Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas, Part 100

Author: Lewis publishing company, Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1128

USA > Texas > Dallas County > Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas > Part 100

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During these forty-four eventful years he was always the same kindly, pleasant, gener- ous, manly gentleman, a good citizen in all senses of the word, loved and honored by all who knew him.

There are but a few of the old pioneers left. One by one they " cross over the river to rest under the trees on the other shore." He died July 13, 1890.

Mrs. Lucinda (Blackburn) Smith, was a native of Allen county, Kentucky, dangliter of Robert Blackburn, and a near relative of the Hon. J. C. S. Blackburn and also Doctor Blackburn, the Democratic nominee for gover- nor of Kentucky, in 1879.

She was married, February 22, 1843, to Unele Jack Smith in Bowling Green Ken- tucky. Soon after they emigrated to Missouri and from there to Texas, in 1845. She died March 16, 1879, at the age of sixty-four years.

She, her husband and daughter settled on the banks of the Trinity when Texas was yet a Republic. She was a member of the Epis- copal Church, having been baptized and con- firmned by Bishop Gregg seventeen years since.

Mrs. Smithi was one of those unostentations Christians whose unobtrusive manners, devo- tion and duty to her family and to her friends has ever gained for her the love of all who knew her. She was truly a woman of pure thoughts, pure words and pure deeds. Around her dying bed were gathered her husband and four surviving children, her daughters, Mrs. W. W. Peak, and Misses Ellen and Lon, and her son J. Elden Smith, ministering by their affectionate attention that solace and comfort which only the presence of those we love can give to the departing spirit.

In the death of Mrs. Smith, her husband and family have sustained a loss which to them is irreparable, and one whose memory will ever remain green and be cherished by those who know her well. She has left to all who knew her a rich heritage of goodly deeds and a loved and glad memory. It has never been the privilege of the writer to witness sneh deep devotion and assiduous attention as were displayed by her children during her illness. These aged people have done their part, and they did it well, in opening up the frontier and preparing the way for the pace of civilization and progress which the present generation now enjoy. They are buried side by side beneatlı the clods of the valley in a cemetery where affection will keep watch over their slumbering dust.

Of the children born to Jolin W. and Lu- cinda Smith are: Mary Frances, consort of Wallace Peak; their four children are: Lula Blackburn, who married J. N. House: they reside in Dallas; John Sydney and Wallace

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W. live in Mexico; the next isEden W., who is in college at St. Louis; Sydney Allen, wife of Edwin Singleton: they reside in Co- lumbia Falls, Montana: Lula Blackburn is their only child; Loyd Blackburn was killed at the age of nineteen, November 2, 1870, by Tom Caudle, in Laneaster, Texas; Tom evaded justice then and is running at large now; Elden W. died March 9, 1891, at the age of thirty-seven years: he was a rail- road contractor and a man of good business qualifications; Lula C., the youngest, is the wife of Robert D. Berrey, who is local freight agent of the Houston & Texas Central rail- way at Dallas; he is in every way a worthy, enterprising and good citizen, a thorough and practical business man, a credit to any com- inunity; they reside in Dallas.

HARLES H. LEDNUM, a rising young lawyer of Dallas county, has been a resi- dent of the State of Texas since his youth. He was born in the State of Georgia Jannary 13, 1862, and is a son of William H. Lednum. The father removed to Texas in 1873, and settled in Waco, where Charles H. grew to manhood, and received his edu- cation. He was a student at Waco Univer- sity, but at an early age left school, and be- eame a clerk in the office of the Distriet State Court. He served in this position for three years, and then began the study of law. He devoted himself to this most industri- onsly and in 1886 was admitted to the bar. Soon after this event he was appointed Chief Deputy of the United States District Court for Dallas, Judge McCormick presiding. In addition to this position he fills the office of Commissioner of the court. As a Clerk of the court he probably has no peer in Texas, and

the high encomiums bestowed upon him by those who know him best are the strongest tribute to his ability and fidelity. Judge McCormick says of his work: "It is exactly up, and it is uniformly correct." This senti- ment is further indorsed by the leading mem- bers of the bar. His private life is without a stain, and this fact taken in connection with his untarnished reputation as an official places him in the front ranks of the public servants.

Mr. Lednum was united in marriage, in 1886, to Miss Lucie David, a native of the State of Georgia. Mrs. Lednum is a worthy member of the Baptist Church.

