Caprock Chronicles: Mathew ’Bones’ Hooks: pioneer, cowboy, civic leader

The Caprock Chronicles are edited weekly by Jack Becker a Librarian at Texas Tech University. He can be reached at jack.becker@ttu.edu. Today’s article is by Mary Kuhlman, a frequent contributor to the Chronicles and a History Professor at West Texas A&M University.

Mathew “Bones” Hooks was an important figure in the development of the Panhandle.

Mathew was born in Robertson County, Texas, in 1867 to former slaves Alex and Annie. The family took the last name of their former slaveholder, Hooks. Mathew received the nickname of “Bones” due to his small build as a child.

Mathew started his first job, driving a meat wagon for a butcher, at the age of seven. The next year Hooks participated in a cattle drive as he drove a wagon to Colorado for Steve Donald. He continued to work for Donald and became a respected horse wrangler.

Hooks worked on various ranches and took part in many cattle drives. In 1886, he went back to Texarkana in East Texas to start a grocery store. He returned to West Texas, however, after 18 months because of a warning posted on his door to “get out” signed by a white supremacist group.

He lived in Clarendon for 23 years and became involved in establishing the first African American church in West Texas, St. Stephens Baptist Church. Hooks went to Fort Worth to find a preacher for the church and to marry him to Miss Anna Crenshaw in Clarendon.

Hooks became known as a top horse wrangler and worked on a number of West Texas ranches including the XIT. Hooks broke horses for Charles Goodnight and recalled that Goodnight had no problem hiring black cowboys. Of course, Hooks did face discrimination especially in towns like Mobeetie and Memphis.

Hooks worked with another cowboy, Tom Clayton training horses and selling them around the Panhandle. After Clayton died when a horse fell on him, Anna suggested that they move to Amarillo so Hooks could find a safer line of work. In 1900, he became a porter and Anna a maid at the hotel Elmhurst. Hooks later took a job as a porter on the Santa Fe Railroad in 1909.

On one train trip in the Panhandle, Hooks overheard four men talking about a horse that could not be broke. Hooks told the men he could ride the horse. The men scoffed but took Hooks’ wager of $25.

When the train stopped in Pampa where the “unridable” black mustang, “Old Bob”, waited, Hooks booted and spurred and removed the white porter’s jacket. Getting off the train he “combed that bronc from his ears to his tail, rode him to a standstill, collected his money, and was back on the train when it pulled out seven minutes later.”

He and his wife made a home in Amarillo. (Anna died in 1920) Hooks was the second African American to live in Amarillo. Since whites balked at having blacks live near them, Hooks established a separate community for blacks in Amarillo. Hooks convinced mayor Lee Bivins to provide financial support to open North Heights. Hooks invested time and money to establish a drug store/general store in the community.

He had a strong interest in helping young people and even though he had no children of his own, he became a father figure. Since blacks could not join Amarillo’s youth organization, the Maverick Club, Hooks started the Dogie Club in 1932 and served as a mentor to many black boys. He led the Dogie Club in activities such as camping, planting trees, sports and lead discussions on life, good citizenship, and the whys of discrimination. He told the boys that soon segregation would end, and they could swim in the city pool.

Former member Charles Kemp stated that Hooks “made you feel like you were somebody. It was the biggest thing that ever happened to me.” Eddie Moore agreed. “If it hadn’t been for the Dogie Club a lot of us would have gone astray.”

Hooks is probably best known for bringing white flowers to the funerals of Panhandle pioneers. He also sent a single white flower to living dignitaries including Franklin Roosevelt, Will Rogers, and Sir Winston Churchill. In his life time he sent out over 500 white flowers to people.

Hooks broke racial barriers on a number of occasions such as being the first African American to sit on the Potter County grand jury and the first black member of the XIT Association as well as other groups.

An example of the respect that Hooks had in the community was that the Amarillo Globe-Times started a fund for him when he became ill and hired a housekeeper to care for him.

In 1951, Hooks died and his funeral at the Mount Zion Baptist Church was crowded with white and black mourners. Each person respectfully placed a single white flower on his coffin.

Mathew Hooks was inducted to the National Cowboys of Color Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth.