Basil Cairns was a Scotsman by birth, who transplanted himself to Texas soil and learned to love it. He went to sea from his native country when quite young, and spent many years as a seafaring man. Basil's father had six daughters and four sons. We do not have stories of the girls, but the four boys, grown to manhood, are very important to the history of the Cairns and their place in Kent County history.
To explain our source of the story, Mr. Basil Cairns, living in Scotland, made and sent to Mrs. Black a tape telling of his uncle, for whom he was named, and of the family. In Scotland, the family homes were near liverpool and Glasgow. There, Robert, one of the sons, lived and reared his family, our correspondent being one of his children.
After the brother, Basil, had gone to sea, the other two brothers, Edwin and Alex, were sent to the United States to buy cotton for the textile mills in Scotland and Britain. This they did, but bought, also for the family, fifty sections of land in the west side of Kent County. Edwin came back to manage the ranch, with Alex choosing to stay in Scotland and pursue a different profession.
Basil tired of the sea after several years, and returned home. Restless and looking for new interests, he was urged to go "out to Texas and take a look at the ranch." He came, was fascinated by what he saw, and stayed for more than fifty years, going back home to visit only twice, in 1928 and 1952. He came about 1904, and found he didn't care for ranching but liked farming very much.
Three sections of land in the southern part was set aside for the farm. This is the part that Basil was to manage.
Edwin continued to manage the ranch for several years, but the acreage was sold off, most of it going to Mr. Morgan Jones, of Abilene. The Cairns ranch was known as Paddles Ranch, and is mentioned often in the reminiscences of the old timers.
There was no house in which Basil could live at the farm, but he began immediate planning for the building of one.
Basil's first fifteen years there were spent as a bachelor. He had more than twenty teams of mules to do the work around the farm, so had to use most of the tillable land to raise feed for his animals. Gardens, orchards, and vineyards were planted, and grew well. Some cotton and other produce was grown for cash crops. It was not a profitable operation.
Mr. Cairns was a sociable person. He enjoyed his neighbors and friends. He never learned to speak "Texas" but he spoke French and Italian quite well, and he continued to exercise the ability through subscriptions to the little newspapers in those languages. He also spoke other languages that he had learned as a seaman. He was very fond of singing. He would entertain local audiences with his singing of Scottish songs, and in his distinct Scottish brogue, it is doubtful that the Texans could understand him. He didn't let that bother him, he enjoyed doing it for the people.
Another thing he enjoyed so much, was keeping bees. He had eighty or more hives, and worked hard at caring for them. He chose to make his own sections and frames. Most of the nectar gathered by the bees was from mesquite tree blossoms, which then or now, makes a delicious honey.
Mr. Cairns was of the opinion that there was no underground water anywhere near the house, so for forty-five years water was hauled from a surface tank for household use, using a tank mounted on a wagon. Finaly, he was persuaded to have a well put down just a short way from the back door. A strong flow of water was found about one hundred feet down, that has never failed over many years. There was also a cistern installed to catch rain water run off the roof.
He was married about 1920 to a school teacher at Graham, whose name was Agnes (no surname was given). She had earlier been a Governess for the young children of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Cairns at the Paddles Ranch.
This lady had a lively sense of humor, and stories were told of brief and amusing incidents in which she had a part. She was teased about her big feet, her inability to learn to drive a car, and also of the good times she and her husband had with their friends nearby. Among these, and special friends, were the John Sampson family, who were also of Scottish descent, and with whom a lifelong friendship was established.
Mr. Cairns was a very active man, and continued to work until he was eighty, when he put a new roof on the house which he himself had built.
He also had a wry sense of humor, which was given rein in naming two stubborn mules after the daughters of a friend in Scotland. (They were probably headstrong young ladies!) The house built by Mr. Cairns is still in good condition, and in use as a home for Harold and Vera Parker and their three sons. The house and the story of its construction was the initial reason for our contacting Mr. Basil Cairns to get this bit of history.
Since there was no house at all when he went there, Mr. Cairns had to do something right away. He went to Ft. Worth to get the forms for making of concrete blocks he planned to use. Since he had learned something of construction work while at sea, he knew how to plan for what he had in mind to build.
