Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 1

Author: Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1530

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Gc 978.8 P83 1192500

M. L.

GENEALOGY COLLECTION

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01099 9420

PORTRAIT AND

BIOGRAPHICAL

REGORD

OF THE

STATE

COLORADO

Containing Portraits and Biographies of many well known Citizens of the Past and Present

CHAPMAN PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO 1899

PREFACE

1192500

HE greatest of English historians, MACAULAY, and one of the most brilliant writers of the present century, has said: "The history of a country is best told in a record of the lives of its people." In conformity with this idea, the PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD of this state has been prepared. Instead of going to musty records, and taking therefrom dry statistical matter that can be appreciated by but few, our corps of writers have gone to the people, the men and women who have, by their enterprise and industry, brought the state to a rank second to none among those comprising this great and noble Union, and from their lips have the story of their life struggles. No more interesting or instructive matter could be presented to an intelligent public. In this volume will be found a record of many whose lives are worthy the imitation of coming generations. It tells how some, commencing life in poverty, by industry and economy have accumulated wealth. It tells low others, with limited advantages for securing an education, have become learned men and women, with an influence extending throughout the length and breadth of the land. It tells of men who have risen from the lower walks of life to eminence as statesmen, and whose names have become famous. It tells of those in every walk in life who have striven to succeed, and records how that success has usually crowned their efforts. It tells also of many, very many, who, not seeking the applause of the world, have pursued "the even tenor of their way," content to have it said of them, as Christ said of the woman performing a deed of mercy-"They have done what they could." It tells how that many in the pride and strength of young manhood left the plow and the anvil, the lawyer's office and the counting-room, left every trade and profession, and at their country's call went forthi valiantly "to do or die," and how through their efforts the Union was restored and peace once more reigned in the land. In the life of every man and of every woman is a lesson that should not be lost upon those who follow after.

Coming generations will appreciate this volume and preserve it as a sacred treasure, from the fact that it contains so much that would never find its way into public records, and which would otherwise be inaccessible. Great care has been taken in the compilation of the work, and every opportunity possible given to those represented to insure correctness in what has been written, and the publishers flatter themselves that they give to their readers a work with few errors of consequence. In addition to the biographical sketches, portraits of a number of representative citizens are given.

The faces of some, and biographical sketches of many, will be missed in this volume. For this the publishers are not to blame. Not having a proper conception of the work, some refused to give the information necessary to compile a sketch, while others were indifferent. Occasionally some member of the family would oppose the enterprise, and on account of such opposition the support of the interested one would be withheld. In a few instances men could never be found, though repeated calls were made at their residences or places of business.

CHAPMAN PUBLISHING CO.

June, 1899.

5.00

A. L'anse

STATE

-OF-

COLORADO

INTRODUCTORY

IOGRAPHY alone can justly represent the progress of local history and portray with accuracy the relation of men to events. It is the only means of perpetuating the lives and deeds of those men to whom the advancement of a city or county and the enlightenment of its people are due. The compilers of this work have striven to honor, not only men of present prominence, but also, as far as possible, those who in years gone by labored to promote the welfare of their com- munity. The following sketches have been prepared from the standpoint of no man's prejudice, but with an impartial aim to render justice to progressive and public-spirited citizens and to collect personal records that will be of value to generations yet to come.

To be forgotten has been the great dread of mankind from remotest ages. All will be forgotten soon enoughi, in spite of their best works and the most earnest efforts of their friends to preserve the memory of their lives. The means employed to prevent oblivion and to perpetuate their memory have been in proportion to the amount of intelligence they possessed. The pyramids of Egypt were built to perpetuate the names and deeds of their great rulers. The exhumations made by the archæologists of Egypt from buried Memphis indicate a desire of those people to perpetuate the memory of their achievements. The erection of the great obelisks was for the same purpose. Coming down to a later period, we find the Greeks and Romans erecting mausoleums and monuments, and carving out statues to chronicle their great achievements and carry them down the ages. It is also evident that the Mound-builders, in piling up their great mounds of earth, had but this idea-to leave something to show that they had lived. All these works, though many of them costly in the extreme, give but a faint idea of the lives and character of those whose memory they were intended to perpetuate, and scarcely anything of the masses of the people that then lived. The great pyramids and some of the obelisks remain objects only of curiosity; the mausoleums, monuments and statues are crumbling into dust.

