Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas, Part 23

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 23

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).

" Memorial day! How much is embraced in those two significant words! Each rising mound but marks the spot where some loved one sleeps. 'Somebody's darling lies buried there.' We have garlanded their graves and wreathed with flowers each soldier's narrow bed. One held aloft the stars and stripes, the other grasped, with equal heroism, the stars and bars. During the dark days of bloody strife those brave men faced cach other on fields of death, which made mothers

weep and orphans wail, till all this blessed land of ours was bathed in tears. But when the olive branch of peace spread its loving foliage o'er our land it dispelled the dark and gloomy clouds of war, and broke the bright and glorious day once more, and then those surviving met each other face to face and smoked the pipe of peace in one eternal truce. While we to-day with loving hands were garlanding the graves of our departed com- rades, we cannot help but feel that some sainted mother, long since gone beyond the great river of time, was spreading her angel wings over us in heavenly benediction on the loving services we were doing to the incinory of some loving son, who sacrificed his life on the altar of his country. Our beautiful land has had its baptism, a baptism of blood, and we have come out cleansed and purified, and the soldier of America has risen like a Phœ- nix from the ashes of his desolation and has achieved almost the acme of national great- ness,-but at what a sacrifice! To-day the soldier of the North and the soldier of the South mingle together their tears while pay- ing tribute to the memory of the heroic dead, whose glory, whose memory is the common heritage of America. And may all the heroic dead, whose dust lies scattered over the battle- fields and in many a flowery city of the dead, rest in eternal peace, and their spirits from the grand army above spread their loving wings over this land of peace, to secure which they, like the martyrs of old, laid down their lives on the altar of their country. The memory of a Grant, a Lee, a McPherson, a

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Jackson, a Logan and a Johnston is a com- mon heritage to all, and the memory of those illustrious chieftains, who covered themselves with a mantle of glory contending for a prin- eiple which they believed to embody the grand principles of American liberty, belong to the blue and the gray alike.

"We, of to-day, have lived to see the ani- mosities of the war die ont, and the snow- white dove of peace spreading her wings over a free, contented and happy people, and we see the soldiers and chieftains of both armies marching side by side to the musie of a re- united brotherhood. We behold great Con- federate leaders mourning at the death of great Union captains and soldiers of the Fed- eral armies, and to-day the soldiers of the Union army are sorrowfully placing flowery chaplets on the graves of their brave and great opponents. To-day we have no North, no Sonth, no East, no West, but one common country, one common object, i. e., the paying tribute to our heroic dead. Children of the same family, attending in our youth divine services in the same tabernacle, lisping lov- ing words to the great God of love in our childhood at the same Sabbath-school, and finally separated in bloody strife by a bloody fratricidal war, we to-day feel that we are gathered once more around the old hearth- stone, and worship the God of our forefathers, sheltered and protected by one common flag. That there should have been for a time heart burnings and sectional animosities is but natural; but now there has come to us, through the light of a renewed prosperity, a

greater tolerance and a deeper respect, a hope for a grand national future to be transmitted to our children-born, it may be true, from the echoes of thousands of marching feet, from the heroie courage of many a battle- field, from the lonely cot in many a hospital. History has written on many a page the heroie bravery of the sturdy son of the North and the impetuous son of the sunny South alike, and we of the blue and the gray, for ourselves and our children, ean thank the God of love that from the chilly elime of Alaska to the flowery everglades of Florida, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, we are one free, undivided and happy people, and rever- entially kneel under one banner of universal liberty, and thank Divine Providence for our renewed prosperity and an unbroken Union. To you, my brothers and friends who wore the gray, I, who wore the blue, for myself and my old comrades in arins, can say with true and heartfelt sincerity that you have made a record for devotion to a principle, bravery on the field of battle and loyalty in time of peace that is worthy the emulation of the civilized world, and added an addi- tional Inster to the stars that illuminate the written and unwritten record of the Ameri- ean soldier; your record is ours and ours is yours, and when future generations look baek your children and our children will have an equal pride in claiming that their forefathers were American soldiers.

"I see around me to-day a large attend- ance of ladies. The women of America ! What a halo of glory clusters around the

HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

brow of that greatest, that purest of God's great creation, which by the magnetismn of love throws the mantle of protection from the temptations which surround the sterner sex, and, as in days of chivalry, to win whose love and approbation is the incentive to the great deeds of heroism which inspires the soldier to greater deeds of valor.

