Johnson Francis White: A history of Texas and Texans

Charles H. Moose. The great American lumber industry, in all its ramifications, owes more to the New England states for its active personnel than to any other section o€ the country. It was in the old pine tree state of Maine that Charles H. Moore of Galveston had his origin. Among lumber manufacturers of the south, few have been longer or more prominently connected with the industry than Charles H. Moore. He was one of the first to establish a factory for lumber products in south Texas, after the war. Forty years of his career were devoted to the varied enterprises of lumbering and manufacture, and he is still connected officially with four large industrial companies. Charles H. Moore was born at Freeport, Cumberland county, Maine, August 10, 1842, a son of Ira and Martha (Doe) Moore. His father was also born in Maine, as was likewise the mother, and was a farmer and school teacher. His death occurred in 1865, while the mother passed away in 1869.

It was in the country and village schools of York county, Maine, that Charles H. Moore received his first training for life. For a short time he followed In the footsteps of his father and taught school, but his ambition was for a more active career in the industrial and commercial life which absorbed the energies of Americans during the latter half of the nineteenth century. From the extreme northeast he went clear across the eontment, and in 1862 located in California, where he became an employe of his uncles, B. and J. S. Doe, manufacturers of sash, doors and blinds. This was his real introduction to lumber manufacturing. When ready to engage in business for himself, he chose as a location the southern belt of the great American forest areas, and thus located at Galveston in March, 1867. There, under the name of C. H. Moore & Company, he established a factory for the making of interior woodwork, and, as already stated, was one of the first manufacturers of lumber materials to go into business at Galveston after the resumption of normal conditions following the war. The first factory was a small one, but its proprietor possessed the ability and enterprise sufficient to develop the undertaking on a large scale, and for a number of years his firm was an important factor in local manufacturing circles. Now for more than forty years Mr. Moore has retained a large share in the lumber industry of the south, and credit is due to him for a share in the pioneer development of lumbering, especially in Texas and Louisiana.

The firm of C. H. Moore & Company continued actively until 1876. Mr. Moore then engaged in the general lumber business in the firm of W. F. JStewart & Company, and, selling out his interests with that firm in 1880, he joined A. J. Perkins of Lake Charles, Louisiana. A. J. Perkins & Company continued until the death of Mr. Perkins in 1893. The firm then became Moore & Goodman, and that name is still prominent among lumber circles of Texas. Mr. Moore retired from active participation in the firm in 1907, and his sons, Kilburn and Bartlett D., have since taken his place, in association with Mr. Goodman.

The activity of Mr. Moore in business affairs is indi-cated further by his connection with the following concerns: Vice president of the Lock-Moore Company, president of the Edgewood Land & Logging Company, vice president of the Texas Bank & Trust Company, vice president of the Texas Gulf Steamship Company, vice president of the American Indemnity Company, director of the First National Bank of Galveston, director of the Doe Estates Company of San Francisco, and a member of the firm of Guyton & Moore, fuel oil dealers. In politics Mr. Moore is a Democrat, and is affiliated with the Lumbermen 's organization, the Hoo Hoos, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Galveston.

In 1871, he married Miss Ida Kilburn, daughter of Wells Kilburn of Napa, California. Their two children are Kilburn and Bartlett D. Moore. The Moore home in Galveston is at 2722 Avenue H. John McBlvy. A Confederate veteran, whose home is now in Rosenberg. Mr. McElvy returned from a long and arduous service in the war to take up the active life of farmer, a vocation which he followed with much success for more than thirty years, and is now enjoying the fruits of his well spent life, during which he has obtained a fair share of the world's goods and provided well for his family.

John McElvy was born in the state of Arkansas July 27, 1847. His parents were George E. and Martha (Webb) McElvy, the former a native of Georgia and the latter of Tennessee, their marriage occurring in Arkansas. The ancestry is Scotch-Irish and on the father's side were a number of doctors and lawyers of prominence in their profession and in politics. The father himself was a lawyer, also a skillful surveyor and an active planter and stock raiser. He belonged to one of the first families in Georgia. Grandfather John McElvy was a Baptist minister. A man of superior education and culture, George R. McElvy died in Texas in 1860. His brother, E. L. McElvy, was a member of the Florida legislature. The maternal grandfather Webb was one of the pioneer planters of Texas and owned a number of slaves before the war. Mr. John McElvy was one of four children. His sister Fannie lived in Dallas and the other two children, Lawson and Harmon, are both deceased.

