June 26, 1887
Parents: Charles William Hoskins met and married Ella Hixenbaugh.
Parents: Charles William Hoskins met and married Ella Hixenbaugh.
Five children were born while they lived in New Mexico. Allen Eugene, the youngest of the children, was born in Oklahoma. Little Carl died before they went to Oklahoma.
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| Oklahoma farm house where the Hoskins lived. Ella expecting Allen. |
| HOSKINS FAMILY |
Back Row: Earl, Myrtle, Edward, Mabel
Front Row: Charles William, Allen Eugene, Ella Abigail
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| Allen Eugene Hoskins |
This is a history about Allen Eugene Hoskins written by his daughter Argie Ella Hoskins.
Allen Eugene Hoskins
While living in Oklahoma near Tonkawa, Kay County, Charles William Hoskins and Ella Abagail Hixenbaugh Hoskins on the 4th of July, 1901 bore a son Allen Eugene.
Charles William was farming 320 acres of Indian Lease Land.
It was while living near Tonkawa that Allen's mother Ella Hixenbaugh Hoskins died in childbirth. She was 37 years of age. She died the 11th of February, 1908. My Daddy, Allen, was six years old. He says he remembers how terrible it was to experience this part of his life. He really never got over it; his mother passing when he was so young. The baby was full term, but couldn’t be delivered.
C. W. continued farming in Oklahoma until 1913. He moved to Luna County, New Mexico because his housekeeper told him about Deming. He made a trip down to New Mexico and decided to move. C. W. and Allen bought land seven miles from Deming from a Mr. Stevens. Stevens had bought it from Pansy Young who had homesteaded it, but neither owners had “proved up” on it. C. W. “proved up” on it and received a deed the 24th of June 1919.
The year of 1916, Francisco (Pancho) Villa said, as he neared the border, that he would “put the torch” to
Columbus, New Mexico, every adult and child in town. Villa bragged that he would “lay waste” to the entire USA and that Germany would help him do it.
In 1919, Teddy Roosevelt had run on the Bull Moose ticket and William Taft had run on the Republican ticket. They were defeated by Woodrow Wilson. By this time the war (World War I) was over.
From growing up in the southern part of New Mexico, I know that there are still deep feeling of prejudices against the Mexican people because of this situation Of course the prejudices against the “white” people are equally stated. Villa talked and talked more about what he was going to do, but didn’t. The 13th U. S. Cavalry surprised Villa with their strength. It is usually overlooked that the Columbus Raid was actually a severe, almost disastrous, defeat for Villa. His bandits killed a few soldiers and a few civilians, however the most conservation estimate of the strength of the raiding band was About 400 men and Villa’s losses came to a full 4th of his command.
The most immediate effect of the raid was the reversal of President Wilson’s policy of “Non-retaliation” to hasten the adoption of legislation to federalize the National
Guard, whereby they serve both the
State and the Federal Government by giving the National
Guard dual status.
During these historical years, C. W. married Jenny Harrison from Wisconsin. She was a good mother to Allen. The 1920s were good years for the Hoskins’. It is reported that they had a good farm and shared its bounty with their neighbors. They always had a big watermelon, grapes or something else from their garden to express their hospitality.
Allen Eugene Hoskins
While living in Oklahoma near Tonkawa, Kay County, Charles William Hoskins and Ella Abagail Hixenbaugh Hoskins on the 4th of July, 1901 bore a son Allen Eugene.
Charles William was farming 320 acres of Indian Lease Land.
It was while living near Tonkawa that Allen's mother Ella Hixenbaugh Hoskins died in childbirth. She was 37 years of age. She died the 11th of February, 1908. My Daddy, Allen, was six years old. He says he remembers how terrible it was to experience this part of his life. He really never got over it; his mother passing when he was so young. The baby was full term, but couldn’t be delivered.
C. W. continued farming in Oklahoma until 1913. He moved to Luna County, New Mexico because his housekeeper told him about Deming. He made a trip down to New Mexico and decided to move. C. W. and Allen bought land seven miles from Deming from a Mr. Stevens. Stevens had bought it from Pansy Young who had homesteaded it, but neither owners had “proved up” on it. C. W. “proved up” on it and received a deed the 24th of June 1919.
The year of 1916, Francisco (Pancho) Villa said, as he neared the border, that he would “put the torch” to
Columbus, New Mexico, every adult and child in town. Villa bragged that he would “lay waste” to the entire USA and that Germany would help him do it.
In 1919, Teddy Roosevelt had run on the Bull Moose ticket and William Taft had run on the Republican ticket. They were defeated by Woodrow Wilson. By this time the war (World War I) was over.
From growing up in the southern part of New Mexico, I know that there are still deep feeling of prejudices against the Mexican people because of this situation Of course the prejudices against the “white” people are equally stated. Villa talked and talked more about what he was going to do, but didn’t. The 13th U. S. Cavalry surprised Villa with their strength. It is usually overlooked that the Columbus Raid was actually a severe, almost disastrous, defeat for Villa. His bandits killed a few soldiers and a few civilians, however the most conservation estimate of the strength of the raiding band was About 400 men and Villa’s losses came to a full 4th of his command.
