USA > Texas > Dallas County > Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas > Part 105
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Mr. Bryant is a member of the Knights of Honor and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his wife are earnest mem- bers of the First Baptist Church of Dallas.
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Mr. and Mrs. W. N. Bryant have had twelve children, seven of whom are still liv- ing, namely: Irving H., Helen Elva, Giddie Randall, Wolfred Parsons, Jessie Fay, John William and Claude Achilles. Four of their children are grown and two are married. Mrs. Nellie Medders, the oldest daughter now living, resides in Dallas, Texas, whose three children are a source of unceasing comfort to their grandparents. The oldest daughter, who was born during the war, bore the typi- cal name of Secessia, and it is a singular co- incidence that, on the very day and hour when the Federal troops landed in Galveston the father, who was fifty miles away witness- ing the disembarking of the troops and their occupation of the city, received the sad and heart-rending news of the death of his Seces- sia, who died simultaneously with the beloved canse of which she bore the hallowed name!
UDGE LAUCH MOLAURIN .- Among the prominent attorneys and judges of this county stands the subject of this sketch. He is a native of Mississippi, having been born there January 18, 1854. His parents were Dr. H. C. and Harriet (Lane) MeLaurin, natives of South Carolina and Mississippi respectively. The father was a physician and surgeon of good repute, and an Eller in the Presbyterian Church for many years. His wife, a member of the same church, is still living, although her husband died in 1880, aged sixty-seven. His wife is now sixty-three. They had seven children, four yet living.
Our subject was educated and graduated in the University of Mississippi, in the class of 1874. He began reading law, his pre- ceptors being Governor Robert Lowry and
A. G. Mayers, the firm being Mayers & Lowry. In October, 1875, our subject was admitted to the bar and began practice the following January, at Port Gibson, Missis- sippi, with Septun Thrasher, under the firm name of Thrasher & McLaurin. This firm continued one year, when Mr. Thrasher re- tired, and Mr. McLaurin formed a partner- ship with J. McC. Martin, which continued until April, 1883, when our subject was inade Chancellor of the Tenth Judicial Dis- trict of Mississippi, being one of the youngest judges Mississippi ever had. He served one term of two years, on the recommendation of the bar of that distriet. So popular was he that he was again elected and served three years, but resigned in 1890 and came to Dal- las, where he has conducted a large practice ever since. He was alone until June, 1891, when he formed a partnership with Mr. John Bookhont, the firm being Bookhout & McLaurin. This firm has been very success- fnl, having all that it can possibly do.
He was married April, 1881, to Ida, daughter of Dr. Joel K. Stevens, late of San Antonio, Texas. He was a surgeon in the United States army until he went to San An- tonio, Texas, to live, after serving through the Mexican war. He raised a company in the late war, and was killed near Mansfield, Louisiana, in the Banks' expedition. His wife is still living, aged about sixty-seven. She lives with her son, Lieutenant R. R. Stevens, of the United States army, at Hot Springs, Arkansas. IIer three children are: Mary, wife of M. T. Alford, of Hot Springs, Arkansas; Lieutenant R. R. Stevens, un- married, a graduate of West Point, having been on the frontier since his gradnation, being very snecessful in managing the In- dians. He had charge of the pioneer party that went to examine the new country among
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the Ute Indians. The third child is Mrs. McLaurin. Mrs. Margaret Stevens, mother of these three children, is a niece of Colonel McCrea, a Revolutionary officer.
Both Mr. and Mrs. McLaurin are members of the Presbyterian Church, of which the former is an Elder. Mr. McLanrin is a member of the Masonic order and of the K. of P. He and his charming and accomplished wife are very popular among the people of Dallas, where they are well known and highly respected.
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C. ARDREY is a native of Wilkinson county, Mississippi, and a son of James M. and Susan F. Ardrey. His father with his family emigrated to Texas in 1843, locating in San Augustine county. He was a lawyer by profession, practicing in the courts at San Augustine and in the other counties belonging to that judicial district, as well as in the Supreme and Federal courts at Tyler. He was elected to represent his county in the Legislature in 1856. He died in 1857, at the age of forty-five. His widow survived him until 1865. Mr. Ardrey's strict integrity, high sense of honor and marked devotion to truth, and his gentle- manly deportment, attracted the special at- tention of all who knew him. He was in every way an honorable and upright man.
