The More Complete Deming Story

The Bedicheks were part of the US homesteader story. The larger story is a sad one to me, white (and a few black) folks given land stolen from Native Americans, but the more intimate story is one of adventure and fortitude -- building a cabin and attempting to live off the unforgiving high desert. As I am learning though, the full family story is more complex and interesting than the simplified version handed down for four generations.

The family lore I brought to my research was fairly straightforward: Roy bicycled 1,000 miles from Eddy to Deming, he filed a homestead claim, Lillian joined him a bit later, Roy became editor of the Deming Headlight, my grandmother and her sister were born, then the family moved back to Austin a few years later. As described in my previous post, we also knew that Roy's parents, JM and Lucretia, moved to "the land" when Roy and Lillian moved back to Texas. As described in that post, JM and Lucretia had quite a lively three years on the land. But, pieces of the story were missing...

After my visit last year, I got on line to research homesteading and tried to find more information. First, I found the Bureau of Land Management's online database of homesteading documents. Cool!

I searched the patents for "Bedichek" and three were listed. What??

This information intrigued me. JM and Lucretia received a patent (ownership) for the parcel that has been handed down in our family. Roy had a patent for a different parcel--adjacent. And Roy's sister, Una, had another claim. Single women were allowed to file claims. Homesteading in New Mexico was a larger family affair than I had realized.

I exhausted the online resources and needed to return to the Luna County Clerk to dig deeper.

So, I made another trek to Deming and once again walked the patch of dirt and stunted desert bushes that was once the Bedichek homestead in Deming, over 600 miles from my home. Much of the original 160 acres (the standard homestead allotment) is still in the family--though I am the only one of my generation who has ever visited the inherited land. To my cousins, Deming has just been a word--the name of a somewhat imaginary place--as it was to me before last year. Now, I have visited Deming three times and it has become familiar.

I love gazing at the jagged Florida Mountains nearby, and imagining my great-grandparents, Lillian and Roy, doing the same. In a piece written years later by Lillian, she describes the range as an ancient lizard's spine--quite accurate, I think.

The Florida Mountains after a January snow.

With a bit more research at the clerk's office, I found that Roy's claim to the "new" parcel was filed just months before he and Lillian moved away from Deming and was a "cash" entry--which I didn't even know was allowed. He paid $1.25 per acre ($200) for the patent.

He also obtained a mortgage for $1,200 on that land -- I don't know how that plays into the picture. He appears to have received the patent before paying off the mortgage. So why get a mortgage?

After my online and in-person research, I have pieced together the following homesteading story.

1. Roy filed an initial claim on May 8, 1909 for a parcel of land, the south half (S1/2) of the southwest quarter (SW1/4) and south half (S1/2) of the southeast quarter (SE1/4) of section 32, township 24, range 8 west. (Side note: land is divided into sections that are 1 mile square. To describe a parcel, documents refer to directional quadrants of the section. The larger square below is section 32.) So, Roy filed a claim for the 160 acres labeled below, which is 1 mile x 1/4 mile. By the final hearing on September 5, 1909, the claim was his.

   

   Deming Headlight notice

   
   

South half of the south half of section 32.

He had a well drilled and small cabin built--according to newspaper articles and Lillian's stories. He and Lillian worked on "proving up" the land. They rented a house in town and went to the claim as much as they could. They seemed to live on the claim on and off, but were unable to live there full-time for the required three years. They both had jobs in town and they eventually purchased a home in town -- of which I have a legal description, but sadly cannot figure out where it would have been in present-day Deming. The location description has stumped me and everyone I have asked.

2. Roy and Lillian seemed to be planning to stay in Deming, because in January 1913, Roy filed another claim adjacent to the original claim--doubling his land. It is described as N1/2 of the NE1/4, SE1/4 of the NE1/4 and NE1/4 of the SE1/4. Got that? It took me awhile.

They also purchased two lots in town in March. Were they planning to build a house? Were they going to live there? Was it investment property?

3. In August 1913, the elder Bedicheks arrived to take up residence in the Bedichek cabin.

4. 

   Then, very shortly after, Roy accepted a job in Austin and he and Lillian moved away from Deming in September, for good.

   
   

5. At some point, Roy must have transferred the original claim (S1/2,SW1/4;S1/2,SE1/4) to his parents, though I have found no record of it. The elder Bedicheks successfully completed the requirements and JM filed for the patent just before his death. Lucretia received the patent in December 1917, one month after JM's passing.

   
   

6. When JM died, Lucretia moved back to Texas -- leaving both claims unattended.

   
   

7. Lucretia deeded the original claim back to Roy in 1936.

   
   

8. Roy lost the second claim to foreclosure of the loan. I just learned this on my most recent trip to the clerk's office. I still don't understand this. He had the patent obtained with the "cash entry" which I thought gave him clear title to the land.

   
   

9. The Deming city lots were in Lillian's name and by 1916, they owed back taxes. They sold the lots May 1922. Although I have the legal description, I was unable to find the location of these lots in present-day Deming. The clerk was stumped, as well.

Questions remained, so I went back to the collection of family letters that my Aunt Jane Bedichek published in 1998 and found some answers. Frankly, I had not remembered that the volume included letters from their Deming years!

According to my aunt (Roy's daughter-in-law), Roy had decided that life in a shack with no running water was not the life he wanted for his wife, toddler and infant. So, he reached out to university colleagues to help him find a job in Austin.

The reason for the elder Bedicheks' move to Deming is still unclear. Were they up for the new adventure? Were they helping Roy and Lillian prove up the land to avoid losing it? It seems odd to me that they would move away from Eddy, Texas just as their grandchildren were moving to Austin (only an hour away)!

1915 -- JM and grandchildren, Mary (my grandmother) and Sarah. (photo from Lillian's photos). Since there is another house in the background, this does not appear to be the cabin on the claim. A house number of 1211(?) is a clue!

The Bedichek story in Deming was fast and furious. For the four years there, Roy and Lillian were quite influential. Roy's sister, Una, was in Deming even longer and also made a quite a name for herself as Principal of the new High School, who was popular but appeared to be ousted by a rowdy school board. She remained in the area until leaving in the early 1920's.

In Lillian's piece, "The Jumping Off Place," she wrote sixty years after their grand homesteading adventure: "So near and dear it seemed that we could not bring ourselves to sell it, even after we returned to Texas. Twenty years afterward [1933], we revisited Deming and camped out on our claim in the shadow of the Floridas."

Each time I visit Deming and watch the dust devils chasing across the desert valley -- followed by a sunset beautiful beyond description -- I feel their joyful ephemeral spirits.

The view of the Floridas from S1/2,SW1/4;S1/2,SE1/4

The view from our campsite at Rockhound State Park outside of Deming, looking toward the homestead claim.

Also from the campsite.

Last evening at the campsite.