Robertson, born Nov. 13, 1890. Mr. Aldredge is a prominent lawyer in Dallas, where they live.

The Hearne family in Texas, chiefly in and around Hearne, went from Alabama to Western Louisiana, on the Texas border, 1838 to 1839. They were all prosperous cotton planters, owning many slaves, and were typical Southern people. In 1851 many of them emigrated further West, and settled in Robertson Co., Texas, in the Brazos Valley, where the land was exceedingly rich and fertile, but an unbroken forest. Their possessions in land extended from the present town of Hearne some twenty miles along the Brazos River, which they opened up and cultivated in cotton, and have continued it to the present writing, with eminent success.

The town of HEARNE took its name from the family, and is a thriving place of some 5,000 inhabitants; here is the crossing of the two railroads, Houston & Texas Central, north and south, and the International & Great Northern, east and west.

The Hearne family, feeling the great need of a railroad through their land, in 1890, in conjunction with some of their neighbors, put up $52,000 for the construction of the Hearne & Brazos Valley Railroad, eighteen miles in length, from Hearne, the earnings of which, in five years, entirely paid off the $52,000 and interest. Many of the families now live in the town of Hearne, and besides the railroad facilities to their farms, also have telephones as well. The net profits from many of these farms, annually, is a small fortune in itself. Horatio Reardon Hearne, one of the original settlers here in 1851 (now seventy-eight years old (1896), lives on his farm, the residence being four miles from Hearne. The farm contains 5,000 acres, 4,000 of which are in cultivation, mostly in cotton. There are about 800 souls, all told, on the farm; 200 of these are negro men laborers who have families of from two to five persons each, and a house and garden is furnished for each family. The farm is divided in three sections, with a manager for each. One of these managers is a negro man that Mr. Hearne has had for many years at a salary of $600 and board per year. To work the place 200 mules are required all the time, and as many plows, with other tools in proportion. The entire place is watered from artesian wells, the water being piped to every part of it; there is also a natural gas well near the residence, that furnishes not only

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Thanks to Carol Ealey for transcribing this page.