Abe Mecklenberg (sometimes Macklinburg, Mecklinberg) [1]
Born: 1870
Died: December 23, 1919
Married to: Unknown/none
In Leadville: 1888, 1899-1901
Abraham Mecklenberg was employed at two Leadville businesses in the late 19th century and early 20th century, including the Singer Sewing machine company in 1888 and Peltons’s Famous Clothing between 1899 and 1901. Abe was born in New York in 1870. His parents were Polish immigrants, Max and Bessie Mecklinberg, who immigrated to the United States in 1868. [2] Abe had a younger brother named Morris who was also a Colorado resident, but never of Leadville. The family arrived in Colorado sometime between the birth of Morris in 1874 and 1884. [3] A short mention in a Silver Plume newspaper from 1904 suggests that the family arrived in Silver Plume prior to “the fire” of 1884. [4] A Leadville newspaper noted that Max “Mecklenburg” lost $11,000 in dry goods, and had $4,000 in insurance in the wake of the fire. [5] In 1885, the family were enumerated as residents of an unspecified city or town in Clear Creek County. Abe’s father Max appeared in the Georgetown newspaper Colorado Miner in an August 1885 edition, suggesting that the family lived in that city at the time of the census. [6]
The Sprague Block was the location of the Singer Sewing Machine company in 1888. Notice that 619 is labeled as “Sew’g Mach’s”.
Sanborn Map & Publishing Company, October 1889.
Abe first appeared in Leadville during 1888 as a “collector” for the Singer Sewing Machine company; probably a debt collection role. [7] His residence was not listed that year, but Singer was located at 619 Harrison Avenue and Abe probably lived at that location in a second story apartment. Outside of city directories and census records, Abe’s Leadville social life is undocumented and he only appeared in a Leadville newspaper after he had left the city when he visited briefly in 1902 and 1905. [8] The 1889 Leadville city directory did not list Abe as a resident. [9] In 1890, he was listed in a Denver City directory as a clerk. [10] Abe appeared in Aspen during the middle 1890s as attested by Pikin County newspapers cited below.
301-303 Harrison Avenue in the later 1880s. The building hosted clothing merchants for most of its existence before collapsing onto West 3rd Street on a May morning in 1919. Photograph by A. Brisbois.
Photograph ID #1100. Courtesy Lake County Public Library, Colorado Mountain History Collection.
Abe was socially active while he lived in Aspen between 1895 and 1897. During his two years in that city, he was listed as the secretary of the “Aspen Trades Assembly”. [11] He visited Leadville once in 1897 while he still lived in Aspen. [12] By late 1898, he was again in Leadville, this time as an employee at the Famous Clothing store. [13] Between 1899 and 1901, Abe was listed as a clerk. During those years, his residence was listed as room 19, 301-303 Harrison Avenue (1899), and Room 20, 301-303 Harrison (1900 and 1901). [14] Rooms 19 and 20 were on the second floor of what was originally the Daniels and Fisher Block on the corner of Harrison Avenue and West 3rd Street (right). This would later become Hyman Isaacs’ department store, and was destined to collapse during the spring of 1919. [15] The Famous was a long-time Jewish owned clothing store which began as Sands and Pelton in 1879, continued under Herman Powell and Richard Metz in the 1880s and later existed under the frenetic leadership of Elias Pelton until at least 1919. [16] The 1900 Census reveals some interesting detail of 301-303 Harrison Avenue. That year, Abe was enumerated as a resident of 301 Harrison Avenue. The upstairs residence was home to 19 boarders including Abe, as well as the building supervisors Sarah and Michael Ford and sister Maggie. Most of the boarders were natural born Americans but there were also one English, and one Canadian immigrant, as well as five Germans and two Swedes. The majority of the boarders were salesmen and merchants; there were also several miners, bartenders, two physicians, a book keeper, one cattle dealer, and one saloon keeper. [17] Nearly all the boarders were single males between the ages of 21 and 47, one was divorced, and one was a widower. There was also one 67-year-old widowed female. The location of the structure is occupied by a parking lot in 2019. Abraham left Leadville for Denver in 1901. He became a resident of Denver in 1902. [18] The 1910 Census enumerated Abe, Morris, and parents Max and Bessie as residents of Downing Avenue in Denver. Abe was listed as a commercial salesman, and both Max and Morris were listed as dry goods merchants. Abe continued to work as a salesman until his death in 1919. Abe’s death occurred in Queens, New York, [19] probably while he was there on a business trip. He was laid to rest in Denver’s Emanuel Cemetery. [20] There is no evidence he ever married. He is buried near his parents who outlived him by nearly 20 years; Max and Bessie both died in the 1930s. [21]
301-303 Harrison Avenue as illustrated in the 1895 Sanborn Fire insurance map. Note the “R’ms & Off’s 2nd” notation.
Sanborn Map & Publishing Company, 1895.
1 JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
2 Year: 1910; Census Place: Denver Ward 9, Denver, Colorado; Roll: T624_116; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 0117; FHL microfilm: 1374129. Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.
