1129 Jefferson Ave History - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Specific evidence that Fred Autrey and his wife, Blanche Rabb Autrey, lived in the house could not be located. The 1904 Louisville directory shows that they were living on Main Street in Louisville at the time that they bought 1129 Jefferson, so they may have been its first residents. However, though there are not many sources of information available for the period of Fred Autrey's ownership of 1129 Jefferson, there is some evidence that later, Autrey rented the house out while he himself lived in Superior. There is a case to be made that at the time of the 1910 census, the house was being rented to Joseph and Emma Strutzel and their daughters, Genevieve, age 6, and Dolores, age 5. (This is based on the progression of the census listing of the residents of the houses on the west side of the 1100 block of Jefferson.) Joseph Strutzel's occupation was listed as clothing salesman. The 1916 directory also indicates a possible rental of this house. Residents of 628 Jefferson, which was the historic address of 1129 Jefferson, were Charles and Martha Dameron. Like the Strutzels, they also had their young children living with them. Fred Autrey sold this property, plus the two lots to the north, in 1917 to George Ellsberry (1864-1951) and Mary Kilker Ellsberry (1863-1945). There was a family connection for this transaction, as they were his cousin's wife's parents. Ellsberry Family Ownership, 1917-1952 The owners of this home for the longest period, thirty-five years, were Mary Kilker Ellsberry and George Ellsberry. Mary Kilker was born in Colorado in 1863 and grew up on a farm just south of the Louisville, the daughter of the Irish Kilker family, early settlers of this area. (The old Kilker homestead still stands at Dillon and 104th.) George Ellsberry was born in Ohio in 1864 and came to Colorado. George was a coal miner. The Ellsberrys' adopted daughter, Nellie, who was their only child, married someone who became a prominent business owner in Louisville: Lewton "Lute" McCorkle, owner of McCorkle's grocery store on Main Street (and, like Fred Autrey, a grandson of the founder of Superior, William Hake). For a large portion of the period that the Ellsberrys owned this house, their daughter and son-in-law and granddaughter lived only two houses to the south, at 1101 Jefferson. Other residents of the home at various times during the ownership by the Ellsberrys included Mary's mother, Bridget Kilker (1844-1930), and Mary's brother, John Kilker (1873-1939). In 1931, George Ellsberry sold off lots 9 & 10, and the house at 1131 Jefferson was constructed on them. Prior to the sale, the lots presumably made up part of the yard of 1129 Jefferson. 2