Gustave Jelenko
Born: 1855, Vienna, Austria
Died: July 14, 1879, Kokomo, Colorado
Occupation: Merchant in Kokomo

Frederick “Fred” Jelenko
Born:
Died:
Occupation: Co-owner of a clothing and dry goods store

The Jelenko surname in Leadville includes two brothers, Gustave and Frederick (“Fred”). Detailed information about the brothers in early Leadville is sparse due to the absence of documented resources, particularly newspapers and city directories. [1]

While the year Fred Jelenko arrived in the area is unknown, he was in Leadville by at least 1878. Fred had an undetermined business within the Robinson Block [2] located at the corner of Chestnut Street and Pine Street. [3] A photograph by Manitou Springs, Colorado, [4] photographer James Thomas Thurlow shows a long, narrow sign presenting “F. Jelenko” running perpendicular off the northwest corner of the Robinson building over the sidewalk. This business operated there through 1878 [5] which is the last known date [6] he was in the Robinson building.

The 1879 Leadville city directory revealed that Fred established a business partnership with Joseph Freudenfeld [7] for a clothing and dry goods store. This new venture shared the same building as the Grand Hotel, at 11 West Chestnut Street [8] near Pine Street, which was a few doors east from the Robinson Block. The directory also showed that each of their residential addresses were the same as the business address. [9] They likely inhabited the Grand Hotel. Inn lodging was not uncommon during this era and maintaining a business and a residence in the same building would have been convenient.

Through March and April of 1879, The Daily Chronicle published a series of freight notifications that included the Freudenfeld & Jelenko business in the lists.

The notification published on March 12th stated, “The following goods, consigned to True & Sutton, left Colorado Springs, March 5:” with “Freudenfield & J.” listed as the receiver. The notification on March 23rd stated:

“Goods consigned to True & Sutton are on the way from Colorado Springs for the following parties:
Loaded March 19th: [names include] Freudenfeld & Co.
Loaded March 18th: [names include] Freudenfeld & J
Loaded March 15th: [names include] Freudenfeld & J
Loaded March 16th: [names include] Freudenfeld & J [and] F Jelenko” [10]

A photograph by Manitou Springs photographer, James Thomas Thurlow, showed a long, narrow sign showing “F. Jelenko” running perpendicular off the northwest corner of the Robinson building over the sidewalk.

Public domain photograph from the New York Public Library.

Detail of the stereoview showing the painted sign of “F. Jelenko” off the corner of the Robinson building.

Public domain photograph from the New York Public Library.

Between mid-May and early June of 1879, Freudenfeld & Jelenko The Daily Chronicle published a series of identical classified listings that have no further explanation:

WANTED—A bright and intelligent boy,
about fifteen or seventeen years of age.
Apply to FREUDENFELD & JELENKO,
Chestnut street. [11]

Between mid-May and early June of 1879, Freudenfeld & Jelenko published in The Daily Chronicle a series of these identical classified listings.

Wanted. The Daily Chronicle. Monday, June 9, 1879. Page 1.

Fred served on the arrangement committee for the acquisition of Leadville’s first fire wagon (referred to as a “truck” in the newspaper) for the Harrison Hook & Ladder Company.

It would be kept at the new building on dedicated land fronting Chestnut Street which had been donated by Mr. Harrison, [12] the likely sponsor of the Harrison Hook & Ladder Company.

Fred’s brother, Gustave, was born in 1855 in Vienna, Austria. He came to the Leadville area in March of 1879 and resided in the newly formed town of Kokomo. While Gustave was a prominent merchant there, the extent of his activities is largely unknown aside from an interest in town property and some mining pursuits. However, Gustave, was apparently quite busy in his first few months in the Kokomo community with the Leadville Daily Chronicle noting that with “…his energy and public spirit… [Kokomo] is indebted for much of its present prosperity”. [14]

Gustave, along with five others, published a formal endorsement of Captain A.C. Smith as a mayoral candidate for the town of Kokomo in the Leadville Daily Herald. The same article also documents Captain Smith’s reply, which was to deny the request in consideration of other obligations. [15] Captain Amos C. Smith [16] is credited with founding the town of Kokomo. [17]

Gustave’s life was sadly cut short in July of 1879 when he never awoke from an overdose of morphine. [18] The day after his funeral, The Daily Chronicle published this obituary:

A Large Funeral.

