Cotopaxi,
Colorado: Russian Jewish Colony
Click photos to enlarge
Welcome!
Shalom!
In 1882 there was a large Colony of immigrant Russian Jews in Cotopaxi, Colorado.
Description of Photos:
Top Left: Cotopaxi as seen looking north-west from the hill behind the Cotopaxi church.
Top Right:
View from Cotopaxi looking west through the canyon.
Bottom Left:
Looking south-west towards areas of the large black-shaded area of map.
Bottom Center:
BLM map with approximate colony lands shaded black. Related
Map Page
Bottom Right: Looking south over part of the lower colony lands.
With permission from Flora Jane Satt, her thesis "The Cotopaxi Colony" is being posted here.
This thesis contains a good history of Cotopaxi, and I think this is the best source of info on the Cotopaxi Colony.
Much credit is due to my wife,
Cruz, for entering most of the thesis into MS Word documents. As time permits, more will be posted online.
A panoramic view of the "upper" colony site. This represents a bit more than 180 degrees.
On the left side, you are looking towards the north,
you see towards the east in the center,
and on the right side, towards the south.
Click to enlarge!
Updates! May 2, 2009 A well written article by Jerry Klinger, president of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation Cotopaxi - The failed Russian Jewish Agricultural Colony, 1882-1884 |
Also, a granite slab has been delivered to Spence Memorials in Colorado Springs. Once the proper wording is determined, this will be inscribed, then attached to a larger granite block via a metal framework. Then this can be placed at the gravesite, then a metal fence constructed around the graves. At issue is the number of graves and the age of the deceased. Some say three, some say four persons. Some say all babies, some indicate an older youth, some say one adult also buried here. Thanks for your patience.
Note to the Jewish priests: Regarding the Cotopaxi cemetery, there should be no graves under the water line - that goes by the Russian Jews gravesite.
Nov 13, 2008 - special note, on Oct 22 we learned that Yaffa Makovsky (Haim Makovsky's wife) is recovering from cancer surgery and chemotherapy. Please keep these descendants of the Cotopaxi Colony in your prayers.
" May He Who Blessed our forefathers, bless Yaffa Makovsky
As her close ones are giving charity on her behalf."In reward for this
May the Holy One ,Blessed Be He,- be filled with compassion for her to
restore her
Health, to heal her, to strengthen her,and to revivify her.And may He send her ,
speedily, a
Complete recovery from heaven for all her organs and all her blood vessels
Among all other sick people, a recovery of the body and a recovery of the spirit
swiftly and soon.
And let all respond -AMEN "
שיר
המעלות
ממעמקים קראתיך יהוה׃ 130:1 A Song of degrees. Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD.
אדני
שמעה בקולי
תהיינה אזניך קשבות לקול תחנוני׃ 130:2 Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
אם־עונות
תשמר־יה
אדני מי יעמד׃ אם־עונות תשמר־יה אדני מי יעמד׃ 130:3 If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
כי־עמך
הסליחה
למען תורא׃ 130:4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
קויתי
יהוה קותה
נפשי ולדברו הוחלתי׃ 130:5 I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
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May 24, 2008 - Cotopaxi Cemetery gravesite photos
July 29, 2006
Good fortune allowed us to meet a couple of more colony descendants! Marcia Snyder and Sheldon Altman visited us on September 20, 2005. We went to the "upper" colony site on the Oswald's ranch and also stopped by the cemetery in Cotopaxi. Marcia and Sheldon were able to explain some of the errors in our "Makovsky" tree.
I'll try to post some more details but for now here's a photo of Marcia and Sheldon at the site...looking north; that's Pikes Peak in the distance.
click
photo to enlarge
July 23, 2005
Well, I have a lot of stuff I need to get online. Haim and Evan Makovsky met with Cruz and me and we had the pleasure of meeting their mother, Haim's wife, a couple of Haim's grandchildren, and Evan's son-in-law.
Haim, his wife, grandchildren, Cruz, Steve Oswald and I visited one of the Colonist's cabin sites on the Oswald's property (Steve is Nancy's husband). We have also learned that one of the other cabin sites was just up the hill from where we live!
There are errors in the Makovsky Family Tree that need to be corrected.
I have info on David Korpitzky genealogy to post.
And then I need to get some more info up on Saltiel. I'll post emails I've received from a Miles Saltiel, which I believe you will find interesting. Miles has taken Flora Jane Satt's thesis from this site and put it on his own site. He took out Flora Jane's footnotes and added his own. Miles contends that Emanuel Saltiel was in no way a villain.
Without Emanuel Saltiel, I wouldn't have met the Makovskys, so he is ok in my "book".
According
to the Makovskys, "Saltiel / Shaltiel / Shal-el" means "I have
requested of God" And even we Gentiles have an understanding of
"Emanuel" as "God-with-us". So, I figure with a name
like that, Emanuel Saltiel had good in him. But not yet the theology, I
think, so we stop there.
February 19, 2005:
Milstein (Makovsky) Family Genealogy is up!!!
Here is a link to an article by Nancy Oswald. This is a good quick history of the Cotopaxi Colony, with nice photos:
Hard Times: The Jewish colony at Cotopaxi
February 5, 2005
Part IV, Conclusions, from The Cotopaxi Colony, has been posted here.
January, 17, 2005:
On Memorial Day, 2004, Evan and Haim Makovsky met with Nancy Oswald and my family at our house to go over the Makovsky genealogy and Cotopaxi Colony information. Haim and Evan are brothers who grew up in Pueblo, Colorado (75 miles to the east of Cotopaxi), and are descendants of the Colonists. Haim lives in Israel, while Evan resides in the Denver, CO area. We had good discussion and adjourned to the Cotopaxi School, where Charme Krauth, Colony descendant and teacher was located. Haim, Evan and Charme met at the Cotopaxi School, and while going over a handwritten genealogy scroll that Haim and Evan had, we were able to see how they (Evan, Haim, and Charme) were related - Sol Baer Millstien was her Great Great Grandfather (I think!). Great fun!
What we have:
Milstein
Family Genealogy (with
errors) Photo
below - on the left: Haim Makovsky, center: Charme Krauth, right: Evan Makovsky
Next is a photo of Evan and Haim just outside the Cotopaxi Cemetery.
Note that this is a gentile cemetery. While the first burials are reported to
have been Russian Jews, you must understand that the Russian Jewish colonists
were only here a few years, and now there are gentile burials surrounding the
Colonist's grave site. My understanding is that there was a small fence around
the Colony graves until the 1980's. I've been thinking about that, and perhaps I
could fabricate a metal fence around the site again. Being a gentile, I was not
aware that Haim and Evan and other Jews have religious restrictions concerning
cemeteries.
Therefore, here are some photos of the gravesite.
My
wife and I placed additional stones around the graves around 1993 or 1994, these
stones came primarily from the Cotopaxi Mine, with a few others that were
locally collected.
The inscription on the grave stone
says "Russian Jews Graves" and "1882".
Click on these images to enlarge
Thanks
to all the sites linking!
I will see if I can get a photo of Flora Jane Satt up.
Local rancher, educator,
historian and author Nancy Oswald has finished her fiction novel about the Jewish Colony. To read an excerpt of her book, Nothing Here But Stones, go to her website: click here! It's a great book!Our other Cotopaxi Colony pages
Links
Additional information on the Jewish colony in Cotopaxi Colorado.
Maps and Photos
Cotopaxi Colony articles, documents and websites
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Miscellaneous
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