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Gc 978.9 H62a v.2 1195091
M. L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01105 3755
HISTORY
OF
NEW MEXICO
Its Resources and People
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME II
GC 978.9 H62a 4.2
PACIFIC STATES PUBLISHING CO. LOS ANGELES CHICAGO NEW YORK 1907
COPYRIGHT 1907 BY PACIFIC STATES PUBLISHING CO.
1195091
History of New Mexico.
TERRITORY DIVIDED INTO COUNTIES.
By act of January 9. 1852, passed at the second session of the first legislature of the Territory, New Mexico was divided into the counties of Taos, Rio Arriba, Santa Fé, San Miguel, Santa Aña, Bernalillo, Valencia. Socorro and Dona Aña. The bounds of the original counties remained practically the same as under the old Mexican régime.
In the genesis and development of the counties of the Territory there is the interest which attaches to all creative works, whether material, literary, artistic or political, and it is the purpose in the following para- graphs to relate briefly how the inner boundaries of New Mexico assumed their present form.
Of the original nine counties, Taos, as bounded in 1852, included all the northeast corner of the Territory now embraced by the counties of Taos, Colfax, Mora and most of Union, besides a wide strip extending west along the northern border to the Arizona line, and all the region since annexed to Colorado. From this immense district was created, in 1860, the new county of Mora, which included all that portion of the original Taos county lying east of the Rocky Mountains, or the present eastern boundary of Taos. In 1861 the wide strip along the northern boundary was detached from Taos, and in 1880 was added to Rio Arriba county. By these excisions of territory Taos became the smallest of the counties of New Mexico, whereas it was originally among the largest.
At the legislative session of 1854-55 the recently acquired. Gadsden purchase (now Arizona and New Mexico, south of the Gila river) was attached to Dona Aña county. At the organization of Arizona Territory, in 1863, all that portion of the purchase within the limits of New Mexico remained with Dona Aña.
Continuing the history of Mora county, as created in 1860, it is found that an act of 1868 relocated the boundary between that county and Taos, and that, in the following year, the northern part of Mora was set off to form Colfax county. The boundaries between these counties were modified by the legislatures of 1876 and 1882. Colfax and Mora thus occupied all the northeast corner of the Territory until 1893, at which time Union county was organized.
The county of Santa Ana was abolished by legislative enactment of January. 1876, and the territory forming it was attached to Bernalillo county in January of the following year. As originally constituted in 1852 the county was bounded as follows: On the east and north by the boundaries of the county of Santa Fe; on the south, from a point above
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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
the last houses of Bernalillo, where the lands previously known as those belonging to the Indians of Santa Aña are divided, drawing a direct line toward the east over the mountain until it reaches the parallel dividing the counties of San Miguel and Santa Fé; from said dividing point of the lands of the Indians of Santa Ana, drawing a line westward, crossing the Rio del Norte and terminating with the boundaries of the Territory.
As constituted by the first legislature, the original Rio Arriba county comprised all the northwest corner of the Territory, and, as stated, in 1880 received the strip along the San Juan river. It thus acquired an area of about 12,500 square miles, and included all the region north of the thirty- sixth parallel and west of Taos county. The legislature of 1880 slightly changed the boundary between Taos and Rio Arriba counties, and in 1884 San Juan county was formed from the western part of the latter, thus giving it essentially its present boundaries.
In a general way the subdivisions of the nine original counties of New Mexico have been traced. The later creations include Grant county, in 1868: Lincoln and Colfax, 1869; Sierra, 1883; San Juan, 1887; Chaves and Eddy, 1889; Guadalupe, 1891; Union, 1893; Otero, 1899; Mckinley and L'una, 1901, and Quay, Roosevelt, Sandoval, Torrance and Leonard Wood, since that year. (For particulars regarding counties, see detailed histories which follow.)
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LOCAL HISTORIES
BERNALILLO COUNTY.
