Sunday, September 10, 2006

Just the facts, folks. Just the facts…

I’ve been doing a lot of research on cattle brands for an event we had at the park over the weekend. My main resource for this project was a book in the museum’s collection that was written back in 1936. The author of the book traveled around Texas and collected oral histories from ranchers who still ran the brands during the days, months and years leading up to the Texas Centennial.

The following is an excerpt from the book in question, Texas Cattle Brands: A Catalog of the Texas Centennial Exposition Exhibit, 1936. I dare you to tell me why I find it so funny:


The Apple Brand
"'Apple' 'Started about 1880 by R.G. Head and M. Halff as a road brand. The brand was made up in Mason County at the Widow Martin’s place on Hedwick’s Hill on the Llano River. A herd of about 3,000 head of mixed cattle were driven to Ogallah, Nebraska, in 1880. Giles Fenner was trail boss. R.G. Head, known as Dick Head, was one of the most prominent men during trail driving days. He began working with Col. J.J. Meyers of Caldwell County about 1866 and was a prominent man in the cattle business and in trail driving through the 80’s.' (J.W. Wilson, Robstown, Texas.)"

4 comments:

Amstaff Mom said...

Wow. Bless his heart.

Deals On Wheels said...

I KNOW!! Poor Di..., I mean, "Richard" Head!

Maybe it didn't mean the same thing back then. Is that possible?

Amstaff Mom said...

Years ago, I made ID badges. I recieved one that was over a year old and they asked to have it redone. His last name was Di.. His first name was Brian. Unfortunately, whoever had made the previous badge (OVER A YEAR AGO) misspelled Brian as Brain. So his ID badge said Brain Di.. Nice, eh?

I had to make a different badge for Kitty Peed. No lie. I would SO change my name.

Deals On Wheels said...

Haha! Me, too!