Pueblo County Fifty-Niners

Pueblo County, Colorado
Fifty-Niners

Fiftyniners' Directory
Colorado Argonauts
1858-1859

BAXTER, O. H. P., Pioneer of 1858, and was one of the locators of Pueblo. In Battle of Sand Creek, later he was a Captain. Was member Territorial Council at two sessions following. Lived Auraria 1859. Name signed to deed as witness on Mar 5.

BELT, ---, mentioned by Bancroft as member of the Town Company of the American section of Pueblo in 1859. W. M. Belt was a delegate to the first Constitutional Convention, and Dr. Belt received Donation Lots with promise to build from Denver Town Company, 1859.

BLAKE, Charles H., (for whom Blake Street, Denver City, was named), arrived autumn of 1858, with A. J. Williams at mouth of Cherry Creek with four wagon loads of merchandise. He became a storekeeper, and handled gold dust. Was one of the original stockholders of Auraria City, also of Denver City. He invested in both Denver and Auraria lots, buying and selling. He had, May 6, 1859, a certificate recorded which proves his ownership of one original share in Denver City. This he transferred to A. J. Williams, Jul 30, 1859. He was witness Dec 1 in sale of a Clear Creek farm, and other records on Liber A, p. 18 of old give description of his Denver lots. He was appointed by Grand Master Rees of Kansas Territory on Aug 15, 1859 to be the first Junior Warden of the New Auraria Lodge U.D. and he was elected Worshipful Master in 1861. (His portrait is on p. 25 of the semi-Centennial booklet of Denver Lodge No. 5, published in 1909.) Blake was a relative of A. D. Richardson, the author of “Beyond the Mississippi” and he was formerly a merchant dressed in broadcloth. When seen by Richardson in Denver in 1859 he was scarcely recognizable in buckskins, etc. The Colorado Republican and Rocky Mountain Herald of Aug 17, 1861 has the following: “Married, Aug 14, 1861, Mr. Charles H. Blake and Miss Annie C. Steinberger, both of this City.” Blake died at his ranche near Pueblo about Sep 20, 1894.

BOONE, Col. A. G., was not a pioneer exactly, but an explorer and Indian interpreter who visited the site of Denver with Gen. William Ashley's trading expedition to the Rocky Mountains. This was in 1824, and he was Secretary for the Expedition and in 1824 camped on the site of Denver with the company of more than 100 men, of whom one was Col. Louis Vasquez. They wandered as far as Puget's Sound, meeting some of the Hudson's Bay trappers near Salt Lake. Col. Boone came several times to the Rocky Mountains, but not to settle until 1860 when he established a store on Blake Street between F. & G. Streets. He was born in Kentucky, a grandson of Daniel Boone, Greensburg his native place, date of birth Apr 17, 1806. His parents moved to Missouri when he was age 16. His apprenticeship was in an Indian Agency in southwest Missouri where he was clerk. Died Denver, at residence of his son-in-law, B. D. Spencer, in Jul 1884. His other daughters married as follows: H. W. Jones, residence Pueblo 1884, John Barnes of La Veta, Colorado, Elmer Otis, Commander of Post at San Antonio, Texas 1884, and Charles Hobart, stationed in Montana, 1884. Jim Baker visited Boone the last day of his life. Notes from Hall's History Colorado, Vol. II, p. 249: Mr. Edward L. Gallatin was an admirer of Boone, and always kept a life-sized portrait in oil hanging in his home on Logan Avenue, Denver.

BRADFORD, Allen A., arrived Colorado 1859, settling in Central City, later Pueblo. The following notes are from Lanham's Dict. of Congress, 1866, p. 41: Born Friendship, Lincoln County, Maine, Jul 23, 1815 on farm. Had plain edic. And later emigrated Missouri in 1841 studied Law, admitted to Bar 1843. Clerk Circuit Court 1851, emigrated Iowa 1852. Judge 6th Judicial District, Iowa, resigning 1855. Then moved to Nebraska, member Territorial Council 1856-8. Then Colorado 1862, Judge Supreme Court Colorado, and later Delegate to 39th Congress. Was member of the National Committee appointed to accompany the remains of Lincoln to Illinois. The RMN Dec 23, 1865 reports that Judge Allen A. Bradford had been injured by being run over by a street car in Washington, D.C.

