Galveston County, Texas - The whole text, 1895 (part 9 of 26)

By a happy coincidence Sherman commanded at the time a volunteer company, by commission from the Governor of Kentucky, which afforded him facilities for raising troops for the service of Texas. He organized a company of fifty men, requiring each volunteer to sign stringent articles of subordination before being enrolled. Some flinched from the energy and rigidity of the requirments, while those who signed the military contract discerned in it evidences which gave promise of a sagacious and able commander. Amid the snows of winter he estabhshed a reguhir camp, and eiforced discipline as strict as if in the face of the enemy.

On the last day of December, 1835, he embarked on a steamer from Cincinnati. His men were well armed, handsomely uniformed, and furnished with a full supply of ammunition and provisions. On the day of departure, notwithstanding a violent snow storm, the United States troops at Newport barracks turned out and thousands of citizens of all ages and both sexes lined the river banks to honor the occasion, manifesting their sympathy in the heroic enterprise by enthusiastic and repeated cheers. Amid tears and touching farewells, waving flags and beating drums the bow of the decorated steamer was turned toward the setting sun and passed down the great river with a company of brave volunteers, whose subsequent trials and triumphs form a splendid chapter in the proud history of Te.xas. Captain Sherman maintained the most exact order on board the steamer during the voyage. He landed his company at Natchitoches, Louisiana, and marched at once to Nacogdoches, Texas, and thence to Washington, on the Brazos. There he found the country in great confusion. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor were at deadly feud; the convention had not assembled and the brave Travis and his heroic band, surrounded by an overwhelming force, were calling for aid from the beleaguered walls of the Alamo. The people were enthusiastic and determined, but without arms or organization, and no one was present to instruct or lead them. Sherman paraded his company and called upon the citizens to volunteer and march on the following day to the relief of the Alamo, after which service he declared his intention to return with his company to the United States if the independence of Texas was not speedil)' declared b}' the convention, then about to assemble.

On arriving at Gonzales he found about 200 citizen volunteers, - a force totally insufficient to justify an attempt to break through the besieging Mexican forces, some 7,000. Fourteen days were consumed in concentrating men and supplies, at the end of which time General Houston arrived and assumed command. On the ensuing day the first regiment of Texas volunteers were organized, and Sherman was nominated for the Colonelcy. This he declined in favor of General Burleson, an old and tried warrior, while he was elected Lieutenant Colonel. On the evening of the same day the news was received that the Alamo had fallen and that its brave defenders had been indiscriminately slaughtered.

The army retreated to the Brazos, where the second regiment was organized and Sherman was elected to command it. On the Colorado, being detached from the main body of the army, he endeavored to obtain permission to attack General Sesma, who was camped on the opposite bank of the river, on the spot where the city of Columbus now stands, and thus save Fannin and his comrades from inglorious slaughter. Sherman fell back with the retreating army, which was determined to make a last stand at the first strategic that point should be reached on the line of the march. During the retreat Colonel Sherman displayed all the soldierly qualities which at such a crisis were necessary to promote enthusiasm and preserve the army from demoralization. He was equal to every emergency. On the re- treat from the Colorado he was ordered to put the army in marching order and by the direction of the Commander-in-Chief personally superintended the dang'erous crossing of the Brazos. On April tlie 20'ih, 1S36, he led a squadron of cavalry in an attack upon a detachment ct the enemy that occupied a position between the hostile camps.-

In the battle of the 21st he commanded the extreme left of the Te.xas line, and was the first to strike the enemy, sounding at the critical moment the war cry, " Remember Goliad and the Alamo," which was prolonged in fierce enthusiasm from left to right by the advancing line. It was a day of vengeance and retribution. The victor}- was overwhelming and complete, and in its consummation Sherman acted a conspicuous and splendid part. But when the perilous battle was over he turned from the triumph to stay the tide of violence and slaughter, \vhich however righteously it may have overtaken the enemy, he mercifull)' endeavored to prevent. Sherman possessed boldness and valor in the crisis of danger, and made humane and vigorous efforts to restrain excess in the hour of triumph. If he felt that violence was necessary in war, mercy and moderation were not less wise and essential in establishing an enduring peace.

After remaining several months with the army in the West and finding that the enemy did not return, he tendered his resignation, which President Burnet refused to accept, but gave him a commission as Colonel in the regular service, with orders to enlist his men in the United States. When about to leave his companions in arms the Secretary of War presented him with the stand of colors which he had brought to the country, accompanied with the following note:

"Republic of Thxas, War Department, August 6, 1836. This stand of colors, presented by the ladies of Newport, Kentucky, to Captain Sidney Sherman, is the same which triumphantly waved over the memorable battlefield of San Jacinto, and is by the government presented to the lady of Colonel Sidne}' Sherman as a testimonial of his gallant conduct on that occasion.

Colonel Sherman's health was nuich imjiaired by exposure and fatigue in the army, and before reaching Kentucky he was seriousl}' ill for many weeks. Notwithstanding his condition he succecdetl in sending out some troops and a quantity of clothing for those in the field, who were extremely destitute.

In Januar}', 1.S37, he returned to Texas with his family and settled on San Jacinto bay. In 1842 he was elected a Representative to Congress from Harris county and was appointed chairman of the Military Conmiittee. He introduced a bill pro\-iding for the election of a major general of militia and the protection of the frontier. The bill was vetoed b}- President Houston, but became a law by a constitutional majority in both houses of Congress. General Rusk was the first elected to that position. General Sherman succeeded him at the next election by the popular vote, which position he held until the annexation of Texas to the United States.

On his retirement from military service General Sherman lost, none of the energies which had characterized him in the field, but displajed in the occupations of private life useful enterprise and creative talants of a valuable order.

His Tort Of Texas

In 1846 he conceived the idea of rebuilding the town of Harrisburg, which had been distroyed by Santa Anna in 1836. With this view he purchased a large interest in the town site and 4,000 acres adjoining it. He then proceeded to Boston where he enlisted capitalists and organized a company to build a railway from Harrisburg westward. The difficulties to contend with were neither few nor small. The country was new and but imperfectly known abroad, the population ami agricultural productions were inconsiderable, and labor of every kind difficult to obtain. Yet his unabated perseverance removed all obstacles and success finally crowned the enterprise, - the rebuilding of the town and the construction of the first railway in Texas. General Sherman was president of the corporation, which was called the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos & Colorado Railway Company. The road was started at Harrisburg and built to Alleyton and Columbus, and is a part of the Southern Pacific system, one of the great commercial highways of the world, running from New Orleans via San Francisco to Portland, Oregon. The first locomotive ever received in Texas was named the General Sherman" in his honor, and what is left of it is now in Harrisburg. The shrill whistle of the "General Sherman" was the first glad sound of the locomotive that broke upon the solitude of Texas forests and roused to new life the slumbering energies of the hardy people. This locomotive was the first that appeared west of the Sabine and the second west of the Mississippi, one having been introduced at St. Louis a few months before. Thus the name of Sherman will be not only remembered as a chivalrous soldier whose best years were spent in the service

In chronicling the events in the closing years of his life it is but a record of successive misfortunes. In 1853 he lost a valuable sawmill \>y fire, and subsequently his dwelling at Harrisburg, then one of the finest buildings in the State, was also burned. Being thus rendered homeless he sent his family to Kentucky and removed to the railroad office, which was shortly afterward also burned. His remaining possessions and valuable papers which he had been accumulating for thirty years were distroyed. General Sherman was one of the unfortunate passengers on the ill-fated steamer, "Farmer," which exploded her boilers within a few miles of Galveston, occasioning the loss of some thirty or forty lives, and seriously injuring many others. He was thrown from his berth with a portion of the wreck some hundred yards into the water, and, though injured, succeeded in saving himself on the fragments of the wheelhouse.

Like most of the soldiers and statesmen who participated in the early struggles of the country, he derived little material benefit from its redemption.

On April 27, 1835, General Sherman married Miss Catherine Isabel Cox, of Frankfort, Kentucky, who was distinguished for great moral worth, intellectual accomplishments and personal beauty. The children of this marriage were: Sidney A. Sherman, killed at the battle of Galveston, January i, 1863; Caroline M. Sherman, now living in Galveston, the wife of J. M. O. Menard; Matilda Belle Sherman, now living in Houston, the wife of Judge William E. Kendall; Susan Florence Sherman, who was married to George O. Cherry, and died in Galveston, May 16, 1872; Cornelius Fenwick Sherman, who died in infancy, August 8, 1S53; Sallie Lennie Sherman, who was married to Hon. John T. Brady, of Houston, and' died at Houston, April 22, 1885; Lucy Kate Sherman, who was married to Louis W. Craig, and now resides in Houston; and David Burnet Sherman, who died in infancy, July 30, 1863.

