Miss Elizabeth Garrett
Elizabeth Garrett
Miss Elizabeth Garrett
Elizabeth Garrett (1884-1947) was a nationally acclaimed soprano and composer. She wrote the songs "El Paso" and "O, Fair New Mexico", state song of New Mexico. Garrett had been rendered blind almost from birth by an excessive application of blue vitrol (a copper sulfate chemical) to her eyes. Blue vitrol was used to prevent infection, a common practice in those days. Elizabeth received a high school education and basic training at the Texas School for the Blind in Austin and became a qualified voice and piano teacher. She soon found herself performing in respected theaters in Chicago and New York. She was called the "Songbird of the Southwest", because of her compositions about the far-west land of New Mexico. The New Mexico Legislature was so impressed by her song "O, Fair New Mexico", that they made it the state song in 1917. Her father was Pat Garrett, sheriff of Lincoln County, NM. During that time, he captured and killed Billy the Kid. He served as sheriff in New Mexico before Garrett was appointed El Paso Collector of Customs in 1901. The family stayed in El Paso for 5 years, before they returned to Dona Ana County.
Report this entry
More from the same community-collection
Photography by Sarah Jessica Esparza Monroy
There is nothing more pleasing and rewarding than witnessing the ...
Photography by Sarah Jessica Esparza Monroy
There is nothing more pleasing and rewarding than witnessing the ...
Photography by Sergio Ortiz Cueto (Floren Ortiz)
There is nothing more pleasing and rewarding than witnessing the ...
Photography by Sergio Ortiz Cueto (Floren Ortiz)
There is nothing more pleasing and rewarding than witnessing the ...
Photography by Timothy Aquilina
There is nothing more pleasing and rewarding than witnessing the ...
Photography by Timothy Aquilina
There is nothing more pleasing and rewarding than witnessing the ...
Photography by Vallarie Enriquez
There is nothing more pleasing and rewarding than witnessing the ...
Photography by Vallarie Enriquez
There is nothing more pleasing and rewarding than witnessing the ...
Photography by Veronica Marie Heredia
There is nothing more pleasing and rewarding than witnessing the ...
Photography by Veronica Marie Heredia
There is nothing more pleasing and rewarding than witnessing the ...
Photography by Yadira Loya-Carranco
There is nothing more pleasing and rewarding than witnessing the ...
Photography by Yadira Loya-Carranco
There is nothing more pleasing and rewarding than witnessing the ...
Photography by Yolanda Elena Montiel Méndez
There is nothing more pleasing and rewarding than witnessing the ...
Photography by Yolanda Elena Montiel Méndez
There is nothing more pleasing and rewarding than witnessing the ...
Photography by Jaime Alberto Pinal Coello
There is nothing more pleasing and rewarding than witnessing the ...
Photography by Jaime Alberto Pinal Coello
There is nothing more pleasing and rewarding than witnessing the ...