Pueblo County, Colorado
Biographies
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JOHN V. ANDREWS.
This gentleman is a well-known merchant of Pueblo, being the sole proprietor
of an extensive wholesale grocery house. He was born on a farm in Montgomery
County, Ohio, May 5, 1845. He attended the Wesleyan University at Delaware,
Ohio, and graduated in the literary department in 1861. He afterward
attended the law department and received his diploma in due course. In 1863,
he located at Dayton, Ohio, and began the practice of law, but was soon
compelled to abandon it, owing to the condition of his health. From Dayton
he moved to Kingston, Mo., where he lived more than a year. From Kingston,
he removed to Lincoln, Neb., at which place he engaged in the grocery
business. After about two years, he disposed of his store and went to San
Diego, Cal., where he lived, with the exception of a time which he spent in
Nevada, until 1870. In the spring of that year, he returned east as far as
Colorado and located at Pueblo. He first opened a general store at Pueblo,
but subsequently embarked in the wholesale grocery business, which he has
since continued with fine success. Mr. Andrews now carries a large stock,
and has an extensive trade, receiving his custom from the various points in
Southern and Western Colorado and New Mexico.
HON. O. H. P. BAXTER.
Mr. Baxter was among the early men in Colorado, having come West in 1858.
For nearly twenty-two years he has steadily remained and advanced with the
country, and now he is a prominent citizen and capitalist of Pueblo. He was
born at Madison, Ind., October 31,1835. He received a common school
education, and learned the trade of a, blacksmith. In 1855, he went to
Keokuk, Iowa, where he pursued blacksmithing for a short time ; he also
afterward worked for a time at Moline, Ill. In 1856, he located at Nebraska
City, where he followed his trade for about two years. In the fall of 1858,
Mr. Baxter started for Pike's Peak, and, in October, he arrived at the mouth
of Cherry Creek, where Denver is now situated. For about two years, he
engaged in prospecting and mining in the mountains. Soon after the discovery
of the famous Gregory lode, in 1859, he went to Central, where he remained
some months. He spent some time in South Park, and was among the early
adventurers in California Gulch. In September, 1860, he came down to
Arkansas Valley, and located upon a ranch about five miles below Pueblo. The
following spring, he sold out and removed to the mouth of the St. Charles
River, where he located a ranch, and began farming. He was one of the first
farm ers in the county. In 1864, Mr. Baxter volunteered in the United States
service for a term of three months. He raised a company, of which he became
Captain, in the Third Colorado. He was with his regiment at the noted battle
of Sand Creek. After the expiration of his term, he returned to his ranch
and continued farming ; he also kept up his stock business, in which he had
been interested since 1862. Mr. Baxter was a member of the Territoral
Legislature in 1864-65. He was a member of the Council during the sessions
of 1865-66 and 1866-67. He removed to Pueblo, in 1866, and bought a half
interest in the well-known Jewett Grist Mill, which interest he has since
owned. He was one of the first town company which located the town of Pueblo
in 1861. The town was afterward jumped by parties who obtained a patent, but
some years later, owing to priority of title, it reverted to the original
company. In 1870, the County Commissioners appointed Trustees, who proceeded
to organize the town of Pueblo on a permanent basis. Mr. Baxter was one of
the Trustees and continued as such for several years afterward. He was, for
a number of years, a County Commissioner, and was also a Commissioner of the
State Penitentiary several years. He is at this time a Commissioner of the
State Insane Asylum. Mr. Baxter is now one of the largest property holders
of Pueblo County. He is connected with many of the important interests of
Pueblo ; he is improving his real estate and steadily increasing his
fortune. He was married in Pueblo County, April 17, 1866, to Miss Edna A.
Henry, by whom he has three children.
HON. ADOLPHUS P. BERRY.
This gentleman is the present County Judge of Pueblo County. He was born in
St. Louis, Mo., November 12, 1848. When three years of age his parents moved
to Edwardsville, Ill., where he was raised. He was educated principally at
Shurtleff College, Alton, Ill. When but fifteen years old, in 1863, he left
school and came West. Arriving first at Trinidad, Colo., he went from there
to Elizabethtown, New Mexico, where he followed gulch-mining about a year.
Subsequently, for a number of years, he was connected with enterprises at
various places. He was interested in a saw-mill near Trinidad about two
years. He had mining interests at different points, and spent much of his
time in traveling over the West. In 1868, he assisted in starting the
Colorado Chieftain, now a flourishing newspaper at Pueblo, Colo. He was
married at Trinidad, Colo., January 10, 1870, to Miss Fannie T. Doyle, a
daughter of J. B. Doyle. In the spring of 1870, he and his brother-in-law,
James Doyle, opened a wholesale grocery store and auction and commission
house at Trinidad. In 1871, disposing of his business at Trinidad, Mr. Berry
settled upon Doyle's ranch, in Pueblo County, where he lived about five
years. During the time, he held the office of Justice of the Peace. In 1876,
having met with financial reverses, Mr. Berry disposed of his remaining
property and removed to Pueblo, where he has since resided. He has long
figured in the local politics of Pueblo County, and has held the position of
assistant in the different county offices at Pueblo. In the fall of 1877, he
ran for County Judge on the Democratic ticket, but was defeated. He ran the
second time in 1880, and was elected by a nice majority. The office he now
fills with honor and ability, to the satisfaction of his constituency. The
Judge is strong in his political convictions, and ever sanguine of the
success of his party.
ADOLPHUS BERRY.
This gentleman has been a Coloradoan since 1861. He was born in Wurtemberg,
Germany, April 23, 1841. When sixteen years of age, he came to America.
Arriving first in New York, he went from there to Kansas. He lived in Kansas
and in Missouri about four years. He clerked in a store in St. Joseph, Mo.,
about two years. In 1861, he went to Denver, Colo., where he embarked in the
clothing business. After a time, he opened a branch house in Virginia City,
which he continued to 1866. In 1868, Mr. Berry disposed of his business at
Denver and removed to Pueblo. He was married in 1868, September 9, at
Cincinnati, Ohio, to a Miss Hoffman. He opened a clothing house at Pueblo,
in partnership with his brother. In 1874, he purchased his brother's
interest, and has since owned and conducted the business himself. He now
carries a very large stock, and has an excellent custom—doing a business of
from $85,000 to $100,000 per year. He has been eminently successful, and is
now connected with some of the most important enterprises of Pueblo.
HON. ALLEN A. BRADFORD.
We have rarely ever noted the career of a man so peculiarly his own, not
only in originality of mind and general characteristics, but in point of
history and varied experience as Judge A. A. Bradford, Being originally from
Maine, he has lived respectively in four other States—Missouri, Iowa,
Nebraska and Colorado—in each of which he has held office and been more or
less connected with public affairs. He was born in Friendship, Me., July 23,
1815, at which place he was reared, and received an academical education. In
1841, he emigrated to Missouri, locating at Atchison County, where he
afterward studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. He was elected
Clerk of the Circuit Court at Atchison, in 1845, which position he held five
years. He was married at St. Joseph, Mo., November 1, 1849, to Miss Emiline
Cowles. In 1851, he removed to Iowa, and the following year was appointed
Judge of the Sixth Judicial District of that State. In 1855, resigning his
Judgeship, he removed to the Territory of Nebraska. He was a member of the
Legislative Council of Nebraska in 185657-58. Leaving that Territory in
1860, he settled in Colorado, locating at Central City. He removed from
Central to Pueblo, in 1862, at which place he has since made his home. He
was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of Colorado Territory in 1862,
which office he filled with ability and with honor until his election to the
Thirty-ninth Congress of the United States in 1864. He represented Colorado
in Congress two terms, being elected the second time in 1868. In Congress he
stood up well among his peers and feared not to assert the rights of his
constituents. During his first term, and while at Washington, the
assassination of President Lincoln occurring, he was placed upon the
National Committee appointed to accompany the remains of Lincoln to
Illinois. Upon returning from his last session in Congress, in 1871, Judge
Bradford resumed his practice at Pueblo. Since then he has preferred the
more private walks of life and has devoted his exclusive and untiring
energies to the duties of his profession. He is the present County Attorney
of the county of Pueblo. Many interesting incidents are related of Judge
Bradford, especially `when referring to his pioneer life, but space will not
here admit them. His remarkably retentive memory has secured for him an
almost inexhaustible store of reminiscences, historical data and general
information, so that his _mind is a perfect encyclopedia—a reference book,
so to speak—for all those who know him. Few men are better posted in the law
than he, and his opinions upon legal questions are very highly regarded.
Although the silver tints of life's winter are plainly visible about the
Judge's head, yet he is active and vigorous and seems to have lost none of
his native vivacity. Long may he yet live.
GEORGE T. BREED.
This gentleman is widely known as the genial proprietor of the Lindell Hotel
at Pueblo. He was born in Boston, Mass., and was educated at the old Elliott
School. He early engaged in the restaurant business, in which he continued
to the beginning of the late war. He entered the war as a private in the
Federal army, and came out a Quartermaster Sergeant. After the close, he
returned to Boston, where he again embarked in the restaurant business. In
1868, he went to Denver, Colo., where he was for a time in business with
Powers & Brastow, proprietors of the Pacific House ; afterward, for about
two years, he assisted Mr. C. G-. Noble in
r-keeping a restaurant upon Blake street. Subsequently he was proprietor of
the Commercial Hotel in West Denver, until 1875 ; in May of that year he
went to Pueblo, and, in company with C. G. Noble, took charge of the Lindell
Hotel. In September, 1879, Mr. Breed became the sole proprietor of the
Lindell, and as such has since remained. The Lindell is the principal hotel
at Pueblo, and is constantly crowded to its capacity. Extensive additions
are now being built to it, which will make it one of the largest and most
commodious hotels in the State. Being by nature a landlord, generous and
courteous, Mr. Breed has won for himself an enviable I reputation as a hotel
man, which is evinced by the large patronage of his house. Mr. Breed was
married, at Lowell, Mass., in April, 1855, to Miss Anna S. Davis.
LIEUT. JOHN F. BARKLEY.
The above-named gentleman and subject of the following biography is South
Pueblo's most prominent dealer in general merchandise. He was born near
Augusta, Bracken County, Ky., on the 17th day of February, 1835. His parents
moved to Illinois when he was eight years old. There he went to school an
occasional winter and worked on the farm and at blacksmithing until he was
twenty-one, when he had become proficient in the blacksmith's trade and
which he followed the greater part of the succeeding five years. The call of
Abraham Lincoln for 75,000 three-months men met with an immediate response
from his patriotism, he being one of the first to offer his services to his
country. He enlisted in Company G, of the Eleventh Infantry Regiment of
Illinois Volunteers, at Effingham, in April, 1861. The regiment was ordered
to Jonesboro, Ill., and from there to Bird's Point, Mo., where it was
mustered-out in July of the same year. This regiment was not in an
engagement from the time it was mustered in to the time it was mustered out,
and the only unpleasant part of those three months of a soldier's life which
he experienced was an attack of typhoid fever of short duration. He intended
to re-enlist, but first wished to see his old acquaintances, so, after he
was mustered out at Bird's Point he returned to Illinois and spent three
months, just the length of time he was in the army, visiting relatives and
friends, and then enlisted at Mason, Ill., for three years, in Company D, of
the Fifty-fourth Illinois Infantry, to which company he was elected and
mustered in as Second Lieutenant. The Fifty-fourth was pushed to the front.
It was at the siege and capture of Vicksburg, but was never drawn into
pitched battle, and the only fighting it did was a little skirmishing with
Forrest's command in Tennessee. Lieut. Barkley, after three months' and
three years' service in two different regiments was mustered-out at Little
Rock, Arkansas. without the misfortune of being in one heated engagement or
of receiving a single wound. To be in the midst. as it were, of battle as
long and often as he was and not be engaged seems almost incredible. During
his service, he was an officer of Court martial three months at Little Rock,
and was promoted to First Lieutenant at the siege of Vicksburg. He was in
ill health before his enlistment but perfectly well when discharged. He
commenced dealing in general merchandise in Watson, Ill., with William
Abraham as partner, soon after he came out of the army the second time. Nine
years he was in trade and partnership with him. His wife's health having
failed, he dissolved partnership with Abraham and brought her to Colorado.
She gained from the day of her arrival and is pleased beyond expression with
the climate. Lieut. Barkley and lady belong to the fixed residents of the
State.
HON. JAMES N. CARLILE.
The Hon. James N. Carlile was born in Carroll County, Ohio, October 17,
1836. His school advantages were the same as those of the majority of the
district school scholars in our free American Republic until he was fourteen
years old. During his school attendance, he acquired only a vague and
indistinct knowledge of the text-books he studied, and owes more to his
inherent ability than to education for being one of the widest known
railroad contractors in the United States. At the age of fourteen, he began
his railroad experience by driving a cart on the Pan Handle Railroad, which
has proven to be the stepping-stone to the pinnacle which he has attained.
