The Casads: A History of a Pioneer Family of the Mesilla Valley

Preface

With the exception of the ever-growing list of books about Billy the Kid and other participants—major and minor—in the Lincoln County War or the mysterious disappearance of Albert J. Fountain and his young son in 1896, one searches largely in vain for recent scholarship on the history of southern New Mexico in the Territorial Period. Mary Daniels Taylor’s excellentA Place as Wild as the West Ever Was:Mesilla, New Mexico: 1848-1872 (2004) is a notable exception, but it covers only the first quarter century of the period. Over the years a number of Master’s theses at New Mexico State University have touched on various aspects of the history of the Territorial Period in the Mesilla Valley, but none of these studies has been published. The Rio Grande Historical Collections in the New Mexico State University Archives and Special Collections Department houses numerous rich collections that document the history of pioneer families of southern New Mexico, including merchants, farmers, and ranchers; no collection is richer than that of the Casad family.

The history of the Casad family began as a classic westering tale as members of the family made a series of moves from New Jersey to Ohio to Illinois to Kansas. There, an act of violence impelled Thomas and Sarah V. Casad on a remarkable journey that took them from Kansas to New York City to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and from California overland to New Mexico Territory in the winter of 1874. As a young man Thomas had been shipwrecked in the Gulf of Mexico while traveling with a brother to the gold fields in California, had gone north to Oregon, and made it back safely to his family in Illinois. Thomas married twice and in spite of occasional long absences from home fathered seventeen children, eleven of them with Sarah, his second wife.

Thomas founded the town of Summerfield in Illinois and amassed a fortune farming, milling wheat and corn, and mining coal. Moving on to Missouri and Kansas, he invested the considerable wealth he had accumulated selling town lots in land. In Kansas disaster struck when Thomas settled his differences over land acquisitions by killing a man, an event Sarah believed marked her husband for the rest of his life.

With the law in pursuit Thomas liquidated his holdings and fled Kansas. He was later joined by a very pregnant Sarah and the children. After giving birth at a fuel and water stop called Illiopolis, Illinois, the now united family continued on to New York City. There they boarded ship and traveled in steerage to Aspinwall, Panama. After crossing the isthmus, the family caught another ship to San Francisco, California. Thomas purchased a large tract of land south of what became Santa Ana and began to improve the land. Short on nearby neighbors, the Casads decided to sell some of their property. It quickly became apparent, however, that Thomas and the new neighbor would not get along, and Sarah feared a repeat of the tragic situation in Kansas. So, they sold out again at cut rate prices and headed for Texas. Weather, livestock thieves, and brother Masons conspired to persuade Thomas to remain in Mesilla.

Once in New Mexico, Thomas emerged as an innovative agriculturalist, newspaperman, and supporter of education. The aid the Casad family provided made it possible for a Mexican orphan destined to become renowned horticulturalist Fabián García to obtain a college education. With the purchase of a large part of the Brazito Grant, Thomas became a major landowner in the Mesilla Valley. From his large two-story house in Mesilla, he oversaw a rapidly diversifying enterprise. He began large-scale alfalfa production in the valley, introduced Poland China hogs and angora goats, built a flouring mill in Mesilla and another in Chamberino, brought in a broom maker and constructed a broom making factory, planted a vineyard, and developed a large fruit orchard. Some of his ventures were more successful than others. From time to time he got into trouble with his neighbors and was no stranger to the territorial legal system.

When Thomas died of pneumonia in 1