Medlin, Christopher Lum and Sarrah E. Loyd

Lea Counties Families, Then and Now, Vol I

As told by Buddy Medlin and Minnie Taylor

Christopher Columbus (Lum) Medlin and Sarah Elizabeth (Lizzie) Loyd married December 24, 1877. They had nine children, two of whom died young.
Georgia Medlin married Charley Miller. They had two children, Geneva and Cecil.
Hawk (M.H.) Medlin married Cynthey (Dink) Lynch. They had two children. Their son, Buddy, married Thelma Frier and they had two sons, Lynn Medlin and Billy Royce Medlin. Their daughter Minnie married J.W. (Buzz) Taylor, and they had one son, Harvey Taylor.
Eddie Medlin married Maud Tolert. They had four children, Sletta, Tolbet, Charley and Eddy Maud.
Jess Medlin married Eula (Jack) Holden. They had one child, Jesse Melvin Medlin.
Lille Medlin married Joe Lynch. They had two sons, Jerry Dell and Medlin Lynch.
Sletta Medlin married Luke Worden. They had two children, Adele (Mrs. Jack Hart) and Immogene Worden. They were divorced and she married Homer Franklin.
Ella Medlin married George Shepard in 1915. They had four children: Mary Jo, Thelma, Georgia and Genevie.
Just when Lum Medlin came to this territory is unknown, but he was one of the first white men in this part of the country. He was a scout and a buffalo hunter. He hunted buffalo for both meat and hide and until the Texas-Pacific Railroad was completed between Ft. Worth and ElPaso in 1882., Lum had been selling buffalo meat to te railroad crew.
Minnie Taylor tells the story: "When talking about their early days here, Grandma Medlin said she went woth Grandpa (Lum) to hunt, amd he hid her and her sister in the wash, and covered it with brush. He went on to hunt when he came back, he would whistle a certian way, so they would know it was him and not an Indian"
Lum dug wells by hand and built tanks all over the area. From the evidence now available, it seems certian that Lum dug the first well that is in Lea County near now what is known as Ranger Lake.  He and his son Hawk, who was 1 years old at the time, built a large tank in 1662 at what is now Four Lakes Ranch, northwest of Tatum, New Mexico. It was built of dirt and a wall of native rock was built around it. This is still in use.
Hawk and Dink Medlin lived in a dugout nine miles west of Lovington. He traded a black horse and $25.00 for the place. Hawk and his mother had a place northeat of Tatum, New Mexico and later bought a place seven miles east of Lovington. This was the C.C.Medlin Ranch.