History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 2

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

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Senator Wolcott was a man whose power and ability constantly expanded through the exercise of effort. In his early professional career he was a somewhat diffident speaker but at all times thoroughly earnest. As the years passed his oratorical powers developed and he was able to sway his audiences by the force of his logic, the strength of his reasoning and his employment of the most rounded rhetorical figures. His advancement in his profession was equally marked and continuous. His practice steadily grew in volume and importance and he became attorney and counselor for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad and other large corporations. He was heard in con- nection with much important mining litigation and the field of his labor constantly broadened. He was never surprised by the unexpected attack of an adversary, for his preparation of a case was always thorough and exhaustive. Success in large measure came to him and although not seeking honors, honors were yet multiplied unto him. In 1901 President Mckinley appointed him a delegate to negotiate for international bimetallism. Ever ready to listen to the arguments of any, his opinions were yet his own, founded upon the clearest reasoning, upon wide experience and notably keen insight. His life was strong and purposeful and far-reaching in its results, reflecting credit and honor upon a family name that has remained untarnished throughout the entire period of American history.

HENRY ROGER WOLCOTT.

A modern philosopher has said, "Not the good that comes to us, but the good that comes to the world through us, is the measure of our success;" and judged by this standard, Henry Roger Wolcott has been a most successful man, for he has done much to aid others, his philanthropic spirit being one of his most marked characteristics. His business success, whereby he has become a capitalist, has enabled him to con- tinually extend a helping hand where aid is needed. He was for a considerable period one of Denver's best known and most honored citizens and he has here many friends, although he is now living in the Hawaiian islands. He was born at Longmeadow, Massachusetts, on the 15th of March, 1846, his parents being Samuel Wolcott, D. D., and Harriet Amanda (Pope) Wolcott, while his brother was Edward O. Wolcott, at one time United States senator from Colorado. He was one of a family of eleven children, ten of whom attained adult age, the ones besides the Senator and Henry Roger Wolcott being: Samuel Adams, who died in New London, Connecticut, in 1912; Harriet Agnes, who became the wife of F. O. Vaille, of Denver, and died there in August, 1917; the Rev. William Edgar Wolcott, who died in 1911 in Lawrence, Massachusetts; Katherine Ellen, the wife of Charles H. Toll, of Denver, Colorado, who was at one time attorney general of the state; Anna Louise, widow of Joel F. Vaile and formerly principal of the Wolcott School of Denver and regent of the University of Colorado; Clara Gertrude, living in Boston, Massachusetts; Herbert Walter, who makes his home in Cleveland, Ohio; and Charlotte Augusta, the wife of Colonel Charles Francis Bates of the United States Army.

In the acquirement of his education Henry R. Wolcott attended the schools of Providence, Rhode Island, and Cleveland, Ohio. Yale University conferred upon him the honorary Master of Arts degree in 1896 and from Colorado College he received the same honor in 1898. Mr. Wolcott's identification with Colorado dated from 1869 and for a brief period he was connected with mining interests in this state. In the spring of 1870 he secured a position in connection with the Boston and Colorado Smelt- ing Works at Blackhawk and soon afterward was advanced to the position of assistant

HISTORY OF COLORADO

manager and was given charge of the plant erected at Alma, Colorado, in 1873 in ad- dition to his position at Blackhawk. His marked ability and his faithfulness to the interests entrusted to his care are qualities indicated in the fact that when the com- pany erected larger works at Argo, near Denver, he was assigned to the position of acting manager of the new plant. He also became treasurer of the Colorado Smelting & Mining Company, and extending his efforts into still other fields, was elected to the directorate of the Equitable Life Assurance Society and became recognized as one of the foremost business men not only of Denver and of Colorado but of the entire west. He was largely instrumental in securing the erection of the Boston building and the Equitable building in Denver and he figured prominently in banking circles, being for a decade vice president of the First National Bank of Denver. In fact his name is widely known among prominent financiers of New York and New England as well as of the west. As the years passed he became extensively connected with mining interests and for a number of years was vice president of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company and also was the president of the Colorado Telephone Company.

