State honors the Tate Place

Former site of Old Settlers Reunion in same family for 102 years.

The Tate Place northeast of Hedley was one of 91 farms and ranches to be recognized by the state this summer for having been operated by the same family for more than 100 years.

Working the land has been a family tradition for generations of Texans. To honor this longstanding Texas custom, Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples has recognized 91 farms and ranches, spanning 66 Texas counties, at the 35th Annual Family Land Heritage (FLH) ceremony.

The ceremony, which was held in the Senate Chamber at the Texas State Capitol, recognized families who have kept their farms and ranches in continuous agricultural production for 100 years or more.

“The families we honor today continue their ancestors’ legacies of nurturing and caring for the land,” Commissioner Staples said. “They truly represent the dreams of the pioneers who entered the Texas frontier and built the family farms and ranches that endure to this day. I congratulate these families for making Texas a leader in agriculture.”

T.B. Tate, born in North Carolina, settled in central Texas, and then moved to Indian Territory in search of a Chickasaw allotment. After learning there was no Indian land, he followed friends to Donley County and acquired the Tate Place in 1908. He and his wife, Mary Jane Gibson Tate, reared 12 children: Will, Mary, Carlos, Margaret, Caroline, Estella, Martha, Agnes, Thomas, Zack, John, Lilla and Ervin. Thomas died in his home on the Tate Place in 1923 and is buried in Rowe Cemetery at Hedley along with his wife and three of his children.

Thomas Zack and his brother, John Morgan, acquired the Tate Place after their father’s will was probated in 1925 and continued to raise cotton and grain. John rented another place which he eventually purchased and sold his portion of the Tate Place to his brother, Thomas Zack in 1947. Tom and his wife Myrtle reared their children on the home place: Orval Winfred, Tommy Dean and Juan Nell.

Both sons served in World War II and died within nine months of each other in 1960 and 1961. They are buried at Rowe Cemetery in Hedley.

In 1968, Tom and Myrtle Tate sold the Tate Place to their only surviving child, Juan Nell Tate Carson. Juan Nell and her husband, Billy Don Carson continue to raise cattle and grain. They have two children, Patricia Susan Carson Cosby and Thomas Clark Carson.

Tom Tate loved the good earth. He farmed his land, the land that belonged to his father, and tended his orchards and crops with the greatest care and energy. Very few weeds escaped the wrath of his hoe, honed knife-blade thin through constant use and sharpening. He plowed, pruned, weeded, transplanted hundreds or tree spouts and watered them by carrying five gallon buckets of water sometimes a quarter mile or further. He made the old home place veritable garden spot.

Tom Tate was laid to rest in the old Rowe Cemetery on Sunday, October 14, 1979. Ironically, his death and burial occurred on the very weekend of Hedley’s Annual Cotton Festival, the event that merged with the Old Settler’s Reunion held originally on the Tate Place.

To date, TDA has recognized more than 4,400 properties in 236 counties across Texas. Since the FLH program was started, Fayette County has had 145 family operations recognized, the most out of any county. This is the first year the FLH program recognized landowners in Lamb County.

Cowboy poet and entertainer Red Steagall performed at the ceremony. Ron Oliveira, KEYE TV news anchor, served as master of ceremonies.

To view the complete list of FLH properties honored this year, visit www.TexasAgriculture.gov and click on the Family Land Heritage link.