He successfully farmed in Iowa, mined two years in French Gulch, Cola, and
freighted four years with wagon teams in the Territories of New Mexico,
Colorado—then a Territory,—Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada and Montana. In 1868, he
again began railroading, as a member of thefirm of Moore & Carlile, railroad
contractors and builders. They built from Cheyenne out forty miles of the
Denver Pacific Railroad in ten months, and in four months built the Colorado
Central Railroad between Denver and Golden ; built the larger part of the
Kansas Pacific Railroad from Sheridan to Denver, a distance of two hundred
and thirty miles, the only important contractors besides themselves being
Fields & Jones, and William Wheeler & Co. They contracted to build, and
built nearly all of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad between Denver and
Pueblo, and between Pueblo and Cañon City. In 1874, Messrs. Orman & Co.
became members of the firm, and the title was changed to Moore, Carlile,
Orman & Co., who built ninety-seven miles of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
Railroad. Mr. Moore withdrew from the firm in 1877 ; William Crook was
admitted, and the firm name changed to Carlile, Orman & Crook. They built
the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad from Pueblo to El Moro, and to
Alamosa, with the exception of a few short distances, which were built by
sub-contractors. They built at least one-half of the Denver & Rio Grande
Railroad, between Cation City and Malta ; and all of that road from
Leadville to Kokomo—twenty miles ; also built between thirty and forty miles
of the Denver & South Park Railroad. In partnership with others, he has
built over five hundred miles of railroad. At the time of the taking of this
short biography, he was interested in a contract to build thirty miles of
the San Juan extension of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad from Alamosa to
Del Norte, and in a contract to build the Utah extension from Tennessee Pass
to Red Cliff. He is a fancier of blooded stock, and an extensive dealer in
horses and cattle. In company with his brothers, W. K. and, L. F. Carlile,
he owns several herds of high-priced stock. He was sent from Pueblo County
by the Democratic party, in 1876, to the first Legislature convened in
Colorado after it became a State, and was elected County Treasurer of the
same county in 1880. The above denotes the popularity and far-reaching
financial vim of the subject of this sketch, and it only remains to add—to
complete the sketch—that in his beautiful residence on the mesa at South
Pueblo, he is a hospitable gentleman and a kind husband and father to an
affectionate family.
WILLIAM K. CARLILE.
At New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, Mr. Carlile was born May 4,
1844, and moved to Carroll County in 1849. He enlisted, in 1862, in Company
A, Eightieth Ohio Volunteers, and during the rebellion was in many
skirmishes and thirteen general engagements—the battles of Corinth, Iuka,
Grand Junction, Holly Springs, Davis' Mill, siege of La Grange, Wolf River,
Forest Hill, Jackson (Louisiana), Grand Junction, Port Gibson, and the seven
days' fight at Jackson, Miss. He was shot in the thigh in the last-named
battle, taken prisoner, and, after three months' imprisonment at Jackson,
was conveyed in boxcars and on old hulks of vessels twenty-one hundred miles
to Belle Isle, kept there three days, and then taken to Libby Prison. After
he had suffered there months in that pen of horror, he was paroled, and sent
to St. John's Navy Hospital, Camp Parole, Annapolis, Md. He was transferred
from Camp Parole to Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio, and appointed one of the
permanent party to do duty at Tod Barracks, Columbus ; and, on the day of
President Lincoln's second inauguration, reported one hundred and sixty men
to Gen. Hancock for his Veteran Reserve Corps. In his capacity as one of the
permanent party, at the close of the war, he went via New York and Fortress
Monroe with sentenced men to the Dry Tortugas ; helped to rescue a part of
the Seventeenth Iowa who were wrecked on the Rip Raps, and reported to his
command at Alexandria, Va. With it he went to Washington to the grand review
of the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the West. He was ordered when the
review was over to report to Maj. Skyles, of his regiment, at Columbus, and
deliver to him the discharges and pay-rolls of thirty members of his company
of whom he had command, and who, with himself, were mustered out of the
United States service as soon as he arrived. He was Second Sergeant during
the war. He refused a First Lieutenancy in another regiment ; he was
recommended for the appointment of Second Lieutenant of his own company, and
received his commission eighteen months after his appointment was forwarded
to Washington, and after he had his discharge. A short stay at home was made
by him, canvassing for the " Life of Sherman, " and then the advantages of
Colorado influenced him to go to St. Joseph, Mo., and hire the owner of a
mule train to take him a passenger to her Territory. A year's residence on a
ranch within her borders was concluded by his going to Pueblo and serving a
short clerkship for Messrs. Berry Bros., and then opening the first livery,
sale and feed stable opened in the city. Three years of successful business
was done by him, when, believing the prospects on the Greenhorn River for
doing business still better, he disposed of his stable and engaged in
ranching and stock-raising in its valley. After a loss of all his crops, and
everything else he had but his stock by three floods was sustained on the
Greenhorn, he located at his present home, Pleasant Park, near Good-night
Station, on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, which is one of the best
improved, most valuable and beautiful farms in Colorado. It is a garden of
fruit trees, flowers, shade trees, arbors and bowers, of which a written
description would give but a faint idea, and is a popular picnic ground and
recreation resort. He is now extensively dealing in blooded horses, in
partnership with his brother, the Hon. J. N. Carlile. Here it may be told
that he was nominee on the Republican ticket and opponent of his brother, J.
N., when the latter was elected to the Legislature in 1876 on the Democratic
ticket, and was defeated by the number of votes the Democratic party had in
the county more than the Republicans. He married Miss Abagail Price, in
Carroll County, Ohio, February 16, 1871. He has four children—Nannie May,
Minnie Bell, John Francis and William Scott.
HON. GEORGE M. CHILCOTT.
The name of Mr. Chilcott is inseparably connected with the annals of
Colorado. He was born in Trough Creek Valley, Huntingdon County, Penn.,
January 2, 1828. He was raised on a farm, and received his education in such
schools as the country afforded. In the spring of 1844, he removed with his
parents to Jefferson County, Iowa, where he lived, working upon a farm,
about two years. He subsequently taught school, and also pursued the study
of medicine, until the spring of 1850. He was married March 21, 1850, to
Miss Jennie Cox, after which he located near his father, and engaged in
farming. In 1853, he was elected on the Whig ticket Sheriff of Jefferson
County, which office he held one term. In 1856, he removed to Burt County,
Neb., where he was shortly afterward elected to represent the counties of
Burt and Cumming in the Lower House of the Legislature, which met in session
at Omaha, in the winter of 1856-57. But not yet content with his situation,
and with face still westward, Mr. Chilcott started, in the spring of 1859,
for the famous " Pike's Peak country," arriving at Denver in the month of
May. He engaged in prospecting during the summer, and in the fall following
he was elected from the town of Arapahoe to the Constitutional Convention,
which met at Denver. Near the close of the year, Mr. Chilcott returned to
his family in Nebraska, where he remained through the winter, returning to
Colorado the next spring. The summer of 1860, he spent upon Cherry Creek,
and in October of that year he removed to Southern Colorado, to the section
now Pueblo County. Soon afterward he met with a serious misfortune.
Everything he had, consisting of wagon and team and other property, was
stolen from him by his only acquaintance, who left for parts unknown. Being
left penniless among strangers in a strange land, Mr. Chilcott had to resort
to his experience in farming for a livelihood, and he hired to work by the
day for a farmer. He engaged in farming during 1861-62, and in 1863 he
located upon a farm of his own, twelve miles east of Pueblo. Then returning
to Nebraska, he brought out his family May, 1863. He served as a member of
the Territorial Legislature in the first two sessions of that body. In 1863,
he received from President Lincoln the appointment of Register of the United
States Land Office for the District of Colorado. The office was first
located at Golden, and subsequently at Denver. Mr. Chilcott held the
position nearly four years, until he was, in 1866, elected to Congress under
the State organization then formed, and which sought admission into the
Union. But Congress refused to receive Colorado as a State at that time, and
Mr. Chilcott could not take his seat. In 1867, he was elected a Delegate to
Congress for the Territory of Colorado, and served the people one term. It
was he who introduced and got Congress to pass a bill repealing the act
which discriminated against all the territory west of the west line of
Kansas, and east of the east line of California, by charging letter postage
on all printed matter between the two
boundaries. He also succeeded in getting larger appropriations for surveys
than was ever before obtained, and was instrumental in getting passed an
important bill in regard to the St. Vrain and Vigil Land Grant. Mr. Chilcott
was a member of the Territorial Council, and President of that body during
the session of 1872– 73. He was also a member in 1874. In 1878, he was
elected to the State Legislature from Pueblo County, and during the session
of 1878 –79, he was prominently before the Legislature as a candidate for
United States Senator, Mr. Hill, however, securing the place. In politics,
Mr. Chilcott has been a sterling Republican. He is popular with his party,
and is held in universal esteem by the people of his section; but having
determined to quit public life he has recently declined to accept any
nomination for office, his individual interest requiring his undivided
attention. Being a man of unusual energy and enterprise, he has accumulated
a large and valuable property. His interests are chiefly at Pueblo, where he
now resides.
DR. ROBERT J. CHRISTIE.
This gentleman was raised in Frederick County, Va., where he was born June
13, 1831. He graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in
1856, and afterward moved to Missouri, where he practiced medicine until the
breaking-out of the late war. Being a Southern man, he very naturally
espoused the cause of the South, and served through the war as a surgeon,
holding the position of Senior Surgeon of Gen. M. M. Parsons' Confederate
Infantry. After the close of the war, he returned to Missouri and renewed
the practice of his profession, which he continued until coming to Colorado
more than a year ago. He arrived at Pueblo January 1, 1880, and immediately
entered the practice as a partner of Dr. Craven. He and Dr. Craven are now
doing a large and lucrative practice in Pueblo County, having established a
wide and enviable reputation, both as physicians and as surgeons. We desired
to refer to. Dr. Christie in this brief sketch, since he is prominently
identified with the medical profession at Pueblo, and has become as
thoroughly known as though "an old-timer."
ISAAC T. COATES, M. D.
Dr. Coates is a prominent physician of Pueblo. He was born. and reared in
Coatesville, Penn. He studied medicine, and graduated at the University of
Pennsylvania in 1859 ; he then went abroad and spent some time in visiting
the hospitals of Europe. Upon returning to America, he went to Louisiana ;
there he remained until the spring of 1861, when he made a second voyage to
Europe. After spending a few months in Europe, he again returned to America
and entered the United States Navy as a Surgeon. During the late war, he
acted as Surgeon upon various naval vessels. After the war closed, he
returned to Pennsylvania and practiced medicine there until 1867. When,
during that year, the Indian war broke out, Dr. Coates was appointed Surgeon
of the Seventh United States Cavalry, Custer's great regiment. He was with
the troops in the West about a year, being also, for a time, Surgeon of the
Tenth Infantry. In the latter part of 1868, he made his way through Arizona
to California, and returned East by steamer via Panama. He practiced his
profession in Chester, Penn., until 1872. In that year he took a steamer for
South America, going to Peru, where he became the Medical Director of the
Chimbote & Huaraz Railroad. The Doctor relates many interesting incidents of
his life and travels of four years in South America. He traveled through the
various countries and crossed the Andes as many as ten times. He returned to
the United States in 1876. In 1878, he made a second voyage to South
America, going then to Brazil, where he was expected to act as Chief Surgeon
for the company building the Madura & Mamore Railroad. But the project for
building that road failed after a short time, and Dr. Coates again returned
to the United States. In the spring of 1869, he came West to Colorado and
located at Pueblo, at which he has since resided, in the practice of his
profession. The Doctor has an enviable reputation as a physician, and now
commands all the practice he desires to attend to. The varied experience of
Dr. Coates and his inexhaustible fund of knowledge, taken with his affable
manners, render him not only a very entertaining gentleman, but a most
useful member of the society in which he lives.
DR. JOHN T. COLLIER.
Dr. Collier is a native of Kentucky, being born in Bourbon County, in 1826.
His parents immigrated to Missouri, in 1828, and settied in Callaway County,
then a wild, unsettled country. There young Collier was raised, receiving
such education as the country afforded. He read medicine and attended
lectures at the University of Missouri in 1848-49, and, in the spring of
1849, he began the practice of medicine, which he continued about twenty
years in Missouri and Nevada. He was married, in Missouri, May 26, 1854, to
Miss Cassandra A. West. In 1864, Dr. Collier immigrated with his family, to
California, where he lived about a year, and, in 1865, he removed to Nevada.
He lived in Nevada seven years, practicing his profession and engaging
profitably in the cattle business. In 1871, he removed to Colorado and,
locating near Pueblo, he at once embarked in the sheep and wool growing
business, which he has since continued with eminent success, handling large
flocks of the best sheep in the country. The Doctor now has his home in
South Pueblo, and few men in the county have more friends than he. In
polities he is strongly Democratic, and in religion is a liberal thinker.
HON. ALDRIDGE CORDER.
This gentleman is a scion of an old Virginia family. His grandfather was a
Revolutionary soldier, and his father was in the war of 1812. He was born
near Warrenton, Va., July 31, 1827; received his education at Warrenton and
New Baltimore Academies, graduating at the latter in 1846. After finishing
school, he engaged in merchandising. In 1848, he went to Lexington, Mo., at
which place he lived—with the exception of nearly two years spent in
Louisiana from 1849 to 1851—until the breaking out of the late war. He went
into the war as a soldier of Col. Shelby's Missouri Regiment, and was
subsequently upon Shelby's staff, after that officer became a General. After
the war closed, he went to Waverly, Mo., where he was cashier of a bank for
five years. In 1870, he became President of the bank, and continued as such
for six years. In 1876, Mr. Corder came to Colorado, and located at Pueblo,
where he has since engaged successfully in the drug business, being also
connected with various other important interests. Since 1878, he has been
President of the Pueblo Building and Loan Association, one of the most
important enterprises in the city, the Association having a capital of
$500,000, and doing a large business. In November, 1880, Mr. Corder was
nominated by acclamation by the Democratic Convention for State Senator from
the Fifteenth Senatorial District of Colorado, to which office he was
elected by a handsome majority. He obtained the passage through the Senate
of a bill appropriating to the State Insane Asylum at Pueblo $60,000, then
the largest appropriation ever made by the Legislature for a State
institution. He also did much to further other important enactments. Mr.
