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Only 13 years from now, on March 2, 1836, Texas will celebrate its bicentennial. That's right: Texas will be 200 years old.  On that date I'd like to present the state of Texas a collection of one million Texas stories. I'll need your help to do it. I want you to tell me a story about anything that happened in Texas or anything that happened to a Texan somewhere other than in Texas.   It could be that time you met BB King and played pool with him after a show in Dallas or a story about that girl you met on Spring Break four years in a row and ended up marrying. It doesn't have to be something that happened to you. It could be a story you were told about your aunt and uncle in Waco or Sweetwater back in the 1950s or a story of when your grandfather hit oil then lost his well in a poker match. Perhaps your great great great grandfather was Sam Houston's gardener and left a diary. Or you know a tale of heartache or despair or glory or high comedy or all four of those at once.   The point is I need one million Texas stories in the next 13 years.   I am in the process right now of negotiating with three different archives to preserve these stories (and hopefully this entire website) and make it available on the internet in perpetuity after I've gone on to that great roundup in the sky.  And who knows? Maybe they'll even see fit to continue the site.  Mind you, these are extremely well-known, legitimate archives.  So keep in mind that 100 years from now, somebody will be reading the story that you write here. 
 

As an added incentive: the person who tells me the best story between now and midnight on December 31, 2023 is going to win a five hundred dollar gift certificate from my friend Marc Consulman and his great store, Texas Boot Company, in Bastrop. You read that correctly. You'll get five hundred dollars to spend here: https://www.texasbootcompany.com/      Any combination of boots/hat/jeans that pleases you is what you'll get. You can't beat that with a stick.

How will the contest work?  At the end of the year I'll gather up the five stories that I think are the best and send them to a panel of judges.  There will be five judges who, independently, will rank all five stories from one to five. The story that each judge thinks is the best will receive five points, that judge's second favorite story will get four points and so on.  The story that gets the most points from all of the judges will be the winner. I will be one of the judges, Marc Consulman will be another, and Kevin Russell, leader of the great band Shinyribs, has also agreed to judge. So I'll need two more volunteer judges from among the readers of this page.  Let me know if you want to help me with that.  If there's interest, I may even make it a panel of seven judges.

But here's the point I want to get across: I want a story from you even if you don't think it's potentially going to win this contest. In other words,  if I'm going to get to a million stories in thirteen years, I want ALL the stories, even if it's just a short paragraph.  Don't be shy and don't be intimidated.  I know y'all have some great tales because researchers have scientifically proven that you can't live in Texas for any length of time and NOT have a great yarn or two.

This Million Texas Story project is a memorial to my friend Eric Johnson, who was born in Fort Worth, grew up in Temple, lived in Houston, and died in Corpus. He loved a great story. This would please him to no end.

SO TELL US A TEXAS STORY!

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EDIT:  I've already been asked if you can tell more than one story. Certainly. Tell us as many as you want. 

EDIT #2:  I've been asked if this is sort of like "Humans Of New York."  I think so except, naturally, it's far better because it's Humans of Texas.  😉  But seriously, I'm going to add a section in the future in which you can record your story or video your story and upload it to the site.  How cool will that be?  100 years from now, somebody could be watching your video online. Kind of crazy.






 

 

[Tap]

Can this be a retelling of a story told me by my father of how he met my mother?

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9 minutes ago, Tap said:

Can this be a retelling of a story told me by my father of how he met my mother?

Absolutely. ANY story about Texas or Texans anywhere in the world.

One million stories is a HUGE goal.

[Carlos Machiste]

Does the story have to be true?

[Zack Miller]

I remember reading this when it occurred   This was taken from the Chicago Tribune 

 

CLARENDON, Texas -- A man believed to have been the oldest working cowboy in Texas died the way he wanted, stretched out in the prairie grass with his boots on, friends said.

Thomas Everett Blasingame, 91, was found lying on his back Wednesday by fellow cowhands at the JA Cattle Co. ranch near Clarendon in the Texas Panhandle. His saddled horse was standing nearby.

'If he had written it down on paper, he wouldn't have changed a word,' said Buster McLaury, the cattle foreman on the ranch.

About 400 people attended graveside services Saturday at the JA Cattle Co. cemetery near Clarendon. The last burial in the cemetery had been in 1899.

Johnny Farrar, the ranch's business manager, said Blasingame was riding a young horse he was training just before his death.

'He must have known he was in trouble, dismounted and just laid down and died,' Farrar said. 'There were no bruises or scratches, so he wasn't bucked off.'

Blasingame's son, Thomas E. Blasingame Jr. of Hereford, said the cowboy was laid to rest during a traditional 'cowboy funeral,' with the hearse accompanied to the graveyard by Blasingame's riderless horse and cowboys on horseback.

 

There were lots of people there,' the younger Blasingame said. 'It was a pretty pleasant day. Things went real well.'

