History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 1

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 944

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Gc 978.8 St7h v.2 1541064

M. L.

GENEALOGY COLLECTION

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

n 3 1833 01099 9495

HISTORY

COLORADO

ILLUSTRATED

VOLUME II

CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1918

Dedicated to the Pioneers of Colorado

1541064

HON. HENRY M. TELLER

BIOGRAPHICAL

HON. HENRY M. TELLER.

Among the men whose careers reflect honor and credit upon the state that has honored them, none has risen to a position of higher distinction or left more indelibly his impress upon the history of the nation than did Senator Henry M. Teller. His ability to thoroughly grasp every point in all the great problems of the country, to look at any question from the broad standpoint of future needs as well as present opportunities, made him the peer of the ablest statesmen of America. Removing to the west with its boundless opportunities, he became one of the builders of the great western empire and the recognition of the important part which he was playing made him not only a leader of public thought and action in Colorado but in the nation as well.

Henry M. Teller was born upon a farm in Allegany county, New York, May 23, 1830, and traced his ancestry back to Wilhelm Teller, who was born in The Netherlands in 1620-the year that brought the first settlers from Holland to the new world. In 1639 he crossed the Atlantic to New York, settling at Fort Orange, now Albany, where by appointment of the king he acted as trustee of one of the tracts of land in that region which were under royal control. In 1664 he became a resident of New York city, there spending his remaining days. He wedded Mary Dusen and had a son, William, and the line of descent is traced down through William (III) and William (IV) to Isaac Teller, who became a prominent physician of New York. During the Revolu- tionary war he volunteered for service as a surgeon and died while faithfully perform- ing his duties. He married Rebecca Remsen, a native of Brooklyn, New York, and their son, Remsen Teller, was born about 1769. He resided at Schenectady, New York, and married Catherine McDonald, of Ballston Spa, New York, a daughter of David and Sarah (DuBois) McDonald and a granddaughter of Colonel Louis DuBois, of Ulster county, New York, who won his title by service in the war for independence.

John Teller. son of Mr. and Mrs. Remsen Teller, of Schenectady, New York, was born February 15, 1800, and married Charlotte Moore, whose birth occurred in Ver- mont in 1808 and who passed away at her Illinois home in 1901, at the advanced age of ninety-three years. In early manhood John Teller removed to a farm in Allegany county, New York, and afterward established his home at Girard, Erie county, Penn- sylvania, where he remained for ten years and then went to Morrison, Whiteside county, Illinois, where he passed away in 1879.

No event of special importance occurred to vary the routine of farm life for Henry M. Teller during the period of his boyhood and youth. He was ambitious to enjoy excellent educational advantages and with that end in view he took up the pro- fession of teaching and earned the money that enabled him to complete his academic studies. He afterward became a student in the law office of Judge Martin Grover, of Angelica, New York, and was admitted to practice on the 5th of January, 1858. He then opened a law office in Morrison, Illinois, where he continued for three years, when he was attracted to Colorado, gold having been discovered at Pike's Peak. It was not the lure of the mines, however, that took him to the west but the belief that he might find opportunity to engage successfully in law practice in the newly devel- oping district. He opened an office at Central City in April, 1861, and after three years was joined by his brother, Willard, the firm of H. M. and W. Teller being thus established. He first came into prominence in 1865 as the founder and promoter of the Colorado Central Railroad. He drew up the charter for the line and presented it

HISTORY OF COLORADO

to the legislature and for five years after the organization of the company acted as its president, placing the corporation on a sound financial basis that insured its future permanence. His splendid qualities of leadership won him prominence in various directions. During the Indian troubles of 1863 Governor Evans appointed him major general of the territorial militia and he thus served for two years. A contemporary writer has said of him: "His decision of character, his admirable common sense and his versatility as a lawyer, added to his earnestness and straightforwardness as a man, commended him in every way to the struggling pioneers of those days, and marked him as a leader in whatever field he might enter."

