USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume I > Part 49
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A prominent factor in territorial politics, Mr. Walton served, in 1901, as a member of the legislature from the Thirteenth district, comprising what is now Grant and Luna counties. In 1902 he was elected probate
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clerk and ex-officio recorder of Grant county and served for two terms. He was a member of the first board of the Louisiana Purchase Exposi- tion managers of New Mexico, and in 1903, when the legislature created a new board, Mr. Walton was re-appointed and served as secretary dur- ing the life of the board. He is a leading representative of the Masonic fraternity, a past master of Silver City Lodge, No. 8, A. F. & A. M., a member of Silver City Chapter, No. 2, R. A. M., of Malta Commandery, No. 4, K. T., of Silver City, and of Ballut Abyad Temple, of the Mystic Shrine. He likewise belongs to Silver City Lodge, No. 413, B. P. O. E., Silver City Lodge, No. 12, K. P., and Silver City Lodge, No. I, A. O. U. W.
Arthur A. Temke, attorney-at-law, of Deming, was born in Calumet county, Wisconsin, December 23, 1872. Having acquired his elementary education in the public schools of his native state and in the State Normal school at Oshkosh, he matriculated from the State University, at Madison, and was graduated from the law department with the class of 1896. He was then admitted to practice, after which he occupied a position in the attorney-general's office at Madison, Wisconsin, for four years. In De- cember, 1901, he arrived in Deming, where he has since remained. Open- ing an office, he has since practiced successfully at the bar of the Territory.
He has recently prepared a work called "A Digest of New Mexico Supreme Court Reports,"-a volume of much value to the legal fraternity.
Mr. Temke is likewise secretary of the Luna County Telephone & Improvement Company, at Deming, and is secretary of the Luna county Republican central committee. He is now filling the office of village at- torney, and in 1904 was a candidate for councilman on the Republican ticket. In May, 1906, he was appointed superintendent of schools of Luna county, by Governor Hagerman, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of N. Francis Duff. He belongs to the Masonic lodge in Deming and is widely recognized for his activity and worth in professional, political and social circles.
J. H. Paxton, a member of the New Mexico bar, practicing at Las Cruces, was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, in 1871, and having pursued a public school education he entered the University of Virginia, from which he was graduated with the Master of Arts degree. Coming to New Mexico, in 1896, he located in Albuquerque, occupying the chair. of languages in the University of New Mexico for six years. He was ad- mitted to the bar at Santa Fé, in 1902, and practiced for three years in El Paso, Texas, while since May, 1905, he has been located in Las Cruces. With broad general and literary knowledge to serve as an excellent founda- tion upon which to rear the superstructure of professional learning, he has made rapid progress in the difficult and arduous profession of the law and to him has been entrusted much important litigation. Already he has gained a creditable position among the lawyers of Las Cruces and won a gratifying measure of success. He belongs to El Paso Lodge No. 187, B. P. O. E.
Granville Pendleton, a lawyer who for eight years has resided at Aztec, New Mexico, arrived in April, 1898, from Denver, Colorado. He was born in Burkesville, Kentucky, December 1, 1854, and in 1866 accompanied his parents on their removal to Hermitage, Hickory county, Missouri, ac- quiring his education in the common schools of Hickory and of Dallas.
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counties. He read law in Hermitage, Missouri, was admitted to the bar in 1875 and was graduated from Washington University in 1877. He continued actively in the practice of law in Hickory county, Missouri, un- til 1884, when he located in Yuma, Colorado, and was the first county judge of Yuma county, serving from 1888 until 1891. He was afterward ap- pointed district attorney by Governor Routt, in April, 1891, was elected to the office in the fall of that year and re-elected in 1894, serving until 1898, when he came to New Mexico, since which time he has resided in Aztec. He is recognized as one of the Republican leaders of this part of the Ter- ritory. He was vice-president of the bureau of immigration for four years, has been president for two years and was a member of the legislature in the thirty-fourth, thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth assemblies. He exerts a. wide-felt influence in public affairs and has been a leader in molding pub -. lic thoughit and action during the years of his residence in the Territory. He belongs to the New Mexico Bar Association and to the Masonic fra- ternity, holding membership in Colorado Commandery No. I, K. T., of Denver. He is also connected with the Elks and the Odd Fellows.
