LIVING HISTORY
This is the second in a series of stories about the lives of a pioneering cattle family and the vast ranch they established.
45
THE SERIES TO DATE
This is the first in a series of stories about the lives of a
pioneering cattle family and the vast ranch they established.
BY GREGORY ENNS
PAINTING BY E.L. KENTON
The Cow Creek Chronicles is the true-life story of a pioneering
Florida family and the vast ranch they established. In
the first episode, Keightley Raulerson arrives in Fort Pierce
in 1896 and later wins political office and helps form the
early governments of Fort Pierce and St. Lucie County.
His younger brother, Frank, arrives in 1907 with wife,
Annie Louise, and their young son, Alfred. Keightley dies
in 1913, leaving Frank to oversee a cattle business, slaughterhouse
and grocery store.
Frank grows the businesses and wins election to the
county commission. He builds the landmark Raulerson
Building in downtown and a new home on Orange Avenue
in the 1920s boom era.
In the 1930s, he wins office to the Florida Senate. He
also begins making large purchases, creating a 23,000-acre
ranch along the St. Lucie-Okeechobee county line called
Cow Creek. Frank’s son, Alfred, is the presumed heir to all
that Frank accumulates, but when Alfred dies in a boating
accident in 1938, the only heir is Alfred’s 8-year-old
daughter, Jo Ann. Frank and Annie
Louise persuade Jo Ann’s mother to let
them raise the young girl, arguing that
they have better means to do so.
She relents. Jo Ann grows up a child of privilege but
is also conflicted. She is both influenced by her grandmother’s
Victorian-era values and her grandfather’s
desire to make her a cattlewoman capable of running
Cow Creek and his other land holdings.
The death of Jo Ann’s father and separation from her
mother steels Jo Ann’s emotions, allowing her to endure
almost anything. Annie Louise dies in 1951 and Frank
sells off most of his real estate
holdings, except Cow
Creek, before his death in
1954, putting his assets in
a trust that becomes available to Jo Ann after her 30th
birthday and beyond the 1960s.
Jo Ann marries a clothing salesman and lothario,
Tommy Sloan, in 1952. She gives birth to their two
daughters, Debra and Kathy, while he is in the Army.
On his return home, he begins to learn the ropes of
running the ranch and, despite an awkward start, wins
his way to becoming president of the St. Lucie County
Cattlemen’s Association in 1958.