W. P. B. Willburn Eddy County, New Mexico

W. P. B. Willburn has been closely associated with the history of the Territory and deserves mention by reason of the fact that he and his brother. Frank Willburn, brought one of the first droves of cattle to this country in 1867. Mr. Willburn returned in 1872 and with his brother located on a ranch where the town of Roswell now stands. They had an old adobe dwelling, a storehouse and shops across from the present location of the court house and they remained here in the cattle business until 1878, when the "Lincoln county war" was waged, when they left the Territory and returned to Texas. In the days of their early residence in the Territory there was not a ranch between Roswell and St. Angelo, Texas.

In 1895 W. P. B. Willburn returned to the Territory from Texas and located near Hope, where he now lives, his place being about four miles east of the town. He has a good property, which he has brought under a high state of cultivation and improved with many modern equipment and good buildings.

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