Known as one of the first settlers and merchants to establish his home and business in the Paso del Norte area, James Wiley Magoffin became known in Mexico as a distinguished trader. In 1848, he established Magoffinsville, an adobe hacienda used as a trading post and later the site of the first Fort Bliss. Because of his many accomplishments, his family name has become a familiar part of today's El Paso
During the early 1800s, El Paso had become a recognized trading center. Most of the cargo being traded along the Camino Real came through El Paso. Ambitious merchants engaged in mining or merchandising activities along the Camino Real through Chihuahua and found their enterprises extremely prosperous - among the merchants, James Magoffin.
James Magoffin came from Irish parents who emigrated to Kentucky where he was born 1799. In his early twenties, he sailed from New Orleans to Matagorda Bay on the Texas coast. Soon, he entered the Mexican trade, learned Spanish and became well known in Mexico. He served as American Consul at Saltillo for several years, leaving in 1835 to avoid involvement in the upcoming fight between Mexico and Texas.
Spending many years in the Chihuahua area, "Don Santiago," as he was known, married Maria Gertrudis Valdez de Veramendi in 1830, further strengthening his social and economic position. He entered in partnership with his brother Samuel and purchased materials from traders like Edward J. Glasgow, whose son later married Magoffin's granddaughter.
James Magoffin became a member of the ayuntamiento (municipal council) of Chihuahua and served as president of that body. Before long, he acquired Mexican citizenship. In 1844, the wealthy merchant left Chihuahua City with his wife and children and moved to Independence, Missouri, the head of the Santa Fe trail. A year later, his wife Maria died.
Before accepting a presidential invitation to visit Washington, Magoffin placed his two sons, Joseph and Samuel, in schools in Lexington, Kentucky. His daughters Josephine and Ursula went to a "visitation convent" in St. Louis, and Angela and Gertrudis remained in Independence with their aunts.
In 1846, he left for Washington to meet with President Polk, who knew him as an expert on northern Mexico with influential friends in New Mexico and Mexico. As the United States and Mexico prepared to go to war, Magoffin was ordered to accompany General Stephen Watts Kearny to Santa Fe and persuade Governor Amijo not to resist an invading U.S. Army that was on its way.
Magoffin helped convince residents that the United States meant only to take possession of New Mexico as part of the territory annexed to the United States by Texas. Magoffin was to perform the same task in Chihuahua, but he was captured in El Paso and arrested by Mexican authorities as a spy. Imprisoned at Chihuahua, he remained confined until the approach of the Doniphan expedition on March 1 and then was sent to Durango, where he remained nine months.
After the Mexican-American war, Magoffin went back to Missouri with hopes of re-establishing the Chihuahua trade. Magoffin gathered his family but found the Mexican government less than welcoming. He decided to settle in El Paso. In 1849, Magoffin pressed claims against the American Government in the amount of $37,780 for expenses sustained by his family and property during his absence; Washington paid him $30,000.
That year he built his home and business and called it Magoffinsville. This fine settlement consisted of a group of large, well-built adobe structures including stores, corrals, warehouses and living quarters, erected around an open square. Magoffinsville was built on an elevated piece of land, perfect for agriculture because it was about 1 1/2 miles from the river and provided with water by an acequia, an irrigation ditch, which ran trough the square.
The warehouses were filled with merchandise and the mansion hosted traveling Army officers and government officials. Magoffinsville became known for its hospitality, and visitors spoke of the fine house set in a spacious garden.
This trading post became important to the development of Pass of the North. Magoffin would restock mules, dry goods, food and other commodities the settlers demanded. United States Boundary-Commissioner John Barlett said it was indeed the center of the American settlements close by, which included Simeon Hart's mill, now La Hacienda restaurant, Hugh Stephenson's Concordia ranch and Benjamin Coon's mercantile store.
Historian Rex Strickland says that Magoffin carried goods from the East and Gulf Coasts as the town demanded. Magoffin even established one of the first farms in the upper valley and traded with Canutillo, a ranch located fifteen miles north. Despite the very real threat from area Apaches in the 1850s, who often raided his corrals, Magoffin continued his business.
Because of the Indian raids and lack of military support, problems with boundary lines, and a general lack of law and order, the Post Opposite El Paso, Mexico, was established at Magoffinsville. This post had originally been founded at another settlement, Ponce's Rancho, but had since been closed. In December 1853, the 8th Infantry took control of Magoffinsville.
On January 11, 1854, the fort officially became the Post Opposite El Paso, Mexico, with 215 officers and men stationed at the site. By March, the fort assumed its present name of Fort Bliss in honor of Major W. S. Bliss.
Fort Bliss became an attraction to many newcomers because it offered the community a mail and banking service, provided worthwhile employment and brought to the city its Army band that conducted weekly concerts. The productivity of valley and the strong adobe structure of Magoffinsville and Fort Bliss attracted many businessmen who were delighted by the hacienda.
Having a military post at Magoffinsville was an advantage for the town and businesses due to the fact that the pay of many soldiers was spent in pleasures such as polo, saloons and brothels, where men also gambled. Many soldiers found wives while stationed at Fort Bliss, increasing the demand for household goods and personal items. The first Fort Bliss was a turning point for El Paso, because it offered secure military protection where a new community could prosper and grow.
But Civil War would touch even the far West. Just as Texas supported the Confederacy, so did El Paso. Only two El Pasoans voted in a special election against joining the Confederacy. Union forces were ordered to surrender and Texas commissioners James Magoffin and Simeon Hart were assigned to take care of all Fort Bliss assets. The fort itself was handed over to state officials.
After Confederate General Henry H. Sibley retreated to El Paso from Glorietta, he burned Fort Bliss and left for the Texas interior. Union forces reclaimed Fort Bliss at Magoffinsville in 1865, and Magoffin decided to sell half of Magoffinsville to Captain Albert French. On May 18, 1867, a Rio Grande flood destroyed much of Magoffinsville and Fort Bliss.
After winning a presidential pardon for supporting the Confederacy, Magoffin arrived in San Antonio with his son- in-law where he died in 1868. His body rests at Bellefontaine Cemetery (pronounced "Belle Fountain") in St. Louis, Missouri, along with other members of his family.
It would be Joseph, James' son, who restored the family property after struggles with New Mexico. In 1875, Joseph built the Magoffin Home, a mansion that was occupied by members of the family for 111 years. Today the Magoffin Home is a state park and one of El Paso's most treasured historic sites. A portrait of James Magoffin and his settlement Magoffinsville is displayed in one of the main rooms in the entrance of the home.
Major reconstruction of Magoffin Avenue, where the Magoffin Home sits, has recently been completed. The illuminated view of the street in the evening has attracted tourists and has established a warm feeling among some residents. Today the site of the first Fort Bliss intersects Magoffin Avenue and Willow Street in south El Paso and a commemorative plaque marks the location of the post which would become Fort Bliss.
The pioneer Magoffin name is also reflected in the Magoffin auditorium located at the University of Texas at El Paso. Magoffin Middle School located in northeast El Paso is named for this family, and a portrait of James Magoffin hangs in front of the main office.
James Magoffin - pioneer, trader, visionary - began activities over 150 years ago that would grow and help establish El Paso as an international city of trade and military might. Today, El Paso remains a gateway to trade with the southern hemisphere and is home to modern Fort Bliss, strategic air defense center of the western world. Magoffin would have been proud.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Magoffin Home State Historic Site
Magoffin Home State Historic Site is located in the heart of downtown El Paso. This 1.5-acre site was purchased jointly by the City of El Paso and the State of Texas in 1976. The home was built in 1875 by pioneer Joseph Magoffin. The 19-room adobe home is a prime example of Territorial-style architecture. This style developed in the Southwest in the mid-1800s and combined local adobe and then-fashionable mid-Victorian wood trim. It is a single story structure composed of three wings arranged in a U-shaped plan. The wings represent three different construction periods. The south wing was probably constructed in the early 1870s. The north wing was built between 1875–77. The east wing was added in the 1880s, connecting the two earlier wings. About the time the east wing was completed, the exterior of the home was plastered and scored to give the appearance of a masonry structure. Historical photographs of the home's interiors taken between 1887 and 1910 show typical Victorian-era decorations, furnishings and arrangements, reflecting the home of a prominent family at the turn of the century.
Open Thursday–Sunday, 9 a.m.–4 p.m.
