People
Collection for person entities.
Pages
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- John Beard
- He was born in Indiana to James Beard, a physician, and Rosa Beard, a homemaker. US Census records show him living in Fruita, Colorado by 1900, where he was married to Anna Maud (Innes) Stout. She passed away in 1901. John remarried in 1906 to Grace E. Curtis. They were married in Butler, Iowa. They returned to Mesa County and homesteaded in Devil’s Canyon. US Census records list him in 1900 as a druggist, in 1910 as an electrician, in 1920 as a coal loader, and in 1930 as a stock raiser. His wife taught fifth grade. They had twin sons, Irving and Wallace, and a daughter. He was a rancher on Glade Park and owned 3,000 goats.
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- John Bernhardt Gesberg
- He was born in Iowa City, Iowa, lived in Lincoln, Nebraska and moved with his wife and family to the Four Corners area of Orchard Mesa (now part of Grand Junction, Colorado) in the 1890’s. He was a carpenter who built several early houses in Orchard Mesa. He later became a salesman and eventually a manager who ran the hardware department in the basement of the Fair Store. He married Agnes Kesera in the 1880s. He bought a car in 1915, but didn’t drive, instead letting his son do the driving.
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- John Bible "J.B." Wooten Jr.
- He was born in Junction City, Texas to John Bible Wooten and Matilda Elizabeth (Miller) Wooten. His father was a farmer and his mother was a homemaker and farmer. The family moved to New Mexico some time before 1918, when his father died from pneumonia. J.B. was about eight-years-old at the time of his father’s death. The 1920 US Census shows J.B. and his two siblings living in Des Moines, New Mexico, with his mother working as a farmer. In 1930, the census shows him rooming in Jerome, Arizona, where he worked as a blacksmith at the age of twenty. He worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps in Mesa County, Colorado in the early 1930’s, starting as a lead man and working also as a camp steward. He attended the Fort Lewis Junior College in Durango and Colorado State Teacher College in Greeley. He lettered in football and basketball. He became a teacher. He married Nina Lou McKee on January 29, 1937 in Loveland, Colorado. They had two children. By 1940, the census shows them living in Marvel, Colorado, where he was a teacher. They then lived in Nevada, where John taught and was named one of the ten outstanding teachers in the state in 1945. They moved to Grand Junction, Colorado in 1945, where John continued his teaching career. He was a coach and teacher at Grand Junction High School and Mesa College, retiring in 1973. His wife was a registered nurse who worked at St. Mary’s Hospital and as the librarian at Central High School. The 1950 census shows them living at 1003 Chipeta Avenue. He was a member of Masonic Lodge 173, a deacon in Grand Junction’s First Baptist Church for many years, and a president of the Grand Junction Retired Teachers. He was also the state president of the Colorado Retired Teachers. He died at the age of ninety-one.
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- John Bocchino
- Contributor to "Our River Our Valley", professional fly fishing guide and owner of Riffle and Rise Outfitters. (source: Our River Our Valley: A Gunnison Valley Journal.) Contributor to "2020: The Hammer and The Dance: A Gunnison Valley Journal," (source:2020: The Hammer and The Dance : A Gunnison Valley Journal).
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- John Brach
- He was born in Aguilar, Colorado to Italian immigrants Antonio L. “Tony” Brach and Domenica “Minnie” (Chiado) Brach. The 1920 US Census shows that his father was a track layer in a coal mine. His mother was a homemaker. The family moved to the Loma area of Mesa County on March 7, 1924, when John was about 20. His uncle Frank Columbus, his mother’s brother, had moved to Loma in 1914 upon the opening of the Highline Canal. Domenica wanted to get her husband and sons away from the coal mines so that they would not consider mining as an occupation. The family bought twenty acres in Loma, then added to their acreage until they owned 170 acres of land. John married Florence Ena Sumnicht in Utah in 1931. They had four children and farmed near Loma. They grew wheat, potatoes and other crops.
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- John Brown
- Early settler of the Sinbad Valley area of Mesa County, Colorado. Accused murderer.
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- John Brown
- A freighter who came from Texas and homesteaded in the Collbran area. According to oral history interviewee Anna (Barker) Foster, John Brown was one of the first settlers in the town of Mesa. He came to the area around 1882 while he was hauling freight between Texas and Montana. On his way from Delta to Collbran, he chanced to see a valley where the town of Mesa is now, and settled there. He donated land for the first school building. He married Elnora Bertholf, who was one of the first school teachers in Mesa.
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- John Bruns
- Participated in Cattlemen's Days in the early years of the event.