Clyde Dean Woolworth (1883-1938) was the first member of the family to come to Lea County. He was born to a large family in Carthage, Panola County, Texas. His father was Justus Morgan Woolworth and his mother was Mary Jane Paxson Woolworth. Clyde was one of at least eight children. The family story is that … Continue reading Clyde D. Woolworth and the Woolworth Family
pioneers
The James B. Love Family
James Benjamin “Jim” Love was the younger brother of Robert Florence Love. Both were sons of John Dillard Love and Mary Jane Austin Love. Jim was born on September 25, 1873 in Palo Pinto, Stephens County, Texas. By the time he was about seventeen, he began working on ranches in West Texas and on into … Continue reading The James B. Love Family
Samuel Rose Cooper, Early Settler
Samuel R. Cooper was an early resident of Lea County. He was born near Salina, Kansas in 1874. When he was six years old, his family moved to Erring Springs, in the Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma Territory, now known as Oklahoma. As a young adult around the age of 21, Mr. Cooper left his family and … Continue reading Samuel Rose Cooper, Early Settler
The Robert F. Love Family
Robert Florence Love was born April 17, 1870 to John Dillard Love and Nancy Jane M. Austin Love in Palo Pinto County, Texas. John Dillard Love had been born in North Carolina in 1822 while Nancy Jane was a number of years younger having been born in Arkansas in 1837. John Dillard and Nancy Jane … Continue reading The Robert F. Love Family
The Causey Brothers
The Causey brothers were formerly buffalo hunters. The big lumbering buffalo were hunted in the southwest to the point where they declined from a peak of over 100 million animals to near extinction in only a few decades during the late 1800s. Likely the best known Causey brother went by George Causey, though his given … Continue reading The Causey Brothers
J. T. Easley and Lorena Lee Anderson
When this couple married in Post, Texas in the 1920s, the wedding united two families who were early settlers in the area that became Lea County. John Thomas Easley was one of eight children born to Robert Henry Easley (1864 -1928) and Rosa Belle Jones Easley (1873 - 1962). The other children included Minnie, Levie, … Continue reading J. T. Easley and Lorena Lee Anderson
The Cowden Family
Four brothers, W. H. "Bill" Cowden, George Cowden, John M. Cowden and Buck Cowden came to the area in the mid 1880s and settled with their wives and children near what became the town of Jal. The men drove their combined cattle while the women drove wagons. Water sources were found by digging wells. Their … Continue reading The Cowden Family
Joe Cooper Recalls Youth In Jal Area
Memories of the days when he first came to Lea County were revived by The Jal Flare's special edition in Joe Cooper, who lives ten miles north of Jal. He came here in '10 from Pyote, Texas with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. James M. Cooper, and has lived in this area for the last … Continue reading Joe Cooper Recalls Youth In Jal Area
Walter Colquitt Cochran
Walter Cochran was born August 14, 1952 in Georgia to Col. Winston W. Cochran and the former Mary Dickson. His family is believed to have moved to Texas when he was still an infant. He married Nannie Dodson in the 1880s. Walter C. Cochran came to Jal in 1883 from Palo Pinto County in North … Continue reading Walter Colquitt Cochran
The Fort Family
One of the early families to come to the area were the Forts. Benjamin Herman Fort was born December 15, 1857 in Scott County, Arkansas to John Gabriel Fort and Dorinda Jane Bell Fort and was the youngest of their eleven children. Benjamin married the former Louisa Swilling "Lou" Bramlett in Paris, Arkansas in 1879. … Continue reading The Fort Family
Old Lea County, N.M. 