New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 126

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

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Stafford Smith was born at Houston, the ninth of October, 1858, the son of Benjamin Fort Smith, pioneer of the pioneers, and Laura Celeste Stafford Smith, daughter of one of the most prominent fam- ilies of the early days. Mr. Smith was educated in the schools of his native city, later attending college in Massachusetts, after which he returned to his home and was appointed public weigher at Galveston, this appointment coming from the gov- ernor of the state. After a number of years there, during which time he saved his money he returned to his home and took up four sections of school land, also buying up the land around this. He also used his influence to get other members of his family to buy up land in this section, and the family at one time owned twenty-three thousand acres of land, between Houston and the bay, fifteen thousand of which was under fence. This was known as the Smith-Stafford Ranch, and was one of the best stocked ranches in that section. Mr. Smith, with Sam Allen, also one of the large ranchers of this district, were known as the real cow men of this section. Mr. Smith annually shipped thousands of head of cattle, Texas City being his shipping point.

Later be began to sell off his land, as land values in this section went up, and moved his cattle to the free range near the city of Galveston. His idea in doing this was that it was poor policy to raise a twenty dollar calf on land that was worth forty dollars an acre, the real cow man's view. He had no interest in farming, and found it a matter of profit to sell his lands to farmers and fruit growers, who were finding this land admirably adapted to agricultural purposes, and drive his herds further south to the free ranges around Gal- veston.

Mr. Smith was active in the cattle business, tak- ing the lead in all progressive work, until his daughter, Celeste, a girl of fourteen, was killed in an automobile accident while motoring with friends on the La Porte road. From the shock of her death he never recovered, and he was from that time until his death, not quite a year later, a broken man, unable to resume his interest in life.

Mr. Smith was married at Houston, the eighth of December, 1892, to Miss Josephine Arnold, a native of the Lone Star State, and the daughter of J. A. Arnold, a pioneer railroad man of Texas, who came to Denison as a young man, as a railroad contractor. He obtained the entire right of way for the Mis- souri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, and was active in railroad work for many years at Denison. He later removed to Houston, continuing his activities

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in the railroad world, and was one of the most prominent railroad men in the state. Mrs. Smith's mother, before her marriage Miss Ellen Ingram, was a native of Denison, and the daughter of Mrs. Martha Ingram, who went to that city in the early days and associated with many of the events of that time.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith had an ideal married life, their home being to them a real haven. The pres- ence of three charming children in that home added much to their happiness, and until the sad death of the daughter, Terry Celeste, a beautiful girl of fourteen when she was killed in the automobile accident, the sixth of September, 1912, their joy was unclouded. Two sons, Arnold Smith, like his father a ranchman, and in charge of the Smith inter- ests, and Stafford Smith, Junior, a student in the Houston schools, and a boy whose career promises to be exceptionally brilliant, survive, to comfort their mother since the death of the daughter, and the death of the grieved father, on the fourteenth of July, 1913, less than a year after.

Mr. Smith was the type of man to whom home means more than clubs and lodges, and his family ever held first place in his heart. A true lover of humanity, a staunch advocate of the right, his life held many distinctions, and memorials, and the mem- ory of this life will stand throughout the years as an inspiration to all who knew him.

HE REV. H. MASTERSON first came to Houston in 1895, at that time being assist- ant to the rector of Christ Church, and after several useful years in Austin, as well as three years' service in the foreign mis- sion field, returned to this city, in 1919. Rev. Mas- terson was primarily responsible for the establish- ment of a community house opposite Rice Institute, which later became Autry House, a beautiful build- ing given by Mrs. James L. Autry as a memorial to her husband.

Autry House is popularly known among the stu- dents as "the fireside of Rice Institute." Here every need of the student body is met in a dignified, com- fortably furnished club house, equipped for recep- tions, dances, plays, movies and services. A cafe- teria feeds the students at lunch time who do not live at Rice and cannot share in "commons," and a canteen fills the aching void at night of the crowd who cluster around Rev. Harris Masterson in the men's game room. During the day, bevies of girls come in for confidential chats with the hostess, in the women's room upstairs. This is not the whole tale, for everything that is worth while at Rice In- stitute takes place in Autry House. The Dramatic Club and other similar clubs offer plays, the classes and various organizations give dances under proper conditions, special meals and committee lunches are served, organizations meet to practice, exhibits are set up, musicals are held, the Christian Association events take place, and meetings of every kind use the hall. Autry House is a hive of activity. It ministers to the whole student body, all the time and in every way.