FeesAdults: $312 and under: freeSchool group tours: $1 per person
Contact Us:Email1120 Magoffin Ave. El Paso, TX 79901915/533-5147
Directions and Map Located just east of the intersection of Octavia Street (named for Mrs. Magoffin) and Magoffin Avenue, the home is eight blocks east of downtown El Paso and south of I-10. Heading west on I-10, exit at Cotton Street and turn left. Follow the brown directional signs. Eastbound traffic should take the downtown exit to Kansas Street and follow the brown directional signs.
Open Thursday–Sunday, 9 a.m.–4 p.m.
FeesAdults: $312 and under: freeSchool group tours: $1 per person
Contact Us:Email1120 Magoffin Ave. El Paso, TX 79901915/533-5147
Directions and Map Located just east of the intersection of Octavia Street (named for Mrs. Magoffin) and Magoffin Avenue, the home is eight blocks east of downtown El Paso and south of I-10. Heading west on I-10, exit at Cotton Street and turn left. Follow the brown directional signs. Eastbound traffic should take the downtown exit to Kansas Street and follow the brown directional signs.
Magoffin Home State Historic Site
Magoffin Home State Historic Site is located in the heart of downtown El Paso. This 1.5-acre site was purchased jointly by the City of El Paso and the State of Texas in 1976. The home was built in 1875 by pioneer Joseph Magoffin. The 19-room adobe home is a prime example of Territorial-style architecture. This style developed in the Southwest in the mid-1800s and combined local adobe and then-fashionable mid-Victorian wood trim. It is a single story structure composed of three wings arranged in a U-shaped plan. The wings represent three different construction periods. The south wing was probably constructed in the early 1870s. The north wing was built between 1875–77. The east wing was added in the 1880s, connecting the two earlier wings. About the time the east wing was completed, the exterior of the home was plastered and scored to give the appearance of a masonry structure. Historical photographs of the home's interiors taken between 1887 and 1910 show typical Victorian-era decorations, furnishings and arrangements, reflecting the home of a prominent family at the turn of the century.
Open Thursday–Sunday, 9 a.m.–4 p.m.
FeesAdults: $312 and under: freeSchool group tours: $1 per person
Contact Us:Email1120 Magoffin Ave. El Paso, TX 79901915/533-5147
Directions and Map Located just east of the intersection of Octavia Street (named for Mrs. Magoffin) and Magoffin Avenue, the home is eight blocks east of downtown El Paso and south of I-10. Heading west on I-10, exit at Cotton Street and turn left. Follow the brown directional signs. Eastbound traffic should take the downtown exit to Kansas Street and follow the brown directional signs.
Open Thursday–Sunday, 9 a.m.–4 p.m.
FeesAdults: $312 and under: freeSchool group tours: $1 per person
Contact Us:Email1120 Magoffin Ave. El Paso, TX 79901915/533-5147
Directions and Map Located just east of the intersection of Octavia Street (named for Mrs. Magoffin) and Magoffin Avenue, the home is eight blocks east of downtown El Paso and south of I-10. Heading west on I-10, exit at Cotton Street and turn left. Follow the brown directional signs. Eastbound traffic should take the downtown exit to Kansas Street and follow the brown directional signs.
Beriah Magoffin
Early life
Beriah Magoffin was born to Beriah Magoffin, Sr., an Irish immigrant, and Jane McAfee Magoffin on April 18, 1815 in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.[3] He obtained degrees from Centre College (1835) and Transylvania University (1838).[1] After obtaining his degrees, he moved to Jackson, Mississippi and began a law practice, but returned to Harrodsburg in 1839 due to ill health.[3]
On April 21, 1840, Magoffin married Anna Nelson Shelby, granddaughter of Kentucky's first and fifth governor, Isaac Shelby.[3] The couple eventually had eleven children, one of whom died as an infant.[4] Magoffin also began his political career in 1840, being appointed police judge of Harrodsburg by Governor Robert P. Letcher.[3]
Magoffin was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1848, 1856, and 1860.[5] He served as a state senator in 1850,[1] but refused a nomination to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1851.[6] In 1855 was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor,[3] running on a ticket with Beverly L. Clarke, who was defeated by Know Nothing candidate Charles S. Morehead.
Governor of Kentucky
In 1859, Magoffin was the Democratic candidate for governor. During the campaign, he expressed his support for the Dred Scott decision and the Fugitive Slave Law and called for a repeal of the Missouri Compromise.[5] In the general election, Magoffin defeated his opponent, Joshua Fry Bell.[3]
Immediately recognizing the mounting tensions between the Northern and Southern states, Magoffin presented a plan for saving the Union to the governors of the slave-holding states on December 9, 1860.[3] This plan was rejected, whereupon he became an ardent supporter of the Crittenden Compromise authored by Kentucky's John J. Crittenden.[3]
Magoffin was sympathetic to the Confederacy, but believed that the people of the Commonwealth should decide what to do with regard to secession.[3] To that end, he called the General Assembly into special session on January 17, 1861 and asked them to call for a sovereignty convention.[5] Fearing that the majority of the Commonwealth's citizens might favor secession, the Unionist General Assembly refused to call the convention.[3]
On April 15, 1861, Magoffin refused President Lincoln's call for troops from Kentucky, responding in a telegram: "President Lincoln, Washington, D.C. I will send not a man nor a dollar for the wicked purpose of subduing my sister Southern states. B. Magoffin"[3] The next week, Magoffin similarly rejected a call for troops from Confederate president Jefferson Davis.[3] Magoffin again called the General Assembly into session in May. While they still refused to call a sovereignty convention, they did pass a declaration of neutrality,[3] which Magoffin proclaimed on May 20, 1861.[6]
The Commonwealth's sympathies became clear, however, in a special congressional election held on June 20, 1861.[5] Nine of Kentucky's ten congressional seats were won by Unionist candidates, with the Jackson Purchase region being the only exception.[5] Magoffin was dealt a further blow in the August 5 elections for state legislators when supporters of the Union gained a two-thirds majority in both houses of the General Assembly as many Confederate sympathizers and State's Right's advocates boycotted the election.[5] From that time forward, the legislature consistently overrode Magoffin's vetoes.[6]
Following the violation of Kentucky's neutrality, first by Confederate general Leonidas Polk and then by Union general Ulysses S. Grant, the Unionist General Assembly passed a resolution calling on Magoffin to order only Confederate troops out of Kentucky.[7] After the legislature overrode his veto, Magoffin issued the proclamation.[7] Despite his support of the Southern cause, Magoffin denounced the November 1861 secessionist Russellville Convention, calling it a "self-constituted" conference that did not represent the will of the majority of the Commonwealth's citizens.[7]
On August 16, 1862, Magoffin agreed to resign as governor if allowed to pick his successor.[7] (Lieutenant Governor Linn Boyd had died in office in 1859, and Magoffin did not want Senate Speaker John F. Fisk, next in line for the governorship, to succeed him.)[6] Under terms of the agreement, Fisk resigned as Speaker, and James F. Robinson, Magoffin's chosen successor, was elevated to that post. Two days later, Magoffin resigned, and Fisk was re-elected Speaker when Robinson assumed the governorship.[7]
Later life and legacy
Gravestone of Gov. Beriah Magoffin
Upon his resignation, Magoffin returned to his legal practice in Harrodsburg and became wealthy investing in real estate in Chicago, Illinois.[7] Following the war, he urged the citizens of the Commonwealth to accept the result and ratify the Thirteenth Amendment.[7] (His plea went unheeded, as the state rejected the amendment on February 24, 1865.[8] It was not ratified in Kentucky until March 18, 1976.)[8] He remained interested in politics, though the only political office he held following his term as governor was in the Kentucky House of Representatives, representing Mercer County, Kentucky from 1867 to 1869.[7]
He died in Harrodsburg and was buried in the town's Spring Hill Cemetery.[1] Magoffin County, Kentucky, created in 1860, was named for Governor Magoffin.[6]
Beriah Magoffin was born to Beriah Magoffin, Sr., an Irish immigrant, and Jane McAfee Magoffin on April 18, 1815 in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.[3] He obtained degrees from Centre College (1835) and Transylvania University (1838).[1] After obtaining his degrees, he moved to Jackson, Mississippi and began a law practice, but returned to Harrodsburg in 1839 due to ill health.[3]
On April 21, 1840, Magoffin married Anna Nelson Shelby, granddaughter of Kentucky's first and fifth governor, Isaac Shelby.[3] The couple eventually had eleven children, one of whom died as an infant.[4] Magoffin also began his political career in 1840, being appointed police judge of Harrodsburg by Governor Robert P. Letcher.[3]
Magoffin was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1848, 1856, and 1860.[5] He served as a state senator in 1850,[1] but refused a nomination to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1851.[6] In 1855 was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor,[3] running on a ticket with Beverly L. Clarke, who was defeated by Know Nothing candidate Charles S. Morehead.
