Gunnison County CO Archives Biographies.....Nisbeth, Thomas P. March 5, 1849 - ? ************************************************ 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 March 24, 2006, 8:43 am Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Thomas P. Nisbeth, of Gunnison county, who is comfortably established on a good ranch on Carbon creek one mile north of Mt. Carbon, where he is conducting a prosperous ranching and stock industry, has come to this present estate of worldly ease and firmly fixed place in the regard of his fellow citizens through an experience of hardship and privation, toil and perseverance under very trying circumstances and over difficulties that were hard to surmount. But with the true spirit of the pioneer, he has met every obstacle with a determination to surmount it, gaining headway all the while in the struggle for advancement and steadfastly holding every foot of his progress. He is a native of Birmingham, England, born on March 5, 1849, and the son of William and Charlotta (Clark) Nisbeth, the former a native of Herefordshire, England, and the latter of Birmingham. The father worked on farms by the day or month in his native land until 1865, when the family he had then around him accompanied him to this country, where he sought and not in vain larger opportunities and better conditions than he had at home. His first two years in the United States were passed in Indiana at work on farms for wages. In 1867 he moved to Macon county, Missouri, where he bought a small farm on which he and his wife lived until death ended their labors. They were the parents of fifteen children, six of whom are living, the eleventh in the order of birth being their son Thomas. Owing to the moderate means of his parents he had little chance to attend school, and was obliged to go to work for himself at an early age. In 1863, when he was but fourteen, he came to America with an older brother, and for nearly two years thereafter he worked on a railroad in Vermont. In the spring of 1865 he moved to Indiana, and after working on a farm near Evansville in that state several months, changed his residence to Macon county, Missouri, where he passed the next ten years of his life. During the greater part of this time he was employed in coal mines, but he also joined his father in the purchase of some land which they farmed together. The winter of 1882 was passed by him in arduous labor in coal mines in Indian Territory, and in the spring of 1883 he came to Colorado and located at Gunnison. In the following January he moved to his present ranch, having taken up eighty acres of it in the previous fall. When he settled on this land the prospect was dreary in the extreme. It lay under six feet of snow, and was without the shadow of a building for his accommodation except a rude and inartistic log cabin which he had built, with nothing around it “but the great out-doors beneath the overhead.” The prospect would have deterred any but a resolute and self-reliant man, and he was of that caliber. He went to work with a will to make his place habitable and productive, and in this effort he has so well succeeded that he now has a comfortable home of his own construction and an expanse of fruitful and profitable ranch land which yields good annual crops of hay, grain and vegetables. He has bought additional land until he owns three hundred and eighty acres, about one-third of which is under irrigation, and on this he has steadily prospered, although his progress at first was slow and his hardships were many. Soon after taking possession of his first tract he started a stock business which has grown in magnitude until he has an average of one hundred cattle, all well-bred Shorthorns. He is so well fixed and his home is so comfortable and well provided that he can now laugh the summer’s storms and floods and the winter’s siege to scorn, and enjoy life in every season with a fullness of content. Thus does bountiful America reward men of industry and thrift wherever they ask her favors with the spirit of determined seekers, and thus does she wait upon the faith of the pioneers who come upon her soil with eyes to see, skill to use and energy to develop the opportunities she has always at their command. Being an early settler in his section of the state, Mr. Nisbeth has necessarily been deeply interested in its welfare and active in the development of its resources and the promotion of its people’s welfare. He is an ardent Democrat in political faith, especially in state and national affairs, and an equally ardent advocate and aid of every commendable enterprise for local advantages without regard to partisan considerations, bestowing upon local public matters the same foresight, energy and breadth of view which have characterized his management of his private business. It follows that he is one of the useful and respected citizens of his county, and has the general good will of all the others. On March 17, 1872, he married with Miss Louisa Cundiff, who was born near Dubuque, Iowa, and is the daughter of Greenbury and Dorcas (Warren) Cundiff, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Indiana, both of whom died in Missouri, where they passed the latter years of their lives as well-to-do farmers. Mr. and Mrs. Nisbeth have one child, their son William Wallace. In all his undertakings and his efforts to accomplish them Mrs. Nisbeth has been a true helpmate to her husband, and no small part of his prosperity is due to her industry, resourcefulness and accomplishments. She is a lady of indefatigable energy, giving her close and helpful attention to all her domestic duties, and in the summer of 1904 in addition made about two thousand pounds of cheese which was eagerly bought at good prices in the mining camps of the county. She also finds time to gratify her taste for works artistic, having a wide range and high order of ability in fancy work. During the past few years she has pieced more than twenty-five bed-spreads, one alone having over four thousand pieces in its construction. Besides all this she is skillful in making lace and has a fine collection of many beautiful patterns, all the work of her own hands. Additional Comments: From Progressive Men of Western Colorado. Chicago: A.W. Bowen & Co., 1905 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/gunnison/bios/nisbeth374gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cofiles/ File size: 6.6 Kb