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Birth:          9 Oct 1853 
Death:          5 Jan 1919 Washington, D.C.

Notes
owt
Burgett-Hamilton Fam Tree on ancestry (abstract)
1900 in Denver, Col. 2 ch, 2 alive
per a NY Times article "To Save the Mesa Verde"
THE treaty of the club women of Colorado with the Weeminuche Utes has been signed 
by the authorities at Washington. By it the women have leased the Mesa Verde, a part 
of the Ute reservation, for a term of thirty years, for the sum of $300 a year. They will 
preserve the cliff dwellings of the Mesa from the onslaughts of the relic hunting 
vandal; build a toll road to the now almost inaccessible cliffs; a bungalow or rest 
house for the accommodation of travelers; will hire Indians to police the ruins, and 
finally will advertise to attract the travel to compensate them for the outlay. At present 
the ruins can be reached only on horseback, and during a portion of the trip the riders 
must dismount. The journey is a tiresome and painful one. and few now attempt it. 
Those few, however, -do exactly as they please with the ruins, pounding and digging 
in them, and removing all the relics they can carry away. The movement to preserve 
the ruins began two years ago, when the Colorado Federation of Women's Clubs 
appointed a committee on the subject. The committee afterward decided to form a 
separate organization, that it might Incorporate and work more efficiently. It became 
the Cliff Dwellings Association, organized something on the plan of the hereditary 
patriotic so-' . Its strength, however, came from ! the backing and influence of the big 
federation behind it. The story of the treaty between the Colorado club women and the 
Indians is an interesting one, as it is .probably the only one of its kind ever made. The 
ruins of the Mesa Verde stand upon the tribal lands of the Weeminuche Utes. far from 
any railroad, in a remote and unfrequented portion of the State, among the almost 
impassable heights of the San Juan region. For many years after the settlement of the 
State the existence of the ruins was unknown to the settlers. At the mouth of the 
Mancos Canon the Wetherlll family had a ranch. One day^Jhe WetheriU boys 
wandered far over the hills, seeking , cattle that had strayed away. Penetrating ! 
which they had never visited be- j fore, they came out upon the verge of the precipice 
at the top of the Mancos Canon. Looking across the canon they discovered the 
sculptured facade of a row of houses, carved in the face of the opposite cliff, the 
habitations of a by-gone race. The Wetherlll boys made numerous collections of relics, 
all of which they sold to museums and universities in Europe and the East, for it was 
not till some time afterward that the State of Colorado began 'the fine collection now 
to be found in the State House. Mrs. Gilbert McClurg and Mrs. George T. Sumner were 
among the first women who ever visited-the ruins, and they have since been 
indefatigable in arousing interest in them. Mrs. McClurg's first visit was full of interest 
and romance. It was made some years ago, when the San Juan region was far wilder 
than it is now. Upon reaching Durango", then the nearest settlement, she was met by 
news of trouble between the Utes and the settlers. The settlers had shot U-tes who 
were hunting* off the reservation, and the Utes had retaliated by killing an isolated 
settler and his family. Her Durango friends declining to make the journey, Mrs. McClurg 
pushed on alone with a freighter. At Mancos, now a flourishing village, but then 
composed principally of a' building which was both blacksmith shop and general store 
combined, she found no means of further progress. She remained for several days, 
sleeping at night in a stockade erected for the protection of the settlers. At length, 
after much uncertainty and delay, she obtained an escort of United States troops, and 
made the then fearfully hard trip to the Mesa Verde. There she saw for the first time 
the towers and. estufas, the charred corn still in the granaries, left there probably 
before Columbus sailed; the stone axes, the , the looms, and sandals of the " ancient 
people." When the Cliff Dwellings Association decided to endeavor to lease the stte 
