Mrs. A.J. Manning  WPA Story No. 1 & 2-Combined
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940

A.J. Ballard, born in Tennessee and Katherine Redding Ballard, born in Texas and six of their children (Charlie, Will, Berta, Ann, James C. and Dick) moved from Griffing Texas to Fort Sumner, New Mexico in 1869. Mr. Ballard hunted buffalo between 1875 and 1876 on the Llano Estacado (Staked Plains) even going as far west as the Pecos River.  During his year of buffalo hunting, Mr. Ballard liked the area around Roswell and planned to move his family to the lower Pecos Valley.  The journey in a covered wagon was hard but uneventful and as luck would have it, they encountered no Indians. The family was "thrilled-especially my brothers Charlie, Will and Dick", who was a "baby in arms" by the site of herds of buffalo roaming on the open plains.   The family recounts the covered wagon journey as "the most interesting experience of their lives."  (Mrs. Berta Ballard-Manning was 10 years old at the time of the journey). The families first stop in New Mexico was at Portales Springs where they camped for the night enjoying fresh cold water.   The next morning, the Ballard family moved on to Fort Sumner and set up their home.   After just a few short months, the Ballard family lost their home in Fort Sumner to an explosion, rumored to have been caused by a drunk shooting at a keg of gun powder on the plaza.

The Ballard family moved again, this time to Lincoln, New Mexico.  While living in Lincoln, Mrs. Berta Ballard-Manning was befriended by Billy the Kid.  Berta remembered Billy the Kid as "being quiet and gentlemanly."  As luck would have it, the family moved right into the middle of the Lincoln County War.  Mr. Ballard did not want to raise his children in the midst of hostility and lawlessness that was abundant in Lincoln and the family moved again, this time to Roswell, New Mexico in 1881. 

Roswell offered the Ballard family the opportunity  of establishing and improving the land on which they settled.   The property, now known as the Arthur Stevens farm, was located three miles east of Roswell on East Second Street.  This location was the birth place of the first Anglo boy, Robert L. Ballard, born in the Pecos Valley.   Ella Lea Dow, daughter of Captain Joseph C. Lea was the first girl baby born in Roswell. Mrs. Berta Ballard-Manning and her family watched Roswell grow. At the time, Roswell consisted of two adobe houses, built by the partnership of Van C. Smith and Aaron Wilburn. Both of these buildings were owned by Captain Lea with one being a store and the other a four room hotel. Captain Lea lived in the hotel when the Ballards came to Roswell. The hotel featured dormer-window attic sleeping quarters for guests. Located on the north east side of the hotel and store were three "little mud and stick huts". "Of the six little trees spoken of by Sallie Chisum Roberts as "making a struggle to live" there were only three left". In 1881, the first adobe school was built near the Ballard home "on the southeast corner of school section thirty-six, three miles east of Roswell on East Second Street".  Mr. Ballard contributed financially toward costs of the school.   The Ballard children were among the first to attend this school and were taught by Asbury C. Rogers.  (Asbury C. Rogers was the first teacher in what is now known as Chaves County). Mr. Ballard wanted his children to be able to take advantage of the new schools and churches being established in Roswell so the family "sold our farm on East Second street to the Arthur Stevens family and built a home in Roswell on what is now the one hundred block South Pennsylvania avenue a little north of where Mrs. Aurie S. Moreland lives at the present time, 102 S. Pennsylvania avenue". For over half a century, Mr. & Mrs. A.J. Ballard, their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren have been "identified with the upbuilding and improving of the Pecos Valley".  The Ballard family remains active in promoting the City of Roswell. A.J. Ballard passed away in 1914 and his wife Katherine Redding Ballard joined her husband in 1926.  During their life in Roswell, they saw it become a modern city of 10,000 people.  Many of the Ballard children, grandchildren and great grandchidren still reside in the Roswell area today and are still active in their community. James C. Ballard, Robert L. Ballard and Mrs. Ann Ballard-Johnson (State Supervisor of WPA Production Projects) live in Roswell.  Richard (Dick)Ballard and his wife Laura (Gayle) Ballard live in Phoenix Arizona, their children, Robert (Bert) Ballard and Mrs. Laura Ballard-Lodewick live in Roswell.   Charlie and Will Ballard live in Artesia, New Mexico.

