Pueblo County Biographies

Pueblo County, Colorado
CAPT. JOHN J. LAMBERT

Contributed by Karen Mitchell.

John J. Lambert, proprietor of the Colorado Chieftain at Pueblo, was born in Wexford, Ireland. January 26, 1837. When ten years of age, he moved with his parents to America. They settled at Dubuque, Iowa, where young Lambert afterward learned to be a printer. He worked at the trade until the beginning of the late war. He entered the Federal army in 1861, and served through the war, first as Lieutenant, and later as Captain of a company in the Ninth Iowa Cavalry. His regiment was mustered out in the spring of 1866, immediately after which, Capt. Lambert was commissioned Lieutenant in the Fifth United States Infantry. He was for five years Post Quartermaster and Commissary at Fort Reynolds, Colo., twenty miles below Pueblo. During that time, in the fall of 1868, he purchased the Chieftain, a paper which had been established at Pueblo the June previous. His brother then came West and took charge of the Chieftain, continuing with it until 1872, when Capt. Lambert resigned his commission in the army and took charge of the paper in person. Under his management the Chieftain has grown rapidly, and increased largely in value. The elegant office, a two-story brick, was erected in 1879. The Chieftain is a daily and weekly. It has an extensive circulation, and has become one of the most important journals in Southern Colorado. Capt. Lambert has the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. He was married at Dubuque, Iowa, in December, 1873, to Miss Sue E. Lorimier. History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado By J. Harrison Mills O. L. Baskin & Co. Chicago 1881

From "From the Grave, A Roadside Guide to Colorado's Pioneer Cemeteries," by Linda Wommack, published by Caxton Press, Caldwell, Idaho in 1998: Lambert, John J. (1837 - 1916) A native of Ireland, John Lambert immigrated to America in his youth. Following service in the Civil War, he came west, where he was an officer at Fort Reynolds, Colorado Territory, in 1867. Captain John J. Lambert held the post of quartermaster and commissary for the five years of the fort's existence. During his time at the fort, he purchased the Colorado Chieftain, a Pueblo newspaper, started by Michael Beshoer (Beshoar), in 1868. Following the abandonment of the fort in 1872, Captain Lambert resigned his commission and moved to Pueblo. He took over the management of the paper, converting it from a weekly publication to a daily paper, and changed the name to the Pueblo Chieftain. In 1873, he married Susan Lorimier. Through the financial success of his paper, Lambert and his wife, contributed to many charities, including funding to build the Sacred Heart Orphanage. Mrs. Lambert died in 1891, and was buried at Roselawn Cemetery. When Captain John J. Lambert died in 1916, he was buried next to his wife. In 1919, the remains of the couple was disinterred and reburied in the small plot on the eastern edge of the Sacred Heart orphanage property. When the orphanage closed, John and Susan were moved for a third and final time, back to Roselawn. John and Susan Lambert are buried in Block 149, Lot 103 (in Roselawn Cemetery). There is a marker.

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