Document text
Georsia 2 R.ajdt
hoewoll# low Me:clop
9.23.48
Words
fttioitflitlioer to
Am,* of kaferostion;
Wren 'Morrie, with
itro. GicarOh•
1/44403) UHUM.IN (JOT 3 1930
r
oolootet 1py a 4moittoe et4haves Gm* AP464441061isal
and glotorlool kiddy so one of the sour outstanding
kiwi/0w *alders of Rotation am& aentheast MOw *WA*,
Mrs, Amelia (Dolton) Churoh daughter of John aol who
was hoed of the ‘4uartormaster Department otationot with wz ofw
floor, at /Port otanton, low Vezioo, for protection of the ear];
settlers from Intianst, am& wife of the late J. r Anroh, a plow
neer bulltor of rowel_ hme 11114 in Couthoact low koxioo for
sixty-seven years.
Nativo of *ellord Irelmnd
Are. aureh was born in iiemford Ireland July 3# 1862. In
la she 'tame from Iroland tc America with hor itiothor, Alla (20744)
Belton, and a brothor and younger tartar, who la Lra. 411w (Dalton)
Dimitsoni Mrs. Dolton and her children, on lantinc in Dow Xerki
trarolet by train as far as the rmilroli va; built, ant then by
army ambulant** amt eovored wagons, euarded by an army oactort cent
from dert ,Aanton, by whom they were conduits& tafely throu4h hem..
tile Indian infaoliod plains to 'tat wfte to be. their now ?vats in the
wild newly **Mit ecuntry of New hexioo.
Mob* Hone at Fort Alanton
itr, Bolton had primed,* his wife and shildren in mai:. to
AfterlOS. After they Join od him it YOrt Ltnnton he buat for theft
a new adobe home. Nero urn. Ohcroh hiM happily with her wont,
and beether find eirter the t11.2-ee fi‘st of her many o6rItinuoue years
of residence in Mow Mexloo.
Old Zinooln Town
In 184:3 John !lolton moved hie family to the historio old town
of Linooln, New Mexico, 'here he wt,s maAe poetnautere Urchin
4amehterr, Amelia and Llla crew to youme glrlhold, constantly var.
2-Yanded by danger, not only from Indians, of Amu they had lived
in terror at tort 6tanton, but from the rough element of settlers
of the, new town made u'2 of oattle thieves, gamblers and murderers,
and the gun.battlee of the two faotions of the blood; feudal con.
Mote, known av the Lincoln County oar. The true utories of one
of thore battles of whiesh t. hurdh le one of the few 11Ving
eye.witneeree and the traditions of the w MW hitorie plvylas
interest in linooln County are desired' by the Chaves County Arithaee.
llgioal and Rietorloal oolety Thr weev-vation in the Lomeli
*WI UN 4.
Beginning of l4nooln County War
The killirg of John U. %install on Yebruary10, 1873 was the
real beginning of the Lineoln County Nar, Tunatsil, who was a
pepular young Roglikhnan, had rstablinhed a ranoh on the 54.0 bells
and rtookod it with oattle and hornet,. willian Bonney, who bums
known efterettrde ar "'Billy the Xid, and hP A bloodthirsty man -killer
and outlaw", war employed by Tunetall to an_ist with the stook on
the ranah. They beeftme fast friever. The youthful ,utlaw mad.e
resolve, while taneitnf over the grave of hit* friend, that he would
never let up until he killed the le.t lean who hel:ed to kill Tun.
stall, Tunstall wake shot !•wi by -iffieiale of the law, who weee
sent to take Tunisian's. cattle and property boomure of hie partner.
rhip with teLwelm in the meroantlle turinees in Linoolu areriff
Brady war ru noved tr, hive l'een resi.onsible for the attaehment
issued against Tarot
Is property, whioh reuulted in hls killing.
lag of Major ZrsAy'
"I knew r Araity very tell." Z.flid ;i4s. antra:1 duri an
interview a* her hone in i4owoll in opt -ember,
vas sheriff of Lineoln 1;ounty. Oxon hs WNW killed. I
sew him s# he tool another nano deputy Sheriff George Zindsan„ lay
dead in the street, shot down, as they were ?exaing, by 2111v the
Xit and. his gang, who lay hidden behind an adobe wall. Iajor Brady
was killed instantly. kieorge aindman fell then he wav UNA, and
Ike 'thtoilkton who was standing near, an seeing be w til3 alive,
ran to hia and grae his water that he brought from 4 ditoh in his
hat. However nothing oould .tovive bin for he was mortally voundsd
and died in a l'ew minatois. Titc third man, Billy Mathews, wh was
with najor Zrady when the mhooting becan„ mode hi;', (mow, by run..
ming into an adobe boutw near by.
