Portraits from Beevers Cemetery

Don José Manuel Gallegos

(Library of Congress) José Manuel Gallegos was born in Spanish colonial Mexico, in the town of Abiquiú, Nuevo México, on October 30, 1815. His people were Hispanos, descendants of early Spanish settlers. ... Suspended from the priesthood for refusing to accept the authority of French religious superior, Bishop Jean Baptiste Lamy (who became the subject of Willa Cather‘s novel, Death Comes for the Archbishop), Gallegos put increasing energy into his political life. He was elected to the New Mexico Territorial House of Representatives in 1860 as the representative from Santa Fe, served as speaker of the House from 1860-62, treasurer of the territory from 1865-66, and superintendent of New Mexico Indian affairs in 1868. He was reelected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a delegate from 1871-73. Continued

Old House 41

 

Tulia, Texas

Bill Mauldin

(Wikipedia) William Henry "Bill" Mauldin (October 29, 1921 – January 22, 2003) was an American editorial cartoonist who won two Pulitzer Prizes for his work. He was most famous for his World War II cartoons depicting American soldiers, as represented by the archetypal characters Willie and Joe, two weary and bedraggled infantry troopers who stoically endure the difficulties and dangers of duty in the field.
... Mauldin was born in Mountain Park, New Mexico. His grandfather had been a civilian cavalry scout in the Apache Wars and his father was an artilleryman in World War I. Continued

If You Think Today's Politics Are Bad, Check This Out

(Bob Boze Bell) ... During the 1871 election season in Mesilla, N.M. Republicans and Democrats squared off on the town square and after insults were traded, both sides produced guns and started shooting. About 500 shots were fired, with 15 known dead and upwards of 50 wounded. Continued

Browning Cemetery, McAlister, NM

Saving history ‘to the best of our recollection’

(Clovis News Journal) I have a couple of bookshelves in my house devoted to local and regional history books, but the one book that never needs dusting (and believe me, almost everything in my house could use a good dusting) is a hefty volume with a striking purple cover and “ELIDA” embossed in silver on the spine.
The official name of this tome is, brilliantly, “Elida: To the Best of Our Recollection.” Continued

Theodore Roosevelt

(Wikipedia) Theodore Roosevelt Jr.* (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919) was an American statesman, author, explorer, soldier, naturalist, and reformer who served as the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. As a leader of the Republican Party during this time, he became a driving force for the Progressive Era in the United States in the early 20th century. Continued

*For TR's connection to New Mexico, see this article at newmexicohistory.org.

The Quanah Parker Trail

The Quanah Parker Trail is a series of sites around the Texas Panhandle and Plains marking associations with the famous Comanche chief Quanah Parker. The trail is marked with giant arrows, such as the one above. For more information see the trail's website here.

Ray Crawford

(Wikipedia) Ray Crawford (October 26, 1915 – February 1, 1996) was an American fighter ace, test pilot, race-car driver and businessman.
Born in Roswell, New Mexico, Crawford served as a U.S. Army Air Corps fighter pilot and flew the P-38 Lightning in combat over North Africa in 1943. He was tied as the top-ranking fighter ace of the 97th Fighter Squadron with six enemy aircraft confirmed destroyed and one probably destroyed. Rotated home, he eventually became an early jet pilot.
... He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with fourteen Oak Leaf Clusters before separating from active duty as a Captain in February, 1946. Continued

El Sarape, Tulia, Texas

Book Review: Frederic Remington

(Wild West) ... In Frederic Remington: A Catalogue Raisonné II, published in cooperation with the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyo., editor Peter Hassrick has compiled not only a comprehensive examination of Russell’s flat work—more than 150 figures and 100 color plates—but also seven articles from art scholars, including Hassrick himself, that analyze Remington’s career. Continued

Blackwater Draw Museum set for move

(Clovis News Journal) The Blackwater Draw Museum, once located between Clovis and Portales on U.S. 70, officially closed its doors early in September after more then 46 years. Its artifacts, dating back an estimated 13,000 years, will soon find a new home at Portales’ Eastern New Mexico University. Continued

Old House 40

 

Ragland, New Mexico

Vern Stephens

(Wikipedia) Vernon Decatur Stephens (October 23, 1920 – November 3, 1968) was an American shortstop in professional baseball who played 15 seasons in the American League for four different teams.
A native of McAlister, New Mexico, Stephens batted and threw right-handed. He was also nicknamed "Pop-up Stephens", "Junior", and "Buster."
One of the strongest-hitting shortstops in major league history, Stephens compiled a .286 batting average with 247 home runs and 1174 RBI in 1720 games. Continued

Cowboys and Gangsters: Stories of an Untamed West

(True West) In Cowboys and Gangsters: Stories of an Untamed West (TwoDot Publishing, $16.95) Samuel K. Dolan refutes the idea that the frontier of the American Southwest ended sometime during the 1890s. 
In the early 1900s, the peace officers of the Southwest were, in many cases, the same men who had dealt with Apache raiders, outlaws and banditos of earlier times. Continued

Ozark Trail Marker, Tulia, Texas

The Women on the Mother Road

Blue Swallow Motel, owned by Lillian Redman through most of 66's heyday.

