Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas, Part 66

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 66

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Kansas City, Mo., August 11, 1887.

OHN F. CALDWELL, Anditor of the eity of Dallas, was born in Washington, District of Columbia, and is a son of Josiah Caldwell, of New Jersey. The father was employed in one of the departments at Washington for more than fifty years, serv- ing from 1816 to 1858. He was one of the oldest clerks in the service of the Govern- ment, and was very competent and faithful in the discharge of his duties. One of his brothers was Clerk of the Supreme Court for many years. The family is descended from the Magruders of Virginia. Our subject was born in the city of Washington in 1827, and received his education in that city. After leaving school he was employed as a clerk in a dry-goods store in Baltimore, Maryland, and remained there five years. Ile then spent several years in travel, and visited every portion of the United States. At last he settled in New Orleans, and embarked in the cotton business, an enterprise that was soon to be paralyzed by the ravages of war. Mr. Caldwell enlisted in the Staff Depart- ment, and for five years witnessed and ex- perienced all the terrors and hardships of warfare. From the day the first gun was fired upon Fort Sumpter to the day of the surrender he did not flinch from the cause he had espoused, but did his duty valiantly as became a son of the Sonth.

In 1873 he removed from New Orleans,

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

where he had settled after the war, to Dallas, Texas, and for several years engaged in the grocery business. Becoming well-known as a man of the highest honor and of excellent business qualifications, he was chosen by the City Conneil to fill the position of City Anditor of Dallas. It is a very responsible position, but one for which Mr. Caldwell is admirably fitted by his previous experience. His management of the office has been systematic and entirely satisfactory to the public, who regard him as one of the most courteous and obliging officials. He is an ardent Democrat, and zealously supports all the measures of that body. He belongs to the I'resbyterian Chnreh, and has been a liberal contributor to those movements which have tended to the elevation of public sentiment.

Mr. Caldwell was married in the city of New Orleans, in 1861, to Miss McNairy, of of Nashville, Tennessee.

L. DE FRESE, a contractor and builder of Dallas, Texas, was born in Ger- many, in 1863, the fourth ehild born to L. G. and C. E. (Sehon) De Frese, also natives of Germany. The parents still reside in their native country. G. L., onr subjeet, eame to Ameriea in 1880, first settling in Indiana, where he worked at the cabinet- maker's, earpenter and joiner's trades, which he had learned in Germany. He remained in Indiana but a few months, after which he worked in Michigan and Colorado and other places. He came to Texas in 1881, where he worked at the cabinetmaker's trade, and finally, in 1885, he settled in Dallas, where he has sinee remained. Mr. De Frese erected the Bowser building and residence, and also many other good and substantial residenees.

During the busy season he employes an average of twenty men. He owns a good farm of 184 acres in Ellis county, near Ennis, a residence at Oak Lawn, six frame residences for sale or rent, and one aere of land in this eounty.

Mr. De Frese was married in Brennans, Texas, in 1884, to Minnie Gerlolf, a native of Germany, and a daughter of Frederick and and Elizabeth (Sehoanbeck) Gerlolf, also na- tives of Germany. The parents came to Texas abont 1869, and now reside at Ennis, Ellis county. Mr. and Mrs. De Frese have one child, Annie. Mr. De Frese takes an active interest in polities, voting with the Democratie party, and both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

O. CARDEN, contractor and builder of Dallas, was born in Roan county, Tennessee, September 3, 1845, the eighth in order of birth of the fifteen ehil- dren of George W. and Tempy W. (Howard) Carden. His father was a native of North Carolina and mother of Tennessee. His father was taken to that State by his parents in 1817, when he was a boy of only five years of age; he grew up and married there, and learned the trade of wheelwright. Ile is still living in that State, at the advanced age of eighty years. He was born February 2, 1812, was private in the Indian war of 1836, and was Lieutenant in the late Confederate war, serving about three years. Ile received a land warrant for the Indian war service. He has been a Methodist Episcopal minister (local) for many years, and is a devout Methodist to this day. He was a man most highly prized. His wife died April 20, 1867. His first wife, nee Betsey White,

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY. .

died in 1843. He had seven children by her. During the war the subject of this sketch was a member of the Home Guards of Roan county, and did duty on the skirmish line. Shortly after his marriage in the fall of 1876, he moved to Dallas, from Knoxville, and en- gaged in building and contracting, mostly in Dallas; has erected many good residences here and some other buildings. He gener- ally employs ten to fifteen carpenters.

