USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. I > Part 62
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before going to Texas. About November, 1838, he packed up his possessions, taking along in his trunk a nice assortment of watches and jewelry purchased from his savings. On the boat he fell in with a young jeweler and watehmaker, George Ball, from New York, bound for the same town. Mr. Ball located at Shreveport, but Mr. Jones, after looking the place over to his satisfaction, turned his steps toward Texas, reaching Galveston about January 1st, 1839. He settled there, and at once opened a shop. He put up one of the first buildings in the town, ereeted in a string of wooden structures on what is now the Strand, then called by him Commercial Row, his building, a two-story frame, being the. best in the row. It cost him $1,000 "in United States money " which he paid down on its completion, the lot on which it stood being leased for a term of five years at $100 a year " in Texas money." In the primitive condition of things at that date the houses were not numbered, but Mr. Jones through sport selected the day of the month on which he was born as his number and the street in the meantime having been named put on his sign, "No. 8 Strand." So his place of busi- ness was for a long time afterwards known, and a clock which he for years used as a regulator, still in the possession of his son, bears this designation. llis central location made space in his building desirable and he had no difficulty in renting half of his house at $50.00 a month, still having all the room he needed. Ile was the first regular watch- maker on Galveston Island, and, as more than half the immigration to Texas in those days went through Galveston, he repaired the time-pieces and furnished the time for most of the population of the Republic. "Jones' time " was considered the correct time and everybody went by it. He also did a good business repairing nautical instru- ments, getting all the work of this kiud that there was to do. He was an industrious workinan and shrewd tradesman, and his activity and upright business methods brought him substantial returns. That he had the instinct of the latter-day merchant is evidenced by the liberality with which he patron- ized the newspapers and sought in every legitimate way to place his goods and wares before the publie.
In an old issue of the Civilian and Gazette of date 1845, the writer counted five separate advertisements of his, one of which was accompanied by a eut of his building, said to be the first eut ever inserted in a Texas newspaper. He turned to good account his acquaintance and previous connection with Hyde & Goodrich, of New Orleans, receiving from them such goods as he needed and for which he seems to liave
One of the first things he did was to form a tem- perance society and to push the subject of good schools in his little community. 'Although a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church, he allied himself with the Episcopalians for many years, as this sect was the most active in church work and the pastor, the Rev. Mr. Eaton, was his intimate friend.
Mr. Jones took an active interest in the town ; became a member of its first fire company, Hook and Ladder Company, No. 1; was commissioned by President Houston Captain of militia for "Beat No. 2, Fourth Regiment, Second Brigade, Militia of the Republic of Texas," and, in 1850, was the commissioner from Texas appointed by Governor Bell to the London Industrial Exhibition, for which he collected exhibits and, in company with Dr. Ashbel Smith, set forth as best he could with the limited means at his command the resources of this imperial commonwealth.
After his return from Europe in 1851, Mr. Jones associated with himself Messrs. John B. Root and B. R. Davis, forming a partnership under the firm name of Jones, Root & Davis, and embarked in the furniture, jewelry and book business on a somewhat extensive scale. This business prospered until the Civil War when, with the closing of the port of Gal- veston, it was discontinued. Mr. Jones was past the age for military duty when the war opened but entered the Confederate serviee in the eommissary department, and spent the most of his time during the ensuing four years in the interior of the State procuring and forwarding supplies to the soldiers at the front. While he deplored the dismember- ment of the Union, still he thought that the rights of the South had been invaded and that the only course left for her to pursue was the one she adopted.
On May 25, 1852, at Galveston, Mr. Jones mar- ried Miss Henrietta Offenbach, who was then visiting her sister, Mrs. Sam Maas, of that place.
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They were married by the Rev. Mr. Eaton. Ex- Governor Frank Lubbock was one of the grooms. Mrs. Jones was a native of Cologne, Germany, and a sister of the great Parisian composer, Jacques Offenbach. Previous to taking this step Mr. Jones had purchased property on Broadway, between Seventeenth and Eighteenth streets (an 'entire block), where, having erected what for the time was an excellent dwelling, he established him- self and lived for some years in bachelor quarters, dispensing a generous hospitality to his numerous friends. Three daughters, Anna M., Rosanna Osterman, and Henrietta Ord, and one son, William Goodrich, named for his old friend, the jeweler of New Orleans, were the issue of this union. In the earlier days Mr. Jones underwent many of the privations to which the inhabitants of Galveston Island were subjected, and during the Civil War he aud his family suffered in common with others all the hardships which were visited upon the people of that city. He passed through eight yellow fever epidemics, he and his entire family at one time or another having the disease, one daughter, Rosa, dying of it.
