Last updated: November 2, 2021
Person
Francis L. Boyer
Quick Facts
Significance:
New Mexico Homesteader
Place of Birth:
Enterprise, Coffee County, Alabama
Date of Birth:
January 6, 1895
Place of Death:
Vado, Dona Ana County, New Mexico
Date of Death:
January 2, 1991
Place of Burial:
Vado, Dona Ana County, New Mexico
Cemetery Name:
Vado Riverview Cemetery
In 1903, thirteen African Americans including Francis Boyer’s parents, Frank and Ella Boyer, formed the largest black homesteader community in New Mexico: Blackdom. At 21 years old Francis followed in his parent’s steps and filed for a homestead claim near Blackdom.
On March 30th, 1916, Francis L. Boyer filed Homestead Entry #034394 at the Roswell, New Mexico Land Office for 160 acres near Blackdom, New Mexico. On September 15 of that same year, Boyer established actual residence.
Francis Boyer lived at his homestead with his wife, Louise Thompson Boyer, and two children, Francis D. Boyer (1918) and Mary Louise Boyer (1920). He built a two-room house, a chicken coop, coral, and cultivated 20 acres of land. He also planted sugar cane and beans, but an untimely drought resulted in a small yield. While proving up on his homestead, Boyer was conscripted into the Army as a Private First Class and fought in WWI. He served from August 3, 1918 to July 17, 1919.
Before Francis Boyer could receive his patent, he first needed a final proof of his entry claim, meaning someone to verify his improvements. This came in the form of Boyer’s brother, Eustace T. Boyer, and father, Francis M. Boyer, who, on November 18, 1920, completed two witness testimonials for the U.S. Land Office of Roswell, New Mexico. Finally, On May 23, 1921, at the age of 26, the fruits of Boyer’s labor and patience culminated in his acquisition of land patent #807324.
Francis and Louise Boyer would later have ten more children: Emma G. Boyer (1921), Eustace D. Boyer (1923), Robert R. Boyer (1925), Copeland Spencer Boyer (1927), Betty Marie Boyer (1929), Olive Boyer (1931), Melba Murline Boyer (1932), Ramona Yvonne Boyer (1935), Carl Boyer (1936), and Emmett Lanear Boyer (1939). Many of his children never lived on Boyer’s homestead.
Francis, his parents, and four of his brothers moved to Vado, New Mexico in the 1920s in hopes of creating a "black city" after Blackdom did not work out. For a while, schools, churches, and businesses in Vado were dominated by blacks, but families moved out as wages plunged. The Boyer families lived on the same street and raised their families in Vado. In 1977, Francis was still farming, operated a garage doing occasional jobs for friends, and helped keep the town's water supply going. Francis L. Boyer died in Vado in 1991 at the age of 95.
Learn more about Black Homesteading in America.
Sources:
1920, 1930, & 1940 U.S. Federal Census
Patent Details - BLM GLO Records - 160 acre homestead
"Sons Recall Early Days in Vado" Las Cruces Sun-News. September 18, 1977, p. 26.
"Vado Sisters Die in Crash" Las Cruces Sun-News. June 22, 1966, p. 1.