USA > Texas > Wise County > Pioneer history of Wise County; from red men to railroads-twenty years of intrepid history > Part 22
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JOHN W. HOGG.
The essential events in the life of John W. Hogg are as follows: He is the son of General Joseph L. Hogg, and was born in Rusk, Cherokee County, Texas, March 20, 1848, the first white child born in that old eastern Texas town. His father, General Hogg, was a native of Georgia, who emigrated to Texas in 1839, and became identified with the early Texan Republic in numerous distinguished ways. General Hogg's first home was at Nacogdoches, afterwards at Rusk. From the latter płace he went to represent his district in one of the early Congresses. Upon the convention of the first Texas Legislature in 1846, General Hogg took a seat as the senatorial representa- tive of his district. When the war came up in 1861 he was appointed a brigadier-general in the Confederate service by President Davis, and in May, 1862, died at Corinth, Miss., in command of his brigade. The names of General Hogg's children are as follows: John W. Hogg, of Decatur, Wisc County: Thomas E. Hogg, formerly of Denton, Texas; James S. Hogg, the eminent Governor and statesman of Texas:
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. Mrs. M. F. Davis, of Guadalajara, Mexico; Mrs. Julia A. Fer- guson, Denton, now deceased. Mr. John W. Hogg came to Wise County, April 11, 1871, and soon became associated with Capt. George W. Stevens, then sheriff of the county, as deputy sheriff. Mr. Hogg then served a term as assessor of the county, following which he was elected to the office of sheriff. An inter- mission of two years followed when he was elected to fill the . office of county clerk in which he served one term. On December 26, 1872, Mr. Hogg was married to Miss Eva Renshaw, daughter of Dr. Wm. Renshaw, after which he moved five miles east of Decatur to his farm, where he resided until the fall of 1891, when he moved to Decatur to take charge of the Decatur post-office for two terms, his appointment as post-master coming from President Cleveland. He con- tinued to look after his farm T and local interests until 1905, when he sold his farm, fol- lowing which he improved his beautiful home in Do- catur. Personally, Mr. Hogg J. W. HOGG. is a man of heavy stature; he is a man of strong intellect and decided views; he has served three terms as an alderman of Decatur and has taken a patriotic interest in the material affairs of the town. His mental quali- ties are commanding, much above the average, and had his environment been different would doubtless have adorned places of eminence in emulation of the career of his distinguished lamented brother, Governor James S. Hogg, whom he pro- nouncedly resembles, in the forceful qualities of his intellect and character. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
Hogg, as follows: Velma, married to Dr. C. B. Simmons, a fore- most physician of Decatur; Eugenia, married to Furman Great- house, of Decatur, and Miss Maud, an accomplished teacher in the Decatur High School.
A. B. FOSTER.
One of the strongest characteristics noticeable about the remnants of the carly citizens of Wise County is the striking affection which they bear. one another. The subject of this sketch, A. B. Foster, although deceased, is still referred to in terms of endear- ment and in appreci- ation of his standing as a man wor- thy of the love and MR. AND MRS. A. B. FOSTER. great ro- spect of his compatriots. He was born in Wythe County, Virginia, August 2, 1815, was raised in Franklin County, Tenn., where, on June 28, 1838, he was married to Emily A. Hardwick, of that prominent family in East Tennessee. Mrs. Foster came originally from a county in Georgia, the date of her birth being February 4, 1821. Mr. and Mrs. Foster moved from Tennessee to Benton County, Ark., in 1843, where a number of their children were born. April 28, 1858, they arrived in Decatur and located one mile west of town on the Jacksboro road. Mr. Foster died February 27, 1895, succeeded by the death of Mrs. Foster, August 4, 1902.
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This family bore their part of the incidental hardships bravely, and for a number of years preceding his death Mr. Foster had ably and efficiently acted as deputy county clerk. The children of the union are: Margaret Jane, James Thomas, Celina Eveline, Martha Isabella, Mary Amelia, Elizabeth, Hugh Montgomery, the latter being the generally esteemed Mont. Foster, now acting as deputy county clerk.
A. H. SHOEMAKER.
The writer pauses to reflect upon the character and personality of this rugged Christian soldier as he knew him before the 19th of November, when he passed into the long beckoning arms of the immortal life. It is seen that all that Captain Shoemaker stood for
CAPT. A. H. SHOEMAKER.