Percy Wilson, of Silver City, a member of the bar and regent of the, New Mexico Normal School, was born at Fort Clark, Texas, January 10, 1872. His father, Colonel David B. Wilson, now retired from the United States army, has been for many years a resident of Texas. He served in the Civil war with the One Hundred and Thirty-first Regiment of Penn- sylvania Volunteers, afterward veteranized, and at the close of the war became a member of the regular army. He was born in Hartleton, Penn- sylvania, and is now living in Sioux City, Iowa. He married Sarah L. Jones, a native of Oswego, New York, and a daughter of a Congregational clergyman.
Percy Wilson attended Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, was graduated from Princeton College, New Jersey, in 1892, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts and completed his law course in the Michigan State University at Ann Arbor with the class of 1894. He was then admitted to the Michigan bar and was admitted to the Denver, Colorado, bar in the fall of the same year. He practiced in Denver until January, 1900, and on the 3d of February of that year opened an office for practice in Silver City, where he has since remained. He is attorney for the Comanche Smelter Company and for various mining and cattle companies and has been very successful during the period of his residence in New Mexico, having a large clientage that has connected him with much of the important litigation tried in the courts of his district.
Mr. Wilson is a Republican, although not very active in politics. He is serving, however, as regent of the New Mexico Normal School. Fra- ternally he is connected with the Elks. He was married December 25, 1900, to Violetta B. Ashenfelter, a daughter of S. M. Ashenfelter.
Karl A. Snyder, an attorney of Roswell, who in the active practice of law has demonstrated his right to rank with the strong and able members of the territorial bar, came to New Mexico on the 3d of September, 1881. He had been admitted to the bar on the 20th of December, 1880, in Mercer, Pennsylvania. He was born in that state and is a graduate of Oberlin College at Oberlin, Ohio, with the class of 1878. Following his admission to the bar he practiced in Mercer for one year, associated with the firm of Griffith & Son. Coming to Mexico in September, 1881, he entered upon
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the practice of law in Albuquerque in connection with William C. Hazle- dine, with whom he continued for a few months, when he was appointed by Judge Parks as clerk of the district court of the district comprising Bernalillo, Socorro and Valencia counties. In June, 1882, he resigned that office to resume the private practice of law and on the Ist of February, 1883, in collaboration with Judge Hazledine, he organized the law depart- ment of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Company with headquarters at Albuquerque. Judge Hazledine was made general attorney for the cor- poration and Mr. Snyder assistant, and opened offices over the First National Bank, where they remained for nine years. On the 2d of January, 1892, Judge Hazledine died and was succeeded by Captain C. N. Sterry. Mr. Snyder continued as assistant general attorney for the railroad company until the Ist of April, 1898, when the offices of the railroad Company were removed to Los Angeles, California, and he resigned. Entering upon the private practice of law in Albuquerque, he remained there until January, 1900, when he came to Roswell, where he opened an office. In a profession where advancement depends entirely upon individual merit and capability he has risen to a prominent position. In the trial of a case he gives to each point its due prominence, never losing sight of the important point upon which the decision of every case finally turns. On the 4th of March, 1905, he was appointed United States commissioner at Albuquerque by Judge Pope. In 1898 he was a candidate for judge of the second judicial district of New Mexico.
Mr. Snyder has always been an earnest champion of Republican prin- ciples, and has been recognized as a leader in the ranks of the party in his section of the Territory. He was secretary of the Republican county central committee in Bernalillo county for a number of years and was a member of the board of education at Albuquerque for six years. His de- votion to general progress along lines of individual development and ma- terial advancement has been manifest in hearty co-operation with many measures for the public good.
He married at Glenwood, Iowa, December 25, 1882, Miss Evelyn Buckingham Lewis, of Newark, Ohio, daughter of James E. and Emma Buckingham Lewis. Four children have been born: Helen D., a Presby- terian missionary at Porto Rico; Herman L., who is with the First Na- tional Bank of Albuquerque; Evelyn and Robert S., at home.