Governor of Kentucky
In 1859, Magoffin was the Democratic candidate for governor. During the campaign, he expressed his support for the Dred Scott decision and the Fugitive Slave Law and called for a repeal of the Missouri Compromise.[5] In the general election, Magoffin defeated his opponent, Joshua Fry Bell.[3]
Immediately recognizing the mounting tensions between the Northern and Southern states, Magoffin presented a plan for saving the Union to the governors of the slave-holding states on December 9, 1860.[3] This plan was rejected, whereupon he became an ardent supporter of the Crittenden Compromise authored by Kentucky's John J. Crittenden.[3]
Magoffin was sympathetic to the Confederacy, but believed that the people of the Commonwealth should decide what to do with regard to secession.[3] To that end, he called the General Assembly into special session on January 17, 1861 and asked them to call for a sovereignty convention.[5] Fearing that the majority of the Commonwealth's citizens might favor secession, the Unionist General Assembly refused to call the convention.[3]
On April 15, 1861, Magoffin refused President Lincoln's call for troops from Kentucky, responding in a telegram: "President Lincoln, Washington, D.C. I will send not a man nor a dollar for the wicked purpose of subduing my sister Southern states. B. Magoffin"[3] The next week, Magoffin similarly rejected a call for troops from Confederate president Jefferson Davis.[3] Magoffin again called the General Assembly into session in May. While they still refused to call a sovereignty convention, they did pass a declaration of neutrality,[3] which Magoffin proclaimed on May 20, 1861.[6]
The Commonwealth's sympathies became clear, however, in a special congressional election held on June 20, 1861.[5] Nine of Kentucky's ten congressional seats were won by Unionist candidates, with the Jackson Purchase region being the only exception.[5] Magoffin was dealt a further blow in the August 5 elections for state legislators when supporters of the Union gained a two-thirds majority in both houses of the General Assembly as many Confederate sympathizers and State's Right's advocates boycotted the election.[5] From that time forward, the legislature consistently overrode Magoffin's vetoes.[6]
Following the violation of Kentucky's neutrality, first by Confederate general Leonidas Polk and then by Union general Ulysses S. Grant, the Unionist General Assembly passed a resolution calling on Magoffin to order only Confederate troops out of Kentucky.[7] After the legislature overrode his veto, Magoffin issued the proclamation.[7] Despite his support of the Southern cause, Magoffin denounced the November 1861 secessionist Russellville Convention, calling it a "self-constituted" conference that did not represent the will of the majority of the Commonwealth's citizens.[7]
On August 16, 1862, Magoffin agreed to resign as governor if allowed to pick his successor.[7] (Lieutenant Governor Linn Boyd had died in office in 1859, and Magoffin did not want Senate Speaker John F. Fisk, next in line for the governorship, to succeed him.)[6] Under terms of the agreement, Fisk resigned as Speaker, and James F. Robinson, Magoffin's chosen successor, was elevated to that post. Two days later, Magoffin resigned, and Fisk was re-elected Speaker when Robinson assumed the governorship.[7]
Later life and legacy
Gravestone of Gov. Beriah Magoffin
Upon his resignation, Magoffin returned to his legal practice in Harrodsburg and became wealthy investing in real estate in Chicago, Illinois.[7] Following the war, he urged the citizens of the Commonwealth to accept the result and ratify the Thirteenth Amendment.[7] (His plea went unheeded, as the state rejected the amendment on February 24, 1865.[8] It was not ratified in Kentucky until March 18, 1976.)[8] He remained interested in politics, though the only political office he held following his term as governor was in the Kentucky House of Representatives, representing Mercer County, Kentucky from 1867 to 1869.[7]
He died in Harrodsburg and was buried in the town's Spring Hill Cemetery.[1] Magoffin County, Kentucky, created in 1860, was named for Governor Magoffin.[6]
USS Magoffin
Launched 4 October 1944 - Vancouver, WA
Commissioned USS Magoffin (APA-199), 25 October 1944
Placed Out-of Commission-in-Reserve, 14 August 1946 at San Francisco CA.Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet
Recommissioned, 4 October 1950
Decommissioned, 10 April 1968 at San Diego CA.Laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benica, CA
Designation changed to Amphibious Transport (LPA-199), 1 January 1969
Struck from the Naval Register, 1 February 1980
Specifications:*
Displacement: 6,873 t. (lt) 14,837 t (fl);
Length: 455 feet;
Beam: 62 feet
Speed: 19 knots
Complement: 56 Officers - 480 Enlisted
Troop Capacity: 86 Officers - 1,475 Enlisted
Cargo Capacity: 150,000 cubic feet, 2,900 tons
Boats: 2 LCM, 12 LCVP, 3 LCPU
Armament: 1- 5"/38 dual-purpose gun mount, 4 twin 40mm gun mounts, 10 single 20mm gun mounts
Propulsion: 1 Allis-Chalmers geared turbine
2 Combustion: Engineering header-type boilers
1 propeller, design shaft horsepower 8,500.
Name - Magoffin, a county in eastern Kentucky.
The Official History of the USS Magoffin (APA-199)
MAGOFFIN (APA-199), built under Maritime Commission** contract, launched 4 October 1944 by Kaiser Shipbuilding Co., Vancouver, Wash.; sponsored by Mrs. Fred Sonlotfeldt; and commissioned 25 October 1944, Comdr. Eugene L. McManus in command.
Attached to Transport Division 54 during post-commissioning amphibious training off the coast of southern California, MAGOFFIN conveyed troops and cargo in the South Pacific until 1 March 1945. On that date she commenced rehearsals at Guadalcanal for the invasion of the Ryukyus. Underway on the 27th., she steamed with the invasion force for Okinawa, where she participated in the landings 1 April. During the battle for Okinawa, MAGOFFIN, the first ship in Transport Division 54 to be unloaded, assisted in downing two enemy planes. After this campaign, MAGOFFIN carried men and cargo between the United States and forward area bases until the following spring. On 10 March 1946, she reported to the 19th Fleet, San Francisco, for inactivation. She decommissioned 14 August 1946.
After the outbreak of hostilities in Korea, MAGOFFIN recommissioned 4 October 1950 and was assigned to the Pacific Fleet. Departing San Francisco 22 March 1951, she steamed for Japan where she debarked troops and cargo 7 to 8 April. MAGOFFIN remained in the western Pacific conveying troops and cargo between Japan and Korea and participating in amphibious exercises, two at Sagami Wan, Japan, and one in Korea. She headed for the west coast late in August, arriving at San Diego 8 September for landing exercises and overhaul.
MAGOFFIN again sailed for the Far East 10 July 1952. Arriving a month later at Yufusu, Japan, she commenced a series of amphibious training exercises with Army and Marine units; two exercises were held in Japan and two at Inchon, Korea. She also participated in an amphibious demonstration staged 15 October off Kojo, North Korea, in an effort to draw reserve Communist units in the area out into the open. In November, she returned to San Diego for exercises and operations along the west coast. With the exception of one voyage to Japan and back in late August 1953, she operated on the west coast until departing for the western Pacific in February 1954. Amphibious operations at Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and Pusan, Korea, were followed in August by orders to Indochina. Arriving at Haiphong, she embarked refugees for transport to Saigon. By 17 September, MAGOFFIN had carried over 6,000 refugees from tyranny to the new Republic of South Vietnam. Following this "Passage to Freedom" duty, she returned to San Diego, arriving 21 November 1954.
From that day to the present, MAGOFFIN has operated, with the exception of the years 1959-60, 1963, and 1966, in the western Pacific for at least 6 months out of each year. Two of the more historically eventful years during this period were 1958 and 1964. In the spring of 1958, the transport participated in operation "Hardtack", the 1958 series of nuclear tests at Eniwetok Atoll. Shortly after the tests, the mid-July politico-military flareups in the volatile Middle East caused the ship to embark troops at Okinawa and head for the Persian Gulf. This deployment was to provide support, if necessary, to the British and American forces sent into Jordan and Lebanon. However, tension eased after the Navy's resolute action averted Communist subversion in Lebanon, allowing MAGOFFIN to return to her 7th Fleet station.
