MARY 'QUEEN' PALMER - FIRST LADY OF COLORADO SPRINGS #History #Women'sHistory

I return to the First Ladies Series with a piece written by my friend and Queen Palmer expert, Dianne Hartshorn.  If you wish to see the prior posts in this series, you can find them here:

Elizabeth McAllister
Cara Bell
Grace Greenwood
Lucy Maggard
Helen (Hunt) Jackson

Imagine you are a new bride of twenty one who finally received word from your husband to join him at your new home on the Colorado frontier. The reunion, however, is not at all you’d planned. Your dear husband is nowhere to be found; however, he did ask a business partner to meet you at the train. By the way, did I also mentioned, you were accompanied by your father, stepmother and several of your step-siblings? In addition, it's a March Spring day, which in the high desert plains where you’re new home is, usually means miserable snowy weather.

What would you do? Would you step back on that train and return home to your comfortable home in Flushing New York, or would you accept the challenge of the adventure?

Mary 'Queen' Lincoln Melon Palmer
as a young woman

Imagine asking yourself those questions. Mary Lincoln Mellon Palmer, who could be considered the First Lady of Colorado Springs, may have asked herself those very questions, as she stepped off the train at the Denver and Rio Grande Depot in March of 1871. It was a dismal spring day, snowing, cold and downright miserable. William Jackson Palmer, her husband, founder of Colorado Springs, the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, and responsible for a great deal of development of Colorado's front range, was nowhere around. He had been detained on a survey expedition in the mountains. Most young ladies might have purchased a return ticket home, but not our Queen.

Mary Lincoln Mellon was born March 24, 1850, in Prestonsburg KY. to William and Isabel Clark Mellon. Isabel’s parents, Charlotte and Nathan Clark were pioneers on the Minnesota Frontier. The story is, Isabel’s sister, Charlotte, was the first white child born in MN.

Charlotte, Mary’s grandmother, is the one to bestow the nickname ‘Queen’ to Mary while still a child. Isabel, unlike her mother Charlotte, did not inherit that strong pioneer constitution. When “Queen’ was only four, her mother, Isabel, died at the age of twenty-five. When Isabel’s husband, William, remarried it was to Isabel’s younger sister, Charlotte. Through this union, Queen was blessed with seven step-brothers and sisters.

Queen’s father, a prominent player in Washington politics, served as an agent for the treasury department during the Civil War. When the war ended, Mr. Mellon traveled a great deal seeking investment opportunities. As the eldest child, Queen would accompany her father on many of these business trips. One on particular trip, she and her father made the acquaintance of the charming and dashing Civil War hero, and empire builder, William Jackson Palmer. The two fell in love and married a year later.

Pikes Peak in the Springtime
photo property of Doris McCraw

It was an exciting time for those involved in building the Fountain Colony, associated with the now Colorado Springs, located at the foot of Pikes Peak. Queen understood how important her role was, not only to her husband’s dream, but to the community as well.

Queen’s father, Mr. Mellon, was also an intricate part of the expansion of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. He was deeply involved in the establishment of South Pueblo, in addition to being a significant investor in Palmer’s Denver and Rio Grande Railroad.

Queen didn’t wait for things to happen, she made things happen. She’d had the opportunity of a good education and realized the success of the colony depended on its children, and their education. She started the first school, serving as its first teacher. The family lived in a beautiful estate nestled in the canons off of Camp Creek about an hour from the new town. So each school day was a two hour trip for Queen, which she gladly did.

She also worked tirelessly along with other women in the new colony. She was aided by the energy of Rose Kingsley, a friend from England. Rose's brother Maurice served as the treasurer for the Colorado Springs Land Company. Together, Queen and Rose, would put on concerts and other entertaining events to bolster the spirits of the colony’s inhabitants. She encouraged the donation of books for the colony’s reading room. One of the donors was author, Helen Hunt Jackson. Queen was also responsible for the first Christmas party.

Garden of the Gods- Near Queen's Canhon
Photo property of Doris McCraw

As you can see, Queen had a zest for life. She enjoyed sharing the beauty of the region by escorting guests on hikes and carriage rides. Many of these trips included Queen’s Canyon, Manitou Springs, and the nearby vicinity.

In early 1872, she and Rose Kingsley accompanied General Palmer and other gentlemen into the wild’s of Mexico. It was just prior to this trip that Queen learned she was expecting their first child.

Like her mother, Queen also did not inherit the strength of her pioneering grandmother. She suffered her first heart attack at the age of thirty, on a return trip from Leadville, CO. It was several months later that the Palmer’s welcomed their second child.

