- JOHN J. LANGSTAFF. John J. LANGSTAFF, of Rifle, Garfield
county, an extensive and
- prosperous stock man, was born on February 14, 1855, in Grant
county, Wisconsin, and was reared and educated there, attending
the district schools during the winter months for a few years.
At the age of twelve he took up the burden of life for himself
and from that time until the present he has made his own way
in the world successfully. Being obliged to work hard for a livelihood
and depend wholly on himself in the effort, he learned self-reliance
and acquired a good knowledge of his own capacities and the characteristics
and temperaments of men in general. He began by working nine
years in the lead and coal mines of his native state, then in
1876 went to Illinois and later to Cleveland, Ohio. For two years
he followed coal mining in those states, and in 1878 turned his
attention to farming, moving soon afterward to Minnesota, where
he farmed for wages. He determined to return to the mining industry,
and until 1880 was engaged in that pursuit in Utah and Montana.
In the year last named the gold excitement at Leadville in this
state led him thither, and during the next two years he mined
both for wages and on an independent basis in different parts
of Colorado, meeting with good success most of the time. In 1882
he preempted a claim of one hundred and sixty acres in Grand
river valley, to which he added other tracts until he owned six
hundred acres, and on this land he ranched and raised stock until
1903. He then sold the land but retained the cattle which he
has since kept and tended on the open range. When he located
in Grand valley the country was wild and wholly unsettled and
the Indians were numerous and hostile. They killed stock owned
by other persons in the neighborhood in 1885, but did not molest
his. Mr. LANGSTAFF was one of the earliest settlers in that portion
of the valley, and, with the help of William L. SMITH and H.
G. GROWN, buried the first white man who died there. His name
was William GAY and he died in 1883. A coffin was made of wagon
bed timber by James MOSS and in this the body was buried. Mr.
LANGSTAFF was the first county commissioner elected in Garfield
county, and he also had charge of the bridge and road building
in the county at its organization. There were then one hundred
and twenty miles of roads and four bridges, and the sum of twenty-seven
thousand dollars was appropriated for their maintenance and extension.
In political faith and allegiance he has always been an active
working Republican, and in fraternal life has for many years
belonged to the order of Odd Fellows. His parents were William
and Laura LANGSTAFF the former a native of Yorkshire, England,
and the latter of Michigan. They located in Wisconsin at an early
period and the father built the first smelter in that state.
He was a successful business man and died in 1871, his wife also
passing away. Both belonged to the Methodist church. Six of their
nine children are living: William, at Cripple Creek; Mary A.
(Mrs. James WILSON), at Beloit, Wisconsin; John J., at Rifle;
Jennie, at Boulder; Margaret (Mrs. Edward CRANE), at Beloit,
Wisconsin; and Bartholomew, at Parachute, this state.
-
- [Taken from "Progressive Men of Western Colorado"
(c)1905 A. W. Bowen, Chicago; pp. 782-783]
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