Collingsworth County was named for Republic of Texas' first
Chief Justice, James Collinsworth, whose name was misspelled in law. It was
created from Young County
and Bexar County in
1876 and was organized in 1890. The Rath Buffalo Trail ran in and out of Collingsworth
County.
The ROWE RANCH was one of the earliest ranches established
in Collingsworth County by Alfred, Vinson, and Burnard Rowe. They were Englishmen
who was said to come from prominent English families. They established their
headquarters on the north side of Salt Fork of Red River, nearly due north of
Hedley in Donley County. It cover several thousand acres in Donley and Collingsworth
County. The strip in Collingsworth was along a line from Dozier south to the
Childress County line. Later years after Collingworth and Donley counties were
organized the Rowe brothers had trouble with the Commissioners of Collingsworth
County and they moved the boudary to the Donley county line. It was run several
years and later sold into smaller ranches and farms.
The Diamond Tail Ranch was established around 1880 by the Curtis
brothers, James and William Curtis. It received its name for the brand that
was adopted, a diamond with a tail running out of the diamond. They established
their first headquarters above the bridge on Buck Creek where the Childress-Wellington
road crosses. Later moved up Buck Creek about six miles to Doe Creek. The Diamond
Tail ranch covered several thousand acres of Collingsworth land. The north boundary
was the southern boundary of the Rocking Chaire Ranche which was about four
miles north of Wellington. The east line ran with the boundary of the Rocking
Chaire donw to near Dodson and from there ot the state line down the Collingsworth-Childress
county line and west to near Memphis. The south line was about three miles south
of the Buck Creek bridge. The Diamond Tail prospered for several years and finally
sold off as other ranches were when settleres came to Collingsworth County to
settle on School Land that was set up by the state of fund schools.
In 1883 Edward Majorbanks, Baron of Tweedmouth and John Cambell
Hamilton Gordon, Earl of Aberdeen started to build a vast estate in the Panhandle.
Their first move was to buy 235 sections in Collingsworth and neighboring counties
from Earl Spencer and John Drew. The land was purchased under the name of The
Rocking Chaire Ranche of London, England for around $27,850 which inclulded
14,745 head of cattle, 129 horses, and a supply of wagons and harness. It received
its name for the brand it adoped which was a rocking chair. Cecil Archie Majorbanks
was sent over from London to manage the ranch. John Drew was retained as forman
at the time of the sale of the ranch. Cecil did not care for ranch work and
paid little attention to the business of the ranch. At that time settlers and
other ranches begain to steal stock . Conditions finally became so bad that
Majorbanks and Gordon came to Texas to investigate. They found that they were
short many thousand head of cattle. They sold their estate to the Continental
Land and Cattle Company of which Co. Hughes was president. They recieved around
$75,000 for their land. A settlement of Aberdeen was established with a supply store for the cowboys. Aberdeen was one of the several contenders for the role of county seat but Wellington won out on the new location of county seat.
Col. Hughes changed the name of the ranch to the Mill Iron
Ranch. Hay Camp located near Dodson was made the center of the ranch. This was
a location where natural springs with large cottonwood trees. The Rocking Chaire
Ranch used this location to store hay to feed stock and horses during the winter.
Col Hughs owned the first stagecoach used in the county. This great ranch went
just as the other great ranches in the county, it is no longer as large as it
once was but it still is in operation today.
One of the first men to file on land in Collingsworth County
was John (Jack) Elliot, also P W Myers filed on land the same day, 8th day of
August, 1888. Elliot had his land surveyed in the fall before the survey of
the county was made. The surveyor had to come from the 100th Meridian line to
start. This is a land mark in this county because when the general survey was
conducted the Elliot section was nearly a quarter of a mile off the regualar
line. It can be recoginzed by the offset in the road to the east of Fresno.
Fresno is a community that was settled about four miles southeast of Wellington.
After Elliot and Myers came to the county, there was a host
of others settlers came to Collingsworth to make their homes. They stated communities
such as Abra, Dodsonville(later changed to Dodson because of another town with the same name),Dozier, Fresno, Lutie, Pearl, Quail, Rolla, Samnorwood, Wellington,to just name a few. In 1925 there where more than 35 schools
in the County. Collingsworth County had the most cotton gins of any Texas County
at one time.
The Great Panhandle Indain Scare story orginated in Colllingsworth County. Last uprising of the Indians, just a oversite, one of the favorite tales amoung the Panhandle Pioneers.
There is a lot of history in Collingsworth County as in another
county in Texas to be explored. I hope to be able to share more history of other
communites of Collingsworth County to go along with the small amount that I
have shared with you here.
