Grace Greenwood - Honorary First Lady of the Pikes Peak Region #PrairieRosePub

As part of an ongoing series about early women in the Pikes Peak Region, October's post is about Grace Greenwood.

To read others post in this series:
Elizabeth McAllister
Cara Bell

Unlike the first two ladies in the series, 'Grace Greenwood' only lived in the area a short time, but her writings sang the praises of Colorado and the Pikes Peak area. But who was 'Grace Greenwood'?

Image from Wikipedia

Grace Greenwood was the pen name for Sara Jane Lippincott. On September 23, 1823, Sara Jane Clarke was born to Deborah and Dr. Thaddeus Clarke in Pompey, New York. She went to school in Rochester, New York and later moved to Brighton, Pennsylvania with her family.

From an early age, Sara wrote and submitted poems and sketches, and had her first piece of prose published when she was twenty. Like others of her time she used a pen name. Once she started using the name Grace Greenwood, it became who she was. Even friends started calling her by the name Grace.

According the Inez Hunt and Wanetta Draper in their book "Colorado's Restless Ghost" Sara was "Exuberant and self-sufficient in an era when frailty was the fashion. Grace [Sara] grew too tall, was too vital, and too clever. She simply didn't fit her time nor her place; she outgrew them all."

Marrying late in life to Leander K. Lippincott, the couple had one child which they named Ann.While Grace traveled about with their daughter, Leander stayed behind. In 1876 he was indicted for land fraud and fled the country.

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Grace first came to Colorado in the early 1870s and it was noted in the 'Colorado Magazine' of September 1871, "Grace Greenwood is one of the literary attractions in Denver. She is here on a visiting, lecturing and observation tour, is corresponding for the New York Times and writing up the country in her most graceful style.''  After a visit to Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs she purchased land in the latter town in 1873 and set about having a cottage built for her . While the 'cottage' was being built she stayed with relatives, the Mellons, and enjoyed the company of the town leaders. After moving in, there was an attempted burglary but Grace took her Italian stiletto and went in hot pursuit. After the incident the following appeared in the local paper:

             

          We now give warning to all gentlemen of burglarious proclivities that a good and gallant friend having provided us with a six shooter, we intend to practice diligently with it, firing promiscuously from our balconies o'nights. I am not Mrs. J.B. Lippincott, and haven't any diamonds, our silver is plated, our money in the bank if we haven't over-drawn...I intend setting the shrubbery full of steel traps...no use for them to call again at Clematis Cottage [the name she gave her home] and may be slightly dangerous. P.S. another friend has lent us a brindle-bull terrier--very powerful.

Grace traveled, wrote, lectured and pursued many different causes in her lifetime. She lived in Europe for a time in the 1880s and wrote a a biography of Queen Victoria while there. She died at the home of her daughter on April 20, 1904 at the age of eighty-one.

In the end this woman who championed prison reform, woman's rights, the end of the death penalty and was staunchly anti-slavery, is little known today. To quote the Hunt/Draper book "Her brilliant flash across the Colorado skies had been meteoric and spectacular, but her flame burned out quickly and left no trace." Perhaps it is time to remember the Honorary First Lady of the Pikes Peak Region. 

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

"His Magnificent Distraction " -First Ladies of the Pikes Peak Region

Welcome to the second in my ongoing series about the 'First Ladies' of the Pikes Peak Region.
Part One - Elizabeth McAllister

You may wonder about the title of this post. As you will soon learn, this lady had reason to be so adored.

Cara Georgina Whitmore Scovell Bell was born in March of 1853 in Dublin, Ireland to Whitman and Caroline Mary F. Scovell. She married Dr. William Abraham Bell on May 8, 1872 at Saint James, Westminster, London, England.

So who was Dr. William A. Bell? William was born in April 1841 in Ireland to an English physician also named William Bell. He studied medicine at Cambridge University and practiced at St. George's Hospital after receiving his degree. He came to the US in 1867 where he met General Wm. Jackson Palmer. The two became fast friends. Between the them, the had a hand in creating the Denver & Rio Grande Railway (and it's various iterations). Started Colorado Fuel and Iron. Invested in real estate and helped create the towns of Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs, Colorado.

After establishing his various businesses, and medicine was not high on his list, Bell returned to England to marry Cara. Upon her arrival in  Manitou Springs, Bell set about showing what he had accomplished, and to have her meet his friend Palmer. Traveling by wagon, they visited Palmer's home in Glen Eyrie, the Garden of the Gods, the mineral springs, and Bell's sheep farm in Monument some twenty miles away. According to sources Cara seemed to thrive on these 'arduous' jaunts. Her only insistence was that her chef, Antonio Manasterlotti, accompany them. (Much to his discomfort according to history)

Dr. William A. Bell and Cara Bell
from Pinterest - date unknown

Bell also set up a dairy farm and cheese factory in the Wet Mountain Valley, some seventy-five miles away. Other than some complaints from her chef, she appeared to love the trip to the area. It's fun to read her writing where she calls her husband, Willie and talk about her journeys. It seemed whatever or wherever 'Willie' wanted to go, Cara was up for the trip.

Cara was also a devout Episcopalian and set about searching for donors to build a church in Manitou Springs. The plans she had drawn up of an English church actually became the Manitou Railway station.

