Montrose County CO Archives Biographies.....Fenlon, James A.  1850 - ?
************************************************

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 February 19, 2006, 10:17 pm

Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado

     The endless variety, the high spice, the fullness of incident and

excitement and incident of life in the Rocky Mountain region of the country has

been a fruitful theme of romance and narrative, yet the most improbable stories

told of it cannot out-do the facts or overstate them.  Many may be entirely

untrue but none is more wonderful in fiction than many that are true in the

experience of the pioneers, and have been so frequent in that experience as to

excite in the minds of those who have had it more than a passing comment.  Most

days in their early years brought events of tragical interest, many had much of

this element and some were full of it, the plain unvarnished tale of some single

lives on the frontier or amid the mines would furnish material for several plays

of thrilling interest, while the aggregate of human history in this section in

the early days makes up a volume of life that is complete in itself and unique

and unmatched in any other time or place.  The career of James A. Fenlon, of

Uncompahgre, the genial and accommodating postmaster of the town for almost a

quarter of a century, is one of this unusual and spectacular kind.  He was born

in 1850 in the state of Pennsylvania, the son of Patrick and Mary (Maher)

Fenlon, natives of Dublin, Ireland, who came separately to the United States

late in the ‘thirties and settled in Pennsylvania near Blairsville.  The father

was a young man when he came, and soon after his arrival became a contractor in

the construction of the Pennsylvania Central and the Allegheny Valley Railroads.

 He continued to follow this line of occupation until he was killed by accident

at Ashtabula, Ohio, in 1873, at the age of fifty-four.  During the Civil war he

was a member of the Home Guard military organization at Blairsville, and

wherever he lived took a lively interest in the development and improvement of

the country.  His wife was a daughter of Thomas and Mary Maher, who were natives

and residents of Dublin, and came with them to America from that city in 1838 or

1839.  They settled on a farm near Blairsville, Pennsylvania, and there the

remainder of their lives were passed, the father dying in 1843 and the mother in

1856, and both being buried at Blairsville.  The elder Fenlons were the parents

of eight children, of whom James was the first born.  His education was begun at

the public and parochial schools of Blairsville and continued at St. Frances

College at Loretto in the adjoining county.  At the age of fifteen years he left

college and began to make his own living as a clerk in a store at Hillside,

Westmoreland county, where he remained until the spring of 1867.  He then went

into the oil regions not far away and for several months sought fortune’s

winning smile in the unctuous fluid poured forth from the depths of earth that

made many men rich beyond their wildest dreams then and afterward.  In the fall

of that year, having saved money from his earnings for the purpose, he returned

to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and entered the service of Carney, Fenlon & Company

at that place, remaining in their employ until fall, at which time he left them

and accepted a position with Price & Nichols, post traders and sutlers, for whom

he clerked until the spring of 1879.  He then took a long desired vacation and

made a visit to his old Pennsylvania home.  In the fall of 1879 he again came

west to Alamosa, Colorado, and engaged as a clerk with Field & Hill, who were

prominent in the mercantile, forwarding and commission business.  The spring of

1880 found him transferred to Fort Garland and making ready to take charge of

the traders’ stores of Kinney and Erwin on the expedition against the Utes

commanded by General McKenzie.  The expedition left Fort Garland on May 20,

1880, and arrived at the Uncompahgre Ute agency on June 1st.  After remaining

there a few days the body moved down the Uncompahgre valley some twenty miles

and established a permanent camp which was called the “Camp on the Uncompahgre.”

 Here they waited until the waters were fordable, then started up Douglas creek

and White river to the agency, where Mercer was massacred.  A number of days

were passed there, after which the expedition advanced over the mesa,

constructing roads and bridges, holding its camp on the mesa until September,

when it broke camp and came to the place where Mr. Fenlon now lives, then called

the Cantonment, arriving on October 1st, the day of the Jackson massacre; but

instead of resting from the march, the whole body was at once put in motion to

go forward and quiet the Indians.  Mr. Fenlon has remained here ever since,

literally holding the fort, as his embraces a part of the old Fort Crawford

post, including the parade ground, which he has preserved in its old military

form.  Until 1891 he was engaged in business for the government and with the

Indians, and since then has been carrying on a general merchandising

establishment.  He has seven hundred acres of fine land whose principal crop is

hay.  On this he has made many and costly improvements including an elegant

brick dwelling on which he expended several thousand dollars.  He also has a

fine and well-developed orchard and from it he gathers large quantities of

superior fruit.  He has been connected in a leading way with all the important

industrial and commercial enterprises in this part of the state—was president of

the Farmers & Merchants’ Milling Company, one of the founders and directors of

the Bank of Montrose, which collapsed during the panic, and a prominent and

influential man in every line of productive activity in his locality.  In

politics he is an active Democrat and has been his party’s candidate for the

offices of county treasurer and county commissioner, but went down under a

hopelessly large majority for the other side which is normal in the county. 

Fraternally he is a valued member of Uncompahgre Lodge, No. 68, Independent

Order of Odd Fellows, and has been postmaster of the town since 1880.  In 1882

he was married to Miss Elizabeth C. Clark, a native of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas,

daughter of Hartford and Mary A. (Desanno) Clark, who settled at Fort

Leavenworth after the Civil war, in which the father was a captain.  At the time

of his death on June 7, 1881, he was serving as hospital steward at the fort. 

His widow died in November, 1892, at the fort.  Mrs. Fenlon is living and is

forty-three years of age.  

Additional Comments:
From Progressive Men of Western Colorado.  Chicago:  A.W. Bowen & Co., 1905



File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/montrose/bios/fenlon143gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cofiles/

File size: 7.1 Kb