Judge L(ysius) Gough (1862-1940)

When he died in November 1940, "Judge L. Gough" was described by his hometown newspaper, the Hereford Brand, as "a great leader, a true pioneer, and friend to all."[1] To this day one of the thoroughfares in the old section of Hereford, Texas, is Gough Street.

Lysius Gough was born in 1862 in Lamar County, Texas, his parents having moved there from Kentucky. As a teenager, he moved on his own to West Texas where he got a job working as a cowboy on the T-Anchor Ranch. Several times he worked a cattle drive, guiding a herd of thousands all the way through present-day Oklahoma to the rail head in Kansas. Having grown up in a strict Disciples home, he refused to drink, smoke, or swear. Noticing this, his fellow cowboys named him "Parson."

In the years that followed, Gough established himself as a community leader, serving as a lawyer and judge, and working in the cattle, farm, and real estate businesses in Castro and Deaf Smith Counties.[2]

Gough and his wife, Ida Etta Russell Gough, who died in 1904 at the age of 35, helped to establish the Christian Church in Hereford in 1899.[3] He was one of the founders of Hereford College and Industrial School in 1902.

Notes

[1] "Final Tribute Paid to Judge L. Gough in Services at First Christian Church Here Tuesday," Hereford Brand, November 7, 1940.

[2] Ibid.

[3] The Fiftieth Anniversary of the First Christian Church, Hereford, Texas (Hereford, TX: First Christian Church, 1949), 5.

Additional Source

Article on Lysius Gough in the Handbook of Texas Online:
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fgo20