Born at Old Brazoria, Robert Edward Lee Stringfellow (1866-1951) began his career on a cattle ranch at the age of 14. Soon he acquired his own herd. He opened a Velasco meat market in 1890 and provided beef for workers building jetties at the mouth of the Brazos River. Stringfellow's ranch holdings here in southern Brazoria County increased to 20,000 acres. A philanthropist and civic leader, Stringfellow was an early builder and investor in Freeport townsite. After he was injured in the 1932 hurricane, his wife Nannie (Maddox) (d. 1971) operated the ranch and Freeport interests. (1980)