Harvesting the American Dream
by J. Young.

Benjamin Franklin Coe was born on October 1st 1851 at Moundsville, West Virginia. His family moved and settled near Queen City, Missouri. The first Coe to venture into New Mexico was Frank’s brother Lewis (Lou) in 1859. Lou joined a wagon train to New Mexico and farmed the Raton area and also in Lincoln County with his friend Joe storms. When Lou returned home to Queen City he married his girlfriend. Lou had told his brothers about the west and Frank, Jasper and Albert set out west to become Buffalo hunters and farmers. In 1871 Lou was ready to go back to NM and this time he brought his cousin George. The four Coe brothers Lewis, Jasper, Albert and Frank were together with George Coe and James Albert Saunders known as Ab, a cousin.

George Washington Coe was born at Brighton, Iowa on July 13th, 1856. He was the first of four children. When he was young his mother died and two of his sisters found foster homes, and George and his younger sister moved with their father to reunite with his family The Coes in Missouri. Lou got Georges fathers blessing before taking George with him to NM.

The Journey was long and tiring. It took them three months to arrive at Lewis “Lou” Coes’ new Ranch at Sugarite pass near Raton. Not to mention they were driving cattle along the way.

They reached Fort Lyons which is now La Junta, Colorado and took the Santa Fe trail south over the Raton pass. Albert Coe, a brother of Franks, met the coach at Fort Lyons and acted as their guide down the Sugarite River. Some of the travelers that were among the Coes were Ike and Nancy Ellis who later owned the Ellis store in Lincoln. Once the Coes reached their cousin Lou’s ranch and settled in they were content that the harsh trip was worth it.

Their arrival was badly timed. The Santa Fe ring had just taken over the Maxwell land grant and began expelling people who were already settled on the grant. They were not being prosecuted but persecuted. This sparked the long lasting Colfax County war led by Clay Allison. George became acquainted with Allison and was fond of him.

The Coes spread out, starting their own ranches. First off were Frank Coe and Ab Saunders. They stopped just south of Hondo, at the forks of the two rivers Hondo and the Bonito and rented the same Lincoln county farm as Lou had previously in the 1860s. The pair planted, harvested and sold a nice crop of vegetables. Their first year was a success.

Frank and Ab then acquired another ranch renting it from officers at Fort Stanton. The property was located along the Ruidoso river at what is now Hollywood/Ruidoso. The Coes built a home there and it is now where the race track in Ruidoso sits today.

Frank and Ab after raising another year’s harvest returned to the Sugarite at Lou Coes ranch with plenty of success stories of the beautiful and fertile lands of Lincoln county.

The Coes returned to Lincoln, setting out on March 1st 1876. That first night after traveling back south from the Sugarite, the Coes camped out just south of Las Vegas at Tecolote. During the night, the boys were robbed of their oxen team. These oxen were extremely essential due to the heavy load of potatoes they were hauling for rations and their personal items.

After waking up the boys followed the tracks of their missing oxen but ran out of luck when it was discovered that goats had been run in on the trail to wipe out the tracks of the oxen. The Coes pleaded with several of the locals that they would pay a $10 reward for the return of the steers and shortly after they were returned. The boys paid them in potatoes.

George Coe recalls, “The occupants of this place made their living by Robbing travelers, then returning the stolen property and collecting a reward. their only visible assets were a bunch of mountain goats.”

The inconveniences caused a late start, but the Coes tried to put as much distance as they could between them and the thieves at Tecolote. Late that second night the boys camped north of Anton Chico and were awoken in their sleep by the same thieves who had followed them to steal more. The boys opened fire on them and they scattered. That next morning they had about a 90 Mile stretch with barely any water along the way in which George Coe almost died. George became so thirsty he began eating potatoes for the liquid inside and became drunk and dehydrated. It prevented the boys from reaching their destination for five more days. George needed rest.

Almost to their destination, they stopped at Fort Stanton. It was St. Patrick’s day and the boys stayed the night for a celebration. The Coes became acquainted with John Riley, who expressed his concerns over his colleague Jimmy Dolan who was in line to take over the business of LG Murphy.

John Riley stated
“George, Frank, I’m going to get out of this business, it’s going to the wall. Do you know what it will mean if Dolan takes charge? He’s a fighter not a businessman. We’re financially embarrassed now and there’s plenty of grief ahead for somebody.”
Riley’s warning of Dolans drama would later affect the Coes.
The next morning the boys set out for the ranch 23 miles to the Hollywood, Ruidoso ranch.
Jasper Coe went east following the Bonito river to the Pecos and acquired a ranch near Roswell.
Frank’s brother Albert Coe found a ranch on the upper Penasco River, and Frank, George and Ab found another one on the lower Penasco.
The Coes had the best equipment for farming in the area. They had the first “mowing machine”. The Coes also took the mowing machine east on the plains and cut hay for Fort Stanton raking in an extra 25 bucks per ton of hay a month.

