Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas, Part 104

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 104

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

About the year 1840, Mr. Britain and his wife removed to Henry county, Missouri, be- ing followed soon afterward by his father's family; his father and mother passed the re- mainder of their days in that county. He was engaged in farming in Missouri until 1848, wlien he removed to Texas. He was accompanied by his wife, their five children and a nephew, B. L. Cowand; they made the journey to the borderland of civilization with a team of horses, being a month on the way. Mr. Britain first settled on what was known as the Haney farm, now known as the Petty

847

HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

place; there he lived with his family in a shanty until he conld build a better house, and raised one crop. He afterward went to Navarro county and lived there one year, at the end of which time he returned to Dallas county, and for five years rented the Robert- son farm. He then purchased 100 acres of wild land, six miles southwest of the city of Dallas, and began the task of making a home for himself and family. IIe added to the first purchase in later years until he became the owner of 700 acres of Dallas county's best soil, where he followed agriculture and stock-raising until his death.

By his first wife, Marthena, Mr. Britain had twelve children. seven of whom are liv- ing, and six of whom were born in Texas: Mrs. L. J. Fleming, the eldest daughter, is fifty-four years of age; she has three children and six grandchildren, four of whom are living; D. L., the eldest son is engaged in the real-estate business in Henrietta, Clay county, Texas; he is the father of fourteen children, ten of whom are living; his eldest son, J. W., was a most estimable young man; he had reached the age of twenty-two years, and was Marshal of Henrietta at the time of his death; James M., the second son of Joseph, resides six miles southwest from the the city of Dallas; he has eight children, six of whom are boys, engaged in farming; Nancy M., the second daughter, is the wife of H. L. Fleming; she is the mother of eight children, six of whom survive, all boys; she has one grandchild; her home is in Dallas county near the old homestead; Sarah M., twin sister to Nancy M., died in Missouri at the age of four years; Joseph B., the third son, lived on a farm in Dallas county until the time of his murder, which occurred May 2, 1889, at four o'clock, A. M .; he was the father of three daughters and one son; Ben-

jamin M., the fourth son, is living at Sey- mour, Baylor county, Texas, engaged in the grain trade; he is the father of seven chil- dren, five of whom are living, two sons and three daughters; Martha E., the wife of J. W. Collier; she lived in Dallas county until the time of her death in September, 1889; she was the mother of eight children, six of whom are living, four sons and two daugh- ters; her husband was murdered November 1, 1887, while returning from Dallas; Annie, the fifth daughter, died January 4, 1864, at the age of eleven years; Frank H. lives in Swisher county, Texas, follows farming and stock-raising, the father of eight daughters, six of whom are living; George B., the sixth son, is living on the old homestead; he is the father of two daughters and a son; one danghter is deceased; Rachel C. died in Texas, in 1869, at the age of eight years.

Mrs. Marthena Britain died of small-pox, November 28, 1863, at the age of forty-three years, one month and nine days; her daugh- ter Annie was the next to follow, stricken by the same dread disease, five weeks later.

In the spring of 1864, Mr. Britain was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Strader, and six children were born to this union, five of whom were living: Ida, the oldest child and only daughter, died in 1867, at the age of two years; Adam W. resides in Wilbarger county, where he is engaged in farming; he is the father of one child; Edgar C. was one of the first settlers in Swisher county, Texas; Bert also lives in Swisher county: Wallace B. lives in Coleman county, Texas, where he is employed on a eattle ranch; Oris B. is a resident of Wilbarger county. In 1875, Mr. Britain was again bereft of his companion. Late in the autumn of 1876. he was united in marriage to Miss Amanda Shackelford, who bore him one danghter, the nineteenth

848

HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

child; she is named Alice, and was two years old at the time of Mr. Britain's death, March 8, 1880. He was sixty-four years and eight days old; his wife died in September, 1890; she was at the time living in Johnson county, where her daughter still resides. Mr. Britain and his first two wives were active members of the Baptist Church.

In early days he served as Constable, and in politics affiliated with the Democratic party. He was possessed of many excellent traits of character, and by his honorable and upright course in lite won the confidence of the entire community. The father of nine- teen children, he had sixty-four grandchildren, forty-nine of whom are living, and eleven great-grandchildren, nine of whom are living.

