John Scharbauer

Scharbauer was born on December 28, 1852, in Albany County, New York.[2] His father was an immigrant from Germany.[2]

Scharbauer moved to Texas in 1880,[2] at the age of twenty-eight, with US$2,000.[1][3] He first worked as a restaurant dishwasher in Eastland, Texas, to "get acquainted" with the local residents.[1][4] Scharbauer had stopped at Eastland because that was the last stop on the railroad.[4]

Scharbauer purchased 450 sheep with his US$2,000 and raised them near Sweetwater, Texas.[1][2][4] By 1882, he moved to Abilene, Texas, where he worked with another investor.[2] However, two years later, in 1884, his business partner bailed out and Scharbauer moved his sheep to Mitchell County, Texas.[2] In 1885, he purchased the Mallet Cattle Company with David M. DeVitt and registered the brand in Hockley County, Texas; it later became known as the Mallet Ranch.[5][6]

Meanwhile, in 1887, Scharbauer purchased a ranch near Midland, Texas, in present-day Stanton, Texas.[7] Within a year, by 1888, he was able to ship between 48,000 and 49,000 sheep to the markets in Chicago.[1][3] Two years later, in 1890, he was the first rancher to raise Hereford cattle in West Texas.[1] The first cattle came from Illinois.[1] He also raised Texas Longhorn, which were driven to Amarillo, Texas, and subsequently shipped to Montana and Wyoming.[3] By 1892-1893, due to the winding down of open range,[3] Scharbauer sold his sheep and refocused his investments on cattle.[2] Over the years, his cattle won many blue ribbon competitions.[1] Eventually, Scharbauer founded the Scharbauer Cattle Company, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.[1] Scharbauer also conducted business out of Midland, Texas, and Hobbs, New Mexico.[3][4] By 1939, Scharbauer had reinvested in sheep, and he owned 10,000 sheep and 15,000 cattle.[3]

Scharbauer co-founded a precursor to the First National Bank of Midland, Texas, with the Connelle brothers in 1890.[1][3][4] He served on its board of directors during the Great Depression, when he borrowed US$100,000 from a bank in Fort Worth to save the Midland bank.[1][4]

By the time of his death, his business empire included "operations in banking, corporate investments, oil lands, real estate and ranches which sprawled across four Texas counties and into New Mexico,"[1] namely Martin County, Midland County, Gaines County and Andrews County,[3][4] as well as Lea County, New Mexico.[8]

Scharbauer married Kate Tompkins. They resided in Fort Worth, Texas.[1] They had a daughter, Eusebia, who married William C. Stonestreet.[1] Scharbauer was widowed in 1935.[1]

Scharbauer died of a heart attack on October 20, 1941, in Fort Worth, Texas.[1][4] He was eighty-nine years old.[1] He was buried at the Greenwood Memorial Park in Fort Worth, Texas.

Scharbauer's ranch in Lea County, New Mexico was purchased by rancher Millard Eidson in 1942.[8] The sale was arranged prior to Scharbauer's death.[8] Meanwhile, his nephew, Clarence Scharbauer, who served as the vice president of the Scharbauer Cattle Company during his lifetime, succeeded him as president.[8]

• John Scharbauer at Find a Grave