A Memorial and Biographical History of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon Counties, Texas Page: 669

                                
LIMESTONE, FREESTONE AND LEON COUNTIES.

marriage Mr. Cogdell bought a pony mare,
paying $60, and fromn her he has raised a
great number of horses. He now has thirteen
head, and has also sold a considerable
number. At the same time he also purchased
two cows and calves, from \vhich
he has sold $1,500 worth of cattle, and
now has over 100 head on his farm. He
has been farming for himself for twentytwo
years, and during this time has never
bought a pound of bacon or a bushel of
corn.
Mr. Cogdell was married February 9,
1873, to Miss Mary F. Abernathy, a native
of Arkansas, and a daughter of Masterson
C. and Mary Abernathy, who moved froln
that State to Texas in 1862 or 1863. Our
subject and wife have had the following
children: Lena R., Bertha L., Lily V.,
Marvin D., Beulah V., William Starley,
George Wyatt, Annie Alla, and Della
Kate.
RS. M. E. GALLEMORE, a daughter
of James A. Mitcham, one of
the most prominent and prosperous
farmers of Henderson county, Texas,
and a son of Hezekiah Mitcham, a well
known man of the county, was born in
Henderson county in 1855. Her father
was born in Alabama in 1822, where he
was reared and educated, the said education
consisting of six months of school
training, and a large amount of experience
of a practical kind, secured by coming into
contact with the commercial transactions
of an agricultural and grazing region of
country. In short, Mr. Mitcham was a

self-made man, with all that the name includes.
He was very intelligent, an eager
reader of newspapers, and most anxious to
keep posted on all the public inatters of
the day; was a successful financier, every
enterprise which he undertook seeming to
spring  into vigorous growth. He was
thoroughly familiar with every branch of
his diversified interests, seeming to manage
one as well as another. In his earlier
life Mr. Mitcham was actively and extensively
engaged in the cattle business, owning
large herds, for the most of which
he found a local market, occasionally making
a shipment himself. When he had
grown old and his physical activity had
been somewhat impaired, he entrusted his
stock business to employees, while he gave
his personal supervision to matters requiring
less physical effort.
Upon his return from a ten years' residence
in Navarro county, in 1882, our
subject engaged in merchandising in Athens,
and prosecuted it successfully until
his death. He owned the tile and crockery
works of the place, and operated them.
His landed interests in Henderson and adjoining
counties amounted to from 2,000
to 3,000 acres, and much of the most valuable
land in the city of Athens was on
the tax-roll to his credit. In the woods of
Henderson county there were hundreds of
cattle bearing his brand.
Mr. Mitcham held no public office except
that of County Commissioner of his
precinct at the organization of the county.
He was a consistent member of the Methodist'Church,
and a liberal contributor to
all enterprises bearing the impress of true
worth and legitimacy. In the Masonic

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