Milams Markets


Posted by Admin

Milams Markets

Milams Markets

In 1845, Charles Goodnight and his family traveled 800 miles from his birthplace in Illinois to central Texas. He was nine years old and rode bareback on a mare named Blaze, a symbolic beginning to his long career as a cowboy and cattle rancher.

Goodnight's Early Years

Charles Goodnight was born on March 5, 1836 in Macoupin County, Illinois to Charles and Charlotte Goodnight. His father died on pneumonia when he was five. His mother then married their neighbor, Hiram Daugherty. In 1845, the family moved to Milam County, Texas, near Nashville-on-the-Brazos. According to the Texas State Historical Association, Goodnight took great pride in the fact that he was born the same year the Republic of Texas was formed and arrived in Texas the same year Texas became part of the United States.

Variety of Experience Builds Goodnight's Character

Goodnight learned to hunt and track at a young age. At fifteen, he was hired as a jockey. Dissatisfied with the job, he soon returned home. His mother was widowed once again and married the Methodist preacher, Rev. Adam Sheek in 1853. When he was twenty, Goodnight and his stepbrother, John Wesley Sheek, made a deal with the neighboring CV Ranch to care for 430 cattle. The men kept every fourth calf born as their payment, accumulating 180 cattle of their own and taking advantage of the opportunity to learn all they could about cattle ranching.