USA > Texas > Past history and present stage of development of Texas. Memorial and biographical history matter of the Lone Star state > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
Studied law without a preceptor, was admitted to the bar in Nashville, and without a dollar at his command, settled for practice in Lebanon. Upon being appointed prosecuting
106
attorney of the judicial district he returned to Nashville. Soon afterwards he engaged in a duel just over the Kentucky line and slew his antagonist, Gen. White, a distinguished lawyer and man of military standing. In 1823, at the age of thirty, he was chosen to represent the Ninth Tennessee district in Congress; was reflected in 1825, and during his residence at Washington came near fighting two duels, and was one of President Andrew Jackson's effective supporters during those storm-tossed and trying days of the nation. With the support of the Jackson wing of the Democratic party he was elected Governor of Ten- nessee in 1827 by 12,000 majority. While making a canvass of the state for reelection he learned that his beautiful young wite of three months' standing, Miss Eliza Allen, had silently lett her home in Nashville and returned to her parents at Gallatin. This shocked his friends and stimulated the tongue-monger of vituperation and calumny on the part of his enemies. Mrs. Houston was a charming young lady of asthetie temperament, of pure char- acter and a fine family, and though much has been said and written concerning the fact that each thereafter spoke in the most respectful terms of the other when questioned, and carried the secret of their separation to their graves, it is generally accepted this late day that each realized there existed no affinity between them, Mrs. Houston having obeyed the dictates of her parents to marry Gov. Houston for position in society. Mrs. Houston later married her true love and lived for many years afterwards, honored and respected to her demise. The next day after Gen. Houston got back to Nashville he tendered his resignation as Governor of Tennessee to the Secretary of State and disappeared from the state so mysteriously as to cause alarming conjecture as to what route he could have went, lest the ground had swallowed him. He went to Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, where he joined his old Cherokee Indian friends.
In 1833 Gen. Houston came to Texas as a secret commissioner under orders from Presi- dent Andrew Jackson to report to him on the agricultural and commercial value of the terri- tory, and of the feasibility of the same being wrested from Mexican control. His report was a glowing description of what is today the greatest and most promising country on the American continent. From that time on until he was impeached as Governor of Texas, on account of his violent opposition to Texas seceding from the American Union during the civil war period, his personality was a conspicuous part of the history of Texas, justly and appropriately titling him the "Father of Texas." Knowing of the Goliad brutality, and apprised of the Alamo slaughter of 120 Americans by Gen. Santa Anna and his army of 6,000 soldiers on March 6, 1836, Gen. Houston's command on the San Jacinto battlefield on April 21 was, "Remember the Alamo; remember Goliad." On this memorable day at 3 o'clock, when the Mexicans were taking their usual siesta, Gen. Houston and his 782 braves swooped down on Gen. Santa Anna's army of 2,400 soldiers, killed, captured and put to flight the whole army, and won Texas' independence from Mexico, Gen. Houston being wounded in the leg. Summarizing he was Commander-in-chief of the Army of Texas; was President of the Texan Republic for two years, and was twice elected Governor after Texas came into the Union and went to the United States Senate, and the prominent part he took in its devel- opment from every standpoint is too well known by all Texas people to necessitate a review at this time. Gen. Houston was converted and baptized into the Baptist church by his ardent friend and sapporter, Dr. R. C. Burleson, in 1854, from which time on to his death he lived a zealously religious life, his death occurring at Huntsville, July 26, 1863, aged seventy years, where a magnificent monument was recently erected to perpetuate his memory and undying fame, in the dedication of which the Hon. W. J. Bryan was the orator of the day. Truly, Gen. Houston was one of Nature's greatest men, born in the rough that he was.
HARRIS, Japhet Newland
Another of those who donned the uniform of the Gray and offered his life in defense of the the Southern Cause was Mr. J. N. Harris, of Comanche-a gentleman sans pere sans reproache. Indeed, his character is so well built, his life-long conduct so blameless that his obituary might. with propriety, be written while he is yet living, as the facts of it would be heartily approved by his neighbors and many warm friends-especially his old comrades in arms. Mr. Harris was born in Kemper county, Miss., May 3, 1843. His father, Wash Harris,
107
was a tiller of the soil in Mississippi, and migrated to Bellvue, Rusk county, East Texas, in 1851, and was a "freighter "' from Shreveport, La., west, during the wild frontier days when the cowboys and the Indians were in their most vigorous elements. His death occurred in 1852, when the son, whose name initiates this sketch, was nine years old, and after which the mother, who was formerly Miss Martha Morris, moved to Union Parish, La., where she had a brother living. Of the children born to the original union were three sons and two daughters: J. N. Harris, J. T. Harris, mechanic at Dallas, and Mrs. Jack Riordan, whose husband died six years ago, and she has recently "took up" land in New Mexico; and one son and one daughter are dead. The mother died in 1899 at Stephenville, where she had resided for twenty-three years.
