USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. I > Part 68
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citizen in every respeet, and at one time a prominent candidate for the Legislature, being defeated by Judge James E. Sheppard by a small majority. During the seeession agitation he indorsed the opinion of his friend Gen. Sam Houston that these questions should be settled in the halls of Congress and at the ballot-box, not on the battle field, but the conflict onee inaugurated, he was a zealous supporter of the Southern eause, and cherished a great desire to live and see the result of the war, but during 1864 his health was greatly impaired, and after several months of suffering he died March 15th, 1865, in the 64th year of his age. Early in the war his two sons obeyed their country's call and entered the Con- federate service, John C. as Captain of Company B., Twentieth Texas Infantry, commanded by Col. H. M. Elmore, and Joseph E. as a private in the same company. The regiment did duty on the coast of Texas and was engaged in the celebrated battle of Galveston - a sharp and hotly contested affair and one long to be remembered by both sides. They both continued in the service until the sur- render.
Immediately thereafter the brothers John C. and Joseph E. Wallis, and Henry A. Landes (a brother-in-law of Joseph E. Wallis) determined to eløse out their planting interests in Washington and Austin counties and form a copartnership under the style and firm name of Wallis, Landes & Company, as wholesale grocers at Galveston. The firm entered vigorously into business and eon- tinued prosperously without any change in its membership until May 9th, 1872, when John C. departed this life in the full vigor of manhood. The firm of Wallis, Landes & Company, after the death of John C., continued under the same firm name and style by the two surviving partners, the interest of the deceased partner having been with- drawn at the time of his demise, and continues the same to this date, only increasing the member- ship of the firm by the admission of Charles L. Wallis, eldest son of Joseph E. Wallis, in 1882. At the close of the war the subject of our sketch moved his family to Galveston. He has now four living children, viz., Charles L. Wallis, Dan E. Wallis, Pearl Wallis Knox, and Lockhart H. Wallis.
Mr. Wallis, both in civil and military life, has discharged every duty devolving upon him as a citizen in a manner to entitle him to and secure for him the confidenee and esteem of all with whom he has been brought in contact. In commercial pur- suits he has been ealled to fill many places of trust and honor on boards of directors in the various cor-
porations, banks, ete., of the city. A number of these he now fills. He took an active part in the building of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Rail- road, giving to it freely both of his time and money. He followed it closely in all of its vieissitudes and was a director of the company from the beginning until 1886. He was one of the syndicate of sixteen who rapidly construeted the road after its purchase from the old company in the spring of 1879. He was one of the most active and effective of the workers whose efforts have secured adequate appro- priations from the Federal government for the deep water improvements at Galveston. He is an officer or director of the following corporations, to wit: One of the five directors of the City Company, the oldest and wealthiest in the eity ; vice-president of the Texas Guarantee & Trust Co .; director of the Galveston & Houston Investment Co. ; vice-presi- dent of the Galveston & Western Railroad Co. ; director of the Gulf City Cotton Press Co. ; a mem- ber of the Cotton Exchange ; stockholder in nearly all the corporations of the city and many of the National Banks of this State, and also some cor- porations of the North, and generally a strong promoter of the new railroad enterprises.
During all his residence in Galveston he has been elosely identified with all its commercial enterprises, upon which he believes depends the city's success in the future. He takes but little interest in politi- eal affairs. Since the war he has voted the Demo- eratie ticket, but previous to that time he was a Whig, but not old enough to cast a vote against his relative, James K. Polk, when he was elected Presi- dent of the United States. His hand and purse are always open to worthy charities, and he gives cheerfully and liberally of his means to all public enterprises. Naturally modest and retiring in his disposition, when not occupied in business he pre- fers to enjoy the privacy of his comfortable and beautiful home and the society of his interesting family. Ile has never held a membership in any church, but with his wife is an attendant upon the Presbyterian and contributes to its support. Their parents on both sides were Presbyterians in belief and this is consequently the church of their choice. Like his early aneestor, the famous Scottish " Wal- lace of Elerslie," the first of the name of whom history gives an account, who lived nearly a thou- sand years ago, he is tall and of slight stature, his eyes are dark grey and his hair. With a strong constitution, a firm will, temperate hahits, good health and a cheerful temperament, he bids fair to be spared for many years of business usefulness and service to the city where his lot is east.