As described in the legislative act of January 9, 1852, by which the counties of New Mexico were created, the boundaries were as follows: Drawing a direct line toward the east toward the Bosque de los Pinos, touching the Cayon Infierno and terminating with the boundaries of the Territory ; drawing a direct line from the Bosque de los Pinos, crossing the Rio del Norte in the direction of Quelites del Rio Puerco, and con- tinuing in the direction of the canyon of Juan Tafoya until it terminates with the boundaries of the Territory; on the north by the boundaries of Santa Aña and San Miguel, and on the east and west by the boundaries of the Territory.
OFFICIALS OF THE COUNTY.
The official records of Bernalillo county are quite incomplete, and are almost entirely missing for the first ten years after its organization. So far as the books in the office of the probate clerk show, the following have served since 1863:
Probate Clerks .- 1863-65, Jose M. Agnayo; 1866-67, M. F. Chaves; 1868, Teo- pilo Chaves : 1869-71, Harry R. Whiting; 1871-74, Nestor Montoya; 1875, Santiago Baca ; 1878-83, Melchior Werner; 1884, J. L. Pena, Jr .: 1885-6, W. H. Burke ; 1887-8, F. H. Kent: 1889-95. Henry V. Harris (died in June, 1895, and J. S. Garcia ap- pointed to fill unexpired term) ; 1897-8, J. C. Baldridge; 1899-1906, James A. Sum- mers (died in February, 1906, and A. E. Walker appointed to fill unexpired term).
Probate Judges .- 1869-71, Nestor Montoya; 1871-8. Mariano S. Otero; 1879-82, Justo R. Armijo; 1883-4, Tomas C. Gutierrez : 1885-6, Justo R. Armijo ; 1887-8, Jesus M. Chaves; 1889-94, Jesus Armijo y Jaramillo; 1895-6. Policarpio Armijo; 1897-8. Frank A. Hubbell; 1899-1900, C. Sandoval; 1901-2, Esquipula Baca; 1905-6, Jesus Romero.
Sheriffs .- 1870-1, Atanacio Montoya : 1871-3, Manuel Garcia : 1873-4, Juan E. Ba- rela ; 1875, Atanacio Montoya ; 1878, Manuel Sanchez y Valencia : 1879-84, Perfecto Armijo ; 1885-6, Santiago Baca : 1887-92, Jose L., Perea ; 1893-4. Jacobo Yrisarri ; 1895-6, Charles F. Hunt ; 1897-1905, Thomas S. Hubbell, removed from office by Governor Otero, August 31, 1005, and Perfecto Armijo appointed to fill unexpired term).
Treasurers .- 1870-1, Salvador Armijo: 1873-4, Diego Antonio Montoya : 1889-90, Willard S. Strickler : 1891-2, G. W. Meylert ; 1893-4. A. J. Maloy ; 1895-6, R. B. Myers ; 1897-8, Noa Ilfeld ; 1899-1900, J. L. Perea (also collector) ; 1901-2, Charles K. New- hall : 1903-5. Frank A. Hubbell (removed from office by Governor Otero, August 31, 1005. and Justo R. Armijo appointed to fill unexpired term).
Assessors .- 1880-92. Perfecto Armijo; 1893-4, Santiago Baca ; 1895-6, F. A. Hub- bell ; 1897-8, Justo R. Armijo; 1899-1900. Jesus M. Sandoval; 1901-2, Alejandro San- doval: 1903-4, Jesus M. Sandoval: 1905-6, George F. Albright.
Collector .- 1895-8, Alejandro Sandoval.
