Forester Ranch

Duane's take

Here's the story as the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, pull up a chair, because this one starts with a journey and ends with a legacy that stretched across more than a century of Denton County dirt. Sometime in the early 1850s, William S.

Forester loaded up his family and pointed them west, out of Tennessee, all the way to Denton County, Texas. By about 1852, he had himself a ranch. His sons worked alongside him, and that right there is a picture of the frontier dream: family, cattle, open land.

But the frontier had a way of collecting its debts without warning. One of William's sons, a boy named Sol, was killed by Indians while herding cattle on the ranch. He was sixteen years old.

Sixteen. You sit with that number a moment before we move on. A boy doing a man's work, and the land took him before he ever got the chance to grow old on it.

William Forester eventually passed on too, and when he did, the ranch passed to another of his sons, Lock S. Forester, born 1844, died 1913. Lock had ridden with the Confederacy, and he came home from that war and got to work.

Whatever the war had taken out of him, ranching must've put something back, because Lock Forester built that operation into a spread of over six thousand acres. And under his management, something else grew too: a reputation. The ranch's brand, the Two I Jinglebob, became well known in the region.

Now that's a name that sounds like it belongs in a story, and here it is, right where it earned its place. Lock supervised those ranch interests until 1890, then moved into the town of Denton. That same year, his son Ed W.

Forester picked up the reins. Ed turned out to be no small thing himself; he raised champion shorthorn cattle, quarter horses, sheep, and other livestock, and he served two terms as Denton County Commissioner. The man had range and reach both.

Then came 1913. Lock Forester died that year, and the ranch was divided into thirds: one section for each of his three children, the land parceled out the way families do when a patriarch lets go of his grip for the last time. From Tennessee in the early 1850s to a divided inheritance in 1913 and well beyond, the Forester Ranch wove itself into the fabric of Denton County for over a century.

Some families just plant themselves that deep. The Foresters were that kind of family.

What the marker says

William S. Forester brought his family to Denton County from Tennessee in the early 1850s, and established a ranch about 1852. He was assisted in his ranching operation by his sons, one of whom, Sol, was killed by Indians at the age of sixteen while herding cattle on the ranch. Following William Forester's death the ranch was operated by his son, Lock S. Forester (1844-1913). A Confederate veteran, Lock Forester increased the size of the ranch to over 6,000 acres. Under his management the ranch's "Two I Jinglebob" brand became well known. He supervised the ranch interests until 1890, when he moved to Denton. Ed W. Forester, son of Lock Forester, assumed management of the ranch in 1890. In 1913 the ranch was divided into sections, with Lock S. Forester's three children each receiving one-third of the ranch property. Ed Forester became a successful rancher in his own right, raising champion shorthorn cattle as well as quarter horses, sheep, and other livestock. He served two terms as Denton County Commissioner. The Forester Ranch has been an important part of the history of Denton County for over a century. (1987)