Charles McEllen
Marriages
Alice (McAvoy) McEllen - 1886
Obituaries
Eagle Valley Enterprise page 8 - April 18, 1919
Charles McEllen, leading citizen of Eagle county, pioneer settler and empire builder, was called to his final reward from the Mercy hospital in Denver, Colo., last Friday, April 11, where he had been taken for medical care a few weeks before.
Born in Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence county, New York, April 17, 1850, he would have been 69 years old had he lived a few days longer. He was in the prime of young manhood when he came to Colorado and Eagle county in 1880, and took up the burden of a pioneer. For thirty-nine years he had been a resident of the county, and saw it grow from the stages of a rough mining camp located on the side of Battle mountain - for the agricultural possibilities of this county had not been dreamed of at that early day - to one of the most prosperous and modern communities of the country. His life was an active one, and his hand has been that of a moulder - ever helping to build up out of the wilderness this great empire of wealth.
He first located at Gilman, being one of the first to go to that mining camp when the boom started with the discovery of ore on Battle mountain, and for many years followed the ups and downs of a mining game in that district. Finally he took up a ranch near Gypsum, and lived there for a number of years and was very successful as an agriculturalist. When at last the value of farm land in this valley became evident and a boom in land prices came, Mr. McEllen sold his landed holdings, and, together with his wife, moved to Eagle, built himself a modern and comfortable home and retired from the active life he had always led up to that time.
For the past two years he had been suffering from a chronic ailment which developed into a very serious condition during the past winter, and a few weeks ago he and Mrs. McEllen went to Denver where he expected to have an operation performed. But his disease developed so rapidly, and new complications setting in, that it was impossible to have performed the surgical operation which might have prolonged his life.
Death came after a week of unconsciousness, during which time his death was expected hourly.
The Eagle county pioneers of 1880 are fast thinning out, and Chas. McEllen was among the few that are left of the hardy and daring young men who came here at that early day and remained to share the fortunes of a new country of unknown possibilities. His passing is regretted by a wide acquaintance and early day friends all over the county.
The funeral was held in Denver Sunday afternoon, where the body was laid to rest.
