I’m sure most all of you have heard of the famous Archie Allison, Grandma’s (Marjorie Jean Harnish Comin) hero. They say that people suffering from Alzheimer’s fill in the gaps when their memories fail. This seems to be the case with Grandma and Archie. Grandma credits Archie for paying for her college education and buying her a car to drive back and forth to Laramie. Grandpa (William Edward Comin) doesn’t recall a personal relationship existing between Grandma or her family and Archie Allison.
Roy Jacob Harnish
1 Sep 1902 - 6 May 1969
Grandma Marjorie Jean Comin's Dad
Grandpa Roy Jacob Harnish and his father, Jacob Henry Harnish, worked for Archie Allison at the Clear View Dairy Farm ½ mile South and 1 mile east of Cheyenne. (Grandma calls it a ranch I think) Jacob Henry was let go, probably due to his age, and this made Roy mad so he quit. From there I believe he went to work for another dairy as a milkman. For those of you who are too young to remember milkmen, they drove trucks around town and delivered milk products to your door. In Grandpa Harnish's day they were most likely glass bottles that were put back out on the doorstep to be picked up by the milkman to be reused by the dairy. I can remember when we had a semi-insulated milk box on our porch for milk delivery.
Grandma did receive a scholarship that Grandpa Comin says may have been funded by Archie. Grandpa was Grandma’s transportation to and from Laramie before they married. When Grandpa and Grandma bought an army barrack and remodeled it for their first home, Grandpa John Howard Comin was acquainted with Archie Allison though business and helped Grandpa and Grandma to acquire a loan.
Here are a few facts I have been able to find about Archie Allison:
-Archie and his wife Anna are listed on the 1910, 1920, and 1930 census in Cheyenne. In just a few weeks we can check the 1940 census. All three censuses show Archie being born in Canada about 1880.
The 1930 census indicates that Archie came into the US in 1900 and he and Anna were married about 1908.
Anna is about 4 years older than Archie and her birthplace is listed Iowa one time, then Illinois, and then Missouri.
-In 1920 a William Allison, 9 years old, is listed as an adopted son. He is still with them in 1930 at 19 and is merely listed as a “son”.
-In 1910 Archie’s occupation is difficult to read—it looks like construction of some sort. 1920 lists “construction “ and 1930 says “contractor”, “building construction”. This seems to be the right Archie Allison, there is no other in Cheyenne, but no mention is made of dairy farming, which seems odd.
In 1930 their home is listed at $15,000, they have a radio and do not live on a farm. The address is West 26th ave.
-Archie was mayor of Cheyenne at some point. There were a few mentions of this in the Greeley Daily Tribune (Greeley, Co.) Also mentioned was the Clear View Dairy Farm, also known as the Archie Allison Dairy Farm. The newspaper gave notice of the auction of the dairy, equipment, and herd in 1943—it appeared that someone else was the owner at the time of auction. The herd was referred to as the “nationally famous Archie Allison herd.” All my google searches about the dairy and ranch were unproductive.
The following article titled “Cheyenne’s Famous Holstein is Dead” appeared in the Greeley Daily Tribune, Thursday, March 28, 1940:
“Cheyenne, March 27—Th Mayor’s Cow is dead!
Mountain Maid Ruth Baltiels Tielje*, known to Cheyenne as ‘the mayor’s cow’, died at Former Mayor Archie Allison’s dairy farm last Sunday, it was learned yesterday.
The cow was 15; years and three months old.
She held the world record of 34,000 pounds of milk produced in one year on three times a dy milking, and also was credited with the highest day production of 137.5* pounds.
In her lifetime the Mayor’s cow produced 220,000 pounds of milk….
The Mayor’s Cow was one of Cheyenne’s proudest possessions, the city gaining wide recognition for its prize cow and every resident of Cheyenne taking a personal interest in the animal.”
*Hard to read the last two names
** could be 127.5---either way, that is a lot of milk
Although the article says that all residents of Cheyenne took a personal interest in the cow, Grandpa, who was about 14 at the time, apparently wasn’t into cows! He did say that Grandma’s family may have been aware of this since her dad had worked on the ranch. Grandma would have been about 12.
I believe I found the final resting place of Archie Allison in the Lakeview Cemetery in Cheynne. If this is Grandma’s Archie, he died Feb. 23, 1964 and is buried in Lot 1281 SPC/CD -C. We will have to check this out on Memorial Day –it appears that no other family members are buried there.
Well, there you have it. Probably more information than most of you care to read, but maybe now we can all have a better appreciation for the man who is ever on Grandma’s mind.
Contributed By: Jo Smathers
