No. 12 Briscoe Family

640,000 acres (up 80,000 acres)
One family member, Andrew Briscoe, was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Another member – the venerable Dolph Briscoe Jr. – served two terms as the Lone Star State’s governor in the 1970s. Three generations of the Briscoe family have stewarded the 100,000-acre Catarina Ranch in South Texas, the epicenter of the family’s thriving cow-calf operation and the linchpin of Briscoe Ranch Company.