ranches, ranch families – Page 9 – Texas History Notebook

The Scharbauer Cattle Company is well known in West Texas. Clarence Scharbauer, Sr. was born August 18, 1879 in Albany County, New York to Christian and Jennie Scharbauer and was also the grandson of Ferdinand Scharbauer who had come to America from Holland. Christian’s brother John had come from New York to Eastland, Texas in 1880 where he established a sheep ranch. A few years later, John moved further west to the Abilene area and then in 1884 he moved again to Mitchell County in the general vicinity of Colorado City. His sheep business prospered but John became interested in raising cattle, purchasing his first bulls and cows in 1888. Encouraged by his success, by the mid to late 1890s, he had shifted his production entirely to cattle and become one of the leading cattlemen in the state.