6 August 1964 saw MAGOFFIN, having completed a 6-month tour with the 7th Fleet and heading for her home port of San Diego, ordered back to Okinawa to embark troops. The ship then steamed for Vietnam, where the destroyer MADDOX (DD-731) incident in the Gulf of Tonkin on the 4th had ushered in a new American policy toward that country and her problems.
Since that time, MAGOFFIN's tours on the west coast continued to include periodic overhauls, coastal operations, and amphibious exercises. Her tours in the western Pacific have been in support of operations in Southeast Asia, transporting troops and cargo, participating in amphibious operations, and, on occasion, serving as station ship.
MAGOFFIN returned to San Diego 9 December 1967 to prepare for inactivation. She decommissioned 10 April 1968 and entered the Naval Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisan Bay, Calif., under the custody of the Maritime Administration. She was redesignated an amphibious transport, LPA-199, on 1 January 1969.
MAGOFFIN received one battle star for World War II service and two for Korean service.
On 1 February 1980, MAGOFFIN was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register and transferred to the Maritime Administration.
*"Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships," **www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/details/LPA199.htm
Commissioned USS Magoffin (APA-199), 25 October 1944
Placed Out-of Commission-in-Reserve, 14 August 1946 at San Francisco CA.Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet
Recommissioned, 4 October 1950
Decommissioned, 10 April 1968 at San Diego CA.Laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benica, CA
Designation changed to Amphibious Transport (LPA-199), 1 January 1969
Struck from the Naval Register, 1 February 1980
Specifications:*
Displacement: 6,873 t. (lt) 14,837 t (fl);
Length: 455 feet;
Beam: 62 feet
Speed: 19 knots
Complement: 56 Officers - 480 Enlisted
Troop Capacity: 86 Officers - 1,475 Enlisted
Cargo Capacity: 150,000 cubic feet, 2,900 tons
Boats: 2 LCM, 12 LCVP, 3 LCPU
Armament: 1- 5"/38 dual-purpose gun mount, 4 twin 40mm gun mounts, 10 single 20mm gun mounts
Propulsion: 1 Allis-Chalmers geared turbine
2 Combustion: Engineering header-type boilers
1 propeller, design shaft horsepower 8,500.
Name - Magoffin, a county in eastern Kentucky.
The Official History of the USS Magoffin (APA-199)
MAGOFFIN (APA-199), built under Maritime Commission** contract, launched 4 October 1944 by Kaiser Shipbuilding Co., Vancouver, Wash.; sponsored by Mrs. Fred Sonlotfeldt; and commissioned 25 October 1944, Comdr. Eugene L. McManus in command.
Attached to Transport Division 54 during post-commissioning amphibious training off the coast of southern California, MAGOFFIN conveyed troops and cargo in the South Pacific until 1 March 1945. On that date she commenced rehearsals at Guadalcanal for the invasion of the Ryukyus. Underway on the 27th., she steamed with the invasion force for Okinawa, where she participated in the landings 1 April. During the battle for Okinawa, MAGOFFIN, the first ship in Transport Division 54 to be unloaded, assisted in downing two enemy planes. After this campaign, MAGOFFIN carried men and cargo between the United States and forward area bases until the following spring. On 10 March 1946, she reported to the 19th Fleet, San Francisco, for inactivation. She decommissioned 14 August 1946.
After the outbreak of hostilities in Korea, MAGOFFIN recommissioned 4 October 1950 and was assigned to the Pacific Fleet. Departing San Francisco 22 March 1951, she steamed for Japan where she debarked troops and cargo 7 to 8 April. MAGOFFIN remained in the western Pacific conveying troops and cargo between Japan and Korea and participating in amphibious exercises, two at Sagami Wan, Japan, and one in Korea. She headed for the west coast late in August, arriving at San Diego 8 September for landing exercises and overhaul.
MAGOFFIN again sailed for the Far East 10 July 1952. Arriving a month later at Yufusu, Japan, she commenced a series of amphibious training exercises with Army and Marine units; two exercises were held in Japan and two at Inchon, Korea. She also participated in an amphibious demonstration staged 15 October off Kojo, North Korea, in an effort to draw reserve Communist units in the area out into the open. In November, she returned to San Diego for exercises and operations along the west coast. With the exception of one voyage to Japan and back in late August 1953, she operated on the west coast until departing for the western Pacific in February 1954. Amphibious operations at Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and Pusan, Korea, were followed in August by orders to Indochina. Arriving at Haiphong, she embarked refugees for transport to Saigon. By 17 September, MAGOFFIN had carried over 6,000 refugees from tyranny to the new Republic of South Vietnam. Following this "Passage to Freedom" duty, she returned to San Diego, arriving 21 November 1954.
From that day to the present, MAGOFFIN has operated, with the exception of the years 1959-60, 1963, and 1966, in the western Pacific for at least 6 months out of each year. Two of the more historically eventful years during this period were 1958 and 1964. In the spring of 1958, the transport participated in operation "Hardtack", the 1958 series of nuclear tests at Eniwetok Atoll. Shortly after the tests, the mid-July politico-military flareups in the volatile Middle East caused the ship to embark troops at Okinawa and head for the Persian Gulf. This deployment was to provide support, if necessary, to the British and American forces sent into Jordan and Lebanon. However, tension eased after the Navy's resolute action averted Communist subversion in Lebanon, allowing MAGOFFIN to return to her 7th Fleet station.
6 August 1964 saw MAGOFFIN, having completed a 6-month tour with the 7th Fleet and heading for her home port of San Diego, ordered back to Okinawa to embark troops. The ship then steamed for Vietnam, where the destroyer MADDOX (DD-731) incident in the Gulf of Tonkin on the 4th had ushered in a new American policy toward that country and her problems.
Since that time, MAGOFFIN's tours on the west coast continued to include periodic overhauls, coastal operations, and amphibious exercises. Her tours in the western Pacific have been in support of operations in Southeast Asia, transporting troops and cargo, participating in amphibious operations, and, on occasion, serving as station ship.
MAGOFFIN returned to San Diego 9 December 1967 to prepare for inactivation. She decommissioned 10 April 1968 and entered the Naval Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisan Bay, Calif., under the custody of the Maritime Administration. She was redesignated an amphibious transport, LPA-199, on 1 January 1969.
MAGOFFIN received one battle star for World War II service and two for Korean service.
On 1 February 1980, MAGOFFIN was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register and transferred to the Maritime Administration.
