ranches – Texas History Notebook

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.

John B. Slaughter

John Bunyan Slaughter was born December 15, 1848 in Sabine County, Texas to Rev. George Webb Slaughter and Sarah Mason Slaughter. John was the fifth child and fourth son born to the couple. In their birth order, 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.

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.

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.

Jim Perry

Jim Perry was the name of an African American cowboy who lived from about 1858 to 1918. He resided mostly in West Texas and the Panhandle. Perry was considered a top hand and was skilled in all aspects of ranching including roping, riding, breaking horses and the like. He was also considered to be a good cook and a good musician on the fiddle. Perry is generally noted along with the most well known African American cowboys including Bones Hooks, Bose Ikard, Bill Pickett and Addison Jones.