A.M. Pyron and His Promotion of Agricultural Fairs in Texas
Bernard Pyron
"On June 16, 1864, a seventeen year old boy came leading his horse down a narrow dirt road through a pine forest. He was heading away from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, going to his camp. His horse had been shot in a skirmish on the Monticello Road by someone in the 5th Kansas Cavalry. His regiment, the 2nd Arkansas Cavalry, Fighting Bill Slemons' Outfit, under Lt. Tabbs, had been cutting Federal telegraph lines when the Union force approached them. The boy's uncle, John Calvin Pyron, a tanner with Company I, had given him the horse. He had been living with his uncle near Hamburg, Arkansas since he was about fourteen, because both his parents had died in Louisiana. Confederate cavalryman Aurelius Milton Pyron was dressed in homespun grey jeans, wore a black western type hat, and carried a muzzle-loading Mississippi rifle. His regiment, like most of the Arkansas Cavalry, dismounted when they fought. One out of every five men was detailed to hold the horses of the otherswhofought.This is likely why young Milton did not get in the battles of Mark's Mill and Poison Springs in April of that year - his Captain Marcus L. Hawkins had included him among the horse holders."
Parts of this story I wrote in 1979 are based on historical accounts, including a report in The War of the Rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies. There was a skirmish on the Monticello Road near Pine Bluff, Arkansas on June 17, 1864 including the detail that A.M. Pyron's regiment was then under Lt.Tabbs and was cutting federal telegraph wires. I combined this information with what A.M. Pyron wrote in his letter - written by his daughter Mary Pyron - about his being in a skirmish near Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Grandfather had his daughter write this letter in support of his application for a Confederate Pension to be paid by Texas. In the letter to Anna Price Hewett of July 31, 1931, A.M. Pyron says that when General Lee surrendered, his regiment was camped on Red River in Texas, and that they then disbanded ahd he went back to his home in Arkansas, in Ashley county, eight miles from Hamburg. Hesayshewas never in a battle but was in several skirmishes, one time near Pine Bluff, Arkansas when his horse was shot. I found the information about the dress of many in the Arkansas cavalry who were not officers or non-commissioned officers and the weapons they used in other sources.
In 1864 http://www.researchonline.net/decw/battles.htm lists a number of skirmishes near Pine Bluff, Arkansas, from January 19th to September 13th, including June 17th.
On http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext:2001.05.0140:state%3DArkansas:year=1864
June 17, 1864: Skirmish, Monticello Road, near Pine Bluff
KANSAS--5th Cavalry. Union loss, 3 wounded.
A.M. Pyron waited until the summer of 1931 to apply to the state of Texas for his Confederate pension. He could have applied for it earlier. He died on December 23, 1932 at the age of 86, and so would have been 84, as he says in his application, when he applied for it. One of the two biographies I will quote below says that A.M. Pyron had up to twenty oil wells on his property at one time - between about 1910 and 1930 - with steady production. A.M. Pyron and Carl Kurz (1855-1940), his neighbor to the east, had organized the Somerset Oil and Gas Company, at the start of the Somerset Oil Field, which they sold. So A.M. Pyron had made some money from oil. My older sister Mary, in her write-up, Pyron Family, says that grandfather lost money in the robberies of the Somerset State Bank, including his bank Bonds. In old newspaper articles which I found online, the San Antonio Light, October 20, 1933, Page 19, says one of the robberies of theSomersetStateBank was on July 20, 1933, and in another article of November 18, 1933, from the Lubbock Morning Avalanche, a second robbery of the same bank is described. These robberies happened after grandfather died, but there may have been earlier robberies while he was still living. So, a reason for him to apply for his Confederate pension could have been that he had lost money in the Somerset bank robberies and needed the money Texas paid to Confederate veterans. Here are two biographies of Aurelius Milton Pyron:
The New Encyclopedia of Texas - compiled and edited by Ellis A. Davis and Edwin H. Grobe, volume 1 - page 762, on Aurelius Milton Pyron.
https://ucat.lib.utsa.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=283726
"AURELIUS MILTON PYRON, retired stockman and farmer of Somerset, is well known in oil circles, as one of the men who took the first step toward the development of the Somerset Oil Field, in which he has large interests. In 1909, Mr. Kurtz, whose land adjoined that owned by Mr. Pyron, was drilling for artesian water and struck oil instead. Following this Mr. Pyron and Mr Kurtz organized the Somerset Oil and Gas Company and began active operations in what is now the Somerset Oil Field. They brought their first well at eleven hundred feet, but this well was discarded soon after being put on pump. The Company was later sold to Mr. Kerr of San Antonio, who operated on Pyron's property under lease, and with the exception of his first initial venture, all wells sunk on his property have been drilled under lease, some twenty wells now being on pump, with steady production, on this land.
