John and Elizabeth Tallman settled in Pine Grove of Colorado Territory, present-day Parker, Colorado, in 1866. They were among the early settlers in Douglas County, Colorado, with John working as a cattle rancher, sawmill hand, county clerk, and businessman. John and Elizabeth ran the Elizabeth Hotel in the late 1890s. She also wrote of her experiences with Native Americans and observations of warfare among the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and the Utes.
John M. Tallman was born April 25, 1837, or 1838 in Wyoming County, New York, to Polly Maxon Tallman (born 1820) and Lymon Tallman (born 1810). His parents married in 1837. They moved to Michigan around 1840. [1] He came to Colorado when he was 22 years of age, [2] and according to Colorado Business Directory, he was the only resident in Pine Grove in 1859. [3] He owned property at 15th and California Streets in Denver. [4]
Elizabeth Jane Pennock was born July 14, 1841, in Livingston County, New York. [5] Her parents were Oliver P. Pennock (born about 1801 in Vermont) and Caroline Rowell Pennock (born in New York), [6] [7] who died in 1854. Her father enlisted in 1861 in the 104th New York Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War. He died in 1863. [7] Her parents gave birth to nine children, a number of whom came to Colorado. Her sister Mary came to Colorado in 1860 and married Horatio M. Foster. Ellen came to Colorado, married Edward Peck, and lived in Colorado Springs. Charles came to Colorado in 1865, after serving in the American Civil War. George died in Fort Collins in 1886. Her brother John R. Pennock stayed in New York, brother William died in the Battle of Gettysburg, and two other children died young. [6] She was orphaned by 1864 when she moved west to live with her sister and brother-in-law, Mary and H.M. Foster. She married John in 1865 in Russellville (now Elizabeth) and they had two children, Mary Ellen and Charles Strafford. [2] [8]
In 1864, John was one of the first to reach the site of the Hungate massacre. A member of the 1st Regiment of Colorado Volunteers, he served under Colonel John Chivington during the Sand Creek massacre. His brother Jonathan was attacked by a band of Native Americans while riding a mule in 1870. Unable to get away from the men on horseback, he was killed and scalped. He is buried in Parker Cemetery. [2]
She also said that the Cheyenne and Arapaho were much quieter after Sand Creek massacre. [9]
The Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Ute camped along Cherry Creek during the winter and passed by the Tallman's cabin in the spring when they went hunting on the Eastern Plains. [3]
Elizabeth wrote stories about her early years of marriage when she was visited by Native Americans—like Ute Chiefs Coloros, Ouray, and Washington who traveled along Sulphur Gulch. Utes came to her cabin demanding biscuits. Chief Washington once tried to trade for her red-headed son. [2] [10] Elizabeth said of the encounter, "First he held up two fingers, then three until he indicated he would swap twenty ponies for my [two-year-old] son. He was disgusted when I refused him." [11] He liked her and once asked her to a scalp dance, [3] which Merriam-Webster defines as "an American Indian victory dance often by women around a pole with enemy scalps or with scalp-surmounted sticks in hand." [12] She also wrote about warfare among the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and the Utes. [2] [10]
John raised a herd of Hereford cattle [3] [10] and operated a sawmill on Running Creek near the present-day town of Elizabeth with H.M. Foster. They made wooden shingles for the first shingled house in Denver. Mary and Elizabeth often drove the wagon to Denver for supplies. [2] [8]
In 1878, the family moved to Castle Rock after John was elected to the position of Douglas County Clerk. He then operated a grocery store in Franktown with Ed Krakaw. He also grew alfalfa hay on five fields alongside Cherry Creek with a partner, F. H. Allison. John help plan for construction of a new County Court House about 1888 and into 1889. [2]
John and Elizabeth purchased the Elizabeth Hotel in Elizabeth in the late 1890s. It was run-down when they bought it, and the Denver Hotel Bulletin stated that they ran the business well. [2]
In 1936, Elizabeth was interviewed by James R. Harvey for the article "Pioneer Experiences in Colorado", which was printed in The Colorado Magazine. [13] She wrote an article "Early History of Parker and Vicinity" that appeared in a 1946 issue of the same magazine. [14]
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 Tallman–Newlin Cabin, showing a portion of the house with the original hewn log construction |
John Tallman is considered the likely builder of the two-room cabin and the large barn on their 160-acre ranch. Both were built in 1866. The barn was constructed without nails, using mortise and tenon construction. The ranch was located east of Pine Grove (near Mainstreet and Dwyer in present-day Parker). The ranch was sold to William G. Newlin in 1878. [2] In 1900, the hewn log cabin was covered with wood siding. The Newlins had a family cemetery, which is next to the house. [15]
The cabin was moved to Callaway Road and Canterberry (sic) Trail in 1977 to prevent it from being demolished. It was restored by the Parker Area Historical Society, who has owned it since 1996. It is the only remaining log cabin in Parker and an example of Colorado pioneer life. Elizabeth Tallman mentioned the cabin in an article published by The Colorado Magazine in 1936. [15]
They lived briefly in Kansas City and then moved in 1918 to Colorado Springs. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on December 1, 1925. [4] And he died at their home eight days later on December 9. [16] He was the oldest member of Masonic Lodge No. 5. [4] Elizabeth died in 1941. [2] They are both buried at Parker Cemetery in Parker, Colorado. [17]
Parker is a home rule municipality in Douglas County, Colorado, United States. As a self-declared "town" under the home rule statutes, Parker is the second most populous town in the county; Castle Rock is the most populous. In recent years, Parker has become a commuter town at the southeasternmost corner of the Denver metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census the town population was 58,512. Parker is now the 19th most populous municipality in the state of Colorado.
