For two years (1899–1901) he served as president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. Richard King (July 10, 1824 New York City – April 14, 1885, San Antonio, Texas) was a riverboat captain, entrepreneur, and most notably, the founder of the King Ranch in South Texas, which at the time of his death in 1885 encompassed over 600,000 acres (2,400 km²). His 19-year-old son and potential successor, Robert E. Lee King, had died of pneumonia. Their descendants, who became known as kinenos (King's men), have formed the core of the King Ranch workforce ever since. Kineños past and present arrived, some riding horses for days to arrive in time. Despite his success, however, by 1883 Richard King was in poor health and worried. Originally published in the October 2014 issue of Wild West. After that King continued to expand his holdings, buying mostly former Spanish and Mexican land grants. The King Ranch lies between Corpus Christi and Brownsville and is currently the largest ranch in Texas. After their marriage the newlyweds first lived in a lean-to built against the ranch commissary before replacing it with a house near Santa Gertrudis Creek, 45 miles southwest of Corpus Christi and 125 miles north of Brownsville, on the Rio Grande. While the Confederates did reclaim south Texas in 1864, putting King back in business, he fled to Mexico when the South surrendered and did not return to his ranch until late 1865 when President Andrew Johnson pardoned him for aiding the Confederacy. By the time Henrietta died in 1925 at age 92, she had seen the ranch increase to more than a million acres. Kleberg also became drawn to Richard and attracted to Henrietta’s youngest daughter, Alice Gertrudis King, and the couple married in 1886, a year after Richard’s death. The ranch is located in South Texas between Corpus Christi and Brownsville adjacent to Kingsville.It was founded in 1853 by Captain Richard King and Gideon K. Lewis. theYear=theYear+1900 He financed a hide and tallow enterprise, enabling him to cull out the weaker cattle and upgrade his herds. Boris Pasternak, Russian novelist and poet (Dr. Zhivago). It was easy for Mexican thieves to ride into south Texas, cut out a few head and race back across the border. . Chron via William Luther/San Antonio Express News, Because of this, the heirs to the King Ranch have solidified the No. King Ranch had also become recognized as the birthplace of the American ranching industry. Read more. We are born and bred in The Pat Decker Nipper of San Jose, Calif., thanks King Ranch archivist Lisa Neely for her help. Sons of vaqueros often became vaqueros like their fathers, while the girls became homemakers like their mothers. These cows were often then butchered for the wedding feasts. His ranch—called Rancho de Santa Gertrudis until after his death—quickly became the most famous in the state of Texas. Its 825,000 acres rank it larger than Rhode Island. Chamberlain officiated at his daughter’s marriage to Richard on December 10, 1854. Although Kenedy was six years older and not the typical rough-and-ready boatman (having been raised a Quaker with an education), the pair hit it off and became friends. This young lawyer with the opposing counsel impressed Richard during a lawsuit in Corpus Christi in 1881. Meanwhile, Stateside expansion included operations in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Florida and Mississippi. Captain King started up his ranch in 1853 in an area known at the time as the Wild Horse Desert or the Nueces Strip, bounded by the Nueces River on the north and the Rio Grande on the south. Without hesitation she gave him all her bread, and he left. Shelton’s grandparents, Alice King Kleberg and Robert Kleberg inherited 800,000 acres in 1925; their five children incorporated the King Ranch in 1934, and Sarah was one of those five children. 9, is The legal work for the Ranch was being handled by a young attorney from Corpus Christi named Robert Justus Kleberg. Texas Hill Country Facebook page is growing by over 1,000 fans per Over the course of over 160 years, King Ranch led some of the first cattle drives, developed the Santa Gertrudis and Santa Cruz breeds of cattle, bred the finest Quarter Horses, and produced champion Thoroughbreds—all under its iconic Running W® brand. Highly recommend. Helpful. One person found this helpful. The Rev. It seems a Corpus Christi doctor discovered love letters between his wife and Lewis and promptly blasted Legs with a double-barreled shotgun. Join the discussion on our new social platform Texjas.com! tabilized and organized The first expansive era of King Ranch development was followed by one of careful asset management. Eight months later he was back on the rivers. 9:27 PM … The Ranch Hand Festival partners with the annual Ranch Hand Breakfast held on the King Ranch® in order to bring visitors to Historic Downtown Kingsville and to celebrate our local heritage. Riverboat captain Richard King got hold of some south Texas wilderness and with his equally determined wife built a ranch beyond their wildest dreams. He kept his cash (sometimes as much as $50,000 at a time) in a secret safe built into the coach. He was making loads of money—spending it, too. Lewis’ half-interest in the ranch went up for public auction, and King, through friend Major William Warren Chapman, bought Lewis’ share. As for the late Patrón, his remains were interred from San Antonio and reburied next to his beloved wife in the Kingsville cemetery, as were two (son Lee and daughter Ella) of their five children. Whether they rustled or not, squatters also bothered King, and he saw to it they were removed. When he traveled in a coach to do his banking in Brownsville, he brought along an armed driver and four to five armed vaqueros. These two tracts of wilderness became the nucleus around which the future King Ranch developed and grew. In November 1863 Federal forces captured Brownsville, and Richard King, a Confederate sympathizer, correctly assumed the Yankees would soon march north to raid the ranch. They paid less than 2 cents an acre. When Captain Richard King set his boots on the land that would become King Ranch in Corpus Christi, he probably didn’t expect to own a plot of land larger than Rhode Island one day. Robert Justus Kleberg, the ranch lawyer and her son-in-law, helped her manage the holdings. Richard was so enamored of his purchases that he developed a simple motto: “Buy land and never sell.”. In Mexico at the time, searching for stolen cattle, he was concerned about Henrietta and their children and hoped the enemy would be honorable enough not to harm his family or the property. A British syndicate showed interest in buying the property but couldn’t—or wouldn’t—meet King’s asking price of $6.5 million. He eventually set up relay stations 20 miles apart to ensure fresh teams for his carriages and fresh remounts for his guards during the 125-mile-plus trip to Brownsville. The main house at the King Ranch as it looks today. LIHUE, Kauai, Hawaii The most-frequently asked question about the George Clooney movie, "The Descendants"? The descendants of Richard and Henrietta King are observing the house's centenary. THE ANGEL OF GOLIAD By Harbert Davenport ca. However, in 1853, he founded the King Ranch that has, ever since, been a staple in Texas history. The grateful rancher was in turn loyal to them and worked beside them. In 1946 its prize 3-year-old colt Assault won the Triple Crown. Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2011. (Mary Violet) Leontyne Price, opera singer. By the late 20th century King Ranch had sold many of its foreign properties to concentrate on domestic operations. Homegrown Texas ranch meats, fresh Gulf seafood, and locally sourced produce are featured throughout the … The King Ranch is now a tourist destination and the town of Kingsville, home of a Texas A&M University campus, sells the King legend hard. Also on the list, directly behind the King Ranch at No. Copyright © 2008 - King Ranch And Ford: The King Ranch, which sits near Kingsville, Texas, comprises 825,000 acres (more than 1,300 square miles). They could marry and raise their families on the ranch. 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