On a wall in Cherry Moore’s house hang 14 certificates. Each celebrates a Colorado pioneer who has been in the state for at least 100 years, many even longer. Some arrived before Colorado became a state. All of them are related to Moore, like her great-grandfather Harvey Moore, who helped build the railroad from Kansas to Denver, and just stayed in Colorado once it got here.
There’s also her 3rd great-granduncle, Jonas Barber.
“He didn’t want to be around for the Civil War,” she recalls, “so he got together a wagon train in 1860 and came out.”
Barber traveled from Davenport, Iowa, and settled in what would–with his help–become Golden, Colorado. He partnered with William Loveland, and the burgeoning town soon began to boom. That trip in 1860 was the first of 19 trips Barber would make across the western plains. Each time, he brought more friends and family out with him…