Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas, Part 94

Author: Lewis publishing company, Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1128

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After thoroughly mastering the business he located in Michigan and spent some years in Lansing, Jackson, Owosso, Detroit and Howell; then he spent a brief season in St. Louis, and in 1878 came to Texas, loeating at Houston and then in Dallas, as a represent- ative of the Weir Plow Company, of Mon- mouth, Illinois.

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In this line his success was so marked that when the business was merged into that of The J. B. Simpson Carriage Company, he was appointed manager of the combined in- terests.

When the old and well known firm of B. F. Avery & Sons of Louisville, Kentucky, decided to open a branch house in Dallas and include vehicles with their popular line of implements, Mr. McManns was selected as their manager. They represent the Racine Wagon and Carriage Company, Racine, Wis- consin, and the Henney Buggy Company, Freeport, Illinois, and other well known lines.

Their business is both wholesale and retail, and is carried on at the corner of Lamar and Commerce, in a large and commodious brick building, and is conducted on the basis of integrity and fair dealing, such as has marked their career of over half a century, and pa- trons may rely upon their representations of goods sold.

Mr. McManus is a model citizen, quiet and unassuming, but exceedingly popular; he is a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church, and politically is a Democrat.

He was married in March, 1880, and has one of the coziest homes in Oak Cliff.

OHN H. DANIEL, a farmer and stock- raiser of Precinct No. 1, Dallas county, was born in Garrard county, Kentucky, in 1826, the second of twelve children born to Edmond and Frances (Herndon) Daniel, natives of Virginia. The parents were both reared in Kentucky, and in 1835 they went to Missouri, where the father improved a farmn. His death occurred in Monroe county the same year, and the mother afterward moved to Dallas county, where she died, in 1880.

Grandfather Edmond Daniel, a native of Vir- ginia, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and was wounded in the battle of Brandy- wine, and died some years later froin the ef- fects of the wound. The Daniel family are of Scoth-Irish descent, and were early settlers in the Colonies.

John H., our subject, was reared and edu- cated in Monroe county, Missouri, where he also aided in opening up and improving the home farm. At the age of twenty years he came to Texas, and later enlisted in the Mexican war, under Captain Kinzy, and after reaching the Rio Grande he enlisted under Captain Witt. In 1849 Mr. Daniel bought 120 acres of land, which he improved, and later built a good house, and he has since added to the original purchase until he now owns 220 acres, all of which is under a good state of cultivation. In 1863, in Dallas county, he enlisted in Stratton's company, Stone's regiment, for twelve months, or until the the close of the war. He participated in many skirmishes, and was discharged in Louisiana, after which he returned to Texas. Mr. Daniel takes an active interest in poli- tics, voting with the People's party, and has held the office of Constable of his township, and is now one of the School Trustees. Soci- ally, he is a member of Tannehill Lodge, No. 52, A. F. & A. M., of Dallas, and also of the Farmers' Alliance.

He was married in this county, December 6, 1849, by Parson James A. Smith, to Re- becca Ray, a native of Illinois, and daughter of Robert and Mary (Denton) Ray. In 1847 the parents came to Texas, settling in Dallas county, where the father was engaged as a farmer and blacksmith. He died in Cook county, Texas, in 1889, and his wife in Dallas county, abont 1873. Mr. and Mrs. Daniel have had thirteen children, nine of whom

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survive, namely: W. R., a resident of Harde- man county, Texas; T. B., of the same county ; Mary F., wife of George II. Alexander, County Commissioner of Hardeman county ; B. F., at home; E. W., a resident of Dallas; S. P., of Greer county, Texas; C. A., a mem- ber of the police force at Dallas; Mattie J., at home; Arthur Ellis, also at home.

B. HENDERSON, retired stock farmer of Ilarrison county, Texas, resides at the corner of Twelfth and Grand avenne, Oak Cliff. He was born in York county, South Carolina, May 26, 1817, and was the eldest of sixteen children, ten sons and six daughters born to the union of W. B. and Mary (Barry) Henderson, natives of the Palmnetto State also. The parents were of Scotch origin and belong to the early families of South Carolina, the ancestors emigrating to this country from Scotland at a period antedating the Revolution. W. B. Hender- son was a farmer and in 1832 moved to Georgia, where he remained one year among the Indians. In 1833 he moved to Cherokee county, Alabama, and settled on a farm which he cultivated until his death in 1872. After his death the mother came to Harrison county, Texas, in 1875, and died in 1887, at the advanced aged of ninety- four years.

