Ranch House

Ranch House. . Like so many Cracker families, Henry Oscar Partin’s parents moved to Florida from Georgia in the 1870s. Henry, an ambitious teenager, followed in his father's footsteps as a farmer and rancher. He was only 15 when he used his wages as a cowhand to buy his first ranch land. By the 1950s, his cattle empire - the Heart Bar Ranch - spanned 60,000 acres and was the largest privately owned operation east of the Mississippi River., Brahman Bulls , Henry was a leader in establishing the Brahman cattle industry in Florida. In the mid-1930s, Henry began looking for a way to improve his cattle ranch. He purchased 131 purebred Brahmans from a Texas breeder, including the bull Imparistre. Eventually, Imparistre sired Emperor, who became the Partin’s most-prized steer. Henry once described Emperor as “the man that put me in the Brahman business.”, 20th Century Cattlemen , In 1909, Henry married 17-year-old Bertha Lee, who was related to the pioneer families of Bass, Yates, and Overstreet. They began building their family while Henry expanded his herds and holdings. Eventually, it took 175 miles of barbed wire to fence his land. The ranch was a family operation, with four of Henry's sons working as his cattle hands and right-hand men. In 1956, the Saturday Evening Post published a story about the Partin family, declaring them to be "the hardest working millionaires in America” and noting that the Partin patriarch built his empire without hiring a single cowboy., (captions) , Emperor Jr. circa 1948 , By the 1950s, Brahman bulls replaced the cracker or scrub cow as a the dominant breed of cattle in Florida. Ranchers favored this breed because of its size and resilience. Emperor Jr. was named Grand Champion at the Florida State Fair in 1948. Image Courtesy Osceola County Historical Society, Partin Cattlemen , The entire family including (left to right) Henry O., Oscar Lee "Slim", Edward Lewis "Geech", Henry Hyatt “Doc,” and Richard Earl worked on the Heart Bar Ranch. Today, Partin descendants still operate cattle ranches on some of Henry’s lands. Image Courtesy Osceola County Historical Society