Meet The Zacharys
- Michael Jay Tucker's explosive-cargo
- Apr 13
- 5 min read
So last time, I left off talking about the Anglo traders and merchants who helped shape the jewelry business in New Mexico and elsewhere in the Southwest. I had just said that, as a group, they get sort of mixed reviews these days, with some people (particularly scholars) saying they were dreadful bunch, and others holding that well, given everything, and in the larger scheme of things, they weren’t that bad, really.
The Zacharys were definitely in the Not That Bad...and maybe even Downright Good...category.
I don’t know much about the Zachary clan, to be utterly honest. When I was growing up in New Mexico, I did hear the name now and then. As a teen and an undergraduate, I was kind of on the very outmost edges of the jewelry making community. I had a friend or two who were kind of in the business...one had an ultrasonic drill that he’d gotten from someplace, and he made a tidy living by drilling gemstone material for various artisans around town. I gather this greatly annoyed his parents, who wanted him to have a “real” career in law or medicine. Or maybe he should get an MBA. He didn’t. But, that’s a story for another day.(1)
Anyway, I’d heard of them. I knew they were Big News in jewelry but that was about it. Now, fifty years later, I’m still pretty ignorant. I’m going to be using the Turquoise Museum’s webpage as my source on the family, and while I like the page, it does have its limits.(2) I’ve also turned up a few newspapers about them, but not as many as I’d like.
About the Photos: First, here is a picture of a Turquoise Mine in Sinai. As we’ll see shortly, turquoise has been mined and used in cultures all over the world, including what we call the Middle East. This particular photo dates from the late 19th to Early 20th century and is from the Library of Congress (you can see it here: https://www.loc.gov/resource/matpc.09575/). This mine is one of a “network” of such diggings in the area which date back to the late Chalcolithic (i.e. Copper) Age, which began somewhere around 5000 BC. Otherwise known as a heck of a long time ago.
Second, here’s a shot of Martha modeling a set of silver and turquoise ear rings. I love this photo.
Finally, I’ve run this one before, but here it is again, anyway. This is a shot of Martha showing off her new turquoise ring. We got it in Austin.
Still...for our purposes today, the Zachary Clan comes on stage with Jesse C. (“J.C.”) Zachary.(3) He was born...I think...somewhere around 1902 in Byrdsville, Tenn. He left school in the sixth grade to seek work. After that, he traveled around the country, doing this job and that until he came to New Mexico in 1931. There, he got a job at Maisel's Indian Trading Post...which was a store in Albuquerque.
The Maisel family, in turn, were another of those Anglo merchants and traders who shaped the jewelry scene for decades. According to Wikipedia, the Maisels’ store employed “hundreds of native craftspeople in its heyday.”(4) Its impact on what Native American jewelry looks like must have been enormous.
Anyway, J.C. Zachary got a job there and learned to cut turquoise, as well as the business of buying and selling it. Shortly after that, he managed a turquoise mine for a time in Colorado. He then returned to New Mexico and set up shop buying and selling ...just as you’d expect...turquoise.
Now we move forward a generation--specifically, to his son, J.C. “Zack” Zachary, Jr. Zack carried on the family business, and was very, very good at it. In fact, I’m looking at his obituary at the moment. According to it, he was one of the largest traders of the stone in the country, and was known in his industry as “The King of Turquoise.”(5)
In the process, he created a mammoth collection of turquoise and turquoise-related artwork. It was so impressive that, after his death, his family placed the collection on display at a location...you guessed it... “near Albuquerque’s Old Town.”
The collection remained with the Zachary family (growing all the while, of course)...through many changes and developments, marriages, alliances, shifts and re-alignments. Finally, we come to the present day, and the collection is owned by what the museum’s webpage describes as “The Fourth Generation” of the clan -- Joe Dan (the grandson of J.C. “Zack” Zachary, Jr.) and his spouse, Davonna Lowry. He’s the turquoise expert and a consultant to the jewelry industry. She’s the business manager and “the museum photographer.”
According to the webpage, there is also fifth generation--Joe Dan and Davonna’s children, Danielle Lowry and Jacob Lowry. Danielle, I gather, does jewelry making and is a model...frequently photographed wearing (three guesses what) turquoise jewelry. Jacob is the executive director of the museum.
So, there you have it. The Castle had been built by Gertrude Zachary. Meanwhile, the branch of the Zachary family that began with J.C. Zachary had put together a massive collection of turquoise and other jewelry.
The only thing left is to get the one into the other.
But that’s for next time.
More to come.
Footnotes
1. It turns out that ultrasonic drills are very useful in jewelry making. Some gems and other stones which might fracture if you tried to work them with ordinary, metal drills. Ultrasonic drills, by contrast, create holes using high frequency vibrations...sound, if you like...and there’s far less chance of the stone or ceramic breaking in the process.
As for my friend, I don’t know what happened to him. I did hear the story, maybe apocryphal, that everything finally hit the fan when his parents ordered him to clean his room...which was already neat and tidy, but they wanted to demonstrate their power over him ... because “so long as you live under our roof you’ll do as we say.” He said, “fine” and proceeded to move out, rent an apartment, and hire a cleaning service...all of which he could easily afford from his earnings in the jewelry business.
As I say, the story may not be true, but you’ve got to admit, it’s a great fantasy for anyone who is or has ever been an adolescent.
2.Which is here:https://turquoisemuseum.com/history-and-mission/
3. Today I’m using the Turquoise Museum’s webpage as my source.
4. Maisel's Indian Trading Post, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maisel%27s_Indian_Trading_Post
Someday I’ll write more about the Maisel family. But, briefly, the shop was founded by Maurice and Cyma Maisel in 1939. The shop was, as I’ve said, a vast success. The Maisels were also interesting in that they were important members of the Jewish community in New Mexico.
The shop closed when Maurice passed on 1968, but it was reopened by his grandson, Skip Maisel in the 1980s. It finally closed for good in 2019 when Skip Maisel retired.
5. Jesse C. Zachary, The Daily Times, Farmington, New Mexico, Friday, November 26, 1999, page B7.
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