County Commissioners .- 1887-8, Marcos C. de Baca (chairman), Cristobal Armijo, Mariano S. Otero; 1889-90, Valentin C. Baca (chairman), Fernando Armijo, G. W. Meylert : 1801-2. Jesus M. Sandoval (chairman), J. R. Rivera, R. P. Hall : 1893-4, Luciano Ortiz (chairman), Vidal Moray Lobato, R. P. Hall; 1805-6, Jesus M. San- doval (chairman), W. W. Strong, Jesus Romero: 1807-8, Jesus Romero (chairman), Hilaria Sandoval, Pedro Castillo; 1899-1900, E. A. Miera (chairman), Ignatio Gu-
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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
tierrez, Jesus Romero; 1901-2, E. A. Miera (chairman), J. L. Miller, R. W. Hopkins (resigned in September, 1901, and Adolph Harsch appointed to fill unexpired term) ; 1903-4, E. A. Miera (chairman), Ignacio Gutierrez, Adolph Harsch. The new county of Sandoval was erected from a portion of Bernalillo county in 1903, and Miera and Gutierrez being residents of that part of the Territory embraced by the new county, ceased to be members of the board. Tomas C. Gutierrez and Severo Sanchez were appointed to fill the unexpired terms of these two members of the board, the former being elected chairman. 1905-6, Alfred Grunsfeld (chairman), Severo Sanchez, Manuel R. Springer.
ENDING OF FAMOUS POLITICAL CONTEST.
As stated above, at the time the county was divided, E. A. Miera and Ignacio Gutierrez were thrown out of office because of their residence in the newly formed county of Sandoval. A provision was inserted in the act of division by which Tomas Gutierrez and Severo Sanchez were ap- pointed to the vacancies. This action of the legislature was contested in the local courts, and an appeal taken to the territorial supreme court, where the action of the legislature was declared illegal, and Gutierrez and Sanchez removed, the vacancies being filled by executive appoint- ment. At the following election Sanchez was returned to the office; but Gutierrez carried an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, which in 1904 sustained the decision of the territorial supreme court by which he was ousted from office, leaving Manuel Springer in possession of the commissionership until the expiration of the term, January I, 1905.
ALBUQUERQUE.
The name of "Alburquerque" is first heard of in Spanish annals, so far as they have been preserved, in 1542, when the Abbe Domenec was making a visit to the Rio Grande valley. Upon his arrival at a point opposite the site of the present town of Albuquerque, on the west bank of the Rio Grande, he found a village which must have been of con- siderable importance. as the ruins in recent years have been traceable for more than a mile along the river. On the east bank, where Old Albu- querque now stands, were a few houses occupied by Spaniards and Indians.
In 1597, when Don Juan de Oñate made his first visit to the province of New Mexico, of which he had been commissioned governor by Ferdi- nand VII of Spain, he established a military post at this point, which he named "Presidio de Alburquerque." Here he also left a Franciscan father and several Spanish families. After some delay in providing regu- lations for the new post and settlement, Governor Oñate resumed his journey of observation and discovery, traveling in a northerly direction and arriving in due time at what he found to be then the most populous pueblo in the province-its location, the site of the present city of Santa Fé.
THE DUKE OF ALBURQUERQUE.
In 1653-60 Francisco Fernandez de la Cueva, duke of Alburquerque, ruled as viceroy of Mexico. During these years there appears in the records the name of the church of San Felipe de Alburquerque, and a few years later an edict of the king of Spain declares it to be a ville, or city. It must be inferred that it was then a place of considerable im-
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LOCAL HISTORIES
portance. A still more conclusive proof of this fact is that in the archives of the province of New Mexico, in the City of Mexico, there was found the register of the church located at this place, containing the names of 4,031 persons reported as belonging to the Catholic communion here in 1698. The natural inference is that the actual population greatly ex- ceeded-probably was more than double-the number of communicants.