After the war Mr. Jones took his family to Europe, in consequence of his wife's broken health, and remained there uearly a year, returning in the latter part of 1866, when he took up his resi- dence in New York. There he organized the New York and Texas Land Company, with which he was subsequently connected, and as long as he lived devoted his attention chiefly to laud matters. During his residence in Texas he had, as his means accumulated, made considerable investments in Texas real estate both in the city of Gavleston and in unimproved lands in different counties, and these holdings advancing in price with the set -. tlement of the country, formed the foundation of a comfortable fortune, thie oversight of which together with his other duties occupied his time during the last twenty years of his life. He built a home in Brooklyn, N. Y., and a summer residence at Saratoga Springs in that
State, and between these two places spent his time, making an occasional trip to Texas, and onee - from 1872 to 1875 - an extended trip to Europe. Though much absent in later life from the State he never forgot the scenes of his early struggles nor the friends of his young manhood. He was devoted to Texas and her people with that ardent attach- ment which characterizes the feelings of all those who have shared in the glories and sorrows of its early days. He was the kind of material of which new States are made. His honest, industrious, upright ways won him friends and helped early in his career to make him one of the foremost men iu the community where he settled. His achieve- ments, considering his chanees, were great; but back of these was something greater, a character, into the formation of which had entered the in- berited wisdom and virtue of an excellent ancestry, reinforced by patient discipline on his own part and a fervent trust in God.
He spent much of his leisure time in after years in study and philanthropy, and was a man of much kuowledge and general culture, and of a strong religious character. After hisremoval to Brooklyn, N. Y., he was for many years a communicant of the Rev. Theo. L. Culyer's Lafayette Avenue Pres- byterian church.
Like his father, he neither smoked nor chewed tobacco, nor drunk spirituous liquors, deeming a man would remain healthier and happier without these habits. He was an enthusiastic agriculturist and lover of nature, and took great interest in tree planting and the beautifying of eities. After a life of much activity and crowned with more than ordinary success he died, passing away at his sum- mer home at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., on the 21st day of April, 1891, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. His widow survived him a little less than four years, dying January 8th, 1895, at Aiken, S. C., whither she had gone for the winter. Their two surviving daughters reside in New York, their son at Temple, Texas.
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
335
J. H. BURNETT,.
GALVESTON.
Col. J. H. Burnett, of Galveston, was born in Greeneville, Greene County, Tenn., July 8, 1830.
His parents were Sylas E. and Malinda ( Howell) Burnett, Virginians by birth, connected by ties of consanguinity and affinity with some of the proudest Dames that adorn the pages of the country's his- tory. They moved at an early day from Virginia to Tennessee, and from that State to Georgia, where they spent their remaining years.
The subject of this memoir was reared in Greene- ville, Tenn., and Somerville, Ga., where he ac- quired an excellent education.
Fired with the martial spirit, love of country, and desire for adventure common to the chivalric youth of that day, he enlisted, at the age of six- teen, as a private soldier in Col. Calhoun's Regi- ment, for service in the war between the United States and Mexico. This regiment formed a part of Gen. Winfield Scott's army, took part in the memorable march of two hundred and seventy- nine miles from Vera Cruz to the eity of Mexico, and participated in the various battles that were fought en route and in front of the eity, ineluding the storming of the castle of Chepultepec. In all these engagements the subject of this memoir con- ducted himself with conspieuous gallantry, and before the close of the campaign was rewarded with a Lieutenant's commission. Returning to his home in Georgia, he was honored by the Governor with a Coloneley in the State troops.