Blasingame was born in Waxahachie on Feb. 2, 1898, and was a cowboy all his life.

He came to the JA Cattle Co. in 1918, then left two years later to go to Southern California, New Mexico and Arizona. He returned in 1934 and remained at the ranch until his death.

'(He) had chosen to be a cowboy when he was a little kid,' said Thomas Blasingame Jr. 'The reason he lived so long was because he did what he did for his entire life.'

Farrar said Blasingame's job was to look after the cattle and horses, the ranch's fence and windmill. He said Blasingame displayed outstanding qualities for a cowboy of any age.

'It was exceptional for him at age 91, because he performed the job just as all other cowboys do,' Farrar said.

Blasingame married his wife, Eleanor, when he was 35. He lived during the week at the Campbell Creek Camp in Palo Duro Canyon, 9 miles south of ranch headquarters. The camp had no electricity or telephone, and his wife lived in nearby Claude.

 

'He was a good, kind man to everyone,' Eleanor Blasingame said. 'When he died, it was the first time I've ever seen a bunch of cowboys just crying. They were all devastated by his death.'

[CPunkin]

This is about Charles E Ham, my father in law. Charles grew up in Deport, Texas, during the Great Depression being the oldest of seven kids. They all worked in the cotton fields.  If they worked hard and did a good job they would go to the general store and get a pound of bologna. As he was approaching being a young man, the air force recruiter told him that if he signed up, he would get new clothes, three meals a day, and never have to pick cotton. Of course he was sold! After serving 4 years, he used his GI Bill to go to mud engineering school. That career took him across the world! He went to Lagos, Nigeria, Africa. He worked in offshore drilling for a couple of years.  They had to travel through an area known as 'the bush' known for guerillas killing people with machine guns. After making the same path and using the same same guide to take people to the rig and back, one day on the way back, the guerillas made everyone in the group get on the ground for several hours while the guide was pleading and explaining they were only crossing due to work. They finally allowed everyone to go free. As soon as Charles got back home he told his wife and young boys what happened and said it was time to go home! 

[Deborah David]

1905 Wiliam Perry Cox Jr. died, age 40, on November 14, 1905, in Miles, Runnels County, Texas, and was buried in the Marionville IOOF (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) Cemetery in Marionville, Lawrence County, Missouri. {{FindAGrave|28309341}} "Son of William Perry Cox and Cynthia Anne Hail. Married Lottie Estelle Rogers 19 Oct 1890 in Monett, Barry, MO. Five children: Everett Carroll; Ella Mae and William Lee all born in Marionville; Reba Faye and Edna Louise born in Willow City, Gillespe, TX. He was a storekeeper/merchant. He and Lottie moved the family to Miles, TX and became friends with other newcomers the Bristow's, a furniture merchant. Unfortunately Will became too close to Mrs. Bristow and Mr. Bristow laid in wait and shot and killed Will. Lottie took the children along with his body back to Marionville for burial. Bristow was never tried as he was considered to be protecting his own property." 

<ref>Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 22 November 2020), memorial page for William Perry Cox Jr. (5 Jan 1865–14 Nov 1905), Find a Grave Memorial no. 28309341, citing Marionville IOOF Cemetery, Marionville, Lawrence County, Missouri, USA ; Maintained by Les Holmes (contributor 47001426) </ref>
 

[albcan]

This is about one of my grandfathers, Victor Odiorne. He was born on September 21, 1935 in Burnet, Texas. Victor spent 40 years in law enforcement. He started his career as a Trooper in the Texas Department of Public Safety in the early 1960's. He served San Antonio, Pearsall, Bandera (where he was the first Trooper stationed there), and Commerce. Upon his promotion to Sergeant, he served in Laredo, and later became an Auto Theft Division Investigator. He retired from the DPS in the 1980's, was awarded Special Texas Ranger credentials, but went on to serve as the lead investigator in the Webb County District Attorney’s Office, and the Webb County Attorney’s Office, and served as a CSO under the U.S. Marshall's Service. After finally retiring "for good", he moved to Fredericksburg, and was recruited to work as investigator for the County Attorney’s Office.

Growing up when he wasn't wirking he would take me to our friends ranch and we would do ranching stuff, dehorning, branding, feeding ect ect. Our payment was fishing when we got done working. He taught me how to shoot. I'll never be as good of a shot as him but hey not many ppl were, he won a shoot competition at his gun club at the age of 82!  His winning shot was shooting the edge of a playing card in half. He enjoyed hunting, shooting, fitness, gardening, reading, playing the stock market and old westerns.

He was about as Texan as you could get. Wish I could share a photo of him.

 

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I HAVE LOCKED THIS THREAD. PLEASE POST YOUR STORIES/PHOTOS IN THE FORUM. THANK YOU KINDLY! 

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