Who hasn’t heard of Billy The Kid? Nearly 142 years after his death, we hypothesize with wonder, contemplate the what-ifs, and share the controversy. Do you believe Pat Garrett killed The Kid on July 14th, 1881? Not only is his death questionable, but his life contains so much mystery too. When the movie Young Guns first hit the big screen, I was excited to see history preserved from the wild west. Young Guns II came out, and I wanted to prove or disprove the legendary Billy The Kid. So, my adventure began in 1881 for Billy and 1990 for me.
I was a girl growing up with a father who loved watching Western movies. Every Sunday morning, one particular tv channel showed a Western every week. Dad would often discuss various characters from the wild west days and share his opinions. From the O.K. Corral to Butch Cassidy, I knew them all by name. But, when Dad spoke about Billy The Kid, he didn’t refer to him as an outlaw like Jesse James and the Younger Brothers. Instead, Dad looked at him as a kid and defended some of his actions. Years later, I tried to take Dad to see Young Guns II, but he didn’t care for the music in the previews. I thought Bon Jovi was the perfect mix bringing Billy The Kid to modern-day preservation with a twist. When I asked Dad if he believed the story about Brushy Bill Roberts, he shook his head. “No, he said. “I don’t think the kid knew who shot him. Pat Garrett wasn’t going to give him a chance. Nope, he died that night.”
After years of research, I think Dad was right about Pat Garrett. If Garrett gave Billy a chance, he might not live to tell about it. So, what makes up the history of Billy The Kid? What was he really like? Did he enjoy reading about himself in the papers? Did he view himself as a good person standing up for the right cause? Or was he mad at the world and everybody in it? Questions, questions, with very few answers. Fact: Billy The Kid shot and killed deputies Bob Olinger and James Bell on Thursday, April 28th, 1881. If the deaths of Olinger and Bell had not occurred, Billy was to hang on Friday, May 13th, 1881. In an interview before his trial, the Las Vegas Gazette reported Billy making the following statement. “What’s the use of looking at the gloomy side of everything? The laugh’s on me this time.” The trial wasn’t a game, and the Santa Fe Ring judge, Warren Bristol, quickly ordered the trial forward after the prosecution finished with their witnesses. The defense attorney called on no witnesses, and Billy did not testify. The jury found him guilty, and the judge sentenced execution by hanging until he was dead, dead, dead. At this point, what did Billy have left? I believe he thought of three things. First were his friends, second was his youth, and third was hope. After he escaped Lincoln County jail in April, he had 77 days to live, or did he?
If you question the death of Billy The Kid, try solving the puzzle of his birth. Historians proclaim Texas, Illinois, Indiana, and New York are locations for his first days on earth. What did we find?
I have collected many sources over the years concerning Billy The Kid. These are books, land patents, court records, baptism, census, and other documentation. The one book that everyone has but I don’t is by Frederick Nolan, entitled, The West of Billy The Kid. Today much of the written material about the Lincoln County War and New Mexico’s history has developed around Billy The Kid. Some of the information is legend or folklore, and we must separate the stories from the actual events. The birth of Billy The Kid takes us back to Manhattan, New York. Patrick and Catherine McCarty had a son in 1759. The infant, William Henry McCarty, holds a baptism record at Saint Peter’s Catholic Church on Barclay Street, south of Greenwich Village. The church building used today is the same building that Billy The Kid and his parents attended for the baptism. The date of the record is Wednesday, September 28th, 1859. Traditions and customs offer vital information to genealogists. It was customary, in accordance with the Catholic faith, to baptize your child after eight days of birth. But the records indicate that the majority born during this period were aged 3 to 6 months at the time of baptism. The actual birth date for young William Henry McCarty ranges from April to September. We can actually narrow it down even further if we look at the 1860 census.
Look closely at the New York census record above. #1562 is Patrick McCarty and his family. Here we see Patrick-age 30, Catherine-age 29, Bridget-age 7, and Henry-age 1. The date recorded at the top of the page is June 26th, 1860. The census proves that Billy The Kid’s birthdate is before the census date. The other details list the family in the 1st Division, Ward 1, which covered all areas south of Liberty Street and Maiden Lane in Manhattan. Estimated birth dates for other family members are Patrick-1830, Catherine-1831, and Bridget-1853. Another question regarding Patrick, did he serve during the Civil War? We located one Patrick McCarty serving in the 69th Regiment New York National Guard. Is this man the father of Billy The Kid? We invite you to visit the links for more research and fascinating discoveries.
