| rdfs:comment
| - William Baltzell Ebbert (February 28, 1846 – February 27, 1927) was an officer and adjutant in the Union Army (1st Regiment West Virginia Infantry Volunteers), a Colorado legislator, newspaper publisher, author, farmer, businessman, and poet. Ebbert published the Pueblo Review and Standard newspaper in 1890, authored the landmark meat inspection legislation in Colorado in 1889 and battled with Prohibitionists in the 1910s. As a Director of the Montezuma Valley Irrigation District from 1911 to 1920, he guided the district through turbulent times and helped engineer its dissolution and reemergence as the Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company in 1920.
|
| abstract
| - William Baltzell Ebbert (February 28, 1846 – February 27, 1927) was an officer and adjutant in the Union Army (1st Regiment West Virginia Infantry Volunteers), a Colorado legislator, newspaper publisher, author, farmer, businessman, and poet. Ebbert published the Pueblo Review and Standard newspaper in 1890, authored the landmark meat inspection legislation in Colorado in 1889 and battled with Prohibitionists in the 1910s. As a Director of the Montezuma Valley Irrigation District from 1911 to 1920, he guided the district through turbulent times and helped engineer its dissolution and reemergence as the Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company in 1920. A newspaper article in 1911 touted him as a candidate for the U.S. Senate, and perhaps best describes the respect he commanded: "His record for good works for Colorado is not excelled by any living man and he would command the respect and wield an influence in the highest legislative body in the land that would be beneficial to not only his state but to the nation at large." Ebbert was the patriarch of a farming family in the Cortez, Rocky Ford and Pueblo areas of Colorado. Ebbert's father, John Van Kirk Ebbert, was the cousin of Congressman George Ebbert Seney (Ohio Democrat, served 1883-1891). In addition to writing for various newspapers and magazines, William B. Ebbert also authored a compilation of his writings and poetry, "On Colorado's Fair Mesas" in 1897. Ebbert represented the counties of Pueblo, Otero, and Montezuma in the Colorado General Assembly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Ebbert was born in Wheeling, West Virginia. He was the only son of Charlotte Baltzell and John Van Kirk Ebbert, of Fayette County, Pennsylvania. After several years in the Union Army, he moved briefly to Covington, Kentucky and the Cincinnati, Ohio area. On Christmas Day, 1866, at age 20, he married Cornelia Blanche Hall in Wheeling. After Cornelia's death in 1881, William B. Ebbert and his three children (Blanche, Edith, and William) moved to the Pueblo, Colorado area and took up farming. He soon met and married Catherine Scheutle in 1884 in Pueblo. William and Catherine produced three more boys in Colorado; all died at prematurely. In Colorado, Ebbert established himself as a community leader, author, and politician. He served several years in the Colorado Legislature, representing Dolores, Otero, Pueblo, and Montezuma counties. Legendary railroad chieftain Otto Mears bestowed upon Ebbert one of his rare silver railroad passes in 1889 (Silverton Railroad Pass No. 193). After a respected life in the military, agriculture, and politics, William B. Ebbert died on February 27, 1927 in Cortez, Colorado. It was just one day before his 81st birthday. He is buried at the Lewis Cemetery, a few miles north of Cortez, Colorado.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)