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CHARLES L. COYNER,
SAN DIEGO.
Charles Luther Coyner, one of the most brilliant and successful lawyers in West Texas, and a man who has acquired some distinction as a newspaper, literary and political writer of merit, was born in Augusta County, Va., February 8th, 1853, in the old stone house built by his grandfather in 1740. His parents were Addison H. and Elizabeth Coyner. His mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Brown. Mr. Coyuer is descended from Archibald, Duke of Argyle, and Governor Roane, who served at dif- ferent times as Governor of North Carolina and Tennessee. The family has been traeed baek as far as 1620, members of it distinguishing themselves in the Thirty Years War. Three representatives (from Virginia) were officers in the Revolutionary War that severed the American Colonies from Great Britain, and three in the War of 1812, and in the war between the States, one company, alone, from Augusta County, contained twelve Coyners, all good soldiers. The Coyner family is the most numerous in the valley of Virginia and especially in Augusta County, where over seven hundred members reside and one hundred and forty register as Democratic voters, - there is not a Readjuster among them.
Mr. Coyner has a brother who was Captain of Company D., Seventh Virginia Cavalry, Army of Northern Virginia, and who was killed in battle September 13, 1868. .
The subject of this notice received his education in local district schools and at Forest Academy. He came to Texas in the autumn of 1877, located at Kaufman, read law under Hon. A. A. Burton, min- ister at one time from the United States to Chili. Ile was admitted to practice in the district and inferior courts of the State of Kaufman, Texas, in 1877, and in the Supreme Court at Tyler soon thereafter.
Mr. Coyner now resides at San Diego and was County Attorney of Duval County from 1886 to 1895, when he resigned to accept the office of County Judge of that County. He went back to Augusta County, Virginia, on a visit, and, January 3, 1884, married Margaret, youngest daughter of Dr. Wm. R. Blair, of that county. Mrs. Coyner is descended from the family of Blairs, one of whom
founded William and Mary College, Virginia. One of the family of Blairs was Governor of Virginia in 1768, and another was appointed, by Washington, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Mr. and Mrs. Coyner have no children. Mr. Coyner was secretary of the Democratic Executive Committee of Duval County for eight years and held the chairmanship of that body from 1892 to 1894. Ile has been a delegate to every Democratic State Convention held since he made his home in Texas and has been one of the most active and effective workers who have secured party success in his section of the State. He has often been urged to accept the nomination for and election to the Legislature, but has in each instance declined, preferring to devote himself to his large and lucra- tive law practice and having no desire to accept any reward, in the way of political preferment, for the yeoman serviee which he has willingly and patrioti- cally rendered in the interest of good government. He was appointed County Judge of Duval County, without any effort upon his part, having made no application for the position. He was appointed County Judge of Duval County April 17th, 1895, and now holds that office. He received the unani- mous vote of the Commissioners' Court, the ap- pointing power, and resigned the office of County Attorney. His term expires in the fall of 1896.
One of the highest compliments ever paid Judge Coyner was the indorsements he received from Governor Jas. S. Hogg, Hon. Iloraee Chilton, ex-Governor Hubbard and others, for appointment by President Cleveland to the office of Third Audi- tor of the United States Treasury, an office that he would have filled with credit to himself and to the State of Texas. He has made a fortune at the bar and stands deservedly high in his profession. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, Masonic Fraternity and Independent Order of Odd-Fellows. While owner of the Athens Journal and part owner of the Henderson County . Narrow Gauge, both published at Athens, he acquired a State-wide reputation as a polished, trenchant and able writer, to which he has since added by contributions to some of the leading magazines of the country.
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
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RICHARD KING,
NUECES COUNTY.
Richard King was born in Orange County, N. Y., July 10, 1825, and at eight years of age was ap- prenticed to a jeweler ; but, being put to menial work and unjustly treated, slipped aboard the ship Desdemonia, bound for Mobile, Ala., and con- cealed himself in the hold. When the vessel was four days out, he was discovered and carried before the captain, who, although a stern and weather-beaten old salt, treated him kindly, and gave him a fatherly lecture, characterized by much sound and wholesome advice which the boy after- wards profited by.
