History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 13

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

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After reaching the mountains Judge Henry made his way into the Gregory diggings, then the principal mining camp of the district, and for two or three years was engaged in washing gravel in the search for gold in the gulches, meeting sometimes with success and again with disappointment. At the same time he became actively interested in public affairs, aided in establishing local laws and government and occasionally practiced his pro- fession in the primitive miners' courts of that period. In 1863, however, he decided that he had had enough of the hills and with an inbred longing for the fertile valleys of a farming country, he removed to the Arkansas valley, settling on a ranch at the mouth of Chico creek, a few miles below Pueblo. There he turned his attention to the raising of cattle and corn, irrigated his land and continued its development in the face of many difficulties and hardships, not the least of which were the grasshoppers, which turned green fields into deserts in a day and were more dreaded than hostile Indians. As time passed on, however, conditions changed, many other settlers coming, and as the town of Pueblo grew there was a demand for active practitioners at the bar. While Judge Henry continued to reside on his Chico Creek farm, he also attended the courts of the Arkansas valley and became a familiar figure at the Pueblo bar. The third judicial district at that

JUDGE JOHN W. HENRY

HISTORY OF COLORADO

time included all the southern half of the territory from the Divide to New Mexico and from the western boundary of Kansas to the Utah line. Courts were held at Colorado City and later at Colorado Springs, at Cañon City, Pueblo, Las Animas, Walsenburg, Trinidad and at San Luis de Culebra and Conejos over the mountains in the San Luis or Rio Grande valley. The court of the district during the territorial days was presided over by but two judges, covering the period from 1862 until 1876. The first judge was Allan A. Bradford, who was succeeded by Moses Hallett. Writing of Judge Henry, Wilbur F. Stone said in this connection: "Over this vast region, larger in extent than an average state, the lawyers of the old third district, with the judge and other officials, witnesses, litigants, Spanish interpreters and often prisoners for trial, used to travel from court to court in a motley caravan of wagons, ambulances, primitive buggies, horse- back and muleback, over dusty sagebrush plains and mountain ranges, fording rivers, in heat, snow, wind and dust, camping out at night where there was 'wood, water and grass,' fishing trout in the mountain streams, occasionally shooting an antelope, cooking their own 'grub,' smoking their pipes round the campfire, swapping stories, singing songs, sleeping in their blankets on the ground, holding courts within rude adobe walls with dirt floors, attending Mexican fandangoes at night-got up in honor of the court-and having more fun, legal and unlegal, than the bench and bar have ever seen since in the effeminate days of railroads and fine courthouses. After the adoption of the constitution in 1876, assuring our admission to statehood, there chanced to meet one day in the office of the writer of this sketch, at Pueblo, a number of members of the bar, including Judge Henry, (he had long been called 'Judge' in compliment), who, in course of conversation on the approaching change in government, said: 'Boys, I want to confide a personal desire of my own. I want to be the first judge of this district when we come in as a state. I am the oldest one in years of our early lawyers here, and I know that if I do not get that office first I shall never get it afterwards. I have never held nor sought office, as you all know, and I have a little natural ambition to be a judge for one term only, and on that to end up my professional career. I am outspoken about this and I want you to be outspoken, boys, and say what you think about it.' With one voice all present declared the judge was entitled to it and should have it. The bar of the district saw to it that Judge Henry was nominated and elected at the first state election under the constitution. At the end of his six years' term he retired from the law, and with his faithful old wife went over to Los Angeles and bought a few acres of an orange grove where he spent the rest of his years in the quiet shade of his own vine and fig tree."

Judge Henry was married about 1844 in Mercer county, Kentucky, to Ann Elizabeth Shoots, of an old Virginia family, and to that union were born the following children: Mrs. Martha Noble; Margaret, who became the wife of John A. Thatcher, the first merchant and afterward millionaire banker of Pueblo; and Edna, who became the wife of Perry Baxter, who was a partner of John A. and Mahlon D. Thatcher in their com- mercial and banking interests. Mrs. Henry passed away in St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1851. In 1854, Judge Henry married in St. Joseph, Missouri, Margaret Struby, no children being born of this union. After the death of his second wife the Judge made his home with his three daughters in Pueblo, staying with each one for a time and it was while at the home of his daughter, Mrs. O. H. P. Baxter that he passed away, November 9, 1903.

