Both the Bruton family (his mother’s side of the family) and the Fite side came from Texas, big families. Jack Bruton lives out at Agustin; he’s one of the descendants, he was Dean’s cousin.
“They came on horseback and wagons, brought cattle. They pioneered this country. I think it was after the Civil War, a lot of ‘em moved out, all the turmoil. And they needed more country. And the Fites were kind of gypsies anyhow. They liked to see more country, and so did the Brutons. They were the kind of people who like to have big country, pioneers. They wanted more country. Years later, Mr. Fite worked on ranches and raised his family, he was a GOOD cowboy, and he worked for wealthy ranchers that came in from the East and bought big ranches out here and didn’t know anything about ranching. He worked for them. And that’s where he raised his family. And the kids grew up, and he finally went over there and homesteaded the place, and they had their own ranch. There was no Bureau of Land Management, and there were no fences, so it was all open range, and uh, there were sheep ranchers, and people abusing the country, sheep would keep eating it up, and there were a lot of horses. And nobody ever sold an old cow, they just sold the calves, they weren’t worth much. Old cows were, they didn’t have anything to do with ‘em. They just let ‘em die, get old and die. But the cattle all ran together, and they’d water, if it rained, you know, all go to these water holes, and then whoever had cattle had to go there when that water dried, and get their cattle and bring them home. And if you didn’t go get yours, somebody else would, so it was a real, wide-open country, and a lot of rustling of cattle and, a lot of action. And a very hard living. But our first problem was, when I married Dean in 1937, and we were having land trials, establishing boundaries, and over at the county seat you went and you got land awarded to you according to water you had developed. So it was … that was how they established boundaries. And if you were a good politician, you … always was politics involved, always."