Aurelius Milton Pyron was born at Chicasaw county, Mississippi, in 1846, was the son of Adom Jackson Pyron, a native of Raleigh, N.C., and Sarah C.M. (Sommons) Pyron, of Charlestown, South Carolina. Mr. Pyron attended the schools near his home when it was possible and at other times pursued his education alone. During the Civil War he served in the Confederate Army under General John Kirby Smith. In 1876 Mr. Pyron came to Texas, from Arkansas, locating in Lavaca county, where he rented one hundred and twenty acres of land between Hallettsville and Sweet Home, and entered the cattle business, a year later buying up land in Lavaca county. In 1882 he came to Somerset and put up the first barb wire fence built west of San Antonio, fencing the property he bought at that time -- just at the end of the free grass period. He continued in the cattle business here until several years ago when he retired from active life.
Mr. Pyron was married in Lavaca county, in 1875 to Miss Virginia Blackburn, a family descended from Edward Blackburn. Mr. and Mrs. Pyron have six children, two sons and four daughters. These are B.B. Pyron, W.M. Pyron, Jessie, now wife of W. Kenney, Miss Mary Pyron, Clara, wife of Melton Johnson and Ida, wife of R.S. Oliver.
Mr. Pyron belongs to the Somerset Baptist Church at Somerset, Texas and is honored as one of the pioneers of this country who has contributed in many ways to its development."
There are several errors in this biography of A.M. Pyron. First, the name Kurz is spelled Kurtz. Carl Kurz (1855-1940) was the neighbor of A.M. Pyron to the east who worked with grandfather in several ventures.
A.M. Pyron was not born in Chicasaw county, Mississippi, as stated here, but in Marshall county, Mississippi as the 1850 census shows. His father was not Adam Jackson Pyron. The 1850 census shows grandfather's father as Andrew J. Pyron. And the 1840 Mecklenburg county, North Carolina census shows Andrew Jackson Pyron, William Pyron Jr and William Pyron Sr. Again, the biography above saying that Andrew Jackson Pyron was a native of Raleigh, North Carolina is wrong.
The biography in The New Encyclopedia of Texas says A.M. Pyron came to Texas in 1876. But grandfather in his Confederate pension application says he came to Texas in December of 1867 and had lived in Bexar county since 1882.
Obituary for Aurelius Milton Pyron
This is from a zerox copy of a newspaper article, which was a clipping from the San
Antonio Express or Light at the time of the death of Aurelius Milton Pyron on December 23, 1932.
"SOMERSET. --A.M. Pyron died at his home here on December 23 at the age of 86.
He was born on November 17, 1846, in Holy Springs, Mississippi. Later, the family moved to
Morgan City, Louisiana. On the death of the parents an uncle who lived in Hamburg, Arkansas,took the four children to make their home with him.
Mr. Pyron enlisted in the Confederate Army, Second Arkansas Cavalry, under Captain Hawkins, in the fall of 1862. He was then past 17 and served until the war closed, going through many hardships. While never in battle, he took part in several skirmishes, and on one occasion had his horse shot from under him. He moved to Sweet Home about 1867, and lived there until he was married, on November 25, 1875, to Miss Virginia Blackburn. His wife, four daughters and two sons survive him. They are Mrs. W. Kenney, Mrs Melvin Johnson, Mrs Ida Oliver and Mary Pyron; Blake V. and William Milton Pyron.
Mr Pyron moved to Bexar county in December, 1882, where he bouht a ranch of 640 acres, unfenced. He built some of the first barbed wire fences in the country, nd was interested in everything that stood for progress. He was Superintendent of the agricultural department of the San Antonio International Fair Association for thirteen years, and when Dr. Simmons started to build the Artesian Belt Railroad, Mr. Pyron, with the help of two friends, bought a small farm, in order to get lnd for a depot, and laid out the town of Somerset. When oil was found here he was one of the first men to lease his farm and obtain the leases on other farms to get the drilling started.
The last five years of his life were spent in bed or in an invalis's chair, a stroke having made him a cripple."
There are a few mistakes in this biography of A.M. Pyron and a couple of places where the information given is probably not correct.
