History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 29

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

USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume II > Part 29

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

201

HISTORY OF COLORADO

for rest and relaxation. Aside from his law practice he is a director in several mining companies of Colorado but his time and attention are chiefly concentrated upon his law practice and his devotion to his clients' interests is proverbial.

CHARLES DENISON COBB.

Charles Denison Cobb, deceased, attained prominence in various connections. He won for himself a most creditable position in insurance circles, was the grand master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and for forty years was vestryman of St. John's cathedral of Denver and president of the Railway Mission Sunday school for a longer period, thus contributing in notable measure to the material, intellectual, social and moral progress of the city. He was born in the town of Columbus, Johnson county, Missouri, June 15, 1844, and had therefore almost reached the Psalmist's allotted span of three score years and ten when he passed away in Denver on the 9th of May, 1914, his remains being interred in Riverside cemetery.

Charles D. Cohb was educated in the public schools of his native county and in the Irving Institute of Tarrytown, New York. He arrived in Denver in 1863 and for several years thereafter was employed as a clerk in Denver jobbing houses. In 1867 he became associated with Colonel Robert Wilson as a post trader and in government contracting at Fort Fetterman, Wyoming. He continued in that connection until 1870, when he returned to Denver and organized a general fire insurance business, covering Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. He gave the greater part of his time and attention to the management of this business, although he was a prominent and active factor in the conduct of various other enterprises in Denver which contributed to the material upbuilding of the city. He was one of the organizers of the Commercial National Bank and became its vice president. He was likewise connected with other interests of a public and semi-public character. He participated in the organization of the Chamber of Commerce and became one of its directors and its vice president. He was also active in promoting the Riverside Cemetery Association, of which he long served as secretary, and his cooperation and aid were potent factors in the attainment of success in connec- tion with every enterprise or project with which he was identified.

He was married in Denver September 3, 1868, to S. Ella Buckingham, youngest daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Richard G. Buckingham, who died December 30, 1878. On November 25, 1880, he married Dr. Buckingham's second daughter, Florence. The wed- ding took place at the Buckingham home on Fourteenth and Champa streets, the present site of Denver's magnificent Auditorium.

Mr. Cobb put forth effective effort in connection with the development of the educa- tional system of the city. From 1880 until 1884 he was a member of the board of education for School District No. 1 and in 1885, when the board of supervisors was added to the city's legislative department, he was elected one of its members. After two years' service in that position he was nominated by the democratic party as its candidate for mayor of Denver but was defeated by William Scott Lee, who received a small majority. Mr. Cobb was particularly well known as a prominent representative of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He filled all the offices in the local lodge and in the grand lodge was chosen grand master of the state and representative of Colorado in the sovereign grand lodge. During the last two years of his life he was largely engaged in financing and erecting the Odd Fellows Temple on Champa street, a six- story fireproof building. He manifested the greatest enthusiasm in connection with the order and was much beloved by his fellow members of the organization. He co- operated heartily in every plan and project for the general good and aided in large measure in promoting the material, intellectual, social and moral progress of Denver. His ideals of life were high and he put forth every possible effort to secure their adoption.

CLARENCE COBB.

Clarence Cobb, a prominent figure in insurance circles in Denver, his native city, was born June 18, 1871, a son of Charles D. and Sarah Ella (Buckingham) Cobb, the latter a daughter of Dr. R. G. Buckingham, at one time mayor of Denver and a well known pioneer citizen. Clarence Cobb, in the pursuit of his education, attended the grammar and high schools of Denver and the Holbrook Military School of Briarcliff,

CHARLES DENISON COBB

CLARENCE COBB

204

HISTORY OF COLORADO

New York. In 1891 he turned his attention to the insurance business in connectoon with his father and since the latter's death has been proprietor of the agency which was established in 1870, covering the states of Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico. The business has assumed extensive proportions, both in the fire and automobile lines. Mr. Cobb like his father, is an ardent supporter of the things which tend to the up- building of his city and state and the uplift of humanity. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and of a number of prominent clubs; he was a member of the High School Cadets, Holbrook's Military School, and Troop B of the Colorado National Guard and is now a member of the executive committee of the Conservation Association of Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico, an organization under the direction of the war department through the National Board of Fire Underwriters.

