Lafayette Head - New Mexico Settler

New Mexico Settler

Head enlisted as a Private, Second Regiment, Missouri Volunteers and saw battle at La Canada, Embudo Pass, Taos and Santa Clara Springs during the Mexican American War (1846-1848). He rose to the rank of Major. After the war he settled at Abiquiu, New Mexico Territory as a merchant. About 1851 he married Maria Juanita Martinez. Head served three years as U.S. Marshall for the northern district of New Mexico Territory and a term as Sheriff of Rio Arriba County.

In 1854 Head moved into the lower part of the San Luis Valley with fifty Mexican families who formed the village of Guadalupe along the Conejos River. He established a large sheep ranch nearby. He was a pioneer in irrigation and built one of the earliest flour mills in Colorado.

Head’s nephew, Finis Downing, described the Head home at Conejos as it looked in 1863 – “It was a town of ‘dobe houses. Uncle’s was the largest and best, built like a fort around a square plat of 200 feet, with solid walls outside, windows and doors all inside the square. A lookout was two stories up.”

Head was commissioned a Lieutenant in Colonel St. Vrain’s regiment of volunteers in 1855 and served six months fighting the Utes and Apaches. In 1856 he was elected to the New Mexico Territorial Legislature representing Taos. He was chosen to fill a vacancy on the council and served as president in 1857.

About 1859 two Catholic priests, Father Machebeuf (later the first Bishop of Denver) and Father Ussell, traveled from Santa Fe to visit the little town of Guadalupe. On arrival they were met by Lafayette Head and Don Jesus Velasques, “the principal men of this miniature commonwealth.” In his account of the trip, Father Ussell noted that Head was a convert to Catholicism, had been baptized by Bishop Lamy, and married a Mexican lady from a very good family. Ussell described the houses of Head and Velasquez as having only two rooms each - a kitchen and a large hall. Head’s home served as a temporary church for two days while Fathers Machebeuf and Ussell heard hundreds of confessions and offered communion. Guadalupe sat in lowland along the river and was subject to flooding. The residents had selected a better site on high ground between the Conejos River and San Antonio Creek and laid out plans for a new town called Conejos. During the visit Father Machebeuf selected a site for a church in the new town.