R. F. Tankersley Homestead

R. F. Tankersley Homestead. . Richard Franklin Tankersley was born June 23, 1828, in Georgia and married Annie Allen of Aberdeen, Mississippi, in 1848. They moved to Texas and in 1864 established a home as ranchers on Spring Creek. Soon land in the area began to be sold for settlements, dividing the open land where free-range cattle grazed. Tankersley purchased 960 acres east of San Angelo on main Concho River from Samuel Maverick's widow, Mary, for 960 gold dollars. The property originated with the Fisher-Miller colony on August 28, 1851, and changed hands multiple times until it was eventually sold along with many other properties to Maverick in 1860., R. F. Tankersley built this rock house with locally quarried rock. No cement was available at the time, but a combination of limestone, gravel, and buffalo hair made a plaster that has lasted for more than 135 years. Oxen carried doors, oak flooring and handmade square nails from San Antonio to the Concho river. Gun ports were placed in the rock walls and there was a high rock fence around the house for protection. The home's construction is very similar to Fort Concho, which was built around the same time with large cornerstones and solid stone lintels. It is thought that some of the same German stonemasons who built the fort may have constructed the house., The Tankersleys homesteaded on the property until their marriage ended in divorce in 1878. The property had several owners over the years before it was sold to J. Willis Johnson in 1900 and kept in the family for 84 years. The R. F. Tankersley homestead is thought to be the oldest home still standing in the Concho Valley. The property was designated a State Antiquities Landmark in 2016., Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2017.