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L-R: A Barber Boy, Charles Lawrence, seated is Addison Barber, Frank Barber, Unknown Boy, seated is Ann Barber, Unknown Man, Mrs. Elkins, Mary Barber, Emily Barber, Susie Elkins, Unknown Man

The following year Amos purchased 100 acres, referred to as “Big Hill” from Hugh Jackson, eldest son of Humphrey Jackson. Upon this hill he built his home, becoming the first resident of Barbers Hill, so named thereafter for him. He erected a double pen dog trot log house where he and Susan raised twelve children, her two Fitzgerald children and ten of their own. His son, Amos Joshua Barber said, “In the fall of 1849, he hauled logs with yokes of oxen from the Welch place (later the Gus Buck place,) to build the first house on Barber’s Hill, as it was called in his honor.” When the first post office was opened in 1890 by Zachary Winfree, Zachary changed the name of the town to Mont Belvieu, a French phrase meaning “Beautiful View,” but to this day most residents still refer to it as Barbers Hill, a fitting tribute to its first settler.

On this same hill, in 1889, Elmer W. Barber, 2nd son of Amos and Susan, and husband of Amanda Fisher Barber, encountered inflammable gas while digging a 65-foot water well near the top of the “Hill,” a discovery that led to the “Oil Boom” of the 1900s that forever changed the landscape and industry of Barbers Hill. 

“After Mrs. Lula Barber (wife of Julian R. ‘Krout’ Barber the grandson of Amos Barber) got in bad health I took over running the ranch for her, I’m married to her great niece, Glenda Brown. I have many fond memories of working with David Griffith and his dad, J. D. at the ranch at Barbers Hill. That was a learning curve for me because, at the time, I was working at the bank in Barbers Hill. The man who was working for Mrs. Barber was old and in bad health and cattle kept getting out on the road, so I went from a suit one day to blue jeans the next, as I had to quit the bank and start tending to the ranch. We had about 400-head of mother cows, not counting the bulls and calves. I cannot recall how many acres we had all together, but we had land in Liberty County on Hatcherville Road that they called the Hunting Club. Gordon Speer bought that from my wife after Mrs. Barber passed away. We had the land on Hatcherville Road from what is called the Crosby-Barbers Hill Road where Enterprise is today up to Boots Nelson’s place. The Siever (sp) Canal came through part of it. We also had land over on Highway 146, Krout had extensive land holdings. Their home was back behind where Maranatha Church is today. I began to wonder if I had bitten off more than I could chew when I took over the job.

“On our cattle drives we would round the cows up and cut the pairs off and drive them to the headquarters on Hatcherville Road. It was there we would sort the calves that were to be sold. We had to take all the cows that were kept at the Hwy 146 pasture across the Siever Canal to get them to the pens. We had to educate them on crossing the bridges. The first two times was a lot of fun,” chuckled Lloyd. “The cattle way up on Hatcherville Road in Liberty County, where we had a cutting ground, on the Hunting Club property, we would bring into the corral and sort and ship from there. We brought all the cattle in the pasture across from where Slim Troxell used to live down to the headquarters, a distance of about two miles at least, and once we finished, we drove them all back to the pasture again. It would be a lot of fun when we were driving them down the middle of the road and a vehicle would come trying to get through,” said Lloyd laughingly. “It was quite an ordeal. David Griffith could probably tell you some tales, ‘cause his dad rice farmed with Slim Troxell in Liberty County on the Barber property there. I imagine David grew up working those cattle,” added Lloyd. 

“We always tried to be up at the headquarters by 7:00 a.m. or shortly thereafter, I lived out on 3180 across from the Epperson’s place, so Mrs. Barber would arrive at the headquarters before I could get there, ‘cause I would always have to get my horse and hook the trailer up. She would be up there ready to go. When we worked over at the cutting grounds on Hwy 146 she would always ride over there in the truck with me and she would sit in the truck and watch us work the whole time. She never missed a day that I can remember. She always loved to go up there and she would say, “Now this is the way Krout worked those cattle.” I told her, ‘Well if that’s the way he did it and that’s the way you want it done, that’s the way we will do it.’ And we did until the day we liquidated the herd about 1975, we worked them the way she wanted them worked,” Lloyd said with respect. 

“When we worked the cattle at the headquarters on Hatcherville Road they always brought lunch to the cowboys. They had a little house there for us to eat in and that’s where they served lunch. Slim Troxell’s wife and J. D. Griffith’s wife came up and helped. The old feller who worked for Mrs. Barber would always barbecue a sheep. I think he arrived about 5:00 a.m. and he had the sheep going when we got there. We would be so full and then had to get back on our horses to work some more. J. D. Thompson was a good cowboy who used to come and work with us on the ranch. He could really handle a horse. Those are some fond memories of everyone sitting around eating together and working the ranch,” concluded Lloyd.  

The Cattleman Magazine stated in their 1935 March edition, “Four days were required to trail the cattle and four bodies of water had to be crossed: Old River, Lost River, Trinity River, and Turtle Bayou. The Houston Chronicle wrote in their 1934 article, “The undertaking was reminiscent of the days of the overland cattle trail when hundreds of thousands of Texas longhorns traveled on the hoof to Abilene or other Kansas railheads for transshipments to markets largely at Kansas City or Chicago. 

Photo by Jess Gibson, Houston Chronicle staff photographer. Temple Savage on Horse.

The Cattleman Magazine stated, “At the start of the drive with Mr. Fitzgerald were G. O. Stoner, inspector for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, with headquarters in Houston, J. R. and Buck Barber, George Gilbert, H. D. and Jesse Stayton, and other cowhands. At Old River they were met by Bun and Josh G. Mayes and their cow outfit, including horses. The Mayes’, on account of their familiarity with the terrain, took charge of the drive and delivered it at its destination. The cowboys would drive the cattle into the water and then made sure they kept moving forward as their natural instinct is to return the way they came. 

“Usually a number of horses are used to lead the cattle into the water and swim ahead of them to the opposite bank. Very little trouble was experienced at Old River, however, at the next crossing at Lost River, some two miles from Old River crossing marshes and the swimming of cattle required two days’ time and about 12 head were drowned. About two hundred head had to be roped and led across by cow hands who forsook the saddle for safer rowboats. There was little trouble crossing the Trinity and Turtle Bayou.” 

Steve Fitzgerald, grandson of Temple Fitzgerald and son of Carl, said once they arrived in Double Bayou his grandfather wintered the cattle in the salt grass marsh. In the spring, he drove the steers East down the Old White Ranch Road, which was just a dirt road at the time, to the cattle pens at F M 1985 and Hwy 124. There they were loaded onto railcars and shipped to the sale.

Steve said his daddy bought their land from Emma Jackson of Houston and Steve continues to farm and ranch on the same land today, running about 300-350 head of cattle on about 3,800 acres.

“We run crossbred cattle on registered Charolais bulls and a few registered Angus bulls. We love it down here where we are, it’s quiet and we’re not bothered by anybody, we can just farm and raise our cattle,” concluded Steve.