As a boy John McElvy spent his years on a farm and had limited educational advantages, chiefly owing to the fact that his father died when he was about fifteen or sixteen years old. The family moved to Texas in 184-5, settling on the Angelina River, near the old .John Durst Bridge on the San Antonio Road, the noted thoroughfare over which all the early commerce between Mexico and the United States passed. The father entered land in that vicinity of east Texas and lived there until his death. In 1861, on the outbreak of the war, John McElvy was seventeen years old and enlisted in Rigsby's Company, Ford's Infantry Regiment, recruited locally to capture the Federal fort at Brownsville. After the evacuation of that post Mr. McElvy returned home and then on February 8, 1862, enlisted in Company F of the Eighth Texas Infantry, a regiment commanded by Colonel Overton Young. Their first destination was at Little Eock, Arkansas, but after a short time they began active participation in that long and desultory warfare which characterized the fighting west of the Mississippi Eiver. There were almost constant expeditions and counter expeditions, skirmishes and battles all over Arkansas and Louisiana, and that condition of affairs continued until near the end of the war. Mr. McElvy was a member of what was known as the Walker Greyhounds, in Walker 's Division. Among the more prominent battles in which he took part were the bloody engagement of Mansfield, that of Pleasant Hill and Jenkins Ferry. His company was finally disbanded at Hempstead, in Waller county, and he had gone through from the beginning to the end without wound or capture, although exposure brought on a long spell of pneumonia.

After the war Mr. McBlvy was a substantial farmer ■for thirty years in Milam county. Then on November 25, 1894, he moved to Fort Bend" county, and since then has lived more or less retired in Rosenberg. He owns a fine farm in the county, has property in Eosenberg and investments in other enterprises.

In 1862 Mr. McElvy was married to Miss Eliza Henderson, a native of Texas, whose death occurred a few months after their marriage. Later he married Ann Sehafer, whose maiden name was Ann Vernon, and who was born in Manchester, England, and came to Texas in 1845. Of the six children born to their union Fannie, Laura, William and Harry are now deceased. Thomas J. McElvy lives in Wallis, Texas, and Richard H. in Wharton, Texas. Mr. McElvy is an intelligent and well informed man and has been interested in educational progress, having served for a number of years as school trustee of Milam county. He is a loyal old Confederate and a member of Clem Bassett Camp of the Confederate veterans at Richmond. Mrs. McElvy is a member of the Christian church.

Taylor Ray. Leaving home at the age of thirteen, beginning his career in the far west as a grocery clerk, finally at the age of seventeen arriving in Texas, Taylor Eay has been a resident of this state nearly thirty years altogether and is one of the oldest men in the express service. At Rosenberg, where he has been a citizen for nearly twenty years, he is one of the most popular and prominent menand had the distinction of being selected as first mayor under the commission form of government in that little south Texas city.

Tavlor Ray was born in Wabash, Indiana, December S, 1863, the' son of Jefferson and Faraba (Cox) Eay, both of Indiana. The family is of Irish descent and Grandfather Ray was born on the Isle of Erin and located at Indiana among the pioneers. Jefferson Eay, the father, was also a man who was identified with early enterprise in the Wabash Valley and owned one of the first sawmills in his part of Indiana. After operating that mill for some years he became employed in the general carjienter and contracting business, which he followed both in Indiana and later in Missouri, to which state he took his family in 1870. He was a man of exceptional thrift and industry and lived a very useful and unselfish life. For many years he served on the school board in Indiana and was always interested in education. Although born in the north, his sympathies were with the South, and when the war broke out between the states he enlisted as a Confederate soldier and fought for the southern cause, seeing constant service from the beginning to the end of that struggle, with the exception of furlough time. His death occurred in Carthage, Hissouri, and his wife is also now deceased. There were fourteen children in the f.-imily and the only two now (lead are Annie and Bertha. Among those living the following are mentioned: Joseph, of Chicago; Warren, of Wichita, Kansas; Barton, of Olathe, Kansas; Alton, of St. Paul, Minnesota, and Charles and Orson, of Seattle, Washington; Eliza and Maude, of Webb City, Missouri; Lena, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Grace, of Oronogo, Missouri.