Frank Coe and Ab Saunders went south of Tinnie on the Hondo and found a ranch to lease. Frank, George and Ab were hard at work with a crop of potatoes, corn and wheat when they met their kind neighbors and future brothers in arms, Richard Brewer and more neighbors Charlie Bowdre and Doc Scurlock.
Just before fall of 1877, George became acquainted with Richard Brewer’s new pal and ranch hand, Billy Bonney.
George Coe,
“In fact, most of the Coe boys returned to Colfax County for the winter so I decided to stay and put my time in hunting. “The kid bunked with me for the greater part of the winter. He was a good pal, always happy and pleasant. He helped me with all the chores and domestic work, and I could not have asked for a better friend or companion. He often said to me “George, I wish I had a home like this. I’d send for my mother and be the happiest kid alive.“

John Tunstall, a newcomer to the area, had money and a vision. It was simply to make money. Tunstall made good pals with the Coes, Doc, Charlie and Richard Brewer. Tunstall promised the boys to open a store where they could make more money off their crops if they would partner up with Tunstall. He found an area with only one store for miles. It was Dolans and it happened on the verge of bankruptcy. The Coes knew that this would be a conflict of interest to them as they were in a contract with Fort Stanton and friendly with Riley and some of the others who were on Dolans team.

Tunstall quickly set up shop with lawyer Alex Mcsween pulling the strings. Just as Riley warned, James Dolan had taken over the only store in Lincoln, and with Tunstall now in the mix, it was a threat to Dolan. A war would soon break out. Brewer, Doc and Charlie, who had already started working for Tunstall, were in it just before Tunstall was murdered. The boys went to war, and deputized as constables. They called themselves the regulators and were blood thirsty. They killed a couple of the party that killed Tunstall, nullifying their warrants.

George first got a bad taste of how the Dolan men and Sheriff Brady treat people. In March 1878 George met Brady for the first time at his home. It was known that Sheriff Brady was a Dolan supporter. George and neighbor Doc Scurlock were arrested by Sheriff Brady on suspicion of harboring Frank Freeman, an escaped murderer who was friends with George. He and Doc were forced to double ride on a pony following Sheriff Brady and a squad of Buffalo soldiers from Fort Stanton back to Lincoln. After getting the Lincoln, George was in very bad shape having to ride on the back of a pony with no saddle. The Ellis’ couple who rode into NM with George, had settled in Lincoln and recognized him and came to his aid. They helped him post bond. George had a hatred for Brady and wanted to kill him on the spot after getting his gun back. The Ellis’ talked him down.

After returning home, George told the tale of his arrest and horrid treatment to Richard Brewer and Billy the Kid.

George said,
“boys I’m with you now no matter what comes.”
Billy the Kid replied
“well they have killed Tunstall… the best friend I ever had. They damn near killed George, my next best friend.”
Billy Reeled up his ivory handled pistol and continued his rant…
“George, I bet you my pistol against five cents I’ll get even with that bunch before you do.”
As George Coe rode back to the Ruidoso ranch and reflected to himself,
“My whole attitude toward life had changed. I was merely a happy farmer, now I was miserably restless and could not concentrate on anything.”

Frank Coe heard about his cousin George’s mistreatment by the sheriff and left immediately en route to George’s Ranch, leaving Saunders to tend to the ranch. On the way he accidentally ran into The Regulators just after they had killed Sheriff Brady. The gang accompanied Frank the rest of the way to George’s house.

As they arrived Billy called out to George,
“Come across George and pay me that five cents you bet me, I’ve won it!”
George handed it over.
With the men altogether, Frank shared some information he had received the night before from a visitor who stopped to bunk at his home. A man named Buckshot Roberts. He was on his way to Lincoln to meet up with the Dolan faction. Frank told them how Roberts said Dolan was gathering a few bounty hunters and possessed the boys. Little did Frank know that when Roberts arrived at Lincoln he was offered $100 for each for the deaths of the Regulators…and just like that, The Coe boys were swept into The Lincoln County War.
(Details will follow this story) 
In the fall of 1878 The Coes parted ways with Billy the Kid and The remaining fighters of The Lincoln County War known as The Regulators at Anton Chico, leaving each other with handshakes and farewells. Frank and George ventured back North to Sugarite where they were reunited with their parents, brothers and cousins. Albert (Al) Coe, still ranching Lincoln County on the upper Penasco River, had been a victim to cattle theft so bad that he decided to drive his cattle up to Sugarite. Once Albert Coe reached Sugarite he planned to go on with Lewis Coe on to San Juan County in the upper northwest corner of New Mexico to look for another ranch to farm.

In October 1878 the Coe families, Frank and George, set out for San Juan.

They found a spot and settled near Aztec on the Animas River.

Frank Coe and Jasper (Jap) Coe and George Coe rented two ranches where the town of Aztec is now just across the river from the old Aztec ruins. They were set up and ready to start farming all they needed was their new threshing machine that was still sitting down in Lincoln County. Frank Coe volunteered to go get it while Jasper and George held down the ranch at Aztec.

As Frank was en route to Lincoln he was arrested at Santa Fe. His charge was for the killing of Buckshot Roberts. He was hauled clear down to Las Cruces and jailed for over a week. While he was awaiting trial he wrote to Governor Lew Wallace stating that he was just IN Lincoln on business and was hoping that the governor’s proclamation of amnesty would be honored, as he was no killer. He was then released from jail. He returned to Lincoln, got his threshing machine and made it back to Aztec almost three months later.

Frank’s parents then moved down from Missouri and settled in Farmington, NM near theAztec ruins.

A family friend named Cal Brown had been living with the Coes and had a sister named Phoebe in which George Coe fell in love with and married her.

Mrs Coe recalls “George’s gun was his God when he married me. He did Lay it off during the ceremony, but strapped it back on immediately afterwards.”

George had almost found peace, but realized moments after that he was living rather close to many others in the village at Aztec and would be possibly bothered by other folks’ problems. Not to mention he was slightly popular after the settlement found out the Coes rode with Billy the Kid. He was right… One afternoon, the boys were working their field at Aztec when a friend of theirs named Jake Buchanan rode up quickly and was badly injured. He was fainting and had been shot through the arm with an arrow while trying to defend his property from the Navajo. George and Frank cut the arrowhead off and pulled it back through his arm. Frank and George climbed on their horses and chased the Navajo men. The Coes Drew their pistols and fired at them rapidly. The Navajo scattered, leaving their donkeys to be retrieved. After gathering the mules it was discovered that they were packed down with all of Jake’s belongings as well as other missing items from some of the other nearby settlers.

It was during this excitement that Phoebe and George’s first born child Ida May Coe, had sadly passed away. She was not even 3 days old yet.

Another day, Constable John Cox came to George Coe’s house and asked if he could deputize George to go to La Platte to help him arrest a bunch of cow thieves.

George remembers saying,
 “No I can’t do it, I came up here to get away from trouble, and I have my young wife to consider now. Besides, I don’t have any experience arresting people, the only fellow I tried to shoot, shot my hand off, so count me out.”
But after a little resistance, George agreed.
They arrived between sundown and dark and found the man they were looking for camped out in a dugout.

George remembers the situation,
“the constable dismounted and walked to the entrance instead of ordering the man to throw up his hands when he approached he said “I have a warrant for your arrest sir.” The man was lying on his cot with his six shooters lying at his feet and his rifle standing at the foot of the bed. When Cox spoke to him he reached for the pistol I was standing just behind Cox and shoved my gun around him into the man’s face. Drop that gun, I yelled. He looked up at me and hesitated. I mean it, I said. “no I don’t want to have to kill you but if you don’t put that gun down I’ll be darned if I won’t. She rolled off the car and stood up with my gun still cocked on him. I said John get both of those guns and see if he has any more on his person.”

George continued to school the new constable,
“give him no chance to get near you if you want to live to a good old age.”

As they were traveling back to turn over the prisoner to the U.S. Marshals, they stopped at George’s home to stay the night as it was getting late. The next morning George woke up and told the Constable that he wanted nothing more to do with this and they left.

After they were gone George’s wife spoke to George and said
“George you are going to keep on here until someone kills you. As soon as this crop is gathered we are going somewhere and trying to live in peace. I can’t stand this constant strain.”

Sure enough after making a good profit on their crops, the Coes packed up and left in search of a new place to settle. First back to Missouri to George’s Father’s farm. The couple then drifted through Iowa back through Nebraska before settling in Southern Colorado near Durango with Phoebe’s family.

George felt very comfortable and turned to his wife one morning and said
“here she goes forever my darling and I never expect to take up arms against my fellow man anymore as long as I live”.
George unbuckled his cartridge belt and retired his tired gun.

George’s father-in-law Mr. Brown offered one of the ranches near Durango for George’s management as long as they stayed there. Months go by and George can’t stop thinking about his cousin Frank.

