Musical fun part of Texian Market Days
Insight of Texas’ proud bast featured

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas Edition

The Texas-style music generated by the New Pioneers, a group of retired engineers, enthralled the crowds attending the recent Texian Market Days at George Ranch Historical Park. The annual event highlights the ranch, as well as “days gone by.”  The New Pioneers are (from left) Paul Denton, Gene Butts, Alan Meyer and Ken Butts.    -- Staff photo by Taylor

Nov. 24, 2005 - If you’ve never had a chance to visit the historic George Ranch Historical Park just outside of Richmond, you’re missing a really special part of Texas history. 

It all started in 1824 with some of the first Anglo pioneers who settled as part of the Stephen F. Austin’s Colony. Although it was then still a part of Mexico, Nancy Jones, the wife of the Jones Farm’s founder Henry Jones, decided the site would be a good homestead and planted an oak tree which … after more than 180 years … is still shading the area. 

The George Ranch is unusual for several reasons, but, mainly, because the property has passed through several generations of related females.

�Four generations of the same family have owned this land, beginning in the 1820s, and continuing until 1971,� according to ranch literature. Not only did the land pass from one woman to the next generation of women, but the women all played huge parts in the history of the ranch.

Providing some of the tasty foods from “days gone by” were the chuckwagon cook Alan Senior (right) of Sugarland, and his wife Joyce. -- Staff photo by Taylor

According to records, the first owner was Nancy Stiles who married Henry Jones in 1821. She passed the property on to their daughter, Polly Jones who married William R. Ryon in 1845. This union produced Susan Ryon who married J.H.P. Davis in 1875. Finally, their daughter, Mamie Davis married A.P. George in 1896. The property was in the family until 1971.

Since 1984, George Ranch has hosted the Texian Market Days so the public could get a glimpse of Texas history, according to reports from The Texian Gazette. Funds raised from the event are used to support the Fort Bend Museum Association’s educational programs at the Fort Bend Museum and George Ranch Historical Park.

During one fall weekend each year, people come to the historical park to gain historical insight to Texas’ proud past. During the Texian Market Days, they can watch re-enactments of various events that include scenes and activities that depict the “early days in Stephen F. Austin’s colony (1830s) through the late years of the Great Depression and World War II (1940s).” The weekend festival includes staff and volunteers in costume who present living “vignettes” of daily lives.

This year, the Texian Market Days featured Texas Independence and Civil War era camps and reenactments, an antique tractor show and pull, Texian Market place, and The New Pioneers, among other features. The New Pioneers are a group of related, retired engineers who make music with old-time Texas country hits, as well as original songs.

As in days gone by, folks could be seen enjoying food from the chuckwagon and watching cowboys roping cattle. Plus they stopped by the various cabins, a smokehouse, a corn crib, hen house, and hog pen. 

The highlight of the ranch is the George Ranch House which was built in 1900 and the house reflects the lifestyle in 1938. Other areas to visit on the 23,000-acre ranch include the hay and tool barn, prairie home, and sharecropper’s farm.

Not only is the weekend’s worth of history a big event, but each year more than 25,000 school students tour the ranch on field trips, learning to appreciate what early settlers did to make Texas the great place it is.

George Ranch has so much to offer to history buffs and parents who want their children to learn what Texas was like many years ago. The historical trail of scenes at the ranch relates how the Texas of today was evolved. 

If you missed the Texian Market Days this year, next year’s event is set for Oct. 28 and 29. Plus, the ranch is open year around. (To contact George Ranch Historical Park: 281-343-0218 or www.georgeranch.org.”)