"Then and Now" Lea County Families and History Vol II, 1984

Musick, Tom and Hettie Jordan

Transcribed by: Erny Long

Tom Musick and Hettie Jordan were married August 2nd, 1922 at the home of Tom's parents, the D.Y. Musicks in Lovington, New Mexico.

Tom was born in Texas to Dixie Y. and Nancy Musick. His brothers were Jess, Paul and Will. His sisters were Essie (Mrs. Mack Morris), Mae (Mrs Marvin Blackmon) and Clara (Mrs. Bill Anderson).

Hettie was born Sept. 16, 1898 at Broakhaven, Texas to Samuel Preston and Linnie Catherine (Newsom) Jordan. Her brothers were, Roy and Clarence. Her sisters were Mettie, Nellie, Maggie, Alice and Bertha

Tom and his family moved to Knowles in 1906 where his father operated a blacksmith shop and preached in several communities. Rev. D. Y. Musick organized the first Baptist Church in Hobbs, New Mexico and was its first pastor.

Hettie started to school in Sweetwater, Texas. She and her family left Sweetwater in Sept 1908 and travelled by wagon and hack through Roswell, Alamagordo, Cloudcroft, to Mayhill, New Mexico where she attended school for a few weeks. The family arrived at their final destination the last day of December 1908 and filed on a claim relinquished by Mr. Starling, nine miles west of Monument, New Mexico. Hettie and her brothers and sisters attended Pleasant Valley School on land donated by her father and Frank Traux. Former friends, the Edd Hughes, Luther and Frank Blodgetts, had proceded them into the community.

After Tom and Hettie were married, Tom worked some time for Henry Record and for Mrs. Brumley. They moved to Lamesa, Texas in 1925 where they farmed for several years. For one year they operated a store at Cotton Center on the highway between Lamesa and Big Springs.

When oil development caused two townsites to boom at Monument, they opened a grocery store in West Monument on March 2, 1936. They operated the store for twenty-three years. At first they used kerosene lamps because there was no electricity. For heat they used raw gas in vented heaters from a nearby well for several years.

However, after an explosion when Hettie was lighting the hot water heater, they changed to butane which was safer but was more expensive, since the raw gas had been free. Since the store was in their home, the store was opened when they arose in the morning and closed when they went to bed at night. Their groceries were supplied by wholesale firms from Lubbock, Roswell, and Hobbs. The meat came from Glovers in Roswell.

On more than one occasion after a big rain the draw on which the were located overflowed to their doorstep. Once fence posts and railroad ties which a neighbor had collected came floating by. This same overflow inundated the school site a mile south to which the one room Monument school had been moved from its former location on higher ground.

Hettie and Tom closed the store in December 1958. Tom passed away August 26, 1959. Hettie continued to live at Monument until 1970 when she moved to 304 E Mesa in Hobbs, New Mexico. She still lived in Hobbs and enjoyed remembering the many good friends she acquired while living in Monument, as of 1984.

View headstone at SleepingAncestors