Biographies  Greenville County - South Carolina Genealogy Trails JAMES S. TERRY - For nearly half a century the name Terry has been one associated with useful activities and of both business and civic prominence in the city of Dallas. Various members of the family have been farmers and planters, manufacturers, successful business men, and while unusually prosperous in material circumstances have at the same time performed the part of public spirited citizens, and the community of Dallas has been better for their services and activities. Perhaps the most conspicuous of these men was the late James S. Terry, whose death at Dallas in 1901 removed one of that city's ablest and best known citizens. Of an old southern family, James S. Terry was born in the Greenville district of "South Carolina in 1834. He was the oldest in a family of nine children whose parents were Asbury and Winnie E. (Graydon) Terry. Both parents were natives of South Carolina, and on the paternal side the ancestry was English, and Scotch- Irish on the maternal. The grandfather of the late James S. Terry came from England to South Carolina about 1777, and fought for American Independence. A characteristic of the Terry family is that they have been for several generations stanch Methodists. This leaning is indicated in the name, Asbury Terry, who was given that name in honor of the noted BisTiop Asbury, one of the most prominent Methodists during the early part of the nineteenth century. Ever since the family was established in America, the Terrys has been a strong race of people, and the large families of children in each successive generation have been noted for their attributes of physical and mental power. Of the brothers and sisters of James S. Terry only two are now living: George A. Terry and Mrs. Mattie Duncan, both living at Oak Cliff, Dallas. In the generation to which James S. Terry belongs, the first of the brothers to come to Dallas was C. M. Terry, who arrived in 1866. George A. and T. G. Terry came in 1868, and Will Terry and James S. came in 1872. James S. Terry at the age of seven years accompanied his parents and other members of the family to Mississippi, first locating in Tippah county, and about 1848 moving to DeSoto county in the same state, where his father was engaged in business as a cotton planter. When twenty- one years of age James S. Terry moved to Tennessee and was employed as a clerk in a store at LaGrange of Major Cossett, who built and endowed the Mcmphis Public Library. A few years later with the outbreak of the war between the states in 1861 he enlisted in the Southern Guards, Company A, and spent twelve months in the artillery division, his command being stationed respectively at Cape Girardeau, Belmont, Columbus, Island No. 10, and New Madrid in the defensive operations of the Confederates along the Mississippi river. With a number of his comrades James S. Terry swam the river to the Arkansas side, rejoined the Confederate forces at Fort Pillow, went on to Corinth, and in 1862 Mr. Terry was assigned to Company A of the Fourth Tennessee Infantry, and with that command participated in the invasion of Kentucky, and in the battles of Perryville, Murphyfreesboro, Chattanooga, Chickamauga, Nashville, and at the last named place was captured and spent some time in Federal prison at Camp Douglas in Chicago. He rejoined his command in time to take part in the defense of Atlanta, where he received a gun shot wound, and during his career as a soldier received several other wounds. His record included thirty-seven pitched battles. At Richmond, Virginia, in 1865, he received his parole, returned across the country on foot to Mississippi, and was employed in varied labor on the farm and in threshing until moving to the city of Dallas in 1872. For a number of years, beginning about the time Dallas took on an importance as a commercial center as the result of railroad building, the firm of Terry Bros, was prominent as local manufacturers. The original firm, composed of T. G. and G. A. Terry, in 1871 established a planing mill, located on what is now Pacific avenue and Ervay street. Some time later a flouring mill was established by C. M. Terry in partnership with Charles Beauchamp, their mill being near Austin street about four blocks south of the court house. When the planing mill was abandoned T. G. and G. A. Terry joined Terry & Beauchamp in the flouring mill enterprise. Then James S. Terry bought an interest in the flour mill, and in a short time was the leading spirit in its operation. The city of Dallas during the '70s was not lacking in men of exceptional ability and originality, but among them the late James S. Terry was a leader in affairs, and one of the undertakings for which he deserves special remembrance was his establishment of a woolen mill, which was operated successfully for a number of years. His industrial activities were finally discontinued in order to afford him time and opportunity to devote to his real estate property. Not only his influence as a member of the community but his individual enterprise and contribution of private means were employed in the opening up and grading of streets, and in otherwise building up Dallas as a city. The old planing mill site, on Pacific avenue and Ervay street, at the intersection of Bryan street, in the heart of a busy commercial district, is still owned by Mrs. James S. Terry. While in business affairs he stood in the front ranks of his contemporaries, James S. Terry was also notable for the strength and nobility of his personal character. When sixteen years old his father died, leaving eight children younger than the son James, and as the eldest he imposed upon himself the duty of educating these children and helping his mother to rear them, a duty which he fulfilled with unshrinking fidelity. It was "on this account that he himself did not marry until he was forty-two years old. When he left the army in 1865 he had not a penny, and was still almost a poor man when he started in business in Dallas. No man deserved his success more thoroughly, and won it more creditably than the late James S. Terry. To his own children he gave the best of opportunities for education and advancement, and at his death left his family in comfortable financial circumstances. In this connection some mention should also be made of his brother, the late T. G. Terry, who was a member of the original firm of Terry Bros. T. G. Terry spent the last twenty years of his life unselfishly in the interests of the public schools of Dallas, being secretary of the school board for about that length of time, and devoting practically all his time and energies, for a very small remuneration, to the up building of Dallas' public schools. In De Soto county, Mississippi, in 1877, James S. Terry married Miss Callie Hicks, who still lives at the Terry home in Dallas. She was born in Mississippi, a daughter of Charles Hatcher and Lucy (Ingram) Hicks, who came from North Carolina to Mississippi at an early day, when her father died in 1873 and her mother about 1881. Of the children of the late James S. Terry and wife one died in infancy, and Hugh Finley Terry, who was born in Mississippi, and who became a physician in Dallas, is also deceased. There are now seven children living, named as follows: Boy Hicks Terry, Grover C. Terry, Paul L. Terry, Robert E. Lee Terry, Mrs. W. J. Schaefle, Miss Katharine Nell Terry and Miss Lucy Helen Terry. These children were all born and educated in Dallas, with the exception of the eldest, and Boy Hicks Terry, who was born in Mississippi. The youngest son, Robert E. Lee, is now a student in the law school of the University of Texas. William D. Benson was born in DeKalb county, Missouri, April 4, 1867. His parents were Elbert S. and Melvina (Coop) Benson. The father was born in Middle Tennessee, came to Missouri in 1842, among the early settlers, making the journey overland, and located in Nodaway county, Missouri, and in 1875 came to Texas, locating in Wise county. Two years later he moved to Palo Pinto county, arriving there January 1, 1877. Farming and stock raising was his occupation, and he finally transferred his operations to Park county, where he died in 1896 at the age of seventy-six. The mother, a native also of middle Tennessee, was reared and educated in Missouri, and her death occurred in Park county, Texas, in 1904, at the age of sixty-six.  A History of Texas and Texans by Francis White Johnson, Ernest William Winkler- 1920, pg. 1315 BACK © all rights reserved to the original submitter