How Martha Rabb became the Cattle Queen of Texas
When John Rabb, one of Nueces County's leading cattlemen, died in 1872 his widow, Martha, became known as the Cattle Queen of Texas. We have no more than a peephole into the world of John and Martha Rabb, but let us peep.
John Rabb was born in 1825. He was related to the Rabbs around LaGrange. His father, Andrew Rabb, was the first county judge of Fayette County and his uncle, also named John, was one of the founders of Rutersville College near LaGrange. The younger John was a student at Rutersville in 1838, where he met his future wife.
In March 1842, when John Rabb was 17, he joined volunteers who were organized in response to the raid on San Antonio by Mexican Gen. Rafael Vasquez. When he was 21 Rabb joined Zachary Taylor's army and was wounded in the battle of Monterrey. He was discharged on Oct. 2, 1846.
John met Martha Ann Reagan at Rutersville College when they were students. She was considered striking, with brown hair and gray eyes. Her friends called her Mattie. John and Martha were married on May 23, 1848. They moved to Helena in Karnes County.
In 1857 they moved again, with their four children, to Banquete in Nueces County. John may have been encouraged to move there by his cousin Sally Skull, who lived nearby. Rabb bought 400 acres on Banquete Creek and began a cattle ranch. He recorded his bow-and-arrow brand at Corpus Christi in November 1857. He built a home near Banquete and bought a house in Corpus Christi, originally built by Walter Merriman.
When the Civil War broke out, John Rabb was an enrolling officer for local militia and mustered in 25 men on July 16, 1861. The 25 men included ranchers and ranch hands from around Banquete. Little is known of the activities of Rabb's company except that they served to protect remote ranches in the border region.
John Rabb died on April 15, 1872. His obituary in the Nueces Valley said he died at 2 a.m. at the ranch house. It did not list a cause of death, but he was 46. He was buried in Banquete Cemetery. A gloomy inscription on his tombstone reads: 'Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring — for death is everywhere.'
He was a rich man when he died. He left 10,000 cattle and 3,500 sheep on the open range. Only Richard King and Mifflin Kenedy could claim more cattle than John Rabb.
After her husband's death, Martha began to buy land, and it was cheap, because of the tumultuous times of the 1870s when rustlers and raiders kept South Texas in turmoil. She greatly increased the size of the ranch from the original 400 acres to 30,000 acres. In 1875, she had the ranch enclosed with a wooden fence. It was called Rabb's Ranch or Martha Rabb's Pasture or Rancho Flecha, for the bow-and-arrow brand.
Martha Rabb also built a home in Corpus Christi which she called the Magnolia Mansion. It was built on the bluff with a fine view of the bay. The Southern plantation-style mansion was the most impressive house in town.
In July 1877 her youngest son, Lee, was shot to death at Petronila. He had taken a girl to a dance and while they were sipping coffee someone shot Rabb from an open window. He escaped on Rabb's horse. John Dunn said in 'Perilous Trails of Texas' that 'some know-it-alls said he was never caught, however he was missing at all the elections since.'
In 1879 Martha married the Rev. Curran M. Rogers, a Methodist minister in Corpus Christi. She was 53 and he was 38, and had recently buried his wife. He cut short the bereavement to court the wealthiest woman in town.
The Magnolia Mansion was taken over by the Rev. Rogers and his six children; the oldest was 14 and the youngest 2. It must have been awkward for Martha's children, who did not approve of the marriage; they believed Rogers married her for her money.
Martha didn't help matters. She had a portrait of Capt. Rabb in his Confederate uniform moved from the front parlor and hung in a place of honor in the outhouse. Martha's sons — Green, named for her brother, Dr. Green A. Reagan, and Frank, the youngest — never forgave her. When she visited the ranch Frank would stay away until she was gone.
Five years after she married the Rev. Rogers, Martha sold the ranch to D.C. Rachal. (He later sold it to Robert Driscoll and it became the source of Clara Driscoll's great fortune.) Martha, as part of the sale agreement, was allowed to run her cattle on the ranch until they were sold. Mrs. P.A. Hunter, a daughter of D.C. Rachal, lived in the ranch house with her husband, who managed the place. Mrs. Hunter left us a vivid portrayal of Martha Rabb.
'When she came to the ranch we would get in my surrey and drive down to the cattle pens. She would climb up on the fence to watch the branding and selling of stock, all the time talking business to the buyers. I liked her. She was a woman of education and refinement, but she had one bad habit. She smoked cigars. She always had a box of them with her.'
She was called the Cattle Queen of Texas in a newspaper article that poked fun at her marriage to the young preacher. Though it was used in derision, the epithet made her famous.
When Rogers was elected to the Texas House, Martha sold the Magnolia Mansion and moved — bag and baggage and the reverend's children — to Austin. The Rev. Rogers dabbled in politics and spent her money. When she died in 1901 she left what remained of the estate to the reverend and his children. Her own children contested the will and finally gave up. The cattle, land and most of the money were gone anyway.
At the heart of this story, I suspect, is a mystery that would explain John Rabb's sudden death, Martha's dishonoring of his memory and the estrangement from her children. But it is something we will likely never know. You can see only the dim outlines from history's small peephole.