*"Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships," **www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/details/LPA199.htm
Susan Shelby Magoffin
Susan Shelby Magoffin (1827-1855)by Denise DanicoEighteen-year-old Susan Shelby Magoffin left Independence, Missouri, to travel “Down the Santa Fe Trail and Into Mexico” in June, 1846, accompanied by her husband, Samuel Magoffin, a variety of servants and employees, and her dog, Ring. She was one of the first Anglo-American women to travel the Trail and enter New Mexico. Her trip coincided with that of the US invasion and occupation of New Mexico. Most importantly, Magoffin kept a detailed journal of her day-to-day activities giving modern readers insight into what daily life was like along the Trail and in New Mexico. Born to a wealthy Kentucky family on July 20, 1827, Susan Shelby spent her childhood on her family's plantation, in a sheltered upbringing. Just a few decades earlier, however, Kentucky itself had been considered the “frontier.” The Shelby family had established a history of moving from the known to the unknown, from settlement to frontier. They moved from Pennsylvania to Tennessee and finally to Kentucky where Susan met and married Samuel Magoffin on November 25, 1845. Samuel Magoffin, also from a wealthy Kentucky family, was much older than Susan, and had known life on the frontier. By the time of Susan's trip in 1846, Samuel Magoffin and his brother James had been involved in the Santa Fe trade, which linked the United States (through Missouri) and Mexico (through Santa Fe), for almost two decades. The Magoffins, like other Anglo-American merchants, had economic ties that spread northeast to New York, where Samuel and Susan honeymooned, and south to Chihuahua and Saltillo, where the couple planned to travel. Susan kept her journal to share her experiences with her family back home. Early entries in the diary reflect the enthusiasm of a young bride, sharing a “pioneer” experience with her husband. Susan Shelby Magoffin clearly adored Samuel Magoffin and referred to him as mi alma throughout. “My journal tells a story tonight different from what it has ever done before,” gushes Magoffin in her first entry. Her life on the trail would be radically different than what she had experienced in Kentucky though it would also be somewhat eased by the amenities of wealth. She noted early on in her travels that her tent was “a grand affair indeed,” and was the first house she kept as a married woman. Indeed, she called herself a “wandering princess” and traveled in relative comfort on the trail, with her tent, servants, and Ring, the dog. The first part of her journal resembles that of Josiah Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, of which Magoffin was clearly familiar. The journal recounts the people, animals, and plants that she encountered on the plains of present-day Kansas: “Passed a great many buffalo (some thousands),” she wrote, describing the creatures as “very ugly, ill-shapen things with their long shaggy hair over their heads and the great hump on their backs...,” but her unique point of view as a woman is obvious in her concern with the mule driver’s language, saying that they “scarcely... need be so profane” and by her many stops to gather flowers – at one point asking her servant, Jane, to do so for her. Susan and Samuel Magoffin and their entourage arrived at Bent's Fort on July 26, 1846, some six weeks after they left Independence. Bent's Fort, the trading center in present-day southeastern Colorado, was also the launching point of the American invasion force, the “Army of the West,” into New Mexico. The Army was at the Fort when the Magoffins arrived. Susan noted the prevalence of gambling by the soldiers and other male denizens of the Fort, including the presence of “a regular race track,” “the cackling of chickens” for cock-fighting, and “a regularly established billiard room!” There were other women at the Fort as well. Susan recounted socializing with “las senoritas,” including Native American and Hispanic women. Susan suffered a miscarriage while at the Fort, delaying the Magoffins' departure. She lamented: “In a few short months I should have been a happy mother and made the heart of a father glad.” She called the miscarriage the work of “the ruling hand of a mighty Providence” but noted that “he does not leave us comfortless!” often invoking religious sentiments in her journal. At the time of Susan’s miscarriage, an Indian woman at the fort “gave birth to a fine healthy baby.” Susan’s description of the new mother's actions provides insight into the ethnocentric assumptions of many Anglo Americans in the mid-nineteenth century but also shows that Magoffin was also somewhat empathetic. She states in her journal that the woman “went to the River and bathed herself and it [the baby]” only half an hour after giving birth, and then goes on to say: “No doubt many ladies in civilized life are ruined by too careful treatments during childbirth, for this custom of the hethen is not known to be disadvantageous, but it is a 'hethenish custom.'” The Magoffins left Bent's Fort on August 7, 1846. After the difficult journey through “the Raton” [Raton Pass], they arrived at the first New Mexican town along the Santa Fe Trail, “Mora creek and settlement,” on August 25th. Susan's first impression of the New Mexicans she encountered reflected common Anglo stereotypes of the time. She described the houses she encountered as “genteel pigstys in the States,” but tempers her initial response by saying that “within these places of apparent misery there dwells that 'peace of mind' and contentment which princes and kings have oft desired but never found!”Magoffin's journal detailed the ways in which she both mimicked and transcended her society's stereotypes of New Mexicans. The day after reaching Mora, the Magoffins arrived in “the Vegas” [Las Vegas]. Susan was shocked to see children “in a perfect state of nudity,” and women “clad in camisas and petticoats only; oh, yes, and their far famed rabosas,” and some women breastfeeding babies in public. Just a few days later, and in the context of her new surroundings, her opinion had changed. She confided, “I did think the Mexicans were as void of refinement, judgement & c.[ulture] as the dumb animals till I heard one of them say “bonita muchachita” [pretty little girl]! And now I have reason and certainly a good one for changing my opinion; they are certainly a very quick and intelligent people.” This quick change of perspective was often the case with newcomers. Interaction with fellow settlers was often an equalizing and humbling experience. The Magoffins reached Santa Fe not long after General Kearny and the Army of the West, on August 31, 1846. The Army had faced little organized military opposition at the time of their invasion of New Mexico. James Magoffin (brother of Samuel and brother-in-law of Susan) had arrived in Santa Fe not long before the Army and may have bribed New Mexico's governor, Manuel Armijo, to not organize the New Mexican militia in resistance to the U.S. takeover. Susan quickly became part of Santa Fe's high society, which in the months following the US invasion consisted of an eclectic mix of American Army officers, wealthy Anglo traders, elite Hispanos, and some Native American visitors. She met Senora Dona Gertrudes Barcelo, also known as Doña Tules, who Magoffin described as “the principal monte-bank keeper [monte was a card game on which people gambled] in Santa Fé, a stately dame of a certain age, the possessor of a portion of that shrewd sense and fascinating manner necessary to allure the wayward, inexperienced youth to the hall of final ruin.” Josiah Gregg, in his book Commerce Of The Prairies, is more magnanimous when he says: “She is openly received in the first circles of society: I doubt, in truth, whether there is to be found in the city a lady of more fashionable reputation than this same Tules, now known as Senora Dona Gertrudes Barcelo.”Magoffin’s descriptions of New Mexican culture are at once dismissive yet at times reflective as when she describes a priest’s style or lack there of at a Catholic Church service she attended. She says that he “neither preached nor prayed, leaving each one to pray for himself; he repeated some Latin neither understood by himself or his hearers.” She then acknowledges that her observations are influenced by her Protestant religious background.Many of the observations and descriptions of New Mexico and its people are unique to Magoffin’s journal. Her descriptions of her daily activities in Santa Fe, for example, centered on housekeeping, particularly managing servants and shopping for household goods but also on her daily interactions with locals. She befriended a young girl of “not more than six years old” who sold produce near the Magoffin household. She called the girl “my little protégé” and shows her attachment to her by saying “she is quite conversant in all things... Just to see the true politeness and ease displayed by that child is truly [amazing], 'twould put many a mother in the U.S. to a blush.” She also made the acquaintance of “Dona Juliana” who helped her speak Spanish, and introduced here to “an Indian chief” from the “tribe known as Comanche.” The Magoffins left Santa Fe on October 7, 1846, about ten days after the Army of the West also moved on. Though she had been excited to set up housekeeping in an actual house, instead of a tent, Susan now reported that she was “impatient to leave.” On the journey south (down the Camino Real), Magoffin encountered “the Pueblos or descendants of the original inhabitants – the principal cultivators of the soil...” including people from Sandia pueblo. She also became privy to the ways of commerce on the trail. At “an Indian village,” she reported, there was a ready market for empty glass bottles. “We can buy in the States the filled bottles for three or four dollars a dozen, drink the liquor, and then sell the empty bottles for six dollars per doz.” The Magoffins stayed for some time at San Gabriel, where Susan fell ill with a fever. While there, she learned some of the traditional New Mexican ways of “housekeeping,” again affording a perspective lacking in male accounts of life in New Mexico. She learned to make tortillas in San Gabriel, commenting that the work was “a deal of trouble” and which she had expected to be only “half the work” it turned out to be. The same “old lady” who taught her tortilla making also showed Susan her knitting techniques. Susan shared her own knitting technique which she termed “the much easier mode of the U.S.” Although the Mexican War ran like a thread through the Magoffin’s time on the trail, Susan mentioned it only occasionally, spending more time on domestic concerns and describing the new people and sights she encountered. The month of December, 1846, was particularly stressful for the Magoffins because of constant rumors that James, Samuel's brother and business partner, had been arrested and/or killed. In late January, 1847, the Magoffins left San Gabriel and again headed south. They had heard news of the rebellion at Taos, which Susan called “a perfect revolution.” Rumor held that the population of New Mexico was “rising between us and Santa Fe...and in truth we are flying before them.” On February 1, 1847, Susan wondered if she would “ever get home again?” The Magoffins traveled in a state of constant fear, of not only an uprising against Americans, but also of nature itself: they were now traveling south through the Jornada del Muerto (journey of death), a hostile and waterless stretch of desert. The Magoffins reached Doña Ana on February 9, 1847 and then continued to head south. The rigors of travel began to take their toll on Susan and she began to regret having come on the journey. They reached El Paso and continued south to Chihuahua and Saltillo, following the route of the American army under General Doniphan. Her journal ends on September 8, 1847 though it is known that she became sick with yellow fever and at the same time, gave birth to a son in Matamoros, Mexico. The child did not survive. Bad health plagued Susan on her trip down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico and throughout the rest of her short life. Following their journey to Mexico, Samuel Magoffin retired from the Santa Fe trade and moved the family to St. Louis. Susan gave birth to a daughter, Jane, in 1851, but soon after the birth of a second daughter, Susan, in 1855, Susan Shelby Magoffin died. Though she did not survive to see her thirtieth birthday, Susan's words live on in her diary and provide a unique perspective on life and travel from Missouri to New Mexico on the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico during the mid 1800s. ChronologyJuly 30, 1827: Susan Shelby born near Danville, Kentucky. November 25, 1845: Susan Shelby and Samuel Magoffin marry. June 10, 1846: Magoffins leave Independence, Missouri, to travel “Down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico.” July 26, 1846: Magoffins arrive at Bent's Fort. July 31, 1846: Susan Magoffin suffers miscarriage. August 7, 1846: Magoffins leave Bent's Fort. August 31, 1846: Magoffins arrive in Santa Fe. October 7, 1846: Magoffins leave Santa Fe. March 1878: Magoffins arrive in San Gabriel. February 1893: Magoffins leave San Gabriel. September 8, 1847: Susan Shelby Magoffin's journal ends. 1855: Susan Shelby Magoffin dies. Sources Used:Manuel Alvarez Papers, New Mexico State Records Center and Archives.Women in New Mexico Collection, Center for Southwest Research, General Library, University of New Mexico. Susan Shelby Magoffin, Down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico, ed. Stella M. Drumm (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1962). Gregg, Josiah. Commerce of the Prairies. 1844. Reprint. Ed. Max Moorhead. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1970.Howard Lamar, “Foreword,” Down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico, ed. Stella M. Drumm (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1962). Shannon Orr, “Susan Shelby Magoffin,” Encyclopedia of Women in the American West (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2003), 195-196.Virginia Scharff, Twenty Thousand Roads: Women, Movement, and the West (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002).
