Routt County CO Archives Biographies.....Hitchens, William M. January 20, 1861 - ?
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/co/cofiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Judy Crook jlcrook@rof.net March 25, 2006, 6:48 pm

Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado

     Born at Cornwall, England, on January 20, 1861, William M. Hitchens was
bred to the occupation of mining, in which his forefathers had been engaged for
generations.  And it was but natural that when he left the unpromising land of
his birth and sought the greater freedom of choice and wealth of opportunity in
this country, he should betake himself to the same occupation and seek
advancement in the region of its greatest activity.  And although he probably
knew it not when he set sail for the new horizon of his hopes, it was equally
natural that when he found here mining to be but one of the many industries open
to thrift and enterprise, and a boundless domain of unoccupied land waiting for
the call of the husbandman to bring it forth to productiveness and beauty, he
should find a resting place and a permanent home on a ranch, which offered good
returns for his labor without the uncertainty and danger of prospecting or
working in the mines.  This has been the lot of thousands of his countrymen and
others in this land of varied fruitfulness, who have turned from seeking what is
far under ground to the more welcome and agreeable task of finding what its
surface will yield to systematic and well applied industry.  Mr. Hitchens had
but limited opportunities for attending school and received only a common-school
education.  He remained at home and worked in the interest of his parents until
he reached the age of nineteen, then in 1880 came to the United States and
located for a few months at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where he found employment
in the steel works.  In the autumn of that year he became a resident of
Colorado, settling at Central City, where he engaged in mining for wages and on
leased properties until 1886, fortune smiling on his efforts and enriching him
with good returns.  In the year last named he determined to turn his attention
to ranching, and to this end he pre-empted a portion of the ranch he now owns
and settled on his claim.  He has increased his tract to two hundred acres, all
of which is tillable and yields good crops of the products usual in the
neighborhood.  His principal resources are, however, cattle and hay, and these
he produces in great abundance and the best quality, his cattle being Shorthorns
and Herefords, and his horses of the most admired strains.  He owns two
celebrated stallions, Grover Cleveland and Teddy Roosevelt, and raises the best
horses in the country.  His ranch has been so well improved by his own
enterprise and skill that it is considered one of the best of its size in the
county.  It is well located eight miles northwest of Steamboat Springs,
abundantly watered and judiciously cultivated.  It also contains the first oil
well bored in the county, and in this shows promise of great value by further
development.  In addition to the ranch Mr. Hitchens owns a body of very
promising coal land on the Twenty-Mile road.  He is a stanch Republican in
political allegiance, an Odd Fellow in fraternal life, and a progressive and
prominent citizen in the general estimation of the community.  On April 16,
1885, he was united in marriage with Miss Edith Young, a native of Darlington,
Yorkshire, England.  They had four children, William H., Ethel, Percival D. and
George E.  Their mother died on January 31, 1898, and in July, 1899, the father
married a second wife, Miss Ellen Blight, a native of Cornwall, England.  They
have one daughter, Retta S.  Mr. Hitchens is the son of Henry and Harrietta
Hitchens, English by nativity, who passed the whole of their lives in their
native land, where the father was a hard-working and prosperous miner, and both
were devoted members of the Methodist church.  The mother died on September 6,
1885, and the father in 1896.  They had a family of nine children, one of whom
died in infancy, and the other eight are yet living, William M., James H.,
Richard, John, Joseph, Frederick, Mary A. and Amelia.  Mr. Hitchens is loyal to
the land of his adoption and takes an active and intelligent interest in all its
affairs.  He seeks no post of honor or profit in the councils of his political
party, being content to aid in its success from purely patriotic motives and to
give the benefit of his influence and energy to local matters of value without
regard to party considerations.  He has been of substantial service in
developing and improving the section in which he lives, and has the respect and
good will of its people to a marked degree.  

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

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/routt/bios/hitchens439gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cofiles/

File size: 5.1 Kb