can hardly be estimated ; for, in addition to the labor and care inseparably connected with such an undertaking, the road had, as is well known, at that time to meet the strongest possible opposition from lines of which it would, if successfully carried through, become
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a close competitor. Mr. Kopperl felt this opposi- tion at every step he took, and but for the persist- ent efforts made by him reinforced by the weight of his name and influence, the road would inevi- tably have gone down in the great fight that was at that time made upon it.
Besides the Texas National Bank and the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad, Mr. Kopperl was connected with a number of other corporations and was an active worker in a seore of private under- takings, his interests and investments covering every field of legitimate business enterprise. He was for some time president of the Galveston Insurance Company and a director in both the Union Fire & Marine and the Merchants Insurance Companies.
He was among the stanchest advocates of the claims of Galveston as a shipping point and empha- sized these claims on all proper occasions. He had the statistics of shipping, and of the resonrees and development of Texas at his fingers' ends, and his aid was always sought in the furtherance of those enterprises and schemes of improvement where facts and figures formed the basis of operation. Having had his attention somewhat direeted through his coffee business to the necessities and possibilities of trade between the United States and the South American countries, he made a study of the condi- tions of that trade in all its bearings, and was one of the first to set forth in logical form the princi- ples since embraced in the doctrine of " Reci- procity " and the benefits that would accrue to this section of the Union from its practical application by treaty regulations.
Although Mr. Kopperl was a business man in the strictest sense of the word, he still found time to interest himself to some extent in polities and filled acceptably a number of positions of public trust. He was a member of the City Council in 1871 and 1872, during which time he was chairman of the Finance Committee and aided materially in devis- ing means to meet the city's indebtedness and maintain its credit. Ile was a delegate to the National Convention at Baltimore in 1872, which nominated Horace Greely for President, and served also as a delegate to the Congressional Convention
at Corsicana which nominated Judge A. H. Willie for Congress. He was elected to the State Legis- lature in 1876 and served as a member of the Fif- teenth Legislature, in which he was chairman of the Committee on Finance and Revenue ; formulated the measure which was enacted into a law whereby the State school fund was reinvested in State securities and made to yield a better revenue for present school purposes ; and also the bill which in the form of a law enabled the Governor to dispose of $500,000 worth of State bonds to meet the State's acerued indebtedness and to defray the running expenses of the government. These $500,000 worth of bonds were sold to the American Exchange Bank of New York upon Mr. Kopperl's personal recommendation and guarantee, without his asking or receiving from the State any part of the commission authorized by law for negotiating the sale.
Thus as a business man, as an official and as a citizen, Mr. Kopperl lived and labored for the city and State of his adoption. That his labors were well rewarded and are still bearing good fruit the present prosperous condition of all those enter- prises, institutions and interests with which he had to do bears abundant witness.
In 1866 Mr. Koppert married Miss Isabella Dyer, of Galveston, a niece of the late Isadore Dyer and of the late Mrs. Rosanna Osterman, both early settlers of Galveston and remembered for their many charities. The issue of this union was two sons, Herman B. and Moritz O., who, with their mother, survive the husband and father.
Mr. Kopperl's death occurred July 3, 1883, at Bayreuth, Bavaria, whither he had gone in search of health. But his remains rest in the city of Galveston, where he spent his maturer years and with whose history his own was so intimately con- nected. On his monument is engraved this sentence :-
"I pray thee, then, write me as one who loved his fellow man " --
a most befitting epitaph for one whose generous heart beat in unison with the best impulses of his race.
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THOMAS GONZALES,
GALVESTON.
Early in the present century during the political disturbances in Mexico which finally culminated in the independence of that country, there came over from Spain with the historic Barados expedition two surgeons, Juan Samaniego and Victor Gonzales, who, after the failure of the expedition, settled in that country. Both were natives of Valladolid, the capitol city of Castile, and were descended from old Castilian families. Juan Samaniego was Sur- geon-General of the Spanish army, a talented and capable man, as was also his junior associates who was himself a son of a celebrated military surgeon, Don Antonio Gonzales.
Victor Gonzales married the widowed daughter of Juan Samaniego, Senora Rita Samaniego de Reyes, in the City of Mexico, about 1825. He was stationed for a time at Tampico, Mexico, in the performance of his official duties and there lived until his untimely death by shipwreck of the schooner " Felecia " while he was on his way across the Gulf to Havana, his final destination being his native place, Valladolid. The vessel on which he sailed was never heard from after leaving port.
The issue of the marriage of Victor and Rita Samaniego Gonzales was two sons, Francisco Gonzales and Thomas Gonzales. The younger of these, the subject of this biographical notice, was born at Tampico, Mexico, November 10th, 1829. His mother's death occurred in 1860 at Havana, Cuba. Soon after the death of his father he was taken into the family of his half-sister, Mrs. Elena Blossman, then residing in New Orleans, by whom he was reared and educated. His brother-in-law, R. D. Blossman, who was a large cotton dealer in New Orleans and bad some interests also at Alton, Ill., between which places he made his home.