MRS. A. H. SHOEMAKER.
cannot be comprehended within the limitations of the allotted space, but a few brief comments published at the time of his death by his pastor, Rev. T. H. Morris, will serve to convey 19
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.
some glimpse of the man and his personality. Rev. Morris said : " There are a few pictures that will ever live in the writer's memory; one is this noble old Christian hero as I first knew him. His tall, symmetrical figure, lofty brow, eagle eyes, flowing hair and beard as white as snow, saintly expression and commanding appearance marked him at once as a king among men, one of Nature's noblemen. Some have thought that thus must have looked Abraham, Moses, Elijah. This strong, tender, resolute, noble, true, rugged character carried the mind back to the age of the patriarchs instinctively-you saw at once that here was a man, one that could say yes or no, and mean it, and having said it, could throw the whole weight of a great personality on the side he thought right. To see him in his home as tender as a woman; to see him in the battle for right, as bold and aggressive as a lion, showed a combination rare and great. When he spake men listened. Wisdom and virtue crowned his speech."
No truer picture could be drawn of Capt. Shoemaker, who was numbered among the strongest and most original of early Wise County citizens. Yet one other illustration describes character- istically this rugged man. Hon. John J. Terrell states that Capt. Shoemaker was one time asked what rule he followed to do so successfully the things he attempted to do. "By the rule of do it," with much emphasis on the last two words, returned the Captain.
Captain Shoemaker left behind very little of the records of his early life, but he lived in north and east Texas.before he came very early to Wise County. He was married to Malinda Lastly, of Franklin County, Missouri, who survives him, and who is now with her daughter, Mrs. W. S. Snyder, of Roswell, N. M. Capt. and Mrs. Shoemaker reared a large family of children who have become well known in the social and business life of this section. They are: Artemisa, married Wm. Warden; Milton W., married Mary Pickett, daughter of Col. G. B. Pickett; Andrew, married Lou Maines; Wm. Jefferson died in youth; Thomas C., married Mrs. Ruth Loyd Hussey; Lauren, married Callie McGill : Jerome, deceased ; Malinda, married Wm. Spear; Florence, married W. S. Snyder.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
WM. PERRIN.
Wm. Perrin was born in Kentucky, November 19, 1846, re- moved with his parents to Collin County, Texas, in 1852, and to Wise County in 1854. Throughout his youth he worked the farm in crop time and attended school in winter, but received little education. Early in life he turned his attention. to stock-raising and trading, and has amassed a consider- able fortune. During his early manhood in Wise County, he participated in many fights with the In- dians; for instance, with Judge Brady at Buffalo · Springs, and the raid in which Pleas Bryan was wounded; also in both the pursuits that followed the massacre of the Babb family and the murder of Milton WM. PERRIN. Perkins, and others. Mr. Perrin is now living in Dickens County, Texas, still engaged in the cattle business. He owns a large body of land and is known far and near for his frugality and thrift; also his big- hearted hospitality.
ELECTIOUS HALSELL.
The family of the above name is historically associated with the social and commercial traditions of north and north-west Texas, and the Indian Territory, and is perhaps as well known to the people of the above sections as any other representative
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family residing therein. The forebear was Electious Halsell, a native of Kentucky, born January 28, 1816. He moved to Alabama and married Miss E. J. Mays, originally of South Carolina, in which state she was born February 20, 1818. The most of the Halsell children, who attained to wealth and prom- inence on the removal of the family to Texas at a very early date, were born in the State of Alabama. The children named in succession are: James Thompson Halsell, familiarly known as " Thomps," the father of the well-known younger members of this branch of the family, who were Harry H. Halsell, Oscar Halsell, Forrest Halsell, Mrs. Gus Whitehead and Mrs. D. E. Walcott, the first and last of whom are now esteemed citizens of Decatur. Oscar and Forrest Halsell are eiti- zens of Oklahoma and Clay County, Texas, respectively, and Mrs. Whitehead is dead. The next in succession of ELECTIOUS HALSELL. the children of Electious Halsell is Syclly Ann, who married Daniel Waggoner, of Wise County; the third son was John Glenn, familiarly and widely known as Glenn Halsell; George W., killed by Indians in spring of 1866; W. E. Halsell; Ida, the wife of Dr. Jim Embry, of Bowie, Texas: R. K. Halsell, well-known citizen of Decatur; Ella, the wife of W. T. Waggoner, of Ft. Worth, Texas, and Edward, who resides in the Indian Territory. The three children last-named were born in Wise County.
