USA > Texas > Past history and present stage of development of Texas. Memorial and biographical history matter of the Lone Star state > Part 27
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
174
STINNETT, Thomas
It is said that a man's life is fashioned after a June or December day, as he wills it, and in its general theme there are but three important changes, namely: birth, marriage and death. He who does his plain duty as he sees it, and has learned the art of con- tentment, has solved the problem of life, and his career is a success, regardless of whether he has accumulated gold. Good citizens are a nation's greatest heritage and hope, and likewise they are the index to the prosperity or decay of a nation, as the case may be. On account of the peculiar conditions of having drawn the best blood and courage from most all of the old states it is said that Texas citizenship is the greatest in the world. As one of those simple Texans, and one of the best and most influential citizens in Erath county, we find a pleasure in this connection in speaking of Mr. Tom Stinnett, tax collector of Erath county. A native Texan, he was born on his father's farm in Milam county, April 12, 1860. His father, Rufus Stimett, was born in Warren county, Middle Tennessee, in 1814, and came of one of the finest families in that section of the state. He came to Milam county, Texas, in 1848, and when the Civil war came-being a man of intelligence and intense sonthern patriotism-organized a company of Confederate troops, of which he was elected captain. He served throughout the war period with the Trans-Mississippi department, and was in the fiercest of the fight. Peace being declared, he returned to Milam county, where he lived until 1870; then moved to Hamilton county, where he continued his farming interests, and had served as justice of the peace a number of years at time of his death, which occurred April 24, 1894, being laid away according to Masonic honors, of which order he was a member. His wife was Miss Eliza Spence, born in Talladega county, Alabama, where she grew to young woman- hood and was married. Born to them were three sons and three danghters, and those now living are: Thos. Stinnett, Mrs. Lucy Wallace, of Marlin, and Mrs. Ella Hale, of Brownwood. The mother died Jan. 4, 1876, in Hamilton county.
Mr. ("Tom") Stinnett had the good fortune to grow up during the interesting days of Texas-days that will never again return-and he was one of the cowboys that fre- quented the cross plains country. His first coming to Erath county was in 1887, living in the Clairette neighborhood until moving to Stephenville in February, 1888. He was a farmer up to the time of serving as deputy tax assessor in 1909, and in the July primary of 1910 was a candidate for the office of tax collector against five opponents, his majority over his next highest contestant being 634 votes. Mr. Stinnett was married Oct. 2, 1883, to Miss Alice Hail, of Johnson county, and their children are as follows: Mattie, Luther B., Snsie and Minnie. Mr. Stinnett belongs to the Odd Fellows, W. O. W., U. B. A., Farmers' Union, and is a member of the board of stewards of the M. E. church at Midway. He is a hale fellow, well met, a gentleman of the highest honor, and no man in Erath county has more friends than he.
TAPP, James M.
No family in Hopkins county is more worthy of kindly mention within the cover of "Who's Who in North and East Texas" than that of the name of Tapp. It was at Florence, Lauderdale county, Ala., that J. M. Tapp was born in the year 1833. It was in 1857-at the age of twenty-four-that he came to Texas and settled at Cedar Grove, in Kauffman county, where he acquired considerable business interests and later some com- mercial reverses as a merchant, cotton dealer and land owner. Here he was married to Miss Ida Hill, of Panola county, Texas, in 1873; four sons and two daughters being born to them, and all of whom are living except the eldest danghter, Lizzie, who died at the age of seventeen in 1891. In rank of age the children are as follows: Henry W., furniture dealer in Sulphur Springs; Cowan J., station agent for the "Katy" at Taylor, Texas; James M., druggist in Sulphur Springs; Mrs. Fannie Mae Pangborn, Ft. Worth; Samuel H., bookkeeper for the Armour Packing Company, Ft. Worth. In 1877 the family moved to Sulphur Springs, where Mr. Tapp engaged in the dry goods business until his death, which occurred in 1892. He was a man of an exemplary, high moral character, a
175
devout Methodist, a ranking Mason, and an ardent Prohibitionist when it was unpopular and expensive to be so. His death suddenly shifted a heavy responsibility on the mother, the family competence having dwindled to small proportions and the oldest (Henry W.) of six children being but seventeen years of age. Mrs. Tapp's parents were land owners and extensive slave holders up to the closing of the Civil war, and the fact that she has by her wonderful industry and foresight reared, educated and developed her children to uniformly successful pursnits in life is to immense credit and canse for congratulation on her part. It was under her personal management that in 1909 she purchased a farm six miles from Sulphur Springs and moved to the same for the purpose of restoring health to two of her sons. It was their first experience at farming, but their products, exhibited, took first prize at the Hopkins County Fair, and second prize at the State Fair in Dallas in 1909. The year following they took first prize at the State Fair, Dallas, as the best individual exhibit from over the state, having a variety of 123 products. It is to the credit and honor of the Tapp family that the price of land in Hopkins connty has been raised to a higher level-one evidence of which is found in the fact that their own farm his since been sold for $30 per acre.
