We recommend the Facebook Group "West Texas History & Memories" for history, famous people, old photos, stories, unclaimed estates and genealogy of the Western Half of Texas . . . Check it out and join the conversation

This site contains affiliate links to products. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

To read more and look inside an individual book just tap a title below

The Coon Dog Chronicles are a varied assortment of events and experiences that have marked some sort of strange turning point in my life Why these particular stories?? I haven't a clue A brown paper bag, a three-legged horse that refused to give up, three wild dogs that only wanted a friend A brief talk with the wind An old cowboy's last rodeo..."Fourth Of July I didn't have much to do this Fourth of July, so I packed up the pickup, loaded the coon dog, and headed for the seventy-eighth annual Cowboy  Reunion and Rodeo in Stamford Texas. For those of you who've never been, ..." Read more Look inside

On June 8, 1916 Gladys's lawyers obtained a restraining order from Judge John B. Thomas of the Thirty-ninth Judicial District in Haskell. Ed was prohibited from taking custody of his daughters. "A good deal of excitement and bitter felling was aroused on account of this injunction," reported an area newspaper, adding that "various other mishaps and unpleasantness" ensued. Less than three weeks later... Read more Look inside

"Though the story of the land runs far back in time, Haskell County was first platted on the map of Texas February 1, 1858. The Rio de los Brazos de Dios, the "River of the Arms of God," cradles the land on two sides. The Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos flows north along the western border where it joins the Clear Fork to the southeast ..." Read more Look inside

Memories flood my mind as I reminisce how my journey has been a lifetime of happenings that speak to my soul with lessons that can be applied to our daily lives. I remember going to our aunt Ruth and uncle John Earp's house at Weinert, Texas, in Haskell County. Aunt Ruth got in the kitchen and made a cake for our dinner. She called it a one, two, three, four cake. It was a pound cake and had one ... Read more Look inside

"Harley's penchant for avoiding stoop labor formed the basis for another family joke. J. E. may have been a little like this middle son. By 1905 he had had his fill of farming. Packing up his family and belongings once again, he moved two hundred miles due west to Stamford, a small community where he could open a general store. Harley must have been overjoyed at the change; for as the son of the owner of the one store in the area, he was situated at the very hub of a little universe. Of necessity, everyone came into the Sadler store ..." Read more

Haskell, Texas legendary lawman George Scarborough killed a man whom he had recently arrested for cattle rustling. The QT Saloon grew noisy as Scarborough and his brother resolved the dispute permanently on October 15, 1877... Read more Look inside

"On September 28, 1885, the Haskell County commissioners' court took bids for the construction of the first county jail, which was to be made of brick and stone, 27' by 37' with walls 17' high. Pauly Jail Builders and Manufacturers designed the facility. The keep served well enough but by 1909 ..." Read more Look inside

"Sometime between 1902 and 1910 three mysterious stones were discovered in three different Texas Counties by Dave M. Arnold and local land owners. All three discoveries sparked extensive treasure hunts, two of which were financed by Dr. Caleb Lafon Terrell of Haskell, Texas, until his death on May 8, 1909. Each stone bore hieroglyphic symbols that have not yet been totally deciphered, even at this date ... " Read more  . . . See also Mysterious Texas

For the first time, historian Joanne Passet uncovers the controversial and often polarizing life of this firebrand editor and publisher with new and never before published letters, interviews, and other personal material from Grier’s own papers. "Unable to share her feelings with family and friends, The Rochester, Texas woman sought answers in books. She also began writing fiction ..." Read more Look inside

The thirty-three Depression-era interviews presented here were culled from the WPA-Federal Writers' Project. They faithfully show how old-time Texas cowhands lived and how they felt about their glamour-less existence. "I was born on a farm near Slapout (now Holden, Brown County, Texas, March 1, 1885. When I was ten years old, my father dragged out to Haskell, Haskell County, Texas. My father had learned the carpenter trade and followed it in Haskell. The next year, 1896, I dragged out of Haskell for the Skillet section of Texas. I lit on the T Diamond  outfit which was located twenty-seven miles north of Amarillo, and there I nested for six years, quitting the outfit in 1902. When I " ... Read more Look inside . . . for more like this please see Texas Cowboy History  

