While Joseph Wells was in the area he was aquainted with people that have been recognized over the years in various publications. I am sure he also knew many of the people who came to the area and never made the history books, but here are a few of those who did.
Molly Brown. Yes, there
really was an "Unsinkable Molly Brown". Margaret Tobin Brown was
a resident of Leadville. Her husband James J. Brown was a miner, and made his fortune in Leadville.
Molly, as she was known by her friends, loved to perpetuate the
many stories that were told about her. It is said that she once
burned many thousands of dollar in a stove one morning, after her
husband has put it there for safe keeping. There were stories
that she knew Mark Twain and many other well know people of the
time.
The one true story about her, that is still popular, is of her
helping women and children during the sinking of the Titanic.
She was well know in European circles before this but became an
international celebrity because of her heroism. This is also how she got
her nickname "The Unsinkable Molly Brown".
Molly Brown died in 1932. Her home in Denver, Colorado, is now
open to the public.
More about Molly
H.A.W. TABOR. Horace
Austin Warner Tabor, was known as the Silver King after his
discovery of the value of The Little Pittsburg, and his other
mining ventures in 1878 and 1879. He had come originally to
California Gulch, in the 1860s, as an honest storekeeper
who grubstaked any prospector who asked for one.
He was born in Vermont in 1830, and was a stonecutter until the
age of 25 years when he moved with his wife, Louisa Augusta
Pierce Tabor, to Kansas to farm. In 1859, he got gold fever and
moved to the Western Kansas Territory (that became Colorado
Territory in 1861) being one of the first to arrive in the area. He became general merchant, and postmaster. He and Augusta (as his wife was known) took in boarders and also ran a bakery.
Tabor went on to develop mines; endowed churches, and hospitals;
build theaters, banks and railroads; create cities (Leadville),
and create public improvements.
In later times he was elected to public office. He left Augusta
for his new bride, "Baby Doe" and they had a whirlwind marriage. Mr. Tabor lost all his fortune when the bottom fell out of the silver market during the Silver Panic of 1893.
Louisa Augusta Pierce Tabor accompanied her husband
to the gold fields of Colorado. She was the first woman resident of Oro City. She had was considered a
very hard working woman and was well thought of by the community. She later moved to a
home in Denver that was built for her by Mr. Tabor.
More of the life of Augusta Tabor will be added. Also, the story of how I got to meet her great-great-granddaughter in June 2000.
BABY DOE TABOR. Elizabeth
Bonduel McCourt Tabor, was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 1855.
She met Horace Tabor in Leadville in 1880. Horace left his wife
for the woman known as "Baby Doe" and after his divorce they were
married in Washington D. C. with President of the United States
Chester A. Arthur in attendance.
They lived the lavish life fashionable at the time for those
with money. Then the silver market crashed and the Tabors were
left to live a life of proverty.
Before he died Mr. Tabor had told his Baby Doe to hang on the
mining property called the Matchless, "because some day it will
make millions again". For nearly 36 years Baby Doe struggled
to follow his wishes, she died at the cabin, next to the mine
shaft, in March of 1935.
During this time she traveled the streets of Leadville with her
feet wrapped in burlap sacks to keep out the cold. Food and
clothing sent to this very proud women was sent back unopened.
This is how the women who lived one of the most lavish lifestyles
of the time and who wore a dress worth thousands when she wed
ended her years.
What became of The Matchless? It is now open for visiting by tourists.
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Other stories will be added.
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