Abran Miller, Carrizozo, New Mexico, Aged [75?] years. WPA Story No. 3
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940

Abran Miller was born in February, 1863 at Manzano, New Mexico and has lived in Lincoln County for sixty-four years.  His father, Holan Miller, was born in Canada but does not know the place or date of his fathers birth and his mother, Manuelite Herrera Carrillo was born in Manzano, New Mexico.   His parents lived in Manzano for about four years.  Holan Miller and Manuelite Herrera Carrillo married in Manzano, new Mexico in 1869.  Their union produced five children, three boys, Abran, Willie and Adolpho and two girls, Debbie and Eliza.  Holan Miller was a blacksmith and always had his own shop.  The family lived in Manzano, New Mexico until Abran was around six months old.  The family moved to Springer, new Mexico in the fall of 1863 where they lived for seven years.  During their time in Springer, Holan Miller set up his blacksmith shop and ran two hundred head of cattle on shares, building up the herd until he owned one hundred head.  In 1870, the family left Springer traveling in an ox drawn covered wagon taking their one hundred head of cattle with them.   During this two week journey, the group traveled at night hoping to avoid Indian attacks.  Manuelite's brother, Pat Carillo cowboyed for the family during the move and Abran remembers riding with his uncle and being strapped to his uncles waist so he wouldn't fall off.  The men in the party all carried six shooters and Winchester riffles and the trip to Fort Sumner lasted about two weeks.  While the Miller family lived in Fort Sumner, New Mexico Holan Miller opened a blacksmith shop and increased his cattle herd to around two hundred and seventy five head. In 1874, the Miller family moved again, traveling by ox drawn covered wagons to the military post of Fort Stanton.  "We crossed the Pecos River at Fort Sumner, New Mexico and had no trouble crossing the cattle". 
The family took their time so that the cattle could graze along the way and arrived at Fort Stanton in about two weeks.  The Miller's lived at Fort Stanton for a short time.  During their time at Fort Stanton, Holan Miller set up a blacksmith shop and Adolpho was born.  Adolpho passed away and is buried at Fort Stanton and the Miller family lived there only a short time. Abran was unsure of when the Miller family moved to the Mescalero Indian Reservation, but recalls his father renting land from A.N. Blazer, owner of the Blazer Mill.  The family lived in a two room log home and the cattle was pastured on Fernando Herrera's property.    During their time on the Mescalero Indian Reservation, Abrans father opened a blacksmith shop planting a garden and twenty acres of corn.  Once the crop was harvested, Holan sent for Abran to come home.  (Abran had been living with his uncle Pat Carillo). 
When Abran arrived, his father said; "Son, here is my crop and my blacksmith shop, you can sell them.  Take care of your mother, I am going away and you will not see me anymore."  Holan Miller road horseback to Dowlin's Mill and sold his cattle to Paul and Will Dowlin.  He left the country the same day on horseback taking the proceeds of the cattle sales with him. Manuelite Miller moved to Solado Flats, one mile west of the current town of Capitan, New Mexico.
Shortly after Abran's father left at the age of seventeen, Abran became a cow hand for the Murphy Dolan Company whose head quarters was located on Carrizozo Flats at what is now known as the Bar W Ranch.  "I was very small for my age and when I first went to work for the Murphy, Dolan Company. I got my clothes and board and Mr. Murphy gave forty dollars to my mother, each month. I soon made them a good cow hand and then I got sixty dollars a month." 

About four years after Holans departure, Abran received a letter from him.  In the letter, Holan said he was living on the Rio Grande river at a place called Caan, Colorado, eighteen miles south of Belen, New Mexico.   Holan ask Abran to visit him there so Abran "saddled up" his "black pony" and made the two day trek.  When Abran arrived, Holan said: "Hello son, I am glad you came. I want you to have a black stallion I have here, and you can also have this blacksmith shop. I am leaving this time and you will never see me again."   Holan Miller walked toward the river and this was the last time Abran saw his father.  Abran remembers his father as a "queer man" who "brooded a lot."

