History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 117

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

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On the 12th of September, 1900, Mr. Healy was married in Denver to Miss Kathleen Galligan, a native of Somerset, Massachusetts, and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Galligan, of Denver, Colorado. They have become parents of three children. John F., born in Denver, December 3, 1903, is now a student in Sacred Heart College of his native city. Katherine, born August 22, 1906, is attending school; and Thomas V., born July 19, 1912, has recently entered school.

Mr. Healy has always given his political allegiance to the democratic party and

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fraternally he is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He belongs to the Catholic church and has taken the fourth degree of the Knights of Columbus. He has worked his way upward entirely unassisted and has made a most creditable record as a man, as a citizen and as a public official. He has a remarkable memory for dates and events and he is one of the most popular fire chiefs that Denver has ever had, while his efficiency has been surpassed by none. He is an honored member of the Inter- national Association of Fire Engineers and was elected second vice president at the con- vention held in Chicago, in June, 1918, a fitting testimonial of the esteem and respect of his fellow members.

CHARLES LERCHEN.

With various phases of the development of Colorado, Charles Lerchen by reason of his business activity has been identified. At the present time, however, he is living retired at Littleton, for he has passed the seventy-ninth milestone on life's journey. He was born in Saxony, Germany, September 11, 1839, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Lerchen. The father in 1843 came to the United States with his wife and family, then numbering seven children. He was a saddler by trade and located at Detroit, Michigan, where he conducted business until his establishment was destroyed by fire in 1850. He then removed to Wheeling, West Virginia, and a little later became a resident of Davenport, Iowa. He died at the advanced age of eighty-four years, while his wife passed away when in her eighty-first year.

Charles Lerchen became a resident of Colorado in 1859, making his way to the Blue river on the 22d of June of that year., He there prospected for two seasons and in 1860 was joined by his brother William and their father. A little later Charles Lerchen removed to Montgomery, Colorado, and worked upon a lode there. He also turned his attention to the butchering business in Montgomery, where he remained until 1862, when he went to Denver and entered the harness and saddlery trade. In 1868 he took up ranching and for thirty-five years was a well known cattleman of the state, making this his chief life work. After dealing in cattle for more than a third of a century and spending five years as a ranchman he retired from active business life, establishing his home in Littleton, where he is now enjoying a well earned rest.

Mr. Lerchen has been married twice. In April, 1867, he wedded Jennie Eames, of Wisconsin, and to them were born three sons: Charles W., of Dumont; George M., who is engaged in mining at Organ, New Mexico; and Frank H., a graduate of the School of Mines and now professor of chemistry and in charge of mines. In September, 1895, Mr. Lerchen married Naomi M. Haggerty, of Denver, whose father, Henry Haggerty, came to Colorado in 1863 and was widely known as a fearless Indian fighter.

In religious faith Mr. Lerchen is an Episcopalian and his political belief is that of the democratic party. He is an' honored member of the Colorado Pioneer Association and is familiar with every phase of frontier life and experience in Colorado, from the days of early mining excitement to the present period of progress and prosperity and has been identified with various activities which have constituted a source of the state's development and growth.

L. WARD BANNISTER.

L. Ward Bannister is a distinguished representative of the Denver bar who has left and is leaving the impress of his individuality upon public opinion in large measure and particularly in relation to legislation of far-reaching effect and importance. The story of his life is the story of earnest endeavor crowned by successful accomplishment. He was born in Des Moines, Iowa, March 31, 1871, a son of Lucius G. and Alice (Ward) Bannister, both of whom were natives of the state of New York, whence they removed westward to Iowa in 1869, settling in Des Moines, where for many years the father figured prominently as a leading member of the Des Moines bar. He died in that city in 1889 at the age of fifty-three years and his wife also passed away there.

