William Lyon – Corie Bowman Letters, Volume 1
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William Lyon – Corie Bowman Letters, Volume 1 These letters were written by William B. Lyon and his fiancé Corie Bowman during the period of November, 1881 through September, 1882. Prior to April, 1882 both William and Corie were living in Mesilla, New Mexico and the letters are sporadic. In April William moved to Albuquerque and letters were exchanged on a daily basis until their wedding on September 14, 1882. The letters were first transcribed from the originals in the 1960’s by Corie Connell, the granddaughter of William and Corie. During 2015 and 2016, I manually entered Corie Connell’s typewritten transcriptions into Microsoft Word files and compared them to the original letters, correcting a number of mistakes and omissions that were made in the original transcription, particularly with regard to the spelling of names of people. My primary sources for identifying people referenced in these letters were the U.S. Census of 1880, the NM Territorial Census of 1885, the Albuquerque Business Directory of 1883, newspaper archives, and the Find A Grave website. I have added a number of comments, clarifications, and identifications to the transcriptions, always placing them within square brackets. Until recently, the original letters were in the possession of Barbara Connell of Rio Rancho, New Mexico; the great-granddaughter of William Lyon and Corie Bowman. In February 2017 Barbara donated the letters to Archives and Special Collections at New Mexico State University. William C. Hunt, Albuquerque NM, 2017 [Revised 2-23-2017] William B. Lyon Corie A. Bowman Introduction In the spring of 1879, 37 year old physician William B. Lyon (b. 1842), settled in the southern New Mexico village of La Mesilla. William Lyon was not new to New Mexico; a civil war veteran and a graduate of Georgetown Medical School, he had come to New Mexico from his native Butler County, Pennsylvania in October of 1867 as Assistant Surgeon for the US Army, and spent the next 11 and a half years stationed at Forts Craig and McRae on the Rio Grande river, and finally at Fort Stanton in the Sacramento mountains near the village of Lincoln. When not engaged at the post in treating sick and injured soldiers and officers, William Lyon spent time pursuing his other interests. He collected fossils and investigated ancient Indian Pueblos, sending artifacts back to the Smithsonian Institute. He scouted the terrain for promising mineral deposits, and studied the recently published works on evolutionary theory by Darwin, Huxley, and Spencer. He had seen wars with the Apache Indians and feuds among the locals, most notably the infamous Lincoln County War. But in April of 1879, Dr. Lyon’s contract with the army was terminated. Rather than leave New Mexico, William Lyon decided to relocate to La Mesilla, the center of economic and political activity in southern New Mexico, and for the first time in his career, make his living as a private physician. When William Lyon settled in La Mesilla, Corie Bowman (b. 1856) had just turned 23 years old and had been in New Mexico for two years. Corie’s father, George D. Bowman (b. 1827), a native of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, had spent his life as a newspaper publisher and editor, first in Hennepin County, Minnesota where Corie was born, and later at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. As publisher of the Clinton County Republican, George Bowman was active in his support of the Republican Party and in January of 1876 he was appointed Register of the US General Land Office for southern New Mexico, a highly sought after position. In 1877 George Bowman brought his wife Jane (b. 1825), sons George (b. 1854), Henry (b. 1860), and Ernest (b. 1865), and daughter Corie to La Mesilla. In the predominately Roman Catholic village of Mesilla, the Bowmans were devout Episcopalians. On their arrival they became the most active participants in the recently established St. James Church with George Bowman serving as Lay Reader and daughter Corie playing the organ and leading the choir. In 1879, when medical training consisted of no more than two or three years of formal study and little or no clinical practice, William Lyon would have been a valuable addition to the few physicians that were practicing in Mesilla or nearby Las Cruces. Not only had he graduated from a respected medical college, but he had more than a decade of experience in treating all the illnesses and injuries that were common among soldiers on the frontier. Moreover, his competence would not have been questioned, as it was unlikely that the Army would have tolerated an incompetent physician for long. It is not surprising that Dr. Lyon would become the preferred doctor for the Bowman family. One member of the Bowman family was of special interest to this 37 year old bachelor doctor who had spent most of his adult life living on frontier army posts. Although William Lyon was ambivalent about religious matters, he began attending services at the little Episcopal Chapel in Mesilla, and was soon a devoted member of Corie Bowman’s choir. [Undated, but probably November, 1881] Dear Miss Corie, I am going out the Bermudes road about a mile, thence by a new trail I have found to Cruces, then home. If you would like a horseback ride this glorious day, I will have Billy saddled up and call for you. W.B.L. [Undated note found in envelope of Corie’s letter of March 1, 1882] Doctor we expect you to dinner today. We are going to have it a little later, but come early. We will practice the evening chants at three o’clock. Please tell Mr. Bond [Ira M. Bond]. Corie Nov. 19, 1881 My dear Miss Corie, What witchery is there about you that makes such a miserable coward of me. Do you know that during our ride the other day I was, I don’t know how often, on the verge of telling you what you ought to have guessed already, that I have learned to love you very dearly, so much, that it almost frightens me when I think that I do not know that you care for me at all. I feel very greatly ashamed of myself that I haven’t the courage to say what I mean, but I was so happy with you that day, I could not risk an unfavorable answer. And today, why I did not say what was on my mind when we were selecting the hymns, and I was thinking of nothing else, is a mystery to me. You cannot realize how my whole life, my every hope, is centered in you. Yet sometimes you seem to be far removed from me. When I contrast your pure and beautiful life of love and happiness with the wild and reckless desperation with which I have wasted my own, I feel that it would be ungenerous, unmanly to seek your love, and I am afraid to tell you how often I have determined to perform a sublime act of heroism and give up the last and brightest hope of my life. But these resolutions were about as effectual as the Pope’s Bull against the Comet, a single kind word or look from you would dispel them and I would find myself haunting your presence until I am afraid I have made myself ridiculous. The bare possibility of happiness that you might be happy with me has transformed and illumined me. Now I will not give up this hope until you tell me yourself it is hopeless. Oh, Corie, do not crush it unless you have very positive reasons. I will hand you this tomorrow, and will call in the evening and hear you tell my fortune – you witch – unless you forbid me. Yours truly, Wm. B. Lyon You can put this away, properly endorsed and classified, among your collection of love letters. You must have quite a museum now. Let me suggest a brief. No. …… (?) Order …. Class ….. ———————— Lyon, Wm. B. Doctor of Medicine ———————— Sentence ………………….... ———————— Memorandum (To let the poor fellow down easily) [Undated, probably Nov. 25, 1881. See William’s letter of July 4th, 1882] Dear Doctor, I was surprised yesterday and could not say what I wanted to. I will try to answer your letter now. I like you very much better than any man I know outside of our own family, and think more of myself that you think me worthy of your love. But I have my ideal, as every girl has, and in some things you are my ideal. In intelligence you are far above me, that is one reason why I did not think of your caring for me. I know so little and what I do know I cannot tell. I often thought you turned away in disgust when I was speaking saying to yourself, “how foolish”. You say you have been afraid of me. I am sure I have been of you. I never could talk as well when you were around because of what I imagined you were thinking. I want the one I love to be a professing Christian and that you are not Dr., although I do think you are one at heart. I have prayed for a long time that you might become a professed follower of Christ, and if you pray too, I am sure our prayers will be answered. You say Papa does not like you. You are mistaken as I said you were. He has said he likes you better than most any man he ever met and that is quite a good deal for him to say.