Something different: the close ties between New Mexico and Ohio

12.26.2023

Normally this space is dominated by political/policy news, analysis, and commentary, but this post is more of a discussion of interesting history quirks: specifically the unique relationship between New Mexico and Ohio. Full disclosure: RGF president Paul Gessing was born and raised in Cincinnati, OH but his family has ties to New Mexico dating back to WWII.

We at RGF are ALWAYS looking for patterns in the data so we don’t believe the unique ties between NM are by chance. Here are some of them:

  1. New Mexico became a state in 1912 with the stroke of President William Howard Taft’s pen. Taft was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio.
  2. Did you know that New Mexico has 5 counties named after presidents? Those presidents/counties are: McKinley, Grant, Harding, Lincoln, and Roosevelt. What may be most surprising is that all five of those presidents were Republicans (considering New Mexico’s deep “blue” Democratic Party voting history for nearly 100 years. But, for our purposes it is equally interesting that three of those five presidents (McKinley, Grant, and Harding) are Ohioans.
  3. There aren’t many Albuquerque mayors of the distant past that have strong name ID in the City, but Clyde Tingley is likely the one. It helps that he was ALSO Governor during the New Deal which truly shaped New Mexico. Tingley was born in Ohio and his name adorns Tingley Beach, Tingley Hospital, and now a downtown hotel.
  4. The Teapot Dome scandal (the Watergate of its time) involved Ohio-born President Harding and his New Mexico-born Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall. 
  5. Ohio-born William T. Sherman (shortly after the Civil War) helped negotiate the 1868 Treaty with the Navajo that sent them back from the unsuitable Bosque Redondo in Eastern New Mexico and gave them the current Reservation northwestern New Mexico and other neighboring states.
  6. NFL hall of fame quarterback and Dallas Cowboys great Roger Staubach was from Cincinnati, Ohio and played for Roswell’s New Mexico Military Institute before moving on to the Naval Academy.  

  7. Sister Blandina Segale is currently up for sainthood in the Catholic Church. She was born in Italy, but came to Cincinnati, Ohio early in life and joined the Sisters of Charity. She worked throughout New Mexico and Southern Colorado during the late 1800s. You can find an excellent video extensively set in New Mexico done by a Cincinnati TV station here.

Are we missing any connections between New Mexico and and Ohio or other states?