Charles Goodnight wrote of the death of his friend Oliver Loving in the book The Trail Drivers of Texas by J. Marvin Hunter. The book is widely available for purchase, and also can be downloaded. In it, Hunter has assembled sketches and observations of the cattle drivers of the 1800s.
Continue reading Death of Oliver LovingCategory: frontier times
Olive Oatman
This haunting image is of Olive Ann Oatman Fairchild. Olive was born in 1837 to a Mormon family, one of seven children of Royse and Mary Ann Oatman. Royse had started raising his family in Illinois, briefly moved to Pennsylvania around 1849, and by 1850 had decided to join a wagon train of around 90 fellow believers to go west.
Bose Ikard
Bose Ikard was born a slave around 1843 – 1847 in Noxubee County, Mississippi. Bose gave his age to be 37 in 1880, making his year of birth around 1843, but some accounts say 1847. All of the available genealogical records list his father to be Dr. Milton Ikard with the mother’s name simply listed as “unknown.” In the vernacular of the time, his “master” was Dr. Ikard who was the source of his last name. His mother would eventually be revealed as having the last name King and to have also been born in Mississippi, but beyond that, no more is known of her. The Ikards moved first to Union Parish, Louisiana before coming to Texas about 1852 when Bose was around 8. Bose lived with the Ikards and moved with them first to Lamar County and then to Parker County. There he lived the life of a farmer and ranch hand, joining Milton Ikard and others defending their homes and property from Indian attacks. While living here, Bose acquired his skills as a cowboy, to ride, rope steers, fight Indians and to shoot.
Satanta, Kiowa Chief
Satanta, or Settiante (White Bear), was a Kiowa war chief. Born around 1820, the son of Chief Red Tipi and a Spanish captive, he was similar the Comanche leader Quanah Parker, in that he was a formidable warrior and has been called the last great chief of his tribe.
Collin McKinney
Collin McKinney was a early settler in North Texas. He was born in 1766 in New Jersey to a Scottish couple, Daniel and Mercy McKinney, making him 10 years old at the height of the American Revolution. Near the end of the war, the family first moved to Virginia and then again on to Kentucky around 1780.
Texas History Notebook 