Gunnison County CO Archives Biographies.....Lawrence, Clinton I. February 8, 1853 - ? ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/co/cofiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Judy Crook jlcrook@rof.net March 24, 2006, 4:12 pm Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Clinton I. Lawrence, the leading real estate, lumber and insurance man of Crested Butte, Gunnison county, has reached his eminence in business circles and his high place in the public esteem of his community through a long course of faithful service in various capacities, chiefly in railroad work as agent and manager of the office of the company at different places. He is a native of Saratoga, county, New York, born on February 8, 1853, and the son of Harlow and Elizabeth (Raynolds) Lawrence, both natives of New York also, where they passed the whole of their lives. The father was for many yeas the agent of what is now the Delaware & Hudson River Railroad. The family comprised four sons and four daughters, of whom two sons and two daughters are living, Clinton being next to the youngest. He was reared and educated in his native county, and when sixteen years old began working in the railroad office under his father. There he learned telegraphy and for a long time thereafter was employed in railroad work. In 1881 he became a resident of Colorado and entered the employ of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company as agent at Crane’s Park, then the terminus of the road. Some little time later he became the road’s agent at Tennessee Pass, and in June, 1882, was transferred to Kezar, again the terminus of the road, going from Salida west. In September following he changed to Saperino, and in January, 1884, to Crested Butte. He was one of the pioneer employees of the company and none was more fully trusted, so that wherever there were important duties to perform and critical conditions to meet, he was one of those sent as best qualified for satisfactory service. In December, 1891, he became agent at Grand Junction and later at Ouray, afterward returning to Crested Butte. In 1902 he left the railroad service and succeeded to the real estate and insurance business of his father-in-law, the late Volney Axtell, who had just died there. In this enterprise he has since been continuously engaged and been very successful. Politically he is a Republican, but he is not an active partisan, although he has served in the city council. Fraternally he is a Master Mason with membership in the lodge at Ouray. His first marriage, which occurred in 1873, was with Miss Effie Porter, a native of Minnesota. They had one child, their son Harlow, now assistant cashier in the First National Bank of Gunnison. This wife died in 1885, and in 1891 he contracted a second, uniting with Miss Mary H. Axtell, a native of Chicago, the daughter of Volney F. and Mary (Dayton) Axtell, who were born in New York. Mr. Axtell was one of the pioneers of Gunnison county, locating at Crested Butte in 1879, and there engaging in mercantile pursuits in partnership with Mr. Holt under the firm name of Holt & Axtell. Later he turned his attention to real estate, lumbering and insurance, beginning his work in these lines about 1884 and continuing it until his death in 1902. He was one of the leading business men of Crested Butte for years and by his probity, acumen and breadth of view gave the town a high reputation in business circles. In politics he was a Republican but not an active party worker, yet he served the town well in several minor offices, being one of its first mayors and at times a member of the city council. Mrs. Axtell still has her home at Crested Butte. Additional Comments: From Progressive Men of Western Colorado. Chicago: A.W. Bowen & Co., 1905 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/gunnison/bios/lawrence388gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cofiles/ File size: 4.1 Kb