Autry House is a gift to the students of Rice Institute by Mrs. Autry in memory of her hus- band, Judge James L. Autry. It is, however, to be administered "for the good of all" by the Episcopal Church. For two years prior to the erection of

this building, a fine, but necessarily limited, work was carried on in a small structure made out of a regimental mess hall, and looking like a "Y" hut.

Harris Masterson, Jr. was born at Brazoria, Texas, the twenty-second of June, 1881, son of Harris Mas- terson, an attorney in Brazoria for many years, and county judge, whose death occurred in 1919, and Sallie Stewart Turner Masterson. Mr. Masterson began his education in the public schools of Brazoria, later attending the Ball High School, at Galveston, and the Houston High School. He then entered Sewanee Grammar School, at Sewanee, Tennessee. and later the University of the South, at Sewanee, where after four years he was graduated in 1904, with the degree of A. B. and was valedictorian of his class. He then entered the Episcopal Theological School at Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was president of the Missionary Society, received his B. D. degree in the class of 1907, and later took spe- cial post graduate courses at Harvard University, the University of Texas, and Teachers College at Columbia University. Mr. Masterson was a student and while yet a boy at Sewanee, took five medals in oratory, English and declaration, an unusual dis- tinction.

Directly after leaving Cambridge, Mr. Master- son came to Houston as assistant rector of Christ Church, later going to Austin as rector of All Saints Chapel, remaining in that city until 1911. While in this charge he built a parish house and was on the Board of Charities of Austin, of which he was one of the charter members. Leaving Austin, he went to China, by way of Siberia, with Hankow as his des- tination, but due to the revolution in that country, spent a number of months in Tokio. He was in China from 1911 until 1915, paying all his own ex- penses and in charge of the Y. M. C. A. work in Hankow, Hanyang and Wuchang, known as the Wuhan cities, and all operated under one head, and chaplain of the Church General Hospital at Wu- chang. During these years, Rev. Masterson was general secretary of the Y. M. C. A. work, and won distinction for his many real services, often made at great personal sacrifice. In 1915 he returned to America, and Houston, remaining here one year, after which he went to San Antonio, supervising the religious work of the Y. M. C. A. army of the Mex- ican border at San Antonio and was for some time connected with this branch. In 1919 he was Red Cross chaplain in Base Hospital 66 in Neufchateau, France. In the same year he returned to Houston and was instrumental in establishing Autry House, where his work has since centered. He is the repre- sentative of the national board of the Episcopal Church for student work in the Southwest. Rev. Masterson makes his home at Autry House and per- sonally supervises the activities here. He is a Scot- tish and York Rite Mason and a member of Arabia Temple Shrine. He is chairman of the building committee of the Houston Public Library Board. His name is found on the rolls of the University Club, the Harvard Club, the Y. M. C. A., the Alamo Country Club, of San Antonio, the Fraternal Club, of New York City, and the Alpha Tau Omega fra- ternity. He has a host of personal friends at Hous- ton, men and women who admire his many fine quali- ties and who take pride in the great work he is doing for the city.

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R. REUBEN TRAVIS SCOTT-The annals of Houston's history contains no finer ex- ample of self sacrifice and service than Dr. that recounted in the story of the life of Reuben Travis Scott, pioneer physician, who devoted the best part of his life to the service of humanity and the alleviation of suf- fering. Dr. Scott was one of that fast disap- pearing type of medical practitioner, the fam- ily physician, who stands at the portals of life and death, and who is friend, counselor and guide to those hundreds of patients who knew and loved him. Dr. Scott's kindly sympathy was ever theirs. No night was too dark and stormy, no distance too great, for him to go when the call came to him. And many times, after one of these midnight calls to a dismal home in some poorer quarter of the city he would forget to render a bill. He knew what the payment, even of a small fee, would mean to that family, so he served greatly, and happily, and perhaps found far greater recompense in those timid expressions of gratitude and love than he did in the rich man's check.

