Were the Cotopaxi Jews tricked?

The family oral stories tell us that the Jews were brought to Cotopaxi with the promise of wonderful farms and they were tricked into going to work in Saltiel's mines because one could not farm in Cotopaxi.

Sometimes, it's as simple as finding a newspaper article.

Colorado Springs Weekly Gazette 29 Jan 1881 - a year and 4 months BEFORE the Colonists arrived at Cotopaxi:

"The Silver Cliff Prospect says, "Mr. Saltiel, of Cotopaxi, Fremont county, has inaugurated a novel scheme to secure laborers to work on the Silver Cliff extension of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad. He has opened recruiting offices for the enlisting of laborers at Chattanooga, Tennessee, New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama.  He expects to bring into the state about six thousand men from these points during the winter and spring."

I know that it says this recruitment was for building a railroad extension.  BUT....6000 laborers?  The overflow would have been surplus employment for his mines.

Where did he propose that they reside?  Was part of the labor intended to build homes for them?

Obviously, this never came to fruition.   But it proves that he was seeking a labor market as early as a year and 4 months before the Colonists arrived.

When Saltiel realized his employment offices failed, he must have needed a new source of employees.  Perhaps this is when he turned to HEAS in NYC?

We may never know....but when you are working on your own family genealogy, don't forget to look to historical newspapers for information.

maps can tell the best story!

I'm publishing this "unfinished" map....as the beginning of what may be a never-ending story.  I found documents that show the Nudelmans and the Chuterans (Jewish colonists) sold their "attached" house to E. S. Hart who then sold it to Susan McCoy.  I'm so curious....where was this "attached" house?  Thus this "working" map with all my notes on it.

In later documents, I find the sale of the "McCoy double house".  Has to be the same place.  Most of the early documents show the property as being measured in feet, east of the center of the county line.  So this map is just that....showing the property possibilities in the last 134 years based on feet from the center line.  I'm inserting it as full size, so those who are interested can see the details.  Ignore the "state highway department" location.  The orange line going up and down the center is CR 12.  Plum street is CR 51, and off to the left is CR 52.

So, starting at the intersection of CR12 and CR51,   0' to 30' marked Hendricks is where we think the ES Hart store/PO were.  In 1882.   Go to the right to 601' to 651' and thats where I think the Nudelman/Chuteran house was.  But I still have more to research.

Much of this is after the Colonists left....but it's a good start for my research as it combines ownership from the 70s, today, and the 30s.  I get a broad spectrum of names to connect as I look for records on each piece of property.  Can you start to see why I created family trees for the Cotopaxi residents?

Saltiel lived on the west end of CR52 where it says "Bailey".  Baily died in 1936, so that gives us a starting point to date the printed portion of the original map.  His house was a boarding house and probably became the Cotopaxi Hotel.  It was later purchased by JDHylton.  The livery and saloons were not there in 1882.  But the McCoys were in the area in 1882.  Susan McCoy was the mother of the "McCoy" gang - known for cattle rustling and killing.

this map is subject to much change as I continue to find new documents - or pay closer attention to documents I've already found.  And this map is a bit off when you look at the Dyer/Gilbert properties...they were moved south, closer to the river, when CR 52 was "drawn" on the books.  That's why I have "now old Yarmark" and "now McNew" written in.

It's interesting to note the addition and separation of lots on Plum street over the past 134 years.  I've shown that with dashes....when it was combined and when it was separated will come later.  But of note, there were a few houses close to CR12, then an open space known as the McCoy lower orchard, then more houses.  And we know that Saltiel had an orchard on his place.  New trees?  or did they produce fruit?

We think the shul was right north of the Hendricks place (Zero to 30') but may never be able to prove that.

Mom lived in a little cottage that began at 397'.  Most of the documents for that house since the time it was built show it as being at 397'.  Perhaps one of the easiest houses I've researched thus far!  However, the back section of her property has changed much over the years.  Finding where that was, who owned it and how it got merged has been interesting to say the least!

If you read this and have any clues you can share, I'd love to hear them!  Maps can be so much fun!

*****
 c2016.  All content is copyright protected and may not be copied, reproduced, reused or reposted in any manner without permission.

Make your own story

Sometimes, I think that’s just what other people have done.  Just write anything!  Fill in the blanks however you want….and someone, somewhere is going to believe you!

Not me!!!  I either want facts….or I will leave it blank and let you write your own story!

Family history books are just that…..books that someone writes about their family history.  It is their story.  And I use them as hints and leads….but not as facts.