L. Ward Bannister was one of a family of three children but the other two died in infancy. He pursued his early education in the public schools of Des Moines and was graduated from the high school with the class of 1887. He later entered the University of Iowa and he spent two years as a student in the Leland Stanford Junior University of California, where he was graduated with the class of 1893. He next entered the Har-

Charles Lerchen

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vard Law School and there completed his preparation for the bar by graduation with the class of 1896. Returning to his native city, he there opened an office and entered upon active practice. No dreary novitiate awaited him. During the three and a half years of his connection with the Des Moines bar he gained a favorable reputation as a has been brought out in its third edition. It is a systematic and comprehensive outline man and a lawyer. During that period he was also assistant city attorney of Des Moines but resigned his position and gave up his law practice there in order to remove to Denver, where he arrived on the 1st of June, 1900. He has since gained a well merited reputa- tion as a leading attorney of this city, his ability bringing him prominently to the front as a representative of the legal profession. Not only has he been connected with much important litigation but is regarded as a safe counselor as well and is the legal repre- sentative of various large corporations. He has been engaged for several years and still is engaged as special lecturer at Harvard and at Columbia Universities on western water rights, in connection with which he issued an outline of a course on water rights, which has been brought out in its third edition. It is a systematic and comprehensive outline for study, covering different systems of water rights, appropriation of water for beneficial use, priorities, physical means of use, transfer and extinction of water rights, agencies of acquisition and distribution. These six are subdivided into various separate heads, in connection with each of which are cited references and authorities, giving a compre- hensive outline for the study of water rights.

Along other lines, too, Mr. Bannister has done important service to the public. From 1907 until 1909 he was a member of the state board of pardons under Governor Henry A. Buchtel and he assisted in drafting several laws relative to industrial legislation, including the present industrial and compensation and mutual compensation insurance acts. He has membership with the Denver City & County Bar Association and the Colo- rado State Bar Association.

On Christmas Day, 1902, Mr. Bannister was married to Miss Helen Allabach, of Des Moines, Iowa, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward W. Allabach. They have one child, Wayne A., who was born in Denver, May 11, 1913. Mr. Bannister has membership in the Denver Country Club, the University Club and the Mile High Club. He is also a Master Mason. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he is a well known campaign speaker on political issues. He has also written for magazines and newspapers on legal and industrial subjects. He has used wisely and well the talents with which nature has endowed him and his marked ability has brought him promi- nently to the front not only as a member of the bar but as a molder and maker of public opinion.

ROBERT RODNEY BLAIR, M. D.

Dr. Robert Rodney Blair, who to the age of eighteen years was reared upon a farm in the middle west, is now a successful physician and surgeon of Denver, where he is conducting a large practice. He was born near Olean, Indiana, January 1, 1854. His father, Robert Conn Blair, was born at Ripley, Brown county, Ohio, in 1814, about forty miles above Cincinnati, on the Ohio river, and was a son of Richard Blair, who was a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, and came to the new world in the early part of the nine- teenth century, establishing his home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, whence he after- ward removed to Ohio, casting in his lot with its early settlers. In 1818 he went to Indiana, where he conducted an extensive farm, having twelve hundred acres of land under cultivation. It was upon that farm that Robert C. Blair was reared. He was but four years of age when his father became a resident of Indiana and took up a govern- ment claim of one hundred and sixty acres upon which not a furrow had been turned nor an improvement made. From that time forward for almost a century the family was prominently connected with agricultural interests in that state. Robert C. Blair continued a resident of Indiana to the time of his death, which occurred upon the old homestead farm in 1889, when he was seventy-five years of age. He married Elizabeth Fisher, a daughter of Jacob and Susanna (Hawk) Fisher. The latter was a native of Pennsylvania and of Holland Dutch descent, belonging to a family that was early established in the Keystone state. Jacob Fisher was horn in Holland and came to America after the Revolutionary war, settling in Pennsylvania, where he met and mar- ried Susanna Hawk. They removed westward with their family to Rising Sun, Indiana, and there their daughter Elizabeth became the wife of Robert C. Blair and to them were born six children, four sons and two daughters, of whom four have passed away, while those living are: Dr. Blair, of this review; and Susannah, who is the widow of

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James C. Myers, a Civil war veteran, who resides upon the old Blair homestead in In- diana. The mother, who was born in 1820, attained the age of sixty-six years, passing away on the old homestead in 1886. Had her life been spared for six months longer she would have resided upon the home farm there for a half century. Her son, First Lieu- tenant Richard Emerson Blair, of the Eighty-third Indiana Volunteers, was the first soldier brought home to Indiana and buried in that state with military honors at the time of the Civil war.

