Meixner Family History #22 - Epilogue Part 5

                                                         Granddad's Cowboy Years

It's difficult for me to think of Granddad as a cowboy, since my only remembrances of him are when he was in his 80s,.  But that is what he was in his early years in Concho County.  He moved west like many others were doing at this time to follow the opening of the frontier in Texas and to take advantage of the opportunity that it offered.  He worked on large ranches riding the herds and working the cattle, breaking horses, etc as recounted in post #20.

A couple weeks ago I made a trip to Bell County and several other places and met one of my cousins.  I most likely met him before, but this was before I started getting into my family history and before I knew all the people and relationships, so that may be why I really don't remember our prior meetings.  His name is William Rudolph (Bill) Schleede and he lives on a farm in Bell County.  His current place is located just a short distance from the farm where he grew up which is also the farm where Theresia and her second husband Rudolph Schleede lived from 1892 until his death in 1911 and then her death in 1932.  His grandmother (who is also my great-grandmother) is Theresia (Eigel) (Meixner) Schleede and his grandfather was William Rudolph Schleede.  His father was also named William Rudolph so he is the third one to carry the name.  I had a wonderful visit with Bill and I will write more about that visit in a later post.  Bill related a story to me that is relevant to granddad's cowboy days.  

In 1901 a young man by the name of M.P. McElhannon started his practice as a doctor at Belton in Bell County.  Bill told me that my granddad, Harmon, broke a horse for Dr. McElhannon.  (This is the process of taming a wild horse down to the point you are able to mount and ride it without it bucking you off.)  This was the first horse the doctor owned and was the horse he used as he began his practice as a doctor in Bell County.  He practiced in Bell County for many years and was a well respected and well known doctor in that area.  I found it interesting that "cowboy" Harmon helped him get started.

Cowboys Breaking In Horses.

http://uair.arizona.edu/item/294498, Photograph of cowboys breaking in horses on the Empire Ranch [ca. 1890-1900]. Empire Ranch -- Portfolio Box: (2) [Vault] Special Collections, http://www.library.arizona.edu/

Cowboy Breaking in a Horse.  Painted by Fredrick Remington.

http://www.wpclipart.com/American_History/commerce/commerce_2/Cowboy_breaking_a_horse__Remington_1893.png

When granddad got to Concho County my dad stated in his book that:  (He) "...worked for Sam Henderson, who had some fifty sections of land (32,000 acres) in his spread." (1)  and later he said "Papa worked for an old time family by the name of D.E. Sims.  Mr. Sims lived on the Concho River and his spread took in the present site of the Painted Rocks.  Dad worked for the Sims family for quite a long time .  He was a friend to the family many years as we lived in Concho County." (2)

Granddad Harmon Meixner in his early years.  Picture shared by my cousin Claudia Brown.

Working on a large ranch was lonely work.  It meant hours spent riding in the blazing sun, freezing cold or driving rain and watching the heard or looking for strays.  Cowboys found various means of diversion to liven up their day and to entertain themselves.  Granddad said "one day he and his buddy were riding along and came up on a huge badger.  They got off their horses and took their quirts with them. (A quirt is:  "a riding whip with a short handle and a rawhide lash.")  One would hit the badger with a quirt and get him to chase him, then the other one would run up and give the old badger a good lick with the quirt and the badger would turn and chase him.  They would finally wear the badger out." (3)

Badger.  Somehow this guy doesn't look like he would be that much fun.  

http://theshroom.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/advice-column-ask-a-honey-badger/

Cowboys worked in all types of weather and all types of conditions both day and night.  ..."often while driving the cattle at night a storm would be raging.  He said that the lightening would play back and forth on the tips of the horns on the cattle." (4)  I guess this would have been static electricity.  I think that would be quite a sight on a dark stormy night.  Sounds to me like St. Elmo's Fire.  * (See my reference below about St. Elmo's Fire.)

As they worked the heard of cattle the "cowboys never yelled, whistled or made any kind of unusual noise because if they did they would have a stampede.  That meant that the cattle would run and then scatter everywhere.  It would take days to round them up again.  For the most part the cattle were roped, marked, and worked right out in the open prairie.  Fences were few and far between.  It was a very common thing to ride for fifty miles without opening a gate." (5)

Description: Photograph of four cowboys on horseback in front of a column of cattle in an open field. Behind the cowboys and cattle are two small, wooden houses.  Creator: Mugg, Kilo

Harvey Patteson & Son Photographers. [Field of Longhorn Cattle], Photograph, 1952; digital image, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth44331/ : accessed March 18, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Cattle Raisers Museum, Fort Worth, Texas.

Cowboys Herding Cattle, Photograph, n.d.; digital image.

