TRACT 42 - WILLIAM BRISTAL
William Bristal, the eighth signer of the Federal Heights incorporation petition, owned Tract 42 . Bristal purchased the tract from Charles W. and Louise S. Keller on April 17, 1939.
William Bristal was born on June 9, 1887 in St. Louis Missouri to Robert and Sophie (Nensel) Bristol. William’s father, Robert, had been born in Germany and came to America in 1884. His mother, Sophie, was born in Rock, Missouri. The couple was married in 1885 and had several children.
William was still living in St. Louis when he registered for the WWI draft in 1917. He was 30 years old and worked as a moulder at St. Louis Casting Company. Bristal served as private first class in the medical department of the Army in WWI, based in Camp Grant, Illinois. According to a headstone application in later years, he enlisted on March 4, 1918 and was honorably discharged on April 1, 1919.
By 1930, William was a patient in Outwood, the U.S. Veterans Tuberculosis Hospital in Christian County Kentucky. The 375-bed hospital operated as a tuberculosis sanatorium for discharged soldiers, sailors and marines. Tens of thousands of people had died from tuberculosis or “consumption,” before doctors determined it was a highly contagious disease caused by a bacteria.
William Bristal left Outwood, and on his April 7, 1942 WWII “Old Man’s Draft” registration card, he stated that he was both a resident of and employed by Fitzsimons General Hospital in Denver.
Though Bristal purchased Tract 42 in North Federal Heights in 1939, there is no indication he lived in the area. He sold his tract to Oliver T. McIntosh on January 3, 1944.
William died on Wednesday, February 25, 1959 in Fitzsimons Hospital at the age of 72. He is interred with his family members in a crypt in Saint Matthew Cemetery in St. Louis Missouri.