" Looking back a century ago, to the the mothers of the Revolution which gave liberty to millions of oppressed people, you see to-day, in this fourth generation, the same heroic fortitude and devotion that character- ized the heroines of our early history. The heroism and bravery of the women who gave loving and brave encouragement to the American soldier during that terrible winter at Valley Forge has been transmitted to their children of the present generation, who are fit representatives of their heroic mothers. What soldier within the hearing of my voice can look back and not cherish the memory of somne loving hand on the fevered brow of some comrade in arms, giving him words of encouragement and sympathy while lying wounded or helpless from discase in the hos- pital, while she lifted her hands in loving solicitude to the great father abovo, and lift- ing her eyes in heavenly benediction for the soul of some departed hero. History fails to record the equal of the women of America for heroic fortitude and moral bravery. Is it any wonder, then, that America should have produced a Washington, a Lee, a Grant, a a Jackson, a Mel'herson or a Johnston, and a liost of other illustrions chieftains, when

they drew from their mothers' breast the devotion to principle that has made every American woman a queen and every Ameri- can a sovereign? I see around me to-day the little ones who are the future mothers of a race of sovereigns, who, by the immutable law of nature, will vie with if not excel their forefathers. May God bless and protect the women of America, is the heartfelt and sin- cere prayer of every soldier.

" In conclusion, let us old soldiers, as was so eloquently and graphically described by Rev. Dr. Pierce yesterday in his memorial sermon, be able to say, when taps put out our lights and we hear the bngle call above, like St. Paul, 'We have made a good fight and are ready to depart.' Let us, while still in the field, bind in closer nnity the bond of fraternal fellowship and keep pure and un- sullied as the driven snow the great banner of liberty and the unbroken Union for which so much brothers' blood was shed, and the veterans of the North and the veterans of the South will be found side by side, working in fraternal harmony for our country's good, and cherishing and keeping green the mein- ory of our departed comrades, leaving such a memory as will be cherished and nurtured by the blessings of those we leave behind."

MAY 30, 1890.

The Memorial day exercises at the Trinity cemetery on this occasion wero a success. Promptly at 10 A. M., the procession moved from the G. A. R. hall down Elm and up Main street. W. F. Cottman acted as mar- shal of the day.

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

At the cemetery, where a large concourse of citizens helped very materially to swell the throng already there of the G. A. R. men, ex-Confederates and the woman's relief corps, the exercises were conducted in a hollow square around the G. A. R. cemetery lot, which is fourty-four feet square, raised about one foot above the surrounding ground, planted in Bermuda grass and surrounded by a row of brickwork five or six inches high.

The exercises which were had around this plat consisted first of the ritual programme of the Grand Army of the Republic, beginning the reading of general orders from national and department headquarters by the acting Adjutant for the day, Comrade E. G. Rust. An opening address by Commander J. M. Steere was followed by vocal inusie, " Rest, Spirit, Rest," by Messrs. Cole, Harris, Bolles and Cornett, a quartette of Dallas gentlemen, who kindly volunteered their voices for the occasion. Prayer was offered by Comrade Isaac B. Gibson, chaplain for the occasion. A volunteer bass solo by Mr. Cole followed this, and then the firing of the usual military burial salute by the Dallas light artillery, with music by the martial band.

The decoration of the soldiers' graves by the members of the woman's relief corps, assisted by the children, was a solemn and impressive ceremony, beautiful in design and execution. The graves numbered but five on the plat, and not only these, but every other old soldiers' grave in the cemetery was decorated, which had previously been desig- nated by a miniature flag of the United States.

During all the exercises, two color-bearers occupied the center of the plat, with the stars and stripes and the flag of the George H. Thomas Post. The entire programme was carried ont with precision and in good feel- ing, and the ex-Confederates present were pleased with what they saw and heard.

The line of march, going, was arranged to be on the street-car line leading to the ceme- tery, so that if an old soldier was compelled to fall out on the march the street car could carry him along.

The arrangement of the hollow square around the cemetery lot during the exercises gave all an opportunity to see the exercises and hear every word spoken. The quartette club, the burial salute and the military band added much to the occasion. Many ladies of Dallas were present and expressed themselves as pleased with the exercises.

After the singing of " America " by the entire andience present, the exercises closed to meet at the city park at 5 r. M. to hear the public speaking.