It was a most unusual structure. At the site, he took the forms and sacks of cement, in a wheelbarrow, down to the creek, where he found sand suitable for making conrete. He sat there by the stream, working for week after week, making the blocks, then carted them back uphill to the building site, after drying and ready for use.
He had planned quite well. The house was built with twenty-two doors, and no windows. A porch around three sides of the house provided a wide shade to keep the sun's rays away from the rooms. It seemed to provide a sufficient amount of shelter, for the rooms were always cool. (We found it interesting that the floors were sunken about two inches below the sills, effectively keeping insects and vermin from entering the house.)
Basil Cairns died in 1955, and Mrs. Cairns moved to Spur to make her home. She has now been dead for several years. Though the ranch properties were sold, the farm is still the property of the Cairns family. Mr. Basil Cairns, our correspondent, comes over once or twice a year for brief visits.
Source: "Kent County and Its People"© 1983, by Jewell G. Pritchett and Erma Barfoot Black; Printed by Rotan Advance Newspaper Office, Rotan, Texas
Submitted Christian Lenoir
Pioneer Kent Rancher Dies
Spur (Special) Basil C. Cairns, pioneer Kent county rancher and native of Scotland, died early today in Spur Memorial Hospital after a long illness. He would have been 81 years old Monday.Cairns was born in Hong Kong, China, where his father was on duty for the British Empire as a marine surveyor. When he was two years old, his parents returned to Scotland.
Became Marine Engineer:
Cairns became a marine engineer and went to sea while still in his teens. After several years at sea, he obtained leave to visit his brother, Ed, who owned the Paddle Ranch I Kent county." I liked it so well I decided to give up the sea in favor of ranch life, " he once remarked. " I fell in love with West Texas.".
On May 1, 1919, he married Miss Agnes Stewart, also of Scottish ancestry. Miss Stewart, a school teacher, was from Fort Worth.
Experimented on Ranch:
They named their ranch " Acorn Farms" where for years Cairns experimented with crops, poultry and livestock, importing breeds and strains previously unheard of in this part of the country. He was proudest of his honey bees and orchards. " I held that something everybody raised wouldn't sell as good as something different", he once commented about his unorthodox crops.During his eventful career, he survived a ship wreck in the Mediterranean, and on another occasion was confined to a shop with a smallpox epidemic about for 19 days in an Indian port.
Cairns' health failed him several months ago, and he has been in and out of hospitals since.
Service set Today:
Funeral Service will be held at 9 a.m. Monday in the Spur Presbyterian church with the Rev. James C. Willitt, pastor, officiating.Survivors include his wife, Agnes, of the home; two brothers, Edwin Cairns and A.C. Cairns, of Scotland; four sisters, Mrs. E.J. Grierson, Mrs. W.W. Robinson, Mrs. James Phillips and Miss Mabel Cairns, all of England and Scotland. And a nephew, A.C. Cairns, Jr., of Dallas.
Pallbearers will be Tye Allen, Howard Robichaux, Lewis Williams, Bilby Wallace, Van North and J. B. Earnest. Burial will be in Spur Cemetery.
©Lubbock Avalanche Journal, June 26, 1955
from the records of Lillian Grace Nay, Transcribed by Becky Hodges, August 9, 2004
Mrs. Cairns Buried Here Friday
Funeral services were held Friday afternoon, Nov. 20, at 3 p.m. in the lst Methodist Church for Mrs. Agnes S. Cairns with Rev. W.D. McReynolds officiating assisted by Rev. James Duddy.Mrs. Cairns died Nov. 18 in Spur Memorial Hospital. She had been in failing health for some time.
Mrs. Cairns moved near Clairmont in 1919 and later moved to Spur in 1956. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Survivors include two sisters, Mrs. F. B. Gilbert, Albuquerque, NM; Mrs. B.M. Staddon, Spur and nieces and nephews.
Pallbearers included Paul Marion, R.A. Conner, Horace Hyatt, Don McGinty, Carter Robinson, and Johnny Nichols.
Honorary pallbearers were Dr. Bob Alexander, Clifford B. Jones, Tom Johnston, Ned Hogan, Robert McAteer and James B. Reed.
Burial was in the Spur Cemetery
©The Texas Spur, November 26, 1964
from the records of Lillian Grace Nay, transcribed by Ann Walker
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