TX BIOS: Frank Perciful Selected and converted.American Memory, Library of Congress. Washington, 1994. Preceding element provides place and date of transcription only. This transcription intended to be 99.95% accurate. For more information about this text and this American Memory collection, refer to accompanying matter. U.S. Work Projects Administration, Federal Writers' Project (Folklore Project, Life Histories, 1936-39); Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.Copyright status not determined. 0001 [Typed?] [dup?] COWBOY LORE FRANK PERCIFUL was born in Erath County, November 26, 1888. His father, A. J. Perciful, moved with his family to Coke County in 1901 and settled on a farm near Bronte. [DEL: The father is ninety years old and still living. Frank married in 1910 to Miss Emma [McCrehen?] of [?]. He was elected cotton weigher in 1914, and in 1922 he was elected tax [ascesser?] of Coke County and served one term. In 1932 he was elected sheriff and still holds that office. :DEL] Mr. Perciful says: [DEL: I learned to ride young as all boys did when I was a kid. :DEL] " My dad was a farmer, but always kept a few head of horses and other stock on the place. I learned to work cattle some and especially to help at round-up time when the neighboring ranches would put on extra help. "They'd usually make us boys hold the cuts while the older hands rounded up and did the branding and most of the hard riding. I never got in many scrapes like some youngsters I've heard of, but I did get a few bumps. I remember two or three of us boys was [DEL: tryin :DEL] tryin' to ride a young horse. I guess I was fifteen or sixteen years old. We drew straws to see which would ride him first. I got the shortest and so I climbed on him. It wasn't no time , though , 'til I was [DEL: sittin :DEL] sittin' on the ground, and the other boys was [DEL: havin :DEL] havin' all the fun , [DEL: laughin :DEL] laughin' at me. " Ira Pruitt and myself bought a bunch of sheep and cattle in 1917 and went out to the Pecos , confident that we was [DEL: goin :DEL] goin' to make our fortune. He joined the navy after a few months and I came back to Coke County 00022and began trading and dabbling with sheep and cattle. " It was [DEL: shore :DEL] sure funny one night on the way out there. We was camped in what we thought was a good place-a small pasture, about six hundred acres. During the night , while we was asleep , our cattle drifted down a little creek in the pasture and through what had been a water gap , -but it had been washed down. They got out into a large pasture and it took us two or three days to [DEL: [et?] :DEL] get 'em together again. We never did know what made 'em wonder off like that unless they got scared and [DEL: [?] :DEL] got started to [DEL: [runnin?] :DEL] runnin' in that direction. "I continued to trade and raise a few sheep and cattle until 1932 when I was elected sheriff , then I quit [DEL: foolin :DEL] foolin' with 'em altogether. "0003Bibliography Frank Perciful, Old Cowhand And Present Sheriff of Coke County, Lives at Robert Lee. Interviewed Sept 1, 1938. 0004 Range-lore Annie McAulay Maverick, Texas SEP 15 1938 RANGE-LORE Frank Perciful was born in Erath County, November 26, 1868. His father, A. J. Perciful, moved with his family to Coke County in 1901 and settled on a farm near Bronte. Mr. Perciful says: "My dad was a farmer, but always kept a few head of horses and other stock on the place. I learned to work cattle some and especially to help at round-up time when the neighboring ranches would put on extra help. They'd usually make us boys hold the cuts while the older hands rounded up and did the branding and most of the hard riding. I never got in many scrapes like some youngsters I've heard of, but I did get a few bumps. I remember two or three of us boys was tryin' to ride a 00052young horse. I guess I was fifteen or sixteen years old. We drew straws to see which could ride him first. I got the shortest and so I climbed on him. It wasn't no time, though, 'til I was sittin' on the ground, and the other boys was havin' all the fun, laughin' at me. "Ira Pruitt and myself bought a bunch of sheep and cattle in 1917 and went out to the Pecos, confident that we was goin' to make our fortune. He joined the navy after a few months and I came back to Coke County and began trading and dabbling with sheep and cattle. "It was sure funny one night on the way out there. We was camped in what we thought was a good place - a small pasture, about six hundred acres. During the night, while we was asleep, our cattle drifted down a little creek in the pasture and through what had been a water gap, but it had been washed down. They got out into a large pasture and it took us two or three days to get 'em together again. We never did know what made 'em wander off like that unless they got scared and got started to runnin' in that direction. "I continued to trade and raise a few sheep and cattle until 1932 when I was elected sheriff; then I quit foolin' with 'em altogether. ********* REFERENCE: - Frank Perciful, Robert Lee, Texas. Interviewed September 1, 1938. ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. 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