People

: Martha (Fortsch) Gardner; She was born in Colorado and lived in the town of Mesa as a girl.

: Martha Cordelia (Webster) Newbury; She was born in Maryland to Samuel S. Webster and Martha (Packard) Webster. Her father was a bootmaker and her mother was a homemaker. US Census records show that she grew up in Massachusetts and Wisconsin. Wisconsin marriage records show that he married George Newbury in Jackson County on May 24, 1857, when she was about 16 years old. George was a blacksmith. Census records show them living in Melrose, Wisconsin and Albion, Kansas before moving to a homestead in Mesa County, Colorado in 1889. There, they planted orchards with apples, peaches, cherries, plums, and pears She died at the age of 83 and is buried in Fruita’s Elmwood Cemetery.

: Martha Evelyn (Newbury) Hamilton; She was born in Wisconsin to George Newbury and Martha Cordelia (Webster) Newbury. Her father was a farmer and her mother was a homemaker. She came with her parents to Mesa County, Colorado in 1889, where her family had a homestead and fruit growing operation. Colorado marriage records show that she married Samuel James Hamilton, a wallpaper installer and housepainter, on February 18, 1893. They homesteaded together north of Fruita. They moved to Ohio in 1893 in order to care for Samuel’s mother. Martha and her daughter Cordelia returned to Colorado to visit her parent’s homestead in 1894. During the visit, a fire destroyed their home in Ohio. The family purchased a home at 15 South Peach Street in Fruita. Martha took in laundry work from other families to provide extras for her children, such as piano lessons.

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