Kneeland, Ira Duane, 1862-1950

Marshall, Colorado was named for Joseph Marshall who set up his Consolidated Coal Company there in the 1860's. The coal mining camp was called Langford during the 1880's and 1890's, called Gorham during the early 1900's, and today the area is once again known as Marshall.

From the description of Flume in the Davidson Ditch. 1880-1893. (Boulder Public Library). WorldCat record id: 427258398

From the description of In the Marshall Coal Mine. 1880-1893. (Boulder Public Library). WorldCat record id: 427258416

From the description of Dwellings in Langford. 1880-1893. (Boulder Public Library). WorldCat record id: 427258390

From the description of Burning Coal Mine. 1880-1893. (Boulder Public Library). WorldCat record id: 427258443

From the description of Marshall mining operations. 1880-1893. (Boulder Public Library). WorldCat record id: 427258408

From the description of The Virginia Reel. 1880-1893. (Boulder Public Library). WorldCat record id: 427258446

From the description of Views of Marshall, Colorado. 1880-1893. (Boulder Public Library). WorldCat record id: 427258457

Marshall, Colorado was named for Joseph Marshall who set up his Consolidated Coal Company there in the 1860's. The coal mining camp was called Langford during the 1880's and 1890's, called Gorham during the early 1900's, and today the area is once again known as Marshall.

According to Anne Dyni's research for "Back To The Basics" the first schoolhouse in Marshall was built circa 1890, and was a one-room board and batten building. When the community outgrew the schoolhouse, it was moved from the site and later razed.

From the description of Marshall School. 1880-1893. (Boulder Public Library). WorldCat record id: 427258431

"Ira Kneeland was born before the Civil War in Vermont. His father was disabled in the war and when Ira was seventeen, his father received a $500 payment from the government. With the money they bought a photography kit and Ira supported the family as an itinerate photographer and carpenter.

After the war, the family moved west, stopping in many places until they arrived in the Boulder area. The family background was New England Puritan, but somewhere along the line they became dedicated Socialists. Sometime during the period they were living in Colorado, Ira came in contact with a socialist colony near Topolabampo, Mexico and convinced his family to join him in Mexico and he returned to Colorado and they left for Mexico in November 1893.

He was the official photographer for the Colony in Mexico. Hundreds of photographs he took in Mexico are part of a special collection in the Fresno State University Library, having to do with the colony in Mexico. The last of the family to leave Mexico was my grandmother, my mom, and her younger brother.

Ira had gone deaf in Mexico and his youngest sister promised their mother that she would always look after Ira. Ira and his sister homesteaded 1100 acres of mountain land in eastern Fresno County and they lived there together until they died on successive days in the 1940's." (Written in 2000 by Cyril Gabriel, the grandson of Ira Kneeland's sister.).

From the description of Ira Kneeland Collection. 1880-1943. (Boulder Public Library). WorldCat record id: 427258075