Mr. Henry W. Tapp, eldest son, was married to Miss Zerva Pate, daughter of Mr. O. M Pate, a wealthy hardware merchant of Sulphur Springs, and they have two sons and one daughter. Mr. Tapp's furniture and undertaking business is one of the largest in this city, and his commercial and social standing is of the highest order. He belongs to the K. of P., W. O. W., Odd Fellows, and is Steward in the M. E. church-in which denomination the mother has reared her children.
Mr. James M. Tapp, whose name heads this article, is an enterprising young business man of Sulphur Springs, who has made his own way in the world since he was a small boy of fourteen. He finished his education at Eastman College; clerked in his father's store, followed the railway mail service for a few months, was with the Pullman service for two and Sulphur Springs. He belongs to the Elks and U. B. A.
THWEATT, Luther Benjamin
Few verse lines more appropriate to their purpose were ever penned than these (written by Theo. O'Hara, of Frankfort, Ky., lawyer and newspaper man, careless of his habits, dress and indulgence of the Kentucky fluid), and they apply alike to those who wore the gray and those who wore the blue:
"The muffled drum's sad roll has beat The soldier's last tattoo, No more on life's parade shall meet That brave and fallen few. On fame's eternal camping ground Their silent tents are spread, And glory guards, with solemn round, The bivonac of the dead."
Among those who wore the gray to the credit of the Confederate cause during the civil unpleasantness of 1861-65 were numbered Mr. Luther Benjamin Thweatt, who was born April 15, 1844, on a farm in Shelby connty, Ala., his father, Dan Thweatt, being a native farmer of that state, and his mother, a native of South Carolina, being Miss Eliza Davis. Being seventeen years of age when the war came on the subject of this sketch enlisted at Harpersville, his native county, in August, 1861, Company I, 18th Alabama Volunteers. The company was recruited with one hundred men, with Capt. Pete Heruly first, and Capt. Dan Martin its last officer, and when mustered out of service only five answered to the last roll-call, and at the present time, so far as Mr. Thweatt knows, there are but three now living, as follows: R. A. ("Parson") Kidd, now at Birmingham, Ala .; G. T. Cullen, of Caledonia, Ark., and Maston A. Faulkner, of Sterritt, Ala. Mr. Thweatt received his initial baptismal fire in the battle of Shiloh, and remained with the Army
176
of the Tennessee until it was divided into two parts, one going to Virginia and the other to Mobile, Ala., he going with the Mobile division, and participating in the sixteen days' siege of the Spanish fort at Mobile bay. Retracing to earlier stages, he was in the battles of Resacca, Chickamauga, Hope Church, Kenesaw Mountain, Peachtree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Franklin, Nashville, Tenn., etc., in fact, he was in the thickest and busiest part of the melee. On May 10, 1865, Mr. Thweatt received his discharge from the army at Meridian, Miss., and went to Louisiana, where he remained until coming to Hopkins county in the fall of 1868. lle owns a nice farm and operates a store at Brinker, seven miles east of Sulphur Springs on the Pine Forest road, where he commands the respect of all who know him. Mr. Thweatt is a Missionary Baptist, a Democrat, and while he has served as special deputy sheriff for ten years, has never particularly sought office. It is needless to say that he is an enthusiastic member of the Confederate Veteran Asso- ciation, attends all local meetings and has attended twelve national gatherings. His old comrades testify to his coolness and absolute bravery in time of battle, and say that his specialty was "individual marks, " and he rarely failed to bring them down.