While Japanese and American forces fight mercilessly for control of the Philippines in 1945, two men, a Japanese infantry officer and an American P-51 fighter pilot, meet in a fearsome battle that leaves the Japanese officer dead." January 12, 1943, Stamford Flying School, Stamford, Texas. I have soloed. I have a little trouble with landings [though]. Once in the air, I have not trouble, but coming to the ground is tough. I was flying this morning and one of the famous Texas dust storms blew-up---in about 20 minutes this was a real hurricane, the worst we have had. It was really tough landing, for you could hardly see the ground..." Read more

"On Christmas Day, 1874, twenty-year-old Joe S. McCombs led the first hide-hunting expedition out of Fort Griffin. Moving out the Mackenzie Trail, McCombs and his skinner, John Jacobs and Joe Poe, camped about six miles northeast of present Haskell... Read more Look inside . . . for more like this pleas see Christmas in Texas

Since the first annual state football champion was crowned in 1920, Texas has never been the same. Today, millions of Texans gather in stadiums across the Lone Star State, eagerly awaiting that magical mid- to late-December moment when the season comes to its dramatic conclusion. "Stamford's small size notwithstanding, in an era prior to UIL supervision, the Bulldogs had beaten all comers for the 1916 West Texas championship. Wood's 1955 Stamford team..." Read more Look inside . . . for more like this please see Texas Football Books and Stories

Texas abounds with legends of buried treasure and lost mines. J. Frank Dobie, perhaps Texas' greatest historian, devoted years of his life to collecting and cataloging them. Here are just a few examples: "How Dollars Turned into Bumble Bees, Lost Lead Mine on the Brazos in King County, Lost Copper Mines and Spanish Gold in Haskell County, The Wild Woman of the Navidad, Treasure Chest on the Nueces, Native Treasure Talk up the Frio, The Quicksilver Mine of the Rangers, The Nigger Gold Mine of the Big Bend..."  . . . Read more Look inside

THE SECRETS OF THE STAMFORD INN
A few years ago the Stamford Inn came under scrutiny and caught the interest of a state-wide organization, Central Texas Ghost Search, which was based out of Abilene. The founder of the organization, Sara Zell, had an old friend who related some of the ghost stories that she had heard abou the old hotel, which piqued Zell's interest enough to initiate......" Read more Look inside  . . . for more like this please see Mysterious Texas

Sightings near Haskell, Texas, have been so numerous for at least the past 80 years, that the locals have taken to calling it the "Haskell Rascal..." Read more Look inside  . . . See also Mysterious Texas

From bestselling author Janice Woods Windle comes a compelling historical novel based on the life of her own grandfather. The protagonist is Will Bergfeld, a brash young man of German descent who is accused of treason and stands trial for his life in 1917, in the midst of the anti-German sentiment that ran rampant in small-town Texas during World War I. "His manner was relaxed, his tone conversational. Atwell had an impression of two powerful men conversing at their club. “Mr. Crouch,” O'Dell began, “you are from Weinert, Texas. Isn't that right?” “Yes, sir. Up in Haskell County ..." Read more Look inside

Steve Harper recounts memories of his growing-up years in Haskell, Texas in the 1950's and '60's. Follow Steve inside and outside of his "school days," and use his stories to unlock your own . . . Read more Look inside

"In the 1920s and 1930s, cotton fields and cattle ranches sprawled across the flat, colorless plains surrounding the small West Texas town of Stamford---forever begging comparison, in Bob Strauss's memoir to the Last Picture Show. But the Stamford of Strauss's youth was far less dismal than the fictional town depicted in the film..." Read more Look inside

by Sidney L. Coggins

Never a Hero recounts the story of the author's life from his early childhood during the 1920s in Weinert, Texas, to the present day. In this book he shares memories and insights gained growing up in a poor section of the country during the 1920s and '30s, as well as his experiences in a CCC camp and in the U.S. Navy during World War II ... Read more Look inside

Diane didn’t mean to get involved with a case that was so unusual but when the rejected client ends up dead, she feels she should at least try to honor the request. She did not realize the risks she would face. Her investigation uncovers a terrorist ring and puts her in harms way. The author, Kay Teichelman attended school in Rule, Texas. After her first husband of 51 years died, she remarried and currently lives in Sagerton, Texas where she is active in church, community, and her own medical device company ... Read more Look inside