OHN J. CONROY, one of the staunch and reliable sons of Erin, was born in Ireland March 24, 1846, and is the son of Patrick and Nora (Ward) Conroy. His parents emigrated to America during his in- fancy, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where the father died. The mother is still living and resides in Baltimore. The father was a tanner by trade, and later followed the occupation of dairyman, which continued un- til his death. He died in 1886, aged sixty- eight years.

John J. passed his youth in Baltimore and received his education in St. Vincent's Col- lege. In 1861 he enlisted in the First Mary- land Infantry Regiment, as First Lieutenant of Company B, and was at that time fifteen years of age. (We doubt if this has a parallel on the Federal side during that long and bloody contest.) He served until the close of the war. Ile was promoted and came home as Major of their regiment, although

serving on many occasions as Colonel. He participated in many of the most noted battles, such as the first and second battles of Bull Run, Chancellorsville, the two battles of Fredericksburg, battle of the Wilderness, Slaughter Mountain, several minor engage- ments, and finally the battle of Gettysburg, where he was wounded seriously, though not fatally, five times. He was out of the service on account of wounds, all told about one year during the war. After the surrender he was apprenticed to learn the blacksmith's trade, serving for three years. In 1868 he went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he was em- ployed until 1876. In that year he went West, and was one of the first prospecting in the Black Hills. He purchased a claim at Deadwood, Dakota, adjoining the Hidden Treasure. He found nothing there, how- ever, and after remaining there four months, he started for the Big Horn mountain, pros- pecting as he proceeded, at one time being within hearing of the guns which killed Cus- ter. The day following, a band of thirty-five Sioux Indians attacked his party of nine, killed two and wounded three or four others, including Mr. Conroy. His party held the Indians at bay for seven hours, when they were relieved by the Hayden survey party, employed by the Government. The wounded were taken by them to the Crow Indian reser- vation. This accounts for the fact that Mr. Conroy was thrown among the Crow Indians.

He made friends with these Indians, learn- ing their language and to a certain extent adopting their customs. He traveled ex- tensively over this section, and bought the first claim at Deadwood, or Dakota Territy. After four years of prospecting on the fron- tier be went to Florida, where he resumed his trade. He was a partner there of P. Mc- Murray who was Mayor of the city of Jack .

849

HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

sonville, Florida. He remained there until the yellow fever broke out. Leaving Jack- sonville he went to Greenville, Mississippi; but did not escape that dread disease, yellow fever. However, the use of a very simple remedy saved his life. From Mississippi he moved to Arkansas, where he engaged in the manufacture of carriages until 1881. In that year he came to Dallas county, where he established himself in his early trade. As a workman in this line he has few equals and perhaps no superiors. He has also dealt largely in real estate, and has made consider- able money in this way. In 1890 he was elected Alderman by an overwhelming ma- jority, George T. Lack being the opposing candidate. He has made an efficient officer and has assisted very materially in the growth and development of the city. In the council he is now chairman of the Committee on Streets and Bridges. He was elected April 2, 1892, by the largest vote of any councilman in the city of Dallas; also from the largest ward in the city. He has always been alive to the business interests of the city of Dallas. He is progressive in his views and believes in keeping abreast of latter-day, nineteenth-century progress.

Mr. Conroy was married in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1872, and three children were the result of this union. The wife died and he was married the second time in 1883 in Dallas, Texas. Two daughters and one son were born in the last marriage. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Knights of the Golden Eagle, of the Red Men, and also of the A. O. U. W. He is a member of the Roman Catholic Church and is an ardent Jeffersonian Democrat. He has been the main advocate of some of the best ordinances now in force in the city of Dallas. In all his intercourse with his fellow citizens, both

private and public, he has been found true to every trust, competent and faithful in every position to which he has been called, and al- ways an upright, honorable man and a thoroughgoing and enterprising citizen.

B. TAYLOR, a dairyman of Pre- cinct No. 1, Dallas county, was @ born in Spartanburgh district, Sonth Carolina, May 16, 1844, the second in a family of five children born to Stephen and Matilda (Jones) Taylor, natives of South Carolina. The parents both died in 1857, in less than three months of each other. W. B., our subject, was reared and educated in his native State, and in May, 1866, he came to Dallas county. He and his brother drove a team through Illinois to Missouri by way of Georgia, northern Alabama, a corner of Mississippi, west Tennessee and Kentucky, taking a steamboat to Cape Girardeau, Mis- souri, and thence came to this county.