TOBY, Edward
Edward Tobey was born in the city of New Orleans, La., the 9th of February, 1858. His school advantages were excellent, having attended good schools in Mississippi, Louis- iana and Virginia. His father was a man of wealth and believed in his sons learning business. Each year after the age of twelve Edward was allowed a month's vacation, and then the other two months was placed in the office of some good business firm or railroad. By the time he was eighteen he had had good office experience and had a fair knowledge of bookkeeping. At the age of fifteen he moved to New York with his father, and for the next three years attended school in Virginia. At eighteen he gradu- ated as a civil engineer from the B. M. A., near Winchester, Virginia, under that worthy professor, John Peyton Clark. He imme- diately accepted a position as assistant bookkeeper and stock clerk with Udolpho Wolfe Co., an immense concern in New York, with branch houses in Amsterdam, Hamburg. Melbourne and Hong Kong. After a year or two he left them to go as salesman with Hermann Batjer & Bro., one of the largest importing houses in New York, and left them to go to New Orleans as junior partner Simeon Toby & Son. After a year he went back to New York to go into the brokerage and commission business for himself. After a year or two he went with E. C. Hazard & Co .; left them to accept the position as manager and head bookkeeper and cashier of Chas. De- Rouge & Co., New York. In 1883 he came to Texas with Chas. Moran and embarked in the cattle business. After a year or two he accepted a position in Waco, Texas, as cashier and- head bookkeeper for Horsefull & Cameron, wholesale and retail hardware. Left them after several years to accept a position as head bookkeeper and cashier of Moore Bros., Waco, Texas, wholesale grocers. In 1890 he accepted a position with the Provident National Bank, Waco, as teller and head bookkeeper and was with this bank six years, most of the time in the capacity of teller and acting cashier. While with Horsefull & Cameron, Moore Bros. and Provident National Bank, Mr. Toby did much in the way of expert accounting, practicing a great deal in the courts. In 1890 Mr. Toby opened a night class in bookkeeping, and for six
177
years he attended to his bank work during the day and bookkeeping classes at night. In 1896 he resigned his position to give his entire attention to his business college work, which had grown front a private night class of two students to one of the leading business schools in the South. Later on Mr. Toby opened a school in New York City, but now conducts it entirely as a school of correspondence.
Mr. Toby is now president of Toby's Practical Business College, Waco, Texas, chartered capital $50,000, the highest standard and leading business college of the South-Toby's Schools of Correspondence, New York City and Waco, Texas, and of The Toby Manufactur- ing Co., Waco, Texas, manufacturers of face cream and toilet articles. Mr. Toby is honored by having the highest accounting degrees in the world, F. A. A. & C. C. A. Fellow of the Central Association of Accountants of England and America and Certificated Court Accountant of the United States.
TEER, L. E.
At the present time the general tendency in American life seems to be a preference for the young man-in almost every line of labor and business, even unto politics. Especially is this proposition carried to an interesting degree in Texas, from the humblest ward office of that of Governor and United State Senator. The majority of officials in the Hopkins county courthouse are young men; and, be it said to their credit, exceptionally alert and progressive ones. Mr. L. E. Teer is the district clerk, and is a connection of one of the best families of this section of the state. His father, E. M. Teer, is a well-to-do farmer; his mother was Miss Nancy Flournoy-both born and reared in Hopkins county. Two daughters and one son is the extent of the children. Mr. Teer was born in the Pickton neighborhood of this county Oct 17, 1877, and continued to farm to twenty years of age. His education was obtained at the hands of the common schools, and finished with a course in the teachers' department of Eastman's College, this city, in 1899. He accepted the call in pedagogy, and taught ten years in this county-three years at Black Oak, one year at Liberty, one year at Shady Grove, one year at Pine Forest, two years at New Home and two years at Tira, which brings him up to 1910. In the meantime-retracing to 1904-he took a course in the Tyler Commercial College, one of the best in the country, and so well did the management think of him upon the finishing of his course that he was tendered and accepted a position as teacher in the model office department, the duties of which he discharged for eighteen months with eminent satisfaction. In 1908 Mr. Teer made the race for district clerk against seven opponents, and was defeated by sixty-five votes. In 1910 he had no opponent, either in the primary or general election, going into office with the utmost confidence of a unanimous constituency, and a host of warm personal friends who are dead-sure that he "will make good." Mr. Teer was married to Miss Prue Thrasher, of Tira, Dec. 4, 1910. He belongs to the Odd Fellows, W. O. W., Rebeccas, U. B. A. and is a Baptist.