Electious Halsell came to Wise from Collin County a year or two preceding the county organization. He opened up the well-
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known Halsell place a short distance south of Decatur. In 1857, when Decatur was established, he moved to town and began the conduct of a tavern on the southeast corner of the square, the
OLD HALSELL HOME.
building occupied being the first constructed house in the town. Electious Halsell died in August, 1867, his wife in July, 1870.
J. G. HALSELL.
The son of Electious Halsell, the pioneer tavern keeper of Decatur, born in Alabama, May 15, 1845, an early comer to Wise County, a youthful fighter for wealth and station, married Julia F. Earhart, November 15, 1866, arose to station, wealth and prominence in after life, died in California, March 16, 1886, in brief are the successive events in the career of J. G. Halsell, one of the best known citizens of northwest Texas at the time of his untimely taking off.
The life of Glenn Halsell is replete with interest for the young man on the eve of entering the battle of life. He began poor, and by his own efforts, industry and economy, arose to a place of first prominence in the financial history of Texas. At the
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same time he preserved his manhood and integrity which he left as a heritage to his wife and interesting family of children.
In early youth Mr. Halsell went on the ranches of western Wise County as a common cow hand: he worked hard and per- sistently, saved his earnings, invested them in occasional year- lings and small lots of land. After a while he married, and his choice of a wife proved indeed fortunate. Instead of demand- ing an expensive home she heroically accepted what was at hand,
J. G. HALSELL.
MRS. JULIA F. HALSELL.
which was, to say the least, crude and uncomfortable. Both then strived, worked and saved; their accumulations grew, and finally Mr. Halsell cut loose from his old employer and moved his cattle to the grazing grounds on the Wichitas, where he began his phenomenal success as a cattleman. Thirteen years later. (1883) he sold out his cattle for $375,000, which princely sum represented the reward of a plucky and successful battle of life.
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The following year Mr. Halsell's health failed and he went to Southern California with hopes of being restored. The dread malady of consumption, however, had fastened its grasp upon him, and in 1886 claimed him as its victim.
Mr. Halsell had established a beautiful home on the outskirts of Decatur on the old pre-emption which he had acquired as a young man. Here he reared a bright and interesting family of children who were carefully trained and guided, socially and religiously, by the worthy and efficient help-meet who had long been his chiefest support.
Personally, Mr. Halsell was a shrewd, careful and painstaking man; he was gifted with more than ordinary intellect, which con- tributed to his possession striking foresight and judgment. In an active career of twenty years he had acheived a fortune of $500,000. Just before leaving for California he resigned the presidency of the First National Bank of Decatur, an institution in which he was principal stockholder. He is survived by his wife and all of his children. Mrs. Halsell is loved and respected by all who know her. She has had a difficult course to follow since the death of her husband. The management of the large estate fell heavily on her shoulders, as did the responsibility of the proper training of her children. She has acquitted herself nobly and well, and is deserving of the high place she holds in the estimation of her family and in the social and church circles of Decatur and north Texas. The children of Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Halsell are as follows: Annie E., wife of Judge W. T. Simmons, of Ft. Worth; Maud, wife of J. E. Mitchell, a leading jeweler of Ft. Worth; Ferdinand, married Rosa Lea Archer, Ft. Worth: Glenn, wife of T. B. Yarbrough, a prominent banker, Ft. Worth ; Josephine, wife of John R. Halsell, cattleman, Ft. Worth.
DANIEL WAGGONER .- W. T. WAGGONER.
Far back in the pioneer days of Wise County a young man left Hopkins County and came here with all his earthly pos- · sessions invested in the little bunch of cattle and horses he drove before him, and the negro boy slave that helped him drive.
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The cattle numbered 242 head, the horses 6 head, and the boy was worth perhaps $400.00. Thus was the start of Daniel Waggoner in life. Entire volumes have been devoted to the achievements of men whose careers and attainments in life were not more important than that of Mr. Waggoner, and only a glimpse at the essential events in the career of the latter can here be imprinted.
Daniel Waggoner was born in Lincoln County, Tenn., July 7, 1828. He was the son of Solomon and Elizabeth Waggoner, the
D. WAGGONER.
former of whom was a native of South Carolina, where he was born in 1804; the mother was a .Tennessean, born in Lincoln County in 1808. The parents came to Hopkins County, Texas, in 1848, bringing young Daniel and the remainder of the children and all effects. In Hopkins County the elder Waggoner became a farmer and cattle-raiser, and an extensive dealer in horses, cattle, hogs and negro slaves, and it is logical to assume that Daniel Waggoner received his youthful impulses from the transactions and successful trading career of his father, which
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afterwards he converted into the activities that won him such distinguished success in similar occupations. His mother was a Miss Elizabeth McGaugh, and came from a strong, practical family. The Waggoners also were descended from substantial origin, the ancestral blood being mixed with German, which accounts for the qualities of thrift and economy exhibited in the subject of this sketch as well as in his father.
