Clear Fork Kinship by Annie Nicholson Drake

Journey into the life and legacy of one of Texas’s most iconic ranching pioneers with Clear Fork Kinship by Annie Nicholson Drake. This meticulously researched biography weaves together the story of Daniel Waggoner—a man born in Tennessee in 1828, who rose to shape cattle empire on the open plains of North Texas. 

Drake paints a vivid portrait of Waggoner’s life:

• His early years, marked by frontier hardships, longhorn cattle, and the challenges of building a ranching presence in the Republic of Texas and beyond. 

• The expansion of his enterprise, including free-grass grazing, conflict with nature and Native peoples, and how railway growth, war, and settlement shaped both opportunity and hardship. 

• The personal side — the women in his life, family ties, promises kept and broken, and how decisions made in his lifetime continued to impact heredity, land ownership, and community for generations.

Clear Fork Kinship is ideal for lovers of Western history, Texas ranching lore, genealogists, and anyone fascinated by the human stories behind great cattle empires.