Jackson, William S. (William Sharpless), 1836-1919

William Sharpless Jackson was born (1836) and raised in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He served as an apprentice in the machinist trade in Wilmington, Delaware. For the next six years, he engaged in the lumber trade and car industry. Afterwards William S. Jackson worked for the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad Company in Duluth. This job introduced him to William Jackson Palmer, who invited him to work for the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company. In 1871, William S. Jackson moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado to become secretary and treasurer of the Denver Rio Grande Railway.

William S. Jackson took part in the founding of Colorado Springs. In 1872, he became vice-president of the railroad company. The next year he founded the El Paso Bank (later the El Paso County National Bank) and the First National Bank of Colorado Springs. In 1874, he served the founder and original Trustee for Colorado College. William S. Jackson retired from his position at the Denver and Rio Grande Railway in 1876 to devote his attention to the El Paso County Bank. In 1884, he took part in the founding of the Denver National Bank. During the same year, the U.S. District Court appointed him receiver of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company. He served as receiver for two years. In 1911, he resigned from his positions at both banks. Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, William S. Jackson engaged in mining enterprises, business ventures and real estate. After his retirement, he continued to develop his numerous investments.

In 1875, William S. Jackson married Helen Marie Fiske Hunt, a noted western author. Their marriage lasted ten years, until the death of Helen Marie Fiske Hunt Jackson in 1885. In 1888, William S. Jackson married Helen Fiske Banfield (his first wife’s niece). They had seven children: William S., Helen, Everett, Roland, Edith, Gardner and Margaret (who died at nine months). Helen Fiske Banfield Jackson died in 1899. Edith Colby Banfield (aunt Kitty) helped Jackson raise the children until her death in 1903. Shortly afterwards William S. Jackson hired a nanny, Dora Jones, to assist with the children’s upbringing. William S. Jackson died in 1919.