Here, in 1866, Mr. Taylor bought 550 acres of land, to which he has since added until he now owns 610 acres, all under a good state of cultivation. He has always taken an active interest in politics, voting with the Democratic party. Socially, he is a member of James A. Smith Lodge, No. 395, A. F. & A. M .; and religionsly, of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Cochran Chapel.

April 16, 1861, Mr. Taylor enlisted in Company D, Third South Carolina Infantry, for one year in the State service. He went first to Columbia, was drilled two months, next re-enlisted for one year in the Confeder- ate army, and at the expiration of that time an order came for all men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years to be pressed into service. Mr. Taylor was in the first

850

HISTORY . OF DALLAS COUNTY.

battle of Manassas, seven days' fight before Richmond, where he received a gunshot wound in the shoulder, was contined in the hospital at Richmond some time, and after his recovery returned to his regiment, just after the battle of Sharpsburg. He was also in the battles of Fredricksburg, Chancellors- ville, Gettysburg, Chickamanga, in the siege of Knoxville, battle of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor and Petersburg at the mine explosion, and was in the Shenandoah valley under General Early. After the battle of the 19th of Octo- ber, Mr. Taylor went to Richmond, then joined Lee's army. He was the only man in General Keshow's command to escape, and at the close of the war he returned to South Carolina, where he remained until he came to Dallas county.

Mr. Taylor was married in this county, in December, 1876, to Miss Z. Bachman, a native of Tennessee, and daughter of John and Margaret (Hughes) Bachman, also natives of Tennessee. The parents came to Texas in 1850, and settled in Dallas connty, where the father died in 1867, and the mother now re- sides with onr subject. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have had five children, namely: Maggie, Fletcher, Alice, Willie, Charles.

APTAIN JOIIN HUNTER, who re- sides at 686 Washington avenue, Dal- las, Texas, was born in New York city, June 4, 1831.

His parents were Alexander and Jane (Kyle) Hunter, both of Scotch birth. They were married in their native land in 1822. Both were members of the Presbyterian Church. The father was a gardener, and followed that occupation and farming all his

life. He was born August 6, 1793, and died December 6, 1869, aged seventy-six years. His wife, born about the same time, died December 26, 1863, aged seventy years. They were honorable and upright people, and reared a family to occupy useful positions in life. Following are the names of their eight children: William, a resident of Staten Island, New York; Johnston, a blacksmith by trade, died at Halifax, North Carolina, aged thirty-two years; Mary, wife of Michael Mallon, died at the age of twenty-nine years; John, the subject of this article; Alexander, who died at the age of thirty-three years; Margaret Ann, wife of IIenry Springer, re- sides in New Jersey; Eliza J., who died at the age of thirteen months, and Eliza (2), who lived only six months.

The subject of our sketch received his edu- cation in the private schools of New Jersey. He learned the trade of blacksmith. and fol- lowed that trade nine years.

When the war came on Mr. Hunter was among the first to offer his services to pro- tect the Union. July 16, 1861, he enlisted in Company C, Second New York Fire Zon- aves. He entered the service as a private, and after the battle of Antietam was made Captain, his promotion being made for bravery in action at that battle. The first en- gagement in which he participated was that of Williamsburg, Maryland, and there he was wounded in the thigh, from the effects of which wound he still suffers. He was in all the battles of the army of the Potomac up to and including Gettysburg. There, on July 2, 1863, at four P. M., he lost his arm by a shell from the enemy's gun, and was at once taken prisoner from the field. He spent the night in General Lee's headquarters, and it was three days and nights before he received anything to eat. What he suffered at that

851

HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

time can be better imagined than described. He was fourteen days a prisoner at Williams- port, Pennsylvania, and his arm received no medical attention nntil July 18, when it was amputated near the shoulder by Dr. Fitch, of the Union army, at Hagerstown, Maryland. He was paroled on the 16th, and as there was no hospital at Williamsport, went with four others to Hagerstown to be treated. Twelve days later he went to Frederick city, Maryland, remained in the general hospital there till October 10, and was then discharged and returned home.

