People of Fountain- various articles and clipping from the last centry

Jim Chancellor was born in the Missouri Ozarks in 1934. It was discovered that his  mother had TB, and within a week the family had moved to Colorado.  The dry air of Colorado, and other western states, was thought to aid the breathing of consumptives and slow or stop the spread of the infection. The family settled in Fountain in the middle of the Great Depression. They opened a pottery business along the road between Pueblo and Fountain, and later started a cattle business. 

The pottery shop was called Rocky Mountain Pottery. Some of their pieces featured pine sprigs and cones, and this style can be seen at the Fountain Museum.

Pieces attributed to the Rocky Mountain Pottery Company (ROMCO) of Loveland (established 1952), later in Estes Park. Is this the successor to the Fountain locale?

Chancellor studied nutrition and genetics at CSU. He came back to Fountain and bought land from Jim and Ruth Spates in 1957, starting a cattle ranch and leasing land from Fort Carson. When that lease was cancelled, he moved to Branson, CO for the next few decades. His land is now the sight of Chancellor Mobile Home Park, across from the city cemetery on Santa Fe Avenue.

The Society of Friends

Some information on the Hutchin and Terrell families appears elsewhere on the blog, as does the founding of the town of Fountain in 1871, with a lot set aside for a Quaker meeting hall. This article gives details of some family members being disowned from the church, as found in meeting minutes (Ancestry).

August 15 1846 Ohio

Those appointed to prepare a testimony of disownment against Henry W Hutchin have produced the following which was read, approved and signed (to wit) Henry W Hutchin who has had a right of membership in the Society of Friends has deviated from plainness in dress and address, attended places of diversion, and has practiced dancing for which he has been without the desired effect. We therefore disown him from being a member with us. Signed 8th monthly meeting of Friends, Joseph Maddox, clerk.  (Note that Henry was 21 years of age at the time. )

October 1850 Elk monthly meeting of Friends.  Amos Terrell and Mary Hutchin informed this meeting in writing that they intend marriage with each other, the young man not being a member of this meeting will be expected to produce the necessary certificate from the meeting to which he belongs to our next meeting. November 21st 1850 Delilah Stubbs and Tabitha Jones are appointed to attend the marriage place of entertainment and see if good order be observed and report back. 

April 25 1853 at Preble County Ohio. Amos Terrell requests we certify for himself and family in order to convey their rites of membership to Richland monthly meeting of Friends in Iowa. 

Undated. Amos and Mary Terrell, on account of their isolation from Friends, request a letter of membership to the Second Congregational Church of Colorado Springs.

In November 1871. The Elk Monthly Meeting minutes from Preble County, Ohio note - We are informed by writing that the following individuals of Colorado Territory, to wit Isaac Hutchin, Henry Hutchin, Robert Stubbs, Delilah Stubbs and Reuben Frazier, request to be joined in membership with Friends, which after time of deliberation thereon, and from the information given by the Friends who have lately been there on a religious visit, this meeting is united in receiving them in to membership with us. 

A Brief Introduction to the Blog

Greetings to our many blog followers!  Be sure to check the research pages at right for other new articles.

Fountain is a small town about 10 miles south of Colorado Springs that was founded in 1859.  Formerly, it was a railroad shipping center for local ranches and farms. Now, a lot of residents work on Fort Carson or other nearby bases, but the town still maintains it own identity.  

The blog is an online repository of photographs, stories, land records and biographies of the settlers of Fountain, Colorado.  Many of these sources were given to me to add by the Fountain Museum and Historical Society.  My goal was to make this information freely available to researchers.  Use of this data for personal research is encouraged.  Reproduction of any or all of the content for commercial purposes is prohibited, or we'll track you down and bury you in an ant hill! Just kidding.  Contact the Museum to request photo rights. The image above shows a foot race down Main Street in the early 1920s.

The search feature only looks in the main column at left.  Those articles added to the subsets at right (people, gossip, railroads, etc) are not indexed, but I've tried to add a note to the index at the top of each column. 

 

Lastly, as is true of all history, we all have our own recollection or opinion of what happened. I've had people tell me that an article was wrong! The guy didn't know what he was talking about!  I have tried to include my source for each story or article. 

The new entries on Fairview Cemetery are a work-in-progress.

Here are a few new articles!

 Residents of Fountain Fairview Cemetery

 A few notes from each year's tour research. For readability, I have not included all my sources.

Surnames in order of appearance (for now): OWEN, CELL, SISNEROS, LOCK, HUTCHIN, BOWLBY, CHILD, VAN ENDERT, RUIZ, IMES, LISTON, ELLINGTON, TERRELL

Tom Owen may have been the first white settler in the Fountain region. He paid $50 to put his bag in a wagon and walk to Colorado from Missouri. He built a structure on the banks of the Little Fountain Creek, near the present-day Ray Nixon power plant. He raised hay which he sold to freighters. See the entries for Barbara and Mathias Lock, reportedly the next settlers to arrive here. They were headed south along the front range, headed for the California gold fields, when they met Tom and were convinced to stay.  Later in life Tom lived in Aspen, CO and  owned much property, which he acquired when people he had loaned money to defaulted. 

David Cell and Berdie Johnson Cell were killed by a train in 1907 when their horse and buggy stalled on the tracks just north of Fountain. An infant in arms, Mary Adelaide, was thrown down on the tracks in the collision, and lived.  The Cells came to Colorado from Missouri in about 1865 and David was a rancher. Berdie Johnson came to Colorado in about 1889 to visit her brother William Johnson, also a rancher, and she met David. They had six children together.  Daughter Mary 1908-1998 is buried in Mendocino, CA.