Battle Dates & Troop Movements for the 69th Regiment infantry-1st regiment irish brigade
69th New York volunteer infantry regiment 1861-1865
the draft riots in lower manhattan summer of 1863
Letter From Patrick McCarty to Sweeny Family Dated September 8th, 1864
Naming pattern traditions provide detail about a couple’s children. We have evidence that most Irish couples in 1860 named their first-born son after the father’s father. Of course, not everyone followed this custom, but if Patrick and Catherine followed tradition, this could lead us to Billy The Kid’s grandfather as his namesake. We located a William Henry McCarty, born in Ireland circa 1805 and died May 26th, 1849. The New York Municipal Death Records state the man’s address as 92 Henry Street. The location on modern maps pinpoints the residence less than a mile from Patrick’s census record neighborhood in 1860. We’ve not located a will for William McCarty, but we believe his gravesite is at Wards Island Cemetery in Manhattan.
Historians proclaim Billy’s mother as Catherine Devine, but the proof has yet to surface. Church records are not accessible for Saint Peter’s Catholic Church. Discrepancies involve the direct ownership of the documents between the church and the New York Archives Division. We believe the records dwell at the church, but until we can access them, proof of Patrick and Catherine’s marriage and the details remain unresolved.
Two key elements occur after 1865. One, the family leaves Manhattan, New York, and begins migrating west. Two people disappear from the family as they travel, Patrick and Bridget. Speculations place Patrick’s death in Tennessee or Indiana, while Bridget’s disappearance is a complete mystery. Catherine McCarty continues her journey with her two sons, Henry and Joseph. The original traveling party seems to consist of Reuben Brown and his family, Henry Sullivan and his younger sister, and others we’ve not proven yet. Pinpointing their stops is difficult, but they seem to lay over for a period of time in Indiana. Months later, we find Catherine with her sons, accompanied by a different group. Henry Antrim, J. Morgan with his wife Abigail, and William Tooney are on the list. Catherine McCarty arrived in Kansas in 1871, and a land patent bears her name in Sedgwick County. Catherine received 160 acres dated May 1st, 1873, south of Wichita.
From this point, the rest is history, my friends. We will continue our journey down the Billy The Kid trail and hopefully visit New Mexico and Kansas soon. The struggles that families endured on their journey west deserve our full attention. Trips were not easy, and many died along the way. For Catherine to continue her journey of hardships and achieve landowner status is proof of her determination to succeed. I like to think that she passed on these qualities to his sons. For Billy, it was common practice to change your name from town to town, if your lifestyle consisted of gambling, cattle rustling, hanging around in saloons, and living from job to job. It became a way of life to change your identity to match your surroundings. From Henry Antrim to William H. Bonney to Billy The Kid, his personality and identity changed from one event to another. Henry Tunstall’s death, the Lincoln County War, his capture at Stinking Springs, the trial sentencing him to hang, and his escape from Lincoln County jail played a significant role in his short life. We can’t disregard the Santa Fe Ring because, without those key players, Lincoln County could be completely different today. The whole Billy The Kid story is like a whirlwind of events tossed into a wild dust storm in the desert. Nothing can change what happened, but we can still learn from the past.
