Galveston County, Texas - The whole text, 1895 (part 13 of 26)

Vy w^ILLIAM VORDENBAUMEN, - mm I the subject of this sketch, came mj^jl to Te.xas in 1850. He is a native of Germany having been born in the town of Westphalen, on August 16, 1820. His parents were also natives of Westphalen, his father, Mathias Vordenbaumen, being a wheelwright by trade, a man of strong mechanical genius, which talent he transmitted in a considerable degree to his descendants. William Vordenbaumen learned the trade of carpenter in his native country and followed it there a few years before his removal to Te.xas. After settling in Galveston he continued to work at his trade until 1870, finding at an earlier day, a large field of employment, the town being small

In 1870 Mr. Vordenbaumen quit carpentering and engaged in the undertaking business, opening an establishment on Winnie avenue between Twenty-first and Twentysecond streets, where for twenty years, until 1890, he performed the delicate and difficult duties of a funeral director. For four years past he has practically lived in retirement, having accumulated enough to keep him comfortably in his declining years.

In 1 85 1 Mr. Vordenbaumen married Mary Bieling, of Galveston, who died fifteen months later, in 1853, leaving one son, Frederick, who died in 1875. On March 25, 1854, Mr. Vordenbaumen married his present wife, whose maiden name was Mary Harber, born the 19th of September, 1824, then residing in Galveston, but a native of Prussia, coming thence to Galveston in 1852. The offspring of this union has been one child, a daughter, Mary, born July 26, 1862, died July 2, 1874. Mr. Vordenbaumen has one brother, Herman, residing in Galveston, and one, the Rev. Frederick Vordenbaumen, a Methodist clergyman, residing in Cuero, Texas, and a sister, Mrs. Henry Cortes, residing in Galveston.

eETER GABEL, who for nearly a half century has been a resident of Houston, being one of the few old settlers now left, is a native of Germany, having been born November 4, 18 1 3, in Rheinfels, Bavaria, now a portion of the German empire, then, however, belonging to France and under the dominion of the Emperor Napoleon.

Gabel, the mother's family-name being Frederick. Both were natives of Bavaria, and came of German stock as far back as anything is known of their history. Besides the subject of this notice they had another son, Philhp, who died at about the age of seventy-one, and a daughter, Margaret, who died at the age of iifty-seven, the wife of Henry Krether. The father died when the subject of this sketch was only about two years old, and the mother when he was about six. The mother, however, had married a second time, and left another son, John Wagner, who later died in Houston, Texas. On the death of his mother young Peter Gabel was taken into the family of a relative and brought up with reasonably good care, receiving some educational advantages and being taught a trade, - that of cooper and brewer, - which helped him very materially in his struggles in after life.

He lived in Germany until he was twenty-seven years old, when, desirous of seeing the world and perfecting himself in his trade, he came to America. For a while after coming to this country he lived at Lewiston, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, where he worked for his friend and countryman, Charles Engel. Later he went to St. Louis, Missouri, and worked at his trade in that city for nearly three years. Having heard a great deal about Texas, he was seized with a desire to see this country, and in November, 1844, came on and after a little prospecting located at Houston. Shortly after his arrival here he formed the acquaintance of a man named Jacob Werlin, who represented himself as being a firstclass soapmaker, and Mr. Gabel, believing that there was an opening in the new town for a soap factory, was induced by Werlin andiOthers to join them in starting a business of that character here. Their establishment was set up on the Market square, and there, as Mr. Gabel very characteristically expresses it, they "boiled away until they boiled all they had away," lack of experience making a failure of it. From this Mr. Gabel fell back on his trade as cooper, and took employment in an establishment at what was then known as "Tallowtown," the establishment being owned by McKinney & Williams, of Galveston, and operated by Martin M. Shepherd, of Houston. He made barrels for McKinney & Williams, who were then doing a large business in tallow-making, for two or three years. Still later he worked for Shepherd, making wooden cisterns, and did well while engaged at each place. He was then induced by Joshua T. Herel, who had considerable knowledge of the land business, to invest his earnings in a 250-acre tract of timber land on Buffalo Bayou, valuable chiefly for the timber, which was in demand as cord-wood for steamers. Taking sick, he was unable for some time to look after his interests, and they in consequence suffered. Later, however, he purchased another tract and recovered in some measure his former losses. He also made another real-estate deal about this time with .Herel, which finally proved to be a better one than either of the others, this being the purchase of four blocks and ten acres of land in Houston.

From Houston, and his operations about "Tallowtown," Mr. Gabel turned his steps toward the Brazos river country, where there was promise of steady work at good wages, making barrels and hogsheads for the sugar planters. He remained on the Brazos and Caney creek for some time, engaged pretty steadily at his trade until the country was swept over by the California fever in 1849. He was siezed with the fever and determined to try his fortunes on the Pacific coast, and returned to Houston to put his affairs in shape to f^o out. Here by fortune's good favor he met one of his countrywomen, a native of Rheinfels, the same province in which he was born. Forming an acquaintance with her which soon ripened into a very strong mutual attachment, they were married, and this put an end to the Cahfornia scheme.

Mr. Gabel at once set about to establish himself in business. He saw what he believed to be a good opening for a brewery, and erecting suitable buildings on one of the lots previously purchased soon had his plant going at a good pace. He did a prosperous business up to the opening of the war, having in the meantime added the necessary appliances to distil whisky, a good article of which he was turning out and finding a ready sale for among home consumers. The opening of the war rendered brewing unprofitable, and although his distillery went on he sold his product for Confederate money, which turning out to be worthless his four years' work were in vain. He resumed brewing, however, when the war was over, dropping off the making of whisky on account of the excessive revenue tax, and at this continued until 1870. In the meantime he had made a trip to Europe, where he had considerable interests in vineyards in his native place, the product of which, made into wine, he shipped to Houston, and from this point distributed it to dealers over the State. For several 3'ears he did a large business in this line, as well as at brewing.

Mr. Gabel was taught habits of economy not only by precept but by necessity in his earlier days, and he made it a practice when fortune was favoring him to lay up something for the proverbial "rainy day." He had confidence in the future of the country and believed that good real estate offered one of the safest means of investments, and therefore purchased property from time to time as his capital accumulated. In this way he has come to be a considerable realestate holder, owning between $75,000 and $80,000 worth in Houston and Harris county, besides seven or eight sections, mostly timber lands, in other portions of the State. For twenty years past he has not had any active business pursuits, being contented with what he already had, in looking after which he has found sufficient employment for his years. He has interested himself in a general way in matters of common interest to the people of the community where he lives, and was at one time induced to take stock in one of Houston's local enterprises, - the Western Narrow Gauge Railroad, - but is not p'-oud of his connection with this, the same having cost him about $4,000.

Mr. Gabel has never held public office of any kind, not for lack of interest in the public welfare nor for lack of confidence in him on the part of his fellow-citizens, but because he has never looked to the public for support, having learned to rely on himself, and because he has always found such positions in great demand by a large class of his fellow-citizens, who were ready to make sacrifices for them, which he could not very well make. He is independent in politics and somewhat independent also in matters of religion, although his parents were devout church members and he was reared to a strict observance of the Protestant faith and practice.

riage took place on the 7th day of June, 1849, the lady whom he wedded being Mrs. Maria Stein, then the widow of John Stein. Mrs Gabel's maiden name was Gcbhardt, and she accompanied her parents from Germany to America wlien she was a girl and settled in Brown county, Ohio, whence she later went to New Orleans, where she was married to Mr. Stein. She came with him in 1S45 to Houston, where he died, in 1849. By her first marriage Mrs. Gabel had two sons: William, who was aboard the ill-fated steamer Nautilus, on his way to school in the East, when that vessel was lost; and Louie, a resident of Harris county. Mr. and Mrs. Gabel never had any children. Mrs. Gabel died at her home in Houston on the 14th day of June, 1892, hrcking just twelve months of having reached the golden year of her wedding with Mr. Gabel. Her death, leaving him, as it did, almost alone in the world, was a great loss to him, and one which he has keenly felt.

