 |
| Harrison Avenue, Leadville, Colorado 1880 |
The west was romanticized with tales of common men finding riches beyond their wildest imaginations, ambitions that could become reality over night. Margaret had dreamed of marrying a rich man who could afford her family the comfortable lifestyle her father and mother never had. At age eighteen, Margaret ventured west with her brother Daniel Tobin. Leadville, the City of Clouds, was a bustling mining town, overrun with those who had come to seek their fortune in the mines. "Harrison Avenue was clogged with a steady stream of freight wagons, burrow trains, two- and four horse carriages,tramps, prospectors,speculators, street girls, miners,tradesmen, fine suited businessmen, and dusty cowboys." [1] Harrison was a dirt laden road. There was nothing missing for excitement in Leadville, in 1879 they "boasted 120 saloons, 59 boarding houses, 3 daily newspapers, 2 weekly newspapers, 118 gambling houses and private club rooms, 36 houses of prostitution, and 47 lawyers. Four public school teachers and five ministers tended to the gentler side of life." [2] Leadville was known as the Silver Capitol, mining for silver, lead, and copper had been successful in the mines.
She lived with her brother Daniel, who had taken up employment at the mines. Maggie found employment at Daniels, Fisher and Smith's Emporium. She worked as a seamstress in the carpet and drapery department, sewing rugs, shades, and draperies for the store. There were wild tales told later about Margaret working as a saloon girl but these were more than likely rumors of vicious nature as Maggie was very strong in her Catholic faith and detested alcohol.
It was at a church picnic that she would meet James Joseph Brown, affectionately referred to throughout history as "J.J. Brown". J.J. was also described by many as "intelligent, gregarious, and very ambitious", but unfortunately for Margaret his financial situation was similar to hers, he was poor. J.J. was a young mining engineer, born in Wymert Pennsylvania on September 27, 1854. Like Maggie's, his father, James Brown was an Irish immigrant. His mother, Cecelia Palmer was a school teacher, and much like the Tobin family the Browns had advocated the importance of education. J.J. had acquired a high school level education in Pittston, Pennsylvania. J.J. was described as an ambitious man with a mining bug- starting in the coal mines fields of his home state of Pennsylvania and eventually leading him toward the gold rush of the Dakota's Black Hills. He would eventually land in Leadville for a short time, leaving to tour around Georgetown, Gunnison, Aspen, and Ashcroft following his dreams of mining riches. He would eventually go back to Leadville where he would take up his first job as a miner in 1885 . He would progress quickly through the ranks with his knowledge and skill; shift-boss, timberman, foreman, and eventually in 1887 a superintendent at the Louisville Mine. In 1888 he would become the Henriette & Maid Mine Consolidated Mining Company's superintendent.
J.J. was smitten by Margaret, despite her dreams of marrying rich. Maggie would laughingly account later,
"I wanted a rich man, but I loved Jim Brown. I thought about how I wanted comfort for my
father and how I had determined to stay single until a man presented himself who could give the
tired old man the things I longed for him. Jim was poor as we were, and had no better chance in
life. I struggled hard with myself those days. Finally I decided that I'd be better off with a poor
man whom I loved than with a wealthy one whose money had attracted me. So I married Jim
Brown." [3]
 |
| Brown Family- Molly Brown House Museum Postcard |
The couple courted for about 6 months. On the first of September in 1886 Maggie and J.J. were wed at the Annunciation Church by Catholic priest, Father Henry Robinson. J.J. was 31 years of age, and Maggie a youthful 19 years. Thomas Greely, a local barber was J.J's best man and Margaret Boylan, a housemaid, was Maggie's bride's maid. "Among the many gifts received by the couple was, appropriately, a solid silver tea service presented by miners of the Louisville Mine. Following the trout dinner at Evergreen Lakes, Maggie and J.J. spent their honeymoon at Twin Lakes, one of the most popular summer resorts in the area." [4] Maggie and J.J. lived on Iron Hill near the mines where J.J. was mining, this was not uncommon for mining men and their families. Leadville was known for its harsh cold winters, living near the mines saved them from long and dangerous commutes to the mines. Their first home was a small 2 room log cabin. Maggie and J.J. had their first child, Lawrence Palmer, on August 30, 1887. Shortly after moving to Leadville they would move one more time, to what would remain their permanent Leadville residence at 300 East 7th South. Not long after they moved, Maggie would give birth to their second child, Catherine Ellen, who was always referred to as Helen. Much of Margaret's family had moved to Leadville from Hannibal."Surrounded by her successful husband, young babies, and family, these were, Maggie would later say, the happiest years of her life". [5]
1- Iverson, Kristen. Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth. Boulder, Colorado: Johnson Books, 1999, pg 82
2-Ibid, pg 83.
3-Lohse, Joyce B. Unsinkable: The Molly Brown Story.Palmer Lake, Colorado: Filter Press Books, 2006, pg.13-14.
4-Whitacre, Christine. Molly Brown: Denver's Unsinkable Lady. Denver Colorado: Historic Denver, Inc. 1984, pg.17.
5-Ibid, pg 17.
6-"[Harrison Avenue, Leadville, Colorado]," in Heritage West, Item #79243, http://cdp.coalliance.org/items/show/79243 (accessed April 23, 2012).