BRIDGE, George, Denver lots drawn in his name by Morton C. Fisher, Sep 13, 1859. George A. Bridge, may be same, mentioned in The Trail, p. 24, October number, 1924. Arrived Cherry Creek, 1859, said to be the apprentice printer on the RMN conspicuous for being the very first one. He had sons as follows: George A. (of Englewood, Colorado, 1924), Joseph Francis, born Jul 24, 1867 on the Ennis Ranche near Pueblo, and died Oct 14, 1924, buried Dupont. This son married Emma Warehugh in 1904, at Cheyenne, Wyoming. Lived in Clear Creek District since 1904, and in Colorado since 1875; 2 children. The widow of George A. Bridge, Sr., married 2nd --- Woodrow, and her children by this were: William R. Woodrow (Tolland, Colorado, 1924), Etta, married Henry Nienhuzer of Denver, and Mary married --- Wilson of Spokane, Washington, later perhaps of Seattle. C. F. Bridge of Topeka, Kansas is a brother of George A. Bridge, Sr., and Mr. James B. Elliott of North Platte, Nebraska is either a brother or brother-in-law. (?) (The above account of family is condensed from the article in The Trail, mentioned first.)

BEARCAW, Albert, a founder of the American Pueblo 1859, and member of the Town Company.

CATTERSON, Dr., member of the Town Company of the American Pueblo, 1859. It is stated that his cabin was on 2nd Street. (Bancroft)

CHILCOTT, George M., born Huntington County, Pennsylvania Jan 28, 1828. Lived in Iowa where he was Sheriff, then Nebraska, then May 1859 arrived goldfields. Was member first Constitutional Convention in this year, then went to Pueblo, where he worked on farm, later in Territorial Legislature. Several times, Registrar U. S. Land Office (1863) then his office was Golden. Finally elected to Congress (1867). He married Miss Jenny Cox (4 children) has one daughter. He died Mar 6, 1891 at St. Louis, Missouri. Buried in Pueblo.

COZZENS, E. B., of Auraria City, grantee several Auraria lots Dec 30, 1859. Ed. Cozzens was a member of the American Pueblo Town Company in 1859. (Bancroft)

ENNESLEY, S. J., member first Constitutional Convention from district of Fountain, 1859. (This would be site of Pueblo.)

GREEN, William H., an incorporator with others, of the Fountain City Bridge Company, Dec 1859, to build toll bridge over the river at an early date in 1860. It was begun very soon afterward. He was a member of the early Colorado Pioneers' Association which met Jun 22, 1866 in Denver, and included only arrivals of '58-'59. In 1866 he is a resident of Fremont County, Colorado. He was a member of the original Town Company of Pueblo, 1859, and is announced in booklet of his society as an arrival of 1858 (Oct) and resident of Denver 1890 and 1907. Was born New Jersey Nov 23, 1828.

JONES, Z. R., an arrival of 1859, member Colorado Pioneer's Society, resident of Pueblo 1907, etc.

JUDKINS, Charles H., member Colorado Pioneers' Society, and resident of Golden as late as 1920. Arrived 1859, and is said to have hauled the first load of coal into Golden in year of his arrival. He died May 11, 1924, age 83. Born Nashville, Tennessee 1841, and came with H. G. King by wagon train to Cherry Creek. He became a freighter, and was a friend of William Cody (Buffalo Bill). He is survived in 1924 by a brother, William Judkins of Evergreen, Colorado, and a sister, Mrs. Thomas Crippen of Denver. (The Trail, May 1924) His arrival was by a train of 10 wagons, through Kansas City, by Arkansas Route, and Fountain City (now Pueblo). He was but 17 years of age, and left Clay County, Missouri, his last home.

MEYER, J. H., arrived Apr 20, 1859. Born Maryland, Jan 22, 1837. Lived Pueblo 1890. (Hall's Colorado History, Vol. 2, p. 560)

MILLER, John D., (see J. D., also John, above) who arrived with Lawrence party 1858 is said to be in 1899 a citizen of Pueblo.

NACHTRIEB, Charles, a German, has gone to Pueblo with small stock of goods. (1859) (Quoted from RMN)

NUCKOLLS, Charles H., born Mills County, Iowa, 1856, of family of 11 children, parents from Grayson County, Virginia, to west in 1854. This family came to Denver in ox drawn wagon in 1859. He first became cowboy, then foreman on a ranche, later carpenter, then miner near Central, also in Georgetown District. He kept for 20 years the James Peak Hotel in Granby, and belonged to the A.F. & A.M. of Georgetown. Died Denver, Jul 18, 1924, buried at Sulphur Springs. His widow survived, and the following children: Oscar (Enid, Oklahoma), Harry (Pueblo), Mrs. Lewis Wallace (Sulphur Springs), Mrs. Samuel Staley (Granby). (The Trail, Aug 1924, published Denver)

PACHON, J. J., (resided South Pueblo in 1890) member Colorado Pioneers' Society, is native of Switzerland, born Apr 15, 1838, arrived 1859 in Colorado.

