Below you will read about a cast of characters, some of which are fictional, the rest are historically accurate, from Whom I created our origin story. Please enjoy this tale and I will introduce you to the man who began our clan as we catch up to him on one of his escapades while in his twenties. 

Connal O’Manntáin served under Captain James ‘Paddy’ Graydon in the 1st New Mexico volunteers. Connal had been with Captain Graydon since the Union abandoned the southwest to the confederates in 1861. Graydon led Connal and 69 fellow Union sympathizers on a wagon train through Apache ambushes to the relative safety of the Rio Grande valley. Graydon and Conal hurried to Santa Fe where Graydon was commissioned as a Captain in the newly organized 1st New Mexico Volunteers. Connals’ wildest tale happened one night, late in March of 1862, at Socorro, Graydon and a single Federal soldier, Connal O’Manntain, came upon a houseful of Rebels. Shouting commands to two imaginary companies of reinforcements, Graydon and O’Manntain persuaded the Texans to surrender without firing a shot. The 1st New Mexico Volunteers went on to harass and plunder the retreating Texans all the way out of the New Mexico territory. 

 After Graydon was murdered by Whitlock on November 5th, 1862, Connal completed his enlistment and settled in the Santa Fe region. He soon thrived as a farmer, guide, interpreter, and horse thief catcher. Connal would occasionally be employed by Colonel Kit Carson as a scout for wagon trains. It was during one of these expeditions that he met the love of his life, Malina Ogrodowski. In 1866 Malina’s family departed Panna Maria Texas, joined by 5 other families, to explore the possibility of establishing a Polish Silesian colony near Cerrillos New Mexico. It was on this journey that she met a roguish Irishman and despite her father’s wishes, fell in love.   

Malina (November 11, 1850- September 1, 1912) and Connal (May 24, 1844 – July 1, 1912) were married April 30th, 1870. They settled on Connal’s farm where they had six children three of whom lived to adulthood: Connal II, Olivka, and Patryk.  

Connal and Patryk roamed the countryside of Santa Fe County with Antonio, Jose, and Felipe Valdez exploring the nooks and crannies of the desert. It was during one of their many adventures that the O’Manntains’ discovered black sand deposits in the hills near their farm. In 1905 they petitioned and received a land grant for where the mine is located today. They created the mining company Black Powder Mining Company of Santa Fe. After several altercations with agents from the Montezuma Copper Mining Company they created a main chamber far underground to keep their finds out of prying eyes.  Connal and Patrick worked the mine with the help of their father for many years scraping enough gold out of the ground to live a comfortable life. On May 1, 1912, Connal Sr presented the boys with a U.S Flag with 48 Stars to celebrate New Mexico becoming a state earlier that year on January 6, 1912. You can still see that Flag in the main chamber. Tragedy struck the family on July 1, 1912, when a shaft that Patryk and Connal Sr were digging in collapsed trapping the men far underground. Connal frantically dug and shouted for his brother and father but to no avail. If you are quiet, you may still hear their pickaxes ringing out from one of the shafts.