Pioneer Dallas Couple to Celebrate Golden Wedding – Dallas Morning News, Sunday, May 30, 1920, Dallas, Texas, Page: Two
The golden anniversary of their wedding will be celebrated by Mr. and Mrs. James Allen McMurry at their home, 1305 Casey Street on Wednesday from 5 to 10 p. m.
They were married in 1870…and came to Dallas in December 1874…The two have seen Dallas grow from a river town, where the ferry brought most of the business to its present size. Mr. McMurey was a brick contractor and followed the work here until health forced him to retire. He helped to build the old Empire Mill and the old Merchants Exchange, now known as the Gaston Building, on Lamar and Commerce streets. He held the contract for the McLeod hotel on Main Street which was torn down to make way for the American Exchange National Bank. Previous to his marriage, Mr. McMurry served four years in the Confederate Army and three of them were with Gen. John M. Morgan. He was born in 1842 and Mrs. McMurry was born in 1852.
Death of Colonel Simpson – Dallas Morning News, Sunday, Jun 27, 1920, Dallas, TX, Page: Six
Colonel John N. Simpson, who died at his home in Dallas yesterday, was a high-minded and warm- hearted man who won the esteem of all who knew him and the affection of those who were admitted into the large circle of his friendship…There was a liftiness to his love of Texas which exalted the pride and patriotism of those who came under its influence. Colonel Simpson was banker, rancher and farmer, able in all those pursuits, but partial to those of rancher and farmer, and accordingly intensely interested in all things that promoted the advancement of those pursuits. He was one of the foremost cowmen of Texas, and from the pioneer days of that industry in this state. There was a time when his herds grazed from Texas to Montana and outnumbered those of any other man…He has been one of the makers of Texas, one whose energies and ambitions have contributed largely to the forces that have wrought its development…Colonel Simpson held his opinions with more than ordinary tenacity, and yet with a deference for opposing opinions which spoke at onec the integrity of his mind and the sympathy of his heart.
Hundreds Pay Tribute to Colonel John N. Simpson – Dallas Morning News, Monday, Jun 28, 1920, Dallas, TX, Page: Fourteen
Hundreds of Texans shared the sorrow of Dallas yesterday when at 6 p. m. beautiful and impressive services marked the close of the last chapter in the life of Colonel John Nicholas Simpson.
Silent tributes of flowers from all parts of the country, so vast that the atmosphere at the [4715] Highland Drive residence, where Dr. S. H. C. Burgin and the Very Rev. Harry T. Moore officiated, bespoke more that grief for the loss of the man and sincere affection for him.
At the grave in Oakland Cemetery, where the body was laid at rest, hundreds of persons who attended the funeral stood in mute sympathy.
Colonel Simpson was the last of the pioneer cattlemen of the West. He was interested in the State Fair of Texas, was an ardent admirer and friend of the late Col. Theodore Roosevelt. His death Saturday followed a long illness.