Over the public life of Denver, Mr. Wolcott exerted a widely felt and beneficial influence. It was largely his effort that secured Fort Logan as a military post for Denver and he was instrumental in organizing the Denver Club, of which he became a charter member and of which he was president for many years. Whatever has heen of benefit to city and state has heen sure of his cooperation and generous aid. He has been most liberal in his donations to educational and charitable institutions and has been a stanch friend of Colorado College at Colorado Springs, which was es- tahlished in 1879, and it was through his contribution and efforts that the Wolcott medal for excellence in public reading was established for the young ladies of the East Denver high school.

Mr. Wolcott has been a prominent figure in political circles and his opinions have carried weight in the councils of the republican party. Gilpin county elected him its representative in the state senate in 1878 and he served for a four years' term at the same time when his brother, Edward Oliver Wolcott, was representing Clear Creek county in the upper house of the general assembly. Henry R. Wolcott was chosen president pro tem of the senate and because of this position was called upon during his term to serve as acting governor of Colorado. In this connection a contemporary biographer wrote: "He thus performed the functions of the gubernatorial office, which four of his family had exercised in Connecticut and Massachusetts." In 1882 he was the leading republican candidate at the state convention for the office of governor, but elements entering into the United States senatorial contest caused his defeat, although he was a very popular man for the position. He was defeated for governor at the state election in 1898 owing to chaotic conditions which were prevalent not only in Colorado but in the entire west in relation to political affairs. The strongest ties of affection and comradeship as well as the blood ties of a family relationship con- nected the two Senators Wolcott. They were companions on the European trip on which Edward Oliver Wolcott passed away on the Riviera, and the devotion of Henry Roger Wolcott to his brother was one of the strongest and most beautiful traits of his character.

In club circles throughout the entire country Henry R. Wolcott is prominently and widely known, having membership in the Union, Union League and University Clubs of New York, also the Racquet and Tennis, Brook, Lambs, New York Yacht and Larchmont Yacht Clubs of New York; the Atlantic Yacht, the Manhasset, the Tavern Clubs of Boston; the Metropolitan Club of Washington; and the Denver and University Clubs of Denver. His splendid mental attainments and the moral force of his char- acter have made him popular wherever he is known. He is now residing in the Hawaiian islands but he counts his friends in Denver by the score. Extremely modest and free from ostentation, he has nevertheless been recognized as one of Denver's foremost philanthropists, his gifts to charitable and benevolent projects being many. His life has been filled with kindly acts, has been prompted by the most honorable purposes and has ever reached toward the highest ideals.

EDWARD MAGEE SPARHAWK.

The ideals and standards of life are fast changing. There has been too much truth in the statement that America was concentrating her attention too largely upon com- mercial activities to the exclusion of other interests, yet there have been many men who have never lost the vision of that broader life which takes into recognition the three-

HISTORY OF COLORADO

fold nature of mau, physical, mental and moral, and that well rounded development is the result of the attainment of perfection along each of these lines. While extensive and important business interests have claimed the attention of Edward Magee Sparhawk, he has at the same time recognized his obligations to his fellowmen and has put forth earnest effort to support and advance the standards of moral right and has been an active church worker. From the outset of his business career he has been identified with the steel industry and is now manager of sales at Denver for the Carnegie Steel Company.

Mr. Sparhawk was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 10, 1868. His father, Samuel Sparhawk, was a native of Philadelphia, as was the paternal grand- father of E. M. Sparhawk. The father engaged in the mercantile collection business in connection with a brother and has now departed this life. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Axford, was a descendant of John Hart, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. To Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Sparhawk were born seven children, four sons and three daughters, of whom three are yet living.

Edward M. Sparhawk after completing his education with a high school course in Philadelphia turned his attention to the iron and steel industry as a representative of the Reading Iron Works of Philadelphia and subsequently spent two years in the employ of the Crane Company. In November, 1890, he arrived in Denver and became associated with the Carnegie Steel Company in February, 1891. His pronounced ability won him advancement to the position of manager in June, 1895. In 1901 he assumed the management of the interests of the Illinois Steel Company and in May, 1903, was made manager of the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company. The next change in his business career brought him to the position of manager of the Ten- nessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company in January, 1908. He is now controlling the interests of the four companies above mentioned in Denver, with offices in the First National Bank building, and broad experience has brought him to a most prominent and responsible position in this connection. His powers have grown through the exercise of effort and continued activity is keeping him intensely alert. There is no phase of the business with which he is not thoroughly familiar and, actuated by a spirit of enterprise, he has never allowed obstacles or difficulties to bar his path in the successful and honorable accomplishment of his purpose.