On the statement that an uncle, who was John Calvin Pyron, took the four orphan Pyron children to live with him near Hamburg, Arkansas in following the death of both of their parents, a letter from grandfather's first cousin, William Alanza Pyron to A.M. Pyron in later years, date not indicated, says "Do you remember our first meeting near Falcon,
Nevada County, Arkansas, away back in 1859 or 60 when Father brought
you home with him after the death of your Father in New Orleans? I
remember very distinctly of your arrival and of our association from
then on until you, with your sister, all left Ashley County,
Arkansas, with Jack Carlock and Others for Texas and remember that I
have never seen you since and do not remember how you looked."
Cousin William Alanza Pyron, who lived with A.M. Pyron for several years in Arkansas, says grandfather left Arkansas with his sister, not sisters. Donald H. McGonagill, of Big Spring, Texas, told me a few years ago that someone had researched his ancestor Annie Pyron McMonagill, and found that she had been in an orphanage in New Orleans. Her sister Angeline might have been in the same New Orleans orphanage with Annie. The sister who was taken to Arkansas by Uncle John Calvin Pyron in about 1859 could have been the oldest of the four Pyron children, Eugenia or "Jennie."
A.M. Pyron was born on Novemnber 17, 1846, and on November 17, 1863 he would have turned seventeen. So, he enlisted in the Second Arkansas Cavalry in the late fall of 1863 after November 17th, not in 1862.
The statement that A.M. Pyron lived in Lavaca county, Texas "until" he was married on November 25, 1875 does not mean that the couple left the county in 1875. They moved to Bexar county, Texas in 1882, seven years after they were married.
The Blake V. Pyron mentioned as one of the two sons of A.M. Pyron is Blake Bernard Pyron, or Blake B. Pyron, my father (1889-1964).
The obituary says A.M. Pyron and two friends bought a small farm for the railroad depot and to create the town of Somerset. Actually, Carl Kurz (1855-1940), neighbor and friend of A. M. Pyron, sold about a hunded acres to the First Town Site Company of what had been land owned by Eugene S. Norris. This sale took place in 1909, at about the time of the creation by him, A.M. Pyron and a few others, of the First Town Site Company, a private corporation. A.M. Pyron was the second President of the First Town Site Company. His partner, Carl Kurz was the first President.
A.M. Pyron's activities in promoting agricultural fairs in Texas may have helped to get him into the New Encyclopedia of Texas. But at least two other interests helped him to become known to some extent in Bexar county, San Antonio and in Texas. These were his role in the beginning of the Somerset Oil Field and his contributions to the founding of the town of Somerset when he and Carl Kurz organized the First Town Site Company as a private corporation, which obtained ownership of about a hundred acres and sold off lots to people.
On October 7, 1903 the Dallas Morning News wrote that "The excursion train from San Antonio brought up quite a lot of visitors from that city, among whom were Hon. J. L. Slayden, Vories P. Brown, G. W. Sanders, and A.M. Pyron...The agricultural exhibits surpass anything that has ever been shown here at former fairs."
Apparently the visitors to Dallas from San Antonio came to see a fair at Dallas. A.M. Pyron was the head of the Agricultural part of the San Antonio Fair, and known by those in parts of Texas outside of San Antonio for his activities in promoting agricaultural exhibits.
G.W. Sanders of San Antonio is likely George Washington Sanders (1854-1933), Texas Trail Driver, who was
involved in the San Antonio livestock commission business, and later helped get the book, Trail Drivers of Texas, published.
Another business that A.M. Pyron was involved in was the Farmers Union Gin Company of Somerset According to the March 26, 1913 Dallas Morning News of March 26, 1913, "Chartered: Farmers Union Gin Company of Somerset, Bexar county: Capital, $7,000. Incorporators, L. S. Morrison, Charles Fischer, A.M. Pyron."
Here is an article from the San Antonio Express about A.M. Pyron's talk on the value of agricultural fairs at Jacksonville, Texas. I do not know the date of this talk since my older sister Mary and I only had clippings of this article without a date on the clippings.
"A.M. Pyron of San Antonio, has charge of the Agricultural Department of the San Antonio
International Fair, is present today and will read a paper on the
Value of Fairs to the business and farming interests of a state."
"Suppose," he said, "that one had to travel over the different states,
including our own, to find a livestock exhibit such as is seen in our
fairs, none but the rich could afford the time and money that it would
take. Then when he found one, he would miss one very important
feature, which is comparison. Exhibits should be together in order to
compare herd with herd, breed with breed; but in our fairs to get the
comparison, one has only to pass from barn to barn and from stall to
stall and from pen to pen and it is all before him in a nutshell, so
to speak. The same is true of the poultry and all other departments.
