by Charles L. Ralph
***************
The Daily News, Denver, 20 Feb 1909: "Success in one of its most dazzling forms has come to Caroline Skelton, formerly of Colorado, but now one of the bright particular stars in the Parisian musical firmament. She has been engaged at the Grand Opera in Paris, and will make her debut some time this spring in "Thais." Known in Europe under her stage name Marguerite Starelle, this young Colorado woman in a few years has had a most remarkable career. She has developed one of the highest soprano voices in the world, reaching clearly and with power the C above high C. But a few years ago she was living on a ranch near Denver, helping her husband in a rather unequal struggle with the world. Since she went abroad she has studied unremittingly and the present high position she has achieved she owes as much to her pluck and persistence as to her wonderful voice... Last spring she enjoyed a sensational triumph in her appearance as Mimi in "La Boheme" at Versailles... Less than ten years ago... she went to New York, where she became the pupil of Isador Luckstone... She spent four years in New York, and when she went to Paris three years ago she did not even know the French language... It is understood that Hammerstein has been desirous of adding the songbird from Colorado to the tuneful aggregation which makes up his grand Italian Opera company."
New
York Times, 26 Sep 1909: "The identity of the young opera singer
whose beauty and surpassing voice have won the admiration of Paris and
all Europe for more than a year has finally been solved. Marguerite
Starrel (sic) is Mrs. Boyd Skelton, wife of a former ranchman near
Littleton, and now a Denver contractor. All that is known of her in
Paris is that she is a recently discovered singing genius who came from
somewhere out of the great West of America and that she is the
protégé
of Mrs. Walter S. Cheesman, Mrs. O. E. Lefevere, Mrs. William G. Evans,
wives of millionaires, and other prominent Denver women. Before her
marriage Mrs. Skelton was Caroline Oliver...." Ibid., 2 Jan
1912: "Few New Year concerts and entertainments in the past have
equaled
the one given today in the chapel of the County Jail by members of the
Chicago Grand Opera Company... Miss Starrell (sic) sang old
English songs that brought tears to the eyes of of many
prisoners." Ibid.,
3 Mar
1912: "The last series of Winter musicals took place on Friday evening
at the Country Club [in Lakewood]. The programme submitted was of a
very high musical standard, and there were more than the usual numbers
of subscribers in attendance. The soloists were Mlle. Marguerite
Starrell, soprano of the Philadelphia-Chicago Grand Opera,
and William Earl Cartwright, baritone with Mrs. W. S. Nelson, pianist."
Ibid., 10 Nov 1912: The Volpe Symphony Orchestra... will
begin
a week's tour tomorrow in Pennsylvania. The soloists will be Marguerite
Starell (sic), soprano, of the Philadelphia-Chicago Opera
Company..."Record Journal of Douglas County (Castle Rock), 8 Sep 1916: "Boyington Skelton, wealthy and aged rancher, has filed for divorce from Mrs. Marguerite Starelle (sic) Skelton, the young opera singer, who has been absent from her husband for ten years. Mrs. Skelton now is in Paris, France... Mrs. Skelton came to Denver from Sweden and took work in the home of Mr. Skelton as housemaid. He was wealthy and she was poor. He heard her singing about the house and realized that she had a wonderful voice. He made her his wife, and sent her abroad to have her voice trained. She succeeded from the start. She wished to rival Melba and other great opera singers and has, in a measure, done so. After her musical education had been finished under [Jean] De Reszke in Paris, Mrs. Skelton sang in the National Theater of that city, and later with the Metropolitan Grand Opera Company in New York. but while his wife was spending her husband's money in completing her education, he was having trouble at home. He engaged in litigation over his ranch near Littleton, which had been left to him by his mother, who was said to be the first white woman to settle the upper Platte. His wife came to his aid and furnished money from her salary to aid him. He finally won the suit. Mrs. Skelton then returned to the stage and sang in all of the large American and European cities. That was ten years ago. He waited for her return but the lure of her career kept her away. Desertion for more than one year is the only charge made in the complaint. They were married August 14, 1897." Littleton Independent, 15 Dec 1916: "Boyington Skelton, of Denver, former Arapahoe county citizen and owner of the beautiful Skelton ranch north of Littleton, was granted a divorce in Denver last Saturday from his wife, Carolina Skelton [Marguerite Starell]. Mrs. Skelton, during the past few years, has gained fame as a grand opera singer in Paris, France, and other attractions soon parted the couple from home ties, which finally resulted in a divorce. Mrs. Skelton is at present in Paris. She did not contest the suit. Fairplay Flume, 15 Dec 1916: An usual romance came to an end in Denver when District Judge Perry granted a divorce to Boyington Skelton, an Arapahoe county ranchman and contractor, from Marguerite Starells (sic), on the technical ground of desertion. Mrs. Skelton is now a grand opera singer in Paris."
