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Thomas Branigan

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Thomas Branigan

(Reprint from History of New Mexico, Its Resources and People, Volume II, 1907. Author's collection)

       Captain Thomas Branigan was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1847.  His family came to the United States in 1849 and settled in Ohio.  At only fourteen years of age, Branigan enlisted in the Union Army.  After the Civil War, Branigan attended the Mennonite College in Wadsworth, Ohio, before going West in 1867.  He served as captain of Indian Police and was involved in the campaign to capture Geronimo.  Branigan finally settled in Las Cruces, purchased land, and began the raising of bees for the production of honey.  He was also interested in gold mining in Sierra country.

       Thomas Branigan, along with W. H. H. Llewellyn, led the search for the Fountains on a cold February night in 1896.

       Branigan spent 1899 and 1900 as the Dona Ana County Assessor, was a member and treasurer of the Dona Ana Republican Central Committee for eight years, spent time on the Las Cruces school board, and did other public works. Branigan died in 1925.

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Thomas Branigan's Grave

(Photograph by Author, 2002)

 

SOURCES: History of New Mexico: Its Resources and People: Illustrated, Volume II, 569 (Los Angeles: Pacific States Publishing Co., 1907); Recko, Corey, Murder on the White Sands: The Disappearance of Albert and Henry Fountain, 26 (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2007); www.hipnt.com, Time Line for Thomas Branigan and Thomas Branigan Home Page.

 

Murder on the White Sands Reviews; Murder on the White Sands Introduction and First Chapter; Information About Murder on the White Sands (# of pages, table of contents, etc.); Biographies of: Colonel Albert J. Fountain, Pat Garrett, John Fraser, Henry Fountain, Albert B. Fall, Oliver Lee, James Gililland, William McNew, Ed Brown, Thomas Branigan, William H. H. Llewellyn; 1896 Newspaper Accounts of the Fountains' Disappearance; Map of New Mexico Sites; Mesilla, New Mexico; Hillsboro, New Mexico; Search the Index; Buy Murder on the White Sands; Who do you believe murdered murdered Albert and Henry Fountain? Talk About it in the Forum; Murder on the White Sands Related Articles; Appearances; Links; Author biography; Corey Recko News; Contact  coreyrecko@coreyrecko.com

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