Arbaney, Alexis; 1905 Bio, Eagle County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/eagle/bios/arbanya.txt --------------------------------------- Donated May 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- Alexis Arbaney From far-away and sunny Italy, near Aosta on the Baltea and under the shadow of the Appenines, came Alexis Arbaney to the United States, when he was a young man of twenty-nine, and here he has given his time and energy to flourishing stock and general ranching industry. He was born on November 27, 1861, and is the son of John B. and Margaret Arbaney, natives of that country and belonging to families long resident there. They were prosperous farmers, according to the ways of the country, and devout members of the Catholic church. After long lives of usefulness death ended their labors, the mother dying on September 17, 1896, and the father in March, 1901. Five of their thirteen children survive them, Demiticus, Egyptian, Baslease, Alexis and one other. Alexis had but few and scant opportunities for education in the schools, being obliged to assist his parents on the farm from an early age. When he was twenty he entered the Italian army and served four years. Then returning home, he devoted four years more to manufacturing cheese. In 1890 he emigrated to the United States and made his first location at Delray, Wayne county, Michigan. Here he engaged in lumbering for a time and later in foundry work. On October 10, 1890, he arrived in western Colorado, and soon after went to work as a ranch hand for Charles Harris, who paid him twenty-six to thirty dollars a month. At the end of a year he rented the ranch belonging to Samuel Cramer, and during the next four years he conducted its operations with gratifying success. While so engaged he wintered at Aspen and lived on the ranch in the summer. In 1892 he worked ten months in the Pride of Aspen mine for wages, then sold some interests he had acquired to his brother Henry and purchased the ranch on which he now lives, making the purchase in partnership with his cousin, L.C. Clavell. The ranch then comprised three hundred and twenty acres, and after buying his cousin's interest after a partnership of seven years, he bought forty acres more, so that he now has three hundred and sixty. One hundred acres of the tract can be cultivated and yields abundantly of hay, grain and potatoes, hay and grain being the principal crops. The ranch is two miles east of Basalt and is considered one of the best in this whole section of the state. In political matters Mr. Arbaney is independent, but he is cordially interested in the welfare of his country and state, and devoted to the institutions of his adopted land. He was married on June 17, 1886, to Miss Felicity Gerbaz, an Italian like himself and born on July 2, 1862. She is a sister of Jarry Gerbaz, a sketch of whom will be found in another part of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Arbaney have two children, Flalin, born on February 28, 1888, and Isabelle, born on December 4, 1890. The parents are members of the Catholic church and are well esteemed as good citizens and enterprising, progressive farmers. =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access.