Kit Carson County, Colorado
Photographs

 COGenWeb Logo

Kit Carson County Pioneers:

Letitia Reese, daughter Florence L. (Reese) and Willis T. Price


LETITIA'S FAMILY

In 1870 Onondaga County, James M. Reese is 46, Elizabeth M. 34, Lora M. 10, Ida M. 8, and Nettie B. 5.

(Lora May Ferguerson 1860-1949 is buried in North Syracuse # 91414327.)
(Nettie married George M. Price of Onondaga County.)

In 1892 Onondaga County, New York, Letitia Reese is 46, Ida M. 30, and Florence 16.


In 1900 Onondaga County, James M. Reese has no occupation, born May 1824 in New York, married 24 years to Latitia, born Dec 1846 in New York, Florence Nov 1876 New York.

James M. Reese 1824-1904 is buried in North Syracuse # 25327900.


April 1910 Burlington, Colorado "Miss M. McNabb went to Flagler last Friday to visit her friend Mrs. Reese."

In 1910 Flagler, Colorado, Willis L. Price is working at a grain elevator, 35, married two years to Florence 33, and her widowed mother Letitia E. Reese, 64, all three born in New York.

April 28, 1910 " The many friends of Mrs. Reese will be sorry to learn that on account of continued ill health she is obliged to leave Colorado for a lower attitude. She leaves Flagler in a few days for her old home at Syracuse, New York. Dr. Price, brother of Willis Price, of that city will come to accompany her.
Last Friday her Burlington friends sent her by mail a post card shower. She received fifty-two cards. Being unable to thank each one individually, she desires to express her appreciation and gratitude for the loving sympathy which prompted so pleasant a surprise and the words of comfort and cheer in her illness.
Mrs. Reese is well known in this city and her many friends have hope that a change of climate will restore her to perfect health and that Colorado will again be privileged to welcome her."

(Dr. George M. Price, surgeon and professor emeritus of Syracuse University, died March 20, 1956. He was 91. Price earned his M. D. degree from the College of Medicine at Syracuse University in 1886. He did post-graduate work in London and Vienna and joined the faculty of the College of Medicine when he returned to Syracuse,.)

May 1910 Burlington "Mrs. Reese, a former resident of this city, but late of Flagler, left last Saturday for the east."

July 1910 "Friends of Mrs. Reese will be pleased that she is regaining health at Thousand Islands Park, New York."

Letitia E. Reese 1846-1922 is buried in Flagler # 21394068.

WILLIS' FAMILY

In 1875 Onondaga County, New York, George F. Price is farming 47, born in England, wife Emily 28, Henry 13, George M. 10, Charles 5, Willis 1. Niece Emma Lavington 17, is also with them.

In 1880 Onondaga County, George T. Price is 52, Emily H. 43, Henry E.F. 19, George M. 15, Charles E. 10, and Willis L. 5.

George 1828-1925 is buried in Syracuse # 90141813, with Emily H. (Merriman) Price 1837-1889 # 89962134.

Henry T. Price of Liverpool, New York in 1942, said that he and Ella Jane Tilden had Charles Arthur Price on March 12 1891 in Afton, Union County, Iowa.
Henry 1861-1945 is buried in North Syracuse # 25327787.

FLORENCE AND WILLIS

In 1903 Willis L. Price was the clerk of the Flagler Congregational Church.

Florence L. Reese, 30, born in Onondaga County, New York to James M. and Letitia E. Reese, married Willis L. Price, 33, born in Onondaga County to George T. and Emily H. Price, in Otoe County Nebraska on October 10, 1907.

The Municipal Building at 311 Main Street in Flagler, Colorado, is truly a sum of all its parts. It is a stately structure, housing the town government offices and the public library. But its history as a hotel and then hospital appeals to tourists, who visit all year ‘round.
Built in 1909 by early Flagler developers W. H. Lavington and W. L. Price, the structure became the Hotel Flagler. The hotel was owned and managed by Henry C. Blanken, and served Rock Island Railroad travelers, Flagler rural residents who came to town on business, and others for two decades. It is remembered with a replica of a hotel room at the head of the stairs in the building's second story.
In the fall of 1937, Dr. W. L. McBride of Seibert, Colorado, opened the remodeled hotel as the Flagler Hospital. When the nine-bed hospital was opened, it was considered to be the best-equipped hospital between Colby, Kansas and Denver. The story of the Flagler Hospital can't be told without telling the story of Dr. McBride. He was able to bring the latest methods and procedures to his rural general practice, serving three generations of local families. The hospital's operating team comprised a number of McBride relatives, and this family team is believed to be quite unique in medical history. For more than 25 years, this private hospital performed a most important and unique service for the area. It closed in 1963 and is remembered today with medical memorabilia and interpretive signs in rooms on the building's second floor. The life of Dr. McBride is also commemorated there.

