USA > Texas > Wise County > Pioneer history of Wise County; from red men to railroads-twenty years of intrepid history > Part 18
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William Hudson Hunt was born in Ithaca, N. Y., the first day of May, 1815. His father, Horace W. Hunt, was for many years a resident of New York city, where he was a co-laborer in the American Bible House. The Hunt line of ancestry runs back to the sixteenth century, and springs directly from what is known as the Northampton line which is inclusive of some of the most exceptional personages of the realm of English art and culture, notably, Leigh Hunt, the poet, Holman Hunt, the great artist, and Richard W. Hunt, the artist-architect. Throughout his life on the frontier of Texas, Wm. Hudson Hunt displayed the evidences of these rich heritages. Endowed with high intel- leet and consequent original action of mind, he is found at the age of twenty-one, a college graduate, breaking loose from the old moorings of civilization and adventurously striking into the little known and dangerous wilds of the southwest. Only brief glimpses of his successive fields of action can here be given. In 1836 he 15
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came to Texas, threw in with the armies of the Republic and en- tered the Mexican War under Commission from President Lamar as Lieutenant-Colonel. Emerging therefrom he was appointed surveyor to the government by virtue of which office he gained broad experience in land affairs. His adventurous spirit led him to join the ill-fated Santa Fe expedition, an experience that enlarged his observation of the Southwest, and fortified his courage. Later on he was associated with the Peters coloni- zation scheme which brought him into contact with Northern Texas and its conditions. He had not yet entered the field of private promotion, and was yet to serve the State in another capacity. This was to act as a member of the Commission which selected the location whereon was built the present capitol build- ing of Texas. Following this, he was engaged with Col. Tom Bean, the famous Texan, in surveying all the vast extent of University lands.
Col. Hunt then became an original promoter. His experience had ripened and his knowledge of Texas affairs had grown. He began by inaugurating a mail route between north Texas and the capital at Austin. He then turned his attention to land location and allied enterprises, and in association with John D. Black, became the largest land-holder in Texas. Still later, this firm came into possession of almost the whole of Western Wise County.
In 1850 Col. Hunt resided in Bonham, Fannin County, and there married Catherine Cordelle, of Red River County, an attractive young woman, 18 years of age, and the daughter of a Tennessean of the old slave regime. Before removal from Bonham, two children were born, Lansing and Elizabeth. In 1855 Col. Hunt caine with his family and settled on his lands in the western part of Wise County, established a headquarters ranch and named the home Cactus Hill, a habitation that became historical in the annals of Wise County. In this home the remainder of the children were born, namely: William H. Hunt, Jr., Belle and Kate. Belle married Capt. S. A. Shortridge and became known nationally as a poetess of rare attainments. Kate, as Mrs. Kate Hunt Craddock, of Terrell, Texas, scintillates before the State as a brilliant writer and raconteur.
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Colonel Hunt filled a large niche in the pioneer life of Wise County, probably exercising an influence that few others attained. His expansive training with large affairs equipped him with the astuteness and wisdom perquisite to a counsellor, and his magnanimity of spirit freely led him to the use of his talents in measures of beneficence and good. His memory is as well revered for his unbounded hospitality, a trait that his estimable wife shared equally with him. Mrs. Hunt was a charming and sympathetic woman. She became inured to the dangers of frontier life, and being possessed with natural cheerfulness, succeeded in communicating these spirits to all about her. To many she will be remembered as one of the resplendent stars of that twilight period.
The home was one of cultivation and refinement. The children were carefully reared and a governess was constantly present to instruct in the arts and sciences. Col. Hunt's hold- ings in land and cattle became very great. He was regarded as one of the great cattle barons of this section. But with the beginning of the war and the subsequent Indian outbreak, his misfortunes began. First followed the death of his estimable wife, which, in addition to exterior trouble, forced the abandon- ment of Cactus Hill. The family refugeed to Decatur and re- mained for awhile. Finally, Col. Hunt received a fatal injury in a runaway accident between Decatur and Bridgeport, which culminated in his death. The children were taken by their uncle, Sylvanus Reid, to Bonham, where their education was continued.
