USA > Texas > Dallas County > Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas > Part 91
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
the bride of Sir William Gordon-Cumming, of London baccharat notoriety; and Lucy Holcomb, one of the most beautiful women of modern times, who, in 1856, married the historic Colonel Pickens, then a member of Congress from South Carolina, afterward United States Minister to Russia during the adininistration of President Buchanan, and later Governor of South Carolina. In 1858. a little blue-eyed, golden-haired daughter was born to them in the imperial palace of Romanoff, St. Petersburg, to whom the Em- press Catharine became God-mother, and who conferred npon her the unique name Douschka, sweet little darling. This inno- cent, little child, in April, 1861, held in the arms of General. Beauregard, touched off the first gun that was fired at Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor, and whose reverberations, in their far effects, still resound around the civilized world and will for a thousand ages.
On the death of General Alford's parents, when yet scarce ten years of age, he was taken back to his native town, New Madrid, Mis- souri, and placed in school by his maternal aunt, Mrs. Mary C. Manlsby; but the monot- ony of country school life was not to be long endured by a youth of his spirit, innred as he was to wild, frontier freedom; and, impa- tient of restraint, he found his way, at the age of twelve years, to the semi-savage In- dian tribes of the far western wilds, where he remained nearly three years, adopting their language, customs and costume, and acquir- ing their skill and endurance in the chase and in woodcraft. At the age of fifteen he again became restless, and the desire for farther ad- venture was so irresistible that he left the Indians, with whom he had been so long as- sociated, and started, with a single pony, across the trackless plains, thousands of miles for the new El Dorado of California, The
journey consumed six months, from April 19 to October 16, most of it entirely alone, through hostile tribes of Indians, who would have scalped him but for his daring and in- genious concealment by night, under banks of sand and sage brush, traversing trackless wilds and barren deserts, climbing mountain heights, and often suffering for food and raiment, and entirely dependent, for daily subsistence, upon such wild game as his skill with the pistol could provide. A journey to the Pacific in the days of the Argonauts, con- suming six months of ceaseless peril and privation, can scarcely be ,appreciated by those of the present day, who make the same trip in a palace ear in four days.
On his arrival in Shasta, California, bare- footed, bare-headed, and practically naked, his boyish heroism, energy and self-reliance at once commended him to the warm friendship of Dr. Thomas W. Dawson, Clerk of the courts, who gave him food and clothing, and appointed him Deputy Clerk, which position he held until June 26, 1856, when he re- turned to Texas, with a handsome fortune for a boy not yet twenty years of age. On Feb- ruary 16, 1857, he was married, at New Madrid, Missouri. to Miss Annie Marie Maulsby, one of his former schoolmates, a daughter of Hon. H. P'. Maulsby, one of the pioneer judges of that distriet. Their bridal tour was a trip to Washington city, where they witnessed the inauguration of President James Bnelianan and vice-president John C, Breckenridge, on March 4, 1857; thence to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Ni- agara Falls, through Canada to Detroit, and thence to their new home at Palestine, Texas, where the General and his brother, Hulbert M. Alford, engaged for some years in mer- cantile pursuits. In Jannary, 1859, they mnoved to their large cotton plantation, at
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Alford's Bluff, Trinity county, and in the fall of that year the General was elected one of the judges .of that county, an office which he resigned, on the breaking out of the war between the States, and espoused the cause of the Confederacy, although primarily op- posed to the ordinance of secession, as long as it was a debatable question, believing, with Governor Sam Houston, that resistance to Federal aggression upon the rights of the States should be made inside, and not ont- side, the lines of the Union. IIe was three times a member of the Texan Legislature, rep- resenting the Ninth Senatorial District, com- posed of the counties of Anderson, Houston and Trinity; and bore a conspicnous part in the stirring political drama, enacted during the Civil war and the period of reconstruc- tion, or destruction, rather, which followed it.
In 1866, he resigned his seat in the Legisla- ture, moved his family to Galveston, and en- gaged extensively in the wholesale trade cot- ton faetorage, banking and foreign exchange; became one of the most snecessful business men of the Southwest; actively identified with every leading publie enterprise of the day, and amassing a large fortune. The financial panic of 1873, the numerous failures which fol- lowed it, and the heavy decline in cotton and freight, serionsly embarassed him, and dur- ing his long absence in Europe his house was forced to suspend, in August, 1875, with liabilities of abont a third of a million dol- lars. His creditors, after a thorough examina- of the affairs of the firm, acquitted him of any blame for its downfall, and proposed a settlement of fifty cents on the dollar, with his own time in which to pay it. This generous offer he peremptorily de- elined, insisting on the payment of every dollar, principal and interest. After a heroic struggle of nine years, during which
he sold and appropriated to the payment of his firm's indebtedness his homesteads in Mis- sonri, Staunton, Virginia, and Galveston, all exempt by law, he at last succeeded in aceom- phishing this herculean feat, and discharged in full every dollar of his own and bis firm's indebtedness, principal, interest and cost, refusing to accept an abatement of one cent, thus perpetuating a record for commercial in- tegrity which is almost without a parallel in any age or country.