Dr. Reuben Travis Scott was born at Calwood, in Calloway County, Missouri, on the third day of March, 1859, son of James Gilmer Scott, and Mary Jane (Moore) Scott. Mr. Scott, a native of Adair County, Kentucky, came of sturdy pioneer stock, and was himself a pioneer, farming in those days when Missouri was "The Western Frontier." Mrs. Scott was a native of Missouri. Dr. Scott attended the schools of Fulton, Missouri, Westminster Col- lege, from which he graduated, and Louisville School of Medicine, where he took his degree in 1886, grad- uating with honors, receiving the medal for obstet- rics and gynecology. Later he took post-graduate work in New York in 1888 and 1901, and in Phila- delphia in 1912. He practiced a while in North Texas before coming to Houston, in 1889. . At the time of his death he was one of the oldest prac- ticing physicians of Houston, having spent nearly forty years engaged in medical practice here. Dr. Scott was a brother of Dr. M. M. Scott of Brown- wood, who was surgeon for the Santa Fe Railroad, and it was to this brother that he owed his ambi- tion to become a physician.

Dr. Scott was married at Houston on the ninth day of October, 1907, to Miss Jennie Ervine, daugh- ter of Thomas Ervine and Helen (Waddell) Ervine, who came to Galveston in the early seventies and were prominent in the commercial and social life of that city. Mr. Ervine was an accomplished musi- cian and was a member of the choir of the St. James Methodist Church of Galveston, of which he was a member. Thomas Ervine, who was born in Ire- land, was a brother of James Ervine, well known Belfast, Ireland, minister. Mrs. Ervine was of Scotch ancestry, although her birthplace was in County Down, Ireland, coming to America with her brother, the late Hugh Waddell of Houston. Dr. and Mrs. Scott had an ideal married life, Mrs. Scott taking a deep interest in her husband's career, as well as creating a charming home. They had two children, a daughter, Helen Nina, and a son, James Eugene, and also reared an adopted son, Harry Scott. The family home is at 2404 San Jacinto Street.

Dr. Scott was a member of the Harris County Medical Society, the Knights of Columbus, the

Woodmen of the World and other local organizations, and belonged to Sacred Heart Church. Dr. Scott's death occurred on the sixteenth of September, 1925, he being in his sixty-sixth year. Ever kindly and sympathetic, ready to answer the call of duty at whatever cost to himself, Dr. Scott gave gener- ously of himself to his hundreds of patients. His work among the poor was especially significant, and in his death the city of Houston and the med- ical profession of the state lost one of its finest men.

HARLES W. TAYLOR-For many years the name of Charles W. Taylor was signif- icantly associated with merchandising ac- tivities at Houston, and he was regarded as one of those business men, who through their natural qualifications for leadership, were influenc- ing progressive merchandising policies and mould- ing public opinion favorable to the highest type of development. Mr. Taylor was that type of busi- ness man who finds his highest reward in the opera- tion of a business which reflects credit on the city wherein it is located, and his participation in the business life of Houston was creditable in every way. A man of sterling integrity, of sound and constructive business policies, he directed for years one of the largest jewelry businesses at Houston, and while much that he did in a business way was of direct importance to the advancement of Hous- ton, he did not limit his work to his own private interests, but was for many years president of the Retail Merchants Association of Houston, and was active in his work for the advancement of business generally.

Charles W. Taylor was born at Whitehall, Illinois, in 1870, and spent his early years in his native state, attending the schools there. After complet- ing his education and spending several years in various business activities in Illinois, Mr. Taylor, with his brother, Frank C. Taylor, came to Hous- ton, in 1895, and established the jewelry firm of Taylor Brothers, with which he was associated for more than two decades. During that time Mr. Taylor built up the jewelry business established directly after his arrival in Houston until it became one of the leading jewelry stores here, and a house of established reliability and integrity. In 1916 he retired from the jewelry business, later becoming a representative for a large New York rug estab- lishment, representing this company for some months prior to his death.

Charles W. Taylor was married at Caldwell, Texas, the 17th of May, 1894, to Miss Georgia Roberts of Austin, Texas.