On the 12th of September, 1898, Mr. Sparhawk was united in marriage to Miss Mary Nancy Howard, a native of Iowa but a resident of Denver since 1890. She is a daughter of Henry and Amanda V. (Reiff) Howard. To Mr. and Mrs. Sparhawk have been born three children: R. Dale, eighteen years of age, now a student in Princeton University; and Elizabeth, sixteen years of age, and Helen, aged twelve, both in school.

In his political views Mr. Sparhawk is a stalwart republican, believing firmly in the principles of the party as factors in good government. He is a member of St. Mark's Episcopal church, in the work of which he takes an active and helpful interest, serving now as senior warden and as chairman of the finance committee. He is also a member of the Denver Club and the Denver Athletic Club and the Denver Motor Club. The nature of his interests is further indicated by his membership in the Young Men's Christian Association and the Civic and Commercial Association. He has ever been active in business, in church and in sociological matters and has been a close student of the vital questions which have touched the welfare of mankind, keeping abreast with the best thinking men of the age in regard to all the significant problems which affect the race.

MILES G. SAUNDERS.

Miles G. Saunders is one of the most prominent representatives of the legal fraternity in Pueblo, where he has practiced his profession continuously during the past three decades. His birth occurred in Maryville, Missouri, on the 18th of July, 1867, his parents being W. R. and Helen (Sims) Saunders. The father participated in the Civil war as a member of the Confederate army and throughout his active business career he followed farming in Nodaway county, Missouri. His family num- bered seven children, three sons and four daughters.

Miles G. Saunders pursued his education in the public schools of his native city and then, in preparation for a professional career, began the study of law under the preceptorship of Judge Ramsay, of Maryville. He was admitted to the bar in

HISTORY OF COLORADO

Missouri in 1887 and in the same year made his way to Colorado, entering the United States land office at Lamar. At the end of a year, in June, 1888, he came to Pueblo and has remained here continuously throughout the intervening period of three dec- ades. In 1891 he was elected city attorney and six years later was chosen to the office of district attorney.

In December, 1891, Mr. Saunders was united in marriage to Miss Laura Jackson, a daughter of Joseph Jackson, of Maryville, Missouri. To them has been born one child, Esther. In politics Mr. Saunders is a democrat, while fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

A. C. FOSTER.

Among Denver's progressive, prosperous and public-spirited citizens who have come to the top through their own efforts and are deserving of special mention in a volume of this character is A. C. Foster of the firm of Sweet, Causey, Foster & Company, bond and investment brokers, with offices in the Equitable building in Denver. He is a representative of an old and prominent family of Tennessee and was born in Nashville on the 25th of July, 1867, his parents being Hon. Turner S. and Harriet (Erwin) Foster, who were also natives of that state. The father was at one time a leading attorney of Nashville and later became judge of the district court, sitting on the bench for many years, presiding over his court with dignity, ability and honor. During the Civil war he enlisted for active service in the Confederate army and served throughout the entire conflict between the north and the south. He died in Nash- ville, Tennessee, in 1897 at the age of seventy-five years, having for many years survived his wife, who passed away in Nashville in 1869. They had a family of three children: Dr. John M. Foster, now living in Denver; Mrs. Charles S. Caldwell, whose home is in Nashville; and A. C. Foster, of this review.

In early life A. C. Foster attended the Montgomery Bell Academy, from which he was graduated in 1884, and after leaving college went to Crosby county, Texas, where he engaged in ranch work as a cowboy, remaining in the southwest for three years. On the expiration of that period he arrived in Denver in January, 1890, and turned his attention to the real estate business, in which he continued for a long period most successfully. He not only bought and sold property but was connected with speculative building and during that period erected some of the finest modern business structures of the city which stand as a monument to his enterprise, his bus- iness foresight and ability. This includes the A. C. Foster building on Sixteenth and Stout streets, which is one of the prominent office buildings of the city. When the boom started in Creede, Colorado, Mr. Foster removed to that place and continued in the real estate business there for a year, but on the expiration of that period he returned to Denver and became a bookkeeper for the Denver Hardware Company, with which he remained for two years. He severed that connection to accept the position of office manager with the Denver Hardware Company, with which he remained until the firm went out of business, when he was appointed receiver and continued as such until the property was sold. He next engaged in the brokerage business and ultimately became a member of the Denver Mining Exchange. He continued to handle stocks and bonds under his own name until 1897.

