January 2008 Issue Nurrrber- 74 Charles "Carlos" Hipolite Beaubien More Than an Arne on a Land Grant by Priscilla Shannon Gutierrez and Beyond
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; Z IM CSWR r0J11Ca O vs ~:~ oe Nuevo Mex 74 ~ Published since 1976 - The Official Publication of the Historical Society ofNew Mexico 0I January 2008 Issue Nurrrber- 74 Charles "Carlos" Hipolite Beaubien More Than AN arne On A Land Grant by Priscilla Shannon Gutierrez and beyond. While there. Beaubien continued to trap. joining Baptiste Carlos Beaubien. In the years to come. made the acquaintance of the extensive Lacroix on several forays into the many of the men would continue to be Silas Bent family including his sons, mountains durtnq the 1820s. and friends and business associates. Nolan. in Charles and William. driven men who Beaubien joined Sylvestre Pratte on an particular. would remain one of would soon create a sprawlinc empire expedition as late as January, 1827.5 Beaubien's closest friends, in spite of the synonymous with the Santa Fe Trail. But Beaubien had other plans for his fact that he was an illiterate trapper. That Charles did not remain in S1. Louis for future and he began to experiment with same year the ~roup became Taos' first lone. Either late in 1821 or sometime in the merchant/trade end of business. In naturalized citizens. Carlos' third child. 1822. Beaubien decided to join a 1826, Beaubien received an early ~uia. Maria de la Luz, was born on June 24th. treppinq party that included LeDoux. number 23, from the Mexican Durinq the next several years, Bijeau. Duchesne, and Gremer on a foray Government to travel to Chihuahua as a Beaubien's influence in affairs in west." The ~roup of fifteen or so men trader. His caravan hauled 2,000 yards of northern Mexico increased while his made their way south from the Missouri fabric. 5 dozen mirrors. umbrellas, merchandise store on the south side of River trappinq alonq the front ranee of ribbons, 100 pairs of shoes. buttons, the plaza did a solid business. Known for jud~e Chetles "Cettos " Hipotite Beaubien the Rockies . At some point, likely near combs. and beads south to an eager his ability to pelts . he often bought (Photograph courtesy of MNM negative #8 799) the Arkansas or the Huerfano Rivers. market.' The venture must have proved and sold furs for his friends in the Santa Out of the scores of trappers and Mexican officials encountered the ~roup profitable as Beaubien, never much of an Fe trade including St. Vrain . the Bent traders who made their way to Taos in and brought them back to Taos. Perhaps enthusiast for the harsh life of trapping. brothers. and Stephen Louis Lee. Carlos the early to middle half of the nineteenth news of Mexican Independence and its becan to turn his time and enercy toward also began to assume prominence in century. few had as ~reat an impact on accompanytnq permission to trade with mercantile trade prospects in the political affairs, becoming the first elector the history and development of the town Americans arrived before the ~roup growin~ town. for two Taos precincts in 1832. and First as Charles Hipolite Beaubien. Durinq the could be carted south towards the Likely, Charles' shift toward the life of Alcalde of Taos in 1834, much to the four decades Beaubien called Taos home. capital. The men apparently were a merchant businessman was influenced chacrin of Padre Martinez. a staunch he managed to use his education and released as there is no record of them by the comforts provided in established Mexican patriot and no fan of Beaubien know-how to become one of its bein~ taken to Mexico City. The ~roup communities, not to mention the or the American traders. wealthiest. most influential citizens and trekked back east, but evidently Charles opportunity to put to ~ood use his Indeed. in subsequent years. in spite of public servants. Not surprtsinqly was not quite ready to settle down to city education at the seminary. The having presided over his marriage. the Beaubien was friend and confidante to life. In December of 1823, Lajeunesse brothers were operatinc a Padre directed much of his anqer and many of the Southwest's most famous Superintendent of Indian Affairs William successful mercantile business in anti-foreigner diatribes toward Carlos mountain men and traders. including Clark ~ranted Charles and Antoine Fernando de Taos and when one of them and his friend. Charles Bent - now also a Charles and William Bent. Lucien Robidoux. a permit to trap. ' In the sprinq was killed, Charles bouqht out his share resident who handled the business end of Maxwell. Richard "Dick" Wootton. Kit of 1824, Beaubien aqatn entered Indian and became a partner. The remaining the Bent - S1. Vrain operations in Carson. Gervais Nolan. and the territory along with Robidoux. brother eventual sold his interest to northern Mexico. While in Taos, Bent Robidoux brothers. Many of the other trappers continued Charles, makinq him a full-fledqed began courting Ignacia Jaramillo, a Born Alexis Hipolite Beaubien in to maze their way/to the Colorado and merchant. widow with children who came from an October. 