A. F. Stump San Juan County, New Mexico

A. F. Stump is a farmer and fruit grower living a mile and a quarter west of Farmington. He first came to this locality in 1878 and made permanent settlement in 1879, homesteading one hundred and sixty acres of land. He was born in Ohio in 1843 and when a young man of twenty-five years became a resident of Kansas in 1868. Soon afterward, however, he went to Missouri, where he remained until 1877, when he removed to Colorado, where he resided until he came to New Mexico. He had served as a soldier of the Union army in the Civil war, enlisting in 1861 in the Twenty-fifth Ohio Infantry, with which he was connected until 1866, when he was honorably discharged after the close of the war. He served in Virginia, and when active hostilities had ceased was assigned to duty in South Carolina. He joined the army as a private and was promoted to the rank of first sergeant. He became a charter member of the local Grand Army post. He did further military duty by serving as second lieutenant of a company in the war in San Juan County in 1881.

Following his arrival in New Mexico Mr. Stump homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land and now has a farm of one hundred and forty acres. It was all raw land when it came into his possession and there was no water and no ditch. He assisted in building the first ditch, which supplied many settlers. His attention was first given to stock raising and farming, but in later years he has made a specialty of horticultural pursuits. He raised his first peach trees from the seed. The first practical fruit-raising was done in 1882 and he soon demonstrated the possibilities of the district for fruit culture. His first location was the present place of A. E. Dustin and seven years ago he removed to his present farm, then practically unimproved. He now has forty acres principally devoted to horticultural pursuits. In 1882 he established the first brickyard of this part of the Territory and made the first brick in San Juan County. For several years he has engaged in the manufacture of brick in the summer months. He has some of the best land in the entire southwest and he is engaged in the raising of apples for the market, making a specialty of the Jonathan, Winesap, Grimes' Golden, Roman Beauty and White Winter Parmain, which he regards as the best varieties for shipment. In his political views Mr. Stump is a Republican.

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Source: History of New Mexico, Its Resources and People, Volume II, Pacific States Publishing Co., 1907.