George Washington Littlefield

George Washington Littlefield Veteran

Birth
Death
10 Nov 1920
Burial
Austin, Travis County, Texas, USA GPS-Latitude: 30.2791859, Longitude: -97.7272384
Plot
Section 4, Lot 1152
Memorial ID
6994 View Source
George Washington Littlefield was a cattleman, banker, member of the Board of Regents and the largest single private donor to the new University of Texas during its first fifty years of existence.

Moving with his family from Panola County, Mississippi, Littlefield settled at the family plantation near Belmont, Gonzales County, Texas in 1850.

When war broke out in 1861, he enlisted in Company I, Eighth Texas Cavalry (Terry's Texas Rangers) and was promoted on the field to the position of Major and company commander just prior to being severely wounded by an exploding cannon shell in December, 1863.

In the summer of 1871, following some devastating farming years, he trailed cattle to a rail head at Abilene, Kansas for shipment to the beef-hungry northern states and came away with a significant profit to begin business.

Over the next several years he established himself and bought ranches and plantations all over Texas.

By the early 1880s he owned rights to over four million acres in eastern New Mexico and hundreds of thousands of acres in various parts of Texas.

The town of Littlefield, Texas was named for him.

In 1883 he moved to Austin and became involved with banking, finally becoming president of the American National Bank, a position he kept until 1918. To house his bank, Littlefield built the nine story Littlefield Building in downtown Austin and decorated the lobby with paintings depicting scenes from his ranches. The massive front doors of the building were cast in bronze by the Tiffany Company and also depicted ranch scenes.

In 1911 he was appointed to the Board of Regents of the University of Texas and immediately began to take an interest in the subject of history, which he felt was being taught with a Northern bias. As a result, in 1914 he established the Littlefield Fund for Southern History and in 1918 funded a quarter of a million dollars to purchase the John Henry Wrenn Library at the University.

Before his death, he had donated money to begin the Littlefield Foundation, had a freshman woman's dormitory erected and named for his wife, Alice Tiller Littlefield, and willed his home to the University.

He died at his Austin home.

~

LITTLEFIELD, MAJ. GEORGE W.
One of the most prominent of Texas businessmen is Maj. George W. Littlefield, whose fame as a banker, landowner and stockman is not even confined by the bounds of his home commonwealth, but extends throughout the southwest. He was born in Panola County, Mississippi, June 21, 1842, a son of Fleming and Mildred T. (Satterwhite) Littlefield, born, respectively, in Tennessee and Georgia. They established their home in Panola County, Mississippi, in 1835, where Fleming Littlefield was a planter. In 1850 he brought his family to Gonzales County, Texas, and he continued as a planter and merchant there until his death in 1853. Mrs. Littlefield survived until the year 1880, and she had been twice married, wedding first John H. White. George W. was the first of the three children born to his parents. Mildred M., wife of T. E. Harrall, and who died in January, 1880, was the second, and W. P. Littlefield the third.
George W. Littlefield grew to mature years on the home farm in Gonzales county, receiving in the meantime a public school training, and at the opening of the Civil war he enlisted in the Eighth Texas Cavalry, known as Terry's Texas Rangers, and he served as the second sergeant of his command until January of 1862, when he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant of his company, and in May of 1862, after the battle of Shiloh, was made its captain and continued in command of Company I until 1863, after the battle of Chickamauga, when he was called to act as the major of his regiment. On the 26th of December, 1863, he received a shell wound on the battlefield of Mossy Creek, in eastern Tennessee, the shell tearing the flesh from the left hip, making a wound eleven inches in length and disabling him from further service. While lying on the battlefield, Brig.-Gen. Thomas Harrison and Col. Patrick Christian rode up, and General Harrison, on seeing Mr. Littlefield, exclaimed: "I promote him to the rank of major for gallantry on the field." The wound confined Major Littlefield to his bed for four months, and even after his recovery he was obliged to use crutches until 1867. He resigned from the service in 1864 and returned to his home in Gonzales County, and later turned his attention to farming, stock raising and merchandising.
In 1871 Major Littlefield engaged in the cattle and mercantile business in connection with farming, buying and driving cattle to Kansas and the western territories, and in 1887 he engaged in ranching in Mason, Menard and Kimball counties, Texas, owning and conducting there 130,000 acres of land and 12,000 head of cattle. In 1882 he established a ranch in Chaves County, New Mexico, interesting his nephews, J. P. and T. D. White, in the enterprise, and his ranch there at one time contained 50,000 head of cattle. In 1901 Mr. Littlefield purchased 286,000 acres of land in Hockley and Lamb counties, in the Panhandle of Texas, from James B. and J. V. Farwell, and he yet owns that property, though he has been offered $10 an acre for the land and he has it stocked with 20,000 head of cattle. All of that land he bought at $2 an acre, and it is now worth $12 an acre.
Owing to the interference of settlers and homesteaders in New Mexico, Major Littlefield has reduced the number of cattle on his range there, but he has recently leased 150,000 acres from the territorial government of New Mexico, which he has fenced, and his 15,000 head of cattle are there enclosed. In 1887 he began buying irrigated farmland near Roswell, New Mexico, and on his valuable irrigated farm there of 1,250 acres he raises alfalfa and apples, fifty acres of the latter crop in 1908 returning him $12,500. That farm, however, is devoted principally to the raising of thoroughbred Hereford cattle, from which he draws the breeding stock for his outside ranches. Major Littlefield has refused $300,000 for that farm. In 1890 he organized the American National Bank of Austin, which was capitalized at $100,000, but the bank has since increased its capital to $ 200,000 and has surplus and undivided profits amounting to $300,000, and Major Littlefield is the president of the bank. Since 1908 he has also served as the president of the Central Bank and Trust Company of Austin, and he is a director in the Southwest Life Insurance Company, of Dallas, and a director in the Austin Fire Insurance Company, of that city.
In July of 1863 Major Littlefield married Miss Alice P. Tiller, the only child of William and Mildred (Lundy) Tiller, of DeSoto County, Mississippi. They came originally from Virginia. Mr. Tiller died in 1851 and Mrs. Tiller married Whitfield Harral in 1855 and settled in Gonzales County, Texas, where Mr. Harral was a planter and merchant. Major Littlefield is a member of the Masonic bodies, affiliating with the Chapter, Commandery and with Ben Hur Temple of Austin, Texas. In politics he has remained throughout life a stanch southern Democrat. He has earned for himself an enviable reputation as a man of business and is recognized as a power in industrial circles throughout the southwest. (Historical Review of South-East Texas and the Founders, Leaders and Representative Men, Vol 2, by Dermot Hardy and Maj. Ingham S. Robert, by The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1910
George Washington Littlefield was a cattleman, banker, member of the Board of Regents and the largest single private donor to the new University of Texas during its first fifty years of existence.