Broke, desperate, and stranded in Abilene after losing his shirt in a poker game, a Harvard-educated actor agrees to help a hard-drinking, hard-living Texas millionaire save himself from bankruptcy in exchange for a ticket out of Texas." I gulp cold coffee and rumble along what must be the straightest, flattest road in the world, that between Tuxedo and Sagerton, Texas. The sun, a fluorescent orange ball, rises over an endless plain of arid land. Everywhere, horizon to horizon, flat red-dirt farm fields. not a wisp of green anywhere ... Read more Look inside

An account of the riveting history of the 6th U.S. Cavalry Regiment that was formed at the outset of the American Civil War through its deployment in Texas during Reconstruction and into the western frontier. "On the 7th, March 1868, about 10 o'clock, he came upon a party of Indians camped hear Paint Creek. the Indians were ..." Read more Look inside

"They planted and harvested their crops but decided the land just east of Weinert was where they would make their stand. Men for miles around shook and hung their heads and women cried For on the farm east of Weinert, Texas was where Star and Spider died ..."  Read more Look inside

"Walter Davis was born and raised in Weinert, Texas. He attended college at North Texas State, in Denton, where he got a PhD. My brother, Wes, was one of his instructors there. He married a Floydada girl out of college and came to Floydada to raise his family..." Read more and Look inside

She couldn't drive a car, so  Nellie Mae Strickland hooked up six horses to the covered wagon that Frank McCallough built for her in 1944. "Tuesday May 16, 1944 they drove through Weinert and when they were about two miles out of Weinert they were stopped by some people from Oklahoma City. Nellie Got off the Wagon seat and went to talk to them. When she came back she said to Sistie, Hank and Annie ..." Nellie drove on into Haskell, a little town about three thousand people. They camped at one of the most pleasant camping grounds they had ever camped in. It was known as Rice Springs Park. Everyone went to town and Sistie took the pop bottles with her..." Read more Look inside

Brian Amos currently resides in Rochester, Texas. He is a husband and father of four. He has been married for twenty-one years to Terri Amos. He wrote this book because he knows the pressure and temptations of life as a professional athlete and the trauma of not living up to your own and others expectations of you. He traveled around the world representing the United States, Home Depot, and Reebok as his sponsors. He went to college at Odessa Junior College and Abilene Christian University... Read more Look inside

"After dating the author by letter for a year, 51-year-old Robert Alden “Brad” Bradley wed Marion and settled in Rochester, Texas, where he worked as a railroad agent and telegrapher for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad...Read more Look inside

by Herbert Ward Barker

"I completed all the necessary classes, but left to accept the call to pastor of the Rochester, Texas, Baptist Church before completing all the required reading and the writing of my dissertation, intending to finish it in my spare time on ..." Read more . . . for more like this please see Texas Church History

"We reached Rochester, Texas, and slowed down for the flashing yellow light when a new car decided his section of the highway is the part I'm driving on. He hits me headlight to headlight, sending the engine into my legs and my two kids... Read more Look inside

"Rule, Texas, 1994---Prevailing south winds lash the gnarled mesquite trees, and surly gray clouds hint of a rare summer rain as a visitor arrives at the southeastern edge of Jim Corder's cosmos. Many of Rule's 783 residents are sipping coffee at Casey's Country Kitchen. The playground at Slim Sorrells Park is as empty as the Western winds Motel and the Rule Memorial Museum, which is open by appointment only. On the main drag..." Read more Look Inside

By Callie Metler-Smith

Thunderbolt the Cat takes his position of babysitting Logan, his human, very seriously. Logan has autism so it is Thunderbolt’s job to protect and provide support for Logan throughout his day. In this heartfelt true story, view the world of living with someone with autism through the eyes of their beloved Cat. Callie Metler-Smith is the owner of Clear Fork Media Group in Stamford, Texas. She grew up on a cotton farm in Jones County ... Read more

Susan Hodges is a retired LNFA in Stamford, Texas.

" You have a wonderful life. You’re running a business, have money in the bank and get to visit with all your friends and family whenever you like. Then one day you wake up to find someone shoving a pill down your throat in some lowdown nursing home situated in a dangerous part of the city. Without your permission, they’re liquidating your business and making all of your money disappear. You do whatever you can to try to get out of this nightmare, but discover the people who did this to you are simply too powerful. Think it can’t happen to you? Think again. This is the true story of a newly licensed nursing facility administrator (LNFA) and the people she meets. The stories they tell her are both hard to believe and impossible to ignore. She begins investigating and..." Read more Look inside

