Brownfield, Texas

Native of Kentucky. Came to Texas 1831. Member Secession Convention. Commanded reinforcements of state troops sent to Rio Grande for the capture of Federal arms, property at Fort Brown. Went to Virginia hoping to be in first battle of war. Cited for valuable volunteer service in first Battle of Manassas. Returned to Texas with orders to raise cavalry regiment which soon attained fame as Terry's Rangers. Accepted his commission only when men elected him Colonel. Killed Woodsonville, Kentucky leading unit's first charge. His loyal Rangers carried his name until war's end. Buried Glenwood Cemetery, Houston. Terry's Texas Rangers - Ten companies of the "Kid Glove" gentry of Texas enlisted for the duration of the Civil War, forming the famed Terry's Texas Rangers. With their able leaders, this 8th Texas Cavalry Regiment joined Johnston's command in Kentucky. History finds it easy to call these Texas men fighters. They were excellent horsemen, marksmen, utterly reckless. Individual heroism was not uncommon. Their deeds were praised at Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Bragg's Raid into Kentucky and their last charge at Bentonville, N.C. Called upon to cover retreats, to invade enemy lines to get information, harass the enemy and to lead charges.

Marion Virgil Brownfield, West Texas cattleman, banker, and philanthropist, one of nine children and the oldest son of Joseph Collins and Martha (Schipps) Brownfield, was born in Iowa in January 1854. The Brownfields had migrated from Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Later the family moved to Texas, where they settled near Smithfield, in Tarrant County north of Fort Worth. There Brownfield received a common school education. During the Civil War his father served in the Confederate Army and was taken prisoner by Union forces. Brownfield became a cowboy. After 1871 he trailed herds north to the Kansas markets and soon acquired land and stock of his own. In 1876 he married Elizabeth Ann Hornbeck. They had five children; their daughter Alice later married Roscoe Wilson . In 1886 Brownfield moved his herd to Nolan County and acquired ranch holdings south of Sweetwater, where he established his headquarters. His wife died in 1894. In 1896 he leased 100 sections in Terry and Lynn counties, onto which he moved his herd by 1898, in partnership with Sam Singleton. By 1900 the partnership had been dissolved; Singleton took the land in Lynn County. Brownfield subsequently acquired title to fifty-two sections in southeastern Terry County, on which he ran his cattle bearing the Saucer Block brand, a half-circle over a square. He placed his headquarters on Lost Draw, near the center of this spread. He was joined in 1901 by his oldest son, Dick, who purchased from his father the western part of the ranch holdings, brought in his own cattle, and built a small house for himself and his bride. When W. G. Hardin and A. F. Small bought a section of Dick's land for a townsite in 1903, the Brownfields helped lay out the new settlement, which was named for them, and led in the successful effort to designate it the county seat when Terry County was organized in 1904. From that time on Brownfield was a leading booster of the town that bears his name. He established the Brownfield State Bank in 1905 and was its first president. He also financed the first mercantile store and donated land for the community cemetery and a lot for the Masonic lodge, of which he became a charter member. Although he was a Lutheran, he contributed to every church and school in the community. In 1909 he "drug out" the county's first auto road, which ran from Brownfield through his ranch to Lamesa in Dawson County. As a charter member of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association , Brownfield became acquainted with several high officials of the Santa Fe Railroad, whom he convinced to lay track through his town in 1917. In 1912, after his wife died, Brownfield married Augusta Youngblood; they had a daughter. By the mid-1920s Brownfield had ranchland in both Terry and Yoakum counties, which his son Ray managed after his retirement. He often enjoyed hunting, and although he never ran for public office, he maintained a strong interest in state and regional politics. On February 11, 1929, he suffered a heart attack while driving home, and although he was able to guide his car to a filling station, he died before medical aid could be rendered. He was buried in the Brownfield Cemetery after Masonic rites. His sons Dick and Ray continued to operate the family's West Texas ranches. Dick donated the old Brownfield home to the city as a tribute to his father, and it is now used for the Terry County Museum.

Monroe Brown Sawyer, rancher, one of five children of William M. and Catherine (Thayre) Sawyer, was born on September 12, 1861, on the family farm near Georgetown, Texas. On July 25, 1863, William Sawyer, his brother Coston, his brother-in-law George Thayre, and five companions were executed by Confederate militiamen at San Julian Creek near Bandera while traveling to Mexico. Although accused of desertion, their actual motives for making the trip remain unclear. In March 1881, at the age of nineteen, Monroe Sawyer enlisted in Company C of the Frontier Battalion of Texas Rangers under Capt. George W. Arrington . During his eighteen months as a ranger, Sawyer saw service at Tascosa and Camp Roberts, Arrington's headquarters in Blanco Canyon. Arrington ever afterward regarded him as "one of my best Rangers." Sawyer was mustered out in September 1882 and returned to Williamson County, where he and his brothers began building a substantial herd of cattle. Sawyer married Rebecca Elizabeth Skeen, daughter of a German immigrant farmer, on October 9, 1884. After the family cattle business grew, Sawyer invested in land farther west. He moved his part of the herd and his growing family to Runnels County in 1888, then in 1892 to Howard County, where they endured a short period of drought and recession. Monroe and Rebecca Sawyer had three sons and ten daughters, one of whom died young. In 1901 Sawyer purchased twenty-one sections of choice ranchland in Terry County, southwest of the site of present Brownfield. The following spring he moved his cattle and family to the new site, on which he erected a spacious five-room ranchhouse. He hired eight cowboys to look after his cattle, which at one time numbered 2,500 Herefords. When Brownfield was established as the permanent county seat, the Sawyers became leaders in that community. After the Santa Fe Railroad extended its line to Brownfield in 1911, Sawyer allotted his vast landholdings among his children and turned the remainder into farms, which he rented or hired people to work. Arguing correctly that the county's sandy soil helped conserve moisture, he had his employees turn under green cane stalks on land he wished to put in feed. He believed that with proper cultivation West Texas soils would grow more grain than the higher-priced lands in the Midwest and that Terry County cotton production would surpass that of the fertile Central Texas farmlands. As a result Sawyer built up extensive agricultural holdings that at one time numbered sixty-seven farms. During the 1920s and 1930s Sawyer's kindness and generosity to others, even at the height of the Great Depression , became legendary throughout West Texas, as did his annual family gatherings on holidays and special occasions. He died of a heart attack at his home in Brownfield on March 19, 1941, and was buried in the community cemetery. He was survived by his wife, twelve children, forty-three grandchildren, and thirteen great-grandchildren. The old Sawyer ranchhouse, remodeled over the years and designated by the Texas Historical Survey Committee (now the Texas Historical Commission ) as a historical landmark in 1970, is still owned by Sawyer heirs.

