#IsaacJones #Hōmsted | CoFounder of Blackdom July 18, 1905

Accession Nr:NM0220__.225   Document Type:State Volume Patent   State:New Mexico   Issue Date:7/18/1905   Cancelled:No — **Accession Nr:**NM0220__.225 **Document Type:**State Volume Patent **State:**New Mexico **Issue Date:**7/18/1905 **Cancelled:**No

Like most of the Blackdom thirteen, Charles Childress, a resident of Roswell and mature in age when he invested in Blackdom. As a farmer in 1903, the investment affored an opportunity to improve his financial situation. His homestead was within a miles distance of the townsite company’s Vice President Isaac Jones homestead. Childress was the only member to file a homestead patent between September of the 1903 and May of 1904 in the afterglow of the Blackdom Townsite announcement. Childress built on his homestead and improved it enough to complete the final stage of the patent process in 1905. As Vice President of the Blackdom Townsite Company, Isaac Jones was the highest-ranking member to build a homestead before and during the inception of the Blackdom Townsite Company. Jones’ existence prior to the advent of the company was typical of Black people in the region. He was born in the South (North Carolina), and migrated to the Borderlands (Texas), where he married his wife Mollie. They had a child, and in the late 1890s, the Jones family moved to Chaves County and settled in Roswell. Living on Kentucky Avenue in Roswell in 1900, Jones was a cook while Mollie worked at home taking care of their six-year-old son. Isaac Jones began his homesteading process in April of 1903, but homesteading required significant investment of a few thousand dollars with no guarantee of success. Without significant cash reserves, Jones did not have any margin for error, building his homestead with his family in tow. Making a mistake in the choice of crops or any aspect of homesteading would lead to a yearlong march toward economic disaster with very little means of recovery. For several months, he made little progress on his homestead while still working in Roswell.
#Excerpt Dr. Timothy E. Nelson the Historian| The Significance of the Afro-Frontier in American History: Blackdom, Barratry, and Bawdyhouses in the Borderslands 1900-1930. 2015.