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Note: New Orleans Passenger Lists, 1820-1945 about Friedrich Walsen Name: Friedrich Walsen Arrival Date: 5 Nov 1859 Age: 18 Gender: Male Port of Departure: Bremen, Germany Ship Name: Magdalene Port of Arrival: New Orleans, Louisiana National Archives' Series Number: M259_48 The �h� was dropped in 1892. Fred Walsen was an enterprising, prominent citizen, the father of the town named in his honor. Born in 1841, Walsen emigrated from his native Prussia at the age of 18. He got into the cigar business and politics, and served with distinction with the First Missouri Volunteers. As the Civil War ended he headed west, first to Fort Garland, where he met Otto Mears. As partners Walsen and Mears were major forces in developing Southern Colorado. They generated business ventures and constructed toll roads, and then railroads to Telluride, Lake City, Ouray and Silverton. Walsen also was a founder of Ridgway. He migrated to Los Leones where he helped develop a town which was incorporated in 1873 as Walsenburgh (the �h� was dropped in 1892). Walsenburg is the county seat of Huerfano County. Located between exits 49 and 52 on the I-25, Walsenburg also sits astride US 160, the primary east-west route in Southern Colorado. The town is just east of La Veta Pass, gateway to the San Luis Valley. Walsenburg was originally settled as Plaza de los Leones in 1852 but is named after Fred Walsen, a businessman who settled here about 1870. It was Fred who opened the first coal mine in the county just west of town in 1876. Walsen Mine was the largest and most productive coal mine in Huerfano County. The town of Walsenburg,Huerfano County, Colorado was named for Heinrich Anton Friederich ( Fred ) Walsen. Originally it was known as La Plaza de los Leones. ( Gannett, Henry, "the Origin of Certain Place Names", Bul. # 258, p. 314. ) Civil War Veteran Walsenburg in Huerfano county This is the location of the Mexican settlement in the 1840's and was originally called La Plaza de los Leones, after the early settler, Don Leon. Platted in 1873, a post office had already been in place since 1870. Walsenburg became the center for coal development in southern Colorado after the railroad arrived. Walsenburg Junction in Huerfano county Once a railroad stop on the line from Cucharas to Walsenburg. Walsenburg ; town in Huerfano County, Colorado , named for Fred Walsen , a banker and old settler. 1841- Fred Walsen is born June 14, 1841 in Petershagen, Westphalia, Germany. Information from www.familysearch.org. Anton Friedrich Walsen Sex: Male Christening: 26 January 1845 Evangelisch, Petershagen Minden, Westfalen, Preussen Father: Heinrich Walsen Mother: Friedrericke Kleinschmidt 1859- Fred Walsen emigrated to America in 1859 from Bremerhaven, in Germany and landed November 5, 1859, in New Orleans, after a voyage of sixty three (63) days. The ship's name was the Magdaline. Fred was 18 years old. His destination was St. Louis and on arrival in St. Louis he engaged in the occupation of cigar maker until the beginning of the Civil War. Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild Ship Magdalene Bremen, Germany to New Orleans 5 November 1859 DISTRICT OF NEW ORLEANS - PORT OF NEW ORLEANS* Columns represent: Passenger number*, Names, Age (years and months), Sex, Occupation, The country to which they severally belong, The country in which they intend to become inhabitants. 345 Friedrich Walsen 18 Male Segarmaker Germany Missouri + WALSEN, Frederick - Company G, Private, Enlisted 4/23/61 at St. Louis, MO, Transferred 6/10/61 from Company B of the 1st Missouri Volunteers by order of General Lyon, Discharged 8/12/61, Filed for pension 9/11/1905 1861- Soon thereafter on April 12, 1861 he enlisted under the ninety day call with Company, B. of the 1st Missouri Volunteers under General Frank P. Blair and Nathaniel Lyon who was killed at Wilson Creek, Missouri fight ; later Fred Walsen served under Captain Kleinschmidt ( they were first cousins ) in the Company, West End Rangers. He served one hundred and twelve days and was honorably discharged, that same year. Fred Walsen had pluck and ambition, and evinced interest in american plolitics. In the Presidential Campaign of 1860 he supported