On his way to Mexico he traversed a considerable part of the State of Texas and was so favorably Impressed with its climate, soil, people and future prospects, that he determined to make his home in the country. He served as sheriff of Chattooga County, Ga., for a period of two or more years, and then resigned the office to leave Somerville, Gu., for Texas in 1854. He located at Crockett, in Houston County, this State, and there engaged in farming and merchandising, and soon acquired s prominent position in the community, owing to bis public spirit, social qualities and superior talents. Three years later he was elected to the Legislature As a member of the House of Representatives. That body then contained a number of men who would base graced the Congress of the United States in its i.almaist days and who afterwards acquired national frputations. The policies of the State were in a formative condition and many issues of vital im-
portance presented themselves for diseussion and settlement. Col. Burnett was (as he still is) a clear, forcible and elegant speaker and, from the beginning, took rank among the foremost of his colleagues. He was placed by the Speaker on a majority of the important committees, where his in- defatigable industry, sound judgment and fidelity to duty enabled him to render valuable serviee to the State. He was re-elected to the House for a second term and before its elose added new laurels to those he had already won. He was then nomi- nated by the Democracy of his district and elected to the State Senate in 1860. Early in the following year, however, the long-gathering hurricane of Civil War burst upon the country and the Southland called her sons to arms. Col. Burnett was among the first to respond ; promptly resigned his seat in the Senate, and in a short time mustered a regiment of sixteen companies ( the Thirteenth Texas Cavalry ) of which he was elected Colonel. It was his desire to cross the Mississippi and serve under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, but there was some delay in securing transportation and not desiring to remain inactive he hurried with his command to the front, joining Gen. Ben MeCulloch, then conducting a desperate and unequal eontest in Arkansas. While the numbers engaged in that State were not so large as in some of the battles fought by the armies of Northern Virginia and Tennessee, several of the conflicts in Arkansas were un- paralled in the history of the war for their stub- bornness, the valor displayed by the men and the proportion of the killed and wounded to the number of the troops brought into action. It was bard fighting all the way through and the Thirteenth did its full share of it. Col. Burnett's regiment also took part in the campaign against Gen. Banks, in Louisiana, one of the most brilliant and suceess- ful inaugurated and carried out by the Confederate arms, eovering itself with glory at Mansfield, Pleas- ant Hill and elsewhere. Banks' powerful army was completely routed, Texas saved from invasion and Louisiana bloodily avenged for the depredations of an enemy more savage and merciless than the pagan Huns who devastated Central and Western Europe when the power of imperial Rome, like the tower of Ushur, was darkly nodding to its fall.
After the war Col. Burnett returned to Crockett where he resumed business pursuits and began by
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good managament to largely repair the financial losses he had sustained. Desiring a more extensive field in which to operate, he moved to Galveston in 1866, and engaged in the commission business with W. B. Wall, under the firm name of Burnett & Wall, and subsequently under the firm name of J. H Burnett & Co., a connection that continued until 1878. Here he was the builder and owner of the Tremont Hotel, completed in 1877 and then one of the handsomest hotels in the South. His invest- ments in real estate were begun as early as 1870 and now include a large amount of valuable prop- erty in the cities of Galveston and Houston and elsewhere in the Texas coast country. He is perhaps the heaviest tax-payer in Southern Texas.
Already identified with the soil and deeply inter- ested in the future prosperity of the State, he entered fully into the spirit of the year of 1875, which found expression in railway construction. He built sixty-five miles of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe; Texas & St. Louis; Houston, East & West Texas and Sabine & East Texas railways under contract ; owned a considerable amount of stock in the eompanies, helped negotiate the sale of their bonds, and in every practical and legitimate way exerted himself to put them upon a sound and prosperous financial basis. He was also one of the original projectors of the International Railroad . Company, helped to secure its ebarter and, finally, assisted in effecting its consolidation with the Houston & Great Northern and the formation of the present International & Great Northern Railway Company. Among other important work done by him under contract in the city of Galveston was $350,000 worth of work upon the streets and sidewalks of the city and the building of the Ship- pers and Gulf City Compresses, Galveston & Western Railway and Gulf City Street Railway. For a considerable time he owned a majority of the stock in the two latter companies. He has, in fact, been identified with and an active promoter of nearly every important enterprise inaugurated in Galveston during his residence in that city. He has ever enjoyed a profound and unfaltering faith in the future of the city and has been at all times an indefa. tigable worker for the extension of its commer. eial interests. Since the war he has neither sought
nor desired public office, his private business pur- suits absorbing all of his time and attention. He has never ceased, however, to feel an interest in the cause of good government and to do all that lay in his power to secure its blessings for himself and his fellow-eitizens. He is a member of the Demo- eratic party and few men have a more intimate knowledge of its history, principles and traditions or have been so faithful in their support of its nominees.
