Roswell
Arthur J. Mieiring
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In the spring of 1872 Van C. Smith let his friends and correspondents know that he had named his place on the Rio Hondo, in Lincoln County, "Roswell". He further directed all those writing to him henceforth to use "Roswell" on his mailing address. He pointed our that if mail was directed to Rio Hondo it may be carried to various points along the stream and thus cause delay and inconvenience.
Apparently Van C. Smith had pretty good luck getting his mail to Roswell. On August 20, 1873 he was able to persuade the postmaster general serving under President U. S. Grant to establish a post office in Roswell with Smith as the first postmaster. His father was called Roswell Smith, so in honor of his father he named the post office and the village "Roswell". Although Roswell Smith had a post office and town named after him there is no record that he ever set foot in the place.
George R. Smith followed Van C. Smith as postmaster of Roswell on February 11, 1874 (it is assumed that George Smith was related to Van Smith.) F. G. Christy was appointed postmaster on February 16, 1877; he was in office just a little over a month as Daniel Carroll received the appointment on April 25, 1877. They year 1877 must have been a hard one for postmasters of Roswell as the records indicate that Postmaster Daniel Carroll was only in office until June 8, 1877, when Van C. Smith took over again; Smith's second term was for a short duration as Marshall A. Upson, called Ash Upson, took over on August 6, 1877. So Roswell had four postmasters in 1877 the year that saw much violence take place in Lincoln County, some of it attributed to Billy the Kid.
Marshall A. Upson was undoubtedly a postmaster who knew how to cut red tape and one who was not likely to look to the Post Office Department in Washington, D. C. for advice or a helping hand in making decisions affecting his office.
He was probably the first postmaster who established 'curb services delivery' in the United States. In 1878 he had a request from a lawyer in Lincoln, New Mexico, by the name of A. A. McSween, to have McSween 's mail placed in a special sack at the Roswell post office so it would not have to pass through the Lincoln post office. He stated that the request was make top expedite his mail, however, it was generally known in Lincoln that McSween did not want the postmaster at Lincoln to know too much about is business. Postmaster Ash Upson honored the request and made up the special mail sack for him and charged him $1.50 a week for the service.
Before coming to New Mexico Ash Upson was a reporter on the New York tribune. He dabbled around in the newspaper business in New Mexico and did the ghost writing for Sheriff Pat Garrett's book, "The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid". Ash Upson turned the Roswell postmaster job over to Joseph C. Lea on February 24, 1879, and sometime after that went into the real estate business with Pat Garrett. under the firm name of Upson and Garrett.
Joseph C. Lea was postmaster of Roswell until April 23, 1884, serving five years, the longest term of any postmaster since the establishment of the office.
William H. Cosgrove followed Lea and served until June, 1893. While Cosgrove was postmaster the present Chaves County was carved our of Lincoln County on May 28, 1889. Thus Roswell, the second largest city in New Mexico today, was conceived and born in Lincoln County in the Territorial days of the Lincoln County War.
Before closing the books of the "Roswell, Lincoln County" postmasters, mention should be made of J./ B. Mathews who took over the postmastership from Lucius K. McGaffey on May 19, 1898 (McGaffey served from June 9, 1893 to May 19, 1898). Mathews had previously been the postmaster at Lower Penasco in 1884 and had served as Deputy Sheriff under Pat Garrett.
Transcribed by C. W. Barnum ©2005