Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas, Part 67

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 67

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T. HOLLAND, one of the representa- tive farmers and stock-raisers of Dal- las county, was born March 1, 1846, a son of James Holland. When bnt two years of age he came with his father from Illinois

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to Texas, and settled on the place where he now lives. He has followed farming and stock-raising from his youth, and received his education in the common schools of this county. By hard labor and close attention to his business he has " managed to live," and is now the possessor of 1,000 acres of fine land, all of which is fenced, and 200 acres is under a fine state of cultivation. His land lies about twenty miles southwest of Dallas, in what is known as the Mountain creck valley. He is a firm believer and a member of the Christian Church.

Mr. Holland was married December 21, 1876, to Miss Elizabeth Jones, a daughter of Isaac Jones, a native of Tennessee. They are the parents of five children, viz .: Claudia, Walter, Jaines, Annie and Gillie.

ENRY K. BROTHERTON, a retired farmer living near Wheatland, has been identificd with the interests of Dallas county, Texas, since 1850. Ile is a native of Ohio, born in Franklin county, September 12, 1824, a son of Robert and Mary (Kooken) Brotherton, natives of Pennsylvania, the father born in Erie county and of Scotch-Irish descent. His maternal grandfather, James Kooken, came from Germany and settled in Pennsylvania. Robert Brotherton and his wife went to Ohio at an early day and settled in Franklin county. In 1812, at the time Columbus was laid out, they moved to that city, where they spent the residue of their lives. They were the parents of seven chil- dren, six of whom, three sons and three daughters, lived to maturity. The subject of our sketch was the oldest son and second-born, and when he was about eleven years old his father died, the mother surviving him several

years. During his youth he was employed as clerk in his uncle's general merchan- dise store at Groveport, near Columbus, and was thus occupied up to the time of his com- ing to Texas. The maintenance of his mother and her family devolved largely on him.

Mr. Brotherton was married in the fall of 1849, to Miss Rachel Melvina Minor, a native of Ohio and a daughter of Irving Minor. Her father moved from New England to Ohio at an early period and was there a promi- nent physician and pioneer. In the fall of 1850 Mr. Brotherton and his wife, in com- pany with James H. Swindells and wife, started with horse teams for Texas, then the frontier of civilization, the journey consum- ing several weeks and the party arriving here just before Christmas. Ile first located on what is known as the Tommy Churchfield farm, buying 640 acres of land and subse- quently 320 acres more. After living there three years he sold out and bought the Dan- iels place, consisting of two sections of land, and lived on it two years. Selling out again, he purchased his present farm which at that time had very few improvements on it. His estate at one time consisted of 1,200 acres in his home place besides various other tracts of land. He has, however, divided his holdings among his children, retaining for himself 400 acres of highly improved land.

In 1869 Mr. Brotherton had the misfor- tune to lose his wife, who died, leaving him with six children, whose names are as follows: Charles R .; Mollie, wife of E. Wilmot, of Dallas county; Robert Minor; Ellen, wife of Samuel J. Shultz, who lives near Seymour, Baylor county, Texas; Lucy, wife of Dr. G. V. Hale, Grayson county, Texas, and L. S. of this county.

Mr. Brotherton is eminently a self-made man, In connection with his farming pur-

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suits, he has been interested in the Kilburn inill for several years. He has also been somewhat of a trader. At one time he pur- chased a store and stock of goods at Lancas- ter, selling out a few weeks later. In 1863 and 1864 he was a member of the Board of County Commissioners.

B. WHALEY, farmer, was born Feb- ruary 12, 1836, in De Kalb county, Tennessee, the son of Elijah and Re- becca (Dougherty) Whaley, the former a na- tive of Maryland and the latter of Virginia. Of their seven children five are still living, L. B. being the youngest. Two of the broth- ers and a sister still remain in Tennessee, while one brother resides in Lawrence county, Missouri. Elijah Whaley was the son of Thomas and Margaret (Bratten) Whaley, na- tives of Maryland, who moved to Tennessee in 1800, locating in what was known as the " waters of the Cumberland river," near where the town of Liberty now stands. Elijah was brought up on the farm until of age, a few years after which he married and entered the mercantile business on his farm near Liberty ; afterward he moved into town, where he con- tinued merchandising, in connection with farming. He was a merchant in both Lib- erty and Smithville most of the time until his death, in 1859.