The death of General Sherman occurred in Galveston on the istday of August, 1873. His wife and several of his children, as will be seen from the foregoing, preceded him to the grave. His son, Sidney A., dying without issue, General Sherman was the last of his family to bear his name in Texas. But three of his daughters are now living: Mrs. J. M. O. Menard, of Galveston, Mrs. W. E. Kendall, of Houston, and Mrs. L. W. Craig, of Houston.

The remains of General Sherman rest in Lake View cemetery, at Galveston. They repose beside those of his old friend and associate, David G. Burnet, first President of the Republic. The Sidney Sherman Chapter, Daughters of the Republic, an organization of recent date, whose object is to perpetuate the memory of the illustrious heroes of Te.xas, have erected a splendid monument over the remains of President Burnet and General Sherman, the unveiling of which took place on March 2, 1894, with due and formal ceremonies.

When the gallant ensign received the flag presented to General Sherman's company at Cincinnati, he asked the fair donor for a gage of battle. She took from her hand a white kid glove and threw it at the feet of the ensign, bidding him guard it well and carry it to glory. The glove was placed upon the flagstaff and carried into the fight at San Jacinto, but in the confusion of the battle it was lost. The flag is now in the possession of Mrs. Menard, and is kept in a glass case, having long since crumbled into decay, like the gallant members of the company who followed it. It is the only flag that waved upon the memorable battlefield of San Jacinto, and will be presented to the State of Texas, to be kept in the archives of this historic State. Anson Jonp;s, the last President of the Republic of Texas, was the third son of Solomon and Sarah (Strong) Jones, born at Great Barrington, Berkshire county, Massaciuisetts, January 20, 1798. Sir John Jones, one of the earliest paternal ancestors, was a native of North Wales, born at Anglesea in 1580. He was married in 1623 to Catharine Henrietta, daughter of the Hon. Robert Cromwell, and second sister of Oliver Cromwell; he was one of the fiftytwo Judges of Charles I. in 1648, a member of Cromwell's House of Lords in 1653, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1650 to 1G59. Upon the restoration of Charles II. he was put to death, October 17, 1660. His son. William Jones, born in 1624, came to America and settled at New Haven the same year that his father was executed. He married Hannah, the youngest daughter of Governor Theophilus Eaton; he was Deputy Governor of the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven from 1683 to 1698. Solomon Jones, the father of Anson Jones, was the fourth in direct descent from Governor William Jones; he was born in Hartford county, Connecticut, in 1755; he was married in 1779, to Sarah Strong, daughter of Timothy Strong, of East Windsor, Hartford county, Connecticut. They removed to Berkshire county, Massachusetts, where t.iey died, - she in 1816, and he in 1822.

Richard Strong, one of the earhest ancestors of Sarah Strong, was born in county Caernarvon, Wales, in 1561; he died in Taunton, Somersetshire, England, in 1613. John Strong, son of Richard Strong, was born in Taunton, England, in 1605. March 20, 1630, he sailed on board the ship "Mary and John" for America, arriving at Nantasket, Massachusetts, May 30, 1630. He became a conspicuous figure in the history of Dorchester, Hingham and Taunton, Massachusetts., Windsor, Connecticut, and Northampton, Massachusetts. His first wife, whom he married in England, died on the passage, or soon after landing, leaving two children. He was married a second time, in December, 1630, to Abigail Ford, of Dorchester, Massachusetts, with whom he lived fifty-eight years; she died July 6, 1688, at the age of eighty years; she was the mother of sixteen children. John Strong died April 14, 1699, aged ninety-four years. Sarah Strong, born April 6, 1758, was the fourth in descent from John Strong. She married Solomon Jones, and Anson Jones was the youngest of their family of seven daughters arid three sons. Solomon Jones was in the service of the United States during the war of the Revolution, and again volunteered in 181 2. All of his brothers served in the first war with England, and two of them were captured by the enemy, but survived their imprisonment with all its attendant horrors.

Anson Jones received his elementary education in the schools of the neighborhood of his home, and later was a pupil in the school at Great Barrington, taught by the Rev. Mr. Griswold. At Lenox Academy he began the study of the languages and higher mathematics, and after leaving school studied with his book on the bench before him while working at harnessmaking. Having received a thorough training in English and a tolerable knowledge of Latin and Greek, he went, in 1817, to Litchfield to begin the study of medicine, somewhat against his own inclinations, but with the approval of his father and elder sisters. After overcoming many obstacles he completed the course of study, and in 1820 was licensed to practice by the Oneida Medical Society. He began the practice of his profession at Bainbridge, Chenango county, New York, but without success, as an older and experienced physician was located there. After an effort to establish himself in the drug business at Norwich, and an attempt to secure a practice in Philadelphia, both of which endeavors endedin failure, he engaged in teaching. In the fall of 1824, upon the invitation of Mr. Lowry, the American Consul to La Guayra, he sailed for South America, remaining in Venezuela until June, 1826, when he returned to Philadelphia.

In the winter of 1826-7 he attended a course of lectures in Jefferson Medical College, and in March, 1827, received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from that institution. He continued to reside in Philadelphia five years; while there he joined the I. O. O. F. in 1S27, was admitted a member of the Grand Lodge in 1829, and was elected Grand Master June 13, 1831. In 1849 he writes ; " On the twenty-ninth of March, 1829, I organized, joined and put in operation Philadelphia Lodge, No. 13, of the city of Philadelphia, framing its constitution, by-laws, and rules of order, which are still continued unchanged and have been the model for the order everywhere." In October, 1832, he went to New Orleans, and, after a disastrous mercantile venture in that city, resumed the practice of his pro- fession. Through enforced idleness he indulged extravagantly in drink and gaming, which habits he laments very pathetically in his private papers. In the autumn of 1833 he sailed with Captain Brown, of the Sabine, from New Orleans, and arrived at Velasco, October 29, of that year. Up to this period of his life his career had been one of continued disappointment and of struggles against poverty and adversity. When he landed in Brazoria he had $17 in money and a small stock of medicines, and owed more than $2, COO, chiefly a security debt, every dollar of which he afterward paid. He immediately entered upon the practice of his profession and was very successful, visiting patients within a radius of forty miles.

To Dr. Jones, and five of his brethren, John A. Wharton, Asa Brigham, James A. E. Phelps, Alexander Russell and J. P. Caldwell, belongs the honor of instituting the first lodge of Freemasons in Texas. The first meeting was held in a private buryingground near Brazoria, and from the Grand Lodge of Louisiana the charter was obtained for Holland Lodge, No. 36, A. F. and A. M., which was opened December 27, 1835. Death and war played sad havoc with the little organization, and the last meeting was held in February, 1836, when the lodge was closed until October, 1837. It was reopened by Dr. Jones in the city of Houston, and he was afterward chosen the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Texas. He was also identified with the Odd Fellows of Texas, and was Grand Master of that order in 1852.

At the close of the year 1834 he found himself well established and in possession of a practice worth $5,000 a year. In 1835 the difficulties between Texas and Mexico began to assume a serious character, and Dr. Jones became an anxious observer of the political aspect of events occurring in his adopted country. He accompanied Padre Apulche, a Mexican of some distinction who had recently come from his own country, to San Felipe, where tlie convention was being held for the purpose of consulting upon the affairs of the people. He became convinced of the unfaithfulness of the Padre, notwithstanding his assertions to the contrary, and prevented his advice being followed by the convention. His opinion was that history would not be able to say much of the consultation or the provisional government it established, though these had the effect of precipitating the final and probably inevitable result of an early sepcration from Mexico. He was satisfied that the best and only course was an unconditional deciaration of independence. At a meeting called in December, 1835, in the municipalty of Brazoria, Dr. Jones was chairman of the connnittee which drew up resolutions which declared in favor of "the total and absolute independence of Texas, and that the people are at liberty to establish such form of government as, in their opinion, may be necessary to promote their prosperity." These resolutions were the first on the subject of total separation from Mexico ever passed in Texas. Santa Anna and the Mexican people were thoroughly aroused, and seeing the storm approaching. Dr. Jones made his preparations accordingly. Immediately following the fall of the Alamo he enlisted as a private in Captain Colder's company, and at the urgent request of his many friends and former patients he consented to take the post of Surgeon of the Second Regiment, upon the condition that he should be premitted to resign as soon as the necessity of his service ceased, and that he should be permitted to hold his "rank" as a private in the hne. The success which he met was phenomenal, not a single member of the Second Regiment dying from the time of his appointment until the battle of San Jacinto. He was appointed Judge Advocate General the 2d day of April, and held that position until September, 1837, when he entered Congress.

On the morning of the day the army left the camp at Harrisburg a general order was issued for a detail to stay with the sick. Dr. Jones was of the number, but resolved to disobey the order, and after attending to his daily routine he joined the army. As a consequence he participated in the battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. Having resigned the office of Surgeon to the Second Regiment, he was appointed Assistant Surgeon General and Medical Purveyor to ttie army, May 10, and was sent to New Orleans to procure supplies. He held this office until the close of the year 1836, when he resigned, and prepared to resume the practice of his profession. However, at the solicitation of his friends he consented to become a candidate for Representative in the Second Congress, and after a somewhat heated campaign, was elected, taking his seat at the called session in September, 1837. He uniformly resisted the issue of paper money beyond what had been authorized by the previous acts of Congress, and vehemently opposed a bill "for issuing promissory notes of the Government for $3,000,000 or upward." In the spring of 1838 he endeavored to procure an appropriation of the public lands for the purposes of education, and made a report to Congress on the subject.