In the hope of regaining her health, Queen moved to England. She wanted to watch her daughters grow into young women. General Palmer frequently visited England, to see his wife and their three daughters. Despite her wish to live in the town she helped create, and to watch her daughter grow to young women, it was not to be. In December of 1894, shortly after Christmas, Queen died. She was only forty-four years old.

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in

Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Where Love & History Meet

For a list of Angela Raines Books: Here 

Photo and Poem: Click Here 

Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here

First Ladies of the Pikes Peak Region - Helen (Hunt) Jackson #history #writing

View of Pikes Peak covered in clouds
photo (c) by rhe author

The next lady in the series is one many people know: Helen (Hunt) Jackson. Since there is a great deal of information on this lady, this post will cover an 'interview' and information about the writing of the book "Ramona" near the end of her life.

For information on the early ladies in the series:
Elizabeth McAllister
Cara Bell
Grace Greenwood
Lucy Maggard

Helen (Hunt) Jackson from Wikipedia

First an 'interview':

As you were traveling to the west you made some unique observations. Would you share some of those thoughts?

Prairie, unfenced, undivided, unmeasured, unmarked, save by the different tints of different growths of grass or grain; great droves of cattle grazing here and there; acres of willow saplings, pale yellowish green; and solitary trees, which look like hermits in a wilderness. These, and now and then a shapeless village, which looks even lonelier than the empty loneliness by which it is surrounded, - these are all for hours and hours. We think, “now we are getting out into the great spaces.” “This is what the word ‘West’ has sounded like.”

You seem to like the lower elevations as opposed to the high peaks. Why do you think that?

I think that true delight, true realization, of the gracious, tender, unutterable beauty of the earth and all created things are to be found in outlooks from lower points—vistas which shut more than they show, sweet and unexpected revealings in level places and valley, secrets of near woods, and glories of every-day paths.

You are quoted as saying there are nine places of worship in Colorado Springs. What are the?

There are nine “places of divine worship” in Colorado Springs, -- the Presbyterian, the Cumberland Presbyterian, the Methodist, the South Methodist, the Episcopal, the Congregationalist, the Baptist, the Unitarian, and Cheyenne Canyon.

Helen Hunt Falls -North Cheyenne Canyon
Photo (c) by author 

What do you do when the snow covers the ground?

... winter..... memory and fancy will have their way; and, as we sit cowering over fires, and the snow piles up outside our window sills, we shall gaze dreamily into the glowing coals, and, living the summer over again, shall recall it in a minuteness of joy, for summer days were too short and summer light too strong. Then, when joy becomes reverie, and reverie takes shape, a truer record can be written....

Ruth Odell wrote one of the early biographies of Helen. It was published in 1939. Her book talks about the writing of "Ramona" and the end of Helen's life. I share some of that with you here:

According to Odell, Helen wrote Ramona in New York between Dec, 1883 and April 1884.

1883-1884

Berkeley Hotel, New York

Wrote first words of Ramona on Dec. 1, 1883

Pg 210-211 of the book says:

"The novel which Helen hoped so ardently would “tell” in a manner in which A Century of Dishonor had not was written with lightening speed. She was frightened at the intensity of her own interest, which drove her to compose at the rate of from two to three thousand words in a day. It was as if she were haunted and obsessed. So loath was she to stop writing that her concentration resulted in two serious attacks of illness. …..From time to time she drove herself to write a short story, an article....but with the feeling always that she was suffering an actual deprivation in having to turn away from the thing she wished to be doing.....By late February she had finished twenty chapters."

Below is a timeline of the release of the book.

April 12 of 1884  the 'Critic' announced that Mrs. Helen Jackson would soon publish the first long novel under her own name.

May 1, 1884 'The Christian Union' noted that it would begin in a fortnight a serial presentation of the novel Ramona.

On a side note, "Ramona" has had at least 300 printings since that date.

Time line of Helen's last months

June 28, 1884 Helen broke her hip. The fall of 1884 she went to CA .

By Feb 1885 she became seriously ill of what she believed to be “malarial poisoning”.

From Page 212 of the Odell book:

When she could no longer postpone it, the doctor sent a telegram to her husband, who arrived Aug 2. Ten days later the end came. Subsequent dispatches gave the cause of her death as cancer. Fortunately she had not known.

