Today in Texas History - July 5

[BigTex]

July 5th, 1873

On this day in 1873, Margaret Borland died of "trail fever" or "congestion of the
brain" after successfully leading a drive of about 2,500 cattle from Victoria, Texas, to
Wichita, Kansas. She was born in Ireland on April 3, 1824. Her family was among
the Irish colonists who arrived in Texas in 1829 with John McMullen and James
McGloin and settled at San Patricio. Margaret was thrice married and widowed. Her
first husband, Harrison Dunbar, was killed in a private argument in Victoria soon
after she bore their only child, a daughter. Margaret Dunbar married Milton Hardy
several years later; Hardy died of cholera in 1855, leaving two more children with
Margaret. Mrs. Hardy married Alexander Borland about 1858, a marriage that
produced four children. Borland died in 1867; several of Margaret's children and
grandchildren died the same year in a yellow fever epidemic. She had assisted
Borland in his cattle business and, after his death, assumed full responsibility for the
estate. Though she left the physical labor to her hired hands, she bought and sold
livestock. By 1873 she owned a herd of more than 10,000 cattle. She left her Victoria
home in the spring of that year with two sons, both under fifteen; a seven-year-old
daughter; an even younger granddaughter; and a group of trail hands. She was said
to be the only woman to have led a cattle drive. Her body was returned to Texas and
buried in Victoria Cemetery.

[LibraryLady]

Sounds like a tough pioneer woman.

I tip my hat to her and her memory.

[grouchy]

We still have a lot of that type of women in the area.

[LibraryLady]

We still have a lot of that type of women in the area.

Thumbs up!

[ann jusko]

But she made it to Kansas. WOW! Every time Big Tex posts Today in History, I want to read more about it. Good job, BT!

[BigTex]

Seems like a pretty story for a movie.

Any screenwriters out there?