Jesse Craven Stansel
Jesse Stansel was born January 8, 1867 in Pickens County, Alabama where members of his family had extensive land holdings. His parents and family later moved to Coleman, Texas. In 1891, Jesse married Ella Blackwell. They were married for 48 years until Jesse's death in 1939. The Stansels had five children: Willlie, born in Texas in 1892; Harry, born in Colorado in 1894; Jessie, born in Colorado in 1895; Luella (called Lula), born in Colorado about 1902; and Ferrell, born in Colorado about 1905.
By some accounts, Jesse had been a cowboy in Texas until his marriage, although there are family photos of him apparently taken in Arizona in the late 1880s. He and Ella came to Durango in 1892. During their first years here Jesse worked at various businesses, including Stubbs & Jakway's lumber yard and Thomas Rockwood's ore sampling works. He also ran express for Durango Transfer Company and owned a saloon in Durango. He joined the police force in 1903. In 1904, he ran against William J. Thompson for sheriff of La Plata County in a hotly contested race and was defeated. He then resumed his job as Night Marshal for the Durango Police Department. On the day of the shooting, Stansel was acting as Day Marshal due to Marshal William Wickline's illness.
The Stansels left Durango in 1907 and eventually moved to El Paso, Texas, although we know he was a deputy sheriff in Otero County, New Mexico for a time. He became a detective for the El Paso police department. In 1920, he was a deputy sheriff of El Paso County, Texas, and in the 1930 census he is listed as a private detective. Stansel died in El Paso in October 1939.