1800. in Saint-Jean Baptiste de Green rivers. but word of the potential Beaubien's falling in love with Pabla extended prominent Taos family. I~nacia Nicolet. Quebec, Canada'. he was named wealth of the Mexican beaver trade Lovato also likely contributed to the soon became his common-law wife. after his uncle. Alexis Durocher. the-priest be~an circulatinc. Auqustus Storrs, in an decision to maintain a more permanent Through his alliance with I~nacia. Bent who presided over the child's baptism. 1824 letter to Senator Thomas Hart residence in town. In 1827. Beaubien later became brother-in-law to KitCarson Perhaps the influence of his uncle Benton, stated that he'd brought in over petitioned the local Mexican when Carson married I~nacia's sister convinced the younc Beaubien to enter $10,000 of beaver pelt from a recent trade Government for permission to become a Josepha in 1844. Padre Martinez the seminary around 1812. He remained caravan there.' Taos' location on a wide resident of Taos and to wed Pabla. considered both Beaubien and Bent as there for ei~ht years perfecting his French plateau at the extreme end of the San Hoptnq to prevent the rnerrtace between opportunists who would hand over and Latin. while studylnq the classics and Luis Valley provided a convenient a native and an extranjero whom he Mexico to foreigners at the drop of a hat. advanced theology. In later years, his gateway to the southern Rocky distrusted. Padre Antonio Jose Martinez Time would prove that the Padre's education at the seminary set him apart Mountains. At the time. beaver could still had forced the couple to ~et permission suspicions were not without merit. from many of his contemporaries in be found within a reasonable distance from the bishop all the way in Durango. Alone with Carlos' boomtnq business Taos. and most likely ~ave him a keen from Taos as the rivers had not yet been After months of delay, the petition was interests. the Beaubien family continued ed~e in business. trapped out, the town offered a place to approved and on December 11, 1827. to ~row. Leonora was born on March 27, For reasons not known. in 1821, ~et supplies. and was a welcomed respite Charles wed Pabla. with Padre Martinez 1833;and another daughter Teodora was Beaubien decided to leave the seminary from the hard life of trapplnq. Especially presidinq over the wedding.' At the born on January 20, 1835; but died and set out on his own . Assuming the prized, after lonq months of solitude and ceremony, Pabla stood beside her shortly after birth from unknown causes. name Charles. he made his way into the deprivation, was the warm hospitality of Charles. swollen and near-term with the Yetanother dauchter, Juana, was born on United States. towards the weIl the Mexican women. whose dark beauty first of their many children. July 6. 1838. The family moved to larger established French communities trappers found difficult to i~nore. Also Six weeks later Jose Narciso. was born. quarters in the Ranchitos area south of scattered throughout the St. Louis area. welcomed was the local whiskey lznown The followin~ year. on August 3rd, a Our Lady of Guadalupe Church on or At Kaskaskia , 50 miles south of St. Louis, as aguardiente or Taos Ii~htnin~ that second child. Marfa Luisa Antonia. was near present-day Ledoux Street to Beaubien made the acquaintance of the provided the trappers with a warmth of born. Later. as a youth, Maria would accommodate the ~rowin~ family Prior various French-Canadian families its own. After wintering over in Taos. become St. Vrain's second common-law to being named Ledoux. for many years residing there Including the Choteau's many trappers set out durinq the late wife for a short time. Given the paucity the street had been known as Camino de and the Menard's: both from the Trois winter and early sprtnq months. The of records on women. it is not known Beaubien or bovien." Ieivieres area of Canada; both well fri~id weather during the harshest whether Marfa died an early death or if As the decade of the 1830s ended and educated families who became related months produced prime beaver pelts, she parted ways with St. Vrain . Our only the next one be~an. tension began to through marrlaqe and who became heavy with fur. account of her comes from Lewis build between the Americans and tnteqra! to the fur trade and development Shortly after his return to the Taos Garrard's writings where he referred to Mexicans who feared their tncreasinq of the town.