In August, 1877, having retired from active business in 1875, he moved his family to Dallas, where he has since lived, in an elegant and spacious modern mansion, on an elevated terrace fronting the park, in a grove of beautiful forest trees, surrounded by all the comfort and Inxuries of modern civiliz- ation, and respected and honored as the synonym of commercial integrity and moral grandeur.
Ilis time is congenially devoted to looking after his large real-estate interests in Texas and Chicago, his banking stocks in Dallas, and his silver and lead mining interests in Mexico; and his leisure hours are devoted to the cultivation of his literary and æsthetic tastes. He is a writer of exceptional merit, strong, vigorous and incisive, and occasion- ally dallies with the gentle inuses. His pen pictures of pioneer seenes and dramatic in- eidents in the early history of Texas, Cali- fornia and the Indian tribes, stand without a rival, and are extensively reproduced in all the leading literary journals of the country. His frequent contributions to current litera- ture are eagerly sought by the daily press of all the great cities.
Although eminently qualified, by a ripe experience, a cultured and well trained mind, wealth, genial manners and an at- tractive and magnetic personality, to adorn
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official station, he has no desire whatever for political preferment, preferring the comforts of his home, the love of his family and friends, the respect and confidence of his as- sociates, and the pleasures of his extensive library to all the glare and glitter and glory of feverish official life. For thirty-six years, he has traveled extensively, and always with intelligent watchfulness of surroundings, through all the States and Territories of the Union, Mexico, Central and South America, the West India Islands, Canada and Europe, and his mind is a rich store-house of valuable information and authentic history. His con- taet with cultured people of all nations, has given him a breadth of culture and liber- ality of thought that few people ever attain.
No matter, though as a brave and adven- turous youth; or as a pioneer, struggling with adverse conditions; or as a chivalrie soldier of fortune, cheerfully sharing the privations of his comrades; or as a legislator, grappling with the vexatious problems grow- ing out of the Civil war; or as a banker, handling his millions, calm, sagacious and just; his social, genial, traits of character shine out pre-eminent, and he is at all times, and under all conditions, the stanchi, tried, true, generous friend to humanity. Although he takes no active part in the partisan political contests of the day, liis well matured opinions carry great weight wherever his honored name is known (and that is far be- yond the limits of Texas), and his able and exhaustive articles, on subjects of national interest, finance, trade relations, domestic and political economy, mining, the arts and sciences, linmor, jurisprudence, ete, are read with great interest, and meet with extensive popular approval.
General and Mrs. Alford are the parents of ten children, six of whom are living: four
sons, Albert, George, Eugene and Allen; and two daughters, Hallie and Linda. The eldest daughter was married November 15, 1881, and has three children. The eldest of them, a little, fair skinned, golden-haired, blue eyed granddaughter, is named Douschka, (Annie Linda) after the daughter of Gover- nor Pickens, whose wife, Lucy Holcomb, was the General's early playmate and companion. His youngest daughter, Linda D., was mar- ried to Dr. Milton M. Edmonson, August 30, 1892.
General Alford has been a Democrat all his life, a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1857, and of the Masonie Grand Lodge of Texas for more than a third of a eentury.
ENRY PRINGLE, proprietor of a saloon on Main street, Dallas, Texas, has been a resident of Dallas since the fall of 1871, having settled here when this eity was a mere hamlet. He at first engaged in the restaurant business, and later opened a saloon. In 1872 he turned his attention to the grocery business and continued that until 1875. Closing ont his grocery at that time, he returned to the saloon business, continuing the same until 1880. Then he opened a feed store at the corner of Elm and Sycamore streets. Since 1881 he has been engaged in his present busines on Main street.
