Samuel Hitt Elbert

Samuel Hitt Elbert (April 3, 1833 – November 27, 1899) was an attorney in the Nebraska Territory before settling in the Colorado Territory. He served as the second secretary of the Territory of Colorado from 1862 to 1866 and he served as the sixth Governor of the Territory of Colorado from 1873 to 1874. After Colorado statehood, he was a justice of the Colorado Supreme Court from 1876 to 1888 and was chief justice from 1879 to 1882.

He was married to Josephine Evans, the daughter of Territorial Governor John Evans. She died of tuberculosis following the birth and death of her only child; the Evans Memorial Chapel was built by her father in her memory.

Early life and education Elbert was born in Logan County, Ohio. His parents were Achsa Hitt, the daughter of Rev. Samuel Hitt, and John Downs Elbert, a physician and surgeon. He descends from early colonists and Huguenots. His great-grandfather, Dr. John Lodman Elbert, was a surgeon during the American Revolution. He attended public school, where the curriculum included agriculture. He was then admitted to the bar in Ohio in 1856. He moved to Plattsmouth in the Nebraska Territory in the spring of 1857 to practice law. He attended the Republican National Convention in 1860 in Chicago, where Abraham Lincoln was nominated for president.

The Elberts lived in a red brick house on E Street, now 14th Street. Josephine gave birth to their only child, John Evans Elbert about late March 1868. He died on August 10, 1868. Josephine, who had consumption (tuberculosis), died in October 1868. Her father built the Evans Memorial Chapel in her memory in 1878. It is located at the University of Denver campus.

After having been in failing health for some time, Elbert died on November 27, 1899, in Galveston, Texas Grateful miners named Mount Elbert after the governor because he facilitated a treaty with the Ute tribe, which opened up more than of Indian reservation to mining and railroad activity.