As a boy Taylor Eay attended common schools in Carthage, Missouri, and later while at regular work and in order to make up for the deficiencies in his early training he was a student in night school in Kansas City and in Sherman, Texas. When he left home at the age of thirteen he made his first pause in his wanderings in the state of Colorado, where he was employed for a time as clerk in a grocery store at LeadviUe. After that lie was messenger boy in Denver for a while and during the following four years wandered about from one place to another, visiting many western states and getting such work as he could find. When seventeen he landed in Sherman, Texas, where he was given a job in a grocery store and later promoted to shipping clerk. With the firm of Cullers & Henry he remained for two years. After that he began work for the old 'Texas Express Company, an organization long since defunct. He continued as driver for that concern for one .year. That was the beginning of his long service in the express business. After leaving the Texas cotnpany he worked for the Pacific and the Wells, Fargo & Company Express, much of the time as clerk on trains and his labor took him from San Antonio on the south as far north as Chicago and west to Denver and southeast to New Orleans, and he was in many other points all over this vast territory. He also travelled over nearly all the railroad lines in the South, including the Southern Pacific, the Iron Mountain, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas and the International and Great Northern. In September, 1894, he was assigned to a permanent position at Eosenberg as agent for the Wells-Fargo Company, a place in which his fidelity to the company 's interest has kept him ever since. Aside from being a successful man of business Mr. Ray is doubly rich in the hosts of loyal friends who give him their esteem. He is a man big in body and character, genial and kindly, and is always ready to do his part. From 1901 to 1910 he served on the board of aldermen of Eosenberg and from 1900 to 1910 was secretary-treasurer of the school board, being president of the board during the last two years. He served as city secretary and clerk and as already stated was the first mayor of Rosenberg under the commission charter.

On March 25, 1891, he married Miss Mattie Newton of Des Moines, Iowa, daughter of Henry Newton. Of the six children born to their marriage two are deceasea, George and Arthur, and the others are: Edith, Nita, Walter and Robert, aU of whom are at home and in school. Mrs. Ray is a woman of superior culture and refinement and takes a prominent part in all social uiatters. She is an earnest worker in the Baptist church, in which her husband is also active, having lioen a deacon for the past ten years. Mrs. Ray organized the first Philathia Class in the city and has been president of the Ladies' Aid Society for twelve years and also n teacher in the Sunday school. She has membership in several social clubs, is worthy matron of the local chapter of the Eastern Star and one of the women of Rosenberg who are depended upon to take the lead in many matters for improving social and civic conditions. Mr. Ray is fraternally identified with Rosenberg Lodge, No. 881, A. F. & A. M., of which he is past master, and is also past m.ister of the Masonic Lodge at Richmond. He has for a number of terms served as clerk and treasurer of his camp of the Woodmen of the World. He and his family reside in one of the attractive homes of Rosenberg and he owns considerable other real estate.

H. A. Meyer. In the direction of home-seeking population and disposition of capital for permanent investment, various agencies have played a large part and broueht about a tremendous development of Texas' material resources in recent years, but no one factor has been

specialty has consisted in promoting the sale and colonization of the vast tract of land, hitherto either left waste or imperfectly employed for grazing. The lower Brazos and Colorado Valleys have been a notable field for this work in recent years and one of the men who may properly claim a good share of the credit for results obtained is Mr. H. A. Meyer, who is head of the Meyer-Forster Land & Loan Company of Kosenberg. Mr. Meyer is also prominent as the present mayor of his home city.

Only a few men are privileged to achieve such success as Mr. Meyer has attained to so early in life. Not yet much beyond thirty-five he has gained a fortune and true friends and is regarded as a prominent and reliable citizen by all who know him and one of great value to the community in which he lives. Coming of hardy German parentage he has been honest and industrious and these qualities have won for him the enviable position he occupies.