Mr. Pringle was born in Rostock, Meck- lenburg-Schwerin, Germany, July 2, 1846 , the oldest child of Carl Pringle and his wife. Ilis parents were born, passed their lives and died in Germany. At the age of thirteen years Henry went to St. Petersburg and there entered upon the seafaring life as cabin boy, touching the various ports of England, Scot- land, Norway and Sweden, going as far north
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
as ships go, and when he was sixteen landed at New York. He returned to Scotland in 1861 but came back to New York the follow- ing year. Landing in this connty during the war, he at once enlisted his services for the Union. He became a member of Light l'ol- don Company, known as the Fourteenth New York Cavalry, which was consolidated with the Eighteenth New York Cavalry. He en- listed for three years or during the war. At one time he was under fire for twenty-four days. Ile received four gunshot wounds, and was confined to the hospital at New Or- leans for some time. After his recovery he returned to his company and was engaged principally in Louisiana and Mississippi, be- ing mustered ont of tlie service at San An- tonio, Texas, in November, 1865. From there he went to Galveston, where he re- mained three years. In 1867 he had the yellow fever and came near losing his life. He was in Marlin two years. In 1871, as above stated, he located in Dallas.
In 1875 Mr. Pringle was united in mar- riage with Emma Miller, a native of Saxony, Germany. Her father, Paul Miller, passed his life and died in Germany. To Mr. and Mrs. Pringle have been born four children; Henry Julius, Charley, Clara, Emma and Alfred.
Mr. Pringle votes with the Democrat party, but is not an active politician. He is a mem- ber of the following organizations: Engine Company, No. 1, Volunteer Department; F. & F. Benevolent Association of Dallas; Dallas Lodge, No. 44, I. O. O. F .; Ridgely Encampment, No. 25, I. O. O. F .; Dallas Lodge No. 70, K. of P .; Uniform Rank, No. 18, K. of P .; Queen City Lodge, No. 191, K. of H .; Cornet No. 5, Chosen Friends; and the George H. Thomas Post, No. 6, G. A. R., Dallas. Aside from his other vocations,
Mr. Pringle has been engaged in the real- estate business to some extent. He owns the house in which he does business on Main street. Ile is practically a self-made man.
OL. R. R. LAWTIIER, proprietor of a feed store on Main street, Dallas, was born in Warren county, Pennsylvania, in 1836, the youngest of seven children born to James and Jane (Hood) Lawther, the for- mer a native of Scotland. When a boy he moved with his parents to Belfast, county Antrim, Ireland, where he was educated for the ministry. He was married in that city, and at the age of thirty-five years he came to America, settling in Warren county, Penn- sylvania, where he engaged in farming. In 1841 he removed to Armstrong county, same State, where he died, in the fall of 1865; the mother died in the same county, in 1869.
Colonel R. R. Lawther, our subject, re- ceived a common-school education, and spent two years as clerk in a store at Newburg, New York, and later went to Muscatine, Iowa, where he remained three years. After his marriage he removed to Jefferson City, Mis- souri and embarked in the grocery business, and was at that place at the breaking out of the late war. In April, 1861, he enlisted in the firstcompany of State Troops organized at Jefferson City, and was with this company until after the battle of Lexington, when he was assigned as Adjutant to Gates' Regiment. After the reorganization at Springfield, Mis souri, Mr. Lawther was elected Major of the Third Missouri Cavalry, remained at Spring- field during the winter, and then fell back to Elkhorn Tavern, or Pea Ridge. Major Law- ther, at the battle of Pea Ridge led a charge, captured a battery, and was promoted Col-
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onel by General Van Dorn. He was then sent to Richinond, thence to Arkansas, next East of the Mississippi river with General Price and Van Dorn, and assisted in fortifying Corinth. After falling back from that city Colonel Lawther was sent to the Western De- partment to take charge of Missouri Troops, and was serving under General Hindman when lie was taken prisoner near Batesville, Ar- kansas. He was carried to Jefferson City, after a short time to the Gratiot street prison, St. Lonis, thence to Alton penitentiary, two months later to Camp Clase, Olio, from which place he was exchanged and sent to City Point, Virginia, where he received orders from the Secretary of War to report to E. Kirby Smith at Shreveport, Louisiana. He was next ordered to report to General Price, and assigned to take command of the Tenth Missouri Cavalry, served under General Mar- maduke on his raid in Missouri and Kansas, and at the close of the war he surrendered at Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1865. Colonel Lawther at once located in Galveston, Texas, and was engaged in the wholesale grocery business until 1877, when he removed to Brenham and followed the same business until coming to Dallas in 1885. The same year he opened up a grain, hay and feed business, which he has since continued.
