80 John Wallace: From Slavery to a Mitchell County Ranch Worth Over $1 Million

Who was 80 John Wallace?

Daniel Webster Wallace, known across West Texas as 80 John, was a cowboy who became one of the state's most successful Black ranchers. He was born into slavery in Victoria County, Texas, and died in 1939 with an estate reported at more than a million dollars. The BlackPast biography gives his birth date as September 15, 1860.

His nickname came from the cattle brand of the outfit where he worked, a large number 80. Wallace did much of the branding, and the name stuck for the rest of his life.

How did a former slave become a Texas cowboy?

BlackPast says he ran away to become a cowboy because he disliked farm work, and worked for several ranchers in east-central Texas. The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum records that at age 15, in 1875, he joined a local cattle drive as a chuck wagon helper and horse wrangler. According to the Ranching Heritage Center, he worked for several large operations, including C.C. Slaughter's.

He also worked as a wrangler and horse breaker. Sources differ on the details of his employers, but they agree that he settled with Clay Mann, whose cattle carried the 80 brand, and became Mann's most trusted hand.

Learning to read, and the Clay Mann arrangement

The Texas Trail of Fame says Wallace had little formal education. At about age 25 he returned to school in Navarro County, was admitted to the second grade and learned to read and write in two winters.

He joined Mann's outfit near Colorado City in Mitchell County at a wage of $30 a month. Mann deducted $5 a month for two years and invested the money for Wallace. BlackPast adds that in his mid-twenties Wallace arranged with Mann to receive cattle as part of his pay. The details differ slightly between sources, but both describe a deal that turned wages into the start of a herd.

Building the ranch in Mitchell County

The Texas Trail of Fame says Wallace acquired 1,280 acres in 1885 and started ranching for himself. The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum says that in 1891 he and his wife Laura moved their cattle to a 1,280-acre property in Mitchell County and built their homestead. Sources therefore differ on the year he started on his own land.

The ranch grew. The Cowboy Museum reports over 8,800 acres and 500 head of cattle, and says it reportedly had the area's first windmill. The Ranching Heritage Center says his holdings reached more than 12 sections, about six farms and herds of Durham and Hereford cattle. He built a family house in Colorado City so his children could attend school. He kept working the ranch himself, breaking horses until age 74.

Family, legacy and honors

Wallace married Laura Dee Owens on April 8, 1888, and the marriage lasted 51 years. They had three daughters and a son. He and Laura are buried on the first section of land they acquired, marked by a Texas state historical marker.

He was inducted into the Texas Trail of Fame in 2007 and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum's Hall of Great Westerners in 2023. A school was named for him. In 2014 the family donated the original ranch house, dated about 1900 and laid out like a cross with bedrooms to the north and south, to the National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock. His heirs still operate the ranch, though most of the land is now farmed.

What was ranching in Mitchell County like?

Mitchell County is in West Texas, and Colorado City is where Wallace built his family house. His house and his membership in the cattle raisers' association show that he worked inside the formal cattle industry. For more on Texas ranch history, see farm.FM's ranching section.

Visit or learn more

The Wallace ranch house stands in the Outdoor Historical Park of the National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock, where visitors can walk through the cross-shaped floor plan. A farm.FM story about Black cowboys in Texas offers more reading on the men who worked and owned Texas herds.