Mr. L. B. Whaley was reared in the mer- cantile business. When eighteen years of age, in 1854, he went to Missouri, and in Mt. Vernon worked for wages for different firms until 1856, when he and his brother, T. R. Whaley, began business for themselves. December 5, 1861, he married Miss Mattie [lash. During the next year the dangers of the war became so great that he brought his | ject of this sketch until his death, in 1889.

family to Texas. Returning to Missouri he enlisted in the Eleventh Missouri Infantry, under General Parsons. He was in Company G, commanded by Captain Howard, in Colo- nel Burns' Regiment, previously Hunter's, in the Trans-Mississippi Department. He was paroled at Shreveport, Louisiana, with the brigade, in May, 1865, when he returned to Texas to look after his family.

Here he was first employed by Dr. Kilburn for some time, and then rented a farm for several years. In 1874 he bought eighty acres of wild land, which he at once began to improve, and he has added to this until he now has 165 acres of fine land, well improved; 115 acres are in a fine state of cultivation. Mrs. Whaley is the daughter of John and Millie (Elkins) Hash. She was born in Mis- sonri, but her father was a native of Ken- tucky. Mr. and Mrs. Whaley have five chil- dren, namely: Millie H., the wife of R. M. Brotherton; Charles S., Alfred L., Anna R. and Mattie M.

UGUST CORNEHLS, of the firm of P. J. Butler & Company, brick mann- facturers in Dallas, since the spring of 1881, was born in Hanover, Germany, Jan- uary 23, 1850, the son of W. and Mattie (Sebilda) Cornehls, natives of Germany. His father died in that country, and his mother is still living there. Mr. Cornehls learned his trade in his native land, and at the age of nineteen years emigrated to the United States, locating in Texas. He was married in Fredericksburg, Gillespie county, Texas, about 1878, to Mary Cranich, a native of that county and a daughter of Charlie Cran- ich, who was born in Germany. Mr. Cran- ich came to Dallas and resided with the sub-

Very Truly yours He LObanchain

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IIISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

By this marriage there are two children, - Gussie A. and Charlie. In political matters is a Democrat. He and his wife are mem - bers of the German Lutheran Church.

Mr. Cornelils is the superintendent of P. J. Butler & Company's brick yard. The firm employs on an average about twenty-five men, some nine months in the year. The daily capacity of their mill is about 30,000 brick. They have furnished the brick for many of the important buildings of Dallas.

ENRY L. OBENCHAIN .- The history of human intellect will confirm the statement that the power in which strong natures culminate, which fuses force and insight into executive intelligence, ma- tures between the ages of twenty-five and fifty. Subsequent achievements organize themselves around the younger conception. Stepping from the line of the earlier life, the subject of this sketch was elevated to the As- sistant County Attorneyship of one of the largest and most important counties in the State, and has borne himself in his responsible position with such grace and dignity and discharged his duties with such marked effi- ciency that he won the admiration and favor- able comment of all who have attended the sittings of the court where he practiced. Mr. Obenchain is yet a young man, and has but fairly entered upon a career which is destined to reflect honor upon his name and result in much good to his adopted county. The peo- ple of Dallas county are justly proud of him, and it is with pleasure that we give space to his biography in this history of her repre- sentative citizens. Virginia blood has often flowed in the veins of many of America's patriots and mnost gifted sons; it need, there- 38

fore, be a source of no astonishment to find that the subject of this notice traces his birth to the State known as the "Mother of Presi - dents."

He was born in Buchanan county, Vir- ginia, in 1863, and is a son of A. T. Oben- chain. His maternal ancestors were pioneer settlers in Georgia. While yet a child, his parents removed to Tennessee, and thence to Dallas, Texas, in 1874. He attended the public schools, and afterward took a thor- ough college course at one of the leading educational institutions of Virginia. Here he gave special attention to German, Latin and the higher mathematics, thus receiving a mental dicipline that will be of lasting bene- fit to him in his professional career. Upon leaving college, he took up the study of law, reading under the supervision of the Hon. John Bookout, and, almost immediately after his admission to the bar, was appointed Assis- ant City Attorney. He evinced so decided- an aptitude for this line of work, that in due course of time he was solicited by the county attorney to accept the posision of assistant to him, first in the Justice's Court, and later in the District Court. In this office he has risen to the highest rank as a prosecutor, and has made a reputation for prompt, just and hon- orable dealing that is not confined within the borders of his own county. Among the im- portant cases he has been connected with, was the defense of J. W. Monk and W. C. Jump, charged with murder and acquitted. In prosecution, S. E. Lane, murder, con- vieted; Carter Roberts, murder, life sentence; George Martin, murder, life sentence; John Surrell, murder, sentence twenty years; A. L. Rodgers, rape, death sentence.

