Article Contributed on: 5/10/2009 12:23:39 AM
During Women's History Month I shared the story of three of the most acclaimed of the honored mothers of Golden, whom original streets were named after,
Jeanette Ferrell, Helen Berthoud and
Mary Boyd. They and ladies like them were credited in no small measure with starting Golden off on the right track, being a civilizing influence where other places such as Denver were racked with violence. Of them prominent Golden founder
George West wrote in the
Transcript in 1876:
"The first winter after the settlement of "Pike's Peak" - as the whole of this section of country was called in the early days - was an eventful one to many who had settled here with the intention of making Golden their future and permanent home. Society at that time partook largely of the roughness incident to all new mining camps, but for various reasons was far less so than most of the other crude settlements in the new enlightened and advanced commonwealth of Colorado. Chief among the civilizing influences that made this particular camp what it was, was the settlement here of many gentlemen of good character with their wives and families, who from the first frowned upon and discouraged in every way all lawlessness and disorder. The wives and daughters of such men as J.M. Johnson, Eli Carter, T.P. Boyd, W.A.H. Loveland, J.M. Ferrell, H.P. Bennett, W.J. McKay, and many others, by their influence and little acts of motherly and sisterly kindness, gave a healthful tone to the rough element that without them would have run wild beyond control"
Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Carter, and Mrs. McKay I'll write of when we reach the 150th anniversary of Golden's first worship service in June, when the influence of Golden's honored mothers began. Of
Sarah Bennett there is precious little known. She came here with her husband
Hiram P. Bennett, arriving at Auraria (in today's Denver) on October 5, 1859. She was 31 years old when she arrived here, and quickly settled in Golden City where her husband became quite prominent. Unfortunately, in a fate that seems to have befallen too many of these women of Golden, she died young at the age of 38 in 1867. The
Rocky Mountain News remembered "The deceased was a kind wife and mother, and the possessor of all the virtues which mark the life of a true Christian."
Miranda Loveland was the wife of highly prominent Golden and Colorado pioneer
William A.H. Loveland, after whom many things Loveland are named. She gave him her blessing to go west from Illinois, where she remained with their two small boys. Once he was settled he sent for her, and during her travels west both of the boys contracted whooping cough and became dangerously ill. She nursed them back to health, while having other frontier adventures such as using cow pies for fire fuel. Once in Golden the family lived at the "rather
recherche" cottage Loveland had purchased, which is still standing today as Golden's oldest building at 717 12th Street. The Lovelands had the first carpet in town, over which Mrs. Loveland, fast at the forefront of society, was known to put on airs. Here and at their later mansion at 818 14th Street Miranda raised their two boys and took in an adopted daughter. In 1878 she moved to Denver, then around 1888 to become a founding mother of Lakewood. Ultimately she would control the Loveland estate when her husband died, and she passed away in the early 20th Century.
Many mothers have lived in Golden since those who helped establish this community. Of them all, the one with the most children I am aware of is
Britta Bengson, an immigrant from Sweden, who had 11 children. The Bengson family alone comprised nearly all the choir of the Swedish Lutheran Church, of which they were among the founders in 1873.
Although Mother's Day was created in the 20th Century, perhaps the most conspicuous gift given to a Golden mother was nearly 150 years ago by
Thomas Crippen to his mother-in-law
Rebecca. It was told about in the
Transcript in 1904, and makes a fair tale this sesquicentennial year:
"Charley Judkins has a relic that belonged to his mother which is quite a curiosity in its way, and very highly prized by him. It is a little Remington 32 caibre revolver which was presented to Mrs. Judkins in 1864, when she was about to start across the plains to her former home in Misouri, by her son-in-law - Thomas Crippen - who at that time loaded it and gave it as a protection against the Indians, who were then on the warpath upon the plains. Fortunately she had no cause to use it, then or since, and the same loads are still in its chambers, and the same caps upon the nipples as were placed there by Tom Crippen more than forty years ago. It would take a heap of "filthy lucre" to induce Charley to part with the little gun."
Rebecca Judkins, a pioneer of 1860, also made the return trip home safely. She lived most of her time here in a little frame house at today's 620 11th Street, where she passed away at the age of 88 years. The little home escaped destruction and currently is honored in the 12th Street Historic District at 1007 11th Street, exactly a block east of the Bengson home.