Again we find our fairs are offering prizes on seventy five or more
farm, orchard and garden products and any given section is only
raising only a few of these products. The offering of prizes upon
this many farm products to encourage experimental work of testing
plants in different soils and climates throughout our state is a two
fold objective.
First, the prize offered. Second, advertisement of the section
exhibited. The exhibitor knows that varieties and quality is what
speaks for his country and wins in our fairs. Thus you see, we are
encouraging test work in every part of our state, in all of the
different soils and climates and in so doing they will find what
plants are best adapted to their particular section. This will not be
an expensive work, for the exhibitor will only need a small amount of
of each variety to constitute entry. We believe our people should
hold community, county and state fairs every year.
Eight years experience in fairs has convinced me that a great many
will not exhibit unless they have an absolute guarantee that they will
win all first prizes. Now, this is a wrong idea. All cannot win
first prizes and the exhibitor who loses out has a chance or
improvement the next year. as he can compare his exhibit with those
won and see where he lost.
It takes money to run fairs but the endorsement and patronage of the
public would bring all the money necessary to run a clean, up to date,
progressive educational fair...." A.M. Pyron
A San Antonio Express article of June 19, 1902 says "A.M. Pyron, Superintendent of the Farm and Mill Department will be in College Station to attend a meeting of the Farmers Congress.."
The San Antonio Express on September 13, 1903 reported that "Superintendent A.M. Pyron of the Agricultural Department is representing the Fair at Fredericksburg and next week the entire Executive Committee will go up to Palestine..."
On Sunday Sunday, August 28, 1904 the San Antonio Express write that "Expect Many Farmers At the Coming Fair. A.M. Pyron, Director of the Agricultural Department, encouraged at prospect of their interest."
There is also a short notice in the Palestine, Texas Daily Herald for October 8, 1904 saying "A.M. Pyron, advertising the San Antonio Fair, is in the city."
Then in 1905 on November 26 the San Antonio Express says "Brazos Takes First. Judges say showing of Farm Products the best seen in Texas. This is a letter of the judges of these exhibits. 'To A.M. Pyron, Superintendent Agricultural Department: Your committee on county exhibits unanimously decided that Exhibit (Brazos County) is awarded Premium 1..."
Online I found a full article from the Schulenburg Sticker, July 20, 1905, on A.M. Pyron's article in that paper calling the local people to enter the San Antonio fair.
The Schulenburg Sticker (Schulenburg, Tex.), Vol. 11, No. 50, Ed. 1 ...
texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth189156/m1/4/
.
Article by A.M. Pyron, July 20, 1905: Superintendent Agricultural Department San Antonio Fair
"Send In Your County Exhibits Farmers and Their Organizations Are Urged to Contribute Exhibits. To the San Antonio International Fair This Fall. To the farmers of Texas:
I have secured from the San Antonio International Fair Association an increase in the premiums to be given by it for county agricultural exhibits.
The first premium will be the handsome prize of $500.00 for the Best County Exhibit of its agricultural production; and the second premium will be a prize of
$250.00 for the next best exhibits of this character. Both of these cash prizes are considerably in excess of the previous premiums in this line. They should be incentives
sufficient to induce the farmers of the various counties of Texas to compete for them,and doubtless will be. These liberal premiums have been secured
through a desire of myself and associates connected with our Fair to secure as many, and as extensive and attractive exhibits as possible for our next Fair to be held
at San Antonio this fall. We feel assured that such exhibits not only form attractive, but important features and factors. They serve to attract attention of widespread character and are potent in inducing desirable immigration.
Farmer's institutions and unions, and all other agricultural organizations and individual agriculturalists should be stimulated by such incentives to send to this Fair
exhibits from their respective counties. They are urged to commence the preparation of the various products for such exhibits at once, and continue to collect the same so as to have them ready for the opening of the Fair in ample time. Many of the objects and elements of such exhibits will be in such condition and to render them right for preparation.
Whenever notified, I will visit any county or location proposing to place and exhibit with our Fair, and give those in charge such information and practical instructions regarding its preparation and arrangement as I can. Members of such organizations as I have just indicated should call meetings as early as practical and I will
take great pleasure in attending these meetings and explain the benefits to be derived from such exhibits, and detail our program and catalog to them. This will be of great benefit to those who have not had experience in getting up county exhibits...Very respectfully, A. M. Pyron, Superintendent Agricultural Department San Antonio Fair."
