USA > Texas > Past history and present stage of development of Texas. Memorial and biographical history matter of the Lone Star state > Part 19
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I was born in Allegheny county, Virginia. Aug. 16, 1832. My father's name was James Beverly, son of Capt. John D. Littlepage. My mother's name was Susan Shanklin VanAnsdall. Her father, Caleb VanAnsdall, was of Irish descent, while my father was of English stock. My father had two brothers-the eldest named Samuel, died young. The next, named Charles Person, reared quite a family, his sons being named John, James and Samuel. By a second marriage my grandfather had a son named Adam B. Littlepage, who had four sons-the eldest, Samuel; second, Charles; third, Adam B .; the fourth, a physician, whose name I have forgotten. All live in Charlestown, West Virginia. Adam B. represents his district in Congress, elected by the Democratic party. My father, with his family, started from the White Sulphur Springs, in Greenbriar county, for Linn county, Missouri, in 1838, and traveling by easy stages, spent one summer in Williamson county, Ohio, and one winter in Bonham Bottom, on the Mississippi river-reaching Bruns-
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wiek, Mo., in 1840, and from thence by two-horse wagon to Parsons Creek, Linn county. My father's family consisted of. Patsy Esther, William Wallace, Sarah Ann, Elizabeth Dickson, Caleb VanAnsdall, James Arbuckle, Samuel Carpenter and Charles Pearson. My eldest sister married John Brown; my second married Jos. Slagel; third, Isom Cox-sister Patsy married in Virginia, Sarah and Elizabeth in Linn county, Missouri.
My father and his brother. Charles, were in the war of 1812-his father's brother, Gen. Lewis Littlepage, became distinguished as the envoy of the King of Poland to the Court of France. My father entered the service of his country under Gen. William Henry Harrison in his sixteenth year. Brother Caleb was in the war with Mexico under Gen. Sterling Price. Brother Charles was in the ranger service in Texas during the early fifties. I was reared on a farm in Missouri, attending school about three months during the winter season, as was the custom in that newly settled state-working on the farm during the spring and summer. Our money crops were tobacco and hemp, though corn, wheat and the cereals generally were raised successfully. The result was that I grew to manhood without the education I should have had. But I was fond of books and read everything my father's library afforded, and borrowed from our neighbors when opportunity afforded. My brother-in-law, Brown, loaned me a little volume, entitled "Pike's Persuasives to Early Piety," which led to my conviction and salvation, and after I entered the ministry I made it a rule to keep that book on hand, and in my pastoral charges, and when traveling over the district as presiding elder I ciren- lated that book as one of the most efficient means of bringing sinners to Christ. I professed religion and joined the M. E. Church, South, at the Parsons Creek camp meeting in about 1848; Willis E. Dockery, father of Missouri's popular congressman of that name, being preacher-in- charge. Feeling my need of an education, the following year I entered school at Linnius, W. T. Ellington, principal, and boarded with J. P. Withrow, neither costing me anything- both knowing that my father had disinherited me when I determined to enter the ministry. I applied myself too close to my studies, though walking three miles to school and living un- der the care of a physician; and with all the care I was capable of I lost my health, became a dyspeptic, and was compelled to quit school, though my teacher said I made more rapid progress than any pupil he had ever known. I was licensed to preach by the Spring Hill (Mo.) Quarterly Conference, Edwin Robinson, presiding elder, Aug. 21, 1854. I was admitted on trial in the Missouri Conference at Brunswick in 1854, Bishop Kavenaugh presiding, and assigned as junior preacher under old Father Wm. Ketron on the Trenton Mission. By Bro. Ketron's permission I organized four Sunday-schools on this charge, with thirty-four officers and teachers, 641 volumes in library, collected $90.10 for Sunday-school purposes, received thirty-four members into the church; was appointed Deputy District Degree Templar, and organized a number of lodges of Good Templars, a temperance institution of great value. As I now remember, we had little or no thought of banishing the saloons from the state, but to save men from its baleful influences. This year I became an Odd Fellow; also a member of the Masonic fraternity-my motto being to "Prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good." I received thirty-four members into the church-I don't remember how many Father Ketron received. Our mission embraced most of three counties, and two county seats, Trenton and Princeton. We had twenty-seven appointments on the mission, filling them every two weeks in the month; meeting each other once a month, and in case of protracted meetings we were together preaching, usually time about. My second appointment was to the Athens Mission, in 1855, as junior preacher under Bro. Wm. Sutton; appointed by Bishop John Early from Richmond, which was the seat of our conference that year. This, as I remember, was a very successful year, but I kept no account of specific results. My third appointment in 1855-6 was to the Maryville circuit as preacher in charge. This was a very successful year, as I remember there were about seventy-five conversions and accessions to the church. My fourth appointment was to the Athens circuit as preacher-in-charge in 1857. This year we had some sixty conversions and accessions. I bought one Sunday-school library at a cost of $100, inaugurated the building of a large brick church, the walls of which were going up when I left the state.
My parents, with Bros. James and Charles, started to Texas, as I started to my first appointment. I made one day's journey with them, camping out as they traveled in a two-
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horse wagon and a carriage. Just before parting with them, my father gave me a $60 note, and told me if he prospered in Texas I would hear from him again, but this was the last time I ever saw him. Three years after this he was killed by a mule he had driven from Missouri. He was riding it home from Austin, when it ran away-under a leaning tree-and crushed him to death. At the close of this year the conference met in Chillicothe, Mo .; held by Bishop John Early, who ordained me elder, with quite a good class. At the close of the conference I requested the bishop to give me a transfer to Texas. "I can't transfer a man just for a whim; I'll transfer you to the Kansas Mission conference. They need you in Kansas; they don't need you in Texas. What do you want to go to Texas for?" said he. "Bishop," I replied, "when I started to my first mission four years ago, my parents started to Texas. My father has since died; my mother is old and infirm. I want to transfer to Texas that I may be near her, and minister to her infirmities in old age." "I'll transfer you, sir, but a black coat when you get to Texas." I was dressed in a suit of snuff-colored cloth, following the ex- ample of my presiding elder, B. R. Baxter. Bidding farewell to my friends of the Missouri conference, one of the grandest set of men that ever lived, I started to St. Louis, where Bisbop Geo. F. Pierce, who had ordained me deacon two years before, was to preside over the St. Louis conference. I traveled from Chillicothe on private conveyance until I met the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad, then completed about half way. This was the first train I ever saw; and boarding it reached Hannibal in good time-taking a steamer, and found Bishop Pierce glad to have me as a traveling companion to Texas. Conference closing, the bishop, Dr. Chas. Taylor, returned missionary from China, and myself took passage on the John Dickey for Memphis. Took breakfast in the city and re-embarked for Gain's Landing, Ark., thence to Camden by stage coach, spent the night, where the bishop preached, and the next morning we hired a hack and drove to Shreveport, La. There we procured another hack and drove to Marshall, Texas. There the bishop left me and went to Chapel Hill, to assist in laying the corner stone of the Soul University. I remained in Marshall, preaching for Bros. Joice and Fields.