After a divorce she lived near family in Haskell, Rotan, and Stamford Texas at her death. Her great—grandchildren served as her pall bearers. Emily is buried in the Stamford Cemetery in Stamford Texas. John Lamed absolutely loved to ... Read more

"Holden graduated from Rotan High School in 1914, and after obtaining a teaching certificate from Stamford Junior College, he began a teaching career that continued for fifty two years. While teaching in public schools, Holden attended... " Read more Look inside

by Myrtle Jean Sharp

"When Austin was eight months old, Kent was called to Stamford, Texas, to fill a position there as director of economic development. Kent's marriage to Kendra had not been stable from the start. They married against a marriage analysis...At this time, Kent was taking a job with a much higher salary, also with more benefits. Kendra didn't want to move. Kent couldn't accept her request, so she finally moved with him. While in Stamford he met the present governor of Texas Rick Perry..." Read more

"After another move to another small farm near Cumby, Sadler's father, Junius E. Sadler moved the family to Stamford, Texas where he quit farming and opened a general store. While his family were still living in Stamford, Harley Sadler joined a carnival and ran way from home in 1909. In 1917 he married the former Willie Louise Massengale, who was known by everyone as Billie. After numerous ups and downs and working with various entertainment companies, Sadler finally opened "Harley Sadler's Own Show" in 1922 ..." Read more Look inside

"West Texas is full of small towns like Stamford. Texas is growing fast, but the small towns in West Texas are shrinking. During the first decade of the twenty-first century, Texas added 1,000 new residents a day, but West Texas slowly ..." Read more Look inside

Higher Education in Texas is the first book to tell the history, defining events, and critical participants in the development of higher education in Texas from approximately 1838 to 1970. Found inside: "Named for Bishop William Fletcher McMurry, its first president was James Winfred Hunt who had been president of Stamford College in Stamford (Texas), which had closed in 1918..." Read more Look inside

"Larry Dippel was born in Old Glory, Texas, went to the first grade in Sagerton, and then spent the rest of his young life starting in the second grade in Stamford, Texas. Larry had 3 sisters and 1 brother, Gaynelle Florence of Hawley, Texas, Carolyn Baird of Hamlin, Texas, Charlene Bray of San Antonio, Texas, and David Dippel of Stamford, Texas. He married his high school girlfriend Sandras Davis in 1962 and they..." Read more Look inside

"Stamford, Texas, has its own unique claim to recognition, especially to rodeo lovers across the country. The Texas Cowboy Reunion, known to many simply as the Stamford Rodeo, is much more than just a western entertainment event..." Read more Look inside

When the town of Pendleton, Oregon, held its first large-scale rodeo, it introduced a new kind of rodeo queen—not a traveling cowgirl performer but a young, middle-class woman from its own town. Riding Pretty examines the history, evolution, and significance of the community-sponsored rodeo queen..."One of these new rodeos began in the West Texas town of Stamford. In this High Plains town leaders looked to established rodeos, like the Pendleton Round-Up, for ideas on how to hold a successful event themselves, picking and choosing elements that would suit local interests ..." Read more Look inside

Few images captivate the Western imagination more than the Texas cowboy at home on the range, herding, corralling, throwing and branding cattle, bronc busting, dining from chuck wagons, and sleeping under the stars. The SMS Ranch in the early 1900s was exactly such a place. Spanning hundreds of thousands of acres and holding land in 12 Northwest Texas counties, the SMS was formed by early Swedish immigrant to the Republic of Texas Swante Magnus Swenson. Swenson, a good friend of Sam Houston, had a penchant for wise financial decisions and, by the late 1800s ... Read more Look inside

Stamford arose almost overnight at the turn of the 20th century as a partnership between the Texas Central Railroad and the vast Swenson Brothers ranches. Businessmen, workers, and cattlemen began erecting the new community even before the railroad arrived in February 1901. The young city quickly became a commercial center with additional railroad connections, wholesale distributors, banks, brick-paved streets, small industries, a hospital, and the renowned Stamford Inn. Over the next two decades... Read more

Hidden in the unforgiving earth of West Texas were clues: archaic clues etched upon buried rocks, stacked as artifacts upon other clues, or carved into rock walls. These centuries-old clues, placed to lead Spaniards back to their cache, eventually formed an intricate web that has lured treasure seekers and captured them in its mystery... The story involves several towns and counties in West Texas; including Rotan, Aspermont, Haskell, Fisher County, Stonewall County and one of the area's most prolific landmarks, the Double Mountains ... Read more

