In 1850, a widowed mother moved to Colorado and claimed a homestead. 15 years later, she was helping build one of the state's first communities where women could vote

Imagine losing your husband, watching a devastating flood damage the life you had built and suddenly being left to raise three young children on the American frontier. For many in the 1860s, such circumstances could have meant abandoning everything and returning to family. Adeline Hornbek chose another path. Born Adeline Warfield in Massachusetts in 1833, she travelled west as a young woman and ultimately became a successful Colorado rancher, homesteader and community figure. Her remarkable story is preserved today by the National Park Service (NPS) at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, where her historic homestead still stands.

A young woman heads west to settle cattle ranch

Hornbek grew up in Franklin County, Massachusetts. She was 17 when the first National Woman's Rights Convention was held in Worcester in 1850, amid a growing national debate about women's opportunities and rights. According to the NPS, she travelled west with her brother and sister-in-law during the early 1850s. By the beginning of the Civil War, Adeline was married to Simon Harker, had two children and was helping operate trading posts in Indian Territory, in present-day Oklahoma. Violence associated with the war forced the family to leave, eventually taking them to Colorado. There, rather than joining the rush for precious metals, the family established a cattle ranch and supplied livestock and produce to miners and settlers.

A flood changed everything

Disaster arrived in 1864. A major flood swept through the Denver area, killing people, drowning livestock and damaging properties. Simon, who was already suffering from tuberculosis, became seriously ill and died weeks later. At just 31, Adeline was a widow with three children and a badly damaged ranch. The NPS says Hornbek rebuilt her life and continued ranching. She later hired former gold miner Elliot Hornbek to help with the property and married him in 1866. They had another child, but the marriage eventually ended.

Building her own Colorado homestead

In 1876, the same year Colorado became a state, Hornbek made another bold move. She relocated her family to Florissant Valley, about 35 miles west of Colorado Springs, according to the NPS. There, at an elevation of roughly 8,500 feet, she established a new homestead. With assistance from her children and neighbours, Hornbek built an unusually substantial two-storey log house. She became one of the early women to file a homestead claim in the Florissant area. Her operation grew considerably. The NPS says Hornbek eventually controlled more than 160 acres, owned around 100 cattle, registered her own cattle brand and employed ranch hands.

As more families settled around Florissant, she became involved in developing the community. She served on the local school board and helped secure a teacher and establish a school. Her large home also became a gathering place for neighbours and social events. In 1893, Colorado's male voters approved women's suffrage, making it the first US state to enact women's voting rights through a popular referendum. Hornbek was among the Colorado women who could legally cast ballots decades before the 19th Amendment prohibited denying voting rights based on sex nationwide.

The ranch that still tells her story

Hornbek died in 1905, but the home she built survived. When Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument was established in 1969, her homestead became part of the protected landscape. Visitors can still see the Hornbek Homestead today. Her story is striking precisely because it was built from repeated setbacks. War forced her family to move. A flood devastated their ranch. She lost one husband and was later abandoned by another. Yet she continued raising her children, managing livestock, acquiring land and contributing to her community. More than a century later, the house standing in Florissant Valley offers something more powerful than a monument to a wealthy or famous pioneer. It preserves the story of a woman who repeatedly had to begin again and did.