USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume II > Part 39
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70
Prominent among the business interests of Roswell is that of String-
806
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
fellow & Tannehill, hardware merchants, whose business was established in Roswell in 1899, at which time they purchased the firm of Wilson Broth- ers. In 1903 this firm erected the Tannehill Building, one of the best equipped hardware stores in the southwestern territory. The officers of this company are: L. B. Tannehill, president, and C. C. Tannehill, secre- tary and treasurer, and they have a paid up capital of sixty thousand dol- lars. In 1905 this business was sold to the Roswell Hardware Company, and in June of the same year was established the Southwestern Land Con- pany. Since its establishment this company's business has increased from eight hundred to twenty-five thousand dollars a month, and they handle both their own and listed property, their business extending over Iowa, Illinois and the north middle west. For a number of years the members of this firm have been prominently identified with the business interests of the southwest, and in this time have become recognized among its valued and useful citizens.
James A. Gilmore, connected with the substantial growth and in- provement of the city of Roswell from an early period in its development and now extensively and successfully engaged in the real estate business as a member of the firm of Gilmore & Fleming, dates his residence in this state from the 23d of June, 1887. During that period great improvements have been made in the town and wonderful changes have been wrought. After a few months residence here Mr. Gilmore opened a drug store, which was the first in Pecos valley, and continued actively in its managemeent for six years. It is now conducted under the name of the Roswell Drug Com- pany. He was also associated with his brother George G. Gilmore in es- tablishing and conducting bottling works, which are still in operation. In 1896 Mr. Gilmore was called to public office, being elected county commis- sioner, which position he filled for two years. He is a man of excellent business capacity and of broad resources, whose recognition and utiliza- tion of opportunity have been salient features in his success. In 1904 he began operating in real estate in connection with W. C. Fleming and the firm of Gilmore & Fleming now handle listed property and are prominent real estate dealers of Chaves county.
George F. Bixby, a contractor of Roswell, whose building operations have been of direct and substantial benefit in the improvement of his city, came to the Territory in June, 1893. He was born in Vermont and in early life learned the carpenter's trade, which for a number of years he followed as a journeyman. Even after his removal to New Mexico he continued to work at carpentering in the employ of others, but in 1896 began contracting and building on his own account. In that year he formed a partnership with Frank H. Pearce under the firm style of Pearce & Bixby with office on Richardson between Ist and 2nd streets at present, and shop at No. 313 Main street, Roswell. In November, 1905, he purchased his partner's interest and has since been alone in business with a patronage that has con- nected him with leading building operations in his county. His first con- tract was for the erection of the L. K. McGaffey residence. The New Mexico Military Institute was erected by the firm together with other im- portant structures. Recently Mr. Bixby has completed the Goodin build- ing, and has now a planing mill in process of construction. In 1904 he built the American National Bank Building and the Bixby Building. In recent years the buildings have become of more substantial character and
1
807
LOCAL HISTORIES
the excellence of his workmanship and his thorough reliability in trade relations are matters well known to the general public. He is now building the new Walker Hotel and doing about $20,000 worth of improvements on the Garst property; also Costa Block on Main street, and in fact is doing more building this year then any time before.
J. S. Lea, or Smith Lea as he is familiarly known, the present treas- urer and ex-officio collector, of Chaves county, New Mexico, was born in Johnson county, Missouri, January 18, 1856. He arrived in Roswell on the 3rd day of May, 1881, and has been identified with the growth and development of the county ever since. He was deputy sheriff under Pat F. Garrett and John W. Poe, when they were sheriffs of Lincoln county in the early eighties. During that time he was located at Lincoln, where he says he spent his happiest days despite the rough experiences he had, such as was incident to the sheriff's office in those times. Later he was receiver for DeLany & Terrell and wound up their large mercantile busi- ness at Fort Stanton, New Mexico, to the satisfaction of both warring partners and the court who appointed him. He was for a time manager of the Milne & Bush ranch, a director in the First National Bank of Roswell, New Mexico, cattle inspector, etc. Each position of trust he has held with credit to himself and the satisfaction of those who secured his election or appointment. He is well known in lodge circles, being a blue lodge, chapter, commandery and thirty-second degree Mason, also a member of the Mystic Shrine, an Odd Fellow, an Eagle and an Elk. He has always been an enthusiastic Democrat and a great admirer of Wm. J. Bryan.