Since his admission to the bar, he has won a just and enviable reputation for his devo- tion to the interests of his clients, for his

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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.

skill in the conduct of cases on trial, and for a certain earnestness of advocaey which rises at times to the dignity of eloquence, His knowledge is comprehensive, and in the de- tails of the law as critical. A tireless search- er, he has improved his opportunities at every step in his carcer, so that his reputa- tion has not suffered any by the change in the sphere of his activities, incident to his ele- vation to the Assistant County Attorneyship. It has rather served to give him increased opportunities, which he has turned to good account with zeal and ready adaptability to circumstances.

He was united in marriage, in 1885, to Miss Josephine Stevenson, of Paris, Ken- tucky, who is a lady of unusual merit and rare accomplishments. They have one son, Roy A., now four years of age.

He affiliates socially with the Knights of Pythias, of which society he is a respected member. IIe is devoted to his home and family, between which and his books he divides his time. He enjoys the esteem of the community at large, and his honorable dealing and courteous bearing have endeared him to a large circle of personal friends. In politics he is a stanch believer in the doc- trines of the Democratic party, and is their champion on the public platform.

RTEMAS BAKER, a prominent pioneer of Dallas county, Texas, dates his birth in Belmont county, Ohio, April 14, 1821. His parents were Artemas and Mahe- tible (Conant) Baker, natives of Massachu- setts. The father when young mnoved with his parents to New Hampshire. The mother was reared near Cape Cod, the place of her birth. When sixteen years of age, she in

company with her father's family went West and located in Portage county, Ohio, in Wind- ham township. About the same time, in 1806 or 1807, Mr. Baker landed in the same neigh- borhood, having made the trip from New Hampshire on foot. He settled in Ravenna, the county seat of Portage county, and took up the practice of law, he having previously prepared himself for this profession, It was there he met and married Miss Mahetible Conant, danghter of Thatcher and Elizabeth (Manley) Conant, natives of Massachusetts. Soon after his marriage Mr. Baker moved to Wheeling, Virginia, where he remained for two or three years, following his profession and working at odd times at the carpenter's trade. Ile built the first bridge across Wheel- ing creek. From there he moved to Bridge- port, Belmont county, Ohio, where he con- tinued the practice of his profession for a number of years. About 1825 he took a con- tract on what was then known as the national military pike. On this he was engaged five years. He also interested himself in agri- cultural pursuits, having bought a farin west of Zanesville, Ohio. From that place he moved to the Narrows of Licking creek, where he was extensively engaged in quarry- ing rock, boating on the Ohio canal, and raft- ing logs for a number of years. He was also engaged in building canal boats. In the fall of 1849 he, with several others, boarded a canal boat and floated to New Orleans, from there by steamer to Shreveport, Louisiana, and thence by ox teams to the locality where Hutchins now stands, reaching their destina- tion in April, 1850. Mr. Baker was the father of seventeen children, several dying in in- fancy. Nine came to Texas and four arc still living in this State. He bought land on Bear creek, near where Lancaster is now lo- cated, and lived there until his death, which

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occurred October 11, 1853. Mrs. Baker sur- vived her husband some years, her deatlı occurring May 22, 1873.

Artemas Baker, Jr., preceded his father to this State, landing here in April, 1848. He took a headright of half a section of land on the Trinity river, about fourteen miles south- east of where Dallas now is. Dallas then consisted of only a few log cabins. The first year Mr. Baker spent in Texas was a memor- able one to him. He had the varioloid and afterward the yellow jaundice. His com- panion, William Welsh, took smallpox from him, and Mr. Baker nursed him through his sickness. Previous to his coming to Texas he had been working on a large steamer, ply- ing between New Orleans and Cincinnati, and it was on his trip from Shreveport to Dallas that he was attacked with varioloid.

