Carte de visite of Ceran St. Vrain, Dick Wootton and Jose Maria Valdez circa 1865

Content Description

Purchase of carte de visite of Ceran St. Vrain, Richens Lacey "Uncle Dick" Wootton (c. 1816 - 1893) and Jose Maria Valdez ca. 1865. These were men with great historuical significance from an earlier time in New Mexico. St. Vrain for example, ormed a partnership with American traders William, George and Charles Bent; together they established the trading post of Bent's Fort. It was the only privately held fort in the West. Wootton in his early life was a mountain man and trapper, then a hunter at Bent's Fort. In 1866, he hired a tribe of Utes under Chief Conniache to build a toll road through Raton Pass. He later sold the road to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad[1] and the railroad named one of their locomotives after him. Valdez married Maria Manuela Jaramillo in Taos in 1834 and was a witness at the wedding of his wife’s sister, Maria Josefa Jaramillo, when she married Kit Carson in 1843. Another sister, Maria Ygnacia Jaramillo, married Charles Bent. He served in the Territorial Legislature and in 1859 was one of the petitioners for the Mora Land Grant.

Acquisition Type

Purchase

Provenance

Cliff Mills

Restrictions Apply

No