H. A. Meyer was born in Austin county, Texas, August 27, 1875, and is a sou of Benjamin and Louise (Shultz) Meyer. His father was born in Minden, Westphalia, Germany, and came alone to Austin county, Texas, at the age of fourteen years. The mother and her parents wefe born in Austin County, Texas, but her grandparents were all natives of Germany. They were part of Austin 's colony. Only one of the old line, John Stern of Austin county, is now living. Landing in Texas without money, IJenjamin Meyer, the father, at once began working "for wages of forty-five dollars per year and his board. In spite of this meager compensation his untiring industry and frugality finally produced sufficient capital for him to buy a farm, to which he added until he was one of the large and prosperous land owners in Austin county. He was well known as a raiser of fine blooded driving horses. In that vicinity he lived and labored until four years ago, when he moved into Eosenberg, where he and his good wife live a life of ease and comfort. He is the owner of considerable land over the county of Fort Bend and his position is an exceedingly creditable one, especially in view of his having come to this state a young foreigner without money and having begun entirely on the labor of his hands. Although he had but few educational chances he has lived a very successful and useful life. In the mother 's family her father and aU her uncles were soldiers of the Confederate army. The present mayor of Eosenberg is one of ten living children, being the oldest in the line, and the others being mentioned as follows: L. H., who is postmaster of Eosenberg; O. C, auditor of the Bond Lumber Company at Eagle Pass; Mrs. F. A. Shawe and Mrs. Clara Kiekee, both of Eosenberg ; Mrs. Laura Nippling of Granada, and Mrs. Henrietta Havla of Cost, Texas; Norma, Selma and Louise at home in Eosenberg and Emma and Benjamin, both deceased.

H. A. Meyer as a boy attended the country schools in Austin county, after which he took a literary course in the Lutheran College at Benham, and finally completed his preparation for his business career in Toby's Business College of Waco. He continued at home working on the farm until he was twenty-three years of age and then moved to Fort Bend county, where he was engaged in farming for one year. In the fall of 1897 he bought a farm of his own and has since been one of the big land owners of the county and also possesses much valuable city property. In 1899, with a partner named Brown, he opened a general store in Rosenberg. A year later he sold out his interests and was appointed postmaster, a position in which he did capable service for seven years. In the meantime he had been engaged in the insurance and real estate business and in 1904 became associated with Mr. A. E. Pleak, a relationship which was maintained until 1910. In that year Mr. Pleak sold out to Mr. Forster, thus making the present

firm of Meyer-Forster Land & Loan Company. This company specializes on land for colonization and has peopled a number of large tracts with industrious and thrifty homeseekers. The company also loan a large amount of money on real estate. They have been one of the most successful firms in this line in south Texas. Up to March 24, 1913, their books indicate transactions covering Fort Bend and adjoining counties to an aggregate volume of fifteen million dollars' worth of land. In February, 1912, the partners organized the Meyer-Forster Realty Company of Ganado, Jackson county. This firm has also prospered. Mr. Meyer has made a thorough study of Texas soil and products and his judgment has come to be accepted as thoroughly reliable and has been a big factor in promoting the success of his business organization. His company was the agent for the disposal of the lands of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad and has represented several other large interests in the state.

In September, 1S9S, Mr. Meyer married Miss Emma Windell of Texas, a daughter of Captain C. W. F. Windell of Caldwell, Texas, and a veteran of the Confederate war. The one child born to Mr. and Mrs. Meyer died in infancy. While Mr. Meyer has never aspired to office he has been selected out of the body of Eosenberg citizens to the office of mayor and is giving a very efficient administration. Fraternally he is affiliated with the local lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is a Eoyal Arch Mason, also a member of the Eastern Star and belongs to the Woodmen of the W^orld. Mrs. Meyer has membership in the Order of Eastern Star and is a member of the Methodist church of Rosenberg.

Judge H. T. Compton. A veteran of the war between the states, in which he saw a long and arduous service until his wounds compelled him to retire from the front, Judge Compton has been a resident of Texas for sixty years and since the war has been closely identified with public affairs in Wharton county.

He was born in Montgomery county, Tennessee, December 23, 1841, one of a family of five children born to W. T. S. and Sarah (Newell) Compton. His father was from Maryland and his mother from Alabama. The father was a merchant and a slave holder before the war and settled in Texas in 1853, coming from Tennessee and stopping awhile in Louisiana. In 1849 he had joined the California forty-niners and had at first a successful experience as a gold seeker, but later lost all he gained while on the gold coast. He returned to Tennessee, after about four years in California, and soon afterward moved to South Texas, locating in Matagorda county. There he was engaged in farming and in other pursuits and his death occurred in Columbus, Texas, at the age of sixty-five. The Newell family on the maternal side were ironworkers in Tennessee and also planters in that state. Judge Compton 's mother died in 1858 soon after the family came to Matagorda county. The father was a man of more than ordinary educational equipment and both he and his wife were devout members of the Episcopal church. Of their children only one besides the judge is now living, J. P. Compton of La Porte, Texas. Those deceased are E.lward, Nannie and Albert. Judge Compton has two half-sisters living in Wharton county — Mrs. A. E. Hudgins and Jlrs. S. G. Perviance; also a half-sister, Mrs. H. B. Otto of La Porte.

