1861-1917 On a family farm in Hillsboro, Ohio on May 8, 1861, Creighton May Foraker was born to Henry and Margaret Reece Foraker. Not much is known about his early life other than he moved to New Mexico in 1882. He first worked the Burro Mountain Mines in Grant County, then went into the cattle…

(August 30, 1865-April 8, 1946) From a long lineage of Pennsylvanians, James Edward Elder was born in 1865, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He moved to Albuquerque some time in 1888 or 1889 and in October 1889, bought the “business and good will” of H.F. Bennett and Company, a men’s furnishings store – later called a haberdashery.…

1822 – October 17, 1896 John Braden’s story is one of an old-time stagecoach driver (also called a “reinsman” or “whip”) and freighter who, at age 74, sacrificed his life to save countless others during a parade in New Albuquerque. He was born in Pennsylvania or Ohio and left home when he was young.  It is…

January 1, 1828-January 5, 1888 Samuel Fike was first mentioned in the Albuquerque Journal June 28, 1884, with an eighteen dollar claim against the county for the care of a smallpox patient. Fike lived in the area northeast of the old Protestant Cemetery. Being listed in the 1883 Albuquerque City Directory, we can assume that…

I had the pleasure of meeting Carole Thelin-Bonda on Memorial Day, 2021. She was at the family plot where three of her Thelin (te-lin) ancestors were buried. Carole was one of the guides who shared the history of her family. Alfred Thelin I was born in Helsingborg Sweden on September 20, 1868. By the age…

1862-1945 Anyone in Albuquerque with old family photos may see the name, “The Cobbs,” inscribed on photographs of individuals, families, and Albuquerque scenery during the late 19th to mid-20th centuries. William Cobb and his wife, Edmundie (Eddie) Ross Cobb shared a passion for photography which inspired them to operate a commercial studio that became the…

1880-1936 White House kitchen in 1906 (Copyright expired in 2001, 95 years from date) Henry Julius Schultz led an extraordinary life filled with successes and setbacks.  He was born in Petrograd, Russia, in 1880.  His early years were harsh and challenging. He was orphaned at a young age in St. Petersburg, Russia, and knew nothing…

10/11/1854-9/16/1929 Hatfield-McCoy feud battleground, Courtesy: The Herald-Dispatch, May 20, 2012 The burial of a limb is normally not particularly noteworthy, that is, unless that limb belonged to a survivor of the most famous feud and bloodiest family rivalry in American history – John Washington McCoy. McCoy’s amputated leg lies nestled between two buried children in…

By: Dr. Matthew Schmader It was a cool day early in 1909. Two young friends scaling the escarpment near its south end stopped to peck out their inscriptions: J.B. Terry 2/22/1909 K. Bryan 1909 Kirk Bryan, then a young man of twenty-one, was studying the geology of the Albuquerque area. In less than three months,…

10/6/1849 – 2/10/1913 Richard William Dickinson Bryan was a man of many talents.  He was an adventurer, explorer, educator, lawyer, and President of the University of New Mexico Board of Regents.  He was born in Rye, New York, on October 6, 1849, to Reverend Edward and Sarah Conger Bryan. In 1870, he graduated in Astronomy…

9/1873 – 4/22/1965

2/14/1871-5/26/1922 Abraham Shortle was born in Indiana to George Shortle and Margaret Bell Shortle.  He was educated at Valparaiso College, Indiana Medical College, Baltimore Medical College and did his post graduate work at Heidelberg, Germany. Shortle practiced medicine in Chicago for eight years. He wed Alice Mitchell in 1903 and their first child, Margaret, was…

1889-7/15/1968 Raymond Burton Randall Sr. was born in Illinois in 1899. He married Eva Brown and they moved to Albuquerque in 1916 because she contracted tuberculosis. They had nine children. Raymond had a number of various jobs, the Santa Fe Railroad, Sinclair Oil Company, a bakery and Zenith Cleaners. They lost their home on Arno…

August 5, 1869 – February 14, 1948  Charles Lukens was born in Illinois in 1869, the son of Andrew Lukens and Irene Clark Lukens. He attended the Moody Bible Institute and Blackburn University of Physicians and Surgeons. Lukens was appointed Government Physician at Laguna, New Mexico in 1899. He served in Roswell, NM as pastor…

Lucien Rice was born to a farming family in Richmond, Kentucky. His formal education started at Bethany College in West Virginia, followed by two medical degrees from New York University and Cornell. He practiced medicine in New York after his internship at Bellevue Hospital. Dr. Rice contracted    tuberculosis and came to New Mexico for the…

1889-1927 Oren William Strong (born in 1850), his brother C.H. (born in 1852) and families were passing through Albuquerque in 1881. Their oxen died on the NW corner of Copper and Second. They decided to stay in Albuquerque and start a furniture store business. They posted a sign on one of the wagons, “Strong Brother’s…

January 9, 1830 – May 21, 1913 Francisco was born to the influential Juan Perea and Josefa Chavez de Perea in 1830. He attended Albuquerque and Santa Fe schools in his young years, a Jesuit college in St. Louis, Missouri from 1843-1845, and New York City’s Bank Street Academy in 1847 – 1849. Pursuing a…

April 23, 1837- July 17, 1910 Jose Ynes Perea was born into the influential Don Juan Perea family of the Rio Grande Valley in 1837. He was formally educated in Mexico, St. Louis, and at West Point. After a religious falling out with his family, he traveled until his return home in 1864, when he…

(March 26, 1850-December 19, 1890)  Celia lost her right arm in a water powered grist mill as a young girl in West Virginia. She was no longer considered suitable for marriage, at that time in her situation, so she redirected her focus to education. She taught in local schools, after normal training in 1870 at…