Colonel W. L. Crawford, the orator of the day, made a ringing speech, in the course of which he said:

" Who could have told twenty-five years ago that on the plains of Texas would have assembled to-day men proud of their national pages, who followed the standards of Grant and Logan and those that fought beneath the banners of Lee and Jackson ? And yet it is so. We look into one another's faces to-day. We are no longer Federals and Confederates. We are the mightiest race of people into

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

whose hands the God of the inevitable erer gave control of the destinies of nations or men, wrung from the Anglo-Saxon, Norman and Celts-a people born to rule wherever they may be domiciled. I rejoice in the se- renity of this day. I rejoice that a reunited people speak of Lincoln in words of blessing. Mothers whose sons yielded up their lives in the hopeless cause of the Confederacy owe their misfortune not to Lincoln, from whose lips an unkind or bitter word never sprung, whose heart in the midst of the most terrible and trying ordeal of war eternally and ever- more overflowing with the milk of humanity. Whether in shedding tears over the remains of the gallant Ellsworth; or whether we hear the words of cheer he spoke to the men of the army of the republic on the field of Gettysburg, Lincoln stands the same, a phil- osopher, statesman and hero. For myself, although I have turned the mile post of the history of life, I would shoulder arms again rather than see the chains of slavery put upon limbs. I would fight for the flag of my country again rather than see this union of states dissolved. I rejoice that the institutions of slavery are dead. (Applause.) I rejoice that this is an indissoluble union of indestruet- ible States, and I trust in God that it may always be perpetual to show to what lofty heights, what broad eminence, the Anglo- Saxon race under free institutions may attain.

" I rejoice, too, at our development. I rejoice that the little girls and boys of this generation are taught to reverence the graves of the fallen heroes of both armies. 1 rejoice

in this because it keeps afresh in this country memories of the men and women of the he- roje times of our war that ought not to perish. (Applause.) I regret that it could be found in the heart of any one to say that the sacri- fices of the women of the North or Sonth in the time of war should have been forgotten. (Applause.) I tell you that the spirit of the departed men of this country when they placed arms in the hands of their sons, and of the women who, with their own delicate hands and with their eyes bathed in tears, made tbe flag and gave it into the keeping of their sons, saying, 'Go, my boy, carry this flag where honor bids, and come back with it or upon it,' ought not to be forgotten. (Ap- plause.)

" We are charged with preserving and maintaining free institutions. Is there a man here who carried a musket that does not re- member some blessing from woman's lips that followed him from the old hearthstone to the battlefield? Is there one here who suffered with wounds in the hospital or on the field that has not occasion to gratefully remember the tender office of some blessed woman? Our children ought not to be per- mitted to forget them. Then you do a ser- vice to your country and justice to your own feelings of virtue when the mothers of to-day lead their little children and watch them strew flowers around the graves of fallen he- roos of both armies. The war, with its dis- asters to the cause in which the hopes of my young manhood were wrapped, and in which I offered my best efforts, ended leaving no

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stain on me. I rejoice at its results. I meet my brother man of the Federal army. I do not feel humiliated or degraded. Then I stood for my country as he stood by his; I stood for Texas, the State whose lone-star flag as a republic sheltered me in my infancy. I owe it to that State, my country. I fought for Texas as you fought for Massachusetts or New York. (Applansc.) In these times of peace we meet in good fellowship, each re- joicing that in the other he finds the hero worthy of his steel. How measure the glory of Gettysburg, of Fredericksburg, or of the last charge, where the current wave of seces- sion and rebellion reached its height? By the resistance it overcame. If the armies under Grant, Thomas and Logan had fought cowards, would Grant, Thomas and Logan and the brave men who stood beside them be entitled to the name of heroes? No one earns credit for striking a cripple; no man earns credit in this day for overcoming a foe not worthy of his steel. The unconquerable courage of the Confederate soldier made the glory of the Federal general. When we remember Grant let us look at him as a hero, let us see him as he handed back the sword to Lee. Place that to his credit. As we look to Lincoln let us remember every kind and generons act he did-that greatest of great men-and when you, my men of the Grand Army of the Republic, think of the Confederacy, remem- ber only her suffering and all that she lost in that most terrible of wars. Slavery abolished, I rejoice with you in these things; but do not charge that which made heroes in bitter-

ness to us. It was well that the war came when it did; that it was fought by the men who fought it and that it ended as it did end. We performed our duties faithfully and well, and we are thankful that there came from it a higher salvation-a better promise than the man who participated in it ever dreamed of. We can all rejoice in this day, returning as it will return blessed by the people of this country. May it, as each one of those here passes beyond the river to that eternal camp- ing ground, be an incentive to the closer union of the people of this country!

" We are to-day the superior of the earth. Let this inspire every American heart of to- day. This 65,000,000 of people, blessed as we are with our free institutions, located as we are, upheld by the strong arm of our Government, can defy the civilization of the world to put foot upon these grounds and conquer or harm us. (Applause.)"

