“[The following article was written by Kathryn Henry, a reporter for the  Clovis News-Journal, and appeared in the News-Journal last week.]

With a Grandchild or great-grandchild for every one of his 77 years, Frank M. Boyer, resident of Vado, lays claim to being the head of the largest Negro family in New Mexico. He had been a resident of New Mexico 50 years and was a member of one of the survey gangs which laid out the city of Clovis. The aged man is well known to many of the early day residents of Eastern New Mexico.”

Las Cruces Sun-News, Sunday, March 30, 1947

Roswell Daily Record Tuesday, May 4, 1920

In March of 1947, Kathryn Henry, a reporter for the Clovis News-Journal, interviewed a “Vado Negro Leader” named Frank, who claimed to be head of the largest Black family in the State of New Mexico. Francis (Frank) Marion Boyer lived many lives in the Borderlands, and the Blackdom Oil Company was one of them. In Mexico’s northern frontier, Frank co-founded and helped build Blackdom; an institution to generate sovereignty for free people under the condition of Blackness.  He delivered on his promise of sovereignty and the evidence showed in him being the head of the largest “Negro” family in New Mexico. Kathryn was the last known person to interview Frank before he passed away two years later in 1949. 

by Dr. Timothy E. Nelson ©

Black Panther Party Platform:

10. We Want Land, Bread, Housing, Education, Clothing, Justice, And Peace.

October 1966

Friday, April 28, 1920 “Will Drill at Blackdom”

April of 1920, Blackdom was in a time of celebration and abundance. Paradoxically, in the summer of 1919, #TheAfrōFrontier®️ entered boom times. Mysteriously, Mattie Moore and Pernecia Russell, 2 women responsible for the 40-acre townsite land vanished from records. Mattie and Pernecia allowed Frank Boyer as an assignee over the land. In 1914, after a protracted legal battle, Frank secured a homestead patent for Blackdom’s 40 acres, adjacent, Ella Boyer began her first homestead.

Mattie Moore, Pernecia Russell, and Ella Boyer took advantage of the new Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909.  Aside from enlarging the allotment from 160 acres to 320 acres, the equivalent to half a square mile, the new law allowed military benefits and assignee privileges. Mattie and Pernecia evoked spousal military benefits and assigned their land to Frank in order to build Blackdom.

In 1909, 42-year-old Mattie Moore, from Donley County, Texas made her homestead claim as sole heir of Dickson Garner under the Soldier’s Additional Homestead Right portion of the new homestead laws. As the assignee, Frank legally applied for the homestead allotment using Mattie's privilege under the Dickson Garner name. However, the heirs of Garner had already claimed the rights to a homestead years earlier. Mattie’s first rejection led to the initial investigation and ultimately the 2nd rejection. In 1909, Blackdom was a virtual #AfrōFrontier®️ town with no land attached. The local as well as federal land offices rejected Moore and Russell’s claims to additional lands. 

As the assignee of Pernecia, Frank faced rejection as well. The Roswell General Land Office found that the widow of John B. Russell had already made her claims to an allotment of 45.01 acres years earlier under the assignee Francis F. Bamforth in Wyoming. Simultaneously, an investigation showed that Pernecia Russell had sold the land to J.T. Pendleton. Essentially, the ruling was that Russell exhausted her right to homestead land prior to 1909. 

Ella Boyer was required to show significant improvements, specifically proper irrigation for her land entry. On November 22, 1910, Ella filed one of the annual reports required and it showed her investment cost of over $1237. However, there was no sufficient irrigation to maintain her claim in the satisfaction of General Land Office requirements. Ella’s homestead entry was rejected as well.

After the initial round of rejections, Frank Boyer appealed as assignee to get Mattie’s 34.79 acre allotment. In late 1909, Boyer granted the Power of Attorney to David Geyer, a lawyer in Roswell. After numerous rejections on the local and federal levels, under the advice of Geyer, Mattie wrote to Peter Keller, Commissioner of the Buffalo, Missouri General Land Office and claimed she misspelled Dickson and to replace the name with Dixon. 