Colin Neblett, an attorney-at-law of Silver City, and member of the legislature from Grant county, is a native of Brunswick county, Virginia, born July 6, 1875. He was reared and educated in Virginia, attending the preparatory schools and afterward pursuing a law course in Washington and Lee University at Lexington, from which he was graduated in the class of 1897. He was then admitted to the bar and practiced for a few months in Virginia, but in 1898 came to New Mexico and has since resided in Silver City. He has a general practice and has won more than local renown as a criminal lawyer, conducting many important cases in which his knowl- edge of the law, his oratorical power, his keen analysis and logical de- ductions have made him a formidable adversary in forensic combat.
Mr. Neblett, supporting the Democratic party, exerts considerable in- fluence in its local and state ranks. In 1904 he was elected to represent the thirteenth district composed of Grant and Luna counties in the house of representatives, and for four years he has been chairman of the Dem-
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ocratic county central committee. He belongs to Silver City Lodge No. 8, A. F. & A. M., and to the Royal Arch chapter, and is also affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Frank J. Wright, attorney-at-law at Silver City, was born in Emmets- burg, Frederick county, Maryland, and spent his early life in Frederick and Carroll counties of that state. His father conducted a private school in Uniontown, Carroll county, and at the age of nineteen years Frank J. Wright began teaching in Frederick county. When twenty-one years of age he went to Washington, D. C., to become professor in a female seminary at Georgetown, where he remained for three years, but he re- garded this merely as an initial step to other professional labor, and in the meantime took up the study of law, being admitted to the bar at Washington in 1876. He then practiced in the capital city until March, 1880, and in the meantime was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States. Going to Colorado in 1880, he was admitted to practice at the Denver bar, and in November of the same year he came to Silver City, New Mexico, which had been his objective point on leaving Washington. In the winter of 1880-I he was admitted to the bar here and has practiced continuously since, being very successful and handling numerous important cases. He was associated with John Bell from 1889 until 1895, when the partnership was terminated by the death of Mr. Bell. He is logical in his deductions, sound in his reasoning and strong in his arguments, and is regarded as one of the ablest representatives of the Grant county bar.
Mr. Wright has never been very active in political circles, although he gives stanch support to Republican principles and is able to support his position by intelligent argument. He served, however, as city attorney for eleven years, and has been active in school work. He was chairman of the local board of examiners of teachers about 1882, 1883 and 1884, and he was largely instrumental in establishing the excellent schools of Silver City with competent teachers and all modern facilities. He is deeply interested in the canse of public education and his efforts in this direction have been far-reaching and beneficial. For seventeen years he has been a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity, in which he has passed all of the chairs.
E. S. Whitehead, a lawyer of Aztec, located at Farmington, New Mexico, in 1898, and at Aztec in 1906. He was born in London, England, and has been a resident of the United States for twenty-five years, coming to this country at the age of twenty-seven, accompanied by his wife. In early life he was an expert accountant, but finally prepared for the bar and practiced in La Plata county, Colorado, for four years. He was also county attorney there for one year. and he practiced in Pitkin county, Colorado. for about three years. After his removal to Aztec he estab- lished a law office and also opened a complete set of abstract books. In politics a Democrat, he is active in support of the party, but is not an office seeker. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, is a past master of Farmington lodge, and has been deputy grand master for his district.
