Wilma Crisp Bankston

Lizzy Knight: from English Blacksmith to Colorado Pioneer Cattlewoman Wilma Crisp Bankston Lrg edition

Lizzy isn't quite five feet tall and "just a bit of a thing" as they say, but that doesn't keep her from becoming a blacksmith in England, emigrating to America, becoming the first woman resident of the rough and tumble silver mining town of Rico, Colorado where she ran her own dairy or moving on from there to become the first beef-cattlewoman in Southwest Colorado. Lizzy and her third husband Henry (which she pronounced 'Enry in her cockney accent) Knight, formerly her son-in-law, homesteaded and raised her granddaughter Edith in the newly settled Disappointment Valley. They prospered: 'Enry with farming, brokering livestock trades in that booming cattle country and being the postmaster of the valley's first post office; Lizzy with her own herd, a small store and becoming the unofficial banker for the valley. The Knight homestead became the center for commerce and social interaction in the valley. Their original cabin still stands and is now a historic site. Their great, great, great grandchildren still call the valley home.