f^^J matter in what field, the ambition of the true man will push him to such endeavor that his success will stand out with distinctness. Such is the case with Mr. Samuel Sam, one of the most prominent real-estate men in Houston. Mr. Sam was born in the kingdom of Prussia, now part of Germany, March 14, 1825. He learned the blacksmith trade in his native country and when twenty years of age he determined to seek his fortune in the United States. This was in 1845, ^'^d when he reached New York city he had the modest sum of ninetyfive cents. Although but a poor boy he was rich in integrity, industry and resolution, and his subsequent career should serve as an example to the young man who, unaided and alone, starts out to combat with life's stern realities. From the city of New York young Sam made his way to Charleston, South Carolina, where an older sister, who had preceded him to this country by a year, was residing, and he entered the blacksmith shop of his brother-in-law, who was then engaged in business at that place. For some time he was engaged in making iron gates and fences, but subsequently business became slack, his brother-in-law suspended, and young Sam was thrown out of employment. Determined to find honest employment of some kind, he went to a boarding house, where he secured work as a dishwasher, for his board. Circulating among the guests he solicited the privilege of cleaning their clothes, blacking their shoes, etc., and accepted whatever they were disposed to give, sometimes receiving five cents, again ten, and in some instances as much as twenty-five cents. Many times it was twelve or one o'clock before he retired for the night, his labors being thus prolonged in the hope of making a few extra cents. In this manner he saved nine dollars, and with that sum purchased notions, which he started out to peddle, working his way out as far as one hundred miles from Charleston and spending the time from June until September in this work. During this time he saved about $80, and after returning to Charleston he purchased a small stock of fruit and tobacco, and opened a small establishment on the corner of Hallbeck alley and King street. About this date, 1848, he married, and subsequently opened a boarding house, which he and his wife carried on in connection with the store. Shortly afterward Mr. Sam secured a position on the police force and of course gave almost all of his attention to the duties of that office, his wife looking after the store and boarding house. In this way they made considerable money. Mr. Sam held his position under two administrations, Mayor Snirley and Mayor Hutcheson, and under the latter's regime he was a mounted policeman. In the year 1851 Mr. Sam sold out in Charleston and moved to Clinton, Louisiana, in which city he arrived without a cent. He borrowed $3. 75 from Levi Sterne to pay the freight on his household goods; and subsequently borrowed a little more from the same source, with which to buy a peddler's pack. Again he went on the road, and peddled in one parish in Louisiana from 1 85 1 to 1854. From there he came to Texas, and, leaving his wife and children in Galveston, he came to Houston in order to find work. Here he bought a horse and dray and started out in business, following draying but a short time, however, as he found that he was not making very much money. Again he branched out as a peddler and followed this occupation through Austin county until 1857, when, having saved some money, he purchased a store from J. B. Pierce, pa\ing for the same $450. This he carried on for a year and them sold it to William D. Cleveland, father of the present prosperous merchant of that name in Houston. His next move was to purchase a farm in Austin county, and on this farm of ninety acres he opened a store. About the same time he opened two other stores, one at Sempronius and the other at Chapel Hill. In 1 86 1, when the war broke out, he sold the stores at Sempronius and Chapel Hill, but continued to carry on the other in connection with his farm. Soon after the war opened he began freighting between the agricultural districts of Austin county and Houston, which was then the market place for all the territory northwest of it. He hauled cotton to Houston and goods back, running two ox-teams of five yoke each. He received 70 cents per hundred weight each way, and collected the money on the spot. During the war he also handled livestock and became the owner of a large number of cattle. Shortly after the war he sold his farm and came to Houston. In this place he purchased a lot, on the corner of Austin street and Congress avenue, for $2,000 in gold, and later purchased a lot adjoining, for $1,000. On the first lot he built a $5,000 business house, and on the second a tenement house. He also built another small house, and started his daughter in the millinery business. On account of domestic troubles, he turned over all his property to his wife and children, and in 1869 went to work as a roustabout on the "Silver Cloud," a small steamer, plying between Houston and Galveston, receiving for his services $45 per month. From Houston he took a similar position on the "Morgan," and later went to New Orleans, where he embarked on a stern-wheel steamer and worked his way to St. Louis. In that city he worked at different occupations some two years, when, having accumulated a small sum of money, he invested it in a stock of goods and a horse and wagon, and again went on the road as a peddler. He continued this occupation in Missouri about a year, buying rags, feathers and hides, and cleared $1,000. After that he returned to Houston, reaching this city April 20, 1872, and decided to try the dray business again. He bought two mules, three horses and five drays, hired four negroes, and, taking charge of one dray himself, went to work. This did not prove as remunerative as he had expected, and he sold out, and, in connection with L. Weil, leased a lot of ground on Liberty avenue, then called the old Liberty road, on which he built a house, and again opened a store. In a few months Mr. Sam purchased Mr. Weil's interest, and conducted the business alone. ' He was shrewd and possessed of excellent business acumen, and made a great deal of money in this venture. About two years later he leased a lot on the same street, on the J. C. Lord property, built thereon a house 30x60 feet, and carried on business on a much larger scale. This he continued very successfully until 1877, when he sold it to his two sons, Simon L. and Jacob W. , and purchased property on the corner of McKee street and Liberty avenue, being in business there about two years, part of which time H. O. Gordon was his partner. At the end of two years he sold out this business and turned his attention to Houston real estate. He has been buying and improN'ing, and now owns eighty houses, which he rents, and sixty vacant lots, all of which are in the F"ifth ward.

In the year 1848 Mr. Sam married Miss Caroline Sterne, in Charleston, South Carolina, and eight children were born to this union, six of whom survive, - Henrietta; Simon L., in the shoe business in Houston; Jacob W. and Levi, in the clothing business in Houston; Joe M., an attorney of Houston; and Sarah. One of his sons, Nathan, died when a young man. May 29, 1890, Mr. Sam married Mrs. Fannie Dryfus, of Houston, and b_y this union became the step-father of one child, Arthur Charvet. Mr. Sam enjoys the reputation of being a good business man, and is also regarded as a gentleman of the soundest integrity.

Brederick Wilmot Smith

BREDERICK WILMOT SMITH, one of the oldest and most highly respected citi/^ens of Houston, is a native of Brookfield, Litchfield county, Connecticut, where he was born on the 24th day of January, 18 14. His father and father's father each bore the baptismal name of Joseph, and were born, the father in Connecticut, March 14, 1774, and the grandfather in England, somewhere near the middle of the last century. The grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and took part in many of the notable battles fought by the Continental army, dying in Connecticut on August 1, 1810, at an advanced age. The junior Joseph Smith also died in Connecticut, on September 30, 1825.

The mother of Frederick Wilmot Smith bore the maiden name of Martha Wilmot, and she was born in New Haven, Connecticut, December 23, 1773, being a daughter of Daniel Wilmot, a prominent citizen of New Haven, who lost all his property by the burning of that city by the British. Joseph Smith and Martha Wilmot were married August 15, 1794, and she died in 1863. Their children, nine in number, were: Harriet, born March i, 1796, died December 25, 1878; Azariel, born February 20, 1798, died May 15, 1874; Charles S., born May 8, 1800, died May 6, 1869; Sibyl G., born November 18, 1802, died February 24, 1892; Wdliam, born August II, 1806, died about 1S82; Sophia, born November 6, 1S08, died September i, 1893; Ophelia, born January 18, 181 i, died at the age of eighty-one years; Hannah Eliza, born April 20, 1 8 1 7, now the widow of Frederick Shepard, living in Bethel, I'airlield county, Connecticut; and Frederick Wilmot, whose name introduces this sketch.

Frederick W. Smith was eleven years old when his father died, after which event he made his home with his brother Azariel till his sixteenth year, when he began to work for farmers, for regular wages. By industry he managed to obtain a fairly good education. In 1836 he started West, with $300, and spent several months in the unsettled portions of Ohio and Michigan, being present at the opening of the land office at Ionia, in the latter State, then Territory. He then returned to New York city, by sleigh through Canada, riding the full length of Lake St. Clair on the ice.

Many were the rough experiences which Mr. Smith encountered in those years, and he relates many an interesting incident which befell him while he was roughing it in the then "far West." Among others was one which happened on the return trip to New York. There were eight other young men in the sleigh on the occasion mentioned, and they were all "snoozing" comfortably one night, when, about the hour of twelve, the sleigh, through the carelessness of the driver, or by unavoidable accident, was upset, at a point near where the great Indian chief, Tecumseh, was killed, and the entire party rolled down a hill several feet. No one was hurt, though all were badly frightened. The driver having to go back some six miles to the nearest station for another sleigh, the men employed themselves with the task of getting the old sleigh back in the road, more, however, as a means of keeping warm than from any hope of rescuing and rendering serviceable the stranded vehicle.

After a long, cold and tedious ride the party reached New York city, where, after a few days' looking around, young Smith secured a position as salesman in the store of Baldwin, Burnham & Company, dealers in imported notions, at the corner of Pearl and Cedar streets. He remained in New York only a few months when the Western fever again struck him, and he made another frying trip to Michigan. Returning to New York he there met a Mr. Alanson Taylor, with whom he became interested in an enterprise of establishing a mercantile house in the then newly created Republic of Texas, and on November 22, 1838, he sailed in company with that gentleman on board the schooner "Warsaw," Captain Bundle, loaded with mercandise and a partly constructed store-building, for the new Southwest. Their objective point was Houston, and the agreement was that, in consideration of Mr. Smith's assisting in starting the store and filling the position of clerk, he was to have one-fourth of the profits. After reaching Galveston, Mr. Taylor came on at once to Houston to select a lot and make preparations for the erection of a building. Mr. Smith remained in Galveston to look after the cargo and to see t~ getting it to its destination.