Mr. and Mrs. Taylor had a family of three chil- dren: Homer W. Taylor of Houston, where he is a salesman for the Federal Electric Company, and who married Miss Betty Bargerstock; Floyd W. Taylor, also of Houston, where he operates the Tay- lor Service Stations that are modern filling and service stations at the corner of Heights Boulevard and Center Streets, and Washington Avenue and Heights Boulevard, and who married Miss Annette Konken; and Vivian, wife of Charles Potts, well known Sherman business man, and who has one child, Charles Potts, Jr.

Charles W. Taylor died at Dallas, the eleventh of May, 1924, at the age of fifty-four years. He had been traveling for a New York commercial firm

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for several years at the time of his death, and with his family had just returned to Houston to re- established his home here, and also planned to make this city his headquarters. Mr. Taylor was an Elk, a charter member of the Red Roosters, and was chairman of the board which launched the first "Greater Houston Exposition" movement. As presi- dent of the Retail Merchants Association of Hous- ton, an office he held for many years, he was a factor in encouraging the commercial development of Houston, and his work in this behalf will long be recalled, as will the results of his indefatigable ef- forts in all work for the development of Houston. His death was a loss not alone to merchandising circles, but to the city in general, and to his many friends, both at Houston and in other parts of the state.

ILLIAM ESCRAGE KENDALL, son of Francis Washington Kendall and Margaret Fleming, was born in Loudoun County, Vir- ginia, October 27, 1823, and is a lineal de- cendant of Henry Kendall, one of the English colon- ist who settled Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, and was the founder of the family in America. Henry Kendall's descendants settled in King George Coun- ty, Virginia, and intermarried with the Marshalls, Chief Justice Marshall being second cousin to Judge Kendall's father. A branch of the Marshall family moved to Fauquier County, where the chief justice was born September 24, 1755.

While visiting his relatives, the Marshalls of Fauquier County, Judge Kendall's father met Miss Margaret Ellen Fleming. Acquaintance ripened in- to love, and resulted in the marriage of Francis Washington Kendall and Margaret Ellen Fleming, June 18, 1815, the day on which Napoleon was de- feated at Waterloo ..

Mrs. Kendall lineally descended from William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania and son of Ad- miral Sir William Penn of the British Navy. A branch of the Penn family moved from Bedford, Pennsylvania, to Loudoun County, Virginia, where Margaret Ellen was born, May 10, 1792.

Opportunities for acquiring an education were few and not of the best. Young Kendall went to what he calls "an excuse for a country school," one or two months in the winter, during part of the twenty-one years spent on the farm "serving his time" with his father until he reached his majority. The young man, longing eagerly for an education, at once entered school, working during vacation and at other intervals during school terms to pay his tuition. After one year's schooling he turned his face toward the West, and, as he says, "launched out into the great world of which I know nothing, hav- ing never been out of sight of my Blue Ridge moun- tain home." Some idea may be formed of the pluck, energy and dauntless perseverence of this young Virginian, when we learn that he walked over the Alleghany mountains into Ohio. Calling upon the chairman of the board of school trustees, they as- sured him of a position in the school if he could stand the examination. "To my great relief," says Judge Kendall, in narrating the episode, "I found that the township examiner, like myself, knew but little, so I passed the examination, secured my certificate, and was installed teacher in Red Brush township.

Later he attended Martinsburg Academy, quite a noted institution of learning in the adjoining coun- ty. "This," said Mr. Kendall, "was the turning point in my life's uneventful history." Teaching some time after this he earned the money to go to the Wesleyan University at Deleware, Ohio. Close application and diligent study enabled him to graduate at the end of three years, when he returned to Virginia where he was appointed professor of languages in Jordan Seminary, near Winchester. Desiring a wid- er field, he founded what became known as the Hill City Institute at Vicksburg, Mississippi. During all that time Mr. Kendall kept one end in view and he determined to put his long cherished plans into operation, and turned his attention to law. After two years' study in the office of a distinguished lawyer of Mississippi, he was licensed by the Su- preme Court of that state to practice law, and short- ly afterward started to Texas, to begin life as a lawyer in the great Lone Star State.

He landed in Galveston May 1, 1854. From Gal- veston, Mr. Kendall took a steamer and came to Houston. He then went to Richmond, where he opened an office and acquired a good practice. About this time his brother Charles came to Texas and they formed a partnership known as Kendall and Kendall, which afterward became Kendall, Kendall and Buckley, and upon the death of Judge Buckley, the firm became Kendall, Kendall and Harcourt.

