Lightley, George W; 1905 Bio, Gunnison County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/gunnison/bios/lightygw.txt --------------------------------------- Donated May 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- George W. Lightley The interesting subject of this article, who is one of the most prosperous, progressive and prominent ranch men and stock growers of Gunnison county, and owns and operates a ranch of one thousand acres on Ohio creek, eight miles north of the county seat, was born on March 3, 1850, at Buffalo, New York, which was then a city of some forty thousand inhabitants and is now a mighty mart of commerce of nearly ten times that number, its growth in population, industrial wealth and commercial enterprise in the little more than half a century since his birth having been phenomenal. His parents were John and Louis Anna (Maltby) Lightley, the former a native of England and the latter of Vermont. The father came to the United States a young man and located at Buffalo, at the time a village on the lake front, insignificant in size and importance. There he was married and engaged in farming until 1855, when he moved to Wisconsin, changing his residence in 1861 to Freeborn county, Minnesota, where he became an extensive farmer, raising enormous crops of wheat after he reduced his wild land to productiveness and succeeded in gathering around him the appliances and conveniences of husbandry on a large scale, which were wholly wanting in the section when he settled there as a pioneer. His wife died at Austin, in the adjoining county of Mower, in 1899, at the age of eighty-eight, and he at the same place in 1901, at that of ninety-three. They were the parents of thirteen children, nine of whom are living, their son George being the eighth in the order of birth. His love of travel and adventure was born in his childhood as he saw the expanding shipping of the growing mart come and go on the lake and the Erie canal, and quickened by his trip at the age of five from the city of his birth to the wilds of Wisconsin. This was made on the lakes to Milwaukee and from there overland to Beaverdam through a country devoid of railroads and but scantily supplied with wagon roads. He grew to manhood on the paternal farm and received such scholastic training as could be furnished by the primitive country schools of a new and unsettled country, remaining at home until he reached the age of twenty-one. He then went to northern Wisconsin, where he worked in the lumber woods ten years. In 1880 he came to Colorado, and located in Gunnison county, walking from Buena Vista, the last railroad station on the way, with his blankets on his back. He was attracted to this part of the state by the mining boom of the time, but on his arrival in Gunnison county did not engage in mining. On the contrary, being trained to farming, and seeing with prophetic eye the agricultural possibilities of the region, in the ensuing autumn bought three hundred and twenty acres of land, which is a part of his present ranch and was the best improved tract of land at the time on Ohio creek, although it had no buildings on it, having been taken up and brought to an advanced stage of cultivation by Henry Purrier. Here Mr. Lightley has since resided, increasing his ranch to one thousand acres, enriching it with first-class buildings and improving it with ditches and other works necessary to its proper development. He has his land now practically all under good irrigation and raises on it annually about eight hundred tons of hay. Of this he bales an average of five hundred tons of excellent timothy for which he finds ready sale at good prices at Cripple Creek and Leadville. Soon after his arrival here he began to engage in the stock industry, handling cattle principally, and gradually enlarging his herd until he now owns about five hundred head. His dwelling is one of the most attractive and completely furnished in the neighborhood, and his barns and other outbuildings are also first-class in every respect. In political faith he is a Republican, but he takes no active part in party contests locally, devoting his time wholly to his business and the general improvement and welfare of the county without regard to partisan consideration. On August 20, 1890, he was united in marriage with Mrs. Della M. (Harris) Moore, who was born at Marion, Indiana, and is the daughter of Z.M. and Sarah J. (Beatty) Harris, natives of Indiana and members of old and long established families in that state. They are now living at Manitou, Colorado. Mr. and Mrs.Lightley have two children, their daughters Lena, aged thirteen, and Lou, aged seven. =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access.