David "Dave" Harper
Marriages
Nettie Ashlock Harper
died 1885
Daisy Quinlan Harper
Elizabeth Noles Harper - 1898
Sarah Kilford Harper - 1910
Burial Details
Obituaries
Eagle Valley Enterprise page 1 - March 31, 1939
In the death of David HARPER in Eagle last Friday evening March 24, passed one of the most colorful figures of the pioneer days of western Colorado and Eagle County.
Born in England February 28, 1855, he lost his parents when yet a child, and but little is known of his younger life. He migrated to Canada when 21 years of age and two years later to the United States. He first landed in Denver in 1878, and the next year found him a tender of stage stock at the old stage station at Hartzel in South Park. This first employment in this country decided the course of his life. For from that time we find him in the mining camps, conducting ore hauling outfits, or driving jack trains. He followed mining in Leadville a short while and when the big teaming outfits were plying between Leadville and Aspen in 1880, we find him associated with Mr. and Mrs. AUGHTER running a road house on top of Independence Pass. Here the freighters made their half way stop between the two camps and the business prospered. He followed all the mining boom camps of those days, and was among the first to rush to Kokomo in 1882, when that camp was on the boom. Here he met and married Miss Nettie ASHLOCK, the mother of his only surviving son, Iman David, now living in Eagle, and who was born in Aspen in 1885. He packed ore and hauled freight between Aspen and Leadville after leaving Kokomo, and in 1885 we find him at the home of his father-in-law, John ASHLOCK, on the Piney in Eagle county, where his wife died.
He ran a jack train from the mines in Aspen for a number of years following his wife's death, until the panic of 1893 caused the closing of the mines. From that time on he was in Eagle county most of the time, mining at Fulford, driving a stage line from Fulford to Eagle, and in 1898 was again married to Mrs. Elizabeth NOLES. It was about this time that he engaged as a stage driver for H. W. WHIPPLE between Wolcott and Steamboat Springs. The Moffat railroad had not yet been built and the freight and state business between these two points was immense for years. It was while driving this route that Dave HARPER formed an acquaintance with traveling salesmen, as well as prominent personages that was state wide. of a strong personality, he was remembered by his passengers long after they had made a stage trip with Dave as a driver. When the state line was discontinued with the advent of the railroad to Northwestern Colorado, he owned the stage line between Wolcott and State Bridge for a time, was a saloon keeper in Wolcott and Eagle from 1910 until prohibition drove him out of business. He was again married in 1910, this time to Mrs. Sarah KILFORD, she passing away in 1916. Some years later he was married to Mrs. Daisy QUINLAN, and they made their home in Eagle until her death a few years ago.
When C. F. Lloyd of Chicago, now co-owner of the Red Mountain ranch, first came to this country and located at Fool's Peak, he found ready at his hand just the right man to take charge of his big jack train which plied constantly between Eagle and Skyling during the summer months, in Dave HARPER. HARPER was employed by Mr. LLOYD for years. An accident at the ranch in which Mr. HARPER injured a foot resulted in the amputation of a leg, and this loss was keenly felt by him. His first reaction to the loss was the sadly spoken remark, "I am not the champion walker of the world now, am I?" and this brings to mind the fact that Dave was one of the champion pedestrians of the country in his time. As a young man he gained the title of champion walker of Canada. He also claimed that he could out walk WESTON, the great pedestrian, and they were matched for a contest at one time, but the contest never came off for some reason.
Dave HARPER lived in the most exciting period of the settlement of this country and he loved to talk of those times in his declining years. He had a big part in the country's settlement and his passing takes one of the most colorful figures in that epochal period of Colorado.
Funeral services were held from the Methodist church, in Eagle Sunday afternoon with Rev. C. E. COPLEY reading the service. The remains were laid to rest in Valley View cemetery [sic.], by Funeral Director Paul ANDRE, a goodly number of his old friends attending and assisting in laying the body of the old pioneer to its last earthly resting place. He is survived by his son, Iman, four step children, six grand children, one great grand child and eleven step-grand children.
