Tom Blasingame
| Thomas Everett "Tom" Blasingame | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 12, 1898 Waxahachie, Ellis County, Texas, USA |
| Died | December 27, 1989 (aged 91) Claude, Armstrong County, Texas |
| Occupation | Rancher |
| Spouse(s) | Eleanor Aloe Morris Blasingame (1914–1999, married 1933–his death) |
| Children |
Tom Blasingame, Jr. |
| Notes | |
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(1) Blasingame was presumably the oldest cowboy in the history of the American West, having devoted seventy-three of his ninety-one years to ranching. (2) Blasingame taught former Texas State Senator Teel Bivins of Amarillo how to handle . (3) In his typical work week, Blasingame slept in a camp house without electricity and rode a hundred miles per day. |
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Tom Blasingame, Jr.
(1) Blasingame was presumably the oldest cowboy in the history of the American West, having devoted seventy-three of his ninety-one years to ranching.
(2) Blasingame taught former Texas State Senator Teel Bivins of Amarillo how to handle .
Thomas Everett Blasingame, known as Tom Blasingame (February 12, 1898 – December 27, 1989), was a Texas cowboy for seventy-three years. At ninety-one, he was still on the job at the JA Ranch south of Amarillo. Two days after Christmas in 1989, he dismounted his horse, Ruidosa, stretched out on the grass, folded his arms across his chest, and died. Blasingame received many honors for his longevity and dedication to ranching.
Born in Waxahachie, the seat of Ellis County, south of Dallas, Blasingame decided as a child that he would work on a ranch. In 1918, he headed to the Texas Panhandle and was hired on the large JA spread, which had been jointly established in the Palo Duro Canyon by John George Adair (1823–1885) and Charles Goodnight (1836–1929), probably the best-known of Texas ranchers throughout history.
Before he settled permanently at the JA, Blasingame worked for a time on ranches in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Blasingame said that he moved about during the 1920s so that he could see the country. Working for different ranches was the only way a poor man could travel, he said. He described life on the ranch accordingly:
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