The most immediate effect of the raid was the reversal of President Wilson’s policy of “Non-retaliation” to hasten the adoption of legislation to federalize the National
Guard, whereby they serve both the
State and the Federal Government by giving the National
Guard dual status.
During these historical years, C. W. married Jenny Harrison from Wisconsin. She was a good mother to Allen. The 1920s were good years for the Hoskins’. It is reported that they had a good farm and shared its bounty with their neighbors. They always had a big watermelon, grapes or something else from their garden to express their hospitality.
C. W. sold the farm in 1931 because of failing health, and Allen married and moved to Deming. He sold it for a good profit even though it was Depression days. Grandpa C. W. died the 24th of April, 1932.
Wife Edna Lawson Hoskins interviewed "Al"
"I was the sixth child born to this union.
By the time I was born, our family had a light burning in our home, a bare bulb. The Bell Telephone company was handling two billion calls a year.
My father farmed and ranched on the Chikaskia River, Indian Lease Land, 320 acres.
My curls were cut off when I was two years. Uncle Duce Hixenbaugh took me to the barbershop.
Mabel got red mug. She got it at the carnival.
When I was a small lad my grandfather Hixenbaugh took me fishing with him. He made me stay still and quite. To this day I don't like fishing or fish."
[Argie Ella remembers, “When I was a little girl, Daddy, Mother and my brother C.L. went back to visit some of Daddy's friends in Oklahoma. Daddy showed us the river where they went fishing. There was a bridge over the river with trusses. I believed I heard Daddy call it a trussel bridge. Anyway when Daddy was About 9 years old, he climbed up the trusses and wrote "Al" in white paint on the cross bar.”]
1907
I started to school in the fall of 1907. The school was Central School, nicknamed Stink Creek College. The school was on Stink Creek. My brother Earl and I walked one and half miles to school.
My father had a horse we called Billy which I rode when anyone would put me on him. One time, I decided to get on him myself. I led him up to the fence, got up on the fence. Just as I started to get on him, he moved and I was hanging by the shoulder strap of my overalls. My father came to my rescue and put me on him.
February 1908
Argie Ella wore the ring.
My mother died February 11, 1908.
It was while living near Tonkawa that Grandmother Ella Hixenbaugh Hoskins died in childbirth. She was 37 years of age. I was six years old. I remembers how terrible it was to experience this part life. I really never got over it, mother passing when I was so young. The baby was full term, but couldn't be delivered.
She is buried at the Tonkawa cemetery, Tonkawa, Kay county, Oklahoma. Shortly after her death, my sisters Mabel, Myrtle, and brother Ed left home. There were just my brother Earl and I at home.
I had a pet coon. Once he got loose with the chain on and got on top of house. My brother Earl tried to get him off of house. He would not let him pick him up. My father woke me up, then help me up on roof to get him. I picked him, put him under my arm and they helped us off of roof. I had him about one and half years before he started to catch chicken. My father traded him to an Indian for a lap robe. A while later I asked Indian about my coon. He said, "He sure fat and good to eat."
1909
Someone's "Model T" broke down in front of our house for several days. I studied the whole machine. My, it was a fine thing.
1910
My brother Earl left home in 1910 so my father and I were alone for a while. My sister Myrtle came home from Raton and started to school, college in Tonkawa. While she was going to college, I went to school in Tonkawa. We drove a horse and buggy to school. After she quit, after a short time, I rode a horse named Buckskin for two years.
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| Allen Eugene Hoskins |
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| Allen Eugen Hoskins |
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| Little Marie and Allen Eugene |
While my sister Myrtle was home, she and I went ice skating in December. I fell through the ice. Myrtle built a fire, had me to take my clothes off and dry them and the fire keep me warm because we did not have permission to go skating. Dad never found out as far as I know. I made my own ice skates.
1913
Daddy (Charles William) continued farming in Oklahoma until 1913. He moved to Luna county, New Mexico, because his housekeeper told him about Deming. He made a trip down to New Mexico and decided to move. Daddy and I bought land seven miles from Deming from a Mr. Stevens. Stevens had bought it from Pansy Young who had homesteaded it, but neither owners had "proved up" on it. C. W. "proved up" on it and received a deed the 24 of June 1919.
I cleared much of the land, put in fences and planted. [I (Argie) took pictures of Daddy standing by a fence post that he put into the ground in 1913. The post is cedar wood. Daddy would have been about 12 years old at the time.]
