Site of Ranch of the Thurmans of Kickapoo
Rocksprings, Edwards County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1882 Joe Thurman and sons Bill, Sam and Jess became first permanent settlers on the west prong of the Nueces River. By 1895 neighbors included the Barksdale, Chapman, Cox, Ellis, Haley, Justice, Parham, Silman, and Tabor Families. A brush arbor sheltered the first church, with Virgil Silman and A.J. Cox as preachers, and first school, with Perry Ellis as teacher. Joe Thurman acted as doctor, dentist, and coffin maker for this ranch community. His family raised fine horses for racing. In 1895 they matched their favorite against the horse of John Nance Garner, later U.S. Vice President. (1972)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1882 Joe Thurman and his sons became the first permanent settlers on the west prong of the Nueces River, soon joined by neighbors who raised a brush-arbor church and school. Thurman served as doctor, dentist, and coffin maker to the community, and the family bred fine racehorses—once matching their best against a horse owned by future U.S. Vice President John Nance Garner.
Why it matters
This ranch community captures how self-reliant frontier families built society from scratch on the late-19th-century Texas range.
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Related people
- · Joe Thurman
- · John Nance Garner
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Thurman Cemetery
Rocksprings, TX
Joseph and Mary Jane Thurman came to this part of Edwards County in 1882, and in 1885 Mary Jane became the first person laid to rest in what grew into the family cemetery. Its 29 graves record the hard toll of pioneer life, including infant deaths and victims of typhoid and other diseases. Members of the Thurman and more than a dozen allied families rest here, and their descendants still tend the grounds, last used for burial in 1958.
Turner-Davis Ranch Headquarters
Rocksprings, TX
Established in 1921 on the rugged limestone country of the Edwards Plateau, the Turner-Davis Ranch raised Angora goats for the mohair industry that thrived in this hard-to-farm terrain. Owned first by Ruby and Helen Davis and later by the Turner family and their heirs, its pioneer-style headquarters were built to last and improved by each generation. The ranch relied heavily on Mexican labor, including workers brought through the Bracero program, before it was sold and subdivided in 2003 after 82 years.
First Baptist Church of Barksdale
Barksdale, TX
Founded in 1883 with nineteen members, the Barksdale Baptist Church was the first Baptist congregation in this remote Edwards County community, and for generations its baptisms were held at the nearby Nueces River crossing. A frame sanctuary of 1906 served until this native-stone building replaced it in 1943, begun by a local builder and finished by the congregation itself. Its simple front-gabled form, stone veneer, and exposed rafter ends reflect the hand-built churches of the Texas Hill Country.
First Baptist Church of Rocksprings
Rocksprings, TX
Organized by a handful of believers in 1893, this Baptist congregation took root in the earliest days of Rocksprings and weathered the same trials as the town around it. When the 1927 tornado flattened much of the community, Texans arrived from far and wide to help rebuild both the town and the church. Through Depression and wartime the congregation grew, even sponsoring a Mexican American mission that became its own Sunday school.