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Codding Brothers Store Courtesy Photo
Part V of V
William Vernon Codding The youngest son of John Sullivan and Harriett Case Codding, William was born in Kansas in 1870 and moved to Kansas as an infant. He grew up on his parents’ ranch eventually purchasing his own farm.
He married Matilda Bothe on April 18, 1894 in Kansas. At the advice of her doctors, the couple moved to Pueblo for the drier air in the fall of 1898. Like most new arrivals, William went to work at the steel plant. His mother, Harriett, moved in with them shortly after at the death of her husband, John in 1899. In 1900, the three of them are recorded as living in Pueblo with William working as a shipping clerk for the F.J. Burch Tent & Awning Company.
William went to work at the C.W. Daniels Furniture Store and in January of 1903, he bought a small furniture store at Second and Santa Fe. He added stoves and hardware his stock. A bit later in 1903, their son Julian Knight, named for his uncle and their only child, was born in Pueblo. He died a year later.
In the 1904/05 Pueblo City Directory, ‘Codding & Kohler’ (W.V. Codding and John Kohler) furniture, carpet, stoves, crockery, and new and second hand goods; at 201 N. Santa Fe Avenue is listed under ‘House Furnishings’.
Soon after, William’s brother, Frank, brought his family to Pueblo and he came to work at the store. For about seven years, the brothers worked together and the store became ‘Codding Brothers’.
William and Matilda were living at 1131 Claremont Avenue in 1911. By 1912, Frank had taken his family to a ranch near Rye.
The 1916 Pueblo City Directory lists Codding Brothers at 201 N. Santa Fe as ‘Stoves and Stove Repairs’. W. V. Codding is listed as the sole owner. William and Matilda were living at 327 W. 10th Street. In 1917, William purchased the three-story building at Third and Santa Fe and moved his business into the first floor.
In the 1920 Census, William is listed as being in the “wholesale hardware” business and in 1930 as owning a “heater wholesale company”. William retired in 1932, but the business and building carried on the ‘Codding Brothers’ name for at least 20 more years.
In 1933, William accepted the position of secretary of ‘Railroad Savings’. He served for six months during the majority of the re-organization, before serving as president of the organization until 1947.
Matilda Bothe Codding died in 1946; William in 1951. They are both buried in Pueblo.
Sources: research by Jasel Cantu, MLS Genealogy and Local History Librarian, Pueblo City-County Library; John Korber files; obituary, census, cemetery, marriage and business records