TRINITY RIVER NAVIGATION.

While many skiffs and canoes had traversed the Trinity from Dallas to its mouth from the earliest settlement of the county, no steamboat had ever arrived at Dallas over this stream until in May, 1868, when Captain J. H. McGarvey and wife, with Philip Dugin, engineer, and one hand, arrived in a steamer called "Job Boat No. 1:" dimensions, 66 x 20 feet, bearing twenty-six tons' bur- den. This boat was licensed as the law re- quired to traverse the waters on Galveston and its tributaries.

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

Mr. McGarvey was indneed to steam up the Trinity to Dallas, for the sum of $500, paid him by the citizens of Dallas. After this boat remained at Dallas for many days, several of the citizens of Dallas took a trip down the Trinity in it as far as Mount East Fork. MeGarvey, as he progressed on this trip, discoursed to the citizens how the chan. nel of the river should be cleaned out in order to make the river navigable. On reaching Bois d'Arc island, about thirty miles by water of the two chutes that surrounded the island, McGarvey recommended that the main raft should not be interfered with, but that one chute should be closed and the other opened. It was so done, and it has ever since borne the name of " McGarvey's Pass."

After this the citizens became very enthu- siastic over the navigation of the Trinity river, and a boat was built and launched in 1869, with dimensions eighty-seven feet in length, by eighteen wide. It bore the name of " Sallie Haynes," named after Mrs. Gov- ernor Barnett Gibbs, daughter of Mr. Ilaynes, one of the leading merchants of the city, then the belle of Dallas, and one of the most beautiful young ladies of Texas.

Subsequently a memorial was circulated over the counties bordering on the Trinity, between Dallas and the Galveston, asking the legisla- ture to make an appropriation of $75,000 to remove the obstructions from the river, over- hanging timber, etc. This memorial was placed in the hands of the Internal Improve- ment Company, during Governor Edmund J. Davis' administration, and a bill was pre- 17

pared to meet the wishes of these citizens; but the legislature at that time being wild on railroad building, the bill, to use Colonel W. C. Wolff's language, " fell asleep in the hands of the committee, and has slept until this day."

A memorial was also presented to the members of the constitutional convention at the city of Austin, Texas, in 1869, of which the following is a copy:

" To the Honorable President and members of the Constitutional Convention, now in session at the city of Austin:

"Your memorialists, citizens of the county of Dallas, respectfully represent to your honorable body that the recent arrival of the steamboat Job Boat No. 1, Captain J. H. McGarvey, master, at the town of Dallas, establishes the fact that the Trinity river may be successfully navigated from the city of Galveston to the town of Dallas for six months annually, by the expenditure of a small sum of money in removing snags, leaning timber, and other obstructions between the town of Dallas and the mouth of East fork. An experienced steamboatman of twenty years' practice has proposed to citizens of Dallas county to remove all the obstructions in the river between the above designated points, so that boats of sufficient capacity to carry five hundred bales of cotton can be run on the river to Dallas for four months in the year, for the sun of five thousand dollars in specie. A project promising advantages so great to every department of industry and enterprise should demand the especial attention, not only of the people of Dallas county, but of the whole State. The benefits flowing to the people of Dallas county from the success of such an enterprise are not to be measured or

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

estimated by the small sum proposed to be expended; in faet, they are beyond enumera- tion, to the State, of opening up to success- ful navigation a stream penetrating her inte- rior a distance of seven hundred miles from the seaboard, seeuring the rapid settlement of millions of aeres of rich and fertile lands by thrifty and enterprising emigrants, which are now lying idle and yielding but little reve- nne to the State, and none to the owner. The saving in the single item of pine lumber in one year will fonrfold repay the amount ex- pended, besides the advantage of the great re- duetion in prices in the items of salt, sugar, iron and other articles of necessary consnmp- tion. The immense pineries of the counties of Anderson, Houston, and Walker, are almost valueless in their present condition, because of the slow and expensive means of trans- portation to the prairies, where every deserip- tion of pine lumber is in constant demand. Navigation to Dallas, three months annually, would reduce the price of pine lumber one- half, thereby bringing it within the reach of every farmer to supply himself for the im- provement of his farm and home.

