Manso - Sire of Sires

MANSO—SIRE OF SIRES

The famous American Brahman herd sire, Manso, was born on the Sartwelle Brothers Ranch in Palacios.

In the early nineteen hundreds, after their Episcopal minister father’s death at age 43 in 1897 W. L. Sartwelle relocated his younger siblings from Comanche, Tx to their family’s Sarvaca Ranch in Lavaca County.  The Sartwelle’s Canmore Ranch properties in Matagorda County were under lease until 1917. 

James W. Sartwelle, born in Dallas, after his father’s death was sent to his older sister’s husband’s school in Niagara Falls, NY.  He returned to the Gulf Coast as a railroad agent and telegrapher living in La Ward, Texas.  He later managed cattle operations for the Ward Cattle and Pasture Company where on their behalf he purchased the Brahman bulls and crossbreds cows of O’Connor’s one half of the Borden-Pierce Bos Indicus cattle imported from India in 1906.  

J. W. later sold the Ward Brahman cattle to Fred G. Locke of Lake Charles and Palacios and continued management of the cattle.. 

On November 20, 1920 the Sartwelle brothers and sisters previously operating as Sarbros became Sartwelle Brothers, Inc and bought the Fred Locke Brahman herd and crossbreds along with the Crescent V brand . They operated in Matagorda and Jackson Counties.

James W. was mayor of Palacios from 1920 – 1924. Sartwelle coined the name Brahman and was founder and president of the American Brahman Breeders Assn.

In 1925 James W. Sartwelle, Walter J. Hudgins, Dr. Williams States Jacobs and others purchased Brahman bulls imported from Brazil through Mexico.  Sartwelle Brothers purchased seven bulls, most notably the fountain head bulls Aristocrata and Imperator

After a devastating freeze and snowstorm on Christmas Eve of 1924 that killed some 80,000 head of cattle and now with a large debt on their cattle the Sartwelle brothers George, James, Henry, and Paschall secured other jobs. By late 1924 brother George had already moved to Del Rio and was an accountant, W. L. Dinsmore Sartwelle and sister Helen remained on the ranch, while brother  Henry went with Shell Oil, Paschall to Lake Charles to an agricultural loan outfit and J. W. to Houston where he secured a law degree, sold real estate, in 1931 he organized the Port City Stockyards Co. and Port City Packing Co.; in 1932 he was the founding father of the Houston Fat Stock Show now known as Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. 

Mrs. Alberta Gayle (September 26, 1899 – December 27, 1962), wife of Zachariah Bankhead Gayle (September 14, 1882 – March 19, 1931), lived between Francitas and LaWard in Jackson County. She purchased a yearling sired by Aristocrata named Manso from Dinsmore Sartwelle of the Sartwelle Ranch.

Alberta’s parents, Alphonse Joseph and Emma Branch Bonnot, were farmers and ranchers and Alberta’s husband was also a stockman. After Zack Gayle died in 1931, Alberta continued operation of the ranch and dressed the part. Since she worked like a rancher, she dressed in pants and drove a pickup. She continued to operate the ranch with a foreman until her death in 1962.

Manso was bred to her commercial cattle, but by 1932, Mrs. Gayle had bred most of her of her cows to him and not wanting to breed him to his daughters, she needed another bull. She visited Mr. Walter Hudgins, of the J. D. Hudgins Ranch in Hungerford, asking him to trade one of his bulls for Manso. Mr. Hudgins turned her down, told her to send Manso to the packer and use the money she received to buy a bull from him. She recognized the bull’s value and did not follow his advice, but contacted him in 1933 and insisted that he travel from Hungerford to Francitas to see the bull. He knew when he saw Manso he wanted him and was most likely glad Mrs. Gayle had been so insistent and had not taken him to the packing house as he had suggested the year before. Manso was more heavy set and thicker than the early Brahman cattle and at one point weighed one ton. After seeing the bull, he traded Mrs. Gayle five young bulls for Manso instead of just one.

Known as “the Gayle bull,” Manso was a gentle bull and he was appropriately named as Manso means calm or docile.

The Hudgins family had settled in the Hungerford area in 1839. A partnership was formed between J. D. Hudgins and his children in 1908 and the partnership became J. D. Hudgins, Inc. The first purebred Brahman cows on the Hudgins ranch were descendants from the original 1906 herd imported by Abel Pierce Borden who was the nephew of Abel Head “Shanghai” Pierce.

J. D. and his son, Walter, put together a herd of Indian cattle and purchased bulls in 1924 imported from Brazil. The American Brahman breed was the first breed developed in the United States.

The Hudgins family and workers initially thought they were not going to get any results from Manso. However, between the fall of 1933 until the time of his death in April 1944 at the age of 17, Manso sired 316 offspring for the J. D. Hudgins Ranch. Due to Manso’s influence on their cattle operation, the J. D. Hudgins Ranch is one of the top ten cattle producers in the United States.

Statistics disagree, but it is believed that Manso’s blood flows through the veins of 95% of all cattle registered by the American Brahman Breeders Association. His offspring have been shipped all over the world.

His descendants were award winners and continue to garner awards in current cattle shows. Almost 100 years after his birth, his name is still known world-wide as the patriarch of the Brahman breed.

For more information and videos, visit www.jdhudgins.com and www.youtube.com

Contributors to this article:
Coleman Locke - J. D. Hudgins, Inc.
Joseph Bonnot        
Clayton and Laurie Bonnot
Dr. Carlos Bonnot
J. D. Sartwelle, Jr.
 