It was left to modern ages to establish an intelligent, undecaying, immutable method of perpetuating a full history-immutable in that it is almost unlimited in extent and perpetual in its action; and this is through the art of printing.

To the present generation, however, we are indebted for the introduction of the admirable system of local biography. By this system every man, though he has not achieved what the world calls greatness, has the means to perpetuate his life, his history, through the coming ages.

The scythe of Time cuts down all; nothing of the physical man is left. The monument which his children or friends may erect to his memory in the cemetery will crumble into dust and pass away; but his life, his achievements, the work he has accomplished, which otherwise would be forgotten, is perpetuated by a record of this kind.

To preserve the lineaments of our companions we engrave their portraits; for the same reason we collect the attainable facts of their history. . Nor do we think it necessary, as we speak only truth of them, to wait until they are dead, or until those who know them are gone; to do this we are ashamed only to publish to the world the history of those whose lives are unworthy of public record.

HON. C. S. THOMAS.

BIOGRAPHICAL

ON. CHARLES SPALDING THOMAS, governor of Colorado, has for years held a position of prominence among the profes- sional and public men of Denver, and, indeed, of the entire state of Colorado. Since he came west in the fall of 1871 with limited means and little influence he has gained a place as one of the emi- nent and successful lawyers of his city, his suc- cess being due to his untiring industry, business ability and keen discrimination of men and things. Not alone in his profession, but in politics as well, he has become widely known. He is recog- nized as one of the leading Democrats of the state. From 1884 to 1896 he was a member of the Colo- rado Democratic national committee; from 1889 until 1890 held the chairmanship of the state cen- tral committee; besides which he has in many ways promoted actively the welfare of his party.

Though of southern birth (born in Darien, Ga., December 6, 1849,) the subject of this review is of northern parentage and descent. His father, William B. Thomas, was born in Connecticut and removed from there to Georgia. His wife was Caroline B. Wheeler, daughter of Amos H. Wheeler, of Bridgeport, Conn. In the village of Macon, where his father had removed, our subject attended school and passed the uneventful years . of early youth. He can scarcely recall the time

when he first formed the plan of studying law. All of his studies in youth were directed toward that end. His first law readings were in the Uni- versity of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and there he continued in the law department until his gradu- ation with the class of 1871.

Coming to Denver within a few months after his graduation, Mr. Thomas entered the law office of Sayre & Wright, then the leading law firm in the state. In 1873 he formed a partnership with T. M. Patterson, which connection continued for a year at that time. Afterward he continued alone until 1879, when he again entered into partnership with Mr. Patterson, with whom he remained until 1890. During some years of this time he made his home in Leadville, where he conducted the practice of the firm at that point. At this writing he is a member of the firm of Thomas, Bryant & Lee. While he has managed cases of all kinds, his specialty is mining law, and, having made a study of it, he is able to con- duct successfully and skillfully all matters com- ing within this department of jurisprudence.

Always stanch in his adherence to the Demo- cratic party, Mr. Thomas had not been in Denver long before he began to be actively identified with. political affairs. To the information gained by study and observation he added natural abilities

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

of a high order, and his influence was apparent in the advanced success of his party. In 1875-76 he served as city attorney. In 1884 and 1896 he was chosen as a delegate to the Democratic na- tional conventions. In September, 1898, he was chosen the nominee of the Teller silver Repub- licans, Populists and Democrats, in their respect- ive conventions, for the office of governor, and was elected November 8, 1898.

In social relations Governor Thomas is con- nected with the Athletic Club of Denver, and fraternally is a Knight of Pythias. In Kalama- zoo, Mich., December 29, 1873, he married Miss Emma, daughter of Thomas Fletcher, a promi- nent citizen of that place. Mrs. Thomas was given the best educational advantages when a girl, and is a lady possessing refinement and the highest culture. She is an active member of the Woman's Club of Denver. The five children born of her marriage are: Mrs. William P. Mal- burn, Edith, Charles S., Jr., Hubert F. and George K.