Corder was married at Waverly, Mo., in 1867, to Miss Blanche Hall.
WILLIAM H. CONNER.
The subject of this sketch was born in Monson, Me., September 11, 1838. In
1847, he removed with his parents to Sheboygan Falls, Wis., where he lived
on a farm about four years. When about fifteen years of age, he went to
Milwaukee, where he attended school, graduating in due course ; he also took
a course in Bryant & Stratton's Business College. He served in the Federal
army during the late war, being at one time Adjutant General on General
Palmer's staff. After the war, he returned to Wisconsin, and for a number of
years engaged in business as an accountant. In 1873, he came to Colorado and
located at Pueblo, where he has since lived. He was elected City Clerk and
Treasurer of Pueblo in the spring of 1877, which office he held two
terms—being reelected in 1878. In January, 1880, he was appointed Deputy
County Clerk, which position he now fills. Mr. Conner is a thorough business
man, and is so regarded by his fellow-citizens. He is quite prominent as an
Odd Fellow. Mr. Conner was married at Pueblo in October, 1876.
DR. JAMES T. CRAVEN.
This gentleman, a popular physician of Pueblo, was born in Palmyra, Mo.,
September 22, 1844. He graduated at Christian College, in Canton, Mo., at
the age of nineteen. He afterward read medicine, and attended lectures at
the Iowa State University, where he graduated in 1866. Subsequently, in
1869, he took a course of lectures at Jefferson Medical College,
Philadelphia, when he received a diploma in 1869. He practiced medicine at
Palmyra about four years • then he moved to Louisiana, Pike County, Mo.,
where he practiced five years. He was married at Palmyra, Mo., November
18,1869, to Miss M. M. Brown. In 1878, his health failing, Dr. Craven
thought a change of climate would be beneficial to him, and he decided to
move to Colorado. He came to Pueblo in October, 1878. His health began at
once to improve, and he soon entered upon the practice of his profession,
meeting with fine success. About a year ago he associated himself with Dr.
Christie, with whom he still continues in business. Drs. Craven & Christie
have become widely known, and are now doing an extensive and lucrative
practice. None are more highly regarded, and none are more generally
patronized than they.
PATRICK J. DESMOND.
The above-named gentleman was born in the county of Cork, Ireland, in 1841,
and is a distant relative of the Earl of Desmond, with whom his father was
imprisoned by the English Government for opposing its measures, and by it
had his property confiscated, which left him unable to obtain for his
children the school advantages he otherwise would. Hence, the subject of
this writing had only a slight schooling, and has had to win his own way in
the world independent of a thorough education and influential friends,
excepting those he has acquired by his individual efforts. Acting on the
suggestion of a cousin, one John Buckley, a stockholder in the New Orleans
Street Railway, he, in 1864, came to the United States. He stopped in
Chicago, Ill., a year, went to Lake Superior where he worked another year,
then to Oil City, Penn. From Oil City he went to Chicago with quite a sum of
money, where he joined the Perry Guards, and crossed into Canada with the
Fenians in 1866 ; he was in the fight of Ridgeway. He returned to Chicago
and went out on the Chicago & North-Western Railroad, with bridge contractor
Sherman, arriving in Council Bluffs, Christmas, 1867. As assistant
wagon-master of a Government train, he left Council Bluffs for Fort
McPherson. Forty miles from the celebrated Jack Morrow's ranch, on
McFarlan's Bluff, the train was corraled by Indians, and escaped massacre
through the arrival of a company of soldiers, who guarded it to Fort
Sedgwick. There he was occupied for a short time in keeping the fort in meat
by hunting antelope. From Sedgwick, he made an important trip to the North
Platte for a load of Spencer carbines. He stayed in the Government employ
till 1868, plying between Forts Sedgwick, Sanders, Laramie and Fetterman,
doing different duty, as freighting, helping to protect apostate Mormons
from the Mormon Church authorities, and others from Indians, having many
fights with them. He left the employ of the Government in 1868, and entered
the service, as watchman of freight, of Wells, Fargo & Co., between North
Platte and Julesburg, and was at Julesburg when the Indians attacked the
station and burned the stations between that place and Denver. Leaving
Wells, Fargo & Co., he went on the Union Pacific Railroad as detective,
remaining on it until it was finished to Corinne, Utah ; then went to Omaha,
St. Louis and Chicago—being comfortably well off financially—on a
two-months' visit. In 1869, he went to Fort Hays, beginning work on the
Kansas Pacific Railroad as foreman for Messrs. Fields & Jones, and acted as
such until that road was built to Kit Carson, a place which, besides being a
railroad terminus, was a frontier rendezvous for desperadoes and other rough
and lawless characters. To ferret out and arrest them, needed a man of
shrewdness and courage, and Mr. Desmond was selected as such a man by the
Sheriff and Justice of the county, and appointed by them Constable and
Deputy Sheriff. He appointed Thomas Smith his assistant, and captured many
of the gang of roughs, ridding the place of the dangerous element which
infested it. In order that the reader may get a correct idea of the death he
continually faced, it is incidentally remarked here, that Smith was since
Marshal of Oberlin, Kan., and in the discharge of his duty had his head
completely severed from his body by an ax in the hands of an outlaw. Fields,
in a partnership with a Mr. Hill, took a contract to grade a portion of the
Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, and sent to Kit Carson for Mr. Desmond to come
to Denver and again be foreman for them, which he did, staying with them
until the road was built to Colorado springs. The road being built no
further for awhile, he, wishing not to be idle, took several teams he owned
and joined the bridge builders and returned to Denver. Becoming tired of
living in Denver, he went to Golden and opened a restaurant. From Golden he
went to Georgetown, where he engaged in mining. In 1873, he went to Denver
again, and from there to South Pueblo and leased a hotel. Soon after
arriving at the last-named place, he was appointed Constable and Marshal,
and holds these offices at the present time. He has been a member of the
Rocky Mountain Detective Association for a number of years.
ALBERT T. FISHER.
Mr. Abert T. Fisher is a son of the Hon. Lewis Fisher of West Medway,
Norfolk County, Mass., and was born on the 3d day of May, 1854. At the
Medway district and high schools he was prepared for college, and graduated
at Comer's Commercial College in 1876. During his college attendance, his
wants were supplied by a generous father, which, with his genial good humor,
made the whole course a single holiday with little thought of the future.
When he was twenty-two, the year he completed his education, he came to
South Pueblo. The opening for doing a profitable coal trade being favorable,
he engaged in retailing coal, and has continued in it up to the present
time. He began with one team, and is now hurried with a stable full of
horses and mules and seventeen delivery wagons to supply his increased
trade. His stylish residence on the mesa is surrounded on the south and west
by plats of grass, and the interior is furnished in a style which exhibits a
high degree of refinement. At the early age of twenty-seven, Mr. Fisher is a
prominent and wealthy man. He was a member of the City 'Council in 1880, and
the youngest member that ever sat in that body. Being, by a legal resident
disqualification, ineligible to the office, he declined being a nominee for
a second term.
CHARLES T. FISHER.
This gentleman is a son of the Hon. Lewis Fisher, of Massachusetts, and is
the brother and partner of Albert T., whose history is herein published. He
was born at West Medway, Norfolk County, Mass., on the 16th of February,
1852. He attended the Medway High School till he was twenty, working on his
father's farm when school was not in session. June 12, 1875, he and Miss
Ellen C. Bagley entered into a contract of marriage at Sharon, and September
11, 1876, they started for Colorado. After a journey of four days and
nights, with an infant son to care for—a trial when traveling, little
understood by them till their experience—they stopped at South Pueblo on the
16th, and on the following October moved out of the city on a ranch,
returning in the spring in time to begin business early in the year, when he
and his brother formed a partnership and commenced retailing coal. Their
business has made them known to all classes, and their straight-forward
dealing has procured them the good will of all. Their business has enlarged
till it is the largest coal and freight transfer trade in the city. On the
mesa, a fine building, in front of which is a pretty lawn bordered by a row
of shade trees, and standing in plain view of the city, is pointed out to
inquirers as his residence. It is a choice site, and a mark of the
gentleman's noted judgment in selection.
COL. M. H. FITCH.
This gentleman is well known as a capitalist and banker of Pueblo. He was
born in Lexington, Ky., March 12, 1832. When nine years of age he removed
with his parents to Clermont County, Ohio, about twenty miles from
Cincinnati. He attended school at the Farmers' College, six miles out from
Cincinnati. He studied law and was admitted to the Cincinnati bar in 1860.
Soon afterward, however, he went to Prescott, Wis., where he practiced law
about a year. When the war broke out, he entered the Federal army, enlisting
in the Sixth Wisconsin Infantry. In 1862, he was transfered to the
Twenty-first Wisconsin, and commissioned Adjutant of the regiment. He
afterward arose by a series of promotions to the office of Brevet Colonel.
After the close of the war, Col. Fitch located in the practice of law at
Milwaukee, Wis. He was married at Batavia, Ohio, October 12, 1864, to Miss
Alice Rhodes. He immigrated to Colorado and located at Pueblo in the spring
of 1870. For some time he devoted his exclusive attention to stock-raising,
and he is still considerably interested in that line, having his residence
upon a large ranch a few miles from Pueblo. In 1872, Col. Fitch was
appointed Major General of State Militia for Southern Colorado, which
position he held, by re-appointment, four years. He was also for a time
Receiver of Public Moneys in the Land Office at Pueblo. He has been the
President of the Stock Growers' National Bank since November 1, 1876, he
himself being one of the largest stockholders. The Stock Growers' Bank was
established in January, 1876. It has a capital stock of $50,000, and does an
extensive business, especially with the stock men of the surrounding
country. Col. Fitch has various and valuable interests at Pueblo. Being a
man of enterprise and unusual business tact, he has grown quite wealthy.
HON. JOHN W. HENRY.
This gentleman was born in Jackson County, near Louisville, Ky., July 30,
1820. When six years of age, his father moved to Coles County, Ill., where
he was raised on a farm. He studied law and was admitted to the bar at
Charleston, in 1841. In 1842, he went to Platteville, Wis., where he entered
the practice of law, and continued to 1850. In that year, he removed to St.
Joseph, Mo., where he practiced law several years. In 1857, he went to
Leavenworth, Kan.. at which place he lived about three years. He came to
Colorado in 1860, and settled first at Nevada, where he owned an interest in
a quartz-mill. He mined and milled in that vicinity until spring 1862. He
afterward lived in Denver to February, 1863. His family then joining him he
removed to Pueblo County, and settled on a ranch some miles below Pueblo. In
1872, he located at Pueblo, at which place he has since resided. He was a
member of the Lower House of the State Legislature from Pueblo County in
1865. He was District Attorney for the Third Judicial District of Colorado
from 1872 to 1876. In 1876, he was elected Judge of the Third Judicial
District, which position he now holds. His district now comprises the
counties of Bent, Huerfano, Las Animas and Pueblo. Judge Henry has become
eminent as a lawyer. As a District Judge, he has no superior in the State,
and his opinions and decisions are very highly regarded.
JOHN D. HENRY.
This gentleman was born January 17, 1845, at Bowling Green, Ky., where he
was reared and educated. He served in the Confederate army through the late
war, being a soldier of the Second Kentucky Cavalry, under Morgan. After the
close of the war, he went to St. Louis, where he engaged in business until
the fall of 1871. In October of that year, following up the Star of Empire,
he came to Colorado and located at Pueblo. In pursuance to an arrangement
made previous to his coming West, Mr. Henry took the position of Deputy
County Clerk, and also opened a real estate and abstract office in
partnership with Mr. McBride. In 1872, the firm of McBride & Henry was
succeeded by Henry, Morgan & Co., of which firm Mr. Henry was a member until
1875. He served as a City Clerk for Pueblo from April, 1872, to April, 1873.
He held the office of City Assessor in 1872, and in 1876 and 1877. He was
Deputy County Assessor in 1877. He was Engrossing Clerk of the last
Territorial Council of Colorado in 1876, which position he filled with
ability and with credit. Mr. Henry is now doing business for William H.
Hyde, dealer and manufacturer at Pueblo, and he is the present
Superintendent of the Water Works for the city of Pueblo.
GEORGE W. HEPBURN.
This gentleman came West at an early day. He was born in Pottsdam, N. V., in
1836. When sixteen years of age he went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he learned
to be a printer, living there about three years. The winter of 1854 and
1855, he spent in Washington City, acting as reporter for the Cleveland
Plain Dealer. In the spring of 1855, he went to Omaha, Neb., where he bought
a half-interest in the Nebraskan, a newspaper then published at that place.
In 1857, disposing of his interest in the Nebraskan, he purchased the Times,
which he also sold a short time afterward. In 1858, awakened by the gold
excitement in the Rocky Mountains, Mr. Hepburn made his way to Pike's Peak,
and 'spent some time prospecting for mines. He returned East in 1859, and
came to Colorado again in 1860. At the breaking-out of the late war, he
enlisted in the New Mexican Fourth Cavalry, and served in that about a year,
after which he entered the Government employ as a millwright, and continued
in that capacity to the close of the war. After the war, he engaged for a
time in the cattle business. In 1867, he located at Pueblo, where he has
since resided. In 1868, 1869 and 1870, he engaged to a considerable extent
in mining and milling. In 1871, he started at Pueblo a newspaper called the
People, which he conducted himself about a year. He was elected Probate
Judge of Pueblo County in 1871, which office he held two years. During that
year, he was married in Pueblo County to a Miss Dotson. He was elected a
County Commissioner in 1874, and filled the office three years. Since 1877,
Mr. Hepburn has devoted his attention especially to mining. He now has
valuable interests invarious camps, some of which he is operating
vigorously. Mr. Hepburn's sociable manners, and his many years of Western,
life, have won for him hosts of acquaintances and warm friends, who delight
to take him by the hand.