Senator Teller was long a most prominent figure in connection with the political history of his state. Soon after taking up his abode at Central City he came into prominence as a political leader and in 1876, when Colorado was admitted to the Union, was enthusiastically chosen one of its two representatives in the United States senate. He drew the short term of three months and on the expiration of that period was elected for the full term of six years, serving from 1877 until 1883. His senatorial record forms an important chapter in the history of national legislation during that period. Soon after becoming a member of the senate he was appointed on a committee on privileges and elections and went to Florida to investigate the alleged frauds in the election of 1876. 1n 1878 he was made chairman of a special committee to inves- tigate the alleged election frauds in the southern states and his report was a model document for thoroughness and close analysis of facts and conditions. As chairman of the committee on civil service he did efficient pioneer work in directing public atten- tion to the importance of radical changes and in the formulation of practical measures of reform and relief. When Chester A. Arthur as president formed his cabinet Senator Teller was chosen secretary of the interior and added new laurels to his already un- tarnished record by his devotion to the interests of the department and by the energy and consummate judgment which characterized his work in connection with his position. On the 4th of March, 1885, with the termination of his service as secretary of the interior, he again hecame a member of the upper house of congress as successor of Hon. Nathaniel P. Hill. While seated in the national halls of legislation he was chairman of various important committees, including that on pensions, patents, mines and mining and also served as a member of the committee on claims, on railroads, judiciary, finance, appropriations and public lands. His legislative experience was most broad and he was regarded as authority upon many subjects of national concern. He never hesitated to freely express his honest convictions, even when at variance with other leaders of the party. This was manifest when he became the avowed champion of the free coinage of silver and until his death he remained a stanch advocate of bimetalism, believing that the act of 1873 in demonetizing silver proved most preju- dicial to the welfare of the nation and especially injurious to the interests of Colorado. He gave much time to the study of all problems relative to coinage, and that the people of Colorado recognized him as a most stalwart champion of their interests is shown hy the fact that upon his return to the state, following the senate session of 1893, they accorded him a most enthusiastic and brilliant reception. In the national republican convention of 1896 he lahored most earnestly to make the free coinage of silver a plank in the party platform. Disappointed in this, he and his followers left the convention hall, and though his disappointment at the decision of his party was most keen, the people of his state rendered him their heartfelt thanks for his steadfast support of their interests. Senator Teller's work in hehalf of Cuba constitutes one of the glorious pages of American history. The account of this has been given as follows: "On April 15, 1898, in the United States senate, there was added to a joint resolution concerning the Island of Cuba the following paragraph, which was drawn and submitted by Senator Teller of Colorado: '4th. That the United States hereby disclaims any dispo- sition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said Island, except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its determination, when that is accom- plished, to leave the government and control of the Island to its people.' On May 22, 1902, the senate having under consideration a bill to provide for the civil government of the Philippine Islands, Senator Hoar of Massachusetts said: 'I do not know how other men may feel, but I think that the statesmen who have had something to do with bringing Cuba into the family of nations, when they look back on their career; that my friends who sit around me, when each comes to look hack upon a career of honorable and brilliant public service, will count the share they had in that as among the bright- est, the greenest, and the freshest laurels in their crown. * **

* Speaking of Senator Teller, Senator Hoar said: 'I doubt whether any man who has sat in this chamber since Charles Sumner died, or whether all who sit here now put together, have done a more important single service to the country than he did in securing the passage of

