Gregg Ranch

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Gregg Ranch in Denton County. Now settle in, because this one's got layers. We start with a man named Darius Gregg, born in 1804, came out of Tennessee, and by 1827 he'd already pointed himself toward Texas.

That was still Mexico's Texas, mind you, and the ground was about as unsettled as the politics. Darius wasn't the kind of man who shied away from unsettled ground. When the Texas War for Independence came, he fought in it.

Stood in it. And when the smoke cleared, he got to work. By the early 1850s, Darius Gregg had accumulated (and that is the right word, accumulated, because a man doesn't just stumble onto twenty thousand acres) he had accumulated about twenty thousand acres in this very area.

He was a surveyor, so he knew exactly what land was worth and exactly where the good parcels lay. He was also a Houston Realtor, which tells you something about the kind of man who plays both ends: he knew how to measure land and how to sell it. He spent several summers out here on the ranch before his death in 1870.

Twenty thousand acres of Texas summer. Not a bad way to see out your years. Now, Darius had a son, William Bowen Gregg, born in 1849.

When Darius died in 1870, William moved from Houston and took over operations through the 1870s and into the early 1880s. A young man, a big ranch, Denton County stretching out in every direction. William ran the place during what you might call its most eventful chapter.

Because here's where the story gets interesting. Working on that ranch (riding the same ground, breathing the same dust) was a man named Sam Bass. Notorious outlaw Sam Bass.

The marker doesn't mince words, and neither will I. He was there, on the Gregg Ranch, before whatever came next in his story came next. And if that weren't enough color for one piece of land, there was also a frequent summer visitor by the name of Robert Swift, of the well-known meat packing family.

So you had a working cattle ranch, a surveyor's legacy spread across twenty thousand acres, a notorious outlaw on the payroll, and a meat packing heir dropping by for the summer. Denton County was not boring. Time has a way of whittling things down, though.

Twenty thousand acres becomes what it becomes. But here's what I'll leave you with: of that original Gregg Ranch, seven hundred and fifty acres are still owned by a Gregg heir. The family held on.

After everything (the independence war, the decades, Sam Bass and all) seven hundred and fifty acres of Darius Gregg's accumulated land is still Gregg land. Some legacies don't let go quite so easy.

What the marker says

Darius Gregg (1804-70), who came to Texas from Tennessee in 1827, and fought in the Texas War for Independence, accumulated about 20,000 acres in this area in the early 1850s. Gregg, a surveyor and Houston Realtor, spent several summers here before his death. His son, William Bowen Gregg (1849-89), moved from Houston and operated the ranch in 1870s and early 1880s. Notorious outlaw Sam Bass worked on the ranch, and a frequent summer visitor was Robert Swift, of the well known meat packing family. Of the original ranch, 750 acres are still owned by a Gregg heir. (1973)