View from the Innside

Thomas D. Post as hotelier--another perspective

I've written a couple of posts about Thomas D. Post, who was the stepfather of Miguela Bottger.  One was about a dead body found in his orchard in 1893; the other concerned my confusion about Miguela's maiden name. Most of my information about Tom Post comes from newspaper notices in the social columns and his obituaries, which generally referred to him as a great guy and "much beloved."

Recently, however, I acquired a 1966 copy of A Room for the Night: Hotels of the Old West by Richard A. Van Orman and found, to my amazement, a paragraph about Tom Post during his days as a hotelier, which was not exactly complimentary:

"The revolver played a prominent role in the West, and it was not healthy for a landlord to be curt with a guest.... In Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Exchange Hotel was run by an obnoxious fellow, Tom Post. When a guest found fault with the soiled linens, Post nonchalantly retorted that it was changed regularly once a year, whereupon the traveler muttered that an Indian tepee would have been more pleasant. As agent for a stage company, Post was in a position to make it bothersome to those staying at rival houses by refusing them a seat on the stage. Told this once too often, a salesman warned Post that if he did not find him a seat, the stage company would be minus an agent. The quick-tempered drummer was soon on his way."  (Citation from George T. Buffum, Smith of Bear City and other Frontier Sketches (New York, 1906), 140-141.

Even as recently as a few years ago, it might have been impossible for me to locate a copy of this book from 1906, but now I can read it without having a hard copy in my hands, thanks to www.openlibrary.org.

Perhaps later I'll post the quote from Buffum's book, which is even less complimentary than the above paragraph. Maybe this should serve as a reminder that you can't always believe everything you read in the paper, or that a newspaper article might only tell a part of the story.

I’m having fun--come on along!
Kathy
Bottger Mansion of Old Town
historic bed & breakfast
110 San Felipe Street NW
Albuquerque, NM   87104
www.bottger.com
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Bottger Mansion of Old Town featured in AAA New Mexico Journey Magazine

Happy 100th birthday, New Mexico! To help celebrate, AAA New Mexico Journey Magazine's January-February 2012 issue highlights the Bottger Mansion of Old Town, now a bed and breakfast, in the article "Hot Spots in History," places in New Mexico that are virtually the same as they were in 1912 when New Mexico became the 47th state.

The front portal has been enclosed with windows and the color of the house has changed a few times, but this grand old mansion faced Central Avenue when it was still Railroad Avenue, even before it became Historic Route 66. Three of the original Siberian elm trees still shade the front yard.

We are pleased to offer comfortable accommodations and great food, just as Miguela Bottger and her daughters did when they operated a boarding house here.

I’m having fun--come on along!

Kathy
Bottger Mansion of Old Town
historic bed & breakfast
110 San Felipe Street NW
Albuquerque, NM   87104
www.bottger.com
follow us on Facebook

 

 

 

 

cast iron cat bank for the Franz Huning Room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several months ago I bought a reproduction cast iron cat bank at an antiques auction.  It was the perfect size and just the right touch for a niche in the wall of our Franz Huning Room (which has been renamed from the Stephanie Lynn room).

To work it, you turn the moving part so the mouse is sitting on the top, and the penny goes in the slot in front of the mouse.  Touch the lever at the bottom of the bank and the mouse flips over, the penny falls into the bank, and an acrobatic cat is now on the top of the bank.

This is the second bank at the Bottger Mansion. The first one is on a table in the hall on the second floor, and the small pile of pennies next to it disappears as guests get to see how it works.

I’m having fun--come on along!
 
Kathy

Bottger Mansion of Old Town
historic bed & breakfast
110 San Felipe Street NW
Albuquerque, NM   87104
www.bottger.com

 

 

the first marriage of Miguela Baca Stein Young Bottger--1882

In my history quest, the names have been many and varied.  It took a while, but I finally located the newspaper article in 1882 announcing the first marriage of Miguela.  She called herself a number of things, but back then Albuquerque consisted only of Old Town and a very young New Town when the railroad arrived.  Everyone knew who she was, right?  Her mother was Gertrudes Garcia, who married someone named Baca, and then she became a widow and reverted to her maiden name, as was the custom.  Her daughter was Miguela Baca.  When Gertrudes married Tom Post, Miguela apparently called herself Miguela Post. 

Here's the article from the Albuquerque Morning Journal, March 25, 1882, p. 4.  Unfortunately, some of the text on the microfilm is illegible.

