NW New Mexico News

From December 20, 2022 post.

Aztec’s Agnes Williams Herbert is woman of some note in New Mexico history. In 1890, she was one of five women and seven men who enrolled in the first class at the newly created New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. She was only fifteen years old at the time. New Mexico A&M was renamed New Mexico State University in 1960. As the group completed their senior year, only five of the twelve students remained. On June 1, 1894, Agnes became to first woman to graduate from the College. Four men also graduated. While attending New Mexico A&M, Agnes helped found the state’s first college newspaper, the “New Mexico Collegian.” In her freshman year there was only one building on campus, McFie Hall. Agnes recalled, it was “situated on the sand hills overlooking the Mesilla Valley, with yucca, cactus and other desert plants” jutting from the landscape. 

Agnes Williams was born in Bell County, Texas in 1875. Her family came to New Mexico and lived in the Hondo Valley in Lincoln County. Her parents sent her to El Paso to attend high school. After her college graduation, Agnes taught school in Organ and in Tularosa. Also living in Tularosa was Guy Herbert, who had attended New Mexico A&M for two years. That is probably where she and Guy first had a spark. Bicycles became quite the craze in the 1890s and a November 1895 article in the Rio Grande Republican of Las Cruces noted that there were three bicycles in Tularosa and they were owned by Agnes Williams, Guy Herbert and Mrs. Scott. On March 31, 1896, Agnes and Guy were married in Tularosa. On January 9, 1897, Agnes gave birth to Guy Herbert, Jr. Another son, Richard Harold (better known as Skeet), and a daughter, Esther, soon followed. School districts generally did not employ female teachers who were married and Agnes Herbert settled in to raise the children. 

Her husband, Guy, was born in Texas in 1872. In 1891, Guy moved with his family to southern New Mexico. Guy’s father, Richard L. Herbert took up ranching and farming on Little Creek a few miles northeast of Ruidoso. Guy cowboyed in those early years. Disaster struck on Friday evening March 26, 1897, on the Pajarita Mountain, southeast of Ruidoso. Guy’s older brother, Curtis, was rounding up cattle with others, when some of the cattle broke away from the herd. Curtis spurred his horse toward them. His pony spooked and he was thrown from the saddle, taking his horse over with him. The ruckus startled an already skittish herd. There is no accounting for what cattle will do when scared. They stampeded toward the noise and over the top of Curtis and his horse. To his fellow cowboys, it seemed that Curtis was trampled by the entire herd. He clung to life and was carried to Lincoln. His body was broken up and he had serious head wounds. Guy Herbert and his parents hustled to Lincoln from Little Creek for a bedside vigil, but Curtis never regained consciousness. He died at 5:00 AM, Tuesday morning. The following day was Agnes and Guy’s first anniversary. Guy’s younger sister arrived from Roswell, too late for the funeral. Curtis Herbert was twenty-seven years old and was survived by a young wife. Agnes and Guy’s subsequent wedding anniversaries would forever remind them of this tragedy. 

By 1900, Guy had partnered with his father-in-law as a merchant in San Patricio in Lincoln County. The Herberts soon moved to Roswell and by 1907, Guy was working as a deputy sheriff for Chaves County. He relied on his ability to talk to transgressors, as he was a short, slightly built man. In the 19-teens he became the assessor for Chaves County and in 1918 he was elected to serve in the state legislature. But Guy’s health was poor and in 1919 the family moved to Los Angeles. That lasted about a year and the family moved to Parker, Arizona, where he bought a half interest in the Raney Mercantile Company. In September 1922, Guy Herbert passed through San Juan County on his way to partake of the hot springs at Pagosa. He was favorably impressed with the Animas Valley and contemplated yet another move. He sold out in Arizona. 

In the last week of March 1923, Guy Herbert and his sons arrived in Aztec. The Aztec Independent noted that Herbert had purchased two lots from the D&RGW’s station agent, Maurice Case, and immediately began construction of a new garage and filling station on the property on East Chaco. It was a perfect location as the road from Farmington to Durango traveled up Chaco, crossed Main Street and then turned left at the Case house on Mesa Verde.  Ed Lanier secured the building contract and 50,000 bricks were purchased. The outer walls of the garage were brick. Cobbles from the Animas River were used for the filling station walls and pillars. A state of the art Bowser pump was ordered for the filling station. (The Herberts’ garage has since been converted into a residence.) Guy and Agnes Herbert lived in a house purchased from Fred W. Townsend on what is now San Juan Avenue, above the train depot. 

