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The
active life of this enterprising man was connected with the most important
period in the development of Gainesville, from 1873 to September 23, 1911,
and is linked with the construction of some of the most important of those
public works which stimulated the city's growth and were the bases of its
commercial supremacy. A friend of education, morality and good
citizenship, a philanthropist whose charities will never be known, a
public-spirited citizen who placed the interests of his community above
his private ambitions, his career and activities entitle his name to be
remembered with, sentiments of profound veneration among the founders and
builders of the city's greatness.
David Luther Painter was born at Martinsburg,
Virginia, in 1831. His paternal grandfather was a Revolutionary soldier, a
native of England, and an early settler of Virginia, where he was one of
the first voters of Berkeley County (now West Virginia.) The parents of
Mr. Painter were Virginia farming people, and had a family of five
children, of whom two still survive: Joseph, living at Asheville, North
Carolina, and the youngest, living at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, in former
years a newspaper man and now living retired at the age of eighty-eight
years. David L. Painter was reared on his father's farm near Martinsburg,
Virginia, and there received his education in the common schools. On
attaining his majority, he left the parental roof and went to St. Louis,
Missouri, where he secured a position with a car manufacturing concern. He
continued with this firm until 1873, in which year he came to Texas and
settled in Gainesville. This was prior to the advent of the railroads, but
here he established himself in the lumber business, although it was
necessary that he haul his product from Dennison. This modest business,
started with a small capital, and only the determination and ambition of
its proprietor to encourage the thought of its success, grew steadily as
the years passed, and eventually assumed gigantic proportions. The
management of this great enterprise left him with but little leisure to
devote to other channels of trade, but be managed withal to find time to
devote to charity and the social amenities. He was in his business
relations a man of absolute integrity, but conservative and cautious in
his actions and reticent in his habits; especially was he modest in
speaking of his own affairs or himself. His habits were simple and
domestic; he was a great lover of home, and his bearing was affable and
kindly. He had a charitable regard for others, and it was his rule never
to speak of a person except to speak well of him. In his continual,
unostentatious charities he helped men to help themselves and the full
extent of these benevolences will probably never be known. To his own
family connections and friends he was ever generous. A lover of outdoor
life, he was a large owner of ranching properties, but did not give these
his personal attention. He was never a politician, nor did he take an
especially active part in public affairs, but he had an intimate knowledge
of the history of nearly every man of importance in the country, and was a
personal friend of a number of national figures, among them Senator
Bailey, who was his neighbor for years. One of Mr. Painter's gifts to the
City of Gainesville consisted of the beautiful trees in City Park, which
he himself planted and of which he took care until they had grown large
enough to contend with the inclemencies of the weather. Although a member
of no church, he helped to build nearly every church structure in the
city, as well as the first and succeeding public schools. At the time of
his death he was serving as a member of the board of school trustees. He
was a Democrat of the old school, but ever respected the rights and
opinions of others, and his friends were found among all political
parties. About ten years prior to his death, which occurred September 23,
1911, he retired from business activities, although he continued to hold
an interest in the Lindsey National Bank, of which he was a director, and
the Waples-Painter Lumber Company, which is still in existence and one of
the largest industries of its kind in this section, and in which his widow
retains a controlling interest.
On December 12, 1873, Mr. Painter was married to
Mrs. Frances (Clark) Elliott, who was born in Mississippi, daughter of
Col. William T. Clark, a Mississippi planter who came to Texas in 1858 and
engaged in stock raising, which he followed up to the time of his death in
1897. There were seven children in Mr. Clark's family: Frances, who
married Mr. Painter; Mary, who became the wife of R. H. Hoffman, of
Denton, Texas; Pattie, deceased, who was the wife of Jesse Chinn, of
Denton; Luther T., a well-known stockman and banker of Quana, Texas; W.
O., a ranch owner and stockman of Graham, Texas; Eugene W., who is a
resident of Arizona; Sidney J., a stockman and banker of Childress County,
Texas.
Frances Clark was married (first) to Dr. M. A.
Elliott, a native of Tennessee, who graduated from medical college in his
native state and then came to Texas, where he followed his profession up
to the time of his death, in February, 1870. There were two children born
to this union: Imogene, who is now deceased, and Pearl, who is the widow
of W. H. Stafford, of Sapulpa, Oklahoma. Mr. Stafford was the owner of a
cotton compress and his widow is now continuing the business with marked
success. She has one daughter.
Three children were born to the union of Mr. and
Mrs. Painter: Fay, who is the wife of L. D. Turner, of Gainesville, and
has one son, David; Gladys, who is single and lives at home with her
mother; and one child who died in infancy. Mrs. Painter, who is a lady of
many accomplishments and who has numerous friends in church and social
circles of Gainesville, resides in her comfortable residence at No. 312
West California street.
[A
history of Texas and Texans, Volume 4 by Francis White Johnson, 1914 –
Transcribed by AFOFG]
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