HISTORY OF COLORADO

the resolution which pledged us to deal with Cuba according to the principle of the Declaration of Independence.' Senator Spooner of Wisconsin on the same day said: 'I voted with great pleasure for the resolution offered by the senator from Colorado as wise, as statesmanlike, and from my point of view it was of infinite consequence. We declared to the world that in stepping between Spain and her revolting colony we had no purpose in the end to make of Cuba an American asset. It is important to a government which holds colonies that this principle of international law should be strictly observed, and I believe, if my friend the senator from Colorado will pardon me just a moment longer, that the resolution introduced by the senator from Colo- rado, and its adoption by the senate, had more to do than all other things in preventing a combination against us among the nations which hold colonies.' Senator Hale of Maine, speaking of the Teller resolution on the same day, said: 'I look upon it as a most providential thing in the course of this whole matter that the senator from Colorado had the forethought, the prescience, to submit that resolution and attach it to the proceedings, and thereby make it for us a constraining force from that day to this. I believe that had it not been for that declaration always standing before us as an outright and express pledge and agreement Cuba today would not be a free re- public. * * * The senator from Colorado, for initiating this most beneficent propo- sition, and the senator from Wisconsin, with the attitude that he held at that time, almost equal with him, are more to be thanked than any others for our having first made this promise and then kept it.' On the same day Senator Teller, after referring to the fact that the resolution had been condemned by some newspapers upon the ground that it prevented our taking Cuba, and that he had delayed for a long time to defend the resolution, said: 'I never could do it better than now, when the American flag has come down from Cuba, but, better still, a flag for Cuba has gone up. The American flag is the best flag in the world for Americans. It is not the best flag for men who do not want it. It is not the best flag for Cuba. Cuba's flag, not represent- ing a hundredth part of the power or glory of ours, is the flag for Cuba, and when the Filipinos shall put up their flag and ours shall come down, as I believe it will some day, it will be a better flag to them than ours can be, although you may administer your government with all the kindness and all the wisdom of which human beings are capable. The best flag is the flag that the men themselves put up. It is the only flag that ought to command the admiration and love and affection of the men who live under it, and it is the only flag that will. Liberty-loving men will never have any love for a flag that they do not create and that they do not defend.'"

It was at Cuba, New York, June 7, 1862, that Senator Teller wedded Miss Harriet M. Bruce, a daughter of Picard Bruce, an Allegany county farmer, and they became parents of three children, all born in Central City, Colorado. Senator Teller was a thirty-second degree Mason and his high standing in the order is indicated by the fact that for seven years he was grand master of the state and was the first grand com- mander of the Knights Templar of Colorado, while in the Mystic Shrine he was hon- ored with the most important offices. In 1886 Alfred University conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D. We again quote from a contemporary biographer, who drew a most correct picture of Senator Teller while he was still an active factor in the world's work, death claiming him February 23, 1914, when he had attained the age of eighty-three years and nine months. The writer said: "Of the personal character- istics of Senator Teller, one of the most conspicuous is that quality which enables him to look ahead, discerning and measuring the political and economic influences which bear upon the welfare of the people. As a leader, he is calm and keen, maintaining such a steady control over his own mind and emotions as to throw upon others the same dispassionate spirit in the formation of their judgments upon public questions and men. Because of this wonderful self-control, Senator Teller has sometimes been called cold; but like the broad and deep ocean, his warm currents of sociability, kind- ness and sympathy flow beneath the surface of his character. From a character sketch, contributed to the Denver Evening Post by the brilliant writer, Fitz-Mac, the following extract is offered as a concise and striking estimate of Senator Teller's personality: 'He has this mark of genuine greatness above any man I know in Colorado, or perhaps any that I personally know in public life, except Tom Reed, speaker of the house of representatives. He is simple. He is natural. He is without affectation. He is simple, because it is natural for him to be simple; and simplicity indicates the calm mind and clear vision as to the relation of things, their real values, It seems to me that the holy spirit of patriotism has descended upon Teller and enveloped him, and entered into his soul, and sanctified his purposes. He stands before the country as the tongue of Colorado, but he speaks not for Colorado alone, not alone for the United States, but for the humbler three-fourths of all humanity. Soberly, bravely and ably

HISTORY OF COLORADO

he is fighting humanity's holy cause for one and all, and it behooves us, as an intel- ligent, appreciative and generous people, to hold up his honored hands steadfastly, and stand by him with a courage as dauntless, as devoted as his own.'"

EVAN E. EVANS.