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| Barn and fence that Allen put up when he was about 12 years old. |
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| My dear Daddy, Allen "A" Eugene Hoskins by his cedar fence. |
I went to school at Capital Dome, which later consolidated with the Sunshine School. We played "Blackman" and "Run Sheepy Run." "Run Sheepy Run" I think I liked it best because it was more of a BIG kids game. I'll try to describe that, but it is kind of complicated. Here goes. All those playing were divided into two teams (sheep). Each group of sheep appointed a captain (sheepherder) whose job it was to hide all his sheep together where the other team would have a hard time finding them. This could be anywhere in the neighborhood. While hiding his sheep, the captain would take them in a round About, zig zag, circular, back and forth pattern before taking them to the final hiding place. This is because when he returned to the other team whose job it was to find the sheep, he was required to draw a map where he had taken them. This was usually done with a stick in the dirt. The captain would draw all the different directions he had taken them to make it more difficult for his sheep to be found. When he finished drawing the map he would put an X at the spot where they were hidden and say "And this is where my sheepy lie." The search team would then begin looking for the sheep with the captain of the sheep joining them. If the sheep were found, it was a race to see who could get "home" first, the sheep or the other team. However, if the captain felt that the searching team was far enough away from his hiding sheep that they could all get home safe without being found, he would yell, "Run Sheepy Run", and that was the signal for all the sheep to run as fast as they could to "home". Of course that shout signaled the other team to run, too, and the race was on. Which ever team got home first got to be the one to hide.
1915
When I was in the 8th grade, Fay Farmer and a friend of hers went in the girl's latrine. Fay Farmer stayed too long at the outdoor toilet. Her sister Vera was sent to check and found a large rattlesnake coiled in the doorway at the end of the entrance screen. The snake could try to come out through the narrow entry, or go back where the child stood in terror on the toilet bench. I knocked the boards off to enlarge the vent at the peak of the roof. Fay held up her little arms and I pulled her out to safely. Then I killed the snake. The teacher was Miss Jo Willa Watkins.
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| Back Row: Second student from left is Allen "Al" Hoskins |
[Daddy said that the students learned by hearing the other classes recite. It was a one room, eight grade school.]
It was not just a school but had the charm of being the thread that tied the community into one big family. They had box and pie suppers to raise money and held church on Sunday in that one room building.
We would take the door off, put it on desks to make a big table. On the Fourth of July, homemade ice cream would be served from that door. Fireworks were a part of this great time at Capitol Dome School.
The building would be the setting for the Christmas Party. The tree would be decorated with popcorn, cranberry, and paper chains with Santa distributing the treats of fruit, nuts, and ribbon candy.
And who could forget returning home afterward, warmly bundled in the wagon, on a clear cold night under the stars. How I wish I could so enjoy these simple realities. [No wonder, I have seen my Daddy stand on the spot where this all happened, but has since burned down, and to see a gleam and then suddenly a tear come to his old, but so very wise eyes.]
March 1, 1915
My father married Eugenia Harrison at the Methodist parsonage in Deming by Edward C. Morgan. Witnesses were May L. Clifford and William J. Clifford, Jr. Jenny was from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She came to Deming 1913. My father and I farmed and Jenny raised turkey. One Thanksgiving, Jenny furnished turkeys for the regiment of soldier that was stationed at Columbus after the Villa raid. Columbus was about 25 miles from the farm.
It was not just a school but had the charm of being the thread that tied the community into one big family. They had box and pie suppers to raise money and held church on Sunday in that one room building.
We would take the door off, put it on desks to make a big table. On the Fourth of July, homemade ice cream would be served from that door. Fireworks were a part of this great time at Capitol Dome School.
The building would be the setting for the Christmas Party. The tree would be decorated with popcorn, cranberry, and paper chains with Santa distributing the treats of fruit, nuts, and ribbon candy.
And who could forget returning home afterward, warmly bundled in the wagon, on a clear cold night under the stars. How I wish I could so enjoy these simple realities. [No wonder, I have seen my Daddy stand on the spot where this all happened, but has since burned down, and to see a gleam and then suddenly a tear come to his old, but so very wise eyes.]
March 1, 1915
My father married Eugenia Harrison at the Methodist parsonage in Deming by Edward C. Morgan. Witnesses were May L. Clifford and William J. Clifford, Jr. Jenny was from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She came to Deming 1913. My father and I farmed and Jenny raised turkey. One Thanksgiving, Jenny furnished turkeys for the regiment of soldier that was stationed at Columbus after the Villa raid. Columbus was about 25 miles from the farm.
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| Eugenia Evelyan Harrison Hoskins |
She was a real mother to me.
1916
Francisco (Pancho) Villa said, as he neared the border, that he would "put the torch" to Columbus, New Mexico, every adult and child in town. Villa bragged that he would "lay waste" to the entire USA and that Germany would help him do it.
1916
Francisco (Pancho) Villa said, as he neared the border, that he would "put the torch" to Columbus, New Mexico, every adult and child in town. Villa bragged that he would "lay waste" to the entire USA and that Germany would help him do it.
1919
Teddy Roosevelt had run on the Bull Moose ticket and William Taft had run on the Republican ticket. They were defeated by Woodrow Wilson. By this time the war (World War I) was over.
I was born the year President McKinley was assassinated. I didn't remember Teddy Roosevelt, however I remembers Taft.
From growing up in the southern part of New Mexico, I know that there are still deep feeling of prejudices against the Mexican people because of this situation. Of course the prejudices against the "white" people are equally stated. Villa talked and talked more about what he was going to do, but didn't. The thirteen U.S. Cavalry surprised Villa with their strength. It is usually overlooked that the Columbus Raid was actually a severe, almost disastrous, defeat for Villa. His bandits killed a few soldiers and a few civilians, however the most conservative estimate of the strength of the raiding band was About 400 men and Villa's losses came to a full 4 of his command.
