"Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, where the deer and the antelope
  play..." That wasn't just a song to my father, James Culp Elsea. He made it
  into a reality on his ranch 13 1/2 miles west and 2 1/2 miles south of Medicine
  Lodge.
     Born October 27, 1893, in Rome, Kansas, he came to Barber County as a child,
  riding in a horse-drawn buggy with his mother Alice, and sister Freda, His
  father James Pearson Elsea, had previously staked out the family homestead with
  his partner, Joe Thralls.
     He was united in marriage to Beulah M. Mills, May 2, 1917, and work began on
  ranch home where they were to live for almost fifty years. I'm told that this
  home was the scene of community activities and a gathering place for many happy
  occasions. The dances are what Mother likes to reminisce about. People traveled
  from Aetna, Hardtner, Isabel, Pratt, and places in between, to dance to music
  provided by such musicians as Ben Morris, Hal Garten, Wilse Conner, and Helen
  Basey. Rugs were rolled up and the house became a dance hall.
     Daddy began raising buffalo in 1942. He experimented with crossing buffalo
  with herefords, and became successful in 1945. The first crossbred Cattalo cow
  raised nineteen calves. He was successful in crossing a buffalo bull to herefords
  and hereford bulls to buffalo cows. The buffalo were sold to amusement parks
  and hunting preserves. Buyers as far away as Florida came to purchase the
  buffalo and catalo. In 1951, people from Hollywood, California, shot pictures 
  of them for a movie. In the 1960's their pictures were put on postcards and
  are still sold across the state. Daddy donated a buffalo to the United Methodist
  Church in 1951, and the buffalo burgers brought $750.
     1942 is significant in our family history for another reason. A son, James
  Kirby (born 10-31-42) was adopted; and I, Mary Lou Elsea Hinz, (born 1-25-45)
  was adopted two years later. We were really welcomed into the neighborhood.
  Mother said there were over 100 people in for Kirby's welcoming party.
     When Kirby started to school, the folks rented an apartment in Medicine Lodge.
  Later they bought a hose at 102 West Central. Weekends and summers saw us back
  at the ranch.
     Kirby tried t settle into the college routine at Emporia State in 1960-61,
  and later at Pratt Juco and Fort Hays. Finally, he realized that the settling
  place for him was on the ranch and in 1966 he went into partnership with Daddy.
  That was the year that I graduated from Fort Hays State College, with a B.S.
  Degree in Speech Therapy. I started practicing as a speech clinician in Great
  Bend, Kansas, and on December 27, 1967, married my college sweetheart, Philip
  Reed Hinz, from St. Francis, Kansas. Phil taught special education in the
  Great Bend Schools.
     Our first home was at 2807 Gano, Great Bend; we lived there almost ten years.
  Both our children were born in the Central Kansas Medical Center, Great Bend;
  Trevor James on September 1, 1969, and Mandi lou on April 11, 1971.
     We lost Daddy after a lenghty illness on July 1, 1971. We were thankful that
  Kirby knew the ranch business and could carry on, and be near Mother.
     Then suddenly, on April 2, 1976, Kirby met with a fatal accident at the
  ranch. He was riding in an All-Terrain Vehicle that upset, crushing him beneath
  it. This tragic event brought me and my family to the ranch to live, with a
  firm belief that "all things work together for good to them that love God, to
  them who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)
     Grandmother Elsea registered the VT brand in 1883, one of the first brands
  in Barber County. It now belongs to us and is indeed a prized possession, as it
  represents our ties with the past and our future in Barber County.
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 170 
     Submitted by: Mary Lou Elsea Hinz