3 The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Record Group Title: Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M158; NARA Roll Number: 2 Source Information Ancestry.com. Colorado State Census, 1885 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2006.
4 “Public Notice” Silver Standard, Volume 18, Number 44, September 17, 1904 p.5
5 “Destruction of Silver Plume” Leadville Daily Herald, November 9, 1884 p. 4
6 “Personal” Colorado Miner (Weekly), Volume XIX, Number 9, August 1, 1885 p. 3
7 1888 Leadville City Directory p. 189
8 “Hotel Arrivals” Herald Democrat, July 2, 1905 p. 4
“Personal Mention” Herald Democrat, May 24, 1902 p. 5
9 1889 Leadville City Directory p. 182
10 Ancestry.com. Denver, Colorado City Directory, 1890 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. Original data: Denver City Directory, 1890. Denver, CO, USA: Ballenger and Richards, 1890.
11 “Lodge Directory” Aspen Daily Times, June 19, 1896 p. 7
12 “Personal Mention” Herald Democrat, March 28, 1897 p. 6
13 “Local Brevities” Rocky Mountain Sun, December 3, 1898 p. 3
14 Leadville City Directory 1899, 1900, 1901- p. 219, p. 240, p. 245
15 For more information on the Isaacs see http://jewishleadville.org/isaacs.html
16 For more information on the Famous and Elias Pelton, see http://jewishleadville.org/pelton.html
17 Year: 1900; Census Place: Leadville, Lake, Colorado; Page: 10; Enumeration District: 0046; FHL microfilm: 1240125. Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
18 “Personal Mention” Herald Democrat, May 24, 1902 p. 5
19 Ancestry.com. New York, New York, Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: Index to New York City Deaths 1862-1948. Indices prepared by the Italian Genealogical Group and the German Genealogy Group, and used with permission of the New York City Department of Records/Municipal Archives.
20 Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 26 March 2019), memorial page for Abe Mecklenburg (1870–1919), Find A Grave Memorial no. 170123165, citing Congregation Emanuel Cemetery, Denver, Denver County, Colorado, USA ; Maintained by SwHoot (contributor 49054756) .
21 Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 26 March 2019), memorial page for Bessie Mecklenburg (1850–7 Feb 1938), Find A Grave Memorial no. 170123140, citing Congregation Emanuel Cemetery, Denver, Denver County, Colorado, USA ; Maintained by SwHoot (contributor 49054756) .
Bibliography
Corbett, TB, Hoye, WC and Ballanger, JH. “Corbet, Hoye and Co’s Tenth to Twentieth Annual City Directory: Containing A Complete List Of The Inhabitants, Institutions, Incorporated Companies, Manufacturing Establishments, Business, Business Firms Etc. In The City Of Leadville For 1880-1918”. Democrat Printing Company; Leadville, CO: USA. 1888, 1898-1902.
Ancestry.com. Denver, Colorado City Directory, 1890 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. Original data: Denver City Directory, 1890. Denver, CO, USA: Ballenger and Richards, 1890.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Leadville, Lake County, Colorado. Sanborn Map Company, Oct, 1889. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn01031_001/.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Leadville, Lake County, Colorado. Sanborn Map Company, 1895. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn01031_001/.
Harrison Avenue Leadville 151. Brisbois, Alfred. Colorado Mountain History Collection, Lake County Public Library, Leadville, Colorado http://69.146.43.46:8081/pages/search.php#
Newspapers:
Herald Democrat (Leadville, Lake County, Colorado)
Aspen Daily Times
Rocky Mountain Sun
Colorado Miner (Weekly)
Silver Standard
JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
Year: 1900; Census Place: Leadville, Lake, Colorado; Page: 10; Enumeration District: 0046; FHL microfilm: 1240125. Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
Year: 1910; Census Place: Denver Ward 9, Denver, Colorado; Roll: T624_116; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 0117; FHL microfilm: 1374129. Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.
Ancestry.com. New York, New York, Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: Index to New York City Deaths 1862-1948. Indices prepared by the Italian Genealogical Group and the German Genealogy Group, and used with permission of the New York City Department of Records/Municipal Archives.
Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 26 March 2019), memorial page for Abe Mecklenburg (1870–1919), Find A Grave Memorial no. 170123165, citing Congregation Emanuel Cemetery, Denver, Denver County, Colorado, USA ; Maintained by SwHoot (contributor 49054756) .
Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 26 March 2019), memorial page for Bessie Mecklenburg (1850–7 Feb 1938), Find A Grave Memorial no.170123140, citing Congregation Emanuel Cemetery, Denver, Denver County, Colorado, USA ; Maintained by SwHoot (contributor 49054756) .
To cite any of the information in this biography, please use the following reference.
AUTHOR: Trevor Mark
EDITOR: William Korn
SOURCE: Jewish Surnames/ Mecklenberg
PUBLISHED BY: Temple Israel Foundation. Leadville CO; USA. 2020
STABLE URL: http://www.jewishleadville.org/mecklenberg.html