Joel Hudgins (1800-1873) of North Carolina came to the Republic of Texas in 1839 and settled in the Hungerford area. He married Rachel Ann Northington McKenzie (d. 1903) in 1847. He was elected county commissioner in 1854. After Joel's death, Rachel and their four sons began to buy more land and expand the ranching operation. Josiah Dawson (J. D.) Hudgins (d. 1928) headed the family's interests. He also owned a store, cotton gin, sawmill, and grew rice. In 1897 the four brothers divided the family property and operated independently. In 1915 J. D. and his children purchased their first purebred Brahman cows, descendants of the herd brought from India by A. P. Borden in 1906. J. D.'s son Walter Hudgins (d. 1943) helped organize the American Brahman Breeders Association in 1924. The Hudgins Ranch acquired the bull "Manso" in 1933. Manso's descendants are the cornerstone stock from which the ranch's American Gray Brahman herd was developed, now one of the largest registered American Gray Brahman herds in the world. Cattle from this ranch have been exported to over 42 countries and 34 states in the U.S. In 1962 the ranching partnership was reorganized into five separate entities, with each division operated by descendants of J. D. Hudgins.  1985

Funeral Services Are Held For W. L. Dinsmore Sartwelle, 77

Funeral services for William Lovell Dinsmore Sartwelle, 77, were held at 9 a. m. Wednesday at St. John's Episcopal Church in Palacios with Rev. Nelson Longnecker officiating. The body was taken overland to Comanche, Texas, where last rites will be held at 9 a. m. Thursday in the Episcopal Church followed by interment in the Comanche Cemetery.

Dinsmore Sartwelle, who was born in Sedalia, Mo., on March 5, 1881, died Monday night, January 27. He moved with his parents to Dallas in 1882. After the death of his father in 1897 he became head of the Sartwelle family. He owned a drug firm at Comanche until 1911, when the moved to South Texas and developed the Sartwelle Bros. ranches of Sarvaca in Lavaca County and the Canmore Ranch in Matagorda and Jackson counties. He managed the ranches until 1953. He was an active member of the Episcopal Church.

He is survived by two brothers, J. W. Sartwelle of Houston and Henry F. Sartwelle of San Antonio and two sisters, Mrs. Margaret S. Barrows of San Antonio and Miss Helen Sartwelle of Palacios.

Active pallbearers were J. D. Sartwelle, Robert A. Sartwelle, Jack Buckley, Hugh Buffaloe, Ludvig Peterson and William Halfen.

Honorary pallbearers were Dr. L. A. Wilcox, John W. Bolling, Roscoe Bolling, A. E. Louderback, G. L. Harrison, Frank Buffaloe, Chas. E. Peterson, Kenneth L. Peterson, N. L . Hayes and Dr. J. J. Reid.

Palacios Beacon, January 30, 1958

Photo courtesy of Find A Grave volunteer Russ Davies #47173766
 

Rites Held for Mrs. Gayle, 63, Wreck Victim

Funeral services for Mrs. Alberta Gayle, 63, of La Ward, prominent Jackson County ranch owner, and victim of a highway accident, were held Friday afternoon at the Psencik Funeral Home in Ganado, with Reverend Lin Loeffler, Ganado Methodist minister and Rev. Jack Moore of Edna First Baptist Church officiating.

Interment was in the Edna Cemetery. Pallbearers were Sammie Gayle, Claudius Branch, Edwin Hohensee, Cecil Gandy and Harold and Joe Bonnot.

Highway Patrolmen Fred Clements and Ralph McClendon, investigating the accident which occurred about 4:15 p. m. Dec. 27, said Mrs. Gayle was killed instantly when her 1960 model pickup veered off Highway 59 near the west city limits of Ganado, and plunged into Devers Creek.

Officers said Mrs. Gayle was driving east, and no other vehicle was involved in the accident. A post mortem performed showed she died of head injuries received in the crash; it was requested to determine if she had died of natural causes before the truck left the road.

Mrs. Gayle was born Sept. 9, 1899 in Jackson County, a daughter of the late Alphonse and Emma Branch Bonnot. She was a widow of the late Zack Gayle, a well-known county rancher.

Officers said this was the only highway fatality in Jackson County during the recent holiday period.

Mrs. Gayle is survived by a sister, Miss Louise Bonnot and two brothers, Carlos and Lonnie Bonnot, all of La Ward.

Edna Herald, January 3, 1963

Photo courtesy of June Draper Find A Grave volunteer #47068671

Photo courtesy of James Find A Grave volunteer #47607551
 

Walter J. Hudgins, Brahman Cattle Breeder, Dies

Walter J. Hudgins, one of the leading Brahman cattle breeders of the world and one of the organizers of the Houston Fat Stock Show, died Monday at his ranch home at Hungerford in Wharton County. He had suffered an attack Sunday afternoon, and his condition grew steadily worse.

For four generations the Hudgins family have been cattle breeders. Their Brahman herd of nearly 4,000 animals is said to be the world's largest.

The Hudgins ranch was established by Joel Hudgins, who came from North Carolina in th days of the Texas Republic, to settle in Hungerford.e

Funeral services were held at Hungerford Tuesday afternoon and burial made in Wharton city cemetery.

Palacios Beacon, June 3, 1943

Photo courtesy of James Find A Grave volunteer #47607551