USA > Texas > Dallas County > Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas > Part 41
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APTAIN THOMAS FLYNN, a farmer and stock-raiser of Precinct No. 1, Dallas county, was born in Ireland in 1833, a son of Patrick and Margaret (Flynn) Flynn, also natives of Ireland. The father came to America in 1837, but was never heard from after reaching New York; the mother died abont 1881. Thomas was reared to farm life, and at the age of eighteen he joined the British army, serving five years. He was at the siege of Sebastopol, and served
in all the attacks before that city. At the close of the Crimean war, in 1856, Mr. Flynn left England and came direct to New York city, and thence to Loudoun county, Virginia, where he remained two years. In 1858 he came by water to Jefferson county, Texas, thence by ox teams to Hopkins county, where he engaged in brick making. In 1860 he sold out and came to Dallas city, where he engaged in the manufacture of brick. At the breaking out of the war in 1861, Mr. Flynn helped to raise Company A, Thirty-tirst Texas Cavalry, known as T. C. Hawpe's Regiment, of which he was elected First Lieutenant, and later Captain. He was in the battle of Spring Creek, Missouri, was taken prisoner at Neosho, Missouri, was confined at Springfield, same State, then at McDowell's College, next at Alton, Illinois, thenee to Camp Chase, Ohio; was exchanged to City Point, Virginia, and later engaged with the same company and regiment. He was in the Red River expe- dition against Banks. At the close of the war he was at the mouth of Oyster creek, Texas.
After the war Mr. Flynn was engaged in the manufacture of brick until 1875, when he moved to his farm of 310 acres, about eight miles from the city of Dallas, where has a good brick residence and other buildings. He also bought 140 acres of the old Money- ham homestead, owning in all about 500 acres. Mr. Flynn held the office of City Marshal of Dallas in 1872-'73, has taken an active inter- est in the Democratic party, and socially is a member of James G. Smith Lodge A., F. & A. M. He was married in Dallas, in 1873, to Jimmie Coleman, a native of Todd county, Kentucky, and daughter of Mr. Coleman, an early settler of Tarrant county. Mr. Flynn lost his excellent wife in 1874, and May 16, 1877, in Dallas county, he married Eliza J.
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Terry, a native of South Carolina. She was the fourth in a family of nine children born to Asbury and Winnie (Graydon) Terry, natives of Greenville, Lawrencedistriet, South Carolina. They were married in their native State and in 1841 the father started for Texas but did not arrive there. His death occurred in Mississippi, in 1850. The mother came to Dallas county in 1871, and her death oeeurred in 1889 in West Dallas. Mr. and Mrs. Flynn have one child, James T.
W. ABRIGHT, of the firm of Sonne- field, Emmins & Abright, contractors and builders, Dallas, came to this eity in 1883, engaging in his present business. The present partnership was formed Angust 14, 1891. Mr. Abright has ereeted the Gonld building and a fine residence on the corner of Ross avenne and Harwood street, the Dargan building on Commerce street, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas passenger depot, the Frank Hamm building on Elm street, the Dallas City Water Works, the residence of J. B. Simpson on Maple avenne, and many other fine buildings of lesser note, and a bank in Waxahachie; and since the partnership was formed the firm has erected the Dallas county jail, the Bowie county courthouse and jail at Boston, Texas, and inside finish of Dallas county courthouse.
Mr. Abright was born in the city of New Orleans in 1858, the only child of R. W. and Elizabeth (Murphy) Abright, father a native of Ohio and mother of Ogdensburg, New York. Ilis father went to New Orleans when a young man, was a joiner and builder, and died there, in 1858, of yellow fever. The subject's mother came to Dallas in 1884 and resides now on Pacific avenue, the wife of
D. F. Buekmaster. When grown up Mr. Abright went to Shreveport to learn his trade. HIis first contract was for the New York Lumber Company at Alexandria, Louisiana, putting up their mills, etc., which structures cost about half a million dollars. After that he came to Dallas, and has since taken an active interest in the welfare of the city. On State and national questions he votes with the Democratic party.
He was married in Shreveport, in 1880, to Anna Davies, a native of New Orleans, and daughter of Reese and Mary (Williams) Davies, natives of Wales, who emigrated to the Crescent City before the war. Mr. Davies was foreman in a dry-goods store. He moved to Shreveport in 1869. The mother died in Shreveport in 1873 and the father in New Orleans in 1879. After his marriage Mr. Abright settled in Shreveport. He has had five children: Mary E., Anna M .. Isabelle, Robert W. and Arthur Reese.
