J. J. Gibbons
1 book in the catalogue, published 2008.
Rev. J. J. Gibbons was a Catholic priest who served the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado in the late nineteenth century and wrote about it in In the San Juan, Colorado: Sketches, first published in 1898. Western Reflections Publishing brought it back into print in 2008, and it is the one Gibbons book we carry.
About J. J. Gibbons
The Internet Archive record of the 1898 book gives the author's full name as James Joseph Gibbons. His own opening pages supply most of what we can say. He came to Colorado as a priest of the diocese of Denver, did pastoral work at Georgetown and Leadville, and in August 1888 was appointed to the parish of Ouray, which took in nearly the whole of the San Juan country.
He writes that the parish then had only two churches, at Ouray and Silverton, and about twenty missions or stations. Sick calls could mean trips of 150 miles. We found no reliable source for his birth, death or later career, so we do not state them.
What the books share
Gibbons writes about the country he walked and rode through: mining camps, trails, storms, snowslides, funerals and the people he met along the way. The book is a series of twelve sketches, each describing episodes from his work, and it is as much a travel record as a priest's memoir. Its subjects are faith, danger and community in a high mountain mining region, seen on trails, in camps, in snowbound passes and at the bedside of the sick.
The subjects this author is catalogued under. Open Library record.
Next steps for readers of this author
Tracing a church or a grave
If an ancestor lived in the mining camps, search the Silverton newspaper archive the society links to, then write to its archive with a name and a rough decade. Specific questions get better answers than general ones.
Driving the Skyway
Check the CDOT page before you go, and look at winter road conditions if you travel between seasons. Pair a stop in Silverton with one in Ouray so both historical societies fit one trip.
Go deeper
Gibbons served a parish that covered nearly the whole San Juan country, with Ouray and Silverton as its two churches. Local historical societies in both towns keep the record of that mountain world.
San Juan County Historical Society
Silverton's society was established in 1964 to preserve county history. Its site lists a mining museum, a jail, an archive and the Silverton newspapers from 1874 to today.
Ouray County Historical Society and Museum
The society describes archives, exhibits and programs on Ouray County and the San Juan Mountains, and its museum occupies a former miners' hospital.
San Juan Skyway, Colorado Department of Transportation
The state's page on the loop route, with links to museums and visitor centers along it and notes on winter road conditions.
Good to know
Who was J. J. Gibbons?
When was In the San Juan written?
Does Western Reflections publish other books by Gibbons?
Writers like this one are how the list was built
We have published Colorado and Western writers since 1996, and every submission is still read by a person. Send yours, finished or half written.