J. B. Henderson was reared to farm life in South Carolina, but moved from there to Georgia with his parents and thence to Alabama. He was married at Greenville, South Carolina, in 1841, to Miss Nancy J. Berry, a native of that city and the daugh- ter of Rev. Nathan and Mary (Hiett) Berry, natives also of Greenville, South Carolina. Her father was a Baptist minis

ter and he and wife were both descendants of early families of South Carolina. He dicd in that State, in 1840, and his wife in the same State, in 1857. Grandfather Hender- son participated in the struggle for indepen- dence. After his marriage J. B. Henderson settled in Georgia, but moved from there to Cherokee county, Alabama, where he en- tered a large tract of land and immediately commenced improving it. In 1856 he moved to Tippah county, Mississippi, improved a farm, and remained there two years, when he moved with team to Pulaski county, Arkan- sas. He followed farming there for three years and then located in Columbia county, Arkansas, where he made his home for an- other three years. In 1867 he moved to Mount Pleasant, Titus county, Texas, opened up a farm near that town and also became the owner of considerable real estate in Mount Pleasant. From there he moved to Harrison county in 1871, followed farming, and later engaged in fine stock-raising, prin- cipally Jersey cattle. He still owns a large farm in that county. During the war he was in the Commissary Department, and had the contract for furnishing all Confederate soldiers west of the Mississippi river with beef. After the war he supplied the Federal soldiers at Mount Pleasant with beef until they left Texas. Mr. Henderson takes some interest in politics, and he and Mrs. Hender- son are worthy members of the Presbyterian Church, both having been members of the same for many years.

To their marriage were born eleven chil- dren, eight now living: W. B., a traveling salesman for Orr Lindsay, of St. Louis, Missouri, in 1861 he enlisted in Garland county, Texas; in the First Arkansas Infantry, and was promoted to the rank of Adjutant Major; he surrendered in Lee's army in 1865;

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he is married and resides in Marshall, Texas; James N., married, is a farmer and stock- raiser of Harrison county: Texas, he was a member of the Engineer Corps for three years, and served until the cessation of hos- tilities; John A., single, is receiving agent of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, Dallas; Andrew L., married, is a farmer of Harrison county, Texas; Ella, wife of J. C. Mow, resides at Oak Cliff, and her husband is Station Agent of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, Dallas; Nannie is the wife W. C. Lane, an attorney of Marshall, Texas; Muggy, wife of W. B. Wynne, an attorney of Wills Point, Texas; Hattie Lee resides at home, and is abstract clerk in the Missonri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, Dallas; Mary died in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1863; Sallie, wife of C. H. Shilling, died in Texas in 1876; and Fannie, wife of Frank Howard, died in Harrison county, Texas, in 1879. Mr. and Mrs. Henderson passed their golden milestone of life September 16, 1891, and the principal part of their lives have been spent on farms on the frontier. They have twenty-two grandchildren. Both are honored and respected by a host of warm friends, and may the sunset of their lives be cloudless.

AMUEL N. BRASWELL, Justice of the Peace for Precinct No. 1, Dallas, was born in Georgia, January 23, 1827, a son of Samnel Braswell, a farmer who was born in North Carolina and removed to Georgia at an early day. Both the parents died in Georgia. Mr. Braswell, the youngest of four children, received his education in excellent private schools and became a suc- cessful teacher in his native State; read law and began practice in Barnesville, Georgia.

In 1858 he moved to this State, settling in Mount Pleasant, Titus county, where he was in 1866 elected State Senator, to represent the Eighth district. This being the first elec- tion after the war, he took an active part in the stirring scenes incideut to reconstruction. In 1871 he moved to Corsicana, this State, and finally, in 1874, to Dallas. In 1886 he was elected Justice of the Peace for Precinct No. 1, this county, and served with such fidelity that he was re-elected in 1888 and again in 1890. He is noted for the equity of his decisions and promptness in the cxech- tion of business. The "Judge," as he is called, is one of the old-school Southern gentleman, -honest, affable and able. He has been a member of the Masonic order for forty years, and an active member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church for twenty-five years. Politi- cally he is a Democrat of the Jacksonian school.