Mr. Ardrey received an academic educa- tion. After leaving school in 1858 lie was appointed Deputy Clerk of the District Court of San Augustine county, which position he filled until the fall of 1860, when he accepted a position as clerk of a steamboat called Uncle Ben, on the Sabine river, running from Sabine Pass to Sabine town.
At the beginning of the war, in 1861, Mr. Ardrey was engaged in steamboating on the Mississippi river; and in June, 1861, while his boat was lying at Fort Adams, Missis- sippi, he enlisted as a private soldier in what was afterward known as Company E, Twenty- first Regiment Mississippi Infantry. Serving four years in the Army of Northern Vir- ginia, his company and regiment saw as much hard service as any in the Confederate . army, the subject of this sketch being pro- moted to the position of Second Lieutenant of this company just after the battle of Get- tysburg.
After the close of the war, Mr. Ardrey, in- stead of returning to Texas, his adopted State, located in Woodville, Wilkinson county, Mississippi, and in the fall of 1865 was elected Clerk of the Circuit Court of that county, filling that position for about three and one- half years, when the State was placed under military rule and all State and county officials who were ex-Confederates were removed from office.
In November, 1868, Mr. Ardrey married Miss Susie A. Downs, of Wilkinson county, Mississippi, and in January, 1872, returned to Texas, locating in the town of Dallas, and for a short time was engaged in the mercan- tile business. Disposing of his interest in the business, he was shortly afterward en- ployed as Assistant County Treasurer of Dal- las county, which position he filled abont five years, when he engaged in the real-estate business with a partner, under the firm name of Prather & Ardrey. This firm has been one of the mnost progressive doing business in Dallas. They have laid out and developed several important additions to the city. Mr. Ardrey is a progressive business man, and has been concerned in some of the heaviest real-estate transactions in the city.
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
In religion he is a Baptist, and in politics a Democrat. IIis daily life characterizes him as a gentleman of manly instinets, of honor, ability, courage, and of deserving popularity.
ILLIAM H. BEEMAN, a pioneer of Dallas connty, Texas, was born in Greene county, Illinois, in May, 1827, the third in a family of ten children born to John and Emily (Honeycutt) Bee- man, natives of Georgia and South Carolina respectively. The father moved to Illinois in an early day, settling near Alton, where he was subsequently married. He was a farmer and millwright by trade, and also ran a ferry and wood yard in Illinois. He emi- grated to Texas with horse teams in 1840, having bought 640 acres before starting, of a frontier trader, and located eighty miles from any settlement. The first six months he lived in a fort, and afterward located on land that is now within the city limits. He always made this county his home, and his death occurred in 1850; the mother is still living, residing on Ten Mile creek, Dallas county.
The subject of this sketch was reared and educated in Illinois, and at the age of fourteen years came to Texas and aided in opening up the home farm. He commenced life for him- self in Dallas, in the carriage and wagon makers' trade, and in 1851 commenced bnsi- ness for himself on Elm street, which he con- tinued about fifteen years. Mr. Beeman cleared the land where his three-story brick building now stands, known as Deering Block, on Elm street. After the war broke ont Mr. Beeman moved to his farm, where he has seventy-seven acres in a good state of cultivation, having given most of his
land to his children. He was married in Dallas county, in 1851. to Martha Dye, a native of Virginia, and daughter of Benja- min and Sarah Dye, also natives of Virginia. The parents settled in Kentucky in an early day, and in 1847 came to Dallas, where the father died, in 1852, and the mother a few years later. Mr. and Mrs. Beeman have had ten children. The living are: J. E., in East Dallas; Nevada; Addie, wife of Benjamin Saye, of Dallas county; Holly, of East Dallas; L. O., at home; and Roxie, also at home. Mr. Beeman has seen the complete develop- ment of Dallas county, and rode in the first wagon that ever came into Dallas. Politi- cally, he is a Democrat, has always taken an interest in everything for the good of the county, and aids materially in all public en- terprises. He assisted in the organization of the county, having ridden 140 miles on horse- back to see the judge and get an order to organize.