"The marriage of Max Stein and Miss M. Post occurred at the residence of the bride's parents last evening.  All [xxxxxx] invited guests of the bride and groom.  [xxxxx]  In common with the [xxx] friends of the young couple, the Journal extends congratulations."

I think we can fill in the missing words and phrases since it was a very short article.  Back then, weddings were smaller and simpler, and the newspaper announcements didn't go into great detail about who the bridesmaids were and what the bride's dress looked like.

I feel like I've pretty much exhausted the research on Miguela, having found the records of her three marriages, her obituary, and a few other news articles.  She was born around 1868, long before New Mexico statehood, and I have been unsuccessful finding her as a child in the 1870 Census. 

I’m having fun--come on along!

Kathy

Bottger Mansion of Old Town
historic bed & breakfast
110 San Felipe Street NW
Albuquerque, NM   87104
www.bottger.com

 

a new lead on Edward Buxton Cristy

Obtaining a photograph of Edward Buxton Cristy, the architect who designed our house, has been more difficult than I anticipated.  He was a prominent person in Albuquerque around the turn of the last century, and having one's portrait taken was quite the thing to do, so I was certain there's one of him... somewhere.  Finding it is another question entirely.

With a little sleuthing, I found a lead on his granddaughter.  It hadn't yet occurred to me that his son, Edward J. Cristy, only had one child, a daughter, so obviously her name would no longer be "Cristy."  She returned my call this morning.  She now lives in the southern part of the state--I see a field trip in my future.  She does have photographs and believes she has a portrait photo of Edward Buxton Cristy that would do quite nicely.  She hopes within the next week to have gone through her photos and documents and see what she has. 

Now, if I could only have as much luck finding a photo of the elusive William C. Hazeldine.

I’m having fun--come on along!

Kathy

Bottger Mansion of Old Town
historic bed & breakfast
110 San Felipe Street NW
Albuquerque, NM   87104
www.bottger.com

 

 

dance halls aren't what they used to be--1882

As I was searching through the microfilm archives for the announcement of Miguela Bottger's first marriage in 1882, I came across this gem from the Albuquerque Morning Journal, March 24, 1882, p. 4:

"A lot of dance hall girls came down last night from Las Vegas [New Mexico] to re-open the new town dance hall.  As they are not overly attractive in appearance, and as the ten dollars license will have to be forthcoming before the music starts up, the hall is not likely to remain open for long.  This sort of thing doesn't pay as well as it used to."

I’m having fun--come on along!

Kathy

Bottger Mansion of Old Town
historic bed & breakfast
110 San Felipe Street NW
Albuquerque, NM   87104
www.bottger.com

 

White Elephant Saloon, c. 1895

This photo is among the first I've framed and hung up to begin our change from Victorian decor to historic.  There is something very humorous and engaging about this photo.  I think it's the dog.  He appears to be completely indifferent to--and perhaps even put out about--having his photo taken.  The man in the center holding his leash is identified as Col. J. G. Albright, and the photo is dated c. 1895.

The White Elephant Saloon was located on the corner of Railroad Avenue (now Central Avenue) and Second Street.  According to Albuquerque:  A Narrative History by Marc Simmons: 

"For sheer elegance and snob appeal, the White Elephant Saloon had no peers.  Situated on the corner of Second and Railroad (site of the present Sunshine Theater), it boasted a solid mahogany bar long enough to accommodate fifty men at once.  The sumptuous furnishings cost $12,000, the shiny brass cuspidors were worth $15 apiece, and the glassware was imported from Belgium.  The gambling tables enjoyed fame as the finest and straightest in the Territory.  For thirty years, New Mexico's political and business leaders, along with visiting national dignitaries, drank, gambled, and hatched deals in the White Elephant's comfortable atmosphere."

For your Albuquerque history reading enjoyment, the following is an anecdote from the same book:

"For long, gambling with both legal and wide open in Albuquerque.  Town authorities relied heavily upon the sale of saloon licenses and upon the fines imposed for disturbances at the gambling tables to help maintain the municipal government.  Since no stigma was attached to games of chance, distinguished pillars of the community indulged openly.  One prominent gambling addict was Judge William C. Heacock, who could be found most nights whiling away his time at three-card monte.  Whenever he went broke, he called in a town deputy and said, 'Get me a drunk with money in his pockets who is guilty of disorderly conduct.'  Upon the deputy's return with a qualified miscreant, the judge held an impromptu trial, imposed a fine that matched the amount of money in the culprit's wallet, and, thus enriched, continued his game."

