Trail drivers’ descendants to meet in Lockhart
By LPR Staff
Editor/POST-REGISTER
While hundreds of area natives gather around the county to celebrate the years since they graduated from high school, a reunion of another sort will be taking place at the home of Larry and Cheryl Hill Burrier, of Lockhart.
Two years ago, Burrier, the great-great-grandson of Chisholm Trial cattle driver William Cost B
urrier, hatched the idea of gathering other trail drivers’ descendants at his home to share history and celebrate the brave men and women that carved their way through the Texas wilderness, giving rise to the pioneering spirit that makes up Lockhart and Caldwell County today.
After the Civil War, many Texans suffered because of a failing economy built on nearly-worthless Confederate greenbacks. Out-of-work soldiers only compounded the problem. On the other side of the Mason-Dixon, northern families suffered because harsh winters had all but wiped out their beef cattle.
“Necessity being the mother of invention, an idea sparked within Illinoisan Joseph McCoy, who enlisted the help of Lockhart resident Col. J.J. Meyers [to] persuade Texans to drive their prosperous Longhorns to McCoy’s market up north,” wrote Hill-Burrier in an invitation to the event.
Among those expected to gather at the Burrier home to share family photographs, documents and the stories that made the Chisholm Trail famous are Bill Bellamy, a descendant of trail driver Elias Alsberry “Berry” Robuck.
“I knew my great-grandfather,” Bellamy said. “He started out on the trail in his early teens. I would be honored to pass on the history, and look forward to swapping pictures and stories.”
The gathering will take place at 817 W. San Antonio St. in Lockhart, beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 13. After enjoying a cowboy breakfast, those attending the gathering are invited to stay and join the Burriers for front-row seating for the Chisholm Trail Roundup Grand Parade.
For more information, contact Hill-Burrier at (512) 376-9608 or via email at cessna1@peoplepc.com.
