Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas, Part 103

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 103

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Major Gibson was married August 27, 1848, to Miss Julia A. Whitlock, daughter

of Jasper Whitlock, of Oakland county, Michigan. They had two children, Ella and Burnett B. The former married Alfred N. Walker, of Newton, Illinois, and has two children, Edith and Cecil. He second mar- riage occurred October 30, 1886, to Mrs. Rachel A. Gould, a native of Wisconsin, and a daughter of Jacob and IIarriet Todhunter, natives of Virginia and New Jersey respect- ively. Both he and his wife are members ot the Episcopal Church. The Major is Past Commander and one of the charter members of John A. Dix Post, No. 11, Dallas, Texas, and for over thirty years has been a member of the Masonic order.

Mrs. Gibson's first husband, William Pearl Gould, died February 11, 1874, aged thirty- six years. By him she had two children, Alvin J. and Anna A. She is a woman of influence, culture and refinement, and has a large circle of friends. She is an officer in the John A. Dix Woman's Relief Corps.

EV. R. W. THOMPSON .- This gentle- inan, after spending many years of his life as an itinerant minister and accon- plishing great good in that vocation, is now retired from active labor and is in the enjoy- ment of the fruits of well spent years, sur- rounded by the comforts of this world, and the higher and holier pleasures that come of the respect and esteem of those with whom he has been brought in contact. He can re- flect with just pride on the years of service in the Master's work and feel that he has faithfully done the duty that lay nearest to him.

He was born in Lawrence county, Tennes- see, February 17, 1834. His parents were Dr. Richard and Ellen (McKeeg) Thompson,

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natives of South Carolina and Alabama re- spectively. The father was a physician and surgeon, and an excellent Christian gentle- man, who had an extensive practice in Tennes- see, and subsequently in Phillips county, Arkansas. He was a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church South, and never was a slaveholder, although he did not think it wrong to hold slaves. His death, which was a most triumphant Christian one, occurred in 1850. A most noted religious revival started from his death-bed sickness, he hav- ing religious converse with every one who visited his sick chamber. He was only fifty-three when he died, but his wife lived to be seventy-six, dying abont 1870. She was a noted Christian, and her character was reflected in all her children, whom she was spared to sec converted. They were all mar- ried and comfortably settled in life when she died. Our subject is the eighth in a family of nine children. One died in infancy, but the other eight lived to maturity, and two brothers and one sister of our subject are still living. All the boys, four of them, were ministers in the Methodist Episcopal Church South. The oldest living member of the family is William M., a local preacher, near Sulphur Springs, Texas. The next one is Mary, wife of Augustus Atkins, residing in Cleburne.

Our subject was educated in the saddle, under the live-oak trees, in Jackson county, Texas, to which place he came with his mother and an orphan consin, Virginia Thompson, daughter of David Thompson. He was licensed to preach, and was recommended and received into the Texas Annual Confer- ence, held in Waco, in 1857; and was ap- pointed by the Bishop to preach to the old Cana African Mission, southwestern Texas. In 1858-'59, he had eighteen appointments

in the circuit of Van Zandt and Smith coun- ties. In the following year, he was appointed to Harrison circuit, in Harrison county, Texas. In 1860-'61 he was assigned to the Clarksville and McKinzie College station, consisting of the Arno appointments; and was re-appointed to the same place in 1861-'62.

In the meantime the war broke out, and in the early part of 1862 he enlisted as a private in Company F, Whitfield's Legion, Texas Cavalry. After serving eight months as a private, he was appointed Chaplain, in which capacity he acted until the fall of 1863. He was then transferred to the Trans-Mis- sissippi Department and assigned to duty in the Seventeenth Consolidated Texas Infantry, in which regiment he served until the close of the war. He was captured at Oakland, Mississippi, and was taken to Helena, Arkan- sas, where he was treated kindly and hospita- bly and held only five or six days. He then passed down the Mississippi on a transport through the Federal lines to Vicksburg, that city being in the hands of the Confederacy.

At the close of the war, he returned to his pastoral duties, and was stationed for four years, from 1865 to 1869, at Jefferson, Texas, where he was very successful. He was then appointed to Lamar street, Dallas, Texas, the church at that time occupying the present site of the Merchants' Exchange Building. He remained there four years, after which he served one year on the Dallas cirenit, filling four appointments. He was then transferred to the East Texas Conference by Bishop Mc Tyeire, and had charge of the station at Mar- shall, Harrison county, Texas, for two years. He was then made Presiding Elder of Mar- shall district, which consisted of the follow- ing counties: Harrison, part of Panola, Gregg, Rusk, part of Smith, Cherokee and

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

Van Zandt, in which capacity he served for four years. In 1880, he was sent to Bean- mont district, in southeastern Texas, which comprised the following counties: Angelina, Polk, Tyler, Hardin, Liberty, Chambers, Jefferson, Orange, Newton, Jasper, and a part of Cherokee. The Beanmont district reaches down to the Gulf, and is well filled with alligators, mosquitoes, ticks, horseflies, wasps and inany other species of annoying vermin, too numerous to mention. In 1884, he was on the Palestine district, consisting of a half dozen counties. From 1885 to 1889, he served in the same capacity on the Marshall district. From that time to 1890, he was assigned, at his own request, to the Marshall mission. At the close of 1890, he was made supernumerary, which position he still holds. He has been elected alternate to the General Conference at Atlanta, Georgia. He has been a very successful minister, has received hun- dreds into the church, and has labored most earnestly to disseminate religious knowledge. He has married many couples and pronounced the burial rites at numerous funerals. Alto- gether, he has been busily employed, and has done as inch hard work in the church as any minister to be found; has given the best and most active years of his life to its ser- vice, and has accomplished much good.

He was married, June 2, 1861, to Miss Mary E. McFarlin, danghter of Dunkin and Zilpha McFarlin, of Caddo parish, Louisiana. She is a native of Madison county, Tennessee, is an earnest, sensible Christian woman, has been a member of the Woman's Missionary Society from its organization, and was presi- dent of the Woman's Missionary Society of East Texas Conference as long as they were in that district. She has been a very earnest worker in the missionary field, and has the reputation of being one of the purest, most

zealons and active Christians in the confer- ence. She visits the sick, helps the poor. Ever in the homes of the poor, the ranks of the toilers, in the hearts of all humanity, she is the ideal of honor, truth, gentleness and love.

They have no children of their own, but have adopted several, to whom they have been kind parents. Mr. Thompson has taken all the degrees in Masonry, including the Con- mandery, has taken three degrees in the I. (). O. F., and has joined all the temperance so- cieties as they have come along. He has made the ministry the only business of his life. When the war closed he had not a dollar, but as he has always had good livings he has now plenty to support his declining years. He never allowed a fear for to-morrow to disturb the even tenor of his way, for he found that the morrow would take care of itself. IIc has always made it the rule of his life to pay as he went and so has kept out of debt.

EORGE M. DILLEY, a prominent busi- ness man of Dallas, was born in Hnn- terdon county, New Jersey, October 26, 1833, a son of Aaron Chester and Mary (Schurz) Dilley. The family are descendants of old Highland Scotch stock, who were resi- dents of America long previous to the Revo- Intion. His great-grandfather, Aaron Dilley, was in the Revolutionary war, holding the rank of First Lieutenant in Van Skales' company.

Mr. Dilley, whose name heads this sketch, was born on the old homestead that had been occupied by his ancestry for many generations. At the early age of seventeen he went to Ohio and began work for himself in railroad

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

construction, in Lorain county. In a short time he went to Frankfort, Indiana, and com- menced taking contracts for building. Next he went to Shelbyville, Illinois, where he was telegraph operator and express man. In 1870 he came to this State and took charge of construction on the Houston & Great Northern railroad. Then he became inter- ested in foundries at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Palestine and San Antonio, Texas, and Par- sons, Kansas. In the meantime he also had charge of lumber interests. Next he was connected with the construction of the Sun- set & Southern Pacific railroad in Pecos county, then the Honston & Central Arkan- sas. He was president of the Reynolds & Henry Construction Company, of Joliet, Illinois, that inaugurated the Houston Cen- tral & Northern railroad, constructed and equipped fifty miles of the road, and then sold to Jay Gould, who completed it to Alex- ander, Louisiana. In fact, scarcely a road has been built in Texas within the last ten years in which Mr. Dilley has not been in- terested. He is now busy solving that im- portant problem, to wit, irrigation in Ne- braska. He settled in Dallas, in 1889, and began the erection of an elegant home on Maple avenue, North Dallas.

