844 W Spruce St History - Laserfiche WebLink

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Sam Sidle was born in 1885 in Holywell, Northumberland, England. His father was an English coal miner, and Sam himself was working as a miner by the age of 15. Records indicate that Sam Sidle arrived in Canada, then crossed to the US at the port of Vancouver in 1916. His final destination as listed on the passenger list was Louisville, where his brother was already living. The 1920 census shows Sidle to be working as a single coal miner and boarding at the Centennial Mine. Soon, however, he married a woman from England who was seven years older than he was. Census records show that she arrived in the US in 1920. Mary Elizabeth's maiden name is not known. The 1930 and 1940 census records show Samuel and Mary Elizabeth Sidle to be living at the location of what is now 844 W. Spruce, which they owned. It is believed that they did not have children. Both sets of census records list Sidle as being a coal miner, but the fact that he and his wife also owned a small farm suggests that they also engaged in farming. This activity may have helped tide them over in the summers when the coal mines closed. The following photo is an image of Sam Sidle taken from a large group portrait of miners at the Monarch Mine in 1942: Local directories show that in the 1950s, the Sidles lived in Lafayette and Sam Sidle worked at the Eagle Mine. They continued to own the farm at 844 W. Spruce during that time. Sam Sidle died in 1961. Mary Elizabeth Sidle sold the property in 1963. She died in 1965. An effort was made to locate a Boulder County Assessor card for this property by doing several searches, but one could not be located, so no photo of the house in 1948 or later is available.