Ed Lanier did not waste any time. The garage and filling station opened for business on Monday, May 28, 1923. The operation was known as the Herbert Brothers Garage. Their sister’s husband, Maurice Delzell, was hired as the garage mechanic. Guy Herbert, Sr. became the Buick dealer in San Juan County. In June 1923, Guy traveled to Albuquerque to accept delivery of an REO Speed Wagon. He was also an REO dealer. Then he drove to Gallup and picked up a new Buick sedan for Farmington physician George Sammons. As the Garage’s name indicates, Skeet and Guy, Jr. played prominent roles in the business and in the fall of 1926, Guy, Sr. took on the job as Road Supervisor for San Juan County. On March 1, 1936, Guy, Sr. took over the operation of the Aztec Natural Gas Company from F.M. Burt. The company operated a natural gas delivery system servicing homes and businesses in the county seat. At the same time Herbert purchased a garage and filling station owned by Mr. Burt. Guy’s son-in-law, Maurice Delzell, operated that business as the City Garage. In the early 1940s, Guy sold the natural gas business to Delzell. In June 1949, Delzell sold the operation to Southern Union, who had natural gas franchises in thirty-one other cities in New Mexico, Texas and Colorado. 

In the 1930s, Agnes Herbert began operating a variety store. Guy later joined his wife in operating Herbert’s Cash Store at 119 S. Main Street. In the 1950s, the couple lived at 500 E. Chaco, near Aztec High School. In 1957, when Mr. Herbert’s health began to fail, they left that business and finally took on retirement. Guy was 84 years old and Agnes was 81. Mrs. Herbert did not suffer from braggadocio when it came to being the first woman graduate of New Mexico State University. Her accomplishment is seldom mentioned in local newspaper accounts. Nonetheless, she took pride in her achievement and attended alumni events in Las Cruces in 1914, 1919 and 1934, and perhaps others that eluded our research.  Mrs. Herbert died on May 11, 1964 at the age of 88. She was the last surviving member of her fellow college graduates. The Herberts had been married 68 years. A heartbroken Guy Herbert survived another nine months. He died on January 21, 1965 at the age of 92. Guy and Agnes Herbert are buried in the Aztec Cemetery. 

The top photo below shows Mrs. Agnes Williams Herbert attending the 25th class reunion of her graduation from New Mexico A&M College in 1919. Left to right are: Hiram Hadley (first president of the college), Agnes Williams Herbert, Fabián García, Oscar Snow and Ralph Larkin. Not in the photo is Lemuel McGrath who died in 1906 and is buried in El Paso. Photo courtesy of the New Mexico State University Library, Archives and Special Collections. 

Written by Mike Maddox. Note: New Mexico State University was established as a land grant university in 1888 and it was first known as Las Cruces College. But those who enrolled in 1890, like Agnes Williams Herbert, are considered to be the first class. The other 1894 graduates were; Oscar Snow, Lemuel McGrath, Fabián García and Ralph Larkin. García is known as the “Father of the Mexican Food Industry,” in the United States. He was the first director of the state’s Agricultural Experiment Station and his experiments created the standardized chile peppers grown by farmers today. Sources: Aztec Independent Review, Farmington Times Hustler, Farmington Daily Times, Rio Grande Republican (Las Cruces), Las Cruces Sun News, Sierra County Advocate (Hillsboro, NM), Albuquerque Morning Journal, Santa Fe New Mexican, White Oaks (NM) Eagle, Roswell Daily Record; Historic Las Cruces: The Story of Las Cruces and the Mesilla Valley by Christopher Schurtz; New Mexico Historical Review, January, 1989 – Women at New Mexico State University: The Early Years, 1888 – 1920 by Sally J. Lee and Jeffrey P. Brown; New Mexico Magazine, 1987, Volume 65;  Fabian Garcia – Horticultural Pioneer & Champion of Education For All - https://aces-heroes.nmsu.edu/heroes/garcia.html; and Fabian Garcia – Pioneer Hispanic Horticulturist by Dr. Paul Bosland -  https://cpi.nmsu.edu/chile-info/fabian-garcia.html. 

Original source can be found here.