Robert N. Mullin

Robert Norville Mullin (August 10, 1893 – June 27, 1982) was an American businessman and public figure in El Paso, Texas, where he founded the Calmut Oil Company (COC) in 1917. In 1928, while serving city alderman, he was responsible for the founding of the El Paso Airport. Shortly afterwards, he sold the COC to a larger oil company and spent the next two decades working in the oil industry around the country, largely as an executive at Gulf Oil.

Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Mullin moved to El Paso in 1900 at the age of seven. There his family befriended several public figures of the Southwestern United States and Mexico, among them the future revolutionary Pancho Villa and lawman Pat Garrett. From Garrett he heard accounts of Billy the Kid whom Garret killed, and thus began a lifelong fascination with Billy that led Mullin to become one the leading scholars on the subject. His research on the subject included identifying Billy's real birth name, Henry McCarty. He authored several journal articles on Billy, wrote a book on Billy's childhood, and authored a book on the Lincoln County War in which Billy was involved. Mullin also contributed to research on relations between the United States and Mexico following the Mexican-American War, and penned works on other topics related to the American West of the 19th century.

He retired to South Laguna, California, and was active as a writer and historian his later life.

Early life The son of Joseph P. Mullin and Charlotte Norville, Robert Norville Mullin was born on August 10, 1893, in Lincoln, Nebraska. There his father worked as the assistant principal of the El Paso Normal School before founding the International Business College in that city. The school offered secretarial and book keeping training in classes taught in both English and Spanish; catering to students along the border between Texas and Mexico. In 1906 his brother Francis Joseph Mullin (known as Joe) was born. He grew up to become president of Shimer College in Chicago. His mother died when Joe was two years old; never completely recovering from a difficult child birth.

Robert graduated from El Paso High School (EPHS) in 1912. In his growing up years, Robert's father befriended several luminary figures of the American West; among them lawman Pat Garrett, who killed Billy the Kid, and revolutionary leader Pancho Villa; the latter of whom admired F. J. Mullin's bilingual school for including Mexican students. Robert spent time with both men during his childhood.

Early career in El Paso Following graduation from high school, Mullin purchased Morgan's second hand book store in El Paso. Following Curd's unexpected death in 1913, he continued in this venture with Curd's widow, Anna Virginia Curd in 1914. After being diagnosed with tuberculosis he sold this business to Jasper Woolbridge, and not long after this began working in the oil industry for the Great Western Oil Company. He married Josephine Plumridge in 1916. In 1917 he founded the Calmut Oil Company (COC) in El Paso, and continued to work for petroleum companies throughout his career.

During the 1910s, Mullin volunteered for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) as a scoutmaster for Troop No. 2 in El Paso before becoming the first scoutmaster for the newly created Troop No. 3 in 1919. He was elected president of a scoutmasters association in that region of Texas in 1919, and oversaw the establishment of a school to train scoutmasters. He later was appointed to the role of deputy scout commissioner and was involved in partnership events between the BSA and the American Red Cross. He served as a chairman for the Young Men's Business League in 1920, and was also in leadership roles with the YMCA and the City Boys Work Council in El Paso during the 1920s.

Mullin's father died in 1921 while Mullin was in Mexico City on business for the COC leaving his elementary school aged younger brother Francis an orphan. and in July 1921 he sold his father's business college to Joseph Gilkey. His brother spent time living with him, and with other relatives; ultimately settling in the home of their aunt Josephine who was their mother's sister.

By 1921 Mullin was serving as president of the El Paso Speedway & Amusement Co in addition to continuing as president of the COC and working as president of the business college his father founded. From 19211923 he was director of El Passo's Chamber of Commerce. In 1922 he was appointed president of the El Paso Salesmanship Club, and was elected president of the Kiwanis chapter in El Paso. In 1923 he chaired the committee that established El Paso's first golf course. He served as alderman on the El Paso City Council during Thomason's term in that office. During the time he was placed in charge of establishing the El Paso Airport in 1928.

Oil executive Mullin operated a 900-acre cattle ranch in New Mexico for a brief period before leaving Southwest United States. He sold the Calmut Oil Company to a larger oil company based in Chicago, and ended up relocating first to Denver before ultimately settling in Chicago. and was involved in a variety of oil firms based out of Chicago. He ultimately worked as manager of retail sales for that company out of the Toledo office. He was promoted to zone manager over the Chicago division in 1954. He retired from Gulf Oil in 1958, He served as Illinois state chairman for the Oil Industry Information Committee of the American Petroleum Institute (API) in the mid-1950s. He was honored with an outstanding service award by the API in 1957.

Historian and author Mullin was a charter member of the El Paso County Historical Society, and penned several history books and papers. One of his important discoveries was properly identifying Billy's birth name as Henry McCarty and not William H. Bonney as previously believed. He was a guest on the episode "Tombstone– Fact or Fiction" which aired in 1964 on the public television program Arizona Western Roundtable which was hosted by John D. Gilchreise of the University of Arizona.

Mullin also did research on Mexican-American relations following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which ended the Mexican–American War; authoring papers which explored territorial disputes in the time period leading up to the Gadsden Purchase. His book on the Lincoln County War was published by the Press of the Territorian in 1966.

Death Mullin retired to South Laguna, California, where he was living by 1962. His other daughter, Marjorie, was married to University of Michigan professor Ralph Jackson.

Publications

Tombstone A.T. : business section, May 1882, by Robert N. Mullin, 1950 New Light on the Legend of Billy the Kid, New Mexico Folklore Record, 6 (1953), 1–5. Philip J. Rasch and Robert N. Mullin. Dim Trails: The Pursuit of the McCarty Family, New Mexico Folklore Record, 8 (1954), 6–11. Philip J. Rasch and Robert N. Mullin. A Chronology of the Lincoln County War : scene: Mostly Lincoln County, New Mexico, time: mainly 1877-1881, by Robert N. Mullin, 1966 The Boyhood of Billy the Kid, by Robert N. Mullin, 1967 The Key to the Mystery of Pat Garrett, by Robert N. Mullin, 1969 The Strange Story of Wayne Brazel, by Robert N. Mullin, 1970 An Item from old Mesilla, by Robert N. Mullin, 1971 Tombstone, Arizona Territory, circa 1881-82, by Robert N. Mullin, 1971 Stagecoach Pioneers of the Southwest, by Robert N. Mullin, 1983