Hattie B. Rothwell, born Harriet Belle Graves in 1861, was enslaved in Mexico, Missouri. In 1885, she married Henry C. Rothwell, a Cherokee man. 18 years after the couple moved to Denver from Kansas City, they divorced in 1908, leaving Hattie a single mother of three. Hattie moved to Dearfield with her youngest son, Charles age 12, in the spring of 1909. She was well known and had a street named after her by Jackson. By 1912 Hattie had caught pneumonia, and spent her last $2 on a train back to Denver, leaving Charles to tend to the homestead ranch himself for a few years. Hattie passed away in Denver on January 5th, 1930.
After moving to Dearfield as a boy in 1908, Charles Rothwell helped OT Jackson survey and outline the townsite, watching as the farming community expanded with each added facility. He attended Cheyenne Frontier Days in 1914 and 1916, competing in the steer and bronco busting competitions. He also used his riding skills to ride into Masters, Colorado to collect newspapers from the train. To make money during these early years at the homestead, Charles worked for White farmers nearby as a cowboy and breaking horses. Charles served in the army during WWI in 1917, returning to Dearfield in 1919. In 1920, Charles joined his mother in Denver. The lack of resources and help in the farming colony pushed the Rothwells to abandon the hundreds of acres they had left. Charles began working as a pullman porter for the railroad, and married Oressa Mccollough in 1923. Paul Steward describes Charles as as “Cowboy rancher in Dearfield, Colo. WWII soldier, football player, Colo. Decathlon winner, Boxer [who] sparred with Jackson,” often referring to him as Charley.
"Charles Rothwell Denver, Colorado ca. 1900s," Paul Stewart Collection, SC106_02_0192, University of Northern Colorado Archives and Special Collections. https://digarch.unco.edu/photographs-1.
"Charles Rothwell performing lasso trick, Dearfield, Colorado. ca. 1910s," Paul Stewart Collection, SC106_02_0151, University of Northern Colorado Archives and Special Collections. https://digarch.unco.edu/photographs-1.
"Colorado, Statewide Divorce Index, 1900-1939," Entry for Hattie B Rothwell and Henry C. Rothwell, Family Search, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPTF-QDVT.
"Colorado, Statewide Marriage Index, 1853-2006", Entry for Charles W Rothwell and Oressa A Mccullough, 29 May 1923. FamilySearch, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KNQ2-4KJ.
"Douglass Undertaking Co. Rothwell," Colorado Statesman, Colorado. Denver, 11 Jan 1930, p. 5. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=CDS19300111-01.1.5&e=--1859---1955--en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-Dearfield-------0------.
"Hattie Rothwell ca. 1904," Paul Stewart Collection, SC106_02_0090, University of Northern Colorado Archives and Special Collections. https://digarch.unco.edu/photographs-1.
Rothwell, Charles "Interview," by Paul Stewart. Paul Stewart Collection, SC106_01_04_0028, University of Northern Colorado Archives and Special Collections.
U.S. Census Bureau "United States, Census, 1910," Family Search, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MK49-CT8.
U.S. Census Bureau "United States, Census, 1930," Family Search, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X749-LZX.
Various Photos, Paul Stewart Collection, SC106, University of Northern Colorado Archives and Special Collections. https://digarch.unco.edu/photographs-1.