KING RANCH - The 825,000-acre King Ranch, in Nueces, Kenedy, Kleberg, and Willacy counties, had its beginning in 1852, when Richard King and Gideon K. Lewis set up a cattle camp on Santa Gertrudis Creek in South Texas. Formal purchase began in 1853, when they bought a Spanish land grant , Rincen de Santa Gertrudis, of 15,500 acres on Santa Gertrudis Creek in Nueces County. A short time later they purchased the Garza Santa Gertrudis grant of 53,000 acres. During the mid-1850s, as partners, King and Lewis acquired more landholding's around the area of the creek. After Lewis died in April 1855, King managed to acquire Lewis's half interest in the Rincen grant at a public sale through the bidding of his friend Maj. William W. Chapman. Due to pending transfers of legal title, King and Lewis had never actually paid money for the Garza grant.
King interested Captain James Walworth in acquiring the entire de la Garza grant, which Walworth completed on December 26, 1856, for $5000 [90,000 acres as the price had just gone up] paid to Praxides Uribe. King thus retained operational control of the Ranch, with Walworth as a silent partner who held title to the land, and who paid taxes on it.
King and Walworth's brand was registered June 27, 1859 along with his earlier brands. In 1856 King's friend James Walworth of M. Kenedy and Company purchased that grant and entered into a business arrangement with King, paying taxes on the land while King worked it. In June 1859, in his wife's name, King bought half of Walworth's interest in the Garza grant. On December 5, 1860, Mifflin Kenedy, with whom King had been associated in a steam boating business , bought interest in the ranch. At that time all titles were put under the business name R. King and Company, with King and Kenedy each having three-eighths of the shares and Walworth two-eighths. When Walworth died in April 1865 King and Kenedy bought his interest from his widow for $10,000.

On December 5, 1860, Mifflin Kenedy, with whom King had been associated in a steam boating business, bought interest in the ranch. At that time all titles were put under the business name R. King and Company, with King and Kenedy each having three-eighths of the shares and Walworth two-eighths. When Walworth died in April 1865 King and Kenedy bought his interest from his widow. King and Kenedy dissolved their partnership in 1868, and King retained Santa Gertrudis; other acreage was added later. That same year he fenced in a tract of his ranch that surrounded the Santa Gertrudis headquarters.
During the early days of the ranch King tried a variety of grazing animals including cattle , horses, sheep, and goats. His first officially recorded brand was the HK, in 1859. Also recorded at that time was the LK. King and Walworth's brand added a V at the top of the LK. The Running W appeared in the 1860s and was registered on February 9, 1869, as the official brand for the King Ranch-a mark that is still used today.

LAND RECORD COUNTY ABSTRACT CLASS FILE No. GRANTEE PATENTEE
150274 CAMERON 9 SAN PATRICIO 91 JAMES WALWORTH

JAMES WALWORTH
161860 JIM WELLS 173 SAN PATRICIO 508 JOSE LORENZO GARZA ET AL
JAMES WALW ORTH
168460 KIEBERG 52 SAN PATRICIO 212 GEORGE W. A. CULTON JAMES WALWORTH
171469 LIVE OAK 157 SAN PATRICIO 212 GEORGE W. A. CULTON JAMES WALWORTH

177698 NUECES 79 SAN PATRICIO 212 GEORGE W. A. CULTON JAMES WALWORTH

177743 NUECES 123 SAN PATRICIO 508 GARZA JOSE LORENZO DE LA & OTHERS JAMES WALWORTH

LAND GRANTS DATABASE
http://gloweb/central/LandGrants/landgrantsworklist.cfm

A DECLARATION OF THE CAUSES WHICH IMPELL THE STATE OF TEXAS TO SECEDE FROM THE FEDERAL UNION

E. Thomason James P Thomason W.S. Todd

James Walworth

Name: PAUL JONES
Type: Sidewheel, wooden hull packet Size: 232 tons
Launched: 1843, Cincinnati, Oh.
Destroyed: 1848, March, sank at Grand Chain, Ill
Area:
Owner: 1843, Thomas F. Eckert, Simeon Doyle both of Cincinnati and
Nathaniel Montgomery of Kentucky.
Captain(s): 1844 - 1845 or longer, James Walworth
Comments: 1848, Feb. 3, collided with MAJOR HARNOUR near Troy, Ind.,
5 dead.
Name: Walworth, James
Boat(s): 1844 - 45 or so, PAUL JONES [Name of the boat]
Area: 1844 - 45 or so, New Orleans - Waterproof
Contributor: David Schiess (48248178)