The professional career of Governor Thomas proves the individuality of his character and its force. He has pursued his course in life un- moved by those obstacles that often daunt and undistayed by hardships. With a mind capable of grasping great things, he has stored it with information of incalculable valne to him in his practice, and this knowledge he uses in the con- duct of his cases and the successful evolving of tangled, intricate technicalities. Endowed with mental vigor, he is prompt in forming and reso- Inte in carrying out any purpose or plan of action decided upon. Great emergencies would have developed to their utmost his large abilities, but even in the ordinary walks of life, in the man- agement of cases affecting only local interests, he has nevertheless labored with such sagacity and skill that he has proved himself to be a man of large mental endowments.

"Charles S. Thomas has been a public figure of consequence in this community and state for many years. In political campaigns he has been criticised and even denounced, for he is a man of strong, even profound, convictions, who always stands firmly for the principles which he advo- cates. After all that can be said has been said these facts stand forth unchallenged. He is a man of very unusual talents. While on the one hand a man of affairs, practical, level-headed and

shrewd, he is, on the other hand, a hard student, a wide reader, with a bent toward governmental science, of which he is a master. Loyal in his friendships, square in his business dealings, do- mestic in his tastes, there is no man in Colorado who knows the state from top to bottom more thoroughly, who understands more clearly the public questions which affect it, or who, in our judgment, will labor more earnestly to improve existing conditions. Some good, earnest and able men have occupied the gubernatorial chair of this state, but we risk nothing in saying that Charles S. Thomas is in each and every respect the peer of the best of them."

C ON. SAMUEL H. ELBERT, governor of the territory of Colorado 1873-74, chief jus- tice of the supreme court 1876-82 and 1886- 88, is one of the most distinguished citizens our state has ever had. Under appointment by Pres- ident Lincoln as secretary of the territory, he came to Colorado in 1862 and his life since that time has been a part of the history of the state. As the chief executive of the territory it was his aim to promote the welfare of the people; as chief justice of the supreme court, he was wise, impartial and fearless; as a citizen, he has ever been progressive and public-spirited; and as a friend, those who know him best have found that beneath his dig- nity of manner and apparent reserve beats a kind, generous, warm heart, untainted by a shadow of dishonor or disloyalty.

The life which this narrative sketches began in Logan County, Ohio, in 1833. The family, while not wealthy, was in comfortable circum- stances and the son was given every educational advantage which the schools of Ohio afforded. Dr. Elbert, the father, was an eminent physician and surgeon, with honorary degrees from Cincin- nati and Philadelphia medical colleges. In 1840 the family removed to Iowa, but in 1848 young Elbert returned to Ohio, where he took the regular col- legiate course of Wesleyan University, graduating in 1854. During the next two years he studied law in Dayton, Ohio, and was there admitted to the bar. In the spring of 1857 he opened an office at Plattsmouth, Neb. His connection with public and political affairs began in May, 1860,

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

when he was a delegate from Nebraska to the Republican convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for President, and in the exciting cam- paign that followed he was an active participant. In 1860 he was elected to the state legislature, his first public position.

When Hon. John Evans was appointed gov- ernor of Colorado to succeed William Gilpin, Mr. Elbert was at the same time appointed territorial secretary, and he came to Denver in May, 1862. The intimate friendship between himself and the chief executive was still further deepened by his marriage to the governor's daughter, Miss Jose- phine Evans, whose death, with that of their only child, in 1868, was the heaviest bereavement that ever befell Mr. Elbert.

Upon the expiration of his term as secretary, in 1866 Mr. Elbert began to practice law in Den- ver, in partnership with Hon. J. Q. Charles, and the firm of Charles & Elbert carried on a very large practice. In 1873 he was appointed gov- ernor of the territory by President Grant and at once began the forwarding of plans for the develop- ment of the state, the enlargement of its resources and the prosperity of the people. He was es- pecially interested in the subject of irrigation, for he realized that Colorado could attain no perma- nent prosperity unless this problem was satisfac- torily solved. He secured a meeting of delegates in Denver from the states and territories west of the Missouri River, in the summer of 1873, and delivered an address in this convention upon the necessity of government aid in the irrigating of the vast tracts in the west.

