Pitkin County CO Archives Biographies.....Thatcher, Capt. George W.  July 11, 1844 - ?
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Judy Crook jlcrook@rof.net March 16, 2006, 4:00 pm

Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado

     Through a long series of successes and reverses, the former more continued

and pronounced than the latter, Capt. George W. Thatcher, a prominent and

influential mining man of Aspen, Pitkin county, has risen to comfort and

prosperity in worldly wealth and a high and firmly established position in the

confidence and esteem of his fellow men.  He was born in Shelby county,

Kentucky, on July 11, 1844, and is the son of John and Martha A. Thatcher, the

former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Kentucky.  The father moved to

Kentucky when he was a young man and served in the United States army, being

engaged in the Seminole Indian war in Florida and holding the rank of captain. 

He also looked after the disputed land claims in the courts.  In 1850 he moved

to Missouri, locating in Jackson county, where he followed farming with good

success.  He was an active Whig in politics and he and his wife were members of

the Baptist church.  They had eight children, four of whom have died.  Those

living are the Captain, Mrs. Hugh Butler and Joseph A., of Denver, the latter

president of the Denver National Bank, and Newton J., of Arizona.  The mother

died in 1848 and the father in 1852.  Captain Thatcher, who is generally

recognized as one of the best and most progressive citizens of the Western

slope, attended only the common schools and had but limited opportunities for a

regular course at them.  At the age of fourteen he began the battle of life for

himself as clerk and salesman in a store where he remained two years.  At

sixteen he went to Mexico and engaged in mining, and in 1858 accompanied the

troops under Generals Harney and Albert Sidney Johnston as wagon master and

guide across the plains, having entire charge of the Harvey outfit.  He remained

with the army until 1860, then moved to Nevada where he resumed his mining

operations and also did freighting between points in that state and California 

In these lines he was occupied two years with varying success. In 1862 he went

to Idaho and during the next ten years was employed in placer mining and

ditching in the Boise basin.  At this time the Indians were troublesome in that

portion of the state, resisting with force and arms the encroachments of the

white and the advance of civilization, attacking the freight outfits and

disturbing the miners at their work.  In the work of defense the Captain was a

volunteer and in command of the volunteer forces, and they in connection with

the regular troops cleaned the savages out and restored peace throughout the

region bordering Indian, Black, Owyhee and Mahlem creeks.  In 1872 Captain

Thatcher moved to Utah, where he remained two years, then went to Nevada and

again engaged in mining, being connected with the Comstock mines until 1880.  At

that time he came to Colorado, and locating at Aspen, began mining silver, in

which he is still engaged.  He is active and prominent in the Masonic order, and

is an earnest and zealous Democrat in politics, taking a prominent part in the

management of his party as a member and chairman of its committees, and serving

as a candidate for presidential elector in 1896 on the Bryan ticket.  In 1904 he

was appointed commissioner to represent Colorado at the St. Louis World’s Fair.  

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

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/pitkin/bios/thatcher302gbs.txt

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