El Paso-Teller-Pueblo County CO Archives Obituaries.....Childs, Henry Clay March 1910 ************************************************ 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: steph mcgrath ssm219n@gmail.com April 20, 2014, 9:54 am Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, Vt.), March 11, 1910, Page 7 HENRY CLAY CHILDS. Native of Wilmington Who Founded a Town in Colorado---Left Property "for Humanitarian Benefits." Henry C. Child, a recluse whose life story is full of interest, died at Colorado City a few days ago. Born in Massachusetts of Puritan stock, he became an orphan at the age of eight. Educating himself, he went to Illinois In early manhood, serving for 12 years as a member of the state legislature of which body he was speaker in 1873. Thirty-five years ago, in obedience to what he declared to be a message from the spirit world, he went to Colorado. In Ute Pass, 18 miles west of Colorado Springs and on the overland trail to Leadville, he founded Crystola, which has since become a summer resort. Here he secured 2000 acres of land which he steadfastly believed to be underlaid with ore deposits rivaling those of Cripple Creek. His will bequeaths his property "for humanitarian benefits and calls for the formation of a co-operative colony and the erection of a sanitarium. In accordance with his directions, his body was cremated and the ashes scattered to the four winds. [Springfield Republican]. Mr. Childs was not a native of Massachusetts, as stated in the above paragraph. He was born in Wilmington, Vermont, the son of Jarius and Betsey (Jones) Childs. In his home town he was always called by his full name, Henry Clay Childs. He was a cousin of Mrs. Kittredge Haskins, Rollin S. Childs and Major F. W. Childs of Brattleboro. Mr. Childs married in Wilmington in 1853 Katherine Parmelee in the Baptist church, and at the same time S. W. Kimball, now one of the oldest and most widely known residents of Brattleboro, married Harriet Parmelee, a cousin of Katherine. Mr. Childs soon after his marriage removed to Wheaton, Illinois, where he lived the greater portion of his life. Betsey Jones was the daughter of Whitney Jones of Dover and aunt of Mrs. Edward Crosby, deceased, of this town, and great-aunt of Carlos K. Jones and Charles R. Crosby, both of Brattleboro. Additional Comments: This article also appeard in Daily Journal, Telluride, San Miguel County, March 20, 1910. Crystola is an unincorporated town in Teller County and uses Woodland Park as its mailing zip code (80863). See also: "Crystola the Beautiful--The Landed Estate of an Idea" The Cripple Creek Sunday Times, July 15, 1906 in The Mountain Pine Vol 1, page 241--Google eBook accessed 4.20.2014 at http://books.google.com/books? id=rOMNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA241&lpg=PA241&dq=%22henry+clay+childs%22+illinois+legislatu re&source=bl&ots=ojlx4nIIS9&sig=vKGXRj- pdaLoDnYO7NVHYAHnaE0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=l5FTU6GMDpCmyATFlIGYCQ&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onep age&q&f=false File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/elpaso/obits/c/childs29nob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cofiles/ File size: 2.9 Kb