No sooner was the young merchant on the soil of Texas than he began to meet with those difficulties which always beset a beginner in a new country and of which Mr. Smith came to know a great deal more in his subsequent career. When he undertook to transfer the cargo at Galveston, preparatory to freighting it up the bayou to Houston, he was confronted by the customhouse officer, who asked that the duties be paid before the goods were admitted. This was something which neither Mr. Taylor nor Mr. Smith had thought of, and, as the latter had no money, he was placed in a very embarrassing position. But he frankly explained the situation to the officer, and that gentleman being satisfied with the statement permitted the cargo to pass, saying, as Mr. Smith turned away: "It's all right; I'll take your face for it; send me the money when you get to Houston." Fortunately, before leaving Galveston, Mr. Smith met a friend, M. O. Dimond, from whom he borrowed enough money to discharge the debt.

On arriving at Houston Mr. Smith was met at the wharf by Mr. Taylor, who informed him that he could not find a suitable lot for a store building; and furthermore that he was disgusted with the place and people, and was ready to return to New York. But the cargo was unloaded and stored in a small building in the rear of where the First National Bank now stands, and Mr. Smith at once sat about to see if he could not secure a building site. After considerable search he finally selected the lot, at the corner of Main street and Congress avenue, on which the Houston National Bank now stands; but he could not find the owner of the lot, although he made diligent inquiry and wished to acquire some sort of title before taking possession. On the advice of Major Holman, \\'ho then represented the Messrs. Allen, founders of the town, he proceeded without authority from the owner to put up his store. The business of Taylor & Company was soon under way and it was not until a year afterward that the owner of the lot, Mr.' J. T. Doswell, came along and informed the enterprising merchants that they had built on his property. He did not disturb them, however, but offered to sell them the lot for $3,000, a price which Mr. Smith considered reasonable enough, but which Mr. Ta3lor was unwilling to give, as he did not want any real estate in Houston. The lot is now worth $150,000.

Bad health, continued aversion to the place and people, and the yellow-fever epidemic the year after their arrival, sent Mr. Taylor back to New York, Mr. Smith turning his attention to other pursuits. In the meantime, however, Mr. Smith had become interested in the city, having purchased three lots on Fannin street, opposite where the postoffice now stands, for each of which he paid $1,000 in salt at $20 per sack, and cheese at 50 cents per pound.

Although his mercantile career did not last long, Mr. Smith was thus one of the first merchants of this city, and during the time he was in business he sold large quantities of goods. He is the man who sold the first "Sam Houston hat" in Texas, a style of headgear that the hero of San Jacinto made very popular, and for which it is said he had, even to his latest years, a great fancy. Mr. Smith relates that he had one of these broad-brimmed white hats on display in his store one day, when Stephen Z. Hoyl, President Houston's private secretary, saw it in passing, and remarked that he thought the General would like one. He brought the General down the next day, and each of them purchased one. Wearing this hat. General Houston walked up Main street to where Congress was in session, when, being seen by the members of that body, he was asked where he got his hat. On being informed, each one went down to Mr. Smith's store and supplied himself with one. Mr. Smith thinks that he sold over a thousand of them, at $10 each, before the run ceased.

Mr. Smith was the first Postmaster recommended by the President and confirmed by the Senate after the State was admitted to the Union. This was in 1848, and he was induced to accept the office under the following circumstances: There were no banks in Texas in those days, and large amounts of money were transmitted by post. On this account, and for the further reason that Houston, as the distributing point for all interior Texas, made this an important office, although the compensation was very small. But the business interests of the city, as well as the reputation of the place, were somewhat at stake, and it was essential that the affairs of the postoffice be honestly and expeditiously administered. Mr. B. A. Shepherd and Mr. B. A. Botts, two prominent business men of Houston, learning that application had been made for the office by a man of questionable character, sought out Mr. Smith, laid the facts before him, and insisted that he take the office. On being reminded by Mr. Smith that the compensation was by no means equal to the services required, and that it was doubtful if he could handle the business alone, Messrs. Shepherd and Botts agreed that they would give him their personal assistance when needed if he would take the office, to which he consented, and entered at once on the discharge of his duties. It turned out as he had anticipated, "all work and no pay," but with the assistance of Messrs. Shepherd and Botts, who put in the greater part of three nights in every week, the business of the office was kept up, and there was no complaint about the mails. However, after he had satisfied his sense of duty to the public and found, as time passed on, that he could not make a living out of the office, Mr. Smith sent in his resignation to the authorities at Washington. But he was not relieved until after he had resigned three times. He served about four years. During his term of office one of the lessees, who had undertaken to carry the mails on one of the interior routes, failed to comply with the law in the matter of conveyances and other equipments, and Mr. Smith, without waiting three months to get authority from Washington, advertised lor bids and re-let the contract, assuming that the public service demanded this extraordinary exercise of power, in which opinion the Postmaster General fully concurred when the matter was brought to his attention, since he ratified all that Mr. Smith had done. The Texas postmaster, hi^wever, got no little notoriety at the national seat of government out of this extrdordinary proceeding on his part. Before finally giving up his office Mr. Smith took in O. L. Cochran, and taught him how to manage the business, and secured his appointment as his successor.

While yet in the postoffice Mr. Smith engaged in steamboating between Galveston and Houston, and, as soon as he was relieved of his office, he went on to Washington for the purpose of securing the contract to carry the mails between these two places. At that time the lamented Rusk was one of the Senators from this State and a man in high standing in the Postoffice Department. He cheerfully undertook to introduce Mr. Smith around to the officials of that department. Inquiry soon led to the disclosure of the fact that the then applicant for the mail contract between Houston and Galveston was none other than the one who had advertised the star routes without authority from the Postmaster General and who had three times resigned his office at Houston and finally demanded that his resignation be accepted. He had but little trouble in obtaining the contract, the negotiation of which took him to Washington, and which was awarded him at $11,900 a year for carrying the mails three times a \veei< between the two cities mentioned. Mr. Smith also received a pleasant surpirise, just before leaving Washington, in the shape of a warrant on the Treasury fur $400, which was handed him by the head bookkeeper as part of the back salary due him for services rendered while Postmaster at Houston.

On his arrival home Mr. Smith became associated with B. A. Shepherd and John H. Sterrett, and formed a stock company, of which he was made general manager, and began to build and operate a line of boats between the cities of Houston and Galveston. A year or so later he again visited Washington and secured a contract to carry the mails six times a week between these two points, for $20,000 a year. In addition to this they were doing a large passenger and freight business, and were making money rapidl}'. The opening of the war, however, put a stop to their operations, and besides losing their business, theirproperty, consisting of a number of boats, barges and a regular shipyard, with all the necessary equipments for carrying c^n an extensive transportation business, were taken possession of by the Confederate government, and the gunboats which won the battle of Galveston belonged to them.

At the close of the war Mr. Smith accepted a position as general freight agent of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad, which he filled for a number of years. Resigning this in 1872, he embarked in the manufacture of cottonseed oil at Brenham, starting the pioneer enterprise of this kind in Texas, which, unfortunately, was not a financial success; but did serve to direct attention to the possibilities of this industry in this State. For the last twenty years Mr. Smith has lived mostly in retirement.

In November, 1S43, he married Miss Annette Brown, a native of New York city, and a daughter of Robert Brown, who was a native of Scotland. Mrs. Smith died March 26, 1 868. Shi^ was a faithful wife and an affectionate, good mother. Four children survive her, two sons and two daughters: Charles W., Walter M., Katie and Mary. The eldest is a resident of Fort Worth, the other three remain at home with their father. Mrs. Smith was for many years a member of the Episcopal Church, u[ion the services of which her husband was and still is an attendant, but not a member of the church.

The subject of this brief sketch, now one of the few remaining old settlers of the city of Houston, has never sought to fill the public eye nor to gain great wealth at the sacrifice of the nobler qualities of manhood. He has lived modestly, soberly, rationally, giving the widest possible application to the old maxim: "Live and let live."

