Chaves, Felipe, 1834-1905.

Jose Felipe Chaves was born in Los Padillas, N.M. in 1834. After a flood in Los Padillas, Felipe and his wife, Josefa moved to Belen and opened a general merchandise store. They later expanded their business to include cattle and sheep ranching. Felipe also established a private school for girls in Belen. He died May 16, 1905.

Don Felipe Chavez. Part of the Felipe Chaves Family Pictorial Collection PICT 000-010 (Box 1, Folder 8).

José Felipe Chaves (mostly known as Felipe) was born in Los Padillas, New Mexico in 1834, the son of José Chaves y Castillo and Manuela Armijo de Chaves. Chaves was the descendent of two of the most powerful and influenial New Mexican families of the day. His grand-father was Francisco Xavier Chaves, the first governor of New Mexico under Mexican rule, his father was governor of New Mexico in 1845, and his mother was a cousin of Governor Manuel Armijo. José Felipe Chaves was married to Josefa Chaves, daughter of José David Chaves and Barbara Armijo, a sister of Felipe's mother. Felipe and Josefa were double first cousins.

After a devastating flood in Los Padillas, Felipe and Josefa moved to Belen and opened a very successful general merchandise store. They later expanded their business to include cattle and sheep ranching. Felipe's business extended up and down the Santa Fe Trail and eventually included commercial activities in New York City, mining investments in Mexico, and banking in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. As a stockholder in the A.T. & S. F. Railroad, Chaves was instrumental in getting the Santa Fe cut-off built through Belen. He also established a private school for girls in Belen know as the "Felipe Chaves Academy" with an accompanying trust fund.

Don Jos Felipe Chaves was the great hacendado of Valencia County, one of the richest and most powerful men of the territory. He was a banker, sheepman, merchant, and landlord of a vast domain. He was known as El Millonario and El Cajnero (the undertaker) because of his elegant and fashionable attire. Shortly after the death of his wife, Doa Josefita Chaves on January 22, 1899, Felipe commissioned an Albuquerque architect, Angelo de Tullio, to design and erect a mausoleum made of red sandstone and white Carrara marble for his family in Belen. Don Felipe died May 16, 1905.