EXCERPT FROM "A HISTORY OF CROSBY COUNTY TEXAS" by Nellie Witt Spikes and Temple Ann Ellis

The Joe P. Browns, Estacado, Texas

Joe P. Brown, a pioneer of Crosby County, was born in Collin County on June 14, 1837. His father, Samuel P. Brown, married Miss Mary Russell in Missouri, moved overland in covered wagons, and settled in Collin County, Texas, locating there when Texas was a Republic. Joe P. came west, where he worked on the famous Matador Ranch for four years. His headquarters were at Ballard Springs. He worked on the prairie as a cowboy for many years. He figured in the organization of Crosby County, serving as one of its first commissioners. Later he was elected to the office of tax assessor, holding that office for six years. 

He married Mary Catherine Ellis, who was born in Wright City, Missouri, and came to Texas in 1876. Her parents were Charles R. and Katherine Bryan Ellis. C. R. Ellis landed in Collin County and assumed management of the Jim Harris ranch, the best-known in that section. Mary Catherine (or Kitty, as she was called) came with her parents to Estacado in 1887, where she met and married Joe P. Brown, on February 18, 1891. The ceremony was performed by Anson Cox, a minister of the Quaker church, in the sod house of her parents in the Estacado community.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown settled near the present-day town of Ralls where he went into the cattle business rather extensively. Their first home was in a dugout; later they built a small, two-room house, hauling the lumber from Colorado City, Texas. Mr. Brown was progressive and later bought a ranch west of Estacado, some ten or twelve sections, where he continued to raise Hereford cattle, later selling them and investing in sheep. 

Five children were born to Joe and Kitty Brown: Robert, Ellis, Mary, Bailey, and Belle. Joe passed away in 1925, and Kitty in 1941. They are buried in the old cemetery in Estacado.