WILLIAM C. ISAACS, of Canadian, is one of the prominent cattleman of the Panhandle, and for a number of years has been a positive influence for progress and development in this section of the state. As one of the oldest residents of Hemphill county he has witnessed this region in its change from an exclusive range country into a fine stock-farming and agricultural belt, and his own success and prosperity have increased with the country. The Isaac brothers’ ranch is known as one of the best in Northwest Texas, and enterprises undertaken by men of the Isaacs name have come to be recognized as successes by matter of foregone conclusions.
Mr. Isaacs, who was born in DeKalb county, Alabama, December 4, 1853, was the son of J. C. Isaacs, a prominent Texas citizen of the last century, who was born in Tennessee, then lived in Alabama, and, removing with his family to Bosque county, Texas, in 1857, became a pioneer in the cattle industry there and later in Comanche county, his death having taken place several years ago near San Antonio.
Mr. Isaacs confesses to have been practically “reared in the saddle,” and the various phases of the cattle business have been known to him from the days of his early boyhood. Such educational advantages—which were meager enough—as the schools of Comanche county and Fort Graham afforded while he was growing up he enjoyed without impairing in any particular the practical bent of his nature. Some time in early manhood he moved from Comanche to Taylor county and went into the cattle business with his brother-in-law, J. A. Martin. In those days Taylor county was one of the principal centers of the cattle industry, many of the most extensive cattlemen operating from Abilene, the county seat. From Taylor county he was located in Fisher county for three years, then for a year and a half had his cattle on the Cheyenne-Arapahoe reservation, then in New Mexico for four years, and since the year 1883 he has had the center of his industrial operations in the Panhandle country. He is a partnership with his brother, Sam Isaacs. Their ranch is in all respects a model, one of the best in the cattle industry, and its thirty thousand acres are situated beautifully along the river in the Red Deer country in Hemphill county, the ranch headquarters being a mile and a half west of Canadian. Mr. Isaacs himself lives in town, where he has a beautiful residence, and is esteemed as one of its foremost citizens.
Mr. Isaacs is well known in Masonic circles, and his brother Sam is also a prominent member of that fraternity, having been worshipful master of the local lodge ever since its organization. Another brother, John Isaacs, operates a ranch individually, his place being ten miles east of Canadian in Hemphill county.
Mr. Isaacs is a member of the executive committee of the Panhandle Cattle- Raisers’ Association, and takes a leading part in all matters pertaining to the cattle business. Mr. Isaacs married Miss Mary Brainerd, who was born in New York, and they both enjoy high social connections throughout this section of the state.
Source: B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas, Vol. II (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), p. 208.