The most immediate effect of the raid was the reversal of President Wilson's policy of "Non -retaliation", to hasten the adoption of legislation to federalize the National Guard, whereby they serve both the State and the Federal Government by giving the National Guard dual status.
1920
The 1920s were good years for the Hoskins'. We had a good farm and shared its bounty with neighbors. We always had a big watermelon, grapes, or something else from our garden to express hospitality. Daddy (Charles William) was able to buy a few pieces of town property.
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| Allen "Al" with Eugenia "Jenny" and Charles William Hoskins at their Deming farm. |
1928
About 1928, I was tired of the farm and wanted to do something else. So rode into Deming and got a job as Deputy Sheriff.
In 1928, my brother Ed was elected Sheriff. He appointed me as his deputy. I moved to Deming 1929 to take over my deputy duties. I didn't like working as an officer. Just didn't like dealing with the raids on the home brew business. Didn't like dealing with the women that they arrested.
[Daddy was a gentleman, every bit of his 6 foot, 2 inches.]
The last of that year I went to work at Bassetts Motor Co. which was located on Railroad Ave. At the time I was on night duty for about a year working as a mechanic.
1930
Before I left the sheriff office I had met my future wife Edna Fay Lawson. We were married March 20, 1930 in Lordsburg, New Mexico. Many people got married in Lordsburg."
Argie Ella Hoskins, his daughter, records the following family history.
The Hoskins, C.W. and Jenny, gave Al and Edna a house for a wedding gift. Mother enjoyed fixing it up.
1931
C. W. sold the farm in 1931 because of failing health, and Allen married and moved to Deming. He sold it for a good profit even though it was Depression days. Grandpa Charles William died the 24 of April, 1932.
1933
Daddy decided that he would like to work for the Diamond A Cattle Ranch which was owned by the Victoria Land & Cattle Company. Mother really didn't want to leave her house that they had fixed up, but she followed Daddy to the open range.
Daddy worked as a cowboy, rounding up, branding, dehorning, and loved it. Mother cooked for the cowboys. She says that she had as many as ten men to cook for everyday. This was not an easy job. She cooked on a coal stove.
The cowboys would bring enough coal to do Mother for one day. They forgot, one time too many, to do their part of the deal, and they had no dinner when they got in that evening. Cowboys are very tired and hungry at the end of the day. Mother didn't have to mention the need for coal any more.
Mother did her job very well because she was trained at home to do well, however she knew that things could be better.
1933
This is the year, that a friend of theirs had an airplane. He took Mother and Daddy for a ride. He did some fancy tricks in the air and Daddy said, "Never again. Just let me down."
Daddy said that when he was 11 years old, back in Oklahoma, he and his Dad had walked through an airplane that was touring the country "barn storming." They had paid 10 cents to get in the plane and look it over.
1935
Back to Deming in 1935 to work for Evens Garage and Brems Motor Co. until April 1939.
Argie Ella, was born November 30, 1935 at the Deming Ladies' Hospital. So called because the ladies of Deming determined a good hospital should be built, and worked on the project until it was a reality in 1911. C.L. and I were born in this hospital.
Al had a motorcycle. He drove it to work. He worked for Auto Repair. Mother had asked him several times to sell it, but she did not have as much influence as a tiny baby had. Once when we were getting ready to go on a vacation (before Argie Ella was born) Al needed something. . . Mom said, "Why don't you wait until it gets through raining?" He didn't. Anyway at Ray Drive and Silver, that is where that woman hit him. She thought she had killed him. . , He sold the motorcycle the day (Sunday) after Sis (Argie Ella) was born.
Daddy and Mother had a house in Deming. This is where my(Argie) first memories start. I (Argie) remember my friend and the trees across the street, fun to climb in and out, and I remember the yard with dirt here, grass there, a big garage, and a storage building out back with very interesting things in it. I loved to get in there.
My memory of Daddy is when he would come home from work, he would put me on his shoulders and play with me. He always wore overalls when he worked, would take them off and be suddenly clean. I wished I could have overalls.
Mother tells me that during the Depression, they never felt like that they didn't know where the next meal was coming from. They had security in property that Granddad Hoskins had left.
Deming is right on the railroad and during the Depression, Daddy said that they would see hundreds of boxcar people, men and women folk riding the rail to El Paso, looking for work.
Mother said that, if you fed one hobo, you would have ten to feed. There was a lady that sold tamales on the street. The story was that she would catch cats, dogs or whatever to supply the meat for the tamale. People had seen her do just that.
Mother would take strolls with my brother and me to the park and on the way home, we would get an ice cream cone. I remember the shop where we would get the ice cream. There was a most beautiful poster with a coke-cola advertisement fixed to the wall. The lady was so very pretty.
In 1939, Daddy got a job in the mines at Santa Rita, New Mexico, as a machinist. He welded now and in overalls, still. I remember that it was neat to have Daddy so clean and so many other men always looked so dirty.
