Marguerite Maul was born and raised in the Cactus Ridge area. Her grandfather, Maximillion Maul came to the United States from Germany with his parents when he was 16 years old. The Mauls landed in Baltimore, Maryland in 1873 and started for the west. They only got as far as St. Louis before they ran out of money, so the men in the family worked on a farm to get the necessary funds to travel to Pottawatomie County in Kansas where an Uncle, John Gunter lived.

In July of 1873 the Maul family started across the plains for Colorado, driving 400 head of cattle. The cattle got foot sores and the company had to stop to treat the cattle. They made moccasins from hides of buffalo and put them on the cattle. When they continued on their journey they discovered a battleground, approximately two days old where settlers had been killed. The family knew that if they hadn't stopped to treat the cattle they might have been caught in the Indian uprising and realized how fortunate they were. It took the Mauls eight weeks to get to Comanche Creek, or what is now known as Kiowa, Colorado.

Max Maul came to Denver in September of 1873 and started to market garden. He married Katharina Mitzi and in 1880 the couple homesteaded 160 acres in what was then Arapahoe County and is now Adams County. Another fourth section was later purchased. That property is located between today's 96th and 104th avenues on Peoria Street. Max and his stepfather threshed with a horse driven threshing outfit crops grown where the City Park in Denver is now located. In 1880 Max purchased a steam thresher.

An artisan lake was on the Maul property. Later a reservoir was excavated south of the lake.

Max Maul and his family lived in a soddie home from 1880 to 1895 and then moved into a two-story house. Max's first wife, Katharine passed away in 1889 and he later married Katherine Eppler. Otto Maul (Marguerite's father) was born in the soddie home. Otto attended the Cactus Ridge School and married Marguerite Culings.

Maximillion and Otto Maul had a smokehouse where they cured ham and bacon. Marguerite remembers the sausage stuffer.

Otto was a cabinetmaker. Both Max and Otto served on the School board at Cactus Ridge School until the consolidation of the District with Brighton School District 27J.

Marguerite remembers that her grandfather had a Dodge touring car with side curtains and a Model T Coupe. Her grandfather sat in the middle of the seat with her sister on one side and Marguerite on the other side. He pulled the ears back, the spark on the left and the gas on the right of the steering wheel. One day when he took the two girls to school he didn't stop but drove right through the barbed wire gate. That afternoon Marguerite's father repaired the gate.

The Maul property had a large scale in front of their property. Farmers from miles around drove their horses and later their trucks loaded with crops raised on their farms to be weighed on the scale. The beet dump, two miles away from the Mauls farm accepted the weight slip because they knew it was accurate.

Otto raised pine trees later in life. He passed away when he was 77 years of age.

Marguerite Maul started playing the clarinet at the age of eight. She, John Reither on the trumpet and her mother on the piano often played for PTA meetings. Marguerite played in the band when she went to Union High School in Adams City. Box suppers with dancing afterwards were the main entertainment.

When Marguerite was a senior in high school she drove her father's pick-up to school, delivered milk to homeowners and to the creamery. She also gave three other students rides to school.

Marguerite married William Fischahs in 1938. She and William had two daughters named Coletta and Peggy. Marguerite worked as a clerk typist at Cudahy Packing Co. while her husband was in the navy during the war. Her marriage came to an end after the war.

She later married Marcellus (Bud) Roach and moved to Adams city. Bud was a painter and was a distributor for a hand cleaner. Then he owned a boat business. Marguerite helped him to build boats. She also kept the books. She started doing income tax work in the evenings after her normal daytime job. She also was pianist for dance classes taught through the District 14 Recreation Program. Marguerite wrote and directed a Minstrel Show to raise money for the VFW.

Marguerite also was a Real Estate saleslady. She enjoys sewing. She is currently working very hard to organize the school reunion that will be held at the Cactus Ridge Schoolhouse in August.