Through the untoward events and incidents of the war, and an untimely visit which Col. Hunt made to his father in New York at the national crisis, and subsequently his untimely death, a large part of his holdings were sacrificed-lost to his children through the violation of a trust and the cupidity of others who saw with prophetic eye also the future value of these lands.
Col. Hunt lies buried in the family graveyard at Cactus Hill, where repose the remains of the lamented Belle Hunt Shortridge and others deceased of the family.
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MRS. BELLE HUNT SHORTRIDGE. (CONTRIBUTED.)
Belle Hunt, the late Mrs. Samuel A. Shortridge, was born at Cactus Hill, Wise County, Texas. She was the daughter of Wm. Hudson Hunt, a pioneer of Texas, who was commissioned and served as lieutenant-colonel in the war with Mexico. Later he was widely known as locator of lands, and as a progressive citizen of the State. He was descended from the Northampton line of Hunts, England. Belle Hunt inherited from this distin- guished lineage the artistic and literary talent that brought her into general and favorable notice as poet and authoress. De- prived of both parents in early childhood, she was tenderly reared by her guardian. Sylvanus Reed, of Bonham, Texas, where at Carleton College, she attended school until she entered the Academy of the Visitation, St. Louis, from which institution she was graduated with first honors at seventeen years of age. Shortly afterwards she was married to Capt. Samuel A. Short- ridge, of St. Louis, in which city they resided until Captain Shortridge located permanently at Terrell. Belle Hunt was a versatile and prolific writer, when the brief time allotted to her is considered. With laudable ambition she went to New York (1890) in the interest of her literary labor, where in a remarkably short time, her articles were accepted and published by the leading papers, journals and magazines of the city. Mrs. Shortridge wrote especially well for children, her "Jingles" (Modern Mother Goose) attracted wide attention in the columns of the Sunday World. These pleasing rhymes will be published shortly in book form, together with a story in prose (now in complete manuscript) also for children. A collection of new poems and "Circumstance," a novel, the scene of which is located in Austin, Texas, will be published later.
Besides the miscellaneous articles that have appeared from time to time in the best publications, Belle Hunt published through Belford's of New York, a collection of poems entitled " Lone Star Lights," 1891. The dedication of this little volume has been widely copied, and was made the subject of fifty ex-
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quisite water colors by Miss -, of Dallas. The poem, " Peach Blossom Time," in same volume," was set to music and published by her talented friend, Mrs. George W. Voiers, of Forney, Texas. It was James Gordon Bennett who said of this poem: "Nothing more exquisite is to be found in the English language." "Held in Trust," a novel by Belle Hunt, was published in 1892. Dispassionate critics pronounced it a pleas- ing story-fresh, clean and sweet as a breeze from a Texas prairie.
A memoir of Belle Hunt is now in preparation-a sort of auto- biographical sketch of her literary work and mechanical methods, compiled from her journals and letters, by her sister, Mrs. Kate Hunt Craddock. The book will be illustrated, and for a frontis- piece the late portrait by Henwood will be engraved. Since the death of Mrs. Shortridge many sketches of her life and work have appeared in prominent publications, but this memoir will presumably be more complete and interesting than anything that has yet been published. Mrs. Shortridge's remains were interred in the family burying ground at Cactus Hill, Wise County.
HENRY ALEXANDER WISE.
Governor Henry A. Wise was a Virginian, born December 3rd, 1806, at Drummondstown, Accomac County. Brilliant at college and marvelously eloquent in debate, he became a candidate for Congress in 1833. From thence on his entire career was merged in politics and statescraft. He was in Congress from 1835 to 1843 serving his party, the Whigs. He it was who uttered the famous sentiment: "The union of the Whigs for the sake of the Union." Governor Wise supported President Tyler heartily in his plans for the annexation of Texas, and led the small majority favorable to Tyler's views. After a period of ill-health he entered politics again, becoming the chief prosecutor of the doctrine of " Know-Nothingismn," and a candi- date for the governorship to which office he was elected. The record made in his brilliant arraignment of " Know-Nothingism " in the early fifties is accountable for the naming the county of
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Wise, after him. Governor Wise was not an original secessionist, but fought through the Civil War as a Confederate Brigadier and Major-General, being highly eulogized by General Fitzhugh Lee. He died September 12, 1876, beloved, honored and re- spected.