The thing that I remember About Santa Rita was that if you heard a certain number of whistles from the mine, open pit, it meant that a Nan had been killed. It didn't happen often, thank goodness.
Santa Rita was owned by the Kennecott Copper Co. This meant that everything was owned by the company--the general store, the hospital, the houses, everything.
There were separate sections of town and you lived in the section determined by your pay scale. I will never forget how excited we were when we got to move to the Ballpark, next to Down Town, that was the place to live. There was Booth Hill, Iron Hill, and Mexican Town. No one played with the kids from Mexican Town, except the kids from Mexican Town, however I did have a couple friends from Mexican Town and Down Town.
My mother took in sewing so we would have money for a piano and lessons. I remember her sewing late at night, night after night. She made me beautiful clothes. She was an Eastern Star and I was a Rainbow Girl.
Daddy worked on cars for extra cash. He did this in the evening, however on weekends he went to the hills. When I asked him why? He said "To get away," and I am sure that is what he meant. . . he needed to get away from that kind of life and back to the soil.
The A.F.L. - C.I.O. were very strong at the mine and were always wanting Daddy to join. Daddy never joined the union. He said that they were Communistic and just caused trouble. Every year they would strike, the company would close down, and the strike would last from 6 weeks to 8 months. Daddy would have to go somewhere to find work during this time and each time he got more upset and one day he came home and said that the unions were destroying the country and he was going to find another job.
This (Santa Rita) is where we lived during World War II. Everything was rationed. The only thing that we had a shortage of were shoes for my brother. He wore his shoes out so fast.
At school we would have air raid drills and hide in the hills. Sometimes in the middle of the night, we would have a community air raid drill. Daddy would put on a "hard hat" and be gone for a while, and we couldn't turn the lights on because the planes (if there were any) could see even a light from a cigarette.
My family didn't like Roosevelt and his New Deal and we were all very glad when the War was over.
In October of 1951, we moved to the Howe Ranch, which was one of nine camps for the Victoria Land & Cattle Co. This time for the company, Daddy was responsible for the water maintenance. He was a windmiller.
Like barbed wire, windmills played an important part in the development of the American West. The cattle business could not have survived without the windmill. I loved to hear the windmill work. My bedroom window was not far from one of our windmills I would sit on a little hill and watch their beauty as the wind blew the blades. Someday, I would like to write a story About the windmill, not just because of it's place in history but because it was so much a part of my life and Daddy's life, even more.
When we arrived in Animas Valley, it was like going back in time. We didn't have electricity for a year, no phone, but we did have inside plumbing. My brother and I rode a school bus to Animas. The bus driver lived with us. We left at 6:50 in the morning and got home About 5:00 in the evening. My brother and I took turns washing the dishes by the light of a kerosene lantern and then studied or danced (made up new steps) to western music from a battery radio. Charles Leslie and I are such good friends and it all started back before the big old ranch kitchen.
The road from Cloverdale to Animas, on which our place sat next, was the old stage coach route from on the boarder to the north. Lots of history in "them thar parts."
Daddy was up at 5:00 every morning, sometimes earlier. He milked the cow, strained the milk, ate breakfast and left.
Daddy took care of 35 windmills. He knew the history or repeated history of each mill. I wish he would have written their story.
The Diamond A was the name of this big ranch. The ranch was about 30 miles wide and 60 miles long. They ran about 8,000 cows, 1 bull to every 10 to 12 cows and each year had an increase of about 70 per cent. Some years were better than other years. Daddy remembers seeing about 10,000 head in one round up. I remember coming home from school one day and there was cattle everywhere. Daddy said that we had about 2,000 head right there at our place.
They would round up twice a year. In the Spring, they would brand, and in the Fall, they would ship to California. They shipped by truck. They would ship them to feed yards, fatten them up and then to the packing house.
I asked Daddy which job that he had, that he liked the very best. Yes, it was this one at Animas. Me, too.
It was a hard life for Mother Edna. She made bread, butter, cheese and cooked great meals. She had a garden, made our clothes, took us to Church, dances, ball games and Rainbow Girls.
Daddy said, "It was the feeling of being my own boss and living out in the open that made me happy."
I (Argie) am now dreaming. Dreaming of the white thistle growing next to the tumbleweed, being kissed by the desert sun. Running along the dry creek bed that will soon be full from a "flash-flood." Falling down under a cottonwood tree, listening to the music of the world around. . . summertime in Animas Valley. Alone, happy, and yesterday. Yes, my Daddy loved Animas Valley, also.
Edna Lawson, his wife, records the following:
Allen Eugene Hoskins was a very handsome man. He loved the out doors, hunting, camping, horse back riding. He did not like to fish. I learned to be ready to go on a trip in two hours notice, whether it was over night camping or two week vacation. He liked to do his own mending on the machines, however the socks mending was left to me... I learned to like football or be a football widow. When we moved back to Deming, he was like one of the kids on a ball game day.