In 1702 the second duke of Alburquerque came to Mexico as viceroy. He was reputed to be a good man, of great justice, kind, and a humane ruler. Bandelier is authority for the statement that Old Albuquerque was founded early in his rule, and named in his honor. On July 28, 1706, at the City of Mexico, a "royal audience of New Spain" was given to the duke of Alburquerque. The record of the event, translated from the Spanish in 1884 by Major Harry Rees Whiting, of Albuquerque, and Samuel Ellison, territorial librarian, is as follows :
"Don Francisco Fernandez of the Cave, duke of Alburquerque, mar- quis of Cullar, count of Ladesma and of Guelma, lord of the villages of Monbeltran, La Codesera, Causaita, Mixares, Pedro Bernando, Aldea Davila, San Esteban de Villarejo and the Caves of Guadalcanal, in the order of St. James and Debenfayan in the Alcantara, lord of the bed- chamber of his Majesty, his viceroy and lieutenant-general, governor and captain general of this New Spain, and president of the Royal Audience thereof, etc.
"Whereas, I ordered the following session, to-wit: In the general, meeting on the 28th of July, in the year 1706, the duke of Alburquerque, viceroy and captain general of this New Spain and president of the Royal Audience thereof, together with the Honorable Don Francisco de Valen- zuela-Venegas, knight of the Order of St. James; Don Joseph de Luna, Don Balthazar de Toba and Don Beronimo de Saria, members of said Royal Audience; Don Juan de Osaeta y Oro, judge of the Royal Crim- inal Chamber ; Don Andres Pardo de Lago and Don Gabriel Guerrero de Adila, auditors of the Royal Tribunal; Don Antonio de Deza y Ulloa. knight of the Order of St. James, and Don Joseph de Urrutia, official justices of the Royal Treasury and deposits of this court; there being present the fiscal of his Majesty, Dr. Don Joseph Antonio de Espinnosa, knight of said order. * *
"We direct that the Indians be treated with suavity and kindness, and that no offensive war be made against them, so far as this treatment may be adapted to the Indians of New Mexico. **
"In regard to the fourth point to which reference is made by his ex- cellency, General Don Francisco Cuerrboy Valdez, of the Order of St. James, governor and captain general of the provinces of New Mexico, on the 25th of April of the past year, in which said governor states that he has re-established the village of Galisteo and placed settlers therein, and having founded a village which he named Alburquerque, and there is wanting for the church thereof a bell, ornament, chalice and altar vessels, it is unanimously resolved that the same be transmitted at the first op- portunity.
"It is ordered that no villages be named without consulting with his excellency, and that an order to that effect be transmitted; and, fur- ther, that by a royal ordinance the village be named San Phelipe, in mem- ory of his royal majesty ; and the said governor is ordered to name it thus,
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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
that it may in the future be known as such, and that the same be noted in the archives of the village of Santa Fé. * *
"Mexico, July 30, 1706."
( Here follow names and rubricas.)
It will be noticed that the title of the duke, as well as the name of the town, is spelled in the original "Alburquerque." The administration of this duke of Alburquerque continued until 1711.
The native settlement referred to, in 1542, may not have been perma- nent. But one fact which seems to show the early importance of this loca- tion to the native population, antedating the presence of the Spaniards, is that nearly all the ancient roads or trails of the country converge at the crossing of the river at Albuquerque, and center in the valley. If the first settlement was abandoned and a new one made in later years, there is no record of the fact extant. It will be noticed that the record of the "royal audience" of 1706 refers to the town as being already in existence.
Unfortunately, all the records of the Church of San Felipe Neri, at Old Albuquerque, are not in existence. Those in possession of the church begin with the year 1706, when fr. Manuel Moreno, a Franciscan friar, was in charge. The book of records bears indubitable evidence that a large number of its first pages-probably half of them-have been torn out. The record begins with the baptisms, marriages and deaths, and these are so numerous as to lead to the conclusion that in that year the number of communicants was already large. The church was first named San Felipe, for the apostle Saint Philip; was renamed for San Francisco Xavier, and, finally, for San Felipe Neri, a saint of the seventeenth cen- tury. Among the priests succeeding Fr. Moreno were Fr. Domingo Arcos, Fr. Muniz, Fr. Pedro de Matha and Fr. Antonio Perez, whose names appear in the records in the order in which they are here given.
