Herbert Lee Kokernot, Sr. was born in 1867 to Levi Moses and Sarah Littlefield Kokernot. Levi had been born in 1836 in Louisiana and lived most of his adult life in Gonzales County where he was a cattle rancher. Levi had first married the former Sarah E. Littlefield with whom he had a number of children including Herbert Lee. Sarah died in 1878 at around the age of thirty. He later married Hulda Jane Carnes. Hulda had also been born in Louisiana and lived most of her life in the Gonzales area with Levi and her family.
Continue reading Kokernot o6 RanchDr. Junius William Mottley, namesake of Motley County
Dr. Junius Mottley was born in Virginia in 1812 to John P. and Mary Williams Elmore Mottley. His ancestors came to Virginia from England in the 1600s. Dr. Mottley received his medical education at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. Transylvania was founded in 1780, was the first university in Kentucky and is still operating. A number of early Texans have ties to Transylvania. After completing his studies, he studied with a practicing physician in Kentucky by the name of Dr. Charles Hay. Shortly after leaving Kentucky, Mottley moved to Texas in 1835. He joined the Texas Army and served as Post Surgeon at Goliad. Mottley was serving in that capacity in early 1836 when he was appointed as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Washington County. Accordingly, he was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
Continue reading Dr. Junius William Mottley, namesake of Motley County
Billie Sol Estes
Billie Solomon Estes was born January 10, 1925 to John Levi, Sr., a farmer, and Lillian Alice Coffman Estes in a rural area near Clyde, Callahan County, Texas. It may be a legend, but the story was told of the thirteen year old Billie’s “parlaying” of a single lamb that he was given into what became the sum of $38,000. He is said to have raised a flock of sheep with his one lamb, selling them two years later and investing the proceeds into a sow and piglets which, along with some dealings in feed, he turned into the final sum of $38,000 by the time he was eighteen.
Continue reading Billie Sol EstesMinnie Lou Bradley
Minnie Lou Ottinger Bradley was born December 15, 1931 to Thomas and Zulema Young Ottinger in western Oklahoma. At an early age, she showed a strong interest in livestock as she grew up on the family wheat farm. She joined the 4-H Club and actively participated, although the Future Farmers of America (FFA) was then limited to male members. While in 4-H, she exhibited Angus cattle, sheep and swine. At age ten, she won a blue ribbon at the Oklahoma State Fair for sheep raised on her ranch. After graduating from high school in Hydro, Oklahoma she enrolled at Oklahoma State University, first chartered as Oklahoma Territorial Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1890 and then commonly known as Oklahoma A&M. She was the first female student to enroll in animal science, graduating in 1953 and minoring in agricultural journalism.
Clinton McKamy Winkler
Clinton McKamy Winkler was a lawyer, judge and a member of the Texas Court of Appeals for many years. He was born in North Carolina in 1821 to David Tate and Lavinia Cates Owen Winkler. He moved with his family first to Indiana in 1835 for a few years before relocating to Texas in the early 1840s. They settled in what is now Robertson County to be near other Winkler relatives. The family was said to be descended from German immigrants, but his grandfather was born in North Carolina according to traditional genealogical sources. McKamy was also an old family name and many of these McKamy relatives were also residents of North Carolina.
Texas History Notebook 