United States for annexation, but as Mr. Wharton informed Dr. Jones, "was rudely spurned by President Jackson." In 1837-8 she was again suppliant to President Van Buren, but her request for admission was promptly and firmly rejected. Indignant at the position Texas occupied. Dr. Jones introduced April 23, 1838, in the House a resolution authorizing the President to withdraw the proposition of annexation to the United States of North America from before the Government at Washington. The resolution was a failure, so he urged President Houston to withdraw the proposition, but he declined. Upon his appointment as Minister to the United States, be made it one of the conditions of his acceptance that this proposition should be withdrawn; and after his presentation to the President he lost no time in declaring the independence and retrieving the dignity of the country he represented.

While in the city of New York in April, 1839, Dr. Jones addressed a letter to the Hon. Christopher Hughes, Charge d' Affaires of the United States to Sweden and Norway, soliciting his good offices in behalf of Texas with influential men of England and France, with a view of obtaining the recognition of her independence by those powers. This was among the first steps taken by Dr. Jones in that course which ultimately led to the settlement of the difficulties between Texas and Mexico, and the annexation of Texas to the United States. After nearly a year in Washington city he was recalled by President Lamar, and upon his arrival at Galveston learned that he had been elected to the Senate for a term of two years, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of the Hon. WilHam H. Wharton. At the close of the session he aban-

Dr. Jones was married at Austin, Texas, May 17, 1840, to Mrs. Mary McCrory, )ict' Smith. Her father was a native of Virginia, and her mother was born in Tennessee. She was born in Lawrence county, Arkansas, July 24, 1 8 19, and was in her fifteenth year when the family removed to Texas. They were living in Brazoria county at the time of the invasion of Texas by the Mexicans, and were forced to flee for safety before the invading enemy. After the battle of San Jacinto they went to Houston, and occupied one of the first houses built in that place. Mrs. Jones' first husband died soon after their marriage, in 1837. Possessing great energy and force of character, benevolent and charitable to a high degree, she has made warm and devoted friends wherever she has lived. She is a type of those noble women, who, in the infancy of Texas, endured with their fathers, husbands, brothers and sons the perils and sufferings incident to laying in the wilderness the foundation of an empire. She is still living, and resides in Houston, of which city she saw the feeble beginning.

fn the fall of 1840 Dr. Jones took his seat in the Fifth Congress, and was soon afterward elected President pro tern, of the Senate. He steadily opposed the financial policy and many of the leading measures of President Lamar's administration. In April, 1839, he wrote: " Every Texas shin-plaster is a fraud and a national crime, and all confidence in either the wisdom or honesty of the government must soon be lost. " In December, 1841, when Secretary of State, he wrote: " In conversation with the President and his cabinet, I expressed the opinion that our scale of operations was too large, and that it was a great fault, thinking and acting as a great nation, when we were but a first-rate county; that there were counties in the United States ahead of us in wealth and population, and that we were about to realize the fable of the frog and the ox - and burst." His election to the office of Secretary of State occurred in 1841, and in December of that year he assumed the duties of the position. On the 22d of the month was held a cabinet council, to which he submitted his opinion on the financial and war policy of the country; he made a clear statement of the condition of affairs, and outlined a course that would restore Texas to a position of financial independence. His views upon the Indian question are thus expressed: "The Indians should be conciliated by every means in our power. It is much cheaper and more humane to purchase their friendship than to fight them. A small sum will be sufficient for the former; the latter would require millions."

" In the commnncement of 1842," wrote Dr. Jones, "Mr. Tyler being President of the United States, the subject of the annexation of Texas was brought to his attention by Colonel Reilly, acting under instructions from me as Secretary of State. * * * But Mr. Tyler repulsed our advances with the same coldness and apathy which General Jackson and Mr. Van Buren had evinced to the measure, and continued to maintain this attitude of indifference or hostility to it until the close of 1843."

In 1844 Dr. Jones removed with his family to Washington, on the Brazos, and in March, 1845, occupied his new home, " Barrington," named after his native town in Massachussetts. There he resided until within a few days of his death.

and maintained decided opinions upon three great and vital questions of administrative policy: i, annexation; 2, a more economical administration of the government; and 3, a defensive and conciliatory attitude toward Mexico, and peace with the Indians. In the fall of 1843 he was nominated President of the Republic, and September 2, 1844, he was elected to this office by a majority of 1,400 votes. He was inaugurated President of the Republic, December 9, 1S44, but in his address made no allusion to the subject of annexation. In his private papers he wrote: "I had a right to be silent, and the grave keeps not its counsels more safely than I did mine. I saw no object but the best interest of my country, and I steadily pursued that object, as I think is now (1847) demonstrated by results. * * * Frankness is a quality I very much admire, but I did not esteem it the province of Texas to read other nations a homily on the subject by affording exclusive examples of it to them. She had suffered sufficiently from ten years' war with a power one hundred times more populous than herself, and stood in need of all the advantages which the proper maintenance of a prudent and discreet silence on the part of her chief executive officer could give her in relation to matters affecting in some degree her very existence." In his inaugural address he stated the following as some of the objects he conceived to be of importance to the welfare of the country: The maintenance of the public credit and the preservation of the national faith; a reduction of governmental expenses; the entire abolishment of paper money issued by government, corporations or individuals; a tariff for revenue, with incidental protection and encouragement to agricultural and manufacturing interests; the establishment of a system of common schools; the attainment of speedy peace with Mexico, and friendly and just relations with the Indian tribes; extensive commercial relations with foreign powers, exempt from inconvenient and entangling alliances. The important events which came rapidly crowding on rendered his position one of great delicacy andembarrasment. Questions of grave difficulty were presented for his determination, and "without prededent or constitutional guide for his governance," he was obliged to assume in consequence great responsibilities and to act with the utmost prudence and circumspection. In view of the probable acceptance of the proposition for annexation still pending. President Jones deemed it justly due to the friendly feeling manifested upon all occasions by the governments of England and France to send ever a minister to express upon behalf of the government of Texas the grateful sentiments entertained for those powers by the Republic; accordingly the Hon. Ashbel Smith was sent to Europe for that purpose.

March i, 1845, the resolutions of the Congress of the United States for the annexation of Texas were approved by the President and in due time were presented to President Jones, who assured their bearer that the proposition should be fairly and promptly submitted to the people of Texas. Immediately after, a proclamation was issued calling an extra session of Congress to convene June i6th. July 4th a convention was called to act upon the proposition of annexation. Congress met and transacted its important business and adjourned after a session of less than two weeks. The convention met a few days afterward in Austin, confirmed that place as the seat of government of the State, and the constitution which was framed perpetuated the basis of representation which Dr. Jones had estabhshed. On the 2d day of July following he received the conditions preliminary to a treaty of peace with Mexico, and on the 4th day of the same month he issued a proclamation declaring to the people of Texas the actual state of affairs with Mexico. Through all the negotiations with this power his effort was to maintain a perfectly erect and perpendicular attitude, being convinced that the people of Texas preferred annexation to independence. It was about this time that he also received proposals of peace from the Comanche chief, Santa Anna, the last enemy which Texas had; he accepted them, and for the first time in ten years Texas was actually at peace with all the world.

The excitement naturally attendant upon the discussion of the question of annexation was greatly increased by charges of the most odious crimes against President Jones and members of his administration ; these were printed by newspapers in the United States with which the countr}- was flooded. It was also claimed that the President was opposed to annexation, and that he was using every means, in conjunction with England and France, to defeat the popular will.

