Dore Family

Able Dore Jr. (1879-1896) Lot 165 / Plot 7
Joseph Dore (1877-1896) Lot 165 / Plot 5
William Dore (1881-1896) Lot 165 / Plot 6
Able B. Dore (1856-1915) Lot 166 / Plot 7
Willie Dore (1897-1914) Lot 165 / Plot 8
Mary Ann Dore (1857-1920) Lot 166 / Plot 6
This particular family Lot has always drawn my attention over the past 50 years whenever I have visited the cemetery. Such a tragic story of loss.
Able Jr., age 18, Joseph, age 16, and William, age 14, were all killed in the Vulcan Mine explosion on February 18, 1896. These young boys accounted for 3 of the 49 coal miners killed that day, at the time the worst loss of life in a mine in the State of Colorado history.
Their mother Mary Ann Dore gave birth to Willie Dore February 12, 1897, almost a year to the date of the death of her 3 sons. Willie was born developmently delayed and needed constant attention and died in 1914 at the age of 17. Mary Ann's husband, Able B. died the following year at the age of 59.
A small article in the New Castle Non Pareil newspaper from 1905, reported; "Mrs. Able Dore came down from Glenwood Springs last Thursday to tend to the graves of her 3 sons who were killed in the tragic Vulcan Mine accident and are buried at New Castle." Mrs. Dore had 3 additional children, Jay, Viola and Jesse. She passed in 1920 at the age of 63.

The front of the Dore family Headstone includes the names of Joseph, Able Jr. and William,the three boys killed in the Vulcan Mine explosion. The lettering is difficult to read now as it faces east and the 124 years of wind, rain, snow and setting sun have taken their toll

Highland Cemetery New Castle, Garfield County Colorado Dore Family Plot

---