Chapter 11

HMA RANCH, 126 YEARS LATER.

Henry M. Anderson passed away in 1895,  fast forward 121 years to 2016,   a scene near Gageby Creek and Henry’s ranch home.  The cowboy in this picture is Lee Haygood, a fourth generation on the ranch founded by his great grandfather  and a great great grandson of Elizabeth Anderson, daughter of Henry and Sarah.  Now called INDIAN MOUND Ranch, where  Lee mixes traditional ranching with cutting edge technology to produce fault-free and functional cattle, striving to produce the very best Hereford and Angus genetics. Their annual fall Hereford Bull sale is a very popular event attended by many of the top ranches. 

Another Anderson and George descendant who lives in Canadian, Texas is  Sue Lynn George Krehbiel.  She also was a gggranddaughter of Elizabeth Anderson.  Her father was R.E. George who was the owner and operator of their family ranch.  R.E. was co-founder of  4-H,  FFA Booster Club and Canadian Jr. Riding Club. A member of the Texas & Southwest Cattle Raisers Association.

 

Wonder down the road in Hemphill County and you will find the Jim Bill Anderson Ranch. Jim Bill is the gggrandson of William Walter Anderson,  a son of  Henry and Sarah Anderson.

Jim Bill and his wife, Deborah, have spent their adult lives putting the Anderson’s Frying Pan Ranch back together on their  5,600 acre home place. They are exceptional stewards of the land, water and wildlife. 

It is  an integrated livestock operation, with increasingly rare prairie chickens, as well as a myriad of other wildlife. Today he owns and leases over 40,000 acres in Canadian Texas and Montana.  The family decided the ranch, located east of Canadian in the sand-sage Canadian Breaks prairie, will remain intact forever. Google

Jim Bill was the 2010 Leopold Conservation Award for Texas, a prestigious recognition conferred by Sand County Foundation and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department as part of its Lone Star Land Steward Awards program.  To visit his ranch is to travel back in time for a glimpse of the Canadian River country pretty much the way it was when Spanish explores first trekked across the Panhandle.

As we started this life story of Henry M. Anderson, we quoted  “TOUGH TIMES NEVER LAST BUT TOUGH PEOPLE DO”.  Henry and Sarah survived the tough times so that his descendants could carry on his love of the land and ranching.

Henry and Sarah would be proud!

Over 206 years after Henry and Sarah’s passing, six of their descendants gathered to celebrate this colorful heritage.  Top left, Lee Haygood (Elizabeth lineage) Jim Lee Anderson (Albert lineage) Jim Bill Anderson (William Walter lineage)  bottom row left Mary Lou Laird (DeLaney lineage) Sue Lynn Krehbiel (Elizabeth lineage). Not pictured was our photographer, Debra Sue Anderson Mitchell (Albert lineage). Picture below is Debra our “Official Unpaid Photographer”.