SCHILDT, Stillman H., b 1855; 1905 Bio, Montrose County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/montrose/bios/schildtsh.txt --------------------------------------- Donated September 7, 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- Stillman H. Schildt The weary tourist through the Big Cimarron section of Montrose county, if he seek an agreeable shelter from the weather or a hospitable and comfortable place of repose, will find about five miles south of the village of Cimarron an imposing dwelling at the edge of a magnificent grove of stately cottonwoods and fronted by a beautiful lawn. This is the home of Stillman H. Schildt, a prominent man in public and social life, a leading farmer and citizen of this section and the first settler on this portion of the Big Cimarron. He has the most attractive place in this part of the county and is known far and wide for his hospitality, his public-spirit, and his enterprise in his private business and in public improvements for the benefit of the community in which he lives. Mr. Schildt was born in 1855 at Plattsburg, New York, the son of Henry and Mary (Schriber) Schildt, the former a native of Prussia and the latter of another part of Germany. They came to the United States soon after their marriage and settled in northeastern New York, where they remained until 1859, when they moved to Wisconsin, where the mother died on December 26, 1900, at the age of eighty-one, and where the father is still living at that of eighty-three. He was a soldier in the Prussian army, and not long after he settled in Wisconsin enlisted in the Sixth Wisconsin Infantry for defense of the Union in the Civil war. His people in Prussia were offended at his enlistment and petitioned President Lincoln for his dismissal. The President responded to the petition by promptly appointing him captain of Company F in his regiment. His son Stillman was the fourth of the six children born to the household. He moved with the rest of the family to Wisconsin when he was four years old, and in the village of Mazomanie, that state, he grew to the age of twenty. He then started in life for himself, emigrating to Kansas, where he remained three years, then came to Colorado, and freighted from Alamosa for two years. At the end of that time he came to what was then Gunnison county and was in the employ of Otto Meyers on the toll road for two years, after which he took up the ranch which is now his home, acquiring the land by pre-emption of the first one hundred and sixty acres and purchase of the rest of the three hundred and thirty-five he owns. His land has had careful and skillful attention, and his stock industry has been made to thrive and prosper by the application of the best methods of conducting it and the most commodious and comfortable provision for the welfare of the stock. His specialty is purebred Durham cattle, and he is steadily raising the standard of his herds to the highest point. His dwelling is a large and handsome one, his grounds display excellent taste in their arrangement and care, his improvements on the farm generally are of a high order in character and conveniences, and the cultivation of his land is carried on in the most approved manner. Everything on and about the place bespeaks the man of energy and culture, of breadth and spirit, such as his genial manner, entertaining conversation and considerate hospitality show him to be. In 1879 he was married to Miss Lucy A. Moore, daughter of S. R. Moore, of Kansas, who moved from Illinois to that state and passed the rest of his life farming there. Mr. and Mrs. Schildt have five children living, Pearl, William, Lorraine, Lucy and Henriette. A son named Robert died at the age of nineteen years and was buried in the cemetery at Cimarron, and a daughter named Mary, who was killed by accident at the age of four, has the same resting place. =================================================== 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.