Pueblo County, Colorado
Joseph B. Doze

Contributed by Jean Griesan.

Joseph B. Doze, deceased, a pioneer of southern Colorado, was born, of French parents, in Hamilton County, Ohio, in 1831. When he was three years of age his parents moved to Darke County, the same state, and there his early years were spent, his education being obtained in public schools. In 1848, when seventeen years of age, he accompanied his parents to Mahaska County, Iowa. After six years in that county he moved to Decatur County, where he continued to reside until 1867. Leaving Iowa during that year, he came to Colorado and settled in what is now Huerfano County, adjoining the county of Pueblo. He embarked in the stock business, and continued to reside in the same locality until 1871, when he settled upon a ranch near Rye, Pueblo County. The ranch was then totally unimproved. He at once set about improving the property, and built fences, set out orchards and erected a residence that was the finest ranch house in the county at that time. For years he continued active and successful in the stock business and general farm pursuits. He was fond of hunting and an unerring marksman, and many an antelope, deer and bear fell beneath his trusty rifle, by which means an abundance of game was secured for the family.

During the eighteen years spent in Colorado, Mr. Doze saw many wonderful transformations and improvements. When he crossed the plains in a wagon, the old-fashioned "prairie schooner" was still in vogue, the railroad having not yet spanned the great west. Pueblo was then a small village and the county of that name was practically unsettled. The thousands of emigrants to Colorado in previous years had sought the mining camps further west or north, and there were few who cared to improve land and seek a livelihood by means of stock-raising and farming. He had faith in the agricultural possibilities of the territory, and that his judgment was not at fault the after years proved. With many cares pressing upon him he had little time for politics, and, aside from casting a straight Democratic vote, took no part whatever in public affairs. Fraternally he was connected with the Odd Fellows for many years, and in religion was a faithful adherent of the Presbyterian Church. At fifty years of age, in 1885, his earth life ended, and he entered into eternal rest.

In 1855 Mr. Doze married Mary, daughter of Calvin and Sarah Johnson, her father being a successful farmer in Indiana, where she was reared and educated. Six daughters and three sons were born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. Doze. Fenelon Augustus is a conductor on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad; John Calvin is engaged in the stock business in Huerfano County; Alfred Victor is engaged in mining at Victor; Lena is the wife of Robert Holloway, of El Paso County; Cordelia married Louis de Camp, of Gardner, Colo.; Alice is the wife of John Fremont Stewart, a railroad man; Lucille married James A. Ayers, an electrician; Mary Joyce and Josephine (twins) are students in the Pueblo schools. The family reside at No. 941 Palmer avenue, Pueblo, in the winter, and spend the summer months on the home ranch of one hundred and sixty acres, near Rye.

Extracted from "Portrait and Biographical Record of the State of Colorado," published by Chapman Publishing Company in Chicago in 1899.



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