Mr. Dilley was a delegate to the Chicago convention, in 1880,-not only a delegate but was one of the immortal 306 that held to- gether in one unbroken columnn for General Grant; and what he regards as one of his most valuable possessions is the souvenir medal which was issned in commemoration of that event, and in honor of the fidelity of those who remained trne to the great Captain.

Mr. Dilley is a thirty-second-degree Mason, a Knight Templar, a member of the Congre- gational Church, and a stalwart Republican.

He was married February 8, 1855, to Miss

Fannie Briggs, and of their five children three are living: George E., in Palestine; Fred L., living in Tyler; and Fannie who is still at their parental home.

PINKNEY THOMAS, one of the inany enterprising and public-spirited men of Dallas, real estate and loans and sec- retary of the Trinity Navigation and lin- provement Company, was born in North Carolina, at Troutman, a station on their old homestead, on the Air Line railway, Sept- ember 24, 1837. His parents were Jacob and Ellenor Lavina (Murdock) Thomas. His inother was a Witherspoon, of a noted family and well connected in that locality. The father was Deputy Sheriff of that county for some years when only a boy, and later was Sheriff of the county for many years. He was a farmer by occupation, but made his money by trading in real estate, produce, stock, etc. He took good care of those who trusted their property to his keeping; was scrupulously honest, very accommodating, did business on good business principles, and retained the good will of all those with whom he had to do. Ile was widely known and greatly ad- mired for his honest integrity and sterling worth. He was an exemplary member of the Lutheran Church and an officer in the same from his boyhood days.

Ile was born in 1808 and died in 1864. His wife was born in 1818 and died in Jann- ary, 1892. She also was a member of the Lutheran Church from girlhood, was a de- vout Christian woman, known, loved and held a warm place in the hearts of all who came to know the excellencies of her trne Christian character. She was a woman of great will power and was terribly in earnest in what-

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

ever seemed to her for the greatest good. These parents had four children.

Our subjeet left home at the age of thir- teen years, to attend school at Center Grove Academy in North Carolina; later he at- tended school at Buena Vista Aeademy; and subsequently, to hninor his feelings, he was sent to Greensboro, North Carolina, where he graduated in music.

Ile and several others put their means to- gether and bought 18,000 acres of land, spent a year in prospecting on it for copper, but did not make the enterprise a success. He then clerked for a time to procure money with which to visit his father's youngest brother, Andrew, at MeKinley, Alabama, but never got there. He started out with a train of wagons which were to be shipped to England from Cleveland, Alabama, via Charleston, South Carolina. About this time he took siek and failed in that. Later he learned the printing business and in that was quite successful. He kept good company, was very temperate in his habits, which inade him a valued member of a temperance organization known as the Knights of Jericho. In 1856 he was superintendent of the pay department in ear shops, and in 1857 he came West, leaving a salary of $2,500 a year. With Charles Turney and Charles Barnard he established the first trading point with the Indians at Waco, Texas.

Later he went in charge of 1,500 head of cattle to Chicago, the only drove he ever knew to be taken from this part of Texas to that eity the overland route. It took a year to make the trip. The first stop was at St. Joseph, Missouri, where they left 400 of their cattle. They sold to Majors & Russells, who bought for the Government. At Nebras- ka City they sold 300 more. They waded both the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, the

latter at Muscatine, Iowa. At the latter they herded the cattle for some time, then drove to Chicago. It is worthy of note that at that date they crossed only one railroad, the Illi- nois Central.

Ile returned to Texas with friends, and to Dallas county in 1861, shortly before his en- listment in the Confederate States Army ser- viee, which occurred in July, 1861,-Com- pany E, a company organized by John D. Coit, of Sumter, South Carolina.

Enlisting as a private, he was appointed Second Lieutenant when the company was or- ganized, on motion of Mr. Bowser of Dallas. This was Company E, of which John D. Coit was captain.

On the organization of the Eighteenth Texas Cavalry Captain Coit was elected Lieutenant Colonel. This regiment was fortified in the Indian Nation for a time, and then reported to General Holmes at Little Rock. Their next dnty was to go on what was known as the Parched-Corn expedition, as they had to subsist seven days on that cereal. On this expedition they drove Steele's division to the other side of White River, had three engage- ments on Little Red river, and participate p in the noted battle at Cotton Plant, on White river; but the command to which Mr. Thomas belonged saw no real field service until the battle of Arkansas Post, when the whole com- mand was captured and placed on transports on the Arkansas river. Mr. Thomas, with many others, was put off at Pine Bluff. While convalescent he was sent down to the lower edge of Louisana and upper edge of Ar- kansas to buy clothing. In 1863 General Walker again sent him to Texas, to enlist more troops, and in six or eight weeks he en- listed 500, who came in from all sections in the vicinity.

