Horace Austin Warner ("Haw") Tabor (November 26, 1830 â€" April 10,
1899), also known as The Bonanza King of Leadville, was an American
prospector, businessman, and Republican politician. His life is the
subject of Douglas Moore's opera, The Ballad of Baby Doe; and the 1932
Hollywood biographical movie: Silver Dollar. Also, Graham Masterton's
1987 novel Silver has a protagonist named Henry T. Roberts, whose life
includes incidents from Tabor's.Tabor was born in Holland in Orleans
County in far northern Vermont to Cornelius Dunham Tabor and Sarah
Ferrin. He was one of five children, one girl and four boys.When he
was finished training as a stonemason, Tabor left home at age 19 to
work the quarries of Maine and Massachusetts. In 1855, he departed for
the Kansas Territory with the New England Emigrant Aid Company to
populate that territory with anti-slavery settlers. There he farmed
land along Deep Creek in Riley County, near Manhattan, Kansas (known
today as Tabor Valley). In January 1856, Tabor was elected to the
Free-State Topeka Legislature, but that body was soon dispersed by
President Franklin Pierce in favor of the pro-slavery legislature that
had been elected under the influence of "Border Ruffians" from
Missouri.In 1857, Tabor returned briefly to Maine to marry Augusta
Pierce, daughter of his former employer, William B. Pierce, then
returned with her to Riley County. In 1859, as rumors of gold began to
spread, the couple moved west with the "Fifty-Niners" to Denver (still
in Kansas Territory at the time). The Tabors arrived in Buckskin Joe,
Colorado, in 1861 to operate a store. In a few months they relocated
to the Oro City area where Horace sought gold. Then they moved to
Leadville. Augusta Tabor recorded in her journal her first impression
of the South Park area while they were headed to Leadville: "I shall
never forget my first vision of the park. I can only describe it by
saying it was one of Colorado's sunsets. Those who have seen them know
how glorious they are." Horace Tabor Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter