Ranch History

Mathew Moss came to Texas from Tennessee when he was quite young. He enlisted in Sherman's Regiment during the Texas Revolution and served in the defeat of Santa Anna at San Jacinto in 1836. For these services, he received from the Republic of Texas a land grant located in Llano County. In 1838, he married Mary Ann Boyce, daughter of Aaron and Elizabeth Boyce of Missouri. Mathew and Mary Ann Moss lived in Fayette County before settling on her sub-division of her father's head-right in Travis County. They lived there until 1857 when they sold her land. As part of the sale they took in trade over 100 head of cattle branded for her. They moved their family and the cattle from Travis County to land in Llano County where Mathew believed there was a rich silver mine near Bullhead Mountain. It was never found. They had nine children. They were Julia, James, Charles, Stephen, William, Mathew, John, Elizabeth and Aaron. Charles and Aaron became the founders of the Heritage ranch being honored. Aaron Furman Moss & Etta Passmore Moss with their children: Luke, Mark, & Myrtle Aaron F. Moss was born in 1864 on his father's land grant in Llano County. His mother died when he was two and his father died in 1875. They were buried in the Moss Cemetery at the old homestead. He was reared by his oldest sister, Julia (Slator), and his older brother, Charles, who was his legal guardian. In 1882 when Aaron was 18 years old, he joined his brother in purchasing from Mary Maverick 30,000 acres which they added to their cattle ranching operation. Originally they had Longhorns, then crossed them with Durhams and later phased those out with Polled Herefords. They continued adding land that ran into the thousands of acres. Later, some of that land was sold in order to make long-range improvements on the original land.

The brothers were plagued by Indian raids. The climax of their troubles with Indians came at the Packsaddle Indian Fight in which Aaron and Charles fended off the attackers at home and protected the stock while three of their brothers fought at Packsaddle Mountain. The Mosses built their first fences of rail or rock, which eventually proved too expensive. As soon as barbed wire was invented, they built the first fences made with wire in Llano County. Fence cutters, however, continually cut the wire fences. The Mosses also built earthen ponds by using teams and scrapers, and dug wells by hand for stock water.

In November of 1897, the Moss Brothers effected a partition of their undivided one-half interest in approximately 30,000 acres, except for 1,200 acres occupied by the Enchanted Rock, which they held in common. Aaron Moss bought 25,000 more acres in Kinney County, and that land is the present site of Alamo Village. He later traded that land to his brother-in-law, Damon Slator, and always maintained that he "got the best of the deal" for his 5,000 acres northwest of Llano. Aaron Moss was married to Etta (Passmore), with whom he had three children, Mark, Luke and Myrtle (Inks). In 1946, Luke Moss received title to 1,226 of his father's land and later added 1,161 more acres on which he raised Polled Herefords. While he was still a boy, Luke Moss was given by his father the major responsibility of moving more than 100 horses by horse-herding to the Kinney County ranch. The round trip was made twice a year and took many weeks to complete.

Luke Moss took an active part in civic and community projects. He was an organizer and served as president of the Hill Country Livestock Raisers Association. He served on the Board of the Central Texas Electric Cooperative and was chairman of the Board of the First Christian Church. He also worked on the Texas Christian University Development Board. Moss was also active in the Llano County Soil and Water Conservation District and actively pursued brush control and water development practices. He also was a contributor to the Screw-worm Eradication Program. In addition to the land he acquired and bought for his ranch, Luke Moss received by partition 4,790 and bought 1,173 acres of other land that is not part of Dutch Mountain Ranch. He owned a total of 8,350 acres. He was married to Maud (Kendrick) and they had two daughters. They were Ann Etta (Hall) and Louise (Etheredge). Because he was a well-known and highly-respected rancher, the House of Representatives of the 59th Legislature set aside a page in the Journal to pay tribute to Luke Moss and adjourned that day in his memory.