Congress met pursuant to call June 16; the President laid before that body the propositions made on the part of the United States for the annexation of Texas, together with the correspondence betu'een the governments growing out of the same. The message concluded as follows : ' 'The alternative of annexation or independence will thus be placed before the people of Texas, and their free, sovereign, and unbiased voice will determine the all-important issue; and so far as it shall depend upon the Executive to act, he will give immediate and full effect to the expression of their will." The pledge made by President Jones to the representatives of Great Britain and France was scrupulously fulfilled. Texas entered the Union, not from necessity nor as a suitor, but with the deliberate consent of her people, maintaining a dignified attitude. A joint resolution, giving tlie consent of the existing goverment to the annexation of Texas to the United States was passed by both houses of Congress, and was approved by the President on the 23d of June. The people of Texas having decided in favor of annexation at the election in October following. President Jones, on the 19th of February, 1846, surrendered the Government of Texas into the hands of General J. P. Henderson, Governor. In retiring he said: "This surrender is made with the most perfect cheerfulness, and in respectful submission to the public will; for my individual part I beg further to add that the only motive wb.ich has heretofore actuated me in consenting to hold high and responsible office in this, my adopted and beloved country, has been to aid by the best exertion of such abilities as I possessed, in extricating her from her difficulties and to place her in some safe and secure condition where she might be relieved from tlie long pressure of the past, and repose from the toils, the sufferings, and threatened dangers which surround her. * " * I sincerely wish the terms could have been made more advantageous, more definite, and less fraught with subjects of future dispute." The address concludes with the following: "The lone star of Texas, which ten years since arose amid cloud, over fields of carnage, and obscurely shone for a while, has culminated, and following an inscrutable destiny has passed on, and become fixed forever in that glorious constellation which all free men and lovers of freedom must reverence and adore, - the American Union. Blending its rays with its sister stars, long may it continue to shine, and may a gracious heaven smile upon this consummation of the wishes of the two republics now joined in one. May the Union be perpetual, and may it be the means of conferring benefits and blessings upon the people of all the States is my ardent prayer. The final act of this great drama is now performed. The Republic of Te.xas is no more." With this event his public career closed, and he firmly declined all public offices afterward tendered him. In 1853-4 he devoted much time to efforts looking to the construction of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, especially to securing the Texas route for the road. In November, 1857, he sold his homestead in Washington county, with a view to locating in Galveston and resuming his practice there. On his return from a visit to the latter city he was at the old Capitol Hotel in Houston, January, 9, 1858; he then seemed in low spirits, and in a sad tone remarked to a friend, "Here in this house twenty years ago I commenced my political career in Texas, and here I would like to end it." Not long afterward a pistol shot was heard in his room, and he was found in a dying condition. The country was deeply shocked by this occurrence.

In a biography written by an old acquaintance of Dr. Jones is the following : " We now approach the most painful part of our duty in compiling this sketch, for there are few things that can be more distressing to surviving friends than the fact of a man's hastening the termination of his earthly career by his own hand. Texas seems to have lost a larger number of her distinguished leaders in her revolution in this way than has fallen to the lot of other nations. In this list of unhappy victims we may name Collingsworth, Grayson, Rusk, and the subject of this narrative; besides Perry, McGee and others who figured in an earlier period of our history. All we can say in explanation is to refer to the fact that Dr. Jones was subject to paroxysms of mental gloom and deep despondency which he could not overcome or control, and which often well-nigh destroyed his balance of mind. During the latter years of his life this unhappy temperament had gradually assumed more and more the character of disease, under the influence of a physical derangement to which he was subject. Those who have any knowledge of this painful mental depression will need no further explanation, and those who best understand the intensity of suffering from this cause, to which the most sensitive and noble minds are chiefly subject, will be the last to cast reproach upon the memory of the unhappy victim."

In phj'sique Dr. Jones was not unusual; he was about five feet, eight inches in height, had deep auburn hair, light hazel eyes of much brilliancy and expression, and a florid complexion. Though somewhat reserved in manner he was of a social disposition. He enjoyed in a high degree the pleasures of domestic life, and the companionship of his wife and children. He was exceedingly benevolent, ever ready to hear and respond to the calls of the needy and unfortunate. Scrupulously correct in his business affairs he was intolerant of any deviation on the part of others. It was a matter of especial pride with him that he owed nothing, that he had paid off, though after the lapse of many years, the debts of his unfortunate youth and early manhood. In politics he was throughout his entire life a Democrat. He was reared in the faith of the Protestant Episcopal Church, of which his wife is a member; his children were reared in this church, and although he was not a communicant he took a deep ipterest in the affairs of the church, and was at different times a delegate to the annual conventions of the diocese of Te.xas; he was laydelegate from that diocese to the Triennial Convention of the United States. Free from bigotry and tolerant of the religious views of others, he evinced a profound respect for true religion and the Holy Scriptures.

Dr. Jones left surviving him four children ; Samuel Edward, resident at Houston, Texas, where he is engaged in the practice of dentistry; Charles Elliott, a member of the Second Texas Volunteer Infantry, Confederate States Troops, fell mortally wounded in the battle of Shiloh, April 7, 1862; Sarah Sophia is the wife of R. G. Ashe, a son of the late John B. Ashe, who was a member of Congress from Tennessee; Cromwell Anson, was admitted to the bar in 1871, was made Judge of Harris county in 1880, and died January 19, 1888, an able lawyer and accomplished gentleman.

HUGUSTUS C. ALLEN. - Certainly no other family has been longer, and probably none more prominently, connected with the history of the city of Houston than the Allen. Mention of several members of this family appears within the pages of this work. It is the purpose of this article to place on record the chief facts in the life of Augustus C. the eldest of the six brothers, and one of the two who figured most conspicuously in the founding of the city, in connection with which will also be given a brief memoir of his aged widow, now the oldest surviving settler of Houston.

Augustus C. Allen was born at Saratoga, New York, July 4, 1806. He grew up in Oneida county, and received what was for those days a good business education. He had some natural inclination for books, and for a time was professor of mathematics in the Polytechnic Institute at Chittenango. He then went to New York city, where he became interested in the banking business, and where he resided for four or five years. From that city he moved to Baldwinsville and there embarked in mercantile pursuits. At Baldwinsville he formed the acquaintance of Charlotte M., daughter of Dr. Jonas C. Baldwin, the founder of the town, and on May 3, 1831, married her.

In the spring of 1833, in company with his brother, John K., Mr. Allen came to Texas and established himself temporarily at Nacogdoches, where he launched out into land speculations, which he conducted profitably in that general vicinity for somewhat over two years. It may be mentioned in passing that he and his brother were the pioneer real-estate dealers of Texas, and probably did more than any other two men of those times to direct attention to land values in this country. The boldness with which they invested their funds in certificates, and their success in disposing of claims which they located, inspired among settlers and capitalists confidence in the future of the country, at a time when such confidence was badly needed.

generally said in August, 1836, - Augustus C. and John K. Allen arrived on Buffalo Bayou with a well matured plan for a town, which they hoped to have made the temporary capital of the new Republic. They secured the title from Mrs. T. F. L. Parrott to the lower half of two leagues of land which had been granted to her former husband, John Austin, and here they laid out a town. It was planned on a generous scale, and proper provision made in the way of donation of lots for school, church and other purposes. The question as to the naming of the town was debated for some time, but the matter was finally settled by Mrs. Charlotte M. Allen, who decided on the one which it now bears, - being so named in honor of the first President of the Republic, General Sam Houston, who was then and ever afterwards a warm friend of the Allen family. Propositions were at once made to the Texas Congress, then in session at Columbia, Brazoria county, for the removal of ithe capital of the Republic to this place, which overtures were accepted, and in May, 1837, Houston became the temporary seat of government. The Messrs. Allen built of their own means the first State house, which was a two-story wooden structure that stood on the corner of Main street and Texas avenue, on the site now occupied by the Capitol Hotel. Houston continued to be the capital of the Republic until October, 1839, when it was removed to Austin. During this time it attracted hither many settlers, traders and adventurers, who were then coming into the country, - a sufficient number of whom remained to form the basis of a stable population and to give the town a good start in growth. In 1838 John K. Allen died, but Augustus C. continued in charge of their interests in the town and sought in every way to build it up and make a prosperous place of it. He was also interested in land speculations in other portions of the State and was in fact known all over Texas as a man with energy and public spirit combined with great business sagacity.

Mr. Allen made Houston his home until about 1852, when, having been appointed United States Consul at Minatitlan, Isthmus of Tehuantepec, he transferred a considerable part of his interests to that place, and was there engaged in business and as a representative of the General Government about ten years. During this time he established, in connection with a Mr. Welsh, an Englishman, a trade from Minatitlan to Europe, through a line of sail vessels, shipping largely and profitably, vanilla, cochineal, dye-woods and mahogany. After the war opened between the North and the South Mr. Allen went to Washington to settle his accounts with the Government, resigning his office and engaging in the banking business in New York. But his health, which had been declining for two or three years, now rapidly grew worse and, although he made a tour of several months through the West Indies in search of restoration, he returned to Washington no better; and at the Willard Hotel in that city he died, in 1863.

His wife, who had remained in Texas during this time, having heard of his continued ill health, started \o him, but was delayed on account of the blockade, being forced to go around by way of Matamoras, and reached him after he had breathed his last, but in time to see his remains laid to rest in the beautiful Greenwood cemetery, at Brooklyn, New York, in the soil of his native State.

hour of her history. That his example of taking vigorous hold of the business interests of the country inspired others with confidence in its future, there can be no doubt, and that he felt a deep concern for her political welfare, is equally certain. He and General Houston were always warm friends, the General making his home under Mr. Allen's roof for more than three years. Like many others '^f the early settlers he reaped but little advantage from his early toils, but his plans were nevertheless well laid and his work well and faithfully done.

