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WILLIAM WALLACE AND ROXEY JANE (CARTER) BURCH

William Wallace Burch was born 31 Jul 1844 in Van Buren Co Iowa to William D and Nancy (Elliott) Burch. After coming to Colo he met and married Roxey Jane Carter who was born 19 Dec 1850 in Ohio. They were married at Pella, Nebr Territory, 14 Nov 1867. Roxey Jane died 2 Feb 1908 at her home in Hygiene and they are both buried in the Hygiene Cemetery.

In 1862 William W, his brother Jim and a man named Johnson walked from Des Moines, Iowa to Colorado. All they had with them were back packs and a rifle apiece. The Civil War was on, and the Indians had been causing trouble as they knew the Union had taken the soldiers from the frontier posts. A passing wagon train gladly accepted the extra protection of the three men with their guns. They traveled along, driving the milk cows as they crossed the plains to the Upper St. Vrain Crossing, or Pella, in Nebraska Territory.

The village of Pella sprang up in the early 1860's. It was located on the St. Vrain river south of what is now Hygiene, Colo.

William W. homesteaded north of Pella. In 1867 he married Roxey Jane Carter who had come from Ohio in a covered wagon with her parents, J.H. Clay Carter and Sarah (Downer) Carter. The young couple lived on his homestead until 1872 when their house burned. Then they moved to Sunshine, where he operated a livery stable and freighted ore and mining supplies. In 1882 they returned to Hygiene and friends and neighbors helped them build a new house just east of Burch Lake, which was on his farm. He was a very active man, with wide interests. Over the years, records show he raised hogs and cattle, planted an orchard from which he supplied the mining towns of Jimtown, Sunshine, Gold Hill and Ward with fruit and fresh meat. For many years he threshed grain and at one time operated two threshing machines, a corn sheller, and a ditch digger. He was an officer in the Hygiene Dairy Co and worked to promote the Hygiene Cheese Co and factory. He worked for the development of lakes and irrigation ditches, served on the school board and was road overseer for the Lyons district for a year. In 1880 he deeded land to the United Brethern Church and hauled lumber from his ranch in Beaver Park for the building. after his wife died he bought a great amount of land near Nunn Colo and farmed there until bad health forced him to retire; He died at the home of his oldest daughter, Henrietta Broughton on 31 Jul 1910 and is buried beside his wife in the Hygiene Cemetery .

Chn of William and Roxey (Carter) Burch

Contributor: Wanda Armstead, Boulder, Colorado

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