Bernard Pyron
"On June 16, 1864, a seventeen year old boy came leading his horse down a narrow dirt road through a pine forest. He was heading away from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, going to his camp. His horse had been shot in a skirmish on the Monticello Road by someone in the 5th Kansas Cavalry. His regiment, the 2nd Arkansas Cavalry, Fighting Bill Slemons' Outfit, under Lt. Tabbs, had been cutting Federal telegraph lines when the Union force approached them. The boy's uncle, John Calvin Pyron, a tanner with Company I, had given him the horse. He had been living with his uncle near Hamburg, Arkansas since he was about fourteen, because both his parents had died in Louisiana. Confederate cavalryman Aurelius Milton Pyron was dressed in homespun grey jeans, wore a black western type hat, and carried a muzzle-loading Mississippi rifle. His regiment, like most of the Arkansas Cavalry, dismounted when they fought. One out of every five men was detailed to hold the horses of the otherswhofought.This is likely why young Milton did not get in the battles of Mark's Mill and Poison Springs in April of that year - his Captain Marcus L. Hawkins had included him among the horse holders."
Parts of this story I wrote in 1979 are based on historical accounts, including a report in The War of the Rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies. There was a skirmish on the Monticello Road near Pine Bluff, Arkansas on June 17, 1864 including the detail that A.M. Pyron's regiment was then under Lt.Tabbs and was cutting federal telegraph wires. I combined this information with what A.M. Pyron wrote in his letter - written by his daughter Mary Pyron - about his being in a skirmish near Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Grandfather had his daughter write this letter in support of his application for a Confederate Pension to be paid by Texas. In the letter to Anna Price Hewett of July 31, 1931, A.M. Pyron says that when General Lee surrendered, his regiment was camped on Red River in Texas, and that they then disbanded ahd he went back to his home in Arkansas, in Ashley county, eight miles from Hamburg. Hesayshewas never in a battle but was in several skirmishes, one time near Pine Bluff, Arkansas when his horse was shot. I found the information about the dress of many in the Arkansas cavalry who were not officers or non-commissioned officers and the weapons they used in other sources.
In 1864 http://www.researchonline.net/decw/battles.htm lists a number of skirmishes near Pine Bluff, Arkansas, from January 19th to September 13th, including June 17th.
On http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext:2001.05.0140:state%3DArkansas:year=1864
June 17, 1864: Skirmish, Monticello Road, near Pine Bluff
KANSAS--5th Cavalry. Union loss, 3 wounded.
A.M. Pyron waited until the summer of 1931 to apply to the state of Texas for his Confederate pension. He could have applied for it earlier. He died on December 23, 1932 at the age of 86, and so would have been 84, as he says in his application, when he applied for it. One of the two biographies I will quote below says that A.M. Pyron had up to twenty oil wells on his property at one time - between about 1910 and 1930 - with steady production. A.M. Pyron and Carl Kurz (1855-1940), his neighbor to the east, had organized the Somerset Oil and Gas Company, at the start of the Somerset Oil Field, which they sold. So A.M. Pyron had made some money from oil. My older sister Mary, in her write-up, Pyron Family, says that grandfather lost money in the robberies of the Somerset State Bank, including his bank Bonds. In old newspaper articles which I found online, the San Antonio Light, October 20, 1933, Page 19, says one of the robberies of theSomersetStateBank was on July 20, 1933, and in another article of November 18, 1933, from the Lubbock Morning Avalanche, a second robbery of the same bank is described. These robberies happened after grandfather died, but there may have been earlier robberies while he was still living. So, a reason for him to apply for his Confederate pension could have been that he had lost money in the Somerset bank robberies and needed the money Texas paid to Confederate veterans. Here are two biographies of Aurelius Milton Pyron:
The New Encyclopedia of Texas - compiled and edited by Ellis A. Davis and Edwin H. Grobe, volume 1 - page 762, on Aurelius Milton Pyron.
https://ucat.lib.utsa.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=283726
"AURELIUS MILTON PYRON, retired stockman and farmer of Somerset, is well known in oil circles, as one of the men who took the first step toward the development of the Somerset Oil Field, in which he has large interests. In 1909, Mr. Kurtz, whose land adjoined that owned by Mr. Pyron, was drilling for artesian water and struck oil instead. Following this Mr. Pyron and Mr Kurtz organized the Somerset Oil and Gas Company and began active operations in what is now the Somerset Oil Field. They brought their first well at eleven hundred feet, but this well was discarded soon after being put on pump. The Company was later sold to Mr. Kerr of San Antonio, who operated on Pyron's property under lease, and with the exception of his first initial venture, all wells sunk on his property have been drilled under lease, some twenty wells now being on pump, with steady production, on this land.