C. D. Bonney, of Roswell, came to the Territory June 4, 1881, and in that year purchased an interest in the store owned by Captain J. Lea, at which time the firm of Lea, Bonney & Company was organized. The con- ducted a store across the street from the site upon which the present court house now stands. This was the pioneer firm of the Pecos valley and had a continuous and prosperous existence until 1884. The goods were freighted from Las Vegas by Mexican bull teams and they shipped out wool and beans, transporting at one shipment sixty thousand pounds of Mexican beans. Their business was continued until 1884, when they sold out to the firm of Lea, Poe & Cosgrove.
Mr. Bonney then turned his attention to dealing in horses and was the first to embark in the business on a large scale. He had a ranch thirty miles west of Roswell on the Hondo and at one time had fifteen hundred head of horses there. He continued in business with gratifying prosperity until 1898, when he sold out to R. F. Barnett, while he became proprietor of a livery stable, which was located across the street from where the Amer- ican National Bank now stands, in what is at the present time the heart of the city. He conducted the business until 1902, when his barn was de- stroyed by fire. Since that time he has operated in real estate with Captain Haynes, handling his own property. He laid out Riverside Heights, a tract of two hundred and fifty town lots, and he now has for sale two hun- dred and seventeen lots. He established a power plant on the Spring river and furnishes all this tract with electric light and water. Mr. Bonney pur- chased one hundred and twenty acres west of Roswell, adjoining the city limits and laid this off as Sunset Heights in ten and five acre tracts. As a real estate operator he has contributed in very large and substantial man- ner to the growth and improvement of Roswell, and his efforts while bring-
808
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
ing him substantial success, have been of practical and immediate servicea- bleness to the community.
John C. Peck, whose name appears on the roster of county officials in New Mexico in connection with the position of county assessor of Chaves county, was born in Gonzales county. Texas, February 21, 1870. His edu- cation was acquired in the public schools of his native state and in Louis- ville, Kentucky. After completing the high school course he attended the Southern Business College in Louisville and he entered upon his business career in the employ of the Littlefield Cattle Company on the L. F. D. ranch in 1892. A few months later he came to Roswell, where he has since re- mained. He was chief deputy sheriff under William Atkinson from 1893 until 1895 and also under Sheriff Haynes for two years. From 1897 until 1899 he was engaged in the stock business and on the Ist of January of the latter year he entered upon the duties of the office of county assessor, to which he was elected on the Democratic ticket. He is still interested in the stock business, carefully managing his affairs in this connection and enjoying thereby some of the success which has made the stock industry a leading source of income to the Territory. Fraternally he is connected with Roswell Rio Hondo Commandery No. 6, K. T., having thus taken the highest degree in York Masonry.
Fritz Brinck has made for himself a place in connection with the activities of Chaves county. being one of its most prominent sheep raisers. He came to the Territory in 1892, and for some time thereafter was en- gaged in buying sheep. At the time of his arrival here there were not over fifty-five thousand sheep in the county, and thus he is regarded as one of the pioneers in the business. In 1898 he purchased a ranch on Salt Creek, sixteen miles from Roswell, and in 1902 he purchased the interests of the Salt Creek Sheep Company. Since 1905 he has been associated in business with Mr. A. J. Knollin, who resides in Chicago, and the firm of Knollin & Brinck is well known over this section of the Territory. Mr. Brinck now has about sixteen thousand sheep, of blooded Shropshire stock. He believes that due to the uncertainty of rainfall the lease law as agitated in this Territory is unjust. As many years of his life have been spent within the confines of Chaves county he is identified with much of its history, and is numbered among its public spirited and progressive citi- zens.
