Robert J. Kleberg (King Ranch)

Robert Justus Kleberg (December 5, 1853 – October 10, 1932) was born to Rosa and Robert J. Kleberg in Texas and attended the University of Virginia. He served as legal counsel to Richard King and his 600000 acre King Ranch. When King died, Kleberg took over the management of the ranch in 1885. Under his tenure the ranch grew to encompass over 1300000 acre. He also encouraged the B. F. Yoakum company of St. Louis to build a railroad in South Texas. Eventually oil was discovered under much of this cattle country. At the time of his death, his son Richard M. Kleberg had recently been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (in 1931).