TRAUTSCHOLD, Charles Martin
The Waco commercial bodies are authorities for the fact that there is in this city fifty- three manufacturing concerns, and people not informed on the question are amazed to learn the amount, of manufactured products consumed in and shipped out of this city to its ad- jacent trade territory. The largest and best equipped grill manufacturing industry in Texas is located in Waco, and is owned and managed by The C. M. Trautschold Company- the office and mill being at Seventh and Franklin streets, and the yard and warehouse at Seventh and Webster streets. The management manufacture grilles, pulpits, mantels, counters, shelving, partitions, stair-work, pews, pew ends, wood carving, gable ornaments, all kinds of brackets, cresting and drapery, head and plinth blocks, porch spindles and balusters, columns, moulding, window and door frames. Mission furniture a specialty.
Mr. C. M. Trautschold, proprietor, was born in Bavaria, Germany, Sept. 24, 1863, and came with his parents to America in 1873. His father is a life-long newspaper man, and at this writing is located at Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where the family have resided since coming to this country. While yet a boy Mr. Trautschold apprenticed himself to the wood turning
-
178
and carpenter's trade, and learned it well, as is characteristic of all Germans. Leaving Sheboygan, Wis., he spent five years in Milwaukee, Wis., and came to Waco in 1893. On Oet. 15, 1896, Mr. Trautschold was married to Miss Marie Antoinette Muhl, and they have three sons and three daughters-the family home being at 914 North Ninth street. Mrs. Muhl's father was born in T'rance, and was the original inventor of machinery for the manu- facture of artificial ice. An interesting sketch of him apears elsewhere in this book. In 1894 Mr. Trautsehold became a member of the firm of Kessler & Company, grill manufac- turers, and continued his association with this concern until 1902, when he established in a small way the splendid business that today bears his name, and the same has continued to grow until at the present time about twenty-five people are regularly employed, and its goods are shipped to all parts of the country-far beyond the natural trade territory of this city. In January, 1911, the business was incorporated under the laws of Texas, with a capital stock of $30,000. Personally, Mr. Trautschold possesses an inherent genius for the business of his choice, having an exceptionally wide knowledge of mechanics, and has established a far- reaching reputation for thoroughness in all that which be undertakes. As a draughtsman, he also does all of his own sketching. Mr. Trautschold belongs to the K. of Columbus and Elks.
THORNTON, Henry C.
The very efficient and popular clerk of the district court of Erath county, Mr. Henry C. Thornton. was born on his father's ranch in the northern part of Erath county, Sept. 9, 1865-the year of the closing of the Civil war. In this connection it is quite appropriate and interesting to speak of his father, D. R. Thornton. Born in Alabama, his parents moved to Mississippi when he was six years old. Coming along with the. Tennessee colony, he settled in Anderson county, Texas, in 1852, and came to Erath county in 1857. . When the Civil war came on he enlisted in the Confederate army, infantry service, experienced fighting over thirteen different states, and was captured and kept prisoner of war in Camp Douglass. The war being over, he returned to Erath county, where he experienced many years of hardship in frontier life and fighting the Indians. A ranch and stockman all his very active life, he at one time owned more than three thousand acres of land in this part of the state, and during the seventies and eighties "Grove" stock to the Kansas and Missouri markets. A man of a high order of intelligence, he took an active part in politics, and was one of the first com- missioners of Erath county. The senior Mr. Thornton's wife before marriage was Miss Mary Anna Garland, her parents having migrated from the Old Volunteer State with the Tennessee Colony to Anderson county, Texas, when she was eight years old. Eight sons and five daugh- ters were born of this union, of whom two daughters and six sons are now living-all resid- ing in Texas. The mother died at the old homeplace in this county in 1905, aged sixty-nine years. The father died June 15, 1911, and was buried under the direction of Masonic honors. of which lodge he was a long-standing member.
Mr. Henry C. Thornton attended the public schools of Erath county, and took a com- mercial course in the Thorp Springs College, Hood county. Having imbibed the life and spirit of farming and stock-raising under his lamented father, Mr. Thornton continued to follow this business until he was called by the voice of the people to fill the office of clerk of the district court of Erath county. As a candidate in the Democratic primary, held July 22, 1910, he was made the party nominee by a majority of 575 votes over his lady opponent.
In choosing a life-partner to aid him in fighting the battles of life Mr. Thornton was happily married to Miss Florence B. Kenny, of Anderson county, Aug. 5, 1885. Eight children have been born to them-one daughter deceased-and those living are as follows: Odie Thurman, Henry Clayton, Annah Alleyne, Thos. Robert, Minnie Lee, Vera Fern and Wylie Garland Thornton. Throughout his life Mr. Thornton has borne a high reputation as a man of honor and principle, and is one of the most useful citizens in Erath county. He will continue to zealously and faithfully discharge his duties as district clerk, and we are believing that when the times comes for re-election the people will certainly give him the benefit of the old Democratie custom. Mr. Thornton is a Chapter Mason, and belongs to the Odd Fellows, W. O. W., M. W. A., U. B. A., Farmers' Union and the M. E. church.