Occupying an enviable position in the agricultural circles of Chaves county, Mr. Buss has from an early period in its development resided within its borders. He came to the territory from Nebraska on the 6th of April, 1895. and in December of the following year homesteaded a tract of one hundred and sixty acres twelve miles southeast of Roswell, which constitutes his present home place. Immediately after his arrival here Mr. Buss bored a well, this being the second six hundred foot well dug in the Territory, and in those early days in the southwest he followed the drilling business as an occupation. He is now the owner of 160 acres of excellent land, all of which is under cultivation, and twenty acres of the place is devoted to alfalfa, while seven acres is planted in orchard. Mr. Buss is recognized as one of the prosperons farmers of the locality, and he is also actively interested in stock raising. having on his place two blooded stallions and one jack. and he also keeps about fifty head of horses, colts and mules.
اسا
John & Peck
L. W. Neatherton und wike .
809
LOCAL HISTORIES
Lewis W. Neatherlin, one of the prominent and well-known residents of Chaves county, is devoting his time and attention to agricultural pur- suits on his farm three miles northeast of Roswell. At the time of his arrival in New Mexico in September, 1880, he took up his abode at Stone's ranch, where he remained during the following winter and then removed to Seven Rivers, near Lakewood, there locating a ranch and devoting his time to the stock business until 1882. Mr. Neatherlin's next location was at the head of Black river, east of the Guadalupe Mountains, and he then went to the foothills of the Sacramento Mountains, where he did well in the stock business and remained there from 1885 to 1893. Selling his pos- sessions there he came to his present home place in Chaves county, New Mexico, three miles northeast of Roswell, where he has a small farm de- voted to the raising of fruit and alfalfa. His land is watered by the Stone ditch. Aside from his private affairs Mr. Neatherlin has found time to devote to public office, and from 1889 to 1890 he served as assessor of Lincoln county. Spiva L. Neatherlin, a son of Lewis W., is engaged in agricultural pursuits, and also has charge of a rural delivery mail route. His was the first route established in the Territory, having been organized in March, 1901.
Mr. Neatherlin was married at Belmont, Texas, December 21, 1854, to Miss Mary E. Clinton. Mr. Neatherlin was made a Mason in June, 1868, at Pleasanton, Texas.
E. S. Seay, closely associated with business interests in Roswell as proprietor of the Wool Scouring Mills, is also secretary of the Gill & Morrow hardware firm, which was organized in 1900. On the Ist of Jan- uary, 1905, this was consolidated with the business of the firm of Stringfellow & Tannehill under the name of the Roswell Hard- ware Company, and is one of the leading commercial enterprises of Chaves county. Mr. Seay came to the Territory in the fall of 1894 and the following year embarked in the hardware business, since which time he has been identified with this line of trade. When he arrived there were about one thousand people in the town. which has grown with marvel- ous rapidity, yet with a substantiality that makes it one of the leading cities of this part of the territory, rendering investment safe and business enter- prises profitable. He is now engaged in the wool scouring business as pro- prietor of the Wool Scouring Mills, there being about two million pounds of wool marketed here each year. In community affairs he has also been interested, giving his co-operation to many plans and measures for the public good. and for three terms he served on the board of trustees.
G. W. Jernigan, residing eighteen miles east of Weed, in Chaves county, owns three hundred and twenty acres of land in Quano canyon, and is engaged in farming and stock raising. He came to the Territory in 1884 and located on Black river, below Carlsbad. In. 1890, however, he re- moved to his present ranch, and has since engaged successfully in the stock business, while to some extent he has followed farming. He has a very fine stock ranch located in Chaves county, and is raising high grades of cattle. His place is now well equipped for carrying on this business, and desired results are attending his efforts, making him a substantial citizen of his community. Moreover. he takes a keen interest in affairs to the extent of giving tangible support to many movements for the general good.
A. E. Macy has for eleven years been a resident of the Territory,
810
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
where he arrived in 1895. He located at Hagerman and for two years worked for the Pecos Improvement & Irrigation Company. In the fall of 1899 he purchased his present place from F. M. Brooks, who had home- steaded the property and planted an orchard of about twenty-eight acres. Brooks was about to let go the land. Mr. Macy, however, purchased one hundred and twenty acres, and at once began its further improvement and development. He planted twenty-two acres to fruit trees and now has fifty acres of bearing orchards, mostly apples, irrigated from the ditch of the Felix Irrigation Company. All of the place is improved, and is now a valuable property. In the spring of 1903 he purchased forty acres from Mr. Campbell along the line of the Pecos & Eastern railroad, laid out the townsite and named the place Dexter, in honor of his old home town, Dexter, Iowa. He sold lands there and started that town, but in 1904 dis- posed of his holdings to the C. L. Tallmadge Real Estate Company. He is now concentrating his energies upon his fruit raising interests and his suc- cess is another proof of the value of New Mexico as a good horticultural district.