COMMODORE STEPHEN DECATUR.
Stephen Decatur was the most conspicuous figure in the naval history of the United States for the hundred years between Paul Jones and Farragut. In at least three of our early wars Commodore Decatur was the resplendent hero of at least a half- dozen undertakings, any one of which would have given a fair claim to immortality. More than any other captain of his time his name is cherished by his countrymen; for he represented to a greater degree than any of his contemporaries those fine qualities which a pardonable national vanity inelines us to con- sider peculiarly American.
He was born at Sinepuxent, Worcester County, Md., January 5, 1779, arose to position in the navy by. promotions from suc- cessive stations of service, and was killed in 1820 in a duel with Commodore James Barron. Loyalty to the stars and stripes was the breath of his life. He was the hero of many gallant victories fought in different parts of the world underneath the American flag.
He lies buried in St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia.
CAPTAIN GEORGE W. STEVENS.
There are few men among the pioneer clan who did not at one time or other take part in the defense of the country against the Indians, yet there are a few who showed a stronger predi- lection for fighting than others. Captain Stevens was one of this latter grouping. Born in Lowns County, Alabama, July 12, 1830, he emigrated to Wise County in 1855 with the Jennings family, and showed from the beginning of savage encroachments an in-
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herent yearning to stand between the defenseless people and the red fiends who menaced their lives.
It has been found practically impossible to gain much truthful information regarding the minuter details of the various encounters which Captain Stevens is known to have had with the bloody race whose career of crime he did so much to check and abate. Mr. John W. Hogg recites the battle on the Wichitas described in the foregoing pages which is the one escapade any living witness can recall with authority. Yet it is estab- lished by well-founded tradi- tion that Captain Stevens was for many years the sleuthful watch-hound of the frontier, and that on numerous occasions he dem- onstrated great personal daring by thrusting himself into the midst of the sav- age foe and inflicting serious damage upon them. His - popularity as a defender no doubt has been or was largely achieved through his constant preparedness and willingness to drop whatever CAPTAIN G. W. STEVENS. private affair with which he was engaged, and go without hesitaney to whatever portion of the country needed his services. In the course of this character of loyal and brave servitude many close contacts with the Indians ensued; it is known that upon one occasion he killed an Indian in a hand-to-hand encounter, but the details of this as well as other traditionally established incidents of the kind have been lost in the buried records of the past. As is well known, the Indians never fought openly and were cowards when bravely charged by a small number of entrapped white
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men, and it is due to this fatal racial weakness of their own that they were unsuccessful in completely slaughtering the elements of the straggling settlements which had the temerity to plant their habitats in what was conceded to be an Indian-infested country. It was because of this weakness that Captain Stevens, ever ready and ever willing with a small number of men, was able to save to Wise County both its citizenship and material wealth, all of which lay constantly exposed to the covetousness and revenge of the savage tribes. Mr. Hilory Bedford, in his book entitled, "Texas Indian Troubles," refers to the last fight in Jack County in which Captain Stevens was engaged and in Which Billy Glass, a Wise County boy, was killed. In July, 1874, about 400 Indians made a cireuit into Tarrant and Parker Counties and back into Jack County, where they were followed by a small number of rangers. In Lost Valley the men by vote decided to abandon the trail, at which juncture Captain Stevens volunteered to continue the chase. Mr. Bedford says: "While going into camp, Captain George Stevens told them that they could have whipped all the redskins that could have gotten to- gether. This rather reflected on Captain Boyd's bravery, and Boyd told Stevens that he would take men and go and make the attack; but Stevens said no, that he would take forty men and whip them himself. Lieutenant Boyd very kindly and pa- tiently warned Captain Stevens that the Indians were well armed and well mounted and very strong in numbers; never- theless it was only a few minutes until Stevens was off for the scene of battle." Billy Glass, a neighbor boy of Stevens' in Wise County, volunteered to go with Stevens and could not be restrained. Stevens' men reached the supposed ambush of the Indians and were immediately ordered by the Captain to charge the place which was a rough canyon in the breaks. The Indians began to pour in from every side. "The men were forced to retreat down the canyon to Cameron's Creek, carrying with them young Bailey and young Glass, who had both been killed in the first round fired by the Indians. Several other men were wound- ed and sixteen horses were killed. The brave Captain Stevens made all the resistance possible against such odds, and thus prevented the redskins from scalping his killed and wounded
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men. Captain Stevens and his men were retreating and fighting when a force of United States troops came to their rescue, where- upon the Indians retreated."
