Jennie here. This past Saturday (August 22nd) I had the honor to once again portray a woman of the past at the 37th annual Central City Cemetery Crawl (Colorado). This year's crawl took place at Bald Mountain Cemetery where I shared the story of Reverend John Stocks (1829-1886) through the eyes of his daughter, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Hannah Stocks McCormick. The good reverend was born in Yorkshire, England in 1829 and knew at an early age that he was destined for the church. In 1846, when he was 17, he entered the Methodist ministry. He married his wife, Jane Gardner, in 1855. Their oldest daughter, Lizzie, was born in 1858 and their son William was born in 1872. That same year they immigrated from England to the United States settling first in Lawrence, Kansas. Not long after arriving in Kansas, Reverend Stocks was introduced to the idea of being a Methodist circuit rider. These preachers rode on horseback throughout the West sharing the good word with ranchers, cowboys, miners and anyone else whose paths they crossed. In the early years, it could be a lonely and dangerous job. These men often went to places where they weren't necessarily welcomed and often only preached to two or three people at a time in saloons, storefronts, and even people's homes. Their salaries were few and far between and they were often reliant on the generosity of those they preached to to cover their basic necessities.
Reverend John Stocks was a circuit rider throughout Colorado for 11 years, before being assigned more permanently to other Methodist churches in the state in the 1880s. He died in 1886 and was buried at Bald Mountain cemetery. There was no money for a grave marker upon his death, however, his congregation loved and respected him enough to raise the funds which allowed for the permanent marker at the head of his grave.
