John Tunstall
| John Tunstall | |
|---|---|
John Tunstall in 1872
|
|
| Born |
March 6, 1853 Hackney, London |
| Died | February 18, 1878 (aged 24) Lincoln County, New Mexico |
| Occupation | rancher and merchant |
| Known for | First man killed in the Lincoln County War |
John Henry Tunstall (6 March 1853 – 18 February 1878), born in London, England, became a rancher and merchant in Lincoln County, New Mexico, where he competed with ethnic Irish merchants and politicians who ran the town of Lincoln and the county. He was the first man killed in what developed as the Lincoln County War, an economic and political conflict that resulted in armed warfare, perhaps compounded by ethnic rivalries between an Irish group and others of English descent.
Tunstall was born in 1853 in Hackney, London. His family was upper middle-class and his father was a businessman, with interests in Canada as well as the United Kingdom.
At the age of 19, Tunstall emigrated to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in August 1872 to work at Turner, Beeton & Tunstall, a store in which his father was a partner. He also had some capital to invest.
Tunstall left Canada for the West of the United States in February 1876. He spent six months investigating sheep ranches in California, but decided to try New Mexico, where land was cheaper and more abundant for ranching. Soon after his arrival in Santa Fe, he met lawyer Alexander McSween.
He told him of the potentially big profits to be made in Lincoln County. It was being rapidly settled. McSween was allied with John Chisum, the owner of a large ranch and over 100,000 head of cattle. McSween became a business partner of Tunstall, and they both sought Chisum's support.
The young British man bought a ranch on the Rio Feliz, some 30 miles (48 km) nearly due south of the town of Lincoln, and went into business as a cattleman. In the town he also set up a mercantile store and bank down the road from the Murphy & Dolan mercantile and banking operation. It had been established a few years earlier by James Dolan, Lawrence Murphy and John H. Riley, all of Irish ancestry. The Murphy-Dolan store was known colloquially as "The House."
...
Wikipedia