179
TEER, Judge William Alexander
In the earlier days the subject of this sketch, Judge W. A. Teer, plowed and cultivated corn on what is now the townsite of Mart. Fifty or one hundred years hence, when perhaps here will stand a city, this statement will be even more interesting than at this time. Judge Teer's father, John Teer, was born in Mississippi, and there married Miss Elizabeth Suttle- soon after which happy occurrence they migrated to Drew connty, Arkansas, before the same was organized, and began farming in the wilderness and the Black River Bottoms of the Mississippi river. Born to them were three sons and four daughters-all of whom are dead excepting one daughter, now residing on the old homeplace in Arkansas, and the subject who initiates this sketch, Judge Teer. The father died in 1862, at the age of forty-two; the mother died in 1889, at the age of sixty-eight. Judge Teer was the first male child to be born in Drew county, Arkansas, of which Monticello is the seat of government, and the date of his birth was Dec. 31, 1846. Born and grew up on a farm, this most honorable of all pursuits has characterized the greater part of his life. When the Civil war came on he en- listed at Monticello, in Company B, 2d Arkansas Cavalry, and served in the Trans-Mississippi department until the close of hostilities through Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Indian Terri- tories and Texas. Was in numerous skirmish fights; followed the intrepid Gen. Price during the latter period of the war, and was with "Old Tige" (Gen. Cabell) when his horse was shot from under him at the battle of Pilot Knob. Mo., and was one of those to escape in the famous stampede in Southeastern Kansas when Gen. Cabell, in connection with 3,000 Con- federates, were captured. Judge Teer was married to Miss Elizabeth Shofner-a native Georgian-in Drew county, June 11, 1866, and came to the present community in 1885. Four sons and three daughters were born to them, and excepting the demise of one son and one daughter, all are grown and doing well in this world of effort. Before leaving Drew county Tudge Teer served six years as Justice of the Peace, and is now serving his fourth year as Justice of the Peace in Precinct No. 2, McLennan county-as a Democrat, of course. He is' a Mason, and genealogically the family have long since worshipped with the Primitive Baptist church. As a citizen and as a public official, Judge Teer enjoys the undivided confidence and respect of a wide acquaintance. A man of a high order of intelligence, he takes a warm interest in all the meetings of the Confederate Veterans' association.
TOMLINSON, Mayor John Douglas
While other towns and cities in Texas and throughout the nation are groaning under the burden of indebtedness, the city of Hillsboro is interesting itself in redeeming its last obliga- tions of $20,000. The fact of a wealthy city of 6,000 people, the seat of government of one of the greatest Black Land farming counties in Texas being almost entirely free from debt is little short of remarkable, and speaks volumes for the intelligence and moral integrity of its good citizenship. The Mayor of progressive Hillsboro is Mr. J. D. Tomlinson, who was born . at Sparta, Bell connty, Texas, Aug. 8, 1862. His father and mother (Thomas G. Tomlinson and, nee, Miss Mary Bohannon) were both born in West Tennessee, and came to Bell county, Texas, in 1857. He was a farmer by vocation, and when the Civil war came ou enlisted in the Confederate army as a private, and was afterwards promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Was wounded on a Louisiana battlefield and died of blood poison in 1864. This left the mother the sole sponsor for six children-two sons and four daughters-which duty she performed with loving hands until her death in 1872, when the subject of this sketch. the youngest son, was ten years old. The lasting impressions made on the minds of her children regarding the rectitude of life were of such character as to develop all of them into good and useful citizens. On Feb. 3, 1887, Mayor Tomlinson was married to Miss Sallie Hand, of Bell county, and five sons, all healthy of mind and physique and now living, today serve to brighten their lives. Douglas, the oldest, is an A. B. degree graduate of Texas Christian University, and a product of law department State University at Austin, and at this writing anticipates practicing law in Fort Worth. Roy, second oldest son, is now taking the A. B. degree in the Texas Christian University at Fort Worth. Both have been con- spicuous in their classes and have promising futures. Beginning life as a farmer, Mayor
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.