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Charles Wesley Wilson, known as “Charlie,” was the eighth child of James Harvey and Susanna Martha (Martin) Wilson. He was born on 3 November 1878 in Prairie Township, Fremont County, Iowa, about 6 miles east of Sydney. Census records show him in Prairie Township, in his parents’ home, in 1880, 1885, 1895, and 1900. After Charlie’s father died in July 1900, he helped his older brothers Elza and Isaac tend the family farm for a while, but when his mother decided to move to Colorado in 1902, Charlie went with her. It seems, though, that he got into some trouble right around the time of that move. On 29 May 1902, two Fremont County newspapers (The Fremont County Herald and The Fremont County Sun) both reported that the Fremont County Sheriff had gone to Delta County, Colorado, and fetched Charlie back to Iowa to face a charge of “seduction.” I have not learned the outcome of that proceeding or even who the alleged victim was, but it seems that Charlie did return to Colorado before too much longer. Late in 1905, The Newspaper of Paonia, Colorado, reported on a couple of unfortunate incidents involving Charlie. On 10 November, it reported that his wagon had broken down while he was hauling a load of hay, and then on 1 December it reported that he had broken a leg when a board broke on a hay rack that he was riding, which caused his foot to drop down into a wheel. The following year, apparently, Charlie saw a better opportunity elsewhere in Colorado. A note in the Paonia Booster (as quoted in the Montezuma Journal of 11 October 1906) said, “Chas. Wilson left overland for the Montezuma country this week. Charley has bought a ranch there and expects to make it his future home. We hate to lose Charley but wish him all kinds of success.” Charlie’s first ranch in Montezuma County was about 4 miles north of Cortez. In 1908, his brothers Elza and Isaac came out from Iowa and joined him there. Isaac moved in with him, and Elza bought some property adjacent to his. The 1910 census shows Charles and Isaac in Precinct 8 of Montezuma County, Colorado. Elza, his wife Florence, and their three children are listed just above Charlie on the same census page. Among Charlie’s neighbors in that same precinct were the Stevensons, a family with three sons and six daughters. The eldest daughter, in particular, caught Charlie’s eye, so on 25 January 1911, he and Nancy Ethel Stevenson were married. Nancy had been born 21 January 1892 near Mancos, in Montezuma County, the daughter of Augustus and Eva (Southerland) Stevenson. When she was nine years old, her family moved to Elk City, Kansas (where her father’s mother then lived), but they only stayed there a couple of years before moving back to Montezuma County. They settled then north of Cortez, which was where Nancy met and eventually married Charlie. In June 1912, Charlie filed a homestead application on a 160-acre plot (SW¼ sec. 29, T38N, R17W), which was about 2 miles southwest of the town of Yellow Jacket and more than 12 miles from his existing ranch north of Cortez. Even though Charlie kept the Cortez property, he and his family had to move to the homestead for a few years, in order to “prove” his claim. Initially, Charlie built a small one-room structure on the homestead, 16×16 feet, which he planned to use as a granary once he could find the time and afford the expense to build a proper house for his growing family. As it happened, with the eventual addition of a small kitchen and a couple of small bedrooms, that “granary” would be the family’s primary residence for the next 25 years. The year 1915 was eventful for Charlie:
Charlie and Nancy moved back and forth a few times between the new homestead and their property north of Cortez, depending on various circumstances. In October 1915, when their daughter Marjorie was born, they were near Cortez, but they were at Yellow Jacket when their son Paul was born in March 1917, and they were still there in March 1918 when son Robert was born. Charlie’s draft registration, from September 1918, shows Yellow Jacket as his address. The 1920, 1930, and 1940 censuses all show the family in Precinct 12 of Montezuma County (which was in the Yellow Jacket area). The 1930 census shows Charlie and Nancy with 10 children, which represents their entire family except for Robert, who died at birth, and Lawrence, who had not yet been born. Altogether, they had 12 children:
According to a family history of the Stevensons and Wilsons, Charlie took on several part-time jobs, over the years, to help support his growing family: “Charles worked off and on at the Tomboy and Smuggler mines until 1928. He worked at Rico the fall of 1928. He was winter guard at the Standard Oil Well on the Glade [a ravine about 9 miles northeast of Dove Creek] for two winters. While going back to this job, he was caught in deep snow the coldest night ever recorded in Montezuma County. It was 35 below zero and he was on snowshoes. He survived the night with just frosted toes, but got blood poisoning from the frost bite. He also sawed wood for a while north of McPhee. He got on W.P.A. at the Lowry Ruins for one day, he broke his legs and had to quit.” This account is rather vague about dates, but it appears Charlie continued working these odd jobs well into the 1930s. The coldest temperature on record at Cortez (–31°F) happened on 8 February 1933 (which may or may not coincide with the time when Charlie got frostbite several miles north of there). Also, the WPA (Works Progress Administration) did not start up until 1935, and it might well have been a year or two after that before Charlie got his job at the Lowry Ruins. From various entries in the Stevenson family history book, we know that Charlie and Nancy’s sons took on increasing responsibility for running the farm as Charlie aged. The year 1936 was particularly productive, when son Arthur (aka. “Runt”) was in charge. Profits from that year allowed the family to pay off back taxes, buy their first tractor along with a cultivator and a one-way disc plow, and buy their first motor vehicle, a pickup truck. In time, Charlie’s health forced him to give up farming. According to his son Arthur, Charlie’s last day of work was in 1938. The 1940 census shows Charlie and Nancy still at Yellow Jacket with all of their surviving children except for their three oldest daughters, who had married and moved out by then. In 1941, just at the outbreak of World War II, sons Paul and James were both drafted into the Army.
According to daughter Olive Faye, Charlie and Nancy bought a home in Durango in 1943, because Charlie had heart trouble and needed to be near a doctor. She and Glen both attended Durango High School while her parents lived there, but they sold the place and moved back to Yellow Jacket once she and Glen both graduated in 1946. It was just a few weeks after that, apparently, that Charlie passed away at a hospital in Cortez, on 30 June 1946. At least two Cortez newspapers published obituaries for Charlie, and he was buried at Fairview Cemetery. In the last year of his life, Charlie had contracted to have a comfortable modern home built on his property, but he did not live to see it completed. Nancy moved into it in 1947 and spent the rest of her life there. The 1950 census shows her living there with her sons James, Arthur, and Larry. (Strangely, the census lists both James and Arthur as being divorced. I have found no record of either of them having been married prior to 1950, but I suppose it’s possible.) Nancy lived on there in Yellow Jacket until 24 April 1975. She was buried next to Charlie at Fairview Cemetery. I have found no obituary for her. Much of the information I have about the lives of Charlie, Nancy, and their children comes from the previously mentioned Stevenson family history. Extensive annotated excerpts from that family history may be found here. If you can suggest any corrections to the information above or provide any further details about the lives of Charlie, Nancy, and their descendants, please contact me at the address shown in the image below:
Thanks,
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to Susanna Martin bio page. * Photos from the Stevenson Family History book. |