Aurelius Milton Pyron was born at Chicasaw county, Mississippi, in 1846, was the son of Adom Jackson Pyron, a native of Raleigh, N.C., and Sarah C.M. (Sommons) Pyron, of Charlestown, South Carolina. Mr. Pyron attended the schools near his home when it was possible and at other times pursued his education alone. During the Civil War he served in the Confederate Army under General John Kirby Smith. In 1876 Mr. Pyron came to Texas, from Arkansas, locating in Lavaca county, where he rented one hundred and twenty acres of land between Hallettsville and Sweet Home, and entered the cattle business, a year later buying up land in Lavaca county. In 1882 he came to Somerset and put up the first barb wire fence built west of San Antonio, fencing the property he bought at that time -- just at the end of the free grass period. He continued in the cattle business here until several years ago when he retired from active life.
Mr. Pyron was married in Lavaca county, in 1875 to Miss Virginia Blackburn, a family descended from Edward Blackburn. Mr. and Mrs. Pyron have six children, two sons and four daughters. These are B.B. Pyron, W.M. Pyron, Jessie, now wife of W. Kenney, Miss Mary Pyron, Clara, wife of Melton Johnson and Ida, wife of R.S. Oliver.
Mr. Pyron belongs to the Somerset Baptist Church at Somerset, Texas and is honored as one of the pioneers of this country who has contributed in many ways to its development."
There are several errors in this biography of A.M. Pyron. First, the name Kurz is spelled Kurtz. Carl Kurz (1855-1940) was the neighbor of A.M. Pyron to the east who worked with grandfather in several ventures.
A.M. Pyron was not born in Chicasaw county, Mississippi, as stated here, but in Marshall county, Mississippi as the 1850 census shows. His father was not Adam Jackson Pyron. The 1850 census shows grandfather's father as Andrew J. Pyron. And the 1840 Mecklenburg county, North Carolina census shows Andrew Jackson Pyron, William Pyron Jr and William Pyron Sr. Again, the biography above saying that Andrew Jackson Pyron was a native of Raleigh, North Carolina is wrong.
The biography in The New Encyclopedia of Texas says A.M. Pyron came to Texas in 1876. But grandfather in his Confederate pension application says he came to Texas in December of 1867 and had lived in Bexar county since 1882.
Obituary for Aurelius Milton Pyron
This is from a zerox copy of a newspaper article, which was a clipping from the San
Antonio Express or Light at the time of the death of Aurelius Milton Pyron on December 23, 1932.
"SOMERSET. --A.M. Pyron died at his home here on December 23 at the age of 86.
He was born on November 17, 1846, in Holy Springs, Mississippi. Later, the family moved to
Morgan City, Louisiana. On the death of the parents an uncle who lived in Hamburg, Arkansas,took the four children to make their home with him.
Mr. Pyron enlisted in the Confederate Army, Second Arkansas Cavalry, under Captain Hawkins, in the fall of 1862. He was then past 17 and served until the war closed, going through many hardships. While never in battle, he took part in several skirmishes, and on one occasion had his horse shot from under him. He moved to Sweet Home about 1867, and lived there until he was married, on November 25, 1875, to Miss Virginia Blackburn. His wife, four daughters and two sons survive him. They are Mrs. W. Kenney, Mrs Melvin Johnson, Mrs Ida Oliver and Mary Pyron; Blake V. and William Milton Pyron.
Mr Pyron moved to Bexar county in December, 1882, where he bouht a ranch of 640 acres, unfenced. He built some of the first barbed wire fences in the country, nd was interested in everything that stood for progress. He was Superintendent of the agricultural department of the San Antonio International Fair Association for thirteen years, and when Dr. Simmons started to build the Artesian Belt Railroad, Mr. Pyron, with the help of two friends, bought a small farm, in order to get lnd for a depot, and laid out the town of Somerset. When oil was found here he was one of the first men to lease his farm and obtain the leases on other farms to get the drilling started.
The last five years of his life were spent in bed or in an invalis's chair, a stroke having made him a cripple."
There are a few mistakes in this biography of A.M. Pyron and a couple of places where the information given is probably not correct.