From an interview with Allen by Argie Ella:
Daddy (Al) said that the best vacation he ever had, growing up, was when he and his dad went to the 101 Circus in Ponca City, Oklahoma. It was the Wild West Circus. Daddy was about 11 years of age, 1912.
The best year of school was in the 6th or 7th grade at Capital Dome in Deming, New Mexico. His teacher was Mr. Allen Crotchett.
Daddy liked all colors especially blue. His favorite flower was the red rose. His favorite aftershave was Old Spice. His favorite day was Saturday and his favorite time of the day was early morning.
The craziest kid he had as a playmate was Don Barr.
When asked who was the nuttiest girl in school, he said, "I don't know" and pointed to mother.
Argie Ella tells the following experience she had with Edna while they were on a mission with Gene in the Canada Winnipeg Mission in the Bergland Branch:
It was in December and it was a beautiful cold Sunday. It was the first Sunday of the month. After a wonderful lesson on service was given, Mother Edna stood, paused and told of a very special experience involving her husband "Al." I couldn't believe that mother had stood and shared.
Lee Baker was interviewed by Argie Ella Hoskins on March 16, 2001
Al weighed about 250 pounds so he had a big saddle. Al worked for the Diamond A Ranch taking care of the windmills. He was a pretty quiet man. He was honest, sincere, and helpful. After he retired, Al took a job on a farm where he drove a tractor just to have something to do. Al rode his bike eight or ten miles to the farm every day.
William Scott wrote the following About his Uncle Al
Uncle Al
A starched white shirt with pearl snaps,
Buttoned About the neck
A leather bolo pulled up snug
The dark blue polyester, western suit
Covered his black pointed boots
Boots handmade in Juarez
Sunday-go-to-meetin’s he’d say.
A perfectly creased silver-bellied Stetson
A new one he had gotten for his eighty-fifth
Sat atop a full head of solid white hair
But never indoors, it just wasn’t the way
He wasn’t Born in a barn, just close to it
He’d be a hundred and six
If he was here today
But he’s laid up under a rock garden
By the old dirt road
He and Edna ran the ranch for many years
Before he couldn’t ride any more
Or work the herd
And one thing led to another
They sold the place
Rough as a cob to men-folk
But gentle has a fifteen year old mare
To women and kiddos
Even at ninety
He’d crush your hand with a gentleman’s shake
And paid no attention to your grimace
He’d never plugged a chew
Or smoke a cig
But cancer, seemed it ate him whole
Hard principles he preached and lived by
Principles forgotten by some
But listened and adhered to by those who cared
Not to disappoint his memory
Would the principles of today
Disappoint the man whose values were so entrenched?
Should we live by the principles of yesterday?
Or learn from those values and make our own?
I believe the later.
Bill “Doc” Scott
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| "Al" with his brother "Ed" Hoskins |
In 1928, my brother Ed was elected Sheriff. He appointed me as his deputy. I moved to Deming 1929 to take over my deputy duties. I didn't like working as an officer. Just didn't like dealing with the raids on the home brew business. Didn't like dealing with the women that they arrested.
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| Allen Hoskins |
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| Allen Hoskins |
[Daddy was a gentleman, every bit of his 6 foot, 2 inches.]
The last of that year I went to work at Bassetts Motor Co. which was located on Railroad Ave. At the time I was on night duty for about a year working as a mechanic.
1930
Before I left the sheriff office I had met my future wife Edna Fay Lawson. We were married March 20, 1930 in Lordsburg, New Mexico. Many people got married in Lordsburg."
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| Edna and "Al" Hoskins |
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| Allen and Edna Hoskins' Wedding Photo |
Argie Ella Hoskins, his daughter, records the following family history.
The Hoskins, C.W. and Jenny, gave Al and Edna a house for a wedding gift. Mother enjoyed fixing it up.
1931
C. W. sold the farm in 1931 because of failing health, and Allen married and moved to Deming. He sold it for a good profit even though it was Depression days. Grandpa Charles William died the 24 of April, 1932.
1933
Daddy decided that he would like to work for the Diamond A Cattle Ranch which was owned by the Victoria Land & Cattle Company. Mother really didn't want to leave her house that they had fixed up, but she followed Daddy to the open range.
Daddy worked as a cowboy, rounding up, branding, dehorning, and loved it. Mother cooked for the cowboys. She says that she had as many as ten men to cook for everyday. This was not an easy job. She cooked on a coal stove.
The cowboys would bring enough coal to do Mother for one day. They forgot, one time too many, to do their part of the deal, and they had no dinner when they got in that evening. Cowboys are very tired and hungry at the end of the day. Mother didn't have to mention the need for coal any more.
Mother did her job very well because she was trained at home to do well, however she knew that things could be better.
1933
This is the year, that a friend of theirs had an airplane. He took Mother and Daddy for a ride. He did some fancy tricks in the air and Daddy said, "Never again. Just let me down."
Daddy said that when he was 11 years old, back in Oklahoma, he and his Dad had walked through an airplane that was touring the country "barn storming." They had paid 10 cents to get in the plane and look it over.
1935
Back to Deming in 1935 to work for Evens Garage and Brems Motor Co. until April 1939.