D. J. M. A. Jewett, engaged in the practice of law at Capitan, came to New Mexico in 1866 in command of United States troops. He was born in Massachusetts and was educated in England and France, being a student at Rugby, Woolwich and Sandhurst, in England. He prepared
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for his profession as a law student in Middle Temple, in London, and ac- quired a knowledge of engineering in military schools. At the time of the Civil war, espousing the Union cause, he became a private of the Eighth Massachusetts Infantry and later was a member of the Nineteenth Massa- chusetts Infantry. He served in all of the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, and entering the army as a private he won promotion from time to time in recognition of his meritorious service until he gained the rank of brigadier general. With previous military experience as a lieu- tenant-colonel in the British army, he rendered valuable aid to the United States government in the efforts to preserve the Union. As stated, he came to New Mexico in 1866 with a command of United States troops. Attracted by the opportunities of this great and rapidly developing coun- try, he returned to the Territory, and in July, 1880, located at White Oaks, where he followed civil engineering. Eleven years were there passed, during which time he enjoyed a good patronage in his business and was also a prominent and influential factor in the work of public development and improvement. In 1880 he was chairman of the De- tective Association formed to suppress the lawless element and protect the citizens against the outlaws known as the "Rustlers." He has ever stood as an advocate of progress, right, reform and improvement, and has done much to uphold the political and moral status of the communities with which he has been connected. He conducted business as a civil engi- neer until 1889, when he resumed the practice of law, for which he had prepared in England, and in which he has since continued. He was also special agent of the land office and was inspector of surveys in New Mexico. In 1891 he removed to Lincoln, where he continued in the prac- tice of law, and in 1896 he came to Capitan, where he opened his law office and has since engaged in the prosecution of his profession, having a liberal and distinctively representative clientage. In the trial of a case he is strong in argument, careful in his preparation and logical- in his deductions and has won many notable forensic contests. He is also inter- ested in mining.
Mr. Jewett has long been recognized as a leader in the ranks of the Republican party in the Territory, and in 1884, in connection with W. H. H. Llewellyn, Wallace Holt and George B. Barber, of Lincoln, he or- ganized the Republican party in Lincoln county. He continued an active participant in the management of the party affairs until 1892, when he retired from political circles as a manager of party interests, but in 1902 again entered upon active work in behalf of Republican successes. A man of intellectual force and scholarly attainments, he has exerted a strong in- fluence in behalf of progress and improvement, and he is today one of the leading citizens and prominent lawyers of the New Mexico bar.
Abram Crawford Voorhees, an attorney practicing at Raton, was born in Harrison county, Ohio, April 9, 1856, a son of George W. and Elizabeth A. (Bretz) Voorhees. His common school education was sup- plemented by preparation for the bar, to which he was admitted before the Supreme Court of Ohio. December 6, 1881. In February, 1882, he came to New Mexico and has since practiced continuously in Raton, hav- ing today a large clientage. In politics a Republican, he is deeply inter- ested in the success of his party, and in 1884 was elected to the territorial council, but was counted out. He was the first Republican of his district
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chosen to that office. He has served several times as chairman of the Republican county committee, has been a member of the school board for several years and assisted in carrying the vote for the establishment of the north side school at Raton. He was local attorney for Santa Fe from 1883 until January, 1903, and has been attorney on a number of important murder trials.
Mr. Voorhees was married to Jennie P. Williams, a native of Ohio, and they have three sons and two daughters: David D., James S., Fred- erick, Helen Louise and Margaret E.
Horton Moore, an attorney at Las Cruces, was born at Flat Rock, in Bourbon county, Kentucky, March 23, 1870, and supplemented his education acquired in the schools of Paris, Kentucky, by study in Ken- tucky University, where he remained as a student from 1888 until 1893. Following the completion of his education he was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1893 and practiced for three years in Lexington, Kentucky. He then went to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for his health, and continued in the practice of his profession there from the fall of 1896 until 1903. Since the latter year he has practiced in Las Cruces. He was city attor- ney of Albuquerque for three terms, elected on the Democratic ticket, and was at one time candidate for the territorial senate. He is a recog- nized leader in the ranks of his party in New Mexico, his opinions carry- ing weight in the party councils. His attention, however, is chiefly con- centrated upon his professional duties and his devotion to his clients' in- terests is proverbial, while his thorough understanding of the principles of law and his forceful presentation of his cause in court has secured for him a liberal and growing clientage.
In Louisville, Kentucky, in 1896, Mr. Moore was married to Miss Katharine Innes Adams and they have one son, Horton Moore. Mr. Moore belongs to Covenant Lodge, No. 26, I. O. O. F., of Lexington, Kentucky. He is interested in public affairs in New Mexico, giving earn- est support and co-operation to measures for the general good, and his lahors in behalf of the community and the Territory have been beneficial and far-reaching.