After sufficiently recovering, Captain Hun- ter engaged in the milk business at Rahway, New Jersey, and continued thus employed two years. He was then engaged there as gatekeeper for the Pennsylvania railroad, the duties of which position he faithfully performed for eleven and a third years. After that he was in the cigar and tobacco business six years. His wife dying in 1891, he sold out, and in September of that year came to Dallas, Texas.

Captain Hunter was married, July 8, 1858, to Miss Jane Renton, danghter of Alexander Renton, of Rahway, New Jersey. They had six children, viz .: Jessie E., wife of Howard Tappan, of Sewaren, New Jersey, their only child being David; Jane I., wife of Benja- mfn S. George, of Sewaren; Katie B., wife of D. F. Fields, also of Sewaren; John R., a resident of Dallas, married Lulu Renner and has three children, Ross G., John F. and Susan; Anna J., wife of F. D. Fields, Sewaren; and Olive G., a graduate of the Rahway high school.

The Captain is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Rahway, as also was his worthy companion. He is a member and has been Senior Vice-Commander of the Twenty-seventh l'ost, Rahway, New Jersey,

and is also a member of John A. Dix Post, No. 11, Dallas, Texas. In politics he has never taken an active part, but has always voted with the Republican party.

N. BRYANT, commercial traveler for Marshall Chemical Manufactur- ing Company, of Kansas City, Mis- souri, and State agent for Texas and Lonisiana for the same company, has been a resident of Dallas, Texas, since 1874, and was reared in the Lone Star State.

His father, Major Charles G. Bryant, who was among the earliest settlers of Galveston, Texas, had been one of the inceptors and leaders of the patriot war in Canada, which culminated in 1837. He was captured by the British and sentenced to be shot, but was taken, surreptitiously, from the guards by his sympathizing Canadian friends on the night preceding the day set for his execution, and he escaped into the United States, a large reward being offered for his head by the British Crown. He, with others, immediately chartered a vessel and came to Texas, and was closely identified with the Lone Star Re- public from that time until her star was merged into the bright galaxy of the sister- hood of States, participating in her varying fortunes and thrilling scenes. He was killed by the Comanche Indians in 1850, at the age of forty-nine years, while faithfully serv- ing his adopted State in the capacity of Quar- termaster and Commissary of a battalion of mounted Texas rangers, and his remains lie buried where he fell in Refugio county, thirty-two miles from Corpus Christi and eight miles from Rockport. He was strictly a military man, his earliest boyish inclina- tions tending in that direction. It was he

852

HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

who drilled the Texas volunteer troops for the Mexican war, raising for that purpose the first volunteer company on Galveston Island. He was formerly Major General of the militia of the State of Maine, and was first in the boundary question between the United States and Great Britain at the Aroostook, on the Canadian border, in 1836. His marriage took place in Massachusetts about 1801, to Miss Sarah Getchell. They had eight chil- dren, the first five being born in Maine and the rest in Texas. The oldest, Andrew Jack- son, was midshipman in the Texas navy, and took an important part in all the engagements between the Texas and Mexican fleets off Y'ueatan in 1842-'44, where he was severely wounded and made a physical wreck for life. The most distinguished honors and highest encomiums were bestowed on him for his dauntless courage and unswerving fidelity to duty by the commanding officer of the Texas navy, Commodore Edwin Moore. Ile lost his life at sea by the foundering of the brig Galveston in the Gulf of Mexico in 1844, but his name and deeds are written in gold in the imperishable history of his country. One of the most pleasing and talented writers of Texas of those days thus apostrophizes the young hero:

" Poor boy, though thy young days have ended on earth,

Though thy grave is deep, deep in the sea, Yet, Bryant, we'll hallow thy name and thy worth, And thy deeds in defense of the free."

