William Carson “Uncle Billy” McGough and Charles Culpepper Blair The following article was first printed in the Midland Reporter-Telegram April 8, 1979, and reprinted in the Eastland Telegram September 27, 1979, and since that has been 44 years ago, in case the readers have forgotten or missed it, it is being reprinted again.
“My Father . . . . An Indian Fighter” was told by a Midlander, Margie Taylor, and the article was written by a Lifestyle Writer named Susan Rutherford.
Margie Taylor said, “He hung and he killed.” Yet her father , William Carson “Uncle Billy” Mc-Gough, must be considered in the most unusual of contexts. He was a Texas Ranger and Indian fighter from Eastland County, who died in 1927 at the age of 91. In the words of an admirer, he was “a heavy-duty guy.” Easily the type legends are made of, McGough was father of 23 children. At the time of his death the oldest was 65 and the youngest was 10, meaning that he fathered children up into his 80s. He outlived three wives and married his fourth when he was 61 and she was 19. Four sets of McGough children made up his immediate family. While there were approximately 100 grandchildren at the time of his death, no one has been able to count the number of his great-grandchildren. “I didn’t really have a daddy since he was so old and always busy. My teachers thought he was my grandfather or even my mother’s grandfather.”
