Family

Saddened to learn of the passing of  Donna Dow, an Oregon. cousin.  A cousin I had never met although we had talked on the phone and exchanged letters. The real hand written letters.
Our grandparents were siblings. My grandfather, Thomas Milsom married and stayed in Colorado, and his sister Nellie Milsom Mahon married and moved to Hepner OR.
I love finding and connecting with my cousins as they often have bits and pieces of family history, oftentimes,   that one missing piece, that pulls everything together.
Thank you Donna  for the picture you shared of my grandfather, Thomas Milsom and his sister Nellie.This picture, although we don't have the exact date, would have been taken between 1885 and 1890 in Leadville, Colorado.
Her younger sister Betty, who I first met when I think I was 12, shared with me other pictures of our great grandmother that I never knew existed.
When doing your family history, connect with your 2nd or 3rd cousins. I have discovered the most amazing information, searching out cousins. These will usually be the grandchildren or great grandchildren of your grand parents or great grandparents siblings.



Just be careful what you ask, for the information you may discover.  That's a post for another day.




South Park Perils! New Book Available!


 There is nothing I love reading more than stories of early Colorado.

South Park Colorado is a lot more than the home of Cartman  and the boys. It is a rugged and beautiful area located in Central Colorado, surrounded by majestic 14ners. It is an area we  spend a great deal of time in, exploring the many isolated areas. Of course many of those areas aren't as isolated as they used to be, since more and more people are moving in to stake their claim to their little house on the prairie. South Park  was home to the Pikes Peak Gold Rush in the late 1850's. The towns of  Fairplay, Tarryall, Garo, Como still remain, a few, like Buckskin Jo are only memories.

The area was the hunting grounds of local Native Americans, as great buffalo herds filled the park. Antelope, coyotes, and buffalo can easily be spotted on almost any given day.

My husband and I spend our anniversary weekend in Fairplay every year at the Hand Hotel, a quaint get away we cherish each year.

The history of the area is a rich history of the old west. Filled with tales of hangings, cattle thieves and the exploits of the murderous Espinoza brothers, who terrorized the area, in  1863, while the rest of the country was involved in the Civil War. Colorado was anything but quiet at that time, and Christie Wright brings to life many of those infamous stories in her newest book

South Park Perils
Short Ropes and True Tales
of Historic Park County, Colorado.



http://www.southparkperils.com/images/coverbokkfrontsmall.jpg
Only $15.95 with FREE shipping