Cowdens blaze trails in West Texas cattle, banking industries William Hamby and Caroline “Carrie” Liddon Cowden, had a large family of 11 children by 1878. They had moved to Palo Pinto County in 1855, and in 1883, went to Midland County “with nothing but the shirts on their backs, and many children.” EDITOR’S NOTE — This is the 146th of a series of articles marking Kerr County’s 2006 sesquicentennial. By Irene Van Winkle West Kerr Current Ranching has been a stock in trade for the Cowden family for more than 150 years in Texas. They also go back more than 100 years in banking. William Henry “Tuffy” Cowden has lived on the Divide near the YO Ranch since 1926, when his parents came here from West Texas and bought the place from an old settler descendant. He said he can only verify what he knows, adding, “I suspect that most histories are full of mistakes, but we’ll forge on and do the best we can.” Per the 1933 book, “Southern Cowdens,” by John B. Cowden, the family goes back to 16th Century roots: “The ancient Gaelic spelling of the name was Choille-dun, which signifies the wooded hill ... the Anglo-Saxon form, Cowden, signified a dwelling in the cow valley.” Old English history of Norforkshire makes frequent references to Thomas and Nathaniel Cowden. The name, Cowdenbeath, occurs in towns near Edinburgh and London; another variant is Cowdenknowes, or hills, in Scotland. In Tweed, there is Cowden Peel (or castle). Implying a status of nobility, the family has a coat of arms, found both in Scotland and Ireland, which features a black lion and three golden rings. In the 1600s, a Thomas MacCowden came to Donegal County, Ireland, and dropped the Scottish prefix, “Mac.” Most Scotsmen coming there were Presbyterians fleeing the imposition of Catholicism. Four Cowdens came to America between 1728-1735: James, who settled in Holden, Mass.; William and Matthew, who went to Pennsylvania; and another William who went to Virginia. James married twice. One son from the first marriage was David. Three other sons were Thomas, Samuel and Robert. Thomas moved to Fitchburg, Mass. and served in the Revolutionary War. His descendants became prominent in the New England area. Samuel and Robert struck out to Virginia and North Carolina. Samuel (born in 1730) appeared in Augusta County, Virginia, before 1763. His son, David (1775/80-1844) was born in Newton County, Georgia, where he married Nancy Hancock. David and Nancy had three sons and a daughter: Johnathan (born 1795), William (b. 1796), David II and Agnes. Johnathan married Mary Watson in 1823 and they had five children: William Hamby “Bill” (1826-1903), George Franklin “Frank” (1827-1912), Johnathan II, Mary Anne and Martha Ann. Johnathan’s brother, William, married Mary’s sister, Lucinda. Although no one seems to know why they enlisted, in about 1846, teenagers Bill and Frank left Alabama to fight in the Mexican War. They marched to New Orleans, and sailed with General Winfield Scott’s army to Vera Cruz. Their travels offered them their first taste of Texas. William Hamby, who was born in Jacksonville, Ala. and died in Midland County, Texas, first married Caroline “Carrie” Liddon (1832-1879), and then her sister, Katherine (1845-1912). All of his 11 children were with Carrie: Mary J., Willie, William Henry “W.H.” (b. 1853), George E., John Motherwell, Charles, Cynthia, Anna, Nonnie, Liddon, Rorey and Eugene Pelham. The wide open Texas spaces appealed to Bill and Frank, who moved to Shelby County in 1847. Soon, though, they left for less crowded places, with 30 Longhorns in tow. In 1855, they headed to Palo Pinto County, 80 miles west of Fort Worth. This was the “cradle of cowmen,” with good grazing and plentiful wild game near the Brazos River (originally named “Brazos de Dios” or “the arms of God”). Their neighbors were the Daltons, Goodnights, Lovings and Slaughters. Michael Pettit, in “Riding for the Brand — 150 Years of Cowden Ranching,” wrote that they built a “dog run” cedar-log cabin — two separate rooms under one roof with an open breezeway, adding a front porch and two chimneys. The floor was packed dirt. Palo Pinto was very wild, and raids by Comanches and Wichitas were all too common. They would go off their reservations and prey on people and livestock. Pettit wrote that even though there were treaties with whites, one band of a tribe did not necessarily honor pacts made with another band. As raids worsened, groups of ranchers forted at Peter Davidson’s ranch, southwest of Strawn. They built picket houses covered with dirt, and