New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 115

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416

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at 2118 Smith Street. They attend the Methodist Church. Mr. Caldwell is a member of the Cattle Raisers' Association, and is known to cattlemen throughout the state. While his home is in Houston, he still directs all ranching operations and spends much of his time on the ranch.

RED S. NESMITH, of Houston, is success- fully engaged in developing one of the many mineral resources of the State of Texas. Mr. Nesmith is secretary and gen- eral manager of the Riverside Fullers Earth Com- pany, with offices at 1014 Keystone Building. This company is engaged in mining and preparing Ful- lers Earth for shipment and is the largest plant of is kind in Texas, and the largest in the entire South, outside of Florida. The plant is located at Riverside in Walker County, about eighty miles North of Houston. The Riverside Fullers Earth Company was organized and incorporated in 1921, with a cap- ital stock of $50,000.00, and have three hundred acres of land underlaid with Fullers Earth, and large ro- tary kilns where all moisture is removed; after which it is crushed, pulverized, screened and sacked ready for shipment. The product of the Riverside Fullers Earth Company is used in filtering and refining oils, greases, lubricating oils, etc., and is sold to refin- eries located in Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas, but most of the product of this plant goes to points in Oklahoma. Modern machinery is in use at the plant, and a storage platform of twenty thousand-ton ca- pacity has been erected. Other officers of the Riv- erside Fullers Earth Company are: Samuel C. Col- lins, president; Walter Miller, vice president, and O. P. Callahan, treasurer. All of whom are resi- dents of Oklahoma.

Mr. Nesmith was born in Jefferson County, Illi- nois, in 1885. His father, Oliver P. Nesmith, was a well-known citizen of Jefferson County, where he was a large land owner and merchant. His mother was Miss Tresa Allen, a member of a promi- nent Illinois family. Mr. Nesmith's education was obtained in the public schools of Jefferson County. After leaving school, Mr. Nesmith engaged in farming until he was twenty-three years of age, when he entered the retail lumber business. After two years spent in the lumber business, Mr. Ne- smith entered the employ of the Textile Mills at Mount Vernon, Illinois, where he remained for two years. He then went to Ponca City, Oklahoma, with an oil refining company, in which he is still finan- cially interested. In 1921, he came to Texas to take the management of the Riverside Fullers Earth Company.

Mr. Nesmith has been twice married. His first marriage was to Miss Etta Crowder, in 1911 (de- ceased since January, 1919). Of this union two daughters were born-Frances, ten years of age, and Catherine, aged seven years. Mr. Nesmith was mar- ried again at Wichita, Kansas, in December, 1920, to Miss Grace Jennings, by whom he has one daugh- ter, Barbara Beth, born in July, 1923. The Nesmith home is at 4430 Walker Avenue. In fraternal and social organizations Mr. Nesmith is a member of the Scottish Rite body of the Masonic fraternity, and the Rotary Club. He is optimistic as to the fu- ture of Houston and expects the city to continue its steady, consistent growth and is looking forward to an era of great business prosperity in all lines.

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NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

ILLIAM H. COLBY has for fifteen years been active in the real estate circles of Houston and during this period has handled some of the largest transactions in real es- tate in the city. Mr. Colby started in the real es- tate business in Houston in 1908, and continued in this field of activity until 1918, when he took over Colby's Restaurant, which he has since conducted in connection with his real estate interests. This restaurant was established by his brother, Frank C. Colby, one of the best known caterers in the state, for whom Colby Court was named. Mr. Colby is personally interested in Houston Heights residence property, and high class residence property in all sections of Houston, and rents the houses which he owns. Mr. Colby now conducts his real estate af- fairs from his office, which is located in the restau- rant at 408 Main Street.

A native Texan, Mr. Colby was born at Bryan, October 15th, 1870. His mother was Miss Mary E. Hoyt, a native of Alabama. His father, William Colby, came to New Orleans from New York in the pioneer days, and afterwards removed to Galves- ton, where for many years he was actively engaged in the cotton business. During the war he served in the field as a Confederate veteran, holding the rank of lieutenant in the Quartermaster's Corps, until invalided home. After he recovered sufficient- ly he served in the same capacity at Bryan, Texas. Mr. Colby was educated in Houston at the old Hous- ton Academy, which was located on the site of the present Central High School.

