Mose Johnson was born at New Harp in Montague County in 1881. After his father died when he was three, his mother Sarah gave him a baby chick to teach responsibility, beginning a lifelong interest in poultry. In 1904, Mose married Mabel Jones, and the next year they began the M. Johnson Poultry Ranch with five single comb white leghorns and one rooster. A large incubator helped the ranch ship day-old chicks internationally, and by 1915 it covered 350 acres and was considered one of the largest enterprises of its kind. The Johnsons’ 1924 home was advertised as “the house that white leghorns built.” The business continued to expand in Bowie and Wichita Falls before closing after Mabel’s death in 1974.