Lincoln. He renounced allegiance to the old country and enlisted in the Union Army. Civil War Soldiers Record Film Number M390 roll 50 Soldier Name Side Function Regiment Name Walsen, Fred Union Infantry 5th Regiment, Missouri Infantry (3 months, 1861) 1864- He soon became busy as a provisioner to Army Posts and in 1864 resolved to take the hazardous journey to the Rocky Mountains, wher he located at Fort Garland and became of a mercantilre firm. He eventually spent some years in and about Fort Garland, Colorado, before finally settling down in Palza de los Leones, later known as Walsenburg, Colorado, where he served as it's first mayor, an office he held for many years. 1867 - From St. Louis, Missouri Marriage Records : Name Spouse Marriage Date Volume/Page Sporleder, Emilie Walsen, Frederich 18 July 1867 13-049 Walsen, Frederich Sporleder, Emilie 18 July 1867 13-049 1867- He returned briefly to St. Louis, Missouri and there married Miss Emilie F. Sporleder, the daughter of August and Adolphine (Schaeffer) Sporleder. He and his new bride returned to Fort Garland, Colorado and he became a partner in the firm there. 1870- In 1870 Mr. Walsen came to the state of Colorado in the upbuilding of which he was to play so important a part. During his long residence in Huerfano County, Colorado, Mr. Walsen identified himself with the Southern part of the state, and as one of the celebrated Deutcher Trio, Fred Walsen, William Myers and Otto Mears all of who achieved distinction and acquired wealth in Colorado, he did much to develop the marvelous resources of this portion of the great West. 1870- Fred Walsen was as supple as a fencing foil, he had eyes that darted in every direction, and from the beginning he worked heart and soul for the little Mexican Plaza, which was destined to become a city to bear his name. Here he established his fortune in sheep, cattle, coal and railroads. His interests steadily expanded and at one time he had financial interests in New Mexico. He was president of the street railway in Las Vegas. 1873- He was instrumental, along with others, in platting the town which was then incorporated and the citzens suggested the town be named Walsenburg, Colorado after Fred Walsen, because he had contributed so much to it's growth. He became the first mayor of Walsenburg, Colorado. "The City Built on Coal" La Plaza de Los Leones was built on both sides of the old Indian trail which is now Walsenburg's Main Street. It was the Spanish plaza style, one large complex serving as homes for people and livestock, and enclosed as fortification against Indians. By 1870 La Plaza de Los Leones was the most flourishing of three little settlements and had attracted many newcomers, including Fred Walsen, who opened the first general store. Fred Walsen was an enterprising, prominent citizen, the father of the town named in his honor. Walsen emigrated from his native Prussia at the age of 18. He migrated to Los Leones where he helped develop a town which was incorporated in 1873 as Walsenburgh (the "h" was dropped in 1892). It was Walsen who saw the possibilities of coal as an industry for the county--the first mine was the Walsen mine. He began the county's stock-raising industry with thousands of sheep and cattle, and he furnished most of the ties for the incoming Denver & Rio Grande Railway in 1876. Walsen was chosen the first mayor. An early supporter of Abraham Lincoln, and a life-long Republican, he was elected Colorado state treasurer in 1882. Another of the early contributors to Huerfano's advancement was Karl Otto Unfug, who came to Huerfano as a branch manager of a large mercantile business in Southern Colorado and became county clerk. Nature was not always pleasant. A powerful "hurricane" blew through town on December 28, 1875, lifting roofs, breaking windows and overturning outbuildings, but the Rocky Mountain News said there were no serious injuries. Another story in the Rocky Mountain News said a calamitous flood in 1878 washed the unfortunate townspeople "from comfort to absolute want" in an hour or two. The following year ranches and farms suffered the opposite adversity when "not one drop of moisture fell!" It was said that a person could have walked in the bed of the Arkansas River from