On the statement that an uncle, who was John Calvin Pyron, took the four orphan Pyron children to live with him near Hamburg, Arkansas in following the death of both of their parents, a letter from grandfather's first cousin, William Alanza Pyron to A.M. Pyron in later years, date not indicated, says "Do you remember our first meeting near Falcon,
Nevada County, Arkansas, away back in 1859 or 60 when Father brought
you home with him after the death of your Father in New Orleans? I
remember very distinctly of your arrival and of our association from
then on until you, with your sister, all left Ashley County,
Arkansas, with Jack Carlock and Others for Texas and remember that I
have never seen you since and do not remember how you looked."
Cousin William Alanza Pyron, who lived with A.M. Pyron for several years in Arkansas, says grandfather left Arkansas with his sister, not sisters. Donald H. McGonagill, of Big Spring, Texas, told me a few years ago that someone had researched his ancestor Annie Pyron McMonagill, and found that she had been in an orphanage in New Orleans. Her sister Angeline might have been in the same New Orleans orphanage with Annie. The sister who was taken to Arkansas by Uncle John Calvin Pyron in about 1859 could have been the oldest of the four Pyron children, Eugenia or "Jennie."
A.M. Pyron was born on Novemnber 17, 1846, and on November 17, 1863 he would have turned seventeen. So, he enlisted in the Second Arkansas Cavalry in the late fall of 1863 after November 17th, not in 1862.
The statement that A.M. Pyron lived in Lavaca county, Texas "until" he was married on November 25, 1875 does not mean that the couple left the county in 1875. They moved to Bexar county, Texas in 1882, seven years after they were married.
The Blake V. Pyron mentioned as one of the two sons of A.M. Pyron is Blake Bernard Pyron, or Blake B. Pyron, my father (1889-1964).
The obituary says A.M. Pyron and two friends bought a small farm for the railroad depot and to create the town of Somerset. Actually, Carl Kurz (1855-1940), neighbor and friend of A. M. Pyron, sold about a hunded acres to the First Town Site Company of what had been land owned by Eugene S. Norris. This sale took place in 1909, at about the time of the creation by him, A.M. Pyron and a few others, of the First Town Site Company, a private corporation. A.M. Pyron was the second President of the First Town Site Company. His partner, Carl Kurz was the first President.
A.M. Pyron's activities in promoting agricultural fairs in Texas may have helped to get him into the New Encyclopedia of Texas. But at least two other interests helped him to become known to some extent in Bexar county, San Antonio and in Texas. These were his role in the beginning of the Somerset Oil Field and his contributions to the founding of the town of Somerset when he and Carl Kurz organized the First Town Site Company as a private corporation, which obtained ownership of about a hundred acres and sold off lots to people.
On October 7, 1903 the Dallas Morning News wrote that "The excursion train from San Antonio brought up quite a lot of visitors from that city, among whom were Hon. J. L. Slayden, Vories P. Brown, G. W. Sanders, and A.M. Pyron...The agricultural exhibits surpass anything that has ever been shown here at former fairs."
Apparently the visitors to Dallas from San Antonio came to see a fair at Dallas. A.M. Pyron was the head of the Agricultural part of the San Antonio Fair, and known by those in parts of Texas outside of San Antonio for his activities in promoting agricaultural exhibits.
G.W. Sanders of San Antonio is likely George Washington Sanders (1854-1933), Texas Trail Driver, who was
involved in the San Antonio livestock commission business, and later helped get the book, Trail Drivers of Texas, published.
Another business that A.M. Pyron was involved in was the Farmers Union Gin Company of Somerset According to the March 26, 1913 Dallas Morning News of March 26, 1913, "Chartered: Farmers Union Gin Company of Somerset, Bexar county: Capital, $7,000. Incorporators, L. S. Morrison, Charles Fischer, A.M. Pyron."
Here is an article from the San Antonio Express about A.M. Pyron's talk on the value of agricultural fairs at Jacksonville, Texas. I do not know the date of this talk since my older sister Mary and I only had clippings of this article without a date on the clippings.
"A.M. Pyron of San Antonio, has charge of the Agricultural Department of the San Antonio
International Fair, is present today and will read a paper on the
Value of Fairs to the business and farming interests of a state."
"Suppose," he said, "that one had to travel over the different states,
including our own, to find a livestock exhibit such as is seen in our
fairs, none but the rich could afford the time and money that it would
take. Then when he found one, he would miss one very important
feature, which is comparison. Exhibits should be together in order to
compare herd with herd, breed with breed; but in our fairs to get the
comparison, one has only to pass from barn to barn and from stall to
stall and from pen to pen and it is all before him in a nutshell, so
to speak. The same is true of the poultry and all other departments.
