John Chisum - O'Neal, Bill

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Résumé :
John Chisum was a legendary figure of the Old West cattle frontier. At thirteen he migrated with his family from Tennessee to the Republic of Texas. During the 1850s Chisum recognized opportunity in the fledgling range cattle industry, and within a few years his herds numbered in the tens of thousands. Chisum soon owned more cattle than any other individual in America, and his Jinglebob herds were the only cattle in the West known by an earmark rather than by a famous brand. Chisum was a true pioneer, seeking open range grass farther and farther and still farther to the west. During three decades on a succession of frontier ranches, Chisum endured Indian raids, stock thievery, drought, financial reverses, and the murderous Lincoln County War. Chisum had courage, a taste for adventure, a shrewd head for business, and he confidently operated his risky frontier profession on an enormous scale. His last ranch was the biggest, stretching for 200 miles along the Pecos River and grazing as many as 80,000 head of Jinglebob cattle. He built a headquarters complex worthy of a cattle king, relishing the role of host to one and all. After thirty spectacular years as a western rancher, Chisum died at sixty, just as his beloved open range was being enclosed by barbed wire. But he was known throughout cow country as the Jinglebob King, the Cattle King of the Pecos, and the Cattle King of the West.

Biographie:
Bill O'Neal was appointed State Historian of Texas by Governor Rick Perry, and during his six-year tenure he traveled tens of thousands of miles across the Lone Star State as an ambassador for Texas history. He is a past president and fellow of both the East Texas Historical Association and the West Texas Historical Association, and he has been a member of the Texas State Historical Association for over half a century. Bill is the author of more than fifty books. He was awarded the A.C. Greene Literary Award at the 2015 West Texas Book Festival in Abilene. In 2012 Bill received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Wild West Historical Association, and in 2007 he was named True West Magazine's Best Living Non-Fiction Writer. His account of Wyoming's Johnson County War won a book of the year award.Bill has appeared on TV documentaries on TBS, The History Channel, The Learning Channel, CMT, A&E, and the American Heroes Channel. During a long career at Panola College in Carthage, Texas, his most prestigious teaching award was a Piper Professorship, presented in 2000.In 2013 Panola's new dormitory was named Bill O'Neal Hall, and in that same year he received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from his alma mater, Texas A&M University-Commerce. Bill's four daughters all have entered the field of education, and he is the proud grandfather of seven grandchildren.