Mesa County CO Archives Biographies.....Schmitt, Adrian March 7, 1847 - ?
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Judy Crook jlcrook@rof.net March 19, 2006, 1:49 pm

Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado

     Adrian Schmitt, now one of the prosperous and enterprising farmers of Mesa

county, living three miles and a half northwest of Grand Junction, and the

pioneer in the cattle industry of this section, was born in Bavaria, Germany, on

March 7, 1847, and is the son of John and Barbara (Fuch) Schmitt, also Bavarians

by nativity, and passing their lives in their native land.  The father, in

company with one of his older sons, carried on extensive farming operations, and

when a nobleman in his neighborhood failed, he bought an estate in land and some

cattle.  His son Adrian grew to manhood in his home neighborhood and there

received a common-school education.  He showed great facility in mathematical

operations, through life being able to solve difficult problems in his head more

rapidly than others can with pencil and paper.  He worked on the farm with his

father until he was twenty-one, then learned the trade of a baker, which he

followed in various places, principally in Hamburg.  When the Franco-Prussian

war broke out, in order to escape military service, he came to the United

States, having with him three thousand dollars which he deposited in a Brooklyn

(New York) bank.  He then came west to Indianapolis, where he wrought at his

trade about a year. Being smitten with the mining fever at the end of that time,

he came to Colorado in 1872 and located at Georgetown. There and in Middle Park

and at Leadville he mined and prospected, and for a short time worked in the ore

mills, and in these operations lost all his money.  From that section he went to

Aspen, among the first to enter that region, making the trip on snow shoes over

snow twenty feet deep and carrying one hundred and seventy-five pounds of food

and other freight on his back.  He passed one year at Aspen and cleared over two

thousand five hundred dollars.  In the fall of 1881 he moved into the Grand

valley, being one of the first settlers of that now populous and prolific

region.  Here he entered one hundred and sixty acres of land, a part of which is

now his home.  In the following spring he brought seven cows and calves into the

valley, which were the first cattle introduced into the section, and since then

he has been continuous engaged in the stock industry.  Under his judicious

management his land became productive and greatly increased in value.  He has

sold all of it but forty acres on which he now lives retired and in comfort,

enjoying the fruits of his labor and the esteem and confidence of his fellow

men.  He recently sold one piece of his land, comprising forty acres, for four

thousand dollars.  On March 10, 1875, he was married, at Georgetown, in this

state, to Miss Anna Tunish, a native of Bavaria who came to the United States

alone when she was a young woman.  They have six children, Mary, Maggie, George,

Lawrence, Theresa and Emma.  In politics Mr. Schmitt is independent, and in

religious affiliation he is a member of the Catholic church.  

Additional Comments:
From Progressive Men of Western Colorado.  Chicago:  A.W. Bowen & Co., 1905

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/mesa/bios/schmitt316gbs.txt

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