McSween property site

I have posted the McSween property article on photobucket. this is suppose to be the url https://s478.photobucket.com/album. I'm not very good at computer stuff so let me know if it didn't work. lol

Thanks for the sharing the McSween Site Article with me Linda.

Bronte wrote:

Thanks for the sharing the McSween Site Article with me Linda.

You were able to view it then?

linda J wrote:

Bronte wrote:

Thanks for the sharing the McSween Site Article with me Linda.

You were able to view it then?

Yes it was alittle fuzzy so I magnified it and I could see it that way.

I should have told you, that you may have to magnify it. It was an interesting article I thought.

I also enjoyed that article. It's interesting that they did the dig in the lot between the Tunstall Store and the Fresquez house. The last time I was in Lincoln I talked to the head ranger (originally from Oklahoma!!) and she told me there was recently an archeological dig in the driveway between the Fresquez house and the large, double-doored house next door. During this dig they found charred remnants of a wall. I believe she stated that the remnants were examined by a lab and confirmed to be burned adobe. It's also noted in more than one source of information that some people think the back part of the Fresquez house is actually the back part of the McSween house that didn't burn. I have no idea where this conclusion came from but I've seen it more than once. I would really love to read the results of that recent dig!!

Me too Chris. How interesting. I love stuff like that. (archaelogy)

They may have dug there looking for the graves of Tunstall and McSween (et all). The corral at the Tunstall Store began at the back northeast corner went east. The gate (from which the Regulators fired at Brady) faced south. The corral wall then turned north towards the river. The burial sites were in the adjacent lot to the east where that house is now.

The McSween house began about thirty to forty yards to the west of the Tunstrall Store, which at the time was seventy-eight feet wide (it has since been added on to on the west end). McSween’s house itself was about 50 feet wide (not counting the fenced in yard area). The property was pretty much surrounded by adobe wall or plank fence.

Cliff,

I've never seen measurements for the size of the McSween house or the Tunstall store so thanks for posting those.

It's interesting to note that the 1928 edition of Pat Garrett's "Authentic Life" has a photograph of the back of the corral wall and storage shed behind the Tunstall store. The rock foundation for that wall is still there.

There is also a rock foundation that begins at the back of the driveway where the burned remnants of adobe were excavated. This foundation extends toward the two-story house to the west of the McSween site. If the west wing of the McSween house was in that driveway, as seems likely from the dig, then there's a good chance that foundation is from the walls that surrounded the McSween house. That would also be the general area where McSween's shed, from which wood was collected to fire the house, stood. Also, at the east end of that foundation is a large depression with a lot of trees growing out of it. I suspect that might have been an outhouse for the McSween house. The drawing of the McSween residence from the
Dudley Court of Inquiry only shows one outhouse on the east side of the residence. If this depression is in fact from an outhouse then it would have been behind the western wing of the house. It could be that the McSween house had two outhouses or that depression, if from an outhouse, might be from a later era.

linda J wrote:

I have posted the McSween property article on photobucket. this is suppose to be the url https://s478.photobucket.com/album. I'm not very good at computer stuff so let me know if it didn't work. lol

Chris, that is a good posting and, it is good to see you on the forum. I missed ya buddy.

Russ

Our private 'berrying(sic) ground' Mrs McSween described it in a letter to Tunstall senior.
She buried her husband pretty unceremoniously but probably had no option given the circumstances;later she was unsure of the exact location of his grave.

Did'nt Colonel Behrens( ? Tunstall's nephew) do a dig in the twenties when he recovered the remains of a red bearded man?

Tunstall,McSween,Daniel Huff,McNab and Huston Chapman are the main oocupants.Anyone know of any other interments?.

Yes on both counts Paul. The dig in the mid 1900’s (I have been told by what I consider reliable sources) uncovered the remains of a red haired man. Along with the persons you named they also uncovered a few children who had apparently died of the fever not long after the 1878 burials.
The exact site of the burials is hotly debated. I believe, from a collection of what I have learned thus far, that it is just behind the garage of that small house just east of the Tunstall Store. The river has eroded the banks over the years (when it still flowed strongly) and the back yard of that place is somewhat smaller than it was in the day.
As you probably know, there is a lot of much more specific information available on the McSween House that goes miles beyond the loose speculation and guarded comments in this series of posts. But "sharing" research is just that – "sharing", which means two ways.