Judge Henry held membership in the Presbyterian church but was a Christian in the broadest sense of the term and his views were not limited to narrow denomina- tionalism. He was most upright in all that he did and said. He possessed a sense of humor that brightened many a weary day for his colleagues and contemporaries at the bar as they practiced their profession and traveled from place to place where courts were held. Again we quote from Wilbur F. Stone, who said of him: "Judge Henry was not such as can be called 'brilliant' as a lawyer, either by natural adaptation or experience in practice. Without the advantages of scholastic education, culture, varied experience in extensive practice or single devotion to the legal profession as a life business, he was of the old class of plain country lawyers; earnest, straightforward, trustworthy and utterly devoid of the cunning trickery of the 'smart' lawyer, or the pretentious theatrical attempts at oratory of the pompous pettifogger. From his earliest settlement in the Arkansas valley he was spoken of by his neighbors and acquaintances as 'Honest John Henry.' His administration as a judge was marked by justice, moderation and a shrewd sense of finding the path which led to the very right of a cause though it might be at the sacrifice of technicalities in form and manner. His rulings and decisions, always deliberate and impartial, seldom provoked contention, were void of offense and never gave occasion for an instance of 'contempt of court.' At that period-the infancy of litigation in a pioneer community-it is true that few if any great questions arose in

HISTORY OF COLORADO

the courts of that district, such as agitate the courts, the bar and the public at the present day; still, railroads were building over that region, and mining and irrigation companies were multiplying, and all bringing into the courts their newer questions of legal rights and claims, but the record of Judge Henry during his whole term of office gave general satisfaction to the bar and the community, his conduct without a taint of malfeasance, bias or prejudice, his personal character and reputation without a stain, and a blessed memory of unselfish good deeds and incorruptible integrity is his enduring monument."

CHARLES A. CHASE.

Charles A. Chase, a mining engineer of Denver, was born in Hartford, Wisconsin, November 4, 1876, a son of Albert E. and Emma J. (Jones) Chase. The father is a native of Vermont and the mother of Utica, New York, her father being Thomas Jones of that state. Albert E. Chase was a mining engineer and followed the profession for an extended period but is now living retired. A daughter of the family is Mrs. Porter J. Preston, now living in Denver.

In the acquirement of his education Charles A. Chase spent three years as a pupil in the high school of Georgetown, Colorado, and afterward attended and graduated from . Central high school of Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1893. Subsequently he entered the University of Colorado, from which he was graduated in 1898 with the Ph. B. degree. The following year he was made assayer for the Liberty Bell Gold Mining Company at Telluride, Colorado, and is still connected with the company, of which he is now the manager. He is also general manager of the Mogul Mining Company of Terry, South Dakota, and since 1912 has been consulting engineer to the Maxwell Land Grant Com- pany of Raton, New Mexico. He is manager for the Colorado molybdenum department of the Primos Exploration Company, with mines at Empire, Colorado. He is a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers and served as chairman of its Colorado section. He is also a member of the Colorado Scientific Society, of which he was the president in 1917; he belongs to the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America.

In 1901 Mr. Chase was united in marriage to Miss Ruth Hamilton, a daughter of Henry and Anna (Sanborn) Hamilton, of Washington, D. C. They have become parents of four children: Hamilton Chase, fifteen years of age; Elizabeth; David; and Charles H. The eldest three are in school.

Politically Mr. Chase is a republican. He is a member of the Colorado Chi Chapter, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, at the University of Colorado and he belongs to the University Club of Denver.

WILLIAM W. WATSON.

