Jeremiah Milton Nance

Jeremiah Milton Nance (April 6, 1850 – September 16, 1926) was an American cattle drover and rancher.

Early life and education Nance was born on April 6, 1850, in Hempstead County, Arkansas, the son of Ezekial Edward Nance and Luany Weightsell (née Pate) Nance. Before the age of two, his mother died, and , he and his father moved to near Mountain City, Texas. There, he attended the local school, until 1860, afterwards attending a one-room school built by his father from logs. He then attended the Johnson Institute, a boarding school.

Career On August 22, 1872, Nance registered a livestock brand in the shape of a pitchfork. He later partnered with his father, and on December 16, 1874, they registered a brand in the shape of a spade.

On April 15, 1877, Nance and ten cowboys drove 2,300 north through Fort Worth and Dodge City, Kansas, ending at Cheyenne, Wyoming in mid-July of the same year. In 1880, he drove a herd north via the Great Western Cattle Trail, though ended the journey at Dodge City, as the cattle refused to drink from the salty Brazos River. He sold a separate herd – 2,000 head large – to a ranch in Ogallala, Nebraska, though did not participate in the droving.

In 1883, Nance entered a partnership with a Presidio County ranch. He then spent ten years with the Toyah Land and Cattle Company grazing cattle at the foothills of the Davis Mountains. In 1885, he drove 3,000 head of cattle from Columbus, Texas, to Presidio County. He drove 2,000 head of cattle to Coolidge, Kansas, after using rail to first transport them to Big Spring. Due to drought and overgrazing, he and fellow ranchers moved their cattle westward in fall 1888. In spring 1889, a cyclone passed through the ranch they had moved to, killing 152 head of cattle and injuring hundreds of others.