Cortez and Lou Ella Hibler

Brothers, Daniel and Cortez Hibler, proprietors and chefs of "The Jitney Café," circa early 1900s

Hibler-Fielder Digital Photo Collection

Quick Facts

Significance:

Homesteaders on the East Mesa near Las Cruces, NM

Place of Birth:

Cortez - Falls County, TX, Lou Ella - Texas

Date of Birth:

Cortez - August 18, 1878, Lou Ella – circa 1877

Place of Death:

Cortez – Las Cruces, NM, Lou Ella - unknown

Date of Death:

Cortez - April 1, 1934, Lou Ella - unknown

Place of Burial:

Cortez – Las Cruces, Lou Ella - unknown

Cemetery Name:

unknown

Cortez Andrew Hibler (Hibbler) was born August 18, 1878 in Falls County, Texas. He moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico around 1918 and was active in the community. Years later he filed for a homestead claim outside of the city on the East Mesa.

His parents were John and Margaret (Jackson) Hibler. John Hibler was born in the mid-1840s in Sumter County, Alabama. Margaret Jackson was born in Texas a few years after John. It is likely both of Cortez Hibler’s parents were enslaved during their childhoods. Since many freed slaves took on the last name of their enslaver, John was likely enslaved by W. H. Hibbler in Sumter County.

In 1867, John Hibler registered to vote in Sumter County, but soon moved to Texas. By 1870, John and Margaret were married and living in Falls County, Texas. Ten years later, their household included eight children of their own, plus a niece and nephew.

Cortez Hibler married Lou Ella Fields on February 11, 1899, in Falls County, Texas. They appear together in the 1900 census with her son from her first marriage, James Fields. Something seems to have happened with the marriage as she does not appear with Cortez again until 1918. The 1910 census shows Cortez as a single roomer working as a laborer in Fort Worth, Texas.

Cortez’ older brother Daniel Hibler settled in Las Cruces around 1909 and worked as a chef for the Don Bernardo Hotel. Cortez followed his example and settled in Las Cruces. During this time, he reconnected with Lou Ella remarrying her (Mrs. L. E. Bragg), in Las Cruces, on February 23, 1918. The couple did not have any children together. Cortez’s WWI draft card dated September 12, 1918, shows him to be employed as a janitor for First National Bank in Las Cruces. The 1920 census shows the couple and a lodger living in a rented house with Cortez’s occupation listed as general labor.

The Hiblers were active in the Las Cruces community. Cortez and his brother Daniel were the proprietors of The Jitney Café, located on Main Street. Cortez, Daniel, and Lou Ella also played a role in founding Phillips Chapel, a Colored Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church. The Hiblers along with others, rented a building where the congregation could meet until the Phillips Chapel was built. The Phillips Chapel served as the black school for Las Cruces from 1924 until 1934 when the Booker T. Washington School opened. Cortez was active in Republican politics and was a member of the "Hill for Governor Club." Dr. C. L. Hill was the Republican nominee in the 1922 New Mexico gubernatorial race.

By 1930, the Hiblers lived on their 640-acre stock raising homestead (Sec. 9, T. 22S, R. 2E, New Mexico Prime Meridian). The homestead was in an area called the East Mesa northeast of the City of Las Cruces. As a stock-raising homestead entry, the homesteaders only gained ownership of the surface rights to the land. The government maintained the mineral rights.

Homesteaders had the opportunity to gain ownership of the land, but the odds of earning a sufficient living from 640 acres of desert land were slim. The East Mesa area is very arid, receiving an average of 8-10 inches of rain per year. Contemporary estimates suggest that a section of land in this area could support 5-10 grazing cows. Cortez listed his occupation as farmer in the 1930 census but likely relied on other forms of income to survive. Still, the Hiblers and many others (including at least 25 other Black homesteaders) proved up their homesteads on the East Mesa.

Unfortunately, Cortez Hibler died on April 1, 1934, before proving up the homestead claim. Lou Ella Hibler received a patent for the land on June 28, 1937. A few months later, she married William M. Cherry. What happened to Lou Ella after that is unknown.

A fellow homesteader, William F. Isaacks, took ownership of the Hibler Homestead. Isaacks had received a patent for 160 acres a few miles NW of the Hibler homestead in 1910, prior to the 1916 Stock Raising Homestead Act. The Hibler land stayed in the Isaack family until being sold to developers in 2004.

Today, the homestead land is within the city limits of Las Cruces, NM. Development has reached the north edge of the homestead where portions of the Red Hawk Golf Course and an adjoining residential area lie on the Hibler homestead land. Of the physical improvements made to the land an earthen tank used to capture water at the northeast corner of the section remains.

Sources:

Administrator. “Blacks in a Border County.” Frontera Norte Sur, New Mexico State University. September 22, 2011. https://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/blacks-in-a-border-county/.

Aldous, Alfred Evan, and Homer L. Shantz. "Types of Vegetation in the Semiarid Portion of the United States, and their Economic Significance." (1924).

Ancestry.com. Census, voting, birth, and death records accessed through Ancestry.com. Some spellings (Habler, Hibbler, Hibler), dates, etc. were inconsistent. The information here is based on the preponderance of the evidence.

Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records. https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=1091041&docClass=SER&sid=sext5s1s.sal

Dona Ana County, New Mexico, Assessor’s Office. NM Eagle Web (property search). http://assessor.donaanacounty.org/assessor/web/.

Family Search "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918", database with images, (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KXTZ-2F4 : 24 December 2021), Cortez Andrew Hibbler, 1917-1918. Order number a1197, Serial Number: 1565, 09-12-18.

Fielder, Clarence. Recorded oral history of Phillips Chapel. KTAL Community Radio, Las Cruces Stories. https://www.lccommunityradio.org/lcstories_clarence_fielder.html.

Rio Grande Republic. "Colored Votes Repudiate Resolutions Published in "Citizen." November 2, 1922.

Sumter County, Alabama. “Largest Slaveholders from 1860 Slave Census Schedules and Surname Matches for African Americans on 1870 Census.” Transcribed by Tom Blake, October 2001. https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~ajac/genealogy/alsumter.htm

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES REGISTRATION FORM. Phillips Chapel CME Church. Form prepared by Terry Moody with Clarence Fielder, February 2003. Approved June 17, 2003. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/fae58233-608e-4192-9ea7-2759e25665cd

Villa, Elizabeth. “Segregation in Las Cruces Public Schools.” New Mexico State University, The Open Stacks. February 12, 2021. https://openstacks.nmsu.edu/segregation-in-las-cruces-public-schools/.

Researched by Dr. Rick Adkisson, Volunteer. Edited by Terry Moody, Historian, and the NPS.