Montrose County CO Archives Biographies.....Spalding, George R.  1853 - ?
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Judy Crook jlcrook@rof.net March 25, 2006, 8:11 pm

Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado

     A resident of Colorado since he was eleven years of age, and during the

greater part of the time actively engaged in its industries, aiding in its

development and witnessing its progress, George R. Spalding is rightly

accredited as one of the state's representative and progressive men, and is

justly entitled to the respect and good will in which he stands among its

people.  He is comfortably and pleasantly located on a ranch of one hundred and

sixty acres about five and one-half miles south of the village of Cimarron,

which he secured by pre-emption when he first came to this part of the state and

on which he conducts an enterprising stock and farming industry, and which by

judicious tillage and well-arranged improvements he has raised to a high value.

 Mr. Spalding is a native of Missouri, born in Gasconade county in 1853, and is

the son of Reuben J. and Leevisa (Branson) Spalding.  His father was said to be

the first white child born within the present limits of Minnesota, and came into

being there in 1827.  When he was a year old the family moved to Missouri, and

there he grew to manhood in Gasconade county, attending the primitive schools of

his time and locality at irregular intervals for short periods, and taking his

full share of the labor on the paternal homestead, and of the responsibilities

of citizenship when he reached the proper age.  He was a soldier in the Mexican

war, and after its close joined the Argonauts of 1849 in a trip to California,

crossing the plains with a pack train, but returned to Missouri where he

remained until the Pike's Peak excitement in 1859 re-aroused his enthusiasm as a

gold-seeker and brought him to that famous region.  After that time he was a

resident of this state until his death, in 1902, at Pueblo, where he lived from

1868.  He was a successful prospector, panning the first gold in the Blue river

country and discovering the Cashier mine at Montezuma at which his claim was

jumped after he located it.  He was also largely engaged in ranching and raising

stock at different times.  His father was Stephen Spalding, an American soldier

for thirty-six years, taking part in the Indian wars of his early life, the

Revolution and the war of 1812, and rising by meritorious service from the ranks

to the post of major.  His wife was Harriet Spalding, a native of Pennsylvania.

 George R. Spalding's mother was a native of Tennessee and moved with her

parents to Missouri while she was young.  There she was married and lived for

years until she came to Colorado sometime after the arrival of her husband.  In

this state she died in 1881, at the age of fifty-three.  Her offspring numbered

four, the subject of this review being the first born.  He lived in his native

state until he was eleven years old, then came with his father to Colorado. 

Here he grew to manhood, beginning life for himself in 1873 in the cattle

industry near Pueblo.  He followed this occupation four years and during the

next six was a prospector.  In 1889 he settled on the ranch he now occupies near

the western edge of Gunnison county and started a stock business which he is

still conducting.  For seven years he also worked for the railroad company in

the round house at Cimarron.  He was married in 1884 to Miss Anna Shoemaker, a

native of Missouri and daughter of H.C. and Martha (Whitaker) Shoemaker, who

came to Colorado about 1880 and took up their residence near Carbondale,

Garfield county.  Her father carries the mails in this section, and stands well

in the regard of its citizens.  Mr. and Mrs. Spalding have had six children,

four of whom are living, Reuben Clarence, Laura, George and Marie, and two dead,

Earl and Pearly, both of whom are buried at Cimarron.  The family are highly

respected in their community.  

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

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