Saguache County CO Archives Biographies.....Williams, Eugene February 19, 1871 - ? ************************************************ 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 8, 2006, 10:09 am Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Eugene Williams, who is now serving his second term as sheriff of Saguache county with great satisfaction to the people, and is in addition a prosperous and progressive ranchman, is practically a self-made man and one of the leading and most popular citizens of the county. He was born on February 19, 1871, at Homer, Hamilton county, Iowa, and came to Colorado in his boyhood. He received only a common-school education, and at the age of fourteen began to make his own living and started the career which is so greatly to his credit. His first employment was ranch work and labor in mines, and he learned both the ranching and the mining industry from the ground up by actual experience in all the details of each. As a miner he ranks among the most knowing and skillful in the state, but his own ventures have not been as yet largely successful. In the fall of 1899 he was elected sheriff of the county, and at the end of his term in 1902 he was re-elected as a Republican. In the same year he bought a ranch of forty acres, all of which can be cultivated, and on which he produces good hay, grain and vegetables at a large yield to the acre. He also raises cattle and horse for market, the former being all full-blooded Shorthorns and the latter well-bred and of superior strains. His mining claims, which are numerous, are promising, but have not up to this time been very productive, as he has not worked them with the vigor they require owing to his absorbing interest in other matters, as he takes an active part in whatever shows benefit for the county, in whose welfare he is deeply and intelligently interested. In fraternal life he is connected with the Masonic order, the Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World. He was married on September 25, 1900, to Miss Clara M. Ellis, a native of Iowa, who was reared in Colorado, coming with her parents to this state in 1873, when she was an infant. They have two children, their daughter Mina C. and their son John H. Mrs. Williams is the daughter of John M. and Ruth A. Ellis, both born in Pennsylvania, the father in Wyoming and the mother in Clarion county. They moved to Fort Dodge, Iowa, in 1855, where they farmed successfully until 1867, then crossed the plains to Denver by the North Platte route. Two years later they returned to Iowa, and not long afterward moved to Kansas. But they did not find the change beneficial and soon went back to Iowa. There they remained until the spring of 1872, when they once more set sail, in a “prairie schooner” for Colorado, their course being through Omaha and up the South Platte to Greeley, then on to Denver and through South Park into the San Luis valley. The father located a ranch and after improving it he sold it in 1894. Since then he has been engaged in freighting and various other occupations. From 1894 to 1897 he conducted the California Livery Barn. At this writing (1904) he is occupied in mining. At the time of his arrival here there were but few settlers in the valley, and he was therefore warmly welcomed as an addition to the developing force of the region, and he has not disappointed the hopes which his coming hither inspired. Politically he is an ardent working Democrat. He and his wife are the parents of three children, Mrs. Williams, Mrs. Herbert Ellis and Mrs. Halcyon Ward. The Sheriff owns real estate in the town of Saguache in addition to his other possessions, and has a special interest in the town as well as a general one in that of the county. He is an influential and representative citizen, and stands high in the regard of every section and class of the territory he is serving so efficiently. Additional Comments: From Progressive Men of Western Colorado. Chicago: A.W. Bowen & Co., 1905 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/saguache/bios/williams226gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cofiles/ File size: 4.3 Kb