Texas Family Farms Are Thriving for Multiple Generations
In partnership with: Texas Department of Agriculture
With 86% of Texas’ total farms owned and operated by families, each one has a unique story to tell across generations.
Stuart Ranch
Stuart Ranch in Richmond was established before Texas statehood. “The Stuarts are descendants of John Foster, my eighth great-grandfather and one of Stephen F. Austin’s Old Three Hundred colonists,” says Jess Stuart, owner of Stuart Ranch.
Foster received approximately 12,000 acres in Austin’s Colony on July 15, 1824. His oldest son, Randolph, was the colony’s chief scout, supplying meat from wild game to Sam Houston’s army during Texas’ fight for independence.
“Today, we live on the last 128 acres remaining from John Foster’s original land grant,” Stuart says. Following Foster’s death, his land was divided among his children. Stuart and his family live on the original ranch, where they still raise commercial cattle.
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Historical family artifacts are preserved in the main home’s Texas History room, where visitors can learn about the 200-year-old ranch and family history. They also love sharing their ranch with others.
“Terri, my wife, and I ‘auction off’ our home for charity several times a year, where we host a party for the highest bidder,” Stuart says.
The ranch has hosted YMCA staff and board, Rotary Clubs, Fort Bend Master Gardeners and other nonprofit organizations, history and genealogy groups, and more.
“When people come out and see open pastures, they get to experience what we have for generations – a sense of connection, family and tradition to a place we are lucky enough to call home,” he says.
The ranch received the Texas Department of Agriculture’s (TDA) Family Land Heritage Award, which recognizes family farms in existence for 100 or more years, for 100 years in 1976, for 150 years in 2011 and have applied for 200-year recognition in 2024.
Lassmann-Albrecht Farm
Elisabeth Cawthon’s German ancestors purchased their 220-acre farm in 1885 for $1,650. Emil and Dora Mehnert Lassmann had 10 children. One month after the youngest was born, however, Emil passed away, leaving Dora with both the farm and family.
“My grandmother, Lillie Lassmann, was their second-oldest child and the only surviving girl,” Cawthon says.
When she was engaged to Otto Albrecht in 1909, they bought 75 acres of the farm and the farmhouse from Dora. They spoke both German and English on the farm, and she says her mother accurately remembered “Texan German.”
“Texan German is a distinctive adaptation of the German language among Texas rural folk,” Cawthon says.
While the Lassmann-Albrecht Farm is not open to the public, Cawthon says she enjoys hosting family and friends who want to take a step back in time. “We have kept a clean, utilitarian look to the place,” she says. “It has the feel and sounds of a 19th-century farm, such as the breeze through the screen doors and the moan of the wooden windmill.”
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Past Meets Present
The advent of electricity and machinery like tractors had a major impact on the agriculture industry, but these two farms meld history with the modern day.
“We still have the original, manual, walk-behind plows pulled by mules,” Stuart says.
Cawthon says her farmhouse saw three other major changes – indoor plumbing in 1924, phone service in the late 1940s, and hot water and central heat and air in 2007.
Restorations are currently underway, and Cawthon says she believes old farmhouses can teach future generations about sustainable construction techniques.
“Back in 1824, no one could imagine the changes that would come to managing the land and its resources,” Stuart says. “We look at solar and water as new sources.”
Perhaps Stuart best captures the family farm spirit.
“Overall, we come from great Texas history, and we love sharing it,” he says.
For more information about the Family Land Heritage Award, visit texasagriculture.gov.