Las Animas to Lamar without stepping off the carcass of dead cows, which were following the water to Huerfano County where the last of the water holes were drying up. The rancher fed them spineless cactus and the animals became fat again. By the end of 1899 Walsenburg had 1,200 residents, a fourth of whom were Hispanic. The town had a water works, electric lights, three churches, two weekly newspapers, a bank and business house, which compared favorably with those of any place of the size in the state. The mines in the county employed about 2,000 men. The early serenity of the town was shattered with the coal discoveries around Walsenburg and the influx of miners, many of them foreign-born. At one time the main east-west street was reputed to be home to people of 52 nationalities. Walsenburg soon became "the city built on coal," with camps dotting the perimeters of the mines, each having company stores. It wasn't until the automobile that Walsenburg became a business center. Walsenburg had a population of 377 in 1880; 1,033 in 1900, 5,569 in 1950, 3,300 in 1990 and 4,182 in 2000. Huerfano County, Colorado Land Patents: WALSEN, FRED 07/30/1874 731 COCOAA 075295 WALSEN, FREDERICK G 10/26/1908 9823 24988 1800's - From the web site 'www.coloradodirectory.com/walsenburg/' comes this story : Walsenburg sits at the gateway to Cuchara Valley and was settled in the late 1800s. Fred Walsen opened a large general store, became a community leader and incorporated the town's 320-acre site. From the web site 'www.archives.state.co.us/tour/pcu2.htm' comes this story, along with a photo : Walsenburg, Colorado - Named after a German immigrant, by the name of Fred Walsen, that laid out the town in the 1870s where he opened up a general store and was one of the early pioneers that built up the southern part of the State of Colorado. He was married to Emilie Sporleder in Saint Louis, Missouri July 18, 1864, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. August Sporleder. 1874- It was through his efforts that the Huerfano County Seat was moved from Bandito, Colorado to Walsenburg, Colorado. 1876- He opened the first coal mine in Huerfano County at Walsen Camp, one mile west of Walsenburg. This same year, he and Alexander Levy, his brother-in-law formed a partnership running cattle and operating several stores. During this period of time he also furnished most of the railroad ties for the incoming Denver and Rio Grande Railway. 1877-1878 - During this time he became involved in many businesses, raising cattle and sheep, railroad and toll road construction, banking and land development. He purchased large tracts of land as well as water rights and leased coal lands and ranches. Besides the town of Walsenburg, Colorado he was instrumental in the development of Las Vegas, New Mexico, Ridgeway, Colorado and much of the southern part of the entire state of Colorado. 1879- He was made Brigadier General of the Second Division of the Colorado State Militia, appointed to that position by Gov. Frederick W. Pitkin. 1880 United States Census, Precinct 6, Walsenberg, Huerfano, Colorado Household: Name Relation Marital Status Gender Race Age Birthplace Occupation Father's Birthplace Mother's Birthplace Fred Walsen Self M Male W 39 GERMANY Farmer GENOVA GENOVA Emily F. Walsen Wife M Female W 31 MO Keeping House GER GER Frieda Walsen Dau S Female W 6 CO GER MO Emily Walsen Dau S Female W 4 CO GER MO Frederick Walsen Son S Male W 2 CO GER MO Cora Walsen Dau S Female W 6M CO GER MO Emily Shepard Domestic S Female W 21 MO Keeping House GER GER John Galla Lodging M Male W 40 GER Laborer GER GER 1882- In 1882 he was elected Colorado State Treasurer, serving the people with fidelity and distinction. At that time the family moved to Denver, Denver County, Colorado, where they remained the rest of their lives. His chief deputy during his career as state treasurer was H.E. Wheeler, now cashier at the bank of Minnequa (at the time of this writing), a man who knew Walsen best and loved him most, of the men of southern Colorado. 