Abran recalls and encounter with Billy the Kid.  The Murphy Dolan Company sent Abran and Lucio Montoya to Elk Canyon on the Indian Reservation with a bunch of cattle.  The cattle were to be used to feed the Indians and were butchered as they were needed.  Abran and Lucio Montoya guarded the cattle to keep the Indians from stealing them and the men took turns gathering the horses each day.  While Lucio saddled a small black mule used to gather the saddle horses, Abran set out on foot searching for the horses.  Abran saw a cloud of dust and called to Lucio to hurry, worrying that some one was stealing the cattle or saddle horses. 

Lucio galloped off, and Abran waited for his return.  When Lucio did not return, Abran feared him dead.  Abran went back to the cabin and from the door saw about thirty men ride up.  "The leader was a nice looking young fellow. He said "Hello kid, do you have anything to eat?"   Abran said: "Yes, there is coffee, beans, flour and some canned goods, you are welcome to it, but you will have to cook it yourselves. I have to go and get my horses and see what has become of Lucio." Unknown to Abran, he had just met Billy the Kid and his gang who were to become a key part  of the war between the Murphy Dolan Company and McSween later known as the Lincoln County War.  Billy the Kid told Abran:  "Kid don't be afraid for not a man in the crowd will hurt you nor bother anything around here while your are in charge of it."  Billy the Kid and his gang dismounted and came into the cabin.  While they were waiting for the coffee to boil, and the food to be done, Billy the Kid ask Abran how old he was, where he lived, etc.  After Billy the Kid and his gang finished eating the road off toward Elk Canyon.  "I found out later that this gang of men were with the [McSween?] and Tunstall faction but they never bothered me at all."  Abran left on foot again to find the saddle horses.  When he found them, the black mule that Lucio had left on was with the horses, but Lucio was no where in site.  Abran noticed that Lucio's horse was gone and decided that he had become frightened and rode off.

Once while visiting his mother on the Salado, Billy the Kid came to the house looking for food.  Abran and Billy the Kid remembered each other from Elk Canyon, but Abrans mother didn't want to feed him because of Billy's association Murphy at the time. Abran related the story of Elk Canyon to his mother and she relented feeding Billy and allowing him to stay the night. 

The next morning while milking, Abran saw several men on horseback riding toward the house.  "I did not have time to warn Billy that someone was coming but he and mother saw them. Mother had a big home-made packing box she used for a trunk and it had a pad lock on it. She hid Billy in this box before the men reached the house."  The riders were a posse headed by Sheriff Peppin, and included his deputy Florencio Chaves and two other men.  The Sheriff was looking for Billy the Kid for the killing of a clerk at the Mescalero Indian Agency.   While the posse searched the house, Sheriff Peppin noticed a saddled black horse in the yard and ask who it belonged to.  Abran told Sheriff Peppin that it was his horse that he used to round up the other horses.  Sheriff Peppin didn't believe Abran stating that "Billy the Kid should be around" here "somewhere."   The posse couldn't find Billy the Kid and finally rode away.

The Kid hid out at the house until dark.   "Mother asked me to let Billy have my black horse and saddle, as she thought that he would return them to me. I did, and sure enough, in about ten days I got up one morning and found my horse, with the saddle on, in the corral. I never did know who brought him back. I was surely glad, for I thought an awful lot of this horse and I was so afraid that Billy would not get him back to me. I had traded with the Apache Indians for this horse. I had given about ten dollars worth of red flannel, beads and powder for him."