Mr. Colby has had a wide, varied and interesting business career, which began on the vaudeville stage. For more than twenty years he traveled out of New York with the famous Colby Family, well known in the show world as musicians, both vocal and in- strumental. This famous musical family played their last date, and closed their vaudeville engage- ment in Houston in 1907, and Mr. Colby has been here since that time. He has three children-Frank O. Colby, Mrs. Robert L. Gardenhire of Ardmore, Oklahoma, and Mary Louise Colby. The Colby resi- dence is located on Houston Heights Boulevard. Frank O. Colby has become well known as an or- ganizer of Glee Clubs for the Masonic fraternity. Mr. Colby is a member of the Houston Chamber of Commerce and takes an active interest in this or- ganization. He is interested in all matters having to do with the progress and advancement of Hous- ton, which he believes will soon become the leading city of the Southwest.

WALTER WILLIAMS, veteran cattleman of Harrisburg, and well known to breeders and exhibitors of the Lone Star State, has one of the model stock farms of Harris County, and has for years been a factor in the de- velopment of this section. Mr. Williams has been in every branch of the cattle business, and is just now specializing in developing calves for the mar- ket, running three thousand head of she-stuff, on his range near Texas City. While Mr. Williams has never experienced any difficulty in disposing of his stock, market conditions just now are creating a heavy demand for veal, and a well-fed calf will bring the price of two cows. While giving his at- tention to producing calves for the market Mr. Williams is developing one of the finest herds in Harris County, and building up a prosperous busi-

ness, and taking an active part in the development of his community.

Mr. Williams was born the twenty-third of Au- gust, 1871, in Lavaca County, Texas, son of Tom Williams, also a native of that county, where he was born in 1844. His mother, before her marriage, Miss Katie Moore, is also a native of Lavaca County, where she now lives. Mr. Williams' paternal grand- father, F. A. Williams, came to Texas from Ken- tucky in the early forties and settled in Lavaca County, in which place he died during the boyhood of Mr. Williams' father, Tom Williams. Both Mr. Williams' father and grandfather were in the cattle business all their lives, and reared in the range country, it is but natural that he should also have chosen this as his life vocation. Mr. Williams, at one time, just after the Spanish War, spent nine years in Cuba importing cattle, but with that ex- ception, has been associated with the cattle industry in Texas all his life.

Mr. Williams was married at Harrisburg in 1914, to Miss Rosa Allen, daughter of S. E. Allen, and grand-daughter of S. W. Allen, who came to this State in 1822 from Kentucky, and had a line of steamships carrying cattle to Cuba. They make their home in Harrisburg, living at the corner of Chestnut and Broadway Streets. Mr. Williams is a member of the Cattlemen's Association, the South- west Cattlemen's Association, and the Southern Tar- iff Association. His activities in the cattle industry are well known to the cattlemen of the Lone Star State, who honor him as a veteran cattleman, and he has contributed materially to the development of the cattle resources of his State.

L. RICHARDS, a resident of Houston since 1910, has been a factor in wholesale mer- chandising circles at Houston, and more re- cently has been identified as a jobber in soda fountains, fountain and janitor supplies. Mr. Richards is general manager and secretary-treasurer of the S. L. Richards Company, one of the leading businesses of this kind in this part of Texas. They have nine employees with two men on the road, and have built up an extensive trade, throughout the Southeastern part of the State. Mr. Richards, well known to the drug trade of the state, also covers a great deal of this territory himself, representing his firm to his many friends and customers. Other of- ficers of the S. L. Richards Company are Chas. E. Patton, president, and Ed. S. Phillips, vice president.

Mr. Richards was born in Hill County, Texas, in 1890, son of D. W. Richards, a native of Tennessee, who came to Texas in 1866, and engaged as a mer- chant and farmer, and Anna B. Adkinson Richards, a native of Alabama. He was educated in the public schools near his home. After finishing his educa- tion Mr. Richards became a salesman, covering Tex- as and Oklahoma for thirteen years prior to going into business for himself. Mr. Richards spent eight years on the road for the Schumacher Company, wholesale grocery house.

Mr. Richards was married in Hill County, in January, 1908, to Miss Lena Pruitt, a native of Hill County, where her father was a well known merchant. Mr. and Mrs. Richards have three chil- dren, Pauline, Marion Dale and S. L., Jr. The family live at 3620 La Branch Street. Mr. Richards is a member of the Elks and of the Rotary Club of Houston.