HON. GEORGE A. HINSDALE.
The subject of this sketch died January 15, 1874. To those who knew him long
and well, an extended essay upon his character would seem but tame reproof
to their memories of his life. For those who knew less of him we pen a brief
history. Mr. Hinsdale was born at the village of Hinesburg, in Vermont,
December 21, 1826. He was a son of Hon. Mitchell Hinsdale, an eminent
lawyer, and once a member of Congress from the State of Vermont, and who
moved to the State of Michigan when the subject of this sketch was but seven
years old. He was educated in the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and
graduated in the classical course in 1849. He studied law in his father's
office, but subsequently turned his attention to civil engineering, and was
for several years in charge of the works of a Cannel Coal Mining Company on
the Ohio River, near Hawesville, Ky. Here he became acquainted with, and, in
1856, married, Miss Josephine Sebastian, of Kentucky. A year or two later,
with his young wife, he came West, and settled in Dakota, Neb., where he
engaged in the practice of law. In 1859, he was elected, and served, as a
member of the Nebraska Legislature from the Dakota District. He had been
troubled with asthma for many years, and had hoped the climate of Northern
Nebraska would benefit him ; but in this he was disappointed, and suffered
so much, that, in the spring of 1860, he determined to join in the rush to
Pike's Peak, in the bare hope that the Rocky Mountains would afford relief
from his disease. As was the custom, he outfitted with an ox team and wagon,
and with his brave and devoted wife and infant boy, crossed the plains and
became a pioneer in a new and strange land. His asthma left him almost
entirely soon after he reached the mountains, and only seldom returned in
brief attacks during his life in Colorado. He first engaged in mining in
California Gulch, and in the fall of 1860, went down to Canon City, which
had just been laid out as a wintering town for miners, built one of the
first dwellings, and during the winter he assisted in
framing a code of laws and organizing the first people's court for the
government of that district. In 1863, he settled in Pueblo, when there were
scarcely a dozen families living there, in the rudest of huts. In 1864, he
moved to San Luis, in Costilla County, where he lived nearly two years,
during which time he acquired a thorough knowledge of the Spanish language ;
and in the summer of 1866 he moved back to Pueblo, where he ever afterward
resided, and engaged in the practice of law. At the election upon the
adoption of the State Constitution in 1865, Mr. Hinsdale was elected
Lieutenant Governor upon the Democratic ticket, being the only Democrat
elected on the State ticket ; and as such he presided over the joint session
of the State Legislature, which was held in Denver, in December, 1865, and
which elected Gov. John Evans and Hon. J. B. Chaffee, United States Senators
under the Enabling Act for State admission, the bill for which passed
Congress, but was vetoed by President Johnson. In 1868, he was elected a
member of the Territorial Council, and at the session of 1870 was chosen
President of that body. He was a member of the first Board of Trustees of
the town of Pueblo after its incorporation, and at the time of his death was
President of the City School Board, and County Attorney of Pueblo County. He
filled numerous offices of public trust and honor, and was ever identified
with the history and growth of Southern Colorado. In politics, he was always
a Democrat of the firmest type, and, as one of the leaders of the party in
Colorado; he ever held the respect of his political opponents by his ability
no less than his sincerity, fidelity and conscientious integrity. As a
lawyer, he was a profound thinker, forcible in logic of argument, zealous in
the interest of his client, and one of the most successful criminal lawyers
of his judicial district. As a scholar, he had few equals iu the Territory,
and was one of the most forcible, graceful writers for the press. When the
Chieftain as, the first newspaper in Southern Colorado, was started in
Pueblo, Mr. Hinsdale became one of its editors., and for over , two years
assisted in contributing gratuitous services to this means of promoting the
develop- 1 ment of Southern Colorado. He was afterward one of the leading
organizers of the I Pueblo Printing Company, publishers of The People, and,
until about one year previous to his death, was one of the editors of that
paper. He was President of the Public Library Association of Pueblo, and
took an active interest in fostering that, one of the most creditable
institutions of the young city. We estimate the need of such men in
communities by their loss. They are the men who rule the world for good, and
hold a rein upon its evil course. In all that was good in the development of
his community and of the Territory, Mr. Hinsdale was an element. He could
read the history of Colorado, whose every mountain and valley he loved, and
in the fabric of whose civic life he felt the pride of a builder, and might
be well entitled to exclaim: Omnia vidi et quorum pars fui! His life of
unostentatious good should ever be an example to those who have outlived
him.
DR. ANDREW Y. HULL.
To successfully edit a newspaper in Colorado requires unusual tact and
ability. In the Eastern States, where the country is thickly settled and
scores of journals are published on every hand ; where sensations are
frequent, and innumerable news items are floating on every breeze, the
average writer can have no great difficulty in gathering material for a
weekly or a daily. But in the New West, far from the center of the
journalistic world, where the country is sparsely populated, where the towns
are many miles apart, and but few newspapers are published for hundreds of
miles around, the reporter must sweep clean for his locals, and the
editor-in-chief must ransack his brain and clear the eastern sky for his
editorials. Dr. A. Y. Hull is widely known in Southern Colorado, as, for a
number of years, the able and esteemed editor of the Pueblo Democrat, which
he himself founded, and continued to April 27, last, and the writer of this
takes peculiar pleasure in noting his career. The Doctor is by nativity an
Ohioan. He was born in Highland County, Ohio, July 28, 1818. He received an
average academical education, and, at the age of twenty, began the study of
medicine, pursuing his first studies mainly at Frankfort, Ohio. He took
lectures at the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati, and received his diploma
from that institution March 2, 1841. He then located at Bourneville, Ohio,
where he lived and practiced his profession for more than eight years. He
was married, at Frankfort, Ohio, August 17, 1847, to Miss M. E. Tiffin, a
niece of Dr. Edward Tiffin, first Governor of Ohio. In September, 1849, the
Doctor removed to Des Moines, Iowa. For a time he practiced medicine there,
and dealt in real estate, but, tiring of medicine, he decided to study law,
which he did, and was admitted to the bar at Des Moines. He was elected to
the State Senate of Iowa, in 1861. In 1863, he took an active part in
procuring the removal of the State capital from Iowa City to Des Moines.
During the late war, he was a strong Union man, but was opposed to the war
and took no part in it. In 1866, on account of the failing health of Mrs.
Hull, the Doctor removed to Sedalia, Mo. In 1868, he took charge as editor
and business manager of the Sedalia Democrat, a daily and weekly paper. He
entered upon his editorial career at a time when the Democracy of Missouri
was in the minority, owing to the disfranchisement of the ex-rebels, and
fierce was the war he made upon the dominant party. In 1876, still having in
view the restoration of his wife's yet impaired health, Dr. Hull disposed of
his interests at Sedalia and removed to Pueblo, Colo., where he has since
resided. He started the Pueblo Democrat, a semi-weekly paper, March 1, 1877.
Since then it has been continued, part of the time as a daily and part as a
weekly, and has ever been strong in its advocacy of Democracy. The Democrat
is now owned by the Hull Brothers, sons of Dr. Hull, and, since April 27,
1881, Dr. Hull then resigning, has been under the editorial management of
Col. David R. Murray. Having arrived at that age where men naturally require
rest and retirement, Dr. Hull has bade adieu to public life. He retires with
honors, and to the regret of many admirers. He has interests at Pueblo and
will make his future home at that place.
WILLIAM H. HYDE.
Mr. Hyde is well known in Southern Colorado as a manufacturer of wagons and
dealer in agricultural implements. He was born in Joliet, Ill., in 1839,
where he was raised and early learned the trade of blacksmith and
wagon-maker. In 1857, he went to California and worked at his trade, until
the breaking-out of the war in 1861, when he enlisted in the First
California Volunteer Infantry afterward serving through Arizona and New
Mexico, until December, 1863. He then quit the army, having served his time,
and located at Denver, Colo., resuming his trade. In 1866, he went to
Golden, Colo., and remained there until 1868, when he again returned to
Denver. He located at Pueblo in November, 1870.- and opened a blacksmith and
wagon shop. Since then he has erected large and capacious buildings which he
now occupies. He was elected Mayor of Pueblo in April, 1879, and was
reelected in 1880, his second term of office expiring April, 1881. He was
married, in Pueblo, December 1, 1871, to Miss Laura S. Loy. Mr. Hyde has
succeeded well in the West, and is now doing an extensive business, dealing
in farming implements of all kinds, and manufacturing wagons for a large
custom throughout Southern Colorado. His business is constantly increasing,
and has become an important factor in the growing interests of Pueblo.
J. LOUIS ISENBERG.
The subject of this sketch is a prominent architect and builder of Pueblo.
His ancestors were among the early settlers of Virginia, near Yorktown, but
at about the beginning of the nineteenth century they moved to the then
wilderness of Central Pennsylvania, and engaged in farming upon the borders
of Blair County, where young Isenberg was born November 15, 1849. At two
years of age. he moved with his parents to Alexandria, Huntingdon County,
Penn. He was educated in the graded public schools of that place and at
Cassville Seminary (now a Soldiers' Orphan Home), at Cassville, Penn. While
attending the institution above mentioned in 1864, when the Confederate army
under Gen. Lee invaded Pennsylvania, young Isenberg, with two companions,
deserted school and joined the State Militia at Harrisburg. After the war,
he served an apprenticeship at millwrighting. In 1869, he turned his
attention Westward, and emigrated to Sharon, Penn.. on the extreme borders
of the State. where he entered the office of an architect and remained two
years. He afterward engaged in business with his father-in-law as
contractors and builders, in which he was successful until 1873. The panic
of that year swept away almost all Mr. Isenberg possessed. He then turned
his face to the " Land of the Setting Sun," and, accompanied by his wife,
arrived at Pueblo, Colo., August 7, 1873, where he located, and has since
resided. He was married, at Brookfield, Ohio, December 14, 1871, to Miss
Nettie T. Taylor. At Pueblo, he has continued in his line of contractor,
architect and builder, and has planned and constructed a number of the
important buildings in and around the city. He was the first builder in the
construction of the smelting works, also the steel works. He planned and
constructed the present Insane Asylum. Mr. Isenberg has always been a stanch
advocate of and believer in the future greatness of the Arkansas Valley and
the city of his choice—Pueblo—as his many published letters will testify, he
having at various times been the correspondent of different Eastern journals
and the newspapers of the city. In the spring of 1880, he was elected
Alderman for the city from the Fifth Ward, and was afterward instrumental in
getting the city water mains laid in his ward, much to the gratification of
his constituency at that time. He now devotes his exclusive attention to
building—has met with much success, and is well established among the
business men of Pueblo.
GEORGE W. INK.
Mr. Ink was born in Luzerne County, Penn. His mother's death necessitated
his being raised by her parents, and he was accordingly put under their
care. By them he was sent to school winters till he was fifteen, and from
fifteen till he was twenty, was kept at work on their farm. Mechanism came
natural to him, and, without serving an apprenticeship, he took up carpentry
and followed it successfully for five years. He went to Lawrence. Kan., when
he was twenty-seven, and worked in a saw-mill, afterward buying a mill and
sawing lumber in several counties in the State. In partnership with others,
he has owned two sawmills on the divide, Colorado, and sawed many million
feet of lumber there. One of those mills he moved to Bergan's Park, near
Pike's Peak, and, in connection with it, opened a lumber-yard and set up a
planing-mill in South Pueblo. He dissolved partnership with his partners in
1873, taking the lumber-yard and planing-mill as part of his interest in the
property. He sold the lumber yard and planing-mill in 1878, and has been
engaged exclusively in building and contracting from then to the present
time. Mr. Ink is the owner of much town property, residences and lots, and
is considered a wealthy man. He is Justice of the
Peace and Police Magistrate, and has gained more popularity by his
willingness to accommodate than he can ever gain through moneyed and
official positions.
THEODORE R. JONES.
Mr. Jones is well known as a prominent stock man of Southern Colorado. He is
numbered among the "old timers," almost his entire life having been spent in
the West. He was born at Fort Wayne, Ind., September 2, 1847. He moved with
his parents to Missouri in 1856. The following year they moved into Western
Kansas, to Bent's Fort, now in Colorado. They afterward removed to
Booneville, Colo. In 1862, when but fourteen years of age young Jones was
placed in charge of the Government stores at Booneville or Camp Fillmore. He
disbursed supplies until the next year. He had become quite proficient in
speaking Spanish, and in 1863 he went to Tucson, Arizona, where, for a
number of years, he acted as interpreter for the Quartermaster's Department
of that district. In 1871, Mr. Jones came to Pueblo County, Colo., and
embarked in the stock business. He was for several years in partnership with
H. S. Stevens, but he is now connected with his brother in business, and
devotes his attention entirely to sheep. The sheep interest has become quite
important in Colorado. Mr. Jones and his brother handle immense flocks of
sheep. Between September, 1880, and January, 1881, they sold 42,000 head.
