WILLIAM A. CARLISLE, merchant and cattleman at Lubbock, is a leading man of affairs in Lubbock county and the south-plains country in general. Having been identified with the various phases of the cattle industry from boyhood up, his experience and ability have given him a foremost place among his fellow citizens, and it is said that no man has done more for the permanent welfare and development of Lubbock county and town than Mr. Carlisle.
Born in Chickasaw county, Mississippi, in 1848, he was a son of Henry and Rhoda (Shaw) Carlisle, the former a native of South Carolina and the latter of Alabama. His father moved from Chickasaw county to Texas in 1854, locating in Kaufman county, where he successfully continued his life occupation of farming until his death in 1866. The mother was reared in Mississippi, and her death occurred in Kaufman county, this state, in 1872.
Reared on a farm where he received the most practical part of his education, Mr. Carlisle even when a boy became interested in the cattle business. Before he was grown he began to buy and sell cattle, and the first money he earned was as a cattle trader. After his father’s death he took care of his widowed mother and saw that she was well provided for until her death. For many years in Kaufman County he did cattle trading on an extensive scale, and he is still remembered by the people of that county as one of their most energetic and successful fellow citizens. Mr. Carlisle has always been noted for his persevering industry and large grasp of business affairs. In 1890 he left Kaufman county and came out to the plains country, since which time he has been a resident of Lubbock county. He at once went into the cattle business on an extensive scale, and his ranch five miles west of the town of Lubbock is one of the model places of the county. His estate consists of eight sections, more than five thousand acres, all of which he owns.
In addition to his cattle ranch interests, Mr. Carlisle is now a partner in the largest mercantile establishment in the south- plains country—the store of Carter, Carlisle and Company, of Lubbock. This is a general store and supply outfitting establishment, carrying large stocks of everything needed by the people of this section of the state. This firm sells many large bills of goods to ranchers distant as much as seventy-five miles and more, and the store is the headquarters of a large portion of the country without railroad facilities. The firms is composed of Mr. Carlisle and the Carter Brothers (K. and G. W. Carter),and was organized in September, 1902, to succeed the firm of Hunt and Wheelock. The Carter brothers were born and reared in Texas, and before coming to Lubbock county were engaged for several years in the cattle business in Crosby county. They are well known and reliable young men. In every respect the firm is a strong one, its business being conducted on the highest principles of honor, and it has a patronage that will not be diverted to other channels no matter what competition may arise.
This firm also has a fourth interest in the Lubbock Gin Company, which was organized in the fall of 1904 to build a cotton gin at this place and in general promote the growth of the cotton industry in this county. The gin is equipped with the best and most modern machinery, and is destined to mean much to the future growth and prosperity of Lubbock.
These enterprises so briefly sketched give some ideas of the importance of Mr. Carlisle’s identification with Lubbock county. It might be well to state that his friends and neighbors say of him that he has done more for Lubbock and Lubbock county than any other one citizen, and this reputation causes no envy on the part of others, for Mr. Carlisle is popular with all—a frank, genial, open-hearted westerner of the best type. Although he is a large cattleman and therefore interested in retaining large pastures for cattle as long as possible, he takes the broad- minded position that, to reach its highest wealth and permanent prosperity, the county must have small, thoroughly cultivated farms and numbers of industrious farmers and planters, and his influence has always been directed to bringing about just such results.
Mr. Carlisle is a man of most generous and philanthropic spirit, interested in all affairs that help the community. Having no children of his own, he has reared and given a home to several orphan children, and in many other ways has evinced his traits of kindness and liberality. He is a trustee, steward and a leading member of the Methodist church in Lubbock, and has rendered invaluable service toward the completion of the new church building, having always seen to it that the pulpit was adequately supported financially.
Mr. Carlisle was married in Kaufman county, September 24, 1874, to Miss Lizzie Spikes, who was born in that county, her parents being from Alabama.
Source: B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. I, pp. 648-649.