William G. Haydon, an attorney at Las Vegas bar, was born in Colum- bia, Boone county, Missouri, March 31, 1861, a son of George and Betty M. (Tuttle) Haydon. He was educated in the Missouri State University and after being graduated from the law department in 1888 was admitted to the bar after successfully passing the required examination. He has resided continuously in Las Vegas since 1888 and after practicing for two years in the law office of Lee & Fort has since been alone, having a large clientage which connects him with much important litigation tried in the courts of his district. He has held the office of deputy collector and also deputy assessor for two years each, but since 1895 has given his undivided attention to his law practice. He was a trustee of the town of East Las Vegas for two terms and in 1898 was a candidate for council on the Dem- ocratic ticket but was defeated. He served for about eight or ten years on the school board and in April, 1904, was elected its president. His political allegiance is given to the Democracy.
Mr. Haydon was married, December 30, 1896, to Jessie E. Osborne, a native of Shullsburg, Wisconsin, and a graduate of the School of Oratory connected with the Northwestern University at Chicago, Illinois. They
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have two sons: William G. and Osborne Haydon. Mr. Haydon is a member of Chapman Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon, a college fraternity. He likewise belongs to the Presbyterian church and is a trustee of the Presbytery of Santa Fé.
James Lee Lawson, one of the younger members of the New Mexico bar, residing at Alamogordo, was born in Virginia in 1874. His academic education won him the degree of Bachelor of Arts upon his graduation from the Emory and Henry College, at Emory, Virginia, with the class of 1894. He then entered the University of Virginia for the study of law, completed a course there by graduation in 1896 and took up post-graduate law work in Cohimbia College, of New York city, where he spent the year 1897 as a student. In 1900 he came to New Mexico and was admitted to the bar of the Territory in January, 1901. Soon afterward he began prac- tice here, and is justly regarded as a rising young lawyer, possessing laudable ambition, strong purpose and keen mentality, qualities which are ever essential in a successful legal career. Active in political circles as an advocate of Democracy, he is now chairman of the Democratic central committee of Otero county.
Merritt C. Mechem, an attorney practicing at the bar of Tucumcari, came to this place on the 23d of March, 1903, from Fort Smith, Arkansas. He pursued his literary education as a student in Ottawa Baptist Uni- versity at Ottawa, Kansas, and afterward attended the State University at Lawrence, Kansas. He was admitted to the bar at Fort Smith, Arkan- sas, in 1895. The town has grown rapidly and his clientage has, in conse- quence, steadily increased. He has been territorial district attorney of Quay and Guadalupe counties since March 16, 1905. He was also one of the organizers of the Tucumcari Wool Scouring Company and has been a factor in the promotion of many interests and movements which have had direct .and important bearing upon the welfare, growth and substantial development of the city and county.
George H. Hunker, attorney at law at Las Vegas and secretary and treasurer of the Aetna Building Association, has been a resident of the Territory since 1899. He was born in Roanoke, Missouri, in 1876, and was educated in the public schools and was graduated from Missouri State University in 1897 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. Coming to New Mexico when twenty-three years of age he read law under the di- rection of the firm of Long & Fort, and in 1900 became secretary of the Aetna Building Association, which position he yet fills. Continuing his law studies, he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Law from Missouri University and was admitted to the New Mexico bar at Las Vegas in January, 1902. He has since practiced in this city with a con- stantly growing clientage that is indicative of the capable manner in which he manages the litigated interests entrusted to his care. Moreover, he is an active factor in local political circles. He votes with the Democracy, is secretary of the county central committee and chairman of the Las Vegas Democratic committee.
Mr. Hunker was married in 1903, in Las Vegas, to Miss Emma Vasse. of Missouri. Socially he is connected with the Elks Lodge, No. 408. He is a young man of bright outlook who is developing his latent energies in active business life and has already attained a creditable posi- tion among the attorneys of the New Mexico bar.
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C. C. Davidson, an attorney at Tucumcari, has resided here since April, 1904, at which time he entered actively upon the practice of law. He pursued his professional training in the Northern Illinois College of Law, and on the completion of the thorough course was graduated with the Bachelor of Law degree. He then practiced in Illinois for a few years before coming to New Mexico. He was licensed to practice at the New Mexico bar in 1905, and has since been an able representative of the legal profession in Tucumcari, where he now has a large and distinctively representative clientage.
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