Texas Ranch Women: Three Centuries of Mettle and Moxie

by Carmen Goldthwaite

Overview

Texas would not be Texas without the formidable women of its past. Beneath the sunbonnets, Stetsons or high-fashion couture, the women of the Lone Star State carved out ranches, breathed new life into spreads and expanded acreage when husbands, sons and fathers fell. Throughout the centuries, the women of Texas's ranches defended home and hearth with cannon and shot. They rescued hostages. They nurtured livestock through hard winters and long droughts and drove them up the cattle trails. They built communities and saw to it that faith and education prevailed for their children and for those of others. Join author Carmen Goldthwaite in an inspiring survey of fierce Lone Star ladies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626195981
Publisher:	History Press, The
Publication date:	09/30/2014
Series:	American Heritage
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	1,059,535
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Fort Worth resident and seventh-generation Texan Carmen Goldthwaite teaches creative writing at Southern Methodist University, where she was elected to the Archives of Women of the Southwest Advisories Board. She is a member of Westerners International, the Texas State Historical Association, member and Spur Award judge for Western Writers of America and former director of the Friends of the Fort Worth Public Library. Contact her at www.carmengoldthwaite.com for more Texas history and writing tips.

Table of Contents

Preface 7

Acknowledgements 9

Introduction 11

1 Fable and Fact That Led to Texas's Changing Ways 13

2 Spanish Land Grants Awarded to or Inherited by Women, 1750-1821 21

3 Mexican Land Grants Owned by Women, 1821-36 31

4 Ranching in the Wild Horse Prairie, 1850s-1900s 49

5 Women Hit the Trail 65

6 Moving North and West into Texas, 1840s-'70s 87

7 Searching for Water…Found Oil, 1920s-'30s 101

8 Staking Claim on the "Staked Plains," 1870s- 1900s 121

9 Mountain and Desert Ranches Take in "Guests" 131

10 Woman to Woman: Continuing Family Traditions 153

Afterword 167

Bibliography 169

Index 183

About the Author 187