JAQUETTE, Fred C., b 1858 1905 Bio, Mesa County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/mesa/bios/jaquettefc.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. --------------------------------------- Fred C. Jaquette For more than fifteen years a prominent contractor and builder in this state, carrying on an extensive business in this line at Boulder and Grand Junction, and building many of the better houses at each place, while at the same time he was busily occupied in improving the excellent ranch on which he lives fives miles northeast of Grand Junction, Fred C. Jaquette has many monuments to his skill and enterprise, and has been able to contribute most essentially and valuably to the growth and development of the state and the comfort and enjoyment of its people. He is a native of Jackson county, Michigan, born on September 19, 1858, and the son of Samuel and Abigail (King) Jaquette, the former born in Pennsylvania and the latter in the state of New York. They were both reared in New York and they were married there. Soon afterward they moved to Jackson county, Michigan, where the father followed farming. In 1859 he started for Pike's Peak, but meeting on the way many who had been disappointed in their quest for gold in that region and were returning to their homes and former occupations, he determined to go on to California, which he did, crossing the plains from St. Joseph, Missouri, with ox teams and being five months on the road. He spent four years in California mining and prospecting, and was very fortunate for a time in his work. He then went into a big deal for fluming a large stream to get water on the mining claims, but before the work was finished a disastrous flood swept away all the fruits of the enterprise and he lost all he had. He then returned to Michigan and the family continued to live on a Calhoun county farm, to which they had moved. On account of physical disability he did not go into the Civil war, but five of his brothers did and served through the contest and returned to their homes unharmed. Six children were born in the family, but only two grew to maturity, Mr. Jaquette and an older brother named Darwin B., who is a farmer in Eaton county, Michigan. Fred was reared on the farm in Calhoun county, in his native state, on which the family settled when he was but eight years old. He began his education in the primary schools near his home, then attended the high school at Albion, Michigan, where he was graduated in 1879, after which he took a full course at he Albion Business College, being graduated in 1880. After that he passed a year in the State University of Illinois at Champaign, and on his return to Albion learned his trade as a moulder. He worked at this trade until May, 1887, when he came to Colorado, and soon afterward settled in Boulder county, buying a small tract of six acres and a half of land near the University of Boulder. It was raw land and he paid one hundred dollars an acre for it. He at once set to work to improve it and planted it all in fruit trees, mostly apples, while the entire tract between the trees was planted to strawberries, raspberries and grapes. These grew and thrived, and in 1892 he sold six hundred dollars worth of fruit an acre off of this tract. He also purchased three lots in the town of Boulder on which he built houses, then sold them at a gratifying profit. In the fall of 1892 he came to Grand Valley and bought forty acres of raw land, the place on which he now lives, and in the spring of 1895 moved his family on the place with a view to making it his permanent home. In the autumn of the same year he made a pre-emption claim of one hundred and twenty acres one mile north of his present residence, and this tract will be valuable when the new high-line ditch, now in course of construction, is completed. He has greatly improved his home place and has thirty acre in fruit, the orchards being very prolific and the quality of their products first class. Sixteen acres of his trees are in bearing order, and from them in 1903 he sold over one thousand five hundred boxes of apples, and in 1904, two thousand boxes of apples and seven thousand boxes of peaches. In January, 1882, he was married to Miss Clara L. Manning, a native of Auburn, New York, and three children have blessed their union, Charles M., Mary C. and Ruth C. In political faith Mr. Jaquette is a firm and loyal Republican, but he has never aspired to public office, being content to serve his party and his country from the honorable post of private citizenship and in useful works of lasting benefit to his community, county and state. He is one of the most highly esteemed citizens of the Western slope. =================================================== 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.