In 1867 George W. married Mrs. Sophia (Johnston) Ladd, by whom there is no issue, thongli she is the mother of nine children. Our subject is the eldest of a family of eight children of the second marriage.

He was married in Roan county, Tennes- see, in 1875, to Miss Della M. Cox, a native of Anderson county, that State, and a daugh- ter of Cyrus and Elizabeth (Moore) Cox, na- tives also of Tennessee. Her grandparents were natives of North Carolina. Her parents came to Dallas in the fall of 1878 and engaged in gardening; they are both now living in Dal- las. Mr. and Mrs. Carden have had four children, namely : Daisy M., Pearl, who died at the age of six years and a half, in June, 1887; two are deceased, J. W., who died in infancy, in 1877; and Asa O., Jr.

In politics, while he is not active in the councils of the party, Mr. Carden is a Demo- crat, and in religion he and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Chinrch.

HOMAS G. CHERRY was born in Todd county, Kentucky, November 13, 1834, son of Gerard Y. Cherry. His father, a native of Montgomery county, Ten- nessce, went to Kentucky when a young man and was there married to Miss Mary A. Ed- wards. Her father was a native of Peters-

burg, Virginia, and moved to Kentucky when Mrs. Cherry was an infant. Mr. Cherry lived in that State till 1853, when he moved to Montgomery county, Tennessee. January 1, 1856, he came to Texas and settled in Red River county. There he purchased a farm and on it spent the residue of his days, dying in 1862, on the day of the surrender of Fort Donelson, aged fifty-five years. His wife died in 1870, at the age of sixty.

Thomas G. was twenty-one years of age when his father moved to Texas. Ile re- mained under the parental roof until he was twenty-two, when he began life for himself. He chose for a wife Miss Mary Farmer, their marriage occurring on September 20, 1860. She was born Jannary 19, 1843, daughter of Enoch and Elizabeth (Rector) Farmer. Her father was a native of North Carolina and moved from there to Texas in 1848, Mrs. Cherry being at that time only five years of age. She was the sixth-boru of seven chil- dren, whose names are as follows: Robert F., deccased; Sarah A., wife of George Murry; Alfred W., deceased; Frances, wife of Joseph Dixon; Thomas, who died in prison at Chi- cago; and James, deceased. Mr. Cherry's parents had eleven children, viz .: Charles B .; Thomas G .; William, deceased; Martha, wife of George Dixon; Mary, wife of Samuel Swim; George W .; Gillie, wife of Joseph Dixon; James K. Polk, who died in the army; Eliza F., wife of F. M. Giddings; Garrard; and Richard, who died when young. Following are the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Cherry; Gerard P .; Thomas; Lulie, deceased; Alma; Robert and Clara.

During the war Mr. Cherry was not one to shrink from what he believed to be his duty. Ile joined Forest's command in Tennessee and remained with him till after the battle of Fort Donelson. He participated in that

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

battle and also in the battles of Red River, Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, besides other engagements of less note. He was under fire for forty-nine days as they marched to to the sea. At the battle of Crutchfield he received a slight wound from a spent ball.

Mr. Cherry received his discharge at Hous- ton, Texas, after which he returned home and engaged in the mercantile business at Charles- ville, Texas, which he followed fourteen years. He then sold out and moved to Dallas county. He rented a farm one year and afterward purchased land near Pleasant valley. This he subsequently sold, and bought the 118 acres on which he now lives. It was then unimproved and was all covered with brush, but his well-directed efforts have, during the four years of his residence here, transformed a wilderness into a fine farm. It is all well fenced and eighty aeres are under cultivation.

Mr. and Mrs. Cherry and three of their children are members of the Baptist Church. Mr. Cherry is a member of the Dutch Creek Masonic Lodge, No. 441, and also of the Knights of IIonor, Pleasant Valley Lodge, No. 2756. He was a delegate to the Grand Lodge of the last named order which met at Galveston August 4, 1891. Mr. Cherry is also a member of the Grange, Dnek Creek Lodge, No. 444, of which he is Overseer.

M. HUMPHEYS was born in Henry county, Tennessee, April 1,

State. O 1842, and was reared in his native When the Civil war came on he en- listed, iu May, 1861, in the First Tennessee Infantry, and served two years and nine months; he then got a transfer to Forest's Cavalry, Seventh Tennessee. He partiei- pated in the battles of Shiloh, Fayetteville,

Perryville, Murfreesboro, Athens (Alabama), Fort Pillow, West Point and many others. He was in Mississippi at the time of the surrender, after which he returned home and remained one year.

