The name of Gullett is one of the most influential and widely known in Texas, and is one of the most respected in the community in which Mr. Gullett resides. This gentleman is possessed of that independent spirit, that enterprise, push and energy necessary for a successful business career, and his life has been a useful and prosperous one, in direct refutation of the saying that " a rolling stone gathers no moss."

He inherits the French and English blood of his parents Samuel and Rebecca (Thompson) Gullett, he being one of their ten children, born in Maury County, Tennessee in 1822. The father was born in Maryland and the mother in North Carolina, and in the latter State they were united in marriage about 1798. Immediately thereafter they removed to Tennessee and settled in what now is Maury County, being the first settlers of that region, where the father followed tilling the soil, and resided on the farm on which he first located until his death in 1829, his widow surviving him until 1856.

On the old homestead in Tennessee the subject of this sketch was reared, his education being acquired in Columbia. At about the age of nineteen years he began merchandising at Lynnville, Giles County, Tennessee but a few years later he went to Mississippi. He only remained there a short time, however, when he returned to his native State. In 1850 he went to New Orleans, and he next year he came to Texas and started in business in San Antonio, where he was engaged in speculating. In 1856 he once more returned to New Orleans, and there in 1857 engaged in the grocery business, which he continued successfully until 1860, when he engaged in the commission business. He left New Orleans under the order of Gen. Ben Butler, as an enemy to the Federal Government, and in 1864 attached himself to the staff of Gen. Richardson of the Confederate Army, with the rank of Captain, being in the ordnance department of Gen. Forrest at the close of the war. He at that time returned to New Orleans with very little means but re-engaged in the commission business, and being the only merchant in the cotton seed trade his profits were enormous, and in two years' time made $ 100,000. He continued in this business until 1876, and did an extensive and profitable trade. In 1875, however, he came to Texas and decided to make this State his permanent home, and the next year he made a settlement in Refugio County, where he at once engaged extensively in the raising of cattle. In the fall of 1876 he went to New York and bought a shipment of wire to fence in his ranch, and in November of that year he built the first wire stock fence in the State of Texas, this being before the day of barbed wire. Col. Gullett now has a fine ranch of 25,000 acres at the mouth of the San Antonio River and on Hynes Bay, which comprises a fine lot of land, with nearly all of it suitable for profitable farming operations. Much of the bottom land is capable of producing the best sugar-cane, and all of it is admirably adapted for the sucessful raising of corn and cotton. This land lies on a high bluff along the bay, is very healthfully located and is a grand site for an open port or city, which the village of Tivoli will eventually become. Although most of the large stockraisers are averse to dividing their large pastures, Col. Gullett sees the great benefit to be derived if the country is filled with a desirable class of settlers, and he has concluded to sell off portions of his estate to thrifty and respectable applicants, and will do so on terms to suit the purchaser. There is no better climate, no more healthy locality or more fertile land in Texas, and at the village of Tivoli a post office has been secured by Col. Gullett, which promises to become a flourishing place. He also owns land in half a dozen other Counties, some of which is the best in the State, aggregating over 10,000 acres.

Besides the Colonel, there are two other members of his family living, a brother and a sister. The brother, Samuel, was born in 1818, and still lives on the old estate on which his father settled in Maury County, Tennessee, while the other member is his sister Angeline, now the Widow Leftwich, who resides with her brother in Tennessee. A brother, John, lived in Missouri, and served as a State Senator for twenty years. He died about 1883 leaving a large family. The father had three brothers: Wakeman went to Illinois, and died in that State leaving a large family; Dr. William went to Alabama where he passed from life, and James went to Georgia, where he reared a family.

Col. Gullett is a pleasant, courteous and genial gentleman, who has been an extensive traveler and has been a close and keen observer. He traveled over much of the United States before there were railroads and can recount many reminiscences of the early days of the Lone Star State. He has been a shrewd and practical man of business, and is thoroughly conversant with the affairs of his State, of which he is one of the leading financiers.

excerpted from MEMORIAL and GENEALOGICAL RECORD of SOUTHWEST TEXAS, Goodspeed Brothers, Chicago, 1894.

Newton Cannon Gullett