Anna Louise (McCluskey) Alexander (abt. 1851 - 1888)

Born about 1851 in Toronto, Canada

Wife of John Charles Alexander — married 1872 in Toronto, Canada

Descendants

Died 19 Mar 1888 at about age 37 in Denver, CO

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Anna Louise McClusky Alexander

According to John and Anna's 1870 marriage certificate, Anna's parents were Robert and Sarah McCluskey (both born in Ireland.) It also states that Anna was born in Toronto, Canada and that she was 22 (b. 1848) when she married in York Co (Toronto), Ontario, Canada on 26 Jul 1870. Other records including census and her children's birth certificates that give her age in later years vary as to when she was born.

Anna Alexander's obituary states she was 37 years old at time of her death in 1888 (born 1851). Birth certificates of two of her children give conflicting ages for Anna at the time of their births. According to her daughter's birth certificate, she was 20 yrs. old in 1873 (i.e. born 1853). However, her son's birth certificate in 1883 states that she was 37 that year (i.e. born 1846.) These birth certificates were issued years later (1939 and 1942 respectively), the information provided by the children themselves, thus accuracy is questionable.

Based on census records, the couple went first to Chicago where their two eldest children were born. In 1880 they were living in Buffalo, NY, along with his sister and her family (Bicknell). Their 3 yr old daughter is listed as born in Canada. From Buffalo, it was an easy trip back to Toronto where 3rd child Etta was born in 1877,

That same year-1880-, the Alexanders decided to head west to Colorado, then in the throes of a major mining frenzy. According to daughter Etta, (who was only 3 at the time), the family traveled by covered wagon (though there was a train by then). Colorado had been a state for only 4 years when the Alexanders arrived and Denver was a new and relatively wild and wooly western town of some 35,000 people.

In various records, John listed his occupation as a stage carpenter in the theater. According to his obituary, he was a stage constructor at the Leadville opera house and the Tabor Grand Opera house in Denver, and became the master mechanic at Elitches Garden Auditorium in 1890, when Elitches was first built. Thus we can assume that he first went to Leadville but by 1885 was living in Denver. Whether or not the entire family lived in Leadville in the early 1880s is not known.

From both Anna and John's obits, we know that the Alexanders knew and worked for Horace Tabor, one of the most well-known and colorful figures of early Colorado history. Tabor was one of the few prospectors who struck it rich in Leadville, becoming one of the wealthiest and most influential men in Colorado. He was elected Lieutenant governor, and was appointed to serve out a senatorial term for another man. He was especially interested in investing in the future of Denver and Colorado. In 1879, Tabor built the Tabor Opera House in Leadville "one of the finest west of the Mississppi" to provide some touches of civilization and culture. It was the second theater in the state (the first being in Central City another gold mining town) and John Alexander built the stage sets.

Having made his fortune, Tabor moved to Denver, where he invested in a number of commercial buildings and put up the money to built Colorado’s 3rd theater in Denver, the Tabor Grand Opera House. Again he turned to John Alexander whom he had hired previously in Leadville. The Tabor Grand Opera House has since been torn down but the Leadville Opera House is still standing.

When Anna died at the young age of 37, probably in childbirth, the Tabors (then Senator & his infamous wife, Baby Doe) and Mrs. John Elitch of Elitches Gardens sent beautiful floral arrangements for her funeral.

Obit - Rocky Mountain News, March 22, 1888 "Anna Louise Alexander died on the nineteenth instant, after a brief illness. She was the wife of Mr. John C. Alexander, the stage manager for the Tabor Grand opera house. In her demise a most estimable lady is lost to a large circle of friends. She was a loving and faithful wife, and her motherly ministrations extended far beyond the portals of her own household. She was always generous and charitable, and her image will ever be held dear to those who were so fortunate as to have known her. She will be sadly missed by the employes of the opera house, who were wont to gather 'round her table and partake of the good cheer and hospitality which none better than she knew how to provide. She was 37 years old at the time of her death, and had been married sixteen years. She was the mother of three promising children, the youngest of which is four years old. She could look back on her sixteen years as a wife and mother as years of joy and happiness."

Rocky Mountain News, Friday, March 23, 1888 p.2 col. 3.

"Mrs. Alexander's Funeral.

Services Conducted by Dean Hart--Handsome Floral Offerings.

The funeral services of the late Anna Louise Alexander were held at the family residence yesterday afternoon at 2 o'clock, Rev. Dean Hart officiating. There was a large number of friends of the deceased present. The floral offerings were numerous and costly. Senator and Mrs. Tabor sent a magnificent design representing "Gates Ajar," composed of carnations, chrysanthemums, Marechal Neil and pearl roses, white hyacinths, ferns and smilax, Mrs. John Elitch, a large pillar of sweet lisam, beautifully decorated with brides pearl and Marechal Neil roses. The attaches of the theater sent as their tribute a lyre of solid cut roses and large basket of cut roses and white hyacinth. Mr. and Mrs. Darby sent an exquisite star of heliotrope and sweet lisam, also a cross of lilies and ferns."

Anna was buried in Riverside Cemetery, Denver, CO with husband John C. Alexander, daughter Anna Mae Alexander Davis and her husband, Felix C. Davis (cremated) and son Frank R. Alexander. No headstone for any of the graves. Cemetery records note that John C. Alexander -age 64, was interred on May 5, 1908. Anna Louise McCluskey Alexander, age 37, was originally buried March 22, 1888 in the Bicknell-McCormick plot (her sister-in-law's plot) but was moved in 1909 to the same plot with husband.

Sources

Find A Grave Memorial# 145232988

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