The biography of this family has much more information than what is written here. Only information dealing with and around Ouray County has been put down. For further information about this family contact G. David Thayer. I would like to also thank him for all the information and help he has provided. |
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Charles ("Charlie") Polk Nutter was born October 22, 1844 in Alton, Madison Co, Illinois. He married Emma Frances Lidey in 1870 in Watson, Effingham Co, Illinois. Together, with two children, they came to Pueblo, Colorado in April of 1876. In 1877 they traveled by covered wagon from Pueblo to Ouray, leaving April 18th and arriving May 19th.
Charlie Nutter and several other men "grubstaked" a prospector who found a promising silver mine near Rico, Colorado. Because of "claim jumpers", Charlie and several of the men had to often stay in Rico to prevent them from taking over the mine. Although Rico (in Ouray County at this time) was tamer than most mining camps, it still had its troubles and Charlie made mention in one of his letters to Emma of only one man killed this time. He later sold his interest in the mine to some investors from New York for $1,200. With these proceeds he opened a cured and fresh meats store and livery and feed stables business in partnership with a man named William ("Billy") Clark, the firm being known as "Nutter & Clark". This was in late 1879 or early 1880. The meat business was right next door to the grocery store owned and operated by Charlie's good friend Miles Standish Corbett, who was at that time the mayor of Ouray. (The Nutters had met the Corbetts while staying in Pueblo and they traveled together from Pueblo to Ouray.) The livery stables were located on Third Street (now Main Street) on the southwest corner of Third St. and 7th Avenue, where the Fox Building, Buckskin Trading Post, and the north half of Cecilia's are today (lots 256, 257, & 258). All of this is shown on the 1886 Sanborn map of Ouray. Charlie was a Mason for 70 years and a charter member of the Ouray Masonic Lodge. In 1888 he sold his businesses in Ouray and moved to Delta, Colorado where he died on 28 November 1941, 97 years old. |
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* Collected by Dr. Doris H. Gregory, historian, of Ouray, CO. |
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