Women of Timnath

Timnath has come a long way from were it started, and women were a big part of the towns progress. They have been through hardships and devastations, most people wouldn't have experienced their whole lives. In our article we will include key people as well as important events that took place during these years.

Men as well as women would travel to the western region because it was known to have very pure air. Most people who would travel to these parts, would unfortunately get the fatal illness called tuberculosis. In the attempt to get there, women sometimes lost their husband and faced the difficult decision of turning around or going on.

When they finally got to the western region, the Indians began to create problems. While men were away, the Indians would break into homes and steal all of the food supply. To try and defend themselves and their children, the women would grab a gun and say that they would shoot them if they did not get out of the house.

In Timnath, the winters could be very brutal. When they would run out of food, they would have to kill coyotes. This took place mainly when the husbands were out of the house or out hunting.

The majority of women were housewives though some succeeded in business. For instance, Hattie Treat Buss was the first woman to produce commercial cheese in Larimer County in 1886. Mrs. Smith, a resident of Timnath, operated a minery shop and was know for her famous hats. Another household business was run by Mrs. Mayhugh, and she made potato chips. Mrs. Wilkins ran a boarding house at the edge of town with her daughters. Most women were not allowed to be part of politics so they decided to join the school board. Unfortunately, if a women had a rich husband, then she would be paid a lower salary, than she would if her husband wasn't rich.

Many women have excelled in politics, but it took them a long time to get that right. Before women were involved in politics, they were very active in the school district. In 1869 women in Colorado didn't have property rights or the right to vote unlike the women in Wyoming. Finally on November 7, 1893, women were allowed to participate in political activity. When women could vote for the town official on July 20, 1920, one fourth of the ballots were cast by women. Some success stories about women in politics were about Dora Giddings, Debbie Brown, and Carol Caldwell who were all elected to the office of mayor since 1920. One of the greatest accomplishments was by Clara Mae Bush, who was Timnath's most recent Municipal Judge.

Women were very beneficial during World War II. When men were drafted from their homes, women were expected to become the "man of the house." If a household had any children, they were able to work in war factories. During the struggling winters, women would have to can their own food down at the local department store.

Bibliography

Miller, Dell, and Elsie Fisher. Timnath.
Fort Collins: The Columbine Club, 1996.
Miller, Del. Personal interview. 7 May 2003.

Emily's Processing Page
I created this history of Timnath page when I was in the sixth grade as part of a final choice class. I chose the topic of women because the women in Timnath¹s history should be recognized for all of thier accomplishments. One of the sources that my partner and I used to gather the information that we did was the book titled Timnath by Del Miller and Elsie Fisher. This book was a lot of help because it had an entire chapter dedicated to women. The other source that was very helpful was a very nice lady by the name of Del Miller. When we got to have a chance to interview her, I was a bit nervous because I had never met an author who wrote such an extrodinary book before. I also met a woman who had some historical artifacts of another women who lived long ago. She brought the lady's umbrella, the hoop skirt, a medicene bottle, and a map of Timnath. Being able to interview all of these people was a great experience and my partner and I got a lot of information. I would like to thank Mrs. Durkin for her many hours of helping, not only myself, but the whole class. I would also like to thank all of the sources that helped me with this project, and my wonderful partner, Holli, for always encouraging me with this project even when it got tough and frustrating. She is a terrific writer. The thing that I liked most about this project was being able to learn a lot about the women of Timnath.

Holli's Processing Page
I created this history of Timnath page when I was in the sixth grade as part of a final choice class. I chose this topic because the women of Timnath history should be recognized for everything that made the town successful. My partner and I used the Timnath history book that had a chapter dedicated to women. The book was written by Del Miller and Elsie Fisher. We actually had a chance to interview Del Miller, and it was had a greant significance toward our project. During these personal interviews, one young women showed me historical artifacts. The interviews were more than just a chance to find information, I also enjoyed the fun discussions with Timnath historians. As we began to futher our research, I personally enjoyed the stories of real personal experiences. I would like to thank Mrs. Durkin for introducing the assignment to us, as well as my partner Emily, who is an incredible writer and person, and thank you to all the useful resources that helped us to complete our project. I loved researching the topic, because I learned about different topics many things, even if they didn't focus on the topic women.