"A man believing he has amnesia walks the streets in Haskell, Texas trying to remember who he is; where he came from. In reality, Stan Clark has blackouts, leaving him with no memories during this time frame. Numerous men and women are disappearing from small area towns ..." Read more Look inside

Jan Eastland was born in Garden City, Kansas, and raised in Haskell, Texas. In her new memoir, the word “no” oftentimes goes missing from her vocabulary. When she was discouraged from enrolling in high school owing to her cerebral palsy, Eastland did so anyway. She embraced life’s challenges and didn’t let her condition define her. This new inspirational autobiography will encourage anyone struggling with similar issues... Read more Look inside

"Stories are the threads that tie our hearts together." Steve Harper shares stories about growing up in Haskell, Texas in the 1950's and 1960's. But more than that, his stories will bring your own stories back to mind as you say over and over again, "That reminds..." Read more Look inside

One of the most intriguing yet neglected pieces of American transportation history, electric interurban railroads were designed to assist shoppers, salesmen, farmers, commuters, and pleasure-seekers alike with short distance travel. At a time when most roads were unpaved and horse and buggy travel were costly and difficult, these streetcar-like electric cars were essential to economic growth... "Among individuals who sought to establish traction lines was Haskell real-estate promoter M. R. Hemphill, who in 1911 attempted to tie Haskell with Rule, a dozen miles to the west, being an extension of his localized Haskell Traction..." Read more Look inside

"William Augustus Kimbrough moved from Alabama to Haskell, Texas—some 55 miles north of Abilene—in 1907 to serve as the rural town's first doctor. Kimbrough was particularly outspoken about two things—his love for medicine and disdain for football. His hatred for the sport grew stronger when a boy who played for Texas Tech died following a head injury ..." Read more Look inside

"About eight miles south of present-day Haskell, the Tonkawas spotted the Comanches encamped on the banks of Paint Creek. The pursuers spent a long cold night in a dry camp awaiting dawn to the Comanches..." Read more Look inside

Ray Perry was a farm boy from rural Haskell County Texas when America entered World War II. He always had a fascination with planes, so he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps with the intention of becoming a pilot. The Army Air Corps needed tail gunners, however, so Ray served his country at the back end of a B-17, completing thirty-five combat missions before the war’s end. This is the story of his World War II adventure, wrought with tragedy and excitement and every emotion in between. This is also the story of how a young man from a small West Texas town handled the upheaval that comes with war... Read more Look inside

"As young girls helping their mother design and sew their clothes in the small farming town of Haskell, Texas, Mattie and Frances Walling dreamed of owning their own fine dress shop. They worked at t he local department stores on Saturdays and after school, learning the business and winning saleswoman of the month multiple times. Their opportunity arose when sister-in-law Ida opened her beauty salon, and offered Mattie the front twenty-by-forty-feet..." Read more Look inside

The Society had its beginnings at the A&M-Texas football game in 1909. The announced purpose of the society was to collect and make known to the public songs and ballads, superstitions, signs and omens, cures and peculiar customs, legends, dialects, games, plays, and dances, and riddles and proverbs. Found Inside: Lost Copper Mines and Spanish Gold, Haskell County --- R. E. Sherrill

Read more Look inside

"Kimbrough, a native of Haskell, Texas, was known locally as the “Haskell Hurricane.” He accepted a football scholarship to Tulane, but he was unhappy at the New Orleans school. Coaches there wanted him to play tackle. But Kimbrough liked to carry the ball. So he transferred to Texas A&M to play for the Aggies. It was 1938 and the fourth game of the season..." Read more

Found Inside: I was born in the lazy little town of Lockney, Texas, one hot, August morning. It was August 3, 1911. My mother and father, Gaither and Glenn Gaddy, had moved there two years before from Stanford, Texas. They were both 24 years old and had one other child, a little girl named Lyndell who was three and a half years old.  ... Read more Look inside

Found inside: "About the time we were married, Reynolds Brothers and Matthews had established a ranch together out in Haskell County, not as partners in business but simply running their cattle together, cooperatively. They built a crude stone house as stone was cheaper and easier to get than lumber ... It was the first ranch established in Haskell County, and this is where we started housekeeping. . . . " Read more Look inside

Resources:

West Texas History & Memories

Early Life in Texas County by County

Books about Texas People and Places

Amazing People from Texas County by County