Moshe Shaltiel-Gracian published such a book in 2005 about the Shaltiel/Saltiel family.  It’s not a bad book, in fact - quite interesting.  He wrote this about Emanuel Saltiel’s wife:

Soon after her arrival in Cotopaxi, Elizabeth, 36-years-old and the mother of three small children aged two, four, and six, fell in love with Frank W. Woods, an employee, in his early twenties, at the Cotopaxi Post Office, which Emanuel owned.

Let’s stop there for a moment.  Census records and other documents, including birth certificates show us that the children were:

John Tammany Saltiel, born 1871, age 9 in 1880 (I have his actual birth certificate)

Henry Clarence Saltiel, born 1873, age 7 in 1880

Adelaide Rachel (Lucy) Saltiel, born 1877, age 3 in 1880

Elizabeth Wolfe Saltiel, born 1845, age 35 in 1880

Continuing on with Moshe’s writing:

While Emanuel was crisscrossing the country, negotiating deals to build expensive furnaces and a new railroad depot, the two began an affair, and exchanged rather simple-minded letters……The lovers did not consider that, since Emanuel owned the post office, it was inevitable that one of these letters would find its way to him. 
Elizabeth was quickly shipped back east; the children remained with Emanuel…..on the same day that she wrote her aunt (5/1/1881), she was hand-delivered, at her residence at 40 East 126th Street in New York City, a summons to divorce court.  The divorce did not take effect, for legal reasons, for a year…..Elizabeth remained in New York and made her living teaching music.

Later on in the book, Moshe writes:

A year after his divorce, on Valentine’s Day, 1883, in Pueblo, Colorado, he married a second time, to Fannie Shelveson, who managed his real estate……unfortunately, seven years later, in December 1890, Fannie followed in Elizabeth’s footsteps, and began an affair with Jerry B. McLene, who lived in the Broadway, a Denver hotel owned by Emanuel.  Once more, Emanuel filed for divorce and, like Elizabeth, Fannie did not appear in court.  Unlike Elizabeth, however, Fannie married her lover on 14 July 1891, three weeks after the divorce was granted.

We find Emanuel and Fannie living on Watsoon St in Denver in the 1885 census.  No children in the household.

Let’s look at this marriage/divorce timeline in relationship to the children’s ages.  

	1880 moved to Cotopaxi	1882 parents divorce	1883 father remarries Fannie Shelveson	1885 father moves to Denver	1891 father divorces Fannie
John	9	11	12	14	20
Henry	7	9	10	12	18
Adelaide	3	5	6	8	14

So even if Elizabeth left the children with Emanuel in 1881 when she left, they were not living with him in Denver in 1885.  I have not been able to locate Elizabeth in the 1885 census in NYC.

There is an Elizabeth M.  Saltiel living at 343 E 117th St in the 1886 New York City directory - doing “washing”.  She was not in the 1885 directory.  Directories do not list children.

Elizabeth and her son, Henry, were in the 1895 New Jersey Census.  Newark NJ.  This makes sense as her daughter, Adelaide, married Francis Henry Lovekin in 1895 in Newark NJ.

Did the court give custody to Emanuel in the divorce?  I don’t know as I haven’t located the divorce records.  But it is obvious that 3 short years later, they are not living with him.

I cannot locate Fannie in any city directory in Pueblo.  What brought her there?  

So why not put this perspective into a timeline looking at Saltiel and the arrival of the Colonists at Cotopaxi…..makes it even more interesting!

• 1879 - the earliest I can find Saltiel in Fremont County
• 1880 - his family arrives, a house has already been built
• 1881 - his wife has an affair and he sends her off to NYC.  One writer says the children (I believe they were ages 4, 8, & 10) stay in Cotopaxi
• 1881 - I have a document that shows Saltiel sold his house to Hart.  Where did he (and the children - if they were there) reside?
• 1882 - February, Saltiel gets a divorce
• 1882 - May, the Jewish colonists arrive
• 1883 - February, Saltiel remarries (when did he have time to court this woman?)
• 1883 - some of the colonists relocate away from Cotopaxi
• 1883 - lawsuits against Saltiel for not paying miners who worked for him
• 1884 - May, the colony disbands 
• 1884 - 1887 Saltiel involved in multiple lawsuits against his mining claims.  He lost all of his property in Fremount county as a result of these lawsuits
• 1884 - May 31, Gold Tom shot and killed
• 1885 - June, Saltiel and wife are in Denver in the 1885 census, children are not with them

Questions - 

1. did Fannie ever live in Cotopaxi?  I can find no evidence of that.
2. when did Emanuel move to Denver?  If he sold his residence in 1881, where did he stay when he was in Cotopaxi?
3. where were the 3 children after their mother was sent to NYC?
4. if the children were in Cotopaxi, where did they live and who cared for them?

