ranches, ranch families – Texas History Notebook

William Hittson

William Bedford Hittson was born October 14, 1834 in Mount Pleasant, Tennessee to Jesse J. Hittson (1801 – 1861) and Mary Ann Beck Hittson (1798 – 1879). His father, Jesse J. Hittson, was born in Virginia but came to Texas with his family in 1855. The Hittsons were a farming family but began raising cattle after settling in Texas. The family consisted of the parents, Aaron H. Hart (possibly a child from a previous marriage of the former Mary Ann Beck). The couple had two sons of their own, John Nathan Hittson and William Bedford Hittson. Both John and William were married by the time that the whole family moved to Texas. Jesse and the families of Aaron, John and William were all living in Palo Pinto County at the time of his death in 1861 at around the age of 60. No cause of death is noted.

After Jesse died, son John is said to have managed the cattle operation for their mother. None of the immediate family appear to have actively served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War though William Hittson was apparently on the roster of a local militia.

Pérez Ranch

This ranch was the oldest ranch in Texas for the better part of two hundred years. The original grantee was Don Juan Ignacio (or Ygnacio) Pérez de Casanova in 1794 from Spain during its control of the area. The ranch operated continuously under a number of names including Rancho de Purisima Conceptión, Stone Rancho, Perez Ranch, Linn Ranch, Rancho de Leon and Walsh Ranch until about 22 years ago. Some of the ranch names come from family names of spouses in marriage.

Spade Ranches

The Spade Ranch (also referred to either as the Spade Renderbrook or the Renderbrook Spade Ranch) takes its name from J. F. “Spade” Evans, who was an early co-owner of the property with Henry Sanborn, who was called the “Father of Amarillo.” Their first property was in Donley County east of Clarendon and amounted to twenty-three sections of land, about 15,000 acres more or less. This property, livestock and Spade brand were all sold to Isaac Leonard Ellwood in 1889.

Swenson Ranches

Multiple sources credit Svante Magnus Swenson as being the first Swedish immigrant to come to Texas. He was born February 24, 1816 in Sweden to Sven Israelsson Swenson and Margareta Andesrsdotter Swenson, both of whom lived their whole lives in Sweden. He left his family and his home in Sweden when he was about twenty years old and came to America. S. M. briefly lived in New York before he relocated to the South. After he worked in New York as a railroad bookkeeper for a while, S. M. traveled to Galveston from New York in 1838. According to a biography of Swenson written by A. Anderson, the ship he traveled in experienced a shipwreck as it arrived in Texas, though the details are unknown. Swenson survived the ordeal and operated a mercantile business for a few years. It appears that for some time, he remained in the coastal area working for his own account before later joining in a partnership with a Dr. Long from Fort Bend County.

Iron Mountain Ranch

In 1881, a retired sea captain by the name of Albion Shepard came to the Big Bend area while working as a surveyor for the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway. In newspaper and other articles, his last name might be spelled Shepard, Shepherd, Shepperd or some other variation. In this article we will use the spelling Shepard.