In the fall of 1848 he returned to Ohio, and remained one year. November 8, 1849, he was married to Miss Lavina Bordner, a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Peter and Christina (Losh) Bordner, natives of the same place. She is one of a family of thirteen children, twelve of whom lived to marry and have large fami- lies. Mrs. Baker's motlier is still living in Fulton county, Illinois, with her son, Wash- ington Bordner, at the advanced age of 102, having been born October 26, 1789. She and Mr. Bordner were married in 1810 and lived together seventy one years. At his death he lacked less than ten months of be- ing 100 years old. Mother Bordner's de- scendants two years ago, living and dead, were as follows: children, 13; grandchildren, 99; great-grandchildren, 217; great great-grand- children, 24. Total, 353. And this number has since been increased. During the past eight years she has made three trips to Texas to visit her children.

Soon after his marriage Mr. Baker returned to Texas, locating near where he had taken a headright on his previous trip. The follow- ing fall he moved to Corsicana and worked at the trade of shoemaker there two years. Then he formed a partnership with Cornelius Vernoy and turned his attention to farming on the head waters of Chambers creek, near Alvarado. In the winter of 1854-'55 he left this place and went to Jack county, settling on the west fork of Keatchie creck. While he was there the Indians became hostile and the settlers had to build forts for protection. At one time Mrs. Baker was summoned to attend a neighbor, Mrs. Cameron, during con- finement. On account of the strange aetions of the Indians she was afraid to venture from home and pursuaded Mr. Cameron to bring his wife to her house. He returned for that purpose, but never came back, he and his wife and three children having been murdered by the red men. In 1861 Mr. Baker moved to Dallas county to his present location. His farm at that time was in its wild state; now it is one of the best improved places in the county.

Mr. and Mrs. Baker are the parents of seven children: Hellen Brundage, wife of Andrew Brundage, who is Mayor of Midlo- thian, Ellis county, Texas; Cornelius, who married Miss Lizzie Lawhon and resides in Coke county, Texas; Kate, wife of William Fitzpatrick, lives on the farm with Mr. Baker; Sallie, wife of James Brundage; Bay- lor, who married Miss Mattie Hinkle, and lives in Wichita county, Texas; May, who wedded J. T. Cates, died in 1890, leaving three children; Bell, wife of Samuel Waldron, resides in North Bend, Nebraska.

During the war Mr. Baker was in the Con- federate service two years. He was com- missioned to inake shoes and harness, work-

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ing in Dallas. He is now comfortably situ- ated, surrounded with all the comforts of life. He is an active and earnest temperance worker, and is regarded as one of the repre- sentative citizens of the county.

IMOLEON EDWIN EAKIN, Dallas, Texas .- John J. Eakin, the father of the subject of this notice, was born in Ilenderson county, Kentucky, in 1822, and was descended from the early colonists of North Carolina. He was a man of fine liter- ary attainments, and was educated for the law. This profession, however, was not at- tractive to him, and he abandoned it for the free, open life of a farmer. He emigrated to Texas in 1849, and settled in Dallas county, near the spot on which he resided at the time of his death, in 1886. He was a man of great integrity of character, and was liberal and progressive in his views. None of the pioneers who faced the privations and hard- ships incident to frontier life, had warmer and truer friends than John J. Eakin. His wife's name was Crutchfield, and her parents set- tled in Texas, in 1847. Her father was pro- prietor of the Crutchfield House, a noted old hostelry of pioneer days; it stood on the pub- lic square of Dallas, and although it was long ago pulled to the ground, its memory is green among the surviving pioneers.

The eldest living son, Timoleon Edwin Eakin, was three months old when his parents removed to Texas, and he is now among the oldest among the " young pioneers " of the county of Dallas. He was well educated in the Texas Military Institute at Austin, and stood high in his classes. Since attaining mature years, he has been identified with the real-estate interests of Dallas, and at the

death of his father, succeeded to the control of the business. He does a general real- estate business, and has largely aided in the development and prosperity of Dallas city.

Mr. Eakin was married in June, 1879, to Miss Mamie Hughes of St. Marcus, Texas, a lady of unusual accomplishments. Three children have been born of this union; Erla, a daughter, Allen Gano and John J. Polit- ically. Mr. Eakin affiliates with the Demo- cratic party, and is a member of the Knights of Pythias.

ENRY A. DENNETT, cashier of the Waters-Pierce Oil Company, Dallas, Texas, was born in New Orleans, Louis- iana, in 1863, the third of four children born to James and Marie (Dufilho) Den- nett, natives of Alabama and Louisiana, and of French descent. The father enlisted in New Orleans, in the Confederate service, and at the close of the war he returned to that city, and was engaged in the wholesale grocery business. In 1873, he came to Mar- shall, Texas, where he remained but a short time, and his death occurred in Aberdeen, Mississippi, in 1888; the mother is still liv- ing, residing in Belton.