William Henry Lavington came to Kit Carson County, Colorado by Rock Island Railroad and developed Flagler along with his partner and brother-in-law, W.L. Price. Notable projects included the first general store, Flagler State Bank, and the Hotel Flagler built in 1909. The hotel has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior; it later became the Flagler Hospital, a private hospital headed by W.L. McBride. W.H. served as President of the Flager State Bank, and with wife Louelia Isabel "Ella" (nee Van Heusen) Lavington were parents to the first child born in Flager. Ella worked along side W.H. and served on the School Board of Education for Flagler County Public Schools.

Leon Edward Lavington, Sr., was the first child born in Flager to William Henry “W.H.” and Louella Isabel “Ella” (nee Van Heusen) Lavington. He graduated from the University of Colorado in 1915 before entering the United States WWI Draft Registration of 1917. When the town was incorporated, he was the first Mayor of Flager, and served as President of the First National Bank of Flagler (previously the Flagler State Bank). Initially appointed by Governor McNichols to a civil service commission, Leon was elected State Purchasing Agent, Auditor of the State, and State Treasurer before running for Governor (R 1946). The third largest blizzard in recorded state history preceded the gubernatorial election which resulted in a less than 30 percent voter turn-out (Historical Blizzard, November 2-4, 1946, 30.4 inches). Leon lost the election by a small margin having won nearly 48 percent of the vote. Lavington Park is named in his honor. His wife, Marjorie (nee Dixon) Lavington, also graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and served as a Former Chairman of the Red Cross Gray Ladies of Denver.

In 1910 Flagler, Willis L. Price is working at a grain elevator, 35, married two years to Florence 33, and her widowed mother Letitia E. Reese, 64, all three born in New York.

September 7, 1911 "Born -Friday, September, to Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Price of Flagler, a baby girl."

May 1910 Burlington "Ex-county treasurer Willis Price and W. H. Lavington, a prominent merchant both of Flagler were business visitors in the city Monday."

In 1920 Flagler, Willis is 45, born in New York, a bank cashier. Florence is 43, Jeanette 8, and Willis L. 4, both born in Colorado. Leticia is still with them, and they have a hired man William Dunden 68 born in England.

Willis is buried in Flagler 1874-1922 # 21394038.

In 1930 Florence, 53, Jeanette 18, and Willis L. 13 are in Boulder, Colorado.

In 1940 Jeanette is teaching school in Pueblo, Colorado, and FLorence R. 63 is with her.

Florence is buried in Flagler 1876-1962 # 21394018.

WILLIS

Willis Leon Price was born in Denver April 4, 1915.
He registered for WWII in 1940 in Baltimore, with Florence R. as his next of kin.

Willis Leon Price, 30, married Mary Meskell Groark in Washington, D.C. on June 23, 1945.

"Willis Leon Price, Chief Chemist, Lever Brothers Co., Baltimore, Md."

On October 24, 2002, WILLIS LEON PRICE, loving father of Joanne Matson and her husband Mike of Orangevale, CA, dear grandfather of Elena Davis and Christopher Davis, loving brother of Jeanette Martin, preceded in death by his wife Mary in 1997, moved to Granite Bay, CA in 1999, formerly of Baltimore. Friends may call at STERLING-ASHTON-SCHWAB FUNERAL HOME, INC., 736 Edmondson Ave., Catonsville on Friday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. Graveside Services Saturday at 11 A.M. at Woodlawn Cemetery.

JEANETTE

In 1940 Jeanette is teaching school in Pueblo, Colorado, and FLorence R. 63 is with her.

Jeanette Helen (Price) Martin 1911-2012 is buried in Portland, Oregon # 93629955.

Jeanette Helen Price Martin passed away peacefully on June 25, 2012 in Portland, Oregon after a short illness.

She was born September 1, 1911 in Denver, Colorado. She grew up in Flagler, a whistle stop on the Rock Island Line in the eastern plains of Colorado, only 8 miles from the Kansas border. Despite losing her father at the age of eleven years, she concentrated on her studies and graduated Valedictorian of her class, earning a scholarship to University of Colorado in Boulder. Her family then moved to Boulder so she could attend school. She started college in 1929, the year of the Great Crash, and graduated in four years despite the Depression. Her first job as a high school English teacher started the following fall in Berthoud, Colorado. She continued teaching there while earning a Master's Degree from the University of Colorado during summers. In 1938 she took a job as one of the first teachers in the new junior college in Pueblo, Colorado.