Nov. 10, 1858, quite a number of us started to the East Texas conference, which was to convene at Tyler. There I met the bishop again, and R. Alexander, J. W. Whipple and Gains Garden, of the Texas conference. Here one of the most awful scenes occurred I ever witnessed. On Saturday night the wooden church was crowded to hear Bishop Pierce preach a great missionary sermon. The service had begun when a rock in the foundation broke, or a brick cracked, or something that made the impression that the house was falling. Then such screaming I never heard before. The most fearful panic and stampede imaginable. Soon the church was nearly empty and the service was abandoned-a faint effort by singing was made to recall the people, but they were too badly scared to reassemble. The next day, the Sab- bath, the bishop had a small audience, and on Monday, 15th, at 11 o'clock, I tried to preach in the same house, but a norther had sprung up, and the windows being broken out by the stampede, the service didn't amount to much. Bro. Carden and I took a hack, and on the 18th of November, 1858, we arrived in Waco, Texas, and stopped at Major W. W. Downs. On the 20th we reached Austin, and on the 21st visited my precious mother, who was making her home with Bro. James, and spent several days with them. On Saturday I returned to Austin with my mother and preached in the Methodist church with great liberty, the first sermon my mother ever heard me preach. The next day was the Sabbath; Bishop Pierce preached in the hall of the legislature. Tuesday night conference adjourned, and I was appointed to the Waco station. I spent several days with mother and brothers, and Dec. 9, 1858, started to my new field of labor in the stage coach, and reached Waco on Dec. 10th. On Sabbath, 12th, at 11 o'clock, Bro. Alexander preached, and I preached my first sermon in Waco that night. During the year I had some twenty-five accessions. I raised money and purchased twenty-one acres of land, including the Bosque Springs, costing $300, and erected an arbor-the whole estimated at $1,000-and we had a very profitable camp meeting. The greatest work of this year, if not of my life, was the protracted meeting held in Old Springfield, Limestone county -held in connection with Bro. O. M. Addison, P. E., and his brother James, resulting in the conversion of Dr. S. F. Stanley, John R. Henry, Judge Roberts, James Davis, and many others. On June 1, 1859, I was married to Miss Fannie Kidd, in Leon county, Texas,
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daughter of Webb Kidd, of Oak Bowery, Ala. My dear Fannie died in fourteen months and twelve days after our marriage, leaving a son, who grew to manhood and died away from" home. His name was Fletcher. I was appointed to the Springfield charge, the second year built an elegant church at Springfield, and one at Battle Creek, near where Dawson now . stands.
When the war between the states came on, I joined Major Farrow's Company, and went with it into Parson's Reg. of state troops-drilled with them in day time and preached for them at night-and when that effort at arbitration came on, thinking the close of hostilities near, I received another appointment and was stationed at LaGrange by Bishop Early, who held our conference at Huntsville in 1861-making my home at Bro. Ligons. This proved a most prosperous year, indeed, we had a very great revival and many accessions to our church. In 1862 I was married to Miss Josephine Daviss, daughter of Wm. R. and Nancy Daviss, of Freestone county, Texas, and took my bride with me to LaGrange. At the close of this year I was appointed to the Fairfield circuit, where my wife gave birth to our first child, Eliza, who only lived a few days. In 1863 I was appointed missionary to Forney Division of the Confederate army. Leaving my wife with her parents, I joined the command near Camden, Ark., and remained with it until the war closed, except a short visit home in 1864, and was in the breakup at Hempstead. During my connection with the army, besides what good I did in the way of preaching, organizing four army churches-one in each brigade of the division-I made and saved to the soldiers $30,000, according to my report to I. G. John, D. D., secretary of our Army Mission Board. My oldest daughter, Beulah, was born in Freestone county, Texas, Ang. 8, 1864. My eldest son, Marvin, was born in the same county, Sept. 16, 1866. Also Samuel Clarence, on Nov. 1, 1868; Wm. D., Aug. 5, 1871; Benjamin Philpot, in Bryan, Texas, July 16, 1874-(who died in Houston, Aug. 27, 1900)-Josephine Susan, born in Bryan, Texas, Sept. 9, 1876; and Ernest Paxton, born in Huntsville, Nov. 1, 1878. The war being over, our country devastated and the future of our church uncertain, I took charge of the Fairfield circuit at the request of our Board of Stewards; preached on Sabbaths, Saturdays and of nights, and taught school during the week at Harrison's chapel. And my wife taught another one at Avant Prairie, and we bearded at Uncle Jos. Philpot's. But the first money I made after the war was for painting the Avant church at Dew. These were "days that tried men's souls." The next year I was regularly appointed to the circuit by Bishop James O. Andrews, who held the Texas conference at Chapel Hill. We had several gracious revivals on the charge this year. So had Bro. J. Y. Bryce, who was on the Corsicana circuit. Col. R. Q. Mills had lost his country and much of his fortune, and sought the con- solation of religion. He wished to join the Methodist church, wanted to be baptized as his parents had been by immersion, said he had never studied the subject of baptism, and didn't intend to study it. Nor did he intend that anybody should talk to him about it-he wanted me to baptize him, which I did in Col. Elliott's tank; he, his wife and law partner, and brother-in-law, Capt. Halbert-and preached for them in the Presbyterian church at 11 o'clock.
At the organization of the Northwest Texas conference in Waxahachie by Bishop Marvin in 1866, was appointed to the Corsicana circuit, and for three successive years was returned to that charge. These were prosperous years in my ministry, and we had a number of fine revivals in the charge. However, I had overtaxed my strength, needed rest. So, on receiving a proposition from my brother, C. V., from Guatemala, to join him in business, with the consent of my Board of Stewards and the P. E., Bro. McCarver, I applied for a location, sold out my little home and about everything I had, took my family to Galveston and joined my brother in Central America. We discussed the invention and he made a model of it, and we returned to Texas. This was in 1869. We went to Washington City, took out several patents; submitted our chief invention, a dinemometer, as brother called it, for the purpose of taking latitude at sea. We submitted the invention to Chas. Mason, our patent attorney at Washington City, and he appeared amazed at it, and could see no reason why it would not work. This was the opinion of Dr. W. G. Cunningham, of Nashville, Tenn., whom I met at Baltimore, and to whom I showed a description of the invention I had prepared for Com- modore Maury, who would not consider it, but admitted the correctness of the principle in-
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velved. We desired te patent this instrument simultaneously in the principal Eurepean ceuntries, and in America, and te do this we set abeut making money frem a patent planing saw. By this time I had regained my health, and was admitted te the St. Leuis conference, and appointed to the Bethel Missien in the city, where I did a very hard year's work, and in the fall I transferred to the Texas cenference, and was stationed at Bryan in 1873-74. Here we had one of the greatest revivals ef my ministry. I think there were about 180 cenversions and accessiens te our church. Frem Bryan te Heuston was my next statien-Shearn church, in 1875. From here I was returned te Bryan fer one year. There appointed presiding elder of the Huntsville district for three successive years. We had great prosperity in the dis- trict, but the werk was tee heavy for me and I begged to be relieved, and a petitien from Huntsville secured by appointment te that statien fer ene year. Frem Huntsville I was sent te Chapel Hill statien in 1881-here en June 12, 1882, my dear wife, Jesephine, in great peace and triumph, passed to her final home. At the clese ef this year I was appointed te the Fairfield charge, and en Aug. 7, 1883, I was married to Mrs. Mary H. DeLony, at Capt. D. R. Gurley's residence in Waco-returning the next day to Fairfield, where I served feur cen- secutive years, and was appeinted te the Celumbus station in 1886. In 1887 was appeinted to the Bastrep statien, where we remained twe years. Te Cameron in 1889, and te the Regers circuit in 1891, where we built an excellent parsonage. Here an eld lady denated fer the parsonage one hundred acres ef land in Haskell county, and deeded it to me fer $200, and at the expiration of several years I seld it fer $1,500-the prefits coming in after I was super- annuated, thus saving me from want. In 1893 we were appeinted te Trey, where we remained twe years, and then were sent te Crawford and McGregor in 1896; then te Erath in 1896; thence te Whitney ene year; thence te Bristel ene year; thence te Fereston; to Ovilla in 1891; te Alverado in 1900 fer three years, and at the clese ef my werk there in 1903 was placed on the superannuated roll. And in the Providence ef Ged, having purchased an acre of land in the southern part of Waco, my first pasteral charge in Texas, I built a little heme and moved into it in July, 1905, where I await my final transfer.
After a semewhat careful survey ef my life, I think it a censervative estimate te say that I have been instrumental in the salvatien and accessien to our church of about four thousand seuls. Am now a member of the Fifth Street church and Quarterly conference and have been fer years chaplain at Pat Cleburne Camp ef Cenfederate Veterans. Am in reasen- ably good health, and hope when my sun ef life shall set, threugh the Grace of Ged, te be fer- ever with the Lerd. S. C. LITTLEPAGE.
