Sam Farmer

Edith L. Crawford, Carrizozo, N. Mex. 

Sam Farmer, Carrizozo, N.M. Words 690 

JUL 25 1938 PIONEER STORY 

I have lived in Lincoln County sixty-eight years, which is all my life. I was 
born two miles west of Lincoln New Mexico, on a ranch called "Henry's Ranch", 
named after my father, Henry Farmer. He filed on this place in 1865 and raised 
a few cattle and sheep and did some farming. 

He was married to Cavina Aguilar in 1865. Ten children were born to this 
union, seven boys and three girls. My oldest brother, Teodoro and myself are 
the only ones left of the Farmer family. Father was born in Missouri in 1842. 
His parents moved to Little Rock Arkansas when he was very small. He left home 
at the beginning of the Civil War at the age of eighteen. he roamed around for  
awhile and then came to [?] New Mexico. After staying there for a short while 
he came to Lincoln County in 1862 and lived on the Hughes place, which is 
located about one and one half miles below what is now the town of Tinnie, New 
Mexico. He worked for Mr. Hughes for quite some time and then he filed on a 
homestead two miles west of Lincoln New Mexico. His place was on the Rio 
Bonito and he used the water for irrigating a small farm. He used to freight 
some and during the years that Murphy and Dolan and McSween and Tunstall and 
their stores in Lincoln he hauled freight for them and also for J.C. [Da?] 
Laney of Fort Stanton New Mexico. He had two teams of oxen, six to a team and 
two big freight wagons. He hauled from Las Vegas to Lincoln and Fort Stanton. 
He was never bothered by the Indians but once. He was coming from Picacho to 
Lincoln New Mexico, driving two mules and a band of Indians attacked him. He 
was shot three times with arrows. Once in the upper left arm, in the left 
shoulder

{Begin page no. 2}

and leg. The mules got frightened and ran away and Father always said that is 
the only thing that saved his life. Father always used the oxen in freighting 
and took them from twenty-eight to thirty-five days to make a round trip from 
Lincoln to Las Vegas and return and that depended on the weather. 

We were living on our ranch during the Lincoln county war but our family took 
no part in it. We all liked Billy the Kid and would do anything that we could 
for him. Once my father took myself and my two older brothers to one of the 
trials of Billy the Kid. He wanted to impress upon our young minds that no one 
can break the laws as he did and not pay the penalty. 

The day that Billy the Kid killed Bell and Olinger, my father, two brothers 
and myself were irrigating our wheat field when Billy came riding by on a 
black horse. He stopped and hollered, "Hello Henry," Father looked up and said 
"Hello Billy, what are you doing here?" Billy replied, "I am going, I don't 
think you will see me any more." I killed two men at the Courthouse and I am 
on my way, good-bye." He kicked his horse and went off up the road as fast as 
he could go. I remember distinctly seeing the schackels on his legs. That was 
the last time we ever saw Billy the Kid so much for he always took time to 
talk and play with us when we saw him. Billy was killed at Fort Sumner about 
six weeks later by Pat Garrett. 

My father lived in Lincoln county until his death in 1898, and was buried in 
Lincoln. My mother was born in Manzano mountains at a place called Chato in 
1848. She died in 1893 and was buried in Lincoln. Father was a very quiet un-
assuming man and a good law abiding citizen. 

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

Lincoln

**********************************************************************************
USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any 
format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or 
organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of 
the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the 
listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given 
permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access.
**********************************************************************************