Joseph Magoffin
MAGOFFIN, JOSEPH (1837-1923). Joseph Magoffin, El Paso mayor and civic leader, was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, on January 14, 1837, the son of María Gertrudis (Valdez) and James Wiley Magoffin.qv He attended public school in Independence, Missouri, where the family moved in 1844; Lafayette Institute in Lexington, Kentucky; and Wyman High School in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1856 he joined his father at the site of present El Paso, Texas, where the elder Magoffin had settled after the Mexican War.qv The Magoffins were militant supporters of secession.qv During the Civil Warqv Magoffin served on the staff of Henry H. Sibleyqv in the New Mexico campaign, served in Virginia and fought in the battle of Seven Pines, and was made commissary general of the Confederate forces west of the Mississippi River. In October 1864 he married Octavia MacGrael in Houston; they eventually had one son and one daughter. After the war, they spent about a year in St. Louis with Magoffin's brother-in-law, Charles C. Richardson, then moved to El Paso. Magoffin worked as a bookkeeper until 1873, when he succeeded in regaining the property confiscated from his father during the Civil War. In 1875 he built an adobeqv house in the Territorial style, which is now the Magoffin Home State Historical Park.qv Established as one of El Paso's leading landowners, Magoffin took a prominent role in civic affairs. In 1873 he was one of the incorporators of El Paso. He was elected mayor of the city four times, in 1881, 1883, 1897, and 1899. He also served at various times as alderman, justice of the peace, county judge, and customs collector. He helped organize the International Street Railway to connect El Paso and Ciudad Júarez. He was a cofounder of the first bank in El Paso, the State National Bank, of which he was vice president for forty years, and belonged to the Elks, Masons, and the Toltec Club. He died on September 27, 1923, at the home of his daughter in Washington, D.C., and was buried in El Paso.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frank W. Johnson, A History of Texas and Texans (5 vols., ed. E. C. Barker and E. W. Winkler [Chicago and New York: American Historical Society, 1914; rpt. 1916]). Buckley B. Paddock, ed., A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago: Lewis, 1906). Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.
Martin Donell Kohout
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frank W. Johnson, A History of Texas and Texans (5 vols., ed. E. C. Barker and E. W. Winkler [Chicago and New York: American Historical Society, 1914; rpt. 1916]). Buckley B. Paddock, ed., A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago: Lewis, 1906). Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.
Martin Donell Kohout
El Paso Pioneers
By Brenda Maurish
The State National Bank, Fort Bliss, a transporting business, street cars, a trading post, El Paso Water Utilities and two baseball teams. Although this mélange may seem unrelated, a closer look will reveal otherwise.
In the late 1800s when El Paso was being established two men of wealth, influence, responsibility and integrity helped settle this area -- James Wiley Magoffin and his son Joseph.
It was their role in El Paso that brought forth these institutions and businesses.
James Wiley Magoffin was born in 1799 in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. As a little boy he would pretend that he owned his own businesses, traveled extensively, and helped settle uninhabited territories.
He and his friends spent hours creating and taking part in hair-raising adventures such as pretending to explore unconquered territories. Along their imaginary journeys, the boys would triumph over Indian attacks, snow, scorching heat, thirst and near starvation.
These children's games gave him dreams to fulfill later in his life. He wanted to experience for himself the adventures he had only imagined. During his adolescence, those dreams didn't go away but burned brighter and brighter within him.
James Magoffin discussed his goals with his goals with his father, a wealthy merchant who knew that business was also in his son's blood. Although the exact details are sketchy, more than likely the elder Magoffin financed his son's first business ventures.
In his early twenties, James Magoffin left home to start his frontier journey and to establish a transporting and trading business. He began selling books, clothes, medications, printing presses, lumber and wagons along the Santa Fe-Chihuahua Trail. The route ran from independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe, down to El Paso and into During this time, James was a friend of the Secretary of State, Henry Clay. In 1824 Clay appointed Magoffin the consul to Saltillo. He served as consul to Chihuahua and Saltillo from 1825 until 1832. This appointment proved to be crucial for the course of life.
The people of Mexico loved "Don Santiago," as James was called. He took the time to learn their language and customs and as well known for his quick wit and great sense of humor.
While on one of his trips he met and in 1830 married Maria Gertrudis Valdez de Veramendi, a daughter of a wealthy Coahuila family. This union of love also strengthened his social and financial standing in Mexico.
By 1844 James and Maria sensed that war was inevitable because of the strained relations between Texas and Mexico. They decided that they and their five children would move to Independence, Missouri, to be safe from tension. It was also a good business move because James would be at the head of the Santa Trail.
James and the children arrived in 1845, but sadly Maria died along the way.
The Magoffins bought a farm and lived in Missouri until 1849 when they moved to El Paso, the mid-point of his business route. James purchased 100,000 acres of land and called the territory Magoffinsville. It encompassed all of present-day downtown El Paso and more. Magoffinsville was a small town complete with a general store, livery stable and a spacious residence for his family. Further away, a half mile from the Rio Grande, he built a plaza with adobe buildings surrounding it.
A few years later the local military post, which had been established earlier to protect and defend residents against attacks by Apaches, Mescaleros and Comanches, relocated to Magoffinsville. Because of the structure and location of the adobe buildings, they were chosen for the military post whose name had also been changed -- to Fort Bliss. James Magoffin was given the military contract to feed and supply the troops.
Even though this area was his home, James continued to travel from Missouri to Chihuahua and take care of his businesses. When the San Antonio El Paso road opened up, he frequently visited his daughter in San Antonio, where he died in 1868.
However, Joseph Magoffin, his first-born son, inherited his father's adventurous spirit.
Born in January 7,1837, in Chihuahua, he received his formal education in Lexington, Kentucky. He moved back to the Southwest in 1856 and contributed significantly to the settlement of El Paso. Some of those contributions still affect us today.
He served four terms as mayor, starting in 1881. During his 1882 administration, mule-drawn trollies became a form of transportation in El Paso. A pair of mules traveled the two routes. One route went down San Antonio street and returned on present-day Magoffin Avenue. The other route ran from El Paso street to Seventh Street, to Stanton and cross an international bridge into Juárez. The trollies later evolved into street cars.
Joseph Magoffin also organized the El Paso Water Company. Life for the citizens of El Paso changed drastically. No longer did people have to carry water from the Rio Grande, wait for the mud to settle, then drink it. L Paso's volunteer fire department also took shape during his administration.
Mayor Magoffin, who liked sports, responded to a public demand and started two baseball teams. They played against each other every Sunday afternoon, thus providing entertainment for the people in El Paso.
Besides serving as a mayor, Joseph Magoffin contributed significantly to El Paso in other ways.
He helped organize the State National Bank, holding the position of vice-president for many years. In addition, Magoffin served as Justice of the Peace, Collector of Customs, and District Judge in his lifetime.