After the killing of the Indian Agency clerk, Mr. L.O. Murphy of the Murphy Dolan Company sent Abran to Santa Fe, New Mexico with a message for the governor.  Abran rode the same black horse he had loaned to Billy the Kid and before going on to Santa Fe, he had to make a stop at Fort Stanton to pick up a message from the commanding officer.  At Fort Stanton, Abran received a fresh horse along with the message and headed out for Santa Fe.  "I rode to Pinco, on the north side of the Gallina Mountains, that night. I knew a fellow there, by the name of Mario Payne, and he let me have a fresh horse, and I made it on to Santa Fe on the third day. " Abran delivered the messages to Governor Axtall.  The Govnenor was angry that Murphy has sent such a young man for the job, wanting to know why Pat Carillo hadn't sent his own son who was larger and older.  Th Governor told Abran to have Murphy to pay him three hundred dollars for making the dangerous trip.  Governor Axtall said that if Murphy wouldn't pay the three hundred dollars that he would do so himself.  Abran received the Governors stated fee from Mr. Murphy. Abran worked for the Murphy Dolan Company all through the Lincoln County War and was based at ranch headquarters on Carrizozo Flats.   During his time working for the Murphy Dolan Company, Abran saved around six hundred dollars and married Juanita Romero, (daughter of Juan Romero of Lincoln, New Mexico) on February 12, 1881.  Father Louis Boresolver, a priest from Manzano came to Lincoln to perform the ceremony for a twenty five dollar fee.  Abran and Juanito set up housekeeping in Lincoln, New Mexico and had five children, three girls, and two boys.   All of the children were born in Lincoln, New Mexico and are dead with the exception of Andres, their first born.  Andres lives in Roswell, New Mexico along with his mother Juanita, Abran and Juanita have been separated for a number of years.

Abran Miller lives in a little one room shack on the old head quarters of the Murphy Dolan Company ranch in Carrizozo, New Mexico and states "And" I " would not live any where else."

NOV 19 1938, THE ADAMS DIGGINGS , BY E. V. BATCHLER, WPA Story No. 4
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940

