309:"Near the town of White Oaks, New Mexico, lives one of the most remarkable women of this remarkable age, at the present time a visitor in this city (New York). The house in which she lives ; a low, whitewashed adobe building, is covered with green vines and fitted out with rich carpets, artistic hangings, books and pictures, exquisite china and silver, and all the dainty belongings with which a refined woman wishes to surround herself. The house was built with her own hands. The huge ranch on which it is located with its 8,000 cattle, is managed entirely by her. It is she who buys or takes up the land, selects and controls the men, buys, sells and transfers the cattle. She is also a skillful and intelligent prospector, and found the valuable silver mine on her territory in which she now holds a half interest."
290:. She sought and received help from John Tunstall's family in England. She served as executor of John's estate and that of her husband, managing to free herself of their accrued debts by liquidating the estate assets. In 1880 she married George Barber, a young law clerk and later attorney, who aided in her recovery. Barber's work as a surveyor for John Chisum resulted in Chisum gifting 40 head of cattle to Susan worth about $ 400 to start her into the cattle business. Later the couple divorced.
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298:. By some estimates she owned upward of 8,000 By the mid-1890s her ranch holdings were some of the largest in the territory. She became extremely wealthy through cattle sales and mining a small silver vein on the property. She was also known for the fruit orchards she planted with trees she obtained from John Chisum.
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On April 21, 1892, the Old Abe Eagle of
Lincoln reported that she had driven 700 to 800 cattle from her ranch to Engle, the most accessible railroad point, from which place they were shipped "in 38 foot New England Cars" to the Jones and Nolan feed lots in Grand Summit and Strong City, Kansas.
278:. Lawrence Murphy had died before the end of 1878, and James Dolan was charged in Tunstall's murder, but acquitted, and could never be linked directly to Alex McSween's murder. Jesse Evans killed Chapman, then fled the territory, after which eventually the whole matter simply went away.
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Susan took over 1,158 acres of land on the West side of the
Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation in the years after the Lincoln County War ended. By 1890 Susan ran at least 5,000 head of cattle on her 1,158-acre ranch under the Three Rivers Cattle Company brand in
170:, from a German Baptist (Dunkard) background, she left home at an early age after her mother had died and her father remarried. She married Alexander McSween on August 23, 1873 in Atchison, Kansas and they settled in Eureka, Kansas. In 1875, the couple moved to
330:. Over time, she went through the money she had accrued making frequent trips to El Paso to divest herself of the jewelry she had acquired in order to support herself, although she was supported in later life by her nephew Edgar Shields.
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and members of his gang working with "the boys" from the rival faction of James Dolan also known as The Santa Fe Ring, shot and killed
Tunstall, which sparked the Lincoln County War. By that time, Tunstall and McSween had hired
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128:; December 30, 1845 – January 3, 1931) was a prominent cattlewoman of the 19th century, once called the "Cattle Queen of New Mexico", and the
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McSween is mentioned in the 2019 semi-biographical novel of John Chisum's life, by Russ Brown, titled
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Violence in
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Susan struggled in the aftermath of the
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Problems between the two factions began there, and on
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In the Shadow of Billy the Kid: Susan McSween and the
Lincoln County War
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In the Shadow of Billy the Kid: Susan McSween and the
Lincoln County War
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who had defended her husband and sought vengeance for Tunstall's death.
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539:"Ghosts of White Oaks stroll among the living. Stop and say hello"
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In 1902 she sold her ranch holdings (with the exception of the
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383:(2013) by Kathleen P. Chamberlain, a professor of history at
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Kelleher, William Aloysius (1957). Simmons, Marc (ed.).
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Speaking Ill of the Dead: Jerks in New Mexico History
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She is portrayed by Lisa Chandler in the 2022 series
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She is portrayed by Sharon Thomas in the 1988 movie
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626:Whiteoaksnewmexico.com: White Oaks, New Mexico
270:was one of her main targets, and he did stand
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698:People from Lincoln County, New Mexico
356:; however she was not depicted in the
537:Stallings, Dianne L. (23 July 2019).
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703:People from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
648:Desertusa.com: Billy the Kid country
454:Violence in Lincoln County 1869-1881
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678:1931 deaths
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354:cattlewoman
320:ranch house
253:Lew Wallace
227:Dick Brewer
198:Jesse Evans
184:John Chisum
176:James Dolan
657:Categories
550:30 October
409:References
369:John Wayne
349:Young Guns
274:, but was
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