Dr. Blair was educated in the district schools of his native county and in Moores Hill College in Dearborn county, Indiana, while his literary course was completed in the State University, from which he was graduated in 1875 with the Bachelor of Arts degree. He determined upon the practice of medicine as a life work and in preparation therefor matriculated in the Miami Medical College of Cincinnati, Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1876, the M. D. degree heing conferred upon him at that time. He located for practice in Cincinnati and in 1887 removed to Colorado, settling at Holyoke, in Phillips county. There he practiced medicine for a period of two years and during one year of that time served as mayor of the city. On the 1st of December, 1890, he arrived in Denver, where he at once opened an office and has since continuously and successfully practiced. He was not long in demonstrating his ability to successfully cope with many of the intricate and involved problems which continually confront the physician and his pronounced ability has won for him substantial success. He always keeps in close touch with the trend of modern professional thought and progress.

In Oakland, California, Dr. Blair was married January 4, 1887, to Miss Lillian S. Atkinson, a native of Lake City, Minnesota, and a representative of one of the old fam- ilies of that state, of English descent. Her father, Colonel George Atkinson, served with the "Boys in Blue" of the Eighth Minnesota Regiment during the Civil war, participating in the first battle of Bull Run, and he was also one of the old Indian fighters of Minne- sota. In 1870 he removed to San Francisco, where Mrs. Blair was reared and educated. By her marriage she has become the mother of two children: Ramona Aleine, the wife of Dr. W. E. Blanchard; and Thelma M., now Mrs. A. B. Conway of Denver. Mr. Conway is in charge of the transit department of the Denver branch of the Federal Reserve Bank.

Dr. Blair is a Mason and Knight Templar and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is a life member of the Masonic, Knights Templar and Shrine bodies. He was reared in the Christian church but of late years has been identified with the Presbyterian church. Actuated by a laudable ambition, he has persevered in the pursuit of a persistent purpose as the years have gone on, constantly adding to his professional knowledge and ability by broad reading and study and winning for himself not only a liberal practice but also the respect and confidence of colleagues and contemporaries in the profession.

JOSEPH A. CAMPBELL.

Joseph A. Campbell, editor of The Democrat, published at Sterling, Logan county, purchased this paper in April, 1907, and has since published it as a leading journal not only of Logan county but of that whole section of the state. He has devoted practically his entire life to the printing business, which he took up at an early age after leaving school. He was born in Scotland, March 3, 1861, and is a son of William Douglas and Jane Ann Lily-Campbell. He came to this country with his parents when ten years of age. They landed at New York and thence made their way to Iowa, residing at Red Oak for six months. The family then moved on to a farm near Sidney, Iowa, and later established their home at Shelby, Iowa, where a farm was purchased. The brothers and sister of Joseph A. Campbell are William Colin, J. Elizabeth and Henry Alfred.

Joseph A. Campbell supplemented his early education by study in the schools of Iowa and then turned his attention to the printing business, learning the trade in that state. In the fall of 1898 he arrived in Colorado, settling first in Trinidad, where he secured employment at the printing trade. About fifteen or sixteen years ago he removed to Sterling, where he has since made his home, and for three and a half years he man- aged the Weekly Advocate. He purchased his present paper, The Democrat, in April, 1907, and since then has devoted his entire time and attention to the conduct of the paper, which he has placed upon a paying basis. Its subscription list has largely in- creased, for he has made it a most interesting and readable journal. It is also accorded a liberal advertising patronage and Mr. Campbell does everything in his power to please his patrons and thereby help develop his business.