IVAN S. SCHERRER.

Ivan S. Scherrer is president and manager of the W. F. Thompson Mercantile Com- pany, wholesale dealers in grain and feed in Denver. He is widely known and popular in commercial circles and, moreover, he is entitled to representation in this volume as a member of one of the old pioneer families. He was born near Williamsburg, Iowa, in Iowa county, October 12, 1874, his parents being Louis and Mary (House) Scherrer. The father was a native of Alsace-Lorraine, while the mother was born in the state of New York. Louis Scherrer came to America with his parents at about the age of twelve, in the latter '40s, and took up his abode near Iowa City, Iowa, where he resided until 1859. In that year he established a freight route across the plains, extending from the Missouri river to Denver, and later it was extended to Salt Lake City. He made his first trip to Denver in 1859 and often camped under a tree that stood on the north side of Wazee street, near Sixteenth street. He was engaged in freighting across the plains from 1859 until 1865, using ox teams as was the custom. Many are the interesting tales which he told of his early experiences while crossing the plains with caravans, when Indians lurked in the tall grass and buffaloes roamed over the broad prairie and when much of the now highly cultivated section of the west was a waste desert of sand dunes and sagebrush. In 1875 he removed with his family to Bennett, Colorado, his wife and children coming from Marengo county, Iowa, where for ten years they had resided upon a farm. From 1875 until 1891 they occupied a ranch near Bennett and during this period Mr. Scherrer concentrated his efforts upon the development of his property, which was principally devoted to stock raising. He was born in the year 1835 and was there- fore but fifty-six years of age when he passed away in 1891. His wife was a native of Utica, New York, but at the age of twelve years accompanied her parents on their westward removal to Iowa City, Iowa, and a few years later they left there, going to Salt Lake City, the journey across the plains being made with ox teams. They reached their destination on the day that the cornerstone of the Mormon Temple was laid. In the fall of 1864 the House family came to Denver from Salt Lake City and the daughter remained in Denver until the following year. 1865, when she became the wife of Louis Scherrer, the marriage being solemnized in the Broadwell House, then one of Denver's leading hotels. Their honeymoon was spent upon the plains in a trip made in a covered wagon to Omaha, Nebraska. It was certainly a very unusual wedding trip, for the Indians were on the warpath and the government required that companies of no less than one hundred men should be formed before they would be permitted to pass Fort Morgan. The leader of the band with which the bride and her husband made the trip told the federal authorities when they reached the fort that their band was one hundred and one men strong, for he had learned that Mrs. Scherrer was able to load and shoot as accurately as any of the men of the company. Before they reached Julesburg many evidences of Indian depredations were seen. Ranch houses had been burned by the score and near each scene of battle dead white men and their red foes were lying on the ground. When the party finally reached Julesburg they found the Indians had raided the post two days before and had burned it. The few soldiers who had been stationed there had been killed or taken prisoners by the enemy. On arriving at Omaha they outfitted again and crossed the plains with freight for the United States government to Fort Collins, which at that time was a government post, occupied by a strong force of troops. In the fall Mr. and Mrs. Scherrer returned to Iowa, locating on a farm near Iowa City, where they remained until 1875. as previously stated, and again crossed the plains, this time with horse teams. They homesteaded a ranch near Bennett, Colorado, on the Kiowa creek, and there resided until the death of Mr. Scherrer in 1891, after which his widow removed to Denver, there remaining from 1893 until her demise, which

205

HISTORY OF COLORADO

occurred December 1, 1914. In the family were seven children: Walter W., who is living at Byers, Colorado; Mrs. Francis M. Dunn, of Denver; Mrs. Maggie A. Wiswell, of Keenesburg. Colorado; Frank L., a resident of Ewing, Nebraska; Ivan S .; and Ella K. and Ralph E., who are also residents of Denver.