Evergreen Cemetery Colorado Springs
Photo (c) by the author

Helen made her home in Colorado Springs from 1873 to her death in 1885. She supported the growth of the new town, wrote glowing articles and even supported reading and libraries. Her final resting place is in Evergreen Cemetery next to her second husband William S. Jackson.

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Where Love & History Meet

For a list of Angela Raines Books: Here 

Photo and Poem: Click Here 

Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here

REMEMBERING THE LADIES: Elizabeth McAllister #PrairieRosePublications #Women'sHistory

"Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors." Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 March - 5 April 1776.

In a similar vein, the Uppity Women Series by Vicki Leon, Remembers the Ladies. For those who haven't read any of her work, she digs up women from history, giving us a glimpse of  who they were and the world they lived in.

Abigail Adams and Vicki Leon both encourage us to Remember the Ladies. Over the next few posts, I hope to remember the ladies who helped settle the Pikes Peak Region. Some are known, such as Helen (Hunt) Jackson and Queen Palmer. Others, such as Ann (Annie) France, Cara Bell and Mother Maggard have not had much press. With luck, that will be remedied. In this post, I will focus on Elizabeth McAllister.

Who was Elizabeth McAllister? Elizabeth was the wife of Major Henry McAllister. Major McAllister had served in the Civil War with and was a friend of the named founder of Colorado Springs, General William Jackson Palmer. Major McAllister and Elizabeth were also Quakers, like Palmer. Henry brought Elizabeth and their young son to the area in the spring of 1873 when the town was barely two years old.

McAllister House Museum Mrs. Elizabeth McAllister approx. age 60

According to the McAllister Family Bible, Elizabeth was born January 23, 1836 in Haverford, PA. to Townsend and Mary Cooper. She married Henry in 1866. Their ceremony was performed by the mayor of Philadelphia in his office.

A son Henry was born in Pennsylvania, but died early. Another son followed who was also named Henry (whom they called Harry). After arriving in Colorado there were two more children, Mary and Matilda, the last born in 1876 when Elizabeth was around forty years of age. One reference stated her stature was so tiny a modern ten year old would barely be able to button the silk basque she wore. (A basque, for those who wonder, is a close fitting bodice or jacket that extended past the waist to or over the hips.)

The family rented rooms in the Colorado Springs Hotel, moving to one of the nearby portable houses that had been shipped in from Chicago, until their home on Cascade Ave. was built.Because of the winds in Colorado Springs, which can topple narrow gage trains, McAllister had his walls built about twenty inches thick and attached the roof  to the masonry with numerous two inch rods. He wanted his wife and family to be safe if he were not there.  It was purchase in the 1960s by the Society of Colonial Dames in order to preserve its history. It is now considered the first house of substance that was built in Colorado Springs and is on the National Register of Historic Places one hundred years after is was built.

McAllister House today, Photo (c) by Doris McCraw

What is written about Elizabeth is her kindness. She often gifted bread to the covered wagon pioneers traveling through the city. She also did the same for the passing Indians. Remember that the settlers and Indians were not always on good terms during the early days of the city.

One incident that Major McAllister wrote of concerned the Indians and Governor of the Colorado Territory, A. C. Hunt in 1874. McAllister had invited the Governor into his home, and while there approximately  thirty Indians, who were camped north of town, surrounded the house. They peered through the windows at the people inside. While it made the inhabitants uncomfortable, they merely wished to meet and speak with the Governor. He went out, spoke with them, and they returned to their camp.

While not much is written in the newspapers, we do know in March of 1881, Elizabeth transferred property with an estate value of $2,000 to a Q.A. Gillmore. This was not as uncommon as most might believe. There are numerous reports of property transfers that involved women in the city.

Elizabeth McAllister- Evergreen Cemetery, Photo (c) by Doris McCraw

Elizabeth passed away in May of 1912, at the age of 76.

As you wander through the pages of history, Remember the Ladies, for without them history would be incomplete.

Bibliography: Henry McAllister, Colorado Pioneer by Polly King Ruhtenberg & Dorothy E. Smith
                       Colorado Springs Gazette
                       History of McAllister House

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Member of National League of American Pen Women,

Women Writing the West,

Pikes Peak Posse of the Westerners

Angela Raines - author: Where Love & History Meet

For a list of Angela Raines Books: Here 

Photo and Poem: Click Here 

Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here

SOME 'FORGOTTEN' HISTORY, COURTESY OF H.H.

This is a re-post of an earlier piece from 2010. It concerns a woman who work and life I greatly admire. And of course, someone I portray to make sure we don't forget her.