Mr. Allen is described as being small in stature, of closely knit frame, full of energy and possessing a cool, level head. He was not a leader of men but a well trained man of business, especially noted for his far-sightedness and his enthusiastic confidence in the future.

Mrs. Charlotte M. Allen, widow of Augustus C. Allen, now stands as the oldest surviving settler in Houston, and is justly entitled to the distinction of being called one of the mothers of Texas. She was born in Onondaga county. New York, July 14, 1805. She was married to Mr. Allen, as stated, in 1831, and came to Texas in 1834. She resided at Nacogdoches until after the town of Houston was laid out, when she came to this place, of which she has since been a resident. She has seen the place grow, as one may say, from a town on paper to the splendid city that it is, and during all this time has been its steadfast friend, and indeed the friend of all who needed her friendship. With the hundreds of avenues now open to those in search of employment, with scores of hotels to accommodate the wayfarers, with hospitals and infirmaries to care for the sick, and boards of charity to help the poor, and all the other multiplied comforts and conveniences of this advanced age of living, it is difficult for us to understand how poorly the early settlers were equipped for dealing with the everpressing problems of want, sickness and destitution, and it is especially hard for us to fully appreciate the heroic self-sacrifice which many of them underwent to aid those in distress. Houston had at all times its share of homeless wanderers, - its sick, poorly clad and poorly fed, - who constantly appealed to the charity and benevolence of its people; and to the women, - the noble motherhood of the city, - as is always the case, these appeals were chiefly made, and upon their shoulders the burden mainly rested. Many who are now aged men and women have told the writer that the door of the Allen homestead always stood open, and that the hungry, the sick and the destitute were always welcome, were fed, clothed and nursed without money and without price. Its mistress was the friend of the needy and the comforter of those in distress. At the mention of her name many do, and have just reasons to, breathe blessings on her memory.

Mr. and Mrs. Allen had born to them four children, only one of whom, - a daughter, Martha Elizabeth Warner, - ever reached maturity. She was born in Houston on the 1 8th of July, 1838, and in this city married F. B. Chase, on April 19, 1859, and was made a widow by his death on the 20th of November following. She was married to James Converse, at Houston, September 21, 1863, and died at San Antonio April 14, 1886. She left one son, Thomas Pierce Converse, now the only descendant of the honored pioneers, Augustus C. and Charlotte M. Allen.

>T^OHN KIRBY ALLEN. - Young, f handsome and intellectual, full of A J enterprise, keen-sighted, suave in manner, faultless in dress, an associate of the first statesmen, soldiers and patriots of the land, and still holding himself to be only one of the plain people, is the briefly sketched character of John Ivirby Allen, one of the founders of the city of Houston, and a man to whom the people of this city perhaps owe as much, and about whom they probably know as little, as they do of any man who ever figured in its history. In view of Houston's present position as the railway center of Texas, with all the multifarious interests dependent thereon, it will be no exaggeration to say that John K. Allen showed a knowledge far beyond his day and generation, when, standing fiftyseven years ago on the banks of Buffalo Bayou, he pointed to the street along which the Houston & Texas Central Railroad now runs, and predicted that along that street in time would run one of the great trunk lines of Texas, and that Houston, by reason of its geographical position and many natural advantages, would one day be the railway metropolis of the great Southwest. Marvelous, prophetic words these were for a young man of twenty-seven to utter, but they were in keeping with his keen insight and his natural grasp of mind.

John Kirby Allen, third son of Roland and Sarah Allen (see memoir of Allen family elsewhere in this work), was born in Orrville, four miles from the present city of Syracuse, New York, in the year 18 10. He was a precocious child,' and a bright and interesting boy. Being one of the older members of a family of seven children, he did not enjoy the best educational advantages, but it is doubtful whether he would have taken a college course, as did two of his brothers, even if the opportunity had been offered. His was one of those natures that sought the quickening impulse to thought and the occasion for action by contact with men. He was born for action rather than reflection, and his naturally acute powers of intuition made up for all deficiency of book knowledge.

The bent of his mind was displayed even in childhood, and he began at a time when most children are the objects of parental care to show his eagerness to get out and do for himself. At the age of seven he obtained the consent of his parents to apply for a position as call boy in a hotel in Orrville, and in this capacity began the struggle for existence, a struggle, however, which was more a pleasure than a pain to him. His constant attention to his duties, his polite manners and courteous treatment of the guests were the subject of general remark, and soon won him favor, not only with his employer, but with all with whom he came in contact.

After quitting the hotel at Orrville he clerked for a while in a store, at the age of sixteen formed a partnership with a young man named Ivittridge and began business for himself, opening a hat store in Chittenango. New York. The hat store was subsequently merged into a general dry-goods store and conducted successfully for two or three years, when he parted with his interests in it and went to New York city, where he joined his brother, Augustus C, then in the mercantile house of H. & H. Canfield, of that place. On the failure of this house in 1832 the Allen brothers came to Texas, and, locating at Nacogdoches, began that series of operations by which they subsequently became known throughout

Texas, and in fact the entire Southwest. They bought, located and sold and traded land certificates, at which they made considerable money, being so engaged mostly in east Texas until after the battle of San Jacinto. Neither served in the field before that battle, although both were warm supporters of the cause of the colonists, were in active correspondence with many of the leading patriots, and Augustus C. soon after the battle entered the army, while John K. went as commissioner to New Orleans to solicit aid in behalf of the struggling settlers. Later John K. was a member of the Congress of the Republic, served also with the rank of Major on General Houston's staff, and in all things looking to a speedy termination of hostilities between Texas and Mexico, and the establishment of a permanent peace, he was one of the foremost both in counsel and in action.

During this time he was also busy with enterprises of a private nature, and in conection with his brother laid the foundation for what, but for his untimely death, would unquestionably have proved one of the most colossal fortunes in Texas. As time and chance have determined, the city of Houston was the most important of these enterprises, but it was only one of the many. The Allen brothers, at the time they projected the town of Houston, owned a controlling interest in the town site of Galveston, an interest in a town site to be made the county seat of Fort Bend county, and certificates to more than a hundred leagues of Texas land. They were stockholders in the Texas Railway, Navigation and Banking Company, chartered by the Congress of the Republic, December 16, 1836; and John K. was a partner in interest with J. Pinckney Henderson in a shipping business to be established between Texas and England. A mass of correspondence left by him and still preserved by one of his relatives, shows how many and varied were the enterprises in which he had an interest, and the measures which he had on foot in the early years of the Republic. The following document, taken from this source, will be of interest to the citizens of Houston of this date, and will give some idea of the practical views, and the clear-cut business methods of the subject of this sketch.

"To the members of the Senate and House of Representatives of the Congress of the Republic of Texas: As it is proposed to locate temporarily the seat of government of the Republic of Texas, I have the honor to propose for your consideration the town of Houston on Buffalo Bayou, conscientiously believing that it is decidedly the most eligible place for the seat of government, under the existing state of things.

' 'Texas is now in the midst of a revolution contending for national existence, and, although we have thus far successfully and gloriously maintained the contest, still we should recollect the fearful struggle in which we are engaged and remember that we have once been driven to the field of San Jacinto; that the Brazos country has once been in possession of the enemy and may by possibility be so again. We should remember that during the last campaign almost everything of a movable character was lost, and even the proceedings of the convention were saved with great difficulty. The great probability is that a new invasion of the country will take place, and if so it will be with a force that will require our whole united energies to resist ; and although I have no doubt that we will manfully drive the invader back, still I at the same time consider that we should legislate as though danger and misfortune might come on us, and that we should, in locating the seat of government, have an eye to the comparative safety of the archives of the government. I consider that although the seat of government in times of peace ought to be on the west side of the Brazos, still that in so long as the revolution continues it ought to be to the east of it.

"I consider that the seat of government ought to be on the coast, because it combines the advantage of a safe and speedy communication with the United States and the interior of the country at the same time; because we will have more speedy and certain information of the operations of the enemy on the sea, and because the government will posses so many more facilities of communicating with the army and furnishing it with the necessary supplies.

" What place, I would inquire, possesses more advantages in this respect than the town of Houston.' I boldly assert, None. It is one of the most healthy places in the lower country, as the experience of those who have lived for years in the neighborhood proves. It is a most beautiful site for a town, with most excellent spring water, and the most inexhaustible quantity of pine timber for building. The bayou is navigable at all times for boats drawing six feet of water, and is within ten hours' sail of Galveston Island, and there is no place in Texas that can be more easily supplied with everything desired from the United States. Fish, oysters and fowl can be had there in any abundance; and the country around is capable of supplying the town with all the substantial necessaries of life.

country. It was selected as a town which must become a great interior commercial emporium of Texas. The trade of upper Brazos, and Colorado, of Trinity and San Jacinto rivers, of Spring and Lake creek settlements, must find its way into Galveston bay through the town of Houston.

