Hoover, Laura and William Peery

Duane's take

Now, the way the marker tells it, here's the story of Laura and William Peery Hoover. Before a single family put down roots in what we now call Crockett County, this land had already seen a parade of history pass through. Indians, Spaniards, wagon trains, military expeditions, all of them crossed this country and kept right on moving.

Nobody stayed. Then came 1881, and two native Texans decided this wild stretch of West Texas was exactly where they wanted to build a life. Laura McNutt Hoover, born in 1862, and William Peery Hoover, born in 1854, became the first permanent settlers in present-day Crockett County.

They came in with two children and two hundred head of longhorn cattle, making their way through this hard country by way of the Devils River and Beaver Lake. Now, I want you to picture where they stopped and called it home. Their first house was built of cedar pickets, sitting right under a bluff overlooking the Pecos River.

No neighbors. No nearby town. Just the river, the bluff, and whatever they could make with their own hands.

The nearest towns were over seventy-five miles away, and a supply run took several days. You were not popping out for a loaf of bread. That family had to be entirely self-sufficient, and self-sufficient they were.

Laura and William would go on to have fourteen children together, though five of those children died in infancy. That is the kind of grief this land asked of its people, and this family carried it. They also carried on.

Steadily, year by year, the Hoovers acquired land until their holdings grew to over one hundred thousand acres. Their cattle wore the Hoo brand, and if you saw that mark out on the range, you knew whose range you were standing on. In time, the family moved to present-day Ozona, fifty miles northeast, and William did not slow down one bit.

He was instrumental in the formation of Crockett County itself, and he helped organize the Ozona National Bank, helping build the very bones of the community around him. William Peery Hoover died in 1922. Laura McNutt Hoover lived until 1941.

And here is the part of the story that just settles something in you. One hundred years after Laura and William first rode in with their children and their longhorns and their cedar-picket dreams beside the Pecos River, much of that land was still owned by their descendants. Some roots go down deep enough that even a hundred years of West Texas weather cannot pull them loose.

What the marker says

Although Indians, Spaniards, wagon trains, and military expeditions crossed through this area earlier, the first permanent settlers in present-day Crockett County were native Texans Laura (McNutt) (1862-1941) and William Peery Hoover (1854-1922), who settled here in 1881. Traveling by way of the Devils River and Beaver Lake, they migrated to this area with two children and 200 head of longhorn cattle. Their first home, constructed of cedar pickets, was located under a bluff overlooking the Pecos River. The Hoovers had fourteen children, five of whom died in infancy. Isolated, the family had to be self-sufficient, since supply trips to the nearest towns, over 75 miles away, took several days. Laura and William Hoover steadily acquired land and their holdings grew to over 100,000 acres. Their cattle were identified by the "Hoo" brand. The Hoovers later moved to present-day Ozona (50 miles northeast) and became active in the development of the community. William was instrumental in the formation of Crockett County and helped organize the Ozona National Bank. 100 years after the Hoovers settled in this area, much of their land is still owned by descendants.