At first sight, these two empty envelopes might seem not to tell much of a story, but in fact they do. The envelope at left is postmarked July 20, 1922, and the one at right January 17, 1923. (The year on the latter one is immediately to the left of Washington's neck on the stamp.) The typewritten "2928" at the top of that envelope is the serial number of a 1923 license plate renewal seal ("tab"). The 1923 registration records show that this was a renewal for license plate number 34839, which was originally issued in the latter half of 1922. The records for both years are “W. J. T. Adair, Las Cruces, 1922 Ford touring car, s/n 6158789.” The 1922 license plate itself obviously could not have been sent in the envelope, so the plate had to have been mailed separately, with the envelope probably containing just the registration card. The 1923 envelope likely contained both the 1923 registration card and the small 1923 renewal seal. Ford Motor Company records show that the car was built on June 22, 1922. Prior unrelated research established that the Ford dealer in Las Cruces during those years was a Mr. Willis D. Newton. So the car was in Las Cruces and registered less than a month after it was manufactured, and it is reasonable to assume that Adair bought the car from Newton's dealership.
William Joseph T. Adair was born in Taos NM in 1891. He and his parents moved to Las Cruces sometime after 1900, where his father ran a grocery store until 1916. In 1920 William is listed in the census records as being single and working as a “salesman” in Las Cruces. He died in 1940 at an El Paso hospital where he was having surgery for a hernia and was buried in Las Cruces. His 1940 obituary notes that he was married and had children and ran a grocery store. It also notes that “all businesses in Las Cruces closed for his services” so he must have been well known to the community. The 1952 Las Cruces telephone book lists a Mrs. William Adair, who no doubt was William’s widow. William Adair’s wife was Paulina Garcia, born in Las Cruces in 1895. William and Paulina had four daughters and one son, “William.” Paulina died in 1977 in Las Cruces as Paulina Amador so she must have remarried. The Amadors were another family who were quite prominent in Las Cruces. Both photos courtesy David Gallus, via Joe Cody. Biographical information courtesy Rick Holben.
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