Bitter political feuds in the summer of 1874 cul- minated in the removal of Governor Elbert from office. Later President Grant ascertained the real facts of the case and openly acknowledged that he had been misled by unscrupulous persons. With the dignity that always characterized him, Governor Elbert wasted no time in disputes, but withdrew from office, and went abroad, visiting all the prominent cities of Europe and making a careful study of political economy. The people had always been his friends and on his return to Denver they showed their appreciation of his serv- ices and their confidence in his integrity in many ways that won his gratitude. When Colorado was admitted to the Union as the Centennial state, he was called to the recently organized supreme bench, and the confidence of the people that he

would discharge its duties faithfully was not mis- placed. In drawing for terms, he secured a ten- ure of six years. As chief justice he was noted for impartiality and integrity. The high office he held was never betrayed by him; he was faithful to its smallest duty and to the trust reposed in him. When his term expired in 1882, the people urged him to become a candidate for re-election, but his health had been affected by overwork, and he declined. However, when they again urged him to become a candidate in 1885, he consented to the use of his name and was re-elected, his ju- dicial term beginning in January, 1886. After two years, in the latter part of 1888, he was com- pelled to withdraw from the position, a fact which was deplored, not alone by the public, but especial- ly by the attorneys, who had the warmest admira- tion for his ability and integrity.

While serving as chief justice his alma mater, which had bestowed upon Judge Elbert the de- grees of Bachelor and Master of Arts in previous years, tendered him the degree of LL.D. Since his retirement from the bench he has devoted his attention to the management of his property and has also traveled considerably. He justly ranks among the most prominent men of the state. His services have not been solely of a gubernatorial and judicial nature, but in many ways, impossi- ble to recount, he has been helpful to the increased prosperity of the state and has labored to pro- mote its highest interests. As president of the State Industrial Association, he was an important factor in the development of Colorado's agricult- ural resources, during the early days of our his- tory. By assisting in the solution of the problems connected with irrigation, he aided every interest, for the advancement of the state has been simul- taneous with the introduction of facilities for irri- gation. In the annals of the state his name will occupy a position of eminence through the gener- ations to come.

ON. HORACE M. HALE, A. M., LL.D., superintendent of public instruction of Colorado 1873-77, and president of the Col- orado State University at Boulder 1887-92, is one of the distinguished citizens of Denver and has taken a very active part in the promotion of movements for the advancement of the city and state. A resumé of his lineage and life will therefore be of especial interest to the readers of

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

this volume. He is a descendant of Thomas Hale, an Englishman, who settled in Newbury, Mass., in 1635, and several succeeding generations of Hales were identified with the history of New England. His great-grandfather, Col. John Hale, M. D., was a surgeon on the staff of his brother-in-law, Colonel Prescott, during the Revolution, and he and his son, David, then a lad of sixteen, were both present at the battle of Bunker Hill.

John Hale, our subject's father, was born at Hollis, N. H., in 1800. He was a mechanic and being a man of great originality and fertile brain, he devoted much time to the invention of useful articles. Among his inventions were the essen- tial features of the present planing machine, one of the earliest power threshing machines, one of the first machines for manufacturing barrels, and an improvement in the tread horse power. In 1837 he removed to Rome, Oneida County, N. Y., where he engaged in manufacturing his threshers and horse powers, but after three years he removed his business to North Bloomfield, Ontario County, N. Y., and added to it the manu- facture of agricultural implements. In 1849 he crossed the plains to California, the trip, which was made with his mule team, taking about six months. Arriving at his destination he engaged in prospecting and mining on Feather River, also manufactured mining rockers and became inter- ested in a scheme for draining Feather River, but this proved a failure. He returned east with health much impaired by the hardships of western life, and died in April, 1852. Politically he was a Whig and in religion a member of the Baptist Church.

