Horace Tabor

Horace Austin Warner Tabor was born on November 26, 1830, to Cornelius Dunham and Sarah Ferrin Tabor in Holland, Vermont, near the state's border with Canada. His father was a farmer, who grew a number of grains, vegetables and fruits. In the winter months, Cornelius ran the district school, which Horace attended. The rest of the year Horace worked in the fields with his father and his brothers John and Lyman. They also raised cows, sheep, chickens and hogs. He had two sisters, Sarah and Emily. The family lived in a drafty house without conveniences, such as water, electricity or a proper stove. In the fields, they used primitive tools that required labor by man or oxen. His mother died in 1846 at the age of 49, having succumbed to the hard work on the farm and childbearing. Cornelius soon remarried. By 1850, Betsy Tabor was his wife and five children with the Welch surname, from 11 to 19 years of age, lived with the Tabors. At the age of 17 Horace served for two years as an apprentice granite cutter with his brother John in either Quincy or Boston, Massachusetts. Then he began to work as a journeyman throughout New England. In 1853, he was hired by a stone contractor, William Pierce, from Augusta, Maine, to supervise stone-cutters in the construction of an insane asylum there. Tabor met Pierce's daughter, Augusta, and fell in love with her, but was unable to support a wife yet. ==Kansas abolitionist and legislator==

, 1854 Among the events leading up to the Civil War (1861-1865), there was a fight over what states and new territories would support slavery or not. At the same time, the California Gold Rush resulted in a lot of people moving west and the railroads helped get them there. The Kansas–Nebraska Act, which created the Kansas and Nebraska Territories, passed quickly by House of Representatives and the Senate and was swiftly enacted by President Franklin Pierce. The act repealed the Missouri Compromise which aggravated the dissension between pro-slavery and anti-slavery Americans. Tabor and Augusta made a plan to ready themselves for marriage. Tabor would travel ahead to westward, get established, save some money, and return to Maine to marry Augusta. Together they would return to Kansas where they would fight for the abolition of slavery. In 1855, Tabor departed with his brother John for the Kansas Territory with the New England Emigrant Aid Company to populate that territory with anti-slavery settlers. He joined with other abolitionists, including John Brown, the firebrand who later led the raid on Harper's Ferry, to defend the town of Lawrence against pro-slavery men, which resulted in the Sacking of Lawrence. A member of the Free Soil Party, Tabor was elected to the Topeka Legislature, but that body was soon dispersed by President Pierce at the point of a bayonet. ==Marriage to Augusta Pierce Tabor==

Tabor married Augusta Pierce, the daughter of Lucy and William Pierce, on January 31, 1857. They had a son named Nathaniel Maxcy, who was also known as Maxey. ==Pike's Peak Gold Rush==

theme park near Canon City, Colorado In 1859, the Tabors moved west during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush with other "Fifty-Niners" to Denver (in Kansas Territory at the time). They were among the initial pioneers in what is now the state of Colorado. They went to several places looking to mine gold before going to California Gulch in Oro City, near present-day Leadville, in 1860. They began placer mining, They operated a store and beginning in 1863 Tabor was the postmaster of Buckskin Joe. Tabor prospected area mines while Augusta ran the store, took in laundry, and cared for boarders. upon hearing that there was a massive silver lode at the Printer Boy Mine in Oro City, The Tabors moved there, where they operated a general store In 1877, Tabor was elected the first mayor of Leadville. Tabor hired lawman Mart Duggan, who is credited with finally bringing Leadville's violent crime rate under control. ==Silver King==

, Colorado When George T. Hook and August Rische were unable to pay for their supplies at the general store, Tabor accepted payment in the form of a grubstake agreement for one third of their profit on the Little Pittsburg mine. ( per million) that he made from the sale of his interest in the Little Pittsburg mine in 1879 He established newspapers, a bank, and the Tabor Opera House in Leadville. He displayed his philanthropy by, for example, donating the land under the Temple Israel in Leadville in 1884. Tabor donated the money for the Tabor Grand Opera House, following the resignation of Henry M. Teller to become United States Secretary of the Interior in the administration of U.S. President Chester Arthur. He was the president of the Denver Chamber of Commerce and of the Board of Trade in 1891. ==Divorce==

In 1879, the Tabors moved to Denver. in late 1883. ==Marriage to Elizabeth Doe McCourt==

, circa 1883 On March 1, 1883, Tabor finally married Elizabeth "Baby Doe" McCourt in Washington, D.C., leaving him a social outcast. The marriage produced two daughters, Elizabeth Bonduel "Lily" and Rosemary "Silver Dollar" Echo. During the initial years of their marriage, the Tabors lived a life of luxury, including extensive travel. ==Later years and death==

Tabor ran without success for governor of Colorado throughout the 1880s. Then, in 1893, the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in the administration of President Grover Cleveland caused the value of silver to drop, which devastated Tabor's fortune. His holdings, including his mansion in Denver, were sold off and he worked in the mines. and was later reinterred at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Jefferson County, Colorado. Baby Doe moved to Leadville and lived an impoverished life in the tool shed of the Matchless Mine. ==Legacy==

Tabor Lake in Pitkin County, Colorado, at the base of Tabor Peak. He was a prominent silver baron who "helped shape the foundation and the future of the Centennial State." His life is portrayed in the film Silver Dollar and the opera The Ballad of Baby Doe. ==Notes==