36 Facts About Horace Tabor

Horace Tabor purchased more mining enterprises throughout Colorado and the Southwestern United States, and he was a philanthropist.

Horace Tabor lost most of his holdings, and he labored in the mines.

When Horace Tabor died, though, there were a reported ten thousand people who attended his funeral.

Horace Tabor's life is the subject of Douglas Moore's opera The Ballad of Baby Doe and the 1932 Hollywood biographical movie Silver Dollar.

Horace Austin Warner Tabor was born on November 26,1830, to Cornelius Dunham and Sarah Ferrin Tabor in Holland, Vermont, near the state's border with Canada.

Horace Tabor's father was a farmer, who grew a number of grains, vegetables and fruits.

The rest if the year Horace Tabor worked in the fields with his father and his brothers John and Lyman.

Horace Tabor's mother died in 1846 at the age of 49, having succumbed to the hard work on the farm and childbearing.

At the age of 17 Horace Tabor served for two years as an apprentice granite cutter with his brother John in either Quincy or Boston, Massachusetts.

In 1855, Horace Tabor departed with his brother John for the Kansas Territory with the New England Emigrant Aid Company to populate that territory with anti-slavery settlers.

Horace Tabor worked at Fort Riley as a stonemason to earn enough money to get married.

Horace Tabor joined with other abolitionists, including John Brown, the firebrand who later led the raid on Harper's Ferry, to defend the town of Lawrence against pro-slavery men, which resulted in the Sacking of Lawrence.

Horace Tabor married Augusta Pierce, the daughter of Lucy and William Pierce, on January 31,1857.

Horace Tabor felt that the area was safe and invited her unmarried sister Lillian Pierce to join them in Buckskin Joe.

In 1877, Horace Tabor was elected the first mayor of Leadville.

Horace Tabor hired lawman Mart Duggan, who is credited with finally bringing Leadville's violent crime rate under control.

Horace Tabor entered into a number of grubstake agreements with the prospectors, knowing he would receive no monies if they did not strike silver in the mine.

Horace Tabor used the million or more that he made from the sale of his interest in the Little Pittsburg mine in 1879 to invest in other holdings.

Horace Tabor invested in the Chrysotile and the Matchless Mines, as well as mines in Cripple Creek, Aspen, the San Juan Mountains, and the southwestern United States.

Horace Tabor owned 4,600,000 acres of land in Colorado for grazing and 175,000 acres of land in Texas for copper mining.

Horace Tabor sought enterprises, like irrigation canals, to provide work for laborers.

Horace Tabor established newspapers, a bank, and the Tabor Opera House in Leadville.

Horace Tabor displayed his philanthropy by, for example, donating the land under the Temple Israel in Leadville in 1884.

Horace Tabor became a partner of Marshall Field of Chicago, with whom he made millions of dollars.

In 1878, Horace Tabor was elected Lieutenant Governor of Colorado and served in that post until January 1884.

Horace Tabor served as US Senator from January 27,1883, until March 3,1883, following the resignation of Henry M Teller to become United States Secretary of the Interior in the administration of US President Chester Arthur.

Horace Tabor was the president of the Denver Chamber of Commerce and of the Board of Trade in 1891.

Horace Tabor moved into the Windsor Hotel in the city, where he entertained women.

Horace Tabor had an affair with Elizabeth McCourt, nicknamed Baby Doe.

Horace Tabor was awarded two properties worth a total of $250,000 or a settlement of $400,000 in late 1883.

On March 1,1883, Horace Tabor finally married Elizabeth "Baby Doe" McCourt in Washington, DC, leaving him a social outcast.

Horace Tabor ran without success for governor of Colorado throughout the 1880s.

Horace Tabor's holdings, including his mansion in Denver, were sold off and he worked in the mines.

Horace Tabor was made postmaster of Denver in 1898 and lived in the city at the Windsor Hotel.

Horace Tabor froze to death in the shed in March 1935, after which she was buried alongside her husband in Mt.

Horace Tabor's life is portrayed in the film Silver Dollar and the opera The Ballad of Baby Doe.