" Capitalists are interested in this town, and are determined to push it ahead by the investment of considerable capital, and at this moment contracts exist for the sending of 700,000 feet of lumber there; and I can assure the members that several stores of much capital will very soon be established there. A steamboat for the place has already been ordered out, and Colonel Benjamin F. Smith is now engaged in getting cut the lumber for a large house of public entertainment, and within four months from this time I can safely say that comfortable houses for all necessary purposes will there be erected.

"Should the Congress see proper to locate the seat of government at Houston I offer to give all the lots necessary for the purposes of the government. I also offer to build a State house and the necessary offices for the various departments of the government, and to rent them to the government on a credit until such time as it may be convenient to make payment. Or, if the government sees proper to erect the buildings, I propose when the seat of government is removed to purchase the said buildings at such price as they may be appraised at.

"In conclusion I assure the members that houses and comfortable accommodations will be furnished at Houston in a very short time, and if the seat of government is there located no pains will be spared to render the various officers of the govern- ment as comfortable as they could expect to be in any other place in Texas. "JohnK. Allen, for A. C. &J. K. Allen." It was the logic of this document that made Houston the temporary seat of government, which it became in May, 1837. With this temporary advantage and what he believed to be its many permanent advantages, Mr. Allen 'entered, heart and soul, as was his wont, into the task of building up the place, and making it a great interior commercial emporium of Texas. To demonstrate that the bayou was navigable for large vessels he and his brother chartered the Constitution, one of the largest steamers plying on the gulf, and ran it up to Houston, whence by the way originated the name Constitution Bend, this name being given to the wide place in the bayon some four miles south of the town, where the steamer was backed to before it could be turned around on its way out to Galveston. Liberal donations in the way of lots for schools, churches and public buildings were made, and the town soon entered on an era of great prosperity. Hither flocked numbers of settlers, speculators and adventurers, representatives of many nationalities and men of the most diversified tastes, interests and pursuits. As spokesman of the Houston Town Company and the one to whom all outside interests were entrusted, John K. Allen moved among this miscellaneous population with the ease and grace of a born leader and diplomat. A familar picture of him, as some of the old settlers were accustomed in former years to draw it, was that of a man of youthful appearance, slight build, dressed with the most scrupulous care, of cordial but confident air, wending his way from place to place about the town, ever ready to dilate on the rising glories of the "great commercial emporium" and producing from the green bag which he always carried well filled with titles, papers, deeds to lots, which he would present to any actual settler on condition that he make the necessary improvements. The faith of such a man in the future of the town inspired faith in others, and the interest he created was contagious. He was personally popular, and he made popular whatever measure he undertook to champion. He was on terms of intimate friendship with most of the distinguished men of those times, many letters being now found in his correspondence from such men as General Houston, Thomas J. Rusk, J. Pinckney Henderson, Samuel M. Williams, James Collingsworth and others.

Pit}', one can not help but say, that a man with such gifts of mind and graces of person, such associations as he enjoyed, and such opportunities as he had by his own industry helped to make, was not permitted to live to finish the work so auspiciously begun. But it was not ordered by fate that he should, nor did any one ever fully realize the hopes by which he was inspired. In the closing days of the sultry month of July, 1838, he returned from the old cemetery, whither he had walked as one of the pall-bearers of his friend, Collingsworth, and complaining of a heavy head and a feeling of exhaustion, remarked that he would never make that trip to the cemetery again until he was taken there. Seized with a fever the same day, he died three days later, and was buried beside the lamented Collingsworth. He died at the early age of twenty-eight. His bones have long since mingled with the dust of mother earth, and, so far as the writer knows, his name cannot be found on the map of his adopted

State or county, but that he was a man who if he had lived would have left the imprint of his genius upon the history of the country which he was proud to call his own, and that, too, in characters which would have been known and read of all men, there can be but little doubt. He was never married.

Sp- rf ENRY FRANIv MATTHEWS. - wT "% The recent death of the subject of \ ,r this sketch removed from the streets of Houston one of its most familiar figures, and a man who twenty to forty years ago was active in its business affairs. Mr. Matthews had lived in Houston since 1855, and though not conspicuous in public matters, or more than moderately successful in business, he was a man who was highly respected, lived a sober, industrious and useful life, and deserves a brief mention in this record among the old citizens of Houston.

He was a native of Virginia, born in Greene county, in the year 181 8. He was reared mainly in Mississippi, his father moving to that State about the close of the first quarter of this century. He was one of a family of six sons and three daughters, all of whom became grown. It was to provide for this large family that the parents left Virginia while the children were still young, and started to the Mississippi country. The mother died on the summit of the Blue Ridge mountains on the way out, but the family came on and settled at Columbus, Mississippi, which they made their home until the sons and daughters became grown,

In 1854 a party consisting of eight or ten families was made up at Columbus to come to Texas. It was headed by Berry Matthews, eldest brother of the subject of this notice, and in it was another brother or two, besides other relatives. The colony settled in Brazoria and was the means of bringing, from first to last, a number of people to this State from the town of Columbus, Mississippi, and that vicinity. Henry Frank Matthews came out, as near as can be ascertained, in 1855. He had previously married in Mississippi and had been in business in that State both at Columbus and Vicksburg, and had traveled considerably in the interest of Pratt, the well-known gin and mill man of Columbus. On coming to this State he settled at Houston, and after representing Pratt's interest here for a while, he turned his attention to other pursuits. He was engaged at different times in the wood, lumber, steamboating, hotel and livery business, besides holding several minor local offices. He built a small steamer, called the H. F. Matthews, which he ran on Buffalo Bayou successfully for some years. Mr. Matthews, however, was not a man of strong business ability. His mind possessed a mechanical turn, and he was always more interested in machinery than in business, and spent much of his time in improving and inventing mechanical devices of one kind and another. He was remarkably industrious, and kept himself employed at something almost to the day of his death.

He died in Houston in February, 1894. His wife, Jane Craig Matthews, preceded him to the grave a number of years. They were the parents of seven children, all of whom are living, these being Pratt, Joseph

Mr. Matthews' brothers, who came to Texas, - Berry, John, William, Thomas L. and Georpe A., - all died here except John, who is still a resident of the State.

^'^EN. THOMAS NEVILLE WAUL. ^^ - The subject of this brief sketch ^^W was born in South Carolina, January 5, 1813. His parents were Thomas and Annie Waul, who were also natives of South Carolina and descendants of early settled families of that State. Thomas N. was their only child, and is the last living descendant of the Wauls of the Carolinas. He was reared in the place of his nativity and received most of his education in the University of South Carolina, at Columbia; but did not graduate because of ill health and lack of means. Having lost his parents when young, he left South Carolina at the age of seventeen for the great West, determined to cast his lot somewhere in the "Mississippi country," then at the full tide of that era of its history, since called "the flush times." He traveled overland from South Carolina, and had reached Florence, Alabama, in his westward progress, when, having stopped a few days to rest from the fatigue of his journey, he was tendered the position of principal of the Male Academy at Florence, which position he accepted, and remained there for one year. Proceeding thence westward, he located in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1833, and there entered the office of Sergeant S. Prentiss, and began reading law, preparatory to entering on the practice of it as a profession. Before reaching his majority he was licensed to practice by Chief Justice Starkey, of the Supreme Court of the State, and at once entered on the vigorous pursuit of his profession in Vicksburg. He was shortly afterward appointed District Attorney for the district, including Vicksburg, Natchez, and many of the wealthy river counties, and, for one of his age, achieved considerable reputation as a public prosecutor. In 1836 he moved to Grenada, Mississippi, where he soon built up a large and remunerative practice in both the civil and criminal branches of the law. For a period of about fifteen years he followed the law uninterruptedly and most successfully in Grenada, at the end of which time he came to Texas (December, 1850), settling on the Guadalupe river, where, for a time, he sought rest and recreation from the laborious and exacting duties of his profession. Once a resident of this State, he became charmed with its beauties and received material benefit from its climate, and was so much pleased with the change that he decided to make his home here in the future. He still had large interests in Mississippi, and for the purpose of handling these he opened an office in New Orleans, and practiced in important cases in the Louisiana and Mississippi courts. He was, in those years, as he has been since, devoted most assiduously to his profession, but being then, as now, a Democrat known to be without "variableness or shadow of turning," his political associates saw fit to make him their candidate for Congress in 1859, against the Hon. A. J. Hamilton, and though defeated, he made a gallant race, and achieved great popularity as a platform speaker. He was then at his best as an orator, and, as party lines were being tightly drawn and interest in public questions generally aroused, he enjoyed exceptional opportunities to impress himself upon the country. He was made Elector at Large on the Breckenridge and Lane ticket in i860, and aroused great enthusiasm in behalf of the party, making, during this time, some of the ablest speeches of his life. He was opposed to war, and hoped that the South would be able to enforce her rights in the Union; yet, should war come, he urged a united and vigorous resistance, and pledged his life and fortune to the cause of the Confederacy, a pledge which he most faithfully kept. An incident, ^ occurring during his delivery of a speech at Seguin, in the summer of i860, so well illustrated his devotion to his native South, and is such a splendid example of apt reply, that it will bear repetition in this place. Some one in the audience called out : ' ' But, sir, suppose Lincoln should be elected; what would you do then T' Turning toward the questioner, he answered instantly: "God Almighty grant that that day may never come; yet, should the evil day arrive, I shall remember that I am a native son of the South, and shall say to her as Ruth said to Naomi, 'Whither thou goest I will go; and where thou lodgest J will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest I will die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.' " The effect of this sentiment, delivered at such a time and with splendid dramatic accompaniments, can hardly be estimated. The crowd went wild and the speaker was the object of the most enthusiastic admiration.

