SURNAMES: WASHBURN, MARTIN, WASHBURNE, HUNTER, CALLANAN Charles D.M. WASHBURN was born 12 Aug 1822, Attica, Wyoming county, New York. He married my great-grandmother Mary Jane MARTIN 17 Oct 1865 at Omaha, Douglas county, Nebraska. She is the daughter of John L. and Rebecca (CASKEY) MARTIN, born 5 Jan 1845. There is a twenty-three year difference in their ages. I can not find proof, but I suspect he had a previous family. I can not track him from 1840 when he was unmarried in Attica, NY to 1865 when he got married in Omaha. His marriage record indicates he was from Waukesha county, Wisconsin. I know his father Lewis WASHBURN moved the family there in 1843, but Charles D.M. WASBURN was twenty-one years of age at that point. I do know Charles was a forty-niner, and was involved in the California gold rush, as his son once wrote, but I know no other California details. Charles and Mary Jane lived in Merrick county and Hall county, Nebraska. He was mayor of Grand Island, Nebraska 1878-1880. She divorced him, uncontested, 16 Nov 1882, Laramie, Wyoming. The couple was separated earlier, for on 28 April 1881, the Grand Island Times reports: "C.D.M. Washburne has sold out his property in this city, and will soon depart for Colorado. He will take his teams with him and proposes to work on railroad construction in Colorado, Montana, Idaho and Oregon.. his place will be a hard one to fill.. may he be successful in his new ventures." It seems certain that he didn't leave Grand Island, or if he did leave he came back to Grand Island. His wife Mary Jane moved to Laramie, Albany county, Wyoming in 1881 with the two kids; my grandmother Anna Rebecca WASHBURN, age 13 and Charles WASHBURN, age 8. Mary Jane later married W.J. HUNTER and D. CALLANAN in Laramie. In 1884 the Grand Island Independent reported Charles D.M. WASHBURN would start for Yellowstone country in April 1884. "We will miss him" which seems to indicate he was making a permanent move. Yellowstone country would be the Montana Yellowstone river basin which extends from the park northeasterly to North Dakota where the river joins the Missouri river. This is the route of a railroad under construction about that time. But there is evidence that if he did go to Yellowstone country, he must have returned to Grand Island. He continued to be listed in the annual city directory until 1887 and his livery and freight hauling business until 1891. In 1889 he bought Grand Island property (perhaps some kind of swap deal). The last record of him is in 1891 when he transferred land to the local bank (I dunno why; maybe a foreclosure). After that I have no evidence of him. So what happened to Charles D.M. WASHBURN? Where did he die? Where is he buried? I am pretty sure it was not at Grand Island, Nebraska. Using the "previous family" as a hunch, perhaps he went to be near a child of a previous marriage - could be New York, Wisconsin, California, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, or Oregon. Bear in mind that he was sixty-two years of age in 1884 and a single man. --- John Clement, 6940 E. Girard 205, Denver, CO 80224-2917 Email: jclement@sprynet.com Voice: 303-691-0613 Permanent Email address: johnClem@who.net