Handwritten One-Page Letter By A. H. "Shanghai" Pierce On His Elaborate "Stock-Raiser And Cattle Dealer Letterhead

A.H. (ABEL HEAD) "SHANGHAI" PIERCE

Publication: 1892,

First edition. 9 1/2" x 6" one-page letter written in ink on his elaborate steer decorated "Office of A. H. Pierce, Stock-Raiser and Cattle Dealer. Address Pierce Station, P.O., B.U. Ranch, Tex., Dec. 25th 1892. Signed A. H. Pierce. The Handbook of Texas says in part: "PIERCE, ABEL HEAD [SHANGHAI] (1834–1900). Abel Head (Shanghai) Pierce, cattle raiser, the son of Jonathan and Hanna (Head) Pierce, was born on June 29, 1834, at Little Compton, Rhode Island. He had a few winters' schooling in a one-room school at Little Compton before 1848 or 1849 when he was sent to St. Petersburg, Virginia, to serve a quasi-apprenticeship in the general merchandise business of his uncle, Abel Head. In June 1854 young Pierce stowed away on a schooner bound for Indianola, Texas. Discovered, he was put to work handling cargo. He landed first at Indianola and then at Port Lavaca where he met Richard Grimes and went to work on the Grimes ranch splitting rails. Pierce soon began to acquire his own cattle which he registered and branded AP. After some difficulties in Matagorda County and the death of his wife and infant son, Pierce converted his cattle into gold and went to Kansas for an eighteen-month stay. Back in Texas, he began buying land until he acquired 250,000 acres and formed the Pierce-Sullivan Pasture Company of which he was president. The company sent thousands of cattle up the northern trails and shipped thousands by rail. In his efforts to solve the mystery of Texas fever, Pierce experimented in removing ticks and concluded that the ticks caused the fever. He toured Europe in search of a breed of cattle immune to ticks, and returned without a definite solution but with the conviction that Brahman cattle were most likely to be immune." He died December 26, 1900 in Texas. The town of Pierce, Texas is named after him. This note, to his lawyer D.C. Proctor (David Cogswell of Cuervo, Texas) states, "I say old fellow I have not rec'd that iron clad vendors lien deed & note with all the clauses in it in case of failure of parties to pay up I want it to have a lot printed as I am needing them daily so give attention at once & oblige wishing a merry xmas. A.H. Pierce." Previous folds. Tiny chip at top edge along with one pinhole within engraving.

Inventory Number: 51148