(Used with permission)

Robert Lincoln “Bob” Causey was born in Illinois on February 12, 1868 to George Washington Causey and Mary Adeline Crowder Causey. February 12, 1809 was the birth date of the late United States President, Abraham Lincoln. This was likely the source of Robert’s middle name. Concerning his place of birth, articles usually say that he was born in Missouri, but both the 1870 and 1880 census pages list his place of birth as Illinois. He was one of ten children born to the couple, many of whom were also born in Illinois. George W. (the father) had been born in Tennessee and in the 1870 census, his occupation was listed as farmer. He was still shown as being a farmer in the 1900 census before his death in 1907 at around 80 years of age. He died in Guthrie, Logan County, Oklahoma Territory. Mary Adeline had predeceased him, also in Oklahoma, in 1895.

In the 1880 federal census, Bob was twelve years old, still living with his parents and two of his sisters in Adams County, Iowa. The other siblings had left the family home over time. Several of the brothers including John and Thomas (known as George), had been making their living since the 1870s as buffalo hunters and had moved west following the herds. They had begun to hunt the big animals in Kansas and as the herds worked their way south, they followed them, eventually crossing the Arkansas River and venturing into areas that had been set aside by treaty as hunting lands for the native tribes which roamed the area. George continued this until he reached the Panhandle of Texas. Still in close proximity to the roaming tribes, George was not involved in either of the two battles of Adobe Walls, but he was camped near enough to hear the shooting during one of the events, at the time assuming that it was his fellow buffalo hunters at work.

However, by about 1882, the herds had been depleted to the point that the brothers realized that they needed to find other livelihoods. So, they headed further west to the New Mexico Territory with a plan to round up, raise and sell wild mustangs, which they did with little early success. Bob must have been drawn to the west himself, as later in 1880 he is said to have left the family home with $5 in his pocket. He made his way as far as Indian Territory where he managed to stop in an unnamed town and find a job as an apprentice in a blacksmith shop. He worked there for about four years earning a tiny wage plus room and board before moving on to join his brothers around 1884.

In the meantime, his brother George settled for a while in the Yellow House area of West Texas before moving on. George found a seepage spring and dammed it up to provide a water supply. There he built a sod house as his home base. The area took its name from nearby geological formation of limestone bluffs that were pockmarked with caves. The name in Spanish was las casas amarillas which in English was translated “yellow houses.” The general area was to later become part of both the XIT and Yellow House (owned by Littlefield) ranches at various times. George was aware of the enormous transaction had taken place between the State of Texas and a syndicate to create the XIT and decided it was time to move on. When the XIT began to be dissolved after around 1910, the Littlefield operation acquired some 236,000 acres of the former XIT.

George and John Causey left West Texas and resettled in southeastern New Mexico, near a place called Monument Spring before building their ranch house a bit north of there. They built their ranch headquarters about five miles south of what became the town of Lovington and roughly fifteen or so miles northwest of what became the town of Hobbs. Bob appears to have joined them at their ranch a few years later. He stayed in southeastern New Mexico until in the latter part of the 1880s, when he branched out to set up his first blacksmith shop in Odessa, then basically just a water stop for the Texas and Pacific Railroad. He was soon joined some time later by his recently widowed sister Nellie Causey Whitlock and her young son, Vivian Whitlock. As Netties’ son grew up, Bob took him under his wing at the blacksmith shop. However, Whitlock did not follow in Bob’s footsteps as a blacksmith. Instead, he became a writer. He published one book, “Cowboy Life on the Llano Estacado” and numerous stories and articles in magazines and newspapers over thirty plus years. Some knew him by his pen-name, “Ol’ Waddy” and others under his given name.

Being one of the earliest Anglo settlers to arrive in the area and an early blacksmith, Bob is called the “first blacksmith of the Llano Estacado.” In addition to his day to day blacksmithing duties, Bob began to make spurs and bits for the local cowboys. One of his designs was called the “gal-leg” spurs. They were so labeled because the neck or shank of the spur (the part that extends behind the boot) was fashioned to resemble a woman’s leg, with the foot or toe holding the rowel pin. (Parts of a spur.) Bob is sometimes credited for coming up with the gal-leg design, but even if he was not the inventor of the design, he was at the least one of the first to make them.

Bob remained in the Odessa area for about ten years, also serving as constable as the town grew. He moved to Eddy, now known as Carlsbad, New Mexico about 1895. There he set up a blacksmith shop on Main Street. He operated the shop for many years before partnering with Robert Osborn. Bob married Martha Agnes Bogle in 1903 and the couple had one daughter. His reputation spread and Bob became well known for his spurs and bits. He would make them up ahead of time and also make them to order. When he signed his work, he stamped the articles with his initials, “R. L. C”. In addition to the gal-leg design, he was known for fashioning the neck or shank in the shape of a horse head. He would often adorn them with Mexican coins that he would collect on his travels and save for just this purpose.

After a few other moves, he was finally drawn to move to Safford, Arizona in 1924. He remained there until his death in 1937. He is buried in Safford City Cemetery. His wife Martha Bogle Causey survived him by twenty-four years and is also buried in Safford City Cemetery.