Mr. Campbell has been married twice. He was first married in 1883 and again in

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1897, in Dixon, Illinois, when Miss Caroline Waltman, who was in the printing business, working as Mr. Campbell's secretary, became his wife. There were four children of his first marriage. By his second marriage he has three children: Grace Clara, seventeen years of age; Eunice Geraldine, aged eleven; and Joseph Frederick, who is in his first year. Mrs. Campbell is a member of the Methodist church and contributes liberally to its support, doing everything in her power to advance its interests and promote its growth.

Mr. Campbell formerly turned to fishing and hunting for recreation, but impaired eyesight has caused him to take up motoring instead. However, he regards pleasure as of secondary importance to other things at the present time. He is very earnest in his support of war activities, particularly the Red Cross, and is making his paper an avenue of education for the government in the dissemination of the knowledge which the federal powers wish to bring to the people. He has long been active in politics as a supporter of the democratic party and for a year served as a member of the state central committee. For ten years he has been identified with the Masonic lodge and he also belongs to the Modern Woodmen. His life has ever been actuated by high and honorable principles and measures up to advanced standards of manhood and citizenship.

WILLIAM A. MINER.

Farming and live stock interests in Weld county, Colorado, are ably and prominently represented by William A. Miner, who is a native of the east but has become thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the west and has become a true westerner. He was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, April 22, 1856, a son of John and Emily (Baker) Miner, both members of prominent old New England families. The father was one of the heroes of the Civil war, sacrificing his life in the battle of the Wilderness in order to preserve the Union. This was the first battle in which he participated and, as God willed, it was his last, the bloody engagement taking place in June, 1864. The shock to the young widow was terrible and her demise six months later may be ascribed to the tragic end of her husband, who in the best years of his life sacrificed himself for his country.

William A. Miner was then given into the care of a guardian. However, he remained only a short time with this man, as he was ambitious to start out for himself. When only fourteen years of age, in March, 1870, he came west, being imbued with the spirit of the newer country and being convinced that greater opportunities here awaited him. He arrived in Egbert, Wyoming, on a Saturday morning and that he was a boy who had come to the west in order to work and gain a start in life is evident from the fact that on the next Sunday morning he was at work on a sheep ranch, herding sheep. For six months he remained in this position, but finding advancement impossible and the sameness of the job tedious and irksome, he proceeded to Cheyenne and in that neighborhood he was for four years engaged in cattle ranching. Saving his earnings during this period, his laudable ambition prompted him in 1875 to buy a team and wagon and he then engaged in freighting for himself, making the route to the Black Hills. He continued in that occupation quite successfully for some time, freighting from the end of the railroad line to Leadville, and also from Cheyenne, Wyoming, Sidney, Nebraska, Bismarck and Fort Pierre, North Dakota, to Deadwood. As the railroads began to lay down more and more spur tracks freighting became a thing of the past and an unprofitable enterprise. Therefore he subsequently took up work with the Santa Fe Railroad in New Mexico, being connected with construction work. He also was connected in a similar capacity with the A. P. Railroad in Arizona, the Texas Pacific in Texas and the Mexican Central in old Mexico. Moreover, he was iden- tified with construction work on the Denver & Rio Grande.

Thirty-seven years ago, in 1881, Mr. Miner came to Greeley and bought a partner- ship in the firm of Wright & Campbell, who were engaged in the raising of horses. 'He was quite successful in this position, but subsequently the firm sold to eastern parties, who formed the Studebaker Horse Company, Mr. Miner thereupon engaging in the livery business in Greeley. In 1891 he became interested in mining in the Creede district, that industry in Colorado with which every really western man has probably been connected at some time or other in his life. The demonetization of silver in 1893 broke him, but Mr. Miner proved to be a man who refused to take the count and doggedly hung on, trying to make the best of a bad situation which was not brought about through any fault of his. Some of his friends advised him to take advantage of the bankruptcy law, but he refused, and still believes today that the secret of his success is probably due to the fact that he did not refute any of his obligations. In fact every debt incurred by him he considered a debt of honor to be met at all hazards