Until about 21 years of age Daniel Waggoner lived in Hopkins and Red River Counties. He had married Nancy Moore, daughter of Wm. Moore, and to them one son had been born, named William Thomas Waggoner. At the above age he came to Wise County, then in its wildest and most unsettled state. Here he began to learn the lessons of life from the book of Nature, about the only education he received. He also began to lay the foundation for the colossal fortune afterwards achieved. He located originally about two miles from Decatur, but after- wards bought a ranch and about 200 head of cattle from George Isbell, in western Wise County, in the vicinity of Cactus Hill. This small first purchase was gradually enlarged until finally the Waggoner brand became the most numerous of the section, which was the stronghold of the largest cattlemen in this section of Texas. The aeres of land increased also until a vast ranch spread out, providing grazing ground for the thousands of head of stock. This successful experiment passed through the trying periods of war and Indian trouble, and doubtless would not have withstood the attacks had not a strong and efficient man been constantly at the helm guiding and directing. Thousands of cattle were sacrificed, however, to Indians, outlaws and thieves, and Mr. Waggoner's life became one of restless activity in pro- tecting the vast property which he controlled. During this adventurous time he escaped many attempts upon his life by Indians and outlaws, and it was due to these harrowing expe- riences and the constant necessity for watchfulness that his faculties became trained and acute, and his wonderful insight into human motive became developed. Finally the possessions of cattle became so great that wider opportunities must be sought. The scene of operations was changed to the Pan Handle of Texas and Oklahoma, where a half-million acres of land were
.
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leased and thousands bought. The number of head of cattle grew stupendous, the total possessions represented in money being estimated at the date of Mr. Waggoner's death, September 5, 1902, at from $5,000,000 to $7,000,000. Mr. Waggoner died at Colorado Springs, perhaps the strongest man in Texas finan- cially. The firm of D. Waggoner & Son, composed of Daniel Waggoner and son, W. T., or Tom, who for several years pre- ceding the death of his father, was the active manager of the vast cattle, land and banking business, was and remains one of the strongest institutions of the kind in the Southwest.
Mr. Waggoner lived at Decatur, a town which, with its people, he always loved and who reciprocated the affection. Away back in the pioneer days, to be exact, on January 6, 1859, he had married Cyclly Ann Halsell, daughter of Electious Halsell, his first wife having died. Mrs. Waggoner survives her distinguished husband and now lives at Ft. Worth, to which place she removed within recent years. She is universally beloved by all who know her, a regard that she has won by virtue of her kind, considerate and gentle ways and manners.
W. T. Waggoner spent his youth in Wise County and in the Pan Handle where he was early associated with his father's immense enterprises and where he laid the foundation of his education in the practical affairs of life. He was married in 1877 to Miss Ella Halsell, youngest daughter of Electious Halsell, of Wise County. To them three children have heen born: Guy, the oldest, is married and lives at Ft. Worth; a daughter, Electra, married A. B. Whorton, of Ft. Worth; the third child is Paul, who is now at school in Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Waggoner reside at Ft. Worth, to which place they removed from Decatur in 1906. Owing to his father's advanced years Mr. Waggoner had assumed the active management of the vast business enter- prises of the firm several years before the death of his father. . The policy of management has been little departed from with the exception that the branch of cotton-ginning and oil mill in- dustry has been largely abandoned. The several gins and mills have been sold, and the funds and attention devoted to the banking and cattle business, the industries with which the Waggoners have been associated since the early history of Texas.
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Mr. Waggoner has lately entered the financial field in a large way, having organized the Waggoner Bank & Trust Co of Ft. Worth, one of the strongest and best managed institutions of the State.
W. T. WAGGONER.
Mr. Waggoner is regarded as one of the ablest and most forceful personalities in the financial and business world of Texas.
J. B. EARHART.
Capt. J. B. Earhart's exploits as a frontiersman have been alluded to in former chapters of this book. It serves now to cite the date and place of his birth and give the names of his chil-
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dren, all of whom have been closely identified with the past history of Wise County. He came originally from Penn- sylvania, where he was born in 1812. In his veins flowed the thrifty blood of Dutch ancestry. His forebears were Viginians, and it was a branch of these that settled the exact location on which the national capitol at Washington is built. Capt. Earhart spent his youth in Pennsylvania and Ohio, in one of
CAPT. J. B. EARHART.
