All had wrap-around porches and Victorian style embellishments.
(Galvan House, Corpus Christi, Texas)
One would be surprised to meet Dr. Schoonover on the streets of Greenville, much less to turn to him for medical problems. He was a Yankee, raised in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, and Captain of the Eleventh Indians Cavalry. And in 1869 he arrived in Greenville to practice medicine.
Dr. Schoonover must have been a gentlemanly sort with correct behaviors and manners. After all, he was born in Randolph County, Virginia. He was the ninth of fourteen children of William and Charlotte Mostellar Schoonover. His father immigrated to America as a young man and became a successful farmer. Jefferson Schoonover received his literary education at Adrian, Michigan, and was in school at the opening of the Civil War.
The next day after the fall of Fort Sumter, Schoonover and a number of his schoolmates, left school to volunteer for the Union Army. At first, he entered the First Michigan Infantry and remained for a short time. Then he enlisted in the Eleventh Indiana Cavalry. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to Captain. He served primarily with the Army of the Potomac and was in active duty until January 1866.
He took two courses of medical lectures after the war at State University at Ann Arbor, Michigan before finishing his medical training at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York where he graduated in 1869. The West seemed to call him. He located in Greenville in 1870. At that time there were few medical doctors in Hunt County.
In April 1876, Dr. Schoonover was appointed postmaster at Greenville where he served until 1886. During the last four years of his term, he had to give up his medical profession and devote his entire time to attending to the duties of his office.
Before arriving in Greenville, Dr. Schoonover married Mary Elizabeth Marshall, his sweetheart from Adrian, Michigan. The couple were parents of three daughters, Alice Emma, Florence Berta, and Francis H.
Dr. Schoonover was a Republican and received his appointment as postmaster at Greenville as such. Coming to Greenville at that time, he labored under rather trying circumstances. Yet, he made many friends. He differed widely from the majority of his fellow townsmen in politics, yet he earned their respect. He became a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal Church (Wesley) and was prominent in Sunday School Work. The Schoonover family lived in a delightful Steamboat House two blocks north of Lee Street. Like the family, the house is no longer there.