They expect to excel all their former operations in 1881. Mr. Jones has been
very successful in his undertakings, and has grown quite wealthy. He was
married at Booneville, Colo., October 5, 1876, to Miss Harriet Boone, a
descendant of the noted Daniel Boone.
LUDWIG KRAMER.
This gentleman is numbered among the "old-timers" of Colorado. He was born
in Wittenberg, Germany, September 24, 1825.• He came to America in 1852, and
located in Iowa. He was married in Germany, and brought his wife and son
with him to America. In 1858, he removed from Iowa to Jackson County, Mo.,
where he lived about two years. He came out to Colorado in the spring of
1860, and prospected in California Gulch about six months, after which he
returned to his family in Missouri, and remained with them until 1863. In
the spring of that year he removed to Colorado and settled in Pueblo County,
where he has since lived and engaged in ranching. He is now a large stock
owner, and is one of the most substantial and highly respected citizens of
the country. In 1878, Mr. Kramer was elected one of the County Commissioners
of Pueblo County, which office he nows holds.
CAPT. JOHN J. LAMBERT.
John J. Lambert, proprietor of the Colorado Chieftain at Pueblo, was born in
Wexford, Ireland, January 26, 1837. When ten years of age, he moved with his
parents to America. They settled at Dubuque, Iowa, where young Lambert
afterward learned to be a printer. He worked at the trade until the
beginning of the late war. He entered the Federal army in 1861, and served
through the war, first as Lieutenant, and later as Captain of a company in
the Ninth Iowa Cavalry. His regiment was mustered out in the spring of 1866,
immediately after which, Capt. Lambert was commissioned Lieutenant in the
Fifth United States Infantry. He was for five years Post Quartermaster and
Commissary at Fort Reynolds, Colo., twenty miles below Pueblo. During that
time, in the fall of 1868, he purchased the Chieftain, a paper which had
been established at Pueblo the June previous. His brother then came West and
took charge of the Chieftain, continuing with it until 1872, when Capt.
Lambert resigned his commission in the army and took charge of the paper in
person. Under his management the Chieftain has grown rapidly, and increased
largely in value. The elegant office, a two-story brick, was erected in
1879. The Chieftain is a daily and weekly. It has an extensive circulation,
and has become one of the most important journals in Southern Colorado.
Capt. Lambert has the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. He was
married at Dubuque, Iowa, in December, 1873, to Miss Sue E. Lorimier.
JAMES LIVESY, B. A.
Owing to the difficulty of obtaining more particulars, this sketch of Mr.
Livesy's life is much shorter than it is wished it were, for the history in
detail of a gentleman of his pure tastes and delicacy would, it is believed,
be read with great interest by the perusers of this book. He is the son of a
wealthy cotton dealer of Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and was born March
15, 1850. He attended the public schools of Blackburn till 1867, and then,
after having been engaged a year and a half with his father at Uppingham in
the cotton business, he became a student of Cambridge University, and
graduated in four years, and had the degree of Bachelor of Arts conferred
upon him. His father desired him to make theology his profession, but having
a strong love for agricultural pursuits, he attended the agricultural
college at Cirencester, Gloucester, a year, with a view to making farming
his calling in life, and came to America, in 1875, in search of ground to
farm. A six months' search in Colorado, failing to find ground on which he
wished to locate, he went to New Zealand, but having learned that he could
invest money in Colorado to better advantage than there, he returned in
1876, and in partnership with his brother, bought what is known as the
Goodnight and Cresswell property, a large tract of land ten miles from
Pueblo, and has since been engaged in dealing in stock, cattle, sheep and
wool.
THOMAS J. LIVESY.
Mr. Livesy is an educated gentleman and the largest land-owner and
stock-dealer in Pueblo County. Though of a retiring disposition and no
desire to come into public notice, his wealth and large business
transactions have made him a noted and prominent man. He was horn in
Lancashire, England, November 16, 1847. He received his education at the
English public schools, a preparatory school for the army, and in
Switzerland. An army life would have been his chosen profession, but for
circumstances transpiring which changed the whole direction of his mind and
brought him, in 1869, to Texas. After residing in Texas a year. he returned
to England to buy cotton, which, being a more hazardous business than he
cared to follow, was discontinued at the end of three years, and another
trip to America planned and made. A location to suit him was not found, and
he extended his journey to British Columbia, New Zealand and Australia, and
returned to England, to again come to America. He came to America the third
time, and bought steers on the Pan Handle, Texas, then settled in the
Arkansas Valley, ten miles above Pueblo, on the Goodnight and Cresswell
property, an eight thousand acre tract of farming and grazing land, which he
and his brother purchased, intending to raise beeves. Sheep proving more
profitable, they sold off much of all other stock, and now raise, buy and
sell sheep. An idea of the purchases and sales he makes can be formed when
it is read that he has constantly on his range from ten thousand to eighteen
thousand sheep, several thousand head of cattle, and buys and sells by the
hundreds and thousands. He sheared 50,000 pounds of wool last year and will
increase the amount next year.
ED J. MAXWELL.
Although Mr. Maxwell is comparatively a new man in Colorado, yet he has
become prominently known as a lawyer at Pueblo. He was born in the city of
New York April 21, 1841. He attended Union College, graduating there in
1863. After finishing school, he entered the Federal army, and served to the
close of the late war, being Captain of a company in the Irish Brigade. He
was also for a time on Gen. Miles' staff. After the war, he returned to New
York and began the study of law. He graduated at the Albany Law School, at
Albany, N. Y., in 1867, after which he„was admitted to the bar and entered
upon the practice of law. He was married, in Albany, in 1866. During the
years 1872-73, he was Assistant Adjutant General of the New York National
Guard. In 1875, Mr. Maxwell went to South Carolina where, during the
political canvass of the following year, he stumped the State for Tilden and
for Hampton. After the election, he was one of the counsel for Hampton in
his celebrated contest with Chamberlain for the Governorship. In the spring
of 1880, he came to Pueblo, Colo., where he at once entered upon the
practice of his profession. He has rapidly established himself, and is doing
a lucrative practice, the people having soon discovered in him a man of
unusual ability and business acumen. Mr. Maxwell is at present associated
with Mr. E. Brayton.
JOSEPH McMURTRY.
Mr. McMurtry is a well-known lawyer of South Pueblo. He was born in Hardin
County, Ky., November 27, 1848. He attended school at Litchfield, Ky., and
when sixteen years of age he quit school and began clerking in a store. He
studied law at the same time, and when twenty-one years of age, in 1869, was
admitted to the bar at Elizabethtown. At the age of twenty-three, he was
elected Judge of the Police Court of Elizabethtown, which office he held two
years. Mr. McMurtry's health began to fail during his term of office, and he
continued to decline until 1875, when, in the fall of that year, hoping to
be restored by the salubrious climate of Colorado, he came West. He spent
several months in the mountains, and, in spring of 1876, located at South
Pueblo, where, his health being much improved, he has since resided and
practiced his profession. Besides doing a good law business, he is now
dealing considerably in real estate.
JOHN D. MILLER.
This gentleman, now a prominent merchant at Pueblo, was one of the earliest
settlers of Colorado. He was born in Danby, Tompkins Co., N. Y., in 1836. He
came West in 1857, as far as Kansas, where, locating a quarter-section of
land, he engaged in ranching about a year. His prime object in going to
Kansas was to join the movement to suppress slavery there. In May, 1858,
young Miller started with a party for the Rocky Mountains. The summer of
that year, they spent in prospecting for gold along the foot-hills. They
surveyed and located the town of Mortana. In September, Mr. Miller returned
to his ranch in Kansas, and the following winter he went to New York, where
he procured means to purchase a stock of goods. He bought his goods in
Leavenworth City, the following May, and started for Denver, arriving there
in June. From Denver he went to Deadwood, taking with him his stock of
goods, but on the way he had the misfortune to lose most of his stock by
accidental burning, and disposing of the remainder in Deadwood he afterward
engaged in mining, which he continued to follow in different parts of
Colorado for about two years. He served three years in the late war as a
soldier of the First Colorado Cavalry. In October, 1864, his time expiring,
he left the army and went to New York, where he remained until the next
spring. In May, 1865, he again returned to Colorado and went to Pueblo, at
which place he has since lived. For about two years, he engaged in various
employment, driving a team for a while, and clerking for a time in a store.
In 1867, he was elected County Clerk for the county of Pueblo, which
position he held four years. He was married, at Pueblo, December 2, 1869, to
Miss Lizzie Dodson. In the fall of 1871, he embarked in the grocery business
with Thomas W. Sayles as partner. The partnership was continued till 1876,
when Mr. Miller bought Mr. Sayles' interest, and since then he has continued
the business alone. Mr. Miller has been eminently successful in business. He
now has one of the largest and best assorted stocks of goods in the the
general grocery and queens-ware line in the city, and in point of custom he
is second to no merchant in Pueblo.
DAVID C. MONTGOMERY.
The subject of this sketch is descended from one of the oldest families of
Pennsylvania. His ancestors came from Ireland to America in 1732, and
settled in Pennsylvania. Their descendants have become quite numerous, and
among now amon the prominent people of the State. David Montgomery was born
in Northumberland County, Penn., March 20, 1833. He received his education
in the high school at Wyoming, Penn. In 1855, he went to Minnesota, where he
entered a body of land and engaged in farming. He was married, at St. Paul,
Minn., in 1855. In 1864, he returned to his old home in Pennsylvania, where
he lived for years and pursued farming, until coming West, in 1877. In
November of that year, he located at Pueblo, Colo., where he has since
resided. Mr. Montgomery has been liberal in investing his means. He now owns
much valuable property at Pueblo, having himself erected a number of
buildings.
HON. WILLIAM MOORE.
On the 31st day of October, 1827, the subject of this history was born on a
farm at Carrollton, Carroll Co., Ohio. Up to the age of fifteen, he attended
a district school and there obtained the education which. in after years,
was to become an invaluable aid to his modest, yet resolute mind, in the
direction of a uniform and unfailing success in all affairs of a business
nature with which he had to do. A moment is spared to go back to his
youth—to see him a boy persevering in all his undertakings and precise in
all particulars—to see him with that noticeable precision which is
conspicuous in the strong features of the gentleman of fifty-four, and which
doubtless has been instrumental, as much as any other trait, in obtaining
for him the position and influence of one of the wealthy men of the county
of Pueblo. At fifteen he left school, laid away his books, and began on a
farm in his native State, the active life which has resulted in his popular
and financial aggrandizement. With excellent results, he gratified in Ohio
his love of farming until he was twenty-five, when he removed to Kansas to
farm, and improved on his Ohio success. During his residence in Kansas, he
made several visits to Ohio on pleasure and business, and bought and sold
many tracts of land and town properties, having engaged in the real estate
business soon after his arrival in the State. In 1860, with an ox train of
ten teams, he came to Colorado, intending to remain only a year and then
return to Kansas, but Colorado's climate, people and business opportunities
pleased him so much more than he expected they would, that he did not
hesitate to pronounce them superior to any he had elsewhere met with and to
decide to make his permanent home within her borders. Mining was the
business to engage in in 1860, and Mr. Moore perceiving at once its sure
returns if properly managed, turned his attention to prospecting and
employing prospectors, and received gratifying and satisfactory returns. In
1866, to see the Territory as to the business advantages, he made a trip to
Montana with the freight outfit of J. N. Carlile, but not being pleased with
the country or its business prospect, he returned to Colorado, content to "
let well enough alone," and to follow mining, which he followed until 1868.
His mining record records the sale of a number of mines at moderate prices,
yet for an amount sufficiently large to allow him to reflect with pleasure
on the seven years he devoted to Colorado's chief industry, and the
old-timers of the Central City and Blue River placer mines, who read this
description of his life will readily recollect him and place him among the
lucky placer miners of their acquaintance. The railroad contracting done by
Mr. Moore reaches a large amount when brought down to a total in dollars and
cents. In 1868, he abandoned mining and entered into partnership with J. N.
Carlile, under the firm name of Moore & Carlile, for the purpose of taking
railroad contracts to build railroads. The first mile of railroad built in
the State of Colorado was built by them on the Denver & Pacific Railroad. He
was interested in contracts to build forty miles of the Denver & Pacific
Railroad ; to build the Colorado Central from Denver to Golden ; to build
the greater part of 230 miles of the Kansas Pacific Railroad from Sheridan
to Denver, and in contracts to build the .Denver & Rio Grande Railroad from
Denver to Pueblo, and ninety-seven miles of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
Railroad. The Orman Brothers were admitted to partnership with Moore &
Carlile, in 1874, before the taking of the contract on the Atchison, Topeka
& Santa Fe Railroad, and the firm given the title, Moore, Carlile, Orman &
Co. In order to give his whole attention to real estate and building in
South Pueblo, he drew out of the firm of Moore, Carlile, Orman & Co., in
1877, and engaged exclusively in his choice pursuit. In 1878-79, he made a
number of transfers and erected several buildings, but, in 1880-81, the
transfers he made and buildings he erected exceeded those of any two years
previous—were on a larger scale and more in harmony with the scope of his
intellect adapted for real estate negotiations. The most costly and finest
building built by him is the Moore & Carlile Opera House, J. N. Carlile
assisting. At the time of gathering of this data, he was interested in
building a large block, to be called the Moore & Orman Block. Independent
public enterprise is one of Hon. William Moore's most prominent qualities as
is illustrated by the following : Pueblo, or North Pueblo, as it is
sometimes called, and South Pueblo, are separated by the Arkansas River, and
each controlled by its own city government. Mr. Moore conceive of the
project of building a street railway from city to city, and in opposition to
the honest fears of the public for the success of the enterprise, he
organized the Pueblo Street Railway Company, and built a street railway from
the limits of one city to the limits of the other. Stating that the
enterprise was a success, when it is known that he was the organizer and
manager, is seemingly superfluous, yet necessary to complete the history.