Ivan S. Scherrer was but a year old when his parents returned to Colorado in the fall of 1875, when Colorado was yet a territory, and he pursued his education in the public schools of Bennett. After his studies were completed he engaged in ranching on his father's place until his removal to Denver in 1892, when he became connected with the business interests of the city. In 1894 he entered the employ of W. F. Thompson in the wholesale grain and feed business and in that connection steadily worked his way upward, remaining with Mr. Thompson as his manager until the latter's death in 1903, after which he conducted the business for two years in the interests of Mr. Thomp- son's estate. In 1905 he purchased the business, which he has since carried on, and through the intervening period has been president and manager of the W. F. Thompson Mercantile Company.

Fraternally Mr. Scherrer is connected with the Woodmen of the World. He also has membership with the Sons of Territorial Pioneers and his religious faith is indi- cated by his membership in the Presbyterian church. He has a wide acquaintance throughout Colorado, where he has spent practically his entire life, and there are many phases of pioneer experience with which he is familiar. He early became acquainted with all of the experiences and hardships which fell to the lot of the early ranchmen and he has rejoiced in the progress that has been accomplished since his parents pene- trated into the western wilderness. His father was one of the early freighters upon the plains and since that time the name of Scherrer has figured in connection with the substantial development, settlement and improvement of this section of the state. In his own business career Mr. Scherrer has steadily progressed, owing to his close applica- tion, his persistency of purpose and ready adaptability. His business methods have at all times commanded the highest confidence and regard and those who know him speak of him in terms of praise both as a representative of mercantile interests and as a citizen.

MARK AUSTIN ELLISON.

Mark Austin Ellison is engaged in the publication of the Loveland Herald as a member of the firm of Smith & Ellison. He was born in Tioga, Tioga county, Pennsyl- vania, on the 9th of February, 1876, his parents being George F. and Mary Elizabeth Ellison, the former a pioneer of Tioga county, where for many years he was engaged in farming and in the lumber business. Subsequently he established his home at Harri- son Valley, Pennsylvania, and there hecame agent for the New York Central Railroad.

Mark A. Ellison was reared and educated in the Keystone state, and when his father accepted a position with the railroad company, he began studying the work devolving upon a station agent, including telegraphy. Therefore on reaching the age of seventeen years he was put in railroad service as an extra man, acting as agent and operator at different stations along the line and also caring for the business of the American Ex- press Company at the same time. He next entered the employ of the M. S. Haskell Mer- cantile Company at Mills, Pennsylvania, with which he remained for two years. Having saved some money, he and his brother formed a partnership for the conduct of a general merchandise establishment at Mills, Pennsylvania, and carried on the business under the name of Ellison Brothers for two years. On the expiration of that period they dis- posed of their interests and Mark A. Ellison removed to Wellsville, New York, to become manager for B. McOwen & Company, an important concern that operated nine different establishments in as many localities. His connection with that house continued until 1902, when owing to the illness of his parents, he returned home and accepted the posi- tion of buyer with the P. S. Schweitzer Mercantile Company, with which he remained for three years. In July, 1905, he came to Colorado and entered the service of the State Mercantile Company of Denver, which placed him in charge of their business at La- fayette. At the end of three months, however. he removed to Loveland, there supervising the company's dry goods department for three years. He was afterward connected with the Doty-Dundon Company of Loveland for a year and then accepted a position with the Loveland Herald. In August, 1910, he was made editor, secretary and general manager of the publishing company and later purchased the paper in association with Claude H. Smith. with whom he has since conducted the same. It is a bright and

206

HISTORY OF COLORADO

interesting journal, devoted to the dissemination of local and general news, and has had a most successful existence under the present ownership.

On the 30th of March, 1905, Mr. Ellison was united in marriage to Miss Lena Mae Keltz, by whom he has a son, Donald, who is now thirteen years of age. He is intimately identified with the religious, social and fraternal organizations of Loveland and has made many warm friends during the period of his residence here.

ALEXANDER MEAD.

Forty years have come and gone since Alexander Mead arrived in Colorado and in this period he has been a most active factor in promoting the development and wel- fare of the state through irrigation projects and through many other fields of activity which have been directly resultant in bringing about present day progress and prosperity in Colorado. Mr. Mead is a native of the state of New York. He was born on the 18th of December, 1841. and was a son of Alexander Mead, Sr., whose birth occurred in Venice, Cayuga county, New York. In both lineal and collateral branches the family has been distinctively American through many generations. Alexander Mead, Sr., devoted his life to the occupation of farming in the town of Venice, Cayuga county, where he owned one hundred and sixty acres of land which he brought under a high state of cultiva- tion, and in addition to raising the cereals hest adapted to soil and climate there he also engaged in stock raising. He died in the year 1868, while his wife survived until 1880 and both were laid to rest in the cemetery at Moravia, New York. Their religious faith was that of the Universalist church.

