Cuentos de Juan Clancy

Cuentos de Juan Clancy is a collection of many of the articles written by Juan Clancy. Juan Jorge Clancy was a member of a pioneer New Mexico family. His father, Capt. John G. Clancey came to New Mexico in 1873. He eventually settled in the area south of Puerto de Luna in the area he affectionately called "El Alamo Gordo." His home was located along the Alamogordo Creek where it joins with the Pecos River. There the former sea captain operated a large sheep ranch. The captain and his...
More Description

Cuentos de Juan Clancy is a collection of many of the articles written by Juan Clancy. Juan Jorge Clancy was a member of a pioneer New Mexico family. His father, Capt. John G. Clancey came to New Mexico in 1873. He eventually settled in the area south of Puerto de Luna in the area he affectionately called "El Alamo Gordo." His home was located along the Alamogordo Creek where it joins with the Pecos River. There the former sea captain operated a large sheep ranch. The captain and his wife, Piedad Gurule had four children, Camila Moore, the captain's step-daughter, and Juan Jorge (the captain's namesake, though in Spanish), Carlos Cornelius and Carolina. Juan and Camila became school teachers. Carlos was a civil servant and held several elected office in De Baca and Guadalupe counties. Carolina started out as a teacher and left her teaching duties after marriage to be a mother and housekeeper. Captain Clancey is known to have met Billy the Kid on at least one occasion, Christmas Day 1880. It is also believed that the famous outlaw would frequent the captain's sheep camps in his frequent sojourns through the area. Their familiarity with knowledge about Billy the Kid would lead to both Juan and Carlos being considered experts about him. They were frequently interviewed and cited in various articles written about the outlaw. Both Juan and Carlos were also artists. Carlos' art projects were often about Billy the Kid related subjects. Juan and Carlos also used Southwest topics in their art work. Juan was also a writer and contributed articles to area newspapers. He was a feature writer for several years for the Santa Rosa News. He preferred to use the name "J. J. Clancy" for his articles. He was also a frequent contributor to several New Mexico newspapers in their letters to the editor section. His newspaper articles provided an account of many events from the early stories about the Puerto de Luna area. They are important in helping to preserve that early history and lore. Clancy used his knowledge of past events gained through his own personal observations as well as through the stories he had learned from some of the early settlers of the area.