Again we find our fairs are offering prizes on seventy five or more
farm, orchard and garden products and any given section is only
raising only a few of these products. The offering of prizes upon
this many farm products to encourage experimental work of testing
plants in different soils and climates throughout our state is a two
fold objective.
First, the prize offered. Second, advertisement of the section
exhibited. The exhibitor knows that varieties and quality is what
speaks for his country and wins in our fairs. Thus you see, we are
encouraging test work in every part of our state, in all of the
different soils and climates and in so doing they will find what
plants are best adapted to their particular section. This will not be
an expensive work, for the exhibitor will only need a small amount of
of each variety to constitute entry. We believe our people should
hold community, county and state fairs every year.
Eight years experience in fairs has convinced me that a great many
will not exhibit unless they have an absolute guarantee that they will
win all first prizes. Now, this is a wrong idea. All cannot win
first prizes and the exhibitor who loses out has a chance or
improvement the next year. as he can compare his exhibit with those
won and see where he lost.
It takes money to run fairs but the endorsement and patronage of the
public would bring all the money necessary to run a clean, up to date,
progressive educational fair...." A.M. Pyron
A San Antonio Express article of June 19, 1902 says "A.M. Pyron, Superintendent of the Farm and Mill Department will be in College Station to attend a meeting of the Farmers Congress.."
The San Antonio Express on September 13, 1903 reported that "Superintendent A.M. Pyron of the Agricultural Department is representing the Fair at Fredericksburg and next week the entire Executive Committee will go up to Palestine..."
On Sunday Sunday, August 28, 1904 the San Antonio Express write that "Expect Many Farmers At the Coming Fair. A.M. Pyron, Director of the Agricultural Department, encouraged at prospect of their interest."
There is also a short notice in the Palestine, Texas Daily Herald for October 8, 1904 saying "A.M. Pyron, advertising the San Antonio Fair, is in the city."
Then in 1905 on November 26 the San Antonio Express says "Brazos Takes First. Judges say showing of Farm Products the best seen in Texas. This is a letter of the judges of these exhibits. 'To A.M. Pyron, Superintendent Agricultural Department: Your committee on county exhibits unanimously decided that Exhibit (Brazos County) is awarded Premium 1..."
Online I found a full article from the Schulenburg Sticker, July 20, 1905, on A.M. Pyron's article in that paper calling the local people to enter the San Antonio fair.
The Schulenburg Sticker (Schulenburg, Tex.), Vol. 11, No. 50, Ed. 1 ...
texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth189156/m1/4/
.
Article by A.M. Pyron, July 20, 1905: Superintendent Agricultural Department San Antonio Fair
"Send In Your County Exhibits Farmers and Their Organizations Are Urged to Contribute Exhibits. To the San Antonio International Fair This Fall. To the farmers of Texas:
I have secured from the San Antonio International Fair Association an increase in the premiums to be given by it for county agricultural exhibits.
The first premium will be the handsome prize of $500.00 for the Best County Exhibit of its agricultural production; and the second premium will be a prize of
$250.00 for the next best exhibits of this character. Both of these cash prizes are considerably in excess of the previous premiums in this line. They should be incentives
sufficient to induce the farmers of the various counties of Texas to compete for them,and doubtless will be. These liberal premiums have been secured
through a desire of myself and associates connected with our Fair to secure as many, and as extensive and attractive exhibits as possible for our next Fair to be held
at San Antonio this fall. We feel assured that such exhibits not only form attractive, but important features and factors. They serve to attract attention of widespread character and are potent in inducing desirable immigration.
Farmer's institutions and unions, and all other agricultural organizations and individual agriculturalists should be stimulated by such incentives to send to this Fair
exhibits from their respective counties. They are urged to commence the preparation of the various products for such exhibits at once, and continue to collect the same so as to have them ready for the opening of the Fair in ample time. Many of the objects and elements of such exhibits will be in such condition and to render them right for preparation.
Whenever notified, I will visit any county or location proposing to place and exhibit with our Fair, and give those in charge such information and practical instructions regarding its preparation and arrangement as I can. Members of such organizations as I have just indicated should call meetings as early as practical and I will
take great pleasure in attending these meetings and explain the benefits to be derived from such exhibits, and detail our program and catalog to them. This will be of great benefit to those who have not had experience in getting up county exhibits...Very respectfully, A. M. Pyron, Superintendent Agricultural Department San Antonio Fair."
Photo Above: A.M. Pyron In Arkansas In About 1866
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