Historians have uniformly agreed that Santa Fé is entitled to the distinction of being the oldest permanent town in New Mexico, so far as European settlement and occupation are concerned. The records in ex- istence, however, lend some support to the claim that Albuquerque is a town of greater antiquity, though the first Spanish settlement was not made in the precise location of the present town of Old Albuquerque, and possibly may have been temporarily abandoned within a few years after its first settlement.
EARLY AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN SETTLERS.
Old Albuquerque is now almost entirely Mexican, and has a popula- tion of about 1,200 people, while new Albuquerque, which dates as a city from 1891, is composed of enterprising Americans and Europeans and a few Mexicans. It is modern in every respect and has a population of sonie 12,000 people. Their combined population is now placed at 13,000, which makes Albuquerque the metropolis of the Territory.
Althoughi in American minds the history of Old Albuquerque stretches back into almost ancient times, the town was not connected with the balance of the world by telegraph until the spring of 1875. and the first rails of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe line were laid within its limits April 20, 1870. The Albuquerque Street Railway Company was organ- ized May 14, 1880, and the line was extended from the depot to the old
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LOCAL HISTORIES
town soon afterward. The contractor and builder of the street railway was O. E. Cromwell, of New York city. Thus old and New Albuquerque were brought together.
Among the earliest American and European settlers of the old town were a number of men who afterward became well known throughout New Mexico. The presence of a United States army post at this point made it a desirable center for business operations and attracted many thither. A well known pioneer, active in both military and mercantile life was Major Melchior Werner, who came to Albuquerque in 1849 with Colonel, afterward General, Sumner. He was a native of Bingen-on-the- Rhine, Germany, and participated in the revolution of 1848, for which he was sentenced to be shot. This sentence was revoked and he was trans- ported for life, coming at once to the United States. He was connected with the regular army in New Mexico in a clerical capacity for about two years, when he visited Germany under an assumed name. In 1856 he returned to this country with the Third Infantry, and after his discharge from the service engaged in merchandising in Santa Fé and Taos coun- ties, afterward returning to Albuquerque. Major Werner served as post- master for several years, and as probate clerk during the last six years of his life, dying at Albuquerque on September 4, 1883.
Among those who located in Old Albuquerque prior to the Civil war, all of whom served in the territorial legislature, were Spruce M. Baird, Sidney A. Hubbell, John A. Hill, William H. Henrie, Murray F. Tuley and Henry Connelly. Mr. Connelly represented his district in both the council and the house, and afterward became governor of the Territory. Mr. Tuley became an eminent jurist of Chicago. Mr. Henrie, also a young attorney during his first residence in New Mexico, was a French- man, and continued to make Old Albuquerque his home from his settle- ment there in 1857 to the time of his death, about 1890.
A missionary of the Methodist church named Reed was sent out by that denomination about 1857, and so far as can be ascertained, was the first person to hold Protestant evangelical services in this part of the Ter- ritory. He remained but a short time. Dr. D. Camden de Leon was one of the earliest physicians. (See chapter devoted to the medical profession.) One of the first merchants-possibly the earliest American merchant- was a man named Winslow, who conducted a store for several years prior to the Civil war, closing out his business and returning east about 1860. His place of business was a favorite rendezvous for the army officers from the post, as he sold liquors with his other sundries. "Uncle John" Hill, a deputy United States marshal for some time, was a clerk in his store and extremely popular among all classes.
In 1860 Theodore S. Grainer came out and established a weekly news- paper called the Review, probably the first journal in central New Mexico to be published in the English language. He retained control of the Review until its purchase by Hezekiah S. Johnson (also a settler of 1860), one of the pioneer lawyers of Albuquerque, who, in 1870, was appointed by President Grant as judge of the Second District of New Mexico.
William McGinnis, a carpenter, who still resides in Old Albuquerque, located there about 1865, and in length of residence is the oldest inhabitant of the town. Major Harry Rees Whiting has resided there since 1868.