Country singer and yodeler Don Walser was born in Brownfield, Texas, on September 14, 1934. He was one of five children of Verda King and Lemuel Loretta Walser. Lemuel Walser was a farmer in Brownfield, but shortly after Don Walser’s birth, he moved the family to Lamesa, Texas, and went to work for the Lamesa Cotton Oil Mill. Verda King died of a blood clot when Don was eleven years old. At a very early age Don Walser became enamored with country music after hearing it on border radio stations. Inspired by the yodeling cowboys and the western swing music he heard, young Don would climb trees, sit there for hours, and practice his own yodeling and singing skills in homage to Jimmie Rodgers , Eddy Arnold, Bob Wills , Lefty Frizzell , Hank Williams, and other popular artists. These childhood musical heroes would continue to inspire Walser throughout his career and help shape his roots-country repertoire. In 1948 at the age of fourteen, Walser received his first guitar. The following year as a fifteen year old, he joined the Texas National Guard after telling the recruiter that he was seventeen. At sixteen years of age Walser formed his first band, the Panhandle Playboys, who occasionally shared billing with a young and as-yet-unknown Buddy Holly . Not having a phone at his house, Walser often learned of where he was playing by listening to local radio disc jockeys. In 1951 Walser married Patricia Robertson. The couple raised two biological children, two adopted children, and several foster children. For most of his life, Walser’s devotion to his family, his involvement in the Texas National Guard, and his refusal to leave Texas prevented him from pursuing his musical career beyond simply a weekend hobby. As the years passed, Walser formed new bands such as the Texas Plainsmen and the El Paso Amigos. In 1964 he finally received national recognition when Billboard magazine gave his song, “Rolling Stone from Texas,” a four-star review. Still a member of the National Guard, in 1984 Walser relocated to Austin where he was stationed at Camp Mabry . By the end of the decade he began playing at such popular local venues as the Broken Spoke . However it was not until he started performing regularly at Henry’s Bar and Grill on Burnet Road that he gained a large following. By 1990 he was playing with his own group Pure Texas Band. As a direct result of his growing success, Walser caught the attention of talent scout T. J. McFarland in 1990. After Walser retired from the National Guard in 1994, the sixty-year-old musician became able, for the first time in his life, to pursue music on a full-time basis. Shortly thereafter he signed with Watermelon Records and released his first LP entitled Rolling Stone from Texas . The next few years proved increasingly successful for Walser. His reputation soon spread beyond Texas, and he became popular throughout the United States and abroad. Walser received a number of awards and accolades. In 1996 the Austin Chronicle voted his group the Top Country Band of the year. In 1997 he received an Indie award from the Association for Independent Music. In that same year he performed with the classical Kronos Quartet at Bass Concert Hall. He also played the Grand Ole Opry in 1999 and again in 2001. In 2000 Walser received a National Heritage Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and in the same year he and the Pure Texas Band played at New York’s Kennedy Center. A writer for Playboy magazine was so impressed with Walser’s talents that he dubbed him the “Pavarotti of the Plains.” In 1998 Walser appeared in the movie The Hi-Lo Country , and three of his songs were included in the soundtrack to another film, Secondhand Lions (2003). Walser especially enjoyed performing older and more obscure cowboy and country songs for audiences who were largely unfamiliar with more traditional music. In addition to having many older and middle-aged fans, he also attracted younger audiences, including many punk rock enth

Home of Monroe Brown Sawyer and wife Rebecca (Skeen); built 1902. One of earliest homes in Terry County, it predated town of Brownfield. Building material for original five rooms was hauled from Colorado City and Big Spring by wagon. House has been remodeled extensively. In 1881 and 1882 M. B. Sawyer was a Texas Ranger, Company C, Frontier Battalion. He expanded 21 sections of land, bought in 1901, into a 33-section ranch. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1970.

During the 1920s, when much of rural Texas was still without electricity, the town of Brownfield took a leap toward modernization. The town incorporated in 1920 and one year later held a vote on the issuance of bonds for the creation of a power plant. Citizens voted against the proposal, but undeterred, a group of residents formed a light and ice company – many electrical plants of the time were linked to ice manufacturing – and worked to get a new bond package. In 1921, voters overwhelmingly approved new bonds for a municipal plant. Building soon began, and by 1923, Brownfield had electricity. The plant closed in 2003 but is maintained as a distribution control center. (2006)