OHN M. LAWS, a farmer and stock- raiser of precinet No. 1, Dallas county, was born in Chapel Hill, Tennessee, February 4, 1831, the second in a family of three children born to John and Penelope (Minton) Laws, natives of North Carolina. The father was a farmer by occupation, and moved to Red River county, Texas, in 1845, but two years later returned to Tennessee, where he died in 1875; his wife was de- ceased in 1834. John M. was reared to farm life and educated in the public schools of Tennessee. He came to Dallas connty, Texas, January 6, 1855, going by stage to Memphis, thenee by steamer to Shreveport, and again by stage to Dallas. He bought property in the city of Dallas, and lived there until 1875, when he purchased his present farm of 194
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acres. In 1861, Mr. Laws enlisted in Com- pany C, Sixth Texas Cavalry, and served un- til the close of the war. He was in the bat- tles of Franklin, Atlanta, Corinth, Holly Springs and in many skirmishes. After the war he returned to Dallas, where he has since resided. Politically, he is a member of the Democratic party, and in 1869 was elected Clerk of his county, and held that office until 1873. Socially, he is a member of James A. Smith Lodge, No. 395, A. F. & A. M., and has held the office of Treasurer of Tannehill Lodge.
Mr. Laws was married in this county, Sep- tember 9, 1859, to Fannie K. Smith, a native of Alabama, and daughter of Rev. James A. and Ann (Killen) Smith, natives of Tennessee and Virginia. The father was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and came to Dallas county in 1847, being the pioneer minister of this county. The father died in 1883, and the mother in 1860, both in this connty. Mr. and Mrs. Laws have had seven children, only one of whom survives,-Pen- elope, now Mrs. Samnel T. Sayer, of Mon- tague county, Texas. Mr. Laws lost his excellent wife by death, in 1876. He has seen the full growth and development of this county, and has always taken an active part in everything pertaining to its good.
HOMAS BOWLES, one of the early settlers of Dallas county, was born in Christian county, Kentucky, in 1841, the third of ten children born to Austin and Ann (Athey) Bowles, natives of Kentucky and Virginia. The father was a farmer by occupation, and remained in Kentucky until his death, which occurred in 1879, and the inother died during the war. Our subject
was reared and educated in his native county, where he took np the carpenter's trade, and followed the same abont twelve or fifteen years. Mr. Bowles was in the Quartermas- ter's department with Captain Julien Fields, in Dallas during the war. He came to Dal- las county, Texas, in 1860, where he opened up and improved a farm of 175 acres on the waters of White Rock, and in addition to this he now owns four tenement honses in Dallas, which he rents.
Mr. Bowles was married in Christian connty, Kentucky, to Susan Pyle, a native of that county, and daughter of Ford Pyle, an early pioneer of Kentucky. Politically, Mr. Bowles is a Democrat, and, religiously, his wife is a member of the Baptist Church.
HE URSULINE CONVENT AND ACADEMY, Dallas, Texas .- On one of his pastoral visitations through northern Texas, Bishop Dubuis of Galveston conceived the idea of establishing an institu- tion of learning in the new town of Dallas, which then gave promise of a brilliant future. With the zealous prelate to think was to act. Ile accordingly communicated his design to the Ursuline ladies of his episcopal city, requesting them to assume the undertaking as early as possible. The death of a promi- nent member of that community, who was among those named for the enterprise, delayed for a time its execution, but in the course of a year or two, the subject was again consid- ered, and thus on the 27th of January, 1874, a colony of six professed Ursulines, with Mother St. Joseph Holly as Superioress, and Mother St. Paul Kauffman as Treasurer, arrived in Dallas. Rt. Rev. Bishop Dubuis, who escorted them hither gave them the pos-
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session of a small dwelling, consisting of two rooms 12 x 12, situated on the Sacred Heart Church property on Bryan street.
Half amused and much surprised at the aspect of their new domain, the ladies won- dered where they were to accommodate their young lady pupils. Save the bare apartments and the sympathy of newly made friends, the young community had in the beginning actually no means but the blessing of Heaven and their own feeble exertions. Gifted with no other endowment but that of the accom- plished education of its members, based upon a system of training that has withstood the test of centuries, nnited to the ready tact, which could adapt that experience to the needs of a new and rapidly developing coun- try, they bravely set their brains and hands to work to devise means and ways to prose- cute their mission-the instruction and edu- cation of young ladies.
It may here be remarked, that the Ursu- lines of Dallas seem to have inherited the pioneer spirit of their illustrious religious ancestors; for it is a noted historical fact that the Ursulines were the first religious of their sex to cross the Atlantic and to estab- lish an educational institution in the New World. We find them in Quebec, Canada, as early as 1639. The oldest community in the United States is likewise an Ursuline convent, of New Orleans, which traces its origin as far back as 1727, when Louisiana was still a province of France. So also were the Ursulines the educational pioneers of Texas.
