So, what happened to the captives taken hostage by the Utes? After 23 days in captivity, Mrs. N.C. (Arvillia) Meeker, daughter Josephine, Mrs. Price and her children were welcomed back in Greeley with honors. When Nathan and Arvilla left Greeley, they didn’t take their three older children. Mary Ann, Rozene and Ralph Meeker were still there to care for them.
Arvilla Delight Smith Meeker lived until her health failed late in life. Her son, Ralph, took her home to White Plains, New York, where she died on Oct. 4, 1905, at the age of 90. She had outlived three of her five children. Her body was returned to Greeley for burial to the family plot in the Linn Grove Cemetery where her husband Nathan was buried. Nathan’s body had been reburied there in 1880 after resting for a year under Powell Park sod.
Josephine was given a job in Washington, D. C. She was Assistant Private Secretary to the Secretary of the Department of Interior. She was well qualified. In 1877, Josie attended The Denver Business School. She had taught three Ute children at the makeshift school in Powell Park. She wrote several articles about her experiences and gave testimony to the congressional investigation in 1880. Josie did not advocate for removing the Utes from Colorado, but media and politicians used her stories to inflame the “Utes Must Go” campaign. Josie died a scant three years after her father was killed. She died of pneumonia in Washington at the age of 25. Her body was returned to Greeley for burial.
Josie’s sister, Rozene, never married. She cared for her mother at home and eventually moved into her own home. There was a brief time in 1904 when Arvilla had taken to her sick bed and was not expected to live. During her recovery, Rozene disappeared with many of the Meeker family deeds claiming that Arvilla had divided her assets between Rozene and her brother Ralph. Ralph popped up from New York claiming Rozene had used undue influence and sued to get the properties back. The Greeley newspapers shredded her reputation. Ralph accused his sister of neglect of their mother. Rozene prevailed in court, but Ralph took his mother back to White Plains.
Mary Ann stayed with Mother Meeker until she married Winfield Scott Fullerton in 1881. I believe the Fullerton family of Greeley were close friends with the Meekers. The people who knew for sure are gone, but I did find clues. Joe Collom described his first job as mail carrier from Rawlins to the White River. He took with him Mrs. Meeker, Josephine, and a Mr. Winfield Fullerton to the White River Agency in July 1878. Nathan Meeker had already been at the Agency for two months. One could infer that Nathan had entrusted his wife and daughter to Mr. Fullerton as escort. The Greeley Sun reported on May 1, 1879, that Mr. S.W. [sic] Fullerton and John Dunbar had just returned from a 400-mile trip on horseback from the White River [Agency]. Also Fred Shepard, who later died at the Agency, wrote on June 5, 1879, to his father, “I hear Wint Fullerton, George Eaton [who also died at the Agency], and another man are on the way here [the Agency], don’t know for sure. In Nathan Meeker’s July 1879 letter to his supervisor, a James S. Fullerton is mentioned as an employee who resigned on May 7, 1879. I was unable to uncover anyone in Greeley named James S. Fullerton, but I did find a Joseph S. Fullerton who was the brother of Winfield Scott who later married Mary Ann Meeker. They had two children, Ralph Fullerton, and Josephine Fullerton. Mrs. Mary Ann Fullerton declined in health and her husband took her to California in hopes for a recovery. Mary Ann died Feb. 25, 1884, in Greeley and is buried with the family.
Ralph Lovejoy Meeker died in Greeley in 1921. His sister Rozene outlived the siblings and died in Greeley in 1935. Widow Sophronia Flora Ellen Parker Price outlived two more husbands and died in Tulare, California, in 1927. She was living with her daughter Florence May Price. Florence, who as a little girl was held captive by the Utes, had two husbands, four children and died in Tulare, California, in 1950. Her brother, John L. Price, also held captive, was believed to be alive at the time of his mother’s death but could not be located.
Sources: This Is What I Remember books: Colorado Historic Newspapers
By ED PECK