Henry A., our subject, was reared in the city of New Orleans, until his removal to Marshall, Texas, where he received his edu- cation. His first work was with the Texas Pacific Railroad Company, as expense bill clerk, at Fort Worth, and he remained with that company from 1879 to 1883, after which he went to Waco, in the employ of Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, as bill clerk. Ile was thus engaged until after coming to Dallas, when he engaged with the Waters-Pierce Oil Company. He has full charge of the business during the

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absence of Mr. William Grice, manager of the company, having thirteen men under his supervision. Mr. Dennett is an earnest advocate of the Democratic party, and so- cially is Deputy Grand Chancellor of Dallas Lodge, No. 70, K. of P., and also Major of Texas regiment, Uniformed Rank, is Grand Prophet in the order of the Orient Sinbad, and is an active worker in both orders.

Ile was married in Dallas, Texas, in May, 1886, to Jettie Williamson, a native of this State, and a daughter of James D. and Della (Canard) Williamson, natives of Tennessee. The parents came by wagon to Dalias, where they both still reside. Mr. and Mrs. Den- nett have two children,-Wilson J. and Henry A.

UDGE JAMES W. BROWN is one of the prominent attorneys of Dallas, Texas. He comes of a stock and was raised among people who have a high opinion of education. Therefore he was carefully reared but was thrown upon his own resources when but yet a boy. In his profession he has won his way to the front by indomitable courage, energy and unflinching integrity. He and his generation have seen much of the world, have endured many hardships, have found no fur. longh in this campaign called life, but no one among them all has withstood the battles of this mortal life as has the gentleman whose history it is our pleasure to present to our readers.

This gentleman was born in South Caro- lina, Beaufort district, St. Luke parish, July 18, 1840. His parents were James W. and Mary (Monroe) Brown, both natives of South Carolina, the father of Charleston. He was a soldier in the Florida war and his father

was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and bore the name of James C. Ile died in the early part of the war. His son, the father of our subject, died in 1842. He had lost his wife the preceding year, shie dying when quite young.

Our subject is the only child of these parents and was reared by his uncle, by mar- riage, Isaac Farrell. At an early age he com- pleted a course at Erskine college. He spent a winter in Florida, then made a tour of Texas, and was in Waxahachie when the late war opened. He returned to South Carolina and enlisted, in 1861, in Company C, Third South Carolina Cavalry, and served in that company until the close of the war, under Beauregard. His command was engaged in the defense of Charleston, did much at skir- mishing, and lie was in the battle of Benton- ville, the last in the war. They covered the retreat of the infantry before Sherman's march through the Carolinas. Ile was never taken prisoner or wounded, and stood the strain of the war very well, being in better health at the close of the war than at the beginning. His company, Beaufort District Troops, was the oldest company in South Carolina, or- ganized in 1796, and Mr. Brown was Sergeant of that company.

He came to Greenboro, North Carolina, from Salisbury, by train; a colored boy took his horse and saddlebags, containing his clothes, by the overland route, but neither the boy, horse, saddlebags or wardrobe was ever heard of since. The boy probably utilized the horse and other articles and forgot to re- port to their owner. At Greenboro he asked the commander for a horse to get back home with, and he was given a mule, on which he proceeded to the Pee Dee river, where lie met a friend, who had 200 bales of cotton hidden away in the bottom, which he afterward sold.

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He was a planter and hired Mr. Brown to finish the preparation of his two sons for college, which he did, receiving $200 for his work. Ile came to Johnsen county, Texas, in 1866, and began the practice of law, having read the same in Charleston, South Carolina, and remained there until 1886, when he came to Dallas, where he has been a practitioner ever since, and has been very successful.

The Judge was married to Miss Mary Williamson, daughter of Samuel Williamson, of Florence, South Carolina. She died in 1874, aged twenty-five years. She was a member of the Baptist Church, and was a good and devoted Christian woman. The Judge was married for the second time in 1875, to Miss Kate E. Simonds, daughter of Dr. J. Calhoun Simends, of New Orleans, a distinguished physician of that place and chairman of the Medical Board of New Orleans for many years before the war.

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Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas, Part 67

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