014 Linsoln ,:;ounty 'ourt Rous
Jp stairs in the old our* ilrns at linooln ir; the room 'Mare
;31.117 the kit was oon ins& waiting hiu for tht. at
Major jrady. There have been many untrue vto.riew told ol the Kid's
sensational aape afte killing h to irttal-da Loll and 011inger.
I remember all the fots in aonncotin 1th the.t suoupe," said hrs.
Church.
d
hi a other guard,w st
wde v th Zell, while (flinger,
t, the ut4ect he Haw hie Ghana.
and, 6rabbo%i 11 car, sU Lrted down the inaite otairvay, bat
illy the Lid WU4 44.:4 OaCtk f,;, him, he fired ,,,nd iat11. Loll dew.: at
tb& bottom of tits otai,s. the K14 then walked orani;" to a
winaow sbotln.er 151..°13 all he 04Me running when ho heard the
4
shooting. The Mid" then threw the eun on 011inger who ley dying
and ttAd, Gone, the jail eeok, te waddle a here* that wee feeding
in an alfalfa field near by. The 000k helped get the shaeklee off
the Kale hands but, beesune they were welded on he couldn't it
then off his legs that is why he was thrown from the horse because
of havinet r1.4Le side -wise on aoeount of the shackles. Re rode a
mile and a half wc-A before they W. removed by a Mexican man.
who afterwards gave the ehoklee to Georg* Titswerth, who lived at
kApitan, and possee4ed an interet-tine aelleetion at that plaee."
"The Old Court Houma 1.14 now in "room of reeonditioning ant
etrencthenln6. It it to nerve av it mennlial to the pioneers after
its reitoration,"
El Torreon Old :Acne Tower
in 193t, Lirs• Chureh worked untiringly with the L;haves County
Archavologioal and. Historical :Asclety in the Immuring and restore..
tion o l Torreen the old round otone tower, built by Itexiean set..
here around 1040 or 180, at La 21aolta later named Linsoln. The
tower WaE first built to be uned an a look out and :roteetion against
At,4 °±4
white outlaws nd AP a refuge during the Linooln County Ware
"1 wa3 tnterestod in envine the old tower that vials fast erunb..
lint into 2.ui.n11," maid. litre. Uhureh, 4breause we felt pater all through
tL)se dangerow ye.11 o cutlnwry just kmAting there was allows a
place of oafety to be f,,und behind its 7,roteeting walls. It helped
)4pep u zt tie( when we needed eouraee."
lla and my mother and I were the only white persons
of twenty ceven the rest rere all kemleane who epent the night
crowded tot:ether in hl Torreon after we hnd been warned to peek
safety. in the tower, ,,or the dreaed Harrell brother, (ration
murdercre were on their way to wipe net the t,:=wn. There hat
;even lf the Rorrell )rothere Two had been killed at a
baile (dance) afte the ;iounger one If the brothers had etartei
a Tuarrel over a'aniAl senorita. Thie threatened invasion was
suppsee to be for the purpoee 7_1f carrying out their threat to kill
every man, woman and Olild in revenre for the thontine of their
brothers. We spent the nifht in fear and trembling, close by the
nide :If our eether, tut moTning fund UF cltite safe in the old tower.
The ilorrello had. accepted Pomo kind of a true, offered by a friend.
They were mollified for the time being and no one at all was harmed.*
know now, eel& Church, that our mother who posseseet
a brave and deuntlese eOrit and never ootIplained during these done
eeroue timee muet have often loneed for the peaceful security of
her old home in Ireland.*
The First Jail Built in Lincoln
LT Chureh remerbere the building of the firet jail in Lincoln,
the firet occupant of which wae Billy the rid..
