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Notes for COW JOHN JOHN SIMPSON CHISUM:
John Simpson CHISUM was never married.
John Simpson CHISUM, the reputed "cattle king of
America" for a number of years, and who was involved
in the "Lincoln County Wars" in New Mexico in
1878-79.
John never married, but it has been said that he had
three children by Jensie, a Negro slave. Her children
were:
Phil
Harriett, b.1855
Meady b. 1857, d. 1949, m. John D. Jones in 1875 and they
had children:
Emory
Jinks
Eugie who m. a Thomas.
John spent the first thirteen years of his life on his
grandfather's plantation in Hardeman Co., TN. Then he
came to Lamar Co., TX with his family in 1835.
The Lois Horton book reports that John undertook his
first business venture while the family lived on Mud
Creek. He hauled water from the stream and sold it in the
town of Paris. "The Chisholm Trail and Other
Routes" says John ran for county clerk of Lamar Co.
when he was about twenty-eight years old. He was
defeated, but ran a second time two years later and was
elected.
The Horton Book continued: "In 1854 he resigned his
post as county clerk of Lamar Co. and entered the cattle
business with S. K. Fowler. With ranch headquarters in
Denton Co., TX the partnership prospered under Chisum's
management on a ten year profit sharing contract and
became the largest cattle outfit in that part of Texas
prior to the Civil War." It would be presumed that
John had heard of the fertile cattle country from his
father Claiborne who fought there in 1841.
The ranch was located on Clear Creek, west of Buck Creek,
in the northeast part of Denton Co. about two miles south
of the Cooke Co., TX line and about six miles east of the
line of West Co.
A section of an unknown and apparently quite old book
(perhaps written in the 1930's) was passed on to Marilyn
Lynch. Chapter 7 is "John Simpson and His Kin."
"He died on Dec 22, 1884 with a chronic malignant
disease of the throat and is buried in Paris, Texas,
beside his father. He was an Odd Fellow and was buried
according to their rituals and a monument was
erected." At the time of the writing of this the
author said a railroad had been built, running near the
hillock on which Cow John and his parents are buried.
Cow John had a ranch about three miles northwest of
Bolivar in Denton Co., TX which he began in 1854 he moved
to Concho Co., TX on the Concho River. "In Dec.
1866, he took his first herd of cattle across the Pecos
at Horsehead Crossing and wintered within six miles of
Charles Goodnight during the winters of 1866 and 1867 and
he and Goodnight had a co-operative arrangement for six
years.
The Goodnight he speaks of is the famous cattleman of the
Texas Panhandle.
At the Bolivar ranch John Chisum had unique methods of
handling cattle. During the Civil War he had an
arrangement with the Confederate Government, to deliver
cattle to Shreveport and other places where they might
need them. He himself was a homeguard and his cowboys
ranged from Fort Worth to the Red River; they were always
well armed and helped to protect the white settlers from
the Indians.
"The Chisholm Trail and Other Routes" speaks of
Bolivar ranch: "..the ranch house is on the crest of
a hill and the terrain slopes gently to the west, south
and east. The long ridge falls gently to the south and
from the ranch house a watcher could spot a redskin half
a mile away. Its location was a natural defence against
the Indians. Grass was free and all John Chisum needed
was enough land for house, garden and feed stuff for a
few horses for ready use, water was a necessity and well
diggers were few. Finally, he found a man that was
anxious to make a trip overland to California. Chisum
offered to pay his way over the Overland Trail if he
would dig all the wells; the offer was accepted.
John Chisum ruled as an overlord with his retainers. The
cattle multiplied, grass was rank and water was fine and
there were no rivals. Water and grass were free as the
air. There were no fences and few neighbors and each
ranch was a feudal manor.
Nineteen years earlier in 1841, John B. Denton, the
Captain who had led John's father Claiborne against the
Indians and was killed during a battle, had been wrapped
in a blanket and placed in a coffin less grave by his men
in the southwest part of the present county. When Cow
John's cowboys found this grave, John sent for his uncle
Ben Bourland. They excavated the body and moved it to the
Chisum ranch where it rested until 1901 when the remains
were moved to the public square in Denton. Thus a father
was witness to the first burial, his son to the second
and the third burial surely had at least one Chisum in
attendance since it was performed by a committee of
pioneers.
" John Chisum drove herds to Shreveport and Little
Rock. In going to Little Rock he crossed the Red River
northwest of Sherman into Indian Territory and traveled
the Red River parallel until he reached Arkansas."
John Chisum was not the founder of the old Chisholm trail
which ran through Indian Territory into Kansas. The
founder of that trail was Jesse Chisholm, the son of
Ignatius Chisholm and a Cherokee maid (Rogers) and is not
related to the Chisums we have here.
"The Chisholm Trail and Other Routes continues:
" John Chisum's cowboys were about the best and most
effective defense squadron that could be called upon in
time of danger. Each cowboy was armed with his rifle, six
shooter, plenty of ammunition, and could ride like a
centaur. Above all, he knew Indians better than the
Indians knew themselves...was in itself a frontier
battalion that kept the settlers protected to the east of
that line that ran from Gainesville to Fort Worth.
