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Three men who helped shape Mancos

This column is an excerpt from the Genealogy and Biography of the State of Colorado published in 1899. (I added most of the death dates.)

Louis Paquin

Louis Paquin became a resident of Colorado at the age of six. His teenage years were spent near Pueblo.

In 1876, he and five others came to the Mancos Valley.

In 1899, he was the only one of the group to still reside in the Mancos Valley. Early on, he drove stock from Pueblo and engaged himself in the raising of stock of which he had at times as many as 2,500 head of cattle.

A resident of Mancos from its founding, he played an active part in securing its incorporation and was one of is first trustees.

Paquin was born in Minnesota in 1857 and remained a bachelor until 1888 when he married Theresa Roessler of St. Louis. In December 1887, he bought property in town and was an early member of Mancos Masonic Lodge No. 100 AF & AM.

Paquin died on Oct. 5, 1922. His wife, Theresa, was born in Germany and came to Mancos in 1883. She passed away on Nov. 12 1948.

Milton T. Morris

Milton T. Morris was born in Ohio in 1836. He married Samantha Monroe in January 1867, and they came to Mancos in 1880. Morris was a lawyer by trade and became the first judge in Montezuma County. Even though he was a lawyer, he homesteaded a quarter section of land and made farming and stock raising his other occupations.

Milton passed away on June 10, 1905 and Samantha followed him on July 19, 1924.

John White

John White was born in Pennsylvania in 1835. In 1863, he married Mary Arney, who was born n Bern, Switzerland in 1846. The came to Mancos in 1877. Mr. White improved one of the finest ranches in the area and devoted his time to the feeding of cattle, becoming one of the largest stock dealers in the county. In 1897, he moved into the village of Mancos where he lived until his death on April 16, 1918. In 1897, he was elected a commissioner of Montezuma County and served as treasurer in 1891 and 1892. He was elected mayor of Mancos in 1898.

His wife, Mary Ann, had stomach cancer and passed away on May 11, 1903.

Darrel Ellis is a longtime historian of the Mancos Valley. Email him at dnrls@q.com.