"1 watohed the men ap they ',,yrked on the jail." Cloardh•
"They dug a equare it brut nine feet deep, then they lowered bate
it, a r(rath lloset like cell. without any doors or windows. On top
of the ground over the cell they built :7, two room adobe house for
the jailer. I saw them lower Billy the Kid through a trap door in
the to; to the cell below. There was a diteh ruin; full of water
close I was horrified. when 1 heard one of the men who lowered
the "id." tneide 'Let'o, tarn the water of that ditch into ths
cell and arown 1,1m rat./
KWh" Silly the Ild onit Ifolsw,fone
While many harrowing ex,erieneee and nurderi 4 eli
ably impressed uren the yf7une mind of Itro Chureh he reierbs ales
mam7 ,lemeant soolal eeeaminnr &urine the years Paw lived in LIne01224
There ,isere maloale parties end &twine. he Mier 2411y the Kit Who
sang well ant -f-as a od dander. lie was r, welsone guest at maw of
the earl social affairs ef the tn. '..11s often visited in the hose
of Ars and lire. 14e6ween. Mr. P.e6ween tbouth he never nftrried Kan,
was one of the faction loadori9 the Linseln County war. $he re-
memberr Mrs. MeSween as beim,. a woman of refinement and culture. She
wns a rood musielen and awned a fine piano of whioh ehe wnn Tory
proud It wnn burned in her bane, the night bar husband was killed
in the final battle that pr,vItleally ended the Lineela Gem* war
which took place in July 1879*
Married. to JeshusP. Chnreh
Mrs. Church was married July 18, 1891 to Joshua 2* chureh then
of Ge1,.0 who had been a resident of 4outheast Mew Manes sine, the
spring of 18114 Ghildren born to thin rani,n were Lophie (Mrs*
Oehampaugh, who live in i,oreell) Joshua (a son, w ho ltver in pening4
Mow Mexiee) Aileen (irr, Langford Keith, who lives in Roswell) and.
Milner (Mrs. Riehard M, Rarripon, who lives in Nogalle
Old Pauly Hotel
The firet home *coupled by Mr. and bre. Churoh, after their
marriage, was the old :Pauly Aotel wh oh was the fret real hotel
built in Doswell. They 7urshaeed the intere:lt and holdings in the
building from Mrs. Aileen Oolieal who had. eenduoted the hot ,lr tbo
fir!lt lix ,onthe after itm eonstruetion in 1890*
After living in the hotel four year', and, jars. %;hu:tth built
7
the home where Mrs. Church lives t the present tine at what is now
210 South Kentusky Avenue, and where the death of Mr. Churet ocoUrrei
in 1917,
kr.s, Chart% in one of the popular leaders of the sootsl life at
licewell. She belongs to the Bpiseepalion Choral, wad is a coonloor of
the L4owell woman's Clubs of the bouthwestern History Olob, and
Chaves County Archaeological and Historical Society, to which abs has
contributed muOh of her valuable time in the buildinr of the 10 swell
MUFMUM and the progress of its +cultural development that is prOVIMM
invaluable to the people of Roewell. The bewatiful Pueblo mina*
building designed by /rank raandhardt Roswell arehlteot, "Dotisated
to the Founders and Builders of Roswell* is the oulmimation of the
illass of Xre boo D. Bonney and Yr,t! Chureh, who first entertainst the
thoughts of building a miitable place to holm the splendid Krakatoa*
logical colleotion owned by the Rociety. It was completed an a N.
P. 116. Projeot in 1917.
In the seleotior of gro. Church, by a oommittee of the society,
as one of the four ,rut3tandinE pioneer builders of ;---watheast Mew
Kex/co, of whom a bust me to be eeulptured for the Roowel/ Museum.
she was jAvAly honnrel, erlve e.11 the womfm r_vrAributors to the up.
bullaing and. advancement of what WI,M an nndeveloped new **Ott= of
the territc• not en ultny ye'n at
The life like heads modeled of Church, John Chisum, Captain
Joseph C, Lea and james J. Haeerman, the wor of John Eaymond
kin a innta 141 sculptor, were ?bile inter the W. P. A. rederal Art
l'roject of New Mexieo. They have been platted in niche c espeeitUr
clesiened. for' them buil, shrine -like, in the fcnr corners of the foyer
of the museum. Here they will ).)e safe and serve to perpetuate th.
nanory of, not only
for whom ehe stasis
8
haroh, but all the pioneer wives4gad mothers
lot Jay of tit o three pioneer min, akInosio.
sited with lire. Church as builders, but all those pioneers for Owe
their 0oulptured be stand as 5ymbole„ who wcre oontributora in
the dfvelopment ana cultural advanov-tnat of a nem oivilivatiaa in
the ovuntry of '4outheast Mesiosip
A.ass. Lienreh has ever been Latorev,ted La, the welse of the
poorer ola4e of people and has worked eswielesAy tut4h the years
to improve an broaden ti o lives of those lest; fortunate in edam',"
tional oAvntqaces and beautiful surroundings. Gardeuinc In her hobby.
Wm in widely ki.wwn beeauae of her oivio pride mad achievements LA
developine beunty.spote, 14 which trees tina lovely lawna and flowers
movi flouAlea, where ill the early &cis am saw only at grassy, ass.
quite cast weeds wetew in profutilon.
Antreh and her family aro ap,aeciated and itatd hi h La
the tp-64J-4 of th 44svell poople