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| Back Row: Third from the right is Allen Hoskins |
Argie Ella, was born November 30, 1935 at the Deming Ladies' Hospital. So called because the ladies of Deming determined a good hospital should be built, and worked on the project until it was a reality in 1911. C.L. and I were born in this hospital.
Al had a motorcycle. He drove it to work. He worked for Auto Repair. Mother had asked him several times to sell it, but she did not have as much influence as a tiny baby had. Once when we were getting ready to go on a vacation (before Argie Ella was born) Al needed something. . . Mom said, "Why don't you wait until it gets through raining?" He didn't. Anyway at Ray Drive and Silver, that is where that woman hit him. She thought she had killed him. . , He sold the motorcycle the day (Sunday) after Sis (Argie Ella) was born.
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| Yes, can you believe this is a motorcycle! |
Daddy and Mother had a house in Deming. This is where my(Argie) first memories start. I (Argie) remember my friend and the trees across the street, fun to climb in and out, and I remember the yard with dirt here, grass there, a big garage, and a storage building out back with very interesting things in it. I loved to get in there.
My memory of Daddy is when he would come home from work, he would put me on his shoulders and play with me. He always wore overalls when he worked, would take them off and be suddenly clean. I wished I could have overalls.
Mother tells me that during the Depression, they never felt like that they didn't know where the next meal was coming from. They had security in property that Granddad Hoskins had left.
Deming is right on the railroad and during the Depression, Daddy said that they would see hundreds of boxcar people, men and women folk riding the rail to El Paso, looking for work.
Mother said that, if you fed one hobo, you would have ten to feed. There was a lady that sold tamales on the street. The story was that she would catch cats, dogs or whatever to supply the meat for the tamale. People had seen her do just that.
Mother would take strolls with my brother and me to the park and on the way home, we would get an ice cream cone. I remember the shop where we would get the ice cream. There was a most beautiful poster with a coke-cola advertisement fixed to the wall. The lady was so very pretty.
In 1939, Daddy got a job in the mines at Santa Rita, New Mexico, as a machinist. He welded now and in overalls, still. I remember that it was neat to have Daddy so clean and so many other men always looked so dirty.
The thing that I remember About Santa Rita was that if you heard a certain number of whistles from the mine, open pit, it meant that a Nan had been killed. It didn't happen often, thank goodness.
Santa Rita was owned by the Kennecott Copper Co. This meant that everything was owned by the company--the general store, the hospital, the houses, everything.
There were separate sections of town and you lived in the section determined by your pay scale. I will never forget how excited we were when we got to move to the Ballpark, next to Down Town, that was the place to live. There was Booth Hill, Iron Hill, and Mexican Town. No one played with the kids from Mexican Town, except the kids from Mexican Town, however I did have a couple friends from Mexican Town and Down Town.
My mother took in sewing so we would have money for a piano and lessons. I remember her sewing late at night, night after night. She made me beautiful clothes. She was an Eastern Star and I was a Rainbow Girl.
Daddy worked on cars for extra cash. He did this in the evening, however on weekends he went to the hills. When I asked him why? He said "To get away," and I am sure that is what he meant. . . he needed to get away from that kind of life and back to the soil.
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| Family photo in El Paso when we lived in Santa Rita. Allen in second from right on back row. |
The A.F.L. - C.I.O. were very strong at the mine and were always wanting Daddy to join. Daddy never joined the union. He said that they were Communistic and just caused trouble. Every year they would strike, the company would close down, and the strike would last from 6 weeks to 8 months. Daddy would have to go somewhere to find work during this time and each time he got more upset and one day he came home and said that the unions were destroying the country and he was going to find another job.
This (Santa Rita) is where we lived during World War II. Everything was rationed. The only thing that we had a shortage of were shoes for my brother. He wore his shoes out so fast.
At school we would have air raid drills and hide in the hills. Sometimes in the middle of the night, we would have a community air raid drill. Daddy would put on a "hard hat" and be gone for a while, and we couldn't turn the lights on because the planes (if there were any) could see even a light from a cigarette.
My family didn't like Roosevelt and his New Deal and we were all very glad when the War was over.
In October of 1951, we moved to the Howe Ranch, which was one of nine camps for the Victoria Land & Cattle Co. This time for the company, Daddy was responsible for the water maintenance. He was a windmiller.
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| "Al" at Animas |
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| "Al" working on the windmill |
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| "Al" and helpers |
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| Children: Argie and C.L. with Mother Edna and Daddy "Al" Hoskins |
Like barbed wire, windmills played an important part in the development of the American West. The cattle business could not have survived without the windmill. I loved to hear the windmill work. My bedroom window was not far from one of our windmills I would sit on a little hill and watch their beauty as the wind blew the blades. Someday, I would like to write a story About the windmill, not just because of it's place in history but because it was so much a part of my life and Daddy's life, even more.
