Kings of Texas

Don Graham

Description

Praise for KINGS OF TEXAS

"Kings of Texas is a fresh and very welcome history of the great King Ranch. It's concise but thorough, crisply written, meticulous, and very readable. It should find a wide audience."
-Larry McMurtry, author of Sin Killer and the Pulitzer Prize--winning Lonesome Dove

"This book is about the King Ranch, but it is about much more than that. A compelling chronicle of war, peace, love, betrayal, birth, and death in the region where the Texas-Mexico border blurs in the haze of the Wild Horse Desert, it is also an intriguing detective story with links to the present-and a first-rate read."
-H.W. Brands, author of The Age of Gold and the bestselling Pulitzer Prize finalist The First American
Acknowledgments.

Introduction.

1. Manifest Destiny’s Children.

2. The Quartermaster’s Depot.

3. The Preacher and The Preacher’s Daughter.

4. Sea of Grass.

5. Grandma’s Cattle.

6. His Majesty King Cotton.

7. Ricardo King, Owner of the Hacienda Gertrudis.

8. A Second Alamo.

9. The Great Cattle King of Texas.

10. Cause No. 1279.

11. Quieted in the Possession of His Lands.

12. The Succession.

13. The Unquiet Past.

14. Chapman v. King Ranch, Inc.

Bibliography.

Index.

Sujets

• Histoire
• King Ranch
• Southwest
• State
• United States
• History
• Local
• Texas

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 22 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781118039809
• Langue: English

Extrait

Table of Contents
 
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Acknowledgments
Introduction
 
CHAPTER 1 - Manifest Destiny’s Children
CHAPTER 2 - The Quartermaster’s Depot
CHAPTER 3 - The Preacher and the Preacher’s Daughter
CHAPTER 4 - Sea of Grass
CHAPTER 5 - Grandma’s Cattle
CHAPTER 6 - His Majesty King Cotton
CHAPTER 7 - Ricardo King, Owner of the Hacienda Gertrudis
CHAPTER 8 - A Second Alamo
CHAPTER 9 - The Great Cattle King of Texas
CHAPTER 10 - Cause No. 1279
CHAPTER 11 - Quieted in the Possession of His Lands
CHAPTER 12 - The Succession
CHAPTER 13 - The Unquiet Past
CHAPTER 14 - Chapman v. King Ranch, Inc.
 
Bibliography
Index

This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright © 2003 by Don Graham. All rights reserved
 
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada
 
Design and production by Navta Associates, Inc.
 
Illustration credits: page ii courtesy of John V. Cotter, Ph.D.; pages 19, 207, and 210 courtesy of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Foundation, Fort Worth, Texas; pages 23 and 24 Chapman [William WE.] Papers. CN Number 11163. The Center for American History, the University of Texas at Austin. Courtesy of Edward Coker; page 49 courtesy of the Photography Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, the University of Texas at Austin; page 77 courtesy of Hildago County Historical Museum, Edinburg, Texas; page 135 courtesy of Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries, Norman, Oklahoma; page 203 courtesy of Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Austin, Texas; page 249 courtesy of Adair Margo.
 
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
 
Graham, Don, date
Kings of Texas : the 150-year saga of an American ranching empire / Don Graham.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-471-39451-3 (acid-free paper)
1. King Ranch (Tex.)—History. 2. King Ranch (Tex.)—Biography. 3. Ranch life—Texas. I. Title.
F392.K47 G73 2003
976.4’47306—dc21
2002014036
 

 
Again, for my wife, BB
The crookedness of the Rio Grande cannot be exaggerated. It is extremely muddy, the banks low, and utterly without interest and passing up this stream the question arises: For what are we here? For such a country as this why expend such blood and treasure?
—HELEN CHAPMAN, LETTER, 1848

