Dolores County CO Archives Biographies.....Matthews, Sanford H. November 1, 1859 - ?
************************************************


Copyright.  All rights reserved.


http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm


http://www.usgwarchives.net/co/cofiles.htm


************************************************





File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Judy Crook jlcrook@rof.net February 22, 2006, 10:26 am

Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado

     A Colorado pioneer of 1878, and settling in the portion of the state in


which he now resides when it was entirely new to civilization and settlement,


Sanford H. Matthews, of Dunton, Dolores county, has been a forceful and


effective power in organizing this section of the county and pushing forward its


progress, being from the first in full sympathy with the aspirations of the


Western people, and only needing a place in which to make his influence felt and


his breadth of view impressive and serviceable.  He was born in Canada on


November 1, 1859, and is the son of Alexander J. and Mary (Bothwell) Matthews,


the former a native of Canada and the latter of Glasgow, Scotland.  In 1861 they


moved to the United States and settled in Wisconsin.  Soon afterward the father


enlisted in the Union army as a member of the Twenty-first Wisconsin Infantry,


and in that regiment he served through the Civil war.  The parents now reside at


Marshalltown, Iowa.  Their son Sanford remained with them until he was nineteen,


receiving a district school education and being trained to the pursuit of


agriculture on his father’s farm.  In 1878 he came to Colorado, and a few months


later went back to Iowa.  In 1881 he again became a resident of this state,


living for a short time at Denver, and going from there to Leadville, where he


engaged in prospecting.  From Leadville he moved to Aspen and for two years was


busy mining in that region.  He then was some time at Gunnison in the livery and


feed business, and from there began a prospecting tour over southwestern


Colorado, with headquarters at Ames.  Two years were also passed in general


merchandising at this place and a short time in various occupations at Rico. 


From 1887 to 1892 he was merchandising at Placerville.  For some months


thereafter he lived at Norwood where he carried on an active business,


principally in the line of developing the country.  He built the first house at


Sawpit, and in many other ways contributed substantially toward opening up the


region to settlement and productiveness, among them organizing the Morell mining


district.  He then moved to Telluride and during the next five years was in


business there.  After that, in partnership with R.W. Rogers, he bought the


townsite of Dunton, including the hot springs, and since that time he has done


an active and profitable business in the building up and development of the


town.  He is also interested in a number of rich mining properties, and has


profitable returns from them.  In 1885 he was married at Ames to Miss  Jennie


Evans, a native of that place, which was founded by her father, Walter Evans,


who became a resident of Colorado in 1859. Mr. and  Mrs. Matthews have three


children, Nathan, Paul and Susan.

Additional Comments:
From Progressive Men of Western Colorado.  Chicago:  A.W. Bowen & Co., 1905

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/dolores/bios/matthews167gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cofiles/

File size: 3.4 Kb