From their very first introduction into the city, a cordial and generous bond of sym- pathy was established between the people of Dallas and the Ursulines, which has grown into the identification of their common interests.
During the first week, the usual cloister was disregarded by episcopal sanction. On the 2d of February the new academy was opened with but seven pupils; before the close of the session the number had increased to fifty. Year by year, every scholastic term became an improvement on the last. Parents in due time hastened to confide their children to the nuns' care, and the number of stu- dents soon ran up to the hundreds. These in time became the best advertisements for their school. Additions were hastily constructed to meet the growing demand. Scarce twelve months after their arrival, a large frame building was in course of construction. The Rt. Rev. Bishop advanced a few hundred dollars to aid our pioneer daughters of St. Ursula. This, with the profits of their own industry, defrayed the necessary expenses of the building, which still continues unchanged, save in the touches of wear discernible through the lapse of years. The beautiful gardens and shady grove, which soon appeared as if by magic, transformed the hitherto forest wild into a smiling Eden. For years their work continued here, and prospered beyond their most sanguine expectations. The educational labors of the Ursulines in Dallas have been always encouraged and appreciated by all classes and professions of men. Some there were eager to associate their names with the prosperous institution, by obtaining for it a wealthy endowment of landed property, etc., but at that time the ladies deemed it unsafe to venture on certain legal measures that would have thereby resulted, and for this reason they gently withdrew the views of their kind friends from this object, though the names of these friends are still gratefully cherished, and will be handed down in venerated memory within the cloister. In 1878, the institution was
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chartered under the title of the Ursuline Academy, by the Legislature of the State. A few years afterward, through the advice of their worthy chaplain Rt. Rev. J. Mar- tiniere, negotiations were opened, for the acquisition of a desirable property in the suburbs of the city. This resulted in the purchase of nine aeres of the Gaston place in East Dallas. The new location was given the name of St. Joseph's Farm. At the time of the purchase, it was a cotton field, sur- rounded by a vast waste of country as far as the eye eonld reach. Within the last eight years, the hitherto almost desolate region has grown into a beautiful, picturesque suburb, dotted here and there with elegant residences and cultivated gardens. In 1881 the present magnificent structure of the Ursuline Aead- emy of Dallas was begun, and the following year completed. It is of purely Gothic design, a marvel of beauty pronounced worthy of any city in the Union. The main build- ing is 150 feet long by 50 wide, and is of eream-colored briek with brown trimmings. The wing to the left was ereeted within the past two years, and is of very near the same dimensions.
Although the handsome edifice strikes the beholder with delightful gratifieation, as he views the charming proportions of its graceful arches and eurving galleries upheld by gran- ite-clothed pillars and crowned by the Gothic spires of turrets and pinnaeled roof. It was not long after its completion that fit surround- ings adorned the beautiful structure. Ere many years, smiling gardens and fruit-laden orchards, shady groves and a charming grotto enclosed the majestic buildings. Sinee its re- moval from the city, the academy has yearly increased in the number of its boarding students. No day pupils are admitted in this branch of the school. The primitive place on
Bryan street has been reserved for the day pupils, and is known as the parochial school. The attendance numbers some 200. Within the last year the Ursulines have also been indneed to open a day school in St. Patrick's parislı near the Cedars, which bids fair to rival the older one of the Sacred Heart. Rev. J. Martiniere, who welcomed the Ursulines to Dallas, is the worthy chaplain of the institu- tion. Mother St. Joseph Holly, known and loved far and wide, for her amiable qualities and efficient services, was laid to rest in the quiet convent cemetery on a dreary Deeem- ber day of 1884. She was succeeded in office by her tried friend and companion, Mother St. Paul Kauffman, whose business tact and ad- ministrative abilities have done much toward advancing the prosperity of the institution.