William W. Watson, a valued and representative citizen of Eaton, where he is extensively and successfully engaged in the grocery business, was born in Oberlin, Kansas, May 30, 1887, a son of John and Elizabeth (Tauber) Watson, who in 1890 removed from Kansas to Colorado, remaining for a brief period in Greeley, while later Mr. Watson opened up a coal mine northeast of Eaton. He is a native of England and is a direct descendant of Sir Robert Peel. When eight years of age his parents sailed for the new world and after a voyage of six weeks reached American shores. In the course of years, as stated, Mr. Watson came to the west and cast in his lot with the settlers of Eaton in 1890. He then opened up a coal mine northeast of the city and continued its operation until 1905. At that date he turned his attention to farming, securing originally eighty-five acres, while later he extended the boundaries of his place to include one hundred and twenty acres although he later sold thirty-five acres. He engaged in feeding stock and also was extensively engaged in the production of pota- toes, beans and other crops. His wife was born in Pennsylvania, while her father came from Germany and her mother from Holland. To Mr. and Mrs. Watson were born several children, of whom William W. of this review is the eldest. The others are: Thomas, who was born March 22, 1889; Greener, born March 17, 1891; John, born October 21, 1893; and Bessie, October 22, 1896. The second son, Thomas, died when but eighteen months old and the third son, Greener, died at the age of twenty-five years. He was a pupil in the public schools and afterward followed farming with his father until he attained his majority, when he took up a homestead twenty-six miles east from

HISTORY OF COLORADO

Eaton, there carrying on the work of the farm until he suffered an attack of appendicitis and passed away, his remains being interred in the Eaton cemetery. John Watson is assisting his father in the farm work. The daughter Bessie is now attending the State University at Boulder, making a specialty of the arts course. The religious faith of the family is that of the Methodist church and Mr. Watson gives his political allegiance to the democratic party. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias.

William W. Watson whose name introduces this review was a pupil in the public schools near his father's home and afterward worked for a real estate firm for a year. He then entered the Boulder Business College, where he pursued a course in stenog- raphy and bookkeeping, and subsequently he engaged in farming for one year. He then spent three years as bookkeeper with the Phillips Eaton Mercantile Company, on the expiration of which period he entered into partnership with A. E. Vance and established the Palace Grocery, with the conduct of which he was connected for five years. On the expiration of that period he retired from that connection. His father later purchased the business and William W. Watson is now conducting the store as his father's manager. He is a progressive and enterprising young business man, wide- awake and alert, and the interests under his control are being most capably and suc- cessfully managed.

Mr. Watson was united in marriage in 1913 to Miss Nellie Alice Newbury, a daugh- ter of George Newbury, a native of Croydon, England. The grandfather of Mrs. . Watson was a son of Sir Robert and Lady Blakiston, the former a post captain, which is next in rank to admiral. He was killed in the Peninsular war with Spain and Portugal. Sir Robert Blakiston was also connected with the Temple Vane family. The grandfather was Robert Newbury, whose son, George Newbury, came to America in early life. He was a practical nurse in Greeley and had charge of the Greeley Hospi- tal and also of a private hospital. He married Rosemary Roberts, of Norwood, Eng- land. Their daughter, Mrs. Watson, also had two years' training in St. Luke's Hospital in Denver and did private nursing in Denver and Eaton. Both her father and mother have now passed away. By her marriage Mrs. Watson became the mother of three children: John Robert, born October 5, 1915; Albert Greener, born September 29, 1916; and Marjorie Allene, born May 9, 1918.

In his fraternal relations Mr. Watson is an Odd Fellow and also an Elk. He like- wise belongs to the Commercial Club of Eaton and is a member of the fire department, a volunteer organization. He is greatly interested in all that has to do with the welfare and progress of his community. He was but three years of age at the time of the removal of the family to Colorado and he has since resided within its borders, so that for twenty-eight years he has been a witness of its growth and development and has become thoroughly imbued with the spirit of western enterprise and progress- a spirit that has been a dominant factor in the upbuilding of this section of the country.

DAVID THOMPSON, M. D.