Captain Stevens was a member and guiding officer of numer- ous of the county home guard companies, and after the war organized a full company of 84 men in Wise County, which did effective service on the frontier. He served a term or two as sheriff of Wise County, and made an efficient officer. He was twice married; in 1852 to Miss Martha McDonald, who died in 1858. In about 1860 he married Miss Nancy Buchanan, and by both unions had eleven children. His remaining three sons; Ambrose and Jack, now live in west Texas, and Pierce in Ari- zona. Captain Stevens died in the early eighties and is buried in Flat Rock Cemetery.
CAPTAIN IRA LONG.
Captain Ira Long was born in Indiana, May 27, 1842, but was raised in northwest Missouri, to which section his father moved. In 1861 he entered the Confederate army and was in several close engagements, in which he was twice wounded. On September 15, 1864, he was married, and has been a resident of Wise County since that date. The year following the war was the date of the carnest inception of Indian troubles, and at that time Captain George Stevens and Captain Long were com- missioned to raise a ranger company, of which Captain Long was elected first lieutenant, and later succeeded to the captaincy. The history of the company's operations in part is described in foregoing pages and in the biographical sketch of Captain Stevens. After Lieutenant Long was made captain of the company he was moved to Ft. Mason to operate against noted outlaws, such as Scott, Cooly, John Beard, Gladden and others with whom he had great trouble. He was then moved to Hackberry Springs to continue his operations against out- laws and the Apache Indians, during which time he arrested some desperate characters, among whom was the noted outlaw,
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Sam Hare. After six years' service, in 1880 he resigned and returned home. Captain Long has for many years been one
of the most substantial and esteemed citizens of the county; is a man of strong mind and redoubtable character, and an upright Christian man. Heresides at present a few miles south of Decatur on his farm, which he very successfully conducts, but manifests an interest in all the enterprises that affect the county. He is a sterling member of Ben McCulloch Camp, Confederate Veterans, and a member of the manag- ing committee of the annual reunions. He treasures in his possession a collection of Indian armor and dress which he took from a savage CAPTAIN IRA LONG. killed by him in honorable battle. He also cherishes a letter from Major John B. Jones, which contains an official re- port of the battle in which Captain Long killed the Indian and which also commends Captain Long as a man of coolness, bravery and courage.
W. W. BRADY.
Judge William W. Brady served eighteen consecutive years as county clerk of Wise County, and four years as county judge, a tenure of positions of trust hardly approached in the county's history by a second person. He was born November 25, 1831, in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. His father's name was James Y. Brady, his mother's name being Sarah Ricketts Brady.
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He came to Wise County in 1855 from Illinois, to which state he had gone in early manhood for the benefit of his health. He was induced to come to Texas by the presence here of his sister, Mrs. Dr. Thomas Stewart. He was married to Harriet R. Bryan, of Wise County, a daughter of James C. Bryan, of Bradley County, Tennessee, but at that time living in Wise
County. Mrs. Brady was
JUDGE W. W. BRADY.
MRS. W. W. BRADY.
born in McMillan County, Tennessee, in 1840, and after sixty-six years of life, all of which was passed in Wise County, died in 1889. Judge and Mrs. Brady reared eight children, whose names and the names of the persons to whom they were mar- ried appear as follows:
Emma F. Brady, married to John R. Davenport. Mrs. Daven- port was born in the town of Decatur, June 20, 1860, perhaps the second child born there. She was rocked in the same cradle that was used for the first infant, Benjamin F. Allen.
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William Walter married Lottie Mar.
James Allen
Ludie Tharp.
Henry Elmore
Mae Rucker.
Sarah Angeline 66 Robert Hill.
Eva Ricketts
Wm. Hill.
Bertha Gulledge
John Hargrove.
. Arthur Houston Eula Jarrell.
