Shanghai Pierce: The Rhode Island Stowaway Who Built a Texas Cattle Empire

Who Was Shanghai Pierce?

Abel Head Pierce, known across Texas as Shanghai Pierce, was a Rhode Island native who became one of the biggest cattle owners on the Texas coast. He was born June 29, 1834, in Little Compton, and he died December 26, 1900, after decades of building a ranching business in Wharton County. One account puts his height at six feet four inches, and he dressed to be noticed.

Sources do not agree on where the nickname came from. The Wikipedia biography notes that J. Frank Dobie tied it to Pierce's resemblance to a banty Shanghai rooster, while Wharton County folklore pointed to his hard business dealings. Either way, the name stuck and became a brand of its own in Texas cattle talk.

How Did a Stowaway Become a Texas Cattleman?

At 19, Pierce stowed away on a ship in New York harbor, worked for his passage, and reached Indianola, Texas, about five months later with no money and no job. One account says he arrived with 75 cents. He found work as a ranch hand for W. B. Grimes and became an authority on cattle there.

His family background was far grander than his arrival. The Wikipedia entry says he descended from John Alden and Priscilla Mullins and was related to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and President Franklin Pierce. Neither connection is credited with helping him in Texas. The record shows a hired hand who learned the cattle business from the ground up.

How Did Pierce Build Rancho Grande?

One account says Pierce reportedly refused cash wages and took his pay in cattle, then kept forming partnerships and buying stock. That story, told in a Petticoats and Pistols profile, fits a familiar pattern in postwar Texas, where unbranded cattle were plentiful and cash was scarce. The same account says he founded El Rancho Grande in 1865 and branded 18,000 calves in one year.

Rancho Grande was owned by Pierce and a partner named Allen, and Charlie Siringo, who worked there in 1871, described it as one of the largest ranches in Texas. He wrote that it branded 25,000 calves in a single season. The two calf counts come from different sources and different years, so treat both as reported figures rather than audited ones.

Pierce also formed the Pierce-Sullivan Pasture Company and sent large herds to northern markets. The Petticoats and Pistols profile says he came to own about half a million acres, which is a reported total, and that he dabbled in banking and railroads while ranching stayed his main interest.

Why Did Pierce Back Brahman Cattle?

Texas fever, spread by ticks, was a constant danger to Gulf Coast herds, and Pierce went looking for cattle that could stand up to it. The Petticoats and Pistols account says he toured Europe for tick-resistant cattle and concluded that Brahmas, the humped Zebu cattle of India, were the answer. The same writer adds that he died without knowing he had been right.

Pierce's last year was also hard on his business. The September 1900 hurricane that destroyed Galveston hit his empire severely, and he died that December.

Pierce's Station, Style and Showmanship

When the railroad reached his country, Pierce built his own station, called Pierce's Station, which grew into a small town. He also built a three-story hotel with 22 rooms. Pierce, Texas, is named for him.

He was known for brocaded vests, monogrammed shirts and broad-brimmed, high-peaked hats. Long before his death he ordered a statue of himself for his gravesite. In 1912 Siringo visited the bronze figure at Deming's Bridge-Hawley Cemetery and said it looked natural as life. The sources differ on its size, giving it as 10 feet in one account and 40 feet, costing $10,000, in another.

His first wife, Fannie Lacy, was the daughter of a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. After she and their son died he sold out, moved to Kansas City, and returned to Texas after about 18 months. He married Hattie Jones in 1875.

Legacy and Honors

The Saddle and Sirloin Portrait Gallery lists Pierce among its honorees, inducted between 1936 and 1948. The Pierce Ranch is reported to remain in operation under his descendants on 32,000 acres, with the original ranch house marked by a state medallion and a monument in the front yard.

Pierce also became a screen character. Ted de Corsia played him in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), and other actors portrayed him in television episodes. Readers who want more Texas cattle history can browse the ranching section on farm.FM or read a related story about Texas Brahman cattle.