R. TILLEY FOWLKES, Dallas, Texas. The humanizing influences of Christian- ity are shown in thousands of directions, but in none in a more marked degree than that of medical and surgical science; and although Dallas has many fine physicians Dr. Fowlkes stands among the foremost.

He was born in Texas in 1868, to J. S. Fowlkes and wife, the former of whom was a Virginian and came to Texas at the age of eighteen years, which State has been his home up to the present time. He has devoted his attention to the banking business, in the management of which he has proven himself an able financier. Doctor Tilley Fowlkes received his early instruction in Bryant and finished his literary education in a private school. He then began the study of medi- cine in the Jefferson Medical College in 1886, and three years later graduated from this institution with the degree of M. D., succeed- ing which he began making a special study of the eye, ear, nose and throat. To perfeet himself in this, as well as in the general branches of the science, he went to Berlin

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Germany, and entered Kaiser William's Uni- versity and still has the usual certificate of attendance. He then again took a special course in the treatment of the eye, ear, nose and throat in New York city, and has a deep and accurate knowledge of this most important branch of his calling. He is the only one of the specialists in the city who has received the advantages of a foreign education, and that he has improved his opportunities can be readily seen in the many people who require his services and in the many almost miraculous cures he has made. He has been an extensive traveler and has made trips to Australia as ship's surgeon.

ANGER BROTHERS, who are propri- etors of the largest, most important and most perfect wholesale and retail dry-goods establishment in the Southwest, located on Elm street, Dallas, Texas, are natives of Obernbreit, Bavaria, Germany. They are sons of Elias and Babette Sanger.

In the old country, the father was a mer- chant on a small scale, had a family of ten children, which were brought up to habits of industry, usefulness and economy, traits in character building, which have ever been serviceable to the children, and have proven to be of inestimable value in their career of business life and activity. The father, wife, three brothers, and three sisters came to America in 1867. That same year, not long after their arrival, two sons, Jacob and David, the former aged twenty-two, the latter aged seventeen, died with yellow fever, at Bryan, Texas, which disease was epidemic and very malignant in that locality. The two brothers were of good business qualifications, had the best of habits, and were most promising

young men. The hearts of the parents, brothers and sisters, were made very sorrow- ful in the demise of these dear young men. The sisters were, Sophie, wife of L. Emanuel, now residing in Waco; two other sisters also, Eda, wife of Jacob Newburger, and Bertha, wife of Joseph Lehman, the latter a widow, both residing in New York city. Of the other brothers, in the order of their birth, are Isaac, Lehman, Philip, Samuel and Alexan- der. Isaac arrived from Germany in 1851. He clerked in New Haven, Connecticut, in a clothing establishunent, at a salary of $30 and board, the first year, $50 and board the second year, and $70 and board the third year. He went to New York in 1854, as bookkeeper in a wholesale clothing house, where he remained until 1858, when he moved to Mckinney, Texas. He went from Houston, Texas, to Mckinney by stage, and his goods were sent in an ox wagon, which required four weeks in transit. At Mckinney, he formed a part- nership with Fred Banm, under the firm name of Baum & Sanger. They remained at Mckinney several years, then mnoved to Weatherford, leaving the brother Lehman in charge of the Mckinney branch. The latter entered the firm in 1859; they remained in Weatherford until the war opened, when Leh- man enlisted in the Confederate service. Isaac enlisted also, but after a time returned, and was County Clerk of the Court, until the war closed. During this time, Baum took charge of the store, while Isaac gave over- sight to that and served as County Clerk. About the year 1868 or 1869, Isaac returned to New York, where he still resides, un- married, and has been required to stay, being the resident buyer and financial manager of the Dallas and Waco concerns.

Lehman, who, by the way, is the originator of the Sanger firms, came to America in

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1854, and, after the war, started the store, in 1865, at Milliken, Texas, in which he was shortly afterward joined by Isaac, and later by Philip at the same place. Up to about 1866, the Houston & Texas Central Railway made its terminus at Milliken. As the rail- way advanced northward, the firm followed with its business to the next terminus, lo- cating from time to time at the following terminal points: Milliken, Bryan, Hearne, Calvert, Kosse, Bremond, Groesbeck, Corsi- cana, Waco and Dallas. Lehman lives in Waco. He was an active member of the firm, and did much in conducting the business and bringing it to its present high standing. Ile withdrew from the firm on account of ill health in 1881. Ile married Miss Isabella Wenk, of Williamsburg, New York. Ile was a man of enterprise and business push, and was the originator of the Belt Railway in Dallas.