Dr. David Thompson has been continuously engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Denver for more than a quarter of a century and enjoys an enviable reputation as one of the city's most skilled and successful physicians. His birth occurred in Harthill, Scotland, on the 12th of August, 1856, his parents being James and Elizabeth (Simpson) Thompson, who were also natives of the land of hills and heather. The latter spent her entire life in Scotland, passing away on the 26th of March, 1864, when forty-three years of age. James Thompson was a well known contractor of that country until 1874, when he emigrated to the United States and established his home in Pittston, Pennsylvania, where he followed the contracting business to the time of his demise, which occurred in 1883, when he was seventy-four years of age. To him and his wife were born eight chil- dren, five of whom survive, as follows: James M., who is a resident of Dunmore, Penn- sylvania; John S., living at Parsons, Pennsylvania; Mrs. Bessie Brooks, of Denver; Mrs. Agnes McCormack, of Cleveland, Ohio, and David, of this review.

The last named attended the school at Pittston, Pennsylvania, and supplemented the knowledge thus acquired by home study. When a young man of about thirty-three years he decided to come to the west, and on the 12th of July, 1889, arrived in Denver. Having determined to make the practice of medicine his life work, he entered the University of Denver, and in 1891 was graduated from the medical department of that institution. He at once entered upon the practice of his chosen profession here, and through the intervening period of twenty-seven years has become widely recognized as one of Denver's

DR. DAVID THOMPSON

HISTORY OF COLORADO

most capable, efficient and successful physicians. He well merits the liberal practice accorded him, for his professional skill has been demonstrated in the successful treatment of many difficult and obstinate cases. Dr. Thompson has membership relations with the Denver County and City Medical Society, the Colorado State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.

On the 30th of April, 1889, in Pittston, Pennsylvania, Dr. Thompson was united in marriage to Miss Addie Simpson, a native of that place and a daughter of Robert and Janette Simpson, of Pittston. The Doctor and his wife have two sons. Ralph S., who was born in Denver in 1893 and is a graduate of the Denver high school, still makes his home in Denver and is now chemist for the Denver Fire Clay Company. He wedded Miss L. Wynne Linsey, of Denver, by whom he has a daughter, Beverly Virginia, born in Denver on the 17th of May, 1918. David L. Thompson, whose birth occurred in Denver in 1898, was graduated from the high school with the class of 1918.

Dr. Thompson gives his political allegiance to the republican party and fraternally is known as a charter member of the Knights of Pythias. His professional colleagues and contemporaries accord him high standing as a practitioner and his prosperity is all the more creditable by reason of the fact that it is due entirely to his own efforts. He owns an attractive residence on the west side in Denver, where the family is well known socially.

WILLIAM A. DOLLISON.

William A. Dollison, of Denver, is president of the Great Divide Petroleum & Refining Company, which has been operating extensively in oil fields in three states. He was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, February 9, 1868, and is a son of Harvey C. and Johanna (Lindsey) Dollison, both of whom were also natives of the Buckeye state. The grandfather in the paternal line came to America from Scotland and on the mater- nal side the family is of Pennsylvania Dutch lineage. Both grandparents were early settlers of Ohio and there Harvey C. Dollison and Johanna Lindsey were born, reared and educated. Their marriage was celebrated in Guernsey county, Ohio, and Harvey C. Dollison took up the occupation of farming, to which he continued to devote his attention and his energies up to the time of his death, which occurred when he was sixty-one years of age. His wife survived him for a long period, passing away in 1912 at the age of eighty-two years. They had a family of six sons and four daughters.

