Charles E. Courtney - Early Life

Early Life

Courtney was born the fifth of six children on November 13, 1849 to Mr. and Mrs. James Thomas Courtney in Union Springs, New York, a small town on the north end of Cayuga Lake at the time noted for pleasure and racing yachts. Courtney's father died when he was six. From about the age of seven, he was rowing on the lake and would race other local children.

At 12, Courtney built his first boat out of hemlock boards and two inch planks that he had found. Due to his poor workmanship he plastered yellow clay on his boat to keep it water-tight. Once on the water the clay would eventually be washed away. This did not stop him and his friends from racing the boat. They would take turns to see who row it the farthest before it sank.

After graduating from high school, Courtney went to work as a carpenter. After working for several local carpenters and architects, he went started his own carpentry business with his brother John called Courtney Brothers.

Read more about this topic:  Charles E. Courtney

Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:

    I looked at my daughters, and my boyhood picture, and appreciated the gift of parenthood, at that moment, more than any other gift I have ever been given. For what person, except one’s own children, would want so deeply and sincerely to have shared your childhood? Who else would think your insignificant and petty life so precious in the living, so rich in its expressiveness, that it would be worth partaking of what you were, to understand what you are?
    —Gerald Early (20th century)

    Art, if one employs this term in the broad sense that includes poetry within its realm, is an art of creation laden with ideals, located at the very core of the life of a people, defining the spiritual and moral shape of that life.
    Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818–1883)