Historical Marker

Sally Chisum Robert "First Lady of Artesia" (1858-1936)


Sallie was 19 when she arrived from Texas at her Uncle John Chisum’s Jinglebob Land and Livestock Company ranch south of Roswell. Her ranching skills rivaled those of the cowboys she joined driving cattle up her uncle’s Goodnight-Loving Trail to Colorado. She and her second husband opened the first post office and reading room in what became Artesia. Her landholdings are part of Artesia’s original townsite and include the site of her cast-stone house where she raised many orphans. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Some of her diaries are preserved at the Artesia Historical Museum and Art Center. They include entries about her uncle, Billy the Kid, the Regulators, and the Lincoln County War. .