Easy as I, II, III: Sansom the People, Sansom the Places

The Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo was first held on the North Side in 1896, and when the history of the stock show and of the North Side is discussed, one of the recurring names is “Sansom.” But you have to be more specific.

First the people. “Sansom” usually refers to Marion Sansom. Ah, but which one? There were three: Sr., Jr., and III.

Now the places. You are probably familiar with Sansom Park. But which one? Again, there are three: two Sansom Park parks and one Sansom Park city. If you are ever asked on a quiz show, no, the Sansom Park parks are not located in the Sansom Park city. Savvy? Marion Sansom Park and Buck Sansom Park are in Fort Worth. The former, west of Jacksboro Highway, is named after Sr.; the latter, east of Jacksboro Highway, is named after Jr., whose nickname was “Buck.” Sansom Park the city, which incorporated in 1949 with about three thousand people, is located on Jacksboro Highway between the two Sansom Park parks and is named after Sr.

Sr., Jr., and III all were important in the development of the stock show and rodeo during its first half-century.

But when it comes to the stock show, Sr. was the main Marion. He was there from the giddyup-go. In fact, the stock show’s first roundup was held on his ranch.

Marion Sansom Sr. was born on June 20, 1853 in Madison County in southeast Texas, but his personal compass always seemed to point north. In 1859 he moved north with his family—to Alvarado. Sansom became a banker and rancher there, served as mayor. But he also developed interests farther north—in Fort Worth.

He became a livestock commissioner in Fort Worth in 1892, three years after the Union Stockyards opened and one year before Boston capitalists Greenlief Wadleigh Simpson and Louville Veranus Niles and other eastern capitalists formed Fort Worth Stock Yards Company and bought the Union Stockyards and the original Fort Worth Packing Company. Sansom later was president of the Fort Worth Livestock Commission. He also dealt in feed, grain, cotton oil, and real estate.

Sansom was one of the organizers of the stockyards in 1893 and of the packing plants ten years later. In fact, in 1903, as Swift and Armour opened their plants, Sansom moved north again, from Alvarado to Fort Worth, where he was already doing so much business. He settled north of the river.

sansom surveysIn 1904 Sansom began buying land southwest of Saginaw one thousand acres at a time. Three purchases alone totaled thirty-four hundred acres for $2.1 million in today’s money. He would eventually own seven thousand acres between Lake Worth and Marine Creek. The ranch included the future sites of Marion Sansom Park, Buck Sansom Park, and the city of Sansom Park.

sansom upshur 9-22-6In 1906 Sansom sold his twenty-thousand-acre ranch in Upshur County.

The senior Sansom was instrumental in establishment of the stock show in 1896, held under shade trees along Marine Creek in north Fort Worth and timed to coincide with a convention of cattlemen. He was president of the stock show in 1923-1924, succeeding Burk Burnett.

Sansom also was the first president of Stockyards National Bank (1910, pictured), a director of State National Bank, a director of the Fort Worth Board of Trade, a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. He was head of the War Finance Corporation, which provided relief to cattlemen during and after World War I. He was chairman of the Tarrant County war bond drive during World War I.

During World War I there was a Camp Sansom for Army field artillery on Worth Hill overlooking the Lake Worth dam.

Marion Sansom was president of Cassidy-Southwestern Livestock Commission, president of the board of regents of Texas A&M, a director of the Southwestern Cattle Raisers’ Association.

This is the view from the Inspiration Point shelter at Marion Sansom Park toward the mile-long hanger at Lockheed Martin and the dam of Lake Worth. Marion Sansom Sr. lived to see the lake (1913) and his namesake park (1921) but not the bomber plant (1942).

sansom park 1921In 1921, as the city was developing Rockwood, Trail Drivers, and Marion Sansom parks in north Fort Worth, Marion Sansom Park originally was envisioned as a game preserve for animals such as deer and buffalo.

sansom sr obit 1932Marion Sansom Sr. died on March 22, 1932.

sansom jr obit 1942Marion Sansom Jr., born in 1879, died in 1942. Like his father, Jr. was a rancher northwest of town. Jr. managed his father’s estate and was a stock show official, serving as manager from 1918 to 1922 and as a director from 1922 until his death.

sansom park 1929In 1929 plans for Buck Sansom Park were being developed after Sansom in 1927 had donated some acreage and sold other acreage to the city for the park named for him.

sansom iii obit 1960Marion Sansom III, born in 1910, died in 1960. He, too, was a director of the Fort Worth stock show and also of the San Angelo stock show, the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association, and the Concho County Hereford Association.

glenwood cemeteryMarion Sansom Sr., Jr., and III are buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Alvarado.

sansom mapGoogle aerial photo shows, from left to right, Marion Sansom Park, the city of Sansom Park, and Buck Sansom Park.