*y ^ ENRY S. FOX. - The subject of l'''^V this sketch dates his connection \ ,^ with the business interests of this city sufficientl}' far back to be numbered among the early business men of the place, having had to do with current affairs of the city for more than forty years. He is a native of the province of Posen, Germany, where he was born in the year 1835. He emigrated at the age of fifteen to the United States, and after spending two years in New York came to Texas and settled at Houston. He was prepared in a fair degree for the duties which he had already decided to take up, having receised the rudiments of a good business education and served for some time as salesman and accountant in a New

York mercantile house. On coming to this place he secured a position as collector and adjuster of claims for the then well-known firm of Coleman & Levy, with whom he remained the greater part of three years. During this time his duties as the outside representative of a somewhat diversified mercantile interest introduced him to a large number of people and gave him valuable information on current trade demands and existing business methods. The house of Coleman & Levy was, in those days, one of the leading business concerns of Houston and in addition to a large retail business carried on a very respectable jobbing trade with smaller merchants in the interior part of the State. As their representative it fell to the lot of young Fox to look after this trade, so that he may be said to have been in a restricted sense a pioneer in that field of commercial activity since so fully occupied by traveling salesmen. In 1855, then in his twenty-first year, Mr. Fo.x engaged in business for himself, opening a store at Marlin, in Falls county, from which point he began larger operations, in a short time establishing other stores in the interior part of the State and one also, in 1857, in Houston. At the opening of the war he was the owner of six such houses and was well on the way to a prosperous career as a merchant. But the opening of hostilities between the North and the South brought a cessatio,n of business activity, and Mr. Fox prudently pulled in his country stores and concentrated his funds in his Houston house, where they would be under his personal supervision. During the troublous times of 1 861-5 his affairs followed to some extent the general course of events, long seasons of dullness being interspersed with brief periods of brisk trade, but the business always being of that

In 1868 he went out of business, selling his stock, good will and fixtures, but two years later formed a partnership with F. W. Heitmann, under the firm name of Fox & Heitmann, and began handling hardware and metal goods. This business was disposed of by sale to his partner in 1876, at which time Mr. Fox turned his attention to banking. "Fox's Bank," a private institution which he founded, was for a number of years one of the recognized financial concerns of this city, continuing such in fact up to 1889, when its owner was invited to take the presidency of the then newly organized Houston National Bank, a position he accepted and has since held. For the past five years he has given his attention chiefly to the duties of this position. Mr. Fox is a large stockholder in the bank, but not especially, or exclusively, on this account is it that he occupies the responsible position that he does as its chief executive officer. His long and intimate connection with the business interests of the city, his recognized ability as a financier and the noteworthy success he has achieved in his own affairs constitute claims in his favor as the head of this institution, regardless of the size of the block of stock which he holds in it. He is really one of Houston's men of solid wealth and proved capacity. From the first he has had confidence in the future of the place; and even in the early years of its struggles, before the railroads had connected it with the rich regions to the north and northwest, - when the slow-motioned oxtrain was the only means of transportation,

- he invested his funds here and has continued to do so since. The inipro\'enient of these investments has not only attested his faith in the place, but has added to its taxable wealth and given homes and places of business to those who have taken up their residence here.

As to office-holding, politics and things of that kind, there is little to record in Mr. Fox's career. Beyond such local positions as his fellow-citizens have seen ht to elect him to, and chiefly those connected in some way uith the business interests of the commimit}', he has never figured in public affairs. He has served as Commissioner of the county. Alderman of the city, chairman of the Democratic executive conmiittee of the city, county and district, and has attended the usual number of conventions, where he has been more or less active in behalf of the men and measures which he has seen fit to favor. He is a director in the Houston Gas Company and presitlent of the Houston Clearing House Association. Public enterprises, local interests, whate\'er he believed to be helpful to the comnumity, meet his approbation and recei\'e his advocacy and assistance. His charitable impulses, rejecting ostentatious display, seek an outlet through the different social and benevolent orders, such as the Masonic fraternity. Odd Fellows, Elks, B'nai B'rith, and in private and less known ways.

Coming to Texas a lad of seventeen, Mr. Fox spent all of his early manhood and has passed a goodly portion of his mature years in the State and city of his adoption, with whose social life he has become intimately connected. He married Lena G. Coleman, in this city, in 1857, but in 1887 lost the estimable lady whom he selected for a life companion, she having left him two children, Mamie A. and Henry S., Jr. Mr. Fox married his present wife, whose maiden name was Leonora Harby, in October, i88g, and one child, Gladys Louise, has been born to this union.

I I iniquitous religious persecutions /f^^_^ which prevailed throughout Europe during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there fled to this country a large number of people who, constituting as they did the thrift, intelligence, patriotism and moral forces of the communities where they lived, formed no unimportant accession to the population of those communities where they settled on this side of the Atlantic. From Scotland and Ireland, especially, was the exodus large, Pennsylvania and North Carolina being the chief recipients of this kind of emigration. Hence arose the phrases of so frequent occurrence in our history, "Of Irish" and "Scotch- Irish" origin.

The subject of this brief notice traces his ancestry to the sources here indicated, being the third removed in the paternal line from Galbraith and Eli/abeth (Scott) Stuart, natives of Scotland, who emigrated to America in 1780 and settled in Washington county, Pennsylvania. In that county they died, each at the advanced age of eightytwo. There also most of their children were born, among them William, their eldest son and the father of David F. , of this article. William married Mary Cummins, daughter of Robert and Mary Cummins and a native of Brooke county, West Virginia, and settled in that county, where he resided until, overtaken by financial troubles, he went to California during the

David F. Stuart was next to the youngest of six children born to his parents, and first saw the light at the old Stuart homestead, in Brooke county. West Virginia, on the 15th day of August, 1833. He came to Texas in 1849, and two years later began the study of medicine under the preceptorage of his brother-in-law. Dr. George C. Red, of Washington county. After four years' private study he entered Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, at which he graduated in March, 1859. Returning to Texas he formed a partnership with his old preceptor. Dr. Red, and practiced in Washington county until the opening of the late war. He entered the Confederate army in i 86 1 , becoming assistant Surgeon of the Tenth Texas Infantry, Nelson's regiment, from which position he was promoted to that of Surgeon of the regiment and was assigned as Brigade Surgeon of Churchill's brigade. He held this place until the capture of Arkansas Post, January II, 1863, when, after his release from prison in Camp Douglas, Chicago, he was assigned to duty as surgeon of Deshler's brigade, Cleburn's division, Army of the Tennessee. After Deshler's death, at Chickamauga, he served under Granbury as Brigade Surgeon until the close of h.ostilities.

After the war Dr. Stuart located in Houston, where he .at once took up the practice of his profession, and where he has since resided. In the twenty-nine years of his residence in this city he has confined himself exclusively to the practice of medicine, being now one of the oldest practitioners in the city. He has achieved a v\'ide and enduring reputation as a physician, and has met with reasonably good financial success. He has served as vice-president and president of the Texas State Medical Association, and as vice-president and president of the Texas Medical College, and was a delegate to the International Medical College, at Philadelphia, in 1876. The Houston Infirmary, one of the chief eleemosynary institutions of the city, was founded by him in 1874, and din'iug the twenty years of its existence he has at all times been connected with it and contributed largely to its success. Conjointly with Dr. T. J. Boyles, he is chief surgeon of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad, and the Houston East & West Texas Railroad, and is local surgeon of the International & Great Northern and the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railways. Dr. Stuart is also vice-president of the National Railway Surgeons' Association.

September 17, 1867, Dr. Stuart inarried Miss Ellen Dart, a native of Texas and a daughter of one of Texas' pioneers. Christian Dart. This lady died April 29, 1879; and on November 28, 1883, the Doctor married Miss Bettie Heath Bocock, of Lynchburg, Virginia, Mrs. Stuart being a native of that place and a descendant of an Old Dominion family. The doctor has four children, two by his first marriage, Joseph R. and Daisy; and two by the second, Susie Walker and Marv Cummins.

H ceased. - More than a century ago, m J during the troublous times of England under Cromwell, there came from " the mother country" four brothers of a cavalier family named Briscoe, and settled in Virginia. Two of them remained there, where they became prominent and prosperous planters, and two, whose names were Phillip and William, emigrated, at a later date, to Kentucky. William had married Elizabeth Wallace while living in Virginia, and was the head of a family at the time of his removal West. He and his brother settled in what is now Madison county, near the town of Richmond, Kentucky, and there their families grew up. The fourth son of William, named Parmenas, born in 1784, while the family yet lived in Virginia, went, at about the age of twentyone, to Mississippi, whither he was accompanied by an older brother named William. There some four years later (December 18, 1809) he married Polly Montgomery, a daughter of Samuel and Margaret (Crockett) Montgomery, who were early emigrants from South Carolina to Kentucky, whence they had moved southward and settled in the Mississippi country. The Mississippi country at that time included a large area, portions of what is now Alabama being embraced in this area. The settlements were confined mainly to a few river towns like Natchez, and the chief vocations of the settlers were such as grew out of the traffic and transportation along the Mississippi river. But the fertility of the soil was known, and in the forest and cane-brake wilderness of what was afterward Claiborne county, Parmenas Briscoe erected the rude log cabin which was to serve for his shelter and opened his primitive patch preparatory to entering on his career as a planter. Previous to this time, Andrew, the eldest of his twelve children and the subject of this sketch, was born, on the 25th day of November, 18 10, in Adams county, Mississippi.