At Mobile he was employed as cabin boy by the celebrated steamboatman, Capt. Hugh Monroe, and later worked in the same capacity under Capt. Joe Holland on the Alabama river. Capt. Hol- land took quite a fancy to him and sent him to school for eight months in Connectient. Return- ing to Mobile, he continued with Capt. Holland until the commencement of the Seminole War, and then enlisted in the service of the United States, and participated in many of the stirring events of that campaign. He was on the Ococho- hee when Col. Worth, afterwards a distinguished officer in the Mexican War, enticed aboard and captured Hospotochke and his entire band of warriors, an event that had much to do with bring- ing hostilities to a speedy and successful close. After the Seminole War, he steamboated on the Chatahoochie river until 1847, and then went to the Rio Grande, where he acted as pilot of the steamer " Corvette," of the Quartermaster's De- partment of the United States army, until the close of the Mexican War.
The vessel was commanded by Capt. M. Kenedy, whom he had previously met, and who remained through all subsequent vicissitudes and changes his life-long friend. Peace having been declared between the United States and Mexico, and the arinies disbanded, Capt. King bought the " Col. Cross," and followed the river until 1850, when he formed a copartnership with Capt. M. Kenedy, Capt. James O'Donnell, and Charles Stilliman, under the firm name of M. Kenedy & Co.
Between that period and the close of the war between the States, they built, or purchased, twenty steamers, which they operated to great profit in the carrying trade on the Rio Grande. Capt. O'Donnell retiring from the partnership, the
new firm of King, Kenedy & Co., was formed, and continued the business until 1874.
In the meantime (1852), Capt. King traversed the coast country lying between the Rio Grande and the Nueces river and shortly thereafter estab- lished the since famous Santa Gertrude's ranch, to which he soon moved his family.
In 1800 Capt. Kenedy acquired an interest in the property which was augmented by the establish- ment of other ranches in the course of time. They did business together until January 1, 1868, when they divided equally their possessions and dissolved the copartnership, as they had growing families and wished to avoid complications that might occur if either of them should die.
The King ranches, Santa Gertrude's and San Juan Carrieitos, comprise abont 700,000 aeres, stocked with over 100,000 head of cattle, four thousand brood mares and 15,000 saddle horses, and is supplied with all the accessories known to modern ranching.
A few years since as many as 35,000 calves were branded annually.
During the years 1876-80 Capt. King, together with Capt. Kenedy and Col. Uriah Lott, built the Corpus Christi, San Diego & Rio Grande (narrow gauge) Railroad, from Corpus Christi to Laredo. This was the first railroad built in that part of the State. This road was sold by them to the Mexican National R. R. Co., who began building their rail- way system ( now extending to the city of Mexico) by purchasing this line, which is at present their terminal in Texas.
Capt. King was taken ill in the carly part of 1885 and was told that he had cancer of the stomach. Eminent physicians were called from New Orleans and confirmed the statement and toldl him that he could live but a short time. He received the announcement with an equanimity characteristic of his well-poised and heroic spirit, and, settling his earthly affairs in order, quietly waited for the inevitable, which came April 14th of that year, while he was stopping at the Menger Hotel, in San Antonio. His wife and all of his children were present at his bedside except Mrs. Atwood, who was with her husband in New Mexico and, owing to sickness, could not come. He was laid to rest the following day in the cemetery at San Antonio. Capt. King left all of his property
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
to his wife and made her sole executrix without bond.
Robert J. Kleberg, a lawyer, a trusted confidant and friend of Capt. King, and thoroughly familiar with the status of the property, was requested by Mrs. King to come to Santa Gertrude's Ranch for consultation, did so, and, at her urgent solici- tation, became manager of the ranches, although by so doing he found it necessary to abandon the active practice of his profession. January 18th of the following year he was united in marriage to Miss Alice King, to whom he was engaged during the lifetime of her father.
At the time of Capt. King's death his estate was about $500,000 in debt. This debt was incurred in the purebase of lands and making improve- ments. There was something to show for every dollar, yet it had to be met. Mr. Kleberg corre- sponded with the creditors and they readily agreed to let Mrs. King individually assume the debt and took her notes for the amounts respectively due them. All that remained to be done was to pro- bate the will and file an inventory in the County Court and this Mr. Kelberg did. The estate was not in court over three hours. Mrs. King has since paid the notes, has added more than 100,000 acres
to her ranches, does not owe a dollar and sells from 20,000 to 25,000 beef cattle annually.
