Charles R. Markham 1860- 1936
Biographical Sketch

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Charles was born in Oberlin Kansas on December 8, 1880, fourth child and son of Benjamin Francis Markham and Harriet Belle Shipp. The family resided in Oberlin until 1889 when they migrated to Colorado and settled at Highland Lake where many of Benjamin's descendants still live.

Charles attended the public schools, such as they were at the time, and worked as a youth on the farms in the area. Farming was not an occupation that attracted Charles but he worked in that field off and on all during his life.

Charles exhibited considerable musical talent. He had a good tenor voice and was self taught to play the violin.. He learned and played the Jig which in later years proved a big hit with his children and friends. (His violin, made in 1847 by Austrian violin maker, Joh. Bab. Schweitzer, is in the possession of his grandson, H. Bruce Markham.)

Charles Married a girl from a local family, Effie Maud Evans, on April 26, 1901 and the young couple established their home in Longmont, Colorado. During the next ten years, Charles worked for several mercantile establishments, spending the last five years with the Boise Payette Lumber company.

By 1911 Charles and Effie were parents of four children; in order of their birth, Harley, Marjorie, Rodney and Helen.

Looming large in the news of 1911 were the opportunities offered in homesteading land in eastern Colorado and becoming independent on free land from the government. Charles fell for the siren's song of riches and moved his family to dry a land farm about ten miles from both Bennett and Watkins, Colorado and approximately six miles west of the railroad. This proved a great mistake.

After almost Seven years of disappointment and near starvation it became apparent that neither the State or Federal Governments were prepared to develop the promised irrigation water that would allow this dry barren land to sustain life. In the Winter of 1916-1917 Charles moved his family back to Highland Lake, Colorado where they would begin again to establish a meaningful life in Colorado.

Through good fortune and perhaps a bit more schooling that most of his circumstances he was able to secure the position of ditch superintendent for the Highland Ditch Company. He was successful in this endeavor and continued in this work until he had a severe stroke in the summer of 1922 from which he never fully recovered.

During the first year of his convalescence, the family cooperatively maintained the work for the Highland Ditch Company. By year's end, Charles recovered enough to go back to work although he never regained his ability to speak.

The family moved again in to a small farm west of Loveland, Colorado for about a year but returned to Mead, Colorado where Charles and the family started a small trucking business.

By 1926, the two older children, Harley and Marjorie were away at school and the rest of the family remained in their small, comfortable house in Mead where Charles continued to operate the trucking business until his death in 1936

        Taken from the notes of
        Harley B. Markham
        dated November 21, 1977

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