San Andreas Gazette
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Newsletter Date: May 2006 Edited by: Viola Smith Hobbs Volume 1, Issue 1 SAN ANDREAS GAZETTE InInside this issue IDick Wed Ginevra 2 Alice Smith 4 Sam Gililland 6 Dixie Tucker 7 Lola Tucker 8 Pete Gililland 9 Jess Gililland 10 Other Points of Interest Ginevra Gililland’s Story 11 Dixie Tucker Story 14 Old Wild Man 17 Tribute to Champion Rodeoers –Tulie Water Tank 19side this issue: Inside welcome to our first issue of the San Andreas Gazette. I envision a perpetual newsletter with period changes and updates, but it's according to how many people send articles to me, and how often they are submitted. I encourage each of you to submit an article. Don't worry about whether you can write or not, or spell. It will be edited to the best of our ability, before sending out to all the relatives! You know more about your parents then we do. Yes, you can biased! I decided to start a newsletter, because several of us are researching our family's ancestry. It is so much easier on everyone, if we pool our info together, and this can be done through a newsletter. I want to keep this newsletter totally free, and the way to do that is having 100% distribution through Internet. This cuts the cost of paper, copying, and postage. We'll gladly add whomever to our distribution list, if they have e-mail and Internet, and are kin in one way or another. If your loved one doesn't have Internet, please print a copy for them. If any one knows how to build a website, I love to work with you on one for our family newsletter. So far, Lola Tucker, Dorothy Hess and GL Tucker have consented for me to use articles they have written. So, without further ado, we'll start with Lola's article. 1 Dick Gililland 8/7/1888—1/25/1962 By Lola Tucker Richard Lafayette, known only as Dick L. even on legal papers, signed Marriage License “Dick L.” And, is Dick L. on tombstone born 7 August, 1888, Mountain Park, New Mexico Territory, New Mexico was not a State at that time and Otero County was not a County until when Uncle Jim Gililland and Oliver Lee were arrested for the murder of Judge Fountain and his small son. Dick died 25 January 1962, in Alamogordo buried 29 January in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Married 30 March 1911, Tularosa, Otero Co., New Mexico (Territory) Ginevra Madie (not Madie Ginevra) (Gineva also Gin) Wood (not Woods), who was born 5 October 1892, Edward’s County, Texas, died 11 September 1986 in Alamogordo, New Mexico and was buried 13 September 1986 in Alamogordo, New Mexico. When he was 13, Dick went to Socorro County and the next year went to work for his father and brother, the late Jim Gililland, who was a companion of the late Oliver M. Lee. Dick Age 72 or 73 years old He started in the cattle business on his own in 1908. At the age of 19, when he went to W. C. McDonald, manager of the Bar W Ranch and later first Governor of New Mexico after Statehood, to borrow money to buy his brother’s share of the Gililland ranch. His security was about three saddle horses, a saddle, and a few head of cattle, yet McDonald helped him. I know my Mother said he bought their Ranch from Ed Brown, her cousin, and Alice and Pete have both confirmed that. But he bought more than one addition to his ranch. Pete and I know he bought the Smith Place, which we think belonged to his brother, George and later to Jim Smith, and think that is when he got the loan from W. C. McDonald. Years later, R. D. Champion asked him to take the Bradford Goat Ranches, which the Bank had repossessed, and he felt Dick could pay them off, and also pay out his own ranch, which he owed a large sum on. There were three of 2 The Gililland ranch L to R: Dick Gililland & Clay house. Taken June Smith 1935 1985. those ranches and a large herd of goats. Dick asked Alice and her husband Clay, Dixie and husband Roy, and Sam who was single, if they wanted to all work together and take these ranches. They agreed. And, with Dick getting the loan and being in charge, in several years of hard work, everything including his home ranch was all paid off. The Ranches were divided up, with Alice and Clay getting Sweetwater; Dixie and Roy getting Grapevine; Sam got the LW, and Dick’s Ranch was all paid for. Sam had married