The Van Zandt County Genealogical Society held its regular monthly meeting on Saturday, July 23, at the main county library in Canton.

In addition to the group’s regular business, President Carrie Woolverton spoke of the Society’s newest project: To restore the very old Huffer-Rohrer Cemetery in southern Van Zandt County. (See the cemetery Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/731438374636044.)

She also gave an update on the Society’s new project to locate and honor the graves of the all the earliest settlers who are buried in Van Zandt County. She noted that the 175 ^th anniversary of the founding of Van Zandt County is approaching in March 2023, and that honoring very early settlers is a way of celebrating this milestone.

The topic for the meeting was The History of the Texas Rangers, presented by Kenny Ray, a retired Texas Ranger who was based in East Texas. Mr. Ray, a native of Grand Saline, knows the subject well and gave a truly fascinating presentation.

The Texas Rangers got their start by a decree from Stephen F. Austin, founder of Texas, in August of 1823, according to Ray. He noted that the 200 ^th anniversary of the Rangers is approaching. The Rangers were always a small force, and their first mission was to keep law and order in the new territory of Texas (then part of Mexico). Attacks by native tribes were a special concern.

The men who excelled as Rangers had to be tough, and they had to range over very large stretches of land. During the U.S. war with Mexico (1846-1848), the Rangers often were scouts and guides for the U.S. Army. Ray said that many Army officers who later were generals in the Civil War, such as Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Ulysses Grant, wrote in their official reports of the impressive horsemanship of the Texas Rangers.

During the later years of the 19 ^th century, the so-called “cowboy period” of their history, the Rangers were combining their frontier fighting skills with the beginnings of modern law en forcement and public service.

Ray pointed out that the Rangers were called in after the devastating Galveston hurricane of 1900 (estimated dead: 6000 to 8000) to assist the destroyed city, whose police force was mostly dead. Ray noted that he himself, as a Ranger, was called to assist in the response to Hurricane Rita in 2005. Over the years, the force became famous for incredible toughness and for being able to handle any emergency with only a few men. The most famous line, said Mr. Ray, was “One riot, one Ranger.”

The first early years of the 20th century, according to Mr. Ray, were also a crucial period for the Texas Rangers. They achieved fame in particular in the hunt for the infamous outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow in the 1930s. The governors of four states—Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana--went so far as to deputize a special unit of the Texas Rangers, led by Ranger Captain Frank Hamer, to catch Bonnie and Clyde. They did so, and the criminal couple were killed in a shootout in 1934.

The Texas Rangers merged with the Texas Highway Patrol in 1935 and are now a unit of the Texas Department of Public Safety. Ray described the modern Texas Ranger investigative functions being chiefly: 1. major felonies, usually murders; 2. impropriety by government officials; and 3. personal protection of the Texas Governor or his/her family if they leave the city of Austin.

Ray noted that Hollywood loves to create movies and TV shows about the Rangers, with examples being The Lone Ranger, Lonesome Dove, and Walker Texas Ranger. He encouraged everyone to visit the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco. He stressed that anyone who has a relative who was a Texas Ranger (or who has an ancestor they think may have been a Ranger) can ask the library staff at the Ranger Hall of Fame/Museum to research and confirm this; they are trained researchers and are happy to do so.

Ray also spoke of the Former Texas Ranger Association, which is located outside of Fredericksburg, Texas. One of the many services this group provides is to furnish special grave markers (the “Ranger Cross”) to former Texas Rangers. The Van Zandt County Genealogical Society helped arrange a ceremony for such a Ranger Cross to be installed at a grave in Asbury Cemetery in Van Zandt County in January 2022, with Ray speaking at that event.

Ray brought a collection of Texas Ranger memorabilia to the Saturday meeting, and had many personal stories to tell about the artifacts. It was a very informative and entertaining presentation, and one which gave everyone an inside look at this world-famous law enforcement organization.