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MEN OF TEXAS

ENERAL SIDNEY SHERMAN was the son of Micah and Susanna Frost Sherman of Marlboro, Massachusetts, where he was born on the 23rd of July, 1805. His ances- tor, Captain John Sherman, the first of the name to settle in America, migrated from Dedham, England, in 1631. Roger Sherman so long the venerated Nestor of the United States Congress, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was also a descendant of Captain John Sherman, and was a first cousin of Sidney's father. Deprived of his parents in his young boyhood, Sidney left the old home in Marlboro, and at sixteen we find him in Boston engaged in mercantile pursuits. A year later he was induced by the flattering promises of a friend to embark on the adventurous sea of com- merce on his own account. The failure of his friend, and his own lack of capital soon involved the precocious merchant in a like fate. He then re- moved to the city of New York where he remained five years and then wended his way westward and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1831. Here he soon united with a company for the purpose of establish- ing extensive factories in Newport, Kentucky. This association was the first to put into successful oper- ation of cotton bagging by machinery, and Sherman individually was also the first to introduce the manufacture of sheet lead west of the Alleghany

Mountains, (as he was the first to apply the gas- spur to the iron horse in Texas). It was while he was absorbed in these pursuits, that tidings were received in the year of 1835 of the contest then go- ing on between the Colonists of Texas and the Military Despotism of Mexico. His generous spirit kindled with enthusiasm and he zealously espoused a cause which contemplated under the most favor- able aspect, might have intimidated the boldest heart. By a happy coincidence, Sherman at this

time commanded a volunteer company by commis-

sion from the governor of Kentucky, which af- forded him facilities for raising troops for the service of Texas. His call for volunteers was

eagerly responded to and he immediately organized

his company of fifty good men, requiring each man before being enrolled to sign stringent articles of subordination, and amid the snows of winter he es- tablished a regular camp and enforced discipline as strict as if in the face of the enemy. On the last day of December, 1835, he embarked on a steamer

from Cincinnati, his men well armed, handsomely

equipped and furnished with a full supply of am-

munition and provisions. Notwithstanding a violent snow storm the United States troops at Newport barracks turned out and thousands of citizens lined the river banks to honor the occasion of their de- parture, and by repeated and enthusiastic cheering to manifest their sympathy in the heroic enterprise.

Amid tears and touching farewells, waving of flags, beating of drums the bow of the steamer was turned towards the setting sun and passed down the great

river, with a company of brave volunteers whose subsequent trials and triumphs form a splendid chapter in the proud history of Texas. Captain Sherman maintained the strictest order on board the steamer during the voyage, and in every way gave

promise of an able commander. He landed at

Natchitoches, Louisiana, and marched his company

at once to Nacogdoches, Texas, and thence to Washington on the Brazos. He found the country

in great confusion. The governor and lieutenant governor were at deadly feud, the convention had not assembled, and the brave Travis and his heroic band were calling for aid from the beleag- uered walls of the Alamo. The people were en- thusiastic and determined, but without arms or organization and no one present to instruct or lead them. Sherman paraded his men and called upon the citizens to volunteer and march on the follow- ing day to the relief of the Alamo, after which service, he declared his intention of returning with his company to the United States, unless the con- vention, then about to assemble, should declare the Independence of Texas. On arriving at Gonzales he found about two hundred citizen volunteers, a force totally insufficient to justify an attempt to break through the besieging Mexican force of about 7000. Fourteen days were consumed in concentrating men and supplies, at the end of which time Gen. Houston arrived and took command. On the following day the First Regiment of Texas Volunteers was organized, and Sherman nominated for the colonelcy. This he declined in favor of Gen. Burleson, an old and tried warrior, and he was elected lieutenant colonel. On the evening of the same day news was received that the Alamo had fallen and its brave defenders in- discriminately slaughtered. The army immediately retreated to the Brazos, where the second regiment was formed and Sherman elected to command it. While at the Colorado he was detached from the main body of the army and occupied a position some miles above it. Gen. Sesma was in open camp on the opposite side of the river with about seven hundred men and Col. Sherman feeling confident of his ability to defeat that attachment of the enemy asked permission of the commander-in-chief to cross the river and give him battle. Had he done so he might in all probability have saved Fannin and his men from an inglorious slaughter, but the request was refused, and he was ordered not to move from his quarters, not do anything to pro- voke the enemy. Like a good soldier he obeyed the obnoxious order and eventually was constrained to retreat with the main body of the army to San Felipe and thence to the Brazos bottom, some twenty miles above. During the retreat Colonel Sherman displayed all the soldierly qualities which, at such a crisis, were necessary to promote enthusiasm and to preserve the army from demoralization. He was equal to every emergency. It was he, under order of the commander-in-chief who put the army in marching order and personally superintended the dangerous crossing of the Brazos. At San Jacinto on the 20th of April, Col. Sherman led a small squadron of cavalry, sixty-eight in number, in an attack upon a detachment of the enemy that oc- cupied an island of timber between the hostile camps. He conducted the attack with admirable gallantry, but discovering that he was greatly outnumbered, he adroitly extricated himself with small loss and re-