The old Briscoe homestead, where the early life of Andrew was passed, was not unlike that of many another of the " first settlers" in that section of Mississippi, a place where industry, thrift and economy joined hands with intelligence, culture and genuine Southern hospitality. The natural productiveness of the soil, aided by the wise use of slave labor, in time brought wealth to its owner, and wealth brought all needful means of enjoyment. This condition of things was not produced, however, without effort, nor did the country enjoy at all times that state of tranquility that enabled the industrious husbandman to remain at home and devote his time to the improvement of his holdings and the enjoyment of pastoral life. Mississippi was erected into a Territory in 179S, and admitted to Statehood in 1817, but it was not until 1836 that the Indians, who had long occupied its soil and were a constant source of apprehension to the whites, were removed to the trans-Mississippi country. There were conflicts of a desultory nature between the red man and his pale-face brother extending through a number of years, and these conflicts kept the whites in something of a state of armed hostility at all times and fostered a martial spirit in all of the male population. In these conflicts, and in the preparation which was steadily going on for them, the father of Andrew Briscoe was an active participant. Being a man of marked courage, strong common-sense and a patriotic regard for his duties as a citizen, he was frequently called to the leadership of his friends and neighbors, and took part in all important expeditions organized for their protection against the savages He was a Captain of volunteers in the Creek war, and in the war of 1S12 commanded a company of volunteers, and was present at New Orleans, but unfortunately for the honor of his command and of himself, he did not reach the scene of conflict until the day after

The narratives of these campaigns related by Captain Briscoe and his comradeneighbors on their return home were not without their effect on the mind of young Andrew, and it is safe to say that the spontaneous impulses of a brave and noble nature like his were somewhat directed by such narratives and made to become the mainspring of an honorable ambition. The elder Briscoe was for many years prominent both in the military and civil history of his State, becoming General of militia in the days when the State militia was one of the institutions of the land, and serving as a member of both branches of the State Legislature. Those were the days that are now celebrated as "the flush times" of Mississippi, a period that was characterized by the wildest speculation and a saturnalia of corruption in high places. General Briscoe was one who always advocated the highest integrity, both in public and private life, and, by reason of his prominent stand against many schemes of a questionable nature, he excited great enmity among those engaged in these enterprises. As author of the "Briscoe bill," which set on foot an investigation into the banking business in the State, he uncovered and brought to light a great deal of fraud in connection .with the State banks, and in this way saved to the people of the State large sums of money. For these services he won the gratitude of all good citizens, and drew around himself a large number of public men. His home, in fact, was the rallying point for such, and it was here that his son Andrew met many of the first men of that day, and from their conversations learned much concerning the political history of the times, and from them also imbibed the political principles by which his own career in after years was, in a great measure, regulated. It will be sufficient for the purposes of this narrative to say that the elder Briscoe continued his interest in public matters to the end of his life, and that he was an interested spectator when the conflict of 1835-6, between Texas and Mexico, came on. His sympathies were naturally with the colonists, and he made several trips about that date to San Felipe, and encouraged the Revolutionists in their efforts to secure independence, and advised with his son touching the condition of things here and the proper course for him to pursue on particular measures.

Until he was sixteen years of age Andrew Briscoe spent his time on his father's plantation in Claiborne county, Mississippi, except when at school, at Clinton, in Hines county. At the age of sixteen he was sent to college in Kentucky, where he enjoyed good advantages in respect to higher mental training. He read law under General John A. Ouitman, of Jackson, Mississippi, then a leading lawyer and a man of much reputation throughout the South. Having about this date married an estimable young lady of his native State, Miss Mary House, Mr. Briscoe located on a plantation near his father's, where he contemplated entering at once on a professional career; but before he was fairly established in the law his wife died and saddened and unsettled by the loss, he yielded to the impulse of the occasion, abandoned the law, quit his home and came to Texas. Here he became interested in schemes both of a financial and political nature, and at once identified himself with the colonists, whose cause he warmly espoused. He made several trips about this time between Mississippi and points in east Texas, and finally, in 1835, purchased a a stock of goods, which he shipped to Anahuac preparatory to embarking in the mercantile business at that place. It was here and only a short time after he located that his name first became associated with an event of historical importance, and one in the chain of causes which soon led to the revolution. This event is vaguely referred to by most of the historians as the "affair at Anahuac," in connection with which however no names are given. The facts are that soon after Mr. Briscoe moved his stock of goods to Anahuac the town was invested by a garrison of forty men under Captain Tenorio, who, under pretext of collecting duties on imports, siezed the goods introduced by Mr. Briscoe and forbade his making any disposition of them until a permit had been obtained from the Mexican authorities, which permit could be obtained only on payment of a certain sum of money. Feeling that this regulation, if not unlawful, was at any rate an act of tjranny to which as an American he could not submit, he resisted the order, and to make a test of the matter sold some of the goods to DeWitt C. Harris, of Harrisburg, the removal of which brought on a conflict between the Briscoe party and the Mexican soldiery. In this conflict a young man of the Briscoe party, named William Smith was shot, but afterward recovered, and Mr. Briscoe and his friend Harris were siezed and placed in prison.

This affair occurred about the loth of June. A report of it was sent to the authorities at San Felipe, and news of it quickly spread throughout the settlements. It excited a great deal of feeling. The friends of Messrs. Briscoe and Harris in and about Harrisburg, prominent among whom were William B. Travis and Patrick Jack, raised a company of volunteers, mounting a four-pound cannon on board the sloop Ohio, sailed to Anahuac, liberated the prisoners and disbanded the garrison. This served to still further increase the excitement, being the source of considerable glorification on the part of the war party, and the cause of much criticism upon the part of those who were opposed to violent measures.

But the fires of the revolution were now fully under way, and Briscoe, having been robbed of his property, and with no business interests on hand, turned his attention to the task that was then engaging the minds of many of the most active patriots of the period, namely, - the freedom of the colonies from the tyranny of Mexico. He entered on the work with an enthusiasm quickened by a lively sense of the personal injury and insult which had been inflicted on him in the affair at Anahuac. All of the ensuing summer and most of the fall was spent by him among the settlers, with whom, in company with others of the patriot band, he labored to show the necessity and feasibility of an open, united and vigorous revolt against Mexican authority. These efforts, in connection with the continued acts of tyranny on the part of the Mexicans, resulted, as is known, in arousing a strong feeling of resistance to the established order of things and one which needed but the occasion to break into open rebellion. The occasion came and after the spirited and successful conflicts at Goliad and Gonzales, the battle of Conception followed. Mr. Briscoe took part in this battle at the head of a company called the Liberty Volunteers, which he raised. He was also present and took part in the storming of San Antonio, the first real fighting, as he was afterward accustomed to say, that the colonists did during the period of the Revolution. He remained in the vicinity of San Antonio until February, 1836, when, having been elected by the people of Harrisburg municipality to represent them in the convention which met at Washington, he came on and attended the sitting of that convention, thus becoming one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. From this body he hastened to the field again, and, in command of a company of regulars joined the army on its retreat under Houston, and took part in the battle of San Jacinto, and thus shared in the glory of that great day.

The war over and the independence of the colonists established, Mr. Briscoe again turned his attention to the pursuits of peace, going to New Orleans, where he purchased a stock of goods, presumably for the purpose of entering the mercantile business. But, upon the election of General Houston to the presidency of the Republic in October. 1836, he tendered to Mr. Briscoe the office of Chief Justice of Harris county, which the latter accepted, and in consequence gave up his mercantile interests for the purpose of devoting himselt exclusively to the duties connected with his office. This office was an important one, not only because of its territorial jurisdiction, Harris county then embracing a much larger area of country than now, but also because of the various functions connected with it. Judge Briscoe at once took charge of his office, his official and personal residence becoming Houston, the newly established county seat.

It was at Harrisburg that he met, and on the 17th day of August, 1837, married. Miss Mary Jane Harris, then a young lady of eighteen, recently from school in New

York State, but a daughter of John R. Harris, the founder of Harrisburg, and one of Texas' earliest settlers. Shortly after his marriage Judge Briscoe moved up to Houston, and, having purchased the lot on the northeast corner of Main street and Prairie avenue, erected there the first two-storj' dwelling put up in the town. This house long remained one of the old landmarks of Houston, having in fact only in recent years been removed to give place to the present Prince building. Judge Briscoe served as Chief Justice of Harris county for four years, after which he renounced public life, and in the face of all sorts of flattering offers of personal preferment, persistently refused to allow his name to be used in contests for any sort of public office. He moved his residence from Houston to Harrisburg, where he built a large brick dwelling, and surrounded himself with the means of social and intellectual enjoyment, and became engrossed with business pursuits and the pleasures of home.

One of the chief objects of his attention at that time was the Harrisburg & Brazos River Railroad, a charter for which he obtained from the Congress of the Republic in 1839, and which bears the distinction of being the first railway ever chartered west of the Mississippi river. Into this scheme Judge Briscoe seems to have entered with great zeal, personally superintending the breaking and grading of the first mile or so of it with his own slaves. The following item concerning operations on this road appeared in the Morning Star, published at Houston, under date of May 16, 1840: "Wanted: To hire sixty negro men, for which good wages will be given and secured, to work on the Harrisburg & Brazos Railroad. They will be taken for not less than

Hjstort Of Texas

In 1845, while Hving in retirement at Harrisburg, Judge Briscoe received from Governor Anson Jones the appointment of Justice of the Peace for the precinct in which he Hved, his commission being dated in the latter part of the last month of the last year of the Republic, and was one of the last commissions ever issued under authority of the Republic. Like all of those who had witnessed the birth of the Republic and had gone with it through its early struggles, he was devoted to it with that impulsive enthusiasm and ardent attachment begotten of true patriotism and love of liberty, and he watched the shaping of events affecting its welfare with great interest, and, not unfrequently, with feelings of apprehension. He opposed annexation, and never came to believe that the change was for the best.