One of the last letters that Billy wrote contains a curious statement. Over the months leading up to this death, Billy read the newspapers. He gave interviews from jail several times. His wit and sense of humor outlived him by 142 years. A letter addressed to Governor Lew Wallace seems to give us a glimpse into the mind of a twenty-year-old sentenced to death. Billy remarked to a reporter for the Las Vegas Gazette that “over two hundred men were killed during the Lincoln County War.” His indictment was the only one that went to trial. He went on to say, “They wouldn’t let me settle down. If they had, I wouldn’t be here today.” The pardon that was promised to Billy by Governor Wallace never came true. March 27th, 1881, begins with a letter stating Dear Sir. “For the last time, I ask. Will you keep your promise? I start below tomorrow. Send answer by bearer. Yours Respt, W. Bonney”
Years before my Dad died, I asked, “Why not call Billy The Kid for what he really was? An outlaw, a murderer, a thief?” He didn’t answer at first, and then he looked at me and said something I’ve never forgotten. “Sometimes you’re handed a good hand like a royal flush in poker. You think, ah, this is good; I’m all in. Sometimes it turns out that what you thought was a good hand was your worst nightmare. I think the kid wanted revenge for taking away his good hands. No matter what he did, he couldn’t get away from it. He couldn’t let things go. Yeah, he stole and killed, and that was wrong. The Lincoln County War was wrong. Stealing land from the people who owned it was wrong. The press hid the truth of what was really going on down there, and do you know why? Because if the truth got out to the public, men from everywhere would have joined the cause. What got him killed was not his cattle rustling or any other of his wrongdoings. What put the number on his head was when he decided to testify in court about what he witnessed with Tunstall’s death. He knew the players from the bottom to the top. The kid was an eyewitness to the whole thing. When he made that deal with the Governor, he sealed his fate. Trying to save himself and bring justice to the ones who started the mess got him killed.”
Do you believe Billy The Kid survived July 14th, 1881? How many of you can trace Billy’s family lineage? How many of you believe that Billy should have received his pardon? I think if he were alive today, he would find all of this attention amusing. Using one of Billy’s phrases, I think the laugh’s on us this time. Enjoy your journey to the past and keep digging for the records. The adventures await you!
Sources:
- Archdiocese of New York Archives & Records Management Ministries & Offices Saint Peter’s Catholic Church, Manhattan, New York
- Cedar Creek Township, Indiana-documentation, various materials dating to 1869 including wagon train data, traveling groups from Pennsylvania, and New York. (includes local data retrieved in 1998, 1999, and 2000 concerning store ledgers, routes leading from Ohio and Kentucky area)
- Cooper, Gale Billy The Kid’s Writings, Words & Wits published 2018 by Gelcour Books Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Immigration Passenger Lists: NARA Series M237 Roll 23: Lists May 1834 to July 1834-showing Patrick McCarty-age 5 landing in New York with siblings, children of William Henry McCarty-circa 1834.
- Jameson, W.C. Billy The Kid The Lost Interviews published 2017 by Creative Texts Publishers Barto, Pennsylvania
- Las Vegas Gazette Newspaper Archives 1879-1881
- Lincoln County, New Mexico Historical Society & Carrizozo Public Library & Archives (photos Tunstall Store, Lincoln County Courthouse, Letter to Governor Lew Wallace)
- Map of Sedgwick County, Kansas by unknown: Library of Congress: 1870, G4200, COLLM3, Drawer 2
- Morrison, William V. Alias Billy The Kid published 2015 by Creative Texts Publishing Barto, Pennsylvania
- New York Family History Organization: Manhattan Ward History: Wards of the Old City of New York: Table 1 pp. 776-777
- New York Municipal Death Records 1790-1979
- Otero, Miguel Antonio Jr. The Real Billy The Kid published 1998 by Arte Publico Press Houston, Texas
- Sederwall, Steven M. The Dirty on Billy The Kid published 2020 by Cold West Publishing Barto, Pennsylvania
- United States Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management: Kansas State Volume Patent: Accession Number-KS3590_.014: Issue Date 5/1/1873
- United States Federal Census 1860 New York, 1st Division, Ward 1-NARA series M653, Roll 788-photocopy courtesy of Family Search Image 176 of 271.
- Wards Island Cemetery, Manhattan, New York-cemetery inventory 1840-1868
Categories: Featured Articles, Genealogy #OffTheGrid, Going Back In Time
Piedmont Trails 
Hi, Carol … I know you meant (1859) … but you might want to correct your fifth paragraph above where you have a couple of mentions of “1759” as being the year of his birth.
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Thanks for pointing that to me. I corrected it. Happy 4th of July!!
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Same to you … July 5th down here already.
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Hearing Billy the Kid’s story from a genealogist’s point of view is gratifying! We’re naturally curious. We look behind the curtain, read between the lines, strive to verify facts, and not take anything for granted. Thank you for a fascinating, thoughtful article. Your Dad would be proud.
Lisa Stones
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I am from the Missouri Ozarks region and have met several people in St Francois County who insist that Billy the Kid (Henry Carty) was raised by some of his cousins who lived there at the time. I don’t know whether it’s true or not but have heard the story more than once.
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