LOCKHART, Judge Francis Asbury
Judge F. A. Lockhart, ex-confederate seldier, ex-ceunty judge of Camp county, and for the past twenty-four years publisher of the Pittsburg Gazette, was born at Opelika, Ala., March 25, 1843. As a Methodist minister, his father, Rev. David Lockhart, preached the Gespel for ferty years, and died at Dadeville, Ala., in 1876, aged seventy-five years. He was married in Georgia te Miss Phereby Hardy, whe died in the eighty-fourth year ef her age. Thirteen children were bern te them, of which three are new living, as fellews: J. W. Lockhart, of Opelika, Ala .; Mrs. J. N. Dupree, of Camp Hill, Ala., and the subject of this sketch, Judge Leckhart.
Judge Leckhart quit the school room in Opelika, Ala., and jeined the Cenfederate army at the age ef eighteen, in the spring of 1861. He enlisted in the Opelika True Volunteers, Cempany H, Sixth Alabama Regulars, Capt. J. F. Waddell and Col. Seibles. He remained with the Army of Virginia nine months, and re-enlisted in an artillery company under Capt. Waddell and jeined the Army of Tennessee. He was in the battle of Champion Hills, Miss., and the siege of Vicksburg, and was with Gen. Kirby Smith in Kentucky. He was with Gen. Jes. E. Johnston, in fighting Sherman from Dalton to Atlanta; get inte many hot places and previeusly missed by a narrow margin ef time the battles of Bull Run and Atlanta. He was captured at Columbus, Ga., by Wilson's raid and was a prisoner of war at Macon when surrender came. The war being over, he returned to the farm in Alabama, and came to Pittsburg, Texas, in 1871, continuing to farm for some years in Camp ceunty. He served as county judge of same for little less
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than eight years and took charge of the Pittsburg Gazette in 1887 for a joint stock com- pany and afterwards bought the plant. Judge Lockhart has been twice married-first to Miss Mary E. Pruitt, of Salem, Ala., where the wedding took place Dec. 23, 1869. Of this . marriage three sons and one daughter were born, one son and one daughter being now deceased. Frank P. Lockhart, his youngest son, was private secretary to Congressman Morris Sheppard nine years, but is now clerk for public buildings and ground committee, Washington, D. C., of which committee Congressman Sheppard is chairman. R. B. Lock- hart, the elder son, is active editor of and associate publisher of the Pittsburg Gazette, on which paper he apprenticed himself and learned the printers' trade under the tutelage of Hon. O. B. Colquitt, present governor of Texas, and who founded the paper in 1884. The mother died in 1894, and Judge Lockhart was again married to Mrs. E. A. Read, ot Pittsburg, in January, 1900. Other newspapers have come and gone in Camp connty, but the Pittsburg Gazette continues to prosper more than ever before and is generally rec- ognized as one of the best weekly newspapers in the state. The paper is published under the firm name of F. A. Lockhart & Sons, has fine machinery and mechanical equipment, including a type-setting machine, and is splendidly prepared to take care of all business. Judge Lockhart has been a Mason for the past twenty-five years, a trustee and steward in the Methodist church for thirty-five years, and says when they couldn't get any better material, during darker church days, he served for some years as superintendent of the Sunday school.
LEMONS, Judge Samuel Green
Wherever the writer may roam through Texas and discover a native East Tennessean he considers it a distinguished privilege to speak kindly of him in this book-as he him- self was born at the confluence of the blue waters of the famous Clinch and Tennessee rivers. East Tennesseans are the salt of the earth. They are a peenliar people to themselves, and the fact that people in other sections of the country little understand them and their unconquerable virtnes, concerns them little. A hardy race, hard of brain, and large of bone and muscle, they grow up in a mountain atmosphere that believes in a wide range of freedom, that personal honor is higher than statutory law, and, while. the feudal spirit rages, they never lock their doors to keep out thieves. Death alone can change their convictions, be they good or bad. Yes, sir, Judge Samuel G. Lemons, postmaster of Cresson, Texas, is a native East Tennessean-in the mountain strong- holds-born in Blount connty, Oct. 23, 1848. His father, Curran Lemons, was born in Monroe county, East Tennessee, and came to Parker county, Texas, in 1872. He lived the life of a farmer, was one of the first Parker county commissioners under the new constitution, and was for a number of years justice of the peace. His death occurred in September, 1909. His wife was Miss Mary Hill, who was born in Haywood county, N. C., and she still lives, at the age of eighty-five years, at Weatherford. Mrs. Lemons is a sister of the Rev. Noah Hill, who was sent as a missionary from Georgia, and who was a prominent Baptist minister during the earlier days of Texas- being closely associated with Gens. Travis and Houston. She was also related to Gens. A. P. and D. H. Hill, and the illustrious Ben Hill of Georgia.
