H.5433 Martens Collection
Provenance Notes
Alisa DiGiacomo
July 27, 2016
Items in this collection include:
.1 framed wreath of chenille wool flowers
.2 pillow
.3 hair wreath
.4 sewing machine
.5 shoe form
The collection was donated in February 1954 by Mrs. Allen Brokaw. Brokaw was a neighbor of Irene Marten (Irene left the items to Mrs. Allen Brokaw; note letter in file indicates another donor from May 1954 Shirley Kramer???). Initially only the sewing machine and a pair of shoe forms were listed on the state museum receipt dated February 9, 1954. The receipt notes that the items belonged to Irene Martens. Correspondence in the accession file states that Detlef Martens worked in and owned a shoe shop in Central City; he was born in Germany in 1835 and died in 1887 in Denver. After immigrating in 1855 he settled in Davenport, Iowa. In 1860 he married Mary Stelck in Scott, Iowa; their first child Emelia was born in Iowa in 1861. Other children included Mathilda born in Davenport, Iowa in 1862; Emelia born in Central City in 1865; William born in Central City in 1897 and Irene born in Central City in 1876. The Marten family came from Davenport, Iowa to Colorado in a covered wagon. Mary M. Stelck Martens (1835-1904) made the wreaths. Pillow made by a member of the family (assumed the Martens family). Newspaper clipping notes that the sewing machine was “hauled by ox-team from Davenport, Iowa to Central City” and was “used many years by Detlef Martens, shoemaker at Gregory Gulch in Central City”.
Additional information about the Martens Family (from Ancestry records) located in the artifact file for H.5433