He was married in Georgia, to Miss Mary A. Anderson, and they have living four chil- dren and two grandchildren-all in this State.

J. BEKKERS, proprietor of a sa- loon on Elm street, Dallas, was born in Belgium, in 1859, the second son of J. J. Bekkers and Clementee (Van Grinderbeck), natives of Belgium. The father was an artist, and was a director of drawing and anatomy for many years. He was chair- man of the committee that organized the French colony that came to Dallas in 1853 under the management of Mr. Considerant. Mr. J. J. Bekkers took an active interest in the general government of the colony in Dal- las county, but always remained in his native country, where he died, in 1872. His wife still lives in that country, and is a pensioner of the Belgian Government.

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W. J. Bekkers, our subject, was reared in the city of Louvain, Belgium, where he served six years as a volunteer in the regular army, and was Sergeant Major of his regiment. After leaving the service, in 1879, he came direct to Dallas county, Texas, where he en- gaged in the barber business, and in 1885 embarked in his present occupation. Mr. Bekkers votes with the Democratic party, but is not active in politics. Socially, he is a member of Dallas Lodge, No. 70, K. of P., of Division No. 18 Uniformed Rank, K. of P., and was also a volunteer member of the Fire Department. His father was Grand Master of the Masonic order of Belgium, and was always an active Mason. Mr. Bekkers las witnessed a great change in the city of Dallas since its organization, and has always taken an active interest in everything pertain- ing to its good.

AMES C. ARNOLD, Chief of Police of the City of Dallas, was born near Wel- lington, Morgan county, Georgia, April 29, 1851. His parents were W. B. and Martha B. (Bostwick) Arnold, both[natives of Georgia. His father was a merchant at Social Circle, Walton county, Georgia, at the commencement of the war, and enlisted in the Confederate service as private and served until the war closed, mostly on the coast of Georgia. He was a supporter of Brecken- ridge and Lane in the presidential race in 1860, and a strong advocate of State rights, and has been for many years a prominent member of the Baptist Church, and is living near Madison, Morgan county, Georgia, farm- ing. He was born August 31, 1820. Martha B., his wife, was born August 24, 1824, and died August 15, 1854, a mnemn-

ber of the Baptist Church from early child- hood. There were born to these parents seven children, three of whom died at an early age. John H., the oldest, at the com- mencement of the war, enlisted for six months defending the coast of Georgia, but later joined the Fifty-third Georgia Regi- ment, and served under General Longstreet until the time of his death, December 26, 1862. William T., the second son served in the Second Georgia Regiment during the war, and is still living, and has been for ten or twelve years District and County Clerk of Sabine county, Texas; Emma D. Arnold, their daughter, sister of our subject, the wife of M. A. Parker, is living in Atlanta, Georgia; Mr. Parker served in the Fifty-third Georgia Regiment during the war under Longstreet.

James C. Arnold, whose biography we give, was raised in Morgan and Walton coun- ties, Georgia, went to school at Social Circle and old Fair Flay, same State, and left his home for Carroll county, Mississippi, on the 14th of February 1866, and there worked on a farm for P. H. Echols, W. A. Gayden & Colonel J. D. McLemore, and in December, 1869, came to Texas to Doctor R. S. McLe- more (a son of Colonel J. D. McLemore), who owned Camp's Ferry, on Sabine river, in Upshur county, and lived with him until 1871, when Mclemore sold the ferry to A. Ferguson & W. L. Wilburn: he was then in their employ until the fall of 1872; he then went into partnership with E. B. Wiun in supplying contractors with beef. The contractors were building the first four- tecn miles of railway from Longview west; he then went from there to Fort Worth ex- pecting to be engaged in the same business, but the railroad suspended operations west of Dallas. He then followed the grocery business for a time, connecting himself with the firm

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of Connell, Arnold & Co. at Fort Worth: he remained there for a short time. He closed ont and came to Dallas in April, 1874, and has been a resident of Dallas ever since.