AM HI. DIXON, Inspector of Texas State Penitentiaries, was born in Hays county, Texas, Ausust 4, 1860, son of Dr. Shadriek and Judith (Covington) Dixon. Dr. Shadrick Dixon was engaged in agri- cultural pursuits in connection with his pro- fessional work, and was a prominent man in his day. He was a member of the State Legislature of Alabama, in 1840 and 1841. and was a member of the Constitutional Convention of that State, of 1841, ho and ex-Governor O. M. Roberts serving in the Legislature together, the latter in the Senate and the former in the lower house. Ile was an officer in the Indian wars, and was one of the commissioners who removed the Indians west of the Mississippi. Ile came to Texas in 1853, spent the residue of his life here,
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and died at the advanced age of eighty-five years. He was born in North Carolina, February 29, 1800, and died February 14, 1885. He was a member of the Baptist Church and of the Masonic fraternity, and was held in the highest respect by all who knew him, his word being his bond and his name a synonym for honest and square dealing. His wife was born in 1813 and is still living, an honored resident of the old homestead in Hays county, a devoted Chris- tian and a member of the Baptist Church. She is the mother of sixteen children, ten of whom are living. One son, Benjamin F., is an eminent divine in the Baptist Church, stationed at Gonzales, Texas. Another son, Dr. W. C. Dixon, is a prominent physician of this State. During the late war he served with distinction as a surgeon in Lee's army.
Sam H. Dixon received his education at Baylor University, graduating with the class of 1878, Dr. William Cary Crane, one of the most eminent educators of the South, being president of the University at that time. The four years following his graduation he was engaged in teaching, and while thus em- ployed won the respect and esteem of both the pupils and patrons. After that he was engaged on the Galveston News. Next he secured a position as clerk in one of the departments at Austin, and was subsequently elected journal clerk of the Twentieth Legis- lature. He was then appointed by Hon. L. L. Foster, commissioner of agriculture, insurance, statistics and history, as Chief Clerk of the Agricultural Department, which position he held two years. At that time he was elected by the Board of Direc- tors of the Farmers' State Alliance as editor of their State organ, The Southern Mercury, and continued in the editorial chair until January, 1891, when he was elected Chief
Clerk of the House of Representatives of the Twenty-second Legislature, without opposi- tion. The caucus of the Democrat State Convention which met in San Antonio, in August, 1890, selected him as their secre- tary, to which the convention elected him without opposition. Soon after the adjourn- ment of the Twenty-second Legislature, Governor Hogg tendered him the position of Inspector of State Penitentiaries, to fill the vacancy made by the resignation of W. C. Holland, and the duties of this important office he is faithfully performing.
Mr. Dixon is prominently identified with the Farmers' Alliance. In June, 1891, in connection with a number of prominent l'armers, he established what is known as The Farmers' World, in opposition to that branch of the Alliance in this State which advocates the sub-treasury scheme. In 1890 he was elected by the Farmers' State Alliance as a delegate to the National Convention of that body at Ocala, Florida, he being one of the four delegates sent from Texas. This was one of the most noted conventions of farmers that ever convened in the United States.
As a writer Mr. Dixon has gained con- siderable note, the work of his facile pen being both interesting and instructive. He is the author of "Ten Nights with Big Foot Wallace, the Texas Ranger," a story of Texas border life, published in 1876; and "Agnes Dale, or, a Virginian in Texas," a story based on American and Texas history. His best known work, however, is "The Poets and Poetry of Texas," which contains bio- graphical and critical sketches of the poeti- cal writers of this State and selections from their works. This was published in 1885. He has in manuscript a novel entitled "Dix- onia; or, Lite on the Farm," his father being tho hero of the story. At present he
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is engaged in writing a novel to be called "The Ileir of Incero," a story of the Meier expedition.
Mr. Dixon is a man of family. Ile was married in 1880, to Miss Jennie Alice Wag- ner, of Robertson county, Texas, and they have had five children, viz .: Andrew Ran- dolph Pendleton, Katie Grace, Mary Judith, Sam Hayne and Stoddard. All are living except the second-born, Katie Grace, who died at the age of seventeen months.
Both he and his wife are members of the Baptist Church. He is also a member of the K. of P. and the K. & L. of II., while in politics he is a stanch Democrat.
