Charles E. Colby, ex-editor of the Barnesville Record, was born in Wabasha county, Minnesota, at Plainview, and is the son of George H. Colby, a retired veteran of the Civil War, and a native of New York state.
Charles was reared and educated in the local and high schools of Glencoe, Minnesota, and later took a course in the Archibald Business College, in Minneapolis. He has been interested in the printing business from childhood, and was always on the alert to obtain all the information possible along those lines. In 1884 he came to Groton, South Dakota, and worked for four years as post office and railway mailing clerk, and in 1888 he purchased the “Glencoe Enterprise,” of which he was editor and manager for about two years, then sold out and opened a job printing office in Duluth, where he remained until 1893. In the meantime he married Miss Annie Termath, who is a native of Minnesota of German extraction. Mr. and Mrs. Colby have two children, viz. : Dana and Everett.
In 1893, Mr. Colby moved to Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where he was manager of the Magnet for about three years, and in January, 1897, he moved to Barnesville, Minnesota, and established the Barnesville Record, the first issue of which was printed on January 28, of that year. He disposed of his interests in this, however, in the year 1903, and embarked in the real estate business which he has since continued on a large scale, and is considered one of the most substantial business men of the county, and his realty interests extend over the entire county.
Mr. Colby is liberal in his political views, public spirited and a man of excellent judgment in public matters, always ready with his support in any movement for the betterment of the people of his community.
Source
C.F. Cooper & Company, History of the Red River Valley, Past And Present: Including an Account of the Counties, Cities, Towns And Villages of the Valley From the Time of Their First Settlement And Formation, volumes 1-2; Grand Forks: Herald printing company, 1909.