About

Artwork by Angie Hinojosa

Howdy, folks! Welcome to Pals of Billy the Kid, a venture started by Jay Younger, with a hankerin’ for the tangled tales of the Old West. Roped in by his three sharp as tacks young’uns, this family’s ridin’ hard to preserve the legends of the frontier. they’re not your typical “historians”. They’ve built a digital saloon, brimmin’ with carefully gathered research, to shine a lantern on the mysteries and unsung heroes that shaped the wild American West. Everything you see on this here site was researched and dug up by Jay Younger, Steve Sederwall and Brandon Dickson. Their resources can be found on the “Resources” page. Instead of writing a book and profiting off of history, they thought it would be fun to create a website, free for all to learn from. The mission? To keep the stories of the past alive for generations to come.

“Out here in the wild, windswept plains of the West, where legends are born under starlit skies, we once saddled up with a dream to keep the spirit of Billy the Kid alive. Long ago, I had a dream to preserve the unmarked graves and historical sites of New Mexico and created, founded and led as president and vice president of a 501c3 Non Profit, a band of loyal souls who rode hard to preserve the legacy of that infamous outlaw. Our hearts swell with gratitude for the chance to share these tales with you fine folks who carry the West in your souls.

With the kindness of generous hearts and our stubborn resolve to stay true to the trail, we’ve left our mark on history. We planted three tombstones, ceremonial sentinels for Jose Chavez y Chavez, James Carlyle, and Frank “Windy” Cahill standin’ proud over their final restin’ places, whisperin’ their stories to the canyon winds.
But with a heart heavy as a settin’ sun, we’ve hung up our spurs with that group and walked away after other board members took the majority and used it to shine the light upon themselves, rather than the mission. It ain’t easy to ride away from a cause so dear that we had so much money, time and energy invested, but we’re mighty obliged for the love and support you’ve shown us along this dusty road.
We invite you to roam every corner of this here site, where the spirit of the Wild West still gallops free. A word to the wise: this outpost is a haven for learnin’ and research, and we’re dead set on keepin’ Billy the Kid’s legend open for all to discover, no gate or toll in sight. We do plan on marking graves and sites again very soon!

We have invested significant time, effort, and resources into researching and developing the content on our website. We kindly request that if you intend to use any of our materials, you provide appropriate credit or attribution to acknowledge our work. Please DO NOT use our content for profit without permission, it took decades of research in our very limited spare time. It is also sad to see individuals making money on this (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE). We value integrity and fairness, and we trust you understand the importance of respecting intellectual property. Thank you for your cooperation and support on this.

So, saddle up, pardners, and let the stories of the West stir your heart like this lonesome cowboy’s song by the campfire.
~Yer Pals in the Saddle

Website design: Jay Younger
Edited by: Jay Younger
Articles published by: Jay Younger and Brandon Dickson
Artwork by Gregg Burch and Angie Hinojosa
For more information about our past achievements, please visit our Pastimes page: https://palsofbillythekidhistoricalsociety.com/pastimes-marking-history/.
Connect with our community on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/BTKmysteries
or on X: https://twitter.com/Pals1878
Contact: (719)-235-5703 Text (preferred) or call
To view art from Gregg or Angie, click below!
https://palsofbillythekidhistoricalsociety.com/historical-artwork-by-gregg/

All research sources on this website can be found on our resources page.
 https://palsofbillythekidhistoricalsociety.com/resources-billy-the-kid/

Every old photograph we rescue from a dusty attic, every mile we drive down forgotten backroads to interview the last living grandchildren of the Regulators, every fragile court record we carefully photograph before it crumbles away; none of it happens without your help. The true story of Billy the Kid isn’t hiding in Hollywood scripts. It’s scattered in yellowed letters, unmarked graves, and the memories of families who have guarded their pieces of the past for 140 years. Your donation; no matter how small; keeps boots on the ground and keeps those voices from fading forever.

When you click that button, you’re not just helping pay for a tank of gas or a server bill. You’re standing with every curious kid who ever wondered what really happened in Lincoln County, with every descendant who wants their ancestor remembered as a person and not a myth, and with history itself as it fights to stay alive in a world that races forward. Because of you, a boy the history books tried to bury gets to keep speaking. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for believing the real story is worth saving. Click below and be apart of saving history!
http://paypal.me/jyoungpals1878

Where the journey began...

I remember it like it was yesterday, though it was 33 years ago, in the hushed stacks of my elementary school library. I was on a mission: find the perfect book for a report on a historical figure and nail that ‘A’ grade. I kept circling back to two titles that tugged at my curiosity: Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life by Robert Utley, and Whatever Happened to Billy the Kid? by Helen Airy. Something about the Kid's legend wouldn't let me walk away. I grabbed both, checked them out, and dove in. For the next two weeks, my bedroom became command central. From the second I burst through the door after school until lights-out, I was lost in those pages, reading, scribbling notes, piecing together the report. The result? Not just an A, but the longest detailed paper my fifth grade teacher had ever seen. She was floored. That spark ignited a wildfire. I marched straight to the city library and worked my way through every Billy the Kid book they had, one checkout at a time. I wasn't just researching anymore; I was obsessed. Movies weren't really my thing as a kid, I was more of a bookworm, but when I stumbled on Young Guns and Young Guns II, I was ecstatic. Even then, the historical liberties grated on me (long before I grasped that Hollywood chases profits, not facts). The fascination has ebbed and flowed over the decades, but it's never truly faded. Billy the Kid remains one of the great joys of my life, a thread that ties my childhood wonder to who I am today. Thanks for letting me share. I'd love to hear your origin story: How did you fall under the Kid's spell?
Jay Younger
Gregg Burch Art
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