Marguerite Starell died in January 1970 in Greenwich, Connecticut, at 92 years of age. Presumably an obituary was not published, for a search of newspapers in the area and of that time yielded none. Greatness is often and soon forgotten.
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Excerpts from
articles in the Aspen
Weekly
Times about Lottie B. Wustum, a contralto: Apr 22, 1882:
"Last Saturday evening the beautiful hall of
Corkhill's opera house contained an audience which for numbers and
enthusiasm has never before been gathered in Aspen, the occasion being
the concert given by Mrs, Wustum, assisted by several ladies and
gentlemen in vocal and instrumental music and recitations." (Corkhill's
Opera House was built in 1881 and was succeeded by the Wheeler
Opera House in 1889.) Nov 5, 1883: "Mrs. Lottie Wustum,
the well known songstress, returned to Aspen on Friday evening, in
answer to a dispatch received while in Louisville, Kentucky, stating
that her mother was very low and that she must return immediately if
she wished to see her again. Since last July she has been traveling
with the Chicago Ideal Opera Company, rendering the principal operettas
in the more important cities in the western states and in Texas as far
down as Galveston, Mrs. Wustum taking the principal contralto parts.
The Chicago Ideal Opera Company... was formerly the Chicago Church
Choir Co. and is composed of the society young ladies and gentlemen of
Chicago." (The Chicago Ideal Opera Co. performed at the Tabor Grand in
Denver in December, 1883. The company later was called The
Bostonians.) Nov 5,
1883: "Mrs. Wustum was greeted with the old-time
enthusiasm of last year, and we will say that we never enjoyed music
more, her musical education, wonderful compass and control of voice,
are beyond question the accomplishments of a great singer." Sep 6,
1884: "Mrs. Lottie B. Wustum has left camp to join her troup of
singers at Kansas City. She will travel all winter."***************
Eulalie Mackechnie Shinn, the Mayor's wife, and her troupe of ladies in The Music Man, entertained the citizens of River City with Delsartean acting-- popular among American women of the time, characterized by assuming attitudes or artistic poses and stylized dances. Colorado had a noted Delsartean, Susa Carpenter of Grand Junction, who was hailed in 1896 by the Silverton Standard as "Colorado's greatest impersonator and Delsartean artist." Susa, the daughter of W. T. Carpenter, president of the Little Book Cliff Railway, performed to great acclaim in the 1890s and 1900s in many of the cities of the state. One of her performances in Telluride included "a very difficult production, 'An English Railway Station,' which gave full play to her powers of mimicry and imitation." "In 'Our Hir'd Girl,' she essayed a juvenilistic role to which she was compelled to respond to a hearty encore." "Her graceful motions were perfect harmony and rhythm exemplified..." The Colorado Springs Gazette report of Ms. Carpenter's performance at the opera house in 1898 enthused that "Her instant transitions from tragedy to comedy, from mirthfulness to the pathetic, with gesture and facial expression that told more than half, were overwhelming testimony to the versatility of this young actress."
Susa continued in Delsartism but also impressively added singing to her repertoire, making appearances throughout the state, including the Dickens Opera House in Longmont in 1908 and in the newly completed Denver Auditorium in July of that year, where she performed for the Democratic National Convention. Susa was described in the Breckenridge Bulletin in 1908 as "a dramatic soprano with a fine voice, well cultivated. Her studies and career abroad have met with success and she is shortly to return to Rome, where she is under contract with the National Italian Theater to appear in grand opera."
***************
Asa F. Middaugh, from Erie, Pennsylvania, walked from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Denver in 1860. He began a long and successful business career by mining and hauling coal to Denver. The next year, Asa homesteaded 160 acres, on which he later built a residence for his family, and engaged in stock raising and freighting between Denver and Missouri River points. For 8 years, beginning in 1866, he was a merchant in
Elizabethtown and Cimarron, NM, and also a
banker in
Cimarron. In 1875 he opened a mercantile store in Del Norte, where in
1882 he also opened the Bank of Del Norte. Additionally, Asa acquired
a horse
ranch and several farms in the San Luis Valley. While in Cimarron he
had married Amelie Siever, born in St. Louis, and from this
union were born five children, among them Florence Siever Middaugh,
born in Del Norte in 1884.In 1905 Florence Middaugh was sent to New York for voice training, where she studied for 4 years with Dennis Meaghan. Florence and her mother came from Denver to spend the month of August, 1906, in Del Norte, and again spent part of the summer of 1909 there. When she gave a recital at Central Christian Church in Denver in September, 1909, with pianist Evelyn Crawford and cellist Fred J. Houseley, Florence was described as having "one of the greatest contralto voices in the world" with "a voice notable for its range and quality of tone." In October, the Red Men Opera House in Durango was filled by an appreciative audience where, "arrayed in robes of becoming color and luster, the singer [Florence], by her superb carriage and figure, captivated the audience at once and never for a moment did they feel other than mesmerized. Miss Florence has a wonderful contralto voice and sings with such ease and grace that it is hard to explain to those who were absent."