Philip came to America alone, at sixteen years of age, in 1857, landing at New York, where he clerked in a retail clothing honse, at a salary of $2.50 a month and board for the first year. That same year, $10 of his hard earnings was saved for his parents. Ile stayed four months longer and received $4 a month and board. He then went to Savan- nah, Georgia, where he clerked for Mr. David Heller, at $10 a month and board for two years; after that he sold buggies and collected outstanding accounts for Mr. Heller. The latter left Georgia just before the ontbreak of the war for his home, Cincinnati, Ohio. Philip enlisted in the Confederate States of America service, Company G, Thirty-second Georgia Regiment, and remained in the ser- vice until the close of the war, surrendering with Johnston near Greensboro, North Caro- lina. He was slightly wounded at the battle of Ocean Pond, Florida; he was in the second

bombardment of Fort Sumter and Morris Island, South Carolina, just before the sur- render of Charleston, and was in all the march before Sherman, through. Sonth and North Carolina.

During this time he was acting private secretary to the Adjutant at general head- quarters. He was intrusted with the dis- patches of the scouts, during the Sherman march, and often had the giving of counter- signs. He participated in the battle of Ocean Pond, Florida, and was slightly wounded. After the war he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained five months as a clerk in a wholesale notion establishment,-Heller Brothers. He then joined his brothers in Milliken, Texas, in December, 1865, and im- mediately became a partner. He has lived in Milliken, Bryan, Calvert, Kosse, Groes- beck, Corsicana, and in Dallas since 1872. In 1869, Philip married Miss Cornelia Man- delbaum, of New Haven, Connecticut. Their three living children by this marriage are: Elias, Jessica and Bertina Lois. These parents have lost five children: the first-born of the family, Selina, a sweet, bright, lovely and promising child, died at seven years of age. She was the idol of the parents, and died of membranons croup in 1876.

In 1872, Alexander Sanger joined the firm, and in 1873 Samuel became a member of the same, doing wholesale and retail business all the while. Lehman and Samuel Sanger were located at Waco, there conducting the busi- ness, building up a large wholesale and retail trade. The firm of Sanger Brothers located in Dallas in 1872, under the charge of Philip and Alexander. The store in Dallas in 1872 ocenpied a box frame one-story build- ing, 50 x 80; to-day it occupies a large brick and stone building, 100 feet of which is six stories, and 100 feet two-stories, high, at a

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depth of 200 feet and through to Main street, and has forty-two complete departments. In the start they had no employes, doing all the work themselves. Now, it averages about 250 employes.

In 1865, when Philip joined the firm at Milliken, he had not seen the two brothers, Isaac and Lehman, for six years. At this time Lehman was away; Isaac took Philip in as a partner. When Lehman returned, he found Philip behind the counter, making himself generally useful. He took Isaac to one side, and inquired of him why he em- ployed this new clerk? that the business did not justify it, etc. In short, he kicked at the new accession to the force, and he kicked hard. At this time, affairs were waxing a little unpleasantly warm, Isaac carrying on the joke at Lehman's expense. The former took Lehman to the counter, calling Philip thereto, he introduced Lehman to his brother. The matter was settled instanter, and they in- dulged in a hearty laugh, much to Lehman's discomfort and pleasure as well.

At present writing, they operate the larg- est industry of the kind in the State. Their sales annually amount to about $3,000,000. Of the dry-goods wholesaling and retailing, they are the pioneers of the State.

Alexander on coming to America went to Cincinnati as bookkeeper for the Heller Brothers; later, he formed a partnership under the firm name of Ochs. Lehman & Company, who bought ont Heller Brothers, and carried on the same business three years, until he sold out to his partner and came to Texas, and joined the brother at Corsicana. Alexander opened a house, which was burned at Dallas, first on the square, which was a branch of the Corsicana lionse, and in the fall of 1872, when the railroad was extended to Dallas, Philip joined him. The Corsicana

stock was moved to Elm street, Dallas, in the new building, just erected, in a one-story box frame, 50 x 80, before referred to. The largest snrface occupied in any of the differ- ent stores south of Dallas, up to 1872, was about 30 x 70, and when in 1872 Alexander ordered the construction of their first store in Dallas (one story frame, 50 x 80), he was told by one of his brothers that it was a mistake to build so large a building as this, the brother claiming they would not have the goods to fill it. Alexander, however, had his way, had the store built according to his previously arranged plans and specifications; and time, which is the great equalizer and regulator, has proved the wisdom of the arrangement. Alexander was married in 1879, to Miss Fannie Fetchenbach, of Cin- cinnati, Ohio. This marriage has been blessed in the birth of one child, Elihu.