As n boy Judge Compton attended private schools in Texas and was not yet twenty years old when the war broke out and threw its shadow across every peaceful pursuit. In April, 1861, in the first weeks of the war he enlisted at Richmond, Texas, in Tom Mitchell's Company F of the Twenty-Fourth Texas Cavalry. This regiment was afterward dismounted in Arkansas and thereafter served as an infantry regiment. At Arkansas . Post he was captured and sent a prisoner to Camp

Butler, Illinois. After three mouths he was exchanged and then joined Johnston's army in Tennessee. He left the Federal prison ill and therefore did not join his command until the eve of the battle of Chattanooga. Afterward he participated in the battles of Chickamauga, Missionary Eidge, Ringgold, New Hope Church, Peach Tree Creek and the many other fights leading up to Atlanta. At Peach Tree Creek he was severely wounded by a bullet which shattered his left arm and passed through his left hip. Gangrene set in and for days his life was despaired of. This severe wound totally incapacitated him for further military service.

At the close of the war Judge Compton located in "Wharton county, where he took charge of his uncle's, John D. Newell 's, plantation. After two years in that work he was elected tax assessor of Wharton county and filled that office with fidelity and efficiency for ten years. Following that office he was chosen magistrate of precinct No. 1 and has presided over this precinct court to the present time.

In 1887 Judge Compton was married to Miss Emma Hooker of Texas and a daughter of George Hooker, one of the old settlers of this state. Mrs. Compton is living and also her five children, namely: Pearle, Margie, Carrie, Harry and Newell. All have homes in Wharton and were educated in the local schools. Mr. and Mrs. Compton are active members of the Methodist church south. The judge is a charter member of Buchel Camp, No. 228, U. C. v., at Wharton and is now adjutant of the camp. He takes a deep interest in all Confederate matters and has often been a delegate to reunions and other gatherings of the boys in gray.

Charles T. Paul was born on the 2d of March, 1880, at Paul's Store in Shelby county, Texas, the j'oungest of the six children, four sons and two daughters, of W. A. and Delilah Paul. On the paternal side the ancestry is French, while on the maternal side he is descended from Irish stock. W. A. Paul wa-s a second cousin of Alexander H. Stephens, vice president of the Confederacy. The grandparents on both sides were planters and slave holders, and the family is well represented in Georgia and Arkansas, also elsewhere throughout the South. W. A. Paul has followed farming and stock-raising, flour milling and ginning, and for more than forty years was a resident of Shelby county, Texas. From that vicinity he enlisted in the Confederate army as a member of Company H, Eleventh Texas Infantry, and was wounded in battle at Opelousas, Louisiana. He went through the war, and after its close settled down to farming in Shelby county. For the accommodation of his neighbors in the community about his home he conducted a grist mill, a cotton gin and a blacksmith shop, and, as these activities indicate, he was a man of varied affairs and an important factor in the community where he lived. Finally selling out his business there in 1900, he came to San Angelo, Texas, and took up ranching, a line which he still follows and in which he is well known. The wife and mother passed away in 1892, and was laid to rest in the country cemetery near Paul's Store, Texas.

In the public schools of Shelby county Charles T. Paul obtained his early training, and after his graduation from the high school at Timpson in 1901. entered the University of Texas, where he pursued his studies for three years in the academic and law departments. During his university career he was president of the Sophomore class, was president of Athena;um Literary Society, and was a charter member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity in the University. His first business venture was in real estate in San Angelo, where he opened his office in 1904. Since then he has added an abstract and genornl rental business under the firm name of the Paul Abstract and Title Company. In a period of only a fenyears real estate has advanced from one hundred to one hundred and fifty per cent in price and the trend is still steadily upward. From April, 1909, to April, 1911, Mr. Paul served as mayor of San Angelo, and was earnestly solicited to make the race for a second term, but his accumulating interests in business led him to decline the offer. For three years he was one of the directors of the San Angelo Bank & Trust Company, one of the largest financial concerns of west Texas, with a capital stock of a quarter of a million dollars.

Mr. Paul has always been a stanch Democrat, and fraternally is well known in Masonry, having taken the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite. He also has membership affiliations with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His church is the Presbyterian.

