Forester Ranch
Sanger, Denton County, Texas
Marker Inscription
William S. Forester brought his family to Denton County from Tennessee in the early 1850s, and established a ranch about 1852. He was assisted in his ranching operation by his sons, one of whom, Sol, was killed by Indians at the age of sixteen while herding cattle on the ranch. Following William Forester's death the ranch was operated by his son, Lock S. Forester (1844-1913). A Confederate veteran, Lock Forester increased the size of the ranch to over 6,000 acres. Under his management the ranch's "Two I Jinglebob" brand became well known. He supervised the ranch interests until 1890, when he moved to Denton. Ed W. Forester, son of Lock Forester, assumed management of the ranch in 1890. In 1913 the ranch was divided into sections, with Lock S. Forester's three children each receiving one-third of the ranch property. Ed Forester became a successful rancher in his own right, raising champion shorthorn cattle as well as quarter horses, sheep, and other livestock. He served two terms as Denton County Commissioner. The Forester Ranch has been an important part of the history of Denton County for over a century. (1987)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
William S. Forester drove his family from Tennessee to the Denton County frontier in the early 1850s and carved out a ranch on open range still contested with Native peoples, a danger that cost his teenage son Sol his life while herding cattle. His son Lock, a Confederate veteran, expanded the spread past 6,000 acres and made its "Two I Jinglebob" brand well known, before a third generation carried the ranch into the twentieth century. For over a century the Forester Ranch shaped the cattle country of North Texas.
Why it matters
The ranch embodies the Anglo-Texan cattle frontier, its westward push, its collisions with Native peoples, and its endurance through the Civil War and beyond.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · William S. Forester
- · Lock S. Forester
- · Ed W. Forester
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Denton County
Denton, TX
Denton County was carved from Fannin County in April 1846 and organized that July, both town and county named for John B. Denton — a pioneer preacher, lawyer, and Indian fighter who died in 1841. The county seat wandered from Pinckneyville to Alton before settling permanently at Denton in 1850. The marker records the restless early years of a North Texas frontier county finding its footing.
John B. Denton
Denton, TX
Born in Tennessee in 1806, John B. Denton came to Texas in 1836 and worked as a Methodist circuit-riding preacher and pioneer lawyer. He was killed on May 24, 1841, in the Village Creek fight against Native people in what is now Tarrant County—an expedition led by Gen. Edward H. Tarrant, for whom that county is named. Both the city and county of Denton later took his name.
Captain George Stevens
Decatur, TX
George W. Stevens came to Wise County in 1855 and became a leader in defending the exposed Texas frontier, serving in a frontier cavalry company and as county sheriff during the turbulent 1860s. In 1874 he was named captain of Company B of the Texas Rangers' Frontier Battalion, leading some seventy-five men — mostly Wise County neighbors — in the last campaigns against Comanche and Kiowa raiders, and he was severely wounded in a fight at Buffalo Springs. He later helped chase the notorious Sam Bass gang before his death in 1893.
Justin
Justin, TX
The town of Justin sits where the Denton, Oliver, and Trail creeks meet in the North Texas prairie, long home to Native American peoples before white settlement. Its ground holds layered histories: the 1841 death of John B. Denton at the Village Creek Battle, an 1848 Icarian colony of French socialist immigrants that collapsed within two years, and Texas Ranger protection for settlers from Missouri and elsewhere. The town took its name from railroad engineer Walter Justin Sherman when the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway came through, and by 1914 it bustled with elevators, gins, and a flour mill.