Thanks, everyone for your replies.. I have seen all of these pieces during my searches that actually started way
back in the sixties.. I found his obit by going to the
Tribune in Westcliffe and searching for the obit in the old
papers. and the old colorado newspapers that were digitized
and put on line has helped filling in some of the other
pieces. Hugh and Sarah did have at least four children but
we know only of James Watson Melrose and my grandfather,
Joseph Matthew Melrose. Sarah was the sister of William
Alonzo Watson, who married Mary Crouch and lived in Rosita
and Wetmore during those early years.. 1880 - 1900 and on.
Sarah did divorce Hugh and married Hamilton R. Bowling
at Rosita in 1879. At least that is what her obit says.
There is no record of deaths of the four children that we
do not find by the 1880 census.. perhaps, that is why
Sarah divorced Hugh. There are Watson descendants living
in Pueblo and Canon City today. Maxcy J. Watson-Stiles is
a daughter of Willis Watson, a son of William A. Watson.
She is 93 yrs old and remembers many people that I have
been researching.. so another distant cousin is found.
Another cousin is Dorothy Broome of Pueblo and Maxcy's
daughter, Margie Storm. My grandmother was Ella Kinzer
from Jefferson County, Iowa. She was just a small child
when her father, Hezekiah took the family to Colorado.
and some years later he went off to Alaska for the gold rush
and did not come back until about 1914 to Durango.
Thanks for all of the help.. the mystery continues.
Wendell H. Melrose