guarded the children while they attended school. Reminiscent of more recent drills for bomb or terrorist attacks, Pettit said, the pioneer children were instructed about what to do if they were attacked by Indians. When the railroad reached Fort Worth, the Cowdens moved to Midland County in 1883, “with nothing but the shirts on their backs, and many children.” There, on the Llano Estacado (“staked plains”) they were near the historic Horsehead Crossing, and the Goodnight-Loving cattle trail. Born in Shelby County, W.H. followed in his father’s ranching footsteps. The Handbook of Texas entry by H. Allen Anderson is a biography of W.H. which said that by 1875, he had started his own operation on Walnut Creek in Palo Pinto County with a herd of between 75 and 100 head. In 1880 W.H. married Mary Salvage, whose widowed mother married Alonzo Edwards, from whom the Cowdens purchased the JAL-branded herd in 1882. W.H. and Mary had 11 children, two of whom died in infancy: Henry Brunson, Ray, Hallie, Jax, Bernice, Gilbert, William Hart, Jerry Eugene “Gene” (1897-1950), George and Mary Frances. W.H. and his brothers, George E. and John M., ranged cattle on the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos in Kent County and then trailed them through Midland to the White Sand Hills range in what is now Lea County, New Mexico. By 1885, they had established the JAL ranch, which they operated for the next 25 years, with headquarters in New Mexico and offices in Midland. At its peak, the JAL covered one-fourth of Lea County, and portions of adjacent Texas counties. Eventually the three elder Cowden brothers, two brothers-in-law, and the younger brothers, Liddon, Rorey and Gene, all made up the firm. In 1895, the Cowdens fenced more than 300 sections with barbed wire. The JAL herd grew to about 40,000 head but homesteaders pouring into Lea County reduced the JAL range. In 1912, John M. bought his brothers’ interests and operated the ranch from the headquarters in Midland until all of the land was sold. The town of Jal, New Mexico, was founded at the ranch’s Muleshoe Camp and named for the Cowdens’ brand. The “Pioneer History of Midland Co., Texas 1880-1926” mentions the First National Bank of Midland, organized in 1890. Among its founders was W.H. He remained involved in the JAL until 1892, when he sold his interest to his brothers and W.C. Cochran, a brother-in-law. The following year, in partnership with J.W. Gibson, he stocked a ranch with 2,000 steers in the Creek Nation of the Indian Territory. He bought 40 sections in Andrews County, which he fenced and stocked with 400 steers, and 60,000 acres of property in Crane County, which he operated with his sons. In 1904, he bought another ranch in Frio County. W.H. lived in Midland until his retirement from the bank in 1926. Then, he and his wife moved to San Antonio, where he died. Son Gene married Lorene Edwards and had five children: Jerry Eugene, Harry, George, Tuffy and Charlie. Tuffy was born in Mineral Wells, the closest town to Midland with a hospital and housing but Gene and Lorene didn’t stay long in West Texas. “My folks moved here when I was just a month or so old, because they wanted to raise sheep,” Tuffy said. “They bought this ranch from Airs Morriss.” Tuffy said his mother was a great inspiration with a good sense of humor while raising five boys. She gave him his nickname, too, he said. “She’d see me running around all cotton-headed, and thought I looked tough, so she just started calling me Tuffy.” Tuffy went to the Dee Hughes School on the Divide in the first grade, and then the Dietert School, which was on the way to Rocksprings. He then attended Kerrville Elementary School, where the principal was Tom Daniels, Sr. “He was very nice, and occasionally he’d call me into his office for a conference,” Tuffy said, winking. Some of his chums were Billy Odem, Tom Sibson and Walter Saner. Tuffy said he spent a lot of time with a favorite uncle, William Hart, who lived in the Davis Mountains and was like a second father to him. Lorene had a sister, Jerra, whom everyone called “sister,” and a brother, Charles. Jerra lived with Lorene in her last years. Gene and Lorene raised Rambouillet sheep and Angora goats on their ranch, which was just shy of 4,000 acres. Another parcel in Frio County is also family-owned. “We leased this place from Mom after Dad died, and Harry and me took part of it,” Tuffy said. “When my grandmother (Mary) died in 1948, she still had nine children, who inherited 18,000 acres. Each one got 2,000 