Mrs. Dixon is a prominent worker in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, being Secretary of the State organization and editor of their State organ, The White Ribbon. She is a graduate of Baylor Col- lege, with the class of 1878, and is a woman of more than ordinary literary attainment and social grace. She has gained distinction as a writer on temperance and kindred sub- jeets, and in this line is doing much efficient work.
Mr. and Mrs. Dixon have been residents of Dallas since 1889 and are classed with the best citizens of the place.
R. ANDREW P. DAVIS, one of the leading practitioners of the homeopathic system of medicine in Dallas county, was born in Allegany county, New York, March 10, 1835, and is a son of George W. and Jane (Haywood) Davis, natives of the State of Connectient. The father was a noted physician and was recognized as a profound scholar and deep thinker in his day. He was a student of the science of medicine for six- 26
teen years before he began his practice in Indiana, and the habit of painstaking, patient research was inherited by the son, Andrew P. On account of the dishonest settlement ot his father's estate the Doctor was left to his own resources. He acquired a common-school edneation in the public schools, and took a more extended course at Wabash College, Indiana, where he made the most of his opportunities. He fitted himself for teach- ing, and while engaged in his profession he began the study of medicine about the year 1861. Ile first made an exhaustive investiga- tion of the eclectic system, after which he turned his attention to allopathy. For this purpose heentered Rush Medical College, Chi- eago, and was gradnated at that institution in 1866. Afterward he practiced that sys- tem of medicine constantly for about eleven years. Not content with his know- ledge of medicine in these two systems, he began the study of homeopathy, and gradu- ated at P'ulte Homeopathic Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio, in the year 1877, and this same year he graduated in ophthalmology, having taken a special course therein under the instructions of Prof. Wilson at Cinein- nati, after which he returned to Terre Haute, Indiana, where ho practiced for two years; then he moved to Corsicana, Texas, where he was the pioncer homeopathie physician of that place, and successfully and favorably in- trodneed that system in that community. Overwork and failing health foreed him to suspend his practice for the time, and he went to New York eity, where he attended a six months' course of instructions in the New York Ophthalmic College, and an in- spiration for still more pioneer work in the Lone Star State, in the Sunny South, -without unpacking his goods,-he returned to Texas, in the spring of 1880, and settled in Dallas,
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where he has remained almost all the time since. Five years of this period he devoted his time to general practice, and the educ- ation of his oldest and youngest sons in medi- cine, and graduated them both in the Hahn- nemann Homeopathic College at Chicago, Illinois, and settled them both in a lucrative and respectable practice in this city. The last five years of his time have been devoted to special practice,-ophthalmology and otol- ogy,-until within the last two years. Not having attained as much knowledge of medi- cine as was commensurate with the neces- sities of his desires, he attended another special course of instructions, under the auspices of Prof. E. II. Pratt, Chicago, Illi- nois, in orificial surgery, since which time he has confined himself exclusively to that branch of the profession, and enjoys the satisfactory commendation of all of his patrons in his successful cures of many diseases thought to be incurable.
He has been a regular correspondent of the Southern Homeopathic Journal, which is edited by one of his former partners. He is a clear and logical writer, and his articles are eagerly read by the members of the profession. The homeopathic system of medicine has found in Dr. Davis a stanch and able champion, and a conscientions adherent to its principles.
AMES K. PALMER, Superintendent of Public Instruction for Dallas county, Texas, has done much toward building up the educational interests of the county. He is public-spirited and progressive in his methods, and to his efficient and untiring efforts much is due. It is with pleasure that we present on these pages the following sketch of his life.
James K. Palmer was born in Missouri, October 22, 1847, son of Thomas and Mi- nerva (Shrewsbury) Palmer, natives of Vir- ginia and Kentucky respectively. IIis father was a successful farmer and a highly re- spected and public-spirited citizen. He was in the Black Hawk war during the entire en- gagement. In the Christian Church he was a prominent and active member, and by all who knew him he was esteemed. About 1845, he moved from Virginia to Missouri, and in 1866 went to Wayne county, Illinois, where he spent the residue of his life and died. His wife, born in 1827, is still a re- sident of Wayne county. She has been a member of the Christian Church the most of her life. To this worthy couple were born five sons and three daughters. One son, Samuel J., is deceased. One daughter and one son still reside in Wayne county, and three sons live in Texas. All were too young to take part in the late war.