When Capt. King established himself in the Nueces country it was practically as far removed from civilization and the operation of civil law, as Central Africa is to-day. A few Mexican settlers were scattered here and there, fifty or sixty miles apart, but were little more to be trusted than the bands of predatory Indians who prowled over the prairies. Desperadoes from Mexico and the States, at a later date, also, from time to time, attempted to effect a lodgment in the country and overawe and despoil the people. Sagacious and possessed of both moral and physical courage (all of which was needed in these trying times), firm, bold and prompt, both in planning and acting, Capt. King proved himself equal to these and all other emer- gencies and did not hesitate to hold these characters in check with an iron hand.
He maintained hisrights, the rights of those about him, and an approach to social order.
Starting in life a penniless boy, his indomitable will, strength of mind and capacity for conducting large affairs enabled him long before his death to accumulate an immense fortune, and rank as one of the largest cattle-owners in the world.
THOMAS J. JENNINGS,
FORT WORTH.
The late lamented Gen. Thomas J. Jennings, at one time Attorney-General of Texas, and during his lifetime considered one of the ablest lawyers in Texas, was born in Shenandoah: County, Va., on the 20th of October, 1801. His parents were Col. William and Mariam Howard (Smith) Jen- nings. Col. William Jennings was for a number of years sheriff and a leading citizen of Shenandoah County. When the subject of this memoir was about ten years of age his father moved to Indiana where he had purchased five thousand acres of land on the Ohio river near Vevay, remained there a short time and then moved to Louisville, Ky., where he purchased a large portion of the land now embraced within the corporate hmits of that city. This land he sold for a sum which, at this day, when its value had been so greatly enhanced, appears insignificant.
After a short residence at Louisville, Col. William
Jennings moved to Christian County, Ky., where Gen. Thomas J. Jennings clerked in a country store, attending school part of the time, until about.seventeen years, old when he secured a school and taught for two or three years until he accumu- lated sufficient means to attend Transylvania Col- lege, at Lexington, Ky., where he graduated in 1824, with the highest honors, having been selected by his classmates to deliver the valedictory. Jeffer- son Davis, Gustavus A. Henry, of Tennessee, and a number of other men, who afterwards distinguished themselves in law, medicine, politics, and theology, were his friends and fellow-students. The love he acquired for the classics at Transylvania College clung to him through life. There was, perhaps, no more accurate or critical Latin and Greek scholar in the Southi. Ile was also familiar with the French and Spanish languages, speaking them both. After graduating he taught school at Paris, Tenn.,
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INDLIN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
studied law, secured admission to the bar and, in copartnership with his brother, Judge Dudley S. Jennings, practiced at Paris about two years. The partnership was then dissolved and he went to Huntington, Tenn., where he formed a connection with Berry Gillespie. In 1836 he went to Yazoo City, Miss., and there enjoyed a large and lucra- tive practice until the spring of 1840, at which time he moved to San Augustine, Texas, and later, in the fall of that year, to Nacogdoches.
In January, 1844, he married at the latter place, Mrs. Sarah G. Mason, the only daughter of Maj. llyde, a prominent citizen in Nacogdoches and formerly a leading merchant of Jackson, Tenn.
While residing in Nacogdoches he was in part- nership, successively, with J. M. Ardrey and Judge W. R. Ochiltree.
In 1852 he was elected Attorney-General of Texas and, on the expiration of his term in 1852, was re- elected and held the position until 1856, when he declined a further re-election to the office, his large private interests and law practice requiring his un- divided attention. On retiring from the attorney- generalship he moved to his plantation near Alto, in Cherokee County.