During this sojourn here he was married, at

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

Breckenridge, ten miles north of Dallas, to Miss Sallie Huffman, daughter of Michael L. and Mildred (Clure) Huffman, and during his six weeks' bridal trip he engaged in recruit- ing volunteers.

He reported at Shreveport, where General Darnell was relieved, and he met the refugees from Arkansas Post, and formed the Seven- teenth Consolidated Dismounted Texas Caval- ry, which name was retained to the close of the war. and Lieutenant Thomas also retained the letter E for his company, he continued in the same official relation, while M. W. Dam- eron was the Captain.

While with Captain Coit, Mr. Thomas had the advantage of a book of tactics, which he rapidly learned and soon became capable of drilling both in cavalry and infantry service.

At an engagement at Natchez he took a number of cattle and mules from the enemy; and he also had a three-days fight at Harrison- burg, Louisiana. On his return he met Banks at Fort Deroora, but no battle took place. At Mansfield, April 8, 1864, was the next engage- ment.

Mr. Thomas commanded the company nearly all the time during the year 1864. April 8, he had fifty-six men in Company E, after making all the details. His company took Nimms' battery and the colors, besides many of the men, of the Nineteenth Kentucky Regiment. At the battle of Pleasant Hill the next day Mr. Thomas was wounded, at nightfall, and taken off the field, leaving to his snccessor sixteen men. Being reported as per- manently disabled for field service, he return- ed to Dallas; but E. Kirby Smith, com- mander-in-chief of the Trans-Mississippi Department, ordered him to report to Gen- eral Henry McCullongh, commander of the North Subdistrict of Texas, and he was next ordered to take command of the post at Sher-

man. He was there during the winter of 1864-'65. Then he went to Jacksboro to in- vestigate the trouble between Colonel James Bowlen's troops and the home deserters. His next business was as commander of the post at Dallas, where he closed his military career. He closed his services within sixty feet of where he enlisted when he was sworn into the service in the courthouse square, near the corner of Houston and Main streets, opposite the Crutchfield House.

For several years after the close of the war he came to Dallas, put up a paint shop and carried on painting in all its branches, sup- plying all the needs of the city and county. For his next adventure he opened the Texas wagon yard, the first wagon yard ever located in Dallas. He bought the ground located between Main and Elin streets, through which now runs Murphy street. He went from there to the farm in 1878. IIe farined two years, then he opened out in the grocery and cotton business, continning that one year. Then he went into the real-estate business, in which he still continnes. He began the Trinity navigation enterprise in 1878, and never allowed a wheel to turn, until the date of this writing, without throwing his whole weight for its successful completion. In June, 1891, he had it incorporated, secured a charter, and constructed a boat which has been at work continuously ever since.

The long years of work culminated in edu- cating the masses. They are now well under way, and it is now regarded as a success. No other man has done so much to make this enterprise a success as the subject of this sketch.

Our subject was married April 29, 1863, to Miss Sallie Inffinan, danghter of M. L. and Mildred Huffman, of Breckenridge, Dal- las county, Texas, They have eight children,

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY,

viz .: Mike Huffman, who is a partner with his father in the real-estate business. He married Miss Emma Moss, and they reside in Dallas city: Mike is their only child. Mr. Thomas' next child is Joseph Pinkney, who is foreman of the gents' furnishing department of E. M. Kahn & Company. He married Miss Maggie Kennedy, and Sallie is their only child; Mildred Eleanor, a graduate of the Dallas high school elass of 1892; De Witt, who is in the audit department of the Texas & Pacific office of Dallas; Enlace Lane, de- eeased in November, 1880, aged about fonr years; Mollie Riee, who is a bright pupil and quite proficient in mathamatics and lan- gnages; Calvin Holmes, who is quite a bright and business-like boy, a pupil of the high school; and Fergus Davis, a bright boy of seven summers. Both parents and the three oldest children are members of the Central Christian Church.

J. Pink. Thomas is one of the older eiti- zens of Dalllas, and has been identified with the best interests of the eity since it was quite a village. He and his good wife are numbered among its worthy and substantial eitizens.