Moving with his family from Panola County, Mississippi, Littlefield settled at the family plantation near Belmont, Gonzales County, Texas in 1850.

When war broke out in 1861, he enlisted in Company I, Eighth Texas Cavalry (Terry's Texas Rangers) and was promoted on the field to the position of Major and company commander just prior to being severely wounded by an exploding cannon shell in December, 1863.

In the summer of 1871, following some devastating farming years, he trailed cattle to a rail head at Abilene, Kansas for shipment to the beef-hungry northern states and came away with a significant profit to begin business.

Over the next several years he established himself and bought ranches and plantations all over Texas.

By the early 1880s he owned rights to over four million acres in eastern New Mexico and hundreds of thousands of acres in various parts of Texas.

The town of Littlefield, Texas was named for him.

In 1883 he moved to Austin and became involved with banking, finally becoming president of the American National Bank, a position he kept until 1918. To house his bank, Littlefield built the nine story Littlefield Building in downtown Austin and decorated the lobby with paintings depicting scenes from his ranches. The massive front doors of the building were cast in bronze by the Tiffany Company and also depicted ranch scenes.

In 1911 he was appointed to the Board of Regents of the University of Texas and immediately began to take an interest in the subject of history, which he felt was being taught with a Northern bias. As a result, in 1914 he established the Littlefield Fund for Southern History and in 1918 funded a quarter of a million dollars to purchase the John Henry Wrenn Library at the University.

Before his death, he had donated money to begin the Littlefield Foundation, had a freshman woman's dormitory erected and named for his wife, Alice Tiller Littlefield, and willed his home to the University.

He died at his Austin home.