In 1866 Mr. Humpheys came to Texas and located in Dallas county. After renting a farm one year he bought a piece of unim- proved land near Mesquite. On the 29th of Jannary, 1867, he wedded Miss Sarah Chap- man, who was born in August, 1847. Men- tion of her father's family will be found in a sketch of J. C. Chapman in this work. Mr. Humpheys lived on his farm for sixteen years. At the end of that time he sold out and bought land abont fifteen miles east and south of Dallas. Here he has 200 aeres of fine soil, 140 aeres under cultivation, and all fenced. Since he purchased this property he has made many improvements on it, among which is his fine residence. He has also built a cotton gin, which he runs in connec- tion with his farming operations.

Mr. Humpheys' father, Henry Hum- pheys, was born in Rockingham county, North Carolina. He was there married to Susan l'asehall, and after his marriage he moved to west Tennessee, where he was prom- inent among the early settlers of that part of the State. He died in Tennessee, in 1868, at the age of seventy-six years, and his wife died in 1889, at the age of eighty-five.

Like many other young men Mr. Hum- pheys eame to Texas without means, but he went earnestly to work and his efforts have been erowned with success. He saved his money, used good judgment in investing it, and now has a delightful home and is sur- rounded with all the comforts of life. He and his wife are the parents of ten children, namely: Heury; James C .; Brittie, who died young; Ada; Maud; Forest; Lester; Olley,

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

Robert and Leotes. Mr. Humpheys holds the "Primitive Baptist" faith; has always voted the Demoeratie tieket and says he always expeets to.

W. COLEMAN, one of the influen- tial citizens of Dallas, has been identi- fied with the educational interests of Texas since 1876. He is now the principal of the city high school, fifteen teachers being employed in this institution. In the years 1876, '77 and '78 he was engaged in teach- ing at Richardson, Dallas county; then at Meridian, Bosque county, having charge of the schools in the latter place two years. Ile was elected president of Paluxy College at Glen Rose, remaining there two years. In 1884 he organized the publie schools at Uvalde, Texas, and resided at that place until he came to Dallas in 1888.

Mr. Coleman was born in Dallas county, Arkansas, in 1845, the son of Rev. R. J. and Martha (Tanner) Coleman. His parents, na- tives of Virginia, moved to Tennessee at an early day, and in 1844 located in Dallas county, Arkansas, and have sinee mnade their home in that State. His father is a Baptist minister and still has regular work. Mr. Coleman spent his early life in his native State, and received his education in the Mis- sissippi College, Clinton, Mississippi, gradn- ating in 1872. He was edneated for the ministry, but on account of throat disease has been deterred from what he considered his life work. In 1875 he came to Dallas, Texas, and was engaged as office editor on the Texas Baptist. Dallas at that time contained only about 7,000 or 8,000 inhabitants, and sinee then its growth has been marvelous, In the fall of 1875 Mr. Coleman was nnited in mar-

riage with Miss Mary B. Buckner, native of Kentneky, and a daughter of Rev. R. C. and V. (Long) Buekner, also natives of Ken- tncky. About 1857 the Buckner family emi- grated to Paris, Texas, coming from there to Dallas in Jannary, 1865. Dr. Buckner is the founder of the Buekner Orphans' Home, which he organized and put in operation in 1879. He still devotes his time and atten- tion to this institution and it is now in a flourishing condition.

Mr. and Mrs. Coleman are members of the First Baptist Church of Dallas. They are the parents of five children, viz .: Vibelle, Dora Maggie, Roberta, Mabel and Robert Buckner.

S AMUEL CARRUTHERS, contractor and builder, Dallas, arrived here in 1873, and immediately engaged in contraeting for building. He obtained permission of Ben Long, the Mayor, to ereet a shop on Main street, in front of the present Knepley stand, and commeneed in a small way. Ilis first job was a small building on Elm street, where he eut away the cornstalks to make room. He has sinee erected the principal buildings on Main and Eln streets, Knepley's Apollo Hall, and other buildings on Commeree street; also the Hill Bloek, the City Water Works, County Recorder's office, the Warren and Kemp bloeks on Elin street, the Terry Block, the Ervay Block on Commerce street, Mrs. Kemp's brick blocks on the square, and many others. The first briek building in Dallas was erected for the present Mayor, where Mr. Carruthers worked by the day, on on Commerce and Walker streets- Mr. Car- rnthers is next oldest as a contractor in the city of Dallas, having been here continuously for eighteen years.