It was back in Union Parish, Louisiana, that Mr. J. N. Harris enlisted in the Confed- erate army in 1862, in Co. I., 31st La. Reg., Capt. J. A. White and Col. Morrison. For some time this branch of the Confederate army performed service up and down the Mississippi river-on west side-" looking out" for gunboats, etc., and was in the battles of Big Black and Fort Gibson. Crossing to the east side of the Mississippi river they operated in the Vicksburg vicinity for about two years and participated in the famous "Siege of Vicksburg." The surrender came in July, 1864. The health of the soldiers was bad, dysentery having reduced Mr. Harris to a mere skeleton. Obtaining his parole, he and two other comrades left the hospital, crossed the turbulent Mississippi river on a tow of logs and made their way through the Louisiana swamps and canebrakes for many miles to their homes. Weak, emaciated, falling on the wayside from exhaustion and almost dead, Mr. Harris finally reached home by the aid of a faithful negro. For some time Mr. Harris' mother refused to accept him as her recognized son. He remained six months and went back to the army, and was at Alexandria, La., when the surrender came. Mr. Harris was married Nov. 1, 1877, to Miss Nannie Painter, of Stephenville, and they have two sons and two daughters living and one son deceased. The family conduct what is popularly known as the Harris House in Comanche. Mr. Harris is a machinist by trade, and has for the past twenty years been connected with the Frisco Railway, being connected with their water service at the present time. He is an Odd Fellow, Missionary Baptist, and belongs to John Pellam Camp, U. C. V., No. 365.
HARRIS, W. P.
There are not many men in this section of Texas whose personal qualities make for them a larger circle of warm personal friends than is possessed by Postmaster W. P. Harris, of Sulphur Springs. His father, Jno. Harris, was a Missourian and a pioneer in the early days of Texas. His mother, before marriage, was Miss Letitia Sickles, born in Pennsylvania, and was related to the famous family of that name in and from that state. His mother departing this life when he was six months old, and his father's demise occurring when he was fourteen months of age, left him an orphan, and he was tenderly cared for and reared and educated by his grandfather, William Sickles, a farmer of Hopkins county. Hence Mr. Harris was born on a farm in Hopkins county, Dec. 27, 1865, and at the age of seventeen changed from bucolic pursuits to that of a merchandise salesman for some years. We next find him Deputy United States Marshal in the Eastern District of Texas, for one year under United States Marshal John Grant, and for more than seven years under the then United States Marshal, A. J. Houston, son of Gen. Sam Houston, father of the Texas Republic and independence. He resigned this position and was soon afterwards, on March 11, 1908, appointed postmaster of Sulphur Springs. Under his very progressive administration this office has continued to increase in the volume of business and the salary raised accordingly. Nine rural free delivery routes radiate from the Sulphur Springs postoffice, some of the carriers having motorcycle equipments.
As an assistant in fighting the battles of this life Mr. Harris was wedded to Miss Berta Ingram, daughter of W. J. Ingram, who was for years a veteran in the United States Marshal service of Texas, but now a well-to-do farmer in this county, and they have two sons, William Joseph and. John Hamilton Harris. Personally Mr. Harris is a polished gentleman, suave and courtly in his bearing toward his fellow men. His nearly nine years' Federal office service gave him a wide knowledge of men and affairs and many hazardous experiences, in
.
108
that it fell to his duty to arrest many desperate characters. Mr. Harris has been a lifelong Republican, and has served his party conspicuously in the past. He is a member of the Odd Fellows and W. O. W. secret fraternities.
HOWARD, Dr. William Avory
Beginning in the first part of the eighteenth century in the Carolinas, and coming on down through the channels of Tennessee to Texas-tracing the advancement of the country from early civilization to the present state of modern development-is a long span for one ' immediate family. Nehemiah Howard, father of the gentleman whose name precedes this sketch, was born in Union county, South Carolina, in 1805, and migrated to Giles county, Tennessee, in early manhood, where he held official honors at the hands of the people, and died in 1881 as a wealthy farmer and Hardshell Baptist. His grandfather, Stephen Howard, fought in the Revolutionary war under Gen. Francis Marion. Dr. Howard's mother before marriage was Miss Roena Hammonds, who was born in North Carolina in 1813 and died in Giles county, Tenn., in 1854, she being a cousin of ex-Gov. Jelks, of Alabama.
