Pueblo County Biographies

Pueblo County, Colorado
Doyle, Joseph Bainbridge (1817 – 1864)

Contributed by Jean Griesan.

Joseph Bainbridge Doyle signed on with William Bent at St. Joseph, Missouri in 1839 and headed for Bent’s Fort. He worked as a freighter at the fort until 1844. He helped Charles Autobees establish a settlement along the Huerfano River. He became a partner of George Simpson and William Kroenig at the Hardscrabble Trading Post up the Arkansas River, doing business with trappers, Indians and frontiersmen such as R. L. Wooton. There, he married Marie de le Cruz Suaso.

He began farming along the Arkansas River, just east of present day Pueblo. He built a large ranch home called Casa Blanca.

With the gold rush of 1859, Doyle turned his interests to freighting once again. Wagons of food, clothing and supplies were hauled to Denver City. The J. B. Doyle Company was an instant money making venture. Within a year, Doyle was a millionaire.

Doyle’s wealth allowed him to enlarge his farm to a 600-acre ranch, with cattle, and horses. A flour mill was also constructed. A community of Doyle’s workers soon grew into a small settlement. He established a school where the workers’ children attended classes, with his own children. It is said the first teacher was O. J. Goldrick, who went on to be Denver City’s first teacher.

He was elected to the Territory Council, in 1864, working toward statehood. Forty-six-year-old Joseph B. Doyle died of a heart attack, while serving his term in Denver. Governor John Evans led the party of dignitaries escorting Doyle’s wagon hearse out of Denver. At the time of his death, Doyle was considered the richest man in Colorado Territory.

He was buried on a small hill, overlooking his empire along the Huerfano River. His wife died a year later and is buried beside him. Their weathered, broken stones stand just above the ruins of the Doyle School.

From "From the Grave, A Roadside Guide to Colorado's Pioneer Cemeteries," by Linda Wommack, published by Caxton Press, Caldwell, Idaho in 1998

NOTE: He did not marry Maria Suaso in Colorado, but rather in Taos, New Mexico. See http://www.kmitch.com/Pueblo/doyle.html

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