While there was no marked trail from Bolivar to
Shreveport, John Chisum followed the well-watered,
well-grassed route through the counties of Denton,
Grayson, Collin, Hunt, Fannin, Upshur, etc. into
Mansfield, Shreveport and other headquarters.
There were few trading posts near Bolivar, and John S.
Chisum was forced to keep supplies on hand for a large
force of cowboys and all their needs...forced to maintain
and keep at his ranch a rather full supply incident to a
frontier store....John Chisum had two accomplishments
that are little known. He was a good fiddler and a good
shoemaker."
The Hinton book reads:' In 1873 he moved to his ranch and
located at South Springs, five miles south of Roswell, NM
and it was here he became the Cattle King of the
Southwest with a territory that reached from the Texas
line to the mountains of Old Lincoln. Here he reigned as
a feudal lord . He was forced, for protection, to employ
many fighting men and in the year 1878 was dragged into
the Lincoln County War...On the Concho the cattle had a
small state to over which to range and in New Mexico he
had a territory of over one Hundred miles square and it
was truthfully said that his cattle grazed on a thousand
hills. In the West he was known as "Honorable John
Chisum," but the plow and the rail road and the
oncoming small ranchers all forced the grazing territory
into private ownership.
John Chisum took his brothers, Pitser, James and
Jefferson into new Mexico with him, settling in 1873 near
Roswell, NM
Sally the daughter of James, made the trip in the early
seventies via San Angelo, Horsehead Crossing and up the
Pecos River to keep house for Uncle John."
The following is from a book written by Lillie Casey,
whose guardian was James Chisum. Her father apparently a
close friend of Cow John's and he took her and her mother
under his wing, signing a quit claim deed over to her for
some land bordering his South Spring River Ranch in
eastern New Mexico.
"Uncle John was a great lover of flowers...Roses
were his especial favorites and he had literally hundreds
of them...About twenty feet east of the main house
(called The Long House) was a camp house for the cowboys
and about fifty feet south of this was a large
single-room building that might be used for any purpose
the occasion might require. Its chief use when I knew the
place was as a dance hall...Uncle John and Uncle Pitzer
were both good fiddlers."
There was an irrigation ditch running near the house.
"Solid ground was left in the middle of one for an
island, to which Uncle Pitzer , for some reason, gave the
Biblical name of the Isle of Patmos. It was on this
island that the three Chisum brothers planted three
weeping willow trees...Each tree was named for one of the
brothers, and their being together was a symbol of
brotherly feeling for one another. It was a similar
feeling which grew so united that they finally grew
together."
"The Chisholm Trail and Other Routes" goes into
some detail on Cow John's partnership with Charles
Goodnight. "The agreement lasted for three
years...The result of which was that the Chisum cattle
territory covered a strip fifty miles wide west and east
and 180 miles long, making a territory larger than the
state of New Jersey..In 1873 John S. Chisum moved his
ranch to South Spring on the Pecos River, about five
miles southeast of the present town of Roswell, NM.
(previously he headquartered for six years at Bosque
Grande, about forty miles from the town of Lincoln.) The
ranch reached the dignity of a feudal estate. Here he
built a rather spacious ranch house, planted shade and
fruit trees. It was a combination of an English manor and
a Spanish hacienda...Some of Chisum's cowboys had been
trained on three ranches, the one near Bolivar in Denton
Co., TX the Conch o Ranch and the ranch at Bosque Grande.
Each ranch was located in the Indian country, and on the
front line of the frontier. Indians were always a menace.
The Chisum brand was the "rail," a streak from
shoulder to thigh, one deemed impossible to alter.
Instead of notching the dewlap of the ear, John split the
ear itself, causing a portion to dangle. This they called
a "Jinglebob."
It is said Cow John referred to himself as Jinglebob John
and Boss of the Jinglebob.
"The Chisholm Trail and Other Routes" states:
" Men with small herds of cattle, nesters, had
entered into New Mexico and settled in the Chisum
Territory, mostly west of the Pecos River. Grass and
water were free...The small cattlemen claimed that Chisum
was trying to crowd them out and the Chisum men claimed
that the small herds were mavericking his cattle. The
killing of the Englishman, Tunstall in Feb . 1878 was the
powder magazine that started the Lincoln County War . The
indications are still that Chisum acted on the defensive
throughout. While his cowboys were armed and ready for
battle, his was largely a campaign of defense. He was not
the leader of the faction, but was an ally of the McSween
faction. The Lincoln County War ran its course. Billy the
Kid was finally slain by Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner, New
Mexico on July 14,1881."
The Horton book says of New Mexico, "New settlers
arrived who wanted to farm and fence off their lands. The
cattlemen who had leased some of the land and used the
other land free were angered at this, settlers and their
fences, but the farmers were determined as the the
cattlemen that they were going to remain in that area.
