A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for Louise Elbert
From http://www.hardwoodfloorsdenver.com/History-Evans_Ranch.pdf :
In 1868, John Evans, the second territorial governor of Colorado, appointed by President Lincoln in 1862, took a camping trip into the mountains. Sam Elbert, who later became Colorado’s sixth territorial governor as well as the son-in-law of John Evans, was in the party. Evans and Elbert were impressed by the lush grass, thick timber, beautiful vistas and abundant game and fish in the Upper Bear Creek area. They decided to acquire some 340 acres from a homesteader. In 1870 John Evans and Sam Elbert built a large family house and continued to buy adjacent land. In all, the Evans-Elbert Ranch grew to over 5,000 acres and covered three mountain valleys. It was a great summer retreat. It allowed two politicians and their families to escape the heat of Denver and the heat of the politics of the time!
The original family summer structure burned to the ground in 1909. The families and relatives and descendants of Evans and Elbert no longer had a summer retreat. Louise Elbert, Governor Sam Elbert’s niece, and her entrepreneurial husband Leonard Everett, built a family house near the center of the Evans-Elbert Ranch. This house was called Wind-in-Woven, and is now the Elbert-Austin Ranch house. Other Evans family members and descendants soon built other family retreats on the larger Ranch. Each had a unique western style.
Wind-in-Woven was built in the “western rustic” Craftsman style. Jock Spence was the builder and the Hiwan Homestead Museum in Evergreen pays tribute to his many buildings in the Evergreen area. The Elbert-Austin Ranch is now on the National Historic Register because of the history of two territorial governors and the fine western rustic example of the Craftsman style.
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
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