In 1851 Col. Burnett was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Beavers, of Somerville, Ga., a daughter of Gen. John F. Beavers, who figured with distinction in the Indian wars of the early part of this century. They reared three children to be grown. Of these Walter E. died at twenty-five, at Calhoun, Ga., in 1870, and was interred at Atlanta ; Oscar H. (a Brazos valley planter), died in Hous- ton, Texas, November 2, 1895, aged forty-one years ; and Mrs .- Ellen B. Ross, resides in Galveston. Mrs. Burnett died in 1886. Col. Burnett is still in the full vigor of physical health and mental strength and continues actively engaged in business pur- suits. He has shown himself to be a financier of uncommon ability. His social qualities are most agreeable, leading to pleasant and lasting friend- ships. His path of life has stretched across one of the most remarkable periods of American, or for that matter, human history - a period that has witnessed the extension of the territory of the United States to the Pacifie Oecan, the admission of Texas to the Union, a Civil War that has no par- allel in ancient or modern times, the building of towns and cities in what, less than a generation ago, it was thought would forever remain an unbroken wilderness, the construction of hundreds of thousands of miles of lines of telegraph and rail- way, and many strange and undreamed of inven- tions that have greatly altered and added to the comfort of daily life. Ile has not passed through these shifting and stirring scenes as a curious or idle oulooker, but as a member of the pioneer- corps, moving at the front and blazing the way for others to follow .. His life has formed a thread in the warp and woof of the history of the times through which he has lived, and may be studied with profit by men of a younger generation.
WM. McFADDIN.
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
337
WILLIAM McFADDIN,
BEAUMONT.
Every country has had its golden or heroie age, the memory of which has been transmitted to after times surrounded with a halo of romantie and chivalric interest. That of Texas may be said to embrace the period of the revolutionary struggle that witnessed the triumph of a few fearless free- men over a powerful foe, and the birth of a blood- bought Republic that, after a career of singular brillianey, merged itself into the great sisterhood of States comprising the American Union. Not so long as the human heart shall beat responsive to the recital of deeds of patriotic self-sacrifice will the immolation at the Alamo be forgotten, and not until the very names of the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic races shall have faded from the pages of history and men ceased to prize the blessings of constitutional freedom will the memory of San Jacinto fail to stir the pulses of youth and age alike, inspire reverence and affection for the men who wrote with their swords upon the scroll of Time the undying story of our State, and keep warm and true the love of country in the hearts of the people.
Houston, Rusk, Austin, Travis, Fannin, Burle- son, the Bowies, Crockett, Bonham, Johnson, Milam, Sherman, Lamar, Williamson, Jack, their compeers and the men who followed them to vietory or death, are the Immortals of Texas.
A few of the veterans who followed Johnson and Milam into San Antonio, and who charged under Houston at San Jacinto yet survive, a majority of them old and feeble men who have lived to see the country change from a wilderness to a populous and powerful commonwealth, and to witness the full fruits of the labors of their earlier years. But one of them, at least, is still blessed with strength and health. We refer to William McFaddin, of Beaumont, Texas. Hle was born at Lake Charles, La., June 8, 1819, and came to Texas with his parents, James and Elizabeth MeFaddiu, in 1823. The family settled in Liberty County, where they remained until June, 1833, when they moved into what is now Jefferson County and opened a farm, one mile distant from the present town of Beau- sout, upon which the subject of this memoir now Iraides.