Dr. Howard was born on his father's plantation in the Shoal Creek neighborhood, near Minor Hill, Pulaski county, Tenn., Sept. 2, 1854. Having attended the public schools he finished his education at noted Bethel College, Bethel, Tenn. Choosing the medical profession, he attended Bellevue Medical College, New York City, during 1877-78, and the Louisville (Ky.) Medical College during 1880-81. Soon after returning to his Tennessee home his father died, and he then turned his face to the setting sun of the West, coming to Waco June 22, 1881. He was not long in building np a prosperous practice, which he has since uninter- ruptedly enjoyed to the present hour, and today stands at the head of his profession in Central Texas. Dr. Howard has served as President of the Waco Medical Association, and as Vice- President of the Central Texas Medical Association, of which he was a charter member, and has otherwise served on the local health boards. The Tennessee Club organized a few years ago with about fifteen hundred members in McLennan county, and some idea of Dr. Howard's popularity can be surmised when it is known that he was its 'first and only President to the present time. Indeed, Dr. Howard is one of Waco's most distinguished and lovable citizens, he seeming to fit in here with the people most admirably, and with whom he has shared his lot and labored through sunshine and shadow for the past thirty years. A strong believer in Texas, Dr. Howard still loves the old home-place and the scenes of his boyhood days back in sunny Tennessee. Hail, hearty and well met, he is extensively posted on the current thought of the day, and is frank and pleasant in expressing his very decided and independent views on all subjects, whether of science, ancient or present-day history. Religiously Dr. Howard is an old school Presbyterian.
JOHNSON, Thomas Maddox
Some idea of the importance of Hill can be gained as one of the greatest black land farming connties in Texas when it is known that its taxable valuation (far below its actual value) is about $30,000,000, and also one can get a line on the extraordinary wealth of Hills- boro, the seat of government, when its population is considered to be about 6,000, and its taxable valnation, approximately, $4,000,000. In this connection the publisher takes pleasure in speaking of Mr. Thomas Maddox Johnson, City Tax Assessor and Collector of the city of Hillsboro. Mr. Johnson's parents were natives of Alabama; his father, J. F. Johnson, was born in Green connty of that state, migrated to Tippah county, Miss., and to Ripley, where he died in 1866 when the subject of this sketch was twelve years old. His mother was Miss Leah Maddock, born in Alabama, and her parents moved to Pontotoc county, Miss., in earlier days. There were born into the family one son and two daughters, both of the latter- Mrs. L. A. McCowan and Miss Bettie Johnson-are now residing in Tippah county, in the old state. The mother died at Ripley, Miss., in 1864.
Mr. T. M. Johnson was born in Pontotoc connty, Miss., Oct. 9, 1854, and spent his boyhood days on the farm, which was then the following of his father. Approaching maturity, he entered the furniture business as a salesman at Holly Springs, Miss., and was later engaged
109
in this line of business ou his own account at Ripley, Miss., for a period of ten years. On Oct. 24, 1882, Mr. Johnson was joined in holy wedlock to Miss Birt Read, of Tippah county, Miss., and they have three children-one daughter, Miss Mary, and Read, named for his grandfather, and Thomas Maddox, named for his father. In 1894 Mr. Johnson came to Hillsboro and con- tinued in the furniture line of labor until 1909, when he entered the courthouse as an assistant in the tax assessor's office. However, he remained in this position but a few months, being appointed City Tax Assessor and Collector in August, 1910, to fill out the unexpired term of W. P. Dooley, deceased. Was recently elected with 446 against 174 votes of two opponents. The efficient manner in which he has conducted the affairs of his office is such as to warrant the prediction that the people will keep him there as long as he desires to remain. Mr. Johnson has the happy faculty of being a good conversationalist, loves humanity and has many friends. While he still cherishes a warm place in his heart for the old home place back in Mississippi, he believes Texas is the greatest place on earth. It is his judgment that Hillsboro has doubled in population since he came here in 1894. The family worship with the Methodist church, and Mr. Johnson also belongs to the F. U. of A. and U. V. A. secret orders.
