Site of Ranch of the Thurmans of Kickapoo

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Somewhere out in Edwards County, on the west prong of the Nueces River, a man named Joe Thurman showed up in 1882 with his sons, Bill, Sam, and Jess, and decided this was the place. First permanent settlers on that stretch of river.

Just the four of them, the land, and whatever they could build. And build they did. By 1895, the Thurmans had neighbors.

The Barksdale family, the Chapmans, the Coxes, the Ellises, the Haleys, the Justices, the Parhams, the Silmans, the Tabors, this corner of Texas was filling up. You needed a church, they put up a brush arbor and called it a house of worship. Virgil Silman and A.J.

Cox stepped up to preach. You needed a school, Perry Ellis stepped up to teach. That's the kind of community this was, you needed something done, somebody did it.

And then there was Joe Thurman himself. Now, this is where the story gets interesting. When someone in this ranch community needed a doctor, they called on Joe.

When they needed a dentist, they called on Joe. And when, well, when someone didn't make it, Joe Thurman made the coffin. One man carrying all of that weight for an entire community.

You sit with that a moment. But the Thurmans weren't only about hard work and hard necessity. They raised fine horses.

Horses built for racing. And in 1895, they matched their favorite against the horse of a man named John Nance Garner. You might not know that name just yet, but John Nance Garner would go on to become Vice President of the United States.

We don't know who won that race. The marker doesn't say. And somehow, that feels exactly right, leaving you there on the west prong of the Nueces, dust still hanging in the air, two horses headed for the line.

What the marker says

In 1882 Joe Thurman and sons Bill, Sam and Jess became first permanent settlers on the west prong of the Nueces River. By 1895 neighbors included the Barksdale, Chapman, Cox, Ellis, Haley, Justice, Parham, Silman, and Tabor Families. A brush arbor sheltered the first church, with Virgil Silman and A.J. Cox as preachers, and first school, with Perry Ellis as teacher. Joe Thurman acted as doctor, dentist, and coffin maker for this ranch community. His family raised fine horses for racing. In 1895 they matched their favorite against the horse of John Nance Garner, later U.S. Vice President. (1972)