Arapahoe-Cheyenne Encampment, Denver
This was the first work of Mrs. J. J. Woodrow (later Mrs. E. Y. Frazier) showing a large encampment of Arapahoe and Cheyenne Indians. The oil painting shows tepees with small houses in the background, mountains, sky and clouds. Indians are walking about the tepees. In center foreground is an Indian man wearing a red blanket with black stripe. He has on buckskin leggings. In his hair are three feathers. He faces right. A small tan dog is pulling at the end of the blanket. To the right is an Indian woman with baby on her back. She and the child are wrapped in buckskin. To the far right is a child on the back of a tan horse. The plains are green/brown. Viewpoint was on Blake Street, view from artist's cabin home located about the present corner of Blake and 22nd. This painting measures 19.7" x 31.6 in".
Oil painting done by Mrs. J. J. Woodrow (later Mrs. Esther Yates Frazier). In 1861 an encampment of Arapahoe and Cheyenne Indians was near Mrs. Woodrow's cabin. She made a sketch and later put it on a canvas. The picture remained in the family for many years, eventually coming in the possession of Mrs. Etta Woodrow Nienheiser (Nienhiser) 1856-1935), daughter of Mrs. Etta Woodrow. At the request of Albert B. Sanford, Asst. Curator of the History Dept. of the State Historical Society of Colorado, Mrs. (Henry) Nienheiser presented the painting to the State Historical Society of Colorado October 13, 1928. Other donations from the estate of Etta Woodrow Nienheiser are H.1126 and H.1127, both donated in March 1937., Esther M. Yates (1830-1903) married Jackson Woodrow (1822-1896) October 5, 1847 in Zanesville, Ohio. They had four children (Lottie, 1848; Clara, 1853; Ettie, 1856; and William, January 1859). The family started West in the summer of 1859 but due to Indian troubles stopped at Beatrice, Nebraska. They continued west in April 1860 by ox team covered wagons arriving in Denver June 16, 1860. After Mr. Woodrow died the fall of 1896, Esther Woodrow married E. G. Frazier, then Esther Yates Frazier.
Arapahoe and Cheyenne Encampment at Denver, Colorado April 1861. Westward view from Blake between 22nd and 23rd streets. By Esther Y. Frazier, 613 4th St. Highland, Colorado. Copyright applied for February 29,1876.