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Battles of the Red River War unearths a long-buried record of the collision of two cultures.

"A little more than a month later, Mackenzie was far to the south near Tahoka in present Lynn County, where, on November 3, his command found a small camp of Comanche Indians. The troopers charged the camp, killed two warriors, captured nineteen women and children, and rounded up 144 horses. On November 5, 10 miles east, the command discovered another small camp where two more Indians were killed and  . . . " Read more Look inside

"The thirsting time started when Captain Nicholas M. Nolan led his Tenth Cavalry buffalo soldiers under Jim Harvey westward out of Double Lakes in modern Lynn County. Moving out as a result of George Cornett's report that the trail of a party of perhaps forty Comanches had been found" . . .  Read more

by Mary Stewart Heather

"And why did they come to Lynn County, Texas? It's such a simple and obvious question, yet it never occurred to me to ask. Were they lured to West Texas by spurious claims and offers of cheap, abundant and fertile land made by development" . . . Look inside

Joseph Hoskins began his life story on dry-land cotton farms on the high plains of Texas. Life's hard lessons began early as did work in the blazing sun. Both tempered his resolve to leave the family farm when he had the opportunity. Joseph found that the country life never left him however, even when he moved far away, and no matter in what company he found himself in, he would fall back on his rural upbringing to help him through the hardest situations . . . Read more Look inside

Buck wrote his poems about the good, the decent, the honest, the heroes without armor, without swords, without wealth, who swear fealty not to a lord, but to the brand. . . . If you have any interest in cowboys, the cowboy way of life, or the Old West, you owe it to yourself . . . Read more

by Nolan Porterfield

"Growing up around O'Donnell, Texas twenty years after Jimmie Rodgers died, I heard many stories about the time he supposedly played there" . . . Nolan Porterfield's biography banishes the rumors and myths that have long shrouded the Blue Yodeler's life story. Unlike previous writings about Rodgers, Porterfield's book derives from extensive and detailed research into original sources: private letters, personal interviews, court records, and newspaper accounts . . . Read more

by Elva Edwards

In May 1951, a car, loaded with bootleg whiskey and traveling without lights, ran a stop sign at a West Texas country crossroads between Tahoka and Brownfield and collided with an ordinary cotton farming family. Five adults died that night, including Elva Edwards’ mother, Pearle, her father, Calvin, and her beloved Granny Rogers. One-year-old Elva and her 3-year-old sister somehow survived. The girls grew up on the farm with their Edwards’ grandparents. One thing after another lead Elva closer to her past until one day life presented a situation where Elva felt compelled to discover what happened that fateful day of May 21, 1951..  . . . Read more Look inside

Dodging Elephants tells the story of how a contented teenage soda jerk from Tahoka, Texas, with no plan for his future, found his way to higher education, landed a research job at Texas Instruments, and, over three decades, helped move that company from a small, oil-searching firm to a worldwide electronics giant. From the start J. Fred Bucy was a tireless, driven manager who turned failures into successes . . . Read more

The distinctive high mesa straddling West Texas and Eastern New Mexico creates a vista that is equal parts sprawling lore and big blue sky. From Lubbock, the area's informal capital, to the farthest reaches of the staked plains known as the Llano Estacado, the land and its inhabitants trace a tradition of tenacity through numberless cycles of dust storms and drought. In 1887, a bison hunter . . . Read more Look inside

Paul Carlson engagingly chronicles the development of the range sheep and goat industry from Spanish times to about 1930.

"Jesus Perea herded his flocks of thirty thousand sheep to Tahoka Lake, Yellowhouse Canyon and Blanco Canyon. Because of the great amount of grazing land and water needed for so many sheep, Perea scattered his animals widely and took them wherever good grass and water could be found on the South Plains. . . . " Read more Look inside

Tracing the struggles of incipient criminal justice in the Southwest through an engaging progression of outlaws and lawmen, plus a host of colorful frontier trial lawyers and judges, Neal reveals how law and society matured together.

"After arresting Milt Good, T&SCRA inspectors Allison and Roberson appeared before grand juries in four West Texas counties (Dawson, Hockley, Lynn, and Terry) and obtained indictments against Good and his cowboys for stealing those 516 head of cattle."  . . .Read more Look inside

The panhandle plains were Texas's last frontier, barren lands populated by hostile Comanche and outlaws attempting to outrun civilization. It was Texas Ranger and frontier scout Jim Jackson who first saw potential in the region. They were the point riders who took the challenge of opening Kent, Garza, Crosby, Lynn, Borden, Dawson, Mitchell, Fisher, Scurry, Stonewall, and Nolan Counties to permanent settlement . . . Read more Look inside

Texas is as well known for its diversity of landscape and culture as it is for its enormity. But West Texas, despite being popularized in film and song, has largely been ignored by historians as a distinct and cultural geographic space. "The year 1971 also saw A Way of Knowing, a novel by Nolan Porterfield, who grew up in Draw, Texas in Lynn County" . . . Read more Look inside

by Nolan Porterfield

Set in West Texas after World War II, A Way of Knowing is a drama of the conflict between ignorance and enlightenment, a masterful rendering of a time and place . . . Read more Look inside

Found inside: "Kenneth Melvin Ramsey was born in New Home, Texas, on Jan 9 1938. His father nicknamed him "Buckskin Tarbox", and the name Buck stuck. By the time he was in high school, Buck Ramsey was singing with a local band called the Sandy Swingsters, performing pop and jazz standards.1 Buck received his early education in a two-room schoolhouse in Middlewell, Texas, and graduated from Amarillo High School in 1956 ... Read more Look inside

The adventurous spirit of Texans has led to much travel lore, from stories of how ancestors first came to the state to reflections of how technology has affected the customs, language, and stories of life on the go. "Our confirmation, postmarked “No Trees, Texas,” came about ten days later, saying that we could meet them in Tahoka. Upon arriving, we quickly found there were basic rules for all participants, including taking care of the campsites, and . . . " Read more Look inside

Written by former working cowboy Buck Ramsey, this poem is the story of young Billy Deaver, a farmer’s son, who breaks free from the prairie sod that holds him and goes in search of the cowpuncher’s life . . . Read more

History of Lynn County Texas Tahoka Area With Genealogy

By Frank P. Hill, Pat Hill Jacobs

Cookbook of the Women of Tahoka Assembly of God, Tahoka, Texas 1974

1959 New Home High School yearbook

. . . See more Yearbooks from New Home Texas

with the Warmth of New Recipes from The O'Donnell Young Homemakers from members past 1963 to the present 1979. O'Donnell Texas, 1979

These Deceased Residents of Lynn County Left a total $16,320 in Unclaimed Money for their heirs. Know the Heirs? Share this with your list of Family and Friends from Tahoka, New Home, O'Donnell and Wilson Texas . . . see the list

Lynn County Treasures