Robert Nelson Straw

   Another name for Robert was Nat Straw.

  General Notes:

census 1856 he was born in Stanstead, PQ
Census 1860 he is in Greenfield, Monroe CO, WI

1870 in Marshfield, Webster County, WI as follows:
Jacob born 1821 NH
Lucy age 46 born England
Louella age 19 b. Can
George age 17 b. Can
Horace age 16 b. Can
Robert Nelson age 13 b. Can
John A. Straw age 12 b. WI

1880 census Maysville, Chafee Co, CO
R. N. Strau age 23 born Canada; father born MA; mother born England
house painter; single

The Socorro Chieftain (Socorro, New Mexico)25 May 1901, SatPage 3
Notice is hereby given that the following named settler has filed notice of his intentions to make final proof in support of his claim and that proof will be made before the Probate clerk of Socorro County at Socorro New Mexico on 30 May 1901 viz Robert N. Straw Magdalena, Socorro County, N. M. Homestead entry number 2638 for the w/1/2 nw 1/4 ne 1/4 nw 1/4 section 29 and se1/4 and sw1/4 section 20 t.11 s.r.12w he gives the following witnesses to prove his continous residence upon and cultivation of said land viz Jesus Chaves of Magdalena, N.M. Jeff Hill of Magdalena N. M. Clarence Chandler of Magdalena N. M. and Shack simmonds of Patterson N.M.

1940 Buckhorn, Grant, NM
Nat Straw is age 84 and lives with the Charles Moner Family

obit -courtesy of research of Carolyn O'Bagy Davis
"Nat Straw one of the last famous mountain men who roved the vastness of the New Mexico wilderness, was buried at 4:30 p.m. Monday in the city cemetery. Services were held from Hinman's funeral home by Rev. F. A. Green of the first Baptist Church.
The aged hunter had lived almost 60 years in Grant County and spent most of his life hunting grizzly bear and mountain lions. Some years ago the SATURDAY EVENING POST had a feature on Straw in which he gave some of the adventures he had been through.
He was born in Canada, but knew nearly all of the southwest. He knew the Mogollon Mountains as no other man did, not even Victorio and his dreaded Apaches. For the last few years Straw had been living near Cliff (NM).
Straw had trapped part of the time for his living. He was a contemporary of Ben Lilly, another famous frontiersman and great hunter."( SILVER CITY ENTERPRISE; June 24, 1941)

Albuquerque Journal newspaper
" ... At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2003 Carolyn O'Bagy Davis signs and discusses her biography "Mogollon Mountain Man: Nat Straw, Grizzly Hunter and Trapper." Robert Nelson "Nat" Straw came to the Southwest in the early 1870s, working on the railroad and living for a time with the Navajos, though for most of his life he was a solitary hunter and trapper in what is today the Gila Wilderness. Straw died in 1941."
Mogollon Mountain Man: Nat Straw, Grizzly Hunter & Trapper
by Carolyn O'Bagy Davis. Sanpete Publications. 29 pp. $19.95.
Davis has put many long hours into tracking down the facts in this colorful old-time trapper's life. Well-written, with useful photos although their reproduction occasionally leaves something to be desired. Nat Straw, 1856-1941, settled in New Mexico's Mogollon Mountains. He lived off the land, prospected and worked as a cowboy. He hunted bears and other predators for local ranchers to become "a living legend." Much of his renown can be attributed to writings by the well-known folklorist J. Frank Dobie.

Mountain Men of the Gila
By Dutch Salmon
Last updated on Saturday, January 11, 2003
Mountain Men of the Gila. In his grip on the imagination, psyche and national character, the mountain man rivals the cowboy as the archetypal American Hero. In the Southwest the mountain man reached his zenith, and held his lifestyle longest, in the region's last great wilderness - the Gila country of southwest New Mexico. Here within the mountains and canyons of the Gila, San Francisco and Mimbres Rivers, the mountain man era lasted well into the 20th century. ....
......Finally, Nat Straw (1857-1941) was a likeable guy and natural raconteur. Jack Stockbridge wrote: "Everybody liked Nat Straw . . . he was always welcome . . . he would tell you all kinds of stories and have his fun as he went along." A native of Minnesota, Straw came to the Southwest as a young man and lived for a time with the Navajos where, according to Dobie, "he mastered their language, their lore, and at least one of their women." By the 1880's he was off in the mountains, alone with the lure of the Mogollon Range. Like Lilly, Straw was often afoot in the wilderness, moving his camp with burros, but he was a trapper more than a hunter. He trapped a jaguar in the Black Range in 1902, one of the few ever taken in the state. He was also a prospector and sporadically sought the (probably mythical) riches of the Lost Adams Diggings. Late in life he could comment, "I know ten thousand places where the Lost Adams Diggings ain't." He concluded, "The Adams Diggings is a shadowy naught that lies in the valley of fanciful thought."
No book has been written on the life of Nat Straw but biographical sketches of his life, and that of Bear Moore, may be found in Wilderness of the Gila by Elizabeth McFarland.
Nat Straw was active in the Gila Wilderness until near his death in 1941. There hasn't been a real mountain man in the Gila Forest since. Just as well, some would say, considering all the killing they did. Perhaps. But these were the men who broke trail, who went in and stayed for months at a time - no map, no trail guide, no camp stove, water filter, tent or air mattress. No helicopter to bail them out if they made a mistake. The wilderness life we can only dream of, they knew and lived. They were a product of their times, and of the singular wilderness that formed them - the Gila country. And what J. Frank Dobie said of Ben Lilly favors any one of these Gila mountain men: "He came from a solitary race."

A complete biograpy of his life is found in:
"Mongollon Mountain Man; Nat Straw - Grissly Hunter and Trapper" by Carolyn O'Bagy Davis; Sanpete Publications; Published 2003; Tucson, AZ

Name Robert N. Straw Death date 22 Jun 1941 Death place Silver City, Grant, New Mexico Gender Male Age in years 84 Estimated birth year 1857 Father name Jacob Straw Mother name Lucy Semon Film number 1913313 Reference number 3028