Noah C. Batis

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the voice bringin' it down the road to you. Now, most men who ride into a story this big start somewhere ordinary, and Noah C. Batis was no exception.

Born in Illinois in 1860, he came to Texas at an early age. Which means Texas got hold of him young, and Texas, as you may have noticed, tends to keep what it catches. By 1881, Noah was workin' as a cowboy, drivin' cattle up the Chisholm Trail to Kansas.

He did it again in 1882. Picture that for a moment: a young man on horseback, pushing a herd north across open country, dust in his teeth and the whole horizon to himself. Two years of that kind of living leaves a mark on a person.

The kind of mark you carry all the way to ninety years old. He landed in Sanger in 1889. Ten years he settled in, learned the land, figured out what he was building toward.

Then, right here at this very site, he established the Sanger Stock Farm. And that farm became known (genuinely known) for its fine horses, mules, and other livestock. That kind of reputation doesn't come easy.

It comes from years of quiet, careful work. Here's the part that gets me, though. Noah Batis had no formal veterinary training.

None. But when his animals needed care, and when the animals on nearby farms needed care, he provided it anyway. You can call that audacity.

You can call it necessity. The marker just calls it what he did, and that's enough. From 1919 to 1923, he served as a county commissioner.

A man who drove cattle up the Chisholm Trail in his twenties, sitting in county government in his sixties. Life has a way of taking a man through every room of the house. He lived here with his wife Laura, born in 1864.

And here's the thing about Noah and Laura Batis that the marker holds out till the very end, quiet and matter-of-fact: they died in 1950. Both of them. The same year.

Noah was ninety. They came into this world years apart, but they left it together. Some stories end with a flourish.

This one ends with two people, a farm they built, and a year they shared one last time.

What the marker says

A native of Illinois, Noah C. Batis (1860-1950) came to Texas at an early age. In 1881 and 1882, he worked as a cowboy driving cattle up the Chisholm Trail to Kansas. He came to Sanger in 1889 and ten years later, at this site, established the Sanger Stock Farm, which became known for its fine horses, mules, and other livestock. Although he lacked the formal training, Batis provided veterinary care for his animals and for those of nearby farms. A county commissioner from 1919 to 1923, he lived here with his wife Laura (b. 1864). They died in 1950. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986