East of the Great Mountain 

and West of the Sun

Helen’s Colorado Springs 1873

In 1873 Helen Hunt arrived in Colorado Springs. This was ten years after 

the death of her husband in 1863. His death followed that of their first son 

1854. Her second son died in 1865. That arrival and subsequent observations became part and parcel of her essay “Colorado Springs” published in August 

of 1874 in the New York Independent approximately nine months after her arrival in town.

So what was really happening in this town that she wrote about? 

At the time Colorado was still a territory with S. H Elbert as the territorial governor and M.A. Shaffenburg as the United States Marshall.

We know the town had a population of around three thousand. The town

was “governed by the following trustees.”: Matt. France, W. H. Macomber,

C.T. Barton, A. H. Weir and J. T. Wilson. They even had a town herder by 

the name of Thomas Hughes.

As Helen says in her essay “it might be said that three years ago the town 

of Colorado Springs did not exist….that it is also known as “The Fountain Colony””…. Helen felt that The Fountain Colony was a better name for,

“there is not a spring of any sort whatever in the town...” The trustees of 

the Fountain Colony as she stated in the essay, were “men of means,

position, and great executive ability.” (It should be noted the city and the Fountain Colony trustees were separate entities) The Fountain Colony 

Board consisted of: Gen. Wm. J. Palmer, President, Henry McAlister, Jr., Executive Director, Gerald De Coursey, Secretary, Wm. P. Mellen, Treasurer, M.L. DeCoursey, Assistant Treasurer. The Trustees: Wm. J. Palmer, 

Dr. Robert H. Lamborn, Col. Josiah C. Reiff, Col. W. H. Greenwood, 

Wm. P. Mellen and the Chief Engineer, E. S. Nettleton. Furthermore she

states these men are, “enthusiasts in their determination to exert their controlling power in the right direction.” 

One of those directions was in the “contest of wills” between theboard and the 

liquor dealers. This contest appears to have gone on for some time and in

1873 at the time of Helen’s arrival the town was trying yet again to deal 

with the liquor dealers who continued to make and sell their wares despite a ban

against such actions. 

This is the only mention of the area's growth pangs. She then moves

onto a description of the scenery in and around the town. But there was so 

much more going on in the area.

In August of that year there was discussion and later voting on whether to 

retain Colorado City as the county seat or move it to Colorado Springs. 

The results of the voting: Colorado Springs became the new county seat of

the county of El Paso, in the territory of Colorado. This change would

eventually help fulfill the vision of men like Gen. Palmer and others who 

were called by Helen, “enthusiasts in their faith in the future of the region.”

The financial crisis of 1873 also touched Colorado Springs. At the end of 

October of that year the bank of Wm. B Young & Co. had to suspend 

operations due to the drains on the deposits of the bank. This was the 

result of the financial panic in part caused by the failure of Henry Crews

and Company of New York. At the same time the “El Paso County Bank” 

was opened. The men who formed this banking house were: W. S. Jackson,

who at the time was the Secretary/Treasurer of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway, along with Mr. Wolfe, Mr. White and Mr. Goodrich. ( W. S. Jackson became Helen’s second husband.) 

Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak region received a boost with the 

Signal Corps deciding o place a signal station on the top of Pikes Peak.

The local paper would print the readings that were taken at the top of the mountain. The Colorado Springs Company also purchased from a Mr. Nat 

Colby the entrance to Cheyenne Canyon, so that “the enjoyment of its

beauties may be assured to visitors for all time.”

Although not mentioned directly in the Colorado Springs essay Helen would speak at length about Cheyenne Canyon. 

One of the last events that happened that year was the death of Judge 

Baldwin. His death on November 3 created a mystery that is still unsolved to this day. (His body was found in a well and the circumstances were not conclusive as to whether it was foul play or accident.) This may have occurred just before or around the time Helen arrived in Colorado Springs. *An added note, the title of Judge was given Baldwin for judging a sheep contest, for he was a sheep man who had a sheep farm northeast of downtown. Sheep were big business in the early days of the town.

Regardless of the events, both positive and negative, as Helen stated in her essay “for those alone whom I might possibly win to love Colorado Springs as I love it, I repeat that it is a town lying east of the Great Mountain and west of the sun." Helen continued to experience and love this city at the foot of Pikes Peak as a place of both beauty and growth for the remainder of her life.