The Sanger brothers and their families all belong to the Hebrew Congregation. They have, however, contributed quite frequently and liberally toward the erection of other churches in the city and State.

Their establishment is lighted, fanned, warmed and the six elevators run by their own plant in the building.

Sanger brothers also publish a monthly magazine, under the editorship of Mrs. V. Q. Goff: James Kirkland, manager. It is a forty-four-page, illustrated periodical, con- taining serial stories by the best of American writers, articles on flowers, the farm, garden, household, fashion, etc. The price is five cents a copy, or fifty cents a year. Their mail order department is the largest and most efficient in the southwest. Orders are filled the same day they are received, and samples are sent anywhere on request.

Alexander Sanger is a director in the City National Bank of Dallas, also in the Texas

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

State Fair and Dallas Exposition, a full aeeount of which is given in the historieal part of this work.

The Sanger brothers are of that class of citizens who in this, their adopted country, have by their industry, push and perseverance, started without capital, and have made for themselves homes, wealth and reputation in this country, where many native born men with more favorable opportunities have failed. They are excellent examples of what correct business habits ean accomplish with small capital. They are enterprising, patriotic, and believe in keeping abreast in the latter- day nineteenth century progress. As will be seen, their success in business is simply marvelous. They are numbered among the most progressive and publie-spirited men in the eity; always taking part in sueh enter- prises as promise for the best welfare of their community.

OLONEL JOIIN F. ELLIOTT, Dallas, Texas .- The richest heritage of Ameri- ean youth is the example of their country's brain and brawn, wrought into lives of perfect altruism, of splendid fealty, of tire- less industry. The annals of such a life is briefly told by one who has known Colonel John F. Elliott long and well. Colonel El- liott, of Dallas, Texas, is a native of Mobile, Alabama, where he grew to manhood and re- eeived his earlier education, literary and mer- eantile, the first in the private schools and Spring Hill College, and the latter in the banking house of Thomas P. Miller & Co.

In the fiery days just preceding the Civil war he was one of the few far-sighted young men of the South who dared to oppose se- eession, and as a member of the Union Demo- cratie Douglas and Johnson Club he delivered

an address elearly setting forth the error of that doetrine in principle and policy. It was a time that tried men's souls and imperiled those who antagonized the dogma; but young Elliott and a half dozen of his friends had the conrage of their convictions. Although he insisted in that address that the principle of secession was uneonstitutional, the policy dangerous, and ruinons to the integrity of the Republie and to Union, that the Southern States were numerically too weak to cope with the North, and that the sentiment of the world being hostile to the the institution of slavery it would fail to give them aid, all of which was afterward literally verified, yet he announced that if his section should secede he would not be the last in arming for its de- fense. True to that declaration he joined the first Louisiana battalion, that left New Or- leans for service near Pensacola and subse- quently for the' Potomac. During the struggle he was in several battles in Virginia, Missiesippi and Louisiana, as private and as commissioned officer. The war ended, Colonel Elliott was an earnest advocate for immediate and sincere reconstruction and restored re- lations of peace and co-operation.

Loeating then in New Orleans, the home of his parents, he engaged in eommereial pursuits until persuaded by an old friend, for whom he was chiefly instrumental in aequir- ing quite a fortune, to remove to Philadelphia, where he subsequently enlisted on the editor- ial staff of the Press, until his removal to Galveston in the fall of 1874. There he once again launehed into mercantile life, but in 1878, losing his wife, whom he married in 1866, lie was persuaded to go to Dallas, whither he went in the spring of 1879, to take an interest in and the editorial manage- ment of the Dallas Daily Herald, then only a sixteen-column folio. During his adminis-

