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Brown, Maxine Pounds

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About

Life in rural Cedarvale, N.M.

Interviewee Maxine Pounds Brown, female, born in 1928
Date Range 1928-2007
Date & Location August 4, 2007, Cedarvale, N.M.
Project Rural Lifeways
Region Central New Mexico
Number of Tapes 1
Transcribed September 22, 2009
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Abstract

Tape 1, Side A

The consultant's father came from Kansas and met and married her mother when she was sixteen years old. She was from the Pinos Mountain area of New Mexico. Her grandfather, E.E. Pounds, originally purchased land and sold a half-section to her father. She recalls that her grandfather had wanted to be a cowboy at age 34. Tape is turned off, followed by a recap of the above discussion.

Maxine was born in an adobe home in 1928. The home had once been a stage stop. The home and one-and-a-half sections of land were purchased from a Mexican man and was located five miles from Cedarvale. Her parents eventually built another house. Maxine's father ran sheep and cattle on the land. She says that she was her dad's "boy." In 1934 her dad sold the sheep because her mother hated them. She has two siblings, a younger brother and a sister.

Maxine attended the Cedarvale school, which was a one-room school house. After one year, a larger school had been built, and she attended it until she started eighth grade. After eighth grade she attended the school in Corona.

She married James Brown in 1954 and now lives on the old Gustin place. Her husband received a GI loan for $10,000. He paid $9,600 for the one-and-a-half sections and ran cattle on the land. Maxine grew up on horseback, and recalls that there were not many social events with the neighbors. Wagons were used for travel. She says that she was scared on her first day of school and remembers that the vehicle was not a real school bus as we know it today.

Her father was hard on her and gave her many chores, including caring for the cows and chickens. The family made income from trade for fruit; she says that it was hard work to put up the produce in cans. Her father was not happy with her when she decided to go to school in Las Cruces for two years. She eventually went to Santa Fe and found work in a bank. Her father wanted her closer to home, so he got her a job at the Corona Trading Company as a bookkeeper until she married.

The tape is turned off while they break for lunch. After lunch, the discussion is centered around Maxine's children and the death of her son.