Steeped in romanticism, rhetoric and longing, the tale of the lost Adams Diggins Mine and its riches grows with its every telling.  One version of the story says that Edward Adams and his expedition began a journey from Magdalena to California traveling to the northwest.   The expedition camped somewhere between Magdalena and Fort San Rafael beside a small stream.  A member of the expedition saw gold in the stream and told the rest of the party what he had seen.  Mr. Adams thought that the gold may have washed into the stream from a outcrop above the camp so he and his partner, Mr. Davidson headed up the canyon on foot approximately one mile and found the source of the gold.  After Mr. Adams and Mr. Davidson left to search for the source of the gold, a band of Apaches attacked the camp.  Hearing the gunfire, Mr. Adams and Mr. Davidson assumed Indians were attacking and hid in the bushes of a nearby hillside until the sounds of the attack stopped.  Once they were sure the attack was over, Mr. Adams and Mr. Davidson approached the encampment and their worst fears were met, all members of the expedition had been massacred and the groups horses and mules had been stolen. Mr. Adams and Mr. Davidson buried the dead, took a few samples of ore and headed out for Fort San Rafael seeking assistance to go back and find the gold.  The commanding officer of Fort San Rafael refused to aid the two men and they set off on foot for Reserve, New Mexico. 
The journey inflicted numerous hardships and suffering on Mr. Adams and Mr. Davidson but they arrived safely at their destination.  Upon arriving in Reserve, the pair showed their ore samples to several of the natives and based on the richness of the ore samples, a loan was issued to them with which they purchased horses.  Mr. Adams and Mr. Davidson rode to Pima, Arizona in the hopes that friend of Mr. Adams would lend enough money to properly outfit a return expedition to the site of the mother load. An expedition was formed and the group traveled from Pima to Alma then on to where Mr. Adams remembered to have found the gold, but alas, either by loss of direction or poor memory, the expedition could not find the source of the gold nor the place of the massacre of the first expedition.  Numerous expeditions have set out since then in hope of finding the rich source of gold as told by Edward Adams, but the Adams Digging Mine remains lost to this day. Another version of the story, or at least, a rebuttal is recounted by Bob Lewism, a man well know for his honesty and fearlessness.  Mr. Lewism had known Mr. Adams before he had left on that ill fated expedition to California. "Sure I knowed old Adams" said Mr. Lewism, "Never was a bigger old liar . . .""He'd tell a lie when the truth would fit better".  According to Mr. Lewism, Edward Adams was know to be drunk six month or sometimes even for a whole year.  In the early part of August, 1864, Edward Adams and seven others organized an early beaver trapping expedition and headed toward the northwest part of the state, hoping to set up camp before the cold set in. 
Camp was set up on a small stream close to Fort San Rafael.    Another group of travelers coming from California and heading to the Eastern States who were transporting between sixty and eighty thousand dollars in gold had stopped at Fort Wingate, confiding in the commanding officer that they were carrying sixty to eighty thousand dollars in gold.  After leaving Fort Wingate, the California group came to the stream where Adams expedition was camped and decided to share camp for the night.  "An encampment like that, in those days, usually got up an hour or two before daylight in order to make an early start" surmised Mr. Lewism, and he further stated that he thought that Mr. Adams and Mr. Davidson left camp on some rues to set up an ambush on the California travelers.  Mr. Lewism, knowing "Adams personal character", suggested that Edward Adams might have been planning to ambush the California travelers.   The ambush may or may not have taken place, but shortly after Mr. Adams and Mr. Davidson left camp, Apache Indians attacked, massacring everyone and stealing the horses and mules.  If the California travelers were still in camp, more than likely they were killed with the Adams expedition.  If that were true, more than likely, Mr. Adams and Mr. Davidson searched what was left of the camp for the California gold, found it, buried what gold they couldn't carry and pocketed the rest.  According to Edward Adams story of the massacre, he and Mr. Davidson traveled on foot to Fort San Rafael where the story of the massacre was reported and assistance was requested for locating a rich mine of gold, which the Forts commander refused. 
Mr. Lewism's skepticism regarding Edward Adams story was based on physically seeing samples of the gold; "I later saw a handful of this gold that Adams had saved when he buried the rest and it was a quality entirely foreign to that part of New Mexico and identical with some I had seen from California Diggin's.  The pellets were about the size of a pinhead, up to as big as a pinto bean, and I knew that nobody ever found that kind of gold in the parts of New Mexico I have prospected over" as well as a witnessed altercation between Edward Adams, (who was fairly intoxicated) and a retired Captain Sanborn.  Captain Sanborn was enraged to here Mr. Adams recount of the tale of his lost mine and the lack of assistance offered by the commander of Fort San Rafael as he was the commander of the camp during the time period of Mr. Adams tale. "Sir, since the latter part of your speech concerns me, and it is most damaging to my character, I now take it upon myself to refute your statements and call you a contemptible damned liar.  I happened to be the commanding officer of Fort San Rafael at the time of which you are talking.  I recall the day of which you speak very clearly and to my knowledge, you never set foot in that Fort in your life. 
It could never be said truthfully that Cap Sanborn ever refused aid to anybody within a weeks" ride "of my post who needed it." According to Mr. Lewism account of this altercation, Edward Adams made some rather inflammatory remarks which set Captain Sanborn off who grabbed a butcher knife and went after Edward Adams, chasing him down the street shouting that Mr. Adams "was the dirtiest liar that ever lived".  Mr. Lewism further testified that he had been in in Reserve when Mr. Adams and Mr. Davidson came into town flashing ore samples.   The story of the samples was told with a new twist, that he (Edward Adams) had paid an Indian whiskey for the samples and that he (Edward Adams) would get the Indian more whiskey in return for the origins of the samples.  At no time during the telling of this tale did Mr. Adams talk of the travelers from California and upon seeing the samples, Mr. Lewism felt that they were the same samples he had seen the two men with in Magdelina in 1864.  Mr. Lewism believes that Mr. Adams and Mr. Davidson knew they couldn't show the gold they carried after the massacre so the two split up with Mr. Adams traveling to Pima, Arizona to borrow money and supplies from friends so that he could go back and salvage the buried gold and Mr. Davidson traveling to Louisiana to visit relatives. Edward Adams did get an expedition financed to recover the gold and sent for Mr. Davidson to accompany him. 
This expedition netted nothing and Mr. Adams made several more trips alone in search of the gold but none was ever found. Based on the description of the location of the massacre given by Edward Adams, in 1818, Mr. Lewism found the bodies of five men buried in a common grave a few miles north of North Lake.  Mr. Lewism searched the area around the grave but found no indication of any gold and went back to town to report finding the bodies.   Mr. Lewism firmly believes that those bodies were Adams original expedition of 1864.  Mr. Lewism also told of a gentleman he knew by the name of Jose Maria Jaramillo who said that he had found twenty thousand dollars burried only a few miles from where place of the common grave.  (Mr. Jaramillo wouldn't verify if the twenty thousand dollars had been in gold dust.) According to Mr. Lewism the Adams Diggings Mine is "one of the richest mines in the world in the mind of a danged old liar like I knowed Ed Adams to be, and in the minds of a bunch of old, dream-crazy prospectors who ain't got no more sense than to believe in it."