El Paso still benefits from the Magoffin father-and-son team of visionaries who worked to develop barren land into an international city. The challenges came from a dream of that little boy in Kentucky, a little boy who pursued his aspirations as a grown man and passed them into his children. James and Joseph Magoffin's contributions to this city live on in street names, a UTEP auditorium and numerous other El Paso traditions.
The State National Bank, Fort Bliss, a transporting business, street cars, a trading post, El Paso Water Utilities and two baseball teams. Although this mélange may seem unrelated, a closer look will reveal otherwise.
In the late 1800s when El Paso was being established two men of wealth, influence, responsibility and integrity helped settle this area -- James Wiley Magoffin and his son Joseph.
It was their role in El Paso that brought forth these institutions and businesses.
James Wiley Magoffin was born in 1799 in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. As a little boy he would pretend that he owned his own businesses, traveled extensively, and helped settle uninhabited territories.
He and his friends spent hours creating and taking part in hair-raising adventures such as pretending to explore unconquered territories. Along their imaginary journeys, the boys would triumph over Indian attacks, snow, scorching heat, thirst and near starvation.
These children's games gave him dreams to fulfill later in his life. He wanted to experience for himself the adventures he had only imagined. During his adolescence, those dreams didn't go away but burned brighter and brighter within him.
James Magoffin discussed his goals with his goals with his father, a wealthy merchant who knew that business was also in his son's blood. Although the exact details are sketchy, more than likely the elder Magoffin financed his son's first business ventures.
In his early twenties, James Magoffin left home to start his frontier journey and to establish a transporting and trading business. He began selling books, clothes, medications, printing presses, lumber and wagons along the Santa Fe-Chihuahua Trail. The route ran from independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe, down to El Paso and into During this time, James was a friend of the Secretary of State, Henry Clay. In 1824 Clay appointed Magoffin the consul to Saltillo. He served as consul to Chihuahua and Saltillo from 1825 until 1832. This appointment proved to be crucial for the course of life.
The people of Mexico loved "Don Santiago," as James was called. He took the time to learn their language and customs and as well known for his quick wit and great sense of humor.
While on one of his trips he met and in 1830 married Maria Gertrudis Valdez de Veramendi, a daughter of a wealthy Coahuila family. This union of love also strengthened his social and financial standing in Mexico.
By 1844 James and Maria sensed that war was inevitable because of the strained relations between Texas and Mexico. They decided that they and their five children would move to Independence, Missouri, to be safe from tension. It was also a good business move because James would be at the head of the Santa Trail.
James and the children arrived in 1845, but sadly Maria died along the way.
The Magoffins bought a farm and lived in Missouri until 1849 when they moved to El Paso, the mid-point of his business route. James purchased 100,000 acres of land and called the territory Magoffinsville. It encompassed all of present-day downtown El Paso and more. Magoffinsville was a small town complete with a general store, livery stable and a spacious residence for his family. Further away, a half mile from the Rio Grande, he built a plaza with adobe buildings surrounding it.
A few years later the local military post, which had been established earlier to protect and defend residents against attacks by Apaches, Mescaleros and Comanches, relocated to Magoffinsville. Because of the structure and location of the adobe buildings, they were chosen for the military post whose name had also been changed -- to Fort Bliss. James Magoffin was given the military contract to feed and supply the troops.
Even though this area was his home, James continued to travel from Missouri to Chihuahua and take care of his businesses. When the San Antonio El Paso road opened up, he frequently visited his daughter in San Antonio, where he died in 1868.
However, Joseph Magoffin, his first-born son, inherited his father's adventurous spirit.
Born in January 7,1837, in Chihuahua, he received his formal education in Lexington, Kentucky. He moved back to the Southwest in 1856 and contributed significantly to the settlement of El Paso. Some of those contributions still affect us today.
He served four terms as mayor, starting in 1881. During his 1882 administration, mule-drawn trollies became a form of transportation in El Paso. A pair of mules traveled the two routes. One route went down San Antonio street and returned on present-day Magoffin Avenue. The other route ran from El Paso street to Seventh Street, to Stanton and cross an international bridge into Juárez. The trollies later evolved into street cars.
Joseph Magoffin also organized the El Paso Water Company. Life for the citizens of El Paso changed drastically. No longer did people have to carry water from the Rio Grande, wait for the mud to settle, then drink it. L Paso's volunteer fire department also took shape during his administration.
Mayor Magoffin, who liked sports, responded to a public demand and started two baseball teams. They played against each other every Sunday afternoon, thus providing entertainment for the people in El Paso.
Besides serving as a mayor, Joseph Magoffin contributed significantly to El Paso in other ways.
He helped organize the State National Bank, holding the position of vice-president for many years. In addition, Magoffin served as Justice of the Peace, Collector of Customs, and District Judge in his lifetime.
El Paso still benefits from the Magoffin father-and-son team of visionaries who worked to develop barren land into an international city. The challenges came from a dream of that little boy in Kentucky, a little boy who pursued his aspirations as a grown man and passed them into his children. James and Joseph Magoffin's contributions to this city live on in street names, a UTEP auditorium and numerous other El Paso traditions.
James Wiley Magoffin
MAGOFFIN, JAMES WILEY (1799-1868). James Wiley Magoffin, pioneering El Paso settler and merchant, was born in 1799 in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, the son of Beriah and Jane (McAfee) Magoffin, Sr., and the brother of Beriah Magoffin, Jr., who later became governor of Kentucky. In 1824 or 1825 he sailed from New Orleans on a ship bound for Tampico, Tamaulipas, but a storm wrecked the vessel in Matagorda Bay. He and the other passengers were eventually rescued by a coasting schooner and taken to Matamoros. Magoffin was the American consul in Saltillo, Coahuila, from 1825 to 1831. He married the widow María Gertrudis Valdez de Veramendi, a San Antonio native, in Saltillo in 1834. With headquarters in Matamoros he established important commercial relations between Texas and New Orleans, trading Texas products, particularly cotton, for finished goods such as machinery, hardware, furniture, and clothing. By 1836 he had moved to Chihuahua, where he became a prominent Santa Fe trader and became involved in copper mining. "Don Santiago," as he was called, developed a reputation as a shrewd businessman and a genial host given to entertaining lavishly. In late 1841 he led a caravan to St. Louis and returned by way of Santa Fe with forty wagons of merchandise. South of Santa Fe he encountered the bedraggled prisoners of the fruitless Texan Santa Fe expedition.qv He provided them with coffee and tobacco, and gave them food and champagne in Chihuahua.
Mexican officials suspected him of giving guns to the Comanches to keep them from attacking his wagontrains. In 1844, because of such suspicions or because of the Mexican government's increasing restrictions on international trade, the Magoffins moved to Independence, Missouri. There, Magoffin maintained two wagontrains on the Santa Fe Trailqv and established a mule-breeding farm. After María died in January 1845, Magoffin sent his two sons to Lexington, Kentucky, where they were educated by a private tutor (the elder of the two, Joseph Magoffin,qv later became mayor of El Paso), and placed two of his daughters in a convent in St. Louis. In June 1846 he went to Washington, where his friend Senator Thomas Hart Benton introduced him to President James K. Polk. Seeking to take advantage of Magoffin's experiences in the Santa Fe trade, Polk instructed him to join Gen. Stephen W. Kearny's expedition to conquer New Mexico. Magoffin caught up with Kearny at Bent's Fort in late July and helped negotiate the peaceful surrender of Santa Fe. He was sent on to Chihuahua to prepare the way for the advance of Col. Alexander W. Doniphan, but on September 27, 1846, he and four others were arrested as spies by the Mexican justice of the peace in Doña Ana, New Mexico, and sent to El Paso del Norte (present Juárez, Chihuahua). To add to his misfortunes, the Mexican authorities reported that all of Magoffin's wagons, equipment, and papers had been stolen by Apaches at Brazito, although they were later recovered. Magoffin spent several months imprisoned in Chihuahua and then Durango; he was apparently treated well by his captors, thanks in part to his insistence on entertaining them lavishly.