The road paid from the day of its completion, and the stock is in demand at
a figure considerably above its par value. The building of the road is a
benefit to each city which will long be remembered by both. The originator
and his co-worker in it and other public enterprises, the Hon. James N.
Carlile, are two of South Pueblo's most public spirited men, and entitled to
the respect and public honors so generously bestowed upon them by the
grateful citizens of the recipient city. In the fall of 1873, Mr. Moore was
persuaded, against his expressed wishes, to be a candidate for election to
the last Territorial Legislature held in Colorado and convened January 1,
1874, those who urged him to accept the nomination well knowing that as soon
as he should consent his election was insured. He was elected by a large
majority, served his full term and to-day wears a legislative laurel which
grows as time increases. When the interview to obtain some of the
particulars for this history was had, he was a hale gentleman of fifty-four,
with the vigor of a much younger man. He was direct and dignified, but
pleasant in conversation. His portrait can be found in this volume, and any
one examining it cannot fail to be struck with the earnestness and sincerity
which marks every lineament of his face.
HON. JAMES B. ORMAN.
This gentleman was born November 4, 1848, in the State of Iowa, at
Muscatine, from which place he removed at an early age to Winterset, Madison
County, and at the age of twelve to attend school from Winterset to Chicago,
Ill. At Chicago he attended school, public and select, as long as he
desired—about four years—and returned to Winterset to extensively farm, deal
in and raise. stock on a large farm owned by his father. The next four years
was passed in successful farming and speculation in stock. The information
of the opportunities for business presented by Colorado attracted his
attention in 1866, and induced him to close his unsettled business, and take
the stage for Julesburg, Colo. From there he traveled with the mule teams of
his brother, W. A. Orman, to Denver. In the early day of 1866, the shipping
into Denver on wagons nearly all supplies for man and beast used in
Colorado, created a constant demand for freight animals of all descriptions,
particularly for heavy mules and horses, the Mexican mustang, California
broncho and Indian kuise, with which the country was stocked, being too
light for serviceable freighters. With characteristic foresight, he took
advantage of this demand, and lbr several years he brought large numbers of
mules to Denver from Kansas City and St. Louis, and rapidly disposed of
them. Railroad contracting has been his business for the past twelve years.
It is a busi-, ness for which he is naturally qualified, and he is as well
known by the name of " the railroad contractor" as by the name of Orman. He
began railroading, in partnership with his brother, by taking contracts on
the Kansas Pacific Railroad. when that road was being built from Sheridan to
Denver, a distance of 230 miles, and helped to complete it into Denver. He
and his brother then began contracting on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad.
He has been contracting on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad from the grading
of the first mile to the present time. In the different firms of Orman &
Co.; Moore, Carlile, Orman & Co.; Carlile, Orman & Crook, and Orman & Crook,
he has helped to build five-sixths of the main line of the Denver & Rio
Grande from Denver to Leadville, and nearly the whole of all its extensions,
which are El Moro, San Juan, Del Norte and Wagon Wheel Gap : Silver Cliff,
Kirber Creek and Kokomo Extensions, and the Iron Mine Branch, twelve miles
out from South Arkansas to a rich and productive iron mine owned by the
railroad company. Orman & Crook, in June, 1881, bought the interest of the
Hon. James N. Carlile in all railroad contracts they were interested in
together, and now carryon the work alone, and have added to their other
contracts a contract to build fifty miles of the Kokomo Extension down Blue
River. He -has accumulated a fortune. He owns a large number of building
lots on the mesa, and on several of them he has built fine dwellings, which
he rents to tenants. A view of his residence is presented in this volume. He
owns stock in the celebrated mineral water artesian well, and in partnership
with his former railroad contracting partner, the Hon. William Moore, he is
putting up the Moore & Orman Block, a large block in South Pueblo. Mr. Orman
has had many public honors thrust upon him. He is Vice President of the
Pueblo Street Railway. He has been City Councilman since the city's
incorporation, and was Representative from Pueblo County to the third State
Legislature, held in 1881. The J. B. Orman Hose No. 1, honored him by giving
his name to their company. The loss of his brother, W. A. Orman, by death,
on the 19th of March, 1880, will be a sorrow to his sympathetic nature till
his own occurs. His portrait speaks the energy and ready action he
possesses.
DR. WILLIAM R. OWEN.
Dr. Owen is a popular and well known physician of Pueblo, and he is,
perhaps, the oldest resident homoeopathist in Southern Colorado. He was born
in Indianapolis, Ind., April 23, 1844. When eleven years of age his father
moved to Marshalltown, Iowa, where he received his education, being brought
up in a drug store. He began to read medicine at an early age, and attended
lectures at the regular schools of medicine in St. Louis and Chicago ; but
subsequently becoming a convert to homoeopathy, he took a course at the the
Missouri School of Homoeopathy at St. Louis. He practiced his profession in
Iowa about two years. He was married at Marshalltown, Iowa, in 1865, to Miss
Mattie Andrews. In June, 1872, Dr. Owen came to Colorado and located at
Pueblo, where he at once entered upon an excellent practice, being the first
doctor of homoeopathy in the place. He returned to St. Louis in 1876, and
took his last course of lectures, graduating in homoeopathy. Afterward
resuming his practice at Pueblo, he has since remained steadily at that
place. The Doctor has established a wide reputation, and is now doing an
extensive and lucrative practice, having even more patronage than he can
well respond to. He has been peculiarly successful, and at the time of this
writing, is building for himself an elegant residence in the city of Pueblo.
AUGUSTUS B. PATTON.
Mr. Patton has been many years in Colorado, and is now a prominent citizen
and attorney of Pueblo. He was born in Fayette County, Penn.. January 13,
1846. His parents moved in 1851 to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, where he received
his education, which was first-class. He came West when but seventeen years
of age, in 1863. For a number of years he lived in different parts of
Colorado, mining most of the time, and in 1869, he returned to Mount
Pleasant, Iowa, for the purpose of reading law. He graduated in the Law
Department of Wesleyan University at Mount Pleasant, and was admitted to the
bar in 1872. He practiced for a short time in Iowa, and in the spring of
1873, he came to Pueblo, Colo., where he located, and has since engaged in
the practice of his profession. He was elected Superintendent of Public
Schools for the county of Pueblo in December, 1877, and was re-elected to
the same office, which he now holds, in December, 1879. He has recently
associated himself in business with Mr. D. F. Urmy. The firm of Patton &
Urmy have an excellent law practice in Pueblo and adjoining counties. They
also deal considerably in real estate. Mr. Patton is one of the enterprising
and best established citizens of Pueblo. He was married October 21, 1875, to
Miss Ada L. Glisan, of Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
HENLY R. PRICE.
This gentleman, the present Sheriff of Pueblo County, was born in Montgomery
County, Va., November 10, 1831. He was raised on a farm and received a
common-school education. He immigrated West to Missouri in 1855. In the
spring of 1860, he came to Colorado. After living about three years in
different mining camps, he located, in the fall of 1863, at Pueblo, where he
has since made his home. He was married on Mount Lincoln, September 10,
1861, to Miss Melaine Rowe. He was elected Sheriff of Pueblo County in 1869,
which office he held three years. He afterward filled the office of
Constable, and was also at one time City Marshal of Pueblo. He was again
elected Sheriff in 1877, and was re-elected to the same office in 1880. Mr.
Price has acquired extensive means, and is now one of the most prosperous
and influential citizens of Pueblo County.
CAPT. JAMES RICE.
The town of Pueblo was yet, as it were, in its infancy when Capt. Rice came
there in 1868. He built the first brick storehouse in the place, and was
himself the first Mayor of the town. The Captain was born in the State of
Vermont, at Hartford, December 29, 1830. After his schooldays, he learned
the trade of a machinist. subsequently working at his trade at various
places in Vermont for several years. He was married in Greensboro, Vt., July
9, 1861, to Miss Carrie E. Stevens. He served through the late war; first as
a musician in the Fifth Vermont Volunteers, and latterly as a Captain in the
Eleventh Vermont. After the close of the war, he located in business at
Providence, R. I., where he lived until coming West in 1868. In April of
that year he settled at Pueblo, where he opened a tobacco store. In 1870, he
began the business he is now engaged in—dealing in books and stationery. He
then erected the building which he now occupies, and which also contains the
post office. Capt. Rice assisted in organizing the town of Pueblo. He was
one of the first Trustees, and was Mayor of the town during the first three
terms of that office. He was a member of the Legislative Council,
representing the counties of El Paso and Pueblo in 1875 –76. In November,
1880, he was elected Regent of the State University of Colorado, which
office he now holds. Capt. Rice has ever been a public spirited man ; and he
has labored much for the general interests of Pueblo, for which he receives
and well deserves the esteem of his fellow-citizens.
HON. GEO. Q. RICHMOND.
George Q. Richmond, a prominent lawyer and the present. Mayor of Pueblo, was
born in Kennebec County, Maine, August 4, 1844. When fourteen years of age,
he left home and went to Boston, where he worked for a time, and afterward
attended school. In 1863., he took a trip through the West, spending about a
year in California and Nevada. In the summer of 1864, he returned to Boston
and enlisted in the Sixty-first Massachusetts Infantry. He served in the U.
S. Army to the close of the late war, being commissioned a Lieutenant during
the time. After the war he remained in Washington City, and attended the
Columbia College, graduating in both the literary and law departments in
1868. He practiced law in Washington for a time, until coming West in 1870.
In April of that year, he located at Pueblo, Colorado, where he has since
resided and practiced his profession. In 1876, he was a candidate for
Attorney General of the State on the Democratic ticket, but was defeated by
a small majority. In that year he was a Centennial Commissioner, by
appointment of the Governor of Colorado, at the National Exposition at
Philadelphia. In 1880, he was a candidate for Supreme Judge, being the
unanimous choice of the Democratic convention which met at Leadville. He was
elected Mayor of Pueblo at the last municipal election, which office he
occupies at this time. Mr. Richmond has established a wide reputation as a
lawyer, and is now doing a large and lucrative practice. He was married at
Philadelphia, Penn., October 24. 1878, to Miss Jennie S. Siner.
M. SHELDON.
Mr. Sheldon is a resident of South Pueblo of eight years standing, which
entitles him to be styled " an old-timer," by which he s well known in his
city—and to a place in the ranks of its pioneers, and, in reality, in the
ranks of the pioneers of the State, for while the experience of those who
came to Colorado between 1870 and 1875-76 was not generally as severe as the
experience of those who came in " '59 and '60," no more than the latter's
was equal in hardships to that of Carson and other scouts of his day, yet it
was at least similar in privation, and the application now of " Old-Timer,"
pioneer, etc., to them, is appropriate. He was born on his father's farm in
Vernon, Trumbull Co., Ohio, August 31, 1844. For a few years he attended the
Vernon District School, but being desirous of receiving higher education and
culture than was conferred at Vernon, he entered the Western Reserve College
in Farmington, Ohio, for a thorough course of study and graduation. During
vacations, he worked on the farm at home. The summer he was eighteen,
overwork in the harvest field injured his health to a degree which made
close application to study impossible, and necessitated his immediate
departure from college and the engaging in employment which would not
further injure his health. To recruit, he went to his father's and stayed on
the farm four years, working or not, according to his health conditions. At
the end of four years there was no change for the better, and in hopes of
finding a climate in which his health would improve, he left Vernon, and
made a tour of Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, and settled in
Prairie City, Jasper County, Iowa. At Prairie City he formed a partnership
with D. M. Bartlett and H. C. De Wolf, and began retailing general
merchandise under the firm title of Bartlett, Sheldon & De Wolf. Another
four years passed and health again demanded a change. This time, to meet the
requirements of his failing health, he sold his interest in the stock and
business of Bartlett, Sheldon & De Wolf, to Bartlett & De Wolf, and moved on
a quarter-section of land which he bought in the township, resorting the
second time to farming for a restoration of health. Working the raw land,
putting up buildings and otherwise improving the section occupied his mind
and gave promise—in appearance only—of improvement, to disappear at the end
of two years, when the quarter-section was transformed from a tract of wild
prairie land into an improved farm, comfortable and desirable home, which he
would soon be obliged to leave to another to enjoy. At the close of the two
years just mentioned, in 1873, with no financial consideration in view, but
solely to seek the health he lost years before, he and his estimable lady
loaded a few necessary articles into a wagon, hitched a span of mules to it,
and, taking a lingering look at the farm which had witnessed the beginning
of their housekeeping, in a cabin by themselves, at a considerable distance
from any neighbor—but the happier because of the newly married life they had
just entered upon—the farm which together they had made and surrounded with
conveniences and luxuries, with many silent and spoken regrets at having to
leave, they sadly yet courageously, and resigned to the will of Him who "
doeth all things well," got in and started across the plains for Colorado,
the El Dorado of health for the invalid as well as that of precious minerals
for the fortune hunter. Greeley was their objective point, where they
arrived after days of tedious riding in a variety of weather. His health
being the same as when he started, he had a desire to travel farther and
drove on to Denver, South Park, Colorado Springs and Canon City, finding no
place where he wished to locate until he arrived in South Pueblo, in
September of the same year. Four years more was passed in a vain pursuit
after complete health, by camping in the mountains during the summer, and
particular care during the winter. With the same spirit which has enabled
him to endure and accomplish so much in the face of poor health, he
commenced the business of selling the best brands of heavy wagons, in 1877,
and shortly thereafter opened a lumber yard. He is doing probably the most
extensive retail business in Eastern and native lumber of any dealer in the
city, and is one of the citizens of South Pueblo who has accumulated a
competency. His integrity is above question and a refined organization has
made him deservedly popular. For several years he has been Treasurer of the
School Board. He was Treasurer the first year of the organization of the
South Pueblo Loan Association, an eminently successful enterprise, and
re-elected to the same office, which he holds at the present time ; he also
was a member of the City Council during the year ended April, 1881, and was
elected City Treasurer at the expiration of the term of that office, for the
ensuing year. When he left Ohio, he had hemorrhage of the lungs, which
continued up to the second year of his residence in Colorado, and was so
frequent when he left Iowa, as to make it impossible for him to ride all
day. In the winter of 1880-81, he enjoyed the best health he had enjoyed in
eighteen years. His health improves every year. He is strictly temperate,
seldom ever drinking a cup of tea or coffee. He has not had an hemorrhage
since the first year of his residence in the State. Mr. Sheldon is a
Christian ; a member of the Congregational Church and an efficient worker in
that body, and Superintendent of its Sabbath School.
