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Finding aid of the John Angus MacDonald Memoirs, 1917-1954The University of New Mexico, University Libraries, Center for Southwest ResearchEmail: cswrref@unm.eduURL: http://eLibrary.unm.edu/cswr ©2000 The University of New Mexico
BiographyJohn Angus MacDonald, ranch hand, miner and merchant, was born in Denver, Colorado in the 1870s. He grew up in a cabin on Saguache Creek in Colorado. His family moved to Alamosa in 1883, but when his mother died in 1887 he returned to Saguache to live with his maternal grandparents on their ranch. There he learned to ride and work livestock. After an argument with his grandfather he left home and worked as a ranch hand and prospector in Colorado. He first came to New Mexico around 1895 to work mining claims owned by his uncle in the Magdalena Mountains. He became the storekeeper for the Rosedale Mine and Milling Company and also served as postmaster of Rosedale. MacDonald's expertise in mining took him to Arizona, Colorado, California and finally Mexico in the early 1920s. He also leased claims in New Mexico at Cooks Peak, Hanover and Kelly. He founded a mercantile company, the McDonald Company, with a general store in Kelly that opened around 1907. He moved the store to Magdalena in the early 1930s when mining operations in Kelly declined. In 1916 he was elected to the New Mexico State Senate and represented Socorro County until 1928. He died in Socorro on January 4, 1954. Scope and ContentThe manuscript, handwritten by John Angus MacDonald, describes five decades of his life in Colorado and New Mexico from the 1870s to the 1920s. It is not a detailed autobiography and is not in chronological order. There is a brief family history beginning on page 240. MacDonald reminisces about his boyhood in the San Luis Valley in Colorado, describing the customs of the Indians, the different ethnic groups that settled the area and the coming of the railroad. The manuscript contains firsthand descriptions of ranch life, prospecting and mining. There are good descriptions of the Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Magdalena areas as they were in 1895. MacDonald tells of the elections of 1896 and 1916 in Magdelana and how he helped battle railroad interests in the 1917 New Mexico Legislature. There are complete descriptions of many people he knew in the Magdalena area. He also tells many stories of outlaws and law men, Jim Lowe (Butch Cassidy), Black Jack Ketchum, and Tom Horn among them. RestrictionsAccess RestrictionsThe collection is open for research. Copy RestrictionsLimited duplication of CSWR material is allowed for research purposes. User is responsible for compliance with all copyright, privacy, and libel laws. Permission is required for publication or distribution. Preferred CitationJohn Angus MacDonald Memoirs (MSS 485 BC), Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections, University of New Mexico Libraries. Access TermsFrontier and pioneer life -- Colorado Frontier and pioneer life -- New Mexico MacDonald, John Angus, 1874?-1954 Mines and mineral resources -- Colorado Mines and mineral resources -- New Mexico New Mexico -- Description and travel New Mexico -- Politics and government -- 1848-1950 New Mexico. Legislature. Senate Contents List
Relevant Secondary Sources"Kelly--And Our Lady of Magdalena," Thomas Ewing Dabney, New Mexico Magazine, Vol.24, no.11. |
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