1. Lucien Bonaparte Maxwell was a mountain man, rancher, scout, and farmer who at one point owned more than 1,700,000 acres.
15 Facts About Lucien Maxwell
1. 2.
Lucien Maxwell was born in Kaskaskia, Illinois Territory, about three months before Illinois became a state.
3.
Lucien Maxwell was the son of Hugh Maxwell, an Irish immigrant, and Odile Menard, daughter of Pierre Menard, a French-Canadian fur trader who was serving on the Illinois Territorial Council and who became the first Lieutenant Governor of the State of Illinois shortly after Maxwell's birth.
4.
Lucien Maxwell learned something of the fur trading business from his maternal grandfather during his early teens, and his grandfather was Maxwell's role model.
5.
At age 17, after two years at the Vincentian college in Missouri, Lucien Maxwell struck out on his own, heading west.
6.
Lucien Maxwell met and became fast friends with Kit Carson, who was almost nine years older.
7.
In 1844, Lucien Maxwell travelled to Taos, New Mexico where he married Carlos Beaubien's daughter, Luz Beaubien.
8.
Lucien Maxwell was there when the newly installed New Mexico Territorial Governor Charles Bent was killed in the Taos Revolt.
9.
Lucien Maxwell's wife survived but her brother Narciso Beaubien was killed.
10.
In 1848, Lucien Maxwell survived an ambush while delivering supplies to a cabin on Ponil Creek.
11.
Lucien Maxwell built a large house and Carson had a smaller adobe house.
12.
Lucien Maxwell sold his Rayado property and moved to Cimarron, New Mexico Territory, which was on the Cimarron River.
13.
Lucien Maxwell leased land to the miners and sold them supplies.
14.
Lucien Maxwell then moved to Fort Sumner, New Mexico Territory, which he purchased from the US government in 1869 when Fort Sumner was abandoned.
15.
Lucien Maxwell died at Fort Sumner in 1875 and was buried nearby.