"To raise the money by private contribution would naturally become onerous npon those who are determined upon the success of the enterprise, while those, for reasons whether selfish or otherwise, refusing to contribute, would reap an equal benefit. Therefore, your memorialists are impressed that a more proper and just course would be to levy a sufficient tax upon the property in Dallas county to raise the sum of five thousand dol- lars in specie, and as the citizens in the town of Dallas have signified their willingness, let the tax be so levied that one-third of the whole amount shall be paid by those owning property within the corporate limits of said town. Your memorialists are aware that more

properly this petition should be presented to the legislature when it assembles, but the delay of such a course would compel the loss of the advantages at least one season, and perhaps more, the importance of which needs only to be mentioned to commend its reason. Feeling that yon will not hesitate to act in a publie matter of so much magnitude, and especially when those to be burdened are asking the action, we therefore ask your hon- orable body to pass an ordinance authorizing the police court of Dallas county to levy and colleet a tax of five thousand dollars in specie upon on all property in Dallas county sub- jeet to ad-valorem taxation, said tax to be assessed upon the schedules or lists rendered to the assessor for the year 1868, said money to be expended under the direction of the police court in removing the obstruc- tions in the Trinity river, between the town of Dallas and East fork. Provided, that one- third of the amount shall be collected from property situated within the corporate limits of the town of Dallas; and provided further, that the tax levied shall not be more than twenty cents on the hundred dollars, except on property within the corporate limits of the town of Dallas, which may be taxed as high as sixty eents for each hundred dollars. DALLAS, TEXAS, June 4, 1868.

"Ben Long, M. Thevenet, J. A. Freeman. John Davis, Henry Noetzli, Jacob Vogel, Henry Brannon, Wesley Brannon, John Poin- dexter, J. Pinckney Thomas, Henry Boll, John Boll, John F. Barbier, Win. A. Hartze, Joshua Addington, John L. Pyles, H. C. Caldwell, D. J. Capps, Thos. J. Brown, W. W. Peak, T. A. Wilson, J. J. Applin, Ed. C. Browder, J. B. Louckx, J. H. Wilson, J. W. Galbreath, M. G. Pitts, T. J. Pitts, Howard Mereer, R. D. Jones, F. F. Green, Thos. S. Moore, R. W. Daniel, B. B. Howell, Daniel

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

Cornwell, Thos. H. Nance, John King, Sam. King. JJ. Peak, Jas. Galbreath, A. J. Gouffe, L. Von Gronderbeek, Otto Frick, F. L. Behing, L. P. Hauser, Jacob Vogel, Julien Reverchon, Win. Jackson, Jacob Tiler, Jas. C. Miller, S. H. Beeman, F. L. Churignon, J. D. Keaton, N. T. Johnson, W. A. Ilar- wood, J. M. Braun, E. W. Field, A. L. Car- nett, Martin Riggs, Win. Irwin, Wm. B. Cole, S. Mayer, Win. A. Riggs, W. II. Saunders, F. Davis, Wm. D. Waters, E. T. Myers, R. L. Sears, Frank M. Cox, Newton Hutchen, W. Von Gronderbeek, Alexins Barbier, F. Priot, G. Poitevin, J. Nnsban- Iner, M. Livy, J. MeCommas, Chas. G. Vin- gard, Allen Collins, N. B. Owen, R. B. Gan- naway, Jas. Winters, E. G. Bower, J. K. P. Record, N. M. Burford, T. G. T. Kendall, W. H. Ragsdale, J. M. Richards, Jonathan Petty, J. W. Bumpass, A. Pemberton W. M. L. Hall, J. W. Everett, Jas. O. Thomas, J. D. Kerfoot, W. Mays, John Chenault, John Coit, J. W. Cobb, T. B. Scott, H. L. Hicks, S. S. Jones, Sam. Dunaway, Isaac Jones, Enoch Strait, J. M. Martin, Isaac B. Webb, W. D. Chapman, Isaac Bates, Joseph Bigler, Raleigh C. Martin, R. D. Conghanour, Jas. H. Field, J. C. Drake, Jr., W. F. Flewellen, D. J. Ellis, J. K. White, Chas. R. Pryor, E. E. Russell, John P'. Isbell, S. B. Stone, J. J. Beeman, J. M. Pruitt, J. W. Miller, II. C. Smidt, Amon McCommas, W. J. Pruitt, F. N. Humphreys, J. P. Beeman, L. B. Sands, F. F. Ball, Tom Johnson, JJas. Mc- Commas, Andrew Pruitt, Q. J. H. Smith, T. J. Jackson, J. Jeffries, Lewis Pyles, G. L. Blewett, J. T. Corcoran, J. R. Fondren, J. B. Lowery, Geo. White, W. T. Gill, G. W. Hatter, Sam. Uhl, A. S. Clark, N. R. Fondren, George Marier, W. Cotton, John Candle, R. S. Guy, Wm. Waters, John Har- vey, Jerry Snow.

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Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas, Part 23

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