Books by "David B. Boone Jr.."
4 books found
This is the first full biography of George Washington Littlefield, the Texas and New Mexico rancher, Austin banker and businessman, University of Texas regent, and philanthropist. In just two decades, Littlefield’s business acumen vaulted him from debt to inclusion in 1892 on the first list of American millionaires. A Man Absolutely Sure of Himself is a grand retelling of the life of a highly successful entrepreneur and Austin civic leader whose work affected spheres from ranching and banking to civic development and academia. Littlefield’s cattle operations during the open range and early ranching periods spanned a domain in New Mexico and Texas larger than the states of Delaware and Connecticut combined. In a unique contribution to ranching art, Littlefield commissioned murals and bronze doors depicting scenes from his ranches to decorate Austin’s American National Bank, which he led for its first twenty-eight years. Gracy provides new information about Littlefield’s term as University of Texas regent and the necessity of choosing between friendship and duty during the university’s confrontation with Gov. James E. Ferguson. Proud of his Civil War service in Terry’s Texas Rangers, Littlefield funded one of the nation’s first centers for Southern history. He also underwrote the school’s purchase of its first rare book library and its training programs preparing troops for World War I’s new combat roles. Littlefield played a central role in advancing Austin from a cattleman’s town into the business center it wanted to become. His Littlefield Building, the tallest office building between New Orleans and San Francisco when it was built, served for a generation as the prime location of the town’s business community. Author David B. Gracy II, a relative of Littlefield, grounds his vivid prose in a lifetime of research into archival and family sources. His comprehensive biography illuminates an exceptional figure, whose life singularly illustrates the evolution of Texas from Southern to Western to American.
Learning English Incidentally
by David Segel, Elise Henrietta Martens, Howard Washington Oxley, James Frederick Rogers, John Hamilton McNeely, Junius Lathrop Meriam, Mary Dabney Davis, Walter Herbert Gaumnitz, Walter James Greenleaf, Willis Branson Coale, Maris Marion Proffitt
1937
The phenomenon of colonization by big land companies, common throughout the history of the United States, came late to the Panhandle-Plains of West Texas. Ranchers held sway there up into the 20th century. Then, realizing that the future followed the plow, they, joined by business owners and speculators, founded towns on their land, competed for railroad connections, provided irrigation wells and other improvements, and engaged in a variety of advertising activities to interest prospective settlers and to sell the land to farmers at a profit. Trainloads of such "prospectors" were brought in to tour the land; and salesmen of all kinds roamed all the more settled states painting enticing pictures of the fertile lands which their employers offered for sale. Major George W. Littlefield created the Littlefield Lands Company and founded the town of Littlefield, Texas, in 1912, in order to sell as farmland a part of his Yellow House Ranch. His sales manager, Arthur P. Duggan (his nephew by marriage, and grandfather of the author of this study), used many of the techniques then current to attract buyers for the Lamb County land in and around Littlefield. He dug wells and operated a demonstration farm; he planted trees, planned a park, and otherwise beautified the town; he helped to create and maintain a school, a bank, and a number of businesses; and he negotiated contracts and coordinated the activities of innumerable independent land agents. Because the role of the big land company in the settlement of the United States has not, on the whole, received the attention which it deserves, this detailed examination of the operations of one such company is of particular significance. Most of the book is devoted to the creation of the company, the steps taken to make the area attractive to potential settlers, and the problems which beset the building of the community. One chapter discusses the techniques and the difficulties of selling land through independent agents. The final chapter considers the people who moved onto the Littlefield tracts—where they came from, why they came, what their reactions were to the plains country, and how they learned to cope with their new environment. An appendix gives pertinent information about all land transactions conducted by the company between 1912 and 1920, and about each buyer. For this study the author made use of previously unknown records discovered while he was gathering information for a biography of Major Littlefield.
"The 34th was a large regiment, probably the largest in (its) brigade. It was not so large as some of the others at the first but the great numbers of additions to its ranks, and their zeal in keeping up a large average, always gave them a massive appearance. In their rank and file were some of the foremost men in North Mississippi and many sons of such men. This gave them pride of character, an essential limit of true bravery. In the grand shock of battle... this regiment gave good measure." Reverend E. A. Smith, 1904 Honor Without a Stain: The 34th Mississippi Infantry Regiment, 1862-1865 walks in the footstep of the average North Mississippian from his first engagement at Farmington, Mississippi across the battlefields of Perryville, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Atlanta, and into the grand coronation of death at Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee. Included are never before published wartime diary and letter excerpts. Invaluable to genealogists will be the complete roster of the regiment including last known residences for survivors, circa 1907. "Honor Without a Stain is required reading for every serious student of the War Between the States. The author ́s best work yet, Honor Without a Stain is not only a great read, it ́s brimming with facts and personal anecdotes available in no other generally accessible publication anywhere. The true story of the Civil War is here. Read it and you will understand." Lt. Cmdr. R. J. Skinner, U.S. Navy (Ret.) "Mr. Boone, I am the great grandson of Thomas Franklin Rutherford mentioned in your book about the 34th of Miss. I have done some research about my kin and the 34th. You have done an excellent job on the material. I, and all three of my brothers, recommend your book highly. Thanks for doing this book for so many people." B. Rutherford Mesquite, TX