ARVEY PAGE, a shoemaker by trade, shoe-dealer, ete., was born in New Haven county, Conneetient, December 14, 1822. His parents were Andrew S. and Mary (Hobart) Page, both natives of Con- neeticut. The father was a farmer and shoemaker, tanner, etc. Ile raised a family of eight children, six of whom are still liv- ing: Henry, the oldest; Sallie, wife of Ben- jamin Foot, died in the '60s; Mary. wife of Lyman Beekley, still living in Connecti- cut; Frances married Obed T. Frisby, and still living in New Haven; Emily married first Mr. Barnes, and secondly Philo Hall, and is now deceased; J. Henry, living in Portland, Oregon, married Miss Fannie Hol- eomb; and William H., residing in Brooklyn, New York, and connected with a life-insur- anee company, married Miss Allen, of Brook- lyn. Our subject's father died in 1865, at the age of sixty-seven years. Ilis mother is
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living with William Harlem, in Brooklyn, New York; her age is now about ninety-two. Both parents and children are members of the Congregational Church.
Mr. Page was educated in the academies of Connecticut, has a good common-school education, having gone to school until he was near eighteen years of age. He worked with his father in his business, making and dealing in shoes, and this he has followed, as dealer and inannfacturer. He came to Ten- nessee in 1859, and to De Witt county, Texas, in 1862, then to another point and finally to Dallas in 1873, and has lived here ever since. While in Dewitt county he was the County Surveyor for two years.
He was married first in 1849, to Miss Harriet Page, not a relative. Their two chil- dren are: Fred H., who has been in a large shoe house as salesman for the past eigh- teen years; and Louis H., who is on the road for a Chicago house, and resides in Kan- sas City: his wife was Ida Stokes: their two children are Ralph and Irene. The mother died in 1858, aged thirty-two years, a mem- ber of the Congegational Church.
His second marriage was in 1860, to Miss Cordelia E. Nelson. Ella, their only child, is now the wife of Randie Crutchfield, of Blos- som, Texas. Their four children are: Har- vey, Mable, Fannie, Ernest.
Our subject has been an officer in the Con- gregational Church (Deacon) since he was twenty-six years of age. His wife and chil- dren are members of the Congregational Church.
Mr. Page has ever been alive to church and Sabbath-school work. He was one of the original members and Senior Deacon. He had more to do with it than any other man. He has seen the church grow from six communicants to 400, who had wor-
shiped in thirteen different places before they obtained a house of worship. The first was torn to pieces by a cyclone a week or two after it was dedicated; then they de- livered letter missives to the Congregational- ists of the United States, and obtained money enough to build the second. When that be- came too small they built the present com- modions church.
IIe is Senior Deacon in the Congregational Church, and in every way a most worthy Christian gentleman. He takes no active part in politics.
DWIN PRUITT, a promising young architect of Dallas, Texas, was born in the State of Arkansas in the year 1869, and is the son of Dr. John W. and Mary (Williamson) Pruitt. The father is still in active practice in Russsellville, Arkansas, but the mother died in 1889. They were the parents of four sons, of whom Edwin is the third-born. He received his elementary edu- cation in the public schools, and at the age of fifteen years went to Little Rock, Arkan- sas, for the purpose of studying architecture. Although a mere lad he had determined upon this profession, and entered the office of B. J. Bartlett & Co., with whom he remained two years. Then for a time he was with Or- lopp & Kusener, and then he went to Mem- phis, where he was with M. H. Baldwin & Co. until 1890. In December of that year he came to Dallas, Texas, and alınost immedi- ately began active work. He is architect of two massive and beautiful buildings on Main street that are unexcelled for perfection of proportion. He has a true love of his art, and is a faithfull student of the laws which
HIV. Chil dress
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govern it. Although he is only twenty-two years of age, his work shows him to be spe- cially endowed.
Mr. Prnitt is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and takes an active interest in the growth and progress of the order.
LBERT W. CHILDRESS, President of the Dallas Cable Railroad Company, and -broker and real-estate dealer, was born near Grenada, Mississippi, a son of Mitchell Childress, a planter, and Julia B., a daughter of Sterling O. Tarpley, of Big Springs, near Lebanon, Tennessee. Mitchell Childress died at Grenada in 1859, on one of his plantations, and his wife died at their residence in Memphis in 1863.
At the age of eighteen, in 1871, Mr. Chil- dress came from Memphis, Tennessee, to Texas, as a representative of Eastern financial houses, which, indeed, he still represents; and in visiting Dallas he sagacionsly foresaw its boom, and was one of the first to initiate it, being one of the pioneers in erecting large business houses in the city, and interested in some of the heaviest real-estate deals in the place. Ile erected a good building on Main street, extending back to Elm street. This is still regarded as one of the most substantial buildings in the city. He afterward opened the Fairview Addition to East Dallas, which under his energetic management has rapidly developed.
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