Nellie Leahy

Interview	June 6, 1938 		Redfield, Georgia B. 	Words 730 	6/3/38 

NELLIE LEAHY (MRS. J. Y. THORNTON) 

Nellie Leahy (Mrs. J. Y. Thornton), daughter of James and Johana (Fenton) Leahy, 
was born and educated in Monroe, Wisconsin. 

Suffering from after affects of pneumonia, which necessitated a change of 
climate, she came with friends to Lincoln, New Mexico in 1884, and remained to 
become the wife of James Y. Thornton to whom she was married on February 15, 
1886. Mr. and Mrs. Thornton are the parents of four children, all girls namely: 
Mabel, Eva, Kitty, and Dola. 

The young couple, after their marriage, lived in the hotel at Lincoln which was 
owned by Mr. Thornton and Mr. George Curry. This hotel, still standing, is a few 
yards east of the Lincoln County jail and court house from which Billy the Kid 
made his sensational jail break and escape in 1880, thereby, preventing carrying 
out his sentence of hanging for murder, which was to have taken place May 13, 
1880. However, the end of his death dealing career came a year later at Fort 
Sumner, when he was shot by Pat Garrett - in execution of his duty as a sheriff - 
on July 15, 1881.  

Lincoln had become a comparatively safe place to live before the coming of Nellie 
Leahy. The death of Billy the Kid had practically ended the bitter fighting and 
bloodshed of the Lincoln County War, and the peace abiding people had returned to 
their neglected duties in stores, in the court room, and on farms and cattle 
ranches. 

Nellie Leahy, who is remembered by old timers as being a lovely blue eyed girl, 
met Mr. Thornton at the old Dowling Mill on the Ruidoso, and the romance that 
ended in their marriage was begun at the time of their meeting. C18-6/5/41-N. 
Mex. Box 2- 

The death from scarlet fever in September, 1892 of their two older children, 
Mabel and Eva, was their greatest sorrow during the eight years of their 
residence together in Lincoln. The two little girls were buried side by side in 
the old Fritz Burying Ground, at historic old Spring Ranche eighteen miles south 
of Fort Stanton. 

In 1895 Mr. and Mrs. Thornton moved to Roswell, which had grown considerably 
larger since Mr. Thornton and Mr. White had visited there two or three years 
earlier to organize the Knights of Pythias Lodge. 

Artesins wells had been put down and thousands of acres, watered by the 
underground water source, had been put into cultivation. The Goss Military 
Institute had been established by Robert S. Goss, who was brought to Roswell by 
influence of Captain Joseph C. Lea, a bill had been passed in 1893 for the 
creation of the New Mexico Military Institute, the Gaullieur Block - the first 
large modern store and office building - had been completed in 1894, and the 
Roswell Club had been organized, and this club and the Knights of Pythias Lodge 
occupied rooms in the new office building. The long-talked-of Pecos Valley 
Railroad had had been completed into Roswell, which brought regular trains with 
home seekers and had established a means of transportation for cattle and 
agricultural produce raised in the valley for outside markets. Roswell had indeed 
beomce the most important town and the center of ranching and agricultural 
interests of Southeastern New Mexico.  

Mr. and Mrs. Thornton in 1897 moved to their own home built by them at what is 
now 209 North Pennsylvania Avenue, where Mr. Thornton lived continuously from 
that date until his death in 1919, and Mrs. Thornton lives at the present time. 
Her daughter, Kitty, who married Raynes V. West, lives in Long Beach, California. 
Mr. and Mrs. West have two sons - Raynes Thornton, and Donald V. The younger 
daughter, Dola, married Orville B. Brookshire and lives in Roswell. Mr. and Mrs. 
Brookshire have five children - Orville Jr., Jack, Beverly Nell, Kitty Lou, and 
Tommy. 

Mrs. Thornton has been a member of the Catholic Church at Roswell since it was 
first organized, and a member of St. Peter's Altar Society, a member of Chaves 
County Archacological and Historical Society, and has belonged to the Woman's 
Club since 1911. 

She is known as one of the most lovable and motherly characters that has ever 
lived in Roswell. Many girls and women have made their homes with this big-
hearted Christian woman and have shared the attentions and love she has showered 
on her own children and grandchildren. 

Will Robinson well known writer and columnist who knows of her helpfulness, 
especially to young girls, once wrote: "Mrs. Thornton and Mrs. J. F. Hinkle are 
the two outstanding women who are the main reasons for rejoicing and celebration 
of Mother's Day in Roswell". 

SOURCES OF INFORMATION 

Mrs. Kitty Thornton West - daughter of Mrs. Thornton, Long Beach, California. 

Will Robinson, Roswell, New Mexico 

Former Governor James F. Hinkle, Roswell, New Mexico 

Credit: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project 
Collection.

Lincoln, Chaves

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