Evan E. Evans is prominently known in business circles of Denver as president and treasurer of the Evans Investment Company which is the owner of the Evans block and other buildings of the city. Here he was born on the 26th of June, 1863, when Colorado was still under territorial rule and when his father was serving as the second territorial governor. He is a son of Hon. John and Margaret P. (Gray) Evans, who are mentioned at length upon another page of this work. When the father passed away he was survived by his widow and three children, the daughter being Anne Evans, while the sons were William G. and Evan E., of this review. The mother passed away in Denver in 1906.

In early life Evan E. Evans attended the public schools of Denver and afterward had the benefit of instruction in a boarding school in London, England, for two years. He next became a student in the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, of which his father had been one of the founders. He spent a year there and then went to Indiana, where he entered business life on his own account. Subsequently he re- moved to Los Angeles, California, where he engaged in merchandising from the early '80s until 1889. Returning to the east, he took up his ahode in Chicago, where he engaged in the insurance business for several years, but in 1895 he again came to his native city, where he entered into the insurance and investment business, in which he has since been engaged. At the same time he has been identified with many other big business enterprises of city and state as a director and officer. His real estate holdings are extensive, important and profitable.

In April, 1912, Mr. Evans was married in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Kathryn Farrel, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Farrel, of Wheeling, West Virginia. Madelyn Evans, daughter by a former marriage, was born in New York city in 1903. Mr. Evans is a member of the Denver Athletic Club, also the Denver Country Club, the Denver Civic and Commercial Association, the Rocky Mountain Club of New York city, the Phi Kappa Sigma, a Greek letter fraternity, and other social organizations. He has never sought to figure prominently in public connections as his father did but has along the lines of business become recognized as one of Denver's most representative citizens and ranks equally high in social circles.

HENRY BAAB, SR.

With business interests of Greeley, Henry Baab, Sr., is actively connected, heing now engaged in the successful conduct of a grocery store in that city. He was born October 22, 1855, in Germany, a son of Henry and Elizabeth Baab. He pursued his education in the public schools of the Rhine Palatinate and for three years was a high school pupil. Starting out in the business world in connection with the manufacture of flour, he worked in flour mills of that country for seven years. The favorable reports that reached him concerning America and its opportunities led him to cross the Atlantic to the United States and on the 7th of May, 1882, he arrived in Pennsylvania. He was afterward employed in flour mills in Pittsburgh for three and a half years and during that period he gained wide knowledge of the English language and the customs of the people among whom he had cast his lot. At length he started out independently in business in renting a flour mill in Butler, Pennsylvania. He had previously served for three years in the army in his native country and he came to the new world in order to get away from militarism. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to try his fortune on this side of the Atlantic. It was in 1887 that Mr. Baab came to Colorado, where he has since made his home. He took up a homestead claim in 1888 and with characteristic energy began to till the soil, not a furrow having been turned nor an improvement made upon the land when it came into his possession. He carried on general agricultural pursuits with good success for a considerable period or until 1906, when he disposed of his farm. For fifteen years he held the position of post- master in Wentz and for eighteen years he occupied a place on the school board, the cause of education finding in him a stalwart champion. He became actively identified

HISTORY OF COLORADO

with financial interests in Greeley as a director of the Greeley National Bank and acted in that capacity for six years. He has been engaged in the grocery trade since November, 1906, and in this connection has built up a good business. He carries a large and well selected stock of staple and fancy groceries and puts forth every effort to please his patrons, while his reasonable prices and honorable dealings are substantial elements in his growing prosperity.

Mr. Baab was married in 1879 to Miss Margaret Dreisigacker and to them have been born the following children: August, Louis, Henry, Herman, Albert, Bertha and Willie. The religious faith of the family is that of the Baptist church and in his political views Mr. Baab has always been a republican since becoming a naturalized American citizen. He stands for progress and improvement in all that has to do with the public life of the community. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to come to the new world, for he here found the business opportunities which he sought and which have given him a good chance for advancement. He has wisely used his time, talents and opportunities and has long occupied a creditable position in the business and financial circles of Greeley. .