One of the promises Cara had William make was that their children would be born in England. Of course this meant some arduous travel in the 1870s-80s, but William was good to his word.  Their first child, Rowena was born January 26, 1874. Rowena at the age of three months was left with a wet nurse at Eastbourne, William's parents home and the two returned to America.

The Briarhurst Manor today- a fine dining restaurant
photo from Wikipedia

At twenty-one, Cara set up housekeeping and was thrilled when her daughter Rowena could join them. When the temporary church was built, Cara would conduct the choir rehearsals and play the organ. It was said she pumped the organ with such vigor her feathered had would fly off.

Although five children were born to the couple, only four made it to adulthood. The Bells, Cara, William and the children traveled constantly. When home, the doors were open to guests from all over the world. Cara would tell visitors "The roof is your introduction", and despite her absent-mindedness, everyone loved William's vivacious wife.

I will end with the story of the Thomas Moran painting, 'Mount of the Holy Cross' that Cara convinced the painter to sell to them when they visited the gallery while on a trip to England. When they returned, the painting was mounted in the library. It was viewed and admired by the many guests who visited The Briarhurst Manor, as their home was named, including President Grant and wife. When William was away in 1886, a fire broke out. Cara, upon smelling smoke, got the children from the house, then stayed and with the help of a servant, cut the painting from its frame and escaped the house. The house was destroyed, but the Bells build a new brick home that remains standing today. As for the original painting, it now resides in the Autry Museum of the Old West. View the Painting Here

There is more to Cara's story, but time and space limit the telling. The Bells returned to England around 1900 to retire. William passed away on June 6, 1921 at the age of eighty-one. Cara followed in December of 1937 at the age of eighty-four. She was living in Chelsea, London, England at the time.

Cara was a helpmate, adventurer, mother, hostess and one of the 'First Ladies' of Manitou Springs. She was William's "Magnificent Distraction".

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

COLORADO'S EARLY WOMEN DOCTORS - Pikes Peak Region 1870s

Post (c) Doris McCraw

Cheyenne Mounain,just west of Pikes Pike Colorado at sunrise

Last months post was about Dr. Alida Avery, one of Colorado's early female physicians, who had her practice in Denver, Colorado. But what of the women in the Pikes Peak region, which included Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs and Colorado City. Here is the story of four of the very early women who came to the Pikes Peak region to practice their profession.

As previously noted there were women physicians who moved to and made Colorado their home during the 1870s. In Colorado Springs, a new town which began in 1871, was home to Dr. Julia E. Loomis. Family stories have her living there as early as 1876. Documents, such as ads in the local Gazette newspaper, show she definitely was living there by 1878. Dr. Loomis was an 1870 graduate of the Cleveland Women’s Homeopathic College. This institution was one of the women medical colleges that started up to offer education to women who wanted to pursue medicine. This and other women medical colleges is a result of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwood, her sister, Dr. Emily Blackwell, and Dr. Maria E. Zackrzewka who began a hospital in 1856-1857 in New York, and offered hands-on education and experience to women in a practical setting Although Dr. Loomis may have been practicing medicine prior to her two years at Cleveland’s college, that she went to school after the death of her only daughter at the age of 52, shows a desire to be more, to also be one of the women who could and would practice medicine as the men did.

Headstone for Dr. Julia E. Loomis- Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, CO

Manitou Springs, a near neighbor and also new town, had Dr. Harriet Leonard. Like Dr. Loomis, family histories place her in the region in 1876. Dr. Leonard graduated from the Keokuk School of Physicians and Surgeons in Keokuk, Iowa. This school was the first co-ed schools in the nation. Originally located in LaPorte, Indiana, in 1849, the school moved to Keokuk and began classes in November 1850. The school was the Medical Department of the State University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. As a result of this association, when the University became the first publicly supported university to be co-educational in 1870, the school in Keokuk, by mandate had to accept female students into the medical program.

Headstone for Dr. Harriet Leonard, Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, CO

These two women were shortly joined by Dr. Esther B, Holmes, 1878 and Dr. Clarabel Rowe, 1879. Dr. Holmes was born in 1844 in Rhode Island. Dr. Rowe around 1833 in Massachusetts. Dr. Rowe received her license in 1881 and Dr. Holmes 1882, shortly after Colorado started its licensing process. Dr. Rowe was also active in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, giving talks and traveling on behalf of the organization. Dr. Holmes, who remained in Colorado Springs, was fondly known as 'the baby doctor'. Were these women and Dr. Loomis friends? Quite possibly. The death card for Dr. Loomis was signed by E. B. Holmes. In 1888 Dr. Rowe and Dr. Holmes traveled together on a trip through Southern California.

While Dr. Loomis was building her practice and taking care of her extended family, Dr. Leonard was working as the proprietor at the Manitou Spa. As far as records of any other female physician preceeding Dr. Loomis or Dr. Leonard in the Pikes Peak region, none have been found. Of the four women who were pioneers in the Pikes Peak region, only Dr. Rowe moved away. After the death of her husband, Dr. Rowe, moved to California. 

Doris McCraw, pen name Angela Raines is an Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

For a list of Angela Raines Books: Here 

Photo and Poem: Click Here 

Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here

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