Star Brand Ranch
The beginnings of Star Brand Ranch are as old as Texas. When the state’s settlers took up arms to win their freedom from Mexico, the nascent Republic called on William Nash to raise a volunteer militia, and for that support and his service fighting, Nash was awarded land in St. Augustine County. In 1850, he swapped his grant for better land to the northwest, and it was there Nash and his family would quickly become a driving force in the new Kaufman County, founding both its First National Bank and its oil mill. Over the next few generations, the ranch would be home to statesmen like James Young—a U.S. Representative for Texas and husband of Nash’s granddaughter Allie—host the outlaws Bonnie and Clyde—who hid out on the ranch before being arrested and penning “The Story of Suicide Sal” in the Kaufman jail—and develop one of the most distinctive and important cattle brands in the state—a crescent moon over the star, the Star Brand.
But it was when Congressman Young’s daughter, Imogen, married Toddie Lee, the scion of another sprawling East Texas family, that Star Brand Ranch would seize its full potential and become a quintessential Texas institution. “Fat Dad” and “Big Mimi”, as they were called by their grandchildren, transformed the landscape: they expanded and modernized the old homestead, built barns, raised levees, cleared and improved pastures, and even created their own 26-acre lake on the ranch’s southern rise. For many Wynnes, Star Brand quickly became synonymous with weekends away from the city, Christmas holidays, and the yearly roundup, and despite all their enterprises around the world, Toddie Lee’s and Imogen’s hearts remained tied to the rolling woods and still pastures they knew as children in East Texas. It was always their home at Star Brand Ranch that put them most at ease. So it would remain for their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
The Wynne family didn’t keep Star Brand Ranch to themselves. Toddie Lee’s son and daughter-in-law hosted the first Cattle Baron’s Ball in the lawn behind the Big House. Johnny Cash and Charlie Pride sang that night beneath the tall oak trees, and Cattle Baron’s Ball has gone on to become the largest single-night fundraiser for cancer research in the world. Cattle Baron’s returned twice more: to the Big Lake in 1996 with Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings; then to the front pasture in 2009 with Julianne Hough and Montgomery Gentry. In 1992, Toddie Lee’s grandsons opened the new Star Brand Executive Retreat to executive retreats, private parties, and weddings, and for over two decades the brothers shared with new friends the great hospitality and relaxation their family had enjoyed for a century.
Today, the Big House is gone. The south acreage is in the care of another Texas ranching family. Outlaws no longer stop by on their way to infamy, and the world’s even more hectic than ever before. But American Liberty carries on the Star Brand Ranch legacy with over 1400 acres of pastures, creeks, and timber. The evening shadows are still cool and long like they were in the early days of Texas, the pines still bend in the breeze, and slow herds of cattle still graze in the pastures as always.
The legacy of those seven generations at Star Brand Ranch live on within American Liberty’s archives but even more vibrantly in the hearts and minds of those who remember.
The Star Brand, Star Brand logo, and Star Brand Ranch name are the exclusive property and trademarks of Star Brand Cattle Company and American Liberty Oil Company.