 
  The cattle is a little thin and bitter water down in the rincon and no pens.
—RICHARD KING, LETTER, 1862
Acknowledgments
During the course of writing this book, I received a great deal of help from old friends and new ones made along the way. Herewith, my heartfelt thanks.
I am profoundly grateful first of all to Edward Coker of Charlotte, North Carolina, for his unstinting help. Ed was invaluable in helping me locate documents and better understand the complex background of his ancestors’ relationships with Richard and Henrietta King. It was he who encouraged me to examine the records at the Edwards Legal Firm in Corpus Christi. In sum, Ed Coker’s advice and aid made this project viable and exciting, and I am forever grateful.
At the beginning of my research, journalist Skip Hollandsworth turned over to me a large box containing all the background information and notes he had gathered for his excellent 1998 Texas Monthly article on King Ranch. Skip’s generosity saved me a lot of time, and I am grateful.
In Corpus Christi at the Edwards Legal Firm, I was the beneficiary of many kindnesses from attorneys Michael G. Terry and William R. Edwards. I also wish to thank Janie Loa and Michelle Shircliffe of that firm for their help.
Thanks also to Al Lowman of San Marcos, who made available to me his collection of correspondence surrounding the publication of Tom Lea’s The King Ranch and offered useful hints for research.
Tom Kreneck, associate director of Special Collections and Archives at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, was especially helpful in filling me in on the background of archival research in South Texas. I also wish to thank Bruce Cheeseman for agreeing to talk to me about his time as King Ranch archivist.
Others historians and writers who offered useful advice and counsel include Jerry Thompson, Andrés Tijerina, David Montejano, Rolando Hinojosa, David Gracy, John Leffler, Richard Holland, Bert Almon, and James Sanderson.
Thanks for various forms of help are extended to Cherrie Weather-ford, Donald Avance, R. W. Hoover, Fred Berry, Yolanda Z. Gonzalez, Mimi Berry, Alan Alexander, and Freddee Berry.
Scholars and staff at the Texas State Historical Association at The University of Texas were very helpful, and I am grateful to George Ward, Ron Tyler, and Sandra Gilstrap for their aid.
Don Carleton, director of the Center for American History, offered crucial advice in the early stages of this project and supported my research. I am grateful to him and to the staff who handle the daily flow of information at the center’s library: Ralph Elder, Evan Hocker, Paulette Delahoussaye, John Wheat, Alison Beck, Brenda Gunn, Stephanie Malmros, and David Dettmer.
I am also grateful to Tom Staley, director of the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, who has always been very supportive of my work.
Mark Busby brought to my attention a number of valuable articles and documents, for which I am grateful.
And a special thanks to cartographer John Cotter for his splendid map.
For the photographs, I wish to thank Dr. Cheri L. Wolfe of the Cattle Raisers Museum in Fort Worth; Steve Lomas of the Hidalgo County Historical Museum in Edinburg; John Anderson of the Texas State Library and Archives in Austin; Linda Peterson and Janis Olsen of the Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin; John Lovett of the University of Oklahoma; Linda Briscoe of the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas; Adair Margo of the Adair Margo Gallery in El Paso; and, again, Edward Coker.
For the cover photo, I wish to thank photographer David R. Stoecklein; Carrie R. James of his office; and Kathy Marcus of Texas Monthly for steering me in that direction.
I wish also to thank Evan Smith, editor of Texas Monthly, and Quita McMath and all the writers and staff at the magazine for their encouragement, goodwill, and support.
In the English Department at The University of Texas, chair James Garrison has been, as always, enthusiastically supportive, and I wish also to thank Ramona Van Loan, Geneva Walton, and Anda Wynn for their able handling of travel forms and other administrative matters. And special thanks to Mary Blockley for help with a Latin translation.
Richard Lariviere, dean of the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas, has been very supportive of my research initiatives, and I wish to thank both him and the university for granting me a Faculty Research Award to complete this project. I wish also to thank Dean Lariviere for a Research Award. I am very grateful to Joey S. Walker of the dean’s office for her invaluable help as well.
I also wish to thank the Summerlee Foundation in Dallas, headed by John Crain, for a research grant. Their support is much appreciated. My thanks to The Writers’ League of Texas for acting as my sponsor for the Summerlee Foundation Grant, and a special thanks to Sally Baker of The Writers’ League for her help.
In New York, Emily Loose had some good ideas about the early stages of the project, but my biggest debt, far and away, is to Stephen S. Power, who helped bring the book into its present shape. As they used to say in Texas, he would do to ride the river with.
My agent, Jim Hornfischer, who is always on the lookout for a good story, brought the possibility of this project to my attention, and he deserves a huge measure of thanks as well.
I would also like to say a word or two more about my wife, Betsy Berry, to whom this book is dedicated. She is a superb editor and as always was helpful in that reg