turned to camp. In the battle of the 21st of April, Sherman commanded the left wing of the army, and was the first to strike the enemy, sounding at the critical moment the war cry "Remember the Alamo." "Goliad and the Alamo." It was a day of vengeance, and deep retribution, and Col. Sherman acted a full and conspicuous part in its consummation. After re- maining several months with the army in the West, and finding the enemy did not return, he tendered

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Sidney Thumbw

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

his resignation which President Burnet refused to accept, but instead, gave him a commission as colonel in the regular service, with orders to return to the United States and enlist his men. When about to leave his companions in arms, the secre- tary of war presented him with the stand of colors which he had brought to Texas, accompanied by the following note:

War Department, Aug. 6th, 1836.

This Stand of Colors, presented by the ladies of Newport, Kentucky, to Capt. Sidney Sherman, is the same which triumphantly waved on the mem- orable battlefield of San Jacinto, and is, by this government presented to the lady of Col. Sidney Sherman, as a testimonial of his gallant conduct on that occasion.

A. SOMERVILLE, Secretary of War.

Approved:

David G. Burnet.

On August 8th, 1896, this flag and the orignal note from the secretary of war were presented to the State of Texas by the daughters of Gen. Sherman through Mr. Eugene Gigges of the Department of Agriculture, Insurance Statistics and History. It had begun to crumble to decay and was preserved in a glass case, and is now in the archives of this historic State. Col. Sherman's health was much im- paired by exposure and fatigue in the army, and before reaching Kentucky he was seriously ill for many weeks, but notwithstanding his very infirm health he, soon after reaching home, sent out some troops, and a quantity of clothing for those in the field who were very destitute. In January, 1837, he returned to Texas with his family and settled on San Jacinto Bay. In 1842 he was elected a repre- sentative to congress from Harris County, and was appointed chairman of the military committee. He introduced a bill providing for the election of a major general of militia and the protection of the frontier. The bill was vetoed by President Houston, but became a law by a constitutional majority in both houses of congress. General Rusk was the first elected to that position. Gen. Sherman suc- ceeded him at the next election by the popular vote, which position he held until the annexation of Texas to the United States. On his retirement from military service General Sherman lost none of the energies which had characterized him in the field, but displayed in the occupation of private life use- ful enterprise and creative talents of a valuable order. In 1846 he conceived the idea of rebuilding the town of Harrisburg that had been destroyed by Santa Anna in 1836. With this vim he purchased a large interest in the townsite and 4000 acres adjoining. He then proceeded to Boston where he enlisted capitalists and organized a company to build a railway from Harrisburg westward. The difficulties to contend with were very great, the country was new and but imperfectly known abroad, the population and agricultural productions were inconsiderable and labor of every kind difficult to obtain, yet his unabated preseverance removed all obstacles and success finally crowned the enter- prise, the rebuilding of the town and the construc- tion of the first railway in Texas. The charter for this road, the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railroad, was approved by the Third Legislature of the state, February 11th, 1850, and the road was

started at Harrisburg in 1852. It is now a part of the Southern Pacific system, and was the first link in the chain of that great commercial highway run- ning from New Orleans via San Francisco to Port- land, Oregon. The first locomotive ever received in Texas was named the "General Sherman" in his honor. Its shrill whistle was the first glad sound of the locomotive to break upon the solitude of the Texas fields and forests and to rouse to new life the slumbering energies of her hardy people. It was the first west of the Sabine and second west of the Mississippi, one having been introduced at St. Louis a few months before. Thus the name of Sherman will be not only remembered as a chivalrous soldier whose best years were spent in the service of Texas, but as the father of a railroad system that has con- ferred inestimable blessings upon the people. In chronicling the events in the closing years of his life it is but a record of successive misfortunes. In 1853 a valuable saw mill and all the machinery belonging to him and Mr. D. W. C. Harris were entirely consumed by fire. Soon afterwards his dwelling at Harrisburg, then one of the finest build- ings in the state, was also burned. The few valua- bles saved were removed to the railroad office which in its turn fell a victim to the fire fiend, and with it all his remaining possessions, including his valuable papers which had been accumulating for thirty years. Many of them of great value to himself and others relating to public affairs, and which would have been of much interest to the future historian of our country were totally destroyed.