In the spring of 1849 Judge Briscoe, having disposed of some of his interests in Texas, went to New Orleans for the purpose of engaging in the banking business; but, before he had got his affairs well under way there, he v\'as taken sick, and on October 4th of the same year died. His remains were buried at the old family burying-ground in Claiborne county, Mississippi. Up to the date of his death he was actively engaged in business pursuits. Even alter going to New Orleans his mind was full of enterprises for Texas, one of which was a transcontinental railroad along the line since covered by the Southern Pacific system. He wrote a number of articles, which he published in the newspapers of New Orleans, setting forth the advantages of such a road. His estate at his death consisted largely of Texas lands, the cheapness of which, at an earlier date, had enabled him to make excellent provision for his family. He left surviving a widow and four children, all of whom are still living. The eldest son, Parmenas, has always made his home with his widowed mother, in Houston, never having married. Andrew B. is a banker of Floresville, but resides at San Antonio. The two daughters both live in Houston, the elder, Jessie, being the wife of Captain M. G. Howe, vice-president and general manager of the Houston, East & West Texas Railroad; and the younger, Adele L., being the wife of Major M. Looscan, a leading member of the Harris county bar. Mrs. Briscoe is now one of Houston's oldest settlers, and is one of the really historic women of the State. She has lived on Texas soil for fifty-seven years, and, besides being the widow of one of Texas' most eminent patriots, is a member of one of the most prominent families of the State. Her father, John R. Harris, a native of New York, and a descendant of John Harris, for whom Harrisburg, Pennsyhania, was named, came to Texas in 1824 as a member of Moses Austin's colony, and founded the town of Harrisburg, and for him Harris county was named. Her three brothers, DeWitt C. , Louis L. and John B. Harris, were all prominent in the history of this section of the State in an earlier day, particularly DeWitt C. ; while Louis L. became also a pioneer of California, where he figured conspicuously in the early days of that country.

>T^AMES A. CUSHMAN, Sr. - The ^ subject of this sketch was born in A 1 Savannah, Wayne county. New York, on the 29th day of July, 1823. His father was David Cushman, and his mother bore the maiden name of Mary Ann

Palmer. Both parents were natives of New York, but came of New England ancestry, their people settling near Fairmount, Vermont, in early Colonial days. The father was a man of varied interests and pursuits, - the farm, store and law contributing to his support and financial success. He died in 1832, in middle life. His widow subsequently remarried, and lived to an advanced age. She was the mother of a number of children, five of whom were by her first marriage. Three of these settled in their native State, where two of them died, and one of them still lives. The eldest was a daughter, Euretta, who was married to Clark Lankton, and who died in May, 1892. Prentice, a farmer, died in May, 1S91, and Winthrop D. , who came to Texas, died in Brazoria county, in February, 1 89 1. David, the youngest, lives at Seneca Falls, New York.

James A., who was the third of the family, was reared in his native place, receiving such educational advantages as the local schools of that day afforded, and working on the farm until he was nineteen. He then went to Auburn, Cayuga county, where he apprenticed himself to the trade of blacksmith and machinist, and, extending the sphere of his activity as he advanced in years, became a boiler and pattern maker, and an expert draftsman. In 1S46, at the age of twenty-three, he came to Texas, reaching Galveston June 20. With the exception of about two years, he has lived in Texas since that date. From 1846 to 1859 he resided in Galveston, and the remainder of the time he has spent in Houston. On coming to this city Mr. Cushman became master mechanic for the Houston & Texas Central Railway, being the second to hold that position. A year later, in connection with Stanley & Johnson, he started the Phoenix Iron Works, with which he was connected for five years, when this establishment succumbed to the general business paralysis brought about by the war. Then, in 1868, after a brief residence in the North, Mr. Cushman again went at his trade in this city. In 1870 he engaged in the hardware business, and in 1873 started his present business, - the manufacture of steam boilers and mill machinery. His business has grown from a small beginning to its present proportions, and, although it is not )'et what he would like to see it, nor, according to his frank confession, what it ought to be, it nevertheless has supplied a want, and has been a factor in the development of the various iron and timber industries of this city and locality. Mr. Cushman possesses an extensive, varied and critical knowledge of the manufacture of all kinds of articles made of iron, and he has given the people of this section the full benefit of this knowledge. He is generally regarded as an authority on such subjects as he assumes to speak on. He believes implicitly in the future of Texas, and especially in the future of Houston, and he regards the manufacturing interest as the one interest which promises most for the place.

August II, 1850, Mr. Cushman married Miss Tryphene E. Gorham, of Elbridge, Onondaga county. New York, she being a native of that place, and a daughter of Gains and Lucy (Craw) Gorham, who were New Yorkers by birth but whose first American ancestry were from near Fairmount, Vermont. Mrs. Cushman comes of Revolutionary stock, one of her ancestors being an associate of Israel Putnam in the famous W^olfe hunt. Mr. and Mrs. Cushman have had six children, all of whom are living. These are Mary Ellen, the wife of William Winne; Alice, the wife of Dr. W. A. Tryon; James A., Jr.; Elizabeth T. , wife of C. M. Simpson; Jennie, wife of J. L. Cox; and Carrie, wife of J. J. Crichton, - all of whom reside in Houston, except Mrs. Crichton, who lives in Corsicana, Texas. Mr. Cushman, his wife, daughters, son and most of his sons-in-law, are members of the Baptist Church.

Few men of his age are better preserved than Mr. Cushman, and few retain in greater abundance the enthusiasm and genial warmth of youth. He is nimble alike of foot and wit, full of life and good humor.

^>^R. T. J. BOYLES, for twenty I I years a practicing physician of the /^^_^ city of Houston, being a member of the well-known firm of Stuart & Boyles, is a native of south Alabama, where he was born on the I2th of January, 1850. His parents were Joel and Elizabeth Abney Boyles, who were also born in Alabama, being descendants of two of the early settled families of that State. The mother died when the subject of this sketch was a child, but his father is still living, residing now on the old homestead in Monroe county, where he has spent his entire life, engaged in agricultural pursuits.

Thomas J. Boyles was reared on a farm, and his boyhood and youth were occupied with labors and sports suitable to his age, the free, open-air life giving liim a vigorous development, and insuring him a physique well calculated to withstand the strains of the active and laborious career he has since led. His early educational advantages were limited, being restricted to the poorly taught country schools, but as he advanced in years he attended the select schools in the surrounding towns, and the training he received in these, supplemented by the reading habit, brought his intellectual equipment up to the average of those of his station in life. He began reading medicine in youth, and graduated at the Medical College of Alabama, at Mobile, in 1S71, a month or so after attaining his majority. He entered on the practice of his profession at once in his native State, locating at Claiborne, Alabama, where, however, he remained somewhat less than two years, coming in 1873 to Texas, and settling in Fort Bend county. His object in taking up his residence in this county was to make a study of the low-land fevers, and he remained here a year, giving his attention actively to the duties of his profession and to the study of the diseases peculiar to that locality, and in fact to this section of the State. In the fall of 1873 he moved to Houston, and, forming a partnership with Dr. D. F. Stuart, entered upon what has proved for him a prosperous professional and business career. He and Dr. Stuart bought the Houston Infirmar} early in 1874, of which Dr. Boyles became house surgeon, and in this capacity, as well as in other ways, assisted in making of it one of the chief institutions of the kind in south Texas. This institution, rebuilt in 1882, and newly equipped, has been running continuously since almost to its full capacity of 125 patients. In it are received and treated all kinds of cases except those of a contagious nature, and all sorts of surgical work is done. The institution does a large amount of work for the railroads centering at this point.

In 1879, and again in 1889, Dr. Boyles, with a view of perfecting himself in his profession, went to England and spent several months on each trip in the hospitals of Lon- don, where he made a careful study of surgery and special classes of diseases, for the study of which the institutions he visited offered particular advantages. He was awarded a diploma in 1879, by the Royal College of Surgeons of London, for diseases of the eye.

Dr. Boyles, conjointly with Dr. Stuart, is chief surgeon of the Houston & Te.xas Central Railroad, and the Houston, East and West Texas Railroad, and is division surgeon of the Missouri, Kansas & Te.xas, the International & Great Northern, the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe and the Houston & Northwestern Railways. He is a member of the Texas State Medical Association, and of the National Railway Surgeons' Association. Besides these matters pertaining to his profession. Dr. Boyles is indentified with a number of local business enterprises, among them the Planters & Mechanics' National Bank, of which he is president, and the Acme Lumber & Manufacturing Company, of which he is vice-president. In fraternity matters he is an enthusiastic member of the Elks.