Frank had moved down to the Ruidoso valley in Lincoln County. Frank wrote to George to tell him that the bad element has been wiped out and their old stomping grounds are fertile and ready to farm again.

George became depressed that Frank was living freely without conflict on the singing Ruidoso river. George couldn’t help himself and convinced his wife that they should move there.

George and his wife traded their dairy cows for range cows, loaded their wagon and drove that herd into New Mexico. Their first stop was at Farmington where George’s cousin Albert was living. The next stop was Santa Fe and George got himself pretty and went and met the governor, Lew Wallace.

George remembers clearly,
“As I entered I extended my hand and said to Governor Wallace my name is George Coe he looked up with a smile and grasped my hand warmly and said yes Mr Coe I am very glad to meet you.”

Wallace replied
“You took part in the Lincoln County war did you not?”

George acknowledged that he did and the governor asked, “
how are you situated now Mr. Coe? Where are you living and what are your plans?”

George replied,
“well Governor I want to come back to this country and make my home. I have settled down and I am making an honest living, and haven’t carried a gun in 2 years. I am married to one of the finest girls in the world and we want to make permanent upright New Mexico citizens. That is the reason I am calling on you today.”

Governor Lou Wallace shook George Coe’s hand and wished him success. George left Santa Fe with more confidence than ever.

George and his wife arrived in Lincoln County on November 15th 1884 just before Frank Coe had purchased the old Dick Brewer Ranch. With Jasper Coes Ranch in the area, the Coes had quite a spread of land.

The three Coes farmed Dick Brewers Ranch and planted oats and set up a government contract to supply Fort Stanton. They were very successful.

George and his wife were still in need of a spread of their own. Jap Coe traded a little bit of his land for a good span of mules and that gave George and his wife plenty of land to build their home. George finally found it Near where Glencoe is today. It was later known as the Golden Glow Ranch.

Later ex-Sheriff George Peppin came to see George Coe. He declared he wanted to forget that unhappy past and be friends in the future, George Coe agreed. Peppin and the Coes were neighbors for a very long time after.

Jap, Frank and I decided that they must have a schoolhouse and the boys built one which stood about a mile from George’s home in the front of the Bonnell Ranch House. After it was finished it was furnished and it held a regular term of private school which is regulated by their incomes.

Things were great for the Coes the only thing bothering them is that they had to drive to Fort Stanton to get their mail. They petitioned the United States postal authorities for a post office and rural mail service. Since their community was all Coes they sent in the name of Glencoe for the Post Office and it was granted and located at Frank Coe’s place.

George and Phoebe Coe were finally settled and had eight children. Three of them passed away as infants. George later wrote a very telling book called Frontier Fighter.

Frank Coe got married to Helena Anna Tully Coe and the couple had seven children. Frank Coe’s son Wilbur, would later write a book about his father called Ranch on the Ruidoso. Later in life the couple took an extended honeymoon vacation to Denver.

Irvin Lesnett (possibly related to the Lesnetts at Dowlins Mill), worked for Frank Coe. He fell in love with Frank’s 16 year old daughter Sydney. The couple planned to elope since Frank would not approve. Lesnett sent a note to her through Ross Coe, Frank’s nephew. On the night of October 4th 1898 Ross delivered the note and also informed Frank about the situation quietly. Close to midnight that night, Frank found Sydney’s room empty so he gathered his shotgun and climbed on his horse. Just as he was about to ride out, the couple appeared as they were returning to the barn for Sydney’s side saddle that they had forgotten. Frank called upon them to stop, Lesnett quickly yanked up his gun and fired at Frank with his Winchester killing his horse. Without hesitating Frank shot the young man clean out of his saddle with his shotgun and killed him.

Frank went to court at Roswell and pleaded not guilty and was acquitted by a jury in the district court at Roswell on March 22nd 1900.

As Frank was leaving the courthouse, he saw his daughter Sydney, talking to a young man. Frank went right over and threatened the boy. Frank barked at the boy that if he wanted to hang around his daughter, he would kill him too.

Frank’s lawyer overheard this and said Frank I got you off this time, but if you ever kill another man I shall personally see to it that you hang.

George and Frank Coe spent their later days running their farmers market and even later running a little gas station. George also reserved a private cemetery for their family at Glencoe called George Coe Cemetery.

Everything was now in Harmony and at peace. Their cause and worth were clear…The Coes had harvested the American dream and enjoyed

the fruits for the rest of their lives.

George Coe died on November 12th 1941 age 85

Frank Coe died on September 16th 1931 of pneumonia . Just before his 80th birthday.