{{Short description|American rancher (1828–1902)}} {{Infobox person | name =Daniel Waggoner | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date =July 7, 1828 | birth_place =Lincoln County, Tennessee, U.S. | death_date ={{Death-date and age|September 5, 1902|July 7, 1828}} | death_place =Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S. | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | employer = | occupation = Settler, rancher, businessman, banker | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse =Nancy (Moore) Waggoner<br/>Sicily Ann (Halsell) Waggoner | children =William Thomas Waggoner | parents =Solomon Waggoner<br/>Elizabeth (McGaugh) Waggoner | relatives =Guy Waggoner <small>(grandson)</small><br/>Electra Waggoner <small>(granddaughter)</small><br/>E. Paul Waggoner <small>(grandson)</small><br/>Albert Buckman Wharton III <small>(great-great-grandson)</small> }} '''Daniel Waggoner''' (July 7, 1828 – September 5, 1902) was an early American settler and rancher in Texas. He also owned five banks, three cottonseed oil mills, and a coal company. He established the Waggoner Ranch, which spanned eight counties: Wise County, Clay County, Wichita County, Wilbarger County, Foard County, Baylor County, Archer County, and Knox County. In 1959, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hall of Great Westerners |url=https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/hall-of-great-westerners/ |website=National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum |access-date=November 22, 2019}}</ref>
==Early life== Daniel Waggoner was born on July 7, 1828, in Lincoln County, Tennessee.<ref name="bjaneengland">B. Jane England, "WAGGONER, DANIEL," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fwa08), accessed November 12, 2014. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.</ref> His father, Solomon Waggoner, was a farmer, cattleman, and horse and slave trader.<ref name="bjaneengland"/> His mother was Elizabeth (McGaugh) Waggoner.<ref name="bjaneengland"/> He moved to Hopkins County, Texas, with his parents in 1848.<ref name="bjaneengland"/>
==Career== In the 1850s, he moved from Hopkins County to Wise County, Texas with his son, an African slave, six horses and 242 Longhorn cattle.<ref name="garycartwright">Gary Cartwright, [http://www.texasmonthly.com/content/showdown-waggoner-ranch Showdown at Waggoner Ranch], ''Texas Monthly'', January 2004</ref> They settled on Catlett Creek, near Decatur.<ref name="bjaneengland"/><ref name="garycartwright"/> The land was 'open range' when they first arrived.<ref name="garycartwright"/>
In 1856, he purchased 320 acres of land near <!-- -->Cactus Hill<!-- -->, and moved his family there.<ref name="bjaneengland"/> He later purchased more land on Denton Creek, seven miles east of Decatur.<ref name="bjaneengland"/> Each time, the whole family moved with him.<ref name="bjaneengland"/> Over the next three decades, he purchased more land in Wise County as well as Clay, Wichita, Wilbarger, Foard, Baylor, Archer, and Knox Counties.<ref name="bjaneengland"/><ref name="garycartwright"/>
Some of the land was acquired after he sent gunslinger Jimmie Roberts to intimidate small farmers into selling it to them.<ref name="garycartwright"/> However, many sold it willingly, as a drought was occurring at the time.<ref name="garycartwright"/> Many of those small farmers moved to Lockett, Texas, where they enjoyed access to the Seymour Aquifer.<ref name="garycartwright"/> Waggoner's landholdings became known as the Waggoner Ranch.<ref name="historicalsociety">[http://www.wisehistory.com/waggoner_mansion.html Wise County Historical Society: The Waggoner Mansion]</ref> The ranch operated under the company name of Waggoner and Son.<ref name="bjaneengland"/> With his son, he also owned five banks, three cottonseed oil mills, and a coal company.<ref name="bjaneengland"/>
==Personal life and death== He was married twice. His first wife was Nancy (Moore) Waggoner, the daughter of William Moore, whom he married in the late 1840s.<ref name="bjaneengland"/> They had a son, William Thomas Waggoner.<ref name="bjaneengland"/><ref name="garycartwright"/> He became a widower shortly thereafter.<ref name="bjaneengland"/>
In 1859, he married Sicily Ann (Halsell) Waggoner, the daughter of Electious and Elizabeth J. Halsell.<ref name="bjaneengland"/> She was only 16 years old at the time, while he was 31.<ref name="bjaneengland"/> In 1883, he built the Waggoner Mansion, also known as ''El Castile'', in Decatur, where he resided with his family.<ref name="garycartwright"/><ref name="historicalsociety"/>
He died of kidney disease on September 5, 1902, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.<ref name="bjaneengland"/>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Waggoner, Daniel}} Category:1828 births Category:1902 deaths Category:People from Lincoln County, Tennessee Category:People from Wise County, Texas Category:Businesspeople from Colorado Springs, Colorado Category:Ranchers from Texas Category:Businesspeople from Texas Category:Bankers from Texas Category:People from Decatur, Texas