his voice was often heard setting forth his views upon the great questions with which the South was then confronted. When it became clear to him, as it did to most of the far-seeing men of both sections of the Union, that the country was then engaged in a contest which was likely to last for an indefinite time, and one to be at last decided by the military rather than in the halls of legislation, he gave up his seat in the Confederate Congress, and securing a commission, returned to Texas and raised a command designated as "Waul's Legion," and entered the Confederate army. General Waul's knowledge of the topography of Mississippi rendered his services in that State, and especially along the exposed water front, almost invaluable. His command, aided by the Second Texas under Colonel Ashbel Smith, repulsed the Federal gun-boats in their progress towards Vicksburg, and thus saved that place for a time to the Confederacy. At Vicksburg, and again at Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, Yellow Bayou and Jenkins' Ferry, General Waul bore himself with distinction, bearing from the field the evidences of his bravery, not only in his commissions of promotion, but in wounds received while leading his men, and personally directing the operations of the army.

When the war was over General Waul returned to Texas, and was elected to the Constitutional Convention of 1866. Believing that it was as much his duty to protect tlie rights of his people by law as by arms, he served in this body and used his best efforts to secure an early return to the peaceful order of things. During the trying times of reconstruction he resided on his plantation on the Gaudalupe, and used what little power he, in common with other ex-

Confederate soldiers, was allowed to exercise, for what he conceived to be for the best interests of the people. In 1868 he moved to Galveston, and here resumed the practice of his profession, which he has since uninterruptedly followed. General Waul, although he would perhaps resent the insinuation of age, is now both in age and practice one of the Nestors of the bar of Texas. With but very brief intervals of interruption, - hardly any save the period covered by the war, - he has been continuously in the practice for sixty years. More than forty years of this time he has resided in Texas and practiced before Texas courts. Coming to the State so long ago, and having been so actively and continuously in the practice, he has transacted a large amount of legal business, and of necessity had much to do with fixing the State's jurisprudence. Although he has always stood ready to honor sight drafts on his time and services in behalf of his party, and has many times rendered it good service and is always in demand as a speaker on public occasions of every kind when good speaking is expected, it is as a lawyer that he is best known, and as a lawyer that he has achieved the best results. His chosen profession has been the ambition of his life, and he still pursues its arduous duties with all the enthusiasm of youth. He is greatly respected by the members of his profession, having been honored several times with the presidency of the State Bar Association and with the vice-presidency of the American Bar Association.

In early life General Waul married Miss Mary Simmons, a daughter of Thomas and Nancy Simmons, of Georgia, Mrs. Waul having been born in Georgia and coming, as does her husband, of old South Carolina stock.

aHARLES HENRY SPRONG. - The subject of this brief sketch is a native of New York, having been born in the city of Rochester, December 27, 1853. His parents, William H. and Rebecca (Blair) Sprong, were also born in New York, and in that State the father still lives, residing on a farm near Spencerport, ten miles from Rochester, the mother having recently (January 10, 1893), died. Mr. Sprong's father is a farmer, and Charles Henry was brought up on the farm in the wholesome duties of which he received his early training. His education was obtained in local schools, and was restricted to the elementary branches. Being the eldest son of a family of seven children he remained with his parents and gave them the benefit of his services until he reached his twenty-sixth year, when in 1879 he started out to manage for himself.

He was attracted to Texas by favorable reports of the country received through newspapers, and on February lOth, of the year just mentioned, he landed in Houston. His first employment in this city was as a driver of an ice wagon. He was engaged at this only about a month, when he secured the position of timekeeper for the Houston Water Works Company, this company then having in its employ a large number of men engaged in putting in an extensive system of water works. From the position of timekeeper he was promoted after one year to that of assistant superintendent. At the end of the fourth year of his connection with this company he was made superintendent and general manager, and held this place until he resigned it in June, 1890, to accept the position of secretary and treasurer of the Houston Land and Improvement Company. After a year with this company he gave up his connection with it, and purchased an interest in the Simpson, Hartwell & Stopple Foundry and Machine Shops, being made secretary of this association. He held this position till April, 1894, when he sold his stock in this company, and, associating himself with Love & Company, built the fine grist and flouring mills on Tenth and Railroad streets, Houston, now being operated under his management. October 19, 1891, he was elected secretary of the Houston Water Works Company, which position he now fills.

It will thus be seen that Mr. Sprong has had to do with a number of the business interests of Houston, and it may be added that he has made an unqualified success of whatever he has had to do. His career since coming to Houston, a little more than fifteen years ago, is one luminous in meaning and full of encouragement to young men situated as he was at that time. When he reached Houston in February, 1879, he had only $60. He has never received even a cent since by gift or inheritance, but the tax rolls of Harris county show him to be worth over $15,000. His standing both as a man of business and as a citizen is of the best, and his career is pointed to with becoming pride by his many friends and business associates.

December 13, 1871, Mr. Sprong married Miss Cordelia Blake, daughter of Dr. Edmund H. Blake and a native of Houston. (See history of the Blake family elsewhere in this volume). The issue of this union has been three children: Eula Belle, William H. and Jennie Blake. Mr. and Mrs. Sprong are members of the First Presbyterian Church of Houston, in which Mr. Sprong is a Deacon. Mr. Sprong has two brothers: William H., Jr., and Frank J., residing in Houston; and four sisters residing in New York, namely: Mrs. W. T. Amsdell in Albany, Mrs. William Shourds in Auburn, Mrs. Edward Witherspoon in New York city, and Mrs. W. W. Wilcox in Niagara Falls.

aHARLES A. BURTON. - While there are few incidents of a sensational or even novel character in the ordinary lines of business men, there are yet in every successful career points of interest and an undercurrent of character well deserving of careful thought. However closely lives may resemble one another, each must differ from all others and preserve an identity truly its own. The life history of the late Charles A. Burton, of Houston, while it has many phases in common with others of his calling, yet discloses an energy, perseverance and integrity, which acting together as a motive power, enabled him to attain and maintain a high standing of respectability socially and an esteem in business circles that always cause his name to be mentioned with pleasure by those who knew him

Coming to Houston a comparatively young man with no means, family influence or business backing, he literally began his career here at the bottom of the ladder, and by the exercise of those inherent qualities of head and heart which must be possessed in a large measure by every man who achieves more than ordinary success, he rose gradually, developing a character in the meantime and accumulating means such as few men do without adventitious aid of some sort.

try throughout; was educated in the schools of his native State and reared to habits of industry and usefuhiess in accordance with the New England idea of training the young. His parents died while he was yet a lad, and he was thus early thrown on his own resources. He followed industrial pursuits of one kind and another in New England and Canada until after reaching his majority. He then came South, and locating in Houston he here secured employment on the Houston & Texas Central Railway. He had previously been engaged in railroading in Canada and had there become a locomotive engineer. He was given a similar position on the Central and occupied this position a year or so when he was promoted to that of conductor. His rise from that time on was rapid and in a few years he became general superintendent of this road. His unremitling attention to his duties told in time on his health and he was compelled at last to resign his position and give up active business pursuits. Recovering somewhat, after the lapse of several months, he accepted the position of general superintendent of the Texas & New Orleans Railway, with which he continued however only a short time, when his health again forced his retirement. He never sufficiently recovered to engage in business again, but failing gradually, he at last succumbed to the disease which had been insidiously sapping his vitality.

November 31, 187 i, Mr. Burton married Miss Jennie M. Matthews, of Houston, a daughter of Captain H. F. Matthews (see his sketch herein), and by this union had two daughters, Josephine, Jennie, and a son, Arthur C, who with his widow survive him. Such is a brief outline of the career of this gentleman. Mr. Burton was not a public man and he never became generally known to the people of this community. But he had a large and favorable acquaintance among Houston's business men, to whom he was well known, and by whom he was greatly respected.

In seeking for the life purpose of the subject of this sketch, it is much to his credit to be able to say that his purpose seems to have been no scheme of self-aggrandizement, or fleeting worldly ambition, but a sincere desire to live up to the measure of his endowments and responsibilities, to develop a character and leave an honorable name to his posterity. He was greatly devoted to business and achieved noteworthy success. He had been made to feel very forcibly some of the inequalities of life, and it was his sincere wish that his children might be spared so far as possible these embarrassments. His career was shaped largely by this purpose. The cast of his mind was eminently practical and he had at all times the bearing of one earnestly devoted to the matter in hand. He made it a rule to have but one business at a time, and to give it close and undivided attention, never to postpone till to-morrow what could be done to-day, to attend to business first, and pleasure afterward, and to employ strict integrity and unfailing compliance with every obligation, whether verbal or written. Whether his income was great or small, he always lived within it; was never sued for debt, and in the discharge of every duty and strict compliance with every obligation he won the confidence and respect of all with whom he had business intercourse.

