The Burch Family

122 years on the Texas rangeland

Love of all things western
turns into passion for
bronze sculpting
More farming and
ranching news inside

Farming &
Ranching
In North Central Texas
Winter 2009 Vol. 2, No. 1

Serving Jack, Palo Pinto, Stephens and Young Counties


Burch family’s roots run deep on Young County’s rangeland
By Carla McKeown
MediaNews Service
When Lee Wiley Burch starts
talking, you know you’re about
to hear a story, especially if he’s
talking about the Burch Ranch
northwest of Graham.
Lee Wiley, as he likes to be
called, gets just a hint of a grin
on his face and a glint in his
eye as he launches into tale
after tale about the ranch that’s
been in his family for 122 years.
Sometimes, that glint turns to
a glisten as tears sneak from
Lee Wiley’s eyes when he talks
about his dad, W.P. “Nick”
Burch, who died earlier this
year.
The Burch Ranch got its start
in the 1880s when F.P. Burch
(Lee Wiley’s great-grandfather)
and his brother T.J. Burch (Lee
Wiley’s great-great-uncle)
came to Texas from Clai-
borne County, Tenn., and Scott
County, Va.
“They were right on the (state)
line,” Lee Wiley says. “It was
after the Civil War, and they
came in search of land and a
new home.”
The two brothers found land
in what is now the Lake Gra-
ham area.
“They lived in a log cabin at
what’s called the Gatewood
Place about 1879 or 1880,” Lee
Wiley says. “1887 is the oldest
deed we have, but we know they
were here way before that. One
rock at the house says ‘1885.’”
T.J. died in 1899, leaving the
the ranch to F.P., who brought
the rest of his family to Texas
around the turn of the century.
Winter 2009
Living history
“My grandfather was the first
of the kids born in Texas,” Lee
Wiley says. “He was born in
May 1899, the year T.J. died.
F.P. continued to run the ranch
for the following 18 years. In
addition to cattle ranching, he
was interested in horse trading
and made contracts for horses
for several people and owned
part of a livery stable in New-
The Knoll
My favorite of all places
on the ranch is a tiny hill
that overlooks the Belknap
Mountains we call “the
knoll.”
It was a wagon stop for
travelers to the west in the
early 1800s and a daily
crossing for my Daddy and
his buddy Bill Mote on their
route to the Bullock School.
Bill told me he and Nick
would gather rocks for their
slingshots from the face of
this tiny hill as ammunition
for their big game hunts of
rabbits and squirrels.
For me, this is where I ride
my four-wheeler on Sunday
mornings to park and remi-
nisce about the days gone by
and absorb the true beauty of
the Belknap Mountains and
their surroundings. I often
thank God for creating such
a beautiful place and some-
times I find myself talking to
castle, Lee Wiley says.
“But, Nanny, his wife, my
great-grandmother, she ruled
the roost around there,” he says.
F.P. died in 1917, and in about
1932, Nanny split the ranch
up among her sons and one of
her daughters — Wiley, Tom,
Leland, Eugene and Charlie
Burch and Sallie Perdue.
Lee Wiley’s grandfather,
By Lee Wiley Burch
Daddy as if he were standing
right next to me on this knoll.
One particular Sunday af-
ternoon, after doing chores
with our 6-year-old grand-
daughter, Amy Jo, I decided
to make a trip over to the hill
for a visit.
“Where we going, Pops?”
she asked in that sweet, little
curious voice.
Without thinking about
who my passenger was, I said,
Wiley P. Burch, ran his part
of the ranch until his death in
1982. At that time, Lee Wiley’s
father, W.P. “Nick” Burch, took
over the reins.
“An interesting little note is
that my granddad and dad
were born in the same house
on the ranch,” Lee Wiley says.
“And, here’s a family oddity:
Granddad had one son; Uncle
“I’m going up to talk to Paw
Paw Nick.”
“But Pops, Paw Paw Nick’s
up in Heaven,” she quipped.
Searching quickly for a
positive answer to this first-
grader, I said, “Yes, Jo Jo, Paw
Paw’s up in Heaven, but his
footprints and spirit are still
all over this ranch.”
“What’s ‘spirit,’ Popsie?”
I told her my Daddy was in
every blade of grass, every
rock, down all the creeks
and that “spirit” was another
name for memories of her
Paw Paw Nick.
She then started looking
around and getting into this
“spirit” thing. About that
time, I parked on top of the
hill right next to an aged
cow-pie. Amy looked down
at the circular, gray object,
then back at me and said, “Oh,
Popsie — you’re full of beans!”
It had been a good day.
Leland had one son; Eugene had
one son; Uncle Charlie had no
children; Aunt Sallie had one
son. And the land was passed
on to them.”
Lee Wiley inherited Nick’s
portion of the ranch in April
of this year.
This is the part of the story
where Lee Wiley gets choked
up. He takes a deep breath and
clears the lump in his throat,
then continues.
“The knowledge I have of
this ranch I acquired from him
(Nick) and from Bill Mote, who
was raised on the Burch Ranch.
But, the Burches weren’t very
talkative, and what I got, I had
to dig out of them,” Lee Wiley
says, apologetically wiping
a tear from the corner of his
eye. “I dearly, dearly loved my
dad. He was my best friend and
everything to me.”
Lee Wiley, a retired agricul-
ture teacher, as well as a poet
and rancher, is a contract fence
builder, and one of his latest
projects is a new entryway for
the Burch Ranch, pictured on
the cover of this issue of Farm-
ing & Ranching in North Central
Texas, as well as at the top of
this page. He does ornamental
iron work and builds fences, as
well as steel buildings.
His sons, Adam and Daniel,
will continue the ranch work
with him, Lee Wiley says.
And, now with his grandchil-
dren, the sixth generation of
Burches are poised to ride the
rangeland of Young County,
taking the stories of the past
into the future.
(Photos by Tony Pilkington)
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