A Colorado Miner

Let’s step back a few generations in Dad’s family. The man I will discuss today was Dad’s great uncle on his mother’s side. Dad’s mother was Mary Margaret Moore (name according to the 1900 U.S. census). Her mother was Sarah Elizabeth (Sadie) Ingram (Ingrum). Her brother Calvin Henry Ingram is who we will learn about today.

Calvin Henry Ingram was born September 3, 1869 in Richland County, Wisconsin to Franklin Ingram and Mary Anderson. As far as I can ascertain, he was child 4 of 5 children born to Frank and Mary. Before the youngest child’s birth in 1879, they had moved to Colorado, specifically, Brownville, Clear Creek County, Colorado. At that time Frank worked as a teamster, probably for a mining company. In 1884, when Cal was 14, his father died in an accident. In the 1885 Colorado State Census, Mary is the parent of the house, and the oldest son John, is listed as a miner. I’m guessing that his wages supported the household.

On August 1, 1896, Calvin married Emma Lounetta Whitcomb. They had 4 children: James Henry Ingram was born in 1898, the year after Cal’s brother James died. In 1900 Charles Francis was born. He died October 15, 1909. In 1903 their only daughter, Martha May (Sis) was born. And finally, in 1904, their 4th child, Walter John was born.

In the 1900 Federal Census for Silver Plume, Calvin is listed as an ore miner. At some point, he and his partner, Jim Coughlin, set the manual rock drilling record.

July 4, 1906, Cal was Captain of the Silver Plume Hose Co. No. 1. I do not know how long he served in that capacity.

By the time of the 1910 Federal Census, Calvin had a new job. He was the Road Overseer, Country Roads. Calvin died on January 6, 1915, at the age of 45.

When I first saw Calvin’s picture, I was struck by how much my brother, Rodney, looked like him. What do you think?