JOHN V. SHEPARD.
This gentleman was born at Palestine, Ill., in 1846. He served through the
late war as a soldier of the Sixty-second Illinois Volunteers. In the fall
of 1866, he went to Charleston, Ill., where he clerked in a store for about
three years. Subsequently, he traveled a number of years for a Boston shoe
house, until coming West in 1872. In the fall of that year, Mr. Shepard
located at Pueblo, and began business, keeping a general store, in
partnership with the Wilson Brothers, the style of the firm being Wilson
Brothers & Shepard. Mr. Shepard continued a member of the firm until July,
1880, when, disposing of his interest, he opened a boot and shoe store on
the opposite side of Santa Fe avenue. Mr. C. E. Dudley has since become a
partner of Mr. Shepard, the firm now being Shepard & Dudley. They have a
fine custom, and carry the largest and best assorted stock in Pueblo. Mr.
Shepard was one of the first Directors of the Stock-Growers' National Bank,
and is now a Director. He was married at Pueblo November 9, 1875, to Miss
Margaret Newcomer.
THEODORE A. SLOANE.
Mr. Sloane was born in Rush County, Ind., in 1847. He was educated at
Greencastle, Ind., where he graduated in 1871. Soon after finishing school,
he came West, and settled at Pueblo, where he became connected with the
People, a newspaper then being published. He was afterward managing editor
of the People about two years. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar
in 1876. He was County Superintendent of Public Schools two yearsfrom 1876
to 1878. In the fall of 1878, he was appointed Clerk of the District Court
at Pueblo, which position he now holds. Mr. Sloane is highly regarded by the
citizens of Pueblo. He was married, in 1875, to Miss Hinsdale, a daughter of
ex-Gov. Hinsdale.
J. K. SMILEY.
J. K. Smiley is the son of a grain speculator of Latrobe, Westmoreland
County, Penn., where he was born on the 19th day of February, 1846. At the
Brothers' Loretta College, a Catholic college in Latrobe, he graduated in
1863, and the same year secured a situation as salesman with the large
wholesale hardware firm of Linsay, Sterrit & Co., of Pittsburgh, Penn., with
whom he remained until 1865, when, believing that his country needed his
services, and that it was his duty to give them, he enlisted in Company H,
of the Two Hundred and Eleventh Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers ; served
one year, and was discharged at the close of the war. As soon as he returned
from the army, Messrs. Linsay, Sterrit & Co. urged him to take his old
situation with them, an arrangement highly pleasing to him, and adopted by
him. His engagement with them as salesman in their warehouse, before his
enlistment and after his discharge, covered a period of four years. At the
expiration of four years, he was sent out as traveling salesman, and for a
period of between five and six years more he represented the firm in all the
cities, towns and villages to which their trade extended. The fame of
Colorado's mines attracted his attention, and 1876 witnessed his departure
from Pennsylvania and arrival in Leadville, Colo. He mined two years in
Leadville, traveled around the State for a time, and finally located in
Pueblo, contented to remain there during the remainder of his life.
JOSIAH F. SMITH.
Notably among the " old-timers " in Southern Colorado is Josiah F. Smith, a
prominent citizen, and the present Police Judge of Pueblo. He was raised in
Dayton, Ohio, where he was born September 2, 1829. He came West in 1848, and
for ten years traded among the Indians through Wyoming, California and
Oregon. In 1858, he returned to Missouri, going to St. Louis, where he lived
more than two years. Coming West again in 1860, he located in Southern
Colorado, on the Fontaine qui Bouille, at a point which became a village,
known as Fontaine City, but which is now covered by East Pueblo. Mr. Smith
has been prominently connected with the varied changes and growth of Pueblo
from its very infancy. In 1866, he pre-empted a quarter-section of land
bordering on Santa F6 avenue, which he afterward sold in town lots,
realizing considerable money therefrom. He was Sheriff of Pueblo County in
1864-65. He was a Deputy under Gov. Hunt when he held the office of United
States Marshal. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1859, when
Colorado was a part of Kansas Territory, and has since held that office at
various times in Pueblo County. He was elected to the office of Police Judge
in May, 1881. Few men have been more intimately associated with the history
of Southern Colorado, and few have figured more in the shifting scenes of
Western life than Josiah F. Smith. The Judge has not been unmindful of his
individual interest. He has long been interested in the stock business, and
by his various enterprises has grown quite wealthy. Long may he yet live
among the people whose growth he has watched, and whose vicissitudes he has
shared for over twenty years.
IRVING W. STANTUN.
This gentleman is one of the remaining "old-timers" in Colorado. He came to
the country when Denver was composed of log houses and shanties, and when
the flourishing city of Pueblo only existed in the dreams of a few early
pioneers. Mr. Stanton was born at Way mart, Wayne County, Penn., in 1836.
Before he was fully grown, he started West. Coming as far as Kansas in the
early part of 1855, he lived there about five months, after which he went to
Towa, in which State he lived over four years. In 1860, he again journeyed
Westward, arriving at Denver in June of that year. He prospected in the
mountains during the summer, and returned to Denver the following fall. He
lived in Denver, clerking in the post office and bookstore there until the
spring of 1862, when he went to Buckskin Joe, and bought out a book and
stationery establishment, which he kept until the ensuing fall. Then
disposing of his business, Mr. Stanton enlisted in the Third Colorado
Infantry, and continued in the United States service to the close of the
late war. After the war, he went to Washington City, and was there connected
with the Department of the Interior to 1867. In that year he received the
appointment of Register of the United States Land Office at Central City,
Colo. That position he held over three years, until, during 1871, he was
appointed Register of the Land Office at Pueblo. He held the office at
Pueblo until June, 1875, when he resigned. During his intervals of business.
Mr. Stanton had pursued the study of law. This he continued to the fall of
1875, when he was admitted to the bar, and began the practice at Pueblo, in
partnership with Hon. G. Q. Richmond. He and Mr. Richmond have since
continued together, doing a large and lucrative practice. Mr. Stanton was
married at Potosi, Mo., in 1867, to Miss Mary A. Singer.
GEN. R. M. STEVENSON.
About twenty years previous to the outbreak of the war of independence,
George Stevenson, Edward Shippen and John Armstrong were appointed His Most
Gracious Majesty George the Second's Judges of the Courts of Quarter
Sessions, and general jail delivery for the counties of York, Lancaster and
Cumberland, in the province of Pennsylvania. George Stevenson, an Irish
barrister, and an LL.D. of Dublin University, was the great-grandfather of
the subject of the present sketch, and the first of the family who settled
in America. When the colonies threw off their allegiance to the British
Crown, Judge Stevenson, then a resident of Carlisle, Penn., became an ardent
patriot, was Chairman of the Committee of Safety in his section, and was
marked by the British Government as on arch rebel. His son, George
Stevenson, Jr., became an officer in the Revolutionary army, and served
during the entire war. During the whisky insurrection in Western
Pennsylvania, about the close of the last century, George Stevenson left his
home in Carlisle, in that State, as Major of a regiment of State troops sent
there to restore order. He foresaw the coming greatness of Pittsburgh, and
settled there ; was President of a branch of the Bank of the United States
located at that point for many years, and was also Chief Burgees and first
Mayor of the city. His son. Thomas Collins Stevenson, M. D., returned to
Carlisle, at which town Raymond M. Stevenson was born, March 4,1840. At the
age of sixteen, he commenced his career as a journalist, his first work in
the profession being a report of a political meeting in the campaign of
1856. He was educated at Dickinson College, in his native town, and after
trying several other professions, returned to his first love, and settled
down to journalism. After serving in the quartermaster's department of the
army during the early years of the war, he was obliged to return home with a
constitution badly shattered by typhoid fever. In 1863, he was appointed by
President Lincoln Vice Consul at Sheffield, England, where he remained until
1866. Resigning his position, he returned to the United States and to
journalism. In the summer of 1868, the attractions of Colorado became too
strong to be resisted, and the subject of our sketch joined the army of
emigrants bound for the Rocky Mountain region. After remaining in Denver for
a few months, he removed to Pueblo, and was connected with the Colorado
Chieftain for nearly twelve years (with the exception of a few brief
interruptions), the last six years as managing editor. In 1879, he was
appointed by Gov. Pitkin one of the Commissioners oft he State Insane Asylum
at Pueblo, which posi ion he resigned in April, 1880, to accept that of
Private Secretary to -the Governor. The latter position he resigned in the
fall of the same year to take a situation on the Denver Tribune, which he
was obliged to resign on account of illness. Upon the meeting of the General
Assembly of the State in January, 1881, he was unanimously elected Chief
Clerk of the House of Representatives, and at the close of the session
appointed Adjutant General of the State. Gen. Stevenson was married in
Pueblo, in 1871, to Susan C., eldest daughter of Rev. Samuel Edwardes, then
Rector of St. Peter's Church in that city.
WILLIAM W. STRAIT.
He whose name forms the caption of this history was born April 3, 1839, in
Sylvania Township, near Troy, in Bradford County, Penn., on his father's
farm. When he was seven years old, his father moved to Centerville, Lake
County, Lid.; two years after, to Pleasant Grove ; and, in 1852, being
elected Sheriff, he moved to Crown Point, the county seat, where he engaged
in the mercantile business, and attended to the duties of his office. In
1855, he sold his business, and bought 1,000 head of stock cattle, and moved
to Scott County, Minn. William W. was then sixteen ; he had clerked a short
time at Crown Point and at Shakopee. An opportunity to break prairie land at
a price he could lay up considerable money occurring, he broke from 1855
till 1858. His school advantages were not the best, but he made the most of
them, and observation and study after leaving school has made him a business
scholar. He again began clerking, in 1859, for his father, and remained with
him until 1862. At the residence of his bride's father, eight miles from
Shakopee, with Miss Amanda Hawkins, he entered into a contract of marriage,
June 18, 1861. He had saved, in 1862, enough capital to do business for
himself. Jordan, in the same county, was selected by him as a place where
merchandise could be turned fast and with profit. He opened a general
merchandise store there, and sold it in 1864, to start a livery, which he
continued in till 1867. In partnership with his brother, the Hon. H. B.
Strait, who was sent to Congress from the Second Congressional District of
Minnesota, in 1872, he recommenced merchandising at Jordan, and sold goods
there till 1876, when he and his brother sold their store, and he came to
South Pueblo. He was appointed Postmaster at Jordan, Sand Creek Post Office,
in 1862. One of the most exciting times of his life took place that year, in
August, when Yellow Medicine and Red Wood Agencies were massacred by
Indians, and Fort Ridgely besieged. For safety, he sent his family to the
county seat, then left his business in charge of a boy clerk, and joined a
company of mounted Independents, made up mostly of business men, and went to
the relief of the fort. They scouted from Henderson to St. Peter, in advance
of the volunteers, made a short halt at the latter place waiting for
ammunition, and in face of expected ambush, pushed on through the ravines to
Fort Ridgely. All the settlers west of the fort were killed, and he
witnessed a spectacle of the mutilation of the dead as is seen only where
Indians have been on the war-path and held might in their grasp. The Indians
were apprised of the coming of the company, and left the imprisoned
defenders of the fort to peacefully and joyfully welcome the arrival of the
would-be self-sacrificing company who had saved them from massacre. Hearing
of the beneficial effect the climate of Colorado has on invalids, he
accepted of the verdict of the many, and brought his invalid wife to the
State, without even first making the journey to ascertain if the reports
were corroborated by the cure of those who had preceded him. Like hundreds
of others had done, she gained her health, and rather than risk a change, he
bought the Grand Central Hotel, one of the largest in the city, intending to
make Colorado the future home of himself and family. In the spring of 1878,
he leased the hotel to a renter, and spent the summer visiting relatives and
friends in Washington, D. C., returning to Colorado in the fall. He has
built four cottages in " The Grove," and was one of the projectors of the
mineral-water artesian well, and is now, by developing the mineral resources
of the State, attesting his readiness to increase the wealth of the State as
much as his has been increased by it.
JOHN A. THATCHER.