HON. EDWARD OLIVER WOLCOTT.

Hon. Edward Oliver Wolcott, who was a most distinguished citizen of Colorado and the representative of his state in the national halls of legislation, serving as United States senator, was born in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, March 26, 1848, and had scarcely reached the fifty-seventh milestone on life's journey when called to his final rest, passing away on the Riviera, March 1, 1905, while traveling with his brother in Europe. His ancestral history is one of long and close connection with New Eng- land. The line is traced back to Tolland, Somersetshire, England, where lived Henry Wolcott, representative of a family that had there resided through many generations. The spirit of enterprise actuated this Henry Wolcott, who, leaving his mother country, sailed from Plymouth, England, on the 20th of March, 1630, and was one of the com- pany that settled at Dorchester, Massachusetts. After six years' residence there he went to Connecticut in 1636 and from that period to the present members of the Wolcott family have figured in connection with events which are indelibly stamped upon the pages of American history. One of the members of the family affixed his signature to the most famous American state paper-the Declaration of Independence. Washington appointed one of the members of the family to a place in his cabinet, three of the number have served as governor of Connecticut and one as governor of Massachusetts, while in more recent days others of the name have won fame and distinction, Edward O. Wolcott becoming United States senator from Colorado, while his brother, Henry Roger Wolcott, serving as a member of the Colorado senate, became acting governor of the state, and his sister, Miss Anna Louise Wolcott, now Mrs. Joel F. Vaile, was elected regent of the State University in 1910. The Wolcott family are the possessors of a coat of arms, which includes three chess-rooks, the use of which was authorized by Henry V to one of the ancestors, who checkmated the king in a game of chess. It was Samuel Wolcott, great-grandfather of Senator Wolcott, who served with the American forces in the Revolutionary war. He was the father of Elihu Wolcott and the latter in turn the father of the Rev. Samuel Wolcott, who was born in South Windsor, Connecticut, July 2, 1813, and passed away at Longmeadow, Massachusetts, in February, 1886. He was a man of scholarly attainments who was graduated from Yale in 1833 and completed a course in the Andover Theological Seminary with the class of 1837. He afterward did missionary work in Syria and following his return to the United States was pastor of many of the leading Congre- gational churches. He was the author of many well known hymns, including the one which is so generally sung, "Christ for the World We Sing."

The family has ever been noted for marked devotion to country and in 1864, when but sixteen years of age, Edward O. Wolcott displayed the patriotic spirit which had ever actuated his ancestors by enlisting in the One Hundred and Fiftieth Ohio Volun- teer Infantry, with which he served in the defense of Washington. Following the close of the war he resumed his interrupted education, matriculating at Yale in 1866. After studying for a time there he took up the study of law at Harvard and completed his course in 1871. On the 20th of September of the same year he arrived in Colorado and for eight weeks engaged in teaching school at Blackhawk but at the end of that period entered upon the active practice of his chosen profession. In Christmas week of 1871 he removed to Georgetown, Colorado, where he made his home and practiced

HON. EDWARD O. WOLCOTT

HENRY R. WOLCOTT

HISTORY OF COLORADO

law until 1879. He then became a resident of Denver. Throughout the intervening period he had made steady progress in his profession and outside of his practice had become well known as the writer of various newspaper articles. In 1876 he had been elected to the office of district attorney and he was again called upon for public service when on the 4th of March, 1889, he became United States senator as the successor of Thomas M. Bowen. In January, 1895, he was reelected and for twelve years remained a member of the upper house of the national legislature. "The split in the party over the question of bimetallism, together with other political complica- tions in the west, brought defeat to the republican party and prevented reelection for a third term. In this connection a contemporary writer has said: "It was a battle royal, and nerved by the great odds against him, Wolcott was never more magnificent in his oratory than in that campaign, when bearing aloft the banner of his party and leading an almost forlorn hope, he and what is commonly known as the 'Old Republican Guard' went to their defeat."

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History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 1

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Number of Pages: 944

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 944