Alexander Mead, whose name introduces this review, pursued his education in the academy at Moravia and at the age of seventeen years took up the profession of teach- ing, which he successfully followed for an extended period. imparting readily and clearly to others the knowledge that he had acquired. He worked on farms during the summer months, while the winter seasons were devoted to his duties as an educator and ultimately he embarked in the lumber business in Oswego county, New York, where he continued in manufacturing of lumber for four years. But the lure of the west was upon him and in June, 1878. he arrived in Greeley, Colorado, where he became connected with the agricultural implement business, which he conducted until 1883. He then sold out in that line and began dealing in land and stock and this constituted an initial step toward his activity in the field of irrigation work. He devoted much of his time to the building of ditches and reservoirs as well as to farming and he also bought and sold considerable land. For twenty years he was engaged in land development through the construction of ditches and reservoirs in Weld county and was the organizer of a company to build ditches in Wyoming and Colorado. His life work has been of signal value and usefulness to the community in which he has lived and to the west at large. He has developed farms adjoining Windsor, Ault and Greeley and has heen largely interested in numerous development projects in the country which have brought water into hitherto arid dis- tricts and produced their present productiveness. It is said that Mr. Mead is the best posted man on northern Colorado irrigation in the state. In 1883 he organized a company in Arizona for the development of one hundred and twenty-five thousand acres of land, which he hoped to redeem through irrigation, but in this work he met with such strong competition that he could not get his plans approved by the secretary of the interior and failed to win the support of the congressmen and senators of Arizona to throw open the land which had belonged to the Indians on the reservation. It seems that during the administration of President Grant the belligerent tribes of Indians, after they had been captured, had to be transplanted somewhere and the Colorado flatlands above Yuma were selected for this purpose. This land was called a reservation, although the Indians had no treaty rights granted them, but they had to be cared for and Colonel Dent was sent to look out for the wards of the nation and to try to improve their condition by furnishing water for irrigation purposes. He drove a tunnel through Headgate Rock, which lies above the town of Parker, Arizona, hoping to direct sufficient water into that district to irrigate the body of land, which would be of great advantage to the Indians. During the spring of the year the usual rise in the river occurred and flooded the land below the tunnel, shutting off the flow, so that the project was abandoned. Headgate Rock furnished the most feasible site for diverting water known at any point. The government project at Yuma, however, was being constructed, also the Salt River project near Phoenix and the Roosevelt dam, all of which have adjacent bodies of land to cover with water to offer to the settlers. Therefore the Mead project at Headgate Rock was not looked upon with favor in Washington. Obstructions were interposed and the plans

207

HISTORY OF COLORADO

submitted were not approved by the secretary of the interior. Mr. Mead and his asso- ciates in the company were therefore obliged to abandon the project after the plans for the work had been drawn up by John H. Quinton of Los Angeles. Had the plans been carried out, it would have cost the settlers approximately forty dollars per acre, which was about one-half the cost of the government projects, but the necessary legislative approval was not secured. Mr. Mead's efforts in the irrigation fields of Colorado, how- ever, have been of great benefit and value, transforming large arid tracts into valuable farming property. Moreover, in addition to his lahors in that connection, he has mining interests in Nevada, including both gold and silver properties, and is vice president of a company operating at Fort Collins.

