Sarah, maybe we will never know for sure, but if Mr. King signed on as a Merchant Seaman in a Missisippi Trading port, he could have advanced in a very few years to being a Ship's Captain with powerful backing, he could have bought and sold ships and cargo until he could buy the King Ranch, possibly with backing from Shipping interests as did George Par, LBJ's friend. His family in Missouri- if ten same man, could have bought him a ship and he could have traded up. Remember, before Refrigeration, some Cattle were loaded on feedlot type barges and towed to New Orleans and upstream to Missouri or Illinois Packing house. I have read of the workers on these barges and tow boats were not happy with such work. Most major Cattle drives were from 1850 to Barbed wire. The Shawmnee Trail or the Arkansas Wire Road" up a river was the way John Chissum of Broken Bow drove cattle to Illinois markets , until farmers along the way stopped tick infested cattle from using the Shawnee Trail and another near it, and the Drives, as they moved west, grew larger and dipping vats like the one near Koonsman's in Selden- Duffau area. Charles Wyly On Sun, 22 May 2005 20:15:56 -0700 (PDT) Sarah Herring Claburn <sbclaburn@yahoo.com> writes: > Callie, > > He was a steamboat captain. > > From king-ranch.com: > Founded in 1853 by Captain Richard King, King Ranch > sprawls across 825,000 acres of South Texas with land > that varies from fertile black farmland to low-lying > coastal marshes to mesquite infested pastures that > mark the beginning of the great Texas brush country. > Covering almost 1,300 square miles, it is larger than > the entire state of Rhode Island. Captain Kings > descendants continue to play an active role at King > Ranch working with professional management to build on > traditions of the past and innovations for the future. > > --- Callie Waits <calliewaits@digitex.net> wrote: > > > I have heard a story about the owner of the King > > Ranch being a homeless > > person from New York, that came to Texas and somehow > > aquired the land that > > is now called King Ranch, of course you never know > > if these old tales are > > true, and how would you prove it, after all these > > years. > > Callie > > > Sarah Herring Claburn > http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=sarclaburn > > Researching: > Herring - Thornton - Sechrist - Lammert - Holder - Timian - Torrans > - Squyres - Claburn > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > > > ==== TXERATH Mailing List ==== > --- Author Retains Copyright --- > -- Copyright 2005 Author -- All Rights Reserved > Post to List: TXERATH-L@rootsweb.com http://www.selfroots.com > Unsubscribe request To: TXERATH-L-request@rootsweb.com > ARCHIVES: http://searches2.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl > >