RIO BLANCO COLORADO - BIO: BANTA, Azchariah T. (published 1905) *********************************************************************** 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. *********************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Brad Goff bggoff@prinetime.net April 19, 1999 *********************************************************************** Zachariah T. Banta Posted by Brad Goff on Mon, 19 Apr 1999 Surnames: Banta, Owen, Thorpe Submitted by Harry B. Goff, great great grandson of Zachriah Thorpe Banta. If you have any information about this family please contact, Brad Goff, 605 Rimrock Road, Prineville OR 97754 or email Brad. This article was copied from the book "Progressive Men of Western Colorado" published by A.W. Bowen & Co. in 1905. Page 41. Zachriah Thorpe Banta Having lived in Colorado more than half the duration of a human life as fixed by the sacred writer, and during that time participated in many of its varied industries and productive occupations in a forceful and helpful way, witnessing the progress of the state from a wilderness to what it is now and aiding materially in bringing about the change Zachariah T. Banta, of Rio Blanco county, is entitled to the position he holds in the regard of the people of the commonwealth, and justly enjoys the pride he feels in the achievements he and others like him have won here from obdurate and obstinate conditions confronting them at the start, yet hiding beneath their unpromising surface unbounded wealth of opportunity and of material substance. It was in Henry county, Missouri, and on March 14, 1838, that his life began, and he is the son of Abraham and Elizabeth Banta, natives of Kentucky who moved to Missouri soon after their marriage and there passed the remainder of their lives, successfully engaged in the peaceful pursuit of agriculture. The father was in his young manhood a firm believer in the doctrines of the Whig party, but later became as firm a Democrat. He died in 1882 and the mother in 1885. Of their seven children four are living. Zachariah was educated at the public schools and worked on the farm with his father until twenty-one years of age. In 1859 when he determined to leave home and make his own way in the world, he came overland by way of Santa Fe and up the Arkansas to Pueblo, then on to Denver. After a short stay at that town he located at Boulder and engaged in mining. Later he moved to Spring gulch where he continued the same pursuit. In the fall of 1859 he went back to Missouri and in the spring of 1860 returned with freight and in the fall of 1860 returned to Missouri by the Platte route and engaged in farming in Henry county until 1862. The times and place getting too hot for a young loyal Democrat, he went north to Davis county. In the spring of 1863 he returned to Henry county and put in a crop of wheat, but in August things were so unsettled he again left that locality and came back to Colorado. Until 1864 he was occupied in ranching near Colorado City. He next located at Buffalo Flats, where he again engaged in mining with profit until 1867. At that time he returned to Missouri for a short visit, going overland by the Platte route, but while there embraced an opportunity for a little profitable farming which kept him until near the close of 1868. Then disposing of his interests in that state, and collecting a herd of cattle, he returned to Colorado by the old Santa Fe trail. There were Indian troubles behind and before his party and to avoid having his cattle stolen by savages he sold them at Fort Harker. He then hired the government outfit to bring him and his family to Pueblo. He bought land ten miles west of the city and followed ranching there until 1871. Then selling the ranch, but retaining the cattle, he moved up to Buffalo Flats. The cattle were placed on the range near Breckenridge for a time, the taken to the Arkansas valley. In 1872 he changed his residence to Fremont county, above Cannon City, and located a stock ranch on which he remained six years. At the end of that period he sold this ranch and brought another on the Arkansas river where he lived until 1885, conduction a store during much of the time. Selling out once more , he turned his attention to getting out ties for the Rio Grande Railroad, and also furnished beef for the company under contract. After disposing of all his interests in the Arkansas valley he moved to the ranch which is his present home four miles west of Rangely. This comprises eighty acres, is well watered and highly productive, yielding good crops of the ordinary farm products, and also supports comfortably his cattle, these and hay being his main reliance in the business. When he located here there were but few settlers in the neighborhood, his land was wholly unimproved and all that men wanted in the way of development of the section was yet to be worked out. His ranch as it is now is the result of his own industry and persistent attention, and the retrospection of the past recalls some thrilling episodes of local history. From the top of his abode cabin he witnessed the soldiers, seventy volunteers and a two hundred territorial militia drive the Indians out of this section of the county as a penalty for their having stolen horses and cattle from the settlers, the hostels having camped three miles west of his home. A number of the whites were killed, among them the noted Lieutenant Ward, deputy sheriff, and Mr. Curly, and of course many more of the Indians. The county at the time was overgrown with wild sage brush, willows and kindred untamed vegetation. Mr. Banta was married on September 14, 1862, to Miss Louisa Owen, daughter of John and Nancy Owen, natives of Platte county, Missouri. They have had eleven children, four of whom have died, one in infancy and three, George, Mary and Elizabeth, later in life. The seven living children are John, Nancy, Charles, Virda, Fannie, Astena, and Irene. Their mother died on September 21, 1903, the father married a second wife, Mrs. Virginia Stotts, widow of J.P. Stotts and daughter of George G. and Mary W. Grove, of Winchester, Virginia; she was born and raised in Virginia, but afterwards lived in Missouri, coming to Colorado in 1901.