Rio Blanco County CO Archives Biographies.....Melton, George W.  September 1, 1840 - ?
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Judy Crook jlcrook@rof.net March 14, 2006, 7:52 pm

Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado

     George W. Melton, of Angora, Rio Blanco county, this state, has tried his

hand at various pursuits and has won a fair success at all.  He was born in Joe

Daviess county, Illinois, on September 1, 1840, the son of William and Mary

(Holoway) Melton, who were born and reared in Kentucky and became residents of

Illinois soon after their marriage and while the state was yet in an undeveloped

condition.  In 1856 they moved to Wisconsin where they engaged in farming and

raising stock.  The father died in 1863 and the mother in 1871.  They had a

family of thirteen children, but six of whom are living:  William, of Mason

City, Iowa; Louis, of Wheatland, California; George W.; Louisa, wife of Martin

Finlay, of Mason City, Iowa; Benjamin F., of Gunnison, Colorado, and Mary, wife

of John Elkhorn, of Hamilton, Missouri.  During the boyhood and youth of Mr.

Melton the educational facilities of the section of country in which he dwelt

were primitive and scant.  Teachers were employed to go from house to house to

instruct the children and as the population was widely scattered the visits were

necessarily few.  But the conditions were such that the demands for the aid of

every hand were imperative; and so with but little teaching in books, but ample

training in useful labor, he reached his twenty-first year on the paternal

homestead.  He then left home and rented a farm for himself in Wisconsin, which

he farmed two years.  The next three he passed as a pilot on the Mississippi,

and then returned to shipping wood down the river on boats, and at the same time

conducted a hotel at Fairyville, Wisconsin, continuing these pursuits three

years. At the end of that time he bought the old homestead in Wisconsin, which

he sold two years later and himself moved to Iowa, where he remained and farmed

until 1877.  He then moved to Kansas and farmed in that state until 1881, then

came to Colorado and located at Gothic, Gunnison county.  Here he followed

mining and also freighted between Gunnison and Crested Butte and other points,

making his home at Gothic for six years.  At the end of that period he moved to

Crystal, this state, and has since continued mining and freighting.  In 1893 a

stock company was formed for mining purposes known as the Crystal Mountain

Mining and Draining Company, of which he served as manager until the company

leased its holdings under contract four years ago.  The outfit is equipped with

first-class machinery for mining purposes and does a flourishing business. 

Before forming it Mr. Melton made several trips to California.  In 1894 he moved

to his present location purchasing a seventy-acre ranch near the town of Angora,

on which he raises cattle and he also continues mining.  He supports the

Republican party in political matters, and is a member of the Masonic order in

fraternal life.  For a number of years he was also an active Odd Fellow.  On

April 4, 1860, he was married to Miss Martha Copper, a native of Van Wert

county, Ohio, the daughter of Joseph and Matilda (Boyd) Copper, who were born in

Pennsylvania and located in Ohio soon after their marriage.  In 1855 they moved

to Wisconsin where the father worked at his trade as a carpenter and also

farmed.  He was a Republican in political affiliation, and the father of two

children, Mrs. Melton being the only one living.  He died in 1876 and the mother

in 1879.  Mr. and Mrs. Melton have had seven children.  Three died in infancy

and the living are Mary (Mrs. Frank Fortsch, of Plateau Valley); Alice (Mrs.

James Jones, of Carbondale); Charles R. and Gladys (Mrs. Lyman Thompson), on

White river.  The father served in the Twenty-Seventh Iowa, Company B, during

the Civil war, and before its close was wagon master of the Sixteenth Army Corps.  

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

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