On the 2Sth of March, 1911, Mr. Paul married Miss Minnie Elizabeth Hunter, of San Angelo, a daughter of Mrs. M. E. Hunter. After the death of Mr. Hunter in 1905 the family came from Memphis, Tennessee, and Mrs. Hunter, who was born in Canada, is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Paul have one child, Minnie Lila Paul, born on the 12th of February, 1913, at 335 West H avenue, San Angelo, Texas.

Mr. Paul stands foremost among those who thoroughly believe in and advocates to all comers the resources of western Texas, b6th in climate and soil. He is thoroughly familiar with the resources of the country as a stock i-egion and recommends it as a good place for any ambitious man with the grit and industry to take his part of pioneer responsibilities and hardships, before enjoying all the success and prosperity which he well might anticipate.

Robert Meriwether Brown. At Wharton for the past quarter of a century one of the ablest lawyers and foremost citizens has been Robert Meriwether Brown. Judge Brown has served as special district judge, has represented his county in the state legislature, is commander of his local camp of Confederate Veterans and is regarded as one of the ablest lawyers of south Texas. He is local attorney for the Santa Fe Railroad and represents other large interests in this part of the state.

Robert Meriwether Brown was born in Amherst county, Virginia, December 24, 1845, and was one of six children born to Robert M. and Sarah (Whitehead) Brown, both of whom were natives of Virginia, and of old and prominent families of that state. Grandfather Benjamin Brown came from England and both he and his son Robert practiced law in Virginia. The maternal grandfather, John Whitehead, was prominent as a banker at Lynchburg. Grandfather Benjamin Brown married a Miss Lewis, who was a first cousin of Colonel Meriwether Lewis, whose name is first in American history as the first of the two noted explorers and pathfinders who left on the annals of history the name of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The trrandmotlior on the maternal side was Anna Mahoney, who was a noted Irish beauty in her time. Both grandfathers were planters and slave holders and men of more than ordinary ability and influence. .Judge Brown's father was at one time 'commonwealth attorney in Virginia and for years served as an elder in the Presbyterian church. He was a forceful and able man and did much to impress his personality on his community. Of the six children of Robert M. Brown and wife, "Thomas L. and Alfred L. are now deceased. The living, besides Judge Brown, are: Mrs. Collin Stokes, a widow, living at Covington, Virginia; A. D. Brown of Amhurst county, Virginia, and Benjamin W., a surgeon in the United States Marine Hospital and Health Service, who spent two years in China and now has charge of the United States Station at Yokohama, Japan. Judge Brown comes of a longlived family. His father lived to be eighty-two and his mother' died at the age of ninety-one years, she passing away in January, 1914. William P. Gorsuch, a son of his sister by a former marriage, is now professor of oratory in the University of Chicago.

Eobert Meriwether Brown when a boy attended school at Higginbotham Academy until he was fifteen years old. Then, like many other Virginia boys, his youth was interrupted by the outbreak of the great war between the states and he was at once thrown into the most serious responsibUities of existence. At the age of sixteen he volunteered in Company E of the Second Virginia Cavalry, under General Mumpford and also served under Fitzhugh Lee and under Judge J. E. B. Stuart, and fought all through the war in the army of Northern Virginia. Altogether his army record comprises twentyone engagements and among these he fought at Cold Harbor, the Wilderness, Seven Pines and at Yellow Tavern. At Yellow Tavern a bullet struck him in the head and for three months he lay critically ill in a hospital. How near he came to being a sacrifice to the cause of the south is indicated by the deep scar which still plows his forehead.

At the close of the war Mr. Brown returned home, still a young man, though a veteran soldier, and took up the study of law. He afterward practiced in his native state from 1867 to 1885. In the latter year he moved to Texas, locating in Jackson county, where he remained two years. Then on March 27, 1887, he established his office in Wharton and in the past quarter of a century has enjoyed a position second to none in the local bar. While Judge Brown is in no sense a politician, he represented his county in the state legislature during the twenty-ninth and thirtieth assemblies and altogether has served three terms as special district judge, his appointment having been made by the local bar. For four years he served as city attorney for Wharton.

On February 16, 1888, Judge Brown married Miss Nina Warren of Brook Haven, Mississippi, a daughter of Jesse Warren, circuit clerk of Lincoln county, Mississippi. Mrs. Brown died in 1897. Their two children were Nellie and Alfred P., both of wham died in infancy. Judge Brown is one of the best known Masons in south Texas. He is past master of Wharton Lodge, No. 621, A. F. & A. M. ; past king of Wharton Chapter, E. A. M. ; belongs to Euthven Commandery, K. T., at Houston, and is past district deputy master of the Grand Lodge of Texas. He also affiliates with the Order of the Eastern Star and is a past chancellor commander of the Knights of Pythias. Among his fellow veterans he has a popular place and at the present time is serving as commander of Buchel Camp, No. 228, of United Confederate Veterans at Wharton. Eeligiously he inclines to the Presbyterian faith.

Clem Dyer Myeks. Eepresenting the younger generation of business enterprise in Fort Bend county, Mr. Myers is proprietor of a first class mercantile establishment in Ifichmond and besides his business career has also been prominent in the public life of this county, having served two terms as county clerk. He belongs to a family whose members have been intimately associated with the development of Texas since pioneer times.

He was born in Eichmond, January 8, 1879, and is a son of the venerable August Myers, who for many years was in business at Eichmond and is now living in honorable retirement at Eichmond. August ilyers was born in Germany and came alone to America when eight years of age. At the age of fourteen he located in Fort Bend county, which has ever since been his home. It was given to him to accomplish a generous success in life and yet it is said that he never failed in business and that from first to last his word was as good as his bond. He came to Texas about 1842, when Texas was still a Eepnblic, and has lived here throughout the statehood period. It has been his privilege to know Texas under three flags. His first work in Fort Bend county was as manager of a stock ranch and he subsequently got into the general mercantile business, which he con-

tinued until 1905, at which date he retired. At one time he was given official honor as treasurer of Fort Bend county. When the Civil war came on he enlisted in the cause of the south and served as a brave and eflScient Confederate soldier.

The maiden name of the mother of C. D. Myers was Florence Dyer, a daughter of Judge C. C. Dyer, her father being a native of Tennessee, and her mother a native of North Carolina. Judge Dyer was a son of a planter and slave owner, and also a lawyer, who came to Texas and settled in Fort Bend county about 1826, only four or five years after the first Austin colony was planted in this state. His daughter Julia, a sister of Florence, is said to have been the first white female born in Fort Bend county, among the American settlers. Judge C. C. Dyer had the distinction of serving as one of the first county judges of Fort Bend county. There were four children in the family of August Myers and wife, one daughter, Mrs. J. E. Winston, being deceased, and the others being Leon A. and J. V.

Mr. Myers in 1904-5 was associated with his father in business and then took a place as bookkeeper for J. T. Dyer for one year. This was followed by his election to the office of county clerk of Fort Bend county, in which he served for two terms or four years. After the expiration of his official term he bought a grocery business and has continued that enterprise ever since, building up and extending the trade throughout this section of the county, having one of the largest stocks in Eichmond.

On September 14, 1899, Mr. Myers married Miss Mattie McElwee, daughter of D. C. and Mattie (Foster) McElwee. Her grandfather, Ean Foster, was one of the very earliest pioneers of Texas. The four children born to their marriage are named Florence, Dorothy, Clem D. and Eandolph Foster. Mr. and Mrs. Myers are members of the Episcopal church. Besides his business Mr. Myers owns a nice home in Eichmond and has other property interests.

Judge William I. McFarlane. One of the ablest men in the public life of Fort Bend county. Judge McFarlane is now administering the fiscal affairs of this county in the office of county judge. A native of Fort Bend county and having been identified with this section practically all his life, .Judge McFarlane is known to the entire citizenship, and by his fine record as a citizen and business man has commended himself for promotion to the larger offices.

William I. McFarlane was born in Eichmond April 10, 1869, a son of Isaac McFarlane. Isaac McFarlane was a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, and was eight years of age when brought to America by his father. The paternal grandfather first located in the West Indies, where he secured some valuable estates and later went on with his family to Boston, where they remained a short time and from there to Eichmond, Texas. The grandfather was a physician during his career in Scotland and his death occurred soon after locating at Eichmond. Isaac McFarlane continued to make his home in this town after the death of his father, and when the Civil war broke out he east his fortunes with the South and went to the front as a member of Terry's famous Texas Eangers. As a member of that splendid body of cavalrymen he participated in many of the hardest fought engagements of the war and made a fine record as a soldier, having never been sick or incapacitated and never absent a day from active service. He fought at Bowling Green, at Charlevoix, at Murfreesboro, at Perryville, at Chickamauga, at ^Missionary Eidge and Lookout Mountain, at the battle around Atlanta and in practically every engagement in the Mississippi Valley from the beginning to the end of the war.

Johnson Francis White: A history of Texas and Texans