Document text
“edfield, Geo-gia
Vew
A. CL
3-3-39
MAR G -1939
tiords 770
6ubject: Joshua 2. Church.
sources of Information:
Hrs. lila ..tIvidson.
.cioneer Builder outheat:1 New Amiss°, Beginning 1846
cperated First Losrell idolusive Hotel.
An Organiser of "Ammer Telephone Company, 1894.
eerved ix Years on Roswell City Board
Two Years as Chairman, Made b'ong Pight
kntting Throueh City treets (rading.
Joshua 4'. church, coming from Texas to hite oaks) Dew AOXi00,
in 189, was one of the first important pioneer builders of the
utheast e tion of the Territory.
In 1891, .fter removinf frAn Olite Oaks to Roswell, he became
prominently identifi d with the business interests and develop-
ment of the little village, flnd waz one of the mot popular, co-
o erative, ,?.nd useful citizen the town, and later. the City of
evcr pos'er:ed.
14r. church war married July 18, 1891, to Amelia .Bolton, daugh-
ter of John and -11a (loyel) Bolton, both natives of Wexford Irelamd,
who came to lier .w.exico in 1871 M settled at isort ctanton, where
Ar. Bolt as stationed with army guards as a protection against the
Indians.
Fcur children were born to r. Church and his wife Amelia Church,
rhos they nylmed cophie, (i.4.s. L. cchampaugh, who live in Lomeli.)
Joshua (a son, who lives in emirig lew lexica) Aileen, (k.s.
ford Keith who lives in Lowell) and Iclinor, i,ichard A. Harri-
son who lives in ogalls, Arizona.
Church brought his rife, when a bride, to live in the first
exclusive hotel to operate in Roswell, the holdincr of which he
bo ht from re. Aileen 0 Aleal, who had come from white cakr upon
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advice of Judge Granville Richardson, who explained the need of
a good hotel in Roswell, where he lived.
Captain Joseph C. Lea who came in 1877 had bought the old adobe
structure, with attic sleeping quarters fin' paying guests, built
by Van C. Smith and A. O. Wilburn in 1869, which he used for his
residence.
The new hotel operated by Mrs. O'Neal, which was considered
very grand, was also built of adobe. The building first contained
a veranda, a dining room, kitchen and small office on the first
floor, and seven or eight bedrooms on the second floor.
Additional rooms were built under the management of hr. Church,
the entire structure was remodeled, and named the "Pauly Hotel" in
honor of the man who built the first Court House and jail. The
cell doors of the jail were equipped with the Pauly Jail Cell Lock-
ing ystem, invented by him, whereby all cells were simultaneously
locked on the outside of the jail corridor.
Under the capable management of hr. and hrs. Church the jauly
Hotel became widely known as being equipped with as modern accommo-
dations as could be supT:lied in the Territory during those days of
early settlement.
In four years M. Church sold out. The hotel afterwards chang-
ed hands several times, operating at different intervals as the
Pauly, Grand Central, and Bankhead Hotel. Until it was burned June
19, 1937, no matter under what name it was operated, the hotel re-
mained the favorite stopping place of the pioneer sheepmen ani stock-
men of the Valley, as in the old days when Mr. Church was the mana-
ger.
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Typical of the progrressiveness of Mr. Church and his never
failing interest in civic improvement, during the first years while
serving as councilman on the City Board his efforts were untiring
in securing financial backing for grading of city streets.
He was also one of the organizers in 1894 of the Roswell Tele-
phone and Manufacturing Company with franchise taken out May 24,
1894, starting as a local system boasting thirty-five telephones,
with J. W. Poe, President, J. P. Church Vice President, Cahoon
treasurer, and I. K. McGaffey secretary. This was the pioneer system,
and first in the Pecos Valley, which was enlarged in two years, con-
necting Roswell nnd Carlsbad, by long distance; with exchanges at
Hagerman, Dexter and Lake .irthur.
=fter having grown tired of public life in a hotel, Mr. and Mrs.
Church built their home, where Mrs. Church lives at the present time,
at what is now 210 6o. Kentucky .;Lvenue. Here, one of the beauty
spots of the City was developed by the Church family, and nearly
tv:enty-five years was spent by them in unbroken happiness until the
death of Mr. Church which occurred at his home in 1917.
Mr. Church was popular in business and social circles, and with
all strangers with whom he came in contact.
He was known throughout 14ew Mexico as a man of indomitable will
power and unusual physical endurance.
"Church Peak" in the Mountains near Nogal was name& in his honor.
Once when deserted by exhausted fellow surveyors, he went forward,
alone, and scaled the steep rocky mountain side and erected a monu-
ment, on which he wrote his name on the top -most -peak.
Years later another man, he too a surveyor, victorious over the
same almost unsurmountable cliffs, found the little monument. The
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pinnacle from that aay forward has berm known as "Church :Peak".
It will stand through the ages, until the end of time, as a
testimonial to the staunch sturdy frontiersman, whose chief charac-
teristic was the will to accomplish all things undertaken by him
no matter how great the difficulties encountered.
It is because of such progressive men as Mr. Church, that Ros-
well people enjoz, the beautiful modern City, built in a desert coun-
try by the first pioneer settlers of the Pecos Valley.
WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO
FtEeets4156lefc
STATE ADMINISTRATOR
J. J. Connelly
FEDERAL -iRITER61 PROJECT
AILEEN NUSBAUM
ACTING STATE DIRECTOR
418 College St.
March 29, 1959
Mrs. Georgia B. Redfield
Box 105
Roswell, N. M.
Dear Mrs. Redfield:
Referring to your manuscript, "Joshua P. Church",
I wish to call to your attention the following additional neces-
sary information:
Page 1, paragraph 1. From what place in Texas did 'Joshua P.
Church come to White Oaks, N. M. in 1880? When and where was he
born?
193,
4f/mitteibmt.
Page 1, paragraph 3. In what town was Mr. Church married to Miss
Bolton? Y,,,L,„_e4,
Page 1, paragraph 5. In what year did Mr. Church purchase the hotel
from Mrs. Aileen O'Neal?
Page 2, paragraph 2. Did the old adobe structure which was bought
by Captain Joseph C. Lea eve lly become the hotel purchased by
Church from Mrs. O'Neal? t10
Page 2, paragraph 5. In what year did Mr. Church sell his hotel
interest; to whom? 1- y,:)4, trli‘ot C--44-0•A'k. Af-441,1,-.1441.‘n-
Will you please mace the above corrections on the enclosed
carbon copy, and also list these corrections in the regulation three
copies, and return to me as soon as possible?
Thanking you, I am
AN/r-encl.
Very tru y yours
J. J. Connelly
State Administrator
By 0-5--Q-5-'711L
AILEEN NUSBAUM
ACTDG ST.,TE DIRECTOR
FEDERAL RITER6' PROJECT