Samuel E. Pelphrey Otero County, New Mexico

Samuel E. Pelphrey, a contractor and builder of Alamogordo, New Mexico, is a native of Johnson County. Kentucky, in which place his boyhood and youth were passed. Attracted to the southwest, with its growing opportunities, he went to Texas in 1880, and, in 1881, entered the employ of the Texas & Pacific Railroad Company, remaining in the service of that corporation until coming to New Mexico, in 1889. He took up his abode in Carlsbad and, recognizing the fact that the rapid growth of the Territory gave excellent opportunity for operations as a contractor and builder, he began business in that line. In 1892 he removed to Roswell, where he erected many handsome business blocks, and, in 1894, he went to El Paso, where he engaged in contracting until 1898. In that year he came to Alamogordo, the railroad being extended to this place, and built the courthouse and annex and many other business blocks, school buildings, public structures and private residences. He now owns and operates a planing mill in connection with the conduct of .a general contracting business, and his labor has always brought so beneficial and capable a service that he is enjoying a very large and gratifying patronage. Connected with the frontier, he has contributed in large and substantial measure to the up building and progress in the various localities, and Alamogordo has profited by his work, for he belongs to that class of representative American citizens who, while advancing individual interests, also contribute to the general good.

Mr. Pelphrey and his family maintain their residence in Alamogordo, and are well known socially. He is a member of Sacramento Lodge No. 24. A. F. & A. M.; Alamogordo Lodge No. 7, K. P., and is active in educational matters, serving as a school trustee and doing all in his power to promote the cause of public instruction.

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