Both sides hired guns. Cow John...hired Billy the Kid
whose real name was William H. Bonney, born in New York
City in 1859 . Billy the Kid was a cruel cattle thief,
who boasted of twenty killings before he was twenty years
old. Belated Cow John realized his mistake in hiring him
and he enlisted the aid of Sheriff Pat Garrett to help
fire him. Billy called on his Mexican sweetheart, and was
leaving when Sheriff Garrett and Cow John waylaid and
killed him.
It is difficult to judge by today's standards what truly
happened in the Lincoln County War. Apparently the only
land John actually owned was the Bolivar Ranch in Denton
Co.,TX and the ranch grounds in New Mexico..The Concho
Co. Ranch where he stayed for three years and the Bosque
Grande ranch on the Pecos River near Roswell were based
mostly on the doctrine of free grass and free range.
Legally, only the home range was titled,the other land
was not his.
The Casey book takes the following view:' ..the
difficulties and persecutions he underwent in New Mexico
at the hands of those who were jealous or envious of his
prosperity and who used their power and influence to drag
this cattle king of the Pecos Valley from his
throne..."
John stayed on at South Springs until the summer of 1884.
He had a large growth on his neck. Lillie Casey wrote:'He
suffered no pain, but the growth was so large and
uncomfortable on the left side of his neck that he had to
let his right shoulder sag down and incline his head that
way . He suffered more from it in his mind, because both
his father and his grandfather had died from the same
trouble, and he was inclined to feel sure his was to be a
similar fate..."
He wrote the following letter to his niece Sallie Robert,
dated 30 Aug, 1884.
"Dear Niece, I came here about the 16th instead, and
on the 24th I had a operation performed on my throat or
jaw where the rising was on my jaw. Some ten months ago
this last spring it began to grow, but was not sore but
had a hard solid lump and it grew very fast and very
large to one side and was still growing very fast so I
had it cut off . It was about the size of a beef's
kidney...and I can leave for home in a week.
Your Paw and Willie had just left here before I got in,
so I did not get to see them. I was told he was going to
Arizona, but I got a letter
yesterday from Anderson who came here with me. He went
back home and he wrote me from Jim Lains and said James
was at Lain's branding cattle. From that I suppose he has
changed his notion and was going on the Pecos, but I only
judge from his being at Lain's. Robert is at the Ranch
looking after matters while I am gone. I regretted to
leave home but compelled to have this pet cut out. The
doctors say if it had not been cut out it would have
killed me in about six months more. He says it was the
enlargement of the glands. My best wishes with regards to
all, Yours as Ever, John S. Chisum."
John did not return home. He made it only back as far as
Las Vegas , NM and had to return to Kansas City. From
there he wrote what was probably his last letter.
"Kansas City, Sept 18/24. Miss. Lillie Casey. Mr
Dear Lillie, I would have written you long ago but was so
weak and poorly and it gave me so much pain to write I
would put it off...It was a very delicate operation ...I
came through all safe but was very weak from loss of
blood , have lost a water bucket full and was kept under
the influence of chloroform for one hour...I got to Las
Vegas and by that time another tumor had made its
appearance and was growing very fast and gave me great
pain...doctor thought it best not to cut it out until he
could put my system in shape for another would not
form...He says he cut this without first cleansing the
system...so I am taking medicine by the wholesale and
applying the battery twice a day but as yet no change in
the tumor. It is about as large as the one I had cut...I
am not in good fix for courting the girls as I cannot
speak above a whisper...Don't write me as I'm liable to
go East. Yours as Ever, John S . Chisum."
John traveled to Eureka Springs, AR to take a course of
baths and treatments that might prepare him for another
operation. He sent for James to come and stay with him.
Lillie Casey wrote: " For a time he seemed to
improve at Eureka Springs but in the middle of December
he grew rapidly worse. On the 20th of Dec. he died, and
in fulfillment of a promise, his body was taken by his
brother to Paris, TX and buried in the Chisum lot there
on Christmas Day, 1884." He was sixty years old at
his death.
The South Spring Ranch became the property of James
Chisum and his children, Mrs. Sallie Roberts and her son,
Walter and William. The ranch holdings were known at the
Jinglebob Company. Pitzer Chisum had sold his share to
James at the time of his marriage.
At some point John had put control of the property into
the hands of his brother Pitzer by means of a $ 100,000
note. Though Pitzer had sold a share to James and lived
on a share he retained, he still held the note at the
time of Cow John's death.
A loan from M. J. Farris of Kentucky in the amount of
$64,000 was obtained for the running of the ranch. Lillie
Casey said of this: "About the same time Uncle
Pitzer determined to return to Paris, TX. So he sold out
his place to the Jinglebob Company, and in addition, he
holds to M. J. Farris the $100,000 note of John Chisum. I
do not know the amount Farris paid him but I suppose it
was a mere fraction of the face value...M. J. Farris came
into control of the situation by virtue of his bank's
holding an indebtedness of the Jinglebob Company for
approximately $164,000 with perhaps a considerable amount
of interest..."
The ranch was lost to the bank of Farris. |