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1845, the fourth in order of birth of a family of five children, whose parents were G. W. and Mary Elizabeth (Dinsbe) Carruthers, na- tives also of that country. The mother is still living there, now aged eighty-five years, The father died in 1883, in Scotland. Mr. Carruthers emigrated to this country in 1869, first stopping at Chicago for a year, where he worked by the day, and thenee he came to Dallas, as before mentioned.

He was married at Galveston, this State, in 1872, to Miss G. G. Green, a native of Scot- land, in which country he had previously made her acquaintance. After his marriage he was in Chicago. Here in Dallas he has a fine residence at 436 Wood street, built in 1874. He is interested in national questions, voting with the Democratic party. He be- longs to Dallas Lodge, No. 70, K. of P., and also to the Uniformed Rank, same order; of Lodge No. 961, K. of II., and of the O. C. F. He and his wife are members of the Presby- terian Church. Of the seven children, only one is living, Samuel by name.

F. COTTMAN, contractor and bnilder, Dallas, came to this city in in the fall of 1875, and the first three or four years engaged in the grocery business. About 1878 or '79 he opened out in general contraeting, and among the prin- eipal buildings he has erected may be men- tioned the Central National Bank, the two- story briek building of Huey & Phillips, on Griffith and Elm streets; a $10,000 resi- denee for J. S. Moss, on Ross avenne and Annex street, a $6,000 residence for J. W. Townsend, ete. Mr. Cottman has now been engaged in this business for seventeen years.

He was born in Winchester, Kentneky, in 1836, the eldest of the five children of James and Mahala (Watts) Cottman. His father, a United Brethren minister, was born in Havre de Grace, Maryland, and his mother in Ken- tueky. The family moved to Terre Hante, Indiana, when our subjeet was very young, and in 1854 to Paris, Illinois, in 1863 to Vermillion, Edgar county, same State, where the Rev. Cottman died in 1876; his wife had died in the latter part of 1874. Up to the age of seventeen years Mr. Cottman, whose name introduces this sketeh, was reared near Terre Haute, completing his school education at the Methodist seminary, at Paris, Illinois, in which town he afterward learned and fol- lowed his trade.

During the war he enlisted, in Paris, in 1861, in Company E, Sixty-sixth Illinois Vol- nuteer Infantry, as First Sergeant, was at- taelied to the Army of the Tennessee and after- ward to that of the Cumberland. He was en- gaged in the battles of Mount Zion (Missouri), Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, and siege of Corinthi, soon after which, on account of siekness, he was honorably discharged, in 1862.

About this time he settled in Terre Haute, where he was a merchant for two years. In 1875 he came to Dallas, where, besides the business already mentioned, he is interested in a store. On national questions he is a Repub- liean, but takes no active part in the political machinery. As to the fraternal organiza- tions, he is a member of George H. Thomas Post, No. 6, G. A. R., being the present Com- mander. In 1899 he was Junior Viee Com- mander of the Department of Texas.

In 1857, at Charleston, Illinois, Mr. Cott- man was first married to Mary Bails, a native of Coles county, same state, and a danghter of Levi Bails, a native of Tennessee, who settled

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

in that county in 1834, and died there some years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Cottman have four children, namely: Minnie, widow of Charles Parker and residing on Cable and Pearl streets, Dallas; Wilbur, Laura, wife of Paul Hoppe, in Dallas, on Elin street, and Lena.

ENRY EXALL, of Dallas, was born at Richmond, Virginia, Angust 30, 1848. He is son of Rev. George G. Exall, a Baptist minister well known in Virginia and the South, who moved from England when but a child. His paternal gandfather was an English astonomer and divine of consid- erable renown. His mother is Angy E. (Pierce) Exall, a daughter of Joseph Pierce, who was a ship-builder of Philadelphia, and the representative of a family long prominent in naval construction in this country. Both branches of his family have an ancient and honorable lineage that extends to a very early period in American and English history.

Mr. Exall's early education, interrupted when he was thirteen years of age by the Civil war, was acquired at his father's acad- emy. Two years later his strong Southern sympathies made him a soldier in the canse. Ile was the boy of his brigade, but his brave and brilliant soldiership marked him even then as the child of destined success. At the battle of Ream's Station his brigade commander presented him with a sword in recognition of his gallant services. At the close of the war he studied law, but very soon abandoned it for the wider and more active field of com- mercial life. In 1867 he moved from Vir- ginia to Kentucky, where he engaged in mer- chandising and the manufacture of woolen goods. In 1869 he was married to Miss Em- ma Warner, of Owensboro, Kentucky. Three

children were born to them, all of whom died when quite young, and in 1875 his wife also died. In 1877 business affairs brought Mr. Exall on a visit to Texas, and, when he surveyed the great possibilities of the grand State, for whose industrial development he was to do so much, he determined to sever his ties of residence with old Kentucky and become a.Texan. He has represented the State of Texas at conventions of cattle-men, banker's associations, commercial congresses, expositions and political conventions at many and various times. In 1884 he was one of the representatives of the State in the con- vention that nominated Mr. Cleveland for the Presidency, and the same year he was a delegate to the National Cattle-men's Convention which met at St. Louis. He was appointed vice-presi- dent for Texas of the Cotton Centennial held at New Orleans in 1885, and the same year was also appointed Colonel and Quartermas- ter-General of the Texas Volunteer Troops. In 1887 Mr. Exall was elected vice-president for Texas of the American Bankers' Associa- tion held at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and dur- ing that year he also assisted in the organi- zation of the North Texas National Bank of Dallas, of which he is vice-president ; was chairman of the State Democratic Com- mittee during the stormny time that pro- hibition promised to split the Democratic party in twain ; and in 1889 was president of the Texas State Fair and Dallas Exposi- tion, one of the most successful institutions of its character in the country. In all these places he has reflected credit on himself and on his State, and whether in a State or Na- tional Convention his conspicnous superiority as a man of force, fearlessness and character, has made him a figure of attraction, and given him a place as the cqual of the best of his fellows. In the discharge of his duties

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as a representative he displays the enthnsi- astic interest of a personal champion of a personal friend, and always, whether acting for himself or for others, his task commands his best ability. He is a faithful believer in the future of his State, and has told the story of her undeveloped greatness to the inoneyed men of the East, and to the traveler from all sections, and has been the means of developing this greatness above and beyond any other. In that development his personal accumulations have approximated $1,000,- 000, a purse that is tonched with no sparing hand when the enterprises of his State need encouragement. It may be said with truth, that every dollar of all that fortune he has made for himself is represented by $10 made for the people among whom he lives.

Mr. Exall has just finished the construc- tion of one of the most majestic and costly buildings in the South. During its con- struction he might have been seen on any day in light conversation with men who drove the nails, laid the brick, and attending to the details of the work. His mind is so comprehensive that even the smallest partic- ulars do not escape his notice ; this mental scope has made Mr. Exall a successful ex- ponent of all the industrial enterprises that he has originated and promoted. In the city of Dallas, where he lives, everybody is his friend. Here, in 1887, he married his second wife, nee Miss May Dickson, a most attract- ive and accomplished lady, who makes their home a haven of rest from the many cares of his busy life. Mr. Exall's public expressions are always the embodiment of earnest con- sideration for the betterment of all alike, and when they contain advice as to a line of ac- tion, every word is tinged with a heart's sin- cerity.

Omission of the inention of the tenderness

that characterizes the domestic relations of the subject of this sketch, and the filial re- gard shown his aged parents would render it incomplete. Incidents in illustration, with- out number, might be given by the writer, but it is sufficient to say that it has been, and still is, one of chief pleasures to minister to the every want of the venerable couple who nurtured him in infancy, and inspired his youthful heart with high principles and as- pirations, which have been realized by the force of his own efforts. He is not known as the donor of any conspicuous gift in char- ity, but he is the quiet distributor of more alms to worthy objects than the average man of twice his wealth. And while in his mod- esty he prefers to remain the sole repository of the secrets of his own benevolence, it is known to all that no man ever disclosed to him a worthy cause with a request for help that he did not receive a prompt and liberal response. He has been repeatedly urged by both press and people to allow himself to be- come a candidate for Governor, but has al- ways declined to become a candidate. As a Democratic Commissioner-at-large for the United States (appointed by President Har- rison) to the World's Columbian Exposition, he will bring to bear upon its organization and development rare business abilities, and, such as cannot fail to be of great value and assistance to his fellow-commissioners, the people of the United States at large and to the people of Texas in particular.

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Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas, Part 66

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