The domestic virtues preponderated in him, and his home circle was charming and pleasant. Under his own roof and by his own fireside he realized the best phases and the truest enjoyments of life. Of quiet, retiring disposition, he did his own thinking, acting vigorously and promptly as occasion demanded. He was possessed of genial manners and great kindness of heart, quick to notice an intended injury but, equally quick to forgive if proper restitution was made. He had a strong will united with extraordinary firmness and decision. Unfortunately his physical constitution was not equal to his ambition. He was continually taking on his shoulders more than he could do with safety to his health.

In addition to being a thoroughgoing railroad man, Mr. Burton was a shrewd man of business. He possessed the acumen, the practical insight, the mental grasp that would have made him a successful merchant, banker or other man of affairs where these qualities are in demand and where success so much depends upon their constant and orderly operation. As it was, while he devoted himself during all his active and mature years to pursuits where the most unremitting attention to the interest of others was demanded, he yet found time and opportunities to make investments which resulted in leaving his family well provided for at his death, thus offering a signal refutation to the oft-repeated saying that a man who works on a salary never accumulates.

eD P. LARKIN. - A recent essayist has said with great truth that " Every man who lives out his natural life usefully and honorably, however obscure he may be, is a hero." Modern civilization has made life so complex, wearing and arduous, has entailed

The subject of this brief sketch belongs to a class of men who perhaps bear an amount of responsibility as much disproportioned to the pay they receive and the credit they get for the discharge of their duties as can be found anywhere in the land. Even a moment's reflection will show how much of life and death and how many million dollars' worth of property are constantly entrusted to the care of the railway engineers of this country, whose faithfulness to their duties is proverbial, whose sacrifices to such duties are of daily occurrence, and yet whose services and sacrifices are accepted by the public as a matter of course, and remunerated by the railway companies with salaries far below those paid to officials who do not perform half the labor and incur practically no risk.

Mr. Larkin was born in Carbondale, Lackawanna county, Pennsylvania, and is a son of Hugh and Mary Larkin, both of whom were natives of Ireland. He was reared in his native State, but leaving there at about the age of twenty-one, he was, for some years in early manhood, somewhat of a wanderer. He spent several months in the Western and Northwestern States and Territories, where he was engaged in mining operations. He then went to Central America, thence back to the Eastern States, and finally, in 1871, drifted to Texas, taking up his residence at Houston. Here he secured employment as a fireman on the Houston & Texas Central Railway, and for the past twenty-three years he has been in the employ of this road. For more than twenty years he has had charge of an engine, sometimes on freight and sometimes on passenger runs, and during this time he has, with only brief intervals of absence (when away for a month or two of recreation), been regularly at his post, and has covered thousands of miles in his runs. His long service shows the value in which he is held by the officials of the road, while his personal popularity among his associate employes is a matter of common knowledge along the line of the road. Mr. Larkin is a large man, weighing over 200 pounds, and is good-natured and jolly, like most large men. He possesses a keen eye, and, when on duty, wears the earnest, thoughtful face of one intent on what he is about. He is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Division No. 139, and resides at Houston, where he has a comfortable home, corner Sabine and Lubbock streets.

Mr. Larkin married Miss Johanna Sullivan, of Houston, in 1885, and lost his wife December 11, 1890, she leaving him two children, a daughter and son, - Josie and Eddie. Since his wife's death Mr. Larkin's sister has had charge of his house, and is assisting him in the responsible task of rearing his little ones.

Ole Christian Tellefson

OLE CHRISTIAN TELLEFSON, son of Tellef Oleson and Annie Christina Ponlson, was born in the city of Christiansand, Norway, on November 5, 1836. After a few years' attendance at the primary schools in his native place he entered and learned the trade of ship carpenter, which he mastered, at the expiration of his apprentice term, and shipped as carpenter on a vessel which plied between southern and i.orthern Europe.

New York. There he took employment on a Nova Scotia vessel. In 1859 he came to Galveston in the ship Panama, of New York, became attached to the city and settled here and worked successfully at his trade until the opening of the war. In 1861 he went into the Confederate ordnance department, in which he remained for a long time, after which he joined Captain Van Hardin's company of heavy artillery, Cook's regiment, which participated in and recaptured Galveston, January i, 1863. He was subsequently transferred to the Marine department, in refitting and building vessels for the Confederate service, among them the Bayou City, John F. Carr, Neptune, Lone Star, Florelda, Uncle Ben and several others. During a severe illness in the spring of 1865 he received a pass from General Walker to leave the State and run the blockade to Cuba, on the steamship Danby, and went thence to Mexico and remained there until the close of the war. He went from Mexico to Philadelphia and came back to Galveston as carpenter on steamship Morgan, with John Y. Lawless, as captain, and served also in capacity of mate and second mate on said steamship. Subsequently he was employed for a number of years by the Houston Navigation Company, as superintendent of repairs, under Captain John H. Sterrett.

In 1 87 1 Mr. Tellefson went into the grocery business, in which he was engaged for five years, and in 1876 he returned to the ship-carpenter business, which he has since pursued without interruption. Mr. Tellefson built a large number of sailing vessels for the local trades and small pleasure and steamboats intended to ply on Buffalo Bayou and tributaries.

Ellen McGivney, widow of Peter McGivney. Mrs. Tellefson's maiden name was Hartnett, she being the daughter of Timothy and Honora Hartnett, of White Church Parish, county Cork, Ireland, who emigrated to America in 1851, settling in New Orleans. Her father died in New Orleans in 1852, leaving a widow with five sons and one daughter, all small, the daughter (Mrs. Tellefson) being the second in age. Mrs. Tellefson was reared in New Orleans and there met and was married to Peter McGivney, with whom she came to Galveston in 1868. By this marriage there were born five children, two of whom are living, - Peter and Mary (Mrs. R. P. Williamson). Mr. Mc- Givney died in 1870. To Mr. and Mrs. Tellefson five children were born, of whom two are living, - John Christian and Christian Daniel. Mrs. Tellefson's mother died in Galveston, Januarys, 1892, in the eightyfirst year of her age. Mr. Tellefson's father died in 1844 and his mother in 1872, both in Norway.

Mr. Tellefson is a member of the Lutheran Church, and of Harmony Lodge, No. 6, A. F. & A. M. Mrs. Tellefson belonsrs to the Catholic Church.

,V^ R. LOUIS A. BRYAN was born m I I New Berne, North Carolina, on J^,J October 12, 1826. His parents were Louis and Mary (Dudley) Bryan, both of whom were also natives of New Berne, in which general locality his ancestors settled early in the last century. He was the youngest of a family of thirteen children and was reared mainly in Mississippi, to which State his family moved while he was yet young. His mother having died, his father came to Texas in 1845, accompanied by Louis A. and an elder sister, and settled at Houston. Having received a good collegiate training in what is now the University of Oxford, Mississippi, then as now a school of good standing, Louis A. took up the study of medicine under Dr. S. O. Young, of Houston, with whom he spent somewhat over^a year, after which he graduated at the New Orleans Medical College, and located for the practice of his profession at Brownsville, Texas. Here he soon acquired prominence in his profession, and also out of it; for in 185 i he was elected to the State Legislature. The late ex-Governor Throckmorton, who was a member of the same Legislature, writing of Dr. Bryan's presence and service in the Legislature at that time, said: " At that early day we had in the Legislature many bright and promising young men, and many of the old guard who had brought Texas out of bondage. Dr. Bryan and H. P. Bee were from the Rio Grande country. But none of that body were more esteemed than Dr. Bryan." Shortly afterward returning to Mississippi, Dr. Bryan married Miss Carrie Dunbar, a daughter of Joseph Dunbar, of Adams «ounty, that State, and a member of an old and wealthy family, and, coming again to Houston, here located and practiced his profession with marked success until the opening of the war. In 1861 he tendered his services to the Confederacy and received a commission as hospital surgeon, with instructions to attend the Texas troops and care for the sick and wounded in the field and on the line of march. In this capacity he gave four years of arduous service to the cause he espoused, and did much to relieve the sufferings, and administer to the wants, of his fellowmen. Returning to Texas at the close of hostilities, his wife died at Gal- veston before reaching Houston; but Dr. Bryan again took up his residence in this city, and it was practically his home ever afterward. In 1866-7 he practiced medicine at Galveston, and during the well remembered yellow-fever epidemic of the last named year he gave his time and services unselfishly to the people of that city and did a vast amount of good for those stricken with the plague.