{{Short description|American rancher and socialite}} {{Infobox person | name = Electra Waggoner | image = | caption = | birth_date =January 6, 1882 | birth_place =near Decatur, Texas, U.S. | death_date ={{Death-date and age|November 26, 1925|January 6, 1882}} | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | employer = | occupation = Rancher, socialite | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse ={{ubl|Albert Buckman Wharton|Weldon Bailey|James A. Gilmore}} | children =Tom Waggoner Wharton<br />Albert Buckman Wharton, Jr. | parents =William Thomas Waggoner | relatives =Guy Waggoner (brother)<br />E. Paul Waggoner (brother)<br /> Albert Buckman Wharton III (grandson) }} '''Electra Waggoner''' (January 6, 1882 – November 26, 1925) was an American rancher and socialite from Texas. She was an heiress to the Waggoner Ranch, one of the largest ranches in the United States. The town of Electra, Texas, was named in her honor.
==Early life== Electra Waggoner was born on January 6, 1882, near Decatur, Texas.<ref name="waggonerhistory">{{cite web |url=http://www.waggonerranch.com/images/WaggHist.htm |title=Waggoner Ranch: History |access-date=2015-01-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025113350/http://www.waggonerranch.com/images/WaggHist.htm |archive-date=2016-10-25 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Her father, William Thomas Waggoner, was the owner of the Waggoner Ranch in Texas.<ref name="garycartwright">Gary Cartwright, [http://www.texasmonthly.com/content/showdown-waggoner-ranch Showdown at Waggoner Ranch], ''Texas Monthly'', January 2004</ref> Her mother was Ella (Halsell) Waggoner. She had two brothers, Guy Waggoner and E. Paul Waggoner. They grew up at the Waggoner Mansion (a.k.a. 'El Castile') in Decatur as well as on the Waggoner Ranch.
==Zacaweista== Waggoner inherited one fourth of the Waggoner Ranch known as the 'Zacaweista' subsection.<ref name="garycartwright"/> The Native American word means 'good grass.'<ref name="garycartwright"/> In 1910, she built a mansion on the ranch, also named Zacaweista.<ref name="garycartwright"/>
==Personal life== thumb|right|Thistle Hill in Fort Worth, Texas. Waggoner was married three times. Her first husband was Albert Buckman Wharton of the Wharton family of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.<ref name="garycartwright"/><ref name="historicthistle">{{cite web |url=http://www.historicfortworth.org/WeddingsTours/ThistleHill/ThistleHill/HistoryofThistleHill/tabid/1024/Default.aspx |title=Historic Fort Worth: History of Thistle Hill |access-date=2015-01-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508000837/http://www.historicfortworth.org/WeddingsTours/ThistleHill/ThistleHill/HistoryofThistleHill/tabid/1024/Default.aspx |archive-date=2016-05-08 |url-status=dead }}</ref> They had met while she was traveling in the Himalayas.<ref name="garycartwright"/> They wed on June 10, 1902.<ref name="waggonerhistory"/> They resided at Thistle Hill, also known as the Wharton-Scott House, a mansion in Fort Worth now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref name="garycartwright"/> The couple divorced after nineteen years of marriage.<ref name="garycartwright"/> During their marriage, they had two sons: *Tom Waggoner Wharton, who married eight times and died of syphilis at the age of twenty-five.<ref name="garycartwright"/> *Albert Buckman Wharton, Jr., who was a polo player who married four times and had one son, A.B. Wharton III, a.k.a. Bucky Wharton. He died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1963.<ref name="garycartwright"/>
She was the aunt of sculptor Electra Waggoner Biggs.
Waggoner then moved to a mansion called Shadowlawn on Preston Road in Highland Park, a wealthy enclave of Dallas, Texas.<ref name="garycartwright"/> She was married two more times,<ref name="garycartwright"/> to Weldon Bailey, the son of Joseph Weldon Bailey, and then to James A. Gilmore.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/543637487/?terms=%22james%20a%20gilmore%22%20coal&match=1 |title=16 Nov 1925, 16 - The Standard Union at |publisher=Newspapers.com |date=1925-11-16 |accessdate=2022-06-05}}</ref>
==Death and legacy== Waggoner died on November 26, 1925, at the age of forty-three.<ref name="waggonerhistory"/><ref name="garycartwright"/> The town of Electra, Texas, was named in her honor.<ref name="waggonerhistory"/> Her niece Electra Waggoner Biggs was named after her.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth21102/ Picture at age 43]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waggoner, Electra}} Category:1882 births Category:1925 deaths Category:Ranchers from Fort Worth, Texas Category:People from Highland Park, Texas Category:American socialites Category:People from Decatur, Texas Category:20th-century American people