The subject of our sketch received his edu- cation in Kirksville, in the North Missouri Normal School, and a two years' special training in the Central Indiana Normal School, at which he graduated in 1884. He has been a teacher for twenty-one years, has taught in all grades, and has made a marked success in his profession. He came to Dallas county in 1872, and has taught in Ellis, Tarrant and Dallas counties, chiefly in the country. In 1886 he founded the Cen- tral Institute in Dallas county, a school of four departments, primary, intermediate, pre- paratory and high school. He erected the building and established the school, the house and grounds costing $2,600, and was serving here at the time he was appointed to his pres- ent position. This school, both a public and a private one, has been of much value to Dallas county, and is still in a prosperous
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condition. For nearly three years Mr. Pal- mer has been superintendent of publie in- struction of Dallas county, and is now a candidate for re-election, his many friends feeling certain that he will remain in office.
Mr. Palmer was married in 1876 to Miss Rosa Carter, dangliter of John R. Carter, of Wayne county, Illinois, and after six years of happy married life she was called to her last home, aged twenty-two years. She was a most amiable woman and a devoted member of the Christian Church. October 28, 1888, he was again united in marriage with Miss Katie O'Brate, a native of Mis- sonri. At an early age she went with her parents to Kansas. Her education was re- ceived in Kansas City, and for seven years she has been engaged in teaching, in Kansas and Texas. Mrs. Palmer is a lady of much culture and refinement, is well posted on general topies, and, like her husband is deeply interested in edneational matters. Both are members of the Christian Church. Mr. Palmer is a member of the Masonic fra- ternity, having taken the blue lodge, chap- ter and Knight Templar degrees. In polities he is a Democrat.
OHN C. BIGGER, prominent among the successful legal lights of Dallas county, was born in Massillon, Stark county, Ohio, in 1844. His parents, Daniel and Martha L. C. (Michener) Bigger, were natives, respectively, of Pennsylvania and Ohio. His father was a popular druggist, and was noted for his upright, honorable character, while his mother was related to some of the first families of the Buckeye State, and was greatly esteemed beeanse of her intelligence and amiability of character.
The subject of this sketch was the eldest of a family of three children, and received his primary education in the public schools of Massillon and Freeport. Illinois, where he resided until he was eighteen years of age, when, on August 10, 1862, he enlisted in Company F, Ninty-Second Illinois Infantry, as a Corporal, at Freeport, Illinois.
He participated in many battles, the hard- est being that of Chickamagua, and served his country faithfully until 1864, when he was honorably discharged, by a special order of the War Department as First Sergeant. He never missed a day from duty, and es- caped without a wound.
On returning home he entered the Univer- sity of Michigan and graduated in law in March, 1868, when he at once began the practice of his professon in St. Louis, Mis- souri, where he remained until 1875; then he came to Dallas, Texas, where he has since lived. He has been very successful in the practice of his profession, has a large patron- age, and is highly endorsed by his brother attorneys at Dallas and elsewhere, as well as enjoying the respect of the various com- munities in which he has the pleasure to reside.
Mr. Bigger was appointed United States Attorney by President Arthur, in 1882, and served until 1885, continuing under Presi- dent Cleveland. He is now President of the Dallas Republican Club, Assistant Adju- tant General Department of Texas G. A. R., and a member of the Republican State Execu- tive Committee. He has prosecuted the true principles of Republicanism with vigor, and is well and favorably known thronghont the State and country as a rig, sinaggressive, energetie and capable gentleman. Hle has twice been the nominee of his party for Con- gress. Socially, he is a Royal Arch Mason.
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Of naturally superior intellectual powers, combined with rare judicial acumen and an energetic disposition, Mr. Bigger has carved his fortune unassisted 'ont of the marvelons possibilities of the magnificent Lone Star State, while his probity and kindness of heart have gained for him the universal friendship of his fellow men.
In 1884, Mr. Bigger married Mrs. Judge Thurmond, an estimable lady, and the widow of an eminent jurist of Texas. They have one child, a beautiful daughter, now six years of age.
