PAGE 43
by Jerry Adams,
copyright © 2000 all rights reserved
Each token
in your collection, binds you to the past, to history. They whisper, " Don’t
forget!"
the token:
RHODES
VARIETY STORE / ELECTRA, / TEXAS.
GOOD
FOR / 5 ¢ / IN TRADE
aluminum-scalloped (8 lobes) -
29 millimeters diameter (circa: 1920, estimated value: $20.00-$50.00)
It is fairly unusual to find a
Texas town named after a woman, most seem to be named after men. Frontier towns
would often be named after the first settler, the first postmaster, the man who donated
land for the town square etc. This town was named after the feisty daughter of a
local cattleman.
OVERVIEW OF
ELECTRA WAGGONER'S FAMILY
Electra
Waggoner was the daughter of W. T. Waggoner (1852-1934) who was the son of Dan Waggoner
(1828-1902).
DANIEL
WAGGONER (1828-1902)
Daniel Waggoner
(1828-1902), rancher, was born in Lincoln County, Tennessee on July 7th, 1828
to Solomon and Elizabeth (McGaugh) Waggoner. The Waggoner family moved from Tennessee to
near Blackjack Grove (now called Cumby) in Hopkins County Texas in 1848. Solomon Waggoner
made a good living trading in horses and slaves prior to his death in 1849.
WILLIAM
THOMAS (TOM) WAGGONER (1852-1934)
W. T. Waggoner (Tom) was
born to Nancy (Moore) Waggoner and Daniel Waggoner on August 31, 1852 on the family stock
farm in Hopkins County Texas. Nancy Moore was the daughter of William Moore of Hopkins
County Texas.
The Waggoner (three D)
Ranch had it’s beginning in 1854 when Daniel Waggoner (1828-1902) and a 15 year old
black slave boy drove 242 longhorn cattle and 6 horses into Wise County Texas. The
longhorn herd had been recently purchased by Daniel, and accompanying him on the trip to
Wise County were his son, mother, brothers, sisters and the aforementioned 15 year old
black slave. Dan Waggoner moved his wife Nancy (Moore) Waggoner and son William Thomas
(Tom) into a home on a 160-acre farm on Catlett Creek near the present site of Decatur in
what is now Wise County. Dan’s wife Nancy died in 1853 (at age 20) and W.T. went back
to live his sister Sarah Yarbrough. In 1856, he purchased 320 additional acres close to
Cactus Hill, 18 miles west of Decatur.
Dan married again in 1859
to Scylly (or Sicily) Ann Halsell and established the Cactus Hill headquarters on the West
Fork of the Trinity River in Wise County. Tom joined the couple and Scylly adopted Tom as
her own. The family moved into his log house at Cactus Hill where they lived until the
close of the War of the Rebellion. Dan was a member of the local militia and was called to
chase after Indian raiding parties, while Scylly and W. T. concealed themselves in the
cornfields. In order to protect his family, they relocated 7 miles east of Decatur on
Denton Creek. In 1883, he built a $50,000 Victorian mansion on a rocky hill overlooking
Decatur, which became known as "El Castile."
Dan Waggoner’s first
brand was a D61, but about 1866 he changed to three D’s in reverse. By 1869, father
and son had formed a partnership, called D. Waggoner and Son. They wintered a herd in late
1869 in Clay County. In 1870 they drove the herd to the Kansas market, and selling there
for a profit of $55,000, which became the basis for their family fortune.
By the early 1880’s,
their range extended 30 miles from the Pease River to China Creek. In 1885 they leased
650,000 acres of rangeland in Indian Territory. Seeing the coming of the end of the open
range, the Waggoners began to buy up land near the ranch, paying about a dollar an acre.
Between the years of 1885 and 1903, they slowly built up their land holdings to cover a
block running 30 miles east to west and 25 miles north to south, which included more than
a million acres. It extended in to the following counties: Foard, Knox, Baylor, Archer,
Wilbarger and Wichita.
ELECTRA
WAGGONER (1882-1925)
W.T. (Tom) Waggoner married
Ella Halsell in 1877.
W.T. and Ella had a
daughter a few years later. Electra Waggoner was born near Decatur, Texas on January
6th 1882. The name Electra is from the Greek meaning "the bright one."
In Greek history, Electra was the daughter of Agamemnon.
In 1885, Dan and Tom
Waggoner persuaded railroad officials to establish a switch at the site of their loading
pens, 15 miles north of Wichita Falls. The spot was later to be named
"Electra". The first name for the switch was Waggoner. By 1889, with the
establishment of a post office and depot, the name was changed to Beaver, named for Beaver
Creek which flowed nearby.
related
exonumia: 1941 encased cent from Ft. Worth's Dan Waggoner building:
As the Waggoner holdings
increased, W.T. moved the ranch headquarters to the Zacaweista Ranch south of the
Red River near Vernon, Texas. Dan Waggoner stayed in Decatur, Texas.
In 1902, the residents of
the town of Beaver, which Dan and Tom had established, voted to rename their town in honor
of the Tom’s daughter, Electra.
When W. T.’s daughter
Electra Waggoner married (10 June 1902 ) Albert Buckman Wharton of Philadelphia, he had a
mansion built in Fort Worth for the newly wed couple. The mansion was on a hilltop,
slightly west of the city, at 1509 Pennsylvania, at the huge cost (then) of $38,000. It
was designed by the local architectural firm of Sanguinet and Staats. The Whartons lived a
lavish lifestyle, enjoying the new home, entertaining friends and associates frequently.
When W.T. divided his estate and gave each of his children 90,000 acres of land and 10,000
head of cattle. To top it off, oil was discovered on the ranch in 1903. The Electra and
A.B. Wharton sold the Ft. Worth mansion to Winfield Scott, and moved to their ranch
property near Vernon. Electra (Waggoner) and Albert Wharton had a son, Tom Waggoner Wharton, born in 1903.
Tom Wharton died in 1928 at age 25.
The town of Electra, Texas
was only about 500 people in 1907 when it was incorporated, but grew to about 1,000
residents by 1910. It had a newspaper, a bank, several churches, and by 1911 it’s own
school district.
On April 1, 1911, Clayco
No. 1 oil well blew in a mile north of Electra, Texas. News of the gusher spread rapidly
and the town of Electra grew to a population of 5,000 within months.
The Electra oilfield
produced about 10 million barrels between 1911 and 1925. The population of Electra was
5,400 in 1917, by 1926 it had fallen to 4,744. By 1936 the town had grown to 6,712
residents and 170 businesses. By the mid 1960’s the town had decreased in size to
about 5,000. In 1990, the population of Electra, Texas was 3,113 with 48 businesses.
Electra Waggoner married three
times, the first as previously mentioned to A. B Wharton in 1902, then later she married
James A. Gilmore, then lastly she married Weldon Bailey. Electra died on November
26th, 1925 at 43 years of age.
Currently, the town of Electra has
an active chamber of commerce, a website, a high school with 250 students, and large
elementary and secondary schools. Old Dan and Tom would be proud of their heritage!
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updated: 18 june 2000