(http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth44466/ : accessed March 18, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Cattle Raisers Museum, Fort Worth, Texas.

A couple more interesting stories that I got from my dad's book were granddad's stories about snakes.  I would guess you had to become somehow reconciled with snakes when you were living as close to nature as they were back then.  Remember the snakes in the rafters dropping on to the beds that I told about in post #12?

"... the cowboys were riding the range several miles from the ranch house and the bunk house.  They were living in a tent.  One morning they got up and ate their breakfast and then proceeded to roll up their bunks.  Dad discovered a large rattlesnake had spent the night with him.  The snake was under his bed roll and was mashed rather flat.  Dad said that he could not bear to kill the snake after he had been so nice and hadn't bitten him. He got a long stick and carried the snake a good way from the camp site and let him go." (6)

Another story went like this:  "As dad first started riding the range, he would notice the old cowpokes spying a rattlesnake and simply ride up close - drop the reigns to his horse.  Then he would walk, or I had better say, ease over to where the snake was coiled and gently raise their cowboy boots (these boots had a long heel) high over the snake and come down with the heel of the boot on the snake's head and kill him."

"Dad said that he was riding the pasture by himself one day and he noticed a rattler coiled up which gave him a chance to try and do what the other boys had been doing.  He got up to the snake, raised his foot high and came down toward the snake's head.  He missed the snake's head and the snake grabbed his pant leg.  He said that he took off at a high rate of speed.  He just didn't know when to stop running.  A morning or two later, he was going after his horse and one of his bridle reigns dropped down and made a hissing noise and he took off and ran for a hundred yards.  He thought that a rattler was about to get him." (7)

Rattlesnake.  You aren't going to catch me trying to stomp on one of these things!

Mitchell, J. D.. Rattlesnake at bay, Photograph, May 25, 1917; digital image, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth64950/ : accessed March 18, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Victoria College/ University of Houston-Victoria Library, Victoria, Texas.

"Dad said that one time while working for Mr. Sims, it came time for him to do his washing.  He took his clothes and went down to the Concho River to do his wash.  Dad said that it was a moon light night and he was stooped over washing his clothes in the clear water and all at once he heard a rumbling noise.  At once he became aware that the 'river was coming down', (an expression used to indicate that a head rise was coming down the river).  A roll of water was coming down the river about four feet high.  He lost no time in grabbing his clothes, at least those that he could quickly grab, and get out of the river.  He lost most of his clothes, but he saved his life." (8)  This was not an unusual occurrence on the river.  When you got a heavy rain upstream from where you were located the water would quickly fill the river and it would go down stream as a wall.  ** (Isaac Cline recounted a similar event on the Concho River.  See the link to this very interesting story below about "The 1885 Hail Storm, Concho County, Texas".)

After years of being a cowboy, granddad finally decided to settle down.  Or maybe it was the fact that he met this pretty lady named Alice Armistead and fell in love and she decided it was time he was going to settle down.  Either way, granddad and Alice started their married life in December 1905.  Their first home was on the Trail Ranch which was located about two and a half miles south of Paint Rock, TX.  (9)

Grandmother Alice Meixner in her early years.  Picture shared by my cousin Claudia Brown.

I'm sure granddad was still a cowboy for his entire life but his marriage did start a new phase of his life: Marriage and Raising Children.  I'll talk about that next time.

* Wikipidia's description of St Elmo's Fire:  Physically, St. Elmo's fire is a bright blue or violet glow, appearing like fire in some circumstances, from tall, sharply pointed structures.  St. Elmo's fire can also appear on leaves, grass, and even at the tips of cattle horns.  Conditions that can generate St.Elmo's fire are present during thunderstorms, when high voltage levels are present between clouds and the ground underneath. Air molecules glow owing to the effects of such voltage, producing St. Elmo's fire.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo's_fire        

** This is a facinating story about an incounter Isaac Cline had in Concho County with the river "coming down".  Isaac Cline was with the cavalry at the time.  He would later become famous as the meteorolgist for the U.S. Goverment at Galveston when the great hurricane hit  in 1900.  Read the story at this website:   http://www.texasescapes.com/MikeCoxTexasTales/Chilled-Catfish-of-Concho-County.htm

References:
(1)  Meixner, Robert Harmon, Sr., Memoirs of Robert Harmon Meixner, Sr. July 10, 1910 - June 13, 1994. Unpublished. Compiled by Margaret Avis Meixner, pg 12.

(2)  Ibid, pg 13.
(3)  Ibid, pg 15-16.
(4)  Ibid, pg 16.
(5)  Ibid, pg 16.
(6)  Ibid, pg 17.
(7)  Ibid, pg 18.
(8)  Ibid, pg 14.
(9)  Ibid, pg 27.