Alfred Stinson came from Iowa to the Territory on the 18th of No- vember, 1887, arriving in Las Vegas. He was born in Williams county, Ohio, but had spent some time in Iowa prior to his removal to the south- west. He remained in Las Vegas until November, 1889, when he went to Chaves county, locating forty miles north of Roswell, on the Pecos river. There he took a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, and now has three hundred and twenty acres on section 14. He is engaged in stock raising, having one hundred and fifty head of cattle. During the years of his residence in the Territory he has prospered, and as the district has emerged from pioneer conditions he, too, has made substantial progress in his business career, and at the same time has contributed to the general improvement of this district.
The name of Frank Williams is enduringly inscribed on the pages of New Mexico's history in connection with the records of her jurisprudence. His professional record and his official record are alike commendable, for in both relations he has been true to the trusts reposed in him, and has shown himself worthy of public regard. He is a native son of Tennessee, and in its schools he received his educational training, being a graduate of Cumberland University in the class of 1875. On the 20th of January, 1875. he was admitted to the bar in Tennessee, there remaining in practice for a few years. He then went to Texas. taking up his abode in Maynard county, where he followed his chosen profession for four years. On the 10th of November, 1889, Mr. Williams arrived in New Mexico, locating at once in Roswell, then in Lincoln county, but in 1890 Chaves county was organized, and Mr. Williams was elected its prohate judge, continuing in that position for four years, from 1890 to 1894. In 1896 he was re-elected to that position, his term expiring in 1900, when he resumed the general practice of law, making a specialty of land matters. He is a member of the Chaves County Bar Association, and is accorded a prominent position at the New Mexico bar.
A. D. Garrett, one of the most prominent business men of Chaves county, has long been identified with one of the principal industries of the southwest, that of sheep raising. He first engaged in that occupation in California, from there going to Nevada, and thence to Texas, where he
811
LOCAL HISTORIES
maintained his home for eighteen years. While in that state he leased two hundred sections of land in Martin county, but the uncertainty of rain fall drove him into New Mexico, where he arrived in April, 1896. At that time the Mexicans were the principal sheep raisers here, but in the severe competition which followed they were obliged to leave. The firm of Godair & Garrett was formed, and they generally run about forty thou- sand sheep, having equipments for that many, but at the present time their number has decreased to twenty thousand. The Godair-Crowley Com- pany have commission houses in St. Louis and Fort Worth, with also a branch in Kansas City, and they conduct an extensive live stock business. Mr. Godair maintains his home in Chicago. During a term of five years the average increase in sheep is seventy per cent, and their average wool clip is about eight and a half pounds. They handle the Rambouillet and Merino stock, and are meeting with well deserved success in their under- takings.
To Charles de Bremond has come the attainment of a distinguished position in connection with the agricultural and stock-raising industries of the Territory. Prior to leaving his native land of Switzerland he was for eight years in military life, and he came to the Pecos Valley in company with his uncle, Henry Gaullier, and invested here at the instigation of J. J. Hagerman. In 1891 he located in Carlsbad, Eddy county, and in 1894 took up his abode in Roswell, purchasing two hundred and eighty acres of land northeast of the city. In addition to this he leases ninety thousand acres of Indian reservation land near Capitan, where he ranges sheep. He believes in a just lease law, and is numbered among Chaves county's most prominent and honored citizens. He has a beautiful place, and has clearly demonstrated what can be done by industry and close application. Walter H. Long came to the Territory on the Ist of January, 1885, from California, having previous to that time been engaged in the sheep business in Shasta county, driving sheep from California to Montana and Colorado, selling lais sheep, however, largely in Montana. Removing to New Mexico, he, in May, 1885, went with his brother, G. S. Long, to Texas and purchased cattle which they drove to this Territory, locating on Conchos creek in San Miguel county, about sixty miles southeast of Las Vegas. They were thus engaged in the cattle business until 1892, when they turned their attention to the sheep industry. For four years they were engaged in buying and driving sheep to Clayton for shipment. In 1899 Mr. Long purchased a ranch on the Mesa and removed to that place in 1900. In July, 1905. he bought the Charles D. Keyes ranch on Maro creek, fifty- one miles north of Roswell. He is now operating both ranches and he has one of the best locations in the Territory for raising sheep. His flocks number fifteen thousand, all fine stock, and averaging, at a wool clipping, from nine to ten pounds. He will clip one hundred thousand pounds in the vear 1906. He also deals in sheep and handles the Rambouillet and Delaine breeds. He is one of the most prominent sheep raisers of the Ter- ritory, his business having reached extensive proportions.
