Weatherly, Margaret Enright, 1864-

Dr. Edward Christopher Weatherly was one of 13 children born to an aristocratic English family on June 2, 1855, at Portishead, Somerset, England. Dr. Weatherly's early ancestors were freeholders in England, and were among the distinguished assembly who marched to London to demand their rights as citizens from King John in 1215. Those rights were embodied in the historic Magna Carta. Weatherly's grandfather was a partner of Sir James McKenzie, the engineer who built the Great Western Railroad, and of MacAdam of Macadam roads.

Dr. Weatherly was a graduate of Oxford University as a Doctor of Medicine. During his young manhood, he traveled extensively throughout the world. In October, 1888, he immigrated to the United States, where he abandoned the practice of medicine to become a newspaper writer and an expert on mining matters. After living in New York and California for several years, Dr. Weatherly located in Ouray, Colorado, in 1907. During this period he was associated with Frank A. Wright in a mines and investments business headquartered at Chicago, Illinois, and he continued in this line of work, minus the association with Wright, throughout his years in the San Juans. During his twenty-seven years residence, he became an authority on mining development and mining economics with particular reference to the Silverton-Telluride-Ouray (Colorado) districts of the San Juan mining region. He studied and wrote papers on these topics and was a member and promoter of many mining development companies.

Dr. Weatherly married Margaret A. Enright of Calistoga, Napa County, California, on April 16, 1890, in the City Hall of San Francisco in the presence of a justice of the peace. They were re-married in November, 1896, by the Rev. Father McGinty of Holy Cross Church, San Francisco. All records of the marriage were destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. There were no children.

Margaret Weatherly was born January 16, 1864, in Port Henry, New York, and later moved with her parents and five brothers and sisters to California. She was a woman of exceptional attainments. Her correspondence, religious writings, domestic articles, poetry and music are included in the collection.

The Weatherly's best efforts and most earnest prayers did not bring financial reward. Edward at one point wrote that "we have been ... there many years waiting and hoping ... [that] some rich financiers will come this way and investigate and see for themselves what wealth is here [in our mining claims]. So little would satisfy us, if only it were enough to enable us to go back to England, and just live out our closing years in the dear old village again."

One of Dr. Weatherly's brothers, Frederick Edward, was the composer of "Roses of Picardy," "Holy City," "Star of Bethlehem," "Danny Boy" and many other famous ballads and poems.

Weatherly died of pneumonia December 3, 1934, in Ouray.

From the guide to the Edward Christopher Weatherly Papers, 1890-1936, (University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. Archives Dept.)