By P.A. Geddie
Pioneer cattle baron John Simpson Chisum was born August 16, 1824, in Tennessee. His family moved to Red River County, Texas, when he was a boy. His father, Claiborne Chisum — a public-spirited and wealthy man — was probably the earliest settler in Paris, Texas.
As a teenager John found work as a store clerk in Paris and as a building contractor. He later served briefly as a road overseer in Hopkins County, accumulated land, operated several small grocery stores, and served as the County Clerk for Lamar County from 1852 to 1854.
John went to work for a large rancher as a cowboy in 1854 and soon started developing his own herd. By the early 1860s, he had more than 100,000 head of cattle and became one of the first to send his herds into New Mexico. He started a ranch there in the Bosque Grande, about 40 miles south of Fort Sumner.
During these years, John provided a home in Bonham, Texas, and financial support, for his common law wife, Jensie, a bi-racial former slave, and their two daughters, Harriet and Almeady.
In 1875, he purchased the 40 acre South Spring Ranch, three miles south of Roswell, New Mexico, and made it his headquarters of a cattle ranching empire that extended for 150 miles of land along the Pecos River.
John became involved with New Mexico’s Lincoln County War, a conflict between rival cattle barons, that involved the notorious Billy the Kid. Nineteen people were killed in this war and a new governor was appointed to try to clean up the mess.
Though Billy the Kid and John supported the same side in the bitter struggles of the Lincoln County War, the two started feuding when Billy thought John owed him money for his part in the war and John did not agree. In retaliation, Billy, along with his gang of “rustlers,” began to steal John’s cattle.
In 1880, John supported the election of Pat Garrett as Lincoln County Sheriff, who he believed could stop the cattle rustling problems in the area. John was right, and in December, Garrett shot dead gang members Tom O’Folliard and Charles Bowdre. Soon afterward, Billy the Kid and some of his men were captured. Billy was able to escape, but Garrett tracked him down to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where he killed him on July 14, 1881.
John’s life is featured in film with John Wayne playing him in Chisum (1970) and James Coburn played him in Young Guns II (1990). He’s portrayed as a supportive character in numerous other movies and television shows.
In 1958, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
A semi-biographical story — Miss Chisum: A Colorful 19th Century Texan Romance —by Russ Brown was published in 2019. It covers more of John Chisum’s life including the personal story of Jensie and their two children. Much of it is told by Jensie and John’s granddaughter, Eugie Thomas, in 1970, when she was 84 years old. According to Brown, she saw the movie Chisum and wanted to share a fuller picture of their lives.
Eugie’s mother was Almeady Chisum, John and Jensie’s youngest daughter. Eugie’s father, Bob Jones, was a successful rancher for whom Southlake, Texas’ largest park, a road, and the city’s nature center and preserve is named.
Eugie knew her grandmother Jensie and knew of her grandfather John, although she never met him. According to Eugie in Miss Chisum, after John moved Jensie, Harriet, and Almeady to safety in Bonham, Jensie worked as a nurse, seamstress, and housekeeper. After the Civil War, Eugie says Jensie gave up nursing and worked part-time as a cook and a baker and took in sewing work to help provide her daughters with an education.
“Education has always been important in our family,” Eugie says. “Ma (Almeady) was really smart, sharp as a nail; she also inherited Grandma’s heart and beauty.”
John Chisum — who Eugie says was much more likely to be carrying a fiddle than a gun — came back to see his family in Bonham after the Lincoln County War. By then, the girls were grown, starting families of their own. John and Eugie’s father, Bob Jones, got along well, and shared their ranching experiences.
In 1883, Chisum discovered a tumor on his neck and the next year, traveled to Kansas City for treatment. His tumor was removed and he returned to New Mexico. However, his health continued to deteriorate and he then traveled to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, to partake of the “healing waters.” But, the tumor returned and grew larger.
On December 22, 1884, he died of cancer in Eureka Springs. His body was returned to Paris, Texas, where he was buried in the Chisum Family Cemetery. Jensie is buried in Bonham in an unlocated grave.
John left an estate worth $500,000 to his brothers Pitzer and James. Jensie and his children were not mentioned in his obituary.
Bob and Almeady Jones and their 10 children at their home.
Bob and Almeady Chisum Jones had 10 children and their sacrifices to educate their children remained steadfast. Their descendants attended Howard University, Tuskegee, Kansas State, Juilliard, Texas Southern, Notre Dame, the Sorbonne and other prominent schools. Many became educators; others became business owners or musicians or worked in animal science professions. One grandson taught in Liberia. Grandson Dr. William Larue Jones is the Emeritus Professor of Music and Director of Orchestral Studies for the University of Iowa and has guest conducted orchestras all over the world.
A statue of John Chisum herding a longhorn stands in Roswell, New Mexico. A sculpture of his daughter Almeady and her husband Bob Jones was unveiled in Southlake’s Bob Jones Park in 2021. The honored legacy of this remarkable family is not likely to end soon.
In October 2023, Bob and Almeady Chisum Jones were memorialized with a bronze star on the sidewalk of the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District. The Texas Trail of Fame honors more than 250 inductees who made significant contributions to the creation and/or preservation of the American West. Their star is on Main Street next to Cattlemen’s Steak House among other stars for Kit Carson, Wyatt Earp, Lady Bird Johnson, Larry McMurtry, Annie Oakley, and Almeady’s father, John Chisum.
(Left) Cattle Baron John Chisum and (right) his daughter with Jensie, Almeady Chisum Jones.
Other 2023 inductees include the band Asleep at the Wheel, Burl Washington who specialilzes in Black Western art, and Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan. See texastrailoffame.org for complete list.
An award-winning exhibit, Bob and Almeady Chisum Jones: A True Story of Resilience, Courage, and Success, is in a permanent home at the Bob Jones Nature Center. Find a short documentary on their website about the family below and learn more on www.southlakehistory.org.
Sources: Kathy Weiser, Legends of America; Texas State Historical Association; Russ Brown, Miss Chisum: A Colorful 19th Century Texan Romance; Southlake Historical Society