Harry Cowan, coming to the Southwest from Iowa in December, 1894. spent some time in looking over the Territory, and in the spring of 1895 took up his abode here, settling near Hagerman on sixty acres of land about a quarter of a mile northwest of the town site. He began mak- ing improvements in that spring, and in the following spring planted a
Vol. II. 19
812
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
ten-acre orchard. Later he had twenty-seven acres altogether in orchards, and he continued in the improvement of the property until the fall of 1905, when he sold his place, having previously, however, disposed of twenty acres of it. He then removed to his present place of residence, which is a mile and a quarter southwest of Hagerman, and here he has ninety-seven acres, upon which he is planting a thirty-five-acre orchard. He intends to give his attention to horticultural pursuits, recognizing the possibilities of the Territory as a fruit-producing center, and already he has won suc- cess along these lines.
A. G. Mills, who dates his residence in New Mexico from 1883, located in that year on the Pecos river, thirty-five miles north of Fort Sum- ner. In 1886 he became connected with the sheep industry and settled on the Salado arroyo, one hundred miles south of Las Vegas. There he was engaged in the sheep business until 1899 and in the face of adverse circum- stances built up a good property. At times he sold wool for as little as four and a half cents per pound. but as the years passed times improved and he prospered in his undertakings. In 1899, however, he sold his prop- erty there to a large company, consisting of Governor Otero, Judge Mills and John S. Clark, and they are now operating extensively there.
In the fall of 1899 Mr. Mills removed to his present place at Green- field, four miles north of Hagerman, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, which was the old homestead of Judge G. A. Richardson, who had improved this place, had planted cottonwood trees on the road and made it a beautiful farming property. Mr. Mills has since made many other improvements and now has two hundred and sixty acres of land in one tract all improved, two hundred acres being under a high state of cul- tivation. He has thirty acres in orchards and there is much alfalfa raised. He secures water from the Felix irrigation ditch. Mr. Mills has also been extensively engaged in raising stock and in farming and he feels that the future of the valley depends largely upon the small diversified farmer, knowing that this section of the country is adaptable for the production of all kinds of grain and fruits.
L. Wallace Holt, who on coming to the Territory in 1884 located at Lakewood, in the cattle business, was connected with the Holt Live Stock Company, having about twelve thousand head of cattle. About 1898, however, the company closed out the cattle business to a great extent. Mr. Holt was engaged in merchandising at Lakewood for about eight years, being the first merchant at that place. A year ago he removed to his present home, one mile west of Hagerman, where he has eighty acres of land under cultivation, of which forty acres have been planted to fruit trees. He also has four thousand acres in the Pecos valley below the town. and nearly all of the entire amount is in the artesian belt. Mr. Holt was born in Maine, but became interested in Colorado in 1873 in the stock business, and thus almost his entire life has had an interest in the west. He is a very prosperous and prominent farmer and cattleman, having large property interests, and his efforts are a direct factor in promoting the de- velopment and progress of his section of the Territory.
Henry C. Barron, retiring from the practice of law at Republican City, Nebraska, came to the territory in February, 1895, and settled at Green- field. There he planted an orchard of forty acres, continuing its improve- ment for two years, when he sold out and removed to a place below the
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.