In December, 1869, Mr. Mead was united in marriage to Miss Louise Avery, a daugh- ter of Edgar Avery, and to them have been born eight children, of whom seven are living, while one died at the age of sixteen years. Mabel, the eldest, is the wife of Tracy Marsh, a miner of Ely, Nevada, and they have one son. Edgar, who is the manager of the White Automobile Company of Denver, Colorado, married Irma Hendricks and they have two children. Dr. Ella Mead is a practicing physician of Greeley and is winning very gratify- ing success in her chosen line of work. Perry, who was born in 1881, attended the public schools and afterward became connected with the Goodrich Tire Company of Denver, while later he was associated with the White Automobile Company in connection with his brother. In 1916 he joined the United States army as a member of Battery B in Denver and is now captain in charge of a construction corps. He was called to service as a captain of the commissary department which was sent to Linda Vista, California, where he took charge of a construction corps. Later he was transferred to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and is in charge of Truck Company No. 380, called "The School of Fire." He was married but his wife died, leaving two children. Mildred, the next of the family, became the wife of Walter Starbird and resides upon a cattle ranch on the western slope near Meeker, Colorado. Alexandria is the wife of H. N. Stronach, a lawyer of Cheney,

Washington. and now secretary of the State Normal School. Wilhelmina was graduated from the Normal School, studied for two years in Columbia College of New York and is now a well known artist and decorator. Liberal educational advantages have been accorded all the members of the family and the eldest daughter, Mabel, held the chair of languages in the Agricultural College of Colorado for a time. Nature has endowed the members of this family with strong intellectual powers and Mr. and Mrs. Mead have every reason to be proud of what their children have accomplished in the educational field.

It is said that no man in northern Colorado is more widely known or more highly esteemed than Alexander Mead of this review. Mrs. Mead and her daughters are very active in church work and in social affairs and Mr. Mead is a most generous contributor to charitable and benevolent projects. In a word, the family occupies a very prominent and enviable position, especially in those social circles where true worth and intelligence are accepted as the passports to good society. A residence of forty years in Colorado certainly entiles Mr. Mead to rank with its pioneer citizens and throughout the entire period his efforts and ability have gone far toward the upbuilding of the state, the development of its natural resources and the promotion of its progress along many lines which have worked not only for immediate benefit but for future good as well.

WALTER E. BLISS.

Walter E. Bliss was admitted to the Colorado bar in 1909 and has since engaged in law practice in Greeley, where he is accorded a liberal clientage. He was born in Union county, Iowa, December 9, 1881, his parents being Stephen P. and Jeanetta Hart- man Bliss, who were natives of Vermont and Pennsylvania respectively. The father was a farmer and stockman and in an early day went to Iowa, locating there when Indians were still numerous in the state. He accompanied his parents to Iowa, the family home being established in Union county, and there Stephen P. Bliss as the years passed be- came a farmer, operating a tract of land successfully until 1883. He then left the Hawk- eye state in order to become a resident of Colorado and took up his abode at Colorado Springs, where he lived until 1885. In that year he arrived in Weld county, where he purchased land, which he continued to further cultivate and improve to the time of his death. He was the first man to break up an alfalfa field in order to raise potatoes thereon and he produced the largest crop of potatoes ever raised in Weld county to that time, averaging four hundred bushels to the acre. He died August 27, 1887, and is sur-

208

HISTORY OF COLORADO

vived by his widow, who yet remains upon the old homestead farm which he developed and improved.

Walter E. Bliss was reared and educated in Colorado, being only four years of age when his parents removed to this state. He mastered the branches of learning taught in the public schools of Greeley and afterward took up the occupation of farming, which he followed for five years. He was ambitious, however, to enter upon a professional career and determined upon the practice of law as a life work. He began reading in the office and under the direction of Charles F. Tew, with whom he continued for a year and a half and then entered Michigan State University at Ann Arbor, where he pursued a two years' law course and was admitted to practice at the Colorado bar in 1909. In due course he opened an office in Greeley, having well appointed rooms in the Opera House building, and as the years have gone by he has won a very large clientage. His practice is not only extensive but of an important character and has connected him with much of the notable litigation heard in the courts of the district. He is devoted to the interests of his clients, yet he never forgets that he owes a still higher allegiance to the majesty of the law, and he bases his success upon thorough preparation of cases and correct application of legal principles to the points at issue. He is the present county attorney of Weld county, to which position he was appointed in January, 1913, and some of the most important cases that have been heard in Weld county have been tried since he was called to this office, including the famous Union Pacific tax case. Mr. Bliss is also a stockholder of and attorney for the Weld County Savings Bank and is a stockholder in and attorney for the Home Gas & Electric Company.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 29

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