Mattie’s new spelling found W. A. Dixon, Chester Q. Dixon, and Margaret White of Conway County, Arkansas. Mattie’s new claim was rejected because someone else had already transferred an additional right for 80 acres. Sole heirs of Allen Dixon assumed to go by the alias Dixon Garner/Dickson Garner. In February of 1911, the General Land Office in Washington D.C. answered the request of the Roswell General Land Officer for a ruling on Mattie’s claim. Keller testified against Mattie’s claim, which was rejected.

Roswell Daily Record: Wednesday, April 28, 1920 [Pg3]

Mattie’s public record faded into the heat of the Borderlands and she was never heard of, but imagine if she had the opportunity to open the Roswell Daily Record on Friday, April 28, 1920 “Will Drill at Blackdom”.

by Dr. Timothy E. Nelson ©

“We choose to live together for a common purpose, and together we fight for our existence and our goals.”

Huey P. Newton, Revolutionary Suicide

Friday, April 23, 1920 “Will Drill at Blackdom”

The Herron Family Dynasty migrated from South Carolina during Blackdom’s revival (1909 -1919) and gained prominence with the advent of the Blackdom Oil Company. In 1917, Ester became the first in the family to homestead followed by Ura (1919), Ulysses (1920), Wedie (1920), Velma (1921),  Durand (1921 and 1924), Erastus (1921 and 1924). 

Erastus was 58 and wife Charlene was 52 when they completed their first homestead patent process. By the time of revival, uniformity of the Blackdomite movement allowed laborers to become landowning sovereigns later in life. In 1913, Erastus began his homestead process living as an apprentice of Pastor Crutcher Eubank. On the Eubank homestead, Erastus was able to learn best practices in the new culture of dry-farming. Collective action undergirds Blackdom’s sovereign society during ascendency. In 1927, Frank Boyer quick-deeded Blackdom’s 40 acres to Crutcher Eubank.

The Eubank Family Dynasty knew all too well the worst that New Mexican desert prairies had to offer. The harsh life deterred Crutcher’s son James, who instead, chose to serve Blackdom as a teacher. Crutcher endured Blackdom’s lost years (1903-1911) when Southern Black farmers had to manage a steep dry-farming learning curve during various times of drought. 

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 Crutcher Eubank began his homestead in a dry winter planting kaffir corn—a warm-weather plant that has slow early growth and should not be planted in the cold ground. If planted too early, the stand of the kaffir-corn was poor and late replanting was needed. However, if a good stand was secured, the growth of the young plants would grow slowly, weeds aggressively grew, and more cultivation was necessary. Without a wealth of knowledge or access to specific knowledge, Crutcher’s future was uncertain. His land consisted of sandy loam (a mixture of silt, sand, and clay). He built a small home, with a porch, worth about $250 which was meager at the time.

In 1907, he broke ground on 2 acres of his land, which yielded very little that year. In the 1908 growing season, he planted kaffir corn on another two acres, bringing the total farming acreage up to 4. By 1909, he broke ground on another 2 acres, planting corn, beans, potatoes, and other garden products over the six acres. In 1910, Crutcher did not break new ground to farm; he replanted on the acreage of previous years. After a grueling 6-year period (3 years was a normal process), he finally filed for the completion of his homestead patent on Tuesday, November 28, 1911 

Crutcher had a well cased up with a mechanical pump worth $350. He fenced his 160 acres with 3x4-barbwire worth about $125. In November of 1911, at the age of 50, Crutcher completed a homestead patent a few months prior to New Mexico’s official statehood. Early Blackdomite society faced an uncertain future as the borders of jurisdiction crossed them. The Eubank’s family endurance was foundational for Erastus’s apprenticeship on the homestead.  

Imagine enduring the hardship of the lost years and Crutcher opening the Roswell Daily Record on Friday, April 23, 1920, to read “Will Drill at Blackdom.”

by Dr. Timothy E. Nelson ©