Charles Mather MacNeill (1867-1923)

He was born at Oak Park, Illinois. After graduating from High School, he embarked on his mining career as a cashier with the Pueblo Smelting & Refining Co. He managed various plants in Aspen, Colorado, before investing in the Colorado-Philadelphia Reduction Works of which he was made General Manager. Its rapid success saw it become the United States Reduction & Refining Company. In 1904, MacNeill became President of the Utah Copper Co., a position he held until his death. He was also President of the Chino Copper Co., a director of the Ray Consolidated Copper Co., a partner in the Broadmoor Hotel, Colorado, and had interests in mines from Alaska to Africa. In 1910, he was married in Paris to "Sunshine" Parsons of New York. They lived between what would become known as the Duveen House in New York; the Antlers Hotel in Colorado Springs; and, a summer home at Amherst, Massachusetts. It was reported that he died from pneumonia but those close to him suspected murder at the hands of the Western Federation of Miners. He died without children, leaving $1.5 million to his widow who left for Europe in 1921 and did not return to America until one year after his death. All his servants received $1,000 in his will except for an African-American female servant who'd been with the family for thirty years. She received a $40,000 trust fund.