In 1857 he was elected to the Legislature from that county and in 1861 to the Convention that passed the ordinance of secession. In the fall of 1861 he suffered a stroke of paralysis which con- tined him to his bed for eighteen months and from the effects of which he never afterward recovered. In the fall of 1864 he moved to Tyler, where he formed a law partnership with Col. B. T. Selman. In 1868, having retired from this copartnership, he and his son, Hou. Tom R. Jennings, formed a co- partnership which continued for a number of years. Gen. Jennings remained in the practice of his profession until 1875, when, owing to his advanced years and failing health, he retired from active pur- suits, after being in harness as a practitioner at the bar for half a century. At different times he was a copartner of George F. Moore, late Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court; Stock-
ton T. Donley and Ruben H. Reeves, late Associate Justices of that tribunal. In 1877 he moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where he died, after a long and painful illness, September 23, 1881. He was a member of the Masonie and I. O. O. F. fraternities. He had three sons : Tom R., Monroe D., and Hyde Jennings. Monroe died in 1868 at Alto, Cherokee County, when nineteen years of age. Hyde is one of the leading citizens of Fort Worth and, as a lawyer, seems to have inherited the solid abilities possessed by his distinguished father. As a prac- titioner, he has for a number of years deservedly ranked among the foremost in the State. Tom R. is a lawyer at Nacogdoches and represented Nacog- doches County in the Twenty-fourth Legislature.
Gen. Jennings' widow survived him a number of years, dying April 6th, 1873, in Fort Worth, at the home of her son, Mr. Hyde Jennings, of which she had been an honored and beloved inmate since her husband's death. She was one of the sweetest and most lovable ladies that the old regime could boast.
Gen. Jennings possessed in & marked degree those qualities of mind and heart that challenge confidence and esteem. One trait of his character, one worthy of all admiration, was the disinclination that he manifested to think or speak evil of others. Of this, the writer of this memoir had an example in 1857. Gen. Jennings was then a member of the Legislature and, upon being drawn out as to his opinion of the leading men of the State, took them up seriatim, dwelling upon the excellent mental, moral and social qualities of cach. Senti- ments of jealous rivalry never disturbed the calm equipoise of his mind. Socially he was amiable and generous to a fault. He mastered every question he endeavored to discuss. His speeches were clear, forcible and logieal and, when he concluded, court and jury were impressed with the conviction that he had exhausted the subject, as viewed from his stand- point. He was one of the brighiest and ablest of the able men of his day in Texas and one of the purest and best as well.
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
JUSTUS WESLEY FERRIS,
WAXAHACHIE.
Judge J. W. Ferris was born March 26th, 1823, in Hudson, now a large eity on the Hudson river, in the State of New York. His father was Rev. Phil. Ferris, an effective and zealous minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Young Ferris' early education was acquired in Cazenovia Semi- nary, a noted institution of learning in Central New York. At the age of eighteen he moved to Shelby County, Ky., and soon entered the law office of Hon. Martin D. McHenry, where he pursued the study of law. He graduated in 1845, at the age of twenty-two, with honor, in the law department of Transylvania University, at Lexington, Ky. In the same year he was licensed to practice law in all the courts of the State. In 1846 he moved to Louisiana, where he studied the civil law under the tuition of Judge Brent, an able and distinguished lawyer, at Alexandria. His patron having died, he yielded to the solicitations of his old Kentucky friend, Rev. F. H. Blades, and emigrated to Texas in the fall of 1847, locating at Jefferson, then a promising young city, situated at the head of nav- igation on Cypress bayou, in Cass (now Marion) County, where he began his professional career. The bar at Jefferson was at that time one of the ablest and most brilliant in the Southwest. Here were congregated at the courts sueh legal lights as Gen. J. Pinckney Henderson, Col. Lewis T. Wigfall, T. J. and J. HI. Rogers, Richard Scurry, Col. W. P. Hill and others, and here he underwent the training and discipline that in after years enabled him to successfully compete with the more skillful of the legal fraternity. After a partnership of two aud a half years with M. D. Rogers he boldly struck out into the practice upon his own account and rapidly rose to prominence, his law briefs appearing in the Supreme Court Reports as far back as the Fourth Texas. For one year, during the presi- dential campaign of 1852, he edited the Jefferson Heruld, doing good service for the Demoeratie party. This work was done chiefly at night, with- out detriment to his professional labors. He was elected to the Legislature in 1852, as representative and floater from the counties of Titus and Cass, and acquitted himself with credit and distinction, exhibiting ability in debate, and pushing the meas- ures he advocated with energy and success. The authorship of the common-school system, then adopted for Texas, is, in a large measure, justly
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