One of the largest private funeral processions ever seen on the streets of Leadville was that for the late Gustave Jelenko yesterday. Mr. Jelenko was a prominent merchant at Kokomo where he died Monday from an over dose of morphine, taken to quiet a pain of neuralgia. It put him to sleep from which he never awoke. Mr. [Fred] Jelenko, the well known Chestnut street merchant in this city, was a brother of the deceased. The funeral procession came from Kokomo yesterday morning, and the burial was in the Leadville cemetery. Deceased was born in the city of Vienna, Austria, twenty four years ago. He came to Leadville in March last, and was one of the first settlers in Kokomo, and to his energy and public spirit that town is indebted for much of its present prosperity. He was largely interested in town property as well as in several mines in the vicinity. [19]

Gustave’s obituary clearly stated that the funeral proceeded from Kokomo and that Gustave was to be buried in the “Leadville cemetery”, of which there was only one at the time, located on the edge of town at the far end of West Chestnut Street. Unfortunately, early caretakers of the cemetery kept poor records, [20] if any at all. Later documentation of interments was extensive but recorded weeks before Gustave’s death. The cemetery underwent a transition in 1879; limited burial space, the busy location, unpleasant surroundings, [21] and the past mismanagement of the cemetery sparked continual criticism for a new and proper cemetery [22] elsewhere. [23] However, burials continued there until early November of 1879. [24] In mid 1879, a new cemetery location was identified north of Capitol Hill, which would carry the name “Evergreen Cemetery”. The Leadville Weekly Herald reported on the progress of the new cemetery:

Obituary for Gustave Jelenko published in The Daily Chronicle on July 16, 1879.

A Large Funeral. The Daily Chronicle. Wednesday, July 16, 1879. Page 1.

The ground has been surveyed and located, and a strong force of men have been busily engaged during the past week in preparing these grounds for the reception of the dead...

… Nature in her most saintly mood could not have created a fairer spot than this… [25]

According authors Don and Jean Griswold, in their book, History of Leadville and Lake County, Colorado: From Mountain Solitude to Metropolis, the Carbonate Chronicle newspaper published the following article on October 22, 1879:

The committee from the Hebrew Benevolent Association held a meeting last evening [October 21] at the office of Joseph Samuels, and Messrs. B. Loeb and Jacobs were appointed to select a suitable site for a cemetery. These gentlemen entered upon the duties today and are inspecting vacant plats in different portions of the suburbs. They require about four acres and desire to find it as near the city as possible, that the transit to and from may not be impeded by snow in the winter. The proposed burial ground is intended for Jews in general and will be owned and controlled by the Hebrew Benevolent Association recently organized in this city. [30]

The committee ultimately secured a subset of land, in the southwest corner of the newly established Evergreen Cemetery, for a Jewish necropolis. Once the land was prepared and appropriately consecrated, Gustave Jelenko was reinterred at the Hebrew Cemetery [31] likely according to Jewish customs.

Grave plot with eroded original marker and modern marker for Gustave Jelenko in the Hebrew Cemetery.

Temple Israel Foundation photo taken by Robert-George de Stolfe, 2014.

Closeup photo of the modern marker for Gustave Jelenko in the Hebrew Cemetery.

Temple Israel Foundation photo taken by Robert-George de Stolfe, 2014.

According to the 1880 Leadville city directory, Frederick resided at 136 E 8th Street. [32] While Fred does not appear in the city directories after 1880, other records reveal his attention to his interests in Leadville for several more years.

