- Brief History of Tobe Turpen's Trading Post »
The photo displayed to the left was taken in 1900 at the original sight of Tobe Turpens Trading Post in Gallup and shows John Lorenzo Hubbell, the owner, pictured in the center wearing a dark suit and hat. The counter shown in this photo was moved to the current Tobe Turpen's Trading Post on Second Street in Gallup NM and can be seen there today.
The Turpen family has been in the trading business for more than just 60 years. Tobe Turpen Sr. opened his Gallup trading post in 1939 in the building...- Thomas Curtis Sr. / Leekya Deyuse Butterfly Box »
78 years is a long time, it is pretty much the life expectancy for a US citizen. Navajo silver making is thought to have been around the last 160 years, two lives. Lots of things have...- Sally Noe »
- Perry Null Trading:
- Are you a lifetime resident of Gallup?
- Sally Noe:
- No, I missed it by one month. My father worked for JcPenny and they moved him from Kansas City, MO to Gallup, NM in 1926. My mother was pregnant with me, so after I was a month old we moved to Gallup, missed it by a month.
- Perry Null Trading:
- Did they keep your father in Gallup?
- Sally Noe:
- It was the Great Depression and if you had a job you kept it. JCPenny moved him every two years, so we moved to Albuquerque and Bisbee, AZ. The Depression was ending and JCPenny wanted to move my father again. He was tired of moving around and accepted a position with Swinford Clothing Store in Gallup.
- Perry Null Trading:
- So you started school in Gallup and graduated from there?
- Gallup: Pilot Gateways Magazine »
Pilot Getaways magazine is for the aviator who is looking for adventure travel. This gorgeous publication does an excellent job of finding places of interest across the Country and promoting area attractions. Crista Worthy is the Technical Editor of the magazine and did a feature on Gallup, New Mexico. She is also a Native American art enthusiast and a big fan of the Four Corners area. We have put some of the...- Roland Kamps »
- Perry Null Trading:
- What brought the Kamps family to Gallup?
- Roland Kamps:
- My father, Jacob R., came here in 1927. He was a Minister for the Christian Reform Church and they had a Mission at Rehoboth, right outside of Gallup.
- Perry Null Trading:
- Did your father want to come to this area?
- Roland Kamps:
- He came from a time when being a Minister of God was a very prestigious calling. He was one of those Godly men who teached God’s word and let that take him where he needed to be. (Laughs) I was conceived in China, born in Michigan, and raised in New Mexico. So you can see he was willing to go where needed.
- Perry Null Trading:
- Did your father have to learn to speak Navajo to do his Mission work?
- Jimmy Turpen »
- Perry Null Trading
- Where should we begin?
- Jimmy Turpen
- It is your interview (laugh).
- Perry Null Trading
- The Turpen name is a well recognized Indian Trader name and has a long history associated with this area. How did your family come to this area?
- Jimmy Turpen
- In 1916 a relative died at the Shonto Trading Post (very remote part of the Navajo reservation, northeast of Tuba City) so my Aunt Trula Richardson got in contact with my father to come out here. Trula was responsible for bringing out many of the early traders in my family.
- Perry Null Trading
- What type of trading was the Shonto Trading Post actively involved in?
- Tobe Turpen Jr »
- Perry Null Trading:
- How did your father get involved in the Trading business?
- Tobe Turpen Jr:
- My Aunt was married to C.D. Richardson who brought my father to Winslow around 1918.
- Perry Null Trading:
- Which Trading Post did he work at?
- Tobe Turpen Jr:
- He spent a short period of time at some Posts around Winslow, but most of his time was in Shonto. It took one week by wagon to get from Flagstaff to Shonto, when my father was dropped off he was told they would see him in a couple of weeks. He didn’t see anyone for another six months, except the customers at Shonto.
- Perry Null Trading:
- How long did he stay at Shonto?
- Esther Vanderwagon »
- Perry Null Trading
- Lets first start with how Vanderwagen, NM got its name?
- Esther Vanderwagen
- In the early 1940s a family by the name Keeleys owned the White Water Trading Post and they wanted to create the town White Water. However, the name White Water already belonged to a town in southern New Mexico. The Keeley’s daughter was married to Richard Vanderwagen, and since the Vanderwagen was well known in the area they used his last name for the town (it serves as a Post Office where people in the area receive their mail).
- Perry Null Trading
- When did your family come to this area?
- Esther Vanderwagen
- My mother and father, Grace and Albert Garnaat, were missionaries for the Christian Reform Church and came to Orabi (Hopi Reservation) in 1941. Soon after they arrived in Arizona they went to do mission work closer to the Gallup area. When we came from Michigan I was in the fourth grade.
- Perry Null Trading
- Were their a lot of missionary families here?
- Zuni Pueblo »
I do not know as much as I would like about the Zuni culture, but I do know many Zuni people. The one thing that always comes to mind when I think of the people of Zuni is their friendly, peaceful, and very welcoming personality. It has always been a gorgeous place to take company and enjoy the wonderful Zuni tamales,...
