Frank Reaugh

Duane's take

The official marker's the source here, and I'm just the one riding alongside it. This is Duane, and this is Frank Reaugh's story. Now, some men are shaped by a place, and some men shape a place right back.

Frank Reaugh did both. Born December 29, 1860, in Illinois, he came into the world before the long trail drives had even carved their first ruts into the Texas soil. His people were George W. and Clarinda Morgan Reaugh, and when Frank was still a young man (1876) the family pulled up and moved to Kaufman County.

And that's where something happened that no classroom could've arranged. Right there beside the family cotton farm ran a trail, and along that trail moved wild range cattle; Longhorns, big-shouldered and restless, kicking up dust on their way to somewhere else. Young Frank watched.

And watching turned into something deeper than watching. The marker calls it the birth of his love for wild range cattle, and you get the sense it wasn't a quiet little spark. It was the kind of thing that redirects a life.

He didn't just dream on it, though. He earned his way. Studied in St.

Louis. Crossed an ocean and studied in Europe. A cotton-farm boy from Kaufman County, walking the studios of the Old World, carrying Texas in his eye the whole time.

By 1890 he had settled in Dallas, and that's where his style matured. Where he became influential. He worked in pastel; not the medium you'd necessarily expect from a man documenting Longhorn cattle and western trails and open range, but he made it sing.

His significant works hang today in Austin, in Dallas, in other cities. Graphic historian, the marker calls him. Graphic historian of Longhorn cattle, western trails, and range.

Frank Reaugh lived until May 6, 1945; eighty-four years, from Illinois to Kaufman County to Dallas, from a trail beside a cotton farm to gallery walls across Texas. He saw the Longhorn era with his own eyes, and then he spent the rest of his life making sure no one else had to take his word for it.

What the marker says

(December 29, 1860 - May 6, 1945) Graphic historian of Longhorn cattle, western trails, and range. Born in Illinois. Son of George W. and Clarinda Morgan Reaugh. In 1876 moved to Kaufman County, where on trail beside the family cotton farm was born his love for wild range cattle. Earning his way, studied in St. Louis and in Europe. Settled (1890) in Dallas, where style matured and he was influential. His significant works in pastel hang in Austin, Dallas, and other cities. Recorded - 1971