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This was the first cowboy song book published in America, and Thorp's lyrics were the beginning of the popularization of the American cowboy. This book lists 24 songs that can be learned and sung today. "The town was Anson City -- old Jones' County Seat. Where they raised Poled Angus cattle and waving whiskered wheat. Where the air is soft and balmy and dry and full of health. And the prairies is exploding with agricultural wealth . . .  Read more Look inside

"The poem was first published in the Anson Texas Western on June 19, 1890, after the Star Hotel had been destroyed by fire earlier in the year, and information about the old hotel was being sought. In 1893 the poem appeared in the first . . ." Read more

Found inside: "While in jail awaiting trial and prison, Gregorio began to have problems he really didn't need. Somewhere between five and nine women, most of them carrying children of various ages, began to come out of the woodwork and accuse him of being lover and father. How much was true and how much was publicity-grab is hard to say, but there was enough smoke to convince Leonor there was fire someplace. She divorced him. In June of 1912 he managed to secure a pardon and he settled in Anson.  . . ." Read more Look inside

A poignant story of a rancher's reward to his hardworking hands, and how the excuse of a chance to dance melts the winter blues and the hearts of Texans of all ages! Do-si-do back to 1895 Anson, Texas just as the winter storms “come a-whistlin'” and take a gander at the lively Cowboys' Christmas Ball . . . Read more ---for more like this please see Christmas in Texas 

This is not just a romance novel for women. During the story two families move from Erath County to Jones County, Texas in 1898 to expand one character's ranching operation. They cross the Clear Fork of the Brazos River at Lieb's Crossing near present day Lueders while the river was flooding. This novel is historical, beginning in 1897 and ending in 1910. It chronicles factual places and events . . . Read more Look inside

by Charlie Boring

The fictional account of the life of Michael Barone. Michael was born with an ability that no other human has been known to possess. As Michael grows up in the small Texas town of Anson, his life and his adventures are shaped by his secret ability to be able to see in the dark... Read more Look inside

by Travis Monday

True stories for aviation history buffs.

"With her parachute opening up at the last possible second, Rodgers had hit the ground hard and was just laying there in shock when she was approached by two cowboys on horseback.... "On October 11, 2000, after this article first appeared in the Sweetwater Reporter, the author was contacted by John B. Lewis of Hawley, Texas, who said that he was one of the two cowboys who found Rodgers. Lewis remembered hearing her say repeatedly, "I stayed with it as long as I could!" . . .  Read more Look inside

a collection of Anson Texas Native Oral F. Lindsey's real-life adventures, poems, personal letters, and vintage photographs from WWII. Letters from European civilians affected by WWII were included to present a perspective often overlooked and to share their gratitude for America's servicemen and their country's support of freedom everywhere... Read more Look inside . . . this book was recommended for this list by Eddie Thompson who lives in Anson

Found Inside: Harley and my Dad had grown up together in Jones County when they were just young bucks about twelve years old. Harley didn't care for playing baseball like the other boys, but always wanted to act. He was always getting into his mother's face powder and making up his face like an actor. Young boys in 1899 didn't get to attend school more than four months a year ... Read more Look inside

From the time he made his first cattle drive, he wanted no other life but that of herding longhorns across the free and flat grasslands of the West. His schooling was the trail, the campfire, the saddle. "In 1882 he formed a partnership in Jones County with William T. Hudson. Carpenter and Hudson claimed to have delivered the first corn-fed steers to be slaughtered in Fort Worth. In the early eighties, Carpenter moved to . . . " Read more Look inside

by D. Earl Kelly

"I was born in Hamlin, Texas almost nine months to the day after my dad got home from the war. My oldest brother said he could remember the night I was conceived so, in keeping with sacred traditions of older brothers everywhere, he told me all about it. I still get cold shivers. After all, my parents were . . . Read more

A Memoir of Making the Most of What Comes Our Way

This book traces the real life experiences and adventures of the author, who was raised in several small communities in West Texas. "Brad was from Hamlin, Texas, and I played against him for two years in high school. He was outstanding then; however, Hamlin did not have many other good players to compliment him and he could not reach his maximum potential at that . . . " Read more Look inside

Now, for the first time, Robert K. DeArment has told the full story of George Scarborough’s life, illuminating his activity as a lawman during the final part of the nineteenth century and his controversial killings while wearing the badge-he was tried for murder on three occasions and acquitted each time . . . Read more Look inside

"At first he was frightened but then he decided to look around. To his further amazement, he heard voices behind him, and two men came through the door. Their conversation was low and garbled, but he did hear the word fire distinctly. As the two men passed by him and walked to a table in the center of the room, they bent over the table and started whispering more. Alan watched them for quite some time until he heard his mother calling him, at which time the men and the walls of the officer's quarters faded..." Fort Phantom Hill is on private property now, but the public is welcome to come and visit the three stone buildings that are left. It's in Jones County on FM 600... Read more Look inside . . . read more like this in Mysterious Texas

For decades ghostly tales have been told across the lone star state. Texas' macabre past has created its share of phantoms. "This story was covered by the television series Unsolved Mysteries several years ago. Many resident from Anson and the nearby town of Abilene have gone to these phenomenal... Ghost hunters frequent Anson in search of the "Lights of Anson," a phenomenon that appears at the Mt. Hope Cemetery. The local myth says that this light is the ghost of a mother looking for her missing child. The Child had left...". . . Read more Look inside . . . See Also Mysterious Texas