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tratio as editor-in-chief, he was one of the original proposers and founders of the Texas Press Association, and before which now powerful organization he delivered, by unani- mons vote, the first annual oration. The sub- sect was Independent Journalism, and his bold enunciation, although at the time pro- woking some adverse criticism by the strictly partisan press, was of the first and most ef- fective influence to place journalism in his State on a higher plane; while a subsequent address, on the Amenities of Journalism, contributed vastly to the cultivation of a more fraternal feeling throughout the entire pro- fession in Texas. Within the same five years Colonel Elliott delivered nearly 100 carefully prepared addresses to university and college graduating classes, fraternal and charitable societies, political bodies, mercantile associa- tions, etc. In the meantime his leading edi- torials on national and State polity on pend- ing questions, equaling a dozen octavo volumes, materially molded the opinions of his constituency. In the summer of 1884, during the annual convention of the State Press Association, just as his name was pro posed for election by acclamation to its pres- idency, the proceedings were arrested by a telegram from the Governor, that its popular candidate had been, in response to an almost nnanimons call of Texas, appointed Commis sioner in Chief, with 200 assistants, promi- nent citizens of the State, to the New Orleans World's Exposition. This ended his accept- ance of the honored leadship of his well be- loved association The new position was one of pre-eminence and involved an immensity of labor, skill and responsibility, as the great Empire State of the Sonth, five times the size of New York, and never before at a fair when nearly all the other States liad been, was wholly unprepared in any manner with exhib-

it or for competition. Yet in less than four months the indefatigable commissioner had gathered in such an array of the agricultural, mineral, timber manufacturing, live-stock and other resources of the imperial domain as not only astonished Texas but also the entire conntry by the wonderful display presented. But the address which Colonel Elliott de- livered on Texas Day to over 7,000 Texans and many thousands of other visitors, still more astonished his learers when he unfolded in what the New Orleans papers pronounced the best address during the exposition, the mnost eloquent and the most effective, the un- surpassed resources and dormant possibilities in this land of wonderful and industrial sur- prises. So universally satisfactory did he discharge the multifarious and arduous duties imposed on his executive ability and tact that many journals throughout the State pressed his nomination for the Governorship as a business executive. But absolutely without political aspirations he continued to decline all political preferment and quietly returned to the charge of his paper. The next year that paper, now enlarged to fifty-six column quarto, with enormously extended circulation, was sold at a price commensurate with its in- fluence. Thereupon, for the first time in two decades of unceasing labors, Colonel Elliott rested by a residence of about two years in Washington city, where he made the ac- quaintanee of many of the leading men and women of the nation. He is now at the head of a large foreign and domestic inoney-loan and a land-title business, both of which he or- ganized a number of years ago in Dallas. Reared in the banking and general eommer- eial vocations, a journalist of extensive ex- tensive experience, practically acquainted with military life, a scholar thoroughly famil- iar with the Greek and Latin classics in the

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

original, speaking the French, Spanish, Ger- man and Italian languages, from each of which he has translated and published much in prose and poetry, thoroughly grounded in the schools of political and moral philosophy and the economies of Great Britain, France, Germany and America, with a well stocked library of these several anthors in their re- spective langnages, historians, biographers, poets, novelists, scientists and essayists, all of which he has at his tongue's end, and having frequently traveled over the Union and visited otten its leading cities, he is one of the best posted men of the country. His main enjoy- ments now are the newspapers and periodi- cals. A special lover of the arts and sciences, he has made these a special study and in many instances a practice. As a writer Col- onel Elliott is clear in thought, methodical in arrangement, vigorons and classic in style, and nses always the purest of the Queen's English. He is a frequent contributor of articles for the press and the magazines, principally on financial, political and social subjects. He is one of the best known men in Texas, an octavo industrial history of which he recently published and which ran through two editions of 20,000 copies each. He is a recognized, accurate and reliable statistician and informed on all Texas affairs and director of various financial, commercial and literary institutions. As a man of business he is broad-gauged in his views, unflagging in his work, proverbially prompt, successful in his undertakings and trusted the country over for sterling integrity and conscientiousness. Owing to this and his sound judgment and discretion, he is often made the sole arbiter for the adjustment of commercial contesta- tions and personal misunderstandings, and is said to bear the soubriquet of the "great rec- oneiler."

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Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas, Part 100

Author: Lewis publishing company, Chicago, pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1892 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 1128

Author: Lewis publishing company, Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1128