Captain John Pratt, who came out in 1866, brought with him a com-
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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
mission as United States marshal, signed by President Johnson. He had served in the Civil war as a member of a Kansas volunteer regiment. Captain Pratt married the widow of Dr. John Symington, an early physi- cian of Old Albuquerque, who had died at his old Maryland home. His wife was Teresa Armijo, a daughter of Ambrosio Armijo. Captain Pratt made Santa Fé his official headquarters, but he and Dr. W. F. Strachan maintained a post trader's store in Albuquerque.
M. Ashe Upson, who came either in 1866 or 1867, purchased the Review of Hezekiah S. Johnson, and published it under the name of the Rio Avajo Press, in English.
About this time the firm of Cooper & Blair, of Cincinnati, established a wholesale grocery house in town, but sold out their interests after a brief career. Franz and Charles Huning also had a general store and a steam grist mill, in these days. A. & L. Zeckendorf, who afterward located in Tucson, Arizona, conducted a general merchandise store, which they established about 1867 and sold in 1869. But the greatest general mer- chandise establishment of the period was that of Rafael & Manuel Armijo, who carried an immense stock, valued at between $300,000 and $400,000. Henry Springer's store, one of the early business houses, was also an important enterprise.
Benjamin Stevens, who had been living in California, came across the country from Utah with the Fifth United States Infantry as wagon master, and after leaving the service practiced law in town. General James H. Carleton, who afterward commanded the historic "California Column," was commandant of the post for some time before the war, and was very popular among the American residents. The post headquarters were located in the west end of the present Old Town. General Rucker, whose daughter married General Phil Sheridan, was one of the chief quartermasters of the post in these days, and lived in the one-story adobe building adjoining the court house grounds on the west. There his daugh- ter (afterward Mrs. Sheridan) was born. General Carleton made his home in a part of the Catholic parochial residence.
Elias S. Stover, formerly lieutenant-governor of Kansas, located in Old Albuquerque in 1877. With A. M. Coddington, W. E. Talbert and W. P. McClure, he engaged in business as Stover, McClure & Co. The firm had been established in West Las Animas, Colo. In 1881 they located in the new town, where the Hotel Alvarado now stands. The merchan- dising firm of Moore, Bennett & Co., predecessors of L. B. Putney, occu- pied the opposite corner. Mr. McClure withdrew from the first named firm in 1878. In 1884 it was succeeded by Stover, Crary & Co., who sold out in 1893 to Gross, Kelly & Co.
Among those who located in the town of old Albuquerque in 1868 was Major Harry Rees Whiting, who still resides there. Major Whiting was born in Detroit, Michigan, December 2, 1837.
His great-great-grandfather, William B. Whiting, held a commission as colonel in the Continental army during the Revolutionary war, enlisting from Columbia county, New York. His grandfather, John Whiting, served with the yeomanry throughout the war. The latter's son, Dr. John Leffing- well Whiting, Major Whiting's father, was a surgeon with General Scott's forces in the Black Hawk war.
In young manhood Major Whiting, being aged in the newspaper busi-
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LOCAL HISTORIES
ness, became city editor of the Detroit Tribune. In 1861 he entered the volunteer Union army as a member of the personal staff of Major-General Mckinstry. In Angust, 1862, he was assigned as second lieutenant to the Twenty-fourth Michigan Volunteer Infantry, which subsequently joined the Army of the Potomac, which was brigaded with the "Iron Brigade" immediately after the battle of Antietam. He afterward participated in the battles of Fredericksburg, Fitzhugh Crossing, Chancellorsville and Gettys- burg, where he was captured and taken to Libby prison. He remained a prisoner eight and a half months, and after his exchange rejoined his regi- ment in front of Petersburg, serving in that siege and the battles of Weldon Railroad. Hatchie's Run, Dabney's Mills, Five Forks and Appomattox. He was promoted to a captaincy May 6, 1864, and at the close of the war was brevetted major "for meritorious service in front of Petersburg and at the battle of Five Forks."
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