Honoring the Cowboys: a 2011 Deep West Video by Cherie Ann Cloudt

Deep West Video filmmaker Cherie Ann Cloudt pays homage to her great grandmother who, more than a century ago, documented her life on a ranch in pictures.

(Music)

Cherrie Ann: I really didn't know
my great-grandmother.

She passed away
when I was three years old.

But she left me with a beautiful legacy
of my family's ranching heritage.

Daddy's old album held a few photographs
of my great-grandparents.

And I grew up with an image

of a kindly looking woman

that I have been named after.

So in 2003 when I acquired

a large collection of photographs
taken by my great-grandmother,

I was in shock.

I had no idea these
photographs even existed.

I've been researching and writing
about the family for 20 years.

And suddenly, I have faces
to go with the stories.

As I sifted through the old photographs

I began to recognize

faces of my ancestors at work and at play.

Living life to the fullest.

This is their story.

And this is my tribute
to my great-grandmother

who documented her family's life

in the early 1900s.

Martha Ann Melinda Ford was born in 1870

in Bastrop County, Texas.

When she was 18 she married
a young man from Blanco County

by the name of Maurice George de Cloudt.

They settled down in Grape Creek,
in the Hill country of Texas

to start their family.

But were soon lured to New Mexico
with the promise of free government land.

They built a little house

and my great-granddad began
to fulfill his promise to the government

by ploughing the dry prairie
to build a farm.

Life was not easy and neighbors
were few and far between.

Martha and George had seven children.

The oldest was Arthur,

my grandfather came next,

Maurice, but everyone called him Jip.

Benjamin Aaron,

Calvin Damron,

three girls - Maude, Blanch and aunt Opha.

There were also a couple other
characters that lived with them.

Martha's father, Benjamin Franklin Ford,
who was a saddle maker.

And her younger brother Elijah,

but everybody just called him Uncle Boog.

Here's an interesting story
about Uncle Boog.

He was breaking a colt that fell with him
and broke his leg.

Well, while it was in a cast,
he tried to cross a swollen Frisco River

to help the neighbors,

and his horse slipped
and fell in the creek

and crushed that broken leg.

Now they had to take it off and gave him
a wooden board for a leg.

Daddy always said,
when Uncle Boog took a nap

he'd take that leg off

and stand it in a corner.

So when he fell asleep, the kids
would take the board and hide it.

Hm. He sure did cuss 'em.

Grandpa tried to raise
a few head of cattle

in these dry, desolate conditions.

But what really took to the land
was Angora goats

which his father had also raised in Texas.

They soon acquired a herd of over 1,000.

Grandpa always said the goats paid
for the kids, the cattle and the horses.

And there were horses -
lots of horses.

They were the lifeblood
of the Cloudt family.

Their love of horses is evidenced

by the many photographs
in this collection.

The boys spent countless hours a day
breaking colts to sell.

Daddy said that his dad an uncles

built a round pen
that would hold 200 horses.

And there was a snubbing post
wherever you roped one.

As soon as they had that bronc
saddled and mounted,

why, they just turned him loose
on the prairie and let him buck

until he stopped.

Hm. Life was good.

As there were thousands of acres
of unfenced prairie.

No shortage of horses to ride

and there were always weekend visitors.

The boys also ran a freight service

hauling supplies to neighboring
towns and ranches.

One job even took them to Cloudcroft

where they hauled giant logs
down the mountain

to help build the city of Alamogordo.

Of course, all the boys packed guns.

Hm. I think the whole family packed guns.

And there must have been plenty
of quick draw exhibitions

and even showing off
at the pretty girls that came to visit.

I imagine there were plenty
of ladies coming around

with those forehands
and cowboys showing off.

Some jobs were really tough

and it took all the young ranchers

to help the visiting nurse
get over the fence.

One year, two biplanes landed
on the flats east of Magdalena.

Family must have read about it
in the Silver City newspaper.

So they packed up
and rode horseback for two days

to see and photograph the planes.

That must have been
one hack of a thrilling sight!

All eight of George and Martha's kids
played music instruments.

And of course, they loved
the latest clothing styles,

as evidenced by aunt Opha's big fur coat.

And my granddad in his continental suit.

Every day, life was worth capturing

and Martha must have
always had a camera ready,

as there was no shortage
of subjects to photograph.

Automobiles were also
a big part of their lives,

especially when company showed up in one.

They loved to tour New Mexico
and Arizona to see the sights.

They must have been pretty well off.

You know, they had that large
touring car and a Model A.

And that big truck for hauling supplies.

I guess you could say those goats
really did pay for everything.

Martha continued to photograph
her family into her 70s.

It was while looking at these last photos

that I realized how much
great-grandmother loved the horses,

and the ranching culture.

Because she'd spent
her entire life documenting it.

It is still hard for me to believe
that she was so gifted and yet so humble.

That quality is pretty rare today.

I feel so privileged to call her
my great-grandmother.

To share in her life

and to be able to share
not only the life she loved,

but her extraordinary talent.

The last photograph taken
of Martha and George together

was on their 60th wedding anniversary

in Nogales.

As I held this old photograph,

I got to thinking how appropriate

that they were sitting
in this little wagon together

since they had driven a wagon from Texas
to New Mexico 55 years earlier.