Samuel Preston Jordan and Linnie Catherine Newsom

Lea County Families, "Then and Now", Vol I. 1979

Samuel Preston Jordan and Linnie Catherine Newsom were married in Broakhaven, Texas, where Hettie was born. Preston's father, Andrew, had died after moving the family by boat and wagon from Mobile, Alabama, leaving his widow Mary Jane (Watson) Jordan to rear several sons and daughters. Linnie's mother had died at their home near Little Rock, Arkansas, leaving Linnie age 16, her younger siser, Eiffie, two younger brothers Alvie and Robert Casey and her old brother Jaby with their father, James Polk Newsom.

Preston and Linnie, with Hettie, moved from Brookhaven to Claytonville, Texas where Roy joined the family. Next they operated a farm, a store and a post office. Here Clarence and Mettie were added to the family. Their last home in Texas was at the north edge of Sweetwater Lake, where Nellie was born.

Many of the Jordan's friends had migrated to New Mexico.  These included D. Y. Musicks who settled in Knowles in 1906. Other friends were five families of Blodgetts and the Edd Hughes family who settled west of Monument.

In September of 1908, the Jordans loaded their belongings on a wagon drawn by four horses and a buggy drawn by two horses and headed for the" Land of Opportunity". They came by Gail, Texas ( there was no Lamesa), Chicago, Gomez, (there was no Brownfield), over the Caprock to Roswell, the Mescalaro Indian Reservation to Alamagordo, thence to Cloudcroft and Mayhill where they spent several weeks.With the onset of winter and eighteen inches of snow they started for the low country. They came through Hope and Lakewood, over the Caprock southeast of present day Maljamar and finally to a valley some nine miles west of Monument where their friends, the Blodgetts, and Hughes had settle. They arrived on the last day of December 1908. Claims had been filed on most of the land, a Mr.Starling relinquished his claim to 160 acres of fenced land and dug well, dugout and thirty acres of plowed land for the sum of $100.00. For the remainder of the winter the family lived in the dugout and tent. The next summer they built an adobe house with a roof made from lumber hauled from Midland, Texas. This was the beginning of a forty year struggle to make a living from the land. While living at this home Maggie, Alice, and Bertha were born.

Life in New Mexico on 160 acres, then 320 acres, later 640 acres, then additional acres, was a difficult life. S. P. frieghted and worked for ranchers, as did the boys at a very early age. Roy's first job away from home was herding sheep for John Gaither at the Number Four Mill for $15.00 a month. Lennie and the children were largely responsible for the operation of the farm-ranch.

Droughts, the Blizzard of 1918 and Depression complicated the task of making a living from the land. Roy and Clarence left home to work. Hettie and her husband Tom Musick, moved to Lamesa, Texas. After High School Mettie and Maggie taught school and Nellie and Alice became secretaries.

With the development of oil in Lea county the family began truck farming. Roy delivered produce in his truck first to Wink, Texas then later to Lea and Hobbs. After settlement of a town of Lea the Jordan Dairy was established. Roy and Clarence drove the truck daily over the seventeen mile sandy road to Lea until Hobbs became a town. Then they made the twenty mile trip over rocky roads and made grocery and home deliveries for several years. In the late 1930's, Clarence and his wife purchased their own farm-ranch. Preston and Roy continued operating the Jordan Dairy. Roy worked for Conoco Oil Co. and Clarence for Amerada Co.

In 1937 Linnie died of pneumonia. Preston continued living on the place until 1948 when he sold to Kenneth Turner and moved to Hobbs where he lived until his death in 1956 at age 81.