ILLIAM N. COE, County Treasurer of Dallas county, was born in 1861, in Russell county, Kentucky, a son of John C. Coe, a farmer. Just before at- taining his majority of years he came to Texas, and by the advice of his maternal unele, Dr. W. F. Wolford-a wealthy and in. fluential pioneer of Collin county,-went to sehool about three years. Quiek and tireless of applieation, he mastered the rudiments of an education thoroughly and became an ex- eellent bookkeeper. He followed this oeeupa- tion until 1886, when he entered the employ 55

of Henry Lewis. Sheriff of Dallas county. He has thus come in contaet with men of every condition of life, and exhibited remark- able taet, uniform courtesy and a elear con- eeption of the duties of a public officer; and at the election of County Treasurer in 1890, with four independent Democratie candidates in the field, he was chosen by a handsome plurality. Barely thirty years of age at the time of his election, he is the youngest county treasurer ever eleeted in the State of Texas. A half million dollars of the people's money pass annually through his hands. He is a stalwart Democrat, being one of the brightest exponents of that political faith. He is a zealous member of the order of Knights of Pythias. He was married February 5, 1891, to Miss Fannie Cullom, a most estimable lady.

EV. A. P. SMITH, D. D., minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Dal- las, was born in Dallas county, Alabama, July 16, 1832. His parents were William S. and Louisa (Bowie) Smith, the former from Charleston, the latter of Abbeville, South Carolina. The father was an attorney in his early days in Charleston, South Caro- lina; later was a planter in Alabama, from which State he came to Texas, where he died in May, 1881, at the age of eighty-four years. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church for forty odd years. His wife, Lonisa A., was a daughter of Major George Bowie. a prominent attorney of South Carolina. She also was a member of the Presbyterian Church, earnest and devoted and died more than forty years ago.

Our subject, the oldest in a family of eleven children, was educated primarily in the schools of Dallas county, Alabama; later he gradu-

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

ated in a literary course at Oglethorpe Col- lege, South Carolina. Dr. Talmadge (unele of T. De Witt Talmadge of New York) was the president of Oglethorpe College at that time. Subsequently Dr. Smith graduated in a theological course at the seminary at Columbia, South Carolina. Dr. James Thorn- well, Dr. George Howe and Dr. Benjamin Palmer were among the professors of that college at that time. Rev. Smith preached first on Sullivan Island, near Charleston, and during his pastorate there the yellow fever raged violently, but he continued his work without molestation. After that he filled the Globe Street church in Charleston, South Carolina. He remained there until the war opened, when he was made Chaplain of the First South Carolina Regiment, Kershaw's brigade. Ile served in that capacity until near the close of the war, when he was disabled with rheumatism and was discharged from the service. As soon as he was able to preach he filled the pulpit at Spartanburg, South Carolina, until the war closed. He then moved to Aberdeen, Mississippi, where he filled the Presbyterian pulpit and was also pres- ident of the Female College in that city for six years. In August, 1873, he moved to Dallas, Texas, and took charge of the First Presbyterian Church, which position he has ever since occupied. His is the oldest pastor- ate in the city. He began in an old weather- boarded house, with nineteen members. The membership now numbers more than 300. Three mission churches since have gone out from this mother church. Mr. Smith has done an excellent work in Dallas, and has a most worthy and substantial record both as a minister and citizen.

Hle was married December 1, 1858, in Charleston, South Carolina, to Miss E. T. Smith, daughter of James E. and Susan Ann

Smith, who were old, prominent and most highly respected residents of Charleston. They raised a large family of children, who remained in the city until the war opened. Mrs. Smith is a lady of culture and has ever been loyal to the best interests of the Presby - terian Church.

OSEPH BRITAIN, deceased .-- Among the pioneers of Dallas county, Texas, none were better or more favorably known than this worthy gentleman. He set- tled here in 1848, and was closely identified with the best interests of the county until the time of his death. Joseph Britain was born in Tennessee, February 29, 1816, a son of Benjamin and Sarah (Mathews) Britain, natives of Tennessee and Virginia respect- ively, and of Scotch and English origin. The family were among the first settlers of Tennessee. When Joseph was about fourteen years of age his parents removed to Illinois and settled in Cass county. There he was married, in 1835, to Miss Marthena White, a native of North Carolina, and a daughter of William R. and Rachel (Cowen) White; she had been taken to Illinois by her parents when a child.

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Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas, Part 103

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