Nellis E. Corthell (1861-1938) was born in Cattaraugus County, New York, and came to Wyoming circa 1880. After working briefly on a ranch, he began studying law in the office of Laramie, Wyoming, attorney Stephen W. Downey and was admitted to the bar in 1883. Corthell first joined Downey’s law firm, establishing his own practice in 1887. In 1914 the firm of Corthell, McCollough, and Corthell was formed, with the other partners being his son Morris E. Corthell and A.W. McCollough. N.E. Corthell was an authority on water rights and held business interests in several Laramie companies, including the Laramie Boomerang, a newspaper which he owned from 1890 to 1911. He married Eleanor (Nellie) Quackenbush in 1885. She died in 1922. The couple’s children were: Evelyn (b. 1886, m. John A. Hill), Morris Eliot (b. 1887), Miriam (Mim, b. 1889, m. Thayer Burgess and Hugh Moreland), Gladys (1890-1925, m. Wilbur Hitchcock), Robert Clinton (Robin, b. 1891), Huron DeWitt (b. 1893), and Irving Eugene (1894-1957).
From the guide to the N. E. Corthell family papers, circa 1868-1960, 1890-1918, (University of Wyoming. American Heritage Center.)