In 1883 Dr. Boyles married Miss N. Carrie Miller, of Murfreesborough, Tennessee, daughter of Isaac Miller, and by this union had three children : Stuart, Waldo, and Lucile C.

^y^^ R. M. PERL, the subject of this I I sketch, was born in Vienna, /^^J Austria, September i, 1835. His parents, Leon and Leonie Perl, who w'ere also natives of Austria, were members of respectable and well-to-do families belonging to the agricultural classes. After receiving good home training the subject of this notice was sent to one of the leading colleges of his native city, where he took a seven years' course in literature, the sciences and physical training, after which he began preparation for entry to the medical profession. For five years he attended lectures in the Imperial Medical College of Vienna, but before graduating quit school, and, entering the Austrian army, served as assistant surgeon in that army during, the war between Austria and Italy, in 1859-60. After the termination of this war he was stationed at the Orzy Hospital, at Pesth, Hungary, and at the Royal Hungarian Medical College, of that city, graduated, January 20, 1862. In 1863 he went to Mexico, and resided for something like* two years in Matamoras and the city of Mexico, and then, in 1866, came to Texas, locating ^t Houston, May loth, that year. He at once entered on the practice of his profession in this place, and has here since resided. In the twenty-eight years of his residence in this city Dr. Perl has become firmly attached to the people of this community, whose liberality in extending him patronage he is glad to acknowledge, and whose manner of life, feelings and sentiments he has found to be much in consonance with his own.

October i, 1866, Dr. Perl married Miss Mtry Allen, a native of Houston, and a daughter of Henry R. Allen, a member of the old and highly respected Allen family of this city, mention of which will be found many times in this work. By this union Dr. Perl and wife have had three children, - one daughter, Hildegarde, and tw'o sons, Leon Allen and Gray B. To these the Doctor has given the best educational advantages procurable, all of them having been sent to Europe, where their entire mental training has been received.

aOL. JOHNT. BRADY. - The subject of this sketch was bor i October lo, 1830, in Cliarles county, Maryland. His parents were John and Mary Brady, who were also natives of Maryland, and in that State his people have lived for many generations, his ancestors in fact having settled there, as part of Lord Baltimore's colony, in 1634. His father was a farmer, as were also most of his antecedents. They were plain, substantial people, up to the average of their class in thrift, industry and intelligence, and the possessors of moderate means. The father served in the war of 181 2, but with the e.\- ception of the services rendered in this capacity never filled any other position of a civil or military nature.

There were four children in the family to which the subject of this sketch belonged, two sons and two daughters, he being the eldest of the number. The only other survivor of the four is William Brady, who is now a resident of Houston. The daughters, Mrs. Emily McCuin and Mrs. Elizabeth Hauptman, both died in recent years, at their homes in Washington city, at which place the parents also died.

John T. Brady was reared in his native county, in the schools of which he received his elementary education. His training ceased, so far as the schools were concerned, with a term or two at a local academy, and at the age of seventeen he undertook the serious du^ies of life for himself. He began his career as a teacher and for a period of some four years gave his attention exclusively to schoolroom work. In this way he earned the money with which to buy books to complete his education, studying in private, and to prepare himself for entry to the profession of law, a pro- fession which he early determined to take up for his life work. He was admitted to the bar the year he attained his majority, and -began practice in the courts of his native State. But two years later he went West and settled at Westport, now part of Kansas City, Missouri, where he secured an interest in a newspaper and engaged in journalistic work and in the practice of his profession for another period of about two years. Then, in 1856, on account of the rigor of the winters in that latitude, he gave up his residence there and came to Texas, locating at Houston. Here he laid journalism aside and entered vigorously and exclusively in the practice of the law. He soon rose to prominence in his profession, and came to be known as a man of much energy, keen intellect and admirable social qualities.

March 31, 1858, he married Caledonia, the accomplished daughter of Colonel John T. Tinsley, a wealthy planter of Brazoria county, and thus formed the first of those ties by which he was to become so strongly attached to the people of Texas and they to him.

From 1856 to 1S61 Mr. Brady gave but little attention to any pursuits or interests outside of his profession. He did not even concern himself very much with current politics, although he, of necessity, had to take some part in passing events. His law practice was seriously interrupted by the war, but he continued at it more or less from 1 86 1 to 1865, and at the close of hostilities actively resumed his professional pursuits.

In 1863 he was elected to the State Legislature; re-elected in 1866, and thus represented Harris county in the tenth and eleventh sessions of that body, in each of which sessions he achieved considerable reputation, serving as chairman of the Finance Committee in the tenth session and as chairman of the Committee on Internal Improvements in the eleventh.

In the early seventies he originated the idea of the Texas State Fair, organized the machinery necessary to put it in motion and by his persistent effort and judicious counsel made a success of it. He was its first president, and served in this capacity for a number of years. The idea was also his of having the great farmer-editor, Horace Greeley, open the fair, and while here meet the people of this great State and learn from actual observation something of their latent wealth, their hospitality and especially their personal respect for him as the bondsman of Jefferson Davis and the author of that genuine American sentiment, "We are now all Americans. "

In 1878 Colonel Brady was elected to the State Senate and represented his district in the seventeenth session of the Legislature. In this session he served as chairman of the Committee on Public Debt, and added still further to his reputation as an earnest and thoughtful lawmaker. In 1880 he was a candidate against Colonel Roger O. Mills for Congress, and, although defeated, he polled a very flattering vote, carrying a number of counties in the district.

As a lawyer Colonel Brady's standing was always high. He was early honored with a good clientage, and, coming to the State so earl}', he had to do, at one time and another, with man}' important questions, the determination of which now forms the recognized and finally settled system of the State's jurisprudence. But few men strived harder to deserve the confidence of clients or to win the esteem of the courts. When he undertook a case he devoted all of his mental and physical energies to it, making his client's cause his own and exhausting every resource of the law to attain what he believed to be just and right. His mind was vigorous and active; its resources rich and varied, and constantly at his command. He possessed a ripened judgment, and, barring a rapid speech and energetic style of delivery, was a strong and effective orator.

Colonel Brady was always noted as a promoter of large enterprises and a leader in financial circles, and even in the midst of a large and lucrati\e law practice he was constantly absorbed in some measure of development. His last, which he seems to have hoped to make the crowning work of his life, was the construction of a belt railway connecting all the lines centering at Houston, the opening of a deep-water port at the junction of Buffalo and Bray's bayous near the old town of Harrisburg and the improvement of a public park suitable to the growing demands of a seat of wealth, culture and refinement like Houston. No man could possibly take a mental survey of the work which Colonel Brady proposed for himself without being moved with the magnitude of the conception and filled with regret that its generous and farseeing architect was not permitted to carry it out. The railroad, incorporated under the name of the Houston Belt & Magnolia Park Railway, was nearly finished; the harbor and wharves were put far on the road to completion and the work of beautif}'ing and rendering attractive the portion of land set aside for the park was progressing well, when all his plans and purposes, all the labor thus far performed and all the happy anticipations of the author and designer were brought to naught by the stern decree of fate. On the 26th of June, 1890, in tlie very midst of his labors, and wliile inspecting some work being done on a new wharf at Port Houston, he was stricken one day with cerebral effusion, from the effects of which he soon passed away. News of his death throughout the city was received with the deepest sorrow and regret, and his great loss to Texas was generally recognized throughout the State. His remains were buried at Glenwood cemetcr}'.

It is stated with pride by those who knew Colonel Brady that he was an honest and capable lawj'er, a wise and able legislator, a man of surpassing energ_v and undaunted courage, and of boundless faith in the future of his State. He early foresaw the advantages of Houston's water-way to the Gulf and never lost an opportunity to set forth these advantages on all proper occasions. He attended all the deep-water conventions held throughout the West, and in speeches before these, as well as by judicious advertising, did much to attract settlers and capitalists to this city and vicinity. It was ahva}S his belief that Houston would be the greatest city in the Southwest, and he showed his faith in the place by holding steadfastly to his investments here. He was also a man of great heart as well as great brain; a man of large sympathies, fine feelings and full of that kind of ambition which had in it nothing selfish or mean. He gave liberally of his means for the relief of the wants of his fellow-creatures and although he made no pretention as a church member he gave in the true spirit of Christianity, never allowing the right hand to know what the left had did.

Sherman Brady, daughter of the distinguished soldier and civilian, General Sidney Sherman. Colonel Brady was three times married and left surviving him a widow and three children, two by his second marriage, Lucy Sherman Brady and Sidney Sherman Brady; and one by his last, Mary Henrietta Brady.

