Katherine McNeal Lamont

In honor of National Womens' History month I will be highlighting women in the Colorado Springs, El Paso County area of Colorado.

Todays focus is Katherine McNeal Lamont. There is not much known about her. Accourding to her obituary she was born August 2, 1871 in Rock Island, Illinois and moved to Denver where she married a Scotsman named Duncan Lamont on October 3, 1901.

From Denver they moved to Colorado City where Mr. Lamont became the pastor of the First Baptist Church at 1 S. 24th ST.

Her obituary says she was active in the church and social groups. When you study the city directories you see that most of her married life was spent in Colorado City (later a part of Colorado Springs) except for about two years spent in Victor Colorado. Still even in Colorado City the Lamonts moved no fewer than three times.

What is found in the local papers is a woman who seemed to do her best as the wife of a pastor and later postmaster. She took part in church events, even to the point of singing a duet with another woman. It appears she was a member of the WTCU while her husband was preaching against the sins of alcohol.

The more I try to find out about this woman the more questions I run into. Why did she wait until thirty years of age to marry? Was she instrumental in her husband moving into politics? What was her early life in Illinois and Colorado like? Perhaps some day these questions will be answered. In the meanwhile, Katherine Lamont is one of the women from the early days of Colorado who walked the land, but has been overlooked. Even the large headstone is shared with her husband, then two identical smaller ones on each side.