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Submitted by Sara Hemp
From the Centenial Edition of the Grand Prairie News
Texan (1863-1963):
Poindexter Family History
Originally from Illinois, J. F. and Wilma L. Poindexter were among
the first of the family to settle in the Grand Prairie area. They
bought a section of land south of town to farm. Among their children
were J. B. Poindexter born in 1849 who was the patriarch of the
present Poindexter family. J. B. married Elmenor Upchurch in 1875.
The Upchurch family had come to Grand Prairie from Tennessee in 1847
so both were natives. After their marriage, the young
Poindexter's lived in a log cabin on the family land (now owned by
the Dallas Power and Light Co, except for 100 acres retained by
family members). He opened the town's first blacksmith shop.
The couple had seven children including W. A. Poindexter, 134 N. St.
and R. L. Poindexter, 902 SE 11th St. W. A. married Alpha Lake
Gailey in 1915. J. B., who died in 1914, commented that at one
time, land was plentiful and oxen hard to come by. He could have
bought all the land around the Dallas courthouse for a yoke of oxen,
but when the offer came, like everyone else he had plenty of land
and only two oxen. Mrs. Grace Huffstetter, in an interview in 1946,
stated that her father, John Eathen Rust, settled three miles south
of Grand Prairie in 1876. Her nearest neighbors were the Poindexters
(Vail, The History of Grand Prairie 1846 to 1941, Appendix 38).
Source:
A History of Texas and Texans by Francis White
Johnson, Ernest William Winkler – 1920, pg. 1553-1554
Submitted by Dena Whitesell
MOSES DRAKE GARLINGTON. A former business man of Dallas whose name
was closely identified with
mercantile, manufacturing and real estate development in that city
during the twenty years following the
beginning of the railroad era, the late Moses Drake Garlington was
trained to business from early life, was a soldier of the south in
the war between the states, came to Texas in 1871 and in his death
at Dallas. September 23, 1894, that city lost one of its successful
men, a public- spirited citizen and a man whose good name and
activities are still held in honor in that community. Moses D.
Garlington was reared on a Louisiana plantation and was given the
school advantages usually afforded to the sons of fairly
prosperous southern gentlemen of that time. In early manhood he
taught school and with the money earned by that vocation continued
his education and finally became clerk in a store at Trenton,
Louisiana, and lived in that town for eighteen years.
His business career was interrupted by the outbreak of the war
between the states, and he went to the front
as second lieutenant of Company A, Seventeenth Louisiana regiment,
and became first lieutenant in 1862 on the reorganization of the
troops. After the battle of Shilo his command was in Vicksburg until
its fall, and on July 4, 1863, he was quartermaster of his regiment
and in that capacity continued until the end of the struggle.
After a service of four years he was discharged at
Mansfield, Louisiana. Dr. Arthur was born near the hamlet of Swan in
Smith county, Texas, April 7, 1871, and in his youth had good
educational advantages. His early training was received in the
public schools. He then entered Baylor University, Waco, Texas,
where he pursued a course of study and following which he was for a
time engaged in teaching in the public schools. His youthful
ambition was to be a physician. Accordingly he prepared
himself for the practice of medicine by a course in the University
of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, of which institution he is a
graduate. Returning to his native county he began the practice
of his profession here and continued for some time. He abandoned a
professional life, however, for one of commercial activities, and
for several years has been engaged in merchandising at
Lindale. Also he is interested in the canning industry here, being
one of the directors of the canning industry here, being one of the
directors of the Farmers' Canning Company. On returning to
Trenton, Louisiana, he took his place as a partner in the store
which had formerly employed him as clerk, and continued in active
business in Louisiana for five or six years. In 1871 the late Mr.
Garlington came to Texas and established a wholesale grocery
business under the firm name of Garlington & Marsalis at Corsicana.
The Houston and Texas Central Railway was then in process of
building northward, Corsicana being a terminus at that time, but
soon afterward the road was completed as far as Dallas. Mr.
Garlington realized the great opportunities presented by Dallas
as a railroad center and identified himself with that then small
city in 1872. His wholesale grocery house at Dallas was first
operated under the name of Garlington, Marsalis & Company, and from
about 1874 to 1876 he was chiefly interested in real estate lines.
The latter year saw the establishment of the wholesale business
of confectionery, fruit and produce, which was first conducted
under the name Garlington & Underwood, later
Garlington & Fields and after 1888 as M. D. Garlington & Company.
Branch houses were opened in Fort Worth in 1888 under the name of
Garlington & Montgomery, and at Waco in 1892 under the name of
M. D. Garlington & Son, and in the meantime an extensive business
had been built up in the manufacture of candies, for which the firm
had a large trade all over the southwest. In 1892 Mr. Garlington
established a wholesale and retail buggy business in Dallas under
the name Garlington & Rogers, and that enterprise was continued
until the
death of the senior partner. For many years Mr. Garlington owned and
dealt in real estate on a large scale and his activities in all
these lines were such as to give him a position of influence among
the business leaders of the city.
At the same time he was interested in public affairs, served as an
alderman of Dallas and was a Democrat in
politics. He was affiliated with the Masonic order and was active in
the Methodist church south and served his society as steward.
On January 15, 1868, Moses D. Garlington married Miss Anna Moor, who
was born in Arkansas, a daughter of
John and Sarah (Fortenberry) Moore, the former a native of South
Carolina and the latter of Tennessee.
Mrs. Garlington was the oldest of four children, was educated
at Mount Lebanon Institute in Louisiana, and
had much of the culture that comes from an acquaintance with schools
and books. Of their several children, two are deceased, and those
living are: William D. Garlington, Charles F. Garlington, Maurice M.
Garlington, Annie Emma Garlington and Henry Lee Garlington. William
D. Garlington, the oldest of the children, was born at
Trenton, Louisiana, and for several years after receiving his
education was associated in business with his father at Waco.
He is now in the wholesale brokerage business in that city. His wife
before her marriage was Miss Nettie Fendrich, a daughter of Francis
and Mary Fendrich, who moved to Texas in 1876. They are the parents
of two children, M. D. and Marie Anna. Charles F. is in
business in Bland, Missouri. Annie married A. R. Phillips and is
living in Dallas. Maurice M. is living in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Henry L. is living in Arizona.
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