HOWARD, David L., b 1859 1905 Bio, Mesa County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/mesa/bios/howarddl.txt --------------------------------------- Donated September 13, 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- David L. Howard David L. Howard, a prosperous fruit-grower and ranchman of Mesa county, living five miles east of Grand Junction, is a native of near Louisville, Kentucky, born on January 15, 1859, and the son of James and Sarah (Lee) Howard, also natives of that state. The father was a gunsmith, and in 1860 moved his family to Illinois, locating on a farm near Mount Vernon where he lived some six years. They then moved to Missouri and settled near St. Joseph, where the father died in 1894. The mother died in Oregon in 1903, at the age of seventy-eight years. David was about eleven when the family moved to Illinois and is the fourth of the eleven children born in the household, all of whom are living. The condition of the country and the necessity for the use of every available hand in the farm work gave him but little opportunity for schooling, and he is therefore largely a self-educated man. In 1871, at the age of twenty-two, he left home and went to Kansas, settling in Howard county, where he farmed two years. Then, after a short sojourn in Texas, he came to Colorado in the spring of 1874 and located at Georgetown, where he followed prospecting and mining fourteen years, often making money rapidly and frequently, with the usual luck of a miner, losing it as rapidly. In 1888 he moved to Aspen, then a booming silver camp, and remained there three years, mining industriously with varying success, after which he prospected and leased in that vicinity and the adjoining county until the slump in silver came in 1893. At that time he turned his attention to farming and, moving to Grand valley, bought forty acres of land three miles north of Grand Junction, four acres of which had been set out in fruit. He set out twelve acres more in fruit and made other substantial improvements in the property, then two years later sold it and bought forty acres of raw land four miles east of Grand Junction, on which he lived until 1903, planting ten acres of the place in fruit and improving the property as a home. In 1903 he sold this and purchased the fruit ranch adjoining it on the east, on which he now lives. This ranch comprises seventy acres, twenty of which are in thrifty fruit trees of choice varieties in good bearing condition, and also produces large yields of hay and other farm growths. Mr. Howard was married on November 16, 1878, to Miss Julia C. Bourquin, who was born at Archibald, Fulton county, Ohio, and is the daughter of Peter and Catherine (Verbier) Bourquin, natives of France. The father was twenty years old when he came to this country from his native land, and his wife was six months old when she came hither with her parents. They were married in Fulton county, Ohio, where the father was a merchant for a number of years. In 1875 they moved to Georgetown, this state, and there he engaged in mining. He died at Pueblo in January, 1883, and since then his widow has made her home at Georgetown. Mr. and Mrs. Howard have four children, all sons, L. Vernier, a student at the Denver-Gross Medical College; Floyd B., a chef by profession; Ray F. and Glenn D., living at home. In politics Mr. Howard is a Socialist and in fraternal life a United Workman. =================================================== 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.