~

LITTLEFIELD, MAJ. GEORGE W.
One of the most prominent of Texas businessmen is Maj. George W. Littlefield, whose fame as a banker, landowner and stockman is not even confined by the bounds of his home commonwealth, but extends throughout the southwest. He was born in Panola County, Mississippi, June 21, 1842, a son of Fleming and Mildred T. (Satterwhite) Littlefield, born, respectively, in Tennessee and Georgia. They established their home in Panola County, Mississippi, in 1835, where Fleming Littlefield was a planter. In 1850 he brought his family to Gonzales County, Texas, and he continued as a planter and merchant there until his death in 1853. Mrs. Littlefield survived until the year 1880, and she had been twice married, wedding first John H. White. George W. was the first of the three children born to his parents. Mildred M., wife of T. E. Harrall, and who died in January, 1880, was the second, and W. P. Littlefield the third.
George W. Littlefield grew to mature years on the home farm in Gonzales county, receiving in the meantime a public school training, and at the opening of the Civil war he enlisted in the Eighth Texas Cavalry, known as Terry's Texas Rangers, and he served as the second sergeant of his command until January of 1862, when he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant of his company, and in May of 1862, after the battle of Shiloh, was made its captain and continued in command of Company I until 1863, after the battle of Chickamauga, when he was called to act as the major of his regiment. On the 26th of December, 1863, he received a shell wound on the battlefield of Mossy Creek, in eastern Tennessee, the shell tearing the flesh from the left hip, making a wound eleven inches in length and disabling him from further service. While lying on the battlefield, Brig.-Gen. Thomas Harrison and Col. Patrick Christian rode up, and General Harrison, on seeing Mr. Littlefield, exclaimed: "I promote him to the rank of major for gallantry on the field." The wound confined Major Littlefield to his bed for four months, and even after his recovery he was obliged to use crutches until 1867. He resigned from the service in 1864 and returned to his home in Gonzales County, and later turned his attention to farming, stock raising and merchandising.
In 1871 Major Littlefield engaged in the cattle and mercantile business in connection with farming, buying and driving cattle to Kansas and the western territories, and in 1887 he engaged in ranching in Mason, Menard and Kimball counties, Texas, owning and conducting there 130,000 acres of land and 12,000 head of cattle. In 1882 he established a ranch in Chaves County, New Mexico, interesting his nephews, J. P. and T. D. White, in the enterprise, and his ranch there at one time contained 50,000 head of cattle. In 1901 Mr. Littlefield purchased 286,000 acres of land in Hockley and Lamb counties, in the Panhandle of Texas, from James B. and J. V. Farwell, and he yet owns that property, though he has been offered $10 an acre for the land and he has it stocked with 20,000 head of cattle. All of that land he bought at $2 an acre, and it is now worth $12 an acre.
Owing to the interference of settlers and homesteaders in New Mexico, Major Littlefield has reduced the number of cattle on his range there, but he has recently leased 150,000 acres from the territorial government of New Mexico, which he has fenced, and his 15,000 head of cattle are there enclosed. In 1887 he began buying irrigated farmland near Roswell, New Mexico, and on his valuable irrigated farm there of 1,250 acres he raises alfalfa and apples, fifty acres of the latter crop in 1908 returning him $12,500. That farm, however, is devoted principally to the raising of thoroughbred Hereford cattle, from which he draws the breeding stock for his outside ranches. Major Littlefield has refused $300,000 for that farm. In 1890 he organized the American National Bank of Austin, which was capitalized at $100,000, but the bank has since increased its capital to $ 200,000 and has surplus and undivided profits amounting to $300,000, and Major Littlefield is the president of the bank. Since 1908 he has also served as the president of the Central Bank and Trust Company of Austin, and he is a director in the Southwest Life Insurance Company, of Dallas, and a director in the Austin Fire Insurance Company, of that city.
In July of 1863 Major Littlefield married Miss Alice P. Tiller, the only child of William and Mildred (Lundy) Tiller, of DeSoto County, Mississippi. They came originally from Virginia. Mr. Tiller died in 1851 and Mrs. Tiller married Whitfield Harral in 1855 and settled in Gonzales County, Texas, where Mr. Harral was a planter and merchant. Major Littlefield is a member of the Masonic bodies, affiliating with the Chapter, Commandery and with Ben Hur Temple of Austin, Texas. In politics he has remained throughout life a stanch southern Democrat. He has earned for himself an enviable reputation as a man of business and is recognized as a power in industrial circles throughout the southwest. (Historical Review of South-East Texas and the Founders, Leaders and Representative Men, Vol 2, by Dermot Hardy and Maj. Ingham S. Robert, by The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1910

Bio by: Pat Iverson


Inscription

A great man has fallen



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  • Find a Grave Memorial ID: 6994
  • Sanford Christian Reed
  • Find a Grave, database and images (: accessed ), memorial page for George Washington Littlefield (21 Jun 1842–10 Nov 1920), Find a Grave Memorial ID 6994, citing Oakwood Cemetery, Austin, Travis County, Texas, USA; Maintained by LookingForFamily (contributor 47127361).