A legal notice in the Leadville Daily Herald revealed that Freudenfeld & Jelenko had some legal matters by the filing of a suit on January 8, 1881: “—A suit entitled The Bank of Leadville vs. Daniel E. Park, assignee of Freudenfeld & Jelenko, was filed in the district court yesterday.” [33]

This trial proceeded on January 20, 1881, with the court proceedings published by the Leadville Daily Herald the following day:

“685. D. E. Parks, assignee of Messrs. Fruedenfeld and Jelenko vs. L. R. Tucker, sheriff, occupied all of yesterday in the trial thereof. It was very hotly contested all through. The suit arose from an attachment having been made upon the goods which Mr. Parks was in possession of, for the benefit of some of the eastern creditors. This is a replevin suit to recover possession of the goods or their value and one thousand dollars damages for the detention thereof. During the trial strenuous efforts were made to introduce evidence to show that Mr. Parks and Freudenfeld and Jelenko were conspiring to defraud the creditors, but the court ruled out the testimony, it not being proper to show the fraud of Freudenfeld and Jelenko prior to the assignment to Mr. Parks. Mr. G. G. White made a very excellent speech, in favor of the plaintiff, followed by a masterly effort on the part of Mr. Robt. Thompson for defendant, considering that the law of the [cam?] was against him. Mr. P. M. Patterson closed for Mr. Parks in his noted style. The jury retired at about 6:15 and returned at 7:30 with a verdict in favor of the plaintiff that the goods should be returned to Mr. Parks, as assignee, or that in default thereof he should recover $7,946.20, the value of the goods, and also one thousand as damages for the detention of the same.” [34]

This summary of the resulting replevin suit [35] makes no mention of why Sheriff Tucker thought that Freudenfeld & Jelenko’s eastern creditors were being defrauded, prompting Tucker to confiscate the company’s goods. However, the jury favored the plaintiff, D. E. Parks, assignee for Freudenfeld & Jelenko. Because Parks served as proxy, it is likely that both Freudenfeld and Jelenko left Leadville prior to the trial. What became of the business afterwards is unknown as both Freudenfeld and Jelenko prove absent from the city directories following 1880.

Freudenfeld & Jelenko had some legal matters in 1881. The trial was on January 20, 1881 with the court proceedings published in the Leadville Daily Herald the next day.

District Court. Leadville Daily Herald. Friday, January 21, 1881. Page 4.

Nearly a year later, identical notices of forfeiture due to nonpayment for assessment work on Fred’s mining claims appeared in The Leadville Daily Herald between January 6 and April 6 of 1882, the required posting period:

Notice of Forfeiture.

To H. Benedick, F. Jelenko,—Freudenfeldt, S. M. Fisher, John Walker—You are hereby notified that the undersigned have expended $201.25 on the Mary and Resurrection lodes, both situated in California mining district, Lake county, Colorado, as assessment work for the year 1881. If within ninety days after this notice you fail or refuse to contribute your proportion of such expenditure as co-owners, your interest in the above claims will become the property of the undersigned under section 2324 of the United States statutes.

W. B. Johnson,
John R. Thomas,
Max Boehmer,
L. H. Wilmot,
C. F. Gilbert,
J. U. Gabathuler,
and others.
(First insertion Jan. 6—last April 6.) [36]

This notice suggests that Fred was probably not physically present in Leadville. Between the suit and the failure to pay for his share of the assessment work, the date of his apparent departure appears to be prior to 1881.

A different mining claim document showing “Receipt No. 791” [37] was filed at the land office with the paperwork activity published in the Leadville Daily Herald on October 19, 1882. The details of the receipt showed Fred Jelenko had partnered with Joseph Freudenfeld, William McClellen, Willard Teller, and Henry M. Teller [38] for the transferred ownership of the Arctic Lode. [39]

No other records were found regarding Fred Jelenko in Leadville following 1882. However, the above mining claim for the Artic Lode does suggest Fred had additional business in Leadville.