Texas Family Land Heritage Registry
1983
by Texas Dept. of Agriculture


Freestone County


Wise Ranch
1857
Fifteen miles east of Fairfield off U.S. 84

Founder:  William R. O'Neal of Carroll County, Mississippi
1983 Owners:  Julian R. and Nancy (Amburn) Wise, Oakwood 

In 1857, after leaving Carroll County in Mississippi, William R. O'Neal bought
a tract of land of 1,733 acres in Freestone County.  Having bought the land
well before the Civil War, he was able to develop his acres with the help of
slaves he had sent from his home state.  He and his wife, Susan (Kennedy),
produced beef cattle, corn and cotton on their ranching operation.  The ranch
managed to survive the Civil War, but not the Emancipation Proclamation.  When
the slaves were freed, William O'Neal was unable to shoulder the entire burden
of maintaining his ranch and turned it over to his son, Raymond, and
daughter-in-law, Susan (Nesbitt), in 1873.

Raymond owned and operated a cotton gin and grist mill in Butler Community,
where he also built a church for the former slaves who chose to stay in the
area.  He and Susan had two children: Julia Roxanne and William N.  While Julia
and William were growing up, three houses were built on the property for the
workers who helped maintain the ranch.  Each of the children inherited a
portion of the ranch.  Julia (O'Neal) Mobley, married twice, had two children,
Kate and Raymond, who also inherited large portions of land from their maternal
grandfather in 1942.  On his 200 acres, Raymond Mobley and his wife, Allie Bell
(Tekell), after having cleared the timber, grew corn and cotton, raised beef
cattle, and built four earth stock ponds.  They had one daughter, Sandra
Juanita.  In 1964, she acquired title to 86.9 acres on which she and her
husband, Bob L. Gruetzner, raised beef cattle.  They had one son, Jason.

Today, the great-great-grandson of William R. O'Neal, Julian Wise, and his
wife, Nancy Sue, own and operate the ranch of 86.955 acres, which they obtained
from their cousin, Sandra (Mobley) Gruetzner.  Their son, Stephen Patrick,
lives with them and helps his parents raise beef cattle and hay.  The Wise
family has restored the old Mobley home and barn, rebuilt most of the fences
and planted the pasture.  To protect their cattle, they participate in the
state's brucellosis eradication program.