PIM, Thomas F., born about 1825, for he was said to be alive 1895 age 70 years, arrived in goldfields Jun 1859, but before this came west to St. Louis in 1843 with fur traders, and then to old Fort Larimer owned by American Fur Company. Here he was a clerk. He was in auction and commission business in Denver in 1859 as a partner, P. E. Peers being with him. Their place was on Larimer Street between B. and C. Streets. He was through the fire of 1863 and the flood of 1864, and the following notice in the RMN I found in the files: Married, Dec 28, 1865, on St. Thomas' Day, by S. D. Hunter, Esq., Mr. Thomas F. Pim to Miss Mary A. McCune. Pim took up a farm claim in Sep 1859, the south ½ of the southwest quarter of Section 15, Township 3, So., R. 5 East of 7th Meridian. Several other transactions are in land records. He is said to have settled in Pueblo after 1865, and then went to San Louis Valley. He and Peers owned a house and lot on southwest corner of Lawrence and B. Streets, in Denver, which they bought Aug 4, 1859 of William McGaa for 325 dollars. (Liber A, p. 59, old) Philip E. was name of his partner.

PUEBLO, town, the modern one, was built on site of an older Mexican town abandoned long before that time. It was started in 1859-60 and for a long time had many Mexican settlers.

RANTSCHLER, J. M., arrived May 9, 1859, born Kentucky Jul 8, 1839. Lived Pueblo, Colorado for some time. Member Colorado Pioneer's Association.

ST. VRAIN, Ceran, in spring of 1859 the RMN, p.?, Apr 23, 1859, notes the arrival of Col. C. St. Vrain and his train of 26 wagons from New Mexico (provisions, etc.). History informs us that he was of Taos and had been Lieut. Col. of a Regiment raised to fight the Apaches, and he was with them as guide and chief of Scouts, and they made a long campaign. He came from New Mexico and with St. James made trading for supplies in Denver and Auraria, also handling gold dust. His life is most interesting and romantic. He had been with the earlier of the fur traders and trappers, in 1826, the site of Pueblo being one of their stations, then an adobe village. St. Vrain, with Cornelio Vigil owned the Las Animas Land Grant of 4,000,000 acres, conveyed to them in 1844 by the Mexican Government, lying in the beautiful valley of the Huerfano, and of the Apishapa, Purgatoire Rivers and their tributaries, and after the death of Vigil, St. Vrain appeared as manager of the vast estate before the United States Government seeking titles, etc. The Fort St. Vrain is named for this picturesque character, who is said to have died at Mora, New Mexico 1870.

SMITH, Josiah, was one of the first settlers of Pueblo, 1859. He returned to States and brought out his family. The name of Pueblo at that time was Fountain. The original Pueblo was built of adobe, and Fountain was on opposite side of stream from the remains of the Mexican and French trapper village. Josiah F. Smith is named in history as the founder of Canon City, Oct 1859, and may be the same person. (?)

WARREN, Cyrus, mentioned in Bancroft as living 1859 at the American side of Pueblo, member of the company.

WHITSITT, Richard Ed., a merchant handling gold dust, a stockholder of Denver City, and member of the first Constitutional Convention in 1859, was born 1830, died 1881, and is buried at Riverside Cemetery, Denver. He arrived at goldfields with the Leavenworth Company, Nov 16, 1858. They came via Pueblo District. The two Larimers, M. M. Jewett, and Folsom Dorsett accompanied the party also. He was Recorder of the County for a long time, was 1st Adj. Gen. of Colorado, member of the Wartime Territorial Council, Auditor of Colorado 1864-66. He was one of the founders of the Episcopal Church, Denver, Feb 11, 1860; operated a good deal in real estate, both in Kansas and Colorado. His wife is said to be Miss Miles, daughter of a pioneer who had a claim near Golden. He had a niece, Miss Emma M. Gerrish, who married Frank S. Marshall, in Los Angeles, California 1880. Having no children, it is said, the Whitsitts adopted about 1865 a Navajo Indian boy and reared him. William P. McClure once challenged Whitsitt, and a duel was fought in Oct 1859, on ground about a mile above Auraria and Denver, near Cherry Creek. Morton C. Fisher was Whitsitt's Second. McClure was hit by his adversary's ball and wounded, but the injury was healed in about a month later. A crowd of about 200 citizens witnessed the duel, which the Sheriff was unable to stop. It made a good deal of comment and speculation as to the cause for many years afterward, both of the parties being so prominent. Portraits of Whitsitt are in Hall's Colorado History, Vol. 1, p. 216, and in Smiley's History of Denver, p. 215.

