Inventory of the Charles Goodnight Correspondence, 1898-1938.

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Inventory of the Charles Goodnight Correspondence, 1898-1938.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tamucush/00125/00125-P.html

Charles Goodnight, rancher, pioneer wildlife preservationist and stock breeder, was born 5 March 1836, in Macoupin County, Illinois. and moved with his family to Milam County, Texas, in 1845. In 1857, Goodnight herded cattle up the Brazos River to the Keechi valley, in Palo Pinto County, Texas. At this time, Goodnight also became acquainted with fellow cattle herder Oliver Loving. In the spring of 1866, Goodnight and Loving organized a cattle drive from Fort Belknap, Texas to the Pecos River, and up to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. This route became known as the In 1869 Goodnight established his Rock Canon Ranch on the Arkansas River, west of Pueblo, Colorado, and married Molly Dyer on 26 July 1870. Goodnight eventually settled in Armstrong County, Texas, where he built a ranch house he dubbed the Home Ranch. Goodnight developed one of the nation's finest herds through the introduction of Hereford bulls. With his wife's encouragement, he also started a domestic buffalo herd, sired by a bull he named "Old Sikes," from which he developed the "cattalo" by crossing bison with Angus cattle.In 1887, Goodnight built a ranch house near Goodnight, Texas, where he and his wife moved, and where he relocated his buffalo herd of 250 head. Goodnight also kept elk, antelope, and various other animals. Goodnight's wildlife preservation efforts gained the attention of such naturalists as Edmund Seymour, and American Bison Society member Martin S. Garretson. The Goodnights had no children. After his wife's death in April 1926, Goodnight became ill, and was nursed back to health by Corinne Goodnight, a young nurse from Butte, Montana. On March 5, 1927, Goodnight married the twenty-six year old Corinne. Shortly afterward they sold the ranch and bought a summer house in Clarendon. Goodnight died on December 12, 1929, in Phoenix, Arizona.The Charles Goodnight Correspondence (1887-1938) consists chiefly of personal correspondence between Charles Goodnight and various friends and business associates, some business correspondence relating to the purchase of several grandfather clocks from the Waterbury Clock Company, personal memos, notes and receipts. Also present are newspaper and journal clippings related to Goodnight, Christmas cards from Mrs. Corinne Goodnight to M. S. Garretson, and a photograph of Charles Goodnight. Most of Goodnight's letters refer to his obsession with the breeding of animals, the demise of the American buffalo, problems with his ranch, and his health. The bulk of the correspondence present from after Goodnight's death in 1929 refers to the breaking up of Goodnight's various animal herds, and the possibility of his land being taken over by the State Game Commission of Texas to be made into a State Game Preserve and Bird Sanctuary. Correspondents include his close friend Martin S. Garretson, business associate George R. Collins, E. Seymour, J. M. Coburn, Ira Noel Gabrielson, Ray E. Gardner, Corrine Goodnight, Cleo Hubbard, George Hunt, O. H. Nelson, J. H. Ogden, and the naturalist Edmund Seymour. Goodnight-Loving Trail.

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Cushing Memorial Library,

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SNAC Resource ID: 6639981

Related Entities

There are 18 Entities related to this resource.

E. Seymour

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m78288 (person)

Waterbury Clock Company

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63n7j11 (corporateBody)

Hunt, George

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64c9hmj (person)

Seymour, Edmund

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kr4jcr (person)

Collins, George R., 1872?-1942

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67q09g7 (person)

George R. Collins was born in Troy, New York around 1872. He moved to the Kansas City area around 1892, where he joined the Missouri National Guard and was a civil engineer. As an engineer in Kansas City he was involved with many projects including the construction of the Kansas City Union Station. As an officer with the National Guard he commanded a battery of which Harry S. Truman was the clerk. Following his service with the National Guard, Collins had his own engineering business in Kansas C...

Garretson, Martin S.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6c277rb (person)

Martin S. Garretson (1866-1955) was one of the founders of the American Bison Society in 1905 and for many years its secretary. He also served as an officer in the Plainsmen Society. For 17 years, he was curator of the Heads & Horns Museum at the Bronx Zoo, retiring in 1940. From the description of Papers, 1919-1940. (Denver Public Library). WorldCat record id: 12121362 ...

Ogden, J. H.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69q9hvp (person)

Gardner, Ray E.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65594tx (person)

Goodnight, Charles

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61d8cxz (person)

Charles Goodnight was born 5 March 1836, in Macoupin County, Illinois . He moved with his family to near Nashville-on-the-Brazos, Milam County, Texas, in 1845. In 1857, Goodnight and his step-brother, John Wesley Sheek trailed a herd of cattle up the Brazos River to the Keechi valley, in Palo Pinto County, Texas . During this time, Goodnight became acquainted with Oliver Loving, who was also running cattle. Goodnight joined Capt. Jack Cureton 's rangers, with whom he served as a sco...

M. S. Garretson

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6h86xxs (person)

Goodnight, Corrine

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6587v4x (person)

Nelson, O. H.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67n6qrc (person)

G. R. Collins

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6h29hxw (person)

Coburn, J. M.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65c6jtt (person)

Goodnight (Texas)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wg0hkj (corporateBody)

Gabrielson, Ira Noel, 1889-1977

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qz2jgn (person)

Gabrielson worked for the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey from 1915 to 1940, becoming Chief in 1934. In 1940, the Survey became the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Gabrielson served as director until 1946. From 1946 to 1970, he served as President of the Wildlife Management Institute, then as chairman of the Board from 1970 to 1977. He helped organize the World Wildlife Fund (U.S.) and served as a trustee for the World Wildlife Fund (International). Gabrielson died in 1977. Clinton Raymond ...

Goodnight, Charles, 1836-1929

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dv242g (person)

Charles Goodnight is best known as a cattleman and co-founder of the Goodnight-Loving Trail to bring cattle from Texas to market in New Mexico. However, Charles Goodnight and his wife, Mary Ann, played a pivotal role in saving the Great Southern Bison Herd from extinction. Separated from the Northern Herd by busy wagon trails and the railroad and slaughtered by hundreds of eager "buffalo hunters," by 1895 the Great Southern Herd, once numbering in the millions, was almost gone. Charles and Mary ...

Hubbard, Cleo

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65c6jkp (person)