This photo postcard, postmarked September 10, 1908, shows the home of Robert L. and Emma A. (Daughtry) Ozment. Emma, 42, is writing to her Aunt, Mrs. Lewis Daughtry, in Neodesha, KS. She writes: “This is our home in Fort Lupton Colo. I thank you very much for the cards you so kindly sent me by cousin Will. We were so glad to see him. Hope you will come the 29th of Oct. With love to all I remain your loving niece, Emma Ozment.”
Emma married Robert Ozment, brick maker, bricklayer and son of Walter W. and Eliza R. (Jenkins) Ozment, on August 29, 1886. The senior Ozment had established a brick works southwest of town around 1880, having moved his family from North Carolina to Colorado on the recommendation of his friend and Fort Lupton pioneer, William Grant Winbourn.
Emma, born in Iowa in 1865, was the daughter of Alpheus B. (“A.B.”) and Julia Ann (Letner) Daughtry. A.B., a Civil War veteran, and Julia had farmed in the Weldona/Fort Morgan area, and A.B. was also the proprietor of a livery stable and a hotel in Fort Morgan. Julia gave birth to seven Daughtry children. Emma’s reference to the 29th of October is in regards to the upcoming celebration on that date of A.B. and Julia’s 50th wedding anniversary, to be held at their home on Denver Avenue.
The people in the photo are, from left to right, Robert and Emma’s daughters, Marbella, 19, and Dora, 16; Emma’s mother, Julia, 72; Robert, 45; Emma’s father, A.B., 69, and Emma. (Thank you to Denise Pitzen for identifying all these souls for me!)
This house is still with us. If you wish to look at it in a picture taken in October of 2012, enter 800 5th Street into Google Maps Street View (https://www.google.com/maps). As you will see, it’s undergone many changes.
Nearly 20 years ago while on a visit to Colorado, I stopped by the place with an enlarged copy of this postcard in hand to share with whomever lived there. A young man answered the door. I explained why I was stopping by and gave him the copy. He was quite pleased to receive it and went on to tell me that his family had pulled up all the old carpeting in the house in order to replace it. It must have lain there for many years, for, when they pulled it up, they discovered a treasure trove of old newspapers that had been used as carpet padding. The young man could not have failed to see envy’s green hue rise in my face as I imagined myself pulling open all the history in those trampled gazettes.
References:
- Crossroads in Eden: The Development of Fort Lupton, 1835-2000, by Adam Thomas, p. 14
- The “Fort Morgan Times” newspaper (various issues) at https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org
- Iowa Select Marriages Index, 1758 – 1996
- Miller, Pitzen and Grodi Family Trees on Rootsweb.com
- 1900 U.S. Census
- 1910 U.S. Census