He was then engaged in different voca- tions of business until November 5, 1874, when he was appointed on the police force of the city of Dallas under General W. L. Cabell, Mayor, and June Peak, Marshal. He served as patrolman and mounted officer un- til 1879, when he was appointed Deputy City Marshal under W. F. Morton who was then the City Marshal. In June, 1881, he was appointed City Marshal, vice W. F. Mor- tou resigned, and then an election was ordered to fill the unexpired term of W. F. Morton, at which election he was chosen and held the position of City Marshal and Chief of Police ever since that time by virtue of an election and the choice of the people of Dal- las up to the present time. During these periods of elections for Chief of Police of the city of Dallas from 1881, up to the present time, he has had only three opponents, and at the last city Democratic convention, which was held April, 1892, he was the unanimous choice of that convention as the nominee of the Democratic party for the office, and was elected without opposition This is his nine- teeuth year as a member of the police force, and during all these years of service both as a subordinate and an official, his acts have been for the fullfillment of the law without endangering life or limb to those violating the law, which was his sworn duty to have executed. By and under his jurisdiction as Chief of Police, there have been from the in- cipiency of his office up to the present time 48,225 arrests made, showing that the members of the police force, under his man- agement and supervision, have been faith- ful to their trust. He is ready, quick and

genial in his manner, cool and clear-headed, and his wonderful success in dealing with men is due to these qualifications, together with the courage displayed by him in his of- ficial capacity in arresting many desperate criminals and violators of the law. He is a member of the following charitable and bene- ficent orders : Masonic, K. of P., I. O. O. F., and the Elks.

He was married in 1871, to Miss Callic Staples, danghter of David W. and M. A. Staples of Talladega, Alabama. He has al- ways borne an enviable reputation both as a citizen and an officer of the law, and the acts of his past life have always been commendable wherever he resided.

AMES W. GURLEY, D. D. S., M. D., was born in South Carolina, September 18, 1840, and is a son of Martin A. Gurley, a descendant of one of the oldest Southern families. Mrs. Gurley's maiden name was Isabella Youngblood, which is also an honored name of the Sonth.

The Doctor is the oldest of a family of seven children, and until his twelfth year was trained in a private school. He was partially paralyzed, caused by sciatica, at ten years of age. At the age of twelve years he was in- dneed to accompany a squad of Georgia gold miners to California. He sailed from New York city for the Pacific coast in January, 1852, in the steamship El Dorado, which was sent out by a bogus company. This company sold their tickets to San Francisco, but had no connecting steamer on the Pacific; hence all passengers who were landed on the Isthmus at the mouth of the Chagres river were compelled to pay extra for their transit across the Isthmus to Panama, there to find

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that they had been delnded by false represen- tations of this bogus company. The most of them were moneyless, with no means of pro- eeeding further. Our subjeet was one of six thousand in this terrible condition. At this juneture C. K. Garrison & Co., of New York, and bankers in Panama, were fitting out every available vessel, coal hulks and other unsea. worthy crafts for passenger vessels bound for San Francisco. Among the number was a bark, Clarissa Andrews, on which he sailed under the following cireumstanees: While he was at Panama he had no money, and went to the American Hotel and engaged as errand boy. The maladies among the trav- elers were terrible, people were dying off by the hundreds with yellow fever, smallpox and other terrible diseases. At the American Hotel he remained two days. The second day he found a purse containing nearly five hundred dollars. This he took to the elerk of the hotel, as an honest boy would. It was about eleven o'clock, A. M. After dinner the authorities of the hotel gave him his dis- charge. He does not know, but ean give a guess, what became of the money.

Soon after leaving the hotel he met a Portuguese sailor with whom he had become acquainted while on the steamship El Dorado, and the latter was then employed as one of the erew to sail the bark Clarissa Andrews to San Francisco. The sailor asked him if he had a dollar. " Not a dollar in the world," was the reply. At that moment he thought of a pair of boots which he left at the hotel. These he proenred, sold them for a dollar, and was "fixed." The sailor then told him to follow him. The bark was lying at anelor four miles from shore. This dollar was to pay his passage on a small boat which landed him in dne time at the bark. During the passage to the bark the sailor laid a plan

before the passengers by which they could smuggle "this boy" on board the bark. The plan was successful.

As soon as all the passengers were aboard a elamor was set np as to the unseaworthiness of the bark. This was quieted only by the American consul making a casual examina- tion and pronouncing her seaworthy. There was no time lost in weighing anchor and putting to sea. The captain and erew, hav- ing California as their destination, made np their minds never to put into port on the way for fear of the vessel being condemned; hence they made preparations for a long voy- age, earried with them a still for obtaining fresh water from salt water, ete. The voyage was long and tedious, being sixty-five days from Panama to San Francisco. There were 400 steerage passengers, twelve eabin passen- gers and the officers and erew. They had eighteen deaths on the way, and our subjeet came near dying with Isthmus fever, with which he had already suffered nearly four weeks, and on arriving at San Francisco he was not able to walk ashore.

