Francis Courtney Mellard (27 February 1878 – 17 February 1970) was an American

cattle rancher Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are called co ...

and author.

Career

In 1908, Mellard took ownership of property for a cattle ranch south of

Marfa, Texas Marfa is a city in the high desert of the Trans-Pecos in far West Texas, United States, between the Davis Mountains and Big Bend National Park, at an elevation of 4685 feet. It is the county seat of Presidio County, Texas, Presidio County. The ci ...

. He helped build the first school in Marfa, and by the late 1950s, he estimated to have sent around 250,000 calves and yearlings to the

Corn Belt The Corn Belt is a region of the Midwestern United States and part of the Southern United States that, since the 1850s, has dominated corn production in the United States. In North America, ''corn'' is the common word for maize. More genera ...

region.

Personal life

Mellard was born on February 27, 1878 to Robert Thomas Mellard and Sallie Lytle Wilson. His father's family moved near

Snyder, Texas Snyder is a city in, and the county seat of Scurry County, Texas, United States. The population was 11,438 at the 2020 census. The city is located in the lower part of the Southwestern Tablelands ecological region. History Snyder is named fo ...

in 1897 and he married Helen Buchanon on August 1, 1900. They had three sons before her death on November 9, 1949. On December 23, 1950, Mellard married Lillian Turney in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

. He is the uncle to

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

veteran

Robert Mellard Robert Burnett Mellard (13 May 1919 – 19 September 1976) was an American soldier who fought in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War, serving in the United States Army from 1938 to 1959. He fought at the Battle of Monte Cassino and was ...

Ancestry.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. It is owned by The ...

Mellard was an active

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

member and had the oldest degree master in the El Paso Consistory of the

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

, serving as Master of the Seventh Degree for over 30 years.

Published works

* Mellard, F. C. (1957). ''The Dream of a Youthful Cowboy''. United States: (n.p.).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mellard, Frank Courtney 1878 births 1970 deaths American cattlemen People from Marfa, Texas 20th-century American writers Writers from Texas