The Meeker Herald in the July 27, 1895, issue reported the U.S. 8th Calvary was headed to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to persuade members of the Bannock tribe to return to their reservation. A large number of Indians were roaming the area hunting game. They were granted these hunting rights by treaty, but as we have seen in our own White River Valley, that didn’t lessen settlers’ fears of violence.
Young Theodore Roosevelt was serving as Governor of New York State from January 1899 to December 1900. This gave him the political clout to become Vice President to McKinnley on March 4, 1901. Before Teddy assumed the duties as Vice President, he made a trip to our White River to spend time on Strawberry Creek, hunting mountain lions here with John Goff. If you wander down to the White River Museum, you can see a picture of him posing with his hunting companions. Look closely. I swear he is wearing long johns. How does the old joke go? I woke up the morning, got out my tent and shot a tiger in my pajamas. What he was doing in my pajamas, I will never know.
Typically, vice presidents don’t do much except hang around the Senate, smoke big cigars, and wait for the president to croak. Teddy didn’t have to wait long. McKinley died Sept. 14, 1901. He was our third President to be assassinated. Theodore Roosevelt became our youngest president at the age of 45 and served two terms.
There are two modern gravestones in Miller Hill that read, “Baby Boy Bainbrich,” with no dates. Ed’s research: I found no obituaries for them. Not knowing who the parents were, I searched for any Bainbrich women of childbearing age in the area. Nelly Bly Bainbrich was the only one I could find.
In the 1910 federal census, Nellie Bly Walker Bainbrich declared that she had birthed eight children, six of whom were still living with James and Nellie on Piceance in 1910. This implies that two of her children were not alive in 1910. It is a sad reminder that infants were very vulnerable. Ranch life was often isolated and doctors unavailable. I am going attribute the two infants to Nellie and date the graves at between 1895 (marriage date) and 1910 (census showing two children not living). The evidence is circumstantial. Historical research is often a puzzle with most of pieces missing.
In this same time frame, another Piceance family experienced grief. There is a modern gravestone that reads: “Baby Boy Collins, son of Charlie Collins.” Ed’s research: High probability that this was the son of Charles Milford Collins and Louisa Messersmith, AKA Lulu Smith. Lulu married Charles in White River, RBC 1895. Their marriage is recorded in RBC.
The couple also had another son named Charles Basil Collins, born 1897 in Piceance Creek, Colorado. The family moved to Pitkin County by 1910. The brother of Charles Milford Collins was Russel Aubry Collins, born 1903, in Meeker, Colorado, who married Pansy Blossom Walker who was sister of Nellie Bly Walker Bainbrich buried in Miller Cemetery.
I am betting that Lulu was visiting her older sister Fidella (Della) Messersmith Collins and brother-in-law Judson Collins and met Judson Collins’ younger brother, Charles Milford Collins. If you are confused, I don’t blame you. The Piceance area reminds me a lot of researching family reunions in Arkansas. Judging by tax records, all the Collins clan except brother Russell Aubrey Collins had cleared out of RBC by 1904. I plotted all that out on a timeline. My conclusion is that the unnamed infant Collins died between 1896 and 1904.
By ED PECK