Ilere he was, a boy, sick, in a strange place, without an acquaintance, a friend or a dollar. The Portuguese sailor, whose name he never learned, shook his hand, bade him good-bye and said: " Boy, I hope you will make a for- tune in California and go home with plenty of gold." Our subjeet was taken to the hotel and was there taken care of by the late John Flood, the millionaire, who was then a plas- terer in San Francisco. The same aided Mr. Gurley in obtaining a situation as assistant bookkeeper in the old Niantie Hotel, corner of Sansome and Merchant streets.

After remaining there one year he sought his fortune in the mining distriet, remained there two years working in the mines, but was not successful. He then made up his

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mind to return to San Francisco. On his way he stopped in Sacramento, and there he obtained a situation in a drug house with Gates Brothers, which he held four years. Dr. Gates, being a dentist, induced Mr. Gur- ley to take that as a profession. He had access to his library and office and put in his evenings in study and practice. He then practiced in merchandising and speculation for several years. Finally, in 1864, he entered regularly into the practice of dentistry in the lower part of Shasta valley. He remained there six months and then traveled throngh Oregon and Idaho, practicing until Septem- ber 1, 1866, when he left Boise City for Philadelphia, to attend the dental college, sailing from San Francisco September 21. They were twelve days on the voyage to Greytown, at the month of the Nicaragua river. The connecting steamer, which sailed from New York, was caught in the equinoc- tial gales raging on the Atlantic coast at that time. She was so disabled that she had to return for repairs to New York. This left our subject in Greytown. Two weeks the company took care of their 1,400 passengers at their own expense. He was among the cabin passengers and was nicely cared for.

The connecting vessel on which Dr. Gurley took passage became disabled and short of coal, and found it necessary to put into the Charleston harbor, South Carolina, in view of repairs and fuel. There several hundred passengers, our subject among the rest, left the steamer and took rail for different points. The Doctor then went to search for his par- ents, who had not heard from him since the opening of the war, as it will be remembered all communications were cut off. He found them living in another county, their old home all swept away by the ravages of war; his mother and two brothers were dead, and

the living were in abject poverty. There he found a place to spend a part of his money in assisting the father and family. Placing them in a comfortable condition he proceeded to Philadelphia and attended the Pennsyl- vania Dental College, graduating therefrom in the class of 1866-'67, with the highest honors of the class. He then practiced in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for one year, and went to Anderson, South Carolina, in 1868. He practiced there, and in that year married Miss Julia Fant, daughter of O. H. P. Fant, one of the worthiest and most hon- ored citizens of that county (Anderson). In 1872 he entered the Maryland University of Medicine, graduating in the class of 1873-'74, with the title of M. D. After graduating he located in Atlanta, Georgia, and practiced there until 1884, and then removed to Nash- ville, Tennessee, early in 1885, and practiced there five years, coming to Dallas in 1890, where he has built up a large and increasing practice. It should have been mentioned that after graduating in dentistry he took special instructions in the manufacture of continuous gum work and the art of carving porcelain teeth, preparing himself to take a position with Dr. Evans, of Paris, France, who was then dentist to the Emperor. The illness of Dr. Gurley's father, Martin A. Gurley, prevented him from doing the same. As a physician and surgeon the Doctor has been eminently successful, successfully per- forming some of the most delicate operations on the eye, ear, nose and throat.

Our subject's father was a tailor by trade. Ile stood well among his acquaintances. He took part in the war of 1812, and received a pension, both for his own services in said war and for his father's (John Gurley) services in the Revolutionary war, the latter fighting under General Francis Marion. The father,

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Martin A., died at the age of ninety-six years, in 1869. He and his wife were devont and life-long members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife died during the war, aged abont forty-five years. Of their seven chil- dren only fonr are yet living, viz .: Our snb- ject, the oldest; Henrietta, widow of Frank Allen, residing in South Carolina; Pleasant and Duncan, the younger brothers, reside there also.

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Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas, Part 94

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