Only two members of the New Mexico Bar have been honored by the naming of a New Mexico county—Thomas B. Catron in 1921, just four months before his death, and Jose Francisco Chaves, for whom the county was named at the height of his political power in 1889. by…
The casual observer might justifiably assume that the 19th Century New Mexico law business was almost the exclusive province of persons who had come to the territory after 1846. The first published list of persons admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of the Territory of New Mexico…
Bernard Shandon Rodey was born March 1, 1856 in County Mayo, Ireland and emigrated with his parents in 1862, first to Canada and then to Vermont. He arrived in New Mexico in 1881 as an employee of the railroad and was admitted to the Bar in 1883. As a…
By Mark B. Thompson Which (future) New Mexican voted against the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson? No, it was not Edmund G. Ross, governor of New Mexico, 1885-89, famously portrayed by John F. Kennedy in “Profiles in Courage.” Ross, a senator from Kansas, voted with the majority against conviction…
Having served as the last Chief Justice of the territorial Supreme Court and the first federal judge after New Mexico achieved statehood, William H. Pope has a unique place in New Mexico history. By Mark B. Thompson Having served as the last Chief Justice of the territorial Supreme Court…
Likening the newspapers of the day to the bombastic extravagance of the carnival barker, historian Frederick Lewis Allen named the period of time just before the stock market crash of 1929 “the ballyhoo years.” “When something happened which promised an appeal to the popular mind,” Allen wrote, “one had…
A favorite topic of novelists and playwrights, most of us have some familiarity with the themes of triumph and tragedy in the Irish-American community. It should be no surprise to learn that two lawyers of Irish descent experienced a life in territorial and early statehood New Mexico that included elements…
Born on October 14, 1819 near Columbus in Franklin County, Ohio, the son of Samuel Loree, a farmer, and Nancy (Sanders) Axtell. Axtell was the brother of Silas H., Ephraim S., Sarah A., Rufus S., Mary R., Martha D., Nancy K., Josephus S., Phebe J., Pamela G., and Julien…
T. Edward Shumaker As a young man of about twenty-six, Hugh N. Smith enlisted in the army to serve with Colonel Alexander Doniphan (1808-1887) in the US-Mexico War. The war had broken out between the two North American republics in 1846, the same year that Kearny arrived in Santa…
Written by Mark Thompson. Mr. Thompson practiced law in New Mexico for thirty years and is a member of the State Bar of New Mexico Historical Committee. An earlier version of this essay appeared in the Southern New Mexico Historical Review, Volume 14, January, 2007. By Mark Thompson LLEWELLYN:…