In November, 1909
Florence went to Paris to
study with the famous Jean De Reszke. In late 1911 it was
reported that she had returned to Colorado from California, where she
had suffered from ill health for several months. In the summer of 1912
Florence went once a week to Alamosa to give vocal instruction at the
San Luis Hotel. Florence was listed as a music teacher at the Western
Institute of Music in a 1913 Denver directory. In August, 1915, she
presented a concert, under the auspices of the Kings' Daughters at the
Methodist Church in Del Norte where she "sang in her usual pleasing
way, her voice having gained in its power and sweetness." Later in the
week Florence also sang in Monte Vista. At the time of the 1920 census
Florence Middaugh was
living in Denver. She sang a song at a concert in
the Hollywood Bowl in California on April 15, 1920. Florence died at
the age of 93 in Los Angeles in 1977.***************
The Fort Collins Courier for November 14, 1889 carried this notice: "Vocal lessons, private and class, given by Miss Agnes Everist, late of the Royal Italian Opera, Royal Albert Hall and St. James' Hall concerts, London, England. For terms, address C. Golding-Dwyre, Fort Collins." Thus, was announced the arrival of Miss Everist, who became a much-admired teacher and singer in the Fort Collins community. One of its churches was a frequent beneficiary of her vocalizations, as exemplified by the following from the Fort Collins newspaper in 1890: "Miss Agnes Everist, assisted by a number of leading vocalists in the city, will on the 7th proximo give a grand popular musical entertainment, at the opera house in this city, the proceeds to be devoted to defraying the expenses of restoring the steeple of the Presbyterian church." An 1894 newspaper item announced "There will be an entertainment in the opera house on Friday, August 17, given by Miss Agnes Everist and Mr. Buxton Whittingham. The program, which promises to be highly entertaining, will consist of a short concert and a couple of farces." After residing in Fort Collins, Miss Everist, with her two sisters, moved to Santa Monica, CA, where she spent her remaining years.
***************
Marion Kingsbury was born in Gunnison in 1886, the same year her step-brother was killed by being thrown by a horse and dragged by his foot. Marion and her parents, Lemuel and Harriet Kingsbury, relocated to Denver about 1892. For several years starting in 1898, Lemuel spent the warmer months in the Breckenridge area
supervising placer gold
mines and then wintering in Denver or other cities. Sometime around
1900, Marion went to New York to study singing. A local paper reported
in 1902 that she "is a lovely contralto singer and is studying for the
grand opera under one of the finest instructors, Madam Galloway..." A
year later, when Marion was 17, the paper noted that she was "a popular
New York opera singer." She had been singing with a light-opera company
there.In 1904 Marion made a debut recital at the Waldorf-Astoria and was on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in 1906, 1907, and 1908, singing comprimario roles. In 1907 mezzo-soprano Marion Kingsbury was a member of Heinrich Conried's company for a tour of Europe (the Conried Metropolitan Opera Company, formed in 1903, was then the resident company at the Met). Marion returned to the United States for a few years but was back in Germany by 1912, singing, among other engagements, Nancy in Flotow's Martha at the Royal Theater at Essen and, in the following year, at the opera house in Bochum.
The outbreak of World War I ended Marion's career in Germany. In early 1916 she became a staunch supporter of the Organization of American Women for Strict Neutrality. Marion came back to Breckenridge in the summer of that year, began teaching voice and was regularly a soloist in the Methodist Church. Shortly thereafter, she relocated to Leadville and established a voice studio and in the fall opened a music store at 108 E. 5th Street. She continued to return to Breckenridge to instruct voice students and present musical programs. In 1917 Marion directed The Columbine Harmony Club in The Pirates of Penzance, with herself in the leading role. She sang for various organizations in Leadville and gave concerts at the Elk's Opera House (formerly the Tabor Opera House), and she concertized in several other cities, including Kokomo, Buena Vista, and Canon City. During the 1918 flu epidemic she served ably as a visiting home nurse. By 1920 she had a studio and music accessories store at 713 Harrison Avenue, an address in the Tabor Grand Hotel.
In 1921 Marion Kingsbury, in the company of two gentlemen, visited Breckenridge to examine placer claims owned by her late father. This is the last record of Marion we have been able to find. At about this time she left Leadville. Most curiously, despite thorough searching of records, nothing has been found to reveal what happened to her. Her father, known by the honorific title of Colonel Kingsbury, due to his valorous service in the Union Army during the Civil War, died in 1921 and is interred in Valley Brook Cemetery in Breckenridge. Lemuel's widow, Harriet, was a resident in Denver in 1925 and 1926, but we have been unable to discover her life thereafter.