The Clevelands came in wagons from
Galveston, George P., his wife, and their
two little boys and two little
girls. Farther and farther west they
drifted with their sheep, followed by the
wagons with the fine old furniture and
linens, the many things needed in setting
up a home on the frontier. Besides
the children, Caroline, Lucy, Dexter, and
another son, there were herders and
servants. They settled on Home Creek,
and waited for lumber from Ft. Worth and
rock masons to quarry stone from the bluff
to build a house. Down the creek several
miles, the Overalls were still living
in a one room house with a loft and
lean-to; but Cleveland visioned a fine
home, and that was what he built. A
long and narrow structure was built, with
the front porch and door on the
east. The door opened into a wide
hall, where there was a stair; a nice
bedroom with its own fireplace to the left
and straight ahead is the door to the
drawing room, the main room of the house.
Upstairs,
there were four bedrooms. The walls were two feet thick. The
dividing wall of the house, of which the
huge chimney is a part, is solid stone
from ground to roof. The kitchen was separate, at
first a room of lumber, later a stone
kitchen. There were dozens of oak
trees, and many flower beds.
In 1885, began
the railroad construction. The line
lay just below the Cleveland house, the
first trains running in 1886. Cleveland was a
sheepman, the money he mad,. they spent
like water, giving balls and dressing the
girls in fine clothes. Both
daughters were beauties. Caroline,
the older,
was
friendly and smiling, self-possessed and poised, while her sister was
shy and quiet. The family knew
sadness as well. The older son, Dexter, was accidentally shot on top of Bead
Mountain. He died at 16 years of
age.
On Jim Ned Creek was the
ranch of two young brothers from
England, Francis (Frank) and Claude Anson, second and third
sons of the Earl of Litchfield. They came to Texas to
found a ranching business, they came
with plenty of money to invest, and they
bought land, sheep, and cattle.
Then a third son, William (Billy) joined
them. The brothers recorded their
brands, helped their neighbors and
became known as owners of good and fast
horses. Frank met Caroline at one
of the Cleveland's balls and they were
married. Lucy (Louise) married W.
H.(William) Doss, July, 1844 in
Missouri-1903, and she was killed when
her buggyhorse ran away on a Coleman
street, the mother of four small
children (see George Simmons). Louise later married J. N.
Medlock, March 11, 1907, in Coleman;
they are buried in Coleman.
The Clevelands lived in the house for
twenty years. Some disease struck
his sheep herd, and he was ruined
financially. Billy Anson bought the
place, and one of the Texans, Dick Pauley,
taught him the livestock business. Anson trained and rode polo
ponies for which he became famous all over
the United States. His polo field
was across Home Creek, near to Valera.
He was the only brother to become
an American citizen. In 1896, during
the Boer War in Africa, he got a contract
from the British government to furnish
horses for the cavalry, making a fortune. In 1902, he
purchased the Head of the River Ranch at
Christoval.
Frank and Caroline went to England to
assume the title to the Litchfield name
when the older brother died, and he died in London in
1928, Claude was married to an Irish woman
of nobility and lived in Ireland, dying in
1957 when 93 years old. Billy
married a New York girl. Louise Van
Wagenen, and they made many trips to
England. On one of these, he died
there, in 1926, at 53 years of age.
His daughter
still owns the Head of the River Ranch.
The
ranch and house was bought by the Parrotts
and then by the Hoovers, in 1943. It
is now owned by Nettie Hoover and her son,
Thomas Earl, a research scientist and
author who lives in Connecticut.
(Images to be added)
William Anson at the Cleveland-Anson
Home, with two of his ponies
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