In the schools of the latter place young Gonzales received his early mental training, finishing with a three years' course in the select school at Valladolid, Spain, the old family seat. He took up the cotton business at New Orleans about 1815 under his brother-in-law in whose interest he came into Texas in 1846; arriving in this State, he spent two years at Lavaca, and then revisited New Orleans, where, August 28th, 1850, he married Miss Edith Boyer, who accompanied him back to Texas, their future home. They located at Point Isabel, then the seat of considerable commercial activity, being a United NAles port of entry, where he went into the re-
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ceiving and forwarding business, and was so engaged for two or three years. In 1853 he moved to Galveston, where he at once became connected with the cotton interest in the city, with which he has had to do in some capacity for the past forty-odd years. He was vice-president of the Galveston Cotton Exchange for two terms, and is the oldest cotton dealer in the city. Scarcely a movement has been set on foot affecting the great staple on which the commerce of this port so much depends that his name has not been in some way associated with it. He has also been an active worker in a number of important private enterprises of benefit to the city. He was one of the organizers of the Taylor Compress Company of Galveston, established in 1875, and has since its organization been secretary and treasurer of the company.
During the late war Mr. Gonzales organized the Gonzales Light Battery, composed of 150 men, which was mustered into the Confederate army and did good service both in the defense of Galveston and in the support of Gen. Diek Taylor in Western Louisiana. This battery, which was made up of picked men and thoroughly equipped, was the pride of Gen. Magruder, commander of the department of Texas, and being stationed along the water front was one of the chief sources of his reliance in the great naval battle fought at Galveston, January 1st, 1863.
The following is a copy of the official report made by Capt. Gonzales of the part taken by his battery in the engagement : -
GALVESTON, January 6th, 1863. Cor. X. B. DEBRAY, Commanding.
COLONEL :
I have the honor to report the part taken by my battery of light artillery, in the engagement, on this island, on the morning of the first inst. I re- ceived orders to proceed with my battery and to es- tablish it in three sections on the strand, as fol- lows: One section, the left, at the foot of the brick wharf near the Hendley building ; the center sec- tion at the foot of Kuhans wharf near Parry's foundry ; and the right at the foot of Hutching's wharf near what is known as " The Iron Battery." Maj. George R. Wilson commanded the left; Lieut. R. J. Hughes was in command of the center
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and the right was under my own command. The fire was opened at about half-past three in the morning from my left seetion, the Major-General commanding in person, firing the first gun. This being the signal to commence firing, the battery opened and the firing was continued until about daylight when orders were received to eease firing and to withdraw the pieces, the battery having fired 317 rounds.
I have to report the following casualties : -
In Maj. Wilson's section : Private Louis Gebour, leg broken at the knee, amputated and since died.
In my section: Private J. R. Smith, wounded in the hip ; Private T. Frederick, head and shoulders- severe but probably not mortal; Private P. Lynch- comb, head, slight.
No other casualties occurred. The officers and men behaved well and though under fire for the first time, and very much exposed, handled their guns with coolness and did their work bravely.
I have the honor, Colonel, to be, very respect- fully, your obedient servant,
THOMAS GONZALES, Capt. Light Artillery, C. S. A.
Mr. Gonzales' career has been principally of & business nature. He served as a commissioner of Cameron County for one term during his residence at Point Isabel and since coming to Galveston has been frequently importuned to become a candidate for various local offices, but has uniformly declined to yield to such solicitudes and has taken only a passing interest in political matters. He is a con- servative Democrat, believing in the fundamental principles of the Democratic party and, within the bounds of reason and common sense, in party or- ganization ; but opposes bossism and blind parti- sanship and all else inconsistent with individual liberty and the purity of the ballot-box.
As stated, Mr. Gonzales' marriage took place in New Orleans just previous to his permanent re- moval to Texas in 1850. His wife was born in Philadelphia, December 20th, 1833, and was a daughter of Pierre Boyer. She was connected by blood and marriage with some of the oldest and best families of the United States; among thew were the Verplanks and Rumseys of Fishkill, N. Y., the Weathereds of Baltimore, the Sykes of St. Louis and the Caverlys of Delaware. Her brother, Dr. P. C. Boyer, was a physician of prominence in New Orleans during and since the war. Mrs. Gonzales was mainly reared in New Orleans, in the schools of which city she received her education. She was an accomplished young lady who, though accustomed to all the comforts and luxuries of wealth, cheerfully came to this new country to help her husband make a home and win a fortune. To Mr. and Mrs. Gonzales six children were born, four sons and two daughters; one of the children, a son, died in infancy ; another, a daughter, at the age of seven fell a victim to the yellow fever epidemic of 1867, and a son, Thomas E., died February 19th, 1892, when thirty-three years of age. Their surviving daughter, Daisy, was married to Francis Coolidge Stanwood, a cotton dealer, and resides in Boston, Mass., while the two remaining sons, Boyer and Julian Caverly, are business men at Galveston, the former a member of the firm of Thomas Gonzales & Sons, cotton dealers, and the latter paymaster and accountant for the Taylor Compress Company.
On January 3d, 1895, after a brief illness, Mrs. Gonzales, died at her home at Galveston, sincerely mourned by her family and a large circle of friends, to whom she had endeared herself by her kindness, charity, fortitude and other womanly virtues.
The religious connection of Mr. Gonzales' family is with the Episcopal Church, upon the ser- vices of which all are regular attendants.
BENNETT BLAKE,
NACOGDOCHES.
Judge Bennett Blake, of Nacogdoches, was born at Sutton, Vt., November 11, 1809. His parents, Mr. Samuel Dow Blake and Mrs. Abigail (Lee) Blake, natives of New Hampshire, emigrated to Vermont in 1792 and established themselves in
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