WtMiner

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and under all circumstances. He had been successful and he once had made money and he therefore did not lose faith in his ability to do it over again. By recognizing his obligations he maintained his credit and his good name, and his standing may well be imagined when it is known, that when he returned to Greeley unlimited credit was extended him, for all believed in his honesty of purpose and his ability to carry a thing through which he set out to do.' He then bought carloads of buggies and also harness and stock, and again entered the livery business. ' About 1888-89 be identified himself with sheep feeding and in the intervening years he has been one of the biggest sheep operators in Colorado, bis sales in 1917 approximating one hundred and eighty thousand dollars. One purchase of feeders in the Omaha yards during the year 1917 amounted to some seventy thousand dollars and it was said to be the largest sale of feeders ever made in this country. From these figures it may be easily gleaned that success attended the efforts of Mr. Miner. In times of stress he remained true to his friends and creditors and by so doing he has been able to turn the lean years into years of plenty. So honorably has his success been won that there is no one who grudges him his prosperity.

In 1885 Mr. Miner was united in marriage to Miss Jessie E. Bronk, of Plainfield, Illinois, and to this union were born four children: Roy A., a well known engineer on the Colorado & Southern Railway, who makes his home in Cheyenne; Frank B., of San Diego, California; and two, who died in infancy.

Mr. Miner has not only found time to further his own interests but has always taken a helpful part in community and state affairs, although he has no desire for public office and is not an active politician in the ordinarily accepted sense of the word. How- ever, he is always ready to promote any enterprise which he considers of value in the interests of the public and by building up, unaided, a big industry has contributed to the development of his part of the state. Socially he is very popular and in fraternal circles prominent in the Masons. He is a member of Occidental Lodge, No. 20, A. F. & A. M .; Greeley Chapter, No. 13, R. A. M .; Greeley Commandery, No. 10, K. T .; and El Jebel Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He also belongs to the Greeley lodge of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is one of the best known stockmen of the western country and no one who has ever had dealings with him speaks of him but in the highest terms of appreciation, being fully convinced of his absolute fairness in any business trans- action. That his word is as good as his bond is a trite saying, but Mr. Miner has made his word as good as his bond and better than the bonds of many others.

HARRY WARREN ROBINSON.

Harry Warren Robinson, an attorney at law practicing at Denver, Colorado, was born in Polk county, Iowa, January 22, 1873, and is a son of Henry Hillhouse and Victoria T. (Fagen) Robinson, the former a native of Iowa, while the latter was born in Indiana. The grandfather, Moses Wallace Robinson, removed westward to Burlington, Iowa, from Chillicothe, Ohio, in early life and afterward became an active factor in the public affairs of the former state, serving as a member of the first constitutional convention of Iowa and three times as a member of the Iowa state legislature, also otherwise participating in many events which have left their imprint upon the annals of that commonwealth. He was one of the early pioneer farmers of Iowa. His son, Henry Hillhouse Robinson. after remaining in Iowa for many years removed to Kimball, Nebraska, in 1883 and there engaged in the cattle and live stock business. For many years he was connected, as superintendent and manager, with the Bay State Live Stock Company, which con- ducted an immense cattle and ranching business in western Nebraska and Wyoming. He remained in that position until 1897, when he removed to Omaha, and in 1898 arrived in Denver, where he still resides. He is now living retired at the age of seventy-six years, enjoying a rest which he has truly earned and richly merits. His wife also came to Denver and here resided up to the time of her demise, in September, 1903. In their family were four children, of whom Harry Warren is the eldest. . One of the number, Allen M., is deceased, having passed away in Los Angeles, California, in 1911. The others are: Edward M., who resides at Wray, Colorado; and Bruce E., who is living in Curtis, Nebraska

Harry Warren Robinson worked on the cattle ranges of Wyoming for several years during the summer and attended the public schools of western Nebraska in the winter. In 1892 he entered what was then known as the Iowa Agricultural College, but which is now known as the Iowa State College, at Ames, Iowa, and took a preparatory course of one year. In the fall of 1893 he matriculated in the University of Nebraska, and

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History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 117

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