The youngest child, sister of the subject of the subject of this sketch, was Mrs. Welthea Leachman, nee Bryant, the wife of John S. Leachman, a prominent resident of Dallas and at present a commercial traveler for a large mercantile establishment of Dallas. Mrs. Leachman died in 1888, at her home in the latter city. She was the pronounced poet

laureate of Texas, contributing for many years to the columns of the Galveston News and other publications. A literary critic of the East, who is himself a bright luminary, said of her that "many of her productions should take front rank as being among the brightest gems of American literature." IIer poems, which will constitute a brilliant intellectual brochure, will some day be collected by the subject of this sketch and given to her be- loved Texas. She was a distant relative of William Cullen Bryant, and the divine affla- tus of the poetic muse, as in her illustrions ancestor, conspicuously marked all the ema- nations of her pen. Unfortunately for the literary world, the notes of this Southern song-bird are hushed, but her melodies still vibrate on numerous sensitized tympanums, and re-echo upon the celestial shores. All of her brothers seem to have been tinctured with the penchant for versification, and three of them have figured at various times as journalists of note. Charles C. Bryant, the veteran printer, who died four years ago in Dallas, published the Nueces Valley in Corpus Christi as long ago as 1851. He was also co-publisher with Mr. W. N. Bry- ant, of Bryant's Commercial Transcript, which was printed in the city of Houston, Texas, in 1865-'66. W. N. Bryant will be remembered as the publisher for fourteen years of Bryant's Texas Almanac and Rail- way Guide, a statistical and historical serial, which exerted a widespread and effective in- fluence in favor of immigration to Texas, which labor of love his failing eyesight forced him to resign, with the proud consciousness, however, that his book had probably been as potent a factor in the peopling and upbuilding of Texas as any of the multifarious ax-grind- ing, State-subsidized institutions, which have blazed up from time to time and flickered

853

HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

with uncertain light. His serial was widely known and recognized as a standard text book on Texas, commanding the attention and admiration of the English-speaking world. Another talented brother of the subject of this sketeh was D. C. Bryant, whose death occurred in Dallas in 1882. IIe also was a veteran printer and publisher of Texas, and was largely instrumental in molding a healthy publie sentiment within the scope of his influenee, firing his readers with a land- able ambition and stimulating an emulative spirit of public enterprise. He published the Democrat South at Corpus Christi in 1857, and at one time published the Acorn, at Oak- ville, in Live Oak connty, Texas, of which the suggestive motto or symbol was, "Tall oaks from little acorns grow," but, although it was a healthy and sprightly Acorn, it never attained the adult proportions of an oak. This paper was a terror to a band of cattle and horse thieves that infested the country in those days, and who committed what might be termed legalized depredations in the spring "round-ups," as they denominated the gen- eral branding occasions. The standard in this country at that time among that class and element for measuring men's worth was established with reference to their bravado in overriding and defying all legal restraints, and their high-handed disregard for all legal and moral rights. D. C. Bryant undertook the role of reformer, and tried to purge the community of some of the immoral practices of those times. In so doing, however, he came a "little too close" to some of the "prominent men" of that ilk, the conse- quenee being that they constituted them- selves a little more than a committee of one to wait on Mr. Bryant and invite him to desist by "looking up a tree." The hint was conveyed to him by Harry Hinton, one of

God's rough-hewn noblemen, an Indian seont and figliter of those days. When the self- styled " Vigilance Committee" songlit for Mr. Bryant in the "wee sma' hours," for the purpose of indueing him to add his quota to the contemplated festivities, he was conspic- mons for his absence, having taken French leave. The " Vigilants " destroyed the Acorn, seattering its fragments to the winds, the owner never returning to inquire the manner of its disposition or attempting further reformation. Edwin Moore Bryant, the youngest of the brothers, who resides in Corpus Christi, Texas, is likewise a versatile and prolific writer, and may justly wear the laurel as a composer of pure poetry.

W. N. Bryant, although having passed the half-century mile-post of life, has lost none of his accustomed vigor and energy, still possessing an inexhaustible amount of enthn- siasm on the possibilities of Texas, and easts with nntiring delight her future brilliant horoscope. The tablets of his memory contain one vast store of historical data, and, being nearly fifty-five years of age, and possessing a natural inclination and remarkable memory for things covered with the mold of time, ean relate many an o'ertrue and thrilling tale of Texas.

He was married, in 1858, at San Antonio, Texas, to Miss Elvira Wilkerson, daughter of E. A. and Mary Wilkerson, her parents hav- ing spent their early lives in Alabama. Mrs. Bryant is a lady whose attractions of mind and person render her a joy forever in her domestic world. Every surrounding of their beautiful little home in Dallas indicates the taste, refinement and culture of the occupants.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas, Part 104

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