The Ware Family

by Hal W. Ware

Robert M. Ware and Caroline Waughop were married in Chicago, September 27, 1881, and raised a family of four: Ellen, born 1882; Jo, 1884; Hal, 1886; and Alice, 1891.

R.M. Ware and E.A. Paddock came to the Pecos Valley on a Talmadge excursion train In 1904 to look over the country. They both were anxious to get away from city life. They were favorably impressed and decided to make the change. They secured a section of land about five and half miles northwest of Hagerman and two miles west of Greenfield.
The Paddocks came down in the spring of 1905. They built a home and got things started. The Wares waited until school was out and started in July. Ellen had married Sterling Goddard and did not come to New Mexico. Mr. and Mrs. Ware and Alice came by train in late July and brought a carload of furniture. Jo and Hal started the first of the month by freight train in an immigrant car and landed in Greenfield about a week later. It was a most memorable trip. We had nine horses in one end of the car and the other end was filled with miscellaneous equipment, such as a farm wagon (knocked down), a buggy, a windmill, plows, fence posts and wire for a corral and lumber for a shed plus a couple of hundred bundles of shingles for the house we were going to build. The space between the doors was our bedroom -- mattress an the floor with pillows and blankets, suitcases, and, believe it or not, we also had two dogs.

We loaded the car in Riverside, a residential suburb of Chicago, and in the evening we were picked up by a through freight and landed in Kansas City the next day and switched to another train. At Wichita, Kansas, we received a severe bump and the horses were piled up against the partition and broke it down and messed things pretty badly. They switched the car to the stockyards and we unloaded the horses -- one was hurt so badly we had to leave her. We patched up the damage and moved an the next day. From there on we unloaded the horses at the stockyards each night and it made things easier for all concerned. We landed in Greenfield on July 8, and moved everything out to what was to be "home." There was so much to do. We had to we have water for domestic use so a well was drilled and a windmill with a water tank put up. A barn with corral was built for the horses and a shed for the folks who were coming soon. The land was all range land so it all had to be fenced to keep the cattle out.

Dad sent a carpenter down from Chicago and the foundation for the house had to be completed when the lumber arrived -- two carloads shipped from Texas.

The folks arrived the last of July and took up residence in the shed. Jo and I lived in a boarded up tent.

An artesian well was drilled (nice fresh flowing water) and a reservoir was built. Ditches were made and plowing was going on most of the time -- getting ready for spring planting.

The house was finally completed and we moved in soon after the first of the year (1906) and life in New Mexico began for the Wares.

At this time this country gave every evidence of being a fruit country. There were many apple orchards throughout the valley. Each year many carloads of apples were picked, packed and shipped out, making lots of work for people wanting it.

After all, other farm crops were needed and everyone grew lots of alfalfa hay and sorghum grain, oats and barley. All this farming was done with horsepower. Harvesting a hay crop was quite a chore; mowing, raking, baling and hauling to the railroad with horses was hard work. Methods of farming improved all the time; new and better machinery and tractors.

The climate and weather were not so favorable for growing fruit. There was frost in the spring and an increasing need for spraying. The older orchards were dying and a good many of the younger orchards were abandoned. Fortunately cotton was soon introduced and a now cash crop developed and took hold.

The living was rather crude then -- coal or wood stoves for cooking and heating; washtubs and washboards for laundry; candles, lamps and lanterns for light. Soon gas and electric power were brought to the farm and times improved.

Anytime anyone wanted to go to town a horse and buggy had to be hitched up, or a surrey or wagon, or possibly just a horse and saddle. But low and behold, Model T came along so the roads had to be graded and gravelled or surfaced and more and more cars appeared until before long the little "Puddle jumper," (train) had to give it up. It had served the public of the Pecos Valley well for many years. When the schedule was right one could go to Roswell in the morning, tend to his business or shop and come home that evening. It was much easier then driving a horse and buggy, which made a long day on the road with little time in Roswell. It also connected with the main line for anyone going east or west by train.

As a family we had many good times -- lots of friends in both Dexter and Hagerman, with many parties and picnics, etc. Mother Ware was interested in the Hagerman doings -- Thursday Club and card clubs and other things. Our home life was always interesting, too, with all the children around during the summers. Alice grew up and married Roger Elliot in 1910 and they had three children. Ellen, who lived in Chicago, was married to Sterling Goddard in 1903 and they had five children. They were often here in the summers. The Paddocks had four girls. In 1912 Louise Thode and I were married and we contributed three. They were not all here at the same time but we had many jolly picnics and parties. We had our Thanksgiving dinners with the Paddocks and Christmas was a merry time with the Wares.

Mother and Dad grow old on the farm. and he died in 1942 just before his eighty-fifth birthday. Mother lived on for several years on the farm and in Chicago with Ellen. She died in Chicago in 1954. They are both buried in South Park Cemetery in Roswell.

Louise and I and the kids were in Idaho for about eight years and returned in 1934. Dad was getting too old to work so we took over, and when the folks died we bought out the other heirs. We developed more water and put in more land.

As the children grew up Margaret took a nurses training course In Denver General Hospital. After graduation she went to the Navy Hospital in San Diego and met Ted Ivers, a chief petty officer in the Navy. They married in 1940 and raised two fine sons.

Robert graduated from the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1937, took flight training and went through the war with Japan. After returning he married and later retired from the Navy. He and his wife, Edie, now live in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Hal Jr. graduated from high school in Hagerman and went to New Mexico A. and M. After time out for war service In Italy in the Air Force he graduated in 1947. He married Blanche Egerton and they now live in Tucson, Arizona.

We sold the farm to T.H. Boswell III in 1964 and retired to Artesia where we bought a house next door to Ted and Margaret and are living there now.

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This site maintained by John Reagan and last updated January 06, 2008