WILLCOX Cowboy Hall of Fame inductees

MARCELLUS DUBOIS (59)
1914-1994
1998 COWBOY HALL OF FAME POSTHUMOUS AWARD

Marcellus DuBois was born in Bonita in 1914.
Marcellus's mother was born in Bonita in 1895.
Marcellus's dad was born in Bonita in 1892,
Marcellus's grandmother was born in Bonita in 1851.

We are talking about a family that has been here in this valley for a long, long time. We are talking about six generations of DuBois's, and Marcellus is right in the middle representing the 3rd generation. As Marcellus's son Delmas said, "Dad was part of the bed rock of this valley." They were here in this valley when the original Ft. Grant was at the mouth of the Aravaipa and San Pedro. It was Marcellus's grandmother, Mary Kennedy who started the MK ranch that Monroe Baker worked on.

Marcellus got his start by gathering wild cattle off the Graham Mountains. He owned 5 or 6 burros and he would catch the cattle and neck them to one of the burros; it might take 3 or 4 days but those burros would bring the mavericks down the mountain.

1932 was a big year for Marcellus as this was the year he married his high school sweetheart, Eva Foote, and it was in 1932 he got his own place, the "Shirley Place." The Shirley Place was just east of Fort Grant and he stayed there for 10 years.

In 1939 Marcellus bought the double NN ranch just west of Willcox. It was a couple of years later that Marcellus moved his wife and kids down from the Shirley Place. Here at the double N (NN), Marcellus lived on a horse. He just plain wore out his knees while working his ranch. Delmas told me how in Marcellus's later years, after a long ride, Marcellus would get off his horse and he would have to stand there for a few minutes until he could walk away.

Speaking of horses, Marcellus's dad started the KY horses and Marcellus continued the bloodline. KY horses were racehorses, known to be mean, but boy could they run.

His ranch was his world. He didn't leave home very often. It was his ranch, and you didn't try to buy it. Several did, and wished they hadn't even asked. As Delmas said, "He lived there and he died there."

Marcellus had a hobby, not connected to his ranch work. He had a little gold mine that he worked. He would blast some rock, use a little ball mill and furnace to work it, and when he got through with it he had a little gold bar. Not a bad hobby to have.

Marcellus DuBois was very private. He was a little different. Delmas said, "He didn't have very much give." The he hesitated and thought a moment and said, "No, he didn't have any give."

Right or wrong he was 100%.
Marcellus William DuBois. 1914 - 1994