MRS. J. B. EARHART.
which States he early married a Miss Eliza Ann Gordon, who lived but a short while. Later on Capt. Earhart came to Arkansas, and in Franklin County was re-married to Mrs. Mary A. Penn, the widowed daughter of Wmn. Quesenbury, in the early forties. He then moved to the Choctaw Nation, Indian Terri- tory, and for several years was engaged at various occupations. In 1843 he furnished supplies to the garrison at Ft. Wichita; in 1845 he was an Indian trader at Preston Bend. He then returned
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to Colbert Station, and until 1850 operated a ferry system. In 1850 Capt. Earhart settled on Iron Ore Creek in Grayson County, Texas, where he conducted a steam grist and saw-mill until 1852. In 1856 he moved to Hog Eye Prairie, Jack County, Texas, hav- ing traded his mill and farm for a stock of cattle. He became a leading stockman, ranger-captain and citizen of the section lying along the line of Jack and Wise Counties. The ranger company of which he was chief officer performed invaluable service in defending Wise and Jack Counties against the incur- sions of Indians and outlaws. He lived on the extreme edge of the exposed frontier, and his large family of children were at all times exposed to the deteriorating influences of an isolated, crude environment, but it is due to their original strength that they grew up to be sterling, substantial and honorable citizens of the country. The children of Capt. and Mrs. Earhart are: Eliza Ann, wife of Jos. Henry Martin, of Chico, Wise County; E. P. Earhart, of Lubbock County; Mrs. Julia F. Halsell, of Decatur; William Q. and Samuel F. Earhart, both deceased; Joe Ellen Earhart, wife of L. P. Bea Vert, Durant, I. T., and T. O. Earhart, Lubbock County.
JOHN W. HALE.
In the year of 1824 Josiah Curtis Hale was journeying from Kentucky to Texas when the exigency of the situation necessi- tated stopping for a time at Bolivar, Tenn., where, on December 24th, his wife delivered to him a son, Captain John W. Hale, the subject of this sketch. The Hales continued their residence in Tennessee for two or three years, when they came as pioneer citizens to the Republic of Texas, receiving as their reward a league and labor of land in Red River County.
Capt. Hale's ancestry dates back to that well known family of New England, members of which are distributed throughout that portion of the Union. His mother was Rhoda Gregory, of Kentucky. The earliest years of his life were spent in north and east Texas. In 1849 a family of Fullingims came to Red River
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County from Alabama, and on November 29, of that year, John W. Hale was married to Mary Elizabeth Fullingim, the fifth child and first daughter of the Fullingim family, which numbered seventeen children. After marrying, Capt. Hale left his father and lived in Hopkins County three years. He then came to Wise County, arriving here July 13, 1854, and settled four miles north of Decatur, where he resided many years. Upon the
CAPT. JOHN W. HALE.
MRS. JOHN W. HALE.
organization of the County in 1856 he was elected first sheriff, and he was subsequently elected the county's first surveyor, continuing in office for a number of years. By these means he early became identified in the leadership of the county affairs, a position he retained until his death in Decatur, June 17, 1885. He was foremost in the organization of military affairs in Wise County at the inception of the Civil War; he was made chief enrolling officer and placed in preliminary charge of the post and
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arsenal at Decatur, from which relation he gained the title he bore. He was always a thoughtful, high-minded citizen and a staunch Democrat, and was sent to serve one term in the Legis- lature. His knowledge of surveying and intimate acquaintance with land affairs led him to engage in the real estate and abstract business, occupations in which he was engaged at the time of his death. He was also largely interested in Western lands, having laid certificates of location over many thousands of aeres in western counties for himself and others. By systematic atten- tion to business he acquired considerable property holdings in Wise and adjoining counties. He died beloved and respected by all, and was interred under the ceremonies of the Masonic lodge of which he was a faithful and zealous member. Capt. Hale is survived by his wife, born in Morgan County, Ga., July 25, 1824. She came with him as one of the very first citizens to the county, and has borne the full brunt of all the pioneer hardships which continued until their removal to Decatur in 1873. Capt. and Mrs. Hale were prime supports of the M. E. Church in its infancy and later history in this vicinity. They had one daughter, Rowena by name, who was married to Charles D. Cates, of Decatur.
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