1882- General Fred Walsen was elected as the State Treasurer of Colorado. Walsen, Henrich Anton Fredrich (1841-1906) -- also known as Fred Walsen -- Born in 1841. Colorado state treasurer, 1883-84. Founded the town of Walsenburg, Colorado, which is named for him. Died in Denver, Denver County, Colo., February 15, 1906. Interment at Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, Colo. 1888- Mr. Walsen engaged in the banking business at Walsenburg, and at the time of his death, in 1906, he still retained large interests in Huerfano County. He was a man of wealth and was ranked among the millionaires of the state. 1890 Denver, Colorado City Directory : Name Business Name Occupation Location 1 Location 2 City State Year G. W. Cook Walsen Coal general agent 1 and 4 McClintock block, 1605 Larimer, yards, Wynkoop, cor. 13th Denver Colorado 1890 Fred. Walsen 23 Clayton block r. 1805 Grant avenue Denver Colorado 1890 1890- In the 1890 Denver City Directory, Fred Walsen's office was at 23 Clayton Block.. His residence was 1805 Grant Ave. 1906- Obituary: The Pueblo Star Journal, Thursday evenening February 15, 1906. Fred Walsen is dead. That is the news which came to Pueblo today and will gill the hearts of many of the old-time citizens of Southern Colorado with regret, for all the old-timers knew and respected Fred Walsen, one of the men who had seen the Southern portion of the state transformed from a collection of Mexican plazas and Indian villages into one of the richest sections in Colorado's domain. 1888, Mr. Walsen engaged in the banking business at Walsenburg, at the time of his death, which occurred today in Denver, he still retained large interests in Huerfano County. He was a man of wealth and was ranked amomg the millionaires of the state. He leaves his wife, three daughters and a son. Louis B. Sporleder, Huerfano historian Adventurer Don Miguel Antonio Leon was seduced by the beauty and tranquility of the Cuchara Valley in 1859. He joined a dozen or so other Spanish, Portuguese, and French families who found the valley a good place to graze cattle and raise families. Don Miguel's small settlement along the river was the smallest of them all, but it was the one that grew, and it was named for the gracious old gentleman who tended his plum trees. Don Miguel Leon was born in 1799 had wandered far and wide with French-Canadian traders and trappers, and "possessed a great store of homely knowledge...though illiterate" according to Sporleder, Walsenburg pioneer and historian. La Plaza de Los Leones was built on both sides of the old Indian trail which is now Walsenburg's Main Street. It was the Spanish plaza style, one large complex serving as homes for people and livestock, and enclosed as fortification against Indians. Kan-yat-che, the chief of a band of southern Utes, gave the settlers little trouble unless he lost at gambling. He was noted for his tall hat decorated with feathers. One of the hats had belonged to Denver's Professor Goldrick, founder of the Denver Rocky Mountain Herald. By 1870 La Plaza de Los Leones was the most flourishing of three little settlements and had attracted many newcomers, including Fred Walsen, who opened the first general store. Fred Walsen was an enterprising, prominent citizen, the father of the town named in his honor. Born in 1841, Walsen emigrated from his native Prussia at the age of 18. He got into the cigar business and politics, and served with distinction with the First Missouri Volunteers. As the Civil War ended he headed west, first to Fort Garland, where he met Otto Mears. As partners Walsen and Mears were major forces in developing Southern Colorado. They generated business ventures and constructed toll roads, and then railroads to Telluride, Lake City, Ouray and Silverton. Walsen also was a founder of Ridgway. He migrated to Los Leones where he helped develop a town which was incorporated in 1873 as Walsenburgh (the "h" was dropped in 1892). It was Walsen who saw the possibilities of coal as an industry for the county--the first mine was the Walsen mine. He began the county's stock-raising industry with thousands of sheep and cattle, and he furnished most of the ties for the incoming Denver & Rio Grande Railway in 1876. Walsen was chosen the first mayor. He expanded into banking and various activities throughout the state, becoming a major taxpayer in half a dozen counties. An early supporter of Abraham Lincoln, and a life-long Republican, he was