As I wander through the alphabet, I'll try to write about families that individuals my age and older have heard about.

America J. Barber was born on Jan. 14, 1885. She was the wife of Hiram M. Barber, who died May 26, 1917. She was one of the first settlers in the Mancos Valley. She was ill for a few days, seemingly nothing serious but she died March 24, 1903.

George Bauer was born in 1894 in Prussia. He married Augusta Schultz when she was 16. He set up the first store in Mancos in 1881, started the Bauer Bank in 1883 and became the first mayor of Mancos in 1894. He went to Guadalajara, Mexico, in January 1905 and died there. Augusta married William Roessler and passed away on Oct. 31, 1914. William was employed at the George Bauer Mercantile when he married Augusta. He was one of the oldest residents of Mancos at the time of his death on May 15, 1926.

Sarah V. "Sadie" V. Bauer was born on Oct. 31, 1883. She married John Frederick Bauer in July 1903. She spent most of her life in Mancos. Because helped others, she was known as Aunt Sadie. She was a charter member of the PEO and the Mancos Study Club. She died in February 1973. John F. Bauer was born on July 31, 1887. He became president of the Bauer Bank when his father, George Bauer, died in 1905. He was largely responsible for the Bauer Lakes Water System. He died March 5,1940.

John Henry Bauer was born May 30, 1908. He was the second son of Inez Shacklett (a Mancos teacher) and George Arthur Bauer (a builder and contractor). When he was 9 when his mother and two sisters died. John Henry followed the Bauer tradition and went into banking, retailing and undertaking. He married Geraldene Howard in 1930. They raised three successful children, George Howard, John Gerald and Jacqueline Kaye. He married Carrie Crandall Waggoner in 1941, then was assigned to the Alameda Air Station during WWII. When he returned the Bauer Food Store quickly became a general store filled with hardware, dry goods and notions. John Henry's acts of charity were done quietly but sustained many families in Mancos. His sons and daughter survived him along with two stepsons, Val and Jimmy Waggoner and a step-daughter, Barbara Terry. John Henry died Aug. 11, 1983. and Carrie died Oct. 23, 1991.

Clarence Roy Beers was born March 26, 1882. He was an accountant for the Gibson Lumber Co. south of the train depot. For years, he had the concession for taking paying passengers to Mesa Verde National Park. He married Hattie Ann Lucas and they had four children, Helen Neeley, who was paralyzed from the 1920s due to Infantile Paralysis, Robert, Mary and Betty Alexander. For some time Clarence was mayor of Mancos and secretary of the Water Conservancy District. Clarence passed away on Feb. 2, 1953. Hattie was born Sept. 16, 1883 and received a 50-year emblem from the Order of the Eastern Star. She died May 6, 1996.

Darrel Ellis is a longtime historian of the Mancos Valley. Email him at [email protected].