He was married in Muscatine, Iowa, in 1857, to Miss Ellen E. Hoopes, a native of Covington, Kentucky, and a daughter of J. J. and Amanda Hoopes, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and the latter of Kentucky. The mother died in Muscatine county, in 1889, and the father still resides in that county. Mr. and Mrs. Lawther have five living chil- dren and two adopted, viz .: Harry P., a grad- uate of the law college at Cliarlotte, Virginia, is Alderman from the Seventh Ward, and a practicing attorney for the Equitable Mort-
gage & Loan Company; Joseph; Anna; Fred- die, wife of Thomas Beggs, a contractor of Dallas; William Preston, Raymond Ralston and Paul Warner. Mr. Lawther vote; with the Democratic party, and is Alderman from the Sixth Ward. He is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church, and has been an Elder in Dallas and Brenham churches for fourteen years; Mrs. Lawther is also a mem - ber of the Presbyterian Church. Colonel Lawther is a man of broad liberal views in regard to State and national politics and firmly believes that Dallas, Texas, will become the commercial center of the great Soutlı- west.
EORGE W. CRUTCHER, real estate, Bankers' and Merchants' National Bank, was born in Harrison county, Ken- tucky, in 1849. His parents are Granville and Rebecca (Dawson) Crutcher; both natives of Kentucky. The father was a Ken- tucky farmer of taste and public spirit for many years, and a fine stock-raiser as well. He came with his family to Dallas city in 1876 and has been a resident here ever since. He is now retired, at the age of seventy-four years. His wife's age is seventy-two years; both are members of the Christian Church and are as highly respected as they are widely known.
They have a family of seven children, all of whom are living, viz .: William A., a far, mer of Ellis county, Texas, his wife was Susie Renick, of Bourbon county, Ken- tucky; Rev. John H., a graduate of Ken- tucky University and a minister of the Christian Church for the past ten years: his wife was Miss Mary Barr; our subject; Lucile, wife of W. S. Wall, residing in Cyn-
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thiana, Kentucky, of which city Mr. Wall is Mayor; Frank M., residing in Dallas and a member of the firm of Crutcher Brothers: he married Miss Florence Jennings, of St. Louis; James D., an attorney of Dallas: his wife, Stella Jackson, of Austin, Texas; Charles F., member of the firm of Crutcher Brothers, in real estate.
Our subject was educated at the common schools of Kentucky and the Kentucky Uni- versity. He came to Dallas in 1875. Before he came to Dallas he tanght in the Cominor- cial College of Kentucky University for two years. He was District Clerk for some one- half dozen counties in West Texas for two years, 1877 and 1878, then returned to Dallas. He was elected and served as Alderman two terms, and was elected Mayor of East Dallas in 1876, serving three terms in said office. His administration was a clean one and was characterized by economy, and at the same time advocated permanent improve- ments and an advanced policy. He made a popular and useful officer. In 1881 he became manager of the very extensive land business of Mr. J. S. Dougherty, a position which he held from 1881 to 1888. In that latter year he became a member of the real- estate firm of Crutcher Brothers.
Our subject was married February 4, 1876, to Miss Lenora Lawrence, daughter of Judge Lawrence, of Belton, Texas. Our subject and wife's home has been blessed in the birth of six children, viz .: Harry Ward, Pauline, Lura, Tom Granville, Daisy Helen, and Edith. Both parents are members of the Christian Church. Our subject is a member of the Masonic order, also the Knights of Pythias.
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In politics onr subject affiliates with the Democratic party. Mr. Crutcher is public-
spirited in his views and a worthy and highly esteemed citizen.
The Crutcher Brothers were established first as Crutcher & Crowdus, in 1884: afterward Crutcher Brothers & Aikins. In 1887, Mr. Aikins retired from that firm, and the other members, F. M., C. F. aud G. W. Crutcher, formed a co-partnership, which has been very successful in real-estate trans- actions and operations of all sorts. Mr. F. M. Crutcher, senior member, is a Notary Public; C. F. Crutcher is a surveyor-oc- cupations that give them especial advantages in the negotiation and sale of real estate, city and country-and Mr. G. W. Crutcher super- vises their department of western lands.
Crutcher Brothers arc engaged in buying and selling real estate, in loaning money and negotiating loans, in collecting, in renting property, in rendering for and paying taxes on lands in any part of Texas, and in man- aging estates. They have a great deal of city and country property listed with them, and have sold Western, Texas and Panhandle lands for the past ten years. Persons having relations with them will find them thor- oughly posted and entirely reliable.
HOMAS B. TROTMAN, the genial commercial traveler for a Chicago honse, dealing in shoes, is worthy of mention in the history of this county. He was born in Huntsville, Alabama, September 29, 1847. His parents are John B. and Maria A. (Clop- ton) Trotman. The former was born at Dan- ville, Alabama, June 28, 1812. Ile removed to Huntsville in 1836 and was a merchant of that city under the firm name of Trotman & Nance, and remained there until 1875, doing a large and very successful business until the
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war. He moved to Dallas in 1875 and has been an honored resident ever since. He has retired from active labors and is now living with the subject of this sketch, having reached the age of eighty. He has been a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for over sixty years and is also a Royal Arch Mason. His estimable wife is also still living, aged seventy-four years, and has been his de- voted and faithful wife for forty-six years. She too is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church. They have had four children, Thomas B., our subject; John W., commer- cial traveler, died in Dallas, June, 1877; he married Florence Adelia Hawkins, daughter of Mrs. P. A. Hawkins of Dallas; their only child is Willie Adelia. Tullie Ola, wife of George K. Merriwether of Dallas, is the next child, and their children are, Hattie, Sarah and George K. The fourth child is Hattie, wife of Fred Manget of St. Louis, and their family consists of Hattie, Fred, Tullie, Felice, Paul and Jessie Estelle.
Our subject was educated in Huntsville until he was fourteen, when he engaged in the drug business for two years as clerk. In 1864 he joined Company F, Fourth Alabama Cav- alry, under General Forrest, and was dis- charged at Gainesville, May 4, 1865. He took part in the battles of Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama, serving as a private through the war. He was never wounded or taken prisoner. He stood the service well, be- ing on raid duty as cavalryman. During the latter part of the war the command fought Wil- son's raid from Plantersville, Alabama, to Ma- con, Georgia: also were in the fight at Colum- bus, Georgia. After liis discharge Mr. Trot- man remained in Mississippi on business until September of the same year, when he returned home and attended school for one year. He then clerked for two years, when his father
formed a partnership with him in the grocery and furniture business, under the firm name of Trotman & Son, at Huntsville, Alabama. Here they did a successful business, until 1874, when they failed and our subject went to St. Louis, and, moving his family to Dal- las, began to travel for Shiryock & Rowland until May, 1877, when he engaged with Appleton, Noyes & Company, a wholesale shoe house, at St. Louis. They failed in Jannary, 1879, and he went to Galveston, Texas, and traveled for P. T. Willis & Brothers until 1889. From 1889 to 1891 he engaged in real-estate business in Dallas, but the old life on the road had more attractions for him and he entered the commercial line again, traveling for a Chicago house-Selz, Schwab & Co.
He was married in 1871, to Henriett Cooper, daughter of J. W. and E. H. Cooper of Iluntsville, Alabama. Both her parents (Mr. and Mrs. Cooper) are still living. They have eight children, of whom Mrs. Trotman is the oldest. The next child is Louisa, wife of W. M. Green, living in San Antonio, Texas,; Lawrence married Eliza daughter of Rev. George W. Price of Nashville, Tennes- see, and is a prominent attorney of Hunts- ville, Alabama; Joe married Miss Winter of Georgia, a niece of Mrs. H. L. Clay of Hunts- ville, Alabama; William T. resides in Hunts- ville, Alabama; Carroll, married a daughter of Dr. Goodyear of Memphis, where Carroll and his wife reside; Cornelia and Alene are the two youngest of the family and the for- mer is an artist in the true sense of the word while the latter is an accomplished young lady iu other ways. These two are still of the home circle.
Our subject and wife have three children. Thomas, aged fifteen; Henrietta, aged twelve, and Louisa, aged six,-bright, promising little
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
ones. Both parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church Sonth. Our subject is a member of the Masonic chapter. He is a worthy, good citizen and a thorough gentleman, pleasing in address and as a citi- zen is highly respected by all who know him.
D. HENDERSON, one of the active, pushing, enterprising citizens of Oak Cliff, Alderman for that beauti- ful city, mayor pro tem. of the town, also chief cotton clerk in the office of the general freight agent, of the Texas & Pacificrailroad at Dallas, was born in Memphis, Tennessee, November 10, 1842. His parents are William and Elvira Ann (Williams) Henderson, natives of Ireland and Virginia, respectively. The father came to America when he was about twenty-two years old, in 1837. For a period of his life he was a merchant in Memphis, Tennessee, then was made vice-president of the Equitable Life Insurance Company, of. New Orleans. He was subsequently connected with the Home Fire Insurance Company, of New Orleans. He now lives a retiredlife at Beloxi, Mississippi, aged sev- enty-six. His faithful wife diedwhen only thirty-six. Our subject is the older in a family of two; the other is his sister Josie, wife of John Barkley, resident of New Orleans, of the firm of John Barkley and Co., sugar dealers.
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