JENKINS, Prof. William David
Comanche county is noted throughout the state for the splendid condition and working results of its public schools, which cover many years of history-making and has taxed the best thought and talent of its progressive people. As a part of this history-making in educational circles it is the writer's pleasant duty to speak kindly of Prof. W. D. Jenkins, the present Superintendent of Comanche County Schools, and who has conscientiously devoted twenty-five years of his time and labor to the upbuilding of the public schools of Comanche county. Prof. Jenkins, happily, was born right here in the prosperous little city of Comanche-then a mere trading post-May 16, 1865. However, his father, J. W. Jenkins, was born in Virginia, and when a young man migrated from the Old Mother State to Nashville, Tenn. In 1855 he came to Texas and first settled in Coryell county, and to Comanche county in 1856. He was one of the fron- tier Indian fighters, and during the civil war belonged to the Scout Service in protecting women, children and stock from depredations of the Indians. He lived the life of a farmer, a consistent member of the Methodist church and died Oct. 16, 1893. His wife's maiden name was Miss Mary Anna Martin, who was born in Georgia, and who came along with her people, who settled in Comanche county in 1860. The marriage took place in 1861, of which union two sons and one daughter were born. Of the family all are dead except Prof. Jenkins, the mother's untimely taking off occurring on the night of March 20, 1911, when she was burned to death in the destruction of the home while alone in the building.
Prof. Jenkins continued at manual labor on the farm until nineteen years of age, when, in order to finish his education, he borrowed money at five per cent a month to defray his expenses while coursing through Sam Houston State Normal at Huntsville, receiving his diploma in 1891. Having been teaching since he was eighteen years old, he again resumed his chosen profession, this time with better qualifications and renewed vigor and still better results. He was for two years principal in the Comanche schools, and a number of the schools in Comanche county that are today in a flourishing condition were made so by his efforts and progressive and sound judgment, with the result that he is the best known and the most popular man among the scholastic population in Comanche county. In the fall of 1910 Prof. Jenkins was chosen by the people of this county to his present office, and as one of the hardest educational workers in Texas is certainly doing a good work. Among other progressive features he has interested the Boy's Corn Club, and has adopted the stereopticon illustrative service in the school room to demonstrate to pupils the nature and danger of contagious diseases- why we should swat the fly, mosquito, etc. Prof. Jenkins was married April 29, 1894, to
110
Miss Daisy Webb, of Dublin, her people hailing from Montgomery county, East Texas. They have one daughter deceased, and two sons and one daughter living. Prof. Jenkins belongs to the Free Will Baptist church, K. of P. and W. O. W. lodges. The scholastic population of Comanche county is 7,395, and about 175 teachers are employed. The valuation of the county school buildings is about $60.000.
JOHNSTON, Rev. W. C.
To live in a community. prosper and enjoy not only the respect but the love of the predominance of the people, is the greatest satisfaction and the highest achievement one can accom- plish in this life. Such is the social and commercial standing of Rev. Walter Charles Johnston, of Como, Northeast Texas. Mr. Johnston was born in Columbiana, Ala., Aug. 13, 1861, and received his education in the public schools. His father, W. C. Johnston, was a native of Mississippi, and died in Alabama in 1865. His mother, before marriage, was Miss Anna Wingo, born in Alabama, and after the death of her husband moved to Red River county, Texas, and settled on a farm ten miles east of Paris. She died in Dallas in 1894, where she had been living for a number of years. Mr. Johnston was reared a farmer boy, and at the age of seventeen branched to that of railroading. He was connected with many of the great systems of the country in the capacity of fireman, brakeman, switchman, yardmaster, conductor and engineer through the states of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Colorado, Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas, covering a period of fifteen years. In 1895 Mr. Johnston disengaged himself from railroading, purchased a farm and located at Como. Six years ago he gave life to the Johnston Mercantile Company, under which caption he conducts one of the largest and most attractive dry goods stores in the town, in a prominent new brick building, where he is gratified with an extensive patronage and is prosperous. Retracing to 1890, it was April 3 of this year that Mr. Johnston was happily married to Miss Lula Smith, daughter of Esq. J. F. Smith, Como's most prominent and beloved citizen, and who is appropriately spoken of elsewhere in this publication. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston have one daughter, Miss Mildred, aged twenty, and one son, Roy C., aged eighteen, and all of whom take a part in the conduct of the store. Brother Johnston was converted to the Christian faith in the year 1905, has been preaching the Gospel about six years, but was not technically ordained to the Baptist ministry until March, 1910, since which time he has preached almost every Sunday, frequently going quite a distance from home. Although he is a very busy man, he is never too much ocenpied with his own affairs but what he can lay them down to take up the Lord's work. His is a happy Christian home-a beacon light to the community.