elected Colorado state treasurer in 1882. The critical Dave Day, who seldom had kind words for anyone, particularly Republicans, did have some for Walsen in a May 1844 Solid Muldoon: "Fred Walsen is the best and safest State Treasurer Colorado has ever had. There is no Sunday school hypocrisy about Fred." The Pueblo People, a Democratic newspaper, is said to have suggested the town be renamed for him because Huerfano County had shifted from Democrat to Republican under Walsen's influence. Another of the early contributors to Huerfano's advancement was Karl Otto Unfug, who came to Huerfano as a branch manager of a large mercantile business in Southern Colorado, became county clerk, and was helpful in writing letters and completing documents for the foreign-born settlers in the region. He was the grandfather of newspaperman C. Otto Unfug of Walsenburg and Sterling. Fred Walsen's father-in-law, August Sporleder, opened an impressive hotel in which he hosted such luminaries as General Palmer, Governor Hunt and Helen Hunt Jackson. The La Veta Huerfano Herald reporter covered a reopening of the hotel in 1881: [It was] a fine affair in every respect and an occasion that will long linger among the happy memories of all those who were so fortunate to be present. The train was late and when the Herald pilgrim arrived he found the spacious building crowded with a merry throng of fair ladies and gallant beaux intent [on merry-making]....A string band discoursed music [for those] desiring to "trip the light fantastic," while in the parlor the Misses Unfug treated guests to elegant music upon the piano. In a side room, wines and other beverages flowed free as water, and conviviality, social converse and kindly good feeling prevailed throughout the house. Refreshments were also served and no steps left undone to make the evening a pleasant one for all.... Nature was not always pleasant, though. A powerful "hurricane" blew through town on December 28, 1875, lifting roofs, breaking windows and overturning outbuildings, but the Rocky Mountain News said there were no serious injuries. A calamitous flood in 1878 washed the unfortunate townspeople "from comfort to absolute want" in an hour or two, according to the Rocky Mountain News. Fred Walsen wrote the News, saying that half the citizens lost almost all their crops, and the "church, convent, and the father's residence are a total loss. In fact, the father is homeless." The News responded with a $50 donation to help the homeless and asked readers to "Let the yellow fever subscription take this in hand for one day, and send a handsome contribution to the Walsenburg authorities." The following year ranches and farms suffered the opposite adversity when "not one drop of moisture fell! It was said that a person could have walked in the bed of the Arkansas river from Las Animas to Lamar without stepping off the carcass of dead cows" who were following the water to Huerfano county where the last of the waterholes were drying up. The ranchers fed them spineless cactus and the animals became fat again. 1880 - Colorado Census Walsen, Fred State: Colorado Year: 1880 County: Huerfano County Record Type: Federal Population Schedule Township: Walsenburg 6th Prct Page: 211 Database: CO 1880 Federal Census Index The Huerfano Herald announced in April 1883 a new Walsenburg feed and livery stable: [It would] accommodate twenty horses. [The owners] propose keeping some handsome rigs to enable the young bloods of the burgh to pay due respect to the fair ones and let them enjoy the fine atmosphere in a fine buggy, behind a fast team. In 1895 Walsenburg was flourishing: [There were] seven general merchandise stores, three bakery/ confectioneries, a furniture store, two hardware stores, three shoe and harness makers and repairers, a grocery, two express companies, a lumber yard, one brick yard, a drugstore, bank, meat market, pop factory, a hide house, three blacksmiths, two liveries, two hotels, four doctors, two undertakers, three tailors, five attorneys (including one land lawyer), a jeweler, three Realtors, two surveyors, two photographers, and innumerable dressmakers, milliners, barbers, laundries and saloons. By the end of 1899 Walsenburg had 1,200 residents, a fourth of whom were