BATP Women

Iciminda Yockey

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 22:40:07 +0000

Iciminda Yockey Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 09/21/2020 - 16:40

The life of Iciminda Yockey is an example of how women and children played roles in their local economy. She was the daughter of two of the early settlers of Boulder. Her parents David Baumert and Iciminda Harper came to Colorado in 1860 where they opened a general store in Burlington, just south of Longmont, and raised their four daughters. Iciminda Baumert Yockey married Levi Yockey who came to Colorado from Kansas in 1889. They bought 10 acres of land near Arapahoe and Folsom and grew 185 apple trees and 65 cherry trees. They sold their produce at a fruit stand which Iciminda operated for 25 years after her husband’s death in 1931. Iciminda and Levi had five daughters and then three young sons, so the girls were highly involved in the family’s business and helped run the fruit stand when Iciminda sold fruit up the canyon to the mining camps.

Photo used in a 1955 daily camera article, Carnegie Library for Local history.

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Jennie Pruden

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 22:35:18 +0000

Jennie Pruden Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 09/21/2020 - 16:35

Jennie (Jenny) Margaret Hogan Pruden is a wonderful example of the importance of women in building of homesteads. She kept a daily diary throughout her life, and her record, starting in 1891 through to her death in 1946, survives to this day. From her entries and stories passed down through her descendants, we can see that her work was vital to the survival and prosperity of her family.

Charles and Jennie Pruden came to Colorado in 1882 with their infant daughter Odessa and Charlie’s widowed mother. They stayed with family in Golden where Jennie worked as a seamstress and Charlie did odd jobs to save up enough money to purchase their own land. They managed to scrape together 500 dollars, which, coupled with three mortgages, was enough to buy them a ranch just outside of Boulder. At that point there was no house on the land, just a stone barn where they lived for two years while they built a cabin.

They began construction on the house that still exists today in 1891. It was also during this year that Jennie and Charlie Pruden began to plant apple trees. Jennie’s diary reveals that one year, between 1891 and 1898, they planted 115 trees. It was plenty of work just to purchase and plant the trees, but the real challenge was irrigating them. Charlie built a ditch on the edge of their property to divert water from the nearby river, and every spring, they would flood irrigate the orchard. To ensure that the apple trees produced the most fruit possible, Jennie kept beehives. She was known for having just the right temperament to properly care for their numerous hives, which produced so much honey that they often took the surplus into Boulder to sell. For the most part, the Prudens lived off what they grew both in the orchard, which included many more types of fruit than just apple trees, as well as their vegetable garden. They also kept chickens, pigs, and cows. Jennie would go into town and trade the extra produce, honey, eggs, and meat, for goods such as flour and sugar.

In the fall months, Jennie described all the different activities around the ripe apples, from collecting them to cooking with them, and making cider. According to family historian Cherry Moore, the great-granddaughter of Jennie Pruden, “[The apples] were generally small - not bad tasting but not delicious. I mean they weren’t premium apples. With the exception, there was one tree out there. It was kind of like the tree in the Garden of Eden. It was a golden apple, and it sat right out there. And it was everyone’s favorite. Because it didn’t take long for all the golden apples to be consumed by someone. They were larger, very sweet, and that was the favorite of all the apples.” (Oral History Interview with Charles Robinson and Cherry Moore, OH3012.) Aside from the “golden apples,” most of the produce went toward cider making. In 1922 the pruden family made 169 gallons of cider. The apple juice stayed fresh for about a week but after that time, they allowed it to ferment first into alcoholic cider and then into vinegar.

In 1904, the Moffat Road, a railroad route intended to connect the front range with western Colorado across the continental divide, was built very close to the Prudens’ farm. They turned their home into a boarding house for the railroad workers, which became quite the commercial enterprise for the family. In addition to her usual duties of caring for the animals, gardening, managing the orchard, cleaning, and cooking, Jennie took on the task of cooking for about 15 to 20 men per meal and doing all of the laundry by hand.

Eventually, Charlie and Jennie’s daughter married and she and her husband, Ted Moore, began to take more responsibility for caring for the farm. Charlie’s mother had moved out to San Diego and remarried so the Prudens became some of the first, so called, “snow bunnies” who moved back and forth between the warmer climes of California in the winter and the cooler mountain summers of Colorado. They moved to San Diego permanently in 1926, where they also planted apple trees. After Charlie’s death in 1940, Jennie moved back to Colorado to live with her daughter who died shortly after Jennie’s arrival. She was physically active in helping Ted run the ranch until Jennie’s death in January of 1946 at age 83. The property was divided but kept among family members, it is one of the few properties in Boulder County that has been continuously owned and occupied by descendents of the original family. Part of the land was also sold to Open Space. There are still a few apple trees on the property, which were very likely planted by Jennie and Charlie Pruden that have survived for over 125 years.

Top image: Pruden Cabin Courtesy of Carnegie Library for Local History.
Bottom image: Jennie Pruden and other local women in the Pruden wagon. Carnegie Library for Local History/Museum of Boulder Collection.

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The Newland family

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 19:51:48 +0000

The Newland family Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 09/21/2020 - 13:51

The Newlands came to Colorado around 1860 with the intention of mining for gold. As this didn’t pan out as expected, they bought 240 acres of land just north of the Boulder city limits for $5,000. By 1876, they had established one of the most important fruit farms in the area. While they grew the largest crop of strawberries in the area with eleven acres devoted to the berry, the Newlands were also known for their grapes and apples. Unfortunately, William Newland was gored to death by an angry bull in 1886 leaving their real estate venture in the hands of Mary.

Mary Newland was known for her perseverance and taste and her real estate venture was described in an early promotional campaign for the City of Boulder called the Irrigation Era:

“Mrs. Newland has here 140 acres of very valuable land, divided into town lots and blocks. There is about twenty acres of orchard on the land, in different tracts, and the land is in a very fine location for residence. Mrs. Newland and her husband came to Boulder county over thirty years ago and were amongst the earliest pioneers. Their residence is one of the finest, and everything about their farm presents an appearance of prosperity, which is usually the lot of those who have the courage and foresight to breast the dangers and hardships that area always an accompaniment of life in a new country for the first few years.” (The Irrigation Era, 1898 courtesy of The Carnegie Library for Local History)

From gold miners, to fruit farmers, to real estate developers, the Newland family experiences are a microcosm of local history. The subdivision Mary Newland managed still bears the name “The Newland Addition” and extends from Alpine to Grape avenues between 2nd Street and Broadway.

Top photo: Mary E. Newland. Photo courtesy Carnegie Library for Local History/Museum of Boulder Collection.

Bottom photo: Within five years, Mary Newland had organized for their property to be divided and platted for inclusion into the City of Boulder. She handled the sale of lots to neighborhood developers and settlers looking to build homes. In 1889, Mary built the Newland mansion at 3011 Broadway, where she lived with her daughter and son-in-law who also helped manage the orchards and business ventures. Some residents even believe that the Newlands planted an apple tree on each of the divided properties to increase value. Photo courtesy of Carnegie Library for Local history.

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