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Member of National League of American Pen Women,

Women Writing the West,

Pikes Peak Posse of the Westerners

Angela Raines - author: Where Love & History Meet

For a list of Angela Raines Books: Here 

Photo and Poem: Click Here 

Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here

EAST OF THE GREAT MOUNTAIN - 1873

Post copyright by Doris McCraw/Angela Raines-author


East of the Great Mountain and West of the Sun
Helen’s Colorado Springs 1873

Helen Hunt Jackson

In 1873 Helen Hunt arrived in Colorado Springs. This was ten years after the death of her husband in 1863 followed by her two children in 1854 and 1865 respectively. That arrival and subsequent observations became part and parcel of her essay “Colorado Springs” published in August of 1874 in the New York Independent approximately nine months after her arrival in town.

So what was really happening in this town that she wrote about?

At the time Colorado was still a territory with S. H Elbert as the territorial governor and M.A. Shaffenburg as the United States Marshall.

We know the town had a population of around three thousand. The town was “governed by the following trustees.”: Matt. France, W. H. Macomber, C.T. Barton, A. H. Weir and J. T. Wilson. They even had a town herder by the name of Thomas Hughes.

As Helen says in her essay “it might be said that three years ago the town of Colorado Springs did not exist….that it is also known as “The Fountain Colony””…. Helen felt that The Fountain Colony was a better name for, “ there is not a spring of any sort whatever in the town...” The trustees of the Fountain Colony as she stated in the essay, were “men of means, position, and great executive ability.” (It should be noted the city and the Fountain Colony trustees were separate entities) The Fountain Colony Board consisted of: Gen. Wm. J. Palmer, President, Henry McAlister, Jr., Executive Director, Gerald De Coursey, Secretary, Wm. P. Mellen, Treasurer, M.L. DeCoursey, Assistant Treasurer. The Trustees: Wm. J. Palmer, Dr. Robert H. Lamborn, Col. Josiah C. Reiff, Col. W. H. Greenwood, Wm. P. Mellen and the Chief Engineer, E. S. Nettleton. Furthermore she states these men are, “enthusiasts in their determination to exert their controlling power in the right direction.”

One of those directions was in the “contest of wills” between them and the liquor dealers/manufacturers. This contest appears to have gone on for some time and in 1873 at the time of Helen’s arrival the town was trying yet again to deal with the liquor issues. .

This is the only mention of the growth pangs of the town. She then moves onto a description of the scenery in and around the town. But there was so much more going on in the area.

View of Garden of the Gods and Glen Eyrie (Palmer's Home)

In August of that year there was discussion and later voting on whether to retain Colorado City as the county seat or move it to Colorado Springs. The results of the voting: Colorado Springs became the new county seat of the county of El Paso, in the territory of Colorado. This change would eventually help fulfill the vision of men like Gen. Palmer and others who were called by Helen, “enthusiasts in their faith in the future of the region.”

The financial crisis of 1873 also touched Colorado Springs. At the end of October of that year the bank of Wm. B Young & Co. had to suspend operations due to the drains on the deposits of the bank. This was the result of the financial panic in part caused by the failure of Henry Crews and Company of New York. At the same time the “El Paso County Bank” was opened. The men who formed this banking house were: W. S. Jackson, who was the Secretary/Treasurer of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway as well as Mr. Wolfe, Mr. White and Mr. Goodrich. (This is the same W. S. Jackson that became Helen’s second husband.)

Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak region received a boost with the Signal Corps deciding to place a signal station on the top of Pikes Peak. The local paper would print the readings that were taken at the top of the mountain. The Colorado Springs Company also purchased from a Mr. Nat Colby the entrance to Cheyenne Canyon, so that “the enjoyment of its beauties may be assured to visitors for all time.”

Although not mentioned directly in the Colorado Springs essay Helen would speak at length about Cheyenne Canyon.

North Cheyenne Canyon

One of the last events that happened that year was the death of Judge Baldwin. His death on November 3 created a mystery that is still unsolved to this day. (His body was found in a well and the circumstances were not conclusive as to whether it was foul play or accident.) This may have occurred just before or around the time Helen arrived in Colorado Springs.

Regardless of the events, both positive and negative, as Helen stated in her essay “for those alone whom I might possibly win to love Colorado Springs as I love it, I repeat that it is a town lying east of the Great Mountain and west of the sun." Helen continued to experience and love this city at the foot of Pikes Peak as a place of both beauty and growth for the remainder of her life.

Updated reprint from a copyrighted post in 2010 by Doris A. McCraw

Angela Raines is the pen name for Doris McCraw. Doris also writes haiku posted five days a week at :http://fivesevenfivepage.blogspot.com (fourteen short of one thousand posted haikus as of 11/1/2015)