Dorsie M. Pinnell
Andrews, Andrews County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(June 25, 1875-July 23, 1939) Descendant of a Virginian who fought in the American Revolution. Came to Texas at 17 for health. Served (1898-1899) in Spanish-American War, Co. K, 1st Texas Inf. Vol. Regt. Later took up ranching in Andrews County. Married Jessie Whitten; had 4 sons. Recorded - 1968
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Dorsie M. Pinnell, a descendant of a Virginia Revolutionary War soldier, came to Texas at seventeen seeking better health. He served in the Spanish-American War with Company K of the 1st Texas Infantry before taking up ranching in Andrews County, where he raised four sons with his wife Jessie. His life traces the westward path of a young man who traded the East for the promise of the open Texas plains.
Why it matters
His story links the nation's Revolutionary heritage to the Spanish-American War generation and the ranching frontier of West Texas, threads that run through the wider American experience.
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Related people
- · Dorsie M. Pinnell
- · Jessie Whitten Pinnell
Related events
- · Spanish-American War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Early Settlers of Andrews County
Andrews, TX
Andrews County sat on one of Texas's last frontiers, where Anglo settlement lagged some sixty years behind the rest of the state because of Comanche resistance and a punishing scarcity of water. O. B. Holt filed the first land claim in 1886, and hardy families like the Cowdens and Peter Von Holebeke followed, but by 1900 the county still counted only 87 people and did not organize until 1910. Windmill pumps and drift fences finally made ranching workable on the dry plains, and the 1930 discovery of oil turned decades of stubborn endurance into sudden prosperity.
Original Townsite of Andrews
Andrews, TX
When Andrews County was organized in 1910, the new town of Andrews rose on land homesteaded by Robert Madison "Bob" Means, who had begun ranching the West Texas plains with his father in 1899. In a colorful county-seat fight against rival Shafter City, Means famously deeded town lots to local cowboys so they could register as voters and swing the election. He served as county clerk and gave land and money to the growing town for the rest of his life, retiring comfortably after oil was struck on his land in 1934.
J. S. Means Ranch House
Andrews, TX
Built in 1900, this is among the oldest houses in Andrews County, raised at the exact point where four claimants' land sections met so each could satisfy the legal requirement to live on his claim. After the group proved up their claims, they sold to Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Means, who by 1904 held fourteen sections and kept adding land to build a thriving cattle ranch. The operation ran cattle even after oil fields spread across the range in the 1920s.
Shafter's Trail
Andrews, TX
In 1875 Colonel William R. Shafter led a company of soldiers from Fort Concho across the arid plains toward Monument Springs, New Mexico, mapping the scarce watering holes that made the country passable. Along the way he skirmished with Native fighters and located the salt lake that still carries his name. The maps his expedition produced charted a land that had been largely unknown to newcomers, opening the Permian Basin to settlement.