Few of those men who came out in the early days of Colorado have been more
successful, or become more identified with the business interests of the
country than John A. Thatcher. He was born August 25, 1836, near Newport,
Penn., where he was raised and educated. In 1857, he came West to Holt
County, Mo., where he lived about five years. In 1862, following the " Star
of Empire," he came to Denver, Colo. After remaining there a few months, he
went to Pueblo, where he located, and has lived for nineteen years, growing
up with the place from its very infancy. At Pueblo he first engaged in the
mercantile business, which he continued himself until the spring of 1865,
when his brother, M. D. Thatcher, joined him, becoming a partner with him.
Since then, his interests, and those of M. D. Thatcher, have been identical.
In January, 1871, they instituted a bank at Pueblo, which was operated as a
private bank until the following June, when it became a national bank,
taking the name of " The First National Bank of Pueblo." The capital stock
of the bank was originally $50,000, but in 1874 it was increased to
$100,000. The bank is owned and managed entirely by the Thatcher Brothers,
:M. D. Thatcher being the Cashier, and John A. Thatcher, President. Having
amassed great wealth, the firm of the Thatcher Brothers now constitute one
of the strongest and most influential in Southern Colorado. The First
National is the principal bank, and is doing a large and increasing
business. John A. Thatcher has been married a number of years, and is now
surrounded by an interesting family.
MAHLON D. THATCHER.
Mr. Thatcher is well known, especially among the business men, in Southern
Colorado as a large capitalist and banker of Pueblo. He was born in Perry
County, Penn., December 6, 1839. When fourteen years old, he moved with his
parents to Martinsburg, Penn., where he received an academical education.
After finishing school, he kept store for a time with his father at
Martinsburg. He came to Colorado in the spring of 1865, and located with his
brother in the mercantile business at Pueblo. He and his brother, John A.
Thatcher, have since been together in all their business transactions. The
Thatcher Brothers have been and are connected with many of the most
important enterprises of Pueblo, the most notable of which is the First
National Bank They instituted the bank and now own and conduct it themselves
exclusively, John A. Thatcher being the President, and M. D. Thatcher,
Cashier. Mr. Thatcher has amassed a large fortune and is to-day one of the
leading business men of Colorado. His residence at Pueblo, is said to be the
finest at this time in the State. He was married at Pueblo, August 1,1876,
to Miss Luna Jordan.
DR. PEMBROKE R. THOMBS.
This gentleman is well-known in Southern Colorado and throughout the State
as an eminent physician, and the present Superintendent of the State
Hospital for the Insane at Pueblo. He was born at Yarmouth, Me., in 1840,
and received his education principally at Waterville College. In the spring
of 1859, he went to Chicago, Ill., and there attended lectures at Rush
Medical College, graduating in the spring of 1862. Soon after receiving his
diploma, he entered the United States Army, becoming Assistant Surgeon of
the Eighty-ninth Illinois Infantry. In the spring of 1864, he was promoted
to Surgeon of the regiment, and continued as such to the close of the war.
In June, 1865, his regiment being mustered out, Dr. Thom bs returned to
Chicago, and soon afterward he received from the Government a staff
appointment as Surgeon of United States Volunteers ; was assigned to
Murfreesboro, Tenn., as Post Surgeon, and he remained there until June,
1866, when, again quitting the service, he returned on a visit to his old
home in Maine. In July following, he came to Colorado, and about the middle
of August located at Pueblo, where he has since resided, practicing his
profession with eminent success. He was married at Pueblo September 30,
1871, to a Miss Shaw. On May 1,1879, Dr. Thombs was appointed, by the
Governor, Superintendent and Resident Physician of the Hospital for the
Insane at Pueblo, which position he has since continued to fill to the
entire satisfaction of the State. The institution is one of the most
important in the State, and under the vigilant eye and careful management of
Dr. Thombs, it is steadily improving. The last Legislature made an
appropriation of $55,000 for new buildings, which are now being erected, and
which, when completed, will prove a notable credit to the commonwealth.
THOMAS J. TARSNEY.
Mr. Tarsney's history is interesting. He is the son of a blacksmith and was
born in the small village of Medina, Lenawee Co., Mich., September 16, 1842.
To do a larger business than he was doing in Medina, his father changed his
residence to Ransom, Hillsdale Co., in 1854, removing his son from the place
of his birth at an early age, and just as he was becoming of an age to
appreciate a birthplace's happy and sacred associations. He lived at Ransom,
working on a farm, excepting the first three winters, which were spent at
school, till he was nineteen. At the first call of the United States in
1861, for volunteers, he enlisted for three months, in Company E, Fort Wayne
Rifles, Indiana Volunteers, and was discharged at the close of his term of
enlistment at Fort Wayne. That was a prelude to the life which was admirably
adapted to his nature and which he was destined to follow six years, in a
war which was second to few, if any, which have been waged on the globe. Two
of his brothers were in Company E, Fourth Michigan Volunteers, and to be
with them he went to Washington where their regiment was, and joined their
company, enlisting for three years. Fighting was " the order of the day "
with the Fourth and he began a soldier's life in earnest shortly after his
enlistment. Gaines' Mill was the first battle in which hc.was engaged. In
the Peninsular campaign he took part in the battles of Savage Station, White
Oak Swamp and the big battle of Malvern Hill. He was at Bull Run, but not in
the fight. In McClellan's command he marched against Lee in Maryland and was
in the fight of Antietam, and at Mayre's Heights in the Fredericksburg
campaign. Under Hooker, he fought at Chancellorville. Winter quarters were
endured on the Rappahannock. In the spring of 1865, he joined the veteran
organization, and received a thirty-day furlough, which he used by going to
Michigan on a visit. When he returned from his visit, the command of the
Army of the Potomac had been given to Gen. Meade and with his amassed forces
he marched into Maryland and carried the colors of the company at Gettysburg
and in the chase of the confederates into Virginia. After the
re-organization of the army under Gen. Grant, he was wounded by a ball in
the shoulder-blade at the battle of the Wilderness, on the 6th of May, and
did not again join his company till fall, but in time to be in the fights of
Yellow House Tavern and Gravely Run. Only two companies of the old Fourth
veteranized ; they served with the First Michigan, and at the close of the
war were ordered to join their own regiment, Col. Jairus W. Hall commanding,
which had been fighting in Tennessee and was on its way to Texas. He
overtook his regiment at New Orleans, and with it went to San Antonio. There
he resigned the office of Orderly Sergeant, to which he had been elected by
his company in 1864, to accept of the appointment of Orderly on the
Colonel's Staff: The mustering-out of the United States service, of this
regiment and his return to Hudson, Mich., occurred in the summer of 1865. He
and Miss Lucy A. Smith were married May 8, 1866. From that date he began
railroading ;_ first as fireman on the Wabash Railroad, being promoted to
engineer in three years, and given an engine on the Michigan Central
Railroad, which he ran two years. He then took an engine on the Flint & Pere
Marquette Railroad ; then one on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa F6, which he
ran till 1878. Taking an active part in the great railroad strike of that
year, he was imprisoned at Topeka until the trouble was over. Since his
release, he has run an engine on the Kansas Pacific Railroad, and one on the
Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. At the present time, he is proprietor of the
Clifton House, South Pueblo, Colo., and does a fair share of the general
hotel business, besides receiving an extra share of the patronage of
railroad men.
EDGAR A. TIBBETTS.
Edgar A. Tibbetts was born at Brookfield, Carroll County, New Hampshire,
December 8, 1848 ; but Wisconsin, where he was moved at the age of six
years, is entitled to the credit of being the State in which he did his
studying. He early developed an insatiable love for the study of languages
and mathematics, and in whatever situation, under favorable or unfavorable
circumstances, he has been placed in life, he has not failed to add to his
knowledge of his favorite studies. He began the study of German at fourteen
years of age, without an instructor, and is now the master of seventeen
different languages—among them Hebrew, Arabic, Persian and Sanscrit. He was
a student of Ripon College, but left it before graduating. After beginning
life for himself, he followed various occupations—teaching, clerking in a
lumber-yard, farming, and finally commencing business at Ida Grove, by
dealing in farming implements and grain, which he discontinued in 1880. to
come to Colorado. He founded the Conejos County Times, disposing of which,
he bought the South Pueblo Banner of A. J. Patrick, and is now the able
editor of the latter-named paper. He is a close student, and familiar with
the works of many of the great authors of the world.
CAPT. WOOD F. TOWNSEND.
It does not require many years for a man of enterprise and merit to become
established in the " growing West." Although Capt. Townsend has lived in
Colorado not quite three years, yet he is prominently known, and has become
identified with many of the im- portant interests of South Pueblo. He was
born
H in New York City May 3, 1841. When five years of age, his parents moved to
Pennsylvania, and settled at Minequa Springs, where he was raised and
educated. He enlisted in the Federal army when nineteen years of age, and
served through the late war. He was in many of the famous battles in
Virginia, was wounded at Antietam, and afterward detailed upon Gen.
Schenck's staff. He was also for a time Enrolling Clerk for Gen. Wallace. He
was mustered out of the service in 1864, but entered the army again in a few
months, having organized a company, of which he became Captain in the One
Hundred and Ninety-sixth Ohio. After the war, Capt. Townsend continued his
law studies, in which he had already made some progress, and was admitted to
the bar on his birthday in 1866. Soon afterward, he located at Danville, and
then began the practice of law, living at that place continuously for about
twelve years. In 1878, his health failing, Capt. Townsend decided to come
West, and in November of that year he located at Pueblo. In May following,
he began the practice of lav,, which he has since continued with eminent
success. He assisted in organizing the South Pueblo Water Company, and is
now the company's Superintendent. Was one of the incorporators of the Pueblo
Street Railway, and is now a member of the Board of Directors and Attorney
for the company. He is City Attorney for South Pueblo, and is also Local
Attorney for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Capt. Townsend has been twice
married. He was unfortunate in losing his first wife and children by death
in Illinois, and was married to his present wife in November. 1878.
HON. STEPHEN WALLEY.
Mr. Walley was born September 5, 1837, near the city of Albany, Albany Co.,
N. Y., and worked on a farm and at the butcher's trade until he was
nineteen, except a part of four winters when he was sent to school.
Suecessfu farming and speculation in stock, cattle and sheep, at home,
occupied his time from his nineteenth year up to his twenty-eighth.
Discontinuing farming and dealing in stock, in 1860, he learned masonry in
Chicago, and either with the trowel in hand, or contracting to fur. nish
material for buildings or to build them, he has worked at his trade ever
since, all but two years of speculation in horses in Topeka, Kansas, and
Denver and South Pueblo, Colorado, to which places he shipped many carloads
of horses and realized a " margin " on them. On the Atchison. Topeka & Santa
176 Railroad, and the Kansas Pacific Railroad, he did masonry in 1868, 1869
and 1870. The breaking-up of his camp by Indians on the latter road.
terminated his railroading, and the fall of 1872. after his stock
speculating in Topeka and Denver, witnessed his arrival in South Pueblo with
two car-loads of American horses, and the exchanging of them for town
property. Two years of work at his trade in South Pueblo, during dull times,
resulted in his looking elsewhere for work, and the taking of a contract to
build the Malta Smelter, at Malta, Lake County, and the burning by him of
the first brick burnt in California Gulch. Returning to South Pueblo in
December, he worked a year, and again went to Malta, and burned 40,000
bushels of coal for the Malta Smelting Company. South Pueblo was to be his
home, and 1878 found him within its limits completing the Walley Block, a
building 50x125 feet, occupied on the ground floor by a wholesale and retail
grocery, above by room renters and the Masonic lodge, and which brings him
in a monthly rent of several hundred dollars. Contracting to furnish stone
from a valuable stone quarry he owns, brick from a brick-yard in which he
manufactures a million bricks every month, and to build buildings of any
dimension is now done by him on a scale which astonishes. He has on hand and
will complete them this month, July, 1881, contracts to build four wholesale
houses for H. L. Holden, the large new round-house for the Denver & Rio
Grande Railroad, the Alexander & Beacham Block, Holden Brothers Bank Block,
Moore & Carlile Opera House (nearly finished), a store for L. McLaughlin,
the Masonic Temple and the Baptist Church on the mesa ; and residences each
for Rev. Mr. Tompkins, Daniel Kellen and J. N. Kline. He was a member of the
South Pueblo Council in 1878-79, elected Mayor of the city April, 1880, and
re-elected in 1881.
CHRISTOPHER WILSON.
Mr. Wilson was of Irish parentage. He was born in Kanawha County, Va., in
1847. When ten years of age, his parents moved to Kansas and settled on a
farm near Louisburg. He received a common school education and pursued
farming until 1872. In that year he came to Colorado. For about two years he
was engaged in the lumber business, in the employ of S. P. Gutshall, at and
above Colorado Springs. In 1874, he came to Pueblo and took charge of a
lumber-yard for Mr. Gutshall, in which capacity he continued about two
years. From October, 1876, to January, 1880, he held the office of Police
Justice in South Pueblo. He was also City Clerk and Treasurer of South
Pueblo from April, 1877, to April, 1879. In January, 1880, he became Deputy
County Treasurer under Mr. Carlile, which position he still holds. Mr.
Wilson is now popularly known, and well established in the confidence of his
fellow-citizens. He was married at Pueblo June 17, 1879, to Miss Emma R.
Divelbliss.
History of the Arkansas
Valley, Colorado
O L Baskin & Co., Chicago, 1881 - Pages 782 - 825
Transcribed 27 January 2006 by Martha A Crosley Graham
Site Created: 27 January 2006