Notorious Killings and Celebrated Trials

Sagebrush justice relied less on written statutes than on common sense, grass-roots fairness, and vague notions of folk law drawn from the Old South’s Victorian code of chivalry and honor. "The trial venue was then set for Anson in Jones County, and the date was set for September 2, 1889 --almost two years after the shooting. When the case was called for trial, the courtroom was populated by some larger-than--life players . . ." Read more Look inside

"The plays needed to come to the populace; thus such entertainment-starved West Texas villages as Spur, Dickens, Matador, Slaton, Justiceburg, and the now-vanished Tuxedo provided excellent box office returns. An often-told story, probably true in its essentials, has a recently hired actor from the East standing outside a tent, looking disdainfully across the vacant West Texas plains. All that disturbed his view of the unbroken horizon was a "town" consisting of a general store, blacksmith shop, and three houses clustered at the intersection of two single-land dirt roads..." Read more

The history of Fort Phantom Hill in Jones County Texas is an interesting saga of defense, a story of both political necessity and individual hubris, and a tale of human perseverance and shortsightedness. The story of the “Post on the Brazos River” has all the elements that characterize human activity with its triumphs and tragedies, victories and defeats. As time passed, circumstances dictated changing uses for the structures at Fort Phantom Hill, from military outpost to stage station to hunter’s outpost . . . Read more

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

In the 1880s, there wasn't much in Anson, Texas, in the way of entertainment for the area’s cowhands. But Star Hotel operator M. G. Rhodes changed that when he hosted a Grand Ball the weekend before Christmas. A restless traveling salesman, rancher, and poet from New York named William Lawrence Chittenden, a guest at the Star Hotel, was so impressed with the soiree that he . . . Read more Look inside

The autobiography of Robert Reid tells of his struggles through life as he became afflicted with cerebral palsy. Rather than let it defeat him, he rallied and with the support of family and friends graduated high school, college, received a master's degree, spent 35 years as a missionary in Portugal, married, and had a child. Robert's story is an inspiration for anyone suffering through adversity. He is currently a volunteer at the John Middleton State Prison, in Jones County, Texas, where he and his wife Rosa minister to inmates . . . Read more Look inside

Larry Chittenden

When very young he entered the wholesale dry goods business of his father and uncle, and later with Tefft, Weller & Co., in New York, traveled several years in Texas as a salesman for that popular New York house, and in 1886 moved to this state and engaged in ranching with his uncle Mr. S. B. Chittenden, of Brooklyn, near Anson in Jones County, where . . .  Read more Look inside 

"Dutch LaRue grew up around Hamlin, Texas, and at age nineteen performed at the 1936 Texas centennial in Dallas. Around this same time, LaRue performed over his own radio station in Hamlin: You could broadcast with one watt in those . . . " Read more Look inside

Featuring a side of Tejano history too often neglected, author Arnoldo De León shows that people of Spanish-Mexican descent were not passive players in or, worse, absent from West Texas history but instead were active agents at the center of it . . . Read more Look inside

John Wesley Hardin is the most famous gunfighter of the American Wild West. The subject of conversations from the Mexican border to the rowdy saloons of Kansas, he was the greatest celebrity of the age. He wrote an autobiography, but he only told what he wanted known, and few have researched beyond that. Today, Hardin is an enigma. Part of the mystery is his disastrous relationship with Helen Beulah Mrose, yet she has not been researched at all. "In Jones County authorities charged him with another theft of cattle in July 1885 and ..." . . . Read more Look inside

by Veva Vonter

Texas movies are as vast as the Lone Star State. This book offers readers the chance to visit Texas vicariously by viewing movies filmed in and about the state that reflect Texas history, cultures, and landscapes. Found inside: "However, The Stars Fell on Henrietta was not filmed in Henrietta. As often happens, the actual place was deemed inappropriate, and much of the film was shot farther west, in various locations around the Panhandle Plains towns of Abilene and Anson. The oil boom town itself was recreated in the Prairies and Lakes town of Bartlett   . . . " Read more Look inside

"The story was covered by the television series Unsolved Mysteries several years ago. Many residents from Anson and the nearby town of Abilene have gone to witness these phenomenal Lights. The cemetery is located going towards the country. The lights are viewed by driving down the dirt farm road . . . Read more

"Her father landed with his family at Galveston about twenty-four hours before the battle of San Jacinto, and he hurried to the spot, joining Houston's army and took part in the glorious battle which gave Texas its independence. Later he spent his career as a farmer near Hempstead in Waller County. Mr. and Mrs.. Harvey's children were: Mrs. Lottie C. Dabney, who died in San Angelo; Peter Harvey, who died in Nugent Texas; and Mrs. L.B. Creath, who is still living and a resident of Abilene, Texas" . . . . Read more

Found inside: "At least three stories are told to explain the presence of Anson's eerie, flickering light, which is usually sighted around Mount Hope Cemetery. In one version, a woman who lived in the area in the 1930s walked down the dirt road one cold winter's night in search of her little boy, who had wandered off. Holding her lantern, she carefully made her way over the uneven, frozen ground as she called his name . . . Read more Look inside

by Lisa Lareau and Charlie Boring from Anson Texas

As Humanity Evolves, Two Competing Species Struggle for Survival! Lisa M. Lareau and her father Charlie Boring share a lifelong interest in prehistoric civilizations. Lisa grew up listening to Charlie's tales about cave-dwelling clans, and the characters in those stories have been developed and expanded in The Last Neanderthal Clan. Charlie and Lisa live in Virginia, but have traveled extensively in Europe, where they set their novel . . . 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