O^.VPTAIN S. S. ASHE, Clerk of the Criminal District Court of Harris county, was born in Brownsville, Haywood county, Tennessee, June 14, 1S40, a son of John B. and Eli^a (Hay) Ashe. His father was a native of Fayetteville. North Carolina, and a son of Samuel Ashe, also a native of that State. John B. was a lawyer by profession, representing Haywood county in the State Legislature a number of terms, and afterward the Memphis (Tennessee) district in Congress, in the election defeating Frederick B. Stanton, who had been his predecessor a number of years. Stanton's defeat was the occasion of his going to Kansas, where he became a Free-Soil politician, and figured conspicuously in the early history of that State. Mr. Ashe was an astute lawyer and a popular and powerful public speaker, and, it was said at the time, was the only man in the Memphis district who could have defeated Stanton for the position he had so long held. He came to Texas in 1848, settling at Galveston, where he engaged in the practice of law until his death, in 1S57, at the age of fiftyfive years.

His father, Samuel Ashe, the grandfather of S. S. Ashe, of this article, was at one time Governor of North Carolina, and was a prominent politician in that State. He took part in the American Revolution, serv- ing as Aid-de-camp on the staff of General La Fayette. His father, whose name was John B., was a General in the same revolution. The family settled in the Old North State in early Colonial times, and Asheville, in that State, was named for them.

Eliza, nee Hay, wife of John B. Ashe, and mother of Samuel Swan Ashe (whose name introduces this sketch), was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, a daughter of David Hay, a native of Ireland, who came to America when a young man and located near Asheville, where he married and subsequently lived for many years, moving thence to Tennessee, where he died. He was educated for the law, but never devoted himself to it as a profession. He was a large planter, and a prominent and prosperous gentleman, both in North Carolina and Tennessee. Mrs. Eliza (Hay) Ashe died on Galveston bay in Harris county, at the age of fifty-five years. John B. and Eliza Ashe were the parents of four children besides the subject of this sketch: Richard Gaston, Mary P., William, and Bettie.

Samuel Swan Ashe, whose name commences this biographical outline, was brought by his parents to Texas in 1848, and passed his boyhood and youth at Galveston and Velasco. He attended his first school at the age of nine years, which was taught by Mrs. Thomas G. Masterson, the mother of Judge James R. Masterson, of Houston. Subsequently he attended school in Galveston, and at the age of fifteen years attended the Maryland Military Institute at Oxford, Maryland, and afterward for three years the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill, Orange county. North Carolina. Returning to Texas at the opening of the late war, he entered the Confederate army, in 1 86 1, enlisting in Company B, Terry's

Texas Rangers, and served with this command throughout the great struggle. Some of the campaigns and engagements in which he participated with this regiment were among the severest of the war. Beginning with the battle of Shiloh, he was in the operations about Corinth, luka, Murfreesborough, Chickamauga, and all the battles fought by Johnston's army on the Georgia campaign down to the evacuation of Atlanta, before which place he commanded a battery. He was once captured, namely, at Woodbury, Tennessee, under the following circumstances: A party of twenty men had been sent by General Foirest, under cover of a cornfield, to draw the fire of the Union troops. Mistaking the distance, they crossed over the view between the two great contending parties, and were almost within the grasp of the Federals. Mr. Ashe, having previously' been in the front, and become familiar with the position of the enemy and the topography of the country, was detailed to bring out Forrest's party. He made an heroic effort, and he and all of his men fought bravely for their lives and liberties, but most of them were killed or captured, Mr. Ashe being among the captured. After three months' imprisonment he effected his escape, and rejoined his command at Smithville, Tennessee, when he was promoted from the ranks in the cavalry to the position of Lieutenant in the artillery, on account of his services on the above occasion, although, he says, he did no more than his comrades in that encounter. From that time on he served in the artillery branch of the service, participating with it in*the engagements in the vicinity of Chickamauga, Chattanooga and the Georgia campaign, as already stated. He acted as Captain most of the time, his senior being sick.

After the war Captain Ashe returned to Texas and took up his residence at Lynchburg, Harris countj', where he engaged in mercantile business, in partnership with John B. Sydnor. In 1 870 he was elected Sheriff and Collector of Harris county (these offices then being one), and served four j'ears, when the offices were separated, and he was elected Collector and held this office two terms, of two years each, declining a third election. He then engaged in the real estate business, being interested in considerable property in the vicinity of Sour lake, about sixty miles east of Houston. He still retains this interest, believing that this property is destined ultimately to become very valuable, on account of the medicinal properties of the water of the lake. His home, however, is in Houston, where he has resided since i 870.

During the troublous times from 1865 to 1874, - "Reconstruction" days, - Captain Ashe was one of the County Commissioners of Harris county, and in that capacity probably rendered his county the best services he has ever given it, being the means of preventing the irresponsible minions of "carpet-bag" rule from loading the people down with useless debt, and consequent povertv, political sla\'ery, and general confusion. In February, 1893, the Captain was tendered the appointment of Clerk of the Criminal District Court of Harris county, by Governor Hogg, and accepted it, which position he is now filling.

In respect to the fraternal orders the Captain is a Knight Templar Mason, being a member of Sampson Lodge, No. 321, at Lynchburg, this county, and Ruthven Commandery, No. 2, at Houston. He also belongs to the Chosen Friends and Knights of Honor, and both himself and his family are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He has been a life-long Democrat, as was also his father, and, like both his father and grandfather, he is active and influential in politics.

In 1866, Captain Ashe married Miss Sallie Anderson, a daughter of John Paulding and Nancy (H(5ard) Anderson, of Lebanon, Tennessee. Of their six children two are living, - John B. and Sallie DeWitt.

^nr'AMES T. D. WILSON, the subject |[ of this sketch, has been a citizen of /* 1 Texas since 1835, and a resident of Houston since 1837. He is a veteran of the Texas revolution, and has served his country faithfully in every capacity in which he has been called to act, whether as a private citizen or public officer. There can be no question, therefore, as to the appropriateness of inserting in this record what follows concerning him.

James Theodore Dudley Wilson, eldest son of Robert and Margaret Pendergrast Wilson, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on the 4th day of July, 1820. His mother dying three years later, at Natchez, Mississippi, to which place the family had, in the meantime, moved, the son was sent to relatives in Virginia, and afterward, in Kentucky, and his boyhood and early youth were passed in those States and in Cincinnati, Ohio, up to the age of fifteen. He received his education in private schools, and began earning his own livelihood, in part at least, at the age of fourteen, becoming a clerk in a store in Bourbon county, Kentucky, in 1834. He was there about a year when, in the latter part of August or the first of September, 1835, he came to Texas, whither his father had come several years earlier.

The trip from New Orleans to Velasco was made by a sail vessel, the schooner San Felipe. Aboard this vessel was Colonel Stephen F. Austin, then on his return to Texas, after a long imprisonment in Mexico. Upon the arrival of the San Felipe at anchorage, off the mouth of the Brazos river, the Mexican armed cruiser Correo, under command of ''Mexican Thompson," then engaged in breaking up the commerce of the infant colony, was found hovering a few miles away. Citizens of Velasco who knew of the presence of the cruiser, came out to assist in the defense of the San ' Felepi, which, it was expected, would be attacked that night. Colonel Austin was persuaded to go ashore, but nearly all of the other passengers remained aboard, among them young Wilson. The attack was made as expected, Thompson was driven off, and early next morning his vessel was captured. With this as an introduction, Mr. Wilson's life in Texas began.

He located at Columbia, Brazoria county, where he soon secured a position in the mercantile house of W. C. White & Company. He was here until March, 1836, when he joined the Texas army, then forming to resist the invasion of the Mexicans under Santa Anna He served first under Captain William H. Patton, and later under Captain Wash. H. Secrest, and participated in the stirring scenes that marked those days of daring and heroic self-sacrifice. Upon the conclusion of peace and the removal of the capital to Houston, he gave up his residence in Columbia and came to this city, in 1837. For a number of years he assisted his father in untangling his business interests, which had been thrown into almost inextricable confusion by his enforced neglect of the same, and the unsettled condition of the country together with the burning of his valuable property at Harrisburg by Santa Anna's army. During these times young Wilson was interested somewhat also in real-estate speculations, and gained an extensive knowledge of titles and land values, which has been very serviceable to him all through life. From the fall of 1852 to January, 1858, Mr. Wilson was head clerk in the mercantile establishment of Van Alstyne & Taylor in Houston, - six j'ears that brought him a large and varied fund of experience, which formed no inconsiderable part of his capital when he came to handle interests of his own.

At the opening of the war between the North and South he tendered hisservices to his adopted State and received from the military board, composed of the Governor, the State Treasurer, and Comptroller, the appointment of special agent to visit Mexico, to procure supplies for the Confederate army. He served in this capacity during the term of his appointment, and refused, upon the termination of the same, to accept any compensation for his services. He received the thanks, however, of the board, and the legislative committee, to which was referred the auditing of his accounts and the investigation of the manner in which he had fulfilled his mission, complimented him highly both for the faithfulness of his services and for the clear, concise and business-like report which he made of his doings.