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16 Responses to Easy as I, II, III: Sansom the People, Sansom the Places

  1. Dev says:

    Does anyone know where I can find his cattle brand at?

  2. Steve Ezell says:

    My grandmother was Margaret Sansom Nicholson. Her father was Leon Holeman Sansom. Do you have information on the familial relationship to the Marion Sansoms?

  3. Mary Reeves Carver says:

    Was Marion Sansom related to James Buckley Sansom? James Buckley Sansom came up in my family tree on Ancestry.com. I love in Sansom Park so I was very interested in the Sansom family history. I haven’t found a link between the two men. If you have any information please let me know.

    • hometown says:

      Mary Reeves Carver: Wish I could help you. Everything I know about the Sansoms is in my post. I don’t find any evidence that James Buckley and the Fort Worth/Alvarado Sansoms ever lived in the same area, but that disproves nothing about kinship.

  4. Thomas Cole says:

    My wife sent me this link, which has been updated from the first time I read it. I will provide further detail. Marion Sr. had four children. Marion Jr, Winifred, and a set of twin girls of which only one, Ninette, survived. Marion Jr. (Buck) had only one child, Marion III. Winifred Sansom died childless and Ninette married Alan Connell, one of W. E. Connell’s sons. Ninette and Alan had one child, a daughter named Vera. They subsequently divorced and Ninette married Morris Berney. Vera married Fred Korth (from Karnes County – Secretary of the Navy under JFK) and had three children; Nina Maria, Fritz-Alan, and Verita. Vera and Fred divorced in 1964 and Vera remarried Dr. Dewitt Neighbors in 1966 until his death in 1985. She re-married Bill Connor in 1989 until his death in 1993(?). Vera passed away in August 1997. Verita tragically took her own life in 1969 after marrying Alex Sagshunoff. Fritz-Alan married Penne Percy of Waco and had three children; Fritz-Alan Jr., Maria, and James. Nina Maria married Thomas Gary Cole, Jr in 1955 and had three children, Vera, Carroll-Marion, and Thomas Gary, III. In March of 2016, Marion Sansom Cole, Marion Sansom, Sr’s triple great grandson, was born to Thomas Gary Cole, III and Jacqueline C. Cole in Houston.

  5. Darrell Sansom says:

    Sorry to bother you with this. I am not sure. It has been a long time ago. I haven’t been back since. I couldn’t tell you which one or where at this point. Sorry

    • hometown says:

      Darrell, check the old aerials in the link I posted. You know better what to look for than I do. You can even use a slider to compare across time. Good luck.

  6. Darrell Sansom says:

    Maybe you could help answer a question for me. I was down there back in the late 80’s and saw a lot of houses built on what looked like the edge of the park. It had become mexican housing. There was a police officer there so I asked him about it. He got really agitated with the question. I left because I really thought he was going to arrest me just for asking a question. Do you know anything about houses being built on the edges of the park property and slowly downsizing the park?

    • hometown says:

      Darrell, I am not sure if you are referring to Marion Sansom Park or Buck Sansom Park, but looking at Google aerials of both, I don’t see anything that matches what you describe, although it appears that a neighbor at Buck Sansom may be using the edge of the park woods as an extension of his back yard.

    • Darrell Sansom says:

      Did you compare it to older maps from the 60’s or 70’s?

    • hometown says:

      Darrell, which of the two parks are you talking about? And are these houses that were there or are there? If the houses were there but now are gone, I am not aware of them. I don’t know that part of town well. Looking around the perimeter of both parks on Google, I don’t seen any encroachment. I see conventional-looking houses on city streets with, I assume, city services.
      http://www.historicaerials.com/

  7. Rochelle Sansom-Woods says:

    Thank you for sharing this story. It’s my first step to learning my family history.

    • hometown says:

      Glad to help, Rochelle. The Sansom family name is so recurring in Fort Worth history that it would be a shame to not appreciate where the place names came from.

  8. Jon Sansom says:

    Thank you for the article. As a “Sansom” with roots in Tarrant County, I’d enjoy learning more. – Jon Sansom

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