Our farm has been in continuous operation since the first
Anglo settlers arrived in this part of Texas in the
mid-1840s. Prior to then the land was home to Caddo Indians.
This farm was probably originally settled by a veteran of the
Texas Revolution. The second owners were involved in the
American Civil War. Its early inhabitants endured hardships
on the edge of the frontier and carved out of the wilderness
a lasting Texas Homestead that we now call our home.
In 2005, we
purchased another ranch at Rocky Branch, Texas north of
Daingerfield. This land had been in the Russell
family since the early 1900's. Bounded by a sixteen
acre lake on one end, most all of the land can be used for
grazing or crops. Until a few years ago, it was used
for peanuts and sweet potatoes. Before that,
watermelons were raised here. On one portion of the land are
many of the old style Texas out buildings and barns.
Some are made of hand cut timbers,. One of the
buildings is the old Rocky Branch post office opened in
1890. The area got its name from a creek that goes
through this property that has very large rocks along its
banks; thus Rocky Branch. The lake is spring fed and
old timers say that before the lake was built children dove
off the rocks into the cold deep spring waters of a
natural pool. The local Baptist church, organized in
1854, used this pool for baptisms.