of the ruins from the Utes and make it Into a woman s park, pending Federal or State 
action along similar lines, it was Mrs. MeClurs who went down to make the treaty with 
the Indians. She expected to find Ignaclo. Chief of the Utes. at Navajo Springs, with a 
resident interpreter. Instead, he was away up Beaver Creek, hunting amid the summits 
of the La Plata range. Thither the indomitable Chairman of the committee finally 
planned to follow him, when, by a happy chance Chief Ignacio's heir and successor, 
Acowitz. lounged int6 the Wetherill ranch. Acowitz is a, ** heap bad Indian." and it 
w*ll be a sad. day for the Utes when the wise old Chief. Ignacio, goes to his*fathers. 
and this graceless youth takes his place. However, upon presentation of coin of the 
realm, on account of the " mucho frio," Acowitz agreed to produce the Chief) and so 
he did, on the third day. the lady meanwhile chafing in enforced inertia. When the fine 
old Chief, who has the respect of every man -with brains enough to appreciate him, 
came in, be was shaking with a As Mrs. McClurg touched his burning hand she 
wondered whether it were smallpox or measles, and if she would catch it. Then the 
negotiation of the treaty began. First, she offered I^nacio two mustard plasters, sharp 
and to the point. Then, seeing his pallor slowly whitening even under the bronze, she 
-gave him a glass of cherry cordial of her own making. These delicate ministrations 
pleased the Chief, and he said: " Squaw, heap more -wine." Under the revivifying 
influence or cherry bounce the treaty proceeded. Ignacio said, " Yes, I You want to 
make a show of the cliff houses as they made a show of me at the festival at Denver 
last Fall. White man always want to make show of everything." Terms having been 
discussed, the Chief said: " Squaw, I am an old man. and many have lied to me. Do 
you speak the truth? Do the women of Colorado also lie like the men? " Assured to the 
contrary, satisfactory terms were eventually reached, and Ignacio, in behalf of the 
Weemlnuche Utes, solemnly leased the Mesa Verde to the club women of Colorado. 
By an amendment at- m tached to the Sundry Civil bill the Secretary of the Interior was 
empowered to approve this lease. This he has now done, and the lease is now in the 
hands of Uie Cliff Dwellings Association, which will begin work immediately on its toll 
road. In their action on this subject the Colorado -women have taken a leaf from the 
notebook of the New York Museum of Natural History. For four years that institution 
has had a scientific expedition digging at Pueblo Bonito, in Chaco, N. M. They have 
built stone houses and are there to stay. They have excavated and sent east large 
quantities of amulet and , and nearly 40,000 pieces of carved turquois. They have 
also taken up as pre-emption claims the other eight of the Chaco, all lying within a 
radius of twenty-five miles.' Most of the Mesa Verde relics went to Sweden, which sent 
over an expedition to examine the ruins and arrange for the purchase of collections. 
Only Professionals Wanted. Gradually the small army of lecturers, virtuosos, singers, 
and after-dinner entertainers who were wont each Summer to invade Newport has 
grown smaller, and this year a recitation or a recital after dinner has been the 
exception. "When any entertainment is provided now it is of the vaudeville order, and 
professionals are employed. Previously the singers and"reciters were semi-
professionals, semi-amateurs, and many of them went to New-port with letters or relied 
upon their friends in society there to give them a proper introduction. It became 
something of a nuisance, and hostesses found that after dinner anything but the 
roughest vaudeville put guests to sleep or made them fidgety or cross. 

Parents
MARSH Jerome Luther ()
MOORE Melissa Allen ()

Siblings
MARSH Katherine Eudora (Dora) (9 Oct 1853 - 5 Jan 1919)

Marriage To SUMNER George True (30 Jun 1844 - 14 Aug 1908)
    m. 16 Jan 1872 Sheboygan, Wisc.

Notes

Parents
SUMNER Chester Blashfield (16 Aug 1814 - 7 Apr 1863)
TRUE Elizabeth ("Eliza") (27 Aug 1817 - 19 Jul 1884)

Children by SUMNER George True 30 Jun 1844 - 14 Aug 1908
SUMNER Charles Marsh (6 Jul 1874 - Oct 1937)
SUMNER Helen Laura (12 Mar 1876 - 10 Mar 1933)

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