History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties. Page: 332

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

Mr. and Mrs. Ellis had ten children, viz:
Joseph T., who died in 1892, at the age of
sixty-eight years, leaving four children; Harriet
Jane, deceased in 1881, was the wife of
Edd IIashrook; Indiana, deceased, was the
wife of Henry Kenan, of Illinois; John S., a i
resident of Iowa; James M., of Galesburg,
Illinois; Mary A., wife of G. H. Wetmore,
of San Diego, California; William, of Union
county, Oregon; Rachel E., wife of S. A.
Saum, of Des Moines, Iowa; George W., a
resident of Philadelphia; and Emma, wife of
our subject. Mr. and 5Mrs. Saunders have
had three children: Mattie, deceased at the
age of twenty-one years, was the wife of D.
M. Stinnett, a lawyer of Latnpasas, Texas;
Ada, wife of D. Tindale, a dealer in stock;
and George, proprietor of a feed store in Austin.
In his political relations Mr. Saunders
is 'independent, and in 1868 was appointed
by Governor Pease a Justice of the Peace.
He is a lneinber of the Cumberland Presbyian
Church, and has been a ruling Elder for
twenty years of the Summit congregation.
'AMES A. SIMONS, a member of the
firm of Simons, Root & Co., at Taylor,
was born in Kentucky in 1852, a son
of Alford K. Simons, who was born in the
same State in 1827. He was a tailor by
trade, and came to Texas when our subject
was one and a half years of age. His death
occurred in Milam county in July, 1853.
Socially, he was a member of the A. F. & A.
M., and, religiously, of the old-school Presbyterian
Church. His wife, nee Annie D.
L. Hewlett, was a daughter of Lemuel Hewlett,
a native of Kentucky. They came to
Texas in an early day, where they wfe successfully
engaged in farming.

James A. Simons, his parents' only child,
received his education in the common schools
of Burleson county. In February, 1873, he engaged
in the mercantile business in Circleville,
Williamson county, which he continued until
in October, 1876. He then opened the second
general mercantile store in Taylor, under
the firm name of Vance & Co., of which he
had entire charge. At that time Taylor contained
only one boarding-house, one saloon
and two mercantile houses. The family of
S. A. Toinlinson was the first to locate in the
town. The firm of Vance & Co. began business
with a capital of $10,000. Three and a
half years afterward Mr. Vance sold his interest
to Simons & McCarty, and they increased
the stock to $25,000. This partnership
finally dissolved, and the firm has since
been known as Simons, Root & Co. They
still carry a stock amounting to $25,000,
their sales reaching from $60,000 to $75,000,
and they carry a general stock of merchandise.
Mr. Simons was instrumental in organizing
the Building & Loan Association of Taylor
in 1885, of which he has ever since been
president. Our subject has devoted his life
almost exclusively to his business interests,
and, commencing when quite young, has ever
been found at his post of duty, which has
always been the counting-room.
In January, 1874, he was united in marriage
with Miss Elizabeth C. Eubank, a native
of Texas, and a daughter of William and
Martha J. (Sanders) Eubank, natives of Kentucky.
The father, a farmer by occupation,
located in Milam, now Williamson county,
in a very early day. Mr. and Mrs. Eubank
had nine children, viz.: J. C., in Llano county,
Texas; C. H., a resident of Brownwood, this
State; Pattie, wife of J. B. Low, of Williamson
county; W. S., a resident of Bee county;
Elizabeth C., deceased, was the wife of our