While teaching in Berthoud, she met the love of her life, George Gregoire Martin, a dapper elementary teacher in the same district. They dated during those years but couldn't marry, because they were both supporting their own mothers and younger siblings: "Depression rules" allowed only one teaching position in a family. In 1940, she moved to join George in Los Angeles where they were married and started their life together. Shortly thereafter, George was hired by the newly formed Social Security Administration and they moved to Baltimore, Maryland. Jeanette clearly remembered hearing about the Pearl Harbor bombing on the radio in their house in rural Maryland. Soon after, George was drafted into the Army. George was retained in the induction camps to manage and teach, because he was older than most of the new recruits. Jeanette followed George to several different army posts where she easily found secretarial work with the army. They moved to El Paso, Texas where their first son, Gerald, was born a few days before the world's first nuclear bomb was tested 150 miles away. Jeanette remembered hearing the explosion while in the hospital recovering from childbirth.

The young family took up residence in Colorado Springs after George's discharge in 1945. Soon thereafter, they welcomed their second son, Kenneth, and a couple years later their third son, Steven (Mahan). Being a mother of three young energetic sons was plenty of work so Jeanette took a hiatus from teaching to manage her family. Through the years she never seemed fazed even when they experimented with chemistry, cannons, rockets, go-carts, rock climbing and other creative endeavors. Summers often found her camping in the Rockies with her family. She was always patient, understanding and caring!

In 1950, George was transferred to Durango, Colorado. They loaded up their car with three young boys, caged chickens and all the furnishings they could carry and moved west to the town they grew to love and call home. They bought a new post-war house where they lived until after the two oldest boys graduated from high school. During this time, Jeanette started teaching English at Fort Lewis College. She had a chance to teach both of her older sons during her tenure at this college. According to the boys, she was not an easy teacher!

George was transferred again in 1967 to Salt Lake City and Jeanette and their youngest son moved with him. While in Salt Lake, she earned her PhD in linguistics from University of Utah in 1974. At that time, she was the oldest PhD candidate in their history. After retirement, they returned to Durango where they settled into their comfortable neighborhood keeping up their garden, fruit trees, yard, and household. They scheduled in a world trip each year for many years, visiting Europe, South America, Australia, and many island destinations. Jeanette was also active in the community as a member of the First Presbyterian Church, a long-time volunteer for the Durango Library and the Humane Society. Even at the age of 89 years, she enjoyed driving "the old ladies" to church events.

After George suffered a stroke in 2006, they moved to Portland, Oregon to live nearer to their second son. There Jeanette enjoyed the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Shakespeare in the Parks, Portland's wonderful Happy Hours, and was an active participant in the many activities at Laurelhurst Terrace in SE Portland where she lived. She also looked forward to the Oregon Symphony Waterfront Concerts, where she celebrated her 100th birthday last year. Oysters (in any form) were another source of delight for her!

Jeanette was a very adventurous young lady! As a young girl she climbed Pikes Peak with her Girl Scout troop and earned money selling homemade pies in the local campground. In 1932, she drove her mother to the Chicago World's Fair where they roomed in a house near the fair and took in the sights. Her mother wanted to return by a different route, so they drove south through Missouri and back to Colorado. She saved her teaching money and bought a new Chevy in 1938 which she took on a 7000 mile trip back East to sightsee and visit her younger brother, Willis and their extended family in upstate New York. Since her mother did not drive, Jeanette drove the entire distance! The first paved roads they encountered were east of the Mississippi River. Later, she took trips to many National Parks including Yellowstone, Bryce, and Zion.

She is survived by her sons (and spouses), Gerald (Jan), Kenneth (Nancy), and Mahan (Meherban). She has 10 grandchildren: Shannon, Darren, David, Justin, Amanda, Robert, Preston, Christopher, Markus, and SatKirtan. She has 10 great grand-children: Arrow, Eden, Remy, Alex, Grace, Alexis, Declan, Kellan, Sheridan, Colin, and three more on the way! She was preceded in death by her husband, George, and her brother, Willlis. She is very much loved and will be missed.

Return to Biography Index

This page is maintained by href="mailto:stephen.z.stein@gmail.com">Steve Stein.