Saltiel was a very busy man!  One of these days I will create a month-by-month timeline of Saltiel’s activities…..but in the meantime, I can tell you, he was so tied up in Arapahoe County courts, in Denver, in NYC, and now we find out how busy he was with his own personal life….I do not see him as a custodial parent and it would explain his often lengthy absences from the Colonists at Cotopaxi.  

No wonder it has been written that the colonists said they got no answers or support from him and they turned to the Denver Jewish community.

I do understand why many writers “fill in the blanks” with what they think happened.  I think my “job” is to ask the questions about the blanks.  As more and more records become digitized and/or available for public research, hopefully we may find more answers.  

In the meantime, be careful what you read about Cotopaxi.  Is it just someone’s conjecture?  Is it even probable?  Is it just a “story” that someone made up?  Makes you wonder!!!

*****
 c2016.  All content is copyright protected and may not be copied, reproduced, reused or reposted in any manner without permission.

Put your name on your house!!!

They have been doing that for centuries in the northeast.  Sometimes it's a family name.  Other times they would give it a name like "Spring Lake" or "Robin's Peak".  When you drive around in the New England states, you will see the little wood posts on the houses that show you it's name!  Sure makes it easy to find the specific place you are looking for!

At Cotopaxi, there were 2 buildings that we know of that were "named".  One was "Saltiel".  This particular photo has been used to "prove" that the town was once known as "Saltiel".

It's obvious the name is on the building.  So I started my research.....looking high and low to find out when the town was called "Saltiel".  I can find a single reference to a "Saltiel Park".  One reference to it being called "Saltiels".  Absolutely nothing else.

I have gone back to 1876 in the local clerk and recorders office.  No mention of it being called Saltiels in any document ever.  In fact, the first name used other than "Fremont County" or "Arkansas Valley" appears in 1879 in a legal document, calling the place "Cotopaxi."

So why did this building have the name "Saltiel" on it?  Just a carryover of the hundreds-year-old tradition from buildings back east?

I wonder!

In the 1880 census, we see that Emanuel and Elizabeth Saltiel were living in their home with their 3 children....and eight boarders.  Was this a hotel of sorts???  The beginning of a hotel?

and just for clarification.....it's not listed as "Cotopaxi" in the census dated June 23, 1880.  It's still known as Fremont County.  

In the 1880 census, Cotopaxi was a very small place.  The train was just being built through the canyon and the railroad had built a boarding house (maybe 2?) but did not yet have a depot.  There was the first hints of a stagecoach road coming in from the south.....either late 1880 or early 1881....after the train stop was built.

The census verifies this with lists of boarders....and only a very few families:

Richard McCoy, age 43, farmer ("famous father of the McCoy gang" - probably lived east of Cotopaxi in what is now known as McCoy gulch)
Nicholas Owens, age 45, farmer
H. Rogers, age 32, keeping rr boarding house,  family and 16 boarders
J. W. Miller, age 30, farmer
W. H. Murray, age 33, keeping rr boarding house, family and 22 boarders
Levi Bradish, age 75, farmer

(and keep in mind that "farmer" is a term for rancher....these men were cattle ranchers....not farmers like you would think of in the midwest).

It appears that Rogers and Murray were brought in to run the boarding houses built by the railroad.  The timing is perfect for June as the first train was in December, 1880.

That leaves us with McCoy, Owens, Miller and Bradish as the only ranchers in the valley.  Of these, only the McCoy's stayed (from my research thus far).

Once the train stop was built, the town started growing rather rapidly.  

In the 1880 Colorado State Business directory it states:

Cotopaxi - New camp on D&RG RR 34 miles west of Canon City, 

P Brogan, J C North, Carpenters and Builders (not listed in the 1880 census)

JW Harrison, E H Saltiel, Mine Operators (Harrison resided in Canon City)

Cotopaxi Hotel

M Harrison, Blacksmith (not listed in the 1880 census)

North was living in the same boarding house with Gold Tom in Precinct 1.  Cotopaxi was in Enumeration District 46 in the Arkansas River Valley.  I think Precinct 1 might have been Texas Creek, but not sure yet.  More research to do!

Nonetheless, in 1882, Cotopaxi was new, tiny, and truly part of the wild west.  Was Saltiel's house the hotel....and had been a boarding house in 1880?