Judge Brady throughout his life was a conscientious student and attained to considerable proficiency as a writer. A diary kept by him describing pioneer events and occurrences makes very interesting reading. He was never without a dictionary, .and it is said that he could spell and define every word in that book. Because of these accomplishments he was known to some of his friends as "Spelling Bill." In his youth he was a carpenter and built a fine house for his father before leaving home. He was one of the highly useful citizens of the pioncer period.
H. E. BRADY.
The subject of this sketch, Henry Elmore Brady, is now the occupant of the County Office which his father, Judge W. W. Brady, held for a longer term than any predecessor or follower held any other office of the County government. He was born about one mile south of Decatur, April 17, 1867, and since the days of his carly youth has constantly been employed in positions of trust and responsibility. His attainments as an expert office man and responsible officer have been won by years of hard work and persistent devotion to duty. In his boyhood he was a bright student in the successive pioneer schools, and recalls with retrospective pleasure his student days under the professorship of Dr. John A. Embry.
For some years Mr. Brady has been associated with the local militia company, at first in subordinate position, but lastly as Captain of the Company. He is said to be one of the best
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tacticians and disciplinary officers in Texas, and enjoys the confidence and high esteem of the superior officers at all State encampments of the military guard. During the Spanish- American War he served as First Lieutenant of Co. H, 3rd Reg. U. S. Volunteers, and acted as Regimental Adjutant.
H. E. BRADY.
In November, 1894, Captain Brady was married to Miss Mae Rucker, daughter of Uncle Jim Rucker, of Decatur. As Clerk of the County he is both efficient and accommodating, and has popularized himself with the people of the County.
SAM WOODY.
The entrance into Wise County and the subsequent life of the original pioneer has been elsewhere described, and it only re- mains now to allude to the essential facts in the history of Mr.
1
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Woody and that of his large and interesting family. He was born in Tennessee, May 24, 1826, and spent his youth in the Tennessee mountains. On October 19, 1848, he was married in the community where he lived to Emeline Breazeale, born April 18, 1833. A biographer in Mr. Paddock's history states that " up to his nineteenth year Mr. Woody had never been more than five miles from home, and of the great world about him, and the customs of men he knew absolutely nothing. Then came an opportunity to go on a boat down the Tennessee, and during the next year or so he had a series of experiences which, when narrated in his own expressive and picturesque language, has all the interest that attaches to those who fare forth from the small known into the great unknown world about them, and which have furnished themes for heroies and epics from the beginning of literature. In this time he found that he was able to earn more money than he had ever dreamed possible while at home, and he returned to the family imbued with a higher sense of his own worth and ability and a fixed determination to betake himself and his people to a country where all might have better opportunities. He set himself to paying off the debts of his father, who was a blacksmith, and as soon as that was effected, he put all the family on a flat-boat and sent them down the river to a land of more promise. He himself remained at the old home for a time in order to get sufficient financial start for his next great move."
Mr. Woody arrived in Texas in March, 1850, and in the spring of 1854 pioneered his way into Wise County to become its first permanent settler. Since that time his life has been an open book to the people of this section. He enjoys the distinction of being a natural humorist and optimist, traits which have won for him a celebrity over this section of Texas. Mr. Woody is the central one of a group of five brothers. He has two brothers aged respectively 94 and 83, he himself is 80, and the two next are 79 and 69. Without being told no one could believe that Mr. Woody is an octogeniarian. His face is round, his cheeks ruddy, his eyes bright and full, and his hearty laugh and quick, sprightly motions give no hint of the burden of years which time has imposed upon him.
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Mr. Woody has raised a stalwart family, some of his sons hav- ing become men of great business energy and integrity, who enjoy a wide acquaintance over North Texas. The names of his children, the dates of their birth and the persons to whom they were married are as follows:
W. M. Woody, born Aug. 8, 1850, married Julia Tinsley.
T. D. Woody, born Oct. 20, 1852, married Martha Boyd.
Elizabeth Woody, born Feb. 28, 1855, married J. F. Boyd.
Eliza Woody, born Nov. 8, 1857, married A. S. Badger.
John J. Woody, born Feb. 27, 1862, married Willie Lillard.
Jesse M. Woody, born Feb. 27, 1864, married Areva Baits.
Emma Woody, born Feb. 5, 1866, married Wm. Austin.
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