"The Women On The Mother Road: Route 66 Web-site and Oral History Project is creating a public history record that sheds light on diverse women’s experiences within  a specific but varying geography and over several decades. The time period covered by Route 66’s history from its inception in 1926 to its demise in 1985 and then to its ongoing rebirth represents a national steady march forward for women on all fronts including the domestic, political, social and economic spheres of their lives.  The oral histories gathered fit into this wider women’s history context." Continued

James F. Hinkle

(Wikipedia) James Fielding Hinkle (October 20, 1864 – March 26, 1951) was an American politician and the sixth Governor of New Mexico.
... He served as a member of the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners from 1891 to 1893 and also served as a member of the New Mexico Territorial House of Representatives from 1893 to 1896. He became a member of the New Mexico Territorial Senate in 1901 and served as a member of the Lincoln County Board of Equalization from 1901 to 1911. He served as the mayor of Roswell from 1904 to 1906. Continued

Country Churches: First United Methodist of Happy, Texas

Thomas Mabry

(Wikipedia) Thomas Jewett Mabry (October 17, 1884, Carlisle County, Kentucky – December 23, 1962, Albuquerque, New Mexico) was a New Mexico politician and judge, who was Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court (1939–46) and the 14th Governor of New Mexico (1947–51). Mabry attended the University of Oklahoma and the University of New Mexico School of Law. He settled in Clovis, New Mexico, where he practiced law and published the local newspaper. He was a member of the New Mexico Constitutional Convention in 1910. Continued

Lawrence Road

 

Just north of Happy, Texas.

"Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde," by John Boessenecker

(Historynet) ... There is no escaping the fact that Hamer (born March 17, 1884, in Fairview, Texas) played a central role in the ambush shooting of notorious 1930s bank robbers and killers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. “In our collective memory, Frank Hamer still remains the man who killed Bonnie and Clyde,” the author writes in conclusion. “Perhaps this book can help restore him to his proper place in the American story.” Boessenecker does his part by boldly exploring the mostly good and some bad of Hamer’s extraordinary (yes, even epic) career from his time as a fearless lawman on horseback through his manhunting and town-taming years both in and out of the Ranger service. Continued

AT&SF Railroad Station, Tulia, Texas

Mike Judge

(Wikipedia) Michael Craig "Mike" Judge (born October 17, 1962) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, and musician. He is the creator of the television series Beavis and Butt-Head (1993–1997, 2011), co-creator of the television series King of the Hill (1997–2010), The Goode Family (2009), and Silicon Valley (2014–present), and writer-director of the films Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996), Office Space (1999), Idiocracy (2006) and Extract (2009).
... Michael Craig Judge is the second of three children born to archaeologist Jim Judge and librarian Margaret Blue. He was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where his father worked for a nonprofit organization promoting agricultural development. Judge was raised from age 7 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Continued

How about some round architecture for a change?

 

The Arts Academy at Bella Vista, Clovis, NM.

In ‘News of the World,’ Unlikely Companions Bond on a Perilous Journey

(NYTimes) ... Her story in “News of the World” is painfully simple. An old man, Capt. Jefferson Kyle Kidd, is content to make his living as an itinerant news reader in Texas until he is charged with a much more difficult mission. A white girl, about 10, has been “rescued” from the Kiowa Indians who kidnapped her and killed her immediate family four years earlier. Would he please take her down to the San Antonio region and return her to her closest living relatives, an aunt and uncle? Continued

A few more from Fort Union

Victorio

(Wikipedia) Victorio (Bidu-ya, Beduiat; ca. 1825–October 14, 1880) was a warrior and chief of the Warm Springs band of the Tchihendeh (or Chihenne, usually called Mimbreño) division of the central Apaches in what is now the American states of New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua.
...  He and his followers left the reservation twice before but came back only to leave permanently in late August 1879 which started Victorio's War. Continued