And then.....I came across this "Saltiel house" photo...and this is probably the original.  It has not been cropped.  Exact same people in the exact same positions:

Notice the street lamp over to the right? I seriously doubt this photo was taken in 1882.  I doubt these were the Jewish colonists in the photo.   There was no electricity or gas power in Cotopaxi in 1882.

I think someone found this photo, cropped it, and then declared that the town was once called "Saltiel"!!!

My next task is to take all the buildings that were present in Cotopaxi in 1882 and determine what was a hotel (might have been 2 of them), what was a store (pretty sure there were at least 2) and what other businesses there were in "town" when the Colonists were there.  

My point - put your name on your house and one day it might just turn into the name of the place where you lived!  OK...just joking!  My point is that one should not take literally what they read or see in print.  Understand that oral histories can evolve because someone wants you to believe something.  Take the time to do the research to prove what someone else writes.

As a final thought on this blog.....do you see the tall cacti in the photo?  Cholla cactus, aka "walking 

stick" cactus.  They cover the hillsides and are everywhere....guess they were here in the 1880s as well!  They grow 2' to 4' tall.  

You can see the areas covered on the ground with this type of cacti,  some call it prickly pear, or elephant ear.  I can guarantee you that you don't want to step on it!  LOL!


Go back and look at the photos....these is the darker areas on the ground...absolutely covered...and still in the area today, just go take a hike in the hills, but be sure to wear leather shoes or boots and watch where you step!  Tennis shoes just won't cut it!

Can you imagine sending a group of Jews to this area to farm?  Ask yourself the same question about your own ancestors....what did they face when they attempted to farm, to build a house, to eek out a living as they moved west across this country.  What do you know about your ancestors??  It's so much more than just putting a name into a family tree.

Maybe we should all put our names on our homes!

*****
 c2016.  All content is copyright protected and may not be copied, reproduced, reused or reposted in any manner without permission.

Emmanuel Saltiel - a Jew from Portugal? And his cousins, the Harts:

I love how oral histories turn into something they are not.  I have read so many places where the author will state that E. H. Saltiel came to America from Portugal.

I think not!

It does state that he was a "Portuguese Jew" -  and I'm sure that's where others come up with the notion that he was from Portugal.   However...the term is slang meaning that he was a Sephardic Jew.  And that would separate him from the Ashkenazi Jews who were the colonists.

What is the difference?  Check here - not much!

I have done the family tree for Emanuel, I have collected the census records....he was born in Bath England.  He immigrated to this country at a very young age about 1862 and he immediately entered the military in the Civil War.  His father, grandfather, gr grandfather and gr gr grandfather were all born in England.  His 3rd gr grandfather was born in Greece.  The next one born in Italy and the next one in Crete.

Saltiel was not Portuguese, nor did he come from Portugal!  But he was a Sephardic Jew - and he probably practiced it some of the time.  He married Elizabeth M. Wolfe in 1870 in New York City.   In a 1871 newspaper article, he state that she was Episcopalian.  But further research shows she was born a Jew.  He was buried as a non-catholic in a catholic cemetery at Rawlins WY in 1900.

What's interesting is that he was a Sephardic Jew who arranged to have a group of Ashkenazi Jews brought to Cotopaxi in 1882.  Fascinating chapter of the Jewish migration to the Western United States.

Along with Saltiel was his cousin, Eleazer Samuel Hart, better known as E. S. Hart.  He had a store and a hotel in Cotopaxi.  Hart was raised as an Ashkenazi Jew (see that story here).   Hart's daughter was married in a synagogue in Chicago.  After Cotopaxi, this family migrated Denver, then  to Chicago IL where we find them in the census records.

His son, Myer Hart, had a son Robert M. Hart, who at some point moved from Chicago to Boulder CO.  Robert married Miriam Rothberger.  They were united by a Rabbi in Colorado.

they were living in Chicago in the 1940 census:

Robert and Miriam Hart were living in Boulder where she died in 1986.  He died there in 1995.

The Miriam R. Hart Regional Radiation Center in Boulder was built in her honor.  An amazing contribution to Colorado from the descendant of someone who was part of the Cotopaxi Colony.  So while most of the story of the Cotopaxi Colony has been one of the ashkenazi jews who were escaping persecution in Russia, I think we cannot forget the sephardic Jews who were there at the same time.

Wonder what I can find on other descendants!

*****
 c2016.  All content is copyright protected and may not be copied, reproduced, reused or reposted in any manner without permission.