MOSES D. GARLINGTON, promin~ ent among the men whose enterprise and business sagacity have made

Dallas an important railroad center, and one of the largest and most flourishing cities of Texas, was born in Franklin county, Mississippi, January 15, 1835. He is the senior member of the firm of M. D. Garlington & Co., of Commerce street, wholesale dealers in confectioneries, fruit and produce, and also engaged in the manufacture of candy. His parents were Dr. James and Sarah (Jones) Garlington, natives of Barnwell district, South Carolina. The father, a physician by profession, had an extensive practice, which extended through a period embracing nearly an entire lifetime. He took part in the war of 1812, and was near New Orleans at the time of that noted battle. Dr. Garlington was largely a self-made man, having had but few opportunities in those primitive times for professional advantages, was extraordinary in many ways, very temperate and prudent, and his name was almost a synonym for honesty and square dealing. He was a local minister of great zeal and influence in the Methodist Episcopal Church, was fluent and versatile, and did great good while laboring in his high calling. He exercised his gifts as a minister for many years, and lived to the good old age of about eighty-two years. His wife, in temperament and religious culture much like her husband, died at about the age of ninety years. The lives, influence and Christian example of these good old people, are endearing heritage to their family, neighbors and the church of their choice. Dr. Garlington’s parents were christopher and Sarah (Young) Garlington. They resided near and a part of the time at Charleston, South Carollina, and owned a farm on which a part of that city is located. The Doctor was their eldest child; Benjamin, the second son, was a Baptist minister; Christopher was the youngest brother; the eldest sister, Sarah, was the wife of James H. Parsons, who owned a mill on Amite river, Mississippi; Elizabeth was the wife of William Pate, and they lived on a farm in the same locality; and Lavina, the youngest living sister, married Winston Clark, a Baptist minister. These brothers and sisters, with their companions, have all gone from labor to reward. 

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Dr. and Mrs. James Garlington were the parents of twelve children, two of whom died in infancy. Mary, the eldest, died unmarried; Susannah, deceased soon after the war, was the wife of John Akin, and they reared alarge family of children; Lavina married William Kennedy, resided in Claiborne parish, Louisania, and both lived to a good old age, but are now deceased; Samuel, married Sarah Huckaby, of Mississippi, in 1835; Martha, whose first husband. John Armstrong, was killed by being thrown from a horse soon after their marriage, afterward married Stephen C., a brother ot William Kennedy, above mentioned; Lydia Ann, the only surviving sister, married Green Akin, a brother of John Akin, also referred to, and the former died in 1891; Stephen W., married Sarah Weaver, and resided near Monticello, Arkansas; Joseph married Martha McDonald, and the latter is deceased, and the former resides in south Louisiana; William married Martha Carson of north Louisiana. where they afterward resided. He died in the army from the effects of disease contracted while in the discharge of his duties.

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Moses D. Garlington, the youngest child, was reared to farm life, and, when arriving near manhood’s years, he taught school, thus procuring money with which to attend school at Homer, Louisiana. After securing his education he engaged as clerk and bookkeeper at Trenton, same State, where he spent eighteen years of his life, serving there both before and after the war. He first discharged the duties of clerk, then of clerk and bookkeeper for Dunn & Mallory, later for Dunn & Head, and subsequently for the house of Slaughter & Crosley. He then went to the front in the late war, as Second Lieutenant of Company A, Seventeenth Louisiana Regiment, and after the reorganization in 1862 he was elected First Lieutenant. He served in that capacity until after the fall of Vicksburg, at which place his regiment was stationed after the battle of Shiloh. July 4, 1863, Mr. Garlington was made Quartermaster of the regiment, and served faithfully and acceptably in that capacity until the war closed. He was discharged at Mansfield, Louisiana, after serving about four years. After his arrival home he became a partner of J . P. Crosley & Oo.,at Trenton, Louisiana, Mr. Slaughter, the former partner of Orosley, having been killed during the war. Mr. Garlington remained in this firm several years, and then became a member of the partnership of Williamson & Garlington, Mr. Crosley still holding privately a controlling interest in the firm, and furnishing most of the money. After three years the name was changed to Head, Williamson & Co., and after remaining a few years as silent partner our subject sold his interest. In 1871 he came to Oorsicana, Texas, where he opened business relations under the firm name of Garlington & Marsalis, and after the terminus of the railroad reached Dallas, in 1872, he came to this city. He still continued his business in Corsicana, under the name of Garlington & Underwood, ten months, and then closed out and opened in Dallas, doing business under the firm name of Garlington, Marsalis & Co. In 1874 Mr. Garlington changed his operations from a grocer to arealestate dealer, and about the year 1876 he engaged in his present business. The firm name was first Garlington & Underwood, later Garlington & Fields, and a year afterward Mr. Fields withdrew and our subject continued alone until 1888, when A. F. Deckman became a partner, and the firm name 

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M. D. Garlington & Co. has ever since continued. In 1888 the former opened a house in Fort Worth, under the name of Garlington & Montgomery, which still continues in successful operation. In 1892 he opened a wholesale and retail buggy business in Dallas, under the firm name of Garlington & Rogers, and they now carry a large and well selected stock of vehicles of all kinds. The firm of M. D. Garlington & Co. are also running the steam candy manufactory, where they manufacture their own candy, and are doing a very extensive and successful business. This is one of the important industries of Dallas. Mr. Garlington also handles a large real-estate business, and owns many residences and business houses, the rental of which amounts to a large sum. These different firms are shipping their goods over north Texas, to Indian Territory and Mexico, doing a large business at El Paso.

Our subject was married on his birthday in 1868, to Miss Anna Moore, a native of Arkansas, and a daughter of John Moore, who was born in South Carolina and died in Louisiana. Her mother, Sarah Forteuberry, was a native of Tennessee, and died in Arkansas when her daughter was but a child. Mrs. Garlington is the eldest of four children, and the only one now living. She was educated at Mount Lebanon Institute, Louisiana, is a lady of intelligence and refinement, and has much of that culture that comes from an acquaintance with schools and books. To their twenty-four years of married life she has brought the sweet and noble attributes to be found in the loving wife, the devoted mother and Christian neighbor. The home of our subject and wife have been blessed with seven children, two of whom have already passed to the “ House of many Mansions.” The living children are: Willie D., engaged in business with his father; and Charles Frank, Maurice Moore, Anna Emma and Henry Lee, attending school. The parents and all but one child are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, in which the father is a Steward. The latter has served as Alderman of this city; he is a member of the Masonic order, and was Secretary of the same while in Louisiana; is a Democrat in his political views, and takes an active interest in the success and welfare of his party.

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He is a well respected Christian gentleman, such as any community may feel proud to claim as a citizen.

SOURCE:

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Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County, Texas: Containing a History of this Important Section of the Great State of Texas, from the Earliest Period of Its Occupancy to the Present Time ... and Biographical Mention of Many of Its Pioneers, and Also of Prominent Citizens of Today