Mexican. The town had a water works, electric lights, three churches, two weekly newspapers, a bank and business houses, which "compare favorably with those of any place of the size in the state," reported The Denver Times, adding: The mines in the county employ about 2,000 men, whose pay roll averages $75,000 to $100,000 a month. Most of the companies operating the mines have stores of their own where most of the employees trade.... Walsenburg is not only an important shipping point by way of the railroads, but is also an excellent distributing point with the unloaded goods going to town within a forty mile radius. The town had recently spent $40,000 on improvements including "substantial stone flagging" replacing the wooden sidewalks, and brick buildings instead of frame. The early serenity of the town was shattered with the coal discoveries around Walsenburg and the influx of miners, many of them foreign-born. At one time the main east-west street was reputed to be home to people of 52 nationalities. Walsenburg soon became "the city built on coal," with camps dotting the perimeters of the mines, each having company stores. It wasn't until the automobile that Walsenburg became a business center. The coal wars and decline in mining had a devastating effect on the county and its central town. In 1954 paleontologists found fossils up to 90,000,000 years old in Huerfano County. And once a year a more recent past was remembered during the annual Fiesta when the name Plaza de Los Leones reappeared on road signs for a few days. Walsenburg had a population of 377 in 1880; 1,033 in 1900, 5,569 in 1950 and 3,300 in 1990. The Denver Republican reported October 27, 1887: The name of the town of Walsenburg has been changed to Tourist City. We are not sure that the change was a wise one. But we admit that it is none of our business, and if the people prefer to give their town the new name, it is their affair. We hope that the town, by whatever name it may be called, will prosper; and we are sure that it will, if in the future as much enterprise is exhibited by its people as was shown by them in the past six months. The name Tourist City lasted about a month. Walsenburg Cactus 1889-1898. Bowman sold his interest to Wick almost immediately and launched the weekly People's Messenger. The Cactus lasted until 1898 when the name was again changed, this time to Walsenburg Yucca. The Cactus reported in November 1889 that "A new ordinance sets fines of between $50 and $100 for operating opium dens inside town limits." In 1901 the paper "got a gasoline engine to run the presses. Foot power was just too slow for us," and two years later it began a twice-weekly schedule. Another year later, after merging in the Yucca, and Messenger, the World got a new engine to run the presses because "it takes considerable power to move the World." Once the new press was installed, the paper began issuing twice weekly Sources Research by Jack Underwood Census Records 1880 - Census Place Precinct 6, Walsenberg, Huerfano, Colorado Family History Library Film 1254091 NA Film Number T9-0091 Page Number 211A Ev. Lutheran Church Records, Bad Rehburg, Heimsen, and Petershagen, Germany, 1972. Sporleder Family Bible, 1844 Edition Marriage Certificate Newspaper Clippings Death Certificates Passport Copy January 14, 1897 Smiley J.C., "Semi-Centennial History of the State of Colorado." Volume II page 193-195. Sporleder, L.B. " Sketches of Early Pioneers, Huefano Co., Colorado." , 1931 Co. State records, re. Treasurer, 1882-1884 Royal Prussian Govt. release of citizenship, 1859. Military Records- 5th Reg., Missouri Infantry, 1861 and National Guard of St. Louis, Missouri Naturalization Papers, August 23, 1869 Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, Colorado, Letter, 1972 Ship Manifest # 295, November 5, 1859 Biography of Colorado, 1902, pages 457-459 Book source for information on Fred Walsen, including photos : The Town That Refused To Die, Ridgeway, Colorado is available at: Lipic Family Archives, St. Louis, Missouri OR 328 East Main St., Montrose Ccolorado 81401 970-249-1841 Information on Fred Walsen is found on the following pages : Walsen, Fred, 1-3, 5-7, 9, 24, 27, 124
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