At 3 a.m. on a spring night in 1876, George and Amanda Gober and their six children watched their home burn to the ground.
The fire that started hours after a painter finished work on the house consumed everything they owned. George sobbed uncontrollably while his family watched. Jim Gober was 9 years old.
He said his father was never the same. Denton County had 5,031 residents in 1860. In 1869, George Gober moved his family to a farm that sat 9 miles northwest of Denton.
His brother John lived nearby. Two years later, George bought land to farm on Clear Creek. The heavily timbered farm had rich soil.
Jim, his father and his two older brothers raised corn, cotton, oats and barley. They hauled harvests 52 miles to Dallas. The farm produced almost everything but flour, coffee beans and sugar.
The Gobers lived in a log cabin before saving money to build their house. They drove an ox team 150 miles to Jefferson to buy lumber for a two-story house with six rooms. With the house complete, they butchered their hogs and converted the cabin into a smokehouse.
After the fire, Bob Wright, whose wife was Amanda’s cousin, invited the family to live in their house while neighbors helped the family build a house. Drought claimed crops that year. George sold his livestock to pay the mortgage on the land.
He started over. Texas was the Wild West, but Civil War Reconstruction worsened everything. Jim remembers seeing one of Sam Bass’ first horse races in 1875.
Jim’s uncle took him to the.
