Tourtelotte, Henry; 1905 Bio, Pitkin County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/pitkin/bios/tortlth.txt --------------------------------------- Donated May 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- Henry Tourtelotte A prominent prospector and mining man of the Aspen fields, and having located in that section in the early days of its history when the population was scant and the development scarcely more than begun, Henry Tourtelotte knows the whole history of the region and has been one of the principal agencies in promoting its growth and development and bringing its wealth to the knowledge of the world. He was born on September 27, 1839, at Downer's Grove, Dupage county, Illinois, where he was reared and received a limited education by short and irregular terms at the public schools. He assisted his parents on the farm until he reached the age of nineteen, then in 1858, went to Minnesota and secured employment from the Indian traders at the Winnebago agency, with whom he remained until 1860 at a compensation of twenty-five dollars a month and his board, being part of the time a clerk and part a teamster. In 1860 he came to Colorado, at that time an unorganized territory and attached to Kansas for judicial purposes. He located at Clear creek, where he passed one season in placer mining without much success. At the end of the season he returned to Minnesota and enlisted in defense of the Union for the Civil war in the Second Minnesota Infantry, but after a service of one year was sent home on a furlough because of sickness and while at home was discharged. He was ill a year, and when he had partially recovered his health he went to southwestern Minnesota and engaged in hunting and trapping with good success for three years, then began merchandising at Mankato, Minnesota, which he continued twelve years. The grasshoppers had their sway at the end of that period and closed his business by stripping the country of its productions and depriving the people of the means of trading. In 1879 he came to Colorado to remain and located at Leadville, but in the latter part of that year moved to Aspen. This section of the state was then an almost unbroken wilderness, with few inhabitants and few of the conveniences of life. He took up his residence in what is now known as Tourtelotte Park and began prospecting and mining, passing a portion of his time down to 1894 at Cripple Creek, where he leased mines independently and worked them. He was on his own ground when the Indian troubles started on White river, the Indian reservation being but twelve miles from his present location. During his residence here he has located many claims, a number of which have turned out to be very profitable. While the conveniences of cultivated life were few and hard to get in his early days in this section, wild game of every kind was abundant and no one was obliged to go hungry. Mr. Tourtelotte is a stanch Republican in politics and many years ago was initiated into the Masonic order. He was married in 1865 to Mrs. Mary J. (Andrews) House, a native of Dupage county, Illinois, and daughter of F.C. and Jerusha Andrews, natives of Massachusetts who moved to Illinois in early days and there became prosperous farmers. In 1859 they moved to Missouri and engaged again in farming in connection with stock-raising. When the Civil war began they, being Northern sympathizers and radical Republicans, were obliged to leave their farm and returned to Illinois, settling near Kankakee, where they farmed until death. Mr. and Mrs. Tourtelotte had three children, all of whom died in youth. Mrs. Tourtelotte was a member of the Universalist church. She died in 1869. In 1872 Mr. Tourtelotte married a second wife, Miss Josephine Grubb, who was born in Pennsylvania and the daughter of Edmond H. and Sarah Jane Grubb, also native in that state. They moved to Minnesota after the war, in which Mr. Grubb was a soldier and orderly sergeant in a Pennsylvania cavalry regiment. For disabilities incurred in the service he drew a pension to the end of his life, and since that event his widow gets it. He conducted a tannery and manufactured fur goods at Mankato, Minnesota, and was a stanch Republican in politics. The family consisted of six children, two of whom are deceased. Those living are Eugene H., William L., and Josephine, Mrs. Tourtelotte. By his second marriage, to Mrs. Seebree, Mr. Tourtelotte had two children, Maud, who died in infancy, and Henry Lee, now a captain in the Third Regiment of the Minnesota National Guard. He was born in Mankato, Minnesota, and reared and educated at Aspen. He is now associated with the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad as contracting freight agent, and has been since 1897. =================================================== 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. 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