On the 28th of October of that year Mr. Foster was united in marriage to Miss Alice Eddy Fisher, of Chicago, a daughter of Lucius G. and Katharine Eddy Fisher, of that city. Following his marriage he returned to Denver to take up his abode and gave up the brokerage business to accept the position of credit man with the Daniels & Fisher Stores Company. In that position he remained until the Daniels Bank was organized, when he became the cashier of the new institution, and so served until the Daniels Bank became the nucleus for the present United States National Bank of Denver, which is now one of the leading financial institutions of the west. It was organized by Mr. Foster in association with Gordon Jones, Henry T. Rogers and W. A. Hover, together with several other prominent business men of Denver. Mr. Foster was elected cashier and a director in 1904 and afterward was advanced to the position of vice president, in which capacity he continued until February, 1912, when he resigned to become a member of the bond house of Causey, Foster & Company. In 1914 the firm name was changed to Sweet, Causey, Foster & Company and theirs is today the largest business of the kind in Denver. Mr. Foster's opinions on business methods are largely accepted as authority throughout the city and this section of the state, a fact which is indicated in his election to various offices that have to do

HISTORY OF COLORADO

with business development and progress. For two terms he was honored with the presidency of the Retail Credit Men's Association of Denver, was vice president of the National credit Men's Association and also vice president of the Investment Brokers' Association of America. He is on the board of directors of the Denver Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He is a man of notably sound judgment, keen sagacity and clear discrimination. He readily recognizes the possibilities and foresees the outcome of any business condition or situation and his strong purposes and intelligently directed efforts are fruitful of most gratifying results.

Mr. and Mrs. Foster have become the parents of three children: Lucius F., who was born in Denver in 1898 and is now in the United States Naval Reserve, stationed at Nantucket island, Massachusetts; Katharine, who was born in December, 1906; and Cynthia, who was born in 1908 and is now attending the Wolcott School.

Mr. Foster gives his political alelgiance to the republican party. He belongs to the Denver Club, the Denver Country Club, the Rotary Club, the Cactus Club and the Mile High Club and he is a member of the Art Commission of Denver. In a word, he stands for all those forces and interests which make for development and progress along material, intel- lectual, social, cultural, political and moral lines. His has been a notably successful career in business. Never fearing to venture where favoring opportunity has led the way, he has steadily progressed, achieving his purpose, while at the same time the public has been an indirect beneficiary in the promotion of business interests which contribute to the advancement and general prosperity of the city at large.

HON. THOMAS MACDONALD PATTERSON.

The career of the late United States Senator Thomas MacDonald Patterson holds many lessons for those whose start in life is set among inauspicious surroundings, and who desire to attain distinction and honor. No doubt Thomas M. Patterson was naturally gifted, but it stands to his credit that he made the right use of the opportuni- ties which presented themselves and employed them in a way which not only lifted him into an eminent position but cast honor upon his state. A brilliant lawyer and journalist, his name rose higher and grew deeper in the estimation and affection of the public until in 1901, as a fitting tribute to his qualities and the crowning point of his activities the greatest honor which his state had in its power to bestow was con- ferred upon him in his election to the United States senate. There his clear, logical judgment, his great legal learning and his oratorical powers found a suitable and fruitful field in which to employ his surpassing ability, in order to benefit the state which he represented, at the same time enhancing his reputation as a man who ac- complished what he set out to do-and he could leave his labors in the national halls of congress with the clear conscience of having wrought for the best interests of his fellow-citizens-unstintingly, unflinchingly, giving unsparingly the best that was in him.