WOOTEN, Richard S., Sr., lived inTrinidad, Colorado (name variously given as R. S. and R. L.), according to list in Hall's Colorado History, Vol. 2, p. 565, was born in Virginia, May 6, 1816, and (arrived at mouth of Cherry Creek 1858) came to Pike's Peak Region Jun 1, 1836. Hall says he was “one of the most magnificent figures that ever trailed an Indian, or trapped a beaver.” Was born at Boydton, Mecklenburg County, in his native State. His parents later removed to Kentucky and later, after wandering about, Richard L. settled on the western border of Missouri. In 1836 he joined a train belonging to Bent & St. Vrain for Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River. He then became an explorer, hunter and also trapper, making some money with his pelts. Then he became an Indian trader, traversing the entire region. Later he bought sheep and tried breeding buffaloes with his American cows, and was unable to continue this experiment because of an opportunity to sell the rangers of the plains to the Central Park of New York. But he later dealt in livestock, and lived near Pueblo 1842. “Uncle Dick Wooten,” as he was affectionately called in his later days, was of the opinion that Denver and Auraria had about 500 inhabitants in 1858 when he started his store. Of course, it was a population that moved considerably, somewhat like an ocean. It included all classes from the finest to the most desperate and tough of humanity. Uncle Dick had a good word for all of them. He was appointed Colonel of the Governor's staff in 1859 by Gov. Steele. He was Clerk of Supervisors in same year, and member of the first Constitutional Convention, also elected County Commissioner, March, early in year. He had in addition to his store a saloon on Ferry Street, Auraria, according to Directory of the memorable year. This was no disgrace in those hard days, as persons were so often exhausted and ill from causes that seemed to need more than the poor food the miners were able to have. The ground where his store stood is now represented by numbers 1413-1415 Eleventh Street, east side, between Market and Wazee. The building had three and a quarter stories, was of hewn logs, and 20 x 32 feet in size. It had glazed windows. Altogether it gave its owner that social prestige always obtainable in a small town by a fine building. (The RMN used its top floor.) Wooten married in 1848, and settled at first in Taos, New Mexico. She came with him to Cherry Creek later, in 1858. She was a native of Mexico. She died in Auraria, Mar 25, 1860, and her remains were followed to the grave the next day by many sympathizing friends. The paper says: “Mrs. W. was, we believe, the second white woman who took up residence in this City accompanying her husband on his first arrival from Mexico, Dec 24, 1858.” Hall says that Wooten married four times, and had eight children living in 1875, while Wooten in 1890 was alive and preparing his memoirs for press. These were very instructive (edited by Henry L. Conard. See.) Hall's Colorado History, Vol. 2, pp. 233-241, has fine life of Wooten, see also Smiley, Byers, Stone and all other histories of the State and the files of papers.

WRIGHT, Andrew C., was occupant of the 8th wagon of the Lawrence Party when they entered the region now called Colorado, Jun 10, 1858. His name is cut in the sandstone of the Gateway to the Garden of the Gods, it is said, but is now almost worn away. It was in July they passed that spot, and several members climbed the Peak. In Hall's list his natal place is given as New York (State) Jul 4, 1837. He was one of the original 1858 stockholders of Auraria in his year of arrival. He is mentioned in Larimer's Reminiscences. Is said to have built the first house in the American side of Pueblo, but in 1895 was a resident of Denver. Hall's Colorado History, Vol. 3, p. 450, says that the house he built in Pueblo was on corner of Santa Fe and First Streets. In 1859 he had a number of lots recorded and described, in March having 80 lots in Auraria, and 136 in Highland City, besides a ranche which he took up (now Argo District) and tried to trade them all for a horse, but the Mexican who proposed to buy them changed his mind.

WRIGHT, J., otherwise called Jack Wright, said by Larimer to have lived in Pueblo about 1859. Member of the Pueblo Town Company. He was one of the first to build cabin in Auraria, too. This name is mentioned by Hall, Bancroft, and several others.

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