LEGENDARY RANCHER AND TRAILBLAZER
FATHER OF THE TEXAS PANHANDLE
Charles Goodnight was born 5 March 1836 in Macoupin County, Illinois, east of St. Louis, Missouri, the fourth child of Charles Goodnight and the former Charlotte Collier. Goodnight moved to Texas in 1846 with his mother and stepfather, Hiram Daugherty. In 1856, he became a cowboy and served with the local militia, fighting against Comanche raiders. A year later, in 1857, Goodnight joined the Texas Rangers. Goodnight is also known for rousing and leading a posse against the Comanche in 1860 that located the Indian camp where Cynthia Ann Parker was living with her husband, Peta Nocona, then guiding Texas Rangers to the camp, leading to Cynthia Ann’s recapture. He later made a treaty with her son, Quanah Parker.
I WISH I COULD FIND WORDS TO EXPRESS THE TRUENESS, THE BRAVERY, THE HARDIHOOD, THE SENSE OF HONOR, THE LOYALTY TO THIER TRUST AND TO EACH OTHER OF THE OLD TRAIL HANDS.
CHARLES GOODNIGHT
At the outbreak of the Civil War, he joined the Confederate States Army. Most of his time was spent as part of a frontier regiment guarding against raids by Indians. Goodnight described what it took to become a scout, “First, he must be a born a natural woodsmen and have the faculty of never needing a compass except in snow storms or darkness.”
TRAIL DRIVES, CHUCK WAGONS, COWBOYS, AND PROMISES
Following the war, he became involves with herding feral Texas cattle northward from West Texas to Railroads. This “making the gather” was a near state-wide round-up of cattle that had roamed free through four long years of the Civil War. In 1866, he and Oliver Loving drove their first herd of cattle along what would become know as the Goodnight-Loving Trail. Read the moving true story of Goodnight’s promise to his friend Loving HERE.
Goodnight and Oliver Loving, friends and Texas cattlemen, were both members Phoenix Lodge #275. Sadly, Lodge records show no indication that these two friends attended Lodge together. We do know that these two, when they met, developed a life long bond, not just in business, cattle and friendship, but the bond of Brother Masons. In 1867, during another long cattle drive through Comanche lands, Loving suffered wounds which eventually cost him his life. Once the cattle were sold, Goodnight fulfilled his partner’s dying wish that his body be returned to Texas for burial with Masonic rites. Several scholars believe that the Masonic ties of the two men made Goodnight determined to carry out his commitment to Loving. Goodnight also delivered some $40,000 to Loving’s estate.
“BETTER TO LOOSE YOUR FORTUNE THAN YOUR HONOR.”
Charles Goodnight
Goodnight invented the chuck-wagon which was first used on the initial cattle drive. Upon arriving in New Mexico, they formed a partnership with New Mexico cattleman John Chisum for future contracts to supply the United States Army with cattle. After Loving’s death, Goodnight and Chisum extended the trail from New Mexico to Colorado and eventually Wyoming.
The Goodnight Loving Trail extended from Belknap, Texas to Fort Sumner, New Mexico.
MARRIAGE
On July 26th, 1870 Goodnight married Mary Ann “Molly” Dyer, a teacher from Weatherford, Texas. Goodnight developed a practical sidesaddle for Molly. Though he was not of his wife’s denomination, Goodnight donated money to build a Methodist Church in Goodnight. He and Molly also established the Goodnight Academy to offer post-elementary education to hundreds of children of ranchers.
FIRST TEXAS PANHANDLE RANCH
In order to take advantage of available grass, timber, water, and game, he founded in 1876 what was to become the first Texas Panhandle ranch, the JA Ranch, in the Palo Duro Canyon. He partnered with the Irish businessman John George Adair to create the JA, which stands for “John Adair”.
JA Ranch Cattle
In addition to raising cattle in 1876, the Goodnights preserved a herd of native plains bison that year. He also crossbred the bison with domestic cattle, which he called cattalo. He was not satisfied with that cross and was content to maintain the bison herds.
In 1880, Goodnight was a founder of the Panhandle Stockman’s Association. The organization sought to improve cattle-breeding methods and to reduce the threat of rustlers and outlaws. After Adair’s death in 1885, Goodnight worked in partnership for a time with Adair’s widow Cornelia Wadsworth Ritchie Adair.
After he mastered ranching, Goodnight was involved in other activities, including the establishment of his Goodnight College in Armstrong County and working as a newspaperman and a banker. He also worked with W. D. Twichell, who lived in Amarillo from 1890 to 1918 and surveyed 165 of the 254 Texas counties.
After Molly died in April 1926, Goodnight became ill himself. He was nourished back to health by Corinne Goodnight, a nurse and telegraph operator from Butte, Montana, with whom Charles had been corresponding because of their shared surname. On 5 March 1927, his ninety-first birthday, Goodnight married Corinne Goodnight. He joined her Two by Twos church and was baptized a few months before his death.
Goodnight lived his last days surrounded by journalists begging for interviews with the legendary cattle king. On 12 December 1929, at his home in Phoenix, Arizona, Brother Charles Goodnight passed from this transitory life to his eternal home, that house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. He was buried next to his first wife, Mary Ann, in Goodnight Cemetery with Masonic honors.
“IT HAS BEEN MY AIM THROUGH LIFE TO TRY HAVE THE WORLD A LITTLE BETTER BECAUSE I LIVED IN IT.”
CHARLES GOODNIGHT
The inscription on Charles and Mary Ann Goodnights monument
By long custom, visitors to the Goodnight Cemetery tie a wild rag to the fence in front of Goodnight’s grave. Faded and torn, the bandanas are periodically removed, but new ones soon appear.
NOT JUST A MAN. A MASON
Charles Goodnight took his degrees as a Mason in Jacksboro Lodge #238 in 1863. In 1864, he served as Senior Steward in Belknap Lodge #274 and on 24 March 1866, he affiliated with Phoenix Lodge #275 in Weatherford, and was a member of Pueblo Lodge No. 17 in Pueblo, Colorado from 1869-1878.