Ina Ruth by then, and she wasn’t happy there, so they sold the LW to Dick. After about forty-nine years of ranching Dick had developed the land in the San Andres Mountains until it was valued at $106,000 when the Government took it over in 1942. It was taken for about five percent of the value and is now part of the White Sands Missile Range. At that time, Dick had to sell all of his goats. He leased several ranches, after being forced to sell most of his cattle, when the Government wouldn’t allow him to keep them on the Dave McDonald ranch any longer. This was the last ranch he was able to lease. He was forced to sell all his cattle except a few, which he was able to keep on a leased ranch, south of Alamogordo; just to make him happy. At the time he sold most of his cattle. He was paid $40,000.00 in cash when the buyer had truckers load the cattle. That was a lot of money in those days. He took his son- in-law, Hansel Tucker, with him to count the money. As to what happened with the ranches, that is a long story. The Government had promised the ranchers to return the land after the war, but never did. The Ranchers fought for years to get a good compensation, which they didn’t get. Dick didn’t get enough to even look at another ranch. 3 He worked as a firefighter at Holloman Army Air Base for a while, and was allowed co-use of the ranch for a year or so and thus returned. Then he was forced off permanently. He leased Dave McDonald’s ranch for a while before being forced to sell most of his cattle. The McDonald ranch was the site of the first Atomic Bomb test. It was on the George McDonald Ranch, only a few miles from Dave’s. This test had taken place before Dick leased the ranch. That ranch house has been restored and is part of the Atomic Bomb sight, twice a year, tour. Dick worked for the police force in Alamogordo for some time. He was a Deputy Cattle Band Inspector, and at the time of his death was serving as a Constable. He never got over being broken-hearted about losing his ranch. Fam ily Reunion at Gilil- Dick & Gin land Ranch ‘85 Only shade was bus stor- Gililland ranch house-1985 1953 at Mc Donald age area. Ranch During his 51 years of punching cattle in Otero and Socorro counties, he worked with such men as the famed Western Author, Eugene Manlove Rhodes. “In 1910 Dick Gililland “ a Cowboy that is what he always called himself) on a cattle ranch, not a horse ranch, all ranchers had horses also, but he never worked on a ranch that was a horse ranch., “ resides, as previously mentioned, with his father William F. Gililland, 69, and his mother, Rosetta M., 59, in Estey, Socorro Co., Territory of New Mexico, and next door to his brother, James R. Gililland, 36.” Dick was a rancher not a laborer “1920 Dick 29,”a Cowboy (he would have been insulted to be called a ranch laborer, all cowboys had to labor, such as build fences, build water tanks and all work that had to be done to keep the ranch going. When I was born in 1925 on the same ranch it was Socorro County and was all the time I was growing up. It is now Sierra County. Don’t know just what year it was changed. Dick loved family gatherings Dick loved to get together with his family. He would call for a gathering at least once a year, or so it seemed. He would freeze ice cream. Sometimes the parties would out at the White Sands. We didn’t see some of our first cousins much, if at all, again. Now back to the rest of Lola’s story.-Viola. Dick and Gin had six children: Alice, Sam, Dixie, Lola, Pete and Jess. Below is a synopsis of each of their families: 4 Alice Had Four Children Alice Rosetta (Gililland) Smith born 5 July 1912, in Alamogordo, Otero Co., New Mexico, died 19 April 2004 in Alamogordo. Buried 23 April in Alamogordo. Married 27 May 1932 in Tularosa, Otero Co., New Mexico, Clay Lyman Smith, who was born 1 February 1911 in Lake Valley, New Mexico, died 11 May 1977 in Alamogordo. Buried 14 May 1977 in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Richard Nathan Smith, born 12 April 1933 in Hot Springs, Sierra Co., New Mexico. Married Eva Cooper in June 1971 in Alamogordo, born 24 September 1933, in Lower Windsor Township, Penn. died February 1980 in Alamogordo and buried in Alamogordo. Eva had three sons, Thomas L. Runkle, Richard Runkle and Scott Runkle.