ranches, ranch families – Page 4 – Texas History Notebook

Henrietta Chamberlain King and Her Family

Henrietta King died in 1925 and at the time, it was reported nationwide in the newswires. Today, there may be fewer people who know of her, but there are probably few Texas women who are as influential as Mrs. King was in their own part of the state. Born in Missouri in 1832, she lived most of her life in Texas, associated with the King Ranch. She moved to Texas with her blended family in 1850 where her father Hiram Chamberlain founded a Presbyterian mission church in Brownsville. She was well educated for her time and married Captain Richard King in 1854 when she was about twenty-two years old. Between 1856 and 1864, the couple had five children: Henrietta Maria (1856 – 1917), Ella Morse (1858 – 1900), Nathan Richard (1860 – 1922), Alice Gertrudis (1862 – 1944) and Robert E. Lee (1864 – 1883). The couple first made their home on the south Texas ranch in a crude block house. The ranch was located between Mexico and the more populated areas of Texas. Their wealth was tied up in the land at the time Richard King died in 1885. Mrs. King spent the next forty years associated with the farming and ranching operations which she and other family members managed. Under their leadership, the ranch prospered and grew, more than doubling in acreage.

The Waggoners and the Halsells

The Halsells and Waggoners were twice related by marriage. Daniel Dale “Dan” Waggoner was the husband of Sicily (sometimes spelled Cicily) Halsell and Dan’s son W. T. “Tom” Waggoner was married to Ella Halsell, sister of Sicily. Dan’s first wife and Tom’s mother was the former Nancy Moore. Nancy had died in 1853. She is buried in a small family cemetery in Hopkins County along with Dan’s father Solomon and one of Dan’s sisters. Around 1858, Dan married Sicily Ann Halsell (Ella’s older sister). No known children were born to Dan and Sicily. Nineteen years later in 1877, Tom Waggoner married Sicily’s younger sister Ella. It may sound more complicated than it is, but as a result of the marriage, Tom’s step-grandparents and all of their children became his inlaws. The Waggoner father and son had each married one of two Halsell sisters. This is not all that uncommon an occurrence, since back in the day families were often much larger and children might be stretched out over a number of years.

William B. Slaughter

William Baxter Slaughter was a son of minister and cattleman George Webb Slaughter (1811 – 1895) and Sarah Jane Mason Slaughter (1818 -1894) and was born in Freestone County, Texas. The children of George Webb and Sarah Jane were Christopher Columbus, Nancy Ann, Peter Eldridge, George Webb Jr., John Bunyan, William Baxter, Francis Ann, Sarah Jennie Mary Permille and Mason Lee, born from 1837 to 1863.

Two Texas Horses – Traveler and Dash for Cash

Traveler was a former railroad work horse that rose to fame for a short time as a race horse in a career that ended about 120 years ago. He is better known for his offspring. His actual ancestry is unknown, but he was believed to have been born in New York state around 1880 to and was transported to Texas around 1890 as a work horse for a railroad contractor. He had no name at that time and was a utility animal, used to pull an implement called a dirt scraper. At one point, the railroad contractor decided that a mule would be better and traded with an East Texas man named Self. Self determined that the horse had a talent for racing and began match racing him with other horses. The horse was then traded to an owner by the name of Seay who also raced him. How and when he was given the name of Traveler is also not precisely known. Finally the horse suffered a career ending injury and was sold possibly several more times until 1903, when he was acquired by owners Will and Dow Shely of Alfred, Texas. The Shely brothers used Traveler as one of the herd sires at their ranch.

Thomas Loyd Burnett

Thomas Loyd Burnett was the son of Samuel Burk Burnett (1849 – 1922) and Ruth Bottom Loyd (1853 – 1913), and was born to the couple on December 10, 1871 in Denton County, Texas. Burk and Ruth had both a son and a daughter after Tom was born, but neither child survived beyond one or two years of age. They were followed by another daughter, Anne Valliant Burnett (1876 -1914). Burk and Ruth divorced in 1892 and Burk subsequently married Mary Sue Couts (1857 – 1924). Their union produced a son, (half brother to Tom and Anne) Samuel Burk Burnett, Jr. (1895 – 1916). Burk, Jr. died of cancer when he was almost twenty-one years old after a short illness. Tom’s sister Anne had previously died in 1914.