The mother of our subject, whose maiden name was Jane Morrison, was born in Peterboro, N. H., in 1801, and died in Rochester, N. Y., in 1865. The Morrison family came from Scotland to New Hampshire. John, who was born in Aberdeen, probably in 1628, was of Protestant faith and on account of religious persecution went to the north of Ireland, being in the city of Londonderry before and during its siege. About 1720 he joined his sons in New Hampshire, where he died in 1736, aged one hundred and eight years. His son, John, was born in Ireland in 1678, married Margaret Wallace there, settled in Londonderry, N. H., in 1719, being one of the first sixteen settlers there, and in 1750-51 became one of the

first settlers of Peterboro, where he died June 14, 1776. Capt. Thomas, son of John Morrison, was born in Ireland in 1710, came to America with his parents in childhood, and served as captain of a company during the early Indian wars. By his marriage to Mary Smith he had a son, John, who was born in Londonderry, N. H., but spent his life principally in Peterboro. His daughter Jane (Mrs. John Hale) had six children that attained maturity, one, Mary Jane, having died in infancy. They are: Charles G., who has been master mechanic for forty years with the New York Central road at Rochester and Buffalo, N. Y .; John Albert, a mine operator, residing in Denver; Benjamin Franklin, a photographer of Rochester; Horace Morrison, our subject; Ellen Amelia, Mrs. Rand, of Bellefontaine, Ohio; and Henry William, a miner and mechanic, residing in Denver. The combined ages of the brothers and sister, at this time (1898) is three hundred and ninety-six years.

The subject of this sketch was born in Hollis, N. H., March 6, 1833, and was in his eighth year when the family removed to Bloomfield. His school advantages were limited to about three months' attendance in a public school dur- ing the winter. He early began to work in his father's foundry, machine and woodwork shops, learning every department. Soon after his father's death the business was discontinued. Meanwhile, having gained a fair common-school education, he began to teach in the winter of 1852, having charge of a three months' country school in Mendon, N. Y., where he "boarded round " and was given $14 a month. In the spring of 1853 he entered Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, N. Y., and in the fall of the same year took a school in Victor, Ontario County, where he boarded among the pupils and was given $18 a month. Returning to Lima in the spring of 1854, he entered the sophomore class in Genesee College, helping to pay his way by working during the summer vacation at carpentry and harvesting. In the winter of 1854-55 he taught at Fisher's Station, Ontario County, resuming collegiate work in the spring, and teaching in West Bloomfield union school as principal the following winter. At the close of his junior year he left Genesee to enter Union College at Schenectady, N. Y., from which he graduated in 1856 with the degree of A. B.

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Later he was again principal at West Bloomfield. When he entered the seminary at Lima he had only $42, the proceeds of his three months' teach- ing. When he graduated from Union he had $230 and owed no debts.

In the spring of 1858 he went to Nashville, Tenn., where he was principal of the primary department in the public schools that had been established the previous year. After one year he was made principal of a school of four rooms and the next year was given the principalship of the Howard school, one of the largest in the city. When the Civil war broke out, he being a Union man was warned to leave and the house and lot and other real estate he had bought were confis- cated, but he finished the school year, which ended with June, before leaving the city.

While in Nashville, in 1859, Mr. Hale married Miss Martha Eliza Huntington, a teacher in the schools there, a native of Barry, Vt., and his schoolmate of former years. Her father, Leonard Huntington, was a member of an old family of New England and was a carriage and wagon maker in Bloomfield, N. Y. The morning after the close of his school, in June, 1861, Mr. Hale started north, going first to Bloomfield, and later to Detroit, Mich., where he studied law in C. I. Walker's law office and, at the same time, taught in an evening school and in a German-English school there. Soon after the close of the war he recovered his property in Nashville. In 1862 he was admitted to the bar in Michigan, but his health having become seriously impaired and suffering greatly with bronchitis, he deemed it imprudent at that time to begin practice. His brother Albert, from Colorado, was just then visiting in the east and on his return Horace accompanied him, driving from Atchison, Kan., to Denver in a buggy, and spending seven- teen days on the trip. He went from Denver to Central City, where he arrived in October, 1863, and for a short time he was in H. M. Teller's law office, but the confinement being injurious, he turned his attention to outdoor business, such as mining and freighting between Denver and the mountains.

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Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 1

Author: Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, pub Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Chicago, Chapman Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1530

Author: Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1530