Mr. William McFaddin joined the Texian army In !x35, not long after the firing of the first gun of the revolution, and served under Capt. Andrew
Briscoe in the memorable storming of San Antonio by the columns under Milam and Johnson - one . of the most remarkable military feats recorded in the annals of war. He saw Milam a few minutes after that gallant leader was killed and before the body was picked up from the spot where it had fallen. Mr. McFaddin remained in San Antonio until just before the siege of the Alamo. He joined the army under Houston at Columbus, participated in the battle of San Jacinto, was present when Santa Anna was brought in and turned over to Gen. Houston, and, after the battle, was a soldier in the force under Gen. Rusk that followed the retreating army- of Filisola as far as Goliad and there buried the charred remains of the men who fell in the Fannin massacre. Mr. MeFaddin was honorably discharged from the service June 8th, 1836, and walked bare-footed from Goliad to his . home near Beaumont. He received a bounty of 320 and a donation of 640 acres of land for his services in the revolutionary war (as did other soldiers of San Jacinto) and resumed the business of stock raising in which he had been previously engaged.
He was united in marriage in 1837 to Miss Rachel Williams, daughter of Hezekiah Williams, of Louisiana, and then received from the Republic of Texas a family head-right of a league and labor of land which he located in Williamson County and upon which now stands the thriving little town of Circleville. Mr. and Mrs. McFaddin have six living children, viz. : James A., who is a prominent stockman of Victoria; Sarah, now wife of Michael Alexander, of Beaumont; W. P. H., a stoek raiser living at Beaumont; Di, wife of W. C. Averill, of Beaumont ; David H., a stock raiser who lives at Vietoria, and C. W., who lives in Beaumont.
Mrs. McFaddin's parents, Hezekiah and Nancy (Reames) Williams, of St. Helena Parish, La., came to Texas in 1833 and located in Jeffer- son County, where Mr. Williams engaged in farm- ing. The Williams family was one of the first three families that settled in the county. A son, Heze- kiah Williams, Jr., took part in the battle of San Jacinto. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have nine chil- dren, all of whom are dead except three: Mrs. William McFaddin, Marion and Annie, now the wife of Nulbar Cropper, of Milam County. Marion, who lives near Buffalo Gap in Taylor County, was
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
a soldier in the Confederate army and served as such throughout the war between the States.
Mr. Hezekiah Williams died in Williamson County and is buried there. His wife died in Beaumont, Texas, and is buried in the family cemetery in Jefferson County, near that place.
Mr. McFaddin's last military service was in the Confederate army. Ile was detailed to secure beeves for the army, and consequently did not leave Texas during the war.
When his father cam. to Liberty County, there were only three people living in Jefferson County. As a consequence, the subject of this notice had no educational advantages and grew to manhood with-
out an opportunity of attending school. Notwith- standing this drawback, he has been remarkably successful in his business operations, is now one of the wealthiest landowners and stock raisers in the State, and in conversation gives no evidence of the want of book-learning. He was his parents' only child when they came to Texas. His father died at Natchitoches, La., in 1845, and his mother near Beaumont in 1848, leaving four children, all of whom, with the exception of Mr. MeFaddin, are dead.
It is to be hoped that this worthy old hero of San Antonio and San Jacinto, beloved and honored by all who know him, will be spared to his friends, family and Texas for many years to come.
THE ECKHARDT FAMILY,
YORKTOWN.
Among the early pioneers of Western Texas, the Eckhardt family should receive prominent mention, as they have been greatly instrumental in develop- ing that seetion and are still among its leading and most useful citizens. As early as 1843 we find Charles Eckhardt in business in Indianola, Texas. Afterwards he and, Capt. John York were the founders of the town of Yorktown, in De Witt County, the town receiving its name from the latter gentleman. In May, 1848, Charles Eckhardt con- tracted with Peter Metz and John Frank to build the first house in Yorktown. This was a log house, twelve by twenty feet, with baek room and ehim- ney, and was afterwards occupied by his brother, Cæsar Eckhardt and his family, for whom it was built. Before this date, in February, 1848, how- ever, Charles Eekhardt had contraeted with John A. King, also one of the early settlers of Western Texas, to survey and open a publie road from the town of Victoria to the prospective town of York- town and thenee to the town of New Braunfels. This contract is still in existence and stipulates that Charles Eckhardt and his associates in the scheme were to pay one hundred and fifty dollars to John A. King for the survey of this road which was to shorten the distance between Victoria and New Braunfels twenty miles and to run on the western side of the Guadalupe river. This road was for a number of years the main thoroughfare between these points and is still the principal road between Victoria and Yorktown. Charles Eckhardt
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