Helen Hunt Jackson was born on October 15, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her story in the Pikes Peak region begins in 1873. Helen Hunt left the east when she was forty-three years old after losing her first husband and two children to an accident and illnesses. Like many people who came to the Pikes Peak region, Helen Hunt ventured west because of her failing health. She didn't like the town very much saying it was bleak, bare and tree-less. But, within a short time, Helen began to feel better and loved her new home and the mountains especially Cheyenne Mountain and Cheyenne Canyon.
Helen Hunt met William Sharpless Jackson in Colorado Springs, and they married in 1875. They made their home at the corner of Kiowa and Weber Streets. Their house was built by Winfield Scott Stratton who worked as a carpenter before he made his fortune in gold mining in Cripple Creek. Mrs. Jackson loved the views of Cheyenne Mountain from her home and continued to employ Mr. Stratton to add on porches to improve the views. Mr. Jackson even had their house turned on its foundation so that she could have a better view.
Part of Helen Hunt Jackson's house is located at the Pioneer's Museum located in Colorado Springs. Three rooms of the original house have been preserved. Today, the Robert M. Isaac Municipal Court building is located on the site where Mrs. Jackson's house once was.
Helen Hunt loved to travel all over the world and the United States. In her travels she collected various items such as a silver tea set, European china, and American Indian baskets. An unusual item made from a whale's ear can be seen in one of her rooms. There is a mask of her son, Rennie, hanging above a doorway. Rennie died at age 9 of diphtheria which was a very contagious disease. Her other son, Murray, died at age 1 from swelling of the brain. Helen Hunt turned to writing to help her get through her grief and wrote travelogues, children's books and poems.
Mrs. Jackson was already a famous writer and poet before she came to Colorado Springs. She wrote about the beauty of the the area and particularly her beloved Cheyenne Canyon. Her interests changed in 1879 when she heard about how badly the Indian tribes in the west were being treated. She studied and wrote about the local Utes and the Cheyenne who were killed at the Sand Creek massacre. In 1881 she published a 457-page report about the mistreatment of the Poncas tribe called A Century of Dishonor and mailed it to every member of Congress. She later wrote Ramona, a novel about Indians living on Spanish ranches in California. She became known as an American Indian activist and a first edition of Ramona is on display at the Pioneers' Museum.
Mrs. Jackson fell on the steps in her home and broke her hip which never healed properly, and she was unable to get around easily after that. She became ill and made her final trip to California where she died in San Francisco on August 12, 1885. At her request, she was buried in Cheyenne Canyon but was later moved to Evergreen Cemetery.
Sources:
Colorado College Tutt Library Biography
on Helen Hunt Jackson
http://www.coloradocollege.edu/library/SpecialCollections/Manuscript/HHJbio.html