The curiosity that comes from a trip to the cemetery

Sometimes getting to know our history begins simply by stopping to read a name on a headstone.

As a member of the Doña Ana County Historical Society, I spend a good deal of time researching the lives of people who once called Doña Ana County home. Every so often, I come across a name that leads me down an unexpected path — and into a story worth remembering.

One such name is O. Burton Witt, a veteran of the Spanish-American War who died in Las Cruces at just 28 years old and is buried at Odd Fellows Cemetery. I first came across Witt’s name while researching two old newspaper accounts — one in the Rio Grande Republican from May 1914 and another in the Las Cruces Sun-News from May 1917. Both described local residents and city leaders gathering to honor deceased veterans buried in Doña Ana County.

These community observances took place during an era when the traditions surrounding the holidays we now know as Memorial Day and Veterans Day were still evolving. That discovery made me wonder: Who was O. Burton Witt, and how did a young soldier from Tennessee come to be buried in Las Cruces, New Mexico?

O. Burton Witt was born in Hamblen County, Tennessee, on May 25, 1875. At the age of 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Army in Nashville on March 29, 1893. He was assigned to the 1st U.S. Infantry in California and took part in the Army’s response to the railroad strikes occurring during that period.

He was discharged in June 1896 at Angel Island, California. Witt reenlisted on Sept. 10, 1896, joining Company M of the 17th U.S. Infantry at Columbus Barracks, Ohio. Two years later, with the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, his unit trained in Tampa, Florida, before deploying to Cuba.

On July 1, 1898, Witt participated in the Battle of El Caney. The American victory there came at a heavy cost but helped clear the way for U.S. forces advancing toward Santiago and the fighting at San Juan Heights that same day.

When the war with Spain ended, Witt’s military service continued. He volunteered for duty in the Philippines during the Philippine-American War, fighting in and around Manila and northern Luzon. While serving there, he re-enlisted again in September 1899 and was wounded in action that same month, suffering a gunshot wound to his thumb.

He eventually attained the rank of sergeant. By 1900, however, Witt was back at Angel Island, where he received his final discharge from the Army. Exactly what brought his military career to an end is unclear. His combat wound may have played a role, but records also suggest that his health was failing. Tuberculosis — and diseases such as malaria encountered by American soldiers serving overseas — were serious threats to veterans of that era.

Following his discharge, Witt returned to Tennessee where he met and married Mary “Mollie” Snapp. As Witt's health declined, he and “Mollie” looked west.

The dry climate of the Southwest was widely promoted as beneficial to people suffering from tuberculosis and other respiratory illnesses. Southern New Mexico and, in particular Las Cruces, attracted many people hoping that sunshine, dry air and the region’s sanitariums might offer relief.

On April 11, 1901, the couple purchased a house and parcel of land south of Mesilla for $100 and made their home there. We know little about Witt’s daily life during his short time in Doña Ana County. Perhaps he tried to regain his health. Perhaps he worked when he was able. Perhaps he and “Mollie” simply hoped to build a life together in their new home.

On Oct. 19, 1903, Witt deeded the property to his wife for the same $100 purchase price. The transaction was not finalized until Jan. 4, 1904, but the timing suggests a young husband who understood that his life might be nearing its end and wanted to provide some security for his wife and infant daughter.

Less than two months after signing the deed, O. Burton Witt died in Las Cruces on Dec. 12, 1903, from complications of tuberculosis and was laid to rest at Odd Fellows Cemetery in Las Cruces.

Witt had filed for a military pension with the U.S. government in 1901 as an invalid veteran. Following his death, “Mollie” applied for a widow’s pension on Jan. 11, 1904. It was approved and became an important source of income for her in the years that followed.

The couple had one child, Viola Winifred Witt, born May 30, 1903, just six months before her father's death. After losing her husband, “Mollie” sold the New Mexico property and returned to Tennessee with her young daughter.

Years later, Viola married Earl George Hudson, and the couple eventually settled in Bakersfield, California, where Viola worked as a nurse. “Mollie” joined her daughter there and found work as a domestic.

Then tragedy visited the family once again. On March 9, 1938, Viola died from tuberculosis, the same disease that had taken her father nearly 35 years earlier. She was only 34.

Having lost both her husband and her only child to tuberculosis at young ages, a heartbroken “Mollie” returned to Tennessee. She never remarried and died on March 31, 1945, at age 66. Neither she nor Viola had any other children. With “Mollie”’s death, this small family line came to an end. But their story did not.

More than 120 years after Witt’s death, his grave remains here in Las Cruces. O. Burton Witt lived only 28 years, but those years took him from Tennessee to California, Cuba, the Philippines and, finally, the Mesilla Valley.

He served his country in war, was wounded in action, became a sergeant, married, became a father and came to southern New Mexico hoping its climate might give him a chance at a longer life.

I honor the memory of O. Burton Witt as a man who served his country with courage and who, as his life drew to a close, appears to have been thinking about the welfare of the young family he would leave behind.

His is just one of the many stories resting quietly in the cemeteries of Doña Ana County. If you would like to pay your respects to O. Burton Witt, you can visit his grave at Odd Fellows Cemetery in Las Cruces. And while you are there, take a little time to look around. Numerous other veterans—and many other men and women who helped shape the history of our community—are buried there and across the street at Masonic Cemetery.