JACOBS, Charles Frederick
Mr. Charles F. Jacobs, mechanic and property owner of Comanche, Texas, was born Oct. 14, 1855, in what was then Kaufman, but is now Rockwall county. His father, Dr. E. Jacobs, was a native of Vermont, and when a boy left his "down Eastern home" for Kentucky, and a few years later migrated to Arkansas, settling on the Black river. Here he was twice married and reared two sets of children in the course of his life. In 1853 he came to Rockwall, Texas, where he practiced medicine for twenty-five years. When the civil war came on-being also Justice of the Peace-he mustered in three different companies for the service of the Confederate army, but being an old and affectionately established physi- sian his neighbors refused to permit him to go to the front in defense of the cause he so ardently espoused. Changing his home to the South Texas Coast country he located in the Matagorda Peninsula, and in the disastrous storm on Sept. 16, 1875, lost everything he had in the way of goods and property, and one son, daughter. son-in-law and twin male nephews. Back to Dallas county, he practiced one year at Garland, and then moved to Indian Gap, southwestern part of Hamilton county, where he spent the last of his declining years in a
111
long life of much usefulness, his death occurring in 1899, aged ninety-one years. Dr. Jacobs was a strong believer in the justice of the Southern Cause, in which he risked everything that he possessed, turning all his property into paper money and gold. A member of the Chris- tian church, moral and temperate in all things, he believed a physician that would indulge in strong drink "should be shot."
Mr. Charles F. Jacobs, whose name initiates this sketch, was a son by his father's second wife, who was Miss Jane Robinson, who was born and reared on the Black River in Arkansas. The marriage took place in 1851, and of the three daughters and four sons born to the union there are now living Chas. F., Edward, farmer and stockman, and "Gus," blacksmith and owner of 300 acres of land, both residing at Indian Gap, in Hamilton county. Mr. Chas. F. Jacobs was married June 10, 1876, to Miss Martha Mills, whose family were next to the oldest settlers in Dallas county, and were directly related to the late and lamented Roger Q. Mills, statesman and soldier. Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs had one son to die in infancy, and those of their children living at present are: John William, farmer in this county, and Mrs. J. J. Tate, Mrs. Lee Milholland, of Comanche, and Mrs. W. S. Childers, of Santa Anna, Coleman county. The greater part of Mr. Jacobs' life has been spent in Rockwall and Indian Gap, Texas, and his coming to Comanche was about eight years ago. While he has devoted many years to farming, twenty-five years of his life has been assiduously devoted to the blacksmith and woodworking business, in which he has been a pronounced success, he being known as an exceptionally fine mechanic. In financial matters he has also been a success, having shown his faith in the future of Comanche by investing in something like four pieces of residence prop- erty. Mr. Jacobs enjoys the esteem and confidence of all who know him, which is the richest heritage a man can leave to his children. He worships with the Christian church.
JOHNSON, J. E.
No firm or individual has done for Waco and Central Texas in the matter of educating its business men and citizens to appreciate the beauties of modern architecture and develop along building lines than Mr. J. E. Johnson, who for the past seventeen years has been con- nected with the interests of Central Texas in the capacity of contractor and builder. Mr. Johnson was born in the poetical land of Norway, Sept. 16, 1868,- and there matured to young manhood and learned the carpenter's trade. At the age of twenty he sailed for the promised land of America, and landed at Baltimore in 1888. From there he went to Scandia, Kansas, where he lived for two and one-half years, when he began making his future home in Waco in 1890, where he continued to follow the carpenter's trade until branching into contracting and building for himself in 1894. He therefore made annonnce- ment of his purposes, and having demonstrated his skill and reliability, he was soon in receipt of orders which engrossed his entire time and attention, and since that time has been one of the busiest men in the building business in Central Texas, his work having incorporated almost every class of structures and over a wide range of territory, some of which samples are as follows: Times-Herald, Lavinsky's jewelry store, Austin Street Methodist church par- sonage, Slaughter building. Auditorium, Waco Wholesale Drug Company, Brazos Valley Oil Mill; residences of Mat Cooper, I. Goldstein, Waco, and Mrs. Barton, of Calvert ; Lutheran church at Robertsville, State Bank at Mart, etc. At the present time Mr. Johnson has the contract and is engaged in erecting Waco's new Central High School building, which is to cost, approximately, $112,000. He was awarded the contract Nov. 22, 1910; broke dirt first part of January and the job is to be completed Sept. 10 of this year. The building will afford all the modern conveniences, and from the standpoint of architectural beauty will not be surpassed anywhere in the state, considering the amount of capital invested.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.