!! Exciting New Cache
Series!!
“COLORADO SPIRIT QUEST”
The Colorado Spirit Quest is a series of Caches placed by many
individuals, near cemeteries and historic sites in hopes of paying
respect to the many pioneer ancestors that have ‘walked’ before
us.
There are
hundreds of cemeteries in the rural and mountain communities across
Colorado. This series will introduce you to many of
them.
The cache pages will provide a virtual history tour of the
cemeteries and tombstones.
COLORADO SPIRIT QUEST is not affiliated with any other ‘Spirit
Quest’ group. Special thanks and credit are given to
SixDogTeam who started the Indiana Spirit Quest in 2004. The idea
has rapidly spread into many states.
The CSQ endeavor is an enormous and relentless task. It
cannot be accomplished by just one or two people. This
project will only flourish if there is a multitude of volunteer
cachers willing to place these caches.
After locating the cache container, take some time to reflect back
on the lives of those pioneers and the effort it took to make
Colorado such a great state.
If you are interested in joining the “Walking Through History Clan”
contact may be made by sending an e-mail to the owner of “Colorado
Spirit Quest #1 –
Mo
untain Passage”. Use the ‘Send Message” link at the center of
the page of their profile.
Each person that places a CSQ cache is responsible for its
maintenance.
REMEMBER:
If you are APPREHENSIVE about cemeteries – AVOID this
series.
Thanks to Clan Members: Greasepot, Taylorgeotracker, Ivy Dog
Parents, Team Boogity3, and Grand High Pobah, CDirtO,
FulComers, Boborr 80909, Imusttravel2000, Buzz
Lightyear I, Sandhill49er, MrVolkswagen, Isisfan, LadyCoots,
Rockymtn8iv, and Fork-L-Man.
New Clan members are always Welcome
* * * * * * * *
This cemetery
is called both Pioneer Cemetery and Black Cemetery (because it was
owned by the Black family).
In 1859, James and Mary Blundell came to Colorado with ideas of the
"Gold Rush." They had little luck mining and so came to
present day Brighton to homestead. James Blundell staked out
his 80 acres in the Spring of 1860.
Thomas Donelson and his wife, Laura Aiken Donelson, came to
Colorado from Ohio with James and Mary Blundell. Thomas
Donelson bought the land next to the Blundells, which was One
Hundred and Twenty acres."
Thomas Donelson built the first frame house between Ft. Lupton and
Denver on his land.
In 1864 Laura Donelson died and was buried in the cemetery with
Mary Blundell. Thomas Donelson had a son, James E. in 1860.
James died in 1869 and was buried with his mother. Thomas Donelson
had a daughter, Mary M. Donelson. She married the neighbor boy,
William Blundell.
There are sixteen headstones in the Pioneer Cemetery. The
people buried in the cemetery were members of the Donelson or
Blundell families, close friends of the two families and a few
neighbors.
The property which once belonged to James Blundell was sold to M.
E. Black. The cemetery itself was never sold, or legally passed
down from generation to generation. Presently, Hattie McCoy claims
ownership of the land that the cemetery is on.
A woven-wire fence surrounds the cemetery. There are sixteen
headstones; some are broken and crumbling. There have also
been a few new headstones added to replace the older ones. In
the middle is a small area, surrounded by a high, black,
spear-tipped fence.
The fence was locked with no way to get into the
cemetery.