Thomas M. Patterson was born November 4, 1839, in County Carlow, Ireland, a son of James and Margaret (Montjoy) Patterson. The family was a prominent one in the north of Ireland, where his grandfather, James Patterson, was accounted a man of affairs, having acquired his earthly wealth as a stock dealer. He reared a family of five children and one of his sons, James, was a merchant and jeweler, first at Cavan, Ireland, and later in Liverpool, England. He married Margaret Montjoy and their son, the Senator, was of French Huguenot extraction on the mother's side. The middle name, MacDonald, was given Thomas Patterson in honor of a nephew of his grandmother, the former being a midshipman in the English navy, losing his life with Nelson at the famous battle of Trafalgar. The family, consisting of father, mother, the daughter Katherine and the sons, James and Thomas, came to the United States in 1849, when the latter was but ten years of age.

Thomas M. Patterson in the acquirement of his education attended the public schools at Astoria, Long Island, until fourteen years of age, when he secured a clerical position in a department store conducted by Blackwell & Curtis at Astoria. In 1853 the family removed to Crawfordsville, Indiana, where Mr. Patterson learned the printer's trade, being for three years a member of the composing-room force of the Crawfordsville Review. From 1857 until 1861 he assisted his father in the jewelry business and in the latter year he and his brother James enlisted under the Union flag. James Patterson was a member of the Eleventh Indiana Infantry, to which his brother also belonged, and was killed in the battle of Winchester. Desirous of securing higher educational advantages, Thomas Patterson entered Asbury College, now De Pauw

HON. THOMAS M. PATTERSON

Vol. II-2

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University, in 1862, remaining there until 1863, when he became a student in Wabash College, taking the junior course. The degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by De Pauw University in later years. On leaving Wabash College he began the study of law with M. D. White at Crawfordsville, Indiana, and after his admission to the bar in 1867 became a partner of Judge J. R. Cowan, with whom he continued in practice about five years, or until he removed to Denver in December, 1872. Mr. Patterson was therefore numbered among the eminent pioneer lawyers of his state, which later con- ferred upon him such distinguished honor. Already he had become prominent as a lawyer in Indiana and at once he entered upon a successful practice in this city, early demonstrating his legal qualifications. His judicial temperament, his complete knowl- edge of the law, his logical mind, his thorough learning-all these qualities combined to make him an able member of the bar. At this period he was associated with Charles S. Thomas and they handled some of the most notable cases of that time, enjoying the full confidence and trust of the general public. It was in 1873 that Mr. Patterson was. elected city attorney of Denver, and that he performed his duties ably and conscien- tiously is evident from the fact that he was reelected in 1874. He became at that time one of the leaders of the democratic party and was prominent in its councils. Mr. Patterson was a born leader and early in his career developed a genius for the control of men and events. He was more than a gifted public speaker, for he was a convincing orator who would carry his audiences with him and make them see his point of view. Hardly less brilliant was he as a writer. In his advocacy of anything that he believed to he right he was fearless and after having reached a decision as to what course to pursue he followed that course unerringly and always attained the desired results. Not only was he eminent as a party leader but he became a figure of historical signifi- cance, first in his state, then in the greater west, and later in the nation. In 1874 he was elected territorial delegate to congress, the first democrat chosen to that position in Colorado, and the honor must be accounted more signal because he had been a resident of the state for only a little more than two years. He labored unceasingly with democrats and republicans as the case demanded to promote the welfare of the territory and it was largely through his efforts that Colorado was admitted as a state in 1876. Mr. Patterson was nominated for both terms of the forty-fourth congress and retired in 1878 in order to resume the private practice of law. Great impetus was given the mining industry by the discoveries at Leadville, Aspen and elsewhere and this naturally was productive of extensive litigation. He was prominently connected with many of the leading law suits and thereby increased his practice, his undoubted ability inducing many to seek his services. In 1888 he ran for governor but was not elected. Senator Patterson was a delegate to the national democratic conventions of 1876, 1880, 1888 and 1892 and a member of the national democratic committee from 1874 to 1880. He was a member of the committee on resolutions in the national demo- cratic convention of 1892 and presented the minority report (in which no other joined) favoring a declaration for the free coinage of silver. It was voted down by a large majority but was adopted by the convention of 1896. He was a delegate to the national populist conventions of 1896 and 1900 and in the latter was chosen for the distinguished honor of permanent chairman. In 1892 he repudiated the nomination of Grover Cleve- land and was instrumental in carrying Colorado for Mr. Weaver. In 1896 he was elected presidential elector and held that office until 1899.

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History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 2

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