Mrs. Alice Roberts, Carrizozo New Mexico. Aged 78 years WPA Story No. 5
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940

Mrs. Alice Parker-Roberts and her family returned to farming, raising livestock and Texas in 1881.   The Roberts family were unhappy in with life in Texas and in September of 1886, they sold their farm and all but thirty head of horses, moving in horse drawn covered wagons to New Mexico. The family camped out each night and fears of Indian attack had been greatly reduced thanks since "the Government had calmed them down".  The main worry was that the Indians would steal horses whenever the opportunity presented itself.   The traveling party consisted of Mr. Roberts, Mrs. Alice Parker-Roberts, their five children, Mrs. Roberts father, W.L. Parker and mother, a brother, two sisters and a hand named Jim Walker.  Mr. and Mrs. W.L. Parker, were both born in Texas and had lived in Rusk Texas, where Mr. Parker had worked as a freighter and raised stock.  Mr. and Mrs. Parker later moved to Llano Texas where they farmed and raised live stock until 1886 when they made the move to Nogal with the Roberts family. Water was scarce throughout the journey which inflicted great hardship on the livestock and imposed rationing of the families drinking water.  Fresh meat was just as scarce and with the exception of the occasional cotton tail rabbit the family had no meat until the restocked at the large stock ranches along the trail. The two month journey ended with the arrival at Nogal, New Mexico, near the end of November 1886.   Mr. Roberts attempt to find a rich gold mine failed so he secured a job hauling freight along a route that ran from Socorro, New Mexico to White Oaks and Nogal New Mexico.   After arriving in Nogal, Mr. and Mrs. W.L. Parker moved on to the coal mining town of San Peadro, New Mexico, and for two years operated a hotel.  Nogal, a typical mining boom town, held two stores, two saloons and a hotel.  Fall round ups signaled the end of cowboys working open range of Lincoln County and with wages in hand they would descend on Nogal to drink, dance and get into trouble.  These cowhands would get drunk and shoot up the town, occasionally shooting innocent by standers.  " I remember one night they killed Bill Ellis in one of their drunken brawls. He was the brother to Noah Ellis, who owned the I - X ranch, which was about 27 miles south of Nogal."  The Roberts family lived in Nogal for several years until they purchased land located on the Bonito River at the foot of the White Mountains; Bonito City, New Mexico.  On this rich fertile land the family raised potatoes, cabbage and other garden produce which was sold at Fort Stanton, Nogal, White Oaks and Roswell, cattle and sheep were also raised. Unhappy in San Peadro, the Parkers moved to Bonito and then went back to Texas for a short period after which they moved back to Nogal.  The final move Nogal may have been due to the death of one of their daughters while living in Texas.  Many Parker family members moved to the Nogal area with the exception of Alice Parker-Roberts brother Ben, who lived in California. Mr. and Mrs. Robert had eight children, three girls and five boys.  Seven of the children are still living, one daughter died in infancy. Alice Parker-Roberts husband passed away in 1913, her father, W.L. Parker passed away while visiting his son Ben in California and her mother, Mrs. W.L. Parker in 1909.