Thomas O'Connor (1819 – October 16, 1887) was an Irish rancher and landowner from

County Wexford County Wexford ( ga, Contae Loch Garman) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was based on the historic Gaelic territory of Hy Kinsella (''Uí Ceinns ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

whose estate was reportedly the largest individual land and cattle holding in Texas at the time of his death.

Life

O'Connor was born in

. In 1834, he sailed with his uncle James Power, who was an empresario, to Texas. Given Power's diplomatic status, the newly formed independent Republic of Mexico granted them access to the country's unpopulated northern lands. On September 28, 1834, the Mexican government granted O'Connor 4,428 acres as a "settler in the Power and Hewetson colony". O'Connor used the property to make saddletrees. The following year the Texas Revolution broke out. O'Connor was among the first to reinforce

Presidio La Bahía The Presidio Nuestra Señora de Loreto de la Bahía, known more commonly as Presidio La Bahía, or simply La Bahía is a fort constructed by the Spanish Army that became the nucleus of the modern-day city of Goliad, Texas, United States. The curre ...

, joining the volunteer regiment commanded by

Philip Dimmitt Philip Dimmitt (1801–1841) was an officer in the Texian Army during the Texas Revolution. Born in Kentucky, Dimmitt moved to Texas in 1823 and soon operated a series of trading posts. After learning that Mexican General Martín Perfecto de ...

. O'Connor was one of the signers of the

Goliad Declaration of Independence The Goliad Declaration of Independence was signed on December 20, 1835 at Presidio La Bahía in Mexican Texas. History The declaration was signed by 91 Texan colonists and Tejanos in the Gulf Coast of Mexico settlements which supported breaking ...

. He was one of the youngest soldiers who participated in the

Battle of San Jacinto The Battle of San Jacinto ( es, Batalla de San Jacinto), fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day La Porte and Pasadena, Texas, was the final and decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Samuel Houston, the Texan Army engaged ...

, at age 17. After the revolution, he returned to Refugio County and continued his old trade of saddletrees. He married Mary Fagan in October 1838. Mary's dowry provided by her father, neighbor and fellow Irish rancher, Nicholas Fagan, included Fagan ranch cattle which served as "the nucleus of the vast herds that made Thomas O'Connor one of the largest cattle ranchers in the state." With her cattle and horses, he was able to grow a herd which he eventually sold in 1873 for $140,000. He invested the money into more land and was able to fence in over 500,000 acres in barbed wire and grow a herd of 100,000 cattle.

Death

O'Connor died on October 16, 1887. At the time of his death, his estate was estimated to be worth $4.5 million. His obituary in the ''

San Antonio Express The ''San Antonio Express-News'' is a daily newspaper in San Antonio, Texas. It is owned by the Hearst Corporation and has offices in San Antonio and Austin, Texas. The ''Express-News'' is the third largest newspaper in the state of Texas, with ...

'' called him "the wealthiest man in Texas and the largest land and cattle owner in the state". Following his death, his two sons Dennis Martin (1839-1900) and Thomas Marion O'Connor continued to operate the ranch. , his family heirs are the 17th largest private landowners in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

owning a total of 587,000 acres by the Texas

Coastal Plain A coastal plain is flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and a piedmont area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States. The Gulf Coa ...

References

Charlie Robison - New Year's Day. (I met them boys from O'Connor...)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:OConnor, Thomas (rancher) 1819 births 1887 deaths People from County Wexford Ranchers