Edwin H. Strouse, a successful and prosperous ranchman and mechanic of Garfield county, with a pleasant and productive home one mile and a half due west of Newcastle, was born near Des Moines, Iowa, on January 28, 1859, and brought by his parents to this state when he was about one year old. He had but little education in the schools, being obliged from an early age to work on the farm in the interest of his parents, who had a large family to support and slender means to do it on. When he reached the age of twenty-one he began to learn the blacksmith trade at Evergreen, Jefferson county. Two years later he began ranching at Morrison and continued until 1885, then moved to Divide creek, Garfield county, where he remained until 1887, at which time he changed his residence to Newcastle and opened the first blacksmith shop in the place. The next year he traded this shop for the ranch he now occupies, which comprises seventy acres, all under cultivation, twenty acres being in fruit, thirty in hay and the rest in grain and vegetables. He also raises some cattle, and in addition to his ranching interests devotes a portion of his time to blacksmithing at Newcastle, as he has since 1902. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World. On May 13, 1883, he was married to Miss Mary E. Nugent, who was born in Chicago and is the daughter of Patrick J. and Arminta (Shadley) Nugent, the father a native of Ireland and the mother of Illinois. They located at Chicago early in their married life, and there the father won prosperity as a merchant. The great fire of 1871 swept away everything he had, and the family then moved to Denver, this state, where the father kept a hotel. They next moved to Jefferson county, and there he opened a meat market at Morrison and served as postmaster for a number of years. Finally they took up their residence at Newcastle, where for many years he was a justice of the peace. He was a stanch Democrat, and all the family are members of the Catholic church. Nine of the eleven children born in the family survive the parents, who died some years ago, the mother on December 8, 1888, and the father on November 15, 1894. John lives at Denver; William, whose whereabouts are uncertain; Lizzie (Mrs. Hardin Howell), at Humboldt, California; James, at Sacramento, California; Mrs. Strouse, in this state; Augustus, at Cripple creek, in the vicinity of Goldfield; Grace (Mrs. Guy Cramer), at Denver; Belle (Mrs. Bert Shuffield), at Denver; and Hattie (Mrs. William Pennie), at Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Mr. Strouse’s parents were John A. and Lovina Strouse, the father a native of Pennsylvania and the mother of New York state. After living the earlier years of their married life in Indiana they moved to Iowa, and soon afterward came to Colorado. Of their ten children only four survive them, Edwin H., Andrew J., living at Telluride, William N., of Racine, Wisconsin, and Mary E., wife of Howard Poston, of Morrison, Colorado. The father was an ardent Democrat and a member of the Masonic order. Mr. and Mrs. Strouse have seven children, Pearl, Edward, Roy, Nellie, May, William and Ruth.
Source: Bowen, A. W. Progressive Men of Western Colorado. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., Publishers. 1905.