AJOR FRNCIS M. ERVAY was for many years closely identified with the business interests of Dallas county, but is not at present in active busi- ness. He was born in the State of Pennsyl- vania, in 1836, and is a son of Jacob and Sophia (Sligh) Ervay, who were also na- tives of the Keystone State. His father was born in 1801, and in 1849, while en route to the West, died of cholera at Cleveland, Ohio. His mother is still living, aged eighty-two years, and resides at Springfield, Missouri. They reared a family of ten chil- dren, all of whom are living, our subject be- ing the fifth in order of birth. He received his education in the common schools, and was early engaged in agricultural pursuits, in which he was employed at the time of the breaking out of the Civil war. He volunteered in 1861 as a private in Company I, Fourth Pennsylvania Cavalry, which a few months later was attached to the Army of the Poto- mac, and which participated in all the noted battles of that army, up to the close of the war. By successive promotions on the field, he rose to the rank of Captain and Brevet
Major. On December 1, 1864, in the charge upon the fort of Stony Creek, Virginia, Maj- ors W. B. Mays and Franeis M. Ervay led the assault on the rear of the Confederate forts at the head of 200 monnted men of the regiment. They charged, pistol and saber in hand, and compelled the surrender of 200 men, three pieces of artillery, and a large amount of stores. The Confederates found themselves virtually surrounded, and sur- rendered to a number not equal to their own. The attacking party set fire to the Confeder- ate stores, to the railroad station and to the bridge over Stony creek, and hastily retreated with their prisoners, all of which was so quickly done that Hampton, whose head- quarters were only four miles distant, had no time to retrieve the losses of the day, al- though he attempted to do so. In this dar- ing assault, Major Ervay was twice wounded, from the effects of which he has never fully recovered. He was sent to the hospital imme- diately after this assault, and remained their until February 17, 1865, when he was honor- ably discharged on account of physical disabil- ity. He then located at Cleveland, Ohio, where he successfully engaged in the oil refinery business until 1869, when he came to Dallas, Texas. Here, he was interested in various lines of business, meeting with marked sue- cess in all his undertakings. His brother, Henry S. Ervay, preceded him to the South- west by twelve years, making a name for himself in the leading commercial circles of the county.
Mr. Ervay was married, in 1858, to Miss Sarah A. Ross of Pennsylvania. One child, Ida, was born in 1859, and died in Texas in 1870. The mother died in the same year. Mr. Ervay was married a second time, 1872, to Mrs. Elizabeth Taylor, a member of one of the pioneer families of Dallas county. They
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had two children, Harry Frank, who died at the age of ten years, and Estelle, the only sur- viving child. Mrs. Ervay had two children by her first marriage.
Major Ervay is a member of the Masonie order and a Knight Templar. He has for twenty years been an active member of the Church of the Disciples of Christ (Christian). He has been a member of the Dallas School Board, a zealous worker, and has ever attested the genuineness of his desire to see the com- ing generation well equipped in mental at- tainment for the duties of American citizen- ship. As a citizen, no man in the city of his residence more fully enjoys the confidence and esteem of those among whom he has lived for twenty-three years.
WILLIAM SMITHI, a farmer and stoek raiser of Precinet No. I, Dallas county, was born in Halifax county, Virginia, in 1821, the only child of Alexander and Naney Smith, also natives of Virginia. The father died in his native State when our sub- jeet was but a child, and in 1840 he moved to White county, Tennessee, where he learned the cabinet maker's trade, in Sparta. He afterward followed the shoemaker's trade for many years, and also worked at the same after coming to Dallas county. Mr. Smith subsequently returned to Virginia and brought his mother to Tennessee, and in 1855 he came to Dallas county, Texas. In 1858 he bought 256 acres of raw land, which he subsequently improved, and he now has his entire farm under a good state of cultivation.
Mr. Smith was married in Virginia, in 1841, to Snsan H. Morris, a native of Vir- ginia, and daughter of Sophia (Herndoy) Morris, natives of Virginia. The father died
in his native State, and the mother afterward married James Dillen, and in 1855 they came to Dallas county, but both are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have had nine children, viz .: Mary, widow of P. A. Winn; Sophia, wife of W. S. Cummins, of Plano, Texas; James H., who is married and resides on the home farm; Altimesa, wife of George Seers, of Dallas; John C., a resident of Cedar Springs, Dallas county, Texas; Sally Jane, wife of A. G. White, of Bethel, Collin county, Texas; Susan, of this county; and W. H., who is married and resides in Fort Worth, Texas. Mr. Smith affiliates with the Demo- eratie party ; socially, he is a member of James A. Smith Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and of Tannehill Lodge, No. 52, Dallas; and religionsly, both he and his wife are members of the Cochran Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church.
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