acres.” Nowadays, Tuffy said, predators are a problem, particularly coyotes. “There didn’t used to be any coyotes from this side of Highway 90 to here,” he said. While in high school, Tuffy dated Tommie Jean Womack, whose parents had come to Kerrville from Brady. Her father owned a clothing store across from Schreiner’s store. Meanwhile, WWII broke out. When he graduated, knowing he would be drafted and not wishing to be in the infantry, Tuffy got parental permission to join the Navy. After basic training in San Diego, he was sent to Treasure Island, between Oakland and San Francisco, on a troop transport ship. From there, he headed to Hawaii and then the Carolina Islands, where he spent most of his tour on the new USS LST (Landing Ship, Tank) 1001. LSTs carry vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto an unimproved shore. The 1001 ran supplies back and forth to Okinawa and there were numerous hazards, such as Kamikazes. “Four of our guys got hit with shrapnel from their strafing,” Tuffy said. Trickery also yielded dire results. “Once, some of us went ashore on Canarita Island to dump garbage, and then we messed around on the beach where there were some caves,” he said. “The next day, a few Japanese came out of the caves holding a white flag. An LSM went over and when the men came ashore, the Japanese ambushed and killed them. I just wonder why they didn’t kill us when we were there the day before.” Storms were also deadly. On Oct. 9, 1945, Typhoon Louise wreaked havoc in “Typhoon Alley.” Winds reached 80 knots (92 mph) while 35-foot waves battered ships, 12 of which were sunk, 222 grounded and 32 severely damaged. Casualties were 36 killed, 47 missing and 100 seriously injured. The 1001’s logs showed the barometer at 28.52, and although damaged, the 1001 was repaired. Only one sailor ever died on his ship, Tuffy said — it was not from war wounds, but from a fall after getting drunk. Back from the war in 1946, Tuffy married his sweetheart, Tommie Jean, and they had two sons, Bill and Mark. During the long drought in the 1950s, he said he took work wherever he could. “I worked out a lot, including at the YO,” he said. “That’s where I got to know Harvey Goff. Then I worked for the Farmers Home Administration, a rural government lending agency, and traveled a lot inspecting sheep and goats, and housing.” Later, he worked at First National Bank (now Wells Fargo) for 24 years. When it sold to Norwest, Tuffy retired. Bill and Mark both attended school first on the Divide, and then in Kerrville. Bill went to Schreiner College, and then graduated from Texas A&M. He is president of Security State Bank and Trust at the home office in Fredericksburg. He married Kitty Syfan, and they have two children, Courtney and William Cody. Mark graduated with a master’s degree from Baylor University. He has two children, Will and Parker, by former spouse Camilla Parker. He is senior vice-president at SSBT and is manager of the Kerrville branch. Bill and Mark are involved in the ranching business with Tuffy. “We’re a pretty close family,” Mark said, “and share a lot of interests, including ranching, banking and flying.” Tuffy always had a desire to fly, and still gets out in his Cessna 182. He looks back on the past with both fondness and a touch of sadness. Gene died of a heart attack on his 53rd birthday, when Tuffy was just in his 20s. “He had laid down and then got sick,” Tuffy said. “My mother was there. They were living in Kerrville on Galbraith Street, in a house that Gene Hutzler bought later. All of my brothers except for Harry died at a young age,” he said, “but my mom lived to 86 years of age.” Tommie Jean died in 1977, and although he remarried, Tuffy is now single. In addition to Tuffy’s family, there are still other Cowdens in the area. George’s widow, Jeanette, lives in Kerrville, as do Harry’s children, Paul Cowden and Kitty Brooks. Jeanette and George’s son, Tim, lives on part of the ranch on the Divide. Tuffy recently celebrated his 82nd birthday and said he’s very thankful. “I’ve lived a great life,” he said. “It’s all been just a happening, and none of it was ever planned.” In a biography of his grandfather, “Grand Tuffy,” grandson Will calls him one of “the Greatest Generation,” not only for Tuffy’s service to his country but because “good of the whole, self-discipline, self-reliance, and ‘fix it, don’t throw it away’ are the rules.” ---Ancestry
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 04:01:42 +0000
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