The Sand Creek massacre was a massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho people by the U.S. Army in the American Indian Wars that occurred on November 29, 1864, when a 675-man force of the Third Colorado Cavalry under the command of U.S. Volunteers Colonel John Chivington attacked and destroyed a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho people in southeastern Colorado Territory, killing and mutilating an estimated 69 to over 600 Native American people. Chivington claimed 500 to 600 warriors were killed. However, most sources estimate around 150 people were killed, about two-thirds of whom were women and children. The location has been designated the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site and is administered by the National Park Service. The massacre is considered part of a series of events known as the Colorado Wars.
The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado.
Jim Baker (1818–1898), known as "Honest Jim Baker", was a frontiersman, trapper, hunter, army scout, interpreter, and rancher. He was first a trapper and hunter. The decline of the fur trade in the early 1840s drove many trappers to quit, but Baker remained in the business until 1855. During that time he was a friend of Jim Bridger, Kit Carson and John C. Frémont. On August 21, 1841, he was among a group of twenty three trappers who were attacked by Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Sioux on what became known as Battle Mountain. After Henry Fraeb was killed, Baker organized the trappers against the Native Americans in a multiple-day fight.
John Evans was an American politician, physician, founder of various hospitals and medical associations, railroad promoter, governor of the territory of Colorado, and namesake of Evanston, Illinois; Evans, Colorado; and formerly Mount Evans, Colorado.
The Colorado War was an Indian War fought in 1864 and 1865 between the Southern Cheyenne, Arapaho, and allied Brulé and Oglala Sioux peoples versus the U.S. Army, Colorado militia, and white settlers in Colorado Territory and adjacent regions. The Kiowa and the Comanche played a minor role in actions that occurred in the southern part of the Territory along the Arkansas River. The Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Sioux played the major role in actions that occurred north of the Arkansas River and along the South Platte River, the Great Platte River Road, and the eastern portion of the Overland Trail. The United States government and Colorado Territory authorities participated through the 1st Colorado Cavalry Regiment, often called the Colorado volunteers. The war was centered on the Colorado Eastern Plains, extending eastward into Kansas and Nebraska.
Montana City was the first settlement in what was later to become Denver, Colorado. It was established during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush on the east bank of the South Platte River, just north of the confluence with Little Dry Creek, in 1858. At the time, the site was in the Kansas Territory.
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Hardscrabble was a settlement established by traders and trappers in the 1840s near the fork of Adobe and Hardscrabble Creeks in present-day Fremont County, Colorado. It was called San Buenaventura de los Tres Arrollos—for three creeks Newlin, Adobe, and Hardscrabble—by its founders, George Simpson, Joseph Doyle, and Alexander Barclay. The name Hardscrabble became more common.
Colorow was a Ute chief of the Ute Mountain Utes, skilled horseman, and warrior. He was involved in treaty negotiations with the U.S. government. In 1879, he fought during the Meeker Massacre. Eight years later, his family members were attacked during Colorow's War. He was placed in the Jefferson County Hall of Fame in recognition of for the contributions that "he made to our county and, indeed, our state and nation."
The Hungate massacre involved the murder of the family of Nathan Hungate along Running Creek on June 11, 1864. It was a precipitating factor leading to the Sand Creek massacre of November 29, 1864.
Parker Cemetery, also known as J.S. Parker Cemetery, is a historic cemetery in Parker, Colorado. James S. Parker donated three acres for Parker Cemetery around 1884, at which time it held the graves of his two sons. The following year, four early settlers who were buried on a hill just east of the present-day intersection of Parker Road and E-470 were reinterred at Parker Cemetery. The earliest known grave is for Jonathan Tallman who was killed by Native Americans in 1870. Parker and his wife Mattie are also buried there. In 1911, the title to the cemetery was transferred to J.S. Parker Cemetery Association.
Mary E. Miller (1843–1921) settled in the Territory of Colorado in 1863 with her husband, Lafayette Miller. After her husband died, she founded the town of Lafayette, Colorado, named for her husband. Miller was called the "Mother of Lafayette. She was the first woman bank president in the United States, a philanthropist and an astute businesswoman.
Jimmy's Camp was a trading post established in 1833. The site is east of present-day Colorado Springs, Colorado on the southeast side of U.S. Route 24 and east of the junction with State Highway 94. Located along Trapper's Trail / Cherokee Trail, it was a rest stop for travelers and was known for its spring. Jimmy Camp was a ranch by 1870 and then a railway station on a spur of the Colorado and Southern Railway. After the ranch was owned by several individuals, it became part of the Banning Lewis Ranch. Now the land is an undeveloped park in Colorado Springs.
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Ochinee, also known as Lone Bear and One-Eye, was a Native American Peace Chief of the Cheyenne tribe. He was the father of Amache Prowers, a tradeswoman, advocate and leader among the Southern Cheyenne. Ochinee, who had worked to create peace for the Cheyenne, died during the Sand Creek massacre on November 29, 1864.
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