Mathias Broyles Stockton Colfax County, New Mexico

Mathias Broyles Stockton, now living retired at Raton, Colfax County, has been prominently identified with the affairs of both town and county during his residence here, which covers a long period. Mr. Stockton was born in Ray County, east Tennessee, June 23, 1845, son of William Hayden and Emeline (Broyles) Stockton, and passed his early boyhood days in his native state. At the age of fourteen years we find him on his father's cattle ranch in northwestern Texas. He was in Texas at the time of the Civil war. Joining the state troops, he became a member of Company D, and performed guard duty on the frontier, meeting with some exciting experiences incident to skirmishes with the Indians. From Texas he made trips up the valley of the Pecos, bringing droves of cattle to New Mexico, and in 1868 he and his father came as far as the present site of Raton. The only settlement of any kind then on the Pecos was the government post at Fort Sumner. His first location was on the Sugarite.

Thomas L. Stockton, his brother, had come to the Territory over a year previous to that time. With the stock they brought with them they established themselves in the cattle business in Colfax County, which they continued successfully for years.

Mr. Stockton has always been an ardent Republican. In June, 1882, he was appointed sheriff of Colfax County to fill a vacancy, and acted in that capacity for eighteen months. In 1890 he was elected to the office, and served a term of two years. Next he was elected and served one term as mayor of Raton. In 1903 he was honored by election to the office of representative from his district to the territorial legislature, and also in 1905, and while a member of that body introduced a bill that became a law during the next session, namely, a law requiring marriage licenses to be recorded. Fraternally Mr. Stockton is a Mason, having membership in the lodge, chapter and commandery.

He married, in 1872, Miss Dove Stout, a native of East Tennessee, who bore him four children: Alvin Claude, Clarence T., Laura V. and Frank.

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

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