Just a few notes on the making of this web site:
This all got started for me about 40 years ago when I was a small boy growing up in Texas. Oliver Loving was my great-great grandfather on my mother's side of the family.
Our maternal grandmother, Starley Parker Loving, lived with us and she blessed us kids with her excellent memory and vivid retelling of the old family oral history. Her husband, Royal Shepherd Loving, who passed in 1936, had collected a good deal of family memorabilia, as well as working on the Loving family genealogy back in the early 30's. This collection of materials ended up coming to me as an adult.
Somewhere along in the 1980's, my sister and I began to look further into researching Oliver's story. We found that there hasn't been much written... just references to his story in a few books and old magazine articles. The one great source is the wonderful biography Charles Goodnight, Cowman and Plainsman, 1936, by J. Evetts Haley, the basis for most of the story on this web site. Haley carefully interviewed Goodnight on quite a few occasions, and crafted those recollections into an absolutely fascinating look at the earliest days of the Texas cattle drives (see below for more information on books).
This ain't fiction, it's better. Anyone familiar with the Lonesome Dove book and mini-series by the great Larry McMurtry got a taste of the Loving-Goodnight tale - McMurtry used quite a few of the events that actually happened to Oliver and Charlie in his novel. He wove these incredible (true) story parts in to his epoch of the faithful partnership of Gus (Loving) and Call (Goodnight) (for more on this, see the excellent Lonesome Dove Page).
Over the last decade and change I've tracked the faint traces of Oliver Loving's trail with every bit of modern electronic surveillance that I can locate. The final years 1866 & 1867 are fairly well documented, but the other parts of his story appear to be almost lost in the dust. I've dug out quite a few 'new' details, but there remain huge gaps and missing details. Because his death came so far before the heyday of the Cattle Kings and the big drives, he's never gotten his story told in full. Many of the details of his life have been obscured by time - if you know of any further sources or references on the period, please let me hear from you.
For Loving family descendants~
Welcome Cousins! There are hundreds of us now. The good news is: the family genealogy has been almost completely worked out. Scores of hard working family members have been digging into it for over 70 years now. The bad news: I cannot help you track your family member's place in the genealogy. I can give you pointers to the best sources out there, but because my focus is on the history, I have no time available to help research your branches of the family tree. But you can most likely find your answers with one of these sources below.
The " Bible" of Loving genealogy:
Huge book, The Loving Family in America by Carl and May Read, 1981
This book is out of print now, but can be found in any large city library reference section.
Requires a little legwork on your part, but it has a complete Index, and you will be able to
photocopy the relevant sections. Call your library, this is the best there is! Must see.
The Bourland Society
For those who don't know, the Loving family intermarried with the Bourland family multiple times
over the generations. This family society used to be called the Bourland-Loving Society, and
still track all the Loving family members. You can join this wonderful group for research,
an excellent newsletter and gatherings. Contact:
The Bourland Society
Madilene & Dick Huff
Rt. 3, Box 5206
Galena MO 65656
(417) 538-4133
1-800 373-4850
The Bourland Society-Bourland-Loving Web Site
The Bourland Society-Bourland-Loving Web Site.
Our 'cousin', Leon Wilson maintains this web page, as well as a huge computer database of
the entire Loving family genealogy. On his page you can download the story of the earliest
Loving family ancestors in Virginia. You can also email him here about your family members.
Go there.
If you have the slightest passing interest in this story, you're missing out if you don't
read the incredible:
Charles Goodnight, Cowman and Plainsman by J. Evetts Haley
First published in 1936, still available today. You can find this book in almost any
library for free. You can also purchase it for just over $14 at Amazon.com. Click here for the
Charles Goodnight book.
Other worthwhile books on the Trails:
The Trail Drivers of Texas edited by J. Marvin Hunter. A collection of true narratives by real Cowpunchers who fathered the cattle industry in Texas. $21.56 at Amazon... Trail Drivers of Texas
A Cowboy of the Pecos by Patrick Dearen. The best contemporary author on the subject out there, Patrick puts together solid research with a wonderfully readable style. You won't go wrong with A Cowboy of the Pecos at Amazon for $10.36. Once you try Patrick Dearen, you'll want to take a look at his other books on the subject as well.
A Texas Cowboy: or, Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of a Spanish Pony, Taken From Real Life (American Biography Series), by Charles Siringo. The real subject written way back then by one of the real guys. Read this book. Not because it's great literature (the writing is merely serviceable) but because it reminds you why the image of the cowboy era is so powerful and enduring. And it's all true. Wonderful read. Out of print , but you can probably find it if you look.
Tales of Old-Time Texas by J. Frank Dobie. The early master of the subject. Dobie has a wonderful way of weaving stories, which is why his name is all over Texas. Amazon says this one is out of print, but it can be found.
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