That’s me, sitting on Abrams, a Longhorn Steer about five years old.
He weighs almost a ton! What a sweetheart he was, too! I rubbed his face, scratched his chin, fed him some “steer candy”, wiped my now very slobbery hand on my jeans, and climbed aboard!
Clay, his owner, remarked, “You’ve ridden before, haven’t you.” Yes, but that was a long time ago, and never a Longhorn Steer!
Two cowboys had brought their riding steers to the Harvest Festival at Wild Life West in Edgewood, New Mexico this past weekend. I was there participating in an art show, amidst all the tractor pulls, wild bird shows, Native American drum performances and roasted sweet corn. It was a blast! (Sold some paintings, too!)
We listened to some humorous Cowboy Poetry delivered straight from the Longhorn’s back, that included references to the famous West Texas, New Mexico and Colorado cattleman, Charlie Goodnight, who helped blaze the famous Goodnight/Loving Cattle Trail with his buddy, Oliver Loving. These were the same kind of Longhorns that Charlie and his cowboys drove along the trail. When I told them that Charlie was my Great Great Great Uncle, that his sister, Mary Jane Goodnight, was my Great Great Great Grandmother, they invited me over to visit with Abrams for a while. In exchange for getting some pictures of Abrams, and being allowed to sit astride the biggest four-legged ruminant I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing, I told them the story of my GGG Grandmother, Mary Jane, and how she came to be the dis-owned sister of the famous Charlie Goodnight.
My GGGGrandaddy, Hiram Daugherty, married the widow Charlotte Goodnight and became stepfather to her kids, Charlie and his older sister, Mary Jane. They lived near Houston, and Hiram was a trader who spent long weeks away from home. On one of these trips, he took Mary Jane with him. She was seventeen. When they returned from the trip, Mary Jane was pregnant.
Charlotte kicked them both out, along with the three children she and Hiram had together. Mary Jane, Hiram and the three little kids made their way across Texas in a covered wagon and finally ended up in the Sacramento Mountains of Southeastern New Mexico. There, they homesteaded in a beautiful valley in Hay Canyon. They raised thirteen children all together: the three they brought with them from Texas that were Hiram’s children with Charlotte, and ten of their own.
Their homestead cabin was built strong and sure alongside a creek in the canyon, and I have seen it several times, still standing as a monument to perseverance and determination. They worked their whole lives to redeem themselves and raise up righteous children. But Mary Jane never again saw or spoke to either her brother or her mother for the rest of her life, such was the price of her sin. She lived a long life, outliving her husband by decades, is buried near Cloudcroft in a sun-dappled aspen grove, next to Hiram. Her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren all remembered her fondly as a good and loving mother and faithful wife. Such is the good news of redemption.
In Charlie’s official biography, he never mentions that he has a sister, and I’ll bet no one knew to ask. When he was asked why his mother, Charlotte, divorced Hiram Daugherty, Charlie said, “For cause.”
He weighs almost a ton! What a sweetheart he was, too! I rubbed his face, scratched his chin, fed him some “steer candy”, wiped my now very slobbery hand on my jeans, and climbed aboard!
Clay, his owner, remarked, “You’ve ridden before, haven’t you.” Yes, but that was a long time ago, and never a Longhorn Steer!
Two cowboys had brought their riding steers to the Harvest Festival at Wild Life West in Edgewood, New Mexico this past weekend. I was there participating in an art show, amidst all the tractor pulls, wild bird shows, Native American drum performances and roasted sweet corn. It was a blast! (Sold some paintings, too!)
We listened to some humorous Cowboy Poetry delivered straight from the Longhorn’s back, that included references to the famous West Texas, New Mexico and Colorado cattleman, Charlie Goodnight, who helped blaze the famous Goodnight/Loving Cattle Trail with his buddy, Oliver Loving. These were the same kind of Longhorns that Charlie and his cowboys drove along the trail. When I told them that Charlie was my Great Great Great Uncle, that his sister, Mary Jane Goodnight, was my Great Great Great Grandmother, they invited me over to visit with Abrams for a while. In exchange for getting some pictures of Abrams, and being allowed to sit astride the biggest four-legged ruminant I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing, I told them the story of my GGG Grandmother, Mary Jane, and how she came to be the dis-owned sister of the famous Charlie Goodnight.
My GGGGrandaddy, Hiram Daugherty, married the widow Charlotte Goodnight and became stepfather to her kids, Charlie and his older sister, Mary Jane. They lived near Houston, and Hiram was a trader who spent long weeks away from home. On one of these trips, he took Mary Jane with him. She was seventeen. When they returned from the trip, Mary Jane was pregnant.
Charlotte kicked them both out, along with the three children she and Hiram had together. Mary Jane, Hiram and the three little kids made their way across Texas in a covered wagon and finally ended up in the Sacramento Mountains of Southeastern New Mexico. There, they homesteaded in a beautiful valley in Hay Canyon. They raised thirteen children all together: the three they brought with them from Texas that were Hiram’s children with Charlotte, and ten of their own.
Their homestead cabin was built strong and sure alongside a creek in the canyon, and I have seen it several times, still standing as a monument to perseverance and determination. They worked their whole lives to redeem themselves and raise up righteous children. But Mary Jane never again saw or spoke to either her brother or her mother for the rest of her life, such was the price of her sin. She lived a long life, outliving her husband by decades, is buried near Cloudcroft in a sun-dappled aspen grove, next to Hiram. Her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren all remembered her fondly as a good and loving mother and faithful wife. Such is the good news of redemption.
In Charlie’s official biography, he never mentions that he has a sister, and I’ll bet no one knew to ask. When he was asked why his mother, Charlotte, divorced Hiram Daugherty, Charlie said, “For cause.”