I’m having fun--come on along!

Kathy

Bottger Mansion of Old Town
historic bed & breakfast
110 San Felipe Street NW
Albuquerque, NM   87104
www.bottger.com

 

 

Who was Adolfa Bottger?

Today I was picking up a CD with digital copies of historic photos from the Center for Southwest Research at the University of New Mexico in Zimmerman Library.  I also wanted a scan of a clipping from the Bernard S. Rodey scrapbook, so I had to wait for the box to be brought out of storage.

While I waited, I perused the books in the Anderson Reading Room and found that they have a nearly complete set of the Albuquerque City Directories, starting from 1896.  I started looking for Charles Bottger.

It's interesting that Charles Bottger didn't start showing up in the City Directory until 1907, and even then it only listed that his residence was in Old Town.  He never did have a listing for the Sunnyside Club.  Maybe he figured that everyone knew where the Sunnyside Club was, so why should he pay for a listing in the directory?

I was stunned, however, to find a listing for a "Miss Adolfa Bottger" living at the residence of Charles Bottger in the 1909-1910 directory.  Who in the world is that?  And it's the only directory in which she is listed.

I have been told, but not yet been able to verify, that Charles Bottger had a brother who may have lived in Albuquerque for a time.  In the obituary for Charles Bottger's mother in 1909, it states that she had a son, Charles, and two brothers in New York.  

It's quite likely that I may never find another reference to Miss Adolfa Bottger, but I can indulge in a little speculation here.  It's quite possible that Miss Adolfa was the daughter or granddaughter of one of Julia L. Bottger's brothers and she came to New Mexico in February of 1909 to attend the funeral and ended up staying for a while.  Especially if she was a young woman, she may have been sent to stay with Charles Bottger for a time to put some distance between herself and an unsuitable suitor.  That strategy seems to have been used quite a bit more at the turn of the last century than it is now.

I wonder what I might find in the 1900 and 1910 census for Adolfa Bottger in New York?  She certainly was not included in the Charles Bottger household in the 1910 census.

I’m having fun--come on along!

Kathy

Bottger Mansion of Old Town
historic bed & breakfast
110 San Felipe Street NW
Albuquerque, NM   87104
www.bottger.com

 

 

dead body in Tom Post's orchard--1891

Here's another gem from the newspaper archives of the Albuquerque Daily Citizen, June 30, 1891, page 4.  Tom Post was Miguela Bottger's stepfather.  An acequia is an irrigation canal which has a shut-off to turn the water on and off to irrigate certain sections of land.  Acequias are still used in New Mexico for irrigation.

“Found Dead.  Yesterday afternoon, while several boys were playing along an acequia, which runs through the orchard and vineyard of T. D. Post, near the river in old town, the dead body of a man was discovered.  The news was imparted to Cristobal Romero, who informed Justice of the Peace Manuel Armijo and Coroner Jesus Romero.  They repaired to the place, and on lifting the body from the water in the acequia, found that it was that of Salvador Garcia, a well-known dissolute character around the old town.  He was subject to fits, especially after a hard drunk, and on Sunday it was learned that he was on a big spree.  Monday morning he went down to Mr. Post’s place, turned on the water, and sat down on the side of the acequia under the shade of a small tree.  It is supposed that he had a fit and fell over into the water, which covered his body entirely.  In any event, the coroner’s jury, empanelled by Justice Armijo, returned a verdict in accordance with the above facts.  He was about 50 years of age, and was half Navajo and Mexican.  His remains were buried this morning.”

I’m having fun--come on along!

Kathy

Bottger Mansion of Old Town
historic bed & breakfast
110 San Felipe Street NW
Albuquerque, NM   87104
www.bottger.com

 

Shady behavior in Old Town--1881

A little background before you read this news story from 1881:  The Exchange Hotel in Old Town was then owned by Thomas D. Post, the future father-in-law of Charles Bottger.  During this time period, "wine room" was a euphemism for "brothel."

"A shooting affray took place in the wine room east of the Exchange hotel [Old Town] last night.  Two men had a quarrel over the mistress of the establishment and two shots were fired.  Unfortunately, no one was hurt."  Albuquerque Daily Journal, June 8, 1881.

I’m having fun--come on along!

Kathy

Bottger Mansion of Old Town
historic bed & breakfast
110 San Felipe Street NW
Albuquerque, NM   87104
www.bottger.com