In 1857 Mr. Kendall went to New York and while there made certain business connections, which placed him upon a sound financial basis. Under these favorable circumstances he built out of his own means, an Episcopal Church in Richmond, which was known as Cavalry Parish. In 1859 he left for Europe and spent one year visiting all of the princi- pal cities in Europe, the places of interest in the Holy Land and Egypt and European Turkey. After his return he published in book form some of the letters which he had written to his brother, while away, and dedicated the volume to Judge James S. Sullivan of Richmond. Without ostentation he re- sumed his law practice and pursued it diligently un- til 1861, when he cast his lot with the Confederacy and went to Virginia, where he did effectual but "irregular service," as guide and scout in the moun- tains of Virginia during the different campaigns in which capacity he served until the close of the war. Later he returned to Texas and resumed the practice of law until 1874, when the death of his brother and partner occurred, he retired from prac- tice.

On June 26, 1867, Judge Kendall was united in marriage with Miss Belle Sherman, second daughter of General and Mrs. Sidney Sherman. After six months, spent in travel, Judge and Mrs. Kendall settled in Richmond. Six sons blessed this union: Sherman, Charles, William, Odin, Clarence, and Francis Fenwick. To give their children the ad- vantages of a good education, Judge Kendall, in 1879, moved to Houston. William is a well known real estate man of Houston, Odin engaged in the oil industry in Houston and Clarence, prominent lawyer and assistant United States district attorney with headquarters in Houston. Charles, died in in- fancy, and Sherman died at nineteen years of age, on the eve of graduating in the law department of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Francis F. died at the age of 37.

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E. HOWELL. In recounting the develop- ment of Houston and Harris County dur- ing the past four decades, the name of T. E. Howell figures prominently as that of a progressive business man, imbued with the highest ideals of citizenship, and interested in many of those enterprises which have directly influenced the trend of development, not alone at Houston, but through- out this section. Mr. Howell was a factor in the lumber business, owning and operating yards at some ten or more points in South Texas, and from time to time had interests in other enterprises of wide scope, but it was perhaps as a realtor that he was best known, and it was certainly as a real estate man, who had the distinction of having bought and improved more land in Harris County than any other individual here, that his influence was great- est. In was his life long policy to buy up unde- veloped land and property and develop it, and surely the man who uses either his own, or his clients, money to further development in this way, is en- titled to a place among the real builders of a com- munity.

Mr. Howell was born at Danby, New York, six miles from Ithica, the twenty-fifth of December, 1867. His father, Thomas H. Howell, was a well known merchant of Danby. His mother, whose maiden name was Miss Hariet E. Bryan, was a mem- ber of a prominent New York family. Mr. Howell secured his early education in the public schools and at the age of fifteen years entered Cayuga Lake Military Academy, where he graduated. He return- ed home and went to work in his father's store, remaining there until he was twenty-one years of age, when he came to Texas, an ambition he had had since, a lad of twelve, he had read circulars is- sued by the International and Great Northern Rail- road telling of the opportunities Texas offered.

After one year in Texas seeking a location, Mr. Howell came to Houston, in 1889, landing in the city during a heavy rain, with the mud knee deep in the Fifth Ward. A little later he made his first land investment, buying a tract fifteen miles west of Houston for a consideration of two dollars and a half an acre. Later he purchased timber land in Hardin County for seventy-five cents per acre. With the foresight which marked his subsequent career, Mr. Howell visioned the future of Texas and re- turned to New York and borrowed fifteen hundred dollars to pay for this land, and later borrowed seven hundred and fifty dollars. About that time he opened his first lumber yard, at Alvin, this being the first lumber yard to be established there. He also put the first glass front in a store at Alvin. Later he sold the Alvin interests and went to Ve- lasco, where he engaged in the lumber and hardware business. but the storm of 1900 swept everything away and he had to start at the very bottom. He went to his first land he had bought, near Houston, developing this into a fine ranching interest, known as Wolf Ranch, which he sold in 1902. He then started the town of Howell, on the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad, and also developed one of the finest farms in Harris County on the tract of land he owned there. This farm is now in a high state of cultivation, equipped with all modern farm machinery, including tractors, and was run under Mr. Howell's supervision up until his death. The farm property included an office, a store and some

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 126

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