In 1837 when Col. Sherman decided to cast his lot with the young republic and make it his future home, he chose a site on San Jacinto Bay for a residence, which he improved and called Crescent Place, and here he lived till 1847, when he moved his family to Harrisburg, and in 1855, that he might give his children better educational advantages he moved to Galveston, and here as proprietor of the Island City Hotel he remained till the stormy days of the Civil War, when he was forced to seek a safer refuge for his family. He espoused the cause of secession, and in 1861 was requested by the president of the com- mittee of safety to take charge of affairs at Gal- veston with full authority to put the island in a state of defence. In 1862 he moved his family, con- sisting of his wife and three young children, and Ex-President Burnet back to the old home on San Jacinto Bay. His three oldest daughters were in Kentucky at school, and Sidney, the oldest son, with the army, but after Sidney's death, which occurred at the Battle of Galveston January 1st, 1863, Gen. Sherman went to Richmond, Fort Bend County, and there we find him at the close of the Civil War. Mrs. Sherman died in January, 1865, and the follow- ing year he returned to Galveston. He was much broken in health, and after the expiration of his term of office as president of the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos & Colorado Railroad Company, which he had held for several years, he retired to the shades of private life. He died at the residence of his daugh- ter, Mrs. J. M. O. Menard, in Galveston on August 1, 1873, and was laid to rest in Lake View Ceme- tery by the side of his old friend and associate, David G. Burnet, first president of the Republic of Texas. Over these two the Sidney Sherman Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, whose object is to perpetuate the memory of the

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MEN OF TEXAS

illustrious heroes of Texas, have erected a splendid monument.

Like most of the soldiers and statesmen who participated in the early struggles of the country, General Sherman derived little material benefit from its redemption.

Sidney Sherman was married on the 27th day of April, 1835, to Catherine Isabel, oldest daughter of Jacob and Maria Fenwick Cox of Frankfort, Kentucky. She was a lady distinguished for great moral worth, intellectual accomplishments and well equipped with all the qualities necessary for a soldiers wife, and the privations and hardships of pioneer life in a new and undeveloped country. Their children were eight, Lieutenant Sidney A. Sherman, who fell beside his gun at the battle of Galveston, January 1st, 1863, aged twenty-one years, un- married. Caroline M. Sherman, now living in Gal- veston, the wife of J. M. O. Menard. Their children are: Mrs. Sue LeCand, Mrs. Fanny Russell of Hous- ton, Mr. Kendall Menard, Mrs. Belle Griggs and Mrs. Carrie Lew Keene and Odin who died in infancy. Caroline's first husband was Col. John A. Williams, civil engineer of the B. B. B. & C. R. R., and served on Gen. Lee's staff in Virginia during the Civil War. Albert Sidney Williams, the only child of this mar- riage is now deceased. Belle Sherman married Judge William E. Kendall of Richmond, Texas. He died in Houston in 1906. They had six sons: Sherman died at nineteen years, Charles in infancy, William E. Odin, Clarence and Fenwick all live in Houston. Susan Florence first married Chas. A. MacMurphy and had one child, Mrs. Carrie Belle . Garnett- Abrahams of Los Angeles, California. Her second husband was George O. Cherry. She died in Galves- ton in 1872. Cornelius Fenwick Sherman died in infancy in 1853, Lennie Sherman, who was married to Hon. John T. Brady of Houston, and died April 22nd, 1885, leaving two children, Sherman Brady and Lucy Brady Hunt, wife of W. S. Hunt. Lucy Kate Sherman married Louis W. Craig and now resides in Houston. They have three sons: Leonard W., Doddridge H., and William Kendall Craig. The lit- tle girl, Emily Belle, died at two years, and David Burnet Sherman died in infancy in 1863.

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 115

Author: Davis, Ellis A. Publication date: 1926 Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?] Number of Pages: 1416

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416