William A. Dollison, the youngest of this family, pursued his early education in the schools of his native county and when his textbooks were put aside began earning his living by clerking in clothing stores in Cambridge and Zanesville, Ohio. He con- tinued in the clothing trade altogether for four years and just prior to the time of his removal to Colorado he had charge of the largest ciothing business in southeastern Ohio. He early displayed that quality which for want of a better term has been called commercial sense. In other words, he had marked ability in salesmanship and execu- tive power, which enabled him to carefully direct the interests under his control. On the 27th of January, 1899, he arrived in Denver and here he engaged in the cloth- ing business on his own account, continuing active in that field for three years. He then disposed of his store and became a factor in the public life of the community, being elected a member of the city council of Denver in 1904 and serving in that capac- ity until 1906. He then entered the office of the internal revenue collector in the position of deputy collector for Wyoming and Colorado and served in that capacity for two years. Subsequently he was connected with the state auditor's office, with which he continued until he became chief license inspector for the city of Denver. As such he remained until he was appointed to a position in the office of the district attorney, with whom he was connected for four years. On the expiration of that period he took the general agency for the Southern Surety & Bonding Company of St. Louis, Missouri, for the Colorado district and continued very successfully in that connection until he sold out in the fall of 1917. Prior to taking over the Southern Surety & Bonding agency he was appointed county clerk and recorder on the 1st of June, 1915, and occupied that position for one term, discharging his duties, as he always did in any public office, with capability, promptness and fidelity. On the 8th of October, 1917, he organized his present business and incorporated the Great Divide Petroleum & Refining Company, of which he is now president. The other officers of the corporation are: Charles E. Barrick, secretary-treasurer; and M. H. Mayers, vice president. This company is oper- ating in the proven fields of three states, holding leases and options on extremely well situated oil lands in Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma. The company was not organized

HISTORY OF COLORADO

for exploration purposes, but is primarily a drilling company, with the sole object of drilling the greatest possible number of wells for the largest possible production and the maximum profit of its stockholders. The company therefore is confining its operations to actually proven fields, where the opportunities for oil production are most favorable and the chances of disappointment are reduced to a minimum. In Wyoming the Great Divide Petroleum & Refining Company holds three hundred and twenty acres on the Geary dome, in the Big Muddy field, surrounded by some of the biggest oil companies operating in this country. They also hold valuable properties in Kansas and Oklahoma. They retain the services of a geologist of recognized authority-A. L. McKercher.

On the 10th of June, 1894, Mr. Dollison was married to Miss Elizabeth W. Williams, of Zanesville, Ohio, and they have one child, William A. Dollison, Jr., who was born in Denver and is now attending school.

Politically Mr. Dollison is a republican, active in the ranks of the party, and is now serving as chairman of the party organization in Denver. He is a self-made man who has worked his way upward entirely unaided and he is one of the popular citizens of Denver, who has made for himself a creditable place in business circles and whose opportunities for the future seem most bright.

CHARLES F. MASON.

Charles F. Mason is the president of the Mason Produce Company of Greeley, in which connection he has built up an extensive business. He deserves great credit for what he has achieved. He started out in the business world empty-handed but early realized the eternal principle that industry wins. His energetic effort, his keen busi- ness discernment and his honorable purpose have been the salient features which have won him substantial success. Mr. Mason was born on the 11th of December, 1855, in Waltham, Massachusetts, a son of Luther and Angeline S. (Kidder) Mason. The father was engaged in farming in Iowa and in early life had been connected with the mills of Waltham, Massachusetts, but with his removal to the middle west turned his attention to general agricultural pursuits.

Charles F. Mason was a young lad when the family removed from New England to Iowa and in the public schools of the latter state began his education. After his studies were completed in the public schools he spent a part of three years as a stu- dent in a seminary, which he attended through the winter months. In 1878 he ar- rived in Greeley, Colorado, then a young man of twenty-two years, and took up the occupation of farming, purchasing eighty acres of land in Weld county. He had come from Iowa without any money and had many difficulties and hardships to face in those early days. Leadville was then just opening up as a mining center and constituted an excellent market for the produce which Mr. Mason raised. Denver had been the only market up to that time and through the intervening years Mr. Mason has watched with interest as Denver has grown by leaps and bounds, being transformed from a rough mining camp into a great metropolitan city with all of the advantages, im- provements and opportunities known to the older east. In those early days the wheat crop was largely the money crop and wheat often took the place of coin in the exchange of commodities. Mr. Mason found that the soil was very adaptable to potato raising and won a substantial measure of success in the production of potatoes, which he sold at Leadville. As the years have passed on he has gradually developed an extensive produce business and for the past three years has been the president of the Mason Produce Company, which enjoys a very extensive patronage. His business methods have been of a most progressive character and his close attention to his interests, his unfaltering enterprise and his determination have made the business a very successful and paying proposition.

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History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 13

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