When we arrived in Animas Valley, it was like going back in time. We didn't have electricity for a year, no phone, but we did have inside plumbing. My brother and I rode a school bus to Animas. The bus driver lived with us. We left at 6:50 in the morning and got home About 5:00 in the evening. My brother and I took turns washing the dishes by the light of a kerosene lantern and then studied or danced (made up new steps) to western music from a battery radio. Charles Leslie and I are such good friends and it all started back before the big old ranch kitchen.
The road from Cloverdale to Animas, on which our place sat next, was the old stage coach route from on the boarder to the north. Lots of history in "them thar parts."
Daddy was up at 5:00 every morning, sometimes earlier. He milked the cow, strained the milk, ate breakfast and left.
Daddy took care of 35 windmills. He knew the history or repeated history of each mill. I wish he would have written their story.
The Diamond A was the name of this big ranch. The ranch was about 30 miles wide and 60 miles long. They ran about 8,000 cows, 1 bull to every 10 to 12 cows and each year had an increase of about 70 per cent. Some years were better than other years. Daddy remembers seeing about 10,000 head in one round up. I remember coming home from school one day and there was cattle everywhere. Daddy said that we had about 2,000 head right there at our place.
They would round up twice a year. In the Spring, they would brand, and in the Fall, they would ship to California. They shipped by truck. They would ship them to feed yards, fatten them up and then to the packing house.
I asked Daddy which job that he had, that he liked the very best. Yes, it was this one at Animas. Me, too.
It was a hard life for Mother Edna. She made bread, butter, cheese and cooked great meals. She had a garden, made our clothes, took us to Church, dances, ball games and Rainbow Girls.
Daddy said, "It was the feeling of being my own boss and living out in the open that made me happy."
I (Argie) am now dreaming. Dreaming of the white thistle growing next to the tumbleweed, being kissed by the desert sun. Running along the dry creek bed that will soon be full from a "flash-flood." Falling down under a cottonwood tree, listening to the music of the world around. . . summertime in Animas Valley. Alone, happy, and yesterday. Yes, my Daddy loved Animas Valley, also.
Edna Lawson, his wife, records the following:
Allen Eugene Hoskins was a very handsome man. He loved the out doors, hunting, camping, horse back riding. He did not like to fish. I learned to be ready to go on a trip in two hours notice, whether it was over night camping or two week vacation. He liked to do his own mending on the machines, however the socks mending was left to me... I learned to like football or be a football widow. When we moved back to Deming, he was like one of the kids on a ball game day.
From an interview with Allen by Argie Ella:
Daddy (Al) said that the best vacation he ever had, growing up, was when he and his dad went to the 101 Circus in Ponca City, Oklahoma. It was the Wild West Circus. Daddy was about 11 years of age, 1912.
The best year of school was in the 6th or 7th grade at Capital Dome in Deming, New Mexico. His teacher was Mr. Allen Crotchett.
Daddy liked all colors especially blue. His favorite flower was the red rose. His favorite aftershave was Old Spice. His favorite day was Saturday and his favorite time of the day was early morning.
The craziest kid he had as a playmate was Don Barr.
When asked who was the nuttiest girl in school, he said, "I don't know" and pointed to mother.
Argie Ella tells the following experience she had with Edna while they were on a mission with Gene in the Canada Winnipeg Mission in the Bergland Branch:
It was in December and it was a beautiful cold Sunday. It was the first Sunday of the month. After a wonderful lesson on service was given, Mother Edna stood, paused and told of a very special experience involving her husband "Al." I couldn't believe that mother had stood and shared.
Lee Baker was interviewed by Argie Ella Hoskins on March 16, 2001
Al weighed about 250 pounds so he had a big saddle. Al worked for the Diamond A Ranch taking care of the windmills. He was a pretty quiet man. He was honest, sincere, and helpful. After he retired, Al took a job on a farm where he drove a tractor just to have something to do. Al rode his bike eight or ten miles to the farm every day.
William Scott wrote the following About his Uncle Al
Uncle Al
A starched white shirt with pearl snaps,
Buttoned About the neck
A leather bolo pulled up snug
The dark blue polyester, western suit
Covered his black pointed boots
Boots handmade in Juarez
Sunday-go-to-meetin’s he’d say.
A perfectly creased silver-bellied Stetson
A new one he had gotten for his eighty-fifth
Sat atop a full head of solid white hair
But never indoors, it just wasn’t the way
He wasn’t Born in a barn, just close to it
He’d be a hundred and six
If he was here today
But he’s laid up under a rock garden
By the old dirt road
He and Edna ran the ranch for many years
Before he couldn’t ride any more
Or work the herd
And one thing led to another
They sold the place
Rough as a cob to men-folk
But gentle has a fifteen year old mare
To women and kiddos
Even at ninety
He’d crush your hand with a gentleman’s shake
And paid no attention to your grimace
He’d never plugged a chew
Or smoke a cig
But cancer, seemed it ate him whole
Hard principles he preached and lived by
Principles forgotten by some
But listened and adhered to by those who cared
Not to disappoint his memory
Would the principles of today
Disappoint the man whose values were so entrenched?
Should we live by the principles of yesterday?
Or learn from those values and make our own?
I believe the later.
Bill “Doc” Scott