Leaving his birthplace, Judge Lemons lived four years in Lincoln county, Middle Tennessee; two years in Obion county, West Tennessee, and came into Texas in 1871. Brief residences in Washington and Harrison counties brings him into Parker county, in 1873, and to his present location in Cresson in 1906. He was married Jan. 4, 1883, to Miss Sallie Withers, of Johnson county, and one son, Morrison W., and one daughter, Nellie B., are the results of this union. The wife died May 21, 1904. Judge Lemons was engaged in farming up to 1907, when he was appointed postmaster of Cresson. At present he is also justice of the peace, notary public, public weigher, chairman board of stewards M. E. church, and a member of the mercantile firm of A. B. Anderson & Company-supplementing all of which he is a member of the K. of P. lodge. In fact, .Judge Lemons is about the "whole thing" in Cresson. He is one of the leaders of the
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Republican party in Texas, which affords him a wide acquaintance and many friends, and all told, has his hands full from January to January.
McDONALD, John Clarence
The saying of an ancient philosopher, "Choose your friends with care, but select your enemies with caution," plays but little part in the personality and environment of Mr. John C. McDonald, county court clerk of Upshur county, Gilmer being county seat. Pos- sibly not every man in Upshur county would vote for him for public office, but few of them that would not do so, are his enemies, and still fewer of them can say aught against his frank character, which is as transparent as the noonday sun. Mr. McDonald was born Aug. 26, 1884, on a farm in Upshur county, and de- scends from Scotch-Irish blood. His father, J. W. McDonald, was connected with the well known McDonald family in Wilson county, Middle Tennessee, and he was there born at Lebanon, county seat. During his career in Upshur county he followed farming, merean- tiled, held minor public office, and up to the time of his death, in 1895, was engaged in buying cotton-passing away at the age of sixty years. His wife before marriage was Miss Alice Yeary, whose ancestry trace back to two brothers of that name that came over from Ireland, participated in the revolution- ary war and were aggressive business men on a large scale in the East. Of this union were born one son and one daughter, the subject of this sketch, John C. McDonald, and Mrs. George Cope, whose husband is engaged in farming and milling in Camp county. The mother died in 1884, at the age of thirty-five years. Hence it will be seen that Mr. MeDonald's mother died in the year he was born, and he was left an orphan, eleven years of age, when his father passed away. He was reared by foster parents-Mr. and Mrs. John Reynolds-who enjoy the love and respect of the people of Upshur county. Their truly hospitable home, situated in the midst of their large and well improved stock farm, four miles cast of Gilmer, is one of the most popular and old-fashioned visiting places in the county. Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds are known for their broad sympathies and many human kindnesses in life, but in none of their transactions in life have they done so well as in that of giving to Upshur county one of its most popular, most moral, sub- stantial and influential young citizens-that of County Clerk McDonald. And in all the writer's experience he has never known a man who was so appreciative of what his foster-parents had done for him, and which can best be expressed in the word "grati- tude." Mr. McDonald is still single, and makes his home on the farm with Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds as one of the family, who supplied him with the means for his education. After attending the public schools and taking a course in Draughon's Business College at Fort Worth, Mr. McDonald was bookkeeper for three years in Gilmer. In the Demo- cratie primary, July 23, 1910, he was a candidate for county court clerk and led the ticket against five opponents by 158 votes. In the second primary he defeated his opponent by twenty-eight votes, and he is today one of the youngest county court clerks in Texas. Born of Methodist Christian parents and reared in a Christiau . home, Mr. MeDonald wor- ships with that denomination. He is a Royal Arch Mason, K. of P. and W. O. W.
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