Who Was…
Judge Joseph Wescott
by Lorraine Turk
In the late 1850s they came, young and old, bitten by the bug of Pikes Peak fever, yearning to find their fortune in the mineral rich hills of this Kansas Territory called Colorado. Some succeeded, other saw the Elephant and headed home, but many remained to follow the callings whispered to them by this isolated and pristine wilderness. One of these adventurers was Joseph Lean Wescott.
After surviving his bout of Colorado gold fever Wescott enlisted with Company G of the 1st Colorado Volunteers. This little company of men would clash head on with the Confederate Army at Glorieta Pass, stopping the Confederate incursion into New Mexico and thus turning the tide of the war in the far west. It was during the New Mexico campaign that our J.L. Wescott would contract a dismal case of rheumatism.
In 1865, after the War was over, many soldiers headed west by foot and on horseback. Wescott returned over Caribou Pass swinging and slipping, riding in a hammock between two mules, searching for a cure to his agonizing rheumatism. His pain led him on a five day trip to Hot Sulphur Springs and the healing waters of the mineral springs. Here he would stay and eventually stake a claim for the 160 acres surrounding the springs. Misfortune would rear its ugly head in the name of one Susan Boshman. She, aided by others, would swindle Wescott out of his beloved Hot Sulphur property. With that, he headed to Grand Lake where he would become the area’s first serious white settler. The year was 1867, and Wescott would meet a lone Indian camped on the shore of Grand Lake. This brave would convey a tale and Wescott, using his flair for creative writing, would turn this legend into his famous poem “The Legend of Grand Lake”. His misfortune was not over. Wescott was betrayed once again by a young fellow who spent the summer with him. At the end of the season the visitor took a large catch of trout and Wescott’s burros to Georgetown, promising to sell the fish and return with supplies for the winter. Houseguest and burros were never seen again, and the snows set in. Judge Wescott survived the winter by roasting a buffalo robe and making a stew from his moccasins and a leather chair seat.
Like many a veteran of that era Wescott would settle into these mountains where he hunted and fished, drank too much, befriended the natives and shot a few, never speaking of his past or his age and never taking a wife. But unlike many an early settler to this region, Wescott stayed, bult a few cabins, became friends with the Proctor family, watched in 1876 as Colorado shed its Territorial cloak to become a state, became Grand Lake’s first postmaster in 1877 and platted Grand Lake City in 1888.
The old Judge died in 1912 leaving Grand Lake history with one of its most colorful characters and a written legacy in The Legend of Grand Lake. As for the “Judge” part, there is no evidence he was anything but self appointed.
JOSEPH L. WESCOTT
Obituary (newspaper)
(possibly from Marshalltown, Iowa)
Joseph L. Wescott, aged 80, a brother of the late Alvin Wescott, of this city, died at 8 o’clock this morning at the home of his niece, Mrs. W. H. Waltz, 403 South Fifth street, of uremic poisoning following locomotor ataxia. Mr. Wescott was a native of Kings county, Nova Scotia. He never married, and for many years, or since the civil war, in which he served, he has lived as a mountaineer near Middle Park, Colorado. Last spring, owing to failing health, he came to this city to make his home with his niece.
The funeral will be held from the Waltz home Sunday afternoon at 2:30, and burial will follow in Riverside.
1899 Iowa Census
Wescott, Joseph L. #5579
Name: Joseph L. Wescott
Section: H-3
Lot Owner: Hannah Wescott
Death Date: Sept. 27, 1912
Cause of death: Locomota Ataxia
Funeral: Sept. 29, 1912
Funeral Director: The D. C. Wilbur Store
Signed: Mr. Wescott
Last Res. 413 S. 5th St.
CHARLES ALFRED WESCOTT
Obituary
Charles Alfred Wescott, an old resident of the city and a well-known gunsmith, died at his home, 108 North Fourth street, at 6 o’clock this morning of diseases of the heart and kidneys. Mr. Wescott had been in failing health for more than a year, and during the last six months his condition had grown rapidly worse. For two months he had been confined to his home, and at different times it was thought that he could not long survive.
Mr. Wescott was born March 17, 1845, at Grand Rapids, Mich. He lived in the city for almost forty years, most of the time in the home where he died. He leaves a wife and four children. The latter are William, of Louisiana; Claire, whose present redidence is unknown; Lee, of this city, and Mrs. Bernice Nall, of Oakland, Cal. One brother, Leander Wescott, lives in Colorado, and a sister, Mrs. Mary Wescott, of Chicago, who is at her brother’s home to spend the winter.
The funeral will be held Saturday afternoon at 2 o’clock from the residence, Rev. Merle N. Smith, officiating. The burial will be in Riverside.
1899 Iowa Census
Wescott, Charles Alfred #4547
Name: Charles Alfred Wescott
Section: O-6
Lot Owner: William Snyder
Death Date: Nov. 29, 1906
Cause of death:
Funeral: Dec. 1, 1906
Funeral Director: F. M. Wilbur
Signed: Newton Snyder
Last Res. 108 No. 4th St.
WESCOTT
1899 Iowa Census
Wescott, Mrs. Hannah #2201
Name: Mrs. Hannah Wescott
Lot Owner: Hannah Wescott
Section: H Lot Number: 3
Death Date: October 30, 1891
Wescott, Mrs. John H. Rhoades #10262
Name: Mrs. John H. Rhoades Wescott
Section: OH-125
Lot Owner: Mrs. J. H. Rhoades
Death Date: July 1, 1936
Cause of death: Complications
Funeral: July 6, 1936
Funeral Director: W. F. Estel
Signed: F. G. Wescott
Last Res. Harpers Ferry, Iowa
Wescott, Mary S. #5492
Name: Mary S. Wescott
Section: H-3
Lot Owner: Mrs. Hannah Wescott
Death Date: March 8, 1912
Cause of death: Organic Heart Disease
Funeral: March 10, 1912
Funeral Director: J. W. Pursel and Son
Signed: Hannah Wescott, estate
Last Res. Mt. Pleasant, Iowa
79 years old
Wescott, Wm E. #2307
Name: Wm. E. Wescott
Lot Owner: Hannah Wescott
Section: H Lot number: 3
Death Date: January 23, 1892