DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Rocking Chair Ranche — and friend, this one's got layers. Now, most outfits out on the Texas plains had American names, Texas names, names that tasted like dust and leather. But the Rocking Chair Ranche — they spelled it r-a-n-c-h-e, which ought to tell you something right there — that spread was owned by Scottish Earls.
Not ranchers. Not cattlemen in boots. Earls.
The Earls of Aberdeen and Tweedmouth, to be precise, and they ran their headquarters out of a place called Aberdeen, sitting about seven miles northeast of where you're rolling right now in Collingsworth County. They came into this country starting with fourteen thousand seven hundred and forty-five head of cattle. Not fourteen thousand, not fifteen thousand — fourteen thousand, seven hundred, and forty-five.
Somebody was counting very carefully. And for a few years, the Rocking Chair made profits. The ledgers looked fine.
The Earls across the ocean were probably pleased. Then it failed. That's the ranching business for you.
It doesn't care much about your title. But the Rocking Chair left its mark on this land in ways that outlasted the cattle. Up in the north part of Collingsworth County, there are hills that still carry the Rocking Chair name.
And then there's Wellington — the county seat, the town you may well have passed through — and that name has a story behind it that goes all the way back to Belgium. The owners of the Rocking Chair had a kinsman. That kinsman died at Waterloo, where he had served as aide to the Duke of Wellington.
And so, at the wish of the Rocking Chair owners, the town was given the name Wellington. A piece of a distant battlefield, carried across an ocean and planted right here on the Texas plains. By 1893, the whole enterprise was done.
W. E. Hughes bought the land that year and folded it into the Mill Iron Ranch.
And eventually, those two hundred and thirty-five sections were sold off to others — converted to farms, broken into smaller ranches, the open range giving way to fence lines and field rows, the way it always seemed to go. Fourteen thousand head of cattle, a pair of Scottish Earls, a soldier who fell at Waterloo, and a town that carries his commander's name to this day. The Rocking Chair Ranche is long gone, but this corner of Texas is still telling its story.
What the marker says
Owned by Scottish Earls of Aberdeen and Tweedmouth. The headquarters were at Aberdeen (about 7 miles northeast). Starting with 14,745 cattle, the Rocking Chair made profits for a few years, then failed. In north part of county are hills bearing its name. Also, town of Wellington was given that name at wish of rocking chair owners, who had a kinsman die at Waterloo where he was aide to the Duke of Wellington. W.E. Hughes in 1893 bought the land and added it to Mill Iron Ranch. Later the 235 sections were sold to others, to convert to farms and smaller ranches. (1970)