After his release in late June 1847, he returned to Washington and asked the federal government for $37,780.96 in compensation for his services and losses during the war, but Secretary of War George W. Crawford awarded him only $30,000. With this money Magoffin returned to Independence and organized another wagontrain, but on his arrival at El Paso del Norte he found that the high customs duties imposed by the Mexican government destroyed any hope of his turning a profit. At this time he apparently decided simply to stay where he was, and by June 1849 he had settled on the eastern bank of the Rio Grande, just across from El Paso del Norte. There he quickly became the leading Anglo-American in the area. He built a large hacienda that became known as Magoffinsville; sold mules and operated wagontrains, just as he had in Independence; raised what may have been the first alfalfa crop in the El Paso area; cultivated the first acreage in the vicinity of present-day Anthony, on the Texas-New Mexico border; and, especially after his marriage on August 17, 1850, to Dolores Valdez, the sister of his first wife, reestablished his reputation as a gracious and generous host. John Russell Bartlettqv was among his guests at Magoffinsville. In 1852 Magoffin lent money and supplies to William H. Emory,qv with whom he had served in the Mexican War,qv while Emory organized the United States-Mexico Boundary Survey.
In 1849 Magoffin led the local merchants in protesting Maj. Jefferson Van Horne'sqv decision to locate a permanent military post at the old San Elizario Presidio. At least partially as a result of this petition, the troops remained at Coon's Ranchoqv until they were removed to Fort Fillmore, New Mexico, in September 1851. In January 1854, Fort Bliss was established at Magoffinsville in buildings leased from Magoffin, who was also the post sutler.
In August 1852 Magoffin acquired an interest in the salt deposits on the eastern slope of the San Andreas Mountains in New Mexico. In January 1854, having heard that citizens of Mesilla, New Mexico, planned to take salt without paying him for it, he convinced the El Paso sheriff to organize a posse and set out after the salineros. The twenty-eight-man posse, which included William A. (Bigfoot) Wallace,qv encountered the 125 or so New Mexicans near the Chinos Road, and a battle ensued. The Texans triumphed, thanks largely to a small howitzer that had perhaps been lent by the commander of Fort Bliss, and returned with the New Mexicans' captured oxen. Magoffin and his allies were indicted at Mesilla for assault, but they were beyond the jurisdiction of the New Mexico territorial court and never came to trial. Eventually, however, Magoffin did agree to pay for the oxen, and two years later the charges against him were formally dropped.
He was a staunch and vocal supporter of the Confederacy. In March 1861 he and Simeon Hartqv were appointed commissioners to receive the surrender of federal properties at Fort Bliss. Magoffin also supplied John W. Baylor and Henry H. Sibleyqqv on their marches to New Mexico, and in 1862 went with the Confederate forces to San Antonio. His properties in the El Paso area were seized by the occupying Union forces. In the fall of 1865 Magoffin went to Washington to seek amnesty from President Andrew Johnson for his activities on behalf of the Confederacy. He was unsuccessful, but on November 13, 1865, Governor Andrew J. Hamiltonqv commissioned him to go to El Paso and organize a militia company and a county government. Magoffin arrived at Fort Bliss on May 6, 1866, but Capt. David H. Brotherton refused to allow him to proceed. He returned to Washington, and this time, with the intercession of army paymaster Benjamin W. Brice, he was granted amnesty and restored to citizenship. Magoffin returned to San Antonio, where he died on September 27, 1868, following a long siege of dropsy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rex W. Strickland, Six Who Came to El Paso: Pioneers of the 1840's (El Paso: Texas Western College Press, 1963). W. H. Timmons, "The El Paso Area in the Mexican Period, 1821-1848," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 84 (July 1980).
Martin Donell Kohout
Mexican officials suspected him of giving guns to the Comanches to keep them from attacking his wagontrains. In 1844, because of such suspicions or because of the Mexican government's increasing restrictions on international trade, the Magoffins moved to Independence, Missouri. There, Magoffin maintained two wagontrains on the Santa Fe Trailqv and established a mule-breeding farm. After María died in January 1845, Magoffin sent his two sons to Lexington, Kentucky, where they were educated by a private tutor (the elder of the two, Joseph Magoffin,qv later became mayor of El Paso), and placed two of his daughters in a convent in St. Louis. In June 1846 he went to Washington, where his friend Senator Thomas Hart Benton introduced him to President James K. Polk. Seeking to take advantage of Magoffin's experiences in the Santa Fe trade, Polk instructed him to join Gen. Stephen W. Kearny's expedition to conquer New Mexico. Magoffin caught up with Kearny at Bent's Fort in late July and helped negotiate the peaceful surrender of Santa Fe. He was sent on to Chihuahua to prepare the way for the advance of Col. Alexander W. Doniphan, but on September 27, 1846, he and four others were arrested as spies by the Mexican justice of the peace in Doña Ana, New Mexico, and sent to El Paso del Norte (present Juárez, Chihuahua). To add to his misfortunes, the Mexican authorities reported that all of Magoffin's wagons, equipment, and papers had been stolen by Apaches at Brazito, although they were later recovered. Magoffin spent several months imprisoned in Chihuahua and then Durango; he was apparently treated well by his captors, thanks in part to his insistence on entertaining them lavishly.
After his release in late June 1847, he returned to Washington and asked the federal government for $37,780.96 in compensation for his services and losses during the war, but Secretary of War George W. Crawford awarded him only $30,000. With this money Magoffin returned to Independence and organized another wagontrain, but on his arrival at El Paso del Norte he found that the high customs duties imposed by the Mexican government destroyed any hope of his turning a profit. At this time he apparently decided simply to stay where he was, and by June 1849 he had settled on the eastern bank of the Rio Grande, just across from El Paso del Norte. There he quickly became the leading Anglo-American in the area. He built a large hacienda that became known as Magoffinsville; sold mules and operated wagontrains, just as he had in Independence; raised what may have been the first alfalfa crop in the El Paso area; cultivated the first acreage in the vicinity of present-day Anthony, on the Texas-New Mexico border; and, especially after his marriage on August 17, 1850, to Dolores Valdez, the sister of his first wife, reestablished his reputation as a gracious and generous host. John Russell Bartlettqv was among his guests at Magoffinsville. In 1852 Magoffin lent money and supplies to William H. Emory,qv with whom he had served in the Mexican War,qv while Emory organized the United States-Mexico Boundary Survey.
In 1849 Magoffin led the local merchants in protesting Maj. Jefferson Van Horne'sqv decision to locate a permanent military post at the old San Elizario Presidio. At least partially as a result of this petition, the troops remained at Coon's Ranchoqv until they were removed to Fort Fillmore, New Mexico, in September 1851. In January 1854, Fort Bliss was established at Magoffinsville in buildings leased from Magoffin, who was also the post sutler.
In August 1852 Magoffin acquired an interest in the salt deposits on the eastern slope of the San Andreas Mountains in New Mexico. In January 1854, having heard that citizens of Mesilla, New Mexico, planned to take salt without paying him for it, he convinced the El Paso sheriff to organize a posse and set out after the salineros. The twenty-eight-man posse, which included William A. (Bigfoot) Wallace,qv encountered the 125 or so New Mexicans near the Chinos Road, and a battle ensued. The Texans triumphed, thanks largely to a small howitzer that had perhaps been lent by the commander of Fort Bliss, and returned with the New Mexicans' captured oxen. Magoffin and his allies were indicted at Mesilla for assault, but they were beyond the jurisdiction of the New Mexico territorial court and never came to trial. Eventually, however, Magoffin did agree to pay for the oxen, and two years later the charges against him were formally dropped.
He was a staunch and vocal supporter of the Confederacy. In March 1861 he and Simeon Hartqv were appointed commissioners to receive the surrender of federal properties at Fort Bliss. Magoffin also supplied John W. Baylor and Henry H. Sibleyqqv on their marches to New Mexico, and in 1862 went with the Confederate forces to San Antonio. His properties in the El Paso area were seized by the occupying Union forces. In the fall of 1865 Magoffin went to Washington to seek amnesty from President Andrew Johnson for his activities on behalf of the Confederacy. He was unsuccessful, but on November 13, 1865, Governor Andrew J. Hamiltonqv commissioned him to go to El Paso and organize a militia company and a county government. Magoffin arrived at Fort Bliss on May 6, 1866, but Capt. David H. Brotherton refused to allow him to proceed. He returned to Washington, and this time, with the intercession of army paymaster Benjamin W. Brice, he was granted amnesty and restored to citizenship. Magoffin returned to San Antonio, where he died on September 27, 1868, following a long siege of dropsy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rex W. Strickland, Six Who Came to El Paso: Pioneers of the 1840's (El Paso: Texas Western College Press, 1963). W. H. Timmons, "The El Paso Area in the Mexican Period, 1821-1848," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 84 (July 1980).
Martin Donell Kohout
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